was increased to forty, himself included, many of them persons of wealth and reputation, whose example was likely to have a considerable influence over their fellow citizens.
The inhabitants of Mecca began now to be alarmed at his progress; those that were zealous for the idolatry of their forefathers opposing him as an enemy of their gods, and a dangerous innovator of their religion: And others, who saw farther into his schemes were sensible they tended to destroy the public liberty, and to establish a tyranny over them; and therefore combined together to take him off by violence. But his uncle found means to defeat the designs of his enemies; and by his power, being chief of the tribe, preserved him from all attempts that were formed against him: for though he himself persisted in the Paganism of his ancestors, yet he had so great an affection for the impostor, as being his kinsman, and educated chiefly in his own house, that he firmly supported him against all his opposers. Under his protection therefore Mahomet went boldly on to preach to the people in the publick places of the city, and to publish his revelations, as he pretended they were brought him from time to time by the angel Gabriel.
The main arguments he made use of to delude men into a belief of his imposture, were his threats and promises, as being those which most easily work upon the minds of the vulgar. His promises were chiefly of a paradise, which he cunningly framed as to make it consist wholly o⟨f⟩ such pleasures and delights as were best suited to the taste of the Arabians; a people living within the Torrid Zone, who by the nature of their climate, as well as the corruption of their manners were exceedingly given to the love of women
