Page:History of Mahomet, that grand impostor.pdf/26

 for the future. To give this prohibition the greater weight, he invented a fable of two angels, who he tells us were in times past sent down from heaven to administer justice, and teach men righteousness in the province of Babylon: that while they were there, a certain woman invited them to dinner, and set wine before them, which God had forbidden them to drink; but venturing to transgress the divine command, they became so intoxicated, that they tempted the woman to lewdness; who promised to consent on condition that one of them should first carry her to heaven, and the other bring her back again. This being agreed to, when the woman got to heaven, she refused to return, and declared to God the whole matter; whereupon, as a reward of her virtue, she was made the morning star, and the angels were severely punished, by being hung up by the feet in a deep pit near Babylon till the day of judgment.

The next year (A. D. 626.) Mahomet was in great danger of being totally undone; for the people of Mecca having made an alliance with several tribes of Jewish Arabians, marched against him with an army of ten thousand men. Mahomet advanced to meet them, but finding himself not in a condition to give them battle, on account of their superior numbers, he thought fit to intrench, and was in a manner besieged by the enemy in his camp. While the two armies lay so near each other, he found means to corrupt some of the enemies officers, who took all opportunities of showing dissension among the confederates, and at last, by their advice and example, prevailed upon them to retreat and separate: and thus, this expedition, from which Mahomet had so