Читать книгу Sketches of Imposture, Deception, and Credulity онлайн

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His first interview with the angel took place at night, when in bed; he heard a knocking at the door, and having opened it, he then saw the Angel Gabriel, with seventy-nine pairs of wings, expanded from his sides, whiter than snow, and clearer than crystal, and the celestial beast beside him. This beast he described as being between an ass and mule, as white as milk, and of extraordinary swiftness. Mahomet was most kindly embraced by the angel, who told him that he was sent to bring him unto God in heaven, where he should see strange mysteries, which were not lawful to be seen by other men, and bid him get upon the beast; but the beast having long lain idle, from the time of Christ till Mahomet, was grown so restive and skittish, that he would not stand still for Mahomet to get upon him, till at length he was forced to bribe him to it, by promising him a place in Paradise. The beast carried him to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an eye. The departed saints saluted them, and they proceeded to the oratory in the Temple; returning from the Temple they found a ladder of light ready fixed for them, which they immediately ascended, leaving the Alborak there tied to a rock till their return.