A pilgrimage to Mecca is thought, by devout Mahometans, to be the most efficacious means of procuring remission of sins and the enjoyments of Paradise; and even the camels[3] which go on that journey are held so sacred after their return, that many fanatical Turks, when they have seen them, destroy their eyesight by looking closely on hot bricks, desiring to see nothing profane after so sacred a spectacle. The early leaning of the Jews towards idolatry and superstition has been recorded in terms that admit of no dispute, by their own historians. The same leaning continued to be manifest in them for many ages. Sandys, in his travels, heard of an ancient tradition current on the borders of the Red Sea, that the day on which the Jews celebrate the passover, loaves of bread, by time converted into stone, are seen to arise from that sea;[4] and are supposed to be some of the bread the Jews left in their passage. They were sold at Grand Cairo, handsomely made up in the manner and shape of the bread, at _the time in which he wrote_; and this was of itself sufficient to betray the imposture. The anxiously-expected appearance of their Messiah made the Jews very easily imposed upon by those who for interested motives chose to assume so sacred a title. Our Saviour predicted the coming of false Christs, and many have since his day appeared, though perhaps no false prophet in later days has excited a more general commotion in that nation than Sabatai Sevi. According to the prediction of several Christian writers, who commented on the Apocalypse, the year 1666 was to prove one of wonders, and particularly of blessings to the Jews; and reports flew from place to place, of the march of multitudes of people from unknown parts in the remote deserts of Asia, supposed to be the ten tribes and a half lost for so many ages, and also that a ship had arrived in the north of Scotland, with sails and cordage of silk, navigated by mariners who spoke nothing but Hebrew; with this motto on their flag, “The twelve tribes of Israel.” These reports, agreeing thus near with former predictions, led the credulous to expect that the year would produce strange events with reference to the Jewish nation. Thus were millions of people possessed, when Sabatai Sevi appeared at Smyrna, and proclaimed himself to the Jews as their Messiah; declaring the greatness of his approaching kingdom, and the strong hand whereby God was about to deliver them from bondage, and gather them together. “It was strange,” says Mr. Evelyn, “to see how this fancy took, and how fast the report of Sabatai and his doctrine flew through those parts of Turkey the Jews inhabited: they were so deeply possessed of their new kingdom, and their promotion to honour, that none of them attended to business of any kind, except to prepare for a journey to Jerusalem.”