quiry must be, that by the little horn, described in this chapter of Daniel, is symbolized the spiritual kingdom of Mohammedanism.

Another parallel prophecy is now to be traced in the Apocalypse of John, who has confirmed and illustrated the most important predictions of Daniel.

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REVELATION, CH. IX. 1-19.

1. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns, like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses, running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions; and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit; whose name, in the Hebrew tongue, is Abaddon; but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apol12. lyon. One wo is past; and behold there came two more woes 13. hereafter. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God; saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in the river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour and a day, and a month and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths is ued fire, and 18. smoke, and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed; by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which

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issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

"In the prediction of Daniel," observes Mr. Faber, "Mohammedanism alone is spoken of: its two principal supporters, the Saracens and the Turks, are not discriminated from each other: a general history of the superstition from its commencement to its termination is given, without descending to particularize the nations by which it should be successively patronised. In the Revelation of John, this deficiency is supplied; and we are furnished with two distinct and accurate paintings, both of the Saracenic locusts under their exterminating leader, and of the Euphratèan horsemen of the four Turkish Sultanies." These two departments of the prophecy we shall now endeavour to explain in their minute particulars.

Ver. 1. And I saw a star fall (Gr. "having fallen") from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace: and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.-Commentators at the present day are almost universally agreed in regarding the fifth trumpet as symbolizing and predicting the appearance of the Arabian impostor, his spurious religion, and his Saracen followers But, as it is by no means evident, how Mohammed himself can properly be represented as "a star falling from heaven," the usual symbol of an apostate Christian teacher, or of a number of them, we apprehend the design of the Holy Spirit in this imagery to be, to teach us, that Mohammedanism is to be considered as the fruit or product of a Christian heresy. The star had fallen before the time of the false prophet, in the person of Arius, and other gross heretics; and as the consequence of their apostacy from the truth, he providence of God so ordered it, that the deso

lating delusion of Mohammedanism should arise and overspread some of the fairest portions of the Church. This view of the arch-imposture of Islamism has been taken by some very able writers of modern times; particularly by Mr. Whitaker in his "Origin of Arianism." The grand heresies, therefore, of the Christian Church, previous to the time of Mohammed, seem to be here personified in the fallen star, and represented as being instrumental in introducing this master-plague of error and superstition into the world. The poetical machinery of the vision is supposed to be taken from the sacred oracular caves of the ancient Pagans, which were often thought to communicate with the sea, or the great abyss, and which were specially valued, when (like that at Delphi) they emitted an intoxicating vapour: it is used, therefore, with singular propriety in foretelling the rise of a religious imposture. There may possibly be an allusion also to the cave of Hera, whither the prophet was wont to retire for the purpose of excogitating his system, and from which it really emanated. The opening of the bottomless pit, therefore, and the letting out the vapour and smoke of the infernal regions, aptly represents the wicked and diabolical system of religion, the dense and noxious fumes of the corrupt theology which he broached, and by means of which so large a portion of Christendom was finally obscured and involved in darkness. The preternatural darkening of the sun foreshows the eclipse of the true religion; and that of the air prefigures the uncontrolled dominion of the powers of darkness. As a striking coincidence with the signs here predicted, it is worthy of note, that a remarkable comet immediately preceded the birth of Mohammed; and that an eclipse of the sun, of extraordinary degree and duration, attended the first announcement of his pretended mission.

Ver. 2. And there came out of the pit locusts upon the earth.-Arabia has long been noted for giving

birth to prodigious swarms of locusts, which often overspread and lay waste the neighbouring countries; and it is remarkable, that in a genuine Arabian romance, the locust is introduced as the national emblem of the Ishmaelites. The symbol, therefore, of the locusts issuing out of the smoke strikingly represents the armies of the Saracens, the martial followers of the prophet, first engendered, as it were, amid the fumes of his religion, and then marching forth, at his command, to conquer and to proselyte the world. The pages of history must be consulted to learn the devastations of those hosts of destructive Saracens, which, under the guidance of Mohammed and his successors, alighted upon and wasted the apocalyptic earth. Yet, notwithstanding the phantasms that came forth from the pit of the abyss bore a general resemblance to locusts, they were marked by several peculiarities, by which they were more perfectly adapted to typify the people designed to be thus shadowed out. These we shall consider as we proceed.

Ver. 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.-By the command that they should not hurt the grass, nor the trees, but men only, it is evident that these were not natural, but symbolical locusts; and also that they were under providential control. The same thing appears from other attributes assigned them, which plainly belong to the objects signified, and not to the sign; as the human face, the woman's hair, the golden crowns, the iron breastplates. But it is very common in the symbolic diction of prophecy, to find the literal and the allegorical sense intermixed, and that even in the same passage. We are thus furnished with a clew to the real meaning of the symbols. By the precept here given, the emblematic locusts were required to act in a manner perfectly

dissimilar to the ravages of natural locusts: and yet how faithfully the command was obeyed, may be inferred from the following very remarkable injunction of the Caliph Abubeker to Yezid, upon setting out on the expedition against Syria, the first undertaking of the Saracens in the way of foreign conquest. It can scarcely be doubted, that these instructions have been preserved, under the providence of God, for the express purpose of furnishing an illustration of this prophetic text. "Remember," said Abubeker, "that you are always in the presence of God, on the verge of death, in the assurance of judgment, and the hope of paradise. When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women or children. Destroy no palmtrees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees; nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make any covenant, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons, who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way: let them alone, and neither kill them, nor destroy their monasteries. And you will find another sort of people, that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns: be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mahometans, or pay tribute."* It has accordingly been noticed, that those parts of the Roman empire which were left untouched by these Saracen hordes, were those in which it appears from history the remnant of the true church of God was still found residing: they were only to hurt the men who had not the mark of God on their foreheads.

Ver. 5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a

* Ockley's History of the Saracens, vol. i.