It may be affirmed, almost without the danger of dispute, that Mahummud could not have succeeded in his imposture in an age of light; and that if superstition and gross darkness had not previously overspread Christendom, either his impious fraud had not been attempted, or had been destroyed in embryo.* It is, therefore, quite agreeable to the nature of the symbolical language and style, that the army of locusts should be represented as issuing out of the black smoke which had previously pervaded the symbolical atmosphere.

The next particular respecting these locusts, which is worthy of observation, is, that "it was commanded "them, that they should not hurt the grass of the "earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree." History informs us, that the following formed a part of the instructions given to the army of Saracens which invaded Syria in the reign of Abubeker, the successor of Mahummud: "Destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn; cut down no fruittrees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat."+ But the language of this clause may further bedesigned to show us, that these locusts are not real, but symbolical locusts.

The locust army were to hurt those men which had not the seal of God in their foreheads. Accordingly, the ravages of the Saracens were chiefly

* The passage of 2 Thes. ii. 10, may, without any violence, be accommodated to the state of the Christian world, when Mahummud appeared; they received not the love of the truth: therefore God, in just judgment, permitted a lie to prosper in the hand of the impostor, to deceive these degenerate Christians. + Gibbon, chap. li.

confined to those Christian countries where religion had been most deeply corrupted by saint and image worship. "The parts which remained the freest from the general infection were Savoy, Piedmont, and the southern parts of France, which were afterwards the nurseries and habitations of the Waldenses and Albigenses; and it is very memorable, that when the Saracens approached these parts, they were defeated with great slaughter, by the famous Charles Martel, in several engagements."*

It is said that "they had not power to kill, but "only to torment men." This seems to refer to their having no commission to destroy or overturn, but only to ravage and scourge the eastern empire. Accordingly, it is observed by Bishop Newton on this part of the prophecy, that though they besieged Constantinople, and even plundered Rome, they yet could not make themselves masters of either of these cities. They dismembered the eastern empire of some of its best provinces, but they were never able to subdue and conquer the whole; the putting an end to this empire being reserved for another power.

It is said, that the locusts had, as it were, crowns of gold, in allusion, probably, to the turbans worn by the Arabians :† "their faces were as the faces

*Bishop Newton, in loco.

†The oriental turban is the genuine dona, diadem, or white scarf, round the head. See my Strictures on Mr. Irving's Lectures on the Apocalypse, Sect. IV. Yet as the diadem in symbols, belongs only to the imperial dignity, it cannot be attributed to these locusts. Moreover, as the orapavos, crown,

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"of men, and they had hair as the hair of women :" and the Arabians wore their beards, or at least mustachoes, as men, while the hair of their heads was flowing or plaited, like that of women. "The "sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots "of many horses running to battle." This clause shows, that the locusts were symbols of real armies, and not of hosts of heretics or false teachers, as some have supposed. The tails of the locusts, like unto scorpions, and the stings in their tails, certainly denote the poisonous and mortal effects of the false religion of Mahummud, which always followed the conquests of the Saracens, as they carried their doctrines every where with their arms. It may be remarked here, that it appears from a passage in Isaiah,† that the tail, in the language of symbols, was understood, as denoting a false or lying prophet; and by a common figure of speech, it may denote the false doctrines which such a prophet teaches.‡

The five months, during which the locusts were

belongs only to the saints, it cannot be given to the followers of Mahummud. With an accuracy which we cannot enough admire, the Spirit, therefore, attributes to them sorεpavor, as it were, or mock crowns, thereby pointing them out, as pretending to the character of the soldiers of the true faith, but showing the character not to be genuine.

* Bishop Newton, in loco. It is remarkable, that many of the Mahomedan fakeers, or religious mendicants, in the east, who affect the highest degree of sanctity, still wear their hair long, and in braids round the head, more like women than men. + Isaiah ix. 15.

Perhaps, because the tails of many venomous creatures are the seat of their poison.

to torment men, may be mentioned in conformity to the nature of the type, for locusts are observed to live about five months.* But it has been remarked by all writers, that from the year 612, when Mahummud first began to preach his false doctrines at Mecca, till the year 762, when the Caliph Almansor built Bagdad, and called it the City of Peace, there were exactly one hundred and fifty years, or five prophetic months of thirty days each; and that from this time, the Saracens became a settled nation; they ceased to make those extensive and rapid conquests which had distinguished the commencement of their career, and the wars in which they were engaged, were, from henceforth, like the common and ordinary contests of other nations.

By the king over the locusts, whose name is Apollyon, I think, with Bishop Newton, that we may understand the false prophet, and the caliphs, his successors. But I deem it not improbable that Satan himself may be intended.

Having, in the foregoing remarks upon the fifth trumpet, adhered in the main to the commonly received interpretation of it, I shall give my reasons for differing from some of the most celebrated interpreters, with regard to some particulars of the prophecy of the locusts.

Most writers have supposed the smoke which

* Bishop Newton, in loco. I confess that I am more inclined here to understand the five months as being mentioned in conformity to the nature of the symbol, than to consider it as indicating a definite period of one hundred and fifty years.

issued from the pit of the abyss, and obscured the sun and air, to denote the false religion of Mahummud. But to this it may be answered, that the sun and air were obscured before the appearance of the false prophet, by the false doctrines, spread by Christian teachers, and by the gross ignorance both of the clergy and laity. Mahummud, therefore, did not make the darkness; he found it, and applied it to his own purposes. Moreover, it is plain, that the smoke which darkened the sun, &c., preceded the appearance of the locusts: but the false religion of Mahummud did not precede his armies, it accompanied and followed them: and hence, in the hieroglyphics of this trumpet, its dreadful effects are, with the greatest propriety, exhibited to us by the tails of the locusts, like the tails of scorpions, and having stings. Those who suppose the smoke to denote the false doctrines of the prophet, do in effect maintain, that this smoke, which preceded the appearance of the locusts, and the tails of the locusts having stings, are different symbols denoting one and the same thing. But this would be a violation of all the properties of the symbolical style.

If, as I think has been proved, the smoke be not an emblem of the false religion of Mahummud, then it is plain, that the fallen star, who opens the pit, cannot, as has been supposed by Bishop Newton, be Mahummud. This work of darkness better suits that fallen and apostate bishop, who calls himself the Vicar and Apostle of Christ, and the head of