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.

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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 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

* Ibid. 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 plaited in braids round the head, more like women than men.

+ Isaiah ix. 15.

common figure of speech, it may denote the false doctrines which such a prophet teaches.*

The five months during which the locusts were 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 662, 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 inter

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

+ 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.

preters, with regard to some particulars of the phecy of the locusts.

pro

Most writers have supposed the smoke which 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 before the appearance of the false prophet, the sun and air had been obscured by 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 proprieties 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 his church; and the truth of history forces me to attribute it to him, and no other.*

* Mr. Faber, in the earlier editions of his work on the 1260 years, explained the fallen star to mean Sergius, the apostate monk, who is said to have assisted Mahummud in his work of imposture; but in the fifth edition he has abandoned this interpretation, and, with a candour that does him honour, adopted the one given in these pages. Mr. Faber now, therefore, agrees with me in supposing the star to denote the Pope; but he still maintains, very inconsistently I think, as well as against historical verity, that the smoke which darkened the spiritual atmosphere, was the false religion of Mahummud.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SIXTH TRUMPET, OR SECOND WOE.

"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 great river Euphrates. And "the four angels were loosed, which were prepared "for the hour, and day, and month, and year, for to slay the third part of the men."

The golden altar before God, is the altar of incense in the holy place, upon which, at the time of the morning and evening sacrifice, incense was burnt, typical of the prayers of the saints, when perfumed by the intercession of Christ. The voice from the four horns of the altar, saying to the angel, to loose the four angels, who were to be the executioners of divine anger under this trumpet, implies, that the judgments now to be inflicted, were called for by the prayers of the saints of God, wearied out with the corruptions of the professing church, and crying aloud to him to vindicate his own cause. Or it may signify, that our Lord, the great Intercessor for his people, now called to God to avenge the insults offered to his divine majesty, by the idolatry of the eastern or Greek Christians.

This trumpet manifestly relates to the overthrow of the eastern empire by the Turks or Ottomans, and there is almost an unanimous consent among the

* Rev. ix. 13-15.

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