avenge the blood of the martyrs, but to punish the Christian world for the adoption of a novel species of idolatry, is obvious from what is said at the conclusion of the second woe. "And the rest of the men, which were not killed by these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk."

"Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thefts."

"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 to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power," &c.

"One woe is past, and behold there come two woes more hereafter."

On the sounding of the fifth trumpet the first

1 πεπτωκότα, fallen.

woe commences, with the image of a star fallen from heaven to earth; to whom was given the key of the bottomless pit. And though it has been customary to apply this description to Mohammed, I am rather inclined to consider it as applicable to the remains of the Roman empire, to which the Holy Spirit has hitherto directed our attention.

When the Papal authority was fully established the image of the beast began to be worshipped; Christian idolatry was patronized in the west, and persecution commenced against the saints of God. When, in 606, the wicked Phocas, Emperor of the East, conferred supremacy on Pope Boniface at Rome, it may be truly said the reign of Antichrist began. The degradation of the imperial power, by consigning part of its authority to the popes, may fitly be represented by a star fallen unto the earth, which had the key of the bottomless pit; for out of that pit we are told, chap. xvii. 8. " shall ascend the beast which shall go into perdition."-" And when the pit was opened there arose a smoke out of it, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." Then commenced the dark ages, as they are generally called, in which idolatry and spiritual fornication and misrule prevailed, when the sun of righteousness was obscured for a while,

and the air, the seat of Satan, was filled with the smoke of false doctrine.

Then too arose out of this smoke, as a just retribution for the sins of the Antichristian world, those Saracenic locusts, which imbibing the false religion of Mohammed', speedily overran and subdued all the countries in the neighbourhood of Arabia, including the Holy Land, the northern shores of Africa, and part of Spain, and even made incursions into Italy.

These, followed by the four angels who were loosed from their bonds in the river Euphrates, and who led the cavalry of the Turks to the conquest of the eastern empire, are the woeful events of the fifth and sixth trumpets, which produced so great a change in the religion and government of the world, and yet, "the remainder of the men who were not killed by these plagues, (that is, the followers of Papal authority,) repented not of the works of their hands, of the worship of demons and idols, nor of their murders and sorceries, fornications and thefts."

With reference to the effects of the fifth trumpet, the comments of Mede and Newton appear upon the whole so just, and the application to the sudden rise, and surprising conquests

1 The hegyra, or flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, took place in 622, only sixteen years after the popes were established in full authority.

of the Saracens, after they had embraced Mohammedism, so apposite, that I will only give a sort of summary of the interpretation by which they have explained the text of Scripture.

Passing over the figure of a fallen star, and the smoke and darkness consequent on the opening of the abyss, which I have presumed to apply to the Christian apostasy, the description of locusts seems evidently to refer to the Saracen or Arabian tribes, who, in point of numbers, are compared to locusts, Jud. vii. 12; and who come from the land of Kedem, or the east. From thence came the natural locusts, who were one of the plagues of Egypt, Exod. x. 13. "A strong east wind brought the locusts." A similar comparison of hostile armies to locusts is to be found in the 21st chapter of Joel. But to these locusts was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power, i. e. in addition to the power of eating up and depopulating the countries they visited, they had tails like scorpions, and stings in their tails. "Wonderful! (exclaims Mede) a locust scorpion!" But this he considers as alluding to the false doctrine which they drew after them, and left a serpentine poison among the nations which they subdued. It may, however, merely allude to the power with which they were endued of injuring the inhabitants of the countries where a debased Christianity prevailed.

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From the command which was given them "not to hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree," we infer at once that these were not natural but figurative locusts, and it is remarkable, that in the invasion of Syria, Abubeker charged his Arabian army to destroy no palm trees, nor burn any fields of corn, to cut down no fruit trees, nor to do any mischief to cattle," &c. The Scripture commissions them only "to hurt those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads"-that is, those who were become corrupt and idolatrous Christians. And we cannot help admiring the wisdom and justice of the Almighty in permitting this new and wonderful power, under the direction of a false prophet, and the influence of a false doctrine, yet entertaining a just abhorrence of idolatry, to become the scourge of a people "who had departed from the true faith, and were giving heed to the seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, or canonized saints, who were forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, and were converting the mythology of the heathen into a new species of idol worship, in which the old objects of superstitious reverence were merely exchanged for novel images, or pictures with Christian names, but which were equally abhorrent from the plain injunctions of the second commandment."