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Godhead. The parts which remained the freeft from the general infection were Savoy, Piedmont, and the fouthern parts of France, which were afterwards the nurferies and habitations of the Waldenfes and Albigenfes; and it is very memorable, that (8) when the Saracens approached thefe parts, they were defeated with great flaughter by the famous Charles Martel in feveral engagements.

As they were to hurt only the corrupt and idolatrous Chriftians, fo thefe (ver. 5, 6.) they were not to kill but, only to torment, and fhould bring fuch calamities upon the earth, as fhould make men weary of their lives. Not that it could be fuppofed that the Saracens would not kill many thousands in their incurfions. On the contrary their angel (ver. 11,) hath the name of the deftroyer. They might kill them as individuals, but ftill they should not kill them as a political body, as a ftate or empire. They might greatly harrafs and torment both the Greek and the Latin churches, but they should not utterly extirpate the one or the other. They befieged Conftantinople, and (9) even plundered Rome; but they could not make themselves mafters of either of thofe capital cities. The Greek empire fuffered moft from them, as it lay nearest to them. They difmembered it of Syria, and Egypt, and fome other of its best and richest provinces; but they were never able to fubdue and conquer the whole. As often as they befieged Conftantinople, they were repulfed and defeated. They attempted it (1) in the reign of Conftantine Pogonatus A. D. 672; but their men and fhips were miferably destroyed by the fea-fire invented by Callinicus, and after feven years fruitless pains they were compelled to raise the fiege, and to conclude a peace. They attempted it again (2) in the reign of Leo Ifauricus A. D. 718; but they were forced to defift by famin, and peftilence, and loffes of

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various kinds. In this attempt they exceeded their commiffion, and therefore they were not crowned with their ufual fuccefs. The taking of this city, and the putting an end to this empire, was a work referved for another power, as we shall fee under the next trumpet.

In the following verfes (7, 8, 9, 10.) the nature and qualities of thefe locufts are defcribed, partly in allufion to the properties of natural locufts and the defeription given of them by the prophet Joel, and partly in allufion to the habits and manners of the Arabians, to show that not real but figurative locufts were here intended. The first quality mentioned is their being like unto horfes prepared unto battle; which is copied from Joel (II. 4.) The appearance of them is as the appearance of horfes, and as horfemen, fo fhall they run. Many authors have (3) obferved that the head of a locuft refembles that of an horfe. The Italians therefore call them cavalette, as it were little horfes. The Arabians too have in all ages been famous for their, horfes and horfemanship, Their ftrength is well known to confift chiefly in their cavalry.

Another diftinguithing mark and character is their having on their heads as it were crowns like gold; which is an allufion to the head-drefs of the Arabians, (4) who have conftantly worn turbants or mitres, and boast of having thofe ornaments for their common attire, which are crowns and diadems with other people. The crowns alfo fignify the kingdoms and dominions which they fhould acquire. For, as Mr. Mede (5) excellently ob ferves

(3) Vide Albertum, Aldrovandum, Theodoretum, &c. apud Bochart. Hieroz. Part. Poft. Lib. 4. Cap. 5. -caput aut faciem equine non abfimilem. A qua locuftæ ab Italis vocantur cavalette. Col. 474.

dicu, veriffimum tamen eft; Octoginta, aut non multo plurium, annorum fpatio fubjugârunt illi et diabolico regno Muhammedis acquifiverunt Palaf tinam, Syriam, Armeniam utramque, totam ferme Afiam minorem, Per fiam, Indiam, Egyptum, Numidiam, Barbariam totam ad Nigrum ufque fluvium, Lufitaniam, Hifpaniam. Neque hic ftetit illorum fortuna, aut ambitio, donec et Italiæ magnam quoque partem adjecerint, ad portas uique (5) Nulli unquàm genti tam late urbis Rome; quinetiam Siciliam, regnatum fuit, neque tam brevi tem- Candiam, Cyprum, et reliquas maris poris patio unquain tot regna, tot Mediterranei infulas. Deus bone, regiones, fub jugum miffa. Incredibile quantus hic terrarum tractus! quot

(4) Arabes mitrati degunt. Plin. Nat. Hift. Lib. 6. Cap. 28. Sect. 32. Edit. Harduin. Hic mitra velatus Arabs. Claudian de Laud. Stil. I. 156. Pocockii Not. in Carm. Tograi Arab. pag. ult.

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ferves, No nation had ever fo wide a command, nor 'ever were fo many kingdoms, fo many regions fubjugated in fo fhort a space of time. It founds incre dible, yet most true it is; that in the space of eighty or not many more years, they fubdued and acquired to the diabolical kingdom of Mohammed, Palestine, Syria, both Armenia's, almost all Afia Minor, Perfia, India, Egypt, Numidia, all Barbary even to the river Niger, Portugal, Spain. Neither did their fortune or 'ambition ftop here, till they had added also a great part of Italy, as far as to the gates of Rome; moreover Sicily, Candia, Cyprus. and the other islands of the Mediterranean fea. Good God! how great a tract of land! how many crowns were here! Whence alfo it is worthy of obfervation, that mention is not made here, as in other trumpets, of the third part; forafmuch as this plague fell no lefs without the bounds of the Roman empire than within it, and extended itfelf even to the remotest 'Indies.'

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They had alfo faces as the faces of men, and 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; as (6) Pliny and other ancient authors teftify. Another property copied from Joel is their having teeth as the teeth of lions; that is ftrong to devour. So Joel defcribes the locufts (I. 6.) as a nation whofe teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek-teeth of a great lion; and it is wonderful how they bite and gnaw all things, as (7) Pliny fays,

hic corone! Unde dignum quoque obfervatu eft, non hie, ut in cæteris tubis, trientis mentionem fieri: fiquidem non minus extra imperii Romani fines quam intra ipfum caderet hæc clades, ad extremos ufque Indos fefe porrec tura. Mede, p. 468.

(6) Arabes mitrati degunt, aut intonfo crine: barba abraditur, præterquam in fuperiore labro. Aliis et hæc intonfa. Plin. ibid. Plurimis crinis intonfus, mitrata capita, pars rafa in cutem barba. Solinus Cap. 33. p. 46. Edit. Salmafii. Crinitus quidam, &c. Ammian. Marcell. Lib. 31. ubi notat

Valefius, Talis erat habitus Saracenorum, ut docet Hieronymus in Vita Malchi. Ecce fubito equorum camelorumque feffores Ifmaëlita irruunt, crinitis vittatilque capitibus, &c. et Theodorus Mopfueftenus in caput X Hieremiæ, Saracenos ait comam a fronte quidem detondere, retro autem intonfam demittere, &c. p. 954. Edit. Paris 1681.

(7) Omnia vero morfu erodentes, et fores quoque tectorum. Plin. Nat. Hift. Lib. 11. Cap. 29. Sect. 55. Edit. Harduin.

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even the doors of houfes. They had alfo breaft-plates as it were breaft-plates of iron: and the locufts have a hard fhell or fkin, which (8) hath been called their armour. This figure is defigned to exprefs the defenfive, as the former was the offenfive arms of the Saracens. And the found of their wings was as the found of chariots of many horfes running to battle. Much the fame comparison hath been used by Joel, (H. 5.) Like the noife of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap and (9) Pliny affirms, that they fly with fo great a noife of their wings, that they may be taken for birds. Their wings, and the found of their wings, denote the swiftness and rapidity of their conquefts; and it is indeed aftonishing, that in less than a century they erected an empire, which "extended from India to Spain.

Moreover they are thrice compared unto fcorpions, (ver. 3, 5, 10.) and had ftings in their tails like unto fcorpions; that is they fhould draw a poisonous train after them, and wherever they carried their arms, there alfo they should diftil the venom of a falfe religion. It is farther added (ver. 11.) that they had a king over them; the fame perfon fhould exercife temporal as well as fpiritual fovranty over them; and the caliphs were their emperors, as well as the heads of their religion. The king is the fame as the ftar or angel of the bottomless pit, whofe name is Abaddon in Hebrew, and Apollyon in Greek, that is the deftroyer. Mr. Mede (1) imagins, that this is fome allufion to the name of Obodas, the common name of the kings of that part of Arabia from whence Mohammed came, as Pharaoh was the common name of the kings of Egypt, and Cæfar of the emperors of Rome: and fuch allufions are not unufual in the ftile of fcripture. However that be, the name agrees perfectly well with Mohammed and the caliphs his fucceffors, who were the authors of all thofe horrid wars and defolations, and openly taught and profeffed that their religion was to be propagated and eftablished by the fword.

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One difficulty, and the greatest of all, remains yet to be explained; and that is the period of five months af figned to thefe locufts, which being twice mentioned, merits the more particular confideration. They tormented men five months, (ver. 5.) and again (ver. 10.) their power was to hurt men five months. It is faid without doubt in conformity to the type; for locufts (2) are obferved to live about five months, that is from April to September. Scorpions too, as (3) Bochart afferts, are noxious for no longer a term, the cold rendering them torpid and inactive. But of thefe locufts it is faid, not that their duration or existence was only for five months, but their power of hurting and tormenting men continued five months. Now thefe months may either be months commonly fo taken: or prophetic months, confifting each of 30 days, as St. John reckons them, and fo making 150 years at the rate of each day for a year; .or the number being repeated twice, the fums may be thought to be doubled, and five months and five months in prophetic computation will amount to 300 years. If thefe months be taken for common months, then, as the natural locufts live and do hurt only in the five fummer-months, fo the Saracens, in the five fummer-months too, made their excurfions, and retreated again in the winter. It appears that this was their ufual practice, and particularly when (4) they firft befieged Conftantinople in the time of Conftantine Pogonatus. For "from the month of April till September, they perti

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Bochart. ibid. Lib.4. Cap.29. Col.640.

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(4) Howel's Hift. of the World. Part 3. Chap. 4. Sect. 7. p. 288.απο μηνός Απριλλίς εις Σεπτεμβρ. και ὑποτρεψανίες εν Κυζίκως ταύτην παρακ λαμβανεσι, και χειμάζεσιν εκεί. καλα εαρ ὁμοιως επολεμεν μέλα των χριστ lavwv, e la n.-ab Aprili ufque ad Septembrem menfem. Inde barbari revertentes Cyzicum occupaverunt, atque ibi hyemarunt: et vere rurfum Chriftianis bellum fecerunt. modo feptem annos fe geffere. Cedreni Hift. Compend. p. 437. Edit. Paris. p. 345. Edit. Venet. Vide etiam Theophanis Chronograph. p. 264. Edit. Paris, p. 234. Edit. Venet.

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