“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” (Revelation 9:1,2).

We now come in our studies to consider what are quite generally termed the “woe” trumpets — the fifth, sixth, and seventh. The reason for giving them this name is that they are preceded by a vision, giving an announcement to this effect, described by St. John as follows:

“And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” (Revelation 8:13).

It seems evident that one design of this introductory vision is to call special attention to the fact that the events fulfilling the symbols of the last three trumpets will be of a very calamitous nature to certain established systems and arrangements existing among men. We remind the reader that if we are correct in our interpretations, the four already considered have had their fulfillment in events occurring among the peoples living in the territory of the Western Roman Empire. We will endeavor to show that the events symbolized by the fifth and sixth have to do more especially with those living in the Eastern Roman Empire. The fulfillment of this vision of the “angel flying in mid- heaven,” etc., should be looked for as preceding the events symbolized in connection with the sounding of the fifth trumpet.

The Angel Flying in Mid-Heaven

The “angel” it would seem must represent animate agencies; and as the utterances are in the nature of sounds of alarm, predictions, etc., the logical conclusion to be drawn is that they would refer to men who exercised a powerful influence in the professed Christian world. The vision, we believe, teaches that there would be announcements of great calamities coming upon the inhabitants of the world. However, this would not mean that those predicting these calami- ties understood the visions of the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets, or that their utterances were in any measure inspired, or absolutely true, but simply that the vision records in symbol that such things would occur just previous to the fulfillment of the vision of the fifth trumpet. Neither must we understand that these men would give utterance to the words of the vision itself, but rather that in their preaching they would predict calamities coming to earth’s peoples. The trumpet symbols indicate that they themselves portray judgments or woes, the seventh of which will be the final one, and will result in the destruction or overthrow of the entire present order of things and the ushering in of the new.

We shall endeavor to prove that the period in history when this fifth trumpet began its fulfillment was about a century after the rise of the Papacy. A very prominent date in connection with Papacy’s rise was 539 AD. It was a little less than a century after this that an event occurred; fraught with great significance in connection with humanity’s affairs. The period between the rise of Papacy and this event was marked by occurrences that fulfilled the symbolic vision of the “angel flying in mid-heaven.” The destruction of the city of Rome, the over-throw of Christendom, and indeed the ushering in of the great Judgment Day, was proclaimed by many of the great nominal preachers. We quote one of the utterances of the most prominent of all the nominal preachers of that time:

“Our Redeemer desiring to find us ready and restrain us from love of the world, predicted the evils that are to attend its (the world’s) old age, and the calamities that are to immediately precede its termination, that if we are not inclined to regard him with awe and tranquility, we may at least when his judgment is nigh, feel a fear of being overwhelmed by his strokes. That earthquakes have overwhelmed numerous cities, you learn as often as you hear from other quarters of the world. We have pestilences without cessation. Signs, indeed in the sun and in the moon and in the stars, we have not yet beheld, but that they are not far distant we may infer from the change that has taken place in the air. Indeed, before Italy was given up to be smitten by the Gothic sword, we saw fiery armies battling in the heavens and the blood itself gleaming which was afterwards shed of the human race. And though no new commotion of the sea has hitherto arisen, yet as most of the signs foretold are already fulfilled, there is no doubt that the few that remain are to follow Moreover, we wish you to know that the end of the present world is nigh. And as the end of the world approaches many things impend which had not occurred before, such as changes of the air, terrific appearances in the sky, unseasonable tempests, wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and these signals of the end of the world precede it, that we may be found solicitous for our souls, looking for the hour of death, and prepared for the coming Judge” (Gregory the Great, Homilies and Epistles).

These words are the utterances of the one who occupied the Papal throne from 590 to 604; the one who was looked up to as representing the Redeemer himself, and whose words were echoed and re-echoed throughout the nominal heavens in those times.

The events symbolized by the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets, like those preceding, cover great periods of time. Indeed all of the trumpets refer to man’s doings, except the seventh, and all but the first two portray the rise and progress of false religious systems that continue to the full end of the Age. The great preachers of those times (the Sixth Century) had so far departed from the true faith that they had lost sight altogether of the real purpose of this age — that of the selection and development of the Church. Their appeals were to mankind at large. They endeavored to move them through fear of awful judgments — even that the end of the world was nigh — to become Christ’s followers. Their interpretations of the character of the great Day of Judgment were very far from the truth, as many Bible students recognize.

However, as those important events symbolized by the trumpets were gradually unfolded in history, the Lord’s consecrated ones began in a measure to understand their significance. The Reformers of the Sixteenth Century understood some of these visions of the Revelation quite clearly; and now, having reached a time when nearly their whole history has been spread out before us, we are enabled to see the fulfillment of nearly all of them very clearly.

In beginning the exposition of what we believe is the fulfillment of the fifth trumpet symbols we will consider first what the symbols themselves signify, seem to point to, or require. Hence we make the following observations:

(1) In a general way the chief symbol portrays the rise or beginning of a false religion; and as Papacy’s rise has already been described in the symbols of the third and fourth trumpets, this false religion is evidently an entirely new one. This is seen in that it originates from a “star” that St. John saw as having fallen from heaven to the earth. A “fallen star” as already pointed out generally represents a false teacher.

(2) That it is a false religion instigated by this “fallen star” (teacher) is also evident in that smoke is represented in symbol as proceeding from the “pit of the abyss,” which is opened by the “fallen star” (teacher). The term “abyss” is found in several places in the Scriptures. It occurs four times in the Revelation and once in the Gospel of Luke (8:31, see Diaglott). In Revelation 11:7 and 17:8 it is stated that the symbolic “beast” comes from the “abyss.” The “beast” referred to in these two Scriptures is evidently the Papacy. In Revelation 20:1,3, where the word is translated “bottomless pit,” Satan is represented as being cast into the “abyss,” and placed under restraint for a thousand years. While we may not apprehend all that is implied in the words abyss and pit, a careful comparison of these Scriptures and their contexts we believe reveals that these terms, as symbols, are intended to describe a general state or condition rather than some particular place or locality, and would seem to signify complete restraint in a debased, degraded, depraved, and darkened condition of mind — restrained in a state of total spiritual darkness and uncertainty. Being without bottom would speak of the fact that those in this state have no basis of hope, nothing substantial in the way of a sure footing or foundation on which to rest their souls — a state of hopelessness and complete obscurity. This is somewhat the condition of fallen angels or spirits who are said by St. Peter to be cast down to Tartarus (mistranslated hell, 2 Peter 2:4), which is generally understood to be the region round about the earth, to which St. Paul also makes reference: “Because our conflict is not with blood and flesh, but with the governments, with the authorities, with the potentates of this darkness, with the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenlies” (Ephesians 6:12).

However, we would not say that the fallen angels are really in the pit or abyss condition of utter spiritual darkness and hopelessness, for we read of the demons who were cast out of the man of Gadara by the Savior, that they besought him that they might not “go out into the abyss,” indicating that they were fearful of getting into that condition. In addition to the above suggestions we believe the Scriptures justify the thought that the pit or abyss may properly stand for all cunning devices, philosophies, and sophistries which are the work of depraved fallen spirits, and in general all the occult and unseen powers of darkness, in the sense that all of these tend toward the state of total spiritual darkness and hopelessness.

(3) In view of the foregoing it is seen that the fallen star of Revelation 9:1 who received the key of the abyss would seem to refer to some eminent false leader or teacher who by reason of his peculiar temperament and environment was endowed with a disposition to investigate and inquire into the occult, and to receive suggestions from the unseen powers of darkness, by which there was developed a new false religious system. And this is in line with the Scriptural presentation of the matter, namely that all religious deceptions, delusions, and impostures have their origin from Satanic sources, and in common parlance would be spoken of as proceeding from the “pit.” Thus is fulfilled the requirements of this particular feature of the symbolism of this fifth trumpet.

(4) That it represents a false religion is further seen from the fact that when the “pit” was opened by this “fallen star” (teacher), “smoke” was seen to proceed from it. Smoke, when employed as a symbol, has more than one significance. When described as proceeding from fire, it usually represents the thought of remembrance, as in Revelation 14:11, where we have portrayed in symbol the destruction of the evil systems of earth in a great time of trouble. The teaching of this Scripture seems to be that just as smoke is a continual reminder that there has been a fire, so the lessons of the great time of trouble symbolized by the fire will never be forgotten by mankind. However, in this vision of the fifth trumpet, where smoke is represented as hindering or obscuring the sight, particularly as shutting out the light of the sun, it represents gross errors and deceptions which obscure or darken the understanding of God’s Word.

(5) The next significant symbol is that of the breeding of an immense swarm of locusts, as we read: “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” (Revelation 9:3). “Locusts,” spoken of sometimes in the Old Testament as grasshop- pers, everywhere in the Scriptures represent invading, hostile armies. These insects in the Eastern countries always appear in large companies, and from their destructive qualities are considered as enemies of mankind, producing woes, disasters, etc. In Jeremiah 46:23 we read: “Cut down the forests [her peoples in cities] saith Jehovah that it may not be found in searching, although they surpass the locusts in multitude and they are without number.” Again in Nahum 3:15-17 we have a reference: “There shall the fire devour thee … it shall devour thee as the locust, the crowned princes are as the numerous locusts.”

A Jewish Rabbi (Tanchum) has said in commenting on Joel 1:4-6 where a locust plague is pictured:

“It is in no way unreasonable to affirm that in the things related (in the text) concerning the nature of locusts and their actions, there is a parabolic expression of the invasion of enemies, their multitude and devastation and ruin of a country.”

Josephus has said: “As after locusts we see the woods stripped of their leaves so in the rear of Simon’s army, nothing but devastation remains.”

Again we are assisted in the elucidation of this symbol by the information that locusts breed in the earth. Pliny says: “This insect has its name in Hebrew from Geb, Goeb, or Geba, which signifies a pit, ditch, or pool.” It should be kept in mind, however, that “though they are called locusts, because in their general appearance and in the ravages they commit they resemble them, yet in the main they are imaginary creatures, and combine in themselves qualities which are never found united in reality.” These symbolic locusts are said to proceed from the smoke that comes out of the pit of the abyss.

(6) The fulfillment in history of these symbolic locusts would further require that the armies symbolized would become a woe to all the inhabitants of earth where these invasions occur; but very specially to apostate Christians, the men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Furthermore, it would be required that this woe would not be so much that of killing them, but rather of tormenting them; the torment being the infliction of the sting of the false religion that animates these armies in their conquest.

(7) The fulfillment of these invasions by the symbolic locust armies would require also that they run the usual course of conquerors, as locusts continue while they live to devour the grass and the trees. Locust plagues usually last about five months. One has said: “Locusts are produced in the spring, they die at the end of the summer, nor do they usually live longer than five months.” It may also be interpreted to mean that the “five months” would represent symbolical time, which would be one hundred and fifty years.

In a general way then we would say that the symbolism of the fifth trumpet requires that we look for its fulfillment in a great false religious system that emanates from Satanic sources, and that gradually increases its influence and power over large numbers of the human family. We would further expect it to merge into a political power and attain great success in the propagation of this false religion by the force of armies; the one supreme motive in their conquests being that of bringing the peoples of earth to embrace this religion. Natural locusts are always used as a symbol of desolation and destruction. The effects of the armies of men, symbolized by these unnatural locusts, however, would be more to vex, trouble, and bring torment to men rather than to desolate vine- yards, olive yards, and fields of grain.

In examining the records of history to locate the time of the fulfillment of this vision, it will be helpful to note its connection with the events of the previous trumpets. In our expositions of the first four trumpets we found that they had all either been fulfilled or begun their fulfillment when the early part of the Sixth Century was reached. The third trumpet symbol describes the rise of the Papacy and its embittering or poisoning the waters of Truth; the fourth describes its darkening of the “blessed hope” of the Church by distorting and misapplying the prophecies concerning the same. We remind the reader that the events of the third and fourth trumpets have continued throughout the entire Gospel Age, since their beginning in the opening of the Sixth Century (539 AD). The Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, and other reform movements since, have in a measure brought back the light of Truth (cleansed the Sanctuary), and now having reached the period of the close of the age, when fuller knowledge is to be given, an understanding of these matters in the light of history becomes more lucid.

Opening of the Abyss

The events of history portrayed in the symbols of this fifth trumpet should therefore be expected subsequent to the year 539 AD. It will not require a very extensive searching of history to discover the event which all historians are agreed has exerted almost as powerful an evil influence over mankind as Papacy itself. This event, and those things which grew out of it, fill perfectly all the requirements of this fifth trumpet symbol, which without doubt is a complete description of the empire of the Saracens or of the rise and progress of the religion and the empire set up by Mohammed.

Immediately upon the advent of Mohammed into the religious realm, the claim was advanced that he was especially called of God to proclaim a new religion, as a result of which he had phenomenal success in securing converts. With undaunted courage and determination he carried out his declaration that it was the will of God that the new faith should be spread by the sword. The symbolism describes not only his career, but that of his Saracenic followers who, inspired by this false religion and its supposed rewards, attempted to subjugate the world to the Mohammedan faith.

Some have objected to the application of a fallen star to any other than a fallen apostate Christian teacher. We answer this objection in the words of Mr. Lord, who wrote in 1846:

“It is the office of a fixed star to give light, but not of a meteor generated in the atmosphere, which but gleams for a moment and then explodes and sinks to the earth. This star was of the latter kind, manifestly from the fact that it had fallen— not a sun of some other system, like the twinkling orbs that stud our evening sky; and its descent to the earth simply denotes its violent migration or dejection to a new scene of agency. It is regarded by others as a proof that Mahomet is not among the agents denoted by this star, that he had not filled any conspicuous station, either civil or religious, anterior to his assumption of the prophetic office and collection of a small band of disciples, at Mecca. But no such previous rank was requisite to constitute him a meteor. He became such by the generation of his religious system, and gathered a train proportional to his own dimensions, by the conversion of the few relatives and associates who accompanied him on his ejection from Mecca. The descent of the meteor to the earth was a fit representation of his flight from that city to Medina. His opening the pit and emission of the smoke into the atmosphere, denote the promulgation of his doctrines at Medina; and its brooding on the surface and enveloping every object where it spread, the absoluteness with which his imposture took possession of the people and subjected them to his dominion.”

We will first note how the symbols fittingly describe the beginning of Mohammed’s career as the originator of the new religion. We quote the historian, who without being aware of it has recorded the events fulfilling this “sure word of prophecy”:

“Mahomet or Mohammed was born in the sacred city of Mecca in Arabia in the year 570 or 571. Till the age of forty he lived without exciting much remark, and was known as an able, rich, and enterprising merchant, honorable in his dealings and strictly truthful in all that he said. In his frequent retirements to a mountain cave for secret thought and study he developed a religious system of his own. He one day, at a meeting of his kinsmen, made the startling announcement that he had received a Divine revelation to reform the faith and practice of the whole Arabian nation. He taught that though both the Jewish and the Christian faith were sent from God, yet he himself had received a more perfect one than either. He now called upon all his friends and kinsmen to acknowledge his authority [a characteristic of most false teachers], forsake their idols, and worship the one and only true God” (Swinton, Outlines of the World’s History).

We quote another historian who mentions more particularly the preposterous self-exalted claims of this “fallen star” (teacher):

“Mohammed possessed a deeply religious nature, and it was his wont often to retire to a cave a few miles from Mecca and there spend long vigils in prayer. He declared that here he had visions in which the angel Gabriel appeared to him and made to him revelations which he was commanded to make known to his fellowmen. The sum of the new faith which he was to teach was this: ‘There is one God and Mohammed is His prophet’ ” (Myers’ History).

The International Encyclopedia describes more particularly the manner in which he received his revelations:

“He was forty years old when he received (as he claimed) the first Divine communication in the solitude of the mountain Hira, near Mecca. Gabriel appeared to him (he claimed) and in the name of God commanded him to ‘read,’ that is to preach the true religion and to spread it abroad by committing it to writing.”

The same authority tells us that he was naturally subject to epilepsy:

“What part his epilepsy had on his visions we are not able to determine. Certain it is that after long and painful solitary broodings, a something — not clearly known to himself — at times moved him with such fearfully rapturous vehemence that during his revelations he is said to have roared like a camel, and to have streamed with perspiration; his eyes turned red and the foam stood in his mouth.”

This authority goes on to say that he heard strange sounds and voices:

“The voices he heard were sometimes those of a bell, sometimes a man, sometimes they came in dreams or they were laid on his heart.”

By noting this historian’s account it will assist us further to an understanding of Mohammed’s condition of mind, which was moulded to a large extent by the religious influences that surrounded him before receiving his (so-called) “visions”:

“Waraka, one of his wife’s relatives, who had embraced Judaism, spoke to him of the Jewish doctrines and told him the story of the patriarchs and Israel, not so much as it is told in the Bible, but in the Midrash; and the gorgeous hues of the legendary poetry of the latter seem to have made as deep an impression upon Mohammed’s poetical mind as the doctrine of the unity of God and the morale — in its broad outlines — of the Old Testament, together with those civil and religious laws Scriptural and oral, which are either contained or fully developed in this record. Christianity exercised (also) a minor influence upon him and his spiritual offspring. All his knowledge of the New Testament, however, was confined to a few apocryphal [traditional] books; and with all the deep reverence before Jesus, whom, together with Moses, he calls the greatest prophet next to himself, his notions of the Christian religion and its founder were excessively vague.”

Concerning his character we quote again the Historian Myers:

“No character in all history has been the subject of more conflicting speculations than the Arabian prophet. By some, he has been called a self-deluded enthusiast, while others have denounced him as the boldest of impostors. We shall perhaps reconcile these discordant views if we bear in mind that the same person may in different periods of a long career be both.”

Smoke of Mohammedanism Darkens Sunlight

Concerning the influence that the religion he established has had upon humanity in beclouding the true Gospel, we note further the same historian’s observation:

“Many of the doctrines of Islam are most unfavorable to human liberty, progress, and improvement. It teaches fatalism, and thus discourages effort and enterprise. It allows polygamy and puts no restraint upon divorce, and thus destroys the sanctity of the family life. It permits slavery and fosters despotism. It inspires a blind and bigoted hatred of race and creed, and thus puts far out of sight the salutary truth of the brotherhood of man. Because of these and other scarcely less prominent defects in its teachings, Islam has proved a blight and a curse to almost every race embracing its sterile doctrines. Mohammedanism is, however, vastly superior to fetishism or idolatry, and consequently upon peoples very low in the scale of civilization, it has had an elevating influence. Thus upon the negro tribes of Central Africa, where it is today spreading very rapidly, it is acknowledged to have a civilizing effect.”

We have quoted the historian thus extensively that we may be able to appreciate the force of the symbolism employed under Divine inspiration to describe the origin, character, and influence of this baleful religion. Bible students who are familiar with the Scripture teaching concerning the influence the “wicked spirits” (fallen angels) have had in our world, have no difficulty in determining the origin of the visions and revelations of Mohammed. How fully and faithfully (although unconsciously), has the historian described the vision of the “star having fallen from the heaven to the earth,” to whom was given the key of the abyss, out of which proceeded smoke, darkening the air and sunlight.

“And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth” (Revelation 9:3).

It seems almost needless to say that the locust army represents the followers of Mohammed during the period of the conquests of the Saracens (Arabians) and the establishment of what is known as the great Saracenic Empire that existed intact for a period of nearly two centuries. A prophetic expositor, Thomas Newton, has truthfully said, with regard to the gathering of the symbolic locust army:

“The Arabians are properly compared to ‘locusts,’ not only because numerous armies are frequently so, but also because swarms of locusts often arise in Arabia; and also because in the plagues of Egypt, to which constant allusion is made in these trumpets, ‘the locusts’ (Exodus 10:13) are brought by an east wind, that is, from Arabia which lay eastward of Egypt; and also because in the book of Judges (7:12) the people of Arabia are compared to ‘locusts’ or grasshop- pers for multitude, for in the original the word for both is the same.”

Swinton, the historian, also informs us that “it was in the furnace blast of religious enthusiasm that the scattered tribes of Arabia were fused into one nation.” Mohammedanism, or the great apostasy of the East, rose in the beginning of the Seventh Century. It was in 622 AD that the flight of Mohammed took place.

This event forms the beginning of the Mohammedan calendar of today. He was received in Medina as a prophet and prince; the Historian Myers goes on to say: “His cause being warmly espoused by the inhabitants of Medina, Mahomet threw aside the character of an exhorter and assumed that of a warrior. He declared it to be the will of God that the new faith should be spread by the sword. Accordingly the year following the Hegira (622 AD) he began to attack and plunder caravans. The flames of sacred war were soon kindled. The reck- less confusion of his wild converts was intensified by the assurance of Mahomet that death met in fighting insured the martyr immediate entrance into Paradise. Within ten years from the assumption of the sword by Mahomet, Mecca had been conquered and the new creed established among all the tribes of Arabia.”

Concerning the rapid progress of Mohammedanism in its attempted conquest of the world, Mr. Guinness writes:

“Mohammedanism is one of those great movements which has impressed a new and lasting character on a vast number of the nations of the world. No power known in history ever wielded the scepter over a wider sphere than this has done. In less than a century (from its rise) Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Armenia, Asia Minor, Persia, part of India, Egypt, Numidia, Tripoli, Tanis, the Barbary States, Morocco, the African coasts as far as Niger, Spain, Sicily, Candia, Cyprus and even parts of Italy itself, had fallen under Saracenic sway and that sway extended not only to civil government but to religious faith as well.”

“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” (Revelation 9:4).

This is an evidence that these were not natural but symbolical locusts, for a characteristic of the natural locust is to destroy all vegetation, even to strip the trees of their leaves.

History records that the avowed object of the Saracenic hosts was to exterminate Christianity, and everywhere the corrupt and idolatrous form of Christianity with which only they were familiar, and which prevailed in all the countries invaded, succumbed before the onslaughts of these fanatical religious armies. The historian has recorded that in the first ten years of the Saracenic conquests of the Eastern Roman Empire, thirty-six thousand cities and castles were captured and four thousand churches were destroyed.

The command of verse 4 does not imply that none of the Lord’s truly consecrated ones would suffer from these incursions. It would be no violation of its meaning if some of these shared in the miseries of this Saracenic woe. The command is designed to describe more the pretended policy of the leaders of these armies. History records the fact that their conquests were made professedly not like those of ordinary warriors, as the desire for power, wealth, or the gratification of passion, but rather for the extermination of false worships, especially idolatry. They carried on all their wars under the pretense of propagating the worship of the one true God. It is true, however, that in the earlier stages of their conflicts, especially during Mohammed’s life, true Christians, who were not infected with the idolatrous form of Christianity, were exempted.

“And it was said to them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months” (Revelation 9:5).

This was fulfilled in the conversion of millions to the Mohammedan faith. It actually exterminated the idolatrous form of Christianity in Northern Africa, all except a feeble remnant of the Coptic Church in Egypt, and millions more of professed Christians have groaned under its cruel oppression, and destructive exactions. It extinguished altogether the idolatrous forms of the Gospel in the lands where true Christianity had its birth. The Saracenic power, and the Turkish power (professing the same false religion) that succeeded it, have trodden down Jerusalem for long centuries. The Saracenic host everywhere gave men the choice of three things, the Koran (their religious creed), tribute, or the sword, and in those days, usually the former was chosen.

“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” (Revelation 9:6).

It is not difficult to conceive of a state of things so terrible, one in which the distress is so intense, that human beings would look upon death as a relief, and they would look forward to it with a strong desire. In certain individual cases this has always been true, but the description here is of a time in history when, to a very wide extent, it would be true. History records that so terrible were the calamities or woes that came upon many of the inhabitants of the lands invaded by these Saracenic armies that it was literally true that men became weary of their lives.

The words, “The forms of the locusts were like horses prepared for war,” seem designed to express similarity in their appearance; that is, St. John could think of nothing else in human affairs to compare them with. In a general way, “their crowns, their faces, their hair, their teeth, their breastplates, were symbolic of their dispositions, or the characteristics of their agency, rather than descriptive of their persons, and denoted traits by which the Saracens were most conspicuously marked, a daring pretense to right, cunning, effeminateness, voracity and insensibility to the miseries of their victims.” The ravages of these Saracenic hosts covered the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire, principally.

We have already referred to a Scripture (Nahum 3:15-17) where the simile of crowns is employed: “The crowned princes are as the numerous locusts.” The crowns would symbolize the numerous kingdoms and dominions acquired by them in their conquests. They are represented as having teeth as the teeth of a lion. In the same manner Joel describes the locusts (Joel 1:6) as a nation whose teeth are as the teeth of lions, that is, strong to devour. They are spoken of as having “breastplates as it were breastplates of iron.” In this description reference is made to the hard shell or skin of the natural locust, which to them was their defensive armor. This figure is designed to describe the defensive, as the teeth describe the offensive arms of the Saracens. The sound of their wings denotes the general agitation, commotion, etc., which they caused, as also the swiftness of their conquests (see Joel 2:5).

They are three times compared to scorpions and to have had stings in their tails like the scorpions. This refers to the fact that the invaders were always followed by a train of men whose work was to spread the poison of their false degrading religion.

They are represented as having a king over them called the angel or messenger of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew was Abaddon, and in the Greek was Apollyon. All lexicographers are agreed that the meaning of this name is that of destroyer or exterminator. This evidently refers to Mohammed who was the instigator of all these desolating wars carried on in their endeavors to propagate their false religion. Mohammed, even after his death, continued to be their guide in the Koran, just as Christ is the Christian’s guide in the Scriptures.

We now come to consider the time feature connected with this locust woe. It is said that they were to “torment men five months,” or that “power was given them to torment men five months.” We have already noted that the usual length of time of a locust scourge was five months. One eminent expositor of the Revelation explains this to mean that “they continued their scorpion career as tormentors until, like the locusts, they had run the usual course of conquerors.

They ran their course through a period proportioned to that which nations usually run from conquest to indolence, and from luxury to decay.” However, believing the period to be symbolical, we note that it is not said that the duration of existence of this Saracenic power was five months, but rather that its power to torment men would cover that length of time. Understanding these months to be prophetic months, one hundred and fifty years would be the length of time of its aggressive warfare to propagate its false doctrines. And we learn from the historians that it was within that period that their successful conquests were made; after this time had passed they became divided, and their success ceased. Mr. Newton in his Dissertations on the Prophecies makes the statement:

“Read the history of the Saracens and you will find, that their greatest exploits were performed, their greatest conquests were made between the year 612 AD, when Mohammed first opened the bottomless pit (abyss) [put himself in contact with the powers of darkness] and began publicly to teach and propagate his imposture, and the year 762 AD, when the Caliph Almansor built Bagdad, to fix there the seat of his empire, and called it the city of peace. Syria, Persia, India, and the greater part of Asia; Egypt and the greater part of Africa; Spain and some parts of Europe were all subdued in the intermediate time. But when the Caliphs, who before had removed from place to place, fixed their habitation at Bagdad, then the Saracens ceased from their incursions and ravages like locusts, and became a settled nation; then they made no more such rapid and amazing conquests as before, but only engaged in common and ordinary wars like other nations; then their power and glory began to decline and their empire little by little to moulder away; and they had no longer, like the prophetic locusts, one king over them. Spain having revolted in the year 756 AD and set up another Caliph (successor of Mohammed) in opposition to the reigning house of Abbus.”

It is held by some that this vision of the fifth trumpet symbol applies to John Wesley and the Methodist Church movement. We believe it will be clearly recog- nized, however, in view of the foregoing that the Wesleyan movement did not to any extent fulfill the conditions of this vision, but that, as is conceded generally by Historical expositors, this fifth trumpet symbol had its fulfillment in the rise of the Mohammedan religion and the invasions of the Saracens or Arabians.

It is worthy of note that twenty-two out of twenty-six of the most noted Historical expositors of the Revelation are agreed in applying this fifth trumpet vision to the Mohammedan power.