Smoke is an appropriate representative of error, and symbolizes the
Mohammedan doctrines; which, like the smoke of a great furnace, were
disseminated far and wide, subverting the religion, and, in time,
effecting the overthrow of the remaining portion of the Roman empire—the
sun, one-third of which was smitten under the fourth trumpet.
The locusts were generated in the smoke from whence they issued. In a
corresponding manner, the spread of Mohammedanism resulted in the
organization of hordes of Saracens, who propagated the religion of the
false prophet by the sword, and founded the famous Arabian empire, which
extended from the Atlantic ocean to the river Euphrates.
The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for battle; and the
Saracenic hordes, thus symbolized, were mounted horsemen, famous for the
swiftness of their flight or pursuit, and ever ready for the contest.
Their crowns, faces, hair, teeth, breast-plates, &c., seem to be
indicative of their personal appearance: on their heads they wore yellow
turbans, like coronets; their demeanor was grave and firm; their hair,
like that of women, was suffered to grow uncut; they were defended by the
cuirass or breast-plate; and in rushing to battle, their onset was like
that of chariots and many horses.
They had a king over them, named Abaddon in the Hebrew, and Apollyon in
the Greek, both of which signified the Destroyer. The Saracens
acknowledged the authority of Mohammed during the whole period of their
conquests; not only recognizing him as their prophet and king during his
lifetime, but his successors, after his death, considered and called
themselves Mohammed’s _Caliphs_, or _Vicars_.
Their mission was not against the grass, green things, and trees, but had
express reference to the men who had _not_ the seal of God in their
foreheads. The antithesis here expressed, shows that by the former were
symbolized the servants of God, and that these locust-warriors were
particularly commissioned against infidels and apostates. Christians were
not to be molested; and provision was made for their protection, in the
circular letter which Abubekir sent to the Arabian tribes, A. D. 633. He
said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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