“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 unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” Rev. 9:1-3. NOTES.—Attila is symbolized by the star of the third trumpet (Rev. 8:10, 11); Mohammed, by the star of this trumpet. The bottomless pit doubtless refers to the wastes of the Arabian desert, from which came forth the Mohammedans, or Saracens of Arabia, like swarms of locusts. The darkening caused by the smoke from this pit fitly represents the spread of Mohammedanism and its doctrines over Asia, Africa, and portions of Europe. Their power as scorpions is strikingly seen in their vigorous and speedy attacks upon, and overthrow of, their enemies. “Over a large part of Spain, over north Africa, Egypt, Syria, Babylonia, Persia, north India, and portions of Central Asia were spread—to the more or less perfect exclusion of native customs, speech, and worship—the manners, the language, and the religion of the Arabian conquerors.”—_Myers’s __“__General History,__”__ page 401._ 10. What command was given these locusts? “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.” Verse 4. NOTES.—When the Arabian tribes were gathered for the conquest of Syria, 633 A.D., the caliph Abu-Bekr, the successor of Mohammed, instructed the chiefs of his army not to allow their victory to be “stained with the blood of women and children;” to “destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn;” to “cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle;” and to spare those religious persons “who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God in that way;” but, he said, “you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns: be sure you cleave their skulls and give them no quarter till they either turn Mohammedan or pay tribute.” In this, Mohammedanism, itself a false religion, is revealed as a scourge to apostate Christianity. “In a short time they [the Mohammedan Saracens] had taken from the Aryans all the principal old Semitic lands,—Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Babylonia. To these was soon added Egypt.”—_Encyclopedia Britannica, article __“__Mohammedanism.__”_ 11. What were these locusts said to have over them?