less pit, from whence an imposture, which manifests its origin from the "father of liars," spread over the greater part of the world. 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. Like the noxious and even deadly vapour which the winds, particularly from the south-west, diffuse in Arabia, Mahometanism spread from hence its pestilential influence and arose as suddenly, and spread as widely, as smoke arising out of the pit, the smoke of a great furnace. Such is a suitable symbol of the religion of Mahomet, of itself, or as compared with the pure light of the gospel of Jesus. It was not, like the latter, a light from heaven; but a smoke out of the bottomless pit. The apologist of Mahometanism, whose writings called forth an apology for Christianity, confesses that, with powers of eloquence, "Mahomet was an illiterate barbarian, whose youth had never been instructed in the arts of reading and writing.”* And he rightly characterises the Koran as an "endless incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which seldom excites a sentiment or an idea, which sometimes crawls in the dust, and is sometimes lost in the clouds."+ Such, as Gibbon has almost said, is the smoke which obscured or darkened, but could not enlighten the world. His were dark sentences. And the propagation of his faith was the plea for the use of his sword, and the pretence for the extension of his kingdom. He maintained the character of a prophet and a king. "Mahomet was alike instructed to preach and to fight; and the union of these opposite qualities, while it enhanced his merit, contributed to his success; the operation of force and * Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 257, c. 50. +Ibid. p. 269. persuasion, of enthusiasm and fear, continually acted on each other, till every barrier yielded to their irresistible power."* "The first caliphs ascended the pulpit to persuade and edify the congregation."f "While the state was exhausted by the Persian war, and the church was distracted by the Nestorian and Monophysite sects, Mahomet, with the SWORD in one hand, and the KORAN in the other, erected his throne on the ruins of Christianity and of Rome. The genius of the Arabian prophet, the manners of his nation, and the spirit of his religion, involve the causes of the decline and fall of the eastern empire; and our eyes are curiously intent on one of the most memorable revolutions which have impressed a new and-most lasting character on the nations of the globe.”‡ Mahomet, it may be said, has heretofore divided the world with Jesus. He rose up against the Prince of princes. A great sword was given him. His doctrine, generated by the spirit of fraud and enthusiasm, whose abode is not in the heavens, as even an unbeliever could tell, arose out of the bottomless pit, spread over the earth like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. It spread from Arabia, over great part of Asia, Africa, and Europe. The Greeks of Egypt, whose numbers could scarcely equal a tenth of the nation, were overwhelmed by the universal defection.§ And even in the farthest extremity of continental Europe, the decline of the French monarchy invited the attacks of these insatiate fanatics. The smoke that arose from the cave of Hera was diffused from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean. But the prevalence of their faith is best seen in the extent of their conquests. It was given to the last of the apostles of Jesus men who, as prophesied concerning them, knew their God, and instructed many, and suffered much, -prophetically to see and to describe, in the opposite character which they assumed and maintained, * Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 350. + Ibid. p. 434. +Ibid. P. 236. the robbers from the desert, who were "the apostles of Mahomet." 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. Ver. 3. A false religion was set up, which, although the scourge of transgressions and idolatry, filled the world with darkness and delusion; and swarms of Saracens, like locusts, overspread the earth, and speedily extended their ravages over the Roman empire, from east to west. The hail descended from the frozen shores of the Baltic; the burning mountain fell upon the sea, from Africa: and the locusts, (the fit symbol of the Arabs,) issued from Arabia, their native region. They came, as destroyers, propagating a new doctrine, and stirred up to rapine and violence by motives of interest and religion. "In the tumult of a camp, the exercises of religion were assiduously practised; and the intervals of action were employed in prayer, meditation, and the study of the Koran. Such was the spirit of the man, or rather of the times, that Caled, the foremost leader of the Saracens, who was called the sword of God,-professed his readiness to serve under the banner of the faith, though it were in the hands of a child or an enemy. Glory, riches, and dominion, were indeed promised to the victorious Mussulman; but he was carefully instructed, that if the goods of this life were his only incitement, they likewise would be his only reward.”* The hosts of the Saracens were armies of fanatics. They came out of the smoke, as locusts, upon the earth. Their faith was associated with their arms; and their success corresponded with their zeal. Their symbol, and the whole description of their character and acts, are in entire accordance with * Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 332. chap. 51. that of the king of the south (Dan. xi. 40.), and the vision and interpretation of the little horn of the hegoat, or the kingdom that arose at the time of the end when the transgressors came to the full,—as first exemplified by the Saracens. In introducing the history of Mahometanism, and interwoven with the personal history of Mahomet, Gibbon justly remarks, that "the Christians of the seventh century had insensibly relapsed into the semblance of paganism; their public and private vows were addressed to the relics and images that disgraced the temples of the east: the throne of the Almighty was darkened by a cloud of martyrs, and saints, and angels, the objects of popular veneration; and the Collyridian heretics, who flourished in the fruitful soil of Arabia, invested the virgin Mary with the name and honour of a goddess." Such was Christendom when the first woɛ arose. Like the storm of hail and fire, under the first trumpet, it came upon the earth. The rapidity and extent of the conquest of the Saracens is implied by other characteristics, and may be comprised in a single view. "In the victorious days of the Roman republic, it had been the aim of the senate to confine their consuls and legions to a single war, and completely to suppress a first enemy before they provoked the hostilities of a second. These timid maxims of policy were disdained by the magnanimity or enthusiasm of the Arabian Caliphs. With the same rigour and success they invaded the successors of Augustus and those of Artaxerxes; and the rival monarchies at the same time, became the prey of an enemy whom they had been so long accustomed to despise. In the ten years of the administration of Omar, the Saracens reduced to his obedience thirty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed four thousand churches or temples of the unbelievers, and edified fourteen hundred moschs, for the exercise of the religion of Mahomet. One hundred years after his flight from Mecca, the arms and the reign of his successors extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean."t * Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 261. "At the end of the first century of the Hegira, the caliphs were the most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe. The regal and sacerdotal characters were united in the successors of Mahomet. Under the last of the Ommiades, the Arabic empire extended two hundred days' journey from east to west, from the confines of Tartary and India to the shores of the Atlantic ocean. And if we retrench the sleeve of the robe, as it is styled by their writers, the long and narrow province of Africa, the solid and compact dominion from Fargana to Aden, from Tarsus to Surat, will spread on every side to the measure of four or five months of the march of a caravan. The progress of the Mahometan religion diffused over this ample space a general resemblance of manners and opinions: the language and laws of the Koran were studied with equal devotion at Sarmacand and Seville: the Moor and the Indian embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of Mecca; and the Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris."* "When the Arabs first issued from the desert, they must have been surprised at the ease and rapidity of their own success. (He shall destroy wonderfully, &c.) But when they advanced in the career of victory to the banks of the Indus and the summit of the Pyrenees; when they had repeatedly tried the edge of their scimitars, (a great sword was given him,) and the energy of their faith, they might be equally astonished that any nation could resist their invincible arms, that any boundary should confine the dominion of the successor of the prophet. The confidence of soldiers and fanatics may indeed be excused since the calm historian of the present hour, who strives to follow the rapid course of the Saracens, must study to explain by what means the church and state were saved from this impending, and as it should seem, from this inevitable danger," &c. "In the decline of society and art, the deserted city could supply a slender booty to the Saracens; their richest spoil was found in the churches and monasteries, which they stripped of their ornaments, and delivered to the flames: and the tutelary saints, both Hilary of Poitiers and Martin of Tours, forgot thair miraculous powers in the defence of their own sepulchres. A victorious line of march had been prolonged above a thousand miles, from the rock of Gibraltar to the banks of the Loire," &c. There came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, &c. When the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall * Gibbon's Hist. ix. pp. 500-502, c. 51. Ibid. vol. x. pp. 1, 2, chap. 52. Ibid. p. 23. |