"He

have been defigned in this part of the prophecy, an image of the fubfidence of the afflictions caufed by the locufts, fimilar to that contained in Daniel's account of the end of this power; "fhall be broken without a hand." Where appear to be prefigured, not only the mode in which that extenfive Empire. dwindled, as it were, away, after its first divifion, while the true fucceffours of the impoftor became in time mere fhadows, but, as in the prophetic defcription of a period we generally find the characteriflics of it, moft deeply impreffed on the perfon in whom it commences, the perfonal fall of Mahomet himfelf is very ftrongly marked: This blafphemous pretender to revelation, whofe name made thoufands tremble, and who occafioned a revolution in fo large a portion of the globe, being fatally brought to his death, not by the fword of the brave, or the arm of the mighty, but by poison ("more

("more ignominious, obferves Mr. Gibbon, fince it was offered as a test of

his prophetic knowledge,") given him by a Jewish female, through the mean of a fhoulder of mutton!

After the relation of the events of the fecond trumpet we read, "the fecond woe, is paft, behold, the third woe cometh quickly!" The difference betweenthis denunciation, and that uttered on the conclufion of the first woe,

one

woe is past; behold there come two "more woes hereafter," evidently indicates, that between the ceafing of the firft and the commencement of the fecond woe, there fhould be fome interval, with which intimation the event accurately correfponded: Since the power prefigured by the four angels, bound on the Euphrates did not invade the territories of the Empire till fome centuries had elapfed fince the ceffation of

the ravages of the Saracens: The Turks indeed of another tribe had made their irruption fooner, according to the words of Daniel; in whofe eleventh chapter all the powers that have proceeded to Judoca from the North, are characterized under the general title of the King of the North. But the evangelift notices only that particular nation, whofe firmly eftablished Empire has lafted even until the present day; and will continue nearly to the founding of the laft trumpet. The terms in which the former fpeaks, claim therefore our attention first, after predicting the attack of the King of the South, as already stated*;

He

In confidering the particular prophecy of Mahomet, to whofe power the application of the King of the South is remarkably warranted, that impoftor I have obferved, is in chap. 8th described under

the

He rapidly proceeds," and the King of the North fhall come

66

66

against him like a whirlwind, with chariots and with horfemen, and

with many fhips; and he fhall "enter into the countries, and fhall "overflow and pafs over. He fhall "enter alfo into the glorious land "and many countries fhall be over"thrown; but thefe fhall efcape out of "his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and "the chief of the children of Ammon, "he fhall ftretch forth his hand also on the countries, and the Land of Egypt fhall not escape. But hé fhall have

1

the figure of a little barn, and here his affault is reprefented by the act of an horned beaft," the " King g of the South fall pusk at him." Where in the Hebrew the very fame term is employed which in 2 st of Exod. v. 29, is tranflated "push "with his horn." latent hints like this, manif the connection, and what we may properly call, the Unity of prophecy.

M 3.

feft

power

"

power over the treasures of gold and "of filver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: And the Lybians "and the Ethiopians fhall be at his "steps."

The woe of the locufts began to fubfide in the latter part of the 8th. century the foundation of Bagdad, or the city of peace, as the Saracens called it, being laid in 762, when 150 years were, fully complete; Mahomet having begun to preach at Mecca according to Mr. Gibbon in 609, when Ali then a lad replied to his demand" who would "be his companion or Vizir ?" In the following terms fo characteristic of the bloody violence with which the Koran was afterwards propagated; "O prophet, I am the man: Whofoever rises

against thee, I will dafh out his teeth, "tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip

up his belly; O prophet, I will be thy

" vizir