This period, then, of “five months,” or one hundred and fifty days, would represent symbolically one hundred and fifty years.  As before stated, it was in the year A.D. 612 that Mohammed began to expound his doctrines publicly and to gather adherents around his standard, from which point the locusts commenced, although the smoke had been let out of the pit a little previously.  For a period of one hundred and fifty years from this date, they continued their ravages, until A.D. 762.  Then they “built Bagdad, which became their settled seat of empire; and henceforth they became a settled nation, making no further conquests.”  From that date their power began to decline.  But during this one hundred and fifty years they spread over the country like swarms of devouring locusts.  According to the well-known facts of history, “they overran Arabia, Palestine, Persia, Egypt, and the northern shores of Africa, from which they passed to the conquest of Portugal and Spain.”  These were the countries that had been the most oppressed by a priest-ridden church and where especially were to be found those “men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”  Europe was trembling and filled with apprehension at what her fate might be at the hands of these fanatic warriors who fought with savage fury, under the promise of their prophet that, if slain in battle, they should be immediately transported to Paradise.  At the zenith of their power, and confident of success, they passed from Spain into France four hundred thousand strong.  But here they exceeded their mission.  The southern provinces of France contained many Christians who had the “seal of God” upon them, and this country became the seat of the Waldenses and Albigenses, of which interesting people we shall learn more hereafter.  The invading host was met at Tours by Charles, grandfather of Charlemagne, who dealt them such a crushing blow that he was ever afterward designated by the surname Martel—­the Hammer.  This battle was one of the fiercest recorded in history.  The Saracens who had scarcely ever experienced defeat fought with the fury of despair, until, according to the accounts of that age, three hundred and seventy-five thousand of their number lay upon the field of battle with their general.  This decisive victory saved Europe from her threatened subjection to the Mohammedan faith.

The next point in the vision to claim our attention is the particular description of these locusts.  Some of the points mentioned might find a literal fulfilment in the personal appearance of the Saracens—­such as the crowns signifying the turbans they wore, etc., but we must adhere strictly to the symbolic mode of interpretation and look for their fulfilment in Saracen character.  Their being like war-horses denotes their warlike disposition.  The crowns on their heads signify their great success and triumphs.  Their faces of men and hair like women doubtless signify their boldness on the one hand and their effeminateness