nimity 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."* "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."t "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 • Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 361, c. 50. † Ib. ix. pp. 500—502, c. 51. 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 their 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 be mighty, and he shall destroy_wonderfully, and shall prosper and practise, &c. Dan. viii. 23, 24. And there went out another horse that was red (another religion, and of an opposite character, than the Christian;) and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and there was given unto him a great sword. Rev. vi. 4. That the Saracens acted up to the character of a woe, may receive, though scarcely requiring, a specific illustration. "Their service in the field was speedy and vigorous, it was an easier task to excite than to disarm these roving barbarians; and in the familiar intercourse of war, they learned to see and to despise the splendid weakness both of Rome and of Persia. From Mecca to the Euphrates, the Arabian tribes were confounded by the Greeks and Latins, under the general name of SARACENS, a name which every Christian mouth has been taught to pronounce with terror and abhorrence." + * Gibbon's Hist. vol. x. pp. 1, 2. chap. 52. Ibid. vol ix. pp. 382, 383, c. 51. A still more specific illustration may be given, of the power, like unto that of scorpions, which was given them. Not only was their attack speedy and vigorous, but the nice sensibility of honour, which weighs the insult rather than the injury, sheds its deadly venom on the quarrels of the Arabs :-an indecent action, a contemptuous word, can be expiated only by the blood of the offender; and such is their patient inveteracy, that they expect whole months and years the opportunity of revenge."* 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, ver. 4. On the sounding of the first angel, the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up, chap. viii. v. 7. It was in the conflagration of the whole country that the aged Claudian saw and lamented the sure fate of his contemporary trees; and the pastures of Gaul, with the well-cultivated farms on the banks of the Rhine, were suddenly changed into a desert, distinguished only from the solitude of nature by the smoking ruins. The consuming flames of war spread over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul. Such, in that respect, is the testimony of Gibbon; and no less clearly does he illustrate the directly opposite fact, which as remarkably distinguished the incursions of the Saracens. They were a permanent woe—and the smoke of the great furnace, from the bottomless pit, passed not away like the storm of hail and of fire. The sons of the desert sought to claim and to keep as their own the fairest portions, if not the whole, of Asia and of Europe. They tormented men even as scorpions; they were a woe, the more dreadful that it was enduring; but, though issuing from the same * Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 238, c. 50. region, they were, in striking contrast, unlike to locusts who destroy every green thing on every spot on which they alight, and the first woe bore no resemblance, in that same respect, to the first trumpet. No sooner had Abubeker (A. D. 632) restored the unity of faith and government, than he despatched a circular letter to the Arabian tribes. "This is to acquaint you that I intend to send the true believers into Syria to take it out of the hand of the infidels, and I would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of obedience to God.' His messengers returned with the tidings of pious and martial ardour, which they had kindled in every province; the camp of Medina was successively filled with the intrepid bands of the Saracens, who panted for action, complained of the heat of the season and the scarcity of provisions, and accused, with impatient murmurs the delays of the caliph. As soon as their numbers were complete, Abubeker ascended the hill, reviewed the men, the horses and the arms, and poured forth a fervent prayer for the success of their undertaking. His instructions to the chiefs of the Syria were inspired by the warlike fanaticism, which advances to seize, and affects to despise the objects of earthly ambition. Remember,' said the successor of the prophet, that you are always in the presence of God, on the verge of death, in the assurance of judgment, and the hope of Paradise: avoid injustice and oppression; consult with your brethren, and study to preserve the love and confidence of your troops. When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women or children. Destroy No palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make any covenant or article, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way; let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries; and you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure you cleave their sculls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mahometans or pay tribute."* * Gibbon's History, vol. ix. pp. 379-381, c. 51. It is not said in prophecy or in history that the more humane injunctions were as scrupulously obeyed as the ferocious mandate. But it was so commanded them. And the preceding are the only instructions recorded by Gibbon, and given by Abubeker to the chiefs whose duty it was to issue the commands to all the Saracen hosts. The commands are alike discriminating with the prediction; as if the caliph himself had been acting in known as well as direct obedience to a higher mandate than that of mortal man—and in the very act of going forth to fight against the religion of Jesus, and to propagate Mahometanism in its stead, he repeated the words which it was foretold in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, that he would say. 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. The only mark for the lance was the badge of the priest and of the monk. The order which superstition exalted, was made, by an opposite and wild fanaticism, the very butt of the woe. In these times, as in every age, there were some who had the seal of God in their foreheads: and though they were subjected to trials and persecution because of their faith, yet the avengers of idolatry, the rod stretched forth against the guilty which cleft the sculls of those who were not sealed, did not reach the place where they were, nor touch a hair of their heads. After the conquest of Spain, when the Saracens, having passed the Pyrenees,“ "proceeded without delay to the passage of the Rhone," which brought them near to the borders of Piedmont, and the valleys of the Waldenses, and when more than half the kingdom of France was in their hands, the * Gibbon's History, vol. x. p. 22. c. 52. |