Page:Mahometanism in its relation to prophecy - or, an inquiry into the prophecies concerning antichrist, with some reference to their bearing on the events of the present day (IA mahometanisminit00philrich).pdf/13

 who shall be made fit for it, while the misery of all the rest will be equally perfect in its kind, and, like the happiness of the redeemed, everlasting.

To satisfy, then, the cravings of mankind to dive into the future, God has given prophecy, and, like every other Divine gift, we ought to receive it with thankfulness and humility. It is no part of our present object to discuss the question of true as distinguished from apocryphal prophecy, or even that of the general test of true prophecies; we assume throughout the truth of the prophecies recorded in the Bible, and accepted by all Christians, whether Catholic or Protestant. We say, then, that God having given such a gift as prophecy, it is clear that He intended us to make use of it, and to profit by it; else we may surely infer the gift would not have been bestowed. Under this conviction, we find that good men in all ages of the Church, both before and after the coming of our Saviour, have made prophecy the subject of their studies, while they endeavoured by means of its light to read the purposes of God in what was passed and