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/133

 chodenozor, where it was said that the feet of the great statue "were partly of iron and partly of potter's clay" (Dan. ii. 33, 34): "Thus thou sawest, till a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands: and it struck the statue on the feet thereof that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces." And it was expressly revealed to Nabuchodonozor that this iron and clay signified the fourth empire, which was afterwards revealed to Daniel as the Roman empire, eventually to be subdivided into ten kingdoms. The Church's man-child is therefore evidently the sovereign pontiff, reigning from Rome over the Gentiles, and thus governing Messiah's spiritual kingdom. And whereas this man-child was said to be "taken up to God and to His throne," that may signify, that when the dragon stood before the woman to devour her child, he was taken up to the throne of God by martyrdom, for almost all the early popes, during the great Roman persecutions, laid down their lives for the testimony of Jesus, and so were taken up to the throne of God. But we shall see later, when this man-child began to rule the nations with his iron rod, that is, with his Roman sceptre, how that event is represented by another symbol.

But we must observe here an important