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/141

 hold the fruits of Divine grace, and the consequent joy of angels, but he hears the dismal cry of woe. "Woe to the earth, and to the sea." That is, "Woe to the earth," woe to that beautiful work of God's creation, this planet of ours, which the devil hates because it was to be the dwelling-place of that great mystery, the Incarnation of the Son of God. And "Woe unto the sea," that is mankind, for, as we have already seen, St. Jerome, following the instruction of the angel, interprets "the sea" to signify mankind tossed about by the winds of trial and temptation, And why is this woe uttered? "Because the devil is come down" (Apoc. xii. 12), "having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time." For although to us poor mortals it may seem a long time that Satan has been trying and persecuting the Church, it is but a short time in he estimation of God, when compared with eternity. And short in the estimation of Satan also, when he compares it with that miserable and never-ending future to which he looks forward, For short indeed is the space of two or three thousand years, when compared with countless millions of millions of ages, destined to usher in similar periods for all eternity, world without end.

The comparison is almost too fearful to con-