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/161

 itself under these dynasties in the several kingdoms subject to the sway of the False Prophet. These details will come in their proper place in a future work, and we shall have occasion to glance at some of them in the course of the present treatise; but here our object must rather be as briefly as possible to lay our interpretation of the prophecy before our readers.

St. John continues (xiii. 2): "And the beast which I saw was like to a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his own strength and great power."

Now in this remarkable description of the Saracenic beast, it seems to me that the Prophet has given us a symbolical clue to ascertain where his power would chiefly be established. He describes the beast as made up of a strange conglomeration of three other beasts; he had the mouth of a lion, the body of a leopard, and the feet of a bear. Now it is impossible to read this description and not to remember Daniel's vision of the four beasts, which represented the four great monarchies. And if we turn to it, we shall find that the first Apocalyptic beast of St. John is compounded of the three first of the four beasts of Daniel.