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/162

 The lion or lioness represented the Assyrian or Babylonian empire; the bear, the Medo-Persian; and the leopard, the Greek empire of Alexander the Great.

Now it is a fact, fully borne out by history, that it was precisely of the provinces formerly subject to these very empires that the Saracenic empire was composed; and, what is more remarkable still, these provinces bore a relation to the Mahometan empire completely analogous to the position assigned to each of these three beasts in the Saracenic beast.

Thus his mouth is said to be that of a lion. Now in every animal the expression of the will is manifested by its voice or mouth, so that in a symbolical beast the mouth would represent the seat of the voice that governed its movements, and that expressed its will; in other words, it would represent its principal seat of government. Now what was this in the Saracenic empire? It was Bagdad, that is, the chief city of the Caliphs, situated in the province of Babylon, which was the capital of the old Assyrian empire symbolized in Daniel by the lion. In other words, its mouth was that of a lion, that is, its seat of government was in the chief province of the old Assyrian empire. Moreover, as this empire was not only a political but a religious power, and as its