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/181

 he executed all the power of the former beast in his sight;" that is, whatever had been done by the Saracens is now repeated over again by the Turks and Tartars. “And he caused the earth, and them that dwell therein, to adore the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed;" that is, he caused the children of perdition, symbolized by "the earth, and them that dwell therein," to adore, that is, to venerate and accept the religious system of the first beast, that is, the religion and political system of Mahomet, whereby the deadly wound occasioned by the destruction of the Saracenic empire, that is, of the first Apocalyptic beast, was healed. In Scripture the term, or to adore or worship, is not exclusively confined, as it is by our modern English, to the expression of Divine worship, but it signifies that homage and reverence which men are wont to give to any form or semblance of authority, whether true or false, Hence, in the passage before us, it need not mean any Divine worship paid to Mahomet, or still less to the Sultans who represented him, for all such Divine worship is expressly disclaimed by Mahometans, and therefore not to be charged upon them, but it signifies the allegiance, spiritual and temporal, which they pay to the false system of that