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/185

 of Life of the Lamb" … "saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the image of the beast that had the wound of the sword and lived;" that is, that all they who were seduced into the Mahometan apostacy by the great achievements of the Tartar Turks should constitute that mighty Turkish empire that was so lively an image of the Saracenic Mahometan empire, that empire which these very Turks had heretofore destroyed, while their own conversion to the creed of Mahomet had healed his deadly wound. And when the Prophet says, in the fifteenth verse, "And it was given to him to give life to the image of the beast, and that the image of the beast should speak," he well describes what terrible life and force these Turkish hordes imparted to Mahometanism, while the speaking of the image aptly denotes the impious preaching of Mahometan blasphemy which the Turkish power, as the image of the Saracenic empire, diffused amongst so large a portion of mankind. And when he says, "And he caused that whosoever will not adore the image of the beast should be slain," he well describes the bloody and implacable fury with which the Turks persecuted to death all who refused to accept the religion and polity of Mahomet; so that, as the follow-