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/186

 ing verse declares, "He maketh all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a mark in their right hand or on their forehead; and that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath the character or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." All these expressions aptly symbolize the conduct aid policy of the Turkish power. The giving a mark to the right hand and to the forehead signified the giving political power to the right hand to wield, and of authority to the mind for governing others; while the right of buying and selling symbolized the commoner rights of citizenship and the subordinate political privileges of ordinary subjects, which we know from history were inexorably denied by Mahometanism to any but its own votaries, Christians and all other religionists being reduced to the most abject slavery. Many authors have shown that this prophecy has had even a still more literal fulfilment, and explain it of the Mahometan turban, while they appeal to decrees of the Sultans actually forbidding the right of commerce to any but Mahometans. For my own part, however, I prefer the other more general interpretation, inasmuch as it agrees better with the general symbolical character of St. John’s prophecy.