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/194

 and political system arose upon earth, the main object of which was to uproot the Gospel, and that this religious and political system was upheld by two vast and most powerful empires, which occupied the very territory, that all prophevy foretold would be held by Antichrist, and which certainly fulfilled to the letter, as we have shown, all that prophecy said that these powers would do. We, therefore, wind up what we have to say upon this thirteenth chapter of the Apocalypse with this conclusion, either the Saracenic and Turkish empires have fulfilled this prophecy, or it has never been fulfilled. Either this is the fulfilment, and it now belongs to the domains of past history, or we must look forward to some future and still more accurate fulfilment. But this alternative is singularly unlikely, for the very preface of the Apocalypse leads us to look for a speedy, although a gradual accomplishment of the prophecy; and when we reflect that it is now more than eighteen centuries since the Apostle wrote his revelation, and that at least these great facts of history singularly accord with the prophetic statements, we confess that we at least cannot doubt that they are its fulfilment, and that it is quite vain to expect or wait for any other. In our next chapter we