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/24

 "We have also a more sure word of prophecy, to which ye do well to give heed, as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day shine forth" (2 Peter i. 19–21); that is, until the event manifest its fulfilment; while we learn, from the same words, that the great object of prophecy, separate from that still higher one of serving as an evidence of revelation, is "to shine as a light in a dark place;" or, in other words, to enable the Christian to read the designs of God on the dark face of events.

Amongst all the various events foretold by the prophecies of God, there are two which appear to hold a place conspicuous amongst all the rest, and to which the others hold a subordinate relation : the first of these is the coming of the Messiah, that is, the Christ; the second is the coming of the Antichrist. Of these two great events we may say, that as, on the one hand, Almighty God has made every human event subservient to His great and glorious designs, manifested and accomplished in the incarnation of his Son, that is, in the coming of Christ; so, on the other, man's great enemy, Satan, has endeavoured to render the same subservient to that grand scheme which he devised to counteract the work of God, namely, the coming of Antichrist. Hence