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/249

 from a much earlier period than St. John in the Apocalypse, and assigns to it a much longer duration. This is indeed true, but there is no contradiction involved in the apparent discrepancy. Our Lord is foretelling the whole history of Jerusalem from his own time until the end of "the times of the Gentiles," whereas St. John is predicting a still further desecration of the Holy City, which was to take place very much later, in fact, several centuries afterwards, and which, from the identity of its duration with that assigned by Daniel and elsewhere by St. John himself to the anti-Christian desolation, viz., the prophetical 1260 days, we may confidently conclude to be that most fearful desecration of Jerusalem that took place in the year 636, when the Caliph Omar made himself master of Jerusalem, and erected his famous Mahometan mosque on the site of Solomon's Temple. Dating from this period, St. John tells us that the Holy City shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, that is, by the infidels, the enemies of God, for forty-two months, that is, for 1260 days or years.

Now it is a remarkable fact, as the learned author of a work we have more than once had occasion to refer to (La Fin des Temps, p. 117) has proved at length, the descendants of Israel who embraced the Christian faith were never