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/259

 the greater part of them. Nor is it visionary to apprehend such a catastrophe. Look at the principles of socialism, that are at work in France, and in other countries; look at Mormonism, that is every day becoming more formidable in America, and even in Europe; look at the general spread of atheism and infidelity; look at the horrible war that has broken out, one-half of Christendom aiming at the destruction of the other half for the express purpose of upholding the Mahometan empire, which is, in fact, Mahometanism. And who shall say when this overwhelming persecution may not break out?

The Prophet continues, "And their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." By these words we understand that this persecution will extend all over the mystic Babylon, that is, through every country in the world, in the streets and highways of human civilization. Wherever these are, there will be seen slaughtered priests and monks, who will lay down their lives for the testimony of Jesus; and in a figurative sense, the different bodies of the clergy will be as it were annihilated or reduced to a very low ebb. Some have thought, from one expression in this text, that the "great city" must mean