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/266

 That these destructive influences will one day be removed, we have the consoling assurance of the same prophecy, but not until they have done their work, and absolutely annihilated the whole fabric of the hollow and deceitful civilization of mankind, as it exists at present. It is this great consummation, which the Prophet refers to, when he says (ver. 20), "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath judged your judgment upon her." And well might the heaven and its angelic inhabitants, well might the apostles and prophets rejoice over the destruction of this accursed Babylon, for (ver. 24) "in her was found the blood of the prophets and the saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." Now these last words clearly and incontestably prove what, and where, this mystic Babylon is. It is the city of the devil, the "mundus tenebrarum" of which St. Augustine speaks, mankind, in a word, organized, ruled over, and civilized upon the principles of the devil, not of God; that great mass of humanity, into which, like three measures of meal, Holy Church was to cast the Gospel leaven, till the whole should be leavened. Now what is the process that takes place in the leavening of bread? it is a fermenting process, which makes the whole mass heave and rise,