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/279

 clean spirits was to gather the kings of the earth together to battle. What in the world has Tractarianism had to do with the present deplorable European complication, and the deadly conflict resulting from it?

No, there must be some other explanation better than this: and what may that be?

I understand by the three unclean spirits what I am now going to put before my reader. The spirit from the mouth of the dragon being evidently the spirit that now specially proceeds from the devil, must clearly represent that influence which we see most noxious and most prevalent at the present day, and as to this Dr. Cumming so far agrees with us in explaining this of the spirit of infidelity, which there can be no doubt is the most prevalent and most noxious influence now at work in this nineteenth century. This spirit might well be described by St. John as issuing from the mouth of the dragon, that is, of the devil.

The second spirit, which comes from the mouth of the beast, I conceive to be "the spirit of worldly policy." It comes from the mouth of the beast, that is, it comes from those who represent and direct the secular organization of mankind, that is, from the kings and potentates; for I have already shown that "the beast" symbolizes that "secular organization." This spirit of worldly policy calls upon the kings of the earth to wage war in behalf of "the integrity of the Ottoman empire," that is, in behalf of a power that has for centuries desolated the whole East, trodden Oriental