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/282

 work. There is, however, one very important fact referred to in this prophecy, which is not noticed in those we have already considered. No sooner does the seventh angel pour out his vial upon the air, than St. John tells us a great earthquake ensued, "Such as never hath been since men were upon the earth."

Now, we have already seen, that by the term earthquake, we should understand war. The war, then, which ensues after "the gathering of the kings of the earth to battle," is to be the most terrible and the most destructive war that has ever been since men first met each other on the field of battle. One of the results of this conflict St. John describes to be the division of the great city into three parts. By this expression I believe he means, that the civilized world will be divided into three parts: in what way this will be fulfilled, it is not for us to conjecture, but time will show. One thing is clear, St. John tells us that this tripartite division of the civilized world will immediately precede the destruction of the mystic Babylon.—(See ver. 19). But in the twentieth verse there is a very remarkable expression: "And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." This would seem to denote the destruction of all insular powers, of every vestige of provincial and communal government, every power being absorbed into the general despotic centralizing force, ruling the whole, and levelling everything that had heretofore diversified the body politic, as we see mountains diversifying the physical landscape.