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/95

 perish by the sword:" and having said this He healed the wound of His mortal enemy. Christ came to minister unto the meanest of His followers, saying, "My kingdom is not of this world:" He had indeed a kingdom, but it was not a kingdom of flesh and blood, but of holiness, of peace, and of love. But the kingdom of Mahomet was one of earthly power (in all power): it was a kingdom of luxury and sensuality, in which it was permitted to men to indulge to the full in all the sins of the flesh, and in which he promised the same sensual enjoyments even in the life to come. Then the Man of Sin was to come, "in signs, and lying wonders." And could there be greater signs, than what God had given to His Church of the near coming of this Son of Perdition? Could there be a more striking sign, than the miraculous shaking of the crosses, which St. Theodore Siceotes explained to St. Thomas, the Patriarch of Constantinople, "as the sign of the immediate coming of the adversary?" Could there be a greater sign of the revelation of this Man of Sin, than the miraculous shaking of the cross? The cross of Christ trembled at the coming of Mahomet, and well might it seem to tremble, for Mahomet was its bitterest foe. The cross had redeemed the world, and the Koran of Mahomet was to undo the redemption of the cross. For three hours