its founder against the divine author of the Christian religion. The impostor allowed Jesus the Son of Mary to be a prophet; but he maintained that he himself was a greater prophet, and that the Koran was destined to supersede the Gospel. He taught his infatuated disciples, that" the piety of Moses and of Christ rejoiced in the assurance of a future prophet, more illustrious than themselves and that the evangelic promise of the Paraclete or Holy Ghost, was prefigured in the name, and accomplished in the person of Mohammed, the greatest and last of the Apostles of God."* Thus destroying the mighty hosts of the rival nations of Rome and Persia, murdering and harassing the now degenerate people of the Holy Ones, taking away the daily sacrifice of prayer and praise, polluting the spiritual sanctuary,† and magnifying itself even against the prince of princes, the little horn of Mohammedism cast down the truth to the ground, and waxed exceeding great. 3. The strength of the little horn was to be mighty, but not by its own strength-The power, here spoken of, being a spiritual one, its strength will mean that commanding influence which religion exerts over the soul of man. Thus the mighty efficacy of the Gospel is described by the Apostle as "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and Hist. of Decline and Fall, Vol. ix. p. 267. + Mr. Kett, although he supposes the little born to relate in part to Mohammedism, very inconsistently takes the sanctuary in a literal sense; and thence argues, that "Jerusalem is designated as the principal scene or object of the tyranny of this born.” He is led into this error by his system of double interpretations of the same prophecy : for he adds, "first, during the Jewish, and lastly during the Christian dispensation." The little born therefore, according to his system, first polluted the sanctuary in the days of Antiochus, secondly, in the time of the Romans; thirdly, under Mohammed; and lastly will pollute it by the arms of professed infidels-Now, though the literal sanctuary was polluted by Antiochus and the Romans, (neither of whom by the way can have the slightest connection with the little born) it certainly was not by Mohammed; and for this very substantial reason; in bis days it was no longer in existence -As for Jerusalem, it was no more the principal scene of Mohammedan triumphs, than Persia, Greece, Arabia, or Egypt: nor has the sanctuary, which was to be polluted by the little born, any reference whatsoever to the temple-(See Hist. the Interp. Vol. I. p. 350, 351, 359.) The infidel power, or Antichrist will indeed plant the curtains of his pavilions between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, at the era of the restoration of the Jews: but this exploit is certainly not foretold in the present prophecy, which treats of quite a different power. is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."* The Gospel accordingly, when preached to the heathen world, shewed by its successful progress, that it was not only mighty, but mighty by its own divine strength. It required not the assistance of the temporal arm; but, on the contrary, prevailed over all the persecutions that could be raised against it. Hence its illustrious founder is prophetically addressed by the Psalmist, "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things." And hence the propagation of the Gospel in the primitive ages is described by St. John in the same sublime strain of allegory" And I saw, and, behold, a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer."+ But Mohammedism, strong as it afterwards became, and great as was the influence which it possessed over the minds of its votaries, was not mighty by its own natural strength. It avowedly relied, not upon the still small voice of reason and argument, and evidence; not upon the louder claims of miracles, which could neither be denied, nor accounted for on physical principles; not upon its own intrinsic worth and purity, its own divine unassisted strength: but upon the enthusiastic valour of its adherents, the strength of the Saracenic sword. Ten years Mohammed persevered in the exercise of his mis Rev. vi. 2. I cannot but wonder, how Bp. Newton could think of applying this symbolical description to the conquests of the Flavian family. In order that the prophe cies of St. John may be consistent with themselves, the rider upon the white borse, mentioned in this passage, must be the same as the rider upon the white borse celebrated in the ninteenth chapter of the Apocalypse, who is there declared to be the personal Word of God. Bp. Newton objects, that no good reason can be given for representing the Church in triumph and glory, at a period when she was most grievously persecuted and afflicted. But this objection cannot be esteemed of any weight, when we consider, that the victories of the Church, being purely of a spiritual nature, have been usually the greatest, when her temporal estate has been the most depressed. Accordingly, when the Church was established by Constantine in great temporal prosperity, the Spirit of God sets so light by this outwardly glorious event, that it represents it as" holpen with only a little help;" (Dan. xi. 34.) because, as Bp. Newton himself observes," though it added much to the temporal prosperity, yet it contributed little to the spiritual graces and virtues, of Christians." Mr. Mede justly supposes the rider upon the white horse to mean the Messiah. Com. Apoc. in Sigil. I. sion, depending upon the strength of his religion alone; and during that period, the superstition, which has since overspread the eastern world," advanced with a slow and painful progress only within the walls of Mecca," for as yet the pseudo-prophet "disclaimed the use of religious violence:"* in one day three thousand were added to the Church by a single sermon of St. Peter; and in ten years after the passion of the Messiah, Christianity had been planted in Samaria,† Phenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, and Ethiopia,§ exclusive of Judea and Galilee. Mohammed, finding that he was likely to make but little progress if he relied upon nothing but the strength of his cause, after he had made himself prince of Medina, "assumed in his new revelations, a fiercer and more. sanguinary tone, which proves that his former moderation was the effect of weakness. The means of persuasion had been tried, the season of forbearance was elapsed, and he was now commanded to propagate his religion by the sword, to destroy the monuments of idolatry, and, without regarding the sanctity of days or months, to pursue the unbelieving nations of the earth-In the first months of his reign, he practised the lessons of holy warfare, and displayed his white banner before the gates of Medina: the martial apostle fought in person at nine battles or sieges; and fifty enterprizes of war were achieved in ten years by himself or his lieutenants." Hence we may satisfactorily account for the greater rapidity with which his religion spread during these second ten years, than during the former ten years when he confined himself merely to preaching. "The sword," said he to his intrepid followers, "is the key of heaven and of hell a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer: whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven at the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion and odoriferous as musk: and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim." Thus was the power of Mo † Acts viii. 5. Acts ix. 31, • Hist. of Decl. and Fall, Vol. 1x. p. 285, 286. 26 hammedism mighty, but not like the Gospel, by its own power: thus did it destroy wonderfully, and prosper, and practise.* 4. Another mark of the power, symbolized by the little horn, is, that “ through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in the land :" whence we must conclude, that the power, thus symbolized, was to be no less crafty than warlike-Let us hear the voice of history. "In the exercise of political government, Mohammed was compelled to abate of the stern rigour of fanaticism, to comply in some measure with the prejudices and passions of his followers, and to employ even the vices of mankind as the instruments of their salvation. The use of fraud and perfidy, of cruelty and injustice, were often subservient to the propagation of the faith; and Mohammed commanded or approved the assassination of the Jews and idolaters who had escaped from the field of battle. By the repetition of such acts, the character of Mohammed must have been gradually stained, and the influence of such pernicious habits would be poorly compensated by the practice of the personal and social virtues which are necessary to maintain the reputation of a prophet among his sectaries and friends. Of his last years ambition was the ruling passion: and a politician will suspect, that he * I prefer this interpretation of the passage, "his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power," to that adopted by Mr. Kett. "As the kingdoms of the West," says he, "gave their power to the beast, or the papal Antichrist, so have the kingdoms of the East given theirs to the Mohammedan Antichrist. But I conceive this is not all that is here meant. The dragon gave his power to the beast, and the angel of the bottomless pit led on the Saracenic locusts; and thus the angel may be understood to say, The power of this born shall be not merely that which is common to the conquerors of the East, such as the be-goat or four beasts in the former vision; it is to be directed and supported by super-buman art and strength; which shall enable it to destroy wonderfully, to prosper and practise." (Hist. the Int. Vol. 1 p. 356, 357.) The angel of the bottomless pit, who was the king of the Saracenic locusts, is not, as Mr. Kett supposes, the devil, but the prophet bimself; whose descriptive name Apollyon, or the destroyer, as Bp. Newton justly observes, "agrees perfectly well with Mohamined and the caliphs his successors, who were the authors of all those horrid wars and desolations, and who openly taught and professed that their religion was to be propagated and established by the sword." The exact coincidence even of expression between Daniel and St. John is well worthy of our notice. Daniel describes the power represented by the little born as destroying wonderfully, as destroying the mighty and the people of the Holy Ones, as destroying many in negligent security: St. John styles the author of Mohammedism Apollyon or a destroyer. Mr. Kett does elsewhere justly consider Apollyon to be a descriptive name of Mohammed and his successors (Vol. II. p. 72, 73, 74); which renders his former mistake the more singular. secretly smiled (the victorious impostor!) at the enthusiasm of his youth and the credulity of his proselytes.In the support of truth the arts of fraud and fiction may be deemed less criminal; and he would have started at the foulness of the means, had he not been satisfied of the importance and justice of the end."* Such is the unwilling confession even of his apologist Mr. Gibbon : nor was perfidy the exclusive characteristic of Mohammed alone: his example in this respect has been but too faithfully copied by his numerous votaries. "It is scarcely credible how far the littleness of pride is carried by the Porte, in all their transactions with the Christian princes. To support their faith, and to extend their empire, are the only law of nations which they acknowledge. Their treaties amount only to a temporary remission of that implacable enmity, with which their religion. inspires them against every thing not Mohammedan. They consider the most solemn treaties in the light of a truce, which they are at libetty to break, whenever they can more effectually serve the cause of Mohammed. In this they are much assisted by the nature of the Arabic language, which they mix with the Turkish in their public acts, and which, by the various application of its terms, literal and metaphorical, enables them to give whatever interpretation they please, to the contract."+ word, lust, arrogance, covetousness, and the most exquisite hypocrisy, complete their character."+ "In a 5. Another characteristic, which the angel gives us of the little horn, is, that "he should destroy many while in a state of negligent security"-This peculiarity is remarkably exemplified in the whole progress of the Saracenic arms. "The birth of Mohammed was fortunately placed in the most degenerate and disorderly period of the Persians, the Romans, and the Barbarians of Europe :§ the empires of Trajan, or even of Constantine, or Char • Hist. of Decline and Fall, Vol. 1x. p. 322, 323. Eton's Survey of Turkish Empire, p. 106. cited by Kett., Maundrell's Travels, p. 149. cited by Kett. This declaration of Mr. Gibbon affords another proof, that the power symbolized by the Mohammedan little born arose when the transgressors were come to the full, though I conceive the commencement of the 1260 days to be peculiarly alluded to by that expression. |