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"said by the Angel in the 24th verse, that this "little horn shall destroy the mighty and the

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holy people. If by the holy people, in this

verse, the Jews be intended;" he asks, "has "Mohammedism peculiarly destroyed them? "If the Saints of the Christian Church be. meant; then, has Mohammedism ever persecuted any professing Christians as "Saints?"

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In replying to this observation, I would previously observe, that by "the mighty and the "holy people," I understand that nation to be designed, which is elsewhere spoken of in the prophecies, relating to the latter days, in terms similar to the foregoing, as a people " terrible "from their beginning hitherto*; a nation "meted out and trodden under foot, whose « land the rivers" (or hostile armies †) "have "spoiled." And I am the more disposed to understand the words as relating to the Jews as a nation, rather than to consider them as designed to describe symbolically the Church of Christ; because I find, that even in the symbolical prophecies, the Jewish nation is a symbol not of the Church of Christ, but of that nation which now stands in the situation for

*Isaiah xviii. 7.

+ See Article FLOOD, Symbolical Dictionary, page 91 of this work.

merly filled by the Jewish nation*, as the chosen people of God.

If then we consider, that the Mahometan Power over-ran Judea, and laid siege to and took Jerusalem, which events are described in the vision itself, by the little horn's waxing great" towards the pleasant land," and that it has now trodden the Holy City under foot for near twelve centuries, and that after Mahomet's " coming to Medina," as Dean Prideaux observes," he took that disgust against "the Jews, that he became their bitter and "most irreconcilable enemy ever after, and "used them with greater cruelty in his wars "than any other he had to deal with," we can have no difficulty, I should think, in supposing, that in giving the interpretation of the vision, the Angel should describe in these terms the influence that Mahomet and Mahometanism had upon the affairs of the Jewish nation.

Mr. Cuninghame again objects, "that it is "said in verse 25, that the little horn shall at

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length stand up against the Prince of Princes" (Messiah), "but shall be broken without hand. "This standing up evidently," he says,

* See Article ISRAELITISH NATION, Symbolical Diction ary, page 90.

" means an open and most daring opposition. "If, therefore, this little horn were Moham"medism, we might expect to hear something "of its yet future opposition to the Messiah, in "the book of Revelations. But it only appears "there in the two first Woe-Trumpets, which

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are already past; and its power is evaporated, "or dried up, under the sixth Vial, expiring "without any apparent struggle."

This objection has already been satisfactorily answered by Mr. Faber, to whose observations upon it I refer the reader*; and I shall only

* Mr. Faber remarks, as follows (see Christian Observer, 1808, p. 419): " The special and most avowed standing up of "the horn against Christ, so far from being future, is evi"dently past; because it is represented as taking place

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during the period of its waxing great toward the South, and "toward the East, and toward the pleasant land. Of this

Sir Isaac Newton was perfectly aware, when, supposing "the little horn to mean the Roman Power in the East, he of "course supposed its standing up against the Prince of the "Host to mean the long since past crucifixion of our Lord by "the Romans. But I am inclined to refer this action of the "little horn, not merely to the victorious days of Mohammed"ism, but to its whole duration. By setting up a false Pro"phet in avowed opposition to Christ, it notoriously stands

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up against him; and having continued to do this through "the whole of its allotted time, it will at length be broken "without hand; it will expire without any material struggle; "it will die a sort of natural death, as Mr. Cuninghame him"self observes."

observe, in addition to what he has said, that as in the account given of the little Western horn, it is said to "speak words against the Most High;" and in the account given of the little Eastern horn, it is said to "stand up "against the Prince of Princes; so the destruction of each is connected in both these Prophecies, with their thus standing up in opposition against God: for as the fourth Beast and its little horn is said to be destroyed on account" of the "words against the Most High, that the little "horn spake," so in this prophecy the mention of the Mahometan little horn's standing up against Christ, or its denying the divinity of our Saviour, is immediately connected with the mention of its destruction; for it is said, "It shall stand up against the Prince of Princes, " but it shall be broken without a hand." And it is this connexion (accounted for as being that of the crime with its punishment) that has led Mr. Cuninghame to suppose, that this standing up of the little horn is only its last act.

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Mr. Cuninghame further observes, that, "Mohammedism did take away the daily "sacrifice, and did place the abomination of

desolations, and did destroy the holy people, "these certainly were the greatest evils which it brought upon mankind; unspeakably greater

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"than any temporal sufferings which it was "instrumental in inflicting. How then," he asks, "comes it, that, in describing the cala"mities which were brought upon the Eastern "Christians by the two Mahometan Woe

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Trumpets, in Revelations ix. the Holy Spirit "does not say one syllable of their taking away "the daily sacrifice, or placing the abomination

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of desolations, or treading the Sanctuary "under foot, or destroying the Saints? How "is it that no hint is given in any other part of "the Apocalypse, of such effects being pro"duced by these Trumpets? If Mr. Faber's

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interpretation be true, it is evident that the

Holy Spirit has, in detailing the history of "the two first Woes, left out the chief circum"stances of these Woes, and detailed those of "less importance. But as it is impossible to "conceive that the Spirit of God would do "this, it follows that the interpretation which "makes it necessary to suppose that he did, "cannot be the true one."

To this objection I reply, that these particuJars relative to the Church are not mentioned under the Trumpets, because the Sealed Book of the Apocalypse, which contains the account of the Trumpets, does not, I apprehend, relate to the history of the Church and Empire, as

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