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Mohammed, or Muhammed. Like the papal horn, this horn was to be, first, small, and afterwards to wax great: such was exactly the rise of the Mahometan power. It originated in the imposture of one man, whose principles were first communicated to one and then to another, till their converts became an immense multitude, and subdued nearly all those countries which had formed the kingdoms of the four horns of the third beast. This little horn is said to come forth out of one of the four horns; that horn we should probably reckon to be the Greeks of Syria, as their influence extended over that part of Arabia from whence Mahomet came. He was by birth an Arabian; but it is probable the Grecian arts, which he had learned by his intercourse with that nation, supplied him with the materials of his imposture. Mahometism was no creature of a wild Arab's brain, formed in the desert: the new religion was evidently, from the early history of the impostor, a scheme that had occurred to the merchant, for such originally was Mahomet, frequenting the fairs of Syria: a monk of the Greek church is said to have been his great accessary.1

This horn was to "wax exceeding great towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the pleasant land." The spot where it should rise and flourish seems to be pointed out: it was neither to the north nor to the west of the Holy Land. But it was in these directions that the greatness of Rome increased to reach that country. It grew towards the east, and from its first possessions in Asia took a southern direction, in order to overwhelm the land of Canaan. But the tide here described flows in a contrary direction. "The religion

A Nestorian sectary of the Greek church, at least.

of Mohammed,” says Mr. Faber, " says Mr. Faber, "was originally small in the number of its proselytes, but it soon waxed exceeding great, and that in the very line marked out by the prophecy. Its conquests extended southward over the peninsula of Arabia and Egypt; eastward over Pérsia, and in after ages over Hindostan ;" and northward, that is, towards "the pleasant land," meaning the land of Canaan, which was to the north of Mecca, in Arabia, where Mohammed was born: "northward, it extended over Palestine, Asia Minor, and Greece," the countries now forming the Turkish empire. "Some conquests it also made westward, but they were neither só permanent nor so considerable as its other acquisitions. Spain soon threw off its tyranny; and the piratical states of Barbary are not worthy to be mentioned with the spiritual sovereignty of Greece, Persia, Syria, Asia Minor, India, Egypt, and Arabia. Hence the prophet truly remarks, that the principal theatre of its greatness should be the north, the south, and the east." 1

This kingdom was to arise, the angel tells us, when transgressors are come to the full;" literally, "at the perfection of transgressors." The transgressors referred to, I suppose to be the transgressors of the covenant of their God the transgressors among the people who possessed the privileges of revealed religion. If our exposition be right, the event has shown this people to be the Gentile churches. Now, the history of the Christian church attests that every corruption of doctrine and of practice had reached its utmost height of depravity in the East, in those parts of Europe and Asia which had

1 FABER, vol. i. p. 302.

2" When the revolt shall be completed."— FABER.

formed the empire of Alexander and his four successors, about the period when Mahomet arose. "The influences of divine grace," observes Mr. Milner, in his Church History, speaking of the time immediately previous to the rise of the Mahometan little horn, "seem to have been withheld in the East entirely; men had there filled up the measure of their iniquities."

1.

The angel further explains to Daniel respecting this "little horn:"-" A king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up." "A king of a fierce"-or rather, "of a firm countenance," denoting the bold effrontery of the barefaced, impudent liar, 1— and such were Mahomet and his successors: their religion is in truth the most glaring imposition that was ever imposed upon the credulity of mankind. He was also to be one who " understood"- or rather," one teaching dark sentences," "poetical enigmas," or "sublime mysterious sayings." The KORAN, so celebrated in the So history of the Mahometan religion, exactly answers to this description. It was by the composition of this book that Mahomet advanced his pretensions to the prophetical office: to impose upon the world the extravagant doctrines of this book, the armies of the impostor conquered with the sword.

"And he shall magnify himself," or, "acquire great power against the host," or "stars of heaven."

The "host" or "stars of heaven" are a very frequent emblem in Scripture for prophets and teachers. The history of Mahometism shows us that the bishops and pastors of the Christian church are here meant. The

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church, indeed, was become most corrupt, and it was for "the sins of the priests and of the people" that this judgment was brought upon it; yet God still acknowledges the Christian nations as his consecrated portion of the earth. In the same manner we may often remark respecting Israel of old: whatever may be the actual state of true religion among the people, or the severe rebukes expressed to them by their God in consequence thereof; yet when Israel is contrasted with the heathen nations around, it is still acknowledged as the heritage of Jehovah. The mysterious expressions, " and his power shall be mighty, but," or rather, "and-not by his own power," can only be explained by the event. The Mahometan little horn was "strong by its own power," the empire of the Saracens, which it formed. It was also strong "by power not its own," by the power of the Turks, who, on the decline of the Saracens, embracing the religion of their prophet, propagated, with more success than ever, the doctrine of the Koran. It was by this power chiefly that it "magnified itself against the host of heaven, and cast down the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them." Numerous sees and churches were now extinguished for ever; the bishops, and clergy, and people were dispersed, and thousands, who had a name only to lose, apostatized, and turned Mahometans. Thus that part of the Christian world which was then, by far, the best peopled and most civilized portion of the earth, and where our holy religion had first been taught and established, became henceforth the dominion of this "little horn:" the churches were either extinguished or reduced to the lowest state of poverty and misery, and that not in a temporal sense only, but also in a Scriptural sense.

It will verify the meaning of the symbol used in this

prophecy" the stars of heaven"-as denoting teachers of religion, to observe, that "the seven churches of Asia," mentioned in the Revelation, met their doom on this occasion. Their "angels," or "bishops," were acknowledged as "stars" in the hand of the Great Head of the church but now the major part of them are cast from their heavens, and shine no longer: "the candlestick of the church is removed from the sanctuary."

"And he shall magnify himself against," or "prevail over the prince of the host." The prince of the host-the host of which we have been speaking, must be the Christian emperor of Constantinople. He, and his prelates and nobles, were those whom the angel, in his interpretation, calls "the mighty ones and the people of the saints."

"And by," or rather, " from him," the prince of the host," the daily sacrifice," or " continual offering, was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down."

The term we render "daily sacrifice," or "continual offering," is a term frequently used respecting the daily repeated sacrifices of the Jewish temple, typifying the death of Christ till he should come, and which were, moreover, blessed with a sacramental influence on the heart of the believing Israelite. Now, what this continual burnt-offering was, with respect to Christ's first coming, such, with respect to his second coming, are the daily offering of prayer and praise, and all the solemnities. of the Christian church, as administered by a divinely appointed priesthood;, and especially the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, which celebration is well known in the primitive church to have been daily. These ordinances, as performed in Christian churches,

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