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appears in the common version of our Bible), reads the "futurity" of their kingdom; so Mr. Cuninghame, in his explanation of the vision, reads "the end" of their kingdom.

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Mr. Cuninghame objects, secondly, that the history of Mahometanism, “does not in any respect answer to the actions of the little "horn;" for that at the rise of Mahometanism, the daily sacrifice was already taken away by "the gross corruptions prevailing in the Greek Church, and its superstitious veneration for "the Virgin Mary and the Saints;" and that Mahomet therefore could not himself be said to take it away.

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To this objection I would reply, that the daily sacrifice may be said, by way of eminence, to be taken away, when in the place of the true worship an object of religious and idolatrous veneration is permanently established, which Mahomet has now been for above twelve centuries amongst all the nations of the East. We shall consequently find that the taking away the daily sacrifice, and the placing the abomination that maketh desolate, are expressions which, where they occur, are always found together, as being necessarily connected with each other. So Mr. Faber reads, Dan. xi. 31, "that the daily "sacrifice shall be taken away, by setting up

"the abomination that maketh desolate *." That there is no force in Mr. Cuninghame's objection to referring this prophecy to Mahometanism, because at the time of its rise the daily sacrifice of spiritual worship was already taken away, will appear further hereafter in considering the last chapters of Daniel, where we shall find that these terms are again used in speaking of the re-establishment of the Papacy by Buonaparte in the year 1801, from which it is evident that the terms may be used, as they are in this prophecy, although the Church had been previously in a totally corrupted state.

"The gross corruptions prevailing in the "Greek Church, and its superstitious venera"tion for the Virgin Mary," at the time of the rise of Mahometanism, are well known; and the reader will recollect that they are referred to in the words of this prophecy, when it is said, that the transgressors were come to the full.

Again, Mr. Cuninghame observes, that Mahometanism was "an opposing superstition

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WITHOUT the Church, and cannot therefore "be an abomination of desolation IN the "Church." And again, he objects, that although Mahometanism" oppressed the per"sons of the Christians, so did the Heathen "Emperors; yet the Heathen persecutions,

* Christian Observer, 1308, p. 421.

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grievous as they were, are never styled a taking away of the daily sacrifice, or placing "the abomination of desolation, or treading "the sanctuary under foot."

To these observations I reply, that I consider that the desolation spoken of in this and similar passages is not a temporal but a spiritual desolation, and that Mahomet was an Abomination of desolation, not as persecuting the Church like the Heathen Emperors, but as being the object of religious veneration and of prayer. We learn, however, from the passage where it is said that "the place of his sanctuary was "cast down," that the little Eastern horn was not like the little Western horn to be so established in the Church, as to be merely a corruption of that Church; but that, on the contrary, this power was to be founded upon its complete overthrow. It appears, therefore, that Mahometanism could not be more accurately described than it is by the words of the prophecy; for as Mahometanism and Popery are considered by all historians as the two great and similar Apostacies of the East and West, so we find in the prophetic writings that the same general terms are used in describing them; and at the same time the peculiarities by which they differ from each other are also marked by slight variations in the description.

If the Bishop of Rome set himself up as the object of religious veneration in the West, assuming to himself the character of the Vicar of Christ, so did Mahomet in the East, who proclaimed himself to be the Prophet of God. We are therefore supported in our interpretation, and the beauty and perfection of prophecy is manifested, when we shew that the expressions of the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and the placing of the abomination that maketh desolate, are alike used in speaking of both Mahometanism and Popery, and that the symbols of the two little horns, by which they are represented, resemble each other*.

*Mr. Faber observes, in his remarks upon Mr. Cuninghame's interpretation," that by applying the symbol of this "little horn to the ROMAN POWER IN THE EAST, the homo

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geneity of Daniel's prophecies is completely violated. If "the one little horn mean a spiritual power, the Papacy; "the other little horn must likewise, to preserve homogeneity, "mean a spiritual power of some kind. This is further

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evident, from the strong similarity between the actions of the two little horns. If the actions of the one be ascribed to a spiritual power, we are bound, I think, by every rule of con"sistent criticism, to ascribe the actions of the other to a spi"ritual power likewise. The second little horn, therefore, "must either be the same as the first, that is to say, they "must both be the Papacy, or it must be a spiritual power

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bearing some resemblance to the Papacy. But the two "little horns cannot both represent the Papacy, because they

are described as being horns of two entirely different beasts.

And here I would remark, though I pur posely reserve the consideration of the prophecy of Esdras for a future occasion, that the idea of there being a similarity between Popery and Mahometanism is not peculiar either to historians or to the prophet Daniel: for it is found in a prophecy of Esdras relating to the present period, in which "Asia," a type of the Mahometan Apostacy, is addressed as an Apostate and Idolatrous Power, similar to Babylon (the well known type of the Papal Apostacy): " And "thou, Asia, that art partaker of the hope of

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Babylon, and art the glory of her person: "Woe be unto thee, thou wretch, because "thou hast made thyself like unto her and "hast decked thy daughters in whoredom *, "that they might please and glory in thy "lovers, which have always desired to commit "whoredom with thee! Thou hast followed "Her that is hated in all her works and inventions+."

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Mr. Cuninghame again observes, that "it is

"Therefore the second little horn must represent some spiri"tual power within the limits of the Macedonian Empire, as "the first represents a spiritual power within the limits of the "Roman empire. To this description nothing that I am aware of will answer, except Mohammedism." Christian Observer, 1808, p. 420.

* See Rev. chap. xvii, † II. Esd. chap. xv. ver. 46-48,

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