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was a perpetuation of John’s baptism and nothing more;199but the baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire was reserved only for Islam. The expression that some twelve persons in Samaria “had not yet received the Holy Spirit, because they were only baptized in the name of ourLord Jesus (pbuh) ” (Acts vii. 16, 17), is decisive to frustrate the pretentions of the Church.The last three verse in the passage cited are held by many to be an interpolation. They did not exist in the oldest existing MS., which is, of course, the origin of all subsequent versions of the Bible, including the Vulgate. A document is unworthy ofseriousjudicial notice if a portion ofit is proved a forgery. However, here we go a step farther for the said addition to the original text is admitted to be such even by those who speak of its genuineness.Nevertheless, let us take the prophecy as it stands. I need not say that it speaks of things at which ordinary common sense can guess, seeing that the events foretold are always occurring from time to time in the course of Nature. Pestilence and war, famine and earthquakes have visited the world so often that a mention of them in a prophecy as a sign of its authenticity would deprive it of any importance it might otherwise possess. Besides, the first followers of a new faith are sure to meet with persecution, especially if they chance to be of inferior social position. Apart from this, the prophecy speaks in one strain of several things, which may or may not occur together at any one time. They have never yet so occurred. The persecution of the disciples began immediately after the departure of Jesus (pbuh) from Judah. They were “delivered up to the synagogues and into prison, and brought before kings and rulers” for his name’s sake. The prediction, however, did not need a prophetic mind, since the persecution had started even when Jesus (pbuh) was with his disciples. These events