before it; and it had ten horns. Ver. 7. The Roman kingdom needs not to be named. Its character is known throughout the world, and cannot be forgotten in any age. It stands alone, in the history of the world, diverse, in its forms of government as well as the extent and permanency of its dominion, from all the kingdoms that were before it. Iron, as in the former vision, is still its emblem. Its dreadfulness, terribleness, and exceeding strength, its conquests and tyranny till it held the world in bondage, may be said to be literally described, so true is the figure and so complete its significancy. The prophet neither asks nor gives any interpretation of the vision of the four beasts, for they were declared to be, in the same manner as he had already expounded the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the four kingdoms, one after another, which should arise upon the earth. But a new feature is introduced, a new figure is added, and that is interpreted by the prophet himself. The fourth beast had ten horns. I considered the horns, says Daniel, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. Ver. 8. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass, which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; and of the ten horns which were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the THE LITTLE HORN OF THE FOURTH BEAST. 17 saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings, or kingdoms, that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,* and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time. Dan. vii. 19—25.† * From the first, i. e. from the ten kingdoms, the original word being in the plural number. + From the very summary view of these prophecies given in the text, the following extracts will be the more interesting to the reader, as greatly illustrative of the subject :— "Newton (Sir Isaac) begins with the vision of the image composed of four different metals. This image he considers as representing a body of four great nations, which should reign in succession over the earth, viz. the people of Babylonia, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, while the stone cut out without hands is a new kingdom which should arise after the four, conquer all those nations, become very great, and endure till the end of time. "The vision of the four beasts is the prophecy of the four em pires repeated, with several new additions, The lion with eagle's wings was the kingdom of Babylon and Media, which overthrew the Assyrian power. The beast like a bear was the Persian empire, and its three ribs were the kingdoms of Sardis (Lydia), Babylon, and Egypt. The third beast, like a leopard, was the Greek empire, and its four heads and four wings were the kingdoms of Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. The fourth beast, with its great iron teeth, was the Roman empire; and its ten horns were the ten kingdoms into which it was broken, in the reign of Theodosius the Great. These kingdoms are,-1st, the kingdom of the Vandals and Alans, in Spain and Africa; 2d, of the Suevians, in Spain; 3d, of the Visigoths; 4th, of the Alans, in Gaul; 5th, of the Burgundians; 6th, of the Franks; 7th, of the Britons; 8th, of the Huns; 9th, of the Lombards ; Under the symbol of a little horn that had eyes and a mouth speaking great things, and a look more stout than his fellows, a new power, connected with the Roman, or fourth kingdom, is thus announced as springing up among the ten kingdoms which were to arise out of it, or into which it was to be subdivided, yet diverse from the rest of these kingdoms, subduing three of the first kingdoms before it-speaking great words against the Most High-wearing out the saints of the Most High-thinking to change times and laws, and exercising such authority for a long period, or for time, times, and the dividing of time, or half a time. There is not historically any question, what power, connected with the Roman empire, and that emerged on its downfall into secular authority, yet diverse from the rest, has spoken great things, or assumed pretensions to which no Roman dictator ever laid claim,—has, with a look more stout than his fellows, controlled and anathematized kings, 10th, of Ravenna. Some of these kingdoms at length fell, and new ones sprung up; but, whatever was their subsequent number, they still retain the name of the ten kings, from their first number. "The eleventh horn of Daniel's fourth beast is shown in chapter vii. to be the church of Rome, in its triple character of a seer, a prophet, and a king; and its power to change times and laws is copiously illustrated in chapter viii.”—Dr. Brewster's Life of Sir Isaac Newton, pp. 227, 278. "The Roman empire, as the Romanists themselves allow, (Calmet upon Rev. xiii. 1; and he refers likewise to Berengaud, Bossuet, and Du Pin,) was, by means of the incursions of the northern nations, dismembered into ten kingdoms: and Machiavel, (Hist. Flor. lib. i.) little thinking what he was doing, (as Bishop Chandler observes,) hath given us their names ; 1. The Ostrogoths in Mæsia; 2. the Visigoths in Pannonia; 3. the Suevis and Alans in Gascoign and Spain; 4. the Vandals in Africa; 5. the Franks in France; 6. the Burgundians in Burgundy; 7. the Hiruli and Turingi in Italy; 8. the Saxons and Anglis in Britain; 9. the Huns in Hungary; 10. the Lombards, at first upon the Danube, afterwards in Italy."—Bishop Newton. and put kingdoms under the ban, and has exalted himself above all, as will afterwards be fully shown-has spoken great words against the Most High, claiming infallibility as its own, and setting its commandments beside those of God, or rather substituting its own in their stead,—maintaining itself by persecution to such a degree and to such an excess of cruelty, that burning at the stake was openly and avowedly and literally an act of faith," (auto da fe,) by which, and by inquisitions, racks, tortures, and dungeons, it sought and tried to wear out the saints of the Most High,—thought to change times and laws by instituting fasts, sacraments, and manifold ordinances and rites, which are unheard of in Scripture, and form no part or portion of that kingdom which God has set up; and which has prevailed for a long course of ages, and exercised a dominion diverse from every other. The exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the state of Rome, were subjected to the secular dominion of the church of Rome, and mainly form to this hour "the states of the church," over which the pope, as a temporal prince, exercises sovereignty, while his words and looks were so great, that he assumed an unchallenged right of supreme spiritual authority, to himself or to his church, over all the kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided. Such is the first announcement in Scripture of papal or Roman Catholic domination. Its history will be more fully entered on in the sequel; but here it may be said that the more arrogant that are the pretensions of the church of Rome, the clearer is the proof against it; and the more that it boasts of the long continuance of its authority, the nearer is its domination to a close. They shall be given into his hands for a time, times, and the dividing of time, or half a time. Ac cording to the common mode of the computation of prophetic time in Scripture, each day is reckoned for a year. On this principle, the seventy weeks of Daniel, (chap. ix.) are, by universal agreement, computed. And this mode of computation was familiar among the Jews. Every seventh year was the Sabbatical year, on the conclusion of a week of years; and seven of these brought round the jubilee. A striking illustration of the adoption of this method of reckoning, in prophecy, is given in the command to Ezekiel (iv. 4-6,) when there was laid on him "the years of the iniquity of the house of Israel, according to the number of the days,-EACH DAY FOR A YEAR. A time, times, and half a time, or three years and a half,-comprise the space of one thousand two hundred and sixty years. The two witnesses, in the Revelation (xi. 3,) were, in like manner, to prophesy a thousand, two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. And the woman (Rev. xii. 6— 14) who had on her head a crown of twelve stars, and whose seed kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of Jesus Christ, fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there, a thousand two hundred and threescore days; and, identifying the periods, it is said, she was nourished in the wilderness for a time, and times, and half a time. See Table. The times and seasons the Father hath in his own power. But whatever be the period of the commencement of the spiritual dominion of the Church |