14 DANIEL'S VISION OF THE FOUR KINGDOMS.

shadowed them forth to the view of Nebuchadnezzar. The former looked to their ravages; the latter to their glory. The prophet discerned the spirit by which they would be guided, the king saw only their outward splendour. But the consistency and aptitude of the illustration are alike adhered to in both visions. This is the sum of the matters, as seen, and written, and told by Daniel. The four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. Dan. vii. 2, 3. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, or kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth. Dan. vii. 17. The four successive kingdoms are represented to the prophet in a new and another view. They arose from the great sea, on which the four winds of heaven strove from the midst of political commotions and convulsions, when the earth is agitated by the conflicting passions of men, like the sea by the four winds of heaven. The first was the Babylonian, like a lion with eagle's wings, at that time the greatest among the nations, as these are the noblest among the beasts and birds; but the wings were to be clipped, its tributary kingdoms were to be cut off from its body; it was to be taken from the earth, to cease from being a kingdom, or from maintaining its wonted sovereignty over the world, and no more to possess the heart of a lion, but "to be humbled, and subdued, and made to know its human state." Dan. vii. 4.

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The second kingdom, as in the former vision, was the Persian, which possessed the ferocity of the bear, by which it was characterised. The Babylonians conquered for the sake of aggrandizing Babylon, and, instead of slaying their vanquished enemies, led them captive, in order to people it. The Persians fought

*Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel, &c. p. 29.

for conquest; and, after its origin as a great empire, till it afterwards became enfeebled by luxury, they spared not the lives of vanquished enemies, and enslaved the people, and ravaged the countries they subdued. The beast raised itself upon one side. On the conquest of Babylon, Persia, formerly inferior to Media, attained the ascendency; and these two countries, united into one, formed the Persian empire. Its conquests extended towards the west. The beast had also three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it, and it devoured much flesh, ver. 5. Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt were gnawed by Persia ; they were subjected by it, as if held in its mouth; and they were despoiled, as if ground beneath its teeth.

The Persian empire gave place to the Grecian, or Macedonian, under Alexander the Great, who, with astonishing rapidity, subjected many diversified nations to his sway, and whose kingdom, after his death, formed four great monarchies. It was thus like unto a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl-the identical emblem which was actually engraved on the shield of Alexander; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. The expedition with which Alexander the Great subdued kingdoms, as if flying over them-the subsequent subdivision of his empire, under his successors,—and the dominion which thus continued to be exercised, are too prominently and appropriately designated to require illustration. Ver. 6.

The Grecian empire was, like every other, subverted by the Roman; and an universal empire arose, such as the world had not witnessed before. The fourth beast, unto which no animal on earth is compared, was dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it and it was diverse from all the beasts that were

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 empires 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 einpire, 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.