of the fourth kingdom, and of the little horn which persecuted the saints, and made war against them.

"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 that 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 saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." To these questions Daniel received the following answer: "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

And the ten horns out

down and break it in pieces. of this kingdom are ten kings 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. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him."

In this vision, the state of the world, till the end of time, was represented. The first beast, with its characteristic features and appendages, was an emblem of the Chaldean monarchy. The next beast, with its appropriate signs, represented the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. The one that followed, combining the appearance of ferocity and swiftness, and with four heads, denoted the Macedonian or Grecian empire, erected by Alexander the Great, on the ruins of the Persian Monarchy, and which continued in four divisions under his successors.

That these three beasts represented the Chaldean, the Persian, and the Macedonian monarchies, there is no room to doubt. The head of the image, which corresponded to the first of them, was, as Nebuchadnezzar was told, his own empire. And afterwards, when the second and third beasts were represented to Daniel in another vision, under the emblems of a ram and hegoat, he was expressly informed of their meaning, chap. viii. 20—22,—“ The ram which thou sawest, having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia; and the rough goat," (which destroyed the ram, and brake his two horns,)" is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand out of the nation, but not in his power." What is intended by the fourth beast, out of whom sprung ten horns, cannot be mistaken.

The fourth beast appeared "dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue Iwith the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.""I considered the horns, and, behold, there came out

among them another little horn." The Roman empire devouring the former kingdoms, and subduing the whole earth, was thus represented to Daniel, as it had been in Nebuchadnezzar's image, as " iron that breaketh in pieces, and subdueth all things." The ten horns, (a horn in Scripture being an emblem of power,) signifying the same thing with the ten toes in that image, denoted, as Daniel was informed, ten kings that should arise. This was fulfilled in the ten kingdoms which sprung up out of the Roman empire, and which are known in history by the name of the ten kingdoms of the Western Empire. That which was signified by the little horn, which afterwards came up among the rest, whose cunning, arrogance, persecuting spirit, blasphemies, and lawless conduct, is in each of these particulars characterised, has been remarkably verified in that singular power " diverse" from "diverse" from every other power that ever was on earth, which arose among the ten kingdoms. Although a little horn, and remarkable, not for strength, but for eyes and a mouth, speaking very great things, and a look more stout than his fellows, it usurped dominion over the rest.

At length the Ancient of days, the eternal God, arrayed in awful majesty, seated on his throne, was emblematically represented. "Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." Because of the great words which the little horn spake, the judgment was set, "the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame." "One like the Son of man" then

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came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages,

should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." This last part of the vision had appeared to Nebuchadnezzar, as "a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which had broken in pieces the image, and made it like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors." This stone was distinct from the image, and directly opposite to it and all its interests. It is therefore a kingdom set up by the power of God, without the concurrence of human policy or force.

The same things were thus represented in both Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel's visions. To the worldly mind of Nebuchadnezzar, mighty conquerors and extensive flourishing empires would have a show of glory, which was represented by a splendid and immense image. To the spiritual mind of Daniel, they would only appear terrible, odious, and destructive, which was more aptly denoted by the appearance of fierce and devouring wild beasts; the monarchies thus represented, being the great supporters of idolatry and persecution in the world.

In these visions, we have a prophetical abstract of the most signal events that should take place through all succeeding ages. As far as the accomplishment has yet proceeded, it has been most exact and undeniable, and it is proceeding at this day. These four monarchies, the mightiest that ever appeared on earth, have been far more celebrated than any others. Their history comprises the grand transactions of mankind from the days of Daniel to the present time. The kingdom of God, likewise, has been much more concerned with them than with any other empires. The countries belonging to them have been hitherto the chief seat of the

Redeemer's kingdom, which has been gradually enlarging, and will be rendered universal at the time of the total subversion of the last of them. This termination of these kingdoms of this world, also coincides with that prediction to the Jews, already quoted," Fear thou not, O Jacob, my servant, saith the Lord, for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee.”

When Daniel recorded these visions, only the first of the four kingdoms had appeared. About 600 years afterwards, when the apostles wrote, that first kingdom, with the second and third, had been subverted, and the fourth kingdom subsisted in vigour. It was not then divided, as afterwards, into ten parts. That part of the prediction, therefore, with all that follows, remained to be accomplished. Accordingly, what was then future, is taken up in the New Testament, and much dwelt upon, especially in the book of Revelation, the descriptions in which entirely coincide with those of Daniel, but are much amplified and illustrated. Porphyry the philosopher, who wrote against the Scriptures in the third century, was so much struck with the exact fulfilment of Daniel's prophecies, as far as they had proceeded in his time, that, contrary to all historical evidence, he insisted they could not be written by Daniel, but more recently by some one else, under his name.

Before the book of Revelation was written, the apostle Paul took up the subject of the above prophecies. What he had prophetically said in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, having been misunderstood by them, and construed as an intimation that the end of the world was at hand, he wrote to them a second epistle,