fowl; the beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it." There can be no dispute with respect to this being Grecia; "four wings" denoting the rapidity of its conquest under Alexander; the "four heads" its division into four parts after Alexander died and his posterity were murdered.

V. 7 and 8. "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, 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. I considered the horns, 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 a man, and a mouth speaking great things." On these verses I shall remark when I come to consider the angel's explanation.

V. 9 and 10. "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgment was set, and the books were opened." If we have not here a description of the final judgment, we may despair of finding any such description in the book of God. There is nothing clearer.

V. 11. "I beheld then [When? Ans. When the judgment set'] because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake, I beheld till the beast was slain, [What beast? Ans. The fourth beast, on which the horn had stood,] and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." That is the punishment of the beast for having sustained and carried the little horn. Nothing is said of "the dominion" of this beast being

"taken away," as is said of the others. The others lost their dominion after a time, but their subjects survived and were transferred to the succeeding governments, but the very body [subjects] of this fourth kingdom is destroyed, and given to the burning flame; as Isaiah saith, (xxxiii. 12,) "The people shall be as the burnings of lime; as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire." No transferring of its subjects to another kingdom. Then "The wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." Prov. ii. 22. Then God will "destroy them which destroy [corrupt] the earth." Revel. xi. 18. But—

V. 12. "As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time." [Babylon ruled about 1700 years—Media and Persia about 200—Grecia about 175.] These kingdoms successively lost the dominion, but the lives of the respective nations were prolonged, being merged in the succeeding govern

ments.

V. 13 and 14. "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man 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."—Thus we see the kingdom of God, or of Christ, is not set up till the " judgment sits;" hence no room for a temporal millennium before the judgment, and before the kingdoms of this world are destroyed. "All people, nations, and languages," that shall "serve him," are described by the Revelator, chapter v. 9, 10, as "redeemed OUT OF every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation," &c.

V. 15—18. "I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head

troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Not a" thousand years,' ," but forever, even forever and EVER." If any language can express unending duration, this must do so. Some think the language too strong to be applied to a thousand years, and so make it mean "three hundred and sixty thousand years." But that is infinitely short of "forever, even forever and ever.

V. 19—25. "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. 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 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.”

There is but little dispute about what is here meant by the "fourth kingdom." No kingdom that ever has existed on earth will answer to it, except the Roman kingdom. That has been, truly, "diverse from all kingdoms," especially in its forms of government, which were not less than seven—being, at different times, Republican, Consular, Tribune, Decemvirate, Dictatorial, Imperial and Kingly. It was at length divided into the Eastern and Western empires; Rome proper being in the Western empire. Between the years A. D. 356 and 483, it was divided into ten kingdoms, as I have noticed in my remarks on chapter ii.; thus the "ten horns are ten kings" [kingdoms] that arose out of this empire, and are the same that John saw, Rev. xii. 3, "a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns ;" and, chapter xvii. 12, he is told "The ten horns which thou sawest, are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet :"—it was something still future in John's time.

We are now prepared for the inquiry—who, or what is the little horn here spoken of? We will inquire, 1st. What is the character of this horn? 1. It makes war with the saints." 2. It speaks great words against the Most High.

Let us see if we can find a description of the same character elsewhere in the Bible. See Rev. xiii. 6, 7: "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them :"Daniel says, he "prevailed against them." Now see 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4: "That man of sin be revealed, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God," &c. Can there be any doubt of the identity of the character? Daniel's "little horn"—Paul's " man of sin"—and John's "blasphemous beast" are clearly identified.

2d. Let us inquire, has a power of this description arisen ? It must be admitted that there has; and that

that power is Papacy. The titles the Popes have assumed, of "Most Holy Lord," and their pretensions to pardon sin, even before its commission, if we had nothing else, sufficiently establishes the blasphemous character of that power. Pope Innocent III. writes"He [Christ] hath set one man over the world, him whom he hath appointed his vicar on earth; and as to Christ is bent every knee in heaven, in earth and under the earth, so shall obedience and service be paid to his vicar by all, that there may be one fold and one shepherd." Again, Pope Gregory VII. says, "The Roman Pontiff alone is by right universal. In him alone is the right of making laws. Let all kings kiss the feet of the Pope. His name alone shall be heard in the churches. It is the only name in the world. It is his right to depose kings. His word is not to be repealed by any one. It is to be repealed by himself alone. He is to be judged by none. The church of Rome has never erred; and the Scriptures testify it never shall err." Surely here is a power "diverse from" all others, and proud and blasphemous enough to answer the character of the "little horn."

3d. Let us now inquire, When this little horn arose? Or, which is the same thing, When did Papacy arise? There has been a difference of opinion on that question. But it appears to me the question is not one so difficult to settle now as in former years. First, then—it did not arise before the ten horns. Hence it did not arise before A. D. 483, when the tenth horn came up. It did not arise until "three of the first horns" fell, or were plucked up." It did not come up after that, because it came up among" the "ten horns," and three of those horns fell "before" it. It must then have come up or been established at the identical point where the third horn fell. If that point can be settled, it seems to me there can be no reasonable doubt as to the time Papacy arose. In the year of our Lord 493, the Heruli in Rome and Italy were conquered by the Ostrogoths. In 534, the Vandals, who were under Arian influence, were conquered by the Greeks, for the