The vision of the four beasts is interpreted.

15 I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

16 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. 17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

19 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;

20 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. 21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;

23 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.

24 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.

25 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.

26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

27 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. 28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me but I kept the matter in my heart. LECTURE 1378.

22 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.

Of watching that we live as Christ's subjects. There was so much that was terrible in the vision seen by Daniel, that he might naturally be grieved in his spirit at the sight. At the same time there was much to console both him and us, when troubled with the view of this world's commotions, in the thought that there is a God who rules and orders all. The great beasts may be ever so furious, like the stormy sea out of

which they arise, the great kings and kingdoms of the earth may be ever so oppressive and destructive of each other, yet shall "the saints of the most High prevail" in the end, and reign in conjunction with Christ, 66 even for ever and ever.'

It was concerning the fourth beast, which "was diverse from all the beasts that were before it," ver. 7, that Daniel desired particularly to "know the truth;" mentioning some additional points in its appearance, and dwelling with marked interest on "the horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows." The reply of the interpreter leaves little room to doubt, that the fourth beast, or king, or kingdom, for he calls them kings and kingdoms indifferently, means that of Rome, and that the ten horns out of this kingdom mean the states which would branch out from its head, and that the little horn means a sovereignty arising in the midst of these latter kingdoms, but of a kind altogether different, for this king is "diverse from the first." This sovereign power, besides subduing three out of the ten others, is to be distinguished by the blasphemy of its language, by persecuting God's holy people, and by assuming the right of changing ordinances at its will. And the saints are to be "given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time;" that is to say, one year, two years, and half a year, or three years and a half, symbolical of as many years as there are days in that period, usually reckoned, twelve hundred and sixty years.

At the end of this period "the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end." And then is to follow the full establishment of the kingdom of heaven, and of God, of Christ, and of his saints, a kingdom universal and eternal. This is a consolatory conclusion of the whole matter, whatever view we take of the events foretold, as to happen in the intervening period. And if we are right in considering the ten horns and the little horn as arising in that part of the Roman empire which answers to the head, our attention will be properly limited to the western portion of the church, and we can have no doubt that this little horn prefigures the civil and ecclesiastical dominion, arrogantly usurped and grossly abused by the sovereign pontiff of the Romanists. The system commonly called popery, and the principles and conduct, the language and demeanour, of the most notorious of the popes, fully answer to the picture of cruelty, arrogance, and impiety, here set forth. But whilst we give God thanks for our deliverance from this subjection of both soul and body to the despotism of man, let us watch that we continue humble, faithful, and obedient, as subjects of Christ our King. For of this we may be assured, that they and they only who are thus subject unto Him, in whatsoever realms they may live at present, will reign with Him, as here described, in the world which is to come.

Daniel's vision of the ram and the he goat.

1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. 2 And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. 3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. 5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of

his power.

7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the

ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.

11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. 13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

LECTURE 1379.

The miserable case of Mahometan countries.

There is a close connexion between this vision and that which is recorded in the previous chapter. The ram, in this, is the same

kingdom as the bear in that; the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. The he goat here was the leopard there, the empire of the Grecians. And as the principal object of attention there was the little horn of the fourth beast, so here the subject of chief interest is a symbol of the same kind, the little horn of the he goat. Supposing then that the former vision has respect especially to the case of the western church, we may regard this as referring in like manner to the eastern; the one foreshewing the desolating abominations of Romanism, the other those of Mahometanism. The particular interpretation of this vision belongs to the latter portion of this chapter. But we shall do well first to consider how probable it is, that the most signal calamity which has befallen the eastern portion of the Christian church should occupy its place in the prophetic field of view, as well as that which has befallen its western half. We are too apt to fix our thoughts on that one of these two great usurpations, which comes most closely into contact with ourselves. It might be better to regard the impostor prophet of God, and the pretended vicegerent of Christ, as two awful cases of defection from the truth, and of encroachment on the sovereignty of our Lord, parallel, or nearly so, not only in the time of their arising, and in the periods of their vigour and decay, but also in the enormity of their guilt, in the obstruction they have caused to the progress of the Gospel, in the dishonour they have done to God, and detriment to the present and eternal welfare of mankind.

In the subsequent explanation of this vision, little is said on the subject of the date here given, "two thousand and three hundred days," except this, that it is undoubtedly true, and except that Daniel is told to shut up the vision on account of the length of the time mentioned. Ver. 26. This seems to imply that during a long interval the vision would be of little interest, and would excite little attention. And thus viewed these words confirm the commonly received notion, that days are here and elsewhere symbols of years. It is not however stated when this period of years was to commence. We cannot therefore say when the sanctuary will be cleansed, we cannot name the precise point of time, in which true religion will once more shed its purifying rays over the benighted regions of the east. But that which God has promised by his prophets He would have his people forward by their prayers. And if the light of truth has dawned upon ourselves, in a region long shrouded in darkness, let us feel deeply, and pray earnestly, in behalf of that large and fair portion of the earth, including the land once the territory of the Jews, and the sites of so many churches once the glory of Christians, now subject to the dominion of a people, victims of the most gross falsehood, and slaves of the most base sensuality.

The vision of the ram and he goat is interpreted.

15 And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of

a man.

16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. 17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man for at the time of the end shall be the vision.

18 Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.

19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation for at the time appointed the end shall be.

:

20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

22 Now that being broken,

whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. 23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.

27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.

LECTURE 1380.

The application of this vision to Mahometanism.

The mention of Media and Persia, as answering to the ram with two horns, and of Grecia as answering to the goat, is a point to be particularly observed in this inspired interpretation; because it proves on infallible authority the connexion of this vision with the history of the world in two of its chief eras, and so supplies a clue of great service in the interpreting of other similar revelations. In like manner it is important to observe the particular meanings here assigned to parts of the symbolic figures; as that the two horns of the ram signify the kings of the two nations, by whose joint forces the empire of Persia was established; and that the great horn between the eyes of the goat represents the founder