St. John, however, has been more explicit. The judgment, which Daniel generally describes as commencing before the time of the end, is specially said by St. John to commence with that seventh apocalyptic trumpet which introduces the third great woe. But the seventh trumpet also introduces the effusion of seven successive vials: and, at the effusion of the seventh vial, the three times and a half expire and Daniel's time of the end arrives. Therefore St. John, like Daniel, places the commencement of the judgment before the expiration of the latter three times and a half. Yet he gives the additional note, as we have just seen, that the judgment also commences with the seventh trumpet and therefore with the third great woe. Hence, if the season of the third woe be future, the judgment of the beast and the little horn must be future also: and, conversely, if the season of the third woe have already arrived, the judgment of the beast and the little horn must have already commenced.

Now, as we shall hereafter find, the third great woe commenced in the year 1789 with the portentous revolution of France3. Therefore that judgment, which through the agency of God's superintending providence is destined to take away the dominion of the little horn by consuming it unto the end, must already have commenced with that

1

Compare Dan. vii. 9, 10, with Rev. xi. 14-18.

* See above book ii. chap. 4. § I. 3. II. 2.

• See below book vi. chap. 2. § III.

series of extraordinary revolutions, which we ourselves have beheld, and which (under the image of a violent concussion of the allegorical powers of heaven) our Lord foretold as the sign of his judicial coming'. The end, however, is not yet: but, when the seventh vial shall be poured out and when the latter three times and a half shall have expired : then will occur the figurative judicial coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven; then will the beast and his little horn be finally destroyed; and then, by such a diffusion of pure and practical religion as the world never yet witnessed, will the millennian reign of Christ and his saints commence 2.

'See above book ii. chap. 1. § II. 2.

That is to say, the synchronism of Dan. vii. 9, 10, with Rev. xi. 14-18. So far as I can judge, the synchronism is indisputable; for the circumstances, the agents, the patients, and the times, are identical. Accordingly, this synchronism is justly asserted by Mr. Mede. Compare Oper. lib. iii. p. 491, with p. 530-533.

CHAPTER III.

THE VISION OF THE RAM AND THE HE-GOAT.

IN the third year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, or two years subsequent to the communication of the vision of the four great beasts, another remarkable vision was seen by the prophet Daniel.

As, in the last-considered vision, he imagined himself to be standing on the shore of the Mediterranean sea, though corporeally he was a captive in Babylon: so, in the present vision, though his bodily frame was still in the metropolis of Chaldea, his dream transported him in fancy to Shushan the capital of Persia, and placed him on the bank of the imperial river Ulai.

Here, while he was viewing the river, a ram seemed to him to stand up before it, distinguished by two lofty horns: but the one was higher than the other; and the higher horn was raised up behind the lower, so as at length to overtop it, though originally smaller in size. After a certain indefinite space of time, the ram appeared to push westward and northward and southward; so that no other beasts could stand before him, nor was there any Power which could deliver his enemies out of his hand: hence, being above all controul, he did according to his will, and became great.

But, while the ram was in the plenitude of his might, a he-goat came bounding from the west with such rapidity, that he seemed scarcely to touch the ground. Rushing upon the ram in the fury of his power, he smote him, and brake his two horns, and cast him down, and stamped upon him : for there was none, that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

In consequence of this victory, the goat became very great : but, when he was in the height of his strength, the single large horn, which characterized him, was broken ; and, in its place, came up four eminent though smaller horns toward the four winds of heaven.

After these had sufficiently played their part upon the stage of empire, a little horn sprang forth out of one of them; which soon became exceeding great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land. In its progress, it attacked the stars of heaven, and cast them down to the ground, and stamped upon them : for the celestial host was given up to its fury, on account of the daily sacrifice, by reason of some remarkable Apostasy. It even magnified itself against the prince of the starry host : insomuch that the daily sacrifice was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. Thus it hurled the truth to the ground, and practised, and prospered.

While Daniel was contemplating this extraordinary scenc, he heard a holy one asking another holy one : How long is the vision respecting the

daily sacrifice and the Apostasy that maketh desolate, in its giving both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? To which question the reply was: Until two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. The prophet, however, wishing for some further information, one in the form of a man assured him, that, notwithstanding this numerical limitation so far as the cleansing of the sanctuary was concerned, the vision, in its entire length, should reach unto the time of the end or to the close of the latter three times and a half1.

Such was Daniel's vision of the ram and the hegoat: and, since a sacred exposition is attached to it in the same manner as a similar exposition is attached to the vision of the four great beasts, we have the grand outline of the prediction marked out to us with unerring certainty.

I. The ram, as the divine interpreter assures us, is the hieroglyphic of the Persian Empire, in which were united the two kingdoms of Media and Persia: whence that symbol coincides with the silver portion of the image and with the bear in the vision of the four great beasts. Such being the case, the two silver arms of the image, and the two sides of the bear, will answer to the two horns of the ram.

1. Those two horns are evidently the two dominant kingdoms of Media and Persia; while the body of the ram may be generally viewed, as the complete body of the Persian Empire.

Dan. viii. 1—19.