says Dr. Cressener, "unquestionable, that the fourth beast in Daniel is the same with the beast in the Revelations, and especially in the time of the little horn."* "This beast," says Daubuz, "is the representative of the ten monarchies which arose out of the ruins of the Roman empire."-" He represents," according to Mr. Pyle, "the civil "the civil powers of the Roman empire." "How is it," says Vitringa, "that we are backward in here discovering the empire of mystical Babylon, or Rome Antichristian, the persecutor of the saints, which was to arise out of the rubbish of the ancient Roman empire in the West, and to show itself in ten powerful European kingdoms uniting themselves to Rome for the sake of religion, and becoming subservient for a time to her superstition and cruelty."‡ Having produced so many authorities in support of this interpretation of the symbol, I shall now give one or two arguments to show that it is the true one. Daniel's prophecy of the four kingdoms extends down to that period when the Son of Man shall come with the clouds of heaven, and establish his universal kingdom on the ruins of all the preceding empires. This is evident from the seventh chapter of his prophecies. Now, this coming of the Son of Man takes place at the period when the body of the fourth Beast is given to the burning flame to be consumed, i. e. when the Roman empire is finally destroyed.§ But, in like manner, it will be found that the Apocalyptic Beast is the great Illustrations of Prophecy, p. 51. + Ibid. p. 54. Dan. vii. 11-13. enemy to be destroyed, when the personal Word of God comes with his saints, at the period of the treading of the winepress of the wrath of God at Armageddon, which is the same advent as is mentioned in the passage of Daniel already referred to. Since then the fourth Beast of Daniel, and the Beast in the Apocalypse, are equally destroyed at the coming of Christ with the clouds of heaven, it follows that they are one and the same; and, as the fourth Beast of Daniel is the Roman empire, the Apocalyptic Beast is also the Roman empire. The only way of avoiding the above conclusion would be, to suppose that two different secular beasts or empires, the reigns of which are simultaneous, are to be destroyed at the second coming of Christ. But as there is not the shadow of a proof for such an hypothesis in the Scriptures, it seems never to have been advanced. The above argument is further confirmed by the similarity of the two Beasts, for they both had ten horns, to signify the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided after the Gothic invasions; and if one and the same power were not intended to be represented, it is not conceivable that there should be such a mark of identity stamped upon them. Besides, it is plain from the prophecies of Daniel, that the Roman empire is the last kingdom which is to rise up against the Church of Christ: and that there were to arise no more than four secular empires, the fifth being that of Messiah; either then we must suppose the Apocalyptic Beast to be the * Rev. xix. 15. Roman empire, or we shall be driven to the supposition, that Daniel and St. John contradict each other, which is impossible. We must, therefore, arrive at the conclusion already mentioned. After the division of the Roman empire into ten kingdoms by the Gothic conquests, all the conquerors embraced the religion of Rome, and submitted to her laws, and thus became so intimately connected with one another, that the different states composing the body of the empire have, down to the present period, formed a species of federal republic, like ancient Greece; which may fitly be represented by the complex symbol seen by the apostle John.* That the Roman empire of the West was actually divided into ten different kingdoms, has been shown by different writers on Prophecy: but as some of the kingdoms have at one time fallen, and at another, new states have started into existence, it cannot be expected that the same number should always have continued. About the period of the fall of the Western empire, or shortly afterwards, the following tribes seem to have been established in its territories 1st, the Visigoths in Gaul and Spain; 2d, the Suevi in Spain; 3d, the Heruli in Italy; 4th, the Franks in Belgium; 5th, the Burgundians in Burgundy; 6th, the Saxons in Britain;, 7th, "The perpetual correspondence of the Latin clergy, the frequent pilgrimages to Rome and Jerusalem, and the growing authority of the Popes, cemented the union of the Christian republic, and gradually produced the similar manners and common jurisprudence, which have distinguished from the rest of mankind the independent and even hostile nations of modern Europe." Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xxxvii. the Alans in Gaul and Spain; 8th, the Ostrogoths in Pannonia;* 9th, the Lombards in Pannonia ;† 10th, the Vandals in Africa. These may be considered as the ten primitive horns of the Beast; and though the number of kingdoms has varied from time to time, yet it has been remarked by Daubuz: " As if the number ten had been fatal in the Roman dominions, it has been taken notice of on particular occasions; as about 1240, by Eberhard, Bishop of Saltzburg, in the Diet at Ratisbon. At the time of the Reformation they were also ten."+ "As the number of kingdoms," says Mr. Whiston, "into which the Roman empire in Europe, agreeably to the ancient prophecies, was originally divided, A. D. 456, was exactly ten; so is it also very nearly returned again to the same condition, and at present is divided into ten grand or principal kingdoms or states." It is remarkable, that at the present period, also, the number of regal governments within the limits of the western Roman empire is exactly ten. They are as follows: 1. Austria, 2. Bavaria, 3. England, 4. France, 5. Naples, 6. Netherlands, 7. Portugal, 8. Sardinia, 9. Spain, 10. Wirtemberg. I shall now proceed to consider another feature of The Ancient Universal History, vol. xix. p. 244, says, "that the Emperor Marcian, granted all Pannonia, as far as Vindobana, (at present Vienna) to the Ostrogoths, about the year 453," The Lombards under their king Audoin, settled in Pannonia, in the year 526. Anc. Univers. Hist. vol. xix. p. 502. Sir Isaac Newton on Daniel, p. 70. Illustrations of Prophecy, p. 52. § Ibid. || Viz., the year 1817. this Beast. He had seven heads.-In the seventeenth chapter, he is introduced a second time in union with the Harlot, Babylon the Great, and a more particular account is there given of his origin, and the meaning of the seven heads. "The beast that thou "sawest, was, and is not: and shall ascend out of "the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and 66 they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose "names were not written in the book of life, from "the foundation of the world, when they behold "the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And "here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven "heads are seven mountains, on which the woman "sitteth. And there are seven kings, five are "fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, "and when he cometh he must continue a short 66 space. And the beast that was, and is not, even "he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth "into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest, are ten kings, which have received no 66 66 kingdom as yet: but receive power as kings, one "hour with the beast. These have one mind, "and shall give their power and strength unto the "beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, "and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is "Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that "are with him, are called, and chosen, and faithful."* The seven kings, which in the above passage are designated by the seven heads of the Beast, have by the general consent of interpreters been understood to signify the forms of government, under *Rev. xvii. 8-14. |