EXPOSITION OF DANIEL


 

         

                                       A BRIEF EXPOSITION

 

OF THE

  PROPHECY OF DANIEL

 


BY

 

JOHN THOMAS, M.D.

NONE OF THE UNJUSTIFIED SHALL UNDERSTAND; BUT THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND.”—DANIEL.

 

BIRMINGHAM 28

 

“THE. CHRISTADELPHIAN”, 404 SHAFTMOOR LANE,

 

HALL GREEN


 

 


INDEX OF SECTIONS

                                                 

                                                Page

 

                  ...                                     ..Preface.

            1          The Origin and Extent of the Kingdom of Babylon          7

            2.         The Kingdom of Men in its various Phases                   10

            3          The Lion Phasis of the Kingdom of Babylon ...            11

            4          The Bear Phasis ... ... ... ...     .. …………………..11

            s.         The Four Headed Leopaid-Phasis    ... .……..         ... 12

            6.         The Ten Horned Dragon Phasis       ... .……..         ... 14

            7          The Holy Ones of the High Ones, and their People……..18

            8.         .A Season and Time ... ...       ... ..,     …………………..


              9      Origin of the Romano-Greek Babylonian Sovereignty         .    22

            10        The evening Morning Vision ...        .………..         ...  27

            11        The Holy shall be avenged “ ...        ... .……….      ...  27

            12.       Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks       ... ...     …...……… 30

            13.       Corrected Version of Gabriel’s Prophecy of the Seventy

                         \weeks ... ... ...            ... ...                                                 ... 31

            14.       Messiah the Prince “ ... ...     ... ...     .                              .. 39

            15.       What Shall Befall Judah in the Latter Days ...        .-- 44

            16.       Paraphrase of the Eleventh of Daniel to the thirty-fifth

                          Verse inclusive ... ... ... ...     .                              .. 48

            17.       End of the Maccabean Heptade ...   ... ...     .                .. 55

            18.       ‘‘ The King ‘‘, or Constantinopolitan (utoctacv ...    ...  56

            19.       A God of Guardians, or the Latin Prophet of the West..    61

            20.       Guardians’ Bazaars, or Temples dedicated to Saints              . 65

            21.       The Holy Roman Dominion, or Little Horn of the West    70

            22.       The Time of the End” ...       ... ...     ...                                74

            23.       The King of the North ... ...   ... ...                      ... 77

            24.       Proof of the Russian Power being the King of the North    80

            25.       Future Magnitude of the Gogian Dominion ...              . 85

            26.       Nebuchadnezzar’s Image the Symbol of the Autocratic

                         Confederacy of Gog ... ...      ... ...     ...                                 86

            27.       Edom. Moab, and Ammon divided off from Turkey for a

                         Price ... ... ... ...           ... ...     ...                                               88~

            28.       Britain, the Moabitish Antagonist to Russia in the Latter

                          Days.. ... . . ...           ... ...                                                    ... 92

            29.       The Latter Days ... ...            ... ...     ..                                 . 95

            30.         The ‘ Time of Trouble” ; Position of the Russian and

                         British Forces at the Advent ...        ... ...     .                   .. 96

            31.       The Deliverance of Israel out of the Hand of their Enemies  100

            32.       Resurrection to Judgment in the War of God Almighty         104

            33        The Wise” ... ... ...     ... ...     ...                                    106

            34        The Times of the Kingdom of Babylon and of Judah                     109

 



A BRIEF EXPOSITION

 

OF THE

 

PROPHECY OF DANIEL

  Pg 7

 

   1.—THE ORIGIN AND EXTENT OF THE KINGDOM OF BABYLON

 

In taking a general survey of the contents of the Book of Daniel, it may be seen that two great powers are the principal subjects of its predictions.  The one is styled

                       

THE KINGDOM OF MEN “ (Dan.4 : 17) ;and the other THE KINGDOM OF GOD “ (Dan. 2 44; 4:3;7:27)

 


It is true, that there are many symbols, such as the Image, the Fiery Furnace, the Tree-Stump, banded with brass and iron, the Four Beasts~ the Ram, and the He-Goat ; but  these are signs in the prophetic heraldry, not of kingdoms distinct and independent of those which have preceded them, but of one and the same Kingdom of Men in the several phases of its

 existence.


The Kingdom of men was founded by Nimrod son of Cush, who was Son of Ham, son of Noah. The beginning of it was Babylon, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went forth into :Assyria, and budded Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah : the same is a great city “ (Gen.  10; 8-12). This Nimroudia was the Kingdom of Men in the extent of it during the lifetime of its founder, comprehending, as we see, Babylon and Assyria. These were its roots and trunk, which in after ages came to be famous for then strength and altitude, the beauty of their leaves, the abundance of their fruits, and their wide-spreading top ; so that all the nations had shadow under it, arid their rulers and great men dwelt in the boughs, and all flesh were fed of it (Dan. 4 : 10-12)


As a magnificent tree in the midst of the earth, whose height reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth “, ‘he Kingdom of lien had become under the proud-hearted Nebuchad­nezzar, the destroying lion of his age(Jer. 4:7; 50: 17). He had grown and become strong; for his greatness had grown, and reached unto heaven, and his dominions to the end of the earth “ (Dan. 4 : 22). In this testimony ‘ the end of the earth “ is defined by the extent of the dominion of the Kingdom of Men. It does not extend to the entire globe, for an immense pry portion of it has ever been beyond the limits of this kingdom. All Europe, America, and China were beyond the end of the earth “ when Nebuchadnezzar sat upon the throne


of the Kingdom of Men. But, when the brazen-coated Greeks under Alexander the Macedonian established themselves in Babylon, the limits of the earth “ were enlarged ; for in speaking of the third kingdom of brass “, Daniel revealed to Nebuchadnezzar that it should

 

 

pg 8


bear rule over all the earth “. When this was accomplished, “the end of the earth” advanced into Europe, and was defined by the western limit of Alexanders Macedonian Kingdom. But “ the end of the earth “was not yet fixed even then; for when the Iron Kingdom  annexed the brazen dominions to a considerable extent, it remove the end of the earth “ to the Atlantic Ocean. The present constitu­tion of the Iron Kingdom has enlarged “ the earth “ far beyond the shadow of the Assyrian tree when it represented the greatness of the Kingdom (If Men under- the Chaldean dynasty. It now comprehends the Holy Roman Empire “, or Little Horn of the West, which includes papal Germany, of which Austria is the chief dominion. From the Indus, then (the eastern limit of the Kingdom of Men under the Macedonian Dynasty), to the German and Atlantic Oceans, compre­hending Affghanistan, Persia, Media, Nimroudia, the Holy Land, Egypt, Arabia, Asia Minor, the rest of the pagan Roman dominion, the Austrian Empire, and the papal states of Germany——is the territory, styled in prophetic language “ the earth “, upon which, since the days of Nimrod, has existed, still exists, and will continue to exist, the Kingdom of Men until is destroyed by the Kingdom of God!.

From these remarks upon ‘ the end of the earth “, it will be seen that the Kingdom  of ‘Men has been diversified in its constitution, extent, and throne since its foundation by Nimrod to the present time. Er has nevertheless been the same Nimroudian kingdom, with Babylon and Assyria for Its characteristics. Cyrus the Persian is styled King of Babylon, and Artaxerxes, King of Assyria. Though of the Persian stock, having no consanguinity with Nebuchadnezzar. they were as much kings of Assyria and Babylon as he. Alexander the Great, though a Greek, and the Selucidae who succeeded him in that region, were also kings of Assyria and Babylon. When the Romans got the ascendancy in the Kingdom of Men, they banded the stump of its tree with iron and brass (Dan. 4 : 15), and converted! their own city into the Great Babylon “ of the dominion, which by the edict of Caracalla             

became co-extensive with the dominion itself; so that Babylon, as the name of the Empire, came again to stand by the great river Euphrates, where Nimrod had originally planted the tree.


The different form. which the Kingdom of Men had assumed since the overthrow of Nineveh, are represented in the before-named symbols of the Book of Daniel. The metallic image is that kingdom  as it will exist when Gog comes to fall upon the mountains of Israel. If the observer take up a position contemporary with that crisis, and view- the Kingdom of Men as it will then have existed from the beginning of Its ascendancy over the House of Judah or of David!, he will perceive that it has assumed five  distinct forms ; such as, the Chaldean, the Medo-Persian, the  Macedonian or Grecian, the Roman, and the Russian ; represented in the order of their enumeration by the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay. But all the important characteristics of the Kingdom of  Men in relation to the House of David  and! the saints (the Heirs of the divine government styled the Kingdom of God) and Judah, could not be exhibited in a compound! metallic image of a man : it was, therefore, necessary to

 

 

Pg 9


introduce other symbols for its elucidation. In the third chapter of Daniel, we are presented with an interesting illustration of the impiety and blasphemy of the Kingdom of Men ; of its hostility to the people of the House of David, or the Jews, whether such by nature, or by walking in the steps of the faith of Abraham, or by adoption; of the furnace of affliction through which they would have to pass in rejecting the superstitions of the Kingdom of Men, and in adhering to the truth of God ; of their meeting with the Deliverer in their extremity ; of the destruction of their tormenters ; of their final deliverance ; and of the ascription at last of blessing, and! honour, and glory, and power to the God of Israel by the assembled nations, when Gods people shall be promoted to the direction of human affairs, and the Kingdom of Men shall be no more. Nebuchadnezzar, in referring to his dream, and to the wonderful deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to the Tree-Stump banded with Brass and Iron, styles them • signs and wonders that the High God hath wrought towards me “He  might well exclaim, “ How great are his signs ! and how mighty are his wonders ! His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and his dominion from generation to generation

By the Image-Sign, Nebuchadnezzar learned for the first time, that the God of Israel was above all gods and kings ; and that He intended, notwithstanding the Chaldo-Babvlonish conquest of Judah, and reduction of their city and temple to ruin, to have a kingdom  among the generations of men, which in turn should destroy their kingdom, originally founded by Nimrod.

By the fiery-furnace -• wonder,“ he was taught, that God would deliver His servants that trust in Him with a salvation which would make them invulnerable to human power, and! fit to possess the kingdom which shall not be left to other people “. And, by the sign of the Tree, and the wonder, of which he was the subject in his own person, he learned, that the rulers in the Kingdom of Men could not do as they pleased! ; that those who attained to high places in it (as in his own case) were such as He sets up as the most fitting instru­ments to work out His own purposes ; and that the only kingdom that will be everlasting on earth is His OWN, which is to grind to powder- and bring to an end all the kingdoms of the Babylonish  Confederacy of the Latter Days. These signs and wonders greatly enlightened the mind and subdued the pride of Nebuchadnezzar.  He came to know that ‘ the Heavens do rule “ . or, as Paul expresses it,


The existing powers are subjected to the Deity “ ; an elliptical expression for under the Angels of the Deity who do His commandments. (Psa.  103:20 ). (Paul says, that God has not put in subjection the future habitable to the angels “ ; which is tantamount to saying, that the present habitable, or territory of the Kingdom of Men, is put under the angels. The same territory in the future will be subjected to the Christ and his brethren. Heb. 2 : 5, 8-10).


The fifth chapter informs us how the Chaldean Royalty was finished, and the Kingdom of Men transferred to the Medes and Persians ; whose dynasty is represented in the seventh and eighth chapters by a Bear with three Ribs between its teeth, and by a Ram

 

 

  Pg 10


with horns of unequal height. The Medo-Persian Royalty of the Kingdom of Men is represented in the Image by the Breast and the Arms of Silver; and as the Image is to exist complete in the Latter Days, Persia must be a constituent of the dominion represented by it. Persia will, therefore, be certainly confederate with Russia at the overthrow of Gog.

But, an interesting announcement was made to Belshazzar, styled by Isaiah “ Lucifer, son of the morning “, before he fell from heaven to go down to the sides of the pit (Isa. 14 : 4, 12, 15). It was, that his kingdom was numbered, and, as far as his family was concerned, finished.

“. It was relatively finished, not absolutely so because this finished kingdom was to ‘ be divided, and given to the Medes and Persians “. The kingdom was numbered, and his tenure of it likewise. His occupation of the throne as a member of the golden dynasty had been limited to the seventieth year from the first of Nebuchadnezzars reign (Jer. 27 : 7 ; 25 : 12). These seventy years were filled! up by Nebuchadnezzars reign of forty four years ; Evil-Merodachs, of two years ; usurpers, of four years and nine months ; and Belshazzars, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, of nineteen years arid! three months. The Scripture takes no notice of the usurpers ; I have therefore divided the twenty-six years remaining after the death of Nebuchadnezzar in the thirty-seventh of Jehoiachins captivity, between Evil-Merodach and Beishazzar in my chronology at the end of Eureka II. But the Kingdom of ‘Men, which passed from the golden into the silver constitution of the empire, had been numbered, as well as the duration of its Chaldean dynasty. Nebuchadnezzar was not only informed that the Kingdom of Men should fight its last battle with the Kingdom of God • in the latter days “, but a sign and a wonder were given him by which he might know how far remote from his times those appointed days should be. The decree of the Watchers concerning the duration of the kingdom, or Banded Stump, is, Let seven  times pass over him “. When these seven times should approach their termination the latter days of the Kingdom of Men would have arrived ; and with them the time for the final overthrow of it by “THE STONE cut out of the mountain which was not in hands “. But of these seven times I shall write more particularly hereafter.

 

   2——THE KINGDOM OF MEN IN ITS  VARIOUS PHASES

 

IN the first year of Belshazzars reign, which was nineteen before his overthrow by Cyrus, further particulars were represented con­cerning the relation if the Kingdom of Men, or Serpent-power, to Messiah the Prince and his coadjutors, through whom at length the might of Gods Kingdom was to be brought to bear on the Serpent-kingdom for its utter destruction at the end of the Seven Times. These things were not represented to the King of Babylon, but to Daniel himself, as specially interested in them.

In the vision of the Four Beasts he saw the Kingdom of Babylon in its golden, silver, brazen, iron and iron and! clay manifestations. Through these distinct symbols he saw what could not be represented in a statue, where the metals in juxtaposition signified merely one

 

Pg 11


 

united confederacy in the latter days. By the Four Beasts he saw that the successive phases through which the Kingdom of the Serpent was to pass,

 

 


were to result from the tempest of war in the Mediterranean countries. His words are, “ The four winds of the heaven strove upon the Great Sea, and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse from one another “. The winds were not all blowing at once, but successively and at long intervals, each tempest resulting in a change in the constitution and government of the Kingdom of Babylon, as represented by the Beasts. By these belligerent tempests the Macedonian-brass and the Roman-iron dynasties incorporated them­selves with the gold and silver Babylonish dominion, and with one another, forming thus the Band of Iron and Brass, and setting itself around! the Tree-Stump when the royalty should be transferred to Rome as the seat or throne of the power in its fourth beast or dragon manifestation.

 

   3.—THE LION PHASIS OF THE KINGDOM OF BABYLON

 

THE Beasts being Substituted for the metals of Nebuchadnezzars Image, they represent of course the same phases of the Kingdom of Men.  We learn from Jeremiah that the powers of Nineveh and Babylon were each represented by lions. He says, “ Israel is a scattered sheep ; the lions have driven them away: first the King of Assyria hath devoured him ; and last this  Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon hath broken his bones “ (Jet. 50 : 1 7). The Ninevite Assyrian was represented to Daniel as a lion with eagles wings. Many years before, the Deity had punished the King of Assyria and his land for scattering the Ten Tribe, by transferring the dominion over the Nimroudian empire from Nineveh to Babylon. This revolution is represented by the eagle-wings being ‘‘ plucked” from the lions back ; while the lion

itself was made to stand erect as a man, and to receive  in exchange for  its lion-heart, the heart of a man. Thus the Lion-Man became the symbol of the kingdom of Babylon so long as the government continued in the family of Nebuchadnezzar ; which with all its faults was more human than that which it succeeded.

 

   4.—THE BEAR PHASIS

 

The Impiety of Belshazzar brought ruin upon his family and calamity upon the Kingdom. It was made an accusation against him by Daniel that the Deity in whose power his breath was, and whose were all his ways, he had not glorified “. Convicted of this, the Lord of heaven pronounced sentence upon him, saving “ God bath numbered thy reign, and finished it. Thou art weighted in the balances and found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians “. The execution of this sentence was prompt; for “ on that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. ,and Darius the Median took the kingdom “.

This transfer of the government occurred B.C. 542. Its mission was to restore Judahs Commonwealth, and to extend the boundary of the Kingdom of Men. • Arise, devour much flesh “, was the policy

 

 

Pg 12

 

of its reign. The Bear was the symbol of this government, whose


    dominion extended from India to Ethiopia, over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces. The reign of the Bear began under a Mede, and in two years passed by inheritance to Cyrus, a Persian. This change of position was represented to Daniel in the saying that “it raised itself on one side “, so that one side became “ higher than the other” ; but before it raised itself up, the higher side was no higher than the other ; therefore the higher side acquired its position last, as appears in the history of the time. The Ram in the eighth chapter with horns of unequal height is another symbol for the same govern­ment : the unequal elevation of the sides of the Bear, and the different altitude of the Rams horns, are conditions representative of the same dynastic peculiarity— ‘The higher horn came up last ‘.


The Bear had also another peculiarity worthy of note. • It had three ribs in the mouth of it between its teeth “. These ribs represented the threefold division of its conquests. The interpretation is found elsewhere in these words of Daniel : ‘ It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty princes, who should be over the whole kingdom ; and over these, three presidents, of whom Daniel was chief: that the princes might give account to them, and the king (the Bear-Mouth) should have no damage “. The three presidencies, then, of the silver dominion were the ribs in the mouth of the Bear.


In dismissing this symbol, it is worthy of remark, that while the Ram, by which the Persians represented themselves in Daniels time, is their symbol in relation to the Macedonians under Alexander, the Deity bath chosen for them the Bear to-signify them as an element of the Image in the latter-days. The latter-day symbol then of Persia, is a Bear ; and a Bear is at this time her formidable neighbour, and has already taken from her a large portion of her territory. The Russian Bear is destined to supersede her present government as an inde­pendent sovereignty, and to grasp Persia between its teeth from near India to Ethiopia, which is to lie ‘‘ at his steps ‘‘. This is no mere conjecture, but absolutely certain; for Yahweh has declared by Ezekiel that Persia shall he an element of Gogs confederacy, and that Gogs is the Russian power will be seen when I come to treat of the King of the North at the rime of the end. The Ram continued 206 years and 9 months.

 


   5.—THE FOUR HEADED LEOPARD PHASIS

 

THE third symbol representative of the Kingdom of Babylon under a new- constitution shown to Daniel, was a Leopard with Four Heads and Four Wings. It- answers to the brazen part of the image, which “ bore rule over all the earth “ ; and to the Goat with Four Horns pointing to the Four Winds in the eighth chapter; but without the Little Horn, which is represented by the fourth Beast. The Leopard is Macedonian, representing Alexander the Greats dominion and those of his four principal successors who divided it among themselves. The body of the beast represents the power before it was divided : and each head, one of the subsequent divisions. The wings represented the position of the Maccdonian Heads relatively to the Holy Land. At

 

Pg 13

 


the death of Alexander a long period of war ensued, which resulted (B.C. 301) in the establishment of the following kingdoms on the

 

territory of the Kingdom of Men.


      First Head.—The Kingdom of the south, comprehending Egypt, Libya, Arabia, Coele-Syria, and Palestine, under the Ptolemies. —

      Second Head.——The Kingdom of the north-west, including

Thrace;Bithynia, etc., or the Thraco-Macedonian.

Third Head.—

The Kingdom of the north-east, comprehending the rest of Asia inclusive of Babylon and its province; and extending beyond the Euphrates to the Indus. India beyond that river, though allotted to this head, revolted; so that the Indus became its boundary. This was the Macedo-Babylonish Kingdom of the Seleucidae.

Fourth Head.—

The Kingdom of the west, embracing Macedonia and Greece.


The Lion-Man, the Bear, the Leopard, and its Third Head, or Kingdom of the North, all established themselves in the city of Babylon, where Alexander “ held, as it were, the States-General of the world “, and which he had resolved to make the throne of his empire. But the decree of heaven was against the city  (Isa 14:22,23; 13:19,22).. The purpose of AIexander was frustrated by death; and by B.C. 293,  it became an uninhabited desert by the inundation of the Euphrates and the building of Seleucia on the banks of the Tigris about forty miles above, to which its citizens removed. Thus, the tree of Babylon was hewn down, its branches lopped, its leaves shaken off, and its fruit scattered ; so that the nations got away from under it, and their rulers from its branches. Nevertheless, the stump of its roots remained (Dan. 4: 14, 15) under the sovereignty of the Third Head of  t he Leopard  founded by Seleucus, for almost 250 years, when   the anexation of the Macedo-Babylonish territory to the Roman; and the band being thus formed, it was found at length encircled by it B.C. 65

Of the four heads of the Leopard and the four horns of the Goat, but two only figure in the prophecy of Daniels book. The reason of this is, that the prophecy was not delivered to prefigure the history of the Gentiles ; but to foreshow how the international policy of some of them in its bearing upon Judah, the Holy Land, and the saints, would at length create such a situation of affairs in the end, as would  favour the execution of the divine purpose of demolishing the powers of the Gentiles in the establishing of the Kingdom of God. “ The secret of Yahweh is with them that fear him.” The matter is therefore revealed for the information of those that obey him, that they may not be taken unawares. “The wise shall understand.” Let them know, then, that the policy of only two heads of the Leopard is foreshown, because they only of the four had to do -with Judah and the Holy Land; and were sufficient to connect the iron with the silver of the Image. Hence the individual dominion of Alexander was the Belly, and these two heads also the two Thighs of brass ; and therefore continuous with the iron Roman leg : so that the brass and iron limbs of the image from hip to ankle represent the fourth form in its Graeco-Roman constitution. The two thighs and the two heads represent the Kingdom of the South, and the Kingdom


Pg 14


of the Northeast, as above defined ; and with the Little Horn of the Goat, or eastern element of the Fourth Beast, in relation to Judah and the Holy Land, are the powers of the eleventh chapter from the fifth verse to the end.

 

   6.—THE TEN-HORNED DRAGON-PHASIS OF THE KINGDOM OF BABYLON

 


    The previous beasts were introduced into this -prophecy as the basis of the fourth, which in many points was diverse from them all, Daniel says, “ it was dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth “. The iron teeth connect it with the iron legs, and iron element of the iron  cIay  Feet and Toes. Its claws were of brass ; which shows that it is related also to the power represented by the brazen parts (If the Image. These two metals being inserted! in the symbol suggest the power it was designed to represent—a dominion constituted! of the Greek and! Latin elements. Has such a dynastic form of the Kingdom of  Babylon ever existed The history of the nations of the Mediterranean countries of from B.C. 65 to A.D 395), shows that such a dynastic manifestation not only existed, but ‘‘ devoured and brake in pieces “, as predicted it would ; though it has not yet “stamped the residue with its brazen-clawed Feet “. The power existing during this period chose to represent itself by a Dragon ; we may, therefore, as Daniel has given it no name, style it for convenience THE GRAECO ­R0MAN DRAGON.

It had Ten Horns. They  stood up as long as the beast continued! in life ; but not all : for three of them fell before an eleventh that came up on the beast afterwards. Seven strong horns and three broken, or • plucked up by the roots “. These ten horns thus con­ditioned, with the brazen-claw-ed feet, represent the same things as the iron~clay feet and toes of the Image. When the Russo-Greek elements (clay and brass) are combined with the Gomerians (iron) in the Gog confederacy, the feet of the Graco-Roman Dragon will be manifested ; and! it will then ‘‘ stamp the residue with the feet of it “. Hitherto the Dragon has destroyed with its ‘‘ great iron teeth


hereafter it will use its feet and claws. The Feet of the Image, and the Feet of the Dragon, has- yet to be formed out of existing elements and it is the King of the Norths mission to accomplish the work.


 The Horns of the Dragon, and the Toes of the Image, representing kingly- powers, or thrones; which are to exist until the taking possession of the Dragon-dominion by the Saints shall he perfected. They are emblems of kingdoms existing  when the judgment sits for the destruction of the kingdom of Babylon. I know of no place where it is written that the Horns and Toes were to have an uninterrupted existence of 1260 years but I do find that “ the Ten Horns receive power as kings one hour with the beast ‘‘ (Rev.  17 : 12)—that is, thirty years; so that we need riot be careful to identify them until then.

           After the Horns had struck their roots into the Dragon territory, an “ eleventh came up among them “ which Daniel characterizes a


a Little Horn “. In order to make room for itself it subdued three of

 

 

pg 15


the ten, and incorporated their territories into its own dominion. This incorporation made it imperial—an Emperorship in the midst of Seven Kingdoms; so that it stood as the Eighth Power.


But this eighth power was diverse from the Seven; in that it had the Eyes of a Man which gave it a more audacious look than the others;

and! a mouth by which it spake very great words against the High Ones, thinking to change times and laws. The eyes and mouth of the

Little Horn were sufficient for all the rest. Its undertaking to speak as the representative of the High Ones in regard to times and laws connects the mouth with matters spiritual, showing that the horn, eyes, and mouth, ate emblematical of a civil, military, and ecclesiastical power. This power manifested itself originally in Rome AD. 8oo, as the Western Roman, or “ HOLY R0SIAN EMPIRE “ ; of which I shall speak more particularly hereafter. Suffice it to say here, that while the jurisdiction of the secular element of the horns has been limited to its proper territory, the spiritual dominion of the Eyes and Mouth has reigned in the kingdoms of all the horns of the Dragon-territory ceded to the western beast.

In the countries ruled by these eight horns have existed classes of people against which, under the influence of the Eyes and Mouth, they have entertained unmitigated and cruel hatred. They have poured out their blood like water, and harassed them with all possible pains and penalties. The enmity that has obtained between these Horn~powers and these classes has been mutual and implacable; so that war between them could only be finally extinguished by the conquest of one party or the other. These classes are called kaddisbin, that is, Holy Ones whose fate has been to be overcome by the imperial and regal papal powers of Babylon. This was foreshown to Daniel in these words, ‘ I beheld, and the same Little Horn made war with the holy ones, and prevailed against them “. The subjugation of the holy ones, however, was not a finality. Yahweh never intended that the Seed of the Woman should be bruised in the head, or finally crushed; that is a fate in reserve for the Serpent-power and its adherents. All that this can do against” the holy ones of the Most High “ is to bruise them in the heel, which is as curable, and in the same way, as the wound it inflicted on Christ, when on the accursed tree (styled by the Seed of the Serpent ‘ Holy Cross “) “ the iniquity of his heels compassed him about “—that is, by a resurrection from among the dead to eternal life at the coming of Messiah. It is therefore only until the time of this event that the Imperio-Regal Papacy of the Babylonish dominion prevails over the Holy Ones of the Most High as it is written, “ The Little Horn prevailed against them, UNTIL the Ancient of Days came


Here is a point of time beyond which the misfortunes of the Holy Ones

do not extend, it is the turning-point in their career in relation to the “ dreadful and terrible, and exceedingly strong” dominion that makes

such dreadful havoc on the earth—-a dominion which no earth-born

power can subdue.

         The coming of the Ancient of Days is a great event in this prophecy. He is said to sit, and one like the Son of Man to be brought to him, after which He is said to come. When the prophecy was

 

Pg 16



delivered He had not manifested Himself in the flesh—the Son of Man had not been born; hence that peculiar representative mode of expression : but he has since been born, or manifested, and gone into a far country, where the manifested Son has appeared in the presence of the Ancient of Days, or the Father, for the purpose of receiving from him “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages, should serve him; and all rulers obey him” (Dan.  7;13,14,27) ; Luke 19: 12, 15). Though these things ate promised to him, and though he is the heir of them all, he has not received them; as is manifest from the fact that ‘ all people, and nations, and languages” serve the rulers of the Gentiles, and especially that system of governments represented by the Greco-Roman Dragon. But when the time appointed arrives, as the Ancient of Days embodied in the holy spiritual nature, he will come, having received power and authority to take the dominion, glory, and kingdom, promised him. Thus the Ancient of Days comes, and sits in Jerusalem, the Holy City, to judge all the nations round about (Joel 3 :12,16)— there he sits, “ his throne being like the fiery flame, and his ‘wheels as burning fire “, and sends forth from before him a stream of fire.

For the signification of the Wheels and Fire read Ezekiels first and tenth chapters. They are parts of his imagery put for the whole in this text of Daniel. The Spirit of the Living Creatures is in the Wheels.” They represent the same as the four living creatures in Rev. : 8-ic. They are the redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation “, raised from the dead, in consuming and destructive motion against the body and horns of the Graeco ­Roman Dragon. They are the thousand thousands who minister to the commands of the Ancient of Days; and go forth with him as a fiery stream against the Beast and the False Prophet, and the Kings of the earth and their armies “, to give them “ of the wrath of God poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation “—thus tormenting all the adherents of the Beast and his Image with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy messengers, and in the presence of the Lamb (Rev.  14:10; 19;19-21).

When the manifested Ancient of Days comes, this judgment is set, and the books are opened; and whosoever is found written in the lambs Book of Life awakes to everlasting life, and to a participa­tion in the judgment upon the Four Beasts; and whosoever is not found written there is cast into the burning flame that destroys the body of the Dragon (Rev. 20: 15, : 21 : 27).


The taking away of the dominion of Babylon, and the bringing of its kingdom to an end, is the work assigned to the Holy Ones; who in overthrowing the Gentile powers will also appropriate to their own use all they possess. Hence, at the coming of the Ancient of Days, it is testified that the hitherto vanquished holy ones should become conquerors in their turn—should conquer the gold, and the silver, and the brass, and the iron, and the clay; or the four kingdoms of Powers that exist on the Babylonish earth, and take them for them­selves : as it is written, “ These great beasts, which are four, represent four kings, or royalties, which shall arise out of the earth. But the


 Pg 17


       holy ones of the High Ones shall take the Kingdom (of Babylon) and possess the kingdom for the age, even for the age of the ages “. Again, “The Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the holy ones of the High Ones “ ; when “ the time came that the ho1y ones should possess the kingdom “. And again, “ Let the saints by joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the nations, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints “ (Psa.  149 : 9). The” judgment written

the judgment that sits when the Ancient of days comes. They are not only to slay the Fourth Beast, and to destroy its body with fire and brimstone; but they are to take away the dominion of the Lion Man, the Bear, and the Leopard; whose peoples, and nations, and languages, however, will experience a better fate than those of the Fourth Beast dominion; for, while the constitutions of the Latins are exterminated, the populations of Assyria, Persia, and Macedonian Egypt, are permitted to retain their nationality for a season and time. That they do remain distinct national organizations is evident from the following testimonies: In that day shall there be a highway   out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; whom Yahweh Tzvaoth~ shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hand, and Israel mine inheritance” (Isa.  19:23-24)


And, “ I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king of princes : but it shall come to pass in the latter days, I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith Yahweh” (Jer 49:38.39)


The manner in which the dominion of Assyria and Elam or Persia is taken away when the judgment sits, is revealed in Micahs prophecy concerning him who was to be born in Bethlehem “to be Ruler in Israel “, that is, concerning Christ who was born there. He writes, ‘And he shall stand and rule in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the Name of Yahweh his Elohim; and they (Israel) shall abide; tor now shall he (Christ) be great unto the ends of the earth. And this (Christ-Man) shall be the peace (of Israel) when the Assyrian (the king of the north or Gog) shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our fortresses, then shall we raise against him seven leaders, even eight anointed ones of the Adam. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he (Christ) deliver from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders “ (Micah 5 : 2 6). These eight anointed ones are some of the holy ones with the Ancient of Days who execute judgment at his appearing.

But, at what time does he appear? This is found by attending to what is said concerning the Little Horn power and the holy ones. It is to prevail against them until the Ancient of Days come, which

 

Pg 18


“ until” is indicated in the words, “ The holy ones shall be given into his power until a time, and times, and the dividing of a time “. Hence, the Ancient of Days will come at the end of this period, which has not yet expired; for if it had, the Ancient of Days would now be in Teman, or the South of the Holy Land, the holy ones would now he preparing to execute judgment, and the season and time would be at hand. There are no data in the seventh of Daniel for the calculation of the three times and a half, or i z6o years, as they are well understood to signify. All that can be known from it is, that they pertain to the Greco-Roman Dragon, that they end with the com­mencement of judgment upon its Little Horn, and with the approach of the “season and time” : we must look to other testimonies to ascertain the duration of this, and the probable termination of the 1260 years.


Daniel does not tell us here how long a time after the ending of the 1260  years will be occupied in the executing of judgment by the holy ones upon the Body, Little Horn and Ten Horns, of the fourth beast, which are to be utterly destroyed. This can be learned from another source. He contents himself for the time with inform­ing us of the general result of the judgment in the entire and complete overthrow of the Kingdom of Babylon represented by the four beasts; and in the setting up of the kingdom by the God of heaven (Dan.  44) through the agency of the holy ones inclusive of Christ, which is their chief. Hence, he concludes the account of his vision by saying, “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the holy ones of the High Ones, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and whom all dominions shall serve and obey “. This accomplished, the kingdom will be “ restored again to Israel “ (Acts 1 : 6) and be in the hands of those for whom it has been preparing “from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25 :34), and who once seized of it will “ not leave it to other people “, but retain it “ for ever “.

   7.—THE HOLY ONES OF THE HIGH ONES, AND THEIR PEOPLE


IN the seventh of Daniel there ate three parties associated together in executing judgment upon the Beasts the holy ones the High Ones and “the people of the holy ones “.  The holy ones are styled “the saints” in the common version; and the High Ones are termed “the Most High “in the singular. The word saint signifies a holy one; but it has been so misapplied by the Gentiles that I have preferred the latter, as keeping before the mind the saying, that ‘ without holiness no man shall see the Lord “. The phrase “the Most High” in the singular number is in the plural in the Chaldee original. The word there is elyonin. This is not accidental, for it occurs four times in the same chapter, which supply the reason of the expression in the introduction of the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man into the vision. These are the High Ones to whom the holy ones belong ; as it is written, “ Ye are Christs, and Christ is Gods.”

The holy ones of the High Ones whose Head is Christ, take the kingdom which is then given to the people of the holy ones. These

 

 

Pg 19


are the Twelve Tribes of Israel, who, under the government of the holy ones, possess “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven “. They possess these in the sense in which a nation is said to possess such things, while at the same time it is only the princes and rulers of the nation who possess the glory, honour, majesty, and high offices of the kingdom. The holy ones and their Head the Most Holy Prince will possess these with immortality, which pertains to them exclusively; while the Israelites. who constitute “the people “, or subjects of the kingdom, will stand related to the holy ones as the subjects of all other nations do to the nobility and government of their kingdoms; but with this exception that, whereas the subjects and rulers of kingdoms hitherto existing in the world have been all mortal, and therefore under the necessity of leaving their houses, dignities, and power to other people, or successors, the princes of the kingdom of the Deity in the Holy Land will be deathless, but the subjects thereof mortal.

The possessing of the kingdom and dominion and their greatness under the whole heaven of the four beasts by Israel, is predicted by the prophet Micah in these words: “I will surely assemble all of thee, O Jacob; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel . . . In that day, saith Yahweh, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation;


and Yahweh shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even for the age. And thou, 0 Citadel of the flock, the stronghold (if the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the First Dominion; the Kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem” (Micah 2: 12; 4: 6-8). And by Zephaniah, Yahweh saith, “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, 0 Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, 0 daughter of Jerusalem. Yahweh hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy (the Turk, and afterwards the Russian) ; the King of Israel, Yahweh, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more . . . Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee; and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out, and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame” (Zeph. 3 : 14-20). And again, he says by Zechariah, “ Sing and rejoice, 0 daughter of Zion; for Lo, I (Christ) come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee; and many nations shall be joined to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee; and Yahweh shall possess Judah his portion in the Land of Holiness, and shall choose Jerusalem again” (Zech. 2 : 10-12). “I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth,, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts the holy mountain. There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. For I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be to them for Elohim in truth and righteousness.


Pg 20

 

 

Yea, many people, and strong nations shall come to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before Yahweh. In those days ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with  you : for we have heard that Elohim is with you” (Zech. 8 : 3-8, 22,23)


 “ Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves One Head (or king), and they shall come up out of the land (of the enemy), for great shall be the day of Jezreel” (Hos.  1 : 11). “And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. And THE BELOVED my servant shall be king over them: and they shall have one Shepherd:


they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statues, and to do them.  And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their childrens children forever. And my servant the Beloved shall be their prince for ever” (Ezek. 37 : 22-2 5).

From these testimonies it is evident, that a kingdom consisting of the twelve United Tribes of Israel is to be established in the Holy Land under a king high in the favour of the Ancient of Days; and that when it exists it will have the ascendancy in the world, and be celebrated for the fame and glory of its people among all nations. It is clear also that the accomplishment of these predictions will settle all controversies about “ the Holy Places “, and be a quietus to all “Eastern Questions “. The reduction of the promises of Deity to accomplished facts must be the extinction, not only of the Ottoman, but of all the governments and powers of Europe and Asia; and the substitution of the Israelitish Dominion in their place, when Israel shall be Yahwehs firstborn (Exod. 4:22) among the nations of the coming age. Being the body of this kingdom, whose founders are the High Ones, and its rulers and princes their holy ones, the people of the holy ones are the constituents, or commonalty, of the body, even the twelve tribes of Israel, the nation of Yahweh.


The Holy Ones that slay the Graeco-Roman Dragon, destroy its body in the burning flame of their power, and take away the dominion of the Lion-Man, Bear, and Leopard, ate persons who have attained to immortality as a part of the reward promised in the gospel of the kingdom to all “who walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham “, whose faith was made perfect by his works (Rom. 4 : 12; Jas. 2 : 22). That they ate immortals is evident, from it being affirmed of them that they possess the kingdom for ever, which those only can do who are deathless. These immortals are called holy ones because they attain to immortality on account of their previous o mess “ without which no one can see the Lord” ; that is, the High Ones of the vision. From this a very interesting question arises, namely, What did their holiness consist in that gave them acceptance with the High Ones This is a question answered in the following words by the Spirit of God: “The..saints are they who keep the commandments of Deity, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev.  14: 12). Hence, it is written, “Blessed

 

 

Pg 21

 

are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” ; that is, that they  may have right to immortality, and may enter into the kingdom by resurrection to everlasting life (Rev.  22 : 14). The faith of Jesus is explained as being “ the testimony of Jesus “—what is taught of Jesus Christ (Rev.  12 : 17 ; 19 :10 ) ; and “ the testimony of Jesus “ is the spirit, or import, of the prophecy. ‘‘ The words I speak unto you “, said he, “ they are spirit, and they are life “ (John 6 : 6;) : that is, the words I speak believed, make alive. The doctrine taught by Jesus intelligently and heartily believed is spirit, from which as the germ of a new existence, holiness unto eternal life originates. The words spoken by Jesus are styled “ the good message concerning the kingdom of the Deity “, and “ the words of eternal life “. To those who received these words he said, “ Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you “ ; and on such, purified in mind and disposition by belief of that word, he commanded his apostles to enjoin immersion into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit “ (Matt.  28:19) that they might thus become the children and brethren of the High Ones (Gal. 3 : 26, 27). Being thus by faith and obedience introduced into Christ, he is to them wisdom  and righteousness, and! sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor 1 : 30) ; that is, they are in a state of purity, and holy, being in him.

Having been thus constituted righteous and holy persons by being washed!, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of their God (1 Cor. 6 : 9- 11); they therefore ‘‘ yield their members servants to righteousness unto holiness “ for” having been made free from sin, and become servants to God, they have their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom. 6 : 19, 22). In the vision under consideration, Daniel saw— them as having attained to that end;  and saw them likewise as the military chieftains of their people, Israel taking violent possession of ‘‘ the kingdom and glory to which they had been called “ ; for -‘ the kingdom of the heavens suffereth violence and the violent take it by force

 

   8.  A. SEASON AND TIME

 

As I have said!, there is nothing in the seventh of Daniel from which can he ascertained the length of time during which Assyria, Persia, and Egypt, the southern head! of the Leopard, shall continue distinct nationalities after the taking away of their dominions by the holy ones. The sentence concerning them is, that “ a prolonging in life shall be given them for a season and time “. Now we learn from the Scriptures that there is a time when national distinctions among man­kind shall have an end ; a season and time cannot therefore be inter­minable. The reign of the holy ones is to be for an age, even for the age of ages. This age is of coequal duration with the season and time, and conterminous with it in the age of ages. In the season-and-time age, then, Assyria, Persia, and Egypt are dominionless, while the holy ones are kings “under the whole heaven” of the kingdom of men. But when the season and time end at the time of the opening of the

 



Pg 22

 

period beyond the age of ages, what then? Paul informs us, that at the end the Son of Man shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, or Ancient of Days, having by that time put down all rule, and all authority, and power: for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to the Ancient of Days who puts all things under him, that God may be the all things in all (1 Cor. 15 24). It is evident, then, from this, that the kingdom and dominion are not to continue unchanged interminably; but that when the time comes to abolish death from the earth, that abolition will necessitate a change in the constitution of the world. The reign of the Son of Man and his holy companions over nations of mortal men is therefore limited by that necessity. If, then, we can find a revelation of how long they are to reign, we shall have ascertained the duration of the season and time. This matter was revealed to John in Patmos. He tells us that lie saw one descend from heaven and bind the Dragon, so that the power could not injuriously affect the nations for 1,000 years; and that coevally with that period he saw persons occupying thrones who reigned with Christ as the priests of God (Rev. 20: 1-6).

A season and time, then, is 1,000 years, or two times of 360 years -each; and a set time of 280 years ; or nine months and ten days of years,  280 days being a set time, or period of gestation (Gen. 2 I : 2). For this season and time of 1,000 years the holy ones possess the world as theirs. At the end of that time, sin being eradicated, death is abolished, and their priesthood necessarily ceases. They therefore  reign no more as priests; but the Deity is all things in all the dwellers upon the eart


   9.—ORIGIN OF THE ROMANO-GREEK BABYLONIAN SOVEREIGNTY

 

IN the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, another vision was presented to Daniel, which he has recorded in the eighth chapter of his book. It was communicated for the purpose of

exhibiting certain important events in the future history of Judah, characterized by the suppression of their religious polity, the destruc­tion of their commonwealth, and subversion of their power for a long series of ages ; but with the consolatory assurance that God would! avenge them, and by a Great Deliverer destroy the power that had-so long oppressed them.

By studying the symbols of this chapter the power will be found to originate in Babylon, and to be the same as that represented by the four beasts, but without the introduction of the Ten Horns and the Little Horn with its Eyes and Mouth. These signify the Latin or papal governments of the west in their relation to the holy ones while the Bear and the Ram, the Leopard and the He Goat, the fourth Beast, and the Little Horn of the Goat, are the heraldry of the same dynastic manifestations of the kingdom of Babylon in relation to the people of the holy ones: that is, THE SAINTS NATION, in its Occupancy of the Holy Land.

Daniel saw the vision while residing in Persia at the palace of Shushan, under the government of the Lion-Man, which had but

 

Pg 23


sixteen years to continue over the affairs of the kingdom of Babylon. Hence, the Chaldean sovereignty being about to pass away, and sufficient having been revealed in former visions and signs, it was unnecessary to introduce it again: therefore, in the one before us the symbol presented first is that emblematic of the Babylonish power after it had been transferred to -the conjoint dynasty of the Medes and Persians.

The emblem of the Medo-Persian dynasty was a Ram with two horns of considerable and unequal height. It is unnecessary to repeat here what has already been said of the Ram when treating of the Bear. It will be sufficient to add, that Daniel saw the Medo-Persian symbol pushing westward, that is, towards Greece; northward, and south­ward, towards Egypt; so that no beasts or dominions could stand successfully against it. It, therefore, “ did according to its will, and became great “. The reason of this greatness is given in 11:1, from which we learn that it was because the kings of the Ram dynasty were strengthened by an angel-prince devoted to the interests of Judah. In the second verse of this chapter there is a particular mentioned concerning the military operations of the Ram-king which is noted as a cause of the enmity which led in the end to the subversion of their power by the Greeks. There were thirteen Medo-Persian kings; but the revelator takes no notice of any of them after the fourth that reigned after Cyrus. In the third year of Cyrus he said to Daniel, Behold, there shall yet stand up three kings in Persia “ ; namely, Cambyses, the Ahasuetus of scripture; Smerdis the Magian, and Darius; “ and the fourth shall be far richer than they all “. This was Xerxes : “ and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia” ; which saying is a prediction of the celebrated invasion of the west, so familiar to the reader of ancient history.

The time of the vision between this reign and the sixth year of the reign of the last of the Ram-kings, a period of about 142 years was occupied by the prophet in considering. “ And as I was con­sidering “, says he, “ behold, a He-Goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth” ; that is, over the face of the whole Ram-empire; “and nothing upon the earth smote (him), and the Goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes “. The things represented b the Goat and its Horn are then interpreted in the twenty-first verse of the eighth chapter: “And the rough Goat is the kingdom of Grecia;~ and the Great Horn between his eyes is the first king” .~ and what is affirmed of them is thus explained in 11 : 3 : “And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will “: The doing of this mighty king of Greece according to his will is thus expressed in chapter 8 : “And he came to the Ram, and ran unto him in the fury of his power; and he came close to him, and was moved with anger 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 power “. This is highly descriptive of the war between the Greeks and Persians

 


Pg 24


 

which resulted in the overthrow- of the Ram-dynasty, and the transfer of the Kingdom of Babylon to Alexander the Great, the notable horn of the goat nation. All the power of this kingdom was now  vested in

the first king “, who ‘ became very great “, and! when he had attained to the fulness of his power, ‘ he wept because there were no more worlds for him to conquer “. His dominion extended front Macedonia to beyond the Indus and from the GuIf of Persia to Scythia; and is represented by the belly of brass in Nebuchadnezzars Image, and in the interpretation thereof termed ‘‘ the third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth “.

 

The Ram having disappeared from view-, the prophets attention was concentrated upon the Goat, and especially- upon his Horn. He saw that “ when the Goat was strong, the Great Horn was broken

that is, the power of the kingdom departed from the first king and his family, before any reverses overtook the nation. Alexander died in Babylon from intoxication, leaving his unbroken dominion to be contended for and possessed by the strongest. It was revealed to Daniel that it should be divided into four notable sections.  but that no blood—relations of the first king should possess then. The division of Alexanders empire were represented by ‘‘ four notable horns coming up in the place of the broken horn toward the four winds of heaven “ ; and! in regard to the succession it was addled (11 : 4) “ but not to his posterity, nor according to the (extent of the) dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall he plucked up even for others (for other rulers) beside those “ of his posterity. This is the meaning of four kingdoms stand ing up out of the nation, but not in his -power “

.

 

The Four Heads of the Grecian Leopard, and the Four Horns of the Grecian Goat, both fours pointing toward the four winds, are representative of the same Grecian powers. The reader can refer to what I have said about the Leopard for the signification of the four ­horns of the Goat. In the eighth chapter nothing more is said about the four horns. They were only introduced into this vision because of the ds nasty that was to succeed them as the heir of the Babylonian power , which was to make its appearance in the east ‘‘ out of one of them”. ‘The eleventh chapter, from the fifth to the thirty-first verse, treats of two of them, the northern and southern horns in their struggles with one another for ascendancy in the Holy Land, and consequent lordship over Judah ; and! thus the treatise fills up the interval between the foundation of the horn kingdoms and the incipient intervention of” the breakers of Daniels people “ who should exalt themselves to establish the vision. Besides this, two of the Goat Horns were indispensable to the representation of the solution of the Eastern Question (If our day, called “ the Time of the End “. They are therefore introduced again in the fortieth verse and one of them, the northern, is kept in view- to the end of the chapter, being inseparable at last from the Little Horn of the Goat which came up out of it and merges again into it ; so that the fate of the one becomes the fate of the other, which is to be broken without help.

 


Pg 25


 

It will be seen by the countries subjected to the third head or horn, that the Kingdom of Babylon passed from Alexander to Seleucus and his successors of the northern horn. The Babylonish power has been particularly hostile to Judah and the holy ones from Nebuchadnezzar

to the present time, and will be to the end. Before Christ it seemed to have reached the climax of hatred in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, who polluted the temple, took away the daily, and set up the abomina­tion of the desolator. This extreme indignation against the temple worship was a type of the violence of the Little Horn that should come up against Jerusalem out of his territory, the effect of which would be far more permanent than his.

In the latter time of the dominion of the northern and southern horns (If the Goat the transgressors in Judah were fast arriving at

maturity. The Israelites of that tribe had conquered their independence (if these two kingdoms by the valour of the Maceabees and “ a little help “ from heaven ; and in alliance with the Romans, the future breakers of their power, they were enabled to maintain it under kings of the Levitical race after they had vanished from the scene. By that rime, however, both people and government had become very corrupt so that in about a hundred years after the establishment of the Asmonean throne, when the transgressors were ripening, the Iron Men of Italy began to appear as a distinct power to the north of Judea  by the progressive incorporation of the provinces of the northern horn with their more western empire. This advance of the Roman power eastward was preparatory to the use Yahweh was going to make of them in the crucifixion of Jesus, the punishment of Judah, and the abolition of the Mosaic system, as predicted in the eighth chapter and the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. The disappearing of the northern horn for a long series of ages, and the substituting of rite Roman power in its place, was represented to Daniel by the doming of a Little Horn out of one of the four horns. After it began to appeal in Syria, Daniel saw- it waxing exceeding great against the south or Egypt, and; against the east or Euphrates, and against the glory of the land, or Palestine, until it became dangerously formidable to the -army of ‘‘ the heavens “, or military power of Judah, which it at length subdued, as evinced by the Jews boasting before Pilate, that theyhad -. no other king than Caesar “.

Thus far the vision of the Ram and Goat was for the purpose of introducing the Roman power in its relation to Judah and the Holy Land; to special notice. By the absorption of the northern kingdom into the Roman empire, a union was formed between it and the Greaco­Babylonian  power of the Seleueidie ; so that as these were heirs of Alexanders kingdom of Babylon, the Romans inherited it from them.  Hence the power peculiar to this territory, styled ‘‘ the whole earth “, may very properly be called the Romano-Greek Babylonian; or the Latino-Greek Babylonian. This name is descriptive of it in its relation to the Holy Land, in all its future phases until its utter destruction by Messiah the Prince and his holy ones. The Ottoman nation is more Greek than Turkish, with but little of the Latin element; but when the Latins and Greeks come to form a confederacy under Russia as

 


Pg 26


 

the fragile medium of combination, the Latino-Greek Babylonian power will be in full “ blossom “, when the sour grape is ripening for the vintage (Isa. 18 : ; Rev. 14: 18). If these things be apprehended, the reader will be prepared to read the destiny of Russia and the nations in the solution of the Eastern Question; for, the working of it out is the manifestation of the Gogian Image, or Latino-Greek Babylonian power in consummation for its signal and final overthrow by the hand of Deity.

In this vision of the Ram and Goat the Babylonian power in its Roman manifestations is represented by the Little Horn of the Goat, which is not to be confounded with the Little Horn with Eyes and Mouth. At the time of the end, the powers signified by these are con­federated with the Goats Little Horn, and with it as their chief invade the Holy Land and besiege Jerusalem, and take it.

The Little Horn of the Goat power is described by Daniel as a king of fierce countenance, and understanding an intricate tongue; whose power shall be mighty, but not in his own virility: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and work; and shall destroy multitudes, and the people of the holy ones “. Speaking of the same, Moses says to Israel, “Yahweh shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until all thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustiest throughout all thy land which Yahweh thine Elohim bath given thee “ (Deut. z8 : 49). “And through his policy also “, says Daniel, “ he shall cause falsehood to prosper by his power; and because of his heart he shall do proudly, and in prosperity shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Commander of chieftains; but he shall be broken without help “.

Thus in its career it was to be what is said of Daniels fourth beast, dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly “, and the special enemy of all pertaining to Judah. “It waxed great “, says the prophet, “above the army of the heavens*, and it cast down of the army and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even against the Commander of the army; and by it the evening-morning sacrifice was taken away; and the founda­tion of its temple scattered (foundation of its temple or holy place. This rendering accords with the saying, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matt. 24: a). This would be a demolition of the foundation, and therefore utter destruction). And an army was given against the evening-morning

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Jewish forces are very fitly styled “ the army of the heavens “. These heavens were Yahweh, their king, Michael, “the first of the chief princes ‘, styled also Michael Prince of Israel, Gabriel, and other angel-princes, or Elohim, ap­pointed of Deity to watch over the affairs of the Jews in their relations with other powers, and so forth. Israel belongs to these heavens which rule until they give place to Messiah the prince and his holy ones, to whom God has promised to subject all things terrestrial. Israel then belonging to these heavens, their military forces are the army or hosts of the heavens, which must of course be sought for on the arena of the Little Horn.

 

pg 27


sacrifice because of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it wrought and prospered “. This was the beginning of divine indignation against Judah in the first century of our era, which is not quite terminated yet.

 


   IO.—EVENING-MORNING VISION

 

IN the twenty-sixth verse it is written, “ The marah, or thing seen (if the evening and morning which was told is true; wherefore shut thou up the khahzon, or vision, for it is for many days “. The vision was given principally to exhibit this great object, namely, the sup­pression of the evening-morning sacrifice until the Latino-Greek Babylonish power should be helplessly broken by the Commander of the army of Israel. This is then the reason why the vision of the Ram and Goat is styled “ the thing seen of the evening and morning ‘, or the evening-morning object.

When Daniel had the vision, the evening and morning sacrifice was suppressed, Jerusalem in ruins, and Judah in the province of Babylon. He was, however, fondly expecting the restoration of all these in about sixteen years (Dan. 9 : a) : but here was a new vision which taught him, that a breaking up of Judah by a more formidable enemy than the Chaldeans was to occur after their restoration from the Babylonish captivity. He saw that “ the Breaker up of Judah” was to exalt himself successfully against the long-expected Messiah; again to suppress the sacrifices, destroy the temple and city, abolish the Mosaic institutions, and scatter the power of the nation. In view of these events, what would become of all the promises made to the fathers of Israel? How long was deferred hope to make the hearts of believers sick? That the promises would certainly be fulfilled he had no doubt ; but then, as a lover of his people, he was appalled at the greatness of their rebellion, and at the calamities it would bring upon them in punishment for their crimes. The prospects of these things had a sickening effect upon the prophet. “ I fainted “, said he; “ and was sick for days “. He had been told how long the glory of Judah should be veiled in rayless night, and that deliverance should come at last: but the information only left him in blank amazement; for he says, “I was astonished at the thing seen, but none understood “ that is, at what time the scattering power would he broken, and the evening and morning sacrifice restored. Though ignorant of this, Daniel had consolation in knowing that at the end of the time ap­pointed in the vision “ the Holy shall be avenged “

 

. 11 . “ THE HOLY SHALL BE AVENGED

 

AFTER the announcement of the all-conquering prosperity of Judahs foe, Daniel heard the question asked, “Until when the vision (khalzon), the evening-morning sacrifice (tahmid), and the down ­treading of the desolate, to give both the holy (kodesh) and the host a treading down? “ Here was an answer sought in regard to three things : first, Unto what period of time should the vision reach, the last incident of which is the destruction of the Latino-Greek Baby­lonian power? In other words, When should that destruction happen?

 

Pg28



Secondly, Until when should the evening-morning  sacrifice be suppressed?  And thirdly.  When should Judah’s  rebellion causing desolation, or which had induced all these­ calamities =, have an end?  A fourth inquiry   might be made which would cover the whole ground , namely How long shall the treading down of the Holy Land and the Jews continue?  Now the answer which

 saluted Daniels eats shows  that the precise point of  time, w hen these things should be, Cannot  certainly , though it may be inferentially, extracted from

the prophecy : because there is no numerical intimation given of the commencement of the period named.  The answer recorded is. During and evening­ morning of the two thousand four hundred ; then the holy shall be avenged “ . The meaning of this is that there should be  an evening morning

period of 2400 years, after the expiration of which the Holy Land should be avenged. The Lord Jesus has paraphrased the reply in these words: “Jerusalem    (the holy) shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled “ (Luke 21:24)

When these have elapsed, neither Turk, Frank, nor Russian, Greek or Latin, will

 be permitted to desecrate the  Holy  with their hateful presence and abominations the treading down will then be ter­minated and the spoiler expelled that is, when judgment is given to the holy ones at the expiration of the three times and a half, the holy land   and city will be v indicated from violence and injury.

     The answer as it stands in the common version  has caused in -

superable difficulties to all who have endeavoured  to understand  it.  It

 is rendered there,  “Unto two thousand three hundred days : then shall the sanctuary be cleansed “. But the original is not yahmim “days”; it is erev boker, “, an evening -morning “. This departure from the  usual mode of  expression w as not without good reason.  The reply was it effect, “ During a two thousand three hundred tahmid”  that is, Judah’s host for its rebellion against Yahweh was to become  an evening morning sacrifice until the end of a period of  2400 , years: As it is written, His anger is momentary;  in his favor is life; weeping may endure for an evening; but joy corneth in the morning” This is as true of Judah  as of  Judahs king. .And again, “A lion out of the forest (Nebuchadnezzar) shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, •, a leopard shall watch over their cities (The Roman Wolf and Greek Leopard), every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased “ (Jer 5 : 6). This was a evening  sacrifice of the nation, in which they eat the bread of affliction with bitter herbs, until the time of the morning oblation come, the time of Jacobs trouble (Jer.30 : 7), when they will he avenged in the great sacrifice of Bozrah in the day of Yahwehs vengeance and in the year of  recompenses for the controversy of Zion (Isa. 34 : 6-8 ; 63 : 1-6 ; Ezek. 39 : 17). During the suspension of  the Mosaic sacrifices Judah is the tahmid which bleeds for its rebellion against the Lamb, slain in the evening and morning oblation from the foundation of the world

 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* I have for reason given in Chronikon Hebraikon p 26 adopted the reading 2400 instead of 2300

 

Pg 29

 

But the phrase that has caused the greatest difficulty is, Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed “. Theologists bf the Gentiles have not perceived that the vision has no reference to the Gentiles but as destroyers of Judah and the enemies of their- king. They have therefore imagined that • - the sanctuary “ to be cleansed is the Gentile church; as if any cleansing could make the thing called” the church “anything but unclean. Assuming this, they has-c looked for the advent of Christ the year after the 2300 th year according to the Common Version had expired; and have called his appearing to burn up the world, and to place those whom they style ‘ the saints “ upon the purified earth as its sole occupants in glory, ‘ the cleansing of the sanctuary “ Well, this is as reasonable an interpretation as could be expected from  people who deny the restoration of the Jews, and believe in world ­burning at the coming of Christ But so long as men hold on to such foolishness it is impossible for them to understand the Bible, or to form any rational conclusion concerning the divine predetermination respecting the issue of human affairs.

But, all speculations and absurdities connected with this subject are most readily extinguished by reference to the original. There we find that the worlds crucibleized in the fires of world—burning theories do not exist -‘ Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed “ was no part of the answer given in Daniels hearing. The words he heard were we-nitzdak kodesh. The word kodesh is not sanctuary “, but holy; d­esignating what is holy connected with Judah, such as the Holy City, called emphatically The Holy ‘‘ ; and the Holy Land. Then as to nitzdak, rendered cleansed in the common version. This is not its meaning. it signifies, to be vindicated from injury and violence, or to be avenged. The word for to cleanse is tabar, and is used several times in the sense of to cleanse Judea from the putrifying bodies of the slain in the prophecy of the Autocrat of Russias overthrow in the breaking of the Latino-Greek Babylonian power (Ezek. 39 : 12, 14, 9). • ‘Then the Holy shall be avenged ‘‘, is the only proper rendering of which the original is susceptible in this place. Let it be also observed, that this does not teach that the avenging of the holy is to commence immediately the last of the 2,400 evening—morning is finished.  it only gives us to understand that when that period is passed, the next series of events in relation to the Holy Land shall be the manifestation of things necessary to ‘wrest it from the Gentiles, and to avenge it in their overthrow.


It must he evident to every intelligent reader, that, before a country in the actual possession of any enemy can be avenged for desolations current in twenty-four hundred years, a situation of affairs must be created favouring its deliverance. This requires time and the time provided in the case before us is styled, ‘‘ the time of the end “, now current. Every year since 1840 the Holy Land has been mixing itself up more and more with the policy of the Gentile Powers until at the present time a situation of affairs in the east is nearly formed which will make its possession by other powers than the Ottoman a matter of belligerent dispute.  Here are twenty-eight years consumed in bringing affairs to their present crisis, which is not yet

 

Pg 30

 

quite ripe enough for the  accomplishment of the prediction, “the Holy shall be avenged “. The overthrow of the Latino-Greek Babylonian Dragon under the supremacy of God on the mountains of Israel is indispensable to this most desirable consummation.

The reply to the question Until when?” did not state the anno mundi as the terminus, but the development of a work. One step, however, was gained towards a solution of the question, and that was, that whenever the beginning of the period might be, the avenging of the holy would not be short of 2400 years afterwards. Daniel had the vision B.C. 554, which is 2422  years ago. This was a long period to look forward to the end of; and by no method of calculation could he reduce it to less than 2,300 years. Happily for us, if of Daniels class, we shall 1ive  after the termination of the vengeance. We believe we know its beginning and end. “The vision is for many days “, whose commencement though not numerically revealed to Daniel, may be stated inferentially as the third year of Cyrus, B.C.540

 

  12. PROPHECY OF THE  SEVENTY WEEKS

 

ABOUT fifteen years after beholding the vision of the Ram and Goat, Daniels mind was particularly attracted to the subject of the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem (Dan.  9). The seventy years divinely appointed for the continuance of the Chaldean dynasty of the kingdom of Babylon had expired, and with them its last king had fallen. Judahs destroyer had been punished, and Daniel, instructed by Jeremiah, began to look for his peoples deliverance. Isaiah informed him that one Koresh, or Cyrus, should appear as a shepherd of Yahweh, and perform His pleasure: Even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isa. 44 : 28 ; Ezra 1). With this Cyrus, thus named so long before his birth, Daniel was now  personally acquainted. The first year of Darius the Mede had come, and with it the 68 th year of the prophets exile from Judea. He was aware that the Holy Land was to rest ten heptades, or seventy years ; he could not therefore but be singularly interested in the times, for only two years were wanting to their completion. At last they too had passed away. After reigning two years his friend Darius died, and was succeeded by his nephew  Cyrus, the  representative of the higher horn of the Ram; and Daniel had the satisfaction of reading his proclamation for the return of Judah, and the rebuilding of the temple.

Under the full and lively expectation of the restoration of his people, Daniel confessed with deep and sincere repentance the rebellion for which they had been righteously punished through the Chaldeans; and besought Yahweh that he would turn away his anger and fury from his city Jerusalem, his holy mountain; and cause his face to shine upon his sanctuary ,mikdosh, then in ruins, for His own sake; seeing that the people and the city were called by His name.

While he was yet speaking in prayer, Gabriel appeared to him at the time of the evening sacrifice. Fifteen or sixteen years before, Gabriel had been authorized to make Daniel understand the vision concerning the tahmid, or evening-morning sacrifice

(Dan. 8 :15)

 

 

31

 

But as we have seen, he only accomplished this to a limited extent. He had left Daniel “astonished at the vision, but none understood “. He saw the destruction of the people of the holy ones ; the greatness of their destroyer’s power; his presumption in contending in battle with their Commander in-Chief; and his final overthrow; but of what was to occur in relation to Messiah the Prince, before the taking away of the evening and morning sacrifice, and the casting down of the foundation of the temple—of these things he had no understanding. Gabriel was therefore sent a second time to make him skilful of understanding “, that he might discern the word he then brought to him, “and understand the thing seen (marah) “, in respect to the evening-morning, or .tahmid, rendered “the daily “.

Having directed Daniels attention to their last interview, Gabriel proceeded to declare the word he had received, of which the following is a corrected version.

 

  13. —CORRECTED VERSION OF GRABRIELS  PROPHECY OF THE

SEVENTY WEEKS

 

Seventy heptades have been decreed* relatively to thy people and to thine Holy City, for finishing the transgression, and for causing no cease from sin offerings ; and for covering iniquity, and for causing to come in a righteousness of ages, and for sealing the vision and prophet, and for anointing the Holy One of holy ones. Know there­fore and understand: from the issuing of a command for causing to return and for building Jerusalem unto the Anointed Prince (shall be) seven heptades, and sixty and two heptades : she shall return : and the broad wall and the breach shall be built, even in the straitness of the times. And after the Sixty and two heptades, the Anointed One shall be cut off, though nothing (will be) in him; and the princes people who come in shall destroy the City and the Holy, and the end thereof (shall be) with a sweeping away; and unto the end of the war desolations are decreed.

“And he shall confirm a covenant for many one heptade; and half of the heptade he shall cause to cease sacrificing and offering

and because of an overspreading of abominations (there shall be) a desolating even to destruction : and that decreed shall be poured out upon the Desolator” (Dan. 9 : 24 27).

In the twenty fourth verse Daniel learned that there were six particulars to become accomplished facts before an army should be given to the Roman Greek Babylonian Little Horn, against the evening and morning sacrifice for the suppression of it, and the

destruction of the holy city and people, and the consequent abolition of the Mosaic law and constitution. These important particulars may be thus ordinarily presented

   1. The perfecting of Judahs transgression;

           

2. The causing to cease from sin-offerings;

            ~.         The covering of iniquity

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* The original is nekbthak, and found only in this place in the Hebrew Scrip­tures ; more commonly in Chaldee and Rabbinic; “properly “, says Gesenius,

to Cut off, and tropically, to divide and so to determine, to decree “.


Pg 32


4.         The bringing in a righteousness of ages

 5.        The sealing the vision and prophet;

 6.        The anointing the Holy One of holy tines.

 

In Chapter 8 the reason assigned for the standing up of the king of a fierce countenance” against Judah in the latter time of the northern and southern kingdoms of the Goat is, ‘‘ So as to cause transgressors to fill up their measure which I take to be the meaning of kh hahthaim Iiapbpihim, rendered in the English version, ‘‘ when the transgressors are come to the full “. This is not true in fact. The transgressors in Judah had not filled up their measure in the latter time of the reign of the kings of Syria and Egypt, when the Roman power stood up in their  place against Judah. This is evident from the Lords denunciations in which he said to them a hundred years after,” Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, ye hypocrites “ Mat. 23 : 32). The Roman power w as allowed to  overshadow  Judah as means of bringing their rebellion against Yahweh to a head, or to perfect it, according to Gabriel. Every reader of the apostolic writings must be familiar with the way this was accomplished. The Lord Jesus appeared among them  as THE HEIR of the Kingdom  and throne of David ; and they said, “ Come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance (Matt.  21 : 38). They arraigned him before the tribunal of the Little Horn on a charge of high treason against it, because he claimed to be the King of the Jews, and therefore spoke against the imperial rights of Caesar. But Pontius Pilate, the Horns representative in Judea, apprehending no danger, would have acquitted him with release, knowing that for envy they had delivered him. But he could prevail nothing ; for the rebels cried out, saying, If thou let this man go thou art not Caesars friend ; whosoever maketh himself a King, speaketh  against Caesar“. Behold your King said the governor ‘‘,Away with him, aw ay with him “, they cried ; ‘‘ crucify him ! The astonished Pilate exclaimed, ‘ Shall crucify your King But, ‘ the Chief Priest answered, W e have  no

king hut Caesar “. Thus was the first particular of Gabriels word  accomplished. Judahs rebellion was perfected   within  a few  hours of the expiration of the seventy times seven years from the passover of the 20th year of the  reign of Artaxerxes,  Ram  king of Babylon.

 

2.  The next thing was to cause to cease from sin offerings. This

did not seem to put a stop to the evening-morning sacrifice ; for that

was not effected till about thirty five years after the end of the seventy heptades. It was to cause them to be ceased from by those who should partake in the righteousness to be brought in through the covering for iniquity.  We read of no more sin offering being presented by the apostles, who had been made clean through the word spoken to them by Jesus ; nor did they enjoin sin offerings upon those who received their teaching. By the Abrahamic  or Second  Will, they were sanctified through the offering of   the body of Jesus Christ once ;for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” ; so that, having thus obtained a permanent remission, no more offering for sin” was needed. Hence they were

 

 pg 33


superseded by Messiahs sacrifice, though they continued to be offered by the rebels.

 

 3. A third item to be accomplished before the passing away of the seventy heptades, or periods of seven years, was the covering of iniquity. The verb rendered thus is khahphar, to cover, or overlay, to hide. Hence, khaphporeth, a cover, and therefore applied to the cover of the Ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place of the Temple, called the Propitiatory, because propitiation or expiation was made for sin by sprinkling it with the blood of the sacrifices. It was also called the MERCY SEAT.  A good conscience is without shame or fear. Transgression of law, or sin, converts a good con­science into a bad one, and develops shame and fear. Before he sinned, Adams conscience was good; he was naked, but not at all ashamed, or afraid of the presence of the Elohim : but immediately after, his conscience being defiled, shame and fear caused him to hide himself, because he was uncovered. This teaches us that sin needs to be covered.  Adam felt this, and undertook to cover his own sin in the best way he could devise, being ignorant of the manner in which sin is covered by divine appointment. But the Lord God stripped him of his own device, which did not recognize the principle of blood shedding in the covering of iniquity.  He taught Adam to shed the blood of a lamb, and to cover his nakedness with its skin. This was the lamb slain at the foundation of the world, and represented him who is the Lamb typically slain from the foundation of the world .Adam and his wife were in this way clothed by Yahweh Elohim; and being thus clothed, their iniquity was expiated or covered.

 

The only Sin Covering from the Fall to the resurrection of Jesus the world had ever known, was typical ; or a yearly covering of sin that represented the


covering foretold by Gabriel. The patriarchs, prophets, and others, who Abrahamically believed the things coven­anted to the fathers, and were dead, had died with no other covering for their sins than could be derived from the pouring out of the blood of bulls and goats. But ‘ It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins (Heb. io : 4); their sins therefore remained uncovered and unexpiated; and as the wages of sin is death “, if the expiation of the seventy heptades had never been effected, they would never have risen from the dead to eternal life. Hence, speaking of the covering efficacy of Christs death, Paul says, For this cause he is the Mediator of the New (or Abrahamic) Coven­ant, that by means of death FOR THE REDEMPTION OF THE TRANSGRESSIONS UNDER THE FIRST COVENANT (the Law) they which are called might receive the promise of the everlasting inheritance” (Heb. 9 : 1: 5): and Isaiah says, “For the transgression of my people was he stricken “. Thus, the death and resurrection of the Mediator, and therefore Representative Testator, of the Covenant made with Abraham, brought it into force; so that the already dead who had while living believed the things promised in it, obtain a covering of their sins, the effect of which they will experience after rising from the dead to possess them for the age.


  Pg 34

 

4. If Messiah the Prince had not been cut off for his people “a  righteousness of ages “, the fourth item of Gabriels word, could not have been brought in.  Faith  in the things of the Kingdom could not have been counted for righteousness to life in the future ages of glory without a propitiatory or mercy seat, sprinkled with blood. The cutting off of Jesus provided this indispensable kaphporeth, or cover for sin so that he being slain and raised from the dead, the means of a sinners justification, styled, “The righteousness of God “, was brought in or completed within the period appointed.

Here then were the victim  and the covering  provided by Yahweh

—-a victim of expiation for the sins of the faithful; the faithful who believed the promises covenanted to Abraham and David :—a covering garment to hide their sins in putting on the victim by immersion into his name. Thus invested or clothed upon, they are in Christ, who of God becomes to them thus, “ wisdom, and righteousness, and sancti­fication, and redemption “.

When these things should be effected, sin-offerings, and the evening-morning sacrifices, which were merely typical, could well be dispensed with. In relation then to the taking away of the tahmid, and the destruction of the holy city, Daniel would perceive their accomplishment posterior to the fulness of the seventy heptades of years. Hence all those speculations that make Antiochus the Little Horn, and his oppression of the Jews, and defilement of the temple, and so forth, the fulfilment of chapter 8;11,23,24, are entirely inadmissible, and altogether unworthy of a grave or respectful attention.

5 The fifth particular to come to pass before the passing away of the heptades was “the sealing of the vision and prophet “. We are informed that in the early days of Samuel, “The word of Yahweh was precious “, for there was no open vision; and in Jeremiah it is said, “They speak a vision of their own heart “. To speak the word of the Lord is for a prophet to speak what the Lord impresses upon his brain. ‘We perceive before we speak; hence, to reveal our perceptions is to speak what we see, or, to speak a vision. When a man speaks impressions made upon him by the Lord, and the Lord confirms what he speaks, he speaks “an open vision “, and the confirmation is the sealing of it. “Bind together the testimony; seal instruction among my disciples.” This was done in the ministrations of the Lord Jesus. He spoke an open vision, instructing his disciples; and his instructions the Father sealed, by the signs and wonders that accom­panied them.

In sealing the vision of the seventieth heptade, the prophet by whom the vision was spoken, was sealed likewise. The confirmation of the vision was the confirmation of its prophet also. “Believe me” said Jesus, “for the works sake.” In another place, he says, “The Father himself, who hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Have ye never heard his voice nor seen his form? “—the voice from the excellent glory, and the form of the dove? Multitudes had seen this, and were compelled to say,” This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world “. The sealing of the vision and the prophet

 


Pg 35


 

go together, and are therefore placed together in Gabriels word; and have unquestionable reference to Jesus, who speaking of himself says, “ Him has the Father sealed “.

6. The sixth and last of Gabriels specifications in this verse is the anointing the Holy One of holy ones. This personage was the Messiah, a name signifying an anointed one. There have been many anointed ones, but the one here referred to was to be pee-eminently such ; and to be anointed within the limits of the seventieth heptade; that is, some time between the end of the sixty-ninth and the end of the seventieth, as appears from verse 25  Believing that Jesus is Messiah the Prince, we are at no loss where to place the anointing. Peter says, “ God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power” ; and Luke, after relating the particulars concerning it, says, that “Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age” (Luke 3: 23; Acts io : 38). This fixes the baptism and anointing at three years and a few months before the crucifixion. Thus, “God anointed him with the oil of gladness above his associates” (Psa. 45: 6). He is therefore the Holy One of those holy associates, or the Holy One of holy ones, as I have rendered the text; the Most Holy, or Holiest of All.

Having specified these six things to be accomplished before the expiration of the seventy heptades, Gabriel proceeded to specify the commencement of them. He stated that to Mashiach Nahgid, the Anointed Prince, should be “ seven heptades, and three-score and two heptades “, that is, sixty-nine. This period extended to the proclamation of Messiah the Prince being at hand; that is, to the beginning of Johns preaching, who said that he came baptizing in water that he might be made manifest to Israel

 (John 1  :31), which manifestation is styled “ his coming” (Acts 13;24) . Sixty-nine heptades of years, calculated from this announcement, gives 483 years and nine months ; that is, it carries us up to the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, Persian King of Babylon, when Nehemiah, his cup bearer, received commandment to go and restore and build Jerusalem, and set up the wall. How  Nehemiah executed this work is fully detailed in the portion of scripture that passes by his name.

This commandment of Artaxerxes did not issue till 114 years after Gabriels visit to Daniel, who might still be ignorant of the commencement of the “ many days “ of the vision he had seen in the third year of Belshazzars reign. He would not understand that the 2400  and the seventy Heptades began at the issuing of the command­ment; when that authorization for the restitution of Jerusalem and the Wall should be granted, he could not, and, it is probable, that even Gabriel himself was unable to tell. All they knew was, that it would be 483 years to the proclamation of repentance, because Messiah the Prince was in the midst of Israel, and about to appear; but whether 483 years from the first year of Cyrus, or from more than a hundred years afterwards, they did not know.

It may be remarked, here, that there were four decrees, or commands, promulgated by kings of the Ram Dynasty, in favour of Judah and Jerusalem. The first was in the first year of Cyrus, two years after

 


 Pg 36

 

Gabriels visit ; and authorized the Jews to return to Palestine and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1). This was seventy years after Jehoiakim’s rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, in the first of Cyruss sole reign, in B.C 54 0. .

The second decree (Ezra 6 : 1) was issued by Darius the Persian, eighteen years after; that is, in the second of his reign, enforcing that of  Cyrus, being seventy years from the burning of the temple, in the 19 th of Nebuehadne7zar, BC 592 The temple was finished four years afterwards, in the sixth of his reign (Ezra 6 : 1:15), answering to seventy years from tile twenty-third of Nebuchadnezzar, when  745 persons were carried captive to Babylon.

The third decree was promulgated in the 7th (If Artaxerxes, for the restoration of the Commonwealth of Judah (Ezra 7 : 7, I i-z6). This was fifty-three years after the temple was finished, and seventy-one from the decree of Cyrus B.C. 469.

The fourth decree was thirteen years after, in the 20th of  Artaxerxes, B.C. 456 years and  9 months. This was for the building of the broad wall and the setting up of the gates of Jerusalem (Neh. 2:1).

From these chronological data the reader will perceive that the last decree is the only one from which the Seventy Heptades of the 2,400 evening and morning, or day of Judahs troubles can reasonably be commenced; for the others all fall short of the proclamation of “the King of the Heavens having approached” by .many years The 20 th of Artaxerxes may, therefore, be regarded as the established terminus a quo, or point of departure in the calculation of the time.

It is proper, however, to mention that the usual reckoning of the B.C., answering to the 20 th Artaxerxes, is 445 years. This would make the end of the 69 heptades five years after the crucifixion; and removing this event seven years later, as happening at the end of the 7oth heptade. But by reference to my chronology at the end of  Eureka, Vol. II., it will be found that the numbers indicating the duration of the reigns placed opposite the kings, and which I culled out of Rollins History, between the 20 th Artaxerxes and the birth of Jesus, make exactly 455 years and 9 months. From the birth to the baptism (on the authority of Luke), was 30 years, making 485 and  9 months. This was 2 years and 9 months after the end of the 69th Heptade; and consequently so far advanced into the seventieth week. But the common reckoning is flagrantly erroneous in divers places, and of no authority where critical accuracy is desired.

Having indicated the beginning and ending of the 69 heptades, and divided them into successive portions of seven heptades and sixty-two heptades, Gabriel informed Daniel that the Messiah should be cut off after the sixty-two heptades had passed away. But, at this part of the revelation he did not tell him how soon after their termina­tion the cutting off should transpire. He informed him, furthermore, that after the cutting off, destruction should come upon the City and the Holy by a people of the Prince, and that at the end of the destruc­tion there should be a flood of evil, and unto an end of the war desola­tions were decreed. The cutting off, the destruction, and the desola­tions, were consecutive events, but not immediately so. Between

 

Pg 37


 

the cutting off of Messiah and the destruction of the City and Holy ss crc about thirty eight years, and between the citys overthrow and the war of the Romans against Barcochebas, was upwards of forty. This last war completely prostrated them. They had massacred hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Egyptians in cold blood; at length the Little Horn “ stamped upon them “, after causing a loss to Judah of 580,000 on the field of battle in two years.

Having extended Daniels view to the destruction of the people of the Saints, by the Little Horn power (Dan. 8 24), that is, by the host or army that ssas gisen to it (Dan. 8 i r) by the Prince, or Messiah (Matt. 22 7), against the rebels and the tabmid, Gabriel recalled his attention to the last of the Seventy Heptades ; and informed him what the work was that should be accomplished by the Prince in the course of that seven years, from 483 to 490 of the period. He shall confirm a cos enant for many in the course of one heptade; and half of the heptade he shall cause to cease* sacrificing and offering “. The covenant to be confirmed was the Nesv, or Abrahamic, Covenant. This had been t~picaIIy confirmed of God, concerning Christ, 430 years before the night of the departure from Egypt. Abrahams sacrifices which were consumed by fire from heaven, represented, or pointed to, the cutting off of Messiah, the Prince, as the sacrifice, syhose blood is the blood of the Covenant, “shed for many”. On the night on which he was betrayed, while eating the Passover with his disetples, Jesus said, I even I covenant for you, as my Father hath covenanted for me, a kingdom ; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and may sit upon thrones, judging the Tss else ‘rribes of Israel (Luke ar : 29 30). He was made a covenant in confirmation of this promise, in being cut off as an expiation for the sins of Abraham and his heirs; and in so dying, to bring the covenant mamle for them into force. That covenant, or will, was like all other tsiils, svhieh are of no force while the testator liveth. Messiah, the Prince, being the Mediatorial Testator, Yahwehs representative in the affair, was the confirmer of the covenant for its many heirs ; for if he had not voluntarily surrendered himself to death, all the work of the previous seven years would have been null and void. In dying and rising again he made it sure, having dedicated it with his blood. This is, therefore, the antitypical blood of the Abrahamic covenant, to the things of which all are entitled who believe them, and whose hearts have been sprinkled with it. It is for them the Prince confirmed the covenant with his own blood. They are the many” referred to by Gabriel—Daniel, and the prophets, and so forth, among the number. “I will give thee “, saith Yahweh, in prophecy to his Son, fur a covenant of the people, to establish the land, to cause to possess the desolate estates (Isa. 49 8). The promise of this gift was

 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


*Zevath, “that which is offered in sacrifice “, from ~ehvacb, “to slaughter

This verb is not used of the priests as slaughtering victims in sacrifice; but of 0515 private person’.s offering sacrifice at their own cost.” So says Gesenius. Peters doctrine on Pentecost caused 3,000 to cease from sacrifices and offerings as worshippers but the priests continued sacrificing victims till the destruction of the temple by Titus A.D. 70.

 

Pg 38


 


redeemed in the gift of a Son to Israel ([sa. 9 : 6), and the acceptance of him as the covenant purifier of his brethren. The covenant being confirmed, then, the land promised to Abraham and his Seed, and to all in them, will assuredly become the dwelling place of glory, and they will possess it with all that is requisite to make it the inheritance of the saints in light “.

 

The phrase khalzi  hasshahvua is very incorrectly rendered “ in the midst of the week “ in the English version. It is the accusative of time how long, and not a precise point of time. Khat7i signifies one half, or one division of the whole seven years.

. Daniel was not informed which of the equal divisions of the last heptade was to witness the desisting from sacrifice and oblation, by divine authority. He might infer that it would be the end of the latter half of the heptade, as the causing to desist w as the last incident revealed, included in the whole seventy sevens, or heptacles of years. He might conclude that Messiah, the Prince, would not cause to desist from sacrifice and oblation till a covering were made for iniquity, and the righteousness of ages were brought in. This conclusion would have been correct; still he was left to inference, as Gabriel did not satisfy him on the point.  We, however, are not left to inference. The prediction being long since an accomplished fact, we know that the khat7i referred to is the latter part of the seventieth heptade, and on the last day thereof, that is, of the crucifixion, which was exactly 490 years, or Seventy Heptades, from the month Nisan of the 20th of Artaxerxes-,, B.C. 456.

 

The verb shahvath, rendered cause to cease in the common version, signifies to desist as well as to cease. The common rendering has puzzled all who have attempted an interpretation of the text. Some have assumed that the Prince who sends his army to destroy the city is Titus ; others, that he is Antiochus : and that consequently, as no personage is introduced into the text after him, Titus, or Antiochus, is the confirmer of the covenant, and the causer of the sacrifice and oblation to cease, when they took away the daily. Moses Stuart, that Prince of Blind Guides, says, it ss as Antiochus dictated the firm league between himself and the Jewish apostates “ ! This is his inter­pretation of” He shall confirm a covenant for many “. But I will not waste time, ink, and paper, in refuting such nonsense; I will only add, that he says, Antinchus caused the sacrifice and the oblation to cease by violence over 160 years before Christ; while others affirm that Titus did it 73 years after his birth. These opinions result from a supposition, that causing the sacrifice and oblation to cease is the same thing as taking away the daily. But


 as we have seen, they are totally different events. The former was to happen within the 490 years while for the latter, no man knew the day and hour, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father “ (Mark 13 32). Jesus, the Prince of the future kings of the earth, causing to cease from sacrifice and oblation is intelligible, in keeping with the time, and with the doctrine of the apostles, through which he caused all his disciples no longer to seek expiation and righteousness by the law and institutions of Moses.

 

 


pg 39

 

 A doctrine being introduced which was calculated to cause those of Judah, who received it, to cease from sacrificing and offering, the seventy sevens of years were fully accomplished. What now remained were the “days of vengeance, that all things which were written might be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22). The vengeance was “the judg­ment to come” on Judah, because of their having perfected their rebellion in rejecting Jesus as their king, and putting him to death. The city and the holy nation, their constitution and country, were to be desolated by an overspreading destruction, which was to prevail without mitigation until the end of the 2400 , after which preparation would be made for the avenging of the holy. This decree is expressed in those words of Gabriel, which have so puzzled and confounded all the critics, contained in the last verse of the ninth chapter. i will quote them as they ought to read: “And because of an overspreading of abominations there shall be a desolating even to destruction, and that decreed shall be poured out upon the desolator “. The things to be destroyed when the desolation should be consummated were the people and holy city; and the Desolator, the “king of fierce coun­tenance, who shall stand up against the sar .sahrim “, or the Comman­der-in-Chief of Judah, shall be broken by him, and so come to his end, with none to help him in a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation to that same time “(Dan. 8 : 23-25 ; 10 : 45 12:1)


Since the “ days of vengeance” which came upon Judah thirty-eight years after the ending of the seventy weeks, various “abornina­tions” have rested like a kenaph upon the land. These have all been of a desolating character, such as the Romano-Greek, Persian, Saracen, and Ottoman abominations. Hence they have been kenaph shi kkut cim, an overspreading of abominations, meshomaim, making desolate. The Holy is under this covering still.  The 1290 years of abomination, the greater part of which has been Moslem, have passed away; and “that decreed” has been “pouring out, upon its desolator “, as Gabriel foretold. The Turk is the desolator pertaining to the Moslem abomination that still overspreads the Holy Land; and the day of his evaporation has arrived. The sixth vial has been pouring out upon him since 1820, and is visibly pouring upon him at this juncture. But when he goes down to the sides of the pit, the Russianized Latino­ Greek Babylonian power will invade the land under Gog, the king of the north, and encamp against the Holy Mountain. The con­summating judgments of the sixth vial will then fall upon him as the latter day representative of the Little Horn of the Goat. His fate is therefore that of the fierce king, as Daniel hath described it.

 

   14.—” MESSIAH THE PRINCE”

IT may be in place here briefly to consider the titles given to the chieftain in this prophecy who is to deliver Judah, and break the adversary in pieces. In the eighth chapter he is designated by two titles; the one, Sar-hatz~zavah, Commander of the army; and the other, Sar-sabrim, Commander of commanders, or Commander-in-Chief of the army. In the seventh chapter, the Son of Man and the holy ones, and their people, are introduced upon the arena of the

 


Pg 40

 

Dragon-power, with judgment given to them for its destruction but the military relation they were to sustain towards mine another in the work, though it might be inferred, was not expressed. In the chapter before us, however, this deficiency is supplied : the Sun of ‘Man is styled Commander-in-Chief; the holy ones, Commanders and their people, the army of the heavens. Thus, a military power is prospectively prepared for the work of destroying the armies of the Gentiles when, as in the days of Joshua, Israel shall be commissioned to go up and possess the Holy Land, and to subdue the kingdoms of the west.

The Bible is full of testimony to this effect, which in the New Testament is pictorially illustrated. There the Commander in-Chief is represented as a King and General sitting a white horse, clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and a sharp sw ord going out of his mouth, that with it he should smite the nations. This symbol is declared to be representative of the King of kings, and Lord  of lords, who judges and makes war  in righteousness, and treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (Res . 19 ii i6). In another chapter . he is styled The Lamb “. Speaking if the papal kings of the west, the Spirit says : ‘‘ These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them : for  he is Lord of  lords and King of kings (Rev. 17 : 14). As to the person represented by the Lamb, he is defined as one that had been slain, and had redeemed his companion kings and lords from among Israel and the nations (Rev.  5:6-10).

 No person intelligent in the Scriptures can deny that these smbols are representative 0f Jesus Christ in the character of a Royal MIilitary Commander tn active service against the armies, of the Gentiles. The white horse that hears the Conquering  Hero is Judah ; and the ‘ sword going forth from his mouth is Ephraim, or   the Ten Tribes of Israel  with them ; as is proved by the following testimonies ‘‘ Yahweh of armies hath visited the house of Judah, and hath made them as his ,goodly horse in the battle : and they shall he as mighty men who tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle ; and they shall fight, because Yahweh it with them “ (Zech.  10 : 3-5). Israel is Yahwehs inheritance, therefore thus saith Yahweh, ‘ Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war; for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms ; with thee will I break in pieces captains anti rulers (Jer. 51 : 19-23). Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, anti shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them : and thou shalt rejoice in Yahweh, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel” (Isa. 41 :15 16). “I will render double unto thee when I have bent Judah for me, filled the (Judah) bow with Ephraim (as the arrow), and raised up thy sons, 0 Zion, against thy sons, 0 Greece, and made thee (Zion) as the sword of a mighty man. And Yahweh shall be seen over them, and his arrow (Ephraim) shall go forth as the lightning: and Adonai Yahweh shall blow the trumpet, and shall go forth as whirlwinds of the south (Zech. 9 : 13-j4).

 

Pg 41

In these testimonies there are things affirmed that never have come  to pass since they were written. Judah has never been since then Yahwehs goodly horse in the battle, fighting because He was with them, and seen over them. Instead of Israel breaking in pieces the nations, destroying kingdoms, and reducing the empires of the Gentiles to chaff, they have been themselves the broken and destroyed.  What is here testified remains to be accomplished in the simultaneous breaking to pieces of the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay of Nebuchadnezzars Image; and the reducing them to the

likeness of the chaff of the summer threshing floors : and in the over­coming of the armies of the Beast and the kings of the Latino Greek dominion. In this war, which will be the last on the Babylonian earth for a thousand years, ‘ Israel will do valiantly “ (Num. 24 :28), as the goodly horse and sword of the Mighty One, as represented the apocalypse of John,

The commandeers of whom the Lord Jesus is the royal chief, are represented as his body-guards, or staff, in the apocalyptic vision. They are there styled ta strateumata, the body guards in the heaven that follow him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean “.

As they are his associate commanders of Judah, their kings goodly horse, they are fitly represented as all riding horses similar to his.  The Commander in-Chiefs vesture is dipped in human blood ; because before the things represented in the nineteenth chapter, he had trodden the winepress alone, and stained all his raiment at Bozrah (Isa. 63:1-4), when he shatters the Russo-Gogian Image into fragmental parts,

 previous  to ‘‘ breaking them to pieces together ‘‘.  After the over­throw at Bozrah, he prepares to subdue the West ; and in this prepara­tion he summons his soldiery to the conflict under his companions in arms his joint commanders of Israel. Until the battle of Bozrah, their vestments are unstained with the blood of the enemy, and therefore represented simply as emblematic of their character. To be clothed in “ fine linen, white and clean “, is significant of the wearers righteousness.  This is the interpretation put upon the symbolic raiment in the eighth verse of this chapter; for, speaking of these holy ones as constituents of the Bride ready for union with the Lamb, it is there written : To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : for the fine linen is (or represents) the righteousness of the holy ones “. They therefore who are represented as clothed with this figurative raiment are the holy ones spoken of in Daniel; and prepared to go forth with Jesus as the One Yahweh, to judge and make war in righteousness. They are the lords, and kings of whom he is the Lord and King—” the called, and chosen, and faithful that are with him (Rev. 17 : 14) ; the redeemed from among men, who follow him whithersoever he goeth” (Rev.  14:1-5).

 

In the ninth of Daniel, as we have seen, this great commander of heavens forces against the Russianized Greaco-Latin confederacy occupying the Holy Land, is styled the Holy One of holy ones, which is equivalent to the Most Holy of them. He was to be anointed by the Spirit of Yahweh, which was done at his baptism in the Jordan. He

 

Pg 42


was therefore the Anointed Most Holy One of the Father, who had constituted him the heir of the throne of His Kingdom of Israel. For this cause he is styled mahshiach nahgid, the anointed prince royal or as in the common version , Messiah the Prince.. In the twenty  sixth s verse in one sentence he is termed the ‘Anointed One ; and in another simply nahgid prince royal. In the Syriac version, the anointed prince royalis expressed by the Anointed One the King “, as though it were melekh instead nahgid. But, I conceive, that there is all the difference between me!ekh and nakgid as that existing between the heir apparent and the king upon his throne. Till the ‘Anointed One ascends the throne one of his father David  he is Prince Royal, or king expectant, not king in fact, It must be so ; for a melekb, or king, is one w0ho reigns, and not one who expects to reign. This distinction is maintained by Jesus himself in the twenty fifth of Matthew. In the thirty firsts verse of that chapter, when speaking of his appearing in glory to sit upon the throne  of his glory , he styles himself simply ‘‘ the Son of  Man ; but when he possesses that throne, and invites the blessed of the Father to occupy the kingdom in verse 34  he terms himself  the king

But, if Sar means ‘‘ prince “, in the sense in which the Son of Man is a Prince royal, as the common  version has it for nahgid, nahsi, as well as Sar, why is he not styled the anointed Sar ? If the revelator did not intend to convey distinct ideas concerning the Son of  Man, I do not see why these three words should  be all applied to him. king James translators discerned  no reason  for  the employment  of these various

words ;  as they  rendered them all by the one word, ‘‘ Prince ‘‘. But I see no reason to follow their example. I take it rather that there was design the variety ; each word being adapted to the Son of Man in the part he was represented as enacting at the time ; thus, while breaking the Russo- Gogian confederacy he is called Sar ; when making expiation  for  iniquity his military, character is veiled, and he is styled the anointed most holy one, or nahgid; and when  elevated  to the throne in Israel, he is termed nahsi so that Sar anointed becomes a nahgid, and a nahgid  elevated to his throne a nahsi.

This verbal criticism is in harmony with after developments. ‘At the end if the sixty nine heptades, or 485 years, John the immerser  heralded the approaching manifestation of a royal personage a nahgid not of a military commander , or Sar, but of the future majesty of the  kingdom of the heavens. The Son of  Man was to appear as the rightful claimant of Davids throne and the Holy Land ; that is, to establish his right to it ; not to gather Israel to his standard at that time for a contest with the Latino- Greek Little Horn, then “ waxed exceeding great “. The time had not come for that, as he told Pontius Pilate. He came, not only to prove his claim, but to bring the Abrahamic Covenant into  force by his death and resurrection ; that by virtue of it he might afterwards rightfully lay hold if the sovereignty of Israel anti the nations, and compel the latter by the edge of the sword to recognize him as king ‘of all the earth. No other conqueror by whom he will have a been preceded since the days of Nimrod will have been able to prove his  right to universal dominion by virtue if a legal

 

 


Pg 43


 

instrument divinely attested and confirmed. Their right has been derived from their own swords; and they have reigned on the principle that might is right; therefore keep who can “. Israels Commander-in-Chief claims all existing dominions by right derived from the Deity; and proclaims his intention to meet them upon their own principle, and laying hold upon them with a strong arm, to wrest from them their thrones, and to keep them by his might.

Had Gabriel told Daniel that it should be 483 years to the Anointed One, the Sar, he would perhaps have expected him in the capacity of a military chieftain within the 490 years; and then, if Gabriel had added, the Anointed One shall be cut off, or slain “, as the Syriac has it, he might have inferred, that he would he slain in battle: but when he heard that he was to be put to death as prince royal, he would understand that it was in connection with the question of his right to the royalty, as we learn it really was from the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He was put to death as prince royal, not as Sar—as heir of David, and therefore Israel and Judahs king.

Speaking of the prince, Gabriel said, The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the holy “. This refers to the days of vengeance “, or judgment to come “, preached by the apostles ; and referred to by Jesus when he apostrophized the hypo critical Scribes and Pharisees, saying, Ye are the children of them who killed the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers. Serpents, generation of vipers, how can. ye escape from the judgment of Hinnoms Vale ? (Matt. z~ : z9_33). Many of those who very properly reject the notion of the book of Daniel revealing nothing beyond the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, as erroneously imagine that the prince was Titus the Roman general, whose troops destroyed the holy, and took away the daily, and cast down the truth, Mosaically typified, to the ground But Titus was certainly not the prince. He was Sar of the Gentile forces, not a nahgid; and no reason exists why this should be applied to any other person than the Anointed Prince Royal referred to in the context. This was the prince, and the Romans were his people in the same sense in which Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldees were the Deitys. When Yahweh sent Nebuchadnezzar and his forces against Judah and other nations to destroy them for their wickedness, they were the sword of Yahweh. Speaking of this conqueror, he styles him, “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant”: and in overthrowing Tyre, Yahweh says, The Chaldeans wrought for me” ; and in their operations against Egypt, he says, I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hands “. It was so with the Romans, although they knew it not. They wrought for the Prince Royal of Israel against rebellious Judah, who refused to acknowledge him as their king. See the parable comparing the kingdom of the heavens to a certain king who makes a marriage for his son. After he is raised from the dead, messengers are sent to invite Judah to the marriage; but they took his servants and slew them. “But when the king heard thereof he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city” (Matt. 22 : 7).

 



 

44

 

‘What armies were these Jesus styles the kings armies ~ There is but one answer that can be given they were the Royal Fathers, and therefore also the Prince Royal, his Sons ; or in the words of the man Gabriel, “ the people of the Prince “. This explains the meaning of an army being given to the Little Horn of the Goat against the evening-morning sacrifice “. The Prince put them in commission for that work ; and no doubt, though invisible, superintended the operations of the siege. Hence the coming if the Roman eagles against Judahs carcass (Deut. z8 : 26), as Moses had predicted (Matt. 24 27 z8 ; Deut. z8 : so), was also the coming (Matt. 10 : 23), though omit the appearing, of the Sun of Man. If the prince had not given the army against the city, the Roman eagles would have been stripped of all their feathers ; and have met with a fate not less disastrous than that of the Assyrians of  old

 

The last place in which Messiah is mentioned in Daniel is where he is styled ‘‘ Michael the great prince (Dan. 12 : 1) Here the word is Sar, not nahgid, as might be expected ; seeing that the passage speaks of the time when  the Russianized-Latino Greek confederacy is to be broken on the mountains of Israel by Judahs king. The phrase would have been better rendered ‘ Michael the great Commander “, whose name well expresses his omnipotence, signifying, ‘‘ Who like to Power? “. Because Gabriel in the tenth of Daniel speaks of a contemporary angel whom he calls Michael, some there are who think that Michael the great Commander is he. But the identity of name is no proof that the same person is referred to in both places. Michael  who aided the Angel-Prince of the kingdom of Persia was no doubt the  angel-Sar Yahweh appointed over Israel in the days of Moses, concerning whom he said, Beware of him, and obey his voice; fort my name  (or divine power) is in him (Exod. 23: 20-21). But in the time e of trouble this angel is superseded by Jesus, who is the great power of Deity,, and therefore styled ,Michael the great commander. “.

 


  15.--What shall befall Judah in the Latter Days

 

THE thing recorded in the eighth and ninth chapters gave Daniel more particularly to understand what should befall Judah and Jerusalem in ‘‘ the last days of the Mosaic constitution of things. The idea of a great national overthrow after the expiration of the Seventh  Heptades, of 490 years, was distinctly impressed on his mind. But, then there was a long lapse of time to be accounted for in the history of Judah, first from the appearance of the Four horns of the Goat in the place of the great horn that was broken until the occupation of Judea by the Little Horn that was to arise out of the Northern Horn of the Four : and secondly, from the destruction of the Holy City and suppression of the Daily unto the breaking of the Little Horn of the Goat without help to save it, and consequent deliverance of Judah by their great commander and prince in “ the latter days of the seven times of the kingdom of men. This was a subject Daniel desired much to hear discoursed upon.  His anxietyto understand

 


pg 45


 

had at length become so acute, that he mourned for its gratification during three whole weeks.

At the end of that period, while near the Tigris, a man appeared to him whose appearance was representative of the perfect Prince Royal in glory. He saw him whom he styles a certain man “, in the third year of Cyrus, the year of his decease, now 2,407 tears ago (Dan. I : 21 ; 10  : I- 5). That ‘‘ certain man represented to him, was  what hat Paul styles in (Eph. 4 : 4 I : 22 23), the ‘ One Body, the Ecclesia of which Christ is ‘‘ the Head “. Daniel describes this body corporate of the quickened just ones, as a man clothed in linen, whose loins werc girded with fine gold of Uphaz his body also like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, anti his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude “. Of this host, Daniel was assured he should be one, at the end of 1335 days which would reach from a given event to the epoch of resurrection ‘‘ in the latter clays “. Now, while contemplating this great vision  “, he was subjected to an operation indicative of his approaching decease; and of the process he and others would have to go through, in passing from the death sleep of Sheol, to the firmamental and enduring brightness of the kingdom.

The decease he was about to accomplish, and which he speaks of as though he were already in the dust of death, is specified in the words, ‘‘ I was left alone, and there remained no strength in me ; for my vigor was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face upon the earth. I was dumb nor is breath left in me “. Now, after remaining thus an indefinite period, the time arrived for him to awake from this death sleep ; and to be raised front his recumbent position on the ground. He did not make a sudden and vigorous leap to an upright position in which he was fearless, fluent of speech, corrup­tionless, and strong, as some imagine the dead to be, when they dream of their leaping forth incorruptible and immortal, No, he had to progress by stages from his proneness in corruption, to a state of confidence and power. In the first stage of the process, a hand touched him. This was the application of power for his resuscitation. Its effect was partial, not complete. It gave him existence; but it was not vigorous for it only placed him upon his knees and the palms of his hands ; and in a state of mind apparently expressed by the weird quandary. He was awake, but in perplexity, not knowing what move to make; he was, however, relieved of this, by being invited to stand upon his feet “. Although he was addressed as a man greatly beloved “, he arose from his hands and knees with fear and trembling.

I stood “, said he, trembling “.

Daniel was now in the second stage (if the process. Standing upright, he was the subject of anastasts, or ‘ standing up”; but he was nevertheless in trembling and fear : and still tending earthward, and speechless. But, he was bidden not to fear; and was further encouraged by assurances of good, based upon his previous devotion to the Word, and his conduct before God. This judicial conference,

 


Pg 46


 

though it would gladden the heart of Daniel, did not of itself impart vigour to his constitution. He was still earthward and speechless; fur after the words of comfort were spoken, he says, “I set my face earthward (pahnai art~ah) and I was dumb “.

He had now arrived at the third stage in which he was to be quickened into courageousness, tranquillity, and strength; by which he might stand in his lot at the end of the days “, and shine a star of great brilliancy in the constellations of the “New Heavens “, in which alone righteousness shall reign. This quickening is accom­plished by one like the similitude of the sons of men “, touching him, In this way he alludes to Jesus, then unborn, who, in the time of the dead “, shall touch him with spirit power ; and impart to him the peace, wisdom, and potency of incorruptibility and life. His ability to speak, and so to give account of himself in regard to his existence, had been restored to him in the second stage by the touching of his lips; but this did not make him strong “, nor give him ‘ peace “. It only enabled him to confess his condition of utter feebleness. It remained, therefore, that there should be a greater impartation of power by which his whole man should be strengthened. He was thus touched a second time by the same appearance of a man” not upon the lips, but upon the body. He came again, and touched me; and said, 0 man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened “.

Such was the preface, dramatically exhibited, of a prophecy revealing to Daniel the awakening and recompensing of sleepers in the dust in the time of the end “. It was the last of his visions, and the greatest of them all; because it culminated in the Apocalypse of the Sons of the Deity” (Rum. 8 : 19). In the vision John had in Patmos, a like instance occurs in Rev. II : i, in which a prophecy ending in resurrection and judgment (verses i8, 19) is perfected by the dramatic rising of the prophet himself. The things seen by Daniel in his last vision began to transpire in the first year 0f Darius the Mede “, which was two years before he had the vision ; and are strewn along a period reaching to the time of the end “, in which is the resurrection of himself and people. It is an amplification of what he saw in the third year of Belshazzar, when he was also a subject of symbolic resurrection (8 : 18) ; and for the same reason. From the tenth chapter to the end of his book is one continuous record of “that which is noted in the scripture of truth “.

‘When Daniel recovered from the effects of this great sight “, the glorious looking personage informed him that he was sent to him to answer to his desire; and that his mission was to make him under­stand what should befall his people in the latter days ; because the vision was still for days; that is, beyond the 490 years of the Seventy Heptades: and that he would show him what was noted in the scripture of truth. The eleventh and twelfth chapters contain the revelators discourse, which Daniel says he understood.

In the beginning of the tenth chapter he informs us that the time appointed was long “. When the truth of the matter was revealed

 

Pg 47


 

to Daniel, the third year of Cyrus had arrived, B.C. 540. The first event of the vision he had witnessed; that, namely, of the Persian Horn of the Ram exceeding the Median Horn in altitude. This was I i6 years before the commencement of the Seventy Weeks, or 490 years. The vision, however, is still for days, which will not expire until the Seven Times of the kingdom of Babylon shall have ended in the reconcentration of the power of the Holy People. Then all things foretold in the Book of Daniel will be finished (Dan. 12 : 7).  Well might it be said, the time appointed is long “. Upwards of 2,400 years have elapsed since the first year of Cyrus sole reign, or the third after his conquest of Babylon, when the word was revealed unto Daniel” ; and, some forty at least will still be required for the full accomplishment of the things which are noted in the Scriptures of truth.

The word revealed, then, may be distributed into three sections the first terminates at the end of the thirty-fifth verse of the eleventh chapter; the second ends at the conclusion of the thirty-ninth; and to the third belongs the rest of the chapter to the end of the twelfth.

From the third verse of the eleventh chapter the discourse treats of the Goats notable horn in respect of the succession to his dominion; and from the fifth to the twenty ninth, of the mutual rivalries, wars, and policy of the northern and southern horns of the Goat; and from the thirtieth to the thirty-third inclusive, of the indignation of the northern horn against Judah, Jerusalem, and the evening-morning sacrifice ; and the thirty-fourth and thirty fifth verses, of the help the Jews experienced under the Asmoneans till they were subjected to the Little Horn of the Goat, or nation of a fierce countenance, whose tongue they did not understand “.

The second section is descriptive of the Latino-Greek Babylonian power which established its dominion over the territories of the nom them and southern horns of the Goat, and over the Holy Land; and which was to prosper, or maintain its position to the exclusion of Judah till the indignation against them should be accomplished, or tom a short space after the termination of the 2.400 years.

The third section of the discourse reveals the reappearance of the southern and northern horns of the Goat upon their ancient territories, and their reaction upon the Moslemized Latino-Greek Little Horn; the pushing at this, and the subjection of the southern horn, by the northern horn; the invasion of the Holy Land by this horn; the destruction of this power by Michael the great commander; the deliverance of Judah; the resurrection of some of the dead; and the reconcentration of the power of all the tribes of Israel, in a time of trouble such as the world has never known since the confusion of human speech.

If we may judge from the utter failures of commentators to interpret the eleventh of Daniel, it may be pronounced to be the most difficult and incomprehensible chapter in the Bible. Moses Stuart, formerly Professor of Sacred Literature in the Theological Seminary at Andover “, tells us, that, at verse 20, we come upon Antiochus Epiphanes, whose history (as we may almost name it) occupies the

 


Pg 48


 

rest of the chapter “. This absurdity is but a specimen (if the rest. In his Commentary “, he says he follows the simple grammatical interpretation” ; hence, having assumed that the last verse of the eleventh refers to Antiochuss death, he makes the first verse of the twelfth announce the standing up of Michael to be at that time This shows how little the grammatical interpretation is to be depended on apart from an understanding of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Seeing then that these mere grammarians are ignorant of this gospel, it is no use wasting precious time in considering their speculations, which can never come out right, inasmuch as the gospel is no constituent of the materials from which they work out their conclusions.  We shall be better employed in excavating the truth for ourselves. Let us, then, apply ourselves to the agreeable task, and see in what our labour will result.

In presenting the reader with an interpretation of this chapter, I shall have regard to the above divisions of the revelators discourse. I shall give it in the form of paraphrases, incorporating the prophecy with the interpretation, but at the same time giving the angels words in italics to distinguish them from my own. I may remark as to the date, that the revelator introduces his discourse with an allusion to

the first year of Darius the Mede “. This was also the first year of Cyrus, who reigned conjointly with Darius ; so that the third year of Cyrus was the first of his reign by himself. The reigns of Darius and Cyrus w ill therefore count as one, after which four are to be reckoned.

 

  16.—PARAPHRASE OF THE ELEVENTH OF DANIEL

TO THE THIRY FIFTH VERSE INCLUSIVE~

 

Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Greece, namely, Ahasuerus, Smerdis, and Darius ; and the fourth, or Xerxes, shall be  far richer than they all ,‘ and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. and Alexander the Macedonian, a mighty king shall stand  up, ruling with great dominion and doing according to his will. And when he shall stand up, having suffered no defeat, his kingdom shall be broken and shall be divided into four horns or kingdoms toward the four winds of heaven : and their glory and power shall fall not to his posterity, nor according to the extent of his dominion which he ruled. for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for other rulers besides those of his family. And the King of the South shall he strong, and shall be one of his, Alexander the Great, princes or generals ; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion, his dominion shall be a great dominion, extending over Egypt, Libya, Cyrenaica, Arabia, Palestine, Coele Syria, and most of the maritime provinces of  Asia Minor, with the island of Cyprus, and several others in the AEgean Sea, and even some cities of Greece, as Cicyon and Corinth. Such was the dominion of Ptolemy Soter, the first Macedonian King of Egypt.

VERSE 6. And in the end of 52 years   from B.C. 301, they the Kings of Egypt, and of the Assyro-Macedonian Horn of the north shall, associate themselves together, for Berenice, the kings daughter of the south, shall come, or be conducted, to Antiochus Theos, the king of the north, to make a marriage agreement; but she shall not retain the power of

 


 Pg 49


 

the arm of her father Ptolemy Philadeiphus. Neither shall he her hus­band Antitichus stand; for Laodice his repudiated wife, whom he shall receive again when he divorces Berenice after her fathers death, shall cause him to be poisoned. Nor shall his arm, Berenice, stand; but she shall be given up to suffer death; and they, the Egyptians also that brought her to Syria; and he, her son, whom she brought forth, and he that strengthened her in these times, shall die ; and thus leave her to the mercy of Laodice, which will be treachery and death.

VERSE 7. But out of a branch of her parent roots, Ptolemy Euergetes — her brother, shall stand up in his estate, or kingdomand come with an army, and shall enter into Antioch the capital, and .the fortress of the King of the north, and shall deal, or make war, against them, even against Laodice and her son Seleucus, and shall prevail; and Euergetes shall also carry captive into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and gold: and he shall continue to reign nine more years than the King of the north, who shall die a prisoner in Parthia five years before the King of Egypt. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land, B.C. 244.

VERSE 10. But his Seleucus Callinicus sons, Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus, shall be ,stirred up to war; and shall  assemble a multitude of great force. and one of them,, even Antiochus the Great, shall certainly come and overflow through the passes of Libanus, and pass through into Galilee, and possess himself of all that part of the country which was formerly the inheritance of the tribes Reuben and Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasseh. Then, the season being too far advanced to prolong the campaign, shall he return to Ptolemais, where he shall put his forces into winter quarters. But early in the spring, B.C. 217, Ptolemy Philopater shall march with a large army to Raphia, by which Antiochus shall be stirred up again to war, and defeated with great slaughter, so that he shall retreat to his fortress. Thus shall the king of the south be moved with choler, and come forth and fight with the king of the north, and the King of the north shall set forth a great multitude, even 72,000 foot and 6,ooo horse ; but the multitude shall be given into the hand of the King of Egypt.

And when he, the King of the south, had taken away the multitude by a signal defeat of Antiochus, his heart shall he lifted up, for he will desire to enter the ,Most Holy Place of the temple. But while he was preparing to enter, he was stricken and carried off for dead. In his victory over Antiochus, he shall cast down ten thousands, even 10,000 foot and 300 horse. But not following up his advantages, Philopater, shall not he strengthened by his victory. For Antiochus the king of the north shall return and shall set forth a multitude of troops greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain, that is nineteen years after the battle of Raphia, of B.C. 198, with a great army and with much riches, and shall subjugate all the Holy and CoeIe -Syria.

VERSE 14. And in those, times when Ptolemy Epiphanes shall reign over Egypt, many shall stand up against the infant king of the south, even the kings of Macedonia, and of Syria, and Scopas, the general of his deceased father. But the Deputies of the Breakers of thy people Judah, 0 Daniel, that is, of the Romans, shall interfere to establish the

 

 

pg 50


vision. The Romans became the guardians and protectors of Epiphanes during his minority. They appointed three deputies, who were ordered to acquaint the Kings with their resolution, and to enjoin them not to infest the dominions of their royal pupil; for that other­wise they should be forced to declare war against them. The Deputy Emilius, one of the three, after delivering the message of the Roman Senate, proceeded to Alexandria) and settled everything to as much advantage as the state of affairs in Egypt would then admit. In this way the Romans began to mix themselves up with the affairs of Egypt, Syria, and the Holy; and in a few years established themselves as lords paramount of the East, being thus constituted a Power in Asia, which is symbolized in this relation by the Little Horn on the Northern Horn of the Grecian Goat; and in the 36th verse of this chapter, styled, “THE KING “. But, though destined to be “the Breakers of Judah “, the assurance was given to Daniel, saying, they shall fall.

So the king of the north, being checked by the Roman Deputies, shall come into the Holy, and cast up a mount against Sidon, where he shall besiege the forces of the Egyptians; and be shall take Jerusalem, the city of munitions, from the castle of which he shall expel the Egyptian ~ garrison; and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand Antiochus. But Antiochus who cometh against Ptolemy Epiphanes shall do according to his own will in Coele-Syria and the Holy Land, and none shall stand before him: and he shall make a permanent stand in the land of glo~y which 4, his band shall be consumed. He shall also set his face to enter into Greece with the strength of his whole kingdom, and Israelites with him. Thus shall he do to incorporate Greece with his dominion, by which the Romans who had recently proclaimed it free, would be stirred up against him. Therefore, to secure the neutrality of their Egyptian ally he shall give Cleopatra, the daughter of women, or princess royal, to Epiphanes to wife, corrupting her to betray him by resigning to him Coele-Syria and Palestine as her dower; but on condition that he should receive half the revenue. Thus the land of Judah was given over as a bribe to bind Cleopatra to her father’s interests, that she might influence Epi­phanes either to remain neutral, or to declare against the Romans, his protectors. But she shall cleave to her husband, and not stand, neither be for him, but shall join with her husband in congratulating the Roman Senate on the victory they had gained over her father at Thermopylae.

After this shall Antiochus, at the earnest solicitation of the .  AEtolians, turn his face unto the isles of Greece, and shall take many: but a chieftian (kotzin), L. Scipio, the Roman Consul, shall cause the reproach t o end to him to cease without his own disgrace be, Scipio, shall cause it to turn upon Antiochus, by defeating him at Mount Sipyllus, and repulsing him from every part of Asia Minor. As the condition of peace, the Romans required him to pay 15,000 talents—500 down, 2,500 on the ratification of the treaty, and the rest in twelve years at 1,000 talents per annum. These terms being acceded to, be shall turn his face toward the fortress, or capitol, of his own land, being much at a loss how to raise the tribute. While in the province of Elymais, he heard of a considerable treasure in the temple of Jupiter Belus. He

 

 

pg 51
accordingly broke into it in the dead of night, and carried off all its riches. But he shall stumble, and fall, and not be found for the provincials, exasperated at the robbery, rebelled against him, and murdered him and all his attendants, B.C. 187.

  VERSE 20  Then shall stand up in Antiochus’ estate or kingdom, his son Seleucus Philopater, one who causeth an exactor to pass over the glory of the kingdom; The business of his reign being to raise the tribute for the Romans. But within few days, that is twelve years, be shall be des­troyed, neither in anger nor in battle, being poisoned by Heliodorus, his prime minister, having reigned long enough to pay the last installment to the Romans.

VERSE 21. And in his, Seleucus Philopater’s, place shall stand up Heliodorus, a vile person, being both a poisoner and usurper, to whom they the authorities of the nation, shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but Antiochus Epiphanes shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries bestowed on the adherents of Heliodorus.

VERSE 22. And with the arms of a flood, by which they shall be formidably invaded, shall they, the Egyptians, be overflown from before Antiochus, whom they excite to war, by demanding the restitution of Coele-Syria and Palestine. And they shall be broken, or subdued, yea, also, Onias, the High Priest, or Prince of the Mosaic Covenant, shall be murdered, as it came to pass B.C. 172. And after the league made with Ptolemy Philometer, Antiochus shall work deceitfully after his second invasion of Egypt, B.C. 170; for he shall come up to Alexandria, and he shall become strong with a small people, or army. By his deceit, be shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province to which he reduces Egypt; and he, Antiochus, shall do that which his fathers, or predecessors on the throne, have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; namely, be shall scatter among his followers the prey, and spoils, and riches: yea, he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds of Egypt, even for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army, but be shall not stand: for the Alexandrians seeing him in the hands of Antiochus, and lost to them, shall forecast devices against him, and place the crown of Egypt on the head of his brother, Euergetes ir. Yea, they that feed of the portion of Philometer’s meat, even his courtiers, shall separate, or renounce, him; and his Antiochus’ army shall overflow Egypt; and many of the Egyptians shall fall down slain. And the hearts of both these kings shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table, but shall not prosper, for the end is still at the time appointed.

Then shall Antiochus return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the Covenant of the Holy; and he shall do terrible things against Jerusalem, taking it by storm, butchering 8o,ooo men, making 40,000 prisoners, and causing a like number to be sold for slaves. And then shall he return to his own land, laden with the spoils of the Temple, amounting to 1,800 talents, or £270,000, about $1,315,000..

At the time appointed, under pretense of restoring Philometer to the throne, he shall return and come towards the south, against Alexandria


 

Pg 52

1


 

to besiege it. But it, this fourth invasion, shall not be as the former or as the latter. He raised the siege and marched towards Memphis, where he installed Philometer as king. As soon, however, as he had departed, Philometer came to an understanding with Euergetes, and they agreed to a joint reign over Egypt. This coming to the ears of Antiochus, he led a powerful army against Memphis, for the purpose of subduing the country. Having nearly accomplished his project, he marched ag2inst Alexandria, which was the only obstacle to his becoming absolute master of Egypt. But the Roman Embassy, sent at the request of the Ptolemies, met him about a mile from the city. They had left Rome with the utmost diligence. When they arrived at Delos they found a fleet of Macedonian, or Greek, ships, on board of which they embarked for Alexandria, where they arrived at the crisis of his approach: Popilius delivered to Antiochus the decree of the Senate, and demanded an immediate answer. Sorely against his will he agreed to obey its mandate, and draw off his army from Egypt. Thus, his invasion terminated very differently from the former and the latter; for the ships of Chittim shall come against him, and prevent him from incorporating Egypt into his Assyrian dominion of the north. Thus, the prophecy of Balaam, that “ships from the coast of Chittim shall come and afflict Asshur “, began to show itself; a more complete fulfillment remains for the latter days, when “ Asshur shall perish forever “.

All Antiochus wrath was kindled at this interference ; therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the Covenant of the Holy, for in his return march, through Palestine, he detached 20,000 men under Apollonius with orders to destroy Jerusalem, B.C. 168. So shall he do; he shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the Covenant of the Holy.

VERSE 31. And arms shall stand on his part under Apollonius; and they, the Assyro-Macedonian troops, shall penetrate the temple, ham-mikdosh, the stronghold, and they shall remove the Daily, and they shall place a statue of the Olympian Jupiter in the temple, and a strong garrison in the castle to command it, as the abomination making desolate its courts, and overawing the nation.

As soon as Antiochus Epiphanes was returned to Antioch, he published a decree by which all his subjects were required to conform to the religion of the State. This was aimed chiefly at the Jews, whose religion and nation he was resolved to extirpate. Atheneus, a man advanced in years, and extremely well versed in all the ceremonies of Grecian idolatry, was commissioned to carry the edict into effect in Judea and Samaria. As soon as he arrived at Jerusalem he began by suppressing the Daily, or evening-morning sacrifice, and all the observances of the Mosaic Law. He caused the sabbaths and other festivals to be profaned; forbade the circumcision of children; carried off and burned all copies of the Law and the Prophets wherever they could be found; and put to death whoever acted contrary to the decree of the king. To establish it the sooner in every part of the nation, altars and chapels filled with idols were erected in every city, and sacred groves were planted. Officers were appointed over these,

 


53

 

who caused the people generally to offer sacrifice in them every month, on the day of the month on which the king was born, who made them eat swines flesh and other unclean animals sacrificed there. The temple in Jerusalem was dedicated to Jupiter Olympius, whose statue was placed in it. Thus he did in his great indignation against the Covenant of the Holy Nation and its Land.

VERSE 32. And such of the Jews as do wickedly against the covenant shall Antiochus, by flatteries, cause to dissemble. These not only” forsook the covenant of the holy “, but” had intelligence” with the king, and aided him all they could in the desolation with which he was over­spreading their country. But the Maccabees and their adherents, people who do know their God shall be strong, and do valiantly in war. And they, even Mattathias and his five sons, and others with them, that understand among the people, shall instruct and encourage many; yet they, of the Maccabean party, shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, evils incident to the war, for days, that is, seven years from the ninth of Antiochus, the Era of the Asmoneans, to the third of Demetrius Soter, B.C. 161.

Now, when they shall fall by these seven years calamities, they shall be holpen with a little help; for while Antiochus was amusing himself in celebrating games at Daphne, Judas Maccabaeus had raised the stan­dard of independence, and was helping his countrymen in Judea. He levied a small army, fortified the cities, rebuilt the fortresses, threw strong garrisons into them, and thereby awed the whole country. He defeated and killed Apollonius, and made great slaughter of the troops. With 3,000 men he defeated Lysias with 47,000; and another army of 20,000 under Timotheus and Bacchides; and in the year before Christ 170, he gave Lysias a second defeat at Bethsura, by which he dispersed 65,000 of the enemy. The “little help” they received at this crisis was mingled with the supernatural, which will account for the extra­ordinary victories of the Jews over such powerful armies of Greeks with such unequal forces. In the battle with Timotheus near Jerusa­1em, it is related, that, “When it waxed strong there appeared in sight of the enemy, from heaven, five comely men upon horses with bridles of gold, and two of them led the Jews, and took Maccabaeus betwixt them, and covered him on every side with their weapons, and kept him safe, but shot arrows and lightnings against the enemies; so that being confounded with blindness, and full of trouble, they were killed “ (2 Mac. 10: 29-30). Also, in the battle against Lysias, near Bethsura, with his 8o,ooo Greeks, Maccabaeus and the Jews prayed that Yahweh would send a good angel to deliver Israel. In answer to this, as they were marching from Jerusalem, “there appeared before them, on horseback, one in white clothing, shaking his armour of gold . . . Thus they marched forward in their armour, ready not only to fight with men, but with most cruel beasts, and to pierce through walls of iron, having an helper from heaven: for Yahweh was merciful to them. And giving a charge upon their enemies like lions, they slew 11,ooo footmen, and 1,6oo horsemen, and put all the others to flight” (2 Mac.  11:8-11). Thus were “ they holpen with a little help “ from heaven, and their struggle for independence crowned with

 

 


                                Pg 54

success. Yet, in that struggle many did cleave to them with flatteries.. trial was, therefore, necessary that the approved might be manifested to the Deity. Hence, it was determined that the party of the wise shall be weak, to try them, and to purify, and make them white FOR THE TIME OF THE END; for then their services will be needed to assist in overthrowing the Kingdom of Babylon, and in taking the kingdom under the whole heaven, as shown to Daniel in the first year of Belshazzar. The Era of the Asmoneans was not  that end; for, having particularized the events of the era, the revelator added, it is still for a time appointed.

We have now arrived at the end of the thirty fifth verse, the events of which bring us down to the conclusion of 430 years from the destruction of the City and temple in the 19th of Nebuchadnezzar. There is here a change of topic in the prophecy. No more is said about Judahs warfare with the Greek Powers of the north or south. History, but not the prophecy, informs us that Judah became a kingdom, under princes of the Asmonean family, until it passed under the sceptre of Herod the Idumean, in the 39 th year of whose reign JESUS CHRIST was “born KING OF THE JEWS “. Not long after this event the sceptre of Judah was transferred to the Romans, whose emperor became the reigning king (John 19 : 15). But the sceptre was only temporarily departed; and its return is earnestly desired and expected by all who belies e the gospel of the Kingdom of God. When Jesus was 26 years old, the things revealed by Gabriel (Dan. 9 : 24, 27), in relation to the seventieth heptade, began to be accom­plished. During that seven years Judahs heart was stirred up from its lowest depths. John the Baptist and Jesus, the greatest personages of the time, turned all minds to that great kingdom, which, in the hands of the Prince Royal and the Saints, is to rule over all. But even then, “the end was still for a time appointed “. About 1,835 years have passed since the expiration of the seventieth heptade. Judah has been broken, but their “ breakers” have not been “ground to powder” by the Stone. The time, however, fast approaches; and the nearer it arrives, the more important do all questions become bearing upon Judahs land, and Zion, the city of their king.

About 95 years after the end of the 430 years previously indicated, the Asiatic kingdom of the north, which had so terribly afflicted Judah, was annexed by Pompey to the empire of the Romans, which, by the absorption of Greece, had now become Romano- or Latino­-Greek; and in about thirty-five years after that, Egypt experienced the same fate. The kingdom of the Jews still survived. Two powers alone existed. The Four Horns of the Goat had disappeared; and nothing of the symbol remained but that which answered to the Romano-Greek Asiatic Power, waxing exceeding great toward the east, and looking with a fierce and threatening countenance upon the little kingdom of Judea. What shall this power be called? Gabriel styled it “a Little Horn” budding forth out of one of the four horns of the Goat—” little “ in its Asiatic beginning, but “ exceeding great” when it had ceased to grow. In relation to the Holy Land it appeared as a power, first in the north. History therefore shows, that the horn of the north was the one of the four upon which Daniel beheld it.

 



 

But it did not content itself with merely looking fiercely at Judah. It fought against Judea and conquered; and so firmly had it established itself in the Holy, that when Jesus was arraigned before it, Judah clamored for his death, crying, “We have no king but Caesar “.

From the annexation of the Holy Land to the Roman empire by Pompey until the present time, it has been mainly subject to Rome and Constantinople to Rome until the throne of the empire was transferred by Constantine the Great to the city called by his name. Because, therefore, the Holy Land and city have been in the main possessed by the Romano Constantinopolitan power; and because that power crucified the King of the Jews, and destroyed the holy soon after the seventieth heptade; and because it is the same (though administered by a different race and generation, that is, the Moslem) that will stand up against heavens Commander in Chief in the approaching consummation—the power is represented by one and the same symbol, which is styled “ the Little Horn “ of the Grecian Goat, or nation.

But before dismissing the interpretation of the first section of the revelators discourse, I would add some further remarks concerning the end of the Maccabean Heptade.

 

  17.—END OF THE MACCABEAN HEPTADE

 

THIS epoch is particularly interesting as the end of Ezekiels 430 years (Ezek. 4:1- 8). The house of Israel and the house of Judah had been great transgressors of the Covenant of the Holy, from the foundation of the temple, in the fourth year of Solomon, to the sack of the city and temple in the 19th of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 52 : :12). This was a period of 430 years, which was divided into two unequal periods; namely, one of forty years, from the foundation of the temple to the apostasy of Rehoboam and Judah; the other of three hundred and ninety from this apostasy to the destruction of the temple. The God of Israel determined that this long national trans­gression should be punished by as long a retribution. He, therefore, gave Israel “a sign” of what was coming upon them. This sign consisted in Ezekiels lying on his left side 390 days, and then upon his right for 40 days more. By this was represented the prostrate condition of Judah and his companions from the other tribes, for 430 years. The 430 years of transgression had not quite ended when the sign was appointed, in the fifth of Jehoiachins captivity. The thing signified began to take effect in the sacking of Jerusalem. Judah then began to “eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles”; so that the 430 years would end B.C. i6o. These four centuries of punish­ment were a very calamitous period of Judahs history. They endured a captivity in Babylon for 70 years; for several years longer their times were “ troublous” ; they were vassals to the Ram dynasty of the kingdom of Babylon till it was superseded by Alexander the Great, the Notable Horn of the Macedonian Goat: afterwards, as we have seen, they were alternately subject to the Greek kings of Egypt and Assyria, and” the holy “ became a field of battle for the hosts of these contend­ing powers, who defiled the temple, and finally converted it into a

 

Pg 56


 

house for the worship of the Olympian Jupiter. At length, and after all these terrible vicissitudes, and about seven years before the 430 years were about to expire, Judas Maccabaeus, as the chieftain of a weak, but patriotic, intelligent, and devout, party of his countrymen, having a zeal for the Deity and his holy law, commenced a war against Antiochus Epiphanes, illustrious for his zeal for Gentilism, his warlike propensities, and his cruel and bitter hatred of the Jews. The war ended in the deliverance of Jerusalem from his desolating abomination, the purification of the temple from the insignia of idolatry, its rededication to Yahweh, and the conversion of the Commonwealth into an independent kingdom, under the Levitical family of Asmoneus, in which the sovereignty continued for 129 years, till it was transferred to Herod the Idumean by the Romans, B.C. 39.

 

  18.—” THE KING OR CONSTANTIN0P0LITAN                                     AUTOCRACY

 

THE second section of the revelators discourse, which com­mences at the thirty-sixth verse and ends at the thirty-ninth inclusive, is a more amplified description of the Little Horn power than that previously given in the eighth chapter. The following is a corrected translation of the testimony

 

And out of one of them (one of the horns) came forth a Little Horn, which waxed exceeding great against the south, and against the east, and against the glory (of the land). And it waxed great above the host of the heavens; and of the host and the stars it cast down to the ground, and stamped upon them. and against the Commander of the host it magnified, and by it the evening morning sacrifice was taken away, and the foundation of its holy place scattered. And a host was given against the daily sacrifice because of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it wrought and prospered” (Dan. 8 : 9 12).

 

And in the latter time of their kingdom (the dominion of the four horns), so as to cause the transgressors to fill up their measure, there shall stand up a king of fierce countenance, and understanding an intricate language. And his power shall be mighty, but not in his own virility; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and work; and shall destto3 multitudes, and the people of the holy ones. And through his policy, also, he shall cause falsehood to prosper by his power; and because of his heart he shall do proudly, and in prosperity he shall destroy many ; he shall also stand up against the Commander of chieftains ; but he shall be broken without help (Dan. 8 : 23-25)

 

“ And the king shall work according to his pleasure, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself against every mighty one, and he shall utter marvelous things concerning the Mightiest of the mighty, and he shall cause to prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that that is determined shall be done. But to the gods of his predecessors he shall give no heed, nor to the delight of women, nor to any god shall he attend ; for he shall become great above all.”

 


Pg 57


 

‘But he shall do honour to a god of guardians in his realm; even to a god whom his predecessors knew not, shall he do honour with gold and silver, and with costly gems and precious things. Thus shall he do to the Bazaars of the Guardians pertaining to a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge (and) exalt (with) riches; and shall cause them to rule over many; and he shall divide the land for a. price” (Dan. ix :36-39).

Here is a power which is to “ prosper till the indignation

against Judah “ be accomplished “. The present condition of the Jews makes it evident to all that divine indignation against them still exists : hence the conclusion is necessary, that the Little Horn power is one of the powers that be.

The prophecy concerning “the King” in the eighth chapter is evidently descriptive of the Latino Greek power in its pagan constitu­tion, known in history as the destroyer of Jerusalem, and Judah “ the people of the holy ones” ; but with a hint also of its future ecclesias­tical peculiarity, as appears from the testimony that “ through his policy he shall cause falsehood to prosper by his power “. These few words are descriptive of the character or nature of the power since Constantine the Great set up its throne in Constantinople to the present hour; and will be so pre-eminently, when its administration shall pass from the Sultan to the Autocrat of all the Russias. As the head of a confederacy of the adherents of the Greek and Latin churches, it will be his policy to cause their priesthoods to be respected as useful co- operators in the subjection of Europe to his will.

This ecclesiastical policy of the Constantinopolitan Autocracy is enlarged upon in the description of it set forth in the eleventh chapter, where it is more particularly regarded in its catholic constitution with­out taking into the account the division of the Babylonian superstition into Greek and Latin catholic churches. Whatever may be the individual prejudices existing between individuals of the two schisms matters not ; their ecclesiastics, whose spiritual authority is death-stricken by infidelity, on the principle of self-preservation will have to place themselves under the shadow of the Autocrat, as Greeks and Latins have already done in the present dominions of the Czar.

In studying the nature of the Little Horn power it must not be regarded as a purely civil and military, or as an ecclesiastical power per ce. It is both; but in describing it two classes of administrators are personified, the one as “the king “, and the other, as “ a god of guardians, whom his (pagan) predecessors knew not “, and therefore a strange god “. The power is said to give “ no heed to the delight of women “. But under its pagan constitution, the emperors who were Pontifices Maximi, or High Priests, as well as the civil and military chiefs of the state, and their subordinates in the priesthood, did give heed to the delight of women; that is, it was their pleasure to marry: but when this pagan constitution of the power was superseded by the Catholics as the consequence of the Constantinian revolution of the fourth century, the High Priesthood disappeared until its revival in the Bishop of Rome; so that he in Rome, and the Emperor in Constantinople, became the representative incarnations of the civil

 

 


Pg 58


 

and spiritual elements of the Latino-G reek Babylonian power. The imperial head still gave heed to “the delight of women “, or, as some render it, “the desire of wives “;while the sacerdotal Constituent of the power “forbids to marry, and commands to abstain from meats “ (1 Tim. 4 :3).

Till the foundation of “the Holy Roman” dominion by Charle­magne and Leo, the bishop of Rome’s imperial associate was the emperor at Constantinople; but when he could no longer afford him protection against the Longbeards he formed an alliance with the French emperor A.D. 8oo, which has politically obtained in the imperial line to this day. He is, however, at present in a peculiar and excep­tional situation, which cannot become permanent. A pope and two emperors of the west is representative of two antagonist policies acting upon the same ecclesiastical centre which must result in Collision, * and terminate in the suppression of one of the emperors, that the normal constitution of things may be restored.

But the time is not far off, when the Latin Bishop may have to seek again to the Constantinopolitan Imperial Autocracy for protection. Daniels prophecy of” the king” required this; for he is to “cause to prosper till the indignation be accomplished  “The pope and one of the emperors sustained “ by the power of the king” will place the Latino Greek king “above all” the mighty who shall be his con­temporaries in “ the time of the end “.

But, for this manifestation to appear, the Ottoman dynasty must of course be driven out of Europe. The occupation of the Dragons throne by a non catholic royalty is clearly exceptional. The Ottoman has never, as a matter of fact. “ magnified himself above all” ; nor has he honoured the Latin Bishop as a god in his dominion, or shown himself at all a gracious patron of his saints and their temples. The power causing falsehood, or False-Prophetism, to prosper, must hold Jerusalem at the crisis of the accomplishment of the indignation. By False-Prophetism, I mean, papalism. Hence, the Sultan must be ejected, that a dynasty patronizing a High Priest who forbids to marry, may come in. When, therefore, the Czar gets possession of Constantinople + he will not be hostile to the pope. On the Contrary, he will honour and acknowledge him, and be the enemy of the Holy Land.

As to the Ottoman, his existence in Constantinople is exceptional. His mission was to punish the Greek catholics, and the Latins also to some extent, for their excessive superstition and idolatry, with the loss of their sovereignty over “a third part” of the Latino-Greek Baby­lonian empire; and not to extinguish temporarily or finally the Little

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

*The collision occurred in 1859 in the Franco Italian conflict with Austria; while the war of 1866 has given the ascendancy in papal sifairs to the emperor of the French, for a time at least. The expulsion of Austria from Italy and the abolition of the Concordat, abandons the Pope to the caprice of Napoleon III. The fall of Napoleon would change the situation greatly.

 

+ It is questionable whether Gog obtains possession of Constantinople before the advent, or after it. He may get the city, but still lack dominion over Asiatic Turkey. His contest for this brings him against Egypt and the mountains of Israel.

 


Pg 59


 

Horn Power. As far as the Greeks were concerned, their sovereignty was abolished A.D. 1453. The Greek dynasty of the power gave place to the Turkish, while the horn itself remained. The destruction of the horn is reserved for Michael the great Commander of Judah, after it shall have come under the sovereignty of the king of the north. This existence of the Ottoman régime in the Kingdom of Babylon, may be regarded by way of illustration, as a splint upon a broken leg. It remains therefore the support of the limb until the fractured ends shall be reunited by callus, after which it is removed as useless. The brass and iron eastern limb of Nebuchadnezzars Image received a fracture at the juncture of the two metals. The sovereignty of the kingdom of Babylon was no longer Greek and Latin; but, as at the present time, Latin and Ottoman, in” the time of the end “, however, when the Image stands complete upon its Feet of Iron and Clay, sound constitutional limbs are indispensable. The time is now about come, when the Ottoman splint may be removed, and the Latino-Greek Leg of the Image repaired by Russian callus be permitted to stand under a regime more in consonance with the catholic constitution of the kingdom of Babylon. The unbinding of the splint is the current mis­sion of” the Powers “. It is obvious to all that the Turk is a useless excrescence upon society, occupying a position in the heaven of Churchdom for which he is not at all qualified by faith, civilization, or sympathy with contemporary despotisms. The Babylonians are all willing that he should be deposed from his sovereignty over the catholic populations ; but they are not willing that the Byzantine empire should he revived under the Autocrat of All the Russias. Their antagonisms, however, for the prevention of this may be the provi­dential means to bring it about. Every step they take in the Eastern Question only makes this result more probable. The end, untoward enough for them, is decreed; and the Deity has blinded them, con­fusing all their counsel, that it may come to pass.

The Little Horn of the Goat is brother to the Little Horn of the fourth beast with its Eyes and Mouth. Their fraternity is consequent upon the Latin element entering into the constitution of them both. Old Rome is the throne of the Little Horn with Eyes and Mouth; while New Rome, or Constantinople, is the throne of the Little Horn of the Goat. The former power is the New Roman Empire of the West founded by Charlemagne, which has never been as yet united to the Greek element of the kingdom of Babylon. It is styled “the Holy Roman” dominion, because their Holinesses the Popes are its High Priests. Hence, it is the Latin kingdom of heaven, beyond the pale of which, they say, there is no salvation The Little Horn of the Goat represents the undivided power of the Kingdom of Babylon from the annexation of the northern kingdom to Rome, B.C. 65, to the loss of Italy, and the West; and of the same power minus Italy and the West from the eighth century to the present time. But when the Autocrat gains Constantinople, and Russianizes Italy and the West; and having superseded the Ottoman régime in Asia, comes as Gog to invade the Holy Land and to besiege Jerusalem, the Little Horn of the Goat will again represent the power of the whole dominion

 

Pg 60


 

briefly united under one chief, and he the proudest that ever exalted and magnified himself above all the rulers upon earth. In that near future the Little Horn of the Goat will be “ exceeding great “, over­shadowing all the sovereignties represented by the Two-Horned, and Ten-Horned, Beasts, and the Pseudoprophet of the Beast. But when it is “broken in pieces without help” it appears no more as a symbol upon the prophetic page. Its mission in the Holy Land and against Judah ends with its own Pharaoh like destruction; and the East delivered, future events re open in the West, where only a Beast, the False Prophet, and the Ten Horns, their Russian Constantinopolitan confederacy being dissolved, remain to be ground to powder, and destroyed by fire and sword.

The ‘ policy” of the Little Horn king in his Constantinian successorship to A.D. 1453 was, and will hereafter be, characterized by zeal for the baptized paganism known in history as the catholic religion. Justinian of all its crowned heads affords the most striking illustration of Daniels description of it. His policy was truly ecclesiastical. “Never prince “, says Dupin, “did meddle so much with what concerns the affairs of the Church, nor make so many constitutions and laws upon this subject. He was persuaded that it was the duty of an emperor, and for the good of the state, to have a particular care of the Church, to defend its faith, to regulate external discipline, and to employ the civil laws and the temporal power to preserve it in order and peace “.

Justinian, says Gibbon, “ sympathized with his subjects in their superstitious reverence for living and departed saints ; his Code, more especially his Novels, confirm and enlarge the privileges of the clergy; and in every dispute between the monk and the layman, the partial judge was inclined to pronounce that truth, and innocence were always on the side of the Church. In his public and private devotions, the Emperor was assiduous and exemplary; his prayers, vigils, and fasts, displayed the austere penance of a monk; his fancy was amused by the hope, or belief, of personal inspiration; he had secured the patronage of the Virgin, and St. Michael the archangel; and his recovery from a dangerous disease was ascribed to the miraculous succour of the holy martyrs, Cosmas and Damian... Among the titles of imperial greatness, the name of Pious was the most pleasing to his ear; to promote the temporal and spiritual interest of the Church was the serious business of his life; and the duty of father of his country was often sacrificed to that of defender of the faith. . . While the barbarians invaded the provinces, while the victorious legions marshalled under the banners of Belisarius and Narses, the successor of Trajan, unknown to the camp, was content to vanquish at the head of a synod “.

Enmity to Judah and the disciples of Christ, whom it designates as heretics and schismatics, has been characteristic of the kingdom of Babylon under all its administrations. This feature of it is indicated in the saying, that “In prosperity he shall destroy many “. The Constantinopolitan Little Horn as well as its imperial brother of the West, has abundantly vindicated its claim to this destructiveness. Justinian was no individual exception to this general character of the

 


61

 

power. His reign, says Gibbon, “was an uniform, yet various scene of persecution; and he appears to have surpassed his indolent predecessors both in the contrivance of his laws and rigour of their execution. The insufficient term of three months was assigned for the conversion or exile of all heretics ; and if he still connived at the precarious stay, they were deprived, under his iron yoke, not only of the benefits of society, but of the common birthright of men and Christians “.

The high exaltation of the Constantinopolitan Autocracy in” the time of the end “, previously to its standing up to “ be broken without help” by Judahs Commander in Chief, is predicted in the words, He shall become great above all “. Impious and cruel as Antiochus Epiphanes, and superstitious and fanatical as Justinian, with the arrogance, ambition, and profanity of the Latin Prophet in his palmiest days, this Sin-power administered by a Russian régime, will be wanting in none of the arrogance that has been predicated of Pauls “ MAN OF SIN and Son of Perdition “, whose spiritual element opposeth and exalteth himself above every one called a god, or an object of regard; so that in the temple of the god he sits as a god exhibiting himself because he is a god. The apostle then informs us of his destruction by Michael the great commander, saying, That Lawless One shall the Lord consume with the Spirit of his mouth (represented in the Apocalypse by a sword going out of his mouth) and bring to an end with the manifestation of his presence: the coming of whom is according to the working of the adversary in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish “ (2Thess. 2 :3, 4, 8, 9). This is not exclusively applicable to the Latin False Prophet; but to the power comprehensive of the civil, military, and spiritual elements as described by Daniel, and designated by Isaiah as “ The King for whom Tophet is ordained of old “ (Isa. 30 : 27-33 ; 31 : 8, 9). When the sceptre falls from the feeble hands of the Sultan, the world will behold in his Muscovite successor a potentate not surpacced in presumption and impiety by any of his predecessors, not excepting Pharaoh of the olden time.

 

  19.—A GOD OF GUARDIANS, OR, THE LATIN PROPHET OF THE WEST

 

“To a god of guardians in his estate he shall do honour “. The original is eloah mahuzzim, “ a god of guardians “ : and styled in the same connection, eloah naikhar, “a strange god “—a god appearing from among the Jewish sect of the Nazarenes, and therefore a foreign god. Eloab is a passive participial noun, and applied to Christ in the phrase mãshiach eloah limmenu, “ the Anointed One cursed for us

that is, by the Law, which says : “ Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree “. The connection in which eloab is found determines whether it should be taken in a good or in a bad sense. In the passage before us it is used in any other than in a good sense. The god is therefore an accursed one of guardians, who is honoured in the realm of the Little Horn of the Goat. From this it will be seen that Christ and Antichrist are both denominated “ eloah “, but on different grounds; Christ, because he became a curse for his people by hanging

 


pg 62


 

on a tree as an expiation for their sins; and Antichrist, he that sets himself up in Christs place, and finally against him, because of his blasphemy against the Mightiest of all.

Mahuzzim is the plural of mahoz, a fortress. It is used tropically in Psalm 6o : 7 : “Ephraim is the fortress of my head “, i.e., my helmet; and in Prov. 10 : 29, “ a fortress to the upright is the way of God”, i.e., Gods truth. Protectors, defenders, guardians are as fortresses to those who trust in them ; hence the phrase,” Yahweh is my fortress “, i.e., He is my guardian, etc.

But those who glory in the Eyes and Mouth of the Little Horn of the West, or in the God of Guardians, whom the Little Horn of the Goat delights to honour (for the Eyes, Mouth, and god are one and the same power), seek for refuge in other fortresses than Yahweh. Chrysostom, in his homily on the martyrs of Egypt, says: “The bodies of those saints fortify the city more effectually for us than impregnable walls of adamant; and like towering rocks placed around on every side, repel not only the assaults of enemies that are visible, but the insidious stratagems also of invisible demons, and counteract and defeat every artifice of the devil as a strong man overturns the toys of children “. The Greeks and Latins made the most of these wonderful martyrs. Believing in ghosts, or disembodied human spirits, they proclaimed the translation of their shades to heaven to act as mediators and intercessors with the Virgin and her Son; but kept their bones and dust in church-shrines to protect, defend, or guard them from all enemies, demons, and other evils to which the flesh is subject. Speaking of these times of intense superstition, Gibbon says: ‘‘The Christians of the seventh century had insensibly relapsed into a semblance of paganism; their public and private vows were addressed to the relics and images that disgraced the temples of the east; the throne of the Almighty was darkened by a cloud of martyrs, saints, and angels, the objects of popular veneration; and the Colly­ridian heretics, who flourished in the fruitful soil of Arabia, invested the Virgin Mary with the name and honours of a goddess “. it was to punish the East for these abominations, that the four prepared angels confining upon the Euphrates—the Seljuks, Zinghis Khans Moguls, Tamerlanes hosts, and the Ottoman Turks—were loosed until they should come to be bounded by the Danube, which defines the political geography appointed to exist between themselves and “the Rest of the Men (the Holy Roman Empire) which were not killed “—whose sovereignty was not overthrown—” by these plagues “, inflicted by the four messenger, or angel, powers, “ yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demonials (the imaginary ghosts of martyrs and saints) and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication (the especial vice of the priests who are forbidden to marry), nor of their thefts “ (Rev. 9 :14, 15, 20, 21

The bodies and ghosts of Romish saints and martyrs erected into guardian demons by “ the church “, were a cheap fortification for a

 

  Pg 63


city, temple, or country, requiring no rations; and if” the eloquent Chrysostom” be credited, a more impregnable defence than a whole host of embodied warriors armed to the very teeth! What chance, then has the unlucky Turk who has no other mahuzzim than the Dardanelles and fortresses of like construction? Fortunately for him, St. Patrick of Ireland, St. George of England, St. Andrew of Scotland, and St. Denis of France, it may be supposed were on his side in the Crimean war; but how these orthodox guardians could become impregnable fortresses for “the common hereditary foe and tyrannical bloodhound, the Turk “, as Czar Johann styled him in 1557, is not very easy to conceive, seeing that his battle cry is “Down with the Giaours “, which must be particularly offensive to their brethren, the cloud of guardian demons on the other side.

The chief or prince of the ecclesiastical element of the Kingdom of Babylon is god, or chief pontiff of these guardians. He is in the Little Horn of the Goats estate, which is co-extensive with the territory of that dominion, when he stands up against the Sar of Israel. Justinian, whom I have indicated as the fittest representative of the civil element of the Power that has yet appeared in Constantinople in its dealings with the god, delighted to honour him. In a celebrated letter written by him to the Bishop of Rome, dated March, 533, and which thence­forth became part and parcel of the civil law, he is recognized, or acknowledged “, as the legal head of all the churches of the eastern and western provinces of the empire. “We suffer not “, says the imperial writer, “anything that belongs to the state of the churches to be done without submitting it to your holiness, who art head of all the churches “. In this way “the king who does according to his will “, acknowledged this “ strange god” as of supreme spiritual authority over all “ the Bazaars of the Guardians “, which became his.

“To a god whom his predecessors knew not, to a strange god, shall he do honour.” Previous to the reign of Constantine this “god of guardians” was unacknowledged by the emperors and constituted authorities of the Little Horn Power. They are therefore said not to have known him. There was then no Bishop of Rome, though there was a principal bishop of the Anti-Novatian or Catholic Church, called Christian, in Rome. Constantine made this chief of a corrupt majority chief magistrate of Rome for life, or Lord Mayor, in 313. His jurisdiction was confined to the city. But in 378, the emperor, who resided in Constantinople, extended his spiritual authority over all the churches of Italy and Gaul. His supremacy, however, was not limited to these. It continued to grow, until, in a hundred and fifty-five years after, Justinian could say to him, “thou ART head of ALL the churches “, that is, of the Kingdom of Babylon. But while this was the fact, the Roman Bishop bore no title that indicated it. He shared with the bishops of Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Constan­tinople, the honorary title of Patriarch, or Chief Father. These patriarchs had all equal power, and differed only in respect of rank and precedency; the Bishop of Rome being considered the first in rank, and this out of respect to the city in which he presided. A bishop of the name of Leo was the first that claimed jurisdiction over other

 

pg 64

 

churches on the ground of his being the successor of St. Peter; and when it was decreed at the Council of Chalcedon that the See of Constantinople should be second to that of Rome with respect to rank, assigning as a reason for it the pre eminence of the city, this Patriarch was quite dissatisfied because his pre-eminence was not founded on something more stable than the dignity of the city, and wished to have it rest on the authority of Peter as the founder of the See. From this time this foundation for the pre eminence of the See of Rome was urged with the greatest confidence; and though the ground on which it is assumed has slender claims to credibility, it does not appear to have been much disputed.

 

But the increasing pride, ambition, and vanity of the rising god were not long content to bear a title common to others whom he regarded as his inferiors in every respect. He desired a title expressive of the universality of his acknowledged headship over ecclesiastical affairs in the Kingdom of Babylon. But the Patriarch of Constan­tinople, scarcely less arrogant and ambitious than himself, in a council held at that city in 588, assumed the title of Universal Bishop, which was confirmed to him by the council. This aroused the indignation of the contemporary bishop of Rome, with whom it was a principle to endure no ecclesiastical superior in the Little Horn dominion. He styled it, “ an execrable, profane, and diabolical procedure “. in 590, Gregory 1., usually termed “ the Great “ by ecclesiastics, was the representative of the strange-god power. He wrote a letter to Maurice, who occupied the Dragon-throne, in which he styles the title ‘a Blasphemous Name by which all honour is taken from all other priests, while it is foolishly arrogated by one “. He says, it was offered to the Bishops of Rome by the Council of Chalcedon, but refused ; ‘‘ why “, then says he, ‘ should we refuse this title when it was offered, and another assume it without any offer at all ?” He calls upon Maurice to humble and chastise the presumptuous patriarch, who, by taking upon himself the title would elevate himself above the emperor. The letter, however, does not appear to have produced any effect; for the pompous title continued to be borne by the patriarchs of Constantinople.

 

One of these whose name was Cynacus in a letter to Gregory subscribed himself ‘‘ Universal Bishop “. Gregory was greatly dis­pleased, and in consequence treated the bearers of it uncourteously. These complained to the emperor, who wrote to Gregory, and advised him to be more friendly in future, and not to insist so far on punctilios of style as to create a scandal about a title, and to fall out about a few syllables. Gregory replied to this, ‘‘ that the innovation in the style did not consist much in the quantity and alphabet; but the bulk of the iniquity was weighty enough to sink and destroy all. And therefore I am bold to say “, says he, “ that whoever adopts or affects the title of UNIVERSAL BISHOP has the pride and character of Antichrist, and is in some manner his forerunner in this haughty quality of elevating himself above the rest of his order. And indeed both the one and the other seem to split upon the same rock; for,

 


65

 

as pride makes Antichrist strain his pretension up to GODHEAD, so whoever is ambitious to be called the only or Universal Prelate, arrogates to himself a distinguished superiority, and rises, as it were, upon the ruins of the rest “.

Which of the two should bear the title of Universal Bishop and transmit it to his successors, the Patriarch of Constantinople or the Patriarch of Rome, was the great politico ecclesiastical question of the day. Had the dynasty of Maurice continued to occupy the Dragon-throne of the Little Horn, it is probable that the Bishop of Rome would has e been excluded from the Babylonian Godship. But it was ordained otherwise. Phoeas, a centurion, headed a rebellion of the troops against the emperor, whom he murdered with all his family, and then settled himself on the throne. This was A.D. 602. Gregory joyfully saluted the fortune of the assassin, celebrated the deliverance of the people, and the fall of Maurice, whom he styled, the oppressor. In 604 Gregory died, and was succeeded by Boniface III., who without scruple adopted the proud title in dispute. He had importunately begged it of Phocas, with the privilege also of trans­mitting it to all his successors. The profligate emperor, to gratify the Inordinate ambition of this court sycophant, deprived the patriarch of Constantinople of the title he had hitherto borne, and conferred it upon Boniface, \A D. 607, at the same time declaring the Church of Rome to be the head of all other churches.  he was very liberal to the bazaars of the guardians pertaining to the god, commonly called churches “, and allowed the Pantheon, a temple dedicated to All the Gods by his predecessors, to be turned into a bazaar or church devoted to All the Saints. Phocas was a diminutive, ill favoured monster in crime, and therefore the better qualified for a patron of the Roman bishop, who hailed him as the pious avenger of the church. One year after the promulgation of the decree, a pillar with a gilt statue on the top of it, was erected in Rome to the honour of Phocas, with the follow ing inscription—-Pro innumerabilibus Pietatis ejus benefciis et proquiete procurata, ac conservata libertate. Thus was memorialized the fulfillment of the sure word of prophecy, saying, ”To a god of guardians in his estate, even to a god whom his predeces­sors knew not, a strange god, shall he acknowledge and exalt with riches “.  He strained up his pretensions to godhead, and as a god was recognized by the secular element of the Little Horn.

 

 

  20. GUARDIANS BAZAARS OR TEMPLES DEDICATED TO SAINTS~

 

To a god of guardians shall he do honor with gold and silver, and with costly gems, and precious things. Thus shall he do to the Bazaars of the Guardians pertaining to the strange god.” The honour done to the Pontiff  of the Mysteries of the worship of Guardian Saints by the emperor, was expressed not in mere decrees, but in the more substantial forms of all kinds of riches. They were given to him in being bestowed upon the Bazaars dedicated to guardian saints, all of which throughout the empire were subordinated to him. Justinians is a remarkable illustration of imperial liberality to the Roman god in the bestowal of riches upon his “ churches “, or bazaars of spiritual merchandise. Besides the magnificent temple of


Pg 66


St. Sophia, which with 10,000 workmen he finished in five years, eleven months, and ten days from the first foundation, he dedicated twenty five others in Constantinople and its suburbs to the honour of the Virgin and the saints of the catholic calendar. Most of these edi­fices were decorated with marble and gold. His munificence was diffused over the Holy Land; throughout which monasteries for both sexes were amply diffused. Almost every saint in the calendar acquired the honor of a bazaar : and the liberality with which he honored  them was boundless. No wood except the doors was admitted into the construction of St. Sophia. Paul Silentiarius, who beheld its primitive lustre, enumerates the colours, the shades, and the spots of ten or twelve marbles, jaspers, and porphyries, which Nature had profusely diversified, and which were blended and contrasted as it were by a skillful painter. The triumph of Antichrist ‘ was adorned with the last spoils of paganism, but the greater part of these cost(y stones was extracted from the quarries of Asia Minor, the isles and continent of Greece, Egypt, Africa, and Gaul... A variety of ornaments and figures was curiously expressed in Mosaic; and the images of Christ, of the Virgin, of saints and of angels, were ... exposed to the superstition of the Greeks. According to the sanctity of each object, the precious metals were distributed in thin leaves, or in solid masses... The spectator was dazzled by the glittering aspect of the cupola ; the sanctuary} contained forty thousand pounds weight of silver; and the holy vases and vestments of the altar were of the purest gold, enriched with inestimable gems.” Such are the words of Gibbon a literal, though inadvertent interpretation of the testimony with which this paragraph begins.

The Bazaars of the Guardians “—mivtzahrai mahuzzim. The noun mivtzahrai is derived from the root bahtzar, which, among other meanings, signifies, to enclose with a wall As a noun, bétzer signifies ore of gold and silver, precious metals, store, or treasure so secured. Parkhurst has the following upon the word : “ Derivative, Bazaar, a kind of covered market-place among the eastern nations, somewhat like our Exeter ‘Change in London, but frequently much more extensive. Latin, or rather Punic, Bjrsa, the Burse at Carthage”: equivalent to the French Bourse. In the English version the phrase is rendered, the most strong holds “, with which those who compiled the marginal references and readings were not satisfied; and therefore they have tried to improve it by the words “fortresses of munitions “. But if the reader can extract any sense out of these renderings, it is more than I can. Moses Stuart renders it “ fenced strong holds “ ; and the strange god he styles, “ the god of strong holds, that is, the god who has power over them “. He confesses, however, that verse 39 is “a difficult verse, which has occasioned many discrepant interpre­tations “. He refers to Lengerke, who, he remarks. “ makes the fenced strong holds to mean temples, and the sentiment to be, that the tyrant will do for temples and their foreign gods the same thing that V. 38 says he will do in respect to the god of strong holds, i.e., he will bestow many liberal presents upon them “. As neither Lengerke nor Moses Stuart seem to see anything in Daniel (the last chapter perhaps

 


Pg 67


 

excepted) beyond the times of Antiochus, some hundred and sixty years or so before the birth of Jesus Christ, their temples and “ strong holds” have relation to “fortified strong holds of foreigners” attacked by Antiochus, and temples of idols. Lengerke has almost fallen upon the correct meaning. Had he referred the bétzar, heeman­tively written mivtzahr, to the temples of guardian saints instead of to those of the pagan Greeks, he would have hit the mark exactly : but then how could he be so uncharitable as to turn the pious father of Christendom “ into a strange god, and all the ecclesiastical buildings of that dominion dedicated to saints and angels, into Bazaars, or places of traffic in spiritual merchandise and the bodies and souls of men

The churches, chapels, and cathedrals, then, are the “ most strong holds “ of the superstition of the kingdom of Babylon. They are the houses of business dedicated by the prospering craft to “ guardian spirits “. There are the images and pictures of the saints. They are Saints Houses in which are deposited their shrines ; silver, gold, and ivory crucifixes ; old bones, and various kinds of votive trumpery. They are literally “ dens of thieves “ without ever having been the houses of the Father—dens, where people are robbed of their money under false pretenses. They are places where pews are sold by auction, the proudest sittings being knocked down to Mammons greatest favourites ; places where fairs of vanity and deceit are held for” pious objects “ ; and where spiritual empires pretend to “ cure souls” in consideration of so much per annum. In view of these facts, the scriptural epithet bestowed upon the church buildings of the apostasy is most appropriate. They are truly Bazaars of spiritual merchandise; and the prospering craft, “ the great men of the earth “ made rich by trading in their wares, are the Bazaar-Men who extort all kinds of goods from their customers by putting them in fear, and comforting them with counterfeits upon some hank in the world to come. They buy and sell under license from the Ecclesiastical Power, having received its mark upon their foreheads, or on their right hands. The reader may find their catalogue of merchandise in the eighteenth of Revelation, twelfth and thirteenth verses. Among the articles of barter for spirituals are tithes, bodies,* and souls of men. But the trade of these soul-merchants is in any thing but a satisfactory state at present. Great numbers of their customers have discovered that the profit is all upon one side; nor are they backward in proclaiming that when a favourable opportunity presents they will break up the iniquitous concern, and make the cheats disgorge their unhallowed gains. This will be a sad day, a day of universal bankruptcy for the weeping and wailing merchants of Babylon; “ for no man buyeth their merchandise any more “. When a mans trade is thus extin­guished, nothing but ruin states the shattered tradesman in the face.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


*How remarkably this is fulfilled in the trade carried on by the ‘ministers of religion “in dead bodies They” consecrate “ their bazaar,, or a piece of ground for the burial of the dead. Having provided these” holy “ receptacles, they persuade their followers that not to be buried there is to hasve the burial of a dog or a heathen. This causes the bodies of the dead to be brought to them for religious burial, which they perform for a sum of money  expressed or understood.

 


 Pg 68


 

This is the fate that awaits the preachers of all the gospels of the Bazaars—gospels other than Paul preached, and which leave men in ignorance and disobedience; gospels which make them partisans of human crotchets and traditions; and the apologists of any thing sincerely professed as a substitute for the truth.

It is a remarkable feature in this prophecy that the Bazaars for priestly and clerical wares are distinguished from houses or shops of fair and honourable trade, by being styled Bagaars of Mahuzzim.  When jewelers, bakers, hardwareman, etc., open stores, they emblazon their signs with their own names; but when the clergy open houses for the exercise of their profession they impose upon the ignorant public the idea that they belong to the apostles and their brethren! They say that these ancient worthies are still alive, and in heaven, and greatly interested in human affairs, especially in church buildings and things transacted there ! Hence they put their statues in niches and on parapets, and make them presents of the churches, as is clear from the names they bear; as, St. Sophia at Constantinople, St. Peters at Rome, Our Ladys at Paris, St. Pauls at London, and so forth. The imposition, however, consists in this, that while they give these buildings to the “ departed spirits “ they call by these names, they will not permit the gospel the apostles preached, and the institutions they ordained, to be announced within their walls; but perversely persist in excluding it, and in making it of none effect by their vain and foolish traditions. But the whole system is a cheat, and a very profitable one for the present to those who live by it. It is ecclesiastical craft caused to prosper by the civil power; and it will prosper until Israels Commander shall bring it to an end, and cause the truth by his energy to prevail at last.

Having illustrated somewhat in detail the terms of this remarkable prophecy, I proceed to remark that the Little Horn of the Goat and Daniels Fourth Beast are both representative of” The King of Fierce Countenance” at the time when the Commander-in-Chief shall break the former in pieces ; and the Saints shall take away the dominion of the latter, to consume and destroy it as the fiery flame and wheels of burning fire issuing forth from the Ancient of Days. The Goats Little Horn and the god he honours, are equivalent to the Beast, the Little Horn ‘with its Eyes and Mouth, and the Ten Horns, at the time of the breaking of the Goat-Horn. This identity of representation will not have been always so; for about the conclusion of the eighth century, the Goat-Horn and its god only represented the Constan­tinopolitan Civil Power, whose jurisdiction had almost entirely ceased from Italy and the West; and the Roman Ecclesiastical, which, disappearing from the East, was recognized in the Popes by all the nations of the West, who, in the words of Gregory II. to the emperor, “revere as a god upon earth, the apostle St. Peter, whose image you threaten to destroy”; and therefore, also, so regarded “ Christs Viceregent “, who claimed to be Peters successor in the god-ship. The Ten Horns with crowns, and the Eleventh Horn, of the Beast, have never yet been subjugated to the Goat-Horn; though the territory on which they exist as powers has before their existence:

 


Pg 69


 

not all the territory of the Eleventh Horn, however, but so much of it as it possesses within the frontiers of the old Roman dominion.

But, though the Little Horn of the Goat, or Constantinopolitan Power, has never been Lord of the European Continental Powers represented by the Eleven Horns, the time is at hand when it, as Gog, will acquire that dominion. The feeble Ottoman must be ejected from the throne to make room for a more powerful and vigorous dynasty. This dynasty will be the last occupant 0f the throne 0f the Constantinopolitan Power for a thousand years. During its enthroned existence it will be all that is affirmed of the Little Horn of the Goat and of” the King that does according to its will “, in the eighth and eleventh chapters of Daniel.  At this crisis, its power will be mighty, and it will destroy wonderfully, and prosper, and practice. As Lord of Europe and Asia the continental dynasties of the West will be gathered unto it. Thes will acknowledge its supremacy, and seek to it as the shadow and strength of their dominions. The Constan­tinopolitan Little Horn Power will then be in final fourth-beast mani­festation, “ dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly; having great iron teeth ; devouring and breaking in pieces, and stamping the residue WITH THE FEET of it; and having ten horns “. It is while the post Ottoman dynasty occupies the throne that the “ stamping the residue w ith the feet of” the beast is accomplished. The Feet represent a power, a stamping or conquering power, which subjects “ the residue “ to its dominion. The claws of these feet are of brass, while the feet themselves are part of iron and part of clay ; for the feet of Nebuchadnezzars Image, and those of the Fourth Beast, are

representative  of the same power. The brass, the iron, and the clay, then, are representative of the national elements constituting the power. The Greeks, and the Latins, mixed up with the heterogeneous peoples under the guardianship of the Czar, moulded into form under his imperial sceptre, are the Feet-power that stamps the residue. The residue may be discerned in the names of countries and races hereafter to be  confederated under Gog as their appointed” guard “.

While the Feet are occupied in stamping upon Judah and his allies in the glorious land, the Fourth Beast Power and Little Horn of the Goat are fitly represented by the Image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. During the reign of the Clay-Dynasty the image stands upon its Feet for the first time ; having incorporated in it, not only Nimroudia and Persia, but the nation of the Greeks, or brazen goats; and “the Holy Roman Empire” and its papal kingdoms, or iron leg and toes.

But, although the Greeks and Latins are all moulded into ONE IMPERIALITY held together by the Miry Clay which gives it form, the distinctiveness of civil and ecclesiastical organization is still preserved. The Two-Horned Beast, the False Prophet, and the Kings of the Earth, are not extinct. The French Empire being at length probably transmuted into a Bourbon-kingdom, and the Russian dynasty being on the throne of Constantinople, it becomes the Sovereign element of the two-horned symbol. When the Little Horn of the Goat is broken to pieces on the mountains of Israel, the Constantinopolitan power

 

 

 

 

Pg 70


 


collapses, being seen no more in the Holy Land for a thousand years. The Two-Horned Beast, the False Prophet, and the Kings of the Earth, are no longer capable of being represented by the Assyrian Image, or Little Horn of the Goat resting upon the territory of the Northern of the Four Horns; because there they will have lost dominion, their jurisdiction after the smiting of the Image by the Stone Power being restricted to Europe, whose Romano-papal constitution these symbols represent.

 

  21.—THE HOLY ROMAN DOMINION, OR LITTLE HORN OF THE WEST

 

We have seen how the Constantinopolitan Little Horn Power acknowledged the god of guardians, who was unknown to his predecessors under the pagan constitution of the empire. From about AD. 395 to the recovery and settlement of Italy, AD. ~ after a war of twenty years, the Roman god flourished in tumultuous times. With the exception of sixty years, the period of the reign of the Gothic kings in Rome, whence they were expelled by the generals of Justinian, his godship was the cherished ally of the Byzantine emperor. During the turbulent period indicated, the Constantinopolitan dominion had receded from Gaul and Spain before the new kingdoms of the West; while the Universal Bishop had been recognized by the barbarian lords of Europe as a god upon earth. This recognition filled him with stoutness towards the emperor, which he would not have ventured to manifest if he had not been energized by their countenance. From A.D. 554 to A.D.799 ~ Rome had lost her pre­eminence, having been reduced to the rank of the second city of the Byzantine or Constantinopolitan empire; and Italy to the condition of a province of it. During this period a violent quarrel broke out between the Roman god and the imperial majesty. The subject of it was the adoration of images. The use and even worship of saint idols was firmly established before the end of the sixth century. In the beginning of the eighth century, however, in the full magnitude of the idolatry, the people of the East were awakened to an apprehension, that under the mask of Christianity they had restored the paganism of their fathers. The Mohammedans, who reigned in Damascus and threatened Constantinople, denounced them as idolaters, whose punishment it was the divine commission of the followers of the Arabian prophet to execute.

It was the invasion of their empire by these avengers of the divine law against images, and the bowing down to them, that stirred up the Orientals to the consideration of the subject, and at length to their opposition to the practice. The monks zealously defended the images, which were also fondly cherished by the clergy and people of Constantinople ; while the rude and remote districts of Asia were strangers to the innovation.

In 726, the controversy issued in a revolution. An adventurer named Conora appeared from the mountains of Isauria, filled with zeal and indignation against the Images. He was raised to the throne of Constantinople by the Anatolian legions which he commanded, and being installed reigned as the founder of a new dynasty under the imperial name of Leo III. or the Isaurian.

 


Pg 71


 

During the first ten years of his reign his policy was moderate and cautious; too much so, indeed, to satisfy the views of the reformers who had effected his elevation. During that period of toil and danger he bowed before the idols he despised, and satisfied the Roman god with the annual profession of his orthodoxy and zeal. But at length their impatience caused him to be more decided. He proscribed the existence as well as the use of religious pictures; the churches of Constantinople and the provinces were cleansed from idolatry; and the images of Christ, the Virgin and the saints, were demolished, or a smooth surface of plaster was spread over the walls of the edifice. The zeal of his party, styled the Iconoclasts, or Image-Breakers, was rendered effective by the cordial co operation of his five successors, and the East and West were involved in a stormy conflict of one hundred and twenty years. The Iconoclasts, however, were at last suppressed by the Idolaters, who in the reign of the empress Theodora, \.D. 842, finally succeeded in re establishing the adoration of the idols of the dcmonials whom they delighted to honour. This system of idolatry continued upwards of six hundred years after, the government and people being sunk in the grossest superstition. They repented not a/ the works of their hands.” The Deity, therefore, sent against them the Four Euphratean Angels, who at length extinguished their dominion by the capture of Constantinople, AD 1453

While the patient East under the Iconoclast emperors abjured with reluctance her idols, they were fondly cherished and vigorously defended by the independent zeal of the Italians. A distant and dangerous station amidst the barbarians of the West, excited the spirit and freedom of the Bishops of Rome. Their popular election endeared them to the Romans ; the public and private indigence was relieved by their ample revenue ; and the weakness or neglect of the emperors of Constantinople compelled them to consult, both in peace and war, the temporal safety of the city. In the school of adversity the Roman god insensibly imbibed the qualities and ambitions of a prince; so  that after the loss of her legions arid provinces, the genius and fortune of the popes again restored the supremacy of Rome. “It is agreed “, says Gibbon, “that in the eighth century, their dominion was founded on rebellion, and that the rebellion was produced and justified by the heresy of the Iconoclasts “ : in other words, that the temporal power of the popes is based upon a determined adhesion to the worship of demonials and of their idols of gold and silver, wood and stone.

Pope Gregory II., the founder of the papal monarchy, com­menced the controversy with Leo the Isaurian, who avowed his intention of breaking the Images in Rome, and of transporting the pope in chains an exile to Constantinople if he did not submit to the imperial edict, which abolished the images of Christ. and the Virgin. and of the angels, martyrs, and saints, in all the churches of Italy. The Italians swore to live and die in the defense of the pope, and of the images of his guardian saints. Leo despatched an army into Italy to establish his decree, but being defeated by the idolaters with great slaughter, the edict could not be enforced. This was a great triumph

 


Pg  72


 

for the Roman god.  He convened a synod of anti-Iconoclastic bishops, with whose consent he pronounced a general excommunica­tion against all who should by word or deed attack the tradition of the fathers and the images of the saints. The emperor, of course, was tacitly involved in the sentence, though the god of Roman thunder did not make a personal application of it to Leo. His moderation delayed and prevented the election of a new emperor for Italy and the West; and the Italians were exhorted not to separate from the body of the Roman monarchy so that till the imperial coronation of Charlemagne, the government of Rome and Italy was exercised in the name of the successors of Constantine.

Rome was now free from the foreign yoke of emperor or king, but reduced to her ancient territory from Viterbo to Terracina, and from Narni to the mouth of the Tiber. Her ruins presented the sad image of depopulation and decay : her previous slavery was a habit, her liberty an accident—the effect of superstition, and the object of her own amazement and terror. Br the necessity of their situation, her inhabitants were cast into the rough model of a republican govern

ment. The style of” The Roman Senate and People “ was revived, but the spirit

w as fled ; and their new independence was disgraced by the tumultuous conflict of licentiousness and oppression. The want of laws was supplied by their religion, and their foreign and domestic counsels were moderated by the authority of the Bishop, whom they became accustomed to consider as the first magistrate or prince of the city.

Here then swas formed the nucleus of a new power, consisting of a god upon earth, and a scanty remnant, the offspring of slaves and strangers, inhabitants of Rome and its territory; feeble, unwarlike, and despicable in the eves of the victorious barbarians.  As often as the Franks or Lombards expressed their most bitter contempt of a foe, they called him a Roman; “ and in this name “says the bishop Luitprand, “ we include whatever is base, whatever is cowardly, whatsoever is perfidious, the extremes of avarice and luxury, and every vice that can prostitute the dignity of human nature “. Such were the popes children at the origin of his principality, a fitting progeny for such a sire. The Lombards were his immediate neighbours, and under their king Astolphus, the equal enemy of the pope and emperor. The love of arms and rapine were congenial to them; and both the prince and people w ere irresistibly tempted by the disorders of Italy, the nakedness of Rome, and the unwarlike profession of her new chief. They summoned the city to acknowledge the victorious Lombard as her lawful

sovereign; and to pay an annual tribute of a price of gold as the ransom of each citizen, and the sword of destruction was unsheathed to exact the penaly of her disobedience.

Had the pope and his Romans been left to their own resources in this extremity, the world might never has e witnessed among the ten barbaric kingdoms of Europe. a power answering to the “ Little Horn with EYES like the eyes of a man, and a M0UTH speaking great things “, as seen by Daniel on the head of the Fourth Beast. The little popedom was too feeble to defend itself against its rapacious neighbours-

 


73


 

 so that if succour could not have been procured from a stronger power, it must have perished in the alpha of its existence. In this event it would be impossible to say what would have been the constitution of Europe for a thousand years past. This, however, max be considered as certain, “the Holy Roman Empire” would never have existed; and “ the Saints “ would have escaped that long and terrible war by which they have been prevailed against in all the countries of its dominion. But “ the powers that be are ordained of God “, with reference to an end appointed. He scourges the wicked with the evil works of their own hands. They founded the papacy, which has whipped them who with it warred against the saints with scorpions ; while He has overruled its policy to the formation of a situation which will favour the manifestation of His righteousness and power.

In their distress the” strange god “ and his feeble folk sought the protection of the king of the French. The ambassadors of Pepin and of the Greek emperor accompanied the pope to the court of Astolphus, king of the Lombards, to persuade him to peace and amity with the papists. But he would listen to nothing short of absolute submission to his sceptre, which would have been fatal to the ambition of the popes. Finding nothing could be done, Stephen III. hastened to Pepin to excite his pity for St. Peters patrimony, and his indignation against Astolphus who was ready to devour it. Prompted by the love of glory and superstition, Pepin yielded to the solicitation of the Roman Bishop, and proclaimed himself the champion of the papal church. Being the first of the Barbarian Kings who stood up in defense of the “ Holy See “, the king of France came to be honoured by the popes with the title of “ Eldest Son of the Church “. An alliance was formed between France and the Little Papacy; which in forty six years from Stephens visit to Pepin expanded into the Roman Empire of the West, called “ the Holy Roman Empire “, and repre­sented by the Little Horn of Daniels Fourth Beast.

From A.D. 754 to A.D. 799 at Christmas, was the period occupied in the establishment of the Little Horn power; which, like the Little Horn of the Goat, budded forth upon the territory of the Kingdom of Babylon, but confined to its western division. The first event in the formation of the Little Horn of the West was the overthrow of Leo the Isaurians army against the saint-idols of Rome and Italy ; the next was the recognition of Charles Martel and his heirs as Patricians of Rome; the assumption of the championship of the papal church by Pepin; his coronation by the pope; and his compulsion of Astolphus to restore its possessions, and to respect its sanctity: the third series of events was the plucking up by the roots of the Lombard kingdom by Charlemagne, the son of Pepin, A.D. 774; his investment with the honours of Patrician, being presented with the keys of the shrine of St. Peter as a pledge and symbol of sovereignty; and with a holy banner which it was their right and duty to unfurl in defence of the church and city: and his coronation by the pope, the people shouting, “ Long life and victory to Charles, the most pious Augustus, crowned by God the great pacific emperor of the Romans ! “ The

 

Pg 74


 

patrimony of St. Peter was enlarged through the liberality of Pepin and Charlemagne, by the spoliation of the Lombards and the emperor of Constantinople, to the dimensions of an earthly kingdom of res­pectable limits, constituting the Eye and Mouthship proper of the Roman god. The gift of this enlarged estate did not, however, alienate it from the empire of Charlemagne; for in his life and at his death, Ravenna and Rome were numbered in the list of his metropolitan cities.

At this crisis of affairs, there existed on the territory of  the Kingdom of Babylon two Little Horn Powers, THE STRANGE God, and the Ten Horn or Toe Kingdoms. I would remark here in passing that it has hitherto been found impossible to define these kingdoms according to the number given. Several tens have been guessed at, but the lists bear inaccuracy on the face of them. The kingdoms are represented by ten horns, and ten toes, because there would be that number appear on the territory of the Roman Beast betw een A.D. 476 and AD.799 the interval between the fall and restoration of the Western Roman Empire. In part however of this period only seven independent monarchies can be found, three of the original ten being “ plucked up by the roots “. At the time of the revelation of Jesus Christ and the Saints, there will also be  ten kingdoms whose territories will embrace those of the original Gothic Ten. In past centuries their number has varied. The ten kingdoms contemporary with the smiting of the Image by the Stone-power, or with the slaying and burning of the Fourth Beast by  the Saints, in relation to the old Gothic kingdoms, are as so many trees to their original sapling-roots. The Gothic kingdoms of the period indicated were the roots of the present kingdoms, which are designated in prophecy by the number of Romano-Gothic kingdoms extant at the beginning and when the end comes. There will then be ten ; therefore, without regard to their numerical variation, in previous ages, they are styled the ten kingdoms of  the  Beast.

 

  22.  THE TIME OF THE E\D

The revelator having pointed out to Daniel the characteristic marks, by which the Little-Horn-of the Goat Power might be known, directs his attention to what should happen to it “ at the time of the end “, which is the “ time appointed “ for the denouement or issue to which the whole prophecy of Daniel points.  Habakkuk had a vision of the catastrophe ; and in noting it dow n said, “ at the end  it shall speak, and not lie “ and because the truth of the matter would not be discovered till then, Daniel was told to ‘‘ Shut up the words and seal the book to the time of the end, . . . for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end “.

The time of the end, then, is the period of the ripening and unsealing of the words of the book; so that it may speak intelligibly to “ the w ise “. The opening and unsealing is effected by the events of the time being an unmistakable fulfilment of what is written so that every one of” the wise “cannot fail to understand.

 

The time of the end has its beginning, and ending; and period

 

 intermediate between the beginning and the ending. Its approach is

 


pg 75


 


marked by an event connected with Egypt; and its ending by a consummation connected with Israel. The fortieth verse of the eleventh chapter announces its beginning by informing the reader that “at “, or near, “the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him “. For the southern horn of the Goat to push at him is for the Egyptian Power to attack the Little Horn Power; for” the king” or Little Horn of the Goat is the power last discoursed of in the preceding context. This attack, then, upon the Ottoman régime of the kingdom of Babylon, by the Ruler of Egypt, including Arabia, etc., indicates the approach of the Time of the End. The conclusion of it is marked by the event predicted in the seventh verse of the last chapter, which is to be completed at the end of” a time, times, and an half “, and noted in the words, “ When he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished “. Between these two orders of events, the attack of Egypt on the Porte, and the reconcentration of the power of the Twelve Tribes, the  vision speaks, and no more of the book of Daniel remains to be fulfilled—the Time of the End will have passed away, in other words, with the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

The reader, on turning to the eleventh chapter, will find that no more is said about the King of the South, or of Egypt, after the ships of Chittirn interfered in his behalf against Antiochus, the King of the North, until the fortieth verse. Between the first event of this verse, then, and that of the thirtieth is an interval of about 2000 years. During this long time no note is made of Egypt in the prophecy, nor of the King of the North from the time of the Maccabees, through whom Judah was ‘ holpen with a little help “ (verse 34). The connecting link in the prophetic chain between B.C. 160 and A.D. 1838 is the Little Horn of the Goat which incorporated the Assyrian king­dom of the north, and the kingdom of the south, into its own dominion. But in the year 1829, Egypt, which had been so long in vassalage to the Little Horn, or Constantinopolitan power, revolted ; and re­appeared on the map of the Babylonian world as a kingly power. Mehemet Ali then established himself as king of the south. He attacked and conquered Syria, and for a time was lord ascendant of the east. This exaltation opened new prospects to Mehemet, and he aspired to the throne of the Sultan. The time of the end was approach­ing, there being only twent1 two  years of the evening-morning 2400 years to expire. In I838 he “ pushed at” the Sultan. Hitherto he had confined his operations to Egypt, Arabia, and Syria, but now at the closing of the war he pushed for Constantinople, and advanced as far as Smyrna; and but for the interference of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and England, unconsciously “ to establish the vision “, he would doubtless have dethroned him. Wearied of this state of affairs, these powers undertook to establish peace, and to place things on a permanent footing. They ordered the king of the south to surrender Syria including Palestine to the sovereignty of the Little Horn, and to restore its fleet which had revolted from the Sultan during the war. Mehemet refused to do either, contending that Syria was his as a part of his kingdom by right of conquest for ever, and the fleet as the spoils

 


Pg 76


 

of war. These four powers, however, were not to be trifled with. They were willing that the throne of Egypt should be hereditary in his family; but resolved that he should only be Pacha of Syria for life. But the king of the south would not yield, and the result was that the allied fleet under Sir Charles Napier bombarded the cities of the Syrian sea-board, and took possession of St.  Jean dAcre. They again offered him “ all that part of Syria, extending from the Gulf of Suez to the Lake of Tiberias, together with the province of Acre for life “, if he would restore the Little Horns fleet. But he still refused, and in the autumn of 1840, they compelled the Egyptians to evacuate the country,, and determined he should not have it at all; and threatened that if he did not restore the fleet in ten clays, they as would make Alexandria too hot to hold him. Prudence, said to be the better part of valour, at length overcame the obstinacy of the king of the south ; he therefore yielded, and surrendered the ships within the time. Thus, the Holy Land was w rested from the Ruler of Egypt and restored to the

sovereignty of the Constantinopolitan Little Horn, which still continues to possess the country.

Such was the important series of events which marked the approaching termination of the 2,400 years, and the commencing of the Time of the End. The king of the souths pushing at “the king “ terminating in the disposal of the Holy Land is evidential of the rime approaching to which Yahweh refers in Lev.  26 42, saying, “ I will remember my covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will remember the land “. The king of the south claimed the land as his for ever; but Yahweh hath said, “ The land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine “. If  then the God of Israel would not permit the people of his own nation to alienate it from one to another for ever, He would be far from permitting a Gentile power to possess it, or the Allies to grant it him, for ever. The hand of Yahweh may be clearly discerned in the events of this epoch. He hardened the Ruler of Egypts heart not to accept the land on any other terms than his own, which were certain not to be granted. if they had yielded to his demand, the present “ eastern question” involving the overthrow of the Ottoman dynasty of the Little Horn, could not have been created. if the Allies had allowed the king of the sooth to retain possession of the Holy Land, the Frog Power could have made no demands on the Sultan for the protectorate of the Holy Places. The application must have been made at Alexandria instead of Constantinople, which would have deprived Russia of the poster of interference, having no access to Egypt by land, and her fleets being shot up in the Baltic and Black Sea. But in 1840 the time had nearly come to put things in train for “

avenging the holy “, which had been so long trodden under foot of the w orst of the Gentiles. It was necessary, therefore, to place the land under the sovereignty of the Porte, so that when the question of the Holy Places should be mooted by the Frog Power, it might stir up the King of the North to jealousy, and bring him into collision with the Little Horn.  The transfer, then, of the land from Egypt to the Porte prepared the way lot the demands of the Frog Power on the Sultan; the granting of these stirred up the

 

pg 77


 

King of the North to send Menschikoff to pick a quarrel with the Sultan, who having rejected his demands found it necessary to prepare for the worst. Meantime the King of the North crossed the Pruth, and took up his position in the Moldo Wallachiari principalities of the Little Horn. It is clear, then, that as far as statesmanship is concerned, the attack of the Allied Powers on Egypt in

1840, and their restitution of the Holy Land to the Porte, was a great political blunder. They should have left it in the possession of the King of the South, or have given it to the Jews under their joint protectorate, and the Crimean phase of the Eastern Question, with all its terrible accompaniments, would never have occurred. But their counsel was turned into foolishness by Yahweh, whose purposes are diametrically opposed to theirs. Their purpose is to establish Gentile sovereignty over the East for ever : while, on the contrary, His avowed intention is to restore the kingdom to Israel with dominion over the world. These projects are as opposite as the poles, and each project has its policy. The European Powers unsheathed the sword, that the purpose of the strongest might be established. The West was sanguine of speedy and entire success. The boastings of England and France were premature. When they don their armour Powers no more than men should boast; it is time enough for that when they come to put it off.   Woefully will these western powers be deceived in the result of the coming struggle. The Ottoman empire will be dried up, and “ the sick man “ must die in spite of all their efforts to save him. The sure word of prophecy is against them, and shines upon their patients doom  as near, sudden, and complete. He is already in articlo mortis, and his efforts but the convulsive energies of an expiring  man.

The rest of the events predicted from the fortieth verse of this chapter to the second verse of chapter twelve all belong to the time of the end, and are yet future. The king of the north is to come against the Little Horn king, and to sweep away the reigning dynasty; many countries are to be overthrown; the land of Egypt will be taken from its Mohammedan rulers ; the Holy Land will be invaded by the northern king; his power will be broken there; the nations will be in such trouble as they were never in before; the Lord Jesus Christ will appear on the arena of conflict; the dead will be raised, and the righteous glorified; and the Kingdom of God established on the ruin of the Kingdom of Men. These are speaking events, trumpet-tongued proclaiming the purpose of Yahweh in all His doings among the children of men.

 

  23.—THE KING OF THE NORTH

 

The eighth, ninth, and eleventh chapters of Daniel are principally a symbolical and descriptive prophecy concerning three of the five horns of the Grecian Goat in their relation to one another so far as their acts and policy affect the fortunes of Judah and the Holy Land. These three horns are the southern or Egyptian Horn, the northern or GRECO-ASSYRIAN HORN, and its conjunct, the Little Horn, which arose out of it, and will ere long subside into it, the power it represents being absorbed into it by forcible incorporation.

 



Pg 78


The Greco-Assyrian Horn Power, as we have already seen, was in its origin the Kingdom of Babylon incorporated with the Alexan­drian Empire, afterwards acquired by the Seleucidae, and by this dynasty surrendered to the Romans about sixty-five years before Christ. Till A.D. 324, ROME was exclusively the throne of the Greco-­Assyrian Kingdom of Babylon; but from that date until the fall of the Western Empire about A.D. 476, the Power was enthroned in Rome and Constantinople, the former city being the place of the Senate and of the junior emperor, while the latter was the palatial residence of the chief. On the re-conquest of Italy from the Goths in the reign of Justinian, Rome was reduced to the rank of the second city of the Greco-Assyrian, or Constantinopolitan, dominion; but still retained her ecclesiastical pre-eminence, being the throne of the Chief Pontiff of the Kingdom of Babylon.

On the revival of the Latin empire of the west under Charlemagne, the separation between the East and West became complete. The Constantinopolitan continued the Greco-Assyrian Dragon-power, but deprived of its jurisdiction and authority over the West. This surrender of dominion to the New Confederacy of the West is apocalyptically represented in the saying, ‘ And the Dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority” (Rev. 13 : 2) ; but what he retained was Greek and Assyrian.

This blending of the Romano-Greek power with the Assyrian is the reason why the Little Horn of the Goat is represented as coming out of one of its four horns. They occupy tine and the same territory; that is, where the Seleucidian dynasty once ruled, the Little Horns dynasties afterwards  ruled ; and where the Little Horns present dynasty now rules, a Russian dynasty from the north will probably be enthroned ; so that when this form of things obtains, the northern horn and the Little Horn will be blended into one power, still  Con­stantinopolitan, but with a Russian instead of an Ottoman for its chief.

But before this can be accomplished these words to Daniel must be fulfilled : “ And the King of the North shall rush on hike a tempest against him with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into countries and overwhelm and pass over “. This plainly intimates w ar  between the two horns in the time of the end; and such a war too that will sweep all before  the King of the North.  He will rush on against him both by land and sea, his forces being distinguished by their numerical strength in “ chariots “, or artillery, calvary and ships. The result of this tornado will be a successful one, for he will “ overwhelm  and pass over “.

The attack, answering to the words of the prophecy, has not yet commenced. All the western European world prophesies the im possibility of the King of the North doing anything with his ships against the combined fleets of the Little Horns allies l But to “ over­whelm  and pass over “ is to prevail. He has only to bide his time, and to look out for eventualities. The elements have interposed for Russia in great extremity ; and we know it is written, “ Thou  breakest the ships of Tarshiah with an east wind “ (Psa. 48- 7). In the absence of this, however, complications will doubtless arise in the West,

 



 

which may divert the attention of the Ottomans allies from the Euxine. This diversion will be Russias opportunity; and when seized, the movement of the King of the North will answer to the full force of the prophetic word.

The tempest, then, is gathering. The King of the North is preparing his hosts, and fortifying with all the forces that iron can afford him, against the “drying up” Euphratean power and its infatuated protectors, until the time arrives to use them  with effect. The Turks are alive to the danger they are in, and the French and English have proclaimed the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire. But things are not yet quite ripe. The position of Prussia, Austria, and Germany yet delays the rushing forth of the storm in all its violence. Something must arise to cause these powers to declare themselves on one side or the other. Prussia and Austria have not declared their policy on the Eastern Question : they also fear the volcanic elements of their own dominions, and the ambitious projects of the ruler of the French. Maritime disasters, revolutionary outbreaks, or Russian appeals to their dynastic interests and fears, may necessitate their abandonment of neutrality and the declaration of a policy by one or both of them in favour of the king of the north. The division of the Kingdom of Babylon into two belligerent sections will then be complete, and Russia will be overwhelming. The rush of nations then ensuing will be terrific, and is well described by the prophet, who says, “Hark! a multitude of many peoples making an uproar as the noise of seas. Hark ! a tumult among peoples, warring as a tumult of mighty waters ; they rage against peoples like a roar of many waters “ (Isa. 17 : 12). This is Isaiahs description of things when “the nations are angry” (Rev. i : x8) and the King of the North rushes on like a tempest against the Little Horn. At present it is only the gathering of the storm, but when begun, who can say with effect,

Peace, be still “ ?

The king of the norths career for a time will be most successful. Some of the countries he is to enter into and overwhelm are Egypt and the Goodly Land. “He shall send forth his hand upon countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt : and the Libyans and Ethiopians shall be at his steps.” These are the forty second and forty third verses, and explain somewhat the passage in the fortieth, that “ He shall enter into the countries, and shall overwhelm and pass over “.  Then follows the saying in the forty first verse, “ He shall enter also into the goodly land “. To do what is foretold of him in regard to Egypt implies the conquest of Turkey; because not being  a maritime power he cannot get at Egypt and Palestine (unless in alliance with a naval power) until he first overwhelm the Ottoman.

The last country he will invade will be the Holy Land; whose covenanted limits are from “the entering into Hamath” to the Nile, for its western frontier; and from thence by the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf for its south line; and from the Gulf along the Euphrates to the mountains of Amanus for its eastern side. He will not be able



Pg 80

 


to occupy the whole country, the south and south east of it being held by his antagonists ; for it is written in the prophecy, “ But these shall escape out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon “ ; the reason of their escape being because they will then be in the hands of a powerful antagonist.

 

  24. PROOF OF THE RUSSIAN POWER BEING THE KING OF THE NORTH

 

The proof lies in the obvious identity that exists between Daniels king of the north” of the time of the end, and Ezekiel’s Gog” of the latter days. By comparing what is said about each of these in the  two prophets, it will he manifest that they can only be different titles for the same posser. The following particulars may be cited in proof:

    1.Their geographical position is the same. Gogs country is the north parts in relation to the Holy Land ; as it is written, “ Thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts “. Gog is therefore king of the north, his place or country being there. -

     2.They are both the adversaries of Israel, and the invaders of their country. The eleventh chapter of Daniel abundantly proves this in relation to the king of the north ; and of Gog, Yahweh saith, Thou shalt come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to  cover the land “.

               3.The time they invade the land is the same. The king of the north invades it in the time of the end ; and of Gog it is said, ‘ It shall be in the latter days. and I will bring thee against my land”

        4.  The same peoples are named as components of their armies.  The Libyans and Ethiopians are at the steps of the king of the north; and in the enumeration of Gogs forces, it  says “ Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them “.

5. Hostile tidings come from the east and north which excite the king of the north to fury ; while tidings also come to Gog from the same quarter to deter him from  invading the Holy Land.

6. The king of the north encounters the Little Horn ; and Gog  is antagonized by Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish and the young lions thereof” the Anglo Indian power— the ancient ally “ of the Little Horn.

7. They both meet with the same fare, at the same time, in the same place, and by the same power. The ‘ king of fierce countenance stands up against the Prince of  princes ; the king of the north encounters Michael the Great Prince; and Gog is smitten by Adonai Yahweh. They all three come to their end with none to help them ; they all fall upon the mountains of Israel, and consequent upon their overthrow Israel is delivered.

These seven particulars prose that Gog and the king of the north are but different titles for the same power; and the title given to Gog in the thirty eighth and thirty ninth chapters of Ezekiel proves that this northern power is no other than the Russian. In these places the prophet is addressed by Yahweh as the representative of Him who is to vanquish Gog and to deliver Israel.  Hence, he says to him, “ Son of  Man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval, and prophesy against him “. In this title to

 


 Pg 81

 

the prophecy the antagonists are indicated, namely, the Son of Man (ben-adam) or seed of the Woman, on the one side; and the Prince of Rosh, the Head of the Serpent Confederacy, on the other. Hence, by understanding Gogs title, the reader may know which of “ the powers that be” is chosen of God to personate the Serpents Head when it is bruised by the Womens Seed.

The question as to what nations are signified by Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval, has been long since determined by the learned. The celebrated Bochart about the year 1640 , observed in his elaborate researches into Sacred Geography, that Rãs, or Rösh, is the most ancient form under which history makes mention of the name of Russia; and he contended that Rosh and Mèshekh, properly denote the nations of Moscovy and Russia. “ It is credible “, says he, “ that from Rosh and Meshekh (that is, the Rhossi and Moschi) of whom Ezekiel speaks, descended the Russians and Muscovites, nations of the greatest celebrity in European Scythia “. We have indeed ample .and positive testimony that the Russian nation was called Rãs by the Greeks in the earliest period in which we find it mentioned, as, “ the Rosh are a Scythian nation bordering on the northern Taurus “. And their own historian says, “ It is related that the Russians (whom the Greeks called Rös, and ‘sometimes Rösos) derived their name from Ros, a valiant man, who delivered his nation from the yoke of its tyrants”.

     Thus then we discern the modern names of Russia and Moscow in the Bible names adduced by Ezekiel. It is not difficult also to recognize in Thuvahl, or Tubi, or as the Greeks wrote it Thobel, a name which naturally connects itself with them; and which in conjunction with them tends in a very remarkable manner to determine and fix the proper object of the prediction. The river Tobol gives name to the city of Tobolium, or Tobolski, the metropolis of the extensive region of Siberia, lying immediately eastward of the territories of Muscovy. Ehobol and Meshekh, are mentioned together by Ezekiel, who charac­terizes them as nations trading in copper (Ezek. 27 13); a metal which, it is notorious, abounds in the soil of Siberia; a region which included all the northern part of Asia, which borders on Russia to the west, on the Ice-sea to the north, on the Eastern Ocean to the east, and on Great Tartary to the south. And thus the three denominations Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval, united in the prophecy, point out, with equal capacity and conciseness, those widely extended regions which at the present day, we denominate collectively THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.

Gog is styled the “ Prince of Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval “, that is Autocrat of the Russians, Muscovites, and Siberians, or of” All the Russias “. But he is also styled “ Gog of the land of Magog” as well. There must be something significant in this. it affirms that he is sovereign of Magog as well as prince of all the Russias for there in the latter days is his proper dominion. “ Whoever reads Ezekiel” says  Michaelis, “ can hardly entertain a doubt that Gog is the name of a sovereign, and Magog that of his people ; the prophet speaks of the former, not as a people, but as an Emperor “. Let us then now inquire where is the region styled Magog; that we may be

 


Pg 82


 

able to ascertain of what people besides the Russians, Gog will be the imperial michrnar or sentinel. And as Gomer is represented by Ezekiel as a constituent of his confederacy, we will also endeavour to establish what people among the moderns will answer to the name.

 

From the Hebrew Scriptures we learn that Magog and Gomer were the names of two of the Sons of Japheth; and it is to ancient Hebrew authority alone that we can resort to ascertain where, accord­ing to the common repute of the Israelites, the nations which des­cended from these two heads of families, and which long retained the proper names of those heads, were spread and established. Josephus says, “ that Japheth, the son of Noah, had seven Sons ; who proceed­ing from their primitive seats in the mountains of Taurus and Amanus, ascended Asia to the river Tanais (or Don); and then entering Europe penetrated as far westward as the Straits of Gibraltar, occupying the lands which they successively met with in their progress ; all of which were uninhabited; and bequeathed their names to their different families or nations. That Gomer founded the Gomari, whom the Greeks at that time called GaIata and that Magog founded the Magogae, whom the Greeks then called Scytha “. It only therefore remains for us to ascertain, which were the nations that the Greeks in the time of Josephus called Scythae, and which they then styled Galata and to observe whether the geographical affinities of these nations are such as answer to those which are plainly required by the prophecy for Magog and Gomer.

Herodotus, the most ancient Greek writer accessible, acquaints us that “ the name Scythae was a name given by the Greeks to an ancient and widely-extended people of Europe, who had spread themselves from the river Tanais, or Don, westward along the banks of the Ister or Danube “. “The Greeks “, observes Major  Rennel, “appear to have first used the term Scythia in its application to their neighbours the Scythians of the Euxine, who were also called Geta,or Gothi,~ and were those who afterward subdued the Roman empire: and from which original stock the present race of people in Europe seem to be descended.” And again : “ The Scythians of Herodotus appear to have extended themselves in length from Hungary, Transylvania, and Wallachia, on the wsestward, to the river Don on the eastward “. Thus the testimony of Herodotus and Josephus is in perfect agreement concerning the progress of Magog and Gomer. In these same regions the Scythae continued many ages after Herodotus, and even long after the time of Josephus; for Dio Cassius, who live 150  years after Josephus, and about 200 after Christ, relates that Pompey in his return into Europe from Asia, “ determined to pass to the Ister, or Danube, through the Scythae, and so to enter Italy “. These were the original Scythae. But Herodotus states further, that a portion of the same people in an after age, turned back upon the European seats of their fathers, and established themselves in Asia; and from these sprung the Asiatic Scythae, who in process of time almost engrossed the name to themselves.

Since the name of Scythie, or Magog, is to be considered not by itself, but in geographical connection with Ga1atae, or Gomer, we have

 



Pg 83

 

only to inquire, whether any geographical affinity is really ascribed by the Greeks to the Scythae and Galatae? and to ascertain to what regions of the earth those names so associated were applied. If we can discover these two points, we ought thereby to have discovered specifically the Magog of the prophecy, which is to be associated with the region, or people of Gomer.

Diodorus Siculus, who lived about a century before Josephus, traces them much further into Europe than the Danube; .even to the shores of the Baltic, and to the very confines of the Galatae of the Greeks. In speaking of the amber found upon the shores of that sea, he there places the region expressly denominated, “ Scythia above or north of Galatia “. In which description we at length find the Scythae or Magogae, in the immediate neighbourhood of the Galatie of the Greeks, or Gomer.

GALATIA is the common and familiar name used by all the earlier Greek historians for Gaul, the Gallia of the Latins ; and Galatre is the common Greek name for Gauls, or the Galli of the Latins. Thus Strabo says, “all the Galatae were called Celtre by the Greeks” ; and it is equally true that “ the Celte were called Galane by the Greeks, and Galli by the Latins “. To inquire who were the Galatae of the Greeks “ is therefore the same as to inquire who were the Galli of the Romans. A colony of these Galatae or Galli in the third century before Christ, emigrated from Gaul and established themselves in Asia Minor; where they were ever after called by their Greek name, Galatians. Diodorus “Scythia above Gaul extending towards the Baltic “, accurately describes that large tract of Europe above the Rhine, or northern boundary of Gaul, through which flow the rivers Elbe, Ems, and Weser. Here, and in the countries immediately adjoining, were the SCYTHAE, bordering upon the GALATAE on the north; that is to say, a considerable part of MAGOG geographically associated with Gomer.* Diodorus elsewhere describes the northern part of Galatia, or Gaul, as confining upon Scythia. The Greeks “, says he, “call those who inhabit Marseilles and the inland territory, and all those who dwelt towards the Alps and Pyrenean mountains, by the name of Celts; but those who occupy the country lying to the northward, between the Ocean and the 1-lyrcynian mountain, and all others as far as Scythia, they denominate Galatae but the Romans call all those nations by one collective appellation, Galate that is, Galli.” These geographical affinities unite in the name of Celto­Scytha, mentioned by Strabo. “The ancient Greeks “, says he, “at first called the northern nations by the general name of Scythians; but ‘alien they became acquainted with the nations in the west, they began to call them by the different names of Celts, and Celto-Scythae”; and again, “ the ancient Greek historians called the northern nations collectively Scythians and Celto Scythar” ; which latter name plainly adjoining Gaul; of the number of whom were th denoted the most western portion of the Scythae “Scythar on the north of the Galatae “.

---------------------------------------------

* Gomer from whom proceeded the Galatae, that is, the Gauls.-Isidor Origin.  Lib.ix He wrote about AD 400


pg 84


 

In this general description may be easily discerned that extended portion of the West of Europe, comprehending ancient Gaul, Belgium, and the countries bordering upon them, which constituted in our day the Napoleonic empire. Gomer, then, points immediately to France.

Scythia above Gaul “, or Magog above Gomer, that is, to the north of it, through which flows the Ems, Elbe, and Weser, is the country from which proceeded principally that renowned people who in the early ages of Romanism formed an extensive confederacy with their kindred nations upon the Rhine, which had migrated successively thither from the regions of the Danube; and who under the common denomination of FRANKS overran Gaul, and subdued it; and finally establishing their power and population in the conquered country, permanently superseded the name of Gaul by that of FRANCE. “As for the seats of the Franks “, says the Universal History, “ it appears from their constant incursions into Gaul, that they dwelt on the banks of the Rhine in the neighborhood of Mentz “. All historians speak of them as placed there till their settling in Gaul. Their country, according to the best modern geographers and historians, was bounded on the north by the Ocean and the Rhine; on the south by the Maine; and on the east by the Weser.

These were therefore the Celto-Scythians, or Scythians on the northern confine of Gaul; that is, Magog in contiguity with Gomer. The Chaldean interpreter applies the name of Magog to the Germans; in short, all the ancients looked for the Magog of scripture in the West. The Scythae of Asia, who as we have seen were only a partial emigra­tion, or reflux, from their ancient stock in Europe, cannot, with any soundness of criticism, be taken account of in this argument.

From the evidence, then, now before the reader,* the proposition may be considered as fairly proved, that Daniels” king of the north” is the same power as Ezekiels” Gog”; and that Gog being the Russian Power in full manifestation, the king of the north and the Russian Power are identical. This position being established, we can now look around us, and far before us into the future, and be prepared to point out assuredly what will be the general progress and issue of the present

EASTERN QUESTION.

 

* This evidence has been extracted from the historical and geographical gleanings of a writer on the Prophecy of Ezekiel, published over fifty years ago, who maintained that the Little Horn of Daniels Fourth Beast symbolizes Napoleon the Firsts empire; that his wars and dominancy over the nations of Europe were the” making war, prevailing over, and wearing out” of the Saints; that the break­ing of Daniels Little Horn in Palestine is a fond vision ba.sed on a misapprehension; that the Jewish nation is not to be restored to its own land; that the doctrine of the Millennium is unscriptural; that Gogue was a cloud to cover the land of” Ros, Meshech, arid Tobi “, or of “All the Russias”; that “the Mountains of Israel” denote the pale of the Universal Church of Messiah, coextensive with “Christen­dom” so-called; that Napoleon I was “the Mouth speaking great things” that he was the Antichrist, the last Tyrant of the Church ; and that his overthrow us Russia was the fall of Gog, or Antichrist, upon the Mountains of Israel! Such is the mountain of chaff from which I have sifted some historical and geographical wheat which I have presented to prove conclusions the very reverse of his. Napoleon was neither the Antichrist, the Little Horn, nor Gog; but a splendid type of Christ in his character of destroyer of the Beast and False Prophet, and the conqueror of the kings of the earth.


  25.—FUTURE MAGNITUDE OF G0Gs DOMINION

 

Daniel does not particularize the extent of the dominion of the King of the North in the eleventh chapter; though indeed he sym­bolizes it in his second. But what he has omitted in the eleventh, Ezekiel has sufficiently supplied in his prophecy of Gog. By the names of the peoples he mentions in Gogs title, and the description of his army, the reader may learn what nations this Autocrat gathereth and heapeth to himself as thick clay in the day of his high exaltation (Hab.  2::5, 6).

Daniel says of him in general terms, “ He shall enter into the countries, and shall overwhelm and pass over”—and “many (ravboth, referring to eretzoth, countries, understood) shall fall “ ; that is, from weakness, as the word implies—the worn-out condition of the powers facilitating his progress. Ezekiel tells us that these countries are those of Magog, Gomer, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, and Togarmah, with their hosts; in addition to Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval. He says that the King of the North, or Gog, is to be for mishmar, a guard, sentinel, shepherd, or supervisor, over all these (Ezek. 38 : 7). It is not to be supposed that he will be the sole emperor, or crowned head. The position marked out for him is that of a King of kings, and a Lord of lords, as was his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, the post-Nimroudian founder of the Kingdom of Babylon. It is probable that the House of Hapsburg will continue imperial; nay, I would say more than probable. The Autocrats supervisorship of the Kingdom of Babylon is not at all incompatible with the Western Imperiality of Austria. Alexander in Constantinople, and Francis Joseph in Vienna, with the priority assigned to the former, would only be a resuscitation of an old form of the catholic Kingdom of the Fourth Beast, as when Arcadius and Honorius amicably divided, or rather agreed to sustain, the Majesty of the Two-Legged Iron and Brass dominion upon their united shoulders. According to this arrangement there will then exist a Dragon, a Beast with Two Horns like the horns of a Lamb, and the Ten Horus, exercising all the power now exetcised by the thrones, principalities, and powers, in the countries named by Ezekiel, and represented by the Diademed Ten -Horned symbol.

 

The Autocrat, then, as chief emperor, will become in the progress of events “Lord of the Ascendant “, even the Agag* of the East and \Vest; shining forth from his lofty throne as Lucifer, son of the morning, over the nations weakened by the gratification of his insatiable ambition. If he have not yet said it, the time is coming when he will “think an evil thought” (Ezek. 38 : 10), and say in his heart, as it is revealed of him, “ I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the Mount of the

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the MS. from which the seventy Jews in the days of Ptolemy Philadelphus translated Num. 24: 7, Agag seems to have read Gog. Their rendering is, “A man shall come Out of the seed of (Jacob), and he shall rule many nations; the kingdom shall be exalted above Gog, and his kingdom shall be increased “. “The Samaritan text, the Greek text of Svmmachus, and also the old Italic version quoted by Cyprian, read the same ; and we are told that the same reading is preserved in the Selavonian, Russian, and Armenian versions.”

 

Pg 86


Congregation (Zion) in the sides of the north : I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High  “ (Isa.  14:: 13, 14). He who made man, and knows thoroughly the vanity and pre­sumption of the human heart, has spoken thus of Belshazzar the type of the last occupant of the throne of the Kingdom of Babylon. A man of such a soul as this is not upright, and therefore unfit to rule the world for God ; for “ He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of Yahweh “ (2 Sam. 23 :3). His dominions duration must therefore of necessity be brief. But ‘a hile it lasts, he will prose himself to be “ a proud man, who enlargeth his desire as the grave, and as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto himself all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples, . . . lading himself with thick clqy” (Hab.  2 : 4 6).

By turning to a map of Europe and Asia, the reader may trace out the territory of the Kingdom of Babylon as it is destined to exist in its last form under the King of the North in his Gogian manifesta­tion. The names of countries furnished by Ezekiel will lead him to a just conception of its general extent. Besides “All the Russias “, it will take in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Prussia, Austria, Turkey, Persia, Tartary, Greece, the Roman Africa, and Egypt. This will be a dominion of great magnitude, extending from the North Sea to the Wall of China and Afghanistan, and from the Ice-Sea to the Deserts of Africa and Arabia.

 

  26.—NEBUCHADNEZZARS IMAGE THE SYMBOL OF THE GOGIAN.,

AUTOCRAT’S DOMINION

 

The organization which this vast empire will assume, when fully developed, is represented in the second chapter of Daniel by a Colossus in human form, which as an apparition flitted before the mind of Nebuchadnezzar in a dream. Daniel says that the scene of which it was the subject, was representative of what should be “ in the Latter Days “. This being admitted, it follows that what is recorded in that chapter is yet in the future. The scene exhibits a Colossus standing on its feet in unrivalled brightness of glory, and terrible to behold. Standing thus for a time not indicated, another object appears, even A STONE representative of a Power not in mortal hands. The Stone-Power smites the Colossus on the Feet, and it falls ; after which the Stone proceeds to reduce the broken fragments to dust ‘which by the violence of the process is carried away so completely that not a vestige of the Colossus remains ; and the place left void by the disappearance of the statue becomes the territory of the Stone power, which by the operation becomes a Mountain dominion, and fills the whole Image earth.

This scene has never been exhibited before the eyes of the world, because the constituents of the Colossus have never yet been put to­gether so as to form the Image of the scene. These constituents arc represented by the different metallic parts, as the Chaldieo-Assyrian golden head ; the Medo Persic-Assyrian sits er arms and breast ; the Macedo Assyrian belly of brass ; the Greco-Assyrian

and Greaco



 

Egyptian, northern and southern thighs of brass; the Latino Assyrian and the Greco-Assyrian eastern and western iron legs; and the Russo-Greek Assyrian and Latino Assyrian iron and clay feet and toes. Now, while the head, breast and arms, belly, thighs, legs and toes, have all existed, the Feet have not yet been formed; so that it has been hitherto impossible for the Colossal Image to stand erect, as Nebuchadnezzar saw it in his dream. It is, therefore, the mission of the Autocrat to form the feet and set up the image before the world in all its excellent brightness, and terribleness of form; that all men subject to the Kingdom of Babylon may worship the work of its creators power.

When it stands upon the Plain of Dura the imperial fabric will rest upon the Russo-Greek and Latin Feet and Toes—two emperors and ten kings on the Roman earth, whatever may be beyond. The form of the image necessitates the reduction of the present number of Euro­pean emperors from four to two.* There are but two Legs, therefore there can be only two imperial divisions of the dominion in its latter-day, or time-of the-end manifestation. From mature consideration I am satisfied that Austria and Russia will be the imperial supporters of the united majesty of the Image; for there must be Ten Kingdoms, and if Austria were suppressed, and France remain imperial, the tenth kingdom would be wanting; besides that prophecy has already designated France as a Gomerian constituent of the Image, and as a tenth of the city” or State. of Babylon (Rev.  11 : 13). From these premises my inference is, that the present Napoleon-empire is simply meteoric. Providence has raised it up as the Frog-Power dominion (Rev. i6 : 13) to work out by its policy an antagonist Russo Austrian policy leading to the manifestation of the Image, preparatory to the overthrow of the Kingdom of Babylon by the Stone-Power, or Kingdom of God. Had the French empire not been resuscitated, events would have flowed in a different channel, and the gathering of the nations to the Armageddon-conflict, humanly speaking, evaded. State documents prove that the policy of Louis Napoleon has been the exciting cause of the Eastern Question; and it will be the cause (if still further complications. But beyond a certain limit he cannot go. He has a mission to perform, and when it is accomplished his work is done. He will not be allowed to settle himself in the throne of a French empire. The age of conquest, he says, is gone, never more to return; and this was most complacently re-echoed by the admirers of Louis Napoleon in England. But, how little do the puppets, through whom Providence works out his purposes, understand the times and tendencies to which they belong ! They propose, but the disposition of all things is of God. There is to be no more fighting for conquest or aggrandizement or selfish advantage between France and England, says Lord Palmerston; but for the liberties of oppressed nations, and to establish the freedom and independence of Europe; and, continues he, “I am confident it will be crowned with success “. There may, indeed, be no more fighting between France and England, as belligerent principals : but their leaders are all wrong in supposing

 

* The four now existing (in 1868) are the Russian, the Austrian, the Ottoman, and the French.

 


Pg 88

 

that “the age of conquest is past for ever “, and that they will succeed in establishing the freedom and independence of Europe. There never has been such an age of conquest as that which will soon open upon the world; and as to the establishment of European freedom and independence, the war to be initiated is the setting in of an over­whelming inundation that will submerge them under one of the most terrible and scorching despotisms that ever wrung the heart of nations. Englands ally, in whom she now glories, and by whose aid she pro­poses to do such great things for Europe, will eventually prove but a broken teed. The French empire must fall, and Napoleon perhaps give place to a nominee of his “ good friend” the Autocrat; for before the end comes the French Monarchy may be expected to reappear, and then, unless Britain can form some alliance beyond the limits of the Kingdom of Babylon, she will have to fight the battle of freedom and independence alone, and at the price of her own existence if she fail. France, as I have said, is Gomerian; and as such must come into con­federacy with the great Cossack Ruler of the Gogian Image; and then, though not as a principal, she will send her conquered and crest­fallen hosts to do battle for the Autocrat against Britain on the moun­tains of Israels land.

It is impossible that Nebuchadnezzars image can represent any other imperial confederacy of nations than that under the King of the North in the time of the end. The names given in Ezekiels list of Gogs army, are repres ntative of the