^;y Vi <*S f ft* 'ROSPECTS THE TEN :N KING DC . UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Received Accession No. Class No J PROSPECTS OF THE TEN KINGDOMS (8mji, BEING THE THIED SERIES OF AIDS TO PROPHETIC ENQUIRY. BY BENJAMIN WILLS NEWTON. i Srconli !Elittton, niTBUITn LONDON : HOULSTON AND SONS, 9, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS. 1873. ttt LONDON : PRINTED BY WERTHETMER, LEA AND CO., CIRCUS PLACE, F1NSBURY. preface to ^econn coition. THE first edition of this work was published in the year 1849. The present edition has been prepared by me, at intervals, during a protracted and severe illness. Its revision, consequently, has not been so complete as I could have desired. It has, however, been revised, and some additions have been made. The strength of my early convictions as to the truth of the opinions advanced, and as to the infinite importance of that truth, has been, each year, intensified, not enfeebled. Some remarks on the events of the last twenty-five years, and on the pre- sent condition of our own once favoured land, will be found in the concluding chapter. (See page 412.) I trust that these remarks may receive from some, candid and prayerful consideration. They may seem severe, perhaps, but there are occasions when severity, and severity only, is kindness. It is distressing to observe that, whilst the prin- ciples and arrangements of the nations are every IV PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. year approximating more and more nearly to that specific form which the Scripture says they will assume at the time of the end, men, instead of recog- nising this marked verification of God's Word, continue to mistrust, if not to revile that Word, more and more. Satan ever seeks to blind men to that which is the record of their own doom. It is scarcely less painful to observe the attempts of many to serve God apart from the guidance of His Word. "We want," say they, "Christ, not doctrine ;" as if Christ could be separated from His doctrine. We do not read of being sanctified apart from Truth. " Sanctify them by Thy Truth. Thy Word is Truth." We do not read of growth apart from the reception of " the unadulterated milk of the Word." We do not read of abiding in Christ, apart from abiding in the doctrine of Christ. He "that abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God." (2 John 9.) God's Truth is very holy; yet we have often handled it with careless and irreverent hand. If it has not prospered, one great cause is our own failure in walking circumspectly. We need, as to this, humiliation and confession, and a turning unto Him whose mercies fail not. " Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. V transgression of the remnant of His heritage ? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy/' (Micah vii. 18.) There can be no true practical unity no holy co-operation, apart from the knowledge of God's holy Word. May He grant us grace to recognise, and welcome, and follow, that light which He hath graciously sent forth ; and may we find practically that it guides us through paths of holy calmness, and peace, and certainty, on to His holy hill, and to His tabernacles. As evil increases around us (and it surely will), may we seek more earnestly than ever to be separate from the evil, and to be separate unto God according to His written Word. December, 1873. Cable of Contents. PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I. Error of Modern Interpretation as to the Scope of the Koman Empire 16 CHAPTER II. The History of Governmental Power as taught in the Vision of the Image . .... . .30 CHAPTER III. Formation of the Ten Kingdoms. Changes to be expected 58 CHAPTER IV. The Vision of the Ephah of Zechariah V., considered in relation to the Principles of Modern Legislation . 88 CHAPTER V. On the Four Beasts of Daniel VII 125 Notes on Daniel VII 139 CHAPTER VI. Thoughts on the History of Professing Christianity as given in the Parables of Matthew XIII. . . .148 CHAPTER VII. On Daniel VIII. Connexion of Antichrist with Greece and Jerusalem . . . . .186 viii TABLE or CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE The Seventy Hebdomads. Daniel IX 209 CHAPTER IX. On Daniel X., XL, and XII. . . . .225 CHAPTER X. Remarks on Daniel XL (continued) .... 242 CHAPTER XI. Notes on parts of Daniel XL and XII 259 CHAPTER XII. On 2 Thessalonians II 272 Notes on 2 Thessalonians II. . . 281 CHAPTER XIII. On the Natural Relations of Men and Governments to God 294 CHAPTER XIV. Order of Events connected with the Appearing of Christ, and His Millennial Reign . . . .314 APPENDIX (A). 367 Quotations from the Fathers .... 372 APPENDIX (JB). Extract from Jewish Chronicle of November 9, ] 849 401 APPENDIX (C). On Dacian Hungary .... 407 CONCLUSION. Remarks on the Franco-Prussian War and its Results 412 INTRODUCTION. IF there be any lesson which we learn as we ad- vance in experimental acquaintance with realities around us, it is this the necessity that God should effectuate, by His own power, His own designs of blessing. "Of him, and through him, and unto him are all things." That only prospers which is originated, executed, and completed by Him. There are certain spheres in which it is easy to recognise the necessity of His agency, because they are spheres in which no one can act excepting God. No other can create : no other uphold by the word of His power that which hath been created. No one but God can reign over the inhabitants of Heaven : and Heaven is blessed, because all things emanate from Him, and all things are immediately regulated by Him. And as regards this earth, none but scep- tics doubt that the unseen agency of God ultimately orders all things. Secretly, He sets bounds to the energies of evil which they cannot pass ; and all the activities of men and of Satan ultimately bend to His control so as to subserve the purposes of His holy and blessed will. Yet, even where all this has been recognised, there has been strange incredulity as to any further B 2 INTRODUCTION. and more direct exercise of God's governmental power being intended for this earth. Delegated power has so long been committed by God to men, and they have so long, by means thereof, fashioned both national and individual life, that even the Church has well nigh forgotten that anything else is practicable. Men seem to think that they are quite competent to regulate for themselves the things of earth, and pretend that it would be dero- gatory to the dignity of God and of Christ to suppose that they could ever directly concern them- selves with the minute arrangement of human things here. It is not believed that He who is now glorified above the heavens, will ever undertake the immediate government of Israel and of the nations. Yet surely, when we reflect on the grace of Him who humbled Himself so as to wash the feet of His servants, and then submitted to the death of the Cross One also who has ever cared for the spar- rows, and counted the hairs of the head of His people it would not seem unlikely that He should be willing to undertake anything that would sub- serve the happiness of men, especially if that which is essential to such happiness, can be effected by Himself alone. We scarcely need ask the question, whether right and wise legislation be necessary for the purposes of human happiness here ? Is there anything after which the wisdom of ages has laboured more than to discover some means of legislating rightly for the nations and families of earth ? But even INTRODUCTION. 3 when men have hoped that the secret of good has been discovered, they have lacked the power to execute. Their resources have failed, or else the resistance of adversaries has prevailed, or there has been no sufficient wisdom to devise means to reach the intended end ; and thus the general confession is that, although there is much to be desired, little has been attained ; and men are obliged to own that the right regulation of human things is something without which human happiness cannot be, but that wisdom and power are alike wanting to accomplish that which is required. What country, what nation is satisfied with its condition ? Why, then, should it be deemed unlikely that God should withdraw from the hands of men the authority which He has so long delegated, and entrust it to One who has wisdom, and who has power to subject evil, and to establish good? It is not necessary for Christ to quit the sphere of heavenly being, because it may please Him to administer the government of earth. The angels, who even now secretly minister to the heirs of salvation, do not cease to have their home in heaven ; and surely it is not less easy for the Son of God to retain the heavenly character of His glory, and yet to order the affairs of earth, and to visit it with His presence. Nor will it be altogether a new thing for God to legislate and govern in the earth. The circ urn- stance s,indeed,in which He formerly acted as the Head of Israel, when He legislated for them in the 4 INTRODUCTION. wilderness, were very different from those in which He will again connect Himself with them as their King. But still, it is a fact that God did descend upon Sinai that He did legislate for Israel that He did abide amongst them in the cloudy pillar ; and yet He ceased not to be what He ever had been, and ever shall be, in the heaven of heavens. It is, therefore, neither improbable, nor contrary to experience, that God should undertake the govern- mental arrangement of earth. But we are not, in determining this, left to con- jecture, or to the calculation of antecedent proba- bilities. If there be anything which the Old and New Testaments reveal with concurrent clearness of testimony, it is that the present agencies which form the manners of the earth are to be set aside, and that the Son of God is Himself to become the Governor of the nations. "The seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The sovereignty of the world* hath become the sovereignty of our Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." And again : " We give thee thanks, Lord, the God Almighty, the One who is and who was; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and reigned." Rev. xi. 17. The book of Psalms also abounds with songs of thanksgiving appropriated to that hour. " sing unto the Lord a new song : sing unto the Lord, all * *H fiacriXfia. TOV Kocrfjiov. See Greek New Testament as edited from ancient authorities by Dr. Tregelles. Bagster and Sons. INTRODUCTION. 5 the earth Say among the Gentiles that the Lord reigneth : the world also shall be estab- lished that it shall not be moved : he shall judge the peoples righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein : then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord : for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth : he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth." Ps. xcvi. How strange that such words as these should ever have been interpreted of a period re- specting which the Scripture itself testifies, that " creation groaneth in the bondage of corruption " " that darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the peoples " " that the foundations of all things are out of course." The universal joy of creation and its release from its present groan, is continually mentioned in the Scriptures as constituting one feature in the coming scene of blessing. But how could this be, apart from the reign of- the Lord ? Such a rest of crea- tion would ill consort with a condition in which the governmental power of earth remained in the hands of fallen man. And then, as to the spread and maintenance of truth, it is not easy to see how it could be maintained among the nations, unless the Head of the Church and the Governor of the nations were one. Accordingly, one of the chief objects of His rule will be to sustain by His power the minis- tration of His truth. There will be still the same 6 INTRODUCTION. message of reconciliation through faith in His blood ; the same indwelling of the Holy Spirit ; the same union between believers and a risen Lord ; the same great High Priest ; the same intercession. Whether now, or in the coming dispensation, flesh, wherever found, is flesh, and needs the same mercies of the same " everlasting gospel." The eternal verities of God can never change ; and to maintain them will be one of the specific objects of the millennial reign. But Christ will not undertake the government of earth apart from His chosen City and His chosen nation. He will give to Jerusalem and to Israel su- premacy in the earth, and will govern instrumentally through them. Thus, when the judgments by which He will finally crush the present proud power of the Gentiles shall be inflicted, Israel will be used as His instrument. "When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, Zion, against thy sons, Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south." Zech. ix. 13, 14. And when the hour of judgment shall be succeeded by the peaceful regulations of mercy, Israel will still be the channe through which the appointments of His goodness shall reach the nations. " The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tar- rieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.' INTRODUCTION. 7 Micah v. 7. " Many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Is. ii. 3. The servants of God of old, such as Daniel, were not strangers to such expectations. Many things now clearly revealed to us, were to them unknown. But they did understand that Israel, and the God of Israel, should at last govern in the earth. They knew, also, that there were blessings long promised which could be received neither by creation, nor by the nations, until that government should hake come. Hence the bitter sorrow of spirit with which they beheld Israel (who for a time had been set in supre- macy under Solomon) displaced from that position. The glory of the reign of Solomon quickly faded away ; iniquity continued to increase, until at last the long-threatened blow fell upon Jerusalem, and the throne of David in God's chosen city sank before the power of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. This was the moment at which Daniel lived. The commencing words of his prophecy are the record of this fall of Jerusalem : "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God : which he carried into the land of Shinar to 8 INTRODUCTION. the house of his god ; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god." Dan. i. 1, 2. Daniel was not exempted from the general calamity. It fell heavily on him ; for he was carried captive to Babylon. But it was there that he was called to be numbered among the prophets of God. Pro- phecy has always been connected with the place of suffering and reproach. Enoch, the first who pro- phesied, prophesied among the corruptions which brought on the judgment of the flood : and Samuel was not raised up until judgment was about to fall upon the priestly house in Israel. The disciples were prophetically instructed whilst they stood on the Mount of Olives around their rejected Lord : and John was an exile in Patmos when he re- ceived the Revelation. The hearts, therefore, of such were likely to be chastened and prepared to understand the history of present evil, whilst they waited for the future and long-delayed blessing. Among these Daniel was numbered. He had kept himself from the. defilements of the hour. His heart was tender. It had learned to mourn over the evil of his people, as well as over their chas- tisements. He sought to humble himself before God, and to wait on Him. He was the man " greatly beloved," and to him were committed fresh testimonies from God testimonies which through him have been transmitted to us. In the light of these testimonies many will walk, even in the midst of the deepest darkness of the latter INTRODUCTION. 9 day, prove the value of their guidance, and bless Him who gave them, for ever and ever. The subject of the prophecy of Daniel is the history of those Gentile nations who have been appointed to hold supreme power in the earth throughout the period of Jerusalem's punishment. It is not the history of all Gentile nations. It is the history only of those Empires who were ap- pointed, after trampling down Jerusalem, to rule successively in her stead ; and they are but four the empires of Chaldea, of Persia, of Greece, and of Rome. Nor is the history even of these Empires given in its completeness, or in much detail. Jerusalem is the centre of the prophecy ; and the events among the Gentiles are only re- corded because of their relation to that city. Accordingly, when Jerusalem ceased nationally to exist, detailed history in Daniel is suspended. The long period, already exceeding eighteen hundred years, which has elapsed since Israel ceased to exist nationally in Jerusalem, is passed over almost in silence. JN"o dates, localities, or personages are, during this interval, mentioned, nor will the thread of prophetic history be resumed until Israel shall again assume a national position in Jerusalem, and again become a centre of Gentile energy, and Gentile iniquity. Thus the prophecy of Daniel becomes available for purposes of instruction to the Church generally. If, in order to understand it, we were obliged to toil through the history of nearly two thousand years, 10 INTRODUCTION. who, whether learned or unlearned, could be ex- pected to attend ? But when, instead of this, the burden of the prophecy rests upon a brief and yet future time ; and all necessary acquaintance with past history is limited to that which Scripture itself supplies, who is there that may not listen and learn ? A very slight acquaintance with that which is now passing around us is sufficient to show, that the ancient dominance of ecclesiastical systems is giving place to the superior strength of the secular powers. The corruptions and discords of ecclesiastical sys- tems make men despair of obtaining from them any beneficial influence, and drive many to look to the secular systems as their hope. There is also in con- nection with this an increasing desire to substitute mere human brotherhood, for brotherhood in Christ. The sin of past ages has been, the assigning to men who were brought only nominally into the Church, the privileges and the duties of Christians. The sin now appearing is even worse than this. It is the re- jection of all brotherhood, save human brotherhood. An attempt is being made to apply to men as men, principles and precepts which God restricts to those who are really brought into His Church by faith. This is a condition well adapted to secure the reign of the secular systems. They, of course, would naturally be regarded as the proper heads of a system of human fraternisation. Few things, there- fore, can be more important than to see, in the light of Scripture, the real character of these secular systems; and this it is the especial object of the INTRODUCTION. 11 prophecy of Daniel to unfold. The object of his prophecy is not to treat of the ecclesiastical corrup- tions of Christendom, but to teach respecting the character of the secular power in the ruling Gentile Empires whether those Empires do, or do not, profess the name of Christ. "When we consider how false and evil the rela- tions, even of real Christianity, to the secular power have often been, and that those relations would probably never have been held, if the pro- phecies of Daniel had been understood ; when we remember, too, that his prophecy utterly dissipates the delusions of false and unscriptural philanthropy, and of that deistic eclecticism which is now en- snaring so many, it will not surprise us to find that every attempt to revive the testimonies of this Book should be sternly resisted. Accordingly, in one of the most popular books of the day, the inspiration of this holy Book is denied, and it is cast back among the fables of the Apo- crypha.* It would seem as if the writer intuitively * See " Dr. Arnold's Life," p. 195. Dr. Arnold ventures to say, " There can be no reasonable spiritual meaning made out of the kings of the north and south. I have long thought that the greater part of the Book of Daniel is most cer- tainly a very late work, of the time of the Maccabees ; and the pretended prophecy about the kings of Grsecia and Persia, and of the north and south, is mere history, like the poetical prophecies in Virgil and elsewhere." Dr. Arnold then inti- mates that, as a whole, the Book of Daniel should be classed with the stories of the Apocrypha, though that there may be genuine fragments in it is very likely. The italics are 12 INTRODUCTION. felt, that either his thoughts about man and man's amelioration must be sacrificed, or else the prophecy of this Book : and he sacrificed the latter. Yet it seems wonderful that it should never have occurred to this writer, that in assailing the authority of Daniel, he assailed a greater than he ; for did the Lord Jesus deceive ? And would it not be deception for the Lord Jesus solemnly to refer us to the words of " Daniel the Prophet" (Mark xiii. 14) if He knew that Daniel was not a prophet, and that his writings ought to be classed with Bel and the Dragon, and other similar tales in the Apocrypha ? It is a fearful thing to attack the authority of Scripture. We might almost say that it would be more easy to think with the infidel, that God had never given a revelation of His will, than to suppose that, after having given it, He had failed to watch over it by His providence, and had allowed it to descend to us falsified and untrue. Surely, if we can mine. There is a temerity in these statements that almost makes one tremble, and at the same time a surprising want of cairn reflection. The most important parts that have yet been accomplished in the prophecies of Daniel, have been accomplished since the date at which Dr. Arnold supposes it to have been written : the cutting off of the Messiah, and the desolation of Jerusalem by the Romans, are examples. It would be very strange that predictions, accompanied, be it observed, by dates, should be so marvellously fulfilled in a book which on. Dr. Arnold's hypothesis must be full not merely of fables, but of deliberate lies ; for almost every vision in Daniel marks its own chronology : therefore, if the chronology be false, the whole book is false. INTRODUCTION. 13 can confide in God respecting any thing, we can confide in Him. for the preservation of His own Scriptures Scriptures which He Himself has termed " THE Scriptures of truth." This thought should be sufficient to silence every doubt. But in addition to this, each Book of the Holy Scriptures has an internal evidence of its own, which strengthens in proportion as we addict ourselves to the study and use of the Word of Gtod. This is especially the case with the Book of Daniel. The more minutely we examine each individual word, the more shall we be struck with the consistency of the prophecy, not only with itself, but with the rest of Scripture. Indeed, it may be said to be necessary to the har- mony of Scripture. It abundantly confirms Isaiah; and the prophecies of the New Testament, especially the Book of Revelation, stand or fall with it. Be- sides which, there is no past event that has come within the scope of its predictions which has not verified it ; and every rising event is adding fresh corroboration. Without it, the rest of prophetic Scripture would be obscured ; nor could we speak with certainty or precision of the prospects of any thing that is transpiring amongst the nations around us. We cannot wonder, therefore, that such a Book should be vehemently assailed, especially by those who are ridiculing " Bibliolatry " (as they are pleased to term it), and are industriously seeking to substitute their own baseless and sceptical specula- tions for the sure record of the written Word. If it be "Bibliolatry" to believe that every word in the 14 INTRODUCTION. Holy Scripture has been written under the direct and immediate suggestion of the Holy Ghost, and therefore, that we are to reverence the Scripture as being the testimony of the Holy Ghost, and that, consequently, the authority of the Scripture and the authority of the Holy Ghost are co-equal,* then * The Scriptures ever speak of themselves as being the testimony of the Holy Ghost. Thus, in Hebrews x., speaking of the full and lasting acceptance of the believer by the offer- ing of the holy body of the Lord Jesus on the cross, (an offering once and for ever made,) the Apostle goes on to say that the very fact of the expiation having been complete, and having effected the purgation of sins, renders it im- possible that there should be a repetition of offering in any sense whatsoever. Where remission of sins is, there can be no more offering for them ; for if further offering were re- quired, then the sins could not have been remitted. The Apostle then adds, that the Holy Ghost also bears witness to this, in that He has said in the Book of Jeremiah, "their sins and. iniquities will I remember no more." Thus, then a passage in Jeremiah is quoted by the Apostle as being the direct testimony of the Holy Ghost. " The Holy Ghost spake by the Prophets." They were the instruments, He the speaker. See Matt. ii. 15, TO prjdtv VTTO nvpiov dia TOV rrpo- We are also told, in the Epistle of Peter, that prophetic Scripture is not of " private interpretation," but set forth on the authority of the Holy Ghost. The word translated " in- terpretation " (eVtXvo-ts) is derived from a verb signifying to explain, expound, or unravel, and would be applied to the solution of an enigma. Thus it is said of the Lord Jesus that " when they were alone, he expounded (eVe'Aue) all things unto his disciples." It is similarly used in Genesis xli. 12, of the interpretation or explanation of a dream. See LXX., and in Acts xix. 39, of the legal exposition of an involved or diffi- INTRODUCTION. 15 may such " Bibliolatry" abound in the Church for ever. The conviction that such "Bibliolatry" will be promoted by increased enquiry into Prophetic Scripture, is one of my chief encouragements in writing these pages. cult question in a judicial assembly. When it is said, there- fore, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private " exposition " (idtas errtXuo-fws), it means, that it is not an explanation put forth on the authority of private unauthorised individuals, but of holy men of God, publicly and duly accredited, and who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Thus, also, prophecy is regarded not as an enigma, but as " the solution" not as the difficulty, but " the explanation " of the difficulty. The " secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children." Deut. xxix. 29. See further remarks on this subject in " Occasional Papers" No. 1. p. 115. CHAPTER I. ERROR OF MODERN INTERPRETATION AS TO THE SCOPE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. IT seems needful, before we enter upon the consi- deration of the first vision of the Book of Daniel, to notice an error of interpretation that has long and extensively prevailed an error fatal to all right exposition of the prophecy, because it affects the subject about which the prophecy is. If the subject of a prediction be not ascertained, we shall cer- tainly not understand that which is predicted con- cerning it. In this first vision an Image was seen, composed of various metals. Its head was of fine gold ; its breast and its arms of silver ; its belly and its sides* of brass ; its legs of iron. * " Sides" is a rendering placed in the margin of our Eng- lish version, and has been adopted by several translators. It can scarcely be regarded as a strictly accurate rendering, but it is certainly preferable to " thighs." The Chaldee word is peculiar. It is not dual or plural, but singular, an3" the thigh-part that is, that part of the human trunk whence the thighs issue. Thus, in several ERRORS OF MODERN INTERPRETATION. 17 As regards the four metals which, compose this Image, almost all expositors agree that they repre- sent the successive empires of Chaldaea, Persia, Greece, and Eome an interpretation, indeed, that may well be given ; for few things are more capable of being demonstrated both from Scripture and from fact. " That the Roman Empire," says Mede, "was the fourth kingdom of Daniel, was believed by the Church of Israel both before and in our Saviour's time, received by the disciples of the Apostles, and the whole Christian Church for the first 300 years, without any known contradiction; and I confess, having so good ground in Scripture, it is with me 'tantuin non articulus fidei/ little less than an article of faith." French versions it is rendered Les hanches. In ordinary lan- guage, when a statue or a man is spoken of, the word " legs " is understood to include " the thighs," and certainly a word in the singular number would not have been used if the two thighs were to be denoted. Venema renders it " sides " in the following passage : " Caput erat aureuin : pectus et brachia ex argento ; venter et latera ses." Some translate it by " ilia." The lateral part of the lower belly is indicated and called " the thigh part," because the thighs issue thence. This, doubt- less, is the true meaning. Geier seems to adopt it. 'nJJJB Intestina ejus (ab Hebrseo D*jp viscera, intestina) ponitur hie pro continente, hoc est pro }D3 venter. Deinde nriS'V latera ejus (ab Ebrseo latus, femur) facile iutelliguntur hie posita pro partibus illis ventris, quse sunt ex ejus ambobus lateribus, hoc est pro ilibus, sicuti duo brachia sunt ex latere pectoris, quibus lateribus seu femori annecti solebat gla- dius. Geier on Daniel. c 18 CHAPTER I. If, then, the iron legs of the Image denote the whole Roman empire, why do expositors, after admit- ting this, suddenly forget their admission when they begin to treat of the ten divided parts, and write as if half only of the Roman empire were indicated ? If a whole is to be divided, we must divide that whole. Nothing but error can ensue, if we divide only half. Yet this is the mistake that has been committed. The Greek or Eastern half of the Roman empire has been forgotten, and the Latin or Western half only considered. Expositors have written as if the ten toes of the Image were all found on one of its feet ; and have persisted in seeking the ten kingdoms Which those toes represent, in one part only of the Roman empire. That modern expositors (for it was not the case in the more early ages*) should have committed so fatal a mistake, appears truly unac- countable. But it is sufficient to prevent any right result being attained, and accounts for the per- plexity which many have imagined to be hopelessly connected with prophetic enquiry. And the error is the worse, because the eastern part of the Roman empire that part which expositors have forgotten, has, even in secular history, as well as in Scripture, * See evidence of this at the end of this volume. See also a very interesting and conclusive paper giving the Scripture evidence as to the succession of these four empires, in a work entitled " Remarks on the prophetic visions in the Book of Daniel," by Dr. S. P. Tregelles. I would earnestly recommend the perusal of this work to all who are interested in prophetic inquiry. ERRORS OF MODERN INTERPRETATION. 19 a claim to be regarded as the more important divi- sion of the two.* * As regards its secular history, the mere fact of the seat of the empire having been removed from Borne and planted at Constantinople, was sufficient to give a pre-eminence to the East. Constantinople was considered to be, and was, the seat of Roman power. Constantinople remodelled secularly and religiously the whole empire. So long did the Emperors at Constantinople claim supremacy over the west- ern branch of the empire, that even after the barbarians had conquered Rome, Ricimer, the German Master of Rome, ac- quiesced in the claim of the Emperor of the East to nomi- nate the Emperor of the West. This was in A.D. 467. " The patrician Anthemius," says Heeren, "then at Constantinople, (where they never gave up their pretentious to the right of naming or confirming the Sovereigns of the West,) was, though with the consent of the mighty Ricimer, named Emperor of the West, April 12th, A.D. 467, by the Emperor Leo." Again after this, in A.D. 472, Julius Nepos Augustus was nominated at Constantinople. (See Heeren, " Manual of Ancient History," p. 469.) 1 need not say how long the Empire of the East survived the fall of its sister in the West. See also letter of the Senate to Zeno, Emperor of the East, when Augustulus, the last Western Emperor of the Roman lineage, was deposed. They disclaim the wish of continuing any longer the Imperial succession in Italy, and state their opinion that one Monarch is sufficient for East and West. In their own name, and the name of the people, they consent that the seat of universal Empire shall be transferred to Constantinople, and renounce the right which they had nominally enjoyed, from the time of Au- gustus, of choosing their own Master. They state that the "republic", might safely confide in Odoacer, and humbly request that the Emperor of the East would invest him with the title o patrician and the administration of the diocese of Italy. Their request was granted, and Odoacer was ap- 20 CHAPTER T. If the terms of the vision had been adhered to, and the ten final kingdoms had been sought in the whole Roman empire, the modern theory of interpretation could never have existed ; for it is based upon the extraordinary fallacy that half of the Roman empire is the Roman empire. Here, then, is a mistake sufficient to account for all the failure that has been found in result. There are three criteria by which every interpre- tation of this chapter must be rigorously tested. 1st. The ten kingdoms, represented by the ten toes of the image, are to be sought in the whole extent of the Roman empire eastern as well as western. 2nd. When once existent, they continue till the end; that is to say, until the stone smites them, grinds them to powder, and begins itself to fill the whole earth. 3rd. Their development must be a plain and recognised development, analogous to that of the empires that have already been. No one doubts that Chaldaea, Persia, Greece, and Rome have existed and ruled as sovereign empires. The development of the ten last kingdoms must be pointed. Odoacer reigned from A.D. 476 to A.D. 492. Thus even barbarians acknowledged the supremacy of the Eastern branch. The superior importance of the East in Scripture will be abundantly apparent when we consider the eighth and eleventh chapters of Daniel. It will be the great sphere of Antichrist's coming glory. ERRORS OF MODERN INTERPRETATION. 21 no less decided. It will be a patent and unquestioned fact recognised by the whole earth.* Such are the criteria. And, seeing that no divi- sion of the Roman empire answering to these condi- tions has ever taken place, it follows that this part of the vision remains to be fulfilled. We have seen the gold, the silver, the brass, and the iron ; but we have not yet seen the clay-iron toes. The seventh chapter, under the symbol of the fourth or Roman monster, equally fixes our attention on this ten- fold and last division of the whole Roman empire. There it is that that character of power, described as half- metal, half " pottery-ware/' is to be found; there is the sphere over which the power and blasphemies of the little horn are to spread : there are the countries whose atheistic evil is to cause the session of the Ancient of Days in judgment. It becomes, there- fore, a subject of solemn interest to determine as accurately as we can, what countries were brought beneath the Roman power, for such countries we may soon expect to see revived in corporate though divided unity ; and they will hold the supreme con- trolling power of earth during the closing period of our dispensation. * It should also be remembered that the Ten Kingdoms, when developed, will be federally united. Although distinct, they will not have the power of separate action. Accordingly, they are symbolised by the ten toes of one Image, and in the Revelation, by the ten horns of one Beast that Beast in the Revelation representing an individual. In both these cases we have the emblem of distinctness, but also of union. 22 CHAPTER I. The provinces of Rome, at the most extended period of its power, may be enumerated thus : The most northern part of the Roman empire was Britain. It was first attacked by Julius Caesar, but was not formally reduced into a Roman province until the time of Nero, under the name of Britannia Romana. This finally included England, and the greater part of Scotland. The Grampian hills may be taken as the extreme point to which the Romans penetrated. It was there that Agricola, in the reign of Domitian, fought his most northerly battle with the Caledonians. But his northern line of forts was drawn south of this point, across the narrow territory of about forty miles which is found between the Friths of Forth and of Clyde, a little north of the modern cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. This line of forts was afterwards, in the reign of Antoninus, strengthened by a turf rampart, erected on founda- tions of stone, and was fixed as the limit of the Roman province. Ireland, though visited by Roman merchants, was never brought under Roman power. It is not to be regarded, therefore, as belonging to 7] OLKOVfJbeVT). The Rhine, and the Yallum Romanum between the Rhine and the Danube, are the eastern boundaries of the Roman Empire in the direction of Germany. The Yallum Romanum left the Rhine near Bingen, and joined the Danube near Ratisbon.* * The Vallum Romanum, after leaving the Rhine, first follows the line of the Taunus Mountains towards the N.E. ; then it turns southward, with a little east, and then more ERRORS OF MODERN INTERPRETATION. 23 The Romans possessed all Continental Europe west of this, viz., Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Luxemburgh, Rhenish Prussia west of the Rhine, Baden, Wiirtemberg, the chief part of Bavaria, and the whole of Switzerland. In the south and south-eastern parts of Europe, the Romans possessed Italy, Greece, all the islands of the Mediterranean, including the Archipelago, and all other parts of Europe south of the Danube, that is to say, Turkey in Europe, and the Austrian dominions north of the Alps,* including that part of Hungary that lies south of the Danube. To this the Emperor Trajan added the province of Dacia north of the Danube. The boundaries of Dacia were : in the south, the Danube ; in the west, the Yallum Romanum, remains of which are still visible. It left the Danube a few miles east of Belgrade, and running by Temesvar, continued its northern course until it met the Upper Theiss, which runs there from east to west. The boundary of Dacia then crosses the Carpathian mountains, and easterly than southerly, before it joins the Danube. It is thus described by Gibbon : " The Emperor Probus con- structed a stone wall of considerable height, and strengthened it by towers at convenient distances. From the neighbour- hood of Neustadt and Ratisbon, on the Danube, it stretched across hills, valleys, rivers, and morasses, as far as Wimpfen on the Necker, and at length terminated on the banks of the Rhine, after a winding course of nearly 200 miles." Ch. xii. * Austria held Lombardy and Venetia when this was first written. Italy was not then what she now is. 24 CHAPTER I. continues the line of the Dneister to the Black Sea. The whole province was about 1300 miles in cir- cumference. Its modern divisions are : that part of Hungary which lies east of the Roman Vallum ; Wallachia, Transj 7 lvania, Moldavia, and Bessarabia ; which last is now occupied by Russia.* It may be here interesting to observe that the central part of Hungary, that is to say, that part of it which lies north of the Danube, and west of the Vallum Ro- manum just described, was never brought within the Roman Empire. Consequently the two parts which do fall within the Roman Empire, are, its western part south the Danube, and that part east of the Vallum Romanum which formed a part of Dacia as just described. Dacia was retained as a Roman province for upwards of 160 years. It was relinquished about the year A.D. 270 by the Emperor Aurelian.f In Asia, the Black Sea was the northern boundary of the possessions of Rome. A line drawn from the eastern corner of the Black Sea southward to the Eu- phrates, and then the Euphrates itself, would give its eastern limit in the time of Augustus. The dying re- quest of Augustus was, that the Empire might never * Since this was written, Russia has been compelled to relinquish the greater part of this province. The limits of the Roman Empire in this direction are almost, though not quite, restored. t It should be observed that Bohemia, Moravia, in a word all German provinces now attached to Austria north of the Danube, do not fall within the Roman Empire. ERRORS OF MODERN INTERPRETATION. 25 be extended beyond that river ; and until the reign of Trajan, this request was regarded. That monarch, however, ambitious of military renown, carried his arms far beyond. But although he overran vast districts, and the kings of Parthia consented to receive their crowns at his hands, yet he only retained as provinces three districts, namely, Armenia, As- syria, and Mesopotamia; but these countries were regularly formed into Roman Provinces.* His suc- * The era of Trajan is important, because it was he whose conquests determined the final extent of the Roman Empire. It was he, too, who added Babylonia to the provinces of Rome. Whilst engaged (A.D. 115) in an expedition against the Parthians, he advanced to Babylon, entered it, no one withstanding him, reduced its large territory where the Roman standards had never been before displayed, and became master of Assyria and Chaldsea. At Babylon he visited the house in which Alexander the Great died, and performed there certain ceremonies in honour of his name. Ammianus Marcellinus says that in his time Trajan's tri- bunal was still to be seen at a city in the neighbourhood of Babylon. Trajan reduced Assyria to a Roman province, as he had before done Armenia and Mesopotamia, so that the Empire was extended to the Tigris and beyond. See " Uni- versal History," Book III. ch. xx. After the final limits of the Roman Empire in the East had thus been reached, and Babylonia had become a Roman province, Trajan returned to Antioch on the Orontes, the place which he had chosen as the basis of his operations in the East, and which is now again likely to be selected as the spot whence the civilisation of Western Europe is to com- mence its anticipated triumph in the East, by securing to itself the control of the Euphrates. Soon after Trajan's return to Antioch, that city was visited 26 CHAPTER I. cessor Adrian, however, resigned them all, and once more made the Euphrates the eastern boundary by an earthquake, more terrible, perhaps, than any of which history supplies the record. Eusebius, Aurelius Victor, and Evagrius, all speak of it as "the greatest calamity recorded in history." See " Universal History," note, Book III. ch. xx. Dio Cassias, who gives a minute and vivid description of this earthquake, says that Antioch was at that time so crowded with troops and strangers from all parts of the Roman Empire, that there was scarcely a nation or province that did not share in the calamity, so that all the Roman world suffered in that one city OVTO>S ev TTJ Ai/no^ia vraa-a 17 oiKovpevT) 17 VTTO roiv Payuuois ovo-a fo-