When, therefore, it is said of "the King," that he shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, we may understand this expression as applying, not to the whole of the divine indignation, but merely to that part or portion of it, of which he was to be the appointed minister. "That which was determined should be done;" and till he had fulfilled the commission assigned to him of punishing one after another the kings of the (papal) earth, and of showing them what they might farther expect if they should persist in their opposition to the King of kings, his career of victory and success could not be impeded. But having completed this object, his prosperity was to terminate. The same counsels of the Almighty, which had required his exaltation for a time, now equally demanded his removal. Like other wilful and infidel conquerors who had preceded him, he was in his defeat and degradation to read a moral lesson to mankind; while, in this very act,

he should yet subserve the particular and specific purpose, which, according to the view here taken of this vision, he was ordained to fulfill.

What, then, at the appointed season, were to be the mode and order of his defeat?" At the time of the end," or as the ordinary usage of the Hebrew preposition fully warrants, "In the time of the end,” within some part of that predicted and remarkable period, "the king of the south shall push at him." The first successful stand against his hitherto invincible power shall begin from the south. Thence a king "shall push at him," and by repelling gain ground upon him; while, in the mean time, a more formidable opponent shall assault him in the opposite direction. "The king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots and with horsemen, and with many ships; and shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow, and

pass over," recovering, in rapid succession, from the grasp of this formidable usurper the countries which he had seized, and even passing over into his own territories, and inundating them with victorious and insulting armies.

The last words of the chapter predict the final result of these combined attacks against this conspicuous person. "He shall come to his end, and none shall help him." How, or when, or where this event shall take place, is not specified. Two points only are stated; the certainty of the event," he shall come to his end;" and the utterly weak, helpless, and deserted condition to which he shall be reduced," and none shall help him."

* If the latter part of this passage be applied to the infidel king, it must be understood as predicting his successes for a time, notwithstanding the efforts of the king of the north against him; but the writer has preferred the interpretation given above, as being, in his judgment, the most obvious and natural.

The contrast between his former power and greatness, and the imbecility and insignificance in which he will terminate. his career, make a striking feature in the picture. His end shall be as extraordinary in one way, as his course had been in another. He" did according to his will, and exalted himself, and prospered, -yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”

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CHAP. VIII.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

IN applying to Napoleon that part of the prophecy which has been explained in the preceding chapter, we cannot but be struck with its strong resemblance to the circumstances which marked the termination of his eventful history. He pros pered till the indignation was so far accomplished, that he had laid prostrate in succession every papal throne, and had desolated and impoverished every kingdom of the Beast. Spain and Portugal were the last among them who became the objects of his unprovoked invasion; and no sooner had he inflicted the divine judgment on these countries, than his commission terminated, and he began

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