16 Jerusalem was besieged by Saladin, Sultan of the

A.D.

After the departure of these hordes, Jerusalem again reverted to the Turks, in whose hands it has remained, and by whom it has been trodden down ever since.

95

CHAPTER VI.

THE LITTLE HORN OF DANIEL.

IN the vision of the four great beasts which came up from the sea diverse one from another, the last of which was broken up into ten lesser kingdoms, fulfilled as we have already seen in the breaking up of the Roman empire by the invasion of barbaric races towards the close of the fourth century, the prophet describes another kingdom which would appear after this important historic event in the following terms

"I considered the ten horns, and behold there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things."

And "the interpretation" of this horn, which was given to Daniel, reads as follows:

"The ten horns of the fourth beast or fourth kingdom upon earth, are ten kings that shall arise and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” 5

Before proceeding to show how the prophecy has been accomplished, it may be well to notice a fatal error which is current amongst some prophetic students, who interpret this "little horn" of a future individual king, termed "Antichrist" who is yet to arise, and to reign in a rebuilt Babylon on the banks of the Euphrates, and subsequently to make a seven

5 Dan. vii. 8, 16, 24, 25.

years' covenant with the Jews dwelling in Jerusalem, and for half that period to sit visibly in the rebuilt Temple of Jerusalem, where he will be worshipped as God by "all that dwell upon earth;" and that this individual king will be either, as one terms him, "a resurrected Nebuchadnezzar," or else one of the Napoleon family! Believing this to be one of the many delusions current in this present speculative age, and not only unsupported by any Scripture evidence, but directly contrary to it, I would point out that we have sufficient proof from both Daniel and other Scriptures that the term "a king" in prophecy does not mean an individual, but a kingdom, over which a succession of kings are reigning. Thus the four great beasts of Daniel's prophecy are specified as "four kings (vii. 17), and in ver. 23 the fourth beast is said to be "the fourth kingdom." And we have ample evidence that these four kingdoms were ruled respectively by Nebuchadnezzar and his successors over Babylon, by Cyrus and his successors over Persia, by Alexander and his successors over Greece, and by Augustus Cæsar and his successors over the Roman empire, until it was broken up by the barbarians, A.D. 476. Hence Daniel, in interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's image-dream, said to the King of Babylon," Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom, inferior to thee," &c. "

And as Scripture mentions by name two kings, independent of others mentioned by secular historians, "Evil-merodach" and "Belshazzar,” as intervening between Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, it is evident that the pronoun "thee " refers not to the individual king, but to the rulers of the kingdom which sat upon the throne of Babylon.

So as regards the term "Antichrist," which the Futurists are so fond of interpreting as an individual king yet to arise, Scripture is still more clear than in the previous instance that it is not an individual which is meant, but " many " who are included in the term. Thus St. John, speaking by the Holy Ghost, says" Many deceivers are entered into the world: this

6 Dan. ii. 38, 39.

is (or according to the English idiom, these many constitute) the deceiver and THE ANTICHRIST." 7

There are six marks specified in the vision of Daniel and the interpretation thereof, by which we are enabled to detect to whom the prediction refers.

1. It is named "a little horn" comparatively and in contrast to any of the "four great beasts.'

2. This little horn would absorb three of the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire had been previously broken up. 3. It would possess the special characteristics of an overseer, "having eyes like the eyes of a man."

4. And "a mouth speaking great words against the Most High."

5. It would act the part of a persecutor, by endeavouring to "wear out the saints of the Most High."

6. It would claim the right of" changing times and laws," and continue "until a time and times and the dividing of time." It will be for us to consider what power has ever appeared of whom it can be said with truth, that it has fulfilled the conditions of all these and several characteristic marks, and represents the "little horn" of Daniel's vision.

We have already named the ten kingdoms into which the fourth beast, or Roman empire, was divided on the invasion of the barbarians in the fifth century; from which the little horn was to arise. But we are not to suppose that these ten kingdoms always remained the same, or were even so at the close of the following century, when the rise of the "little horn" may be said to have commenced. Some Futurists have argued that the Roman empire was not divided into ten kingdoms at that time, but that it will be so at a time yet future, because Protestant commentators have given a diversity

72 John, ver. 7. ô πλavos kaì ô åvτixpioTos. I believe that the unfortunate omission of the definite article in the English version has been the cause of leading astray those who are unacquainted with Greek in this important text. There is no difference of reading in any of the MSS. The true definition of "the Antichrist" is a most important factor in the right interpretation of prophecy.

H

of lists in the enumeration of the ten kingdoms; but this objection, as Professor Birks has justly remarked, may be met by the fact that in the sacred Scriptures we have the twelve tribes of Israel numbered in different ways, so that the number might be raised to thirteen or reduced to ten, and eight different lists be formed, yet twelve are always numbered. Just so when secular historians like Machiavelli in the 16th century, and Gibbon in the last century, or Christian writers on prophecy, like Sir Isaac Newton and Adam Clarke the commentator, all agree in asserting the fact of the breaking up of the Roman empire, and in naming ten kingdoms as being formed from it, though they do not all agree in the names, we may feel assured that those who contend the division of the fourth kingdom, or Roman empire, is yet to take place, might with the same amount of reason contend that neither the Babylonian, or Persian, or Grecian kingdoms have come to their predicted and destined end.

8

The “little horn" is said in the prophecy to have arisen in the place of three of the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided; at which time they appear in history with the following names:-1. The Vandals; 2. The Ostrogoths; 3. The Lombards; or as they subsequently became at the time when they were made over to the Popes of Rome, when they were reckoned-1, as the exarchate of Ravenna, the last remnant of the Greek empire in the West. 2. The kingdom of the Lombards. 3. The city and state of Rome. These three constitute the temporal dominion of the little horn, "before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots." The first of these, the exarchate of Ravenna, was given to Pope Stephen II. by Pepin, king of France, A.D. 755 the second, the kingdom of the Lombards, was given to St. Peter and his successors, as the Popes claim to be, by Charlemagne in 774: the third, or state of Rome, was vested in the Pope, both in spirituals and temporals, by Louis, king of

8 Machiavelli, Storie Florentine, c. i.; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. xlviii. ; Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel, pp. 75-8; Adam Clarke's Commentary on Daniel, c. vii,