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gically commences with the conquests of Cyrus: then, no doubt, the 2300 days are to be reckoned from the beginning of those conquests; because they are to be reckoned from the chronological commencement of the vision. But, if the chronological commencement of the vision ought to be placed earlier than the conquests of Cyrus: then, of course, the 2300 days must be reckoned from an earlier epoch. The discussion of this point, however, belongs to another place': at present, I have merely to remark, that the 2300 days cannot be reckoned from the beginning of the conquests of Darius because those conquests are not intended by the pushings of the ram.

II. While the ram was in the plenitude of his power, notwithstanding he might have sustained some partial and temporary reverses subsequent to the uniformly victorious age of Cyrus, he was suddenly and violently attacked by a he-goat from the west; which moved with such unexampled rapidity, that it seemed not to touch the ground. The consequence of this invasion was the complete overthrow of the ram: for the he-goat came close upon him, and smote him, and brake his two horns, and cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him.

The new hieroglyphic, which is now brought upon the stage, denotes, as we are taught by the interpreting angel, the kingdom of Greece and

! See below book iii. chap. 3. § III.

[graphic]

Philip, Secander Zul-Karnein or Alexander the horned.

When the he-goat had become very strong, his single great horn was unexpectedly broken: and, instead of it, came up four conspicuous, though not equally large, horns, toward the four winds of heaven. From one of these four horns sprouted forth a little horn: which soon became exceeding great in a certain prescribed direction, which performed many remarkable exploits, and which was at length broken or crumbled away without any visible hand or agency

1. The single great horn of the goat, as we are informed by the interpreting angel, is the first king or kingdom of Grecia.

Hence, on the same principle that the two horns of the ram are the two dominant kingdoms of Media and Persia, the single great horn of the goat is the dominant kingdom of Macedon: that is to say, it is the Greek kingdom of Macedon, from the time of its rise under Caranus or Perdiccas, to the time of its losing its imperial prëeminence over the whole Greek Empire. This last event happened, when it was broken in its dominant capacity : and it was finally broken in its dominant capacity, when, after the death of Alexander, his three feeble successors

Justin. Hist. Philip. lib. vii. c. 1. Spanheim. de usu numism. vol. i. dissert, 7. p. 389, 399. Tarikh Jehan Ara, sect. ii. c. 1. p. 25.

by blood, namely his brother Philip-Aridèus and his two young sons Alexander-Egus and Hercules, were all murdered. Then started up the four regal horns, in the place of the single great horn : for, so long as any of the legitimate royal house remained, the legal fiction of Alexander's supremacy was kept up, and none of the leading captains ventured to assume the independent and sovereign title of king1.

2. The four conspicuous horns, which succeeded the single great horn, are, as the interpreting angel teaches us, four kingdoms; which stand up out of the nation indeed of the great horn, but not with a degree of power equal to that of their mighty predecessor.

These, no doubt, like the four wings of the leopard, are the four Greek kingdoms; which arose, upon the disruption of the prior dominant Greek kingdom, toward the four winds of heaven or toward the four cardinal points of the compass.

(1.) In the west, Cassander erected a kingdom out of Macedon and Greece.

(2.) In the north, Lysimachus erected a second kingdom out of Thrace and Bithynia and the adjoining regions.

(3.) In the east, Seleucus erected a third kingdom out of Syria and its dependent provinces. (4.) And, in the south, Ptolemy completed the

'Cornel. Nepot. vit. Eumenis. § xiii. p. 82.

number of the predicted horns, by erecting a fourth kingdom out of Egypt.

3. Respecting the little horn, which sprang from one of these four conspicuous horns, the interpreting angel tells us, that it represents a kingdom fierce of countenance and teaching dark sentences, which geographically stands up in the hinder part of the Greek kingdom, which attains to an astonishing degree of power, which is no less impious than powerful, and which chronologically starts into existence when the apostates are come to the full or when some great Apostasy has been completed. From behind which of the four Greek kingdoms this formidable Power is geographically to arise, the interpreter does not tell us : but, having given us various notes by which we may recognise the Power in question, notes both circumstantial and chronological and geographical, he leaves us to gather from the event the particular Greek kingdom behind which that Power was destined to arise.

We have seen, in the vision of the four great beasts, that a little horn sprang up stealthily behind the ten larger horns of the fourth beast, that it obtained an extraordinary authority over the times and the laws and the saints, that it wore a look more stout than its fellows, that it is the same character as St. Paul's man of sin, and consequently, that it is the head of the great demonolatrous Apostasy. We have further seen, that the times and the laws and the saints were given into the hand of this little horn, at the commencement of the

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