naanitish nations by the children of Israel, previously to their establishment in the Holy Land, when they were commanded to leave no soul alive*.

The whole of the Roman empire being thus destroyed, and every thing that opposes itself being removed, the Temporal Kingdom of Christ will be established, and will stand for ever.

The period during which the Stone becomes great is apparently the last twenty of the fortyfive years of Daniel when (after the complete destruction of the Infidel and Papal Powers at the battle of Armageddon) that copious effusion of the Holy Spirit will take place, the glory of the latter days, which with the Second Advent of Christ is the great object of desire held out to the Christian Church by the word of God-Then through the instrumentality of the restored Jews, the Kingdom of Christ will rapidly extend in every direction, and, finally, embrace the whole world.

THE PERIOD, during which the Mountain fills the whole earth, is the period of the MILLENNIUM, or that glorious time when Christ shall reign with his Saints upon earth. Then will be fulfilled what is spoken by the prophet Isaiah: "Of the increase of his govern66 ment and there shall be no end, upon

peace

*Deut. xx. 16, 17.

"the throne of David and upon his kingdom, "to order it and to establish it with judgment "and with justice, from henceforth, even for "ever."

Remarks upon the Interpretations given by former Commentators of the vision of the Great Image, and of the other visions, in which the four great Empires are represented.

I am gratified to find, that I have such high authority as that of Sir Isaac Newton, for having, in the foregoing interpretation of the vision of the Great Image, and in the observations which have been made upon the vision of the four Beasts, considered each of the symbols of the four Metals, and each of the parallel symbols of the four Beasts, as representing a territory peculiar to itself.

Sir Isaac observes, that "the nations of "Chaldea and Assyria are still the first Beast; "those of Media and Persia are still the se"cond Beast; those of Macedon, Greece, "Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, are "still the third; and those of Europe on this "side Greece, are still the fourth." But Mr.

Faber, in quoting the foregoing passage from the work of Sir Isaac, objects to the principle, by which a precise line of distinction is thus supposed to be drawn between the territories which were severally the seats of the four great Empires; observing, that "the countries of "Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, cannot be "considered as forming an exclusive part of "the third Beast, because they were originally "provinces belonging to the second Beast,' that is to the Bear*. But Sir Isaac and Bishop Newton evidently understand (as they necessarily must, in considering the four Beasts as representing a territorial division of the prophetic Earth into four parts), that these provinces did not belong to the symbol of the Bear. Mr. Faber, therefore (as it appears to me), here only rejects the theory of Sir Isaac, but does not advance any thing in support of his own system.

The arguments that may be adduced in favour of Sir Isaac Newton's hypothesis, have been already briefly stated†. But as Mr. Faber, in controverting this hypothesis, has particularly spoken of the second Beast, as representing, not only the kingdoms of Media and

* See Faber's Dissertation, vol. i. in 3d edit. p. 205–208. 4th edit. p. 232-238. 5th edit. p. 229–232.

See preceding pages 133-136.

Persia, but the Medo-Persian Empire, extend ing to its utmost limits, including in it the countries of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, &c., I shall reconsider the symbols relating to this em pire somewhat more at length.

Now it is allowed by Mr. Faber, as well as by all other commentators, that the two horns of the Ram, of which the last became the highest, represent severally the kingdoms of Media and Persia; and, as the Ram has no more than two horns, the natural deduction is, that the representation is limited to the kingdoms of Media and Persia; for we can hardly, consistently with the propriety of symbolical representation, suppose, that the subordinate parts of an empire, or the provinces conquered by the Medes and Persians, as Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, would be represented by the actual body of the Ram, while the principal provinces, as Media and Persia, containing the seat of government, are represented only by its two horns. To decide this we have, however, an opportunity of a reference to a parallel vision, where the symbol, which answers to that of the Ram, is not an horned beast, but a Bear; here the two provinces of Media and Persia are represented by the two sides of the Bear. And, as we must in this instance consider the two halves of the symbol as occupied by these two

provinces, every other object is consequently excluded from the representation.

But not only do we thus prove, that the pro, vinces conquered by the Medes and Persians cannot possibly, as Mr. Faber supposes, be included in the symbols of the Bear and of the Ram; but, if I may be allowed to use a forensic term, we prove also an alibi with respect to these provinces, and shew them in the mouth of the Bear; for the three ribs there seen "in "the mouth of it, between the teeth of it," are such appropriate symbols of the conquered provinces, subjected to the domination and tyrannical power (or as Bishop Newton expresses it, the grinding oppression) of the Medes and Persians; and again, this interpretation of the symbols of the Ribs between the teeth of the Bear, is so strongly supported by a similar description given of the fourth Beast, which is represented as having great iron teeth, with which it devours and breaks in pieces, that is,

conquers and destroys, and which is afterwards again spoken of as devouring" the whole earth,' which must unquestionably mean conquering the whole earth: that I think there can be no doubt that the commission given to the Bear to arise and devour much flesh," was a commission given to the Medes and Persians to go forth and make conquests; or that the flesh, i. e.,