Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

>

brimstone." Here nothing is said of the "number of his name," which is so particularly mentioned in Rev. xv, 2. And in Rev. xv. 2. nothing is mentioned of the false-prophet; the reason of which can only be that what is termed in one passage "the number of his name" is in its parallel one called the false-prophet:" Hence the two-horned Beast or false-prophet is also designated by the phrase "the number of his name," and, consequently, it is this Beast which is numbered. But what adds the last degree of certainty to this ques-. tion is the passage in Rev. xiii. 18. which immediately follows the one which is now under consideration. "Here is wisdom: let him that hath a mind count the number of the Beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Here is a key by which the sacred mystery can alone be unlocked; wherefore "let him that hath a mind count the number of the beast;" let a kingdom be found out which contains the precise number of 666; for this must be infallibly the name of the Beast. Η Λατίνη Βασιλεία, The Latin kingdom, has this number. But both Beasts are called by this name: which is, therefore, the one that is numbered? The text says, "the number of the beast- is the number of a man ;" Consequently, the numbered Beast must be À MAN; that is to say, it must be represented elsewhere in the Revelation under this emblem, for in no other sense can an empire be denominated a man; therefore it is not the ten-horned Beast, for

this is uniformly styled The Beast in every part of the Apocalypse where there has been occasion to mention this power. It can, therefore, be no

.་

other than the two-horned Beast, or Romish hierarchy, which is likewise named THE FALSE-PRO

PHET.

*

* See Rev. xvi. 13. xix. 20. and xx. 10.

CHAP. VIII.

Explanation of Daniel's vision of the Ram and He-goat.

AS in the preceding part of this work the twelfth, seventeenth, and thirteenth chapters of the Revelation have been considered at full length, and shewn to contain a prophecy of the various events that would take place in the Latin world, or western wing of the great Roman empire, it will be highly proper in this place to consider the predictions concerning the remaining part of the Roman world. That the eighth chapter of Daniel is a prophetic account of the Greek empire and Greek church will fully appear in the sequel.

"In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in a vision; (and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam;) and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns

were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his land; but he did according to his will, and became great. And as I was considering, behold an he-goat came from the west, on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing be fore the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he-goat waxed very great': and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven:" These first eight verses, together with the angel's expla-, nation of them contained in the 20th, 21st, and 22d verses of the same chapter, are all that have › been properly understood by commentators, of Daniel's vision of the ram and he-goat. And as these have been so ably explained by Mr. Mede, Bishop Newton, and others, it is unnecessary to enter here into any great detail, as the celebrated works of these great men are already before the

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

public.

It is, nevertheless, absolutely requisite that a few general observations should be here made upon them in order that the remaining part of the prophecy may be appropriately and perspicuously introduced. That the ram with two horns represents the Medo-Persian empire no person will attempt to call in question, as the angel himself, verse 20, says expressly to Daniel, "The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia." The question is, Why should this empire have been called a ram. The answer which Bishop Newton and others have given appears to me sufficiently decisive," that it was usual for the king of Persia to wear a ram's head made of gold, and adorned with precious stones, instead of a diadem; for so Ammianus Marcellinus describes him. Bishop Chandler and others farther observe, that rams' heads with horns, one higher and the other lower, are still to be seen on the pillars of Persepolis." * That the Medo-Persian empire is called a ram on account of its appropriating this animal to itself in the manner already described is not without precedent in Scripture; for the Roman empire is evidently designated by an eagle in the Apocalypse; and even Christ's words, "Wheresoever the carcase is thither will the eagles be gathered together," must be understood of the Romans who were the executioners of God's vengeance upon the Jewish nation. Of the ram it is

[ocr errors]

* See Bishop Newton on Dan. viii. and Wetstein on Rev. xiii. 11.

« AnteriorContinuar »