the Roman fiafe. I fhall not, therefore, detain the reader with arguments to prove what is not in difpute, but proceed to remark, that all kingdoms and ftates have two heads; one in which is vefted their civil dominion; and in the other, the fupreme fuperintendance of their religious rites. Rome, befides her civil power, had her pontifex maximus, or chief high priest. In this light both Daniel and St. John confider the Roman beaft.

With regard to the firft head, hiftory proves, that for a period of more than 2500 years, the civil dominion of Rome, the capital city and feat of the government of the fourth beaft, though revolutionary, has never finally and utterly been deftroyed, but has continued, as it were, from her rife down to the prefent times, under kings, confuls, dictators, decemvirs, tribunes, emperors, and popes; and preferved, under all of them, her patricians, fenate, and ancient magiftracy.

Upon the removal of the refidence of the emperor to Conftantinople, no change was made int the government, every department being still fubject to the fupremacy of the emperor. When Odoacer, king of the Heruli, and after him Theodoric, king of the Oftrogoths, conquered Rome, no alteration was even then made in the laws and government. With regard to the right of fovereignty in the emperor, during the fhort period of thefe conquefts, to use a law phrafe, it was only in abeyance. His right remained, and it was lawful to recover it by force, which was foon after done. When the emperor regained his full power in Rome, it is true, he fuppreffed her fenate, &c. and governed her through his Lieutenant Longinus, exarch of Ravenna, during a fhort time, with abfolute power; but here again, that part of her ancient government

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government can be confidered as only in abeyance, and neither forfeited nor loft. And therefore, upon the deftruction of the eastern empire, and her lofs of his protection, the refumed her ancient dominion and government under its wonted diftinctions, fubject to the western emperors, till Lewis the Pious granted the dominion and fovereignty of Rome to the Pope (then univerfal bifhop), and his fucceffors for ever.

From these hiftorical facts it appears, that the dominion, or civil power of Rome, although her territory has been broken to pieces, and divided among many kings and ftates, has never been abfolutely taken away and deftroyed. A miraculous longevity of nearly 2600 years (foretold by the prophet, as will hereafter appear), has been her portion, which no city or nation fince the deluge, the Chinese excepted, can boaft of.

From

2. If the civil head or dominion of Rome has had its revolutions; its religious head has not been without them. At first, and during the courfe of one hundred and feventy years, the obferved the rites and ceremonies of Numa, which were free from all manner of idolatry. It was Tarquinius Prifcus, who at the expiration of that time introduced the worship of idols that period the religion of Rome was Grecian idolatry, and fo continued down, even after the birth of Chrift, to the reign of Conftantine the Great. Being converted to the truths of Chriftianity, he fuppreffed the office of Pontifex Maximus, extirpated the heathen augurs and pricfts, demolished the heathen temples, removed the heathen magiftrates, and on their ruins established the Gofpel of Chrift, not only in Rome, but throughout the empire: and thus, in ftrict conforsage

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mity

mity to an exprefs prediction *, one of her heads, her idolatrous head, was wounded to death."

From the date of this bleffed event, which took place about the year 331, down to the year 60, Rome remained Chriftian, when the Pope having, the year before, obtained a commiffion of univerfal bishop, fet up the worfhip of the faints; and of dead men; or, as the fame prophet has it, of "demons, and idols of gold and filver, of brass "and ftone, and wood, which neither can fee, nor "hear, nor walk." This idolatrous worship was embraced under the influence of the Pope, by all the kings, and princes, and people inhabiting the weftern territory of Rome, long before, and at the time of the reformation. Thus the old idolatry of Rome was revived, and the deadly "wound," which he had received from Conftantine the Great, in "one of her heads was healed" by the new idolatry, established by the Pope in the beginning of the feventh century. But,

3. Agreeably to numerous prophecies befides. this of Daniel, the dominions of the other three kingdoms have long fince been utterly deftroyed. Their capital cities, the feats of their dominion, are no more, and fcarcely a trace of their fitua tions remain to fhow where they once ftood; and yet it is a remarkable fact, foretold by the prophet (as we shall fee hereafter), that their religious heads, their idolatrous rites, figuratively called "their lives," remain to this day, and will remain for "a time and a feafon," and till papal idolatry fhall be no more.

* Rev. xiii. 3.

+ Ibid. ix. 20.

Ibid. xiii. 3.

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Having

Having ftated these general facts, I fhall proceed to a more particular confideration of the fubject. The prophet, after having defcribed the three first beafts, and their mifchievous and wicked exploits in the first fix verfes, and given the general character of the fourth, or Roman beaft, in the feventh, he adds, in the latter claufe of the verfe, "And it was diverfe from all the beafts before it and it had ten horns."

Ver. 8" And I confidered the horns, and "behold there came up among them another "Little Horn, before whom there were three of "the firft horns pluckt up by the roots and "behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth fpeaking great things."

To ftrip these two verfes of their figurative drefs, and give to every defcriptive word its literal fenfe, will require particular confideration. A beaft then is a figure to denote a wicked, cruel, and defpotic empire, kingdom, or ftate. The fourth, or Roman beaft, we are here told, was to be "diverfe" from all the beafts before him: diverfe in the conftitution of its government from the Babylonian, Perfian, and Grecian; and this was certainly the fact. The government of Rome was republican, and has undergone feven different revo⚫ lutions. It has had kings, confuls, dictators, decemvirs, tribunes, emperors, and popes; but the but the govern ments of the other three were defpotic and abfolute, and being more fixed and permanent, were not fo fubject to revolutions; therefore the Roman beaft was. "diverfe" from all the beafts before it.

"And it (the Roman beaft) had ten horns." A horn is a member of a beaft rifing out of its head, by which it protects itfelf from injury. It is therefore a proper

a proper figure for a king, or any other fupreme magiftrate arifing out of a nation, and vefted with the power of maintaining and protecting its independence. In this manner the word is explained by the angel," and the ten horns out of this king"dom are ten kings which are to arife" Thefe Horns, or independent ftates, vere to be in his "head," its natural place, and of courfe fubject to the direction and command of its will,

The literal fenfe of the text then is this, that Rome should have ten kings or independent ftates, fubject to the direction and under the command of one of its heads. But Rome has exifted nearly 2600 years, during which time fhe has had in her civil dominion, or head, the Seven revolutions already mentioned, and three in her ecclefiaftical head. She has changed her religion from the rites of Numa to paganism, from paganifm to Chriftianity, and thence to papal idolatry and apoftafy; and befides, there has been, within the period of her longevity, a multitude of kings or horns upon the earth. Thefe circumftances, it must be confeffed, render it difficult to afcertain the ten kingdoms defignated by the ten horns, especially as the prophet himfelf is filent upon this important point, leaving it to the events to unfold the mystery. To them therefore let us apply.

If indeed we fearch for them in the pagan of Christian state of Rome, we must defpair of finding them, becaufe her unvaried policy has been, during thofe periods, to deftroy the civil dominion and independence of every kingdom as the conquered it, and to fubjugate the people of it to her civil dominion; and thus being incorporated with it, could not be her horns.