numbered Latin empire, is the two-horned Beast, or false-prophet. Besides, the saints of God are represented as getting the victory over the Beast as well as over the number of his name, which is a demonstration that two distinct Antichristian empires are here spoken of, for otherwise it would be tautology. It is also well known that there are only two Beasts mentioned in the Revelation; consequently, as it has been already shewn that the one here styled The Beast, is the secular Latin empire, it is impossible that "the number of his name" can be any other than the false-prophet. Again, the saints of God are said to be victorious over "the number of his name," or 666; that is, over the empire represented by this number; which number is declared to be contained in the name of the Beast for which an image was made. Consequently both Beasts have the same name, the number is found by summing up the values of the letters of this name; and 666 distinguishes one Beast from the other. We have, therefore, the fullest evidence, that the numbered Beast is the spiritual Latin empire. That the two-horned Beast is the one which is numbered, is farther evident from a comparison of this passage with Rev. xix. 20. In the latter passage the words are " And the beast was taken, and with him the false-prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with

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 question is the passage in Rev. xiii. 18. which immediately follows the one which is now under consideratión. "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. Ἡ 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, number of the beast is the number of a man ;" Consequently, the numbered Beast must be A MAN; that is to say, it must be represented elsewhere in the Revelation under this emblem, for in no other sense can an empire an empire be denominated a man; therefore it is not the ten-horned Beast, for

"the

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 hand; 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 before 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 explanation 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