proves beyond question that the application is cor

rect.

Here the judgment, a judgment like other national judgments of which the Bible speaks, (see Acts 7:7, etc.), sat upon the papacy. Its dominion was taken away, that is, its supremacy was broken, and a consuming process there commenced which is to continue till the end of time. Yet the papacy will exist, though with but a shadow of its former prestige, till the appearing of Christ, to be consumed with the spirit of his mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his coming.

How accurately verse 26 has been fulfilled since 1798, and is being fulfilled to-day, is evident even to the casual observer of passing events. This is doubtless to be understood more particularly in a national sense. Individuals are still the zealous devotees of that church; but everywhere it has lost and is losing national recognition and support.

VERSE 27. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. 28. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart.

After beholding the dark and desolate picture of papal oppression upon the church, the prophet once more turns his eyes with delight upon the glorious period of the saints' rest, when they shall have the kingdom free from all oppressive powers, in ever

lasting possession. How could the children of God keep heart in this present evil world, amid the misrule and oppression of the governments of earth, and the abominations that are done in the land, if they could not look forward to the kingdom of God, and the return of their Lord, with full assurance that the promises concerning them both, shall certainly be fulfilled, and that speedily?

NOTE 1.-Some startling events relative to the papacy, filling up the prophecies uttered in this chapter concerning that power, have taken place within a few years of the present time. Commencing in 1798, where the great national judgment fell upon the papacy, what have been the chief characteristics of its history? Answer: The rapid defection of its natural supporters, and greater assumptions on its own part. In 1844, Judgment of another kind began to sit, namely, the investigative Judgment, in the Heavenly sanctary, preparatory to the coming of Christ. Dec. 8, 1854, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was decreed by the pope. July 21, 1870, in the great Ecumenical Council assembled at Rome, it was deliberately decreed by a vote of 538 against 2 that the pope was infallible. In the same year, Napoleon, by whose bayonets the pope was kept upon his throne, was crushed by Prussia, and the last prop was taken from under the papacy. Then Victor Emmanuel, seeing his opportunity to carry out the long-cherished dream of a United Italy, seized Rome to make it the capital of his kingdom. To his troops, under General Cadorna, Rome surrendered, Sept. 20, 1870. The pope's temporal power was thus wholly taken away, nevermore, said Victor Emmanuel, to be restored; and the pope has been virtually a prisoner in his own palace since that time. Because of the great words which the horn uttered, Daniel saw the beast destroyed and given to the burning flame. This destruction is to take place at the second coming of Christ and by means

of that event; for the man of sin is to be consumed by the spirit of Christ's mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his coming. 2 Thess. 2: 8. What words could be more arrogant, presumptuous, blasphemous, or insulting to high. Heaven, than the deliberate adoption of the dogma of infallibility, thus clothing a mortal man with the prerogative of the Deity? And this was accomplished by papal intrigue and influence, July 21, 1870. Following in swift succession, the last vestige of temporal power was wrenched from his grasp. It was because of these words, and as if in almost inmediate connection with them, that the prophet saw this power given to the burning flame. His dominion was to be consumed unto the end; implying that when his powers as a civil ruler should be wholly destroyed, the end would not be far off. And the prophet immediately adds, "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." All has now been fully accomplished except the closing scene. Next comes the last, crowning, finishing act in the drama, when the beast will be given to the burning flame, and the saints of the Most High take the kingdom.

NOTE 2.-The query has arisen whether the judgment of verse 26 may not refer to the same judgment as that of verse 10, the investigative Judgment, which commenced in 1844. There seems to be no serious objection to this view; for while it is true that the dominion of the papal power has been waning away since 1798, this has been especially manifest since 1844. In 1848 the pope was driven from his capital, and in 1870 was stripped of his temporal dominion. With this view, the necessity of accounting for two kinds of judgment in the same chapter is avoided.

Chapter VIII.

VISION OF THE RAM, HE-GOAT, AND LITTLE HORN.

"We now come once more," says Dr. Clarke, "to the Hebrew, the Chaldee part of the book being finished. As the Chaldeans had a particular interest both in the history and prophecies from chap. 2:4, to the end of chap. 7, the whole is written in Chaldee; but as the prophecies which remain concern times posterior to the Chaldean monarchy, and principally relate to the church and people of God generally, they are written in the Hebrew language, this being the tongue in which God chose to reveal all his counsels given under the Old Testament relative to the New."

VERSE 1. In the third year of the reign of king Belshaz zar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.

One prominent characteristic of the sacred writings, and one which should forever shield them from the charge of being works of fiction, is the frankness and freedom with which the writers state all the circumstances connected with that which they record. This verse states the time when the vision recorded in this chapter was given to Daniel. The first year of Belshazzar is set down as B. C. 555. His third

year, in which this vision was given, would consequently be 553. If Daniel, as is supposed, was about twenty years of age when he was carried to Babylon, in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, B. C. 606, he was at this time about seventy-three years of age. The vision he speaks of as the one "which appeared unto him at the first," is doubtless the vision of the seventh chapter, which he had in the first year of Belshazzar.

VERSE 2. 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.

As verse 1 states the time when, this verse gives the place where, the vision was given. Shushan, as we learn from Prideaux, was the metropolis of the province of Elam. This was then in the hands of the Babylonians, and there the king of Babylon had a royal palace. Daniel, as minister of State, and employed about the king's business, was accordingly in that place. About three years after this time, Abradates, viceroy or prince of Shushan, revolted to Cyrus, and the province was joined to the Medes and Persians; so that, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, 21:2, Elam went up with the Medes to besiege Babylon. Under the Medes and Persians it regained its liberties which it had been deprived of by the Babylonians, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah 49:39.

VERSE 3. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two