that long procession which was headed by Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean nearly two thousand five hundred years ago.

The brief account of this potentate here given to Daniel exactly corresponds with the descriptions in the thirteenth and seventeenth chapters of the Apocalypse. He will speak great words against the Most High, wear out the saints of the high places,* and think to change times and laws. And his power will be limited only by his will for a time, times, and

It is interesting to distinguish the meanings of three expressions in the seventh chapter of Daniel.

In vers. 22, 25, and 27, the Authorized Version translates, "saints of the Most High," whereas it should read, "saints of the high places." Daniel could not of course understand who these would be-for the mystery of the Church was not then revealed-but we can easily recognize those who will live and reign with the Lord in the heavenly regions, taking the place of "the host of the high ones that are on high." In ver. 25, the reference is specially to that portion of them which will be upon earth during the great tribulation, but will suffer martyrdom rather than worship the beast or his image.

In ver. 27, there is also mention of another class, "the people of the saints of the high places;" that is, the people which stand in close relation to them, namely, the Israelites. To these latter "the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given." That is, they shall become "the kings of the earth upon the earth," in the stead of the destroyed Gentile powers (Isa. xxiv. 21).

In ver. 21, the simple expression, "the saints," seems to embrace all the people of God who are upon earth at the time, the believers who pass through the tribulation, and the pious Jews. In ver. 22, it includes still more, nothing less, indeed, than the completed Church and the whole Israelitish people; for the reference is to the millennial age, and "the Kingdom" comprehends both the heavenly and the earthly portions of Christ's government.

the dividing, or half, of a time--that is, probably, for three years and a half, or, as it is elsewhere called, for forty and two months.* At the end of that time God will sit in judgment, the dominion will be given to the Lord Jesus, and He will go forth to consume the Lawless One with the breath of His mouth. "Because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame."

The previous empires were not destroyed when their power was taken away; for Babylon prolonged its life in the manner described above, while Persia and Greece remain as insignificant kingdoms to this day. But with the fourth empire all must meet their end; for in the vision of the image the stone which strikes it upon the feet breaks the whole into pieces, so that gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay, are mingled together in one indistinguishable ruin.

We must not forget the peculiar significance of the vision of the four beasts to Daniel and the Jews, for they learnt from it how long Jerusalem must be trodden down of the Gentiles. Four world-empires were to run their course, and then the times of the Gentiles would be ended, and the Lord would descend and restore the Kingdom to Israel.

This foreordained purpose of God was also disclosed to Zechariah, when he heard the angel of the Lord crying;-" O Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of

Rev. xiii. 5.

Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?" For the Lord spoke comfortably both to the angel and to the prophet, while to the latter He showed four horns and four smiths. Zechariah asked for an explanation, and the reply was;-"These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it." *

THE VISION OF THE RAM AND THE HE-GOAT.

The eighth chapter of Daniel reveals the connection which will be found to exist between the third empire and Antichrist - a connection which may, perhaps, serve to identify him when he appears, and which at the same time hints that his rule will be characterized by the intellectual brilliancy and defective morality of Greece, as well as by the iron force of Rome.

It was some two years after the grand vision of the four beasts, when another wonderful sight was presented to the eyes of Daniel. The time was critical, and the prophet may have felt the need of further guidance and prayed for it; for the siege of Babylon was being pressed, and her end was so near that in the new revelation it is tacitly assumed, and the predictions begin with the power which overthrew her.

Daniel's past experiences, and his close walk with God, had probably quickened his spiritual percep

Zech. i. 12-21.

tions; and, accordingly, the Divine communications could now reach him without needing the medium of a dream. While awake, and fully conscious, he seems to have been caught up-like Ezekiel-by the Spirit of God, and conveyed out of beleaguered Babylon to the far distant city of Susa, that he might there behold in vision the fall of the Persian empire, of which it was a capital, and be instructed in regard to the third empire and the arch-enemy who should arise from one of its four kingdoms in the latter days.

He soon found himself standing on the banks of the Ulai, and, lifting up his eyes, he saw a ram with two horns, one of which was higher than the other, but the higher had come up last. This ram was pushing westward and northward and southward, so that none were able to stand before him; consequently, he did according to his will and became great. But while the prophet was considering the sight, a he-goat suddenly appeared, coming from the west with such speed that he seemed not to touch the ground, and having one great horn between his eyes. In the fury of his power he made for the ram, smote him, shattered his horns, cast him down, and trampled upon his prostrate body: nor could the ram either resist him, or find a deliverer. Then the he-goat waxed powerful, but in the midst of his strength the great horn was broken off, and in its place four others came up towards the four winds of heaven.

Out of one of these sprang a little horn, which became exceedingly great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glory—that is, the

land of Israel. Nay, it even grew up to the host of heaven, and cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them ; it magnified itself against the Prince of the host, and took away the daily sacrifice, and destroyed the sanctuary.

Then Daniel saw two angels in conversation, and, endeavouring to hear what they were saying, seems to have failed to understand the first speaker, but caught the meaning of the other, who inquired; “How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?" And the first replied;-" Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." These words were unintelligible to Daniel, and caused him the greatest anxiety; but, while pondering them, he was suddenly startled by the consciousness of an apparition facing him in the distance, a supernatural presence in human form. And then he heard a voice of command-proceeding apparently from one who was hovering above the waters of the Ulai-which said, "Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision."

Instantly the heavenly being began to move toward him, and Daniel, though he was the greatly beloved, experienced the indescribable horror which seizes upon every sinful man when he is brought face to face with perfect holiness. He fell to the ground, just catching, before he fainted, a single sentence from the lips of his celestial instructor: "Under