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+Project Gutenberg's The Roman Empire in the Light of Prophecy, by W. E. Vine
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Roman Empire in the Light of Prophecy
+       The Rise, Progress, and End of the Fourth World-empire
+
+Author: W. E. Vine
+
+Release Date: January 31, 2012 [EBook #38721]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN EMPIRE IN LIGHT OF PROPHECY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Julia Neufeld and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
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+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
+
+      Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
+
+
+
+
+  THE
+  ROMAN
+  EMPIRE
+  IN
+  PROPHECY.
+
+  W. E. VINE, M.A.
+
+  "Regarded as an historical
+  manual it is of no little value,
+  and the author's summaries of
+  the rise and progress of Rome
+  are quite masterly in their way."
+
+  --_Glasgow Citizen._
+
+[Illustration: CÆSAR AUGUSTUS, first Roman Emperor, born 63 B.C.
+Grand-nephew and heir of Julius Cæsar Octavianus. Obtained supreme power
+over Roman dominions by victory over Anthony at Actium, 31 B.C.
+Proclaimed Emperor, 27 B.C., by the Roman Senate, which conferred on him
+the title Augustus. Died 19th August, A.D. 14, in his 76th year.]
+
+
+
+
+  THE
+  ROMAN EMPIRE
+  IN THE LIGHT OF
+  PROPHECY
+
+  --OR,--
+
+  THE RISE, PROGRESS AND END OF
+  THE FOURTH WORLD-EMPIRE.
+
+  BY
+  W. E. VINE, M.A.,
+
+  Author of "B.C. and A.D.; or, How the World was prepared for the
+  Gospel"; "The Scriptures and How to Use Them," etc.
+
+[Illustration: Publisher's Mark]
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+  Copyright--Pickering & Inglis.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The following pages are the outcome of several conversations with
+inquirers shortly after the outbreak of the great war, in 1914, and of
+requests for notes of the views expressed. The subject of these
+conversations had occupied the earnest if intermittent attention of the
+writer for over twenty years. The notes were expanded into a series of
+articles which appeared in _The Witness_ during 1915. These have been
+revised and somewhat extended for the present volume, especially the
+last chapter, much of which was previously precluded by limitations of
+space.
+
+In regard to past history, the outlines of events connected with the
+Roman and Turkish Empires are given with the hope that the records will
+prove helpful to those who read the history of Nations in the light of
+Scripture.
+
+In regard to the future, while there are many events which the Word of
+God has foretold with absolute clearness, and upon these we may speak
+unreservedly, yet there are many circumstances concerning which definite
+prediction has been designedly withheld, and upon which prophecy is
+therefore obscure. In such matters an effort has been made to avoid
+dogmatism. Prophecy was not given in order for us to prophesy.
+
+On the other hand, the prophetic Scriptures are not to be neglected.
+Difficulty in understanding them is no reason for disregarding them.
+They are part of that Word, the whole of which is declared to be
+"profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
+in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3. 16). They therefore demand prayerful and
+patient meditation.
+
+For a speaker to refer to the study of the prophecies in a way which
+tends to minimise their importance in the minds of his hearers is to
+dishonour both the sacred Word and Him who inspired it. It is
+significant that the book of the Revelation opens with a promise of
+blessing to him who reads (the reference is especially to public
+reading) and to those who "hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the
+things which are written therein" (chap. 1. 3), and at the close repeats
+the blessing for him who keeps its words (chap. 22. 7).
+
+The quotations in the present volume are from the Revised Version, the
+comparatively greater accuracy of its translations being important for a
+correct understanding of many of the passages considered.
+
+While the book is published at the request of several friends, the
+author fulfils such request with the earnest desire that in matters of
+doctrine that only may be accepted which can be confirmed from the Word
+of God itself, and that the Lord may graciously own what is in
+accordance with His mind for the glory of His Name and the profit of the
+reader.
+
+BATH, 1916.                         W. E. VINE.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAPTER I.          PAGE
+
+  =The Times of the Gentiles=,                           9
+
+  Nebuchadnezzar's Dream,                               11
+
+  The Chaldean, Medo-Persian, Grecian Kingdoms,         12
+
+  The Fourth Kingdom,                                   13
+
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+  =The Roman Dominion=,                                 15
+
+  Rise and Progress of the Roman Empire,                16
+
+  Eastward Extension,                                   18
+
+  The Empire Completed,                                 22
+
+  The Crushing of the Nations,                          23
+
+  The Twofold Division,                                 25
+
+  The Tenfold Division,                                 27
+
+  A Comparison of the Visions,                          29
+
+  Testimony of Early Christian Writers,                 32
+
+  Processes at Work Since the Twofold Division,         34
+
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+  =The Overthrow in the West=--GERMANIC INVASIONS,      35
+
+  Disintegration of the Western Half,                   37
+
+  Alaric and the Goths,                                 37
+
+  Attila and the Huns,                                  39
+
+  Genseric and the Vandals,                             40
+
+  Northern Limits of the Empire,                        41
+
+  Ten Kingdoms not Formed by Germanic Invasions,        42
+
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+  =The Overthrow in the East=--TURKISH EMPIRE,          44
+
+  Mohammed and the Khaliphs,                            45
+
+  Eastern Empire at End of 10th Century,                46
+
+  The Appearance of the Turks,                          46
+
+  The Turks Embrace Mohammedanism,                      47
+
+  The Turks Enter Europe,                               48
+
+  Constantinople Taken,                                 49
+
+  A Comparison of the Two Divisions,                    50
+
+  Decline of the Turkish Empire,                        51
+
+  The Coming Overthrow,                                 54
+
+  A Blank in Prophecy,                                  55
+
+  Continuation of the Roman Government,                 56
+
+  Roman Imperialism Continued,                          57
+
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+  =Coming Revival of the Roman Empire=,                 59
+
+  1. GEOGRAPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS,                       59
+
+      Review of the Ancient Territories,                62
+
+      Divisions of the Greek Empire,                    63
+
+      Other European Territories,                       65
+
+      The British Empire,                               67
+
+  2. POLITICAL STANDPOINT,                              69
+
+      European Federation,                              69
+
+      The Sea Symbolic of National Unrest,              72
+
+      Revolutions and their Issues,                     74
+
+      The Iron and the Clay,                            74
+
+      Unprecedented Political and Social Upheaval,      77
+
+  3. THE RELIGIOUS STANDPOINT,                          77
+
+      The Papacy: Its Present Power,                    79
+
+      A Reunion of Christendom,                         80
+
+      The Doom of Religious Babylon,                    81
+
+      Satanic Authority of the Emperor,                 82
+
+      The "Superman,"                                   83
+
+      Spiritism--The False Prophet,                     84
+
+      Universal System of Commerce,                     87
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+  =The Everlasting Kingdom=,                            88
+
+  The Jews,                                             88
+
+  The Seventy Weeks,                                    88
+
+  The Last "Week,"                                      89
+
+  Fierce Persecution,                                   92
+
+  Armageddon and After,                                 93
+
+  The Scene of the Conflict,                            94
+
+  The Epiphany of His Parousia,                         97
+
+  The Voice of the Lord,                                98
+
+  The Treading of the Winepress,                        99
+
+  Overthrow of the Man of Sin,                         100
+
+  The Scene of Judgment,                               102
+
+  The Jews in their Extremity,                         104
+
+  Seismic Disturbances,                                104
+
+  THE KING ETERNAL,                                    107
+
+
+=Index to Maps.=
+
+  ROMAN EMPIRE IN APOSTOLIC TIMES,                      22
+
+  WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER GERMANIC TRIBES,           36
+
+  TURKISH EMPIRE IN THE 16TH CENTURY,                   44
+
+  TURKISH EMPIRE IN 1914,                               54
+
+  PALESTINE TO ILLUSTRATE PSALM 29,                     88
+
+
+
+
+The Roman Empire in the Light of Prophecy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES.
+
+
+The overthrow of the kingdom of Judah recorded in 2 Kings 24 and 25, and
+in the opening words of the book of Daniel, was a remarkable crisis in
+the history of the world. In judgment upon the people of God for their
+long-continued iniquity, sovereignty was removed from their hands, king
+and people were led into captivity, and Jerusalem was, in fulfilment of
+Jeremiah's words, given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
+Babylon (Jer. 21. 10). The government of their land was thus committed
+to the Gentiles, and with the Gentiles it has remained from that day
+till now. These events took place in 606 and 587 B.C.
+
+
+The Times of the Gentiles.
+
+But Gentile control is not to continue indefinitely. This, which is
+plain from many Scriptures, was intimated by Christ to His disciples
+when He said of Jerusalem that the city would "be trodden down of the
+Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21. 24).
+The phrase, "the times of the Gentiles," calls for consideration, and
+especially as it has to do with Nebuchadnezzar's conquest just
+mentioned.
+
+There are two words translated "times" in the New Testament; one is
+_chronoi_, which is invariably rendered "times;" the other is _kairoi_,
+which, when the two are found together, is rendered "seasons." Thus
+Paul, in writing to the Thessalonian Church, says, "But concerning the
+times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written
+unto you" (1 Thess. 5. 1, R.V.; cp. Acts 1.7). We may distinguish
+"seasons" from "times" in the following way: "times" denotes mere
+duration, lengths of time; "seasons" implies that these lengths of time
+have certain events or circumstances associated with them by which they
+are characterised. Thus the words almost exactly correspond to the terms
+"periods" and "epochs." Now the word _kairoi_, "seasons," is used in the
+phrase translated "the times of the Gentiles," which might accordingly
+be rendered "the seasons of the Gentiles." We look, then, for some
+special characteristic of the period or periods thus designated. We have
+observed that Nebuchadnezzar's overthrow of the kingdom of Judah
+involved the transference of its sovereignty from Jew to Gentile from
+that event onward. "The times of the Gentiles," accordingly, is that
+period, or succession of periods, during which dominion over the Jews
+and their land is committed to Gentile Powers.
+
+
+Nebuchadnezzar's Dream.
+
+Special significance attaches to the fact that no sooner had the times
+of the Gentiles begun than God made known the future course of their
+authority over His people, and the character and doom of that authority,
+and made it known to the first Gentile conqueror himself. It was in the
+second year of his reign that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream the great
+image by means of which the purposes of God were to be communicated to
+him. The description of this, given by Daniel to the troubled monarch,
+is as follows: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This
+image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood
+before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible. As for this image,
+his head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly
+and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron, and
+part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands,
+which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and
+brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
+silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the
+chaff of the summer threshing-floors: and the wind carried them away,
+that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image
+became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2. 31-35).
+
+Interpreting this vision, the prophet identified Nebuchadnezzar, the
+Chaldean monarch, with the head of gold, and foretold that his kingdom,
+or empire, would be followed in succession by three others,
+corresponding respectively to the different parts of the remainder of
+the image and to the nature of the metals composing them. Of the four
+kingdoms the last is to engage our chief attention in these papers.
+Passing from the first, the =Chaldean=, as specified in Daniel's words
+to the king, "Thou art this head of gold" (v. 38), we are shown that the
+second kingdom was that of the =Medes and Persians= by the prophet's
+record of the doom of Nebuchadnezzar's successor, Belshazzar: "In that
+night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. And Darius the Mede
+received the kingdom" (Dan. 5. 30, 31; cp. v. 28). That the third
+kingdom was the =Grecian= we find in the interpretation of part of a
+vision recorded in the eighth chapter: "The ram which thou sawest that
+had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough
+he-goat [who was seen to destroy the ram, v. 8] is the king of Greece"
+(vv. 20, 21; cp. chap. 10. 20).
+
+
+The Fourth Kingdom.
+
+The name of the fourth kingdom is not mentioned in the Old Testament,
+but the prediction given in the ninth chapter of Daniel's prophecies
+sufficiently identifies it. Messiah, it was said, would be cut off, and
+the people of a coming prince would destroy the city and the sanctuary.
+Now we know that the perpetrators of this were the Romans. We know, too,
+that by them the Grecian empire was conquered. The world-wide rule of
+the first =Roman= Emperor is indicated in the words of Luke's
+introduction to his record of the birth of Christ: "Now it came to pass
+in those days, there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the
+world should be enrolled" (Luke 2. 1).
+
+It is important to note that this fourth kingdom will, in its final
+condition, be in world-wide authority at the close of the times of the
+Gentiles, that is, that the Roman power, though in a divided state, will
+not be finally destroyed until it meets its doom at the hands of the Son
+of God. This fact, which will receive fuller treatment later, and is
+borne out by several Scriptures, is plainly indicated in the passage
+which describes the last state of the fourth kingdom and its
+destruction. Immediately after showing that it would be a divided
+kingdom, and describing the nature of that division (vv. 41-43), the
+prophet says: "And in the days of those kings shall the God of Heaven
+set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the
+sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in
+pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (v.
+44). Now this indestructible kingdom cannot be other than that of
+Christ, and by His kingdom the fourth is to be broken in pieces and
+consumed, thus involving the overthrow of all forms of Gentile
+authority. Obviously no form of world government will exist between that
+of the fourth kingdom, in its condition described in verses 42, 43, and
+the kingdom of Christ which destroys it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE ROMAN DOMINION.
+
+
+An understanding of the Scriptures does not depend upon access to other
+books, or reference to historical records outside the limits of the
+Bible. The Word of God is its own interpreter, and all that is needed
+for our establishment in the faith is contained in its pages. On the
+other hand, the Bible throws light upon history not recorded therein,
+and it is with that in view that we give certain historical outlines in
+dealing with our subject.
+
+The first part of the prophet's description of the fourth kingdom is as
+follows: "The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron
+breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that crusheth
+all these, shall it break in pieces and crush" (v. 40). A similar
+description is given in his account of a subsequent vision, in which he
+saw four great beasts coming up from the sea. In this vision the Roman
+kingdom again was undoubtedly symbolised by the fourth beast. This beast
+he describes as "terrible and powerful, and strong exceedingly; and it
+had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the
+residue with his feet" (7. 7). So, again, in the words of the
+interpretation: "The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth,
+which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole
+earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces" (v. 23). Now all
+this exactly depicts the Roman power in its subjugation and control of
+the nations which eventually composed its empire. In the light, then, of
+these prophecies we give a brief sketch of its rise and conquests.
+
+
+The Rise and Progress of the Roman Empire.
+
+The Romans, who early in the third century B.C. had become masters of
+all Italy, save in the extreme north, were drawn into a course of
+conquest beyond the limits of their own country by the rivalry of the
+rapidly advancing power of Carthage in North Africa. Carthage, a city
+founded some centuries earlier by Phoenician colonists from Tyre and
+Sidon, had at length become the capital of a great North African empire,
+stretching from Tripoli to the Atlantic Ocean, and embracing settlements
+elsewhere in countries and islands of the Mediterranean. These
+settlements included the greater part of Sicily, and that island,
+situated between the rival nations, became the first bone of contention
+between them. The precise cause of the struggle must not occupy us here,
+but the circumstances which decided the Roman Government, in 264 B.C.,
+upon an invasion of Sicily were of the deepest significance in the
+history of the world. By the year 242 Sicily was subdued. In the
+following year the island was ceded by Carthage, and the extension of
+Roman dominion beyond Italy was begun. The war continued intermittently,
+with many vicissitudes, for a century, but eventually the Carthagians
+were overwhelmingly defeated by land and sea. "Think you that Carthage
+or that Rome will be content, after the victory, with its own country
+and Sicily?" said a Greek orator, while the issues of the struggle in
+its earliest stage were yet in the balance. Rome's vast ambition, and
+her abundant means of gratifying it, justified the orator's fears. The
+islands of Sardinia and Corsica were shortly afterwards seized.
+
+Defeated in Sicily, Carthage extended her dominions in Spain and made
+that country a base for marching through Gaul to attack the Romans from
+the north. Though their renowned leader Hannibal met with success, their
+effort was doomed to failure. Meanwhile Roman armies had pushed into
+Spain. After a fierce struggle of thirteen years the Carthagians were
+completely overcome there, and Spain soon became a Roman province. By
+the decisive battle of Zama, in North Africa, in 202, Carthage and its
+territories became tributary, and thus all the western Mediterranean
+passed under the supremacy of Rome. Eventually in 146, as a result of a
+final war, Carthage was razed to the ground, and its North African
+kingdom was constituted a Roman province under the name of Africa. War
+with the Celts in North Italy, commencing the next year, resulted in the
+extension of the boundary to the Alps, and countries beyond began to
+feel the terror of the Roman name.
+
+
+Eastward Extension.
+
+The second century B.C. witnessed the spread of the iron rule eastward.
+The Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great, the third mentioned in
+Daniel's interpretation, had embraced all the countries surrounding the
+eastern half of the Mediterranean and had stretched far beyond the
+Euphrates. The disintegration of Alexander's empire after his death
+prepared the way for the Romans. Macedonia, the former seat of that
+empire, was their first great objective. A pretext for war was soon
+forthcoming, and war was actually declared in 200 B.C. A series of
+struggles ensued, and Macedonia was not finally subdued for over thirty
+years. Meanwhile matters had developed in Greece and Asia Minor. In the
+latter country Antiochus III., the Great, who had also conquered Syria
+and Palestine, was seeking to extend his dominions. Cities and states of
+Asia Minor, however, groaning under the tyranny of Antiochus, appealed
+to Rome for aid. The Romans declared war against him in 192 B.C. The
+first conflict occurred in Greece, which was largely under his
+influence. An early victory secured the submission of the Greek states.
+Antiochus retreated into Asia Minor, and was finally crushed at Magnesia
+in 190. The whole of Asia Minor was then surrendered to Rome. Actual
+possession was postponed and local government was largely granted both
+there and in Greece. But that policy proved impracticable, and the force
+of circumstances compelled a forward movement to universal empire. There
+was no such thing as the balance of power in the ancient world. Once a
+country became predominant there was nothing for it but the subjugation
+of its neighbours. The extension of Rome's dominions eastward was a
+fulfilment of a destiny beyond its own control. The reverent student of
+Scripture sees in the course of these events the unfolding of God's
+plans and the fulfilment of His Word.
+
+The final campaign against the Macedonians was opened in 169 B.C., and
+in the next year they were overwhelmed at the decisive battle of Pydna.
+Macedonia and the adjacent state of Illyria became tributary, and
+eventually were reduced to Roman provinces.
+
+The Romans then felt the necessity of definitely annexing Greece.
+Seventy towns in that country were plundered and 150,000 inhabitants
+were sold into slavery. Antiochus IV., Epiphanes, was now king of Syria
+and Palestine, and had possessed himself of almost the whole of Egypt.
+Such was the effect of the battle of Pydna, however, that he was at once
+compelled to hand over Egypt to the conquerors, and that country became
+a Roman protectorate. Syria passed under Roman control at the death of
+Antiochus Epiphanes, in 164, and by the end of a few decades all the
+states of Asia Minor had been incorporated.
+
+Thus by the middle of this century the Republic of Rome had gained
+ascendancy east and west. Its senate was recognised by the civilised
+world as "the supreme tribunal for kings and nations." Early in the next
+century Dalmatia and Thrace were subdued, and the latter was
+incorporated in the province of Macedonia. Wars with Mithradates, King
+of Pontus, Cappadocia and Armenia, resulted in the conquest of all his
+territories, and provinces were formed out of the states from thence
+westward to the Ægean sea.
+
+
+Palestine Annexed.
+
+This century saw the actual interference of Rome in the affairs of
+Judæa. Syria had been made a province in 65 B.C. by the Roman General
+Pompey, and from thence he intervened in a strife which had for some
+time been raging amongst the leaders of the Jews. In 63 he marched an
+army into Judæa and took Jerusalem. At the final assault upon the Temple
+12,000 Jews perished. Judæa thus passed under the iron heel.
+
+As a result of the wars of Cæsar in north-western Europe, in 58-51 B.C.,
+what are now Switzerland, France, and Belgium were subdued and Britain
+was invaded. By Cæsar also Roman authority in Africa was consolidated
+across the entire length of the north of the continent. The conquests of
+Rome as a Republic were complete. The Mediterranean had become a "Roman
+lake."
+
+[Illustration: THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN APOSTOLIC TIMES.]
+
+
+The Empire Completed.
+
+In 27 B.C. the purely Republican form of constitution was abolished, and
+the government of the Roman world was concentrated in the hands of an
+Emperor, the Cæsar Augustus of Luke 2.1. In his reign were fulfilled the
+prophecies foretelling the Birth of Christ. When the Prince of Peace was
+born in Bethlehem the din of strife was hushed throughout the empire,
+and Rome, under the restraining hand of God, ceased for a time its
+warring. By Augustus the northern territories of the empire were
+extended to practically the entire length of the Danube. The greater
+part of Britain became a province under Claudius. A later Emperor,
+Trajan, added, at the beginning of the second century A.D., the province
+of Dacia, covering what are now Transylvania and most of Roumania. Under
+Marcus Aurelius (161-180) a large part of Mesopotamia was finally
+annexed.
+
+This completes the actual conquests of the Romans. We will now note
+certain characteristics of their method of subjugation, viewed in the
+light of Daniel's prophecy concerning the fourth kingdom, that, like
+iron, it would "break in pieces and crush."
+
+
+The Crushing of the Nations.
+
+The crushing process was evidenced in many ways, and especially by the
+establishment of a general system of slavery, which almost everywhere
+supplanted free labour. Slave-hunting and slave-dealing became a
+profession. To such an extent were they carried on at one period that
+certain provinces were well nigh depopulated. We are told that at the
+great slave-market in the island of Delos, off Greece, as many as ten
+thousand slaves were disembarked in the morning and bought up before
+the evening of the same day. Chained gangs worked under overseers and
+were confined in prison at night. To take an instance of the extreme
+rigour of the laws regulating the traffic, it is recorded by the
+historian Tacitus, that once, when the Prefect of Rome had been killed
+by one of his slaves, of whom he owned a vast number, the whole of his
+slaves, many of them women and children, were executed together, in
+accordance with an ancient law. That event took place about the time,
+apparently, at which the Apostle Paul arrived at Rome.
+
+But not only were the nations ground down by slavery, the pages of Roman
+history abound in records of wholesale massacre and butchery. We may
+note, for instance, Luke's statement of Pilate's slaughter of Galilæans
+while they were sacrificing (Luke 13. 1). Records abound, too, of
+grossly burdensome taxation and financial exactions, in which the Romans
+outdid all tyrants that had preceded them. Usury flourished in the last
+century as it had never done before. Four per cent. per month was an
+ordinary exaction for a loan to a community. On one occasion a Roman
+banker, who had a claim on the municipality of Salamis, in Cyprus, kept
+its council blockaded until five of its members died of hunger.
+
+By these methods the provinces of the empire were at one period reduced
+to a condition of unsurpassed misery. Nothing could more vividly
+describe the course of such a kingdom and the control exercised by it
+than the words of Daniel quoted above.
+
+
+The Twofold Division.
+
+This fourth kingdom was destined to be divided; and in two respects,
+territorial and constitutional. The territorial division was indicated
+by the symbolism of the legs and feet of the image of Nebuchadnezzar's
+vision; the constitutional division was declared in Daniel's
+interpretation concerning the iron and clay (v. 40). The former of these
+divisions claims our consideration first. Territorially the kingdom
+would be first divided into two parts corresponding with the legs of the
+image. This actually took place in the fourth century of the present
+era.
+
+The Roman Empire had continued in a more or less united condition for
+over three centuries after the accession of its first Emperor, Augustus,
+in 27 B.C., though various signs of a coming division manifested
+themselves. It was not unusual, for instance, for an emperor to appoint
+an associate with himself in the imperial rank, and on one occasion
+Maximian, who thus became associated with Diocletian in A.D. 288,
+actually established his seat of government at Nicomedia, in Asia Minor.
+Constantine (323-337) united the empire under his sole rule, but paved
+the way for the final separation of east from west by founding, in 328,
+the city of Constantinople as a second Rome, after his own name, and
+establishing it as an eastern centre of government with its own
+legislative institutions. This arrangement was favoured by several
+conditions, national and otherwise, which characterised the countries of
+the eastern half as distinct from those of the western.
+
+At the death of Constantine, in 337, his dominions were divided among
+his three sons, a division, however, which lasted but a brief time. The
+empire was in 353 again united under Constantius, the survivor of the
+three. The long impending division into two parts took place under
+Valentinian I., in the year of his accession, 364. Yielding to the wish
+of his soldiers that he should associate a colleague with himself, he
+placed his brother Valens in power in the east, with headquarters at
+Constantinople, he himself retaining control over the west.
+
+
+The Tenfold Division.
+
+Prophetic Scriptures show that the Roman Empire would be further
+divided. Now while the ten toes of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream
+have not improperly been regarded as indicative of a tenfold division,
+the fact that the image had ten toes would be insufficient of itself to
+signify this, for the toes are naturally essential to a complete human
+figure. Moreover, the hands and their fingers, equally essential parts,
+have no territorial significance attached to them. The conclusion
+regarding the toes is, however, justified when we find the tenfold
+division abundantly confirmed by other Scriptures.
+
+Thus the fourth beast in the vision in chapter 7, which, as we have
+seen, likewise symbolised the Roman kingdom, is described as having _ten
+horns_ (v. 7). The interpretation clearly tells us what these are: "And
+as for the ten horns, out of the kingdom (the fourth) shall _ten kings_
+arise" (v. 24). The Apocalypse gives us further information regarding
+this division, unfolding with increasing clearness the details connected
+with it. In one of the visions given to the apostle John, he sees "a
+great red dragon, having seven heads and _ten horns_" (Rev. 12. 3). The
+meaning of the ten horns is not there explained. We are told that the
+great dragon is "the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan,
+the deceiver of the whole world" (v. 9). Turning now to the next
+chapter, we find another vision recorded, giving a fresh view of the
+same subject. A beast was seen "coming up out of the sea, having _ten
+horns_ and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads
+names of blasphemy" (chap. 13. 1). Again an explanation of the ten horns
+is withheld, but that they are identical with those of the twelfth
+chapter is undeniable. The Apostle receives, however, a further vision,
+recorded in chapter 17: "I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured
+beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and _ten horns_"
+(chap. 17. 3). And now the symbolism of the horns is explained: "the ten
+horns that thou sawest are _ten kings_, which have received no kingdom
+as yet; but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one
+hour. These have one mind, and they give their power and authority unto
+the beast" (vv. 12, 13).
+
+We are now concerned, of course, solely with the tenfold division of the
+empire; other details of the visions just referred to remain for later
+consideration. We cannot fail to see that what is symbolised by the ten
+toes of the image, and by the ten horns of the fourth beast as revealed
+to Daniel, is identical with what is symbolised by the ten horns of the
+dragon and of the beast seen by John, namely, the Roman kingdom in its
+ultimately divided condition.
+
+
+A Comparison of the Visions.
+
+The following points are noteworthy in comparing these visions
+relatively to the tenfold division. First, there is a parallelism in the
+order of the revelations given to the two seers, Daniel and John. A
+preliminary vision is given to each--more than one in the case of
+John--in which, in the matter of this territorial partition, symbols
+occur without explanation. Each then receives a further vision, in the
+interpretation of which the eventual division into ten kingdoms is
+plainly disclosed. To Daniel it is said: "As for the ten horns, out of
+the kingdom shall ten kings arise;" and to John: "The ten horns that
+thou sawest are ten kings, ... which receive authority as kings with
+the beast for one hour."
+
+Second, the ten kingdoms are seen to be contemporaneous, as is indicated
+by the co-existence of the ten horns of the beast, and further, by the
+fact that the ten kings mutually agree to a certain line of policy in
+handing over their authority to a supreme potentate (Rev. 17. 12, 13).
+
+Third, it is evident that the fourth kingdom is the last of the Gentile
+world-powers, and that it will exist in its tenfold state at the end of
+the times of the Gentiles. We observed this above in the case of the
+image, from the fact that the stone, symbolising the kingdom of Christ,
+smote the image upon its toes. So now, in the vision of the four beasts,
+it is the fourth beast that is slain, his body destroyed, and given to
+be burned (Dan. 7. 11). The Personal Agent of this destruction is here
+made known: "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with
+the clouds of Heaven One like unto a son of man, and He came even to the
+Ancient of Days, ... and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a
+kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him:
+His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and
+His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" (vv. 13, 14). The
+finality of the fourth kingdom is clearer still from the interpretation
+given in the remainder of the chapter. The final world-ruler is, of
+course, prominent in this vision; in his destruction is involved the
+destruction of his kingdom; his power and aggression are terminated when
+the Ancient of Days comes (v. 22); then it is that "the judgment shall
+sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it
+unto the end. And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the
+kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the
+saints of the Most High: His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all
+dominions shall serve and obey Him" (vv. 26, 27). Similarly, again, in
+Revelation 13 and 17, in the corresponding visions of the beast and its
+ten horns, the ten kings and their federal head, ruling at the time of
+the end, "shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them,
+for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they _also shall
+overcome_ that are with Him, called and chosen and faithful" (Rev. 17.
+14).
+
+The crushing of the image by the stone, the slaying of the fourth beast
+before the Ancient of Days, and the conquest of the ten kings and their
+chief by the Lamb, are therefore different views of the same event. The
+tenfold division of the fourth kingdom is obviously still future, and
+marks the condition of the world-government at the close of the times of
+the Gentiles, and immediately prior to the kingdom of Christ.
+
+
+The Testimony of Early Christian Writers.
+
+That the Roman Empire would in its final form be divided into ten
+kingdoms was held by Christian writers of the earliest post-apostolic
+times. Their opinions are here given, not as forming any basis of
+exposition, but as expressions of early Christian conception of the
+Scriptures under consideration.
+
+What is known as "_The Epistle of Barnabas_," probably written early in
+the second century A.D., quotes from Daniel concerning the ten kingdoms
+to show that they would exist at the consummation of the present age.
+_Irenæus_ (circa A.D. 120-202), a disciple of Polycarp, who had been a
+companion of the apostle John, observes that "the ten toes are ten
+kings, among whom the kingdom will be divided." _Tertullian_, a
+contemporary of Irenæus, remarks that "the disintegration and dispersion
+of the Roman State among the ten kings will produce Antichrist, and then
+shall be revealed that Wicked One, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with
+the breath of His mouth and destroy by the brightness of His
+manifestation." _Hippolytus_, who was a follower of Irenæus, and
+flourished in the first half of the third century, makes similar
+reference to the ultimate division. _Lactantius_, of the latter half of
+the third and the early part of the fourth centuries, writes as follows:
+"The Empire will be sub-divided, and the powers of government, after
+being frittered away and shared among many, will be undermined. Civil
+discords will then ensue, nor will there be respite from destructive
+wars, until ten kings arise at once, who will divide the world among
+themselves to consume rather than to govern it." _Cyril_ (circa
+315-386), who became bishop of Jerusalem in 350, quoting from Daniel,
+and speaking of the Empire and its future division, implies that
+teaching on the subject was customary in the churches. _Jerome_
+(342-420) observes that "at the end of the world, when the kingdom of
+the Romans is to be destroyed, there will be ten kings to divide the
+Roman world among themselves." Similarly writes _Theodoret_ in the fifth
+century, and others of that time make more or less direct reference to
+the subject. While the views of these writers differ considerably on
+other points of detail, all are unanimous as to the eventual division of
+the Empire among ten contemporaneous potentates.
+
+
+Processes at Work Since the Twofold Division.
+
+The mediæval and modern history of the lands originally constituting the
+Roman Empire is a history of the formation of independent states in such
+a way as to point to the eventual revival of the Empire in the tenfold
+division we have been considering. The process has been a long and
+involved one, for the counsels of God have had a far wider range than
+the mere shaping of national destiny. It has been the Divine pleasure,
+for instance, that the Gospel should be spread among all nations for the
+purpose of taking out from among them a people for the Name of Christ,
+and for the formation thereby of His Church. In contradistinction to
+this, and from the standpoint of the world itself, which, though under
+God's control, remains in alienation from Him, there has been a gradual
+development of the political, social, and religious principles which are
+ultimately to permeate the nations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE OVERTHROW IN THE WEST: GERMANIC INVASIONS.
+
+
+In the interpretation of his vision of the beast, John is told of its
+rise, temporary removal, and reappearance: "The beast that thou sawest
+was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go
+into perdition" (Rev. 17. 8). Here the Roman world-power, the imperial
+dominion, is in view. In verse 11 the final king himself is similarly
+described. The symbol of the beast is thus employed to describe first
+the dominion and then its imperial head. This symbolic association of
+locality and ruler is found elsewhere in Scripture, and is illustrated
+in this very chapter. The seven heads of the beast, for example, are
+interpreted in both ways: "The seven heads are seven mountains, ... and
+they are seven kings" (v. 9, R.V. ) The distinction between verses 8 and
+11 may be observed in this way: in the first part of the chapter,
+verses 1-8, the beast is viewed as a whole, indicating world-wide
+government; in verse 11 the scope of the symbol is limited, the beast is
+a person, and is identified with one of the seven heads, or kings, he is
+"himself also an eighth, and is of the seven." With this individual we
+shall be occupied later.
+
+A striking illustration of the symbolic use of the word "beast" to
+denote both a kingdom and the ruler over it is to be found in Dan. 7,
+where the following statements are made: "These great beasts, which are
+four, are four kings" (v. 17), and "The fourth beast shall be the fourth
+kingdom" (v. 23).
+
+[Illustration: THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER GERMANIC TRIBES]
+
+The statement of verse 8 seems, then, undoubtedly to refer to the
+Empire; it did exist, it ceased to be, and it will reappear. The
+assertion that it "is not" must not be taken to mean that the beast had
+ceased to exist in John's time. The present tense is to be regarded as
+prophetic. The verb "to be" often has the force of continuance of
+existence. The whole statement implies a past existence, a
+discontinuance of that existence, a future reappearance. In the vision
+recorded in the thirteenth chapter, John saw one of the heads of the
+beast "as though it had been smitten unto death." If, as seems probable,
+this head is imperialism, then the overthrow of imperial Rome is
+likewise indicated in that passage.
+
+In the light, then, of the words: "The beast that thou sawest was, and
+is not," we may now consider how the Roman Empire was overthrown.
+
+
+Disintegration of the Western Half.
+
+We have seen that, at the accession of the Emperor Valentinian I. in
+A.D. 364, the Empire was divided into two parts. The succeeding century
+witnessed the disintegration of the western half. The cause was
+primarily from within. Augustus, the first Emperor, had instituted a
+policy of settling colonies of "barbarians" from northern Europe within
+the frontiers of the Empire. Later Emperors adopted the policy more
+generally. The significance of this lies in the fact that by the
+barbarians who had already been thus established in the Empire, the
+attacks were commenced which resulted in the dismemberment of its
+western provinces.
+
+
+Alaric and the Goths.
+
+At the close of the fourth century hordes of Gothic tribes from
+north-eastern and eastern Germany set out, under Alaric their chief, in
+quest of new lands. Settlements of these very Goths had already been
+established south of the Danube by the Imperial Government as allies of
+the Romans. After an excursion into Italy, in which they were
+temporarily checked, they poured, in 406, into defenceless Gaul. From
+thence Alaric returned to invade Italy, and three times in three years
+besieged Rome (408-410), eventually sacking the city. After his death,
+in 410, the Goths retired from Italy, entered Gaul, and permanently
+occupied the southern part of that country and a large part of Spain,
+where they were known as =Visigoths= (_i.e._, Western Goths).
+
+Other Germanic tribes also streamed into Gaul. Of these, the =Franks=
+(whence the name France) issued from districts around the middle and
+lower Rhine and occupied northern Gaul; the =Suevi=, from north and
+north-west Germany, passed through into Spain; the =Alani=, formerly
+from eastern Europe, settled in west France and Spain; the
+=Burgundians=, from eastern Germany, seized that part of Gaul which
+eventually was named after them, Burgundy. The =Vandals=, from northern
+and central Germany, after being defeated by the Franks, crossed into
+Spain under their leader Genseric, and from thence established
+themselves in the province of Africa, in 429. This occupation of Gaul
+and Spain was soon perforce recognised by the Emperor at Rome. At the
+death of the Emperor Honorius, in 423, Rome exercised little more than a
+nominal authority over the greater part of the west.
+
+From Britain the Roman troops were withdrawn by Honorius, in 409, though
+the final abandonment of the island province did not take place till
+436. Teutonic tribes from North Europe were soon engaged in invading
+this part of the Empire. The =Jutes=, from Jutland, landed in 449, the
+=Saxons= in 477, and about the same time the =Angles=.
+
+
+Attila and the Huns.
+
+Toward the close of the reign of Valentinian III. (433-455), Gaul and
+Italy were invaded by the =Huns= under Attila. The Huns originally
+inhabited a large part of central and northern Asia. In the latter part
+of the fourth century they moved west into Scythia and Germany, driving
+the Goths before them. Attila's dominions thereafter extended over a
+vast area of eastern, central, and northern Europe, and he was regarded
+as of equal standing with the Emperors at Constantinople and Rome. After
+a gigantic but futile incursion into Gaul, in 451, the Huns rushed into
+Italy, ravaging its northern plains. An embassy from Rome and an immense
+ransom saved the situation. Attila died in 453, and Italy was evacuated.
+The Huns eventually settled in south-eastern Europe, and their dominion
+dwindled away. A trace of their name may be found in the word Hungary.
+
+
+Genseric and the Vandals.
+
+In North Africa Genseric the Vandal established a powerful dominion, and
+set about preparing an invasion of Italy by sea. In 455 (the last year
+of the reign of Valentinian III.) his army of Vandals and Moors attacked
+Rome, which was again given over to pillage. Its wealth and treasures
+were transported to Carthage, and with them the vessels of the temple at
+Jerusalem; these had been brought to Rome in A.D. 70 by Titus, the
+conqueror of Jerusalem. For twenty years after Genseric's achievement
+Roman Emperors existed in little else than name, the real power being
+in the hands of a barbarian officer. In 476 the last Emperor was deposed
+by Odoacer, the king of the Heruli, a tribe which, issuing from the
+shores of the Baltic, made successful inroads into Italy and occupied
+much of the country. Odoacer was, at the request of the Roman Senate,
+given the reins of government by the eastern Emperor Zeno, and news was
+despatched to the court at Constantinople that no longer was there an
+Emperor of the west. Subsequently, in 493, Odoacer was slain by
+Theodoric, the king of the =Ostrogoths=, who then became predominant in
+the Italian peninsula. The Ostrogoths (_i.e._, Eastern Goths) had broken
+off from the main body of their nation, and after settling south of the
+Danube moved into the province of Dalmatia.
+
+
+Northern Limits of the Empire.
+
+Other Germanic tribes, in addition to those named above, firmly
+established themselves within the northern limits of the Empire. Of
+these, two are worthy of mention, the =Alemanni=, who occupied most of
+what is now Switzerland and districts northward, and the =Lombards=, who
+settled in north Italy and the territory north-east of it.
+
+
+The Ten Kingdoms not Formed by the Germanic Invasions.
+
+There have been various attempts to identify with the ten prophetic
+kingdoms the states formed from the western half of the Roman Empire by
+the Germanic tribes from the north. Such attempts fail from the
+standpoints both of history and of prophecy. To group the tribes so as
+to make ten kingdoms out of them is, of course, possible in several
+ways, for there were at least eighteen such tribes. Accordingly lists
+put forward differ considerably. But such grouping is manifestly
+arbitrary. Again, since these invading nations occupied only the western
+half of the Empire, the above allocation of the ten kingdoms necessarily
+leaves the eastern half out of consideration, and therefore excludes the
+land of Palestine from this stage of the prophetic forecast.
+
+Now the prophecies concerning the times of the Gentiles are invariably
+focussed upon the Jews and their land. The dealings of God with the Jews
+form the pivot of His dealings with other nations. Thus no scheme of
+prophetic exposition relative to this subject is to be regarded as
+Scriptural which excludes Palestine from its scope. To endeavour to
+make the Word of God square with facts of history is to tamper with
+Scripture and to run the risk of obscuring its meaning and force.
+
+The idea that the formation of the ten kingdoms took place in the fifth
+century fails to stand the test of Scripture in other respects. Of the
+ten kings prophecy foretells that "they receive authority as kings with
+the beast for one hour," that they "have one mind, and they give their
+power and authority unto the beast" (Rev. 17. 13, 14). No such tenfold
+confederacy has existed in Europe; it certainly never existed among the
+chieftains of the Germanic tribes which invaded the west of the Roman
+Empire in the fifth century, neither is there any record of such an
+agreement among them. Nor, again, can it be said that they made war with
+the Lamb and were overcome by Him (v. 14). These prophecies still await
+fulfilment. Similar considerations apply to the passage in Daniel 7 in
+reference to the fourth kingdom. The ten kings, it is said, would arise
+out of that kingdom, and after them another king who would make war with
+the saints and prevail against them until the Ancient of Days came (vv.
+21, 22, 24).
+
+Again, since the persecution under the king who arises after the others
+continues until the Ancient of Days comes (v. 22), his war against the
+saints must have lasted from the fifth century until the present time,
+if he arose in that century. Moreover, as he was said to be going to
+subdue three kingdoms (v. 24), the seven kingdoms not so subdued must
+likewise have continued. This has obviously not been the case. From
+every point of view it is impossible to assign the tenfold division to
+any time in the past.
+
+[Illustration: The Turkish Empire in the 16th Century.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE OVERTHROW IN THE EAST: THE TURKISH EMPIRE.
+
+
+Having narrated the disintegration of the western half of the Empire, we
+will now recount the events which involved the overthrow of the eastern
+half. The impoverishment of the imperial power at Rome, and the
+weakening effect of the Germanic attacks upon it, tended to enhance the
+power of the Emperor at Constantinople. Indeed the eastern Empire was
+soon regarded as the more important of the two, and for some time after
+the barbarian invasions in Italy the Emperors at Constantinople
+claimed supremacy over the west.
+
+
+Mohammed and the Khaliphs.
+
+The seventh century saw the ascendency of Mohammed (born A.D. 570) in
+Arabia, to which country his personal power, temporal and religious, was
+limited. Upon his death, in 632, his followers determined on the
+invasion of Persia and the Asiatic dominions of the Emperor at
+Constantinople. Mohammed's successor, Abubekr, the first of the Khaliphs
+(_i.e._, "representatives" of the prophet), at once waged war in both
+directions. Persia speedily succumbed; Syria and Palestine were
+subjugated after seven years by the Khaliph Omar. The reduction of Egypt
+followed, and during the remainder of this century the Saracens, the
+name by which the followers of Mohammed became termed in Christendom,
+extended their territory across the entire length of North Africa, and
+shortly afterwards even into Spain, where they overpowered the then
+disunited Visigoths.
+
+The Saracen power in Western Asia was distracted during the next century
+by civil war, and was further weakened by unsuccessful wars against the
+Greeks. At length, in 750, the seat of government was moved from
+Damascus to Bagdad. From the eighth century onward, though the religion
+of Mohammed gained ground, and continues to do so to-day, the empire
+established by his followers dwindled rapidly, one province after
+another shaking off its allegiance until at the end of the tenth century
+its shattered dominions lay open to the nearest invader. The foe
+appeared in the shape of the formidable Turk.
+
+
+Eastern Empire at End of 10th Century.
+
+In view of the entrance of this new enemy we may note the extent of the
+territory belonging at this time to the eastern branch of the old Roman
+world, the Byzantine Empire, as it is termed (from Byzantium, the
+ancient name of Constantinople). The Eastern Emperors had recovered some
+of their lost ground in Asia, and at the close of the tenth century they
+held all Asia Minor, Armenia, a part of Syria, a considerable portion of
+Italy, and all the Balkan Peninsula.
+
+
+The Appearance of the Turks.
+
+Beyond the north-eastern border of the Saracen dominions lay the country
+of Turkestan, inhabited by the Turks, a branch of the warlike nation of
+the Tartars of Central Asia. With them the Saracens, after the
+establishment of their Government at Bagdad, waged successful warfare
+for a time, taking numbers of Turks captive and dispersing them over the
+Empire. This only facilitated the eventual downfall of the Saracen
+sovereignty. The Turks in Western Asia grew in influence, and at length
+the Turkish troops, breaking into open revolt, assumed control over the
+Khaliphate, deposing and nominating the Khaliphs at their will.
+
+
+The Turks Embrace Mohammedanism.
+
+Early in the eleventh century the bulk of the Turkish nation, under its
+leader Tongrol Bek, moving out from Turkestan, swept down upon Persia.
+The Khaliphate at Bagdad was, however, permitted to remain, and not only
+so, but Tongrol Bek and all his tribes embraced the Mohammedan religion.
+The invaders then marched west in vast numbers to make an attack upon
+Christendom, and in the course of time subdued Armenia and most of Asia
+Minor. Europe became alarmed, and the Byzantine Emperors eagerly sought
+the assistance of the nations of the west. Hence arose the Crusades,
+which had as their chief object the deliverance of Palestine from both
+Saracens and Turks, and which served to retard, though not to prevent,
+the advance of the Turkish power in Europe.
+
+
+The Turks Enter Europe.
+
+Early in the thirteenth century a mighty movement of Mongols south-west
+from Central Asia, involving the immediate destruction of the Khaliphate
+at Bagdad, exerted an important influence upon the Turks, in driving
+those Turkish tribes which had remained east of Armenia westward into
+Asia Minor. This resulted in the establishment of various Turkish
+dynasties in that country. At the close of the thirteenth century the
+paramount power over these was exercised by Osman (or Othman, whence the
+name Ottoman), who seized all that remained of the ancient Roman world
+in Asia, and thus practically founded the Ottoman Empire. In the middle
+of the fourteenth century the way was opened for the Ottomans to advance
+into Europe. They were invited by one of the rival factions at
+Constantinople to undertake their cause. The Turks accordingly crossed
+the Hellespont and seized Gallipoli and the territory in the vicinity of
+the capital. Constantinople itself was left unattacked for the time.
+Under Murad I., the grandson of Osman, Roumania and several kingdoms
+south of the Danube, including Bulgaria, were subdued. The kings of
+Hungary, Bosnia and Serbia rose against the invader, but were severely
+defeated, and by the decisive victory of Kosovo, in 1389, Serbia and
+Bosnia were annexed.
+
+
+Constantinople Taken.
+
+Constantinople was temporarily saved by another advance of the Mongol
+Tartars upon the Turkish dominions in Asia, where, in 1402, the Ottomans
+suffered a severe defeat. From this check they recovered, and during the
+first part of the fifteenth century were at war with the Hungarians and
+neighbouring races, whom they eventually overthrew. In 1451 Mohammed II.
+ascended the Ottoman throne, and in 1453 led an immense army against
+Constantinople. The city was taken by storm, the last of the Roman
+Emperors of the east died fighting, and Mohammed II. rode in triumph to
+the cathedral of St. Sophia, where he established the Moslem worship.
+
+For over a hundred years after this the Turkish Empire continued to
+extend. Egypt was annexed in 1517, and in the middle of this century
+Tripoli and Algeria were added, as well as considerable districts in
+Europe and Asia. The Turks were now at the zenith of their power.
+
+
+A Comparison of the Two Divisions.
+
+Recapitulating, we may compare the two divisions of the Roman Empire
+since their overthrow, from the _prophetic_, _religious_ and _political_
+standpoints. From the _prophetic_ point of view our interest in the west
+has thus far centred in the fact that the ten kingdoms were not formed
+by the fifth century invasions; our interest in the east centres chiefly
+in the land of Palestine, wrenched, as we have seen, from the eastern
+Emperor by the Saracens, and then occupied by the Turks, who still
+possess it. From the _religious_ standpoint, the Germanic tribes in the
+west accepted Roman Catholicism, hence its progress in that part of
+Europe; in the east the Turks had accepted Mohammedanism when invading
+the Empire of the Khaliphs, hence the establishment of Islamism
+throughout the Turkish dominions. _Politically_, the western invasion in
+the fifth century, and the consequent amalgamation of the Teutonic
+tribes with the peoples formerly under Roman control, led eventually to
+the formation of the various mediaeval monarchies of Western Europe
+which are to-day either kingdoms or republics. Affairs in the eastern
+half of the Roman world have moved more slowly in this respect, owing to
+the prolonged existence of the Ottoman Empire. The slow decay of the
+Turkish power from the middle of the sixteenth century onward has
+already resulted in the formation of some Eastern States, and the
+process still continues.
+
+
+The Decline of the Turkish Empire.
+
+The decline of the power of the Turks set in during the latter half of
+the sixteenth century, when their dominions passed under incapable
+rulers. In the reign of Selim II. (1566-1574) occurred the first
+conflict between the Turks and Russians, the former being driven back
+from Astrakkan. In 1593, during a war between Turkey and Austria, the
+provinces of Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia rose in revolt. As
+the result of intermittent wars in the latter half of the seventeenth
+century Austria acquired almost the whole of _Hungary_. In 1770 Russia
+occupied _Moldavia_ and _Wallachia_, which though nominally for a time
+under Turkey were practically Russian protectorates. During the next
+few years Russia regained the Crimea and all the neighbouring district
+north of the Black Sea. At the commencement of the nineteenth century
+the Ottoman Empire was in a perilous condition. Napoleon had plans for
+its partition. Provincial governors were everywhere acting independently
+of the Sultan. In 1804 _Serbia_ revolted, and after a few years of
+persistent struggle obtained its autonomy. _Greece_ revolted in 1820,
+and, though subdued for a time, gained its independence in 1829 through
+the intervention of England, France, and Russia, and chiefly as the
+result of the naval battle of Navarino, in which the Turco-Egyptian
+fleet was annihilated. In the same year _Algeria_ was annexed by the
+French. European rivalries prevented for a time any rapid diminution of
+the Empire.
+
+The Crimean War of 1854-5 had important consequences for the Balkan
+peoples. It gave them, under the slackening grasp of the Porte, twenty
+years of comparatively quiet national development. In 1860 Wallachia and
+Moldavia formed themselves into the single state of _Roumania_. In 1866
+the Pasha of Egypt assumed the title of Khedive (_i.e._, king), thereby
+securing a measure of independence for the country. In 1875 the misrule
+of the Sultan led to the insurrection of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and
+Bulgaria. Serbia and Montenegro then took up arms. In 1877 a war with
+Russia saw Turkey without an ally. A complete Russian victory in 1878
+issued in the treaties first of San Stefano and then of Berlin, by which
+Turkey yielded to Russia the state of _Bessarabia_ and districts south
+of the Caucasus, the independence of _Serbia_, _Montenegro_, and
+_Roumania_ were recognised by the Porte, _Bulgaria_ was constituted an
+autonomous state, _Bosnia_ and _Herzegovina_ were ceded to Austria,
+_Thessaly_ to Greece, and _Cyprus_ to Britain. In 1885, as the result of
+a revolution, Eastern _Roumelia_ became united to Bulgaria. Shortly
+after that date German influence began to gain ascendancy at the court
+of the Sultan, and, among other affairs, largely dominated the granting
+of railway concessions in Western Asia. The effects of that influence
+have been evidenced in the present war. In 1912 Italy annexed _Tripoli_
+after a brief war. In 1913 a short but sanguinary war with the Balkan
+States deprived Turkey of all her European dominions save for a small
+piece of territory in the vicinity of Constantinople. _Egypt_, which
+has been chiefly under British control for a considerable period, has in
+1915 been practically annexed by Britain as a protectorate, the Khedive
+being deposed and a nominee of the British Government being placed in
+authority. Britain has likewise annexed a district north of the Persian
+Gulf.
+
+
+The Coming Overthrow.
+
+The continual decrease of the Turkish Empire, and more especially during
+the past hundred years, affords ground, apart from other considerations,
+for the expectation of its overthrow and the eventual cession of
+Palestine to the Jews, perhaps by a general agreement among the European
+Powers, events which seem not far distant. National jealousies would not
+permit the permanent annexation of Palestine by any one of these Powers,
+in whatever way the remaining Asiatic Turkish dominions may be divided.
+A proposal has already been put forward for its annexation to Egypt.
+Such an arrangement would in any case be merely temporary. To the Jews
+the land belongs, and by Divine decree the Jews are to possess it
+again.
+
+[Illustration: The Turkish Empire in 1914.]
+
+
+A Blank in Prophecy.
+
+It should be observed, in passing, that Scripture is apparently silent
+concerning the occupation of Palestine by the Saracens and Turks. Such
+silence is noticeable when we remember how definitely the occupation by
+the other Gentile powers, the Chaldean, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman,
+and the order and character of their rule, were predicted. The cause of
+the silence is not difficult to ascertain. The four Gentile powers just
+mentioned had to do with the Jews as the recognised possessors of
+Palestine, either by way of removing them from their country or
+restoring them to it, or during such time as they were permitted to
+remain in it with liberty to continue their temple worship and
+sacrifice. The Chaldeans removed the Jews from the land, the
+Medo-Persians repatriated them, the Greeks permitted their continuance
+in it, the Romans did so too, until A.D. 70, when they crushed them.
+When, however, the Saracens and the Turks seized the land the Jews had
+been scattered, nor have they received national recognition while under
+them. Gentile occupation of Palestine during such times as the Jews
+remain in their present condition seems therefore to receive no direct
+notice in prophecy.
+
+The restoration of Palestine to the Jews is closely connected with the
+revival of the Roman Empire in its tenfold form. Prior to considering
+the manner of this revival we must notice how during the period between
+the overthrow of that Empire and its coming resuscitation, its dominions
+and their government have remained Roman in character, thus affording a
+further proof that the coming and final world-power will not be entirely
+a new one, but will be a revival of the ancient Roman or fourth empire
+indicated in the prophecies of Daniel.
+
+
+The Continuation of Roman Government and Influence.
+
+Such was the prestige of the Roman name and authority that the
+chieftains of the Germanic tribes which in the fifth century subdued the
+western half of the Empire governed the conquered territories, not so
+much as tribal chiefs, but as successors to, and in continuation of, the
+imperial rule; they introduced no radical changes in the provincial and
+municipal forms of government of their predecessors. Civil organisation
+remained distinctly Roman, and has continued so; upon it are based some
+of the chief municipal institutions of modern life. Indeed Roman civil
+law still remains the foundation of modern jurisprudence.
+
+In south-eastern Europe, too, countries which were for centuries under
+the power of the Turk retained, in their municipal institutions and
+organisation, the impress of Roman authority. It should be remembered
+that though the eastern or Byzantine portion of the ancient Roman Empire
+was distinct from the western, its emperors being designated as Grecian
+in contrast to the Roman, yet its legislative foundations were laid in
+the Roman Empire prior to the division of the east from the west.
+Byzantine imperialism was therefore really Roman under an eastern title.
+According as the states in the east have become freed from the Turkish
+yoke, so the character of their government and legislation has conformed
+in a large degree to those of the west. The further diminution of the
+Turkish Empire will doubtless see a corresponding revival of western
+conditions and methods.
+
+
+Roman Imperialism Continued.
+
+It is important also to observe that notwithstanding the passing away of
+the Roman Empire as such, the principle of imperialism remained, and,
+amidst the vicissitudes of national government in Europe, has continued
+to the present time. The imperial power in the west was not abolished
+when in 476 the last Roman Emperor was deposed. On the contrary, there
+was a kind of reunion imperially of the west with the east. For a
+considerable time the tribal kings of the west received recognition from
+the eastern emperors, and were regarded as their associates in imperial
+control. This was the case even with the Saxon kings in Britain, and on
+Saxon coins may be seen to-day the same title, _basileus_ (_i.e._,
+king), as was borne by the emperors at Constantinople. Italy itself was
+wrested from the Teutons by the eastern Emperor Justinian in the sixth
+century, and remained under the Byzantine Caesars till 731.
+
+Meanwhile the Roman Senate continued to exercise its authority, and in
+800 chose the Frankish king Charlemagne as their sovereign. He was
+already ruling over the greater part of Western Europe, and was now
+crowned as Emperor at Rome by the Pope. Though his empire fell to pieces
+after his death, his dominions retained, and have since retained, their
+Roman character.
+
+Consideration of space forbids our tracing here the further continuance
+of imperialism as a factor in European politics. Recent history and
+present-day events indicate how rapidly we are approaching its final
+development at the close of the times of the Gentiles. The coming
+confederacy of European states will not result in the formation of a new
+empire, but will be the revival of the Roman in an altered form.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE COMING REVIVAL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
+
+
+(1) _The Geographical Standpoint._
+
+The coming revival of the Roman Empire will for our present purpose be
+best considered from the geographical, political, and religious
+standpoints.
+
+
+Geographical Considerations.
+
+Any forecast of the exact delimitations of the ten kingdoms constituting
+the reconstructed Empire must necessarily be largely conjectural. That
+their aggregate area will precisely conform to that of the ancient Roman
+Empire does not necessarily follow from the fact of its revival, and
+cannot be definitely concluded from Scripture. An extension of the
+territories of the Empire in its resuscitated form would be quite
+consistent with the retention of its identity. Moreover, if Roman
+imperialism may be considered to have continued in the hands of Teutonic
+monarchs after the fall of the western part of the Empire in 476, if,
+for instance, Charles the Great, of whom we have spoken (p. 58), ruled
+as a Roman Emperor, despite the passing away of the actual Empire
+itself, then the dominions which were under the rule of these later
+monarchs may yet be found incorporated in the Empire, and so form parts
+of the ten kingdoms. In that case Germany and Holland would be included.
+Possibly, too, the Empire will embrace all the territories which
+belonged to the three which preceded it, the Grecian, Medo-Persian, and
+Chaldean. Certainly when the stone fell on the toes of the image, the
+whole image, representing these former three as well as the fourth, was
+demolished. Suggestive also in this respect is the fact that the beast
+in the vision recorded in Revelation 13. 2 was possessed of features of
+the leopard, the bear, and the lion, the same beasts which represented
+in Daniel's vision the Grecian, Medo-Persian, and Chaldean kingdoms
+(Dan. 7. 4-6), the order in Revelation 13 being inverted. While
+political characteristics are doubtless chiefly in view in these
+symbols, there may at the same time be an indication of the eventual
+incorporation of the first three empires in the fourth. It must be
+remembered, too, that the authority of the federal head of the ten
+kingdoms is to be world-wide: "There was given to him authority over
+every tribe and people and tongue and nation" (Rev. 13. 7). It is
+probable, therefore, that while the ten kingdoms will occupy a well
+defined area, their dependencies and the countries which are allied with
+them will embrace practically the remainder of the world.
+
+If, on the other hand, the Roman Empire is to be reconstructed in exact
+conformity territorially with its ancient boundaries--such a
+reconstruction is, of course, not inconceivable--we must consider what
+period of the conquests of the ancient Empire to take, whether under the
+first emperor, Augustus, or during the Apostolic Age, or later. We may,
+perhaps, be helped by the facts already mentioned, that prophecy
+relating to Gentile dominion is focussed upon the Jews and Palestine,
+and has especially in view the presence of the nation in their land.
+Now, shortly after their overthrow, in A.D. 70, their national
+recognition as possessors of the land ceased. This period, moreover,
+corresponds broadly to the close of the Apostolic Age. The dispersion of
+the Jews among the nations was completed by Adrian in the next century.
+He desolated the whole of Palestine, expelling all the remaining Jewish
+inhabitants.
+
+
+A Review of the Ancient Territories.
+
+We will therefore now review the limits of the Empire and of some of its
+provinces at that time, noticing certain circumstances of past and
+present history suggestive of future issues. In doing so we are not
+predicting that the boundaries of the revived Empire will be those of
+the ancient.
+
+Commencing with North Africa, it will be observed, on referring to the
+map, that practically the same strip of territory which belonged to the
+Roman Empire in the times of the apostles has passed directly under the
+government of countries which were themselves then within the Empire.
+For Spain rules over Morocco, France over Algeria and Tunis, Italy
+recently seized Tripoli, and Britain has, since Turkey's entrance into
+the great war, virtually taken possession of Egypt. It seems not a
+little significant that no country which was outside the limits of the
+Empire at the time under consideration has been permitted by God to
+annex these North African territories since the Saracens and the Turks
+were dispossessed of them.
+
+Passing now to Asia, the territory in that continent which belonged to
+Rome in the first century is approximately what remained to Turkey
+immediately prior to the present war. Mesopotamia and most of Armenia
+were included. The war has already seen Turkey dispossessed of portions
+of these. The downfall of the Turkish Empire would almost certainly
+involve territorial rearrangements of deepest import in the light of
+prophecy, especially as regards Palestine.
+
+
+Divisions of the Greek Empire: A Possible Renewal.
+
+The 8th chapter of Daniel apparently indicates that the Asiatic
+territories of the Empire will be divided much as they were under the
+Greeks after the death of Alexander the Great. He was obviously
+symbolised by the great horn (v. 22). The four horns which came up in
+its place (v. 8) are clearly, too, the four generals who succeeded
+Alexander, and among whom his dominions were divided, Cassander ruling
+over Macedonia and Greece, Lysimachus over part of Asia Minor and Thrace
+(the extent of the latter province was almost exactly what now belongs
+to Turkey in Europe), Seleucus over most of Syria, Palestine,
+Mesopotamia, and the east, and Ptolemy over Egypt. Next follows a
+prediction carrying us to events which are evidently yet future. It is
+said, for instance, that these events will take place "in the latter
+time of their kingdom (not, it will be observed, in the time of the four
+kings themselves who succeeded Alexander, but of the kingdoms over which
+they ruled), when the transgressors are come to the full" (v. 23). The
+expressions in this chapter, "the time of the end" (v. 17), "the latter
+time of the indignation," "the appointed time of the end" (v. 19), and
+"the latter time of their kingdom" (v. 23), all point to a period still
+future, namely, to the close of the present age. Again, in reference to
+the "king of fierce countenance," while much of the prophecy can be
+applied to Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century B.C., yet no man
+has hitherto arisen whose character and acts have been precisely those
+related in verses 9-12 and 23-25. We may also compare what is said of
+"the transgression that maketh desolate" (v. 13) with the Lord's
+prophecy concerning the abomination of desolation (Matt. 24. 15-22), a
+prophecy which also manifestly awaits fulfilment.
+
+Possibly, therefore, these Asiatic territories will be similarly divided
+in the coming time. In regard to the first of the above-mentioned four
+divisions, the recent extension of Greece to include the ancient
+province of Macedonia is remarkable. This was an outcome of the Balkan
+War of 1912. The boundaries of Greece are now approximately what they
+were under Cassander in the time of the Grecian Empire, what they were
+also later as the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia in the Roman Empire.
+There has lately, therefore, been a significant reversion to ancient
+conditions in this respect.
+
+
+Other European Territories.
+
+Coming now to the dual-monarchy of Austria-Hungary, reference to the map
+of the Roman Empire in the Apostolic Age will show that what are now
+Hungary, Transylvania, Bessarabia, and other states of the present
+monarchy were without the Roman boundaries, while Pannonia, or what is
+now Austria west of the Danube, was within; even when in the next
+century Dacia (now Transylvania, Bessarabia, &c.) was annexed, the two
+parts of the present dual kingdom were separate. The separation of
+Hungary from Austria has for a considerable time been a practical
+question of European politics, and may be hastened by present events.
+
+The northern and north-eastern boundaries of Italy embraced the Trentino
+and the peninsula of Istria. Noticeable, therefore, are the present
+efforts of Italy to acquire these very districts, efforts which seem
+likely to achieve success. Roman states north of Italy covered what are
+now Baden, Wurtemberg, Luxemberg, and a large part of Bavaria. The
+possibility of an eventual severance of these from Prussian domination
+has been much discussed of late.
+
+The Rhenish provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, originally portions of the
+Roman province of Gallia (now France), were snatched from France by
+Germany in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. Their recovery is a
+supreme object of the efforts of the French in the present war, and not
+without hope of success.
+
+
+The British Empire.
+
+As to Britain, at the time under consideration the greater part of the
+island was definitely included in the Roman Empire. Ireland and most of
+Scotland were never conquered by the Romans. Should Britain form one of
+the ten kingdoms, there is nothing to show that Ireland or any other
+part of the British Empire must of necessity be absolutely separated
+from it. Self-government may yet be possessed by those territories which
+have not yet received it, and it is significant that Ireland has now
+practically obtained it. That the lands which are linked with Britain as
+dependencies, or as in possession of self-government, should remain as
+integral parts of the Empire is but consistent with the coming
+world-wide authority of the potentate who will be the federal head of
+the ten kingdoms. And that each state in the British Empire should have
+its own local government is, on the other hand, consistent with the
+establishment of a closer and complete confederacy of ten kingdoms, the
+area of which may correspond largely to that of the ancient Roman
+Empire. In contrast to the self-government of the other countries of the
+world at the coming period, the ten united kingdoms will eventually be
+absolutely under the control of the final emperor just mentioned, for
+the ten kings over these states, who receive authority as kings with
+him, will be of one mind to give their power and authority and their
+kingdom to him (Rev. 17. 12, 13, 17).
+
+What has been said of the British Empire may be true also of others of
+the ten kingdoms which have colonies or dependencies, and thus, while
+the ten kingdoms will themselves constitute an Empire, their alliances
+and treaties with other countries of the world will apparently involve
+an extension of the authority of the controlling despot "over every
+tribe and people and tongue and nation" (Rev. 13. 7). If, for instance,
+the United States of America were at that time in alliance with Britain
+(quite a possible contingency), their joint influence would probably
+extend to the whole of the American continents, which would thereby
+acknowledge his authority.
+
+We may observe, too, the way in which the continent of Africa has come
+under certain European influences in modern times. The mention of this
+is simply suggestive. That the Scripture will be absolutely fulfilled
+is beyond doubt; the exact mode of its accomplishment is known to God.
+
+
+(2) _The Political Standpoint._
+
+
+European Federation.
+
+Agencies are already at work for the establishment of a confederacy of
+European States--not the least significant of the many signs that the
+end of the age is approaching. The movement towards confederacy is
+doubtless receiving an impetus from the great upheaval in Europe. A
+circular issued in December, 1914, and distributed far and wide,
+announced the formation of a committee of influential men with the
+object of promoting a "European Federation." The circular says: "In
+sight of the present situation of ruin it ought to be the general
+opinion that a firmer economical and political tie is of utmost
+importance for all nations without exception, and that particularly for
+Europe the narrower bond of a federation, based on equality and interior
+independence of all partaking states, is of urgent necessity, which
+public opinion ought to demand."
+
+A pamphlet published by the Committee recommends that the union of
+states shall be economical, political, and legal, with an international
+army as a common guarantee, and that European Federation should become
+the principal and most urgent political battle-cry for the masses of all
+European nations, and declares that "when the Governments are willing,
+when the public opinion of all peoples forces them to be willing, there
+is no doubt but that a reasonable and practical union of nations will
+prove to be as possible and natural as is at present a union of
+provinces, cantons, territories, whose populations often show more
+difference of race and character than those of nations now at
+hostilities." The Committee calls upon the peoples of Europe to suffer
+the diplomatists no longer to dispose of them like slaves and by
+militarism to lash them to fury against each other. It calls upon them
+to see to it that never and nowhere should a member of any body or
+Government be elected who is not an advocate of the Federation, and that
+the trade union, society, or club to which any individual belongs should
+express sympathy with the movement in meetings and in votes. "The
+people," it is said, "have it now in their power, more than ever before,
+to control the Powers."
+
+
+Two Possible Ways of Federation.
+
+The formation of ten federated states, covering at least the area of the
+ancient Empire at the end of the first century of the present era, may
+be effected in two ways, either by the peaceful methods of arbitration
+and treaty, or as a result of strife and confusion. That the present
+European War will be succeeded by efforts for the creation of permanent
+international harmony and universal peace is probable, as is also some
+attempt at such a federation as is proposed by the above-mentioned
+Committee. On the other hand, sinister indications abound to-day which
+point to industrial strife and revolution rather than peace. The
+condition of the industrial world presents a gloomy prospect indeed.
+There are ominous signs of keener conflict than ever between capital and
+labour. The forces of Socialism, Syndicalism, Communism, &c., are
+rapidly increasing in power and in international activity, and their
+avowed aims presage anything but peace in the near future. We may take,
+for example, the declared objects of "The Alliance of the Social
+Democracy"--now incorporated in the International Working Men's
+Association--"To destroy all States and all Churches with all their
+institutions and laws, religious, political, juridical, financial,
+magisterial, academical, economical, and social, and to establish in
+their place industrial co-operation and collective ownership of land and
+capital." All this sounds very pretentious, and would probably fail of
+complete accomplishment, but the agencies at work for it are strong.
+Attempts on a large scale would certainly lead to unprecedented disorder
+and chaos.
+
+
+The Sea Symbolic of National Unrest.
+
+Not improbably the ten kingdoms of the reconstructed Roman Empire will
+arise as a result of political and social confusion. Thus it was in the
+case of the French Revolution and the consequent uprising of Napoleon. A
+repetition of such events on a far wider scale in the future is quite
+conceivable. In the prophetic vision given to the Apostle John, the
+beast was seen "coming up out of the sea" (Rev. 13. 1). Now the sea is
+in Scripture used figuratively of the nations, its characteristic
+restlessness symbolising their commotion and strife. Compare the words
+of Isaiah: "Ah, the uproar of many peoples, which roar like the roaring
+of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of
+many waters! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but
+He shall rebuke them" (Isa. 17. 12, 13; see also Psa. 65. 7; and Ezek.
+26. 3). To national unrest the Lord Jesus applied similar language when
+He foretold to the disciples that there would be "upon the earth
+distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the
+billows; men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which
+are coming on the world" (Luke 21. 25, 26). So also the waters which
+John had seen in his vision are described by the angel as "peoples, and
+multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (Rev. 17. 15). Daniel, too, saw
+the four great beasts come up from the sea as a result of the breaking
+forth of the four winds of the Heaven upon it, an undoubted
+representation of a condition of national disturbance (Dan. 7. 2, 3).
+That the beast of Revelation 13. 1 was seen coming up out of the sea
+points, therefore, to the probability that the ten kings who will have
+brief authority over the revived Empire will be raised to their kingdom,
+not by constitutional methods, but as the result of revolutions and the
+collapse of present-day governments and institutions.
+
+
+Revolutions and their Issues.
+
+Should any great measure of success attend the syndicalist and communist
+movements of the day, and especially if they are internationalised, the
+inevitable revolutions and disorder would almost certainly issue, as
+revolutions have so frequently issued, in despotism and autocracy, and
+perhaps in this way the ten kings would arise. The overthrow of the
+governments in the countries involved would remove what has certainly
+been the great restraint upon lawlessness[A] from the times of the
+apostles until now. Everything would be ripe for the appearance of a
+universal potentate. The cry would arise for "a man," a controlling
+organiser to bring order out of chaos. The unstable character of the
+rule of the ten kings, and the impoverishment of their kingdoms, would
+lead them, as a matter of diplomacy, to hand over their authority to
+him.
+
+  [A] See "The Epistles to the Thessalonians, with Notes Exegetical and
+  Expository," by C. F. Hogg and W. E. Vine, note _c._ pp. 259, 260.
+  (Glasgow: Pickering & Inglis. 3/9, p.f.)
+
+
+The Iron and the Clay.
+
+The political constitution of the successive empires during "the time of
+the Gentiles" was indicated in the image of Nebuchadnezzar's vision by
+the various substances of which the parts of the image were composed.
+While the regular deterioration in the relative value of these
+substances is noticeable, we are concerned now with those of the legs
+and feet. The legs were of iron, and the feet part of iron and part of
+potter's clay, not moist or miry clay, but "earthenware" (Dan. 2. 41,
+R.V., margin), and consequently brittle (v. 42, margin).
+
+That the iron symbolised militarism seems clear from what is said of the
+fourth kingdom, that "as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all
+things: and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces
+and crush" (v. 40). Nations are broken and crushed by military power,
+and thus the nations were treated by the Romans. This was further
+signified by the iron teeth of the fourth beast, as is definitely stated
+in Daniel 7. 19, 23: "And shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread
+it down, and break it in pieces."
+
+The supposition that the clay represents democracy is gratuitous and
+arbitrary. The early Roman Empire, symbolised by the legs of the image,
+was built up under democratic rule. When republicanism was superseded
+by imperialism, democratic principles still prevailed. Democracy,
+therefore, played its part from the very commencement of the fourth
+kingdom, and had it been symbolised by the clay, not only the feet and
+toes but the legs themselves would have consisted of mingled iron and
+clay. Moreover, democracy in the generally accepted sense of the term
+has not always been found to be of an unstable or brittle character;
+witness the republicanism of the United States. Democracies, too, may be
+established on strictly constitutional principles.
+
+Another explanation, therefore, of the symbolism of the clay must be
+sought, and it is not unlikely to be found in those revolutionary
+principles to which we have already referred, which were evidenced at
+the time of the French Revolution, and are finding expression, though in
+greater variety to-day, in such projects as those of the International
+Working Men's Association. Certainly the masses of the people of Europe
+are being permeated both by militarism and by the revolutionary
+doctrines of which we have spoken. Should these principles spread among
+the civil services and forces, everything would be in a complete state
+of preparedness for Unprecedented Political and Social Upheaval
+
+which would effect the overthrow of present forms of government. From
+the world's point of view the situation would require a consummate
+genius with powers of world-wide organisation. Doubtless Satan's
+masterpiece of infidel ingenuity would be at hand for the occasion.
+
+We are not predicting that this is to be the manner of the revival of
+the Empire and of the advent of its imperial head. We have merely
+suggested possible circumstances in the light of Scripture and
+present-day movements. The actual circumstances attending the rise of
+the ten kings and their Emperor must for the time remain conjectural.
+Certainly these kings will receive authority with him for one hour (Rev.
+17. 12), a phrase which may be translated "at the same time;" and
+certainly they will agree to give their power and authority to him (v.
+13).
+
+(3) _The Religious Standpoint._
+
+We will now note the religious conditions which are to prevail for a
+time upon the resuscitation of the Empire. These are plainly indicated
+for us in Revelation 17. The apostle sees a woman sitting on the
+seven-headed and ten-horned beast. The woman is gorgeously arrayed,
+holds in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, and is drunken with
+the blood of the saints. Her name, written on her forehead, is
+
+
+"Mystery, Babylon the Great,"
+
+"the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth" (vv.
+3-6). The woman is symbolically described as the city of Rome (v. 18),
+and that leads on to a second mention of Babylon, in chapter 18, and a
+new description. Now to the description of the woman in chapter 17
+nothing more closely corresponds than the Papacy. But if the Babylon of
+chapter 17 is to be identified with that of chapter 18, the Papacy
+answers to the whole description only to a limited extent. While,
+however, there is much in common in the two descriptions in these
+chapters, yet the two Babylons are possibly to be distinguished. The
+Babylon of chapter 17 is a "mystery," not so that of chapter 18. Again,
+the destruction of the one is different from that of the other. The
+first will be destroyed by the ten kings and their emperor (17. 16), the
+second by the direct judgment of God (18. 5, 8, 20); the first as the
+result of human antagonism, the second by famine, fire and earthquake.
+We are perhaps, therefore, justified in taking the more limited view in
+connection with the circumstances of chapter 17. Even so the woman may
+be regarded as representing the apostate sacerdotal systems which have
+sprung from the Papacy as well as that system itself.
+
+The position of the woman indicates an exercise of power which is
+voluntarily supported by the beast. That she sits upon the waters
+implies her religious dominion over the nations; that she is carried by
+the beast, who rules over the nations politically, implies that there
+will be a complete alliance between her and the ten kings with their
+chief, and that the sphere of her influence will be co-extensive with
+the dominions of the beast.
+
+
+The Papacy: Its Present Power.
+
+Now though the Papacy lost its temporal power in 1870, it is far from
+having lost its political influence. Ecclesiastically, too, though it
+has received various set-backs, it is manifestly gaining power. This is
+especially observable, for example, in Britain, the overthrow of which
+as a Protestant Power is undoubtedly the object of the persistent
+aggressiveness of Romanism. This aggressiveness is manifest in all the
+dominions of the British Empire, as well as in other lands.
+
+Again, while certain governments have of late shaken off the
+ecclesiastical yoke, and infidelity has spread among the people of Roman
+Catholic lands, the number of Roman Catholics has increased with great
+rapidity. They were estimated at somewhat over 200,000,000 twenty years
+ago, they are now said to number about 300,000,000.
+
+Indications are not wanting of a tendency towards
+
+
+A Reunion of Christendom,
+
+which would be facilitated by a willingness on the part of the Papacy to
+adapt itself to the impulse of the time.
+
+Present events, therefore, point to a great renewal of Papal power
+involving the fulfilment of the prophecy relating to the woman and the
+beast that carries her. This renewed alliance between the political and
+the ecclesiastical powers will, however, be of brief duration. The
+successful efforts of governments in recent times to liberate themselves
+from Papal authority, as in the case of France and Portugal, are but
+foreshadowings of the eventual entire destruction of ecclesiasticism and
+sacerdotalism under the revived Roman Empire. "The ten horns ... and the
+beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and
+naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire"
+(Rev. 17. 16). Thus it would seem that, when at the very zenith of its
+power and ambition, the Papacy, at the head of amalgamated Christendom,
+will suddenly meet its doom.
+
+
+The Doom of Religious Babylon.
+
+Its accumulated wealth would probably be an incentive in determining the
+ten kings to take this step, owing possibly to the impoverishment of
+their kingdoms as a result of wars and political and social upheavals.
+An additional cause will doubtless be the widespread spirit of
+antagonism against all religion.
+
+Submission to the Papal yoke has invariably had an aftermath of
+infidelity; similarly the temporary subservience of the beast to the
+woman will issue in the casting off of all religious restraint and in
+the universal acknowledgment of the presumptuous claims of the
+world-ruler.
+
+
+Satanic Authority of the Emperor.
+
+The authority of this final emperor of the Roman kingdom will be
+Satanic. "The dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great
+authority" (Rev. 13. 2); "the beast ... was, and is not; and is about to
+come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition" (Rev. 17. 8). This
+implies that he has been on the earth in the past. The same thing is
+indicated in the interpretation of the seven heads. Topographically they
+are described as seven mountains, personally as seven kings (v. 9). Of
+these, five had fallen, the sixth was in power in John's time, the
+seventh had not then come (v. 10). The beast (clearly here symbolising,
+not a kingdom, but a person) would be an eighth, and yet would be of the
+seven (v. 11). These heads have been regarded by some as forms of
+government, by others as empires, or again, as emperors. There seems to
+be no reason why they are not to be regarded as emperors, though
+doubtless their empires are in view, as being associated with them.
+Accordingly, the fact that the eighth is also one of the seven indicates
+his reappearance on the scene. Various suggestions have been made as to
+his identification, but this must remain uncertain until his advent.
+With him the ten kings for a time receive authority (v. 12),
+subsequently handing it over to him with their kingdom (v. 17), but not
+before they have together with him crushed the great religious system
+symbolised by the woman (v. 16). His stupendous power and brilliant
+abilities, the evidence of his superhuman origin, his phenomenal
+capacity for organisation, and the consolidation of the empire under his
+absolute control will cause the whole world to marvel at him (Rev. 13.
+3; 17. 8). To the world, in its divinely inflicted and therefore
+retributive delusion, he will appear like a god who has come to deliver
+from woe, and to introduce the long-looked-for age of peace and
+prosperity. Wonder will be succeeded by worship, both of the man and of
+Satan. "They worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto
+the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the
+beast? and who is able to war with him?" (13. 4).
+
+The world is now in course of rapid preparation for all this:
+
+
+The "Superman"
+
+has of late become a much discussed topic in various classes of society
+and in the press, and the idea is supported by the theories of
+evolution which are receiving increasingly wide acceptance. A spirit of
+expectancy is being thus aroused which will undoubtedly facilitate the
+recognition of the man himself at his advent, and the acknowledgment of
+his claims to divine honour. But this will involve the worship of Satan,
+and to this end the effective agency of
+
+
+Spiritism
+
+has been long at work. Spiritism leads to devil worship. It must do so;
+its energising power is Satan himself. Both spiritism and theosophy, and
+similar forms of error, all of which are rapidly on the increase to-day,
+are paving the way for world-wide worship of the dragon.
+
+The imperial power and worship of this emperor will be promoted by
+another potentate similarly energised by Satan. This latter is the
+second beast, described in Revelation 13. 11-end. Later on in the book
+he is called
+
+
+The False Prophet
+
+(Rev. 16. 13; 19. 20; 20. 10), indicating that his activities are
+chiefly of a religious character, and perhaps that he will be more
+closely connected with Jewish affairs. He will make "the earth and them
+that dwell therein worship the beast," the emperor of the ten kingdoms
+(13. 11), deceiving the world by supernatural signs wrought in the
+presence of the first beast (v. 12), and enforcing the worship of his
+image (v. 15), the abomination of desolation set up in the temple at
+Jerusalem (Matt. 24. 15). With the worship of an image the times of the
+Gentiles began (Dan. 3. 1), and with similar idolatry they will end. In
+the days of the early Roman emperors their deification was celebrated by
+the adoration of their images. Then, as formerly under Nebuchadnezzar,
+those who refused to worship suffered death. So will it be under the
+final emperor and his colleague.
+
+Various opinions are held regarding these two beasts of Revelation 13,
+as to which is the Man of Sin spoken of by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2,
+which the Antichrist mentioned in John's Epistles, and which of the two
+is the wilful king described in Daniel 11. Limitations of space preclude
+our entering into the subject in detail here. The present writer holds
+the view that all three are the same person, and that they are also the
+same as the horn in Daniel 7. 8, 11, and as the first beast of
+Revelation 13, and that these are all different descriptions of the
+final head of the revived Empire. The Old Testament passages somewhat
+briefly announce the arising of this world-wide ruler; the New Testament
+passages unfold and expand the preceding predictions concerning him,
+among the additional details given in the New Testament being the fact
+that he is to have a prophet who will assiduously support his claim to
+deity and his administration. It is the world-emperor, and not his
+prophet, who is to be worshipped, and who therefore proclaims himself as
+God (2 Thess. 2. 4). His prophet, the second beast of Revelation 13, in
+the exercise of all the power of the first, will cause the world to
+worship him (13. 12). As his prophet and prime minister he would not
+himself endeavour to usurp the position of him whose avowed deity he
+seeks to support.
+
+The similarity of the details in the above-mentioned passages indicates
+that the same person is in view in each case. His blasphemies, for
+instance, and his assumption of deity are mentioned in Daniel 7. 25; 11.
+36, 37; 2 Thessalonians 2. 3, 4, and Revelation 13. 5, 6, and his war
+with the saints in Daniel 7. 21, 25 and Revelation 13. 7. Further, the
+blasphemous proclamation of himself as God is consistent with what is
+said in John's Epistles concerning the Antichrist. For in his
+self-deification he is directly "antagonistic to Christ," he denies that
+Jesus is the Christ, and therefore denies the Father and the Son (1 John
+2. 22).
+
+The two potentates will establish not only a universal religion, but
+also a
+
+
+Universal System of Commerce.
+
+The second beast "causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and
+the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on
+their hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to
+buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast
+or the number of his name" (Rev. 13. 16, 17). This indicates a
+world-wide protectionist system, such a system as, for instance, might
+conceivably be established under some form of syndicalism. Undeniably,
+circumstances in the industrial world to-day manifest an increasing
+tendency in this direction. The principles previously mentioned, as now
+making for industrial and international revolution, and the present
+stupendous movements towards amalgamation, are clearly preparing for
+the fulfilment of this prophecy by facilitating the eventual
+establishment of the unrighteous commercial system of the reconstituted
+Empire.
+
+[Illustration: Palestine, to illustrate Psalm 29.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM.
+
+
+We have now to consider the dealings of the two beasts, the final Roman
+emperor and his false prophet, with
+
+
+The Jews.
+
+With the Romans the Jews joined in the death of Christ, and with the
+rulers of this fourth empire they will be in agreement for a time at the
+close of their long course of apostasy. This was especially made known
+to Daniel in the prophecy of
+
+
+The Seventy Weeks
+
+(Dan. 9). These weeks (lit., _hebdomads_, or periods of seven, _i.e._,
+seven years each) had been divinely decreed (or "cut off," _i.e._, from
+the period of "the times of the Gentiles") upon his people and his city.
+From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
+Jerusalem unto the Anointed One (the Messiah), the Prince, would be
+seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. After this the Anointed One
+would be cut off, and would have nothing (Dan. 9. 24-26). This period is
+69 times 7, or 483 years, and to the very day this was the period
+commencing with the command of Artaxerxes Longimanus, King of Persia,
+for the restoration of Jerusalem (Neh. 2. 1-9), and ending with the
+triumphal entry of Christ into the city (Matt. 21. 1-11).[B] Four days
+later He was crucified, "the Anointed One was cut off and had nothing,"
+_i.e._, He did not enter then upon His Messianic kingdom. The prophecy
+predicted that the people of the prince (lit., "a prince") that would
+come would destroy the city and the sanctuary. That took place in A.D.
+70, under Titus Vespasianus. But Titus is not "the prince that shall
+come." This, apart from other considerations, is clear from what
+follows: "And his (the prince's) end shall be with a flood (or rather,
+'in the overflowing,' _i.e._, of the wrath of God)," a prediction at
+once inapplicable to Titus. The mention of
+
+
+The Last "Week"
+
+is deferred, indicating an interval between the sixty-ninth and the
+seventieth. Now the events predicted for the seventieth had no
+historical fulfilment immediately after the sixty-ninth. The one,
+therefore, did not follow the other consecutively. At the commencement
+of the intervening period the Jews were scattered from their land. At
+the seventieth they will have been restored, and the events of that week
+concern "the prince that shall come," the last world-emperor, and his
+dealings with them. "He shall make a firm covenant with many (lit., 'the
+many,' _i.e._, the great majority of the nation) for one week" (v. 27).
+This covenant is described in Isaiah's prophecies as a "covenant with
+death" and an "agreement with Hell." The covenant, he says, "shall be
+disannulled," and the agreement "shall not stand; when the overflowing
+scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it" (Isa.
+28. 18). That this refers to a time yet future and not to past
+Israelitic history may be gathered from verse 22, where the theme and
+the language are similar to those of the passage in Daniel now under
+consideration. Daniel tells us the mode of the disannulling. "In the
+midst of the week (R.V., margin) he shall cause the sacrifice and
+oblation to cease." Accordingly after three and a half years the
+Antichrist, manifesting his real character, will prove himself a traitor
+and break the covenant, and thus Isaiah's prediction will be fulfilled.
+
+  [B] See "The Coming Prince," by Sir Robert Anderson. Price, 5/.
+
+Apparently at the very time when he thus breaks his league with the Jews
+the Antichrist will determine upon his public deification and the
+establishment of his worship in the Temple. For he it is who "opposeth
+and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
+worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, showing
+himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2. 4). This, with the setting up of
+his image, will doubtless be the fulfilment of the prophecies recorded
+by Daniel, that "upon the wing (or pinnacle) of abominations shall come
+one that maketh desolate" (Dan. 9. 27, cp. 11. 31 and 12. 11), and "they
+shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the
+continual burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that
+maketh desolate" (11. 31, cp. 12. 11); a fulfilment also of the Lord's
+prediction that "the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by
+Daniel the prophet," will "stand in the holy place" (Matt. 24. 15). In
+the establishment of this blasphemous worship of the emperor, the false
+prophet will play a prominent part, as we have seen from the latter part
+of Revelation 13.
+
+The many references to the desolator and the desolations are indicative
+of the
+
+
+Fierce Persecution
+
+which will follow. This will be at first directed against "the remnant,"
+the large numbers of Jews who will repudiate allegiance to the beast and
+to the false prophet, many doubtless having been converted to their
+coming Messiah through the testimony of two witnesses who will be sent
+from God to the nation. "They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and
+threescore days, clothed in sackcloth" (Rev. 11. 3-13). The success of
+their ministry will apparently arouse the bitter antagonism of Satan and
+his human instruments. The breaking of the covenant with the people as a
+whole indicates that an effort will also be made to crush the entire
+nation. Thus the latter half of the seventieth week will be the time of
+"Jacob's trouble," "a time of trouble, such as never was since there was
+a nation even to that same time" (Dan. 12. 1), though the unprecedented
+tribulation will not be confined to the Jews only.
+
+
+Armageddon and After.
+
+The bitter antagonism of the man of sin, and his colleague, the false
+prophet, against God and His people will culminate in the gathering
+together of all the forces of the Empire in Palestine in final conflict
+for the complete domination of the world. This tremendous event is thus
+indicated by the apostle John: "And I saw coming out of the mouth of the
+dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the
+false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are the
+spirits of devils (correctly, "demons"), working signs; which go forth
+unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war
+of the great day of God, the Almighty" (Rev. 16. 13, 14).
+
+In reality the issue at stake will be the supremacy of Christ or of
+Satan in the earth. The objective will be neither territorial conquest
+nor naval supremacy, nor commercial predominance. The war of the beast
+and the ten kings under him is against the Lamb (Rev. 17. 14). This the
+second Psalm had foretold: "Why do the nations rage, and the peoples
+imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the
+rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed,
+saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from
+us." The issue is not uncertain: "He that sitteth in the Heavens shall
+laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."
+
+
+The Scene of the Conflict
+
+is Har-Magedon, commonly known as Armageddon (Rev. 16. 16). The name,
+which is associated with Megiddo, a locality famed in Old Testament
+history for its decisive battles (Judges 5. 19; 2 Kings 23), doubtless
+stands here for a wider area, stretching, as we shall see, from the
+north to the south of the land.
+
+The combatants, the conflict and its conclusion, are described by John
+in vivid language of terrible grandeur in Revelation 19. 11-21: "And I
+saw the Heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He that sat
+thereon, called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He doth judge
+and make war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are
+many diadems; and He hath a name written, which no one knoweth but He
+Himself. And He is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and His
+name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in Heaven
+followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.
+And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He should
+smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He
+treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.
+And He hath on His garment and on His thigh a name written, KING OF
+KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
+
+"And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice,
+saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered
+together unto the great supper of God; that ye may eat the flesh of
+kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the
+flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men,
+both free and bond, and small and great.
+
+"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies,
+gathered together to make war against Him that sat upon the horse, and
+against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false
+prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them
+that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his
+image: they twain were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth
+with brimstone: and the rest were killed with the sword of Him that sat
+upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of His mouth: and
+all the birds were filled with their flesh" (Rev. 19. 11-21). Ezekiel
+similarly describes the scene in his prophecy in chapter 30. 17-21.
+
+Thus it is that the climax of the world's rebellion against God is to
+meet its doom. This is the manner of the overthrow of the ten-kingdomed
+empire, the fourth of Daniel's visions. Accordingly, what we have now
+read from Revelation 19 is identical with (1) the falling of the stone
+upon the feet of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, the annihilation
+of all Gentile government (Dan. 2. 45); (2) the consuming of the
+dominion of the fourth beast in Daniel's subsequent vision (Dan. 7. 26);
+(3) the pouring out of God's wrath upon the Antichrist, the desolator
+(Dan. 9. 27); and (4) the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of
+Heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 24. 30). The great emperor, the
+man of sin, is to be crushed by the Lord Jesus, "with the breath of His
+mouth," and brought to nought "by the manifestation of His coming" (2
+Thess. 2. 8).
+
+Now this "manifestation of His coming" is, to transliterate the Greek
+words,
+
+
+The Epiphany of His Parousia.
+
+An epiphany is, literally, the 'shining forth' of that which has been
+hidden; and the word Parousia is, literally, 'presence' (see margin of
+R.V. and Phil. 2. 12). This latter word is used of the coming of Christ
+to the air for His saints, 'to receive them unto Himself,' and of their
+consequent presence with Him (1 Thess. 2. 19). They are thus to be "ever
+with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4. 17), and with Him they will come when He
+descends at His revelation "from Heaven with the angels of His power in
+flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them
+that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thess. 1. 7, 8). The
+sudden bursting forth of His glory thus "to execute judgment" (Jude 15)
+will be the 'Epiphany, or shining forth, of His Parousia,' and by it the
+Man of Sin is to be brought to nought and his empire demolished. He and
+his false prophet will be "cast alive into the lake of fire," and his
+armies will perish (Rev. 19. 20, 21).
+
+This is to be the issue of the world's attempts to establish a
+millennium of its own by schemes of federation and amalgamation. This
+is the upshot of its fancied progress and improvement without God and
+His Christ.
+
+We must now see what other Scriptures have to say concerning this scene.
+The instrument which the Lord uses for the destruction of His foes is a
+sword which proceeds _out of His mouth_; the destruction is described as
+the treading of the winepress.
+
+
+The Voice of the Lord.
+
+First, as to the instrument. The sword is symbolic of the utterance of
+the Lord's voice. No material instrument is needed, a word is enough.
+This is clear from many passages. In the second Psalm the overthrow of
+the foe is thus described: "Then shall He _speak_ unto them in His
+wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure" (v. 5). Joel prophesies of
+the same event: "The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars
+withdraw their shining: and the Lord _uttereth His voice_ before His
+army; for His camp is very great; for He is strong that executeth His
+word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can
+abide it?" (Joel 2. 10, 11; and see 3. 16. With this compare Isa. 11. 4
+and 30. 30-33.) The same voice of judgment is implied in Paul's
+prediction of the doom of the lawless one, that "the Lord Jesus will
+slay him _with the breath of His mouth_" (2 Thess. 2. 8). In the same
+connection we are doubtless to read Psalm 29, the Psalm which describes
+the terrible majesty and effect of the _voice of the Lord_.
+
+We must presently dwell more fully upon this Psalm in order to observe
+its application to the circumstances under consideration, and its
+connection with the passages which describe the judgment of the foe as
+
+
+The Treading of the Winepress.
+
+These passages are Isaiah 63. 1-6; Joel 9. 16; Revelation 14. 17-20, and
+the one already quoted in Revelation 19. It is observable, too, that in
+the first of these the voice of the Lord is mentioned again, for the
+Deliverer describes Himself as "I that _speak in righteousness_."
+
+We shall first refer to Revelation 14. 17-20. Two angels appear coming
+forth, the one from the temple in Heaven with a sickle in his hand, the
+other from the altar. The latter calls to the one with the sickle to
+gather "the clusters of the vine of the earth," symbolic of the Man of
+Sin and his gathered armies. The angel then casts his sickle into the
+earth, gathers the vintage, and casts it into the winepress of the wrath
+of God. The winepress is "trodden without the city," and "there came out
+blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as
+a thousand and six hundred furlongs" (_i.e._, 200 miles). The great
+emperor and his prophet, and their vast forces, will thus be gathered in
+dense battle array throughout the length of Palestine, Jerusalem being
+their objective. Joel calls the scene of the battle "the Valley of
+Decision." "Come, tread ye," says the prophet, "for the winepress is
+full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes,
+multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near in
+the valley of decision" (Joel 3. 13, 14). The multitudes are the forces
+of the Man of Sin.
+
+The first six verses of Isaiah 63 narrate in the form of a dialogue
+
+
+The Overthrow of the Man of Sin
+
+and his forces. The dialogue is between Messiah the Deliverer and the
+Jews. Having just overthrown the foe in the treading of the winepress,
+and the armies of the Empire being destroyed throughout the battle line
+from the north of the land to the south, the Messiah, in the fruits of
+His victory, reveals Himself to His astonished earthly people. In
+wondering admiration they exclaim: "Who is this that cometh from Edom,
+with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious, marching in the
+greatness of His strength?" To this their Deliverer answers, "I that
+_speak in righteousness_, mighty to save." The significance of this is
+at once apparent to the reader who calls to mind the various passages
+mentioned above in reference to the voice of the Lord. "I that speak in
+righteousness"--this is the voice uttered before His army (Joel 2. 10),
+"the sword that proceedeth out of His mouth" (Rev. 19. 15); the "breath
+of His mouth," by which the Man of Sin is crushed (2 Thess. 2. 8), and
+the "voice" of Psalm 29.
+
+The people, struck by the appearance of the Victor, next ask: "Wherefore
+art Thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth
+in the winefat?" The language is doubtless symbolic. Messiah explains in
+reply how the threatening foes have been crushed: "I have trodden the
+winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with Me: yea, I
+trod them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My fury; and their
+lifeblood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My
+raiment. For the day of vengeance was in Mine heart, and the year of My
+redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I
+wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore Mine own arm brought
+salvation unto Me; and My fury, it upheld Me. And I trod down the
+peoples in Mine anger, and made them drunk in My fury, and I poured out
+their lifeblood on the earth" (vv. 3-6). The words of a previous
+prophecy express the joyful recognition of the delivered nation: "And it
+shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him,
+and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will
+be glad and rejoice in His salvation" (Isa. 25. 9).
+
+Turning now to Psalm 29 we find
+
+
+The Scene of Judgment
+
+strikingly depicted; the very length of the battle line is indicated, in
+agreement with the later and clearer description in Revelation 20. 14.
+Indeed, the passages which foretell the events of this coming terrible
+day afford a remarkable illustration of the progressive character of the
+revelations of Scripture. The Psalm is divided into three parts: (1)
+The first three verses are a call to the saints in Heaven, the "sons of
+the mighty," to worship the Lord in view of the judgment He is just
+about to execute for the deliverance of His people the Jews, their land
+and their city. (2) The second part, verses 3-9, describes the actual
+judgment by means of "the voice of the Lord." The psalmist was doubtless
+thinking of a thunderstorm. The Spirit of God was giving prophetic
+utterance concerning a more terrible scene, and the geographical
+limitations of the Psalm are of prophetic import. The first place
+mentioned is Lebanon, in the north, with its mountain-spur Sirion (vv.
+5, 6). The last place is the wilderness of Kadesh, in the south, the
+centre of which is Bozrah, in Edom (v. 8), a point of connection with
+Isaiah 63. 1. Now the distance from Sirion to Bozrah, in the wilderness
+of Kadesh, is 200 miles, and this is the 1600 furlongs of Revelation
+14.20. Here, then, in one fell stroke of divine wrath the Man of Sin and
+his forces are overthrown, and the Jews are delivered. The later
+revelations of Scripture thus enable us to pass from the natural and
+physical setting of the Psalm to the veiled reality. Thus this portion
+of the Psalm is to be read in connection with the passage from
+Revelation 19 quoted above. (3) The last two verses describe the results
+of the conquest.
+
+
+The Jews in their Extremity
+
+were threatened with annihilation. But man's extremity is God's
+opportunity. The people now see their Deliverer in person, they "look on
+Him whom they pierced." They realise that their enemies were destroyed
+because "the Lord sat as King at the flood." And now "the Lord sitteth
+as King for ever." He whose right it is to reign has come to Zion. Hence
+the psalmist can next say: "The Lord will give strength unto His people;
+the Lord will bless His people with peace." Armageddon is over, the
+winepress of God's wrath has been trodden, and the war against the Lamb
+is ended. Psalm 30 follows on with the people's song of praise for
+deliverance.
+
+The judgments of God in the earth will be accompanied by
+
+
+Seismic Disturbances,
+
+including "a great earthquake such as was not since there were men upon
+the earth," the overthrow of the cities of the nations, and the
+displacement of islands and mountains (Rev. 16. 18-21). Then doubtless
+will be fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah, that in the day when the
+Lord goes forth to fight against the nations that are gathered against
+Jerusalem, His feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, and the
+mountain will be divided, leaving a very great valley east of the city
+(Zech. 14. 1-5).
+
+
+The Everlasting Kingdom.
+
+In this tremendous intervention in the affairs of the world for the
+termination of Gentile dominion the Son of God will be accompanied by
+all His saints. He will come "to be glorified in His saints, and to be
+marvelled at in all them that believed" (2 Thess. 1. 10). So from
+earliest times Enoch had prophesied: "Behold, the Lord came with His
+holy myriads, to execute judgment upon all" (Jude 14, 15, margin). And
+Zechariah: "The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee"
+(14. 5). They are to take an active part in the inauguration of His
+Kingdom, and in its government. For "the saints of the Most High shall
+receive the Kingdom, and possess the Kingdom for ever, even for ever and
+ever" (Dan. 7. 18). "The Kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of
+the Kingdoms under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the people of the
+saints of the Most High" (v. 27).
+
+Then shall the Lord "be King over all the earth" (Zech. 14. 9). God's
+claims will be vindicated. His Christ will reign as King of
+Righteousness, and King of Peace, the centre of His government being the
+very place where once He was despised and rejected, and men cast Him out
+and crucified Him. Of the increase of His government and of peace there
+shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to
+establish it, and to uphold it with judgment and with righteousness from
+henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform
+this (Isa. 9. 7). His saints "shall be priests of God and of Christ, and
+shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Rev. 20. 6). Then will be
+fulfilled the words of the Lord, "I am returned unto Zion, and will
+dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called the city
+of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain"
+(Zech. 8. 3). The days of Israel's mourning will be ended, the nation
+will be a "crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem
+in the hand of her God," and Jerusalem will be a praise in the earth
+(Isa. 60. 30; 62. 3, 7). "The Heavens shall rejoice and the earth be
+glad," and "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the
+waters cover the sea" (Psa. 96. 11; Isa. 11. 9). According to God's
+Eternal Counsel the despised Nazarene will yet be manifested and
+acknowledged by all as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
+
+              "To Him be glory for ever and ever,
+
+                             AMEN."
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+                               PAGE
+
+  Adrian, 62
+
+  Alaric, 37, 38
+
+  Alexander the Great, 19
+
+  Alliance of Social Democracy, 71, 63
+
+  Alsace and Lorraine, 66
+
+  Antichrist, 85, 87, 91, 96
+
+  Antiochus Epiphanes, 20, 21, 64
+
+  Antiochus the Great, 19
+
+  Armageddon, 93
+
+  Attila, 39, 40
+
+
+  Babylon, 73
+
+  Bagdad, 46, 47
+
+  Balkan Peninsula, 46, 53
+
+  Barnabas, Epistle of 32
+
+  Beast, Twofold Symbolism of, 35, 36
+
+  Britain, 23, 39, 53, 62
+
+  British Empire, 67, 68
+
+  Bulgaria, 53
+
+  Byzantine Empire, 46, 57
+
+
+  Cæsar Augustus, 14, 22, 25, 37
+
+  Carthage, 16, 17, 18, 40
+
+  Chaldean Empire, 12, 55, 60
+
+  Charlemagne, 58, 60
+
+  Christendom, Reunion of, 80
+
+  Commercial System, 87
+
+  Comparisons of Symbols in Daniel and Revelation, 29
+
+  Constantine, 26
+
+  Constantinople, 26, 27, 40, 44, 45, 46, 58
+
+  Crimean War, 52
+
+  Crusades, 47
+
+  Cyprus, 53
+
+  Cyril, 33
+
+
+  Democracy, 75, 76
+
+  Diocletian, 26
+
+
+  Early Christian Writers, 32-34
+
+  Eastern Half of Empire Overthrown, 44
+
+  European Federation, 69
+
+
+  False Prophet, 84
+
+
+  Genseric, 39, 40
+
+  German Influence, 53
+
+  Germanic Tribes, 37-41, 56
+
+  Grecian Empire, 19, 63, 65
+
+  Grecian Empire Divided, 64
+
+  Greece, 19, 20, 52, 53, 65
+
+
+  Hannibal, 18
+
+  Hippolytus, 33
+
+  Hungary, 40, 49, 52, 66
+
+  Huns, 39
+
+
+  International Working Men's Association, 71
+
+  Ireland, 67
+
+  Irenæus, 32
+
+  Iron and Clay, 25, 74
+
+
+  Jerome, 33
+
+  Jews, 22, 54, 55, 56, 62, 68
+
+  Judæa Subdued by Romans, 23
+
+  Julius Cæsar, 22
+
+  Justinian, 58
+
+
+  Khaliphs, 45, 47
+
+  Kosovo, Battle of, 49
+
+
+  Lactantius, 33
+
+
+  Magnesia, Battle of, 19
+
+  Man of Sin, 85, 100
+
+  Medes and Persians, 13, 55, 60
+
+  Megiddo, 94
+
+  Mithradates, 21
+
+  Mohammed, 45, 46
+
+  Mohammed II., 49
+
+
+  Napoleon, 72
+
+  Navarino, Battle of, 52
+
+  Nebuchadnezzar, 9, 11, 75, 96
+
+  Northern Limits of Empire, 41
+
+
+  Odoacer, 41
+
+  Omar, 45
+
+  Osman, 48
+
+  Ottoman Empire, 48
+
+
+  Palestine, 20, 21, 54, 56
+
+  Papacy, 79
+
+  Parousia, The Epiphany of, 97
+
+  Psalm 29, 102
+
+  Pydna, Battle of, 20, 21
+
+
+  Roman Emperor, The Final, 67, 68, 77, 82, 89
+
+  Roman Empire--Decline of, 51
+    Extended in Final Form, 60
+    Final Destruction of, 30, 32, 60, 96
+    Still in Power at Close of Present Age, 14, 30, 56
+    Tenfold Division of, 27-34
+    Twofold Division of, 35
+
+  Roman Influence Continued, 56-58
+
+  Roumania, 52, 53
+
+
+  San Stefano Treaty, 53
+
+  Saracens, 45, 47, 55, 63
+
+  Scotland, 67
+
+  Sea Symbolic of National Unrest, 72
+
+  Serbia, 52, 53
+
+  Seventy Weeks, 88
+
+  Slavery Under the Romans, 23
+
+  Spiritism, 84
+
+  Superman, 83
+
+
+  Ten Kingdoms Foretold, 27-34
+    Not Formed in West, 42
+
+  Tertullian, 33
+
+  Theodoret, 34
+
+  Times and Seasons, 10
+
+  Titus, 40, 89
+
+  Tongrol Bek, 47
+
+  Trajan, 23
+
+  Trentino, 66
+
+  Tribulation, The, 92
+
+  Tripoli, 53
+
+  Turkish Empire, 44
+
+  Turkish Empire, Downfall of, 63
+
+  Turks, 46, 55, 63
+
+  Turks and Mohammedanism, 47, 50
+
+
+  United States, 67, 76
+
+
+  Valens, 26
+
+  Vandals, 38, 40
+
+  Valentinian, 26, 37
+
+  Voice of the Lord, The, 98, 101
+
+
+  Western Half of Empire Overthrown, 37-41
+
+  Winepress, The, 99, 104
+
+
+  Zama, Battle of, 18
+
+
+
+
+Demy 8vo, 308 pages clear type, strong dark cloth, gold title, 4/ net
+(4/6, or $1.12, post free).
+
+THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS
+
+With Notes Exegetical and Expository.
+
+By C. F. HOGG and W. E. VINE, M.A.
+
+With Index to Subjects, Texts, and Greek Words.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+_A few out of very many favourable notices:_
+
+"The authors have seen clearly the great difference between the
+_parousia_ and the _epiphaneia_, and thus set forth, so much and so
+clearly, the great Hope of the Church."--Lord BLYTHSWOOD.
+
+"I greatly value such a book for the definiteness and prominence with
+which it unfolds the great truth of the Lord's return as a present
+hope--not a theory, nor yet a mere doctrine, but a blessed and glorious
+hope."--Sir ROBERT ANDERSON, K.C.B., LL.D., London.
+
+"The notes are brief, clear, full, and suggestive. It supplies a felt
+want between such volumes as the International Critical and the ordinary
+devotional expositions."--JAS. F. ARTHUR, Theological Tutor, B.T.I.,
+Glasgow.
+
+"These notes are admirable. The authors disclaim having written for
+scholars, but as scholars, I may say, they write for Christians, but for
+Christians as Bible students and serious ones."--GEO. F. TRENCH, B.A.,
+Dublin.
+
+"The book is one of such permanent value and wide scholarship. I hope it
+will be the first and not the last."--H. M. BLEBY, B.A., Dudley.
+
+"Should certainly find a place in the library of all Christians who
+desire to study this portion of God's Word."--L. W. G. ALEXANDER.
+
+
+PICKERING & INGLIS, 14 Paternoster Row, London, E.C.4.
+
+229 Bothwell Street, Glasgow; 75 Princes Street, Edinburgh.
+
+And through most Booksellers.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+1. The footnote at the end of page 74 reads:
+
+See "The Epistles to the Thessalonians, with Notes Exegetical and
+Expository," by C. F. Hogg and W. E. Vine, note _c._ pp. 259, 260.
+(Glasgow: Pickering & Inglis. 3/9, p.f.)
+
+
+The _c._ is unclear.
+
+
+2. The footnote at the end of page 89 reads:
+
+See "The Coming Prince," by Sir Robert Anderson. Price, 5/.
+
+
+The 5 in 5/ is unclear.
+
+
+3. Spelling, hyphenation and punctuation are left as in the original.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Roman Empire in the Light of
+Prophecy, by W. E. Vine
+
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