Paul, and the universal consent of the ancient interpreters, of whom Chrysostom was here only the organ and the echo, Antichrist was to subvert the Christian religion and the Roman empire. And whether it was Mahomet, with his Saracens and Turks, or the pope of Rome, with his legates and cardinals, that invaded it, and overpowered it, and finally seized it, and still rules it, in Constantinople, the historian of the Decline and Fall will inform us. Here bishop Newton's system is not only opposed to St. Paul, and the ancient church, but is also at war with the whole stream of events, and the unbiassed testimony of history; it equally contravenes the design and meaning of prophecy, as it misapplies the guidance of facts and the lessons of time. For, agreeably to the intimations of the Prophets, Mahomet did indeed issue from the Arabian desert with his few and contemptible Saracens, not indeed in person, but by his Caliphs or Lieutenants, when the empire under Heraclius seemed on the very brink of ruin, and was the sport and prey equally of foreign enemies and of domestic factions, and, therefore, no longer able to let or to oppose him. The Nestorians, Eutychians, and Jacobites, incensed against each other and the general church, had greatly perplexed the government, divided the people, and distracted the empire, whilst a formidable coalition of the Avars, who had advanced to the very gates of Constantinople on the one side, and of the Persians under the generals of Chosroes, the king of Persia, on the other, had threatened to destroy the religion and the empire at a blow. Now it was in this very nick of time, that Antichrist, or Mahomet, suddenly appeared, and gained such vast and rapid accessions of followers and of forces, as to pluck up by the roots three of the ten horns of the fourth and last Beast; that is, to separate for ever from the empire of Rome three of its kingdoms, or provinces, which were, Egypt, Syria, and Africa, agreeably to the early and constant tradition of the church, which was founded on the prophecy of Daniel, that "the land of Egypt would not escape," and that "the Ethiopians and Libyans," or Africans, “would be at his steps *." And these three provinces of the Roman empire were ever after annexed to the kingdom of Antichrist, or the Saracen, and afterwards the Turkish monarchy, and, according to the words of the prophecy, have been always at the steps and at the beck of the false prophet. And, ultimately, the little horn, or Antichrist, engrossed to himself by means of the Turks, whose sultans are his caliphs, or vicars, and who are themselves his votaries and his subjects, the power, the dominion, and even the name of the fourth and Roman beast; and is so denominated by Daniel, " I beheld then * Dan. xi. 42, 43. because of the voice of the great words that the horn spake, I beheld even till the beast (that is the fourth and Roman beast) was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame." And this beast of Daniel is also the beast of the Apocalypse, as they both have the same or corresponding marks and characters, they both arise out of the abyss or sea, they both have ten horns, the well known symbols of the ten provinces of the Roman empire, they are both represented in the two-fold character of spiritual fraud, and temporal despotism; they both blaspheme God and oppress his saints, and extend their worldly empire by religious imposture. The language of the Apocalypse is obviously borrowed from that of Daniel, to point out the same circumstances, and to signify the same monarchy: which has in both prophets the same origin and the same termination; the same blasphemy and the same crimes; and the same horrible retribution and ruin; as may be seen from a comparison and inspection of them. The little horn, the fourth beast The beast of the Apocalypse. of Daniel. Dan. vii. 8. Behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. He shall speak great words against the Most High. Apocalypse xiii. 14. His number is that of a man, a mouth speaking great things. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God. And he made war against the And it was given to him to saints and prevailed against them. make war with the saints, and to overcome them. He shall wear out the saints of The beast shall make war the Most High. against them, and shall over come them and shall kill them. He shall speak marvellous Speaking great things and blasphemies. things. For a time, times and an half. A time and times and half a time, 42 months, 1260 days. The four great beasts arose out The beast that arose from the of the sea. Ten horns. Ten kings. The beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. abyss or sea. Ten horns. Ten kings. The beast was taken and with him the false prophet; these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. From all which correspondences and coincidences it is apparent that both prophets meant the same vast and powerful monarchy, whose ten provinces had been so often symbolized and denoted by the ten horns of the beast, and by the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image, of gold, silver, brass and iron: and indeed they had none other to mean. And these horns were not actually grown at the time of St. John's writing the Apocalypse; they were not, moreover, to be kings or distinct and independent monarchs, but were to have the power of kings and to have one mind, and to give their power to the Beast, or to the fourth and last monarchy; they were, consequently, to be subject to the Roman emperors, and to join them in hating the whore and in burning her with fire, according to the 17th chapter of the Apocalypse. As they were, therefore, to grow up between the time of the prophecy and the suppression and extinction of heathen idolatry, which was then the harlot riding upon the fourth beast, and which is the common beast of Daniel and of the Apocalypse, as has been seen. We must seek their rise and growth in the military disorders of the second and third century, when the provincial governors acquired almost supreme and independent authority, and rose to nearly uncontrolled and absolute jurisdiction, amidst the variety of rival candidates for the throne, and the consequent distraction and imbecility of the imperial power and general government. And these powerful chiefs not unfrequently rebelled against their sovereign, and succeeded to the purple, as Severus, Pescennius, and others. They all, however, either submitted to Constantine, or were subdued by him, and became parts of his monarchy, and, therefore, were of one mind with it, or with the Beast, according to the prediction, to hate the whore or the harlot of heathenism, and to burn her with fire, that is, to extirpate polytheism and idolatry. They enlisted in the war of the cross, to rule the Gentiles, or the heathen, with a rod of iron, and to break them in pieces like a potter's |