3 For he fays: "Henceforward the laft "horn of the goat (i. e. the little horn) con"tinued mighty under the Romans till the reign of Conftantine the Great and his "fons; and then, by the divifion of the "Roman empire between the Greek and "Latin emperors, it feparated from the Latins, and became the Greek empire alone, "but yet under the dominion of a Roman family; and at prefent it is mighty under the. "dominion of the Turks." These laft words lead us to perceive, that the little horn is then ftill, in the latter period of its existence, moft diftinctly a part of the He-Goat; and appertains properly to that emblem, and not to the fourth beast. Our inquiry, therefore, will naturally be directed to difcover, whether it did not alfo uniformly belong, from the very first, merely to that body; and to what was uniformly, and precisely, and uninterruptedly, defcribed as appertaining to it, diftinct from what appertained to any other embiem? and, therefore, whether it does not in reality describe a power which, from first to laft, never had any connection whatever with the Roman power? *In his Obfervations on the Prophecies, p. 122. And And I apprehend that indeed to have been 471. the very cafe. For, whereas the little horn of the fourth beaft seems certainly to prefigure the corruptions and mischiefs arifing from the Roman power in the Weft, in the latter end: fo this little horn of the He-Goat as clearly seems to prefigure the corruptions and mifchief arifing in the Eaft, in the immediate kingdoms of the He-Goat, in the latter end; namely, thofe occafioned by Mahomet, and the Saracens, and Turks; and by the Mahometan corruption of religion. All this will, I truft, moft fully appear, from a thorough and clofe investigation of the words of the Prophecy, as they stand in the Septuagint. Daniel, ch. viii. ver. 8. 8. Καὶ ὁ τράγος τῶν αἰγῶν ἐμεγαλύνθη ἕως σφόδρα· καὶ ἐν τῷ ἰσχύσαι αὐτὸν, συνερίβη τὸ κέρας αὐτῇ τὸ μέγα· καὶ ἀνέβη ἕτερα κέρατα τέσσαρα ὑποκάτω αὐτῷ εἰς τὰς τέσσαρας ἀνέμες τῇ ἐρανε. 8. And the He-Goat [the leader] of the goats, was rendered powerful to an exceeding VOL. II. P great great degree indeed. And, at the very time when he was at his utmost ftrength, his great born was utterly broken down. And there arofe four other horns BENEATH it, towards the four winds of the heaven. We well know, that nothing can be more precisely defcriptive of the hiftory of Alexander the Great, and of his four fucceffors, than this one verse. He was the Leader and Head of the Grecian power; and he magnified himself exceedingly indeed, and advanced to fuch dominion and power as had never before been 472. poffeffed on earth: for, both the Perfian em pire, and the great Affyrian empire, were And And instead thereof, Toxaτw, far beneath it, arose four inferior horns, towards the four winds of heaven; the Macedonian, the Syrian, the Egyptian, and the Thracian kingdoms: all of which, taken together, comprehended but a small part of the Empire of the firft great horn, (the empire of Alexander,) and were no-ways worthy to be compared with it. Daniel, ch. viii. ver. 9. 9. Καὶ ἐκ τῶ ἐνὸς αὐτῶν ἐξῆλθεν κέρας ἓν ἰσχυρὸν, καὶ ἐμεγαλύνθη περισσῶς πρὸς τὸν νότον, καὶ πρὸς ἀνατολὴν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν δύναμιν. 9. And out of one of them there came forth one [other] ftrong horn, and [this] was rendered abundantly powerful towards the South and towards the Eaft*, and [even] towards THE Hoft (or with regard to the congregation of the righteous). * Πρὸς ἀνατολὴν is left out in the Vatican copy. The † Τὴν δύναμιν. Δύναμις fignifies, with the utmoft propriety, copiæ, or exercitus; an host of forces, or an army: and therefore may be tranflated (as it actually is in the next verfe, in our tranflation of the Bible,) the hoft of heaven; especially P 2 473. The meaning of this verse seems nearly to be as clear as the preceding, when candidly taken into confideration, without any preconceived prejudices. Out of one of the four horns, (which indeed now appears to have been the Syrian empire, because out of the three others none ever arofe,) out of this one of thefe borns, there was to come forth one [other] ftrong born; that efpecially as the article feems added to it on purpose to increase the energy of the expreffion. This word, then, leads us to infer, that the extraordinary power that should arife, should not only prevail fo as to obtain great dominion on the earth, and a vast extent of territory; but should prevail, moreover, spiritually, against the truth, and against righteousness; or against heavenly virtues. Which feems a much more obvious interpretation than to fuppose duvaus, or the heavenly hoft, could mean merely the people of the Jews; or, as our translation has it, the pleasant land, or Judea; for that was included in Syria, the very region and empire where the power arofe. What I have mentioned above may therefore be deemed, without hesitation, to be the fense and right meaning of this expreffion, correfponding with the ideas of the LXX, whose translation I profefs to follow in all these observations: and we can hardly doubt. but that they, who were fo well acquainted with the original, had good and sufficient reasons for rendering this paffage of Scripture in this manner. |