of the beast to be “ten kings that shall arise” out of this empire; in which St. John agrees, saying, “The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” Moreover, in a former vision Daniel speaks of the empire as destined to be “divided,” as “partly strong and partly broken.” Further still, this empire, the beast of burden of the woman, was at length to rise against her and devour her, as some savage animal might turn upon its keeper; and it was to do this in the time of its divided or multiplied existence. “The ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate” her, “and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” Such was to be the end of the great city. Lastly, three of the kings, perhaps all, are said to be subdued by Antichrist, who is to come up suddenly while they are in power; for such is the course of Daniel’s prophecy “Another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings, and he shall speak great words against the MOST HIGH, and shall wear out the saints of the MOST HIGH, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hands until a time, times, and the dividing of time.” This power, who was to rise upon the kings, is Antichrist; and I would have you observe how Rome and Antichrist stand towards each other in the prophecy. Rome is to fall before Antichrist rises; for the ten kings are to destroy Rome, and Antichrist is then to appear and supersede the ten kings. As far as we dare judge from the words, this seems clear. St. John says, “the ten horns shall hate and devour” the woman: and Daniel says, “I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn” with “eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things:” that is Antichrist.
Now then, let us consider how far these prophecies have been fulfilled, and what seems to remain.
In the first place, the Roman empire did break up, as foretold. It divided into a number of separate kingdoms, such as our own, France, and the like; yet it is difficult to number ten accurately
