1. The subject of these perplexing visions is a represen- tation of the four great empires of the world, which had, and were to have dominion, in and over the places of the church's greatest concernments, and were all to receive their period and destruction by the Lord Christ, and his revenging hand.
And these three things he mentions of them therein: (1.) Their rise ; (2.) Nature ; (3.) Destruction.
(1.) In ver. 2. he describes their rise and original : it was ' from the strivings of the four winds of the heavens, upon the great sea;' he compares them to the most violent, uncontrollable, and tumultuating things in the whole crea- tion : winds and seas ! What waves, what horrible storms, what mixing of heaven and earth, what confusion and de- struction must needs ensue the fierce contest of all contrary winds upon the great sea ! Such are the springs of empires and governments for the most part amongst men, such their entrances and advancements. In particular, such were the beginnings of the four empires here spoken of. Wars, tu- mults, confusions, blood, destruction, desolation, were the seeds of their greatness ; * vastitiem ubi fecerunt, pacem vo- cant.' Galgac. apud Tacit. Seas and great waters do in the Scripture represent people and nations. Rev. xvii. 15. *The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth, are peo-
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pie, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues ;' as * waters,' they are unstable, fierce, restless, tumultuating, and when God mingleth his judgments amongst them, they are as 'a sea of glass mingled with fire;' brittle, uncertain, devouring, and implacable. It is a demonstration of the sovereignty of God, that he is above them; Psal. xciii. 3, 4. 'The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.' Now from these, tossed with the winds of com- motions, seditions, oppressions, passions, do flow the go- vernments of the world, the Spirit of God moving upon the face of those waters, to bring forth those forms and frames of rule which he will make use of.
(2.) Unto ver. 9. he describes them in order, as to their nature and kind : one of them being then ready to be de- stroyed, and the other to succeed, until the utter desolation of them all, and all power rising in their spirit and principle.
I shall not pass through their particular description, nor stay to prove that the fourth beast, without name or special form, is the Roman empire, which I have elsewhere* demon- strated ; and it is something else which at this time I aim at. This is that which troubles and grieves the spirit of Da- niel in the midst of his body. He saw what worldly powers should arise, by what horrible tumults, shakings, confusions, and violence they should spring up, with what fierceness, cruelty, and persecution, they should rule in the world, and stamp all under their feet.
(3.) Their end and destruction is revealed unto him, from ver. 10. unto ver. 12, 13. And this,
[1.] By the appearance of 'the ancient of days,' the eternal God in judgment against them : which he sets out with that solemnity and glory, as if it were the great judgment of the last day : God indee i thereby giving a pledge unto the world, of that universal judgment he will one day exercise ' towards all, by the man whom he hath ordained ;' Acts xvii. 31. And this increaseth the terror of the vision, to have such a representation of the glory of God, as no creature is able to bear : God also manifests hereby his immediate act- ings, in the setting up, and pulling down the powers of this
* Sermon on Heb. xii. 27.
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world, which he doth as fully and effectually, as if he sat upon a throne of judgment, calling them all by name to ap- pear in his presence; and upon the evidence of their ways, cruelties, and oppression, pronouncing sentence against them : ' Be wise therefore, O ye kings ; be instructed, ye judges of the earth: serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling ;' Psal. ii. 11, 12. ' He changeth the times and seasons;' Dan,ii.2l. ' He ruleth in the kingdom of men, and setteth over it whom he pleaseth ;' chap. v. 21.
And this is the first thing in this vision, at which the prophet was perplexed.
2. There is the approach of the Lord Christ unto the Father, with his entrance into his kingdom and dominion, ' which is everlasting, and passeth not away;' ver. 14.
This being the end of the vision, I must a little insist upon it ; not that I intend purposely to handle the kingdom of Christ as Mediator, but only a little to consider it, as it lies here in the vision, and is needful for the right bottoming of the truth in our intendment.
Various have been the thoughts of men about the king- dom of Christ in all ages. That the Messiah was to be a King, a Prince, a Ruler, that he was to have a kingdom, and that the ' government was to be on his shoulders,' is evident from the Old Testament. That all this was, and is accom- plished in Jesus of Nazareth, whom God exalted, made a Prince and a Saviour, is no less evident in the New. But about the nature of this kingdom, its rise, and manner of government, have been, and are, the contests of men.