NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S VISION OF EMPIRE.

THE book of Daniel has generally taken precedence of the other prophetic books in the attention of modern students of prophecy, for reasons which are thus given by Joseph Mede: "For the true account of times in scripture, we must have recourse to that sacred calendar and almanac of prophecy, the four kingdoms of Daniel; which are a prophetic chronology of times, measured by the succession of four principal kingdoms, from the beginning of the captivity of Israel until the mystery of God is finished." The reason might be more briefly stated that in Daniel the course of Gentile sovereignty is traced from its commencement to its close; while the other prophetic books are more exclusively occupied with the destiny of Israel. At any rate, both millenarians and anti-millenarians have used Nebuchadnezzar's vision of a colossal image, with Daniel's interpretation of it, as the basis of their calculations of prophetic time.

An early consideration of this vision may naturally be expected in a periodical which has for one of its leading objects, the exposition of the prophetic scriptures, though we may have no novel or peculiar views of it to offer. The attention which it has generally received renders it unnecessary to recite the details, either of the vision or the interpretation. The application of it to the four universal monarchies-the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman, is generally understood, and

scarcely admits of discussion. Secular writers have not failed to notice that there have been four, and only four, universal monarchies in the history of the world; though human sagacity could not determine that there cannot be a fifth monarchy claiming the dignity of universal. Even when such writers are not, in the proper sense of the word, believers, they have been arrested by the Prescience which has so accurately portrayed the character of these successive empires, diminishing in pomp, and increasing in power, as the metals of which the different portions of the image are composed decrease in splendor but increase in strength, from the fine gold of the head to the iron of the legs-a Prescience which in the day of Babylon's glory, anticipated its downfall, and revealed that when these four had run their destined career, the imperial power should be broken and distributed, as it has been for centuries. "Infidels as well as Nebuchadnezzar, may well be troubled on account of the image."

Before glancing at the history of the four great empires, it may be interesting to turn to the original seat of empire, art and civilization; and dim tradition points, as revelation guides us, to the cradle and homestead of postdiluvian humanity. In the plain of Shinar, whose beauty and fertility arrested the stream of population as it flowed onward from Mount Ararat, the design was formed to centralize the forces of mankind in a vast city, under a sovereign head. This design was frustrated by divine interposition, and mankind were dispersed; but the central power and intelligence still lingered around Babel, the city of confusion. Whether Nimrod, the fourth from Noah, was concerned in the first ambitious project, we cannot tell. He is the first who is named as the founder of a kingdom, and we know that the beginning of his kingdom was "Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar;" and "out

of that land, he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah, the same is a great city." In the plains watered by the Euphrates and Tigris, we find very early traces of the contemporaneous sovereignties of Syria and Chaldea. On the east, we find the kingdoms of Media, Parthia, and Persia; and away to the west, in the valley of the Nile, we find Egypt, the rival of Assyria in antiquity, civilization and power.

The magnificence of Assyria has recently been illustrated by the explorers of its ruined palaces, which probably date back 1200 years before Christ. From the dawn of history, we have evidence of the supremacy of Assyria among the nations of Western Asia. The boundaries of her power seem to have been coextensive with civilization. Troy appears to have been among her tributaries; and history has even preserved the terms in which Priam applied to his Assyrian suzerain for assistance against the Greeks. But it is worthy of note that there is no evidence of the grandeur of Assyria, which does not also prove that the ambition of empire is identical with rebellion against God. The name "Nimrod" signifies apostacy, impiety, or rebellion; and in these original seats of empire the father of Abraham served other gods. It is also worthy of note that, however human ambition might extend its conquests, no universal monarchy could be established on the earth, until the chosen nation had utterly forfeited their covenant blessings. Even when the ten tribes had been carried into captivity, Judah remained an impassable barrier to ambition; and it was only after Nebuchadnezzar had carried the Jews captive to Babylon, that he could issue his haughty decree, "to every people, nation and language," and only then it could be said to him, "Thy greatness is grown and reaches to heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth."

Assyria lost its pre-eminence, and it was to the conqueror of Judah that the prophet of God said, "Thou art this head of gold"—the first and most magnificent of the four universal monarchies.

The original seat of this kingdom was a region of small extent around the metropolis, which included the site of the tower of Babel. Gradually it had absorbed the accumulated wealth and glory of Assyria, Egypt, and all who had claimed a share of earthly dominion. The city, according to Herodotus, was sixty miles in circumference; the walls, according to the most moderate computation, were seventyfive feet high, and thirty-five feet in breadth. Its wealth may be inferred from the fact that Xerxes took a statue valued at a hundred millions of dollars from the temple of Belus, after it had been repeatedly plundered by his predecessors. Of the extent of the Empire, we know that, beside subduing Egypt, Syria and Phenicia, Nebuchadnezzar carried his victorious arms as far as the Pillars of Hercules, and laid Spain under tribute.

Even before the captivity, Jewish prophets had foretold the downfall of Babylon, and had designated the king of the Medes as her vanquisher. The prophets graphically depict the desolation, which is now so complete that our antiquarians are still disputing what is the actual site of "the golden city," "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldean excellency."

The early history of Media and Persia is covered with oblivion. They become accurately known to us only when they are united under Cyrus in the overthrow of Babylon; and, enriched by her spoil, appear as the second universal monarchy. This kingdom is symbolized by the two breasts and arms of the great image, by "the beast like unto a bear, which raised itself on one side," in a subsequent vision of Daniel; and again by "the ram with two high

horns, one higher than the other; and the higher came up last," to express the greater antiquity of Media, but the ascendency of Persia, in their union. Ancient writers describe the crown of the Persian kings as a ram's head of gold; and Sir John Chardin found among the ruins of Persepolis, an emblematic ram's head, with horns of unequal length.

The inferiority of the Medo-Persian Empire, represented by the inferiority of silver to gold, was in its splendor, rather than its extent; for, though the Persians abandoned the more remote of Nebuchadnezzar's conquests in the west, their own conquests reached eastward to regions unknown to Babylon. From the book of Esther we learn that Ahasuerus reigned from India to Ethiopia. This people, raised from insignificance to the possession of the arts and wealth of Babylon, soon fell into a shameful effeminacy, and became an easy prey to Alexander; and, after a career extending over only two centuries, Persia, with all its conquests, was swallowed up by the Macedonian empire. The fate of Darius, with his magnificent retinue, supplies one of the most pitiful pages in the history of fallen greatness. Deserted, betrayed, and insulted, he who commanded an army of nearly a million men, yielded to the dagger of an assassin, and left Alexander the undisputed master of the world.

The Macedonian, or Grecian empire, was the third universal monarchy, symbolized by the belly and sides of brass in the great image; by the beast like a leopard with four wings and four heads, in a subsequent vision of Daniel; and by the he-goat that came from the west in Daniel's vision of the ram. Expositors have given many reasons for the use of brass as the symbol of the Greek kingdom. Daniel's interpretation, as given by Josephus, is, "that another coming from the west, armed in brass, shall destroy