archy has nothing to do with; for then, why is the Roman monarchy punished for the blasphemies of the little horn?

Thus much for the character of the little horn.

I shall, in the conclusion, add this word, That as the foregoing characters agree to none so fitly as the Romish Antichrist. (to whom as these, so all the characters besides them in Daniel, will most aptly accord), so in case the Romish Antichrist be not the little horn, it will necessarily follow that we have nothing left us from first to last in this prophecy that concerns: Antichrist's rage against the saints and holy city, his tyranny over, and oppression of the nations, which now hath continued, in such manner, as the like was never before it.

1. In respect of a new kind of power bearing rule all this time, the like to which was never found in any of the preceding monarchies, no not in the world before.

2. In respect of a new kind of idolatry, worshipping a breaden god, saints, relics of saints, &c. an idolatry never heard of in the world before.

3. In respect of a new kind of tyranny, tyran, nizing over the conscience, and forcing it, making merchandize of the souls of men, Rev, xviii. 12, 13.

4. In respect of a new kind of oppression; oppressing the people, robbing them of their wealth and substance, by craft, &c.

I say, that a time having such noted characters upon it, as never had time in the world before, should by the Holy Ghost (whilst less things are observed) be wholly buried in silence, cannot be thought.

The sum of all this is, that as those characters of truth left us in the naked letter of the text are the most certain rule to go by, to find the mind of the Holy Ghost in prophecies; so, walking by that rule, Daniel's little horn is, and can be no other, but the whole body of the Romish Antichrist.

Here I find myself under the necessity of differing totally from the interpretation of Tillinghast; in the doing of which I am supported by the opinion of Archbishop Tillotson, &c. Vide extracts from Tillotson's Sermons, infra.

In the first place, I look not upon the little horn as having any reference to the preceding dream of the image: the stone that overwhelms-which, I look upon as representing the christian religion, which in due time is to be universal, bowing down all before it, and as the stone was cut out from the mountain without

hands, so was our Saviour conceived by the Virgin Mary without mortal aid, as here typified.

But to return to the 7th chapter of Daniel, at the 7th verse, the fourth beast represents according to all authorities the papal authority,the Pope, or Antichrist, supported by the ten catholic sovereigns, its power was of a different character from all that had ever preceded it, and the little horn which arises out of it, I look upon as representing Napoleon, before whom three of the horns or kings were humbled. This, as at verse 9, prepares the way for the extension of God's kingdom, by the propagation of the gospel and the diffusion of civil and religious liberty, as in verse 12, where, as with the kings of Spain, Naples, and Portugal, although their despotic power is taken away, their lives are to be prolonged for a season or time, which appears as if those and other kingdoms in which reform takes place should remain gradually improving by the gospel, for still another century, till, as at verses 13 and 14, the kingdom of Christ, by the restoration and reformation of the Jews, and general extension of Christianity, shall become universal.

This interpretation wants the 25th verse, to refer to the 23d instead of the 24th to make it correct.

Exrac s from Lord Chesterfield's Letters,
Svo edition, 1775.

LETTER CCLXV.

London, Dec. 25, 1759.

THE first squabble in Europe that I foresee, will be about the crown of Poland.

Wherever you are, inform yourself minutely of, and attend particularly to, the affairs of France; they grow serious, and in my opinion will grow more and more so every day. The king is despised, and I do not wonder at it; but he has brought it about to be hated at the same time, which seldom happens to the same man. His ministers are known to be as disunited as incapable: he hesitates between the church and the parliaments, like the ass in the fable, that starved between two hampers of hay; jealous of the parliaments, who would support his authority; and a devoted bigot to the church, who would destroy it. The people are poor, consequently discontented: those who have religion are divided in their notions of it; which is saying, that they hate one another. The clergy never do forgive, much less will they forgive the parliament: the parliament never will forgive them. The army must, without doubt, take, in their own minds, at least, different parts in all these disputes, which upon occasion will break

out. Armies, though always the supporters and tools of absolute power for the time being, are always the destroyers of it too, by frequently changing the hands in which they think proper to lodge it. This was the case of the Prætorian bands, who deposed and murdered the monsters they had raised to oppress mankind. The Janissaries in Turkey, and the regiments of guards in Russia, do the same now. The French nation reasons freely, which they never did before, upon matters of religion and government, and begin to be spregiudicati; the officers do so too; in short, all the symptoms which I have ever met with in history, previous to great changes and revolutions in government, now exist, and daily increase in France.

This letter may very properly be considered both prophetic and admonitory; prophetic as it related to the French empire, where its predictions have been fulfilled; and highly worthy of attention in all other states where, when similar symptoms appear, they should beware of like consequences.Ed.