I. ROME IMPERIAL.

1. It was the fourth brute world-power. (Ver. 17.)

2. Its genius differed from those that had gone before. Diverse," etc. (ver. 23).

3. It appropriated to itself the good of every land. "Shall devour," etc. (ver. 23).

4. Its tyranny was oppressive. "Shall tread," etc. (ver. 23).

5. It survives until the final overthrow of all brute-power by the establishment of the eternal kingdom. Rome imperial, Rome dismembered, Rome papal, are still Rome. "One! - one mighty and formidable power, trampling down the liberties of the world; oppressing and persecuting the people of God, the true Church; and maintaining an absolute and arbitrary dominion over the souls of men; as a mighty domination standing in the way of the progress of truth, and keeping back the reign of the saints on earth."

II. ROME DIVIDED.

1. The "ten horns" were sovereignties.

2. Developments of the Roman empire.

3. Contemporaneous.

4. The exact designation of them is not necessary.

The "ten" have been designated. But differences of opinion have arisen. This not wonderful, seeing that the new powers arose in a time of great confusion, and the boundaries were frequently changing. Perhaps strict literal and numerical exactness is not to be expected. The vague character of prophecy generally would warrant a contrary conclusion.

III. ROME FATAL. The rise and progress of the papacy constitute a truly wonderful fulfilment of Daniel's dream. But it is necessary in all contemplation of the Romish religious system to distinguish carefully and ever in our minds between the Christian element in it, and the corruption of that Christian element. (As illustration of this distinction, Collette's ' Novelties of Romanism,' R.T.S., is invaluable.)

1. The "other" horn was another sovereignty.

2. It sprang from the Roman domination. Papal Rome in many ways represents Rome imperial, in the world-wideness of its sway, in possessing the same capital, etc.

3. It came into being after the dismemberment. After the ten.

4. Small at the beginning. From the apostolic age there had been a bishop at Rome; but the rise of the papacy is to be dated from the assumption of civil power. When? This one of the most difficult questions in history. Different theories of interpretation depend on the answers. Enough that so small was the beginning, that none can answer with certainty - when?

5. The sovereignty differed from all other. (Ver. 24.) Combination of spiritual with secular power. This involves a mighty difference.

6. It displaced other sovereignties. (Ver. 25.) "He shall subdue three kings." Either three kingdoms went down before it, or a third, about a third of the power an I influence of existing monarchies disappeared. Distinct governments vanished before the rising papacy; and the papacy itself assumed civil functions. Here again it is not necessary to involve the broad incontrovertible facts with questionable historic detail (see end of ver. 20). "More stout" refers to the magnitude finally attained.

7. Has been distinguished by a far-seeing sagacity. "Eyes like the eyes of a man." A sagacity of human sort, not Divine. The diplomacy of Rome, the sublety of the Jesuit, are notorious. The historical illustrations, medieval and modern, are infinitely varied and innumerable.

8. By blasphemy. (Ver. 25.) "He shall speak great words against the Most High." Blasphemy

(1) either denies to God something of his essential glory;

(2) or assumes the names, attributes, and works of God for the creature. In both senses the papacy has been guilty. The illustrations are numberless which are to be found in the doctrine, ritual, practice, and history of the Roman Church. Some of them terrible. Many of them are now open before us, but we cannot present them here in our limited space.

9. By persecution.

10. The new sovereignty has" changed times and law. Not laws," but the fundamental and eternal law of right. Of this, too, the illustrations are without number.

IV. ROME JUDGED. (Vers. 11, 26.)

1. The dream even now waits fulfilment. Much has been fulfilled, but much remains to be. Imperial Rome has gone. The many other kingdoms have arisen; and a part of their power has disappeared before the growing supremacy of papal Rome. But even that has within the last hall-century been shorn of its strength. Still much remains for the future to disclose.

2. Rome papal will stand for a definite time. "Until a time," etc. (ver. 25). The time is definite, though to us, as we believe, unknown. (On the seeming impossibility of at present interpreting a measure of time like this, see Alford on Roy. 11:2, p. 655.)

3. But will certainly fall. (Vers. 11, 26.) Note the reason in ver. 11.

4. Then to vise no move. (Vers. 11, 26.) Are explicit and strong.

V. HER POWER TRANSFERRED. Given to the saints; once theirs, theirs everywhere, theirs for ever. War was indeed made against the saints, achieved, too, a certain success. But principle never dies. The final victory lay with the persecuted. Dominion passed over to them. In what sense? We might say that good men made the laws, but this would be a poor thing to say. Rather is this the truth - that the need of government almost passed away. THE INFLUENCE OF CHARACTER WAS ENOUGH. Some judicial administration might be necessary to arrange debatable points. But deliberate crime had now become non-existent. To illustrate: Mr. Goldwin Smith, after saying that, in a particular instance, "not the special form of the government, but the comparative absence of necessity for government, is the thing to be noted and admired," goes on to say, "The proper sphere of government is compulsion. The necessity for it in any given community is in inverse proportion to the social virtue and the intelligence of the people. The policeman, the executioner, the tax-gatherer, - these are its proper ministers, and the representatives of what we call its majesty. It is destined to decrease as Christianity increases, and as force is superseded by social affection, and spontaneous combination for the public good. The more a community can afford to dispense with government, the more Christian it must be" ('The Civil War in America,' p. 27). The Ancient of days gives over empire to the Son of man; his sovereignty is exercised through his saints. They have something of his own sway. What is that? The sway of spiritual supremacy. The rule of righteousness. The law of love. The empire of Calvary. - R.

I. IT WILL HAVE A GOOD GOVERNMENT. "The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom." The word "saints" has become a by-word. They say, "Look at your mitred saints, using evermore their political power against freedom, justice, and the public good. Heaven deliver us from the government of saints!" Be calm! You mistake the counterfeit for the genuine coin. The man whom God calls a saint is a man whom you are made to love, in whose wisdom and goodness you would place your utmost confidence. True saintliness means honesty, brotherliness, disinterested philanthropy, and elevated piety. Sainthood means goodness. A kingdom under such rulers would:

1. Be an educated kingdom. The works of nature, the events of, history, the facts and doctrines of revelation would be universally studied. "All would know the Lord," etc. It would:

2. Be a virtuous kingdom. Christ is the model and the master of the saints. By His principles they would shape all their laws, by His Spirit they would be inspired in every legislative act. They would not mould their code after Greece or Rome, but after Calvary.

3. It would be a free kingdom. Saints are lovers of freedom.

4. Be a peaceable kingdom. Every subject would do unto his fellow what his fellow would do unto him.

II. IT WILL HAVE A PERMANENT GOVERNMENT. "And possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." Now the expression may not express eternity, but it undoubtedly represents an indefinitely vast period of time. Three considerations support a belief in its permanence.

1. The length of time in gaining it. The instinct of true sainthood is aggressive and imperial. The saints from Abel down have been endeavouring to sway the minds of men by their Heavenly thoughts and aims. After all this, is it not probable that when universal power comes to them, it will be a permanent possession?

2. The firm hold which the morally true takes upon human nature. The false, the unrighteous, the immoral, though recommended by imperial pageantry and enforced by the invincibility of arms, can never take a firm hold upon human nature. Hence the mutation and fleetnees of all human governments. But the government of the saints being that of truth, equity, honour, love, humanity, religion, will take an unrelaxable grasp upon the intellect, heart, conscience, and soul of the people, and will endure from generation, even unto generation.

3. The mediatorial life of Jesus Christ. Why did Christ come into the world, teach, suffer, labour, pray, and die? Why did He rise from the dead, ascend to Heaven, and send down His Spirit? Why? To destroy the works of the devil, to establish rectitude on the earth, and to set up "a kingdom that shall never be moved."

(Homilist.)