"fulfilled:" which is a prediction that there will be no increase to the spiritual Church of Christ (amongst the nine Roman-catholic kingdoms of the Western Roman empire), or in other words, that the sanctuary of the Western Church will not be cleansed till the period of the seven Vials, or the period of the thirty years destruction of the Roman empire is passed: and this general representation of the state of the Roman empire during this period is confirmed by the particular account which is given of the effusion of two of the Vials; for on the pouring out of the fourth Vial, it is said, that

66

men blasphemed the name of God, which "had power over these plagues, and they "repented not to give him glory;" and the same is said on the pouring out of the fifth Vial: and here also we find that facts and phecy agree together; for if we look to France, to Spain, or to Rome, we shall be obliged to acknowledge that no signs of repentance have yet appeared.

pro

I am obliged therefore, though agreeing with Mr. Cuninghame in his general view of the times in which we live, to dissent from his opinion that the sanctuary is already cleansed, these words implying no less than the restoration of the spiritual worship of God, where an idolatrous worship had before prevailed, and the

event therefore, I conceive, belonging to the period of the progress of the Gospel, and by no means to the commencement of the period of Infidelity.

Observations on the controversy between Mr.

Faber and Mr. Cuninghame, relative to the interpretation of the Vision of the Ram and He-Goat.

Having freely made my objections to the interpretations given by Mr. Faber and Mr. Cuninghame, to the foregoing vision, I will now endeavour to reply to some arguments which Mr. Cuninghame has himself brought forward in the pages of the Christian Observer for the year 1808, to prove that the "little horn" cannot be considered as a symbol of the Mahometan Power, and I should be happy were I able to throw any light upon those points which that respectable writer proposes for discussion.

The first objection which Mr. Cuninghame brings forward is, that "this little horn does

66

not come up after the fall of the four horns, "which arose in the kingdom of Alexander; "on the contrary, the little horns come up out "of one of the four pre-existing horns; and "the Angel who interprets the symbols de"clares explicitly, that the power which this

"little horn prefigured shall stand up in the "latter time (or at the end) of their king"doms." Mr. Cuninghame consequently maintains that the little horn cannot be a symbol of Mahometanism, "which arose more "than six centuries after the fall of the last "of the Macedonian kingdoms *.

ît

This objection, I think, may be justly made to Mr. Faber's interpretation of the vision, and appears to me that he unsuccessfully endeavours to answer it by saying, that where the little horn is said to stand up " in the latter time "of their kingdom," it should be understood that the little horn shall stand up in the "futurity" of these four kingdoms; "that is to say, in "the course of the period future to them."

But then I must observe, that the difficulty in which Mr. Faber's interpretation is involved arises entirely from his having interpreted the four Beasts as representing the four empires, considered as extending to their several utmost limits; from which interpretation it must indeed necessarily follow, that when the Macedonian empire terminated by the conquest of the last of the four kingdoms, and the Roman empire was established in its place, the four horns must be considered as being then com

* Christian Observer, 1808, p. 209. † p. 417 and 690.

pletely destroyed; and the Mahometan Power, which rose up about six centuries afterwards, could not (as Mr. Faber appears to admit) be said "in the latter time of their kingdom."

to rise up

But if we adopt what I understand to be the correct interpretation of the symbols of the four Beasts, and of their horns, and consider them as referring to certain peculiar and distinct territories, we shall find that in this prophecy the Western empire is excluded; and our attention is directed to the Eastern empire alone, as being the territory* on which the Mahometan Power would appear: and we are told that it would arise in the course of a period spoken of as being "the latter time of these kingdoms," that is, of the four kingdoms of the divided Macedonian empire. If we wish to know what period this "latter time" refers to, it may be explained in the words of the prophecy of the four Beasts, as the time during which " their lives" or existence "should be prolonged after their domi"nion was taken away," that is, prior to their final (and as yet future) destruction, but subsequent to the year in which the Macedonian empire was conquered by the Romans. It is said too, that the Horn should rise when the trans

*See description of the rise of the little Papal horn, page 182 of this work.

*

gressors were come to the full; accordingly we find that it made its appearance in the beginning of the seventh century, when the Eastern Church was overrun with heresies. The time in which the Mahometan horn actually arose appears therefore most accurately described in the words of the prophecy; and to prove that they do not so well suit the interpretation of Mr. Cuninghame, I would observe, that the Roman Power was established in the East by the conquest of the four kingdoms of the divided Macedonian empire, and consequently exactly at the termination of the period of their dominion. But the text which says, that the little horn should stand up "in the latter time "of their kingdom," evidently seems to imply that it should stand up and exist during the course of a period so denominated; consequently we find that Mr. Cuninghame has felt himself obliged to alter our English translation, in order to enable him to give, as he supposes, the correct sense of the prophecy; for as Mr. Faber, instead of reading "the latter time of their "kingdom, i, e., of the four horns (as the text

"The Romans became a horn in the East, rising out of "the kingdom of Macedon, when it was reduced into a Roman Province in the year A. C. 148." See Observations by Mr. Cuninghame in the Christian Observer for the year 1808, p. 213.