Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John | Page 8

and want of good works, by nakedness;
error and misery, by drinking a cup of his or her wine that causeth it;
propagating any religion for gain, by exercising traffick and
merchandize with that people whose religion it is; worshipping or
serving the false Gods of any nation, by committing adultery with their
princes, or by worshipping them; a Council of a kingdom, by its image;
idolatry, by blasphemy; overthrow in war, by a wound of man or beast;
a durable plague of war, by a sore and pain; the affliction or
persecution which a people suffers in labouring to bring forth a new
kingdom, by the pain of a woman in labour to bring forth a man-child;
the dissolution of a body politic or ecclesiastic, by the death of a man
or beast; and the revival of a dissolved dominion, by the resurrection of
the dead.
* * * * *

CHAP. III.
_Of the vision of the Image composed of four Metals._
The Prophecies of Daniel are all of them related to one another, as if
they were but several parts of one general Prophecy, given at several
times. The first is the easiest to be understood, and every following
Prophecy adds something new to the former. The first was given in a
dream to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in the second year of his
reign; but the King forgetting his dream, it was given again to Daniel in
a dream, and by him revealed to the King. And thereby, Daniel
presently became famous for wisdom, and revealing of secrets:
insomuch that Ezekiel his contemporary, in the nineteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar, spake thus of him to the King of _Tyre_: Behold,
saith he, _thou art wiser than Daniel, there is no secret that they can
hide from thee_, Ezek. xxviii. 3. And the same Ezekiel, in another place,
joins Daniel with Noah and Job, as most high in the favour of God,
_Ezek._ xiv. 14, 16, 18, 20. And in the last year of Belshazzar, the
Queen-mother said of him to the King: _Behold there is a man in thy
kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy
father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the
gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the
king, I say, thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers,
Chaldeans and soothsayers: forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and
knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of
hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same
Daniel, whom the king named _Belteshazzar__, Dan. v. 11, 12. Daniel
was in the greatest credit amongst the Jews, till the reign of the Roman
Emperor _Hadrian_: and to reject his Prophecies, is to reject the
Christian religion. For this religion is founded upon his Prophecy
concerning the Messiah.
Now in this vision of the Image composed of four Metals, the
foundation of all _Daniel_'s Prophecies is laid. It represents a body of
four great nations, which should reign over the earth successively, viz.
the people of Babylonia, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans.
And by a stone cut out without hands, which fell upon the feet of the

Image, and brake all the four Metals to pieces, and _became a great
mountain, and filled the whole earth_; it further represents that a new
kingdom should arise, after the four, and conquer all those nations, and
grow very great, and last to the end of all ages.
The head of the Image was of gold, and signifies the nations of
Babylonia, who reigned first, as Daniel himself interprets. Thou art this
head of gold, saith he to Nebuchadnezzar. These nations reigned till
Cyrus conquered Babylon, and within a few months after that conquest
revolted to the Persians, and set them up above the Medes. The breast
and arms of the Image were of silver, and represent the Persians who
reigned next. The belly and thighs of the Image were of brass, and
represent the Greeks, who, under the dominion of Alexander the great,
conquered the Persians, and reigned next after them. The legs were of
iron, and represent the Romans who reigned next after the Greeks, and
began to conquer them in the eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes. For
in that year they conquered Perseus King of Macedon, the fundamental
kingdom of the _Greeks_; and from thence forward grew into a mighty
empire, and reigned with great power till the days of Theodosius the
great. Then by the incursion of many northern nations, they brake into
many smaller kingdoms, which are represented by the feet and toes of
the Image, composed part of iron, and part of clay. For then, saith
Daniel, [1] _the kingdom shall be divided, and there