Another question may here arise which perhaps demands a passing notice. In the days of these kings, the God of Heaven was to set up a kingdom. We turn our eyes to Europe at the present day, and behold a variety of kingdoms, petty sovereignties, and dependencies. The question has been asked, Where are the ten kingdoms? Have they passed away? or has the time passed in which the fifth kingdom should have been set up? In reply to this we quote again from Nelson:
"Some have asked how it could be said that ten kingdoms have existed to represent ten horns, in a part of the earth once under the dominion of Rome when so many changes have been constantly going on in Europe, and when so many of them have been at times, as it were, consolidated into one. We may reply at any time to such an inquiry very fairly, that the ten horns have been there; that making a kingdom tributary does not take away its existence. If there should have been at times, eleven, twelve, or more horns there for half a century or longer, this does not make it untrue that ten were there. Such inquiries as have been made, and such objections as have been urged, seem to many, unworthy of an answer; but if a puerile cavil should appear weighty and important in the view of the unthinking, or the uninformed, for his sake it needs an answer. Let us then pass briefly through an illustration which may aid us in understanding each other.
"Suppose some feeble people should be suffering from the almost constant invasions of numerous and ferocious enemies. Suppose a powerful and benevolent prince sends them word that he will, for a number of years—say thirty—maintain for their safety, along their frontier, ten garrisons, each to contain one hundred well armed men. Or suppose he is actuated by different designs and moved by other motives; no matter how this is, so that his word is out for the support of a given number of fortifications containing a thousand soldiers. Suppose the forts are built and remain a few years, when two of them are burned to the ground and rebuilt without delay; has there been any violation of the sovereign's word? No, there was no material interruption in the continuance of the walls of strength; furthermore, the troops, the most important part of the safeguard, are still there. Again, suppose the monarch sends and has two posts of strength demolished, but adjoining the spot where these stood, and immediately, he has other two buildings erected, more capacious and more desirable; does the promise still stand good? We answer in the affirmative, and we believe no one would differ with us. Finally, suppose in addition to the ten garrisons, it could be shown that for several months during the thirty years, one more had been maintained there; that for one or two years out of the thirty, there had been there eleven instead of ten fortifications; shall we call it a defect or a failure in the original undertaking? Or shall any seeming interruption, such as has been stated, destroy the propriety of our calling these the ten garrisons of the frontier? The answer is, No, without dispute.
"So it is, and so it is, respecting the ten horns which were to represent ten kingdoms of Europe, once under the Roman sceptre. They have been there for twelve hundred and sixty years. If several have had their names changed according to the caprice of him who conquered, this change of name did not destroy existence. If others have had their territorial limits changed, the nation was still there. If others have fallen while successors were forming in their room, the ten horns were there still. If during a few years out of a thousand, there were more than ten—if some temporary power reared its head, seeming to claim a place with the rest, and soon disappeared, it has not caused the beast to have less than ten horns."
This quotation removes at once every chance for cavil, and all ground for objection. For over thirteen hundred years those kingdoms have been in Europe. In the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom. There are other prophecies to be noticed hereafter, which, through the development of further particulars, bring us down more definitely to our own time. But on the present point we wish to inquire, Would the prophet thus accurately predict the existence of four great kingdoms, and be mistaken in regard to the fifth? The better judgment of every man will answer, No! As surely as four great kingdoms have successfully borne rule over the earth, so surely will the God of Heaven set up a fifth, which will never pass away. It will not be left to other people as these have been, but the saints shall possess it forever and ever. As surely as the image has been developed before us, so surely will it be smitten and dashed to pieces.
With one more question, which each must answer for himself and upon his own responsibility, we leave with you, reader, this part of the subject: are you ready for this destruction of all earthly governments? Have you an interest in the kingdom that is to be set up? Is your name enrolled among those highly privileged ones, who are to be its immortal subjects? Is your citizenship in Heaven, from whence we look for the Lord and Saviour? Are you Christ's, and therefore an heir, according to the promise? Or are you, on the other hand, in the condition, that if the King should appear, to raise his people to their glorious and imperishable inheritance, you would covet, as the greatest blessing, to be buried from his presence by rocks and mountains? Woful condition! Watch! lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
U. S.