THE TEN KINGDOMS by Uriah Smith

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 15, 1862

THE TEN KINGDOMS.

By Uriah Smith

SOME of the readers of the Review seem to think our views on the kingdom are unsound for the following reasons: viz., the feet and toes of the image symbolize the ten divisions of the Roman kingdom. The prophecy says that in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom. Now they say these kingdoms have long since passed away, and other kingdoms have taken their places. More than ten kingdoms now exist. Were these ten divisions to exist till the coming of Christ, no more and no less? Please give us some light on the above subject through the Review. B. MCCORMIC.

REPLY.—It is certain that the ten toes of the image denote the ten kingdoms that were to arise out of the Roman empire; and it is also certain that this division was not fully accomplished till the year A. D. 483. Hence the setting up of God's everlasting kingdom is an event to take place this side of that year. Now will those who object to our views of the kingdom, show us any kingdom of God that has been set up since the ten kingdoms arose out of the Roman empire? They cannot do it; and, therefore, if those kingdoms have passed away, the word of God has failed. We leave them to get out of this dilemma—a dilemma into which we do not choose to run—as best they can, while we proceed to show that the ten kingdoms do still exist, and will exist till the coming of the Son of man—till the stone cut out of the mountain without hand shall smite the image upon the feet and dash it to atoms.

Not only are we told that there should be ten toes on the image, and ten horns on the Roman beast, but the existence of those horns, for no small length of time, is plainly predicted. The setting up of God's kingdom is the destruction of all these powers; therefore we cannot look for the setting up of that kingdom in any period during which these powers or horns are predicted to exist. We turn then to Dan. vii, and learn that among these horns there was to come a little horn which should grow up to be stouter than his fellows. To this horn is given dominion for 1260 years. The indubitable testimony of history is, that this horn was fully established in 538, and bore sway till 1798. Then we look this side of that date for the destruction of the beast with this and the other horns.

Two things, then, are declared in these prophecies. 1. That the ten kingdoms that sprang from the Roman empire were to remain till this side of 1798. 2. That in the days of these kings the God of heaven should set up a kingdom. Now we ask, If the ten horns were in existence in 1798, as they must have been to meet the prophecy, are they not in existence now? Every one must answer, Yes; for there has been no material revolution in the kingdoms of Europe since that time.

On the subject of the ten horns, Scott remarks: "It is certain that the Roman empire was divided into ten kingdoms: and though they might be sometimes more and sometimes fewer, yet they were still known by the name of the ten kingdoms of the western empire."

Nelson, in his treatise on Infidelity, takes notice of the objection under consideration, as follows: "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 might 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 re-built 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 that, 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 has been, respecting the ten horns which were to represent the ten kingdoms of Europe, once under the Roman scepter. They have been there for 1200 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 others were forming in their room, the ten horns were still there. 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."

In addition to the foregoing, which is certainly sufficient to clear the subject of all difficulty, it would be no hard matter to trace the principal nations of Europe at the present day, back to the principal tribes which formed its first division out of the Roman empire. The ten horns are usually enumerated as follows: 1. The Huns. 2. The Ostrogoths. 3. The Visigoths. 4. The Franks. 5. The Vandals. 6. The Suevi. 7. The Burgundians. 8. The Heruli and Rugii, or Thuringi. 9. The Anglo-Saxons, and 10. The Lombards.

The Lombards settled in Lombardy, now a part of Italy; the Anglo-Saxons in England, from whom that nation has come; the Franks in France, in whom that country finds its name, and the French their origin; the Visigoths in Spain; the Suevi in Portugal; the Huns in Hungary, now a part of Austria, &c.

We cannot include Turkey and Russia in the kingdoms answering to the ten horns, because they belong to the body of the third beast, and consequently are no part of the territory out of which the horns of the fourth beast should arise. Neither can we include Norway and Sweden, for the fourth beast did not extend his jurisdiction over those countries. In the remaining portion of Europe the student of prophecy sees what he finds no difficulty in recognizing as the ten horns of the beast, and still waits for the fulfillment of the promise, that in the days of these kings the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom. U. S.