THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES. 



165 



but set up a goddess of Eeason, and placed as her representative 

 an evil-living woman on the altar of Notre Dame. They 

 endeavoured to do away with one day's rest in seven, and sub- 

 stituted in its place one day in ten. The French revolutionists 

 naturally sougiit to destroy the Bible ; Voltaire, who fiercely 

 attacked the Scriptures, boasted that in a hundred years time the 

 Bible would be a forgotten Book; but the very house in which 

 Voltaire passed away has been used as a publishing house from 

 which the Bible has been sent forth to bring light and joy into 

 many a French home. 



Ever since the days of the French revolution these characteris- 

 tics which were so strong then have been working like leaven 

 through the masses of the people who live in the area, or have 

 sprung from the area of the Old Eoman Empire, viz., the Middle 

 and South of Europe, and the Near East. But let us not forget, 

 as w^e study the " Times of the Gentiles." In Daniel ii. we 

 are distinctly taught that the iron and the clay will be manifested 

 and exist side by side right up to the end. and will not mix. 

 So there will be the iron of monarchy and authority alongside 

 of democratic principles — the one always opposed to the other, 

 to the very end of the Gentile period. 

 Revival of the Roman Empire and the Last Days. 



A few years ago such a possibility seemed improbable ; but 

 the recent War has changed the whole political outlook of Europe 

 and the Near East ; and there has come into being a League of 

 Nations which may easily become the beginning of the revival of 

 the ancient Eoman Empire. 



Prophecy foreshadows that a remarkable personality must come 

 to the fore, a leader of nations and men, and take the position 

 of ChaiiTnan or President of the future League of Nations. Both 

 the books of Daniel and Eevelation predict such a personality 

 to rise in the last days. 



Nebuchadnezzar had the vision of the whole of the Gentile 

 world-powers in the form of an image of man, made of gold, 

 silver, brass and iron, and whose feet consisted of iron and clay. 

 Daniel vii. is an enlargement of Daniel ii., and a close study 

 of these two chapters, with Daniel xi., is most important in 

 the light of modem politics in connection with the League of 

 Nations, the restoration of the Jews to Palestine, and the new 

 kingdoms of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Every politician, whether 

 Christian or not, should make a. close study of these chapters. I 

 would now draw attention to some statements in Daniel vii. 

 concerning the last of these four Gentile empires. Daniel vii. 

 2, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds 

 of heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came 

 up from the sea diverse one from another." The prophet saw a 

 groat stoi-m at sea, and he also saw what caused that storm. 



