A second vision was sent two years after, likewise of emblematic beasts,
and was likewise explained by an angel. A ram, pushing west, north, and
southwards, was Persia, whose victory was already nigh, even at the
door; but in his full power came from the west the Grecian he-goat, who
overthrew the ram, and stamped on him, and waxed great; but then his
one great horn was broken, and four others rose up, four lesser kings
instead of one great conqueror; and one of these produced a lesser horn,
which wrought woe and ruin to the pleasant land. This horn was not
meant, like the first, to typify the sinful one of the latter Christian
days, but a terrible foe, who was to try the faith of the Jews; and all
these visions seem to have been intended to show, that though prophecy,
and God's visible dealings with His people, were so nearly over, yet all
kingdoms and empires are His, and are founded, flourish, and decay at
His will.
LESSON XII.
CYRUS.
"When the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion, then were we like
unto them that dream."--_Psalm_ cxxvi. 1.
The Persian power, prefigured by the silver shoulders, the bear and the
ram, was indeed nigh.
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