But now let us look at the series. In both prophecies there is a description of four kingdoms which should in succession be supreme in political power, and which should fill up an interval between Daniel and the Advent. 1. There is the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar’s image, the same as the lion in the vision of Daniel. The most precious of metals corresponding to the king of beasts. 2. There is next the breast and arms of silver, corresponding to the bear of Daniel. 3. After that the belly and thighs of brass, representing the same nation as the leopard of the prophet. 4. And following them is the last kingdom of the four, represented to Nebuchadnezzar as the ‘legs of iron, and the feet, part of iron and part of clay,’ and to Daniel as a beast, ‘dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly.’ It is interesting to observe how the same iron character is attributed to this last power in both visions. In the one we read of it, chap. ii. 40, ‘The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all things, shall it break in pieces and bruise.’ And in the other, chap. vii. 7, it is said to be, ‘strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it.’ Such is the series of kingdoms that were to hold the chief political power of the world, and fill up the whole interval between the date of the prophecy and the advent of the Lord. Now the remarkable, and I believe I may say the indisputable, fact, is that, according to the prophecy, all these four kingdoms have arisen. They have followed each other exactly as it was predicted. Babylon was the head of gold, or the lion. The Medes and Persians were the breast of silver, or the bear. Greece, always called ‘the brazen armed,’ in classic poetry, was the belly and the thighs of brass, or the leopard. And then the mighty power of Rome, far exceeding all the others in its terrible strength, with the legs of iron in the royal image, and the teeth of iron in the prophetic beast. Thus far there is an agreement almost unanimous among the students of prophetic Scripture; and the conclusion certainly is, that we have already been a long time under the last of the four successive empires of the world. So far then as those four empires are concerned, we are encouraged to entertain the strong hope that, as we have reached the last kingdom in the succession, we may begin hopefully to look out for the end. We have passed the last station on the line, so now we may begin to prepare for home.