Page:Mahometanism in its relation to prophecy - or, an inquiry into the prophecies concerning antichrist, with some reference to their bearing on the events of the present day (IA mahometanisminit00philrich).pdf/40

 ar have we quoted the words of the great St. Jerome, we shall have to refer to them again later, as well as to the prophecy of Daniel, to which they relate.

The same great revelation had already been made to King Nabuchodonosor, as we find in the second chapter of the same prophecy (Dan. ii. 31–45), under the figure of a vast statue, composed of four different materials, answering to the four beasts in Daniel's vision, as we have already had occasion to see pointed out to us by St. Jerome in his commentary on that vision. The only difference between the two visions consists in this,—that the second contains a fuller development of future events than the first; the groundwork of both being evidently the same. In the sequel we shall observe that still fuller developments of the mighty events, connected with these four empires, and subsequent to them, are revealed to the Prophet.

We have already seen, from the quotations given from St. Jerome, what was his interpretation of the four beasts, and in this interpretation we may safely affirm that all other commentators agree with him. For if any have ventured to dissent from the general explanation, they are really too insignificant to be seriously dealt with. We may therefore lay it down, as the tradition of the Church, that the