It is very evident, therefore, that this leopard beast is a symbol of the papacy. But there are other considerations which prove this. This beast has the body of a leopard, the mouth of a lion, and the feet of a bear, which shows it to be some power which succeeded those three beasts of Daniel's prophecy, and retained some of the characteristics of them all; and that was Rome. But this is not the first, or pagan form of the Roman government; for that is represented by the dragon; and this is the form which succeeded that, which was the papal.
But what most clearly shows that this beast represents the papacy, is its identity with the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, which all Protestants agree in applying to the papal power.
1. Their chronology. The little horn arises after the great and terrible beast, which represents Rome in its first or pagan form, is fully developed even to the existence of the ten horns, or the division of the Roman empire into ten parts. Dan. 7:24. The leopard beast succeeds the dragon which also represents Rome in its pagan form. These powers appear therefore upon the stage of action at the same time.
2. Their location. The little horn plucked up three horns to make way for itself. The last of these, the Gothic horn, was plucked up when the Goths were driven from Rome in 538, and the city was left in the hands of the little horn, which has ever since held it as the seat of its power. To the leopard beast also, the dragon gave its seat, the city of Rome. They therefore occupy the same location.
3. Their character. The little horn is a blasphemous power; for it speaks great words against the Most High. Dan. 7:25. The leopard beast also is a blasphemous power; for it bears upon its head the name of blasphemy; it has a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and he opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. Rev. 13:1, 5, 6.
4. Their work, The little horn by a long and heartless course of oppression against the saints of the Most High, wears them out; and they are given into his hand. Dan. 7:25. He makes war against them, and prevails. Verse 21. The leopard beast also makes war upon the saints, and overcomes them. Rev. 13:7.
5. The time of their continuance, Power was given to the little horn to continue a "time and times, and the dividing of time." Dan. 7:25. A time in Scripture phraseology is one year. Dan, 4:25. (The "seven times" of Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation, Josephus informs us, were seven years.) Times, that is two times, the least that can be expressed by the plural, would be two years more; and the dividing of time, or half a time, half a year; making in all, three years and a half. To the leopard beast power was also given to continue forty-two months, which at twelve months to the year, give us again just three years and a half. And this being prophetic time, a day for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), and there being accord to Scripture reckoning thirty days to a month, or three hundred and sixty days to a year (Gen, 7:11, 24; 8:4), we have in each case twelve hundred and sixty years, for the continuance of the little horn and the leopard beast.
6. Their overthrow. At the end of the time, times and a half, the dominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7:26. At the end of the forty-two months, the same length of time, the leopard beast was also to be slain, politically, with the sword, and go into captivity. Rev. 13:3, 10.
These are points which prove not merely similarity, but identity. For whenever two symbols, as in this instance, represent powers that come upon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory, maintain the same character, do the same work, continue the same length of time, and meet the same fate, those two symbols must represent one and the same power. And in all these particulars there is, as we have seen, the most exact co-incidence between the little horn of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, and the leopard beast of Rev. 13; and all are fulfilled by one power, and that is the papacy. The papacy succeeded to the pagan form of the Roman empire. It has, ever since it was first established, occupied the seat of the dragon, the city of Rome, building for itself such a sanctuary, St, Peter's, as the world nowhere else beholds. It is a blasphemous power, speaking the most presumptuous words it is possible for mortal lips to utter against the Most High. It has worn out the saints, the Religious Encyclopedia estimating that the lives of fifty millions of Christians have been quenched in blood by its merciless implements of torture. It has continued a time, times and a half, or forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty years. Commencing in 538, when the decree of Justinian in behalf of papal supremacy was first made effectual by the overthrow of the Goths, the papacy enjoyed a period of uninterrupted supremacy for just twelve hundred and sixty years, when its power was temporarily overthrown, and its influence permanently crippled, by the French in 1798.
Can any one doubt that the papacy is the power in question, and that the interpretation of this symbol brings us down within seventy-six years of our own time? We regard the exposition of the prophecy, thus far, as clear beyond the possibility of refutation; and if this is so, our future field of inquiry lies within a very narrow compass, as we shall presently see.