Page 273 - New English Book L
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Beast which was utterly killed and destroyed by that Son of
Man be a prototype of Antiochus Epiphanes or the Roman
Caesar, Nero. The culminating evil of that dreadful Beast
was the “Little Horn,” which uttered blasphemies against
the Most High by associating with His essence three co-
eternal divine persons and by its persecution of those who
maintained the absolute oneness of God. Constantine the
Great is the person symbolized by that hideous Horn.
2. The Apocalypse of Enoch [1] foretells the appearance
of the Son of Man at a moment when the small flock of
the sheep, though vigorously defended by a ram, will be
fiercely attacked by the birds of prey from above and by
the carnivorous beast on land. Among the enemies of the
little flock are seen many other goats and sheep that had
gone astray. The lord of the flock, like a good shepherd,
suddenly appears and strikes the earth with his rod or
sceptre; it opens its mouth and swallows up the assailing
enemy; chases and drives away from the pastures the rest
of the pernicious birds and brutes. Then a sword is given
to the flock as an emblem of power and the weapon of
destruction. After which the flock is no longer headed by
a ram but by a white bull with two large black horns.
This parabolical vision is transparent enough. From
Jacob (pbuh) downwards the “chosen people” is represented
symbolically by the flock of sheep. The descendants of
Esau are described as boars. Other heathen people and
tribes are represented in the vision, according to their
respective characteristics, as ravens, eagles, vultures, and
different species of brutes, all thirsty to suck the blood of
the sheep or hungry to devour them. Almost all Biblical
scholars agree that the vision indicates the painful period
[1].I regret to say that the“Jewish Apocalypses”are inaccesseible to me.The
Encyclopædias given only a compendium of each book, which does not satisfy
my purpose of examining the text. I know that the Irish Archbishop Laurence has
translated this Apocalypse into English, but it is, unfortunately, beyond my reach.
(The outhor).