The record-union., 1896-03-23
THE CLAIMS OF MORMONS.
A Discourse Delivered by Elder Peterson
Last Night.
His Interpretation of the Vision of
Daniel, and the Four Beasts
He Saw.

At the Mormon meeting last evening
in Pythian Castle a discourse was de-
livered by Elder Henry Peterson on
1.-The Four Beasts of Daniels Vision
Their Prophetical Significance and His
torical Fulfillment.'
Daniel, he said, saw in his night Wis
ion the four winds of heaven striving
upon the great sea, and four great
beasts came up from the sea diverse
one from another. The first was like a
lion, and had eagles wings. II beheld,"
said Daniel ''till the wings thereof were
plucked and it was lifted up from the
earth and made to stand upon the feet,
as man, and a mans heart was given
to it, And behold, another beast a sec
ond, like to a bear, and it raised itself
up on one side, and it had three ribs in
the mouth of it, between the teeth of
it, and they said thus to it: Arise, de-
YOUR much flesh
After this / beheld, and 10, another,
like leopard, which had upon the back
of it four wings of fowl, the beast had
also four heads, and dominion was
given to it. After this / saw in the
night vision, and behold a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, and strong ex-
ceedingly, and it had iron teeth. 1t de-
voured and brake in pieces and stamped
the residue with the feet of 1t; and 1t
was diverse from all the beasts that
were before it, and it had ten horns. l
considered the horns, and behold, there
came UP among them another little
horn, before whom there were three of
the first plucked up by the roots, and
behold, in this horn were eyes like the
eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking
great things Dan. vii, 81
This text, said the speaker, is one of
intense interest, especially to lovers of
history, as it gives a beautiful outline
of the rise and fall of the worlds great
empires for the last twenty-three cen
turies. Sea, in the language of proph-
ecy, refers to the multitude of people
upon the earth. The four winds seen by
the prophet striving upon the waters
represented the political disturbances
that were to agitate the inhabitants
Of the earth And by lone of them that
stood by" the prophet was informed
that the four beasts represented four
Kingdoms or empires, that should rise
out of the earth. BY a careful compar-
son of this with other prophecy Dan.
ii) it is easily determined what nations
or empires were symbolized by these
beasts rising out of the sea.
The lion, seen with it's eagles wings,
was the Babylonian Empire in the days
OF King Neduchadnezzar, when that
monarch had led forth his armies and
conquered the world. But as the wings
were plucked the animal was set upon
it's feet, and a mans heart was given
to it, so the successors of Nebuchadnez-
zar were less terrible to their foes,
more cautious and even timid till Bel
shazZar, the last Babylonian monarch,
shut himself up within the walls of the
city, not daring to face Cyrus, even as
a man will not face a raging bear. When
Cyrus marched under the walls into
the great city and captured the capi-
tai the dominion was taken from the
first beast.
The bear raising itself on one side
fifty represented the Medo-Persian, the
next Of the worlds great empires, as it
arose in the east and extended it's con-
quests mainly to the west, or raised
itself ON one side'' The three con-
quered nations, Babylon, Sydia and
Egypt, are the three ribs in the mouth
of the bear, and "the devouring of much
flesh is seen in the cruelty of the Per-
sian Kings.
The dominion of the bear waned and
the leopard arose in it's stead. This
leopard, with it's wings of a fowl, Is
seen in the empire of Alexander, the
Great. Though the animal Is naturally
fleet, it had wings given that it might
represent the rapidity with which AL
exander should conquer nations. His
tory says of him that she conquered
them more quickly than other Generals