Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and
the
gold, broken to pieces together
The feet, the basis of the image, being broken, the whole body of
it fell, and with its own weight was broken to pieces; an emblem
this of the utter dissolution of all the monarchies and kingdoms
of the earth, signified by these several metals: and became
like the chaff of the summer threshing floors;
which is exceeding small and light: and the wind carried
them away, that no place was found for them;
for the several metals, and the monarchies signified by them,
which were no more: the allusion is to the manner of winnowing
corn in the eastern countries upon mountains, when the chaff was
carried away by the wind, and seen no more: and the stone
that smote the image became a great mountain, and
filled
the earth;
Christ's kingdom, from small beginnings, has increased, and will
more and more, until the whole earth is subject to it: this began
to have its accomplishment in the first times of the Gospel,
especially when the Roman empire, as Pagan, was destroyed by
Constantine, and the kingdom of Christ was set up in it; and it
received a further accomplishment at the time of the Reformation,
when Rome Papal had a deadly blow given it, and the Gospel of
Christ was spread in several nations and kingdoms; but it will
receive its full accomplishment when both the eastern and western
antichrists shall be destroyed, and the kingdoms of this world
shall become the Lord's and his Christ's, ( Revelation
11:15 ) .