Robert Roberts (1839-1898) was the second pioneer of the Christadelphian movement. In his 1884 Christendom Astray, we read the following in “Lecture XVI.— Times and Signs; Or The Evidence that the End is Near”:
The chronology of the fourth-beast symbol is determinable by the
career of the little horn. The fourth-beast system was to continue, at least, a
time, times, and a half, from the time the little horn made its appearance,
after the end of which, it was to be destroyed by divine judgment, and the
dominion transferred to the saints. Hence, if we can identify the little horn
in history, and fix the date of its appearance, we shall be enabled to arrive
at a correct conclusion as to the arrival of the time of the fourth-beast
destroying judgment to take effect in the coming of the Ancient of Days, in
the person of Jesus, to put an end to the arrogant blasphemies which
prevail for time, times, and a half time. To do this, we must give a little
attention to the appearance of the ten horns, of the fourth beast, as the ten
horns precede the advent of the little horn power. This takes us back to what
is called "the fall of the Roman empire," when "the fourth
kingdom" passed from its imperial to its divided and multiregal phase. (Robert
Roberts, Christendom Astray: Or, Popular Theology (Both in Faith and Practice)
Shewn to be Unscriptural; And The True Nature of the Ancient Apostolic Faith
Exhibited in Eighteen Lectures [Birmingham: R. Roberts, 1884], 330, emphasis in bold added)
