6 words against the Most High," (ver. 25,) or as Symmachus interprets it, he shall speak great words as the Most High; setting up himself above all laws divine and human, arrogating to himself godlike attributes and titles of holiness and infallibility, exacting obedience to his ordinances and decrees, in preference to, and open violation of reason and Scripture, insulting men, and blaspheming God. In Gratian's decretals the pope hath the title of God given to him." And he shall wear out the saints of the Most High;" by wars, and massacres, and inquisitions, persecuting and destroying the faithful servants of Jesus, and the true worshippers of God, who protest against his innovations, and refuse to comply with the idolatry practised in the church of Rome.-"And he shall think to change times and laws:" appointing fasts and feasts, canonizing saints, granting pardons and indulgences for sins, instituting new modes of worship, imposing new articles of faith, enjoining new rules of practice, and reversing at pleasure the laws both of God and men." And they shall be given into his hand, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time." "A time," all agree, signifies a year; and "a time, and times, and the dividing of time," or half a time, are three years and a half. So long and no longer, as the Romanists conceive, the power of Antichrist will continue; but it is impossible for all the things which are predicted of Antichrist to be fulfilled in so short a space of time; and neither is Antichrist or the little horn a single man, but a kingdom. Single men are not the subjects of this prophecy, but kingdoms. The four kings, (ver. 17,) are not four single kings, but kingdoms; and so the ten horns or kings, (ver. 24,) are not ten single kings, but kingdoms; and so likewise the little horn is not a single king, but a kingdom, not a single man, but a succession of men, exercising such powers, and performing such actions as are here described. We must therefore compute the time according to the nature and genius of the prophetic language. A time, then, and times, and half a time, are three years and a half: and the ancient Jewish year consisting of twelve months, and each month of thirty days, a time, and times, and half a time, or three years and a half, are reckoned in the Revelation, (xi. 2, 3; xii. 6, 14,) as equivalent to "forty and two months," or "a thousand two hundred and threescore days;" and a day in the style of the prophets is a year; "I have appointed thee each day for a year," saith God to Ezekiel, (iv. 6;) and it is confessed, that the seventy weeks in the ninth chapter of Daniel are weeks of years; and consequently 1260 days are 1260 years. So long Antichrist or the little horn will continue: but from what point of time the commencement of these Sive ut interpretatus est Symmachus: sermones quasi Deus loquetur.' Hieron. Com ment. in loc. 66 1260 years is to be dated, is not so easy to determine. It should seem that they are to be computed from the full establishment of the power of the pope, and no less is implied in the expression given into his hand." Now the power of the pope, as a horn or temporal prince, it hath been shown, was established in the eighth century: and 1260 years from that time will lead us down to about the year of Christ 2000, or about the 6000th year of the world and there is an old tradition both among Jews and Christians, that at the end of six thousand years the Messiah shall come, and the world shall be renewed, the reign of the wicked one shall cease, and the reign of the saints upon earth shall begin, But as Irenæus saith in a like case, it is surer and safer to wait for the completion of the prophecy, than to conjecture and to divine about it. When the end shall come, then we shall know better whence to date the beginning. 8 9 V. All these kingdoms will be succeeded by the kingdom of the Messiah. "I beheld, (saith Daniel, ver. 9, 10,) till the thrones were cast down, (or rather till the thrones were set,) and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him: and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgment was set, (or the judges did sit,) and the books were opened." These metaphors and figures are borrowed from the solemnities of earthly judicatories, and particularly of the great Sanhedrim of the Jews, where the father of the consistory sat, with his assessors seated on each side of him in the form of a semicircle, and the people standing before him and from this description again was borrowed the description of the day of judgment in the New Testament. "I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld, even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame," (ver. 11.) The beast will be destroyed, "because of the great words which the horn spake," and the destruction of the beast will also be the destruction of the horn; and consequently the horn is a part of the fourth beast, or of the Roman empire. "As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time," (ver. 12.) When the dominion was taken away from the other beasts, their bodies S. Barnabæ Epist. c. 15, cum notis Cotelerii. Burnet's Theory, b. 3, c. 5. 8 • Ασφαλέστερον οὖν καὶ ἀκινδυνότερον, τὸ περιμένειν τὴν ἔκβασιν τῆς προφητείας, ἢ τὸ καταστοχάζεσθαι καὶ καταμαντεύεσθαι. Certius ergo et sine periculo est, sustinere ad impletionem prophetiæ, quam suspicari et divi nare. Iren. 1. 5, c. 30. 9 "Donec throni rosita sunt." Vulg. "Eos ὅτου οἱ θρόνοι ἐτέθησαν. Sept. Videbam subsellia posita esse." Syr. "Sedes posita fuerunt." Arab. And the same word is used in the Chaldee paraphrase of Jer. i. 15, they shall set every one his throne. were not destroyed, they were suffered to continue still in being: but when the dominion shall be taken away from this beast, his body shall totally be destroyed; because other kingdoms succeeded to those, but none other earthly kingdom shall succeed to this. "I saw in the night-visions, and behold, one like the Son of man, came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him," (ver. 13.) How strange and forced, how absurd and unworthy of Grotius is it to apply this to the Romans, which hath always been, and can only be properly understood of the Messiah? From hence the Son of man came to be a 'known phrase for the Messiah among the Jews. From hence it was taken and used so frequently in the Gospels: and our Saviour intimates himself to be this very Son of Man, in saying, (Matt. xxvi. 64, 65,) "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven;" and thereupon he was charged by the high priest with having "spoken blasphemy." "And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed," (ver. 14.) All these kingdoms shall in their turns be destroyed, but the kingdom of the Messiah shall stand for ever: and it was in allusion to this prophecy, that the angel said of Jesus before he was conceived in the womb, (Luke i. 33,) "He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." After what manner these great changes will be effected, we cannot pretend to say, as God hath not been pleased to reveal it. We see the remains of the ten horns, which arose out of the Roman Empire. We see the little horn still subsisting, though not in full strength and vigour, but as we hope upon the decline, and tending towards a dissolution. And having seen so many of these particulars accomplished, we can have no reason to doubt that the rest also will be fulfilled in due season, though we cannot frame any conception how Christ will be manifested in glory, how the little horn with the body of the fourth beast will be given to the burning flame, or how the saints will take the kingdom, and possess it for ever and ever. It is the nature of such prophecies not to be perfectly understood, till they are fulfilled. The best comment upon them will be their completion. It may yet add some farther light to these prophecies, if we compare this and the former together; for comparing Scripture with Scripture is the best way to understand both the one and 1 See Jewish authors cited even by Grotius and Bp. Chandler in his Defence of Christianity, c. 2, § 1, p. 108, 3d edit. the other. What was represented to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, was represented again to Daniel by four great wild beasts: and the beasts degenerate, as the metals in the image grow worse and worse, the lower they descend. "This image's head was of fine gold," and "the first beast was like a lion with eagle's wings;". and these answer to each other; and both represented the powers then reigning, or the kingdom of the Babylonians: but it appeared in splendour and glory to Nebuchadnezzar, as it was then in its flourishing condition; the plucking of its wings and its humiliation were shewn to Daniel, as it was then drawing near to its fatal end. "The breast and arms of silver," and "the second beast like a bear," were designed to represent the second kingdom, or that of the Medes and Persians. The "two arms" are supposed to denote the two people; but some farther particulars were hinted to Daniel, of the one people rising up above the other people, and of the conquest of three additional kingdoms. To Nebuchadnezzar, this kingdom was called "inferior," or worse than the former; and to Daniel it was described as very cruel, "Arise, devour much flesh." The third kingdom, or that of the Macedonians, was represented by "the belly and thighs of brass," and by "the, third beast like a leopard with four wings of a fowl." It was said to Nebuchadnezzar, that "it should bear rule over all the earth;" and in Daniel's vision, "dominion was given to it." The "four heads" signify Alexander's four successors; but the "two thighs" can only signify the two principal of them, the Seleucidæ and Lagidæ, the Syrian and Egyptian Kings. "The legs of iron," and "the fourth beast with great iron teeth," correspond exactly; and as "iron breaketh in pieces" all other metals, so the fourth beast devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it; and they were both therefore equally proper representatives of the fourth kingdom, or the Roman, which was stronger and more powerful than all the former kingdoms. The "ten toes" too and the "ten horns" were alike fit emblems of the ten kingdoms, which arose out of the division of the Roman empire; but all that relates to "the little horn" was revealed only to Daniel, as a person more immediately interested in the fate of the church. The "stone, that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and became itself a mountain, and filled the whole earth," is explained to be a kingdom which shall prevail over all other kingdoms, and become universal and everlasting. In like manner, 66 one like the Son of man came to the Ancient of days," and was advanced to a kingdom, which shall prevail likewise over all other kingdoms, and become universal and everlasting. Such concord and agreement is there between these prophe 9 cies of Daniel, which remarkable as they are in many things, are in nothing more remarkable than that they comprehend so many distant events, and extend through so many ages, from the reign of the Babylonians to the consummation of all things. They are truly, as Mr. Mede called them, 'the sacred calendar and great almanac of prophecy, a prophetical chronology of times, measured by the succession of four principal kingdoms, from the beginning of the captivity of Israel, until the mystery of God should be finished.' They are as it were the great outlines, the rest mostly are filling up the parts: and as these will cast light upon the subsequent prophecies, so the subsequent prophecies will reflect light upon them again. Daniel was "much troubled, (ver. 28,) and his countenance changed in him," at the foresight of the calamities to be brought upon the church by the little horn: "but he kept the matter in his heart." Much more may good men be grieved at the sight of these calamities, and lament the prevalence of popery and, wickedness in the world but let them keep it in their heart, that a time of just retribution will certainly come. The proof may be drawn from the moral attributes of God, as well as from his promise, (ver. 26, 27:) "The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall serve and obey him." TH INTRODUCTION TO THE LECTURE FOUNDED BY THE HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE, JAN. 5, 1756. HERE is not a stronger or more convincing proof of divine revelation, than the sure word of prophecy. But to the truth of prophecy it is objected, that the predictions were written after the events; and could it be proved as well as asserted, it would really be an insuperable objection. It was thought therefore that a greater service could not be done to the cause of Christianity, than by an induction of particulars, to show, that the predictions were prior to the events; nay that several prophecies have been fulfilled in these latter ages, and are fulfilling even at this present time: And for the farther prosecution and the better encouragement of this work, I have been called to preach these lectures, by the favour and recommendation of the great prelate, who having himself written most ' Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 654. |