of these enemies who fall under the senses and are seen by the eyes, but also subvert and dissipate the snares of invisible demons, and all the stratagems of the devil.' Hilary also will tell us, that neither the guards of saints, nor ['angelorum munitiones'] the bulwarks of angels are wanting to those who are willing to stand. Here angels are Mahuzzim, as saints were before. The Greeks at this day, in their Preces Horariæ, thus invocate the blessed virgin: 0 thou virgin mother of God, thou impregnable wall, thou fortress of salvation, [ny Psal. xxviii.] we call upon thee, that thou wouldst frustrate the purposes of our enemies, and be a fence to this city.' Thus they go on, calling her The Hope, Safeguard, and Sanctuary of Christians. Gregory Nyssen in his third oration upon the forty martyrs, calleth them [opvp6pot kai bпepaσmorai] guarders and protectors: Eucherius his St. Gervase the perpetual ['propugnator'] protector of the faithful. Theodoret1 calleth the holy martyrs, Guardians of cities, Lieutenants of places, Captains of men, Princes, Champions, and Guardians, by whom disasters are turned from us, and those which came from devils debarred and driven away. By these, and other authorities it appears, not only that Mahuzzim were worshipped, but they were worshipped likewise as Mahuzzim. This superstition began to prevail in the fourth century; and in the eighth century, in the year 787, the worship of images and the like was fully established by the seventh general council, and the second which was held at Nice such different fortune attended that city, that there the first general council established orthodoxy, and there also the seventh established idolatry by law.

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Other instances of his regard to Mahuzzim are produced in the next verse: "Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge, and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain," (ver. 39.) Porphyry explains this of Antiochus fortifying the city of Jerusalem, and placing garrisons in the other cities, and persuading the people to worship Jupiter; and then giving much honour and glory to those whom he had so persuaded, and causing them to rule over the other

Hi

1 Καὶ ὡς πολιούχους τιμῶσι καὶ φύλακας. Veneranturque tanquam urbium præsides atque custodes. Οὗτοι γέ εἰσιν ἀτεχνῶς πρόμοι ἀνθρώπων, καὶ πρόμαχοι, καὶ ἐπίκουροι, καὶ τῶν κακῶν ἀποτρόπαιοι, τὰς ὑπὸ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐπιφερομένας αποδιοπομπούμενοι βλάβας. sunt vere hominum duces, et propugnatores, et auxiliatores, malorumque depulsores, damna, quæ a dæmonibus infliguntur, procul arcentes. Theodoret. de Græc. affect. Cur. Serm. & p. 593, 600, vol. iv.

2Quod Porphyrius ita edisserit: faciet hæc omnia, ut muniat arcem Jerusalem, et in cæteris urbibus ponat præsidia, et Judæos doceat adorare Deum alienum : haud dubium quin Jovem significet. Quem quum illis ostenderit, et adorandum esse persuaserit: tunc dabit deceptis honorem, et gloriam plurimam: et faciet cæteris qui in Judæa fuerint dominari, et pro prævaricatione possessiones dividet, et dona distribuet.' Hieron. in loc. col. 1132.

Jews, and dividing possessions and distributing rewards to them for their prevarication. But if all the rest could be accommodated to Antiochus, how could Jupiter, whom he had always worshipped, be called "a strange god whom he should acknowledge?" The worship of Mahuzzim was indeed the worship of a strange god, both to those who imposed it, and to those who received it in the Christian church. But for the better understanding of this part of the prophecy, it may be proper to propose a more literal translation of it: Thus shall he do; to the defenders of Mahuzzim, together with the strange god whom he shall acknowledge, he shall multiply honour; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and the earth he shall divide for a reward. Mr. Mede's translation is somewhat different but I conceive it is neither so literal, nor so just to the original: And he shall make the holds of the Mahuzzim withal (or jointly) to the foreign god, whom acknowledging he shall increase with honour; and shall cause them to rule over many, and shall distribute the earth for a reward. Let us examine and compare the translations together. In our Bible-translation it is, "Thus shall he do in the most strong holds," or as we read in the margin, in the fortresses of munitions, with a strange god: but here Mahuzzim is not taken personally, as it was in the foregoing verse. Mr. Mede translates it thus, And he shall make the holds of the Mahuzzim withal (or jointly) to the foreign god: but then he doth not express the force of the particle prefixed to holds in the Hebrew, which ought not to be neglected. "Whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory," says our Bibletranslation: but there is no conjunction like and before increase, and no preposition like with before glory in the original. Mr. Mede hath avoided the former objection by changing the verb into a participle, Whom acknowledging he shall increase with honour; but the latter objection remains still in its full strength. The latter part is much the same in all translations: but in our Bible-translation there is nothing to which them can be referred, "And he shall cause them to rule over many;" for it cannot well be said, that he shall cause the strong holds to rule over many. Let us now consider, how these inconveniences may be wholly avoided by a new translation. Thus shall he do, So the same words are translated, ver. 30; but then here a stop is to be made. To the defenders of Mahuzzim, or to the priests of Mahuzzint: Here the force of the particle is expressed; here again the abstract is used for the concrete, as in the foregoing verse, holds or fortresses for defenders and supporters, or priests as It may be translated; and this notion of the word I find ap

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• Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 667.

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.propugnatoribus Malluzzimorum למבצרי מעזים 5

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proved and confirmed by Father Houbigant. It is manifest, that persons must be meant, because they are said afterwards to rule over many. Together with the strange god whom he shall acknowledge: This is the most useful signification of the preposition; and if Mahuzzim be not considered as the strange god, it is difficult to say who the strange god is. He shall multiply honour: Here is no conjunction, nor preposition inserted without authority from the original. He shall multiply honour the noun is the same as the verb in the verse preceding, he shall honour. He shall multiply honour to the defenders and champions of Mahuzzim, as well as to Mahuzzim themselves. Deifying Mahuzzim, he shall also glorify their priests and ministers and he shall cause them to rule over many, and the earth he shall divide for a reward. The prophecy thus expounded, the completion becomes obvious and evident to the meanest capacity. The defenders and champions of Mahuzzim were the monks, and priests, and bishops: and of them it may most truly and properly be said, that they were increased with honour, that they ruled over many, and divided the land for gain. Mr. Mede' applies the latter part to the Mahuzzim themselves: and he paraphrases it after this manner: 'Yea he shall distribute the earth among his Mahuzzim; so that besides several patrimonies which in every country he shall allot them, he shall share whole kingdoms and provinces among them: Saint George shall have England; St. Andrew, Scotland; St. Denis, France; St. James, Spain; St. Mark, Venice, &c. and bear rule as presidents and patrons of their several countries. But it appears more natural and easy to understand it of the principal teachers and propagators of the worship of Mahuzzim, the bishops, and priests, and monks, and religious orders: and that they have been honoured, and reverenced, and almost adored in former ages: that their authority and jurisdiction have extended over the purses and consciences of men; that they have been enriched with noble buildings and large endowments, and have had the choicest of the lands appropriated for churchlands; are points of such public notoriety, that they require no proof, as they will admit of no denial.

Such was the degeneracy of the Christian church, and now we shall see its punishment, especially in the eastern part of it. "And at the time of the end shall the king of the south

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push at him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow, and pass over," (ver. 40.) These things also Porphyry refers to Antiochus: that in the eleventh year of his reign he warred again against his sister's son, Ptolemy Philometor, who hearing of his coming gathered together many thousands of the people; but Antiochus like a whirlwind with chariots, and with horsemen, and with a great fleet entered into many countries, and in passing over laid all waste; and came to the famous land, that is Judea, and fortified the citadel out of the ruins of the walls of the city, and so marched forward into Egypt. But here Porphyry may be convicted of falsifying history; for after Antiochus was dismissed out of Egypt by the Romans, he never ventured to go thither again. The eleventh was the last year of his reign: and all historians agree, that the latter part of his reign was employed in his eastern expedition, in reducing Artaxias king of Armenia to his obedience, and in collecting the tribute among the Persians; and before he returned, he died. Others therefore have said, that the prophet here resumes his former subject of the wars between Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria, and Ptolemy Philometor king of Egypt. But it is not likely, after giving an account of the conclusion of those wars by the interposition of the Romans, that he should return to them again. Having hitherto deduced things in a regular series, it is more probable that he should continue that series, and proceed to other subsequent events, than that of a sudden he should stop short, and revert to Antiochus, after the intermixture of so many other affairs. But the question is not so much what it was probable for him to do, as what he actually hath done and we shall find, that the remaining parts of the prophecy are applicable to other subsequent events than to the transactions of Antiochus. The kings of the south and the north are to be taken and explained according to the times, of which the prophet is speaking. As long as the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria were

2Et hæc Porphyrius ad Antiochum refert: quod undecimo anno regni sui rursus contra sororis filium Ptolemæum Philometorem dimicaverit. Qui audiens venire Antiochum, congregavit multa populorum millia. Sed Antiochus quasi tempestas valida in curribus, et in equitibus, et in classe magna ingressus sit terras plurimas, et transeundo universa vestaverit: veneritque ad terram inclytam, id est, Judæam-et arcem munierit de ruinis murorum civitatis, et sic perrexerit in Egyptum.' Hieron. in loc.

Obüt cum regnasset annos solidos

undecim.' Petavii Rat. Temp. Part 1, 1. 4, c. 10. So likewise Eusebius, Jerome, and Sulpicius Severus. Usher's Annals, A. M. 3840. Prideaux Connect. Part 2, b. 3. Anno 164.

41 Macc. iii. 31, &c. vi. 1, &c. 2 Macc. ix. 1, &c. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, c. 8, § 1. Valesii Excerpta ex Polybio, p. 145. Appian. de Bell. Syr. c. 45. Diodorus Siculus apud Hieron. col. 1131.

Menochius, Sanctius, Maldonatus, &c. apud Poli Synops. Calmet, Houbi gant, &c. in locum.

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subsisting, so long the Egyptian and Syrian kings were the kings of the south and the north: but when these kingdoms were swallowed up in the Roman empire, then other powers became the kings of the south and the north. "And at the time of the end (that is, as Mr. Mede rightly expounds it, in the latter days of the Roman empire) shall the king of the south push at him," that is, the Saracens, who were of the Arabians, and came from the south; and under the conduct of their false prophet Mohammed and his successors, made war upon the emperor Heraclius, and with amazing rapidity deprived him of Egypt, Syria, and many of his finest provinces. They were only to push at, and sorely wound the Greek empire, but they were not to subvert and destroy it. "And the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over:" that is, the Turks, who were originally of the Scythians, and came from the north; and after Saracens seized on Syria, and assaulted with great violence the remains of the Greek empire, and in time rendered themselves absolute masters of the whole. The Saracens dismembered and weakened the Greek empire, but the Turks totally ruined and destroyed it and for this reason, we may presume, so much more is said of the Turks than of the Saracens. Their chariots and their horsemen are particularly mentioned; because their armies consisted chiefly of horse, especially before the institution of the Janizaries, and their standards still are horse-tails. Their ships too are said to be many; and indeed without many ships they could never have gotten possession of so many islands and maritime countries, nor have so frequently vanquished the Venetians, who were at that time the greatest naval power in Europe. What fleets, what armies, were employed in the besieging and taking of Constantinople, of Negropont or Euboea, of Rhodes, of Cyprus, and lastly of Candy or Crete? The words "shall enter into the countries, and overflow, and pass. over," give us an exact idea of their overflowing the western parts of Asia, and then passing over into Europe, and fixing the seat of their empire at Constantinople, as they did under their seventh emperor Mohammed the Second.

Among his other conquests this king of the north was to take possession of the Holy Land, and to subdue the neighbouring countries; but the mixed people of Arabia were to escape out of his hands. "He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon," (ver. 41.) Porphyry and those of his Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 674 ; and b. 4, p. 816.