the question; but, on the other side, we have to weigh the general method observed in the prophecy of the things noted in the Scripture of Truth, which, after conducting us in regular succession through the history of God's people, under the Persians, Grecians, Romans, (Pagan, Christian, and Papal) down to the time of the persecutions and martyrdoms, attendant and consequent upon the Protestant Reformation, would scarcely deviate from the general plan, in order to recapitulate, (out of its place as to time) the character and actions of the little horn. It seems, as if the Antichristian principle which existed even in the time of the Apostles, (see 1 John ii. 18.) had gradually increased through the early heresies (as the various sects of Gnostics, the followers of Montanus, Manichæus, Novatus, Donatus, Arius, &c. &c.) and the Papal and Mahommedan apostasies, to maturity, in open infidelity at the period to which Mr. Faber appropriates the section of the prophecy now under consideration, and to which we now proceed:

"And the king [the power about to be described] shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and, shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation shall be accomplished; for that, that is determined, shall be done," ver. 36. "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, [the MESSIAH, who was the desire of all nations, (Haggai ii. 7.) and particularly of women, because the promised seed was to proceed from one] nor regard any god, for, he shall magnify himself above all," ver. 37. "It is utterly impossible to conceive, how such strong, such varied, and yet such determinate, language could ever have been in tended to describe the conduct of the Popes. They, doubtless, in strict harmony with the prophecy of the man of sin, (2 Thes. ii. 3-12.) did exalt, themselves above all laws, divine and human, dispense with the most solemn, and sacred obligations, and, in many respects, enjoin what. God

had forbidden, and forbid what God had commanded. They have, moreover, still in harmony with the prophecy, advanced a step farther; have blasphemously assumed the Divine titles and attributes; and, have sat as God, in the very temple of God. But, when we consider the manner in which they thus conducted themselves, we shall discover but a very imperfect resemblance between their behaviour, and that of the king predicted by Daniel. Instead of speaking marvellous things against the God of gods; they professed to do all to his honour and glory. Instead of disowning his authority; they affected, with much importunity, to act in his name. Instead of throwing off their allegiance to "the Desire of women," and, totally disregarding him; they delighted to style themselves the Vicar of CHRIST, the husband of the Church, the representative of God upon earth, the immediate delegate of heaven. Highly tyrannical as their actions were, and, utterly offensive in the eyes of God; still, they were not done professedly to affront him to his face. The thin garb of piety with which they were clothed, but ill concealed their native deformity: yet, throughout all the Papal persecutions, the saints of God were never put to death as the saints of God, but as his enemies. The preaching of the bloody crusades against the Waldenses was termed, in a perverted sense indeed, the preaching of the cross of CHRIST; Pope Martyn the Fifth, exhorted the Emperor, and the other European sovereigns, to extirpate heretics, by the wounds of CHrist, and by the salvation of CHRIST; and even the diabolical murders of the Inquisition are dignified with the Christian appellation of acts of faith." (Auto da Fe.) Faber's Dis. vol. i. p. 311.

Having thus premised, that the power represented by the wilful king, (Dan. ch. xi. v. 36.) could not designate the Papal apostasy, Mr. Faber points out that to which it apparently belongs, viz. Infidelity, or Atheism in France. "No person can compare the character of this king with

the vices of the last times, (see 2 Tim. iii.) and not be convinced that they are closely connected together. Like the Antichrist of St. John, he was to be a professed Atheist ; and, as such, was to speak marvellous things against the God of Gods, to disregard the God of his fathers, or immediate predecessors, to pay as little respect to that illustrious character who was the desire of women, and, in short, to pay no regard to any God. Like the scoffers of the last days, (see 2 Pet. iii. 3) he was to be heady and highminded; for, he was to magnify himself above all. And, like the mocking blasphemers of the name of God, he was to deny THE LORD that bought him, and, contemptuously ask, Where is the promise of his coming? In fine, he was not to be revealed till after the period of the Reformation, till the 1260 days were drawing near to their close. Hence, it is manifest, that we are to expect the appearance of this king, in the last times; in the times of the scoffers; in the very times in which we are now living." P. 323.

"And shall we, while recent events are yet fresh in our memory, find any difficulty in pointing out the nation prefigured by the infidel king? Have we not all beheld a mighty people, ufter the period of the Reformation, and, during the last days, of open blasphemy and profaneness, rising up as one man, and throwing off every restraint, both civil and religious: disregarding at once the dignity of their sovereign, and the high majesty of heaven; trampling upon the rights both of individuals and of nations, with liberty, humanity, and philanthropy, ever in their mouths; and, professedly rending asunder all the endearments of social life, as if human nature could only be perfected, by being previously brutalized? When we consider both the character of the infidel king, and the period at which Daniel predicted his manifestation, we can scarcely hesitate to pronounce him to be revolutionary France," A. D. 1789, 1794. Page 325.

TT

"But, in his estate, [when his power is established] shall he honor the God of forces; and a God whom his father's knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 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 [his adherents and supporters] to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain," ver. 38, 39. "Yet, in the midst of undisguised atheism, contradictory as it might appear before this prophecy had received its accomplishment, the king was not to be without a god of He was to worship, as soon as he was firmly established, a certain god, at the head of a host of Mahuzzim or tutelary gods; a god, whom Daniel styles a strange, or foreign god; a god, whom his fathers, superstitious as they had been, never knew. Hence it appears, that the adoration of this deity, and his kindred Mahuzzim, was not to be an invention of the king himself, but, that it should be borrowed by him from the theological code of some other country. The god, was to be a foreign god, whom his immediate predecessors of the apostasy, notwithstanding their idolatrous veneration of saints and angels, had never worshipped.

his own.

"The Romans were, I believe, the only nation that ever expressly deified liberty, till the worship of it was borrowed from them by the Atheists of France. A spurious freedom, utterly incompatible either with genuine religion, or with the real rights of man, was the very soul of the Revolution which has since shaken Europe to its centre. Liberty and equality were the watchwords of the infidel conspirators: and their boast was, that slavery and superstition should soon be made to vanish from off the face of the earth. Liberty, in short, according to their definition of the word, that is to say, a freedom from all restraint, both civil and religious, formed, undoubtedly, the most prominent feature

in all their harangues, and in all their projects. Not satisfied, however, in merely applauding and imitating the principles and practice of the ancient Roman republicans, they determined, likewise, to adopt the literal worship of Liberty. Accordingly, after abjuring the religion of CHRIST and declaring him to be an impostor, the Convention, with tumultuous applause, decreed the adoration of Liberty and Equality; and, in express imitation of the idolatrous Romans, appointed festivals exactly similar to those of Paganism, in honour of Reason, the country, the constitution, the virtues, and various other allegorical deities. Liberty then, I conceive to be the foreign god, so peculiarly venerated by the infidel king, and, which he placed with such distinguished honour at the head of his inferior Mahuzzim." Page 326.

"The king was, moreover, to honour his Mahuzzim, together with his foreign god," with gold, silver, and precious stones, and desirable things." This part of the prophecy has been accomplished by infidel France, both indirectly and directly, both abroad, and at home. When Italy was plundered of the finest specimens of the arts, by the modern advocates of freedom, and when the decorations of her palaces were transported to France, and declared to be the sole property of the sovereign people, Liberty was the deity thus honoured with desirable things; for, Liberty was that which sanctioned every violation of private rights. When the ornaments of the churches were either confiscated, or rapaciously carried off by the infuriated mob, Liberty, Reason, and Republican virtues, were the Mahuzzim thus honoured with gold, and silver, and precious stones." Page 336. The king was, likewise, to "divide the land for a price." He was to take it from its former possessors, and divide it among his adherents, the champions of his Mahuzzim, on the consideration of being paid by them a certain price for it. This peculiarity in his character, at once shews that he cannot be either the Pope, or the Con