but, after the subjugation of Egypt, they sent their ambassadors with presents, acknowledging their submission, or assenting to his dominion as the new lord of Egypt, and rendered the same tribute, or entered into the same confederacy with him, as they had done before to a government which had been established for centuries. The Lybians and Ethiopians, it may be said literally, were at his steps.

The fall of the Turkish empire is told as plainly as its rise. But the consideration of the things which are here farther noted respecting it, may properly be reserved till all its intermediate prophetic history, which yet remains to be unfolded, pass first in review, when additional illustrations may be adduced to show that the last end of the indignation is approaching, when Mahometanism shall meet its doom.

The visions of Daniel, lightened by their interpretation, symbolically represent the successive kingdoms that should arise, or forms of domination that should prevail upon the earth. But the things that are noted in the scripture of truth, are, without a figure, a prophetic narrative of facts. The eleventh chapter, in which they are recorded, bears, we apprehend, express reference to all the previous visions and prophecies of Daniel. Both were alike descriptive of the things that were to be; and there is a manifest analogy and coincidence between the visions that were seen and the things that were noted. mode of annunciation is different; but the matter is substantially the same. In the first and second visions, the Persian empire, after having succeeded to the Babylonian, is represented as overthrown in its order, by the third kingdom, or the Grecian; while in the vision of the Ram and the He-goat, the empires of Persia and Greece are mentioned by name. In precise accordance with all these antecedent predictions, and showing still more clearly the very

The

things, that which is first peculiarly noted in the Scripture of truth, written after the fall of Babylon, is the stirring up of all against the realm of Grecia by the fourth, after Cyrus, of the Persian kings, without the notice of a single fact, and undistinguished beyond the mention of their numbers, respecting the three intermediate occupants of the throne of Persia. The invasion of Greece by Xerxes, which, according to the common chronology, happened in the year 481 before the Christian era, stands forth as the most marked and conspicuous object that first rises to view among the things noted in the Scripture of truth. And the collision between these empires being thus noted, the manner is revealed in which Alexander the Great afterwards subverted the Persian empire. His history and that of his successors is detailed, till the Romans enforced their sway over Macedon, and extended their influence over Syria and Egypt. The fate of the Jews was involved in that of the successive conquerors of the East. But after the fourth kingdom, previously prefigured in two visions, maintained its ascendency over the land of Judea, as of them it is written in this prophetic record of the things they were to do, the sanctuary of strength was polluted, the daily sacrifice was taken away, and they placed the abomination that maketh desolate. But the everlasting covenant was revealed, when the first was disannulled, and amidst the desolations of Zion, the church of Christ was founded on a rock. Already had it been revealed and expounded to Daniel, that in the days of these earthly kingdoms, the Most High would set up his kingdom,-and it is here again still more plainly told that, at that appointed time, when fully come, and when the days that were determined on Jerusalem were closing and ended, the men of understanding who knew their God did exploits and instructed many. Another revelation (chap ix.)

more specific in that respect than all the rest, had foreshown the time of the appearing of the Messiah the Prince, and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, and the consequent desolations even until the consummation. Many were then instructed; the covenant was confirmed with many. And, even among worldlyminded men, as histories the best accredited attest, the expectation was universal over the East of the coming of a great prince from Judea, destined to subdue the world, at the very period when the preaching of the gospel by men of understanding was coincident with the subversion of Judaism.

The things that are noted in the scripture of truth, after having thus kept in close analogy and exposition the precise time of the previous prediction recorded by the same prophet, do not diverge from it in the sequel, any more than in the outset and progress.

Without the rise of a new kingdom, the Roman power changed its form; and a new order of persecution began. In the close of the visions of the four beasts, or kingdoms, that arise on the earth, and of the Ram and the He-goat, or Persia and Greece,one dominant power (the papal) is marked as prevailing over the kingdoms into which the Roman empire was subdivided, and another (the Mahometan) as holding a corresponding sway over the regions of the east, where Alexander had passed victorious. Each of these-more than all besides— has its prominent place in prophecy and history; and instead of either of them being omitted in the things noted in the scripture of truth, any more than in the other prophecies of Daniel, both occupy fully the last portion of the general and literal prediction, as each in its place and form had filled up the outline of a previous vision. Concerning the little horn (or king) that spake great things and

words against the Most High, who had a look more stout than his fellows, who wore out the saints of the Most High, and changed times and laws, and into whose hands they were given for a time and times, and the dividing of time, the things are noted which he did, and correspond in time, place, character, and duration, with those of the king who did according to his will-the wicked one who exalted himself above all, and sat in the temple, and of whom the Spirit spake so expressly. And while he tried to wear out the saints of the Most High, and filled up the appointed time of persecution, so, when transgressions came to the full, a king of fierce countenance arose, a warlike impostor appeared, of whose power the east was the source and the chief seat, and the countries over which it prevailed were described, and some of them named, among the things that are noted in the scripture of truth.

Of the dates, which form a marked picture of the Book of Daniel, little has been here said, and the appropriation of them to their respective events, is reserved till the history which they measure may perhaps be seen, in reference to some of them, to have run its course. The times and the seasons the Father hath in his own power. Secret things belong to God; those that are revealed belong to us and our children. If the time be come that the judgments of God are manifest, the times also in reference to the past may be known. But the patience of the reader must be farther taxed, and in the past history of our sinful race, a bloody record must be farther unfolded, and corroborative illustrations have first to be drawn from other prophecies, before we can speak of the times and of the seasons: and even then it must be left solely to the events themselves, viewed in direct conjunction with the predictions, to resolve whether

any of the times or periods that were appointed and determined, have already been accomplished.

The invasion of Greece by Xerxes, first specially noted, and the spiritual supremacy conferred by the imperial authority of Justinian on the Pope, are events of which the importance may perhaps have fixed their respective dates on the reader's recollec

tion.

The law was a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, and the predictions contained in the Book of Daniel prepare the way for entering on the solemn theme-not to be rashly mooted or irreverently touched-the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER IX.

THE opening scene of the Apocalypse is worthy, as words can be, of the "Revelation of Jesus Christ." All power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. The reign of sin for a season must finally give way to the ultimate and universal establishment of the kingdom of God and of his Christ. Having finished the work on earth which his Father had given him to do, he ascended up on high, and he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. He is not straitened as to the mode of communicating them. While he dwelt among men he had many things to say unto the apostles, which, at that time, before his death, resurrection, and ascension, they were not able to bear; and he gave them the promise of the Spirit of truth to guide them into all truth, and to shew them things to come. And after Christ had reascended into heaven, and Jerusalem had been destroyed, and

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