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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 Chrift 2000, or about the 6000th year of the world: and there is an (7) old tradition both among Jews and Chriftians, that at the end of fix thousand years the Meffiah shall come, and the world shall be renewed, the reign of the wicked one thall cease, and the reign of the faints upon earth shall begin. But as (8) Irenæus faith in a like cafe, it is furer and fafer 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.

V. All these kingdoms will be fucceeded by the kingdom of the Meffiah. I beheld, faith Daniel, (ver. 9, 10.) till the thrones were caft down, or rather (9) till thrones were fet, and the ancient of days did fit, whofe garment was white as fnow, 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 ifjued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him: and ten thousand times ten thousand ftood before him: the judgment was fet, or the judges did fit, and the books were opened. These metaphors and figures are borrowed from the folemnities of earthly judicatories, and particularly of the great Sanhedrim of the Jews, where the father of the consistory fat, with his assessors feated on each fide of him in the form of a femicircle, and the people standing before him: and from this description again was borrowed the defcription of the day of judgment in the New Testament.

Lib. 5. Cap. 30. p. 448. Edit.
Grabe.

(9) Donec throni pofita funt, Vulg. ἑως ὅτι οἱ θρονοι ετηθησαν. Sept. Videbam fubtellia pofita effe. Syr. fedes pofita fuerunt. Arab, and the fame word is used in the Chaldee paraphrafe of Jer. I. 15. they shall fet every one his throne.

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 deftruction of the beaft will alfo be the destruction of the horn; and confequently the horn is a part of the fourth beaft, or of the Roman empire. As concerning the rest of the beafts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a feafon and time. (ver. 12.) When the dominion was taken away from the other beaft, their bodies were not destroyed, they were fuffered to continue ftill in being: but when the dominion fhall be taken away from this beaft, his body shall totally be destroyed; because other kingdoms fucceeded to those, but none other earthly kingdom shall fucceed to this.

I faw in the night-visions, and behold, one like the fon 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 abfurd and unworthy of Grotius is it to apply this to the Romans, which hath always been, and can only be properly understood of the Meffiah? From hence the fon of man came to be a (1) known phrafe for the Meffiah among the Jews. From hence it was taken and used so frequently in the gospels: and our Saviour intimates himself to be this very fon of man in faying (Matt. XXVI. 64, 65.) Hereafter shall ye fee the fon of man fitting 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 blafphemy.

And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should ferve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (ver. 14.) All thefe kingdoms shall in their turns be deftroyed, but the kingdom of the Meffiah shall ftand for ever: and it was in allusion to this prophecy,

(1) See Jewish authors cited even Defense of Christianity, Chap. 2.

that the angel faid of Jesus before he was conceived in the womb, (Luke I. 33.) He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ecer, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

After what manner these great changes will be effected, we cannot pretend to fay, 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 fee the little horn still fubfifting, though not in full ftrength and vigor, but as we hope upon the decline, and tending towards a diffolution. And having feen fo 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 manifefted in glory, how the little horn with the body of the fourth beast will be given to the burning flame, or how the faints will take the kingdom, and poffefs it for ever and ever. It is the nature of fuch prophecies not to be perfectly understood, till they are fulfilled. The best comment upon them will be their completion.

It may yet add fome farther light to the prophecies, if we compare this and the former together; for comparing fcripture with fcripture is the best way to understand both the one and the other. What was reprefented to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, was represented again to Daniel by four great wild beafts: and the beafts degenerate, as the metals in the image grow worfe and worse, the lower they defcend.

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 reprefented the powers then reigning, or the kingdom of the Babylonians: but it appeared in fplendor and glory to Nebuchadnezzar, as it was then in its florishing condition; the plucking of its wings, and its humiliation were shown to Daniel, as it was then drawing near to its fatal end..

The breast and arms of fitcer, and the fecond beaft like a bear were defigned to reprefent the fecond kingdom, or that of the Medes and Perfians. The two arms are fuppofed to denote the two people; but fome farther particulars were hinted to Daniel, of the one people lifing up above the other people, and of the conquest of three

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three additional kingdoms. To Nebuchadnezzar this kingdom was called inferior, or worse than the former; and to Daniel it was defcribed as very cruel, Arife, devour much flesh.

The third kingdom, or that of the Macedonians, was reprefented by the belly and thighs of brass, and by the third beaft like a leopard with four wings of a fowl. It was faid to Nebuchadnezzar, that it should bear rule over all the earth; and in Daniel's vifion, dominion was given to it. The four heads fignify Alexander's four fucceffors; but the two thighs can only fignify the two principal of them, the Seleucidæ, and Lagidæ, the Syrian and Egyptian kings.

The legs of iron, and the fourth beaft with great iron teeth, correfpond exactly; and as iron breaketh in pieces all other metals, so the fourth beast devoured, and brake in pieces, and ftamped the residue with the feet of it; and they were both therefore equally proper reprefentatives 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 perfon more immediately interested in the fate of the church.

The ftone, 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 univerfal and everlasting. In like manner, one like the fon of man came to the ancient of days, and was advanced to a kingdom, which shall prevail likewife over all other kingdoms, and become univerfal and everlasting.

Such concord and agreement is there between these prophecies of Daniel, which remarkable as they are in many things, are in nothing more remarkable, than that they comprehend fo many diftant events, and extend through fo many ages, from the reign of the Babylonians to the confummation of all things. They are truly, as (2) Mr. Mede called them "the facred calen

(2) Mede's Works, B. 3. p. 654.

"dar

"dar and great almanac of prophecy, a prophetical chro

nology of times measured by the fucceffion of four " principal kingdoms, from the beginning of the captivity of Ifrael, until the mystery of God should be "finished." They are as it were the great outlines, the reft moftly are filling up the parts: and as these will caft light upon the fubfequent prophecies, fo the fubfequent prophecies will reflect light upon them again.

Daniel was much troubled (ver. 28.) and his countenance changed in him at the forefight 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 fight 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 promife; (ver. 26, 27.) The judgment shall fit, and they Jhall take away his dominion, to confume 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 faints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall ferve and obey him.