%f' 9^. <>^'J^5'9®' S PRINCETON. N. J. V Part of the ^ ADDISON ALEXANDER LIBRARY; h which was presented by \l Messks. R. L. and a. Stuart. ^?l Cose-, Shelf, Section Jiook, No, .... /.I r ILLUSTRATIONS OF IN THE COURSE OF WHICH ARE ELUCIDATED MANY PREDICTIONS, WHICH OCCUR IN ISAIAH, AND DANIEL, IJV THE WRITINGS OF THE EVANGELISTS, AND THE BOOKS OF REVELATION; AND WHICH ARE THOUGHT TO FORETELL, AMONG OTHER GREAT EVENTS, A REVOLUTION IJV FRANCE, FAVORABLE TO THE INTERESTS OF MANKIND, THE OVERTHROW OF THE PAPAL POWER, AND OF ECCLESIASTICAL TYRANNY, THE DOWNFAL OF CIVIL DESPOTISM, AND THE SUBSEQUENT MELIORATION OF THE STATE OF THE WORLD: TOGETHER WITH A LARGE COLLECTION OF EXTRACTS, INTERSPERSED THROUGH THE WORK, AIJ*D TAKEN FROM NUMEROUS COMMENTA- TORS ; AND PARTICULARLY FROM Joseph Mede, Vitringa, Dr. Thomas Goodwin, Dr. Henry More, Dr. John Owen, Dr. Cressene r, Peter Jurieu, Brenius, Bishop Chandler, Sir Isaac Newton, Mr. William Lowth, Fleniin;';, Bengelius, Daubuz, Whitby, Lowman, Bishop Newton, and Bishop Kurd. BY THE REV. JOSEPH TOWERS, L. L. D. VOL. II. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM DUANEj PHILADELPHIA, 1808. CONTENTS. CHAP. XX. Predictions in Daniel, which speak the same language with the recently cited prophecies of the Apocalypse, and are applicable not only to the antichris- tian governments of Europe, but to those of the world in general. 1 Ch. XXI. Remarks on the Numbers which occur in Daniel and St. John, and on those imperfect notices which they have given us with respect to the time, when some great events will be accomplished. 1 J Ch. XXII. A prediction, uttered by Christ himself, relative to the destruction of all antichristian dominion and usurpation. St App. to ch. XXII. Bishop Porteus's reflections on the Critical Complexion of the present times. 45 Ch. XXIII. The Sixth Seal shewn to be prophetic of the overthrow of all antichristian Dominion in thf European world ; together with a short account of the accomplishment of the first, second, lourth, and fifth seals ; and a new explication of the Third Seal, in the course of which are introduced a number of extract ;, relative to the decline and fall of the Roman cmpirr, nnd fjie irruDiions of the Northi-n''. nation^.. -It". C ON TEM'ii. Ch. XXIV. Predictions in Isaiah, in Ha^gai, and the Second Psahn, of similar import v/ith the sixth seal, though of less restricted application ; Vvith s-ome extracts relating to the Double Sense in prophecy. 77 Ch. XXV. Remarks on the Sixth Vial, and on a prophecy in Genesis, Ezckiel, and Daniel ; comprising observations on the fall of the Turkish empire, and the past and present state of Arabia and Egypt. 99 Ch. XXVI. The seventh Vial shewn to foretell a Revolution in the state of Europe ; with remarks on fiome contemporaneous predictions of the Apocalypse. 140 Ch. XXVII. An inquiry into the meaning of the latter part of Christ's prophecy, recorded in the twenty- first chapter of Luke. 159 Ch. XXVIII. Objections against the common inter- pretations of Christ's prophecy. 183 Ch. XXIX. Extracts relative to the Dispersion and the restoration d-f the Jews, and a selection of passages of scripture foretelling those events ; together with a short account of the false Messiahs and impostors, who have appeared among the Jews, and some quotations relative to the Afghans and the Tartars. 195 Ch. XXX. An elucidation of passages which prove, that that happy period, commonly denominated the Mil- lennium, is destined at length to arrive ; together with arguments in opposition to the opinion, that Christ will descend to reign upon earth at the commencement of it, and some remarks on the tendency of Christianity to cause the overthroW of tyranny, and the establishment of equal government. 256 App. to Ch. XXX. Reflections on the beneficial effects, which Christianity has already produced, in favor of Civilization and Freedom, of Literature and Virtue ; ;ind on the influence it may be expected hereafter to have in the promotion of Liberty. 287 CONTENTS. V Ch. XXXI. Farther thoughts on the True Nature of the Millennium. 242 Index of Texts directly or indirectly illustrated. 373 Index of Prophetic Symbols explained. 381 General Index. 385" It is proper to inform the reader^ that the heads pre- fixed to the chapters^ are more brief than those co7itained jn the^ preceding' table of contents. CHAPTER XX. ON THE MONARCHICAL IMAGE AND THE TEN-HORNED BEAST IN DANIEL. THE predictions, relative to modern times, which occur in chapters ii. and vii. of Daniel, are peculiarly worthy of examination ; for they are more chan usually clear, and will reflect a light on the apocalyptical prophecies'. But, pre- viously to entering on a brief examination of them, I shall cite a few short testimonies of writers respecting this dis- tinguished prophet. With respect to the authenticity of the book of Daniel, ' there is,' says bp. Newton, * all external evidence that can well be had or desired in a case of this nature ; not only the testimony of the whole Jewish church and nation, who have constantly received this book as canonical ; but of Josephus particularly, who commends him as the greatest of the pro- phets; of the Jewish Targums and Talmuds, which fre- quently cite and appeal to his authority ; of St. Paul and St. John, who have copied many of his prophecies ; of our Sa- viour himself, who citeth his words, and styleth him Da- niel the prophet;'' and ' of ancient historians, who relate many of the same transactions. — Nor is the internal less powerful and convincing than the external evidence ; for the language, the style, the manner of writing, and all other internal marks and characters, are perfectly agreeable to that age ; and he appears plainly and undeniably to have 1 • Comparing scripture with scriptui-e is the best way to understand both tlie one and the other,' bp. Newton, vol. I. p. 494. Vol. II. A 3 CHAP. XX^ been a prophet by the exact accomplishment of his pro- phecies, as well those which have already been fulfilled, as those which are now fulfilling in the world^' Dr. Samuel Chandler, in speaking of Daniel, says, ' upon account of his extraordinary piety and wisdom, he is taken notice of and commended by EzekieP, who was his fellow prophet and contemporary. — The purity of the language in which the book is written, both of the Chaldee and He- brew*, is an undeniable argument of its great antiquity.' For ' since every language, from the very nature of it, is in a constant flux, and in every age deviating from what it was in the former ; the purity of Daniel's language makes it evident, that it must be written before the purity of those languages was lost, i. e. about the time when Ezekiel's Da- niel lived and flourished^' Porphyry, an heathen philosopher of ihc third century,, and a pupil of Longinus, who wrote an elaborate work in fifteen books against Christianity, did, as we are informed by Jerom, object against the character of Daniel, that he was criminal in accepting with so much readiness the ho- nors conferred upon him at Babylon. ' But there is no ground,' says the excellent Lardner, '■ for such a censure t Daniel was guilty of no mean compliances : he ascribed all his wisdom to God ; and upon every occasion preserved his integrity without blemish, and openly professed his zeal for true religion, and the worship of God according to the directions of the law of Moses. It was not decent for him to refuse the honors bestowed by a great king, when no sin- ful compliances were exacted ; and when he might, in the high station to which he was advanced, both promote the interest of true religion, and the welfare of his people in a 2 Vol. II. p. 16. 3 XIV. 14; xxviii. 3. 4 ' This prophecy is writ partly in Hebrew, and partly in Chaldee : for which this reason may be assigned ; that those parts of it in which the Babylonian empire was concerned were writ in that language, viz. from- eh. ii. 4. to the end of the viitli chapter: a great part of which was pro bably entered into their public registers.' Mr Lowth'.s Intr. to Dan. 5 Vindic. of Dan. p. 61, -63. CHAP. XX. 3 Strange countr5% Daniel does not appear to have been fond of worldly honors. When Belshazzar made him great promises, he answered : Let thy gifts be to thyself and givt thy rewards to another^.'' A learned anonymous writer, in his observations on the book of Daniel, says, ' I think it no inconsiderable argu- ment, that it has not been foisted in upon the world by Christian or Jewish zealots, that parts of it have continued so long in obscurity, and now, in this age, are gradually explained. Had any imposition been designed, these pre- tended oracles would have been understood at the first mo- ment of their publication, as well as now ; and would not have waited for elucidation till this time, so long after the views of a false prophet must have been at an end^' * Our blessed Saviour,' says Dr. Apthorp, ' has so as- serted the authority of the prophecies of Daniel, as to rest his own veracity on their truth^ j' and it is of Daniel that Sir I. Newton says, ' to reject his prophecies, is to reject the Christian religion. For this religion is founded upon his prophecy concerning the Messiah^.' ' I conceive Daniel,' says Mede, ' to be ApocJ-lyps'is Con- tracta^ and the Apocalypse Daniel Explicate-) in that where both treat about the same subject; name'y what was re- vealed to Daniel concerning the Foi?i"th Kingdom, but summatim and in the gross, is shewed to St. John par ticu- latim, with the distinction and ord^r of the several fates and circumstances'".' ' The Apocalypse of John,' says Sir I. Newton, ' is written in the same style and language with the prophecies of Daniel, and hath the same relation to them, v/hich they have to one another, so that all of them together make up Kit one complete prophecy".' 6 Dan. v. 17. Lardner's Works, vol. VIII. p. 203. 7 Commentaries and Essays, vol. I. sig-nature Synergus, p. 5C8. 8 Vol. I. p. 237. 9 P. 25. 10 P. 964. 11 P. 254. With respect to Sir I. Newton's character as a critic and a theolog-ian, tlie testimon)- of an adversary may be cited. ' The first of philosophers,' says Mr. Gibbon, ' was deeply skilled in critical and theo- logical studies.' Decl. and Fall of the Rom. Emp. vol. VIII. p. 272. CHAP. XX. Of the predictions in ch. ii. and ch. vii. of Daniel such is the preciseness, that they admit not of two interpreta- tions'*. That they refer to a remote period, the prophet has himself declared, telling us in the former of those chap- ters (v. 28), that they related to xvhat shall be in the lat- ter days. In chapter ii. it is predicted, that the great linage^ sym- bolical of the monarchies of the world, shall be overthrown and destroyed ; and (v. 34 and 42) that its Ten Toes shall be shattered to atoms. * The great idol of Daniel was,' says a valuable writer, ' very properly used as a represent- ation of the grand imposture under living princes, who were worshipped as Gods, which was to continue to de- ceive the whole world from Daniel's time forward.' And speaking of St. John's prediction, that men shall worship the ten-horned Beast, he says, *■ worshippings as I have already shewed, rightly expresses that unreasonable ido- latrous respect, which mankind have in all ages shewn to absolute princes, by treating them as Gods".' And it is observed by bp. Chandler, that human figures, in early times, wer«, ' as the remains in ancient coins still shew, the usual syn*)ols, whereby cities and people were known. And the metal *hey were made of, and the colers that adorned them (of vhich the herald's art preserves yet some traces), were farthet marks to distinguish them from each other'*.' The demolition of the metallic image is represented un- der a well-known figure, that of a stone^ which, being cut out xvithout hands, smote the image on his feet, and brake 12 Dr. Sykes, speaking of chapters ii. and vii. of Daniel, says, ' the pro- phetic style is plain and easy ; and the terms such as will admit of very little, if any debate.' Ess. on the Tr. of the Chr. Hel. p. 12. 13 An Ess. on Script. Proph and particularly on the Three Periods of Daniel, 1724, p. 58, 84. This wi-iter expresses his expectation, that the year 1790 would be a memorable epocha, distinguished by great and mo- mentous events ; but his expectation was gi-ounded on an erroneous com- putation of the periods of Daniel. See p, 158. 14 Def. of Chr. p. 95. CHAP. XX. 5 them to pieces ; which prophecy conveys a similar meaning to a passage in the Apocalypse already expatiated upon, that the Lamb shall overcome the Ten Kings. ' The Ten Toes of the image,' says Mr. Lowth, when speaking of the Ro- man empire, ' signify the Ten Kings, who were in after- times to divide this kingdom among themselves denoted by the Ten Horns of this fourth Beast, mentioned in ch. vii. 7, campared with Rev. xvii. 12.' By the stone being a species of mineral altogether different from that of which the image was composed, it was, says bp. Chandler, ' im- plied, that this new kingdom should be not only different in number, or a distinct empire, but of another nature from that of the image'^' Like an unshapen stone, alike des- titute of polish and of magnitude, the dispensation of Je- sus was to be principally propagated by men of the plainest manners, unadorned by learning, and undignified by rank ; and, at its first rise, it was to make a small and comparatively inconsiderable progress. * The stone cut out without hands,' says Mat. Henry, ' represented the kingdom of Jesus Christ.' It is said to be ' cut out of the mountai7i without handsy for it should be neither raised, nor sup- ported by human poAver or policy; no visible hand should act in the setting it up, but it should be done invisibly by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts : this was the Stone zvhich the builders refused^ because it was not cut out by their hands, but it is now become the Head Stone of the corner.^ Mat. Henry also observes, that Christ himself declares (Mat. xxi. 44), with a reference to this prophecy'^, that on xvhomsoever this Stone shall fall^ it rvill grind him to pow- der. And to whom does the prophecy of Daniel relate ? Unquestionably to the Ten antichristian Monarchies, which are established, somewhere or other, in the European quar- 15 Def. of Chr. p. 97. 16 That our Saviour in his discourses had these prophecies of Daniel very frequently in view, Dr. Sykcs has proved in his Ess. on the Chr. Rcl. p. oO, 79 6 CHAP. XX. ter of the globe. Let tyrants read this asseveration of our Saviour, and tremble. In V. 32 and 33 it is declared, that this imagers head was of fine gold^ his breasts and his arms of silver^ his belly and his thig'hs of brass, his le^s of iro7i, his feet part of iroti and part of clay. "Now the commentators prove at large, that the golden part of the monarchical image represented the empire of the Assyrians, the silver that of the Persi- ans, the brass that of the Greeks, and the iron and the clay that of the princes of the Roman empire. It was on account of its great strength, as the prophet himself informs us, that the fourth empire was compared to the last of these metals. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iro7i; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things ; and as iro'n that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise^^. '■ Daniel's own interpretation is,' says bp. Chandler, so plain, that no unbiassed person can easily mistake in the empires he prophecies of. He is express in the number. There shall be four kingdoms ; and he counts the Babylo- nian, then in being, for the firsf^ . History tells us, the Medo-Pei-sian broke, and succeeded the Babylonian. The Greek empire came into the place of the Persian by con- quest, and is therefore the third. No historian ever con- lined the Greek empire to Alexander's person, or made a distinct empire of the four kingdoms, that arose upon his death. The Greek was destroyed in its two latest branches, that of the Seleucides and Ptolemies by the Roman, which is consequently the fourth kingdom, and answers in every respect to its iron character'*.' Since it is said in v. 34, that the stone smote the image ; and in v. 35, that then -was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together", and be- 16 V. 40. 17 V. 38. 18 Def. of Chr. p. 99. 19 In V. 45 it is again said, that the stone, which was cut out of the moun- tain without hands, brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the siher, and the gold. CHAP. XX. T came like the chaff of the summer threshing-jioors ; and the xvind carried thetn axvay^ that no. place rv as found for them^° ; we must of necessity assent to the observation of bp. Hurd, that ' the four kingdoms of Daniel — form a prophetic ge- ography, being considered, ir the eye of prophecy, as co- existent' and ' as still alive''';' and we must conclude, that not only in Europe, but in all the countries of the globe, formerly possessed by the Babylonians and Persians, the Greeks and Romans,- the modern antichristian monarchies shall be so completely de'stroyed, that not the minutest por- tion of their power shall be suffered to maintain its ground. From an observation, shortly to be alleged from Sir I. Newton, this conclusion will appear farther evident. All the best commentators do, indeed, agree, that the fourth of Daniel's empire is the Roman in its largest signification ; and that it includes, not only the republican government of the Consuls, not only the arbitrary government of the Em- perors, but the multiplied dominion of their successors, ^le Ten Kings ; and it must therefore be admitted, in con- sistency with this, that the other metals are not merely em- blei-^atic of the empires of Assyria, of Persia, and of Greece, properly so called, but likewise of the modern as well as*he ancient monarchies, erected in those parts of the globe These last, in the strict acceptation of the words, had ndeed perished antecedently to the first propa- gation of Christianity ; so that the symbolic stone, having no existence, cOild not possibly have contributed to break them in pieces. The words of JuiVii and of bishops Newton and Chan- dler, I next cite, though it must be acknowleged, that on a matter, predicted with s^ much plainness, there is little need of farther elucidatioi. or of additional authorities. * These Ten Toes,' says the divine of Rotterdam, ' are the Ten Kings, which were to make tap the kingdom of Anti- 20 The expression alludes, says Mr. Lowth, • to the threshing-floors it the Eastern countries, which were usually placed on th'? tops of hills. ' 21 Vol. II. p. 143. 9 CHAP. XX. christ", and reign together Avith him, in the last period of the Roman empire, during the 1260 years marked in the Revelation^^' ' The kingdom of Christ,' says the bishop of Bristol, ' was first set up, while the Roman empire was in its full strength with legs of iron. The Roman em- pire was afterwards divided into Ten lesser kingdoms, the remains of which are subsisting at present. The image is still standing upon his feet and toes of iron and clay : — but the stone will one day smite the image upon the feet and toes^ and destroy it utterly^*.' Not unsimilar is the language of bp. Chandler. ' The kingdom of the mountain^ says the prelate, ' shall beat the feet of the monarchical statue to dust^^.' In truth, the prophet himself does not merely predict, that the feet of this image of monarchy shall be broken in pieces ; but he afterwards speaks without a figure, adding by way of explanation, v. 44 ; that all these king- doms shall be broken in pieces and consumed. To darken the import of such language would be a vain attempt. As the ruin of these Ten Kings appears plainly announced b^ the voice of prophecy, will not some of the readers of Tr. Gill's Exposition of Daniel, when they peruse his enui«e- ration^'' of the countries which they govern, take e^ecial notice of the imperial dominion in Germany, and of the monarchies of Sardinia and Spain ; and be rea^y to sus- pect, that the overthrow at least of these tyrannic govern- ments is not removed to any very remote di^t^nce ? It is observed in v. 42, that the Toes f the Feet were part of iron and part of clay^ i. e. say^ Mat. Henry, the Ten Kingdoms differed in point of strength ; and in the next verse it is added, -uohereas thov saxvest iron mixt with miry clay^ they shall tningle theisehes xvith the s^.ed of 22 In order to understand the Apr^^alypse, it is of the first importance, that the reader fix in his mind co'-'ect ideas of the genuine extent of the antichristian empire, and lea^' who are the persons who hold within it a high pre-eminence of crimes and power. 23 Vol. II. p. 290 24 Vol. I. p. 426. 25 Def of Chr-atianity, p. 106. Tlie distinction of Mr. Mede, hereaf- ter to be given in his own words, tlie bishop here adopts. 26 On Dan, vil. 24. CHAP. XX. 9 men^ but they shall 7iot cleave one to another. This, says Mr. Lowth, signifies that ' these Ten Kingdoms shall be a medley of people of different nations, laws, and customs : and although the kings of the several nations shall try to strengthen themselves by marriage-alliances into one ano- ther's families, yet the different interests which they pur- sue, will make them often engage in wars with each other.' Before it was otherwise. Antecedently to the dominion and independence of these countries, Pagan Rome formed one firm compact body, governed by the same laws, and acknowleging the same sovereign. ' It is,' declares Dr. More, ' the universal sense of all ecclesiastic writers, that the Fourth Beast is the Roman empire, as both Cornelius a Lapide and Caspar Sanctius, both of them Jesuits, yet do roundly assert*^' ' That the Roman empire,' says Dr. Worthington**, was to be divided into Ten Kingdoms, was understood from this prophecy, and from Daniel's vision of the Fourth Beast, with Ten Horns, corresponding to it, by 7nany of the ancient fathers^'^ who lived some centuries before any such division was made, or seemed in the least probable. And that this was the tradition of ecclesiastical writers in general before his time, is testified by St. Jerom^°.' To the same purpose speaks Joseph Mede. That the Roman empire was ' the fourth kingdom of Daniel was believed by the church of Israel both before and in our Saviour's time ; received by the disciples of the apostles, and the whole Christian church for the first 400 years^', without any known contra- diction. And I confess, having so good ground in scrip- ture, it is with me tantwn non articulus Jidei, little less than an article of faith^S' 27 Myst. of Iniq. p. 410. 28 Vol. II. p. 77- 29 Such are TeituUian and Irenxus, Cyril and Arethas. 30 Hieron. in Dan. vii. 31 See this point proved at length in Dr. Cressener's Appendix to his Demonst. of the First Principles of the Prot. Appl. of the Apoc. 32 Vol. II. p. 899. Vol. II. B 10 CHAP. XX, It Is to ch. vii. which contains the parallel vision of the J^our symbolic Beasts^ that the attention of the reader is now solicited. Here also the same events are predicted, and the monarchies both of Europe and Asia are threaten- ed. After giving a prophetic account of the four first Beasts, Daniel says in v. 7, Ixvas seeing after this in the vision^ of the nighty and behold a fourth Beast formidable and terrible^ and strong exceedingly^ which had large teeth of iron ; it devoured and broke in pieces^ and trampled upon the remains xvith its feet ^ and it was distinguished from all the Beasts that were before it, for it had Ten Horns^^. ' The Ten Toes and the Ten Horns,'' says bp. Newton, * were alike fit emblems of the Ten Kingdoms, which arose out of- the division of the Roman empire^*.' The general!- ty of commentators, though they hesitate not to acknow- lege, that the Ten Horns signify the modern kingdoms seated in the Western part of the Roman empire, yet, without any reason which I can discover, but a well-found- ed apprehension of giving offence, think proper to apply all the former descriptive part of the verse to Pagan Rome. But that they are not authorised in this restricted applica- tion of it, an unprejudiced inspection of the prophet's own words will be sufficient to shew. The description is alike applicable to the general conduct of the Roman emperors, and to that of the Ten princes who have smce ruled over the Western provinces of their empire ; nor could the pro- phet, without departing from his symbol, have pourtrayed it in language more strong and expressive. This emble- matic personage had large tron-teeth. Now Dr. Lancaster informs us, that ' teeth are frequently used in scripture as the symbols of cruelty, or of a devouring enemy.' Its stamping of the remains or the residue with its feet ' al- ludes,' says Mr. Lowth, ' to the fury of wild beasts, who stamp upon that part of their prey which they cannot de- vour.' And have not the tyrants of Europe been equally lavish in their expenses ; equally violent in their oppressions ? 33 This is from the Improved Version of Mr. Wintle. 34 Vol. I. p. 496. 6HAP. XX. li Of the revenues extorted by them from their subjects, have they not wasted much more than they have enjoyed ? Having treated of the Ten Horns in v. 7 and 8, Da niel immediately subjoins in v. 9 and 10, / beheld till the thrones -were cast down^^^ and the Ancient of Days did sity and the judgment was set^ i. e. says Mr. Sam. Clark, God ' did judge and punish these tyrannical em- pires, and delivered his people from their oppression.' In v. 9 the prophet, speaking of the Supreme Being, says, his throne was like the fiery fiame^ and his rvheels^^ as burning fire ; i. e. according to the explication of the same annotator, ' the Revolutions and dispensations of his providence"' will be ' very destructive to the wicked.' Daniel adds in v. 11, I xvas attentive till the Beast was slain^ and its body destroy ed^ and it xvas delivered up to the burning of fir e^^. * To kill or slayy says Dr. Lancaster, * is to be explained according to the nature of the subject spoken of;' and ' to kill a kingdom is to destroy utterly the power it had to act as such.' That to burn with fire is an expression of similar import, there has before been occa- sion to note. In v. 12 the prophet announces, that con- cerning the rest of the Beasts^ they had their dominion taken away. *■ Beasts,'' says Jurieu on this passage, ' do certainly denote states and empires ; so that it seems as if all sovereign power, i. e. Monarchical, should be taken away^^' The symbols of the prophet are indeed interpret- 35 To this clause Poole and Clark, bp. Hall and Dr. Priestley, ascribe without hesitation the obvious sense ; but the Hebrew word, says Calvin, maybe translated thronosfuisse vel erectos veldejectos. The expression, says Dr. Priestley, clearly implies • violence in their dissolution.' Fast Serm. for Feb. 28, 1794, p. 6. 36 • Grotius observes, that the ancient thrones and selLe curules had wheels.' Wintle. 37 Agreeably to this bp. Newcome observes, in commenting' on the 1st ch. of Ezekiel, that the ^ Ten Horns, as well as to the little Horn, of the Beast. See Breniug. 42 Obs. on Dan. p. 31. Another interpretation, yet more extensive in its import, is noticed and explained by Mede. The expression, the rest of the Beasts, may, he says (p. 255), be understood as not limitted to the three first symbolic Beasts, but as comprehending' the kingdoms of the world in general. Vau, rendered in our version, as concerning, he observes jnay be translated also,- ' also the rest of the Beasts, &c. As for the word Beasts to be taken here for otlier kingdoms as well as the Four great ones, it needs make no scruple. For we shall find it so in the next chapter, where it is said of the Medo-Persian Sam (verse 4), that no Beasts might stand before him, that is, no State or Kingdom was able to resist his l^ower : so here may the rest of the Beasts be the States and Kingdoms contemporary with the Fourth Beast.' CHAP. XX. - 13 that the ten-horned Beast xvas slahi^ he adds of those other emblematic Beasts (v. 12), yet their lives xvere prolonged for a season and time. Does not this clause plainly enough intimate, that, after the arbitrary*^ monarchies of Europe shall have been obliterated, the despotic governments of Asia and of Africa, though their existence will indeed be prolonged for a ti^ne^ yet that they also will, at length, most assuredly fall ? And does not reason herself teach us, that this will probably happen ? Is it not to be expected, that political Liberty will be progressive in its course ; and that it will flourish on the continent, and among the islands, of Europe, before it is transplanted into the warmer climes of the old world, which are less favorable to its growth ? Though North America stands at such a distance from the European continent, and consequently the changes which happen there must have a very diminished influence on this quarter of the globe ; though it has gained far less by its revolution than almost any nation on that continent would have done, because it never bowed its neck under the yoke of despotism, or an accumulation of taxes, and never did an expensive court annoy its provinces, to serve as a rallying point to vice and conniption, and a center from which they might copiously flow ; it nevertheless powerfully encouraged the authors of the French Revolution during its commencement and prosecution, and threw a strong ray of light on the measures they were to adopt, and the prin- ciples they were to consecrate. As soon as France then, a nation of such populousness, ingenuity, and distinguished attainments, seated as it is in the very center of Europe, and possessing a language so generally studied, shall com- pletely have bafiled the efforts of the confederated princes ; and, restored to internal order, shall begin to reap, in a season of tranquillity, those golden fruits, which are the 43 I confess, that if I followed the commentators, I should not restrict tliis destruction of monarchies to those which are arbitrary, but should say the monarchies in general seated in that part of the world of which the pro- phet speaks. On this point the reader must judge for himself. 14 CHAP. XX. natural growth of an equal government, representative in its construction, and founded on the rights of man ; is it not to be expected, that its example will prove irresistable, and that in no long time it will be followed by the more enlightened of the European nations ? The probability of events following each other in this train, statesmen and princes have not failed to discern and to dread ; and they act accordingly. That the antichristian monarchies and aristocracies of the world may be demolished, reason instructs us to hope, as well on account of the oppressor as the oppressed. To raise men to a giddy height of unjust power and unmerited titular distinction, is to expose them to a series of moral dangers, of the most serious kind, and which they cannot reasonably be expected to surmount. Perceiving that their vanity will be indulged, their wants supplied, their desires anticipated, without exertion, without knowlege, without virtue ; they commonly slide insensibly into the ignomi- nious lap of indolence ; and, dissipating their time in the company of the profligate, and in an insipid routine of amusements, yield themselves up to the tyranny of passions, alike injurious to society and to the individual. This sub- ject has almost always been considered in much too narrow a point of view. That this is only the commencing stage of our existence is a truth which ought permanently to impress our minds. It ought therefore to be an anxious subject of our enquiry, what is the state of society, and what is the species of government, which is best adapted, by its influence on morals, to fit and prepare men for a future world. Now those existing governments, which are founded on oppression, and trample on the rights of man, are so fatally operative in the extinction of light and virtue, that they are decidedly calculated to disqualify men for a state of future existence. Indeed when we advert to the general condition of mankind, distributed as they are, into those who tyrannise, and those who are the objects of tyranny ; when we reflect, that a numerous and distinct class of vices are the natural growth of each of these situations ; when we thence CHAP. XXI. 15 collect, that the great mass of human-kind appear, in conse- quence of this, in a great degree to be incapacitated for the elevated employments of heaven and the purity of its plea- sures, the overthrow of all such governments cannot but strike the mind, as having a degree of importance, which it is not in the power of language to express, or of the human understanding to calculate. Hence also it appears (and it is an awful consideration), that he who is instru- mental in perpetuating a corrupt and wicked government, is also instrumental in unfitting his fellow-men for the feli- city of the celestial mansions, and in perhaps occasioning them to occupy, through all the successive stages of their future existence, a lower rank than that to which they would otherwise have attained. CHAPTER XXI. ON THE NUMBERS WHICH OCCUR IN DANIEL AND ST. JOHN. IN a work like the present it would probably be thought by many a material omission, were no notice to be taken of the numbers which are found in Daniel and St. John. By the former of these inspired writers we are told, that the little horn shall continue in power for a time, and ti?nes, and the dividing of time^, The latter, speaking of the Gentiles, or spurious Christians, says (xi. 2), the Holy City shall they tread under foot 4f2 months ; and in the foU lowing verse, that the two xvitnesses shall prophecy a thou- sand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. In describing the ten-horned Beast, he says (xiii. 5), that power was given unto him to continue 42 months. In the 14th V. of the xiith ch. the true church of Christ is repre- 1 VII. 25. ' Among the old prophets, Daniel is most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood.' Sir I. Newton's Obser. on Dan. p. 15. 16 CHAP. XXI. sented in a {"orlorn and persecuted state, under the emblem of a woman fiy'ing into the wilderness^ -where she is nourished for a time^ and times ^ and half a time; and in v. 6 is said to continue there a thousand txvo hundred and threescore days. ' Now all these numbers,' says bp. Newton, ' you will find upon computation to be the same, and each of them to signify 1260 years. For — a time all agree, signifies a year% — and a time, and times, and the dividing of time, or half a tiyne, are 3 years and a half, and 3 years and a half are 42 months, and 42 months are 1260 days, and 1260 days in the prophetic style are 1260 years. From all these dates and characters it may fairly be concluded, that the time of the church's great affliction, and of the reign of Antichrist, will be a period of 1260 years^' That these are definite numbers, says Mede, is unques- tionable. * The scriptures,' he observes, ' use no numbers indefinitely but such as the use of speech in the language of the people had made such.' And ' compound numbers arc never taken indefinitely, either in Latin, Greek, or He- brew: compound numbers, I mean those which are com- pounded of units, tens and hundreds, &c. those which are of heterogeneal parts ; such as 42, the number of months in the Apocalypse; 1260, the number of days; three times and a half, which is a number of a fraction*.' Among the other circumstances, says this distinguished commentator, which render it evident, that days are to be taken for years, and months for months of years, is this : the events described by the prophet are far too numerous, too important, and require far too long a period, to suffer us to suppose, that they can be accomplished within the narrow limits of three 2 ' By a time, it is agreed by interpreters, is meant a year, by way of excellence, as a period the most disting-uished.' Wintle on Dan. vii. 25. Thus when Daniel says of Nebuchadnezzar (iv. 16), let his heart be chang- ed from tnati's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him: and let seven tivies pass over him.; the seven times signify seven years. 3 Vol. I. p. 48S; vol. III. p. 380. 4 P. 741. CBAP. XXI. 17 single years and a half s. To prove that the substitution of a day for a year was consonant to the language of the ancient Hebrew prophets, a passage from Ezekiel may be appealed to, where he says*, thou shult bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days : and I have appointed thee each day for a year. In that other famous prophecy of Daniel, that of the 70 weeks or 490 days, they are, says the learned Dr. Cressener7, taken for so many years ' by almost the unani- mous consent of all interpreters.' ' Since we can,' says the excellent Mr. Whiston, in this prophecy of the Seventy Weeks ' positively appeal to the event on our side, and allege the exact fulfilling of the ancient prophecies in this sense of days for years ;— there can remain no reasonable doubt in the case^.' With respect to the time, when the 1260 years com- menced^ and consequently when they shall terminate, I venture to advance nothing of my own, nor place my con- fidence in the calculations of others. But as some of my readers will be likely to enquire, whether no dates, appa- rently in unison with fact and probability, have been as- signed for the commencement and for the conclusion of the 1260 years ; and as I am unwilling altogether to disappoint them, and to leave those who have not before made any enquiries on the subject totally uninformed upon it, I shall state the two seras, which have been specified by Mr. Bi- cheno, the writer of a sensible pamphlet before referred to ; and shall allege some of the reasons which may be ad- vanced in favor of them. To prepare the reader for what follows, a short quota- tion from Mr. Whiston shall, however, be p4:eviously given. At the expiration of the 1260 years ' there is to be a Great 5 P. 742, 743. See another reason in p. 131. 6 IV. 6. 7 Dem. of the Prot. Appl. of the Apoc. 170. 8 P. 17. ' The way of counting by weeks of years seems,' says bp Chandler, (Def. of Chr. p. 112), ' to have been used by the ancients. Varro, at the time of writing his book inscribed Hebdomades, saith, he was entered in the 12th week of (his) years, i. e. his 78th year. Aul< Gell. Noct, Att. iii. 10.' Vol. II. g I{« CHAP. XXI. Earthquake (Apoc. xi. 13; ; the to Ji*«7«» of the City is to fall; in that Earthquake 7000 names of men are to be slain : — and soon after the seventh angel is to sound the great trumpet, for the restoration of the Jews, and for pouring out of the seven vials or last plagues upon the Beast's kingdom, in order to its utter ruin and destruction for ever^' In agreement with this statement, Mr. Bicheno supposes, that the conclusion of the 1260 years and the symbolic earthquake in the Tenth Part of the city are con- temporaneous ; and consequently, since the symbolic earth- quake, or French revolution, predicted by St. John in ch, y\. did actually take place \n xYit ye?iv 1789, that the 1260 years terminated at that memorable epoch. It cannot be denied, that it is a circumstance in favor of this method of calculating them, that the period specified corresponds with the idea, which learned men had previously formed of the 1260 years. Many have supposed, that this is the period during which antichristian tyranny over the persons and the consciences of men was destined especially to pre- vail, and to remain almost unchecked. It was not imme- diately upon the expiration of these years, that its over- throw was to be accomplished. But as it was exerted to a considerable extent, antecedently to the commencement of that period, so likeAvise for some time subsequent to it, this antichristian system of oppression was to subsist, but without its wonted firmness, its pristine stability, and that servility of acquiescence, with which its measures had been heretofore submitted to throughout the countries of Europe. At the conclusion of this period it was to receive some mighty shock. And do not the events of the French revolution, and the effects it has already produced, admi- rably correspond with these pre-conceived notions ? Have not the interests of the papacy and of ecclesiastical ty- ranny, as well as of civiUdespotism, in consequence of that revolution, received such a fatal wound as will never be healed ? P. 271. CHAP. XXI. I§ But if the year 1789, the jera of the French revolution, be thought to be an epoch singularly suitable for the con- clusion of the 1260 years: the next enquiry is, whether on the year, and about the time, when that period commenced^ means were adopted to promote, confirm, and extend the tyranny of princes and of priests over the faith and con- sciences of men. I now transcribe a part of what Mr, Bicheno has urged to prove, that in the year 529 this did actually happen ; and the reader with a glance of his eye will perceive, that there elapsed from the year 529 to 1789 exactly 1260 years. In the year 529, ' the Justinian Code was first published'", by which those powers, privileges, and immunities were secured to the clergy ; that union per- fected between things civil and ecclesiastical, and those laws imposed on the church, which have proved so inju- rious to Christianity, and so calamitous to mankind. And which code, through the zeal of the clergy, has been re- ceived, more or less, as the foundation of the jurispru- dence of almost every state in Christendom ; and that not only in things civily but ecclesiastical.' It was also in the year 529, that ' a new order of monks, which in a manner absorbed all the others established in the West, was insti- tuted by Benedict of Nursia. — This and othex monastic orders (sinks of ignorance, indolence, and vice !) were the fountains, from whence issued all sorts of abominations, and the rivers which carried superstition, oppression, and violence to all parts of the earth".' Of the corrupt opi- nions and antichristian practices, which prevailed at this period, ample memorials may be found in Mosheim j Avho observes with respect to the Benedictines, that they ' la- bored most ardently to swell the arrogance, b)^ enlarging 10 The following are the words of cardinal Baronius, in his account of the year 529, hoc eodein anno idein y-ustinianus Iinperator, que7n dedcrat col' iigendum emendanduinque codicem suo nomine ynstinianewm appellatum, (fbr colutuin conjirniavit, vulgavitque. 11 Signs of the Times, p. 61. 20 CHAP. XXI. the power and authority, of the Roman pontiff'*.' How highly favorable the founding of the Benedictine order was to the aggrandisement of the priesthood and pontifi- cate, some idea may be formed from an observation of the lofty language and the exulting tone, with which Baronius has spoken of it in his account of the year 529. On the code of Justinian, and on the conduct of the emperor who promulgated it, I shall not harrass the attention of the reader by the multiplication of extracts. One passage, however, and that a sufficiently long one, shall on this sub- ject be cited from a writer of the last century, who was accurately acquainted with ecclesiastical history. It is from an apocalyptical work of Dr. Cressener, and from a chapter wherein he is professedly treating on '■ the first d^te of the rise of the Beast,' that the passage is taken. Antecedently to the quotation of it, it may be proper to inform the reader, that Justinian was raised to the impe- rial throne in the year 527. In the beginning of his reign, says Dr. Cressener, Justinian publishes an edict concern- ing his faith, wherein he ' threatens all who should dissent from it, that they should have no manner of indulgence ; and tkat, upon the discovery of them, they should suffer the law as pvofessed heretics, which was to be banished the Roman territ^orits, and which was never executed upon the generality of dissenters before. And here does his faith appear to be made the tuk and measure of orthodoxy to the whole empire, upon a penalty which had terror enough in it. This faith he sends to pope John for his concurrence with him in it ; and tells him, " that he did it to conform all to the church of Rome j that it was always his desire to preserve the unity of the apostolic see j" and for that purpose " to bring all the Eastern churches under his subjection, and to unite them to the see of his Holi- ness.'' Pope John's answer to him does repeat the same 12 Eccl, Hist. vol. I. p. 448. It was also in the year 529, that the pre- ^ates who met in the second council of Vasio endeavored to augment the fiuthority of the Holy See, commanding that the name of the Roman Pon. ^iff should be recited in their respective churches- CHAP. XXI. , 21 thing out of his letter, with great thanks to him, as, that he did preserve the faith of the Roman church, and did bring all else under the subjection of it, and did draw them into the unity of it. Therein also does Justinian expressly call the church of Rome the Head of all Churches^ and de- sires a rule of faith for the bishops of the East. The popti on the other side confirms the emperor's faith to be the only true faith^ and that which the Roman church did al- wa5's hold. — All this intercourse betwixt the pope and the emperor is inserted into the code of the Imperial law, as the standard and rule for all to conform to, under the pe- nalty to be judged to be heretics. — Though the emperor's faith should be accounted orthodox, yet the inducing such a new penalty, which should force it upon the consciences of all men, as so necessary to salvation, that a man could not possibly be a member of the catholic church without the profession of it, was certainly unwarrantable, and the first beginning of that tyrannising power in the Roman church, which made the whole world to conform to all its arbitrary decrees, and to worship it with a blind obedience to all its most unreasonable commands.' Among the ex- travagant commands of Justinian one was, that all such should be anathematised, ' ivho did not damn all those whom they called heretics : which certainly was one of the highest acts of tyranny over the consciences of the universal church, and which of all their injunctions was the most difficult to subscribe unto'^' But probably there may be some persons, who may think, that the commencement of the 1260 years had bet- ter be dated from the year 547 than from the year 529 ; nartly because Justinian's tyrannic proceedings in his ma- nagement of councils, in his persecution of heretics, and in his endeavors to bring about a uniformity of faith through- out the Roman empire, cannot be supposed to have been carried nearly to their full extent earlier than that year'* ; 13 Dem. of the Prot. Appl. of tlie Apoc. p. 306. 14 See Cressener, ut supra p. 307—312. Justinian, says the Jesuit Pe- tavius, innumerabilibus eclictls Catliolicx fidci et ecclesiastic ae discipUnjc. 32 CHAP. XXI, and partly because they may be of opinion with Dr. Cres- sener and other writers, that in this calculation 18 years are to be deducted from the 1260'^, since 1260 apocalyp- tic years, each consisting only of 360 days, amount to no more than 1242 solar or Julian years'^ Some quotations shall now be added, which may serve to illustrate the opinion, that St. John by no means meant to intimate, that the conclusion of the 1260 years would be the epoch of the complete overthrow of civil or of spiri- tual tyranny. During the 1260 years, says bp. Newton, ' the holij city^ the true church of Christ, was to be trodden under foot^ which is the lowest state of subjection j the two tvitnesses were not only to prophecy^ but to prophecy in sackcloth^ that is in mourning and affliction ; the xuoman^ the church, was to abide in the wilderness^ that is in a for- lorn and desolate condition ; and poxver ivas given to the Beast -TToiYio-cti '^, not merely to continue^ as it is translated, but to practise^ and prosper^ and to do according to his will'*. — It doth not therefore follow, that the Beast is to consulult. Eationarium Tewi/)oru7n, p. i. 1. vii. c. v. This celebrated emperor was an unfeeling bigot. ' The reign of Justinian,' says Mr. Gibbon, ' vfv^s an unifoi'm, }et various scene of persecution ; and he appears to have sur- passed Ifis^indolent predecessors, both in the contrivance of his laws and the rigor of their execution.' To the Samai'itans of Palestine he ' offered only the alternative of baptism or rebellion. — It has been computed that 100,000 Roman subjects were extirpated in the Samaritan war, whicli converted the once-fruitful province into a desolate and smoaking wilder- ness. But, in the creed of Justinian, the guilt of murder coiald not be applied to the slaughter of unbelievers ; and he piously labored to esta- bUsh with fii-e and sword the unity of the Christian faith.' Decl. and Fall of the Rom. Emp. vol. VIII. p. 320, 323, 324. On Mr. Gibbon's inaccu- rate use of the word pious (as it is an inaccuracy of which he is fond) I might here expatiate, were this a work adapted for such a discussion. 15 547 1242 1789 16 See Cressener ut supra, p. 238, 239 ; and Fleming's Discourse on the Rise and Fall of the Papacy, p. 24 — 26. 17 XIII. 5. 18 See the word explained In the same way by Vitriqg^ CHAP. XXI. 23 continue^ to exist, for no longer a time'^' Though the power of princes and of priests over the persons and the consciences of men was to decline at the termination of the 1260 years, and was speedily to fall into a weak and shat- tered state , it is not therefore to be concluded, that at this epoch their authority was all at once to be overthrown, and their oppressions were to cease in all the streets of the symbolic city. ' Nothing,' says the bp. of Worcester, ' has been more censured in protestant divines, than their temerity in fixing the fall of Antichrist ; though there are certain data in the prophecies, from which very probable conclusions on that subject may be drawn. Experience, it is said, contradicts this calculation. But it is not consi- dered, that the fall of Antichrist is not a single event, to happen all once ; but a state of things, to continue through a long tract of time, and to be gradually accomplished — Suppose the ruin of the Western empire had been the sub- ject of a prediction, and some had collected before hand from the terms of the prophecy, that it would happen at a particular time ; when yet nothing more, in fact, came to pass, than the first irruption of the barbarous nations ; would it be certain that this collection was groundless and ill made, because the empire subsisted in a good degree of vigor for some centuries after ? Might it not be said, that the empire ivas falling from that sera, or perhaps before ; though, in the event, it fell not, till its sovereignty was shaken by the rude hands of Attila, or rather, till it was laid flat by the well-directed force of Theodoric^° ?' ' At the 19 Vol. III. p. 214, 382. See similar observations in the Evid. of Nat. and Rev. Bel. by Dr. Clarke, p. 432. 20 Vol. II. p. 71. And though nothing more came to pass in the j ear 1789 than the French Revolution ; would it be certain that the fall of An- tichrist might »ot be dated from that year, and that such an inference was groundless and ill made, because the antichristian empire subsisted in a good degree of vigor for some yeai's after ? Might it not be said, that tlie empire vias falling from that sra, or perhaps before ; tliough, in the event. It fell not, till its sovereignty was shaken by , or rather, till it was laid flat by .' Here are chasms in the sentence, which our ignorance of futurity renders necessary, and which must be filled up at a future time. 24 CHAP. XXI> close of the 1260 years,' says the author of an Essay oil the Numbers of Daniel and John, ' the Beast was to meet with a visible check to his power^'.' The Beast will not be destroyed, says Durham, at the expiration of the 1260 years ; but, to use this early commentator's own words, his power will be clipped, and his authority shaken". The seventh trumpet, says Mr. Whiston, which has the vials for its contents, is not to commence till after the 1260 years are expired ; so that the 1260 years bring to a conclusion dnly the ' Prevailing Tyranny of the Beast. — But the end or destruction of the Beast himself will not take place * till the end of the same trumpet, or the conclusion of the vials^^.' To the same purpose speaks Dr. More. ' That the reign of the Beast does not end with the sixth trumpet' is,, says this learned writer, ' a thing I do easily grant ; but yet in the mean time, I contend that the fulfilling of his 42 months is at the exitus of the sixth trumpet, which "respects the duration of the entireness thereof; which en- tireness was broken at the rising of the rvitnesses. — Unless the affairs of Europe should break of a sudden, as, Olaus says, the frozen ocean does, and then immediately sinks (which is a miracle above belief), I see no probability at all of any other sense of the stinting the reign of the Beast to 42 months than I have already declared**.' Now some probably may be of opinion, that the affairs of Europe have suddenly broken, and taken a new direc- tion ; and that a mighty change will be effected in the cir- cumstances of mankind by means of the revolution of France, by the spread of its principles and the progress of its arms. They may also not unreasonably conclude, that, in this quarter of the world, the wheels of the existing fa- brics of government, complex as they are in their original construction, injured by the rust of age, often impeded by the collision of jarring interests, and every where clogged 21 Burton's Ess. on the Numbers of Dan. and John, 1766, p. 263. 22 P. 553. 23 P. 88, 89. 24 On the Apoc. p. 263 ; and Myst. of Iniq. p. 380. CHAP. ±Xi. 25 by the interference of superfluous weights, will in a short time be stopped by the obstructions which will be thrown in their way ; and that those, who have hitherto regulated their movements, will cease to direct them, or to put in motion those engines of oppression, in the management of which they now discover so much expertness, as they will be driven from their posts, covered w'lik disgrace, and de- pressed by disappointment. The People, they may expect, will hereafter be the great First Moving Cause that shall actuate the machine of government ; and the agents, whom they shall appoint, will determine on the specific mode on which it shall be constructed, and adjust and superintend its several operations, however numerous or complicated. The change in the political world, already accomplished in France, some perhaps may conceive, is equal in point of greatness, in point of rapidity, in point of benefit, to the most striking change which the natural world can pro- duce. With respect also to some of those lofty edifices of power, which are scattered over the surface of the Euro- pean continent, it will perhaps be thought, that the rapi- dity with which these unwieldy fabrics, though they have subsisted during the revolution of centuries, and to the su- perficial observer appeared possessed of strength which nothing could overpower or shatter, shall sink and break in pieces, in consequence of that alteration of sentiment which shall prevail, and that ardor of patriotism which shall be kindled, may not unaptly be compared to the suddenness, with which a vast sea of ice, that before exhibited a pros- pect the most dreary and comfortless, is subdued by thaw, and all its different compartments, on the change of weather and the kindly approach of summer, melt and disappear; notwithstanding that sea has been so frozen by a northern winter, as to have lasted a long succession of weeks, and notwithstanding it appeared to the eye of the uninformed, too firm to be broken, and too hard to be dissolved. I now proceed to take some notice of the numbers which jDccur inthexiith ch. of Daniel; and as this concluding Vol. II. D 26 CHAP. XXI. chapter of the Hebrew prophet is short and a very remark- able one, I shall embrace this opportunity of quoting the greater part of it, and of introducing a few extracts in illustration of it. ' The prophecies of Daniel,' says Sir I. Newton, ' are all of them related to one another, as if they were but several parts of one general prophecy, given at several times*^' In agreement with this remark, it has been concluded, that his predictions in ch. xii. have a rela- tion to whsLt he has elsewhere foretold with respect to the expiring of persecution, the destruction of the antichristian monarchies, and the subsequent reign of genuine Christi- anity in the world. In V. 4 it is said, but thou, Daniel, shut up the xvords, and seal the hook, even to the time of the end: many shall ?-un to and fro, and knowlege shall be increased. ' To shut up a book,' says Mr. Lowth, ' and to seal it, is the same with concealing the sense of it, — as hath been ob- served upon ch. viii. 25. And the same reason is assigned in both places for this command, viz. because there would be a long interval of time between the date of the prophecy, and the final accomplishment of it. — -But the nearer that time approached, the more light should men have for un- derstanding the prophecy itself ; as is implied in the fol- lowing Avords. Many shall run to and fro, and knowlege shall be increased. Many shall be inquisitive after truth, and keep correspondence with others for their better infor- mation : and the gradual completion of this and other pro- phecies shall direct observing readers to form a judgment concerning those particulars which are yet to be fulfilled.' But the latter words, though they may be admitted to have a peculiar reference to prophetic knowlege, may also be rea- sonably thought to refer to the augmentation of knowlege in general. But what is the tiyne of the end ? In its strict rnd proper sense, says an intelligent commentator on Da- niel, it ' is that time, wherein the yeai"s of Antichrist are finished'^' Though the nature of the wonders foretold in 25 P. 24. '26 Parker on D?.n p. 122, C'HAP. xxi. 2f this book of prophecy was thus imperfectly revealed to Da- niel, somewhat was communicated to him relative to the period of their accomplishment. For one of the angels of the vision is represented in v. 6 as saying unto another an- gel, in the presence of Daniel, and for his information, how long- shall it be to the end of these xvonders? And^ says Daniel (v. 7 — 12), I heard the man clothed in linen, which zvas upon the xvaters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever, that it shall he for a time, times, and an half ; and -when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall he fnished„ And I heard, but I understood not : then said I, Omy Lord, what shall be the end of these things P- And he said, go thy Way, Daniel : for the xvords are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall he purifed, and made ivhite, and tried ; but the wicked shall do xvickedly : and none of the xvicked shall under stand : hut the xvisc shall under stand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall he taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall he a thousand txvo hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that xvaiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. The period here specified by Daniel, a time, times, and an half, signifies, says Mede, the 1260 years during which the ten-horned Beast was to reign'^. The extract which follows is from the paraphrase of Dr. Wells. And I heard the angel sxvear by Him, ' that lives for ever and ever, that it shall he for a time, times, and an half of time, i. e. the said wonderful things are not to be accomplished, till the expiration or end of that portion of time of the Fourth Kingdom, during which (accordingto what was made known unto Daniel in a former vision, viz. ch. vii. 25) the little horn shall xvear out the saints of the Most High, and they shall be given into his hand.^ As the words, repeatedly employed by Daniel in ch. vii. the saints of the Most High, ?7 p. 8S5, 28 CHAP. XXI^ are most certainly not tO'be understood of the Jews, but of genuine Christians ; so in like manner there is reason to believe, that that kindred expression, the holy people., has in ch. xii. exactly the same signification^*. The clause containing these words Waple^' endeavors to illustrate b) referring to a passage in the Apocalypse. By the ' accom- pltshment of the scatterings or dispersion of the poxver of the holy people can,' he says, *- be meant no other than the woman's coming out of the rvilderness^^^ where the holy people were dispersed and scattered.' But I do not con- ceive, that the prophet's words oblige us to conclude, that genuine Christians will cease to be oppressed, immediately at the expiration of the 1260 years. When he says, that it shall be for a time^ times^ and an half; and that luhen he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy peo- ple^ all these things shall be finished ; the meaning may be, that it is, for the 1260 years, that the whole body of true Christians shall be principally exposed to the attacks of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny ; and that some time after- wards, when the period of their being in a dispersed and precarious and persecuted state shall be completely accom- 28 That the holy people. In ch. xii. v. 7 of Dan. is to be unders.tood of ge- nuine Christians, tlie learned Dr. Goodwin conceivedto be unquestionable, p. 185. ' The Christians may,' says bp. Newton (on Dan. vol. II. p. 48), • full as well as the Jews be ccmprehended under the name of the holy people' By ' the holy people,' says a leai-ned writer, who was quoted in the last chapter, and whose signature is Synergus fCowment. and Ess. p. 481), * I understand the Christians distinguished by that general title from the rest of the world, without any regard to their moral character, or any thing besides their outw^oi'd profession.' Thus it appears, that the appel- lation of the holy people, wdth respect to extent of import, is differently understood by different writers. 29 On Rev. x. 7. 30 It is in ch. xii. v. 6 of the Rev. that the symbolic v/oman is repre- sented as ♦ flying into a wilderness,' (I am now quoting from Mr. Low- man,) • to intimate, the condition of the church would be difficult and dangei'ous in these times, like the Israelites, when they wandered in thti wilderness.' ' The wilderness into which she fled intimates,' says a fo- reign writer, ' the church's obsciu-ity, poverty, and distress.' Neiv Synt of Jpoc. p. 60. *.^ CHAP. XXI. 29 plished, then that all the principal events foretold by Da- niel shall be finished. I shall shortly have occasion to in- troduce a quotation fi^om St. John, wherein he has mani- festly copied from the 7th v. of the xiith ch. of Daniel, at the very time when he is speaking of the seventh trumpet and* the destruction of the antichristian empire^'. Here then the reader will be furnished with a new reason for concluding, that each of the prophets is speaking of the sam.e period and the same events. 3fany^ says Daniel, shall be purified^ and made xvhite^ and tried, ' The persecutions of the faithful,' says Mr. Lowth, ' are designed for the trial of their faith, and pu- rifying their lives.' And from the time that the daily sacri- Jice shall be taken azvai/y and the abominatio7i that maketh desolate set up^ there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. That this computation cannot refer to the desolate state of Jerusalem and the profanation of its tem- ple, appears evident, because a much longer period than 1290 years has elapsed, since the city and the temple were exposed to the insults of Antiochus, or Titus, or Hadrian. * The same expressions,' says Mr. Lowth, ' made use of to describe Antiochus's persecution, chap. xi. 31, are here- applied to the desolations made by Antichrist, of which the former was a figure.' Mr. Wintle, to whom the public are indebted for a New Translation of Daniel, observes, that * the language is borrowed from the service of the Jewish temple, and applicable to the church of God in a variety of states and forms : that it is here particularly meant to have its illustration during the times of the Christian church viust^ says Mr. Wintle, ' be evident, not only from the whole series of the foregoing remarks, but because the days cannot be taken in their strict sense, but must be un- derstood for so many years.' ' The setting up of the abo- mination of desolation^ bp. Newton in like manner remarks, 31 See tlie note from Vitringa. at the bottom of p. 266. 30 CHAP. XXI4 is ' a general phrase^^' To set up the abomination that maketh desolate, says Mr. Parker, is to establish ' anti- christian idolatries and superstitions, corrupt doctrine and unlawful worship ;' and to take atvay the daily sacrijice is to take away ' the true doctrine and worship instituted hy Christ".' ' Here,' says Mr. Lowth, ' the time allotted for the persecutions of Antichrist, till the church be entirely cleansed and purified, is enlarged from 1260 days, denoted by time^ times ^ and an half ^ ver. 7, to 1290 days.' 'The prophet immediately adds. Blessed is he that waiteth, and Cometh to the thousand three hundred and Jive and thirty days. The state of mankind, at the end of this second period of 45 years, is to be substantially meliorated^*. Mr. Bicheno, who calculates, that the first period which Daniel specifies, a time, and times^ and an half or the 1260 years terminated in the year 1789, about which time also the resurrection of the witnesses and the earthquake i?t the Tenth Part of the city took place, consequently sup- poses, that the 1290 years will end in the year 1819, and the 1335 5^ears in 1864. During the first of these periods, reaching from the year 1789 to 1819, he concludes, that all the seven vials are to be poured out ; ' a season,' says he, * it is likely of great calamities, but especially to the ene- mies of Christ's kingdom. — To gather and try the Jews preparatory to their conversion, to destroy the remains of tyranny, and to purify and enlarge the Gentile church, will occupy forty-five years more. — This is the time of which 32 Vol. II. p. 193. 33 Parker on Dan. p. 109, 133. ' The offering daily sacrifices is an ex- pi'cssion very proper to denote the external of the Christian worsliip.* Comment mid Ess. ut supra, signature Synergiis, vol. I. p. 473. 34 Bp. New-ton says, * it is, I conceive, to these great events, tlae fall of Antichrist, the restoration of the Jews, and the beginning of the glo- rious millennium, that the three different dates in Daniel of 1260 years^ 1290 years, and 1335 ) ears, are to be referred,' vol. Ill, p. 393. That the Jews will be restored to their own land in the course of 30 years, after the conclusion of the 1260, I do not, however, myself conceive to be at all probable. See Rom. xi. 25. CHAP. XXI. 31 Daniel says, Blessed is he that cometh to it, and which is the year 1864".' Such is the statement of Mr. Bicheno. On the proba- bility of it the reader must judge for himself. Persuaded that the fixing of futvire dates is a business of infinite delica- cy, I should certainly myself have been very unwilling to have spoken in so peremptory a manner respecting the epochas of Daniel, or on the period when any \xn?iccovnp\ish- ed events are destined to happen^^ With respect to the time when the proper millenniary period shall commence, I do not allow myself even to conjecture? and, on the num- ber of years which will be occupied in the effusion of the vials, I likewise conceive myself incompetent to give any opinion. Of this, however, I am persuaded, that they will be poured out much sooner than maiiy commentators have supposed. The following is the opinion of an ingenious French com- mentator. It ' may be affirmed as certain and indubitable, — that when the vials come to be poured out, there shall be no long distance between the pouring out of one of them, and the effusion of the rest. Because it is said in the xth chap- ter, v. 6, that the angel sware that there should be time Jia lo7iger. That is to say, that there should be no more delay ; that the judgments of God shall overtake the Beast, without any respite betwixt one and another. — Before the pouring forth of the first' vial ' be ended, the second shall begin, and so the rest".' The whole of the angelic oath, relating to the period of the seventh trumpet, which I have alluded to as being copied from Daniel, is thus sublimely expressed. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea, and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that livethfor ever and ever, xuho created heaven and the things that ore therein, and the earth and the things that are therein, 35 Signs of the Times, p. 60, 65. 36 In Justice to Mr. Bicheno it ought, however, to be observed, that he speaks in a far less confident tone, than that -which maiw preceding calcu- lators have employed. 57 Ne\y Syst. of the Apoc p. 250. 32 i CHAP. XXI. aiid the sea and the things which are therein^ that there should be no longer delaij'^^ : but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel^ when he shall begin to sound^"^^ the mystery of God should be finished^ as he hath declared to his servants the prophets^°. By Mr. Pile a part of this passage is thus pa- raphrased. Having lifted up his hands to heaven, in the same manner as the angel in Daniel is represented to have done*', he, 'in the name of the Almighty and Eternal Father of all things, protested, that whatever the said Daniel, or any other prophet had foretold concerning the kingdom of Christ, and the glorious success of it here upon earth, in the latter ti)7ies^ should be all punctually fulfilled. And par- ticularly that part of Daniel's prediction, that the reign of the antichristian kingdom of idolatry and persecution was to continue, after it is in its full height, but for a time, and times, and a half iijne (i. e. for 1260 years and no longer), should be verified in the period of this seventh trumpet.' With respect to the expression, the mystery of God, it sig- nifies, says Vitringa, ' the oracles of the prophets, which interpret the secret will of God;' and it consists, adds this eminent commentator, of the great concluding events which they foretell ; namely, of the remarkable judgments by which the enemies of Christ's kingdom shall be destroyed, the establishment of that kingdom throughout the globe, and the consequent universal prevalence of virtue and ho- liness. 38 Thus Mr. Wakefield translates this clause. In our common transla- tion it is, that there should be time no longer. That ;t;fave? signifies delay may be seen in the lexicons of Constantine and Hederic ; that it here bears that signification is the statement of Brightman, of Doddi-idge, and of Vitringa ; and it is observed by Daubuz, that in this place it is thus un- derstood by • most interpreters and versions.' 39 Daubuz renders the words, in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, ivhen he shall sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be fnished; and jidds, that the original might have been translated, when he shall have soitnded. -iO X. 5, 6, 7. 41 XII. 7. CHAP. XXI. 33 Whenever the vials ' begin,' says Dr. Beverly in his Scripture Line of Time'^'^^ ' they move with so swift a course, that it is impossible there should be any delay in them after they are begun, or that any of them should be entered, and not all of them in their order swiftly poured out.' It is observed by Brightman, (a commentator always treated with great respect by Vitringa,) that the seventh trumpet, which, he says, has the seven vials for its consti- tuent parts, ' should be dispatched in a short time, and should not linger so long as the former trumpets did, but should fly rather with swift wings'*^' ' The effects of the seventh trumpet,' says Mr. Waple, ' shall not take up any long time in their accomplishing ; but shall be performed with speed, and of a sudden ; which may perhaps be the meaning of cpxef^i -rxx^ '• ^^^i ^^ a judicious person hath acutely observed, the sixth trumpet comes immediately after the fifth, as well as the seventh after the sixth ; and therefore it cannot be distinguished from the others by its immediate succession, which is common to them all ; but by the speed of its motions and the quickness of its events**.' That the vials will be poured out rapidly^ seems to be countenanced by the 8th verse of the xviiith ch. of St. John, where that prophet, when speaking of the symbolic Babylon, says, her plagues shall come in one day^ death., and mournings and famine. Against the opinion, that the vials Will be poured out with a considerable degree of rapidity, the word 'iiial may itself appear to millitate ; for, as it signifies a ves- sel with a narrow mouth, it would seem to denote, that God's wrath will be poured out not all at once^ but slowly^ and by little and little. But the objection has no solid foun- dation. The fact is, the word vial is an improper rendering; for it communicates to the mind of the English reader an idea entirely different from that which the Greek original suggests. On this point it will be sufficient to appeal to 42 Published in London in 4to. in 1684, p. 187. 43 See p. 380, 506. 44 On ch. xi. 14< Vol. II. E 34f CHAP. XXII. two of the most learned of the commentators. ' We have proved,' says Daubuz*', that ^, the word here used, is a bowl or basin proper for libations, to pour the liquor con- tained all at once.^ A teachers is the word employed. Prophets is the word admitted into the common version. 33 In Apoc. p. 230. After the reader shall have perused the xxviith chapter of the present work, he will discern the reason, why Vitringa has incorporated into the sentence quoted above the Greek expression, Tr,t Vol. II. J 42 ' CHAP. XXII, But, in order to make Christ's prediction more plain, I shall, from Matthew, again cite his words^ together with a part of the parallel place in Luke. I begin with Matthew. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her lights and the stars shall fall from heaven^ and the powers of heaven shall he shaken. — And they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds bf heaven^* with poxver and great glory. From the xxist ch. of Luke we learn, that the tribidation of those days has a very extensive meaning, . and that it especially signifies the treading down of Jerusalem and Judea by the Gentiles, which shall not terminate till the times of the Gentiles are accomplished ; for such is the import of his Words. This people^ i. e. the Jews shall be led away cap- tive into all nations : and ferusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles^ until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sicn, and in the moon^ and in the stars. In the next and two following verses the evan- gelist adds, that the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these thijigs begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads ; for your re- demption draweth nigh. From a comparison of these two passages in Matthew and in Luke, it appears evident, that the tribulation of those days, mentioned by the former of these apostolic writers, reaches to the whole period, during which yerusalem shall be trodden of the Gentiles. Now bp. Newton observes in one of his Dissertations on our Lord's prophecy, that the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled, ' when the times of the four great kingdoms of the Gen- tiles according to Daniel's prophecies shall be expired".* At length then we are able to form some ideas of the time, when the prediction of Jesus is to be accomplished. We 34 Mat. xxiv. 29, 30. Tliat the coming of the son of man in the clouds of heaven needs not to be literally understood, and that it has no reference tc the end of the world, wiU be shewn in ch. xxx, 35 Vol. II. p. 314., CHAP. XXII. 43 collect, from the comparison of the evangelists, that the events pointed out by him, under the symbols of the dark- ening of the sun^ the moon, and the stars, whatever import these symbols may be supposed to have, are to happen when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled; that is to say, are contemporary with the demolition of the antichristian go- vernments of the European world, as foretold by Daniel. But the meaning of these symbols has been satisfactorily ascertained ; and hence it appears, that Daniel and Christ have presignified the same great catastrophe. And certain- ly it is no subject of surprise, that the downfal of all those monarchies and aristocracies, which oppress the world, should have been predicted, since it was foreseen by the Divine Mind ; not only that some of them would vehe- mently resist the first propagation of the religion of Jesus ; but that all of them, during a long series of ages, and during the whole of their continuance in power, even though they professed to be converts to it, would in fact be altogether strangers to its spirit, and openly violating all its laws would be alike injurious to the practice and to the spread of Christianity. But I hasten to conclude. If then it be evident, as well from a consultation of the prophetic scriptures themselves, as from the opinions of the most approved writers, that the sun, the moon, and the stars are, in the diction of prophecy, the known, established symbols either of a monarch and his nobles, or of monarchy and aristocracy in general; if what bp. Hurd affirms be in any degree well founded, that ' there is, in truth, no more difficulty in fixing the import of the prophetic style, than that of any other language or techni- cal phraseology whatever^* ;' surely I shall not be charged, even by the advocate of tyranny, with having annexed this 36 Vol. II. p. 98. See similar assertions in More (On the Apoc. p. 304) and Lancaster (p. 19). ' Each symbol,' says the latest of all the com- mentators on the Apocalypse, ' has as determinate and distinct a meaning, as each word in other languages hath.' Johnston of Holy wood, vol. J, p. 41. 44 CHAP. XXII. sense to the words of our Saviour on grounds, which are altogether light and doubtful and destitute of authority. If the reason be asked, whence this passage has not been oftener viewed in the same light, and whence it has hap- pened, that NOT ONE of the many English commentators on the Evangelists has thus interpreted it ; I reply, without assigning any motives of policy as having communicated to the minds of any among them a secret bias, that those of them who have most successfully illustrated the Evange- lists, and have been followed by the tribe of inferior exposi- tors, have rarely paid any marked attention to the symbols of the prophets^ and therefore it is not to be wondered, that, when they have incidentally met with them, they have not turned out of their usual track, and have in conse- quence misinterpreted them, as if they were expressions not prophetic but literal". That this is a true solution of the difficulty, the reader will see solid grounds for believ- ing, when he recollects, that the alleged interpretation of our Lord's words has received the unanimous suffrage of Daubuz, of Lancaster, and of Vitringa^* ; who are perhaps the three men, who of all others best understood the sym- bolic language of prophecy^ and had most diligently compared together the predictions of different prophets, 37 If Grotius and Gilbert Wakefield be excepted, I know not a single commentator on the Evangelists, who appears to have been at all ac- a quainted with the important works of Achmet and Artemidorus. 38 I add not the name of Mede, on account of the doubts he enter- tained, and because he delivered no positive opinion on the subject. Mede's ideas on the xxivth ch. of Matthew I shall have farther occasion to state jn the xxvUtli, and xxviiith chapters of the work CHAP XXII. , 45 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXII. THE whole of the present work was written, and a considerable part of it printed, previously to my meeting with the quotation that follows. The principal motives for my now introducing it are, because many of the thoughts which it contains are similar to those that predominate in the preceding pages ; and because it proceeds from the pen of a courtier and a dignitary of the church, whose mind will not be suspected to have yielded admission to any ideas of the probability of a Revolution in the circum- stances of mankind, from a restless temper or a fondness for innovation, from the influence of prejudices favorable to freedom, or from a dissatisfaction at the existing state of affairs. It is from a charge^^ delivered by bishop Por- teus. ' The present times,' says the prelate, ' and the present scene of things, in almost every part of the civilized world, are the most interesting and the most awful that were ever before presented to the inhabitants of the earth ; and such as must necessarily excite the most serious reflections in every thinking mind. Perhaps all those singular events to which we have been witnesses, unparalleled as they un- doubtedly are in the page of history, may be only the beginning of things, may be only the first leading steps to a train of events still more extraordinary ; to the accomplish- ment possibly of some new and unexpected, and at present imfathomable, designs hitherto reserved and hid in the counsels of the Almighty. Some we know there are who think that certain prophecies, both in the New Testament 39 A Charge, delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of London, at the Visitation of tliat Diocese in the year 1794, by Beilby, Lord Bishop of London. 46 CHAP. XXIIl. and the Old, are now fulfilling; that the signs of the times are portentous and alarming ; and that the sudden extinc- tion of a great monarchy, and of all the splendid ranks and orders of men that supported it, is only the completion in part of that prediction in the gospel, that the sun shall be darliened^ and the 7noon shall not give her lights and the stars shall fall from heaven^ before the second appearance of the Messiah, to judge the earth ; all which expressions are well known to be only figurative emblems of the great pow- ers and rulers of the world, whose destruction, it is said, is to precede that great event. As to myself I pretend not to decide on these arduous points; I pretend not either to prophecy or to interpret prophecy : nor shall I take upon myself lo pronounce, whether we are now approaching (as some think) to the Millennium, or to the Day of Judgment, or to any other great and tremendous and universal change predicted in the sacred writings. But this I am sure of, that the present imexampled state of the Christian world is a loud and powerful call upon all men, but upon us above all men, to take peculiar heed to our ways, and to prepare our- selves, — for every thing that may befall us, be it ever so novel, ever so calamitous*".' CHAPTER XXIII. ON THE SIX FIRST SEALS, AND PARTICULARLY THE THIRD AND THE SIXTH. THERE are two passages in the two sublimest of the scriptural prophets, one in John, and one in Isaiah, which are justly observed by Pyle', Brenius% and Vitringa^, to be parallel places with the memorable prediction of our Sa- 40 P. 28. 1 P. 48. 2 In Mat. xxiv. 29. 3 In Apoc. p. 281 ; and in Jesai, vol. II. p. 23 CHAP. XXIII. 47 viour, which was illustrated in the preceding chapter. They are too important to be omitted. As the prophecy of Jesus has, however, been so largely investigated, the symbolic language in which they are written will not very long detain our attention. Of these passages, the- first which I shall transcribe and explain, is the prediction of the sixth seal : and, in order that a just conception of it may be formed, it will be necessary to introduce some account of the five preceding seals. The extract that follows is from bp. Newton. ' Fu- ture events are supposed by St. John, as well as by Daniel and other prophets, in a beautiful figure, to be registered in a book, for the greater certainty of them. This book (ver. l)* is in the right hand of God^ to denote that as he alone directs the affairs of futurity, so he alone is able to reveal them. — It was also sealed^ to signify that the decrees of God are inscrutable, and sealed xvitk seven seals^ refer- ring to so many signal periods of prophecy. In short we should conceive of this book, that it was such an one as the ancients used, a volume or roll of a book, or more pro- perly a volume consisting of seven volumes, so that the opening of one seal laid open the contents only of one volume*.' Since this sealed book is described as not being opened till after great preparation^ ; since Christ is represented in the prophetic vision as selected to perform this important task; and innun.er:;L'.- multitudes of angels, and the re- presentatives of the whole Christian church, are introduced as raising acclamations of joy on the disclosure of its con- tents^; it may reasonably be expected to foretell events, which should be highly interesting to the Christian world, and WHICH, during the revolution of future ages, SHOULD HAVE A SIGNAL INFLUENCE, EITHER FAVORABLE OR UNFAVORABLE, UPON THE PROGRESS AND UPON THE PURITY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. But such is the intcr- 4 Ch. V. 5 Vol. III. p. 35. 6Ch.V. V. 1— r. 7V.8— 14. 48 CHAP. XXII, pretation of the seven seals, which is adopted by bishop Newton and many other commentators, as altogether to disappoint these expectations. The Jirst seal^ or period, says the bishop of Bristol, denoted the conquests of Ves- pasian and Titus ; and the second those slaughters which occurred in the time of Trajan and his immediate succes- sors ; the third was predictive of the measures adopted by the two emperors of the name of Severus ; and the fourth of that mortality and those various devastations, which dis- tinguished the reigns of Maximin and the princes who succeeded. According to this explication, these prophe- cies, each of which Christ is represented as opening to view, had no nearer relation to the Christian than to the Pagan subjects of the Roman empire. But to entertain a supposition like this, to represent that four volumes of the divine communications were of such a complexion as to be incapable of being applied to the benefit of the church, is, says Vitringa, to support an hypothesis that is at variance with reason*. Reason, indeed, teaches us to expect, says this distinguished commentator, that, when the sealed book is divided into seven volumes or periods so7ne proportion between the length of these periods should be preserved'. But bp. Newton and those who coincide with him'° repre- sent, that all the six first" seals were fulfilled between the reign of Vespasian and the death of the emperor Theodo- sius, a period of only 325 years, whilst the seventh seal alone was run on from that time, through a long succession of centuries, to the end of the world. Some sort of propor- tion also might be expected to be found with respect to the length of the visions themselves". But according to bp. Newton, the account of the seventh seal, and of what is 8 P. 232. 9 P. 231. 10 Lest I should lead the reader into mistake, I remind him, that Vi- tringa wrote earlier than bp. Newton, and therefore had not hioi in view, but other commentators of similar sentiments. 11 The first seal, according- to bp. Newton, occupies the .sca*fy tarm of about 28 years. 12 See Vitringa, p. 226. CUAP. XXIII. 49 contained under it, fills four entire chaptsrs of the lApoca- lypse : whilst the description of the other seals for th6 m<)st part occupies only two or three verses. The fact is, says Vitringa, and it is the opinion of Daubuz, of the cele- brated Cocceius, and of many others'^, that the seven trum- pets, described in chapters viii, ix, and xi, are by no means to be included under the seventh seal, but constitute a new series of distinct visions. Independently of these objec- tions, Vitringa has decisively proved, that the advocates of the hypothesis under consideration have in applying the emblems of the prophet to particular events, been singu- larly unsuccessful. Thus for instance, when it is said in the delineation of the second seal, that there xvent out ano- ther horse that xuas red: and poxver was given to him that sat thereon^ to take peace from the earthy and that they should kill one another : and there xuas given unto him a great sword: these emblems are pronounced to be prophetic of the events which happened in the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, a period which was in fact distinguished by a more than common portion of tranquillity and general pros- perity. But, says Vitringa, if these symbols are to be applied to the wars which the Romans carried on with other nations, ' would not the aspect of that period, when the Roman empire was on all sides harrassed by the Goths and Scvthians, the Persians and Germans, about the times of Decius and Gallus, and was almost oppressed by these na- tions, be far more suitably expressed by the symbolic figure of a red horse"',, than the happy times of Trajan and Hadrian'' ? ' Improbable as this interpretation is on the 13 See Vitringa, p. 319. 14 VI. 4. That a red horse and a sxvord are the s}mbols of slaug-hter, the commentators unite in obsei-\dng'. 15 P. 233. ' If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during' wliich the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would,' says Mr. Gibbon, ' without hesitation, name that which elapsed from tlie death of Domltian to the accession of Commodus. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power. Vol. II. G 50 CHAP, xxiir. veiyiikce'of it, it may boast the patronage of a crowd of exjioshors, and these too respectable. Does not this serve to shew, what I believe is the fact with respect to the ge- nerality of commentators^ that they are averse to the toil of examining for themselves, and are often ready to adopt the opinions of their predecessors with mibecomiiig ser- vility ? By Vitringa the seven seals are far otherwise explained. The}' are, he says, the seven Greater Events or important changes, which were to befall the church even to the con- summation of all things ; and this explication of them has been embraced and vindicated by a number of very early commentators"^, as well as by many learned men, who, sub- sequent to the sera of the Protestant Reformation, have cultivated the study of the prophetic scriptures. The following account of the seals, which is principally extracted from the invaluable commentary of Vitringa, contains only a statement of their accomplishment ; for to enter into an examination of their respective symbols, woiUd be to depart from the purpose of the present work. The frst seal (orctells the brilliant success and rapid pro- pagation of the Gospel, and its long exemption from any extensive persecution. Commencing from the publication of the prophecy, it reaches from the reign of Nerva to that' of Decius, a period of 150 years. The second denotes the under the guidance of ^nrtue and wisdom. The armies were i-estrained by the firm but gentle hand of four successive emperors, wliose charac- ter and authority commanded involiuitary respect. The forms of the civil administration were carefully presei-ved by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, who delighted in the image of liberty, and were pleased with considering themselves as the accountable ministers of the laws.' Decl. and Fall of the Rom. Em];, vol. I. 8vo. 1792, p. 126. 16 Among others, it was adopted by the abbot Joachim in tlie 12th cen- tury, by Pierre d' Olive i:i the 13th, and by Ubertiims de Casalls in the 14th. These apocahptical writers Viu-inga entitles wWe^W/f/ er />//,• and certainly, little as their names are now known, each of them chd, in bis own time, excite in the world a degree of attention, which it is the for- tune of few theologians of the present age to obtain. See Vitringa, p. oO, 239 ; and Mosheim's account of tJie 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. CHAP. XXIII. 51 efforts which the Pagans afterwards made to extirpate that faith, and those cruel and wide-extending persecutions, raised against the professors of it, by the orders of Decius and Valerian, of Dioclesian, Galerius, and Maximin. With respect to the third seal, I differ from all former writers ; and it is therefore necessary, that I should give an account of its symbols, as well as of its supposed comple- tion. That it has been generally misunderstood, cannot be denied, for, in their explication of it, the best commentators differ extremely. Mede and Goodwin, Grotius and Ham- mond, Lightfoot, Waple, and Fleming, Vitringa, Benge- lius, and the anonymous French author of the Nexv System of the Apocalypse^ Lowman, Johnston, and Daubuz, all differ materially from each other, in their interpretations of the third seal ; and of these comnuntators, the twelve first are at variance with each other with respect to the time. By every person, then, who acknowleges the authority of the Apocalypse, it cannot but be thought a point of some consequence, to ascertain the signification of a prophecy, the import and application of which have hitherto been a subject of such general dispute. It is thus expressed : And -when he had opened the third seal^ I heard the third beast say^ Come and see. And I beheld^ and lo a black horse : and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say^ A measure of wheat for a penny ^ and three measures of barley for a penny ; and see thou hurt not the oil and the xvine^''. Since the end of the second seal or period, and the be- ginning of the fourth, are fixed by Vitringa'*, those, who 17 VI. 5, 6. In V. 5, it ought to have been rendered, I heard the third living creature say ; and in v. 6, / heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures. It is thvis in the versions of Waltefield and Doddridge. 18 Vitringa regards the third seal as a prediction of the numerons theo- logical contests, which occunx-d in the period referred to ; of the conse- quent scarcity of spiritual food, that is to say, of true doctrines ; and of the care, which the governors of the church took accurately to weigh in the theological balance the different opinions whicli were advanced, and to prescribe a correct staiidai-d of faith. 52 CHAP. XXIII. adopt this opinion respecting the seals in general, of course know the period of the third seal, previously to their exami- nation into the import of its particular symbols. The third seal then reaches from about the year 324, when Constan- tine obtained the sole possession of the Roman empire, and the rehgion of Jesus ceased to be attacked by pagan persecutors, to about the year 629, when the power of the Saracens arose, and they first waged war against Chris- tianity and the emperor of the East. In order, therefore, to ascertain the completion of the third seal, or the im- portant events predicted to happen in the intervening pe- riod, it is necessary to state the established signification of the principal symbols ; and to enquire, by a minute reference to historj^, whether that statement aptly corresponds to the general character and the leading events of the period, of which the prophet is supposed to have given a concise de- scription. * The horse^ says Dr. Lancaster in his S^aiibolical Dic- tionary, ' is the symbol of war and conquest;' and ' black^ he observes, ' signifies afflictions, disasters, and anguish'^' The period, of which the prophet speaks, must then have been remarkable for the greatness of the conquests made in it; and it must have been more than usually calamitous. But there is another prophetic emblem, which will more specifically ascertain the character of the period. A ' balance^ joined with symbols, denoting the sale of corn and fruits by weight,' is, observes Dr. Lancaster, ' the symbol of scarci- ty : bread by rveight being a curse in Lev. xxvi. 26, and in Ezek. iv. 16, where it is said, Iivili break the staff of bread in 'Jerusalem^ and theij shall eat bread by -weighty and rvith Qore, and they shall drink water by measure^ and astonish- ment. Which curse is expressed by famine in the same prophet, ch. v. 1 6, and ch. xiv. 1 5^°.' * Grotius and others 19 • In all languages black signifies any thing that is sad, dismal, cruel, and unfortunate.' Daubuz in loc. 20 ' Very many agree in this,' says Vitringa, ' that tliis seal is emble- matic of famine and a scarcity of provisions.' That the third seal is pro- CHAP. XXIII. S3 have,' says bp. Newton, observed on this seal, ' that a chcenix of corn, the measure here mentioned was a man's daily- allowance, as a penny" was his daily wages ; so that if his daily labor could earn no more than his daily bread, without other provisions for himself or his family, corn must needs bear a very high price".' To the same pur- pose speaks Mr. Lowman in his paraphrase. ' In the times of this prophecy, the price of a measure of wheat shall be a penny, and three measures of barley shall cost the same price ; the whole wages of a man's labor for a day, shall only purchase so much corn, as is an usual daily allowance ; phetic of a great scarcity of provisions is observed, among otlier commen- tators, by Goodwin, Lightfoot and Daubuz. 21 That is, a Roman Denarixis. ^ 22 Notw^ithstandlng this observation of the prelate, he seenft unac- countably to regard the tliird seal as predictive of a period rather of plenty than of want ; and declares, that it refers to the two and forty years, which elapsed from the accession of Septimus Severus to the death of Alexander Severus. Tlie propliecy has, also, in the opinion of bp. Newton, a par- ticular reference to the conduct of those two emperors, as well as to the state of the Roman empire at that time. AVhat that conduct, and that state of things, was, the History of the Decline and Fall of the Romian Empire will inform us. Whenever Septimus Severus ' deviated from the strict line of equity, it was generally in favor of tlie poor and oppressed. — The calm of peace and prosperity was once more experienced in tlie pro- vinces ; and many cities, restored by tlic munificence of Severus, assumed the title of his colonies, and attested by public monuments their gratitude and felicity. — And he boasted witli a just pride, tliat, having received the empire oppressed with foreign and domestic wars, he left it established in profound, universal, and honorable peace.' Of this prince it is related, though the account cannot but be regarded as exaggerated, that ' he left in the public granaries a provision of corn for seven years, at the rate of 75,000 inodii, or about 2500 quarters a day.' In the reign of Alexander Severus, the provinces • flourished In peace and prosperity, under tlie administration of magistrates, wlio were convinced by experience, that to deserve the love of the subjects, was their best and only method of obtaining the favor of their sovereign. Wliile some gentle restraints were imposed on the innocent luxury of the Roman people, the price of provisions, and the interest of money, were reduced by the paternal care of Alexander.' Vol. I. p. 197, 198, 246. Whether the events of this pe- riod do, or do not correspond, to the emblems of the third seal, cannot, I think, be a question of very difficidt decision. 54. CHAP. XXIIl. SO that all he can get must be laid out on the very neces- saries of life, without any provision of other conveniences for himself or family, and a scarcity of oil and wine^^ will make exactness in their measures very necessary also.' Both the period of the third seal being ascertained, and the import of the prophetic symbols discovered, it will not, I apprehend, be veiy difRcult to point to those great events, which constitute its accomplishment. It announces, that the Roman empire, which is the theatre of the events fore- told in the seven seals, shall, during the predicted period, of about 300 years, be the scene of mighty conquests ; it declares, that the political horizon shall be clouded by calamitv, and that the inhabitants of the Roman empire shall be especially afflicted by an unaccustomed scarcity of provisions : and it refers to that mighty revolution pro- duced by the successive inundations and numerous victo- ries of the Goths, the Vandals, and the Huns, and the other 23 Vv'ine, oil, and corn, together make, says D.mbuz (in Inc.), 'the whole product of the fruits of the earth necessaiy for huraan life.' Tliat oil should be ranked as one of tlie necessaries of life, and classed among those things, the want of which would be most severely felt, may perhaps be a ground of wonder to the mere English reader. But such was the fact. Accordingly we find, that in ditferent writers united mention is often made of wine, oil and earn. Thus in his account of a scarcity of provi- sions Julius Capitolinus (In Antonin. Pio, c. 8) has this expression, lini, old, et tritici pcnuria ,- and the following are the words of Mr. Gibbon (vol. VIII. p. 151), when speaking of the Lombards, ' the business of agriculture, in tlie cidtivation of corn, vines, and ohves, was exercised with degenerate skill and industiy.' * When t'ae luxurious citizens of Antioch complained of the high price of poultry and fish, Julian,' as the English histoiiun relates (vol. IV. p. 14"), ' ]5ublicly declared, that a fru- gal city ouglit to be satisfied with a regular supply of wine, oil, and bread,-' and Mr. Gibbon elsewhere says (vol. V. p. 281), 'in the manners of antiquity the use of oil was indispensable for tlie lamp, as well as for the bath ; and tlie annual tax, which was imposed on Africa for the bene- fit of Rome, amounted to the weight of three millions of pounds, to the measure, perhaps, of threa hundred thousand gallons.' ' Oil,' sa}s the president Goguet (Origin of Arts and Sciences, vol. I. p. 112), * is at least as neccssarv to man as wine, and other liquors of that kind. — There are few arts which do not require the use of oil.' The ancients 'consumed vast quantities of it, and put it to many more uses than we do at present.* CHAP. XXIII. 55 Barbarians of the North and the East; Avho dismembered the Roman empire, who served as a scourge in the hands of God to chastise the vices and superstitions of the Chris- tian world, and who, by destroying a very large. part of the inhabitants of civilised Europe by means of famine and the sword, and by embracing a religion of mildness and mercy, which they little understood, and were little dis- posed to practise, prepared the way for a more complete corruption of the religion of Jesus, for the conquests of the Saracens and the Turks, and for the consequent ex- tinction of the Christian faith in Mahometan countries. Having advanced an interpretation of the third seal alto- gether different from any before alleged, it is incumbent on me to bring forward historic attestations in support of it. Thev are taken from the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire^ a work of incredible diligence, and dis- playing uncommon vigour of mind, but no part of -which, v/e are certain, was intended by its unbelieving author to attest the truth, or to illustrate the meaning of prophecy. As the period, characterised by the emblems of the third seal, extends over three centuries, I cannot do justice to my subject, without transcribing a long chain of testimo- nies relating to the different parts of that period. But I certainly should not have ventured to have transcribed them, were not the subversion and dismemberment of the Roman empire, the consequent diminution of mankind, and the memorable relapse of the civilised world into ignorance and barbarism, events, in themselves, of the first magnitude and importance. I should, however, have been content to have referred the reader to Mr. Gibbon's History, were not the facts, illustrative of the third seal, scattered over many hundred pages of that work. It is proper to premise, that the evils resulting from the devastation of armies, and the dearth of provisions, cannot all at once ascend to any very considerable height, but must be gradual in their progress ; and it may be remarked, that, as the ravages of famine often spread in secrecy and silence, as the complaints of the poor are frequently stifled by the 56 CHAP. XXIII, arts ot policy and the arm of power, and as occurrences of this kind are totally destitute of that variety and splendor, which characterise the operations of war and the revolutions of government, they are commonly passed over by the his- torian unexplained and unrecorded. As early as the year 331, and when Constantine filled the throne of the Roman world, the Goths ' passed the Da- nube, and spread terror and devastation through the pro- vince of Meesia. To oppose the inroad of this destroying host, the aged emperor took the field in person ; but on this occasion either his conduct or his fortune betrayed the glory which he had acquired in so many foreign and domestic wars.' About the middle of the fourth century, ' the Bar- barians of the land and sea, the Scots, the' Picts, and the Saxons, spread themselves, with rapid and irresistible fury, from the wall of Antonius to the shores of Kent.' And the Illyrian provinces, in the year 357^ and in the reign of Constantius, the son of Constantine, were exposed, al- most without defence, to the light cavalry of the Barbari- ans ; and particularly to the inroads of the Quadi, a fierce and powerful nation.' But there were other provinces, in the reign of the son of Constantine^ still more oppressed by the depredations of the Barbarians. ' In the blind fury of civil discord, Constantius had abandoned to the Barba- rians of Germany the countries of Gaul, v>fhich still ac- knowleged the authority of his rival. A numerous swari)i of Franks and Alemanni were invited to cross the Rhine by presents and promises, by the hopes of spoil, and by a per- petual grant of all the territories which they should be able to subdue. But the emperor, v.ho for a temporary ser- vice had thus imprudently provoked the rapacious spirit of the Barbarians, soon discovered and kmiented the difficulty of dismissing these formidable allies, after they had tasted the richness "of the Roman soil. Regardless of the nice distinction of lovalty and rebellion, these undisciplined rob- bers treated as their natural enemies all the subjects of the empire, who possessed any property which they were de- sirous of acquiring. Forty-five flourishing cities, Tongres^ CHAP, xxiir. 5JF Cologne, Treves, Worms, Spires, Strasburgh, &c. besides a far greater number of towns and villages, were pillaged, and for the most part reduced to ashes.— Fixing dieir in- dependent habitations on the banks of rivers, the Rhine, the Moselle, and the Meuse, they secured themselves against the danger of a surprise, by a rude and hasty for- tification of large trees. — The Alemanni were established in the modern countries of Alsace and Lorraine ; the Franks occupied the island of the Batavians, together with an ex- tensive district of Brabant. — From the sources, to the mouth, of the Rhine, the conquests of the Germans ex- tended above forty miles to the West of that river; — and the scene of their devastations was three times more ex- tensive than that of their conquests. At a still greater dis- tance the open towns of Gaul were deserted, and the inha- bitants of the fortified cities, who trusted to their strength and vigilance, were obliged to content themselves with such supplies of corn, as they could raise on the vacant land within the inclosure of their walls. The diminished legi- ons, destitute of pay and provisions, of arms and discipline, trembled at the approach, and even at the name, of the Bar- barians.' In the year 362, it may be added, so consider- able a scarcity of corn was felt in Antioch and the cities of Syria, as to generate public discontent. Thirty thousand Visigoths, the subjects of Hermanric, who reigned from the Euxine to the Baltic, and over the greatest part of Germany and Scythia, passed the Danube in the year 366 ; ' and the provinces of Thrace groaned under the weight of the Barbarians.' Whilst the maritime provinces of Gaul and Britain, about the year 371, were harassed by the Saxons : the Quadi, and a body of Sar- matian cavalry, invaded Pannonia, in the year 374, and in the season of harvest ; and unmercifully destroyed every object of plunder which they could not easily transport^*.' 24 Decl. and Fall of the Rom, Emp. vol. III. p. 123, 195, 213 ; vol. IV, p. 147, 286—329. Vol. II. H 58 CHAP. XXIII. But every part of the reign of Constantine and his im- mediate successors may possibly be regarded by some per- sons, as too early for the commencement of the third seal ; and indeed I know not, that there is any necessity for con- cluding, that the events foretold in the second seal should be immediately followed by those prefigured in the third. Prophecies, so concisely expressed as the seals are, cannot possibly describe all the considerable events of a long pe- riod, but only the pi-incipal characteristic events. Perhaps, then, the reign of Valens, and the year 376, may form the true epoch, when the events of the third seal began to be accomplished. In this memorable year the Gothic nation, constituting nearly a million of persons, being driven from their ancient seats by an irresistible torrent of other Bar- barians, the Huns and the Alani, were permitted by the emperor Valens to cross the Danube : but fatal were the consequences which attended that permission, for this im- mense body of Goths, exasperated by the ill treatment of the Roman officers, did, in this very year, rear the stand- ard of a revolt in the provinces of the empire, and defeat an army of Romans. But on this important sera I shall quote the ivords of Mr. Gibbon. ' In the disastrous period of the fall of the Roman empire, which may justly be dated froin the reign of Valens^ the happiness and security of each individual were personally attacked ; and the arts and labor of ages were rudely defaced by the Barbarians of Scythia and Ger- many. The invasion of the Huns precipitated on the pro- vinces of the West the Gothic nation, which advanced, in less than forty years, from the Danube to the Atlantic^ and opened a way, by the success of their arms, to the inroads of so many hostile tribes, more savage than themselves.' It was in the year 376, that the Roman legions, under the command of Lupicinus, one of the governors of Thrace, were completely defeated by the Goths. '■ As they had been deprived, by the ministers of the emperor, of the common benefits of nature, and the fair intercourse of so- cial life, they retaliated the injustice on the subjects of the CHAP. XXIII. * %9 empire ; and the crimes of Lupicinus were expiated by the ruin of the peaceful husbandmen of Thrace, the conflagra- tion of their villages, and the massacre, or captivity, of their innocent families.' The ' hardy workmen, who la- bored in the gold mines of Thrace, for the emolument, and under the lash, of an unfeeling master,' having joined the Goths, conducted them, ' through the secret paths, to the most sequestered places, which had been chosen to secure the inhabitants, the cattle, and the magazines of com. — The imprudence of Valens and his ministers had introduced into the heart of the empire a nation of ene- mies ; but the Visigoths might even yet have been recon- ciled, by the manly confession of past errors, and the sin- cere performance of former engagements. These healing and temperate measures seemed to concur with the timor- ous disposition of the sovereign of the East : but, on this occasion alone, Valens was brave ; and his unseasonable bravery was fatal to himself and to his subjects.' Only two years after the admission of the Goths into the Roman empire happened ' the battle of Hadrianople, which equalled, in the actual loss, and far surpassed, in the fatal consequences, the misfortune which Rome had formerly sustained in the fields of Cannse. — ^. bove two-thirds of the Roman army^' were destroyed ;' and the emperor Valens, who commanded it in person, himself perished near the field of battle. ' The tide of the Gothic inundation rolled from the Walls of Hadrianople to the subut-bs of Constan- tinople ; — and the Barbarians, who had no longer any re- sistance to apprehend from the scattered and vanquish- ed troops of the East, spread themselves over the face of a fertile and cultivated country, as far as the con- fines of Italy, and the Hadriatic sea. Their mischievous disposition was shewn in the destruction of everj object, which they wanted strength to remove, or wste to enjoy ; and they often consumed, with improvid^'^t rage, the har- vests, or the granaries, which soon akerwards became ne- 25 About 40,000 Romans fell. 60 CHAP, xxiii. cessary for their own subsistence.' It may be added, ' that the Goths, after the defeat of Valens, never abandoned the Roman territory.' Their devastations had a double operation. The con- sumption of harvests, the conflagration of farms, and the massacre of husbandmen, constituted only part of the evil. ' The uncertain condition of their property discouraged the subjects of Theodosius,' the successor of Valens, ' from engaging in those useful and laborious undertakings, which require an immediate expence, and promise a slow and dis^ tant advantage. The frequent examples of ruin and deso- lation tempted them not to spare the remains of a patri- mony, which might, every hour, become the prey of the rapacious Goth. And the mad prodigality, which prevails in the confusion of a shipwreck or a siege, may serve to explain the progress of luxury amidst the misfortunes and terrors of a sinking nation^**.' What mighty calamities were inflicted on the Roman em- pire, during the joint reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, the sons and successors of Theodosius, every man is ap- prised, who is acquainted with the history of its decline and subversion. On this point there can be no dispute. To the great events, which happened during their adminis- tration, it will, therefore, be sufiicient very concisely to re- fer. During the reigns of the feeble sons of Theodosius, Greece was ravaged and over-run by the Goths ; Spain and Gaul were invaded aitd occupied by various tribes of fierce Barbarians ; and Italy and Rome were plundered bv Ala- ric, the commander of the Gothic armies. From the long account^'' of these varied devastations, I shall cite only two short extracts. ' The banks of the Rhine were crowned, Uke those of the Tyber, with elegant houses and well cul- tivated fatms. — This scene of peace and plenty was sud- denly changed, into a desert ; and the prospect of the smoak- ing ruins could alone distinguish the solitude of nature 26 Vol, IV. p. 340—443 ; vol. V. p. 88. 27 It extends in vol V. from p. 176 to p. 362. CHAP. XXIII. 61 from the desolation of man^^.' The following account of the misfortunes of Spain is in the language of its most elo- quent historian, Mariana. " The irruption of these nations was followed by the most dreadful calamities : as the Bar- barians exeixised their indiscriminate cruelty on the for- tunes of the Romans and the Spaniards j and ravaged with equal fury the cities and the open country. The progress of famine reduced the miserable inhabitants to feed on the flesh of their fellow-creatures. — Pestilence soon appeared, the inseparable companion of famine ;" and " a large pro- portion of the people was swept away*'." Seven years after the death of Honoi-ius, Africa became the theatre of the most terrible devastations. ' The long and narrow tract of the African coast was filled with fre- quent monuments of Roman art and magnificence. — A simple reflection will impress every thinking mind with the clearest idea of fertility and cultivation : the country was extremely populous ; the inhabitants reserved a liberal sub- sistence for their own use ; and the annual exportation, par- ticularly of wheat, was so regular and plentiful, that Africa deserved the name of the common granary of Rome and of mankind. On a sudden, the seven fruitful provinces, from Tangier to Tripoli, were overwhelmed by the invasion of the Vandals. — The Vandals, where they found resistance, seldom gave quarter ; and the deaths of their valiant coun- trymen were expiated by the ruin of the cities under whose walls they had fallen.' About the year 442, ' the whole breadth of Europe, as it extends above 500 miles from the Euxine to the Hadriatic, was at once invaded, and occupied, and desolated, by the myriads of Barbarians whom Attila led into the field. — The words, the most expressive of total extirpation and erasure, are applied to the calainities which they inflicted on seventy cities of the Eastern empire.' And, in a short time, the situation of Italy itself became equally deplorable Vv'ith that of t'ne provinces. ' Since the nge of Tiberius, the decay of agriculture had been felt in ?8 Vol. V. p. S^.T ^9 Gibbon, vol. V. p. 352. 62 ' . CHAP. XXIII, Italy ; and it was a just subject of complaint, that the life of the Roman people depended on the accidents of the winds and waves. In the division and the decline of the empire, the tributary provinces of Egypt and Africa were withdrawn ; the numbers of the inhabitants continually diminished with the means of subsistence ; and the country was exhausted by the irretrievable losses of war, famine, and pestilence. St. Ambrose has deplored the ruin of a populous district, which had been once adorned with the flourishing cities of Bologna, Modena, Regium, and Pla- centia. Pope Gelasius was a subject of Odoacer ; and he affirms, with strong exaggeration, that in iEmilia, Tuscany, and the adjacent provinces, the human species was almost extirpated^".' ' While the kingdoms of the Franks and Visigoths were established in Gaul and Spain, the Saxons atchieved the .conquest of Britain.' But it maintained, alone and unaided, ' a long, a vigorous, though an unsuccessful struggle, against the formidable pirates, who, almost at the same instant, assaulted the Northern, the Eastern, and the Southern coasts.' And ' after a war of an hundred years, the inde- pendant Britons still occupied the whole extent of the Western coast, from the wall of Antoninus to the extreme promontary of Cornwall. — Resistance, if it cannot avert, must increase, the miseries of conquest ; and conquest has never appeared more dreadful and destructive than in the hands of the Saxons.' Such, indeed, was the destruction of the natives, that ' the Saxon kingdoms displayed the face of recent discovery and cultivation : the towns were small, the villages were distant; the husbandry was languid and unskilful ; four sheep were equivalent to an acre of the best land ;' and ' an ample space of wood and morass was resigned to the vjigue dominion of nature^'.' In another part of the globe the Bulgarians displayed an 30 Vol. VI. p. 20, 52, 53, 234. 31 VoL VI. p. 3r9, 386, 388, 392, 395. CHAP. XXIII. 63 equal degi-ee of ferocity. * The hopes or fears of the Bar- barians ; their intestine union or discord ; the accident of a frozen or shallow stream ; the prospect of harvest or vin- tage ; the prosperity or distress of the Romans, were the causes which produced the uniform repetition of annual visits, tedious in the narrative and destructive in the event.' The year 539 * was marked by an invasion of the Huns or Bulgarians, so dreadful, that it almost effaced the memory of their past inroads. They spread from the suburbs of Constantinople to the Ionian gulph, destroyed 32 cities or castles, — and repassed the Danube, dragging at their horses heels 120,000 of the subjects of Justinian. In a subsequent inroad they pierced the wall of the Thracian Chersonesus, extirpated the habitations and the inhabitants, — and returned to their companions, laden with the spoils of Asia.' And Procopius has confidently affirmed, that, in a reign of 32 years, each annual inroad of the Barbarians consumed 200,000 of the inhabitants of the Roman empire. The entire population of Turkish Europe, which nearly corresponds with the provinces of Justinian, would per- haps be incapable of supplying six millions of persons, the result of this incredible estimate^*.' Justinian recovered Italy from the Goths, and Africa from the Vandals ; but the recovery of lost provinces was some- times as destructive to agriculture and to mankind, as the original irruptions of the Barbarians. ' From his new ac- quisitions, Justinian expected that his avarice, as well as pride, should be richly gratified.' In consequence the most dreadful rebellions agitated Africa. For the troubles of Africa, I neither have nor desire another guide than Procopius, whose eye contemplated the image, and whose ear collected the reports, of the memorable events of his own times.' He ' has confidently affirmed, that five mil- lions of Africans were coiisumed by the wars and govern- ment of the emperor Justinian. The series of the African 32 Vol. VII. p. 282, 284. 64 CHAP. XXIII. history attests this melancholy tfuth-'^.' After the recovery of Italy, Justinian might dictate benevolent edicts, and Narses might second his wishes by the restoration of cities. — ^But the power of kings is most effectual to destroy : and the twenty years of the Gothic war had consummated the distress and depopulation of Italy. As early as the fourth campaign, under the discipline of Belisarius himself, 50,000 laborers died of hunger in the iiarroro region of Misenum. A still greater number was consumed by famine in the southern provinces, without the Ionian gulph. Acorns were used in the place of bread. Procopius had seen a de- serted orphan suckled by a she-goat. Seventeen passengers were lodged, murdered, and eaten, by two women, who were detected and slain by the eighteenth. — A strict exami- nation of the evidence of Procopius would swell the loss of Italy above the total sum of her present inhabitants^"*.' In the year 542 a terrible plague arose, which raged with such fury, ' that many cities of the East were left vacant, and in several districts of Italy the harvest and the vintage withered on the ground. The triple scourge of war, pes- tilence, and famine, afflicted the subjects of Justinian, and his reign is disgraced by a visible decrease of the human species, which has never been repaired in some of the fair- est countries of the globe^'.' Such was the reign of Justinian. Whether husbandry was likely to revive, and plenty to return, during the ad- ministration of his feebler successor, the following passage respecting that prince will ascertain. ' The annals of the second Justin are marked with disgrace abroad and misery at home. In the West, the Roman empire was afflicted by the loss of Italy, the desolation of Africa, and the conquests of the Persians. Injustice prevailed both in the capital and the provinces ; the rich trembled for their property, the poor for their safety.' Italy, however, omitted not to ap- 33 Vol. VII. p. 346, 347, 353. Africa was invaded by the army of Jus- tinian in the year 533. 34 Vol VII. p. 400. 35 Vol. VII. p. 423. CHAP* XXIIIi ^5 ply to the emperors for relief. From this country, indeed, they were incessantly tormented by tales of misery and de- mands of succor;' and the language of Rome was, " If you are incapable of delivering us from the sword of the Lombards, save us at least from the calamity* of famine." Though the depopulation of the capital of Italy was con- stant and visible, 'yet the nmnber of citizens still exceeded the measure of subsistence ; their precarious food was sup- plied from the harvests of Sicily or Egypt ; arid the frequent repetition of famine betrays the inattention of the emperor to a distant province^^' The new circumstances of degradation and depression, into which a considerable part of mankind were thrown^ gave a severe check to the ardor of industry. Hence the operations of agriculture became more languid ; its produce more scanty and uncertain. ' According to the maxims of ancient war, the conqueror became the lawful master of the enemy whom he had subdued and spared : and the fruitful cause of personal slavery, which had been almost suppressed by the peaceful sovereignty of Rome, was again revived and multiplied by the perpetual hostilities of the indepen- dent Barbarians. The Goth, the Burgundian, or the Frank, who returned from a successful expedition, dragged after him a long train of sheep, of oxen, and of human captives, whom he treated with the same brutal contempt".' Whether the expeditions of the Barbarians succeeded or miscarried, they were almost equally ruinous to the peace- ful labors of the husbandman. To illustrate their nature and effects, a short account shall be given of the invasion of Languedoc in the year 586 by the army of the king of Bur- gundy. '• The troops of Burgundy, Berrj •, Auvergne, and the adjacent territories, were excited hy the hopes of spoil. They marched, without discipline, under the banners of German, or Gallic, counts ; their attack was feeble and un- successful ; but the friendly and hostile provinces were deso- lated with indiscriminate rage. The corn-fields, the villages, t 36 Vol. VIII. p. 133, 142, 159. 37 Vol. VI p, 359. Vol. II I 6^ CHAP. XXII r. the churches themselves, were consumed by fire ; the inha- bitants were massacred Or dragged into captivity ; and, in the disorderly retreat, 5000 of these inhuman savages were destroyed by hunger or intestine discord^^.' Often exposed to a siege or to a blockade, cities frequent- ly became the theatres of the most dreadful famines. Some facts attendant on some of the sieges of Rome will illustrate the assertion. When environed by the army of Alaric, it experienced ' the horrid calamities of famine,' at a time when it may fairly be supposed to have contained twelve hundred thousand inhabitants. The daily allowance of three pounds of bread was reduced to one-half, to one-third, to nothing ; and the price of corn still continued to rise in a rapid and extravagant proportion, — The food the most repugnant to sense and imagination, the aliments the most unwholesome and pernicious to the constitution, Avere ea- gerly devoured, and fiercely disputed, by the rage of hunger. Even mothers are said to have tasted the flesh of their slaughtered infants. Many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their houses, or in the streets, for want of sustenance. — And the miseries of famine were succeeded and aggravated by a pestilential disease.' This was in the year 408. In the year 472, the principal part of Rome,, which lay on the Tuscan side of the Tyber, was besieged by Ricimer ; and the public distress was prolonged ' by a resistance of three months, which produced the concomitant evils of famine and pestilence.' In the year 537, the me- tropolis of the Western empire was besieged by 150 000 Goths ; a'nd, as the sitge continued more than a year, the people, notwithstanding the harvests of Campania and Tus- cany had been ' forcibly swept for the use of the city, was exposed to the miseries of scarcity, unwholesome food and contagious disorders.' But ' if any credit be due to an intelligent spectator, one third at least of the Gothic * host was destroyed, in frequent and bloody combats under the walls of the city. The bad hmc and pernicious quali- 38 Vol. VI. p. 374. CHAP. XXIII, 67 ties of the summer air might ah-eady be imputed to the decay of agriculture and population ; and the evils of fa- mine and pestilence were aggravated by their own licentious- ness, and the unfriendly disposition of the country.' Only nine years after this, Rome was again besieged by the Goths, under the command of Totila, and was destined to sustain still severer sufferings. ' The medimnus, or fifth part of the quarter of wheat, was exchanged for 7 pieges of gold ; 50 pieces were given for an ox, a rare and acci- dental prize ;' and ' the progress of famine enhanced this exorbitant value. — A tasteless and unwholesome mixture, in which the bran thrice exceeded the quantity of flour, ap- peased the hunger of the poor: they were gradually reduced to feed on dead horses, dogs, cats, and mice, and eagerly to snatch the grass, and even the nettles, which grew among the ruins of the city''.' That the scarcity of corn, wine, and oil, as well as of other provisions, must have been great, must have been general, must have been permanent in the Roman empire, at a period when the devastations of the Northern nations were thus violent, thus extensive, and thus frequently re- peated, can be doubted by no man, who is acquainted with the nature and operations of agriculture, or with the cir- cumstances that encourage a freedom of commercial inter- course, or who is accustomed to trace the connexion between cause and effect. After having so long detained the reader in the contem- plation of history, I shall dismiss the observations on the third seal by noticing an objection, which may not improba- bly be urged against the alleged interpretation of it. Though probably it will be readily admitted, that the countries con- stituting the Roman empire were, between the reign of Constantine and the commencement of the seventh century, in a peculiar degree the theatres of conquests and devasta- tions, and that no other period of history, of the same length, can by any means be found, in which this was 39 Vol V. p. 291 ; vol. VI. p. 217; vol. VII. p. 235, 237, 243, 263. 68 CHAP. XXIII- equally the case ; yet it may be objected, that a scarcity of provisions is a circumstance of too general a nature, to be regarded as characteristic of any particular period. In reply to this, I observe, that though there have undoubtedly been other seras, when an alarming deficiency of the neces- saries of life has been experienced, and that through a great extent of country ; yet there are solid grounds for conclud- ing, that, from the earliest annals of history to the present time, there never was any period^ in which the inhabitants of the countries, comprehended under the Roman empire, sustained so frequent or so general a want of provisions, as in that time, which is supposed to be referred to by the symbols of the third seal. The numerous extracts, which I have been tempted to introduce from Mr. Gibbon, will go far to prove this assertion ; but, in order to furnish more complete ^ vidence of it, it will be necessary briefly to allege some facts and reasons, relative both to the centuries which preceded^ and those which followed^ the period which the prophet is thought to describct Whilst the Roman empire remained entire ; whilst its frontiers were guarded by the strength of its fortifications and the valor of its legionaries j the labors of agriculture pursued their tranquil and accustomed course ; the rivers, the seas, and the excellent roads that ran through the pro- vinces of the empire, united to secure a constant, and gene- rally a sufficient, supply of provisions for all its various inhabitants ; the rich harvests of Egypt and Africa yielded an abundance, greatly superior to their domestic wants j and, to use the words of Mr. Cibbon'*°, ' the accidental scarcity, in any single province, was immediately relieved by the plenty of its more fortunate neighbors*'.' It may be 40 Vol. I. p. 86. During- the reign of Gallienus, it is true, an extreme scarcity of provisions was felt throug-hout the Roman empire. But it was comparitively of short continuance; and the indolent Gallienus was suc- ceeded by a series of great princes, under whom order prevailed, and agiicidtiu'c flourished. 41 ' In an extensive corn-country, between all the different pai'ts of which there is a free commerce and commimic alien, the scarcity occa- CHAP. XXIII. , 69 added, that, antecedently to the accession of Constantine, the dominions of Rome had not been regularly divided into the empires of the East and the West. Consequently the husbandman and the farmer \\ ere not weighed down by so intolerable a pressure of taxes : and, as but one court exist' ed^ that host of idlers and prodigals, who constitute or sur- round a court, were far less numerous ; and those who were drawn aside from the plough, the forge and the loom, to supply the luxuries, and to minister to the amusements, of the prince and his dependents, occupied a narrower space in the ranks of society. To evince that those who inhabited the countries of the Roman empire were not afflicted by so severe a scarcity of corn and food, subsequent to the sera of the third seal, one decisive fact may be alleged. In the 8th, the 9th, and the 10th centuries, they certainly amounted not to one half, and probably not to one third, of the number of those, who lived when the mighty fabric of Roman greatness was un- shaken, and consequently a much smaller quantity of pro- visions was sufficient for their subsistence. And there are obvious reasons, why, for a number of past centuries, no general and permanent scarcity of provisions has been felt. The establishment of laws, and the stability of govern- ments, have given protection to property, and confidence to industr)% Nations have been far less exposed to the rava- ges of foreign conquest ; and, during the prosecution of war, its horrors have been alleviated by the superior mild- ness of modern times. Vast woods have been felled, and immense tracks of waste land cultivated. Agriculture has received a long succession of improvements ; and commerce has opened a way for the interchange of its produce be- tween the most distant countries of the globe. The account of thetwo next seals, as well as that of the two first, is taken from Vitringa. The fourth seal predicts the conquests and devastations of the Saracens and the sioned by the most unfavorable seasons can never be so gi-eat as to produce a famine.' Smith's Weahh of Nations, 7th ed. vol. II. p. 2^5. 70 CHAP. XXIII. Turks**, by whose instrumentality Divine Providence se- verely punished the corrupt morals and abject superstitions of the degenerate Christians of that time, and particularly those of the East*^^ ; and by whose progress the Deity per- mitted, not onl)^ that a large portion of the globe should be involved in wretchedness, and be in a great degree depopu- lated ; but that it should also cease to profess the belief, and to enjoy the benefits, of Christianity**, though it had been long planted there and firmly established. Those bar- barous persecutions, which have been kindled by the anti- christian church, the fifth seal represents : it plainly announ- ces that those who should stand forward in defence of Evan- gelic truth should be exposed to them for a very long dura- tion of time ; and, including the Albigenses and Wal- denses, the Bohemian Brethren and French Protestants, as well as a crowd of contemporary sufferers that might be enumerated, it comprehends the far greater number of those who have ever perished in the cause of religion. It embraces the period which runs from the 13th centuiy to the fall of the antichristian empire. As this great catas- 42 I know not tliat this opinion has been adopted by a single English commentator. It is, however common on the continent. ♦ Sigillum Quar- tura,' says Wolfius C CurucPhilologicce, in loc), • de Saracenis et Turcis MULT I accipiunt.' 43 Superstitious as was the worsliip which prevailed in the West, that of the Eastern Christians was, says Vitringa, at this time far more cor- rupt. In Apoc. p. 418. 44 Not only was Christianity once established in Macedonia and Greece, in S3'ria, Armenia, and Asia Minor, in Lybia, Egypt and Abyssinia ; but it had at one time made a considerable progress in tlie islands of Socotra and Ceylon, in Iberia and Thrace, in Arabia and Persia, in Tartary, China, and Hindostan. But at present, among the natives of all these coimtries, the knowlege of Christianity is either completely obliterated, or it is ob- scurely professed by a scanty portion of illiterate believers. The religion of Mahomet, on the contrary, in almost evei'y one of these countries, either bears an undisputed sway, or has acquired very numerous proselytes. See Mosheim' Ecd. Hist. (vol. I. p. 199, 274, 275: vol. II. p. 2, 43, 179), and the Decl. and Fall of the Rovi- Emp. (vol. VIII. p. 339—347). Early in the 5th century, there were, says Sir I. Newton, in Africa alone about 700 bishoprics. Ob.i. on Dan. p. 298. CHAP. XXIII. 71 trophe is yet future, we appear to be now living under the fifth seal, though near the close of it, and when the fury of religious zeal has almost spent its force. The next of these prophecies, which is to be a more par- ticular object of enquiry, is thus sublimely expressed : and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal^ and lo^ there luas a great Earthquake ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a Jig-tree casteth her untimelij figs ivhen she is shaken of a mighty xvind. And the heaven departed as a scroxvl ivhen it is rolled together ; and every mowitain and island xuere moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond- man, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens, and i?i the rocks of the mountains ; and said to the mountaijts and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the xvrath of the Lamb: for the great day""^ of his xvrath is C07ne ; and xvho shall be able to stand ^ P The expressions of this seal, says Dr. Wall, * are always the emblems of kings, emperors, governments, falling.' Not only does a part of this striking passage bear, on the very face of it, a strong resemblance to the prediction of Jesus ; but it may be regarded as i-epresenting the very same events in a more expanded form. What is said here, that there xvas a Great Earthquake, signifies, says Vitringa. * that there would be a mighty Revolution, which v/ould happen in some great empire, or rather in the world, or some eminent part of it, which is treated of in this pro- phecy.' Now this part of the world, he observes, is Eu- rope. ' Under the emblem of the heaven being rolled toge- ther is signified a thorough change or abolition of the whole system both political and ecclesiastical. — For in the pro- phetic style, as I just now observed, the whole body of 45 On the expression, the Great Day of God, see tlie observations from Lowtli, Daubuz, and Mede, in p. 261. 16 VI. 12—17. 72 CHAP. XXIII. those who have rule and authority, both civil and ecclesi- astical, are included under the name of heaven.^ And, in another place, Vitringa says, this seal foretells, ' that Great Commotions would suddenly arise, both in the empire of Papal Rome, and in the other kingdoms and republics 'of Europe, God being about to raise up by his providence avengers, who would undertake the cause of the afflicted.' Nothing, says this judicious commentator, can be more evi- dent than this explication of the sixth seal, if we have com- pared it with the seventh vial, which, in almost the same words, foretells the destruction of the antichristian empire. The sixth seal has, however, been applied by bp. New- ton and by various other commentators to the successive defeats of Maxentius and Licinius, to the destruction of the pagan temples, and to the various alterations accom- plished by Constantine*''. But, besides observing, that, ac- cording to the ideas I entertain of the former seals, these events belong to a period far remote from that of the sixth seal, and therefore that this interpretation cannot possibly be the true one ; I appeal to the good sense of the unpre- judiced reader, whether these occurrences, though of ac- knowleged importance, are adequate to the grandeur or to the import of the prophetic images. ' In divine writings/ says Dr. Apthorp, ' this rule is indispensable, that a pro- fusion of the higher figures be not employed on a dispro- portioned subject, or to impress ideas too vast for the event*®.' Besides, is it not said, that the kings of the earth — hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the moun- tdins ; and is it not admitted without dispute, in other places, that the kings of the earth are the modern mo- narchs of the European world ? Whence then is it applied to a period of time, when these kings had no existence ? 47 Should any person, notwithstanding' all the force of the objections against it, apprehend, that the sixth seal has an aspect to these inferior and less important events, yet he will probably acquiesce in an observation of Mr. Waple, that it ' has also a relation to the final judg-ments upon An- tichrist.' 48 Vol. I. p. 86. €HAP. XXIII. rs That the period referred to should not be passed over in silence, Vitringa thinks it reasonable to expect; and he accordingly is of opinion, that ' the times of Constantine are painted in vivid colors through the greatest part of the xiith chapter'*'.' An interpreter of the Apocalypse ' must,' says Daubuz, * enlarge his thoughts, and embrace at once the whole ex- tent and duration of the Christian religion or church.' It IS evident that the whole church is concerned in the events described, ' so that when large and noble events or revolu- tions fit the symbols exacdy, it is unworthy of the Holy Ghost, to think they are applicable' to such as are less considerable and less important^". That the symbols of the sixth seal are of too august a kind to be applied to the occurrences which happened in the time of Constantine, is a circumstance on which Vi- tringa has not omitted to lay proper stress. But this is not all. The civil government was not overturned, ^f is true, says Vitringa, that some emperors we^^ aivested of their power. But ' in tliis there "^* nothing new or singular.' The same rank and the same title, which Constantine had wrested from his rivals, he himself continued to retain. ' The imagery of the sixth seal exhibits to us the change and subversion of the state of some empire, which should be accomplished Avith a sudden shaking and the most vio- lent commotion.' But the alterations introduced by Con- stantine were, says this learned divine, executed in a period of profound peace ; and there was nothing in them that corresponded to the figures of the prophet. In the sub- version of paganism, the Christian emperor did, says Vi- tringa, proceed with moderation and with caution. Many of its temples and its shrines continued untouched ; the art of divination was still publicly practised^'; their estates^ 49 P. 239. 50 Preliminary Discourse, p. 42. 51 • There is a law of Constantine, which shews that himself was not altogether free from pag-an superstition, in which he orders tlie haruspicen to be consulted, if any public edifice was struck with lightning.— We raw^ Vol. II. K 5% CHAP, xxrir, their salaries, their privileges still remained in the hands of the vestals and the priests and the hierophants ; in the greater |cities, and especially at Rome, where an altar stood to the honor of the Goddess Victory, public sacrifices were permitted ; and a large proportion of the Roman senate, many years after the time of Constantine, continued in the belief, and persevered in the patronage, of the heathen superstitions. ' Do these, and other things which I omit, answer to the imagery of the sixth seal ? Whilst men, addicted to the idolatry of paganism, were every where promoted to the highest dignities of the state, at a time when Christian emperors held the reins of go- vernment ; had they any necessity to say to the mountaina and to the rocks^ fall on us^ and hide us from the xvrath of the Lamb P Was paganism subverted with violence and a mighty commotion, when, long after the time of Constan- tine, it subsisted and flourished in the principal cities of the empir<»s4 ? Of a part oi tii^ --vmbols of the sixth seal, and it will only be necessary with resp^^ to a part, I shall give a de- add to this, that a temple of the Goddess Concord, being decayed b\ length of time, was repaired or rebuilt by Constantine, if we may trust to an inscription in Lilius Giraldus.' Jortin on E. H. vol. II. p. 305. 52 P. 235. There is an original epistle renuaning, ' which Constantine addressed to the followers of the ancient religion ; at a time when he n<^ longer disguised his conversion, nor dreaded the rivals of his throne. He invites and exhorts, in the most pressing terms, the subjects of the Ro- man empire to imitate the example of their master ; but he declares, that, those who still refuse to open their eyes to the celestial light may freeU enjoy their temples, and their fancied Gods. A report, that the ceremo- nies of paganism was suppressed, is formally contradicted by the emperor himself, who wisely assigns, as the princij;le of his moderation, the in- vincible force of habit, of prejudice, and of superstition. — The evidence of facts, and the monuments which are still extant of brass and marble, con- tinue to prove tlie public exercise of the pagan worship during the viliole reign of the sons of Constantine. In the East, as well as in the West, in cities as well as in the country, a great number of temples were respected, or at least were spared ; and the devout multitude still erjoyed the luxury of sacrifices, of festivals, and of prosessions. — The title, the ensigns, the p^erogati^ es of Sovereign Pontiff, which had been instituted by Numa. CHAP. XXIII. 75 tailed account. There was a great earthquakcy \. e. a mighty revolution ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of Jiair^ the antichristian monarchies of the European world were completely darkened ; the moon became as blood, the power of those who stood in the next rank to royalty was obliterated ; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth^^, the nobility were brought down to a level with the mass of mankind, and stripped of all their exclusive privileges. The heaven departed as a scroxvl, when it is rolled together, the old governments, -which had been so conspicuous and extensive^*, disappeared ; and every mountain, i. e. govern- ment", and island, i. e. European country, were moved out of their places. They were not merely shaken with the greatness of the changes, but were placed in a situation altogether different from that which they had previously occupied. That ' the prophetic writers called the European countries, to which the Jews traded by sea, by the name of isles and islands of the sea^^,'' Mr. Pyle observes, at the same time remarking, that ' as earthquakes are seen to swallow up whole islatids in the sea, and to overturn moun- and assumed by Augustus, were accepted, without hesitation, by seven Christian emperors. — Gratian was the first who refused the pontifical robe;' and ' the foiu-th dissertation of M. de la Bastie, sour le Souverain Pontlficat des Empereurs Rotnains,'' which * is a very learned and judicious perform- ance, — proves the toleration of pag-anism fj-om Constantine to Gratian.* Decl. and FaU of the R. E. vol. III. p. 405, 408, 409. S^ On tlie word ecirth look back to p. 7C>, vol. I. and p. 37 vol. II. 54 Like the books of the ancients, which, when spread out, were capa- ble of covering a large space. 55 That ' a mountain is the symbol of a kingdo^n,' is the statement of Dr. Lancaster ; that it may signify any species of goverpment, he like- wise observes ; and it is the remark of Vitringa upon tl?is verse, that not oidy the Monarchies, but what are called Republic' and Free States, would, in this general Revolution, undergo the grf^test changes. 56 See the same observation in Sir I. Newton ^'on Dan. p. 277), and in Dr. Lancaster. To account for this use of th^ word islands another rea- son may also be assigned. ' Islands; s>^s Mr. Lowth (on Isa. xi. 11), ' in the prophetic style, seem particulaiiv to denote the Western parts of die world, or the Eiu-opcan n.itlons : the IVest being often called the sea in the scripture language.' rd CHAP. XXIII. ta'ins^ so will the several states and great kingdoms of this Western world be all quite changed in their religion, and the powers of Antichrist be swallowed up".' Agreeably to the practice of the prophets, St. John, in the next verse, represents that literally, which he had be- fore expressed under the cover of symbols. He foretells, that the princes and the great men of the earth, together with all their partisans, will, from the violence of their fears, hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks, i. e. says Mr. Waple, in * the most secret and inaccessible places.* * The rest of the prophecy being to proceed with the like metaphors, of plagues upon the sun, moon, stars, earth, trees^ &c.' the prophet, says Dr. Goodwin, ' here gives one literal explanation of them in this, which is his first mention of such, which one may serve for all ; that so by the analogy of the Holy Ghost's own exposition here, the rest might be interpreted : who makes kings to be as the swi, and nobles as the stars^*.^ With respect to the sixth seal, I shall only add, that the interpretation of it, which Vitringa has so largely defended, and demonstrated as I conceive with great strength of evi- dence, is no novel explication, but on the contrary of the highest antiquity. That it predicted the great events which were to happen at the destruction of Antichrist, was the Opinion of Victorinus, of Andrew, and of Arethas, whose commentaries on the Revelation are still extant. The first of these filled the episcopal see of Pettaw in Austria, and suffered martyrdom under Dioclesian : the second, about the close of the fifth century, was bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia; and the last is supposed to have been bishop of the same s«,e in the succeeding century". The arguments, alleged in the present work to prove that the antichristian monarchies of Europe will be demolished, are deduced from prophecy. Those who are desirous of seeing the powerful argoments that lead to the same con- 57 On Rev. xvl. 20. 58 Inloc. p. 43. 59 On the age and authority of th?se early commentators, see Lardn,er. GHAP. XXIV. rr elusion, which are drawn from a quarter altogether diffe- rent, I mean, from the deductions of reason, from the nature of things, and from the existing state of the Euro- pean world, should peruse the able pamphlet of M. Mallet du Pan, entitled the Dangers which me7iace Europe^, In the apprehension of this celebrated abbe, the overthrow of the despotic monarchies which he so much dreads, would be one of the most fatal of all possible events ; an event, as he affects to believe, subversive of religion, and hap- piness, and social order. But, I am convinced, that far different would be its effects. I am convinced, that it would accelerate the general practice, as well as the uni- versal diffusion of Christianity ; and would cause mankind to attain to such a pitch of prosperity and of improve- ment, as the world has never seen, and can but faintly conceive. CHAPTER XXIV. ON SOME PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, PRINCIPALLY IN ISAIAH, FORETELLING GREAT CHANGES IN HUMAN AF- FAIRS. AT the entrance of the last chapter it was observed, that in Isaiah a passage occurs parallel to the memorable prophecy of our Lord; and it shall be my present object to prepare the reader for giving a favorable reception to the interpretation of it which I have embraced. * It is,' says Mr. Lowth, ' usual with the prophets, when they foretell some extraordinary event in, or near their own times, to carry their views on farther, and point at some greater deliverance, which God shall vouchsafe to 60 Dr. Hartley, Independently of any reference to prophecy, long ago stated some of the more important causes, which threaten dissolation to System of the Apocalypse, after asserting, that ' the sixth 2 P. 77. This unnatural mode of interpreting- the expression (for I agi'ee with Mr. Fleming' that it is so) has received the suftrag-es of various annotatora. CHAP. XXV. 101 vial destroyeth the empire of the Turks and their religion ; which the sixth trumpet had advanced to the highest pitch of its grandeur ;' and that ' the river Euphrates does un- doubtedly signify the people of that part of the world ; as its being dried up denoteth the end of their empire ;' re- marks, ' that it is the prosperity of Mahometanism and Popery,' that ' hath kept back the Jews from the Christian religion, which those two religions have so much disfi- gured.' But when these two false religions, which are grafted upon Christianity, shall be extirpated and destroy- ed, he concludes, that the descendants of Abraham will open their eyes and be converted^' Does the great river Euphrates denote the Turkish em- pire, then, says Mr. King, we do, at this very time, ' see this great emblematical river drying up. We see this em- pire fading away, and growing exceeding weak. It has already been in great danger from Russia ; and has yielded up much*.' One ' great event,' says Dr. Priestley, ' which I begin to flatter myself we may be looking forwards to, is the fall of the Turkish empire, when an end will be put to a system of government the most unfriendly to human happiness, and to improvements of all kinds, that the world has ever groaned under'.' Such a revolution all the friends of freedom cannot, indeed, but anticipate with pleasure ; and that it may be immediate^ has been generally wished* Very ample is the power, very numerous are the armies, of the tyrant of Constantinople ; but the despots of Vien- na^ and of Petersburg are yet more formidable. It is from 3 P. 258. 4 Morsels of Criticism, p. 447. 5 A Discourse delivered in 1791, before the Supporters of the New College, Hackney, p. 28. That the sixth vial denotes the destruction of the Turkish empire. Dr. Priestley thinks probable. See his Institutes of Nat. and Rev. Rel. 2d ed. vol. II. p. 424. 6 Great, however, as is the power of the emperor and the house of Austria, there are circumstances which seem to pi-omise, that its demo- iition will not be postponed to any very distant time. Such are the im- mensity of the Austrian deirt, the unwieldly structiu-e of the Germanic 102 CHAP. XXV. these sovereigns of the North^ who enforce the strictest rules of modern discipline, and rule over extensive portions of the globe, inhabited by men at once fierce, submissive, jind unenlightened, that the v'ictorious cause of freedom may be expected to meet the greatest pertinacity of oppo- sition. Fearing, therefore, lest the Turkish empire, were it now to fall to pieces, might perhaps, by the intervention of these confederated potentates, be moulded into more permanent despotisms on the European model, and thus impart new vigor to the declining cause of tyranny ; I scarcely know how to entertain the wish, that the sovereign ty of the Ottomans should be overturned, antecedently to the introduction of scfme degree of light and liberty into the territories of the two Imperial courts. But perhaps these fears are vain : and it certainly must be admitted, that he, who has reflected on the depopulating spirit of the Turkish government, and contemplated the picture drawn by modern travellers of the wretched state of its provinces, can hardly conceive it possible, that any change could oc- system, and the interfering interests of the princes who support it, tlie hostile dispositions and formidable forces of tlie French republic, her sic- tual conquest of the Austrian Netherlands, the well-founded discontents which prevail in various parts of Germany, and t!ie wide diffusion of literature throug'hout many of its provinces. On the last of these circum- stances a curious fact shall be noticed. Dr. Wendeboi'n, in his View of England, published in 1791, speaking of • the number of books which are annually printed in Germany, compared with those that appear in the same space of time in England,' says, ' It is calculated with some cer- tainty, that they amount on an average to 5000. I have, for six following j'ears, calculated those, which in English Reviews are announced annual- ly, and the number of them, small pamphlets and single sermons excepted, is, on an average, not much above 600. Consequently, the proportion be- tween books annually published in England and in Germany, is almost as one to nine.' vol. II. p. 13. A speedy peace with the republic of France may perhaps delay the downfal of the house of Austria. 7 The despots of tlie South, I mean those of Naples and Turin, of Lisbon and Madiid, are not wanting in malevolence of disposition; but happily there is no equaUty between the extent of their wishes and the extent of ihclr power. CHAP XXV. 103 cur, which could place their inhabitants in a situation more truly afflicting and abject. After a recital of the sixth vial, another prophecy, which occurs in the last six verses of the xith chapter of Daniel, and is thought to refer to the Turks under the name of the king of the North^ may be pertinently alleged. At the thne of the end shall the king of the South push at him, i. e. at the Roman empire, and particularly the Eastern division of it, and the king of the North shall come against him like a rvhirl- 7vind xvith chariots, andxvith horsefnen, andxuith many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overforv and pass over. 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. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries : and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have poxver over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt : and the Lybians and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him: there-, fore he shall go forth xvith great fury to destroy, and utterly to make axvay 7tia}iy. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces betxveen the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. That the king of the North signifies the Turkish power or empire, and the king of the South, that of the Saracens, is the general opinion of modem commentators ; of Mede and Brightman, of Dr. More and Dr. Wells, of bp. New- ton and Sir I. Newton, of Mr. Lowth, Mr. Wintle, and Mr. Samuel Clark. ' At the time of the end^ says bp. Newton', * that is (as Mr. Mede rightly expounds it**) in the latter days of the Roman empire, shall the ki7ig 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 the false prophet Mo- hammed and his successors, made a religious or rather irre- 8 Vol II. p. 170. 9 P. 1001, 104 CHAP. XXV. ligious war upon the emperor Heraclius, and deprived him of Egypt 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 ilie North shall come against him like a whirlwind with cha- riots and with horsemen^ and with many ships^ and he shall enter into the countries^ and shall overjlow and pass over: that is the Turks, who were originally of the Scythians, and came from the North; and after the 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 ; be- cause their armies consisted chiefly of horse, especially before the institution of the Janizaries ;' and it is this cir- cumstance, says Mr. Lowth, ' which makes them carry an Horse-tail before their chief officers, as an ensign of honor.' ' Their ships too,' observes bp. Newton, * are said to be many ; and indeed without many ships they could never have gotten possession of so many islands and maritime coun- tries, 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 tak- ing of Constantinople, of Negropont, or Euboea, of Rhodes, of Cyprus, and lastly of Candy or Crete ?' ' The prophet,' observes Mr. Wintle, ' has several times in this narrative expressed the progress and havoc of war by the ravages of an inundation, and we find the like allusion at the end of this verse.' The words, shall enter into the countries^ and overflow^ and pass over^ ' give us,' says the bp. of Bristol, ' an exact idea of their oversowing 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.' CHAP. kXV. 105 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many coun^ tries shall be overthrown. ' The same expression of the glorious land^ says bp. Newton, * was used before (ver. 6) ; and in both places it is rendered by the Syriac translator the land of Israel. Now nothing is better known^ than that the Turks took possession of the Holy Land, and remain mas- ters of it to this day.' But these shall escape out of his hand^ even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Am- Tnon. ' Edom and Moab and the Ammonites,' says Mr. Wintle, ' are thus joined, Jer. xxv. 21. * and we meet with them again together, Isa. xi. 14. * They were all to the east or south-east of the Dead Sea, and now make a part of the extensive range of the wild Arabs.' Sultan Selim, ob- serves bishop Newton, ' was the conqueror of the neigh- boring countries, and annexed them to the Othman empire ; but he could not make a complete conquest of the Arabians, — Ever since his time, the Othman emperors have paid them an annual pension of forty thousand crowns of gold, for the safe passage of the caravans and pilgrims going to Mecca: and for their farther security the Sultan commonly orders the Bashaw of Damascus to attend them with sol- diers and water-bearers, and to take care that their numbers never fall short of 14,000.' The Arabians, notwithstand- ing these precautions, have sometimes plundered the cara- vans ; and though armies have marched against them, they have remained unsubdued. ' These free-booters have com- monly been too cunning for their enemies : and when it was thought they were well nigh surrounded and taken, they have still escaped out of their hands. So well doth this particular prediction, relating to some of the tribes of the Arabians, agree with that general one concerning the main body of the nation,' which is recorded in the xvith chapter of Genesis. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the Countries. ' This,' savs the bishop of Bristol, ' implies, that his domi- nions should be of large extent ; and he hath stretched forth his hand upon many, not only Asian and European, bUt Vol. II. o 106 CHAP. xxr» likewise African countries. Eg} pt in particular was destined to submit to his yoke : and the land of Egypt shall not escape. And the conquest of Egypt with the neighboring countries follows next in order after the conquest of Judea, with the neighboring countries, as in the prophecy, so likewise in history. The Othman emperor Selim, having routed and slain Gauri sultan of Egypt, in a battle near Aleppo, be- came master of all Syria and Judea. He then marched into Egypt against' the new sultan, whom he defeated, cap- tured, and put to death ; and so put an end to the govern- ment of the Mamalukes, and established that of the Turks, In Egypt. * The prophecy says particularly, that he should have power over the treasures of gold and of silver^ and over all the precious things of Egypt: and history informs us, that when Cairo was taken,' " the Turks rifled the houses of the Egyptians, as well friends as foes, and suffered no- thing to be locked up or kept private from them : and Selim caused 500 of the chiefest families of the Egyptians to be transported to Constantinople^ as likewise a great number of the Mamalukes wives and children, besides th-e sultan's treasure and other vast riches'°." ' And since that time it is impossible to say what immense treasures have been drained out of thia rich and fertile, but oppressed and wretched country.' Edward King, Esq. in his' Morsels of Criticism^ gives a somewhat different turn to the passage tinder review. ' It seems,' says he, ' not a little remark- able, that the expression is not should possess them^ but shoidd have dominion over them^ so the Turks have really had the command of Egy]3t, and of its treasures and desir- able things, without availing, themselves hardly at all of the benefit of those riches".' And the Lybians and Ethiopians shall be at his steps,- * And we read in history,' says bishop Newton, * that after the conquest of Egypt " the terror of Selim's many vic- tories now spreading wide, the kings of Afric, bordering 10 Savage's Abridg-ement of KnoUes and Rycaut. p. 246. 11 r 510. CHAP. XXV. 107 upon Cyrenaica, sent their ambassadors with proffers to be- come his tributaries. Other more remote nations also towards Ethiopia were easily induced to join in amity with the Turks"." ' At this present time also many places in Africa besides Egypt, as Algiers, Tunis, &c, are under the domi- nion of the Turks. One thing more is observable with regard to the fate of Egypt, that the particular prophecy coincides exactly with the general one, as it did before in the instance of Arabia. It was foretold by Ezekiel, that Eg}^pt should always be a base kingdom^ and subject to strangers ; and here it is foretold, that in the latter times it should be made a province to the Turks.' The two next verses, in the opinion of the several com- mentators whom I have enumerated, remain to be fulfilled. But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trou' hie him ; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy y and utterly to make axvay many. With respect to the tidings out of the East, these, says Dr. More, *• may very Avell contemporise with the sixth vial, which is poured out upon the river Euphrates, whereby its waters are di yed up, and a way to the kings of the East prepared^'^, which shews some great mutation of affairs and jeopardy, that th^ Turkish empire in those Eastern parts will seem to be in»' ' The Persians,' says bishop Newton, ' are seated to the East of the Othman dominions, and the Russians to the North. Persia hath, indeed, of late years, been miserably torn and distracted by intestine divisions ; but when it shall unite again in a settled government under one sovereign, it may become again, as it hath frequently been, a dangerous rival and enemy to the Othman emperor. The power of Russia is growing daily;' and 'the Porte is at all times jealous of the junction of the two powers of Persia and Russia, and exerts all its policy to prevent it.' ' It is,' says 12 Savage, ibid, p. 248. 13 That this pi-ophecy of Daniel, and the sixth vial are contempora- neous, is thoug'ht probable also by Dr. Priestley. Institutes of Nat. and Rev. Rel. vol. II. p. 424. Ids CHAP. XXV. Mr. King, an * astonishing coincidence of circumstances; that as the whole Russian dominions lie North of the Turkish dominions ; so the exertions of Russia have been not only in the North ; but in a most remarkable manner in the East; where vast advantages of commerce, and of ex- tent of dominion, have been obtained by the Russians to- wards China'*.' And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas in the glorious holy mountain ; yet he shall come^* to his e7id^ and none shall help him. The glorious holy moun- tain between the Seas^ in the opinion of bp. Newton, must signify * some mountain in the Holy Land, which lieth between the ser.irallel, are equal to more than 5000 miles.' With respect to the latitude of Scythia or Tartary, it reaches from the 40th degree, which touches the wall of China, above a thousand miles to tlie northward, to the frozen regions of Siberia. The kingdoms of Scandinavia, it may be added, were in the number of the provinces of Attila ; his troops pene- trated into the interior of Persia ; he invaded, and for some time occupied the East of Europe, for the space of 500 miles, from the Hadi'iatic to the Etixine, and from the Hellespont to the suburbs of Constantinople ; the Burgundians of the Rhine v/ere almost exterminated by one of his lieu- tenanls ; fi'oni the Rhine and the Moselle he advanced into the heart of Gaul as far as Orleans ; and, on another occasion, he passed the Alps, and ravaged a considerable part of Italy. ' When Attila collected his military force, he was able to bring into the field an army of five, or, ac- cording to another account, of seven hundred thousand Bai'barians.' Early in the 13th centuiy, Zingis was khan of the Moguls. Although he originally ruled over only tliirty or forty thousand families, he succes- sively subdued the Tartar hords, ' who pitched their tents between the wall of China and the Volga ; and the Mogul emperor became the mo- narch of the pastoral world.' His troops accomplished the circuit of the Caspian sea, he reduced the countries which lie between that sea and the Indus, and the five northern provinces of China were added to his empire. When he invaded the southern Asia, ' seven hundi-ed thousand Moguls and Tartars are said to have marched' under his standard and that of his four sons. In a subsequent part of the 13th century, and in the reigns of his successors, the Moguls penetrated into Syria, carried their arms into {tulgaria and Thrace, overflowed with resistless violence the kingdoms of Armenia and Anatolia, and conquered the populous empires of Persia and China. Of the celerity of their motions, and the extent of their conquests, some idea may be formed from Mr. Gibbon's account of the victorious march of the troops of Batou. No sooner had Octal, the son and successor of Zingis, ♦ subverted the northern empire of China, than he resolved to visit with his arms the most i-emote countries of the West. Fifteen hun- dred thousand Moguls and Tartars were inscribed on the military roll ; of these the great khan selected a third, which he entrusted to the command of his nephew Batou.— After a festival of forty days, Batou set forwai-ds on this great expedition ; and such was the speed and ardor of his innw. CHAP. XXV. 117 Arabs : the heat of the climate, and the general character of Arabia, which abounds with vast plains. It is in the merable squadrons, that in less than six years they had measui'ed a line of ninety degrees of longitude, a fourth part of the circumference of the globe. The gi-eat rivers of Asia and Europe, the Volga and Kama, the Don and Borysthenes, the Vistula and Danube, they either swam with their horses, or passed on the ice, or traversed in leathern boats. — By the first victories of Batou, the remains of national freedom were eradicated in tlie immense plains of Turkestan and Kipzac. In his rapid progress, he over-ran the kingdoms, as they are now stiled, of Astrican and Cazan ; and the troops, which he detached towards mount Caucasus, explored the most secret recesses of Georgia and Circassia. The civil discord of the great dukes, or princes, of Russia, betrayed their country to tlie Tartars. They spread from Livonia to the Black Sea, and both Moscow and Kiow, the modern and tlie ancient capitals, were reduced to ashes — From the permanent conquest of Russia, they made a deadly, though transient, inroad into the heart of Poland, and as far as the borders of Germany. The cities of Lublin and Cracow were obhterated : they approached tlie shores of the Baltic ; and in the battle of Lignitz, they defeated the dukes of Silesia, the Polish palatines, and the great master of the Teutonic order.' They then ' turned aside to the invasion of Hungary ; — the whole country north of the Danube was lost in a day, and depopulated in a summer ; — and of all the cities and foilresses of Hungary, three alone sui'vived the Tartar invasion. — After wasting the adjacent kingdoms of Servia, Bosnia, and Bulgaria, Batou slowly retreated from tlie Danube to tlie Volga to enjoy the rewards of victory in the city and palace of Serai.' ' Even the poor and frozen regions of the North attracted the ai'ms of the Mogujs,' and a detachment of them settled in the wilds of Siberia. * In this shipwreck of nations, some surprise maybe excited by the escape of the Roman empire, whose relics, at the time of the Mogul invasion, were dismembered by the Greeks and Latins.' Indeed * had the Tai-tars undei'taken the siege, Constantinople oniist have yielded to the fate of Pekin, Samarcand, and Bagdad.' The conquests of Timour or Tamerlane were atchieved towards the conclusion of the 14th, and at the beginning of the 15th, century. To de- scribe * the lines of march, which he repeatedly traced over the continent of Asia,' would be a task of extreme difficulty. His principal conquests it will be sufficient briefly to state. After having for some months led the life of a vagrant and an outlaw, he at length, at the age of 34, made him- self master of his native country of Transoxiana, a fertile kingdom, 500 miles in length and breadth. But this satisfied not his ambition, ' Timour aspired to the dominion of the world.' The Mogul pi-ince invaded and conquered Persia ; and * the whole course of the Tigris and Euphrates, from the mouth to the sources of those rivers, was reduced to his obedi- 118 ' CHAP. XXV. cold or temperate regions of the North, that the flame of personal liberty is accustomed to burn with the brightest lustre. The heat of a southern sun is unfriendly to exertion, and has ever been found to facilitate the establishment of despotism^*. And it is observed by Volney, that ' moun- tainous countries, alone, afford to liberty its great resources. It is there,' says this judicious Frenchman, * that skill and address, favored by situation, supply the deficiency of num- bers. — In flat countries, on the contrary, the first tumult is ence.' Turkestan, or the eastern Tartary, was entered and subdued by him ; and ' his most distant camp was two months journey, or 480 leagues to the north-east of Samaixand, and his emirs, who traversed the rivers Irtish, engraved in tiie forests of Siberia a rude memorial of their exploits.' KipzakjOrthe western Tartary, he also invaded 'with such mighty powers, that 13 miles were measured from his right to his left wing.' After a march of five months in which 'they rarely beheld the footsteps of man, and their daily subsistence was often trusted to the fortune of the chace,' liis forces encountered and defeated those of the powerful Khan, who ruled over the Mogul empire of the North, and vvflio had recently entered the dominions of Timour at the head of 90,000 horse. ' The pursuit of a flying enemy carried Timour into tributary provinces of Russia,' and ' Moscow trembled at the approach of the Tartar.' But * ambition and prudence recalled him to the south. ' After crossing the Indus and the Ganges, and fighting several battles with the princes of Hindostan, he made himself master of that rich and extensive country. Syria and Ar- menia were afterwards ravaged by him, and Anatolia and Georgia were subjugated by the arms of the Mogul. In the memorable battle of Angola he defeated an army of 400,000 horse and foot, commanded by the Turk- ish emperor, Bajazet. • Astracan, Carisme, Delhi, Ispahan, Bagdad, Aleppo, Damascus, Boui'sa, Smyrna, and a thousand others, were sacked, or biu-nt, or utterly destroyed, in his presence, and by his troops.— From the Irtish and Volga to the Persian gulf, and from the Ganges to Damascus and the Archipelago, Asia was in the hand of Timour ; his armies were invincible, his ambition was boundless ;' and it was on his march towards China, at the head of 200,000 of his select and veteran troops, that the Mogul emperor expired, after having skilfully planned the invasion and conquest of that great empire. Gibbon, vol. IV. p. 358 ; VI. p. 4 — 53, 108—122 ; XI. p. 408—429 ; XII. p. 4—45. 38 • The cities of Mecca and Medina,' says Mr. Gibbon, 'present, in the heart of Asia, the form, or rather the substance, of a common- wealth.' Vol. IX. p. 234. That the historian regarded this fact as an unusual phaenomenon in the political world, the manner in which he no^ tices it unequivocally shews, €HAP. XXV. 119 suppressed, and the ignorant peasant, who does not even know how to throw up an entrenchment, has no other re- source but in the clemency of his master, and a quiet sub- mission to slavery. We shall therefore find that no general principal can be advanced more true than the following : That plains are the habitation of indolence and of slavery^ and mountains the country cf energy and freedom?'^'* * Asia,' says Colonel Dow, ' the seat of the greatest empires, has been always the nurse of the most abject slaves. The mountains of Persia have not been able to stop the progress of the tide of despotism, neither has it been frozen in its course through the plains of the Northern Tartary by the chill air of the North.' But the Arabs of the desert, he observes, ' remain unconquered by arms, by luxury, by corruption ; they alter not their language, they adhere to their customs and manners, they retain their dress"".' There are trees, which, being unassisted by cultivation and the labors of man, retain, even after the lapse of many ages, their primeval shape and wildness, ai\d strongly re- semble those which first shed their blossoms on the virgin- soil. Thus although Ishmael and his sons, by whom a prin- cipal part of the land of Arabia was planted, lived in a period of the most remote antiquity, and in the very infancy' of so- ciety ; yet his modern descendants, inhabiting a country, that has never been subdued, or completely explored by the most intrepid conqueror, vary as little from their primitive manners, as the trees of an immense forest, which has never been cleared by rustic industry, and the recesses of which have never been penetrated by the most adventurous tra- veller, differ from those parent -trees, which first occupied the wilderness's wide expanse. On the characteristic resemblance of the Arabs in gene- ral to their earliest ancestors, I might refer the reader to a 39 Travels, vol. I. p. 200. The Arabs are specified by Volney as an exception to this general principle. 40 Diss, on the Origin of Despotism in Hindostan, p. II. prefixed to the I lid voi. of the History of Hindostan by Alexander Dov, Esq. iiiO CHAP. XXV, crowd of ancient Writers and of modern travellers ; but it will be sufficient to cite the testimonies of two celebrated infidels, who are competent, and certainly impartial, evi- dences on a fact of this nature. ' The same life,' says Mr. Gibbon, ' is uniformly pursued by the roving tribes of the desert, and in the portrait of the modern Bedoweens, we may trace the features of their ancestors ; who, in the age of Moses or Mahomet, dwelt under similar tents, and con- ducted their horses, and camels, and sheep, to the same springs and the same pastures'*\' ' The vast deserts,' says Volney, ' which extend from the confines of Persia to Morocco,' are inhabited by the Bedo- weens. ' Though divided into independent communities, or tribes, not unfrequently hostile to each other, they may still be considered as forming one nation. The resemblance of their language is a manifest token of this relationship. The only difference that exists between them is, that the African tribes are of a less ancient origin, being posterior to the conquest of these countries by the Califs, or succes- sors of Mahomet ; while the tribes of the desert of Ara- bia, properly so called, have descended by an uninterrupted succession from the remotest ages; and it is of these I mean more especially to treat. — To these the orientals are accustomed to appropriate the name of Arabs, as being the most ancient and the purest race. The term Bedaoui is added as a synonimous expression, signifjang, as I have observed, inhabitant of the Desert ; and this term has the greater propriety, as the word Arab, in the ancient language of these countries, signifies a solitude or desert.' The Arabs of the desert, ' we may assert, have, in every respect, re- tained their primitive independence and simplicity. Every thing- that ancient history has related of their customs, man- ners, language, and even their prejudices, is almost minutely true of them to this day ; and if we consider, besides, that this unity of character, preserved through such a number of ages, still subsists, even in the most distant situations, 41 Vol. IX. p. 224. GHAP. XXV. I2i that is, that the tribes most remote from each other preserve an exact resemblance, it must be allowed, that the circum* stances, which accompany so peculiar a moral state, are a subject of most curious enquiry"*.' Of the descendants of the Bedoweenis, who inhabit Egypt, some, says Volney, ' dispersed in families, inhabit the rocks, caverns, ruins, and sequestered places where there is water ; others, united in tribes, encamp under low and smoky tents, and pass their lives in perpetual journeyings, sometimes in the desert, sometimes on the banks of the river ; having no other attachment to the soil than what arises from their own safety, or the subsistence of their flocks. There are tribes of them, who arrive every year after the inundation, from the heart of Africa, to profit by the fertility of the country, and who in the spring retire into the depths of the desert ; others are stationary in Egypt, where they farmlands, which they sow, and annually change. All of them observe among themselves stated limits, which they never pass, on pain of war. They all lead nearly the same kind of life, and have the same manners and customs. Ignorant and poor, the Bedoweens preserve an original character distinct from sur^ rounding nations. Pacific in their camp, they are every where else in an habitual state of war. The husbandmen, whom they pillage, hate them ; the travellers, whom they despoil, speak ill of them ; and the Turks, who dread them, endeavor to divide and corrupt them. It is calculated, that the different tribes of them in Egjpt might form a body of 30,000 horsemen; but these are so dispersed and disunited, that they are only considered as robbers and vagabonds*'.' 42 Vol. I. p. 379, 380. 43 Vol. I. p. 76. Tlie following fact I borrow from another celebrated French infidel. The province of Anossi, in the island of Madag-ascar, is divided into a considerable nunxber of governments, and these govern- ments are all subject to the descendants of Arabs. ♦ These petty sove" reigns are continually at war with each other, btit never fail to unite against the other princes of Madagascar.' The Abbe Raynal's Hist of the Set- tlements in the East and West Indies, vol. II. p. 11, Vol. II. Q 122 CHAP. XXV- The striking resemblance of the Arabs to their remote progenitors has a strong claim to attention, as well because it is a fact unusual in the nations of the world, as on account of some peculiar circumstances, which have occurred in the history of this singular people. It cannot be said of th6 inhabitants of Arabia, that they have had scarcely any inter- course with mankind. It cannot be said, that they have discovered themselves to be destitute of genius and inca- pable of improvement i or, that they have had no opportu- nity of introducing into their country a new system of arts, of manners, and of opinion. It has been far otherwise. The Arabs or Saracens have been distinguished for their attain- ments in literature and their exploits in war. Animated by courage and by enthusiasm, they carried their victorious arms into most of the civilised nations of the world,, and erected one of the most powerful empires, which the world has ever seen. Yet, says Mr. Gibbon, * the liberty of the Saracens survived their conquests. The first caliphs in- dulged the bold and familiar language of their subjects : they ascended the pulpit to persuade and edify the congre- gation : nor was it before the seat of empire was removed to the Tigris^ that the Abbassides adopted the proud and pompous ceremonial of the Persian and Byzantine courts**.*' The same determined enemy of prophecy and of Chris- tianity, after alluding to the prediction which I have en- deavored to illustrate, and observing that some parts of Arabia have been subdued, a fact which needs not and ought not to be disputed, admits that ' these exceptions are temporary or local.' ' The body of the nation,' he ac= knowleges, ' has escaped the yoke of the most powerful monarchies : the arms of Sesostris and Cyrus, of Pompey, and Trajan, could never atchieve the conquest of Arabia ;, the present sovereign of the Turks may exercise a shadow of jurisdiction, but his pride is reduced to solicit the friend- 44 V'ol. IX. p. 236. CHAP. XXV. 123 ship of a people, whom it is dangerous to provoke, and fruitless to attack''^.'' That Arabia, a country, as Mr. Gibbon observes, en- compassed by the most civilised nations of the ancient world**,' should never have adopted foreign manners, nor have been subdued by a foreign power, as the prophecy leads us to expect, is surely an extraordinary fact; and which no human foresight could predict. But although we should not be authorised in denying, that any natural causes exist, which have operated in a manner highly favorable to the independence of the Arabs ; it may at the same time be remarked, that if the Deity foresaw, that their indepen- dence would upon the whole promote those schemes of be- nevolence, and those measures of government, which are best suited to this lower world, and this state of imperfec- tion and discipline, and if he thought fit to predict that in- dependence ; it is by no means unreasonable to suppose, that, in order to prevent the subjugation of Arabia, he would, were the intervention necessary, arrest the arm of conquest, and baffle the best concerted schemes of policy. The prediction relative to the Arabs, recorded in Gene- sis, plainly intimates the preservation of national indepen- dence. The prophecy on the fate of the neighboring coun- try of Eg}'pt, which I am next to illustrate, announces a very different event. Egypt ^ says Ezekiel in ch. xxix*% shall be a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the king- doms : neither shall it exalt itself any more above the na- tions : for Ixvill diminish them^ that they shall no more ride 9ver the nations. And again in the following chapter, I will sell the land into the hands of the wicked: and I xvill make the land xvaste^ and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers ; — and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypf^, The language of the prediction is not dark and doubtful, but peremptory and explicit. To history, 45 Gibbon, vol. IX. p. 230. 46 Vol. IX. p. 239. 47 V. 14, 15. 48 V. 12, 13. 124 CHAP. XXV* therefore, and not to verbal criticism, it is necessary to re- cur for its illustration. This remarkable prophecy, according to Prideaux, was pronounced by E^zekiel in the year 587 B. C"*. It was in a great degree fulfilled in the year 571, when Egypt, at that time torn by intestine division and civil war, was invaded by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon ; and it approached still nearer to its complete accomplishment in the year 525, when the Egyptians were subdued by the arms of Camby- sus, the son of Cyrus. But there is reason to think, that it was not intended to receive its perfect completion ante- cedently to the year 350*°, when Egypt was completely re- duced by Ochus into a province of the Persian empire. From this year to the present time, 2144 years have elapsed : and certainly it is not a little extraordinary, that, notwithstanding the great length of this period, and the nu- merous revolutions which in the course of it have been accomplished in Egypt, not a single prince of Egyptian origin has ever been raised, even for a short interval, to the throne of the country. It surely was not to have been expected, that, amidst a crowd of political changes, and the greatest reverses of fortune, the natives of the country should never once have had the good fortune to succeed in establishing even a transient independence. Satisfactorily to account for the existence of this prophecy, and its cor- responding fulfilment, on the supposition that it is a sally of enthusiasm, or an invention of imposture, is not a task of very easy accomplisment. At the promulgation of this prophecy, Egj-pt had been governed, with little interruption, by its native princes ; and the general tenor of t\\e Eg3-ptian annals evinced, that, 49 Connect, of the Old and Ke%a Test. vol. I. fol. p. 67. According to the chronology of Blajr, Ezekiel commenced his prophetic office in the year 593, B. C : according to Prideaux in the yeai- 594. 50 These three dates are taken from the chronological tables of Blair jind archbishop Usher, who are in agreement with Prideaux, excepting that he places the invasion of Egypt by Nebuphgflnezzaf two years par^ CHAP. XXV. 12J in point of fertility, populousness, and power^\ it deserved to be ranked among the most favored as well as indepen- dent nations. Nature also had separated it from every other country ; and it was by no means peculiarly exposed to in- sult and attack. On the contrary, its geographical bounda- ries, no less than its past histor}', seemed to promise a long continuance of national prosperity. Such was its situation that it was more than usually sheltered from invasion, and .seemed naturally designed to constitute a great and' inde- pendent nation. On no side was Eg^pt touched by any powerful empire. Being, indeed, surrounded by the Me- diterranean, the Red Sea, and the deserts of Africa'% un- 51 ' As Egypt,' says Mr. Bryant, * was one of the most ancient, so was it one of the most extensive kingdoms, that for many ages subsisted in the world. — Eg^'pt seems to have been respectable from the beginning ; and the most early accounts, that we can ai-rive at, bear witness of its eminence and power.' And he mentions a number of circumstances, wliich, he says, * must raise in us a higli idea of the affluence and power which this knowing people were possessed of Observations upon the An- cient History of the Egyptians, 4to. 1767, p. 101. 52 • That impervious country' is the expression b)' which Mr. Gibbon chai-acterises Egypt (vol. VIII. p. 222) ; and speaking of the difficulties which the forces of the caliph Omar had to surmount in its conquest, he elsewhere says, ' the cities of Egypt were many and populous ; their architecture was strong and solid ;' and the Nile, with its numerous branches, was alone an • insuperable barrier' (vol. IX. p. 428.). After writing the observations in the text, I met with the foUowIng re- marks of Bochart. Egypt was anciently called the iand of Mizraim ,- and this word is the dual of onasor, which signifies a fortified place. ' Nor,' says Bochart, * is there any region more secure fi-om its natural situation.' ♦* From the fortified nature of the country it appears," saj s Diodorus, " greatly to sm-pass those tracts of territory which are mai-ked out for so- vereignty." And in what follows he proves this by a long induction of particulars. Namely, on the west, it has an inaccessible desert ; on the .south, the cataracts of the Nile and the mountains of ^Ethiopia ; on the east, also a desert, and the Serbonian bog, and sinking sands ; towards the north, a sea almost destitute of any port : for from Joppa in Phaenicia even unto Parstonium in Lybia there is no port excepting Pharos. After Diodorus had stated these circumstances at large, he thus concludes : *• Egypt then is on all sides fenced in by natural fortifications." Of these things lie treats in the 1st book. And in the xvth, speaking of Nectane- ,l)is, king of Egypt, at the time the Pei-sians were approaching, he says. 126 CHAP. XXV. like other countries, it had scarcely any reason to guard against the approach of danger, excepting from a single point, nanvely from the isthmus of Suez, which joins Africa to Asia, and reaches from the Red Sea to the most East- em mouth of the Nile". Egypt also, though no where of any great breadth, was notwithstanding a country of very respectable size. Its whole extent * from north to south was,' says Mr. Bryant, * computed to be about 600 miles^"*.' Knowlege, it has been observed, is power ; and there- fore the disciplined armies of civilised and enlightened na- tions, though comparatively inconsiderable in point of num- ber, have often conquered countries of great extent, when inhabited by a people involved in barbarism. But it can never be urged, that Egypt v/as likely to be subdued on ac- count of its marked inferiority to other countries in know- lege, or the discoveries of science, in maxims of policy and government, or the practice of the useful arts. Egypt, on the contrary, was greatly celebrated for its wisdom ;" " but he most of all confided in the fortified nature of tlve country, since Egypt is on all sides difficult of access-" Thus also Strabo, in his xvith book. *' Even from the beginning Eg^pt was extremely tranquil, because it had every thing it wanted within itself, and it was difficult of access to foreigners." And this he afterwards demonstrates by the same argu- ments by which Diodorus had pi'oved it. ' Phaleg. lib. iv. cap. 24. Both Sti'abo and Diodorus Siculus had travelled into Egypt. Not very different 5s the statement of a modern traveller, though comprised in fewer words. ' Egypt,' says Vobiey, ' is protected from a foreign enemy, on the land- side, by her deserts, and ou that of the sea, by her dangerous coast.* Travels, vol. II. p. 363. 53 Pelusium, which stood at the entrance into Egypt, and at one extre- mity of the isthmus of Suez, was situated, says Mr. Bnant, upon the ex- tremity of Arabia ; * from whence extended a vast desert, not fit for the march or encampment of an army,' but which is destitute of watei', and greatly infested by venomous reptiles. Strabo, ' mentioning the same part of Arabia from the Nile to the Red Sea, represents it as a sandy waste, that could scarcely be passed, except upon camels. — This desert, which began at Pelusium and the Nile, reached in the way to Palestine as fer as Gaza, which was situated on the edge of it.' Obs. on the Anc Hist, of Egypt, p. 76—80. 54 Obs. on the Anc. Hist, of Eg}T)t, p. 105. 55 The Egv"ptians, says Mi*. Bryant, * were esteemed a very wise and learned people ; so that Moses is said to have been learned in all the luis- CHAP. XXV. ISr and there was scarcely any part of it, which did not bear an unequivocal testimony to the skilful industry of its in- habitants, and which did not contain some work, distin- dotn of the Egyptians' Acts vii. 22. Obs. on the Anc. Hist, of Egypt, p. 101. * Egypt,' says Rollin, ♦ was ever considered by all the ancients as the most renowned school for wisdom and politics, and the source from whence most arts and sciences were derived This king-dom bestowed its noblest labors and finest aits on the improving mankind ; and Greece was so sensible of this, that its most illustrious men, as Homer, Pythago- ras, Plato, even its great legislators, Lycurgus and Solon, with many more whom it is needless to mention, travelled into Egypt to complete their studies, and draw from that fountain whatever was most rare and valuable in every kind of learning — The Egyptians were the first people who rightly understood the rules of government. A nation so grave and serious immediately perceived, that tlie true end of politics is to make life easy, and a people happy. The kingdom was hereditary; but, ac- cording to Diodorus, the Egyptian princes conducted themselves in a dif- ferent manner from what is usually seen in other monarchies, where tlie prince acknowleges no other rule of his actions, but his arbitraiy will and pleasure. But here, kings were under greater restraint from the laws than their subjects.' They ' freely permitted, not only the quality and proportion of their eatables and liquids to be prescribed them (a thing customary in Egypt, the inhabitants of which were all sober, and whose air inspired frugality), but even that all their houi-s, and almost every ac- tion, should be under the regulation of tlie laws. — Thirty judges were se- lected oul o!" the principal cities to form a body or assembly for judging the whole kingdom. The prince, in filling these vacancies, chose such as were most renowned for their honesty ; and put at their head him who was most distinguished for his knowlege and love of the laws. — Honor- ablj' subsisted by the generosity of the prince, they administered justice gratuitously to the people.* But • the most excellent circumstance in the laws of the Egvptians was, that every individual, from his infancy, was nurtured in tlie strictest observance of them. — The virtue in the highest esteem among the Egyptians was gratitude. The glory, which has been given them of being the most grateful of all men, shews, that they were the best formed of any nation for social life.' Anc. Hist. vol. I. 12mo. p. 22 — 27. This account of Rollin, it must be aeknowlcged, is too favorably drawn. At the same time it must be admitted, that much which is re- corded to their praise is here omitted; and that enough will remain^ after a fair subtraction of what is exaggerated, to entitle the Egyptians to be honorably distinguished above almost every other nation of early antiquity. In proof of this, let the whole of tlic second book of Herodotus be pe- rused.- 128 CHAP. XXV. guished by its utility, or the difficulty of its accomplish- ment. But though Egypt could not be invaded but with diffi- culty, and with hazard ; it will perhaps be urged, that its climate is unwholesome and extremely enervating ; that its natives are naturally pusillanimous^"^ and necessarily effe- minate ; and therefore that it is little wonderful, that a people of such a character, and such a climate, should have successively fallen a prey to every invader. But ideas of this kind, however prevalent they may have been, have not truth for their foundation. The climate of Egypt is doubtless not without its incon- veniences. But it by no means deserves to be called un- healthy. ' The Egyptians,' says Herodotus, ' after the Lybians are the most healthy of all men".' That * Egypt is an earthly paradise,' is the statement of Thevenot'", who visited that country in the year 1657 ; and another French- man, the consul Maillet, who resided 20 years at Cairo, speaks of its climate in the most extravagant terms of com- mendation. *■ It is of this country, which seems to have been regarded by nature with a favorable eye, that the Gods have made a sort of terrestrial paradise. The air there is more pure and excellent than in any other part of the world. This goodness of the air communicates itself to all things, living or inanimate, which are placed in this fortunate re- gion. As the men commonly enjoy there perfect health, the trees and plants never lose their verdure'^.' To the * fertility and richness of the productions of Egypt must,' says the Baron de Tott, ' be added a most salubrious air. We shall be more particularly struck with th,is advantage, when we consider that Rosetta, Damietta, and Mansoora, which are encompassed with rice-grounds, are much cele- 56 That the Egyptians are ' naturally a cowai-dly people' is one of the statements of bp. Newton, vol. II. p. 367. 57 Lib. ii. cap. 77. 58 LivTe Second de la Premiere Partie du Voyage de M. de Thevenot an Levant, Pai-is, 1689. P. 790. 59 Description of Egypt, Let. I. p. 14. GHAP. XXV. 129 brated for the healthiness of their neighborhood ; and that Egypt is, perhaps, the only country in the world where this kind of culture, which requires stagnant waters, is not unwholesome. — The researches I have carefully made con- cerning the plague, which I once believed to originate in Egypt, have convinced me, that it would not be so much as known there, were not the seeds of it conveyed thither by the commercial intercourse between Constantinople and Alexandria. It is in this last city that it always begins to appear : it but rarely reaches Cairo, though no precaution is taken to prevent it ; and when it does, it is presently ex- tirpated by the heats, and prevented from arriving as far as the Saide, It is likewise well known, that the penetrating dews, which fall in Egypt about midsummer, destroy, even in Alexandria, all remains of this distemper*^".' Of the general healthiness of the climate Savary also speaks in high terms. * The climate' of Egj^t, says Volney, ' is by no means unhealthy. The Mamalukes are a proof of this, who, from wholesome diet, and a proper regimen, enjoy the most ro- bust state of health. — We deceive ourselves when we re- present' the Egyptians ' as enervated by heat, or effeminate from debauchery. The inhabitants of the cities, and mea of opulence, may indeed be a prey to that effeminacy which is common to them in every climate ; but the poor despised peasants, denominated fellahs^ support astonishing fatigues. I have seen them pass whole days in drawing water from the Nile, exposed naked to a sun which would kill us. Those who are valets to the Mamelukes continually follow their masters. In town, or in the country, and amid all the dangers of war, they accompany them every where, and always on foot ; they will run before or after their horses for days together, and when they are fatigued, tie them- selves to their tails rather than be left behind. The cha- racter of their minds is every way correspondent to the hardiness of their bodies. The implacability displayed by 60 Memoirs of the Baron de Tott, part iv. p. 6?. Vol. II. R 130 CHAP. XXV. these peasants in their hatreds, and their revenges ; their obstinacy in the battles which frequently happen between different villages ; their sense of honor in suffering the bas- tinado, without discovering a secret : and even the barba- rity with which they punish the slightest deviation from chastity in their wives and daughters, all prove that their minds, when swayed by certain prejudices, are capable of great energy, and that that energy only wants a proper di- rection, to become a formidable courage. The cruelties and seditions which have sometimes been the consequence of their exhausted patience, especially in the province of Shar- kia, indicate a latent fire, which waits only for proper agents to put it in motion, and produce great and unexpected ef- fects*'.' Bp. Newton, after giving a concise account of the Eg)p- tian history, says, ' by this deduction it appears, that the truth of Ezekiel's prediction is fully attested by the whole series of the history of Egypt from that time to the present. And who could pretend to say upon human conjecture, that so great a kingdom, so rich and fertile a country, should ever afterwards become tributary and subject to strangers ? It is now a great deal above two thousand years, since this prophecy was first delivered ; and what likelihood or ap- pearance was there, that the Egyptians should for so many ages bow under a foreign yoke, and never in all that time be able to recover their liberties, and have a prince of their own to reign over them ? But as is the prophecy, so is the event. For not long afterwards Egypt was conquered by the Babylonians, and after the Babylonians by the Persians ;. and after the Persians it became subject to the Macedonians, and after the Macedonians to the Romans, and after the Romans to the Saracens, and then to the Mamalukes ; and it is now a province of the Turkish empire.' With respect to the degraded state of Egypt, the lan- guage of an intelligent infidel is perfectly similar. Egypt, says Volney, * deprived three-and-twenty centuries ago of 61 Vol. I. p. 202, 246. CHAP. XXV. 131 her natural proprietors, has seen her fertile fields succes- sively a prey to the Persians, the Macedonians, the Ro- mans, the Greeks, the Arabs, the Georgians, and, at length, the race of Tartars, distinguished by the name of Ottoman Turks^\' Ezekiel says of the Egyptians, in the name of the Su- preme Being, / will diminish them^ that they shall no more rule over the nations ; and accordingly they are ex- tremely diminished in point of number. Herodotus, who travelled into Egypt about a hundred years after the death of Amasis, relates, that, in the reign of that prince, there were 20,000 cities in Egypt^'. Though this account is greatly exaggerated, yet it cannot be doubted, that ancient Egypt was extremely populous. When a province of the Roman empire, ' the inhabitants of Egypt, exclusive of Alexandria, amounted,' says Mr. Gibbon*^"^, ' to seven mil- lions and a half (Joseph, de Bell. Jud. II. 16.).' On the present population of Egypt I cite the calculation of Vol- ney. ' A s it is known, that the number of towns and vil- lages does not exceed 2300, and the number of inhabitants in each of them, one with another, including Cairo itself, is not more than a thousand, the total cannot be more than 2,300,000^^' The prophet moreover says, / xvill sell the land into the hand of the xvicked ; and I -will make the land xuaste^ and all that is therei?!^ by the hand of strangers ; and Egypt shall he the basest of the kingdoms. Numerous as are the centuries which have elapsed since the publication of this prophecy, yet to describe the condition of Egypt at this very time, with equal brevity and superior accuracy, 62 Vol. I. p. 74. 63 Lib. ii. cap. 177. Perhaps the word TvaMti which in this passage is generally translated cities, had better be rendered toivns. 64 Vol. I. p. 81. Alexandria, according- to Diodorus Siculus, contained 300,0007;-ee inliabitants. Lib. xvii. Its slaves, Mr. Hume is inclined to tliink, mig-ht be estimated at an equal number. Ess. on the Popul of Anc. Nat. 65 Travels, vol. I. p. 238, 132 CHAP. XXV. would scarcely be possible. Egypt, for centuries, has been governed not only by strangers^ but by slaves ; for it is now nearly 550 years since this country, to use an expression of Mr. Gibbon, first groaned under ' the iron sceptre of the Mamalukes,' and, during the whole of this period, the Mamalukes have continued to oppress its unfortunate inha- bitants. In order to shew, that Egypt is emphatically the basest of kingdoms^ and to explain the singular fact of a fine country having so long been subject to the government of slaves, it will be necessary to introduce a short account of the Ma- malukes. It is taken from Volney. Twelve thousand of them, being young slaves from Circassia and the adjoining- parts of Asia, were first introduced by the Sultan of Egypt into that country about the year 1230. Early trained to military exercises, they shortly became a body of the bravest, the most handsome, and at the same time the most muti- nous troops of Asia ; and in the year 1250, rising in re- bellion, they put to death the reigning Sultan, and in his place substituted one of their own chiefs. They continued sole masters of the country and government which they had usurped till the year 1517^, when the Turkish emperor Selim defeated them, and annexed this new conquest to the Ottoman empire. But although he limited, he did not de- stroy, the power of the Mamalukes. From this foreign soldiery the twenty-four governors, or beys, of provinces, were .regularly chosen ; and ' to them,' says Volney, ' was entrusted the care of restraining the Arabs, superintending the collection of the tributes, and the whole civil govern- ment of the country.' The orders of the Turkish divan, which was established in Egypt, they were, however, impli- citly to obey. ' But, for the last 50 years, the Porte, having relaxed irom its vigilance, innovations have taken place : 66 Of the oppressions and prodigality of the Mamalukes, antecedently to the year 151", some idea may be formed from some facts related in the Travels of M. Baumgarten, a German nobleman, who visited Egypt in the year 1507. See Churchill's Coll. of Voyages, 1752, vol. I. p. 328— 332» 339, 345 CHAP. XXV. 133 the Mamalukes have increased, become masters of all the riches and strength of the country, and in short, gained such an ascendancy over the Ottomans, that the power of the latter is reduced almost to nothing. On seeing them subsisting in this country for several centuries, we should be led to imagine their race is preserved by the ordinary means ; but if their first establishment was a singular event, their continuance is not less extraordinary. During 550 years that there have been Mamalukes in Egypt, not one of them has left subsisting issue ; there does not exist one sin- gle family of them in the second generation ; all their chil- dren pei-ish in the first or second descent. Almost the same thing happens to the Turks ; and it is observed, that they can only secure the continuance of their families, by marrying women who are natives, which the Mamalukes have always disdained^\ The means, therefore, by which they are perpetuated and multiplied, are the same by which they were first established ; that is to say, when they die, they are replaced by slaves brought from their original country. From the time of the Moguls, this commerce has been continued on the confines of the Cuban and the Phasis, in the same manner as it is carried on in Africa, by the wars among the numerous tribes, and by the misery of the inhabitants, who sell their own children for a subsist- ence. The young peasant, sold in Mingrelia or Georgia, no sooner arrives in Egypt, than his ideas undergo a total alteration. Though now a slave, he seems destined to be- come a master, and already assumes the spirit of his future condition. — As in such states money is the only motive, the chief attention of the master is to satisfy the avidity of his servants, in order to secure tht- ir attachment. Hence, that prodigality of the Beys, so ruinous to Egypt, which they pillage ; that want of subordination in the Mamalukes, so fatal to the chiefs whom they despoil.' And, ' no sooner 67 f The wives of the Mamalukes' says Volney, • are, like them, slaves brought from Georg^ia, Mingrelia,' &c. 134 CHAP. XXV. is a slave enfranchised, than he aspires to the principal em- ployments^*.' Profligate and unprincipled as were many of the Ptole- mieS and the Caesars, their rule was wise and beneficent in comparison of that of the Mamalukes. The land of Egypt, and all that is therein^ it is foretold, xuill be 7nade xvaste by the hand of strangers. That this prediction is at present fulfilling with the utmost exactness, the following facts, as related bv Volnev, one of the most, recent as well as most judicious travellers into that country, will be sufficient to evince. The houses, the canals, the ports, and a large part of the cultivated lands, have been suffered to fall into ruin or decaA'. A few particulars will illustrate this assertion. In the neighborhood of modern Alexandria, ' the earth is co- vered with the remains of lofty buildings destroyed ; whole fronts crumbled down, roofs fallen in, battlements decayed, and the stones corroded and disfigured by saltpetre. The traveller passes over a vast plain surrounded with trenches, pierced with wells, divided by walls in ruins, covered over with ancient columns and modern tombs, amid palm-trees and nopals, and where no living creature is to be met with, but owls, bats and jackalls.' The environs of Grand Cairo *are full of hills of dust, formed by the rubbish, which is accumulating every day.' The whole of the desert to the south of Rosetta, ' formerly intersected with large canals, and filled with towns, presents nothing but hillocks of a yellowish sand, very fine, which the wind heaps up at the foot of every obstacle, and which frequentlv buries the palm-trees.' What is called the New Port at Alexandria^ '■ the only harbor for the Europeans, is clogged up with sand,' in consequence of which ships are frequently lost. ' It will perhaps be asked, in Europe, why do they not re- pair the New Port ? The answer is, that in Turkey, they destroy every thing and repair nothing.' The Old Port, 68 Volney, vol. I. p. 101—113, 181. See also Gibbon, vol. XI. p. 164. GHAP. XXV. 135 into which none but the ships of Mahometans are ad- mitted, will be destroyed also, ' as the ballast of vessels has been continually thrown into it for the last two hundred years. The spirit of the Turkish government is to ruin the labors of past ages, and destroy the hopes of future times, because the barbarity of ignorant despotism never considers to-mori'ow*'.' ' Every year,' says Savary, * the limits of cultivated Egypt are encroached upon, and barren sands accumulate from all parts. In 1517, the sera of the Turkish conquest, lake Mareotis was at no distance from the walls of Alex- andria, and the canal which conveyed the waters into that city was still navigable. At this day the lake has disap- peared ; and the lands it watered, and which, according to historians, produced abundance of corn, wine, and various fruits, are changed into deserts, where the sorrowful travel- ler finds neither shrub, nor plant, nor verdure. The canal itself, the work of Alexander, necessary even to the sub- sistence of the inhabitants of the city he built, is nearly choaked up. It only receives the waters, when the inun- dation is at its highest point, and preserves them but for a short space of time The Pelusiac branch, which dis- charged itself into the eastern part of the lake of Tanis or Menzale, is totally destroyed. With it perished the beau- ful province it fertilised^".' But in order to convey a tolerably adequate idea of the complete debasement of Egypt, and the extreme wretched- ness of its inhabitants, it will be necessary that some other particulars should be specified. ' The greater part of the lands are,' 'says Volney, 'in the hands of the Beys, the Mamalukes, and the professors of the law ; the number of the other proprietors is extremely small, and their property liable to a thousand impositions. The peasants are hired laborers, to whom no more is left than barely suffices to sustain life. The rice and corn they gather are carried to 69 Volney, vol. I. p. 5, 7, 31, 234. 70 Savary's Letters on Eg-j-pt, vol. II. p. 230. 136 CHAP. xxv# the table of their masters, and nothing is reserved for thenr but doiirra or Indian Millet, of which they make a bread without leaven.' This bread, ' is, with water and raw onions, their only food throughout the yearj and they esteem themselves happy, if they can sometimes procure a little honey, cheese, sour milk and dates, — Their habita- tions are mud-walled huts, in which they are suffocated with heat and smoke, and frequently attacked by maladies arising from uncleanliness, humidity, and unwholesome food ; and, to fill the measure of their wretchedness, to these physical evils are added continual alarms, the dread of the robberies of the Arabs, and the extortions of the Mamalukes, family feuds, and all the anxieties of a perpe- tual civil war. This is a just picture of all the villages, and equally resembles the towns. At Cairo itself, the stranger, on his arrival, is struck with the universal appearance of wretchedness and misery. The crowds, which throng the streets, present to his sight nothing but hideous rags and disgusting nudities. It is true, he often meets with horse- men richly clad ; but this display of luxury only renders the contrast of indigence the more shocking. Every thing he sees or hears reminds him he is in the country of slavery and tyranny. — There is no security for life or property. The blood of men is shed like that of the vilest animals. — The officer of the night in his rounds, and the officer of the clay in his circuit, judge, condemn, and execute^' in the twinkling of an eye, without appeal. Executioners attend them, and, on the first signal, the head of the unhappy vic- tim falls into the leathern bag, in which it is received for fear of soiling the place.' In the year 1784, Egypt was afflicted by famine ; and ' the streets and public places swarmed with meagre and dying skeletons, whose faulter- ing voices implored, in vain, the pity of passengers. — These 71 Sir Henry Blount, who travelled into Egypt and the Levant in the year 1634 and 1635, observes, that in Egypt executions are more frequent, and attended with more circumstances of barbarity, than in an)' other part of Turkey. Earl of 0:^ord's Coll. of Voj/ages, 1745, fol. vol. I. p. 529. CHAP. XXV. 137 wretches expired, leaning against the houses of the Beys, which they knew were stored with rice and corn, and, not nnfrequently, the Mamakikes, importuned by their cries, chased them away with blows. Every disgusting ineans of appeasing the rage of hunger was tried, every thing the most fikhy devoured ; nor, shall I ever forget, that, when I was returning from Syria to France, in March, 1785, I saw under the wails of ancient Alexandria, two wretches sitting on the dead carcase of a camel, and disputing its putrid fragments with the dogs^^.' Nor are there any circumstances, which promise the de- generate and degraded natives of Egypt, that the yoke which presses so heavily upon them shall be shaken off: from no quarter arises a probability of independence, which might dissipate that thick gloom which at present envelopes all their prospects, wliich naight enlarge the scanty horizon of their hopes, or even shed upon their sorrows a feeble and fluctuating ray of consolation. In Egypt it is not in any particular family, but in a large body of men, that power is hereditary. Accordingly the military tyranny of the Mamalukes does not betray those symptoms of degeneracy and growing feebleness, which the Asiatic governments almost imiformly present. By their valor and personal expertness the Mamalukes are still distinguished. To de- stroy or to reform them, ' a general league of the peasantry is,' says Volney, ' necessary; and this it is impossible to form. The system of oppression is methodical.— .Each province, each district, has its governor, and each village its Lieutenant, who watches the motions of the multitude. — - This lieutenant transfers a portion of his authority to some individuals of the society he oppresses, and these become his supporters : jealous of each other, they strive who shall best merit his favor, and he employs them alternately to effect their mutual destruction. The same jealousies and inveterate hatreds pervade also and disunite the villages. 72 Volney, vol. I. p. 188— 194. Vol. II. " s 138 CHAP. XXV. But even supposing an union which is so difficult to take place, what could a crowd of barefooted and almost naked peasants, with only sticks, or even with muskets, effect against a body of disciplined and well-armed cavalry. I am, above all, led to believe Egypt can never shake off this yoke, when I consider the nature of the country, which is but too advantageous for cavalry. If the best regulated infantry among us dread to encounter the horse in a plain, how formidable must they be to a people, who are wholly ignorant of the very first elements of tactics, and who can never possibly acquire a knowlege, which can only be the result of an experience their situation denies them^^.' But let it not be supposed, that I conjecture it to be a part of the plans of infinite wisdom and goodness, that Egypt should for ever remain the theatre of oppression, wretchedness, and guilt. The deductions of reason, and the study of prophecy, lead to a very different conclusion : and the predictions, relative to Egypt and Ai-abia, the ful- filment of which I have endeavored to illustrate, ought to be explained in consistency Avith those other prophecies, ■Ovhich foretell the future improved state of mankind, and they are, I conceive, applicable only to the existing state of the world ; and are by no means intended to be fulfilled after the commencement of that happy pera, denominated the millennium. The following observations constitute a principal part of the conclusion of bp. Newton's dissertation on the prophe- cies relative to Egypt. After citing an unfavorable cha- racter of the Egyptians, he says, 'such men are evidently born not to command, but to serve and obey. They are altogether unworthy of liberty. Slavery is the fittest for them, as they are fittest for slavery.' I confess I ad- mire not the spirit in which these remarks arc written. The author of them forgot, that the vices of the Egvptians, which are a solid ground of regret, are the natural growth 73 Vol. I. p. 1T5, 1~6, 196— ^OO. CHAP. XXV. / 139 of the unfavorable situation in. which they are placed. It is against the detested government of their country, the source of all their evils, that he should have directed the plenitude of his indignation. The statement of a modern infidel upon the subject is more rational than that of the Christian prelate. But the sentiments which the bishop of Bristol has here discovered, and those which the genius of genuine Christianity inspires, are, I trust, dictated by a far different spirit. ' If,' says Volney, ' we attentively examine the causes of the debasement of the Egyptians, we shall find, that this people, depressed by cruel circumstances, are more deserving of pity than contempt^'*.' Upon Egypt, as well as upon other countries, new and brighter scenes will assuredly dawn. The period, it may be expected, will at length arrive, when Egypt shall not only equal, but greatly surpass, the populousness and pros- perity of ancient times: and when the descendants of Ish- mael shall lay aside the ferocity of their ancient manners, lead a more sedentary and tranquil life, and cultivate the friendship of all the various tribes of mankind, who shaU occasionally visit their country from motives of curiosity or commerce. 74 Vol. I. p. 196 140 C^AP. xxvl. CHAPTER XXVI. ON THE SEVENTH VIAL. HAVING briefly treated on the sixth vial, I now jiro- reed to the seventh, which corresponds to the last period of the seventh trumpet. That the book of Revelation comprises many contemporaneous predictions, none who are conversant in it need to be informed. Such persons, therefore, will not be surprised, that an event of such mag- nitude, or, I should rather say, a series of events of such importance, as the fall of all antichristian dominion in Europe, should be pointed out in more than one place and in a different manner. In the representation of the last of the vials, St. John has interwoven the loftiest figures of prophetic diction ; and, as the sublime is often destined to become obscure, in any degree to penetrate their latent meaning would be scarcely possible, did we not receive im- portant aid from parallel passages. If is partly on this account, that the consideration of the seventh vial has been deferred to the present chapter. It is in the conclusion of ch. xvi. immediately after the .dccount of the defeat of the royal confederates at Arma- geddon', that the account of this vial occurs. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air ; and there ca^ne a great voice out of the temple^ sayings it is done. And there xvere voices^ and thunders^ and lightnings ; and there was a great earthquake, such as ivas not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the natioJis fell : and great Babylon came in remembrance before Cod, to give unto her the cup of the zvine of the fierceness of 1 * Upon this great and last effort of the anticlu'istian powers,' says Mr. Jj^owtnan, the seventh vial is poured out, ' full of the wrath of Cod.' tsHAP. xxv-r. 141 his 7urath. And every island fed axuay^ and the moimtains zvere not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heavfin^ every stone about the xveight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because 'of the plague of the hu, or the age to come. Demonstr. of the Messiah, rol. III. p. 381. I close the note with a quotation from Dr. Thomas Bur- net. • The expression, xim (miXXuv, is either taken largely for the times of the Messiah in general, or tnore particularly for the times of the Messiah's reign. In this last confined and viore proper sense it is distinct both from the present age and from eternity, or that time, when Christ is to deliver up all dominion into the hands of the Father.' 1 Cor, xv. 24. 28. . * And in this proper sense, viz. taken for some age between this present and eternity, it is often used in scripture. Christ, it is said, will reign ev T heavens and a new earth : and the former shall not be remem-^ rank, now belonging to that country, as he wielded not the sword but the pen, acquired not military but theological glory, and was pei-petually re- commending the practice ^d cultivation of the mild and pacific \-irtues o( iphristianity, ^? Acts, i. 3, 6, 7. CHAP. XXVII. 165 hered^ nor cane into fnind. But they expected that this revolution in the monarchies, according to the prophecies which are extant Dan. ii. and vii, would happen at the same time with the coming of the Messiah^ upon whose entrance into his kingdom he Avould restore rule to Israel.' They thought also, that the subversion of the temple, and the proper establishment of Christ's kingdom, would be con- temporary. ' Which two things it is incumbent on us to separate : for although the disciples, as was before said, thought that all these things would occur at one and the same time, yet the event itself has taught us the contrary ; since the demolition of the temple and city has now long ago happened, whilst the coming- of Christ is not yet accom- plished. And in consequence of this, our Lord gives a distinct answer to each question.' We may, says Dr. Lardner, readily admit the truth of what Josephus says, — " that what principally excited the Jewish people, the wise men," as he calls them, " as well as others, to the war with the Romans, was the expectation of a great deliverer to arise among them, who should obtain the empire of the world." Indeed, ' the expectation of the coming of the Messiiih, about the time of the appear- ance of Jesus was universal, and had been so for some while. But with the idea of a prophet, or extraordinary teacher of religion, they had joined also that of a worldly king and conqueror, who should deliver the Jewish people from the burdens under which they labored, raise them to a state of independence, and bring the nations of the earth into subjection to them, to be ruled and tyrannised over by them.' If our Lord ' would but have assumed the state and character of an earthly prince, scribes and pharisees, priests and people, would all have joined themselves to him, and have put themselves under his banner. Of this we see many proofs in the gospels'^' 13 Lardner's works, vol. vii. 59. Similar is the statement of Dr. Sykes- ' It is evident,' says he, ' that the opinion was fixed and settled, and g'enerally received among- the Jews, that somebody of their nation was to 165 CHAP. XXVII. The reader who has attended to Daniel's prophecy of the destruction of the fourth beast, or the Roman empire in the concluding period of its existence, and who recollects, that the prophet has not specified the time when that event was to take place, will experience little difficulty in accounting for the erroneous opinion, which the disciples had formed respecting the period^ when that empire should irrecoverably fall, and be succeeded by the proper kingdom of Messiah. That they understood the fourth beast to be the Roman empire, there is no reason to doubt. That it was thus in- terpreted by the ancients in general'*. Dr. Cressener has asserted and proved. A very small portion of what he has urged on this subject I shall now cite. ' Rabbi Abarbinel's testimony is sufficient for the consent of the Jewish writers, being known to be one of the most learned of their nation. " Our masters (says he,) are right in their tradition, that the fourth beast does signify the Roman emperors ;" where- by it appears to have been the common tradition of the learned Jews".' That this was the opinion of the Jewish church both before and after the time of Christ, is par- ticularly noted by the learned Calovius'^. It may, however, be remarked, that the answer of Jesus to the enquiry of his disciples was well adapted to rectify their mistakes. For he informed them, that the capital of their country, instead of being speedily emancipated from a foreign yoke, would be besieged and desolated, and con- tinue to be trodden down by the Gentiles; and that the proper kingdom of the Messiah, which is so magnificently de- scribed by the prophet Daniel, so far from being immedi- ately erected, as they apprehended, would not be established, wet an universal dominion: it is testified on all sides by Heathens and Jews, as well as Christians, and consequently cannot be denied.' On the Tr. of the Chr. Ret. p. 11. 14 On this point the reader may look back to vol II. p. 9, 10, of the present w^ork. 15 Dem. of the Prot. Appl. of tlae Apoc. Append, p. 5.- 15 In Dan. cap. 7. CHAP. XXVII. 167 till wars, and a long series of calamitous events, had ante- cedently occurred. It is proper to observe, that Dr. Sykes has satisfactorily shewn (the matter, indeed, admits not of dispute), that what ourLoi'd addresses to his auditors, in the second person, is not on that account exclusively to be referred to them, or to the men of that generation. Thus, after his resurrection, Christ said, ' Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, — teach- ing them to observe -whatsoever I have commanded Yois : a7id, lo, I am with you always, even U7ito the end of the xvorW^. Here it is evident, that a promise is made which was to ex- tend to the end of the world'^ ; and since the apostles have been long since dead, it is evident, that, under the terms ye and YOU, must be contained all, at all times, in like circum- stances''.' In the xiiith ch. of Mark (v. 37) our Lord has, indeed, himself in some degree given us intimation of this. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch. This Dod- dridge thus paraphrases: what I say to you in public characters, I say to all my disciples, in every station of life, and in every age, watch.' Parallel to the xxivth chapter of Matthew, and the xiiith of Mark, is the xxist chapter of Luke. In that chapter from V. 8, to v. 24, is a prediction^", eminently minute and circumstantial, of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the sufferings of Christ's followers. To his disciples it accord- ingly appears to have been addressed by him, as sustaining 17 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 18 It may, however, be proper to remark, tliat the word emplojed is etiuy. 19 Sykes on tlie Tr. of the Chr. Rel. p. 88. To tlie same purpose spcxiks bp. Newcome (Obs. on our Lord's Conduct as a Div. Instr. p. 263). ♦ What our Lord said to his immediate followers may be well considered as ad- dressed to all mankind.' 20 On this prophecy and the evidences of its fulfilment, Whitby and Jortin, Lardner, Mackniglit, and l^p. Newton, have all treated at great length. See also the briefer but Valuable observations of bishop Hurd ^ol. I p. 163—172), and archdeacon Paley (E\ id. of Chi-. 24 ed. vol. XL p. 16—23.) 16B CHAP. XXV If i the character both of Christians and oi Jews ; and it must be remembered, in the explication of the subsequent part of the prophecy, that he still pursues the same course, and that his auditors are viewed in this double light. In v. 24, he does, however, speak in the third person and of the Jews alone : they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and shall be led away captive into all nations ; and f erusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles^ until the times of the Gentiles be fulflled. Most commentators agree, that he speaks here of two distinct periods. The first principally- respected the great slaughter of the Jews under the Ro- mans, and the calamities they were to incur from the de- struction of their city: the second extended to the whole period of their dispersion in the nations of the world. Here then it is that he makes his transition, in the very place where we should expect it; and commences his reply to the second question of his disciples. It is this second grand division of the prophecy which is now to be considered. As it proceeds from the very highest authority ; as it respects the most important events, and events which are all yet unfulfilled, though some of them probably may not be far distant ; as it opens to our view a new order of things, when the world shall be as it were renovated, and true religion shall reign upon the earth ; it surely deserves our most careful inspection. Any passage of the same length, having stronger claims on our atten- tion, it would in truth be impossible to allege. The whole of it ought, therefore, to be viewed together; and accord- ingly it shall be first transcribed, without omission, and without comment. Luke's account, on several important points, is more full and complete than the parallel place in Matthew and in Mark. From him, therefore, it shall be taken. It reaches from the beginning of v. 25, to v. 35. As our Lord had predicted, at the close of v. 24, that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; it seems natural to con- clude, and the contents of the prophecy itself will warrant the conclusion, that, in the verses which follow, he was CHAP. Xxvii. 109 going to point out thoae momentous events, which are to take place, when the times of the Gentiles ^\'& fulfilled ; or, in other words, when the long sera of spurious Christians, of adulterated religion, and of corrupt government, which have now subsisted during the revolution of so many cen- turies, shall be destined to terminate". In truth, had an important particle which immediately follows been correctly rendered in our common version, it would have struck the reader at the first sight, as a matter not disputable, but clear and decided, that this most illustrious or the prophets has, in the succeeding passage, predicted the changes, which are to be accomplished when* the times of the Gentiles shall expire. yerusalem shall le trodden down of the Gentiles^ until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Then shall there be signs in the sun^ and in the rnoon^ and in ihe stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea and the 21 The former part of the prophecy, in the opinion of Dr. Clarte, as well as of Vitrin^a, is not confined to the sutieiing's of the Jews and the destruction of their capital, but has an express reference to the subsequent spread ofantichristianism, and to the heavy calamities which should afHict the Christian world. In the xxi\th ch. of Matthew, says this distinguished Eng-iish divine, • our Lord, in answer to the question put to him by his disciples, gives them a large prophetic description of the destruction of ihe city and nation of the Jews, by the power of the Romans : and a long series of other events. — Our Lord tells them, that not only the city and temple of Jerusalem should be desU-oyed, and the Jewish nation dis- persed ; but that, after this, there should still succeed a long train of calamities, and tlie end should not be yet. For Jerusalem should be trod- den down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And daring that long period of time, in other parts of the world likewise, nation should )isc against nation, and kingdom, against J.ingdom ; and tlwre sliould be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places, and that even all these calamities, comparatively speaking, should be but the beginning of sorroius. For a deluge of corruption and iniquity should overspi-ead the world. And there should be very great and very long persecutions : and a time of ti ibula- tion, such as had not been since the beginning of the world.' See Mat. xxiv. 7,9, 10, 12, 14, 21. Seventeen Sermons on Several Occasions, by Dr. S. Clai-ke, 1724, p. 378, 382. On this subject the reader also may look back to vol. II. p. 41, of the present work. Vol. II. Y 170 , CHAP. XXVII. waves roaring : mens hearts failing them for fear ^ and for looking after those things which are coming on the earthy for the powers of heaven shall be shake?!. And then^^ shall they see the son of man coyning in a cloud zvith power and great glory. Andxvhen these things begin to cotne to pasSy THEN look iip^ and lift up your heads ; for your redemption drarveth nigh. And he spake to them a parable ; Behold the fig trecy and all the trees ; when they now shoot forth^ ye see and knorv of your onmsehes that summer is notv at hand. So likeruise ye^ when ye see these things com.e to pass, knoxv ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto youy this generation shall not pass away., till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but niy word shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves^ lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so that day co7ne upo?i you unaxvares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dxvell on the face of the xvhole earth. In this long passage I have, in a single instan/;e, deviated from the English version. An alteration, introduced by Mr. Wakefield into his valuable translation, I have adopted as clearly a right one ; substituting the words then shall there be signs'^^, instead of and there shall be signs. 22 Tere, then, i. e. * after the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.' Gro- tius in loc. 23 There seems little reason for doubting-, tliat our Lord in speaking used vau, which corresponds to ««< in the Greek. Now such is the fre- quency with which vau sig-niiies tlien in the Hebrew bible, that no less than two or three hundi'ed instances of it are specified in tlie concordance of Noldins. After this note was written, I was gratified by meeting' witli a coinci- dence of opinion hi the works of Mede. This passage he twice quotes (p. 910, 920) in the same manner as translated by Mr. Wakefield ; and in one of his letters says, ' the copulative x«< verse 25, k«< fr«< o-tin.etx, &c is to be taken after the Hebrew manner oniinative, for tufn, deimle, which you know is frequent in scripture, then shall be signs.'' It is in conformity to this ti-anslation, tliat St. Mark says, in the parallel place (xiii. 24), in those days, after that tribulatien, the sun shall be darkenedy CHAP. XXVII. 1/1 Then shall there be signs in the siiriy and in the moon^ and in the stars. Already has the parallel verse in Matthew been carefully considered^; and, being larger and more distinct, it throws a light upon the import of this briefer passage. The meaning of the Greek word, translated signs, no single word in our language is capable of conveying. Xtif*.siov signifies any thing which happens contrary to the usual course of events*' ; accordingly the clause may be thus rendered, and then that zvhich is extraordinary shall be in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars. When the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, great and extraordinary wants shall take place in the antichristian monarchies and aristocracies of the world ; or, in other words, they shall be overturned. Then -will there be — upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity. Since e^vm is used both here and in the last verse, why in one instance it has been translated gen- tiles, and in the other nations, it were difficult to say. But whatever arbitrary distinction the translator might intend, to introduce, it is unreasonable to suppose, that the word does not, in both places carry a uniformity of import. In the original, K«< cx-i tjj? yr,^ trutoyjv, t^}i^iiov in the New Testament. Accord- ingly between tnifcaov and refUti, lexicographers, with Tlieophylact and Ammoniusof Alexandria at their head, point out the following distinc- tion : the former expresses an event, which is extraordinary and unusual, but agreeable to the order of nature ; the latter signifies that which is supernatural and miraculous. It is perhaps superfluous for me to add, that in the lexicons OTjftsfev is rendered ostentuvi, and (as the reader may find by turning to Littleton) ostentuvi signifies that, which is extraordinary, and which betokens something to come. The latter idea, however, is not always attached to the word. 172 CHAP. XXVII. the charge of inconsistency. Dr. Lancaster, indeed, ob- serves, that ' it is the zmuil style of the scriptures to re- present such men as are sinners, idolators, out of the cove- nant of grace, or at least apostates from it, by the names of earthy inhabitants of the earthy and the like.' The clause, then, imports, that upon the antichristian part of the world there will be great distress, and that these heathens, as they may deservedly be styled, shall be perplexed, and thrown into the most nice and critical situations. But our Lord does not merely apprise us of the fact, that, immediately previous to the downfal of oppressive govern- ment, the antichristian inhabitants of the world will be involved in singular distress ; but he also acquaints us how this distress shall be caused. And upon the earth distress^ witli perplexity of the Gentiles ; the sea and the xuaves roar- ing ; which latter clause, as Dr. Priestley on the passage remarks, is ' a figurative description of convulsions among nations by war, &c.^' Wars shall happen, which shall shatter the power of aristocracy and of despotism. Nor is the information the less sure and less to be depended upon, on account of its being figuratively expressed ; for these symbols carry along with them a fixed and determinate meaning. ' Many water s^'^ ^ says Dr. Lancaster, in his dic- tionary, ' upon the account of their noise, number, and dis- order, and confusion of their waves are the symbols of nations ;' and sea troubled and tumultuous denotes a 'collec- tion of men in motion and war.' It is added, merCs hearts failing them for fear ^ and for looking after those things xvhich are coming on the earth. Fear shall seize upon the hearts of many men. AH those whose claims are at vari- ance with the welfare and the rights of mankind (and, alas, they are a numerous body) shall tremble at those events which are transacting in the European world**, and behold 26 Priestley's Harmony. See the same observations in Wolzogenius.. 27 See pages 55 and 56. 28 The reader will here be ready to exclaim, wliy do you interpret the earth, the European world : in the last verse annexing to it a symbolic, find in this a literal, sense ? But this difficulty will vanish, when it is re- CHAP. XXVII. ITS their approaching downfal with the most timorous solici- tude. We learn, then, that the calamities which are to be looked for with so much anxiety are to be inflicted upon the worldly- minded and the enemies of Christ's kingdom ; and there- fore the men^ whose hearts are said to fail them for fear^ appear not to be mankind in general, but those in particular, who stand in the different ranks of the antichristian party^. The recently illustrated passages are corapletelj' in unison with the more detailed accounts of the Apocalypse. By our Lord, and by his favorite apostle, the same events are represented as antecedent to the proper establishment of his kingdom, — general xvars among the nations^ — and the over- throw of the antichristian monarchies. Those of his future disciples, who shall be witnesses of these occvu-rences, he has accordingly instructed, that they should pay a marked attention to them, as to the signs and forerunners of THE coming of HIS KINGDOM. Having declared that the hearts of many shall fail them for fear ^ the founder of our divine religion immediately adds the reason : for^ says he, the powers of heaven^° shall be shaken^^. The scorching luminaries of the political uni- plied, that the word translated earth, in the former verse, is yti ; in the latter oiKHf/svi]. Of these the one easily admits an emblematic meaning'; whilst the other is altogether a sti-anger to it. That oiKHf^evti signifies the counti-ies of the Roman empire, and the principal part of Europe which are included under it, is plain from ch. il. v. 1. of our evangelist, there luciit out a decree from Ciffsar Augustus, tliat all the ivorld {oiTrxorxv rtiv oikh- jK.£v^») should be taxed. 29 Should the earth, however, be thought to denote in v. 25 mankind without distinction, still will the passage admit of an easy interpretation. In the conflict between many of the kings, and between the people, of the world, not a few of the latter will naturally be awake to uneasy ap- prehensions, lest untoward events should arise, and lead to the firmer rlvetting of their chains, instead of their being broken upon the heads of their oppressors. 30 • To shake the heavens' says Daubuz, • sig-nifies to overthrow the throne of kingdoms.' On the Apoc. p. 291. 31 In the commentary of Wolzogenius it may be seen, that the true in- terpretation of this passage had not entirely escaped him. 174 CHAP, xxvir, verse^* will be violently agitated, and at length removed out of their places ; or, to quit the figures of the prophet, all the oppressive governments and aristocracies of the world will be shaken to their foundations and abolished. And THEN will the religion of Jesus operate Vv-ith its full power, and have a glorious spread. A7id xvhen these tlmi^s begin to come to pass, theti look up, and lift up your heads ; for your redemption draweth nigh^ or, as Mr. Wakefield translates, ybr your deliverance is at hand. Seeing Christianity, stripped of all false appenda- ges, and producing its proper effects, you will be converted to it, and will no longer be a people, oppressed and despis- ed. And it is not those only of your nation, but those also of tjour faith (i. e. the Christian), whose deliverance will be accomplished". From that pressure of evil, which they are to suffer daring the ascendancy of Antichrist, Christians as well as Jews will be liberated. Since the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of Heaven, are expressions, which have been uniformly employed by mo- dern writers to designate a future world, the passage which follows has, by the unlettered reader, been generally mis- apprehended. I copy it, as explained by Dr. Sykes. ' As ■when trees shoot forth, tje see and knoxv of your oxvnselves that summer is norv nigh at hand ; so likervise, when ye see these things come to pass^'^,'' knoiv ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand: that it will then be at its full growth and state of perfections^' This judicious divine has ac- cordingly proved at length, that those Jewish phrases, the KINGDOM OF GoD^^, and THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN", which 32 • Heaven and earth signify a Political Universe.' Dr. Lancaster. 33 * The restoration of the Jews, and the fall of Antichrist, shall hap- pen about the same time.' Bp. Newton, vol. III. p. 391. 34 ' As if he had said, as of yourselves you are apprised, that the un- folding of the leaves in trees is the forerunner of summer ; so also know, that these si^s are the forerunners of your deliverance.' Wolzogenlus. 35 Ess. on the Truth of the Chr. Rel. p. 56. 36 i. e. a kingdom or dispensation set up by God. 37 It is called, says bishop Kidder, ' the kingdom of heaven, it being set \ip, as Daniel expresseth it, by the God of heaven.' Demonstr. of the Messiah, vol. III. p. 388. S.IIAP. XXVII. 175 so often occur in the evangelists, are equivolent to the king'- dom of the Messiah^ and signify the dispensation of the gospel as preached and practised upon earth, and not a state of future existence, nor were ever thought to do so by the disciples of our Lord^^. To a Jew, indeed, these phrases were familiar. Thus bp. Kidder assures us, that the Chal- dee paraphrast, like the writers of the New Testament, sometimes denominated the kingdom of the Messiah, the kingdom of God^^. Accordingly, says Dr. Sykes, ' the Jews were so well acquainted with the meaning of this ex- 38 P. 29 — 78. That they bear this sense may be seen in the works of Mede (vol. I. p. 134), in bishop Chandler's Defence of Christianity frovi the Prophecies (p. 101), and in the commentaries of Macknight, bp. Pearce, and Wolzogenius ; and will undeniably appear from the allegation of two or three instances. Addressing himself as to the scinbes and phai-isees, Jesus said (Mat. xxiii. 13, ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against ■men : for ye neither go in yourselves, ?ieither suffer ye thetn that are entering to go ill.- That their power reached to a future world, that the virtuous they could exclude from being admitted into the mansions of eternity, cannot for a moment be supposed. The meaning, then plainly is : you will not yourselves enter into the gospel dispensation, nor will you omit to practise various expedients to preclude others from the participation of its privi- leges. That Christ did not cast out de-vi.'s, hut by Belzebub the prince of the ilevils, was objected against him by his inveterate enemies, the pharisees (Mat. xii. 24, 28) ; and a part of his reply was, but if J cast out devils by the spirit of God, then the, kingdom of God is com^ unto you. The in- t-pvprctation is obvious, and is partly given in the words of Dr. SykeS : but if 1 perform miraculous works by the divine assistr.nce, it is evident then, that *the kingdom of the Messiah is come in your times : and the miracles done by me confirm that I am no impostor.' One other instance shall be alleged, as it is a famous text, which has, by the advocates of the Roman see, been greatly perverted. When Jesus said unto Peter (Mat. xvi. 9), I Mill give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; his meaning was, says Dr. Sykes, I will cause that you, the fii-st of all the apostles, shall, by preaching, open the gospel dispensation both to the Gentiles and to the Jews. Within the narrow pale of the Jewish church religious pri- vileges were no longer to be shut up and confined. They were to be un- locked to mankind in general. Accordingly we read in the Acts of the extraordinary success of Peter's preaching ; and that he did, in fact, bring into the church of Christ the first converts, and great numbers of them, as well from the Gentile world, as from tlie Jews. 39 Dem of the Mesa. rol. III. p, 38S. 176 CHAP. XXVII- pression, and were so well apprised of a kingdom which God hath resolved in his due time to set up, that as often as Jesus talked of the kmgdom of- Heaven^ or, of God ; neither the people, nor their rulers ever offered to ask him the meaning of that phrase"*".' But a part of the words of Jesus shall again be cited. When ye see and knoxv these things come to pass^ knoxv ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand^\ Of these words the full import appears to be ; when ye perceive that the antichristian monarchies and aristocracies of the world are falling to pieces, be assured, that what is the proper Mes- siah's kingdom is then approaching. Hitherto the way has only been prepared for this kingdolTl'*^ Hitherto has been the reign, not of genuine Christianity, but of antichristian- ism. This passage ought not lightly to be passed over, for, if duly considered, it will be sufficient to evince, that Christ could be speaking of the commencement of no other period, than that happy state of the world, which is so largely de- scribed by his beloved disciple, as certainly to be established, and certainly to continue for a very long duration. Verily I say unto you^ this generation shall not pass axvaij^ till all be fidflled. This clause of the prediction has, I conceive, not merely been generally misapprehended, but moreover falsely translated ; and this is the opinion of men, who hold the first rank in scriptural criticism, namely of Mede and Wolfius and Dr. Sykes"^^. To the destruction of Jerusalem a Mr. Hayne had applied this part of our 40 On the Tr. of the Chr. Rel. p. 29. 41 That is, says Mede, that the niillennium is at hand, p. 934. 42 ' By Christ's kingdom,' says Dr J. Edwards, ' is sometimes meant that peculiar and special time of his reigning, — when Chrislianity shall arrive at its height, when the Churcli shall be in its meridian. — It may be this is that kingdom, of God, of which, and the things appertaining to it, our Savioiu' discoursed to his apostles before he left the world, Acts, i. 3-' Hist, of all the Dispensations of Religion, vol. II. p. 649. 43 Other respectable critics, who have maintained the same opinion, it is also easy to name, as Brenius (in loc) and Markius (in Exercit. Exege- ticis, p. 560). CHAP. XXVlI. Iff Lord's prophecy. Hear a part of Mr. Mede's reply* ' I answer, first, while you endeavor in this manner to esta- blish a ground for the first coming of Christ, you bereave the church of those principal passages of the scripture, whereon she hath always grounded her faith of the second coming: Secondly, you ground all this upon the ambiguity of the word generation^ whereas yma signifies not only setas, but gens*^^ natio progenies^ and so ought to be here taken j viz. — the nation of the Jews should not perish^ till all these things were fulfilled. For so signifies Trxpe^S^ in the Hebrew notion, as you may see even in the verse following. — Chry- sostom among the ancients*', and Flacius Illyricus (a man well skilled in the style of scripture) among the moderns, and those who follow them, might have admonished others to take the word ymx in this acceptation, rather than by turning it cetas or seciilum, to put this prophecy in little-ease^ and the whole harmony of scripture out of frame, by I know not what confused interpretation*®.' I only add, that Dr. Sykes declares himself the more confirmed in this translation 'from the remarkable, and indeed, unparalleled, preservation of the Jews in the midst of hatred and conti- nual persecutions*^.' The meaning then is, the Jewish na- tion shall assuredly subsist as a distinct people, till all that has been previously mentioned shall have httx\ fulfilled^ not only during the most corrupt period of the church, but un- til the antichristian governments of the world shall have been dissolved, and the religion of Jesus shall have begun to shine with its natural lustre. And what is there in the 44 Accordingly Beza, in the Gospels, repeatedly renders yinx by the word gens. Vorstius (in his Philol. S'acr. c. 12) says ' r/tvex proprie genus, proge!2iem,J'ami Uani signiUcsA. Deinde et Ta ytvea-n generationem' 45 Indeed by the fathers in general, who must be admitted to have been competent judges of the meaning of the word, yevex was not understood as signifying the generation then living. Some persons, however, there were, who held this opinion ; but says Maldonatus, Origen entitles them shnplices. 46 P. 919. 47 On the Tr. of the Chr. Ilel. p. 61, Vol. II. ?. 178 CHAP. XXVII. existing circumstances of the world, or of the Jews, which contradicts this assertion, or renders it incapable of being verified ? The language of Christ is expressed with all possible strength. Heaven and earth shall pass away : but my rvord shall not pass axvay. That is, says bp. Newton, * Heaven and earrh shall sooner or more easily pass away ; the frame of the universe shall sooner or more easily be dissolved, than my words not be fulfilled''®.' And surely the predic- tion of the Jews remaining as a separate people was a fact of sufficient importance, and sufficiently interesting to the persons whom our Lord was addressing, to account why he annexed to it an affirmation thus striking and solemn. And take heed to yourselves^ lest at any time your hearts be overcharged rvith surfeiting^ and drunkenness^ and cares of this life, and so that day co7ne upon you unaxvares. To excite an habitual vigilance in Christians of every age ap- pears to have been the primary aim of this admonition. From the manner in which our Lord introduces the ex- pression, that day, it is, however, evident, that he is still speaking of the same period, of which he had been treating in the preceding verses. The verse, then, must be explain- ed so as to harmonise with the rest, and accordingly may, in this manner, be paraphrased. Beware of falling into ha- bits of intemperance and extravagance. Be cautious of being so besotted bv sordid interest and the cares of this life ,• that you should in consequence engage in criminal pursuits and criminal combinations, adverse to the general happiness of mankind, and to the practice of Christianity, and thus should not discern the Sigiis of the Times, nor per^ ceive the approach of that momentous period, when the way 48 ' It is a common figure of speech in the oriental languages, to say oi' two things that the one shall be and the other shall not be, when the meaning is only, the one shall happen sooner or more easily than the other. As in this instance of our Saviour.' Bp. Newton, vol. II. p. 318. But St, Luke expresses himself, on a like occasion, without a figure (xvi. 17), :> is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle ofthe larj to fail- CHAP. XXVII. 179 shall be prepared for the establishment of that religion z'n spirit and in truth^ and those, who uphold what is antichris- tian and oppressive, shall be subjected to the heaviest and most unlooked for calamities. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the earth. When that period arrives, and unexpectedly will it arrive, those, who obstinately cling to antichristian abuses, shall be destined to fall a snare to the devices themselves have planned. In the parallel chapter of Matthew (xxiv), in v. 41, 42, and 43 it is said, Watch^ therefore : for ye know not -what hour your Lord doth come. But knoxv this^ that if the good man of the house had knoxvn in what rvatch the thief would come^ he would have xvatched^ and ruoidd not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready : for^ in such an hour as ye think not^ the son ofmancometh. Bp. Newton observes, that ' Christ is said to come upon any notable and illustrious manifestation of his providence*';' and accordingly the context here directs us to understand his coming of that splendid display of justice, when, as we are told in this chapter, the symbolic sun, and moon, and stars will all be darkened. Strongly is this interpretation of these three verses con- firmed by the manner in which a parallel passage is applied by St. John. In the v.ar of Armageddon, the antichristian kings are to experience an irreparable defeat; and, in the account of this war, the following caution is inserted ; Be- hold^ I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth^^. Here, says Daubuz, Christ himself is plainly represented as speak- ing. With a reference to the exhortation of Christ, which has just been quoted from Matthew, I cite also the follow- ing passage from Dr. Hartley. ' How near the dissolution of the present governments, generally or particularly, may be, would be great rashness to affirm. Christ will come in this sense also, as a thief in the yiighi^^.'* 49 Vol. III. p. 346. 50 XVI. It >! On Man, vol. II. p. 368. 180 CHAP. XXVII. On the order of tiyjie^ in which the events predicted by our Lord are to follow each other, somewhat may be far- ther noted. The powers of heaven shall be shaken. The antichristian powers shall be removed from the political universe. And in^jfi shall theij see the son of man coming in a cloud zvith power and great glory. And quickly af- terwards the religion of Jesus shall have a glorious preva- lence. And when these things begin to come to PASS ; when a part of the oppressive governments of the world shall be destroyed (probably those of this character in Europe), and the Christian religion is in consequence beginning to produce its natural effects ; then look up^ and lift up your heads ; for your deliverance draweth nigh. But Matthew says, that the sun shall be darkened after the tribulation of those days. What then is the conclusion we draw from the comparison of the two passages ? Since from Matthew we gather, that the tribulation and perse- cution of the Jews are entirely to cease, before the anti- christian governments of the world shall be completely darkened ; and since from Luke we learn, that what is called their deliverance in an event subsequent to the com- mencement of the destruction of these governments ; it is probable, that an interval of time will elapse, between their being tolerated and freed from all considerable oppressions, and their return to their own land and acceptance of the gospel of Jesus. To the expectations of reason this, in- deed, is perfectly consonant. From the explication which has been offered of our Lord's prediction, it will, I hope, appear, that however awful and terrifying may be the aspect which they wear, when first surveyed, and however they may have been thought to threaten human kind in general ; yet that they do, when narrowly inspected and justly interpreted, cease to afford ground of alarm to the philosophic philanthro- pist and genuine Christian ; though they are, indeed, fitted to communicate a degree of seriousness and solicitude to every mind, and are calculated to inspire with the most painful reflexions and the deepest dismay all the sons qf CHAP. XXVII. 18i usurpation and of plunder, however elevated their power, however ancient their claims, and however artfully they may have sheltered themselves under the forms of law or the profession of Christianity. But persons of this de- scription regard not the divine oracles. It were well, if, in the ears of such, the tremendous words of the apostle Pauj Vere loudly sounded. Beware^ therefore^ lest that come upon ijoii^ xvh'ich is spoken of in the prophets : Behold^ ye despisers^ and wonder and perish.; for I work a zvork in your days., a tvork, xvhich ye shall in no wise delieve, though a man declare it unto you^'. These words ' St. Paul ap- plied' (I am now quoting from bp. Hurd) ^ to the unbe- lieving Jews ; of whose mockery, and of whose fate, ye have heard what their own historian witnesseth" : and if we equal their obdurate spirit, that prophecy may clearly be applied, and no man can say, that it was not intended to be applied to ourselves. — ' Let us, then, on a principle of self-love, if not of piety, keep the sayings of this boo k^"^, con- cerning THE MAN OF SIN. From many appearances, the appointed time for the full completion of them may not be very remote. And it becomes our prudence to take heed, that we be not found in the number of those, to whom that awful question is proposed, Hoxv is it, that ye do not discern the signs of this time^^ ?'' This cautious and courtly prelate here assumes an apostolic plainness ; and seems, for a moment, to be forgetful of his episcopal station, and to divest himself of his natural charactei-. To many of those, with whom his lordship associates, a more suitable lesson of caution and of advice he could not have possibly offered. 52 Acts xiii. 40, 41. 53 Vol. II. p. 228. ' Josephus tells us, that, in the last dreadful ruin of his unhappy countnmen, it was familiar with them, to viah a jest ofdi- •o/;;e things, and to deride, as so many senseless tales and ji'ggUng impostures, the sacred oracles of their prophets ; thoug'li they were then fultilling before their eyes, and even upon themselves.' Hui-d, p. 226. 54 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy. Olid keep those things 'ivhich are written therein. Rev. i. 3. ^5 Liike xil, 56. 182 CHAP. XXVII. My next quotation is from another classical scholar, who has likewise contemplated the signs of the times with an attentive eye, and who also was educated in the bosom of the church and in the university of Cambridge ; but whose principles of conduct have been perfectly opposite to those of the bishop of Worcester. ' There is,' says Mr. Wake- field, ' a season, when inactivity were a crime : and public admonition, even at the hazard of personal comforts, rises into an indispensable obligation ; to those, at least, who are desirous that their master should not be ashamed of them at his second coming. I am expecting with trembling solici- tude, amidst the incessant occupations of a literary life, that alarming catastrophe, which ihe signs of the times in- dicate, in my mind, to be rapidly approaching'"^.' To the reasons which have before been stated", to ac- count why the preceding exposition of the prophecy of Jesus has not been embraced or noticed by any of our English commentators, it may be added, that most of them have been too contracted in their inquiries, and have been little careful to collect the light which has been struck out by fo- reign writers on the subject : and that their vernacular ver- sion, upon which too implicit confidence has been placed, is, in some important points, erroneous. 56 Spirit of Christianity compai-ed with tlie Spirit of the Times, p. 20. 57 In p. 396. CHAP. XXVIII. 183 CHAPTER XXVIII. objections against the common interpretations of Christ's prophecy. HAVING endeavored to give a rational and consist- ent interpretation of the whole of the latter division of our Lord's prophetic discourse ; I shall, in order to furnish the reader with a yet farther presumption of its truth, briefly allege some objections, which have forcibly struck my own mind, and appear completely to overthrow the two other hypothesis ; one of which would explain it of the end of the world and the final judgment ; -whilst the other would confine it to the period, when the capital of Judea was cap- tured and destroyed. Of these two interpretations, the first has obtained the greatest number of advocates' ; and v.ith that I shall begin. It is to the false translation of t« «/»v«5, as signifying the xvorld^ that its prevalence may in a great degree be attri- buted. This translation has the patronage of archbishop Tillotson. After our Lord's disciples had inquired, rvhen shall these thhig-s be^ i. e. when shall the temple be destroy- ed, to this inquiry, ' they subjoined,' says the archbishop, * another ; and what shall be the sign of thy comhig P that is, to judgment, and of the end of the world? which, in all probability, was added to the former, because they sup- posed that the one was presently to follow the other*.' ' The disciples,' says Matt. Henry in a more positive tone, ' had confounded the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world, which was built upon a mistake, as if the tem- ple must needs stand as long as the world stands.' It is true, they were mistaken^. But this is an error, from which, I am convinced, they steered perfectly clear. ' They must,' as Dr. Macknight observes, ' certainly have known. 1 See Cressener's Dam. of the Prot. Appl. of the Apoc, p. 81. 2 Serm. 96. 3 See p. 531, 532. 184 CHAP. xxViii, I that Solomon's building had been destroyed by the Babylo- nians, though erected by the appointment of God, and dig- nified with the Schechinah, or visible symbol of the Divine presence. If so, they could hardly think that a temple so much inferior, both in the greatness of its privileges, and the beauty of its fabric, was not to perish, unless in the desolation of the world. In the second place, according to this interpretation of the prophecy, Jesus hath declared^ with the greatest solemnity, a thing which no person could be ignorant of. For who did not know, that with the world Herod's temple, and all other buildings, should crumble into pieces ?' ' If,' says Mr. Nisbett, ' our translation is admitted to be right, the disciples not only introduce a question, which has no connexion with the occasion which gave rise to it, but which was directly opposed to their well-known senti- ments. So far were they from conceiving the end of the world to be at hand, in the strict and literal sense of the expression, that they became the followers of Jesus from a firm persuasion, that he was the Messiah, who should reign gloriously over them*.' And it may be added, that the apos- tles could not have forgotten, what the repeated prophetic declarations of Daniel necessarily imply, that the kingdom of Christ to be established on earth should be of very long duration^. yerusalem^ says the holy founder of our religion (Luk. xxi. 24), shall be trodden down of the Gentiles^ until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; and, two or three verses farther, when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads ; for your deliverance draweth nigh. That the first of these passages relates to the resto- ration of the Jews, is plain ; and that the second has a re- ference to the same event, there can be little room to doubt. To suppose that all the latter part of our Lord's prophecy respects the dissolution of the world, is to suppose, that he 4 Illustr. of Passages in the Epist. of the New Test. &c. p. 15- 5 See Dan. II 44. vii. 14, 18, 27. CHAP. XXVIII. 185 has solemnly foretold the tutarc deliverance of the Jews» and that this solemn declaration shall never be fulfilled. Such is the dilemma, to which the advocates of this opinion are reduced. Verily I say unto you^ this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled, is the affirmation of Christ, ds given in our common version. It is on the sense, he rean- nexed to yfvf«, and on the literal interpretation of other of his words, that an artful, and seemingly formidable, objec- tion against the truth of our Lord's predictions has been founded. The quotation that follows is from a writer, who approaches the believer with the mask of a friend, at the same time that he breathes the most determined hostility against the religion of Jesus, and seizes every opportunity of silently aiming a blow against the evidences of its divine original. ' Those who understood in their literal sense the discourses of Christ himself ' were,' says Mr. Gibbon, ^ ob- liged to expect the second and glorious coming of the son of man in the clouds, before that generation was totallv ex- tinguished, which had beheld his humble condition upon earth, and which might still be witness to the calamities of the Jews under Vespasian or Hadrian. The revolution of seventeen centuries has instructed us not to press too closely the mysterious language of prophecy and revelation ; but as long as, for wise purposes, this error was permitted to subsist in the church, it was productive of the most salu- tary effects on the faith and practice of Christians^' But the lapse of time, I conceive, furnishes a very different les- son. It instructs us, not that the figurative language of prophecy has been pressed too closely, but that it has not been pressed close enough. Not very differently speaks a doctor of the church, whose concession will probably be regarded as rather extraordi- nary, when it is considered that it proceeded from the pul- pit of one of our universities. Our Saviour, says Dr. Thomas Edwards, in the xxivth ch. of Matthew, decisively 6 Uecl. and Fall of the Roman Emp. vol. II, p. 301. Vol. II. A a 186 CHAP. XXVIII* foretells, that the generation then existing should not be totally extinguished, till it had witnessed his second and glorious appearance in the clouds of heaven. Yet the re- cords of history do not authorise us to believe, that this prediction was accomplished at the destruction of Jerusa- lem^' And after professedly investigating the import of various passages relevant to this subject, and noticing the specious, and, as he conceives, unanswerable objection of Mr. Gib- bon ; he terminates his enquiry with declaring, that ' it becomes the antagonist of our historian most earnestly to consider, whether the real interests of Christianity would not be more essentially promoted by conceding the objec- tion to his adversary, than by vainly attempting to remove it*.' But happily the attempt is not vain. The interpreta- tion of our Lord's prophecy, which has been given in the present work, completely wrests from the hands of the in- fidel this powerful objection, against the truth of Christi- anity, and the veracity of Jesus as a prophet. What our Lord says (Mark xiii. 27), and then shall he send his angels^ and shall gather together his elect from the four xvinds^ from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven^ will be explained in a future chapter ; and I will here only observe, that this passage, which has been triumphantly urged as pointing to the day of judgment, and which, at the first sight, certainly does afford more counte- nance to that idea than any other verse in the whole of the discourse, is in truth inapplicable to that event. For, at thaUawful period, not the elect only, but all men whatso- ever, will, it may be expected, be summoned before the tri- bunal of Christ. Another portion also of the prophecy, which has been thought most favorable to the hypothesis I am considering, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 7 Sermon on the Predictions of" the Apostles concerning- the End of the Workl, preached before tlie University of Cambridge, 1790, p. 19. 8 P. ,35. CHAP. XXVIII. 18T heaven^ will, if traced to its source, be found altogether ad- verse to it. For the expression was borrowed by our Lord from the viith ch. of DanieP, where it unquestionably re- lates not to the dissolution of the world, but to the com- mencement of the millennium. It might have been expected, that this circumstance would, of itself, have furnished the commentators with a clue, capable of guiding them in their researches, and that it would have led them to fix •on the true period, to which our Lord's prophecy pointed. The interpretation that follows from Matthew Henry is totally repugnant to reason and probability. In the 24th and 25th verses of the xiiith ch. of Mark, Christ 'foretells the Jinal dissolution of the present frame and fabric of the world : even of. that part of it which seems least liable to change, even the upper part ; the sun shall be darkened^ and the moon shall no more give her light ; for they shall be quite out-shone by the glory of the Son of man, Isa. xxiv. 23. The stars of heaven, that from the beginning had kept their place, and regular motion, shall fall as leaves in autumn ; and the potvers that are in heaven^ the heavenly bodies, the fixed stars, shall he shaken^°.^ They are such interpretations as this, and that other which is cited from 9 We may, says Mede, take ' this for a sure ground, that this expres- sion of the Son of man's coining in the clouds of heaven, so often inculcated in the New Testament, is taken from and hath reference to the prophecy of Daniel, being- no where else found in the Old Testament. As our Savi- our also calls himself so frequently the Son of man, because Daniel so called him, — and that we miglit look for the accomplishment of what is there prophesied of in him. It was not in vain, that when our Saviour quoted the prophecy of Daniel, he added, he that readeth him, let him un- derstand.'' p. 934. See a similar observation of Dr. Sykes mentioned in Vol. II. p. 163. 10 Dr. Pococke, in his Commentary on a similar passage in Joel, ch. lii. v. 15, where it is said, tlie sun, and the moon shall he darkened, and the stars shall ivithdraiu their shining, says, * Jerom thinks the words so to sound, aa if tliose heavenly bodies, not able to behold the sorrows of that day of God's judgments spoken of, and tiie cruel torments inflicted on them that shall then perisli, should even out of fear to themselves withdraw their presence. He seems to refer it to the dreadful day of the last judgment.' That it cannot point to that day is plain from tlie temporal blessings, which are promised, in the subsequent verges, to the clilldren of Israel. 188 CHAP. XXVIII. Jerom in a note, which have afforded some colour of plau- sibility to the groundless declaration of Thomas Paine, a declaration on which he lays much stress (in his Age of Reason J ^ that the belief of Christianity, and the belief of a pluralit}' of worlds, are altogether irreconcileable. ' What are we to think,' asks this celebrated writer, ' of the Chris- tian system of faith, that forms itself upon the idea of only one world, and that of no greater extent, as is before shewn, than 25,000 miles"?' Certainly if this narrow, un- philosophic idea formed really a part of the Christian sys- tem, this circumstance would throw over it very strong suspicions. But the fact is, that the idea ought to be se- parated from it, and that Christianity stands perfectly clear of the charge". 11 P. 39 — 46. In animadverting on tlie manner in which Mr. Paine has spoken of the book of Re\ elation, Mr. Wakefield says, ' that the random fiction of a distempered brain should be marked with such characters of consistency and truth, as are found on the face of the Apocalypse, is to me perfectly inconceivable : not much unlike a suspicion, that the fabric of St. Peter's at Rome was not the work of architectural ingenuity, but thrown up in its present foi-m by an eartliquake or a volcano.' Exam, of the Age of Reason, 2d cd. p. 45. 12 In truth, the study of revelation, by teaching us, that we are beings designed for immortality tends to enlarge our views with respect to the probable destination of many of the planetary orbs, which revolve either round our own or more distant suns. To suppose that the pai-ticular state of being and happiness, or the particular /)/ace of residence, to which vir- tuous men will be transported at their departure from this world, will for ever remain the same, is, I conceive, an expectation contracted and un- philosophic, though it has, indeed, been frequently coimtenanced by the declarations of divines. In the chain of existence, man, it may be pre- sumed, constitutes no very elevated link. The distinctions of being which intervene between man and the oyster, numerous as they are, it is likely, are surpassed in number by those which separate man from the Deity. Is it credible, that an immortahty should be passed, on a single spot of creation, or in a uniform routine of occupations ! Is it not rather to be expected, that there will be a long succession of stales and of worlds, in which improvements will gradually succeed to improvements, the fa- culties of the celestial inhabitants being more and more enlarged, and their prospects becoming more and more extensive ? The promises of ne- yer-ending happiness, which the New Testament promises to the virtu- * volumes.' Jortin's Rem on Ecd Hist. vol. II. p. 420. 24 Blst. dts Juifs, VI. i. CHAP. XXIX. 205 to augment our wonder at the Jews still remaining uninter- mingled with the natives, and with the sects of the various climes which they inhabit. ' They profess a religion found- ed on temporal promises only ; and how miserably these have failed them, the experience of many ages hath now shewn.' They ' are shut out from the only country in the world, where the several rites and ordinances of their reli- gion can be regularly and lawfully observed.' They ' have besides, the sensible mortification of knowing, that all their brethren of the dispersion are every where in equal distress with themselves ; and that there is not one Jewish state or sovereignty subsisting on the face of the whole earth^^.' From considering the present extraordinary situation of the Jews, and the prophecies that foretell their dispersion, I shall pass on to some of those, which assert their future restoration. ' About the time of the fall of the Othman empire and of the Christian Antichrist, the Jews,' says bp. Newton, * shall turn to the Lord, and be restored to their own land. Itviumerable are the passages concerning the conversion and restoration of this people^.' This, observes Mr. Lowth, ' is plainly foretold by most of the prophets of the Old Testament^^.' ' That the Jews,' says Dr. Priestley, *" shall return to their own country, about the lime of the commencement of the millennium ; that they shall possess it many years in peace, and be a very flourishing nation, seem to be most distinctly foretold in many prophecies of the Old Testament^*.' From those words of Christ, that fenisalem shall be trodden doxvn of the Gentiles^ until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, says Wolzogenius, ' it clearly appears, that to the oppression of the Jewish nation by the Gentiles a certain termination and limit is placed; so that it is unquestionable, that they will not remain for ever in that state of servitude, 25 Hurd, vol. I. p. 180. 26 Vol III. p. 389 2rOnIsa.XI.il. ?8 Institutes of Nat. and Rev. Rel. vol. II. p. 420. 206 CHAP. XXIX> but at some period will be emancipated from this yoke."* To the same purpose speaks bp. Newton. ' When the Thnes of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled^ then the expression implies that the Jews shall be restored : and for what reason, can we believe, that though they are dispersed among all na- tions, yet — they are kept distinct from all, but for the far- ther manifestation of God's purposes towards them^^?' yerusalem^ says bp. Hurd, was ' to be trodden down of the Gentiies^°-) until the Ti7nes of the Gentiles should befulfilled"^^. Nor say, that this last prophecy is indefinite, for the Times of the Gentiles is a period well known in the prophetic wi'it- ings; a period of long duration indeed, as the event hath shewn J yet a period, marked out by other prophecies (which may come, in turn, to be considered in this Lecture) no less distinctly than their other captivities had been^^' As the learned prelate has not thought proper to treat farther on the subject, I shall, with respect to it, quote from the Discourse of Mr. Mede, on the Apostacy of the Latter Times^ which the bishop entitles ' exquisite and unanswer- able.' ' Until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled: that is (as was said before) until the Monarchies of the Gen- tiles should be finished. For the Times of the Gentiles 29 Vol. II. 314 30 Since the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and dui-ing a course of above 1700 years, it has accordingly never once been in possession of the Jews, unless indeed it be fact (and this is a matter disputed), that in tlieir rebellion against Hadrian, a small number of them occupied it for a few- months or for about the period of a year. It has successively |?een under the dominion of the Romans, Saracens, Franks, Mamalukes, and Turks. * And there is not the least apparent probability,' says Mr. Evanson, 'that its condition will be altered, till the world shall see that Grand Revolution in human affairs take place, at the period denominated in all the Christian scriptiu-es the coming of yesus Christ, and the establishment of the kingdom of God upon earth.' On the Dissonance of the Evangelists, p. 101. 31 As Christ denominates the period in which we now live, the Times of the Gentiles, it is plain, that those principles of practice, and those sys- tems of religion, which at present have the ascendant, are regarded, in the eye of prophecy, as unworthy of the name of Christian, and as in fact htm^ gentile or heathen. 32 Vol. 1. p. 174. CHAP. XXIX. 207 are that last period of the Roman kingdom prophecied of, a Time, Times, and half a Time'^^.^ Now these, Mede elser where observes, are equivalent to three prophetic years and a half, or 1260 ordinary years. But, as there is reason to believe, that the conclusion of the 1260 years is the period, when the monarchies of the Gentiles will be materially en- feebled and endangered, and not that when they will be universally overthrown and destroyed, the times of the Gentiles mentioned by Christ do, perhaps, not merely con- tain the 1260 years, during which antichristianism and tyranny were triumphantly to prevail, but likewise that shorter and subsequent period, during which antichristian oppression is to maintain a partial ascendency, and which is immediately to precede the downfal of the corrupt systems of power established in Europe. Whilst the memorable declaration of Jesus, that yenisa- lem shall be trodden doxvn of the Gentiles, is in the xxist ch. of Luke and the 24th verse, he says in the 22d verse, of the same chapter, these be the days of vengeance, that all things xvhich are -written inay befidflled. Now ' where were these things written,' asks bp. Chandler-'*, 'but in Daniel, whoni Christ cites by name in the beginning of this discourse^^ V And our Lord, as the learned prelate has observed, refers in particular to the two last verses of the ixth chapter of Daniel, where speaking of Jerusalem and the coming of the Romans to besiege it, he says, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctii- 33 P. 873. ' yerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, i. e.' says Mr. Winston, ' till the times allotted by the divine providence, for the dominion of the four Gentile and idolatrous monarchies, be fulfilled.' p. 70. In like manner Brenius de- clares, that these times ivill be fulfilled, when the destruction of the monar- chies, predicted by Daniel, shall have taken place. See the same observed by Dr. Wells, by bp. Newton (vol. JI. p. 314), and by Mr, Lowth on Dan, ix. 27. 34 Def. of Christianity, p. 359. 25 When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Jianiel, the prophet, 8;c. Mat. xxiv. 15. 208 CHAP. XXIX. ary ; and- — he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and with the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate^ even until the consummation^ and that de- termined^ shall be poured upon the desolator^^. I now give the explanation. And the Roman army shall come to de- stroy Jerusalem and its temple ; they shall cause its sacri- fices and its offerings completely to cease ; with their ido- latrous armies" they shall render it desolate j and the land shall continue^* to be laid waste and overspread with abomi- nations, till the period appointed for their being consum- mated arrive ; and, that determined aera being come, deso- lation shall overwhelm the desolators themselves. A doubt here arises, to whom does the expression the prince^ here allude? The people of the prince^ says Dr. Weils, are 'the people of the Roman empire, or Roman army under Titus ;' and it is of them he observes, that the pronoun he^ which afterwards occurs, is to be understood. But, by the people of the prince that shall come^ Mede understands the future people of the INIcssiah. The two opinions do not, however, stand widely separate ; for the people of the Messiah, says Mede, signify ' the people of the Roman empire, where Christ was principally to have his church and kingdom, whilst Israel should be rejected^^.' In like manner ' bishop Lloyd corrects the common translation thus, the princess (i. e. the ^&^?,\2ih''s) future people. — This people that learn- ed prelate understands to be the Romans and their empire, which was the seat of the Christian church*°.' The quotation which follows is from bp. Chandler. What is in Daniel, ' even until the consuynmatioii^ and that deter- mined^ shall be poured upon the desolator^ is interpreted by 36 The last word I gave, as rendered by Dr. Wells, bishop Lloyd, and bishop Chandler. 37 What is translated overspreading of abominations is perhaps a plu-ase of general application. It signifies, according to Mede, *an army of ido- latrous Gentiles.' p. 870- 38 This desolation, says Mede (in loc), would ' contiuue until the mo- narchies of the Gentiles shoidd be finished.' p. 8/3. 39 P- 868 40 See Mr. Lowth in loc. CHAP. XXIX. 209 Christ, Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles^ until the Twies of the Gentiles be fulfilled^ and then shall be the con- summation, i. e. the end of wrath upon this people. The Gentiles in St. Luke are the Desolators in Daniel ; and in both the Roman empire is intended, by whose army this great desolation was effected. The Jews therefore are, by Christ's interpretation of Daniel, to remain in a long capti- vity, till the coming of the period that God hath fixed for pouring out his wrath on the Roman empire. And that empire being still subsisting, as the Jews affirm, in one of its forms, according to the vision of Nebuchadnezzar's image ; so it hath happened, that all the efforts of the Jews, though many and vigorous, for rebuilding their city and temple, have been vain*'.' The next extract is a part of Dr. Well's paraphrase on the last two verses from Daniel. * During the period of time reckoned by scripture to the Fourth and last kingdoms of the Gentiles, not only the Romans, but also the Saracens, and the Popish Christian kings of Jerusalem, and the Turks, (each of which, though of different extract, yet shall be people or inhabitants of the countries once belonging to the Roman empire) in their respective order and times shall be the lords of Jerusalem, and shall profane the said holy city with their respective abominations, or false and idolatrous worship, — even until that grand consummation of God's indignation against the Jewish nation, or Israelites in general, so often and so much spoken of in holy scripture. Then, when this time deter- mined for putting an end to the Fourth and last kingdom, and so to the whole succession of the four kingdoms of the Gentiles, shall be come, that is (in the words of our Sa- viour, Luke xxi. 24), when the Time of the Gentiles (viz. of their lording over the Jews and other Israelites) shall be fulfilled : then, I say, that utter desolation, which is deter- mined upon all the enemies of Christ or of his true religion, shall be poured upon the desolator^ i. e. upon the Gentile 41 Def. of Christianity, p. 360. Dd 210 CHAP. XXIX. people inhabiting the (once) countries of the Roman empire, namely such of them as shall then be either downright op- posers of Christianity, or else false Christians. — As for Israel ; all Israel shall then be converted to Christianity.' Immediately after predicting the wide dispersion of the Israelites, Moses says, But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God,, thou shalt find hifn^ if thou seek him with ail thy heart and xvith all thy soul. When thou art in tribu- lation^ and all these things are come upon thee,, even in the latter days,, if thou turn to the Lord thy God,, and shalt he obedient unto his voice,, (for the Lord thy God is a merciful God) ; he -will not forsake thee,, neither destroy thee,, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers xvhich he sxvare unto thein*'^. The great legislator of the Hebrews also elsewhere says, it shall come to pass,, -when all these things are come upon thee,, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee^ and thou shalt call them to mind ainong all the nations^ whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee., and shalt return unto the Lord thif God., and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day., thou and thy children, xvith all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that the?! the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and xvill return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land xvhich thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it ; and he -will do thee good, and midtiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circitmci.^e thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God xvith all thiiie heart and with all thy soui*^. No less perspicuous is a prophecy of Ezekiel. Nor is it in the least conditional. Thus saith the Lord God ; behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen. 42 Deut. iv. 29, 30, 31. 43 Deut. xxx. 1—6: tHAP. XXIX. 211 whither they be gone^ and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land, — And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant^ wherein your fathers have dzuelt ; and they shall dxvell therein^ even they^ and their children^ and their children's children for ever^. Not less striking is the declaration in the xlvith chapter of Jeremiah (v. 28). Fear than not^ Jacob my servant, saith the Lord : for I am ivith thee ; for Ixvill make a fidl end of all the nations xvhithcr I have driven thee : but I will not make a full end of thee. ' The providence of God,' says bp. Newton, ' has been remai'kable in the destruction of their enemies^ as well as in their preservation^ For from the beginning who have been the great enemies and oppres- sors of the Jewish nation, removed them from their own land, and compelled them into captivity and slavery? The Egyptians afflicted them much, and detained them in bon- dage several years. The Assyrians carried away captive the ten tribes of Israel ; and the Babylonians afterwards, the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Syro-Macedonians, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, cruelly persecuted them: and the Romans utterly dissolved the Jewish state, and dispersed the people so as they have never been able to recover their city and country again. And where are now these great and famous monarchies, which in their turns subdued and oppressed the people of God ? Are they not vanished as a dream, and not only their power, but their very names, lost in the earth ? What a wonder of providence is it, that the vanquished should so many ages survive the victors, and the former be spread all over the world, while the latter are no more*^' The passages next to be quoted, besides ascertaining the restoration and the future meliorated situation of the Jews, corroborate that interpretation of our Lord's prophecy, which was before alleged ; because they speak the same 44 xxxvir. 21, 25. 45 Vol. I. p. 218. 212 CHAP. XXIX. language with respect to tlie period when this persecuted people shall be restored, declai-ing that this will happen about the time, when a great Revolution takes place in the symbolic heavens and the symbolic earth. The prophet Joel, immediately after foretelling in those verses which have already been cited'*^ v. 9 — 14*% the decisive defeat of the antichristian armies; in v. 15, de- clares, in the symbolic language of prophecy, the conse- quences of that defeat, that the sun and the moon shall be darkened^ and the stars shall xvithdraw their shining^ and that the heavens and the earth shall shake. The Lord^ he im- mediately adds, at this period will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel'"'^. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling'^^ in Zion, my holy mountain : then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. My favor towards you, ye shall know, ye shall learn by experience. Then Je- rusalem su .1 be untouched by foreign armies, and no more shall they pass through her streets and her provinces at their pleasure. Isaiah after recurring to the same class of symbols, and saying in ch. Ixv. 17, behold I create new heavens and a new earth, adds in the two succeeding verses. But ye shall re- joice and exidt in the age to come^°, wAic/i I create : for, to! I create Jerusalem a subject of joy, and her people of gladness ; and I will exult in Jerusalem, and rejoice in my people. And there shall not be heard any more therein, the voice of xveeping, and the voice of a distressful cry^^. In another place Isaiah says, that, when men shaUnot hurt nor destroy, and when the earth shall be full of the knoW" lege of the Lord, that is to say, at the commencement of the 46 In p. 301, and 302. 47 Chap. III. 48 In explication of these words. Dr. Pococke pertinently cites, Luke xxi. 28, Thtn look up, and lift up your heads ; for your deliverance droKeih nigh. 49 To dwell among, says Dr. Lancaster, signifies protection. 5Q i. e. in the oiiav or eminent period, called the millennium. 51 To bp. Lowth the translation above belongs. CHAP. XXIX. 213 millennium ; it shall come to pass in that day^ that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the rem- nant of his people^ zvhich shall be left^ from Assyria^ and from Egypt, — and from the isles of the sea. And he shall set lip an ensign for the nations^ and shall assemble the out- casts of Israel^ and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth^^^ In the expression the isles of the sea^ Europe, says Vitringa, is undoubtedly included. After alleging so many passages, all of which prove that the restoration of the Jews xvill be accomplished, and seve- ral of which serve to evince, that that event will take place about the time, when the new symbolic heavens and sym- bolic earth are to commence ; I shall perhaps be thought to have unnecessarily directed the attention of the reader to the following citation from Dr. Whitby. It is not, how- ever, long, and, of itself, seems capable of conveying con- viction to the mind. ' St. John speaks of a neiu heaven atiP. a nexu earthy that he saw, saying, the former heaven and earth xvere passed arvay^ Rev. xxi. 1 : and introduceth our Lord, saying. Behold, I make all things nezv, v. 5. And the prophet Isaiah introduceth God, thus speaking at the conversion of the Jews, Behold, I create nexv heavens and a nexv earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind^^. Is. Ixv. 17. And again, — in the very words of the author of the Revelations, Behold, I make all things nexv, ch. xliii. 18, 19. Seeing then these nexv heavens and nexv earth mast be contemporary with the conversion of the Jews, sure they must be before the conflagration of the world, i. e. before the Jewish nation be consumed to ashes ; and therefore can 52 XI. 9, 11, 13. In the versions of bp. Lovvth and Mi-. Dodson it is from the four extremities of the earth. 5o In his Thoughts on the Grand Apostacy (p. 190), Mr. Taylor (the au- thor of Ben MorJecui's Apolog < ) has not omitted to warn the reader, that this passage relates not * to the dissolution of the natural, but merely of the political world.' 214 CHAP. XXIX. onlj' be a new heaven and 7ieTv earthy in that moral sense in which Maimonides explains the phrase'*.' In the scriptures of the Old Testament, agreeably to what might be expected, the prophecies relative to the fu- ture state of the Jews are principally to be found. That there is a plain prediction of the great founder of our reli- gion upon this subject has^ however, been seen. To this a prophetic declaration of St. Paul may with propriety be added. In the beginning of the Xlth chapter of his epis- tle to the Romans, he asks. Hath God cast away his people P God for '>id, says the apostle, God hath not cast away his peo- ple f And again in verses 25, and 26, I would not^ brethreUy that ye should be ignorant of this mystery ^ — that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved. That the de- scendants of Abraham, much as they have been distin- guished by obstinate incredulity, shall hereafter acknowlege the evidences, and enjoy the advantages, of Christianity, is, indeed, the great truth, which is to be deduced from the whole tenor of the chapter". 54 On the Millennium, c. II. sect. 3. The expression of the prophet^ Maimonides admonishes the reader, is symbolically to be understood. 55 Dr. Whitby, in his elaborate, and, I may add, in his convincing, Ap- pendix to the xith chapter of the Romans, says, to strengthen the argument which I ha^'e offered from it, ' for the conversion of the Jewish nation to the Christian faith ; let it be noted, that this hath been the constant doc- trine of the church of Christ, owned by the Greek and Latin Fathers, and by ALL commentators I have met with on this place. Among the Greek Fathers by St. Chrysostom,' Thcodoret, Gennadius, Photius, Theophylact, andOrigen. ' All the Latin Fathers, who have left us any commentaries, or notes on this epistle, are plainly of the same mind, as j'ou may see by consulting Hilary the Deacon, Prlmasius, Sedulius, and Haymo, upon the 25th verse of this chapter.' That the exiled wanderers of Judea shall hereafter embrace the Christian faith, was also the ojiinion of Jerom and Justin Mart\T, of Cyril and Augustin, as their writings attest. That the Jewish nation shall hereafter be converted to Christianity is observed, in tiieir respective commentaries on the xith. ch. of the Epistle to the Romans by Poole and Mr. Samuel Clark, by John Locke and Mr. Taylor of Norwich, by Doctors Guyse, Doddridge, and Wells, by Bre- nius, Slichtingius, and Crellius, by Pareus, Beza, Marlorat, and Erasmus. CHAP. XXIX. 215 It is observable, says Dr. Hartley, that ' the promises of restoration relate to the ten tribes, as well as the two of Judah and Benjamin'^' ' That the Jews, both of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamiti, and the other ten, shall hereafter be restored to their own land, is,' says Mr. Hal- lett, * foretold by all the ancient prophets. The twelve tribes of Israel continued one people till the reign of Reho- boam, son of Solomon ; when the ten tribes revolted from him. These ten tribes were called, the kingdom of Israel; the other two were called, the kingdom of Judah. About 250 years after the division, the kingdom of Israel was con- quered by the Assj^rians, and the people carried away cap- tive, 2 Kings, xvii. 5, 6, &c. These have never yet returned to Judea".' ' The difficulty of finding out the habitations of the ten tribes hath', says bp. Newton, induced some ' to maintain, that they returned into their own country with the other two tribes after the Babylonish captivity. The decree, indeed, of Cyrus extended to all the people of God (Ezra I. 3.), and that of Artaxerxes to all the people of Israel (vii. 13.) : and no doubt many of the Israelites took advantage of these de- crees, and returned with Zerubbabel and Ezra to their own cities: but still the main body of the ten tribes remained be- hind. Ezra, who should best know, saith, that there ro&e up the chief of the fathers of fiidah and Benjamin (1. 5.) and he called the Samaritans the adversaries of fudah and Benjamin (iv. 1.) : these two tribes were the principals, the others were only as accessaries. And, if they did hot return at this time, they cannot be supposed to have returned in a body at any time after this : for we read of no such adventure in history, we know neither the time nor the occasion of their return, nor who were their generals or leaders in this expedition. Josephus, who saw his country for several years in as flour- And that this is the import of St. Paul's words is incidentally observed by Vitringa (in Jesai. torn. II. p. 795). 56 On Man, vol. II. p. 373. 57 Notes on Several Texts of Scripture and Discourses, by Joseph Hal- lett, Jun. vol. III. p. 409. ^16 ' CHAP. XXIX, ishing a condition as at any time since the captivity, affirms, that Ezra sent a copy of the decree to Artaxerxes to all of the same nation throughout Media, where the ten tribes lived in captivity, and many of them came with their effects to Babylon, desiring to return to Jerusalem: but the main body of the Israelites abode in that region : and therefore it hath happened, saith he^*, that there are two tribes in Asia and Europe, living in subjection to the Romans, but the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates to this time'^.' And it is observed by Prideaux, ' that, during all the time of the second temple, and for a great many ages after, the number of the Jews in Chaldea, Assyria, and Persia, grew to be so very great, that they were all along thought to ex- ceed the number of the Jcavs of Palestine, even in those times when that country was best inhabited by them^.' With respect to the ten tribes, the following questions, which bp. Newton has stated, are, as he observes, doubtless embarrassing. ' Where have they subsisted all this while ? And where is their situation, or what is their condition at present*' ? It may, however, be observed, that the Jews, who still subsist under great circumstances of depression in Persia, are the descendants of the ten tribes*^ ; and some passages from a recent work of Oriental literature may de- serve to be transcribed, as they seem to aff'ord some hope, that a ray of light may be unexpectedly thrown over a sub- ject, Avhich has hitherto been dark and unusually clouded by difficulties. After an account of the Afghans, inserted in the Asiatic Researches^ the parent of that work. Sir William Jones, who unites in his own person two very rare characters, that of an accomplished Oriental linguist and a meritorious British inhabitant of Hindostan, add^ ' This account of 58 Antiq. lib. II. cap. 5. sect. 2. p. 482. edit. Hudson. 59 Vol. I. p. 209. 60 Connection of the Hist, of the Old and New Test. fol. "th cd. vol. I. p. 108. 61 Vol. I. p. 20". , 62 See Basnage's Hist, of the Jews, b. VI. ch. 2, 4. CKAP. XXIJC« 2ir the Afghans may lead to a very interesting discovery. We learn from Esdras'^^ that the ten tribes, after a wandering journey, came to a country called Arsareth, where we may suppose they settled. Now the Afghans are said by THE BEST Persian historians to be descended from THE Jews ; they have traditions among themselves of such a descent ; and it is even asserted, that their families are distinguished by the names of Jewish tribes, although since their conversion to the Islam, they studiously conceal their origin. The Piishto language, of which I have seen a dictionary, have a manifest resemblance to the Chaldaic; and a considerable district under their dominion is called Hazareh, or Hazaret, which might easily have been changed into the word used by Esdras. I strongly recommend an inquiry into the literature and history of the Afghans^*.' The title given to the piece, to which Sir William Jones's observations are annexed, is on the Descent of the Afghani from the Jews. It is translated from the Persian by Mr. Vansittart ; and the Persian work is itself an abridgment of a more early performance, written in the Pushto or Af- ghan language, and entitled, the Secrets of the Afghans. It is from this Persian abridgment that the following state- ments are taken. * The Afghans, according to their own traditions, are the posterity of Melic Talut' (king Saul), and Afghan, who had a military command under Solomon, was the grandson of Talut. Then follows an account of 63 B. II. ch. xiii. 41 — 50. Visionaiy and wild as many parts of the Se- cond Book of Esdras certainly are, it nevertheless ascertains the anti- quity of this tradition. It is, declares Bengelius, a matter admitted by the learned, that this book was written in the beginning of the second century ( Intr- to the Apoc &c. p. 285) ; and Basnage, speaking of the au- dior of it, says (Hist of the Jews, b. VI. c. 2, 4), ' we must place him at the end of the first, or beginning of the second, century.' 64 See the Asiatic Researches, 4to. vol. II ; or a smaller work, published by Nicol, entitled Dissertations and Miscellaneous Pieces, relating to the Hist, and Antiq. the Arts, Sciences, and Liter, of Asia by Sir W. Jones, &c. 8vo. vol. II. p. 128. Vol. II. E e 218 CHAP. XXIX. the war between the children of Israel and the Amalekitea^ and various particulars, relative to the Jewish monarchs^ Saul and David, and the prophet Samuel. ' The Afghans are called Solaimani, either because they were formerly the subjects of Solomon, king of the Jews, or because they inhabit the mountain of Solomon. — Their nation has pro- duced many conquerors of provinces,' and seven princes *■ of this race have sat upon the throne of Dehli.' The order of ranks, which prevails among them, cannot but have operated in preserving a large part of them se- parate from those who are of a different origin. ' They framed regulations,' says the author of the Persian abridg- ment, * dividing themselves into four classes. — The first is the pure class, consisting of those, whose fathers and mothers were Afghans^^' The Afghans, Mr. Vansittart observes, have been subject to the kings of Persia^, as well as to the princes of Hindostan. That the ten tribes were transported into some of the provinces of the Persian empire, is universally admitted'^ ; and that they continued there for a considerable time, and were very numerous, cannot be doubted. Now as we know them to have been exposed in that empire, at differ 65 See the Dissertations, &c. p. 119 — 128. The Afghans, saj s Mr. Han- way, ' have an utter aversion against mai-rying' their daughtei's to strangers,' Hist, of the Revokitions of Persia, vol. III. p. 43. 66 At the beginning of the present century, the province of KandaJiar, which the Afghans inliabited, was subject to Persia. Oppressed and phindered in the most outrageous manner by the Persian governor, and the licentious troops whom he commanded, the Afghans in the year 1709 rebelled, and succeeded in erecting that province into a small but inde- pendent monarchy. In the year 1722 the Afghans penetrated to the heai-t ol" the Persian empire ; and, having defeated an army of nearly 50,000 Persians, and obtained possession of Ispahan, the prince of the Afghans ascended the throne of Persia. In ilie year 1726 the Porte having declai-ed war against the Afghan king of that country, the Afghans defeated an arm}- of between 70 and 80,000 Turks. But the Afghans, in the year 1729, were defeated by the celebrated KouG Khan, and expelled from Persia. For these facts see Han way's Accoimt of the Revolutions in Per>:;ia. Vo'. HI. p. 22—255; and vol. IV. p. 1—40. 67 See bp. Newton, vol. I. p. 206, 207 CHAP. XXIX. 219 ent periods, to oppression and the severest calamities'^' ; it certainly does seem reasonable to conclude, indepen- dently of any positive testimonies which may be alleged on the subject, that considerable numbers of them, in order to escape from the fury of persecution, would enter and inhabit one or both of the two adjoining countries of Tar- tary and India, where their settlement would be favored by the facility with which revolutions were affected, and by the comparatively small power, which the princes of those countries, from the smallness of their territories frequently possessed. That they would gradually be induced to cor- rupt the purity of the Jewish worship, to embrace hea- thenism, and afterwards to acknowlege a belief in the di- vine mission of Mahomet, seems also extremely probable j powerfully led to it, as they would be, by motives of policy and the contagion of example, by ignorance of letters, and their total separation from their brethren in Turkey and in Europe. To these conclusions the preceding extracts are doubtless favorable ; nor are they unsupported by the tes- timonies of other writers. The quotation that follows is from bishop Law. At the termination of the captivity of the Jews at Babylon, the greatest part of them, and those of the greatest eminence, staid behind, and .settled in Chaldea, Assyria, and other Eastern provinces ; — whence it is probable, that some of their descendants spread so far as the East Indies, where their posterity continue to this day ; as appears from the accounts of many modern travellers^.* As the subject is curious, some of these accounts, though certainly not exempt from error, may perhaps deserve to be collected, and to be briefly noticed. That the Afghans are those, to whom some of these travellers refer, can hardly be doubted. The learned Mr. Jacob Bryant, speaking of a colony of Jews at Cochin upon the coast of Malabar, says, they came 68 See Basnage's Hist, of the Jews. 69 Law's Theory of Rdigion, 3d ed. p- 140. ^20 CHAP. XXlXo there according to Hamilton'" as early as the captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. Thus much is certain, the sera is so far back, that they know not now the time of their arrival. — They consisted formerly of 80,000 families : but are now reduced to 4000. Mr. Bate, a clergyman, who had a sou in the East Indies, made application to have some particu- lars of their history. " I wrote'' over to the coast of Ma- labar, to know what tradition the Jews have retained, as to the time of their settlement at Cochin, but had no satisfac- tory answer. Ezekiel, the Rabbin of the synagogue, did, indeed, send me a transcript of their copper plate, hung up in their synagogue. It is written in the Malabar language, put into common Hebrew characters ; interlined with a lite- ral version in Hebrew'^". This account, it is manifest, does not relate to the Afghans. But it may be observed, that it is at least a possible case, that of the Jews who emi- grated from Persia a small portion might, like their bre- thren of Europe, steadily adhere to the religion of Moses. The extract which follows is from Bernier's description of Hindostan. Bernier was a learned Frenchman, who re- sided twelve years at the court of the Great Mogul, and in the year 1664 accompanied him in his journey to the small kingdom of Kachemire or Cashmere ; a country very rarely visited by Europeans, as it is situated at the extremity of Hindostan, borders upon Tartary and upon Persia, and is extremely difficult of access, being shut up and almost in- sulated by the mountains of Caucasus'^ In answer to some inquiries made by that industrious traveller, M. Thevenot, whether there were Jews in the kingdom of Cashmere, and 70 Account of the East Indies, c. xxvi. p. 323; 71 • Bate's Rationale, p. 223. Maffeius in his Indian History speaks of those Jews, as being in great numbers at Cochin. — See his Hist. Lib. 5CVI. p. 332.' 72 Bryant upon the Authenticity of the Scriptures, and the Truth of the Chr. Rel. p. 273. 73 In order to form an accurate idea of the singularly insulated situa- tion of Cashmere, see the Map of the South East part of Asia, prefixed to Dr. Robertson's Hist. Disq. on India: or major Rennel's map of the Coun- tries between the Sources of the Ganges and the Caspian Sea; or the map of Cashmere in the second volume of the Voyages de Bernier. CHAP. XXIX. 221 whether they were possessed of the wrltmgs of the Old Testament ; Bernier informs him, that if there have in that country been those who have professed Judaism, ' as there is some reason to believe, there are none now re- maining,' but ' that all the inhabitants are either Pagans or Mahometans Nevertheless one cannot fail of finding there many marks of Judaism. The jirst is, that on entering this kingdom, after having passed the moun- tains of Pire-penjale, all the inhabitants that I saw in the first villages appeared to me to be Jews in their air and deportment, and moreover in that indefinable peculiarity, which enables us to distinguish one nation from another''*. I am not the only person; who has been of that opinion ; our father, the Jesuit, and many of us Europeans have en- tertained it before me. The second \^^ that I have remarked, that among the lower ranks of people in this town^', although Mahometans, yet the name of Mousa, which signifies Mo- ses, js very much in use. The third is, they commonly say, that Solomon came into their country, and that it was he who cut through the mountain of Baramoule to give a free passage to the waters. The fourth^ that Moses died at Cashmere, and that his tomb is one league distant from this town. The fifths that they pretend, that that little and very ancient edifice, which appears from this place upon an high mountain, was built by Solomon, and that it is for that reason, that to this very day they call it the throne of Solomon. Therefore I would not deny, that some Jews have penetrated hither. These people, in the lapse of time, may have lost the purity of their law^ ; have become idola- ters, and at length Mahometans'^' 74 Speaking in another place of the inhabitants of Cashmere, he says, * tliey are celebrated for their fine complexion. They are as weU made as we Europeans : at the same time having' nothing of the countenance of the Tartai', with his flat nose, and little pig's eyes.' Voyages de Francois Bernier, torn. II. p. 281. 75 The town of Cashmere, I apprehend. 76 Voyages de Francois Bernier, docteur en Medicine de la Faculte de Mont- pellier ; contenant la description des Flats dtt Grand Mjagol. Amsterdam, ^22 <:hap. XXIX. * The race of the Afghans,' says the Persian writer trans- lated by Mr. Vansittart, ' possessed theijiselves of the moun- tain of Solomon, which is near Kandahar", and the cir- cumjacent country, where they have built forts.' And Mr. Vansittart adds, ' the country of the Afghans, which is a province of Cabul, was originally called Roh, and from hence is derived the name of Rohillahs^^. The city, which was established in it by the Afghans, was called by them Paishwer, or Paishor, and is now the name of the whole district^^' It is Avorthy of observation, that the city of Kandahar stands on the very frontier of Persia ; that not only the province of that name, but also that of Cabul, is on the borders of the Persian empire ; and that the former of these provinces is adjacent to the kingdom of Cashmere, and that the latter immediately joins it. With respect to the city of Paishwer, a principal residence of the Afghans, the maps of Hindostan ascertain its vicinity to Cashmere. After introducing extracts from Bernier and Bryant, Vansittart and Sir W. Jones, it may, perhaps, not be im- proper briefly to notice the statements of three celebrated Jewish writers, Benjamin of Tudela, Eldad, and Peritful of Ferrara, though their narratives, it must be admitted, have so great a mixture of what is fabulous and untrue, that they deserve not attention any farther than they are 1723, torn. II. p. 316. Bernier was a man of penetration, and. greatly superior to the general mass of travellers. Accordingly Mr. Gibbon (vol. I. p. 333), when speaking of his journey to the kingdom of Cashmere and of the ca'mp of Aurengzebe, says, • that most curious traveller Bernier — describes with great accuracy the immense moving city.' And it is ob- served by major Rennel (Mem. of a Map of Hindostariy p. 66), that Ber- nier ' deseiTes the greatest credit for veracity.' 77 That ♦ the Afghans originally inhabited the mountainous tract lying between India and Persia, or the ancient Paropamisus,' is the statement of major Rennel. Memoir of a Map of Hindostan, pref p. 48.' 78 Of the Rohilla nation, who are a part of the Afghans, and who in. habited the beautiful province of Rohilcund, a considerable part were cruelly extirpated in a war undertaken by the Instigation of Mr. Hastings. 79 See the Asiatic Researches, or Dissertations, ut Supra. CHAP. XXIX. 223 supported by other writers and by independent evidence. Benjamin, says Basnage, was ' a famous traveller of the 12th century, who seems to have undertaken his voyage only to discover the state of his dispersed nation in all parts of the world. — His testimony seems to be the more au- thentic, because he speaks as an eye-witness, and relates what he had seen.' Eldad, who is supposed to have lived in the 13th century, wrote largely on the history of the twelve tribes. Peritful was a geographical writer of the 16th century. Benjamin relates, that, in the course of his travels in the East Indies, he met with a very considerable number of his countrymen j that there were, as he was in- formed, 20,000 Jews intermingled with the Pagan worship- pers of fire ; and that a nation of Jews was seated in the neighborhood of Persia, secured by the mountains which surrounded them, and independent of the power of that country. After relating that four of the Jewish tribes mi- grated beyond the rivers of Chaldea, and that they lived in a great degree after the manner of the Tartars, accom- panied by their flocks, and dwelling in tents ; Eldad asserts, that of the tribe of Issachar, which was subject to the Per- sians, a part conformed to some of the laws of the country, and that fire was the object of their religious adoration. And that colonies of Jews were planted along the shores of the Ganges, is the statement of PeritfuP°. The author of a supplemental dissertation, inserted in Picart's elaborate work, on the Ceremonies and Religious Customs of the Vai-ious Nations of the Worlds after referring to the relations of Benjamin and of Peritful, says, ' sup- posing it was true, that there ever was a Jewish settle- ment in those countries, we might very justly conjec- ture, that they were the remainder of the ten tribes. — Guelielmus de Rubruquis^', who travelled into Tartary in the year 1646, assures us, that about two day's jour- 80 See Basnage's Hist, of the Jews, b. VI. ch. 2, % 81 P. 272, edit, of Paris. 224 CHAP. XSIX* ney beyond Dei-bent, on the road to Great Tartary, he met with a great number of Jews in a city called Sama- ron ; and he mentions likewise an inclosed country to- wards the Caspian sea, where the Jews were confined. Carping who travelled at the same time, gives us likewise an account of some of the Jews of Tartary^^.' Indeed Basnage informs us, that 'there are chiefly two opinions, that have been current with the Jews,' and the Christians, and that one of these opinions is this, ' that the ten tribes went into Tartary, in which are still observed some traces of ancient Judaism.' Menasseh, who was one of the wisest of the Jevfish doctors, ' in the last century as- serted the transmigration of the ten tribes into Tartary.' And ' Ortelius, that ingenious geographer, in giving the description of Tartary, notes the kingdom of Arsareth, where the ten tribes retiring succeeded the Scythian inha- bitants*'*.' These opinions, it is proper to state, obtained not the approbation of Basnage himself. There are, he says, Jews dispersed in the East Indies: but they are not de- scendants of tiie ten tribes, but merchants, drawn thither by commerce. ' If we would seek out the remains of the ten tribes, we must do it only on the banks of the Euphra- tes, in Persia, and the neighboring province^^' The ac- counts respecting the emigration of Jews into Tartary or India are doubtless intermingled with much which is fabu- lous and wild^'^: but perhaps there is ground for concluding, that Basnage, engaged as he was in the composition of a work which involved a vast variety of inquiries, was too hasty in peremptorily rejecting the whole of these accounts, and that, notwithstanding his very extensive knowlege of 82 P. 377. 83 Bernard Picart's Cereinonies and Religioim Customs of the Various Na- tions of the Knoivn World, fol 1733, vol. 1. p. 166. 84 Hist, of the Jews, p. 474. 85 P. 747. 86 Postal, Basnage informs us (p. 474), stated the Turks to be descended from the Jews. CHAP. xXix* 225 the Jewish dispersions, he was on this point not sufficiently careful in separating probability from fiction, Iniormation on the subject from Oriental writers it must, indeed, be admitted, he had not an opportunity of procuring. That a large body of the Jews should settle on the bor- ders of Hindostan, is much more probable, than that they should inhabit any district of Tartary. But even with re- spect to the latter statement, the reasoning of Basnage, is not, I think, eminently conclusive. How improbable is it, says the author of the History of the Jews, that a handful of fugitives, should be able to conquer and ' expel the Scythians, a people terrible for their fierceness and ex- pence in war.' And he immediately after exclaims, what a specimen of romantic folly ' would it be, to leave a tole- rably good country, to go and make conquests upon the Scythians*^.' That the Persian Jews should conquer the Scythians, is certainly incredible ; but that they should de- feat some particular Tartar hordes is not impossible. That they should draw the sword against any of the shepherds of Tartary is not, however, a necessary supposition. Their country is of vast magnitude ; and who does not know, that myriads of its wandering inhabitants have frequently emi- grated, and invaded some civilised nation of the globe ? Surely, then, there is no difl[iculty in supposing, that a considerable part of the Jews of Persia might discover and occupy a portion of vacant land, equal in point of extent to iJl their wants. Nor is there any thing absurd in their abandoning Persia, cruelly persecuted as they often were by the prince and the people of that country. It is observable that Moses says, the Lord shall scatter thee among' all people^ from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shall serve other Gods^ xvhich neither thou nor thy fathers have knoxvn^ even xvood and sto7ie^^. '■ And is it not,' asks bp. Newton% ' too common 87 P. 479. 88 Deiit. XXVIII, fi-l. 89 Vol. I. p. 196. Vol. II. F f 226 CHAP. XXIX. for the Jews in popish countries to comply with the idola- trous worship of the church of Rome, and to bow down to stocks and stones, rather than their effects should be seiz- ed and confiscated.' The prelate then quotes Basnage. " The Spanish and Portugal Inquisitions," saith he, " re- duce them to the dilemma of being either hypocrites or burnt. The number of these dissemblers is very consider* able ; and it ought not to be concluded, that there are no Jews in Spain or Portugal, because they are not known : they are so much the more dangerous, for not only being very numerous, but confounded with the ecclesiastics, and entering into all ecclesiastical dignities." And in another place he saith, " The most surprising thing is, that this religion spreads from generation to generation, and still subsists in the persons of dissemblers in a remote posterity. In vain the great lords of Spain make alliances, change their names, and take ancient scutcheons ; they are still known to be of Jewish race, and Jews themselves. The convents of monks and nuns are full of them. Most of the canons, inquisitors, and bishops proceed from this na- tion. This is enough to make the people and clergy of this country tremble, since such sort of churchmen can only profane the sacraments, and want intention in consecrating the host they adore. In the mean time Orobio, who re- lates the fact, knew these dissemblers. He was one of them himself, and bent the knee before the sacrament. Moreover he brings proofs of his assertion, in maintain- ing, that there are in the synagogue of Amsterdam bro- thers and sisters and near relations to good families of Spain and Portugal ; and even Franciscan monks, Domi- nicans, and Jesuits, who come to do penance, and make amends for the crime they have committed in dissembling^. "^ This is the whole of what bp. Newton has alleged in illus- tration of the prophecy, which I have just cited from Deu- teronomy. It is not, I think, completel)^ satisfactory ; for 90 Basnage, book VII. ch. 21, sect. 26 ; and ch, 33. sect. 14. CHAP XXIX. 22T the fact is, that the Jews, who are scattered among the na- tions of Europe, have upon the who'e adhered with un- common steadiness to the faith of their ancestors. In or- der then to remove the difficulty, I would observe, that this prediction has principally received its fulfilment in the apostasy of the descendants of the ten tribes, who have disappeared from the eyes of the world ; and it may be re- marked, that the Afghans, previously to their embracing of Mahometanism, were, as there is reason to believe, de- based by the practice of idolatry and of heathen supersti- tions. Agreeably to this Dr. Priestly, when speaking of an- other prediction, which relates to the Jews abandoning the religion of their ancestors, says, this prophecy has most literally 'been fulfilled in the ten tribes, few of whom ever returned to Palestine, and not being at present distinguish- ed from other nations, they have, no doubt, adopted their idolatrous religions. It is not improbable, however, but that they somewhere form a distinct people, and that in due time their origin may be discovered. Some traces of them have of late appeared.' This celebrated writer immediate- ly adds in a note, it is ' with considerable probability,' that Sir William Jones 'conjectures, that the Afghans, a people living between Persia and Hindostan, are of Israelitish ex- traction^'.' With respect to the Afghans, I shall only farther add, that should this conjecture relative to them hereafter be proved to be a fact, it would not be very difficult to account for its having lain so many centuries in concealment. The following circumstances would, perhaps, afford a solution of the difficulty. Till very lately the gaining of territory, the acquisition of riches, and the opportunity of living with profusion and splendor, are the objects which have solely occupied the minds of the Europeans of Hindostan; and, in the pursuit of these^ it must be admitted, they have discovered no want of eagerness, and no unnecessary scru- 91 Disc, on the Evi. of Rel. 1794. p. 216. 228 CHAP. XXIX. pies with respect to the means of obtaining them. Recent is the period when the literary treasures of Hindostan be- gan to be sought after with any degree of activity ; and small is the number of persons, who have applied to Hindu and Persie literatare. The mountainous regions at the ex- tremity of Hindostan, where was the proper seat of the Afghans, intelligent and inquisitive Europeans have scarce- ly visited at all : should a small number be found to have done this, they were very imperfectly acquainted with the ordinary language of the country: and of the Pushto or Afghan language Europeans have scarcely had the slights est knowlege. Lastly, the Afghans have kept their origin enveloped in studied obscurity. If the nation of the Jews do perish in their present state of wretchedness, ' the Holy Spirit,' says Jurieu, ' hath de-^ ceived this nation, all their oracles are false, and God hath borne them up with vain hopes' But this is a supposition, which it is almost irreverend to name. ' The Messiah,' says the French divine, ' belongs to the Jews, he was pro- mised to the Jews ; this nation from its very original hath been fed with the hopes of the Messiah's coming, as of such a good, which was too great to be described. At last he conies; and this people, instead of seeing those great promises accomplished, see their temple burnt, their capi- tal city razed, their service abolished, their posterity dis- persed throughout the world, and made the execration and contempt of mankind. Thus the Messiah, the glory of their nation, brings them nothing but shame, desolation, and infinite miseries, %vhich have no parallel in any othor people'*.' That such will be the final result of events, can surely never be believed. That we have hitherto seen only a partial accomplishment of the divine purposes, with re- spect to this people, is a conclusion to which the believer is compelled to resort. The statement of Vitringa may, how- ever, be perfectly correct, that the Jews will remain undis- tinguished by any peculiar privileges'^. 92 Vol. II. p. 298. 9:i In Apoc. p. 436. CHAP. XXIX. 229 The literal fulfilment of the ' prophecies concernhig the calamities, and total dispersion of the Israelites, must,' says Dr. Priestly 'satisfy that nation, and in time all man- kind, that Moses was inspired in delivering them. — His other prophecies concerning their future restoration, and flourishing state, are as distinct and express as those con- cerning their calaniities, and far more numerous. They ai-e not only contained in Moses, but the favorite subject is resumed, enlarged upon, and set in a thousand different lights, by Isaiah and most of the succeeding prophets.' They are ' equally clear and free from ambiguity, so that there can be no doubt concerning their meaning, and conscr quently, if we believe in revelation, concerning their literal accomplishment^'*.' There are some, however, who will probably object, that it is altogether unreasonable to expect, that the period will ev^er arrive, when any considerable number of the Jews, unceasingly as their desires are fixed on the means of acquiring a subsistence or augmenting a fortune, deeply as they ai-e involved in the concerns of trade or the perplexi- ties of commerce, should seriously turn their thoughts to a departure from their respective countries, and consent to abandon all those sources of Avealth to which they have been accustomed to recur. This objection is colored by a certain degree of plausibility. But it may be asked, does it correspond with past experience ? Is it true, in point of fact, that the Jews have ceased to place a confidence in the prophecies of their future restoration ? Is it true, that, since their expulsion from Judea, their minds have become recorrciled to banishment ? Is there reason to believe, that they have forgotten the country, whence they derive their origin, and where their forefathers once enjoyed such dis- tinguished privileges ? Have they, during the period of their dispersion, felt no fond desires of re-entering the bor- ders of Palestine, and of raising the standard of national hidependence ? — The fact is far otherwise. Instead of not 94 Disc, on the Evid. of Rev. Rel. p. 216. 230 CHAP. XXIX. being influenced at all by these hopes, instead of not paying a reasonable degree of attention to the sacred oracles which promise their restoration at some future time, they have often rushed into the contrary extreme, and have been rea- dy to listen with an excess of credulity to every impostor, however slender his pretensions, provided he held out to them the expectation of a return to the country of their ancestors. In order to prove this assertion, I shall, as the subject is curious, give a compressed account of some of the false Messias and impostors, M'^ho have appeared at different periods subsequent to the demolition of Jerusalem by Titus. About 50 years after that event, Barcochebas was ac- knowleged by the Jews for the Messiah; and, having en listed forces to the amount of 200,000 men, declared war against the emperor Hadrian. Animated by enthusiasm, and confiding in his lofty pretensions, the Jews, under his conduct, displayed signal valor ; and repeatedly defeated the Roman general, Rufus. So great, indeed, was the slaughter of the Romans, that the emperor in his letters to the senate, was induced to withhold his accustomed saluta- tions ; and we are told by the historian Dion, that, in the war with Hadrian, 580,000 Jews were destroyed by the sword, besides an immense number M'ho perished by fire, by hunger, andJjy disease. The island of Crete, and the year 434, furnished an almost incredible instance of credu- lity. In this year appeared Moses Cretensis, who not only pretended to be appointed by heaven to be the leader of the Jews ; but promised that he would divide the sea, and, after having opened a passage through its waters, would conduct them in safety to the land of Judea : and he not only ob- tained a great multitude of followers ; but procured their assent to the full extent of his promises, and succeeded in making them prepare for their departure. The citizens abandoned their houses, and the husbandmen their farms ; and repaired to a promontory, to which the Cretan enthu- siast had directed their steps. When arrived there, the frantic multitude felt no diminution of confidence or of GHAP. XXIX. £31 courage. The men, the woman, and the children, -who oc- cupied the foremost ranks, did, the contemporary historian Socrates assures us, precipitate themselves from the pro- montory and plunge into the sea. Of these deluded Jews a part were drowned ; a part were saved by some Christian fisherman, who happened to be near the shore in their barks ; and the enthusiasm of the remainder was effectually cooled by the bad success of this singular experiment. With re- spect to Moses Cretensis himself, his fate was not certainly known. In the year 529, the Jews and Samaritans of Palestine, rising in rebellion against the Roman power, acknoAvleged one Julian, as their king and their messiah; and a great number of them were in consequence slaughtered. It was also in the 6th century, that rabbi Meir arose, and pretend- ed that the Deity had, on his account, miraculously lighted up a pillar of fire. Assembling a body of troops, he de- clared war against the Persian monarch, and experienced seven years of success : but at length was taken prisoner by the Persians and put to death. In the 8th century, the character of the Messiah was assumed by the Jew Serenus. Multitudes of the Jews of Spain submitted themselves to his guidance ; and many of them, for the purpose of ac- companying the impostor to Palestine, abandoned their estates. But no period has been so fruitful in Jewish impostors as the 12th century. It was in France, and in the year IIST, that the first of them appeared. In consequence, many of the Jews were killed, and many of their synagogues levelled with the ground. In the following year the East was dis- turbed by a false Messiah, who collected so formidable an army, as to march in order of battle against the king of Persia, and to induce that powerful prince to purchase the return of tranquillity by the payment of a very considerable sum of money. Short, however, was the period of this impostor's prosperity. In the year 1157 the Jews of Spain listened to the tales of a native of Corduba and a claimant to the title of the Messiah ; and fatal were the consequences 232 CHAP. XX 1x3 of their credulity, for it brought down upon them the severities of a general persecution. Ten years afterwards, another of these impostors appeared in the kingdom of Fez ; and in the same year, the year 1167, an Arabian Jew, who styled himself the forerunner of the Messiah, was ad- mired and followed by multitudes of the Jews of Arabia. Not long after this, vast numbers of the Jews who dwelt beyond the Euphrates yielded up their reason in favor of an enthusiast, who laid claim to the title of the Messiah ; and in the year 1174, the Jews of Persia, inconsequence of the appearance of another false Christ in that country, were again exposed to the fury of persecution. At this pe- riod Moravia abounded with Jews, and in the year 1176 a pretended Messiah of the name of David Almusser, excit- ed commotions in that part of Germany. But the most famous impostor of the 12th century, and one who rendered himself conspicuous towards the close of it, was David el David. He was a man of learning, and a pretended worker of miracles. Persia was the theatre of his delusions. He styled himself the king of the Jcavs ; and, having gained their belief, rose in arms against the Persian monarch, and engaged to lead them back to the ancient capital of Judea. After various adventures, he Avas at length betrayed by his father-in-law, and beheaded. Of many of the Jewish im- postors of the 12th century an account is to be found in the writings of Maimonides. In the year 1222 a false Messiah appeared in Germany ; and in the same century a multitude of the Jews of Spain were imposed upon by Zechariah, who entitled himself a a prophet and forerunner of the Messiah. In the year 1499 the same character was sustained by rabbi Lemlen, a Jew of Austria, who had the credit of working miracles, and who announced to his brethren their return to the Holy Land in the year 1500. His vain predictions obtained a general reception, and many of the Jews of Germany pre- pared for their departure. Accordingly as they expected to be settled in Jerusalem the following year, many of them pulled down their ovens, in which they baked their unlea- CHAP. XXIX. 233 vened bread, as now ceasing to be useful. Soon perceiving that he had fixed on too early a period for the fulfilment of his predictions, David Lemlem asserted, that the sins of the people had retarded the appearance of the Messiah. Still the eyes of the Jews remained unopened ; and many of them assembled near Jerusalem, and celebrated a so- lemn fast, in order that they might propitiate Jehovah, and accelerate their deliverance. At the close also of the 15th century, Ismael Sophy, a young prince who was in fact a Mahometan, and who afterwards ascended the throne of Persia, assumed the name of a prophet ; and the Jews, dazzled by his valor and the celerity of his successes, in- dulged the notion of his being their promised Messiah. In the year 1509, an infamous Jew of Cologn is said to have arrogated the appellation of the Messiah. About the same time^ also, Jacob Melstinski appropriated to himself the same lofty title, and, traversing Poland and Silesia at the head of twelve pretended apostles whom he had chosen- deluded multitudes of people. And in the year 1534, rabbi Salomo Malcha, having declared himself the Mes- siah, was bui-nt in Spain by order of Charles the Vth. The 17th century was still more favorable to credulity, arid still more fruitful in imposture. In the early part of it, a false Messiah arose in the East Indies and in the Portu- guese city of Goa ; and deceived great numbers of the de- scendants of Abraham, who sighed for the recovery of liberty and independence. At Amsterdam, and in the year 1624, there appeared another Impostor, a Jew of Germany, who declared that he had seen the Messiah at Strasburgh, and announced the mighty victories he was to accomplish. But his fame was greatly eclipsed by Sabatai Sevi, the son of a poulterer of Aleppo, a man of learning, and, as there is reason to believe, at once a fanatic and an impostor. As the accounts respecting him, from his comparatively recent appearance, have more of copiousness and authen- ticity, than the narratives of Imposture can commonly be known to possess, I shall perhaps be authorised in citing a long passage from bishop Kidder, the third volume of Vol. II. G g 234 CHAP. XXIX. whose work on the Messias was published in the year 1700, 34 or Z5 years after the commencement of the imposture of Sabatai Sevi. But long as it is, it is only a part of what the bishop has related respecting him. In the year 1666, says the prelate, ' Sabatai Sevi appeared at Smyrna, and pro- fessed himself to be the Messias. He promised the Jews deliverance and a prosperous kingdom. This which he promised they firmly believed ; the Jews now attended to no business, discoursed of nothing but their return. They believed Sabatai to be the Messias, as firmly as we Chris- tians believe any article of faith. A right reverend person then in Turkey, told me, that meeting with a Jew of his acquaintance at Aleppo, he asked the Jew, what he thought of Sabatai. The Jew replied, that he believed him to be the Messias, and that he was so far of that belief, that, if he should prove an impostor, he would then turn Christian. It will be very fit I should be very particular in this rela- tion, because the history is so very surprising and remark- able ; and we have an account of it from those, who- were then in Turkey, and are now alive. I am so well satisfied as to the facts, that I dare vouch for the truth of the rela- tion, and appeal for the truth of it to very many persons of great credit who are now alive. — At Gaza Sabatai preached repentance (together with a faith in himself) so effectually, that the people gave themselves up to their devotions and alms. The noise of this Messias began to fill all places. — Throughout Turkey the Jews were in great expectation of glorious times. They now were devout and penitent, that they might not obstruct the good which they hoped for. Some fasted so long that they were famished to death ; others buried themselves in the earth till their limbs grew stiff; some would endtrre melted M^ax dropped on their flesh ; some rolled in the snow ; others in a cold season would put themselves into cold water ; and many whipped themselves. Business was laid aside ; superfluities of household utensils were sold ; the poor were provided for by immense contributions. Sabatai comes to Smyrna, where he was adored by the people, though the Chacham contra- CHAP. XXIX, 235 dieted him, for which he was removed from his office. There he in writing styles himself the only and frst-born Son ofGod^ the Messias^ the Saviour of Israel. '' Whilst the Jews in their synagogues had been accustomed to * pray for the Grand Seignior, he orders those prayers to be for- born for the future, thinking it an indecent thing to pray for him, who was shortly to be his captive ; and, instead of praying for the Turkish emperor, he appoints prayers for himself, as another author relates. And, as my author goes on, he elected princes to govern the Jews in their march towards the Holy Land, and to minister justice to them when they should be possessed of it.' After declar- ing that he was appointed by heaven to visit Constantino- ple, he went thither, and was thrown into prison by the Vizier. Still, however, * the Jews pay him their visits, and they of this city are now as much infatuated as those of Smyrna. They forbid traffic, and refused to pay their debts. Some of our English merchants, not knowing how to recover their debts from the Jews, took this occasion to visit Sabatai, and make their complaints to him against his subjects. Whereupon he wrote this following letter to the Jews :' " To you of the nation of the Jexvs^ who expect the ap- pearance of the Messias^ and the salvation of Israel^ peace without end. Whereas we are informed.^ that you are in- dehted to several of the English 7iation^ it seemeth right unto us to order you to make satisfaction to these your just debts ; which if you refuse to do, and not obey us herein^ know you, that then you are not to enter with us into our Joys and do- minions.^^ * Sabatai remained a prisoner in Constantinople by the space of two months. The Grand Vizier, designing for Candia, thought it not safe to leave him in the city, during the Grand Seignior's absence jyid his own. He therefore removed him to the Dardanelli ; a better air indeed, but yet out of the way ; and consequently importing less dan- ger to the city : which occasioned the Jews to conclude, 236 CHAP. XXIX, that the Turks could not, or durst not take away his life, which had, they concluded, been the surest way to have removed all jealousy. The Jews flocked in great num- bers to the castle where he was a prisoner ; not only those that were near, but from Poland, Germany, Leghorn, Ve- nice, and other places. They received Sabatai's blessings and promises of advancement. — The Jews of the city paid Sabatai Sevi great respect. They decked their synagogues with S. S. in letters of gold, and made for him, in, the wall, a croAvn : they attributed the same titles and prophecies to him which we apply to our Saviour.' At length being or- dered into the presence of the Grand Seignior, and required to perform a miracle, he was obliged, in order to save his life, to profess Mahometanism. ' During these things, the Jews, instead of minding their trade and traffic, filled their letters with news of Sabatai, their Messias, and his won- derful works. They reported that when the Grand Seig- nior sent to take him, he caused all the messengers, that were sent, to die.' In consequence of these and other re- ports, '■ the Jews of Italy sent legates to Smyrna, to inquire into the truth of these matters.' In the year 1682 appeared rabbi Mordechai, who was famous, among his countrymen in Germany, for his attain- ments in learning and his austerity of life. He laid claim to the prophetic character and to the title of the Messiah. By the Italian Jews he was extremely caressed ; and the genuineness of his credentials was admitted by them and many of the Jews of Germany. As late as the year 1703 another impostor, named Daniel Israel, deluded the Jews of Smyrna. He pretended to perform various miracles ; and asserted, that Sabatai Sevi was still alive, and would shortly emerge from the place of his concealment, and glo- riously deliver the Jews from their present state of disper- sion and ignominy. Nor was he admired and followed pnly by the crowd, many of whom celebrated the day of the nativity of Sabatai Sevi, and anxiously expected his appearance : the lying declarations of this impostor of the 18th century were also vindicated and approved by the rab= CHAP. XXIX. 037 bins : but, at length, he was expelled from Smyrna by the governor of that city, and great was the disturbance, which is banishment occasioned among its Jewish inhabitants^^ This long narrative I shall conclude by observing, that it contains ample evidence of the fulfilment of one of the prophecies of Jesus, I am come in my Father'' s name^ said our Lord to the Jews, and ye receive me not : if another shall come in his oxvn name^ him ye will receive''^. Basnage, who wrote at the beginning of the present cen- tury, in the chapter which treats on the Present State of the jfews, ' says, •■ They still consider themselves Avith their an- cient haughtiness as the people of God. — They always are expecting a glorious return, which shall raise them above all the nations of the earth. They flatter themselves, that this deliverance will speedily arrive, though they are igno- rant of the time*^^.' On the state of the Jews in the last century, and there is no reason to believe that it is greatly altered, I shall quote the words of Luzzati, a rabbi who taught at Venice in that century. " It is a difficult thing," says Luzzati, " to give an exact account of the number of the Jews, who are at present dispersed into so many places. We cannot tell any 95 For the facts respecting' the Jewish impostors see Basnage's History nf the Jews (p. 516, 518, 551, 564, 577, 597, 631, 633, 664, 697, 699, 701, 730, 731, 7o^,7S7) ; bishop Newton's Dissertations on Prophecy (vol. III. p. 42) ; Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History (vol. II. p. 361 — 366) ; bishop Kidder's Demonstration of the Messias (vol. III. p. 394 — 421) ; and Dion Cassius (Lemicla\ii, Hanovis, 1606, lib. LXIX. p. 794). 96 John V. 43. To come in his oivn name, says Dr. Whitby, ' is to come vlthout commission or testimony from God.' Of Dr. Clarke's paraphrase on these words the following is the principal part. •' Ye reject me, I say, principally for this very reason, because I seek not temporal interests, nei- ther set up myself as the head of a sect in the way of worldly pride ?ind ambi- tion ; but preach to you plainly in the name of God my Father. — If ano- ther should come, pretending- himself to be tJie Messias ; though without any of that evidence of divine authority, wliich I iiave brought along with with me ; and should set up liimself to be a great person ; promising you for your service worldly power and dignity, and suffering you quietly to go fiU in your vices ; him you would entertain and follow with all eagerness.' 97 P 748. 238 CHAP. XXIX. certain news- of the ten tribes Salmanazar carried away ; and it is not known where they are, though the whole world be sufficiently known. To begin with the East. We know, that there are abundance of Jews in the kingdom of Persia, though they have but little liberty. The Turkish empire is their chief retreat, not only because they have been settled there a long time, but because a great many of those that were banished out of Spain retired thither. There are more of them at Constantinople and Salonichi, than in any other place. They reckon above fourscore thousand in these two cities, and about a million in the Grand Seignior's empire. A great number of pilgrims come from all corners of the world to Jerusalem, and considerable sums are sent thither to sustain the poor, and keep up the academies. There are a great many of them in Germany in the emperor's domi- nions; but they are more numerous in Poland, Lithuania, and Russia: here we have academies and disciples by thou- sands, who study our civil and canon laws, because we are allowed the privilege of judging the civil and criminal cases, that happen in the nation. There are not so many Jews in the Protestant states which separate from the Ro- man church ; but yet they treat them with a great deal of charity and indulgence in the low countries ; at Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Hamburg, because these merchandising cities are open to foreigners. All the Italian princes receive the Jews, countenance them, protect them, and inviolably maintain their privileges without altering them ; and I believe there are not less than 25,000 in this country. Fez, and Morocco, and the other neighboring cities, which are not subject to the Turk, contain the greater numbers, because they are not remote from Spain or Portugal, from whence they may retire thither. There are other places upon the coast of Africa, which are also peopled with Jews ; but, as we know but little of them, it is hard to fix the num- ber^." 98 Simon Luzzati Discorzo circa il stuto degii Hebrei, c. 18. The quota- tion above is immediately taken from the Eng-lish translation, of Basnag^'s History of the jfews, p. 744. CHAP. xxix. 239 The Jews, says bishop Law, * are universally believed to be more numerous in the whole at present, than they have ever been in their most flourishing estate, in their own lancF.' ' Some appearances,* says Dr. Worthington, *■ indicate a working towards their conversion and restoration. Dr. Jackson"* observes, " that the continuation of their former plagues seemeth much interrupted," and " the plagues themselves much mitigated, in this last age, since the gos- pel hath been again revealed, as if their misery were almost expired, and the day of their redemption drawing" nighJ'' On the other hand, they do not shew that extreme malice towards Christians, nor Christians that hatred of them, which they formerly exercised towards each other. The good usage, which, in these latter ages, they have met with from Christians, hath undoubtedly abated their prejudices, and conciliated their minds to them ; and a continuance of the same justice and lenity may, with God's blessing, con- tribute greatly to prepare them for, and by degrees bring about, their conversion'"'.' Though these observations of Dr. Worthington are upon the whole correct : we are not, I conceive, authorised in speaking of * the good usage,' which the follov/ers of Moses have experienced from the disciples of Christ during ' these latter ages.' The treatment df the former, either from go- vernments or from individuals, has not, till very lately, been in any degree mild or liberal. Even of those whose preju- dices have been softened by literature, not a few have beea disposed to keep the posterity of Abraham, still loaded with shackles, and still discouraged by depression. In the last chapter of the last volume of his Demonstration of the Messias'^^, bishop Kidder has interspersed some abserva- tions relative to the means of converting the Jews ; but, of 99 Law's Theory of Religion, 3d ^d. p. 164. 100 Dr. Th. Jackson's Works, vol. I. p. 153. 101 Dr. Wortliing^on, vol. II. p. 64. 102 This volume was published in the year 1700. 240 CHAl'. XXIX. the methods which he specihes, some are very ill adapted to accomplish the intended effect. He recommends, that the Jews should be compelled occasionally to attend at places of Christian worship, and to hear the sermons preached there; that they should be obliged to engage in conferences with Christian divines ; that they should not ' have the liberty to use what prayers they please' in their synagogues ; that the government should force the richer Jews to main- tain their poorer brethren, as they have been used to do, though they should reject Judaism and embrace Christiani- ty ; and that the Jews should continue to be excluded from places of honor and power, and from enjoying the freedom of the press. Accordingly having observed, that rabbi Aben Amram complained greatly, that the Jews possessed not ' the liberty of the press ;' he is careful to clear him- self from the most distant imputation of being an advocate, for their using so horrid an engine as the press : a far more mischievous discovery, in the eye's of civil tyrants and in- terested prelates, than that of gun-powder, or any the most destructive invention, which the boldest flight of the hu- man imagination can conceive. ' Far be it from me,' says the bishop, ' for pleading for any such liberty as that.' And he afterwards adds, that it is undoubtedly ' a very great favor in Christian kings and states to permit the Jews to live in their several kingdoms and countries without dis- turbance ;' and that ' nothing can be more adviseable than to keep them low'°^.' Dr. Hartley, in addition to the arguments from prophecy which he has alleged to prove, that the Jews will return to Palestine, notices some concurring evidences, which the existing circumstances of that people suggest. After ob- serving in the first place, that they ' are yet a distinct peo- ple from all the nations amongst which they reside ; he says, ' Secondly^ they are to be found in all the countries of the known v.^orld. And this agrees with many remarkable passages of the scriptures, which treat both of their dis- 103 Vol. III. p. 455—487. CHAP. XXIX. 241 persion and of their return. Thirdly^ they have no inherit- ance of land in any country. Their possessions are chiefly money and jewels. They may, therefore, transfer them- selves with the greater facility to Palestine. Fourthly^ they are treated with contempt and harshness, and sometimes with great cruelty, by the nations amongst whom they so- journ. They must therefore be the more ready to return to their own land. Fifthly^ they carry on a correspondence with each other throughout the whole world ; and conse- quently must both know when circumstances begin to favor their return, and be able to concert measures with one another concerning it. Sixthly^ a great part of them speak and write the rabbinical Hebrew, as well as the language of the country where they reside. They are therefore, as far as relates to themselves, actually possessed of an universal language and character ; which is a circumstance that mav facilitate their return, beyond what can well be imagined. Seventhly^ the Jews themselves still retain a hope and ex- pectation, that God will once more restore them to their own land'°-*.' Their establishment in Judea, it may be added, will be of the more easy accomplishment, because the detestable government of the Turks has, in a degree almost incredible, depopulated Judea, Syria, and the fertile countries which are contiguous, and therefore there will be ample territo- ries for them to inhabit and to cultivate. ' The total population of Syria,' says Volney, * may be estimated at 2,305,000 souls.' But '■ let us suppose it two millions and a half, and since Syria contains about 5250 square leagues, at the rate of 150 in length and Z5 in breadth, we shall have upon an average 476 inhabitants for every square league. So feeble a population in so excellent a country may well excite our astonishment, but this will be still encreased, if we compare the present number of inhabitants, with that of ancient times. — From the accounts we have of Judea in the 104 On Man, vol. II. p. "ri. Vol. II. H h 242 GHAP. XXIX, time of Titus, and which are to be esteemed tolerably accu- rate, that country must have contained four millions of inhabitants. — If we go still farther back into antiquity, we shall find the same populousness among the Philistines, the Phoenicians, and in the kingdoms of Samaria and Damas- cus. It is true, that some writers, reasoning from what they see in Europe, have called in question these facts ;, several of which, indeed, appeared to be disputable ; but the comparisons on which they build are not on that account the less erroneous ; first, because the lands of Asia in ge- neral are more fertile than those of Europe ; secondly^ because a part of these lands are capable of being cultivated, and in fact are cultivated, without lying fallow or requiring manure ; thirdly, because the Orientals consume one half less for their subsistence than the inhabitants of the West- em world, in general : for all which reasons it appears, that a territory of less extent may contain double and treble the population. These authors exclaim against the armies of two and three hundred thousand men, furnished by states, which in Europe would not produce above twenty or thirty thousand ; but it is not considered, that the constitutions of ancient nations were wholly different from ours ; that these nations were purely cultivators ; that there was less ine- quality, and less idleness than among us ; that every culti- vator was a soldier ; that in war the army frequently consisted of the whole nation. — Without appealing to the positive testimony of history, there are innumerable monu- ments, which depose in favor of the' great population of high antiquity. ' Such are the prodigious quantity of ruins dispersed over the plains, and even in the mountains, at this day deserted. On the most remote parts of Carmel are found wild vines and olive trees, which must have been conveyed thither by the hand of man ; and, in the Lebanon of the Druzes and Maronites, the rocks, now abandoned to fir-trees and brambles, present us in a thousand places with terraces, which prove they were anciently better cul- CHAP. XXIX. 243 tivated, and consequently much more populous than in our days'°5.' It is in the name of Almighty God, that Ezckiel says, And I will multiply men upon you^ all the house of Israel^ even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited^ and the wastes shall be builded: and I will — do better unto you than at your beginnings. — And the desolate land shall be tilled^ xvhereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, this land that xvas desolate is beco?ne like the garden of Eden: and the zuaste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know, that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was deso- late : I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it^^. After having stated Dr. Hartley's genera/ arguments, on the practicability of the restoration of the Jews to the coun- try of their ancestors, it may not be unallowable to enter into the field of conjecture, and concisely to state the more immediate causes, which may possibly contribute to their migration and their establishment in Palestine. Should the Turkish»empire be overturned by Russia, and should many of the Jews discover an inclination to settle in Palestine, which it is likely they would do on the event of so impor- tant a revolution ; it is by no means improbable, that the policy of the Russian government would embrace an oppor- tunity of colonising without expence a country, possessed of so many natural advantages, but which is, at present, so scantily inhabited, and so imperfectly cultivated. In such a climate, and under such circumstances, the first settlers » would be likely to prosper; and, having prospered, it surely is not irrational to conjecture, that they would be followed by greater numbers, and at length by the general mass of their countrymen, encouraged, as they would be, by the 105 Volney's Travels through Syria and Eg-ypt, vol. II. p. 365. 106 Ch. xxxvi. 10, 11, 34, 35, 36. This chapter of Ezekiel contains, says Mr. Lo%rth, • a prediction of" the general r."storation both of Israel and Judah.' 244 CHAP. XXIX. predictions of the Hebrew scriptures, and animated by the hope of attaining to national independence and personal se- curity. Now should the Russian empire, alread)^ greatly superior in point of magnitude to any permanent empire which has ever existed, in consequence of her insatiable ambition and the progress of her arms, become still more extensive ; and should the various climes under her domi- nion be afterwards governed by the rash and fluctuating counsels of a feeble prince ; it can hardly be a matter of doubt, that the unwieldy and ill-compacted fabric, requiring the most steady and discerning hand to direct its multifari- ous movements, and containing within itself the principles of discordancy and dissolution, would, in a short time, fall to pieces, and its disunited fragments be so arranged as to form separate governments. Amid these changes and con- vulsions, it is easy to conceive, that some of the provinces of Syria, Avhich the Jews had recently colonised, might, with little difficulty, and Avithout any violation of justice, be erected into an independent and respectable state. But however easy, as we may conjecture^ may be the set- tlement of the Jews in Palestine, there are prophecies in the Old Testament, which lead us to expect, that they will not remain unmolested in the possession of their country. The following propecy is extracted from the xxxviiith ch. of Ezekiel. The -word of yehovah came also unto me, say- ing : So)i of man, set thy face against Gog of the la?id of Magog, prince of Rhos, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, thus saith the Lord fehovah : behold I am against thee, Gog. — Thou shalt go up, as a storm Cometh, thou shalt be as a cloud to cover the land ; thou and all thy bands, and many people ivith thee. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : it shall come to pass at the same time, that things shall arise in thine heart, and thou shalt think an evil thought ; and shalt say, I xv ill go up to the land of unxvalled villages; and J -will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely ; all of them dxvelling xvithout xvalls, and having nei- ther bars nor gates : to take a spoil, and to divide a prey ; to turn mine hand against the desolate places tliat are become CHAP. XXIX. 345 inhabited^ and against a people gathered out of the nations^ possessing cattle and goods, dwelling in the middle of th€ earth. — In that day, rvhen my people Israel dwelleth securely, slialt thou not rise up and come from thy place, from the north- quarters, thou and many people xvitli thee, all them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army P Shalt thou not come up against my people as a cloud to cover the land P Shall it not be in the latter days, that I will bring thee against my latid ; that the nations 7nay know me, zuhen I shall be sanctified in thee, Gog, before their eyes P — Art not thou he, of rvhom I spake in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, zvho prophesied in those days and years, that I zuould bring thee against them^°^. And in the next chapter the prophet says : And I will turji thee back, arid leave but a sixth part of thee, zuhen I cause thee to came up from the north-quarters, and bring thee upon the mountains of Israel. — Thou slialt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands,- and the many people that are zvith thee. — And I will set my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment which I have executed, and mine harid xvhich I have laid upon them. — And the people of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God, in that I caused them to be carried azvay captives among the nations, and afterzvards collected them into their ozvn land. And none of them zvill I leave there any more, neither hide my face any more from them^°'^. In his argument to the xxxviiith and xxxixth chapters of Ezekiel, Mr. Lowth says, ' the prophecy, contained in this and the following chapter concerning Israel's victory over Gog and Magog, v/ithout question relates to the latter ages of the world, when the whole house of Israel shall return 107 ' The expressions here used, of old times, and -which prophesied iji those days and years, plainly imply, that there was to he a succession of many ages between the publishing' those prophecies and this event fore- told by them.' Mr. Low^h in Loc. 108 The passages above are copied from hp. Newcome's Improved Ver- oion of Ezekiel, 246 CHAP. XXIX. into their own land.' And in commenting on the 8th v. of ch. xxxviii he says, ' the sense is, that after the return of the people of Israel into their own country, and their hav- ing lived there for some time in peace and safety, this enemy will think to take advantage of their security, and fall upon them unexpectedly.' * As for the name Gog\ it signifies,' says Mede, ' the veiy same with Magogs for mein is but an Hemantic letter ; and it pleased the spirit of God to take away this first syllable to distinguish between the people and the land of the peo- ple, calling the people Gog and the land tire land of Ma- gog^'^.\ That the Gog and Magog of the Apocalypse"" can- not be understood of the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel, this sagacious commentator has remarked'" ; and I regard his observation as indubitable. Bochart, one of the most learned men whom France, or indeed Europe, ever produced, after observing, that among the ancients, it was the opinion of Josephus, Eustathius, Jerom, and Theodoret, that Magog was the father of the Scythians ; and that this opinion is perfectly true ; alleges various reasons to prove, that Magog signifies Scythia. The beginning of the passage recently quoted from Ezekiel may, he saj^s, be thus paraphrased. Prepare yourself to pi'ophecy against the king of the Scythians, of the land of Magog or Scythia, who is aUo the prince of Rhos, of Me- shech, and of Tubal"% that is, of the districts of Araxene, 109 Mede's Works, p. 574.-. 110 Mentioned ch. xx. v. 8, 9. 111 See liis Works, p. 751. 112 J?hos signifies, says Bochart, those who inliabit the Araxene of the Greeks, a province watered by the Araxes and in the neighborhood of the Caspian. Meshech and Tubal, according to the same writer, are the ap- pellations of two adjoining: nations, who in the times of Grecian antiquity were called the Moschi andw Tibareni, who had immediately to the North of them the people of Gog, and who themselves inhabited a considerable part of the Country between the Euxine and the Caspian, and to the Soutli of the Euxine. See the Phaleg of Bocliart, 1. iii. c. 12- See also a simi- lar statement in the commentary of that learned Benedictine, Calmet. That Magog, Tubal, and Meshech were the grandsons of Noah and the CHAP. XXIX. 247 Moschica, and Tibarenia, countries contiguous to each other, and, at the time of the publication of the prophecy, subject to the Scythian power. After observing that the territories of Tubal were situ- ated to the South-East of the Euxine, Mr. Mede speaks of the original seat of the posterity of Magog, and says, Magog, ' with the consent of all men, we place North of Tubal, and make him the father of those Scythians, that dwelt on the East and North-East of the Euxine sea.' For this we have also an ' argviment from the report of Plinv, in that Scythopolis and Hierapolis, which these Scythians took when they overcame Syria, were ever after by the Syrians called Magog.' In course of time, his descendants, he observes, wou.ld have an opportunity of spreading over a vast extent of country, and of penetrating even to Nova Zembla"^ * Magog^ says Mr. Lowth, ' was the son of Japhet, Gen. X. 2, from whence the Scythians are generally supposed to be derived. The Mogul Tartars, a people of Scythian race, are still called so by the Arabian writers.' To the same purpose speaks bp. Newcome. In ' Gen. x. 2.' says he, ' we learn, that Magog was the second son of Japhet. Ezekiel uses Magag for the country of which Gog Avas prince.' Michaelis (Spic. Geogr. p. 34) ' thinks, that Ma- gog denotes those vast tracts of country to the north of India and China, which the Greeks called Scythia, and we Tartary — The Arabs call the Chinese wall Sud Tagog et 3Iagog"'*^ that is Agger Gog et Jlfagog^^^.^ Notwithstanding the Scythians and the Tartars are ad- mitted to be the ancient aad modern names of the same people, and notwithstanding the passages which have been sons of Japhet, we are told in the 2d verse of the xth chapter of Genesl-i On the districts of Asia which tliey colonised and gave name to, Dr. Wells's Historical Geography of the Old Testament may alsp be consulted, vol. I. p. 154—159. 113 Mede's Works, p. 374, 378. 114 Hyde's Works by Sharpe, II. 426. 115 Newcome on Ezek. xxxviii. 2. 248 CHAP. XXIX. quoted from different writers appear to lead to a very plain conclusion ; yet I have not met with a single commentator, who states it to be his opinion, that it is probable, this me- morable prophecy of Ezekiel principally relates to the Tartars. ' By Gog and Magog,' says Mr. Lowth, ' may most probably here be meant the Turks ;' and both Mede"^ and bishop Newton"'' speak of their being signified in these chapters of Ezekiel, as of a point that is well established. The principal reason which is given is, that the Turks, though they have now inhabited a different part of the world for centuries, are descended from the Tartars : but to me, I tonfess, this appears far from being satisfactory. The Russians and the Moscovites having been supposed by some to have been colonies sent out from the people of Rosh and Meshech or Mosoch ; Mr. Bicheno supposes"^, that the army which will attack the newly peopled country of the Jews will consist principally of Russians* But Mr. Bicheno attempts not to shcAv, that there is, or that there ever has been thought to be, any conceivable reason for explaining Gog and Magog of the Russians ; and it is to be remem- bered, that, whoever Gog and Magog may be supposed to be, they constitute the main part of the invading army, and that the others are lesser powers and auxiliaries, who are to march under the banners of Gog. I shall now briefly allege some reasons in support of my conjecture^ that this formidable army will principally con- sist of Tartars. That the name of Gog and Magog per- fectly agrees with that idea has already been seen. Thou shalt come ^ says Ezekiel, from thy place out of the North Parts^^"^, thou and manij people iv'ith thee. This ac- count, it is plain, corresponds not so well to the situation of the Turks, who are principally settled in the warm re- gions of the South, as to that of the Tartars, who inhabit 116 P. 374, 751, 1000 117 Vol. II. p. 187 ; vol. III. p. 329- 118 Si^ns of the Times, Part II. p. 45. 119 XXXVIII. 15. This circumstance is repealed again xxxix. 2. CHAP. XXIX. 249 regions, which are in general cold and are extended to very Northern latitudes. That the invading host will come from a distance, the words of Ezekiel, it may be added, seem to imply: but the Turks, at present at least, are situated in Judea and the contiguous countries* Thoti shalt say^ declares the prophet, Ixvill go up to the land of unxualled villages^ — to take a spoils and to take a prey. And again, Art thou come to take a spoil ? Hast thou gathered thy compatiy to take a prey ? to carry axvay silver and gold., to take axoay cattle and goods., to take a great spoiP^°. These particulars appear not to be descriptive of the '— gularly conducted wars of the Russians or the Turks, \i?£tch are ordinarily wars of aggrandisement or defence ; and there certainly seems reasonable ground for expectation, that they would have been spoken of in a very different manner, had they been the Turks come to recover the territories they had lost. But the prophetic statement completely harmonises with the general character of Tartar warfare, with the depredatory spirit, and the transitory inroads, of the shepherds of the North. The prophet represents them to be extremely numerous, as being like a cloud which shall cover the land ; and it is Avell known, that there is no na- tion, which has been accustomed to bring such numerous forces into the field as the princes of Tartary. They are also spoken of as all of them riding upon horses^ a great companij^ and a mighty army. To the Tartars, and to the Tartars only, this description exactly corresponds ; for there is no other nation in the world, who constantly make use of cavalry alone'^^' Ezekiel likewise says^", Ixvill smite thy boxu out of thy left hand., and xvill cause thine ar- 120 XXXVIII. 11, 12, 13. 121 * Constant practice,' says Gibbon, had seated the Scythians * so firnil)' on horseback, that they were supposed by strangers to perform tlie ordinary duties of civil life, to eat, to drink, and evcri to sler-p, witlionl. dismounting' from their steeds.' vol. IV. p. !)48. 122. XXXIX. 3. Vol. II. \ \ 250 GHAT>. XXIX. roxvs to fall out of thy right hatid^"^^; and it is observable, that the Tartars in every age have encountered their ene- mies with bows and arrows, and that these are the weapons which they still employ, in this respect differing both from the Russians and the Turks. As the subject is in itself instructive and curious, I may be indulged in quoting from Mr. Gibbon some extracts respecting the manners of this nation of shepherds. At present the Tartar tribes are deterred from planning any schemes of invasion, and awed into traiiquillity, by the ar- mies ^ti the fame of the Ottoman Porte, and still more by the^-mighty strength and vigorous administration of the Russian monarchy. But should these empires fall to pieces, the subsequent extracts display the extreme probability, that the Tartars, laying hold of this favorable opportunity for the renewal of foreign hostilities, will make a new and formidable irruption into some of the fertile provinces of Turkey'^"*. ' In every age, the immense plains of Sc}thia, orTartary, have been inhabited by vagrant tribes of hunters and shep- herds, whose indolence refuses to cultivate the earth, and whose restless spirit disdains the confinement of a sedentary life. In every age the Scythians, and Tartars, have been renowned for their invincible courage, and rapid conquests. The thrones of Asia have been repeatedly overturned by the shepherds of the North ; and their arms have spread terror and devastation over the most fertile and warlike countries of Europe.' Many circumstances, indeed, con- cur to inspire the Tartars Vi ith a military spirit, and to en- 123 See the Observations annexed to the Genealogical History of the Tartars by Abulghazi Khan, 1730, vol. II. p. 400. ' Most of the Tartars,' says the author of tiic observatit^ns, ' hang^ their bow at the left side, in a sort of case, wlien tiiey take horse ; but they carry tlieir quiver upon their backs.' And Mr. Gibbon, speaking of them, says (vol. IV. p. 350), • the long- Tartar bow is drawn with a nervous arm ; and the weiglity arrow- is directed to its object with unerring- aim, and irresistibJe strcng-th.' 124 On tlie formidable irruptions of the Tartars in the jth, tlie 13th, and the 14th centuries sec the note in vol. II. p. 115—118. LHAP. XXIX. 251 courage their invasion of countries that are feebly defended. This will appear, if an attention be paid to their diet, their habitations, and their exercises. ' In the military profession, and especially in the conduct of a numerous army, the exclusive use of animal food ap- pears to be productive of the most solid advantages. Corn is a bulky and perishable commodity ; and the large maga. zines, which are indispensably necessary for the subsist- ence of our troops, must be slowly transported by the labor of men or horses. But the flocks and herds, which accom- pany the march of the Tartars, afford a sure and encreas- ing supply of flesh and milk : in the far greater part of the uncultivated waste the vegetation of the grass is quick and luxuriant; and there are few places so extremely barren, that the hardj' cattle of the North cannot find some toler- able pasture. The supply is multiplied and prolonged, by the undistinguished appetite, and patient abstinence, of the Taitars. They indiff'erently feed on the flesh of those ani- mals, that have been killed for the table, or have died of disease. — The active cavalr\- of Scythia is alwavs followed, in their most distant and rapid incursions, by an adequate number of spare horses, who may be occasionally used, either to redouble the speed, or to satisfy the hunger, of the Barbarians. Many are the resources of hunger and po- verty. When the forage round a camp of Tartars is almost consumed, they slaughter the greatest part of their cattle, and preserve the flesh, either smoked, or dried in the sun. On the sudden emergency of a hasty march, they provide themselves with a sufficient quantity of little balls of cheese or rather of hard curd, Avhich the)' occasionally dissolve in water ; and this unsubstantial diet will support, for many days, the life, and even the spirits, of the patient warrior.' ' The progress of manufactures and commerce insensibly collects a large multitude within the walls of a city ; but these citizens are no longer soldiers ; and the arts, which adorn and improve the state of civil society, corrupt the habits of the military life. The pastoral manners of the Scythians seem to unite the different advantages of simpli- 252 CHAP. XXIX. city and refinement. The individuals of the same tribe are constantly assembled, but they are assembled in a camp ; and the native spirit of these dauntless shepherds is animat- ed by mutual support and emulation. The houses of the Tartars are no more than small tents. — The palaces of the rich consist of wooden huts, of such a size that they may be conveniently fixed on large waggons. — The flocks and herds, after grazing all day in the adjacent pastures, retire, on the approach of night, within the protection of the camp. The necessity of preventing the most mischievous confusion, in such a perpetual concourse of men and ani- mals, must gradually introduce, in the distribution, the order, and t le guard, of the encampment, the rudiments of the military art. As soon as the forage of a certain district is nsumed, the tribe, or rather army, of shep- herds, makes a regular march to some fresh pastures ; and thus acquires in the ordinary occupations of the pastoral life, the practical knowlege of one of the m.ost important and difficult operations of war. The choice of stations is regulated by the difference of the seasons : in the summer, the Tartars advance towards the North : — In the winter they return to the South. — These manners are admirably adapted to diffuse, among the wandering tribes, the spirit of emigration and conquest. The connexion between the people and their territory is of so frail a texture, that it may be broken by the slightest accident. The camp, and not the soil, is the native country of the genuine Tartar. Within the precincts of that camp, his family, his compa- nions, his property are always included; and, in the most distant marches, he is still surrounded by the objects M'hich are dear, or valuable, or familiar in his eyes. The thirst of rapine, the fear or the resentment, of injury, the impa- tience of servitude, have, in every age, been sufficient causes to urge the tribes of Scythia boldly to advance into some unknown countries, where they might hope to find a more plentiful subsistence, or a less formidable enemy.' - The Tartars are possessed of much leisure, and this lei- sure is * spent in the violent and sanguinary exercise of the CHAP. XXIX. 253 the chace. The plains of Tartary are filled with a strong and serviceable breed of horses, which are easily trained for the purposes of war and hunting. The Scythians of every age have been celebrated as bold and skilful riders. — The exploits of the hunters of Scythia are not confined to the destruction of timid or innoxious beasts ;' and there is one of their modes of hunting, which opens the fairest field to the exertions of valor, and 'may justly be considered as the image, and as the school, of war. The general hunt- ing matches, the pride and delight of the Tartar princes, compose an instructive exercise for their numerous cavalry. A circle is drawn, of many miles in circumference, to en- compass the game of an extensive district ; and the troops that form the circle regularly advance towards a common centre ; where the captive animals, surrounded on every side, are abandoned to the darts of the hunters. In this march, which frequently continues many days, the cavalry are obliged to climb the hills, or swim rivers, and to wind through the vallies, without interrupting the prescribed order of their gradual progress. They acquire the habit of directing their eye, and their steps, to a remote object ; of preserv- ing their intervals ; of suspending, or accelerating, their pace, according to the motions of the troops on their right and left ; and of watching and repeating the signals of their leaders. Their leaders studv, in this practical school, the most important lesson of the military art ; the prompt and accurate judgment of ground, of distance, and of time. To employ against a human enemy the same pati- ence and valor, the same skill and discipline, is the only alteration, which is required in real war ; and the amuse- ments of the chace serve as a prelude to the conquest of an empire.' As late as the year 1771, was a great transmigration of Calmucks. Three hundred thousand of them, after having remained about a century under the protection of Russia, near the banks of the Volga, and in the neighborhood of Astrachan, traversed an immense extent of country, and 254 CHAP. XXIX. *■ retttrned to their native seats on the frontiers of the Chi- nese empire'^^* Along with the numerous forces of Gog, there will, the prophet informs us, be the bands of Gomer'^^and Togar- ii5ah'% together with troops from Persia, Ethiopia, and Lybia^** ; and it is very credible, that the fame of this great invasion, the successes which will be gained in the course of an extensive march, and the expectation of a par- ticipation in the spoil, will allure bodies of troops from dif- ferent countries to enlist under the banners of this mighty host of military plunderers^"^. The prophec}' teaches us to expect, that the Jews will not he preserved from tl'i£ efforts of their invaders, merely by their own valor, or by that of any allies whose assistance they may ^e able to obtain ; for it seems plainly intimated^ that the army of the enemy Avill be dissolved, partly by the spread of some contagious disease, and partly bv the pro- gress of internal discord, and the prosecution of sangui- nary quarrels among the hostile squadrons. Every man's sword^ says the prophet, shall be agaimt his brother. And I xv'ill plead against him xvith pes'ilence andxoith hlood^^°. Of the invading multitude described by Ezekiel, the far greater part, the prophet assures us, shall be destroyed'^' ; and supposing them to be Tartars, and to display the same 125 Gibbon, vol. IV. p. 342, 344, 346, 349, 3ii0, 370. 126i ' Cimmerians : a very old and celebrated people, wlio inhabited the peninsula of Crim Taitavy.' Michaelis in loc. as (quoted by bp. Newcome. 127 According to B-ocluu-t, Togarniah is Cappadccia. 128 XZZVIII. 5, 6, 129 In the I3tli centm-}', the fame of the arms of the Mog-uls excited a number of persons to g-o as far as China from the remote countries of the West, and to enlist themselves into the service of the Tartars. In their attack of the cities in the Northern empire of Cliina, ' the sleg-es,' says ^.Ii-. Gibboa (vol. XI. p. 415),, ' were conducted by the Maiiomctans and Franks.' 130 XXXVIII. 21, 22. ♦ It is plain,' says bishop Newcome, that the circumstances, mentioned in these verses, * remain to be accomplished on the future enemies of the Jews, when his people are tein.stated in God's favor.' 131 XXXIX. 2.11- CHAP. XX rx. 255 eagerness to violate all the principles of justice and huma nity, as their countrymen have been accustomed to disco- ver, they ■will probably be thought to deserve their fate. * In all their invasions of the civilised empires of the South, the Scythian shephe^-ds,' says Mr. Gibbon, ' have been uni- formly actuated by a savage and destructive spirit. — After the Moguls had subdued the northern provinces of China, it was seriously proposed, not in the hour of victory and passion, but in calm deliberate council, to exterminate all the inhabitants of that populous country, that the vacant land might be converted to the pasture of cattle. — The most casual provocation, the slightest motive of caprice or coii- venience, often provoked them to involve a whole people in an indiscriminate massacre : and the ruin of some flou- rishing cities was executed with such vmrelenting perseve- rance, that, according to their own expression, horses might run, without stumbling, over the ground where they had once stood. The great capitals of Khorasan, Maru, Nei- sabour, and Herat, were destroyed by the armies of Zin- gis ; and the exact account, which was taken of the slain, amounted to 4,347,000 persons. — In his camp before Delhi, Timur massacred 100,000 Indian prisoners, who had smiled when the army of their countrymen appeared in sight. The people of Ispahan supplied 70,000 human sculls foi the structure of several lofty towers ;' and ' he erected on the ruins of Bagdad a pyramid of 90,000 heads'^\' The same causes and the same events, it may be added, which will predispose the Jews to investigate the proofs of the divine mission of Jesus, and which will strike convic- tion into their minds, will operate with similar force upon the disciples of infidelity. I conclude the chapter with a short but solemn declara- tion, relative to the future happy state of the Jews, con- tained in the Ixiid ch. of Isaiah. Speaking of Jerusalem, the prophet says, Thou shalt no mor£ be termed Forsaken^ neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate. The 132 Vol. VI p. 53—56; Vol. XII p, 24. 256 . CHAP. XXX. Lord hath sivorn by his right hand^ and by the aryn of his strength. Surely I -will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies ; and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy "wine^ for the which thou hast labored ; but they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink if^^. CHAPTER XXX. ON THE PREDICTIONS RELATIVE TO THE PERIOD, DENOMI- NATED THE Millennium. IN the preceding chapters it has been shewn, that the destruction of ecclesiastical usurpation, of the antichristian monarchies in Europe, and of Oriental despotism, is point- ed out in the prophetic scriptures ; and, according to the natural order of things, the accomplishment of these great events may justly be thought to have prepared the way for a period of terrestrial felicity, signally elevated and lasting. The prospect of such a period must be soothing to the mind of man, when it returns, fatigued and dispirited, from con- templating the miseries of human-kind, which press so thick upon each other in the page of history. How un- ceasingly have their rights been usurped, and an ample por- tion of their property plundered, to promote the interests of a tyrannic priesthood, or in compliance with the orders of the noble, the statesman, or the monarch ! How uni- formly, in every past period, has their blood been shed, their virtues debased, their understandings darkened, in order to gratify the vices, or to secure the power, of the privileged orders ! ' He, who the most dispassionately con- templates so sad a scene,' to use the words of bishop Hurd, * can hardly reconcile appearances to what must have been lo3 V. 4, 8, 9. CHAP. XXX. • 257 his natural expectations. Here, then, the pr6phecles of this work, I mean, of the Apocalypse, comes in to our re- lief.' They shew, ' that the end of this dispensation (the Christian) is to promote virtue and happiness ; and that this end shall finally, but through many and long obstructions, be accomplished.' Thus ' they reconcile us to that disor- dered scene which hath hitherto been presented to us ; and give repose to the anxious mind, in the assured hope of better things to come'.' Before I select from those passages of scripture, which point out the certain arrival of a permanent period of hap- piness on earth, it will be proper to explain what my ideas of a millennium are. For I am aware, that, against the more common representations of it, strong prejudices have with justice been entertained. By the disorderly imagina- tion of some visionaries it has been painted as a state of things, altogether wild and irrational ; and even many, of a sober turn, and a cultivated judgment, have annexed to it much of the marvellous and improbable. By the mil- lennium I mean a period of great length, eminently dis- tinguished for the spread of knowlege and of genuine CHRISTIANITY, in consequence of which good govern- ment will universally be established, virtue will not onlv be generally esteemed but practised, and human happiness will be carried to an unexampled height. The literal construction of texts is, I apprehend, the grand source of error on this subject. Strange is the length to which this mode of explanation has been carried by ver}" sensible writers ; who, upon this topic, appear to have alto- gether forgotten, that the prophetic scriptures are conspi- cuously characterised by highly figurative language. The same men, who uniformly acknowlege all the former part of the Apocalypse to be written in the symbolic style, when they come to the three last chapters, appear all at once to change their method of explication, and in a great 1 Vol. II. p.20(r Vol., II. K k . SS'S CHAP. XXX% degree interpret it according to the letter. Many of the ancient fathers, from carrjing this to its full extent, brought discredit, not only on themselves, but on the book of Reve- lation itself. The too literal expounding of passages has, says Dr. Jortin, ' produced strange and precarious notions- amongst ancient and modern Christians concerning the mil- lennium : thus it has been supposed, that Christ shall come and reig • personally upon earth a thousand years, that the old Christian martyrs shall rise again to reign with him, that the Jews shall have a temple rebuilt, and a temple-ser- vice renewed^' As a proof, however, that rational ideas on the nature of the millennium have long been entertained, I transcribe a short extract from Mr. Stephens, as printed nearly 140 years • since. ' For the nature of this kingdom, we desire that we may not be mistaken. We do not plead for a personal reign, nor a literal resurrection of the martyrs, nor a con- fluence of all sensual delights, as many have done. That which we principally stand for, is, the universal subjection of the nations to the laws of the Gospel, and the rest of the church from such persecutions as have been in all antichris- tian times^.' As a day usually stands for a year in the Apocalypse, and three years and a half for 1260: I think it an opinion not entirely destitvite of plausibility, that the Thousand Years, spoken of by St. John, are prophetic years, and denote a pe- riod of 360,000 common years. This was thought probable by Hartley^ and is the opinion of Priestley^ It is not, I am aware, unencumbered with difficulties ; and is exposed to a very formidable objection, drawn from a consideration of the size of the globe and the probable progress of popula- tion. That mankind will subsist in this world only ten cen- turies, after the commencement of the millenniary period, 2 Rem. onEccl. Hist. Vol. II. p. 424. 3 A Calcul. of the Numb. &c. p. 91. 4 On M»n, Vol. 11. p. 400. 5 See his Institute.'!, Vol. II. p. 4,17; CHAP. XXX. 259 I do, however, conceive to be a notion as irrational and un- founded, as it is gloomy and dispiriting. To the reality of a millennium a crowd of passages bear testimony. Of these a few shall be alleged. Daniel, having declared in the 35th v. of the iid ch. that all the oppressive governments of the world shall be broken to pieces^ says in the close of the same verse, that the stone, which rvas cut out without hands^ becafne a great mountain, and filled the xvhole earth, ' that is,' says Dr. Lancaster, ' the kingdom of the Messiah, having destroyed the four monarchies, became an universal monarchy'^.' What a lofty idea do these symbols suggest to us of the final spread of Christianity^ ! That, which at first was so narrow in its extent, as justly to be likened to a small stone, will at length be worthy of being compared to a mighty mountain. This prophetic vision, says Mr. Mede, ' points out two states of the kingdom of Christ. The first to be while those times of the kingdoms of the Gentiles yet lasted, typified by a stone hevjn out of a mountain xvithout hands, the monarchical statue yet standing upon his feet. The Second not to be until the utter destruction and dissipation of the image, when the stone having smote it upon the feet, should grow into a great mountain, which shoxAd fill the whole earth. The first may be called, for distinction sake, regniim lapidis, the kingdom of the stone; which is the state of Christ's kingdom which hath hitherto been : the other, regnum montis, the kingdom of the mountain (that is, of the stone grown into a mountain, &c.), which is the state of his king- 6 With the dictates of reason this perfectly agrees. * As the gospel was plainly/«et/for the use of all mankind, so nothing can seem more rea- sonable and fit, than lliat sometime or other it should be make kno\vn to all.' Christianity the Pt'fect. of all Rel. by Tho. Jef^ery, p. 98. 7 However the doctrine of the millenninm may be understood, ' it is clear,' says Mr. Gray, « that the prophetic declarations promise the uni- versal establishment of Christianity, in purity and truth, to be preceded by the fall of that antichristlan power, of which the character is ciescribed as so repugnant and hostile to the s-pirit of t!ie church.' Gray's Discourses, 1793, p. 316. 260 CHAP. XXX. dom which hereafter shall be^.' But the subject, which Mr. Mede was handling, he felt to be a very delicate one, and but ill calculated to gratify the ruling powers. In a letter to Mr. Hayne, who differed with him on the pro- phecy of Daniel, he accordingly says, ' I am unwilling to put all in xvritmg^ which I would utter in a private and personal discourse ^.' To the Jews, says bp. Chandler, we might on these points appeal. ' Ask them, what is meant by the stone^ and they answer as one man, the Mcss'ias. Go to the image, that the stone smote on the toes, and they are as unanimous in saying, it is the Roman empire, which must be, therefore, still in being, according to their sentiments'".' The bishop, to authenticate this statement, cites as wit- nesses, a crowd of the most celebrated rabbins. To these conclusions the words of Daniel do, indeed, irresistibly lead. In his explication of this vision to Nebuchadnezzar, he says, in v. 44 and 45, that the symbolic stone broke in pieces the it an., the brass ^ the clay ^ the silver^ and the gold; and that the kingdom^ which the God of heaven set up^ shall never be destroyed. The restricted sense of the word nevef will be more conveniently noted in a future page. After observing, that ' the present kingdoms of Europe are unquestionably represented by the feet and toes of the great image,' Dr. Priestley says, * From Daniel's interpre- tation of this vision it may be clearly inferred, that the forms of government, ecclesiastical and civil, which now subsist, in Europe, must be dissolved; but that something very different from them, and greatly superior to them, more favorable to the virtue and happiness of mankind, will take place in their stead. That this is the meaning of the prophecy can hardly be doubted l^y any person, who " shall give the least attention to it".' 8 P. 909. 9 P. 915. 10 Def. of Chilstiiuilty, p. 100. 11 InstiUitcs, 8tc. Vol. II. p. 4^6. CHAP. XXX. 2(il But another prophetic vision of the same import, and yet more clear, is recorded in ch. vii. After predicting, in v. 11 and 12, the destruction of the papal power and the op- pressive monarchies of the world, Daniel immediately adds in V. 13 and 14, Jscnv in the night-visions^ and^ behold^ one like the Son of man came -with the clouds of heaven; — and there was given him dominion^ and glory ^ and a kingdom^ THAT ALL PEOPLE, NATIONS, AND LANGUAGES SHOULD SERVE HIM. ' The time, in which this kingdom is given,' says Dr. SykeS, ' is expressly mentioned to he after the death of the beast, or after the expiration of the fourth kingdom. And here it is observable, that the kingdom of the Son of 7nan is not spoken of as a kingdom, in this prophecy, till MhQ judgment xvas set^ i. e. not till that glorious state of it, when the stone should actually become a ynountain^^-'.^ There has before been occasion to introduce extracts from Daubuz and from bp. Newton, wherein they remark, that it is the custom of the prophets first to describe an event in the language of symbols, and afterwards to represent it in plain and ordinary words. Thus, in the passage just cited, the. first clause is clothed in the emblematic language of the East; but the second is expressed literally, and is explana- tory of the meaning of the former. Dr. More accordingly observes in his prophetic alphabet, that ' riding upon tht clouds signifies — success against our enemies and enlarge- ment of power.' In confirmation of this, I give the words of Achmet, as ap|)ealed to by Dr. More, and quoted by Dr. Lancaster : this ancient writer says, that according to the usage of the Persians and Egyptians, '■ a king's riding upon the clouds is Interpreted of foreign nations serving him, of his ruling over them, and of his being exceedingly pros- perous and successful^^.' Indeed bp. Newton says, on Mat. xxiv, 30, that * in the ^nc'iQnt prophets God is frequently described as coming in the clouds^ upon any remarkable in- 12 Upon tlie Truth of Chr. p. 18. Wliat Mede observes, p. 93.), is in exact agreement with this quotation from Dr. Sykes. 13 Achmetis Oneirocritica, 154. 262 CHAP. XXX. terposition and manifestation of his power ; and the same description is here applied to Christ^*.' To the same pur- pose speaks Vitringa. ' Christ ^is said to covie in the clouds of heaven in the style of scripture, as often as he demon- strates his glory and majesty by the signal effects of his favor, severity, and power'^' That a cloud is a symbol, denoting success, was before remarked^. When therefore it is said in Daniel, that one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven^ the predic- tion appears evidently to carry wnth it this import, that, at the period spoken of, the religion of Jesus will obtain a signal triumph over all its enemies, and will have a glorious prevalence. Agreeably to this, Daubuz and Lancaster conceive, that when Christ said in Mat. xxiv. 30, they shall see the Son of 7nan cojning in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory ; he superadded these words, power and great glory, as explanatory of the symbol which Daniel had employed ; and it is after he had been discussing at length the established meaning of heaven in prophetic lan- guage, that the former of these writers says, in this predic- tion of our Saviour, it is plain, that heaven is synonimous to pQxvers and glory^'^.- And I must not omit to observe, 14 Vol. II. p 2S3. In Isaiah, xix. 1. it is said, behold, the Lordrideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt. 15 In Apoc. I. 7. See this observation also made and illustrated by Brenius (De Regno Eccl. Glor. cap. 5). I likewise add the statement of bp. Newcome. ' I think,' sajs this woi-thy prelate and able scriptural critic, ' any signal interposition in belialf of his church, or ui the destruction of his enemies, may be metaphorically called a co7?ji;:^, or a parousia, oi Chvist.* Observations on our Lord's Conduct as a Divine Instructor, p. 256. 16 See authorities for this in vol. I. p. 120. 17 P. 161. See this observed by Waple on Rev. ch. i. v. 7. ' Clouda (if hea'oen, in the scriptui-e -phrase, seem,' says Dr. More in his pi-ophetic alphabet, ' to sig-nify power and great glory.' See. also Taylor's Thoughts on the Grand Apostacy, p. 179, where he observes, that 'the earning of Christ in the kingdom of God does by no means intimate any kind of local motion or change of place: but merely the arrival at power and glory. — Thus we say in English, that the king cavie to his throne, that a man caine to his <-stntp, &c. without the least idea of local motion.' CHAP. XXX. 263 that Dr. Lightfoot, Avho was so intimately conversant in the Jewish phraseology, thinks, that this and similar pas- sages are indubitably not to be interpreted of Christ's actual advent. By writers of reputation the belief of his personal reign on earth is, indeed, very generally rejected'^. This, however, I believe, to adopt the words of Mr. Pyle, that he shall reign in the hearts, and holy lives, and examples of his followers'^. Among others who have regarded the expression In Mat. xxiv. 30, they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, as undoubtedly figurative, (I repeat the names which have before been incidentally mentioned,) are Dau- buz, Lancaster, Lightfoot, 'Vltrlnga, Le Clerc, Brenius, Whitby, Hammond ; Benson, Macknight, Campbell, and Nisbett, together with bishops Newton, Newcome, and Pearce. The jftrst coming of Christ, says bp. Hurd, ' was then over, when he expired on the cross.' But his second, observes the prelate, is* of a dliferent kind and not to be understood of a personal appearance^". Indeed * the word Christ,^ says the same writer In another place, ' is frequent- ly used in the apostolic writings for the doctrine of Christ j in which sense we are said to put on Christ, to groxv in Christ, to learn Christ, and in other instances^'.' 18 Among- otliers, it is rejected in express terms by Crellius (in Rom. xi. 23), Vitringa (in Apoc. p. 848), Bl-enius (de Regno Christi), Dr. John Edwards (Hist of the Various Dispensations of Religion, vol. II. p. 654)', Pcganius (on the Apoc. p. 238), Dr. Thomas Burnet (Theory of the Earth, vol. II. p. 308), Whitby (on the Millennium, ch. iv.), Hurd (vol. I. p. 123), and Jortin (on Eccl. Hist, vol.11, p. 424). Mede, speaking of this subject, says, ' I dare not so much as imagine, that it sliould be a visible converse upon earth (p. 741);' and how strongly Dr. More condemned the contrary ophiion, the following citation from him will evince. ' The per- sonal reign of Christ upon earth and of his holy martyrs is a very rash and groundless and unsafe conceit.' Myst. of Godliness, p. 181. The pas- sage that follows is from Dr, Burnet. ' That Christ should leave that right-hand of his Father, to come and pass a thousand jcars here below, living upon eartli in an heavenly body : thi.s, I confess, is a thing I never could digest' 19 On the Rev. p. 8" 20 Vol. I. p. 123. 21 Vol. II. p. 11. 264 CHAP. XXA> Is it not surprising, that the very same persons, who declare, that the expression, the coming of the Son of man in the clouds^ when it occurs in Daniel and the Evangelists, though acknowleged to be prophetic, is to be literally un- derstood ; when thej^ meet with exactly similar language in St. John, universally admit that it there carries with it a fgurative import ? When Christ is represented as sitting upon a white cloud (xiv. 14), or described as sitting upon a white horse^^ (vi. 2), the symbolic texture of the passages they presume not to deny. But is not this to incur the charge of inconsistency ? To undermine such an interpre- tation, is it not sufficient to state the palpable variations, to which its advocates are redticed? The interpretation of these symbols St. John has himself also supplied (as Daniel and our Lord have done in the quotations above) ; for it is added respecting Christ in the verse last cited, and he went forth conquering- and to conquer. But althpugh there is not sufficient reason for believing, that Christ will descend upon earth at the commencement of the millenjiium^ and a second time become its inhabitant, yet does the New Testament contain passages which de- cisively prove, that at the day of judgment he will personally appear^^ 22 This prophecy, says Daubuz, denotes tlie rapid pi-ogress of the Gos- pel. Anciently a horse was not used for the convenience of riding-, nor subjected to the drudgeries of agriculture. He was employed in waf alone. Hence he became a symbol of conquest. To evince this. Dr. Lancaster refers to the prophecies of scripture and the oneirocrltics of the East. White, he observes, is the symbol of prosperity ; ' and therefore tjA/Ve horses were used by conquerors in their days of ti'iumph. And it was, and still is, the custom of the Eastern nations to ride on white horsps at the marz'i age -cavalcade. AVhite horses were also looked upon by the an- cients as the swiftest. — Tlierefore a ixhite Iwrse, in proportion to tlie ca- pacity and quality of his rider, is the symbol of a very speedy and great advancement, and the certain prognostic of great joy and triumph.' On this subject Daubuz has furnished us with a profusion of evidence (in. p. 258—261, and 878). 23 See particularly John, v. 23, 29 ; Acts xvii. 31 ; and I Thess. v: 16, 17. CHAP. XXX. 265 What is the consequence of making it a rule to interpret prophecy literally P So completely does this method of ex- plication, when applied to many of the predictions of Scrip- ture, alter their genuine import, and such an air of wildness and improbability does it impart to them, that it is likely materially to promote the cause of infidelity. Instances of this it would be easy to accumulate. Were there not access to another mode of interpretation, the figurative and sym- bolic, the steadiest and most confirmed faith would be startled, and stand in suspense. What kind of plea has been advanced for perpetually recurring to the literal me- thod of explaining prophecy, the following extract from an author of this class Avill shew. The prophecies, says Mr. Elhanan Winchester, that ' have been fulfilled already, have been accomplished in their most plain and obvious sense : which may serve for a rule, by which we may, xvithox.it dan- ger of mistake^ interpret those that are yet to be accom- plished^*.' To a person, who has thought but little on the subject, this proposition sounds not unreasonable. Indeed were the statement in the premises correct, the conclusion which follows must be admitted to be fairly drawn. But, unfortunately, the preliminary observation is completely at variance with fact. The actual fulfilment of prophecies has proved, that many of them are literally, and many of them figuratively, expressed. The annotators on the Apocalypse, whatever be the country in which they lived, and whatever the sect to which they attached themselves, unite in agree- ing, that a multitude of its predictions have had their com- plete accomplishment, and yet, I believe, not one among them all has been literally fulfilled. To prove that the coming of Christy and the coming of the son of jnan are expressions, which signify nothing more than either the commencement of the Messiah's kingdom, or the establishment of it, I shall quote Mat. xvi, 28, and Mark, ix. 1. Wh^t our Lord said on a particular occasion 24 Lectures on the Propheci6;3, 1789. vol- I. p. il. Vol. IL l1 266 CHAP. XXX. the first of these evangelists thus expresses: verily I say unto yoii^ there be some standing here^ which shall not taste of death^ till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. This Mark records with the foUoAving variation : verily I sail unto you there be some of them that stand here, tvhich ^hall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God co7ne zvith power. The meaning is, some of those who now hear me shall live to see the Christian dispensation established : the gospel being widely propagated and having a powerful influence. It could not mean, that some should live to see him come in person, for that they had already done. The most zealous defender of the doctrine of Christ's residence upon earth, with these two passages before him, cannot but acknowlege, however averse he may be to make the acknowlegement, that the coming of the kingdom of God, and the coming of the Son of man, are employed by the evangelists as synonimous expressions, and that the latter is used, where it cannot possibly signify his personal advent. In the 29th v. of the xxivth ch. of Matthew, it is said, the powers of the heavens shall be shaken : in the 30th it is said, they shall see the So7i of viari co7)iing in the clouds of heaven. To understand the word heavens in the first of these contiguous clauses figuratively, and to interpret the word heaven in the second literally, is obviously unrea- sonable. But the strongest objection against the hypothesis of Christ's actual advent, and his reign upon earth, is, I ap- prehend, not to be deduced from the collation of passages, nor from an application of the canons of verbal criticism. It is drawn from a consideration of those moral laws which the Deity has established, and from the nature of things. As the personal reign of Jesus would be a perpetual mira- cle, it would be totally opposite to the general plan of God's administration of the world, and inconsistent with that state of probation and discipline in which human-kind are placed. UHAP. XXX. 267 That the full force of this objection may be discerned, some observations of archdeacon Paley shall be transcribed. Were the proof of revelation irresistible, it * would i-es- train the voluntary powers too much ; would not answer the purpose of trial and probation ; would call for no exer- cise of candor, seriousness, humility, inquiry ; no submis- sion of passions, interests, and prejudices, to moral evidence and to probable truth ; no habits of reflection ; none of that previous desire to learn and to obey the will of God, which forms perhaps the test and the merit of the virtuous prin- ciple. — Irresistible evidence would confound all characters and all dispositions. Would subvert, rather than promote the true purpose of the divine councils, which is not to pro- duce obedience by a force little short of mechanical con- straint (which obedience would be regularity not virtue, and would hardly perhaps differ from that which inanimate bodies pay to the laws impressed upon their nature), but to treat moral agents agreeably to what they are ; which is done, when light and motives are of such kinds, and are imparted in such measures, that the influence of them de- pends upon the recipients themselves".' There are two declarations of our Lord himself, which militate so strongly against the idea, that the signal of the proper kingdom of Christ will be his descent upon earth, and that he will then assume the character of a terrestrial monarch, that they particularly deserve to be cited. The first is his memorable saying before Pilate, My kingdom is not of this xvorlcf^. The second is his answer to the Pha- risees respecting the nature of his kingdom. The kingdom of God Cometh not -with observation : 7ieither shall they say, Lo^ here! or^ lo., there.' for, behold, the kingdom of God is ■within yoii^'^. 'The kingdom of the Messiah or Christ,' says bp. Pierce, ' is not to be of that kind as ye expect. 25 Evid. of Christianity, vol. II. p. 368, 371. 26 John, xviii. 36. Our Lord does not employ here tJ>e word cuat but >t«5-ft«?. 27 Luke xvii. 20, 21. iJ68 CHAP. XXX. and which has outward show and pomp to make it observa- ble^^^ It is not of such a nature, says Whitby, ' that a man may be able to say from the lustre of its first appear- ance, Lo, it is here, or it is there.' After again predicting in the 26th v. of ch. vii. the downfal of the papacy and antichristian monarchies of Europe, Daniel says in the following verse, and the king- dom^ and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the xvhole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting king- dom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. That Christians are denominated, in numerous places of the New Testament, holy, and a holy nation, and saints. Mr. Taylor of Norwich, in his Key to the Romans, has satis- factorily shewn*'. In St. John's account of the seventh trumpet, wherein he announces the destruction of them which destroy the earth, he says, the kingdoms of this world are be- come THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD AND OF HIS CHRIST, AND HE SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER : WOrds, sayS Mr. Lowman, which signify, that ' the true Christian reli- gion should triumph over all opposition, and flourish with great success and prosperity throughout all the future ages of tiyne."* To the kingdom of Christ ' the prophets,' says Jortin, ''with one voice, have promised an eternal duration. Yet St. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, says that Christ's kingdom shall have an end. To reconcile which with the prophecies, we must observe that the ex- pressions, everlasting, for ever, and without end^°, are used by sacred, as well as profane authors, in different senses, according to the subject to which they are applied. When therefore it is said, that Christ shall reign for ever, the meaning seems to be, that he shall reign as long as the world lasts ; when it is said, that of his kingdom there shali be no end, the meaning is, that it shall not pass away like 28 In loc. 29 Sect. 101. SO • The comparative degi-ee ctButvOiT^Tsfai is used by Plato in liis Fhfdo and Sympcs.^ Jortin. CHAP. XXX. 269 other kingdoms, and that there shall be no end of it, till the consummation of all things. Then cometh the end^ says St. V2i\A^^ when Christ shall have delivered xip the kingdom to God even the Father^ ivhcn he shall have put down all riUe^ and all authority and power ; for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet^'^J' ' To makeyor ever signify any knoxvn^ limited^ determinate period of time is' says Mr. Hallett, ' contrary to nature, and to the genius of all lan- guages. — It always does, and always must signify a dura- tion that is unknown and uncertain among men, such as the duration of the world, of a man's life, of a particular re- lation between two persons, &c. Thvis, when the psalmist says, Christ's throne shall be established for ever as the raoon^ he means to the end of the world, psalm Ixxxix. After foretelling the destruction of the antichristian mo- narchies of Europe in ch. xvii and xix, in the next and two following chapters St. John paints, in highly figurative lan- guage, the state of the millenniary happiness. The same course, (and it is a very natural one, and has, we see, been generally followed) Christ himself also pur- sues. The destruction of the oppressive governments of the world he first announces, and, having done this, directly subjoins a promise of the glorious prevalence of his reli- gion, which was then to take place. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened^ and the moon shall not give her lights and the stars shall fall from heaven^ and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And tHEN shall appear the sign of the Son of .man?'' in heaven : 31 1 Cor. XV. 24, 25. 32 Disc, on the Tr. of the Chr. Rel. 2d. ed. p. 149. 33 Kotes on Several Texts of Scripture and Discourses, vol. III. p. 420. In tlie book of Numbei'S it is said (x. 8), the sons of Aaron shall bloiu luith the trumpets, and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever. The following' explication of the verse is Dr. Clarke's. ♦ For ever, that is ; as long- as your government and establishment shall last.' Serm. vol I. scrm. IV". 34 ' A late author (John Buxtorf) hath eased us of all our disputes about this sign, by shewng that as tlie sign of yonas the prophet, Matt. :^i. UTO , CHAP. XXX. and THEN shall all the tribes cf the earth 7nour7i^\ and they shall see the Son of 7)tan coming i?i the clouds of heaven with poxver and great glory^^. ' We have no reason to think,' says Dr. Campbell, ' that a particular phsenomenon in the sky is here suggested. The striking evidences, which would be given of the divine presence, and avenging justice, are a sufficient justification of the terms.' Let it not here escape the recollection of the reader, that the expressions, the earthy and the tribes of the earth., are sometimes symbolic, and signify those, who having inclinations altogether sordid and earthly act in direct opposition to the true interests of Chris- tianity. Such appears to be the meaning in this place. *■ Who,' asks Daubuz, ' at the second coming of Christy shall lament, but the obstinate idolaters and opposers of Christ ? These, which shall remain at that coming, and per- sist in their enmity to Christ, shall be the subject of his judgment and vengeance ; and shall therefore have occasion to lament ; but others shall have no such reason. So that the tribes of the earth include none but Christ's enemieSj^.' "9, is the sig-n which is Jonas the prophet ; so the sign of the Son of man inquii'ed after. Mat. xxiv. 3, is the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven. And this interpretation is confirmed from tlie parallel places, Mark xiii. 26. Luke. xxi. 27.' By Gerard Vossius (^Theses Theol. 1658, p. 228.), by Wolfius, aiid a crowd of other writers that might be alleged, this explica- tion of the phrase has been noted and adopted. 35 Ilxa-xi cti (pvXxt Ti>5 y???, i. e. all tiie different classes of untichris- tian persons. 36 Mat. xxiv. 29, 30. Z7 Verse 7 of ch. i. of the ApocaljT>.se is the parallel passage, upon which this learned writer comments. It is there said, that thev iv ho pierced him shall see him coming vcith clouds, i. e. the nation who crucified him, the Jews who shall happen to be living at the commencement of the mil- lennium, shall no longer be blind to the truth and evidences of the gospel, but shall be converted, and shall see it pi oducing the most powerful ef- fects. Of them also it may, in one sense, be said, tliat they shall inourn .• for on their former infidelity they will look back with sorrow ; and shame ; and will lament, tliat it was by their ancestors and by their nation, that the holy Jesus was despised, and persecuted, and at length stretched upon the cross. Acci>rdingly om- Lord's words, that the tribes of the earth shall mourn, if regai-ded not as symbolic, but as literal, nuist in this manner be exclusively applied, as they formerly have been, to the Jews. CHAP. XXX. 2TI Our Lord immediately added in the words that follow, as recorded by Mark, and then shall he send his angels^^^ and shall gather together his elect from the four xvinds^from the uttermost part of the earth to the iittermost part of hea- ven^^.* Bp. Nevnon, when commenting on the correspond- ing verse in Matthew, says, ' this is all in the style and phraseology of the prophets, and stript of its figures mean- eth only, that — Christ by his angels or ministers will ga- ther to himself a glorious church out of all the nations un- der heaven**".' That the belief of Christianity will at length penetrate to every corner of the globe, does, indeed, ap- pear to be the signification of the passage ; and, in confor- mity with this interpretation, the prelate from whom I have just quoted remarks, that ' the elect is a well kno^m ap- pellation in scripture and antiquity for the Christians*'.' Should the writer of the present work be charged with having quoted some parts of the prophecy of Jesus with a tiresome frequency ; besides observing, that in no instance has he needlessly recurred to it, he replies, that this repe- tition has been admitted, because our Lord's words merit more than ordinary regard, because he was solicitous that their genuine meaning jftight be closely scrutinised, and be- cause no one writer has hitherto, in an explicit manner, 38 The original would have been better translated by the word -messen- gers, as it is in the versions of Wakefield and Doddridge. 39 Markxiii. 27. 40 Vol. II. p. 284. ' By the angels in this clause are to be understood the ministers of the gospel Agreeably to this interpretation we find the name ayytAo?, angel, g'iven to common messengers, James ii. 25, and to the ministers of the Asian churches. Rev. ii. and to prophets, II. Chron, xxxvi. 16, and to priests, Mal.ii. 7.' Macknight in loc. 41 Vol. II. p. 254. See the same observation made by archbishop Til- lotson, ser. 239. At first the title was peculiar to the Jews. After a copious allegation of instances. Dr. Whitby says, ' thus have I traced this phrase throughout the whole Old Testament, and shewed, that it belongs not to particular persons, but to the whole Jewish church and people in general ; to the bad as well as to the good.' And, ' in the New Testa- ment, all Christians, called to the knowlege and belief of the faith, are styled the elect.' vol. i. p. 328, and vol. ii, p. 709. He proves, that it had also, in the Fatliers, a similar acceptation. 272 CHAP. xxx» drawn from them all those unportant conclusions, which are deducible from a minute and careful investigation of them. As the doctrine of Christ's actual advent upon earth, at the commencement of the millennium, has recently received the sanction of a celebrated name, this point also he has been prompted to consider at greater length, than might otherwise perhaps have been necessary. Dr. Priestley, in one of the most recent of his sermons, declared himself decidedly an advocate for it, as well as for the opinion, that the martyrs will at that period be literally raised from the dead. The following are two of the rea- sons he has alleged to prove Christ's personal appearance. * That the great antichristian power is to be destroyed at this second coming of Christ, and not properly before, and therefore that its final destruction will be sudden, is evident from what St. Paul says, 2 Thess. ii. 8, T/ien shall that wicked one be revealed, -whom the Lord shall consume xvith the spirit of his viouth, and shall destroy zuith the brig-ht- ness of his coming^'^. So far from regarding this as evi- dent, I should, I confess, apprehend, that the apostle's ex- pressions lead to an almost opposite conclusion ; and should conceive them probably to denote, that the dawn of light and knowledge would grow brighter and brighter, and that the niillennium, or proper kingdom of the Messiah, would be gradual in its advances. ' That this will be a proper kingdo}?i, though a kingdom of righteousness, the object of which will be the happiness of the subjects of it, is,' says Dr. Priestley, ' farther evident from the other kingdoms which are to be overthrown in order to make way for it. For had it been that purely spiritual kingdom, which some suppose, what occasion was there for the destruction of the other kingdoms ; since they would not have interfered with it, but might have subsisted at the same time« ?' To my mind there does not appear here a shadow of difficulty ; and 42 Fast-Serm. for Feb. 28, 1794, p. 9. 4.3 Ut supra, p. 4, caAP. XXX, 5;r3 I should feel no hesitation in replying, that, without the supposition of Christ assuming a regal character upon earth, there xuas abundant occasion for the destruction of the existing governments of the European continent, and that they would not only interfere, but would be absolutely incompatible w^ith the establishment of Christ's kingdom. The principles of profligacy and virtue can never form an harmonious mixture : joint dominion can never be posses- sed by tyranny and freedom : one and the same space can never be occupied by light and darkness. That the prophecies on this subject were once viewed by this eminent writer in a different light, the following citation from his Institutes will prove. ' Some have supposed that Christ himself Avill reign in person upon earth, and that the martyrs will actually rise from the dead, and live with him, but, considering the figurative language of prophecy, it is more probable, that the revival of the cause for which they suffered is, in reality, the thing denoted by it. Besides, it is contrary to the clear sense of many passages of scripture, that any persons, however distinguished by their virtues or sufferings, should receive their reward before the great day of judgment, after the general resurrection. Dr. Whitby has also advanced other very sufficient arguments against the literal interpretation of the millennium''*.' And Dr. Priestley elsewhere observes (and the observation is very important), that ' the utter destruction of Antichrist — is often denominated in the scriptures by the cojning cj Christ*5.' The very brief remarks which have just been made in answer to the last of Dr. Priestley's arguments remind me of an objection, which may possibly have occured, during the perusal of the present chapter, to the mind of the at- tentive reader. It is true, it may be saidj we have seen the monarchy of France actually overturned. But how does it appear, in point of fact, that the symbolic stone de- 44 Vol. 11. p. 416. 45 Vol. IT. p. 41" Vol. II. M ni 274 ~ CHAP. XXX. scribtd in the iid. ch. of Daniel, which was cut out xvithout hands^ is likely to produce any considerable effect in smiting the monarchical image^ and in breaking into pieces the toes of the feet of that image ? On the contrary, is it not ap- parent, that the causes, which Avill give birth to this great catastrophe, will arise entirely from a different source ; and is there not reason to conclude, ■ that Christianity has been scarcely at all injurious, and is not likely to be hereafter injurious, to the tyrannical monarchies of the European world ? As the objection does not appear destitute of weight, and has, I believe, never been answered, it shall be considered at considerable length. That the emblem of the symbolic stone has been gene- rally viewed in too narrow a light, is the observation with which I commence. Christianity is a religion, which treats all men as on a footing of equality ; which ele vates them into candidates of the same crown of immortality ; which breathes a spirit of mildness and of mercy ; which at once teaches, inspires, and exemplifies benevo lence. The sym- bolic stone, then, signifies not merely the peculiar doctrines, but likewise the great principles, of Christianity j the im- mortal principles of benevolence"**, justice, and equality. And let it be remembered, that this part of the prophecy is only beginning to be accomplished. The several toes of the monarchical statue are still nearly entire in point of num- ber, though somewhat shattered in point of strength. That we should be able, at present, to offer a completely satis- factory explication of the whole of Daniel's prophecy, is, therefore, far from being reasonable to expect. If, however, it be true, that, independently of the pre- dictions contained in the sacred writings, the New Testa- ment does abound with precepts, which are likely eminently to contribute to the humbling of the proud and the deli- vtrance of the oppressed, to the overthrow of all usurped power, to the establishment of mild and equitable laws, and 46 By this ihall vien know, that ye are my dUciples, if you have love one to another, John, xiii. 35. CHAP. XXX. 275 to the general prevalence of correct ideas on the great ques- tion of justice between man and man ; it surely is no very improbable supposition, (now that the spirit of political in- quiry has arisen in Europe, and the minds of men are turned with so much eagerness to the examination of the nature, and the comparative advantages, of different governments,) that the time is not far distant, when genuine Christians will in general view the existing governments of the Euro- pean continent as decidedly antichristian ; and when many of them will take an active part in substituting in their place political institutions, which do not violate the rights of man and the laws of the gospel. That the decided majority of a nation have a right to pull down an old government, and erect a new one, if they think it expedient, I conceive to be a point admitting not of dispute. Of the abuses that exist in the world a large part arise from the tyranny of the rich over the poor, and from the extreme inequality of conditions, an evil which is aggravat- ed, and, indeed, engendered, by the maxims and constitu- tions of the existing governments. Now Jesus, it may be remarked, selected his friends and disciples from among the poor, interested himself with the warmest solicitude in their behalf, connected his religion with their interests and the preservation of their rights, pointed frequently to the mischiefs which almost necessarily result from the possession of great wealth, and spoke, in language unusually strong and little limited in its application, against the vices and the conduct of the rich. Jesus, says the present bishop of Worcester, first and principally preached the Gospel to the poor. ' Our Lord's whole ministry seems uniformly directed to this end of beating down the insolence of all worldly distinctions, which hvad too much vilified and degraded human nature.' In truth, ' he seems studiously to have bent his whole en- deavors, to vindicate the honor of depressed humanity*^' 47 3p. H.n-d's Sei-m. preached at Llucobi's Inn. vol. III. p. 153, 154. ^76 CHAP. XXX. Hostile to all claims of huir.an authorit}^ in matters of conscience and of opinion, Christianity is on that account favorable to libertv and to knowlege, and is of course ad- verse to the ecclesiastial part of the modern governments**. An author of more than usual merit, after declaring that war is ' a state in -which it becomes our business to hurt and annoy our neighbor by every possible means ; instead of cultivating, to destroy ; instead of building, to pull down ; instead of peopling, to depopulate ; a state in which we drink the tears, and feed upon the misery, of our fel- loAV-creatures ;' briefly comments on the methods, by which the European governments have contrived to associate it with the religion of Jesus. Their prayers, says this inge- nious writer, ' if put into plain language, would run thus : God of love, father of all the families of the earth, we are going to tear in pieces our brethren of mankind, but our strength is not equal to our fury, we beseech thee to assist us in the work of slaughter. Go out, we pray thee, with our fleets and armies ; we call them Christian, and we have interwoven in our banners, and the decorations of our arms, the symbols of a suffering religion, that we may fight under the cross upon which our Saviour died. Whatever mis- chief we do, we shall do it in thy name ; we hope, there- fore, thou wilt protect us in it. Thou, who hast made of one blood all the dwellers upon the earth, we trust thou wilt view us alone with partial favor, and enable us to bring misery upon every other quarter of the globe*^' Whether supplications, which have ideas similar to these for their genuine import, and which the members of the different hierarchies are so often compelled to utter, are, or are not in direct opposition to the benign spirit and the pacific pre- cepts of the gospel, are questions which its most unlettered reader can fell no embarrassment in answering. 48 See the quotations which occur in vol. 1. p. 207, 208, 212 — 215, and 224 — 226, of the present work. 49 Sins of Government, Sins of the Nation ; or a nLscoursc for the Fast, appointed on April 19, 1795, by a Volunteer, p. 26, 31 CHAP. XXX. 277 Of the regular governments of Europe war is one of the most favorite practices. But 'that the general tendency of the gospel is to extinguish the spirit of contention need not,' says a learned prelate, ' be proved ; its ancient adver- saries were so sensible of this, that they turned, what should have been its commendation, into a matter of reproach, and reprobated it, because it gave many precepts to avoid the commission of injuries, and injunctions to forgive them, but none to avenge them. — Christianity, in its regards, steps beyond the narrow bounds of national advantage in quest of universal good ; it does not encourage particular patriotism in opposition to general benignity.' Indeed ' were all the nations of the earth converted to the Christian religion, and the individuals of those nations not nominal merely but real Christians, it would be utterly impossible for a state of war ever to have a beginning among them^°.' An ingenious defender of the Christian religion, happen- . ing to have been a Lord of Trade, and a member of the British senate, does, naturally enough, entertain views on the subject of government, which are dark and distorted. Plainly perceiving, that, as at present conducted, it is completely at variance with the precepts of the gospel, he has fallen into the error of supposing, that these precepts are inconsistent with all government. ' Government,' says he, ' cannot be managed without certain degrees of violence, corruption, and imposition ; yet are all these strictly forbid. Nations cannot subsist without wars, nor war be carried on without rapine, desolation, and murdeV ; yet are these pro- hibited under the severest threats^'.' The influence of Christianity, Avith respect to the over- throw of the antichristian monarchies, may be placed also in another point of view. Though the religion of Jesus is far from possessing that powerful efficacy, which it may be expected hereafter to exert in more favorable circumstances ; yet it cannot be doubted by any man, acquainted with hu- .50 Bp. Watson's Sermons and Tracts, 1788, p. 109, 111, 113. .il View of the Intern. Evid. of tlie Cla-. Rcl. p. Jo4. '■27H o«AP. XXX. man nature and with history, that its effects are great and invaluable. Now I maintain, that Christianity, by having^ made a large proportion of the inhabitants of Europe eithtr partially or in the main virtuous, has on that account pow- erfully disposed them to entertain sentiments hostile to those oppressive systems of government which at present subsist ; and, when a proper occasion calls for their assistance, and the great interests of mankind are at stake, to exercise that degree of activity, and personally to encounter those dan- gers, which cannot but be attendant on the establishment of a new order of things. He who is acquainted with the de- plorable state of morals in the heathen world, at the sera of Christ's appearance, and with the imbecility of the efforts whi;.h philosophy had employed to check the growth of vice, cannot, I think, but suspect, that, had that religion never been revealed, there would not have been a sufficient portion of virtue, disinterestedness, and public spirit now existing among mankind, to accomplish those important changes in the political world, of w^hich reason and scrip- ture authorise us to cherish such pleasing hopes. On this subject I cannot transcribe any passage more in unison with my ideas, than the following sentiments of one of the most elevated members of the English hierarchy. ' True Chris- tianity will produce true patriotism and public spirit. By its commanding influence over the soul, it will keep under, and bring into subjection, all those irregular passions which render men rapacious, sordid, selfish, and corrupt, indiffe- rent and inattentive to the public, devoted solely to the pur- suit of some favorite object, or the gratification of some implacable resentment, to which they are at any time ready to prostitute their consciences, and sacrifice the true interest of their country. From all these vile impediments to the discharge of our duty, Christianity sets us free, and substi- tutes in their room the noblest and most generous senti- ments. It gives that dignity and elevation of soul, which is superior to every undue influence, either of popularity or of power. It lays down, as the foundation of all disinte- rested conduct, that great evangelicid virtue, self-denial : CHAP. XXX. 279 it teaches us to deny, to renounce ourselves ; to throw en- tirely out of our thoughts, our own prejudices, interests, and passions ; and, in every public question, to see nothing, to regard nothing, but the real welfare of our country. — It extends our prospect beyond the present scene of things, and sets before us the recompences of a future life ; which, as they make us richer^ enable us to be more g-efierous, than other men. They whose views are wholly centured in this world will too often prefer the emoluments of it to every other consideration : but they, who look towards an inhe- ritance in another state of existence, can afford to give up to the general welfare, a few advantages in this^\' From the regular practice of Christianity courage also will be likely to result. ' A consciousness of having dis- charged our duty, of being at peace with God, and of liv- ing under Iws gracious superintendence, will give us a spirit, a firmness, and intrepidity of soul, which nothing else can inspire. Supposing all other circumstances equal, the sin- cere Christian will have many incitements to face danger with a steady countenance, which the irreligious cannot have. Under the defence of the Most High, he has less cause to fear the worst, and more reason to hope the best, than those that live without God in the world. The wicked^ therefore, Jlee xvhen no man ptirsueth^ but the righteous are bold as a lion". Even death itself has, to the real Christian, no terrors Instead of being to him, as it is to the vrordly man, the extinction of his hopes, it is the consummation of 52 The following' is llie staieiner.t of another wTiter, the ingenious Dr. Duchal. ' The selfish spirit of this world stands in direct opposition to charity ; as the one prevails, the other must five way. He tliat thinks and acts as if he were made only for himself: as if he were alone in the midst of the earth ; as if he were to take care of nothing but his own in- terest, and regard his neighbors no otherwise than as they may be the means of promoting' it ; who thus acLs as if he had n.j principle but self- love in him, and therefore as to his moral frame is really monstrous ; such an one, I say, must be an utter stranger, as to true charity, so to the Chris- tian spii'it.' Christianity, indeed, ' strikes at the very root of this temper.' Dr. Duchal's Sermons, vol. I. p. 96. 53 Prov. XXVIII. 1. 280 CHAP. XXX, them, and puts him in possession oi those heavenly trea- sures on which his heart is fixed. He, therefore, goes on with cool undaunted composure to the discharge of his duty, Avhatever difficulties, whatever dangers may stand in his way ; conscious that he is acting under the eye of an Al- mighty Being, who can both protect and reward him ; who has commanded him, if it be necessary, to lay dorvn his life for his brethren^*; and who will never suffer him to be a loser in the end, even by that last and greatest sacrifice to the public good".' Thus then it appears from the testimony of a prelate who stands high in royal favor, that Christianity, by implanting in the bosoms of its genuine followers disinterestedness and courage, eminently qualifies them for taking an active and zealous part in the subversion of every profligate govern- ment, and in the erection of a new and more benevolent system. Nor let it be supposed, that the precepts of Jesus, which enjoin the practice of patience and the forgiveness of injuries, prohibit our resistance to the tyranny of princes. On this point another of our prelates, who is also distin- guished by the smiles of royalty and an aversion to French principles, may safely be listened to. ' The use of the na- tural passion of resentment is not,' says the bishop of Wor- cester, ' superseded by the law of Jesus. For the legitimate use of this passion is to quicken us in repelling such inju- ries, as would render human life wholly burthensome and uneasy to us, not of those petty affronts and discourtesies, which afflict us much less by being dissembled and forgiven, than by being resented and returned. Now Christianity does not- require us to renounce the right of nature in re- pelling injuries of the former class. The law in question, as explained by our Lord himself, does not, we have seen, import thus much : and for the rest the appeal is open to the principles of nature and common sense. — The practice of the apostles (the best comment on the law) shews, too, that, on certain critical and urgent occasions, they scrupled 54 ] John in. 16. 55 Bp. Porteus's Serm. p. 261, 265. CHAP. XXX. 281 not to take advantage of those principles. So that univer- sally, as it would seem, where the ends of self-preservation, or of prepollent public utility, require and justify resistance in other men, there it is left free for Christians, likewise to resist evil ; the purpose of their divine legislator being, in this instance, to explain the law of nature, and to guard it from the abuse of our hasty passions, not to abrogate, or suspend it.' The gospel 'allows men to assert their essen- tial civil interests by every reasonable exertion of firmness and courage ; nay, inculcates those principles of a disin- terested love for mankind, and what is properly called a public spirit, which make it their duty to do so. And they will not do it with the less effect, for waiting till the provo- cation given appear to all men to be without excuse. The fury of a patient man is almost proverbial : and, particularly, in this case, it is to be expected, that, when the natural in- citement to resistance, long repressed and moderated, comes at length to be authorised by necessity, and quickened by a sense of duty, it will act with a force and constancy, not a little formidable to those, against whom it is directed. There is no danger, then, that true patriotism should suifer by the meek principles of peace^^' The following is the statement of an enlightened man, who was himself alike distinguished by a spirit of piety and a spirit of patriotism. *• In vain shall we expect to meet with an heart, truly animated with zeal for its country's cause, in a breast which is destitute of piety to God. Let history unfold her instructive page j her records will esta- blish the truth of this great, this important maxim, that there is no reliance upon that steady persevering virtue, which true patriotism requires, where the principles of re- ligion and of public spirit are not inseparably united. — The beneficial efficacy of religion, in controlling that selfish principle, to which all the disorders of human life ai;e to be referred, is so apparent, that the worst of men have fre- 56 Kurd's Seiin. preached at Lincoln's Inn, vol. III. p. 288, 3*^3. Vol. IJ. ^ no 282 CHAP. XXX. quently been induced to assume the appearance of it, though their hearts are strangers to its real power and practice".' In order to estimate, to xvhat extent^ Christianity will be serviceable to the cause of civil liberty, on any important crisis, by predisposing men to stand forward in the rank of its defenders, and enabling them worthily to support the character, there are some other circumstances, to which it will be necessary briefly to advert. Let it be remembered, that, in the present state of the European governments, now that thev are arrived at an unexampled pitch of corrup- tion, when they are guarded by an immense number of in- terested supporters, who are so powerful from their wealth, their functions, and the multitude of their dependants ; a more thgn ordinary proportion of virtue and of firmness seems requisite in the community, in order to efl^ect a reform of abuses and to accomplish a change in the system. In some countries, the struggle is likely to be obstinately con- tested ; and a small matter^ perhaps^ xvoiild be SK^cient ts turn the scale. Never were the holders of loans, the ful- fiUers of contracts, and the expectants of places, equally numerous ; with respect to those, who reap emolument from stations in the army, the navy, or the church, together with those who fill legal, financial, ard municipal situations , never did they constitute throughout Europe a body of per- sons, so averse to reformation, and devoted to the cause of tyranny. In this situation of things, in cannot then be doubted, that, at the period when the happiness of all is about to succeed to the oppressions of the few, every friend of his country, who combines activity with virtue, must prepare to make numerous sacrifices. But whatever sacrifices it may be necessary to make, whatever dangers it may be necessary to encounter, it can- not be doubted, that there are circumstances, in which it would be criminal not to oppose, in the most open manner, the plunderers of mankind. The following extract is from | a dignitary of the church, whose literary productions are 57 Dr. Jebb's Works, vol. II p. 44, 49. CHAP. XXX. 283 highly estimated in our universities, and whose opinion^ are listened to by the clergy with great attention and re- spect. ' It may be as much a duty, at one time, to resist government, as it is, at another, to obey it ; to wit, when- ever more advantage will, in our opinion, accrue to the community, from resistance, than mischief.' If, says the same sagacious writer in another place, I should be accost- ed by a person, *■ with complaints of public grievances, of exorbitant taxes, of acts of cruelty and oppression, of ty- rannical encroachments upon the ancient or stipulated rights of the people, and should be consulted, whether it were lawful to revolt, or justifiable to join in an attempt to shake off the yoke by open resistance ; — I should reply, that if public expediency be the foundation, it is also the measure, of civil obedience ; that the obligation of subjects and so- vereigns is reciprocal ; that the duty of allegiance, whether it be founded in utility or compact, is neither unlimited nor unconditional ; that peace may be purchased too dear; that patience becomes culpable pusillanimity, when it serves only to encourage our rulers to ingrease the weight of our bur- then, or to bind it the faster ; that the submission which surrenders the liberty of a nation, and entails slavery upon future generations, is enjoined by no rational morality : finally, I should instruct him to compare the peril and ex- pense of his enterprise with the effects it was expected to produce, and to make choice of the alternative, by which not his ow^n present relief or profit, but the whole and per- manent interest of the state, was likely to be best promot- ed'^' Now the time is probably not very remote, when, in different countries of the European continent, a decided 58 Archdeacon Paley's Principles of Mur. and Pol. Phil. 7 ed. vol. II p. 144, 155. Were this a place proper for the discussion, or were the law- fulness of resisting the tyranny of princes a question which admitted of a shadow of doubt, it would be easy to accumulate the names of celebrated persons who have asserted it. Such are Milton, Grotius and Buchanan, Sydney and Locke, lords Russel and Somers, judge Blackstone and lord Camden. 284 CHAP. XXX. majority of the inhabitants will be of opinion, that * the permanent interest of the state,' and that the whole of the people, will be best promoted by the overthrow of the ex- isting governors, though the attendant convulsion should expose multitudes to the hazard of suffering, for a time, considerable inconveniences and calamities. Of those, in whose bosoms joy beats the highest, on account of the great and glorious events which produced the French revolution, a large part, we know in point of fact, were persons attached to religion and zealous for its interests. I think it also probable, that there will be many sincere believers in Christianity among those distinguished political writers, who will undoubtedly, after a time, arise in France", and who will it is apprehended, through the medium of literature, and by the weapons of argument, undermine the subsisting tyrannies, which the armies and valor of their countrymen had before so openly attacked and so materially endangered. There is also another point of view, in which Christiani- ty is serviceable to Civil Liberty. ' The temple,' says one the most elegant writers in our language, ' is the only place where human beings, of every rank and sex and age, meet together for one common purpose, and join together in one common act. Other meetings are either political, or form- ed for the purposes of splendor and amusement ; from both which, in this country, the bulk of inhabitants are of necessity excluded. This is the only place, to enter which nothing more is necessary than to be of the same species : the onb.' place, where man meets man not only us an equal but a brother ; and where, by contemplating his duties, he may become sensible of his rights. So high and haughty 59 To the probability of this position many of my readers will probably yefuse to assent- Should the author of the present work publish a pamph- let, which is in a great degree written, and which treats on the effects which the French Revolution is likely ultimately to pi-oduce with respect, to Chrlslinnity, he will there state the grounds of the opinion which he has hazai-dcd in the text. CHAP. XXX. - 285 is the spirit of aristocracy, and such the increasing pride of the privileged classes, that it is to be feared, if men did not attend at the same place here, it would hardly be be- lieved they were meant to go to the same place hereafter. It is of service to the cause of freedom therefore, no less than to that of virtue, that there is one place, where the invidious distinctions of wealth and titles are not admitted ; where all are equal, not by making the low, proud, but by making the great, humble. How many a man exists who possesses not the smallest property in this earth of which you call him lord ; who, from the narrowing spirit of pro- perty, is circumscribed and hemmed in by the possessions of his more opulent neighbors, till there is scarcely an un- occupied spot of verdure on which he can set his foot to admire the beauties of nature, or barren mountain on which he can draw the fresh air without a trespass. The enjoy- ments of life are for others, the labors of it for him. He hears those of his class spoken of collectively, as of ma- chines, which are to be kept in repair indeed, but of which the sole use is to raise the happiness of the higher orders. Where, but in the temple of religion, shall he learn that he is of the same species ? He hears there (and were it for the first time it would be with infinite astonishment), that all are considered as alike ignorant and to be instructed; all alike sinful and needing forgiveness ; all alike bound by .the same obligations, and animated by the same hopes. In the intercourses of the world the poor man is seen, but not noticed ; he may be in the presence of his superiors, but he cannot be in their company. In every other place it would be presumption in him to let his voice be heard along with theirs ; here alone they are heard together, and blended in the full chorus of praise. In every other place it would be an offence to be near them, without shewing in his attitudes and deportment the conscious marks of inferiority ; here only he sees the prostration of the rich as low as his, and hears them both addressed together in the majestic sym- plicity of a language that knows no adulation. Here the 286 CHAP. XXX. poor man learns, that, in spite of the distinctions of rank, and the apparent inferiority of his condition, all the true goods of life, all that men dare petition for when in the presence of their maker, a sound mind, a healthful body, and daily bread, lie within the scope of his own hopes and endeavors ; and that, in the large inheritance to come, his expectations are no less ample than theirs. He rises from his knees, and feels himself a man. He learns philosophy without its pride, and a spirit of liberty without its turbu- lence. Every time social worship is celebrated, it includes a virtual declaration of the rights of man**.' And what was the character of the great personage, whose actions are recorded in the gospel-narratives, to be admired and to be imitated ? Surely it was not such, a^ should deter men from cherishing an ardent fondness for their country, or from undertaking the honorable office of a reformer. Christ, says the accomplished writer, whom I have just quoted, ' was the Great Reformer, the innovator of his day ; and the strain of his energetic eloquence was strongly pointed against abuses of all kinds'*'.' 60 Mrs. Barbauld's Rem. on Mr. Gilbert Wakefield's Enq. into the Expediency and Propriety of Social Worship, p. 43. 61 Mrs. Barbauld's Rem. ut supra, p. 31 CHAP. XXX. «87 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXX. On the effects Christianity has produced, in favor of freedom, learning, and virtue. AS an inquiry into the effects favorable to freedom, which the spirit and the principles of Christianity have produced, and are likely to produce, is an investigation of importance, and adapted to lessen the prejudices against Christianity ; as I know no writer by whom it has been dis- cussed at any considerable length ; as it will furnish a number of additional facts and arguments in confirmation of those, which have been recently urged in reply to the objection, xvith xvhat propriety can the symbolic stone in Daniel be said to overthroxv the ten toes of the monarchical statue ; as it will communicate to the mind of the reader some faint idea of the glorious changes, which Christianity will accomplish in that happy period (the nature of which it has been the design of the preceding chapter briefly to unfold), when that divine religion shall be authenticated by the fulfilment of innumerable prophecies, shall be undis- graced by its connexion with the civil power, shall rise superior to the attacks of infidelity, and be understood with a degree of correctness unknown in former times ; I shall scarcely think an apology necessary for introducing into the present appendix a numerous assemblage of extracts. That the great principles of Christianity are the princi- ples of philanthropy, justice and equality, and that it is alto- gether incompatible with those systems of oppression and injustice, which at present darken the face of the European world, is the argument on which I would lay principal stress in replying to the objection which has been just recited. The argument which asserts that Christianity has pro- moted the interests of freedom, by promoting the interests of 288 CHAP. XXX. literature and knowlege, I confess, is less direct, less deci- sive, and more liable to objection. That it is not, hoAvever, without its weight, the following facts and observations will evince. Few persons are, I believe, apprised how great was the danger, that every work of Grecian and Roman lite- rature would have been destroyed in the dark ages, a long and melancholy period ; when the Barbarians of the Noith and the East, and the equally illiterate Mahometans of the South, issuing from the morass, or the forest, or the desert, laid waste and subdued every province and every city of the Roman empire, excepting Constantinople and its immedi- ate environs. Independenth^ also of the calamitous effects, resulting from a permanent anarchy and perpetual wars^*, the state of society and manners strongly tended to preci- pitate the inhabitants of the Western world into a total ig- norance of letters. Scarcely was there any middle rank of citizens. Now knowlege, it is well known, is least culti- vated by those in the highest and those in the lowest ranks of life : and the want of it, says Dr. Henry, ' was occa- sioned by the extreme dissipation of the former, who spent almost all their time, when they were not engaged in war, in rural diversions or domestic riots ; and by the no less extreme depression of the latter, who were doomed to per- petual servitude and hard labor*^ ' If,' says a Scottish historian of greater celebrity and greater genius, ' men do not enjoy the protection of regular government, together with the expectation of personal security, which naturally flows from it, they never attempt to make progress in sci- ence. — In less than a century after the barbarous nations settled in their new conquests, almost all the effects of the knowlege and civility, which the Romans had spread through Europe, disappeared The barbarous nations were not only illiterate, but regarded literature with contempt. They 62 On the depredations of the barbarians see vol. II. from p. 55, to 67, of the present work. 63 Hist of Great Britain, 8vo. vol. VI. p. 169. CHAP. XXX. 289 found the inhabitants of all the provinces of the empire, sunk in effeminacy, and averse to war. Such a character was the object of scorn to an high-spirited and gallant race of men. — This degeneracy of mannei-s illiterate barbarians imputed to their love of learning. Even after they settled in the countries which they had conquered, they would not permit their children to be instructed in any science ; " for (said they) instruction in the sciences tends to corrupt, enervate, and depress the mind ; and he who has been ac- customed to tremble under the rod of a pedagogue, will never look on a sword or spear with an undaunted eye.**"— The whole history of the middle age makes it evident, that war was the sole profession of gentlemen, and the only ob- ject attended to in their education''^' Literature is now superior to contingencies. To annihi- late it, is equally beyond the power of barbarians and the efforts of princes. But, from the beginning of the vth to the conclusion of the xiiith century, its existence was pre- carious and insecure. Indeed, even at the commencement of this period, when no great number of books had been destroyed, they were compai^atively scarce, as paper was not invented, nor the art of printing discovered. In Eng« land, for instance, so many books, says Dr. Henry, had been carried away, or they had been ' so entirely destroyed by the Scots, Picts, and Saxons, that it is a little uncertain, whether there was so much as one book left in England be- fore the arrival of Augustin.' And ' we are,' says Dr. Henry, ' assured by the illustrious Roger Bacon, that there were not above four persons among the Latins, in his time, who understood Greek^.' After regretting the fate of the ' libraries which have been involved in the ruin of the Roman empire,' Mr. Gib* 64 Piocopius de Bello GoUior. lib. 1. p. 4. 65 Dr. Robertson's View of the Progress of Society in Europe, 8vo. p 21, 234, 335. 66 Hist, of Great Brit;iln, vol. IV. p. 20, 81 ; vc^l. VIII, p. 188! > Vol. II. oo 290 CHAP. XXX. bon says, ' uhen I seriously compute the lapse of ages, the v.-aste of ignorance, and the calamities of war, our trea- sures, rather than our losses, are the object of my surprise. — ^Ve should gratefully remember, that the mischances of time and accident have spared the classic works to which ihe suffrage of antiquity had adjudged the first place of genius and glory : the teachers of ancient knowlege, who are stiil extant, had perused and compared the writings o£ th«ir predecessors ; nor can it fairly be presumed, that any important truth, any useful discovery in art or nature, has been snatched away from the curiosity of modem ages^^.' But what was the cause, that so many invaluable remains of the literature of Greece and Rome were rescued from destruction, amidst the d'-molition of cities, the downfal of nations, and the overthrow of arts and languages? Of the writings and the languages of Egypt and Carthage scarcely the faintest vestige is now any where to be found ; though they were two of the states most distinguished in ancient times for population and power, for opulence and civilization. The latter have perished, and the former have been preserved ; and Christianity has been the cause of their preservation. Let us trace its history, and that of the institutions to which it gave birth ; and we shall, though aware of the lasting and widely diflfused depredations of the barbarous nations, cease to feel with Mr. Gibbon any sur- prise at the extent of our literary treasures. * The keys of learning,' says Dr. Jortin, ' are the learned languages, and a grammatical and critical skill in them The New Testament, being written in Greek, caused Chris- tians to apply themselves to the study of that most copious and beautiful language.* In order to enable them to con- fute their adversaries, and * t(V expose the absurdities of Jewish Traditions, the weakness of Paganism, and the im- perfections and insufficiency of Philosophy. — Jewish and Pagan literature were necessary, and what we call philo- ~'g — A — ... -■ — ■ — — * 67 Vol. IX, p. 442. CHAP. XXX. 291 logy, or classical erudition*'*. And thus the Christians be» came in learning superior to the Pagans.* In the ' third century, the Latin language was much upon the decline ; but the Christians preserved it from sinking into absolute barbarism ; and of the Latin Fathers in this and the fol- lowing ages, it may be affirmed, that most of them wrote as well, at least, as their Pagan contemporaries, and some of them better ; for this is a fair way of trying their abili- ties, and it is not reasonable to expect of them that they should equal Caesar or Livy, Sallust or Cicero.' Pernicious as were many of the effects which flowed from monastic institutions, they were not without their benefits. The monks have ' transmitted to us those Latin and Greek Classics, which we now possess, and which would have perished, had it not been for their labors, and for the libra- ries contained in the monasteiies^. To them we owe co- 68 • The Christian fathers studied the writing's of the ancients, first, to furnish themselves with weapons ag-ainst their adversaries ; next, to sup- port the Christian doctrine, by maintaining its consonancy to reason, and its supei'iority to the most perfect s)'stems of Pagan wisdom ; and, lastly, to adorn themselves with the embellishments of erudition and eloquence. Basil wrote a distinct treatise, upon the benefits which young persons might receive from reading the writings of heathens. His pupil, Gre- gory Thaumaturgus, in his panegvTic on Origen, insists largely upon the same topic ; highly commending him for having, after the example of his preceptor Clemens Alexan^hinus industriousl)' instructed his pupils in phi- losophy.' Dr. Enfield's History of Philosophy, d^a^vn up from Brucker's Hhtoria Critica Philosophice, vol. II. p. 276. 69 Similar is the statement of Mosheim. Speaking of the sixth century, he says, • the liberal arts and sciences would have been totally extinguished, had they not found a place of refuge, such as it was, among the bishops and the monastic orders.' To the monasteries, ' we owe the preservation and possession of all the ancient authors sacred and profane.' Eccl. Hist, vol. I. p. 437, 438. * About the beginning of the tenth century, books had,' says Denina, « become so scarce in Spain, that one and the same copy of the bible, St. Jerome's epistles, and some volumes of rules, offices, and etymologies of- ten sei'ved several monasteries. ' Denina's Ess. on the Revolutions of Li- terature, p. 72. ' One example,' says Dr. Henry, ' will be sufficient to give the reader some idea of the price of books in England in the seventh century. Benedict Biscop, founder of the monastery of Weremouth in 292 CHAP. XXX. pies of the Roman law, of the Theodosian and Justinian Codes ; and the Roman laws being adopted, more or less, in Christian nations, and the study of them being honorable and profitable, conduced greatly to the preservation of lite- rature in general, and of the Latin language in particular.* Had Christianity been suppressed at its first appearance, and no traces of it been left, ' it is,' says Dr. Jortin, ' ex- tremely probable, that the Latin and Greek tongues would have been lost in the revolutions of empire, and the irrup- tions of Barbarians in the East and in the West; for the old inhabitants would have had no conscientious and religi- ous motives to keep up their languages. And then, together with the Latin and Greek tongues, the knowlege of an- tiquities, and the ancient writers, would have been destroyed. You may see something of this kind in the present state of Afric, where the Latin tongue is absolutely unknown, al- though in the fifth century it was spoken there as in Italy. Idolatry and superstition, in some shape or other, would have been the religion of the populace, and the upper sort would have been for the most part Sceptics or Atheists, with a mixture of some Deists.' Northumberland, made no fewer than five journeys to Rome to purchase books, vessels, vestments, and other ornaments, for his monastery ; by which he collected a very valuable library ; for one book out of which (a volume on cosmogi-aphy), king- Aldfred gave him an estate of eig-ht hides, or as much land as eight ploughs could labor.' Hist, of Gr. Br. vol. IV. p. 20_ The following facts are from Dr. Robertson (View of the Progress of So- ciety, 8cc p. 281). 'Lupus, abbot of Ferriores, in a letter to the pope, A. D. 855, beseeches him to lend him a copy of Cicero de Oratore and QiiintiUans Institutions, " for," says he, " although we have parts of those books, there is no complete copy of them in all France." — ' The countess of Anjou paid for a copy of the Homilies of Haimon, bishop of Halberstadt, 200 sheep, 5 quarters of wheat, and the same quantity of rye and millet. — Even so late as the year 14ri, when Louis XL borrowed the works of Rasis, the Arabian physician, from the faculty of medicine in Paris, he not only deposited in pledg'e a considerable quantity of plate, but was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed, bind- ing himself under a great forfeiture to restore it.' CHAP. XXX. 293 After urging various other cii-cuinstances, Dr. Jortin concludes his observations by asserting, ' that the learning which now exists is, if not solely, yet principally to be ascribed to Christianity ; and that its Divine Author said most justly of himself, in this sense also, lajn the light of the xvorld^^: ' The Christian religion,' says Mr. Coxe, tended in Rus- sia, ' as well as in most other countries in Europe, to pre- serve some small remains of literature in the schools and seminaries of the several monasteries.' Thus each of these mansions of superstition became an asylum for the preser- vation of knowlege'". To the monks of Russia, and to those of the other countries of Europe, we are also almost exclusively indebted for our knowlege of the history of the middle ages. Where, but in monasteries, says a female writer of splen- did talents, ' could the precious remains of classical learn- ing, and the divine monuments of ancient taste, have been safely lodged amidst the ravages of that age of ferocity and rapine, which succeeded the desolation of the Roman empire, except in sanctuaries like these, consecrated by the superstition of the times beyond their intrinsic merit ? The frequency of wars, and the licentious cruelty with which they were conducted, left neither the hamlet of the peasant, nor the castle of the baron, free from depredation ; but the church and monastery generally remained inviolate. — Some of the barbarous nations were converted before their con- quests, and most of them soon after their settlement in the countries they over-ran. Those buildings, which their ne\v faith taught them to venerate, afforded a shelter for those valuable manuscripts, which must otherwise have been destroyed in the common wreck. At the revival of learning they were produced from their dormitories.' It was in the monasteries that most of the classics were dis- 70 See a Charge, delivered May 3, 1765, annexed to the end of vol. VII. of JortinV Sermons, p. 353 — o77. 71 Travels into Poland, Russia, S;c. 8vo. vol. III. p. 292. 294 CHAP. XXX. covered ; ' and to this it is oAving, to the books and learning preserved in these repositories, that we were not obliged to begin anew, and trace every art by slow and uncertain steps from its first origin. Science, already full grown and vigo- rous, awaked as from a trance, shook her pinions, and soon soared to the heights of knowlege.' The monks, besides being ' obliged bv their rules to spend some stated hours every day in reading and study,' were * almost the sole instructors of youth. Towards the end of the 10th century there were no schools in Europe but the monasteries, and those which belonged to episcopal residences ; nor any masters but the Benedictines.' The frequent intercourse of the monks ' with Rome must have been peculiarly favorable to these Northern nations ; as Italy for a long time led the way in every improvement of politeness or literature : and, if we imported their super- stition, we likewise imported their manufactures, their knowlege, and their taste.' ' Forbidding the vulgar tongue in the offices of devotion, and in reading the scriptures, though undoubtedly a great corruption in the Christian church, was of infinite service to the interests of learning. When the ecclesiastics had locked up their religion in a foreign tongue, they would take care not to lose the key. This gave an importance to the learned languages ; and every scholar could not only read, but wrote and disputed in Latin, which without such a motive would probably have been no more studied than the Chinese. And, at a time when the modern languages of Europe were yet unformed and barbarous, Latin was of great use as a kind of universal tongue, by which learned men might converse and correspond with each other.' In the present age, when learning is diffused through every rank, we can scarcely conceive, *- how totally all useful learning might have been lost amongst us, had it not been for an order of men, vested with peculiar privileges, and protected by even a superstitious degree of reverence^\' It 72 Scarcely any of the laity, it is to be recollected, knew how to write. ♦ Materials for writing were also,' says Dr. Henry, • very scarce and dear. CHAP. XXX. 295 must have been of service also *■ to the cause of liberty, to have a set of men, whose laws, p rivileges, and immunities the most daring kings were afraid to trample on ; and this, before a more enlightened spirit of freedom had arisen, might have its effect in preventing the states of Christen- dom from falling into such entire slavery as the Asiatics.* * Let it be considered too, that when the minds of men began to open, some of the most eminent reformers sprung from the bosom of the church, and even of the convent. It was not the laity who began to think. The ecclesiastics were the first to perceive the errors they had introduced. The church was reformed from within, not from without^^' The effects Christianity has produced in the different countries of Europe, in the diffusion of knowlege, may be illustrated by a recital of some of the beneficial alterations it created in our own island. They are taken from Dr. Henry, one of the most accurate and best informed of our British historians. ' The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, in the course of the 7th century, contributed not a little to en- . lighten their minds, and promote the interest of learning. — Before that event, there was no such thing as learning, nor any means of obtaining it, in that part of Britain which they inhabited.' Their ancient religion ' had a tendency to inspire them with nothing but a brutal contempt of death* which made few persons think of learning that art.' Acccrding-ly ' great estates were often transferred from one owner to another by a mere verbal agreement, and the dehvery of earth and stone, before witnesses, with- out any written deed. Parchment, in particuhir, on which all their books were written, was so difficult to be procured, that many of the MSS. of the middle ages, which are still preserved, appear to have beeu written on parchment from which some former writing had been erased.' Hist, of Great Britain, vol. IV. p. 81. Montfaucon, indeed, affirms, that from the greater part of the manuscripts on parchment, which he had seen, some former treatise had been erased. See Jortin on Eccl, Hist. vol. IV. p. 250. 73 Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose, by J. and A. L' Aikin, p. 91 — 118. 296 CHAP. XXX. and a savage delight in war. As long, therefore, as they continued in the belief and practice of that wretched su- perstition, they seem to have been incapable either of sci- ence or civility ; but, by their conversion to Christianity, they became accessable to both.' Besides, ' such of the first Anglo-Saxon converts as designed to embrace the cleri- cal profession (of which there were many), were obliged to apply to some parts of learning, to qualify themselves for that office ; and it became necessery to provide schools for their instruction. The truth of these observations is confirm- ed by many unquestionable facts, wl ich prove that the English began to pay some attention to learning (which they had before neglected), as soon as they were converted to Chris- tianity^*. The first Christian king in England was the first English legislator who committed his laws to writing. Sig- bert, king of the East- Angles, immediately after his con- version, founded a famous school for the education of youth in his dominions, A. D. 630. — In a word, some of the English clergy, in the end of this and the next century, became famous for their learning, and were admired by all Europe as prodigies of erudition. So great and happy a change did the introduction of Christianity, though not in its purest form, produce in the mental improvements of our ancestors.' To descend to particulars, it may be added, that Theo- dore, who was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, being advanced to the archbishopric of Canterbury, A. D. 668, and bemg * informed of the gross and general ignorance of the' Eng- lish, ' resolved to promote the interest of useful learning amo^igst them, as the most effectual means of promoting 74 At a later period the conversion of the Normans produced similar effects. ' The reception of Christianity had,' says Mosheim, ' polished and ci\ilised, in an extraordinary manner, the rug-g-ed minds of the valiant Normans ; for those fierce w^irriors, who, under the dai-kness of pagan- ism, had manifested the utmost aversion to all branches of knowlege and. every kind of instruction, distinguished themselves, after their conversion, by their ardent application to the study of religion and the pui-suit of learn- ing.' Eccl. Hist. vol. II. p. 249. CHAP. XXX. 29T that of true religion. With this view he brought with him from Rome a valuable collection of books, and several pro- fessors of the sciences, particularly abbot Adrian, to assist him in the education of the English youth. This scheme, as we learn from Bede, was crowned with the greatest suc- cess. " These two great men (Theodore and Adrian), excelling in all parts of sacred and civil learning, collected a great multitude of scholars, whom they daily instructed in the sciences, reading lectures to them on poetry, astrono- my, and arithmetic, as well as on divinity and the holy scriptures'''." And Dr. Henry, speaking of a later period, says, * there v/as a school more or less famous in almost every convent. We may form some idea of the number added to the schools of England by this means, if we consider, that there were no fewer than 557 religious houses of different kinds founded in it between the conquest and the death of king John. — In the schools of all the larger monasteries, besides tlie necessary parts of learning, several other sciences were taught, as rhetoric, logic, theology, medicine, with the civil and canon law.' With respect to the period intervening betw^een the year 1066 and 1216, the historian also says, ' though the circle of the sciences was enlarged, and learn- ing was cultivated v/ith greater assiduity in this than in the former period ; yet this was chiefly, or rather almost only, by the clergy.' The erection of so many monasteries in England, ^ may be reckoned among the causes of the revival of learning, by increasing the number both of teachers and students, by multiplying the inducements to pursue, and the opportu- nities to acquire, knowlege, but chiefly by making books much more common and attainable than they had been in any former period. — The government of these religious houses was commonly bestowed on men of learning; and, being attended with considerable degrees of power and dig- nity, afforded strong incentives to study. A library was 75 ' Bed. Kist. Eccl. L. 4. c. 2.' Vol. II. p p 2&8 CHAP. XXX. then esteemed so essential to a monastery, that it became a proverb, " A convent without a library is like a castle with- out an armory." Some of these monastic libraries were very valuable. Though the abbey of Croyland was burnt only twenty-live years after the conquest, its library then consisted of 900 volumes, of which 300 were veiy large. To provide books for the use of the church, and for furnish- ing their libraries, there was in every monastery a room called the Scriptorhim^ or writing-chamber, in which several of the younger monks were constantly employed in tran- scribing books ; and to which, in some monasteries, con- siderable revenues were appropriated. A noble Norman, who was a great encourager of learning, left his own library to that of the abbey of St. Albans, A. D. 1086, and granted two thirds of the tithes of Hatfield, and certain tithes in Redburn, to support the writers in the scriptorium of thr abbey. Where there were no fixed revenues for defraying the expences of procuring books for the library, the abbot, with the consent of the chapter, commonly imposed an an- nual tax on every member of the community for that pur- pose. The monks of some monasteries, in this period, were bitterly reproached for the extravagant sums they ex- pended on their libraries^^' Thus it appears, that Christianity, and the institutions which arose out of it, have greatly contributed to the pre- servation of knowlege, and to its subsequent diffusion, throughout the whole of Europe, and in England in par- ticular^^ Nor will its progress in the latter country be re- 76 Henry's Hist, of Great Bntain, 8vo. vol. IV. p. 8 — 13; vol. VI. p. 118, 121, 164. 77 Dr. Pi'iestley, after observing-, that • religion has often operated powerfully in favor of the best interests of mankind, independently of, and in contradiction to, the views of the civil magistrate,* says, • it is an obsen'ation of Mr. Hume's, that the precious sparks of liberty were kindled and preserved by the puritans in England, and that •' it is to this sect, whose principles appear so frivolous, and whose habits so^idiculous, that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution." Lect. on Hist. 4to. p. 4^. CHAP. XXX. J^SP garded as having been of small consequence to the cause of Civil Liberty. France in particular has been greatly bene- fitted by the propagation of knowlege in England. Thus in the eighth century it was under essential obliga- tions to that enlightened Englishman, the abbot Alcuin, the favorite of Charlemagne. Cave, speaking of him, says, * for all the polite learning of which France boasted in that and the following ages, she is wholly indebted to him. The universities of Paris and Tours, of Fulden and Soissons, and many others, owe to him their origin and increase ; with respect to which, if he did not personally preside over them, or if he did not lay their foundations, he at least en- lightened them by his learning, directed them by his exam- ple, and enriched them by the benefits which he obtained for them from Charlemagne^^' That, for a considerable time previously to the asra of their revolution, the French imitated not only the manners, but assiduously studied the writings, of the English, can- not be doubted. Nor could the perusal of such writings as those of Harrington and Milton, Sydney and Locke, fail to produce a powerful effect in exciting a love of liberty, and a searching spirit of political inquiry, in the philoso- phers of France ; and, without the literary productions of the latter, the French revolution would not have been ac- complished. The following is the statement of Voltaire. With respect to England, the concluding part cannot but be thought too complimentary. The Italians, says he, ' are afraid to think ; the French have thought but half-way ; and the English, who have soared to heaven, because their wings have not been clipped, are become the preceptors of the world. We are indebted to them for every thing, from the primitive laws of gravitation, the account of infinity, and the precise knowlege of light so vainly opposed, down 78 Hlstoria Literaria, ed. 1740, vol. I p. 6"* 300 CHAP. XXX. to the new-invented plow, and the practice of inoculation, which are still subjects of controversy^'.' The political principles, which were finally productive of the American revolution, were originally transplanted to the new world from the British soil. Now the mighty benefits, in favor of freedom, originating in the establishment of liberty on the North American continent, it is impossible to calculate. To the French revolution in particular it was eminently conducive ; and it was so in two important re- spects. When the officers and the soldiers, who, on the other side of the Atlantic, had fought successfully in the land of insurrection and under the banners of freedom, returned to their own country and to the bosom of their families, they failed not to kindle some of that political zeal, and to circulate some of those important truths, which they had imbibed during their abode in the other hemis- 79 Translation of a piece of Voltaire's, published in the Gi'and Mag-a- zine, vol. II. p. 414. In a speech delivered in tlie year 1789, in the Patriotic Society of Dijon, M. Navier made the following dtxlaration. * Why should ■we be ashamed to acknowlege, tliat the Revolution, which is now esta- blishing' itself in our own country, is owing to the example given by Eng- land a century ago ? It was from tl)at day we became acquainted with the political constitution of that island, and the pros})erity with which it was accompanied ; it was from that day our hatred of despotism derived its energy. In secm-ing tlieir own happiness. Englishmen have prepared the way for tliat of the universe. Whilst, on all sides, tyrants were at- tempiing to extinguish the sacred flame of liberty, our neig-jibors with intrepid watchfulness and care cherished it in their bosoms. We have caught some of these salutary sparks; and tliis fire, entiaming every mind, is extending itself over all Europe.' In tlieir address to tlie Revolution Society of London, the members of the Patriotic Union of the city of Lisle have expressed similar sentiments. * It must be owned, that in politics as in phi osophy, you are the instructors and examples of the whole world. It is among you ; yes, it is in your favored isle, tliat liberty, every wliere attacked, and trampled upon by despotism, has found a sacred asylum, and, if France should obtain that invaluable blessing, she will perhaps be more indebted for it to your nation than to herself; for, if we had not been encouraged by yoiu" example andfenlightened by your experience, we might yet perhaps hu/e been unable to break our chains.' Correspondtncf of the Ji(volutio?i Societjf mth the ^ationai Mumbiji &.c. p. 14, J§. CHAP. XXX. SOI phere. When, from the expences of the war entered into by the French government, in support of American inde- pendence, the national debt of France was swelled to an exorbitant height ; when, in consequence of this ill-judged interference, the provision for its payment baffled the efforts of ministerial ingenuity, and transcended the limits of or- dinary rapacity ; the monarch and his ministers were under the mortifving necessity of successively summoning the assembly of the Notables and the States-General of the kingdom ; and thus a flame was involuntarily lighted up by them in France, which all their subsequent exertions were unable to smother and to suppress, and which has remained unextinguished, notwithstanding the persevering hostilities of so large a proportion of the priests, the princes, the placemen, and the soldiers, of Europe. After introducing so many remarks on the utility of the monasteries of the West in a literary view ; it is proper for me to acknowlege, in justice to the Greek exiles of Con- stantinople, that, in the 15th century, they were very con- spicuous instruments in the revival of letters. But these refugees were themselves greatly indebted for the portion of knowlege which they possessed to the Grecian and Ori- ental monasteries, the repositories of ancient literature. After * the extinction of the schools of Alexandria and Athens, the studies of the Greeks,' says Mr. Gibbon, ' in- sensibly retired to some regular monasteries, and above all to the royal college of Constantinople.' But, in the reign of Leo the Isaurian, the library, belonging to that college, containing more than 36,000 volumes, was destroyed by fire ; the college itself was abolished ; * and a savage igno- rance and contempt of letters — disgraced the princes of the Heraclean and Isaurian dynasties°°.' It may be added, that the library of the Greek emperors, which was afterwards collected, was secured by Mahomet the lid, when he ob- tained possession of the capital of the Byzantine monarchy, and that it was destroyed, according to Dr. Jortin, by 80 Gibbon, vol. Z. p. 156. 302 • CHAP. XXX. Amurath the IVth, as late as the seventeenth dentury^'. But though the two royal libraries of Constantinople were devoted to destruction, there is reason to believe, that those* of the Oriental monks were seldom violated by their Turk- ish masters. And this was a circumstance not a little favor- able to literature. Of the attempts made in the Eastern world to obtain the lost works of the ancients, one effort was attended Avith such splendid success, as to merit particular mention. Janus Lascaris, the active missionary of Lorenzo de Medicis, sailed to Constantinople and the East in search of ancient manuscripts; and, having the good fortune to be assisted in his researches by the Sultan Bajazetthe lid, he returned to Italy with a cargo of 200 manuscripts, 80 of which were before unknown to Europe. This treasure, we are inform- ed by Aldus, as quoted in a note by Mr. Gibbon, was found in Thrace, upon Mount Athos^S That they were discovered in some of the monasteries, which are so thickly scattered in the recesses of that mountain*^, cannot be doubted. Perhaps, then, the cause of literature is as much indebted to the monasteries of the East, as to those of the Western world. 81 Rem. on Eccl. Hist. vol. IV. p. 493. 82 Gibbon, vol. XII. p. 136. To the monks of Mount Athos Russia also is indebted for the richest of its literary treasures. In the library of the Holy Sjnod at Moscow, we are informed by Mr. Coxe, thei-e are 502 Greek manuscripts, of which the greater part were collected from one of the monasteries of Mount Athos, by the monk Arsenius, and at the sug- gestion of that eminent promoter of Russian literature, the pati-iarch Nlcon. Besides several important manuscripts of the Septuagint and the New Testament, there are in this collection valuable manu.scripts of Ho- mer and Hesiod, of jtschylus and Sophocles, of Demo.sthenes and ^schi- nes, of Plutai-ch, Pausanias, and Strabo. It was not till the year 1?80, that an accurate catalogue of these manuscripts was published at Petersburgh. Travels into Poland, Russia, &c. 8vo. vol. II. p. 50—54. 83 In his passage over Mount Athos, which entirely belongs to the Monks, and on that account is called the Holy Mountain both by the Greeks and the Turks, Dr. Pococke visited no less than nineteen monasteries. Descrlpt. of the East, fol vol. II. part. II. p. 144. CHAP. XXX. 303 It has already been observed in an extract, that of those who reformed the church some of the most eminent be- longed to it. This, indeed, was the fact with respect to all the most celebrated of the reformers, unless perhaps Me- lancthon be expected. Switzerland produced Zuinglius ; Bohemia, John Huss ; Germany, Bucer, Oecolampadius, ■:and Luther J France, Calvin, and Beza ; Italy, Savanarola and Peter Martyr; Holland, Erasmus; Scotland, John Knox®* ; and England, WicklifFe, Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer. Now all these had been ecclesiastics in the church of Rojne. To a large proportion of the most dis- tinguished authors of the revival of letters the same obser- vation may be extended. In the 14th, 15th, and 16th centu- ries appeared the following eminent restorers of learning and promoters of knowlege ; and they were all ecclesiastics, either during the whole or during a part of their lives. The Greek empire produced Theodore Gaza and cardinal Bessarion; Ireland, archbishop Usher; England, Grocyn, Linacer, cardinal Wolsey, and dean Colet; Holland, Eras- mus*' ; Spain, Arias Montanus, Mariana, and cardinal Ximnes ; Denmark, Tycho Brahe ; Germany, Copernicus ; France, Vatablus, Thuanus, Mark Anthony Muretus, and Peiresc ; and Italy gave birth to Petrarch, Barlaam, Boc- cace, Hermolaus Barbaro, John of Ravenna, Laurentius Valla, Sadolet, Hieronymus Vida, Poggius, Angelo Poli- tian, Father Paul, Sixtus the IV, and Leo the Xth. But Nicholas the Vth deserves to be separately noticed. As a 84 The earl of Buchaii, speaking' of Knox's contemporary and country^ man George Buchanan, says, he was ' the father of that system, which will one day verify the prophecies of the Chi'istian scriptures, to the abasement of kings, and tlie desti'uction of priestcraft.' Essays en the Lives and Writings nf Fletcher of Saltoun and the Poet Thomson, p. 33. 85 After having observed, that ' the protection and encouragement the Clergy afforded to the exiled Greeks' was one of the chief causes, which produced the revival of learning;'' Warburton, speaking of the promotion of learning, says, there was one among the Clergy in particular, meaning- Erasmus, who did * more la this service than all the Laity of that age 'ogether.' Warburton's Works, vol. V. p. 193. 304 CHAP. XXX. patron of learning, be stands perhaps unrivalled"*. * The fame of Nicholas the fifth has not,' saj's Mr. Gibbon, ' been adequate to his merits. From a plebeian origin, he raised himself by his virtue and learning: the character of the man prevailed over the interest of the pope ; and he sharpened those weapons which were soon pointed against the Roman church. He had been the friend of the most eminent scholars of the age : he became their patron. — The iiifluence of the holy see pervaded Christendom ; and he exerted that influence in the search, not of benefices, but of books. From the ruins of the Byzantine libraries, from the darkest monasteries of Germany and Britain, he col- l^ected the dusty manuscripts of the writers of antiquity ; and wherever the original could not be removed, a faithful copy was transcribed and transmitted for his use. The Vatican, the old repository for bulls and legands, for super- stition and forgery, was daily replenished with more pre- cious furniture ; and such was the industry of Nicolas, that in a reign of eight years he formed a library of five thou- sand volumes. To his munificence, the Latin world was indebted for the versions of Xenophon, Diodorus, Polybius, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Appian ; of Strabo's geogra- phy, of the Iliad, of the most valuable works of Plato and Aristotle, of Ptolemy and Theophrastus, and of the fathers of the Greek church"^.' That the study of the classics has been eminently favorable to freedom, cannot be doubted. * Before the revival of classic literature, the barbarians in Europe were,' says Mr. Gibbon, ' immersed in ignorance ; and their vulgar tongues were marked with the rudeness and poverty of their manners. The students of the more perfect idioms of Rome and Greece were introduced to a new world of light and science ; to the society of the free 86 Lord Bolingbrolce, speaking- of Nicholas V. and other pontiffs, says, ' the popes proved worse politicians than the mufties. The magicians them- selves broke the charm, bj' wliich they had bound mankind for so many ages.' Let. on Hist. 1752, vol. I. p. 206. 87 Vol. Xn. p. 134. CHAP. XXX. 305 and polished nations of antiquity ; and to a familiar con- verse with those immortal men, who spoke the sublime lan- guage of eloquence and reason. Such an intercourse must tend to refine the taste, and to elevate the genius, of the moderns.' For a time, however, it produced only a race of imitators. ' But, as soon as it had been deeply satu- rated with the celestial dew, the soil was quickened into vegetation and life ; the modern idioms were refined : the classics of Athens and Rome inspired a pure taste and a generous emulation ; and in Italy, as afterwards in France and England, the pleasing reig-n of poetry and fiction was succeeded by the light of speculative and experimental phi- losophy. Genius may anticipate the season of maturity j but in the educaLion of a people, as in that of an individual, memory must be exercised, before the powers of reason and fancy can be expanded; nor may the artist hope to equal or surpass, till he has learned to imitate, the Avorks of his predecessors*^' After observing, that the writings of the most celebrated physicians, philosophers, and mathematicians of Greece were translated by the Arabs, and studied by them with ardor ; but that ' there is no example of a poet, an orator, or even an historian, being taught to speak the language of the Saracens ;' Mr. Gibbon says, ' The philosophers of Athens and Rome enjoyed the blessings, and asserted the rights, of civil and religious freedom. Their moral and political writings might have gradually unlocked the fetters of Eastern despotism®^, diffused a liberal spirit of inquiry and toleration, and encouraged the Arabian sages to sus- 88 Vol. XII. p. 138. 89 Hobbes, in enumerating' the causes which excited such a determined spirit of opposition atjalnst Charles I. says, ' there were an exceedin,^ great number of men of the better sort, that had been so educated, as that in their youth, having' read the books written by famous men of the an- cient Grecian and Roman Common-wealths, concerning their polity and great actions ; in which books the popular government was extolled by t'lat glorious name of liberty, and monarchy disgi'aced by the name oi' Vol. it. • ' Q q ' 306 CHAP. XXX. pect, that their caliph was a tyrant, and their prophet an impostor^.' But it is proper to notice an objection against Christiauity. To the spread of the religion of Jesus the decline of learn- ing has in a great degree been imputed ; and the following statement, it is probable, will appear to many to contain a formidable objection to the beneficial influence which has been ascribed to it. At the sera of the promulgation of Christianity, arts, science, and literature flourished as soon as it was embraced by a great majority of the inhabitants of the Roman world, they drooped and declined. But the fact is, that the great causes which produced the decline ot learning were entirely unconnected with the propagation of our religion ; and there is a known cause, totally indepen- dent of Christianity, to which we may justly attribute the danger it afterwards experienced of total extinctio7't^n?ca~\G\Y, the irruption of the barbarous nations. As this objection is not destitute of plausibility, and is so injurious to Christianity, some extracts shall be intro- duced of a considerable length, which contain a reply to it. Christianity^, depressed and persecuted in the three first centuries, and the beginning of the fourth, cannot be sup- posed, at that time, to have had much influence in checking the attainment of useful knowlege, and the prosecution of scientific pursuits, among the learned Pagans, or to have accelerated among them the decay of the arts and the de- cline of taste. Now an appeal to authentic history, and an examination of the writers of the time, will inform us, as a matter which admits not of the smallest dispute, that the arts and literature and public taste were all greatly on the decline, antecedently to the toleration of Christianity ; and that the fatal causes were already begun powerfully to ope- rate, which were destined to subvert the Roman empire, tp-anny, they became thei-eby in love with theii* forms of government.' Be- licinoth, the Hist, of the Causes 'of the Civil Wars of EnglanJ, 1682, />■ 5. 90 Vol. X. p. 51. * The age of Arabian learning continued about SCO years, till the great eruption of tlie Moguls.' p. 44. CHAP. XXX. 30r and to open a way for the admission of the savage con- querors of Scandinavia and Scythia, and for the consequetit establishment of ignorance and barbarism. The immortal writers of Greece and Rome, it should be remembered, had been educated, either under the free spirit of Republican governments, or a short time after the everthroxv of liberty^ when the maxims and the institu- tions, v\-hen the freedom of inquiry and the ardor of curi- osity, which it had created, still continued to subsist, and were productive of the happiest effects. The following quotations, at the same time that they dis- prove the forecited objection, will disclose both the radical and the immediate causes of the decline and dissolution of the Roman empire, one of the most interesting objects of historic research. I have, also, been the less disposed to curtail them, because they display, with the greatest strength of evidence, the mighty evils which inevitably flow from despotism, whatever be the personal character of the prince who is invested with government. The reign of Trajan commenced A. D. 98 : that of the younger Antonine ended A. D. 180. In describing their reigns, and those of the intervening princes,. Hadrian and the elder Antonine, Mr. Gibbon says, ' it was scarcely pos- sible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption.' The ' long peace, and the uniform government of the Ro- mans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. — The most liberal re- wards sought out the faintest glimmerings of literary merit.' Yet, ' if we accept the inimitable Lucian, an age of indo- lence passed away without producing a single writer of ge- nius who deserved the attention of posterity. — The beauties of the poets and orators, instead of kindling a fire like their own, inspired only cold and servile imitations : or, if any ventured to deviate from those models, they deviated at 308 CHAP. XXX. the same time from good sense and propriety. The name of poet was almost forgotten ; that of orator was usurped by the s6phists. A cloud of critics, of compilers, of com- mentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste.' Seventeen years after the death of the j^ounger Anto- nine, Sevtrus was acknowleged emperor of the Roman world. ' By gratitude, by misguided policy, by seeming necessity, Severus was induced to relax the nerves of dis- cipline. The vanity of his soldiers was flattered with the honor of wearing gold rings ; their ease indulged in the permission of living with their wives in the idleness of quarters. He inci-cased their pay beyond the example of former times, and taught them to expect, and soon to claim, extraordinary donatives on every public occasion of danger or festivity. Elated by success, enervated by luxury, and raised above the level of subjects by their dangerous pri- vileges, they soon became incapable of military fatigue, oppressive to the country, and impatient of a just subor- dination.— Posterity, who experienced the fatal effects of his maxims and example, justly considered' Severus ' as the principal author of the decline of the Roman empire.' In delineating the administration of Caracalla, the son of Severus, the historian says, the successive augmenta- tions of the pay of the soldiers ' ruined the empire, for with the soldier's pay their numbers too were increased. — As long as Rome and Italv were respected as the center of government, a national spirit was preserved by the ancient, and insensibly imbibed by the adopted, citizens. The prin- cipal commands of the anr.y wei-e filled by men, who had received a liberal education, were well instructed in the advantages of laws and letters, and who had risen, by equal steps, through die regular succession of civil and military honors. To their influence and example we may partly ascribe the modest obedience of the legions during the two first centuries of the imperial history. But, when the last enclosure of the Roman constitution was trampled down by CHAP. XXX. 309 Caracalla, — the rougher trade of arms was abandoned to the peasants and barbarians of the frontiers, who knew no country but their camp, no science but that of war, no civil laws, and scarcely those of military discipline. With bloody hands, savage manners, and desperate resolutions, they sometimes guarded, but much oftener subverted, the throne of the emperors.' ' The last three hundred years,' says Mr. Gibbon, he is speaking of the year 248, ' had been consumed in appa- rent prosperity and internal decline. The nation of sol- diers, magistrates, and legislators, who composed the thirty- five tribes of the Roman people, was dissolved into the common mass of mankind,- and confounded with the mil- lions of servile provincials, who had received the name, ^without adopting the spirit, of Romans. — To the undiscern- ing eye of the vulgar, Philip appeared a monarch no less powerful than Hadrian or Augustus had formerly been. The form was still the same, but the animating health and vigor were fied. The industry of the people was discou- 3-aged and exhausted by a long series of oppression. The discipline of the legions, which alone ; after the extinction of every other virtue, had propped the greatness of the state, was corrupted by the ambition, or relaxed by the weakness, of the emperors. The strength of the frontiers, which had always consisted in arms rather than in fortifications, was insensibly undermined; and the fairest provinces were left exposed to the rapaciousness or ambition of the Barbarians, Avho soon discovered the decline of the Roman empire.' Such was the state of the empire in the year 248, when the great secular games were solemnized by Philip. But far worse was the situation into which it was plunged im- mediately subsequent to that year. From this celebration of the secular games, says Mr. Gibbon, ' to the death of the emperor Gallienus, there elapsed twenty years of shame and misfortune. During that calamitous period, every in- stant of time was marked, every province of the Roman world was afflicted, by barbarous invaders and military 310 CHAP. XXX. tyrants, and the ruined empire seemed to approach the last and fatal moment of its dissolution.' The distracted reign of Gallienus produced no less than nineteen pretenders to the throne. ' The election of these precarious emperors, their power and their death, Vi-ere equally destructive to their subjects and adherents. The price of their fatal ele- vation was instantly discharged to the troops, by an im- mense donative, drawn from the bowels of the exhausted people. However virtuous was their character, however pure their intentions, they found themselves reduced to the hard necessity of supporting their usurpations by frequent acts of rapine and cruelty. When they fell, they involved armies and provinces in their fall.' The bravest usurpers also * Avere compelled by the perplexity of their situation, to conclude ignominious treaties with the common enemy, to purchase with oppressive tributes the neutrality or ser- vices of the Barbarians, and to introduce hostile and inde- pendent nations into the heart of the Roman monarchy.' * It is almost unnecessary to add,' says Mr. Gibbon, speaking of a somewhat later period, of the sera of the ab- dication of Dioclesian, ' that the civil distractions of the empire, the licence of the soldiers, the inroads of the Bar- barians, and the progress of despotism, had proved very unfavorable to genius and even to learning. The succes- sion of Illyrian princes restored the empire, without restor- ing the sciences. — The voice of poetry was silent. History was reduced to dry and confused abridgments, alike desti- tute of amusement and instruction. A languid and affected eloquence was still retained in the pay and service of the emperors, who encouraged not any arts, except those which contributed to the gratification of their pride, or the defence of their power.' That the fine arts were in a fidlen state during the reign of Dioclesian, and at the elevation of Constantine, the fol- lowing observations \v\\\ prove. Mr. Gibbon, speaking of the magnificent palace of the former of those princes, says, CHAP. XXX. 311 we are informed, by a '■ recent and very judicious traveller^', that the awful ruins of Spalatro are not Itrss expressive of the decline of the arts, than of the grtamcss of the Roman empire, in the time of Dioclesian.' And the triumphal arch of Constantine, raised on account of the victory which he gained over Maxentius in the year 312, ' still remains a melancholy proof of the decline of the arts, and a singular testimony of the meanest vanity. As it was not possible to find in the capital of the empire a sculptor, who was capa- ble of adorning that public monument ; the arch of Trajan, without any respect either for his memory or for the rules of propriety, was stripped of its most elegant figures. — The new ornaments, which it was necessary to introduce between the vacancies of ancient sculpture, are executed in the rudest and most unskilful manner^".' There is also another cause, not yet alluded to, but per- haps deserving of notice, which discouraged the pursuit of knowlege, and promoted the destruction of books. ' About the beginning of the sexond century,' sayp Dr. Enfield, * astrologers, Chaldeans, and other diviners, disgraced the profession of philosophy by assuming the title of mathema- ticians. By this name they were commonly known, and this signification of the term was in general use for several centuries. In the Justinian code we find a chapter under this title. De Maleficis ct 3Iatfiematicis^ " On Sorcerers and Mathematicians :" and one book of the Thedosian code prescribes the banishment of mathematicians out of Rome, and all the Roman cities, and the burning of their books. Impostors, who passed under this appellation, rendered themselves exceedingly obnoxious to pi-inces and statesmen by the influence whltch their arts gave them over the minds of the vulgar; and it was thought necessary, for the safet}' of the state, to subject them to rigorous penalties'^' 91 The abate Fortis fViag^io in Dahnazia). 92 l and it was no small advantage to them In their apologies for themselves and tlieir reli- gion to be able to appeal boldly to their innocence and integrity. That we may have a right sense of this, we should consider what it was to be a Christian in those days, lest we be deceived by the vulgar use of the word, and by the notion which we at present entertaiii about it. To be a Christian at that time was to be an example of well-tried virtue, of true wisdom, and of consummate fortitude ; for he surely deserves the name of a great and a good man, who sei-ves God, and is a friend to mankind, and receives the most ungrateful returns from the world, and endure^ them with a calm and composed mind, who dares look scorn and infamy and death in the face, who can stand forth unmoved and patiently bear to be derided as a fool and an ideot, to be pointed out for a madman and an enthusiast, to be reviled as an atheist and an enemy to all righteousness, to be punished as a robber and a murderer. He who can pass through these trials is a conqueror indeed, and what the world calls courage scarce deserves that name, when compared to tlils btihaviour.' Jortin's Disc, on the Tr. of the Chr. Rcl p. 113. 316 - CHAP. XXX. veisy. But, in each following age, the religion of Jesus, being united by a forced alliance to the state, and, from the thirst of gain, the lust of power, and the prevalence of fanaticism, being grossly perverted in its doctrines and its precepts ; it has, as might be expected, under these cir- cumstances, had its energies enfeebled ; and has not pro- duced those extensive and magnificent revolutions in the moral world, which seemed to have been promised and en- sured by the sti*ength of its proofs, the clearness of its laws, and the weight of its sanctions. But, depressed and dis- guised as it has been, destitute till the loth century of the important aid it would have derived from the art of print- ing, and for a longtime locked up in an unknown tongue, it has, under all this opprobrium and under all these disadvan- tages, had a very powerful effect in promoting purity of heart and rectitude of conduct. * Christianity,' says archdeacon Paley, ' in every country in which it is professed, hath obtained a sensible although not a complete influence, upon the public judgment of mo- rals. And this is very important. For, without the occa- sional correction which public opinion receives, by refer- ring to some fixed standard of morality, no man can fore- tell into what extravagancies it might wander. — In this way, it is possible, that many may be kept in order by Christi- anity, who are not themselves Christians. They may be guided by the rectitude which it communicates to public opinion. Their consciences may suggest their duty truly, and they may ascribe these suggestions to a moral sense, or to the native capacity of the human intellect, Avhen in fact they are nothing more, than the public opinion reflected from their own minds ; an opinion, in a considerable de- gree, modified by the lessons of Christianity.' The influence of this religion ' must be perceived, if perceived at all, in the silent course of private and domestic life. Nay more ; even there its influence may not be very obvious to observation. If it check, in some degree, per- sonal dissoluteness, if it beget a general probity in the transaction of business, if it produce soft and humane man- CHAP. XXX.. 317 ners in the mass of the community and occasional exertions of laborious or expensive benevolence in a few individuals, it is all the effect which can ofter itself to external notice. The kingdom of heaven is within us. That which is the substance of the religion, its .hopes and consolations, its intei-mixture with the thoughts by day and by night, the devotion of the heart, the control of appetite, the steady direction of the will to the commands of God, is necessarily invisible. Yet upon these depend the virtue and the happi- ness of millions. This cause renders the representations of historv, with respect to religion, defective aiid fallaci- ous, in a gi'eater degree than they are upon any other sub- ject. Religion operates most upon those of whom history knows the least ; upon fathers and mothers in their families, upon men servants and maid servants, upon the orderly tradesman, the quiet villager, the manufacturer at his loom, the husbandman in his fields. Amongst such its influence collectively may be of inestimable value, yet its effects in the mean time little upon those, who figure upon the stage of the world. They may know nothing of it ; they may believe nothing of it ; they may be actuated by motives more impetuous than those which religion is able to excite. It cannot, therefore, be thought strange, that this influence should elude the grasp and touch of public history ; for what is public history, but a register of the successes and disappointments, the vices, the follies, and the quarrels, of those who engage in contentions for power ''^ ? After quoting this passage, I would briefly observe, that the observations, contained in the three last sentences of the archdeacon, are perfectly true with respect to the ordi- nary transactions registered in historic annals, but apply not to a great national revolution, undertaken against civil tyran- ny, and in vindication of the rights of man. In the ac- complishment of such an event, the principles of Christi- anity cannot but operate, though they may, indeed, secretly operate. For by whom is such a revolution eftected ? Not 101 Evld of Clir. 2 ed. vol. 11. p. 376,- 382 ol8 CHAP. XXX. by mere men of ambition ; not by thut class of persons, who commonly figure upon the stage of the world ; not by the venality of mercenary senators and the blind obedience of mercenary soldiers. That mighty change, which termi- nates in the overthrow of tyranny, and the restoration of a people to their rights, must be undertaken by the farmer, the tradesman, and the manufacturer, and particularly by those who constitute the middle ranks of society, that is to say, bv those very persons Avho are most attentive to the duties, and best acquainted with the principles of religion. Nor has the religion of Jesus operated beneficially, merely in the preservation of literature, and in the promo- tion of virtuous morals in private life. Its effects have ex- tended farther. It has had a sensible influence on laws and public institutions. But as it hath likewise been objected against Christianity, that it has been the frequent cause of persecuting statutes and destructive wars, it is proper, previously to an enume- ration of the benefits it has produced, to introduce an ex- tract in reply to this objection; and to consider whether it has been the proper and primarv causes of events which ought so sincerely to be deplored. ' Christianity,' says archdeacon Paley, ' is charged with many consequences for which it is not responsible. I believe, that religious mo- tives have had no more to do, in the formation of nine- tentJis of the intolerant and persecuting laws, which in dif- ferent countries have been established upon the subject of religion, than they have had to do in England with the making of the game laws. These measures, although they have the Christian religion for their subject, are resolvable into a principle, which Christianity certainly did not plant (and which Christianity could not universally condemn, be- cause it is not universally wrong), which principle is no other than this, that they who are in possession of power do what they can to keep it. Christianity is answerable for no part of the mischief, which has been brought upon the world by persecution, except that which has arisen from (^onsciejitlous persecutors. Now these perhaps have never CHAP. XXX. 319 been, either numerous, or powerful. Nor is it to Christi-^ anity that even their mistake can fairly be imputed. They have been misled by an error, not properly Christian or religious, but by an error in their moral philosophy. They pursued the particular, without adverting to the general, consequence. Believing certain articles of faith, or a cer- tain mode of worship, to be highly conducive, or perhaps essential, to salvation, they thought themselves bound to bring all they could, by every means, into them. And this they thought, without considering what would be the effect of such a conclusion, when adopted amongst mankind as a general rule of conduct. Had there been in the New Tes- tament, what there are in the Koran, precepts authorising coercion in the propagation of the religion, and the use of violence towards unbelievers, the case would have been different. This distinction could not have been taken, or this defence made. — If it be objected, as I apprehend it will be, that Christianity is chargeable with every mischief, of which it has been the occasion^ though not the motive; I answer, that, if the malevolent passions be there, the world will never want occasions. The noxious element will alwaj^s find a conductor. Any point will produce an explosion. Did the applauded intercommunity of the Pagan theology preserve the peace of the Roman world ? Did it prevent oppressions, prescriptions, massacres, devastations ? Was it bigotry that candied Alexander into the East, or brought Caesar into Gaul ? Are the nations of the Av^orld, into which Christianity hath not found its way, or from which it hath been banished, free from contentions ? Are their contentions less ruinous and sanguinary ? It is owing to Christianity, or to the want of it, that the finest regions of the East, the countries inter qxiatuor maria^ the penin- sula of Greece, together with a great part of the Mediter- ranean coast, are at this day a desait ? or that the banks of the Nile, whose constantly renewed fertility is not to be impaired by neglect, nor destroyed by the ravages of v/ar. serve only for the scene of a ferocious anarchy, 6y the sup- 320 CHAP. XXX. ply of unceasing hostilities ? Europe itself has known no religious wars for some centuries, yet has hardly ever been without war"^.' Besides, it was during the dark ages, and particularly in the early part of the 13th century, that persecution was car- ried on with the greatest violence, in the name of Chris- tianity. Now, says bp. Porte us, ' at a time when military ideas predominated in every thing, in the form of govern- ment, in the temper of the laws, in the tenure of lands, and even in the administration of justice itself, it could not be matter of much surprise, that the church shoidd become military too'°^' That Christianity has been the cause of various benefits to mankind, no infidel, who is possessed of tolerable can- dor and historical information, and who is desirous to main- tain the reputation of good sense and impartiality, will presume to deny. The remarks that follow from Mr. Gib- bon have not only a reference to the political state of na- tions, as influenced by the propagation of the gospel, but also to the topics which have already been considered, namely, its effects upon knowlege and upon morals. But the testimony they contain is so honorable to Christianity, that I cannot reconcile my mind to their omission. In the 5th century, ' Christianity was embraced by al- most all the Barbarians, who established their kingdoms on the ruins of the Western empire.' It ' introduced an im- portant change in their moral and political condition. They received, at the same time, the use of letters, so essential to a religion, v/hose doctrines are contained in a sacred book, and, while they studied the divine trudi, their minds were insensibly enlarged by the distant view of history, of nature, of the arts, and of societ)^ The version of the Scriptures into •their native tongue, which had facilitated their conversion, must excite, among their clergy, some curiosity to read the original text, to understand the sacred liturgy of the church, 102 Evid. of Chr. 2d. ed. vol. II. p. ."84—38" 103 Serm. p. 285. CHAP* XXX. 321 and to examine, in the writings of the fathers, the chain of ecclesiastical tradition. These spiritual gifts were preserved in the Greek and Latin languages, which concealed the inestimable monuments of ancient learning. The immortal productions of Virgil, Cicero, and Livy, which were acces- sible to the Christian Barbarians, maintained a silent inter- course between the reign of Augustus, and the times of Clovis and Charlemagne. The emulation of mankind was encouraged by the remembrance of a more perfect state ; and the flame of science was secretly kept alive, to warm and enlighten the mature age of the Western world. In the most corrupt state of Christianity, the Barbarians might learn justice from the /aw, and mercy from the gospel: and, if the knowlege of their duty was insufficient to guide their actions, or to regulate their passions, they were sometimes restrained by conscience, and frequently punished by re- morse. But the direct authority of religion was less effec- tual, than the holy communion which united them with their Christian brethren in spiritual friendship. The influ- ence of these sentiments contributed to secure their fidelity in the service, or the alliance, of the Romans, to alleviate the horrors of war, to moderate the insolence of conquest, and to perserve in the downfal of the empire, a permanent respect for the name and institutions of Rome. — The sa- cred character of the bishops was supported by their tem- poral possessions i they obtained an honorable seat in the legislative assemblies of soldiers and freemen ; and it was their interest, as well as their duty, to mollify, by peaceful counsels, the fierce spirit of the Barbarians"^*. The perpe- lO'l- Thus * in the year 990, several bishops in the South of France as- Rembled, and published various regulations, in order tO set some bounds to the violence and frequency of private wars ; if any person in their dio- ceses should venture to transgress, they ordained, that he should be excluded from all Christian privileges during his life, and be denied Chris- tian burial after his death. — A council v/as held at Limoges, A. D. 994. The bodies of the saints, according to the custom of those ages, were carried thither ; and by these sacred relics men were exhorted to lay Vol. II. s s -• 322 CHAP. XXX. tual correspondence of the Latin clergy, the frequent pil- grimages to Rome and Jerusalem, and the growing authority of the Popes, cemented the union of the Christian republic : and gradually produced the similar manners, and common jurisprudence, which have distinguished, from the rest of mankind, the independent, and even hostile, nations of mo- dern Europe.' And the historian observes in another place, that, •• in all the pursuits of active and speculative life, the. emulation of states and individuals is the most powerful spring of the efforts and improvements of mankind. The cities of ancient Greece,' he remarks, ' were cast in the down their arms, to extinguish their animosities, and to swear that tliey would not for the future violate the public peace by their private hostili- ties. — Several other councils issued decrees to tlie same effect.' In France a general peace and cessation from hostilities took place A. D. 1032, and continued for seven years, in consequence of the methods which the bishop of Aqmtaine successfully employed to work upon the superstition of the times. * And a resolution was formed, that no, man should in times to come attack or molest his adversaries, durhig the sesisons set apart for celebrat- ing the great festivals of the church, or from the evening of Thursday in each week, to the morning of Monday in the week ensuing, the inter- vening days being considered as particularly lioly, our Lord's Passioa having happened on one of these daj s, and his Resurrection on another. A change in the dispositions of men so sudden, and which produced a resolution so unexpected, was considered as miraculous; and the respite from hostilities, which followed upon it, was called tlie Truce of God.— This, from being a regulation or concert in one kingdom, became a gene- ral law in Christendom, was confirmed by the authority of several popes, and the violators were subjected to the penalty of excommunication. — A cessation from hostilities during three complete days in every .week allow- ed such a considerable space for the passions of the antagonists to cool, and for the people to enjoy a respite from the calamities of war, as well as. tb take measures for their own secui-rty, that, if the Truce of Goi/ had been exactly observed, it must have gone far towards putting- an end to private wars.' But • the violent spirit of the nobihty could not be restrained b}- any engagements. The complaints of this were frequent ; and bishops, in order to compel them to renew their vows and pi-omises of ceasing from their private wars, were obliged to enjoin their clergy to suspend tlie performance of divine sernce and the exercise of any religious function within the parishes of such as were refractory and obstinate.' Dr. Robert son's View of the Progress of Society in Em-ope, S;c. p. 33J. ClfAP. XXX. 323 happy mixture of union and independence, ^vllich is re- peated on a larger scale, but in a looser form, by the nations of modern Europe : the union of language, religion, and manners, which renders them the spectators and judges of each other's merit; the independence of government and interest, which asserts their separate freedom, and excites them to strive for pre-eminence in the career of glory.' * In the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries of the Christian sera, the reign of the gospel and of the church was extend- ed over Bulgaria, Hungary, Bohemia, Saxony, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland and Russia'"'. — Truth and candor must acknowlege, that the conversion of the North impart- ed many temporal benefits both to the old and the new Christians. — The admission of the Barbarians into the pale of civil and ecclesiastical society delivered Europe from the depredations, by sea and land, of the Normans, the Hun- garians, and the Russians, who learned to spare their bre- thren and cultivate their possessions '°\ The establishment of law and order was promoted by the influence of the cler- gy ; and the rudiments of art and science were introduced into the savage countries of the globe. The liberal piety of the Russian princes engaged in their service the most 105 ' The first Introduction of literature into Russia must, says Mi'. Coxe, • be ascribed to Ulomir the Great, upon his conversion to Chris- tianity in 988 : that sovereign even instituted schools, and passed a de- cree to regulate the mode of instructing youth in his dominions. His son Yaroslof, who ascended the throne in 1018, invited many learned priests from Constantinople ; and caused various Greek books to be translated into tlie Russian tongue. — He established a seminary at Novogorod foF oOO students; and gave to that republic the first code of written laws.* Travels into Poland, Russia, &c. vol. III. p. 291. 106 The following is a note of Mr. Gibbon, ' Listen to the exultations of Adam of Bremen (A. t). 1080), of which the 'substance is agreeable to truth : Ecce ilia feroclsslma Danorum, Stc. natio — -jamdudum novit in Dei laudlbus Alleluia resonare. — Ecce populus Ille piraticus — suis nunc finlbus contentus est. Ecce patrla horribilis semper Inaccessa propter cultum idolorum — prjedicatores veritatis ublque certatim admlttit, &c. (de Situ Dania:, &c. p. 40, 41. edit. Elzevir: a curious and original pro.spect of the North of Europe, and the introduction of Christianity)-' 324 CHAP. XXX. skilful of the Greeks, to decorate the cities and instruct the inhabitants,— The Sclavonic and Scandinavian kingdoms, which had been converted by the Latin missionaries, were exposed, it is true, to the spiritual jurisdiction and temporal claims of the popes ; but they were imited, in language and religious worship, with each other, and with Rome ; they imbibed the free and generous spirit of the European re- public, and gradually shared the light of knowlege which arose on the western world'°^.' .Thus then it appears, that Christianity, besides promot- ing in past times the progress of the arts and of civiliza- tion, has been a principal cause, that the nations of Europe, partially enlightened as it must be admitted they are, are, however, honorably distinguished among the countries of the globe by the love of freedom and the capability of im- provement. < That the clergy have had a beneficial influence, not mere- ly in furnishing many of the principal reformers ofj^religion and restorers of learning, but in several other important respects, the preceding extracts from Mr. Gibbon are suf- ficient to shew. This is a truth to which it is the more necessary to advert, in forming a true judgment of the effects they have upon the whole produced, because it can- not be denied, that, in the centuries recently elapsed, the efforts of the established clergy, as a body, have been decid- edly detrimental to the cause of civil freedom. But it is not to Christianity, that these efforts are to be attributed. They are resolvable into a principle already noticed in the words of archdeacon Paley, ' that they who are in posses- sion of power do what they can to keep it ;' or, to state it somewhat more broadly, they originate in an eagerness to cbtain possession of riches and of power, and in a desire, when possessed of them, to maintain and to augment them. Had Christianity, then, never been propagated, still, as ano- ther religion would have existed, and as this eagerness after wealth and authority would still have prevailed, the clergy 107 Vol. VI. p. 272, 275, vol Z. p. 163, 242, 243. CHAP. XXX. 32a of that religion would not have failed to aid the attempts of the prince and the noble in the depression of liberty. Of all religions the Christian is the worst adapted to promote the sordid views of kings and priests. The clergy, it may be added, were the cause, that the eanon law was framed. Now although the law operated un- questionably, in some respects, in a manner unfavorable to civil liberty ; yet those ideas on the subject of government, and those regulations in the distriburion of justice, which prevail among the European nations, and which are so superior in point of correctness to those which are current in most other countries of the world, may be partly ascribed to the introduction of the canon law into Europe. The clergy, says a masterly delineator of the progress of society in Europe, ' alone were accustomed to read, to inquire, and to reason. Whatever knowlege of ancient jurisprudence had been preserved, either by tradition, or in such books as had escaped the destructive rage of barbarians, was pos- sessed by them. Upon the maxims of that excellent sys- tem, they founded a code of laws consonant to the great principles of equity. Being dii'ccted by fixed and known rules, the forms of their courts were ascertained, and their decisions became uniform and consistent. — It is not sur- prising, then, that ecclesiastical jurisdiction should become such an object of admiration and respect, that exemption from civil jurisdiction was courted as a privilege, and con- ferred as a reward. It is not surprising, that, even to rude people, the maxims of the canon law should appear more equal and just than those of the ill-digested jurisprudence, which directed all proceedings in civil courts. According to the latter, the differences between contending barons were terminated, as in a state of nature, by the sword ; according to the former, every matter was subjected to the decision of la)vs. The one, by permitting judicial combats, left chance and force to be arbiters of right and wrong, of truth or falshood ; the other passed judgment with respect lo these by the maxims of equity, and the testimony of wit- jf^esses.' It may be added, th;>t ' many of the regulations, 326 CHAP. XXX. now deemed the barriers of personal security^ or the safe- guards of private property^ are contrary to the spirit, and repugnant to the maxims, of the civil jurisprudence known in Europe during several centuries, and were borrowed from the rules and practice of the ecclesiastical courts'"*.' It is to the general security of life, and of property in this quarter of the globe, when contrasted with the cus- tomary violation of these great rights of man in the Asiatic and African kingdoms, that we must principally attribute the higher pitch of prosperity, the superior energy and ac- tivity of character, and the more advanced state of the arts and of knowlege, which are to be found in the European nations. If, therefore, it be admitted, that the introduc- tion of the canon law by the clergy has materially contri- buted to create a greater regard to persons and to property, than would otherwise have prevailed in the Western world ; Christianity must be acknowleged, in this respect, to have been of signal service to the cause of freedom and the tem- poral interests of mankind. ' Christianity has,' says Dr. Priestley, ' bettered the state of the world in a civil and political respect, giving men a just idea of their mutual relations and natural rights'% and thereby gradually abolishing slavery, with the servile ideas which introduced it, and also many cruel and barbarous customs"".' ' It would,' says Dr. Leechman, ' be a work for a treatise, — to trace out the civil laws which took their rise from the spirit of Christianity, and to delineate their happy effects on society, through a course of ages"'.' ' The Christian religion,' says archdeacon Paley, ' acts upon pub- lic usages and institutions, by an operation which is only 108 Dr. Robertson's View of the Progress of Society in Europe, 8vo, p. 76. 109 'The Christian relig-ion,' saj's Montesquieu, * in spite of the extent of the empire and tiie influence of the climate, has hindered despotic power from being' estabUshed in j£thiopia.' Spirit of Laws b. XXIV. c. .3. 110 Instit. of Nat. and Rev. Rel. vol. I. p. 378. 111 The Wisdom of God in the Gospel-Revelation, a serm. preached at the Gen. Assembly of the Ch. of Scotland. CHAP, XXX. 327 secondary and indirect. Christianity is not a code of civil law. It can only reach public institutions through private character. Now its influence upon private character may be considerable, yet many public usages and institutions, repugnant to its principles, may remain. To get rid of these, the reigning part of the community must act, and act toge- ther. But it may be long, before the persons who compose this body be sufficiently touched with the Christian charac- ter, to join in the suppression of practices, to which they and the public have been reconciled by causes, which will reconcile the human mind to any thing, by habit and inte- rest. Nevertheless, the effects of Christianity, even in this view, have been important. It has mitigated the con- duct of war, and the treatment of captives. It has softened the administration of despotic, or of nominally despotic governments. It has abolished polygamy. It has restrained the licentiousness of divorces. It has put an end to the ex- posure of children, and the immolation of slaves. It has suppressed the combats of gladiators"*, and the impurities 112 Bp. Porteus, speaking of the exposure of infants, the shows of gla- diators, and the usage of slaves, as practised by the ancients, says, * These were not the accidental and temporary excesses of a sudden fury, but \verc legal, and established, and constant methods of mvu'dering and tormenting mankind, encouraged by the wisest legislators, and affording amusement to the tendercst and most compassionate minds. Had Christianity done nothing more than brought into disuse (as it confessedly has done) the two former of these inhuman customs entirely, and the latter to a very great degree, it had justly merited the title of the Benevolent Religion. — Lipsius affirms (Saturn 1. J. c. 12.) that the gladiatorial shows some- times cost Europe twenty or thirty thousand li\es in a month ; and not only the men, but even the women of all ranks, were passionately fond of these shows.' These happy changes may, says the bishop of London, perhaps be at- tributed to literature and to philosophy. But were not Greece and Rome the very fountains of every thing that was sublime and excellent in human wisdom and polite literature, from whence they were distributed ii> the purest streams over the rest of the world, and descended to all succeedins^ ages ? Were they not carried, in those great schools, to a degree of ele- gance and perfection, at which it is at least doubtful whether the moderns have yet arrived, or ever will ? And yet in these very places, at a time when all the ai'ts and sciences were in their full strength and maturity, it ^28 ' GHAP. xxx:* of religious rites. It has banished, if not unnatural vices, at least the toleration of them. It has greatly meliorated the condition of the laborious poor, that is to say, of the •mass of every community, by procuring for them a day of weekly rest. In all countries, in which it is professed, it has produced numerous establishments for the relief of sick-' tiess and poverty^" ; and, in some, a regular and general provision by law. It has triumphed over the slavery esta- blished in the Roman empire : it is contending, and, I trust, will one day prevail, against the worse slavery of the West- Indies"'^.' Now the knowlege of Christianity having pro- duced effects thus powerful on laws, political regulations, and national customs, will justify us in carrying our views still farther, and in concluding, that it will not fail to ac- complish changes of no small magnitude Avith respect to go- vernment in general. Indeed if we may believe the present bishop of London, Christianity has already ' insensibly worked itself into the inmost frame and constitution of ci- vil states"^' I differ from his lordship only as to the time. That it is calculated to do this, and will hereafter effect the greatest changes in this respect, is a statement to which I am perfectly ready to subscribe. On the effects Christianity has produced upon war and domestic slavery the celebrated author of the History of Charles the Vth has treated at greater length. ' It is not,* says he, ' xhe authority of any single detached precept in the gospel, but the spirit and genius of the Christian reli- gion, more powerful than any particular command, which was then that those various inhumanities, which are by Christians held in the utmost abhorrence, were pubhcly authorised.' Serm. p. 311. 113 ' Examine the annals of all the heathen nations of antiquity ; peruse the modern accoutits of Africa, India, China, and all the other parts of the globe, where Christianity is not received, and you will in vain look for such monuments of mercy, such fruits of Christian charity, as may be met with in every part of Chri'stendom.' Bp. Watson's Serm. and Tracts, p. 173. 114 Evid. of Chr. 2d ed. vol. II. p. 379. 115 Portpus's Sertn. p. 310. CHAP. XXX. 329 hath abolished the practice of slavery through the world.' Wherever, indeed, such opinions as those contained in the New Testament, ' prevail, no human creature can be re- garded as altogether insignificant and vile''*; even the meanest acquire dignitj' ; exterior distinctions disappear ; and men approach nearer to that original equality in which they were at first placed, and are still viewed, by their im- partial creator. — Is no admiration due to the generous spi- rit of that religion, which i-estored liberty, not to one nation or society alone, but rescued from the worst servitude far the greater number of the human race, and acquired for them that happy freedom which they still enjoy ? When we behold Christianity making its progress through the world, tmd working every where such an important alteration in the condition of mankind, we may well apply to a temporal deliverance what the prophet spoke concerning a spiri- tual salvation ; Behold., the acceptable year of the Lord is come ! Liberty is proclaimed to the captive., and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. They shall rest from their sorroxu., and from their fenr, and from the hard bon- dage xvherein they were made to serve^^'^J' These observations are general. The same judicious writer elsewhere considers the subject with more minute- ness of detail. ' The gentle spirit,' says he"^, ' of the Christian religion, the doctrines which it teaches concerning the original equality of mankind, its tenets with respect to the divine government, and the impartial eye with which the Almighty regards men of every condition, and admits them to a participation of its benefits, are all inconsistent with servitude. But in this, as in many other instances, considerations of interest, and the maxims of false policy, led men to a conduct inconsistent with their principles. They were so sensible, however, of this inconsistency, that to set 116 See the observations in vol. II. p. 14 and 15, of the present work. 117 Is. Isi. 1. xiv. 3. The Situation of the World at the Time of Chrisfs Appearance : a serm. by W. Robertson, D. D. preached before tlie Society in Scotland for propagating Christian knowlege, Jan. 6, 1755. 118 View of tlie Progress of Society in Europe, &c. p. 32?— .'>?5. Vol. II. T t -\tion. S32 ' CHAP. XXX. slavery of every kind ; and promote a taste for liberty and laws. Despotic governments have generally taken the firmest root among nations that were blinded by Mahome- tan or Pagan darkness ; where the throne of violence has been supported by ignorance and false religion. In the Christian world, during those centuries in v/hich gross su- perstition held its reign undisturbed, oppression and slavery were in its train. The cloud of ignorance sat thick and deep over the nations ; and the world M^as threatened with a relape into ancient barbarism. As soon as the true knoiv- lege of the Lord revived, at the auspicious sei-a of the Re- formation, learning, liberty, and arts, began to shine forth widi it, and to resume their lustre'^^' Another of the most elegant writers of Scotland, his ma- jesty's late historiographer for that country, after asserting, that the Reformation ' produced a revolution in the senti- ments of mankind, the greatest, as well as the most bene- ficial, that has happened since the publication of Christian- ity ;' says, ' the human mind, which had continued long as tame and passive, as if it had been formed to believe whatever was taught, and to bear whatever was imposed, roused of a sudden, and became inquisitive, mutinous, and disdainful of the yoke to which it had hitherto submitted. — Nor was this spirit of innovpiion confined to those coun- tries which openly revolted from the pope"*: it spread through all Europe, and broke out in every part of it with 121 Bkir's Sermons, vol. II. p. 451. 122 Dr. Robertson says in another place, • The desire of equalling^ the reformers ii^ those talents wliich had procuredthem respect, the necessity of accpiiringthe knowlcge requisite for defending their own tenets, or re- futing- the arguments of their opponents, together with the emulation na- tural between two rival churches, engaged the Roman Catholic clergy to apply themselves to the study of useful science, which they cultivated with such assiduity and success, that they have gradually become as eminent in literature, as they. were in some periods infamous for ignorance.' Hist, of Charles V. vol. IV p. 325. It may be added, that some of the most celebrated politicians whom France has j^roduccd, and who most contributed to the Frencli revolution by their writings, belonged to tlie Romish church. Suclj. are the abbes Mably and Raynal, Gregoire and Si«yes, CHAP. XXX. 333 various degrees of violence. It penetrated early into France, and made quick progress there. — The Reformation, wher- ever it was received, increased that bold aiid innovating spi^t to which it owed its birth. Men, who had tlie cou- rage to overturn a system, supported by every thing which can command respect or reverence, were not to be over- awed by any authority, how great or venerable soever. After having been accustomed to consider themselves as judges of the most important doctrines in religion, to exa- mine these freely, and to reject, Avithout scruple, what ap- peared to them erroneous, it was natural for them to turn the same daring and inquisitive eye towards government, and to think of rectifying whatever disorders or imperfec- tions were discovered there. As religious abuses had been reformed in several places without the permission of the magistrate, it was an easy transition to attempt the re- dress of political grievances in the same manner'^^.' There is a short passage in Dr. Hartley so much to my present purpose, that I cannot avoid quoting it, though a part of it has already been inserted in a note. ' All the known governments of the world have the evident princi- ples of corruption in themselves. They are composed of jarring elements, and subsist only by the alternate preva- lence of these over each other. The splendor, luxury, self-interest, martial glory, &:c. which pass for essentials in Christian governments, are totally opposite to the meek, humble, self-denying spirit of Christianity? and whichso- ever of these finally prevails over the other, the present form of the government must be dissolvcd'^^' v' Christianity,' says Mr. Wakefield, in a passage from which I have before given a short extract in a note, ' is no other, than the cause of liberty, and the consequent happi- ness of the human race : a liberty and happiness only to be raised on the foundation of that equality ascertained by the laws of our creation, and ratified by the gospel in every 123 Reign of Charles V. 8vo. vol. II. p. 104, 335 ; vol. IV. p. 320. JM On Ivlan, 1749, vol. II. 366. 334 CHAP. XXX* page, which acknowleges no distinction of bond or free. Interest may oppose, and sophistry maj'' cavil ; but Equality^ in its rational acceptation, as relating to civil privileges and impartial laws, is interwoven with Christianity itself: they must live or perish together. But they will live ; and mo- dern governments, with every appendage of wickedness and corruption, will in time disappear before them, as beasts of prey hasten to their dens of rapine and darkness from the rising suri'^^.' Having quoted from so large an assemblage of able writers, I shall dismiss the subject, as soon as I shall have briefly recapitulated, and drawn towards a point the two principal arguments, which may be urged in reply to the ob - jection stated in the sequel of the last chapter, and which are corroborated by the facts and reasonings of the present appendix. Christianity has been the principal cause of preserving the knowlege, and encouraging the study, of the learned languages. The study of the learned languages has occa- sioned the resurrection of letters, the resurrection of let- ters has occasioned the diffusion of knowlege, and the dif- fusion of knowlege has been the grand cause of the fall of the Gallic monarchy, and will at length be fatal to the other European despotisms. The existing governments of the continent of Europe are constructed and administered on principles opposite to the l^oral laws contained in the New Testament. A large part of the people of Europe derive their notions directly or indirectly from that sacred volume. The existence of go- vernments ultimately depends upon opinion'"^ And I, 125 Spirit of Christianity compared with the Spirit of the Times, p. 26. 126 ' Let civil governors — ^be admonished, that the physical strengtli resides in the governed ; that this strength wants only to be felt and roused, to lay prostrate the most ancient and confirmed dominion ; that civil authority is founded in opinion ; that general opinion therefore ouglit always to be treated with deference, and managed with delicacy and cif- climspection.' Paley's Principles of Mor, and Pol. Phil. Tlh cd. vol. U. p. 125. CHAP. XXX. 335 therefore, infer, reasoning upon these three propositions, that the principles of Christianity will powerfully contri- bute to the overthrow of the tyrannies of Europe. That Christianity, by communicating to the mitid a spirit of benevolence and a spirit of fortitude, forcibly impells men to embrace the cause of civil liberty, and eminently qualifies them, when an adequate occasion arises, to stand forward as its most intrepid supporters, were two of the important propositions, which, at the close of ch. xxx, I undertook to prove by the aid of two powerful auxiliaries, the present bishops of London and Worcester. After the whole of the work, which precedes the present page, was printed, I met with some observations, which contain so much solid sense, and are so powerfully corroborative of the arguments alleged in favor of these propositions ; that I have been induced, notwithstanding their length, and notwithstanding the subject was brought to a conclusion, to determine in favor of their insertion. They are taken from two Sermons, written by Dr. Leechman, late Princi- pal of the College of Glasgow, and founded on those words of St. Paul, that God hath not given ns the spirit of fear ^ hut of power and of love^ and of a sound mind^^^. After observing, that ' iove, in the New Testament, when spoken of in genei-al, usually signifies the love of our brethre7i^ and ' that the genius of Christianity is love f professor Leechman says, * when we attend to the precep- tive and sentimental parts of the gospel, we find, that the spirit of love breathes in all of them. That the precepts of Christianity tend to restrain and suppress all the male- volent passions, and to promote the culture and improve- ment of the kind and friendly ones, can admit of no doubt.' Now it is love, ' which leads men to relieve the necessities, to sympathise with the sorrows, and to share in the joys, 127 -2 Tim. I. r. oo6 CHAP, XXX. of all mankind.' It insjjires the soul with generous and noble designs. — Those heroic actions, which are recorded in history, and which we read with admiration, have, for the most part, been the effects of the love of one's country, of particular friendship, or of an ai'dent zeal for some im- portant interests of mankind. Thus heroism, the truest heroism, derives its chief excellence and strength from the spirit of love. — Farther, the points of light, in which Chris- tianity places our feilow-men, are such as are suited to af- fect us in the most powerful and tender manner. We are all, whether high or low, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, equally the children of the same great family, and equally under the protection, and at the disposal, of the almighty and all-wise providence of the same great Parent of all. We are all fellow-travellers through this state of pilgrimage, in which we are all exposed to the like wants, dangers, and distresses. We have all the like imperfections and infirmi- ties, equally liable to fail in our duty to one another, and therefore equally standing in need of forgiveness at one another's hands.' For our hopes, also, we are equally de- pendent. ' These views of our brethren of mankind are certainly fitted to bring down the most lofty looks, and to convince the proudest of the sons of men, that, notwith- standing all the distinctions and pre-eminences on which they value themselves, they are, in reality, on a level in the most important respects with the poorest and lowest of the human race.' * If we may form a judgment of the spirit of Christianity from the spirit of its author^ we must acknowlege it to be a spirit of courage and boldness. — For it appears, in the most incontestible manner, from the whole history of our Savi- our's life, that, while he supported the best of all causes, he set himself, though single, in a most intrepid manner, in opposition to a whole nation. — His first disciples^ in like manner, discovered a spirit of the most active and deter- mined courage. We read in the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, that when the Jewish Sanhedrim, the su- preme council of the nation, called the Apostles Peter and CHAP. XXX. 5'37 John before them, and commanded them, verse 18, Jiot to teach in the name of y esus ; verse 19, they ansuoered and said unto them^ xvhether it is right in the sight of God^ to hearken nnto you more than unto God., judge ye ; for rue can- not but speak the things we have seen and heard : and they accordingly went out from the council, and preached the gospel with all boldness. And we read in the same chap- ter, that even their enemies were struck with admiration, when they beheld the firmness of their resolution : verse 13, whe?i the members of the council sazv the boldness of Pe- ter and John^ and perceived that they ivere unlearned and ignorant men^ they marvelled ; and they took knowlege of them^ that they had been xvith Jesus; that is, they perceived they had learned boldness and intrepidity In his school. If your time would allow us to trace the spirit of Christianity, as it appeared in the primitive Christians^ we should find, that persons of all ranks, sexes, and ages, shewed such an unshaken firmness and fortitude, under the severest trials, even death itself, as filled their very enemies and perse- cutors with astonishment.' ' If we may judge of the spirit of the Gospel from the strain of its precepts., we must also conclude it to be a spi- rit of resolution and fortitude.' * The unfeigned belief and sincere practice of the Chris- tian religion has,^ likewise, an obvious tendency to inspire zeal and courage in every virtuous cause. This will be evident, if we consider, 1st, that ' Christianity is the best preservative from all those things, which damp the vigor of the mind, and enervate its active powers ; and, 2dly, that it supplies the jnost powerful incitements to act every worthy part in life in the firmest and most vigorous man- ner.' By guarding against base and unworthy behavior, it will preserve the mind from being fearful and irresolute. Every one knows, that guilt is, in its own nature, the source of self-condemnation and of dread of deserved punishment j that it naturally fills the countenance with shame, and the heart with terror ; and that, when the mind is under the Vol. II. u u 538 CHAP. XXX. influence of these enfeebling passions, it must be timid and dejected, and incapable either of forming or of executing any manly and worthy design. It is likewise obvious to every one, that those, who have imbibed the spirit of Christianity, will be preserved from those presumptuous sins, which strike terror into the conscience ; and that they will have such trust in the promises of the Gospel for the pardon of their involuntary failings, as will establish them in peace of mind, and in the humble hope of the favor and acceptance of God. In this peaceful state of mind, they will be in full possession of their active powers"^^*, and ready to exert them, whenever and wherever duty calls. — Again ; that immanly habits of indulgence in pleasure sof- ten and enervate men's minds, and make them fly from every scene, where labor and fatigue, where activity or boldness are required, has ever been admitted as a certain truth.' Now these habits are strictly prohibited by Chris- tianity. So far from acknowleging, that Christianity furnishes powerful incitements to perform every honorable part in life in a vigorous and undaunted manner, Rousseau, on the contrary, ' alleges, that the true Christian's faith of another world, and a better life, extinguishes all concern in him for 128 Dr. Leechnvan's conduct through life, and on the approach of death, correspond to the sublime views which he lias drawn of the christian cha- racter. During- the last six weeks of his life, when he was confined to his bed, ' he exhibited,' says his biographer, Dr. AVodrow, ' a spectacle not of compassion cr regret, but worthy of admiration, a great soul in !t manner without a body ; for his bodily powers were all gone, except the power of speech, and this sometimes scarcely audible. But his mind re- tained its wonted vigor. — When some of us could not help expressing some surprise at his sing-ular composure and fortitude, he confessed, he had often been a coward for pain, and perhaps was so still ; but added, that he had never been afraid of death. His generous and kind affections too continued to flow with their usual vigor. He entered witli spirit into any thing connected with the cause of religion and learning. — To the few veiy intimate friends, wiio had the happiness to converse witli him on his death-bed his mind appeared — quite transported with the unboimded and endless prospects of Divine goodness that were before him.' Life of Dr Leechman, prefixed to his Sermons, p. 88—90. CHAP. XXX. 339 this present world, mkI this present life, or, at least, that it renders him incapable of any brave and courageous efforts to preserve or promote any advantages, that relate only to such a transitory state. But he has given no reason, that can convince any unprejudiced person, that a Christian though of the most elevated and heavenly turn of mind, must have a less warm and delicate sense of the liberties, or of any of the just privileges, of mankind, or must have less zeal for the interests of his country, his family, or friends, merely on the account of his lively hopes of ano- ther and better life beyond the grave. Besides, when we reflect, that a main part of the duty of a Christian, accord- ing to the principles of his religion, lies in doing good, in promoting the happiness of others to the utmost of his power : it is not easy to conceive, how his firm hopes of immortality should render him indifferent to his duty, and incapable of all vigorous and manly efforts to discharge it.' ' It seems to be a more natural conclusion, that the firm h&pes of a future glorious life would animate the real Chris- tian to discharge his duty with the utmost faithfulness ; and, particularly, would dispose him to labor with the ut- most vigor to do good to his brethren of mankind, though it should be at th& expense of a transient and uncertain life, that is soon to be succeeded by a permanent and eternal one.' ' Every one, who has attended to the finer and nobler workings of the human heart, — must be convinced, that a warm love of that moral excellence, which is the chief glory of the divine nature itself, earnest breathings after nearer approaches to the perfection of it, a lively sense of duty, a full conviction that the doing that duty is the will of God, and strong impulses of the friendly and public affections, are, without all doubt, the most powerful and commanding principles in the human breast. When they unite their force, and operate with all their strength, nothing can with- stand them. If we attend to what passes in life, we shall see the most convincing proofs of this : for, whenever a mind, under the influence of these great principles, has its 340 CHAP. XXX. views fixed upon spmc great or good end, in the prosecu- tion of which opposition, difficulty, or danger is foreseen, then holy Christian resolution exerts itself with its whole strength ; and, indeed, becomes in a manner invincible, so that hardly any difficulty or danger can stand before it. And we may easily conceive, how it should be so, when we reflect upon the illustrious and mighty supports, which our worthy resolutions receive from the exercise of Christian faith and piety. The full assurance of divine approbation and aid must ever inspire the soul with confidence and ala- crity, in acting that part which truth and integrity require. It is impossible, even in imagination, to conceive any thing better calculated for emboldening the human mind, and supporting its most determined resolutions, than the firm persuasion, that the Divine administration is ever on the side of righteousness, and that the righteous man shall be most amply and gloriously rewarded for whatever he may have suffered for his adherence to it. — Conscious of his ho- nest endeavors to do his duty, though amidst many weak- nesses and infirmities, he solaces himself with the modest but triumphant hope, through the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, that all his good intentions, all his secret acts of goodness, all his silent sufferings and struggles, and all his services, are recorded, and shall be one day published, ho- nored, and rewarded, on the grandest of all theatres, before an assembled world. These hopes cheer and gladden, and at the same time strengthen, his heart, in the hour of dan- ger, in the day of distress, and in the prosecution of every virtuous design.' ' And, wherever this superiority to the fear of man, and the fear of temporal evils and dangers, flows from the prin- ciples of the Gospel, it will be accompanied with a noble freedom and independence of soul, that can never dwell with mean and slavish principles. Men, though in the low- est station of life, who have a just sense of the dignity of human nature, and of those Christian virtues which dignify it, will discover, on proper occasions, a strength and great- ness of mind, wh;ch will make them disdain every thing. CHAP. XXX. 341 that approaches in any degree to meanness, cowardice, or slavish fear.' It may also be added, ' that a courage, de- rived from these principles and motives, — will be more ra- tional and vigorous, more firm and permanent, than that which flows merely from animal spirits, from external ac- cidents, from the love of glory, or from what the world calls a sense of honor.' Some perhaps Vvill object, ' that the tendency of Chris- tianity is only to form men to a kind of passive courage or patience under sufferings ; but that it has no tendency to form them to that active courage, which distinguishes the hero from the confessor. Let it suffice to answer to this objection, that that unremitting zeal and activity, which prompted the apostle Paul, for instance, to spend thirty yeai's in journies by land, voyages by sea, amidst number- less difficulties, dangers, and sufferings, to propagate Chris- tianity, would have operated in the same manner, and excited to the like indefatigable labors and efforts, if Pro- vidence had called him to defend his country, to support the rights and privileges of mankind, or to prosecute any other worthy undertaking. It seems natural to conceive, that a magnanimity and activity of mind, which were ma- nifested in such an uniform and conspicuous manner through the whole of the apostle's life, in promoting one great cause, would have displayed themselves in a similar way, if he had been engaged in any other important cause, which rea- son, religion, and the good of mankind, would justify and recommend'^'.' 129 Dr. Leechman's Sermons, 1789, vol. I, p. 251—391. 342 CHAP. XXXI. CHAPTER XXXI. On the True Nature of the MtLLENNiUM. IHAT men of sense and reflection, who have not made the doctrine of the Millennium particularly an ob- ject of their inquiries, should often have entertained it with doubt, or rejected it with boldness, is no ground of surprise. Of the writers, on the book revelation, and the other prophecies of scripture, extremely few have had any comprehensive views on the magnitude of those improve- ments, which, there are just gounds for expecting, will hereafter be accomplished, with respect to the situation, the opinions, and the conduct of mankind. The mightv inflvience of political institutions, and the complete revolu- tion in the state of society, which v.' ill gradually be produced by justly constructed governments, have scarcely ever been the subjects of their speculation. Hence viany of them have been hastily led to conclude, that the great changes in favor of mankind, foretold in scripture, must either relate to a future and eternal world ; or that they must point to a state of things on this globe, which will not take place, until some of the primary laws of nature shall have been sus- pended, and the earth shall ha\ e supernaturally received an altered form. And, indeed, I am not acquainted with a single English author who has written at any length on the millennium, who appears to have entertained notions, which, in my estimation, would deserve to be entitled at once cor- rect and elevated. Such a picture of the millenniary period may, however, I am persuaded, be drawn, as is alike ra- cuAp. XXXI. 34S tlonal and encouraging, alike agreeable to the predictions of scripture and to the expectations of philosophy. Of those who have treated of the millenniary period at considerable length, no writer perhaps has excited so much attention as Dr. Thomas Burnet'. Like Milton, indeed, he possessed an imagination in a high degree fervid and ad- v.enturous, which loved to wander in paths which had never before been trodden, and to quit this world*, in order to visit others, inhabited by different beings, and subject to different laws. He has accordingly erected a sublime, though falsc^, Theory. By dexterity in confounding the events of different periods, by the mixture of probability with fiction, by the joint aid of argument and of authority, by the alle- gation of a number of circumstances really foretold in the pages of prophecy, he has strongly arrested the attention, and has sometimes conquered the incredulity, of his readers. Still, however, whilst he has had many to admire, he has had but few to follow him. Of Dr. Burnet's ideas, relative to the future history of the globe, the five following paragraphs contain some of the principal outlines. 1 This eminent Scotchman received his cducalion at Clare Hall, ia Cambrldg-c. He was admitted there in the year 1651 ; but he did not ])ubli.sh tiie two first books of his Tclluris Theoia Sacra till the year 1680, nor tlie two remaining books till the } ear 1689. 2 ' The spheres of men's understandings,' says Dr. Burnet, * are as dif- ferent as prospects upon the earth : some stand upon a rock or a mountain, and see far round about; otliers are in a hollow, or in a cave, and h.ive no ))rospect at all. Some men consider nothing but what is present to their senses ; others extend their thoughts both to what is past, and what is future. — I know not by what good fate, my thoughts have been alwajs fixed upon things to come, more tlvan upon things present.' Sacred Theory rjf the Earth, vol. II. p. 5, 17'.>. 3 With respect to those parts of Dr. Burnet's Theory, which relate to the laws of motion and the principles of natural philosophy, I cite tlie words of an able mathematician. ' None of these wonderful effects, which he endeavors to explain, could have proceeded from the causes he assigns.' Kcill's Exam, of Dr. Burnetts Theory, 1698- Intr. p. 26 344 CHAP. XXXI. When the existing state of society terminates, and the prophecies relative to the kings of the earth are about to receive their complete fulfilment ; when Antichrist receives his final overthrow, and Satan is divested of the power of executing any farther plans of mischief; the period for the burning of the globe will arrive. The great agents of na- ture will combine to prepare the way for this great catas- trophe. The work of destruction will not be difficult ; nor is the mode, by which it will be accomplished, altogether inexplicable. The earth is furnished with abundant stores of nitre and sulphur, and with all the materials of the vol- cano and the earthquake. The antediluvian earth was re- gular and close in all its parts ; without caverns and without mountains. But that which we inhabit contains the ruins only of what it once was : and these ruins, which, at the memorable period of the deluge, were recovered from the water, when the eai'th's exterior covering fell into the central abyss, are not only unequal at their surface, but within also are hollow, loose, and incompact. Innumerable, therefore, are its outlets, and it is in most places capable of ventilation, and pervious to fire. Previously also to the general conflagration, there will, it may be expected, long be a cloudless sky and a heated air: in consequence of which, the springs and rivulets will be dried up ; the ground will be overspread with fissures ; the grass and the turf, the shrub and the forest, will be easily convertible into fuel ; and the oily parts of bodies, together with the scattered portions of fire, which lie imprisoned in many hard sub- stances, will undergo the process of separation, and in a great degree be set afloat. At this period, and antecedently to the commencement of the millennium, Christ will descend upon earth, the lustre of the sun being veiled, and the heavens involved in gloom. On his approach, the summits of the mountains will smoke, the earth will shake, the sea will retire within its deepest recesses, the clouds will be the seat of thunder and pointed lightnings, the air will gleam with the corusca- tions of innumerable meteors, and, from the number, mag- CHAP. XXXI. 345 nitude, or proximity of the comets which will be visible, the higher regions of the sky will assume a new and terrific aspect. When our Saviour, sitting in a flaming chariot, and surrounded by an infinite host of angels and arch-angels, draws near to the earth, its inhabitants will see, will trem- ble, will be astonished. On an appointed signal, the destroying and the tutelary angels execute their instructions. To the care of the latter, there is reason to hope, will be intrusted virtuous man- hood and upright old age, the feebleness of infancy and the innocence of childhood. The treasuries of fire in earth and in heaven are opened ; and shortly the saddest specta- cles, which eye can behold, present themselves on every side. The cities of the earth are in one universal blaze. Innumerable millions of either sex and of every rank sink under the agonies of death, in its most frightful forms. Rivers of sulphur rush into the sea, and encounter the fury of its waters; wreaths of fire, and pillars of smoke, are every where combined j hills are hurled into the air ; and ten thousand volcanoes at once discharge their flames. By the force of one element, all the the works of art, all the labors of man, all the varieties of nature, are annihi- lated. Whatever was distinguished by utility, or by ele- gance, or by magnificence, is obliterated. Where are now the powerful empires of the world, and their great Impe- rial cities ? Where do their pillars and their trophies stand ; or where is the proud inscription, or the victor's name ? Fire- is a cruel enemy, who makes no distinction. Rome itself, eternal Rome, the Empress of the world, whose do- minion in ancient and modern times constitutes an ample portion of its history, is overthrown and utterly subverted, notwithstanding the depth of her foundations and the strength of her palaces. The conflagration at length reaches beyond the external shell of the earth, and grows more intense. The rocks and loftiest mountains, which have sustained the artillery of heaven for so many ages, are torn from their foundations. Here stood the Alps, a prodi- VOL. II. XX ^46 CHAP, xxxr* gious range ol rugged mountains, which extended their arms from the shores of the ocean to the banks of the Black Sea. Now this mighty mass of stone is loosened, and melts away, as a tender cloud softens into rain. Here stood the African mountains, and Atlas, with his head above the clouds. There was frozen Caucasus, and Taurus, and Imaus, and the mountains of Asia. And yonder^ towards the North, stood the Riph^ean hills, clothed in ice and snow. All these are vanished, like the snow vipon their summits, and swallowed vip. The sea itself is graduall}' consumed ; and the whole exterior frame of the earth is dissolved in a deluge of fire. But, whilst all the solid parts near the surface are thus reduced into a glittering orb of fluid fire ; the lighter and more volatile, such as smoke, watery vapor, and the earthy particles, which the power of heat is capable of supporting, will float in the agitated air, and constitute a thick region of darkness, encompass- ing the flaming globe. During the space of some years, it will remain a dread- ful spectacle to the neighboring planets ; an awful momv ment of the divine wrath against disloyal and disobedient creatures. At length, however, the flames will be extin- guished. At length the surrounding darkness will be dis- pelled. For, when the force of fire ceases to operate, the particles of earth and air and water, which fill the surround- ing chaos, will, according to their diiferent degrees of gravity, successively descend, and arrange themselves on the smooth surface of the liquified world. As accessions are thus perpetually made to it from all the heights and regions of the air, it will become by degrees firm and im- moveable, will be able to support itself and a new race of inhabitants, and, being possessed of all the principles of a fruitful soil, as well for the production of animals as of plants, will want no property belonging to an habitable earth. The new orb will be level and regular ; and, as the ocean will be shut up in its centre, its surface will be alike desti- tute of mountains and of seas. CHAP. XXXI. ' 347 Nor will it long remain without inhabitants ; for the vir- tuous of mankind, and the martyrs of Jesus, and, among others, the patriarchs, the prophets, and the apostles, will rise from the dead, and exclusively enjoy the privileges of of a prior resurrection. The face of nature will be emi- nently beautiful ; and the earth will be endowed with spon- taneous fertility. The axis of the globe will be parallel to the axis of the Ecliptic ; and there will be perpetual sereni- ty, and a perpetual spring, free from the vicissitudes of the seasons, and the inconveniencies of heat and of cold. The newly created animals will be mild and tractable. The lamb and the kid will associate, on terms of familiar inti- macy, with the wolf, the lion, and the leopard, who will retain no thirst for blood, no fondness for prey. The sons of the firet resurrection will possess bodies similar in shape to those, which they had in their former life ; but they will be superior to the attacks of disease. The new creation will be enlightened by the divine presence in an extraordi- nary manner. All evil will be extirpated. All mischievous passions will be extinguished. There will be no marriage; and, as infants will not be born, no part of their time will be occupied in the nursing of children or in the education of youth. As they will be elevated to a life of uninterrupt- ed freedom and of joyful inactivity, day will glide after day, and year will succeed after year, in the alternate frui- tion of the impassioned transports of devotion and the calmer pleasures of contemplation. After having thus en- joyed a thousand years of the highest terrestrial felicity, the glories of a celestial world will dawn upon them ; and they will be transported through the sky to meet our Sa- viour in the clouds, when he comes to visit the earth a third time, at the period of the final resurrection and the general judgment. Without stopping to combat the peculiarities of Dr. Burnet's Theory, objections to which will spontaneously occur in the mind of the intelligent reader, I shall proceed 348 CHAP. XXXI. to the farther developement of my own expectations and conjectures. The idea of a millennium, it will perhaps be urged, is irrational, because we are told by different commentators, as by bishop Newton'* and Mr. Lowth', that, on the arrival of this period, all earthly governments are to terminate. — But of the texts, which authorise them to draw this conclu- sion, I am yet to be informed. That the destruction of the present European governments is predicted, I certainly am not disposed to question: but it surely does not, therefore, follow, that there are to be no governments at all. Very different was the opinion of Jurieu. ' All those vain titles,' says he, ' which now serve for ornament and pride, shall then be vanished. Brotherly love shall make all men equal; not that all distinction, and all dignities among men, shall cease. This kingdom is no anarchy ; there shall be some to govern, and others to obey. But government shall then be without pride and insolence, without tyranny and without violence*.' It is Christianity, says Dr. Maclaine, which * confirms by positive precepts, encourages by sublime pro- mises, and enjoins, under pain of the most tremendous evils, those virtues of piety, candor, gratitude, tempe- rance, and benevolence, that strengthen all the bonds of civil government^' Mr. Stephens, a diligent student of the Apocalypse, long ago observed, that ' the kingdom of Christ is not contrary to governments, powers, and autho- rities, purely as such ; but only to governments as idolatrous, as tyrannical, as contrary to the laws of Christ^' And it will shortly be seen, that there actually are passages in Daniel and in John, which lead us to expect, that govern- ments will continue to exist in the millennium, though ad- ministered by persons of a very different character from those, who are at present invested with power. 4 Vol. L p. 492. 5 On Dan. VII. 26. 6 Vol. II. p. 379. 7 Lett, addpessed to S. JenjTis, Esq. on his view of the Intern. Evid. of Chr. p. 123. 8 Calculation of the Number of the Beast, 8cc. p. 300. CHAP. XXXT. 349 The whole of tlie Apocalypse may, says a late writer, ' be considered as a number of scenic pictures^.' Thus the material images, occurring at the entrance of the xxth chap- ter, are similar to those employed at the close of the xixth. We are there told, that the ten-horned beast rvas taken^ and xvith him the false prophet^ and that these xvere both cast alive into a lake of jire : that the overthrow of the antichristian monarchies of Europe is foretold in this, as well as in other passages, has already been seen. But the succeeding verses in ch. XX proceed a step farther. Another symbolic person- age, the dragon^ is there described, as appearing to St« John in the prophetic vision, and being boundvf'xxh a chain^ till the thousand years be fulfilled. Conformably to what was stated in ch. vi.'° and in agreement with its proper sym- bolic import, I observe, that the dragon^ as it cannot here denote the tyranny of the Roman emperors, appears to be put for monarchical despotism in general. Now ' to bind,' says Dr. Lancaster, ' is to forbid, or to restrain from acting.' Therefore the binding of the dragon for a thousand prophetic years seems manifestly to signify, that the fury of monarchical tyranny shall during that pe- riod be restrained". The angel of the vision is described (v. 1), as having not only a great chain^ to bind this figura- tive personage, but also tjjv tt}<.a^* t}^ cc^vfo-h^ the key of the sea, by means of which the symbolic sea may be shut up. ' Our translation,' says Daubuz, ' turns the whole thus, the key of the bottomless pit; but afus-o-a? signifies always the deep or great sea, in opposition to little waters or seas'*.' Whilst it is remarked by this able commentator, that a key is an emblem of that which binds and shuts up ; he de- clares, in correspondence with a passage formerly cited from him, that uQvc-a-oq. or the sea^ is an established symbol for a state of rvar. That a complete stop will now be put to this unnatural state of things, is accordingly the inter- 9 ' The Revelation is wholly dramatical.' Daubuz, p. 154. 10 In p. 65—67. 11 In the symbolic diction of pi'ophccy a ' chain si^iifies liindrance from action. So Artemidorus, lib. III. c. ;>,).' Dr. Lancaster. 12P.39r. 350 CHAP. XXXI. pretation, which he annexes to this clause of the pro- phecy'^ In the verse which follows the account of the symbolic dragon (v. 4), the prophet says, And I saw thrones^ and they sat upon them^ and judgment ruas given unto them : and I saxv the soids of them^ that were beheaded for the wit' ness of fesus^ and for the word of God, and which had not xvorshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived^* and reigned with Christ a thousand years. After observing from Dr. Lancaster, that a thro7ie is the symbol of government or power, I shall again cite the first clause af the verse, as translated by Mr. Wakefield : and I saw thrones, to the sitters on xvhich judgment rvas given. ' What can this mean,' says Dr. Lightfoot, ' but power and authority to be magistrates and judges.^'.' To the same purport Mr. Lowman. This ' figurative description seems to intimate order and government in this kingdom of Christ, that some were to have judgment given unto them, or to be raised to the authority of magistrates in it. This, as all other governments, was to be made up of governors and governed.' yudgment rvas given unto them. ' ^Y jw^g- ment^ says Vitringa, ' here without doubt is understood the office and dignity of a judge. John hath imitated the expression of Daniel, who says the judgment saf^ : i. e. judges were invested Avith the power of pronouncing sen- tence, and adorned with the dignity and office of judges. — But judgment involves and carries with it the idea of go- vernment, as De Launay has very well observed on this place ; for to judge in the style of the Old Testament is to governJ* Who the persons are, who hereafter shall govern, is not, however, stated by St. John ; and the reason is this, says Vitringa : he expected, that his readers would com- pare what he says with the parallel place in Daniel, from 13 See Daubuz, p. 917. 14 Mr. Walcefield translates, and thev came to life, 15 Vol. II. p. 1058. 16 VII. 10. CHAP. XXXI. 3ol whom we learn, that government will at length be admi. nistered by men of religion and of probity. The parallel places occur in ch. vii. Some of them have already been brought forward, and shall not be repeated ; but verses 18 and 22 have not yet been alleged. That the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom^ and possess the kingdom for ever^ is the declaration of Daniel in v. 18 ; and in v. 22 he says, judgment was given to the saints of the most High ; and the time came, that the saints possessed thekingdom. Still more perspicuous is v. 27", where it is said, that DOMINION shall be given unto the people of the saints of the most High. At length Eijrope, and afterwards the world at large, will be governed and inhabited by men of pure morals and uncorrupted Christianity. Such at least will be the character of a decided majority. To these passages of Daniel St. Paul, says Vitringa, manifestly refers, where he says, do ye not know that the saints shall judge the xvorld^'^. That is, says Dr. Lightfoot, ' know ye not, that there shall be a Christian magistracy.' This is probably the true in- terpretation : but what particular period, and what descrip- tion of persons, does the reader conceive, the doctor re- gards as here designated by the apostle ? — -The princes and other men in power, who have plundered, or governed, the European world for these last fourteen or fifteen centu- ries 18 \ 17 I. Cor. VI. 2. 18 See Lightfoot's Works, vol. II. p. 1058. This is from a complemen- tary sermon preaclied at the Hei-tfbrd-Asslzes. A passage or two from it may not be unentertaining-. ' And now, my Lords and Gentlemen, you may see your own picture in the g-lass of the text ; for you are of the num- ber of those of whom it speaketh. In it, you may see yourselves, imbench- ed, commissioned, and your work put into your hands.' A little farther he asks, « what sober man does or can deny, kingship and ' magistracy to be of Christ's ordaining ,•' but he discreetly declares himself unwi!i;:.g, * to vuidervalue the judgment of any in the congregation so far, as to think, this gi-e?t and important tj'uth needs any proof, to him.' In his catalogue of the principal gospel-mercies, he accordii:gly omits not to insci L Clu-istian kings and rulers : and, in evidence of the fact, appeals to tliat patriotic prince and pious Chiistian, Charles II ; who accordingl}', with exquisite 352 CHAP. XXXI. In the xith chapter of the Apocalypse we peruse the ac- count of the figurative resurrection of the inhabitants be- longing to the Tenth Part of the symbolic city. In ch. xx. we read of the resurrection of those, who had been op- pressed and persecuted by the beast% which description differs from the other, in being of a general kind, and un- restricted to any particular country. That this also is figu- rative, Dr. Whitby has largely, and, in my opinion, deci- sively proved. I repeat the words of St. John, And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Je- sus^ and for the word of God^ and which had not worship- ped the beast^ neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads^ or in their hands ; and they lived and reigned "with Christ a thousand years. It has, says Mr. Lowman, been correctly observed, * that all these expressions may very well be understood in a figu- rative sense. The soids of them, xvhich were beheaded for the witness of fesus, and which had not worshipped the beast, may easily, according to the manner of prophetic lan- guage, signify persons of like spirit and temper with them, of like faith, patience, constancy, and zeal. — It is a very easy and natural figure, as well as very common in this book of prophecy, to describe persons by the names of such, whose tempers and characters they imitate and follow. Thus the names of Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon, are so propriety, has been recently placed (in a well-executed statue), in the centre of the Royal Exchange, as at once an apt specimen of the past kings of England, and an exemplary model for their future imitation. ' We need not,' says Dr. Lightfoot, ' go far for proof of this. — The universal joy and acclamations of all tlie nation, upon the happy restoring of his sacred ma- jesty, speaks the sense and attestation of the whole nation, nay of the tlu'ee nations, unto the truth, and their sensibleness of this mercy. The shout of a king, of a most christian king, was among them.' But, in justice to this celebrated rabbinical doctor, it should be observed, that this discourse was preached in 1660, the year of Charles's elevation to the throne. 19 Johnston of Holywood, speaking of these two passages, and against the literal resurrection of the mai'tyrs, asks, whether it is * not contrary to all the rules of just criticism, to understand two similar descriptions in the same book, in opposite, or even not in similar senses ?' CHAP. XXXI. 353 often ascribed to Rome, on account she nearly resembled them in corruption, pride, and cruelty.' ' The true mean- ing of this symbolical representation,' says Dr. Johnston of Holy wood, ' is this : at that period, the world shall be peo- pled with men of the same spirit and character, with the real martyrs of Christ ; with men, who like them, shall call no man on earth master in matters of religion ; who, free from the fetters of superstition and idolatry, and regarding the sacred rights of conscience, shall regulate their faith, worship and conduct, by the infallible standard of the word of God. Men of this character shall in succession live on earth, and enjoy a state of great purity and joy.' The martyrs may also be said to live and reign with Christ, ' on account of the very high but unsuperstitious respect, which the inhabitants of that age shall pay to their memo- ries, and the w^arm gratitude, which they shall feel for those good and undaunted men, who, adhering to the testimony of Jesus and the word of God, at the expence of their fame, fortunes, liberty and lives, were the intelligent and volun- tary instruments, in the hand of God, of transmitting^ to them — that divine religion, which they enjoy in such pu- rity, peace, and plenty.' With respect to the prophet's ex- pression, says Mr. Lowman, that they shall reign xuitli Christy it ' may well beunderstood in a figurative sense, as we are said to be crucijiedrvith Clirist^ and to live xvith him; or as Christ himself is said to live in Ui\ Gal. ii. 20.' Without citing anj^ more passages from the xxth chapter of the Apocalypse, or alleging any more extracts illustra- tive of the words which were last quoted, I shall refer those, who may be disposed minutely to examine this part of the prophecy, to Lowman and Johnston, to Brenius^°, Vitringa, and Whitby, v^'hose opinions on the figurative import of this prediction coincide, and are expi-essed at considerable length : and I shall here only add what has already been stated^', that a symbolic resurrection, according to the Old 20 In Apoc. and in his treatise De Regno Eccl. Glor. Pic. 10. 21 See vol. I. p. 107, 108. VOL'. II. Y y 3^4 CHAP. XXXI. Testament, and to the Oriental Oneirocritics, ' signifies a recovery of such rights and liberties as have been taken away".' From the xxth chapter of the Apocalypse, I pass on to the first verse of the succeeding chapter, which contains sjTnbols of a well-known import, and is thus expressed : And I saw a new heaven and a Jietv earth : for the^rst hea- ven and the Jirst earth xuere passed away ; and there -was no more sea^^. Previouslv to entering into an inquiry on the significa- tion of the several symbols, we are struck with the general air of this passage as expressive and beautiful. A remark of the celebrated Crellius upon it may with this view be quoted. ' If,' says he, ' after the most severe servitude, by which the human race has been oppressed, golden liberty should follow ; if, after the thickest darkness of ignorance, the clearest light of truth should arise ; if, after a mighty contest, and calamities not to be calculated, great joy and a most happy state of mankind should succeed ; then the face of all things will appear changed, and, whilst before they seemed to mourn, they will afterwards appear to smile, so that the heaven and the earth will seem to have under- gone a change, and to have assumed a diflferent counte- nance**,' ' The earth^ it has been observed, (I am quoting the words of Sir Isaac Newton) signifies * the inferior peo- ple^^ j' and the reason, as assigned by Dr. Lancaster, is this, ' In the symbolical language, the natural world repre- 22 Dr. Lancaster. Mat. Henry, in agreement with this, says, that the 4th verse of the xxth ch. of the Apocalj-pse, if figuratively interpreted, signifies, ' they were in a civil and political sense dead, and had a politi- cal resurrection ; their liberties and privileges were revived and restored.' 23 That this passage is to be figuratively understood, and applied to the future state of the world, has long been a received opinion. Among other early writers, who maintained it, and who might be specified, were Joa- chim of Calabria in tlie twelfth, and Ubertinus in the fourteenth, century. 24 Crellii Opera, 1656, vol. II. p. 373. 25 P. 16. See the same observ'ation in Made, p. 763 ; en I in Vitringa in Apoc. VI. 14. CHAP. XXXI, 355 sents the political : the heaven, sun, and luminaries, repre- sent the governing part, and consequently the earth must represent the part governed, submitting, and inferior.' Of this passage the meaning is plain and unequivocal. The old heaven^ the old governments, are removed away ; and, what is the natural consequence of this, the old earth also passes away, i. e. the great body of the people, which were involved in ignorance, penury, and wretchedness, are gradually chang- ed, and, at length, succeeded by those of a far different cha- racter^*. And as the latter change cannot be accomplished without a wise system of education being adopted, this is necessarily presupposed. So clear does the meaning of this interesting verse appear to be, that I shall, perhaps, be charged with the unnecessary introduction of the following quotation. It is, however, from a writer of very high au- thority. * The old heaven and earth^ says Daubuz, * are removed to make way to a 7iexv heaven and new earthy that is, to a NEW GOVERNMENTS^ and a NEW PEOPLE^*, as we have shewn before these symbols signif}^ Now I say, that the removal of the old heaven and earthy and the introduction of the new heaven and earthy are symbols of a prophecy, which has not its accomplishment in a sudden revolution, or moment, but in progress of time. — When the Holy Ghost represents any thing by some single and entire sign 26 That the earth is a S3mbol, having two sig-nifications, has befoi-e been remarked. Tlie sordid and antichi-istian part of mankind it sometimes signifies. Which of these meaning's is to be chosen, the context, there- fore, must, in every case, detei-mine. However, at the period spoken of in this passage, tlie symbolic earth will pass away in both senses. 27 That the reader may be more certain of this inierpretation, I refer him to the following passages in the book of Revelation, where the word heaven occuvs, to ch. VI. 13, 14; VIII. 10; IX. 1; XI. 12; XII. 1,4, 7, 8 ; XIII. 13 ; XVI. 21 ; and XIX. 17. That in all these places it has a symbolic and political sense, and refers to the government in the state, may be seen in Daubuz. This, indeed, through the ancient world, was the established acceptation of this symbol ; and this is the import annex- ed to it in the Oriental oneirocritics. 28 The words of Isalali, and the earth shall remove out nf her place, cited ill this vol. p. 88, 89, have a similar import. 356 CHAP. XXXI. or symbol, it is most usual and proper to do it in its full extent and entire settlement. So that this does not exclude the beginnings thereof, whilst it seems not perfect, but supposes them.' Does there not, then, seem reason to con- clude, that the Jlevolution in the northern continent of America is a beginning of the new symbolic heaven and the new symbolic earth; and that that of France, when it shall rise superior to the intrigues and turbulence of do- mestic factions, and produce its genuine effects, under the mild influence of peace, and amid the consciousness of na- tional security, will, at length, deserve to be viewed in the same favorable light ? Faint is the dawn, which ushers in the day, and often deformed by dense and widely extended mists. So also, in almost every human good, of a compli- cate and extensive kind, the beginnings are necessarily de- fective, and often clouded by a large mixture of evil. They do not, hoAvever, on that account, cease to be highly valu- able ; and to him, who turns his eye from the present scene of momentary good or evil, and traces effects from their causes, they do not, on that account, cease to be a ground of congratulation and rejoicing. But I return to Daubuz, ' And there xvas no more sea. The sea'''^, as has been frequently observed before, signifies multitudes in commotion and war. — Thus this symbol sig- nifies here, that in this nexv heaven and earthy or kingdom of yesus Christ now completed, there shall be no tyranny, op- pression, violence, war, shedding of blood, or any other turbulent wickedness.' The predictions of the Jewish and the Christian prophets mutually illustrate each other. Leaving, therefore, for the present, those which occur in the book of Revelation, I shall pass on to some of those, which are found in the Old Tes- 29 The expression is plainly symbolic: and not to mention the extreme improbability of tlie sea in a literal sense being annihilated, or disappear- ing', at the commencement of tlie millennium, we read of it (XX. 13) as ^ long- afterwards existing", even at the Day of Judgment, and as Xh.cn gimng ::t the dead v.-hich iccrc in it. GHAP. XXXI. 357 lament, and delineate in perspicuous oi- in glowing lan- guage the same happy perigd. From the concluding chapter of Joel a passage has al- ready been quoted^°, in which it is foretold, that the sym- bolic su7i^ and 771 oo?iy and stars shall be darkened; and I now give a part of the verse which follows, as explained by Dr. Wells. ' A7ul it shall come to pass i/i that day^ or during the happy state of the millennium, the saints on earth shall enjoy the greatest plenty of all things requisite to this life, insomuch that the vines even on the mountains shall yield such plenty of wine yearly, that it may be said, the 7noimtains shall in a manner drop doxvn new wine yearly, and the cattle that feed even on the hills shall give so much milk, that it may be said that the hills fiow xvith 77iilP\^ To the same purpose speaks Mr. Lowth. In a similar strain is one of the concluding verses of the prophet Amos, which verses, says Mr. Lowth, ' ought to be understood of the happy state of the millennium.' Be- hold^ the daijs come^ saith the Lord^ that the plowma7i shall overtake the reaper^ a7id the treader of grapes him that soxveth seed; and the 7nou7itai7is shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt^^. Here also I cite the paraphrase of Dr. Wells. ' Behold the days of the millennium or reign of Christ and his saints on earth come^ saith the Lord, when there shall be such plenty, that the plow77ia7i shall ovei-take the reaper^ i. e. they shall not get in all their har- vest, till just before it be time to plow again for the next year : a7id the treader of grapes hir7i that soxveth seed^ i. e. by the time they have sown the winter corn seed, their vin- tage shall be ready : a7id the 77iountains shall drop sxveet wi/* , a7id all the hills shall melt^^, or flow with milk.' 30 See vol. I. p. 268, 269, and vol. II. p. 211, 212. 31 III. 18. 32 IX. 13. 33 This word is, however, susceptible of a different interpretation. • Tlie Chaldee Pai-aphrase, tlie Septuag-int, and Vulgat Latin, understand the Hebrew verb, translated ineit, of being cultivated, the stony ground being made softer by plowing and manuring.' Mr. Lowth. ^-5^8 • CHAP. XXXI. Lactantius, having these passages among others in his eye, and interpreting thenx according to the letter, says, '■ the earth will open its fertility, and produce fruits sponta- neously and in the greatest abundance ; the rocks of the mountains will sweat with honey; wines will run down in rivulets ; and the rivers will flow with milk. In short, the world itself will rejoice, and the whole face of nature bfe glad. — Lions and calvfes will stand together at the stall : the wolf will not seize upon the sheep, nor the dog follow the chace: hawks and eagles will become harmless, and the infant will play with the serpent^'*.' The rhetorician of Nicomedia, having uttered these and similar expectations, then quotes those exquisite lines of the Roman poet, which follow, as if impressed with the belief of their future literal accomplishment. Cedet et ipse mari vector ; nee nautica pinus Mutabit merces ; omnis feret omnia tellus. Non rastros patietur humus, non vinea falcem. Robustus quoque jam tauris juga solvet arator. Tunc etiam molli flavescet campus arista ; Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva ; Et durse quercus sudabunt roscida mella. Nee varios discet mentiri lana colores ; Ipse sed in pratis aries jam suave rubenti Murice, jam croceo mutabit vellera luto. Sponte sua sandyx pascentes vestiet agnos. Ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellfe Uberaj nee magnos metuent armenta leones. Though the reader is doubtless of opinion, that Lactan- tius has wandered sufficiently far from probability ; yet he will soon see, that, upon this very subject, and by an earlier writer, he has been far out- stripped in the marvellous, Ire- naeus assures us, that ' the days shall come, in which there will be vines, each bearing ten thousand branches ; and on every one of these branches there will be ten thousand 34 Lib. VII, c. 24. CHAP. XXXI. 359 lesser branches ; and on every one of these ten thousand twigs ; and on every one of these twigs ten thousand dus- ters of grapes ; and on each separate ckister ten thousand grapes ; and every one of these grapes, when pressed, will yield twenty-five metretse" of wine. And when any one shall take hold of one of these sacred boughs, another will cry out, I am a better bunch, take me, by my means bless the Lord^^' But, though there is no reason for believing, that plants and fruit-trees will become supernaturallv prolific ; yet it may justly be expected, that the arts of agriculture and gar- dening will be improved beyond the conception of present times ; and that, in consequence, all the more valuable pro- ductions of the vegetable world will surpass such as are now cultivated, with respect to beauty or flavor, size or quantity. By Micah also the arrival of this happy period is fore- told. In the last days it shall come to pass^ says the nro- phet, that the strong nations shall beat their swords into ploivshares^ and their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift up a sword against nation^ neither shall they learn xvar any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his Jig tree; and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it^'^. Were there no prediction at all in the prophets of the destruction of the antichristian monarchies that now exist, from this single passage of Micah it might, I think, safely be in- ferred. Whilst they subsist, is it possible, that wars should cease throughout the world? That tranquility and security, that mildness, humanity, and concord, which will hereafter flow from the amended morals of mankind, are beautifully represented by the evan- 55 That is, says Dr. Whitby (on the Mil!, ch. I.) according- to the mcst moderate computation, 275 gallons. 36 Lib. V. c. 33. 37 IV, 1, 3, 4. 360 CHAP. XXXI. gelical prophet, when he says (xl, 6), that the xvolf shall drucll with the lamb; and the. leopard shall lie doxun with the kid; and the calf and the young Hon and the fatting- together ; and a little child shall lead theni^^. Lest any one, says Vitringa, should stupidly annex to this a literal accep- tation, the prophet has himself supplied us with a key for interpreting it^', adding immediately after in v. 9. They shall not hurt 7ior destroy in all my holy mountain'^° ; for the earth shall be fidl of the knoxvlcge of the Lord^ as the waters cover the sea. The Ixvth chapter also of Isaiah relates not only to the future improved state of the Jewish nation, but also to the millennium*' and of the state of the world in general. That the conclusion of it paints in the most beautiful and in the strongest colors the felicity of future times, and their ex- emption from despotism and from war, the following ex- tracts from that part of the chapter will shew. Behold^ I create new heavens^ and a nexv earth; and the former ones they shall not reiyiember^ nor shall they come into their minds any more ; but they shall rejoice and exult iti the age to come^ zvhich I create. — No more shall there be an infant short- lived ; nor an old man who shall not have fidflled his days : for he^ xvho shall die at a hundred years ^ shall die a boy ; and the sinner^ xvho shall die at a hundred years^ shall be deemed accursed. And they shall build houses^ and shall inhabit them : and they shall plant vineyards^ and shall eat the fruits of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit ; they shall not plant, and another eat : for as the days of a tree, shall be the days of my people : and they shall xvear out the xvorks of their oxvn hands. My chosen shallnot la- bor in vain; nor shall they generate a short-lived race, — 38 Among' the early commentators, who have observed that these words are to be figuratively understood, are Grotius, Munsterus, and Forerius. 39 See the same observation in Mr. Lowth in loc. 40 ' That is,' says Dr. Lancaster, • in all the kingdom of the Messiali, which shall then reach all over the world.' 41 See tliis observed by Mr. Lowth, Mat. Henry, Dr. Wells, and Vi- trinsra. CHAP. XXXI. 361 The ivolf and the lamb shall feed together ; and the lion shall eat straw as the ox : but^ as for the ser petit ^ dust shall be his food. They shall not hurt^ nor shall they destroy in all my holy 77iountain^ saith Jehovah*''^. A few observations, illustrative of this important pas- sage, it will be proper to add. As the prophet employs the word chosen^ it may not be inexpedient to introduce the following extract from Mr. Taylor of Norwich. ' The state, membership, privileges, honors, and relations, of professed Christians, particularly of believing Gentiles, are expressed by the same phrases with those of the ancient Jewish church ; and, therefore, unless we admit a very strange abuse of words, must con- vey the same general ideas of our present state, member- ship, privileges, honors, and relations to God, as we are professed Christians. For instance, as God chose his an- cient people the Jews, and they were his chosen and elect ; so now the whole body of Christians, Gentiles as well as Jews, are admitted to the same honor ; as they are selected from the rest of the world, and taken into the kingdom of God, for the knowlege, worship, and obedience of God, in hopes of eternal life'*^' As this world will still be a state of trial, it will conse- quently be still chequered with some shades of vice and 42 LXV. 17, 18, 20, 22, 21, 23, 25. This is from Mr. Dodson's amend- ed Translation of Isaiah, which, in these verses, vai'ies but little from that of bp. Lowth. 43 Among other similar passages, which Mr. Taylor cites as illustrative of the assertion in the text, ai-e the following. ' Rom. VIIl, 33, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gocfs elect ? Eph. 1. 4, According as he hath CHOSEN tM (Gentiles, chap. II. 11) in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love- Col. III. 12> jPut on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies t. 2 Thess. II. 13. Bnt we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brc thren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from, the beginning chosen j;o« to salvation, through sanctif cation of the spirit, and belief of the truth. Tit. I. 1. Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of^esus Christ, according to the faith of God's ELECT.' Taylor on the Romans, Intr. p. 31. Vol. II. z z 36^ , GHAP. XXXI., some remains of infelicity. Accordingly Isaiah says, and the sinner J who shall die at a hundred years^ shall be deemed accursed. Dr. John Edwards, a learned divine of the English church, after declaring, that ' it is not to be doubted of, that there shall be bodily strength and vigor, in an unusual degree,' to those who live in the millenniary period, adds, ' the people of those times shall be long-lived : which I gather from Isai. Ixv. 20. There shall be no more thence aii infant of days ^ nor an old man that hath not filed his days'^*.'* That is, says Mr. Lowth, * from thoice, or from that time, there shall be no untimely deaths, either of infants who are abortive, or never grow up to man's estate ; or of old men who do not live out the full term of life*^' This proposi- tion, it appears reasonable to understand, as being a general one, and liable to exceptions ; for, though premature deaths may hereafter be of rare occurrence, the law of our nature forbids that they should not sometimes happen. The clause, which occurs in the subsequent part of the same verse, does, however, when viewed through the me- dium of our common translation, strongly countenance the idea, that this law -will be suspended, and that the human frame will hereafter be differently constituted. But this medium is, I apprehend, false and fallacious. That the child shall die an hundred years old"^^ is the incoherent lan- guage of the prophet, according to that version. That he^ xvho shall die at a hundred years^ shall die a boy^ is the im- proved translation of Mr. Dodson**^. But the words, I 44 Hist, of all the Dispens- of Relig. vol. II, p. 7'43- 45 See the same observations in Dr. Wells. 46 The following' is a method of evading the difficulty, but it is not sa- tisfactory. ' Some,' says Mat. Henry, ' understand it of children, that in their childhood are so eminent for wisdom and grace, and by death nipped in their blossom, that they may be said to die a hundred years old^ More rational is the explanation of Vatablus. The expression is an hyperbole, and it signifies, that^mankind shall live very long. 47 Similar is bishop Lowth's translation. For, he that dieth at an huiidreri jears, shall die a boy. CHAP. XXXI. 363 conceive, should have been rendered, he^ xvho shall die at a hundred years^ shall die a young man'^^ ; and the meaning is, so great will be the age to which men will frequently attain in the millenniary period, that he, who dies at a hundred years old, will be regarded but as a person arrived at ma- turity*^ The expressions of the Jewish prophets, it may here be remarked, are not always to be understood in their strict and literal sense. Thus the prediction in the con- cluding verse of the present chapter, that the rvolf and the lamb shall feed together^ that the lion shall eat straw as the ox^ and that, as for the serpent^ dust shall be his food^ is explained by the ablest commentators with some latitude of interpretation. The words are neither susceptible of a li- teral explication, nor do they, separately considered, con- tain any precise symbolic signification. They are exactly of the same import as a parallel passage in the xith chapter of the evangelical prophet, which has been recently cited. The longevity of those, who are to live in the millenni- ary period, is in two other verses alluded to. They shall not^ it is said, geyierate a short-lived race, but their days shall resemble the days of a tree. And this important cir- cumstance, the reader will shortly see, has been declared to be the language of prophecy, by those who have com- 48 That the Hebrew word, which occurs in this place, may be trans- lated a young tnan can admit of no doubt. It is so translated, in our common version, in ch. XIII of Isaiah, v. 18, in ch. II of Zachariah, v. 4, and in va- rious other books of the Old Testament. To the two spies, who were sent by Joshua into Jericho, thjs word is applied (Jos. VI. 23) ; and it is given as a denomination of the patriarch Joseph, at a time when he was 28 years of age (Gen. XLI. 12). The same Hebrew word, in the XlXth ch. of the book of Judges, when in the feminine gender, is used six times as the appellation of a woman, who was a concubine; and (Ruth II. 5.) it is annexed to the name of Ruth, who had been married at least ten years, and at the period spoken of was a widow. 49 Should the work, alluded to in the advertisement, be published, I shall there enter with some minuteness into the causes, which, it may be expected, will liereafter be productive of great health and uncommon lon- srevitv. 364 CHAP. XXXI. mented on the book of Revelation, as well as by those who have illustrated Isaiah. Of the industrious part of mankind, at present, only a small part receive an adequate and reasonable compensa- tion for their labors. In rewarding the exertions of inge- nuity or of diligence, no laws of proportion are observed, no rules of equity are attended to. In this respect, society will gradually assume a new aspect. Those of whom the prophet speaks are not to labor in vain, but they are to wear out the xvorks of their oxvn hands. Those who build, and those who plant, are alike to enjoy the benefit of their own industry. Mankind will mutually labor for each other's benefit, and to supply each other's wants. No longer will a decided majority of them, as is now the case in almost all the civilised countries of the globe, lead a life at once of indigence and of toil ; whilst a few individuals, in every dis- trict, riot in luxury and splendor, and, with systematic pro- digality, consume upon themselves or their families the la- bors of hundreds and of thousands. After having introduced remarks on the xxth and xxist chapters of the Apocalypse, I shall now go back to ch. vii. Nor need the reader wonder at this ; for it has already been stated, and Mr. Mede has proved it beyond all con- troversy, that the Apocalypse contains a number of con- temporaneous predictions. And it is the observation of bp, Newton, that the latter part of it, comprising the eleven last chapters, ' is designed as a supplement to the former, to complete what was deficient, to explain what was dubi- ous, to illustrate what was obscure^°.' The complete overthrow of all antichristian rule and au- thority the prophet had described at the close of ch. vi. in his account of the sixth seal. It is, therefore, very natural, and conformable to the method of all the prophets, that, in the following chapter, he should pass on to the description of the subsequent state of the world and of the church. The 50 Vol. III. p. 188. CHAP. XXXI. - 365 representation which he there gives is figurative through- out, in a high degree sublime, and is strongly expressive of the great holiness and felicity, which will hereafter prevail. After this I beheld^ and lo^ a great midtitude^ ivhich no man could number^ of all nations^ and kindreds^ and people^ and tongues^ stood before the throne^ and before the lamby clothed ivith 7vhite robes^ and pcdrns in their hands, — Aiid one of the elders ansxvered^^, saying unto nie^ what are these ivhich are arrayed in white robes ? And -whence came they f And I said unto him ^ Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are they rohich came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sit- teth on the throne shall dxvell among them. They shall hun- ger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun, light on them, nor any heat^^, Bp. Newton, in agreement with his explication of the sixth seal which has already been noticed, found himself under the necessity of declar- ing, that this is a description of the state of the church in Constantine's time, of the peace and protection it should enjoy under the civil powers, and of the great accession that should be made to it both of Jews and Gentiles.' That it is to be understood of a state of things in this world, I am perfectly ready to admit ; and acknowlege the force of Viti-inga's observation, that we are admonished of this, be- 51 It is the remark of Beza on tliis verse, that ' he who begins speak- ing, is, in the Evangelists, often in this manner said 4i;r«xfl 304, vol. 2, 22, 24, 76, 82 — 84, 181, 182, 202, 203, 205, 206, 256, 263, 275,281. Hypocricy. particularly prevalent in the fourth century, vol. 1, 189 ; circumstances productive of it, vol. 1, 194, 195. Jerom, one of the most learned of the fathers, vol. 1, 174, 175; abusive to his antagonists, a fanatical applauder of celibacy, vol. 1, 179, 181. Jerusalem, vices of the inhabitants in the fourth centuiy, vol. ly 182 ; by whom successively possessed, vol. 2, 206, 208, 209. Jews, their government originally democratic, vol. 1, 277; re- marks on their character in ancient times, vol. 1, 290 ; the pre- cautions they took to preserve their sacred writings ui:icorrupted, vol. 1, 28.1, 284 ; the great mistake into which they fell re- specting the Messiah, vol. 2, 163, 167 ; by whom attacked and oppressed prior to the Christian aara, vol. 2, 2 1 0, 2 1 1 ; their great sufferings under the Romans, vol. 2, 196, 198 ; oppressed by the Christians in the fourth century, vol. 1, 196, 197; subse- quent persecutions and calamities, vol. 2, 204, 220, 230, 231 ; have been deluded by numerous impostors, vol. 2, 230, 237 ; bishop Kidder's illiberaj sentiments with respect to them, vol. 2, 239, 241 ; enumeration of the countries in which they are prin- cipally settled, vol. 2, 242, 243 ; many of them in Spain and Portugal conceal their race and sentiments, vol.2, 1-25, 226; what is known respecting the past fate of the Ten Tribes, vol. 2, 215,216, 219; conjecture respecting the present situation of those tribes, vol. 2, 216 — 229 ; prophecies relative to their dis- persion and wretched situation, vol. 2, 195, 196, 198, 201, 202 ; prophecies relative to their future restoration, vol. 2, 205—215 ; circumstances favoring Uieir return to Judea, vol. 2, 241, £42 ; GENERAL 397 INDEX. conjectures relative to the causes which may perhaps contribute to it, vol.2, 243 — 245. Imitation, necessary to the artist, vol. 2, 304, 305. Impostors, Jewish, account of) noI. 2, 230 — 237. Inconsistency, bishops Huid and Xe\\tjn furnish an example of, vol. 1,220, 2-1, 2-7, 24 ■. Infidelity, observations on, vol. 2, 199, 'TOl ; among what descrip- tion of persons it principally prevailed in France, vol. 1, 16. Inquiry, freedom of, connexion between political and religious, vol. 2, 331 — 3 .° 3 ; sincerity, ingeniously vindiciUed in bishop Kurd's Dialogues, vol. 1, 338 — 241. Interpretations of prophecy, some means hinted at for forming a probable judgment respecting their truth or falshood, vol. 1, 42, 73. Joachim of Calabria, his statement respecting Antichrist, vol. I, 202, 203. John, >t. particulars respecting him, vol. 1, 22 — 25 Jones, Sir William, extract from, vol. 2, 216, 217 JoRTiN, Dr. extracts from, vol. 1, 24, 35, 175, 179, 181, 185 — 187, 188 — 190, 209, 216, 287, 288. vol. 2, 73^ 80, 85, 86, 258 268, 290 — 293, 315. Joseph, the patriarch, his political conduct in the latter part of his life highly censurable, vol- 1, 4, 5. Josephus, statements borrowed from him, vol. 1,286. vol. 2, 1, 1 81, 196—198. Irenxus, curious quotation from, vol. 2, 358. Isaiah, his style characterised, vol. 2, 86 ; the period in which he lived, vol. 2, 87 ; eminent for the clearness of his propheci;;^ relative to the kingdom and dispensation of the Messiah, vol. 2, 81, 87, 94, 96, 360, 361. Istes of the sea, that expression explained, vol. 2, 75, 76. Israelites, warned against having a king, vol. 1, 5. Italy, its miserable state during a large part of the fourth and fifth centuries, vol. 2, 61, 62, 64 — 67 ; the centre of arts and the promoter of literature among tlie nations of modern Europe vol. 2, 294, 296, 302—304. Judea, its ancient population, vol. 2, 241. Julian, his account of the persecutions carried on in the reign of his predecessor, vol. 1, 192; his declaration to the citizens of Antioch in favor of frugality, vol. 2, 53, 54. GENERAL 398 INDEX. JuRiEU, M. account of, vol. 1, 84, 85, 92, 103; extracts from, vol. 1, 84,88—95, 121, 254—255,256. vol. 2, 11, 12, 228» 348. Justinian, Ms arbitrary and persecuting conduct, vol. 2, 20 — 22 ; his reign very calamitous, vol. 2, 63, 64. Kidder, bishop, his illiberal advice respecting the JeAvs, vol. 2, 239 —241. The kingdom of God, or kingdom of Heaven^ meaning of the ex- pressions, vol. 2, 162, 163, 174, 175. Kings, censured by Dr. Ow^en, vol. I, 55, 56, 268; vol. 2, 149 ; their power of destroying most effectual, vol. 2, 63, 64 ; what the king of Prussia says respecting them, vol. 2, 153. Knowlege, what circumstances obstruct the cultivation of it, vol. 2, 270 ; the great effects it has produced, and is likely to produce, in the political world, vol. 1, 254, 255. K^om, vol. 1, 14, 20, 26, 58, 103, 104, 2'57, 265, 266. vol. 2, 32—31, 37, 41, 52, 71 — 74, 86, 88, 89, 93, 262, 350, 368; his opinion.; stated, vol. 1, 71, 74. 82, 99, 108, 121, 131, 137, 145, 147, 149, 202, 259, 261, 267, 268, 270. vol. 2, 22, 40, 48—51, 75, 96, 93, 100, 141, 147, 215, 228, 263, 351, 360, 365, 368. VoLNEY, his character as a traveller, vol. 2, 112; extracts from, vol. 2, 111, 112, 120, i21, 126, 129— .131, 132 — 139, 241, 312. Wakefield, Mr. extracts from, vol. 1, 167, 205, 212—215. vol. 2, 182, 188, 333. Waller, Mr. his insincerities glossed over by bishop Hurd, vol. 1, 238—241, Waldenses, circumstances relating to, vol. 1, 87, 202. War, nature of it briefly described, vol. 2, 276 ; the only thing attended to in the education of a gentleman in the dark ages, vol. '2, 289 ; the cruel spirit of it mitigated by Christianity, vol. 2, 326, 327,330, 331. Wars, destined hereafter to cease, vol. 2, 356, 359—361; those called religious, to vvhat general cause to be attributed, vol. 2, 318—320, Warburton, bishop, extracts from, vol. 1,33. vol, 2, 37, 38, 78, 82, 85, 303. See also note 8, in preface. Westphalia, treaty of, vol. 2, 152. Wliiston, Mr. extracts from, vol. 1, 47, 48, 53, 56, 60, 68, 79, 15 I, 257, 278. vol. 2,207. Wicked men, may be employed by Providence to punish the Avick- ed, and to effect beneficial revolutions, vol. 1, 125, 126, 128. 1^9,289. Worship, public, an advantage attendant upon it stated, vol. 2, 284 — 286. Wi'iting, materials for, formerly scarce, vol. 2, 294, 295. Yaroslof, meritorious conduct of that prirxe, vol. 2, 323. Zingis, his extensive conquests and devastations, vo^. 2, 116, 25.> ri