1 YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY Gift of Marjorie N. Brett ¦¦:¦."¦¦¦ ¦'. irH(D)Mi»^ Rl E WT«R1, 1© DISSERTATIONS ON THE PROPHECIES, WHICH HAVE REMARKABLY BEEN EULEELED, THIS TIME ARE FULFILLING IN THE WORLD. BY THOMAS NEWTON, D.D. in LATE LORD BISHOP OF BRISTOL. REVISED BT THE REV. W. S. DOBSON, A.M, EDITOE OP THE ATTIO GREEK ORATORS AND SOPHISTS, ETO. mm LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. F. DOVE. REPRINTED BY CRISST & MARKLEY, GOLDSMITH'S HALL, LIBRARY ST, PHILADELPHIA. Yals Divinity Library ADVERTISEMENT. The great value of Bishop Newton's Dissertations on the Pro phecies, both to the learned and to the general reader of Scrip ture, has induced the Publisher to spare no pains to render the present edition correct. For this purpose the text and notes have been closely revised, and the classical quotations and references * compared with the original authorities. It is hoped, therefore, that this edition will be found worthy of public attention for its superior correctness, and as a valuable reprint of one of the most enlightened treatises on the subject of prophecy which our lan guage can boast. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Prophecies one of the strongest proofs of revelation, 0. A history of prophecy desired by Lord Bacon, ib. The consequence plain from the believing of prophecies to the believing of revela tion, ib. The objection that the prophecies were written after the events, groundless, and be trays great ignorance, or something worse, 10. The truth of prophecy may be proved hy in stances of things fulfilling at this very time, ib. The evidence drawn from prophecy, a growing evidence, 11. Miracles the great proofs of revelation to the first ages, Prophecies to the last, ib. The necessity to which infidels are reduced, either to renounce their senses, or to admit the truth of revelation, 12. Most of the principal prophecies of Scripture will be comprehended in this work, as well as several of the most material transactions in history, ib. DISSERTATION L NOAH*S PROPHECY. Very few prophecies till Noah, 13. Noah's drunkenness, and the behaviour of his sons there upon, ib. In consequence of their different behaviour he was enabled to foretell the different fortunes of their families, 14. The prophecy, 15. Not to be understood of particular persons but of whole nations, ib. The curse upon Canaan, a curse upon the Canaanites for their wickedness, ib. The wickedness of the Canaanites very great, 16. The curse particularly implies the subjection of the descendants of Canaan to the descendants of Shem and Japheth, ib. The completion of this shown from the time of Joshua to this day, 17. A different reading pro posed of Ham the father of Canaan instead of Canaan, 18. The curse in this larger sense also shown to be fulfilled from the earliest times to the present, 19. The promise to Shem of tho Lord being his God, how fulfilled, 20. The promise of enlargement to Japheth, an allusion to his name, ib. How fulfilled both in former and in latter times, 21. The following clause, and h e shall dwell in the tents of Shem, capable of two senses, and in both punctually fulfilled, ib. Conclusion, 22. A mistake of Mr. Mede corrected, ib. Lord Bolingbroke censured for his in decent reflections on this prophecy, 23. His ignorance about the Codex Alexandrinus, 24. Hia blunder about the Roman historians, ib. His sneer about believers refuted, ib. Condemned by himself, ib. Had great talents but misapplied them, 25. DISSERTATION II. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING ISHMAEL. Abraham favoured with several revelations, 25. Those concerning Ishmael or the Ishmaelites, ib. The promise of a numerous posterity, how fulfilled, 26. The promise of twelve princes, how fulfilled, ib. The promise of a great nation, how fulfilled, 27. The saying that he should be a wild man, how fulfilled, ib. The saying that his hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against him, how fulfilled, 28. The saying that he should dwell in the pre sence of all his brethren, how fulfilled, ib. The Ishmaelites or Arabians have from first to last maintained their independence, 29. Against the Egyptians and Assyrians, ib. Against the Persians, 30. Against Alexander and his successors, ib. Against the Romans, 31. Their state under Mohammed, and since his time, and now under the Turks, 32. Dr. Shaw's account of them, 33. Bp. Pococke's, ib. And Mr. Hanway's, 34. Conclusion,ib. "Wonderful, that they should retain the same manners for so many ages, ib. More wonderful that they should still remain a free people, 35. The Jews and Arabs in some respects resemble each other, 36. DISSERTATION HI. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING JACOB AND ESATT. More prophecies concerninff the posterity of Isaac than of Ishmael, 37. The promise of the blessed seed, how fulfilled, ib. The promise of the land of Canaan, how fulfilled, ib. The promise of anumerous posterity, how fulfilled, 38. The promises concerning Esau and Jacob, ib. Not verified in themselves, but in their posterity, 39. Comprehend several particulars, ib. I. The families of Esau and Jacob two different people and nations, 40. II. The family of the elder subject to that of the younger, 41. III. In situation and other temporal advantages much alike, 42. IV. The elder branch delighted more in war and violence, but subdued by the younger, 43. V. The elder at one time shook off the dominion of the younger, 44. VI. In all spiritual gifts and graces the younger superior, and the happy instrument of conveying the blessing to all nations, 45. Conclusion, ib. The prophecies fulfilled in the utter destruction of the Edomites, ib dissertation iv. Jacob's prophecies concerning his sons, particularly judah. An opinion of great antiquity, that the soul near death grew prophetic, 46. Jacob upon his death bed foretold his sons what should befall them in the last days, the meaning of that phrase, 47. ---- Jacob bequeaths the temporal blessing to all his sons, the spiritual to Judah; 48. The prophe cies concerning several tribes, how fulfilled, ib. The temporal blessing how fulfilled to Judah, 49. The spiritual blessing, 50. I. An explanation of the words and meaning of the prophecy, 50 — 54. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, explained, 50. Nor a lawgiver from be tween his feet, explained, 51. Shiloh in all the various senses of the word shown to be the Messian, 52. Le Clerc's singular interpretation, 53. Jews as well as Christians have by Shiloh generally understood the Messiah, 53. And unto him shall the gathering of the people u CONTENTS. be, capable of three different constructions, 54. H. The completion of the prophecy, 54—59 Judah hereby constituted a tribe or body politic, and so continued till the coming of the Mes siah and the destruction of Jerusalem, 54. The latter clause fulfilled in the first sense, and the people gathered to Judah, 56. Fulfilled in the second sense, and the people gathered to the Messiah, 57. Fulfilled in the last sense, and the people gathered to the Messiah before the sceptre's departure, ib. The prophecy with regard to Benjamin fulfilled, 53. Conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah, ib. DISSERTATION V. Balaam's prophecies. The gift of prophecy not always confined to the chosen seed, or to good men, 59. Balaam both a Heathen and an immoral man, ib. A ceremony among the Heathens to curse their enemies, 60. The story of Balaam's ass considered, 61. A proper sign to Balaam, and the prophecies render the miracle more credible, 62. The style of his prophecies beautiful, ib. His prophecy of the singular character of the Jewish nation, how fulfilled even to this day, 63. His pro phecy of their victories much the same as Jacob's and Isaac's, 64. His prophecy of a king higher than Agag, how fulfilled, ib. His preface to his latter prophecies explained, 65. His prophecy of a star and a sceptre to smite the princes of Moab, how fulfilled by David , 66. "Who meant by the sons of Sheth, 67. His prophecy against the Edomites, how fulfilled by David, 68. This prophecy of the star and the sceptre applied hy most Jewish and Christian writers to the Mes siah, ib. But principally to be understood of David, 70. His prophecy against the Amalekites, how fulfilled, ib. His prophecy against the Kenites, and who the Kenites were, 72. How ful filled, ib. His prophecy of Bhips from the coast of Chittim, 73. The land of Chittim shown to be a general name for Greece, Italy, and the countries and islands in the Mediterranean, ib. How afflict Asshur, 75. How afflict Eber, and who meant by Eoer, ib. How perish for ever, 76. Conclusion, 77. DISSERTATION VI. MOSES'S PROPHECY OF A PROPHET LIKE UNTO HIMSELF. Moses hath not only preserved several ancient prophecies, but hath likewise inserted several of his own, 77. His prophecy of another prophet like unto himself, ib. I. "What prophet was here particularly intended, 78 — 81. The Messiah principally, if not solely, 78. Proved from the conclusion of the book of Deuteronomy, ib. From God's declaration to Miriam and Aaron, 79. From the text itself, ib. From this prophet's being a lawgiver, 80. From fact, ib. II. The great likeness between Moses and Christ, 81 — 84. Christ resembled Moses in more respects than any other person ever did, 31. The comparison between them as drawn by Eusebius, ib. As enlarged and improved by Dr. Jortin, 82 — 84. His conclusion from thence, 84. III. The punishment of the people for their infidelity and disobedience to this prophet, 84, 85. DISSERTATION Vn. PROPHECIES OP MOSES CONCERNING THE JEWS. Prophecies of Moses abound most in the latter part of his writings, 86. The 2Sth of Deuterono my a lively picture of the state of the Jews at present, ib. Prophecy of their enemies coming from afar, how fulfilled, ib. Prophecy of the cruelty of their enemies, how fulfilled, 37. Of the sieges of their cities, ib. Of their distress and famine in the sieges, 88. Of women eating their own children, 89. Of their great calamities and slaughters, 90. Of their being carried into Egypt, and sold for slaves at a low price, ib. Of their being plucked from off their own land, 91. Of their being dispersed into all nations, 92. Of their still subsisting as a distinct people, ib. Of their finding no rest, 93. Of their -being oppressed and spoiled, ib. Of their children taken from them. 94. Of their madness and desperation, ib. Of their serving other gods, ib. Of their becoming a proverb, and a by-word, 95. Of the long continuance of their plagues, 96. Conclusion, ib. DISSERTATION VIII. PROPHECIES OP OTHER PROPHETS CONCERNING THE JEWS. Other prophecies relative to the present state of the Jews, 96. I. The prophecies concerning the restoration of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the dissolution of the ten tribes, 97 — 103. The restoration of the two tribes foretold to be after 70 years, 97. Fulfilled at three periods, ib. The ten tribes to cease from being a people within 65 years, 93. The prophecy how ful filled, ib. What is become of them since, and where are they at present, 99. Vain con jectures of the Jews thereupon, 99 — 101. Not all returned with the two tribes, 101. Not all swallowed up and lost among the heathen nations, ib. Whether they remained, or whether they returned, they ceased from being a distinct people, and were all comprehended under the name of Jews, 101 — 103. The reason of this distinction between the two tribes and the ten tribes, 102. II. The preservation of the Jews, and the destruction of their enemies, 108 — 105. The preservation of the Jews one of the most illustrious acts of divine providence, 103. Nor less the providence of God in the destruction of their enemieB, 104. Not only nations but single persons, ib. III. The desolation of Judea another memorable instance of the truth of pro phecy, 105 — 109. Foretold by the prophets, 105. The present state of Judea answerable to the prophecies, 106. No objection from hence to its having heen a land flowing with .milk and honey, ib. The ancients, Heathens as well as Jews, testify it to have been a good land, ib. Mr. Maundrell's account of its present state, 107. Dr. Shaw's, 103. IV. The prophecies of the infidelity and reprobation of the Jews, how fulfilled, 109. V. Of the calling and obedience of the Gentiles, 111. This revolution effected by incompetent persons, and in a short time, 112. The prophecies concerning the Jews and Gentiles have not yet received their entire com. pletion, 113. What hath been accomplished a sufficient pledge of what is to come, ib. Con clusion, dissuading all persecution, and recommending humanity and charity to the Jews, 114, DISSERTATION IX. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING NINEVEH. Some prophecies relating to other nations which had connexions with the Jews, 116. Want of ardent eastern historians to clear up the prophecies, ib. The Assyrians terrible enemies to both Israel and Judah, ib. Isaiah's prophecy against the Assyrians, 117. Nineveh, the capital CONTENTS. ft of the Assyrian empire, a most ancient city, 118. An exceeding great city likewise, and the Scripture account confirmed by heathen authors, 114, 120. Like other great cltios very cor rupt, but king and people repented, at the preaching of Jonah, 120. Some inquiry who this king was, and at what time Jonah prophesied, ib. Their repeutance of short continuance., for Nahum not long after foretold the destruction of the city, 121. Some inquiry when Nahum prophesied, 121, 122. Nineveh accordingly deatr >yed by the Medes and Babylonians, 122. Some inquiry by whom particularly, ib. Nahum's prophecies of the manner of its destruction exactly fulfilled according to the accounts of Diode rus Siculus, 123 — 123. Nahum and Ze phaniah foretold its total destruction contrary to all probability, 123. These predictions fulfilled according to the accounts of the ancients, 126. According to the accounts of the moderns, 127. Conclusion, 123. DISSERTATION X. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING BABYLON. Babylon aa well as Nineveh an enemy to the people of God, 12y. A very great and very ancient city, ib. Considerably improved by Nebuchadnezzar, 130. One of the wonders of the world, ib. Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold its destruction, ib. Prophecies of Cyrus the conqueror of Babylon, fulfilled, 131. The time of the reduction of Babylon foretold, 132 Several circum stances of the siege foretold, ib. Besieged by the Medes and Elamites or Persians', ib. Ar menians and other nations united against it, 133. The Babylonians hide themselves within. their walls, ib. The river dried up, ib. The city taken during a feast, 134. The facts related by Herodotus and Xenophon, and therefore no room for skepticism, 135. The prophets fore told its total desolation, ib. These prophecies to be fulfilled by degrees, 136. Its state under Cyrus, ib. Under Darius, 137. Unde- Xerxes, 138. Under Alexander and afterward, ib. The accounts of it since that time, by D.odorus, 139. Strabo, ib. Pliny, 140. Pausanias, ib. Maximus Tyrius, and Lucian, ib. Jerome, ib. Accounts of later authors, of Benjamin of Tudela, 141. Texeira, ib, Rauwolf, ib. Peter de la Valle, 142. Tavernier, ib. Mr. Sal mon, ib. Mr Hanway, 143. By these accounts it appears how punctually the prophecies have been fulfilled, ib. Conclusion ; such prophecies a convincing argument of the divinity of the Scriptures, and likewise instances of fine writing, and of the spirit of liberty, 144. DISSERTATION XI. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING TYRE. Tyre, another enemy to the Jews, its fall predicted by Isaiah and Ezekiel, 145. The prophecies relate to both old and new Tyre, 145, 146. A very ancient city, 146. The daughter of Sidon, but in time excelled the mother, and became a mart of nations, 147. In this flourishing con dition, when the prophets foretold her destruction, for her pride, and wickedness, and cruelty to the Jews, 148. Several particulars included in the prophecies, 149. I. The city to be taken and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, luO. II. The inhabitants to pa^s over the Mediterranean, but to find no rest, 151. III. The city to be restored after 70 years, 153. IV. To be taken and destroyed again, 154. V. The people to forsake idolatry, anil become converts to the true religion, 156. VI. The city at last to be totally destroyed, and become a place for fishers to spread their nets upon, 158. These prophecies to be fulfilled by degrees, ib. A short account of the place from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to the present, 153—160 Huetius's account of it, 159. Dr. Shaw's, 159, 160. Mr. Maundrell's, ib. Conclusion with some reflections upon trade, 161. DISSERTATION XIL THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING EGYPT. Egypt famous for its antiquity, 162. No less celebrated for its wisdom, ib. The parent of su perstition as well as the mistress of learning, 163. Had such connexions with the Jews, that it is made the subject of several prophecies, ib. The phrase of the burden of Egypt, considered and explained, ib. I. Its conquest by Nebuchadnezzar foretold by Jeremiah and Ezekiel 164. How fulfilled, 165. II. Its conquest by the Persians foretold by Isaiah, and how fulfilled' 1S7* III. Its conquest by Alexander foretold by Isaiah, and at the same time the spreading of the' true religion in the land, 169. How fulfilled, 171. IV. The prophecy of Ezekiel that it should be a base tributary kmgdom, 173. The truth of it shown by a short deduction of the history of Egypt from that time to this, 174—180. Its state under the Babylonians, 174. Under the Per sians, 175. Under the Macedonians, 176. Under the Romans, 177. Under the Saracens with the burning of the Alexandrian library, ib. Under the Mamalucs, 179. Under the Turks' ISO. No one could have foretold this upon human conjecture ib. Conclusion with some re flections upon the character of the Egyptians as drawn 'by ancient and modern authors, 131. DISSERTATION XIIL Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great empires. Some prophecies relating to more remote nations, 182. The genuineness of Daniel's prophecies denied by Porphyry, and Collins, but sufficiently vindicated, ib. The credit of Daniel as a prophet established by prophecies fulfilling nt this time, 183. Daniel's first prophecy his in terpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, with the occasion of it, 183 185. A great human figure not an improper emblem ofhuman power, and the various parts and metals signify vari ous kingdoms, 133. I. The head of fine gold, or the Babylonian empire, 136. The extent of it shown from heathen authors, ib. II. The breast and arms of silver, or the Medo-Persian empire, 137. Why said to be inferior, and how long it lasted, ib. III. The belly and thighs of brass, or the Macedonian empire, 188. Why said to bear rule over all the earth ib. ° The kingdom of Alexander and of his successors not two different kingdoms, ib. Spoken of as one and the same by ancient authors, 139. IV. The legs of iron, and feet part of iron and part of clay or the fourth empire, 190. Farther proofs that the kingdoms of the Seleucid.e and LagidtB cannot be the fourth kingdom, ib. This description applicable only to the Rom in emPirei 191. So St. Jerome explains it, and all ancient writers, both Jewish and Christian 192. V. The stone that brake the image, or the fifth empire, ib. Cannot be the Roman 193 Can be understood only of the kingdom of Christ, ib. Represented in two states, as a stone* ana as a mountain, 194. This interpretation confirmed by ancient writers, bo:h Jews and A iv CONTENTS. Christians, and particularly hy Jonathan Ben Uzziel, who made the Chaldee paraphrase upon the prophets, ib. 195. The sense of Josephus with Bishop Chandler's reflections upon it, 195. The ancient Christians give the same interpretation, 196. St. Chrysostome's comment, ib. The exposition of Sulpicius Severus, 198. Conclusion, 199. Hence we are enabled to account for Nebuchadnezzar's prophecy, and the Delphic oracle, ib. Hence the distinction of four great empires, and why only these four predicted, 200. DISSERTATION XIV. Daniel's vision of the same. What was exhibited to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, was represented to Daniel in the shape of great wild beasts, and why, 201. I. The Babylonian empire why compared to a lion, 232. Why with eagle's wings, ib. Why with a man's heart, ib. II. The Persian em pire, why compared to a bear, 203. How raised up itself on one side, and had three ribs in the mouth, ib. Its cruelty, ib. III. The Macedonian empire, why compared to a leopard, 204. Why with four wings and four heads, and dominion given to it, 205. IV. The Roman empire compared to a terrible beast without a name, ib. The kingdoms of the Seleucida and Lagidee can in no respect answer to this description, 206. The Roman empire answers exactly, ib. A memorable quotation to this purpose from Dionysius of Halicarnasans, 207. This beast had ten horns or kingdoms, and the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria were never so divided, 208. The notions of Porphyry, Grotius, and Collins, refuted, ib. 209. The ten kingdoms to be sought amid the broken pieces of the Roman empire, 209. The ten kingdoms according to Machiavel, ib. According to Mr. Mede, ib. According to Bishop Lloyd, 210. According to Sir Isaac Newton, ib. The same number since, ib. How they stood in the eighth century, ib. A little horn to rise up among the ten, 211. The notion of Grotius and Collins, that Antiochus Epiphanes was the little horn, refuted, ib. An inquiry proposed into the sense of the ancients, 212. The opinion of Irenzeus, ib. Of St, Cyril of Jerusalem, ib. Of St. Jerome with Theo- doret and St. Austin, 213. The fathers had some mistaken notions concerning Antichrist, and how it came to pass they had such, 214. The little horn to be sought among the ten kingdoms of the western Roman empire, 215. Machiavel himself points out a little horn springing up among the ten, 216. Three of the first horns to fall before him, ib. The three according to Mr. Mede, ib. According to Sir Isaac Newton, 217. Something to be approved, and some thing to be disapproved in both their plans, ib. The first of the three horns, the exarchate of Ravenna, 213. The second, the kingdom of the Lombards, ib. The third, the state of Rome, 219. The character answers in all other respects, 220. How long Antichrist to continue, 221. V. All these kingdoms to be succeeded by the kingdom of the Messiah, 222. This and the former prophecy compared together, 223. They extend from the reign of the Babylonians to the consummation of all things, 225. Will cast light upon the subsequent prophecies, and the subsequent prophecies reflect light upon them again, ib. Conclusion, ib. INTRODUCTION TO THE LECTURE FOUNDED BY THE HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE. How and by whom the author was appointed to preach the Boyle's lecture, 225. Previous to the farther explanation of Daniel, a vindication is proposed of the genuineness of his prophecies against the principal objections of unbelievers, 226. Collins's eleven objections particularly considered and refuted, 227, &c. His first objection, relating to the age of Daniel, refuted, ib. His second objection, relating to the mistake of the king's names, .and to Nebuchadnezzar's madness, refuted, ib. His third objection, relating to Greek words found in Daniel, refuted, 228. His fourth objection, relating to the version of the Seventy, refuted, ib. His fifth objec tion, drawn from the clearness of Daniel's prophecies to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, refuted, 229. His sixth objection, drawn from the omission of Daniel in the book of Ecclesias- ticus, refuted, ib. His seventh objection, relating to Jonathan's making no Targum on Daniel, refuted, 230. His eighth objection, drawn from the style of Daniel's Chaldee, refuted, ib. His ninth objection, drawn from the forgeries of the Jews, refuted, ib. His tenth objection, drawn from Daniel's uncommon punctuality in fixing the times, refuted, 231. His eleventh objection, relating to Daniel's setting forth facts very imperfectly and contrary to other histories, and to his dark and emblematic style, refuted, ib. The external and internal evidence for the genuineness of the book of Duniel, 232. The division of the remainder of this work, agreeable to the design of the honourable founder, 233. From the instance of this excellent person, and some others, it is shown that philosophy and religion may well consist and agree together, ib. DISSERTATION XV. Daniel's vision of the ram and he-goat. The former part of the book of Daniel written in Chaldee, the rest in Hebrew, 234. The time and place of the vision, ib. Like visions have occurred to others. 235. The ram with two horns represents the empire of the Medes and Persians, 236. Why with two horns and one higher than the other, ib. Why this empire likened to a ram, 237; The conquests of the ram, and the great extent of the Persian empire, ib. The he-goat represents the Grecian or Ma cedonian empire, 239. Why this empire likened to a goat, ib. The swiftness of the he-goat, and the notable horn between his eyes, what signified thereby, ib. An account of the conquests of the goat, and of the Grecians overthrowing the Persian empire, 239. These prophecies shown to Alexander the Great, and upon what occasion, 241. The truth of the story vindi cated, ib. Answer to the objection of its being inconsistent with chronology, 243. Answer to the objection taken from the silence of other authors, besides Josephus, 244. Other circumstances which confirm the truth of this relation, 245. How four horns succeeded to the great horn ; or how the empire of the goat was divided into four kingdoms, 246. The little horn commonly understood of Antiochus Epiphanes, but capable of -another and better application, 247. A horn doth not signify a single king, but a kingdom, and here the Homan empire rather than Antiochus Epiphanes, 246. The particular properties and actions of the little horn agree better with the Romans, as well as the general character, ib. Reason of the appellation of the CONTENTS. v little horn, 249. The time too agrees better with the Romans, ib. The character of a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, more applicable to the Romans than to Antiochus, ib. 2fc0. Other actions likewise of the little horn accord better with the Roman!?, 252. Waving exceeding great, ib. Toward the south, ib. Toward the east, ib. And toward the pleasant land, 2.33. The property of his power being miehty, but not by his own power, can nowhere be so properly applied as to the Romans, ib. All the particulars of the persecu tion and oppression of the people of God more exactly fulfilled by the Romans than by Aiiiiu- chus, 254. It deserves to be considered, whether this part of the prophecy be not a sketch of the fate and sufferings of the Christian, as well as of the Jewish church, 255. Farther n-unon of the appellation of the little horn, 2o6. The little horn to come to a remarkable end, which will be lulfilled in a more extraordinary manner in the Romans, than it whs even in Antio chus, ib. It will farther appear that the application is more proper to the Romans, by consider ing the time allotted for the duration and continuance of the vision, 257. The 2300 days cr years can by no computation be accommodated to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes. 2W8. How they are to be computed, ib. Daniel's concern and affliction for his country, and this a. farther argument that not the calamities under Antiochus, but those brought upon the nation by the Romans, were the subject of this prophecy, 260. From this and other examples il may le inferred, that the Scriptures will never abate, but rather encourage our love for our country, -til. DISSERTATION XVI. DANIEL'S PROPHECY OF THE THINGS NOTED hf THE SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH. IN TWO PARTS. — PART I. This latter prophecy a comment upon the former, 262. Imparted to Daniel after fasting nnd prayer, ib. A prophecy for many days or years, ib. Of the Persian empire, 263. The three first kings of Persia after Cyrus, ib. The fourth far richer than all, ib. His stirring up all against the realm of Grecia, ib. Why no more kings of Persia mentioned, 2G4. A short sketch of Alexander's great dominion, ib. His family soon extinct, and his kingdem divided into four kingdoms, 265. Of these four, two only have a place in this prophecy, Egypt nnd Syria, and why, 2ti6. Why called the kings of the south and the north, ib. Ptolemy king of the south or Egypt, very strong, but Seleucus king of the north or Syria, strong above him, ib The transactions between Ptolemy Philadelphia of Egypt, and Antiochus Theus of Syria, 267 Ptolemy Euergetes of Egypt revenges the wrong of his family upon Seleucus CalJinicus o. Syria, 26;). The short and inglorious reign of Seleucus Ceraunus of Syria, 270. Succeeded by his brother Antiochus the Great, who gained great advantages over the king of Egypt, 271. But Ptolemy Philopator obtains a signal victory over Antiochus at Raphia, ib. His vicious and shameful conduct afterward, and cruelty to the Jews, 272. Antiochus prepares again to in vade Egypt in the minority of Ptolemy Epiphanes, 273. Philip king ol'Macedon and the Jews associate with him, 275. His success against the king of Egypt, 276. His favour to the Jews, 277. His scheme to seize upon the kingdom of Egypt frustrated, 273.. His unhappy war with the Romans, 279. The latter end of his life and reign inglorious, 230. The mean reign of his son and successor Seleucus Philopator, 281. Antiochus Epiphanes, the brother of Seleucus, obtains the kingdom by flatteries, 232. His freaks and extravagances, ib. His suocesses against his competitors, and removal of the high priests of the Jews, 283. His liberality and profusion, 284. The claims of Ptolemy PhiJornetor king of Egypt upon him, and his prepara tions against Egypt, ib. He invades and makes himself master of all Egypt except Alex andria, chiefly by the treachery of Ptolemy Philometor's own ministers and subjects, 286. Ptolemy PhiJornetor and Antiochus Epiphanes speak lies at one table, 287. Antiochus returns with great spoils, 283. His cruelly to the Jews, ib. He invades Egypt again, and is hindered from totally subduing it by an embassy from the Romans, 289. He returns therefore, and vents all his anger upon the Jews, 291. Abolishes the Jewish worship by the instigation of the apostate Jews, ib. Conclusion to show that this prophecy is more exact and circumttantia. than any history, ib. DISSERTATION XVIL THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. PART II. More obscurity in the remaining part of the prophecy, 293. Polluting the sanctuary, taking away the daily sacrifice, and placing the abomination of desolation, more properly applicable to the Romans than to Antiochus Epiphanes, with the reasons for passing from Antiochus to the Romans, 293 — 296. What follows more truly applicable to ihe afflicted state of the primi tive Christians after the destruction of Jerusalem than to the times of Antiochus, 296. The little help and the persecutions afterward cannot be applied to the times of the Maccabees but to the Emperor's becoming Christian, and the succeeding persecitions, 297. The Anti- christian power, the principal source of these persecutions, described, 299. How long to pros per, 301. Described here as exerted principally in the eastern empire, ib. His not regarding the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, falsely affirmed of Antiochus, but truly of tnis Antichristian power, ib. 302. His honouring Mahuzzim with precious gifts, and who they are, 303. Other instances of his regard to Mahuzzim, in glorifying their priests and ministers, 306. The remaining parts more applicable to other events than to the transactions of Antiochus, 308. After the account of the degeneracy of the church, follows a prediction of its punisnment, especially in the eastern part of it by the Saracens and Turks, 308 — 310. Judea and the neigh bouring countries to be subdued, but the Arabians to escape, not verified by Antiochus but by tho Turks, 810. The Turks could never subdue the Arabians, but on the contrary pay them an annual pension, 312. The total subjection of Egypt, together with Libya and Ethiopia, not accomplished by Antiochus, but by the Turks, ib. The rest of the prophecy yet to be fulfilled, 313. Cannot be applied to Antiochus, but belongs to the Othman empire, £14. What the tidings from the east and north, 315. What, meant by going forth to destroy and utterly to make away many, 317. What by planting, his camp between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, 318. The same things foretold by Ezekiel in his prophecy concerning Gog of the land of Magog, ib. The great tribulation and the subsequent resurrection cannot be applied to vi CONTENTS. the time of the Maccabees, ih. An inquiry into the time of these events, 319. A conjecture about the different periods of 1260 years, and 1290 years, and 1335 years, 320. Conclusion t« show the vast variety and extent of this prophecy, and from thence to prove4that Daniel was a true prophet, 322. DISSERTATION XVIII. OUR SAVIOUR'S PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. IN FOUR PARTS.— PART 1. Prophecies and miraclea continued longer in the Jewish church than in the Christian, and why, 324. No Christian prophecies recorded, but some of our Saviour and his apostles, particularly St. Paul and St. John, ib. A short summary of our Saviour's prophecies, ib. None more remarkable than those relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, which were written and publish ed several years before that event, 325. Our Saviour's tenderness and affection for his country shown in his lamenting and weeping over Jerusalem, 327. The magnificence of the temple, and particularly the prodigious size of the stones, ib. The total and utter destruction of the city and temple foretold, and both destroyed accordingly, 328. The purport of the disciples' question and the phrases of the coming of Christ and of the end of the world, shown to signify the destruction of Jerusalem, 330. The disciples ask two things : first, the time of the destruc tion of Jerusalem, and secondly, the signs of it ; our Saviour answers the last first, 331. False Christs the first sign, 332. The next signs wars and rumours of wars, 333. Nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, ib. Famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places, 334. Fearful sights and great signs from heaven, 335. These the beginning of sorrows, 338. From the calamities of the nation he passeth to those of the Christians in par ticular, ib. As cruel persecutions, ib. Apostates and traitors of their own brethren, ib. 339. False teachers and false prophets, 339. Lukewarmness and coolness among Christians, ib. But still he who shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved, 340. The gospel to be uni versally published before the destruction of Jerusalem, and was so in Britain as well as other parts, ib. Reflections upon what hath been said, 342. The first upon the surprising manner in which these prophecies have been fulfilled, ib. Another upon the sincerity and ingenuity of Christ, and the courage and constancy of his disciples, ib. A third on the sudden and amazing progress of the gospel, ib. A fourth on the signals and presages of the ruin of states, ib. DISSERTATION XIX. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. PART It. After the circumstances which passed before the siege, we are to treat with those which happened during the siege and after it, 343* The abomination of desolation standing in tha holy place, the Roman army besieging Jerusalem, ib. Then the Christians to fly into the mountains, 344 Their flight must be sudden and hasty, 345. Wo unto them that are with child and that give suck in those days, exemplified particularly in the story of a noble woman, who killed and eat her own sucking child, ib. To pray that their flight be not in the winter, neither on the sab bath-day, 346. Providentially ordered that there were such favourable opportunities of escap ing, before the city w-as closely besieged, 347. The great calamities and miseries of the Jewish nation in those days, 343. None of the Jews would have escaped destruction, had not the days been shortened for the sake of the Christian Jews, 350. A more particular caution against false Christs and false prophets about the time of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, 351. Their pretending to work miracles, ib. Their conducting their followers into the desert, or into the secret chambers, 352. But the coming of Christ will not be in this or that particular place, he will be taking vengeance of the Jews every where, 353. Some considerations upon the conduct of these false Christs and false prophets, 355, &c. It may reasonably be inferred fiom hence, that there hath been a true prophet, a true Christ, ib. The Messiah particularly expected about the time of our Saviour, ib. The Messiah to work miracles, 356. Jesus alone nath performed the miracles which the Messiah was to perform, ib. The difference between the conduct and success of these deceivers and of Jesus Christ, 357. The force of superstition and enthusiasm in their deluding such numbers, 358. All are not to be credited, who pretend to work miracles, ib. How we are to judge of miracles, 359. What we are to think of the Pagan, Ib. And what of the Popish miracles, 360. DISSERTATION XX. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. PART III The final destruction of Jerusalem foretold in very figurative language, 361 The like figures used by the ancient prophets, 362. The same figurative style in the following verses, ib. Dr Warburton's account of this figurative language, 363. The number of those who fell by the edgu of the sword, 364. An account of those who were led away captive into all nations, 355. Jerusalem trodden down of the Gentiles, 368. A deduction of the history of Jerusalem from the destruction by Titus to the present time, 857—376. Its ruined and desolate state under Ves pasian and Titus, 367. Rebuilt by Adrian, and the Jews' rebellion thereupon, and final dis persion, ib. Repaired by Constantine, ar.J adorned with many stately edifices and churches, with a farther dispersion of the Jews, 369. Julian's purpose to settle the Jews, and his attempt to rebuild the temple miraculously defeated, ib. State of Jerusalem under the succeeding em perors, 370. Taken and plundered by the Persians, 371. Surrendered to the Saiacens, ib. Passes from the Saracens to the Turks of the Selzuccian race, and from the Turks to the Egyptians, 372. Taken from the Egyptians by the Franks or Latin Christians, ib. Recovered by the Sultans of Egypt, 8i3. Comes under the dominion of the Mamalucs, 3<4. Annexed to the dominions of the TurkBof the Othman mee, in whose hands it is at present, 375. Likely to remain in subjection to the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, 376. What th* fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles, ib. CONTENTS. vii DISSERTATION XXL THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. PART V. From the signs our Saviour proceeds to treat concerning the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, 377 He affirms that it would be in the p'rescnt generation, 378. Some then living would be hold and suffer those calamities, ib. But still the exact time unknown to all creatures, ib. According to St. Mark unknown to the Son, 379. The genuineness of that text vindicated, and the sense explained, ib. SSO. The destruction of Jerusalem typical of the end of the world, 381. Reflections upon tho whole, ib. The exact completion of these prophecies a strong proof of revelation, ib. The prophecies plain and easy, taken from Moses and Daniel, but unproved and enlarged, 392. Vespasian and Titus wonderfully raised up and preserved for the completion of these prophecies, and Josephus for the illustration of their completion, ib. The great use and advantage of his history in this respect, 383. The cause of these heavy judgments on the Jews, their crucifying of Jesus, 584. Some correspondence between their crime and their punishment, ib. Application to us Christians, 385. DISSERTATION XXII. st. Paul's prophecy of the man of sin. St. Paul's and St. John's prophecies copied from Daniel with some improvements, 336. Two most memorable prophecies of St. Paul, the first of the m.nn of sin, ib. I. The sense and meaning of the passage, 336 — 383. The coming of Christ in this place, and the day of Christ, not meant of the destruction of Jerusalem, but of the end of the world, 386 — 3S9. Other memorable events to take place before, 389. What the apostacy, ib. Who the man of sin, ib. His exalting himself, 390. His sitting in the temple of God, 391. These things communicated before to the Thessalonians, ib. What hindered the revelation of the man of sin, 392. Hia destruction foretold before his other qualifications, ib. His other qualifications described, 393. II. This prophecy strangely mistaken and misapplied by some famous commentators, 393 — 402. Grotius's application of it to Caligula and Simon Magus, refuted, 393 — 395. Hammond's application of it to Simon Magus and the Gnostics, refuted, 39o. Le Clerc's application of it to the rebellious Jews and Simon the son of Gioras, refuted, 896. Whitby's application of it to the Jewish nation with their high-piiest and Sanhedrim, refuted, 393. Wetstein's applica tion of it to Titus and the Flavian family, refuted, 399. They bid fairer for the true interpre tation, who apply it to events after the destruction of Jerusalem, 400. Application of it to Mohammed, refuted, 401. Application of it to the Reformation, refuted, ib. Application to the future Antichrist of the papists, refuted, 402. III. The true application of this prophecy, ib. The apostacy charged upon the church of Rome, ib. The pope shown to be the man of sin, 403. How these things came to be mentioned in an. epistle to the Thessalonians rather than to the Romans, 405. The seeds of popery sown in the apostle's time, ib. The empire of the man of sin raised on the ruins of the Roman empire, 406. Machiavel cited to show how this was effected, ib. Miracles pretended in the church of Rome, 408. The empire of the man of ein will be totally destroyed, 409. The man of sin the same as the little horn or mighty kin^ in Daniel, ib. Generally both by ancients and moderns denominated Antichrist, 410. The an cient fathers give much the same interpretation of this whole passage, ib. Justin Martyr, Irenseus, and Tertullian in the second century, 410, 411. Origen in the third century, 411. Lactantius, Cyril, and Ambrose in the fourth century, ib. Jerome, Austin, and Chrysostome in the latter end of the fourth, or the beginning of the fifth century, 412. Whosoever affected the title of universal bishop, he was Antichrist, in the opinion of Pope Gregory the Great, 413. How the true notion of Antichrist was suppressed, and revived again with the Reformation, ib. How this doctrine afterward became unfashionable, but is now growing into repute again, 414. Conclusion ; such a prophecy at once a proof of revelation, and an antidote to popery ; the bliudness of the papists in this particular, 415. DISSERTATION XXIJL st. Paul's prophecy of the apostacy of the latter times. St. Paul rauch affected with the foresight of the great apostacy of Christians, 416. Described here more particularly, 417. I. The apostacy shown to be idolatry, ib. Some in Scripture often signifies many-, 419. The apostacy to be great and general, 420. The same in the Jewish and Christian church, ib. II. Shown more particularly to consist in the worshipping of demons, ib. Demons in the Gentile theology middle powers and mediators between the gods and men, 421. Two kinds of demons, souls of men deified, or canonized after death, and separate spirits, 422. Good and bad demons, 423. The Gentile notion of demons has sometimes place in Scripture, 424. A passage in Epiphanius, that much confirms and illustrates the foregoing exposition 425. The worship of saints and angels now the same as the worship of demons formerly, 427 The rise of this worship, 423. Too much promoted and encouraged by the fathers from Con stantine's time, and particularly by Theodoret, ib. The conformity between the Pagan ana Popish worship, 430. III. The worship of the dead to take place in the latter times, 431. What these latter times are, ib. IV. The worship of demons foretold expressly by the Spirit in Daniel, 432. V. Propagated and established through the hypocrisy of liars, 433. VI. For bidding to marry, a farther character of these men, 434. Who first recommended the profes sion of single life,, 435. The same persons, who prohibited marriage, promoted the worship of the dead, ib. VII. The last note of these men, commanding to abstain from meats, 437. The same persons, who propagated the worship of the dead, impose also abstinence from meats, ib. This abstinence perverting the purpose of nature, 438. All creatures to be received with thanksgiving, ib. DISSERTATION XXIV. AN ANALYSIS OF THE REVELATION. IN TWO PARTS. — PART I. Very useful to trace tne rise and progress of religions and governments, 439. None mors wonderful than that of Rome, in its success and prevalence, ib. This signified beforehand by via CONTENTS. the Spirit of prophecy, and particularly in the Revelation, ib. The objections made to this book by several learned men, 440. This book difficult to explain, ib. A memorable siory to this purpose, of Bishop Lloyd of Worcester, ib. This book not therefore to be despised or neglected, 441. The right method of interpreting it, ib. What helps and assistances are requi site, 442. Hard fate of the best interpreters of this book, ib. Great encouragement, however, in the divine benediction, ib. — Chap. I. ver. 1 — 3 : contain the title of the book, the scope and design of it, and the blessing on him that readeth, and on them that attend to it, ib. Ver. 4—3 : the dedication to the seven churches of Asia, and a solemn preface to show the great authority ol ¦ the divine revealer, 443. Ver. 9—20 : the place, the time, and manner of the first vision, ib. The Elace, Patmos, whither St. John was banished in the reign of Nero more probably than that of omitian, 444. The arguments for this opinion, 444 — 447. The Revelation given on the Lord's day, 447. The manner and circumstances of the first vision, ib. — Chap. II. III. contain the seven epistles to the seven churches of Asia, 447 — 4-56. Why these seven addressed par ticularly, 450. These epistles not prophetical, but peculiar to the church of that age, 451. The excellent form and structure of the^e epistles, ib. In what sense they may be said to be pro phetical, 452. Present state of the seven churches, 452 — 456. Of Ephesus, 452. Of Smyrna, iu. Of Pergamos, 453. Of Thyatira, ib. Of Sardis, 454. Of Philadelphia, 455. Of Laodicea, ib. Use that we are to make of these judgments, 456. — Chap. IV. the preparatory vision to things which must be hereafter, 457. The scenery drawn in allusion to the encampment of the children of Israel in the wilderness, and to the tabernacle or temple, 457. — Chap. V. a con tinuation of the preparatory vision, in order to show the great importance of the prophecies here delivered, 453. Future events supposed to be written in a book, 459. This book sealed with j seven seals, signifying so many periods of prophecy, ib. The Son of God alone qualified to open the seals, 460. Whereupon all creatures sing praises to God and to Christ, ib.— Chap. VI. ver. 1, 2: contain the first seal or period, memorable for conquest, ib. This period com mences with Vespasian, includes the conquest of Judea, and continues during the reigns of the Flavian family and the short reign of Nerva, ib. Ver. 3, 4: the second seal or period noted j for war and slaughter, 461. Tins period commences with Trajan, 462. Comprehends the horrid wars and slaughters of the Jews and Romans in the reigns of Trajan and Adrian, ib. Continues during the reigns of Trajan and his successors by blood or adoption, 463. Ver. o,G: Ithe third seal or period, characterized by the strict execution of justice, and by the procuration of corn and oil and wine, ib. This period commences with Septimius Severus, 464. He and Alexander Severus just and severe emperors, and no less celebrated for procuring corn and oil, &c, ib. This period continues during the reigns of the Septimian family, 465. Ver. 7, 8 : the fourth seal or period, distinguished by a concurrence of evils, war, and famine, and pestilence, i and wild beasts, ib. This period commences with Maximin, ib. The wars of this period, 466. The famines, ib. The pestilences, ib. 467. The wild beasts, 467. This period from Maximin to Diocletian, ib. Ver. 9—11 : the fifth seal or period, remarkable for a dreadful persecution of I the Christians, 463. This the tenth and last general persecution, begun by Diocletian, ib. j From hence a memorable era, called the era of Diocletian, or era of martyrs, 469. Ver. 12 — 17 : J the sixth seal or period remarkable for great changes and revolutions, expressed by great com- ,} motions in the earth and in the heavens, ib. INo change greater than the subversion of the Heathen, and establishment of the Christian Religion, ib. The like figures of speech used by | other prophets, 46y — 113. The same thing expressed afterwards in plainer language, 471. — Chap, VII. a continuation of the sixth seal or period, ib. A description of the peace of the ( church in Constantine s time, 472. And of the great accession of converts to it, 473. Not only of Jews, but of all nations, ib. This period from the reign of Constantine the Great to the death of Theodosius the Great. 474. — Chap. VIII. ver. 1 — S : the seventh seal or period comprehends seven periods distinguished by the sounding of seven trumpets, ib. The silence of half an { hour previous to the sounding of the trumpets, 475. As the seals foretold the state of the Ro- ] man empire before and till it became Christian, so the trumpets foreshow the fate of it after- / wards, ib. The design of the trumpets to rouse the nations against the Roman empire, 476. Ver. 7 : at the sounding of the first trumpet Alaric and his Goths invade the Roman empire, twice ] oesiege Rome, and set fire to it in several places, ib. Ver. 8, 9 : at the sounding of the second trumpet Attila and his Huns waste the Roman provinces, and compel the eastern emperor j Theodosius the Second, and the western emperor, Valentinian the Third, to submit to sliamel ful terms, 477. Ver. 10, 11 : at the sounding of the third trumpet Genseric and his Vandals ! arrive from Africa, spoil and plunder Rome, and set sail again with immense wealth and innu merable captives, 473. Ver. 12: at the sounding of the fourth trumpet Odoacer and the Heruli put an end to the very name of the western empire, 479. Theodoric founds the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy, 480. Italy made a province of the eastern empire, and Rome governed by a duke under the exarch of Ravenna, ib. Ver. 13 : the three following trumpets are dis j tinguished by the name of the wo-trumpets, and the two following relate chiefly to the down- fall of the eastern empire, as the foregoing did to the downfall of the western empire ib. Chap. IX. ver. 1—12 : a prophecy of the locusts, or the Arabians under their false prophet Mo- ! hammed, 431 — 433. At the sounding of the fifth trumpet a star fallen from heaven opens the bottomless pit, and the sun and air are darkened, 431. Mohammed fitly compared to a blazin" star, and the Arabians to locusts, 432. A remarkable coincidence, that at this time the sun and \ air werereally darkened, ib. The command not to hurt any green thing, or any tree how ' fulfilled, ib. Their commission to hurt only the corrupt and idolatrous Christians, how ful filled, 483. To torment the Greek and Latin churches, but not to extirpate either, ib. Repulsed as often as they besieged Constantinople, ib. These locusts described so as to show that not real but figurative locusts were intended, ib. Likened unto horses, and the Arabians famous in ail ages for their horses and horsemanship, 484. Having on their heads as it were crowns like gold, ib. Their faces as the faces of men, and hair as the hair of womett, ib. Their teeth as the teeth of lions, their breastplates as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their win^s as the sound of chariots, 435. Like unto scorpions, ib. Their king called the destroyer ib Their hurting men five months, how to be understood, 486. Fulfilled in every possible con struction, ib. Conclusion of this wo, 487. Ver. 13 — 21: a prophecy of the Euphratean horse men, or Turks and Othmans, 437, 433. At the sounding of the sixth trumpet the four an^elsot CONTENTS. a four sultanles of the Turks and Othmans are loosed from the river Euphrates, 488. In what sense they are said to he prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay tho third part of men, 490. Their numerous armies, and especially their cavalry, 491. Their delight in scarlet, blue, and yellow, 492. The use of great guns and gunpowder among them ib. Their power to do hurt by their tails, or the poisonous train of their religion, 403. The miserable condition of the remains of the Greek church among them, ib. The Latin or western church not at all reclaimed by the ruin of the Greek or eastern church, but still persist in their idolatry and wickedness, ib. — Chap. X. a preparatory vision to the prophecies relating to the western church, 494. The angel with the little book or codicil to the larger book of tho Apocalypse, 495. This properly disposed under the sixth trumpet, to describe the state of the western church after the description of the state of the eastern, ib. Cannot be known what things were meant by the seven thunders, ib. Though the little book describes the calamities of the western church, yet it is declared that they shall all have a happy period under the seventh trumpet, ib. St. John to publish the contents of this little book as well as the larger book of the Apocalypse, 496. — Chap. XL ver. 1 — 14 : The contents of the little book, ib. The measuring of the temple to show that during all this period there were some true Christians, who conformed to the rule and measure of God's word, 497. The church to be trodden under foot by Gentiles in worship and practice forty and two months, ib. Some true witnesses how ever, to protest against the corruptions of religion, ib. Why said to be two witnesses, 498. Tu prophesy in sackcloth, as long as the grand corruption itself lasted, ib. The character of these witnesses, and of the power and effect of their preaching, ib. The passion, and death, and resurrection, and ascension of the witnesses, 499. Some apply this prophecy of the death and resurrection of the witnesses to John Huss and Jerome of Prague, whose doctrine revived alter their death in their followers, 500. Others to the Protestants of the league of Smalcalu, who were entirely routed by the emperor Charles V. in the battle of Mulburg, but upon the change of affairs the emperor was obliged by the treaty of Passau to allow them the free exercise of their religion, 501. Some again to the massacre of the Protestants in France, and to Henry III.'s afterwards granting them the free exercise of their rehgon, 501. Others again to later events, Peter Jurieu to the persecution of the Protestants by Lewis XIV., B;>hcp Lloyd and Whiston to the Duke of Savoy's persecution of the Protestants in the valleys of Piedmont, and his re-establishing them afterwards, 502. In all these cases there may be some resemblance, but none of these is the last persecution, and therefore this prophecy remains yet to be fulfilled, 503. When it shall be accomplished, the sixth trumpet and the second wo shall end, ib. An historical deduction to show that there have been some true witnesses, who have professed doctrines contrary to those of the church of Rome, from the seventh century down to the Re formation, 504, &.c. Witnesses in the eighth century, 504, 505. The emperors Leo Isauricus and Constantine Copronymus, and the council of Constantinople, 504. Charlemagne and the council of Frankfoit, 505. The British churches and Alcuin, ib. The.council of Forojulio, ib. Paulinus bishop of Aquileia, ib. Witnesses in the ninth century, 505 — 507. ' The emperors of the east, Nicephorus, Leo Armenius, 8tc. and the emperors of the west, Charles the Great, and Lewis the Pious, 505. The council of Paris, ib. Agobard archbishop of Lyons, ib. Trunsub- stantiation first advanced by Paschasius Rabbertus, and opposed by many learned men, 506. Rabanus Maurus, ib. Bertramus, ib. Johannes Scotus, 507. Angilbertus and the church of Milan, ib. Claude bishop of Turin, ib. Witnesses in the tenth century, 508—510. State of this century, 508. The council of Trosly, ib. Athelstan, ib. Elfere earl of Mercia, 509. Heriger and Alfric, ib. The council of Rheims, and Gilbert archbishop of Rheims, 510. Witnesses in the eleventh century, 510 — 512. State of this century, 610. William the Con queror, and William Rufus, ib. Heretics of Orleans, 511. Heretics in Flanders, ib. Beren- garius and his followers, ib. Ecclesiastics in Germany, &c. ib. The council of Winchester, 512. Witnesses in the twelfth century, 512 — 517. The constitutions of Clarendon, 512. Fluen- tius, ib. St. Bernard, ib. Joachim of Calabria, 513. Peter de Bruis and Henry his disciple, ib. Arnold of Brescia, ib. The Waldenses and Albigenses, 514. Their opinions, 615. Testi monies concerning this sect, 515 — 517. Of Reinerius, the inquisitor-general, 516. Of Thua- nus, ib. Of Mezeray, 517. Witnesses in the thirteenth century, oil — 520. Farther account of the Waldenses and Albigenses, 517. Almeric and his disciples, 518. William of St. Amour, ib. Robert Grosthead or Greathead, bishop of Lincoln, 619. Matthew Paris, ib. Witnesses in the fourteenth century, 519 — 522. Dante and Petrarch, 519. Peter Fitz Cassiodor, o20. Michael Cassenas and William Occam, ib. Marsilius of Padua, ib. In Germany and England the Lollards, ib. The famous John Wickliffe, ib. The Lollards' remonstrance to the parlia ment, 521. Witnesses in the fifteenth century, 522—525. The followers of Wicklirle, 5'j2. William Sawtre, ib. Thomas Badby, ib. Sir John Oldcastle, ib. In Bohemia, John Husa and Jerome of Prague, 523. Opinions of the Bohemians or Hussites, 523 — 525. Jerome Savo narola, 525. In the sixteenth century the Reformation, 526. Hence an answer to the popish question, Where was your religion before Luther ? ib. Ver. 15 — 18: a summary account o. the seventh trumpet and the third wo, the particulars will be enlarged upon hereafter, 526, 527. Conclusion of the first part, 528. DISSERTATION XXV. AN ANALYSIS OF THE REVELATION. PART II. The right division of the Revelation into two parts, 528. This latter part an enlargement and illustration of the former, 529. Ver. 19, of the eleventh chapter should have be en nade ver. 1 of the twelfth chapter, ib. — Chap. XII. ver. 1—6 : the church persecuted by the great red dragon 530—532. The chureh represented as a mother bearing children unto Christ, 530. The great red dragon the Heathen Roman empire, 531. His jealousy ot the church from the beginning, ib. But yet the church brought many children unto Christ, and in time such as were promoted to the empire, 532. Constantine particularly, who ruled all nations with a rod of iron, ib. The woman's flight into the wilderness here anticipated, cometh ui properly afterwards, ib. Ver 7 — 12: the war in heaven represents the contests between the Heathen and Christian religions, 5'J3 — 535 The Christian prevails over the Heathen religion, 533. Constantine himself and th v CONTENTS. Christians of his time describe his conquests under the same .image, 534. Still new woe? though but for a short time, threatened to the inhabiters of the earth, ib. Ver. 13 — 17: tne dragon deposed still persecutes the church, 535, 536. Attempts to restore the Pagan, and ruin the Christian religion, 535. The church now under the protection ofthe empire, ib. Her fiigh1 afterwards into the wilderness, ib. Inundations of barbarous nations excited to overwhelm the Christian religion, 536. But on the contrary the Heathen conquerors submit to the religion of the conquered Christians, ib. Another method of persecuting the church, ib.— Chap- XIIL ver. 1 — 10 : the description of the ten horned beast successor to the great red dragon, 537 — 543. All, both Papists and Protestants, agree that the beast represents the Roman empire, 537. Shown to be not Pagan but Christian, not imperial but papal Rome, ib. How successor to the great red dragon, 539. How one of his heads was as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, ib. The world, in submitting to the religion of the beast did in effect submit again to the religion ofthe dragon, 540. The beast perfectly like the little horn in Daniel, ib. A general account of his blasphemies and exploits, and how long to prevail arid prosper, 541. A particular account of his blasphemies, ib. His making war with the saints, and overcoming them, and so establishing his authority, 542. An admonition to engage attention, ib. Some thing added by wayof consolation to the church, ib. Ver. 11 — 13 : the description of the two- horned beast, 543— o50. The ten-horned beast, the Roman state in general, the two-horned beast the Roman clergy in particular, 543. His rise, and power, and authority, 543. His pre tended miracles, 544. His making an image to the beast, 545. What this image of the beast is, ib. His interdicts and excommunications, 546. The number ofthe beast explained, 543. — Chap. XIV. ver. 1 — 5 : the state of the true church in opposition to that of the beast, 5jG. Ver. 6, 7: the first principal effort towards a reformation in the public opposition of empeior and bishops to the worship of saints and images in the eighth and ninth centuries, 552. Ver. S another effort by the Waldenses and Albigenses, who pronounced the church of Rome to be the Apocalyptic Babylon, and denounced her destruction, 553. Ver. 9 — 13: the third effort by Martin Luther and his fellow -re formers, who protested against all the corruptions of the church of Rome, as destructive of salvation, 554 — 556. A solemn declaration from heaven to comfort them, 555. How the dead were blessed from henceforth, 555 — 557. Ver. 14 — 20: represent the judgments of God upon the followers and adherents of the beast under the figures, first of harvest, then of vintage, 557. These judgments yet to be fulfilled, 558.— Chap- XV. a pre paratory vision to the pouring out of the seven vials, 559 — 561. These seven last plagues be long to the seventh and last trumpet, or the third and last wo trumpet, and consequently are not yet fulfilled, 559. Seven angels appointed to pour out the seven vials, 560.— Ckap. AVI. ver. 1 : the commission to pour out the seven vials, which are so many steps of the ruin of the Roman church, as the trumpets were ofthe ruin ofthe Roman empire, 561. Rome resembles Egypt in her punishments as well as in her crimes, ib. Ver. 2 : the first vial or plague, ib. Ver. 3 — 7 : the second and third vials or phigues, 562. Ver. 3, 9 : the fourth vial or plague, 563 Ver. 10, 11 : the fifth vial or plague, ib. Ver. 12—16 : the sixth vial or plague, 563, 564. Ver 17—21 : the seventh or last vial or plague, 565. — Chap. XVII. Having seen how Rome resem bles Egypt in her plagues, we shall now see her fall compared to Babylon, 566. Ver. 1 — 6: an account premised of her state and condition, ib. &c. St. John called upon to see the con demnation and execution ofthe ^rcat whore, 567. This character more proper to modern than ancient Rome, ib. Her sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast with seven heads and ten horns, 563. Her ornaments of purple and scarlet colour, with gold and precious stones, and pearls, ib. Her enchanting cup, 569. Her inscription upon her forehead, ib. Her being drunken with the blood of the saints, 571. Ver. 7 — IS : the angel explains the mystery ofthe woman, and of the beast that carried her, ib. &c. A general account of the beast and his threefold state, 572. The seven heads are explained primarily to signify the seven mountains on which Rome is situated, 573. AHo to signify seven forms of government, ib. What the five fallen, ib. What the sixth, ib. What the seventh or eighth, 574. The ten horns explained to signify ten kings or kingdoms, 575. Their giving their power and strength unto the beast, ib. The extensive- ness of the power and dominiDn of Rome, ib. The same kings, who helped to rai-e her, to pull her down, 576. The woman explained to signify the great city, or Rome, ib.— Chap. XVIII. ver. 1 — 8 : a description of the fall and destruction of spiritual Babylon, 577. To be come the habitation of devils and foul spirits, 573. A warning to forsake her communion, ib. To be utterly burnt with fire, ib. Ver. 9--20 : the consequences of her fall, the lamentations of some, and rejoicings of others, 579. Ver. 21 — 24: her utter desolation foretold, 580— Chap. XIX. ver. 1 — 10 : the church exhorted to praise God for his judgments upon her, 531. Her smoke to rise up for ever and ever, 532. God aisc to be praised for the happy state of the re formed church in this period, ib. St John prohibited to worship the angel, 6S3. Vrr. 11 21 : the victory and triumph of Christ over the beast and the false prophet, o83 — 535. — Chap. XX. ver. 1 — 6: Satan is bound, and the famous millennium commences, oiwhe resurrection of the saints and their reign upon earth for a thousand years, 585. The millennium not yet ful filled, though the resurrection be taken figuratively, ib. But the resurrection to be under stood literally, 537. Other prophets have foretold, that there shall be such a happy peiiod as the millennium, ib. St. John only, that the martyrs shall rise to p irtake of it, and that it shall continue a thousand years, ib The Jewish and Christian church have both believed, that these thousand years will be the seventh millennaryof the world, ib. Quotations from Jewish writers t > this purpose, ib. 537. From Christian writers, St. Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Tertullian Luctantius, &c. 537 — 591. How this doctrine grew afterwards into disrepute, 592. Great cau tion required in treating of it, ib. Ver. 7 — 10: Satan to be loosed again, and to deceive the nations, Gog and Magog, ib. &c How Gog and Magog are to be understood, 593 — o9o. The final overthrow of Satan, 514. Ver. U — 15 : the general resurrection and judgment, and end ofthe world, ib— Chap. XXI. ver. 1 — 3: the new heaven, the new earth, and the new Jeru salem, 59-5. The new heaven, and the new earth to take place after the millennium, 596. Ver. !i— 27 : a more particular description ofthe new Jerusalem, 598.— Chap. XXII. ver. 1 5 :* a continuation oi the description of the new Jerusalem, 600 Ver. 6, 7 : a ratification and con^ nrmation ofthe foregoing particulars, with a blessing upon those who keep the sayings of this book, ib. Ver 3—21 : in the conclusion several particulars to confirm the divine authority of CONTENTS. xi this oook, 601. This book that sure word of prophecy mentioned by St. Peter, 602, 603. A double blessing upon those who study and observe it, 603. DISSERTATION XXVI. RECAPITULATION OF THE PROPHECIES RELATING TO POPERY. Popery being the great corruption of Christianity, there are more prophecies relating to that than to almost any other distant event, 604. It is thought proper to represent these in one view, ib. I. It is foretold that there should be such a power as that of the pope and church of Rome usurped in the Chi istian world, ib. A tyrannical, idolatrous, and Antichristian power foretold, ib. A great apostacy in the church foretold, 605. This apostacy to consist chiefly in the wor shipping of demons, angels, and departed saints, ib. The same church, that is guilty of this idolatry, to forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from meats, ib. The pope's making himself equal and even superior to God, ib. His extending his authority and jurisdiction over several countries and nations, 606. The power and riches ofthe clergy, ib. The pomp and splendour of their ceremonies and vestments, ib. Their policy, and lies, and pious frauds, ib. Their pretended visiona and miracles, 607. Their excommunication of heretics, ib. Their making war with the saints, and prevailing against them, ib. Besides these direct, other more oblique prophecies, ib. Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, the types of Rome, ib. More frequent intimations of popery in the New Testament, 608. In our Saviour's caution in giving honour to his mother, anil in rebuking St. Peter, in his institution of the last supper, ib. In hi3 reproving so particularly the vices of the Scribes and Pharisees, ib. In his prohibitions of implicit faith and obedience, of the worship of angels, of all pretences to works of merit and supererogation, of lording it over God's heritage, of the service of God in an unknown tongue, &c, 609. In St. Paul's admon ishing the Romans to beware of apostacy, 610. In St. Peter's and St. Jude's description of false teachers, ib. In St. Paul's prediction of the corruption of the last days, ib. II. Not only foretold that there should be such a power, but the place and the persons likewise are pointed out, ib. In Daniel's description of the little horn which only one person in the world can fully answer, ib. Daniel's character of the blasphemous king, which agrees better with the head of the Roman, than with the head ofthe Greek church, 611. In St. Paul's portrait ofthe man of sin, 612. In St. John's vision of the ten-horned beast, and of the woman riding upon the beast, 613. Several arguments to show that not pagan, but papal Rome was intended, ib. III. Besides the place and the persons, the time also is signified of this tyrannical power, when, and how long, 614. To arise in the latter days of the Roman empire, 615. To prevail 126C years, 616. The beginning of these 1260 years not to be dated too early, ib. To be fixed ir. the eighth century, and probably in the year 737, ib. IV. The fall and destruction of this an*;. christian power, 617. The second wo of the Othman empire must end, before the third wo can. be poured out upon the kingdom of the beast, 618. The divine judgments upon the kingdom of the beast, displayed under a variety of figures and representations, ib. Antichrist and his Beat both to be destroyed by fire, 619. About the time of the fall of the Othman empire and of the Christian Antichrist, the conversion and restoration of the Jews, 620. The proper order of these events, 621. After the destruction of Antichrist the glorious millennium commences, or the kingdom of Christ upon earth for a thousand years, 622. Best to forbear all curious in* quiries into this subject, ib. After the thousand yearsyand the general judgment, the world to be destroyed, and the new heaven and the new earth to succeed, 623. Conclusion ; the cor ruptions of popery being so particularly foretold, we have the less reason to be surprised and offended at them/ib. The gospel will finally prevail over all enemies and opposers, ib. CONCLUSION. From these instances of the truth of prophecy may be inferred the truth of revelation, 624. A summary view ofthe prophecies now fulfilling in the world, 625. A large quotation from Dr. Clarke tending to confirm and illustrate the same subject, 626 — 632. No room for any possible forgery of the prophecies, 634. The harmony, variety, and beauty of the prophetic writings, ib. Though some parts are obscure for good reasons, yet others are sufficiently clear, and the perfect completion will produce a perfect understanding of all the prophecies, ib. Human learn ing requisite to explain the prophecies, and particularly a competent knowledge of history, 635. The patrons of infidelity are only pretenders to learning and knowledge, ib. Modern infidelity worse even than that of the Jews, ib So many instances of prophecies and their completions, the strongest attestations of a divine revelation, 636. Miracles and other proofs of the truth of the Christian religion, ib. Prophecies accomplished the greatest of all miracles, 637. Conclusion, ib. B Secunda pars (histories ecclesiastics) qua? est historia ad pro- phetias, ex duobus relativis constat, prophetia ipsa et ejus adim- pletione. Quapropter tale esse debet hujus operis institutum, ut cum singulis ex Scripturis prophetiis eventuum Veritas conjun- gatur ; idque per omnes mundi aetates, turn ad confirmationem fidei, tuna ad instituendam disciplinam quandam et peritiam in interpretatione prophetiarum, quae adhuc- restant complendas. Attemen in hac re, admittenda est ilia latitudo, quae divinis vati- ciniis* propria est et familiaris ; ut adimpletiones eorum non fiant et continenter et punctualiter: refurunt enim auctoris sui naturam ; " cui unus dies tanquam mille anni, et mille anni tanquam unus dies :" Atque licet plenitudo et fastigium complementi eorum, plerumque alicui certae aetati vel etiam certo momenta destine- tur ; attamen habent interim gradus nonnullos et cc-alas comple menti, per diversas mundi aetates. Hoc opus desideran statuo, verum tale est, ut magna cum sapientia, sobiietate et reverentia tractandum sit, aut omnino dimittendum. Bacon de Augmentis Scientiarum. 1. 2, e. 11. INTRODUCTION. One of the strongest evidences for the truth of revealed religion is that series r» prophecies which is preserved in the Old and New Testament; and a greater service perhaps could not be done to Christianity than to lay together the several predictions of Scripture with their completions, to show how particularly things have been foretold, and how exactly fulfilled. A work of this kind was desired 05 the Lord Bacon in his* Advancement of Learning, and he entitleth it Tke History of Prophecy, and therein would have ' every prophecy of the Scripture be sorted with the event fulfilling the same throughout the ages of the world, both for the better confirmation of faith,' as he saith, ( and for the better illumination of the church, touching those parts of prophecies which are yet unfulfilled : allowing nevertheless that latitude which is agreeable and familiar unto divine prophe'eies, being ofthe nature ofthe Author, with whom a thousand years are but as one day, and therefore they are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have springing and g'erminant accomplishment throughout many ages, though the heighth or fulness of them may refer to some one age.' Such a work would indeed be a wonderful confirmation of our faith, it being the prerogative of God alone, or of those who are commissioned by him, certainly to foretel future events ; and the consequence is so plain and necessary, from the be lieving of prophecies to the believing of revelation, that an infidel hath no way of evading the conclusion but by denying the premises. But why should it be thought at all incredible for God upon special occasions to foretel future events? or how could a divine revelation (only supposing that there was a divine revelation) be better attested and confirmed than by prophecies ? It is certain that God hath perfect and most exact knowledge of futurity, and foresees all things to come as well as comprehends every thing past or present. It is certain too that as he knoweth them perfectly himself, so he may reveal them to others in what degrees and proportions he pleaseth ; and that he actually hath revealed them in several instances, no man can deny, every man must acknowledge, who compares the several prophecies of Scripture with the events fulfilling the same. But so many ages have passed since the spirit of prophecy hath ceased in the world, that several persons are apt to imagine, that no such thing ever existed, and that what we call predictions are only histories written, after the events had hap pened, in a prophetic style and manner : which is easily said indeed, but hath never been proved, nor is there one tolerable argument to prove it. On the con trary, there are all the proofs and authorities, which can be had in cases of this nature, that the prophets prophesied in such and such ages, and the events hap pened afterwards in such and such ages : and you have as much reason to believe these, as you have to believe any ancient matters of fact whatever ; and by the same rule that you deny these, you might as well deny the credibility of all ancient history. But such is the temper and genius of infidels ; " they understand neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm," (1 Tim. i. 7;) and so betray their own igno rance, rather than acknowledge the force of divine truth ; and assert things without the least shadow or colour of proof, rather than admit the strongest proofs of divine revelation. It betrays ignorance indeed, altogether unworthy of persons of liberal education, not to know when such and such authors flourished, and such and such remarkable events happened ; and it must be something worse than ignorance to assert things without the least shadow or colour of proof, contrary to all the marks and characters by which we judge of the truth and genuineness of ancient authors, contrary to the whole tenor of history both sacred and profane, which in this respect give wonderful light and assistance to each other : and yet these ar« * Book the 2d. in English. INTRODUCTION. the men, who would be thought to see farther and to know more than other people, and will believe nothing without evident proof and demonstration. The facts, say they, were prior to the predictions, and the prophecies were written after the histories. But what if we should be able to prove the truth of prophecy, and consequently the truth of revelation, not by an induction of particu lars long ago foretold and long ago fulfilled, the predictions whereof you may there fore suppose to have been written after the histories, but by instances of things which have confessedly many ages ago been foretold, and have in these latter ages fleen fulfilled, or are fulfilling at this very time ; so that you cannot possibly pre tend the prophecies to have been written after the events, but must acknowledge the events many ages after to correspond exactly with the predictions many ages before? This province we will now enter upon, this task we will undertake, and will not only produce instances of things foretold with the greatest clearness in ages preceding, and fulfilled with the greatest exactness in ages following, if there is any truth in history sacred or profane ; but we will also (to cut up the objection entirely by the roots,) insist chiefly upon such prophecies, as are known to have been written and published in books many ages ago, and yet are receiving their completion, in part at least, at this very day. For this is one great excellency of the evidence drawn from prophecy for the truth of religion, that it is a growing evidence ; and the more prophecies are ful filled, the more testimonies there are and confirmations of the truth and certainty of divine revelation. And in this respect we have eminently the advantage over those, who lived even in the days of Moses and the prophets, of Christ and his apostles. They were happy indeed in hearing their discourses and seeing their miracles, and doubtless " many righteous men have desired to see those things which they saw and have not seen them, and to hear those things which they heard and have not heard them," (Matt. xiii. 17 :) but yet I say we have this advantage over them, that several things which were then only foretold, are now fulfilled ; and what were to them only matters of faith, are become matters of fact and certainty to us, upon whom the latter ages ofthe world are come. God in his goodness hath afforded to every age sufficient evidence of the truth.' Miracles may be said to have been the great proofs of revelation to the first ages who saw them performed. Prophecies maybe said to be the great proofs of revelation to the last ages who see them fulfilled. All pretence too for denying the prophecies of Scripture is by these means absolutely precluded ; for how can it be pretended that the prophecies were written after the events, when it appears that the latest of these prophecies were written and published in books near 1700 years ago, and the events have, many of them, been accomplished several ages after the predictions, or perhaps are accom plishing in the world at this present time 1 You are therefore reduced to this ne cessity, that you must either renounce your senses, and deny what you read in your Bibles, together with what you may see and observe in the world : or else must acknowledge the truth of prophecy, and in consequence of that, the truth of divine revelation. Many of the principal prophecies of Scripture will by these means come under our consideration, and these may be best considered with a view to the series and order of time. The subject is curious as it is important, and will be very well worth my pains and your attention : and though it turn chiefly upon points of learning, yet I shall endeavour to render it as intelligible, and agreeable and edifying as I can to all sorts of readers. It is hoped the work will prove the more generally acceptable, as it will not consist merely of abstract speculative divinity but will be enlivened with a proper intermixture of history, and will include several ofthe most material transactions from the beginning ofthe world to this day. NEWTON ON THE PROPHECIES. I. — noah's prophecy. THE first prophecy that occurs in Scripture, is that part of the sentence pronounced upon the serpent, which is, as I may say, the first opening of Christianity, the first promise of our redemption. We read in Genesis, (iii. 15,) "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." If you understand this in the sense which is commonly put upon it by Christian interpreters, you have a remarkable prophecy and remarkably fulfilled. Taken in any other sense, it is not worthy of Moses, nor indeed of any sensible writer. The history of the antediluvian times is very short and concise, and there are only a few prophecies relating to the deluge. As Noah was a preacher of righteousness to the old world, so he was a prophet to the new, and was enabled to predict the future condition of his posterity, which is a subject that upon many accounts requires a particular discussion. It is an excellent character that is given of Noah, (Gen. v. 9,) " Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." But the best of men are not without their infirmities ; and Noah, (Gen. ix. 20, 21,) having " planted a vineyard and drank of the wine," became inebriated, not know ing perhaps the nature and strength of the liquor, or being through age incapable of bearing it : and Moses is so faithful an historian, that he records the failings and imperfections of the most venerable patriarchs, as well as their merits and vir tues. Noah in this condition lay " uncovered within his tent : and Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father," (ver. 21, 22 ;) and instead of concealing his weakness, as a good-natured man or at least a dutiful son would have done, he cruelly exposed it "to his two brethren without," (ver. 22.) " But Shem and Japheth," more compassionate to the infirmi ties of their aged father, " took a garment and went backward" 2 14 BISHOP NEWTON with such decency and respect, that " they saw not the naked ness of their father" at the same time that they covered it, (ver. 23.) When "Noah awoke from his wine," he was informed of "what his younger son had done unto him," (ver. 24.) The word in the original signifies his little son : and some 'commen tators therefore, on account of what follows, have imagined that Canaan joined with his father Ham in this mockery and insult upon Noah ; and the 'Jewish rabbins have a tradition, that Ca naan was the first who saw Noah in this posture, and then went and called his father Ham, and concurred Avith him in ridiculing and exposing the old man. But this is a very arbitrary method of interpretation ; no mention was made before of Canaan and of what he had done, but only of " Ham the father of Canaan ;" and of him therefore must the phrase of little son or youngest son be naturally and necessarily understood. In consequence of this different behaviour of his three sons, Noah as a patriarch was enlightened, and as the father of a family who is to reward or punish his children was empowered, to foretel the different fortunes of their families : for this prophecy relates not so much to themselves, as to their posterity, the people and nations descended from them. He was not prompted by wine or resentment ; for neither the one nor the other could infuse the knowledge of futurity, or inspire him with the pre science of events, which happened hundreds, nay thousands of years afterwards. But God, willing to manifest his superintend ence and government of the world, endued Noah with the spirit of prophecy, and enabled him in some measure to disclose the purposes of his providence towards the future race of mankind. At the same time it was some comfort and reward to Shem and Japheth, for their reverence and tenderness to their father, to hear of the blessing and enlargement of their posterity ; and it was some mortification and punishment to Ham, for his mockery and cruelty to his father, to hear of the malediction and servitude of some of his children, and that as he was a wicked son himself, so a wicked race should spring from him. This then was Noah's prophecy : and it was delivered, as 4raost of the ancient prophecies were delivered, in metre for the help of the memory. (Gen. ix. 25 — 27.) 1 llflp katan, parvus, minor, minimus. quam de sene ridentem. Et vero tale quid a ' Hino probabiliter colligitur eum fuisse legitur in Bereaith Rabba sect. 37, qui liber patemie iniquitatis socium.' Piscator apud scriptus fuit din ante Theodoretum.' Bo- Pol um. charli Phaleg. 1. 4, c. 87, coi. 308. 3 Vid. .Origen. in Genesim. p. 33, vol. 2. " The reader may see this point proved EJict. Benedict. ' Operose quseritur, cur at large in the very ingenious and learned Chami maledictionem in caput filii Cha- Mr. Archdeacon Lowth's poetical Prielec- naan contorserit. Respondet Theodoretug tions, (particularly Praelect. IS,) &c. a in Genes, quasst. 57, abHebraeoquodani.se work that merits the attention of all who didicisse primum Chanaan avi sui verenda study the Hebrew language, and of the animadvertisse, et patri ostentasse, tan- clergy especially. ON THE PROPHECIES. 15 " Cursed be Canaan ; A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be Jehovah the God of Shem ; And Canaan shall be their servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, And shall dwell in the tents of Shem, And Canaan shall be their servant." Canaan was the fourth son of Ham according to the order wherein they are mentioned in the ensuing chapter. And for what reason can you believe that Canaan was so particularly marked out for the curse 1 for his father Ham's transgression 1 But where would be the justice or equity to pass by Ham him self with the rest of his children, and to punish only Canaan for what Ham had committed 1 Such arbitrary proceedings are contrary to all our ideas of the divine perfections ; and we may say in this case what was said in another, (Gen. xviii. 25,) " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right V The curse was so far from being pronounced upon Canaan for his father Ham's transgression, that we do not read that it was pronounced for his own, nor was executed till several hundred years after his death. The truth is, the curse is to be understood not so pro perly of Canaan, as of his descendants to the latest generations. It is thinking meanly of the ancient prophecies of scripture, and having very imperfect, very unworthy conceptions of them, to limit their intention to particular persons. In this view the ancient prophets would be really what the Deists think them, little better than common fortune-tellers ; and their prophecies would hardly be worth remembering or recording, especially in so concise and compendious a history as that of Moses. We must, affix a larger meaning to them, and understand them not of single . persons, but of whole nations ; and thereby a nobler scene of things, and a more extensive prospect will be opened to us of the divine dispensations. The curse of servitude pro nounced upon Canaan, and so likewise the promise of blessing and enlargement made to Shem and Japheth, are by no means to be confined to their own persons, but extend to their whole race ; as afterwards the prophecies concerning Ishmael, and those concerning Esau and Jacob, and those relating to the twelve patriarchs, were not so properly verified in themselves as in their posterity, and thither we must look for their full and perfect completion. The curse therefore upon Canaan was properly a curse upon the Canaanites. God foreseeing the wickedness of this people, (which began in their father Ham, .tnd greatly increased in this branch of his family,) commissioned Noah to pronounce a curse upon them, and to devote them to the servitude and misery, which their more common vices and 16 BISHOP NEWTON iniquities would deserve. And this account was plainly written by Moses, for the encouragement of the Israelites, to support and animate them in their expedition against a people, who by their sins had forfeited the divine protection, and were destined to slavery from the days of Noah. We see the purport and meaning of the prophecy, and now let us attend to the completion of it. " Cursed be Canaan ;" and the Canaanites appear to have been an abominably wicked people. The sin and punishment of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain are too well known to be particularly specified : and for the other inhabitants of the land, which was promised to Abraham and his seed, God bore with them "till their iniquity was full," (Gen. xv. 16.) They were not only addicted to idolatry, which was then the case of the greater part of the world, but were guilty of the worst sort of idolatry ; " for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods ; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods," (Deut. xii. 31.) Their religion was bad, and their morality (if possible) was worse ; for corrupt religion and corrupt morals usually generate each other, and go hand in hand together. Read the 18th and the 20th chapters of Leviticus, and you will find that unlawful marriages and unlawful lusts, witchcraft, adultery, incest, sodomy, bestiality, and the like monstrous enormities, were frequent and common among them. And was not a curse in the nature of things, as well as in the just judgment of God, deservedly entailed upon such a people and nation as this 1 It ¦was not "for their own righteousness that the Lord brought the Israelites in to possess the land : but for the wickedness of these nations did the Lord drive them out," (Deut. ix. 4 :) and he would have driven out the Israelites in like manner for fhe very same abominations, (Levit. xviii. 24, 25, 26, 28, 29.) "De file not yourselves in any of these things ; for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you. And the land is defiled : therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations — That the land spue not you out also when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them, shall be cut off from among their people." lint the curse particularly implies servitude and subjection. " Cursed be Canaan : a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." It is very well known that the word brethren ir. Hebrew comprehends more distant relations. The descendants therefore of Canaan were to be subject to the descendants cf ON THE PROPHECIES. 17 both Shem and Japheth : and the natural consequence of vice, in communities as well as in single persons, is slavery. The same thing is repeated again and again in the two following verses, "and Canaan shall be servant to them," or their servant; so that this is as it were the burden of the prophecy. Some scritics take the phrase of servant of servants strictly and lite rally, and say that the prediction was exactly fulfilled, when the Canaanites became servants to the Israelites, who had been servants to the Egyptians. But this is refining too much ; the phrase of ^servant of servants is of the same turn and cast as holy of holies, king of kings, song of songs, and the like expressions in Scripture ; and imports that they should be the lowest and basest of servants. We cannot be certain as to the time of the delivery of this prophecy; for the history of Moses is so concise, that it hath not gratified us ¦ in this particular. If the prophecy was de livered soon after the transactions, which immediately precede in the history, (Gen. ix. 20,) Noah's "beginning to be a husband man, and planting a vineyard," it was soon after the deluge, and then Canaan was prophesied of before he was born, as it was prophesied of Esau and Jacob, (Gen. xxv. 23,) " the elder shall serve the younger," before the children "were born and had done either good or evil," as St. Paul saith, (Rom ix. 11.) If the prophecy was delivered a little before the transactions which immediately follow in the history, it was a little before Noah's death, and he was enlightened in his last moments as Jacob was, to " foretell what should befall his posterity in the latter days," (Gen. xlix. 1.) However this matter be determined, it was several centuries after the delivery of this prophecy, when the Israelites, who were descendants of Shem, under the com mand of Joshua, invaded the Canaanites, smote above thirty of their kings, took possession of their land, slew several of the inhabitants, made the Gibeonites and others servants and tribu taries; and Solomon afterwards subdued the rest. (2. Chron. viii. 7 — 9.) "As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel ; but of their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not ; them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work : but they were men of war, and chief of 6 ' Noa Chamum exsecratus praedixerat suorum libertus, senorumque servus ; spe- fore ut ejus posteri servi essent servorum : ciosis invidens ut pareret humilli^lis., atque id impletum in Chananasis, turn Velleius Patero. ii. 73. Hie vero valet cum subire coacti sunt Israelitarum jugum poatre-mus servorum. Vid. Sallust. Fragm. qui iEgyptiis diu servierant.' Bocharti Id. Velleius, ii. 83. ' Infra servos cliens.' Phaleg. 1. 1, c. 1, col. 3, i. — From some MS. notes of Mr. Wasse's in 6 ' S. Pompeius, studiis rudis, Iibertorum, the hands of Dr. Jortin. 2* C 18 BISHOP NEWTON his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen." The Greeks and Romans too, who were descendants of Japheth, not only subdued Syria and Palestine, but also pursued and con quered such of the Canaanites as were any where remaining, as for instance the Tyrians and Carthaginians, the former of whom were ruined by Alexander and the Grecians, and the latter by Scipio and the Romans. 'This fate,' says 7Mr. Mede, 'was it that made Hannibal, a child of Canaan; cry out with the amaze ment of his soul, " Agnosco fortunam Carthaginis," / acknowledge the fortune of Carthage.' And ever since the miserable remainder of this people have been slaves to a foreign yoke, first to the Saracens, who descended from Shem, and afterwards to the Turks, who descended from Japheth; and they groan under their dominion at this day. Hitherto we have explained the prophecy according to the present copies of our Bible ; but if we were to correct the text, as we should any ancient classic author in a like case, the whole perhaps might be made easier and plainer. Ham the father of Canaan is mentioned in the preceding part of the story ; and how then came the person of a sudden to be changed into Canaan ? The 8 Arabic version in these three verses hath the father of Canaan instead of Canaan. Some s copies of the Sep tuagint likewise have Ham instead of Canaan, as if Canaan was a corruption of the text. Vatablus and others1 Dy Canaan understand the father of Canaan, which was expressed twice before. And if we regard the metre, this line " Cursed be Canaan," is much shorter than the rest,3 as if something was * Medo's Works, b. 1, disc. 50, p. 284. fellow of Clare Hall in Cambridge ; who Livy, 1. 27, in fine. is admirably well skilled in the Hebrew " " Maledictus pater Canaan," &c. Arab. language and Hebrew metre, and hath given 8 "Les Septante dans quelques exem- abundant proofs of his knowledge and judg- plaires au lieu de Canaan, lisent Cham, ment in these matters in his new translation comme si le texte qui porte Canaan etoit and commentary on the song of Deborah, corrompu.' Calmet on the text. So Ains- the prayer of Habakkuk, &c. He asserts worth too. that accordins to Bishop Hare's metre, the' 1 ' duidam subaudiunt *3N pater, quod words ham abi are necessary to fill up the paulo ante bis expressum est, Maledictus verse. He proposes a farther emendation Cham pater Chananasorum.' Vatab. in lo- of the text, by the omission of one line, and cum- . . . the transposition of another, and would read 2 My suspicion hath since been confirmed the whole prophecy thus, according to tha by the reverend and learned Mr. Green, metre. And Noah said, Cursed be Ham the father of Canaan : A servant of servants shall he be to his brethren. And he said, Blessed be Jehovah the God of Shem ; For he shall dwell in the tents of Shem. God shall enlarge Japheth ; And Canaan shall be their servant. If you will not allow this emendation to be to every part its just weight and proportion right and certain, yet I think you must allow Or the whole may, with only a transposition.' it to be probable and ingenious, to render and without any omission, be represented the sense clearer and plainer, and to give thus ' ON THE PROPHECIES. 19 deficient. May we not suppose therefore, (without taking such liberties as Father Houbigant hath with the Hebrew text,) that the copyist by mistake wrote only Canaan instead of Ham the father of Canaan, and that the whole passage was originally thus 1 And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. — And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Ham the father of Canaan ; a servant of ser vants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem ; and Ham the father of Canaan shall be ser vant to them. God shall enlarge Japheth ; and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Ham the father of Canaan shall be servant to them. By this reading all the three sons of Noah are included in the prophecy, whereas otherwise Ham, who was the offender, is excluded, or is only punished in one of his children. Ham is characterized as the father of Canaan particularly, for the greater encouragement of the Israelites, who were going to invade the land of Canaan : and when it is said, Cursed be Ham the father of Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be unto Ms brethren ; it is implied that his whole race was devoted to servi tude, but particularly the Canaanites. Not that this was to take effect immediately, but was to he fulfilled in prooess of time, when they should forfeit their liberties by their wickedness. Ham at first subdued some of the posterity of Shem, as Canaan sometimes conquered Japheth ; the e meant either that God or that Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; " in the tents of Shem," saith he, speaking according to the simplicity of those times, when men dwelt in tents and not in houses. They who prefer the former construction, seem to have the authority of the original text on their side ; for e ' lis omnino assentior, qui per hrac minorem, et Mediam, et Armenise partem, et verba volunt Japhetho promitti, fore ut in Iberiam, et Albaniam, et vast.issimas illas terra divisione amplissimam illi portionem regiones ad Boream, quas olim Scythse, habitaltdam Deus assignet. Quod Deum hodie Tariari obtinent. Ut de novo orb© flhunde prrestitisse statim agnoscet quisquis, taceam, in quern per frelum Anianis migrasse praeter Europam quanta quanta est, ad Ja- Scythas vero non est absimile.' Bocharti phethi portionem pertinere cogitabit, Asiam Phaleg. 1.3, c. I. col. 149. 22 BISHOP NEWTON there is no other noun to govern the verbs in the period, but God ; there is no pronoun in the Hebrew, answering to the he which is inserted in our English translation: and the whole sentence would run thus, God ivill enlarge Japheth, and will dwell in the tents of Shem : and the Chaldee of 7 Onkelos also thus paraphraseth it, ' and will make his glory to dwell in the tabernacles of Shem.' They who prefer the latter construction, seem to have done it, that they might refer this 27th verse wholly to Japheth, as they refer the 26th wholly to Shem : but the other appears to me the more natural and easy construc tion. Taken in either sense, the prophecy hath been most punctually fulfilled. In the former sense it was fulfilled lite rally, when the Shechinah or divine presence rested on the ark, and dwelt in the tabernacle and temple of the Jews ; and when " the word who was with God and was God," (John i. 1,) ia^ rwev, pitched his tent, "and dwelt among us," (ver. 14.) In the latter sense it was fulfilled first, when the Greeks and Ro mans, who sprung originally from Japheth, subdued and pos sessed Judea and other countries of Asia belonging to Shem ; and again spiritually, when they were proselyted to the true religion, and they who were not Israelites by birth, became Israelites by faith, and lived, as we and many others of Japheth's posterity do at this day, within the pale of the church of Christ. What think you now ? Is not this a most extraordinary pro phecy ; a prophecy that was delivered near four thousand years ago, and yet hath been fulfilling through the several periods of time to this day ! It is both wonderful and instructive. It is the history of the world as it were in epitome. And hence we are enabled to correct a mistake of one author, and expose the petulance of another. 1. The first is the learned and excellent Mr. Mede, an author always to be read with improvement, and to be corrected with reverence : but yet I conceive that he hath earned matters too far in ascribing more to this prophecy than really belongs to it. For discoursing of the dispersions and habitations of the sons of Noah, he saith8 that ' there hath never yet been a son of Ham, who hath shaken a sceptre over the head of Japheth : Shem hath subdued Japheth, and Japheth hath subdued Shem, but Ham never subdued either :' and this passage hath been cited by several 9 commentators to illustrate this prophecy. But this worthy person surely did not recollect, that Nimrod, the first monarch in the world, (Gen. x. 8,) was the son of Cush, who was the son of Ham, (ver. 6.) Misraim was another son of Ham ; he was the father of the Egyptians, and the Egyptians ' 'Et habitare faciet gloriam suam in e See Mode's Works, b. 1, disc. 49 and tabernaculis Sem.' 50, p. 283, edit. 1672. 9 Patrick, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 23 detained the Israelites in bondage several years. Shishak king of Egypt subdued Rehoboam king of Judah, (1 Kings, xiv. 25.) Sesostris king of Egypt (the same probably as Shishak) con quered great part of Europe and of Asia, if there is any faith in aucient history. The Carthaginians too, who descended from the Canaanites, as we noted before, gained several victories over the Romans in Spain and Italy. It was a mistake there fore to say that Ham never subdued Shem or Japheth. It is enough if he hath generally and for much the greatest part of time been a servant to them, as he really hath been for two or three thousand years, and continues at present. This suffi ciently verifies the prediction ; and we should exceed the limits of truth, if we should extend it farther. We might also as well say (as some have said) that the complexion of the blacks was in consequence of Noah's curse. But though Ham hath in some instances and upon some occasions been superior, yet this is memorable enough, that of the four famous monarchies of the world, the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman, the two for mer were of the descendants of Shem, as the two latter were of the sons of Japheth. 2. The other is the famous author of the Letters on the Study and Use of History, who hath strangely abused his talents in abusing this prophecy. For the true meaning and exact com pletion of it rightly considered, what room is there for ridicule 1 and how absurd and impertinent as well as gross and indecent are his reflections'? 'The curse,' says he,1 'pronounced in it contradicts all our notions of order and of justice. One is tempted to think, that the patriarch was still drunk ; and that no man in his senses could hold such language, or pass such a sentence.' But such will be the case when men of more parts than judgment talk and write about things which they do not sufficiently understand ; and especially in matters of religion, whereof they are by no means competent judges, having either never studied them at all, or studied them superficially and with prejudice. All that he hath written relating to these subjects betrays great weakness in a man of his capacity, weakness great as his malice ; and we might have an easy victory over asser tions without proofs, premises without conclusions, and conclu sions without premises. But I love not controversy, and will only make two or three reflections just to give a specimen of the boasted learning and abilities of this writer. His lordship seemeth to take a particular pleasure in railing at pedants, at the same time that he is himself one of the most pedantic of writers, if it be pedantry to make a vain os tentation of learning, and to quote authors without either read ing or understanding them, or even knowing so much as 'vho 1 Lord Bolingbroke's Works, vol. 2, Letter the 3d, p. 314, edit, quarto. 24 BISHOP NEWTON and what they are. ' The Codex Alexandrinus,' 2 saith he, ' we owe to George the monk.' We are indebted indeed to George the monk, more usually called Syncellus, for what is entitled Vetus Chronicon, or an old chronicle. But the Codex Alexan drinus is quite another thing ; it is, as all the learned know, the famous Greek MS. of the Old and New Testament, brought originally from Alexandria, and presented to Charles I. and now remaining in the King's library, of which it doth not appear that George the monk knew any thing, and it is evident that his lordship knew nothing. If he meant to say the Chronicon Alex- cndrinum, that is still another thing, and, the work of another author. His lordship is of opinion,8 that 'Virgil in those famous verses, Excudent alii, &c. might have justly ascribed to his countrymen the praise of writing history better than the Gre cians.' But which are the Roman histories, that are to be pre ferred to the Grecian 1 Why, ' the remains, the precious re mains,' says his lordship, ' of Sallust, of Livy, and of Tacitus.' But it happened that " Virgil died before Livy had written his history, and before Tacitus was bom. And is not this an excel lent chronologer now to correct all ancient history and chrono logy, sacred and profane 1 His lordship is likewise pleased to say, ^hat ' Don Quixote believed, but even Sancho doubted :' and it may be asserted on the other side, that Sir Isaac Newton believed the prophecies, though his lordship did not, the principal reason of which may be found perhaps in the different hfe and morals of The one and the other. Nay the wisest politicians and historians have been believers, as well as the greatest philosophers. Raleigh and Clarendon believed; Bacon and Locke beheved; and where then is the discredit to revelation, if Lord Bolingbroke was an in fidel 1 "A scorner,"as Solomon saith, (Prov. xiv. 6,) "seeketh wisdom and findeth it not." But there cannot be a stronger condemnation of his lord ship's conduct than his own words upon another occasion, in his famous Dissertation upon Parties. ' Some men there are, the pests of society I think them, who pretend a great regard to religion in general, but who take every opportunity of de claiming publicly against that system of religion, or at least against that church-establishment, which is received in Britain. Just so the men, of whom I have been speaking, affect a great regard to liberty in general ; but they dislike so much the sys tem of liberty established in Britain, that they are incessant in their endeavours to puzzle the plainest thing in the world, and 3 Letter the l=t, p. 262. lh'-i. ing to Dodwell, finished his history in 745. 1 Letter the 5th, p. 340, &c. Tacitus was consul in 850. See Fahricius, Virgil died A. U. C. 735. Livy aceo'd- s Letter the 4th, p. 130. ON THE PROPHECIES. 25 to refine and distinguish away the life and strength of our con stitution in favour of the little, present, momentary turns, which they are retained to serve. What now would be the consequence, if all these endeavours should succeed 1 I am persuaded that the great philosophers, divines, lawyers, and politicians, who exert them, have not yet prepared and agreed upon the plans of a new religion, and of new constitutions in church and state. We should find ourselves therefore without any form of religion, 01 civil government. The first set of these missionaries would take off all the restraints of religion from the governed ; and the latter set would remove, or render ineffectual, all the limitations and controls which liberty hath prescribed to those that govern, and disjoint the whole frame of our constitution. Entire dissolution of manners, confusion, anarchy, or perhaps absolute monarchy, would follow, for it is possible, nay probable, that in such a state as this, and amidst such a rout of lawless savages, men would choose this government, absurd as it is, rather than have no government at all.' It is to be lamented that such a genius should be so employed ; but the misapplication of those excellent talents with which God had entrusted him, was his reigning fault through every stage, through every scene of life. That which Lord Digby6 said of the great Lord'Strafford, may with more truth and justice be affirmed of him, that the malignity of his practices was hugely aggravated by those rare abilities of his, whereof God had given him the use, but the devil the application. II. — THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING ISHMAEL. ABRAHAM was the patriarch of greatest renown next after - the times of Noah. He was favoured with several reve lations ; and from him two very extraordinary nations descend ed, the Ishmaelites and Israelites, concerning each of whom there are some remarkable prophecies. Ishmael, though the son of the bond-woman, and not properly the child of promise, was yet distinguished by some express predictions for the comfort and satisfaction of both his parents. In the 16th chapter of Genesis, (ver. 6 — 12,) when Hagar "fled from the face of her mistress who had dealt hardly with her, the angel of the Lord found her in the wilderness, and said unto her, Return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, 6 Rushworth, vol. 4, p. 225. 6 D 26 BISHOP NEWTON and shalt call his name Ishmael, (that is, God shall hear,) bt. cause the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man ; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him ; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." In the following chapter, when Isaac was promised to Abraham, God still reserved a blessing for Ishmael, " Behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will mul tiply him exceedingly ; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation," (ver. 20.) Afterwards when Hagar and Ishmael were sent forth into the wilderness, God said unto Abraham, (Gen. xxi. 13,) "And also of the son ofthe bond-wo man will I make a nation, because he is thy seed." The same is repeated to Hagar, (ver. 18,) " I will make him a great nation." And if we are curious to trace the course of events, we shall see how exactly these particulars have been fulfilled from the earliest down to the present times. " I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude :" and again, " Behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceed ingly." These passages evince that the prophecy doth not so properly relate to Ishmael, as to his posterity, which is here fore told to be very numerous. Ishmael married an Egyptian woman, as his mother was likewise an Egyptian, (Gen. xxi. 21,) and in a few years his family was increased so, that in the 37th chapter of Genesis we read of Ishmaelites trading into Egypt. After wards his seed was multiplied exceedingly in the Hagarenes, who probably were denominated from his mother Hagar ; and in the Nabathaeans, who had their name from his son Nebaioth : and in the Itureans, who were so called from his son Jetur or Itur ; and in the Arabs, especially the Scenites, and the Saracens, who overran a great part of the world : and his descendants, the Arabs, are a very numerous people at this day. " Twelve princes shall he beget." This circumstance is Very particular, but it was punctually fulfilled ; and Moses hath given us the names of these twelve princes. (Gen. xxv. 16.) "These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles ; twelve princes according to their nations :" by which we are to understand, not that they were so many distinct sovereign princes, but only heads of clans or tribes. Strabo frequently mentions the Arabian phylarchs, as he denominates them, or rulers of tribes: and Melo, quoted by Eusebius from Alexander Polyhistor,1 a hea- » 1 'Ek uev rijs Aiymrlas ytvvrjaru vhbs i/3', earn inter se diviserint locique haminibus prin- ovsSrjds A.pa{][av&ira\\ayivTas5i£\tadaiT?iv cipes imperarint : ex quo factum sit, lit reges X^pav Kai -npwTOvs fiaaiXcvcrai r(3v ty%wptav Arabum duodecim primis illis cognomines ad o9ev ifwf Ka9' fj/xas 5u)5cKa elvai 0ufft\c'is 'Apa- nostra usque iempora nume> entur. Kuseb. {iwv bfiu)v6novs ekUvois. Ex JEgyptialiberos Prapar. Evang. 1. 9, c 19. duodecim genuisse. qui in Arabiam profecii ON THE PROPHECIES. 27 then historian, relates that ' Abraham of his Egyptian wife begat twelve sons, (he should have said one son who begat twelve sons,) who departing into Arabia divided the region between them, and were the first kings of the inhabitants ; whence even to our days the Arabians have twelve kings of the same names as the first.' And ever since the people have been governed by phylarchs, and have lived in tribes ; and still continue to do so, as 2Thevenot and other modern travellers testify. "And I will make him a great nation." ,This is repeated twice or thrice ; and it was accomplished, as soon as in the regular course of nature it could be accomplished. His seed in process of time grew into a great nation, and such they con tinued for several ages, and such they remain to this day. They might indeed emphatically be styled a great nation, when the Saracens had made those rapid and extensive conquests, and erected one of the largest empires that ever were in the world. " And he will be a wild man." In the original it is a wild ass- man, and the learned 3Bochart translates it, 'tam ferus quam onager,' as wild as a wild ass ; so that that should be eminently true of him, which in the book of Job, (xl. 12,) is affirmed of mankind in general, "Man is born like a wild ass's cdt." But what is the nature of the creature, to which Ishmael is so particularly compared] It cannot be described better than it is in the same book of Job, (xxxix. 5 — 8,) "Who hath sent out the wild ass free'! or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass 1 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing." Ishmael therefore and his posterity were to be wild, fierce, savage, ranging in the deserts, and not easily soft ened and tamed to society : and whoever hath read or known any thing of this people, knoweth this to be their true and genuine character. It is said of Ishmael, (Gen. xxi. 20,) that " he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer :" and the same is no less true of his descendants than of himself. " He dwelt in the wilderness ;" and his sons still inhabit the same wilderness, and many of them neither sow nor plant, 4 according to the best accounts ancient and modern. "And he became an archer ;" and such were the Itureans, whose 6 bows and ar rows are famous in all authors ; such were the mighty men of Kedar, in Isaiah's time, (Isa. xxi. 17;) and such the Arabs have 2 See Part 1, b. 2, c. 32. Soe likewise Harris, vol. 2, b. 2, c. 9. Harris's Voyages, vol. 2, b. 2, c. 9. 6 ' Ityrseos taxi torquentur in arcus.' 3 Hierozoic^ Pars prior. 1. 3, c. 16, c. 878. Virgil Geor. ii. 448. 'Itureis cursus fuit " Ammianus Marcellinus 1. 14, c. 4. hide sagittis.' Lucan. vii. 230. 28 BISHOP NEWTON been from the beginning, and are at this time. It was late before they admitted the use of fire-arms among them ;8 the greater part of them still are strangers to them, and still con tinue skilful archers. " His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him." The one is the natiual and almost necessary consequence of the other. Ishmael lived by prey and rapine in the wilderness ; and his posterity have all along infested Arabia and the neighbouring countries with their robberies and incur sions. They live in a state of continual war with the rest of the world, and are both robbers by land, and pirates by sea. As they have been such enemies to mankind, it is no wonder that mankind have been enemies to them again, that several attempts have been made to extirpate them ; and even now as well as formerly travellers are forced to go with arms and in caravans or large companies, and to march and keep watch and guard like a little army, to defend themseb/es from the assaults of these freebooters, who run about in troops, and rob and plun der all whom they can by any means subdue. These robberies they also 'justify 'by alleging the hard usage of their father Ishmael, who, being turned out of doors hy Abraham, had the open plains and deserts given him by God for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could find there. And on this account they think they may, with a safe conscience, indem nify themselves as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, but also on every body else ; always supposing a. sort of kindred between themselves and those they plunder. And in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of / robbed a man of such or such a thing, to say, / gained it.' "And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren ;" shall tabernacle, for many of the Arabs dwell in tents, and are therefore called Scenites. It appears that they dwelt in tents in the wilderness so long ago as in Isaiah and Jeremiah's time, (Is. xiii. 20 ; Jer. iii. 2,) and they do the same at this day. This is very extraordinary, that " his hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against him," and yet that he should be able to " dwell in the presence of all his brethren :" but extran ordinary as it was, this also hath been fulfilled both in the per son of Ishmael, and in his posterity. As for Ishmael himself, the sacred historian afterwards relates, (Gen. xxv. 17, 18,) that " the years of the life of Ishmael were an hundred and thirty and seven years, and he died in the presence of all his brethren." As for his posterity, they dwelt likewise in the presence of all their brethren, Abraham's sons by Keturah, the Moabites and c Thevenot in Harris, vol. 2, b. 2, c. 9. T Sale's Prelim. Discourse to the Koran 5 l,p. 30, 31, where he also quotes Voyage dans la Palest, p. 220, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 29 Ammonites descendants of Lot, the Israelites descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Edomites descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau. And they still subsist a distinct people, and inhabit the country of their progenitors, notwith standing the perpetual enmity between them and the rest of mankind. It may be said perhaps that the country was not worth conquering, and its barrenness was its preservation: but this is a mistake, for by all accounts, though the greater part of it be sandy and barren deserts, yet here and there are interspersed beautiful spots and fruitful valleys. One part of the country was anciently known and distinguished by the name of Arabia the happy. And now the proper Arabia is by the oriental writers generally divided into five provinces. Of these the chief is the province of Yaman, which, as a1 learned writer asserts upon good authorities, ' has been famous from all antiquity for the happiness of its climate, its fertility and riches. The deiightfulness and plenty of Yaman are owing to its moun tains ; for all that part which lies along the Red Sea, is a dry, barren desert, in some places ten or twelve leagues over, but in return bounded by those mountains, which being well water ed, enjoy an almost continual spring, and besides coffee, the peculiar produce of this country, yield great plenty and variety of fruits, and in particular excellent corn, grapes, and spices. The soil of the other provinces is much more barren than that of Yaman ; the greater part of their territories being covered with dry sands, or rising into rocks, interspersed here and there with some fruitful spots, which receive their greatest advan tages from their water and palm-trees.' But if the country was ever so 'bad, one would think it should be for the interest of the neighboring princes and states at any hazard to root out such a pestilent race of robbers : and actually it hath several times been attempted, but never accomplished. They have from first to last maintained their independency, and notwithstanding the most powerful efforts for their destruction, still dwell in the presence of all their brethren, and in the presence of all their enemies. We find that in the time of Moses, they were grown up into "twelve princes according to their nations," (Gen. xxv. 16;) "and they dwelt (saith Moses, ver. 18,) from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest towards Assyria :" but yet we do not find that they were ever subject to either of their powerful neighbours, the Egyptians or Assyrians. The conquests of Sesostris, the great king of Egypt, are much mag nified by Diodorus Siculus ; and probably he might subdue some of the western provinces of Arabia bordering upon Egypt, but he was obliged, as 'Diodorus informs us, to draw a line from Heli- ' Sale's Prelim. Disc. ibid. p. 2, 3. s Diod. Sic. 1. i. c. 57, ed. Wesseling. 3* 30 BISHOP NEWTON opolis to Pelusium, to secure Egypt from the mcursions of the Arabs. They were therefore not subjects, but enemies to the Egyptians; as they were likewise to the Assyrians, for they assisted 'Belesis and Arbaces in overturning that empire, assisted them not as fellow-rebels, but as an independent state with their auxiliary forces. The next great conquerors of the east were Cyrus and the Persians ; but neither he nor any of his successors ever reduced the whole body of the Arabs to subjection. They might conquer some of the exterior, but never reached the interior parts of the country : and Herodotus, the historian who lived nearest to those times, saith expressly, that 2 the Arabs were never reduced by the Persians to the condition of subjects, but were considered by them as friends, and opened to them a passage into Egypt, which without the assistance and permission of the Arabs would have been utterly impracticable ; and in 3 another place he saith, that while Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, and the neighboring countries were taxed, the Arabian territories continued free from paying any tribute. They were then regarded as friends, but afterwards they assisted with their forces 4Amyrta?us king of Egypt against Darius Nothus, and 5Enagoras king of Cyprus against Artaxerxes Mnemon ; so that they acted as friends or^ enemies to the Persians, just as they thought proper, and as it' suited their humour or their interest. Alexander the Great then overturned the Persian empire, and conquered Asia. The neighbouring princes sent their ambas sadors to make their submissions. The Arabs6 alone disdained to acknowledge the conqueror, and scorned to send any em bassy, or to take any notice of him. This slight provoked him to such a degree, that he meditated an expedition against them ; and the great preparations which he made for it, showed that he thought them a very formidable enemy; but death inter vened, and put an end to all that his ambition or resentment had formed against them. Thus they happily escaped the fury of his arms, and were never subdued by any of his successors. Antigonus, one of the greatest of his successors,7 made two attempts upon them, one by his general Athenseus, and the other by his own son Demetrius, but both without success ; the for mer was defeated, and the latter was glad to make peace > Diod. Sic; 1. ii. c. 24. » Ibid. § 91. tt\})v uotpvs r5s 'Apafiuv 2 'ApdBioi Se obSafjia Kar^Kovcav hi Sov\o- (ravra yap rjv arzkia) — prater Arabum par- rtufl TiipcjjtTi, aWa %£ivoi eytvovro, -xapkvres tern, (hcec enim erat immunis.) Kafjilltiff£a€Tr,Aiyvn-rov-a£K6vTOivyaptA.paSioiv, * Diodorus Siculus, 1. 13, c. 46. Prideaux oiiK av la$£haL£v Tlipaai ds AXyvnrov. Ara- Connect, p. 1, b. 6, anno 410. bes nunquam a Persia in servitutem redacti 6 Diodorus Siculus, 1. 15, c. 2. Prideaux sunt, sed hospites exstiterunt, quum Cambysi Connect, p. 1, b. 7, an. 386. aditum in jEgyptum permisissent : quibus 6 Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1076 and 1132, Edit. invitis haudqu quam fuissent ingressi Perste Amstol. 1707. Arnan. 1. 7, p. 300, Edit! .Mgyptum. Herod. 1. iii. § 88. Gronov. * Diodorus Siculus, 1. 19 c. 94." ON THE PROPHECIES. 31 with them, and leave them at their liberty. Neither would they suffer the people employed by Antigonus, to gather the bitumen on the lake Asphaltites, whereby he hoped greatly to increase his revenue. The Arabs fiercely attacked the workmen and the guards, and forced them to desist from their undertaking. So true is the assertion of 8Diodorus, that 'neither the Assyrians formerly, nor the kings of the Medes and Persians, nor yet of the Macedonians, were able to subdue them ; nay though they led many and great forces against them, yet they could not ac complish their attempts.' We find them afterwards sometimes at peace, and sometimes at Avar with the neighbouring states ; sometimes joining the Syrians, and sometimes the Egyptians ; sometimes assisting the Jews, and sometimes plundering them ; and in all respects acting like a free people, who neither feared nor courted any foreign power whatever. The Romans then invaded the east, and subdued the coun tries adjoining, but were never able to reduce Arabia into the form of a Roman province. It is too common with historians to say that such or such a country was conquered, when per haps only a part of it was so. It is thus that "Plutarch asserts that the Arabs submitted to Lucullus ; whereas the most that we can believe is, that he might subdue some particular tribes ; but he was recalled, and the command of the Roman army in Asia was given to Pompey. Pompey, though he triumphed over the three parts of the world, could not yet conquer Arabia. He ' carried his arms into the country, obtained some victories, and compelled Aretas to submit ; but other affairs soon obliged him to retire, and by retiring he lost all the advantages which he had gained. His forces were no sooner withdrawn, than the Arabs made their incursions again into the Roman provinces. iElius Gallus in the reign of Augustus2 penetrated far into the country, but a strange distemper made terrible _ havoc in his army, and after two years spent in this unfortunate expedition, he was glad to escape with the small remainder of his forces. The Emperor Trajan reduced some parts of Arabia, but he could never subdue it entirely ; and when he besieged the city of the Hagarenes, as 3Dion says, his soldiers were repelled by light- 8 Oi'0' ol 'AtrotJptoi rb TraXaibv, o#0' ol MrjSblv s 'Eyrvovro St Ppovral, Kai "piSes birctpalvav- Kal neptrwv, en Se M.aKcS6v(av patriXfi?? IjSvvrj- to. aarpavat re Kal ^ccXtj, %d\a£a Kal Kzpavvol Briaav aiiroils KaraSovXlaaaadat, 7ro).\as uev to?? 'Pupatois IvtmirTov, birdre rpoaCdXoiEV. Kal jiEydXas SvvduEis iff' alroils ayay6vrES, Kal 6ir<5re o5v Sel-kvoIev, uvlai rols ppti}[iatTt Kal ohSi-Kore SI Tds Em6o\as ovvreXEaavrES. nee toTs -Kdjtaal rpoct^dvovaat, SvCYEpstas airavra Assyrii olim, nee JMedi ac Persce, imo nee IvEirt/juiXtav. Kal Tpalavbs [ibr IkeIBev oBrus Macedonum reges subigere illos potuere, qui ^7rijA0£. Ibi ccelum tonitru contremuit, irides licet magnis in eos copiis moverint, nunquam vism sunt, fulgura, proceUce, grando, fidmina tamen incepta adfinem perduxere. Diod. Sic. in Ramanos cadebant, quoties in illos im- l. 2, c. 48. petum facerent : quotiesque ccenarent, muscis 9 Plutarch in Lucullo, passim. tarn e.iculenlis quam polulentis insidentes, 1 Plutarch in Pompeio, § 41, 42. cuncia nausea quadam implebant. Itaque 2 Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1126. Dion. Cass. Trajanus inde proficiscitur. Dionis. Hist. \, Hist. 1. 53, 5 29, ed. Keimar. calls him by 68, § 31. mistake yEhus Largus. 82 BISHOP NEWTON nings, thunderings, hail, whirlwinds, and other prodigies, and Were constantly so repelled, as often as they renewed their as saults. At the same time great swarms of flies infested his camp ; so that he was forced at last to raise the siege, and retired with disgrace into his own dominions. About eighty years after, the emperor Severus twice besieged the same city with a nume rous army and a train of military engines ; but he had no better success than Trajan. God,4 says the heathen historian, pre served the city by the backwardness of the emperor at one time, j and by that of his forces at another. He made some assaults, but was baffled and defeated, and returned with precipitation as great as his vexation for his disappointment. And if such great emperors and able warriors as Trajan and Severus could not succeed in their attempts, it is no wonder that the following emperors could prevail nothing. The Arabs continued their j incursions and depredations, in Syria and other Roman provinces, with equal license and impunity. Such was the state and condition of the Arabs to the time of their famous prophet Mohammed, who laid the foundations of a mighty empire : and then for several centuries they were better known among the European nations by the name of the Sarraceni or Saracens, the Arraceni5 of Pliny, and the 6Haga- renes of Holy Scripture. Their conquests were indeed amazingly rapid ; they can be compared to nothing more properly than to a sudden flood or inundation. In a few years the Saracens overran more countries, and subdued more people than the Romans did in several centuries. They were then not only free and independent of the rest of the world, but were themselves masters of the most considerable parts of the earth. And so they continued for 7 about three centuries ; and after their em pire was dissolved, and they were reduced within the limits of their native country, they still maintained their liberty against the Tartars, Mamalucs, Turks, and all foreign enemies whatever. Whoever were the conquerors of Asia, they were still unconquered, still continued their incursions, and preyed upon all alike. The Turks have now for several centuries been lords of the adjacent countries ; but they have been so little able to restrain the depredations of the Arabs,8 that they have 4 Kal oBraj 9&bs 5 pvad/isvos rriv ir6\iv, roils They are called also Ishmaelites and Sara- pciia-Toa Tiaras SvvnVEvTas av eIs ah-rtjv eIveX- cens, &c.' Calmet's Diet. 9eiv, Std rov SeSrjpov avsKaXeae, Kal tov ZeStj- 7 The Saracens began their conquests pov al, @ov\-nBhra aliTjv pcra tovto Xa&ziv, A. D. 622, and to reign at Damascus A. D. Sia t&v irrpariwrwv iKtiXvaev. Itaque Deus 637. Their empire was broken and divided urbem liberavit, qui per Severum revocavit A. D. 936. See Dr. Blair's Chronol. Ta- milites, quum possent in ipsam ingredi; et bles, Tab. 33 and 39, and Sir Isaac Newton Stverum cupionlem eandem postea capere,per on the Apocalypse, c. 3, p. 304, 305. militcs prohibuit. Ibid. 1. 75, § 12. B See Thevenot in Harris, vol. 2, b. 2, o. * Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. vi. c. 32, ubi vide 9, and Demetrius Cantemir's Hist, of the notam Harduini. Othman empire in Ahmed II. p. 393. 6 ' Hagarenes, the descendants of Ishmael. ON THE PROPHECIES. 33 been obliged to pay them a sort of annual tribute for the safe pas sage and security of the pilgrims, who usually go in great com panies to Mecca : so that the Turks have rather been dependent upon them, than they upon the Turks. And they still continue the same practices, and preserve the same superiority, if we may believe the concurrent testimony of modern travellers of all nations. Two of our own nation have lately travelled into those parts, and have written and published their travels, both men of lite rature, both reverend divines, and writers of credit and cha racter, Dr. Shaw and Bishop Pococke ; and in several instances they confirm the account that we have given of this people. ' With regaid to the manners and customs of the Bedoweens,' saith 9Dr. Shaw, ' it is to be observed that they retain a great many of those we read of in sacred as well as profane history ; being, if we except their religion, the same people they were two or three thousand years ago ; without ever embracing any of those novelties in dress or behaviour, which have had so many periods and revolutions in the Moorish and Turkish cities.' And after giving some account of their hospitality, he proceeds thus ; ' Yet the outward behaviour of the Arab frequently gives the lie to his inward temper and inclination. For he is natu rally thievish and treacherous ; and it sometimes happens that those very persons are overtaken and pillaged in the morning, who were entertained the night before with all the instances of friendship and hospitality. Neither are they to be accused for plundering strangers only, and attacking almost every per son whom they find unarmed and defenceless, but for those many implacable and hereditary animosities, which continually subsist among them, literally fulfilling to this day the prophecy, "that Ishmael should be a wild man; his hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against him." ' Dr. Shaw himself ' was robbed and plundered by a party of Arabs in his journey from Ramah to Jerusalem, though he was es corted by four band* of Turkish soldiers ; and yet the Turks at the same time paid a stipulated sum to the Arabs, in order to secure a safe passage for their caravans : and there cannot surely be a stronger proof, not only of the independency of the Arabs, but even of their superiority, not only of their enjoying their liberty, but even of their abusing it to licentiousness. Bishop Pococke was the last who travelled into those parts; and he hath informed us that the present inhabitants of Arabia resemble the ancient in several respects ; that 2 they live under tents, and stay in one place as long as they have water and shrubs and trees for their camels to feed on, for there is no 9 Shaw's Travels, p. 300, fcc. ' Preface to his Travels, p. vii. 2 Pococke's Description ofthe East, vol. 1, b. iii. c. 2. E 34 BISHOP NEWTON tillage nor grass in all this country ; that all their ricnes con sist in camels, a few goats, and sometimes sheep, so that they live in great poverty, having nothing but a few dates and a little goats' milk, and bring all their corn eight or ten days' journey from Cairo; that they are in different nations or clans, each obeying the orders of its great chief, and every encampment those of its particular chief; and though seemingly divided, yet they are all united in a sort of league together ; that they 3 love plunder and the roving sort of life this disposition leads them to, have good horses, and manage them and their pikes with much address ; those on foot use poles, with which they fence off the spear with great art. So that authors both sacred and profane, Jewish and Arabian, Greek and Roman, Christian and Mohammedan, ancient and modern, all agree in the same account : and if any are desirous of seeing the matter deduced more at large, they may be referred to a dissertation upon the independency of the Arabs by the learned authors of the Univer sal History. An author, who hath lately published an account of Persia, having occasion to speak of the Arabians, 4 says, ' their expert- ness in the use of the lance and sabre, renders them fierce and intrepid. Their skill in horsemanship, and their capacity of bearing the heat of their burning plains, give them also a supe riority over their enemies'. Hence every petty chief in his own district considers himself as a sovereign prince, and as such exacts customs from all passengers. Their conduct in this re spect has often occasioned their being considered in no better light than robbers, &c. They generally marry within their own tribe, &c. When they plunder caravans travelling through their terri tories, they consider it as reprisals on the Turks and Persians, who often make inroads into their country, and carry away their corn and their flocks.' Who can fairly consider and lay all these particulars toge ther, and not perceive the hand of God in this whole affair from the beginning to the end 1 The sacred historian saith, that these prophecies concerning Ishmael were delivered partly by the angel of the Lord, and partly by God himself: and indeed who but God, or one raised and commissioned by him, could describe so particularly the genius and manners, not only of a single person before he was born, but of a whole people from the first founder of the race to the present time 1 It was some what wonderful, and not to be foreseen by human sagacity or prudence, that a man's whole posterity should so nearly resem ble him, and retain the same inclinations, the same habits, the same customs throughout all ages. The waters of the purest spring or fountain are soon changed and polluted in their 1 B. iv. o. 4. " Hanway's Travels, vol. 4, pan 5 c. 29 p. 221, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 35 course; aid the farther still they flow, the more they are in corporated and lost in other waters. How have the modern Italians degenerated from the courage and virtues of the- old Romans 1 How are the French and English polished and re fined from the barbarism of the ancient Gauls and Britons 1 Men and manners change with times : but in all changes and revolutions the Arabs have still continued the same with little or no alteration. And yet it cannot be said of them, as of some barbarous nations, that they have had no commerce or inter course with the rest of mankind ; for by their conquests they overran a great part of the earth, and for some centuries were masters of most of the learning that was then in the world : but however they remained and still remain the same fierce, savage, intractable people, like their great ancestor in every thing, and different from most of the world besides. Ishmael was circum cised ; and so are his posterity to this day : and as Ishmael was circumcised when he was thirteen years old, so were the Arabs at the same age, according to Josephus.5 He was born of Hagar, who was a concubine ; and they still indulge themselves in the use of mercenary wives and concubines. He lived in tents in the wilderness, shifting from place to place ; and so do his descendants, particularly those therefore called Scenites8 for merly, and those called Bedoweens at this day. He was an archer in the wilderness ; and so are they. He was to be the father of twelve princes or heads of tribes ; and they live in clans or tribes at this day. He was a wild man, his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him : and they live in the same state of war, their hand against every man, and every man's hand against them. This, I say, is somewhat wonderful, that the same people should retain the same dispositions for so many ages ; but it is still more wonderful, that with these dispositions, and this en mity to the whole world, they should still subsist in spite of the world an independent and free people. It cannot be pretended, that no probable attempts were ever made to conquer them ; for the greatest conquerors in the world have almost all in their turns attempted it, and some of them have been very near effecting it. It cannot be pretended that the dryness or inaccessibleness of their country hath been their preservation ; for their country hath been often penetrated, though never entirely subdued. I know that 'Diodorus Siculus accounts for their preservation from the dryness of their country, that they have wells digged in proper places known only to themselves, and their enemies 5 Antiq. 1. 1, c. 12, § 2, Edit. Hudson. tSv a-Ktiv&v] cognominati.' Plin. 1. 6, c. 28, Vide etiam Pocockii Specimen. Hist. § 32. Pocockii Specimen. Hist. Arab p. 87. Arab. p. 319. ' Diodorus Siculus, .. 2, c. 48, et 1. 19, c. 6 ' Soenita? — vagi — a tabernaculis [oirj 94. 36 BISHOP NEWTON and invaders through ignorance of these places perish for want of water : but this account is far from being an adequate and just representation of the case ; large armies have found the means of subsistence in their country ; none of their powerful invaders ever desisted on this account ; and therefore that they have not been conquered, we must impute to some other cause. When in all human probability they were upon the brink of ruin, then (as we have before seen at large) they were signally and providentially delivered. Alexander was preparing an expedition against them, when an inflammatory fever cut him off in the flower of his age. Pompey was in the career of his conquests, when urgent affairs called him elsewhere. iElius Gallus had penetrated far into the country, when a fatal disease destroyed great numbers of his men, and obliged him to return. Trajan besieged their capital city, but was defeated by thunder and lightning, whirlwinds and other prodigies, and that as often as he renewed his assaults. Severus besieged the same city twice, and was twice repelled from before it ; and the historian Dion, a man of rank and character, though an heathen, plainly as cribes the defeat of these two emperors to the interposition of a divine power. We who know the prophecies, may be more assured of the reality of a divine interposition : and indeed other wise how could a single nation stand out against the enmity of the whole world for any length of time, and much more for near four thousand years together 1 The great empires round them have all in their turns fallen to ruin, while they have continued the same from the beginning, and are likely to continue the same to the end : and this in the natural course of human affairs was so highly improbable, if not altogether impossible, that as nothing but a divine prescience could have foreseen it, so nothing but a divine power could have accomplished it. These are the only people, besides the Jews, who have sub sisted as a distinct people from the beginning; and in some respects they very much resemble each other. The Arabs as well as the Jews are descended from Abraham, and both boast of their descent from that father of the faithful. The Arabs as well as the Jews are circumcised, and both profess to have derived that ceremony from Abraham. The Arabs as well as the Jews had originally twelve patriarchs or heads of tribes, who were their princes or governors. The Arabs as well as the Jews marry among themselves and in their own tribes. The Arabs as well as the Jews are singular in several of their customs, and are standing monuments to all ages, of the exactness of the divine predictions, and of the veracity of Scripture history. We may with more confidence believe the particulars related of Abraham and IskmaeL when we see them verified in their posterity at this day. This is having as it were ocular demonstration for our ON THE PROPHECIES. 37 faith. This is proving by plain matter of fact, that " the Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men," and that his truth, as well as his " mercy, endureth for ever." III. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING JACOB AND ESAU. AS it pleased God to disclose unto Abraham the state and - condition of his posterity by Ishmael, who was the son of the bond-woman, it might be with reason expected, that some thing should be predicted concerning his posterity also by Isaac, who was the son of the free-woman. He was properly the child of promise, and the prophecies relating to him and his family are much more numerous than those relating to Ishmael : but we will select and enlarge upon such only, as have reference to these latter ages. It was promised to Abraham before Ishmael or any son was born to him, (Gen. xii. 3,) "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." But after the birth of Ishmael and Isaac, the promiee was limited to Isaac, (Gen. xxi. 12,) " for in Isaac shall thy seed be called." And accordingly to Isaac was the promise repeated, (Gen. xxvi. 4,) " In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." The Saviour of the world therefore was not to come of the family of Ishmael, but of the family of Isaac: which is an argument for the truth of the Christian religion in preference to the Mohammedan, drawn from an old prophecy and promise made two thousand years before Christ, and much more before Mohammed was born. The land of Canaan was promised to Abraham and his seed four hundred years before they took possession of it, (Gen. xv.) It was promised again to Isaac, (Gen. xxvi. 3:) "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee : for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father." Now it is very well known, that it was not till after the death of Moses, who wrote these things, that the Israelites got possession of the land under the command of Joshua. They remained in possession of it several ages in pursuance of these prophecies : and afterwards, when for their sins and iniquities they were to be removed from it, their removal also was foretold, both the car rying away of the ten tribes, and the captivity of the two remain ing tribes for seventy years, and likewise their finai japtivity and dispersion into all nations, till in the fulness of tune they shall be restored again to the land of their inheritance. It was foretold to Abraham that his posterity should be mul tiplied exceedingly above that of others, (Gen. xii. 2 :) "I will 4 38 BISHOP NEWTON make of thee a great nation;" and, (xxii. 17,) "in blessing 1 will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore." The same promise was continued to Isaac, (Gen. xxvi. 4,) " I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of hea ven." And not to mention the vast increase of their other pos terity, how soon did their descendants by Jacob grow up into a mighty nation 1 and how numerous were they formerly in the land of Canaan 1 how numerous were they in other parts of the world, according to the accounts of Philo and Josephus 1 and after the innumerable massacres and persecutions which they have undergone, how numerous are they still in their present dispersion among all nations 1 It is computed that there are as many Jews now, or more than ever there were, since they have been a nation. A learned 'foreigner, who hath written a history of the Jews as a supplement and continuation of the history of Josephus, says that ' it is impossible to fix the number of per sons this nation is at present composed of. But yet we have reason to believe, there are still near three millions of people, who profess this religion, and as their phrase is, are witnesses oj the unity of God in all the nations of the world.' And who could foretel such a wonderful increase and propagation of a branch only of one man's family, but the same divine power that could effect it 1 But Isaac had two sons, whose families did not grow up and incorporate into one people, but were separated into two diffe rent nations : and therefore, as it had been necessary before to specify whether Ishmael or Isaac was to be heir of the promises, so there was a necessity for the same distinction now between Esau and Jacob. Accordingly, when their mother had con ceived, "the children struggled together within her," (Gen. xxv. 22 ;) and it was revealed unto her by the Lord, (ver. 23,) " Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be se parated from thy bowels ; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger." The same divine Spirit influenced and directed their father to give his final benediction to the same purpose : for thus he blessed Jacob, (Gen. xxvii. 28, 29,) " God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee ; be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee ; cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee ;" and thus he blessed Esau, ver. 39, 40,) " Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou tive, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass 1 See Basnage's History of the Jews. Book 7, c. 33, § 15. ON THE PROPHECIES. 39 when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." But for greater clearness and certainty a more express revelation was afterwards made to Jacob ; and the land of Canaan, a numerous progeny, and the blessing of all nations, were promised to him in particular, (Gen. xxviii. 13, 14:) " I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac : the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south ; and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed." We have here a farther and more ample proof of what was asserted before, that these ancient prophecies were meant not so much of single persons, as of whole people and nations de scended from them. For what is here predicted concerning Esau and Jacob was not verified in themselves, but in their pos terity. Jacob was so far from bearing rule over Esau, that he was forced to fly his country for fear of Esau, (Gen. xxvii.) He continued abroad several years : and when he returned to his native country, he sent a supplicatory message to his brother Esau, (Gen. xxxii. 5,) "that he might find grace in his sight." When he heard of Esau's coming to meet him with four hundred men, he "was greatly afraid and distressed," (ver. 7,) and cried unto the Lord, (ver. 11,) "Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau." He sent a mag nificent present before him to appease his brother, calling Esau his "lord," and himself Esau's "servant," (ver. 18.) When he met him, he " bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother," (Gen. xxx. 3.) And after he had found a gracious reception, he acknowledged (ver. 10,) "I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me." Jacob then had no temporal superiority over Esau ; and therefore we must look for the completion of the prophecy among their posterity. The prophecy itself refers us thither, and mentions plainly two nations and two manner of people, and comprehends these several particulars ; that the families of Esau and Jacob should grow up into two different people and nations ; that the family of the elder should be subject to that of the younger ; that in situation and other temporal advantages they should be much alike ; that the elder branch should delight more in war and violence, but yet should be subdued by the younger ; that however there should be a time when the elder should have dominion, and shake off the yoke of the younger ; but in all spiritual gifts and graces the younger should be greatly superior, and be the happy instrument of conveying the blessing to all nations. I. The families of Esau and Jacob should grow up into two 40 BISHOP NEWTON different people and nations. " Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels." The Edomites were the offspring of Esau, as the Israelites were of Jacob ; and who but the author and giver of life could fore see, that two children in the womb would multiply into two nations 1 Jacob had twelve sons, and their descendants all united and incorporated into one nation ; and what an over ruling providence then was it, that two nations should arise from the two sons only of Isaac ] But they were not only to grow up into two nations, but into two very different nations, and two manner of people were to be separated from her bowels. And have not the Edomites and Israelites been all along two very different people in their manners and customs and reli gions, which made them to be perpetually at variance one with another ? The children struggled together in the womb, which was an omen and token of their future disagreement : and when they were grown up to manhood, they manifested very different inclinations. Esau was a " cunning hunter," and delighted in the sports of the field : Jacob was more mild and gentle, " dwelling in tents," and minding his sheep and his cattle, (Gen. xxv. 27.) Our English translation, agreeably to the Septuagint and the Vulgate,2 hath it that Jacob was a plain man ; but he appears from his whole conduct and behaviour to have been rather an artful than a plain man. The 3 word in the original signifies perfect, which is a general term ; but being put in opposition to the rough and rustic manners of Esau, it must particularly import that Jacob was more humane and gen tle, as 4 Philo the Jew understands it, and as Le Clerc translates it. Esau slighted his birthright and those sacred privileges of which Jacob was desirous, and is therefore called, (Heb. xii. 16,) the profane Esau : but Jacob was a man of better faith and re ligion. The like diversity ran through their posterity. The religion of the Jews is very well known ; but whatever the Edomites were at first, in process of time they became idola- tors. Josephus5 mentions an Idumean deity named Koze : and Amaziah king of Judah, after he had overthrown the Edom ites, (2 Chron. xxiv. 14,) "brought their gods, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them : which was monstrously absurd, as the prophet remonstrates, (ver. 15,) "Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?" Upon these religious differences and other accounts there was a continual grudge and enmity 2 axXao-TDC, Sep-.. " simplex," Vulg. 4 Vide Cleric, in loc. Jacobus vero mitis, $-c 3 Dn Integer, perfeclus. " Integer," Syr. s — Ko gi . Se&v Si tovtov 'iSovpaioi voptfovtrlv. Samar. " Perfectus," Onk. " Perfectus Coze; qucm Deum cxistimani Idummi. An- 7irtutibus." Ara'j. tiq. 1. 15, c. 7, § 9. ON THE PROPHECIES. 41 between the two nations. The king of Edom would not suffer the Israelites, in their return out of Egypt, so much as to pass thiough his territories, (Numb. xx. ;) and the history of the Edomites afterwards is little more than the history of their wars with the Jews. II. The family of the elder should be subject to that of the younger. " And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger," or as the words may be rendered, the greater shall serve the lesser. The family of Esau was the elder, and for some time the great el and more powerful of the two, there having been dukes nnd kings in Edom, " before there reigned any king over the chil dren of Israel," (Gen. xxxvi. 31.) But David and his cap tains made an entire conquest of the Edomites, slew several thousands of them, (1 Kings xi. 16, and 1 Chron. xviii. 12,) and compelled the rest to become his tributaries and servants, and planted garrisons among them to secure their obedience. (2 Sam. viii. 14,) "And he put garrisons in Edom; through out all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants." In this state of servitude they continued about6 an hundred and fifty years, without a king of their own, being governed by viceroys or deputies appointed by the kings of Judah. In the reign of Jehoshaphat king of Judah it is said, that " there was then no king in Edom ; a deputy was king," (1 Kings xxii. 47.) But in the days of Jehoram his son, they revolted, and recovered their liberties, " and made a king over themselves," (2 Kings viii. 20.) But afterwards Amaziah king of Judah "slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thou sand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Jok- theel, unto this day," says the sacred historian, (2 Kings xiv. 7.) " And other ten thousand left alive, did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock," whereon Selah was built, "and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they were broken all in pieces," (2 Chron. xxv. 12.) His son Azariah or Uzziah likewise took from them Elah, that commodious haven on the Red Sea, and fortified it anew, " and restored it to Judah," (2 Kings, xiv. 22 ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 2.) Judas Maccabseus attacked and defeated them several times, "killed no fewer than twenty thousand" at one time, and " more than twenty thousand" at another, and took their chief city "Hebron, and the towns thereof, and pulled down the fortress of it, and burnt the towers thereof round about," (2 Mace. x. 17, 23 ; 1 Mace. v. 65.) At last his nephew,7 Hyrcanus the son of Simon, took other of their cities, and reduced them to the necessity of embracing the Jewish 6 From about the year ofthe world 2960, world 3115, before Christ 889. See Usher's before Christ 1044, to about the year of the Annals. ' Joseph. Antiq. 1. 13, c. 9, § 1. 4* F 42 BISHOP NEWTON •religion, or of leaving their country and seeking new habitations elsewhere, whereupon they submitted to be circumcised, and became proselytes to the Jewish religion, and ever after were incorporated into the Jewish church and nation. III. In situation and other temporal advantages they should be much alike. For it was said to Jacob, " God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine :" and much the same is said to Esau, " Be hold thy dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above." In this manner the latter clause is translated in 8 Jerome's and the old versions ; but some modern commentators (9 Castalio, Le Clerc, &c.) render it otherwise, that his dwelling should be far from the fatness of the earth, and from the dew of heaven: and they say that Idu- mea, the country of the Edomites, was a dry, barren, and desert country. But it is not probable, that any good author should use the ' very same words with the very same prepositions in one sense, and within a few lines after in a quite contrary sense. Besides Esau solicited for a blessing; and the author of the epistle to the Hebrews saith, (vi. 20,) that " Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau ;" whereas had he consigned Esau to such a barren and wretched country, it would have been a curse rather than a blessing. The spiritual blessing indeed, or the promise of the blessed seed could be given only to one ; but temporal good things might be communicated and imparted to both. Mount Seir and the adjacent country was at first the possession of the Edomites ; they afterwards extended themselves farther into Arabia ; as they did afterwards into the southern parts of Judea. But wherever they were situated, we find in fact that the Edomites in temporal advantages were little inferior to the Israelites. Esau had cattle, and beasts, and substance in abun dance, and he went to dwell in Seir of his own accord, and he would hardly have removed thither with so many cattle, had it been such a barren and desolate country, as some would represent it, (Gen. xxxiv. 6, 7, 8.) The Edomites had dukes and kings reigning over them, while the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. In their return out of Egypt when the Israelites desired leave to pass through the territories of Edom, it appears that the country abounded with fruitful fields and vineyards; " let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country ; we will not " " In pinguedine terra, et in rore caeli sedes tua, neque rore casli fecundabitur. lesuper." — Nee sane Idumaea fecunda aut pinoui » " A terra pinguitudine aberit." Cast. solo, aut tempestivis pluviis rigata fuit. A pinguedine quidem terra remota erit Clericus in locum. 1 Ver. 28. pNn _ •odwdi CDirn Ston terra pinguedinibus de et, caeli rore de. Ver. 39. Sjid &ni»n Sani pun _ >mirn desuper caili rore de et, terrae pinguedinibus de. ON THE PROPHECIES. 43 pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells," (Numb. xx. 17.) And the prophecy of Malachi, (i. 2,) which is commonly alleged as a proof of the barrenness of the country, is rather an argument to the contrary : " And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste, for the dragons of the wilderness :" for this implies that the countiy was fruitful before, and that its present unfruitfulness was rather an effect of war and devastation, than any natural defect and failure in the soil. If the country is bar ren and unfruitful now, so neither is Judea what it was formerly. The face of any country is much changed in a long course of years : and it is totally a different thing, when a country is regularly cultivated by inhabitants living under a settled govern ment, than when tyranny prevails, and the land is left desolate. It is also frequently seen that God, as the Psalmist saith, (cvii. 34,) " turneth a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." IV. The elder branch should delight more in war and vio lence, but yet should be subdued by the younger. "And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother." Esau himself might be said to live much by the sword, for he " was a cunning hunter, a man of the field," (Gen. xxv. 27.) He and his children gat possession of Mount Seir by force and violence, by destroying and. expelling from thence the Horites, the former inhabitants. (Deut. ii. 22.) We have no account, and therefore cannot pretend to say, by what means they spread themselves farther among the Arabians ; but it 2 appears, that upon a sedi tion and separation several of the Edomites came, and seized upon the south-west parts of Judea during the Babylonish cap tivity, and settled there ever afterwards. Both before and after this they were almost continually at war with the Jews ; upon every occasion they were ready to join with then enemies ; and when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, they encouraged him utterlyto destroy the city, saying, " Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof," (Psal. cxxxvii. 7.) Even long after they were subdued by the Jews, they still retained the same martial spirit, for 3 Josephus in his time giveth them the character of ' a turbulent and disorderly nation, always erect to commotions and rejoicing in changes, at the least adulation of those who beseech them beginning war, and hastening to battles as it were to a feast.' Agreeably to this character, a little before the last siege 2 Strabo. 1. 16, p. 1103. Prideaux Con- tuosam et ordinis impatienlem, ad moius in- nect. part 1, b. 1, ann. 740. tentam semper et mutationibus gaudentem, ad 3 "Are SopvS&Scs Kal araKrov ZQvos, aet rs modicam vero eorum qui supplicant adulatio- ixertiiypov irpbs ra Kivfiaara, Kal ueraSoXals nem arma moventem, et ad prmlia quasi ad •j^alpov, rrpbs oXiynv Sr) KoXaKsiav rSjv Stoufviav festum properantem. De Bell. Jud. 1. 4, ~-i o-rrXa kivoov, Kal Kaddirep eU Eoprfjv els ras c. 4, § 1. See too the following chapter. ir-ipnTa^Eis EiTEiydiicvov. utpote gentern tumul- 44 BISHOP NEWTON of Jerusalem, they came at the entreaty of the zealots to assist them against the priests and people, and there together with the zealots committed unheard-of cruelties, and barbarously murdered Ananus the high-priest, from whose death Josephus dateth the destruction of the city. V. However there was to be a time when the elder should have dominion, and shake off the yoke of the younger. " And it shall come to pass when thou shalt have dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." The word which we translate have dominion is capable of various interpretations. Some render it in the sense of laying down or shaking off, as the 4 Septuagint and the Vulgar Latin, And it shall come to pass that thou shalt shake off, and shalt loose his yoke from off thy neck. Some again render it in the sense of mourning or repenting, as the 5 Syriac, But if thou shalt repent, his yoke shall pass from off thy neck. But the most common rendering and most approved is, when thou shalt have dominion; and it is not said or meant, that they should have dominion over the seed of Jacob, but simply have dominion, as they had when they appointed a king of their own. The 6 Jerusalem Targum thus paraphraseth the whole, ' And it shall be when the sons of Jacob attend to the law, and observe the precepts, they shall impose the yoke of servitude upon thy neck ; but when they shall turn themselves away from studying the law, and neglect the precepts, behold then thou shalt shake off the yoke of servitude from thy neck.' David imposed the yoke, and at that time the Jewish people ob served the law. But the yoke was very galling to the Edomites from the first : and toward the latter end of Solomon's reign, Hadad the Edomite, of the blood royal, who had been carried into Egypt in his childhood, returned into his own country, and raised some disturbances, (1 Kings xi.) but was not able to re cover his throne, 7 his subjects being overawed by the garrisons which David had placed among them. But hi the reign of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, " the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king." Jehoram made some attempts to subdue them again, but could not prevail. " So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day," saith the author of the books of Chronicles, (2 Chron. xxi. 8, 10 :) and hereby this part of the prophecy was fulfilled about nine hundred yeare after it was delivered. * "Etoti Si (\ vtKa lav KaSlXns Kal hXinr/s legi, et servabunt mandata, imponent jugum rbv £vybv airall iirb roll Tpa-^tjXoo aov. Sept. servitutis super collum tuum : quando autem " tempusque veniet cum excutias et solvas averterint se filii Jacob, ut non studeant legi jugum ejus de cervicibus tuis." Vulg. nee servaverim mandata, ecce tunc abrum- 6 " At si prenitentiam egeris, prateribit pes jugum servitutis eorum a collo tuo.' yigum ejus acollo tuo." Syr. Targ. Hieros. 8 'Et erit cum operam dabunt fiUi Jacob ' Joseph. Antiq. 1. 8, t. 7 § 6. ON THE PROPHECIES. 45 VI. But in all spiritual gifts and graces the younger should be greatly superior, and be the happy instrument of conveying the blessing to all nations. " In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed :" and hitherto are to be referred in their full force those expressions, " Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee ;" " Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee." The same promise was made to Abraham in the name of God, " I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee," (Gen. xii. 3 :) and it is here repeated to Jacob, and is thus para phrased in the 8 Jerusalem Targum, ' He who curseth thee, shall be cursed, as Balaam the son of Beor : and he who blesseth thee, shall be blessed, as Moses the prophet, the lawgiver of Israel.' It appears that Jacob was a man of more religion, and believed the divine promises more than Esau. The posterity of Jacob likewise preserved the true religion and the worship of one God, while the Edomites were sunk in idolatry. And of the seed of Jacob was born at last the Saviour of the world. This was the peculiar privilege and advantage of Jacob, to be the happy instru ment of conveying these spiritual blessings to all nations. This was his greatest superiority over Esau : and in this sense St. Paul understands and applies the prophecy, "the elder shall serve the younger," (Rom. ix. 12.) The Christ, the Saviour of the world, was to be born of some one family : and Jacob's was preferred to Esau's out of the good pleasure of almighty God, who is certainly the best judge of fitness and expedience, and hath an undoubted right to dispense his favours as he shall see proper ; " for he saith to Moses, (as the apostle proceeds to argue, ver. 15,) I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." And when the Gentiles were converted to Christianity, the pro phecy was fulfilled literally, " Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee ;" and will more amply be fulfilled, when "the fulness ofthe Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved." We have traced the accomplishment of the prophecy from the beginning ; and we find that the nation of the Edomites hath at several times been conquered by and made tributary to the Jews, but never the nation of the Jews to the Edomites, and the Jews have been the more considerable people, more known in the world, and more famous in history. We know indeed little more of the history of the Edomites, than as it is connected with that of the Jews : and where is the name or the nation now 1 They were swallowed up and lost, partly among " ' Quisquis maledixerat tibi Jacob fili mi, tus, sicut Moses propheta, legislator Israel- erat maledictus, sicut Balaam filius Beor: itarum.' Targ. Hieros. quisquis autem benedixerit tibi erit benedic- 46 BISHOP NEWTON < the Nabatheean Arabs, and partly among the Jews ; and the very name was 9 abolished and disused about the end of the first cen tury after Christ. Thus were they rewarded for insulting and oppressing their brethren the Jews, and hereby other prophecies were fulfilled of Jeremiah, (xlix. 7, &c.) of Ezekiel, (xxv. 12, &c.) of Joel, (iii. 19,) Amos, (i. 11, &c.) and Obadiah. And at this day we see the Jews subsisting as a distinct people, while Edom is no more. For agreeably to the words of Obadiah, (ver. 10,) "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever:" and again, (ver. 18,) " there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it." IV. — Jacob's prophecies concerning his sons, PARTICULARLY JUDAH. T is an opinion of great antiquity, that the nearer men ap proach to their dissolution, their souls grow more divine, and discern more of futurity. We find this opinion as early as Homer,1 for he represents the dying Patroclus foretelling the fate of Hector, and the dying Hector denouncing no less cer tainly the death of Achilles. Socrates, in his Apology to the Athenians, a little before his death 2 asserts the same opinion. ' But now,' saith he, ' I am desirous to prophecy to you who have condemned me, what will happen hereafter. For now I am arrived at that state, in which men prophecy most, when they are about to die.' His scholar 8 Xenophon introduces the dying Cyrus declaring in like manner, ' that the soul of man at the hour of death appears most divine, and then foresees some thing of future events.' Diodorus Siculus * allegeth great au thorities upon this subject ; Pythagoras the Samian, and some others of the ancient naturalists, have demonstrated that the 9 See Prideaux Connect, part 1, b. 5, an- irpoopijl. ac hominis animus turn scilicet max- no 129. ime divinus perspicitur, et turn fuiurorum ' Horn. Iliad, xvi. 852, et Iliad, xxii. 358. aliquid prospicit. Xenoph. Cyrop. 1.' 8, c. 7, 2 Tb Se Sr) uetci tovto l-niBvaio hfiiv XPV- §21. iWiiffiTa!, !> KaTaipytpitrdficvot uov ml yip 4 TlvBayipas 5 Eifyios Kal rives trepoi rffiv tlu.i tjSrj IvravBa Iv w udXtor' avBpwroi XJ"1- TaXaiwv t^vaiKGtv airztyfivavro t&s U^uyaff roiv afitftSovciv, brav ueXXomtcv arroBavElrrdai. Jam avBpiiwuv i-irdpxetv aBavdrovs' aKoXotiBids Si vero, O vos, qui me condemnastis, cupio vobis rip S6yp.ari rolrip Kal npoyiyv&aKEiv avrds ret earum rerum, qua yobis sunt eventura, casus ueXXovra, KaB' Sv av Katpbv h Tfj teXevtjj rbv quasi oraculo prtedicere : in ilium enim tem- drtb tov aiifiaros x^p^aubv iroiuvrat. Pytha- poris statum jam perveni, in quo homines di- goras Samius, et quidam physicorum veterum vinandi facultate ^ maxime pollent, quando alii, immortales esse hominum animas conjir- nimirum mortiluri sunt. Platonis Apolog. marunt ; et quod hujus sentential consectari- Socr. § 30, vol. 1, p. 39, Edit. Serran. um est, pramoscere futura, eum, imminente 3 (H Si tov avBputrov uVy^ rdrE Sfj-rrov Seio- vitas exitu, jamjam a corpore segregantur. -dry KaratyalvcTal, Kal t6te ti rwv ueXXdvTiav Lib. 18, c. 1. ON THE PROPHECIES. 47 souls of men are immortal, and in consequence of this opinion that they also foreknow future events, at the same time that they are making their separation from the body in death.' Sextus Empiric us 5 confirms it likewise by the authority of Aris totle ; ' the soul, saith Aristotle, foresees and foretels future events, when it is going to be separated from the body by death.' We might produce more testimonies to this purpose from Cicero, and Eustathius upon Homer, and from other authors, if there was occasion ; but these are sufficient to show the great antiquity of this opinion.8 And it is possible, that old experience 7 may in some cases attain to something like prophecy and divination. In some instances also God may have been pleased to comfort and enlighten departing souls with a prescience of future events. But what I conceive might principally give rise to this opinion, was the tradition of some of the patriarchs being divinely inspired in their last moments to foretel the state and condition of the people descended from them ; as Jacob upon his death-bed summoned his sons toge ther that he might inform them of what should befall them in the latter days, or the last days; by which phrase some com mentators understand the times of the Messiah, or the last great period of the world; and Mr. Whiston particularly s as serts, that it is generally, if not always, a characteristic and KpiTtpiov of prophecies not to be fulfilled till the coming of the Messiah: and accordingly he supposes that these prophecies of Jacob more properly belong to the second coming of the Messiah, at the restoration of the twelve tribes hereafter. But the phrase of the latter days or last days in the Old Testament signifies any time that is yet to come, though sometimes it may relate to the times of the Messiah in particular, as it com prehends all future time in general: and hence it is used in prophecies that respect different times and periods. "I will advertise thee, (saith Balaam to Balak, Numb. xxiv. 14,) what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days:" but what the Israelites did to the Moabites, was done long before the times of the Messiah. " I know, (saith Moses, Deut. xxxi. 29,) that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, 6 'H i>x>), Qnaiv 'ApioroTeXys, -rrpop.avT£ie- equals Lucretius, and in clearness and rat Kal TtpoayopEbei rd fitXXovra — ev rip Kara. strength of argument exceeds him. %dvarov xuPKeo-9ai tZv aioudriov. Adv. 'Namque ubi torpescunt artus jam morte Mathem. p. 312. propinqua, G Shakspeare alludes to this notion in Acrior est acies turn mentis, et entheus Henry IV. First Part. ardor ; ' O, 1 could prophesy, Tempore non alio facundia suavior, atque But that the earthy and cold hand of death Fatidicae jam turn voces morientis ab Lies on my tongue.' ore.' The same notion is also happily expressed T Alludingto these lines of Milton, in a most excellent Latin poem, De Animi 'Till old experience do attain Jmmortalitate, which is deserving of a place To something like prophetic strain. among classic authors ; in richness of poetry 8 Boyle's Lectures, vol. 2, p. 3U . 48 BISHOP NEWTON and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will befall you in the latter days :" where the latter days are much the same as the time after the death of Moses. " There is a God in heaven, (saith Daniel, ii. 28,) that revealeth secrets, and mMeth known to the king Nebuchadnezzar, what shall be in the latter days :" but several particulars, are there foretold of the four great monarchies of the earth, which were fulfilled be fore the coming of the Messiah. And in like manner these prophecies of Jacob were, many or most of them, accomplished under the Mosaic economy, several ages before the birth of our Saviour. Jacob, as we have seen, received a double blessing, tempo ral and spiritual, the promise of the land of Canaan, and the promise of the seed in which all the nations of the earth should be blessed ; which promises were first made to Abraham, and then repeated to Isaac, and then confirmed to Jacob; and Jacob a little before his death bequeaths the same to his chil dren. The temporal blessing or inheritance of the land of Canaan might be shared and divided among all his sons, but the blessed seed could descend only from one : and Jacob accor dingly assigns to each a portion in the promised land, but limits the descent of the blessed seed to the tribe of Judah, and at the same time sketches out the characters and fortunes of all the tribes. He adopts the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, for his own, but foretels that the younger should be the greater ofthe two, (Gen. xlviii. 19 :) and hath not the prediction been fully justified by the event 1 The tribe of Ephraim grew to be so numerous and powerful, that it is sometimes put for all the ten tribes of Israel. Of Reuben it is said, (Gen. xlix. 4,) "Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel:" and what is re corded great or excellent of the tribe of Reuben ] In number (Numb, i.) and power they were inferior to several other tribes. —Of Simeon and Levi it is said, (ver. 7,) " I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel :" and was not this emi nently fulfilled in the tribe of Levi, who had no portion or in heritance of their own, but were dispersed among the other tribes 1 Neither had the tribe of Simeon any inheritance pro perly of their own, but only a portion in the midst of the tribe of Judah, (Josh. xix. 1 — 9,) from whence several of them afterwards went in quest of new habitations, (1 Chron. iv. 39 &c.) and so were divided from the rest of their brethren.' A constant tradition too 9hath prevailed among the Jews, (which • ' Tradunt quoque Hebrai, scribas, pae- datim pueros informare cogebantur Cui dotribas, ptedagogos, et doctores puerorum sententiae adstipulatur et Tharsum Hieroa. fere omnes ex tnbu Schimeon luisse, qui, &c.' Fa«ius. "«*«* ut haberent unde viverent, sparsim et oppi- ON THE PROPHECIES. 49 is also confirmed by the Jerusalem Targum) that the tribe of Simeon were so straitened in their situation and circumstances, that great numbers were necessitated to seek a subsistence among the other tribes, by teaching and instructing th^t: chil dren. — Of Zebulun it is said, (ver. 13,) " He shall dwelffitt the haven of the sea, and shall be for an haven of ships :" and ac cordingly the tribe of Zebulun extended from the sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean, (Josh. xix. 10, &c.) where they had commodious havens for shipping. And how could Jacob have foretold the situation of any tribe, which was determined 200 years afterwards by casting of lots, unless he had been directed by that divine Spirit, who disposeth of all events? — Of Ben jamin it is said, (ver. 27,) " He shall ravin as a wolf :" and was not that a fierce and warlike tribe, as appears in several in stances, and particularly in the case of the Levite's wife, (Judg. xx.) when they alone waged war against all the other tribes, and overcame them in two battles 1 In this manner he characterizes these and the other tribes, and foretels their temporal condition, and that of Judah as well as the rest : " Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk," (ver. 11, 12:) and not to men tion the valley of Eshcol and other fruitful places, the moun tains about Jerusalem^ by the accounts of the best travellers, were particularly fitted for the cultivation of the vine, and for ' the feeding of cattle. ' The blessing,' says Dr. Shaw,1 ' that was given to Judah, was not of the same kind, with the bless ing of Asher or of Issachar that "his bread shoidd be fat," or " his land should be pleasant," but that " his eyes should be red with wine, and his teeth should be white with milk." ' He farther observes that ' the mountains of the country abound with shrubs and a delicate short grass, both which the cattle are more fond of, than of such plants as are common to fallow grounds and meadows. Neither was this method of grazing peculiar to this country ; inasmuch as it is still practised all over Mount Libanus, the Castravan mountains, and Barbary ; in all which places the higher grounds are set apart for this use, and the plains and valleys for tillage. For besides the good manage ment and economy, there is this farther advantage, that the milk of cattle fed in this manner is far more rich and delicious, as their flesh is more sweet and nourishing. — It may be pre sumed likewise, that the vine was not neglected, in a soil and exposition so proper for it to thrive in.' He mentions particu larly, ' the many tokens which are to be met with, of the an cient vineyards about Jerusalem and Hebron,' and ' the great 1 Shaw's Travels, p. 366, 367. B G 50 BISHOP NEWTON. quantity of grapes and raisins, which are from thence brought daily to the markets of Jerusalem, and sent yearly to Egypt.' But Jacob bequeaths to Judah particularly the spiritual blessing', and delivers it in much the same form of words that it waP delivered to him. Isaac had said to Jacob, (Gen. xxvii. 29,) " Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee ; be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee :" and here Jacob saith to Judah, (ver. 8,) " Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise ; thy hand shall be in the neck of thy enemies ; thy father's children shall bow down be fore thee." And for greater certainty it is added, (ver. 10,) "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from be tween his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the ga thering of the people be." I will not trouble the reader or my self with a detail of the various interpretations which have been put upon this passage, but will only offer that which appears to me the plainest, easiest, and best; I will first explain the words and meaning of the prophecy, and then show the full and exact completion of it. They who are curious to know the va rious interpretations of the learned, may find an account of them in 2 Huetius and 3Le Clerc : but no one hath treated the subject in a more masterly manner than the present 4Lord Bishop of London ; and we shall principally tread in his foot steps, as we cannot follow a better guide. I. " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah." The word «a» shebet, which we translate a sceptre, signifies a rod or staff of any kind ; and particularly the rod or staff which 5 belonged to each tribe as an ensign of their authority; and thence it is transferred to signify a tribe, as being united under one rod or staff of government, or a ruler of a tribe ; and in this sense it is used twice in this very chapter, (ver. 16,) " Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes" or rulers " of Israel ;" and again, (ver. 28,) " All these are the twelve tribes " or rulers "of Israel." It hath the same signification in 2 Sam. vii. 7, " In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the tribes" or rulers "of Israel, (in the parallel place of Chronicles, 1 Chron. xvii. 6, it is judges of Israel,) whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar ?" The word doth in deed sometimes signify a sceptre, but that is apt to convey an 2 Demonstratio Evangelica, Prop. 9, ficandum tribum — quod unaquaeque tribus c. 4. _ suam peculiarem virgam haberet, nomine 3 Comment, in locum. suo inscriptam, quam tribuum principes 4 See the 3d Dissertation in Bishop — manu gestare consueverant. — Cum Do- Sherlock's Discourses of the Use and In- minus Aaronem his verbis alloquitur, Sed tent of Prophecy. et fratres tuos de tribu Levi, et sceptrum pa- 6 Bishop Sherlock hath cited to this tris tui sume tecum, intellige sceptrum ip- purpose Menochius de Repub. Heb. 1. 1, sum, et totam tribum quae sceptre signifi- ** 4. ' Traductum vero nomen est ad signi- cabatur, et regebatur.' ON THE PROPHECIES. 51 idea of kingly authority, which was not the thing intended here : and the Seventy " translate it &px<»v a rider, which answers better to a lawgiver in the following clause. It could not with any sort of propriety be said, that " the sceptre should not de part from Judah," when Judah had no sceptre, nor was" to have any for many generations afterwards : but Judah had a rod or staff of a tribe, for he was then constituted a tribe as well as the rest of his brethren. The very same expression occurs in Zechariah, (x. 11,) "and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away," which implies that Egypt had a sceptre, and that that sceptre should be taken away : but no grammar or language could justify the saying that Judah's sceptre should depart or be taken away, before Judah was in possession of any sceptre. Would it not therefore be better, to substitute the word staff or ruler instead of sceptre, unless we restrain the meaning of a sceptre to a rod or staff of a tribe, which is all that is here in tended 1 The staff or ruler shall not depart from Judah. The tribeship shall not depart from Judah. Such authority as Judah had then, was to remain with his posterity. It is not said or meant, that he should not cease from being a king or having a kingdom, for he was then no king, and had no kingdom ; but only that he should not cease from being a tribe or body politic, having rulers and governors of his own, till a certain period here foretold. " Nor a lawgiver from between his feet." The sense of the word sceptre will help us to fix and determine the meaning of the other word ppto mechokek, which we translate a lawgiver. For if they are not synonymous, they are not very different. Such as the government is, such must be the lawgiver. The government was only of a single tribe, and the lawgiver could be of no more. Nor had the tribe of Judah at any time a legisla tive authority over all the other tribes, no, not eyen in the reigns of David and Solomon. When David appointed the officers for the service ofthe temple, (1 Chron. xxv. 1 ; Ezra viii. 20;) and when Solomon was appointed king, and Zadok priest, (1 Chron. xxix. 22;) these things were done with the consent and ap probation of the princes and rulers of Israel. Indeed the whole nation had but one law, and one lawgiver in the strict sense of the word. The king himself was not properly a lawgiver ; he was only to have "a copy of the law," to "read therein," and to " turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left," (Deut. xvii. 18, &c.) Moses was truly, as he is styled, "the lawgiver," (Numb. xxi. 18; Deut. xxxiii. 21 ;) and when the word is applied to any other person or persons, as Judah is twice called by the Psalmist, (Psal. lx. 7, cviii. 8,) " my lawgiver," it is used in a lower signification. For it sig- ' OixEJcXciuVe (Jp^uviJ 'lovld. Sept, 52 BISHOP NEWTON nifies not only a lawgiver, but a judge ; not only one who maketh laws, but likewise one who exerciseth jurisdiction : and in the 7 Greek it is translated iyoiinsvos a leader or president, in the 8 Chaldee a scribe, in the 9 Syriac an expositor, and in our English Bible it is elsewhere translated a governor, as in Judges, (v. 14,) " Out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebu lun they that handle the pen of the writer." The lawgiver there fore is to be taken in a restrained sense as well as the sceptre : and perhaps it cannot be translated better than judge : Nor a judge from between his feet. Whether we understand, that a judge from between his feet shall not depart from Judah, or a judge shall not depart from between his feet, I conceive the meaning to be much the same, that there should not be wanting a judge of the race and posterity of Judah, according to the Hebrew phrase of children's coming from between the feet. They who expound it of sitting at the feet of Judah, seem not to have con sidered that this was the place of scholars, and not of judges and doctors of the law. As Dan (ver. 16) was to "judge his people as one of the tribes, or rulers, of Israel ;" so was Judah, and with this particular prerogative, that the staff or ruler should not depart from Judah, nor a judge from between his jeet, until the time here foretold, which we are now to examine and ascertain. " Until Shiloh come," that is, until the coming of the Messiah, as almost all interpreters, both ancient and modern, agree. For howsoever they may explain the word, and whencesoever they may derive it, the Messiah is the person plainly intended. — The Vulgar Latin1 translates it ' Qui mittendus est,' He who is to be sent ; and to favour this version that passage in St. John's Gos pel, (ix. 7,) is usually cited, " Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent :" and who was ever sent with such power and authority from God as the Messiah, who fre quently speaketh of himself in the gospel under the denomi nation of him whom the Father hath sent? — The Seventy2 trans late it t& AmKtiueva alr$, the things reserved for him, or according to other copies $ iirteirai, he for whom it is reserved : and what was the great treasure reserved for Judah, or who was the person for whom all things were reserved, but the Messiah, whom we have declaring in the gospel, (Matt. xi. 27,) "All things are delivered unto me of my Father," and again, (xxviii. 18,) "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth1?" The Syriac translates it to the same purpose, ' is cujus illud est,' he whose it is, I suppose meaning the kingdom ; and the Arabic * Kai fryotutvos Ik tZv ufipmi airoH. Sept. loach instead of nfyur Shiloh, and hath de- 8 'Neque scriba a filiis filiorum ejus.' rived it from rvjtv Shalach, misit, the mis- Chald. take being easy of n ch for n ft. » ' Et expositor de inter pedes ejus.' Syr. s Deriving it from v shquod or qua and ¦ As if St. Jerome had read nrVi» Siu- pj fo «. ' ON THE PROPHECIES. 53 •cujus ipse est,' whose he is, I suppose meaning Judah: and whose was Judah, or whose was the kingdom so properly as the Messiah's, who is so many times predicted under the character of the king of Israel ? — Junius and Tremellius with others 3 trans- la te it 'filius ejus,' his son : and who could be this son of Judah by way of eminence, but the Messiah, " the seed in which all the nations of the earth shall be blessed ?" — In the Samaritan text and version it is 'pacificus,' the peace-maker; and4 this perhaps is the best explication of the word : and to whom can this or any the like title be so justly applied as to the Messiah, who is emphatically styled, (Is. ix. 6,) "the prince of peace," and at whose birth was sung that heavenly anthem, (Luke ii. 14,) " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men '?" These are the principal interpretations, and whichever of these you prefer, the person understood must be the Messiah. But the learned Mr. Le Clerc would explain the text in such a manner as utterly to exclude the Messiah : and he was a very able commentator, the best perhaps upon the Pentateuch ; but like other learned men, he was sometimes apt to indulge strange unaccountable fancies. Of this kind, I conceive, is his interpretation of this prophecy ; for he 5 says that Shiloh sig nifies ' finis ejus aut cessatio,' his end or ceasing, and that it may be referred to the lawgiver, or to the sceptre, or even to Judah himself. But if it be referred to the lawgiver, or to the sceptre, what is it but an unmeaning tautology 1 There shall be a law giver as long as there shall be a lawgiver, There shall not be an end of the sceptre till the end of the sceptre come ? If it be referred to Judah or the tribe of Judah, the tiling is by no means true ; for the tribe of Judah subsisted, long after they had lost the king dom, and were deprived of all royal authority. Not many readers, I imagine, will concur with this learned commentator. The generality of interpreters, Jewish as well as Christian, have by Shiloh always understood the Messiah. The Targum of Onkelos is commonly 8 supposed to have been made before our Saviour's time, and he 7 thus expresseth the sense of the passage, 'There shall not be taken away one having the principality 3 As if it was derived from Sip Shil, pro- from VuP Shut, and Shut is the same as rhv fluvium sanguinis, or tW?W Shilejah, secun- Shalah, which in Chaldee signifies cessarc, dina, that wherein the infant is wrapped, desinere — LJims aut cessatio verti poteril. and thence by a metonymy the infant itself. Hoc posito, finis ejus poterit ad legislutorem 4 I look upon the word mS'W Shiloh to aut ad sceptrum referri, aut etiam ad ipsum be derived from the verb rbw Shalah, tran- Judam.' Comment, in locum. quillus, pacijicus fuit, in the same manner as G See Prideaux. Connect. Part. 2, B. 8, -nop kitor,fumus, is formed from lEp katar, Anno 37. mffumigavit : and there are other words of ' ' Non auferetur habens principatum a that formation. domo Judas, neque scriba a filiis filiorum 6 He says that mSvf Shiloh is the same ejus, usque in seeulum ; donee veniat Mes as YVmp Shilo, and ^v Shil may be derived sias, cujus est regnum.' 5* J54 BISHOP NEWTON from the house of Judah, nor a scribe from his children's chil dren, till Messias come whose is the kingdom.' And with him agree the other Targums or Chaldee paraphrases, and the au thors of the Talmud, and other ancient and modern Jews, whom the reader may see cited in Buxtorf upon the word. So that, I think, no doubt can remain, that by the coming of Shiloh, is meant the coming of the Messiah. "And unto him shall the gathering of the people be," or obe dience ofthe people, as it is otherwise translated. These words are capable of three different constructions ; and each so probable, that it is not easy to say which was certainly intended by the author. For, 1. they may relate to Judah, who is the main subject of the prophecy, and of the discourse preceding and fol lowing; and by the people we may understand the people of Israel : and then the meaning will be, that the other tribes should be gathered to the tribe of Judah ; which sense is approved by Le Clerc and some late commentators. Or, 2. they may relate to Shiloh, who is the person mentioned im mediately before ; and by the people we may understand the Gentiles : and then the meaning will be that the Gentiles should be gathered or become obedient to the Messiah ; which sense is consonant to other texts of Scripture, and is confirmed by the authority of most ancient interpreters; only8 some of them render it, and he shall be the expectation of the nation. Or, 3, they may still relate to Shiloh, and yet not be considered as a distinct clause, but be joined in construction with the preceding words until Shiloh come, the word until being common to both parts ; and then the sentence will run thus, until Shiloh come and to him the gathering or obedience ofthe people, that is, until the Messiah come, and until the people or nations be gathered to his obedience ; which sense is preferred by the most learned 9 Mr. Mede and some others. And each of these interpretations may very well be justified by the event. II. Having thus explained the words and meaning of the prophecy, I now proceed to show the full and exact completion of it. The twelve sons of Jacob are here constituted twelve tribes or heads of tribes, (ver. 28,) "All these are the twelve tribes of Israel ; and this it is that their father spake unto them, and blessed them ; every one according to his blessing he blessed them." To Judah particularly it was promised, that "the sceptre or rod of the tribe, should not depart from him, nor a lawgiver, or judge, from between his feet;" his tribe should continue a distinct tribe with rulers and judges and go- 8 "Et ipse erit expectatio gentium." Valandi Dissert, cui titulus: Prater e me- Vulg. following the Sept. Kal alirbs Tpoa-So- die civiurn Jud. ante Messim imperium uni- Kta eBvwv. who probably derived the word versale non abscessurus. Sylloge Dissertat. from nip expectavit. v. i. Mann's Crit. Note in locum. 9 See Mede's Discourse viii. et Gothofr. ON THE PROPHECIES. 55 vernors of its own, until the coming of the Messiah. The peo ple of Israel after this settlement of their government were reck oned by their tribes, but never before. It appears that they were reckoned by their tribes and according to their families, while they sojourned in Egypt : and the tribe of Judah made as considerable a figure as any of them. In number it was su perior to the others, (Numb. i. and xxvi.:) it had the first rank in the armies of Israel, (Numb. ii. :) it marched first against the Canaanites, (Judg. i. :) and upon all occasions manifested such courage as fully answered the character given of it, (ver. 9,) " Judah is a lion's whelp ; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up : he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up ?" If the first king of Israel was of the tribe of Benjamin, the second was of the tribe of Judah ; and from that time to the Babylonish captivity Judah had not only the sceptre of a tribe, but likewise the sceptre of a kingdom. When it was promised to Judah particularly that the sceptre should not depart from him, it was implied that it should de part from the other tribes : and accordingly the tribe of Ben jamin became a sort of appendage to the kingdom of Judah ; and the other ten tribes were after a time carried away captive into Assyria, from whence they never returned. The Jews also were carried captive to Babylon, but returned after seventy years : and during then captivity they were far from being treated as slaves, as it appears from the prophet's advice to them, (Jerem. xxix. 5, &c;) "Build ye houses, and dwell in them ; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them, &c." and many of them were so well fixed and settled at Babylon, and lived there in such ease and affluence, that they refused to re turn to their native country. In their captivity they were still allowed to live as a distinct people, appointed feasts and fasts for themselves, and had rulers and governors of their own, as we may collect from several places in Ezra and Nehemiah. When Cyrus had issued his proclamation for the rebuilding of the temple, " then rose up the chief of the fathers," saith Ezra, (i. 5 ;) so that they had chiefs and rulers among them. Cyrus ordered the vessels of the temple to be delivered to " the prince of Judah," (Ezra i. 8 ;) so that they had then a prince of Judah. And these princes and rulers, who are often mentioned, ma naged their return and settlement afterwards. It is true that after the Babylonish captivity they were not so free a people as before, living under the dominion of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans ; but still they lived as a distinct people under their own laws. The authority of their rulers and elders sub sisted under these foreign masters, as it had even while they were in Egypt. It subsisted under the Asmonean princes, as it had under the government of the Judges, and Samuel and 56 BISHOP NEWTON Saul ; for in the books of Maccabees there is frequent mention of the rulers and elders and council of the Jews, and of public acts and memorials in their name. It subsisted even in our Sa viour's tune, for in the Gospels we read often of the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people. Their power indeed in capital causes, especially such as related to the state, was abridged in some measure; they might judge, but not execute without the consent of the Roman governor, as I think we must infer from this passage, (John xviii. 31 :) "Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law : the Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." The sceptre was then departing, and in about forty years afterwards it totally departed. Their city was taken, their teraple was destroyed, and they themselves were either slain with the sword, or sold for slaves.- And from that time to this they have never formed one body or society, but have been dispersed among all nations ; their tribes and genealogies have been all confounded, and they have lived with out a ruler, without a lawgiver, and without supreme authority and government in any part of the earth. And this a cap tivity not for seventy years, but for seventeen hundred. ' Nor will they ever be able, (as the learned L prelate expresseth it,) after all their pretences, to show any signs or marks of the sceptre among them, till they discover the unknown country, where never mankind dwelt, and where the apocryphal Esdras has placed their brethren of the ten tribes.' (2 Esd. xiii. 41.) We have seen the exact completion of the former part of the prophecy, and now let us attend to that of the latter part, " And unto him shall the gathering of the people be." If we under stand this of Judah, that the other tribes should be gathered to that tribe, it was in some measure fulfilled by the people's going up so frequently as they did to Jerusalem, which was in the tribe of Judah, in order to obtain justice in difficult cases, and to worship God, in his holy temple. " Whither the tribes go up, (saith the Psalmist, cxxii. 4, 5,) the tribes of the Lord ; unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment ; the thrones of the house of David." Upon the division of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the tribe of Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, and several out of all the other tribes, (2 Chron. xi. 13, 16,) went over to Judah, and were so blended and incorpo rated together, that they are more than once spoken of under the notion of "one tribe," (1 Kings xi. 13, 32, 36:) and it is said expressly, (1 Kings xii. 20,) "there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only ;" all the rest were swallowed up in that tribe, and considered as parts and 1 Bishop Sherlock's Dissertat. 3d, p. 351, Edit. 5. ON THE PROPHECIES. 57 members of it. In like manner, when the Israelites were car ried away captive into Assyria, it is said, (2 Kings xvii. 18,) "there was none left but the tribe of Judah only :" and yet we know that the tribe of Benjamin, and many of the other tribes, remained too, but they are reckoned as one and the same tribe as Judah. Nay at this very time there was a remnant of Israel, that escaped from the Assyrians, and went and adhered to Judah : for we find afterwards, that in the reign of Josiah there were some " of Manasseh and Ephraim and of the remnant of Israel," who contributed money to the repairing of the temple, as well as "Judah and Benjamin," (2 Chron. xxxiv. 9 ;) and at the solemn celebration of the passover some "of Israel were present as well as all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem." When the people returned from the Babylonish captivity, then again several of the tribes of Israel associated themselves, and returned with Judah and Benjamin ; " and in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh," (1 Chron. ix. 3.) At so many different times, and upon such different occasions, the other tribes were gathered to this tribe, insomuch that Judah became the general name ofthe whole nation ; and after the Ba bylonish captivity, they were no longer called the people of Israel, but the people of Judah or Jews. Again ; if we understand this of Shiloh or the Messiah, that the people or Gentiles should be gathered to his obedience, it is no more than is foretold in many other prophecies of Scripture ; and it began to be fulfilled in Cornelius the centurion, whose conversion (Acts x.) was as I may say the first fruits of the Gentiles, and the harvest afterwards was Very plenteous. In a few years the gospel was disseminated, and " took root down ward, and bore fruit upward" in the most considerable parts of the world then known : and in Constantine's time, when the empire became Christian, it might with some propriety be said, " the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." (Rev. xi. 15.) We ourselves were of the Gentiles, but are now gathered unto Christ. Lastly, if we join this in construction with the words pre ceding " until Shiloh come," two events are specified as fore runners of the sceptre's departing from Judah, the coming of the Messiah, and the gathering of the Gentiles to him ; and these together point out with greater exactness the precise time of the sceptre's departure. Now it is certain that before the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dissolution of the Jewish commonwealth by the Romans, the Messiah was not only come, but great numbers likewise of the Gentiles were con verted to him. The very same thing was predicted by our Sa- H 58 BISHOP NEWTON viour himself, (Matt. xxiv. 14,) "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all na tions, and then shall the end come ;" the destruction of Jeru salem, and end of the Jewish constitution. The Jews were not to be cut off, till the Gentiles were graffed into the church. And in fact we find that the apostles and their companions preached the gospel in all the parts of the world then known. "Their sound, (as St. Paul applies the saying, Rom. x. 18,) went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." And then the end came, then an end was put to the Jewish polity in church and state. The government of the tribe of Judah had subsisted in some form or other from the death of Jacob to the last destruction of Jerusalem : but then it was utterly broken and ruined ; then the sceptre departed, and hath been departed ever since. And now even the distinc tion of tribes is in great measure lost among them ; they are all called Jews, but the tribe of Judah is so far from bearing rule, that they know not for certain which is the tribe of Judah ; and all the world is witness, that they exercise dominion no where, but every where live in subjection. Before we conclude it may not be improper to add a just observation of the learned prelate before cited. As the tribe of Benjamin annexed itself to the tribe of Judah as its head, so it ran the same fortune with it; they went together into captivity, they returned home together, and were both in being when Shiloh came. This also was foretold by Jacob, (ver. 27,) "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall de vour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil." The morning and night here can be nothing else but the 2 morning and night of the Jewish state ; for this state is the subject of all Jacob's prophecy from one end to the other ; and conse quently it is here foretold of Benjamin, that he should continue to the very last times of the Jewish state. This interpretation is confirmed by Moses's prophecy, for the prophecy of Moses is in truth an exposition of Jacob's prophecy. "Benjamin (saith Moses, Deut. xxxiii. 12) shall dwell in safety ; the Lord shall cover him all the day long." What is this all the day long ? The same certainly as the morning and night. Does not this import a promise of a longer continuance to Benjamin, than to the other tribes 1 And was it not most exactly fulfilled 1 To conclude. This prophecy and the completion of it will furnish us with an invincible argument, not only that the Mes siah is come, but also that Jesus Christ is the person. For the sceptre was not to depart from Judah, until the Messiah should 2 Thus some Jewish interpreters referred poribus — Sub vesperam, id est, post captivi- '.o by Bochart undeistood the expression: tatis Babylonicoetempora.' Hierezoic. pars ' Mane, id est, primis Israelitici regni tem- prior, 1. 3, c. 10, col. 828. ON THE PROPHECIES. 59 come : but the sceptre hath long been departed, and conse quently the Messiah hath been long come. The sceptre de parted at the final destruction of Jerusalem, and hath been de parted seventeen centuries; and consequently the Messiah came a little before that period : and if the Messiah came a little be fore that period, prejudice itself cannot long make any doubt concerning the person. All considerate men must say as Simon Peter said to Jesus, (John vi. 68, 69,) "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." V. — Balaam's prophecies. WONDERFUL as the gift of prophecy was, it was not plways confined to the chosen seed, nor yet always im parted to the best of men. God might sometimes, to convince the world of his superintendence and government of the world, disclose the purposes of his providence to heathen nations. He revealed himself to Abimelech, (Gen. xx.) to Pharaoh, (Gen xii.) and to Nebuchadnezzar, ( Dan. ii. : ) and we have no reason to deny all the marvellous stories which are related of divination among the heathens ; the possibility and credibility of which is argued on both sides by Cicero in his two books of Divination, his brother Quintus asserting it in the first book, and himself labouring to disprove it in the second; but I think all unpreju diced readers must agree, that the arguments for it are stronger and better than those urged against it. Neither was there any necessity that the prophets should always be good men. Unwor thy persons may sometimes be possessed of spiritual gifts as well as of natural. Aaron and Miriam, who were inspired upon some occasions, yet upon others mutinied against Moses, and rebelled against God. Jonah for his disobedience to God was thrown into the sea. In the 13th chapter of the first book of Kings we read of two prophets, the one a liar and afterwards inspired, the other inspired and afterwards disobedient to the word of the Lord. Yea, our Saviour himself hath assured us, (Matt. vii. 22, 23,) that in the last day many will say unto him, " Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name 1 and in thy name have cast out devils 1 and in thy name done many wonderful works'? and yet will he profess unto them, I never knew you ; depart from me ye that work iniquity." Balaam was a remarkable instance of both kinds, both of a prophet who was an heathen, and of a prophet who was an immoral man. He came from " Aram, " or " Mesopotamia, out of the mountains of the east," (Numb, xxiii. 7; Deut. xxiii. 4 :) 60 BISHOP NEWTON and the east was infamous for soothsayers and diviners, (Is. ii. 6.) However, he was a worshipper of the true God, (as were also Melchizedek, and Job, and others of the heathen nations,) and this appears by his applying to God, (Numb. xxii. 8,) " I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak unto me ;" and by his calling the Lord his God, (ver. 18,) "I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do less or more." But his worship was mixed and debased with superstition, as appears by his building "seven altars," and sacrificing on each altar (Numb, xxiii. 1, 2,) and by his going "to seek for enchant ments," whatever they were, (Numb. xxiv. 1.) He appears too to have had some pious thoughts and resolutions, by declaring " I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to do less or more ; " and by so earnestly wishing " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his," (xxiii. 10.) But his heart was unsound, was mercenary, was corrupt ; he "loved the wages of unrighteousness," (2 Pet. ii. 15,) and "ran greedily after rewards," (Jude 11. :) his inclinations were con trary to his duty ; he was ordered to stay, but yet he wished to go ; he was commanded to bless, but yet he longed to curse ; and when he found that he was overruled, and could do the people no hurt as a prophet, he still contrived to do it as a politician, and " taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the chil dren of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication," (Rev. ii. 14.) So that he was indeed a strange mixture of a man ; but so is every man more or less. There are inconsistencies and contradictions in every character, though not so great perhaps and notorious as in Balaam. If he is called a soothsayer in one part of Scripture, (Josh. xiii. 22,) in another part he is called a prophet, (2 Pet. ii. 16 :) and his name must have been in high credit and estimation, that the king of Moab and the elders of Midian should think it worth their while to send two honourable embassies to him at a con siderable distance, to engage . him to come and curse the people of Israel. It was a superstitious ceremony in use among the heathens to devote their enemies to destruction at the beginning of their wars, as if the gods would enter into their passions, and were as unjust and partial as themselves. The Romans had public officers to perforin the ceremony, and 1 Macrobius hath preserved the form of these execrations. Now Balaam being a prophet of great note and eminence, it was beheved that he was more intimate than others with the hea venly powers, and consequently that his imprecations would De more effectual ; for as Balak said unto him, (Numb. xxii. 6,) " I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed." 1 Saturnal. 1. 3. c. 9. ON THE PROPHECIES, 61 But the strangest incident of all is the part of Balaam's ass. This usually is made the grand objection to the truth of the story. The speaking ass from that time to this hath been the standing jest of every infidel brother. Philo the Jew, seemeth to have been ashamed of this part of the story : for in the first book of his life of Moses, wherein he hath given an account of Balaam, he hath purposely omitted this particular of the ass's speaking, I suppose not to give offence to the Gentiles ; but he needed not to have been so cautious of offending them, for similar stories were current among them. The learned 2 Bochart hath collected several instances, the ass of Bacchus, the ram of Phrixus, the horse of Achilles, and the like, not only from the poets and mythologists, but also from the gravest historians, such as Livy and Plutarch, who frequently affirm that oxen have spoken. The proper use of citing such authorities is not to prove that those instances and this of Balaam are upon an equal footing, and equally true ; but only to prove, that the Gentiles believed such things to be true, and to lie within the power of their gods, and consequently could not object to the truth of scripture-history on this account. Maimonides and others have conceived, that the matter was transacted in a vision : and it must be confessed that many things in the writ ings of the prophets are spoken of as real transactions, which were only visionary ; and these visions made as strong impres sions upon the minds of the prophets as realities. But it ap pears rather more probable from the whole tenor of the narration, that this was no visionary, but a real transaction. The words of St. Peter show, that it is to be understood, as he himself understood it, literally, (2 Pet. ii. 14, 15, 16:) "Cursed chil dren : which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness ; but was rebuked for his iniquity ; the dumb ass speaking with man's voice, forbade the madness of the prophet." The ass was > enabled to utter such and such sounds, probably, as parrots do, without understanding them : and say what you will of the construction of the ass's mouth, of the formation of the tongue and jaws being unfit for speak ing, yet an adequate cause is assigned for this wonderful effect, for it is said expressly, "that the Lord opened the mouth of the ass ;" and no one who believes a God, can doubt of his hav ing power to do this, and much more. If the whole transaction was visionary, no reason can be given why it was said particu larly that "the Lord opened the mouth of the ass." But it is thought strange that Balaam should express no surprise upon this extraordinary occasion : but perhaps he had been accus tomed to prodigies with his enchantments ; or perhaps believing 2 Hierozoic. Pars prior. 1. 2, c. 14. 62 BISHOP NEWTON the eastern doctrine of the transmigration of human souls into the bodies of brutes, he might think such a humanized brute not incapable of speaking : or perhaps he might not regard, or attend to the wonder, through excess of rage and madness, as the word is in St. Peter ; or perhaps (which is the most pro bable of all) he might be greatly disturbed and astonished, as 3 Josephus affirms he was, and yet Moses in his short history might omit this circumstance. The miracle was by no means needless or superfluous ; it was very proper to convince Balaam, that the mouth and tongue were under God's direction, and that the same divine power which caused the dumb ass to speak contrary to its nature, could make him in like manner utter blessings contrary to his inclination. And accordingly he was overruled to bless the people, though he came prepared and disposed to curse them, which according to 4Bochart was the greater miracle of the two, for the ass was merely passive, but Balaam resisted the good motions of God. We may be the more certain that he was influenced to speak contrary to his in clination, because after he had done prophesying, though he had been ordered in anger to depart and "flee to his place," (Numb. xxiv. 10, 11,) yet he had the meanness to stay, and gave that wicked counsel, whereby the people were enticed " to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab," and " twenty and four thousand died in the plague." (Numb. xxv. 1, 9.) This miracle then was a proper sign to Balaam, and had a proper effect ; and we may the more easily believe it, when we find Balaam afterwards inspired with such knowledge of futu rity. It was not more above the natural capacity of the ass to speak, than it was above the natural capacity of Balaam to foretel so many distant events. The prophecies render the mi racle more credible ; and we shall have less reason to doubt of the one, when we see the accomplishment of the others. His predictions are indeed wonderful, whether we consider the matter or the style ; as if the same divine Spirit that inspired his thoughts, had also raised his language. They are called parables in the sacred text : " he took up his parable and said." The same word is used after the same manner in the book of Job, (xxvii. 1 ; xxix. 1 :) "Moreover Job continued his parable and said." It is commonly translated parable or proverb. Le Clerc translates it ' figuratam orationem :' and thereby is meant a 3 Antiq. Jud. 1. 4, c. 6, § 2, Taparroulvov raeli maledicere." Et vero id docuit even- o*' alfToU Sid rr)v rjjs 6'vov Qwiiv avBpunrtvnv tus, cum Balaam iis ipsis invitus benedixit, ovo-av ; k. t. X. Dum vero ille voce numana quibus maledicturus tanto apparatu vene- asinm attonitus iurbatusque, fyc. rat, non minore oraculo, aut etiam majore, 4 ' Rabba in Numeros, § 20. Deum as- quam cum asina locuta est. Asina enim erat serit os asinae ideo aperuisse, " ut Balaa- mere paliens, sed Balaam moventi Deo mum doceret, os, et linguam penes se esse, pro vinli obsistebat, ut Saul, cum prophe- ideoque os ipsius Balaami, si quasreret Is- tarn egit.' Hierozoic. Pars prior. 1. 2 c. 14. ON THE PROPHECIES. 63 weighty and solemn speech delivered in figurative and majestic language. Such, remarkably such, 5are the prophecies or para bles of Balaam. You cannot peruse them without being struck with the beauty of them. You will perceive uncommon force and energy, if you read them only in our English translation. We shall select only such parts as are more immediately relative to the design of these discourses. After he had offered his first sacrifice, (Numb, xxiii.) he went to seek the Lord, and at his return he declared among other things, " Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned- among the nations," (ver. 9.) And how could Ba laam upon a distant view only of a people, whom he had never seen or known before, have discovered the genius and manners not only of the people then living, but of their posterity to the latest generations 1 What renders it more extraordinary is the singularity of the character, that they should differ from all the people in the world, and should dwell by themselves among the nations, without mixing and incorporating with any. The time too when this was affirmed increases the wonder, it being be fore the people were well known in the world, before their re ligion and government were established, and even before they had obtained a settlement any where. But yet that the cha racter was fully verified in the event, not only all history testi fies, but we have even ocular demonstration at this day. The Jews, in their religion and laws, their rites and ceremonies, their manners and customs, were so totally different from all other nations, that they had little intercourse or communion with them. An e eminent author hath shown, that there was a ge neral intercommunity amongst the gods of Paganism ; but no such thing was allowed between the God of Israel and the gods of the nations. There was to be no fellowship between God and Belial, though there might be between Belial and Dagon. And hence the Jews' were branded for their inhu manity and unsociableness ; and they as generally hated, as they were hated by the rest of mankind. Other nations, 6 See to this purpose Mr. Lowth's poetical Prelections, particularly Pral. 4, p. 41, Prael. 18, p. 173, and his ingenious version of part of Balaam's prophecies into Latin verse, Prael. 20, p. 206. The learned reader will not be displeased to see it here. ' Tuis, Jacobe, quantus est castris decor ! Tuisque signis, Israel ! Ut rigua vallis fertilem pandens sinum J Horti ut scatentes rivulis : Sacris Edenae costi ut in syivis virent, Cedrique propter flumina. Uli uda multo rore stillant germina, Faetusque alunt juges aqua?. Sancti usque fines promovebit imperi Rex usque victor hostium. Ilium subacto duxit ab Nilo Deus, Novis superbum viribus, Qualis remotis liber injugis oryx Fert celsa ccelo cornua. Vorabit hostes ; ossa franget ; irritas Lacerabit hastas dentibus. Ut Leo, recumbit; ut leaena, decubat; Quis audeat lacessere ? Quae quisque tibi precabitur, ferat bona! Mala quae precabitur, luat 1' See the Divine Legation of Moses, b. 2, § 6, and b. 5, § 2. 64 BISHOP NEWTON the conquerors and the conquered, have often associated and united as one body under the same laws; but the Jews in their captivities have commonly been more bigoted to their own religion, and more tenacious of their own rites and customs, than at other times. And even now, while they are dispersed among all nations, they yet five distinct and separate from all, trading only with others, but eating, marrying, and convers ing chiefly among themselves. We see therefore how exactly and wonderfully Balaam characterised the whole race from the first to the last, when he said; "Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." In the conclusion too when he poured forth that passionate wish, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his," (ver. 10,) he had in all probability some forebodings of his own coming to an untimely end, as he really did afterwards, being slain with the five kings of Midian by the sword of Israel, (Numb. xxxi. 8.) After the second sacrifice he said, among other things, (Numb. xxii. 24,) "Behold the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion : he shall not he down until he eat of the prey, and drink of the blood of the slain :" and again to the same purpose after the third sacrifice, (xxiv. 8, 9,) " He shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break then bones, and pierce them through with his arrows : He couched, he lay down as a lion,- and as a great lion : who shall stir him up 1 Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee." Which passages are a manifest prophecy of the victories which the Israelites should gain over their ene mies, and particularly the Canaanites, and of their secure pos session and quiet enjoyment of the land afterwards, and par ticularly in the reigns of David and Solomon. It is remarkable, too, that God hath here put into the mouth of Balaam much the same things which Jacob had before predicted of Judah, (Gen. xlix. 9,) "Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up : he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion ; who shall rouse him up 1" and Isaac had predicted of Jacob, (Gen. xxvii. 29,) " Cursed be every one (hat curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee:" there is such analogy and harmony between the prophecies of Scripture. At the same time Balaam declared, (ver. 7,) " His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted." Some copies have Gog instead of Agag, which reading is embraced by the 7 authors of the Universal History, who say that ' as the Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic read Gog instead of Agag, and Gog doth generally signify the Scythians and nor- See Univers. Hist. b. 1, c. 7, § 2, vol. i. p. 534. Fol. Edit, note Y. ON THE PROPHECIES. 65 thern nations, several interpreters have preferred this latter read ing to the first, and not without good grounds.' But it is a mis take to say, that the Syriac and Arabic read Gog : It is found only in the 8 Samaritan and the Septuagint, and in Symmachus according to Grotius : the 9 Syriac and Arabic have Agag as well as the Targum of Onkelos and the Vulgate, though this latter with a different sense and construction of the words. Neither have we any account that Gog was a famous king at that time, and much less that the king of Israel was ever exalted above him ; and indeed the Scythians and northern nations lay too remote to be the proper subject of a comparison. The reading of the Hebrew copies, his king shall be higher than Agag, is without doubt the true reading : and we must either suppose that Agag was prophesied of by name particularly, as Cyrus and Josiah were several years before they were born : or we must say with J Moses Gerundensis, a learned Rabbi quoted by Minister, that Agag was the general name of the kings of Ama lek, which appears very probable, it being the custom of those times and of those countries to give one certain name to all their kings, as Pharaoh was the general name for the kings of Egypt, and Abimelech for the kings of the Philistines. Amalek too was a neighbouring country, and therefore is fitly intro duced upon the present occasion : and it was likewise at that time a great and flourishing kingdom, for (in ver. 20) it is styled " the first of the nations ;" and therefore for the king of Israel to be exalted above the king of Amalek was really a wonderful exaltation. But wonderful as it was, it was accom plished by Saul, who " smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt : and he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword," (1 Sam. xv. 7, 8.) The first king of Israel subdued Agag the king of the Amalekites, so that it might truly and properly be said, " his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted," as it was afterwards greatly by David and So lomon. His latter prophecies Balaam ushers in with a remarkable preface, "Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open, hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, fall- 8 "Extolleturque pra Gog rex ejus." num illius.'' Onk. " Tolletur propter Samar. Kai vtpwBtiacrai § Tdy fiaaiXela. Agag rex ejus, et auferetur regnum illius." Sept. h^piad^aerai inrip r&y PaaiXsbs airoS. Vulg. Symm. apud Grot. 1 'Et secundum Mosen Gerundensem, 9_ " Extolletur pra Agag rege, et exal- quihbet rex Ama'ekitarum fuit vocatus tabitur regnum." Syr. "Exaltabitur plus Agag, transitque primi regis nomen in quam Agag rex ejus, et extolletur reg- omnes posteros solium regm occupantes ; num ejus.' Arab. " Roborabitur magis sicut a Caesare primo omnes Romanorura quam Agag rex ejus, et elevabitur reg- regis Cassares appellantur.' Munsterus. 6* I 66 BISHOP NEWTON ing into a trance, but having his eyes open," (Numb. xxiv. 3, 4, and 15, 16.) Which hath occasioned much perplexity and con fusion, but the words rightly rendered will admit of an easy interpretation. Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: It should be the man whose eye was shut : for the word an» shatam is used only here and in Lamentations, (iii. 8,) and there it signifies to shut; and the word nno satam, which is very near of kin to it, I think, hath always that signification. St. Jerome translates it ' cujus obturatus est oculus :' and in the margin of our Bibles it is rendered who had his eyes shut, but with this addition but now open. It plainly alludes to Balaam's not seeing the angel of the Lord, at the same time that the ass saw him. " He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty ;" for in this story we read several times, that " God came unto Balaam and said unto him ;" and possibly he might allude to former revelations. "Falling into a trance, but having his eyes open ;" in the original there is no mention of a trance ; the passage should be rendered, falling and his eyes were opened, alluding to what happened in the way, to Balaam's falling with his falling ass, and then having his eyes opened : " And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam — Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand ; and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face," (xxii. 27, &c.) A contrast is intended between having his eyes shut and having his eyes opened; the one an swers to the other. The design of this preface was to excite attention ; and so Balaam proceeds to " advertise Balak what this people should do to his people in the latter days," by which phrase is meant the time to come, be it more or less remote. He begins with what more immediately concerns the Moab ites, the people to whom he is speaking, (ver. 17:) "I shall see him, but not now, I shall behold him, but not nigh ;" or ra ther, J see him, but not now ; I behold him, but not nigh ; the fu ture tense in Hebrew being often used for the present. He saw with the eyes of prophecy, and prophets are emphatically styled seers. "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel." The star and the sceptre are probably metaphors borrowed from the ancient hieroglyphics, which much influenced the language of the East : and they evi dently denote some eminent and illustrious king or ruler, whom he particularises in the following words. "And shall smite the corners of Moab," or the princes of Moab, according to other versions. This was executed by David, for " he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground : even with two lines measured he, to put to death ; ON THE PROPHECIES. 67 and with one full line to keep alive :" that is, he destroyed two- thirds, and saved one-third alive : " And so the Moabites be came David's servants, and brought gifts," (2 Sam. viii. 2.) "And destroy all the children of Sheth," (ver. 17.) If by Sheth was meant the son of Adam, then all the children of Sheth are all mankind, the posterity of Cain and Adam's other sons having all perished in the deluge, and the line only of Sheth having been preserved in Noah and his family : but it is very harsh to say that any king of Israel would destroy all mankind, and therefore the 2 Syriac and Chaldee soften it, that he shall subdue all the sons of Sheth, and rule over all the sons of men. The word occurs only in this place, and in Isaiah, (xxii. 5,) where it is used in the sense of breaking down or destroying; nnd as particular places, Moab and Edom, are mentioned both before and after; so it is reasonable to conclude that not all mankind in general, but some particular persons were intended by the expression of the sons of Sheth. The 3 Jerusalem Targum translates it the sons of the east, the Moabites lying east of Judea. Rabbi Nathan4 says that Sheth is the name of a city in the bor der of Moab. Grotius 6 imagines Sheth to be the name of some famous king among the Moabites. Ovx Poole, who is a ju dicious and useful commentator, says that Sheth ' seems to be the name of some then eminent, though now unknown, place or prince in Moab, where there were many princes, as appears from Numb, xxiii. 6 ; Amos ii. 3 : there being innumerable in stances of such places or persons sometimes famous, but now utterly lost as to all monuments and remembrances of them.' Vitringa in his commentary upon Isaiah,6 conceives that the Idumeans were intended, the word Sheth signifying a foun dation, or fortified place, because they trusted greatly in their castles and fortifications. But the Idumeans are mentioned afterwards ; and it is probable that as two hemistichs relate to them, two also, relate to the Moabites ; and the reason of the appellation assigned by Vitringa is as proper to the Moabites as to the Idumeans. It is common in the style of the Hebrews, and especially in the poetic parts, of Scripture, and we may observe it particularly in these prophecies of Balaam, that the same thing in effect is repeated in other words, and the latter 5 "Et subjugavit omnes filios Seth." ter Moabitas.' Grot. Syr. "Et dominabitur omnium filiorum 6 'Non desisto ab hac sententia, vocem hominum." Chald. -ip-ip karkar in verbis Bileami certo signi- 3 ' Hinc Jerosolim. Paraphrastcs filios ficare destructionem, eversionem, vastatio- orientis vertit. Moabitae emm erant ad nem; etsi hseream in phrasi nip *ja filio- ortum Judeaa.' Le Clerc. rum Seth, per quos secundum circumstan- 4 'R. Nathan dicit Seth nomen urbis tias loci intelligi puto Idumaeos, voce nttt esse in termino Moab. Vide Liram.' appellative sumpta pro funda-mento, siv« Drusius. loco munito, quod illi maxime arcibus ac 6 * Nihil vero propius quam Seth nomi- muniment is suia fiderent.' Vitring. in natum fuisse regem aliquem eximium in- Jesaim, c. 23, ver. 5, p. 641, vol. i. 68 BISHOP NEWTON member of each period is exegetical of the former, as in the pas sage before us ; / see him, but not now ; I behold him, but not nigh : and then again, " There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel :" and again afterwards, " And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies." There is great reason therefore to think, that the same manner of speaking was continued here, and conse quently that Sheth must be the name of some eminent place or person among the Moabites ; " and shall smite the princes of Moab, and destroy all the sons of Sheth." "And Edom shall be a possession," (ver. 18.) This was also fulfilled by David ; for " he put garrisons in Edom ; through out all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants," (2 Sam. viii. 14.) David himself in two of his psalms hath mentioned together his conquest of Moab and Edom, as they are also joined together in this prophecy; " Moab is my wash-pot, over Edom will I cast out my shoe," (Psal. lx. 8; cviii. 9.) "Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies," that is, for the Israelites. Seir is the name of the mountains of Edom, so that even their mountains and fast nesses could not defend the Idumeans from David and his cap tains. "And Israel shall do valiantly," as they did particu larly under the command of David, several of whose victories are recorded in this same 8th chapter of the 2d book of Samuel, together with his conquest of Moab and of Edom, (ver. 19.) " Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city ;" not only defeat them in the field, but destroy them even in their strongest cities, or perhaps some particular city was intended, as we may infer from Psal. lx. 9 ; cviii. 10 : "Who will bring me into the strong city 1 who will lead me into Edom V And we read particularly that Joab, David's general, " smote every male in Edom : for six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom," (1 Kings xi. 15, 16.) We see how exactly this prophecy hath been fulfilled in the person and actions of David: but most Jewish as well as Christian writers apply it, primarily perhaps to David, but ulti mately to the Messiah, as the person chiefly intended, in whom it was to receive its full and entire completion. Onkelos, who is the most ancient and valuable of the Chaldee paraphrasts, interprets it of the Messiah. ' When a prince,' 7 says he, ' shall arise of the house of Jacob, and Christ shall be anointed of the house of Israel, he shall both slay the princes of Moab, and rule over all the sons of men :' and with him agree the other Targums or paraphrases. Maimonides, who is one of the most * 'Cum consurget rex de domo Jacob, et ungetur Christus de domo Israel; et occidet principes Moab, et dominabitur omnium filioruin hominum.' Onk. ON THE PROPHECIES. 69 learned and famous of the Jewish doctors, understands it partly of David, and partly of the Messiah : and with him agree other rabbies, whom you may find cited by the critics and commen tators to this purpose. It appears to have been generally un derstood by the Jews, as a prophecy of the Messiah, because the false Christ, who appeared in the reign of the Roman em peror Adrian, 8 assumed the title of Barchochehas, or the son oj the star, in allusion to this prophecy, and in order to have it believed that he was the star whom Balaam had seen afar off. The Christian fathers, I think, are unanimous in applying this prophecy to our Saviour, and to the star which appeared at his nativity. Origen in particular saith, that 9 in the law there are many typical and enigmatical references to the Messiah : but he produceth this as one of the plainest and clearest of pro phecies : and both x Origen and Eusebius affirm, that it was in consequence of Balaam's prophecies, which were known and believed in the east, that the Magi, upon the appearance of a new star, came to Jerusalem to worship him who was born king of the Jews. The stream of modern divines and commentators runneth the same way, that is, they apply the prophecy prin cipally to our Saviour, and by Moab and Edom understand the enemies and persecutors of the church. And it must be ac knowledged in favour of this opinion, that many prophecies of Scripture have a double meaning, literal and mystical, respect two events, and receive a twofold completion. David too was in several things a type and figure of the Messiah. If by de stroying all the children of Sheth be meant ruling over all mankind, this was never fulfilled in David. A star did really appear at our Saviour's nativity, and in Scripture he is styled the " day- star," (2 Pet. i. 19,) "the morning-star," (Rev. ii. 28,) "the bright and morning star," (xxii. 16,) perhaps in allusion to this very prophecy. Dr. Warburton, who improves every subject that he handles, assigns a farther reason. Speaking of the two sorts of metaphor in the ancient use of it, the popular and com mon, and the hidden and mysterious ; he 2 says that ' the pio- phetic writings are full of this kind of metaphor. To instance only in the famous prediction of Balaam — "there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel." This prophecy may possibly in some sense relate to David, but with out doubt it belongs principally to Christ. Here the metaphor ' See Basnage's Hist, of the Jews, b. 6, typice, turn obscure, qua referantur ad Chris- c. 9, § 12. turn. Apertiora vero alia, et manifestiorapras- 9 TvvikHs piv oZv Kal ahtyuaTtaSCis ava- ier hose, ego in prcescntia non video. x opw Eirl rov -KapdvTos Evangel. 1. 9, § 1. fiXXa Tivd irapd ravra. Quamobrem quam 2 See the Divine Legation. &c. book 4, plurima invenire licet scripta in lege turn sect. 4. 70 BISHOP NEWTON of a sceptre was common and popular to denote a ruler, like David ; but the star, though, like the other, it signified in the prophetic writings a temporal prince or ruler, yet had a secret and hidden meaning likewise. A star in the Egyptian hiero glyphics denoted3 God: (and how much hieroglyphic writing influenced the eastern languages we shall see presently.) Thus God, in the prophet Amos, reproving the Israelites for their idolatry on their first coming out of Egypt, says, "Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel 1 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your God which ye made to yourselves," (Amos v. 25, 26.) The star oj your God is here a noble figurative expression to signify the image of your God ; for a star being employed in the hierogly phics to signify God, it is used here with great elegance to sig nify the material image of a God ; the words the star of your God being only a repetition (so usual in the Hebrew tongue) ofthe preceding — Chiun, your images; and not (as some critics suppose) the same with your God star, ' sidus Deum vestrum.' Hence we conclude that the metaphor here used by Balaam of a star was of that abstruse mysterious kind, and so to be un derstood ; and consequently that it related only to Christ, the eternal son of God.' Thus far this excellent writer. But though for these reasons the Messiah might be remotely intended, yet we cannot allow that he was intended solely, because David might be called a star by Balaam, as well as other rulers or governors are by Daniel, (viii. 10,) and by St. John, (Rev. i. 20 :) and we must insist upon it, that the primary intention, the literal meaning of the prophecy respects the person and actions of David ; and for this reason particularly, because Balaam is here advertising Balak, "What this people should do to his people in the latter days," that is, what the Israelites should do to the Moabites hereafter. From the Moabites he turned his eyes more to the south and west, and " looked" on their neighbours, the Amalekites ; and "took up his parable, and said, (ver. 20,) Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever." "Amalek was the first of the nations," the first and most powerful of the neighbouring nations, or the first that warred against Israel, as it is in the margin of our Bibles. The latter interpretation is proposed by 4 Onkelos and other Jews, I suppose because they would not allow the Amalekites to be a more ancient nation than themselves : but most good critics . prefer the former interpretation as more easy and natural, and for a very good reason, because the Amalekites appear to have Airrfy) Trap' Alymrtois yparpb-pcvos Scbv * ' Principium bellorum Israel fuit Ama- miuUvu. Horapol. Hierog. lib. 2, cap. 1. lech.' Onk. ON THE PROPHECIES. 71 been a very ancient nation. They are reckoned among the most ancient nations thereabouts, (1 Sam. xxvii. 8:) "the Geshu- rites, and. the Gezrites, and the Amalekites ; for these nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt." They are mentioned as early as in the wars of Chedorlaomer, (Gen. xiv. 7;) so that they must have been a nation before the times of Abraham and Lot, and consequently much older than the Moabites, or Edomites, or any of the nations descended from those patriarchs. And this is a dernonstrative argument, that the Amalekites did not descend from Amalek, the son of Eliphaz and grandson of Esau, as many have supposed only for the similitude of names, (Gen. xxxvi. 12 ;) but sprung from some other stock, and probably, as the Arabian writers affirm, from Amalek or Amlek, the son of Ham and grandson of Noah. Amlak et Amlik, fils de Chain, fils de No — C'est celuy que les Hebreux appellent Amalec pere des Amalecites : so saith Herbelot : but it is to be wished that this valuable and useful author had cited his authorities. Ac cording to the 'Arabian historians too, they were a great and powerful nation, subdued Egypt, and held it in subjection several years. They must certainly have been more powerful, or at least more courageous, than the neighbouring nations, because they ventured to attack the Israelites, of whom the other nations were afraid. But though they were the first, the most ancient and powerful of the neighbouring nations, yet " their latter end shall be that they perish for ever. " Here Balaam unwittingly confirms what God had before denounced by Moses, (Exod. xvii. 14:) "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will (or rather, that I will) utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." Balaam had before declared, that the king of Israel should prevail over the king of Amalek ; but here the menace is carried farther, and Amalek is consigned to utter destruction. This sentence was in great measure executed by Saul, who " smote the Amalekites, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword, " (1 Sam. xv. 7, 8.) When they had recovered a little, " David and his men went up and invaded them ; and David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel," (1 Sam. xxvii. 8, 9.) David made a farther slaughter and conquest of them at Ziglag, (1 Sam. xxx.) and at last " the sons of Simeon, in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt in their habitations," (1 Chron iv. 41, 42, 43.) And where is the name or the nation of Amalek subsisting at this day1? What 6 See Univers. Hist. b. 1, c. 3, p. 281 Folio Edit. vol. i. 72 BISHOP NEWTON history, what tradition concerning them is remaining any where 1 They are but just enough known and remembered to show, that what God had threatened he hath punctually fulfilled ; " I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven," and "his latter end shall be that he perish for ever." Then "he looked on the Kenites : and took up his parable, and said, (ver. 21, 22,) Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive." Com mentators are perplexed, and much at a loss to say with any certainty who these Kenites were. There are Kenites men tioned (Gen. xv. 19) among the Canaanitish nations, whose land was promised unto Abraham ; and Le Clerc6 imagines that those Kenites were the people here intended : but the Canaan itish nations are not the subject of Balaam's prophecies ; and the Canaanitish nations were to be rooted out, but these Kenites were to continue as long as the Israelites themselves, and to be carried captive with them by the Assjalans ; and in the opinion of Bochart,7 those Kenites as well as the Kenizzites became extinct in the interval of time which passed between Abraham and Moses, being not mentioned by Joshua in the division of the land, nor reckoned among the nations conquered by him. The most probable account of these Kenites I con ceive to be this. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, is called in one place " the priest of Midian," (Exod. iii. 1,) and in an other " the Kenites," (Judg. i. 16.) We may infer therefore that the Midianites and the Kenites were the same, or at least that the Kenites were some of the tribes of Midian. The Midianites are said to be confederates with the Moabites in the beginning of the story, and the elders of Midian as well as the elders of Moab invited Balaam to come and curse Israel ; and one would naturally expect some notice to be taken of them or their tribes in the course of these prophecies. Now of the Kenites, it ap pears that part followed Israel, (Judg. i. 16 ;) but the greater part, we may presume, remained among the Midianites and Amalekites. We read in 1 Sam. (xv. 6,) that there were Kenites dwelling among the Amalekites, and so the Kenites are fitly mentioned here next after the Amalekites. Their situation is said to be strong and secure among the mountains, " Strong- is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock ;" wherein is an allusion to the name, the same word in Hebrew signifying a nest and a Kenite. " Nevertheless the Kenite shall 8 ' Hie Antiquiores illi Kenaei intelli- sit. Id certe necesse est, in obscuro la- gendi.' Le Clerc in locum. tuisse tempore Josuae, qui nee in divisione 7 * Horum ego nomen deletum fulsse terrae, nee in censu gentium a se devicta- outaverim in eo temporis jntervallo, quod rum illorum meminit uspiam.' Phaleg. inter Abrahami et Mosis revum interces- 1. 4, c. 38, col. 397. ON THE PROPHECIES. 73 be wasted, until Asshur carry thee away captive." The Ama lekites were to be utterly destroyed, but the Kenites were to be carried captive. And accordingly when Saul was sent by divine commission to destroy the Amalekites, he ordered the Kenites to depart from among them, (1 Sam. xv. 6 :) " And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down fijpm among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them : for ye showed kind ness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt ;" for the kindness which some of them showed to Israel, their posterity was saved. "So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites." This showeth that they were wasted, and reduced to a low and weak condition ; and as the kings of Assyria earned captive not only the Jews, but also the Syrians, (2 Kings xvi. 9,) and several other nations, (2 Kings xix. 12, 13,) it is most highly probable that the Kenites shared the same fate with their neighbours, and were carried away by the same torrent ; and especially as we find some Kenites mentioned among the Jews after their return from captivity, (1 Chron. ii. 55.) The next verse, (ver. 23,) "And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this !" is by several commentators referred to what precedes ; but it relates rather to what follows. " And he took up his parable, and said :" this preface is used, when he enters upon some new subject. " Alas, who shall live when God doeth this !" this exclamation implies, that he is now prophesying of very distant and very calamitous times. " And ships, (or rather For ships, as the particle i often signifies, and this instance among others is cited by Noldius,8) shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever," (vei. 24.) Chittim was one of the sons of Javan, who was one of the sons of Japheth, by whose posterity " the isles of the Gentiles, (Gen. x. 5,) were divided" and peopled, that is Europe, and the coun tries to which the Asiatics passed by sea, for such the Hebrews called islands. Chittim is used for the descendants of Chittim, as Asshur is put for the descendants of Asshur, that is the Assy rians : but what people were the descendants of Chittim, or what country was meant by the coasts of Chittim, it is not so easy to determine. The critics and commentators are generally di vided into two opinions, the one asserting that Macedonia, and the other that Italy was the country here intended : and each opinion is recommended and authorised by some of the first and greatest names in learning ; as, not to mention any others, Grotius and Le Clerc9 contend for the former, Bochart and Vitringa1 are strenuous for the latter. But there is no reason 8 Noldii Part l 37. 8 Grotius in locum et Clericus in locum, et in Genes, x. 4. 1 Bocharti Phaleg. 1. 3, c. 5, et Vitringa in Iesaiam. xxiii. 1. 7 K 74 BISHOP NEWTON why we may not adopt both opinions ; and especially as it is very well known and agreed on all hands, that colonies came- from Greece to Italy ; and as Josephus 2 saith, that all islands and most maritime places are called Chethim by the Hebrews ; and as manifest traces of the name are to be found in both coun tries, the ancient name of Macedonia having been Macettia3 and the Latins having before been called Celii. What appears most probable is, that the sons of Chittim settled first in Asia Minor, where were a people called Cetei, and a river called Cetium, according to Homer and Strabo.4 From Asia they might pass over into the island Cyprus, which Josephus5 saith was possessed by Chethim, and called Chethima ; and where was also the city Cittium, famous for being the birthplace of Zeno, the founder of the sect of Stoics, who was therefore called the 'Cittiean. And from thence they might send forth colonies into Greece and Italy. This plainly appears, that wherever the land of Chit tim or the isles of Chittim are mentioned in Scripture, there are evidently meant some countries or islands in the Mediterranean. Isaiah, prophesying of the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchad nezzar, saith, (xxiii. 1,) " Howl, ye ships of Tarshish," that is, the ships trading from Tyre to Tarsessus in Spain ; " for Tyre is laid waste : from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them ;" the news is brought first to the countries and islands in the Mediterranean, and from thence it is conveyed to Spain ; and afterwards, (ver. 12,) "Arise, pass over to Chittim, there also shalt thou have no rest ;" the inhabitants might fly from Tyre, and pass over to the countries and islands in the Mediterranean, but even there they should find no secure place of refuge ; God's judgments should still pursue them. Jeremiah expostulating with the Jews concerning their causeless revolt, saith, (ii. 10,) " Pass over to the isles of Chittim, and see," that is the isles in the Mediterranean which lay westward of Judea ; " and send unto Kedar," which was in Arabia and lay eastward of Judea ; "and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing;" go search east and west, and see if you can find any such instance of apostacy as this of the Jews. Ezekiel describing the luxury of the Tyrians even in their shipping, saith, (xxvii. 6,) accord. ing to the 6true reading and interpretation of the words, " they made their benches of ivory inlaid on box, brought out of the isles of Chittim," that is out of the isles of the Medi- 2 Kal art* avrris vijo-ot te rrdaai, Kal rd ibid. Strabo Geograph. 1. 13, p. 915, 916. vXctio raiv T.L0a BdXaaaav, XeBIu jjlrb'-Eftpat- b XeBiuos Si XEdtpu Tfiv vrfoov ccyev X tov ovopd^erai. Et ah ea [Chethima] insula Kvirpos avrr) vvv KaXEirai. Chethimus aute-m omnes, et pUraque loca maritima, ab Hebrtzis Chethimam insulam occupavit: ipsa vero nunc Chethim dicuntur. Antiq. 1. i. c. 6. Cyprus vocalur. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 1 c. 6. 3 Vide Bochartum ibid. e Bochart. ibid, et Hicrozoic. par's prior. 4 Homer. Odyss. xi. 520, et Scholiast. I. 2, c. 24. ON THE PROPHECIES. 75 terranean, and most probably from Corsica, which was famous above all places for box, as Bochart hath proved by the testimo nies of Pliny, Theophrastus, and Diodorus. Daniel, foretelling the exploits of Antiochus Epiphanes, saith, (xi. 29, 30,) that he should "come towards the south," that is, invade Egypt, "but the ships of Chittim shall come against him, therefore he shall be grieved and return :" the ships of Chittim can be none other than the ships of the Romans, whose 7 ambassadors coming from Italy to Greece, and from thence to Alexandria, obliged Antiochus, to his great grief and disappointment, to depart from Egypt without accomplishing his designs. The author of the first book of Maccabees, speaking of Alexander, son of Philip the Macedonian, saith, (i. 1,) that he " came out of the land of Chettiim :" and afterwards, (viii. 5,) Perseus, the last king of Macedon, he calleth "king of the Cittims." By these instances it appears, that the land of Chittim was a general name for the countries and islands in the Mediterranean : and there fore when Balaam said that " ships should come from the coast of Chittim," he might mean either Greece or Italy, or both, the particular names of those countries being at that time per haps unknown in the east : and the passage may be the better understood of both, because it was equally true of both, and Greece and Italy were alike the scourges of Asia. "And shall afflict Asshur," (Numb. xxiv. 24.) Asshur, as we noted before, signifies properly the descendants of Asshur, the Assyrians : but 8 their name was of as large extent as their empire, and the Syrians and Assyrians are often confounded together, and mentioned as one and the same people. Now it is so well known as to require no particular proof, that the Gre cians under the command of Alexander the Great subdued all those countries. The Romans afterwards extended their em pire into the same regions ; and as 9 Dion informs us, Assyria, property so called, was conquered by the emperor Trajan. "And shall afflict Eber," (ibid.) Two interpretations are proposed of the word Eber, either the posterity of a man so called, or the people who dwelt on the other side of the Eu phrates. If by Eber we understand the posterity of Eber, as by Asshur the posterity of Asshur, which appears a very natural construction ; then Balaam, who was commissioned to bless Israel at first, prophesied evil concerning them at last, though under another name : but men and manners usually degenerate in a long course of time ; and as the virtues of the progenitors might entitle them to a blessing, so the vices of the descend- ' Vide Livii, 1.45, c. 10, 11, 12. Polyb. Assyrios pro iisdem habent.' Buchart. Legat. xcii. 1. 29, c. 11. Phaleg. 1. 2, c. 3, col. 72. 8 'Tain late patuit hoc nomen quam late 9 Dionis Hist. Rom. 1. 68, § 26. patuit imperium, — multi veterum Syros et 76 BISHOP NEWTON ants might render them obnoxious to a curse. However, we may avoid this seeming inconsistence, if we follow the other inter pretation, and by Eber understand the people who dwelt on the other side of the river Euphrates, which sense is given by On- kelos,1 and is approved by several of the ancients, as well as by many of the most able commentators among the moderns, and is particularly enforced by a learned 2 professor of eminent skill in the oriental languages. The two members of the period would then better connect together, and the sense of the latter would be somewhat exegetical of the former ; " and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber," shall afflict the Assyrians and other neighbouring nations bordering upon the river Euphrates. And this interpretation I would readily embrace, if I could see any instance of a parallel expression. Beyond the river, meaning Euphrates, is indeed a phrase that sometimes occurs in Scrip ture, and the concordance will supply us with instances : but where doth beyond alone ever bear that signification 1 I know Gen. x. 21 is usually cited for this purpose ; but that text is as much controverted as this, and the question is the same there as here, whether Eber be the proper name of a man, or only a preposition signifying beyond, and beyond signifying the people beyond the river Euphrates; or in other words, whether the passage should be translated the father of all the children oj Eber, or the father of all the children of the people on the other side ofthe river Euphrates. Isaiah's manner of speaking of the same people is, " by them beyond the river, by the king of As syria," (vii. 20 : ) and one would expect the like here, shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict them beyond the river. But which ever of these interpretations we prefer, the prophecy was alike fulfilled. If we understand it of the people bordering upon the Euphrates, they as well as the Assyrians were subdued both by the Gre cians and Romans. If we understand it of the posterity of Eber, the Hebrews were afflicted, though not much by Alexander himself, yet by his successors the Seleucidse, and particularly by Antiochus Epiphanes, who spoiled Jerusalem, defiled the temple, and slew all those who adhered to the law of Moses, (1 Mac. i.) They were worse afflicted by the Romans, who not only subdued and oppressed them, and made their coun try a province of the empire, but at last took away their place and nation, and sold and dispersed them over the face of the earth. " And he also shall perish for ever," (Numb. xxiv. 24,) that is Chittim, who is the main subject of this part of the prophecy, and whose ships were to afflict Asshur and to afflict Eber : but this notwithstanding, he also shall be even to perdition, he also 1 ' Et subjicient trans flumen Euphratem.' 2 Hyde Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. c. 2, Onk. p. 52—57. ON THE PROPHECIES. 77 shall be destroyed as well as Amalek, for in the original the words are the same concerning both. He in the singular num ber cannot well refer to both Asshur and Eber. He must natu rally signify Chittim the principal agent : and if by Chittim be meant the Grecians, the Grecian empire was entirely subverted by the Roman ; if the Romans, the Roman empire was in its turn broken into, pieces by the incursion of the northern nations. The name only of the Roman empire and Caesarean majesty is subsisting at this day, and is transferred to another country and another people. It appears then that Balaam was a prophet divinely inspired, or he could never have foretold so many distant events, some of which are fulfilling in the world at this time : and what a singular honour was it to the people of Israel, that a prophet called from another country, and at the same time a wicked man, should be obliged to bear testimony to their righteousness and holiness ] The commendations of an enemy, among ene mies, are commendations indeed. And Moses did justice to himself as well as to his nation in recording these transactions. They are not only a material part of his history, but are like wise a strong confirmation of the truth of his religion. Ba laam's bearing witness to Moses is somewhat like Judas's attest ing the innocence of Jesus. VI. MOSES'S PROPHECY OP A PROPHET LIKE UNTO HIMSELF. MOSES is a valuable writer, as upon many accounts, so par ticularly upon this, that he hath not only preserved and transmitted to posterity several ancient prophecies, but hath likewise shown himself a prophet, and inserted several predic tions of his own. Among these none is more memorable, than that of another prophet to be raised like unto himself. He was now about to leave his people, and comforts them with the promise of another prophet, (Deut. xviii. 15:) "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall hearken." The same is repeated at ver. 18, in the name of God, "I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." It is farther added at ver. 19, "And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." Plain as this prophecy is, it hath strangely been perverted and misapplied : but I conceive nothing will be wanting to the right understanding both ofthe prophecy and the 7* 78 BISHOP NEWTON completion, if we can show first what prophet was here particu larly intended, if w,e show secondly that this prophet resembled Moses in more respects than any other person ever did, and if we show thirdly that the people have been and still are severely punished for their infidelity and disobedience to this prophet. I. We will endeavour to show what prophet was here parti cularly intended. Some have been of opinion, 1 That Joshua was the person ; because he is said in Ecclesiasticus, (xlvi. 1,) to have been " successor of Moses in prophecies :" and as the people were commanded to hearken unto this prophet, "unto him ye shall hearken;" so they said unto Joshua, (i. 17,) " According as We hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee." Some again have imagined, 2that Je remiah was the person ; because he frequently applies (say they) the words of Moses ; and Abarbinel in his preface to his commentary upon Jeremiah, reckons up fourteen particulars wherein they resemble each other, and observes that Jeremiah prophesied forty years, as Moses also did. Others, and those many more in number, 3 understand this neither of Joshua, nor of Jeremiah, nor of any single person, but of a succession of prophets to be raised up like unto Moses ; because (say they) the people being here forbidden to follow after enchanters and diviners, as other nations did, nothing would have secured them effectually from following after them, but having true pro phets of their own, whom they might consult upon occasion ; and the latter are opposed to the former. But still the pro- pounders and favourers of these different opinions, I think, agree generally in this, that though Joshua, or Jeremiah, or a succession of prophets was primarily intended, yet the main end and ultimate scope of the prophecy was the Messiah : and indeed there appear some very good reasons for understanding it of him principally, if not of him solely, besides the preference of a literal to a typical interpretation. There is a passage in the conclusion of this book of Deute ronomy, which plainly refers to this prophecy, and entirely re futes the notion of Joshua being the prophet like unto Moses. " And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom ; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him; and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face : In all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do, &c." (xxxiv 9 — 11.) We cannot be certain at what time, or by what hand this addition was made to the sacred volume : but it must have 1 Sec Munster, Drusius, Fagius, Calmet, &c. 2 See Munster, Fagius, Patrick, Calmet, &c. ' See Fagiusj Poole, Le Clerc, Calmet, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 79 been made after the death of Moses ; and consequently Joshua was not a prophet like unto Moses in the opinion of the Jewish cliurch, both of those who made and of those who received this addition as canonical Scripture. " There arose not a prophet since in Israel ;" the manner of expression plainly implies, that this addition must have been made at some considerable distance of time after the death of Moses ; and consequently the Jewish church had no conception of a perpetual succession of prophets to be raised up like unto Moses : and if this addition was made, as it is commonly believed to have been made, by Ezra after the Babylonish captivity, then it is evident that neither Jeremiah nor any of the ancient prophets was esteemed like unto Mcses. Consider what are the peculiar marks and characters, wherein it is said that none other prophet had ever resembled Moses. " There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the won ders which the Lord sent him to do." And which of the pro phets ever conversed so frequently and familiarly with God, face to face ? which of them ever wrought so many and so great miracles ] Nobody was ever equal or comparable to Moses in these respects, but Jesus the Messiah. God's declaration too, upon occasion of Miriam's and Aaron's sedition, plainly evinces that there was to be no prophet in the Jewish church, and much less a succession of prophets, like unto Moses. Miriam and Aaron grew jealous of Moses, and mutinied against him, saying, "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses 1 hath he not spoken also by us 1" (Numb. xii. 2.) The controversy was of such importance, that God himself interposed ; and what was his determination of the case 1 " If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches ; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold : wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses 1" (ver. 6, 7, 8.) We see here that a great differ ence was made between Moses and other prophets, and also wherein that difference lay. God revealed himself unto other prophets in dreams and visions, but with Moses he conversed more openly, mouth to mouth, or, as it is said elsewhere, face to face : and Moses saw the similitude of the Lord. These were singu lar privileges and prerogatives, which eminently distinguished Moses from all the other prophets of the Jewish dispensation : and yet there was a prophet to be raised up like unto Moses : but who ever resembled Moses in these superior advantages, but Jesus the Messiah ] It is likewise no inconsiderable argument, that the letter of 80 BISHOP NEWTON the text favours our interpretation. The word is in the singu lar number, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet ;" and why then should we understand it of a succes sion of prophets 1 why should we depart from the literal con struction without any apparent necessity for it 1 Other nations hearkened unto enchanters and diviners, but the Lord would not suffer them so to do ; he had given them a better guide already, and would raise up unto them another prophet superior to all the enchanters and diviners in the world : unto him they should hearken. Moreover it is implied, that this prophet should be a lawgiver, " A prophet like unto thee ;" not simply a prophet, but a prophet like unto Moses, that is a second lawgiver, as 4Eusebius explains it. The reason too that is assigned for sending this prophet, will evince that he was to be vested with this character. The people had requested, that the divine laws might not be dehvered to them in so terrible and awful a manner, as they had been in Horeb. God approved their request, and promised therefore, that lie would raise up unto them a prophet like unto Moses, a law giver who should speak unto them his commands in a familiar and gentle way. This prophet therefore was to be a lawgiver ; but none of the Jewish prophets were lawgivers, in all the inter mediate time between Moses and Christ. If we farther appeal unto fact, we shall find that there never was any prophet, and much less a succession of prophets, whom the Jews esteemed like unto Moses. The highest degree of inspiration they term the 5Mosaical, and enumerate several particulars, wherein that hath the pre-eminence and advantage above all. others. There was, indeed, in consequence of this prophecy, a general expectation of some extraordinary prophet to arise, which prevailed particularly about the time of our Saviour. The Jews then, as well as 6 since, understood and ap plied this prophecy to the Messiah, the only prophet whom they will ever allow to be as great or greater than Moses. When our Saviour had fed five thousand men, by a miracle like that of Moses, who fed the Israelites in the wilderness, then those men said, " This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world," (John vi. 14 ;) St. Peter and St. Stephen di rectly apply the prophecy to him, (Acts iii. 22, 23 ; vii. 37 :) 4 Euseb. Demons. Evang. 1. 1, c. 3, 1. 9, phesied without the ministry of an angel. c. 11. 3. All other prophets were afraid, and trou- ' See Smith's Discourse of Prophecy, bled, and fainted, but Moses was not so c. 2 and 11, wherein it is shown from for the Scripture saith that God spake to Maimonides, that Moses's inspiration ex- him as a man speaketh to his friend. 4. None celled all others in four particulars. 1. All of the prophets did prophesy at what time pthe. prophets prophesied in a dream or they would, save Moses. vision, but Moses waking and standing. 6 See authorities cited in Bishop Chan- 2. All other prophets prophesied by the dlei's Defence of Christianity, c. 6, S 2, help or ministry of an angel, but Moses pro- p. 307, edit. 3d. ON THE PROPHECIES. 81 and they may very well be justified for so doing ; for he fully answers all the marks and characters which are here given of the prophet like unto Moses. He had immediate communication with ihe Deity, and God spake to him face to face, as he did to Moses. He performed signs and wonders as great or greater than those of Moses. He was a lawgiver as well as Moses. " I will raise them up a prophet," saith God ; and the people glorified God, saying, " That a great prophet is risen up among us," (Luke vii. 16.) "I will put my words in his mouth," saith God, in Hebrew will give my words ; and our Saviour saith, " I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me," (John xvii. 8.) " He shall speak unto them all that I shall command him," saith God ; and our Saviour saith, " I have not spoken of my self; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a command ment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting : whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak," (John xii. 49, 50.) II. We shall be more and more confirmed in this opinion, when we consider the great and striking likeness between Moses and Jesus Christ, and that the latter resembled the former in more respects than any other person ever did. Notice hath been taken already of some instances, wherein they resemble each other, of God speaking to both face to face, of both performing signs and wonders, of both being lawgivers : and in these respectn none of the ancient prophets were like unto Moses. None of them were lawgivers ; they only interpreted and enforced the law of Moses. None of them performed so many and so great wonders. None of them had such clear communications with God ; they all saw visions and dreamed dreams. Moses and Jesus Christ are the only two who perfectly resemble each other in these respects. But a more exact and particular comparison may be drawn between them, and hath been drawn by two eminent hands, by one of the best and ablest of the ancient fa thers, and by one of the most learned and ingenious of modern divines ; and as we cannot pretend to add any thing to them, wTe must be content to copy from them. Eusebius,' treating of the prophecies concerning Christ,7 pro- duceth first this of Moses; and then asketh, which of the prophets after Moses, Isaiah for instance, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, or Daniel, or any other of the twelve was a lawgiver, and per formed things like unto Moses? Moses rescued the Jewish nation from Egyptian superstition and idolatry, and taught them the true theology ; Jesus Christ in like manner was the firs* teacher of true religion and virtue to the Gentiles. ' Moses con firmed his religion by miracles; and so likewise did Christ * Eusebii Demons. Evangel. 1. 3 c. 2. 82 BISHOP NEWTON Moses delivered the Jewish nation from Egyptian servitude, and Jesus Christ all mankind from the power of evil demons. Moses promised a holy land, and therein a happy life to those who kept the law ; and Jesus Christ a better country, that is a heavenly, to all righteous souls. Moses fasted forty days ; and so likewise did Christ. Moses supplied the people with bread in the wilderness; and our Saviour fed five thousand at one time, and four thousand at another, with a few loaves. Moses went himself, and led the people through the midst of the sea ; and Jesus Christ walked on the sea, and enabled Peter to walk like wise. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go backward ; and our Saviour rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. Moses' face shone, when he descended from the mount, and our Saviour's did shine as the sun in his transfiguration. Moses by his prayers cured Miriam of her leprosy ; and Christ with greater power by a word healed several lepers. Moses performed wonders by the finger of God ; and Jesus Christ by the finger of God did cast out devils. Moses changed Oshea's name to Joshua ; and our Sa viour did Simon's to Peter. Moses constituted seventy rulers over the people ; and our Saviour appointed seventy dhciples. Moses sent forth twelve men to spy out the land ; and our Sa viour twelve apostles to visit all nations. Moses gave several excellent moral precepts ; and our Saviour carried them to the highest perfection. Dr. Jortin8 hath enlarged upon these hints of Eusebius, and made several improvements, and additions to them. Moses in his infancy was wonderfully preserved from the destruction of all the male children ; so was Christ. Moses fled from his country to escape the hands of the king ; so did Christ, when his parents carried him into Egypt : afterwards " the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go, return, into Egypt ; for all the men are dead which sought thy life," (Exod. iv. 19 ;) so the angel of the Lord said to Joseph in almost the same words, " Arise, and take the young child, and go into the land of Israel ; for they are dead which sought the young child's life," (Matt. ii. 20 ;) pointing him out as it were for that prophet, who should arise like unto Moses. Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction ; Christ refused to be made king, choosing rather to suffer affliction. Moses, says St. Stephen, "was learned .(WMfc?) in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and Josephus (Ant. Jud. ii. 9) says, that he was very a forward and accomplished youth, and had wisdom and knowledge beyond his years ; St. Luke observes of Christ, that "he increased (betimes) in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man," and his discourses in the 8 Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 203 222. ON THE PROPHECIES. 83 temple with the doctors, when he was twelve years old, were a proof of it. Moses contended with the magicians, who were forced to acknowledge the divine power by which he was as sisted ; Christ ejected evil spirits, and received the same ac knowledgments from them. Moses was not only a lawgiver, a prophet, and a worker of miracles, but a king and a priest : in all these offices the resemblance between Moses and Christ was singular. Moses brought darkness over the land ; the sun withdrew his light at Christ's crucifixion : and as the darkness which Avas spread over Egypt was followed by the destruction of their first-born, and of Pharaoh and his host ; so the dark ness at Christ's death was the forerunner of the destruction of the Jews. Moses foretold the calamities which would befall the nation for their disobedience ; so did Christ. The spirit which Avas in Moses was conferred in some degree upon the seventy elders, and they prophesied ; Christ conferred miraculous powers upon his seventy disciples. Moses was Arictorious over powerful kings and great nations ; so was Christ by the effects of his religion, and by the fall of those Avho persecuted his church. Moses conquered Amalek by holding up both hi? hands ; Christ overcame his and our enemies when his hand? were fastened to the cross. Moses interceded for transgressors and caused an atonement to be made for them, and stopped the wrath of God; so did Christ. Moses ratified a covenant be tween God and the people by sprinkling them with blood; Christ with his own blood. Moses desired to die for the people, and prayed that God would forgive them, or blot him out of his book; Christ did more, he died for sinners. Moses insti tuted the passover, when a lamb was sacrificed, none of whose bones were to be broken, and whose blood protected the people from destruction : Christ was that paschal lamb. Moses lifted up the serpent, that they who looked upon him might be healed of their mortal wounds ; Christ was that serpent. All Moses's affection towards the people, all his cares and toils on their account were repaid by them with ingratitude, murmuring, and rebellion ; the same returns the Jews made to Christ for all his benefits. Moses was ill used by his own family, his brother and sister rebelled against him ; there was a time when Christ's own brethren believed not in him. Moses had a very wicked and perverse generation committed to his care and conduct, and to enable him to rule them, miraculous powers were given to him, and he used his utmost endeavour to make the people obedient to God, and save them from ruin ; but in vain ; in the space of forty years they all fell in the wilderness except two ; Christ also was given to a generation not less wicked and per verse, his instructions and his miracles were lost upon them, and in about the same space of time, after they had rejected 84 BISHOP NEWTON him, they were destroyed. Moses was very meek, above all men that were on the face of the earth ; so was Christ. The people could not enter into the land of promise till Moses was dead : by the death of Christ the kingdom of heaven was open to be lievers. In the death of Moses and Christ there is also a resem blance of some circumstances : Moses died, in one sense, for the iniquities of the people ; it was their rebellion which was the occasion of it, Avhich drew down the displeasure of God upon >hem and upon him ; Moses went up, in the sight of the people, to the top of mount Nebo, and there he died, when he was in perfect vigour, when "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated :" Christ suffered for the sms of men, and was led up, in the presence of the people, to mount Calvary, where he died in the flower of his age, and when he was in his full natural strength. Neither Moses nor Christ, as far as we may collect from sacred history, were ever sick, or felt any bodily decay or infirmity, which would have rendered them unfit for the toils they underwent; their sufferings were of another kind. Moses was buried, and no man knew where his body lay ; nor could the Jews find the body of Christ. Lastly, as Moses a little before death promised another prophet ; so Christ another comforter. The great similitude consists in their both being lawgivers, which no prophet ever was besides Moses and Christ. They may resemble each other in several other features, and a fruit ful imagination may find out a likeness where there is none. But as the same excellent writer concludes, 'Is this simili tude and correspondence in so many things between Moses and Christ the effect of mere chance ? Let us search all the records of universal history, and see if we can find a man who was so like to Moses as Christ was, and so like to Christ as Moses was. If we cannot find such a one, then have we found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.' III. There is no want of many words to prove, for it is visi ble to all the world, that the people have been and still are severely punished for their infidelity and disobedience to this prophet. The prophecy is clear and express ; " Unto him ye shall hearken ; And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him," that is, I will severely punish him for it, as the phrase signifies elsewhere. The antecedent is put for the consequent : judges first inquired, then punished : and the Seventy translate it, 9 1 will take vengeance of him. This pro phecy, as we have proved at large, evidently relates to Jesus Christ. God himself in a manner applies it to him : for when he was transfigured, (Matt. xvii. 5,) there came " a voice out o. the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son in whom I ani 8 "Ey£> htiKfiaui if airoli. Sept. ON THE PROPHECIES. 85 Avell pleased ; hear ye him ;" alluding plainly to the words of Moses, " Unto him ye shall hearken," and so pointing him out for the prophet like unto Moses. St. Peter, as we noted before, directly applies it to our Saviour, (Acts iii. 22, 23 :) " For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me : him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you : And it shall come to pass, that every soul Avhich will not hear that pro phet, shall be destroyed from among the people j" which is the sense rather than the words of the prophecy. And hath not this terrible denunciation been fully executed upon the Jews 1 Was not the complete excision of that incredulous nation, soon after Jesus had finished his ministry among them, and his apostles had likeAvise preached in vain, the fulfilling of the threat upon them for not hearkening unto him 1 We may be the more certain of this application, as our Saviour himself not only denounced the same destruction, but also foretold the signs, the manner, and the circumstances of it, Avith a particularity and exactness that will amaze us ; as we shall see in a proper place : and those of the Jews who believed in his name, by remembering the cau tion and following the advice which he had given them, escaped from the general ruin of their country, like firebrands plucked out of the fire. The main body of the nation either perished in their infidelity, or were carried captive into all nations : and have they not, ever since persisting in the same infidelity, been obnoxious to the same punishment, and been a vagabond, dis tressed, and miserable people in the earth 1 The hand of God was scarce ever more visible in any of his dispensations. We must be blind not to see it : and seeing, we cannot but admire and adore it. What other probable account can they themselves give of their long captivity, dispersion, and misery 1 Their for mer captivity for the punishment of all their wickedness and idolatry lasted only seventy years : but they have lived in their present dispersion, even though they have been no idolaters, now these seventeen hundred years, and yet without any immediate prospect of their restoration : and what enormous crime could have drawn doAvn, and, unrepented of, still continues to draw doAvn, these heavy judgments upon them ? We say that they were cut off for their infidelity ; and that when they shall turn to the faith, they will be grafted in again. One would think, it should be worth their while to try the experiment. Sure we are, that they have long been monuments of God's justice ; we believe, that upon their faith and repentance they will become again objects of his mercy : and in the mean time with St. Paul, (Rom. x. 1,) "our hearts' desire and prayer to God for Israelis, that they may be saved." 86 BISHOP NEWTON VII. PROPHECIES OF MOSES CONCERNING THE JEWS. T is observable that the prophecies of Moses abound most ir the latter part of his writings. As he drew nearer his end, it pleased God to open to him larger prospects of things. As he was about to take leave of the people, he Avas enabled to disclose unto them more particulars of their future state and condition. The design of this Avork will permit us to take notice of such only as have some reference to these latter ages : and we will confine ourselves principally to the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, the greater part whereof we may see accomplished in the world at this present time. This great prophet and lawgiver is here proposing at large to the people the blessings for obedience, and the curses for dis obedience : and indeed he had foretold at several times and upon several occasions, that they should be happy or miserable in the world, as they were obedient or disobedient to the law that he had given them. And could there be any stronger evidence of the divine original of the Mosaical law 1 and hath not the inter position of providence been wonderfully remarkable in their good or bad fortune 1 and is not the truth of the prediction fully attested by the Avhole series of their history from their first settle ment in Canaan to this very day 1 but he is larger and more particular in recounting the curses than the blessings, as if he had a prescience of the people's disobedience, and foresaw that a larger portion and longer continuation of the evil would fall to their share, than of the good. I know that some critics make a division of these prophecies, and imagine that one part relates to the former captivity of the Jews, and to the calamities which they suffered under the Chaldajans ; and that the other part re lates to the latter captivity of the Jews, and to the calamities Avhich they suffered under the Romans : but there is no need of any such distinction ; there is no reason to think that any such was intended by the author ; several prophecies of the one part as well as of the other have been fulfilled at both periods, but they have all more amply been fulfilled during the latter period : and there cannot be a more lively picture than they exhibit, of the state ofthe Jews at present. 1. We will consider them with a view to the order of time rather than the order wherein they lie ; and Ave may not im properly begin with this passage, ver. 49, " The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand :" and the Chaldceans might be said to come from far, in comparison with the Moabites, Philistines, and other ON THE PROPHECIES. 87 neighbouring nations, which used to infest Judea. Much the same description is given ofthe Chaldaeans by Jeremiah, (v. 15,) " Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, 0 house of Israel, saith the Lord : it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation Avhose language thou knowest not, neither un- derstandest Avhat they say." He compares them in like man ner to eagles, (Lam. iv. 19 :) "Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven : they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness." But this description cannot be applied to any nation with such propriety as to the Romans. They were truly brought " from far, from the end of the earth." Vespasian and Adrian, the tvro great conquerors and destroyers of the Jews, both came from commanding here in Britain. The Romans too for the rapidity of their conquests might very well be compared to eagles, and perhaps not Avith- out an allusion to the standard of the Roman armies, which was an eagle : and their language Avas more unknown to the JeAvs than the Chaldee. 2. The enemies of the Jews are farther characterized in the next verse, "A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young." Such were the Chaldreans ; and the sacred historian saith ex pressly, (2 Chron. xxxvi. 17,) that for the wickedness of the JeAvs, God " brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who sleAV their young men with the sAVord, in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age ; he gave them all into his hand." Such also were the Romans : for Avhen Vespasian entered Gadara, 1 Josephus saith, that ' he slew all man by man, the Romans showing mercy to no age, out of hatred to the nation, and remembrance of their former injuries.' The like slaughter was made at Gamala,2 ' For no body escaped besides two women, and they escaped by concealing themselves from the rage of the Romans. For they did not so much as spare young children, but every one at that time snatching up many cast them down from the citadel.' 3. Their enemies were also to besiege and take their cities, ver. 52 : " And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced Avails come down, Avherein thou trustedst, 1 Kal TTapsXBuiv earo, Trdvras rj6nSSv dvaipEl, AiEciti9rjaav Si, rds irapd rrjv uXwacv Spyds unSEpEas tuv 'Pw/taioii' IjXiKlas eXeov ttoiov- "Pojpaivjv XaBovoai. OhSi yap vnn'uvv etpei- peviiiv, piaEi te nobs rb eOvos, Kal pvrjp.7] rrjs Sovro, rroXXd Si EKaaros t6te dpnd^ovrES eo- Kara rbv Kiariov avrwv -Kapavouias. El delude fevSdvoiv anb rrjs aKpas. JVemo autem prater in earn ingressus, puberes omnes interfici jus- cluas mulieres inierilum effugil. — Evaserunt sit, Romanis nulli cetati misericordiam adhi- autem, quod ira Romanorum in excidio sese bentibus, tarn ex odio in gentem, quam memo- subduxerint. Nee enim infantibus peperce- rin iniquitatis illorum in Ceslium. Bell. Jud. runt, multos vero sikguh eo tempore raptos ex 1. 3, o. 7, § 1. an-.e projiciebant. Bell. Jud. 1. 4, c. 1, § 10. Auaw9i} Si irXhv Svo yvvaiKoiv ovSels.— 88 BISHOP NEWTON throughout all thy land." So " Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it, and at the end of three years they took it," (2 Kings xviii. 9, 10.) So "did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them," (lb. ver. 13 :) and Nebuchad nezzar and his captains took and spoiled Jerusalem, burned the city and temple, " and brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about," (lb. xxv. 10.) So likewise the Romans, as we may read in Josephus's history of the JeAvish war, demolished several fortified places, before they besieged and destroyed Jerusalem. And the Jews may very well be said to have trusted in their high and fenced walls, for they seldom ventured a battle in the open field. They confided in the strength and situation of Jerusalem, as the Jebusites, the former inhabitants of the place, had done before them, (2 Sam. v. 6, 7 :) insomuch that they are repre sented saying, (Jer. xxi. 13,) "Who shall come down against us 1 or who shall enter into our habitation 1" Jerusalem was indeed a very strong place, and wonderfully fortified both by nature .and art, according to the description of 3 Tacitus as well as of Josephus : and yet 4 how many times was it taken 1 It was taken by Shishak king of Egypt, by Nebuchadnezzar, by Antio chus Epiphanes, by Pompey, by Sosius and Herod, before its final destruction by Titus. 4. In these sieges they were to suffer much, and especially from famine, " in the straitness wherewith their enemies should distress them," ver. 53, &c. And accordingly Avhen the king of Syria besieged Samaria, " there Avas a great famine in Sa maria ; and behold they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and tne fourth part of a cab of doves' dung for five pieces of silver," (2 Kings vi. 25.) And when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, "the famine pre vailed in the city, and there Avas no bread for the people of the land," (2 Kings xxv. 3.) And in the last siege of Jerusalem by the Romans these was a most terrible famine in the city, and Josephus hath given so melancholy an account of it, that we cannot read it without shuddering. He saith, particularly, 6 that ' women snatched the food out of the very mouths of their husbands, and sons of their fathers, and (Avhat is most miser able) mothers of their infants :' and in 8 another place he saith, 3 Taciti Hist. 1. 5,"c. 11, 12. Josephus e KaB' {kAottiv ydp ohidv, t" zoii rpotp-Jjs de Bell. Jud. 1. 5, c. 4 et 5. rapatpavEtr/ aKid, -KbXeuos Jjv, Kin Sid xeipiov 4 See Josephus de Bell. Jud. 1. 6, c. ult. ix^povv o'iipiXraToi npbs dXX/jXovs, i^apxd\ov- fi YvvoIkes yovv avSpviv, Kat ira'iSes itaTEpwv, tes rd raXai-jrvipa riis ipvxrjs tydSia. Per rb olKTpdrarov pnripEs vnirtuv ifap-jra^ov il; singular quippe domos, sirubi vd umbra ap- Kal t ami* avrwv rwv aTOadToiv t&s rpo Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1104, 1095, 1106. ning. . * Joseph, contra Apion, 1. 1, " ' IJCji vv^vj#ii, v^llliu 11U1U1I. 1, I. U Sett*** 'r ? Aristeas, p. 13,14. Edit. Hody. Joseph. Tijs &pitmjs ical iraptfropwTdTtis x&pas. Optv- ; Bell. Jud. 1.8, c. 3. mi et feracisaimi soli. ON THE PROPHECIES. 107 racter of one of the best and most fertile countries. Tacitus3 saith, that it raineth seldom, the soil is fruitful, fruits abound as with us, and besides them the balsam and palm trees. And notwithstanding the long desolation of the land, there are still visible such marks and tokens of fruitfulness, as may convince any man that it once deserved the character which is given of it in Scripture. I Avould only refer the reader to two learned and ingenious .travellers of our own nation, Mr. Maundrell and Dr. Shaw ; and he will fully be satisfied of the truth of what is here asserted. The 4 former says, that 'all along this day's travel, (Mar. 25,) from Kane Leban to Beer, and also as far as we could see around, the country discovered a quite different face from what it had before ; presenting nothing to the view in most places, but naked rocks, mountains, and precipices. At sight of which, pilgrims are apt to be much astonished and baulked in their expectations ; finding that country in such an inhospitable condition, concerning whose pleasantness' and plenty they had before formed in their minds such high ideas from the descrip tion given of it, in the word of God : insomuch that it almost startles their faith, when they reflect how it could be possible for a land like this to supply food for so prodigious a number of inhabitants, as are said to have been polled in the twelve tribes at one time ; the sum given in by Joab, (2 Sam. xxiv.) amounting to no less than thirteen hundred thousand fighting men, besides women and children. But it is certain that any man, who is not a little biassed to infidelity before, may see, as he passes along, arguments enough to support his faith against such scruples. For it is obvious for any one to observe, that these rocks and hills must have been anciently covered with earth, and cultivated, and made to contribute to the mainte nance of the inhabitants, no less than if the country had been all plain : nay, perhaps much more ; forasmuch as such a mountainous and uneven surface affords a larger space of ground for cultivation, than this country would amount to, if it were all reduced to a perfect level. For the husbanding of these mountains, their manner was to gather up the stones, and place them in several lines, along the sides of the hills, in form of a Avail. By such borders they supported the mould from tumbling or being Avashed down ; and formed many beds of excellent soil, rising gradually one above another, from the bottom to the top of the mountains. Of this form of culture you see evi dent footsteps, wherever you go in all the mountains of Pales tine. Thus the very rocks were made fruitful. And perhaps there is no spot of ground in this Avhole land, that was not for- 3 Taciti Hist. 1. 5, c. 6 : ' Rari imbres, uber praterque eas, balsamum et palmae.' solum, exuberant fruges nostrum ad morem, 4 Maundrell, p. 64, &c. 5th Edit. 108 BISHOP NEWTON merly improved, to the production of something or other, mi nistering to the sustenance of human life. For than the plain countries nothing can be more fruitful, whether for the produc tion of corn or cattle, and consequently of milk. The hills, though) improper for all cattle except goats, yet being disposed into such beds as are before described, served very well to bear corn, melons, gourds, cucumbers, and such like garden stuff, which makes the principal food of these countries for several months in the year. The most rocky parts of all, which could not well be adjusted in that manner for the production of corn, might yet serve for the plantation of vines and olive trees ; which delight to extract, the one its fatness, the other its sprightly juice, chiefly out of such dry and flinty places. And the great plain joining to the Dead Sea, which by reason of its saltness might be thought unserviceable both for cattle, corn, olives, and vines, had yet its proper usefulness for the nourish ment of bees, and for the fabric of honey ; of which Josephus gives us his testimony, De Bell. Jud. 1. 5, c. 4. And I have reason to believe it, because when I was there, I perceived in many places a smell of honey and wax, as strong as if one had been in an apiary. Why then might not this country very well maintain the vast number of its inhabitants, being in every part so productive of either milk, corn, wine, oil, or honey, which are the principal food of these eastern nations 1 the constitu tion of their bodies, and the nature of their clime, inclining them to a more abstemious diet than we use in England, and other colder regions.' The 6 other asserts, that ' the Holy Land, were it as well peo pled and cultivated as in former time, Avould still be more fruit ful than the very best part of the coast of Syria and Phoenicia. For the soil itself is generally much richer, and all things con sidered, yields a more preferable crop. Thus the cotton that is gathered in the plains of Ramah, Esdraelon, and Zebulun, is in greater esteem than Avhat is cultivated near Sidon and Tripoli ; neither is it possible for pulse, wheat, or any sort of grain, to be more excellent than what is commonly sold at Jerusalem. The barrenness or scarcity rather, which some authors may either ignorantly or maliciously complain of, does not proceed from the incapacity or natural unfruitfulness of the country, but from the want of inhabitants, and the great aversion there is to labour and industry in those few who possess it. There are besides such perpetual discords and depredations among the petty princes, who share this fine country, that alloAving it. Avas better peopled, yet there Avould be small encouragement to soav, when it was uncertain who should gather in the harvest. Other wise the land is good land, and still capable of affording its neigh- s Shaw's Travels, p. 365, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 109 bours the like supplies of corn and oil, which it is knoAvn to have done in the time of Solomon. The parts particularly about Jeru salem, being described to be rocky and mountainous, have been therefore supposed to be barren and unfruitful. Yet granting this conclusion, which is far from being just, a kingdom is not to be denominated barren or unfruitful from one part of it only, but from the whole. Nay, farther, the blessing that was given to Ju dah, Avas not of the same kind with the blessing of Asher or of Issachar, that " his bread should be fat," or " his land should be pleasant," but that " his eyes should be red with wine, and his teeth should be white with milk." Gen. xlix. 12. Moses also maketh milk and honey (the chief dainties and subsistence of the earlier ages, as they continue to be of the Bedoween Arabs) to be 6 " the glory of all lands :" all which productions are either actually enjoyed, or at least might be, by proper care and application. The plenty of wine alone is wanting at pre sent ; yet from the goodness of that little, which is still made at Jerusalem and Hebron, we find that these barren rocks (as they are called) might yield a much greater quantity, if the abstemious Turk and Arab Avould permit a further increase and improvement to be made of the vine, &c.' IV. Nothing can be a stronger or clearer proof of the divine inspiration of the prophets, than their foretelling not only the outward actions, but even the inward dispositions of men, many ages before those men were in being. The prophets were na turally prejudiced in favour of their own nation ; but yet they foretell the infidelity and reprobation of the Jews, their disbe lief of the Messiah, and thereupon their rejection by God. We will not multiply quotations to this purpose. It will be sufficient to produce one or two passages from the evangelical prophet Isaiah. The 53d chapter is a most famous prophecy of the Messiah; and it begins with upbraiding the Jews for their unbelief, " Who hath believed our report % and to Avhom is the arm of the Lord revealed ]" which St. John, (xii 38,) and St. Paul, (Rom. x. 16,) have expressly applied to the unbeliev ing Jews of their time. The prophet assigns the reason too, why they would not receive the Messiah, namely, because of his low and afflicted condition : and it is very well known that they rejected him on this account, having all along expected him to come as a temporal prince and deliverer in great power and glory. The prophet had before been commissioned to declare unto the people the judgments of God for their infidelity and dis- • As Bishop Pearce observes, Is not this glory of all lands ; but the land, which dkj a mistake in Dr. Shaw ? The words are not abound with milk and honey, he rather calls of Moses but of Ezekiel, (xx. 6, 15, ) and he the glory of aU lands. does not seem to call the milk and honey the 10 110 BISHOP NEWTON obedience, (vi. 9, 10:) "And he said, Go, and tell this people (this people, not my people,) Hear ye indeed, but understand not ; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see Avith their eyes, and hear with their ears, and under stand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." In the style of Scripture the prophets are said to do what they deciare will be done : and in like manner Jeremiah is said, (i. 10,) to be " set over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw doAvn, to build, and to plant ;" because he was authorised to make known the purposes and decrees of God, and because these events would follow in consequence of his prophecies. " Make the heart of this people fat," is therefore as much as to say, Denounce my judgment upon this people, that their heart shall be fat, and their ears heavy, and there eyes shut; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. This prophecy might relate in some measure to the' state of the Jews before the Babylonish captivity ; but it did not receive its full completion till the days of our Saviour ; and in this sense it is understood and applied by the writers of the New Testa ment, and by our Saviour himself. The prophet is then in formed, that this infidelity and obstinacy of his countrymen should be of long duration. " Then said I, Lord, how long t And he answered, Until the cities be Avasted without inhabi tant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly de solate. And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land," (ver. 11.) Here is a remarkable gradation in the denouncing of these judgments. Not only Jerusalem and the cities should be wasted without inha bitant, but even the single houses should be without man ; and not only the houses of the cities should be without man, but even the country should be utterly desolate ; and not only the people should be removed out of the land, but the Lord should remove them far away; and they should not be removed for a short period, but there should be a great or rather a long forsaking in the midst of the land. And hath not the world seen all these particulars exactly fulfilled 1 Have not the Jews laboured under a spiritual blindness and infatuation in hearing but not under-. standing, in seeing but not perceiving the Messiah, after the ac complishment of so many prophecies, after the performance of so many miracles "? And in consequence of their refusing to convert and be healed, have not their cities been wasted withoiu inhabitant, and their houses witfuout man? Hath not their land been utterly desolate ? Have they not been removed far away into the most distant parts of the earth 1 And hath not their re moval or banishment been now of near 1700 vears duration? ON THE PROPHECIES. Ill And do they not still continue deaf and blind, obstinate and un believing'? The Jews, at the time of the delivery of this pro phecy, gloried in being the peculiar church and people of God : and would any JeAV of himself have thought or have said, that his nation would in process of time become an infidel and repro bate nation, infidel and reprobate for so many ages, oppressed by men, and forsaken by God1? It was above 750 years before Christ, that Isaiah predicted these things ; and how could he have predicted them, unless he had been illuminated by the divine vision ; or how could they have succeeded accordingly, unless the spirit of prophecy had been the spirit of God 1 V. Of the same nature are the prophecies concerning the calling and obedience of the Gentiles. How could such an event be foreseen hundreds of years before it happened 1 but the prophets are full of the glorious subject, and speak with delight and rapture of the universal kingdom of the Messiah ; that " God would give unto him the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession," (Psal. ii. 8 ;) that " all the ends of the world should remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations should worship before him," (Psal. xxii. 27;) that "in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord should be established in the top of the mountains, and should be exalted above the hills, and all people should flow unto it," (Micah iv. 1 ;) which pas sage is also to be found in Isaiah, (ii. 2,) that " from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering ; for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts," (Mai. i. 2.) But the prophet Isaiah is more copious upon this as Avell as other evangelical subjects : and his 49th and 60th chap ters treat particularly of the glory of the church in the abundant access of the Gentiles. " It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel : I will also give thee for a light to the Gen tiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth," (xlix. 6;) "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee, &c." (lx. 1, 3, 5, &c.) It is as absurd as it is vain in the Jews to apply these prophe cies to the proselytes whom they have gained among the nations ; for the number of their proselytes was very inconsiderable, and nothing to answer these pompous descriptions. Neither was their religion ever designed by its founder for an universal reli gion, their worship and sacrifices being confined to one certain 112 BISHOP NEWTON place, whither all the males were obliged to repair thrice every year ; so that it was plainly calculated for a particular people, and could never become the religion of the whole world. There was indeed to be a religion, which was designed for all na tions, to be preached in all, and to be received in all : but what prospect or probability was there, that such a generous institu tion should proceed from such a narrow-minded people as the JeAvs, or that the Gentiles who hated and despised them should ever receive a religion from them 1 Was it not much more likely, that they should be corrupted by the example of all the nations around them, and be induced to comply with the polytheism and idolatry of some of their powerful neighbours and con querors, to which they were but too much inclined of them selves ; was not this, I say, much more likely than that they should be the happy instruments of reforming the world, and converting some of all nations to the worship of the one only God in spirit and in truth 1 But the prophet farther intimates, that this great revolution, the greatest that ever was in the religious world, should be effected by a few incompetent persons, and effected too in a short compass of time. " A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation : I the Lord will hasten it in his time," (lx. 22.) Our Saviour's commission to his apostles was " Go, teach all nations :" and who were the persons to whom this commission was given ? those who Avere best qualified and able to carry it into execution 1 the rich, the wise, the mighty of this world 1 No, they were chiefly a few poor fishermen, of Ioav pa rentage and education, of no learning or eloquence, of no policy or address, of no repute or authority, despised as Jews by the rest of mankind, and as the meanest and Avorst of Jews by the Jews themselves. And what improper persons were these to contend with the prejudices of all the world, the superstitions of the people, the interests of the priests, the vanity of philosophers, the pride of rulers, the malice of the Jews, the learning of Greece, and the power of Rome 1 As this revolution was effected by a few incompetent persons, so Avas it effected too in a short compass of time. After our Saviour's ascension " the number of disciples together was .about an hundred and twenty," (Acts i. 15:) but they soon increased and multiplied ; the first sermon of St. Peter added unto them "about three thousand souls," (ii. 41 :) and the se cond made up the number " about five thousand," (iv. 4.) Be fore the destruction of Jerusalem, in the space of about forty years, the gospel was preached in almost every region of the world then knoAvn : And in the region of Constantine, Chris tianity became the religion of the empire ; and after having suffered a little under Julian, it entirely prevailed and triumphed ON THE PROPHECIES. 113 over paganism and idolatry ; and still prevails in the most civi lized and improved parts of the earth. All this was more than man could foresee, and much more than man could execute : and we experience the good effects of these prophecies at this day. The speedy propagation of the gospel could not have been effected by persons so unequal to the task, if the same divine Spirit who foretola it, had not likewise assisted them in it, ac cording to the promise, " I the Lord will hasten it in his time." We may be as certain as if we had seen it, that the truth really was, as the Evangelist affirms, (Mark xvi. 20:) "TheyAvent forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." But neither the prophecies concerning the Gentiles, nor those concerning the Jews, have yet received their full and entire completion- Our Saviour hath not yet had "the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession," (Psal. ii. 8;) "All the ends of the world have not yet turned unto the Lord," (xxii. 27 ;) " All people, nations, and languages, have not yet served him," (Dan. vii. 14.) These things have hitherto been only partially, but they will even literally be fulfilled. Neither are the Jews yet made " an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations," (Isa. lx. 15.) The time is not yet come, when "violence shall no more be heard in the land, wasting nor destruction within their borders," (ver. 18.) God's promises to them are not yet made good in their full extent. " Behold, I will take the chil dren of Israel from among the heathen, 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 giveti unto Jacob my servant, even they and their children, and their children's children for ever, and my servant David shall be their prince for ever," (Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 25;) "Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, who caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen ; but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God," (xxxix. 28, 29.) However, what hath already been ac complished is a sufficient pledge and earnest of what is yet to come : and we have all imaginable reason to believe, since so many of these prophecies are fulfilled, that the remaining pro phecies will be fulfilled also ; that there will be yet a greater harvest of the nations, and the yet unconverted parts of the earth will be enlightened with the knowledge of the Lord ; that the Jews will in God's good time be converted to Christianity, and upon their conversion be restored to their native city and country : and especially since the state of affairs is such, that they may return without much difficulty, having no dominion, 10* P 114 BISHOP NEWTON no settled country, or fixed property to detain tnem much anj where. We have seen the prophecy of Hosea (iii. 4, 5) ful filled in part, and why should we not believe that it will be ful filled in the whole ] " The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince,' and without a sacri fice, and without an image, (or altar?) and without an ephod, (or wriest to wear an ephod,) and without teraphim, (or divine mani- restation.) Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." We have now exhibited a summary view of the prophecies of the Old Testament more immediately relative to the present state and condition of the Jews : and what stronger and more convincing arguments can you require of the truth both of the Jewish and of the Christian religion 1 The Jews were once the peculiar people of God : and as St. Paul saith, (Rom. xi. 1,) " Hath God cast away his people 1 God forbid." We see that after so many ages they are still preserved by a miracle of pro vidence a distinct people ; and why is such a continual miracle exerted, but for the greater illustration of the divine truth, and the better accomplishment of the divine promises, as well those which are yet to be, as those which are already fulfilled 1 We see that the great empires, which in their turns subdued and oppressed the people of God, are all come to ruin : because though they executed the purposes of God, yet that was more than they understood ; all that they intended was to satiate their own pride and ambition, their own cruelty and revenge. And if such hath been the fatal end of the enemies and op pressors of the Jews, let it serve as a warning to all those, who at any time or upon any occasion are for raising a clamour and persecution against them. They are blameable no doubt for persisting in their infidelity after so many means of conviction ; but this is no warrant or authority for us to proscribe, to abuse, injure, and oppress them, as Christians of more zeal than either knowledge or charity have in all ages been apt to do. Charity is greater than faith : and it is worse in us to be cruel and uncha ritable, than it is in them to be obstinate and unbelieving. Persecution is the spirit of popery, and in the worst of popish countries the Jews are the most cruelly used and persecuted : the spirit of protestantism is toleration and indulgence to weaker consciences. Compassion to this unhappy people is not to defeat the prophecies ; for only wicked nations were to harass and oppress them, the good were to show mercy to them; and we should choose rather to be the dispensers of God's mercies than the executioners of his judgments. Read the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and see what the great apostle of the Gentiles, who certainly understood ON THE PROPHECIES. 115 the prophecies better than any of us can pretend to do, saith of the infidelity of the Jews. Some of the Gentiles of his time valued themselves upon their superior advantages, and he re proves them for it, that they who " were cut out of the olive- tree which is wild by nature, and were graffed contrary to na ture into a good olive-tree," should presume to " boast against the natural branches," (ver. 24, 18:) but what would he have said, how would he have flamed and lightened, if they had made religion an instrument of faction, and had been for stirring up a persecution against them ? We should consider, that to them we owe the oracles of God, the Scriptures of the New Testa ment as well as the old ; we should consider that " the glorious company of the apostles" as well as " the goodly fellowship of the prophets" were Jews ; we should consider, that " of them as concerning the flesh Christ came," the Saviour of the world : and surely something of kindness and gratitude is due for such infinite obligations. Though they are now broken off, yet they are not utterly cast away. " Because of unbelief (as St. Paul argues, ver. 20,) they were broken off, and thou standest by faith; be not high-minded, but fear." There will be a time, when they will be graffed in again, and again become the people of God; for as the apostle proceeds, (ver. 25, 26,) " I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (lest ye should be wise in your own conceits,) that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in ; and so all Israel shall be saved." And which (think ye) is the most likely method to contribute to their conversion, which are the most natural means to reconcile them to us and our re ligion ; prayer, argument, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness ; or noise and invective, injury and outrage, the malice of some, and the folly and madness of more 1 They cannot be worse than when they crucified the Son of God, and persecuted his apostles: but what saith our Saviour ? (Luke xxiii. 34 :) "Fa ther, forgive them, for they know not what they do :" what saith his apostle St. Paul 1 (Rom. x. 1 :) " Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." In conformity to these blessed examples our church hath also taught us to pray for them : and how can prayer and persecu tion consist and agree together1? They are only pretended friends to the church, but real enemies to religion, who encou rage persecution of any kind. All true sons of the church, all true Protestants, all true Christians will, as the apostle adviseth, (Eph. iv. 31,) " put away all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, with all malice ;" and will join heart and voice in that excellent collect — " Have mercy upon , all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word : and 116 BISHOP NEWTON so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold, under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord." IX. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING NINEVEH. AS the Jews were the peculiar people of God, the prophets - were sent to them chiefly, and the main subjects of the prophecies are the various changes and revolutions in the Jewish church and state. But the spirit of prophecy is not limited there ; other subjects are occasionally introduced ; and for the greater manifestation of the divine providence, the fate of other nations is also foretold : and especially of those nations which lay in the neighbourhood of Judea, and had intercourse and con nexions with the JeAvs ; and whose good or ill fortune therefore was of some concern and consequence to the Jews themselves. But here it is greatly to be lamented, that of these eastern nations and of these early times we have very short and imperfect ac counts ; we have no regular histories, but only a few fragments of history, which have escaped the general . shipwreck of tune. If we possessed the Assyrian history written by Abydenus, and the Chaldsean by Berosus, and the Egyptian by Manetho, we might in all probability be better enabled to explain the precise meaning, and to demonstrate the exact completion of several ancient prophecies : but for want of such helps and assistances we must be glad of a little glimmering light wherever we can see it. We see enough, hoAvever, though not to discover the beauty and exactness of each particular, yet to make us admire in the general these wonders of providence, and to show that the condition of cities and kingdoms hath been such, as the pro phets had long ago foretold. And we Avill begin with the in stance of Nineveh. Nineveh was the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, and the Assyrians were formidable enemies to the kingdoms both of Israel and Judah. In the days of Menahem king of Israel, Pul the king of Assyria invaded the land, and was bought off with a thousand talents of silver, (2 Kings xv. 19.) A few years after wards, " in the days of Pekah king of Israel, came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took several cities, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria," (2 Kings xv. 29.) The same Tiglath-pileser was invited by Ahaz king of Judah to come and assist him against Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel : " And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the bouse of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the ON THE PROPHECIES. 117 king of Assyria," (2 Kings xvu 8.) The king of Assyria came accordingly to his assistance, and routed his enemies : but still, as another sacred writer saith, " distressed him, and strength ened him not," (2 Chron. xxviii. 20.) A little after, in the days of Hoshea king of Israel, "Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land," and after a siege of three years " took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes," (2 Kings xvii. 5, 6.) It Avas " in the sixth year of Hezekiah," king of Judah, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria carried Israel away captive : and " in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them," (2 Kings xviii. 10, 13.) And the king of Assyria exacted of the king of Judah " three hundred talents of silver, and thirty ta lents of gold ;" so that even good king Hezekiah was forced to " give him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house," (ver. 14, 15.) Sennacherib notwithstanding sent his captains "with a great host against Jerusalem," (ver. 17,) but his army was miracu lously defeated, and he himself was afterwards slain at Nineveh, (2 Kings xix. 35, 36, 37.) His son Esarhaddon completed the deportation of the Israelites, " and brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel ; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof," (2 Kings xvii. 24; Ezraiv. 2.) We see then that the Assyrians totally destroyed the kingdom of Israel, and greatly oppressed the kingdom of Judah : and no wonder therefore that they are made the subject of several prophecies. The prophet Isaiah denounceth the judgments of God against Sennacherib in particular, and against the Assyrians in gene ral. " O Assyrian," or rather, " Wo to the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger," (x. 5.) God might employ them as the ministers of his wrath, and executioners of his vengeance ; and so make the wickedness of some nations the means of correcting that of others : " I will send him against an hypocritical nation ; and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire in the streets," (ver. 6.) But it was far from any intent of theirs to execute the divine will, or to chastise the vices of mankind; they only meant to extend their conquests, and es tablish their own dominion upon the ruin of others : " How- beit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few," (ver. 7.) Wherefore when they shall have served the purposes of divine 118 BISHOP NEWTON Providence, they shall be severely punished for their pride and ambition, their tyranny and cruelty to their neighbours : " Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath per formed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks," (ver. 12.) There Avas no pros pect of such an event, while the Assyrians were in the midst of their successes and triumphs : but still the word of the prophet prevailed ; and it was not long after these calamities brought upon the Jews, of which we have given a short deduction, that the Assyrian empire properly so called was overthrown, and Nineveh destroyed. Nineveh, or Ninus, as it was most usually called by the Greeks and Romans, Avas, as we said before, the capital city of the Assyrian empire ; and the capital is frequently put for the whole empire, the prosperity or ruin of the one being involved in that of the other. This Avas a very ancient city, being built by Asshur or as others say by Nimrod; for those words of Moses, (Gen. x. 1 1,) which our translators together with most of the ancient versions render thus, " Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh," others translate, as the 1 Chaldee Paraphrast translates them, and as they are rendered in the margin of our Bibles, " Out of that land he," that is, Nimrod, the person spoken of before, " went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh." It is well known that the word Asshur in Hebrew is the name of the country as well as the name of the man, and the preposition is often omitted, so that the words may very well be translated he went forth into Assyria. And Moses is here giving an account of the sons of Ham, and it may seem foreign to his subject to intermix the story of any of the sons of Shem, as Asshur was. Moses afterwards recounts the sons of Shem, and Asshur among them ; and it is presumed that he would hardly relate his actions, before he had mentioned his nativity, or even his name, contrary to the series of the gene alogy and to the order of the history. But this notwithstanding I incline to understand the text literally as it is translated, " Out of that land went forth Asshur," being expelled thence by Nimrod, " and builded Nineveh " and other cites, in opposition to the cities which Nimrod had founded in the land of Shinar. And neither is it foreign to the subject, nor contrary to the order of the history, upon the mention of Nimrod's invading and seizing the territories of Asshur, to relate whither Asshur retreated, and where he fortified himself against him. But by whomsoever Nineveh was built, it might afterwards be greatly enlarged and improved by Ninus, and called after his name, whoeA'er Ninus was, for that is altogether uncertain. 1 " De terra ilia egressus est in Assyriam." Onk. ON THE PROPHECIES. 119 As it was a very ancient, so was it likewise a very great city. In Jonah it is styled " that great city," (i. 2 ; iii. 2,) " an exceed ing great city," (iii. 3.) In the original it is a city great to God ; 2 in the same manner as Moses is called by St. Stephen, in the Acts of the Apostles, (vii. 20,) &ctews t$s es?, fair to God, or exceeding fair, as our translators rightly render it ; and so " the mountains of God," (Psal. xxxvi. 6,) are exceeding high mountains, and "the cedars of God," (Psal. lxxx. 10,) are ex ceeding tall cedars. It was therefore " an exceeding great city ;" and the scripture-account is confirmed by the testimony of heathen authors. Strabo 3 says, that Nineveh was much greater even than Babylon: and Diodorus Siculus4 from Ctesias affirms that 'its builder Ninus proposed to build a city of such magnitude, that it should not only be the greatest of the cities which were then in all the Avorld, but that none of those who should be born after that time attempting the like should easily exceed it;' and a little after he subjoins, that 'nobody after wards built such a city, either as to the greatness of the com pass, or as to the magnificence of the walls.' It is added in Jonah, (iii. 3,) that it was "an exceeding great city of three days' journey,"5 that is, of three days' journey in circuit, as St. Jerome and the best commentators expound it. Strabo, as it was observed before, hath said that Nineveh was much larger than Babylon ; and a little afterwards he says, that 6 the circuit of Babylon Avas 385 furlongs : but Diodorus Siculus 7 asserts that the whole circuit of Nineveh was 480 furlongs ; which8 make somewhat more than 60 miles, and 60 miles were three days' journey, 20 miles a day being the common computation of a foot traveller. It is farther said in Jonah, (iv. 11,) that in Nineveh " there were more than sixscore thousand persons Avho could not discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle." I think it is 9 generally calculated that 2 era^N1? nSvu-^j; Deo magna civitas, trium dierum posset itinere circumiri.' Hie- irdXis pEydXn rip OciJS, Sept. ron. Comment, in locum. 3 HoXD Si pEi^oiv ?iv rjjs BafivX&vos. Ea G Tbv Si k^kXov EftEi T0^ teIxovs rpiaKo- multo major erat Babylone. Strabo, I. 16, atiav dySofjKovra ttevte araSiiav. Muri ambitu p. 1071. cccxxcv stadiorum. Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1072. 4 — "ILo-ttevSc TnXiKavTrjv KTiaai rb piytBos 7 Toy ovpiravTos TEpi(il6Xov cvotoBevtos ek ttSXiv, {bore pr) pdvov avrrjv ejvai pEyiarrjv t&v trraSlviv TerpaKoa-ttav Kai SySoiJKovTa. A-mbi- t6te oiio-Siv Kard Traaav ri]v olKovpivnv, dXXd ius totus stadiis ccccxxc constat. 1. 2, c. 3. unSi tviv pETayEvetrTEpitiv Iripviv faifiuXXbpc- B ' Nini circuilus stadiorum fuisse vov 'paStvis -dv viTEpUEvBat. Tanta quoque cccclxxx, id est, miUiarium sexaginta ; molis urbem condere festinabat, ut non modo quae triduanum iter facient, si singulorum omnium tunc in orbe ten arum maxima exis- dierum iter aestimes viginti milliaribus: quo- Sere*, sed etiam ut nemo post genitorum tale modo definierunt non Jurisconsult! solum, quid aggressus ipsum facile superaret. sed et Grascorum vetustissimi. Herodotus, TvXiKavTnv ydp TrbXiv ovSeIs bffTEpov ektigc 1. 5, c. 53. TIevtt'ikovto. Si Kai iKarbv ardSLa KH-d te rb piyeOos tov TtEpifibXov, Kal rr]v KEpl fV hpipp iKaar-p Su^iovtri. Centum et quin- rb ret^oj pEyaXo-Kpi-KEiav. A nulla enimpost- quaginta stadia unoquoque die peragrantilms. modum urbs tanto ambitus spatio, tantaque cl stadia sunt viginti milliaria, &c.' Bo rn agniftcentia mcenium exsirucla fuit. Diod. charti Phaleg. 1. 4, c. 20, col. 252. Sicului, I. 2, c. 3. ¦ Bochart. ibid. col. 253. Lowth's Com- "- ' Civitas magna et tanti ambitus; ut vix ment. and Calmet's. 120 BISHOP NEWTON the young children of any place are a fifth part of the inhabitants; and if we admit of that calculation, the whole number of inha. bitants in Nineveh amounted to above six hundred thousand : which number will appear by no means incredible, if we consi der the dimensions of the city as given by Diodorus Siculus,1 that it was in length 150 furlongs, in breadth 90 furlongs, and in circuit 480 furlongs, that is 20 miles long, about 12 miles broad, and above 60 miles in compass. A city of such dimen sions might easily contain such a number of inhabitants, and many more : and at the same time there might be, as there are in most of the great cities of the east, large vacant spaces for gardens or for pasture ; so that there might be, as the sacred text asserts there was, " also much cattle." But according to the modern method of calculation,3 the number of the Ninevites is reduced much loAver. For allowing that the number of in fants was one hundred and thirty thousand, as the Scripture saith that they were more than one hundred and twenty thou sand ; yet these making but three-tenths of the inhabitants, the number of citizens will appear to have amounted to four hun dred and twenty-three thousand. London and Paris stand not upon one-quarter of the ground, and yet are supposed to con tain more inhabitants ; London even more than the former cal culation, and Paris more than the latter ; it being 3 computed that in London there are about 725,943 persons, and about 437,478 in Paris. The inhabitants of Nineveh, like those of other great cities, abounding in wealth and luxury, became very corrupt in their morals. Whereupon it pleased God to commission the prophet Jonah to preach unto them the necessity of repentance, as the only means of averting their impending destruction : and such was the success of his preaching, that both the king and the people repented and turned from their evil ways, and thereby for a time delayed the execution of the divine judgments. Who this king of Assyria was we cannot be certain, we can only make conjectures, his name not being mentioned in the book of Jonah. Archbishop Usher 4 supposeth him to have been Pul the king of Assyria, Avho afterwards invaded the kingdom of Israel, in the days of Menahem, (2 Kings xv. 19 ;) it being very agreeable to the methods of providence to make use of an heathen king who was penitent, to punish the impenitency of God's own people Israel. But it should seem more probable, that this prince Avas one of the kings of Assyria, before any of those who are mentioned in Scripture. For Jonah is reckoned 1 -ElxeSi twv piv paKporipiov nXevpSiv fxa- * Maitland's Hist, of London, b. 3, c. 2 rioav h -k6Xis Harbv Kal -KEvrftKovra craSttjiv, p. 542. rStv Si fipaxvripwv, ivEvfjKnvra k. t. X. Latus 3 Maitland, p. 541 et 548. utrinque longius ad cl stadia cxcurrit ; reli- 4 See Usher s Annals, A. M. 3233, p. 58 qua duo minora, xc obtincnt, $-c. Diod. Sic. and Lowth's Comment. I. 2, c. 3. ON THE PROPHECIES. 121 the most ancient of all the prophets usually so called, whose writings are preserved in the canon of Scripture. We know that he prophesied of the restoration of the coasts of Israel taken by the king of Syria, which was accomplished by Jero boam the second, (2 Kings xiv. 25 :) and therefore Jonah must have lived before that time ; and is with great reason supposed by Bishop Lloyd in his Chronological Tables to have prophe sied at the latter end of Jehu's, or the beginning of the reign of Jehoahaz, when the kingdom of Israel was reduced very low, and greatly oppressed by Hazael king of Syria, (2 Kings x. 32.) If he prophesied at that time, there intervened Jehoahaz's reign of seventeen years, Joash's reign of sixteen years, Jeroboam's of forty and one years, Zachariah's of six months, Shallum's of one month, and Menahem was seated on the throne of Israel, before any mention is made of Pul the king of Assyria : and therefore we may reasonably conclude from the distance of time, which was above seventy years, that Jonah Avas not sent to Pul the king of Assyria, but to one of his predecessors, though to Avhom particularly we are unable to discover, for the want before complained of, the want of Assyrian histories, which no doubt would have related so memorable a transaction. But this repentance of the Ninevites, Ave may presume, Avas of no long continuance. For not many years after w\i find the prophet Nahum foretelling the total and entire destruction of the city ; though there is no certainty of the time of Nahum's, any more than of Jonah's prophesying. Josephus5 saith that he flourished in the time of Jotham king of Judah, and that all the things Avhich he foretold concerning Nineveh came to pass one' hundred and fifteen years aftenvards. St. Jerome6 place th him under Hezekiah, king of Judah, and saith that his name by in terpretation is a comforter ; for the ten tribes being carried away by the king of Assyria, this vision Avas to comfort them in their captivity ; nor was jt a less consolation to the other two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who remained in the land, and Avere besieged by the same enemies, to hear that these conquerors would in time be conquered themselves, their city be taken, and their empire overthroAvn. All that is said of him in Scrip ture is " Nahum the Etkoshite," (Nahum i. 1,) which title jn 6 THv Se tis Kard tovtov rbv Kaipbv irpo- rant in captivitatem sub Ezechia rege Juda, (pfirns Naofipos t ovvopa. Erat autem quidem sub quo etiam nunc in eonsolationem populi so tempore vates, cui nomen JYahumus. Zvvi6n transmigrati adversum Nineven visio cerni- 5e -Kdina rd rrooEiprjpEva -KEpl Tfiveviis, perd tur. Nee erat parva consolatio, tarn his qui ZTn lilarbv Kai TTEvrEKatSEKa. Evenerunt autem jam Assyriis serviebant, quam reiiquis qui omnia qua de Nineve pradicta sunt centum et sub Ezechia de tribu Juda et Benjamin ab luintlecim post annos. Jos. Antiq. lib. 9, c. iisdem hoslibus obsidebantur ; ut audirent II, § 3. Assyi'ios quoque a Childieis esse capiendos, s ( Naum qui interpretatur consolator. Jam sicut in consequentibus hujus libri demon- enim decern tribus ab Assyriis deductae fue- strabitur.' Hieron. Prol. in Naum. n a 122 BISHOP NEWTON all probability was given him from the place of his nativity ; and 7 St. Jerome supposeth it to have been a village in Galilee, the ruins whereof were shewn to him, when he travelled in those parts. Now we learn from the sacred history, (2 Kings xv. 29,) that the people of "Galilee were taken by Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and carried captive into Assyria." It is not impro bable therefore, that at that time this prophet, who was a Gali lean, might be instructed to foretell the fall of Nineveh : and that time coincides with the reign of Jotham king of Judah, which is the time assigned for Nahum's prophesying by Jose phus. But if Josephus was right in this particular, he was wrong in another ; for more than one hundred and fifteen years inter vened between the reign of Jotham king of Judah, and the de struction of Nineveh, as it is usually computed by chronologeis. There is one thing, which might greatly assist us in fixing the time of Nahum's prophesying ; and that is the destruction of No-Amon or Diospolis in Egypt, which he mentions (chap. iii. 8, &c.) as a late transaction, if we could knoAV certainly when that destruction happened, or by whom it Avas effected. It is commonly attributed to Nebuchadnezzar ; but that time is too late, and the destruction of No-Amon would fall out after the destruction of Nineveh instead of before it. Dr. Prideaux8 with more reason believes, that it was effected by Sennacherib, before he marched against Jerusalem ; and then Nahum's pro phesying would coincide exactly Avith the reign of Hezekiah, which is the time assigned for it by St. Jerome. But whenever it was that Nahum prophesied, he plainly and largely foretold the destruction of Nineveh ; his whole prophecy relates to this single event : and the city Avas accordingly de stroyed by the Medes and Babylonians. This point I think is generally agreed upon, that Nineveh was taken and destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians ; these two rebelling and unit ing together subverted the Assyrian empire : but authors differ much about the time Avhen Nineveh was taken, and about the king of Assyria in Avhose reign it Avas taken, and even about the persons who had the command in this expedition. Hero dotus9 affirms, that it was taken by Cyaxares king of the Medes ; St. Jerome, after the Hebrew chronicle,1 asserts that it was taken by Nabuchodonosor king of the Babylonians : but these ac counts may be easily reconciled, for Cyaxares and Nabucho donosor might take it with their joint forces, as they actually * ' Elcesi usque hodie in Galilaea viculus, 1 Hieron. in Naum ii. 12. Seder Olan. parvus quidem, etvixruinis veterumaedificio- Rabba soli Nabuchodonosor rem attribuit, et rum indicans vesthra ; sed tamen notus Ju- tempus ponit. Anno primo Nabuchodonosor daeis; et mihi quoqiie a circumducente mon- subegit Nineven, id est, non diu postmortem stratus.' Hieron. Prol. in Naum. patris. Ebraicum hoc Chronicon secuti B Prid. Connect, part 1, b. 1, Anno 713. sunt S. Hieronymus, &c.' Marshami Chron. I-Iczclt 15. 3 Herod. 1. 1, c. 106. Siec. xviii, p. 559. ON THE PROPHECIES. 123 did according to that which is written in the book of Tobit, (xiv. 15,) if the Assuerus in Tobit be the same (as there is great reason to think him the same) with the Cyaxares of Herodotus : "But before Tobias died, he heard of the destruction of Ni neveh, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus ; and before his death he rejoiced over Nineveh." Josephus 2 who saith in one place that the empire of the Assyrians was dis solved by the Medes, saith in another that the Medes and Ba bylonians dissolved the empire of the Assyrians. Herodotus himself3 saith that the Medes took Nineveh, and subdued the Assyrians, except the Babylonian portion ; the reason of which was, the Babylonians were their allies and confederates. Ctesias, and after him 4 Diodorus Siculus, ascribe the taking of Nineveh, and the subversion of the Assyrian empire, to Arbaces the Mede, assisted by Belesis the Babylonian. I know that 6 Eusebius, and after him several excellent chronologers, Usher, Prideaux, and others, reckon this quite a different action, and fix it at quite a different time ; but it is not likely that the same city should be twice destroyed, and the same empire twice overthrown, by the same people twice confederated together. Diodorus, who relates this catastrophe, doth not mention the other ; but saith expressly,6 that Arbaces distributed the citizens of Nineveh in the country villages, levelled the city with the ground, trans ferred many talents of gold and silver to Ecbatana the royal city of the Medes ; and so, saith he, the empire of the Assyrians was subverted. If there is some difficulty in discovering the persons by whom Nineveh was taken, there is more in ascertaining the king of Assyria in whose reign it was taken, and more still in fixing the time when it was taken, scarce any two chronologers agreeing in the same date : but as these things are hardly pos sible to be known, so neither are they necessary to be known, with precision and exactness ; and we may safely leave them among the uncertainties of ancient history and chronology. 2 Tvve^ti rrjv twv 'Ao-trvphov apxhv tnrb M17- ex auctoritate Herodoti, Num. 1410. ' Cy- \uv KaraXvB^vai. Assyriorum imperium a axares Medus subvertit Ninum.' Ista au- Medis eversum iri contigil. Joseph. Antiq. tem davarara sunt." Marshami Chronicon. I. 10, c. 2, § 2. — Mi'/Sovs Kal robs B- Sa3C. xvm. p. 656. vlovs, ol t')v 'Aetrvptivv KareXvoav dpxtiv. B rO S1 oHv 'ApfidKns rots Kard riiv rcoXi-i Medos et Babylonios, qui Assyriorum everte- fauiKtvs ttpooevexBeis, avrovs piv Kara Kuipas rant imperium. Ibid. c. 5, § 1. St kice, rrjv Si rrdXtv eIs sSatpos Kareo-ka- 3 Kai rtjv te Nivov cTXov, Kal rovs 7Accvpt- xpEV. "ErrEiTa t6v te dpyvpov Kal xpvff°v 0VS V-KQXEtptoVS faoif]OaVTO, TtXb,V TTJS Ba/3l)Xfa>- TToXX&V 6'vTa TaXaVTlVV, dTTEKbpiOE T/JS vtvs polpvs- Et Ninum expugnaverunt, As- MnSias els 'Eic/Jdrava. fH piv olv T\ytpovia syriosque, excepta Babylonica portione, sube- rivv 'Acravpiviv imb Mf/Suiv KariXydi] rbv gerunt. Herod. 1. 1, c. 106. TrpoEipnohov rpdxov. Simili quoque lenitate 4 Diod. Sic. 1. 2, c. 24. erga cives usus, quamvis in pagos cos distra- 5 " Eusebius (more suo) utramque sen- heret, — urbem autem solo aquavit. Turn tentiam in Canonem retulit: ad mentem argentum et aurum — (multa certe ialenta Ctes'uB, 'Arbaces Medus (ait, Num. 1197,) erant) in Ecbatana Medorum regiam trans- Assyriorum imperio destructo, regnum in tulit. Hoe ergo modo Assyriorum imperium Medos transtubt.' Dein (post annos 213) —a Medis eversum est. Diod.Sic.1.2, c.28. 124 BISHOP NEWTON It is sufficient for our purpose, that Nineveh was taken and destroyed according to the predictions: and Nahum foretold not only the thing, but also the manner of it. Herodotus pro mised to relate in his Assyrian history how Nineveh was taken ;7 the Medes took Nineveh, saith he, but how they took it, I will show in another work. Again afterwards he mentions his design of writing the Assyrian history. Speaking of the kings of Ba bylon he saith,8 of these I shall make mention in the Assyrian history. But to our regret this history was never finished, or is lost. More probably it was never finished, for otherwise some or other of the ancients would have mentioned it. If it had been extant with his other works, it would, in all probability, have been of great service in illustrating several passages in Nahum's prophecies. It is however something fortunate, that we can in some measure supply this loss out of Diodorus Si culus. Nahum prophesies, that the Assyrians should be taken while they were drunken, (i. 10,) "For while they be folden together as thorns, and Avhile they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble full dry:" and 9 Diodorus relates, that 'it was while all the Assyrian army were feasting for their former victories, that those about Arbaces being in formed by some deserters of the negligence and drunkenness in the camp of the enemies, assaulted them unexpectedly by night, and falling orderly on them disorderly, and prepared on them unprepared, became masters of the camp, and sleAV many of the soldiers, and drove the rest into the city.' Nahum foretells, (ii. 6,) that "the gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved :" and 1 Diodorus informs us, ' that 7 Kai rtjv re NTvov tXXov (ui? Si eIXov, iv Its'- et reliquos in urbem eompellunt. Diod. Sic. qoioi Xbyoitri SnXiicvi.) Et Ninum expug- 1. 2, c. 26. naverunt [ut autem ceperint, in aim mox scrip- 1 yHv 5' alirip Xdyiov TrapaSeSouhov ek npo- tis indicabo.) Herod. 1. 1, c. 106. ydvoiv, on riiv Nivov oiiSeis 'tXrj Kard Kpdros, B Twv iv roXai ' Aorrvpioici X6yoiai pvyjptjv idv pr} irpbrEpov b zorapbs rp tt6Xei yevnrai iroLrjaopai. Quorum in exponendis rebus As- -KoXipios. Tw rpirip 6' etei, ovvex&s syriis mentionemfaciam. Herod. 1. 1, c. 184. Spfipuiv haySalwv KaraS ayivrviv, avvi(3r> rbv Vossius de Hist. Gr32c. 1. 1, c. 3. Fabricius Kvtppdrriv [Ttypiv] piyav yEvbpcvov KaraKXv- Bib. Gra3C. 1. 2, c. 20. aal te pipos rrjs TrbXEWs, Kal KarafiaXeiv rb a AiOTep Trjs SvvdpEvis axdons iffrtivpivvs, te1x°S fat CTaSlovs EiKoatv. 'Evraufia b (Saci- ol Tcpt rbv 'ApGdKnv irapd rivviv avropdXwv Xevs voplaas TETEXicSat rbv xpwpbv, Kal Tjj rrvBdpevoi ti)v iv rjj TTapEpfioXij riav TroXepliav rrdXei rbv TTorapbvyEyovivaKbavEpibsr-oXipiov, fiaBvplav Kal pt9r\v, WKrbs dTrpoaSoKTJroJS Tt)v aTEyvvi r^v aiarnplav. "Iva Sr) ptl rols iroXEpi- falBEOlv faou'jaavTO. Hpoc-KCaiVTCS Si tnivre- is yivtirai biroxetpios, rrvpdv Ik rots fiaaiXsiols raypivoi piv aavvrdKrois, E-itpoi Si d-trapa- KarcoKEvao-EV vireppEyiBn, Kat rbv te xovabv Kal okeIiois, Trjs te TrapEpPoXrjs iKpdrnaav, Kal Tibv rbv dpyvpov arravra, Tpbs Si tvv'tois tijv fiaai- CTparivJTivv ttoXXovs dveXbvTES, robs dXXovsvE- XiKt)v EaQrira Tdaav fal ravrnv iavipEVat. Tds Xpi ri)s t.6Xews KarESiw^av. Toto igitur Si TraXXaKiSas Kai robs ivvobxovs wyKXEtaas exercitu conviviis indulgente, Arbaces per els rbv iv pirni rfj irvpiji KarEOKEvaapivov o\ov, iransfugas de negligentia et eorietate hos- apa robrois dtratriv iavrbv te Kal Ta (3ao-iXsia tium edoctus, noctu ex improviso illos opprv- KariKavuev. 01 6' axocrrdTai, rrvBbpEvoi rr)v mit. Et quoniam compositi incompositos, dxiXeiav SapSavandXov, rrjs piv tt6Xems parati imparatos, invadehant, facile et castra iKpdrvaav, Ela-aEabvTes Kara rb ttettuikos txpugnant, et vastam hostium stragem edunt, pipos roil retxovs- Atqui vaticinium a majo- ON THE PROPHECIES. 125 there was an old prophecy, that Nineveh should not be taken, till the river became an enemy to the city; and in the third year of the siege, the river being swoln with continual rains overflowed part of the city, and broke down the wall for twenty furlongs ; then the king thinking that the oracle was fulfilled, and the river become an enemy to the city, built a large funeral pile in the palace, and collecting together all his wealth and his concubines and eunuchs, burnt himself and the palace Avith them all : and the enemy entered the breach that the waters had made, and took the city.' What Avas predicted in the first chap ter (ver. 8) Was therefore literally fulfilled : " With an overrun ning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof." Nahum promises the enemy much spoil of gold and silver, (ii. 9 :) " Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold ; for there is no end of the store, and glory out of all the pleasant furniture :" and we read in 2 Diodorus, that Arbaces carried many talents of gold and silver to Ecbatana the royal city of the Medes. According to Nahum, (i. 8; iii. 15,) the city was to be destroyed by fire and water ; and We see in Diodorus, that by fire and water it Avas destroyed. But Nahum is cited upon this occasion principally to shew, that he foretold the total and entire destruction of this city. " The Lord, (saith he in the first chapter, ver. 8, 9,) with an overrunning flood will make an utter end of the place thereof; he will make an utter end ; affliction shall not rise up the se cond time." Again in the second chapter, (ver. 11, 13,) " Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions ]" meaning Nineveh whose princes ravaged like lions : "Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard." And again in the third and last chapter, (ver. 17 — 19:) "Thy crowned are as the lo custs, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day ; but when the sun ariseth, they flee" away, and their place is not known where they are, (or have been;) thy shepherds slumber, 0 king of Assyria; thy nobles shall dwell in the dust ; thy people is scattered upon the moun- rihus traditum hahehal : ' a nullo capi Ni- munculam quam in medio pyres exstruxerat, num posse, nisi fluvius urbi prius hostis eva- conclusis, se regiamque eum illis omnibus in- deref — Tertio demum anno accidit, ut Eu- cendio absumpsit. Cujus interitum cum au- phrates, [Tigris,] continuis imbrium gravis- dissent, qui a rege defecerant, per collapsam simorum tempestatibus excrescens, urbis par- muri partem ingressi, urbem ceperunt. Diod. tem inundaret, et murum ad stadia xx deji- Sic. 1. 2, c. 26, 27. ceret. Turn vero finem habere oraculum, am- a "E.Taira rbv te dpyvpov Kal xpvo-bv rbv Ik nemque manifeste urbi kostem esse, rex judi- rrjs wvp^s v-noXeKpSivTa, rcoXXviv livra raXdv- cans, spem salutvs abjecit. Jtaque ne in hos- rviv, d-zEKbputE tTis NlnSids els 'E.Kpdrava. tium manus perveniret,. rogum in regia in- Turn quicquid argenti aurique ex pyra recta- gentem exstruxii ; quo aurum et argentum bat (multa certe talenta erant) in Ecbatana omne, et quicquid erat regii vestimenti, con- Medorum regiam transtulit. Diod. Sic. gessit. Turn concubinis et eunuchis in do- 1. 2, c. 28. 11* 126 BISHOP NEWTON tains, and no man gathereth them : there is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous; all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually V The prophet Zephaniah like wise, in the days of Josiah king of Judah, foretold the same sad event, (ii. 13 — 15:) "The Lord will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a deso lation, and dry like a wilderness : and flocks shall he down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations ; both the cormo rant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it ; their voice shall sing in the windows ; desolation shall be in the thresholds ; for he shall uncover the cedar work : this is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart-, I am, and there is none beside me ; how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in ! every one that passeth by her, shall hiss and Avag his hand." But what probability was there that the capital city of a great kingdom, a city which was sixty miles in compass, a city which contained so many thou sand inhabitants, a city which had walls, according to Diodorus Siculus, s a hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast upon them, and fifteen hundred towers at pro per distances in the walls of two hundred feet in height : Avhat probability Avas there, I say, that such a city should ever be totally destroyed ? and yet so totally was it destroyed, that the place is hardly known where it was situated. We have seen that it was taken and destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians: and what we may suppose helped to com plete its ruin and devastation was Nebuchadnezzar's soon after wards enlarging and beautifying of Babylon. From that time no mention is made of Nineveh by any of the sacred writers ; and the most ancient of the heathen authors, who have occasion to say any thing about it, speak of it as a city that was once great and flourishing, but now destroyed and desolate. Great as it was formerly, so little of it was remaining, that authors are not agreed even about its situation. I think we may con clude from the general suffrage of ancient historians and geo graphers, that it was situated upon the river Tigris ; but yet no less authors than 4 Ctesias and Diodorus Siculus represent it as situated upon the river Euphrates. Nay authors differ not only from one another, but also from themselves. For the learned p Bochart hath shewn that Herodotus, Diodorus Sicu lus, and Ammianus Marcellinus, all three speak differently of 8 Td piv ydp 6d,o? elxe rb te7x°s rroSZv nem curruum junctim agitandorum porren- iKarbv, rb Si irXdros rpialv appaatv linrdaipov tus erat. Turres in eo md ducentos pedes i)v. Ol Si cvp-navTEs uvpyoi rbv piv dpiBpbv altas. Diod. Sic. 1. 2, c. 3. jje-av xftioi koi -nEvraKbeioi, rb S' 8uVos etvov * Diod. Sic. 1. 2, c. 3,27. jroSiov StaKoatviv. Nam mutus ad c pedum s Bocharti Phaleg. lib. 4, cap. 20, col. altitudinem, exsurgebat, et ad trium latitudi- £48, 249. ON THE PROPHECIES. 127 it, sometimes as if it was situated upon the river Tigris, and sometimes as if it was situated upon the river Euphrates. So that to reconcile these authors with themselves and with others, it is supposed by 6 Bochart that there were two Ninevehs, and by 7 Sir John Marsham that there were three ; the Syrian upon the river Euphrates, the Assyrian upon the river Tigris, and a third built afterwards upon the Tigris by the Persians, who succeeded the Parthians in the empire of the east in the third century, and were subdued by the Saracens in the seventh cen tury after Christ ; but whether this latter Nineveh was built in the same place as old Nineveh is a question that cannot be de cided. Lucian,8 who flourished in the second century after Christ, affirms that Nineveh was utterly perished, and there was no footstep of it remaining, nor could you tell where once it was situated ; and the greater regard is to be paid to Lucian's testimony, as he was a native of Samosata, a city upon the river Euphrates, and coming from a neighbouring country he must in all likelihdod have known whether there had been any remains of Nineveh or not. There is at this time a city called Mosul, situate upon the western side of the river Tigris, and on the opposite eastern shore are ruins of a great extent, which are said to be the ruins of Nineveh. Benjamin of Tudela,9 who wrote his Itinerary in the year of Christ 1173, informs us, that there is only a bridge between Mosul and Nineveh ; this latter is laid waste, yet hath it many streets and castles. But an other, who wrote in 1300, asserts that Nineveh at present is totally laid waste, but by the ruins which are still to be seen there, we may firmly believe that it was one of the greatest cities in the world. The same thing is attested by later tra vellers, and particularly by 1 Thevenot, upon whose authority Prideaux relates that 'Mosul is situated on the Avest side of the river Tigris, where was anciently only a suburb of the old Nineveh, for the city itself stood on the east side of the river, where are to be seen some of its ruins of great extent even to this day.' Tavernier likewise affirms,2 that ' cross the Tigris, fl 'Non video haec aliter posse conciliari, p. 62) et Nineven pons tantum intercedit: quam si dicatur duplex fuisse Ninus ; una ad Haec devastata est: attamen multos pagos Euphratem inComagena; altera in Assyria et arces habet.' At vero Haiton Armenins trans Tigrim, &c.' Bocharti Phaleg. lib. 4, (De Tartar, c. 11, p. 406) (anno 1300) ' Ista cap. 20, col. 248, 249. civitas (Nineve) ad praesens est totaliter de- 'Est igitur (in veterum scriptis) Ninus vastata. Marshami Chron. S;",c. xviii. triplex, Syriaca, Assyriaca, et Persica, &c.' p. 558. ' Sed per ea, quas adhuc sunt appa- Marshami Chron. Saec. xviii. p. 559. rentia in eadem, firmiter credi potest quod 8 'H NTvoc dmSXwXev ijSn, Kal ovSiv "%vof fuerit una ex majoribus civitatibus hujus eti Xoinbv abrrjs, ovS' uv Eiirps o-xov iror1 ?)v. mundi.' Idem apud Bochart. Phaleg. 1. 4, Ninus jam est eversa, iba ut ne reliquum c. 20, col. 255. quidem sit ejus vestigium, neeubi olim sila ' Thevenot's Travels, part 2, b. 1, c. 11 fuerit, facile dixeris. LuCiani 'Eirio-x. vel p. 50. Prideaux's Connect, part 1, b. 1, Contemplantes, prope fin. Anno 612. Josiah 29. " ' Benjamin Tudelensis (qui scripsit Iti- 2 Tavernier in Harris, vol.2, b. 2, u. 4. nerarium anno Xti 1173) Inter Almozal (ait 128 BISHOP NEWTON which hath a swift stream and whitish water, whereas Euphrates runs slow and is reddish, you come to the ancient city Nineveh, which is noAv a heap of rubbish only, for a league along the river, full of vaults and caverns.' Mr. Salmon, who is an in dustrious collector and compiler from others, saith in his ac count of Assyria, ' In this country the famous city of Nineveh once stood, on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, opposite to the place where Mosul now stands. There is nothing now to be seen but heaps of rubbish, almost a league along the river Tigris, over against Mosul, which people imagine to be the remains of this vast city.' But it is more than probable that these ruins are the remains of the Persian Nineveh, and not of the Assyrian. ' Ipsse periere ruinse :' Even the ruins of old Nineveh have been, as I may say, long ago ruined and de stroyed : such an utter end hath been made of it, and such is the truth of the divine predictions ! This perhaps may strike us the more strongly by supposing only a parallel instance. Let us' then suppose, that a person should come in the name of a prophet, preaching repentance to the people of this kingdom, or otherwise denouncing the destruction of the capital city within a few years : " With an overrunning flood will God make an utter end of the place thereof, he will make an utter end ; its place may be sought, but it shall never be found." I presume we should look upon such a prophet as a madman, and show no farther attention to his message than to deride and despise it : and yet such an event would not be more strange and incredible than the de struction and devastation of Nineveh. For Nineveh Avas much the larger, and much the stronger, and older city of the two ; and the Assyrian empire had subsisted and flourished more ages than any form of government in this country : so that you cannot .object the instability of the eastern monarchies in this case. Let us then, since this event would not be more impro bable and extraordinary than the other, suppose again, that things should succeed according to the prediction, the floods should arise, and the enemy should come, the city should be overflown and broken doAvn, be taken and pillaged, and de stroyed so totally, that even the learned could not agree about the place where it was situated. What would be said or thought in such a easel Whoever of posterity should read and compare the prophecy and event together, must they not by such an illustrious instance be thoroughly convinced of the providence of God, and of the truth of his prophet, and be ready to acknowledge, " Verily this is the word that the Lord hath spoken, Verily there is a God who judgeth the earth .'" 1 Salmon's Modern Hist. vol. 1, c. 12 : Present State ofthe Turkish Empire, 4to, ON THE PROPHECIES. 129 A. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING BABYLON. AFTER Nineveh was destroyed, Babylon became the queen . of the east. They were both equally enemies to the peo ple of God ; the one subverted the kingdom of Israel, and the other the kingdom of Judah ; the one carried away the ten tribes, and the other the tAvo remaining tribes into captivity. No Avonder therefore that there are several prophecies relating to each of these cities, and that the fate of Babylon is foretold as well as of Nineveh. As Jeremiah said, (1. 17, 18,) " Israel is a scattered sheep, the lions have driven him away ; first the king of Assyria hath devoured him, and last this Nebuchad nezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones : Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria." Babylon was a very great and very ancient city as well as Nineveh. It is indeed generally reckoned less than Nineveh ; for according to Straoo, (who was cited in the last discourse,) it was only 385 furlongs in compass, or 360 according to 1 Dio dorus Siculus, or 368 according to Quintus Curtius : but 2 He rodotus, who was an older author than any of them, represents it of the same dimensions as Nineveh, that is 480 furlongs, or above 60 miles in compass ; but the difference was, that Nine veh was constructed in the form of a parallelogram, and Baby Ion was an exact square, each side being 120 furlongs in lerfgth. So that according to this account Babylon contained more ground in it than Nineveh did; for by multiplying the sides the one by the other, it will be found, that Nineveh contained within its walls only 13,500 furlongs, and that Babylon con tained 14,400. It was, too, as ancient, or more ancient than Nineveh ; for in the words of Moses, speaking of Nimrod, (Gen. x. 10,) it was "the beginning of his kingdom," that is, the first city, or the capital city in his dominions. Several heathen authors say that Semiramis, but most (as 3 Quintus Curtius asserts) that Belus built it : and Belus was very pro bably the same as Nimrod. But whoever was the first founder of this city, we may reasonably suppose that it received very great improvements afterwards, and Nebuchadnezzar particu- 1 Tl£piE@dXcT0 teiyoj Trj KtXei araStiov rpt- TErpdKooioi. Oppidum situm est in planitie in- aKoatuiv i^/JKovTa. ccclx stadiorum muro genti, forma quadrata, magniludine quoquo urbem circumdedit. Diod. Sic. 1. 2, c. 7. versus centenum vicenum stadiorum; in ' Totius operis ambitus ccclxviii stadia summa quadringentorum et octoginta, in complectitur.' Quint. Curt. 1. 5, c. 1. circuitu quaiuor laterum urbis. Herod. 1. 1, 2 Kierai iv TreSiip psydXvj, pkyuBos iovaa c. 178. pin-iirov ZKairrov, zIkoo-i koI harbv craSivtv, 3 ' Semiramis earn condiderat -. vel, ut iovuns TcTpaytivov oZtoi crdSioi tjjs TtEpibSov plerique crcdidere, Belus.' Quint. Curt tjjs TdXtos ylvovrai mvd-navTts SySwKovra Kai 1. 5 c. 1. R 130 BISHOP NEWTON larly repaired and enlarged, and beautified it to such a degree. that he may in a manner be said to have built it ; as he boasted himself, (Dan. iv. 30 :) " Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty 1" Nor is this asserted only in Scripture, but is likewise attested by heathen authors, Me- gasthenes, Berosus, and Abydenus, whose words are quoted by 4 Josephus and Eusebius. By one means or other Babylon became so great and famous a city as to give name to a very large empire : and it is called in Scripture, (Dan. iv. 30,) "great Babylon;" (Is. xiii. 19,) "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency ;" (Is. xiv. 4,) " the golden city;" (Is. xlvii. 5,) the lady of kingdoms;" (Jer. li. 13.) "abundant in treasures;" (Jer. li. 41,) "the praise of the Avhole earth :" and its beauty, strength, and grandeur ; its walls, temples, palaces, and hanging gardens ; the banks of the river, and the artificial canals and lake made for the drain ing of that river in the seasons of its overflowings, are de scribed with such pomp and magnificence by heathen authors, that it might deservedly be reputed one of the Avonders of the Avorld. The fullest and best account of these things in Eng lish is to be found in the second book of that vely valuable and very useful work Dr. Prideaux's Connection. Though Babylon Avas seated in a low watery plain, yet in Scripture, (Jer. li. 25,) it is called a mountain, on account of the great height of its walls and towers, its palaces and temples : and 6 Berosus, speaking of some of its buildings, saith that they ap peared most like mountains. Its gates of brass and its broad walls are particularly mentioned in Scripture, (Is. xiv. 2; Jer. li. 58 :) and the city 6 had an hundred gates, 25 on each side, all made of solid brass : and its walls, according to 7 Herodotus, were 350 feet in height, and 87 in thickness, and six chariots could go abreast upon them, as 8 Diodorus affirms after Ctesias. Such a city as this, one would imagine, Avas in no danger of being totally abandoned, and coming to nought. Such a city as this might surely, with less vanity than any other, boast that she should continue for ever, if any thing human could con tinue for ever. So she vainly gloried, (Is. xlvii. 7, 8,) "I shall be a lady for ever ; I am, and none else beside me ; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children." But the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, plainly and particularly fore told the destruction of this city. They lived during the de- 4 Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c. 11, § 1. Eu- ' Hernd. ibid. c. 178. Prideaux ibid. -leb. Praapar. Evang. 1. 9, c. 41. 8 "Stare rb piv -nXdros ehai twv teix^v 2£ 6 Thv dipiv diroSoiis hpowrdr-nv toIs Hpeal. dppaaiv Ix-irdelpov. Vt mcenium latiiudo sex Quibus speciem dedit montibus persimtlem. juxia curribu* vfJicndis sufUcerei. Diod. Joseph. Antiq. ibid. Sic. 1. t, c. ~ 6 Hei-od. 1. i. c. 179. ON THE PROPHECIES. 131 clension of the kingdom of Judah : and as they predicted the captivity of the Jews, so they likewise foretold the doAvnfall of their enemies : and they speak with such assurance of the event, that they describe a thing future as if it were already past. (Is. xxi. 9,) "Bab}don is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground." (Jer. li. 8,) "Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed ; howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed." It is somewhat remarkable, that one of Isaiah's prophecies con cerning Babylon is entitled, (xxi. 1,) "the burden of the desert of the sea," or rather of the plain of the sea, for Babylon Avas seated in a plain, and surrounded by Avater. The propriety of the expression consists in this, not only that any large collec tion of Avaters in the oriental style is called a sea, but also that the places about Babylon, as "Abydenus informs us out of Megasthenes, are said from the beginning to have been over whelmed with waters, and to have been called the sea. Cyrus, who Avas the conqueror of Babylon, and transferred the empire from the Babylonians to the Medes and Persians, was particularly foretold by name, (Is. xliv. 28; xiv .1,) above a hundred years before he was born. He is honoured Avith the appellation of "the Lord's anointed," and the Lord is said to " have holden his right hand," and to have " girded him," (Is. xiv. 1, 5 :) and he Avas raised up to be an instrument of providence for great purposes, and Avas certainly a person of very extraordinary endoAvments, though Ave should allow that Xenophon had a little exceeded the truth, and had drawn his portrait beyond the reality. It was promised that he should be a great conqueror, should "subdue nations before him," (Is. xiv. 1 :) " and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the tAvo-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut :" and he subdued several kings, and took several cities, particu larly Sardes and Babylon, and extended his 1 conquests over all Asia from the river Indus to the iEgean sea. It was pro mised that he should find great spoil and treasure among the conquered nations ; (Is. xiv. 3,) " I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places :" and the riches which Cyrus found in his conquests amounted to a pro digious value in 2 Pliny's account; nor can Ave wonder. at it, for those parts of Asia at that time abounded in Avealth and luxury : Babylon had been heaping up treasures for many years ; and the riches of Croesus king of Lydia, whom Cyrus conquered and took prisoner, are in a manner become proverbial. 9 Aiycrat Si irdvra piv if apxfisv-Sivpstvai, Praep. Evang. 1. 9, c. 41. BdXaaaav KaXEoptvnv. Ferunt, inquit, loca ' — ' Omnem Asiam ab India usque ad hmc omnia jam inde ab initio aquis obruta JEgeum mare.' Marshami Chron. Saec, fuisse, marisque nomine appeUata. Euseb. xviii. p. 587. * Plin. 1. 33, c. 15. 132 BISHOP NEWTON The time too of the reduction of Babylon was marked out by the prophet Jeremiah, (xxv. 11,12:) " These nations (that is, the Jews and the neighbouring nations) shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years : And it shall come to pass Avhen seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord." This prophecy was delivered, as it appears from the first verse of the chapter, "in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ;" and from that time there were 3 seventy years to the taking of Baby lon and the restoration of the Jews. Nebuchadnezzar had trans planted the Jews to Babylon to people and strengthen the place, and their removal from thence must have weakened it very much ; and after that, it was distressed more and more till at last it was brought to nought. Several circumstances likewise of the siege and taking of Babylon Avere presignified by the prophets. It was foretold, that God would stir up the Medes and Persians against it, (Is. xxi. 2,) " Go up, O Elam, (that is, Persia, ) besiege, O Me dia;" and (Jer. li. 11,) "the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, for his device is against Babylon to destroy it :" and accordingly it was besieged by the united forces of the Medes and Persians under the command of Cyrus the Persian, the nephew and son-in-law of the king of the Medes. The Medes are chiefly spoken of, as they were at that time the superior people. The Medes is too a general name for both nations, and so it is used and applied by several Greek historians as well as by the sacred writers. Elam 4 Avas an old name for Persia, for the name of Persia doth not appear to have been known in Isaiah's time ; Ezekiel is the first who mentions it. And Bochart 5 asserts, that the Persians were first so named from their becoming horsemen in the time of Cyrus, the same word signifying both a Persian and a horseman. Or if by Elam we understand the province strictly so called, it is no less 3 See Prideaux and other chronologers. tur, id est, equites. Arabice enim d"0 4 ' .E7gw?i est Persis, et cum Media see- Pharos est equus,et d"ind Pharis eques (ut pius conjungitur. — Persarum nomen, ante Hebraice c?-ib Paras) Porro vox eadem captivitatem Babylonicam, obscurum fuit. Pharis etiam Persam significat. Inde est, Ezechiel primus, inter bellicosas gentes, quod neque Moses, nee libri Regum, nee illos recenset, (27, 10, & 38, 5,) quum Esaias aut Jeremias, Persarum memino- nondutn innotuerant res Cyri. A Cyro runt, neque quisquam eorum, qui vixerunt demum natione Persa, et victoriis inclyto? ante Cyrum. At in Da niele et Ezechielc, Persarum gloria increbuit.' Marshami Cyro coa3vis, et in libris Paralipomenon, Chron. Saec. xviii. p. 564. et Esdrae, et Nehemios, et Esther, &c. qui * ' At Persis ipsis nomen fuit ab equi- post Cyrum scripti sunt, Persarum est tatu, qua maxime valebant, equitare a te- frequens mentio. Antea verisimile est neris edocti. — Qua tamen disciplina pri- Hebraea nomina rvo Chut et cjy>y Elan mus illos imbuit Cyrus. — Itaque ex tam magnam Persidis partem inclusisse.' Bo- rcpentina mutatione factum, ut haec regio charti Phaleg. I. 4, c. 10, col. 224. dib Paras, et incolae "*ND"ia Persa diceren- ON THE PROPHECIES. 133 true that this also, though subject to Babylon, rose up against it, and upon the following occasion. Abradates " was viceroy or governor of Susa or Shushan, and Shushan was the capital of the province of Elam, (Dan. viii. 2.) His wife Panthea, a lady of exquisite beauty, happened to be taken prisoner by the Persians. Cyrus treated her with such generosity, and pre served her with such strict honour, safe and inviolate for her husband, as won the heart of the prince, so that he and his forces revolted to Cyrus, and fought in his army against the Babylonians. It Avas foretold, that various nations should unite against Babylon, (Isa. xiii. 4 ;) " The noise of a multitude in the moun tains, like as of a great people ; a tumultuous noise of the king doms of nations gathered together ; the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle :" and particularly it Avas foretold, that the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Aschenaz, that is the Ar menians,7 Phrygians, and other nations should compose part of his army, (Jer. li. 27 ;) " Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her. call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz :" and accordingly Cyrus's army consisted of va rious nations ; and among them were these very people,8 Avhom he had conquered before, and now obliged to attend him in this expedition. It was foretold, that the Babylonians should be terrified, and hide themselves within their walls, (Jer. li. 30 ;) "The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holds, their might hath failed, Ihey became as women :" and accordingly the Babylonians, after the loss of a battle or two, never recovered their courage to face the enemy in the field again ; they retired within their walls, and the 9 first time that Cyrus came with his army before the place, he could not pro voke them to venture forth and try the fortune of arms, even though he sent a challenge to the king to fight a duel with him ; and the l last time that he came, he consulted with his officers about the best method of carrying on the siege, " since saith he, they do not come forth and fight." It Avas foretold, that the river should be dried up, before the city should be taken ; which was very unlikely ever to happen,2 the river being more than two furlongs broad, and deeper than 6 Xenoph. Cyropsed. 1. 4 — 7. — XiXdros %xyv ttXeiov i) fat Svo ardSia-Kal ' Vide Bocharti Phaleg. 1. i. c. 3, col. 16 (IdBos ye &s ovS' uv Svo dvopes b IreposM tov et col. 20 ; 1. 3, c. 9, col. 174. iripov larnKuis tov vSaros v-HEpixoiev - liaTE rip 8 Xenoph. Cyropaed. 1. 5, c. 3, § 38, et 1. 7, iram/iip in laxvporipa itrrh ft rrdXis ti rois teI- c. 5, f> 14. xtai- [Fluminis] lalitudo est plus quam ad 3 Xenoph. Cyropxd. 1. 5, c. 3, § 5. duo stadia : et profunditas tarda ut ne duo ' Ib. 1. 7, c. 5, § 7. 'Eircfircp oil pdxovrai quidem viri alter super alteram stantes supra i^iovrrs- Quia nd pugnandum non exeunt. aquam emincaut. Itaque urbs validior est 2 Xenoph. Cyropaed. 1. 7, o. 5, § 8. flumine quam maris. 12 134 BISHOP NEWTON two men standing one upon another, so that the city Avag thought to be stronger and better fortified by the river than by the Avails; but yet the prophets predicted that the Avaters should be dried up, (Isa. xliv. 27 ;) " That saith to the deep, fit, dry, and I will dry up thy rivers ;" (Jer. 1. 38.) " A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up;" (Jer. li. 36.) " I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry :" and ac cordingly Cyrus 3 turned the course of the river Euphrates Avhich ran through the midst of Babylon, and by means of deep trenches and the canals and lake before mentioned, so drained the waters that the river became easily fordable for his soldiers to enter the city ; and by these means Babylon Avas taken, which was othenvise impregnable, and Avas supplied with provisions for very many years, saith Herodotus,4 for more than twenty years, saith Xenophon ; or as Herodotus 5 saith, if the Babylonians had but known Avhat the Persians were doing, by shutting the gates which opened to the river, and by stand ing upon the walls which were built as banks, they might have taken and destroyed the Persians as in a net or cage. It was foretold, that the city should be taken by surprise during the time of a feast, (Jer. 1. 24,) " I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware, thou art found and also caught ;" (li. 39,) " In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord ;" (li. 57,) " And I Avill make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men, and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts :" and accordingly the city 6 Avas taken in the night of a great annual festival, while the inhabitants were dancing, drinking, and revelling ; and as Aristotle 7 reports, it had been taken three days, before some part of the city perceived it; but Herodotus's8 account is more 3 Herod. 1. 1, c. 191. Xenophon. Cyro- nibus quce ad flymen ferunt portulis, conscen- posd. 1. 7, c. 5, § 15. sisque septis, ipsi pro ripis stantes illos pro- 4 Herod. 1. 1, c. 190. TLpotcd^avTO atria gressos veluti in cavea excrpissent. eteoiv Kdpra rroXXwv. Comportaveranl per 6 Herod. 1. 1, c. 191. Xenoph. Cyropaed. multorum annorum commeatus. Xenoph. Cy- 1. 7, c. 5, § 15. ropaed. 1. 7, c. 5, § 13. "Erovras rd fairri- ' Arist. Polit. 1. 3, c. 3. TEj yi qjacrtv ia- SEia -irXiov rj e'ikooiv etwv. Ut qui res neces- XoiKvtas rpirnv ftpipav, oiiK alaBeaOai ri pipos sarias haberent plus quam viginti annorum. rrjs 7nSXawj, Qua tertium jam diem, capta, 5 Herod. 1. 1, c. 191. "El piv vvv Ttposirv- partem quondam urbis non sensisse dicunt. Bovro, rj ipaBov ol BaGvXvjvioLrb Ik tov Kvpov 8 Herod. 1, 1, c. 191. 'Tnb Si peydBEos tt)s ixoiEvpevov, ol}K av, KEpuSbvTcs tovs Hipa-as -rrbXios, &s Xiysrai virb rwv ravrn olKrjphvlv, [traXr/etv els ri)v t:6Xiv, SiioiBcipav KaKiara. rZv TTEpi rd eaxara rrjS rrbXios iaXoiKdnvv, KaraKXTj-taavTES ydp dv irdaas rds is rbv rrora- tovs rb piaov olKiovras rd-v BaSvXwvtwv, oil pbv -KvXiSas ixvvaas, Kal avrol fal rds alpaalas pavBdvElv laXviKbras- Tantaque urbis erat dvaBdvTEs rds trapd rd xeiXEa too rorapoij iXrj- magnitudo, ut (quemadmod.um narrant ac- Xapivas, eXaSov av a^Eas vis fa Kvprp. Quos colw) quum capti essent qui extremas urbis Bahylonii, si factum Cyri prius aut audissent partes incolebant, ii qui medidm urbem inco- aut sensissent, ingredi non permisissent, sed lerent id nescirent. •pessimo exitio affecissent. Nam qbseratis om- ON THE PROPHECIES. 135 modest and probable, that the extreme parts of the city were in the hands of the enemy before they who dwelt in the middle of it kneAV any thing of their danger. These were extraordinary occurrences in the taking of this city : and how could any man foresee and foretell such singular events, such remarkable circum stances, without revelation and inspiration of God? But these events you may possibly think too remote in time to be urged in the present argument : and yet the prophecies were delivered by Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the facts are related by no less historians than Herodotus and Xenophon ; and Isaiah lived above 250 years before Herodotus, and near 350 before Xenophon, and Jeremiah lived above 150 years before the one and near 250 before the other. Cyrus took Babylon, according to Prideaux, in the year 539 before Christ. Isaiah prophesied "in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Heze kiah, kings of Judah," (Isa. i. 1,) which was at least 160 years before the taking of Babylon, for Hezekiah died in the year 699 before Christ. Jeremiah sent his prophecies concerning Baby lon to Babylon by the hands of Seraiah, "in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah," (Jer. li. 59,) which was 56 years before the taking of Babylon, for the fourth year of Zedekiah coin cides with the year 595 before Christ. There is therefore no room for skepticism : but if you are still disposed to doubt ana hesitate, what then think you of the present condition of the place? Could the prophets, unless they Avere prophets indeed, have foreseen and foretold what that would be so many ages afterwards 1 And yet they have expressly foretold that it should be reduced to desolation. Isaiah is very strong and poetical,' (xiii. 19, &c.) "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah : It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation ; neither shall the Ara bian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there: but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there ; and the wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged." Again, (xiv. 22, 23,) "I Avill rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Baby lon the name, and remnant, and son and nephew, (or rather, son and grandson,) saith the Lord : I Avill also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I Avill sweep it wilh the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." Jeremiah speak eth much in the same strain, (1. 13, 23, 39, 40:) "Because of the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be 136 BISHOP NEWTON astonished, and hiss at all her plagues: how is the hammer of Ihe whole earth cut asunder and broken? Iioav is Babylon be come a desolation among the nations ? Therefore the wild beasts of the desert, with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein ; and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation : as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so no man shall abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein." Again, (li. 13, 26, 29, 37, 42, 43,) "O thou that dwellest upon many Avaters, abundant in treasures; thine end is come, and the mea sure of thy covetousness: and they shall not lake of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord : and the land shall tremble and sorroAV, for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant: and Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and an hissing without an inhabitant : the sea is come upon Babylon ; she is covered Avith the multitude of the Avaves thereof: her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby." We shall see how these and other prophecies have by degrees been accomplished, for in the nature of the things they could not be fulfilled all at once. But as the prophets often speak of tilings future, as if they Avere already effected ; so they speak often of things to be brought about in process of time, as if they Ave re to succeed immediately ; past, present, and to come, being all alike known to an infinite mind, and the intermediate time not reveal ed perhaps to the minds of the prophets. Isaiah addresseth Babylon by the name of a virgin, as hav ing never before been taken by any enemy, (Is. xlvii. 1 :) " Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Baby lon, sit on the ground:" and9 Herodotus saith expressly, that this was the first time that Babylon Avas taken. After this it never more recovered its ancient splendour ; from an imperial, it became a tributary city ; from being governed by its own kings, and governing strangers, it became itself to be governed by strangers ; and the seat of empire being transferred to Shu shan, it decayed by degrees, till it was reduced at last to ulter desolation. Berosus in Josephus l saith, that when Cyrus had taken Babylon, he ordered the outer walls to be pulled down, 3 Kal BaSuXwv piv ovrv) rp&rov dpalprjro. adXiorov qjavqvat ri)v rrbXiv Cyrus autem, Atque ita prima capta eit Babylon. Herod. Babylone capta, conslitutoque exteriora ejus 1. 1, c. 191. munimenta diruere, quod eivitalem mderet ad 1 Kvpos Si Ba/3vX5va KaraXaBbpevos, Kal res novas mobilem, urbem vero expugnutu dif- evvru^us rd ifa rns -nbXEus relxn KaraaKa- ficilem. — Contra Apion. 1. 1, § 22. wat, Sid rb Xiav ttiruj TrpaypariKnv Kat Sv- ON THE PROPHECIES 137 because the city appeared to him very factious and difficult to be taken. And 2 Xenophon informs us, that Cyrus obliged the Babylonians to deliver up all their arms upon pain of death, dis tributed their best houses among his officers, imposed a tribute upon them, appointed a strong garrison, and compelled the Ba bylonians to defray the charge, being desirous to keep them poor as the best means of keeping them obedient. But notwithstanding these precautions, 3 they rebelled against Darius, and in order to hold out to the last extremity, they took all their women, and each man choosing one of them, out of those of his own family, whom he liked best, they stran gled the rest, that unnecessary mouths might not consume their provisions. " And hereby," saith 4 Dr. Prideaux, " was very sig nally fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah against them, in which he foretold, (chap, xlvii. 9,) 'That two things should come to them in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and Avidow- hood, and that these shall come upon them in their perfection, for the multitude of their forces, and the great abundance of their enchantments.' And in what greater perfection could these calamities come upon them, than when they themselves thus upon themselves became the executioners of them ?" Or rather, this prophecy was then fulfilled a second time, having been fulfilled before, the very night that Babylon Avas taken, Avhen the Persians slew the king himself, and a great number of the Babylonians. They sustained the seige and all the efforts of Darius for tAVenty months, and at length the city was taken by stratagem. As soon as Darius had made himself master of the place, he ordered three thousand of the principal men to be cru cified, and thereby fulfilled the prophecies of the cruelty Avhich the Medes and Persians should use towards the Babylonians, (Is. xiii. 17, 18; Jer. 1.42;) and he likewise demolished the wall, and took away the gates, neither of which, saith ° Hero dotus, had Cyrus done before. But either Herodotus, or Be rosus must have been mistaken ; or we must suppose that Cyrus's orders were never carried into execution ; or we must understand Herodotus to speak of the inner Avail, as Berosus spoke of the outer : and yet it doth not seem very credible, when the Avails were of that prodigious height and thickness, that there should be an inner and an outer wall too ; and much less that there should be three inner and three outer walls, as Berosus affirms.6 Herodotus computes the height of the Avail 2 Xenoph. Cyropaed. 1. 7, c. 5, § 34, 36, ri)v BaSvXZva, faotwc tovtewv ovSeteoov. et 69. Muros circumcidit, et portas omnes amolitus 3 Herod. 1. 3, c. 150, &c. est: quorum neutrum Cyrus fecernt prius 3 Prid. Connect. Part. 1, b. 3, Anno 517. eidem a se ca-pim. Herod. I. 3, c. 159. Darius 5. s 'XrrEpcfidXeTO rpels piv rijs cvSvv mi- 5 To teXxos rrcpiEiXc, Kal rds r^Xas Xstvs TrcpiSbXovs rpets Si rrjs Hv> tovtviv. ler- vdaas dirEo-irao*- rb vdo irobrEoov iXdv Kv'oos nos quidem interiori urbi ternosque parite* 12* S 138 BISHOP NEWTON to be 200 cubits;7 but later authors reckon it much lower, 8 Quintus Curtius at 100, 9 Strabo, who is a more exact Avriter, at 50 cubits. Herodotus describes it as it was originally; and we may conclude therefore that Darius reduced it from 200 to 50 cubits ; and by thus taking down the wall and destroying the gates he remarkably fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah, (li. 58.) "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire." Xerxes, 1 after his return from his unfortunate expedition into Greece, partly out of religious zeal, being a professed enemy to image Avorship, and partly to reimburse himself after his immense expenses, seized the sacred treasures, and plundered or destroyed the temples and idols of Babylon, thereby accom plishing the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, (Isaiah xxi. 9,) " Babylon is fallen, is fallen ; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground :" (Isa. xlvi. 1,) " Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle, &c." (Jer. 1. 2,) "Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces, her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces :" (Jer. li. 44, 47, 52,) "And I Avill punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up : Therefore behold the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon ;" and again, "Wherefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I Avill do judgment upon her graven images." What God declares, " I will punish Bel in Babylon and I will bring forth that which he hath sAval- lowed," Avas also literally fulfilled, Avhen the vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jeru salem, and plated in the temple of Bel, (Dan. i. 2,) were re stored by order of Cyrus, (Ezra i. 7,) and carried to Jerusalem again. Such Avas the state of Babylon under the Persians. When Alexander came thither, though 2 Quintus Curtius says that the whole circuit of the city Avas 368 furlongs, yet he affirms that only for the space of 90 furlongs it was inhabited. The river Euphrates having been turned out of its course by Cyrus, and never afterwards restored to its former channel, all that extenori murorum ambitus circumdedit. — * Herod. 1. 1, c. 183. Arrian de Exped. Aptfd Joseph, contra Apion.l. 1. § 19. Alex. 1. 7. c. 17. Usher's Annals, A.M. ' "Yd-os SinKoaiviv irrixsviv. Cubitorumdu- 3526. p. 129. Prideaux Connect. Part 1. cenlorum celsiiudine. Herod. I. 1. c. 178. b. 4, Anno 479. Xerxes 7. 81Altitiidomuriccubitorum eulinet spatio.' = Quintus Curtius, 1. 5, c. 1. 'Acne totam Quint. Curt. 1. 5, c. 1. quidem urbem tectis qccupaverunt ; per ,"Y?' £tt' abrns r1^ uv lnvnoat rtva ditelv '6-xep etyri Tt? rtiv KWfxtKioii im t&v M.Eya\oiro\iru>v T&V £V ApKGOtaj 'TZptJUta fieydr\v iartv # Msydr\r] m&t?. 140 BISHOP NEWTON of the city the Persians demolished, and part time and the neglect of the Macedonians, and especially after Seleucus Nicator had built Seleucia on the Tigris in the neighbourhood of Babylon, and he and his successors removed their court thither : and now (saith he) Seleucia is greater than Babylon, . and Babylon is much deserted, so that one may apply to this what the comic poet said of Megalopolis in Arcadia, The great city is now become a great Desert. Pliny 9 in like manner affirms, that it was reduced to solitude, being exhausted by the neighbourhood of Seleucia, built for that purpose by Seleucus Nicator. As Strabo compared Babylon to Megalopolis, 1 so Pausanias who flourished about the middle of the second cen tury after Christ, compares Megalopolis to Babylon, and says in his Arcadics, that of Babylon, the greatest city that the sun ever saAV, there is nothing now remaining but the walls. Maxi mus Tyrius 2 mentions it as lying neglected and forsaken ; and Lucian 3 intimates, that in a little time it would be sought for and not be found, like Nineveh. Constantine the Great, in an oration preserved by Eusebius, saith that he himself was upon the spot, and an eye-witness of the desolate and miserable condition of the city. In Jerome's time, (who lived in the fourth century after Christ,) it was converted into a chase to keep wild beasts within the compass of its walls for the hunting of the lat ter kings of Persia. 4 We have learned, saith he, from a certain Elamite brother, who coming out of those parts, now liveth as a monk at Jerusalem, that the royal huntings are in Babylon, and wild beasts of every kind are confined within the circuit of its walls. And a little afterwards he saith, 5 that excepting the brick walls, which after many years are repaired for the inclosing of wild beasts, all the space within is desolation. These walls might probably be demolished by the Saracens who subverted this empire of the Persians, or they might be ruined or de- — Et urbis partem Persas diruerunttpartem pexit, urbium maxima, jam nihil prater mu- tempus consumpsit et Macedonum negligen- ros reliqui habet. Pausan. 1. 8, c. 33. tia: praisertim postquam Seleucus Nicator 2Bdj3vXivvos KEipivns. Max. Tyr. Dis- Seleuciam ad Tigrim condidil stadiis tantum sert. 6. prope finem. ccc : a Babylone dissitam. Nam et ille et pos- 3 OJ psra mXv rai air) gnrnBujopivn, tylomnfs huic urbi maximopere studuerunt, Cerjrtp ^ Jftivos. Haud Uamulto post desideran- et regiam eo transtulerunt ; et nunc Babylone da et ipsa, quemadmodum nunc Ninus. Lu- Iubc major est, ilia magna ex parte deserta ; ut cian, 'EniaK. sive contemplantes prope fin. intrepide de ea usurpari possit, quod de Me- "'Didicimus a quodam iratre Elamita, qui galopoli Arcadia magna urbe quidam dixit de iltis finibus egrediens, nunc Hierosolymis Comicus, _ vilam exigit monachorum, venationes regias Est magna solitudo nunc Megalopolis. esse in Babylone ; et omnis generis bestias Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1073. murorum ejus tamen ambitu coerceri.' 91Cetero ai spliludinem rediit exhausta Hieronym. Comment, in Isai. c. 13. vicinitate Seleuciae, ob id condita) a Nica- ' ' Exceptis enim muriscoctilibus qui tore.' Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 6, c. 30. propter bestias concludendas post annos 1 BafivXGivos Si ravrtjs, H\v nva eTSe t6Xeviv plurimos instaurantur, omne in medio spa- rwv t6ts psylarnv 'ijXios, ohSiv in %v el ph ret- tiurn solitudo est.' Id. in c. 14. vps. Babylon omnium, quos unquam sol as- ON THE PROPHECIES. 141 stroyed by time : but of this we read nothing, neither have Ave any account of Babylon for several hundred years afterwards, there having been such a dearth of authors during those times of ignorance. Of later authors the first who mentions any thing concerning Babylon is Benjamin of Tudela, a Jew who lived in the twelfth century. In his Itinerary, which was written almost 700 years ago, he asserts, 6 that ancient Babylon is now laid waste, but some ruins are still to be seen of Nebuchadnezzar's palace, and men fear to enter there on account of the serpents and scor pions which are in the midst of it. Texeira, a Portuguese, in the description of his travels from India to Italy, affirms 7 that of this great and famous city there is nothing but only a few vestiges remaining, nor in the whole region is any place less frequented. A German traveller, Avhose name was Rauwolf, passed that way in the year of our Lord 1574, 8 and his account of the ruins of this famous city is as follows : ' The village of Elugo, now lieth on the place where formerly old Babylon, the metropolis of Chaldsea, was situated. The harbour is a quarter of a league's distance from it, where people go ashore in order to proceed by land to the celebrated city of Bagdat, which is a day and a half's journey from thence eastward on the Tigris. This coun try is so dry and barren that it cannot be tilled, and so bare that I could never have believed that this powerful city, once the most stately and renoAvned in all the world, and situated in the pleasant and fruitful country of Shinar, could have ever stood there, if I had not known it by its situation, and many antiquities of great beauty, which are still standing here about in great desolation. First by the old bridge which was laid over the Euphrates, whereof there are some pieces and arches still remaining built of burnt brick, and so strong that it is ad mirable. — Just before the village of Elugo is the hill Avhereon the castle stood, and the ruins of its fortifications are still visible, though demolished and uninhabited. Behind it, and pretty near to it, did stand the tower of Babylon. It is still to be seen, and is half a league in diameter; but so ruinous, so low, and so' full of venomous creatures, which lodge in holes made by them in the rubbish, that no one durst approach nearer to it than within half a league, except during tAvo 'Benjamin. Itin. p. 76, — ' Eoque ho- 'Cap. 5, ' Hujus nihil nisi pauca super- mines ingredi verentur, propter serpentes sunt vestigia : nee in tota regione locus et scorpiones, qui sunt in medio ejus.' — ullus est minus frequens.' Bochart. ibid. Bocharti Phaleg. 1. 4, c. 15, col. 234. et Prideaux. Vitringa in Iesaiam, c. 13, p. 421, vol. 1. ¦ Calmet's Diet, in Babylon, and Prideaux Prideaux Connect, part 1, b. 8, Anno as before, and Ray's edition of these travels 293. Ptolemy Soter, i2. Calmet's Diet, in in English, part 2, c. 7. Babylon. 142 BISHOP NEWTON months in the winter, when these animals never stir out of their holes. There is one sort particularly, which the inhabi tants, in the language of the country, which is Persian, call Eglo, the poison whereof is very searching : they are larger than our lizards.' A noble Roman, Petrus Vallensis, (Della Valle,) was at Bag- dat in the year 1616, and went to see the ruins, as they are thought, of ancient Babylon ; and he informs us 9 that ' in the middle of a vast and level plain, about a quarter of a league from Euphrates, Avhich in that place runs westward, appears a heap of ruined buildings, like a huge mountain, the materials of which are so confounded together, that one knoAVs not what to make of it. — Its situation and form correspond Avith that pyramid which Strabo calls the tower of Belus; and is in all likelihood the tower of Nimrod in Babylon, or Babel, as that place is still called. — There appear no marks of ruins, without the compass of that huge mass, to convince one so great a city as Babylon had ever stood there : all one discovers within fifty or sixty paces of it, being only the remains here and there of some foundations of buildings ; and the country round about it, so fiat and level that one can hardly believe it should be chosen for the situation of so great and noble a city as Babylon, or that there were ever any remarkable buildings on it : but for my part I am astonished there appears so much as there does, considering it as at least four thousand years since that city Avas built, and that Diodorus Siculus tells us, it was reduced almost to nothing in his time.' Tavernier, who is a very celebrated traveller, relates, 1 that ' at the parting of the Tigris, which is but a little Avay from Bagdat, there is the foundation of a city, which may seem to have been a large league in compass. There are some of the walls yet standing, upon which six coaches may go abreast : They are made of burnt brick, ten feet square and three thick. The chronicles of the country say here stood the ancient Babylon.' Tavernier, no doubt, saw the same ruins, as Benjamin the JeAV, and Rauwolf, and Peter della Valle did ; but he thought them not to be the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace or of the toAver of Babel. He adopts the opinion of the Arabs, and conceives them to be rather the remains of some tower built by one of their princes for a beacon to assemble his subjects in time of war : and this in all probability was the truth of the matter. Mr. Salmon's 2 observation is just and pertinent : ' What is as strange as any thing that is related of Babylon is, that we "Vid. Viaggi di Pietro della Valle, c. 2,5 4, note N. part 2, Epist. 17. Clerici Comment, in I Tavernier in Harris, vol. 2, b. 2, c. 5. Esaiam, c. 13, v. 20. Vitring. Comment. * Salmon's Modern Hist. vol. 1 : Present ibid p. 421, vol. 1. Universal History, b, 1, State of the Turkish Empire, c. 11. ON THE PROPHECIES. 143 cannot learn either by ancient Avriters or modern travellers, where this famous city stood, only in general, that it Avas situ ated in the province of Chaldasa, upon the river Euphrates, considerably above the place Avhere it is united with the Tigris. Travellers have guessed from the great ruins they have dis covered in several parts of this country, that in this or that place Babylon once stood : but when we come to examine nicely the places they mention, Ave only learn that they are cer tainly in the wrong, and have mistaken the ruins of Seleucia, or some other great town.' Mr. Hanway 3 going to give an account of the seige of Bag dat by Nadir Shah, prefaceth it in this manner. ' Before Ave enter upon any circumstance relating to the siege of Bagdat, it may afford some light to the subject, to give a short account of this famous city, in the neighbourhood of which formerly stood the metropolis of one of the most ancient and most potent monarchies in the Avorld. The place is generally called Bagdat or Bagdad, though some writers preserve the ancient name of Babylon. The reason of thus confounding these two cities is, that the Tigris and Euphrates, forming one common stream before they disembogue into the Persian gulf, are not unfre quently mentioned as one and the same river. It is certain that the present Bagdat is situated on the Tigris, but the ancient Babylon, according to all historians sacred and profane, Avas on the Euphrates. The ruins of the latter, Avhich geographical writers place about fifteen leagues to the south of Bagdat, are now so much effaced, that there are hardly any vestiges of them to point out the situation. In the time of the emperor Theodosius, there was only a great park remaining, in which the kings of Persia bred Avild beasts for the amusement of hunting. By these accounts Ave see, how punctually time hath fulfilled the predictions of the prophets concerning Babylon. When it was converted into a chase for wild beasts to feed and breed there, then Avere exactly accomplished the words of the pro phets, that " the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands should dwell there, and cry in their desolate houses." One part of the country was overflowed by the river's having been turned out of its course and never restored again to its former channel, and thence became boggy and marshy, so that it might literally be said to be " a possession for the bittern and pools of water." Another part is described as dry and naked, and barren of every thing, so that thereby Avas also fulfilled another prophecy, which seemed in some mea sure to contradict the former, " Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, 3 Hanway's Travels, vol. 4, part 3, c. 10, p. 78. 144 BISHOP NEWTON neither doth any son of man pass thereby." The place there about is represented as overrun Avith serpents, scorpions, and all sorts of venomous and unclean creatures, so that "their houses are full of doleful creatures, and dragons cry in their pleasant palaces; and Babylon is become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and an hissing without an inhabitant." For all these reasons "neither can the Arabian pitch his tent there, neither can the shepherds make their folds there." And when we find that modern travellers cannot now certainly discoATer the spot of ground, whereon this renown ed city once was situated, Ave may very properly say, " How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations ] Every purr- pose of the Lord hath he performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant :" and the expression is no less true than sublime, that " the Lord of hosts hath swept it with the besom of destruction." How wonderful are such predictions compared with the events, and what a convincing argument of the truth and divinity of the holy Scriptures ! Well might God allege this as a memora ble instance of his prescience, and challenge all the false gods, and their votaries, to produce the like, (Is. xiv. 21 ; xlvi. 10:) " Who hath declared this from ancient time ] who hath told it from that time 1 have not I the Lord 1 and there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Saviour, there is none beside me : Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I Avill do all my pleasure." And indeed where can you find a similar instance but in Scripture, from the beginning of the Avorld to this day ? At the same time it must afford all readers of an exalted taste and generous sentiments, all the friends and lovers of liberty, a very sensible pleasure to hear the prophets exulting over such tyrants and oppressors as the kings of Assyria. In the 14th chapter of Isaiah there is an Epinikion, or a triumphant ode upon the fall of Babylon. It represents the infernal man sions as moved, and the ghosts of deceased tyrants as rising to meet the king of Babylon, and congratulate his coming among them. It is really admirable for the severest strokes of irony, as well as for the sublimest strains of poetry. The Greek poet 4 Alceeus, who is celebrated for his hatred to tyrants, and whose odes were animated with the spirit of liberty no less than with the spirit of poetry, we may presume to say, never wrote any thing comparable to it. The late worthy professor of poetry at Oxford hath eminently distinguished it in his lectures upon ¦ Hor. 2 Od. xiii. 26. Quintil. Instit. Orat. 1. 1, c. 1. ' Alcmus in ' Et te sonantem plenius aureo, parte operis aureo plectro merito donatur. Alceae, plectro, &c.' qua tyrannos insectatur: &c.' ON THE PROPHECIES. 145 (he sacred poesy of the Hebrews,5 and hath given it the cha racter that it justly deserves, of one of the most spirited, most sublime, and most perfect compositions of the lyric kind, su perior to any of the productions of Greece or Rome : and he hath not only illustrated it with an useful commentary, but hath also copied the beauties of the great original in an excel lent Latin Alcaic ode, which if the learned reader hath not yet seen, he will be not a little pleased with the peresal of it. An other excellent hand, Mr. Mason, hath likewise imitated it in an English ode, with which I hope he will one time or other oblige the public.6 But not only in this particular, but in the general, the Scrip tures, though often perverted to the purposes of tyranny, are yet in their own nature calculated to promote the civil as well as the religious liberties of mankind. True religion, and virtue, and liberty are more nearly related, and more intimately con nected with each other, than people commonly consider. It is very true, as St. Paul saith, (2 Cor. iii. 17,) that " where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty :" or as our Saviout him self expresseth it, (John viii. 31, 32,) "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make ye free." XI. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING TYRE. ANOTHER city that was an enemy to the Jews, and another - memorable instance of the truth of prophecy, is Tyre, whose fall was predicted by the prophets, and particularly by Isaiah and Ezekiel. But it hath been questioned among learned men, which of the Tyres was the subject of these prophecies, whether PalEetyrus or old Tyre that was seated on the conti nent, or new Tyre that was built in an island almost over against it. The truest and best answer I conceive to be, that the prophecies appertain to both, some expressions being ap plicable only to the former, and others only to the latter. In one place, (Ezek. xxvii. 3,) it is described "as situate at the entry of the sea ;" in others, (ver. 4 and 25,) as " in the midst of the seas," or according to the original in the heart ofthe seas. Sometimes (Ezek. xxvi. 7, &c.) it is represented as besieged "with horses and with chariots;" a "fort," a "mount," and " engines of war, are set against it :" at other times, (Is. xxiii. * Lowth Prelect, xm. ad fin. ' Viget per sentio, nihil habet Graeca aut Romana poe- totum spiritus liber, excelsus, vereque divi- sis simile aut secundum.' Pralec. xxvm. nus; neque deest quidquam ad summam hu- p. 277, &c. jusce Odae sublimitatem absoluta pulchntu- 6 Mr. Mason hath since published this, dine cumulandam : cui, ut plane dicam quod with some other Odes, in 1756. 13 T 146 BISHOP NEWTON 2, 4, 6,) it is expressly called "an island," and "the sea, even the strength of the sea." Noav it is said, (Ezek. xxvi. 10,) "By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust shall cover thee, thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city Avherein is made a breach." Then it is said, (ver. 12,) "They shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses, and they shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the water ;" and again, (Ezek. xxviii. 8,) "They shall bring thee doAvn to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas." The insular Tyre therefore, as well as the Tyre upon the continent, is included in these prophecies ; they are both comprehended under the same name, and both spoken of as one and the same city, part built on the continent, and part on an island adjoining. It is commonly said, indeed, that when old Tyre was closely besieged, and was near falling into the hands of the Chaldseans, then the Tyrians fled from thence, and built new Tyre in the island : but the learned 1 Vitringa hath proved at large from good authorities, that new Tyre was founded several ages before, and was the station for ships, and considered as part of old Tyre ; and 2 Pliny speaking of the compass of the city, reckons both the old and the new together. Whenever the prophets denounce the doAvnfall and desola tion of a city or kingdom, they usually describe by Avay of contrast its present flourishing condition, to shoAV in a stronger point of view hoAV providence shifteth and changeth the scene, and ordereth and disposeth all events. The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel observe the same method Avith regard to Tyre. Isaiah speaketh of it as a place of great antiquity, (xxiii. 7,) " Is this your joyous city, Avhose antiquity is of ancient days 1" And it is mentioned as a strong place as early as in the days of Joshua, (Josh. xix. 29,) "the strong city Tyre," for there "is no reason for supposing with 3Sir John Marsham, that the name is used here by Avay of prolepsis or anticipation. Nay there are even heathen authors, who, speak of the insular Tyre, and yet extol the great antiquity of the place. The 4 Greek geographer Strabo saith, that after Sidon the greatest and most ancient city of the Phoenicians is Tyre, which is a rival to Sidon in greatness, and lustre, and antiquitv. The 6 Roman historian 1 Vitring. Comment, in Iesaiam, *;. 23, atrfj xa-rd re piyeGos, koi Kard tj)v fatajdvuav vol. I, p. 667 — 671. Kalrhv dpxaiornra. Post Sidonem, maxima a 'Circuilus xix. mill, passuum est, intra et antiquissima Phcenicum est Tyrus, cum Paltetvro inclusa.' Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 5, c. 17. Sidone et magniturline etftrrma et antiquitate 3 Marshami Chron. Srec. xi. p. 290. 'No- comparanda. Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1097. men id per prolepsin uiurpatur, &c.' 6 ' Urbs et vetustate originis et crebra for- 4 yi.Erd Si ZiSova ptyiirrn rutv ivoivIkwv Kal tunte varietate ad meinoriam posteritatis in- apXaioTdr-q TrbXts Tvpos farlv, $ ivdpiXXos signis.' Quint. Curt. 1.4, c. 4. ON THE PROPHECIES. 147 Quintus Curtius saith, that it is a city remarkable to posterity both for the antiquity of its origin, and for its frequent change of fortune. Herodotus6 Avho was himself at Tyre, and inquired into the antiquity of the temple of Hercules, was informed by the priests, that the temple was built at the same time as the city, and from the building of the city they counted tAvo thou sand and three hundred years. The ironical expression of the prophet, " Is this your joyous city whose^antiquity is of ancient days 1" implies that the Tyrians Avere apt to boast of their an tiquity : and by this account of Herodotus it appears that they did so, and much exceeded the truth : but there could have been no pretence for their boasting of thousands of years, if the city had not been built (as some contend) till after the destruc tion of the old city by the Chaldaans, that is not 130 years be fore. Josephus r asserts, that from the building of Tyre to the building of Solomon's temple Avere 240 years : but he is with reason 8 supposed to speak of the insular Tyre ; for the other part of the city on the continent Avas much older, Avas a strong place, as we have seen, in the days of Joshua, and is mentioned in the fragments of9 Sanchoniathon, the Phoenician historian, who is1 reckoned to have lived about the time of Gideon, 2 or somewhat later. But, ancient as this city Avas, it Avas the " daughter of Sidon," as it is called by the prophet Isaiah, (xxiii. 12,) and (ver. 2,) " the merchants of Sidon, Avho pass over the sea, replenished it." Sidon wa.s the eldest son of Canaan, (Gen. x. 15,) and the city of Sidon is mentioned by the patriarch Jacob, (Gen. xlix. 13 ;) and in the days of Joshua it is called "great Sidon," (Josh. xi. 8;) and in the days of the Judges the inhabitants of Laish are said (Judg. xviii. 7) to have "dwelt careless and secure, after the manner of the Sidonians." We haA^e seen already that Strabo affirms, that after Sidon Tyre Avas the greatest and most ancient city of the Phoenicians ; and he 3 asserts likewise, that the poets have celebrated, Sidon more, and Homer hath not so much as mentioned Tyre, though he commends Sidon and the Sidonians in several places. It may be therefore Avith reason inferred, tnat Sidon Avas the more ancient: and4 Justin, the 6 *E0a delivered up the Avhole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant," that is, the league and alliance between Hiram king of Tyre on one part, and David and Solomon on the other. The Psalmist reckons them among the most inve terate and implacable enemies of the JeAvish name and nation, (Psal. lxxxiii. 6, 7:) ."The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ish maelites, of Moab, and the Hagarenes, Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines, Avith the inhabitants of Tyre." Ezekiel also begins his prophecy against them with a decla ration, that it was occasioned by their insulting over the Jews upon the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, (xxvi. 2, 3 :) " Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that Avas the gates of the people ; she is turned unto me, I shall bp replenished, noAV she is laid waste ; Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up." These Avere the occasions of the prophecies against Tyre : and by carefully considering and comparing the prophecies to gether, Ave shall find the following particulars included in them ; that the city was to be taken and destroyed by the Chaldseans, who were at the time of the delivery of the prophecy an incon siderable people, and particularly by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; that the inhabitants should fly over the Mediterra nean into the islands and the countries adjoining, and even there should not find a quiet settlement ; that the city should be restored after seventy years, and return to her gain and merchandise ; that it should be taken and destroyed again ; that the people should in time forsake their idolatry, and become converts to the true religion and worship of God ; and finally that the city should be totally destroyed, and become a place only for fishers to spread their nets upon. We shall find these particulars to be not only distinctly foretold, but likeAvise ex actly fulfilled. 13* 150 BISHOP NEWTON I. The city was to be taken and destroyed by the Chaldeeans, who Avere at the time of the delivery of the prophecy an incon siderable people. This, we think, is sufficiently implied in these Avoids of the prophet Isaiah, (xxiii. 13:) "Behold, the land of the Chaldaeans ; this people Avas not till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the Avilderness, they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin." "Behold," an exclamation to show that he is going to utter something new and extraordinary; "the land of the Chaldeeans," that is, Babylon and the country about Babylon; "this people, was not," was of no note or eminence, "till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the Avil derness," they dAvelt before in tents and led a Avandering life in the wilderness, till the Assyrians built Babylon for their recep- . tion. Babel or Babylon was first built by the children of men after the flood. After the dispersion of mankind, Nimrod made it the capital of his kingdom. With Nimrod it sunk again, till the Assyrians rebuilt it for the purposes here mentioned; "they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof," and Herodotus, Ctesias, and other , ancient historians agree that the kings of Assyria fortified and beautified Babylon ; "and he," that is, "this people" mentioned before, the Chal daeans or Babylonians, " brought it to ruin," that is, Tyre, which is the subject of the Avhole prophecy. The Assyrians were at •hat time the great monarchs of the east; the Chaldasans were their slaves and subjects ; and therefore it is the more extra ordinary, that the prophet should so many years beforehand foresee the successes and conquests of the Chaldasans. Ezekiel lived nearer the time, and he declares expressly that the city should be taken and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, (xxvi. 7 — 11 :) "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much peo ple ; — he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground." Salmaneser king of Assyria6 had besieged Tyre, but Avithout success; the Tyrians had with a few ships beaten his large fleet ; but yet Nebuchad nezzar should prevail. Ezekiel not only foretold the siege, but mentions it afterwards as a past transaction, (xxix. 18:) " Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus ; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled." Menander the Ephesian translated the Phoenician annals into Greek; and 7 Josephus asserts upon their authority, that 6 Annates Menandri apud Josophum, Antiq. 1. 9, c. 14, § 2. ' Joseph, contra Apion. 1. 1. § 20 et 21. ON THE PROPHECIES. 151 Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre thirteen years when Ithobal was king there, and began the siege in the seventh year of Itho- bal's reign, and that he subdued Syria and all Phoenicia. The same 8 historian likeAvise observes, that Philostratus in his Indian and Phoenician histories affirms that this king (Nebu chadnezzar) besieged Tyre thirteen years, Ithobal reigning at. that time in Tyre. The siege continuing so long, the soldiers must needs endure many hardships, so that hereby we better understand the justness of Ezekiel's expression, that "Nebu chadnezzar caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus ; every head was made bald, and every shoulder Avas peeled :" such light doth profane history cast upon sacred. It farther appears from the Phoenician annals quoted by the same 'historian, that the Tyrians received their kings afterwards from Babylon, which plainly evinces that some of the blood- royal must have been carried captives thither. The Phoenician annals too, as Dr. Prideaux ' hath clearly shown, agree exactly with Ezekiel's account of the time and year wherein the city was taken. Tyre therefore according to the prophecies was subdued and taken by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeeans : and after this we hear little more of that part of the city which stood upon the continent. It is some satisfaction that avo are able to produce such authorities as we have produced, out of heathen historians, for transactions of such remote antiquity. 1 1. The inhabitants should pass over the Mediteiranean into the islands and countries adjoining, and even there should find no quiet settlement. This is plainly signified by Isaidi, (xxiii. 6,) "Pass ye over to Tarshish," (that is, to Tartessus in Spain,) "howl ye inhabitants of the isle :" and again, (vei. 12,) "Arise, pass over to Chittim," (that is, the islands and countries bor dering upon the Mediterranean;) "there also shalt thou have no rest." What the prophet delivers by way of advice, is to be understood as a prediction, Ezekiel intimates the same thing, (xxvi. 18,) "The isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure." It is well known that the Phoenicians were the best navigators of antiquity, and sent forth colonies into several parts of the world. A great scholar of the last century hath Avritten a whole treatise 2 of the colonies of the Phoeni cians, a work (as indeed all his are) of immense learning and erudition. And of all the Phoenicians the Tyrians Avere the most celebrated for their shipping and colonies. Tyre exceeded 8 ^iXSarparos iv nils 'IvSiKals abrov Kal Tyro regnaret. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, u. 11, ivoivikikuis loToplais, bn ovros b SaoiXebs fao- §1. XiK77i7t Tvpov eto iy' , (laoiXcvovTos Kar eke- 9 Joseph, contra Apion. 1. 1, § 21. ivov rbv Kaipbv 'lOojidXov riis Tvpov. Philo- ' Prideaux. Connect, part 1, b. 2, Anno stratus tain in Indicis ejus quam Pkcemoiis his- 573. Nebuchadnezzar 32. toriis, quod hie rex trcdecim annos Tyram 2 Bocharti Chanaan. oppagnaverit, cum illo tempore Ithabalas in 152 BISHOP NEWTON Sidon in this respect, as 3 Strabo testifies, and sent forth colo nies into Africa and Spain unto and beyond the pillars of Her cules : and 4 Quintus Curtius saith, that her colonies were dif fused almost over the whole world. The Tyrians therefore having planted colonies at Tarshish and upon the coasts of Chittim, it was natural for them, when they Avere pressed with dangers and difficulties at home, to fly to their friends and countrymen abroad for refuge and protection. That they really did so, St. Jerome asserts upon the authority of Assyrian his tories, which are now lost and perished. ' We have read,' 6 saith he, ' in the histories of the Assyrians, that when the Tyrians were besieged, after they saAV no hope of escaping, they went on board their ships, and fled to Carthage, or to some islands ofthe Ionian and iEgean sea.' And in another place he 6 saith, ' that when the Tyrians saAV that the works for carrying on the siege Avere perfected, and the foundations of the walls were shaken by the battering of the rams, whatsoever precious things in gold, silver, clothes, and various kinds of furniture the no bility had, they put them on board their ships, and carried to the islands ; so that the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his labour.' It must have been grie vous to Nebuchadnezzar, after so long and laborious a siege, to be disappointed of the spoil of so rich a city ; and therefore Ezekiel was commissioned to promise him the conquest of Egypt for his reward, (xxix. 18, 19:) "Son of man, Nebu chadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus : every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled : yet had he no wages, nor his army for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey, and it shall be the wages for his army." But though the Tyrians should pass over to Tarshish and to ©hittim, yet even there they should find no quiet settlement, " there also shalt thou have no rest." Megasthenes, 7 who lived about 300 years before Christ, and was employed by Seleucus 3 A! Si els \it3vriv Kal r>iv Ifaplav, Ami- " ' Quod quum viderent Tyrii jam jamque Ktai, pixpi Kal e!-oi ornXibv, rt)v Tvpov -xXiov perfectum, et percussione arietum murorum i^vpvovm paXXov. Colonics tamen in Afri- iundamenta quaterentur, quicquid pretiosum zam et Hispaniam usque, ad loca extra colum- in' auro, argento, vestibusque, et varia su- vas deductce, Tyrum plurimum celebrave- pellectili nobilitas habuit, impositum navibus runt. Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1097. ad insulas asportavit; ita ut capta urbe, 4 ' Colonise certe ejus pene orbe toto dif- nihil dignum labore suo inveniret Nabucho- rrsa3 sunt.' Quint. Curt. 1. 4, c. 4. donosor.' Idem in Ezek. c. 29. * ' Legimus in historiis Assyriorum, ob- * Arrian. de Exped. Alex. 1. 5, c. 6. Ejus- sessos Tyrios, postquam nullam spem eva- dem Hist. Ind. c. 5. Voss. de Hist. Gra?c. 'lendi vidc-bant, conscensis navibus fugisse 1. 1, c. 11. Prid. Connect, part 1, b. 8, Cfirthaginem, seu ad alias Ionii iEgeique Anno 298. Ptolemy Soter. 7. maris insulas.' Hieron. in Is. 23, 6. ON THE PROPHECIES. 153 Nicator in an embassy to the king of India, wrote afterwards a history of India, wherein he mentioned Nebuchadnezzar Avith great honour. This historian is quoted by several ancient au thors ; he is cited particularly by 8 Strabo, Josephus, and Aby- denus in Eusebius, for saying that Nebuchadnezzar surpassed Hercules in bravery and great exploits, that he subdued great part of Africa and Spain, and proceeded as far as to the pillars of Hercules. After Nebuchadnezzar had subdued Tyre and Egypt, Ave may suppose that he carried his arms farther Avest- ward : and if he proceeded so far as Megasthenes reports, the Tyrians ' might well be said to " have no rest," their conqueror pursuing them from one country to another. But besides this, and after this, the Carthaginians and other colonies of the Ty rians lived in a very unsettled state. Their history is made up of little but wars and tumults, even before their three fatal Avars with the Romans, in every one of which their affairs grew worse and worse. Sicily and Spain, Europe and Africa, the land and their own element, the sea, Avere theatres of their calamities and miseries ; till at last not only the new, but old Carthage too was utterly destroyed. As the Carthaginians sprung from the Tyrians, and the Tyrians from the Sidonians, and Sidon Avas the first-born of Canaan, (Gen. x. 15,) so the curse upon Ca naan seemeth to have pursued them to the most distant parts of the earth. III. The city should be restored after seventy years, and re turn to her gain and her merchandise. This circumstance is ex pressly foretold by Isaiah, (xxiii. 15 — 17 :) "And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king," or kingdom, meaning the Babylonian which was to continue seventy years : " after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten, make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord Avill visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth." Tyre is represented as a harlot, and from thence these figures are borrowed, the plain meaning of Avhich is, that she should lie neglected of traders and merchants for seventy years, as long as the Babylonian empire lasted, and after that she should recover her liberties and her trade, and draw in several of all nations to deal with her, and particularly the kings of the earth to buy her purples, which were worn chiefly by emperors and kings, and for which Tyre was famous above all places in the world. 8 Strabo, 1. 15, p. 1007. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c. 11, § 1. Contra Apion. 1. 1, § 20. Eu- seb. Prrepar. Evang. 1. 9, c. 41. U 154 BISHOP NEWTON Seventy years was the time prefixed for the duration of the Babylonian empire. So long the nations were to groa.n under that tyrannical yoke, though these nations Avere subdued some sooner, some later than others. (Jer. xxv. 11, 12 :) " These na tions shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years : And it shall come to pass Avhen seventy years are accomplished, that I Avill punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldaeans, and will make it perpetual desolations." And accordingly at the end of seventy years Cyrus and the Persians subverted the Ba bylonian empire, and restored the conquered nations to their liberties. But we may compute these seventy years after another man ner. Tyre was taken9 by Nebuchadnezzar in the thirty- second year of his reign, and in the year 573 before Christ. Seventy years from thence will bring us doAvn to the year 503 before Christ, and the nineteenth of Darius Hystaspis. At that time it appears from1 history that the Ionians had rebelled against Darius, and the Phoenicians assisted him with their fleets : and consequently it is reasonable to conclude that they were noAV restored to their former privileges. In the succeed ing reign we find 2 that they, together with the Sidonians, fur nished Xerxes with several ships for his expedition into Greece. And by the time of Alexander the Tyrians were grown to such power and greatness, that they stopped the progress of that rapid conqueror longer than any part of the Persian empire besides. But all this is to be understood of the insular Tyre ; for as the old city flourished most before the time of Nebuchad nezzar, so the neAV city flourished most afterwards, and this is the Tyre that henceforth is so much celebrated in history. IV. The city should be taken and destroyed again. For Avhen it is said by the prophets, (Isa. xxiii. 6,) " Howl ye in habitants of the isle;" (Ezek. xxvii. 32,) "What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea 1" (xxviii. 8,) " They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas :" these expressions can imply no less than that the insular Tyre should be destroyed as well as that upon the continent ; and as the one Avas accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar, so was the other by Alexander the Great. But the same thing may be inferred more directly from the words of Zechariah, who prophesied in the reign of Darius, (Zech. i. 1 ; vii. 1,) probably Darius Hys taspis, many 3'ears after the former destruction of the city, and consequently he must be understood to speak of this latter. His Avords are these, (ix. 3, 4,) "And Tyrus did build herself " See Prid. Connect. Part 1, b. 2, and 2 Herod. 1. 7, c. 89, &c. Diod Sic 1 11 b.4. > Herod. 1. 5, c. 108, &c. *. 3. ' ON THE PROPHECIES. 155 a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea, and she shall be devoured Avith fire." It is very true " that Tyrus did build herself a strong hold ;" for her situation was very strong in an island, and be sides the sea to defend her she was 3 fortified with a wall of 150 feet in height, and of a proportionable thickness. "She heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets," being the most celebrated place in the Avorld for trade and riches, " the mart of nations," as she is called, conveying the commodities of the east to the west, and of the west to the east. But yet, " Behold the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire." Ezekiel had likewise foretold that the city should be consumed with fire, (xxviii. 18 :) " I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee." And ac cordingly Alexander besieged, and took, and set the city on fire.4 The ruins of old Tyre contributed much to the taking of the new city : for 5 with the stones and timber and rubbish of the old city Alexander built a bank or causey from the conti nent to the island, thereby literally fulfilling the words of the prophet Ezekiel, (xxvi. 12,) "They shall lay thy stones and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the water." He was seven months in completing this work, but the time and labour were well employed, for by means hereof he was enabled to storm and take the city. As in the former siege the inhabitants, according to the pro phecies, fled over the Mediterranean to the islands and coun tries adjoining, so they did likewise in this latter siege; for Diodorus Siculus 6 and Quintus Curtius both testify that they sent their wives and children to Carthage ; and upon the tak ing of the place the Sidonians 7 secretly conveyed away fifteen thousand more in their ships. Happy were they who thus escaped, for of those who remained behind, the conqueror8 slew eight thousand in the storming and taking of the city ; he caused two thousand afterwards cruelly to be crucified, and thirty thousand he sold for slaves. They had before sold some 3 Arrian. de Exped. Alex. 1. 2, c. 21. aavro. Liberos et uxores cum senio confectis T6te SuVos els TTEVTfjKovra Kal EKarbv pdXiara Carthaginem transportare deeernunt. TeXos irbSas, Kalis nXdros cfipperpov. ^^— ci. ad- Si, t&vtekvviv Kal yvvaiKdv pipes piv 'iif>Qacav modum pedes alius, latitudine altitudini re- vttekBepevoi nobs robs KapxvSovtovs- Tandem spondente. deponenda quadam apud Carthaginentes li- 4 Quint. Curt. 1.4, c. 4. 'Ignemque tec- berorum et uxorum parte (hostem) antever- tis injici jubet.' tunt. Diod. Sic. I. 17, c. 41. 'Conjuges s Quint. Curt. 1. 4, c. 2. Diod. Sic. 1. 17, liberosque devehendos Carthaginem trade- c. 40. runt.' GUiint. Curt. 1. 4, c. 3. G TiKva piv Kal ywalKas Kal robs ye- 7 Quint. Curt. 1. 4, c. 4. yrjpaKbras eis KapxnS&va SiaKoplfyiv idiotyi- B Arrian. 1. 2, c. 24, Quint. Curt. ibid. 156 BISHOP NEWTON of the captive Jews, and now it was returned upon them accord ing to the prediction of Joel, (iii. 6 — 8:) " The children also of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold ; behold I will return your recompense upon your own head, and will sell your sons and your daughters." This is the main of the pro phecy, that as they had sold the captive Jews, so they should be sold themselves : and having seen this so punctually ful filled, we may more easily believe that the other parts were so too, though at this distance of time, and in this scarcity of an cient historians, we are not able to prove all the particulars. When the city was taken before, the Tyrians received their kings afterwards from Babylon ; and now 9 their king held his crown by Alexander's appointment. The cases are parallel in many respects : but the city recovered much sooner from the calamities of this siege than from the fatal consequences of the former. For in J nineteen years' time it was able to withstand the fleets and armies of Antigonus, and sustained a siege of fifteen months before it was taken : a plain proof, as Dr. Pri deaux observes, of ' the great advantage of trade. For this city being the grand mart, where most of the trade both of the east and west did then centje, by virtue hereof it was, that it so soon revived to its pristine vigour.' V. It is usual with God to temper his judgments with mercy ; and amidst these calamities it is also foretold, that there should come a time, when the Tyrians would forsake their idolatry, and become converts to the true religion and worship of God. The Psalmist is thought to have hinted as much, in saying, (xiv. 12,) " The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift ;" and again (lxxii. 10,) " The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents." Zechariah, when he foretells the calamities which the Tyrians and neighbouring nations should suffer from Alex ander, (ix. 1 — 7,) at the same time predicts their conversion to the true God ; " but he that remaineth, even he shall be for our God." But nothing can be plainer than Isaiah's declaration that they should consecrate the gains of their merchandise for the maintenance of those who minister to the Lord in holy things, (xxiii. 18:) "And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord : it shall not be treasured, nor laid up : for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing." Here par ticularly we must be much obliged to the learned Vitringa,2 who hath fully shown the completion of this article ; as indeed every one who would rightly understand the prophet Isaiah, must be 9 Diod. Sic. 1. 17, c. 46. T!js piv Tvplav ' Diod. Sic. 1. 19, c. 61. Prid. Connect, tt6Xeois KariarrjirE jSaeiXia rbv bvopaZfipEvov part 1, b. 8, Anno 313. Alexander jEgus 4. BaXXwwpov. Tynorum urbi regem prafecit 2 Vitring. Comment, in Iesaiam, c. 23, cui Ballonymo nomen. vol. 1, p. 704. ON THE PR6PHECIES. 157 greatly obliged to that excellent commentator, and will receive more light and assistance from him than from all besides him. The Tyrians were much addicted to the worship of Hercules as he was called by the Greeks, or of Baal as he is denominated in Scripture. But in process of time, by the means of some JeAvs and proselytes living and conversing among them, some of tbem also became proselytes to the Jewish religion; so that " a great multitude of people from the sea-coast of Tyre and Sidon came to hear" our Saviour, (Luke vi. 17,) " and to be healed of their diseases :" and our Saviour, who was " sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," yet came " into the. coasts of Tyre and Sidon," (Matt. xv. 21, &c. Mark vii. 24, &c. ;) and the first fruits of the gospel there was a Tyrian woman, " a woman of Canaan," as she is called, "a Syro-phoenician by nation." When St. Paul in his way to Jerusalem came to Tyre, he found disciples there who were inspired by the Holy Ghost and prophesied, (Acts xxi. 4,) and with them he " tarried seven days." The Tyrians were such sincere converts to Christianity, that in the time of Diocletian's persecution they exhibited se veral glorious examples of confessors and martyrs, which Eu sebius s himself saw, and hath amply testified in his book of the martyrs of Palestine. Afterwards, when the storm of persecution was blown over, the Tyrians under their bishop Paulinus built an oratory or rather a temple for the public worship of God, the most magnificent and sumptuous in all Palestine and Phoe nicia, which temple Eusebius 4 hath described, and celebrated in a handsome panegyric, whereof he hath inserted a copy in his history, but modestly concealed the name of the author. Eusebius, therefore, commenting upon this passage of Isaiah, might very well say that ' it is fulfilled in our time.6 For since a church of God hath been founded in Tyre as well as in other nations, many of its goods gotten by merchandise are conse crated to the Lord, being offered to his church ;' as he after wards explains himself, ' for the use of the ministers of the altar or gospel, according to the institution of our Lord, that they who wait at the altar should live of the altar.' In like manner St. Jerome :6 ' We may behold churches in Tyre built to Christ : Ave may see their riches that they are not laid up nor treasured, but given to those who dwell before the Lord. For the Lord 3 Euseb. Eccles. Hist. 1. 8, c. 7. De altaris cive evangelii, secundum instttulum Martyr. PalfEstiniB, c. 5 et 7. Domini, ut mmistri altaris ex eo vivant. 4 Euseb. Hist. 1. 10, c. 4. c 'Cernamus in Tyro exstructas Christi 6 "O Si koI rtXripoVrat KaB! fipds airois, k. ecclesias, consideremus opes omnium, quod t. X. Quod nostra tempore impletum vide- non reponantur nee thesaurizentur, sed den- mus. Nam cum ecclesia Dei in urbe Tyro tur his qui habitant coram Domino. — Sic perinde ac in reliquis gentibus fundata sit, enim et Dominus constituit, ut qui Evange- tnultrB ex ejus mercibuS negotidtione partis lium praedicant, vivant de Evangelic Hie- Domino consecrantur, ecclesiee ejus oblata ; ron. in Is. c. 23. videlicet ut mox exponit, in usum ministrorum 14 158 BISHOP NEWTON hath appointed, that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel.' And how liberally and munificently the bishops and clergy were at that time maintained, hoAV plentifully they were furnished with every thing, "to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing," no man can want to be informed, Avho is ever so little conversant in ecclesiastical history. To these proofs Ave will only add, that as Tyre consecrated its merchandise and hire unto the Lord, so it had the honour of being erected into an archbishopric,7 and the first archbishopric under the patriarchate of Jerusalem, having fourteen bishops under its primacy ; and in this state it continued several years. VI. But after all the city should be totally destroyed, and become a place only for fishers to spread their nets upon. When the prophets denounced the destruction of a city or country, it was not intended that such denunciation should take effect im mediately. The sentence of condemnation, (as I may say,) was then passed upon it, but the execution might be respited for some time. When it was threatened that Babylon should be come a desolation without an inhabitant, there were yet many ages before it was reduced to that condition ; it decayed by degrees, till at last it came to nothing; and now the place is so little known, that you may look for Babylon in the midst of Babylon. In like manner Tyre was not to be ruined and deso lated all at once. Other things were to happen first. It was to be restored after seventy years ; it was to be destroyed and re stored again, in order to its being adopted into the church. These events were to take place, before Ezekiel's prophecies could be fully accomplished, (xxvi. 3, 4, 5 :) " Thus saith the Lord God,' Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many na tions to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up : And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers ; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock : It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea : for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God." He repeats it to show the certainty of it, (ver. 14 :) " I will make thee like the top of a rock ; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon ; thou shalt be built no more ; for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God ;" and again, (ver. 21 :) "I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more ; though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God." These prophecies, like most others, were to receive their com pletion by degrees. Nebuchadnezzar, as we have seen, destroyed the old city ; and Alexander employed the ruins and rubbish in making his causey from the continent to the island, which henceforwards were joined together. ' It is no wonder, there- T Sandys' Travels, b. 3, p. 168, 6th edit. 1670. Hoffman's Lexicon, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 159 fore,' as Bishop Pococke 8 observes, ' that there are no signs of the ancient city ; and as it is a sandy shore, the face of every thing is altered, and the great aqueduct in many parts is almost buried in the sand.' So that as to this part of the city, the prophecy hath literally been fulfilled, " Thou shalt be built no more ; though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again." It may be questioned Avhether the new city ever after that arose to that height of power, Avealth, and greatness, to which it Avas elevated in the times of Isaiah and Ezekiel. It received a great blow from Alexander, not only by his taking and burning the city, but much more by his building of Alex andria in Egypt, which in time deprived it of much of its trade, and thereby contributed more effectually to its ruin. It had the misfortune afterwards of changing its masters often, being sometimes in the hands of the Ptolemies kings of Egypt, and sometimes of the Seleucidae kings of Syria, till at length it fell under the dominion of the Romans. It was taken by the 9 Sara cens about the year of Christ 639, in the reign of Omar their third emperor. It was retaken by the ' Christians during the time of the holy Avar, in the year 1124, Baldwin, the second of that name, being then king of Jerusalem, and assisted by a fleet of the Venetians. From the Christians it was taken 2 again in the year 1289 by the Mamalucs of Egypt, under their Sul tan Alphix, who sacked and razed this and Sidon and other strong towns, that they might not ever again afford any harbour or shelter to the Christians. From the Mamalucs it was again taken3 in the year 1516, by Selim, the ninth emperor of the Turks ; and under their dominion it continues at present. But alas, how fallen, how changed from what it was formerly ! For from being the centre of trade, frequented by all the merchant ships of the east and west, it is now become a heap of ruins, visited only by the boats of a few poor fishermen. So that as to this part likewise of the city, the prophecy hath literally been fulfilled : " I will make thee like the top of a rock ; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon." The famous 4 Huetius knew one Hadrianus Parvillerius, a 8 Pococke's Descript. ofthe East, vol. 2, memini me audire aliquando cum diceret, b. 1, c. 20, p. 81, 82. sibi olim ad collapsas Tyriruinas accedenti, 9 Ockley's Hist, of the Saracens, vol. 1, et rupes mari praetentas ac disjectos passim p. 340. in litore lapides procul spectanli, sole, fluc- 1 Abul-Pharajii Hist. Dyn. 9, p. 250. tibus, et auris detersos ac levigatos, et sic- Vers. Pocock. Savage's Abridgment of candis 'solum piscatorum retibus, quae turn Knolles and Rycaut, vol. 1, p. 26. forte plurima desuper expansa erant utiles, E Savage's Abridgment, vol. 1, p. 95. venisse in memoriam hujus prophetias Eze- Pocock. Descript. of the East, vol. 2, b. 1, kielis de Tyro, (xxvi. 5, 14 :) " Dabo te in c. 20, p. 83. limpidissimam petram : siccatio sagenarum 3 Savage's Abridgment, vol. 1, p. 241. eris, nee eedificaberis ultra, quia ego locutus " 'Hadrianum Parvellerium, e societate sum, ait Dominus Deus." ' Huetn Demon- Josu, virum candidissimum et Arabice doc- strat. Evang. Prop. 6, ad tin. p. 358. tissimum qui decern annos in Syria egit, 160 BISHOP NEWTON Jesuit, a very candid man and a master of Arabic, who resided ten years in Syria ; and he remembers to have heard him some times say, that when he approached the ruins of Tyre, and be held the rocks stretched forth to the sea, and the great stones scattered up and doAvn on the shore, made clean and smooth by the sun and waves and winds, and useful only for the drying of fishermen's nets, many of Avhich happened at that time to be spread thereon, it hrought to his memory this prophecy of Eze kiel concerning Tyre, (xxvi. 5, 14 :) "I will make thee like the top of a rock ; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon ; thou shalt be built no more ; for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God." Dr. Shaw 5 in his account of Tyre thus expresseth himself : c I visited several creeks and inlets in order to discover what provision there might have been formerly made for the security of their vessels. Yet notwithstanding that Tyre was the chief maritime power of this country, I could not observe the least token of either cothon or harbour that could have been of any extraordinary capacity. The coasting ships indeed, still find a tolerable good shelter from the northern winds under the south ern shore, but Avere obliged immediately to retire, when the winds change to the west or south : so that there must have been some better station than this for their security and recep tion. In the N. N. E. part likewise of the city, Ave see the traces of a safe and commodious basin, lying within the walls : but which at the same time is very small, scarce forty yards in dia meter. Neither could it ever have enjoyed a larger area, unless the buildings, which now circumscribe it, were encroachments upon its original dimensions. Yet even this port, small as it is at present, is notwithstanding so choked up with sand and rub bish, that the boats of those poor fishermen who now and then visit this once renowned emporium, can with great difficulty only be admitted.' But the fullest for our purpose is Mr. Maundrell, whom it is a pleasure to quote as well as to read, and whose journal of his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, though a little book, is yet worth a folio, being so accurately and ingeniously written, that it might serve as a model for all writers of travels. ' This city,'6 saith he, 'standing in the sea upon a peninsula, pro mises at a distance something very magnificent. But when you come to it, you find no similitude of that glory, for which it was so renowned in ancient times, and which the prophet Ezekiel describes, chap. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii. On the north side it has an old Turkish ungarrisoned castle ; besides which you see nothing here, but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c. there being not so much as one entire house left : its pre- 6 Shaw's Travels, p. 330. » Maundrell, p. 48, 49, 5th edit. ON THE PROPHECIES. 161 sent inhabitants are only a few poor wretches harbouring them selves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by divine providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz. that " it should be as the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nets on." ' Such hath been the fate of this city, once the most famous in the world for trade and commerce. But trade is a fluctuat ing thing : it passed from Tyre to Alexandria, from Alexandria to Venice, from Venice to Antwerp, from Antwerp to Amster dam and London, the English rivalling the Dutch, as the French are now rivalling both. All nations almost are wisely applying themselves to trade ; and it behoves those who are in possession of it, to take the greatest care that they do not lose it. It is a plant of tender groAVth, and requires sun, and soil, and fine seasons, to make it thrive and flourish. It will not grow like the palm-tree, which with the more weight and pressure rises the more. Liberty is a friend to that, as that is a friend to liberty. But the greatest enemy to both is licen tiousness, which tramples upon all law and lawful authority, encourages riots and tumults, promotes drunkenness and debauchery, sticks at nothing to supply its extravagance, practices every act of illicit gain, ruins credit, ruins trade, and will in the end ruin liberty itself. Neither kingdoms nor commonwealths, neither public companies nor private persons, can long carry on a beneficial flourishing trade without virtue, and what virtue teacheth, sobriety, industry, frugality, mo desty, honesty, punctuality, humanity, charity, the love of our country, and the fear of God. The prophets will inform us how the Tyrians lost it ; and the like ca uses will always pro duce the like effects. (Isa. xxiii. 8, 9:) "Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth ] The Lord of hosts hath purposed.it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth." (Ezek. xxvii. 3, 4 :) "Thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty." (xxviii. 5, &c. :) "By thy great wisdom, and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee AArith violence, and thou hast sinned ; therefore will I cast thee as profane out of the moun tain of God. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy Avisdom by reason of thy brightness; Thou has defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine ini quities, by the iniquity of thy traffick ; therefore will I bring 14* V 162 BISHOP NEWTON forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people, shall be astonished at thee ; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." XII. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING EGYPT. I GYPT is one of the first and most famous countries that we read of in history. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is called Mtzraim and the land of Ham, having been first inhabited after the deluge by Noah's youngest son, Ham or Hammon, and by his son Mizraim. The name of Egypt is of more uncertain deri vation. It appears that the river was so called in 1 Homer's time ; and from thence, as Hesychius imagines, the name might be derived to the country. Others more probably conceive that the meaning of the name 2 iEgyptus is ala Cuphti, the land of Cuphti, as it Avas formerly called by the Egyptians them selves and their neighbours the Arabians. All agree in this, that the kingdom of Egypt was very ancient ; but some have carried this antiquity to an extravagant and fabulous height, their dynasties being utterly irreconcileable to reason and his tory both, and no ways to be solved or credited but by suppos ing that, they extend beyond the deluge, and that they contain the catalogues of several contemporary, as well as of some suc cessive kings and kingdoms. It is certain, that in the days of Joseph, if not before those in the days of Abraham, it was a great and flourishing kingdom. There are monuments of its greatness yet remaining to the surprise and astonishment of all posterity, of which as we know not the time of their erec tion, so in all probability we shall never know the time of their destruction. This country Avas also celebrated for its wisdom, no less than for its antiquity. It was, as I may call it, the great academy of the earlier ages. Hither the wits and sages of Greece and other countries repaired, and imbibed their learning at this fountain. It is mentioned to the commendation of Moses, (Acts vii. 22,) that he " was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians :" and the highest character given of Solomon's 1 Horn. Odys. xiv. 257, 258. Hesychius : Aiyuirros, 5 NeTAos 6 mra- Ele/iTrraToi S' Aiyv-xrov iiiS el-rnv iKp-ptcBa' pos as ivivrib ISpiJaSai ivaKopl^Eiv eIs rhy BativXuivtav. Ut et IS6kee. Ferlur Apries ea fuisse persuasione, caplivis ex JEgyptip epulis, datpque in ne deum quidem ullum posse sibi adimere reg- mandatis cuidam ex amicis, ut eos in num : adeo videbatur sibi Ulud stabilisse. Babyloniam deportaret. Herod. 1.2, § 169. ' 'AirbSaapov avreviv eIs ra Se^ia rov 8 Herod, ibid. Diodorus Siculus, 1. 1, Xlbvrob KaroiKlaai. Colonias vitdexirum Pon- x.. 68. ti plagam deportasse. Megasthenes apud 9 Berosus apud Josephum, 1. 10, c. 11, § 1. Eusebium, Praep. Evang. 1. 9, c. 41. ON THE PROPHECIES. 167 nations, and dispersed through the countries," and might upon the dissolution of the Babylonian empire return to their native country. II. Not long after this was another memorable revolution, and the country Avas invaded and subdued by Cambyses and the Persians, Avhich is the main subject of the 19th chapter of Isaiah. Some parts indeed of this prophecy have a near affinity with those of Jeremiah and Ezekiel concerning the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, and St. Jerome and others apply it to Nebuchadnezzar : but this prophecy, as well as several others, might admit of a double completion, and be fulfilled at both those periods. For this prophecy of Isaiah is a general repre sentation of the calamities of the nation ; it includes various particulars ; it is applicable to Nebuchadnezzar and the Baby lonians, as well as to Cambyses and the Persians. They might therefore be both intended and comprehended in it : but the lat ter, I conceive, were principally intended, and for this reason ; because the deliverance of the Egyptians by some great con queror, and their conversion afterwards to the true religion, which are foretold in the latter part of this chapter, Avere events conse quent to the dominion of the Persians, and not to that of the Babylonians. The prophet begins with declaring that the conquest of Egypt should be swift and sudden, and that the idols of Egypt should be destroyed, (ver. 1 :) "Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it." The same thing is foretold of Nebuchadnezzar by Jeremiah, (xliii. 11, &c :) "And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt — And IjAvill kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives — He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt ; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn Avith fire :" and again by Ezekiel, (xxx. 13 :) "Thus saith the Lord God, I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph," or, Memphis. We are not furnished with ancient au thors sufficient to prove these particulars (hoAvever probable) in the history of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians ; but we have ample proofs with relation to Cambyses and the Per sians. The first attempt made by "Cambyses Avas upon 2 Pelu- sium, a strong town at the entrance of Egypt, and the key of the kingdom ; and he succeeded by the stratagem of placing before his army a great number of dogs, sheep, cats, and other animals, which being held sacred by the Egyptians, not one of them Avould cast a javelin, or shoot an arroAV that way ; and so 2 Polyjeni Stratagem. 1. 7 c. 9. 168 BISHOP NEWTON the town was stormed and taken in a manner without resist ance. He3 treated the gods of Egypt Avith marvellous contempt, laughed at the people, and chastised the priests for worship ping such deities. He slew Apis, or the sacred ox which the Egyptians worshipped, Avith his oavii hand ; and burnt and de molished their other idols and temples ; and Avould likewise, if he had not been prevented, have destroyed the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon. Ochus too, Avho Avas another king of Persia, and subdued the Egyptians again after they had revolted, 4 plun dered their temples, and caused Apis to be slain and served up in a banquet to him and his friends. The prophet foretells, that they should also be miserably dis tracted with civil wars, (ver. 2 :) "And I Avill set the Egyptians against the Egyptians ; and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom ;" vbpos fai vbpov, as the Seventy translate it, province against province, Egypt being divided into vbpoi, prefectures or provinces. Vitringa and others apply this to the time of the 5Sv>SsKapXia or the reign of the twelve kings, the anarohy that preceded, and the civil Avars that ensued, wherein the genius and fortune of Psammitichus prevailed over the rest. But it may perhaps be more properly applied to what agrees better in point of time Avith other parts of the prophecy, 6the civil wars betAveen Apries and Amasis at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion, and the r civil Avars be tAveen Tachos, Nectanebus, and the Mendesian, a little before the country was finally subdued by Ochus. It is no Avonder that in such distractions and distresses as these, the Egyptians being naturally a coAvardly people, should be destitute of " counsel," and that "the spirit of Egypt should fail in the midst thereof," as the prophet foretells, (ver. 3 ;) and that being also a very superstitious people, " they should seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have fami liar spirits, and to the wizards." But their divination was all in vain ; it was their fate to be subdued and oppressed by cruel lords and tyrants, (ver. 4.) "And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord ; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts." This is the most es sential part of the prophecy ; and this Grotius and others un derstand of Psammitichus : but it doth not appear from history, that Psammitichus was such a fierce and cruel tyrant ; on the contrary he re-established the government, s and reigned long 3 Herod. 1. 3, § 27, &c. § 37, &c. Strabo, 6 Herod. 1. °, § 169. Oio'd. Sic. 1. !, c. 68. 1. 17. p. 1158. Justin. 1. 1, c. 9. ' Plutarch, m A- es.lao 6 ST, 59. Diod. "Diod. Sic. 1. 16, c. 51. Plutarch de Sii. 1. 15, c. £2. W:d. et Osir. § 31. "Herod. 1. 2, § 153—15';. Diod. Sic 6 Herod. 1. 2 § 147—154. Diod. Sic. 1. 1, c. 66. Vide etiam Marshami Chron. 1, c. 66. Soec. 17, p. 505. ON THE PROPHECIES. 169 and prosperously for Egypt in many respects. It may with greater truth and propriety be understood of Nebuchadnezzai and the Babylonians, Avhose dominion was very grievous to the conquered nations : but with the greatest propriety and justice it may be applied to the Persians, and especially to Cambyses and Ochus ; one of whom put the yoke upon the neck of the Egyptians, and the other riveted it there ; and who are both branded in history for cruel tyrants and monsters of men. The Egyptians said that, Cambyses, after his killing of Apis, Avas stricken with madness ; but his actions, saith 9 Dr. Prideaux after Herodotus, showed him to have been mad long before. He could hardly have performed those great exploits, if he had been a downright madman : and yet it is certain that he Avas very much like one ; there was a mixture of barbarity and mad ness in all his behaviour. Ochus was the cruelest and Avorst of all the kings of Persia, and was so destructive and oppressive to Egypt in particular, that his favourite eunuch l Bagoas, who Avas an Egyptian, in revenge of his injured country, poisoned him. The favours shown to himself could not compensate for the wrongs done to his country. None other allegation is Avanting to prove, that the Persian yoke was galling and intolerable to the Egyptians, than their frequent revolts and rebellions, Avhich served still but to augment their misery, and enslave them more and more. The prophet then proceeds to set forth in figurative language, (ver. 5 — 10,) the consequences of this subjection and slavery, the poverty and Avant, the mourning and lamentation, the con fusion and misery, which should be entailed on them and their posterity; and afterwards he recounts (ver. 11 — 17) the imme diate causes of these evils, the folly of the princes and rulers who valued themselves upon their wisdom, and the cowardice and effeminacy of the people< in general. These things Avill plainly appear to any one by perusing the history of the nation, but it would carry us beyond all bounds to prove them by an induction of particulars. In general it may be said, that Egypt Avould not have become a prey to so many foreign enemies, but through the excessive weakness of the Egyptians both in coun sel and in action. They had not the courage even to defend themselves. They trusted chiefly to their Grecian and other mercenaries, who instead of defending, Avere often the first to betray them. III. The next memorable revolution Avas effected by Alex ander the Great, Avho subverted the Persian empire in Egypt "Prid. Connect, part 1, b. 3, Anno 525. Cambyses insaniit ; quum ne prius quidem Cambyses 5. Herod. 1. 3, § 30. Kapllvavs compos mentis fuisset. Si (is Xiyovct Alyvxrioi) abrUa Sid rovro ' 'Diod. Sic. 1. 17, u. 5. iEliani Var. rb aS'iKnpa ipdvn fwi' obSi irpdrspov qjpcvrjpiis. Hist. 1.6, c. 8. Ob hoc scelus (ut j^Egyptli aiunl) continuo 15 W 170 BISHOP NEWTON as well as in all other places : and this event, I entirely agree with Vitringa, is pointed out to us in this same 19th chapter of Isaiah. It is also foretold, that a'bout the same time several of the Egyptians should be converted to the true religion and the worship of the God of Israel. And as these events, which are the subjects of the latter part of the chapter, (ver. 18 — 25,) fol lowed upon the subversion of the Persian empire, we may be satisfied, that our application of the former part of the chapter to the Persians in particular, was not a misapplication of the prophecy. "In that day," that is, after that day, after that time, as the phrase signifies,- and should be translated in several passages of the prophets, " shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan," profess the religion of the Hebrews ; as in Zephaniah, (iii. 9,) " I will turn to the people a pure language," signifies, I will restore to the people a pure religion, " that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. And swear to the Lord of hosts : one shall be called the city of destruction," or of the sun, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, meaning Heliopolis, a famous city of Egypt. " In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord," such as Jacob erected (Gen. xxviii. 18) at Bethel: " And it shall be for a sign, and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt ; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour and a great one, and he shall deliver them. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation ; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it." The prophet de scribes the worship of future times, according to the rites and ceremonies of his oavii time : " And the Lord shall smite Egypt, he shall smite and heal it, and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them." The prophet then proceeds to show, that Assyria or Syria and Egypt, which used to be at great enmity with each other, shall be united in the same worship by the intermediation of Israel, aud they three shall be a blessing in the earth : " In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt, and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land : Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." Here it is clearly foretold, that a great prince, a saviour sent by God, from a foreign country, should deliver the Egyptians from their Persian oppressors, and heal their country, which was smit- ON THE PROPHECIES. 171 ten oj God and afflicted : and who could this be but Alexander, Avho is always distinguished by the name of Alexander the Great, and whose first successor in Egypt was called the great Ptolemy, and Ptolemy Soter or the saviour ! Upon Alexander's first com ing into Egypt, the 2poeple all cheerfully submitted to him out of hatred to the Persians, so that he became master of the country without any opposition. For this reason he treated them with humanity and kindness, built a'city there which after his own name he called Alexandria, appointed one of their own country for their civil governor, and permitted them to be go verned by their own laAvs and customs. By these changes and regulations, and by the prudent and gentle administration of some ofthe first Ptolemies, Egypt revived, trade and learning flourished, and for a while peace and plenty blessed the land. But it is more largely foretold, that about the same time the true religion and the worship of the God of Israel should begin to spread and prevail in the land of Egypt : and what event was ever more unlikely to happen than the conversion of a people so sunk and lost in superstition and idolatry ofthe worst and grossest kind 1 It is certain that many of the Jews, after Nebu chadnezzar had taken Jerusalem, fled into Egypt, and carried along with them Jeremiah the prophet, (Jer. xliii. &c.) who there uttered most of his prophecies concerning the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. From thence some knowledge of God, and some notices of the prophecies might easily be de rived to the Egyptians. It is said that this alteration should be effected principally in five cities. If a certain number be not here put for an uncertain, I should conclude with 3Le Clerc, that the five cities, wherein the worship of the one true God was received, were Heliopolis, which is particularly named in the text, and the four others, which are mentioned in Jeremiah, (xliv. 1,) as the places of the residence ofthe JeAvs, Migdol or Magdolum, Tahpanhes or Daphne, Noph or Memphis, and the fourth in the country of Pathros or Thebais, not mentioned by name, perhaps Amon-no or Diospolis. There the Jews chiefly resided at that time ; and though they were generally very wicked men, and disobedient to the word of the Lord, and upon ° Diod. Sic. 1. 17, c. 49. Arrian. 1.3, c. 1, Jeremiam abduxerant. Quibus, m.probis &c. Quint. Curtius, 1. 4, c. 7 et 8. 1uippe, licet extrema mala iis prophela mi- 3 ' Si liceret conjicere de nominibus quin- netur, potuerunt tamen nonnulli pii admisti que [quatuor] aliarum urbium, dicerem eas esse, qui vaticinia ejus iEgyptiis aperuerint, esse, quio memorantur Jeremae c. xliv. 2. et ipsi, cum ea impleta vidissent, Judaicam Migdol, (Herodoto Magdolus,) Thachphan- religionem amplexi sint. Quod intelligi no- ches, (eidem Daphne,) *Noph sive Memphis, lim de incolis omnibus eorum locorum ; sed et quarta in terra Pathros seu Pathyride, de nonnullis; quod satis est, ut dicuntur qure nomine non appellatur, forte Amon-no quinque urbes " lingua Chanahanitide loqu-a- sive Diospolis. In lis habitarunt Judaei, qui turai, et per Jehovem juraturce." ' Comment. Chaldifiorum metu post captani Jerosoli- in locum. mam in ^Egyptum migrarant, eoque invitum 172 BISHOP NEWTON that account the prophet Jeremiah denounced the heaviest judg ments against them ; yet some good men might be mingled among them, Avho might open his prophecies to the Egyptians, and they themselves, when they saw them fulfilled, might embrace the Jewish religion. But this is to be understood not of all the inhabitants of those places, but only of some ; which is sufficient to justify the expression of " five cities speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts." Alexander the Great * transplanted many of the Jews into his new city of Alexandria, and alloAved them privileges and immu nities equal to those of the Macedonians themselves. Ptolemy Soter 5 carried more of them into Egypt, who there enjoyed such advantages, that not a few of the other Jews went thither of their own accord, the goodness of the country and the liberality of Ptolemy alluring them. Ptolemy Philadelphus 6 redeemed and released the captive Jews ! and in his reign or his father's, the books of Moses were translated into Greek, and aftenvards the other parts of the Old Testament. The third Ptolemy,7 called Euergetes, having subdued all Syria, did not sacrifice to the gods of Egypt in acknoAvledgment of his victory ; but coming to Jerusalem, made his oblations to God after the man ner of the Jews : and the king's example, no doubt, would in fluence many of his subjects. The sixth Ptolemy,8 called Phi- lometor, and his queen Cleopatra committed the Avhole ma nagement of the kingdom to two Jews, Onias and Dositheus, who were their chief ministers and generals, and had the prin cipal direction of all affairs, both civil and military. This Onias obtained a licence from the king and queen to build a temple for the Jews in Egypt like that at Jerusalem, alleging for this purpose this very prophecy of Isaiah, that there should " be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt :" and the king and queen in their rescript make honourable mention of the law and of the prophet Isaiah, and express a dread of sin ning against God. The place, chosen for the building of this temple, Avas in the prefecture of Heliopolis or the city of the sun, which place is likewise mentioned in the prophecy. It was built after the model of the temple at Jerusalem, but not so sumptuous and magnificent. He himself was made high-priest ; other priests and LeAates were appointed for the ministration ; and divine service was daily performed there in the same man ner as at Jerusalem, and continued as long ; for Vespasian, 4 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 18, § 7. § 4. Hody de Vers. Groec. 1. 2, c. 2. Contra Apion. 1. 2, § 4. ' Joseph. Contra Apion. 1. 2, 5 5. I * Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, c. 1. Hecataeus e Joseph. Contra Apion. ibid. Antiq. apud Joseph. Contra Apion. 1. 1, § 22. 1. 13, c. 3. De Bell. Jud. 1. 1, c. 1, 5 1. « Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12. c. 2. Contra Apion. 1. 7, c. 10, § 2. ON THE PROPHECIES. 173 having destroyed the temple at Jerusalem, ordered this also to be demolished. By these means the Lord must in some degree have been known to Egypt, and the Egyptians must have known the Lord : and without doubt there must have been many proselytes among them. Among those who came up to the feast of Pentecost, (Acts ii. 10,) there are particularly mentioned " the dwellers in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, Jews and pro selytes." Nay, from the instance of Candace's eunuch, (Acts viii. 27,) we may infer that there Avere proselytes even beyond Egypt, in Ethiopia. Thus were the Jews settled and encou raged in Egypt, insomuch that Philo 9 represents their number as not less than a hundred myriads, or ten hundred thousand men. Nor Avere they less favoured or rewarded for their ser vices by the kings of Sysia. Seleucus Nicator 5 made them free of the cities which he built in Asia and the lower Syria, and of Antioch itself, the capital of his kingdom ; and granted the same rights and privileges to them as to the Greeks and Macedonians. Antiochus the Great 2 published several decrees in favour of the Jews, both of those who inhabited Jerusalem, and of those who dwelt in Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Jose phus3 saith that the Jews gained many proselytes at Antioch. And thus by the means of the Jews and proselytes dwelling in Egypt and Syria, Israel, Egypt, and Syria, were in some measure united in the same worship. But this was more fully accom plished when these countries became Christian, and so were made members of the same body in Christ Jesus. And Ave piously hope and believe, that it will still receive its most perfect completion in the latter days, when Mohammedism shall be rooted out, and Christianity shall again flourish in these coun tries, " when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved." IV. But there is a remarkable prophecy of Ezekiel, Avhich comprehends in little the fate of Egypt from the days of Ne buchadnezzar to the present. For therein it is foretold, that after the desolation of the land and the captivity of tne people by Nebuchadnezzar, (xxix. 14, 15,) it "should be a base king dom : it shall be the basest of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations : for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations :" and again in the next chapter, (ver. 12, 13,) " I will sell the land into the hand of the wicked, and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers ; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt." Such general prophe cies, like general rules, are not to be understood so strictly and 9 OIik arroSiovci pvpidSwv iKarbv In a Joseph, ibid. Flaccum. 3 De Bell. Jud. 1. 7, c. 3, § 3. 1 Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, t. 3. 15* 174 v BISHOP NEWTON absolutely, as if they could not possibly admit of any kind of limitation or exception whatever. It is sufficient if they hold good for the most part, and are confirmed by the experience of many ages, though perhaps not without an exception of a few years. The prophets exhibit a general view of things, without entering into the particular exceptions. It was predicted, (Gen. ix. 25,) that " Canaan should be a servant of servants unto his brethren ;" and generally his posterity were subjected to the descendants of his brethren : but yet they were not always so ; upon some occasions they were superior ; and Hannibal and the .Carthaginians obtained several victories over the Ro mans, though they Avere totally subdued at last. In like man ner it was not intended by this prophecy, that Egypt should ever afterwards, in every point of time, but only that it should for much the greater part of time, be " a base kingdom," be tributary and subject to strangers. This is the purport and meaning of the prophecy ; and the truth of it will best appear by a short deduction of the history of Egypt from that time to this. Amasis was left king by Nebuchadnezzar ; and as he held his crown by the permission and allowance of the Babylonians, there is no room to doubt that he paid them tribute for it. Be rosus, the Chaldsean historian, 4 in a fragment preserved by Jo sephus, speaketh of Nebuchadnezzar's reducing Egypt to his obedience, and afterwards of his settling the affairs of the coun try, and carrying captives from thence to Babylon. By his con stituting and settling the affairs of Egypt, nothing less could be meant than his appointing the governors, and the tribute that they should pay to him : and by carrying some Egyptians cap tive to Babylon, he plainly intended not only to weaken the country, but also to have them as hostages to secure the obe dience of the rest, and the payment of their tribute. If Hero dotus hath given no account of these transactions, the reason is evident, according to the observation cited before from Sca- liger; the Egyptian priests would not inform him of things Avhich were for the discredit of their nation. However Ave may, I think, confirm the truth of this assertion, even by Herodotus's own narration. The Persians succeeded in right of the Baby lonians : and it appears 6 by Cyrus's sending for the best phy sician in Egypt to Amasis, who was obliged to force one from his wife and children; and by Cambyses's demanding the daughter of Amasis, not for a wife, but for a mistress ; by these instances, I say, it appears that they considered him as their * Kai KaTacTtja-as rd Kard rr\v AlyvsTov one ordinatio, ut et captivis — ex j*Egypti po- vpdypara Kal riiv Xonrriv xpav, Kal robs aty- pulis, tyc. Joseph. Antiquit. 1. 10, c. II paXtiirovs — rail/ Kard rr\v AXyvrrrov iBvSiv, § 1. r. t. X. Rebusq. in JEgypto et reliqua regi- s Herod. 1. 3, § 1. ON THE PROPHECIES. 175 tributary and subject. And indeed no reason can be assigned for the strong resentment of the Persians against Amasis, and their horrid barbarity to his dead body, so probable and satisfac tory, as his having revolted and rebelled against them. Hero dotus himself6 mentions the league and alliance, which Amasis made with Croesus king of Lydia, against Cyrus. Upon the ruins of the Babylonian empire Cyrus erected the Persian. Xenophon hath written the life of this extraordinary man : and he affirms 7 both in the introduction and near the con clusion of his history, that Cyrus also conquered Egypt, and made it part of his empire ; and there is not a more faithful, as well as a more elegant historian, than Xenophon. But whether Cyrus did or not, it is universally allowed that his 8 son Cam byses did conquer Egypt, and deprived Psammenitus of his croAvn, to which he had newly succeeded upon the death of his father Amasis. Cambyses purposed to have made Psammeni tus administrator of the kingdom under hiiUj as it was the cus tom of the Persians to do to the conquered princes : but Psam menitus forming schemes to recover the kingdom, and being convicted thereof, was forced to drink bull's blood, and thereby put an end to his life. The Egyptians groaned under the yoke near forty years. Then they revolted9 toward the latter end ol the reign of Darius, the son of Hystaspes : but his son and suc cessor, Xerxes, in the second year of his reign, subdued them again, and reduced them to a worse condition of servitude than they had been in under Darius, and appointed his brother Achas- menes governor of Egypt. About four and tAventy years after this, when ' the Egyptians heard of the troubles in Persia about the succession to the throne after the death of Xerxes, they re volted again at the instigation of Inarus king of Libya; and having drove away the Persian tribute-collectors, they consti tuted Inarus their king. Six years Avere employed in reducing them to obedience, and all Egypt submitted again to the king Artaxerxes Longimanus, except Amyrtseus, who reigned in the fens, whither the Persians could not approach to take him : but Inarus, the author of these evils, was betrayed to the Persians, and was crucified. However they 2 permitted his son Thannyra to succeed his father in the kingdom of Libya ; and Egypt con tinued in subjection all the remaining part of the long reign of Artaxerxes. In the 3 tenth year of Darius Nothus, they revolted again under the conduct of Amyrtseus, who sallied out of the fens, drove the Persians out of Egypt, made himself master of 8 Herod. 1. 1, S 77. > Thucyd. 1. 1, 5 104—110. Diod. Sic. * Xenophon. Cyropasd. l.l,u.l,§ 4; et 1. 11, c. 71. 2 Herod. 1. 3, 5. 15. I. 8, c. 6, § 20. 3 Eusebius in Chronicn, Usher's Annals, ' Horod. 1. 3, 5 10—15. A. M. 3590, p. 146. Prideaux Connect. » Herod. 1. 7, | 1 et 7. part 1, b. 1, Anno 414. 176 BISHOP NEWTON the country, and reigned there six years ; but his son Pausiris, 4 as Herodotus informs us, succeeding him in his kingdom by the favour of the Persians; this argues that the Persians had again subdued Egypt, or at least that the king was not established Avithout their consent and approbation. It is certain, that after this, Egypt gave much trouble to the Persians. Artaxerxes Mnemon s made several efforts to reconquer it, but all in vain. It was not totally and finally subdued till the 6 ninth year of the following reign of Ochus, about 350 years before Christ ; when Nectanebus, the last king, fled into Ethiopia, and Ochus became absolute master of the country, and having appointed one of his nobles, named Pherendates, to be his viceroy and governor of Egypt, he returned with great glory and immense treasures to Babylon. Egypt from that time hath never been able to recover its liberties. • It hath always been subject to strangers. It hath never been governed by a king of its own. From this last re volt of the Egyptians, in the tenth year of Darius Nothus, to their total subjugation, in the ninth year of Ochus, I think there are computed sixty -four years : and this is the only exception of any significance to the general truth of the prophecy. But what are sixty-four years compared to two thousand three hundred and twenty-five ? for so many years have passed from the con quest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar to this time. They are really as nothing, and not worth mentioning in comparison : and during these sixty-four years we see that the Egyptians were not en tirely independent of the Persians : Pausiris succeeded his father Amyrtseus in the kingdom, by their consent and favour : and during the rest of the time the Egyptians lived in continual fear and dread of the Persians, and were either at war with them, or with one another. And perhaps this part of the prophecy was not intended to take effect immediately : its completion might be designed to commence from this period, when the Persians had totally subdued Egypt, and then there should be " no more a prince of the land of Egypt." After the Persians, Egypt came into the hands of the Mace donians. It submitted to Alexander the Great without striking a stroke ; made no attempts at that favourable juncture to re cover its liberties, but was content only to change its master. After the death of Alexander it fell to the share of Ptolemy, one of his four famous captains, and was governed by his fa mily for several generations. The two or three first of the Ptole mies Avere wise and potent princes, but most of the rest were prodigies of luxury and wickedness. It is7 Strabo's observa- 4 Herod, h 3, § 15. * "Attovtes piv oZv ol psrd tov rptrov Uto- 6 Diod. Sic. 1. 15, c. 41 ^ Xepatov v-nb rpvipris StEtpBappivoi, %£(0ov fao- 6 Diod. Sic. 1. 16, c. 51. Usher's Annals, XiTcvaavro ' x^piara i5' b rirapros, koi b '£&So- A. M. 3654, p. 196. Prid. Connect, part 1, pos, Kal b Iototos h AhXvri,s. Omnes post c. 7, Anno 350. tertium Ptolemamm male regnum gesserunt, ON THE PROPHECIES. 177 tion, that all after the third Ptolemy governed very ill, being corrupted by luxury; but they who governed worst of all were the fourth and the seventh, and the last called Auletes. The persons here intended by Strabo Avere8 Ptolemy Philopater, or the lover of his father, so called, (as Justin conceives,) by Avay of antiphrasis, or Avith a contrary meaning, because he was a parri cide, and murdered both his farther and his mother ; and 9 Ptole my Physcon, or the big-bellied, who affected the title of Euer- getes or the benefactor, but the Alexandrians more justly named him Kakergetes or the malefactor : and 1 Ptolemy Auletes or the piper, so denominated because he spent much of his time in play ing on the pipe, and used to contend for the prize in the public shows. This kingdom of the Macedonians 2 continued from the death of Alexander 294 years, and ended in the famous Cleo patra, of whom it is not easy to say whether she excelled more in beauty, or wit, or wickedness. After the Macedonians, Egypt fell under the dominion of the Romans. The Romans had either by virtue of treaties, or by force of arms, obtained great authority there, and were in a man ner arbiters of the kingdom before, but after the death of Cleo patra, 3 Octavius Caesar reduced it into the form of a Roman province, and appointed Cornelius Gallus, the friend of Virgil, to whom the tenth eclogue is inscribed, the first prefect or governor : and so it continued to be governed by a prefect or viceroy sent from Rome, or from Constantinople, when after the division of the Roman empire it fell to the share of the eastern emperors. It Avas first made a province of the Roman empire in the year 30 before Christ, 4 and in this state it remained Avithout much variation till the year 641 after Christ, that is 670 years in the whole, from the reign of Augustus Ceesar to that of the emperor Heraclius. Then it was that the 5 Saracens, in the reign of Omar, their third emperor, and under the command of Amrou, the son of Aas, invaded and conquered Egypt, took Misrah, (formerly Memphis, now Cairo,) by storm, and also Alexandria, after they had besieged it fourteen months, and had lost twenty-three thousand men before it ; and the rest of the kingdom soon fol lowed the fortune of the capital cities, and submitted to the conqueror. There is one thing which was effected partly in the luxu perditi : omnium vero pessime quartus, Prideaux Connect, part 2, b. 8, anno 30 et Septimus, et ultimus Auletes. Strab. 1. 17, Herod. 8. P- 1146- 3 Strabo, 1. 17, p. 1147 et 1175. Dion " Justin. 1. 29, c. 1, § 5. ' jEgyptum, Cass. 1. 51, c. 17. patre ac matre interfectis, occupaverat Plo- 4 See Usher, Prideaux, &c. under that lemaius, cui ex facinoris crimine cognomen- year. turn Philopatori fuit.' ' Elmacini Hist. Saracen. I. 1, p. 23, 24 9 Athen:eus,l. 12, p. 549, edit. Causabon. Abul-Pharajii Hist. Dyn. 9, p. 112. Vers. 1 Strabo, 1. 17, p. 1146. Pocock. Ockley's Hist, of the Saracens a Clemens Alexan. Strom. 1. 1, p. 396. vol. 1, p. 344, &c. 178 BISHOP NEWTON Avars of the Romans, and partly by the Saracens, and which no lover of learning can pass over without lamentation ; and that is the destruction of the library at Alexandria. This famous library was founded by the first Ptolemies, and Avas so much en larged and improved by their successors, that it 6 amounted to the number of sev^en hundred thousand volumes. It consisted 7 of two parts, one in that quarter of the city called Bruchion, con taining four hundred thousand volumes, and the other Avithin the Serapeum, containing three hundred thousand volumes. It happened that while Julius Csesar Avas making Avar upon the inhabitants of Alexandria,8 the library in Bruchion, together Avith other buildings, was burnt, and the 9 four hundred thousand volumes Avhich were kept therein were all consumed. But this loss was in some measure repaired by the ' Pergamean library, consisting of two hundred thousand volumes, which Antony presented to Cleopatra, and by the addition of other books after wards, so that2 this latter library was reckoned as numerous and as famous as the other ever was : and it came to the same fatal end, this being also destroyed by fire. For 3 John the Grammarian, a famous philosopher of Alexandria, being in great favour with Amrou the Saracen general, asked of him the rcyal library. Amrou replied, that it was not in his power to give it him, without leave first obtained from the emperor of the faithful. Amrou therefore wrote to Omar, and acquainted him \vith John's petition, to which the caliph returned this answer ; that if what was contained in those books was agreeable to the book of God or the Koran, the Koran Avas sufficient without them ; but if it was repugnant to the Koran, it Avas no AVays useful ; and therefore he commanded them to be destroyed. Amrou, in obedience to the caliph's commands, ordered them to be distributed among the baths of the city, and to be burnt in warming them, whereof there Avere no fewer at that time in Alexandria than four thousand : and yet there passed six months before the books were all consumed ; Avhich sufficiently evinces how great their number Avas, and what an inestimable loss not only Egypt, but all the learned world hath sustained. Egypt before this 4 was frequented by learned foreigners for the sake of this library, and produced several learned natives ; but after this it became more and more " a base kingdom," and sunk into greater ignorance and superstition. Mohammedism Avas 6 Ammianus Marcellinus, 1. 22, c. 16. sii Hist. 1. 6, c. 15. Ubi vide etiam qun3 Valesius adnotavit. A. ' Plutarch in Antonio, 5 58. Gellius, 1. 6, c. 17. 2 Tertull. Apol. c. IS. ' Ep'.phanius de Mensuris et Ponderibus, 3 Abul-Pharajii Hist. Dyn. 9, p. 114. c. 11. Chrysostom. vol. 1, advers. Judaeos, VersioPocock. Ockley's Hist, ofthe Sara- Orat. 1. cens, vol. 1, p. 359, &c. Prideaux Connect. 8 Plutarch in Julio Caesare, § 49. Dion, part 2, b. 1, anno 284. Ptolemy Phila- Cassius, 1. 42, c. 38. delph. 1. 9 Seneca de Tranquill. animi. u. 9. Ore- 4 Vide Amm. Marcellin. 1. 22, c. 16 ON THE PROPHECIES. 179 noAV established there instead of Christianity, and the govern ment of the caliphs and sultans continued till about the year of Christ 1250. About that time it was that, the 5 Mamahics usurped the royal authority. The 6 word in general signifies a slave bought with money, but is appropriated in particular to those Turkish and Circassian slaves, whom the sultans of Egypt bought very young, trained up in military exercises, and so made them their choicest officers and soldiers, and by them controlled their subjects, and subdued their enemies. These slaves perceiving how necessary and useful they were, grew at length insolent and audacious, sleAV their sovereigns, and usurped the government to themselves. It is commonly said, that none but the sons of Christians were taken into this order ; and there are other popular mistakes about them, Avhich are current among European authors, and which 7 Sir William Temple, among others, hath adopted and expressed, as he doth every thing, in a lively and elegant man ner : ' The sons of the deceased sultans enjoyed the estates and riches left by their fathers, but by the constitutions of the go vernment no son of a sultan was ever either to succeed, or e»en to be elected sultan: So that in this, contrary to all others ever known in the world, to be born of a prince was a certain and unalterable exclusion from the kingdom; and none was ever to be chosen sultan, that had not actually been sold for a slave, brought from Circassia, and trained up a private sol dier in the Mamaluc bands.' But 8 they Avho are better versed in oriental authors, assure us that these are vulgar errors ; and it appears from the 9 Arabian historians, that among the Mama lucs the son often succeeded the father in the kingdom. Their government is thus characterized by an 1 Arabic author, quoted by Dr. Pococke : ' If you consider the Avhole time that they pos sessed the kingdom, especially that Avhich Avas nearer the end, you Avill find it filled with wars, battles, injuries, and rapines.' 5 Abul-Pharajii Hist. Dyn. 9, p. 325, &c. qui Mamlucos Christianorum tantummoda et Pocockii Supplementum, p. 8, &c. filios fuisse autumant ; nee non in aliis er- 6 Pocockii Supplem. p. 7. ' Mamluc au- rasse, qua3 de successions apud eos jure tem (et cum de pluribus dicitur Mamalic) eorumque disciplina tradunt. Herbelot. servum emptitium denotat, seu qui pretio Bib. Orient, p. 545. ' II paroit par ce que numerato in domini possessionem cedit.' l'on vient de voir, qui les Mamelucs n'etoient Herbelot. Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 545. pas fils de Chretiens (si ce n'est peut dtre ' Mamlouk. Ce mot dont le pluriel est quelqu'un d'entr'eux) comme plusieurs de Memalik, signifie en Arabo un esclave en nos historirns l'ont avance.' general, mais en particulier, il a ete appli- 9 Pocockii Supplem. p. 8, 10, 11, 13, 18, que a ces esclaves Turcs et Circassiens, "20,22,23,24,25. &c.' ' AI. Jannabius in Pocockii Supplem. ' Sir William Temple's Works, vol. 1. p. 31. 'Si totum quo regnum occuparunt Miscellanea, part 2. Essay on Heroic Vir- tempus respicias, pnesertim quod fini prq- tue, 5 5, p. 224. ". pius, repenes illud bellis, pugnis, injuriis 8 Pocockii Supplem. p. 31. 'Ex his quae et rapinis refertum.' dicta sunt facile patel, in errore esse eos 180 BISHOP NEWTON Their government 2 began with Sultan Ibeg, in the 648th year of the Hegira, and the year of Christ 1250; and continued through a3 series1 of twenty-four Circassian Mamaluc sultans, 275 Ara bic, and 267 Julian years ; and 4 ended with Tumanbai, in the 923d year of the Hegira, and the year of Christ 1517. For at that time, Selim 5 the ninth emperor of the Turks, con quered the Mamalucs, hanged their last Sultan Tumanbai before one of the gates of Cairo, put an end to their government, caused five hundred of the chiefest Egyptian families to be transported to Constantinople, as likewise a great number of Mamalucs' wives and children, besides the Sultan's treasure and other im mense riches; and annexed Egypt to the Othman empire, whereof it hath continued a province from that day to this. It is governed, as prince Cantemir informs us, by a Turkish Basha,6 with twenty-four begs or princes under him, who are advanced from servitude to the administration of public affairs ; a supersti tious notion possessing the Egyptians, that it is decreed by fate, that captives shall reign, and the natives be subject to them. But it cannot well be called a superstitious notion, being a no tion in all probability at first derived from some tradition of these prophecies, that " Egypt should be a base kingdom," that " there should be no more a prince of the land of Egypt," and that Ham in his posterity " should be a servant of servants unto his brethren." By this deduction it appears, that the truth of Ezekiel's pre diction 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 1 It is now a great deal above two thousand years since this prophecy was first delivered ; and what likelihood or appearance Avas 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 1 But as is the prophecy, so is the event. For not long afterwards Egypt was conquered by the Babylonians* and after the Babylonians 7 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 Mamalucs ; and is now a province of the Othman empire. Thus we see how Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, and Egypt, the 2 Pocock. p. 8. Herbelot. p. 479. and Rycaut's Turkish Hist. vol. i. p. 241. 3 Pocock. p. 8—30. Herbelot. p. 545. G Prince Cantemir's Hist, of the Othman * Pocock. p. 30. Herbelot. p. 1031. Empire1, part i. b. 3, p. 156, in the notes. 5 Pocockii Supplem. p. 30 et 49. ' See Prideaux Connect, part. 1, b. 1, Herbelot. Bibli. Orient, p. 545 et 802, anno 589. Zedekiah 10. ct 1031. Savage's Abridgment of Knolles ON THE PROPHECIES. 181 great adversaries and oppressors of the Jews, have been visited by divine vengeance for their enmity and cruelty to the people of God. Not that Ave must think God so partial as to punish these nations only for the sake of the JeAvs ; they were guilty of other flagrant sins, for Avhich the prophets denounced the divine judgments upon them. Egypt in particular was so se verely threatened by the prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xxix. xxx. xxxi. xxxii.) for her idolatry, her pride, and her Avickedness. And the Egyptians have generally been more wretched, as they have generally been more Avicked than other nations. Ancient authors describe them every Avhere as superstitious and luxu rious, as an 8 unwarlike and unserviceable people, as a 9 faithless and fallacious nation, always meaning one thing and pretend ing another, as l lovers of Avine and strong drink, as 2 cruel in their anger, as 3 thieves and tolerating all kinds of theft, as 4 patient of tortures, and though put to the rack, yet choosing rather to die than to confess the truth. Modern authors paint them still in blacker colours. The famous Thevenot s is very strong and severe : ' The people of Egypt (generally speaking) are all swarthy, exceeding Avicked, great rogues, cowardly, lazy, hypocrites, buggerers, robbers, treacherous, so very greedy of money, that they will kill a man for a maidin, or three half pence.' Bishop Pococke's6 character of them is not much more favourable, though not so harsh and opprobrious : 'The natives of Egypt are now a slothful people, and delight in sitting still, hearing tales, and indeed seem ahvays to have been more fit for the quiet life, than for any active scenes. — They are also mali cious and envious to a great degree, which keeps them from uni ting and setting up for themselves ; and though they are very ignorant, yet they have a natural cunning and artifice as well as falsehood, and this makes them always suspicious of travellers — The love of money is so rooted in them, that nothing is to be done Avithout bribery — They think the greatest villanies are ex piated, when once they wash their hands and feet. — Their Avoids pass for nothing, either in relations, promises, or professions of 8 Strabo. 1. 17, p. 1175. Juvenal. Sat. xv. 'furta omnia fuisse licita et impunita.' 126, ' imbelle et inutile vulgus.' Diod. Sic. 1. i. c. 80. 9 Lucan. v. 68, ' non fidae gentis.' Hir- 4. jElian. Var. Hist. I. 7, c. 18. Alyvir- tius de Bell. Alexand. c. 16, 'fallacem gen- riovs- (paoi Setvivs iyKapTEc-Eiv rats fiaedvois, tem, semperque alia cogitantem, alia simu- Kai Sri Sdrrov TEBvi'i&rat dviip Alyv-nrios erpE- lantem.' 6Xovp£vo; i) r'aXrjBis bpoXoyfjo-Ei. JEgyptios 1 Athenaeus ex Dione, 1. i.' p. 34, edit. aiunt patientissime ferre tormenta ; et ci- Casaubon. QiXoivovs Kai tpiXartbras. Vinosos tius mori hominem JEgyptium in quozsti- ac blbaces. onibus, iortum examinatumquf, quam veri- 2 Polyb. 1. 15, § 33. AEivt) ydo ns ft napd tatem proderc. Ammianus Marcell. 1. 22. rovs Svpoils iipbrns yjyvcrai roiv Kara riiv c. 16. Afyvrrov dvBp-a-Kvtv. Estenim hoc jEgyptiis 6 Thevenot in Harris's Collection, vol. 2. hominibus innatum, ut dam fervent ira mirum c. 8, p. 429. in modum sint crudelcs. G Pococke's Description ofthe East, vol 3 A. Gellius. 1. 11, c. 18. Ex Aristone. i. b. 4, c. 4, p. 177, &c. 16 182 BISHOP NEWTON friendship, &c.' 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. It is an excellent political aphorism of the wisest and best of kings, and all history will bear Avitness to the truth of it, that, (Prov. xiv. 34,) "righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach and ruin to any people." XIII. — Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the GREAT EMPIRES WE have seen how it pleased God to reveal unto the pro phets the future condition of several of the neighbour ing countries ; but there are other prophecies Avhich extend to more remote nations, those nations especially and their transac tions, wherein the church of God was particularly interested and concerned. It pleased God too to make these revelations, at a time when his people seemed in other respects abandoned and forsaken, and did not so much deserve, as stand in need of light and comfort. Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied in the declension of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Ezekiel and Daniel pro phesied during the time of the Babylonish captivity. And the prophecies of Daniel are so clear and exact, that in former as well as in latter times it hath confidently been asserted, that they must have been written after the 'events, which they are preten ded to foretell. The famous Porphyry, (who flourished at the latter end of the third century after Christ,) was I think the first who denied their genuineness and authority. He wrote 1 fifteen books against the Christian religion, the twelfth of Avhich was designed to de preciate the prophecies of Daniel ; and therein he affirmed, that they were not composed by Daniel whose name they bore, but by somebody who lived in Judea about the time of Antiochus Epiphanes ; because all to that time contained true history, but all beyond that were manifestly false. This work of Porphyry, together with the answers of Eusebius, Apollinarius, and Me thodius, is wholly lost, excepting a few fragments and quota tions, which are preserved in Jerome and others of the fathers. But as 2 Jerome rightly observes, this method of opposing the prophecies is the strongest testimony of their truth. For they Avere fulfilled with such exactness, that to infidels the prophet seemed not to have foretold things future, but to have related things past. 1 Cave Hist. Lit. vol. 1, p. 156. Hieron. ut propheta incredulis hominibus non vi- Praef. in Danielem. deatur futura dixisse, sed narrasse pra> 2 ' Cujus impugnatio testimonium veri- terita.' Hieron. ibid. tatis est. Tanta enim dictorum fides fuit. ON THE PROPHECIES. 183 The celebrated author of the Scheme of Literal Prophecy consi dered hath folloAved the steps of Porphyry. He hath collected every thing, that in the course of his reading he thought could be turned to the disparagement of the book of Daniel. He hath framed all that he had collected into eleven objections against it ; and upon the whole concludes Avith much positiveness and assurance, that it must be written in the days of the Maccabees. But his3 two learned opponents, both of the same name, have solidly and clearly refuted his eleven objections, and shown them all to be mere cavils or direct falsities, groundless assertions, wrong quotations, or plain contradictions. And indeed it may be proved, it hath been proved to a de monstration, as much as any thing of this nature can be proved to a demonstration, by all the characters and testimonies both internal and external, that the prophecies of Daniel were written at the time the Scripture says they were written, and he pros pered on account of these prophecies, (Dan. vi. 28,) " in the reign of Darius the Mede, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian :" that is, between five and six hundred years before Christ. It is very capricious and unreasonable in unbelievers to object, as Collins doth, to the prophecies of Daniel, sometimes that they are too plain, and sometimes that they are too obscure. But it will entirely overthrow the notion of their being written in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes or ofthe Maccabees, and will establish the credit of Daniel as a prophet beyond all contra diction, if it can be proved that there are several prophecies of his which have been fulfilled since the days of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees as well as before, nay that there are prophecies of his which are fulfilling in the Avorld at this very time. Daniel's first prophecy, and the groundwork as I may say of all the rest, was his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. This monarch, "in the second year of his reign," (Dan. ii. 1,) according to the Babylonian account, or the fourth according to the JeAvish, that is in the second year of his reigning alone, or the fourth from his first reigning jointly with his father, hav ing subdued all his enemies and firmly established his throne, was thinking upon his bed, (ver. 29,) what should come to pass hereafter, what should be the future success of his family and kingdom, and Avhether any or what families and kingdoms might arise after his own : and as our waking thoughts usually give some tincture to our dreams, he dreamed of something to the same purpose, which astonished him, but which he could not rightly understand. The dream affected him strongly at the 3 See Bp. Chandler's Vindication of his Authority of Daniel's Prophecies, in ansv.rr Defence of Christianity, and Mr. Sam. to the Scheme of Literal Prophecy i iiri Chandler's Vindication of the Antiquity and dered. 54 BISHOP NEWTON time, but awaking in confusion, he had but an imperfect re membrance of it, he could not recollect all the particulars. He called, therefore, (ver. 2,) for "the magicians and astrologers;" and as absurdly as imperiously demanded of them, (ver. 5,) upon pain of death and destruction, " to make known unto him both the dream and the interpretation thereof." They ansAvered very reasonably, that no king had ever required such a thing, that it transcended all the powers and faculties of man, God alone or only beings like God could disclose it, (ver. 10, 11 :) "There is not a man upon earth that can show the king's matter ; therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, astrologer, or Chaldsean : and it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it be fore the king, except the God, Avhose dwelling is not with flesh." But the pride of absolute power cannot hear any reason, or bear any control; and the king greatly incensed presently ordered all the magicians and Avise men of Babylon to be destroyed, (ver. 12 :) " For this cause the king Avas angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the Avise men of Babylon." Daniel and his felloAvs would have been involved in the same fate as the rest ; but by their joint and earnest prayers to the God of heaven, "the secret Avas revealed unto Daniel in a night vision, (ver. 19,) and Daniel blessed the God of heaven." Da niel thus instructed, was desirous to save the lives of the Avise men of Babylon, who were unjustly condemned, as well as his own : and he " Avent unto Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, whom the king had ordained to destroy the Avise men of Baby lon : he went, (ver. 24,) and said thus unto him, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon ; bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation." The captain of the guard immediately introduced him to the king, and said, (ver. 25,) "I. have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation." " I have found a man," said he, though Daniel had voluntarily offered himself ; where Jerome remarks the manner of courtiers, 'qui quum bona nun- ciant, sua videri volunt,' who when they relate good things, are willing to have them thought their OAvn, and to have the merit ascribed to themselves. But Daniel was far from assuming any merit to himself, and said very modestly, that " this secret, (ver. 27,) which the wise men, astrologers, magicians, and soothsayers could not show unto the king, was not revealed to him, (ver. 30,) for any Avisdom that he had more than others : but there is a God in heaven, (ver. 28,) that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar, Avhat shall be in the latter days," or what shall come to pass hereafter, as it is expressed (ver. 29, 45) twice afterwards. The impious king, as Jerome justly observes, had a prophetic dream, that the saint interpreting it, ON THE PROPHECIES. 185 God might be glorified, and the captives and those Avho served God in captivity might receive great consolation.4 We read the same thing of Pharaoh, not that Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar deserved to see such things, but that Joseph and Daniel by in terpreting them might be preferred to all others. And as Si. Jerome farther observes, that Nebuchadnezzar might admire the grace of Divine inspiration, Daniel not, only told him what he saw in his dream, but also Avhat he thought Avithin himself before his dream, (ver. 29 :) " As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind, upon thy bed, Avhat should come to pass hereafter : and he that revealeth secrets, maketh, known unto thee what shall come to pass." Nebuchadnezzar's dream was of a great image. " This great image, (ver. 31,) Avhose brightness Avas excellent, stood before him, and the form thereof was terrible." It appears from ancient. coins and medals, that cities and people were often represented by figures of men and women. A great terrible human figure was therefore not an improper emblem of human power and domi nion ; and the various medals of Avhich it Avas composed, not unfitly typify the various kingdoms which should arise. It con sisted of four different metals, gold and silver and brass and iron mixed with clay ; and these four metals, according to Da niel's own interpretation, mean so many kingdoms: and the order of their succession is clearly denoted by the order of the parts, the 5 head and higher parts signifying the earlier times, nnd the loAver the parts, the later the times. From hence,6 as Calvin conceives, the poets drew their fables of the four r.ges of the Avorld, the golden, the silver, the brazen and the iron age ; by Avhich declension in this place it is signified, that the world always degenerates, and manners grow worse and woi^e. But Hesiod, who lived about 200 years before Daniel, men tioned the four ages of the world ; so that this vision was formed agreeably to the common received notion, and the common re ceived notion Avas not first propagated from hence. Whether this notion of the world's degenerating and growing worse and worse be true or not, these different kingdoms will naturally constitute the different heads of our discourse. And Ave shall 4 Hieron. Comment, in ver. 1. 'Vidit viderit, sed ante somnium quid tacitus cogi- rcx impius somnium futurorum, ut inter- tarit exponit.' pretante Sancto quod viderat, Deus glori- s ' Pars statuae quo superior, eo priora, ficaretur; et caplivorum Deoque in cap- quo inferior, eo seriora tempora significat. tivitate servientium sit grande solatium. Grot, in loc. Hoc idem in Pharaono legimus, non quod 6 ' Ex hoc Danielis loco hauserunt poe- Pharao et Nabuchodonosor videre mem- tae fabulas suas de quatuor saeculis, aureo, erint; sed quod Joseph et Daniel digni argenteo, aeneo, ferreo ; qua declinaiione h. exstiferint, qui interpretatione eorum om- 1. signiricatur mundum semper deci^ere, ct nibuspreferrentur.' Et postea in ver. 29. — moros prolabi in deterius. Calvin, apud ' Et ut Nabuchodonosor divinre inspirationis Poli Synops. mi'otur gratiam, non solum quid in somnio 10s i 186 BISHOP NEWTON follow the best commentators from Josephus doAvn to Sir Isaac NeAVton, but Ave shall regard no commentator so much as the truth of history, the evidence of reason, and the analogy of Scripture. I. " This image's head Avas of fine gold," (ver. 32,) which Da niel interprets, (ver. 38,) " Thou art this head of gold," thou, and thy family, and thy representatives. The Babylonian there fore was the first of these kingdoms ; and it was fitly represented by " the head of fine gold," on account of its great riches ; and Babylon for the same reason was called by Isaiah, (xiv. 4,) " the golden city." The Assyrian is usually said to be the first of the four great empires ; and the name may be allowed to pass, if it be not taken too strictly. For the Assyrian empire properly so called was dissolved before this time ; the Babylonian was erected in its stead ; but the Babylonians are sometimes called Assy rians in the best classic authors, Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, and others, as well as in the Holy Scriptures. Daniel addresseth Nebuchadnezzar, as if he Avas a very powerful king, and his empire very large and extensive, (ver. 37,) "Thou, O king, art a king of kings." He perhaps might think, like some of his predecessors, that his conquests were owing to his own fortitude and prudence, (Is. x. 13,) "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my Avisdom, for I am prudent ; and I have re moved the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man." But the prophet assures him that his success must be primarily impu ted to the God of heaven, (ver. 37, 38,) " For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, poAver, and strength, and glory : And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts ofthe field, and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all." All the ancient eastern histories almost are lost : but there are some fragments even of heathen historians yet preserved, which speak of this mighty conqueror and his extended empire. Berosus in Josephus 7 saith, that he held in subjection Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia, and by his exploits surpassed all the Chaldseans and Babylonians Avho reigned before him. Jose phus 8 subjoins, that in the archives of the Phoenicians there are 7 Kparrjaai Si (prjct rbv "BaftvXiiiviov, Alytnr- rots vrrb B^ptoctrou Xsyopivois dvaylypa-xrat, rov, Zvaias, 'voivIkvs, 'Apafilas, rrdvras Si irEal tovt&v BaGvXiavtitlv (ias,bTi Kal ti)v b-XEpfiaXXbpEvav rats npd^Eai robs -zob avroli Svpiav Kat rrjv $oivIkijv diraoav ekeIvos kote- XaXSaiivv Kal 3a(3vXo)vlwv fiEGaeiXEVKbras. crpid-aTO. IlEpl rvvrotv yoijv evptpvivEi Kal D'icit insuper quod Babylonius tenueril QiXbarparos fa rats laropiais, — Kal tsleya- JEgyptum, Synam, Phceniciam, Arabiam ; aSivrjS iv rp rsrdprp tZv 'IvSik&v, Si1 rjs drro- quodque priores Chaldceorum, et Babylonia- (patvEiv ircipdrai rbv rrpoEiprtpivov 0aciXia t&v rum reges universes rebus a se praeclare ges- BaftvXwvmv, 'HpaKXiovs avSpetq Kal pEy&Ei tis superarit. Apud. Joseph. Contra Apion r.pd^£03v SiEvrjvoxivai. KaTaa-pixpacBai yap 1. 1, § 19. abrbv (pnal Kal Aifivris rnv iroXXijv Kal 'lSripiav. 8 — 'Ev ~v7s dpxaL°lS tZv 'voivIkuv cbpiptova — hi archivis Phcenicum scripla reperiuniur ON THE PROPHECIES. 187 written things consonant to those which are said by Berosus concerning this king of the Babylonians, that he subdued Syria and all Phoenicia : With these likewise agrees Philostratus in his history, and Megasthenes in the fourth book of his Indian history, throughout which he attempts to show, that the forementioned king of the Babylonians exceeded Hercules in fortitude and greatness of exploits ; for he affirms that he subdued the great est part of Libya and Spain. Strabo likewise from the same Megasthenes 9 asserts, that this king among the Chaklaeans was more celebrated than Hercules, and that he proceeded as far as to the pillars of Hercules, and led his army out of Spain into Thrace and Pontus. But his empire, though of great extent, Avas yet of no long duration ; for it ended in his grandson Belshaz- zar,1 not seventy years after the delivery of this prophecy, nor above twenty-three years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar ; which may be the reason of Daniel's speaking of him as the only king : " thou art this head of gold," and " after thee shall arise, &c." the rest being to be considered as nothing ; nor do we read of any thing good or great that was performed by them. II. " His breast and his arms of silver," (ver. 32,) which Da niel interprets, (ver. 39,) "And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." It is very well known, that the king dom which arose after the Babylonians, was the Medo-Persian. The two hands and the shoulders, saith 2 Josephus, signify that the empire of the Babylonians should be dissolved by two kings. The two kings were the kings of the Medes and Persians, Avhose powers were united under Cyrus, Avho was son of one of the kings and son-in-law of the other, and who besieged and took Babylon, put an end to that empire, and on its ruins erected the Medo-Persian, or the Persian as it is more usually called, the Persians having soon gained the ascendancy over the Medes. This empire is said to be inferior as being less than the former, ' minus te,' as the Vulgar Latin translates it, because neither Cy rus nor any of his successors ever carried their arms into Africa or Spain so far as Nebuchadnezzar is reported to have done ; oi rather inferior as being worse than the former, ' deterius te,' as qum cum lis conveniunt a Beroso narratis de Knv Kal rbv Tl&vrov dyayeiv Tt)v arpaTidv. - rtge Babyloniorum, Syriam scilicet et uni- Navocodrosorum autem qu imagis a Chaldazh versam Phceniciam, ilium subegisse. His sane probatur quam Hercules, usque ad Columnas adslipidatur Philostratus in historiis. — Et pervenisse — et exercitum ex Hispania in Thra- Megaslhenes in quarto volumine rerum Indi- ciam Pontumque duxisse. Strab. 1. 15. p. 1007. carum, ubi oslendere contendit prmdicium ' See Usher's Annals, A. M. 3466, p. Babyloniorum regem et fortitudine Herculem 100. Prideaux Connect, part 1, b. 2, annc et magnitudine prcestitisse, dicit enim eum 539. Belshazzar 17. Libym bonam partem et Iberiam subjugasse. 2, Ai Si Sbo %ei'p£S Kal ol wpoi avpatvovaiv Joseph, ibid. § 20. irb Svo KaraXv^ijoEa-iai faaiXiviv r'ny frycpo- 9 NavoKoSpdaopov Si tov napd XaXSatois si- vlav vpibv. Duce vero manus et humeri indicant SiicipiWavra 'BpaKXiovs paXXov, Kai evis t-rn- imperium vestrum a duobus reglbus eversum W iXdo-ai, — ml fa riis 'lSnplas els ri]v Qpa- iri. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c. 10, § 4. 188 BISHOP NEWTON Castalio translates it, for 8Dr. Prideaux asserts, and I believe he may assert very truly, that the kings of Persia were ' the worst race of men that ever governed an empire.' This empire, from its first establishment by Cyrus to the death of the last king Da rius Codomannus lasted not much above 200 years. Thus far all critics and commentators are agreed, that the two first king doms represented in Nebuchadnezzar's dream were the Baby lonian and the Persian. As to the rest there hath been some controversy, but with little reason or foundation for it, only that some persons are troubled with the spirit of contradiction, and Avill dispute about the plainest points. III. "His belly and his thighs of brass," (ver. 32,) which Da niel interprets, (ver. 39,) "And another third kingdom of brass Avhich shall bear rule over all the earth." It is universally knoAvn, that Alexander the Great subverted the Persian empire. The kingdom therefore Avhich succeeded to the Persian, was the Ma cedonian ; and this kingdom was fitly represented by brass ; for tne Greeks Avere famous for their brazen armour, their usual epi thet being x^^x1™"" ,-^xaw'i> the brazen-coated Greeks. Daniel's interpretation in4 Josephus is, that another coming from the west, completely armed in brass, shall destroy the empire ofthe Medes and Persians. This third kingdom is also said to "bear rule over all the earth" by a figure usual in almost all authors. Alexan der himself commanded,5 that he should be called the king oj all the world ; not that he really conquered, or near conquered the whole world, but he had considerable dominions in Europe, Asia, and Africa, that is in all the three parts of the world then known ; and 6 Diodorus Siculus and other historians give an account of ambassadors coming from almost all the world to congratulate him upon his success, or to submit to his empire : and then es pecially, as 'Arrian remarks, did Alexander himself appear to himself and to those about him to be master both of all the earth and sea. That this third kingdom therefore Avas the Macedonian, every one allows, and must alloAV : but then it is controverted, whether this kingdom ended in the person of Alexander, or Avas continued in his successors. St. Jerome 8 saith expressly, 3 Prideaux Connect, part I, b. 2, anno ayeSbv rris ohovptvns 1}kov Trpio@Eis, k. t. X. 659. Neriglissar 1. Quo tempore cunctisfere orbisteiTarumpar- 4 Tbv Si iKEtviov %TEp6s tis A-rrb S-utTEias tibus legati ad Alexandrum venerunt, fyc. Ka&aipfiasi xaXKbv bptpiEapivos. Illorum au- Diod. Sic. 1. 17. c. 113. tem imperium alius quidam ab occidente 7 Kai t6te paXtara avrbv te avrip 'AXa- veniens destruel, (Ere totus obductus. Joseph. %avSpov Kal rots dpip' avrbv tpavrjvat ytjs te Antiq. 1. 10, c. 10, § 4. a-xduns Kat SaXdaorjs Kvpiov. Ac turn primu-m b ' Accepto deinde imperio, regam se ter. Alexandrum sibi ipsi et qui cum eo erant arum omnium ac mundi appeliari jussit.' universae terrse ac maris dominum visum istin. I. 12, c. 16, § 9. esse. Arrian. de Expecl. Alex. 1. 7, c. 15. Kard Si tovtov rbv Xp6''°'-r H d-irdaris " ' " Et regnum terlium aliud ccneum, ON THE PROPHECIES. 189 that the third kingdom signifies Alexander, and the kingdom of the Macedonians, and of the successors of Alexander. Which is rightly named brazen, saith he : for among all metals brass is more vocal, and tinkles louder, and its sound is dif fused far and Avide, that it portended not only the fame and poAver of the kingdom, but also the eloquence of the Greek language. Another commentator observes,9 that this kingdom is compared to the belly, to denote the drunkenness of Alex ander, and the profuse luxury of his successors, especially of the Ptolemies. It Avas a strange wild conceit in Grotius and others, to think that the kingdom of Alexander and of his suc cessors made tAVo different kingdoms. Grotius was indeed a very great man, and for the most part a very able and useful commentator : but the greatest and ablest men have their Aveaknesses, and none hath betrayed more weakness, or com mitted more errors in chronology and history than he hath done, in explaining the prophecies. His notions here are as mean and contracted, as they are generous and enlarged in other instances. The Seleucidae Avho reigned in Syria, and the Lagidse who reigned in Egypt, might be designed particularly by the two thighs of brass. Of all Alexander's successors they might be pointed out alone, because they alone had much connexion Avith the JeAvish church and nation. But their kingdom Avas no more a different kingdom from that of Alexander, than the parts differ from the whole. It was the same government still continued. They who governed were still Macedonians. The metal was the same, and the nation was the same : nor is the same nation ever represented by different metals, but the different metals always signify different nations. All ancient authors too speak of the kingdom of Alexander and of his successors as one and the same kingdom. The thing is implied in the very name by which they are usually called, the successors of Alexander. Alexander being dead,1 saith Josephus, the empire was divided among his successors; he doth not say that so many new empires were erected. After the death of Alexander, saith Justin,2 the kingdoms of the quod imperabit universe terras." Alexan- 1 TeXevT^aavros SV AXs^dvSpov, % piv dpxh drum significat, et regnum Macedonum sue- tis robs StaSbxovs ipEptoSt}. Alexandro cessorumque Alexandri. Quod recte aene- autem vita defuncto, imperium inter suc- um dicitur: Inter omnia enim metalla aes cessores divisum est. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 11, vocalius est, et tinnit clarius, et sonitus c. 8, § 7. ejus long lateque diffunditur, ut non solum 2 'Post mortem Alexandri magni, dum famam et potentiam regni, sed et eloquen- inter successores ejus orientis regna di- tiam Graeci sermonis ostenderet.' Hieron. viderentur, &c.' Justin. 1. 41, c. 4, § 1. in loc. Speaking of the Parthians : ' Postremo 9 ' Confertur hoc ventri, ad notandum Macedonibus triumphato oriente servie- Alexandri crapulam, et successorum ejus runt.' c. 1, § 5. ' Hi pqstea diductis Ma- praecipue Ptolemseorum effusam luxuriam.' eedonibus in bellum civile,' &c. c. 4, § 2. Tirinus apud Poli Synops. 190 BISHOP NEWTON east Avere divided among his successors : and he still deno minates them Macedonians, and their empire the Macedonian ; and reckons Alexander the same to the Macedonians, as Cyrus was to the Persians, and Romulus to the Romans. Grotius himself3 acknowledge th, that even now the HebreAvs call those kingdoms by one name, the kingdom of the Grecians. There is one insuperable objection against the kingdoms of the Lagidae and of the Seleucidae, being a different kingdom from that of Alexander, because if they are not considered as parts of Alexander's dominion, they cannot be counted as one kingdom, they constitute properly two separate and distinct kingdoms. IV. " His legs of iron, his feet part of iron, and part of clay," (ver. 33,) Avhich is thus interpreted by Daniel, (ver. 40 — 43 :) " And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron ; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces, and subdueth all things ; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And Avhereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron ; the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves Avith the seed of men ; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." Here are farther proofs that the king doms of the Seleucidae and of the Lagida? cannot possibly be the fourth kingdom, because the marks and characters here given of the fourth kingdom by no means agree with either of those kingdoms. This fourth kingdom is described as stronger than the preceding. As iron breaketh and bruiseth all other metals, so this breaketh and subdueth all the former kingdoms: but the kingdoms of the Lagidae and of the Seleucidae were so" far from being stronger, that they were much weaker, and less than any of the former kingdoms. This kingdom too is repre sented as divided into ten toes : but when or where were the kingdoms of the Lagidae and of the Seleucidae divided into so many parts'? Besides, the metal here is different, and conse quently the nation should be different from the preceding. The four different metals must signify four different nations : and as the gold signified the Babylonians, and the silver the Per sians, and the brass the Macedonians ; so the iron cannot sig- Administratio gentis post defectionem Ma- Romanis Romulus, matura senectute dece» cedonici imperii sub regibus fuit.' c. 2, § 1. dit.' c. 5, § 5. 'Sic Arsaces, quaesito simul constitutoque ' ' Etiam nunc Hebraei ista imperia uno regno, non minus niemorabilis Parthis, nomine appellant regnum Greecorum.' quam Persis Cyrus, Macedonibus Alexander. Grot, in Dan. vii. 7. ON THE PROPHECIES. 191 nify the Macedonians again, but must necessarily denote some other nation : and Ave will venture to say that there is not a na tion upon earth, to Avhich this description is applicable, but the Romans. The Romans succeeded next to the Macedonians, and there fore in course were next to be mentioned. The Roman em pire Avas stronger and larger than any of the preceding. The Romans brake in pieces, and subdued all the former kingdoms. As Josephus said, that the tAVo arms of silver denoted the kings of the Medes and Persians ; so Ave might say in like manner, that the two legs of iron signified the two Roman consuls. " The iron Avas mixed with miry clay," and the Romans Avere defiled Avith a mixture of barbarous nations. The Roman empire was at length divided into ten lesser kingdoms, answering to the ten toes of the image, as Ave shall see hereafter. These kingdoms retained much of the old Roman strength, and manifested it upon several occasions, so that "the kingdom was partly strong and partly broken." They " mingled themselves with the seed of men ;" they made marriages and alliances one with another, as they continue to do at this day : but no hearty union ensued ; reasons of state are stronger than the ties of blood, and interest generally arails more than affinity. Some expound it of the secular and ecclesiastical poAvers, sometimes agreeing, sometimes clashing and interfering with each other, to the Aveakening of both, and endangering their breaking to pieces. Or if by " the seed of men" we are to understand the same as by " the daughters of men," (Gen. vi. 2,) those of a false and different religion, it may allude to the intermarriages, which several of the European nations, and particularly the French, Spanish, and Portuguese, have made with the Indians, Africans, and Americans. Thus some of the ten kingdoms who call them selves sons of God and the only sons of God by adoption, have mixed Avith " the seed of men," with strangers to him ; and yet no solid union ensues. Which observation was suggested to me by an unknoAvn correspondent, Mr. Hercules Younge, an .ingenious clergyman of Carrick in Ireland. The Roman empire therefore is represented in a double state, first with the strength of iron, conquering all before it, " his legs of iron ;" and then weakened and divided by the mixture of barbarous nations, " his feet part of iron, and part of clay." It subdued Syria, and made the kingdom of the Seleucidae a Roman province in the year 65 before Christ ; 4 it subdued Egypt, and made the kingdom of the Lagidae a Roman province in the year 30 before Christ : and in the fourth century after Christ, it be gan to be torn in pieces by the incursions of the barbarous nations. * See Usher Prideaux, and other chronologers. 192 BISHOP NEWTON St. Jeume lived to see the incursions of the barbarous na. tions : and his 5 comment is, that ' the fourth kingdom, Avhich plainly belongs to the Romans, is the iron that breaketh and subdueth all things ; but his feet and toes are part of iron, and part of clay, which is most manifestly proved at this time : for as in the beginning nothing Avas stronger and harder than the Roman empire, so in the end of things nothing is weaker ; since both in civil wars, and against divers nations, we want the as sistance of other barbarous nations.' He hath given the same interpretation in other parts of his works ; and it seemeth that he had been blamed for it, as a reflection upon the government ; and therefore he maketh this apology for himself. ' If,' 6 saith he, ' in explaining the statue and the difference of his feet and toes, I have interpreted the iron and clay of the Roman king dom, Avhich the Scripture foretells should first be strong, and then weak, let them not impute it to me, but to the prophet : for Ave must not so flatter princes, as to neglect the verity of the Holy Scriptures, nor is a general disputation an injury to a single person.' All ancient writers, both JeAvish and Christian, agree Avith Jerome in explaining the fourth kingdom to be the Roman. Porphyry, who was a heathen, and an enemy to Christ, was the first Avho broached the other opinion ; which, though it hath been maintained since by some of the moderns, is yet not only desti tute of the authority, but is even contrary to the authority of both Scripture and history. It is a just observation of Mr. Mede,7 Avho Avas as able and consummate a judge as any in these matters : ' The Roman empire to be the fourth kingdom of Da niel, Avas believed by the Church of Israel both before and in our Saviour's time ; received by the disciples of the apostles, and the Avhole Christian church for the first 300 years, without any known contradiction. And I confess, having so good ground in Scripture, it is with me " tantum non articulus fidei," little less than an article of faith.' V. Besides this image, Nebuchadnezzar saw, (ver. 34, 35,) " till that a stone Avas cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them 5 'Regnum autem quartum, quod perspi- 8 'Quod si in expositione statute pedumi cue pertinet ad Romanos, ferrum est quod que ejus, et digitorum discrepantia, ferrum et comtninuit et domat omnia : sed pedes ejus testam super Romano regno interpretatus et digiti ex parte ferrei, et ex parte sunt sum, quod primum forte, dein imbecillum fictiles, quod hoc tempore manifestissime scriptura portendit, non mihi imputent, sed comprobatur. Sicut enim in principio nihil prophettn. Neque enim sic adulandum est Romano imperio fortius et durius fuit ; ita principibus, ut sanctarum scripturarum ve in fine rerum nihil imbecillius : quando et in ritas neg] igatur, nee generalis disputatio uni- bellis civilibus, et adversum diversas natio- us personas injuria est.' Prasf. in Isaiae, nes, aliarum gentium barbararum indigemus c. xxxvi. auxilio.' Hieron. in loc. n Mede's Works, b. 4, epist. 6, p. 736. ON THE PROPHECIES. 193 to pieces : then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, ana the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place Avas found for them ; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth;" which is thus interpreted and explained by Daniel, (ver. 44, 45 :) " And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed ; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever : for as much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold." They who maintain that the fourth kingdom was the kingdoms of the Se leucidae and of the Lagidae, do, many of them, maintain like wise that this fifth kingdom was the Roman. But how can these characters agree with the Roman empire'? How was the Roman empire, " cut out of the mountain without hands," or formed without human force and human policy 1 How was the Roman empire of God's erection more than any of the former kingdoms 1 How can the Roman empire which is left to other people, be said "not to be left to other people," and how can that Avhich is broken in pieces, be said to " stand for ever 1" This description can with propriety only be understood, as the ancients understood it, of the kingdom of Christ. "And in the days of these kings," that is, in the days of some of them. As "in the days when the judges ruled," (Ruth i. 1,) signifies in the day when some of the judges ruled; so " in the days of -hese kings," signifies in the days of some of these kingdoms : and it must be during the days of the last of them, because they are reckoned four in succession, and consequently this must be the fifth kingdom. Accordingly the kingdom of Christ was set up during the days of the last of these kingdoms, that is the Romans. The stone Avas totally a different thing from the image, and the kingdom of Christ is totally different from the king doms of this world. " The stone was cut out of the mountain Avithout hands," as our heavenly body is said (2 Cor. v. 1) to oe " a building of God, a house not made Avith hands ;" that is spiritual, as the phrase is used in other places ; (Mark, xiv. 58, compared with John ii. 21 ; see also Coloss. ii. 11.) This the fathers8 generally apply to Christ himself, who was miracu lously born of a virgin without the concurrence of a man : but it should rather be understood of the kingdom of Christ, which ;vas formed out of the Roman empire, not by number of hands, or strength of armies, but without human means, and the virtue 8 Justin Martyr, cum Tryphone, Dial. p. 301, edit. Thirlb. Irenaa. 1. 3, advers. Ha>- leses, c. 26. Hieron. Comment, in loc. 17 Z 194 BISHOP NEWTON of second causes. This kingdom was, " set up by the God of heaven ; and from hence the phrase of the kingdom of heaven came to signify the kingdom of the Messiah; and so it Avas used and understood by the JeAvs, and so it is applied by our Saviour in the New Testament. Other kingdoms were raised by human ambition and worldly power : but this was the work not of man, but of God ; this Avas truly, as it is called, the king dom of heaven, and (John xviii. 36) " a kingdom not of this Avorld ;" its laws, its powers, were all divine. The kingdom Avas "never to be destroyed," as the Babylonian, the Persian, and the Macedonian empires have been, and in great measure also the Roman. This kingdom was to "break in pieces and con sume all the kingdoms," to spread and enlarge itself, so that it should comprehend within itself all the former kingdoms. This kingdom was to "fill the whole earth," to become uhiversal^and to " stand for ever." As the fourth kingdom, or the Roman empire, was lepresented in a twofold state, first strong and flourishing, "Avith legs of iron," and then weakened and divided, " with feet and toes part of iron and part of clay ;" so this fifth kingdom, or the king dom of Christ, is described likewise in two states, Avhich Mr. Mede 9 rightly distinguished by the names of ' regnum lapi- diis,' the kingdom of the stone, and ' regnum mantis,' the king dom of the mountain; the first when " the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands," the second when it became itself " a mountain and filled the whole earth." " The stone was cut out of the mountain without hands," the kingdom of Christ Avas first set up, Avhile the Roman empire Avas in its full strength, " with legs of iron." The Roman empire was afterwards di vided into ten lesser kingdoms, the remains of which are sub sisting at present. The image is still standing upon his feet and toes of iron and clay; the kingdom of Christ is yet "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence :" but the stone will one day smite the image upon the feet and toes, and destroy it utterly, and will itself "become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth:" or, in other words, (Rev. xi. 15,) "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." We have there fore seen the kingdom of the stone, but we have not yet seen the kingdom of the mountain. Some parts of this prophecy still re main to be fulfilled : but the exact completion of the other parts will not suffer us to doubt of the accomplishment of the rest also in due season. As we may presume to say that this is the only true and genuine interpretation of this passage, so likewise is it the most consonant to the sense of all ancient writers, both Jews 9 Mede's Works, b. 4, epist 8, p. 743. ON THE PROPHECIES. 195 and Christians ; and its antiquity Avill be a farther recommen dation and confirmation of its truth. Jonathan Ben Uzziel, who made the Chaldee Targum or paraphrase upon the pro phets, 1 lived a little before our Saviour. He made no Chaldee version of Daniel, the greater part of this book being original!} written in Chaldee, or his version is lost : but, hoAvever, he applies the prophecies of Daniel in his interpretation of other prophets. Thus in his paraphrase upon Habakkuk he speak eth of the four great kingdoms of the earth, 2 that they should in their turns be destroyed, and be succeeded by the kingdom of the Messiah. ' For the kingdom of Babylon shall not continue, nor exercise dominion over Israel ; the kings of Media shall be slain, and the strong men of Greece shall not prosper ; the Ro mans shall be blotted out, nor collect tribute from Jerusalem. Therefore because of the sign and redemption which thou shalt accomplish for thy Christ, and for the remnant of thy people, they Avho remain shall praise thee, &c.' The sense of Josephus we will give in the words of Bishop Chandler, 3 together with his reflections upon it. ' Josephus's exposition of this text is so full in the point, that it ought not to be omitted. Josephus was born Avhile Jesus Christ lived, and was, as he says, 4 skilful in the knowledge of the sacred books of the prophets, being himself a priest, and the son of a priest, and exercised this Avay. Hear then his sense of that part of the dream Ave have been upon. Daniel foretold, 6 that the second kingdom should be taken out of the Avay, by one that should come from the west clothed with brazen arms : and also that the strength of this (empire) another should put an end to, that should be like to iron, which from the nature of the mineral is superior to gold, silver, and brass. Daniel added 1 Waltoni Prolegom. XII. 10. Wolfii ovk eSo^e robro laropsiv, Ta TTapsXBbvra Kai rd Bibliolh. Hebr. 1. 6, c. 2, § 2. Prideaux VEyEvrjpEva avyypd^Etv, ob rd piXXovra SqiEi- Connect. part 2, b. 8, anno 27. Herod. 1. Xovn. El Si tis rfis dXnBElas yXtxbpsvos ov 2 Habak. iii. 17, 18. 'Etenim regnum irEpuoraTai ToXv-xpaypovElv, &s Kai -KEpi t&v Babel non-permanebit, nee exercebit domi- dS^Xw si yEvt'iasrat povXEtrBai paBEiv, c-irov- nium in Israel ; trucidabuntur reges Medios, Saa-ETvi rb piGXiov dvayvwvai tov AavtqXov ' et fortes Greciae non prosperabuntur ; dele- fapfjaEt Si rovro fa rots Ispols ypdppaatv. II- buntur Romani, nee colligent tributum de lorum autem imperium alius quidam ab occi- Jerusalem. Itaque propter signum et re- dente veniens destruet, asre totus obductus , demptionem quce faeies Christo tuo et reli- atque hujus vires alia vis debellabit ferro simi- quiis populi tui, qui remanebunt confitebun- lis, easque in universum imperio premet prop- tur dicendo, &c.' terferri naturam, quod ea sit auro et argento 3 Defence of Christianity, chap. 2, § 2, et aire validior. Quin et Danielus regi osten- p. 104, &c. 3d edit. dit omnia de saxo ; sed mihi ista narrare non 4 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 3, c. 7, § 3. libuit, cui id negotii datum est, utprceterUa non 6 Tiiv Si iWvaiv 'trepSs tis dirb Sta-sois Ka- fulura Uteris consignarem. Si quis autem Oaipijra ^aAnSi, hptpteo-ptvos, Kal rairpv d~X- veritatis avidus nolit ab iispaulo euriosius in- Xij iravo-et rhv la^uii Spoia aiSijpip, Kal KarfioEi quirendis desislere, ut qui de incertis, anfutu- Si eIs airaaav Sid rnv Tov mSf/pov e)baiv, stval ra sint, scire desiderat, det operam ut Danieh yap dvr'nv irrc/i oripav r!js roB xfvaov Kal tou librum perlegat, quern in sacrorum hbrorum apybpov Kat rov vaXKoti. 'F.SijXwge Si *ai TEpt codice inveniet. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c. 10 Too XtBov AaviijXos rip /JaffiAa dXX, ipai psv § 4. 196 BISHOP NEWTON his interpretation of the stone ; but I do not think fit to reiate that; my business being only to give a history of past and newly done things, not to write of future things. Yet if there be any one that is eager after truth, and will not give over inquir ing, in order to learn those obscure events that are to come, let him carefully read the book itself, which he will find among our sacred (or canonical) books. Upon this passage observe, that the fourth empire is the Roman, in his judgment ; because the third kingdom, which he begins in Alexander, was de stroyed, not by the Greek generals, but by the Romans. Again, the fourth empire he reckons to be past, i. e. to be set up in the room of the Greek, and therefore he gives an his torical explication of that, among the past events. But the kingdom of the stone being future, he refuses to touch on that. But he had a better reason than he gave : he feared to offend the power in being, Avhose protection he needed, and which, he foresaAV, must be offended, if he should publish the hope of his captive nation, one day to subdue their conquerors. We see however, in his excuse for stopping short, his sense of the prophecy that is yet unfulfilled, viz. that the kingdom of the God of heaven should break in pieces the Roman ; and Avhich he must consequently suppose will continue, till it gives place to the everlasting kingdom of the Messiah. And in this belief Christ confirmed the Jews, at the time he Avarned them of their own excision. " The kingdom of God," saith he, (Matth. xxii. 43, 44,) or all the advantages of the Messiah's coming, " shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." "For whosoever shall fall against this stone, (as one of your prophets predicted, Isa. viii. 14, 15,) shall be broken :" " but," I add from another prophet, (Dan. ii. 34, 35,) something more grievous for those that shall break you, " on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder." The kingdom of the stone shall bruise the Jews that stumbled at Christ's first coming ; but the kingdom of the mountain, when manifested, shall beat the feet of the monarchical statue to dust, and leave no remains of the fourth monarchy in its last and de generate state.' The salne notion Avas prevalent among the ancient Chris tians, as well as among the Jews. St. Jerome and all the fathers, Avho have occasion to comment upon this passage, give the same interpretation : but we love not to multiply quotations ; it will be sufficient to produce the testimonies of that eloquent preacher St. Chrysostom, and of that elegant historian Sulpi- cius Severus. St. Chrysostom is too copious to be quoted at large : we must content ourselves with some extracts out of him. ' For what reason,' saith he, ' doth he call Nebuchad nezzar's kingdom of gold, and that of the Persians of silver, ON THE PROPHECIES. 197 and that of the Macedonians of brass, and that of the Romans of iron and clay 1 6 See the materials rightly disposed ; for gold represents riches ; so likewise was that kingdom — and it occu pies the head, because it appeared the first. But that of the Persians was not so wealthy, as neither was that of the Mace donians : but that of the Romans was both more useful and stronger, and later in time, wherefore it occupies the place of the feet. But some parts of this kingdom are weak, and other are stronger. " And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed ; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." Bring hither to me the Jews. What will they say con cerning this prophecy % for it is by no means right to say of any human kingdom, that it shall be everlasting or without end. — " In the days of those kings," to wit the Romans. But if they say how can he break in pieces the gold, the kingdom of the Babylonians destroyed long ago 1 how the silver, the kingdom of the Persians % how the brass, the kingdom of the Macedonians ? for these are past long ago, and are come to an end — how can he destroy kingdoms which are already destroyed *? But to de stroy others iii which these are included, amounts to the same thing. G Tlvas 5' evekev rfjv abrou (SaatXdav KaXel Xpvorjv, rrjv Si r&v HEpo&v apyvpav, Kat rr)v MaK£56vh>v %aXKrjv, Kai rr)v r&v cFu>/nai'uv 01- Srjpav Kai dcrpaKivyv j '6pa KaraXX/jKovg rag v\a$. 'O yap %pvaos nXavrou uiv tart iynbav- , rtuhv oftra) Kai IkeIvtj r) ftactXda kc- tpaXrjv Se f-ri^Et, iirEiSi) Trpwrj; etfidvn. CH Si YlspcZv oIk ouros £v'iTopos,&'7Tr£p ovv obSt Ma- KcSovtav, i] Si 'Yuifxaluiv xpr/crtfx&rspd re Kai i6ap^% itiro\f?dtiv SrjXovdrt. "AXXws Si d XiyotEV, Kal ttws rbv xpvaov txvvirptipE, rf)v Ra6vXm>lo)v ftaotXdav irdXat Karao-KcvaoBeiaav, [/taraoxc- Saaddoav ;] ttcDs Si rbv dpyvpov, ttjv Hepc&v ; jrw? Se rbv %a\Kbv, rr)v MaKESdvuiV j ravra yap irdXat iyevero, Kal riXog eXaftev. n<3c rag rjSyj crpEcQdaas ^aaiXdas KaOatpu ; bit universa regna : et ipsum exsurget. in sa-* cula.7 A.dducito mild hue Judceos. Quid de hac prophetia dicturi sunt ? Neque enim pro- fecto de humano regno hescfas est dicere ; sci licet regnum infinitum fore — ' In diebus re- gum illoram f Romanorum videlicet. Quod si dicant : quomodo aurum conterere potuit, nempe regnum Babyloniorum, quod jam olim erat destructum ? Quomodo etiam argentum} nimirum regnum Persarum ? Et quomodo ojs, scilicet regnum Macedonum ? Hmc enim quondam fuerant, etjinem acceperant. — Quomodo jam ewti-ncta regna destruat ? Quia nimirum destruit alia regna, in quibus hmo continentur. S. Jo. Chrysost. in Danielem, p. 214 et 216, torn. 6. 198 BISHOP NEWTON Sulpicius Severus having given an account of Nebuchadnez zar's dream, and of all the particulars relating to it, subjoins an exposition 7 of it, agreeable to Daniel's interpretation. ' The image is an emblem of the world. The golden head is the empire of the Chaldaeans : forasmuch as that was the first and most wealthy. The breast and arms of silver signify the second king dom : For Cyrus, the Chaldaeans and Medes being overcome, trans ferred the empire to the Persians. In the brazen belly the third kingdom is declared to be portended ; and that we see fulfilled : Forasmuch as the empire taken from the Persians Alexander vindicated to Macedonia. The iron legs are the fourth king dom : and that is the Roman, the strongest of all the kingdoms before it. But the feet, part of iron and part of clay, prefigure the Roman empire to be so divided as that it should never unite again : which is equally fufilled — Forasmuch as the Roman ter ritory is occupied by foreign nations or rebels : — and we see (saith he, and he lived at the beginning of the fifth century 8) barbarous nations mixed Avith our armies, cities, and provinces — But in the stone cut out without hands, which brake in pieces the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay, we have a figure of Christ. For he shall reduce this world, in which are the king doms of the earth, to nothing, and shall establish another ever lasting kingdom. Of which alone the faith of some is still dubious, and they will not credit future things, when they are convinced of the past. Nay Grotius himself, the great patron of the other opinion, lhat the fifth kingdom is the Roman empire, commenting upon those words, (ver. 45,) "it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold," cannot but acknoAvledge that9 the sublimer sense is, that Christ will put an end to all earthly empires, according to 1 Cor. xv. 24, that " he shall put down all rule, and all authority, and power." * ' Igitur, secundum prophetse interpret*, aut rebellibug occupatum,; — exereitibusque tionem, imago visa figuram mundi gerit. Ca- nostris, urbibus atque provinciis permixtas put aureum, Chaldseorum imperium est : si- barbaras nationes — videinus. In lapide quidem id primum et opulentissimum fuisse , vero sine manibus abscisso, qui aurum, ar- accepimus. Pectus et brachia argentea se- gentum, ges, et ferrum testamque comminuit, cundum regnum annunciant. Cyrus enim, Christi figuram esse. Is enim mundum is- victis Chaldaeis atque Medis, imperium ad turn, in quo sunt regna ten-arum, in nihilum Persas contulit. In ventre sereo tertium rediget, regnumque aliud incorruptum con- regnum portendi pronunciatur ; idque im- firmabit. De quo uno adhuc quorundam pleium videmus. Siquidem Alexander erep- fides in ambiguo est, non credendum de fu- tum Persis imperium Macedonia vindioavlt. turis, cum de prceterHis convincantur.' Sul- Crura ferrea, imperium quartum : idque Ro- picii Sacr. Hist. 1. 2, p. 6b, 67, edit. Elzevir. manum intelligilur, omnium ante regnorum 1656. validissimum. Pedes vero partim ferrei, " 8 Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. 1, p. 374. partim fictiles, dividendum esse Romanum B ' Sensus sublimior, Christum finem im- regnum, ita ut nunquam inter se coeat, pree- positurum omnibus imperils terrestribus, figurant : quod ©que impletum est, Si- 1 Cor. xv. 24.' Grot, in locum. quidem Romanum solum ab exteris gentibus ON THE PROPHECIES. 199 Thus it pleased God to reveal unto Daniel, and by Daniel unto Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest and most signal events of this world. As Daniel said unto Nebuchadnezzar, (ver. 45:) " The great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter ; and the dream is certain, and the interpre tation thereof is sure." The king hearing his dream related with such exactness, might be better assured of the truth of the interpretation, and of the great events which should follow. And from hence we are enabled in some measure to account for Nebuchadnezzar's prophesying a little before he died. Aby- denus Avrote the history of the Assyrians. It is not well known in Avhat age he lived, and his history is lost : but there is a frag ment of it preserved by Eusebius, wherein it is asserted upon the authority of Megasthenes, that Nebuchadnezzar was divinely inspired and prophesied in this manner :l ' I Nebuchadnezzar foretel unto you, O Babylonians, an imminent calamity, which neither Belus my progenitor, nor queen Beltis can persuade the fates to avert : A Persian mule shall come, assisted by your demons, and impose servitude upon you ; whose coadjutor shall be a Mede, the boast of the Assyrians.' And soon after he died. Herodotus, who Avas a much older historian than Megasthenes, relates that a Delphic oracle was given to Crossus king of Lydia, that 2 when a mule should rule over the Medes, then he should not be ashamed to fly away. Which oracle was afterwards thus interpreted by the Pythian priestess : Cyrus d was this mule ; lor he was born of parents of different nations, the mother the better, and the father the meaner ; for she was a Mede, and a daughter of the king of the Medes, but he was a Persian, and subject to the Medes. If any credit is to be given to these stories, if any such prophecy Avas uttered by Nebuchadnezzar a little before his death, if any such oracle was received and believed of Cyrus and the Persians subduing Asia, the notion, the tradition may very Avell be supposed to have been derived originally from this pro phecy of Daniel, Avhich being so solemnly delivered to a great 1 'Eyw Fla!3ovKoSp6aopos, 3 -BajlvX'ivioi, 2 ' AAA' 'drav {/ptovos patriXcbs i/LijSoioi yhn- rfjv piXXovoav hpiv npoayyiXXoi o-vpov irapcjayov [animal omnia num.' Hieron. Comment, in loc. Vatablus voransl ait Aristoteles viii. 5. Sic Medo- et Grot, in locum. persaD raptores magni, pradones, Jeremioa ' Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on lx. 48, 56.' Grot, in locum. Daniel, e. 4, p. 29. Bishop Chandler s Vin- 9 Ergo trea ordines in ore regni Persa- dication, b. 1, c. 2, § 2, p. 198. rum, et in dentibus ejus, tria regna debemus 204 BISHOP NEWTON Medes and Persians. They are also represented very cruel by the prophet Isaiah, (xiii. 18 :) " Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb ; their eye shall not spare children." Cambysis, Ochus, and others of their princes were indeed more like bears than men. Instances of their cruelty abound in almost all the historians, who have written of their affairs from Herodotus down to Am mianus Marcellinus,2 Avho describes them proud, cruel, exercising the power of life and death over slaves and obscure plebeians. They pull off the skins, says he, from men alive, by pieces or all together : and they have abominable laAvs, bjr which for one man's offence all the neighbourhood is destroyed. Well therefore might a learned 3 French commentator say, that the Persians have exercised the most, severe and the most cruel dominion that we know of. The punishments used among them beget horror in those who read of them. III. The third kingdom is represented, (ver. 6,) by "another beast like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl ; the beast had also four heads ; and dominion was given to it." This is the kingdom of the Macedonians or Gre cians, who under the command of Alexander the Great over came the Persians, and reigned next after them : and it is fitly compared to a leopard upon several accounts. The leopard is remarkable for swiftness ; " their horses, (saith the prophet Ha bakkuk, i. 8,) are swifter than the leopards :" and Alexander and the Macedonians were amazingly SAvift and rapid in their con quests. The leopard is a spotted animal : and so was a proper emblem, according to 4 Bochart, of the different manners of the nations which Alexander commanded ; or, according to 5 Gro tius, of the various manners of Alexander himself, who Avas sometimes merciful, and sometimes cruel ; sometimes tempe rate, and sometimes drunken ; sometimes abstemious, and sometimes incontinent. The leopard, as 6 Bochart observes, is of small stature, but of great courage, so as not to be afraid to engage with the lion and the largest beasts ; and so Alexander, 2 ' Superbi, crudeles, vitiE neoisque po- 6 ' Pardus varium animal. Sic Alexan- testatem in servos et plebeios vindicantes der moribus variis ; modo Clemens, modo obscuros. Cutes vivis hominibus detrahunt crudelis ; modo victus temperati, modo ebri- particulatim vel solidas. — Leges apud eos osus ; modo abstinens, modo indulgens amo- — abominandae — per quas ob noxam unius ribus.' Grot, in locum. omnis propinquitas pent.' Amm. Marcell. 6 ' Ut pardus statura parvus est, sed ani- 1. 23, c. 6. mo et robore maxime pracstans, ita ut cum 3 ' Les Perses ont exern6 la domination leone et procerissimis quibusque feris con- la plus severe, et la plus cruelle que l'on gredi non vereatur : sic Alexander pene re connoisse. Les supplices nsitez parmi eux gulus, et cum exiguo apparatu, regem regum font horreur a ceux qui les lisent/ Calmet aggredi ausus est, id est, Darium, cujus reg- in Dan. num a mari -rEggeo usque ad Indos extende- 4 ' Maculas pardi referunt gentium, qui- batur.' Bochart. Hieroz. pars prior, 1. 3, bus imperavit, diversi mores.? Bochart. c. 7, col. 789. Hierozoic. pars prior, 1. 3, c. 7, col. 789 ON THE PROPHECIES. 205 a little king in comparison, of small stature too, and with a small army, dared to attack the king of kings, that is Darius, whose kingdom Avas extended from the iEgean sea to the Indies. Others have pursued the comparison further, but with more subtilty than solidity ; for I conceiAre the principal point of likeness Avas designed between the swiftness and impetuosity of the one and the other. For the same reason the beast "had upon the back of it four wings of a foAvl." The Babylonian empire was repre sented with two wings, but this is described Avith four. For, as Jerome saith, 7 nothing Avas swifter than the victories of Alexander, who ran through all the countries from Illyricum and the Adriatic sea to the Indian ocean and the river Ganges, not so much fighting as conquering, and in six years (he should have said in twelve) subjugated part of Europe, and all Asia to himself. " The beast had also four heads :" to denote the four kingdoms into which this same third kingdom should be divided, as it was divided into four kingdoms after the death of Alexander, s his four captains, Cassander reigning over Ma- cedon and Greece, Lysimachus over Thrace and Bithynia, Ptolemy over Egypt, and Seleucus over Syria. "And domi nion was given to it ;" which showeth, as Jerome saith, 9 that it was not owing to the fortitude of Alexander, but proceeded from the will of the Lord. And indeed unless he had been directed, preserved, and assisted by the mighty power of God, how could Alexander with thirty thousand men have overcome Darius with six hundred thousand, and in so short a time have brought all the countries from Greece as far as to India into subjection ? IV. The fourth kingdom is represented (ver. 7) by a " fourth beast, dreadful and terrible ; and strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron teeth ; it devoured, and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it." Daniel was curious to know particularly what this might mean, (ver. 19:) "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass, which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet." And he was answered thus by the angel, (ver 23 :) " The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all ' ' Nihil enim Alexandri victoria velocius * See Prideaux Connect, part 1, b. 8, fuit, qui, ab IUyrico et Adriatico mari usque anno 301. Ptolemy Soter 4. ad Indioum oceanum et Gangen fluvium, 9 ' Q.uodque additur, "Et potestas data non tarn praeliis, quam victoriis percurrit, et est ei," ostendit, non Alexandri fortitudims, in sex annis partem Europse et omnem sibi sed Domini voluntatis fuisse. Hieron. Oom- Asiam subjugavit.' Hieron. Comment, ill ment. in loc loc. 18 206 BISHOP NEWTON kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces." This fourth kingdom can be none other than the Roman empire : for it is as absurd as it is singular, to pretend to reckon the kingdoms of the Seleu- cida? in Syria and of the Lagidae or Ptolemies in Egj'pt as the fourth kingdom. Calmet himself acknowledgeth, l that this is usually explained of the Roman empire ; and though for rea sons of church, as well as reasons of state, he may prefer the other hypothesis, yet it is 'without pretending to destroy the system which understands the fourth empire of the Roman, and which, as he confesseth, is the most commonly received among interpreters.' The kingdoms of the Seleucidae and of the Lagidee can in no respect answer to this description of the fourth beast or kingdom. It is described as "dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly :" but the kingdoms of the Lagidae and of the Seleucidae were less terrible, and less strong than any of the former kingdoms. It "devoured, and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue," that is, the remains of the former king doms, " with the feet of it :" but the Lagidas and the Seleu cidae were almost continually at war with each other ; and in stead of subduing other kingdoms, tore to pieces their own. It was " diverse from all kingdoms," that is of a different nature and constitution of government : but Egypt and Syria were governed much in the same manner as the former king doms, and were equally absolute monarchies. Of the fourth kingdom it is said, " that it shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces :" but this can never be applied to the kings of Egypt and Syria, Avho were so far from enlarging their dominions, that they could not preserve what was left them by their ancestors. Wherefore Jerome rightly concluded, 2 that ' the fourth em pire which now possesseth the world, is the Roman, whereof it is said in the statute, " his legs of iron, his feet part of iron, and part of clay ;" and yet he mentions now the iron in part, attesting that it had great iron teeth. And I greatly wonder, saith he, that when he had before placed a lion, and a bear, and a leopard in three kingdoms, he should compare the Roman empire to no beast: unless perhaps that he might 1 'On l'explique ordinairement de l'empire tamen ipsius ferri ex parte nunc meminit, Romain. sans pretendre pour cela de- dentes ejus ferreos et magnos esse contes- truire le systeme qui entend le quatrieme tans. Satisque mirror, quod quum supra empire, de l'empire Romain, et qui est le lesenam, et ursum, et pardum, in tribus reg- plus commun^ment recu parmi les interpret nis posuerit, Romanurn regnum null! bestias les.' Calmet. in locum. compararit ; nisi forte ut formidolosam face- 2 'Quartum quod nunc orbem tenet ter- ret bestiam, vocabulum tacuit; ut quicquid ran m, imperium Romanum est, de quo in ferocius cogitaverimus in bestiis hoc Roma- slatua dicitur: "Tibiseejus ferrepe: pedum nos intelligamus.' Hieron. Comment, in quardam pars ferrca, qurjsdam fictilis ;" ei loc. ON THE PROPHECIES. 207 make the beast more formidable, he concealed the name ; so that whatsoever we could imagine the most fierce in beasts, that Ave should understand the Romans to be.' The fourth beast was so great and horrible, that it Avas not easy to find an adequate name for it : and the Roman empire Avas "dread ful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly," beyond any of the former kingdoms. It was " divers from all kingdoms," not only in its republican form of gov rnment, but likewise in strength, and power, and greatness, length of duration, and extent of dominion. " It devoured, and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it ;" it reduced Maccdon into a Roman province 3 about 168 years, the kingdom of Per- gamus about 133 years, Syria about 65 years, and Egypt about 30 years before Christ. And besides the remains of the Macedonian empire, it subdued many other provinces and kingdoms, so that it might by a very usual figure be said, to devour the whole earth, and to tread it down, and break it in pieces ; and became in a manner, what the Roman writers delighted to call it, ' terrarum orbis imperium,' the empire of the whole world. A Greek writer, too, and he a grave and judicious historian, who flourished in the reign of Augustus Caesar, hath a remark able passage, which is very pertinent to our present purpose. Speaking of the great superiority of the Roman empire to all former empires, he saith, that the Persian was succeeded by the Macedonian, and the Macedonian by the Roman ; so that he had no conception of Alexander's erecting one kingdom, and his successors another, but considered them both as one and the same kingdom. His Avords are, i ' The Macedonian empire ha v- See Usher, Prideaux, and other chronolo- Bat pr) aSivarbs Ian, rrp&rn Kai pbv-n riav ix gers. too rravrbs al&vos pvrjpovEvopEVViv, avaroXas * 'H Se MaKsSovlKh. SvvaoTEia, ti)v XlEpadv Kal SbaEts Spovs iroinaapEvrj rrjs SvvaarElas' KaBEXovaa laxbv, pEyiBEi psv apxris k~daas xpbvos te avrfj too Kpdrovs oh jSpaxi'S, a\X' v-KEpEftdXETO Tas Trpb aiirr/?" xpbvov Se ovSl boos ovSEpia rdv &XXoiv oUte mjAcwv ovte 0a- abrfiT:oXvv^vBr]aEv,aXXapEToLTnvtAXE^dvSpov ciXeIviv. Imperium vero Macedonicum, frac- teXevtIiv hi rb xETpov Ijp^aro (jiEpsoBai. Aiaa- tis Persarum opibus, imperii amplitudine om- TaaBElaa yap sis rroXXobs fiyspbvas [eIs iroXXis nia quotquot ante fuer ant, superavit : sed ne !iyEpovlas,Sylb.] EbBbsarb [virb] twv StaSb\o>v, ipsum quidem diu floruit, at post Alexandri Kal per ekeIvovs &xpt rrjs Ssvrtpas i) rplrns obitum tn pejus ccepit mere. Statim enim in laxvaaaa TrpoEXBelv yEvsas, aoBEvhs avrb. Si* muttos principes a successoribus distractum, et lavrrjs EyivEro, Kal rsXEvrioaa iiird 'Poipatiav post illos ad secundam usque tertiamve wla- hfyavleBt}. Kal ovSe avrh, phrot xaaav ETroitjov tern progressum, ipsum per se debilitatum est, ro yrjv te Kal SdXaao-av hnrjKoov. Ovte yap At- tandemque a Romanis deletum. Verum, ne 0vos, bri pi) rrjs rrpbs Alyvrrru), noXX7)s ovans ipsum quidem omnes terras omniaque maria EKpdrntTEv, oUte rbv Evpwxnv bXqv v-KTiydycro, in suam ditionem redegit. Neque enim AJ- aXXa rwv pev fiopEtinv avrrjs psp&v plxP' ^Pf "Cffii autB ^ate potet, nisi partis JEgypta Kris rrporiX&E, twv 51 h-KEoloiv &xpt rrjs 'ASpta- proximo?, potitum est : neque totam Europam vr)s KartSq SaXaVin/ff.— 'H Se 'Patpaltav xrbXis subegit, sed ab ejus septentrionalibus partibus a-rrdays uev apxEi yrjs, bar) pr) aVEp^arbs iaTtv, ad Thraciam usque processit ; ab occidcntali- aXV vrt avBp&TTiav KaToiKElraf rtdarjs Se Kpa- bus vero usque ad Adriaticum mare descen- tei SaXdaaris, oil pbvov rvjs hrbs 'HpaKXEtutv dit. At respublica Romana iotius terra, trrnXdv, aXXa Kal Tris 'SlKcavirtSos, 'ban nXcia- quos non est deserta, sed ab hominibus incoli- 208 BISHOP NEWTON ing overturned the force of the Persians, in greatness indeed of dominion exceeded all the kingdoms Avhich were before it: but yet it did not flourish a long time, but after the death of Alex ander it began to grow worse and worse. For being immedi ately distracted into several principalities by his successors, and after them having strength to go on to the second or third ge neration, it was weakened by itself, and at last was destroyed by the Romans. And yet it did not reduce all the earth and sea to its obedience. For neither did it possess Africa, except that part adjoining to Egypt; neither did it subdue all Europe, but only northwards it proceeded as far as Thrace, and west wards it descended to the Adriatic sea. But the city of Rome ruleth over all the earth, as far as it is inhabited; and com mands all the sea, not only that within the pillars of Hercules, but also the ocean, as far as it is navigable, having first and alone of all the most celebrated kingdoms, made the east and west the bounds of its empire: and its dominion hath continued not a short time, but longer than that of any other city or kingdom. 2. Another remarkable property of this beast is, (ver. 7,) that " it had ten horns :" and according to the angel's interpretation, (ver. 24,) " the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings (or, kingdoms) that shall arise." " Four kings," a little before, (ver. 17,) signified four kingdoms: and so here "ten kings" are ten kingdoms, according to the usual phraseology of Scripture. And this is a farther argument, that the kingdoms of the Lagidae and of the Seleucidae cannot possibly be the fourth kingdom, be cause they were never divided into so many parts. The Mace donian empire was divided a few years after the death of Alex ander into four kingdoms, whereof Egypt and Syria were two ; but these two were never again subdivided into ten lesser king doms. Porphyry, therefore, who made two separate kingdoms of the kingdom of Alexander and his successors, contrary to the received interpretation of kings for kingdoms, reckons down to Antiochus Epiphanes, whom he supposeth to be the " little horn," ten kings who Avere most cruel : but these kings, as Jerome s observes, were not all of one kingdom, of Macedonia for instance, or Syria, or Asia, or Egypt ; but the list was made up out of the different kingdoms. Grotius 6 indeed, and Collins after him, form their catalogue lotius maris est domina. Non solum ejus quod 5 — 'Et deinde usque ad Antioch dm est intra columnas Herculis sed et Oeeani cognomento Epiphanen, decern reges enu- quacunque navigari potest, primaque et sola merat, qui fuerunt sievissimi : ipsosque reges post hominum memoriam ortu et occasu fines non^ unius ponit regni verbi gratia, Mace- imperii sui terminavit : ejusque potentia non doniae, Syriae, Asiae, et ^Egypti • sed de di- ad exiguum iempus duravit, sed quantum versis regnis unum efficit regum ordinem.' nulli alii vel reipublicas vel regno contigit. Hieron. Comment, in loc. Dionysius Halicamass. Antiq. Rom. 1. 1, c. e Grotius in locum. Scheme of Literal 2 et 3. Prophecy, &c. p. 162. ON THE PROPHECIES. 209 of thd ten kings, who were very oppressive and cruel to the Jews, out of the kings of Egypt and Syria : and they thus enu merate them, five out of one kingdom, and five out of the other, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, Seleucus Nicator, Ptolemy Eupator, [I suppose they meant Ptolemy Philadelphus, for he reigned next after Ptolemy the son of Lagus, and next before Ptolemy Euergetes, being the son of the former, and the father of the latter,] Ptolemy Euergetes, Seleucus Callinicus, Antiochus the Great, Ptolemy Philopator, Ptolemy Epiphanes, Seleucus Phi lopator, and Antiochus Epiphanes. But it happens, that some of these kings did not persecute the Jews at all, as Seleucus Callinicus. Others were so far from persecuting them, that they Avere their patrons and protectors. Such Avere Ptolemy the son of Lagus, Seleucus Nicator, Ptolemy Philadelphus, Ptolemy Euergetes, and Antiochus the Great : and such they are reckoned by Josephus7 himself. So that out of the ten kings only four were persecutors and oppressors of the Jews. The ten horns too are represented as existing all at once ; they shoot out and appear upon the head of the beast all together : but these kings were not all contemporaries, many of them were successive, and one fell before another rose. So forced and arbitrary is this exposition, and so contrary to the truth of history. We must therefore look for the ten kings or kingdoms, Avhere only they can be found, amid the broken pieces of the Roman empire. The Roman empire, as the Romanists8 themselves allow, was by means of the incursions of the northern nations, dismembered into ten kingdoms : and Machiavel,9 little thinking what he was doing, (as Bishop Chandler observes,) hath given us their names : 1. the Ostrogoths in Moasia, 2. the Visigoths in Pannonia, 3. the Sueves and Alans in Gascoigne and Spain, 4. the Vandals in Africa, 5. the Franks in France, 6. the Burgun- dians in Burgundy, 7. the Heruli and Turingi hV1 Italy, 8. the Saxons and Angles in Britain, 9. the Huns in Hungary, 10. the Lombards at first upon the Danube, afterwards in Italy. Mr. Mede, whom a certain writer ' esteemed as a man di vinely inspired for the interpretation of the prophecies,2 reckons up the ten kingdoms thus in the year 456, the year after Rome Avas sacked by Genseric king of the Vandals: 1. the Britons, 2. the Saxons in Britain, 3. the Franks, 4. the Burgundians in France, 5. the Wisigoths in the south of France and part of Spain, 6. the Sueves and Alans in Gallicia and Portugal, 7. the * Vide Antiq. 1. 12, c. 1—3. Contra Api- Chandler's Vindication, &c. b. I, c. 2, § 3, on. 1. 2, § 4 et 5. p. 263. 8 Calmet upon Rev. xiii. 1 ; and he re- ' Mons. Jurieu, in the Preface to his Ac- fers likewise to Beran^aud, Bossuet, and complishment of the Scripture Prophecies. Du Pin. 2 Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 661. 3 Machiavel Hist. Flor. 1. 1. Bishop 18* 2 B 210 BISHOP NEWTON Vandals in Afric, 8. the Alemanes in Germany, 9. the Ostrogoth? whom the Longobards succeeded, in Pannonia, and afterwards in Italy, 10. the Greeks in the residue of the empire. That excellent chronologer Bishop Lloyd exhibits, the follow ing3 list of the ten kingdoms with the time of their rise: 1. Huns about a. d. 356. 2. Ostrogoths 377. 3. Wisigoths 378. 4. Franks 407. 5. Vandals 407. 6. Sueves and Alans 407. 7. Burgundians 407. 8. Herules and Rugians 476. 9. Saxons 476. 10. Longobards began to reign in Hungary a. d. 526, and were seated in the northern parts of Germany about the year 483. Sir Isaac Newton enumerates them thus :* 1. the kingdom of the Vandals and Alans in Spain and Africa, 2. the kingdom of the Suevians in Spain, 3. the kingdom of the Visigoths, 4. the kingdom of the Alans in Gallia, 5. the kingdom of the Burgun dians, 6. the kingdom of the Franks, 7. the kingdom of the Britons, 8. the kingdom of the Huns, 9. the kingdom of the Lom bards, 10. the kingdom of Ravenna. The few variations in these accounts must be ascribed to the great disorder and confusion of the times, one kingdom falling, and another rising, and scarce any subsisting for a long while together. As a learned writer 6 remarks, ' all these kingdoms were variously divided either by conquest or inheritance. How ever, as if that number of ten had been fatal in the Roman domi nions, it hath been taken notice of upon particular occasions. As about a. d. 1240, by Eberard, bishop of Saltsburg, in the diet at Ratisbon. At the time of the Reformation they were also ten. So that the Roman empire was divided into ten in a manner, first and last.' Mr. Whiston, who published his essay on the Reve lation of St. John in the year 1706, farther observes,6 ' that as the number of the kingdoms into which the Roman empire in Eu rope, agreeably to the ancient prophecies, was originally divided a. d. 456, was exactly ten : so it is also very nearly returned again to the same condition ; and at present is divided into ten grand or principal kingdoms or states. — For though there are many more great kingdoms and dominions in Europe besides, yet are they out of the bounds of the old Roman empire, and so not so directly within our present inquiry.' We would, for reasons which will hereafter appear to the at tentive reader, fix these ten kingdoms at a different era from any of the foregoing; and let us see how they stood in the eighth century. The principal states and governments then were, 1. of the senate of Rome, who revolted from the Greek emperors, and claimed and exerted the privilege of choosing a • Addenda to Lowth's Comment, p. 524. s Daubuz on Rev. xiii. 1, p. 559. * Sir Isaac Newton's Observ. on Daniel, e Essay on the Rev. Part 3, Vision 4. ». 6, p. 47. ON THE PROPHECIES. 211 new western emperor ; 2. of the Greeks in Ravenna ; 3. of the Lombards in Lombardy ; 4. of the Huns in Hungary; 5. of the Alemanes in Germany ; 6. of the Franks in France ; 7. of the Burgundians in Burgundy ; 8. ol the Goths in Spain ; 9. of the Britons; 10. of the Saxons in Britain. Not that there were constantly ten kingdoms ; they were sometimes more, and some times fewer : but as r Sir Isaac Newton says, ' whatever was their number afterwards, they are still called the ten kings from their first number.' 3. Besides these ten horns or kingdoms of the fourth em pire, there was to spring up among them another little horn. "1 considered the horns, (saith Daniel, ver. 8,) and behold there came up among them another little horn, before whom there Avere three of the first horns plucked up by the roots." Daniel was eager to know, (ver. 20,) as "of ten horns," so likewise "of the other Avhich came up, and before Avhom three fell." And he was informed by the angel, (ver. 24,) that as " the ten horns out of this kingdom were ten kings (or kingdoms) that should arise," so likewise that " another shall rise after them, and he shall subdue three kings," or kingdoms. One absurdity generally produceth another: and8 Grotius, in consequence of his former supposition that the fourth kingdom was the king doms of the Seleucidae and Lagidae, supposeth also, that the " little horn" was Antiochus Epiphanes, and that " the three horns Avhich were pi ucked up before him" were his elder bro ther Seleucus, and Demetrius the son of Seleucus, and Ptole my Philopator king of Egypt : and Collins adopts the same notion after Grotius, for Collins was only a retailer of scraps, and could not advance any thing of this kind of his own. But surely it is very arbitray to reckon Antiochus Epiphanes as one of the ten horns, and at the same time as the little horn, when the prophet hath plainly made the little horn an eleventh horn, distinct from the former ten. There were " three of the first horns" to be plucked up by the roots before the little horn ; but the three kings mentioned by Grotius are not all in his first catalogue of ten kings, neither Ptolemy Philometor (if Philo- metor be meant) nor Demetrius being pf the number. Neither were they "plucked up by the roots" by Antiochus, or by his order. Seleucus was 9 poisoned by his treasurer Heliodorus, whose aim it was to usurp the crown to himself, before Antio chus returned from Rome, Avhere he had been detained a hos tage several years. Demetrius 1 lived to dethrone and murder the son of Antiochus, and succeeded him in the kingdom of Syria. Ptolemy Philopator died king of Egypt almost thirty * Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on B Appian. in Syriac. § 45. Daniel, c. 6, p. 71. ' Appian. ibid. § 47. Justin. I. 34, c. 3 a Grotius and Collins, ibid. Joseph. Antiq. 1.12, c. 10, § 1. 212 BISHOP NEWTON years before Antiochus came to the throne of Syria : 2 or if Pto lemy Philometor (as is most probable) was meant by Grotius, Philometor, though he suffered much in his wars with Antio chus, yet survived him 8 about eighteen years, and died in pos session of the crown of Egypt, after the family of Antiochus had been set aside from the succession to the crown of Syria. Neither doth Antiochus Epiphanes answer to the character of the little horn in other respects, and particularly in this. The little horn continues (ver. 21, 22, 26,) to reign till the second coming of Christ in glory ; but Antiochus Epiphanes died about 164 years before his first coining in the flesh. These are all farther arguments to prove, that the fourth beast must needs signify the Roman empire, and that " the ten horns" represent the ten kingdoms into which that empire was divided, and there fore we must look for the "little horn" among them, and no where else : and that we may not be led away by modern pre judices, let us see whether the ancients will hot afford us some light and direction. Irenaeus, a father who flourished in the second century, treat ing of the fraud, pride, and tyranny of Antichrist, asserts that 4 Daniel, respecting the end ' of the last kingdom, that is, the last ten kings, among whom that kingdom should be divided, upon whom the son of perdition .shall come, saith that ten horns shall grow on the beast, and another little horn shall grow up among them, and three of the first horns shall be rooted out before him. Of-Avhom also Paul the apostle speaketh in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, calling him " the son of perdition," and " the wicked one." St. John, our Lord's dis ciple, hath in the Apocalypse still more plainly signified of the last time, and of these ten kings, among whom the empire that now reigneth shall be divided, explaining what the ten horns shall be, which were seen by Daniel.' St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who flourished about the middle of the fourth century, speaking of Antichrist's coming in the lat ter times of the Roman empire,6 saith, ' We teach these things 2 Ptolemy Philopator died Anno 204, An- vissimo tempore, et de his qui sunt in eo tiochus became king Anno 175 before Christ, decern regibus, in quos dividetur quod nunc See Usher, Prideaux, &c. regnit iinperium, Bignificavit Joannes Do- 3 Antiochus Epiphanes died Anno 164, mini discipulus m Apocalypsi, edesserens Ptolemy Philometor Anno 146 before Christ, quae fuerint decern cornua, quae a Daniele See Usher, Prid. &c. visa sunt, &c.' Iren. 1. 6, c. 25, 26. 4 ' Daniel autem novissimi regni finem re- 6 Tavra S$ StSdairopEv, oiiK EvpcciXoyovvrts, spiciens, id est, novissimos decern reges, in cXXV Ik twv SeIiov hKXnaiafypEvuv ypaqjiov, Kal quos divideretur regnum illorum, super quos pdXiara ek rr)s aprlois avayvoiaBEiavs rov Aa- filius perditionis veniet, cornua dicit decern vifiXTpofnTEias pEpaBrjKbrEs' KaBibsKalra0pii)X nasci bestiae: ei alterum comu pusillum 6 apxdyyEXos IppfivEvoe Xtywv ov-iru- ToSnplov nasci in medio ipsorum, et tria cornua de r6 riraprov, fiaciXEla rerdprn sarat iv rp yn, prioribus eradicare a facie ejus — De quo et ^rts hzEpi^Et ndaas ras fiaotXElas' rainnv os apostolus Paulus in secunda ad Thessaloni- tlvai rwv 'Tiapatuiv ol iKKXnaiaoriKol TtapaStSti- censes, &c. Manifestos adhuc etiam de no- ON THE PROPHECIES. 213 not of our oAvn invention, but having learned them out of the divine Scriptures, and especially out of the prophecy of Daniel which was just now read ; even as Gabriel the archangel inter preted, saying thus : the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall exceed all the kingdoms : bht that this is the empire of the Romans, ecclesiastical interpreters have delivered. For the first that Avas made famous, was the kingdom of the Assyrians ; and the second, Avas that of the Medes and Persians together ; and after these the third, was that of the Macedo nians ; and the fourth kingdom is now that of the Romans. Afterwards, Gabriel interpreting, saith : Its ten horns are ten kings that shall arise ; and after them shall arise another king, wlio shall exceed in w-ickedness all before him ; not only the ten he saith, but also all avIio Avere before him. Jlnd he shall depress three kings ; but it is manifest that of the first ten he shall depress three, that he himself may reign the eighth : and he shall speak words, saith he, against the Most High.' St. Jerome having refuted Porphyry's notion of Antiochus Epiphanes being the little horn, (where by the way the passage appears to want much emendation,) 6 concludes thus : ' There fore let us say what all ecclesiastical writers have delivered, that in the latter days, when the empire of the Romans shall be de stroyed, there will be ten kings, who shall divide it between them, and an eleventh shall arise, a little king, who shall sub due three of the ten kings, and the other seven shall submit their necks to the conqueror.' Theodoret speaketh much to the same purpose in his comment upon Daniel : and 7 St. Austin expressly KaaivE%7iyr}Ta[. Upturns yap hiei-jpov ycvopt- tans dicit : ' Decern cornua ipsius, decern reg- vvs, rris 'Aaovpiiiiv jiaaiXsias- Kai Scvripas, rris na consurgent : post ista alter consurget, qui Mij&vjv bpov Kal IlEpawv' Kal pera ravras, rijs omnes ante se mails vincet :' neque solum illos MaKsSbviov, rpirns' r) TETaprn /?airiXcia vvv j) decern reges, sed omnes qui ante se fuerunt. 'Vuipaiwv egtIv. E7ra i^s b TaSpir)X ippEVE-biov ' Et tres reges deprim.et? Manifestum autem tprjal- To" Seko Kipara abrov, Seku ftajiXsis est, quod ex istis decern Ires opprimet, prorsus uvairTijcToiiTac Kal drrlaio avribv avacTriaETai et ipsemet octavus regnet : et verba Jaciet fiaaiXEvsETEpos,osvTTEpotosi KaKois ndvras tovs contra Aldssimum. Cyrilli Hieros. Catech. Ef.i-KpoeBzv' ov pbvov (prjat robs Seko, dXXa Kal 15, c. 6. TrdvTas tovs TzpoyEyovbras. Kai rpdf ffao-tXEis 6 ' Ergo dicamus quod omnes scriptores Ta.-KEivjiati. ArjXov Kal [St] arzb rviv Seko twv ecclesiastici tradiderunt : in consummatione TrporEpSiv, a-zb twv SiKa tovtwv robs rpsls ra- rnundi, quando regnum destruendum est xEtvij}v,irdvT(iisbri abrbs bySoos fiae-tXEvaEf Kat Romanorum, decern futuros reges, qui or- Xbyovs, (pval, Trpbs rbv v^iorov XaXfjOEi. Hmc bem Romanum inter se dividant: et unde- autem docemus, non comminiscentes, sed e cimum surrecturum esse regem parvulum, scripturis divinis colligentes, et ex ea maxime, qui tres reges de decern regibus supera- quoz nuper lecta est, ex Daniele propheta edoc- turus sit. — Quibus interfectis, etiam septem ti : sicut Gabriel Arcliangelus interpretatas alii reges victon colla submittent.' Hieron. est, dicens sic : ' Quarta bfetia, quartum est Comment, in loc. regnum in terra, quod majus erit aliis omni- T ^Quatuor ilia regna exposuernnt qui- bus regnis ?' hoc autem esse Romanorum, ec- dam Assyriorum, Persarum, Macedonum, clcsiaslici interpretcs tradiderunt. Primum et Romanorum. Quam vero convenienter enim erat regnum Assyriorum : alterum Me- id fecerinl, qui nosce desideran!, Iegant dorum simul el Peisarum : tertium poslea presbyteri Hieronymi librum in Danieiem, Macedonum : quartum est nunc regnum Ro- satis diligenter eruditeque conscriptum.' manorum. Deinceps vere Gabriel interpre- Aug. de Civ. Dei, 1. 10, c 23. 214 BISHOP NEWTON approveth of Jerome's interpretation. ' Those four kingdoms,' saith he, ' some have expounded to be the Assyrian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman. How properly they have done that, those who are desirous of knowing, may read the presbyter Je rome's book upon Daniel, which is very accurately and learnedly written.' The fathers, it appears by these instances, conceived that the fourth empire was the Roman, that the Roman empire was to be divided between ten kings, and that among them would arise Antichrist, who should root up three of the ten kings, and do mineer over the other seven. At the same time it must be con fessed, that these same fathers entertained strange wild notions j concerning this Antichrist,8 that he should be a Jew, that he I should descend from the tribe of Dan, that he should come from Babylon, that he should fix his residence in the temple at Jeru salem, that he should first subdue Egypt, and afterwards Lybia and Ethiopia, which were the three horns that should fall before him. But it is no wonder that the fathers, nor indeed that any one should mistake in particularly applying prophecies, Avhich had not then received their completion. The fathers might un derstand the prophecies so far as they were fulfilled, and might say with certainty which were the four great kingdoms of the world, that the fourth was the Roman, and that the Roman Avould be divided in the same manner that Daniel had foretold. So far was plain and obvious, and so far they might proceed with safety : but when they ventured farther, and would define parti cularly who were the ten kings, and who was Antichrist, and who were the three kings that should fall before him, then they plunged out of their depth, and were lost in the abyss of error. Such prophecies can be explained only by the events, and these ' events were yet in the Avomb of time. Some other mistaken prophecies might lead the fathers into this interpretation. There is not the least foundation for it in this prophecy. On the con trary this prophecy might have instructed them better, and have taught them that as the western empire was to be divided into ten kingdoms, so the little horn should arise among them, and subdue three of them : and consequently the little horn could not arise in the east, he could not be a Jew, he could not come from Babylon, and neither could Egypt, Lybia, and Ethiopia be the three kingdoms which should fall before him. IrenEGi, 1. 5, c. 25 et 30. Cyrilli Hieros. et postea Libyas et .ffithiopas superaturus, Catech. 15, c. 7. 'Tres reges de decern quss de decern comibus tria contrita cornua regibus superaturus sit, id est, .rEgyptiorum supra legimus.' Idem in c. 11. 'CumJa- regem, et Africae et jEthiopias.' Hieron. cob filios suos benediceret, talia dixit de isto Comment, in loc. 'Nasciturus est de po- Dan, ut de ipsa tribu existimetur exsurrec- pulo Judeeorum, et de Babylone venturus, turus Antichristus.' Augustin. Quaestiones primum superaturus est regem jEgypti, &c. in Jos. 1. 6. Queest. 22. ON THE PROPHECIES. 215 Antichrist then, (as the fathers delight to call him,) or the little horn, is to be sought among the ten kingdoms ofthe west ern Roman empire. I say of the Avestern Roman empire, because that was properly the body of the fourth beast ; Greece and the countries Avhich lay eastward of Italy belonged to the third beast ; for the former beasts were still subsisting, though their dominion Avas taken aAvay. " As concerning the rest of the beasts, (saith Daniel, ver. 12,) they had their dominion taken aAvay ; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time." ' And therefore,' as Sir Isaac Newton 9 rightly infers, ' all the four beasts are still alive, though the dominion of the three first be taken away. The nations of Chaldaea and Assyria are still the first beast. Those of Media and Persia are still the second beast. Those of Macedon, Greece, and Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, are still the third. And those of Europe, on, this side Greece, are still the fourth. Seeing therefore the body of the third beast is confined to the nations on this side the river Euphrates, and the body of the fourth beast is confined to the nations on this side Greece ; we are to look for all the four heads of the third beast, among the nations on this side the river Eu phrates ; and for all the eleven horns of the fourth beast, among the nations on this side of Greece. And therefore, at the break ing of the Greek empire into four kingdoms of the Greeks, Ave include no part of the Chaldaeans, Medes and Persians, in those kingdoms, because they belonged to the bodies of the tAvo first beasts. Nor do we reckon the Greek empire seated at Constanti nople, among the horns of the fourth beast, because it belonged to the body of the third.' For the same reason, neither can the Saracen or the Turk be the little horn or Antichrist, as some have imagined them to be ; and neither do they come up to the cha racter in other respects. Let us therefore look for the little horn, as the prophecy it self directs us, among the other ten horns of the western Roman empire. If indeed it be true, as the Romanists pretend, that this part of the prophecy is not yet fulfilled, and that Antichrist Avill come only for a little time before the general judgment, it would be in vain to inquire who or what he is ; we should split upon the same rock as the fathers have done ; it would better become us to say with ' Calmet, that ' as the reign of Antichrist is still remote, we cannot show the accomplishment of the prophecies with regard to him ; we ought to content ourselves with con sidering the past, and comparing it with the words of the pro phet, the past is an assurance of the future.' But perhaps upon 9 Sir Isaac Newton's Observ. on Daniel, On doit se contenter de considerer le nassg, c. 4, p. 31, 32. et de le comparer avec les paroles du pro- 1 ' Comme le regne de l'Antichrist est phete. Le pass<5 est une assurance de ce encore eloigne, on ne peut pas montrer l'ac- qui doit arrive/ un jour.' Calmet. in locum. complissement de proprieties son egard. 216 BISHOP NEWTON examination we shall see reason to conclude with the generality of the Protestants, that this part of the prophecy is fulfilled. We have seen already that the Roman empire was divided into ten horns or kingdoms, and among them possibly we may find another little horn or kingdom answering in all respects to the character here given. Machiavel himself will lead us by the hand ; for having shown how the Roman empire was broken and divided by the incursions of the northern nations, he says, a ' About this time the bishops of Rome began to take upon them, and to exercise, greater authority than they had formerly done. At first the successors of St. Peter were venerable and eminent for their miracles, and the holiness of their lives ; and their exam ples added daily such numbers to the Christian church, that tt obviate or remove the confusions which were then in the world, many princes turned Christians, and the emperor, of Rome being converted among the rest, and quitting Rome, to hold his resi dence at Constantinople ; the Roman empire (as Ave have said before) began to decline, but the church of Rome augmented as fast.' And so he proceeds to give an account how the Roman empire declined, and the power of the church of Rome increased, first under the Goths, then under the Lombards, and afterwards by the calling in of the Franks. Here then is a little horn springing up among the other ten horns. The bishop of Rome Avas respectable as a bishop long before, but he did not become a horn properly, (which is an emblem of strength and power,) till he became a temporal prince. He was to "rise after" the other, that is, behind them, as the Greek translates it, Mn> atruv, and as Mr. Mede explains it, 3 so that the ten kings were not aware of the growing up of the little horn, till it overtopped them ; the word in the ori ginal signifying as well behind in place, as after in time ; as also ' post' in Latin is used indifferently /either of place or time. " Three of the first horns," that is, three of th« first kings or kingdoms, were to be "plucked up by the roots," and to "fall before him." And these three, according to Mr. Mede, ' were those Avhose dominions extended into Italy, and so stood in his light ; .first, that of the Greeks, whose emperor Leo Isaurus, for the quarrel of image-worship, he excommunicated, and made his subjects of Italy revolt from their allegiance : se condly, that of the Longobards, (successor to the Ostrogoths,) Avhose kingdom he caused by the aid of the Franks to be wholly ruined and extirpated, thereby to get the exarchate of Ravenna, (which since the revolt from the Greeks the Longo bards were seized on,) for a patrimony to St. Peter: thirdly, •he last was the kingdom of the Franks itself, continued in the 2 Machiavel's Hist, of Florence, b. 1, p. 6, ofthe English translation. 3 Mede's Works, b. 4, epist. 24, p. 778, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 217 empire of Germany ; whose emperors from the days of Henry the Fourth he excommunicated, deposed and trampled under his feet, and never suffered to live in rest, till he made them not only to quit their interest in the election of popes and in vestitures of bishops, but that remainder also of jurisdiction in Italy, AvhereAvith together with the Roman name he had once infeoffed their predecessors. These Avere the kings by displanting or (as the Vulgar hath it) humbling of whom the pope got elbow- room by degrees, and advanced himself to that height of tem poral majesty and absolute greatness, which made him so terrible in the Avorld.' Sir Isaac Newton reckons them up with some variation. ' Kings,' 4 saith he, ' are put for kingdoms, as above ; and there fore the little horn is a little kingdom. It was a horn of the fourth beast, and rooted up three of his first horns ; and therefore we are to look for it among the nations of the Latin empire, after the rise of the ten horns. In the eighth century, by rooting up and subduing the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the senate and dukedom of Rome, he acquired Peter's patrimony out of their dominions : and thereby rose up as a temporal prince or king, or horn of the fourth beast.' Again, 'ItAvas certainly by the victory of the see of Rome over the Greek emperor, the king of Lombardy, and the senate of Rome, that she acquired Peter's patrimony, and rose up to her greatness.' Jn both these schemes there is something to be approved, and something perhaps to be disapproved. In Mr. Mede's plan it is to be approved, that the three kingdoms which he proposeth, are mentioned in his first table of the ten king doms ; but then it may be questioned whether the kingdom of the Franks or Germans in Italy can be said properly to have been "plucked up by the roots" through the power or policy of the popes. There were indeed long struggles and contests betAveen the popes and emperors ; but did the pope ever so totally prevail over the emperors, as to extirpate and eradicate them out of Italy, (for so the original Avord signifies,) 6 and to seize and annex their dominions to his own 1 If all history answers in the affirmative, as it hath been said, it would be easy to point out the time or times. But for my part, I recol lect no period when the pope dispossessed the emperor of all his Italian dominions, and united them to the estates of the church, and enjoyed them as such for any time. The emperor possesseth dominions in Italy to this day. In Sir Isaac Newton's plan it is to be approved, that the three kingdoms which he proposeth, were " plucked up by the roots," were totally sub- * Sir Isaac Newton's Observ. on Daniel, chap. 7, p. 74, et 75, et 76 6 *lpU Evellere, exstirpare, eradicare. Buxtorf. 19 2C 218 BISHOP NEWTON dued by the popes, and possessed as parts of Peter's patK mony : but then it may be objected, that: only two of the three are mentioned in his first catalogue of the ten kingdoms, the senate and dukedom of Rome being not included in the num ber. There were not only three horns to be plucked up before the little horn, but " three of the first horns." We have there fore exhibited a catalogue of the ten kingdoms, as they stood in the eighth century ; and therein are comprehended the three states or kingdoms, which constituted the pope's dominions, and which we conceive to be the same as Sir Isaac Newton did, the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the state of Rome. First, the exarchate of Ravenna, which of right belonged to the Greek emperors, and which was the capital of their domi nions in Italy, having revolted at the instigation of the pope, was unjustly seized by Aistulphus king of the Lombards,6 who thereupon thought of making himself master of Italy. The pope in this exigency applied for help to Pipin king of France, who marched into Italy, besieged the Lombards in Pavia, and forced them to surrender the exarchate and other territories, which were not restored to the Greek emperor, as in justice they ought to have been, but at the solicitation of the pope were given to St. Peter and his successors for a perpetual suc cession. Pope Zachary had acknowledged Pipin, usurper of the crown of France, as lawful sovereign ; and iioav Pipin in his turn bestowed a principality, which was another's properly, upon Pope Stephen II. the successor of Zachary. 'And so,' as Platina says,7 ' the name of the exarchate, which had con tinued from the time of Narses to the taking of Ravenna by Aistulphus an hundred and seventy years, was extinguished.' This Avas affected in the year 755, according to Sigonius. And henceforward the popes, being now become temporal princes, did no longer date their epistles and bulls by the years of the em peror's reign, but by the years of their own advancement to the iapal chair. Secondly, the kingdom of the Lombards Avas often trouble some to the popes : and now again 8 king Desiderius invaded the territories of Pope Adrian I. So that the pope was obliged to have recourse again to the king of France, and earnestly in vited Charles the Great, the son and successor of Pipin, to come translated and continued by Sir Paul Ry- 774. Platina in Adrian I. Abrege ChrO' caut, in Stephen II. Sir Isaac Newton's nologique par Mezeray, Charlema Observations on Daniel, chap. 7. Voltaire 23, ann, 772 — 774. Sir Isaac \ of the origin of the power of the popes, in the Observations on Daniel, chap. 7, p ON THE PROPHECIES. 219 into Italy to his assistance. He came accordingly with a great army, being ambitious also himself of enlarging his dominions in Italy, and conquered the Lombards, and put an end to their kingdom, and gave great part of their dominions to the pope. He not only confirmed the former donations of his father Pipin, but also made an addition of other countries to them, as Corsica, Sar dinia, Sicily, the Sabine territory, the whole tract between Lucca and Parma, and that part of Tuscany which belonged to the Lombards : and the tables of these donations he signed himself, and caused them to be signed by the bishops, abbots, and other great men then preseut, and laid them so signed upon the altar of St. Peter. And this 9 was the end of the kingdom of the Lom bards, in the 206th year after their possessing Italy, and in the year of Christ 774. Thirdly, the state of Rome, though subject to the popes in things spiritual, was yet in things temporal governed by the senate and people, who after their defection from the eastern emperors, still retained many of their old privileges, and elected both the western emperor and the popes. After ' Charles the Great had overthrown the kingdom of the Lombards, he came again to Rome, and Avas there, by the pope, bishops, abbots, and people of Rome, chosen Roman patrician, which is the degree of honour and power next to the emperor. He then settled the affairs of Italy, and permitted the pope to hold under him the duchy of Rome, Avith other territories : but after a few years, the 2 Romans, desirous to recover their liberty, conspired against Pope Leo III. accused him of many great crimes, and impri soned him. His accusers were heard on a day appointed, before Charles and a council of French and Italian bishops : but the pope, without pleading his own cause or making any defence, Avas acquitted, his accusers were slain or banished, and he him self was declared superior to all human judicature. And thus the foundation Avas laid for the absolute authority of the pope over the Romans, which was completed by degrees ; and Charles in return was chosen emperor of the west. However,3 after the death of Charles the Great, the Romans again conspired against the pope ; but Lewis the Pious, the son and successor of Charles, acquitted him again. In the mean while Leo was dangerously ill : which as soon as the Romans his enemies perceived, they rose again, burnt and#plundered his villas, and thence marched to Rome to recover what things they complained were taken 9 'Atque hie quidem finis regni Longobar- ' Sigonius, ibid. Ann. 798—801. Pla- dorum in Italia fuit, anno postquam Italiam tina in Leo III. Mezeray, ibid. Ann. 799, occupaverant, ducentesimo sexto, Christi &c. Sir Isaac Newton, ibid. Voltaire of vero soptingentesimo septua^esimo quarto.' the revival of the empire ofthe west, in the Sigonius in fine libi'i tertii. " first part of his General History of Europe. 1 Sigonius de regno Ital. 1. 4,. Ann. 774. a Sigonius, ibid. Anno 814, 815. Mezeray, ibid. 220 BISHOP NEWTON from them by force ; but they were repressed by some of the emperor's troops. The same 4 emperor, Lewis the Pious, at the request of Pope Paschal, confirmed the donations which his father and grandfather had made to the see of Rome. Sigonius has recited the confirmation ; and therein are mentioned Rome and its duchy, containing part of Tuscany and Campania, Ra venna, with the exarchate and Pentapolis, and the other part of Tuscany and the countries taken from the Lombards: and all these are granted to the pope and his successors to the end of the world, ' ut in suo detineant jure, principatu, atque ditione,' that they should hold them in their own right, principality, and do minion. These, as we conceive, were the three horns, " three of the first horns," which fell before the little horn : and the pope hath in a manner pointed himself out for the person by wearing the triple crown. 4. In other respects too the pope fully answers the character of the little horn ; so that if exquisite fitness of application may assure us of the true sense of the prophecy, we can no longer doubt concerning the person. He is a little horn : and the poAver of the popes Avas originally very small, and their temporal do minions were little and inconsiderable in comparison with others of the ten horns. " He shall be divers from the first," (ver. 24.) The Greek and Arabic translate it, that5 he shall exceed in wickedness all before him ; and so most of the fathers, who made use only of the Greek translation, understood it ; but it rather signifies that his kingdom shall be of a different nature and constitution : And the power of the pope differs greatly from that of all other princes, being an ecclesiastical and spi ritual, as well as a civil and temporal authority. " And be hold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man," (ver. 8.) To denote his cunning and foresight, his looking out and watch ing all opportunities to promote Ins own interests : And the po licy of the Roman hierachy hath almost passed into a proverb ; the pope is properly an overlooker or overseer, Mums or bishop, in the literal sense of the word. " He had a mouth speaking very great things," (ver. 8, 20.) And who hath been more noisy and blustering than the pope, especially in former ages, boast ing of his supremacy, thundering out his bulls and anathemas:, excommunicating princes, and • absolving subjects from their allegiance 1 " His look Avas more stout than his fellows," (ver. 20.) And the pope assumes a superiority not only over his fellow bishops, but even over crowned heads, and requires his foot to be kissed, and greater honours to be paid to him than to kings and emperors themselves. — " And he shall speak great 4 Sigonius, ibid. Ann. 817. Sir Isaac ' "Of vxtpolasi kuko'is Tivras robs EprpoaBcv. Newton's Observations on Daniel, c. 7, p. Gr. " Qui malis omnes pradecessores suou gg superabit." Arab. ON THE PROPHECIES. 221 words against the Most High," (ver. 25,) or as" Symmachus interprets it, he shall speak great words as the Most High ; setting up himself above all laws divine and human, arrogating to him self godlike attributes and titles of holiness and infallibility, ex acting obedience to his ordinances and decrees, in preference to, and open violation of reason and Scripture, insulting men, and blaspheming God. In Gratian's decretals the pope hath the title of God given to him. — "And he shall wear out the saints of the Most High ;" by wars, and massacres, and inquisi tions, persecuting and destroying the faithful servants of Jesus, and the true worshippers of God, who protest against his inno vations, and refuse to comply with the idolatry practised in the church of Rome. — " And he shall think to change times and laws :" appointing fasts and feasts, canonizing saints, granting pardons and indulgences for sins, instituting new modes of worship, imposing new articles of faith, enjoining new rules of practice, and reversing at pleasure the laws both of God and men. — " And they shall be given into his hand, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time." " A time," all agree, sig nifies a year ; and "a time, and times, and the dividing of time," or half a time, are three years and a half. So long and no longer, as the Romanists conceive, the power of Antichrist will con tinue; but it is impossible for all the things which are pre dicted of Antichrist to be fulfilled in so short a space of time ; and neither is Antichrist or the little horn a single man, but a kingdom. Single men are not the subjects of this prophecy, but kingdoms. The four kings, (ver. 17,) are not four single kings, but kingdoms; and so the ten horns or kings, (ver. 24,) are not ten single kings, but kingdoms; and so likewise the little horn is not a single king, but a kingdom, not a single man, but a succession of men, exercising such poAvers, and perform ing such actions as are here described. We must therefore compute the time according to the nature and genius of the prophetic language. A time, then, and times, and half a time, are three years and a half: and the ancient JeAvish year consisting of twelve months, and each month of thirty days, a time, and times, and half a time, or three years and a half, are reckoned in the Revelation, (xi. 2, 3 ; xii. 6, 14,) as equivalent to " forty and two months," or " a thousand tAvo hundred and threescore days ;" and a day in the style of the prophets is a year ; " I have ap pointed thee each day for a year," saith God to Ezekiel, (iv. 6 ;) and it is confessed, that the seventy weeks in the ninth chap ter of Daniel are weeks of years; and consequently 1260 days are 1260 years. So long Antichrist or the little horn will con tinue : but from Avhat point of time the commencement of these " ' Sive ut interpretatus est Symmachus : sermones quasi Deus loquelur.' Hieron. Com ment, in loc. 19* 222 .BISHOP NEWTON 1260 years is to be dated, is not so easy to determine. It should seem that they are to be computed from the full establishment of the power of the pope, and no less is implied in the expression " given into his hand." Now the power of the pope, as a horn or temporal prince, it hath been shown, was established in the eighth century : and 1260 years from that time will lead us down to about the year of Christ 2000, or about the 6000th year of the world : and there is an 7 old tradition both among Jews and Christians, that at the end of six thousand years the Messiah shall come, and the world shall be renewed, the reign of the wicked one shall cease, and the reign of the saints upon earth shall begin. But as 8 Irenaeus saith in a like case, it is surer and safer to wait for the completion of the prophecy, than to conjecture and to di vine about it. When the end shall come, then we shall know better whence to date the beginning. V. All these kingdoms will be succeeded by the kingdom of the Messiah. " I beheld, (saith Daniel, ver. 9, 10,) till the thrones were cast down, (or rather 9 till the thrones were set,) and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool ; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him ; thousand thousands mi nistered unto him : and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him : the judgment was set, (or the judges did sit,) and the books were opened." These metaphors and 'figures are bor rowed from the solemnities of earthly judicatories, and particularly of the great Sanhedrim of the Jews, where the father of the con sistory sat, with his assessors seated on each side of him in the form of a semicircle, and the people standing before him : and from this description again was borrowed the description of the day of judgment in the New Testament. " I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake ; I beheld, even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame," (ver. 11.) The beast will be destroyed, " because of the great words which the horn spake," and the destruction of the beast will also be the destruction of the horn ; and consequently the horn is a part oi the fourth beast, or of the Roman empire. " As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time," (ver. 12.) When the dominion was taken away from the other beasts, their bodies ' S. Barnabss Epist. c- 15, cumnotisCo- mare. Iren. 1. 5, c. SO. telerii. Burnet's Theory, b. 3, c. 5. 9 "Donee throni posita sunt." Vulg. "Ems 8 'Ao-qjaXEo-TEpov oSv Kal aKivSvvbrcpov, rb Stov ol Bpbvoi ET&no-av. |Sept. "Videbam Tcpiptvsiv ti)v EK$aaiv rrjs irpotpnTEias, r) ri) subsellia posita esse." Syr. " Series posita KaTaOTovd^EaBai Kal KarapavTsliEaBai. Cer- fuerunt." Arab. And the same word is, used tins ergo et sine perieulo est, sustinere ad im- in the Chaldee paraphrase of Jer. i. 15, they pletionem prophetice, quam suspicari et divi- shall set every one his throne. ON THE PROPHECIES. 223 Avere not destroyed, they Avere suffered to continue still in being : but when the dominion shall be taken away from this beast, his body shall totally be destroyed ; because other kingdoms suc ceeded to those, but none other earthly kingdom shall succeed to this. " I saw in the night-visions, and behold, one like the Son of man, came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him," (ver. 13.) How strange and forced, how absurd and unworthy of Grotius is it to apply this to the Romans, Avhich hath always been, and can only be properly understood of the Messiah 1 From hence the Son of man came to be a 1 known phrase for the Messiah among the Jews. From hence it was taken and used so frequently in the Gospels : and our Saviour intimates himself to be this very Son of Man, in saying, (Matt. xxvi. 64, 65,) " Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven ;" and thereupon he was charged by the high priest with haAring " spoken blasphemy." " And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king dom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that. which shall not be destroyed," (ver. 14.) All these kingdoms shall in their turns be destroyed, but the kingdom of the Messiah shall stand for ever : and it was ir allusion to this prophecy, that the angel said of Jesus before he was conceived in the Avomb, (Luke i. 33,) "He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." After What manner these great changes will be effected, Ave cannot pretend to say, as God hath not been pleased to reveal it. We see the remains of the ten horns, which arose out of the Roman Empire. We see the little horn still subsisting, though not in full strength and vigour, but as Ave hope upon the decline, and tending towards a dissolution. And having seen so many of these particulars accomplished, we can have no reason to doubt that the rest also Avill be fulfilled in due season, though we cannot frame any conception how Christ will be manifested in glory, hoAV the little horn with the body of the fourth beast Avill be given to the burning flame, or how the saints will take the kingdom, and possess it for ever and ever. It is the nature of such pro phecies not to be perfectly understood, till they are fulfilled. The best comment upon them will be their completion. It may yet add some farther light to these prophecies, if Ave compare this and the former together ; for comparing Scripture with Scripture is the best way to understand both the one and 1 See Jewish authors cited even by Grotius and Bp. Chandler in his Defence of Chris" tianity, c. 2, § 1, p. 108, 3d edit. 224 BISHOP NEWTON the other. Whatytras represented to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, was represented again to Daniel by four great wild beasts : and the beasts degenerate, as the metals in the image grow Avorse and worse, the lower they descend. " This unage's head Avas of fine gold," and "the first beast was like a lion Avith eagle's wings ;" and these answer to each other ; and both represented the poAvers then reigning, or the kingdom of the Babylonians : but it appeared in splendour and glory to Nebuchadnezzar, as it was then in its flourishing condition ; the plucking of its icings and its humiliation were shewn to Daniel, as it was then drawing near to its fatal end. " The breast and arms of silver," and " the second beast like a bear," were designed to represent the second kingdom, or that of the Medes and Persians. The " two arms" are supposed to denote the two people ; but some farther particulars were hinted to Daniel, of the one people rising up above the other people, and of the conquest of three additional kingdoms. To Nebuchad nezzar, this kingdom Avas called " inferior," or worse than the former ; and to Daniel it was described as very cruel, " Arise, devour much flesh." The third kingdom, or that of the Macedonians, was repre sented by " the belly and thighs of brass," and by " the third beast like a leopard with four wings of a fowl." It was said to Nebuchadnezzar, that " it should bear rule over all the earth ;" and in Daniel's vision, " dominioinwas given to it." The " four heads" signify Alexander's four successors ; but the " two thighs" can only signify the two principal of them, the Seleucidae and La gidae, the Syrian and Egyptian Kings. " The legs of iron," and " the fourth beast with great iron teeth," correspond exactly ; and as " iron breaketh in pieces" all other metals, so the fourth beast devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue vrith the feet of it ; and they were both therefore equally proper representatives of the fourth kingdom, or the Roman, which was stronger and more powerful than all the former kingdoms. The " ten toes" too and the " ten horns" were alike fit emblems of the ten kingdoms, which arose out of the division of the Roman empire ; but all that relates to, " the little horn" was revealed only to Daniel, as a person more immediately interested in the fate of the church. The " stone, that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and became itself a mountain, and filled the whole earth," is explained to be a kingdom which shall prevail over all other kingdoms, and become universal and everlasting. In like manner, " one like the Son of man came to the Ancient of days," and was advanced to a kingdom, which shall prevail likewise over all other kingdoms, and become umYersal and everlasting. Such concord and agreement is there between these prophe- ON THE PROPHECIES. 225 eies.of Daniel, which remarkable as they are .in many things, are in nothing more remarkable than that they comprehend so many distant events, and extend through so many ages, from the reign of the Babylonians to the consummation of all things. They are truly, as 9 Mr. Mede called them, ' the sacred calendar and great almanac of prophecy, a prophetical chronology of times, measured by the succession of four principal kingdoms, from the beginning of the captivity of Israel, until the mystery of God should be finished.' They are as it were the great outlines, the rest mostly are filling up the parts : and as these will cast light upon the subsequent prophecies, so the subsequent prophecies will reflect light upon them again. Daniel was " much troubled, (ver. 28,) and his countenance changed in him," at the foresight of the calamities to be brought, upon the church by the little horn : " but he kept the matter in his heart." Much more may good men be grieved at the sight of these calamities, and lament the prevalence of popery and Avickedness in the world : but let them keep it in their heart, that a time of just retribution will certainly, come. The proof may be drawn from the moral attributes of God, as well as from his promise, (ver. 26, 27 :) " The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall serve and obey him." INTRODUCTION TO THE LECTURE FOUNDED ET THE HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE, JAN. 5, 1756. THERE is not a stronger or more convincing proof of divine revelation, ''than the sure word of prophecy. But to the truth of prophecy it is objected, that the predictions Avere written after the events ; and could it be proved as well as asserted, it would really be an insuperable objection. It was thought therefore that a greater service could not be done to the cause of Christianity, than by an induction of particulars, to show, that the predictions were prior to the events; nay that several prophecies have been fulfilled in these latter ages, and are fulfilling even at this present time : And for the farther prosecution and the better encouragement of this work, I have been called to preach these lectures, by the favour and recom mendation of the great prelate, who having himself written most 9 Mede's AVorks, b. 3, p. 654. 2D 226 BISHOP NEWTON excellently of the use and intent of prophecy, is also willing to reward and encourage any one who bestows his time and pains upon the same subject. The ready and gracious con currence of the other trustees ' was an additional honour and favour, and is deserving of the most grateful acknowledgements. Engaging in this service may indeed have retarded the publi cation of these discourses longer than was intended ; but per haps they may be the better for the delay, since there have been more frequent occasions to review and reconsider them ; and time corrects and improves works as well as generous wines, at least affords opportunities of correcting and improving them. • This work hath already been deduced to the prophecies of Daniel : and as some time and pains have been employed in explaining some parts of his prophecies, and more Avill be taken in explaining other parts ; it may be proper, before we proceed, to consider the principal objections which have been made to the genuineness of the book of Daniel. It was before asserted, that the. first who called in question the truth and authenticity of Daniel's prophecies, was the famous Porphyry, who maintained that they were written about the time of Antiochus Epiphanes : but he was amply refuted by Jerome,2 and hath been and will be more amply refuted still in the course of these dissertations. A modern infidel hath followed Porphyry's example, and his Scheme of Literal Prophecy hath heaped together all that he could find or invent against the book of Daniel, and hath comprised the whole in eleven objec tions, in order to show that the book was written about the time of the Maccabees : but he likewise hath been refuted to the satisfaction of every intelligent and impartial reader ; as indeed there never were any arguments urged in favour of infidelity, but better were always produced in support of truth. The substance of his 3 objections and of the answers to him 1 The trustees appointed by Mr. Boyle tee, appointed to succeed him in the said himself, were Sir John Rotheram, Serjeant at trust, William, then Marquis of Ilartington, law, Sir Henry Ashurst of London, Knt. and now Duke of Devonshire, Dr. Thomas Sher- Bart. Thomas Tenison, D. D. afterwards lock, Lord Bishop of London, Dr. Martin ' Archbishop of Canterbury, and John Eve- Benson, Lord Bishop of Glocester, Dr. Tho- lyn, Esq. — Archbishop Tenison, the survivor mas Seeker, Lord Bishop of Oxford, now of these, nominated and appointed for trus- Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Honour- tees Richard Earl of Burlington ; Dr. Ed- able Richard Arundell, Esq.; of whom Bi- mund Gibson, then Archdeacon of Surrey, shop Benson died before, and Mr. Arundell afterwards Lord Bishop of London ; Dr. since the appointment of the present lec- Charles Trimnel, then Bishop of Norwich, turer. afterwards Bishop of Winchester; Dr. 2 Hieron. Comment, in Dan. White Kennet, then Dean, afterwards Bi- ' See Collin's Scheme of Literal Pro- shop of Peterborough; and Dr. Samuel phecy,p. 149 — 157. Bishop Chandler's Vin- Bradford, then Rector of St. Mary le Bow, dication, p. 4 — 157. Sam. Chandler's Vindi- afterwards Bishop of Rochester. The Earl cation, p. 3 — 60. of Burlington, being the only surviving trus- ON THE PROPHECIES. 227 may with truth and candour be represented in the following manner. 1. It is objected, that the famous Daniel, mentioned by Ezekiel, could not be the author of the book of Daniel ; be cause Ezekiel, who prophecied in the fifth year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, implies Daniel at that time to be a person in years ; whereas the book of Daniel speaks of Daniel at that time as a youth. But here the objector is either ignorantly or wilfully guilty of gross misrepresentation. For Ezekiel did not prophecy in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, nor in the reign of Jehoiakim at all ; but he began to prophecy in the " fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity," the son and successor of Je hoiakim, (Ezek. i. 2,) that is eleven years after. When Daniel Avas first carried into captivity, he might be a youth about eighteen : 4 but when Ezekiel magnified his piety and wisdom, (chap. xiv. and xxviii.) he was betAveen thirty and forty : and several years before that he had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and was advanced, (Dan. ii. 48,) to be "ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the Avise men of Babylon ;" and was therefore very fit and worthy to be celebrated by his fellow-captive Ezekiel. 2. His second objection is, that Daniel is represented in the book of Daniel as living chiefly at the courts of the kings of Babylon and Persia ; and yet the names of the several kings of his time are all mistaken in the book of Daniel. It is also more suited to a fabulous writer than to a contemporary his torian, to talk of Nebuchadnezzar's dwelling with the beasts of the held, and eating grass like oxen, &c. and then returning again to the government of his kingdom. Here are tAvo objections con founded in one. As to the mistake of the kings' names, there are only four kings mentioned in the book of, Daniel, Nebu chadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius the Mede, and Cyrus. Of the first and last there was never any doubt ; and the other tAvo may be rightly named, though they are named differently by the Greek historians, Avho yet differ as much one from another, as from Daniel. It is well known that the eastern monarchs had several names ; and one might be made use of by one writer, another by another. It, is plainly begging the ques tion to presume without farther proof, that Daniel was not the oldest of these Avriters, and had not better opportunities of knowing the names than any of them. As to the case of Nebuchadnezzar, it is related indeed in the prophetic figurative style. It is the interpretation of a dream, and stript of its figures the plain meaning is, that Nebuchadnezzar should be punished with madness, should fancy himself a beast and live like a beast, should be made to eat grass as oxen, be obliged to " Prideaux's Connection, part 1, b. 1. 228 BISHOP NEWTON live upon a vegetable diet, but after some time should recover his reason, and resume the government. And what is there fabulous or absurd in this 1 The dream was not of Daniel's inditing, but was told by Nebuchadnezzar himself. The dream is in a poetic strain, and so likewise is the interpretation, the bet ter to shoAV hoAV the one corresponded Avith the other, and how the prophecy and event agreed together. 3. He objects that the book of Daniel could not be written by that Daniel who was carried captive in the Babylonish captivity, because it abounds with derivations from the Greek, which language was unknown to the JeAvs till long after the captivity. The assertion is false that the book of Daniel abounds with derivations from the Greek. There is an affinity only between some few Avords in the Greek and the Chaldee language : and Avhy must they be derived the one from the other 1 or if derived, Avhy should not the Greeks derive them from the Chaldee, rather than the Chaldees from the Greek? If the words in question could be shown to be of Greek ex traction, yet there was some communication between the eastern kingdoms and the colonies of the Greeks settled in Asia Minor before Nebuchadnezzar's time ; and so some par ticular terms might pass from the Greek into the oriental lan guages. But on the contrary, the words in question are shown to be not of Greek but of eastern derivation ; and consequently passed from the east to the Greeks, rather than from the Greeks to the east. Most of the words are names of musical instru ments ; and the Greeks5 acknowledge that they received their music from the eastern nations, from whence they themselves originally descended. 4. It doth not appear, says the objector, that the book of Daniel was translated into Greek when the other books of the Old Testament were, which are attributed to the Seventy ; the present Greek version, inserted in the Septuagint, being taken from Theodotion's translation of the Old Testament made in the second century of Christ. But it doth appear, that there Avas an ancient Greek version of Daniel, Avhich is attributed to the Seventy, as well as the version of the other books of the Old Testament. It is cited by Clemens Romanus, Justin Mar tyr, and many of the ancient fathers. It Avas inserted in Origen, and filled a column of his Hexapla It is quoted several times by Jerome ; and he saith expressly that the version of the Se venty was repudiated by the doctors of the church, and that of Theodotion substituted in the room of it, because it came nearer 6 Kai rip Atovvaw rr)v 'Aaiav bX-nv Kadtspti- magnam quoque musical partem inde transfe- ravrEs ptxP1- T''s 'I1"5"ti!S> Ike'iSev Kal rr)v mX- runt. Strabo, 1. 10, p. 722. Vide etiam Athe- Xbv povniKiiv pETatbipovat. Et cum Baccho naei, 1. 14, p. 625, &c. totam Adam, ad Indiam usque eonsecraverini ON THE PROPHECIES. 229 to the HebreAV verity." This version hath also been lately pub lished from an ancient MS. discovered in the Chighian library at Rome. 5. It is objected that divers matters of fact are spoken of Avith the clearness of history, to the times of Antiochus Epi phanes, who is very particularly dwelt upon, and that with great and seeming fresh resentment for his barbarous usage of the Jews : and this clearness determined Porphyry, and would de termine any one to think, that the book was written about the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, the author appearing to be well acquainted with things doAvn to the death of Antiochus, but not farther. But what an argument is this against the book of Daniel'? His prophecies are clear, and therefore are no pro phecies : as if an all-knowing God could not foretell things clearly ; or as if there Avere not many predictions in other pro phets, as clear as any in Daniel. If his prophecies extend not loAver , or the goafs people. This observation is likeAvise owing to the most excel lent Mr.iMede ; 6 and to this may be added that the city iEgeee or iEgae, was the usual burying-place 7 of the Macedonian kings. It is also very remarkable, that Alexander's son by Roxana was named Alexander JEgus, or the son of the goat ; and 8 some of Alexander's successors are represented in their coins Avith goafs horns. This he-goat " came from the west :" and who is igno rant that Europe lieth westward of Asia 1 He came " on the face of the whole earth," carrying every thing before him in all the three parts of the world then known : " and he touched not the ground," his marches were so swift and his conquests so e 'Nee deesse videtur hujusmodi allusionis bem Edessam non sentientibus oppidanis exemplum apud Danielem, c. 8, ubi Mace- propter imbrium et nebulae magnitudinem, dones, qui tunc temporis jEgeades (hoc est, gregem caprarum imbrem fugientium secu- Caprini) dicebantur, typo caprarum, rexque tus, occupavit : revocatusque in memoriam hirci figuradesignatur. " Ecce," inquit, "hir- oraculi, quo jussus erat ducibus capris im- cus caprarum (id est, caprarum maritus) perium queerere, regni sedem statuit ; reli- venit ab occidente, &c." Innuit autem Alex- gioseque postea observavit, quocunque ag- andrum magnum, JEgeadum regem. Illi men moveret, ante signa easdem capras Macedones sunt. Ita enim gens ista voca- habere, caeptorum duces habiturus quas reg- batur qua prima regni sedes erat, a Carano ni habuerat authqres. Urbem Edessam ob conditore, ducentis plus minus ante Danie- memoriam muneris ^E^eas,popu]um JEgea- 'era annis. Occasionem nominis ex Trogo dusvocavit.' Vide caetera. Mede's Works, refert epitomator Justinus, 1. 7, c. 1, cujus b. 3, Comment. Apoc. p. 473, 474. verba ascribere non gravabor. 'Caranus,' ' Plin. 1. 4, c. 10, §17. Vide etiam notas inquit, 'cum magna multitudine Graecorum, Harduini. sedes in Macedonia responso oraculi jussus B Spanheim. de Usu Numismatum, vol. 1, aurorere, cum in .rEmathiam venisset ur- Dissert. 7, p. 389 et 399. ON THE PROPHECIES. 239 rapid, that he might be said in a manner to fly over the ground without touching it. For the same reason the same empire in the former vision Avas likened to a leopard, Avhich is a swift nim ble animal, and to denote the greater quickness and impetu osity, to a leopard with four wings. " And the goat had a nota ble hom between his eyes ;" this horn, saith the angel, " is the first king," or kingdom of the Greeks in Asia, Avhich Avas erected by Alexander the Great, and continued for some years in his brother Philip Aridaeus and his two young sons Alexander iEgus and Hercules. Dean Prideaux, speaking of the sAviftness of Alexander's marches, hath a passage 9 which is very pertinent to our present purpose. ' He fleAV with victory swifter than others can travel, often Avith his horse pursuing his enemies upon the spur whole days and nights, and sometimes making long marches for several days, one after the other, as once he did in pursuit of Darius, of near forty miles a day for eleven days together. So that by the speed of his marches he came upon his enemy be fore they Avere aAvare of him, and conquered them before they could be in a posture to resist him. Which exactly agreeth with the description given of him in the prophecies of Daniel some ages before, he being in them set forth under the similitude of a panther, or leopard with four Avings : for he was impetuous and fierce in his warlike expeditions, as a panther after his prey, and came on upon his enemies with that speed, as if he flew with a double pair of wings. And to this purpose he is in another place of those prophecies compared to an he-goat coming from the west, with that swiftness upon the king of Media and Persia, that he seemed as if his feet did not touch the ground. And his actions, as well in this comparison as in the former, fully verified the prophecy.' In the two next verses Ave have an account of the Grecians overthrowing the Persian empire, (ver. 6, 7.) "And he came to the ram that had two herns, which 1 had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns, and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him ; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand." The ram had before pushed westward, and the Persians in the reigns of Darius Hystaspis and Xerxes ' had poured down Avith great armies into Greece ; but now the Grecians in return carried their arms into Asia, and the he-goat invaded the ram that had invaded him. "And he came to the ram that had tAvo horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power." One can hardly read these » Prideaux Connect, part 1, b. 8, Ann. 330. Alexander 2. ' Herod. 1. 6, et 7. ,240 BISHOP NEWTON words Avithout having some image of Darius's army standing and guarding the ri\rer Granicus,2 and of Alexander on the other side Avith his forces plunging in, swimming across the stream, and rushing on the enemy with all the fire and fury that can be imagined. It Avas certainly a strange, rash, mad attempt, with only about thirty-five thousand men, to attack, at such disad vantage, an army of more than five times the number : but he Avas successful in it, and this success diffused a terror of his name, and opened his Avay to the conquest of Asia. " And I saw him come close unto the ram :" he had several close en gagements or set battles Avith the king of Persia, and parti cularly at the river Granicus in Phrygia, at the straits of Issus in Cilicia, and in the plains of Arbela in Assyria. "And he Avas moved with choler against him," for 3 the cruelties which the Persians had exercised towards the Grecians : and for 4 Darius's attempting to corrupt sometimes his soldiers to betray him, and sometimes his friends to destroy him ; so that he would not listen to the most advantageous offers of peace, but determined to pursue the Persian king, not as a generous and noble enemy, but as a poisoner and a murderer, to the death that he deserved. " And he smote the ram, and brake his two horns:" he subdued Persia and Media, Avith the other provinces and kingdoms of the Persian empire; and it is memorable, that in5 Persia he barbarously sacked and burned the royal city of Persepolis, the capital of the empire; and in6 Media, Darius was seized and made a prisoner by some of his oAvn traitor-subjects, who not long afterwards basely murdered him. "And there was no poAver in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the, ground' and stamped upon him ;" he conquered Avherever he came, routed all the forces, took all the cities and castles, and entirely subverted and ruined the Persian empire. " And there Avas none that could deliver the ram out of his hand;" not even his numerous armies could defend the king of Persia, though his forces 7 in the battle of Issus amounted to six hundred thousand men, and 8 in that of Arbela to ten or eleven hundred thousand, whereas the 9 whole number of Alexander's Avas not more than forty-seven thou sand in either engagement. So true is the observation of the Psalmist, (xxxiii, 16.) " there is no king saved by the multi- 2 Arrian. de Exped. Alex. 1. I, c. 14, &c. persequendus est, non ut Justus hostis, sed 'Sic Granicum, tot millibus equitum pedi- ut percussor veneficus.' tumque in ulteriore stantibus ripa, superavit.' 6 Diod. Sic. 1. 17, c. 70. Quint. Curt. Quint. Curt. I. 4 c. 9. 1. 5, c. 6, et 7. 3 Diod. Sic. 1. 17, c. 69. Quint. Curt. e Quint. Curt. 1. 5, c. 8, &c. 1. 5 c. 6. * Arrian. de Exped. Alex. 1. 2, c. 8. Plu- 4Quint. Curt 1. 4, c. 11. 'Verum enim- tarch. in Alex. § 18. vero, quum modo milites meos Uteris ad pro- 8 Plutarch, in Alex. § 31. Diod. Sic. 1. 17, ditionem, modo amicos ad perniciem meam c. 63. Rhod. Arrian. 1. 3, c. 8. pecunia solicitet; ad internecionem mihi 9 Polyb. 1. 12, §19. Arrian. 1. 3, c. 12. ON THE PROPHECIES. 241 tude of an host :" and especially when God hath declared the fall of empires, then even the greatest must fall. The fortune of Alexander, of Avhich so much hath been said ; 1 Plutarch hath written a whole treatise about it ; the fortune of Alexander, I say, Avas nothing but the providence of God. When Alexander was at Jerusalem, these prophecies were shown to him by the high-priest, according to the 2 relation of Josephus. For while Alexander lay at the siege of Tyre, he sent to Jaddua the high-priest at Jerusalem to demand provi sions for his army, and the tribute that was annually paid to Darius. But the high-priest refused to comply with these de mands, by reason of his oath of allegiance to the king of Persia. Alexander therefore in great rage vowed to revenge himself upon the Jews : and as soon as he had taken Tyre and Gaza, he marched against Jerusalem. The high-priest, in this imminent danger, had recourse to God by sacrifices and supplications : and as he was directed in a vision of the night, he went forth the next day in his pontifical robes, with all the priests in their proper habits, and the people in white apparel, to meet the conqueror, and to make their submissions to him. As soon as the king saw the high-priest coming to him in this solemn procession, he ad vanced eagerly to meet him, and bowing down himself before him, received him with religious awe and veneration. All pre sent were astonished at this behaviour of the king, so contrary to their expectation ; and Parmenio in particular demanded the reason of it, why he, whom all others adored, should pay such adoration to the Jewish high-priest. Alexander replied, that he paid not this adoration to him, but to that God whose priest he was : for while he was at Dio, in Macedonia, and was medi tating upon his expedition against the king of Persia, there ap peared unto him in a dream this very man, and in this very habit, inviting him to come over into Asia, and promising him success in the conquest of it : and now he was assured that he had set out upon this expedition under the conduct of God, to whom therefore he payed this adoration in the person of his high-priest. Hereupon he entered Jerusalem in peace, and went up and offered sacrifices to God in the temple, Avhere the high-priest produced and laid before him the prophecies of Daniel, wherein it was written that a king of Grecia should overthrow the Persian empire, which he interpreted of himself. After this he granted peculiar privileges to the Jews, and pro ceeded in his expedition with full confidence and assurance of success. Some persons have rejected this account as fabulous, parti cularly Van Dale, Mr. Moyle, and Collins, who says that it is ' an entire fiction unsupported, and inconsistent with history 1 Tlspl Trjs 'AXE&vSpov riixns- 2 Josephi Antiqu. 1. 11, c. 8. 21 2* 242 BISHOP NEWTON and chronology, and romantic in its circumstances.' 3 Bu. Bishop Lloyd, Dean Prideaux, Bishop Chandler and other: have sufficiently vindicated the truth of the story.4 Even Bayle himself, who was never thought to be over-credulous, admits the fact : and it must be said, though some things are extraor dinary, yet there is nothing incredible in the whole relation. Alexander lay seven months at the siege of Tyre ; in that time he might well want provisions for his army : and it is no won der that he should send for some into Judea, when the Tyrians themselves used to be supplied from thence, (1 Kings v. 9, 11; Ezek. xxvii. 17; Acts xii. 20.) The fidelity of the Jews to Darius, and their regard to their oath6 was nothing more than they practised upon other occasions ; for the same reason 5 they would not submit to Ptolemy, having taken an oath to another governor : and Ptolemy afterwards rewarded them for it in Egypt, and 6 committed the most important garrisons and places of trust to their keeping, thinking that he might safely rely upon them, who had proved themselves so steady and faith ful to their former princes and governors, and particularly to Darius king of Persia. That Alexander was in Judea, I think Ave may collect from other authors. Arrian says,7 that he sub dued all that part of Syria which was called Palestine. Pliny affirms,8 that the balsam-tree, which grew only in Judea, was cut and bled a certain quantity in a day, while Alexander was waging war in those parts. Justin informs us,9 that he Avent into Syria, where many princes of the east met him with their mitres ; upon which passage the note of Isaac Vossius, is very just and pertinent : ' ' I think that Justin had respect to that memorable history, Avhich Josephus relates of Jaddua the high- priest of the Jews.' If Alexander therefore came into Judea, as he certainly did, it was prudent in the Jews, though they re fused, to succour him at a distance, yet to submit to him upon his nearer approach ; it was in vain to withstand the conqueror, and the terror of his name was now become very great by his victories, and especially after the dreadful execution that he 3 Van Dale Dissert. Buper Aristeam, c. %v avrip ra ph &XXa rrjs naXatortvns KaXov- 10. Movie's Letters to Prideaux, p. 26, &c. ptvns Hvpias irpociceYwp^icora r)Sq. Et ccelera vol. 2. Collins's Scheme of literal Prophecy, quidem Syrice, quo3 Paltsstina vocatur, oppida p. 462. in suam potestatem adduxerat. 4 Bishop Lloyd's Letter to Dr. Sherlock. 8 Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 12, c. 25, § 54. 'Alex- Prideaux Connect, and answers to Mr. andro magno res ibi gerente, toto die aestivo Moyle. Bishop Chandler's Vindication of unam concham impleri justum erat.' his Defence, c. 2, § 1, p. 176, &c. Mr. " 'Tunc in Syriam proSciscitur, ubi ob- Sam. Chandler's Vindication of Daniel, p. vios cum infulis multos orientis reges ha- 76, &c. Bayle's Diet. Art. Macedo, Not. U. buit.' Justin. Hist. 1. 11, c. 10, § 6. ' Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, c. 1. ' 'Plito respicere Justinum ad memo. G Joseph, ibid, et contra Apion, 1. 2, rabilem illam historiam, quam Josephus R 4. de Jaddo, summo Judaeorum sacerdote, nar- ' Arrian. de Exped. Alex. 1. 2, c. 25. Kai rat.' ON THE PROPHECIES. 243 had made at Tyre and at Gaza. While Alexander was at Jeru salem, it was natural enough for the high-priest to show him the prophecies of a king of Grecia overcoming the king of Persia. Nothing could be devised more likely to engage his attention, to confirm his hopes, and to conciliate his favour to the whole nation. And for his sacrificing in the temple, it is no more than 2 other heathen princes have done, it is no more than he did in other places. He might perhaps consider God as a local deity, and offer sacrifices to him at Jerusalem, as he did to Her cules at Tyre, and to Jupiter Hammon in Egypt, and to Belus in Babylon. What are then the great objections to the credibility of this story 1 It is pretended, that it is inconsistent with chronology ; for Josephus places this event after the sieges of Tyre and of Gaza, whereas 3 all historians agree that Alexander went directly from Gaza to Egypt in seven days. But the best historians do not ahvays relate facts in the exact order of time, as they hap pened ; they connect things of a sort together, and often mention later occurrences first, reserving what they think more important for the last place : and such possibly might be the intention of Josephus. Eusebius affirms, that Alexander * went after the siege of Tyre immediately to Jerusalem ; and he might have good authority for affirming so, living as he did in Palestine : and with him agree Usher, Prideaux, and the best chronologers. And indeed it is most probable, that Alexander's progress was from Tyre to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to Gaza ; because his resentment of the affront that he had received Avas then fresher in his mind, and Jerusalem lay not much out of the way from Tyre to Gaza, and it Avas not likely that he should leave a place of such strength and importance untaken behind him. But if Josephus was mistaken about two months in point of time, yet such a mistake is not sufficient to shake the credit of his whole relation. What historian is there almost who hath not fallen into a mistake of the like kind. And yet after all Jose phus might not be mistaken, for Alexander might march against Jerusalem from Gaza, either during the siege or after it. Arrian informs us, 5 that while the siege of Tyre was carrying oil, and the machines and ships were building, Alexander with some troops of horse and other forces went into Arabia, and having reduced that part of the country to his obedience partly by force, and partly by treaty, he returned to the camp in eleven days : and Avhy might he not make such an excursion from Gaza for a 2 Joseph, contra Apion. 1. 2, 5 5, 2 Mac- 4 Eusebii Chron. Usher's Annals, p. 214, cab. xiii. 23. 215. Prid. Connect. Part 1, b. 7, Anno 332. 3 Diod. Sic. 1, 17, c. 49. Q,. Curtius, Darius 4. 1. 4, c. 7, § 2. Arrian. 1. 3, c. 1. Plutarch s Arrian. de Exped. Alex. 1. 2, c. 20. in Alex. § 26. 244 BISHOP NEWTON few days, during the two months that his army Avas besieging it 1 or after he had taken the city, why might he not Avith part of the army go to Jerusalem, and leave the other part to rest them selves at Gaza 1 Jerusalem lay at no very great distance from Gaza, and a person of Alexander's expedition might go and return within a very feAV days. The historians say, indeed, that he came into Egypt in seven days after he departed from ¦ Gaza ; but none of them say how long he stayed at Gaza, to refresh his army after the siege. We knoAV from Diodorus, 6 that he stayed long enough to settle the affairs of the country about Gaza ; and why might he not in that time make this visit to Jerusalem 1 Another objection is taken from the silence of authors, who would hardly have passed over so memorable a transaction, if there had been any truth in it : but it is not so much as men tioned by any of the heathen historians ; it is supported en tirely by the testimony of Josephus. But if Ave reject all relations, which rest upon the credit of a single historian, an cient history will be shrunk into a very narrow compass. There were numerous writers of the life and actions of Alex ander, who were his companions in the wars, or lived in or near his time, as Ptolemy, Aristobulus, and others : but none of their writings have been transmitted down to us ; they have all been swallowed up in the gulf between that time and this ; and who can be certain that some of them did not record this transaction'? It must have been mentioned by some ancient historian ; for we see that Justin in a short abridgment of his tory is thought to have alluded to it ; and some other author might have related it at large in all its circumstances. The most copious writers now extant of Alexander's affairs, are Dio dorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius, Arrian, and Plutarch : but the eldest of these lived some centuries after Alexander, so that they must have transcribed from former historians : and they have transcribed variously, as suited their particular purpose ; Avhat one hath inserted, another hath omitted ; and not two of them have related things exactly alike. There are actions and sayings of Alexander, which are omitted by them all, but yet are pre served by other authors : and no wonder, then, that Avith the common prejudice of Greeks and Romans, they should omit some particulars of so remote and so disagreeable a people as the JeAvs. The affairs of each province are best related by the writers of each province. A Jew was most likely to record the particulars concerning the Jews. And Josephus, though he may have been thought credulous in some respects, yet was never charged with forging of history. His credit as an historian will upon examination be found equal almost to the very best. Jo- 6 Diod. Sic. 1. 17, t. 49. ON THE PROPHECIES. 245 seph Scaliger, who Avas an exceeding good judge in matters of this nature, r giveth him the character of a most faithful, a most diligent, and a most learned writer ; of whom, saith he, we may boldly affirm, that not only in' Jewish, but likewise in foreign affairs, we may more safely rely on his credit, than on all the Greek and Latin historians together. There remains then no difficulty that can really stick with us, unless it be the particular interposition of God in this affair and the prophetic dreams of Alexander and the high-priest. These things, it must be confessed, are wonderful ; but if Ave recollect the miraculous interpositions of God in favour of his people ; if we reflect Avhat a particular providence attended Alexander, and conducted him to conquest and empire ; if we consider the clear and express prophecies concerning him ; these things, though wonderful, may yet easily be reconciled to our belief, and will appear perfectly consistent with the other dispensations of divine providence. Admitting the truth of the prophecies, we cannot think these extraordinary circum stances at all incredible. These extraordinary circumstances are alleged to confirm the prophecies ; and if the prophecies be found mutually to. confirm these extraordinary circum stances, this is so far from Aveakening that it strengthens the argument. Indeed Avithout the supposition of the truth of these circumstances, it Avill be extremely difficult to account for Alexander's granting so many privileges and favours to the Jews. He 8 allowed them the free exercise of their religion ; he exempted their land from tribute every seventh, or the sabbatical year; he settled many of them at Alexandria with privileges and immunities equal to those of the Macedonians themselves ; and when the Samaritans had revolted, and mur dered the governor whom he had set over them, he assigned their country to the Jews, and exempted it in the same manner as Judea from tribute, 9 Josephus hath proved from Alexander's own letters, and from the testimony of Hecatajus, a heathen historian. But what were the merits and services of the Jews, that they should be so favoured and distinguished above other people 1 There is no Avay of accounting for it so probable, as by admitting the truth of this relation. With this all appears natural and easy, and is utterly inexplicable without it. But to return from this digression, if it may be called a digression, to consider a point of history, that is so nearly related to our subject.- Nothing is fixed and stable in human ' 'Josephus, fidissimus, diligentissimus, credi, quam omnibus Gratis et Latinis." et eruditissimus scriptor.' Seal, in notis ad Idem in Prolegom. de Emendatione lem Fragmenta Grace, p. 45. ' De Josepho nos porum, p. 17. hoc audacler dicimus, non solum in rebus 8 Joseph. Antiq. 1. 11, c. 8,^) 5. Judaicis, sed etiam in externis tutius illi 3 Joseph, contra Apion. I. '-, <) 4. 21 * 246 BISHOP NEWTON affairs ; and the empire of the goat, though exceeding great, was perhaps for that reason the sooner broken into pieces, (ver. 8 :) " Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken ; and, for it came up four notable ones, toward the four winds of heaven." Which the angel thus interprets, (ver. 22 :) " Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." The empire of the goat Avas in its full strength, when Alexander died of a fever at Babylon. He was succeeded in the throne by his natural bro ther Philip Aridaeus, and by his OAvn two sons Alexander iEgus and Hercules : but in the space of ' about fifteen years, they were all murdered, and then the first horn or kingdom was entirely broken. The royal family being thus extinct, the 2 governors of provinces, Avho had usurped the power, assumed the title of kings : and by the defeat and death of Antigonus in the battle of Ipsus, they were reduced to four, 3 Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, who parted Alexander's dominions between them, and divided and settled them into four kingdoms. These four kingdoms are the four notable horns, which came up in the room of the first great horn ; and are the same as the four heads of the leopard in the former vision. " Four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power ;" they were to be kingdoms of Greeks, not of Alex ander's own family, but only of his nation ; and neither were they to be equal to him in power and dominion, as an empire united is certainly more powerful than the same empire divided, and the whole is greater than any of the parts. They were likewise to extend " toward the four winds of heaven :" and in the partition of the empire, 4 Cassander held Macedon, and Greece, and the western parts ; Lysimachus had Thrace, Bithy- nia, and the northern regions ; Ptolemy possessed Egypt, and the southern countries; and Seleucus obtained Syria and the eastern provinces. Thus were they divided " toward the four winds of heaven." As in the former vision a little horn sprang up among the ten horns of the Roman empire, so here a little horn is de scribed as rising among the four horns of the Grecian empire, (ver. 9, 10, 11, 12 :) " And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which Avaxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed 1 See Usher, Prideaux, and the chrono- regum tamen nominibus aequo animo ca- logers. ruerint, quoad Alexandro Justus hceres fuit.' 2 Diod. Sic. 1. 20, c. 53. Justin. 1. 15, 3 Diod. Sic. 1. 21, c 1. Polyb. 1. 5, c. 67. c. 2. 'Hujus honoris ornamentis tamdiu Plutarch, in Demetrio, 8 30. omnes abstinnerunt, quamdiu filii regis sui 4 Diod. Sic. ibid. Prideaux Connect, part superesse potuerunt. Tanta in illis vere- 1, b. 8, Ann. 301. Ptolemy Soter 4. cundia fuit, ut cum opes regias haberent, ON THE PROPHECIES. 247 great even to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised, and prospered." All Avhich is thus explained by the angel, (ver. 23, 24, 25 :) " And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understand ing dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power, shall be mighty, but not by his own power : and he shall destroy won derfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many : he shall also stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand." This little horn is by the generality of interpreters, both TeAvish and Christian, ancient and modern, supposed to mean Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, who was a great enemy and cruel persecutor of the Jews. So 5 Jose phus understands the prophecy, and says that 'our nation suf fered these calamities under Antiochus Epiphanes, as Daniel saw, and many years before wrote what things should come to pass.' In like manner 6 St. Jerome explains it of Antiochus Epiphanes, and says 'that he fought against Ptolemy Philo- meter and the Egyptians, that is against the south; and again against the east, and those who attempted a change of govern ment in Persia ; and lastly he fought against the Jews, took Judea, entered into Jerusalem, and in the temple of God set up the image of Jupiter Olympius.' With St. Jerome agree most of the ancient fathers, and modern divines and commentators ; but then they all allow that Antiochus Epiphanes was a type of Antichrist. Antiochus Epiphanes at first sight doth indeed in some features very much resemble the little horn ; but upon a nearer view and examination it will evidently appear, that in other parts there is no manner of similtude or correspondence between them. Sir Isaac Newton, with that sagacity which was peculiar to him, and Avith which he penetrated into Scrip- B Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c. 11, § 7. Kai 6 Hieron. in Dan. c. 8, col. 1105.— ' Con- <5>j ravra- fipuv avvtSri rip eBvei jraBstv iirr' tra Ptolemaeum Philometorem dimtcavit, hoc AvriSxov tov Emavobs, ' KaOOis eISev b Aa- est, contra meridiem, et contra jEgyptios. vtrjXos, Kal TroXXols eteoiv cp-KpoaBEv aviypaips Rursumque ad orientem, et contra eos qui rayEvvabpEva. Et sane factum est ui hcec res novas in Perside moliebantur: ad ex- ipsa sab Anliocho Epiphane gens nostra va- tremum contra Judseos dimicans, capta terelur, prout viderat Danielus, et multis ante Judaea, jingressus est Ierosolyn-am. et in annis qua: Ventura erant scriplis mandave- templo Dei simulacrum Jovis Olympu stu- rat. tuit.' 248 BISHOP NEWTON ture as well as into nature, 7 perceived plainly that the little horn could not be drawn for Antiochus Epiphanes, but must be de signed for some other subject : and though we shall not en tirety follow his plan, nor build altogether upon his foundation, yet we shall be obliged to make use of several of his materials. There are then two ways of expounding this prophecy of the little horn, either by understanding it of Antiochus Epiphanes, and considering Antiochus as a type of Antichrist ; or by leav ing him wholly out of the question, and seeking another applica tion : and which method of the two is to be preferred, will bet ter appear in the progress of this discourse. A horn in the style of Daniel doth not signify any particular king, but is an emblem of a kingdom. In the former vision the ten horns were not ten kings, but so many kingdoms, into which the Roman empire was divided : and the little horn did not typify a single person, but a succession of men, claiming such prerogatives, and exerting such powers, as are there spe cified. In this vision likewise the tico horns of the ram do not represent the two kings, Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Per sian, but the two kingdoms of Media and. Persia: and for this plain reason, because the ram hath all along two horns ; even Avhen he is attacked by the he-goat, he hath still two horns ; but the tAvo kingdoms of Media and Persia had long been united under one king. The horns of the he-goat too, prefigure not kings, but kingdoms. The first great horn doth not design Alexander himself, but the kingdom of Alexander, as long as the title continued in him, and his brother and two sons. The four horns, which arose after the first was broken, are expressly said, (ver. 22,) to be " four kingdoms :" and consequently it should seem, that the little horn cannot signify Antiochus Epiphanes or any single king, but must denote some kingdom ; by kingdom meaning, what 8 the ancients meant, any govern ment, state or polity in the world, whether monarchy, or re public, or what form soever. Now what kingdom was there, that rose up during the subsistence of the four kingdoms of the Grecian empire, and was advanced to any greatness and eminence, but the Roman 1 The first great horn Avas the kingdom of Alexander and his family. The four horns were four kingdoms, not of his family, but only of the nation. " Four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation :" and doth not this imply that the remaining kingdom, the kingdom of the little horn, should be not of the nation ] The general character, therefore, is better adapted to the Ro- 7 Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on beginning of Mr. Mede's tract entitled Daniel, c. 9. Regnum Romanum est regnum quartum Da- a See this point proved from heathen niclis. Mede's Works, book 3, p. 711. authors as well as from Scripltire, in the ON THE PROPHECIES. 249 mans : and noAV let us consider the particular properties and actions of the little horn, whether they may be more justly ascribed to Antiochus Epiphanes, or to the Romans. " And out of one of them came forth a little horn." Antiochus Epiphanes was indeed the son of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria : and he is 9 said to be the little horn, because he rose from small be ginnings to the kingdom, having been many years an hostage at Rome. But then his kingdom was nothing more than a con tinuation of one of the four kingdoms ; it cannot possibly be reckoned as a fifth kingdom springing up among the four ; and the little horn is plainly some power different and distinct from the four former horns. Is not this, therefore, more applicable to the Romans, who were a new and different power, who rose from small beginnings to an exceeding great empire, Avho first subdued Macedon and Greece, the capital kingdom of the goat, and from thence spread and enlarged their conquests over the rest 1 Nor let it seem strange, that the Romans who Avere pre figured by a great beast in the former vision, should in this be represented only by the horn of a beast; for nothing is more usual, than to describe the same person or thing under different images upon different occasions : and besides in this vision the Roman empire is not designed at large, but only the Roman empire as a horn of the goat. When the Romans first got footing in Greece, then they became a horn of the goat. Out. of this horn they came, and were at first a little horn, but in process of time, overtopped the other horns. From Greece they extended their arms, and overran the other parts of the goat's dominion,? : and their actions within the dominions of the goat, and not their affairs in the western empire, are the principal subject of this prophecy. But their actions, Avhich are most largely and particularly specified, are their great perse cution and oppression of the people of God : which renders it probable, that the appellation of the Utile horn might be given them for the same reason that the great persecutor and op pressor of the saints in the western empire is also called the little horn. It is the same kind of power, and therefore might be signified by the same name. It will appear too, that the time agrees better Avith the Ro mans. "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up." Antiochus Epiphanes might be said indeed to stand up in the latter time of D ' Quid quum obses fuisset Romae, et ne- invasit regnum, &c.' Clarius in locum. sciente senatu cepisset imperium, &c.' Hie- 'Antiochus modicae primum fortune, priva- ron. in Dan. 8, col. 1105. 'Antiochum Epi- tus, et Romas obses, ex post facto dictus Epi- phanem significat, quia fuit Romae obses.' phaues.' Grotius in locum. So likewise Vatablus in locum. 'Antiochus, qui obses Poole, &c. fuit Romae nee a natre desiimatus rex, sed 2G 250 BISHOP NEWTON their kingdom; because Macedonia, the first of the four king doms, was conquered and reduced into a Roman province, during his reign. But when he stood up, tlie transgressors in the Jewish nation were not come to the full ; for when he began to reign, ' Onias was high-priest of the Jews, and the temporal as well as ecclesiastical government Avas at this time in the hands of the high-priest, and this Onias Avas a most worthy good magistrate, as well as a most venerable pious priest. As the author of the second book of Maccabees saith, (2 Mac. iii. 1,) "the holy city was inhabited with all peace, and the laws were kept very well, because of the godliness of Onias the high-priest, and his hatred of wickedness." It was after this time, that the great corruptions were introduced into the Jewish church and nation ; and they were introduced chiefly through the means of Antiochus, by his direction, or under his autho rity. The Romans might much better be said to stand up in the latter time of their kingdom, Avho saw the end not only of one kingdom, but of all the four ; who first subdued the kingdom of Macedon and Greece, and then inherited by the will of At- talus, the kingdom of Pergamus, which was the remains of the kingdom of Lysimachus, and afterwards made a province of the kingdom of Syria, and lastly of the kingdom of Egypt. When the Romans stood up too, the transgressors were come to the full ; for the high-priesthood Avas exposed to sale ; good Onias was ejected for a sum of money to make room for wicked Jason, and Jason was again supplanted for a greater sum of money by a worse man (if possible) than himself, his brother Menelaus ; and the golden vessels of the temple were sold to pay for the sacrilegious purchase. At the same time the customs of the heathen nations were introduced among the JeAvs ; the youth were trained up and exercised after the manner of the Greeks ; the people apostatized from the true religion, and even " the priests, (2 Mac. iv. 14,) had no courage to serve any more at the altar, but despising the temple, and neglecting the sacri fices, they hastened to be partakers of unlawful diversions." Nay, Jerusalem was taken by Antiochus ; forty thousand Jews were slain, and as many more were sold into slavery ; the temple was profaned even under the conduct of the high-priest Menelaus, was defiled with swine's blood, and plundered of every thing valuable ; and in the same year, 2 that Paulus Emilius the Roman consul vanquished Perseus the last king of Macedonia, and thereby put an end to that kingdom, the JeAvish religion was put down, and the heathen worship was set up imthe cities of Judea, and in Jerusalem ; and the temple i 1 For these and many particulars which follow, the two books of Maccabees, and Jose phus his Antiquities of the Jews must be consulted. 2 See Prideaux Connect, part 2, b. 3, Anno 168. ON THE PROPHECIES. 251 itself Avas consecrated to Jupiter Olympius", and his image was erected upon the very altar. Then indeed "the transgressors were come to the full," and then, as we see, the Romans stood up, "a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences." A king in the prophetic style is the same as a kingdom, and a kingdom, as we before observed, is any state or government. "A king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sen tences." The latter expression in the 3 Syriac is translated skilful in ruling, and in the Arabic skilful of disputations. We may suppose the meaning to be, that this should be a politic and artful, as Avell as a formidable power ; which is not so properly the character of Antiochus, as of the Romans. They Ave re represented in the former vision by a " beast dreadful and terrible ;" and for the same reason they are here denomi nated " a king of fierce countenance." He cannot so well be said to be " a king of fierce countenance," Avho was even frightened out of Egypt by a message from the Romans. The story is worthy of memory.4 Antiochus Epiphanes was making war upon Egypt, and was in a fair way of becoming master of the Avhole kingdom. The Romans, therefore, fearing lest he should grow too powerful by annexing Egypt to the crown of Syria, sent an embassy to him, to require him to desist from his enterpiise, or to declare war against him. He was drawing near to besiege Alexandria, when he was met by the three ambassa dors from Rome. Popillius, the chief of them, had formerly been his friend and acquaintance, while he was an hostage at Rome : and the king, at their first meeting, graciously offered him his hand in remembrance of their former friendship. But Popillius declined the compliment, by saying that private friend ship must give place to the public welfare, and he must first know whether the king was a friend to the Roman state, before he could acknowledge him as t\ friend to himself: and so saying, he presented to him the tables which contained the de cree of the senate, and desired an immediate answer. Antiochus opened and perused them, and he replied that he would con sider the matter with his friends, and return his answer very speedily. But Popillius with a wand that he carried in his hand drew a circle in the sand round the king, and insisted upon his answer before he stirred out of that circle. The king, asto nished at this peremptory and imperious manner of proceeding, after some hesitation, said that he would obey the commands of the senate ; and then at length Popillius reached forth his hand 3 " Regnandi peritus." Syr. "Disputatio- 45, c. 12. Valerius Maximus, 1. 6, c. 4, § num peritus." Arab. 3. Velleius Paterculus, 1. 1, c. 10. Justin "Polyb. Legat. 92, 1. 29, c. 11. Appian. 1. 34, c. 3. de Bellis Syriacis, p. 151 § 66. Livius, 1. 252 BISHOP NEWTON to him as a friend and confederate. This incident happened very soon after the conquest of Macedonia, which as it dismayed Antiochus, so it emboldened the Romans to act in this manner : and this being their first memorable action, as soon as they be came a horn or kingdom of the goat, it is very fitly said of them, more fitly than of Antiochus, " a king of fierce countenance shall stand up." The other actions likewise of the little horn accord better with the Romans. This horn, though little at first, yet "waxed exceeding great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land." This horn, therefore, as Sir Isaac Newton justly observes,5 was to rise up in the north west parts of those nations, which composed the body of the goat : and from thence was to extend his dominion towards Egypt, Syria, and Judea. Observe the particulars. He " waxed exceeding great :" and so did the Roman empire even within the territories of the goat, but not so did Antiochus Epiphanes ; for he was so far from enlarging the kingdom of Syria, that it was less in his time than under most of his predecessors, and he 6 left it as he found it, tributary to the Romans. — " Toward the south :" Antiochus indeed did several times invade Egypt, and gained great advantages over Ptolemy Philometor king of Egypt ; but he was never able to make himself absolute mas ter of the country, and annex it to the kingdom of Syria ; as the Romans made it a province of their empire, and kept pos session of it for several centuries. His designs were frustrated, as we have seen, by an embassy from the Romans ; and he went out of Egypt baffled and disgraced, a word from them being as effectual as an army. — " Toward the east :" the Ro mans did grow very poAverful toward the east ; they conquered and made a province of Syria, which was the eastern kingdom of the goat : but Antiochus was seated in the east himself, and did not extend his dominions farther eastward. On the contrary, the Parthians had withdrawn their obedience from the kings of Syria, and had erected a growing kingdom in the east. Antiochus did indeed r vanquish Artaxias, the tributary king of Armenia, who had revolted from him ; but this was rather in the north than in the east. He had not the like suc cess among the Persians, who were also dilatory in paying their tribute ; for 8 having heard much of the tribes of Elymais, and particularly of the temple there, he went thither with a design of seizing the treasures of the city and temple ; but the inhabi tants rose upon him, repelled and routed him and his army, so 6 Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on phyr. apud Hieron. in Dan. 11, col. 1133. Daniel, chap. 9, p. 119, 120. i 1 Maccab. vi. 1— 4 ; 2 Maccab. ix. 1, 2. 6 2 Mace. viii. 10. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, c. 8, § 1. Porphyrius * Appian. de Bell. Syr. § 45,46. Por- apudIIieron.inDan.il. ON THE PROPHECIES. 253 that he was forced to fly with disappointment and disgrace out of the country ; and soon after he sickened and died. — " And tOAvard the pleasant land," that is, Judea ; for so it is called in the Psalms, (evi. 24,) "the pleasant land;" and in Jeremiah, (iii. 19,) " a pleasant land, a goodly heritage ;" and so twice again after wards in Daniel, (xi. 16, 41.) Antiochus did indeed take Jeru salem, and miserably harass and oppress the Jews, as it has been above related : but the Jews in a little time, under the conduct of the Maccabees, recovered their liberties, and established their religion and government in greater splendour and security than before. The Romans more effectually conquered and subdued them, first made a province of their country, and then destroyed their city and temple, and dispersed the people, so that after so fatal a fall they have never from that time to this been able to rise again. Another remarkable property, that eminently distinguished the little horn from all others, was that " his power should be mighty, but not by his own power ;" which commentators are much at a loss to explain. Some say,9 that he should be mighty not so much by his own industry, as by the gift of God : but so are all horns or kingdoms whatever. Others say,1 that God should give him this poAver for the punishment of his people ; and others again,2 that he should obtain it by the factions, and perfidy, and baseness of the Jews, who should betray their country to him : but these limit and restrain the meaning to a particular subject, to his power over the JeAvs, Avhereas it is said in the general, that "his poAver should be mighty, but not by his own power." " His power," in general, not only over this or that particular people, " should be mighty, but not by his own power." The best explanation that they can give of it, who understand the whole of Antiochus Epi phanes, is that 3 he attained to the crown chiefly by the favour and assistance of Eumenes, king of Pergamus, and Attalus his brother, who having at that time some jealousy of the Romans, were desirous to make the king of Syria their friend : but we do not read that they assisted him in any of his wars after- Avards, and neither was his kingdom strengthened by foreign armies or alliances. They who conceive Antiochus to be a type of Antichrist 4 offer a fairer interpretation, because Anti christ was to exercise an usurped authority, and not his oavii, and the kings of the earth, according to St. John, (Rev. xvii. 13,) were to "give their power and strength unto the beast." But this part of the prophecy, as well as the rest, can no where 9 'Non propria industria, sed Deodante.' Vatabulus. 1 ' Quia Deus voluit per ipsum punire populum suum.' Clarius. . . 2 So Poole, Lowth, &c. ' Non taraex ipso causa erit tahti increment!, quam ex faction** bus Judaeorum.' Grotius. 3 Appian. de Bell. Syr. § 45. 4 See Lowth's Commert %2 254 BISHOP NEWTON be so justly and properly applied, as to the Romans. With them it quadrates exactly, and with none of the other horns or kingdoms of the goat. The strength of the other kingdoms consisted in themselves, and had its foundation in some part of the goat : but the Roman empire, as a horn or kingdom of the goat, was not mighty by its own power, was not strong by virtue of the goat, but drew its nourishment and strength from Rome and Italy. There grew the trunk and body of the tree, though the branches extended over Greece, Asia, Syria, and Egypt. The remainder of the prophecy relates mostly to the perse cution and oppression of the people of God. " And he waxed great even to the host of heaven, (or against the host of heaven,) and he cast down some of the host, and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them," that is, the Jewish state in general, "the mighty and the holy people," (ver. 24,) or the Priests and Levites in particular, who are called stars ; as they were eminent for their station, and illustrious for their knoAv- ledge ; and the host of heaven, as they watched and served in the temple, and their service is denominated a warfare : (Num. viii. 24, 25.) This passage was in some measure fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes as well as by the Romans: but our Saviour making use of the like expressions, (Matt. xxiv. 29,) "the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken," in speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, this passage also may more properly be referred to that event. " Yea he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, (or against the prince ofthe host,) and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.'' Antiochus did indeed take away the daily sacrifice, but he did not cast down the place of his sanctuary, he did not destroy the temple. He took away the daily sacrifice for a few years, but the Romans for many ages : and the Romans likewise utterly destroyed the temple, which he spoiled only and profaned. " And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression." The word here translated an host is rendered in other places, (Job vii. 1,) and in the book of Da niel itself, (x. 1,) an appointed time : " And an appointed time was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of trans gression :" Or as we read in the margin, The host was given over for the transgression against the daily sacrifice, and he cast down the truth to the ground, and he practised, and prospered. Or as the same thing is expressed by the angel, " He shall destroy won derfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people ; and through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify ON THE PROPHECIES. 255 himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many." But Antiochus did not so mightily destroy the JeAvs, nor prosper in his practises and designs against them. When he took Jeru salem, he slew forty thousand, and sold forty thousand more : but Avhen the city was besieged and taken by the Romans,6 the number of the captives amounted to ninety-seven thousand, and of the slain to eleven hundred thousand. The Romans too carried their conquest and revenge so far, as to put an end to the government of the JeAvs, and entirely to take away their place and nation. Antiochus meant as much to root out the whole people ; his malice was as great, but his success was not equal : for though his forces were victorious at first, yet they were defeated at last, and his 7 generals, Apollonius, Seron, Ni- canor and Gorgias, Timotheus and Bacchides, and even Lysias himself, Avere all shamefully routed one after another : and the neAVs of these defeats hastened his death. It is further added, that " he shall also stand up against the prince of princes." If by the prince of princes the high-priest be meant, it is very true that Antiochus did put in and put out the high-priests at pleasure, but the Romans took aAvay the whole administration. If by the prince of princes be meant, as most probably was meant, the Messiah, then Antiochus had no share in the completion ; it was effected by the Romans. It Avas by the malice of the Jews, but by the authority of the Romans, that he was put to death ; and he suffered the punish ment of the Roman malefactors and slaves. And indeed it is very worthy of our most serious consideration, whether this part of the prophecy be not a sketch of the fate and sufferings of the Christian, as well as of the Jewish church. Nothing is more usual AAuth the prophets than to describe the religion and worship of later times by metaphors and figures borrowed from their own religion. The Christians may full as well as the Jews be comprehended under the name of the lioly people, or people of the holy ones. And the Romans not only crucified our Saviour, but also persecuted his disciples for above three cen turies : and when at length they embraced the Christian reli gion, they soon corrupted it ; so that it may be questioned, whether their favour was not as hurtful to the church, as their enmity. As the power of the Roman emperors declined, that of the Roman pontiffs increased : and may it not with equal truth and justice be said of the latter, as of the former, that they cast down the truth to the ground, and practised, and pros pered ? How applicable in this sense is every part of the angel's interpretation ! " A king of fierce countenance, and under standing dark sentences shall stand up. And his power shall 0 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 6, c. 9, § 2 et 3. * 1 Mace. iii. iv. 2 Mace. viii. x. xi. Josephi. Antia. I. 12, c. 7. 256 BISHOP NEWTON be mighty, but not by his own power : and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroj the mighty and the holy people, (or the people of the holy ones . ) And through his policy also, he shall cause craft to prosper ir his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many : he shall also stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken Avithout hand." And this farther opens and explains the reason of the appellation of the little horn. The persecuting power of Rome, whether ex ercised towards the Jews, or toAvards the Christians, or by the emperors or by the popes, is still the little horn. The tyranny is the same ; but as exerted in Greece and the east, it is the little horn of the he-goat or the third empire ; as exerted in Italy and the west, it is the little horn of the fourth beast or the fourth empire. But the little horn, like other tyrannical powers, was to come to a remarkable end ; " he shall be broken without hand." As the stone in Nebuchadnezzar's dream was " cut out of the mountain without hands," that is, not by human, but by su pernatural means ; so the " little horn shall be broken without hand," not die the common death, not fall by the hand of men, but perish by a stroke from heaven. And this agrees perfectly with the former predictions of the fatal catastrophe of the Ro mans. " The stone (that is, the power of Christ, ii. 34) smote the image upon his feet of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces." Again, (vii. 11,) " I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake ; I beheld even till the beast Avas slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burn ing flame." And again, (ver. 26,) " the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume, and to destroy it unto the end." All which implies that the dominion of the Romans shall finally be destroyed with some extraordinary ma nifestation of the divine power. It is indeed very true, that Antiochus Epiphanes died in an extraordinary manner. He Avas returning from his unsuccessful expedition into Persia, Avhen he heard the news of the defeat of his armies one after another by the forces of the Maccabees. He set forward there fore in great rage and fury, breathing nothing but death and destruction to the whole generation of tne Jews. But in the Avay he was seized Avith violent pains in his bowels ; and having a fall from his chariot, he was sorely bruised, and his inward pains grew more violent, so that he was not able to proceed in his journey, but was forced to stop at a little town upon the road. There he lay in great torment, and filthy ulcers broke out in his body, from whence issued worms, and such a stench, that he became intolerable to others, and even to himself. Nor were the torments and agonies of his mind less than those ON THE PROPHECIES. 257 of his body. He was vexed even to distraction, thought he saAV dreadful spectres and apparitions, and suffered all the pangs and horrors of a guilty conscience : and in this miserable condition he lay pining and rotting till he died. This is the account that is given of his death,8 and confirmed by Heathen as well as by Jewish historians : but with this difference, that the former ascribe it to the vengeance of the gods for the sacrilege that he designed to commit at Elymais; the latter represent it as the just judg ment of heaven for the sacrilege that he really committed at Je rusalem, and for the barbarous slaughter that he made of so many thousands of the Jews ; and they say, that he himself upon his deathbed confessed as much : and which of these accounts is the more probable and credible, every intelligent reader will easily determine. By thus tracing the particulars it appears, that though some of them may agree very Avell with Antiochus Epiphanes, yet others can by no means accord or be reconciled to him: but they all agree and correspond exactly with the Romans, and with no one else : so that the application of the character to them must be the right application. It is therefore surprising, that a man of Dr. Halifax's learning, after so many proofs to the contrary, can however opine, that the character " must of necessity be restrained to Antiochus Epiphanes, and to him only ;" and for such reasons, and for none others than have here been obviated and refuted. The fitness and propriety of the application to the Romans will still farther appear by consi dering the time that is allotted for the duration and continu- -ance of the vision. "I will make thee know, (saith the angel to Daniel, ver. 19,) Avhat shall be in the last end," or, to the last end of the indignation : that is, as Mr. Lowth paraphraseth it, ' I will explain to thee the whole series of God's judgments upon his people, to the end and conclusion of them :' but that end and conclusion is not yet come. There are intimations in the prophets, that God's indignation against his people Avill be accomplished, and the final destruction of the Roman domi nion will fall out about the same period. But the time is more particularly noted. One angel asked another angel, (ver. 13,) " How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot V In the original there is no such word as concerning; and Mr. Lowth rightly observes that the words may be rendered more agreeably to the Hebrew thus : For how long a time shall the vision last, the daily sacrifice be taken away, and the transgression of desolation continue, &-C.1 ' Polyb. 1. 31, c. 11, Appian. de Bell. Syr. § 66. Diodorus et i Dan. 11, col. 1131 et 1133. 1 Maccab. vi. 1—16 ; 2 Maccab. . 8 U. . Porphyrius apud Hieron i. ix. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, 22* 2 II 258 y • BISHOP NEWTON After the same manner the question is translated by the 9 Se venty, and in the Arabic version, and in the Vulgar Latin. The answer is, (ver. 14,) "Unto tAvo thousand and three hun dred days ; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." In the ori ginal it is, Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings, an evening and morning being in Hebrew the notation of time for a day ; and in allusion to this expression it is said afterwards, (ver. 26,) " The vision of the evening and the morn ing is true." Now these two thousand and three hundred days can by no computation be accommodated to the times of An tiochus Epiphanes, even though the days be taken for natural days. Two thousand and three hundred days are six years and somewhat more than a quarter : but the profanation of the altar under Antiochus Epiphanes lasted but three years complete, according to the author of the first book of the Maccabees, (1 Mac. i. 59, compared with iv. 52 ;) and the desolation of the temple, and the taking away of the daily sacrifice by Apollo nius, continued but three years and a half, according to ' Jose phus. Mr. Mede proposeth a method to reconcile the differ ence, and 2 saith that the time is 'not to be reckoned from the height of the calamity, when the daily sacrifice should be taken away, (from thence it is but three years,) but from the begin ning of the transgression, which occasioned this desolation, and is described, 1 Mac. i. 11, &c.' But Antiochus began to reign, according to the author of the first book of the Macca bees, (i. 10,) "in the 137th year ofthe kingdom ofthe Greeks," or era of the Seleucidae ; and " in those days" was the begin ning of the transgression, which is described 1 Mac. i. 11, &c. that is ten or eleven years before the cleansing of the sanctuary, which was performed " in the 148th year," according to the same author, (iv. 52 ;) or if we compute the time from Antiochus's first going up against Jerusalem, and spoiling the city and temple, these things were done according to the same author, (i. 20,) "in the 143d year;" so that this reckoning would fall short of the time assigned, as the other exceeds it. The diffi culty or impossibility rather of making these two thousand and three hundred days accord with the times of Antiochus, I sup pose, obliged the ancients to consider Antiochus as a type of Antichrist : and therefore 3 Jerome saith in his comment, that this place most Christians refer to Antichrist; and affirm, that what was transacted in a type under Antiochus, will be ful- 9 "Ewy -itbrc f) bpaois crtjcrETat, t) Svota fj 2 Mr. Mede's Apostacy of the latter times, iprleicra, «. r. X. Sept. " Quousque visio haec part 1, c. 14, in his Works, b. 3, p. 659. continget, et auferetur sacrincium, &c.'* 3 'Hunc locum plerique nostrorum ad An- Arab. " Usquequo visio, et juge sacrificium, tichristum referunt : et quod sub Antiocho &c." Vulg. in typo factum est, sub illo in veritate di- 1 Josephi Proem, de Bell. Jud. § 7, 1. 1, cunt esse complendum.' Hieron. in loc. u. 1, § 1. col. 1106. ON THE PROPHECIES. 259 rilled in truth under Antichrist. The days Avithout doubt are to be taken, agreeably to the style of Daniel in other places, not for natural, but for prophetic days or years ; and as the question was asked, not only how long the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the trangression of desolation conti- , nue, but also how long the vision shall last ; so the answer is to be understood, and these two thousand and three hundred days denote the Avhole time from the beginning of the vision to the cleansing of the sanctuary. The sanctuary is not yet cleansed, and consequently these years are not yet expired. When these years shall be expired, then their end will clearly show from ! Avhence their beginning is to be dated, whether from the vision of the ram, or of the he-goat, or of the little horn. It is difficult to fix the precise time when the prophetic dates begin, and when they end, till the prophecies are fulfilled, and the event declares i the certainty of them. And the difficulty is increased in this case by reason of some variety in the copies. For the 4 Seventy have four hundred in this place ; and others, as 5 Jerome informs us, read two hundred instead of three hundred. If Ave follow the reading of the Seventy, Unto two thousand and four hundred days or years, then perhaps they are to be computed from the vision of the ram, or the establishment of the Persian empire. If we follow the other reading mentioned by Jerome, Unto two thousand and two hundred days or years, then perhaps they are to be computed from the vision of the little horn, or the Romans invading the Grecian empire : And it is remarkable,6 that the Romans first passed over with an army, and made Avar upon Philip king of Macedonia, just 200 years before Christ. But if j we still retain the common reading, (which probably is the J truest and best,) " Unto two thousand and three hundred days," or years, then I conceive they are to be computed from the vision of the he-goat, or Alexander's invading Asia. Alexander invaded Asia 7 in the year of the world 3670, and in the year before Christ 334. Two thousand and three hundred years from that time will draw towards the conclusion of the sixth millennium of the world, and about that period, according to an old tradition,8 which Avas current before our Saviour's time, and was probably founded upon the prophecies, great changes and revolutions are expected ; and particularly as 9 Rabbi Abraham Sebah saith, Rome is to be overthrown, and the Jews are to 4 'Wptpai SiaxtXtat Kal TErpaKbatat. Sept. futuro, in Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 535, and 5 ' Q,uidam pro duobus millibus trecen- Placita Doctorum Hebraeorum de Babylonis tis, duo millia ducentos legunt.' Hieron. seu Romae excidio, in Mede's Works, b. 5, in loc. p. 902. c See Usher's Annals, A. M. 3304. 9 'R. Abraham Sebah in Gen. 1, ait, 7 See Usher, Prideaux, &c. currente sexto annorum mundi millenario 0 See Placita Doctorum Hebraeorum de Romam evertendam, et Judaeos reducen- magno die judicii, et regno Messiae tunc dos.' Ibid. p. 903. 260 BISHOP NEWTON be restored. The angel farther affirms the truth and certainty of the vision, and of the time allotted for it, (ver. 26 :) " The vision of the evening and the morning, which Avas told, is true, wherefore shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many clays." The shutting up of the vision implies, that it should not be under stood of some time ; and Ave cannot say that it was sufficiently understood, so long as Antiochus Epiphanes was taken for the little horn. The vision being " for many days," must necessa rily infer a longer term, than the calamity under Antiochus of three years, or three years and a half, or even than the whole time from the first beginning of the vision in Cyrus to the cleans ing of the sanctuary under Antiochus, which was not above 371 years.1 Such a vision could not well be called long to Daniel, who had seen so much longer before ; and especially as the time assigned for it is " two thousand and three hundred days," which since they cannot by any account be natural days, must needs be prophetic days, or two thousand and three hundred years. Such a vision may properly enough be said to be " for many days." Daniel was much affected with the misfortunes and afflictions which were to befall the church and people of God, (ver. 27:) " And I Daniel fainted and was sick certain days ; afterwards I rose up, and did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." Munster, and Clarius, who generally transcribes Munster,2 are of opinion that Daniel was visited by this sickness, lest he should be lifted up by. the sub limity of the visions. I presume they thought his case some what like St. Paul's, (2 Cor. xii. 7,) who had " a thorn in the flesh, (or a bodily infirmity,) lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations." But it is much more probable, that Daniel's sickness proceeded from his grief for his religion and country: as in the former vision he was grieved in his spirit, his cogitations much troubled him, and his countenance changed in him, at the success of the little horn there described. And this is another most conclusive argu ment, that the calamities under Antiochus Epiphanes could not possibly be the main end and ultimate scope of this prophecy. For the calamities under Antiochus were of small extent and of short duration, in comparison with what the nation had suffered, and was then suffering under Nebuchadnezzar and his succes sors. Antiochus took the city, but Nebuchadnezzar burnt it to the ground. Antiochus profaned the temple, but Nebuchad- 1 See Usher, Prideaux, &c. The first ne extolleretur sublimitate visionum, quas year of Cyrus was A. M. 3468, before Christ solus intelligebat.' Munsterus. 'Etquod 536. The sanctuary was cleansed, A. M. de a?grotatione sua dicit, ostenditur, illam 3839, before Christ 165. prophetae immissam, ne extolleretur subli- 2 'Et quod subditur de aegrotatione Da- rnitate visionum, quas solus intelligebat. nielis, ostenditur illam prophetse immissam, Clarius. ON THE PROPHECIES 261 nezzar utterly destroyed it. Antiochus made captives forty thousand of the JeAvs, but Nebuchadnezzar carried the whole nation into captivity. Antiochus took away the daily sacrifice for three years and a half, but Nebuchadnezzar abolished all the temple service for seventy years. Why then should Daniel, Avho had seen and felt these greater calamities, be so much grieved at those lesser disasters of the nation1? Present and sensible evils usually affect us most : and therefore that Daniel Avas so much more affected Avith the future than with the pre sent, was astonished, and fainted, and was sick certain days, can be ascribed to nothing but to his foreseeing, that the future dis tress and misery of the nation would greatly exceed all that they sustained at present. But the calamities under Antiochus were much less, and much shorter. Those only which they suffered from the Romans, were greater and worse than the evils brought on them by Nebuchadnezzar. And " the transgression of deso lation" hath now continued these 1700 years. They expect, and we expect, that at length " the sanctuary will be cleansed," and that in God's determined time his promise will be fully accom plished, (Amos ix. 11, 12 ; Acts xv. 16, 17 :) "I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen doAvn ; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up ; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gen tiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things." This concern of Daniel, and affection for his religion and country, show him in a very amiable light, and give an addi tional lustre and glory to his character. But not only in this instance, but in every other, he manifests the same public spirit, and appears no less eminently a patriot than a prophet. Though he was torn early from his country, and enjoyed all the advan tages that he could enjoy in foreign service, yet nothing could make him forget his native home : And in the next chapter we see him pouring out his soul in prayer, and supplicating most earnestly and devoutly for the pardon and restoration of his captive nation. It is a gross mistake therefore to think, that religion will ever extinguish or abate our love for our country. The Scriptures will rather incite and inflame it, exhibit several illustrious examples of it, and recommend and enforce this, as Avell as all oth^r moral and social virtues ; and especially Avhen the interests of true religion and of our country are so blended and interwoven, that they cannot well be separated the one from the other. This is a double incentive to the love of our coun try; and with the same zeal that every pious Jew might say for merly, every honest Briton may say iioav, Avith the good Psalmist, (Psal. cxxii. 6, &c.) "O pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be Avithin thy Avails, and 262 BISHOP NEWTON plenteousness within thy palaces. For my brethren and compa nions' sake I will wish thee prosperity : Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek to do thee good." XVI. — daniel's prophecy of the things noted in the scrip ture OF TRUTH. IN TWO PARTS.— PART I. IT is the usual method of the Holy Spirit to make the latter prophecies explanatory of the former ; and revelation is, (Prov. iv. 18,) " as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." The four great empires of the world, which were shown to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, were again more particularly represented to Daniel in the shape of four great wild beasts. In like manner, the memorable events which we're revealed to Daniel in the vision of the ram and he- goat, are here again more clearly and explicitly revealed in his last vision by an angel ; so that this latter prophecy may not improperly be said to be a comment and explanation of the for mer. This revelation was made (x. 1 ) "in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia," Avhen Daniel was very far advanced in years. For the third year of Cyrus was the seventy-third of Daniel's captivity ; and being a youth when he was carried cap tive, he cannot be supposed noAV to have been less than ninety ; and not long after this, it is reasonable to believe that he died. Old as he was, he "set his heart to understand" the former revelations which had been made to him, and particularly the vision of the ram and he-goat, as I think we may collect from the sequel : and for this purpose he prayed, and fasted three weeks. His fasting and prayers had the desired effect ; for an angel Avas sent, and said unto him, (ver. 12,) " Fear not, Daniel ; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to under stand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy Avords are heard, and I am come for thy words." And whoever would at tain the same ends, and excel in divine knoAvledge, must pur sue the same means, and habituate himself to study, temper ance, and devotion. The angel declares the design of his com ing, (\rer. 14.) "Noav I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days ; for yet the vision is for many days." This prophecy therefore contains the fate and fortune of the people of God for many years. As it Avas said before, (ver. 1,) " the thing was true, but the time appointed Avas long:" and consequently this prophecy must extend far ther than from the third year of Cyrus to the death of Antio- ON THE PROPHECIES. 263 chus Epiphanes, which was not above 370 years.1 In reality it comprehends many signal events after that time to the end of the world : but the types and figures of the things are not exhibited in this as in most of the other visions, and then ex pounded by the angel ; but the angel relates the whole, and not by way of vision, but only by narration, informs Daniel of that which is noted in the Scripture of truth, (ver. 21,) "I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of tiuth," as if future events Avere noted in a book before God : and this prophecy, being taken from the Scripture of truth, is therefore deserving of our strictest attention ; and Ave may depend upon the cer tainty of all the particulars contained therein, if we can but rightly understand and expound them. The angel first propheises of the Persian empire, which was then subsisting. " Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia ; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all ; and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia," (xi. 2.) "There shall stand up yet," that is, after Cyrus, the founder of the empire, who was then reign ing. " Three kings in Persia ;" these were Cambyses, the son of Cyrus ; Smerdis the Magian, who pretended to be another son of Cyrus, but was really an impostor ; and Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who married the daughter of Cyrus. " And the fourth shall be far richer than they all." The fourth after Cyrus Avas Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius ; of whom Justin 2 truly remarks, ' If you consider this king, you may praise his riches, not the general ; of Avhich there was so great abundance in his kingdom, that when rivers were dried up by his army, yet his wealth remained unexhausted.' Pythius the Lydian 3 was at that time the richest subject in the world. He generously entertained Xerxes and all his army, and proffered him two thousand talents of silver, and three millions nine hundred ninety-three thousand pieces of gold with the stamp of Darius, towards defraying the charges of the Avar. But Xerxes was so far from wanting any supplies, that he rewarded Pythius for his liberality, and presented him with seven thousand Darics, to make up his number a complete round sum of four millions. Each of these Darics 4 was worth better than a guinea of our money. " And by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all (both subjects and allies) against the realm of Grecia.' Xerxes's expedition into Greece is one of the most memorable 1 The third year of Cyrus was A. M. rentur, opes tamen regiae superessent.' Jus 3470, before Christ 534. Antiochus Epi- tin 1. 2, c. 10. phanes died A. M. 3840, before Christ 164. 3 Herod. 1. 7, § 27, &c. See Usher, Prideaux, &c. 4 Bernard de ponderibus et mensuris 2 'Si regem spectes, divitias, non ducem antiquis, p. 171. Prideaux Connect. Far laudes ; quarum tanta copia in regno ejus 1, b. 2, Anno 538. Darius the Mede 1. fuit, ut, cum rlununa multitudine consume- 264 BISHOP NEWTON adventures in ancient history. Herodotus affirms that Xerxes5 in raising his army searched every place of the continent and it was the greatest army that ever was brought into the field ; for what nation was there, says he, that Xerxes led not out of Asia into Greece'? Herodotus lived in that age; and he6 re counts with great exactness the various nations of which Xerxes's army was composed, and computes that the whole number of horse and foot, by land and sea, out of Asia and out of Europe, soldiers and followers of the camp, amounted to five millions, two hundred eighty-three thousand, two hundred and twenty men. Nor was Xerxes content Avith stirring up the east, but Avas for stirring up 7 the west likewise, and engaged the Car thaginians in his alliance, that Avhile he with his army over- Avhelmed Greece, they might fall upon the Greek colonies in Sicily and Italy : and the Carthaginians for this purpose not only raised all the forces they could in Africa, but also hired a great number of mercenaries in Spain, and Gaul, and Italy ; so that their army consisted of three hundred thousand men, and their fleet of two hundred ships. Thus did Xerxes "stir up all against the realm of Grecia;" and 'after him no mention is made of any other king of Persia, ' It is to be noted,' saith Je rome,8 ' that the prophet having enumerated four kings of the Persians after Cyrus, slippeth over nine, and passeth to Alex ander ; for the prophetic spirit did not care to follow the order of history, but only to touch upon the most famous events.' Xerxes was the principal author of the long wars and inveterate hatred between the Grecians and Persians ; and as he was the last king of Persia who invaded Greece, he is mentioned last. The Grecians then in their turn invaded Asia : and Xerxes's expedition being the most memorable on one side, as Alexan der's was on the other, the reigns of these two are not impro perly connected together. Alexander is thus characterized (ver. 3,) "And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do ac cording to his will." That Alexander was a mighty king and conqueror; that he ruled with great dominion, not only over Greece and the whole Persian empire, but likewise added India to his conquests; and that he did according to his will, none daring, not even his friends, to contradict and oppose him, or if they did, like Clitus and Calisthenes, paying for it with their * Ka? 5fj/f« roil arparov oBra Irdyepatv amnon adduxit Xerxes? Herod. 1. 7, § 19-21. ¦Koikrai, x&pov Trdvra IpEvvSv Trjs vmlpov. 6 Herod, ibid. § 60, &c. 184, &c. Xerxes autem ita copias suas contraxil,ut ' Diod. Sic. 1. 11, c. 1. omnem continentis locum scrutaretur. — T.r6- 8'Notandum quod quatuor post Cyrum Ami. yelp, twv iipels tSpsv, nXXip Si) pEyiaros regibus Persarum enumeratis, novem 'prae- oZros h-EVEro. nam omnium quos novimus ex- terierit, et transient ad Alexaudrum. Non errituum hie multo maximus extttit. — Tt yap enim curae fuit spiritui prophetali historic ovk PjyayE ek rris 'Ac-iris eBvos fai rt)v 'ILXXdSa ordinem seciui ; sed praeclara quaeque per- Etpf'js ; iu-am enim ex Asia entem in Graici- stringere.' Hieron. in loc. col, 1 121. ON THE PROPHECIES. 265 lives ; are facts too well known to require any particular proof or illustration. But his kingdom was soon to be broken and divided, (ver. 4 :) "And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven ; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled : for his kingdom shall be plucked up even for others besides those." These particulars were in good measure suggested before, (viii. 8, 22 :) " He Avaxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken ; and for it came up four no table ones towards the four winds of heaven. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." Alexander died in Babylon,9 having lived only thirty-two years and eight months, of Avhich he reigned twelve years and eight months. In so short a time did this sun of glory rise and set : and in the space of about fifteen years afterwards his family and pos terity became extinct, and chiefly by the means of Cassander. It Avas soon after Alexander's death, that his wife Statira, the daughter of Darius,1 was murdered out of jealousy by his other Avife Roxaria ; and her body was thrown into a well, and earth cast upon it. His natural brother Aridaeus, Avho succeeded him in the throne by the name of Philip,2 was together with his wife Eurydice killed by the command of Olympias the mother of Alexander, after he had borne the title of king six years and some months: and not long after Olympias3 herself was slain in revenge by the soldiers of Cassander. Alexander iEgus, the son of Alexander by Roxana, as soon as he Avas born, was joined in the title of king with Philip Aridaeus ; and when he had attained to the fourteenth year of his age,4 he and his mother were privately murdered in the castle of Amphipolis by order of Cassander. In the second year after this,6 Hercules, the other son of Alexander by Barsine the widow of Memnon, was also with his mother privately murdered by Polysperchon, induced thereto by the great offers made to him by Cassander. Such was the miserable end of Alexander's family : and then the governors made themselves kings each in his province, from Avhich title they had abstained,6 as long as any just heir of Alexander was suiviving. Thus was Alexander's kingdom " broken and divided not to his posterity," but was " plucked up even for others besides those :" and it was " divided towards 9 'Efiiu Se Sio koI rpidKovra etv, Kal toU 3 Diod. Sic. 1. 19, c. 5. Justin. 1. 14, u. 6. rplrov pr)vas hiXatrEv Sktw, &s Xiysi 'Apiorb- Pausanias Bceot. sive lib. 9, c. 7. GovXos. 'E.6aol\Evoc Se SdrScKa Errj, Kal tovs 4 Diod. Sic. 1. 19, c. 105. Justin. 1. 15, c, 2. Sktot prfvas robrovs. Vixit annos xxxri, menses Pausanias, 1. 9, c. 7. vm, ut auctor est Aristobulus. Regnavit ' Diod. Sic. 1. 20, c. 28. Justin, ibid. Pau- annos xii, menses viii. Arrian. 1. 7, c. 28. sanias, ibid. 1 Plutarch. Alex. § 77. 6 — 'Quoad Alexandra Justus heres fuit. 2 Diod. Sic. 1. 19, c. 11. Justin. 1. 14, c. 5. Justin. 1. 15, c. 2. 23 2 1 266 BISHOP NEWTON the four winds of heaven ;" for four of his captains, as it hath been shown in former dissertations, prevailed over the rest, and Cassander reigned in Greece and the west, Lysimachus in Thrace and the north, Ptolemy in Egypt and the south, and Seleucus in Syria and the east. But though the kingdom of Alexander was divided into four principal parts, yet only two of them have a place allotted in this prophecy, Egypt and Syria. These two were by far the greatest and most considerable : and these two at one time were in a manner the only remaining kingdoms of the four ; the 7 kingdom of Macedon having been conquered by Lysima chus and annexed to Thrace ; and Lysimachus 8 again having been conquered by Seleucus, and the kingdoms of Macedon and Thrace annexed to Syria. These two likewise continued dis tinct kingdoms, after the others were swallowed up by the power of the Romans. But there is a more proper and pecu liar reason for enlarging upon these two particularly ; 9 because Judea lying between them was sometimes in the possession of the kings of Egypt, and sometimes of the kings of Syria ; and it is the purpose of Holy Scripture, to interweave only so much of foreign affairs as hath some relation to the Jews : and it is in respect of their situation to Judea, that the kings of Egypt and Syria are called the kings of the south and the north. " And the king of the south shall be strong, (ver. 5,) and one of his princes," (that is, of Alexander's princes,) " and he shall be strong above him." There is manifestly either some redun dance, or some defect ' in the Hebrew copy : which should be rendered as it is by the Seventy, 2 And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes shall be strong above him : or per haps may better be rendered thus, Jlnd the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes ; and the king of the north shall be strong above him, and have dominion ; his dominion shall be a great dominion. The king of the south was indeed very strong; for Ptolemy 3 had annexed Cyprus, Phoenicia, Caria, and many islands, and cities, and regions to Egypt, as Jerome here commemorates out of the ancients. He had likewise en larged the bounds of his empire, as Justin testifies, by the ac- " Justin. 1. 16, ft. 3. Plutarch, in Pyrrho, quae Israeli populo copulata est.' Hieron § 12. Pausanius in Attic, sive 1. i, c. 10. in loc. col. 1122. " Justin. 1. 17, c. 1 et 2. Appian de Bell. ' Either the l in pirm is redundant, or the Syr. c. 62. Memnonis Excerpta apud Pho- words i^d posn are wanting. tium, c. 9. 2 Kai cis rwv apxbvrwv avrob ivtaxvasi i-ir 9 'Idcirco autem csctera regna dimit- airbv. Sept. tens. Macednniae videlicet et Asiae, tan- 3 — 'Ad .rEgyptum adjecerat Cyprum, turn de iEgypu et Syriae narrat regibus: Phcenicen, Cariam, aliasque insulas et quia in medio Judaea posita, nunc af> illis, regiones, ut hie ex antiquis commemorat nunc ab istis regibus tenebatur. Et scrip- Hieronymus.' Grot. The words in Je- turae sanctae propositum est, non externam rome are, ' et multas insulas urbesque et absque judseis historiam texere; sed earn regiones. ON THE PROPHECIES. 267 quisition of Cyrene,4 and was now become so great, that he was in a condition not so much to fear, as to be feared by his ene mies. But still the king of the north, or Seleucus Nicator, was strong above him; for having annexed, as we have seen, the kingdoms of Macedon and ThraGe to the crown of Syria, he was become master of three parts out of four of Alexander's domi nions. All historians agree in representing him not only as the longest liver of Alexander's successors, but likewise as the conqueror of the conquerors.5 Appian6 in particular enume rates the nations which he subdued, and the cities which he built, and affirms that after Alexander he possessed the largest part of Asia ; for all was subject to him from Phrygia up to the river Indus, and beyond it: and afterwards 7 he denominates him expressly, ' the greatest king of Alexander.' Seleucus Nicator,8 having reigned seven months after the death of Lysimachus, over the kingdoms of Macedon, Thrace, and Syria, was basely murdered ; and to him succeeded in the throne of Syria his son Antiochus Soter, and to Antiochus Soter succeeded his son Antiochus Theus. At the same time Ptolemy Philadelphus reigned in Egypt after his father, the first Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. There were frequent wars between the kings of Egypt and Syria. There were so particu larly between Ptolemy Philadelphus the second king of Egypt, and Antiochus Theus the third king of Syria. "And in the end of years they shall join themselves together ; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement : but she shall not retain the power of the arm, neither shall he stand, nor his arm ; but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times," (ver. 6.) "And in the end of years," that is, after several years ; for these wars lasted long, "Jerome reports out of the ancients, and Antiochus Theus fought against Ptolemy Philadelphus with all the forces of Babylon and the east. " They shall join themselves together," or shall associate themselves : At length they agreed to make peace upon 4 — 'Terminos quoque imperil acquisita terranea Seleuco parebant omnia : et hoc quo- Cyrene urbe ampliaverat, factusque jam que trajecto, $-c. Vide etiam, c. 56, fin. tantus erat, ut non tarn timeret quam ti- '• — BaaiXia twv i-rrl 'AXEi-dvSpw piyio-rov. mendus ipse hostibus esset.' Justin. 1. 13, — Regem post Alexandrum maximum. Ibid. c. 6. c. 61. s — ' Victoremque victorum exstitisse' — 8 ' Quippe post menses admodum septem, Justin. 1. 17, c. 2. &c.' Justin. 1. 17, c. 2, § 4. Appian.de 6 Appian. de Bell. Syr. c. 55. 'Sis wplai Bell. Syr. c. 62. twSe paXiara pcrd 'AXsXavSpov rrjs 'Aalas 9 'Iste adversus Ptolemssum Philadel- rb ttXeov arrb yap 'vpvylas Irrl -rtoTapbv 'IvSbv phum, qui secundus imperabat .rEgypiiis avw, trdvTa TeXevkw KarrJKovE- Kai rbv 'IvSbv gesset bella quam plurima: et totis Babylo- ¦KEpdaaSt k. r. X. Quo exceplo [Alexandre] nis atque orientis viribus dimicavit.' Hieron. nemo unquam plures terras in Asia tenuit : Comment, in loc. col. 1123. nam a Phrygian terminis Indum usque medi- 268 BISHOP NEWTON condition, that ' Antiochus Theus should put away his former wife Laodice and her two sons, and should marry Berenice the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus. " For the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement," or rights : and accordingly 2 Ptolemy Philadelphus brought his daughter to Antiochus Theus, and with her an im mense treasure, so that he received the appellation of the dowry- giver. " But she shall not retain the power of the arm," that is, her interest and power with Antiochus ; for 3 after some time, in a fit of love, he brought back his former wife Laodice with her children to court again. " Neither shall he stand, nor his arm," or his seed ; for 4 Laodice, fearing the fickle temper of her husband, lest he should recall Berenice, caused him to be poisoned; and neither did his seed by Berenice succeed him in the kingdom, but Laodice contrived and managed matters so as to fix her eldest son Seleucus Callinicus on the throne of his ancestors. " But she shall be given up ;" for Laodice not content with poisoning her husband, 5 caused also Berenice to be murdered. " And they that brought her ;" for her 6 Egyptian women and attendants, endeavouring to defend her, were many of them slain with her. " And he that begat her," or rather as it is in the margin, he whom she brought forth ; for 7 the son was murdered as well as the mother, by order of Lao dice. "And ne that strengthened her in these times;" her husband Antiochus, as 8 Jerome conceives ; or those who took her part and defended her; or rather her father who died a little before, and was so very fond of her, 9 that he took care continually to send her fresh supplies of the water of the Nile, ihinking it better for her to drink of that than of any other river, as Polybius relates. 1 ' Volens itaque Ptoiemaeus Philadel- vrnpaorrtt^ovo-ai xrpoaa-trtBavov aX ttXei6ves. phus post multos annos molestum finite cer- Quce vero circa earn erant -mulieres defensio- tamen, filiam suatn nomine Berenicen, An- nem parantes, plurimce ceciderunt. Polyse- tiocho uxorem dedit ; qui de priore uxore nus, ibid. nomine Laodice, habebat duos filios, &c.' * Hieron. ibid. Appian. ibid. Polyaen. Hieron. Comment, in loc. col. 1123. ibid. Justin. 1. 27, c. 1. 2 ' Deduxitque earn usque Pelusium ; et 8 'Rex quoque Antiochus qui conforta- infinita auri et argenti millia, dotis nomine, bat earn, hoc est, per quern poterat prae- dedit : Unde, fopvofybpos, id est, dotalis, ap- yalere, veneno uxoris occisus est.' Hieron. pellatus est. Hieron. ibid. ibid. 3 — 'Post multum temporis amore supera- 9 Kal o rrjs Alytmrov Se PociXevs SstirEpos, tus, Laodicen cum liberis suis reduxit in o QiXdSsXipos ettIkX-ov, iKSobs rr)v abrov Bvya- regiam.' Hieron. ibid. ripa BepsviKinv 'Avribxw rip Svpias PooiXeI, ev 4 ' Quae metuens ambiguum viri animum e-kipeXeIiz eTxe ziprrEiv avrf) rb a-nb tov NeIXov ne Berenicen reduceret, virum per minis- DSwp, 'iva pbvov rovrov tov -norapov % irals tros veneno interfecit, &c.' Hieron. ibid. Ttvr),ws\aropEiIioXbb,ios.Ptolemceu.ssecundus. Appian. de Bell. Syr. c. 65, 66. Valer. jSEgypti rex, cognomine Philadelphus, cum Maximus, 1. 9, c. 14. Plin. 1. 7, § 10. _ filiam Berenicen Antiocho regi Syria nuptum 6 Hieron. ibid. Appian. ibid. Polyeeni dedisset, mittendam ad ipsam Niti aquam se- Strat. 1. 8, c. 50. dulo curavit, ut earn solam gnata biberet, quod " Hieron. ibid. A! Si apf' ain> yvva'tKEs Polybius scripsit. Athenosus, 1. 2, c. 6, p. 45. ON THE PROPHECIES. 269 But such wickedness should not pass unpunished and unre venged. "But out of a branch of her root shall one stand up in his estate, (or rather as it is translated ' in the Vulgar Latin, out of a branch of her root shall stand up a plant ;) and he shall come Avith an army, and shall enter into the fortress (or the fenced cities) of the king of the north, and shall deal (shall act) against them and shall prevail : And ' shall also cany captives into Egypt, their gods Avith their princes, (or rather 2 their gods with their molten images,) and with their precious vessels of sil ver and of gold, and he shall continue more years than the king of the north, (or more literally he shall continue some years after the king of the north.) So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his OAvn land," (ver. 7, 8, 9.) This branch which sprung out of the same root with Berenice, was Ptolemy Euergetes her brother, who no sooner succeeded his father Ptolemy Philadelphus in the kingdom, than 3 he came with a great army, and entered into the provinces of the king of the north, that is of Seleucus Callinicus, who with his mother Lao dice reigned in Syria : and he acted against them, and prevailed so far, that he took Syria and Cilicia, and the upper parts be yond Euphrates, and almost all Asia. And when he had heard that a sedition was raised in Egypt, he plundered the kingdom of Seleucus, and took forty thousand talents of silver and pre cious vessels and images of the gods, two thousand and five hun dred : among which were also those which Cambyses, after he had taken Egypt, had carried into Persia. And for thus restoring their gods after many years, the Egyptians, who were a nation much addicted to idolatry, complimented him with the title of Euergetes, or the benefactor. This is Jerome's account, extracted from ancient historians: but there are authors still extant, who confirm several of the same particulars. Appian informs us that 4 Laodice having killed Antiochus, and after him both Berenice and her child, Ptolemy the son of Philadel phus to revenge these murders invaded Syria, slew Laodice, 1 "Et stabit de genuine radicum ejus genti tulit, et vasa pretiosa simulacraque plantatio." Vulg. deorum, duo millia quingenta: in quibus 2 " Deos eorum et sculptilia." Vulg. Tobs erant, et ilia quae Cambyses capta iEgypto, Bsobs avrwv pETal twv xwvevrSv avrwv. Sept. in Persas portaverat. Denique gens iEgyp- " Deos eorum cum fusilibus eorum." Arab. tiorium idololatriee dedita, quia post multos 3 — ' De plantatione et de germine ra- annos deos, eorum retulerat, Euergeten eum dicis ejus, eo quod esset germanus : et appellavit.' Hieron. ad loc. venit cum exercitu magno, et ingressus 4 Kai ahrbv ekteive AooSIkv, Kai eV ekeIvw est provinciam regis aquilonis, id est, Se- JjEpcvtKrivTEKal rb BspEviKrjs PpEy-os. Kainru- leuci cognomento Callinici, qui cum matre Xspaios o tov QiXaSiXfov rubra rivvvpEvos, Laodice regnabat in Syria: et abusus est AaoSUnv te ekteive, Kal is Ivpiav eveSoXe, Kal eis ; et obtinuit, in tantum ut Syriam ca- is BafinAuiva t)Xaa-s. Laodice ipsum interfecit, peret, et Ciliciam, superioresque partes et max Berenicem cum infantulo. _ Earn in- trans Euphraten, et propemodura univer- juriam Ptolemceus Philadelphi filius, ut ul- sam Asiam. Quumque audisset in Egyp- cisceretur, de Laodice su-mpsit supplicium, et to seditionem moveri, diripiens regnum ingressus Syriam, Babylonem usque pervenU. Seleuci, quadraginta millia talentorum ar- Appian. de Bell. Syr. c. 65. 23* 270 BISHOP NEWTON and proceeded as far as to Babylon. From Polybius we learn, that 6 Ptolemy surnamed Euergetes, being greatly incensed at the cruel treatment of his sister Berenice, marched with an army into Syria, and took the city of Seleucia, which was kept for some years afterwards by the garrisons of the kings of Egypt. Thus did he " enter into the fortress of the king of the north." Polyaenus affirms, that 6 Ptplemy made himself master of all the country from mount Taurus as far as to India without war or battle : but he ascribes it by mistake to the father in stead of the son. Justin asserts, that 7 if Ptolemy had not been recalled by a domestic sedition into Egypt, he Avould have pos sessed the whole kingdom of Seleucus. So the king of the south came into the kingdom of the north, and then returned into his own land. He likewise continued more years than the king of the north; for Seleucus Callinicus " died in exile of a fall from his horse, and Ptolemy Euergetes 9 survived him about four or five years. But his sons, that is the sons of the king of the north, should endeavour to vindicate and avenge the cause of their father and their country. " But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces ; and one shall cer tainly come, and overflow, and pass through ; then shall he return, and be stirred up even to his fortress," (ver. 10.) The sons of Seleucus Callinicus were x Seleucus and Antiochus ; the elder of whom, Seleucus, succeeded him in the throne, and to distinguish him from others of the same name, was denominated Ceraunus or the thunderer. Where by the way one cannot help observing the ridiculous vanity of princes in assuming or receiving such pompous appellations without de serving them. Seleucus the father was surnamed Callinicus or the famous conqueror, though he was so far from gaining any considerable victory, that he was shamefully beaten by the Egyptians in the west, and was made a prisoner by the Par thians in the east. In like manner Seleucus the son was called Ceraunus or the thunderer, though he was so far from perform ing any thing worthy of the name, that he was a poor and 1 1vvt6atvc yap YEXevKEiav h-i r$rs Kari- xroXipov Kal pdxps iKpdrncs. A Tauro usque \EoBat (ppovpais v-kStwv f| Alyirtrov jiaaiXiwv, ad indiam absque hello ac pugna superavit. *k twv Kard rbv -EvEpyirvv E-n-iKXriBEvTaUToXc- PolyaeniStrat. 1. 8, c. 50. uatov Kaipwv, iv ots iKslvos Sid rd BspEvUns . * ' Qui nisi in .lEgyptum domestica sedi- cvpirrwpara, Kal ri)v ii-nip hEtvrjs bpyrjv, crpa- tione revocatus esset, totum regnum Seleuci TEvaas sis robs Kara Svplav Tb-novs, iyKparfjS occupasset.' Justin. 1. 27, C. 1. iyivETo rabrqs rrjs tt6Xews. Adhuc ilia tem- B Justin. 1. 27, c. 3. pestate regum JEgypti prcesidiis tenebatur " See Usher, Prideaux, Blair and other Seleucia, jam inde ab illis temporibus, cum chronologers. Ptolemosus cogrvomento Euergeta, propter ^ * 'Post fugam et mortem Seleuci Cal- casum Berenice? Seleuco regi iratus, betb linici, duo filii ejus Seleucus cognomento /Syria! illato, ea urbe est potilus. Polyb. 1. 5, Ceraunus, et Antiochus qui appeflatus est c. 58.. Magnus, &c.' Hieron. in loc. col. 1124. 6 'Am too Taipov pixpt rfjs 'IvSiKfjs x<3paf Polyb. 1. 4, c. 48. Appian. de Bell. Syr. c. 66. ON THE PROPHECIES. 271 weak prince in all respects, in mind and body and estate. Great and splendid titles, when improperly applied, are rather a satire and insult upon the persons, than any honour or commenda tion. Seleucus Ceraunus was indeed stirred up, and assembled a multitude of great forces, in order to recover his father's dominions ; but 2 being destitute of money, and unable to keep his army in obedience, he was poisoned by two of his generals, after an inglorious reign of two or three years. Upon his decease his brother Antiochus Magnus was proclaimed king, who was more deserving of the title of great, than Seleucus was of that of the thunderer. The prophet's expression is very 3 remarkable, that " his sons should be stirred up, and assemble a multitude of great forces ;" but then the number is changed, and only " one should certainly come, and overflow, and pass through." Ac cordingly 4 Antiochus came with a great army, retook Seleucia, and by the means of Theodotus J;he iEtolian recovered Syria, making himself master of some p'aces by treaty, and of others by force of arms. Then 5 after a truce, wherein both sides treated of peace, but prepared for war, Antiochus returned, and overcame in battle Nicolaus the Egyptian general, and had thoughts of invading Egypt itself. The king of Egypt at that time Avas Ptolemy Philopator, who Avas 6 advanced to the crown upon the death of his father Euergetes, not long after Antiochus Magnus succeeded his brother in the throne of Syria. This Ptolemy was 7 a most luxurious and vicious prince, but was roused at length by the near approach of danger. " And the king of the south shall be moved Avith choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even Avith the king of the north : and he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand," (ver. 11.) Ptolemy Philopator was, no doubt, "moved with choler" for the losses which he had sustained, and for the revolt of Theodotus and others. And he " came forth ;" he 2 ^eXe^kw piv Sr), AcBeveT te Svn Kal itevo- 4 Polyb. 1. 5, c. 61. Hieron. ibid. pivw, Kal SvarrEiBf) rbv arparbv exovrt, brs- 6 Polyb. ibid. c. 68, 69. 'Quumque pug- €obXEvcav oi rplXoi Sid qjappdKwv, Kal is ern nasset adversum duces ejus, imo proditione Svo pbva iSaalXEvaEV. Seleucus nee veletu- Theodoti obtinuisset Syriam, quae per suc- dine Jirmus nee opibus, cum exerciium in cessionem jam a regibus .rEgypti teneba- qfficio continere non posset, veneno sublatus tur, in tantam venit audaciam contempta est purpuratorum perfidia, post exaclum regni luxuria Philopatoris — ut ultrb jEgypliis annum olterum. Appian. ibid. ' Quum- bellum conaretur inferre. Hieron. ibid. que Seleucus major frater, tertio anno im- Antiochus rex Syrite, veteri inter se reg- perii esset occisus in Phrygia, per dolum norum odio stimulante, repentino bello Nicanoris et Apaturii, &c.' Hieron. ibid, multas urbes ejus [Ptolemaei] oppressit, ip- Polyb. ibid. samque ^Igyptum aggreditur.' Justin. 1. 30, 3 'Et propterea nunc infert, quod duo c. 1. quidem filii provocati sunt, et congrega- G Ptolemaeus in Can, Eusebius in Chron. verunt multitudinem exercituum plurimo- Usher, Prideaux, and the chronologers. rum: sed quod unus Antiochus Magnus ' Polyb. 1. 5, c. 34. Strabo, 1. 17, p. 1146. veneritde Babylone in Svriam, &c.' Hieron. Plutarch, in Cleomene, § 33. Justin. 1. 30, ibid. c. 1. 272 BISHOP NEWTON marched out of Egypt with a numerous army to oppose the enemy,8 and encamped not far from Raphia, which is the near est town to Egypt from Rhonocorura. And there he "fought with him, even with the king of the north ;" for thither likewise came Antiochus with his army,9 and a memorable battle was fought by the two kings. "And he (the king of the north) set forth a great multitude;" Polybius hath1 recited the va rious nations of which Antiochus's army was composed, and all together it amounted to sixty-two thousand foot, six thou sand horse, and 102 elephants. But yet "the multitude was given into his hand," that is, into the hand of the king of the south ; for Ptolemy obtained a complete victory : 2 and of Antiochus's army there was slain not much fewer than ten thousand foot, more than three hundred horse, and above four thousand men were taken prisoners ; whereas of Ptolemy's there was killed only fifteen hundred foot, and seven hundred horse. Upon this defeat 3 Raphia and the neighbouring toAvns contended who should be most forward to submit to the con queror ; and Antiochus was forced to retreat with his shattered army to Antioch, and from thence sent ambassadors to solicit a peace. Ptolemy Philopator was more fortunate in gaining a victory, than prudent in knowing how to make a proper advantage of it. " And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many ten thousands ; but he shall not be strengthened by it," (ver. 12.) If Ptolemy had pursued the blow that he had given, it is 4 reasonably pre sumed that he might have deprived Antiochus of his kingdom ; but " his heart was lifted up" by his success ; being delivered from his fears, he now mere freely indulged his lusts ; and after a few menaces and complaints' he granted peace to Antiochus, that he might be no more interrupted in the gratification of his appetites and passions. He had before 6 murdered his father, and his mother, and his brother ; and now 6 he killed his wife, B Polyb. 1. 5, c. 80. Hieron. ibid. pauciores decern millibus peditum: equites 9 Polyb. ibid. Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1102. trecentos et eo plures : capti sunt vivi supra Hieron. ibid. quatuor millia. — E Ptolemaicis occisi sunt 1 Polyb. 1. 5, c. 79. Kal rrjs piv AvrtSxov pedites mille et quingenli : equites septingenti. Svvdpews rb TtXr)Bos r)v, xte£oI piv i^aKiepvptoi Polyb. 1. 5, c. 86. ' Inito ergo certamine Kal SioxtXtoi, ovv Si robrots ItttteIs E^aKioxl- juxta oppidum Raphiae, quod in foribus Xioi, Snpia Si Sval ttXeiw twv Uarbv. Summa iEgypti est, omnem Antiochus amisit exer- totius exercitus Antiochi ; peditum duo et sew- citum, &c.' Hieron. ibid. aginta millia ; equitum sex ; elephanti duo su- 3 Polyb. ibid. ' Q,uumque cessisset pra centum. Syria, ad extremum fcedere, et quibusdam 2 'Hcrav Si ol TEreXEVTrjKSrES rwv -trap? conditionibus pugna finita est.' Hieron. 'Avribftov, TE^ot piv oh ttoXv XeUovtes pvptwv, ibid. In-wEis Si -rrXstovs rptaKoalwv £wypsta S' IdXw- 4 Justin. 1. 30, c. 1. < Spoliassetque oav vTrip tovs TETpaKwxtXtotis- — Twv Si rrapd regno Antiochum, si fortunam virtute ju- nToAc/iatou, tte\oI piv eIs X'M°"S ""< ttevtoko- visset.' Polyb. 1. 5, c. 87. o-tovs aVcAetfriflo-av, ImreiS Si sis E-KTaKoaiovs. 6 Justin. 1. 29, c. 1. Polyb. 1. 5, c. 34. Desideravit autem e suis Antiochus non multo * Justin. 1. 30, c. 1. Polyb. 1. 15, c. 25, ON THE PROPHECIES. 273 who Avas also his sister ; and 7 gave himself up entirely to the management of Agathoclea his harlot, and her brother Agatho- cles who was his catamite, and their mother Oenanthe who was his bawd. And 8 so forgetful of all the greatness of his name and majesty, he consumed his days in feasting, and his nights in lewdness ; and became not only the spectator, but the master and leader of all wickedness. And what availed it to have conquered his enemies, when he was thus overcome by his vices ? he was so far from being " strengthened by it," that even 9 his own subjects, offended at his inglorious peace, and more inglorious life, rebelled against him. But the pro phet in this passage alluded more particularly to the case of his own countrymen. After the retreat of Antiochus, Ptolemy visited the cities of Coele-Syria and Palestine, ' which had sub mitted to him ; and among others in his progress he came to Jerusalem. He there offered sacrifices, and was desirous of entering into the holy of holies, contrary to the custom and religion of the place, being (as the 2 writer of the third book of Maccabees says) greatly lifted up by pride and confidence. His curiosity was restrained with great difficulty, and he de parted with heavy displeasure against the whole nation of the Jews. At his return therefore to Alexandria, he began a cruel persecution upon the Jewish inhabitants of that city, who had resided there from the time of Alexander, and enjoyed the privi leges of the most favoured citizens. " And he cast down many ten thousands ;" for it appears from Eusebius, 3 that about this time forty thousand Jews were slain, or sixty thousand as they are reckoned in Jerome's Latin interpretation. No king could be strengthened by the loss of such a number of useful subjects. The loss of so many Jews, and the rebellion of the Egyptians, added to the mal-administration of the state, must certainly very much Aveaken, and almost totally ruin the kingdom. Peace was to continue between the two crowns of Egy and Syria for some years, and then the king of the north should attempt another invasion. "For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come, after certain years (at the end of these times, that is, years) with a great army, and with much riches," (ver. 13.) The following events, you see, were not to take * Plutarch in Cleomene, § 33. Polyb. ' For these particulars the third book o 1. 15, passim. Justin. 1. 30, c. 1 et 2. Maccabees must be consulted. 2 "tfpEi Kal SpdcEl pEydXws Eirppphov. 3 3 'Atque ita omnem magnitudinem no- Mace. ii. 21. minis ac majestatia oblitus, noctes in stupris, 3 'lovSaioi X-o^Bevtes, TEaaapaKovra xiXidSas dies in conviviis consumit — nee jam spec- h-nXtrwv ano6aXbpsvot. Eusebii Chron. p. tator rex, sed magister nequitiae. Justin. 185. 'Victi Judaei: et lx millia armatorum ibid. c. 1. ex numero eorum caesi.' Interprete Hieron. 9 Polyb. 1. 5, c. 107. p. 143. 2K 274 BISHOP NEWTON place till "after certain years;" and the peace continued be tween the two crowns * about fourteen years. In that time Ptolemy Philopator 5 died of intemperance and debauchery, and was succeeded by his son Ptolemy Epiphanes, a child of four or five years old. Antiochus too, 6 having taken and slain the rebel Achaeus, and having 7 also reduced and settled the eastern parts in their obedience, was at leisure to prosecute any enterprise, and could not let slip so favourable an opportunity of extending his dominions. He had acquired great riches, and collected many forces in his eastern expedition ; so that he was enabled to " set forth a greater multitude than the former," and he doubted not to have an easy victory over an infant king. Polybius expressly informs us, 8 that from the king of Bactria and from the king of India he received so many elephants as made up his number 150, besides provisions and riches. Jerome out of ancient authors affirms, 9 that he gathered together an incredible army out of the countries beyond Babylon ; and con trary to the league he marched with this army, Ptolemy Philo pator being dead, against his son, who was then four years old, and was called Ptolemy Epiphanes, or the illustrious. Justin also says, l that Ptolemy Philopator king of Egypt being dead, in contempt of the childhood of his son, who being left heir to the kingdom was a prey even to his domestics, Antiochus king of Syria resolved to take possession of Egypt; as if the thing Avere as easily executed as resolved. But Antiochus was not the only one who rose up against young Ptolemy. Others also confederated with him. " And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south : also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall," (ver. 14.) Aga- thocles s was in possession of the young king's person ; and he was so dissolute and proud in the exercise of his poAver, that the provinces which before were subject to Egypt rebelled, and Egypt itself was disturbed by seditions ; and the people of Alexandria rose up in a body against Agathocles, and caused 4 See Usher, Prideaux, and the chronolo- ejus, qu tunc quatuor annorum erat, et gers. vocabatur Ptolemaeus 'Emipavris, rupto fce- s Ptolem. in Canone, Eusebius, Justin. 1. dere movit exercitum.' Hieron. in loc. col. 30, c. 2. Hieron. &c. 1124. 0 Polyb. 1. 8, c. 23. ' 'Mortuo Ptolemaeo Philopatore rege * Polyb. 1. 10 et 11. Appian. de Bell. Syr. .flSgypti, contemplaque parvuli filii ejus in principio. tetate, qui in spem regni relictus priEda3 " Kai Xa(3wv IXstpavTas, wore ysviaBai tovs etiam domesticis erat, Antiochus rex Syriae artavras eIs harbv Kal nEVTf,Kovra,K. r. X. Jbi occupare ^Egyptum statuit.' Justin. 1. 31, quoque elephantos alios accepit, utjam cmlum c. 1. quinquaginta bestias haberet, $-c. Polyb. 1. 2 Polyb. I. 15, c. 25. 'Tantae enim 11, c. 34. dissolutionis et superbiae Agathocles fuit, « ' Incredibilem de superioribus locis ut subditae prius ^Egypto provincise rebel- Babylonis exercitum congregavit. Et Pto- larent ; ipsaque .rEgyptus seditionibus vex- lemajo Philopatore mortuo adversum filiuin aretur.' Hieron. in loc. Justin. 1. 30, c. 2 ON THE PROPHECIES. 275 him, and his sister, and mother, and their associates, to be put to death. Philip too, the king of Macedon,3 entered into a league with Antiochus, to divide Ptolemy's dominions between them, and each to take the parts which lay nearest and most convenient to him. And this is the meaning, as Jerome con cludes,4 of the prophet's saying, that many shall rise up toge ther against the king of the south. " Also the robbers of thy people." It is literally 5 the sons of the breakers, the sons of the revolters, the factious and refractory ones, of thy people; for the Jews were at that time broken into factions, part adhering to the king of Egypt, and part to the king of Syria ; but the majority were for breaking away from their allegiance to Pto lemy. In the Vulgate it is translated,6 the sons also of the pre varicators of thy people ; in the Septuagint, the sons of the pes tilent ones of thy people. What shall they do 1 " shall exalt themselves to establish the vision ;" shall revolt from Ptolemy, and thereby shall contribute greatly, Avithout their knowing it, toAvards the accomplishment of this prophecy concerning the calamities which should be brought upon the Jewish nation by the succeeding kings of Syria. That the Jews revolted from Ptolemy is evident from what Jerome affirms,7 that the provinces which before were subject to Egypt rebelled : and heathen authors intimate,8 that Antiochus took possession of the cities of Cosle-Syria and Palestine without any opposition, at least they do not mention any. " But they shall fall ;" for Scopas 9 came Avith a powerful army from Ptolemy, and Antio chus being engaged in other parts, soon reduced the cities of Cosle-Syria and Palestine to their former obedience. He sub dued the Jews in the winter season, placed a garrison in the castle of Jerusalem, and returned Avith great spoils to Alexan dria ; for he Avas 1 noted above all men for his avarice and rapa city. The expression of Josephus is remarkable,2 that the Jews submitted to Scopas by force, but to Antiochus they submitted willingly. It Avas in the absence of Antiochus, that these advantages were obtained by the arms of Egypt, but his presence soon 3 ' Philippus quoque rex Macedonum, et tui." Vulg. Oi viol twv \otpwv tov Xaov cdi. tnagnus Antiochus pace facta, adversum Sept. Agathoclen et Ptolemaeum Epiphanem di- ' — 'Ut subditaa prius iEgypto provincice micarent, sub hac conditione, ut proximas rebellarent.' Hieron. ibid. civitates regno suo singuli de regno Pto- 8 Polyb. 1. 3, c. 2. Appian. de Bell. Syr. lemaei jungerent.' Hieron. ibid. Polyb. 1. 3, § 1. c. 2 ; 1. 15, c. 20. Justin, ibid. 9 Hieron. in loc. col. 1125. Polyb. apud Joseph, et Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, c. 3, § 3. 4 'Et hoc est quod nuncdicit multos con- ' Polyb. 1. 18, c. 38. _ surgere adversus regem Austri, Ptolemaeum 2 UoXEpo^psvov yap a&reratore : — Judaoos amare se simulans, et ON THE PROPHECIES. 299 . ? of the religion, only because it was the religion of the emperor. Eusebius, who was a contemporary writer,8 reckons that one of the reigning vices of the time was the dissimulation and hypocrisy of men fraudulently entering into the church, and borrowing the name of Christians without the reality. Julian himself, as a' heathen historian relates, that he might allure the Christians to favour him, publicly professed the faith, from which he had long ago privately revolted ; and even went to church, and joined Avith them in the most solemn offices of re ligion. He did more ; his dissimulation carried him so far as to ' become an ecclesiastic in loAver orders, or a reader in the church. Moreover, this is also called " a little help," because the temporal peace and prosperity of the church lasted but a little while. The spirit of persecution presently revived ; and no sooner were the Christians delivered from the fury of their heathen adversaries, than they began to quarrel among them selves, and to persecute one another. The 2 Consubstantialists, even in the time of Constantine, led the Avay by excommuni cating aud banishing the Arians. The latter, under the favour of Constantius and Valens, more than retorted the injury, and were guilty of many horrible outrages and cruelties towards the former. Such, more or less, have been the fate and condition of the church ever since : and generally speaking, those of un derstanding have fallen a sacrifice to others, some of the best and Avisest men to some of the worst and most ignorant. At least, if the persecuted have not been always in the right, yet the per secutors have been always in the wrong. These calamities Avere to befall the Christians, " to try them ; and to purge, and to make them Avhite," not only at that time, but " even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed." And we see even at this day, not to allege other instances, how the poor Protest ants are persecuted, plundered and murdered, in the southern parts of France. The principal source of these persecutions is traced tiut in the following verses. "And the king, (who shall cause these persecutions,) shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper 3 ElpwvEtav t* oXektov twv rrjv IkkXv- sollemniter numine orato discessit.' Am- ctav vnoSvopivwv, Kal rb Xpicriavwv irrirrXd- mian. Marcell. 1. 21, c. 2. crws axnpari^opivwv b'vopa. — Etfraudulen- 1 Theodoret Eccles. Hist. 1. 3, c. 2. tarn simulationem eorum qui collide in eccle- THal tov twv avayvwarwv r)tliw9v xopriii, Kal ras siam irrepebant, et Christianorum nomen j also Upas @t6Xovs iv rots iKKXvoiaariKols avXXb- ac specie tenus praferebant. Euseb. de Vita yois vnavEytKwoKE rip Xaip. In lectorum nume- Const. 1, 4, c. 54. rum adscriplus est, et sacros libros in ecclesi- 9 ' Utque omnes, nullo impediente, ad sui asticis conventibus populo recitavit. favorem illiceret, adhaerere cultui Christiano 2 See Socrates, Sozomen, &c. and Jor- fingebat, a quo jampridem occulte descive- tin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, rat — Et — progressus in eorum ecclesiam, vol. 3, p. 104, 105. 300 BISHOP NEWTON till the indignation be accomplished ; for that that is determined shall be done," (ver. 36.) From this place, as 3 Jerome asserts, the JeAvs as well as the Christians of his time understood all to be spoken of Antichrist. But Porphyry, and others who fol low him, suppose it to be spoken of Antiochus Epiphanes, that he should be exalted against the worship of God, and grow to that height of pride, that he should command his statue to be placed in the temple at Jerusalem. But if it might be said of Antiochus, that he spoke marvellous things against the God of Is rael ; yet it could not be so well affirmed of him, that he mag nified and exalted himself above every God; Avhen 4 in his public sacrifices and worships of the gods he was more sumptuous and magnificent than all who reigned before him ; and when in his solemn shows and processions were carried the images of all Avho among men were called or reputed gods, or daemons, and even heroes ; as Athenaeus reports out of Polybius. He was certainly very superstitious, though sometimes his extravagances and ne cessities might induce him to commit sacrilege. It is a strong argument in favour of the Jewish and Christian interpretation, that St. Paul appears to have understood this passage much in the same manner, because he applies the same expressions, (2 Thess. ii. 3, 4,) to " the man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." The thread of the prophecy will also conduct us to the same conclusion. For the prophet was speaking of the persecutions which should be permitted for the trial and probation of the church, after the empire was become Christian : and now he proceeds to describe the principal author of these persecutions. A king or kingdom as we have shown before, and it appears in several instances, signifies any government, state, or potentate : and the meaning of this verse, we conceive to be that after the empire was be come Christian, there should spring up in the church an anti- christian power, that should act in the most absolute and arbi trary manner, exalt itself above all laws divine and human, dis pense with the most solemn and sacred obligations, and in many respects enjoin what God had forbidden, and forbid what God 3 'Ab hoc loco Judaei dici de Antichristo Xe robs /JaoaffiXeuiedra?. Omnes quotquot reg- putant — &uod quidem et nos de Antichristo narunt, sacrorum magnificentia, quce illius mtelligimus. Porphyrius autem et caeteri sumptu in Claris urbibus fiebant, cultuque ac qui sequuntur eum, de Antiocho Epiphane veneratione deorum exsuperasse. Hdvrwv yap dici arbitrantur, quod erectus sit contra cul- twv Trap' avQp&rtois Xeyophwv rj vopi^opivwv turn Dei, et in tantam superbiam venerit, ut Sewv t) Saipbvwv rrpoaETt Si r)pwwv EtSwXa Sir)- in templo Jerosolymis simulacrum suum ysro. Omnium enim quotquot apud homines poni jusserit.' Hieron. in loc. col. 1131. vel creduntur vel dicunlur esse dii, aut dmmo- 4 'Ev Si rats npbs rixs ttoXeis Socials, Kal nes, atque adeo heroum simulacra gestabamur. rats rrpbs tovs Seooj npaiS, xrdvras fiirapf'foA- Polyb. apud Athen. 1. 5, c. 5, p. 194, 195. ON THE PROPHECIES. 301 had commanded. This power be^an in the Roman emperors, who summoned councils, and directed and influenced their de terminations almost as they pleased. After the division of the empire, this power still increased, and was exerted principally by the Greek emperors in the east, and by the bishops of Rome in the west ; as Ave shall see in the several particulars hereafter specified by the prophet. This power too was to continue in the church, and " prosper till the indignation be accomplished ; for that that is determined, shall be done." This must denote some particular period ; or otherwise it is no more than saying, that God's indignation shall not be accomplished till it be ac complished. This is the same as what before was called, (viii. 19,) "the last end of the indignation," and (ix. 27) "the con summation :" and it meaneth the last end and consummation of God's indignation against his people the Jews. This seemeth to be expressed plainer in the folloAving chapter, (ver. 7 :) "And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." So long this antichristian power should continue. We see it still subsisting in the church of Rome : and it was an ancient tradition among the Jewish doctors that the destruction of Rome and the re storation of the Jews should fall out about the same period. It is a saying of the famous rabbi David Kimchi in his comment upon Obadiah, 5 when Rome shall be laid waste, there shall be redemption for Israel. The curious reader may see more authorities cited by Mr. Mede in a small Latin tractate upon this subject. In this prophecy the antichristian power is described as ex erted principally in the eastern empire, it was before described as exerted in the western empire, under the figure of the little horn of the fourth beast. " Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God ; for he shall magnify himself above all," (ver. 37.) That " he should not regard the God of his fathers," could not be truly affirmed of Antiochus, 6 who compelled all, and especially the Jews and Samaritans, to conform their worship to the religion of the Greeks : and what were the idols that he set up among them, but the Grecian deities, as Jupiter Olympius in the temple of Jerusalem, and Jupiter Xenius, or the defender of strangers, in the temple of the Samaritans ? This therefore, as Jerome rightly observes, agrees better with Antichrist than with Antiochus. By not regarding the God of his fathers, Mr. Mede7 under stands the Roman states cashiering and casting off the pagan 6 'Cum devastabitur Roma, erit Israeli Antichristo quam Antiocho convenit. Legi- redemptio.' See Mede's Works, b. 5, c. 7. mus enim Antiochum idolorum GrsEcias ha- ' Placita doctorum Hebraeorum de Baby- buisse cultum, et Judaeos atque Samantas lonis seu Romae excidio,' p. 902. ad venerationem suorum deorum compu- 6 1 Mace. i. 41 — 64. 2 Mace. vi. 1, &c. lisse.' Hieron. in loc. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, c. 5, § 4. 'Hoc magis 7 Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 668. 26 302 BISHQE NEWTON deities and heathen gods winch were worshipped in their em pire. But the conversion of the Roman state was hinted before, (ver. 34,) and other events haA'e been pointed out since ; so that it would be breaking in upon the series and order of the pro phecy, to resume that subject again. The character too here given, doth not seem in any part of it, to be designed by way of commendation. It is not mentioned to the honour, but to the reproach of the power here described, that he should for sake the religion of his ancestors, and in a manner set up a new religion. It was not the prophet's intention to praise him for renouncing the idolatry of his heathen fathers, but to blame him for apostatizing in some measure from the religion of his Christian fathers ; as he did actually both in the Greek and Latin church, by worshipping Mahuzzim instead of the true God blessed for ever. Another property of the power here described is, that " he should not regard the desire of women :" and neither could this with any truth be declared of Antiochus, who be sides having a wife,8 was lewd and vicious to such a degree, that he had no regard to common decency, but would pros titute his royal dignity, and gratify and indulge his lusts pub licly in the presence of the people. He had a favourite concu bine, whom he called after his own name Antiochis. To her he assigned two, cities in Cilicia, Tarsus and Mallus, for her maintenance ; and the inhabitants rather than they would sub mit to such an indignity, rebelled against him. As Jerome says,9 the interpretation is easier of Antichrist, that he should therefore counterfeit chastity, that he might deceive many. In the Vulgar Latin it is indeed,1 And he shall regard the desire of women ; but this reading is plainly contrary to the original, and to most other versions ; unless with Grotius we understand the copulative and, when it follows a negative, as becoming a ne gative too, and signifying neither. Grotius explains it of An tiochus,2 that he should not spare even women : but the words in the'original will not by any fair construction admit of this interpretation. The word in the original for women3 signi- 8 — ' Luxuriosissimus fuisse dicitur, et in quanquam amibiles, curabit quicquam, nulla tantum dedecus per stupra et corruptelas sexus illius tangetur misericordia.' Grot. venisse regiae dignitatis ; ut mimis quoque in locum. et scortis publico jungeretur, et libidinem 3 See Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 668. And suam populo praesente compleret.' Hieron. it might have been translated in this place ibid. Vide etiam Theodoret. in loc. p. 689. desire of wives, as well as desire of women; 2 Mace. iv. 30. for there is no other word used in the ori- 9 'De Antichristo facilior interpretatio ginal for wives, above once or twice in the est ; quod ideo simulet castitatem, ut pluri- whole Scripture, but this cr iroAiv IkeIv^v, omnesque diaboli fraudes subverlunt, ae dis- it rravrbs rri pyov Kal pvplwv iarl -trEpiBbXwv atr- sipant. Encom. in .rEgypt. Mart. § 1. 26* 2 0 306 BISHOP NEWTON of these enemies Avho fall urraer the senses and are seen by the eyes, but also subvert and dissipate the snares of invisible de mons, and all the stratagems of the devil.' Hilary also Avill tell us, that neither the guards of saints, nor ['angelorum muni- tiones']/ the bulwarks of angels are Avanting to those who are Avilling to stand. Here angels are Mahuzzim, as saints Avere be fore. The Greeks at this day, in their Preces Horariae, thus invocate the blessed virgin : ' O thou virgin mother of God, thou impregnable wall, thou fortress of salvation, [rojn«r> "!>d Psal. xxviii.] we call upon thee, that thou wouldst frustrate the pur poses of our enemies, and be a fence to this city.' Thus they go on, calling her The Hope, Safeguard, and Sanctuary of Chris tians. Gregory Nyssen in his third oration upon the forty martyrs, calleth them [Sopvtpbpot Kai 'vs-Epao-morai] guarders and pro tectors : Eucherius his St. Gervase the perpetual ['propugna- tor'] protector of the faithful. Theodoret ' calleth the holy martyrs, Guardians of cities, Lieutenants of places, Captains cf men, Princes, Champions, and Guardians, by whom disasters are turned from us, and those which came from devils debarred and driven away. By these, and other authorities it appears, not only that Mahuzzim were worshipped, but they were worshipped likewise as Mahuzzim. This superstition began to prevail in the fourth century ; and in the eighth century, in the year 787, the worship of images and the , like was fully established by the seventh general council, and the second which was held at Nice : such different fortune attended that city, that there the first general council established orthodoxy, and there also the seventh established idolatry by law. ""Other instances of his regard to Mahuzzim are produced in the next verse : " Thus shall he do in the most strong holds Avith a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge, and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gam," (ver. 39.) Porphyry2 explains this of Antiochus fortifying the city of Jerusalem, and placing garri sons in the other cities, and persuading the people to worship Jupiter ; and then giving much honour and glory to those whom he had so persuaded, and causing them to rule over the other 1 Kai &s xroXtoixovs rtpSct Kal tpiXaKas. * ' Quod Porphyrius ita edisserit : faciet Veneranturque tanquam urbium presides at- haec omnia, ut muniat arcem Jerusalem, que cu.stodes. Ovtoi yi elotv arExvws trpdpoi et in caeteris urbibus ponat prassidia, et avBpw7Twv,Kaiirp6paxoi,KaliTrlKovpoi,Kal rwv Judaeos doceat _ adorare Deum alienum: kukwv d-KoTpbrratoi, rds v-rrb rwv Saipbvwv im- haud dubium quin Jovem significet. , Quem tpEpophas d-troSio-KopTrovpEvot t3Xd6as, Hi quum illis ostenderit, et adorandum esse sunt vere hominum duces, et propugnatores, persuaserit : tunc dabit deceptis honorem, et auxiliatores, malorumque depulsores, dam- et gloriam plurimam : et faciet caeteris qui na, quce a dcemonibus infliguntur, procul ar- in Judaea fuerint dominari, etpro praevarica- centes. Theodoret. de Graec. affect. Cur. tione possessiones dividet, et dona distri- Serm. 8, p. 593, 600, vol. iv. buet.' Hieron. in loc. col. 1J32. ON THE PROPHECIES. 307 JeAvs, and dividing possessions and distributing rewards to them for their prevarication. But if all the rest could be accommodated to Antiochus, Iioav could Jupiter, whom he had always Avorshipped, be called "a strange god Avhom he should acknowledge V The worship of Mahuzzim Avas indeed the worship of a strange god, both to those Avho imposed it, and to those Avho received it in the Christian church. But for the better understanding of this part of the prophecy, it may be proper to propose a more literal translation of it : Thus shall he do ; to the defenders of Mahuzzim, together with the strange god whom he shall acknowledge, he shall multiply honour ; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and the earth he shall divide for a reward. Mr. Mede's3 translation is somewhat dif ferent : but I conceive it is neither so literal, nor so just to the original : And he shall make the holds of the Mahuzzim withal (or jointly) to the foreign god, whom acknowledging he shall increase with honour; and shall cause them lo rule over many, and shall distribute the earth for a reward. Let us examine and compare the translations together. In our Bible-translation it is, " Thus shall he do in the most strong holds," or as Ave read in the mar gin, in the fortresses of munitions, with a strange god : but here Mahuzzim is not taken personally, as it was in the foregoing verse. Mr. Mede translates it thus, And he shall make the holds of the Mahuzzim withal (or jointly) lo the foreign god : but then he doth not. express the force of the particle prefixed to holds in the HebreAV, Avhich ought not to be neglected. "Whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory," says our Bible- translation : but there is no conjunction like and before increase, and no preposition like with before glory in the original. Mr. Mede hath avoided the former objection by changing the verb into a participle, Whom acknowledging he shall increase with honour; but ihe latter objection remains still in its full strength. The latter part is much the same in all translations : but in our Bible-translation there is nothing to which them can be referred, " And he shall cause them to rule over many ;" for it cannot well be said, that he shall cause the strong holds to rule over many. Let us uoav consider, how these inconveniences may be wholly avoided by a new translation. Thus shall he do? So the same words are translated, ver. 30 ; but. then here a stop is to be made. To the defenders of Mahuzzim? or lo the priests of Mahuzzim : Here the force of the particle is expressed ; here again the abstract is used for the concrete, as in the foregoing verse, holds or fortresses for defenders and supporters, or priests as it may be translated; and this notion of the word I find ap- » Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 667. 4 nwjn Sic faciet. 6 D>rj;n vrasaS propugnatoribus Mahuxzimorum. 308 BISHOP NEWTON proved and confirmed by Father Houbigant.6 It is manifest, that persons must be meant, because they are said afterwards to rule over many. Together with the strange god7 whom he shall acknowledge : This is the most useful signification of the pre position ; and if Mahuzzim be not considered as the strange god, it is difficult to say who the strange god is. Hes shall multiply honour: Here is no conjunction, nor preposition inserted with out authority from the original. He shall multiply honour : the noun is the same as the verb in the verse preceding, he shall honour. He shall multiply honour to the defenders and cham pions of Mahuzzim, as well as to Mahuzzim themselves. Dei fying Mahuzzim, he shall also glorify their priests and minis ters :9 and he shall cause them to rule over many, and the earth he shall divide for a reward. The prophecy thus expounded, the completion becomes obvious and evident to the meanest capacity. The defenders' and champions of Mahuzzim were the monks, and priests, and bishops: and of them it may most truly and properly be said, that they Avere increased with honour, that they ruled over many, and divided the land for gain. Mr. Mede1 applies the latter part to the Mahuzzim themselves: and he paraphrases it after this manner : ' Yea he shall distri bute the earth among his Mahuzzim ; so that besides several patrimonies which in every country he shall allot them, he shall share whole kingdoms and provinces among them : Saint George shall have England ; St. AndreAv, Scotland; St. Denis, France ; St. James, Spain ; St. Mark, Venice, &c. and bear rule as presidents and patrons of their several countries. But it ap pears more natural and easy to understand it of the principal teachers and propagators of the worship of Mahuzzim, the bishops, and priests, and monks, and religious orders : and that they have been honoured, and reverenced, and almost adored in former ages : that their authority and jurisdiction have ex tended over the purses and consciences of men ; that they have been enriched with noble buildings and large endowments, and have had the choicest of the lands appropriated for church- lands ; are points of such public notoriety, that they require no proof, as they will admit of no denial. Such was the degeneracy of the Christian church, and now we shall see its punishment, especially in the eastern part of it. " And at the time of the end shall the king of the south ' ovyn iisaDV custodibus Maozim, ex * "von -w n "03 rfrjH-oj; una cum deo ali- 1X3, significatu Arabico, videre, esse intelli- eno quern agnoscet. gentem, ut significentur sacerdotes, qui dei 3 nui na-n multiplicabit honorem. Ver. istius cultum callebant, atque in eo populum 38. -la^i honorabit. instituebant. Liquet ex verbo n^wan do- ' 00-a o'rwDni et dominari faciet eos in mines faciet eos, notari in vocabulo, v«3D multos : -v.nD3 p^ni riDINi terramque partie- fiersonas, non munitiones.' Houbigant in tur in mercedem. etc. ON THE PROPHECIES. 309 push at him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirhvind Avith chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overfloAV, and pass over," (ver. 40.) These things also2 Por phyry refers to Antiochus: that in the eleventh year of his reign he Avarred again against his sister's son, Ptolemy Philo metor, who hearing of his coming gathered together many thousands of the people ; but Antiochus like a whirlwind Avith chariots, and with horsemen, and Avith a great fleet entered into many countries, and in passing over laid all Avaste ; and came to the famous land, that is Judea, and fortified the citadel out of the ruins of the walls of the city, and so marched forward iuto Egypt. But here Porphyry may be convicted of falsifying history ; for after Antiochus was dismissed out of Egypt by the Romans, he never ventured to go thither again. The eleventh3 was the last year of his reign : and all4 historians agree, that the latter part of his reign Avas employed in his eastern expedition, in reducing Artaxias king of Armenia to his obedience, and in collecting the tribute among the Persians ; and before he returned, he died. Others therefore have said,5 that the prophet here resumes his former subject of the Avars between Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria, and Ptolemy Philometor king of Egypt. But it is not likely, after giving an account of the conclusion of those Avars by the interposition of the Romans, that he should return to them again. Having hitherto deduced things in a regular series, it is more probable that he should continue that series, and proceed to other sub sequent events, than that of a sudden he should stop short, and revert to Antiochus, after the intermixture of so many other affairs. But the question is not so much Avhat it was probable for him to do, as Avhat he actually hath done : and we shall find, that the remaining parts of the prophecy are applicable to other subsequent eATents than to the transactions of Antio chus. The kings of the south and the north are to be taken and explained according to the times, of which the prophet is speaking. As long as the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria were 2 ' Et haec Porphyrius ad Antiochum undecim.' Petavii Rat. Temp. Part 1, refert: quod undecimo anno regni sui rur- 1.4, c. 10. So likewise Eusebius, Jerome, sus contra sororis fihum Ptolemaeum Phi- and Sulpicius Severus. Usher's Annals, lometorem dimicavcrit. Qui audiens ve- A. M. 3840. Prideaux Connect. Part 2, nire Antiochum, congregavit multa popu- b. 3. Anno 164. lorum millia. Sed Antiochus quasi tem- 4 1 Mace. iii. 31, &c. vi. 1, &c. 2 Mace. pestas valida in curribus, et in equitibus, ix. 1, etc. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 12, c. 8, § 1. et in classe magna ingressus sit terras Valesii .Excerpta ex Polybio, p. 145. Ap- plurimas, et transeundo universa vestave- pian. de Bell. Syr. c. 45. Diodorus Sicu- rit: veneritque ad terram inclytam, id est, lus apud Hieron. col. 1131. Judaeam, — et arcem municrit de minis 5 Menochius, Sanctius, Maldonatus, murorum civitatis, et sic perrexerit in &c. apud Poli Synops. Calmet, Houbi- jEgyptum.' Hieron. in loc. gant, c4c. in locum. 3 ' Obiit cum regnasset annos solidos 310 BISHOP NEWTON subsisting, so long the Egyptian and Syrian kings were the kings of the south and the north : but when these kingdoms were swallowed up in the Roman empire, then other powers became the kings of the south and the north. "And at the j time of the end (that is, as Mr. Mede e rightly expounds it, in j the latter days of the Roman empire) shall the king of the south push at him," that is, the Saracens, who were of the Arabians, i and came from the south ; and under the conduct of their false prophet Mohammed and his successors, made Avar upon the j emperor Heraclius, and with amazing rapidity deprived him of j Egypt, Syria, and many of his finest provinces. They Avere j only to push at, and sorely Wound the Greek empire, but they were not to subvert and destroy it. " And the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, ; and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter ( into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over :" that is, j the Turks, who were originally of the Scythians, and came from the north ; and after Saracens seized on Syria, and assaulted Avith 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 j the Turks totally ruined and destroyed it : and for this reason, j we may presume, so much more is said of the Turks than of j the Saracens. Their chariots and their horsemen are particu larly mentioned ; because their armies consisted chiefly of horse, especially before the institution of the Janizaries, and j their standards still are horse-tails. Their ships too are said to j be many; and indeed without many ships they could never i have gotten possession of so many islands and maritime coun tries, nor have so frequently vanquished the' Venetians, who I were at that time the greatest naval poAver in Europe. What j fleets, what armies, were employed in the besieging and taking of Constantinople, of Negropont or Euboea, of Rhodes, of j Cyprus, and lastly of Candy or Crete 1 The words " shall enter | into the countries, and overflow, and pass over," give us an exact idea of their overflowing the western parts of Asia, and | then passing over into Europe, and fixing the seat of their em pire at Constantinople, as they did under their seventh emperor Mohammed the Second. Among his other conquests this king of the north Avas to take possession of the Holy Land, and to subdue the neighbour ing countries; but the mixed people of Arabia Avere to escape out of his hands. " He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown ; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon," (ver. 41.) Porphyry and those of his G Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 674 ; and b. 4, p. 816. ON THE PROPHECIES. 311 opinion affirm,7 that Antiochus, marching hastily against Ptolemy the king of the south, did not meddle with the Idu means, and Moabites, nnd Ammonites, who were situated on the side of Judea ; lest his being engaged in another Avar should render Ptolomy the stronger. Grotius saith,8 that Antiochus spared these nations, because they obeyed all his commands , and therefore the Maccabees made Avar upon them, as the friends of Antiochus. An ancient commentator, and venerable father, Theodoret, on the contrary asserts,9 that neither do these things any more than the rest fit Antiochus ; for, having oA'er- thrown these nations, he constituted rulers over them, one of whom Avas Timotheus the commander of the Ammonites. This Timotheus, I suppose, Avas the same who is mentioned in the fifth chapter of the first book of Maccabees. The diversity of these accounts demonstrates the difficulty of accommodating this passage to Antiochus. If we believe Theodoret, it cannot be applied to Antiochus in any sense. If Ave rather folloAV Porphyry, or Grotius, it can be applied to Antiochus only in an improper sense. The words are, " Many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of his hand." The manner of expression sufficiently implies, that he should at tempt to conquer these as well as the rest, but not Avith the same success. These should not like the rest be overthrown; they should deliver themselves, and escape out of his hand : and Ave read of no such transaction in the history of Antiochus. We shall find that the whole may be much better accommo dated to the Othman empire. "He shall enter also into the glorious land:" the same expression of the glorious land Avas used before, (ver. 16 ;) and in both places it is rendered by the Syriac translator 1 the land of Israel. Now nothing is better known, than that the Turks took possession of the Holy Land, and remain masters of it to this day. Sultan Selim entered into Jerusalem in his way to Egypt.2 " And many countries shall be overthroAvn :" Aleppo, Damascus, Gaza, and the neighbouring cities and countries, were forced to submit, ami receive the yoke of the conqueror. " But these shall escape 7 'Antiochus, aiunt, festinans contra ocho conveniunt ; clenim cum hos subigcs- Ptolemaeum regem austri, Idumeeos, et set, duces ipsis prafuit, ex quibus unus erat Moabitas et Ammonitas, qui ex latere Timotheus dux Ammanitarum. Theodoret. Judieae erant, non tetigit ; ne occupatus in loc. p. 690. alio prrelio, Ptolemaeum redderet fortiorem.' ' " Stabitque in terra Israelis," ver. 16. Hieron. in loc. " Pervcnielque ad terrain Israelis," ver. 41, 8 'His pepercit Antiochus, quod omnia Syr. imperata facerent. Vide 1 Mace. v. Ideo 2 Savage's Abridgment of Knolles and Maccahaei his populis, ut Antiochi amicis, Rvcaut,vol. 1, p. 243. Prince Cantemir's bellum intulere.' Grot, in loc. Hist, of the Othman Empire in Selim I. 9 ObSi ravra Si ippdrrEi t$ 'Arr,6\tp. § 21, p. 163. Joannis Lennclavii Pandect. Kal yap tovtovs KaraorpErpapEvos, fiyspb- Hist. Turcic. c. 210, p. 486. Edit. Paris. vas avroiS KariaTrjoEv, wv eTs r;v b Tipb0Eos Panli Jovii Hist. 1. 17, et Rerum Turc. 'Appavtrwv fjyovpevos. Neque hece Anti- Comment, in Selymo. 312 BISHOP NEWTON out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon :" these were some of the people Avho in habited Arabia, and the Arabians the Turks have never been able Avith all their forces to subdue entirely. Sultan Selim their ninth emperor, Avas the conqueror of the neighbouring countries, and annexed them to the Othman empire ; but he could not make a complete conquest of the Arabians. By large gifts3, he brought over some of their chieftains, and so bribed them to a submission : and ever since his time,4 the Othman emperors have paid them an annual pension of forty thousand crowns of gold for the safe passage of fhe caravans and pilgrims going to Mecca: and for their farther security the Sultan commonly orders the Basha of Damascus to attend them Avith soldiers and Avater-bearers, and to take care that their number never fall short of fourteen thousand. This pen sion was not paid for some years on account of the war in Hungary : and what was the consequence 1 One of the Arabian princes, in the year 1694, with several thousands of his country men, attacked and plundered the caravan going on pilgrimage to Mecca, and made them all prisoners. The neighbouring Bashas were sent against him ; but the prince defeated them all by a stratagem, and put them to flight. Among the pri soners who had been taken Avas the most illustrious Chan of Tartary, whom the Arabians dismissed upon his parole, that he would carry their complaints to the Sultan, and procure the continuance of the pension. He stood to 'his engagement, and never ceased importuning the Othman court, till the arrears of the pension were duly paid. But notwithstanding this pension, the Arabians, as often as they find a lucky opportunity, rob and plunder the Turks, as Avell as other travellers. An instance of the same kind happened lately, and is related in the London Gazette of Feb. 11, 1758. 'Constantinople, December 23. The Mecca caravan, which has been lately plundered by the Arabs, was attacked by a numerous body of that people ; some say, from 30 to 40,000. The action lasted sixteen hours. They first cut off the Basha of Sidon, who marched out as usual to supply the pilgrims with provisions ; he was killed in the engagement ; then they turned and attacked the caravan. The Emir Hadge, or commanding Basha, offered them 1000 purses of money to desist ; but they refused any terms, being determined by a mere principle of revenge, for their tribes 3 Savage, ibid. p. 248 : ' Itaque Selymus ejus continuo jurarent.' Paull Jovii Hist. per idoneos homines plures eorum duces 1. 18, p. 1064. Edit. Gryphii. 1561. data fide ad se Memphim evocavit, et 4 Prince Cantemir's Hist, of the Othman summa liberalitate prosecutus est: quorum Empire in Ahmed II. § 49, p. 393, with the exemplo fiebat, ut caeteri quotidie acce- note; and also in Bajazet II. § i, p. 116, derent, acceptisque muneribus in verba with note 2. ON THE PROPHECIES. 313 having been laid aside as conductors or guards to tne caravan, and others substituted in their place ; and it is thought the re moval of their favourite, Ezade-Basha, from that post to Aleppo, had also some share in it. At the return to Damascus of the fugitive soldiery, who convoyed the caravan, those in the toAvn rose up in arms against them, as traitors to their faith ; a great slaughter ensued, and continued some time ; but there are advices since, that all is quieted there. The Basha of the caravan fled to Gaza, with about fifteen or sixteen of his people, and it is thought he will lose his head. The riches lost to many cities of this empire, which are either taken by the Arabs, or dispersed in the deserts, are computed to amount to an im mense sum, as they are supplied from India Avith all sorts of valuable merchandise, spices, &c. by that canal. A like acci dent happened in the year 1694, under Ahmed the Second.' Other instances of the same kind have happened since ; and are also recorded in the London Gazette ; but I cannot recollect the dates, and at present have not the collection of Gazettes to apply to upon this occasion. So constantly have the Arabs maintained the same spirit in all ages ; and there is no power that can effectually control them. Armies have been sent against parties of the Arabians, but without success. These freebooters have commonly -been too cunning for their ene mies : and Avhen it Avas thought that they were well nigh sur rounded and taken, they have still escaped out of their hands. So Avell 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, (Gen. xvi. 12:) "He Avill be a Avild man ; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him : and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." But though the Arabians should escape out of Ms hands, yet Egypt should not escape, but fall under his dominion, together with the adjoining countries. " He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But'he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps," (ver. 42, 43.) We read, saith Jerome,5 that Antiochus did these things in part : but Avhat folio ws relating to the Libyans and Ethiopians, our doctors assert, agrees better with Antichrist ; for Antio chus did not, possess Libya and Ethiopia. Theodoret 6 too 5 'Hxc Antiochum ex parte fecisse le- iEthiopiamque non tenuit.' Hieron. in loc. gimus. Sed quod sequitur, per Libyas et 6 Kal rdbra Si fiKtara appbrret rur 'Ai'rnJ- JEthiopias transihit, magis nostri asserunt XV' "v™ Y^P Aifiua?, ovte AlQto-nias iKadrr)- Antichristo convcnire. Antiochus enim Li- o-e'v, ov^te Si' airrTis rrjs Alyv-rav. Et hmc byam quam plerique Africam intellisunt, item minime conveniunt Antiocho : qui neque 27 2P 314 BISHOP NEWTON affirms, that these things also by no means fit Antiochus, for he neither possessed Libya, nor Ethiopia, nor even Egypt itself. This prophecy then cannot belong to Antiochus ; and indeed the proper application is to the Othman emperor. " He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries." This im plies that his dominions should be of large extent ; and he hath stretched forth his hand upon many, not only Asian and Euro pean, but likewise African countries. Egypt, in particular, was destined to submit to his yoke : " And the land of Egypt shall not escape ; but he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt :" and the conquest of Egypt with the neighbouring countries folloAvs next in order after the conquest of Judea with the neighbour ing countries, as in the prophecy, so likeAvise in history. The Othman emperor Selim,7 having routed and slain Gauri sultan of Egypt in a battle near Aleppo, became master of all Syria and Judea. He then marched into Egypt against Tumanbai the new sultan, whom also having vanquished and taken pri soner, he barbarously ordered him to be hanged before one of the gates of Cairo : and so put an end to the government of the Mamalucs, 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 8 Cairo Avas taken, 'the Turks rifled the houses of the Egyptians, as Avell friends as foes, and suffered nothing 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 Mamalucs' wives and chil dren, besides the sultan's treasure and other vast riches.' And since that .time, it is impossible to say what immense treasures have been drained out of this rich and fertile, but oppressed and wretched country. The prophecy says farther, that some others also of the African nations should submit to the con queror, " the Libyans and the Ethiopians should be at his steps." And Ave read in history, that after the conquest of Egypt, 9 ' the terror of Selim's many victories now spreading wide, the kings of Afric bordering upon Cyreniaca, sent their ambassadors with Libya, neque JEthiovia, neque etiam ipsa 9 Savage, ibid. p. 248. 'Ipsiquc Africae JEgypto potitus est. Theod. ad loc. p. 691. reges Cyreniacae fmitimi, qui pendere tri- 7 Prince Cantemir's Hist, in Selim I. § bu'ta, et Sulthanis certo fcedere parere con- 16, p. 156, &c. Savage's Abridgment of sueverant, legationes destinabant. — Om« Knolles and Rycaut, vol. i. p. 240, &c. Pauli nesque hae gentes, quae ad jEthiopiam ver- Jovii Hist. 1. 18, et Rerum Turc. Comment. gunl, sicuti amicitiam potius, quam impeii- in Selymo. Leunclav. Annates Turc. p. 341. um Sulthanorum agnosccbant, ita victoriae Edit. Paris, p. 265. Edit. Venet. Pandect. fama pei'ductrp, in Turcarum fidem facile Hist. Turc. c. 207, &c. concessere.' Pauli Jovii Hist. 1. IS, p. 1062 8 Savage, ibid. p. 246 et 248. Pauli et 1065. Jovii Hist. 1. 18. ON THE PROPHECIES. 315 proffers to become 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 dominion of the Turks. One thing more is observable with regard to the fate of Egypt, that the particular prophecy coincides exactly Avith the general one, as it did before in the instance of Arabia. It Avas foretold by Ezekiel, (xxix. 14; xxx. 12,) that Egypt 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, as we see at this day. The two next, Avhich are the two last verses of this chapter, I conceive, remain yet to be fulfilled. " But tidings out of the east, and out of the north shall trouble him : therefore he shall go forth Avith great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace (or ra ther of his camp) between the seas in the glorious holy moun tain ; (or, as it is in the margin, the mountain of delight of holiness ;) yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him," (ver. 44, 45.) Prideaux 1 and other learned men, as well as Porphyry , and Grotius, refer this passage to Antiochus ; and to his hearing of the revolt of the provinces in the east, and of Attaxias in the north : and to his going forth therefore in great auger and with a great army, to reduce them to their obedience. But if this part might be fitly applied to Antiochus, yet how could he be said afterwards to " plant the tabernacles of his camp be tween the seas in the glorious holy mountain ;" for he returned no more into Judea, but died in that eastern expedition 1 Por phyry therefore2 considers the word Aphedno, which we trans late his palace, or his camp, as the proper name of a place situated between the two great rivers, Tigris and Euphrates : but as Jerome replies, he cannot produce any history, Avherein mention is made of any such place : neither can he say which is " the glorious and holy mountain ;" besides the folly of interpreting two seas by two rivers. Father Houbigant 8 understands it as the name of a place situated in the mountains, in which mountains 1 Prideaux Conne ct. Part 2, b. 3, Anno Quumque ¦ hucusque processerit, in quo 164. Houbigant in locum, &c. &c. Por- monte inclyto sederit, et sancto, dioere non phyr. apud Hieron. col. 1133. Grotius in potest; quamquam inter duo maria eum loc. 'Nuntius belli a Partho et Armenio. scdisse probare non potest ; et stultum- sit Parthi ad orientem Antiocho, Armenii ad duo Mesopotamise flumina, duo maria in- septentrionem. De Partho testimonium terpretari.' Hieron. in loc. col. 1133. habemus Taciti, ubi de Judaeis agit : "Rex 3 'Accipimus Aphedno, ut nomen loci, Antiochus demere superstitionem et mores in montibus narrat liber Machabceorum Graecorum dare adnixus, quo minus teter- Antiochum occidisse. Hie locus erat in- rimam gentem in melius mutaret, Parthico ter duo maria, nimirum mare Caspium et bello prohibitus est." ' Pontum Euxinum, in Armenia ipsa, ubi 2 'Aphedno, qui inter duo latissima si- rebellionem parabat Artaxias.' Houbigant tus est flumina, Tigrim et Euphratem. in loc. 316 BISHOP NEWTON the book of Maccabees relates Antiochus to have died. This place, says he, was "between tAvo seas," namely the Caspian and Euxine, in Armenia itself, where Artaxias prepared rebel lion. But neither doth' he procure any authority for his asser tions. Where doth he read of any such place as Aphedno be tAveen the Caspian and Euxine seas 1 Where doth he read that Antiochus died in the mountains of Armenia? The book of Maccabees, which he allegeth, testifieth no such thing. Both the 4 books of Maccabees agree, that Antiochus died returning out of Persia, through Babylon according to the first book, through Ecbatana according to the second, in the mountains indeed, but it is not said in what mountains. Antiochus Avas victorious in Armenia, and did not die there. Besides, with what propriety could any mountain in Armenia be called " the glorious holy mountain ?" Theodotion, and Aquila too,6 render it Aphedanos, the proper name of a place, as doth Jerome also, who taketh it for a place near Nicopolis, winch formerly Avas called Emmaus. Indeed, if it be the name of any place, it must be some place in the Holy Land ; because in the Psalms, (evi. 24,) "the pleasant land;" in Jeremiah, (iii. 19,) "the pleasant land, the goodly heritage;" and in Ezekiel, (xx. 6,) "the glory of all lands ;" and constantly throughout the book of Daniel, "the pleasant land," (viii. 9,) "the glorious land," (xi. 16,) and again "the glorious land," (ver. 41,) are appellatives of the Holy Land ; and so consequently " the glorious holy mountain" must be Sion, or Olivet, or some mountain in the Holy Land, which lieth "between the seas ;"6 the dead Sea on the east, and the Mediterranean on the west. But after all Aphedno doth not seem to be the name of any place. They who render it as the proper name of a place, most probably did not know what else to make of it : but the word7 occurs in Jonathan's Targum of Jeremiah, (xliii. 10,) and there it signifies a pavilion, " and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them ;" and to the same purpose it should be translated here, he shall plant the taberna cles of his camp between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. This prophecy then cannot by the help of any explanation be made to fit and agree Avith Antiochus : and in our application of it to the Othman empire, as these events are yet future, Ave cannot pretend to point them out with any certainty and exact ness. Mr. Mede 8 supposeth, that ' the tidings from the east and north may be that of the return of Judah and Israel from those 4 1 Mace. iv. 4; 2 Mace. ix. 2, 28. e 'Inter duo maria, mare videlicet quod 6 'Theodotio: Et figet tabernaculum nunc appellatur Mortuum ab oriente, et suum in Aphedano inter maria. Aquila: mare Magnum.' Hieron. col. 1154. Et planlabit tabernaculum prcetorii sui in 7 rp;-i2N Et extendet tentorium suum su- AipaSarw inter maria. Aphedno juxta Ni- per eos. copolim, quae prius Emmaus vocabatur.' 6 Mede's Works, b. 4, p. 816. Hieron. col. 1134. ON THE PROPHECIES. 317 quarters. For Judah was carried captive at the first into the east, and Israel by the Assyrian into the north, (namely in respect of the Holy Land;) and in those parts the greatest number of each are dispersed this day. Of the reduction of Israel from the north, see the prophecies Jer. xvi. 14, 15, and chap, xxiii. 8; also chap. xxxi. 8. Or if this tidings from the north may be some other thing, yet that from the east I may have some Avar- rant to apply to the Jew's return, from that of the sixth vied in the Apocalypse, xvi. 12, Avhere the waters of the great river Euphrates are dried up, to prepare the Avay of the kings of the east.' If this application be not admitted, yet it is universally known, that the Persians 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 Avhen 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 groAving daily ; and it is a current tra dition among the common people in Turkey, that their empire shall one time or other be destroyed by the Russians. Sir Paul Rycaut in his account of the 9 Present State . of the Greek Church, speaking of the respect and reverence which the Mus covites have for the see of Constantinople, says also that ' the Greeks on the other side have an esteem and affection for the Muscovites, as for those whom ancient prophecies mention to be designed by God, for their avengers and deliverers in after ages.' Which, if it proveth nothing more, yet proveth that the Greek church interpreted this prophecy much in the same sense as Ave explain it. However this may be, the Porte is at all times jea lous of the junction of the two powers of Persia and Russia, and exerts all its policy to prevent it. They are certainly two very formidable neighbours to the Turks ; and who can say Avhat tidings may or may not come from thence to trpuble the Porte 1 who can say, how unlikely soever it be at present, that they may not hereafter be made instruments of providence in the restoration of the Jews ? Whatever be the motive and occasion, the Turk " shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many." The original word, which we translate " utterly to make away," signifies to anathematise, to consecrate, to devote to utter perdition, l so that it strongly implies, that this war should be made upon a religious account. "And he shall plant the tabernacles of his camp between the seas in the glorious holy mountain." It is a notion advanced by some commentators, * that here both the Turk and the Pope • C. 3, p. 83. consecravit, devolum effecit.' Buxtorf. i « Ernnn Analhemalizavit, Anathemate vel 2 See Poole, and his additional com- anatliemati, internecioni, perditioni, devovit : ment. 27* 318 BISHOP NEWTON are signified, the former of Avhom hath fixed his seat between the Mediterranean and Euxine seas at Constantinople, and the latter between the Mediterranean and Adriatic at Rome ; both Antichrists, the vone Avithout, the other within the temple of God. But such notions are more ingenious than solid, and have rather the resemblance of worth than the substance. "Between the seas in the glorious holy mountain" must denote, as we have shewn, some part of the Holy Land. There the Turk shall encamp Avith all his power, " yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him," shall help him effectually, or deliver him. The same times and the same events seem to be presignified in this prophecy, as in that of Ezekiel concerning Gog of the land of Magog. He likewise is a northern power. He is represented as of Scythian extraction, 3 (xxxviii. 2.) " He cometh from his place out of the north parts," (ver. 15.) His army too is described as consisting chiefly of " horses and horsemen," (ver. 4.) He likeAvise hath "Ethiopia and Libya with him," (ver. 5.) " He shall come up against the people of Israel in the latter days," (ver. 16,) after their return from captivity, (ver. 8.) He too shall encamp "upon the mountains of Israel," (xxxix. 2.) He shall also "fall upon the mountains of Israel, and all the people that is with him," (ver. 4.) There the divine judgments shall overtake him, (xxxviii. 22, 23,) and God shall be "magnified and sanctified in the eyes of many nations." At that time there shall be great tribulation, (xii. 1 ;) "such as never was since there was a nation," even to that same time :" and after that shall be the general resurrection, (ver. 2,) " and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con tempt." They certainly are guilty of manifest violence and injury to the sacred text, and rack and torture the words to confess a meaning which they never meant, who contend that nothing more was meant in this passage, than the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus ; and the Maccabees after some time coming out of the holes and caves of the earth, wherein they had concealed themselves from the fury and cruelty of their enemies. These critics usually pretend to be strong advocates for the literal and obvious meaning of the prophecies : but here they pervert the plainest expressions into figures, and prefer the most forced to the most natural interpretation. The trou bles under Antiochus were neither in degree nor in duration to be compared to what the nation had suffered under Nebu chadnezzar; so that the time of Antiochus could not be reckoned " a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation." The Maccabees too came out of their lurking 3 Vide Bocharti Phaleg. 1. 3, c. 13, col. 117, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 319 holes and caves, and recovered their city, and cleansed the sanctuary, even before the death of Antiochus himself: buc the resurrection in this place is described as something sub sequent to the destruction of the king of the north. Besides, how could the Maccabees, Avho were a set of brave virtuous men, zealously devoted to their religion, liberty, and country, by coming forth from the rocks and caves to oppose the enemy in the open field, be said to " awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt?" Such expres sions can Avith truth and propriety be applied only to the ge neral resurrection of the just and unjust : and though it be said, "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall aAvake," yet that is no objection to the truth here delivered ; for as Theodoret4 observed long ago, the prophet hath said many for all, in the same manner as St. Paul hath put many for all, when he said, " If through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many," (Rom. v. 15:) and again, (ver. 19,) " As by one man's disobe dience many Avere made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." The proper conclusion of all is the general resurrection, and the consequent happiness of the Avise and good ; (ver. 3 : ) " And they that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." The angel having thus finished his prophecy of the things "noted in the scripture of truth," an inquiry is made relating to the time of these events. It was said before, (xi. 40,) "At the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him :" and here the question is asked, (ver. 6,) "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders ?" 5 The answer is returned in the most solemn manner, (ver. 7,) " that it shall be for a time, times, and a half." " A time, times, and a half," as there hath been occasion to show in a former dissertation, are three pro phetic years and a half; and three prophetic years and a half are 1260 prophetic days; and 1260 prophetic days are 1260 years. The same time therefore is prefixed for the desolation .and oppression of the eastern church, as fof the tyranny ot the little horn, (vii. 25,) in the Avestern church : and it. is won derfully remarkable, that the doctrine of Mohammed was first forged at Mecca, and the supremacy of the Pope was esta blished by virtue of a grant from the wicked tyrant Phocas, in 4 UoXXol Se avrl tov irdvTES stpv- Kai yip 6 Theod. in loe. p. 693. . paKdpios naBXos Avrl rov rrdvTES oi iroXXol 6 niN^on PP "nD-T? " Usque quo finis mi- teSeike Xiywv k. t. X. Multi autem pro rabilium ?" Pagnin. "Usque quo finis ho- omnes dixit. Etenim beatas quoque Paulus rum mirabilium?" Vul. "'Ews rrdrE rb TEpas multi pro omnes posuit, cum dixit, &c. Srv EiprjKas twv Savpaeiwv ', Sept. 320 BISHOP NEWTON the very same year of Christ 606. ' It is to be observed,' says Dean Prideaux," 'that Mahomet began this imposture about the same time that the Bishop of Rome, by virtue of a grant from the wicked tyrant Phocas, first assumed the title of. Uni versal Pastor, and thereon claimed to himself that supremacy which he hath been ever since endeavouring to usurp over the Christian church. [Phocas made this grant a. d. 606, which was the very year that Mahomet retired to his cave to forge that imposture there, which two years after, a. d. 608, he began to propagate at Mecca.] And from this time both having con spired to found themselves an empire in imposture, their fol lowers have been ever since endeavouring by the same methods, that is, those of fire and sword, to propagate it among man kind ; so that Antichrist seems at this time to have set both his feet upon Christendom together, the one in the east, and the other in the west ; and hoAV much each hath trampled upon the church of Christ, the ages ever since succeeding have abundantly experienced.' There is a farther notation of the time in the following Avords, " And when he shall have accom plished to scatter the poAver of the holy people, all these things shall be finished :" when the Jews shall be recalled from their dispersion, then all these things shall receive their full and final completion. The prophet, not sufficiently understanding this answer,7 inquired, (ver. 8,) What or how long, shall be these latter times or latter wonders ? And it is answered again, (ver. 11,) that from the time of taking away the daily sacrifice, and selling up the abomination that maketh desolate, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. The days still are prophetic days or years : but even if they were natural days, they could by no manner of computation be accommodated to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes. The setting up of the abomination of desolation appears to be a general phrase, and Comprehensive of various events. It is applied by the writer of the first book of Maccabees, (i. 54,) to the profanation of the temple by Anti ochus, and his setting up the image of Jupiter Olympius upon the altar of God. It is applied by our Saviour, (Matt. xxiv. 15,) to the destruction of the city and temple by the Romans, under the conduct of Titus, in the reign of Vespasian. It may for the same reason be applied lo the Roman emperor Adrian's Duilding a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, in the same place where the temple of God had stood ; and to the misery of the JeAvs, and the desolation of Judea that followed. It may Avith equal justice be applied to the Mohammedans invading and desolating Christendom, and converting the churches into mosques : and this latter event seemeth to have been particu- 6 Life of Mahomet, p. 13, 8th Edit. See also Bp. Jewel's Reply to Harding, p. 181. ' rhx rvnnN rra ON THE PROPHECIES. 321 larly intended in this passage. If this interpretation be true, the religion of Mohammed Avill prevail in the east the space of 1260 years ; and then a great and glorious revolution will follow ; perhaps the restoration of the Jews, perhaps the destruction of Antichrist ; but another still greater and more glorious Avill succeed : and what can this be so probably as the full conver sion of the Gentiles to the cliurch of Christ, and the beginning of the millennium or reign of the saints upon earth? For (ver. 12) "blessed is he that Avaiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." Here are then three different periods assigned, 1260 years, 1290 years, and 1335 years : and what is the precise time of their beginning and consequently of their ending, as Avell as what are the great and signal events, which Avill take place at the end of each period, Ave can only conjecture, time alone can Avith certainty discover. If we are mistaken in our conjectures, it is no more than Mr. Mede 8 and other much more learned men have been, who have gone before us in this argument. It is indeed no Avonder that we cannot fully understand and explain these things : for as the angel said to Daniel himself, (ver. 4 and 9,) though " many should run to and fro," should inquire and exa mine into these things, " and thereby knowledge should be in creased ;" yet the full understanding of them is reserved for the time of the end, " the words are closed up, and sealed till the time of the end." But however the great uncertainty of these events, Avhich remain yet to be fulfilled, cannot shake the credit and certainty of those particulars, which have- already been accomplished. As Prideaux judiciously observes,9 it is the nature of such prophecies not to be thoroughly understood, till they are thoroughly fulfilled. Not that such prophecies are therefore like the pagan oracles, of an ambiguous, equivocal, and delusive nature. Obscure they may be, but there is a wide difference between obscurity and equivocation. The pagan oracles were purposely Avorded in such a manner, that if they failed in one sense, they might hold good in another, though directly the contrary ? the Scripture-prophecies have a determined meaning, and though sometimes they may com prehend more events than one, yet are they never applica ble to contrary events. The pagan oracles were delivered for the immediate direction of those who consulted them ; and therefore a mistake at first was of more fatal consequence : the Scripture-prophecies were intended more for the instruction ' See Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 717. De numens Danielis. * Prid. Connect, part 2, b. 3, in the conclusion. 1 As in these instances — 'Croesus Halym penetrans magnam pervertet opum vim. 'Aio te, jEacida, Romanos vincere posse.' 322 BISHOP NEWTON and illumination of future ages, and therefore it is sufficient if time shall illustrate the particulars. The pagan oracles are no sooner understood than they are despised, whereas the reverse is true of the Scripture-prophecies, and the better you under stand, the more you will admire them. The completion of the former demonstrates their fraud and futility, the completion of the latter their truth and dignity. Upon the Avhole, what an amazing prophecy is this, compre hending so many various events, and extending through so many successive ages, from the first establishment of the Persian em pire, above 530 years before Christ, to the general resurrection ! And the farther it extends, and the more it comprehends, the more amazing surely, and the more divine it must appear, if not to an infidel like Porphyry, yet to all who like Grotius have any belief of revelation. How much nobler and more exalted the sense, more important and more worthy to be known by men and to be revealed by God, when taken in this extended view, and applied to this long and yet regular series of affairs, by the most easy and natural construction : than when confined and limited to the times and actions of Antiochus, to which yet it cannot be reconciled by the most strained and unnatural inter pretation ! What stronger and more convincing proofs can be given or required of a divine providence, and a divine revelation, that there is a God who directs and orders the transactions of the world, and that Daniel was a prophet inspired by him ; " a man greatly beloved," as he is often addressed by the angel ! Our blessed Saviour (Matt. xxiv. 15) hath bestowed upon him the appellation of " Daniel the prophet ;" and that is authority for any Christian : but in this work have been produced such instances and attestations of his being a prophet, as an infidel cannot deny, or if he denies, cannot disprove. The character that is given of him by Josephus is nothing more than strictly his due. It expresseth the sense of the Jewish church ; and the same must be the sentiments of every man, who will con sider and compare the prophecies and events together. This historian is commending the superior excellence of Daniel's predictions ; ' for he was wont,' 2 says he, ' not only to foretel future things, as other prophets also did ; but he likewise de termined the time, wherein they should happen.' Afterwards having mentioned some of Daniel's prophecies he 3 proceeds ** T)v yap ra pfXXovra pSvov xrpoipnTEijwv cvyypdrjras KariXsirpEV wars robs dvaytvw- oieteXei, KaOd-KEp Kal ol dXXot xpotpriTat, dXXd OKovras, Kal rd avpBaivovra CKo-novvras, Sav- -Kal Katpbv wpt^EV its bv ravra d-iroSrjuETal. pdC^Eiv iirl rt) rrapd tov Qeov rtpjj rbv AavirjXov' Non enim f-utura solum, quemadmodum et Kal robs 'E.xtKovpdovs iK tovtwv 'ivplo-Kctv irc- alii votes, pradicere solebat, sed et tempus, vXavr)pivovs,ot rrjv re rrpbvotav iKSdXXovot tov quo hose eventura erant, profinivit. Joseph. fitov, Kat rbv Qebv oiiK dl\tovaiv imrpo-KEvEiv Antiq. 1. 10, c. 11, § 7. rwv -npaypdrwv, otiS' hndt r^js paKapias Kal 3 Taura iraVra iKEivos, Qsov Set^avros abYw, atpBdprov xrpbs Stapovrjv rwv HXwv obalas KvSsp- ON THE PROPHECIES. 323 thus : E All these things, God having shown them to him, he left in writing, that they who read them, and behold the events, might admire Daniel for the honour vouchsafed unto him by- God ; and by these things might be convinced how much the Epicureans are mistaken, who deny a providence, and allow not that Gqjl regards human actions, nor that all things are governed by a blessed and immortal Being for the preservation of the whole, but assert that the world is carried on at random without a guide or ruler : which, if it was without a governor, as they pretend, would have been destroyed by the blind im pulse, and have perished and come to nought, as we see ships, which are destitute of pilots, overwhelmed by the storms, and chariots overturned and broken to pieces, which have no drivers. For by these things, predicted by Daniel, they appear to me widely to err from the truth, who declare, that God hath no care of human affairs : for we should not see all things succeed according to his prophecies, if it happened that the world was governed by chance.5 In short we see how well Daniel deserves the character which his contemporary Ezekiel hath given him (xiv. and xxviii,) for his piety and wisdom; and these usually go together ; for as the angel saith, (ver. 10,) "none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." Happy are they, who both know the will of God, and do it ! vaaSai rti ctiuiravTa) Sfioipov V §vi6%ov Kal (boovTiarov rbv k6c[iov avrofidrws <}>ip£crdai teyuvaiv. "0? elrovrov Snrpa(rrdr7)T0$ r)v rbv Tpdirov, KaGdnep Kat ra? vavs ip-jfiovg KvGcpvrj- tS>v KaTaSvojiivas hpiojizv virb r&v irvevudrwvy J) Kat rd, apixara, TTEptrpEirdfXEva fir) e%ovra rovg i)vtoxovvTas, avvrpiSsls av clitu rrjs airpo- vor'/rov opaS) airo\'j)>\u Kat <5"<£0 Sniper o. ToTf yap irpoEipij/iSvoig birb AavirjXov, SoKovcrt [tot v(l>65pa rrjs aWvQous Sd^ns diafiaprdvEiv, ol rw Qctp fiTjSefitav elvat trcpl rwv dv-S-puiTWvwv arro- ..11 T...1 1 > « O 6, C 13. c y ^ciurf^ui i) vuiuviiui xjuuij J i Cl ^uiu^tyu^j rv. »wr^uD m tu/n I/nut jj. «*^r _-.,.~~ t. \. Quo tempore miles quidam, non expec- Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 7,c.2. tato cujusquam mandata^ neque tantum. fad- 2 Eusebii Demons. Evangel. nus, veritust divino quodam impetu frctus, 3 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 6, c. &c. Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 6, c. 4, § 5. § 2; c. 8, § 5. 28* 2R 330 BISHOP NEWTON well as tne temple. The Romans 4 burnt the extremest parts; of the city, and demolished the Avails. Three toAvers only " and some part of the wall were left standing, for the better en camping of the soldiers, and to show to posterity what a city and how fortified the valour of the Romans had taken. All the rest of the city was so demolished and levelled with the ground, that they who came to see it, could not believe that it was ever inhabited. After the city was thus taken aud de stroyed,6 great riches were found among the ruins, and the Romans dug it up in search of the treasures, Avhich had been concealed and buried in the earth. So literally Avere our Sa viour's words accomplished in the ruin both of the city and of the temple : and well might Eleazar 7 say, that God had deli vered his most holy city to be burnt, and to be subverted by their enemies ; and 8 wish that they all had died, before they saw that holy city demolished by the hands of their enemies, and the sacred temple so Avickedly dug up from the foundations. In this plain manner our Saviour, now drawing near to his fatal hour, foretold the absolute ruin and destruction of the city and temple. The disciples were curious to know more of these events, when they should be, and how they should be ; but yet thought it not proper to ask him at present, the multi tude probably still flocking about him : and therefore they take an opportunity of coming unto him "privately as he was silling upon the mount of Olives," from whence was a good prospect of the city and temple, and there prefer their request to him, (ver. 3 :) "Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall he the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world V These are only different expressions to denote the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem ; for when they conceived Avould be the destruction of Jerusalem, then they conceived would be the coming of Christ ; and when they conceived Avould be the coming of Christ, then they conceived would be " the end of the world," or rather 9 (as it should be rendered) the conclusion of the age. " The end of the world," or the conclusion of the age, is the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem ; for there being two ages (as they were called) among the Jews, the one under the law, the other under the Messiah ; when the city and 4 *Vwpa?ot Ss rds re iaxanas rov Rarsos cendio periret etfunditus dirueretw. Joseph. IvExp-noav, Kal rd TEl%t] KariaKa^av. Homani ibid. c. 8, § 6. vero extremas urbis partes incenderunt, et fl 'AAA' e'lBe rrdvrts irEBvrjKEtpEV, rrplv rrjv •mania fundilus everterunt. Joseph. 1. 6, c. Updv iKstvrjv irbXtv x£potv ISclv KaraoKa-Kro- 9, S 4. pivnv rroXEplwv, xrplv rbv vabv rbv 'dytov o'brws ° Joseph, de Bell. Jud. I. 7, c. 1, § 1. dvoaiws il-opwpvypivov. Atque utinam omnes 6 Joseph, ibid. c. 5, § 2. fuissemus morlui, prhtsquam illam sacrum civitatem hostium manibus exscindi videremus, 7 TipotjKaro Si rr)v Upwrdrriv abrov -rrbXtv priusquam templum tanta impietate fundilus xrvpl Kal Karao-Kaejals mXeplwv. Urbemque erui. Joseph, ibid. § 7. sibi sacratissimam tradidisset hostibus ut in- s EwriXEta tov alwvos. ON THE PROPHECIES. 331 temple were destroyed, and the Jewish polity in church and state was dissolved, the former age must of course be concluded, and the age under the Messiah be commenced. It is true the phrase tnrriXaa nb alwvos most usually signifies the end of the world properly so called; as in the parable of the tares, (Matt. xiii. 39,) " the harvest is (mnrAaa rob alwvos) the end of the Avoiid ; as therefore the tares (ver. 40) are gathered and burnt in the fire, SO shall it be (iv rfj iruKrcWa toD alwvos robrov) in the end of this world." And again, (ver. 49,) "So shall it be (h tjj ovvTEXEta tou aiwvos) at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just." In like manner our Saviour says to his disciples, (Matt. xxviii. 20,) " Lo, I am with you alway, (?o>f t?j cvvteXeIus tov alwvos) even unto the end of the world." But here the phrase ap pears to be used much in the same manner as in the Epistle to the HebreAvs, (ix. 26:) "But hoav once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of him self;" "in the end of the world," hi owcXcia tok alwvwv, in the conclusion of the Jewish age or ages: And these, I think, are all the places where the phrase occurs in Scripture. The coming of Christ is also the same period Avith the destruction of Jerusalem, as may appear from several places in the Gospels, and particularly from these two passages: "There are some standing here, (saith our blessed Lord, Matt. xvi. 28,) Avho shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom ;" that is, evidently, there are some standing here who shall live, not till the end of the world, to the coming of Christ to judge mankind, but till the destruction of Jerusa lem, to the coming of Christ in judgment upon the Jews. In another place, (John xxi. 22,) speaking to Peter concerning John, he saith, " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee 1" Avhat is it to thee, if I will that he live till the destruc tion of Jerusalem 1 as in truth he did, and longer. The coming of Christ and the conclusion of the age being therefore only dif ferent expressions to denote the same period with the destruc tion of Jerusalem, the purport of the question plainly is, when shall the destruction of Jerusalem be, and what shall be the signs of it? In the parallel place of St. Mark, (xiii. 4,) the question is put thus : " When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled'?" In the parallel place of St. Luke, (xxi. 7,) the question is put thus, " When shall these things be, and what sign will there be Avhen these things shall come to pass?" So that the disciples ask tAvo things, first the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, "when shall these things be 1" and secondly the signs of it, " and Avhat shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled," as it is in St. Mark; "and what will be the sign when these things 332 BISHOP NEWTON shall come to pass," as it is in St. Luke ; " and Avhat shall be the sign of thy coming and of the conclusion of the age," as it is in St. Matthew. The latter part of the question our Saviour an- SAvereth first, and treateth of the signs of his coming and the destruction of Jerusalem, from the 4th to the 31st verse inclusive ; and then passeth on to the other part of the question concerning the time of his coming : And these two heads of our Saviour's answer shall likewise in the same method and order be made the subject of this and some subsequent discourses. Our blessed Saviour treateth of the. signs of his coming and the destruction of Jerusalem from the 4th to the 31st verse inclusive ; by signs meaning the circumstances and accidents which should forerun, usher in, and attend this great event : And I am persuaded the whole compass of history cannot fur nish us with a prophecy more exactly fulfilled in all points than this hath been. False Christs our Saviour mentions as the first sign of his coming, (ver. 4. and 5 :) "Take heed that no man deceive you: For many shall come in my name, sa3'ing, I am Christ ; and shall deceive many." With this he begins in all the evange lists, and in all useth almost the very same words ; only in St. Luke (xxi. 8) he addeth, "the time draweth near;" and indeed within a little time this part of the prophecy began to be fulfilled. For very soon after our Saviour's decease appeared Simon Magus, (Acts viii. 9, 10,) "and beAvitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God." He boasted himself like wise ' among the JeAvs, as the Son of God. Of the same stamp and character was also 2Dositheus the Samaritan, who pre tended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses. In the reign of Claudius, about twelve years after the death of our Saviour, when Cuspius Fadus Avas procurator of Judea, a certain impostor, named Theudas, persuaded a great multitude with their best effects to follow him to the river Jordan ; for he said that he was a prophet, and promised to divide the river for their passage; and saying these things he deceived many, 3 saith Josephus. But Fadus sent a troop of horse against them, who falling un expectedly upon them, killed many, and made many prisoners ; and having taken Theudas himself alive, they cut off his head, 1 Irenan, 1. 1, c. 20. Theodoret. Hseretic. se esse Christum ilium, quern Moyses prmdixe- Fab. 1. 1 c. 1 . rat, visusque est nonnullos sibi sua doctrina 2 Kai pErd tovs 'Iijiroi! Si xpbi'ovs hBiXrioe conciliare. Origen. contra Cclsum, 1. 1, c. 57. sal 6 Xapapevs AooIBeos micai J.apapEis, bri Vide etiam 1. 6,-c. 11. In Matt. Tract. 27, abrbs eXo b irpotpr)Tsv6pEvos M Mweiws Xpt- p. 851, col. 2, vol. 3. Edit. Benedict. orbs' Kal eSo$ Ttvwv Trj iavrov StSacKaXta 3 Kai ravra Xiywv TToXXovs rjixarrjaEV. E KEKparrjKivai. Post Jesu tempera voluit et hujuSmodi sermonibus plurimos decepit. Jo Uositheus quidam Samarila suis persuader e, seph. Antiq. 1. 20, c. 4, § 1. ON THE PROPHECIES. 333 and brought it to Jerusalem. A few years afterwards, in the reign of Nero, and under the procuratorship of Felix, these im postors arose «o frequent, that 4many of them were apprehended and killed every day. They seduced great numbers of the people still expecting the Messiah ; and well therefore might our Saviour caution his disciples against them. The next signs he giveth of his coming are several terrible calamities, as Avars and rumours of Avar, famines, and pesti lences, and earthquakes in divers places, (ver. 6 and 7 :) "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars : see that ye be not troubled : for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom : and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places." According^, there were " wars and rumours of wars," as appears in all the historians of those times, and above all in Josephus. To relate the parti culars would indeed be to transcribe great part of his history of the Jewish wars. There were more especially "rumours of wars," 6Avhen Caligula the Roman emperor ordered his statue to be set up in the temple of Jerusalem, which the Jews refused to suffer, and persisted in their refusal ; and having therefore reason to apprehend a war from the Romans, were in such a consternation that they omitted even the tilling of their lands : but this storm was soon blown over, and their fears Avere dissi pated by the timely death of that emperor. It is said moreover, that " nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." Here, as 6 Grotius Avell ob serves, Christ declares that greater disturbances than those which happened under Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of Claudius, and in the reign of Nero. That of "na tion against nation" portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughter of the Jews, and those of other nations, Avho dwelt in the same cities together : as particularly at " Cse- sarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of 4 Toirwv piv b tore' Grot. sarea? primum, deinde Scythopoh, Ptole- ' Joseph. Antiq. 1. 20, c. 7, § 7, &c. De maide, Tyri, Gadaris, rursum Alexandria, Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 13, § 7 ; c. 18, § 1. 334 BISHOP NEWTON the city, which contention at length proceeded so far, that above twenty thousand Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the Jewish inhabitants. At this blow the 8 whole nation of the Jews were exasperated ; and dividing themselves into parties, they burnt and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians in revenge destroyed not a less num ber of Jews, and every city, as 9 Josephus expresseth it, was divided into two armies. At * Scythopolis the inhabitants com pelled the Jews who resided among them to. fight against their own countrymen, and after the victory basely setting upon them by night, murdered above thirteen thousand of them, and spoiled their goods. At 2 Ascalon they killed two thousand and five hundred, at Ptolemais two thousand, and made not a few prisoners. The Tyrians put many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did likewise, and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandria 3 the old enmity was revived between the Jews and heathens, and many fell on both sides, but of the JeAvs to the number of fifty thousand. The 4 people of Damascus too conspired against the Jews of the same city, and assaulting them unarmed, killed ten thousand of them. That of "king dom against kingdom" portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against one another : as 6 that of the Jews who dwelt in Peraea against the people of Philadelphia concerning their bounds, while Cuspius Fadus was procurator ; and 6 that of the Jews and Galilaeans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galilaeans going up to the feast of Je rusalem while Cumanus was procurator ; and 7 that of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman emperor, which began while Gessius Florus was procurator. But as 8 Josephus saith, there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judea, but likewise in Italy, Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire. It is farther added, " and there shall be famines, and pesti lences, and earthquakes in divers, places." There were famines, as particularly that prophesied of by Agabus, and mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, (xi. 28 ;) and by Suetonius 9 and other profane historians referred to by Eusebius, " which came » Ibid. c. 18, § 1. § 3, &c. ' Ibid. c. 17. 9 Ibid. § 2. Kai xraaa xrbXts els SSo otfiprrro 8 Ob pivov Se Kard rrrv 'lovSatav erdats uv o-rpaTb-n-tSa. Et unaqueeque civitas in duos Kal s-bXcpos ipfvXtos, aXXct Kal im rrjs 'Ira- divisa erat exercitus. Xlas. Verum non solum per Judmam erat 1 Ibid. 5 3. Vila Josophi, 8 6. seditio et bellum civile, sed etiam in Italia. De 2 De Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 18, § 5. Bell. Jud. 1. 4, c. 9, 8 9. » Ibid. § 7 et 8. 4 Ibid. c. 20, § 2. B Suetonius in Claudio, 18. Taciti An- 6 Joseph. Antiq. 1. 20, c. 1, § 1. nal. 1. 12, c. 43. Euseb. Eccles. Hist. 1. 2, « Ibid. c. 5. Do Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 12, c 8. ON THE PROPHECIES. 335 to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar," and was so severe at Jerusalem, that, as Josephus ' saith, many perished for want of victuals. — And pestilences, for these are the usual attendants upon famines. Scarcity and badness of provisions almost al ways end in some epidemical distemper. We see many died by reason of the famine in the reign of Claudius : and Jose phus 2 farther informs us, that when Niger was killed by the Jewish zealots, he imprecated besides other calamities famine and pestilence upon them, (Xipbv re Kal Xoipbv, the very words used by thte evangelist,) all which, saith he, God ratified and brought to pass against the ungodly. — " And earthquakes in divers places," as particularly that3 in Crete in the reign of Claudius, mentioned by Philostratus in the life of Apollonius, and those also mentioned by Philostratus at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, in all which places some Jews inhabited ; and those 4 at Rome mentioned by Tacitus ; and that 6 at Laodicea in the reign of Nero, mentioned by Tacitus, which city was over throAvn, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse : and that in Campania,6 mentioned by Seneca ; and that at Rome 7 in the reign of Galba mentioned by Suetonius ; and that in Judea mentioned by Josephus.8 For by night there broke out a most dreadful tempest, and violent strong winds with the most ve hement showers, and continual lightnings, and horrid thunder- ings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth : and it Avas manifest, as he saith, that the constitution of the universe, was confounded for the destruction of men ; and any one might easily conjecture, that these things portended no common calamity. To these St. Luke addeth, (xxi. 11,) that " there shall be fear ful sights and great signs from heaven." Josephus 9 in the pre face to his history of the Jewish war undertakes to relate the sigus and prodigies, which preceded the taking of the city : 1 UoXXwv tiir' ivSetas avaXwpdrwv ibBEtpo- 8 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 4, c. 4, § 5. pivwv. Multis alimentorum inopia pereun- Aid yap rr)s WKrbs aptjxavos iKp{,yvvrai %ei- tibus. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 20, c. 2, § 6. Ibid. pwv, dvEpoi te fitaiot abv opBpots XaSpordrots, c. 4, § 2. Kal cvvEXEtS acrpa-Kal, fipovral te tppiKwSeis, 2 "A Sr) irdvTa Kara rwv AoeSSv ircipwaev b Kal pvKrjpara CEiopivos Trjs yrjs i^atota. Tlpb- Be6s. Qua sane universa contra improbos SrtXov S* r]v, iir' avBpdrirwv dXiBpw, rb KardoTri- rata habuit Deus. Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. pa rwv bXwv cvyKExvpivov- Kal obxl piKpov 4, c. 6, § 1. Tiff av slKaoat avpirTibparos ra ripara. Node 3 'Gravis terra motus qui in Creta ac- enim gravissima erumpil tempestas, ventusque cidit Claudio imperante meminit Philostra- violentus cum imbre vehementi conjunctus, et tus in vita Apollonii. Item terrae motuum crebra fulgura, horrendaque tonitrua, et in- Smyrnse, Mileti, Chii, Sami paulo ante tem- gentes terras concussm mugitus : manifes- pora excisse urbis Hierosolymorum.' Grot. tumque erat, hominu-m in exitium, mundi m loc. statum fuisse conlurbatum : eratque ut quis 4 Tacit. Annal. 1. 12, c. 43. conjiceret ea non vulgares portendere calami- * Tacit. Annal. 1. 14, c. 27. Orosius, 1. 7, tales. C. 7. 9 Kai to" -rtpb ravrns anpE'ta Kal ripara. 6 Nat. Qu3est. I. 6, c. 1. Quceque prtecesserant signa et prodigia. Jo- * Suet. Galb. c. 18. seph. ibid. 1. 1, procem. § 11. 336 BISHOP NEWTON and he relates accordingly, that : a star hung over tho city like a sword, and a comet continued for a whole year ; that 2 the people being assembled to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, at the ninth hour of the night there shone so great a light about the altar and the temple, that it seemed to be bright day, and this continued for half an hour; that3 at, the same feast a cow, led by the priest to sacrifice, brought forth a lamb in the middle of the temple ; that 4 the eastern gate of the tem ple, which was of solid brass and very heavy, and was scarcely shut in an evening by twenty men, and was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was seen at the sixth hour of the night opened of its own accord, and could hardly be shut again ; that 5 before the setting of the sun there was seen over all the country cha riots and armies fighting in the clouds, and besieging cities ; that 6 at the feast of Pentecost, as the priests were going into the inner temple by night as usual to attend their service, they heard first a motion and noise, and then a voice as of a multitude, saying, Let us depart hence ; and 7 what he reckons as the most terrible of all, that one Jesus, an ordinary country fellow, four years before the war began, and when the city was in peace and plenty, came to the feast of tabernacles, and ran crying up and down the streets day and night, ' A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, a voice against all the people.' The magistrates endeavoured by stripes and torture, to restrain him ; but he still cried with a mournful voice, ' Wo, wo to Jerusalem !' This he continued to do for seven years and five months together, and especially at the great festivals ; and he 1 'Xirip Tr)v irbXtv Horpov earn fioptpalq ira- ^ 6 TJpb JjXtov Stjcews StpBrj pzriwpa TXEpl ira- pa-xXijaiov, Kat TapaTEtvas irr' ivtavrbv Koprj- cav rbv xwpav appara Kal drdXayyss honXol rrjs. Supra civitatem stetit sidus simile gla- Sidrrovcat twv vstpwv, Kal KvKXobpEvai rds dio, et anni spatio ardere perseverabat come- irbXets. Ante solis occasum per universam tes. Ibid. 1. 6, c. 5, § 3. regionem currus in cere sublimes ferri, et ar- 2 'ABpoitypivov rov Xaov irpb rr)v rwv *a£u- matee phalanges per nubes discurrere, urbes- pwv ioprr)v, — Kara WKrbs ivvdrrjv wpav, to- que circumvaltare sunt visa. Ibid. ffovrov 05? rrEpiiXapips rbv fiwpbv Kal rbv G Kara Si rr)v ioprriv, rj HsvrsKoOTr) koXe7- vabv, (i>? Sokeiv tjpipav Elval Xaprpdv, Kal rai, vitKrwp ol IspEis napEXBbvTES eIs rb evSov tovto xrapETEivev £0' fjptaEiav wpav. Populo Upbv, wottep abroTs eBos r)v -rrpbs rds XstTovp- ad festum diem Azymorum. congregato, — ylas, xrpwrov piv Ktvrjaews avrtXaBioBat Etpa- hora noctis nonet, tanta lux circa altare tem- a-av Kal ktv-kov, perd raHra Kal tpwvrjs dBpods, plumque circumfusa est, ut dies clarus esse pETaBatvwpsv ivrEvdsv. Festo autem die qui videretur, atque. hoc horos dimidial spatio du- Pentecosle appellatur, sacerdotes noctu tem- ravit. Ibid. plum ingressi ad obeunda ex more ministeria, 3 Kal Kard rt)v avrr)v ioprr)v Povs piv, primilm quidem motum ac strepitum se exau- axBsiaa fiird rov apxtspiws rrpbs rijv Svatav, disss dixerunt, turn deinde vocem quasi con- etekev ttpva iv rip Ispti ptow. In e&dem fertes multitudinis simul clawwiiis. Migremus quoque solennitate', vacca, cum a pantifice ad, hinc. Ibid. sacrficium adduceretur, agnum in medio ' To ot to^twv tpotEpSrepov 'Ino-ovs ydp tis, temph enixa est. Ibid. «• r. X. Quod vero his omnibus terribiliut 4 'H Si dvaroXtKr) xtbXn, K. t. X. Sed et est, Jesus quidam, §-c. Ibid. janua, tt'-c. Ibid. ON THE PROPHECIES 337 neither grew hoarse, nor was tired : but went about the Avails, and cried Avith a loud voice, 'Wo, wo to the city, and to the people, and to the temple ;' and as he added at last, ' Wo, wo also to myself,' it happened that a stone from some sling or engine immediately struck him dead. These were, indeed, " fearful signs and great sights from heaven :" and there is not a more creditable historian than the author who relates them, and Avho appeals to the testimony of those who saw and heard them. But it may add some weight to his relation, that Taci tus, the Roman historian, also gives us a summary account of the same occurrences. He saith that 8 there happened several prodigies, armies were seen engaging in the heavens, arms were seen glittering, and the temple shone Avith the sudden fire of the clouds, the doors of the temple opened suddenly, and a voice greater than human was heard, that the gods were depart7 ing, and likeAvise a great motion of their departing. Dr. Jortin's9 remark is very pertinent : 'If Christ had not expressly foretold this, many, Avho give little heed to portents, and Avho know that historians have been too credulous in that point, would have suspected that Josephus exaggerated, and that Tacitus was mis informed ; but as the testimonies of Josephus and Tacitus con firm the predictions of Christ, so the predictions of Christ con firm the wonders recorded by these historians.' But even allowing all that incredulity can urge — that in the great cala mities of war, and famine, and pestilence, the people always grow superstitious, and are struck Avith religious panics ; — that they see nothing then but prodigies and portents, which in hap pier seasons are overlooked ; — that some of these appear to be formed in imitation of the Greek and Roman historians, as parti cularly the coav's bringing forth a lamb; — that armies fighting in the clouds, seen in calamitous times in all ages and countries, are nothing more than meteors, such as the aurora borealis ; — in short, alloAving that some of these prodigies were feigned, and others Avere exaggerated, yet the prediction of them is not the less divine on that account. Whether they Avere supernatu ral, or the fictions only of a disordered imagination, yet they Avere believed as realities, and had all the effects of realities, and were equally worthy to be made the objects of prophecy. " Fearful sights and great signs from heaven," they certainly were, as much as if they had been created on purpose to astonish the earth. But notAvithstanding all these terrible calamities our Saviour exhorts his disciples not to be troubled. The Jews may be 8 ' Evenerant prodigia — Visae per ccelum mana vox, Excedere deos. Simul ingens concurrere acies, rutilantia arma, et subito motus excedentium.' Tacit. Hist. 1. 5, c. nubium igne collucere templum. Expassa3 13. repente delubri fores, et audita major hu- s Remarks on Eccles. Hist. vol. 1, p. 41. 29 2S 338 BISHOP NEWTON under dreadful apprehensions, as they were particularly in the case of Caligula above mentioned ; but " be not ye troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet," but the destruction of Jerusalem is not yet. " All these are only the beginning of sorrows," (ver. 8,) Apx<) wStvwv. Great troubles and calamities are often expressed in Scripture-language metaphor ically by the pains of travailing women. All these are only the first pangs and throes, and are nothing to that hard labour which shall follow. From the calamities of the nation in general, he passeth to those of the Christians in particular : and indeed the former Avere in great measure the occasion of the latter ; famines, pes tilences, earthquakes, and the like calamities, being reckoned judgments for the sins of the Christians, and the poor Chris tians being often maltreated and persecuted on that account, as we learn from some of the earliest apologists for the Chris tian religion. Now the calamities which were to befall the Christians were cruel persecutions, (ver. 9 :) " Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you ; and ye shall be hated of all nations, (not only of the Jews, but likewise of the Gentiles,) for my name's sake." St. Mark and St. Luke are rather more particular. St. Mark saith, (xiii. 9, 11 :) "They shall deliver you up to councils ; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate ; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye ; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." St. Luke saith, (xxi. 12 — 15 :) " But before all these they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogue, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers ^br my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it there fore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adver saries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." We need look no farther than the Acts of the Apostles for %the completion of these particulars. There are instances enow of the sufferings of some Christians, and of the deaths of others. Some are "delivered to councils," as Peter and John, (iv. 5, &c.) Some are " brought before rulers and kings," as Paul before Gallio, (xviii. 12,) Felix, (xxiv.) Festus and Agrippa, (xxv.) Some have " a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries were not able to gainsay nor resist," as it is said of Stephen, (vi. 10,) that " they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake ;" and Paul made even Felix to tremble (xxiv. 25,) and the gospel still prevailed against all opposition ON THE PROPHECIES. 839 and persecution Avhatcver. Some are imprisoned, as Petei; and John: (iv. 3.) Some are beaten, as Paul o.nd Silas: (xvi. 23.) Some are put to death, as Stephen, (vii. 59 ;) and James the brother of John: (xii. 2.) But if we Avould look farther, Ave have a more melancholy proof of the truth of this prediction, in the persecutions under Nero, in which (besides numberless other Christians) fell those1 two great champions of our faith, St. Peter and St. Paul. And it was ' nominis prcelium,' as Tertullian 2 calleth it ; it Avas a war against the very name. Though a man Avas possessed of every human virtue, yet it wa-? crime enough if he was a Christian; so true were our Saviour's Avords, that they should be hated of all nations " for his name's sake." But they Avere not. only to be hated of all nations, but were also to be betrayed by apostates and traitors of their own bre thren, (ver. 10 :) " And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." By reason of persecution " many shall be offended," and apostatize from the faith ; as particularly those mentioned by St. Paul in his Second Epistle to Timothy, (i. 15:) " Phygellus and Hcrmo- genes, Avho Avith many others in Asia turned away from him ;" and (vi. 10,) " Demas who forsook him, having loved this pre sent world." But they shall not only apostatize from the faith, but also " shall betray one another, and shall hate one another ;" To illustrate this point we need only cite a sentence out of Taci tus, speaking of the persecution under Nero. At first, says he, 3 several were seized who confessed, and then by their discovery a great multitude of others were convicted and barbarously exe cuted. False teachers too, and false prophets, Avere to infest the church, (ver. 11:) "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Such particularly Avas Simon Magus, and his followers the Gnostics were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, " false apostles," as they are called by St. Paul, (2 Cor. xi. 13,) " deceitful workers, transforming them selves into the apostles of Christ." Such also were " Hymeneus and Philetus," of whom the apostle complains, (2 Tim. ii. 17, 18,) that they affirmed " the resurrection to be past already, and overthrew the faith of some." The genuine fruit and effect of these evils was lukewarmness and coolness among Christians, (ver. 12:) "And because ini quity shall abound, the love of many shall Avax cold." By reason of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostacies and false prophets from within, th-e love of many to J Euseb. Eccles. Hist. 1. 2, c. 25. indicio eorum multitudo ingens — convicti 2 Tertull. Apol. c. 2. • sunt. Et pereuntibus addita ladibna, &c. 3 'Primo correpti qui fatebantur deinde Tacit. Annal. 1. 15, c. 44. 340 BISHOP NEWTON Christ and his doctrine, and also their love to one anothei shall Avax cold. Some shall openly desert the faith, (as ver. 10;) others shall corrupt it, (as ver. 11 ;) and others again, (as here) shall groAV indifferent to it. And (not to mention other instances) who can hear St. Paul complaining at Rome, (2 Tim. iv. 16,) that " at his first answer no man stood with him, but all men forsook him ;" Avho can hear the divine author of the Epis tle to the Hebrews, exhorting them, (x. 25,) " not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is ;" and not conclude the event to have sufficiently justified our Sa viour's prediction 1 But he that shall. endure unto the end, (ver. 13,) but he who shall not be terrified by these trials and persecutions ; he who shall neither apostatize from the faith himself, nor be seduced by others : he who shall not be ashamed to profess his faith in Christ, and his love to the brethren: "the same shall be saved," saved both here and hereafter. " There shall not an hair of your head perish," as it is in St. Luke, (xxi. 18;) and indeed it is very remarkable, and was certainly a most signal act of providence, that none of the Christians perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. So true and prophetic also was that assertion of St. Peter upon this same occasion, (2 Pet. ii. 9 :) " The Lord knoAveth how to deliver the godly out of tempta tions." But notwithstanding the persecutions and calamities of the Christians, there was to be an universal publication of the gospel, before the destruction of Jerusalem, (ver. 14:) "And this gospel of the kingdom, (this gospel of the kingdom of God,) shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come;" and then shall the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the JeAvish polity, come to pass ; when all nations shall be or may be convinced of the crying sin of the JeAvs in crucifying the Lord of glory, and of the jus tice of God's judgments upon them for it. The Acts of the Apostles contain only a small part of the history of a small part of the Apostles ; and yet even in that history Ave see the gospel was widely disseminated, and had taken root in the most considerable parts of the Roman empire. As early as in the reign of Nero, 4 the Christians were groAv'n so numerous at Rome, as to raise the jealousy of the government, and the first general persecution was commenced against them under pre tence of their having set fire to the city, of which the emperor himself was really guilty, but willing to transfer the blame and odium upon the poor innocent Christians. Clement, who was a contemporary and fellow-labourer with St. Paul, says of him in particular, that he was a preacher both in the east and 4 Tacit Annal. 1. 15, c. 44. ON THE PROPHECIES. 341 in the west,5 that he taught the whole world righteousness, and travelled as far as to the utmost borders of the Avest; and if such were the labours of one apostle, though the chiefest of the apostles, what were the united labours of them alii It appears indeed from the writers of the history of the church, that before the destruction of Jerusalem the gospel was not onl3r preached in the Lesser Asia, and Greece, and Italy, the great theatres of action then in the world; but was likewise propagated as far nortrnvard as Scythia, as far southward as Ethiopa, as far eastward as Parthia and India, as far westward as Spain and Britain. Our ancestors of this island seem to have lain as remote from the scene of our Saviour's actions as almost any nation, and were a rough inhospitable people,8 as unlikely to receive so civilized an institution as any people whatever. But yet there is some probability,7 that the gospel was preached here by St. Simon the apostle ; there is much greater probability, that it Avas preached here by St. Paul ; and there is absolute certainty, that Christianity Avas planted in this country, in the days of the apostles, before the destruc tion of Jerusalem. Agreeably to this,8 Eusebius informs us that the apostles preached the gospel in all the world ; and some of them passed beyond the ocean to the Britannic isles. Theodoret likeAvise affirms,9 that the apostles had induced every nation and kind of men to embrace the gospel, and among the converted nations he reckons particularly the Bri tons. St. Paul himself, in his Epistle to the Colossians, (i. 6, 23,) speaketh of the gospel's being "come into all the world, and preached to every creature under heaven :" and in his Epistle to the Romans (x. 18) very elegantly applies to the lights of the church what the Psalmist said of the lights of heaven, " their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." But how improbable, and in all human appearance impossible was it, that a few poor fishermen and such inferior illiterate persons should propagate and establish a neAV religion, in so short a space of time, throughout the world 1 Doubtless it was not man's but God's work, and from the same Divine Spirit proceeded both the prophecy and the completion ! 6 Krjpvl; ysvbpEvos evre rrj avaroXrj Kal iv Britann. Eccles. Antiquitates, c. 1, &c. Tfj Svoei, — SiKatoobvnv SiSd^as bXov rbv Kbapov, B 'Yrrip rbv WKEavbv TapsX^Eiv irrl rds KaXov- Kal irrl Tb rtppa rr)s Svuews iXdwv. Prceco pivas BpE-raviKas vrjaovs- — Trans oceanum foetus in oriente ac Occidents — totum mun- evasisse, ad eos insulas qua*. Sritannicar vo- durri docens justitiam, et ad occidentis ter- cantur. Demonstr. Evang. 1. 3, c. 5. minum veniens. Clem. Rom. Ep. ad Co- 9 Theod. Serm. 9, torn. 4, p. 610. Kal ov rinth. i. c. 5. uo-vov 'fvipalovs— dXXA Kal— BpETravvovs— G ' Britannos hospitibus feros.' Hor. 3. rai ana^a-nXUs rrav eSvos koi yivos ivSpwrrwv Od. iv. 33. - — K, T, x. Neque solum Romanos — sed et — ' See Stillingfleet's Origines Britannicre, Britannos — atque, ut semel dicam, omne a. 1. Collier's Eccles. Hist. b. 1. Usserii hominum genus nationesque omnes, Syc. 29 * 342 BISHOP NEWTON We have deduced the prophecies as Ioav as to the siege of Jerusalem ; and now let us stop to make a few short reflections upon what hath been said. The first reflection that naturally occurs, is the strange and surprising manner in which these prophecies have been fulfilled, and the great argument that may thence be drawn from the truth of our Saviour's divine mission : but we shall have a fitter opportunity for enlarging upon this hereafter. Another reflection we may make on the sincerity and in genuity of Christ, and the courage and constancy of his dis ciples. Had Jesus been an imposter, he Avould, like all other S imposters, have fed his folloAvers with fair hopes and promises : I but on the contrary we see, that he denounced persecution to be the lot of his disciples, he pointeth out to them the diffi culties they must encounter, the fiery trials they must undergo ; and yet they did not therefore stagger in their faith, they did i not therefore like faint-hearted soldiers forsake their colours and ] desert his service. One hardly knoweth whom to admire most, him for dealing so plainly with them, or them for adhering so steadily to him. Such instances are rarely found of openness on one side, and of fidelity on the other. A third reflection Ave may make on the sudden and amazing progress of the gospel, that it should spread so far and so wide before tile destruction of Jerusalem. The greatness of the work that was wrought, the meanness of the instruments which wrought it, and the short time that it Avas Avrougbt in, must force all considering men to say, (Psal. cxviii. 23,) "This ; is the Lord's doing, it is marvellous in our eyes." The Mo- | hammedan religion, indeed, in less than a century overran a great part of the world; but then it was propagated by the sword, and owed its success to arms and violence. But the Christian religion was diffused over the face of the earth in the space of forty years, and prevailed not only without the sword, but against the sword ; not only without the powers civil and military to support it, but against, them all united to oppress it. And Avhat but the Spirit of God could bid it thus go forth (Rev. vi. 2) " conquering and to conquer 1" " Had this coun sel or this Avork been of men," as Gamaliel argued, (Acts v. 28,) "it Avould have come to nought; but being of God, nothing could overthrow it." A fourth reflection we may make (and it is the last that I shall make) that seldom any state is ruined, but there are evi dent signals and presages of it. Few people have their fate particularly foretold by prophets, like the Jews; nor indeed can the fate of any people be so particularly foretold, the time, the manner, and all the circumstances preceding and succeed ing, without divine inspiration. So many passages and cir- ON THE PROPHECIES. 343 cumstances cannot be particularly foretold unless particularly revealed : but in the general, Avithout the spirit of prophecy, it is no difficult matter to perceive when cities and kingdoms are tending towards their final period and dissolution. There are as certain tokens and symptoms of a consumption and decay in the body politic, as in the body natural. I Avould not presage ill to my country ; but when Ave consider the many heinous and presumptuous sins of this nation, the licentiousness and violation of all order and discipline, the daring insolence of robbers and smugglers in open defiance of all law and justice, the factions and divisions, the venality and corruption, the avarice and profusion of all ranks and degrees among us, the total Avant of public spirit and ardent passion for private ends and interests, the luxury, and gaming, and dissoluteness in high life, and the laziness, and drunkenness, and debauchery in low life, and above all, that barefaced ridicule of all virtue and decency, and that scandalous neglect, and I wish I could not say contempt of all public worship and religion ; Avhen we con sider these things, these signs of the times, the stoutest and most sanguine of us all must tremble at the natural and pro bable consequences of them. God give us grace, that Ave may " know, (Luke xix. 42,) at least in this our day, the things Avhich belong unto our peace, before they are hid from our eyes." Never may such blindness happen 'to us, as befell the Jews; but may we (Isa. Iv. 6, 7) "seek the Lord Avhile he may be found, and call upon him Avhile he is near ; and return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon us, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." XIX. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. PART II. HH HE preceding discourse was concerning the signs of the -H- destruction of Jerusalem, that is, the circumstances and accidents, Avhich were to be the forerunners and attendants of this great event. Those are already specified which passed before the siege, and now Ave proceed to treat of those which happened during the siege and after it. Never Avas prophecy more punctually fulfilled, and it will be very well Avorth our time and attention to trace the particulars. "When ye there fore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Da niel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand,) Then let them which be in Judea, flee mto the mountains," (Matt. xxiv. 15, 16.) Whatever difficulty there is in these words, it may be cleared up by the parallel place in 344 BISHOP NEWTON St. Luke, ( xxi. 20, 21 :) " And when ye shall see Jerusalem com passed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let thein which are in Judea flee to the moun tains." So that "the abomination of desolation" is the Roman army, and " the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place" is the Roman army besieging Jerusalem. This, saith our Saviour, is " the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet," in the ninth and eleventh chapters ; and so let every one who readeth those prophecies, understand them. The Roman army is called the abomination for its ensigns and images which were so to the Jews. As Chrysostom affirms ' every idol and every image of a man was called an abomination among the Jews. For this reason as Josephus 2 informs us, the principal Jews earnestly entreated Vetellius, governor of Syria, when he Avas conducting his army through Judea against Aretas king of the Arabians, to lead it another Avay ; and he greatly obliged them by complying Avith their re quest. We farther learn from Josephus,3 that after the city was taken, the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there. The Roman army is therefore fitly called the abomination, and " the abomination of desolation," as it was to desolate and lay waste Jerusalem : and this army's besieging Jerusalem is called " standing where it ought not," as it is in St. Mark, (xiii. 14;) or "standing in the holy place," as it is in St. Matthew ; the city and such a compass of ground about it being accounted holy. When therefore the Roman army shall advance to besiege Jerusalem, then let them who are in Judea consult their own safety, and fly into the mountains. This counsel was Avisely remembered, and put in practice by the | Christians afterAvards. Josephus informs us, that when Ces- tius Gallus came with his army against Jerusalem,4 many fled from the city as if it would be taken presently : and after his retreat,5 many of the noble Jews departed out of the city, as out of a sinking ship : and a feAV years afterwards, when Ves- | pasian was drawing his forces towards Jerusalem,6 a great mul titude fled from Jericho (sis rtjv ipEivw) into the mountainous coun- \ try for their security. It is probable that there Avere some S l "A.7rav EiS(a\oVt Kal irav T&iru)/ia dvBp&irov 6, § 1. \ Kapix roTs ^lovaaiois $MXuy}ia tKaXtlro. Omne 4 "HSe 6$ iroWol StztjiSpatrKov airb rrjg TtdXewg, | simulacrum et hominis effigies apud Judceos &s aXioaouivng avrixa. Jamque multi ex civi- appetlabatur abominatio. Adv. Judaeos Orat. late diffugiebant, ac si continuo esset expug- 5, § 11. nanda. Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 19, § 6. 5 Joseph. Antiq. I. 18, c. 6, § 3. 5 UoWot rwv hi 4. ON THE PROPHECIES. 347 observable, that the evangelist saith only, "And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter," without any mention of the sabbath-day. As our Saviour cautioned his disciples to fly, Avhen they should see Jerusalem encompassed with armies ; so it was very providentially ordered, that Jerusalem should be compassed Avith armies, and yet that they should have such favourable opportunities of making their escape. In the twelfth year of Nero, Cestius Gallus, the president of Syria, came against Je rusalem with a powerful army. He might, as Josephus6 affirms, if he Avould have assaulted the city, have presently taken it, and thereby have put an end to the war. But without any just reason, and contrary to the expectation of all, he raised the siege and departed. Vespasian was deputed in his room to govern Syria, and to carry on the war against the Jews. This great general,6 having subdued all the country, prepared to be siege Jerusalem, and invested the city on every side. But the news of Nero's death, and soon afterwards of Galba's, and the disturbances which thereupon ensued in the Roman empire, and the civil wars between Otho and Vitellius, held Vespasian and Titus in suspense ; and they thought it unseasonable to engage in a foreign war, Avhile they were anxious for the safety of their own country. By these means the expedition against Jerusalem was deferred for some time ; and the city was not actually besieged in form, till after Vespasian was confirmed in the empire, and Titus Avas sent to command the forces in Judea. These incidental delays were very opportune for the Chris tians, and for those who had any thoughts of retreating and providing for their own safety. Afterwards there Avas hardly any possibility of escaping; for as our Saviour said in St. Luke's Gospel, (xix. 43,) "The days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side." Accordingly the Ro mans having begirt Jerusalem with their forces, and having made several assaults without the desired success, Titus 7 re solved to surround the city with a wall ; and by the diligence and emulation of the soldiers, animated by the presence, and acting under the continual inspection of the general, this work, Avhich was worthy of months, was with incredible speed com pleted in three days. The wall was of the dimensions of thirty- nine furlongs, and was strengthened with thirteen forts at proper distances : so that, as the historian saith, all hope of 1 Josephus de Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 19, § 4. muros perrumpere, e vestigia urbem cepisset, Kav EtKEp qBiXrias Kar' abrr)v EKEivrrv rrjv Srpav bellumque ab inso confectum fuisse contl- hrbs t&v rux&v fiidcTaaBai, nap"1 airUa t,)v irdXtv £o-%£, Kal rov irSr\£iiov <7vve6T) Karate- 6 Joseph, ibid. 1. 4, c. 9, § I, 2, &c. Xuadat-. Et si eadem ilia hora coluissel vi * Joseph, ibid. 1. 5, c. 12, § 1 et -. 348 BISHOP NEWTON safety was cut off from the Jews,8 together with all the means of escaping out of the city. No provisions could be carried in, and no person could come out unknown to the enemy. But to return to St. Matthew. In the preceding verses our Saviour had warned his disciples to &y, as soon as ever they saw Jerusalem besieged by the Ro mans ; and now he assigns the reason of his giving them this caution, (ver. 21 :) "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be." St. Mark expresseth it much in the same manner, (xii;. 19:) "For in those days shall be affliction, such as Avas not from the beginning of the creation which God created, unto this time, neither shall be." This seemeth to be a proverbial form of expression, as in Exodus, (x. 14,) "And the locusts were very grievous, before them there Avere no such lo custs as they, neither after them shall be such :" and again in Joel, (ii. 2,) "A great people and a strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." Of the same kind is that in Daniel, (xii. 1,) "There shall be a time of trouble, such as never Avas since there Avas a nation, even to that same time :" and that in the first book of Maccabees, (ix. 27,) "There was great afflic tion in Israel, the like whereof was not since the time that a prophet was not seen among them." Our Saviour therefore might fitly apply the same manner of speaking upon the pre sent occasion : but he doth not make use of proverbial expres sions without a proper meaning, and this may be understood even literally. For indeed all history cannot furnish us with a parallel to the calamines and miseries of the Jews; rapine and murder, famine and pestilence within ; fire and sword, and all the terrors of war without. Our Saviour wept at the foresight of these calamities, and it is almost impossible for persons of any humanity to read the relation of them in Josephus Avithout weeping too. That historian might therefore Avell say, as he doth in9 the preface to his history, 'Our city of all those which have been subjected to the Romans, was advanced to the higliest felicity, and was thrust doAvn again to the extremest misery : for if the misfortunes of all from the beginning of the world were compared with those of the Jews, they would appear B 'lovSaiots Si pErd twv it^bSwv arrEKbrrn Sokei Kara oiyKptaiv. Nam ex omnibus civi- itaoa o-wrriptas iXrrls- Judeeis autem cum tatibus, quce Romanorum jugum subierunt, egrediendi facultate spes quoque omnis salulis nostras sane contigit ad summum felicitatis prcecisa erat. Ibid. 1. 5, c. 12, § 3. pervenisse, ac deinde in extremam calamito.- 9 noAtv yap Sr) rwv v-xb 'Vwpatovs iraawv tem incidisse, namque omnium ab omnis arvi rr)v ripEripav hi ttXewtov te sbSaipovias av- memoria res adversee, si cum iis conferantur viSn ttooeXBe-iv, koi irpbs eoxotov avptbopwv qure Judceis acciderunt, longe ab illis supe- avBts KaTarrEOE'lv. Tayovv Trdvrwv drr' alwvos rarimihi videntur. Josephi Proem, do Bell. irvxtipara, nobs rd 'lovSatwv, hrraaBal pot Jud. § 4. ON THE PROPHECIES. 349 much inferior upon the comparison :' and again in another ' place he saith, ' To speak in brief, no other city ever suffered such things, as no other generation from the beginning of the Avorld was ever more fruitful of Avickedness.' St. Luke ex presseth the reason thus, (xxi. 22 :) "For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are Avritten may be fulfilled." " These be the days of vengeance," wherein the calamities fore told by Moses, Joel, Daniel, and other prophets, as well as those predicted by our Saviour, shall all meet as in one common centre, and be fulfilled Avith aggravation on this generation. " These be the days of vengeance," too, in another sense, as if God's vengeance had certain periods and revolutions, and the same days Avere fatal to the Jews, and destinated to their destruc tion. For it is very memorable, and matter of just admiration, according to Josephus,2 that the temple was burnt by the Romans in the same month, and on the same day of the month, as it was before by the Babylonians. Nothing so violent can be of long continuance. These cala mities were so severe, that like fire, they must in time have consumed all, and have left nothing for themselves to prey upon. "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved," (ver. 22.) If these Avars and desola tions were to continue, none of the JeAvs would escape destruc tion, they would all be cut off root and branch. I think 3 Jose phus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at eleven hundred thousand, besides those who were slain in other places : and if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would certainly in a little time have been extirpated. "But for the elect's sake (but for the sake of the Christian Jews) those days shall be short ened." "But for the elect's sake whom he hath chosen, the Lord hath shortened the days," as it is expressed in St. Mark, (xiii. 20.) The elect is a well-known appellation in Scripture and antiquity for the Christians; and the Christian Jews, partly through the fury of the zealots on one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other, and partly through the dif ficulty of subsisting in the mountains without houses or provi sions, would in all probability have been almost all destroyed either by the sword or by famine, if the days had not been shortened. But providentially the days were shortened. Titus 1 TvvcXtvra S elm'v, ptjre irdXiv SXXnv Vovv, &s eipnv, Kal hptpav l-rrErrSpvaE rrjv abr^i, rotavra mxiovBhai, prjre ycveav if iiwvos h j) rrpbrspov v-trb BaBvXwvlwv b vabs EvE-rrprjaBr). yeyovtvat kukIus yovtpwripav. Mud autem Est autem ut mirari quis possit in eo accura- breviter dici potest, neque aliam urbem talio tarn circumacti temporis ratwnem, nam eun- perpessam esse, neque hominum genus aliud dem, ut dictum est, mensem et diem servavit, ab omni asvo sceleratius exstitisse. L. 5, c. 10, quo prius templum a Babylonus exuslum § 5, ibid. fuerat. 2 Lib. 6. c. 4. § 8. eavpdaat S' Sv ns ' Ibid. 1. 6, c. 9, § 3. iv abrjj rrjs rrEolbSov rrjv aKpifiElav, Kal prjva 30 350 BISHOP NEWTON himself4 was desirous of putting a speedy end to the siege, having Rome and the riches and the pleasures there before his eyes. Some of his officers 5 proposed to him to turn the siege into a blockade, and since they could not take the city by storm, to starve it into a surrender : but he thought it not be coming to sit still with so great an army ; and he feared lest the length of the time should diminish the glory of his success ; every thing indeed may be effected in time, but celerity con tributes much to the fame and splendour of actions. The be sieged too helped to shorten the days by 6 their 'divisions and mutual slaughters ; by 7 burning their provisions, which would have sufficed for many years ; and by 8 fatally deserting their strongest holds, where they could never have been taken by force, but by famine alone. By these means " the days were shortened ;" and indeed otherwise Jerusalem could never have been taken in so short a time, so well fortified as it Avas, and so Avell fitted to sustain a longer siege. The enemy without could hardly ever have prevailed but for the factions and seditions Avithin. Titus himself could not but ascribe his success to God, as he was viewing the fortifications, after the city Avas taken. His words to his friends were very remarkable. ' We have fought,' 9said he, 'with God on our side; and it is God who hath pulled the JeAvs out of these strong holds ; for what could the hands of men or machines do against these towers 1' God therefore, in the opinion of Titus as well as of St. Mark, shortened the days. After the destruction of Jerusalem too, God inclined the heart of Titus to take some pity upon the remnant of the Jews, and to restrain the nations from exercising the cruelty that they would have exercised towards them. At An tioch particularly, (where the disciples were first called Chris tians,1) the senate and people earnestly importuned him to expel the Jews out of the city ; but he prudently answered, that their country whither they should return being laid waste, there was no place that could receive them. Then they requested him 4 'Ipsi Tito Roma et opes voluptatesque * Ibid. 8 4. "Of Sv aire's oiiK iV IXtya ante oculos ; ac, ni statim Hierosolyma - hifjpKEatv %-rn -rroXtopKovpivots. Quod non pau- conciderent, morari videbantur.' Tacit, cis annis illis sufficere potuisset obsessis. Hist. 1. 5, c. 11. "Ibid. 1.6, c. 8, 5 4. ?Ef' iv pia piv obSl- 5 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 5, c. 12, § 1. iror' aXwvat, pbvw a iSbvavro Xtpip. Inqui- Abrip Si to piv dpyeiv KaBbXov nerd rotravrrjs bus vi quidem nunquam, sola vero fame ex- Svvdpsws oIik iSbKEi irpitrEiv. Ipsi autem Tito pugnari poterant. cessare quidem prorsus tanto cum exercitu 9 Ibid. c. 9, § 1. Xbv 0e<3 y' i-rroXEprjo-a- hkmestum non videbatur. AsSiivat reprj rrjv u£v,-E(pu, Kal Oebs r)v 6 twvSe rwv ipupdrwv Sbfav rob KaropBwpaTOS avrip rb prjKos iXa-r- lovSatovs kuQeXwv, irrsi XEipis te avBpwxrwv r) Twer] tov xpbvov' robrtp piv yap elval irav avi- unxavat rt rrpbs Tobrovs robs rrtipyovs Sbvavrat; trtpov, nobs Si rrjs evkXeIus rb rdxos. Metuen- Deo, inquit, favente bellavimus, Deus est, qui dumque ne successus gloriam ipsi diminuqt Judmos ex istis munimentis detraxit ; -nam temporis longitudo : hoc enim cuncta quidem kumano? manus et machines quid contra tales effici posse, sed ad gloriamfacere celeritatem. lurres valeant ? 6 Ibid. c. 1, &c. ' Ibid. 1. 7, c. 5, § 2. ON THE PROPHECIES. 351 to deprive the Jews of their former privileges, but those he per mitted them to enjoy as before. Thus " for the elect's sake those days of persecution were shortened." Our blessed Lord had cautioned his disciples against false Christs and false prophets before, but he giveth a more parti cular caution against them about the time of the siege and de struction of Jerusalem, (ver. 23 and 24:) "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ or there, believe it not ; For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shoAv great signs and wonders, insomuch that (if it were possi ble) they shall deceive the very elect." And in fact many such impostors did arise from that time, as we learn from 2 Josephus, and promised deliverance from God, being suborned by the tyrants or governors to prevent the people and soldiers from deserting to the Romans ; and the lower the Jews were reduced, the more disposed would they be to listen to these deceptions, and the more ready to follow the deceivers. Hegesippus too in ' Eusebius mentions the coming of false Christs and false pro phets about the same time. But as it was to little purpose for ¦ a man to take upon him the character of the Christ, or even of a prophet, without miracles to vouch his divine mission ; so it Avas the common artifice and pretence of these impostors to show signs and wonders, anpeia Kai ripara, the very words used by Christ in his prophecy, and by 4 Josephus in his history. Simon Magus pei formed great wonders according to the ac count that is given of him in the Acts of the Apostles, (viii. 9, 10, 11 :) " There was a certain man called Simon, which be fore time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the peo ple of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one : To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God : and to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries." Dositheus likewise Avas reputed to Avork won ders, according to 5 Origen : Barchochehas too, who, 6 Jerome saith, pretended to vomit flames. Such also were the Jews, of Avhom St. Paul speaketh, (2 Tim. iii. 8, 13,) comparing them to "Jannes and Jambres," famous magicians of Egypt, who " Avithstood Moses, as these also resisted the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith, (mvripoi livOpw- m Kal ybvTEs) wicked men and impostors." There is a strange 2 IIoXAol 5' r)aav iyKdBsToi xrapa rivv ropdv- transfugeret, et eos, qui su-pra metum erant et vwv t6te -rrpbs rbv Sfjpov -n-potprjTat, rrpoa-pivEiv custodes, spes retineret. Cito autem in adver- Tr)v dird tov &eov \3orj§£tav KarayyiXXovTES, sis homini persuadetur. L. 6, c. 5, § 2. ws hrov abropoXoisv, Kalrovs irravw Siovs Kal 3 Euseb. Eccles. Hist. 1. 4, c. 22. tpvXaKrjs yivoptvovs iX-rrls vapaKparwri- IIeISe- 4 Joseph. Antiq. 1. 20, c. 7, § 6. Vide 7-ai Si raxtws iSvSpwTros iv avpiropais- Mulii etiam de Bell. Jud. 1. 7, c. 11, § 1. autem tunc a tyrannis subornati erant ad 6 Contra Celsum, 1. 6, c. 11. populum prophetce, denuntiantes esse auxi- 6 Adversus Rufinum, 1. 3, col. 466 Hum a Deo exspectandum, ut populus minus 352 BISHOP NEWTON propensity in mankind to believe things marvellous and astonish- ing : and no wonder, that weak and wicked men, Jews and Sa maritans, were deceived by such impostors ; Avhen if it had been possible they would have deceived the very elect, the Christians themselves. But " behold, (saith our Saviour,) I have told you before," (ver. 25.) Behold I have given you sufficient warning. "Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth ; behold, he is in the secret chambers, be lieve it not," (ver. 26.) It is surprising that our Saviour should not only foretel the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of their conduct. For some he mentions as appearing in the desert, and some in the secret chambers ; and the event hath in all points answered to the pre diction. Several of the false Christs and false prophets con ducted their followers into the desert. Josephus in his Antiquities saith expressly,7 that many impostors and cheats persuaded the people to follow them into the desert, where they promised to show manifest wonders and signs done by the providence of God; and many being persuaded suffered the punishment of their folly; for Felix brought them back, and chastised them. Again in his history of the Jewish war, speaking of the same persons he saith,8 that these impostors, under a pretence of divine inspiration, affected innovations and changes, per suaded the multitude to grow mad, and led them forth into the desert, as if God would there show them the signs of liberty. Against these Felix, for it seemed to be the foundation of a revolt, sent horse and foot soldiers, and slew a great number of them. The Egyptian false prophet, mentioned by Josephus,' and in the Acts of the Apostles, (xxi. 38,) "led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers :" but Felix Ol Si ybrjTES Kal airarEwves avSpwiroi rbv crdaEWS rival KaTaBoXr), xiipryas ImrEts Kai t>XXov ErrEtSov abroXs sis rrjv iprjptav 'irCEaSat. tze^ovs brrXlras, xroXv nXrjSos SiE Messiahs before the age of our Saviour, nor of so many in any &ge after ; and why did they rise at that time particularly, if the Messiah was not at that time particularly expected t and why did the Jews expect their Messiah at that time more than at any other, if that was not the time before appointed for his coming 1 The prophet Daniel in particular had foretold, (ix. 25, &c.) that Messiah the prince should come towards the end of seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, from the going forth ofthe decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Before these weeks of years were, by one account or other, near expiring, history saith nothing of the false Messiahs : but when the prophetic Aveeks drew towards a conclusion, then these impostors arose frequent, like so many meteors, to dazzle the eyes and mislead the wan dering steps of Jews and Samaritans. Nothing can be a more evident and convincing proof that the Jews then understood the prophecy in the same sense as the Christians, however they may endeavour to evade the force of it now. They pretend that the coming of the Messiah was delayed for the sins of the 356 BISHOP NEWTON people, and therefore they still live in expectation of him, thoug,, they know neither the time nor the place of his appearing. Strange ! that he Avho was to come for the sins of the people, should delay his coining for their sins : and more strange still ! that God should falsify so many of his promises made by the mouths of his holy prophets. (Numb, xxiii. 19,) " God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent ; hath he said, and would he not do it 1 or hath he spoken, and would he not make it good 1" 3. It may be farther observed from hence, that the Messiah was expected to work miracles. Miracles are the credentials of a Messenger from God : and it was foretold particularly of the Messiah, that he should work miracles. Thefe was no pre tending therefore to the character of the Messiah without the necessary qualifications. Had not the power of working mira cles been esteemed an essential ingredient in the character of the Messiah, these impostors would never have had the assurance to pretend to it, or been so foolish as to hazard their reputa tion, and venture their whole success upon such an experi ment : but all of them to a man dreAV the people after them with a pretence of working miracles, of showing signs, and wonders, and apparitions. Now the very miracles which the Messiah was to perform, Jesus hath performed, and none other besides Jesus. The prophet Isaiah foretold, that the Messiah should cure the lame and the blind, the deaf and the dumb ; and accordingly these very persons were cured in great numbers by Jesus. The prophet Isaiah foretold likewise, that these miracles should be wrought in the desert ; and accordingly in the desert Jesus wrought them : and by the way I suppose this prophecy was one principal reason why most of the false Christs and false prophets led their followers into solitudes and deserts, promising there to show signs and wonders. The pro phet Isaiah foretold, (xxxv. 1, &c.) " the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. — They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. — The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be un stopped. The lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." The apostle and evangelist St. Matthew relates, (xv. 29, &c.) that "Jesus departed from thence, (from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,) and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee, and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them : Insomuch that the' multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the ON THE PROPHECIES. 357 blind to see : and they glorified the God of Israel." Since then the miracles of the Messiah were Avrought by Jesus alone, Jesus alone can have any just claim to be the Messiah : and from his works Ave may conclude, (John vi. 14,) "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." 4. Very observable is the difference between the conduct and success of these deceivers and of Jesus Christ : for in him we have all the marks and characters of simplicity a"nd truth, in them of fraud and imposture. They were men of debauched lives and vicious principles: He "did no sin, (1 Pet. ii. 22,) neither was guile found in his mouth ;" even Pilate his Judge declared, (John xix. 6,) that he could "find no fault in him." They lived by rapine and spoil, by plunder and murder : He (Luke ix. 56) "came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them :" He fed the hungry, healed the sick, and went from place to place doing good. Their conduct breathes nothing but ambition and pride, cruelty and revenge : His behaviour was all humility and meekness, charity and love of mankind. They were actuated by worldly motives, and propose to them selves secular ends and interests ; Jesus was the farthest re moved from any suspicion of that kind, and when the people would have taken him, (John vi. 15,) " to make him a king, he withdrew himself from them, and departed again into a moun tain himself alone." Their pretensions were accommodated to the carnal expectations of the Jews, and withal were backed by force and violence, and yet could not succeed and prosper : On the contrary, the religion of Jesus was spiritual, disclaimed all force, and took the way (humanly speaking) not to prevail, and yet prevailed against all the power and opposition of the world. Now of these who were the deceivers, think you, who was the true Christ? Had Jesus been an impostor, he would have lived and acted like an impostor. Had his design been any thing like theirs it would have been discovered and brought to nought. Nothing could make his religion stand, but its coming from God. This is the reasoning of one, who cannot be suspected to favour the cause of Christianity, the learned Gamaliel in the Jewish Sanhedrim ; and to him that great council agreed. (Acts v. 36, &c.) " Before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be some body, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves; who was slain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him ; he also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dis persed. And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone ; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought : but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow 358 BISHOP NEWTON it ; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. And to him they agreed." 5. But though the truth will at last prevail over error and imposture, yet it is a melancholy proof of the Aveakness, and superstition, and enthusiasm of mankind, that these false Christs and false prophets should delude such numbers as they did to their destruction. The false Messiahs had for a time many more disciples and followers than the true Messiah. The Christians were once (Luke xii. 32) "a little flock." "The number of the names together (Acts i. 15) Avere about an hundred and twenty." Whereas these impostors attracted and drew away great multitudes, one of them 5 six thousand, another even thirty thousand.3 With a pretence of divine inspiration, they taught the people, as 7 Josephus expresseth it, Saipovav to grow enthusiastically mad, as if they were pos sessed and actuated by some spirit or demon : and indeed no plague or epidemical distemper is more catching and con tagious than enthusiasm. It passeth from man to man like wild-fire. The imagination is soon heated, and there is rarely judgment enough to cool it again. The very elect, even good Christians themselves, if they attend to enthusiasts, will be in danger of taking the infection, and be continually liable to be (Eph. iv. 14) "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine," if they have not (as all have not) a suf ficient ballast of discretion to keep them steady. In reality, enthu siasts know as little of the revelation given us by Christ, as of the reason given us by God. They are blind leaders of the blind. " Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, (behold his poAver is experienced in field-preach ing,) go not forth ; behold, he is in the secret chambers, (behold his presence is conspicuous in the tabernacles or conventicles,) believe it not." He is best sought in his word, and in his works; and he will certainly be found by those, and those alone, who love him, not with fanaticism and enthusiasm, but in truth and soberness, so as to keep his commandments, which is the only infallible proof and legitimate issue of love. For, as our Saviour himself saith, (John xiv. 23,) " If a man love me, he will keep my words ; and my Father will love him, and we Avill come unto him, and make our abode with him." 6. Once more it is to be observed, that we must not credit every one, who cometh to us with a pretence of working mira cles. For the false Christs and false prophets pretended to 6 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 6, c. 5, § 2. Kal hominum millia, quos presstigiis suis decepe- crippiKros Sx^°! rrXEXaros sk i^aKtaxiXiovs- Et rat, congregavit. am plurima multitude promiscua, ad sex hominum 7 Tlpoaxrjpari Seiaopoij, — Saipovav rb T^t millia.' xrXrjBos dvirrEtBov. Specie divini afflatus, e Ibid. 1. 2, c. 13, § 5. Hep! rpiepvpiovs piv — vulgo ut insanirent persuadebant. Ibid. iBpoi^ct ™» bnarrjpivwv. Usque ad triginta § 4. ON THE PROPHECIES. 359 show great signs and Avonders ; and yet notAvithstanding all their miraculous pretensions, our blessed Lord cautions his disciples not to believe or folloAV them. But then the question Avill be naturally asked, If we must not believe those who Avork miracles, Avhom must we believe 1 how shall we know whether a person doth or doth not act by commission from heaven 1 hoAV shall Ave distinguish whether the doctrine is of God or of men 1 Indeed if miracles were not possible to be wrought at all, ^s1 some have pretended ; or could be wrought only by God, or those who are commissioned by him, as others have argued ; the reply would be obvious and easy : but that miracles are possible to be wrought is a truth agreeable to reason, and that they may be wrought by evil spirits, is a supposition agreeable to Scripture ; and therefore the best answer is, that reason must judge in this case as in every other, and determine of the miracles by the doctrines Avhich they are alleged to confirm. If a doctrine is evil, no miracles can be wrought by a divine power in its behalf; for God can never set his hand and seal to a lie. If a doctrine is good, then we may be certain, that the miracles vouched for it were not Avrought by the power of evil spirits ; for at that rate, according to our Saviour's argu ment, (Luke xi. 18,) " Satan would be divided against himself, and his kingdom could not stand." Good spirits can never confirm and establish what is evil, neither can evil spirits be supposed to promote Avhat is good. Supposing that the mira cles pretended in favour of Paganism were all real miracles, yet, as they lead men to corrupt religion and idolatrous Avor- ship, no reverence, no regard is to be paid to them, according to the command of Moses, (Deut. xiii. 1, &c. :) "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a Avonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, Avhereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods (Avhich thou hast not known) and let us serve them : Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams : for the Lord your God proveth you, to knoAV Avhe- ther you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul." In like manner we must not admit any thing contrary to the doctrines of Christ and his apostles, whatever miracles are boasted to recommend and authorise it. For the doctrines of the Christian religion are not only perfectly agree able to reason, but moreover God hath confirmed it, amply con firmed it, by miracles, and hath enjoined us strictly to adhere to it ; and God can never be supposed to work miracles to con firm contradictions : and therefore alloAving (Avhat Ave cannot reasonably allow) that fhe miracles of Apollonius and other imposters were true and Avell attested, yet the foundation of Christ standeth firm, and cannot at all be shaken by them. 360 BISHOP NEWTON Should any man, or number of men, with ever so grave and con fident a pretence to infallibility assert — that it is our duty im plicitly to believe and obey the church : Avhen Christ commands us, (Matt, xxiii. 9,) " to call no man father upon earth, for one is our Father which is in heaven" — that the service of God is to be performed in an unknown tongue ; Avhen St. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians hath wiitten a whole chapter (xiv.) expressly against it — that the sacrament of the Lord's supper is to be administered only in one kind; when Christ instituted it, (Matt, xxvi.) and his apostles ordered it (1 Cor. xi.) to be celebrated in both — that the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ is to be repeated in the mass ; when the divine author of the Epistle to the Hebrews teacheth us, (x. 10,) that "the body of Jesus Christ was offered once for all," and (ver. 14) that " by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" — that men may arrive at such heights of virtue as to perform works of merit and supererogation ; when our Saviour orders us, (Luke xvii. 10,) " after we have done all those things which are commanded us, to say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done but that Avhich was our duty to do" — that attri tion and confession, together with the absolution of the priest, Avill put a dying sinner into a state of grace and salvation ; when the Scripture again and again declares, (Heb. xii. 14,) that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord," and (1 Cor. vi. 9) " the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God" ¦ — that the souls of men, even of good men, immediately after death pass into purgatory ; when St. John is commanded from heaven to write, (Rev. xiv. 13,) "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labours, and their Avorks do follow them" — that Ave must worship images, and the relics of the saints ; when our Saviour teacheth us, (Matt. iv. 10,) "that Ave must Avorship the Lord our God, and him only Ave must serve" — that we must invocate and adore saints and angels; when the apostle chargeth us, (Col. ii. 18,) to "let no man beguile us of our reward in a voluntary humility and Avor- shipping of angels" — that we must pray to the virgin Mary and all the saints to intercede for us; when St. Paul affirms, (1 Tim. ii. 5,) that as there is only "one God," so there is only "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" — that it is laAvful to fill the world with rebellions and treasons, with persecutions and massacres, for the sake of religion and the church ; Avhen St. James assures us, (i. 20,) that " the Avrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God ;" and when Christ maketh universal love and charity the distinguishing mark and badge of his disciples, (John xiii. 35,) " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" — I say should any man assert these things so directly contrary ON THE PROPHECIES. 361 to reason and to the Avord of God, and vouch ever so many miracles in confirmation of them, yet Ave should make no scru ple to reject and renounce them all. Nay Ave are obliged to denounce anathema against the teacher of such doctrines, though he were an apostle, though he were an angel from heaven : and for this Ave have the warrant and authority of St. Paul, and to sIioav that he laid peculiar stress upon it, he repeats it twice with great vehemence, (Gal. i. 8, 9:) "Though Ave or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that Avhich we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As Ave said before, so say I now again, If any one preach any other gospel unto you, than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Indeed, the miracles alleged in support of these doctrines are such ridiculous incredible things that a man must have faith, I do not say to remove mountains, but to sAvallow mountains, who can receive for truth the legends of the church of Rome. But admitting that any of the Romish miracles were undeniable mat ters of fact, and were attested by the best and most authentic records of time, yet I know not what the bishop of Rome would gain by it, but a better title to be thought Antichrist. For we know that the coming of Antichrist, as St. Paul declares, (2 Thess. ii. 9, 10,) " is after the working of Satan Avith all power and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of un righteousness :" " and he doeth great wonders in the sight of men, (according to the prophecy of St. John, Rev. xiii. 13, 14,) and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he hath power to do." Nor indeed is any thing more congruous and reasonable, than that Cod (2 Thess. ii. 10, 11,) "should send men strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." But to return from this digression, though I hope neither an improper nor unedifying digression, to our main subject. XX. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. PART III. rE are noAV come to the last act of this dismal tragedy, the destruction of Jerusalem and the final dissolution of the Jewish polity in church and state, Avhich our Saviour for several reasons might not think fit to declare nakedly and plainly, and therefore chooseth to clothe his discourse in figura tive language. ' He might possibly do it,' as Dr. Jortin ' con- 1 Dr. Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. 1, p. 75. 31 2V 362 BISHOP NEWTON ceives, ' to perplex the unbelieving persecuting JeAArs, if his dis courses should ever fall into their hands, that they might not learn to avoid the impending evil.' " Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken," (Matt. xxiv. 29.) Commentators generally understand this and Avhat folloAvs, of the end of the world and of Christ's coming to judgment : hut the words, " immediately after the tribulation of those days," show evidently that he is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent upon the tribulation before mentioned, and that must be the destruc tion of Jerusalem. It is true, his figures are very strong, but no stronger than are used by the ancient prophets upon similar occasions. The prophet Isaiah speaketh in the same manner of Babylon, (xiii. 9, 10 :) "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land deso late ; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light : the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." The prophet Ezekiel speaketh in the same manner of Egypt, (xxxii. 7, 8 :) " And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark ; I will cover the sun Avith a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. And the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God." The prophet Daniel speaketh in the same manner of the slaughter of the Jews by the little horn, Avhether by the little horn be understood Antiochus Epi phanes or the poAver of the Romans, (viii. 10 :) " And it waxed great even to the host of heaven ; and it cast down some of the host, and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them :" and the prophet Joel of this very destruction of Jerusalem, (ii. 30, 31 :) "And I will sIioav wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." Thus it is that in the prophetic language great commotions and revolutions upon earth, are often represented by commotions and changes in the heavens. Our Saviour proceedeth in the same figurative style, (ver. 30:) "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven ; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." The plain meaning of it is, that the destruction of Jerusalem Avill be such a remarkable instance of divine vengeance, such a signal manifestation of Christ's ON THE PROPHECIES. 363 poAver and glory, that all the Jewish tribes shall mourn, and many will be led from thence to aeknoAvledge Christ and the Christian religion. In the ancient prophets, God is frequently described as coining in the clouds, upon any remarkable inter position and manifestation of his power; and the same descrip tion is here applied to Christ. The destruction of Jerusalem will be as ample a manifestation of Christ's poAver and glory, as if he was himself to come visibly in the clouds of heaven. The same sort of metaphor is carried on in the next verse, (ver. 31 :) " And he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four Avinds, from one end of heaven to the other." This is all in the style and phraseology of the prophets, and stripped of its figures, meaneth only, that after the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ by his angels or ministers will gather to himself a glo rious church out of all the nations under heaven. The Jews shall be thrust out, as he expresseth himself in another place, (Luke xiii. 28, 29,) " and they shall come from the east, and from the Avest, and from the north, and from the south ; and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." No one ever so little versed in history needeth to be told, that the Christian religion spread and prevailed mightily after this period ; and hardly any one thing contributed more to this success of the gospel than the destruction of Jerusalem, falling out in the very manner and with the very circumstances so particularly foretold by our blessed Saviour. What Dr. Warburton 2 hath written upon the same subject will much illustrate and enforce the foregoing exposition. ' The prophecy of Jesus concerning the approaching destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, is conceived in such high and swelling terms, that not only the modern interpreters, but the ancient likeAvise, have supposed, that our Lord interweaves into it a direct prediction of his second coming to judgment. Hence arose a current opinion in those times, that the consummation of all things was at hand ; Avhich hath afforded a handle to an infidel objection in these, insinuating that Jesus, in order to keep his followers attached to his service, and patient under suffer ings, flattered them with the near approach of those rewards, Avhich completed all their views and expectations. To which the defenders of religion have opposed this answer, That the distinction of short and long, in the duration of time, is lost in eternity, and with the Almighty, " a thousand years are but as yesterday," &c. 'But the principle both go upon is false; and if what hath been said be duly weighed, it will appear that this prophecy doth not respect Christ's second coming to judgment, but his 2 Warburton's Julian, b. 1, u. 1, p. 21, &c. 2d Edit. 364 BISHOP NEWTON first; in the abolition of the Jewish policy, and the establishment of the Christian : that kingdom of Christ, which commenced on the total ceasing of the theocracy. For as God's reign over the Jews entirely ended with the abolition of the temple-service, so the reign of Christ, " in spirit and in truth," had then its first be ginning. ' This was the true establishment of Christianity, not that ef fected by the donations or conversions of Constantine. Till the JeAvish law was abolished, over which the Father presided as king, the reign of the Son could not take place ; because the sove reignty of Christ over mankind was that very sovereignty of God over the Jews, transferred, and more largely extended. ' This therefore being one of the most important eras in the economy of grace, and the most awful revolution in all God's religious dispensations; we see the elegance and propriety of the terms in question, to denote so great an event, together with the destruction of Jerusalem, by which it Avas effected : for, in the old prophetic language, the change and fall of prin cipalities and powers, whether spiritual or civil, are signified by the shaking heaven and earth, the darkening the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars ; as the rise and establishment of neAv ones are by processions in the clouds of heaven, by the sound of trumpets, and the assembling together of hosts and con gregations.' This language, as he observes3 in another place, was borrowed from the ancient hieroglyphics: 'For as in the hieroglyphic writing, the sun, moon, and stars, were used to represent states and empires, kings, queens, and nobility; their eclipse and ex tinction, temporary disasters, or entire overthrow, &c, so in like manner the holy prophets call kings and empires by the names of the heavenly luminaries ; their misfortunes and overthrow are represented by eclipses and extinction ; stars falling from the firmament are employed, to denote the destruction of the nobi lity, &c. In a word, the prophetic style seems to be a speaking hieroglyphic. These observations will not only assist us in the study of the Old and New Testament, but likewise vindi cate their character from the illiterate cavils of modern liber tines, who have foolishly mistaken that for the peculiar work manship of the prophet's heated imagination, which was the sober established language of their times, and which God and his Son condescended to employ as the properest conveyance of the high mysterious ways of providence in the revelation of them selves fo mankind.' To St. Matthew's account St. Luke addeth, (xxi. 24,) " And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations ; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down 3 Divine Legation, vol. ii. b. 4, § 4. ON THE PROPHECIES. 365 of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The number of those Avho " fell by the edge of the sword," was indeed very great. Of those who perished during the whole siege, there were, as Josephus saith,4 eleven hundred thousand. Many were also slain at other times and in other places.6 By the command of Florus, who was the first author of the Avar, there were slain at Jerusalem " three thousand and six hundred. By the inhabitants of Cassarea above twenty thousand : 7 at Scythopolis above thirteen thousand : 3 at Ascalon two thou sand five hundred.9 and at Ptolemais two thousand : at Alex andria, under Tiberius Alexander the .president,1 fifty thousand : at Joppa, when it was taken by Cestius Gallus,2 eight thousand four hundred: in a mountain called Asamon near Sepphoris above two thousand : 3 at Damascus ten thousand : 4 in a battle with the Romans at Ascalon ten thousand : 5 in an ambuscade near the same place eight thousand : 6 at Japha fifteen thou sand : 7 of the Samaritans upon Mount Garizin eleven thousand and six hundred : 8 at Jotapa forty thousand : 9 at Joppa, when taken by Vespasian,1 four thousand two hundred : at Tarichea six thousand five hundred,2 and after the city was taken twelve hundred : at Gamala four thousand slain,3 besides five thousand who threw themselves down a precipice : of those who fled with John from Gischala six thousand:4 of the Gadarenes fifteen thousand slain,5 besides an infinite number droAvned : in the villages of Idumea above ten thousand slain : 8 at Gerasa a thousand : 7 at Macheerus seventeen hundred : * in the wood of Jardes three thousand : ' in the castle of Masada nine hun dred and sixty : 1 in Cyrene by Catullus the governor three thousand.2 Besides these, many of every age, sex, and condi tion, were slain in this war, who were not reckoned ; but of these who are reckoned, the number amounts to above one million, three hundred fifty-seven thousand, six hundred and sixty; which would appear almost incredible, if their own historian had not so particularly enumerated them. But besides the Jews who " fell by the edge of the sword," others were also to " be led away captive into all nations :" and considering the numbers of the slain, the number of the captives too was very great. There were taken particularly at 4 Twv S' hiroXovpivwv Kara xraaav rrjv rro- * Ibid. § 10. 3 Ibid. § 11. XtopKlav, pvptdSss Uarbv Kal Seku. Totius 4 Ibid. c. 20, § 2. * Ibid. 1. 3, c. 2, § 2. autem obsidionis tempora undecies centena e Ibid. § 3. * Ibid. c. 7, § 31. hominum millia perierunt. De Bell. Jud. ' Ibid. § 32. * Ibid. § 36. . 6, c. M S. ' Ibid. c. 8, § 3. = Ibid. c. 9, § 9, 10. 5 Just. Lipsius de Constantia, 1. 2, c. 21. 3 Ibid. 1. 4, c. 1, 10 . Usher's Annals in the conclusion, Basnage's 4 Ibid. c. 2, § 5. Hist, of the Jews, b. 1, c. 8, § 19. » Ibid. c. 7, § 5. * Ibid. c. 8, § 1. 6 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 14, 5 9. ' Ibid. c. 9, § 1. " 1 bid. 1. 7, c. 6, § 4. ' Ibid. c. IS, § 1. • Ibid .6 3. » Ibid. § 5. ' Ibid. c. 9, § 1. "Ibid. §5. 'Ibid. §8. 2 Ibid. c. 11, § 2. 366 BISHOP NEWTON Japha two thousand one hundred and thirty : 3 at Jotapa one thousand two hundred : 4 at Tarichea six thousand chosen young men were sent to Nero,6 the rest sold to the number of thirty thousand and four hundred, besides those who were given to Agrippa : of the Gadarenes two thousand two hun dred : e in Idumea above a thousand.7 Many besides these ' Avere taken at Jerusalem, so that, as Josephus himself informs us,8 the number of the captives taken in the whole war amounted to ninety-seven thousand : the tall and handsome young men Titus reserved for his triumph ; of the rest, those above seventeen years of age were sent to the Avorks in Egypt, but most were distributed through the Roman provinces, to be destroyed in their theatres by the sword or by the wild beasts ; those under seventeen were sold for slaves. Of these captives many underwent hard fate. Eleven thousand of them perished for want.9 Titus exhibited all sorts of shows and spectacles at Caesarea, and 1 many of the captives were there destroyed, some being exposed to the wild beasts, and others compelled to fight in troops against one another. At Cassarea too, in honour of his brother's birthday, two thousand five hundred Jews were slain ; 2 and a great number likewise at Berytus in honour of his father's. The like was done in other cities of Syria.3 Those whom he reserved for his triumph were Simon and John,4 the generals of the captives, and seven hundred others of remarkable stature and beauty. Thus were the Jews miserably tormented, and distributed over the Roman provinces ; and are they not still distressed and dispersed over all the nations of the earth 1 As the Jews were " to be led away captive into all nations," so Jerusalem was to be " trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." And accordingly Jeru salem has never since been in the possession of the Jews, but hath constantly been in subjection to some other nation, as first to the Romans, and aftenvards to the Saracens, and then to the Franks, and then to the Mamalucs, and now to the Turks. 3 Ibid. 1. 3, c. 7, § 31. * Ibid. § 36. triumpho servabat. Ex reliqua autem multi- 5 Ibid. c. 9, § 10. 6 Ibid. 1. 4, c. 7, § 5. tudine, annis- xvn. majores vinctos ad metalla Mbid.c. 8, S 1. exercenda in JEgyptum misit; plurimos 8 Twv Si viwv roti$ dii/TjX ordrovg Kat Ka\o6s etiam per provincias distribuit Titus, in thea~ Eirir\£l;as Irfipu tw $ptdu6tp. Tov &e Xotirod trisferro et bestiis consumendos. Qutcunque TrXrjQovg robg lire? hraKalhtKa %rr\ Sfivas vero infra xvn. annum cetatis erant, sub corona '(¦KEfi^/EV tig roL Kar' kXyvirrov spya^ TrXdcrTovg venditi sunt. — Et captivorum quidem om- S% tig ra)g foapxto SttSwpijtraro Tiros, Jpw Kal Srjptotg. merus erat ad nonaginta septem millia. L. 6. Ot 6' fvrds iiTTaKat&EKa ir&v eirpddrjaav. — Twv c. 9, § 2 et3. Pro hvia fovEvfjKovra scrip- uh oZv alx\io:\&Tti)v 7T(£vrwv, oca Kadi '6\ov sisse Josephum censet Villalpandus, torn. 3, fA>J0077 rbv ir6\eixov\ A.pt8nbg fovea uvpidtieg ml p. 123. 9 Ibid. § 2. faraKtaxfaioi cvvijx^ Juvenes autem lectos, 1 Ibid. 1. 7, c. 2, § 1. 2 Ibid. c. 3, § 1. qui proceritate et forma cceteris praestarent, 3 Ibid. c. 5, § 1. *Ibid. § 3. ON THE PROPHECIES. 367 Titus, as it Avas related before,6 commanded all the city as well as the temple to be destroyed : only three towers were left standing for monuments to posterity of the strength of the city, and so much of the wall as encompassed the city on the west, for barracks for the soldiers who were left there in gar rison. All the rest of the city was so totally demolished, that there was no likelihood of its ever being inhabited again. The soldiers who were left there, were the tenth legion,8 with some troops of horse and companies of foot,7 under the command of Terentius Rufus. When Titus came to Jerusalem in his Avay from Syria to Egypt,8 and beheld the sad devastation of the city, and called to mind its former splendour and beauty, he could not help lamenting over it, and cursing the authors of the 'rebellion, who had compelled him to the cruel necessity of destroying so fine a city. Vespasian ordered all the lands of the Jews to be sold for his own use ;9 and all the Jews, where-, soever they dwelt, to pay each man every year the same sum to the capitol of Rome, that they had before paid to the temple at Jerusalem. The desolation was so complete, that Eleazar said to his countrymen;1 'What is become of our city, which was believed to be inhabited by God 1 It is rooted up from the very foundations, and the only monument that is left, is the camp of those who destroyed it, still pitched upon its remains. Some unhappy old men sit over the ashes of the temple, and a feAv women reserved by the enemy for the basest of injuries.' The first who 2 rebuilt Jerusalem, though not all exactly on the same spot, was the Roman emperor iElius Adrian, and he called it after his own name iElia, and placed in it a Roman colony, and dedicated a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus in the room of the temple of the true God. While he was visiting the eastern parts of the empire, he came to Jerusalem, as3 Epiphanius informs us, forty-seven years after its destruction by Titus, and found the city all levelled with the ground, and the temple of God trodden under foot, except a few houses : and he then formed the resolution of rebuilding it, but his de sign Avas not put in execution till towards the latter end of his reign. The JeAvs, naturally of a seditious spirit, were in flamed4 upon this occasion into open rebellion, to recover 6 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. h 7, c. 1, § I. est, quam Deum habitasse credidimus ? Ra- 6 Ibid. § 2. ' Ibid. c. 2. dicituS ex fundamentis evulsa est, et id solum 8 Ibid. c. 5, § 2. 9 Ibid. c. 6, § 6. ejus monumentum relictum, castra scilicet 1 Hov yiyovev fjpXv r} rbv QEbvE%Etv olKicrr)v illoram a quibus excisa est jam reliquris ejus -Kt-KtaTEvpivr) ; TlpdfyiljOs ek PdBpwv avr'/pna- imposita. Senes vero infelices templi cinen- arat, Kal pbvov avrijs pvr)psXov brroXiXEi-rrrat, bus assident, et paucm mulieres ad turpissi- rb r&v dvpprjsbrwv abri)v OTparb-rTESov in ToXs mam pudoris injuriam ab hostibus reservatce. Xei^iovois irrolKOvv. Upcctjiirai Si Sbarnvoi Ibid. c. 8, § 7. tt) erroSSr rob TEptvovs xapaKa^nvrai, Kal 2 Dionis Cass. Hist. 1. 69, § 12. yvvaXKES bXiyai irpbs bSpiv ahxiarrjv vnb rwv 3 Epiphnn. de Mens, et Pond. c. 14. rroXspiwv TEr-opqaivai. Quid de ea factum 4 Dionis Hist. 1. 69, § 12. sqq. 368 BISHOP NEWTON their native city and country out of the hands of heathen vio lators and oppressors : and they were headed by a man called 6 Barchochad, a vile robber and murderer, whose name signify ing the son of a star, he confidently pretended that he was the person prophesied of by Balaam in those words, (Numb. xxiv. 17,) "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel." They were e successful in their first enterprises through the neglect of the Romans: and it is probable, as the rebellion was raised for this purpose, that they made themselves masters of iElia, or the new Jeru salem, and massacred or chased from thence the heathen inha bitants, and the Romans besieged and took it again ; for we read in several authors, in 7 Eusebius, in 8 Jerome, in 9 Chrysos tom, and in ' Appian who lived at that time, that Jerusalem was again besieged by the Romans under Adrian, and was en tirely burnt and consumed. However that be, the Jews were at length subdued with a most terrible slaughter ; 2 fifty of their strongest castles, and nine hundred and eighty-five of their best towns were sacked and demolished ; five hundred and eighty thousand men fell by the sword in battle, besides an infinite multitude who perished by famine, and sickness, and fire, so that Judea was almost all desolated. The Jewish 3 wri ters themselves reckon, that doubly more Jews were slain in this war, than came out of Egypt ; and that their sufferings under Nebuchadnezzar and Titus were not so great as what they endured under the emperor Adrian. Of the Jews who survived this second ruin of their nation, an 4 incredible number of every age and sex were sold like horses, and dispersed over the face of the earth. The emperor completed his design, rebuilt the city, re-established the colony, ordered the 5 statue of a hog in marble to be set up over the gate that opened to wards Bethlehem, and 6 published an edict strictly forbidding any Jew upon pain of death to enter the city, or so much as to look upon it at a distance. In this state Jerusalem continued, being better known by the name of iElia, till the reign of the first Christian emperor, s Euseb. Eccles. Hist. 1. 4, c. 6. Vide num 'duplo plures" Judaeos in hoc bello etiam Scaligeri Animadvers. in Eusebii trucidasse quam egressi sint ex jEgypto.' Chron. p. 216. Alius libro qui inscribitur 'mi >sbn, quern 6 Dionis Hist. 1. 69, ^ 12. Drusius laudat in Pseteritis. 'Non sic 7 Euseb. Demons. Evang. 1. 2, c. 38. 1. 6, afflixisse eos Nebuchadnezarem neque Ti- c. 18. turn, sicut Hadrianus imperator.' Mede's • Hieron. in Jerom. xxxi. col. 679. in Works, b. 3, p. 443. Ezek. v. col. 725. in Dan. ix. col. 1117. in 4 Hieron. in Jerem. xxxi. col. 679. in Joel i. col. 1340. Zach. xi. col. 1744. Chron. Alex. p. 596. 9 Orat. v. adv. Judaeos, § 11. s Euseb. et Hieron. Chron. Ann. 137. 1 Appian, de Bell. Syr. c. 50. s Euseb. Hist. 1. 4, c. 6. Hieron. in Is. vi. ' Dionis Hist. 1. 69, § 14. col. 65. Justin. Mart. Apol. Prim. p. 71. 3 Auctor libri Juchasin scribit Hadria- Edit. Thirlb. ON THE PROPHECIES 369 Constantine the Great. The name of Jerusalem had grown into such disuse, and was so little remembered or known, es pecially among the Heathens, that when 7 one of the martyrs of Palestine, who suffered in the persecution under Maximin, was examined of what country he was, and answered Jerusalem, neither the governor of the province, nor any of his assistants could comprehend what city it was, or where situated. But in Constantine's time it began to resume its ancient name ; and this emperor enlarged and beautified it with so many stately edifices and churches, that 3 Eusebius said, more like a courtier than a bishop, that this perhaps Avas the new Jerusalem, which was foretold hy the prophets. The Jews, who hated and ab horred the Christian religion as much or more than the Heathen,9 assembled again, as we learn from St. Chrysostom, to recover their city, and rebuild their temple ; but the emperor with • his soldiers repressed their vain attempt : and having caused their ears to be cut off, and their bodies to be marked for rebels, he dispersed them over all the provinces of his empire, as so many fugitives and slaves. The laws of Constantine, and of his son and successor Con- stantius, were likewise in other respects very severe against the JeAvs: but Julian, called the Apostate, the nephew of Constan tine, and the successor of Constantius, was more favourably inclined towards them ; not that he really liked the JeAvs, but disliked the Christians, and out of prejudice and hatred to the Christian religion resolved to re-establish the Jewish Avorship and ceremonies. Our Saviour had said that " Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles ;" and he would defeat the prophecy, and restore the Jews. For this purpose he 1 wrote kindly to the whole body or community of the Jews, expressing his concern for their former ill treatment, and assuring them of his protection from future oppression ; and concluding with a promise, that 2 if he was successful in the Persian war, he would rebuild the holy city Jerusalem, restore them to their habita tions, live with them there, and join with them in worshipping the great God of the universe. His zeal even exceeded his promise ; for before he set out from Antioch on his Persian expedition, he proposed to begin with rebuilding the temple * Euseb. de Mart. Falsest, c. 11. Swadpcvos, ttjv ek toXXwv irwv imBvpovpivrrv 8 Tdxa iroij raiirnv oZffav TljV Std xrpotpnrt- xrap1 hpXv ISiiv olKovpivnv xrbXlv aytav 'lEpov- Kwv SccTricpdrwv KEKnpvypivrjv Kalvrjv Kal caXrlu, IpoXs Kapdrots avoiKoSopfjaas otKtjffta, viav 'lEQovaaXrjp' Atque hose forsitan fuerit Kal iv abrjj Sb^av o(5ffd) /!£$' bpwv tw Kpetr- recens ilia ac nova Hierusalem, prophetarum rovi. — Quo et ipse Persico beUo ex ammi sen- voticiniispradicota. Euseb. de Vit. Const, tentia gesio, sanctum urbem Hierusalem, 1. 3, c. 33. quam multos jam annos habitatam videre de- 9 Chrysostom. Orat. v. adv. Jud. § 11. sideratis, meis laborious refectam incolam,et Orat. vi. § 2. una vobiscum in ea optima Deo gratias agam. 1 Juliani Epist. 25. 'lovSatwvrw koivw. Ibid. " — "Iva Kqyw rbv rwv IlepirCv noXepov Stop- 2W 370 BISHOP NEWTON at Jerusalem, with the greatest magnificence.3 He assigned in. mense sums for the building. He gave it in charge to Alypius of Antioch, who had formerly been lieutentant in Britain, to superintend and hasten the work. Alypius set about it vigor ously. The governor of the province assisted him in it. But horrible balls of fire bursting forth near the foundations, with frequent assaults, rendered the place inaccessible to the work men, who were burned several times : and in this manner the fiery element obstinately repelling them, the enterprise was laid aside. What a signal providence was it, that this no more than the former attempts should succeed and prosper; and that rather than the prophecies should be defeated, a prodigy was wrought, even by the testimony of a faithful heathen historian 1 The interposition certainly was as providential, as the attempt was impious : and the account here given is nothing more than what Julian himself and his own historian have testified. There are indeed many witnesses to the truth of the fact, whom an 4 able critic hath well drawn together, and ranged in this order. ' Ammianus Marcellinus a heathen, Zemuch David a Jew, Avho confesseth that Julian was "divinitus impeditus," hindered by God in this attempt : Nazianzen and Chrysostom among the Greeks, St. Ambrose and Ruffinus among the Latins, who flou rished at the very time when this was done : Theodoret and Sozomen orthodox historians, Philostorgius an Arian, Socrates a favourer of the Novatians, who writ the story within the space of fifty years after the thing was done, and whilst the eye-wit nesses of the fact were yet surviving.' But the public hath lately been obliged with the best and fullest account of this whole transaction in Dr. Warburton's Julian, where the evidence for the miracle is set in the strongest light, and all objections are clearly refuted, to the triumph of faith and the confusion of infidelity. Julian was the last of the heathen emperors. His successor Jovian made it the business of his short reign, to undo, as much as was possible, all that Julian had done : and the succeeding emperors were generally for repressing Judaism, in the same pro portion as they were zealous for promoting Christianity. Adrian's edict was revived,5 which prohibited all Jews from entering into Jerusalem, or coining near the city ; and guards were posted 3 ' Ambitiosum quondam apud Hiero- flammarum prope fundamenta crebris as- solymam templum, quod post multa et sultibus erumpentes, fecere locum exustis interneciva certamina obsidente Vespa- aliquoties operantibus inaccessnm: hocquo sin.no posteaque Tito ssgre est expugna- modo elemento destinatius repellente, ces- tum, instaurare sumptibus cogitabat im- savit inceptum.' Ammian. Marcell. 1. 23, modicis : negotiumque maturandum Aly- c. 1. pio dederat Antiochensi, qui olim Bri- 4 Whitby's general Preface, p. xxviii. tannias curaverat pro praefectis. Cum s Augustini Serm. 5, § 5. torn. 5, p. 23. itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Atypius; Edit. Benedict. Antwerp, Sulpicii Seven juvaretque provincial rector, me'uendi globi Hist. 1. 2, p. 99. ON THE PROPHECIES. 371 to enforce the execution of it. This Avas a very lucrative sta tion to the soldiers ; for the Jews 6 used to give money for per mission to come and see the ruins of their city and temple, and to Aveep over them, especially on the day whereon Jerusalem had been taken and destroyed by the Romans. It doth not appear that the Jews had ever the liberty of approaching the city unless by stealth or by purchase, as long as it continued in subjection to the Greek emperors. It continued in subjec tion to the Greek emperors, till this, as well as the neighbouring cities and countries, fell under the dominion of the Saracens. Only in the former part of the seventh century after Christ, and in the beginning of the reign of the emperor Heraclius, it Avas7 taken and plundered by Chosroes king of Persia, and the greatest cruelties were exercised on the inhabitants. Ninety thousand Christians are said to have been sold and sacrificed to the malice and revenge of the Jews. But Heraclius soon re pelled and routed the Persians, rescued Jerusalem out of their hands, and banished all Jews, forbidding them, under the severest penalties, to come within three miles of the city. Jerusalem was hardly recovered from the depredations of the Persians, before it was exposed to a worse evil by the con quering arms of the Saracens. It AVas in the beginning of the same seventh century, that Mohammed began to preach and propagate his new religion : and this little cloud, which was at first no bigger than a man's hand, soon overspread and darkened the whole hemisphere. Mohammed himself conquered some parts of Arabia. His successor Abubeker broke into Palestine and Syria. Omar, the next caliph, was one of the most rapid con querors who ever spread desolation upon the face of the earth. His reign was of no longer duration than ten years and a half, and in that time he subdued all Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt. His 8 army invested Jerusalem. He came thither in person ; and the Christians, after a long siege, being reduced to the greatest extremities, in the year of Christ 637, surrendered the city upon capitulation. He granted them honourable conditions ; he would not allow any of their churches to be taken from them ; but only demanded of the Patriarch, with great modesty, a place where he might build a mosque. The patriarch showed him Jacob's stone, and the place where the temple of Solomon had been built, which the Christians had filled with ordure, in hatred to the Jews. Omar began him self to cleanse the place, and he was followed in this act of piety 6 Hieron. in Sophon. I. col. 1655. et 28. Edit. Erpenii. Herbelot. Biblioth. ' Theophanis Chronogr. p. 252, &c. Orientale, p. 687. Basnage's History of Cedren. Hist. Compend. p. 408. Bas- the Jews, b. 6, c. 19, 5 2. Ockley's History nage's Hist, of the Jews, b. 6, c. 18, § 7. of the Saracens, vol. 1, p. 243, &c. 8 Elmacini Hist. Saracen. 1. 1, p. 22 372 BISHOP NEWTON by the principal officers of his army ; and it was in this place that the first mosque was erected at Jerusalem. Sophroniua the patriarch9 said, upon Omar's taking possession of the city, 'This is of a truth the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place.' Omar the con queror of Jerusalem is, by some authors, said also to have died there, being stabbed by a slave at morning prayers in the mosque which he had erected. Abdolmelik the son of Merwan, the twelfth caliph,1 enlarged the mosque at Jerusalem, and ordejed the people to go thither on pilgrimage, instead of Mecca, which was then in the hands of the rebel Abdollah : and afterwards,2 when the pilgrimage to Mecca was by any accident interrupted, the Mussulmen used to repair to Jerusalem for the same purposes of devotion. In this manner the holy city was transferred from the posses sion of the Greek Christians into the dominion of the Arabian Mussulmen, and continued in subjection to the caliphs till the latter part of the eleventh century, that is above 400 years. At that time 3 the Turks of the Selzuccian race had made them selves masters of Persia, had usurped the government, but sub mitted to the religion of the country ; and being firmly seated there, they extended their conquests as far as Jerusalem and farther. They drove out the Arabians, and also despoiled the caliphs of their power over it ; and they kept possession of it, till being weakened by divisions among themselves, they Avere ejected by the caliph of Egypt. The caliph of Egypt, perceiv ing the divisions and weakness of the Turks, advanced to Je rusalem with a great army ; and the Turks, expecting no suc cour, presently surrendered it to him. But though it thus changed masters, and passed from the Arabians to the Turks, and from the Turks to the Egyptians, yet the religion professed there was still the same, the Mohammedan being authorised and established, and the Christian only tolerated upon payment of tribute. The Egyptians enjoyed their conquests but a little while; for in 4 the same year that they took possession of it, they were dispossessed again by the Franks, as they are generally deno minated, or the Latin Christians. Peter the hermit of Amiens, in France went on a pilgrimage to Palestine, and there having seen and shared in the distresses and miseries of the Chris- "Theophanes, p. 281. Basnage, ibid. p. 269. Ockley.p. 249. 4 Abul-Pharajii Hist. Dyn. 9, p. 243. 1 Elmacin. Hist. Sar. 1. 1, p. 58. Ockley, Vers. Pocock. Elmacini Hist. Saracen. vol. 2, p. 299. 1. 3, p. 293. Herbelot. Bib. Orient, p. 269. 2 Herbelot. Bib. Orient, p. 270. Savage's Abridg. of Knolles and Rycaut, 3 Elmacini Hist. Saracen. 1. 3, p. 267 — vol. i. p. 12, &c. Voltaire's Hist, of Eu- 287. Abul-Pharajii, Hist. Dyn. 9, p. 243. rope, of the Crusades. Blair's Chronol. Vers. Pocock. Herbelot. Bib. Orient. Tables. ON THE PROPHECIES. 373 tians, he represented them, at his return, in such pathetic terms, that by his preaching and instigation, and by the authority of Pope Urban II. and the Council of Clermont, the west was stirred up against the east, Europe against Asia, the Christians against the Mussulmen, for the retaking of Jerusalem, and for the recovery of the Holy Land out of the hands of the infidels. It Avas the epidemic madness of the time ; and old and young, men and women, priests and soldiers, monks and merchants, peasants and mechanics, all were eager to assume the cross, and to set out for what they thought the holy wars. Some assert that the number of those who went out on this expedi tion amounted to above a million. They who make the lowest computation affirm, that there were at least three hundred thousand fighting men. After some losses and some victories the army sat down before Jerusalem, and after a siege of five weeks they took it by storm, on the fifteenth of July in the year of Christ 1099 ; and all, who were not Christians, they put to the sword. They massacred above seventy thousand Mussul men ; and all the Jews in the place they gathered and burnt together ; and the spoil that they found in the mosques Avas of inestimable value. Godfrey of Boulogne, the general, was chosen king ; and there reigned nine kings in succession ; and the kingdom subsisted eighty-eight years, till the year of Christ 1187, when the Mussulmen regained their former domi nion, and with scarce any interruption have retained it ever since. At that time the famous Saladin, having subverted the government of the caliphs, had caused himself to be proclaimed sultan of Egypt. Having also subdued Syria and Arabia, he formed the 6 design of besieging Jerusalem, and of putting an end to that kingdom. He marched against it, with a powerful and victorious army, and took it by capitulation on Friday the 2d of October, after a siege of fourteen days. He compelled the Christians to redeem their lives at the price of ten pieces of gold for a man, five for a woman, and two for a boy or girl. He restored to the oriental Christians the church of the holy sepulchre ; but forced the Franks or western Christians to de part to Tyre, or other places, which were in the possession of their countrymen. But though the city was in the hands of the Mussulmen, yet the Christians had still their nominal king of Jerusalem ; and for some time Richard I. of England, who was one of the most renoAvned crusaders, and had eminently distinguished himself in the holy Avars, gloried in the empty title. The city, however,8 did not remain so assured to the fa- b Elmacin. ibid. p. 293. Abul-Pharaj. ibid. Blair's Chronol. Tables. ibid. p. 273, 274. Herbelot, ibid. p. 269 G Herbelot, ibid. p. 269. Knolles and et 743. Knolles and Savage, p. 54. Voltaire, Savage, p. 74. Voltaire, ibid. 32 374 BISHOP NEWTON mily of Saladin, but thirty years after, his nephew AI Moadham, sultan of Damascus, was obliged to demolish the walls, not being able to keep it himself, and fearing lest the Franks, who were then again become formidable in those parts, should esta blish themselves again in a place of such strength. Afterwards, in the year 1228,7 another of Saladin's family, AI Kamel, the sultan of Egypt, who, after the death of his kinsman AI Moad ham, enjoyed part of his estates, to secure his own kingdom, made a treaty with the Franks, and yielded up Jerusalem to the emperor Frederick II. upon condition that he should not re build the walls, and that the mosques should be reserved for the devotions of the Mussulmen. Frederic was accordingly crowned king there, but soon returned into Europe. Not many years intervened, before the Christians 8 broke the truce ; and Melecsalah, sultan of Egypt, being greatly offended, marched directly towards Jerusalem, put all the Franks therein to the sword, demolished the castle which they had built, sacked and raised the city, not even sparing the sepulchre of our Saviour, which till that time had never been violated or defiled ; and before the end of the same century,9 the crusaders or European Christians were totally extirpated out of the Holy Land, having lost in their eastern expeditions, according to some accounts, above two millions of persons. Before this time, the Mamalucs, or the foreign slaves to the Egyptian sultans, had usurped the government from their mas ters : and soon after this,1 Kazan the chan of the Mogul-Tartars made an irruption into Syria, routed AI Naser, the sultan of Egypt, had Damascus surrendered to him, and ordered Jeru salem to be repaired and fortified. But being recalled by great troubles in Persia, he was obliged to quit his new conquests, and the Mamaluc sultan of Egypt, soon took possession of them again. In like manner 2 when the great Timur or Tamer lane, like a mighty torrent, overwhelmed Asia, and vanquished both the Turkish and Egyptian sultans, he went twice in pass ing and repassing to visit the holy city, gave many presents to the religious persons, and freed the inhabitants from subsidies and garrisons. But the ebb was almost as sudden as the flood. He died within a few years, and his sons and grandsons quar relling about the succession, his vast empire in a little time mouldered away ; and Jerusalem with the neighbouring coun tries reverted to the obedience of the Mamalucs again. It was indeed in a ruined and desolate state, as Chalcocondylas de- 7 Abul-Pharaj. ibid. p. 305. Herbelot, ' Knolles and Savage, p. 95. Voltaire, ib. ibid. p. 269 et 745. Knolles and Savage, p. 1 Pocockii Supplem. ad Abul-Pharaj. 81. A'oltaire, ibid, and Annals of the Em- p. 2. Knolles and Savage, p. 96. pire, Ann. 1229. * Chalcocondylas de rebus Turc. 1. 3. 8 Herbelot, ibid. p. 269. Knolles and Herbelot, p. S77, &c. Knolles and Savage, Savage, p. 83. p. 138, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 375 scribes it,3 and the Christians paid large tribute to the sultans of Egypt, for access to the sepulchre of Jesus. And in the same state it continued, Avith little variation, under the dominion of the Mamalucs, for the space of above 260 years, till at length this with the other territories of the Mamalucs fell a prey to the arms of the Turks of the Othman race. It was about the year 1516, that Selim4 the ninth emperor of the Turks, turned his arms against Egypt ; and having conquered one sultan, and hanged another, he annexed Syria, Egypt, and all the dominions of the Mamalucs to the Othman empire. In his way to Egypt, he did as Kazan and Tamerlane had done before him ; he 6 went to visit the holy city, the seat of so many prophets, and the scene of so many miracles. It lay at that time miserably deformed and ruined, according to the 6 account of a contemporary historian, not inhabited by the Jews who were banished into all the world, but by a feAV Christians who paid large tribute to the Egyptian sultans for the possession of the holy sepulchre. Selim offered up his devotions at the monuments of the old prophets, and presented the Christian priests with as much money as was sufficient to buy them pro visions for six months ; and having stayed there one night, he went to join his army at Gaza. From that time to this the Othman emperors have 7 possessed it under the title of Hami, that is, of protectors, and not of masters ; though they are more properly tyrants and oppressors. Turks, Arabians, and Chris tians of various sects and nations dwell there out of reverence to the place ; but very few Jews ; and of those the greatest part, as Basnage 8 says, are beggars, and live upon alms. The Jews say, that when the Messiah shall come, the city will un dergo a conflagration and inundation, in order to be purified from the defilements which the Christian and Mohammedan have committed in it ; and therefore they choose not to settle there. But the writer just mentioned . assigns two more pro bable and natural reasons. ' One is, that the Mohammedans look upon Jerusalem as a holy place ; and therefore there are 3 Tbv Si rdipov 'r?7troC, k. t. X. Sepulchrum culta atque deserta, non a Judoeis veteri- Jesu sub potestate istius regis in Palmslina bus incolis, qui tunc toto orbe extorres in situm est, undo plurimum lucri ei accidit. — admissi sceleris paenam, nee sedem nee Situm in urbe Hierusalem, quce devastata est patriam habent, sed a paucis Christianis cum maritirnis regionibus. Chalc. 1. 3, p. 75. incolebatur. Ii cum ignominia et gravi 4 Pocockii Supplem. ad Abul-Pharaj. admodum contumelia Christiani nominis, p. 29, 30, 49. Herbelot Bib. Orient, p. ob concessam venerandi sepulchri posses- 802. Knolles and Savage, p. 240, &c. sionem, grave tributum iEgyptiis regibus Prince Cantemir's Hist, of the Othman persolvunt, &c.' Empire, in Selim I. * — 'Et ses successeurs l'ont possedoe s Pauli Jovii Hist. 1. 17. Herbelot, ibid. jusqu' a present sous le titre da Hami, Knolles and Savage, p. 243, &c. Prince e'est-a-dire, de protecteurs, et non pas do Cante.mir, ibid. § 21, p. 163. maitres.' Herbelot, p. 270. 6 Paulis Jovius, ibid. ' Ea tunc mise- e Basnage's History of the Jews, b. 7, rabili sacrarum ruinarum deformitate in- c. 24, 5 10. 376 BISHOP NEWTON a great many Santons and devout Mussulmen, who have taken up their abode there, who are persecutors of the Jews as well as of the Christians, so that they have less tranquillity and liberty in Jerusalem than in other place§: and as there is very little trade, there is not much to be got, and this want of gain drives them away.' By thus tracing the history of Jerusalem from the destruction by Titus to the present time, it appears evidently, that as the Jews have been " led aAvay captive into all nations," so Jeru salem hath been " trodden down of the Gentiles." There are now almost 1700 years, in which the JeAvish nation have been a standing monument of the truth of Christ's predictions, them selves dispersed over the face of the whole earth, and their land groaning under the yoke of foreign lords and conquerors : and at this day there is no reason to doubt but they will continue in the same state, nor ever recover their native country, " until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Our Saviour's words are very memorable : " Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." It is still trodden down by the Gentiles, and consequently the times of the Gentiles are not yet fulfilled. When " the times 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 nations, yet by a con stant miracle they are kept distinct from all, but for the farther manifestation of God's purposes towards them 1 The prophe cies have been accomplished to the greatest exactness in the destruction of their city, and its continuing still subject to _ strangers, in the dispersion of their people, and their living still separate from all people ; and why should not the remaining parts of the same prophecies be as fully accomplished too in i their restoration, at the proper season, when " the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled !" The times of the Gentiles Avill be fulfilled, when the times of the four great kingdoms of the Gen tiles according to Daniel's prophecies shall be expired, and the ffth kingdom, or the kingdom of Christ,' shall be set up in their place, and " the saints of- the Most High shall take the king dom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." Jerusalem, as it hath hitherto remained, so probably will re main in subjection to the Gentiles, "until these times of the Gentiles be fulfilled ; or as St. Paul expresseth it, (Rom. xi. 25, 26,) " until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in ; and so all Israel shall be saved," and become again the people of God. The fulness of the Jews' will come in as well as the fulness of the Gentiles. For (ver. 12, &c.) "if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I would not ON THE PROPHECIES. 377 brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, that blind ness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gen tiles be come in : And so all Israel shall be saved." XXI. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. PART IV. "HEN we first entered on an explanation of our Saviour's prophecies relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, com prised chiefly in this 24th chapter of St. MattheAV, it was ob served that the disciples in their question propose two things to our Saviour ; first, when should be the time of his coming, or the destruction of Jerusalem ; and secondly, what should be the signs of it, (Matt. xxiv. 3 :) " Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the signs of thy coming and of the con clusion of the age." The latter part of the question our Saviour answereth first, and treateth at large ofthe signs of the destruc tion of Jerusalem, from the 4th verse of the chapter to the 31st inclusive. He toucheth upon the most material passages and accidents, not only of those which were to forerun this great event, but likewise of those which were to attend, and imme diately to follow upon it : and having thus answered the latter part of the question, he proceeds now in verse 32d to answer the former part of the question, as to the lime of his coming and the destruction of Jerusalem. He begins with observing that the signs which he had given Avould be as certain an indication of the time of his coming, as the fig-tree's putting forth its leaves is of the approach of sum mer, (ver. 32, 33:) "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh : So likeAvise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, (or he is near,) even at the door." He proceeds to declare that the time of his coming was at no very great distance ; and to sIioav that he hath been speaking all this while of the destruction of Jerusalem, he affirms with his usual affirmation, (ver. 34,) "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be ful filled." It is to me a wonder how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, Ml these things shall be fulfilled in this generation. It seemeth as if our Saviour had been aware of some such misapplication of his words, by adding yet greater force and emphasis to his affirmation, (ver. ' 32* 2 X 378 BISHOP NEWTON. 35,) " Heaven and earth shall pass aAvay, but my words shall not pass aAvay." It is a common figure of speech in the oriental languages, to say of two things that the one shall be and the other shall not be, Avhen the meaning is only that the one shall happen sooner or more easily than the other. As in this in stance of our Saviour, " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Avords shall not pass away," the meaning is, Heaven and earth shall sooner or more easily pass away than my words shall pass away; the frame of the 'universe shall sooner or more easily be dissolved than my words shall not be fulfilled : and thus it is expressed by St. Luke upon a like occasion, (xvi. 17,) " It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail." In another place he says, (Matt. xvi. 28 :) "There are some standing here, who shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coining in his kingdom :" intimating that it would not succeed immediately, and yet not at such a distance of time, but that some then living should be spectators of the calamities coming upon the nation. In like manner, he says to the women, Avho bewailed and lamented him as he was going to be crucified, (Luke xxiii. 28,) "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children :" which suffi ciently implied, that the days of distress and misery were coming, and would fall on them and their children. But at that time there was not any appearance of such immediate rain. The wisest politician could not have inferred it from the then present state of affairs. Nothing less than divine prescience could have certainly foreseen and foretold it. But still the exact time of this judgment was unknown to all creatures, (ver. 36 :) "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." The word fipa is of larger signification than hour;1 and besides it seemeth somewhat improper to say, " Of that day and hour knoweth no man ;" for if the clay was not knoAvn, certainly the hour was not, and it was superfluous to make such an addition. I conceive therefore that the passage should be rendered, not " Of that day and hour knoweth no man," but Of that day and season knoweth no man, as the word is frequently used in the best authors both sacred and profane. It is true our Saviour declares, All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation ; it is true the prophet Daniel hath given some intimation of the time in his famous prophecy of the seventy weeks : but though this great revolution was to happen in that generation ; though it was to happen towards the conclusion of seventy weeks or 490 years, to be computed from a certain date that is not easy 1 ' "Slpav hie non dici particulam sed latius sumti temporis ambitum intelligo, &c.' Grot :i locum. ON THE PROPHECIES. 379 to be fixed ; yet the particular day, the particular season, in which it was to happen, might still remain a secret to men and angels : and our Saviour had before, (ver. 20,) advised his dis ciples to pray, that their "flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath-day;" the day not being knoAvn, they might j>ray that their flight be not on the sabbath-day ; the season not being known, they might pray that their flight be not in the winter. As it Avas in the days of Noah, saith our Saviour, (ver. 37 — 39,) so shall it be now. As then they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till they were surprised by the flood, notwithstanding the frequent warnings and admonitions of that preacher of righteousness : so noAV they shall be engaged in the business and pleasures of the world, little expecting, little thinking of this universal ruin, till it come upon them, notwithstanding the express predictions and declarations of Christ and his apostles. " Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left; two Avomen shall be grinding at the mill, (Dr. Shaw, in his travels, making some observations upon the kingdoms pf Algiers and Tunis, says in p. 297, that ' women alone are employed to grind their corn, and that when the uppermost millstone is large, or expedition is re quired, then only a second woman is called in to assist.' Thia observation I owe to Bishop Pierce :) the one shall be taken, and the other left," (ver. 40, 41.) That is, Providence will then make a distinction between such as are not at all distinguished now. Some shall be rescued from the destruction of Jerusalem, like Lot out of the burning of Sodom : while others, no ways perhaps different in outward circumstances, shall be left to pe rish in it. The matter is carried somewhat farther in the parallel place of St. Mark; and it is said not only that the angels were ex cluded from the knowledge of the particular time, but that the Son himself was also ignorant of it. The 13th chapter of that evangelist answers to the 24th of St. Matthew. Our Saviour treateth there ofthe signs and circumstances of his coming, and the destruction of Jerusalem, from the 5th to the 27th verse in clusive ; and then at verse the 28th he proceeds to treat of the time of his coming and the destruction of Jerusalem. The text in St. Matthew is, " Of that day and season knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." The text in St. Mark is, " Of that day and season knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." It is true, the words Mib'rtis, neither the Son, were omitted in some copies of St. Mark, as they are inserted in some copies of St. Matthew : but there is no sufficient authority for the omission in St. Mark, any more than for the insertion in St. Matthew. Erasmus and some of the moderns are of opinion, that the words S80 BISHOP NEWTON were omitted in the text of St. Matthew, 2 lest they should af ford a handle to the Arians for proving the Son to be inferior to the Father : but it was to little purpose to erase them out of St. Matthew, and to leave them standing in St. Mark. On the contrary, St. Ambrose and some of the ancients assert, 3 that they were inserted in the text of St. Mark by the Arians : but there is as little foundation or pretence for this assertion, as there is for the other. It is much more probable, that they were omitted in some copies of St. Mark by some indiscreet orthodox, who thought them to bear too hard upon our Saviour's dignity. For all the most ancient copies and translations extant retain them ; the most ancient fathers quote them, and comment upon. them : and certainly it is easier for Avords to be omitted in a copy, so that the omission should not generally prevail afterwards, than it is for words to be inserted in a copy so that the insertion should generally prevail afterwards. Admit the words therefore as the genuine words of St. Mark we must, and Ave may with out any prejudice to our Saviour's divinity. For Christ may be considered in two respects, in his human and his divine nature ; and what is said with regard only to the former, doth not at all affect the latter. As he was the great teacher and revealer of his Father's will, he might know more than the angels, and yet he might not know all things. It is said in St. Luke, (ii. 52,) that " Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour Avith God and man." He increased in wisdom, and consequently in his human nature he was not omniscient. In his human nature he was the son of David ; in his divine na ture he was the Lord of David. In his human nature he was upon earth ; in his divine nature he was in heaven, (John iii. 13,) even while upon earth. In like manner it may be said, that though as God he might know all things, yet he might he ig norant of some things as man. And of this particular the Messiah might be ignorant, because it was no part of his office or commission to reveal it. " It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power," as our Saviour said, (Acts i. 7,) when a like question was pro posed to him. It might be proper for the disciples, and for the Jews too, by their means^ to know the signs and circumstances of our Saviour's coming, and the destruction of Jerusalem ; but upon many accounts it might be unfit for them both, to know the precise time. Hitherto we have explained this 24th chapter of St Matthew as relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, and without doubt 2 ' l'ro'mde suspicor hoc a nonnullis sub- 3 Ambros. de Fide, I. 5, c. 8 : ' Veteres tractum, ne Arianis esset ansa confirmandi Grseci codices non habent, Quod nee filius Filium esse Patre minorem &c.' Erasm. in scit ; sed non mirum est, si et hoc falsarunt, locum. qui scripturas interpolavere divinas.' ON THE PROPHECIES. 381 as relating to the destruction of Jerusalem it is primarily to .be understood. But though it is to be understood of this pri marily, yet it is not to be understood of this only : for there is no question that our Saviour had a farther view and meaning in it. It is usual with the prophets to frame and express their prophecies so, as that they shall comprehend more than one event, and have their several periods of completion. This every one must have observed, who hath been ever so little conver sant in the writings of the ancient prophets : and this I con ceive to be the case here, and the destruction of Jerusalem to be typical of the end of the world. The destruction of a great city is a lively type and image of the end of the world ; and Ave may observe that our Saviour no sooner begins to speak oi the destruction of Jerusalem, than his figures are raised, his language is swelled, and he expresseth himself in such terms, as in a lower sense indeed are applicable to the destruction oi Jerusalem, but describe something higher in their proper and genuine signification. " The sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, the Son of man shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other :" These passages in a figurative sense, as we have seen, may be understood of the destruction of Jerusalem, but in their literal sense can be meant only of the end of the world. In like manner that text, " Of that day and season knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only ;" the consistence and connexion of the discourse oblige us to understand it as spoken of the time of the destruc tion of Jerusalem, but in a higher sense it may be true also of the time of the end of the world and the general judgment. All the subsequent discourse too, we may observe, doth not relate so properly to the destruction of Jerusalem, as to the end of the world and the general judgment. Our Saviour loseth sight as it were of his former subject, and adapts his discourse more to the latter. And the end of the Jewish state was in a manner the end of the Avorld to many of the Jews. The remaining part of the chapter is so clear and easy as to need no comment or explanation. It will be more proper to conclude with some useful reflections upon the whole. It appears next to impossible, that any man should duly con sider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them ; and if he is a believer, not be confirmed in the faith ; or if he is an infidel, not be converted. Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of prophecy ; and can any stronger proof be given of the spirit of prophecy, than the ex- 382 BISHOP NEWTON amples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and I may say improbabilities, Avhich human wisdom or prudence could never foresee, are so particularly foretold, and so punctu ally accomplished ! At the time when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience : and could human prudence foresee that the city as well as the country would revolt and rebel against the Romans 1 Could human prudence foresee famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places 1 Could human prudence foresee the speedy pro pagation of the gospel so contrary to all human probability 1 Could human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, Avith all the circumstances preceding and following it 1 It was never the custom of the Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It Avas improbable therefore that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should happen under the humane and generous Titus, who was indeed, as he was 4 called, the love and delight of mankind. What is usually objected to the other predictions of holy writ, cannot with any pretence be objected to these prophecies of our Saviour, that they are figurative and obscure ; for no thing can be conveyed in plainer, simpler terms, except where he affected some obscurity, as it hath been shown, for parti cular reasons. It is allowed indeed that some of these prophecies are taken from Moses and Daniel. Our Saviour prophesying of the same events hath borrowed and applied some of the same images and expressions. But this is a commendation rather than any discredit to his predictions. He hath built upon the foundation of the inspired writers before him ; but what a super structure hath he raised 1 He hath acted in this case as in every other, like one who came not to destroy the law and the pro phets, but to fulfil them. He hath manifested himself to be a true prophet, by his exact interpretation and application of other prophets. He is also much more particular and circum stantial than either Moses or Daniel. ! In several instances his prophecies are entirely new, and properly his own : and besides he used greater precision in fixing and confining the time to that very generation. For the completion of these prophecies the persons seem to have been wonderfully raised up and preserved by divine pro vidence. Vespasian was promoted from obscurity ; and though feared and hated by Nero, yet was preferred by him, and sin gled out as the only general among the Romans who was equal to such a war ; God perhaps, as Josephus intimates,3 so dis- 4 'Amor ac delicise humani generis. xrpootKovopovpivov. Forsan et Deo aliquid de Suet, in Tito, § 1. universis preeordinante. ' Joseph, de Bell. '¦ Tdxa n Kal irf.pl rwv bXwv IjSn rov Oeov Jud. 1. 3, c. 1, § 3. ON THE PROPHECIES. 383 posing and ordering affairs. He had subdued the greatest part of Judea, when he was advanced to the empire ; and he was happy in putting an end to the civil wars, and to the other troubles and calamities of the state, or otherwise he would hardly have been at leisure to prosecute the war with the Jews. Titus Avas wonderfully preserved in the most critical articles of danger. While he was taking a view of the city, he was sur rounded by the enemy, and nothing less was expected than that he should be slain, or made prisoner: but he resolutely broke through the midst of them, and though unarmed yet ar rived unhurt at his own camp : upon which Josephus maketh this reflection,6 that from hence it is obvious to understand, that the turns of war and the dangers of princes are under the peculiar care of God. Josephus himself was also no less won derfully preserved than Titus, the one to destroy the city, and the other to record its destruction. He marvellously escaped from the snares Avhich were laid for him 7 by John of Gischala, and 8 by Jesus the chief of the robbers ; and when 9 his com panions were determined to kill him and themselves rather than surrender to the Romans, he prevailed with them to draw lots Avho should be killed, the one after the other ; and at last he was left with only one other, whom he persuaded to submit with him to the Romans. Thus was he saved from the most imminent destruction ; and he himself esteemed it, as. it cer tainly was, a singular instance of divine providence. As Vespasian and Titus seem to have been raised up and preserved for the completion of these prophecies, so might Jo sephus for the illustration of their completion. For the parti cular passages and transactions, by which we prove the com pletion of these prophecies, we derive not so much from Chris tian writers, Avho might be suspected of a design to parallel the events with the predictions, as from Heathen authors, and chiefly from Josephus the Jewish historian, who, though very exact and minute in other relations, yet avoids as much as ever he can the mention of Christ and the Christian religion. He doth not so much as once mention the name of false Christs, though he hath frequent occasion to speak largely oi false pro phets ; so cautious was he of touching upon any thing that might lead him to the acknowledgment of the true Christ. His silence here is as remarkable as his copiousness upon other subjects. It is indeed very providential, that a more particular detail, a more exact history is preserved of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of all the circumstances relating to it, than of " "KvBa St) piXttrra xriptari vosXv, Sri Kal cula. Ib. I. 5, c. 2, § 2. T-oXipwv porrat Kal j3aciXiwv kIvSvvoi ptXovrai 7 Josephi Vita, § 17, &c. r'f) 0c([j. Hinc sane maxime licet intelligere, e Ibid . § 22. J)to euros esse et belli momenta et regum peri- D De Bell. Jud. 1. 3, c. 7. 384 BISHOP NEWTON any other matter whatsoever transacted so long ago : and it is an additional advantage to our cause, that these accounts are transmitted to us by a Jew, and by a Jew who was himself an eyewitness to most of the things which he relates. As a general in the wars he must have had an exact knowledge of all transactions, and as a Jewish priest, he would not relate them with any favour or partiality to the Christian cause. His his tory 1 was approved by Vespasian and Titus, (who ordered it to be published,) and by king Agrippa and many others, both Jews and Romans, who were present in those wars. He had like wise many enemies, who would readily have convicted him of any falsification, if he had been guilty of any. He designed nothing less, and yet as if he had designed nothing more, his history of the Jewish wars may serve as a larger comment on our Saviour's prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem. If any one would compare our Saviour's words with that writer's history of the whole war, as 2 Eusebius very well observes, he could not but admire and acknowledge our Saviour's prescience and prediction to be wonderful above nature, and truly divine. The predictions are the clearest, as the calamities were the greatest which the world ever saw : and what heinous sin was it, that could bring down such heavy judgments on the Jewish church and nation 1 Can any other with half so much proba bility be assigned, as what the Scripture assigns, their crucifying the Lord of glory 1 As St. Paul expresseth it, (1 Thess. ii. 15, 16 :) " They both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and persecuted the apostles, and so filled up theii' sins, and wrath came upon them to the uttermost." This is always objected as the most capital sin of the nation : and upon reflection, we shall find really some correspondence between their crime and their punishment. They put Jesus to death, when the nation was assembled to celebrate the passover ; and when the 3 nation was assembled too to celebrate the passover, Titus shut them up within the walls of Jerusalem. The rejection of the true Mes siah was their crime; and the following of false Messiahs to their destruction was their punishment. They sold and bought Jesus as a slave ; and they themselves were afterward sold and bought as slaves at the lowest prices. They preferred a robber and murderer to Jesus, whom they crucified between two thieves • and they themselves were afterward infested with 1 Josephi Vita, § 65. Contra Ap. 1. 1, § 9. eodem scriptore de universo beUo corn-memo 9 "ZvyKplvas SI tis rds rov cwrrjpos t)pwv rata sunt, fieri non potest quin admiretur Xi^Ets raXs Xoi-rraXs rob cvyypaqjiws Uroptats prcescieniiam ac pradictionem servatoris nos- raXs TTEpl rob -travrbs xtoXipoo, irwff oitK Sv tri, eamque vere divinam et supra modum irrodavpdaEiEV, &Etav &s iXtjBws Kal v-rrEptpvws stupendam esse fateatur. Euseb. Eccles. xrapdSo\ov rr)v trpbyvwalv TE Kal irpbtynaiv rob Hist. 1. 3, c. 7. trwTrjpos lipwv bpoXoyfaas. Quod si quis ser- , 3 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 6, c. 9, § 3 et 4. vatoris nostri verba cum its comparet, quos ab Euseb. Hist. 1. 3, c. 5. ON THE PROPHECIES. 385 bands of thieves and robbers.4 They put Jesus to death, lest the Romans should come and take away their place and nation ; and the Romans did come and take away their place and na tion. They crucified Jesus before the walls of Jerusalem ; and before the Avails of Jerusalem they themselves were crucified in such numbers that it is 5 said room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses for the bodies. I should think it hardly possible for any man to lay these things together, and not conclude the JeAvs' own imprecation to be remarkably fulfilled upon them, (Matt, xxvii. 25 :) "His blood be on us and on our children." We Christians cannot indeed be guilty of the very same of fence in crucifying the Lord of gloiy : but it behoves us to consider, whether we may not be guilty in the same kind, and by our sins and iniquities, (Heb. vi. 25,) " crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame ;" and therefore whether being like them in their crime, we may not also re semble them in their punishment. They rejected the Messiah, and Ave indeed have received him : but have our lives been at all agreeable to our holy profession, or rather as we have had op portunities of knowing Christ more, have we not obeyed him less than other Christians, and (Heb. x. 29) "trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith we are sanctified an unholy thing, and done despite unto the Spirit of grace 1" The flagrant crimes of the Jews, and the principal sources of their calamities, in the opinion of Josephus,6 were their trampling upon all human laws, deriding divine things, and making a jest of the oracles of the prophets as so many dreams and fables : and how hath the same spirit of licentiousness and infidelity prevailed likewise among usi How have the laws and lawful authority been insulted Avith equal insolence and impunity 1 How have the Holy Scriptures, those treasures of divine wisdom, not only been neglected, but despised, derided, and abused to the worst purposes 1 How have the principal articles of our faith been denied, the prophe cies and miracles of Moses and the prophets of Christ and his apostles been ridiculed, and impiety and blasphemy not only been Avhispered in the ear, but proclaimed from the press 1 Hoav hath all public worship and religion, and the administra tion of the sacraments been slighted and contemned, and the sabbath profaned by those chiefly who ought to set a better example, to whom much is given, and of whom therefore much 4 Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. 2, c. 4 et 13 ; 1, avipw-ttwv, iyeXaro Si rd Ma, Kal toi>s twv 3,c. 8; 1. 4, c. S;l. 7, c. 8, &c. xtpoeiirrHv Ssopovs [AI. xPl^obs] ^anp 5 Kai Sta rb ^X^Bof %wpa re IveXeItteto roXs iyvprtKas Xoyomt-ias ExXE with all his saints :" and in a third place he prayeth, (v. 23,) that "their whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blame less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." These texts evidently refer to the general judgment : and if the phrase be F constantly so employed in the former epistle, why should it B not be taken after the same manner in this epistle 1 In the former epistle the apostle had exhorted the Thessalonians to ^moderate sorrow for the dead by the consideration of the re surrection and the general judgment, (iv. 13, &c.) " I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, .concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch angel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then Ave which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord." " But of the times and the seasons of these things, (as he proceeds, v. 1, 2,) brethren, ye have no need that I Avrite unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." Some persons having mistaken the apostle's meaning, and having inferred from some of these expressions, that the end of the world was now approaching, and the day of Christ was now at hand, the apostle sets him self in this place to rectify that mistaken notion : and it is with reference to this coming of Christ, to this day of the Lord, to this our gathering together unto him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, that he beseeches the Thessalonians not to be shaken from their steadfastness, nor to be troubled and terrified, as if it was now at hand. Nothing then can be more evident and undeniable, than that the coming of Christ here intended is his second coming in glory to judge the Avorld : and of this his second coming the apostle had spoken before, in this same ON THE PROPHECIES. 389 epistle, and in the chapter before this, (ver. 6 — 10 :) " It is a righteous thing Avith God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you Avho are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven Avith his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that knoAV not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power ; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be ad mired in all them that believe in that day." It was a point of great importance for the Thessalonians not to be mistaken in this particular ; because if they were taught to believe that the coining of Christ Avas at hand, and he should not come according to their expectation, they might be stag gered in their faith, and finding part of their creed to be false, might be hasty enough to conclude that the Avhole was so. Where by the way Ave may observe Mr. Gibbon's Avant of judg ment, in assigning the notion of Christ's coming speedily as one of the great causes of the growth and increase of the Chris tian church, Avhen it appears from this passage that it had a contrary effect, and tended to shake and unsettle their mindk, and to disturb and trouble instead of inviting and engaging them. The apostle therefore cautions them in the strongest manner against this delusion; and assures them that other me morable events Avill take place before the coming of our Lord, (ver. 3, 4 :) " Let no man deceive you by any means : for that day shall not come,' except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is wor shipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, sboAv, ing himself that he is God." The day of Christ shall not come, Hv pi, iXBp inoaraaia rrpw-ov, except there come the apostacy first. The apostacy here described is plainly not of a civil, but of a religious nature ; not a revolt from the government, but a de fection from the true religion and worship, " a departing from the faith," (1 Tim. iv. 1,) "a departing from the living God," (Heb. iii. 12,) as the Avord is used by the apostle in other places. In the original it is the apostacy Avith an article to give It an emphasis. The article being added, as Erasmus 4 remarks, signifies that famous and before predicted apostacy. So like wise it is 5 SvSpw-rros rns apaprias, the man of sin, vvith t.*e like ar ticle and the like emphasis : and St. Ambrose, 5 that he might express the force of the article, hath rendered it that man, as have likeAvise our English translators. If then the notion of 4 ' i) articulus additus significat insignem illam et ante praedictam defectionem.' Erasm. in loc. . 5 ' D Amhrositis, ut explicaret vim articuli, legit homo, ille, &c.' Erasm. ibid. 33* 390 BISHOP NEWTON the man of sin be derived from any ancient prophet, it must be derived from Daniel, who hath described the like arrogant and tyrannical power, (vii. 25 :) " He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws :" and again, (xi. 36 :) " The king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods." Any man may be satisfied, that St. Paul alluded to this description by Daniel, because he hath not only borrowed the ideas, but hath even adopted some of the phrases and expressions. The man of sin may signify either a single man, or a succession of men. A succession of men being meant in Daniel, it is probable, that the same was intended here also. It is the more probable, be cause a single man appears hardly sufficient for the Avork here assigned : and it is agreeable to the phraseology of Scripture, and especially to that of the prophets, to speak of a body or a number of men under the character of one. Thus a king, (Dan. vii. viii. Rev. xvii.) is often used for the succession of kings, and the high priest, (Heb. ix. 7, 25,) for the series and order of high priests. A single beast (Dan. vii. viii. ReAr. xiii.) often repre sents a whole empire or kingdom in all its changes and revo lutions from the beginning to the end. The "woman clothed with the sun," (Rev. xii. 1,) is designed as an emblem ofthe true church ; as the " woman arrayed in purple and scarlet," (Rev. xvii. 4,) is the portrait of a corrupt communion. No commen tator ever conceived the whore of Babylon to be meant of a single woman : and why then should the man of sin be taken for a single man 1 The man of sin seemeth to be expressed from Daniel, (vii. 24,) according to the Greek translation, Ss Jirtpoi- cei kukoXs rrdvras tovs EprrpooBEv, he shall exceed in evil all who went before him : and he may fulfil the character either by pro moting wickedness in general, or by advancing idolatry in par ticular, as the word sin frequently signifies in Scripture. The son of perdition is also the denomination of the traitor Judas, (John xvii. 12,) which implies that the man of sin should be, like Judas, a false apostle, like him betray Christ, and like him be devoted to destruction. "Whoopposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped :" this is manifestly copied from Daniel, " He shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and speak marvellous things against the God of gods." The features, you see, exactly re semble each other. " He oppose th and exalteth himself above all (iri -Kdvra, above every one) that is called God, or that is worshipped," rjoiSacpa, alluding to the title of the Roman em perors, cEBaoTbs, august or venerable. He shall oppose, for the prophets speak of things future as pvesent; he shall oppose, ON THE PROPHECIES. 391 and exalt himself not only above inferior magistrates, who are sometimes called gods in holy Avrit, but even above the greatest emperors, and shall arrogate to himself divine honours. " So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shoAving himself that he is God :" By the temple of God the apostle could not Avell mean the temple at Jerusalem, because that he knew very Avell Avould be totally destroyed within a few years. It is an observation of the learned Bochart,6 that after the death of Christ the temple at Jerusalem is never called by the apostles the temple of God ; and if at any time they make mention of the house or temple of God, they mean the church in general, or every particular believer. It is certain, the temple or house of God is the Christian church, in the usual style of the apostles. St. Paul thus addresseth the Corinthians in his first Epistle, (iii. 16, 17 :) " KnoAV ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy : for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are :" and thus again in his second Epistle, (vi. 16:) "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols 1 for ye are the temple of the living God." He ad- viseth Timothy (1 Tim. iii. 15) "how he ought to behave him self in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, as a pillar and ground of the truth." St. John also writeth thus to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, (Rev. iii. 12 :) " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God." These few examples out of many are sufficient to prove that under the gospel dispensation the temple of God is the church of Christ : and the man of sin's sitting implies his ruling and presiding there, and sitting there as God implies his claiming divine authority in things spiritual as well as temporal, and showing himself that he is God implies his doing it with great pride and pomp, with great parade and ostentation. These things were not asserted now merely to serve the pre sent occasion. The apostle had insisted upon these topics, while he Avas at Thessalonica ; so that he thought it a part of his duty, as he made it a part of his preaching and doctrine, to forewarn his new converts of the grand apostasy that would infest the church, (A'er. 5 — 7:) "Remember ye not, that Avhen I was yet with you, I told you these things 1 And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work : only he Avho now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way." The man of sin therefore was not then revealed. His time was not yet 8 'Verum a Christi obitu templum Hie- ecclesiam in genere, vel singulaiem quem- rosolymitanum nunquam ab apostolis tem- que fidelem, lis vocibus intellecta volunt. plum Dei vocatur ; et si quando de Dei Bocharti Examen Libelli de Antichristo, eede vel templo sermonem habsam, turn vel torn. 2, col. 1047. 392 BISHOP NEWTON come, or the season for his manifestation. "The mystery of iniquity was indeed already working :" for there is a mystery of iniquity t\s well as a "mystery of godliness," (1 Tim. iii. 16,) the. one in direct opposition to the other. The seeds of corruption were sown, but they Avere not yet grown up to any maturity. The leaven was fermenting in some parts, but it Avas far from having yet infected the whole mass. The man of sin was yet hardly conceived in the womb ; it must be some time before he could be brought forth. There was some obstacle that hindered his appearance, the apostle speaketh doubtfully whether thing or person ; and this obstacle would continue to hinder, till it 1 Avas taken out of the way. What this was we cannot deter- | mine Avith absolute certainty at so great a distance of time ; j but if Ave may rely upon the concurrent testimonies of the fa thers, it Avas the Roman empire. Most probably it was some what relating to the higher poAvers, because the apostle observes such caution. He mentioned it in discourse, but would not commit it to writing. He afterwards exhorts the Thessalonians, (ver. 15,) "Brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ( ye have been taught, whether by Avoid, or our epistle." This ( Avas one of the traditions which he thought more proper to teach by word than by epistle. f When this obstacle shall be removed, " then (as the apostle [ proceeds, ver. 8) shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." Nothing can ' be plainer | than that 6 &o/*os, the lawless, the wicked one here mentioned, | and the man of sin, must be one and the same person. The apostle was speaking before of what hindered that he "should j be revealed, and would continue to hinder until it was taken out of the way ; " And then shall the wicked one be revealed, ( whom the Lord shall consume, &c." Not that he should be | consumed immediately after he Avas revealed ; but the apostle, ) to comfort the Thessalonians, no sooner mentions his revela- } tion, than he foretells also his destruction, even before he de- j scribes his other qualifications. His other qualifications should j have been described first in order of time, but the apostle 1 hastens to what was first and warmest in his thoughts and wishes. " Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." If these two clauses refer to two distinct and different events, the meaning manifestly is, that the Lord Jesus shall gradually consume him with the free preaching and publication of his Avord, and shall utterly destroy him at his second coming in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. If these two clauses relate to one and the same event, it is a pleonasm that s very usual in the sacred as Avell as in all oriental writings ON THE PROPHECIES. 393 and the purport plainly is, that the Lord Jesus shall destroy him with the greatest facility, " when he shall be revealed from heaven (as the apostle hath expressed it in the preceding chapter) with his mighty angels, in flaming, fire, taking ven geance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." The apostle was eager to foretel the destruction of the man of sin ; and for this purpose having broken in upon his subject, he now returns to it again, and describes the other qualifica tions, by which this wicked one should advance and establish himself in the world. He should rise to credit and authority by the most diabolical methods, should pretend to supernatural poAvers, and boast of revelations, visions, and miracles, false in themselves, and applied to promote false doctrines, (ver. 9.) " Whose coming is after the Avorking of Satan, Avith all poAver, and signs, and lying wonders." He should likewise practise all other wicked arts of deceit, should be guilty of the most impious frauds and impositions upon mankind ; but should prevail only among those who are destitute of a sincere affection for the truth, whereby they might obtain eternal salvation, (ver. 10.) "And with all deceivablenes of unrighteousness, in them that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." And indeed it is a just and righteous judgment of God, to give them over to vanities and lies in this world, and to condemnation in the next, who have no regard for truth and virtue, but delight in falsehood and wicked ness, (ver. 11, 12.) "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ; That they all might be damned, Avho believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." II. Upon this survey there appears little room to doubt of the genuine sense and meaning of the passage ; but it hath strangely been mistaken and misapplied by some famous com mentators, though more agree in the interpretation than in the application of this prophecy. I. Excellently learned as Grotius was, a consummate scholar, a judicious critic, a valuable author ; yet Avas he certainly no prophet, nor son of a prophet. In explaining the prophecies, scarcely have more mistakes been committed by any of the Avorst and Aveakest commentators, than by him, Avho is usually one of the best and ablest. He understands this prophecy of the times preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. The man of sin? was the Roman emperor Caligula, Avho did not at first ' 'Denudet ingenium suum Caius. — Sic Dei, quia simulacrum suum ibi collocari et Caius omnibus se Diis gentium praetulit, jussit.— L. Vitellius, cum Pauhis ista dice- ctiam Jovi Olympio et Capitolino.— Recte ret, et hsec scriberet, Syriam et Judseam autem dicitur Caius semet posuisse in templo lenebat, vir apud Judxos gratiosiis, et mag- 2- fj 394 BISHOP NEWTON discover his Avicked disposition. He vainly preferred himself before all the gods of the nation, even before Jupiter Olympius and Capitolinus ; and ordered his statue to be set up in the temple at Jerusalem. He was hindered from disclosing, and exercising his intended malice against the Jews, by his aAve of Vitellius, who was at this time governor of Syria and Judea, and was as powerful as he was beloved in those provinces. What follows Grotius could not by any means accommodate to Caligula, and therefore substitutes another, and supposes that the wicked one was Simon Magus, who was revealed and came to Rome soon after the beginning of the reign of Claudius. He was there baffled and disgraced by St. Peter ; but Christ may well be said to have done what was done by Peter. He pre tended also to work great miracles, and by his magical illusions deceived many, the Samaritans first, and afterwards the Ro mans. But in answer it may be observed, that this Epistle of St. Paul, as8 all other good critics and chronologers agree, and as is evident indeed from history, was written in the latter part of the reign of Claudius, who was successor to Caligula : and if so, the apostle, according to this interpretation, is here prophesying of things which were past already. The coming of Christ, as it hath been before proved undeniably, relates to a more distant period than the destruction of Jerusalem. Be sides, hoAV could Caligula with any tolerable sense and meaning be called an apostate from either the Jewish or the Christian re ligion 1 He never sat in the temple of God ; he commanded in deed his statue to be placed there ; but was dissuaded from his purpose, as9 Philo testifies, by the entreaties of king Agrippa, and sent an order to Petronius, governor of Syria, not to make any innovation in the temple of the Jews. He was so far from being kept in awe by the virtues of Vitellius, that Vitellius on the contrary was a most sordid adulator, as both l Tacitus and Suetonius expressly affirm ; and instead of restraining Caligula from affecting divine honours, he was the first who incited, him to it. Moreover, it is doing the greatest violence to the con- nis exercitibus imperans, cui propterea facile et de Antichristo. fuisset, si tarn graviter Juda-orum animos 8 Pearsonii Annales Pauh'ni, p. 13. Sam. exasperasset Caius, eorum tuielam suscipere Basnagii Annales, A.D. 51, § 74 ; A.D. et provinciam sui facere ju: is. Ideo Caius, 62, 6 12. Whitby Pref. Calmet. Pref. antequam propositum exsequeretur, tempus &c. &c. exspectabat quo L. Vitellius e provincia * Philo de Legatione ad Caium. JAriShi decederet. — Recte autem impius dicitur irrl rip Upip twv lovSaiwv en vEWTEpov keveXv. Simon Magus, qui paulo post initia Claudi- Nequid in Judceorum templo novaret. ani principatlls Romam venit — Bene autem ' ' Exemplar apud posteros adulatorii dicitur Christus fecisse quod fecit per Pe- dedecoris habetur.' Tacit. Annal. 1. 6, c. trum — Ostentia ista et prodigia Simonis 32.* * Idem miri in adulando ingenii, primus magica, &c. — Decipiuntur ab eo homines C. Ccesarem adorari ut Deum instituit.' ma le perituri. Intelligit Samaritas primum, Suet, in Vitellio, § 2. deinde et Romanos.' Vide Grot, in locum ON THE PROPHECIES. 395 text, to make the man of sin and the wicked one two distinct per sons, Avhen they are so manifestly one and the same. The con test between St. Peter and Simon Magus at Rome, if ever it happened at all, did not happen in the reign of Claudius : but most probably there never was any such transaction ; the whole story is palpably a fabulous legend, and consequently can be no foundation for a true exposition of any prophecy. Where too is the consistency and propriety in interpreting the coming oj Christ in ver. 1, of the destruction of Jerusalem, and in ver. 8, of the destruction of Simon Magus, though Simon Magus was not destroyed, but was only thrown out of his chariot, and his leg broken in the fall 1 These are some of the absurdities in Gro- tius's interpretation and application of this prophecy, which you may see more largely exposed and refuted by 2 Bochart among the foreign, and by Dr. Henry Moore among our Eng lish writers. 2. Dr. Hammond is every where full of Simon Magus and the Gnostics, so that it is the less to be wondered that he should introduce them upon this occasion, and apply this whole pro phecy to them, wherein he is more consistent then Grotius, who applies part to Simon Magus, and part to Caligula. The apos tasy? according to him, was a great departure or defection from the faith to the heresy of the Gnostics. The man of sin and the wicked one was Simon Magus, that Avicked impostor, together with his followers the Gnostics. What hindered their shoAving themselves and making open profession of their hos tility against the orthodox Christians, was the apostles not having yet given over preaching to the Jews, and turned to the Gentiles. This same magician opposed himself against Christ, setting himself up for the chief or first God, superior to all other gods ; and accordingly was publicly worshipped by the Samaritans and others, and had a statue erected to him at Rome by the emperor Claudius. Him Christ destroyed in an extra ordinary manner by the preaching and miracles of St. Peter ; and all the apostatizing Gnostics who adhered to him, Avere involved in the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, with whom they had joined against the Christians. But. the principal ob jection to this exposition is the same as to that of Grotius, that the apostle is here made to foretel things after the events. Simon Magus was already revealed, (Acts viii. 9, 10,) "and had bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one : To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the gi'eat power of God." Dr. Hammond himself contends, that Simon came to 2 Bocharti Examem Libelli de Antichris- 3 See Hammond's Paraphrase and Anno- to, Op. torn. 2, col. 1041 — 1051. Moore's tations. Mystcr/ of Iniquity, Part. 2, b. 2, ^. 20. 396 BISHOP NEWTON Rome, and was there honoured as God, at the beginning of the reign of Claudius ; but this Epistle was Avritten in the latter part of the same reign, and even the Doctor in another place4 confesseth it. The apostles too, had already turned from the Jews to the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas had declared to the Jews at Antioch in Pisidia, (Acts xiii. 46,) "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles :" but this trans action was before this Epistle was written, and indeed before ever Paul went to Thessalonica. As part of the facts here pre dicted as future were already past, so the other part are mani festly false, or of uncertain credit at best. The statue erected to Simon Magus at Rome, and his public defeat, by the preaching and miracles of St. Peter in the presence of the em peror, are no better than fables. Even papists doubt the truth of these things, and well may others deny it. Simon Magus might perhaps have many followers; but it doth not appear that many of the Christians apostatized to him. Simon Magus might perhaps be worshipped by the Samaritans; but it doth not appear that he was ever worshipped in the temple of God at Jerusalem, or in any house of God belonging to the Chris tians. He died by all accounts some years before the destruc tion of Jerusalem; and it doth not appear that any of the Gnostics Avere involved in the destruction of the unbelieving Jews. They were so far from being all involved in the same destruction, as Dr. Hammond asserts, that that sect flourished most after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the second cen tury after Christ, is sometimes distinguished by the title of Seculum Gnosticum, or the age ofthe Gnostics. Besides, when it is said " Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming," it is evident, that the same person who was to be consumed with the spirit of his mouth, was also to be destroyed by the bright ness of his coming : but according to this exposition, Simon Magus was consumed by the spirit of his mouth, that is, by the prayer and preaching of St. Peter; and the unbelieving Jews and Gnostics were destroyed together by the brightness of his coming, that is by the destruction of Jerusalem. They who desire to see a farther refutation of this exposition, may find it in Le Clerc 6 among the foreign, and in Whitby among our English commentators. 3. Le Clerc, whose comment on the New Testament is a translation and supplement of Hammond's, hath not demolished his hypothesis without erecting another of his own, Avhich he 4 Sec his Pref. to the first Epist. to the b Clericus in locum, Whitby's Pref. to the Thessalonians. 2d Epist. to the Thessalonians. ON THE PROPHECIES. 397 esteems much more probable than the conjecture 8 both of Gro tius and Hammond. He supposeth that the apostacy Avas the great revolt of the Jews from the Romans. The man of sin was the rebellious JeAvs, and especially their famous leader Simon, not Magus, but the son of Gioras. They trampled upon all authority divine and human. They seized and profaned the temple of God. What hindered Avas what restrained the Jews from breaking into open rebellion, which Avas partly the reve rence of the Jewish magistrates, and partly the fear of the Ro man armies. Tlie mystery of iniquity Avas the spirit of rebellion then working under the mask of liberty. The seditious Jcavs Avere also the wicked one ; and they had among them false pro phets and impostors, who pretended to show great signs and wonders. But to this hypothesis it may be replied, that the apostacy is plainly a defection from the true religion, and it is used in no other sense by the apostle. It was not likely that he should entertain his new Gentile converts with discourses about the JeAvish state and government, wherewith they had little concern or connexion. It was also scarce worthy of the spirit of prophecy to say, that the destruction of Jerusalem should not happen, unless there was first a rebellion of the Jews. No good reason is assigned, why Simon the son of Gioras should be reputed the man of sin, rather than other fac tious leaders, John and Eleazar. No proof is alleged, that he was ever worshipped in the temple of God as God. He was not exalted above every God or emperor ; for he was vanquished and made the emperor's prisoner. His coming was not ' with all signs and lying wonders ;' for he never pretended to any such power. He was not destroyed in the destruction of Jerusa lem ; but was preserved alive, and was afterwards led in tri umph at Rome,7 and then was dragged through the streets with a rope about his neck, and was severely scourged, and at last put to death in the common prison. Besides it is not very consistent in this learned critic, by the coming of Christ in ver. 8, to understand the destruction of Jerusalem, and in his note 8 ' Nihil vetat in medium suspicionem Karixov est qnod coercebat Judaeos, ne in proferre, quae haud paulo verisimilior vi- aperlam rebellionem erumperent ; hoc est, detur, et Grotiana et Hammondiana con- partim reverentia procerum Judasas gentis, — jectura. 'AjrooTaotav ergo suspicor Paulum partim metus exercituum Romanorum, ike. vocare defectionem illam magnam Judaeorum, Mvoxijoiov avoptas, quod fieri incipiebat qua imperii Romani jugum excutere frustra hoc tempore, erat in eo situm, ut specie conaturi sunt. — Sequitur hominem peccati libertatis, &c. — Vere quidem noster Svopov esse rebelles Judaeos, et praesertim eximium vocari animadvertit scelestos homines, qui. eorum ducem Siraonem, non Magum, sed antea designati fuerunt voce 6 avriKstpEvos ; Gioras filium. — Seditiosi Judaei auctoritatem sed intelhgendi seditiosi Judaei, &c. — omnem Iegitimam, cum exterorum, turn Fuere et alii impostores, quorum non uno popularium, tantum abest ut coluerint, ut loco meminit Josephus, &c.' Cleric, in contra sesc eu superiores existimarint. — locum. Scelerati illi Zelotae et Idumrei, qui tem- ' Josephus de Bell. Jud. 1. 7, c. 5, § 6. plum Jerosolymitanum invaserant, &c. — Td 34 398 BISHOP NEWTON upon ver. 1 to say that the coming of Christ 8 both in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, and in this, is the coming of Christ to judge the quick and dead. 4. Dr. Whitby's 9 scheme is somewhat perplexed and con fused, as if he was not satisfied himself with his own explica tion. ' The apostacy is the revolt of the Jews from the Roman empire, or from the faith.' If the former, it is the same mis taken notion as Le Clerc's. If the latter, it is true that many were to apostatize from the faith, before the destruction of Je rusalem, according to the prediction of our Saviour : but it doth not appear that their number was so very great, as to deserve to be called by way of eminence and distinction the apostacy. ' The man of sin is the Jewish nation with their high-priest and sanhedrim.' But the Jewish nation with their high-priest and sanhedrim could not be said to apostatize from the faith which they never received : and those Christian Jews, Ayho did apostatize, were never united under any one head or leader, famous or infamous enough to merit the title of the man of sin. The Jewish nation too with their high-priest and sanhedrim were already revealed ; and most of the instances which this author allegeth, of their opposing the Christian religion, and exalting themselves above all laws divine and human, were prior to the date of this Epistle. He was himself aware of this objection, and endeavours to prevent it by saying 'that these are the descriptions of the man of sin, by which the Thessalo nians might then know him, and they run all in the present tense, showing what he already did.' But it is the known and usual style of prophecy to speak of things future as present, intimating that though future they are as sure and certain as if they were even now present. ' He who now letteth is the Ro man emperor Claudius, and he will let until he be taken out of the way, that is, he will hinder the Jews from breaking out into an open rebellion in his time, they being so signally and particularly obliged by him.' But how utterly improbable is it, that the apostle should talk and write of Jewish politics to Gentile converts 1 If Claudius withheld the Jews from revolt ing from the Roman government, did he withhold them also from apostatizing from the Christian faith 1 or what was it that withheld them 1 and what then becomes of that interpretation 1 ' When Claudius shall be taken out of the way, as he was by poison, then they shall be revealed, either by actual apostacjr from the Roman government, or by the great apostacy of the believers of that nation.' But the apostacy of believers was not near so great nor universal as the apostacy from the Roman 8 * napouirfa Christi et in 1 Ep. ad Thes- rie. ibid. salonicenses, et in hac est adventus Christii 9 See Whitby's Paraphrase and Com- ad judicandum de vivis et mortuis.' Cle- mentary. ON THE PROPHECIES. 399 government. Here too is the same ambiguity and uncertainty as before. The prophecy plainly intends one sort of apostacy, and this learned commentator proposeth two, and inclines some times to the one, and sometimes to the other, as may best suit his hypothesis. He is guilty too of the same inconsistency as Le Clerc, in interpreting the coming of Christ in the former Epistle, and in this Epistle, and in the first verse of this very chapter, of his coming to judge the world ; and yet in verse the eighth, of his coming to destroy Jerusalem. But if the destruction of Jerusalem only was meant, what need had the Thessalonians to be under such consternation, to be shaken in mind and to be troubled, that " the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost, (as the apostle saith, 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16,) who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have perse cuted us ; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved." It was matter of consolation, rather than of trouble or terror to the Thessalonians ; and as such the apostle mentions it in his former Epistle. 5. But of all the applications of this prophecy none is more extraordinary than that of the late professor Wetstein, the learned and laborious editor of the New Testament with the various readings and copious annotations. 'By the man of sin and the wicked one he x understands Titus or the Flavian family. The mystery of iniquity was then working, because at that time Vespasian had borne the office of consul, had re ceived the honours of a triumph, and even under Caligula had entertained some hopes of the empire. He who letleth was Nero, who was now adopted by the emperor.' One is really ashamed and grieved to see a scholar and critic fall into such absurdities. What ! was Titus then, as well as the emperor Julian, an apostate ? Was he, who was one of the best emperors, the love and delight of mankind, to be branded with the odious appellations of the man of sin and the wicked one ? Even Domitian was not worse than several other empe rors both before and after him. How did Titus and the Fla vian family oppose and exalt themselves above every God or empe ror? How did they "as God sit in the temple of God, showing themselves that they were gods 1" Why was Vespasian's hoping for the empire the mystery of iniquity, more than Galba's or Otho's, or Vitellius's hoping for the same 1 When Nero was taken out of the way, were not these three emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, all revealed before the Flavian family 1 How was the coming of Titus and the Flavian family " with all 1 'Intelligo Titum sive domum Flaviam umphaliaacceperat,etjamsub Caioinspem -pvcrfiptov rrjs ivoptas, Eo tempore imperii venerat. — 'O kotexwv, Nero jam Vespasianus consulatum jam gesserat, tri- adoptatus erat, &c.' AVctstenius in locim. 400 BISHOP NEWTON poAver, and signs, and lying wonders, and Avith all deceivable- ness of unrighteousness 1" How were their adherents and fol- lowers such eminently as " received not the love of the truth that they might be saved," " but believed a lie that they might be damned, and had pleasure in unrighteousness 1" How Avere Titus and the Flavian family destroyed in the destruction of Jerusalem, Avhen they were themselves the destroyers of it, and reigned several years afterwards 1 Was there an illustrious coming of Christ, when Titus or any of the Flavian family died 1 Or Iioav can the Lord be said to " consume them with the spirit of his mouth, and to destroy them with the brightness of his coming 1" It surpasseth all comprehension, how this learned professor could think of such an application, without asking himself some such questions ; or how he could ask himself any such questions, without clearly perceiving the im possibility of answering them. We cannot suppose that he would have made a compliment of his religion, but he hath cer tainly of his understanding, to Cardinal Quirini, in this instance, as Avell as in his comment upon the Revelation, which, as he humbly hopeth, will not displease his eminency, and then he shall be transcendent!}'' happy.2 It is a farther objection to Wetstein, as also to Grotius, Hammond, Le Clerc, and Whitby, that they are so singular in their opinions ; they differ as much from one another, as from the generality of interpreters ; and as they dissent from all Avho went before them, so they are followed by none Avho came after them. If this prophecy Avas fulfilled, as these critics conceive, before the destruction of Jerusalem, it is surprising that none of the fathers should agree with any of them in the same ap plication, and that the discovery should first be made sixteen or seventeen hundred years after the completion. The fathers might differ and be mistaken in the circumstances of a pro phecy which was yet to be fulfilled ; but that a prophecy should be remarkably accomplished before their time, and they be totally ignorant of it, and speak of the accomplishment as still future, is not very credible, and will always be a strong presumptive argument against any such interpretation. The foundation of all the mistakes of these learned men is their inter preting the coming of Christ, of the destruction of Jerusalem ; whereas the context, as it hath been shown, plainly evinces, and they themselves at other times acknowledge, that it is to be understood of his coming to judge the world. They therefore bid fairer for the true interpretation, who apply this prophecy to events after the destruction of Jerusalem. 2 — • Cui si, uti spero, vel interpretatio- feriam sidera vertice." ' Idem de Interpret. nem Apocalypseos, vei conatum saltern Apoc. torn. 2, p. 894. meum non displicuisse intellexero, " sublimi ON THE PROPHECIES. 401 6. Of those who apply this prophecy to events after the destruction of Jerusalem, some papists, and some persons who think like papists, contend that the character of the man of sin was draAvn for the great, impostor Mohammed : and it must be confessed, that the portrait resembles him in many respects. He was indeed a man of sin both in life and in doctrine. He might be said to sit in the temple of God, when he converted the churches into mosques. He likeAvise rose upon the ruins of the Roman empire ; and the Roman empire is generally thought to be what withholdeth. But though some features are alike, yet others are very much unlike, and demonstrate a manifest difference. He was not properly an apostate, for he and his countrymen the Arabians Avere not Christians but Heathens, though" he made many Christians afterwards apostatize from the faith. The mystery of iniquity, as we have seen, Avas working in the days of the apostles : but there were not then any indica tions of the rise and increase of Mohammedism ; it sprung up of a sudden like a mushroom, whose seeds the winds scattered over the face of the earth. The apostacy was to precede and introduce the man of sin, but this man of sin was the first author of this apostacy. And what is the most material, he never pretended to confirm his mission, or authorise his doctrine by miracles. His coming was not with all power, and signs, and lying wonders ; On the contrary, he declared,3 that ' God had sent Moses and Jesus with miracles, and yet men would not be obedient to their word ; and therefore he had now sent him in the last place without miracles, to force them by the power of the sAvord to do his will.' Some of his followers have ascribed miracles to him : but as Dr. Prideaux observes, ' those who relate them are only such who are reckoned among their fabu lous and legendary writers. Their learned doctors renounce them all, as doth Mohammed himself, who in several places in his Koran owns that he wrought no miracles.' 7. Others of the papists affirm, that the apostacy is the falling away from the church of Rome by the doctrines of the Reforma tion. But who then is the man of sin, Luther and his followers, or Calvin and his followers, or whol for the Protestants are far from being united under any one head. Which of the Protestant churches exalts herself above every God and magis trate 1 Which of them arrogates to herself divine honours and titles 1 Which of them pretends to establish her doctrine and discipline by miracles 1 These things would be ridiculously and absurdly objected to the Protestant churches, and more ridiculously and absurdly still by the members of the church of Rome. 8. The greater part of the Romish doctors, it must be con- 3 See Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 26 and 28, 8th edit. 1723. 34* 3 A 402 BISHOP NEWTON fessed, give another interpretation, and acknowledge that 4 the fathers and the best interpreters understand this unanimously of Antichrist, who will appear in the world before the great day of judgment, to combat religion and the saints. But then they conceive that Antichrist is not yet revealed, that he is only one man, and that he will continue only three years and a half. But we have shown before, that the man of sin is not p. single man, any more than the whore of Babylon is a single woman. The one, as well as the other, is to be understood of a whole order and succession of persons. The mystery of iniquity was working, and preparing the way for the man of sin even in the apostles' days : and is it not very extraordinary, that 1 700 years should elapse, and that he should not be yet revealed 1 What withholdeth, they say, was the Roman empire ; and the Roman empire might be powerful enough to hinder his appear ance at that time, but how hath it withheld and hindered all this while 1 As this evil began in the apostles' days, and was to continue in the world till the second coming of Christ in power and great glory ; it necessarily follows that it Avas to be carried on, not by one man, but by a succession of men in several ages. It cannot be taking root and growing imper ceptibly 1700 years and more, and yet 'flourish under its chief head only three years and a half. There needeth not surely so much preparation for so little effect. Neither are three years and a half, a period sufficient for Antichrist to act the parts and to fulfil the characters which are assigned him ; unless he hath also this property of divinity, that "one day is with him as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." III. The detection of falsehood is the next step towards the discovery of truth : and haAung seen how this passage hath been mistaken and misapplied by some famous commentators, we may be the better enabled to vindicate and establish what we conceive to be the only true and legitimate application. The Thessalonians, from some expressions in the former epistle, were alarmed, as if the end of the world was at hand, and Christ was coming to judgment. The apostle, to correct their mis takes and dissipate their fears, assures them, that the coming of Christ will not be yet awhile : there will be first a great apostacy or defection of Christians from the true faith and worship. This apostacy all the concurrent marks and characfers will justify us in charging upon the church of Rome. The apostle mentions this apostacy in another place, (1 Tim. iv. 4 ' Les Peres, et les meilleurs interpretes lo grand jour du jugement, pour combattre entendent' unanimement ceci de I'Ahta- la religion et les saints.' Calmet Comment Christ, qui doit parottre dans le monde avant et Dissertation sur l'Ante-Christ ON THE PROPHECIES. 403 1, &c.) and specifies some articles, as "doctrines of demons," " forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats," which will Avarrant the same conclusion. The true Christian worship, is the worship of " the one only God" through " the only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus :" and from this worship the church of Rome hath notori ously departed, by substituting other mediators, and invocating and adoring saints and angels. Nothing is apostacy if idolatry be not ; and the same kind of idolatry is practised in the church of Rome that the prophets and inspired writers arraign and condemn as apostacy and rebellion in the Jewish church. The JeAvs never totally rejected the true God, but only wor shipped him through the medium of some image, or in con junction with some other beings : and are not the members of the church- of Rome 5 guilty of the same idolatry and apostacy in the worship of images, in the adoration of the host, in the invocation of angels and saints, and in the oblation of prayers and praises to the Virgin Mary, as much or more than to God blessed for ever 1 This is the grand corruption of the Christian church, this is the apostacy as it is emphatically called, and de serves to be called, the apostacy that the apostle had warned the Thessalonians of before, the apostacy that had also been foretold by the prophet Daniel. If the apostacy be rightly charged upon the church of Rome, it folloAvs of consequence that the man of sin is the pope, not meaning this or that pope in particular, but the pope in ge neral, as the chief head and supporter of this apostacy. The apostacy produces him, and he again promotes the apostacy. He is properly the man of sin, not only on account of the scan dalous lives of many popes, but by reason of their more scan dalous doctrines and principles, dispensing with the most ne cessary duties, and granting or rather selling pardons and indulgences to the most abominable crimes. Or if by sin be meant idolatry particularly, as in the Old Testament, it is evi dent to all how he hath corrupted the worship of God, and perverted it from spirit and truth to superstition and idolatry of the grossest kind. He also, like the false apostle Judas, is the son of perdition, whether actively as being the cause and occa sion of destruction to others, or passively as being destined and devoted to destruction himself. He opposeth; he is the great adversary to God and man, excommunicating and anathema tizing, persecuting and destroying by croisadoes and inquisi tions, by massacres and horrid executions, those sincere Chris tians, who prefer the word of God to all the authority of men. The heathen emperor of Rome may have slain his thousands of * See Stillingfleet's Discourse concerning 1 and 2, vol. 6, of his Works. the Idolatry of the Church of Rome, chap. 404 BISHOP NEWTON innocent Christians, but the Christian bishop of Rome hath slain his ten thousands. There is scarce any country, that hath not at one time or other been made the stage of these bloody tragedies : scarce any age, that hath not in one place or other seen them acted. " He exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ;" not only above inferior magis trates, but likewise above bishops and primates, exerting an absolute jurisdiction and uncontrolled supremacy over all; nor only above bishops and primates, but likewise above kings and emperors, deposing some, and advancing others, obliging them to prostrate themselves before him, to kiss his toe, to hold his stirrup, to 6 wait barefooted at his gate, treading 7 even upon the neck, and 8 kicking off the imperial croAvn with his foot ; nor only above kings and emperors, but likewise above Christ and God himself, " making the word of God of none effect by his traditions," forbidding what God hath commanded, as mar riage, communion in both kinds, the use of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, and the like, and also commanding or allow ing what God hath forbidden, as idolatry, persecution, works of supererogation, and various other instances. "So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." He is therefore in profession a Christian, and a Christian bishop. His " sitting in the temple of God" plainly implies his having his seat or cathedra in the Christian church : and he sitteth there as God, especially at his inauguration, when he sitteth upon the high altar in St. Peter's church, and maketh the table of the Lord his footstool, and in that posi tion receiveth adoration. At all times he exerciseth divine authority in the church, "showing himself that he is God," affecting divine titles and attributes, as holiness and infallibility, assuming divine powers and prerogatives in condemning and absolving men, in retaining and forgiving sins, in asserting his decrees to be of the same or greater authority than the word of God, and commanding them to be received under the pe nalty of the same or greater damnation. Like another Salmo- neus he is proud to imitate the state and thunder of the Al mighty ; and is styled, and pleased to be styled,9 ' Our Lord God the pope ; another God upon earth ; king of kings, and lord of lords. The same is the dominion of God and the pope. 8 As Hildebrand or Gregory VII. did to omni potestate creata, extenditque se ad Henry IV. ccelestia, terrestria, et infernalia. Papa facit * As Alexander III. did to Frederic I. quicquid libet, etiam illicita, et est plus 8 As Celestin did to Henry VI. quam Deus.' See these and the like in- 9 ' Dominus Deus noster papa. Alter stances quoted in Bishop Jewel's Apology Deus in terra. Rex regum, dominus do- and Defence, in Downham's treatise De minorum. Idem est'dominium Dei et paps. Antichristo, and Poole's English Annota- Credcre Dominum Deum nostrum papam tions. See likewise Barrow's treatise of the non potuisse statuere, prout statuit, hWeti- Pope's Supremacy, in the Introduction. cum censeretur. Papas potestas est major ON THE PROPHECIES. 405 To believe that our Lord God the pope might not decree, as he decreed, it were a matter of heresy. The power of the pope is greater than all created poAver, and extends itself to things ce lestial, terrestrial, and infernal. The pope doeth whatsoever he listeth, even things unlawful, and is more than God.' Such blasphemies are not only allowed, but are even approved, en couraged, rewarded, in the writers of the church of Rome ; and they are not only the extravagances of private writers, but are the language even of public decretals and acts of councils. So that the pope is evidently the god upon earth : at least there is no one like him, who " exalteth himself above every God ;" no one like him, "who sitteth as God in the temple of God, shoAving himself that he is God." But if the bishop of Rome be the man of sin, it may seem somewhat strange that the apostle should mention these things in an epistle to the Thessalonians, and not rather in his epistle to the Romans. But this epistle was written four or five years before that to the Romans, and there was no occasion to men tion the same things again in another epistle. What w'as written to the Thessalonians or any particular church, was in effect written to all the churches, the epistles being designed for general edification, and intended to be read publicly in the congregations of the faithful. When St. Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, he had not been at Rome, and consequently could not allude to any former discourse with them, as with the Thessalonians : and these things were not proper to be fully explained in a letter, and especially in a letter addressed to the Christian converts at the capital city of the empire,. The apostles with all their prudence were represented as ene mies to government, and were charged Avith " turning the world upside doAvn," (Acts xvii. 6 ;) but the accusation would have been sounded higher, if St. Paul had denounced openly, and to Romans too, the destruction of the Roman empire. How ever, he admonisheth them to beware of apostacy, (Rom. xi. 20, 22,) and to "continue in God's goodness," or "otherwise they shall be cut off:" and afterwards when he visited Rome, and dwelt there "two whole years," (Acts xxviii. 30,) he might have frequent opportunities of informing them particularly of these things. It is not to be supposed, that he discoursed of these things only to the Thessalonians. It was a matter of concern to all Christians to be forewarned of the great corrup tion of Christianity, that they might be neither surprised into it, nor offended at it ; and the caution was the more necessary, as " the mystery of iniquity was already working." The seeds of popery were soavii in the apostle's time ; for even then idolatry was stealing into the church, (1 Cor. x. 14,) and '¦' a voluntary humility and worshipping, of angels," (Col. ii. 18,) "strife and 406 BISHOP NEWTON divisions," (1 Cor. iii. 3,) an adulterating and "handling ofthe word of God deceitfully," (2 Cor. ii. 17 ; iv. 2,) a gain of godliness, and "teaching of things for filthy lucre's sake," (1 Tim. vi. 5; Tit. i. 11,) a vain observation of festivals, (Gal. iv. 10,) a vain distinction of meats, (1 Cor. viii. 8,) a "neglecting ofthe body," (Col. ii. 23,) traditions, and "commandments, and doctrines of men," (Col. ii. 8, 22,) with other corruptions and innova tions. All heretics were in a manner the forerunners of the man of sin ; and Simon Magus in particular was so lively a type and figure of the wicked one, that he hath been mistaken, as we see, for the wicked one himself. The foundations of popery were laid indeed in the apostles' days, but the superstructure was raised by degrees, and several ages passed before the building was completed, and the man oj sin was revealed in full perfection. St. Paul having communi cated to the Thessalonians what it was that hindered his ap pearance, it was natural for other Christians also who read this epistle, to inquire "Avhat withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time ;" and the apostle without doubt would impart it to other Christians as freely as to the Thessalonians ; and the Thessalonians and other Christians might deliver it to their successors, and so the tradition might generally prevail, and the tradition that generally prevailed was, that what hindered was the Roman empire : and therefore the primitive Christians in the public offices of the church prayed for its peace and Avelfare, as knowing that when the Roman empire should be dissolved and broken into pieces, the empire of the man of sin Avould be raised on its ruins. How this revolution was effected, •no writer can better inform us than Machiavel.1 ' The em peror of Rome quitting Rome to hold his residence at Constan tinople, the Roman empire began to decline, but the church of Rome augmented as fast. Nevertheless, until the coming in of the Lombards, all Italy being under the dominion either of emperors or kings, the bishops assumed no more power than what Avas due to their doctrine and manners ; in civil affairs they were subject to the civil power. — But Theodoric king of the Goths fixing his seat at Ravenna, Avas that which advanced their interest, and made them more considerable in Italy ; for there being no other prince left in Rome, the Romans were forced for protection to pay greater allegiance to the pope. And yet their authority advanced no farther at, that time, than to obtain the preference before the church of Ravenna. But the Lombards having invaded, and reduced Italy into several cantons, the pope took the opportunity, and began to hold up his head. For being as it were governor and principal at Rome, the emperor of Constantinople and the Lombards bare 1 Machiavel's Hist, of Florence, Book i. p. 6, &c. of the English translation. ON THE PROPHECIES. 407 him a respect, so that the Romans (by mediation of their pope) began to tieat and confederate with Longinus [the emperor's lieutenant] and the Lombards, not as subjects, but as equals and companions ; which said custom continuing, and the popes entering into alliance sometimes with the Lombards, and some times with the Greeks, contracted great reputation to their dignity. But the destruction of the eastern empire folloAving bo close under the reign of the emperor Heraclius, — the pope lost the convenience of the emperor's protection in time of ad versity, and the power of the Lombards increasing too fast on the other side, he thought it but necessary to address himself to the king of France for assistance. — Gregory the Third being .created pope, and Aistolfus king of the Lombards, Aistolfus, contrary to league and agreement, seized upon Ravenna, and made Avar upon the pope. Gregory not daring (for the reasons abovesaid) to depend upon the weakness of the empire, or the fidelity of the Lombards, (whom he had already found false,) applied himself to Pepin — for relief against the Lombards. Pepin returned answer, that he would be ready to assist him, but he desired first to have the honour to see him, and pay his personal respects. Upon Avhich invitation pope Gregory went, into France, passing through the Lombards' quarters without any interruption, so great reverence they bare to religion in those days. Being arrived, and honourably received in France, he was after some time dismissed with an army into Italy; which having besieged Pavia, and reduced the Lom bards to distress, Aistolfus Avas constrained to certain terms of agreement with the French, which were obtained by the inter cession of the pope. — Among the rest of the articles of that treaty, it Avas agreed that Aistolfus should restore all the lands he had usurped from the church. But when the French army was returned into France, Aistolfus forgot his engagement, which put the pope upon a second application to king Pepin, who supplied him again, sent a new army into Italy, overcame the Lombards, and possessed himself of Ravenna, and (contrary to the desire of the Grecian emperor) gave it to the pope, with all the lands under that exarchate. — In the interim Aistolfus died, and Desiderio, a Lombard, and duke of Tuscany, taking up arms to succeed him, begged assistance of the pope, with promise of perpetual amity for the future. — At first Desiderio Avas very punctual, — delivered up the toAvns as he took them, to the pope, according to his engagement to king Pepin ; nor was there any exarch sent afterwards from Constantinople to Ravenna, but all was arbitrary, and managed according to the pleasure of the pope. Not long after Pepin died, and Charles his son succeeded in the government, who was called the Great, from the greatness of his exploits. About the same time 408 BISHOP NEWTON * Theodore the First Avas advanced to the papacy, and falling out with Desiderio, was besieged by him m Rome. In his exigence the pope had recourse to the king of France, (as his predecessor had done before him,) and Charles not only supplied him Avith an army, but marching over the Alps, at the head of it himself, he besieged Desiderio in Pavia, took him and his son in it, sent them both prisoners into France, and Avent in person to Rome to visit the pope, Avhere he adjudged and determined, "That his holiness, being God's vicar, could not be subject to the judgment of man." For which the pope and people to gether declared him emperor, and Rome began again to have an emperor of the west : and whereas formerly the popes were confirmed by the emperors, the emperor iioav in his election was to be beholden to the pope ; by which means the poAver and dignity ofthe empire declined, and the church began to advance, and by these steps to usurp upon the authority of temporal princes.' In this manner the emperor of Rome, or "he who letteth," was " taken out of the way," and the bishop of Rome was advanced in his stead. In the same proportion as the poAver of the empire decreased, the authority of the church increased, the latter, at the expense and ruin of the former; till at length the pope grew up above all, and b Svopos, the wicked one, was fully manifested and revealed, or the lawless one, as he may be called ; for the pope 2 is declared again and again not to be bound by any law of God or man. " His coming is after the energy of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness ;" and doth it require any particular proof, or is it not too generally known, that the pre tensions of the pope, and the corruptions of the church of Rome are all supported and authorized by feigned visions and miracles, by pious frauds and impostures of every kind 1 Bel- (armin reckons3 the glory of miracles as the eleventh note of the catholic church ; but the apostle assigns them as a distin guishing mark and character of the man of sin. The church of Rome pretends to miracles ; Mohammed disclaims them ; and this is one very good reason why the man of sin is the pope rather than the Turk. There hath been printed at London, so lately as in the year 1756, a book entitled " The miraculous poAver of the church of Christ, asserted through each successive century, from the apostles down to the present time :" and from thence the author draweth the conclusion, that the catholic church is the true church of Christ. They must certainly " not receive the love of the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteous ness," who can believe such fabulous and ridiculous legends, 2 Sp.e Bishop Jewel's Apology and Defence, p. 313, 314, 430, &c. 3 ' Undecima nota est gloria miraculorum.' Bellar. de Notis Ecclesiae, 1. 4, c. 14. ON THE PROPHECIES. 409 who hold it a mortal sin but to doubt of any article of their religion, who deny the free exercise of private judgment, who take away the free use of the Holy Scriptures, and so " shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, neither going in them selves, neither suffering them, Avho were entering, to go in." If they will still maintain their miracles to be true, yet they are no proof of the true church, but rather of the contrary. They are the miracles here predicted, and if they were really wrought, Avere Avrought in favour of falsehood : and indeed it is a proper retaliation, that God in his just judgments should " send men strong delusion that they should believe a lie, who received not the love of the truth that they might be saved ;" a proper retaliation, that he should suffer some real miracles to be Avrought to deceive those, who have counterfeited so many miracles to deceive others. But how much soever the man of sin may be exalted, and how long soever he may reign, yet at last "the Lord shall consume' him Avith the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming." This is partly taken from the pro phet Isaiah, (xi. 4,) " and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked one :" where the JeAvs, as Lightfoot 4 observes, 'put an emphasis upon that word in the prophet, the wicked one, as it appeareth by the Chaldee paraphrast, who hath uttered it, He shall destroy the wicked Roman.'' If the two clauses, as it was said before, relate to two different events, the meaning manifestly is, that the Lord Jesus shall gradually consume him with the free preaching of his gospel, and shall utterly destroy him at his second coming in the glory of his Father. The former began to take effect at the Reformation, and the latter will be accom plished in God's appointed time. The man of sin is now upon the decline, and he will be totally abolished, when Christ shall come in judgment. The kingdom of falsehood and sin shall end, and the reign of truth and virtue shall succeed. " Great is the truth, and will at last prevail." The man of sin then is the same arbitrary and wicked power that is described by Daniel under the characters of the little horn and the mighty king. In St. Paul " he is revealed," when the Roman empire is " taken out of the way ;" and in Daniel the Roman empire is first broken into several kingdoms, and " he cometh up among them." In St. Paul " he opposeth ;" and in Daniel "he doeth according to his Avill," and " weareth out the saints of the Most High." In St. Paul " he exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, showing himself that he is God ;" and in Daniel " he exalteth himself and magnifieth himself above every god, and speaketh mar vellous things against the God of gods." In St. Paul he is 4 Lightfoot's Works, vol. 1, p. 296. 53 3B 410 BISHOP NEWTON "the lawless one;" and in Daniel "he changeth times and laws." In St. Paul " his coming is Avith all deceivableness of unrighteousness;" and in Daniel "he practiseth and pros- pereth, and through his policy causeth craft to prosper in hia hand." According to St. Paul, " the Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming ;" and according to Daniel " a fiery stream shall issue and come forth from the judge, and his body shall be given to the burning flame, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume, and to destroy it unto the end." The characters and circumstances are so much the same, that they must belong to one and the same person. The tyrannical power thus described by Daniel and St. Paul, and afterwards by St. John, is both by ancients and moderns generally denominated Antichrist; and the name is proper and expressive enough, as it may signify 6 both the enemy of Christ, and the vicar of Christ : and no one is more the enemy of Christ than he who arrogates his name and power, as no one more directly opposes the king than he who assumes his title and authority. The name began to prevail in St. John's time. For he addresseth himself to the Christians as having heard of the coming of Antichrist, and calleth the heretics of his time by the same common name: (1 Ep. ii. 18, 22.) "As ye have heard that the Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Anti christs : Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ 1 he is the Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son." As St. Paul hath said, " The mystery of iniquity doth already work ;" so St. John speaketh of the spirit of Antichrist as then in the world, (1 Ep. iv. 3,) "This is that spirit of Anti christ, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even noAV already is it in the world." Afterwards (2 Ep. 7, 8,) he styleth him emphatically "the deceiver and the Antichrist," and warneth the Christians to "look to themselves." The fathers too speak of Antichrist and of the man of sin as one and the same person ; and give much the same interpretation that hath here been given of the whole passage : only it is not to be supposed, that they who wrote before the events, could be so very exact in the application of each particular, as those who have the advantage of writing after the events, and of comparing the prophecy and completion together. Justin Martyr, who flourished before the middle of the se cond century,6 considers the man of sin, or as he elsewhere calleth him, the man of blasphemy, as altogether the same with 6 Avti signifies pro, vice, loco, as well as piXXovros XaXeXv IjSrj irrl SvpaXs Svros. Eoque contra, e regione, ex adverso ; and avTt&ao-t- qui impie et temerarie maledicta in Aitissimum Xebs is prorex, avBiirraros proconsul. prolocututus est, jam pro foribus assistente. ' Dial, cum Tryph. p. 201. Edit. Thril. Vide etiam, p. 371. Kai too flXdatjirjfia Kal roXpnpa els rbv iiif tarov ON THE PROPHECIES. 411 the little horn in Daniel : and affirms, that he who shall speak blasphemous Avords against the Most High, is now at the doors. Irenaeus, who lived in the same century, hath written 7 a whole chapter of the fraud, and pride, and tyannical reign of Anti christ, as they are described by Daniel and St. Paul in his second epistle to the Thessalonians. Tertullian, who became famous at the latter end of the same century, expounding those words " only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way," 8 says, ' Who can this be but the Roman state, the division of which into ten kingdoms will bring on Antichrist, and then the wicked one shall be revealed.' And in his Apo logy he 9 assigns it as a particular reason why the Christians prayed for the Roman empire, because they knew that the greatest calamity hanging over the world was retarded by the continuance of it. Origen, the most learned father and ablest writer of the third century,1 recites this passage at large as spoken of him who is called Antichrist. To the same purpose he likewise alleges the words of Daniel as truly divine and prophetic. Daniel and St. Paul, according to him, both prophesied of the same person. Lactantius, who flourished in the beginning of the fourth century, describes Antichrist in the same manner, and almost in the same terms as St. Paul, and 2 concludes, ' This is he, who is called Antichrist, but shall feign himself to be Christ, and shall fight against the truth.' A shorter and fuller charac ter of the vicar of Christ could not be drawn even by a Protes tant. ' Cyril of Jerusalem in the same century alleges this pas sage of St. Paul, together with other prophecies concerning Antichrist, and3 says that 'This the predicted Antichrist will come, when the times of the Roman empire shall be fulfilled, and the consummation of the world shall approach. Ten kings of the Romans shall arise together, in different places indeed, but they shall reign at the same time. Among these the eleventh 'Adversus Haereses, 1. 5, c. 25. 'An- 3 "Ep^crai Si 5 wpoEtpvpivos ' A-vrtxpioros tichristi fraus, superbia, et tyrannicum reg- oZros, brav rtXr)pwBwatv o\ Kaipol rr)s 'Vwpatwv num, prout a Danieleet Paulo descripta sunt.' fiaaiXsias, Kal nXrjata^Ei Xombv rd rris rov 8 ' Quis, nisi Romanus status ? cujus Kbcrpov ovvteXeIus. Aeku piv bpov 'Twpaiwv abscessio in decern reges dispersa Anti- iyElpovrat (iaaiXEXs, iv Staipbpots piv tews r6- christum superducet, et tunc revelabitur ini- rrots, Kard Si rbv avrbv fiaoiXEvovrss Katpbv. quus.' De Resurrect. Carnis, c. 24. Mera Si robrovs ivSiKaros 6 ' A-vrtxpioros, ek 0 ' Est et alia major necessitas nobis rrjs payiKrjs kukotexvIus rt)v 'PwpaiKrtv ifrv- orandi pro imperatoribus, etiam pro omni o-iav dprrdoas. Veniet autem hie prazdictus stalu imperii, rebusque Romanis, qui vim Antuzhristus, cum impleta fuerint tempera maximam universo orbi . imminentem — Ro- imperii Romani, ei mundi consu mm alio ap- mani imperii commeatu scimus retardari.' propinquabit. Decern simul reges Romano- Apol. c. 32. rum excitabuntur, in diversis quidem loots, ' Contra Celsum, 1. 6, c. 46. eodem tamen tempore regnantes. Post istos 2 ' Hie est autem, qui appellatur An- autem undecimus Antichristus, per magicum tichristus ; sed se ipse Christum roentietur, maleficium Romanorum potestatem rapiens. et contra verum dimicabit.' Lactant. Catch. 15, c. 5. 1. 7, c. 19. 412 BISHOP NEWTON is Antichrist, who by magical and wicked artifice shall seize the Roman power.' Ambrose archbishop of Milan in the same cen tury, or Hilary the deacon, or the author (Avhoever he was) of of the comment upon St. Paul's Epistles, which passeth under the name of St. Ambrose, proposes much the same interpretation^ and 4 affirms that after the failing or decay of the Roman empire, Antichrist shall appear. Jerome, Austin, and Chrysostome flourished in the latter end of the fourth, or the beginning of the fifth century. St. Jerome in his explanation of this passage 6 says, that Antichrist ' shall sit in the temple of God, either at Jerusalem (as some imagine) or in the church, (as we more truly judge,) showing himself that he is Christ and the Son of God : and unless the Roman empire be first desclated, and Antichrist precede, Christ shall not come — " And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time," that is, ye knoAV very well, what is the reason why Antichrist doth not come at present. He is not willing to say openly, that the Roman empire should be de stroyed, which they who command think to be eternal. — For if he had said openly and boldly, that Antichrist shall not come, unless the Roman empire be first destroyed, it might probably have proved the occasion of a persecution against the church.' Jerome Avas himself a witness to the barbarous nations begin ning to tear in pieces the Roman empire, and upon this oc casion 6 exclaims, ' He who hindered is taken out of the way, and we do not consider that Antichrist approaches, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the spirit of his mouth.' St. Austin having cited this passage 7 affirms, that ' No one ques tions that the apostle spoke these things concerning Antichrist : and the day of judgment (for this he calleth the day of the Lord) should not come, unless Antichrist come first. — "And now ye know what withholdeth." — Some think this was spoken 4 ' Post defectum regni Roman! appa- batur.' Algasiae Quest, ii. col. 209. Prior riturum Antichristum, &c.' Ambros. in pars. torn. 4, Edit. Benedict. locum. 6 ' Qui tenebat, de medio sit, et non intel- 8 ' Et in templo Dei, vel Jerosolymis (ut ligimus Antichristum appropinquare, quern quidam putant) vel in ecclesia (ut verius Dominus Jesus Christus interficiet spiritu arbitramnr) sederit, ostendens se tanquam oris sui.' Ad Ageruchiam de Monogamia, ipse sit Christus etFilius Dei : Nisi, inquit, col. 748. _ fuerit Romanum imperium ante desolatum, * ' Nulli dubium est, eum de Antichristo et Antichristus praecesserit, Christus non ista dixisse ; diemque judicii (hunc enim veniet. — " Et nunc quid detineat, scitis, ut appellat diem Domini) non esse venturum, reveletur in suo tempore," hoc est, quae nisi ille prior venerit — "Et nunc quid de- causa sit, ut Antichristus in praesentiarum tineat scitis" — Quidam putant hoc de im- non veniat, oplime nostis. Nee vult aperte perio dictum fuisse Romano ; et propterca dicere Romanum imperium destruendum, Paulum apostolum non id aperte scribere quod ipsi qui imperant, asternum putant. — voluisse, ne calumniam videlicet incurreret, Si enim aperte audacterque dixisset, non qubd Romano imperio male optaverit, cum veniet Antichristus, nisi prius Romanum speraretur oeternum.' De Civitat. Dei, 1. deleatur imperium, justa causa persecutions 20, c. 19. in orier.tem tunc ecclesiam consurgere vide- ON THE PROPHECIES. 413 of the Roman empire ; and therefore the apostle was not willing to Avrite it openly, lest he should incur a praemunire, and be falsely accused of wishing ill to the Roman empire, Avhich was hoped to be eternal.' St. Chrysostome, in one of his homilies upon this passage, speaking of what hindered the revelation of Antichrist,8 asserts that 'when the Roman empire shall be taken out of the way, then he shall come : and it is very likely : for as long as the dread of this empire shall remain, no one shall quickly be substituted ; but when this shall be dissolved, he shall seize on the vacant empire, and shall endeavour to assume the power both of God and men.' And who hath seized on the vacant empire in Rome, and assumed the power both of God and man, let the world judge. In this manner these ancientNand venerable fathers expound this passage ; and in all probability they had learned by tradi tion from the apostle, or from the church of the Thessalonians, that Avhat retarded the revelation of Antichrist was the Roman empire, but when the Roman empire should be broken in pieces, and be no longer able to withhold him, then he should appear in the Christian church, and domineer principally in the church of Rome. Even in the opinion of a bishop of Rome, Gregory the Great, who sat in the chair at the end of the sixth century, whosoever affected the title of universal bishop, he Avas Anti christ, or the forerunner of Antichrist. ' I speak it confidently,' says he,9 'that whosoever calleth himself universal bishop, or desireth so to be called, in the pride of his heart, he doth forerun Antichrist.' Wheii John, then bishop of Constantinople, first usurped this title, Gregory made answer, ' By this pride of his, Avhat thing else is signified, but that the time of Antichrist it now at hand V Again he says upon the same occasion, ' The king of pride (that is Antichrist) approacHieth ; and what is wicked to be spoken, an army of priests is prepared.' When the papal doctrines and the papal authority prevailed over all, it was natural to think and expect, that the true notion of An tichrist would be stifled, and that the doctors of the church Avould endeavour to give another turn and interpretation to this 8 'It ipxrio 'fwpaiKr) 5rav ipBr) he pio-ov, r " 'Ergo fidentur dico, quod quisquis se TiSrE 'ekeXvos 'tj^Et. YLalElKbTws. "Ewsyapav universalem sacerdotem vocat, vel vocari b ratrris j5 rrjs ipxvs fbfios, oIiSeIs raxiws desiderat, in elatione sua Antichristum brrorayrjcrETai. "Orav Si abrv KaraXvBr), im- praecurrit. 1. 6, Epist. SO. Ex hac ejus su- Sijasrat Tjj dxapxfy, *ai rr)v rwv ivBpwTWV, perbia quid aliud, nisi propinqua jam esse Kal rijv rob Seoo ImxEtprjaEt aprrdaat otpx^l'- Antichristi tempora designatur.' 1. 4, Epist. Quando Romanorum imperium de medio 34. 'Rex superbiae prope est; et, quod fuerit sublalum, tunc ille veniet. Et merito dici nefas est, sacerdotum est prasparatus quamdiu enim fuerit metus hujus imperii, exercitus.' 1. 4. ibid. See Jewel's Defence nemo cito subjicielur. Quando autem hoc of the Apology, part. 4, c. 16. p. 413. Bar- fueril eversum, vacans invadet imperium, row's Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, hominumque et Dei imperium aggredietur Suppos. 5, p. 123. Edit. 1683. rapere. In loc. Horn. 4, § 1. 35* 414 BISHOP NEWTON passage. That night of ignorance was so thick and dark, that there was hardly here and there a single star to be seen in the whole hemisphere. But no sooner was there any glimmer ing or dawning of a reformation, than the true notion of Anti christ,, which had been so long suppressed, broke out again. As early as the year 1120 a treatise was published concerning Antichrist, wherein the faithful are admonished,1 that ' the great Antichrist was long ago come, in vain was he still ex pected, he was now, by the permission of God, advanced in years :' and the author, having described the corrupt state of the church at that time, says afterward, 'This state of men (not a single man) is Antichrist, the whore of Babylon, the fourth beast of Daniel, (to wit, in his last state as it is said) that man of sin and son of perdition, who is exalted above every God, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, that is, the church, showing himself that he is God ; who is now come with all kind of seduction and lies in those who perish.' The Waldenses and Albigenses propagated the same opinions in the same cen tury. That the pope Avas Antichrist was indeed the general doctrine of the first reformers everywhere. Here in England it Avas advanced by Wickliff,2 and was learnedly established by that great and able champion of the Reformation, Bishop Jewel, in his Apology and Defence, and more largely in his Exposi tion upon the two Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians. This doctrine contributed not a little to promote the Reforma tion : and wheresoever the one prevailed the other prevailed also. Such doctrine as this must necessarily give great offence to the bigots and devotees of the church of Rome : and no wonder therefore that in the last Lateran Council3 the pope gave strait commandment to all preachers, that no man should presume once to speak of the coming of Antichrist. The king of France also with the advice of his council,4 inter dieted that any one should call the pope Antichrist : and Grotius, who was ambassador in France from the crown of Sweden, in a vain hope and expectation of reconciling the 1 ' Anno Domini 1120 — emissua est qui jam venit in omni genere seductionis et tractatus de Antichristo, — In hoc libro mendacii in lis qui pereunt." ' Mede's admonentur fideles " Antichristum ilium Works, b. 3. De numeris Dimielis, p. 721, magnum jamdudum venisse,' frustra adhuc 722. exspectari, esse jam Dei permissione aetate 2 ' Dialogorum libri 4. quorum — quartos provectum : — Hunc hominum statum (non Romanae ecclesiae sacramenta, Antichrist! singularem hominem) esse Antichristum, regnum, &c. perstringit.' Cave, Hist. Litt. meretricem Bahylonicam, quartam bestiam vol. 2. Appendix, p. 63. Danielis, (nernpe in statu ejus novissimo, ut "Cone. Lateran. sub Julio et Leone. dictum est) hominem ilium .peccati, et filium Sess. 11. Jewel's Defence, ibid. perditionis, qui extollitur super omnem 4 — ' Prudentissintorum virorum usus con- Deum, ita ut in templo Dei, id est, ecclesia, silio interdixit ne quis papam Antichristum sedeat, ostendens se tanquam sit Deus; vocet.' Grot, de Antichristo in prineipio. ON THE PROPHECIES. 415 disputes and differences between papists and protestants, com posed his treatise concerning Antichrist, not wickedly, but weakly; Avith an honest intention it may be presumed, but it is certain with pernicious effect ; more like an advocate for one party, than a moderator between both. At the same time in England, though James the First had written a treatise to prove the pope Antichrist, yet this doctrine was groAving unfashionable during his reign, and more so in that of his son, who married a bigoted popish princess; even while Mr. Mede \\as living, who had exerted more learning and sagacity in explaining the prophecies, and in fixing the true idea of Antichrist, than perhaps any writer in any age. But probably for this very reason he was looked upon with an evil eye, and (to the disgrace of the times) obtained no preferment, though he was eminently deserving of the best and greatest. He says himself in one of his letters, (Epist. 56,) that his notions about genuflexion towards the altar ' would have made another man a dean, or a prebend, or something else ere this : but the point of the pope's being Antichrist, as a dead fly marred the savour of that ointment.' The abuse also that some fanatics made of this doctrine greatly prejudiced the world against it. It was esteemed a mark of a puritan, and was a certain obstacle to preferment, for any man to preach that the pope was Antichrist : and Dr. Montagu, a famous court-chaplain at that time, who endeavoured to prove that the power of the king was absolute,5 endeavoured also to prove that the notes and characters of Anti christ belonged to the Turk rather than to the Pope : and herein he was followed by several divines, and by no less a man than Bishop Fell, if he was the compiler or approver, (as he is com monly said to have been) of the Paraphrase and Annotations upon all St. Paul's Epistles.' There are fashions in divinity as well as in every thing else ; and therefore the true doctrine of Antichrist was for some time suspended, and false hypotheses were invented ; and it may surprise any one, that so little was said upon this subject in the long controversies concerning popery during the reigns of Charles and James the Second. It is hoped that the truth is now emerging again. Some laudable attempts 7 have lately been made to revive and restore it : and if 1 have not proved that this interpretation is preferable to all others, I have taken pains and proved nothing. But it hath been proved, as I conceive, that this is the ge nuine sense and meaning of the apostle, that this only is entirely consistent with the context, that every other interpretation is ! See his book entitled Appello Caesarem, * Mr. Langford's Notes and Characters Part 2, c. 5. of the Man of Sin, printed in 1746. Dr. ' Printed at the Theatre in Oxford, i684, Benson's Dissertation concerning the Man nnd said to be published under the direction of Sin, &c. &c. of Bishop Fell. 416 ' BISHOP NEWTON forced and unnatural, that this is liable to no material objection, that it coincides perfectly with Daniel, that it is agreeable to the tradition of the primitive church, and that it hath been exactly fulfilled in all particulars, which cannot be said of any other interpretation whatsoever. Such a prophecy as this is at once an illustrious proof of divine revelation, and an excellent antidote to the poison of popery. It is like a two-edged sword, that will cut both ways, and wound the deist with one side, and the papist with the other. The papists are in some respects like the Jews. As the Jews believe not that Christ is come according to the prophecies, but still live in expectation of him ; so neither do the papists perceive that Antichrist is come accord ing to 'the prophecies, but still maintain that he shall arise hereafter. The apostle not only foretells this blindness and infatuation, but likewise assigns the reason, " because they received not the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrigh teousness." But to the protestants, who believe and profess that both the Christ and Antichrist are come, we may say with the apostle, (ver. 13, 14,) "We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth : Whereunto he called you by the gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." The apostle proceeds, (ver. 15,) "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whe ther by word, or our epistle :" and certainly there is not any oral tradition that hath a juster claim to be thought apostolical, than this of the man of sin's succeeding upon the decline of the Roman empire, and exalting himself over all. Wherefore to conclude, as the apostle concludes the subject, (ver. 16, 17,) " Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God even our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope, through grace, comforjt your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work." XXIII.- — st. Paul's prophecy of the apostacy op the LATTER TIMES. ST. PAUL was a man of lively thought and strong imagina tion. None of the apostles had a warmer zeal for Christ and the Christian religion. He was, as he saith himself, (2 Cor. xi. 23, 28, 29,) "in labours more abundant:" he had " the care of all the churches." " Who is weak (said he,) and I am not weak 1 who is offended, and I burn not 1" It was na tural for such a mind to be deeply affected with the foresight ON THE PROPHECIES. 417 of the great apostacy of Christians from the true Christian faith and worship, and to lament it, and to forewarn his disciples of it, as often as there Avas occasion. He made this apostacy one topic of his discourse to the Thessalonians, while he was yet with them : and afterwards in his second epistle to them, he gave them to understand that the day of Christ was not at hand, as they apprehended :for there should come the apostacy first ; implying that it should be both extensive and of long duration. He mentions this apostacy again in his first epistle to Timothy, and describes more particularly Avherein it should consist, and at what time, and by what means it should be propagated and advanced in the world, (1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, 3:) "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart .from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and commanding to ab stain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." The passage perhaps may better be translated thus, But the spirit speaketh expressly ; He had been speaking before of the mystery of godliness, and now he proceeds to speak of the mystery of ini quity in opposition to it, But the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the faith, giving heed to erroneous spirits and doctrines concerning demons, Through the hypocrisy of liars, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, Forbidding to many, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by the believers and them who know the truth. This translation will be justified by the following considerations, wherein it is proposed to show the true interpretation and exact completion of this prophecy. But this subject hath been so fully and learnedly discussed by the excellent Mr. Mede, l that we must be greatly obliged to him in the course of this dissertation. The dress and clothing may be somewhat different, but the body and substance must be much the same : and they must be referred to his works, who are desirous of obtaining farther satisfaction. Not that Ave would make a transcript only of any writer ; we should hope to enforce and improve the subject by some new arguments and new illustrations ; as " every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven (Matt, xiii, 52) is like unto a man that is an house holder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new as well as old." I. The first^ thing to be considered is the apostacy here predicted, " Some shall depart," or rather shall apostatize from the faith. The apostle had predicted the same thing before to 1 See Mede's Works, b. 3, p. 623—693. See likewise Mons. Jurieu's Accomplishment of the Prophecies, p. i. c. 18 — 21. - p 418 BISHOP NEWTON the Thessalonians, " The day of Christ shall not come, except there come a falling away ;" or rather the apostacy first. In the original the words are of the same import and derivation, a-KooTao-ia and a-xocTtjo-ovrat ; and they should have been translated both alike, as the same thing was intended in both places. An apostacy from the faith, may be total or partial, either when we renounce the whole, or when we deny some principal and essential article of it. The writers of the New Testament fre quently derive their language as well as their ideas from the Old ; and by considering what was accounted apostacy under the Mosaical economy, we may form the better notion of what it is under the Christian dispensation. It doth not appear that the Jews or Israelites ever totally renounced and abandoned the living and true God ; be never ceased altogether to be their God, or they to be his people : but they revolted from their alle giance to God, when they worshipped him in an image, as in the golden calves, which Avas the sin and apostacy of Jeroboam ; and when they A\-orshipped other gods besides him, as Baalim and the host of heaven, which was the sin and apostacy of Ahab and Manassah ; and for the same reason the idolatry of Ahaz is by the Greek interpreters called (2 Chron. xxix, 19) a-noaracia abrov-,his apostacy, and it is said of him, (xxviii. 19,) that attorn amardcsi irrb ros Koptoo, he apostatized greatly from the Lord. Apos tacy therefore was idolatry in the Jewish church, and it is the same in the Christian. This argument may receive some illus tration from a 2 similar passage in St. Peter, (2 Pet. ii, 1 :) " There were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them." As there were false prophets among the children of Israel, who seduced them to idolatry and the worshipping of other gods besides the true God ; so there shall be false teachers among Christians, who by plausible pretences and impercepti ble degrees shall bring in the like damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them ; professing themselves to be his servants bought with a price, and yet denying him to be their Lord and Master by applying to other lords and mediators. It is not any error, or every heresy, that is apos tacy from the faith. It is a revolt in the principal and essen tial article, when we worship God by an image or representa tion, or when we worship other beings besides God, and pray unto other mediators besides " the one mediator between. God and men, the man Christ Jesus." This is the very essence of Christian worship, to worship the one true God through tne one true Christ; and to worship any other God or any other mediator, is apostacy and rebellion agamst God and 2 See Mede's Discourse xliii. upon this text, p. 238, &c. ON THE PROPHECIES. 419 against Christ. It is, as St. Paul saith, (Col. ii. 19,) not holding the head, but depending upon other heads : It is, as St. Peter expresseth it, " denying the Lord that bought us," and serving other lords : and the denial of such an essential part may as properly be called apostacy, as if we were to renounce the whole Christian faith and worship. It is renouncing them in effect, and not treating and regarding God as God, or Christ as Christ. Such is the nature of apostacy from the faith; and it is im plied that this apostacy should be general, and infect great numbers. For though it be said only some shall apostatize, yet by some in this place many are understood. The Avord some may usually denote few in English ; but in the learned lan guages it frequently signifies a multitude, and there are abun dant instances in Scripture. In St. John's Gospel it is said, (vi. 60,) " Many of Jesus his disciples Avhen they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying, who can hear it 1" and again a little aftenvards, (ver. 66,) " Many of his. disciples went back, and Avalked no more with him :" but Jesus himself speaking of these many saith, (ver. 64,) " There are some of you that believe not ;" so that some are plainly the same as many. St. Paul speaking of the infidelity and rejection of the Jews saith, (Rom. xi. 17,) that " some of the branches are broken off :" but those some, it was evident, were the main body of the nation. The same apostle informs the Corinthians, (1 Cor. x. 5, 6,) that " With many of the Israelites God was not well pleased , for they were overthroAvn in the wilderness ;" and their punish ments Avere intended for examples fo Christians. Wherefore he concludes, (ver. 7,) " Neither be ye idolators, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play\;" Avhere some are manifestly the same as the people. Again, (ver. 8,) " Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand :" where some are equivalent to many thousands. Again, (ver. 9,) " Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents :" where some are the same with much people ; for we read, (Numb. xxi. 6,) that " the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people ; and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died." And again, (ver. 10,) "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer ;" where some are the same with all the congregation except Joshua and Caleb ; for we read, (Numb. xiv. 1, 2,) that "All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried ; and the people wept that night : And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in this wilderness :" and they had their wish, 420 BISHOP NEWTON for except Joshua and Caleb, they all died in the wilderness Some therefore may signify many, but not all ; as the apostle speaketh elsewhere, (Heb. iii. 16,) "For some when they had heard, did provoke ; howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses." The apostle might have the same meaning in this place ; and this apostacy may be general and extensive, and include many but not all. If only some few persons were to be concerned and engaged in it, it was scarcely an object worthy of prophecy : nor could that properly be pointed out as a peculiarity of the latter times, which is common to all times, for in all times there are some apostates or other. It must necessarily be a great apostacy ; and it is called, a3 it hath been shown, the apostacy, by way of eminence and distinction ; but it would hardly have been distinguished in this emphatical manner, if only an inconsiderable number were to profess and embrace it. Other prophecies likewise intimate, that there should be a great and general corruption and apostacy in the Christian church ; and the event will also confirm us in our opinion. For we have seen and still see a great part of Christendom guilty of the same sort of apostacy and defection as the Israelites were in former times. As the Israelites wor shipped God in the golden calf and golden calves ; for, (Exod. xxxii. 5,) they proclaimed " a feast to the Lord," and said, (ver. 3, and 1 Kings xii. 28,) "Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt ;" so there are Christians who worship their Creator and Redeemer in an image, or in a crucifix, or in the sacramental bread. As the Israelites worshipped Baalim or departed heroes, and as the Psalmist saith, (Psal. evi. 28,) " ate the sacrifices of the dead :" so there are Christians who worship departed saints, and insti tute fasts and festivals, and offer up prayers and praises unto them. And as this apostacy overspread the church of Israel for many ages, so hath it for many ages too overspread the church of Christ.* The apostacy therefore is the very same in both churches. The apostle foresaw and foretold it ; and upon the mention of Israel's provocation, very properly admonished the Christians to beware of the like infidelity and apostasy, (Heb. iii. 12 :) "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing, (Iv ts i-nocrnvai, in apostatizing,) from the hving God." II. It is more particularly shown, wherein this apostacy should consist, in the following words, " giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils," or rather giving heed to erroneous spirits and doctrines concerning demons. For I conceive not the meaning to be that this apostacy should proceed from the sug gestion of evil spirits and instigation of devils. That would be no peculiar mark of distinction ; that might be said of any ON THE PROPHECIES. 421 wickedness in general, as well as of this in particular. The means too by which this apostacy should be propagated, and the persons who should propagate it, are described afterwards ; so that this part is to be understood rather of things than of persons, rather of the matter wherein this apostacy should con sist, than of the first teachers and authors of it. Spirits seem to be much the same as doctrines, as Mr. Mede and other divines have observed the same word to be used also by St. John, (1 John iv. 1,) "Beloved, believe not every spirit (that is, every doctrine,) but try the spirits, (that is> the doctrines,) whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the Avorld.v Spirits and doctrines therefore may be considered, the latter word as explanatory of the former : and error sometimes signifying idolatry? erroneous doctrines may comprehend idolatrous, as well as false doctrines. But it is still farther added for explanation, that these doctrines should be " doctrines of devils" or of demons ; where the genitive case is not to be taken actively, as if demons were the authors of these doctrines, but passively, as if demons were the subject of these doctrines. Thus " a doctrine of vanities" (StSaoKaXia paratwv, Jer. x. 8,) is a doctrine concerning vanities or idols. " The doctrine of the Lord" (StSaxr) too -Kvpiov, Acts xiii. 12,) is the doctrine concerning him: "Then the deputy when he saAV what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord." "The doctrines of baptism, (StSaXai Pa-n-Tiopwv, Heb. vi. 2,) and of laying on of hands, and of resur rection of the dead, and of eternal judgment," are doctrines relating to all these particulars. And by the same construction SiSao-KaXtat Saipovtwv, doctrines of demons, are doctrines about and concerning demons. This is therefore a prophecy that the idolatrous theology of demons professed by the Gentiles should be revived among Christians. Christians should in process of time degenerate, and resemble the Gentiles as well as the apostate Jews. They should not only apostatize after the man ner of the Jews, but should also icorship demons after the manner of the Gentiles. Demons, according < to the theology of the Gentiles, were middle powers between the sovereign gods and mortal men. So saith Plato, the most competent judge and the most con summate writer in these subjects;4 'Every demon is a middle being between God and mortal man.' These demons were re garded as mediators and agents between the gods and men. 3 ' Nnipa et rn]78 >• e- rrXavrj, Chaldceis et * Kat yap rrdv rb Satuoviov pEralb Ian 5eoi! Targumistis est idolum: el xva rrXavaa-Bat te Kai $i-vrov . Omnis enim dmmonum na- est. idola colore et scortari. Rom. i. 27 ; 2 tura inter deum rt mortale est intermedia. Thess. ii. ; 2 Pet. ii. 13.' Mede, p. 626. Platonis Sympos. § 28, p. 20-. 36 422 BISHOP NEWTON So saith Plato again,5 ' God is not approached by mail, but all the commerce and intercourse between gods and men is by the mediation of demons. The demons, saith he, are interpreters and conveyers from men to the gods, and from the gods to men, of the supplications and sacrifices on the one part, and of the commands and rewards of sacrifices on the other.' Apuleius,6 a later philosopher, giveth the like description. ' Demons are middle powers, by whom both our desires and deserts pass unto the gods ; they are carriers between men on earth and the gods in heaven ; hence of prayers, thence of gifts ; they convey to and fro, hence petitions, thence supplies; or they are inter preters on both sides, and bearers of salutations ; for it would not be, saith he, for the majesty of the celestial gods to take care of these things.' The whole is summed up by the said Apuleius in few words.7 'All things are done by the will, power, and authority of the celestial gods, but by the obedience, service, and ministry of the demons.' Of these demons there were accounted two kinds. One kind of demons were the souls of men deified or canonized after death. So Hesiod, one of the most ancient heathen writers, if not the most ancient, describing that happy race of men, who lived in the first and golden age of the world,8 saith, that ' after this generation were dead, they were by the will of great Jupiter promoted to be demons, keepers of mortal men, observers of their good and evil works, givers of riches, &c. ; and this, saith he, is the royal 6 Oeos Si (SvUpiSmp 06 ptyvvrai, iXXa Si3 8 ' Mediae potestates — per quas et desi- to teXevt^cj]^ uEydXrjv uoTpay koI rifii)v £%£h Kal yivtrat Saiuiav. Prceclare igitur et hio et alii poeto?, qjuicunque, affir mant eum qui bonus sit, ubi mortuus fuerit, magna; cujusdam sortis consequi dignitatem, et '8atp.ova esse. Platonis Cratylus, § 33, p. 393. 1 Twv Se <5r) airo9av6vTrjtxou£v rov xpuo-ou ysvovg ttvat ; Hdvrwv ye pkhiora. 'AXVoo TTEicd/iEda 'Hoid&tp ; iirw bdv tives too roiotirov yivovs tcXevt^cuxtlv, taj apa. 0J uev Sat/xoves Kat rdv Xomov 811 x9^vovi &$ 8aiu6vv — Xtiyov, &g r5 av\a Satpovta Kat $dQovouvra rolg ' 'dyadolg dvSpdaiv, Kat ralg Trpd^eatv ivia-rd- p.£va, rapa%dg Kat xfdSovg EtrdyEt, uuovra Kal c&dWovra ti)v dp£Tr,V /ta — Kat rwv dXXwv paprtipwv, iniTEXovvrat SvpoQoivlat — ol ihvTEg tqIvvv rrjs twv paprvpwv Tturjg t3 fatpiXtpov, £i}y£TEt Si v rot irXdvov, Kal tovtois ^wcrrjpo-i Kat Ttobriyolg Kcxpnuivot, rrjv rrpbg $£&v ayovrrav TtopEtav BSeircaTE. Cum varum quoque qui passim dii ferebantur, memoriam e mente hominum oboleverint — suos enim mortuos dominus deus nosier in templa pro diis vestris induxit ; ac illos quidem cassos vanosque reddidit, his autem honorem illorum attribuit. Pro Pandiis enim ac Dionysiis — Petri, et Pauli, et Thomm —aliorumque martyrumt soiemnitates pera- guntur. — Cum igitur ex honore martyribus delato quid utilitatis proveniat cernatis, fugite, amid, dmmonum errorem, prazviaque illorum face atque ductu, viam capessite, qum ad deum perducit. Ibid. p. 606, 607. 430 BISHOP NEWTON and using the martyrs as lights and guides, pursue the way which leadeth directly to God.' Here are the doctrines of demons evidently revived, only the name is altered, and the saints are substituted for the demons, the Divi or deified men of the Chris tians for the Divi or deified men of the Heathens. The promoters of this worship were sensible that it was the same, and that the one succeeded to the other ; and as the wor ship is the same, so likewise is it performed with the same ceremonies, whether these ceremonies were derived from the same source of superstition common to the whole race of man kind, or were the direct copies of one another. The ' burning of incense or perfumes on several altars at one and the same time ; the sprinkling of holy water, or a mixture of salt and common water, at going into and coming out of places of public worship ; the lighting up of a great number of lamps and wax candles, in broad daylight, before the altars and statues of their deities ; the hanging up of votive offerings and rich presents as attestations of so many miraculous cures and deliverances from diseases and dangers; the canonization or deification of deceased worthies ; the assigning of distinct provinces or prefectures to departed heroes and saints ; the worshipping and adoring of the dead in their sepulchres, shrines, and relics ; the consecration and bowing down to images ; the attributing of miraculous powers and virtues to idols ; the setting up pf little oratories, altars, and statues, in the streets and highways, and on the tops of mountains ; the carrying of images and relics in pompous processions with numerous lights, and with music and singing; flagellations at solemn seasons, under the notion of penance ; the making a sanctuary of temples and churches ; a great variety of religious orders and fraternities of priests ; the shaving of priests, or the tonsure, as it is called^ on the crown of their heads ; the imposing of celibacy and vows of chastity On the religious of both sexes ; all these and many more rites and ceremonies are equally parts of Pagan and of Popish superstition. Nay, the very same temples, the very same altars, the very same images, which once were consecrated to Jupiter and the other demons, are now recon secrated to the Virgin Mary and the other saints. The very same titles and inscriptions are inscribed to both ; the very same prodigies and miracles are related of these as of those. In short, the whole almost of Paganism is converted and applied to Popery ; the one is manifestly formed upon, the same plan and principles as the other; so that there is not only a con- 1 The reader may see this conformity be- ' Middleton in his Letter from Rome, by Mr. tween Popery and Paganism proved at large Seward in his Dissertation on the Confor- by Dr. Henry More in his Second Part of mity between Popery and Paganism, and the Mystery of Iniquity, b. i, c. 17, by Dr. other learned and ingenious authors. ON THE PROPHECIES. 431 formity, but even an uniformity in the worship of ancient and modern, of Heathen and Christian Rome. III. Such an apostacy as this, of reviving the doctrines oj demons and worshipping the dead, was not likely to succeed and take place immediately ; it should prevail and prosper in the latter times. The phrase of the latter times- or days, or the last times or days, as it hath been observed upon a former occa sion,2 signifies any time yet to come ; but denotes more parti cularly the times of Christianity. • So we find it used by some of the ancient prophets, as for example, Isaiah, Micah, and Joel. Isaiah saith, (ii. 2,) "And it shall come to pass in the hist days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be esta- olished in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it." Micah to the same purpose, and almost in the same words, (iv. 1 :) "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the moun tains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it." And Joel, as he is quoted by St. Peter, (Acts ii. 16, 17:) "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel ; And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith God,) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." The times of Chris tianity may properly be called the latter times or days, or the last times or days, because it is the last of all God's revelations to :." a nirind. Daniel also having measured all future time by the succession of four principal kingdoms, and having affirmed that the kingdom of Christ should be set up during the last of the four kingdoms, the phrase of the latter times or days, or of the last times or days, may still more properly signify the times of the Christian dispensation. Thus it is applied by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, (Heb. i. 1, 2:) "God, who, at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." Thus also St. Peter, (1 Pet. i. 20:) Christ "verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was mani fest in these last times for you." But there is a farther notation of time in the prophet Da niel ; there are the last times taken singly and comparatively, or the latter times (as I may say after Mr. Mede) of the last times, which are the times of the little horn or of Antichrist, (Dan. vii.) who should arise during the latter part of the last of the four kingdoms, and should be destroyed together with it, after hav ing continued "a time, and times, and half a time." What these times signify, and how they are to be computed, hath been shown in a former dissertation ;3 and it is in reference to these times especially, that many things under the gospel dis- 2 In Dissertation iv. 3 In Dissertation xxr. 432 BISHOP NEWTON pensation are predicted to fall out in the latter times or days, or in the last times or days. So St. Peter speaketh, (2 Pet. iii. 3 :) " There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts." So St. Jude, (ver. 17, 18:) "Beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ; how that they told you there should be mock ers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts." So likewise St. Paul, (2 Tim. iii. 1 :) "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come." These also are the latter times spoken of in the text. In these times the worship of the dead should principally prevail ; and that it hath so pre vailed, all mankind can testify. The practice might begin be fore, but the popeg have authorized and established it by law. The popish worship is more the worship of demons than of God or Christ. IV. Another remarkable peculiarity of this prophecy is the solemn and emphatic manner in which it is delivered : " The Spirit speaketh expressly." Every one will readily apprehend, that by the Spirit is meant the Holy Spirit of God, which in spired the prophets and apostles. So " the Spirit (Acts viii. 29) said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." So "the Spirit (Acts x. 19) said unto Peter, Behold three men seek thee." So "the Spirit (Rev. xiv. 13) saith, Blessed are the , dead who die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labours." But these things the Spirit only said; it is not af firmed that he said them expressly. The Spirit's speaking expressly, as Erasmus 4 and others expound it, is his speaking precisely and certainly, not obscuredly and involvedly, as he is wont to speak in the prophets : and Whitby argues farther, that in those times of prophecy, when the prophets had the govern ment of the churches, and spake still in the public assemblies, it might reasonably be said, " The Spirit speaketh expressly," what they taught expressly in the church. St. Paul had indeed before predicted this apostacy, both in discourse and in a letter to the Thessalonians, and he is by some supposed to refer to that epistle in this place. But though the predictions are alike, yet they are not expressly the same ; the general subject is the same in both, but the particular circumstances are different, so that the one cannot be said to be copied from the other. There the apostacy is predicted ; here it is specified wherein it is to consist. I would therefore prefer Mr. Mede's interpretation, that " the Spirit speaketh expressly," what he speaketh in ex press words in some place or other of divine writ: and the Spirit hath spoken the same things in express words before in the prophecy of Daniel. Daniel hath foretold in express words * ' ' Tnrws prtescripte sive precise, non obscure et involute, quemadmodum 'oqui solet in prophetis.' Erasm. in loc. Whitby, ibid. ON THE PROPHECIES. 433 the worship of new demons or demi-gods, (Dan. xi. 38 :) "And with God (or instead of God) Mahuzzim in his estate shall he honour; even with God (or instead of God) those whom his fathers knew not shall be honour with gold and silver, and with precious stones, and desirable things." The Mahuzzim of Daniel are the same as the Demons of St. Paul, gods-protec tors or saints-protectors, defenders and guardians of mankind. Daniel also hath foretold in express words, that this worship should be accompanied with a prohibition of marriage, (ver. 37 :) " Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women," that is, he shall neglect and discourage the desire of wives, and all conjugal affection. Daniel hath likewise inti mated that this worship should take place in the latter times ; for he hath described it in the latter part of his prophecy, and these times he hath expressly named " a time, and times, and half a time." If the reader hath been at the trouble of perusing the latter dissertation upon the eleventh chapter of Daniel, he will more easily perceive the connexion and resemblance be tween the two prophecies. This, therefore, is a prophecy not dictated merely by private suggestion and inspiration, hut taken out of the written word. It is a prophecy not only of St. Paul, but, of Daniel too, or rather of Daniel confirmed and approved by St. Paul. V. Having shown wherein the great apostacy of the latter times consists, namely, in reviving the doctrines concerning demons and worshipping the dead, the apostle proceeds to de scribe by what means and by what persons it should be propa gated and established in the world : " Speaking lies in hypo crisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron ;" or rather, Through the hypocrisy of liars, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. For the preposition h in often signifies as well by or through : as in St. Mark's Gospel, (ix. 29,) " This kind can come forth by nothing but (iv -irpoaEvxv kuI vnoTsiq) by prayer and fasting :" and again in the Acts of the Apostles, (xvii. 31,) " God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness (« avSpi) by that man whom he hath ordained :" and again in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, (xii. 21,) " Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil (h dyaBc?, by or) with good :" and again in St. Paul's Epistle to Titus, (i. 9,) " That he may be able (b StSaomXiq byiatvot-ap) by sound doc trine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers :" and so likewise in the text, Iv iroKptoEt, by or through hypocrisy. Liars too, or speaking lies, ^EvSoXbywv, cannot possibly be joined in construction with nvis some, and irpoofXovr« giving heed, because they are in the nominative case, and this is in the genitive. Neither can it well be joined in construction with Saipoviwv demons or devils ; for how can demons or devils be said to speak 37 3E 434 BISHOP NEWTON lies in hypocrisy, and to have their conscience seared 'with a hot iron 1 Besides if Saipoviwv demons be taken for devils, and not in the sense that we have explained it, nor with the addition of Epiphanius, then it is not expressed at all, wherein the great apostacy of the latter times consists. The "forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats," are circum stances only and appendages of the great apostacy, and not the great apostacy itself, which is always represented in Scripture as spiritual fornication or idolatry of one kind or other, and it is not likely that the apostle should specify the circumstantial errors, and omit the main and capital crime. In this place it is not the great apostacy- that he is describing, but the cha racters and qualities of the authors and promoters of it. Cas- talio therefore very properly translates5 h IrroKpioEi xpsvSoXbywv, through the dissimulation of men speaking lies : I have added men, says he, lest speaking lies and what follows should be re ferred to demons or devils. It is plain then that the great apostacy of the latter times was to prevail through the hypocrisy of liars having their conscience seared with a hot iron : and hath not the great idolatry of Christians, and the worship of the dead particularly, been diffused and advanced in the world by such instruments and agents, who have (Rom. i. 25) " changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever 1" It is impossible to relate or enumerate all the various falsehoods and lies which have been invented and propagated for this pur pose ; the fabulous books forged under the names of apostles, saints, and martyrs ; the fabulous legends of their lives, actions, sufferings, and deaths ; the fabulous miracles ascribed to their sepulchres, bones, and other relics ; the fabulous dreams and revelations, visions and apparitions of the dead to the living ; and even the fabulous saints, who never existed but in the ima gination of their Avorshippers : And all these stories the monks, the priests, the bishops of the church, have imposed and ob truded upon mankind, it is difficult to say, whether with greater artifice or cruelty, with greater confidence or hypocrisy and pretended sanctity, a more hardened face or a more hardened conscience. The history of the church, saith Pascal, is the history of truth ; but as written by bigoted papists, it is rather the history of lies. So well doth this prophecy coincide and agree with the preceding one, that the coming of the man of sin should be " after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of un righteousness." VI. A farther character of these men is given in the follow- • ' Per simulationem hominum falsiloquorum] Hominum addi, ne falsiloquorum et sc- inientia referrentur ad daimonia.' Castal. in loc. ON THE PROPHECIES. 435 ing words, "Forbidding to marry." The same hypocritical liars, who should promote the worship of demons, should also prohibit lawful marriage. Saturninus or Saturnilus, who flou rished in the second century, was, as Theodoret6 affirms, the first Christian, who declared matrimony to be the doctrine of the devil, and exhorted men to abstain from animal food. But according 7 to Ireneeus and Eusebius, Tatian, who had been a disciple of Justin Martyr, was the first author of this heresy ; at least he concurred in opinion with Saturninus and Marcion ; and their followers were called the Continents, from their conti nence in regard to marriage and meats. The Gnostics like wise, as Irenaeus and Clemens Alexandrinus 8 inform us, as serted that to marry and beget children proceeded from the devil ; and under pretence of continence were impious both against the creature and Creator, teaching that men ought not to bring into the world other unhappy persons, nor supply food for death. Other heretics in the third century advanced the same doctrines, but they were generally reputed heretics, and their doctrines were condemned by the church. The council of Eliberis in Spain, which was held in the year of Christ, 305, was, I think the first, that by public authority s forbade the clergy to marry, and commanded even those who were married to abstain altogether from their wives. The Council of Neoceesara, in the year 314, only ' forbade unmarried presbyters to marry on the penalty of degradation. At the first general council of Nice, in the year 325, a motion was 2 made to restrain the clergy from all conjugal society with their wives : but it was strongly opposed by Paphnutius, a famous Egyptian bishop, who yet himself was never married ; and to him the whole council agreed and left very many to his liberty as before. But the monks had not yet prevailed ; the monks soon after overspread the eastern church, and the western too : and as the monks were the first, who brought single life into repute, so they were the first also, who revived and promoted the worship 8 Tov Si ydpov ovtos xrpwros tov Sta&bXov continentiam impie se gerunt, tum in crea- StSao-KaXlav wvbpaee. NopoBeteX Si Kal ip 'In istis duahus partibus, somnio el mortibus affecit; ac per omnes provincias ^