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PROP. two months,* (still the very same period of time,) XIV. and to have (ch. xiii. 7, 8.) power over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations, so that all that dwell upon the earth should worship him: Is it credible, or possible, that ignorant and enthusiastical writers should, by mere chance, hit upon such coincidences of [occult] numbers? especially since St John could not possibly take the numbers from Daniel, if he understood Daniel to mean nothing more than the short persecution of Antiochus. And if he did understand Daniel to mean a much longer, and greater, and more remote tyranny, which John himself prophesied of as in his time still future; then the wonder is still infinitely greater that in those early times, when there was not the least footstep in the world of any such power as St John distinctly describes, (but which now is very conspicuous, as I shall presently observe more particularly,) it should ever enter the heart of man to conceive so much as the possibility of such a power, sitting, not upon the pavilion of heathen persecutors, but expressly (2 Thess. ii. 4.) in the temple and upon the seat of God himself.

There has prevailed among learned men a very important error as if the 1260 days, (or years) here spoken of, took their beginning from the rise of the tyranny here described: Whereas, on the contrary, the words of Daniel are express; that, not from the time of his rise, but after his having made war with the saints, and from the time of their being given into his hand, should be a time, and times, and the dividing of time, chap. vii. 24, 25. And St John no less expressly says, that the time, not of the two witnesses prophesying, (for in part of that time they had great power,) but of their prophesying in sackcloth, should be a thousand two hundred and threescore days, Rev. xi. 3. And the persecuted woman, after her flight, was to be actually in the wilderness, (and in her place there, of riches and honour,) a thousand two hundred and threescore days, chap. xii. 6. Wherefore also the forty and two months, (the very same period,) during which time power was given unto the wild beasts to continue, (in the original it is, woño, to do what he eased, (Rev. xiii. 5.) evidently ought not to be reckoned from his rise, or from the time when the ten kings (chap. xvii. 12.) received power with him, but from the time of his having totally overcome the saints, and of his being worshipped by all that dwell upon the earth, ch. xiii. 7. 8.

But these prophecies, which either relate to particular places, or depend upon the computation of particular periods of time, are (as I said) of such a nature as that they cannot be judged of but by persons skilled in history. There are some others more general, running through the whole Scripture, and obvious to the consideration of the whole world.

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For instance; it was foretold by Moses that when the Jews forsook the true God, they should (Deut. xxviii. 25.) be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; should be (Levit. xxvi. 33.) scattered among the heathen, (Deut. iv. 27.) among the nations, (Deut. xxviii. 64.) among all people from the one end of the earth, even unto the other, should there be (Deut. iv. 37.) left few in number among the heathen, and (Levit. xxvi. 39.) pine away in their iniquity in their enemies' lands; and should (Deut. xxviii. 37.) become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word a mong all nations; and that (Deut. xxviii. 65.) among these nations they should find no ease, neither should the sole of their foot have rest; but the Lord should give them a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind; and (Levit. xxvi. 36.) send a faintness into their hearts, in the lands of their enemies, so that the sound of a shaken leaf should chace them. Had any thing like this in Moses's time ever happened to any nation? Or was there in nature any probability that any such thing should ever happen to any people? that, when they were conquered by their enemies, and led into captivity, they should neither continue in the place of their captivity, nor be swallowed up and lost among their conquerors, but be scattered among all the nations of the world, and hated by all nations for many ages, and yet continue a people? Or could any description of the Jews, written at this day, possibly be a more exact and lively picture of the state they have now been in for many ages, than this prophetic description given by Moses more than 3000 years ago?

The very same thing is in like manner continually

PROP.
XIV.

PROP. predicted through all the following prophets; that God would (Jer. ix. 16. Ezek. iv. 13.) scatter them among the heathen; that he would (Jer. xv. 4. xxiv. 9. xxix. 18. xxxiv. 17.) cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth; that he would (Ezek. v. 10, 12.) scatter them into all the winds, and (Ezek. xx. 23. xxii. 15.) disperse them through the countries of the heathen; that he would (Amos, ix. 9.) sift them among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve; that (Jer. xxiv. 9. xxix. 18) in all the kingdoms of the earth, whither they should be driven, they should be a reproach and aproverb, a taunt and a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing; and that they should (Hos. iii. 4.) abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. And here concerning the predictions of Ezekiel, it is remarkable in particular that they being spoken (See Ezek. i. 1. iii. 11. xi. 24.) in the very time of the Babylonian captivity, it is therefore evident, from the time of his prophesying, as well as from the nature and description of the thing itself, that he must needs be understood of that latter (Tobit, xiv. 5.) "captivity into all places," which was to happen after the" fulfilling the time of that age" wherein God was first to" bring them again" (out of the Babylonian captivity) "into the land where they should build a temple," but not like to that which afterwards (after their final return) should "be built for ever with a glorious building." The fore-cited prophecies (I say) must of necessity be understood of that wide and long dispersion which in the New Testament also is expressly mentioned by (Luke xxi. 24) our Saviour, and by (Rom. xi. 25.) St Paul.

It is also, further, both largely and distinctly predicted as well by Moses himself, as by all the following prophets: that, notwithstanding this unexampled dispersion of God's people, (Levit. xxvi. 44.) yet, for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, God will not destroy them utterly; but (Deut. xxx. 1, 2,

XIV.

3, 4.) when they shall call to mind among all the PROP. nations whither God has driven them, and shall return unto the Lord, he will turn their captivity, and gather them from all the nations,-from the utmost parts of heaven,- -(Deut. iv. 30.) even in the latter days: That (Jer. xxx. 11.) though he makes a full end of all other nations, yet will he not make afullend of them; but (Isa. x. 21, 22. vi. 13. Jer. xxiii. 3. Ezek. vi. 8, 9.) a remnant of them shall be preserved, and return out of all countries whither God has driven them: That he (Amos, ix. 9.) will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth That (Isa. xi. 11.-16. xxvii. 13.) the Lord shall set his hand again the second time, to recover the remnant of his people,--and shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth: For (Isa. xliii. 5, 6. Jer. xvi. 15. xxiii. 7, 8. xxxi. 8-12. xxxii. 37, &c. Ezek. xi. 15, 16, 17. xx. 41. xxviii. 25. xxxiv. 12, 13. xxxvi. 24. xxxvii. 21. xxxix. 27, 28, 29.) I will bring thy seed from the east, saith the Lord, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, give up; and to the south, keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth (Isa. xlix. 22. lx. 8, 9, 10, lxvi. 20.) Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders: (Isa. liv. 7, and the whole chapter.) For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercy will I gather thee; in a little wrath I hid my face from thee, for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee. And that these prophecies might not be applied to the return from the 70 years' captivity in Babylon, (which moreover was not a dispersion into all nations,) they are expressly referred to the latter days, not only by (Deut. iv. 30.) Moses, but by (Hos. iii. 4, 5.)

PROP. Hosea, who lived long after, (for the children of IsXIV. rael shall abide many days without a king, and with

out a prince, and without a sacrifice: afterward they shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days;) and by Ezekiel, who lived in the captivity itself, (Ezek. xxxviii. 8. xii. 14, 16.) after many days [speaking of those who should oppose the return of the Israelites,] thou shalt be visited, in the latter years thou shalt come into the land ;-upon the people that are gathered out of the nations;

in that day, when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, thou shalt come up against them,it shall be in the latter days. These predictions therefore necessarily belong to that age, when (Luke xxi. 24.) the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled, and (Rom. xi. 25, 29.) the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And that, through all the changes which have happened in the kingdoms of the earth, from the days of Moses to the present time, which is more than 3000 years, nothing should have happened to prevent the possibility of the accomplishment of these prophecies, but, on the contrary, the state of the Jewish and Christian nations at this day should be such as renders them easily capable, not only of a figurative, but even of a literal completion in every particular, if the will of God be so; this (I say) is a miracle, which hath nothing parallel to it in the phenomena of nature.

Another instance, no less extraordinary, is as follows. Daniel foretels (Dan. vii. 23.) a kingdom upon the earth, which shall be divers from all kingdoms, (ver. 7.) divers from all that were before it, (ver. 19.) exceeding dreadful, (ver. 23.) and shall devour the whole earth: That, among the powers into which this kingdom shall be divided, there shall arise one power (ver. 24.) divers from the rest, who (ver. 8, 8. 20.) shall subdue unto himself three of the first powers, and he shall have (ver. 8. 20.) a mouth speaking very great things, and a look more stout than his

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