come to pass before it as could not be fulfilled in so short a time. As, 1st, the desolation of Jerusalem, and that not till the seventy weeks were expired. 2d, The Jews to be carried captives over all nations, and Jerusalem to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. 3d, That in the meantime the Roman empire must be ruined, and that which hindered taken out of the way. 4th. That, after that was done, the Man of Sin should be revealed, and domineer his time in the temple and Church of God. 5th, After all this, viz., when the fulness of the Gentiles should come in, that Israel should be received again to mercy. 6th, That Christ should reign in his Church on earth so long till he had put down all rule, all authority, and power, and subjected all his enemies under his feet, before he should subdue the last enemy, which is Death, and surrender his kingdom into the hands of his Father. 7th. That the time should be so long, that in the last days should come scoffers, saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?" How is it possible they should imagine the day of doom to be so near, when all these things must first come to pass, and not one of them was yet fulfilled? And how could the expectation or this day be made a ground of exhortation, and a motive to watchfulness and prayer, as though it could suddenly and unawares surprise them, which had so many wonderful alterations to forego it, and none of them yet come to pass? (o) I have spoken hitherto of what was revealed

to all the apostles in general. But if we take St. John apart from the rest, and consider what was afterward revealed to him in Patmos, we shall find in his apocalyptical visions, besides other times more obscurely intimated, an express prophecy of no less than a thousand years, which, whatever it mean, cannot be a small time, and must be fulfilled in this world, and not in the world to come. Notwithstanding all this, I make no question but, even in the apostles' times, many of the believing Gentiles, mistaking the apostles' admonitions to the Jews of the end of their state approaching, thought the end of the whole world and the day of the Lord had been also near; whom, therefore, St. Paul, 2 Thess. ii., beseeches to be better informed, because that day should not come until the apostasy came first, and the Man of sin were revealed.

CHAPTER XVI.

The fourth particular, viz., the warrant or proof of this prophecy.-When the Spirit speaks expressly, and when by secret instinct or inspiration.-That the Spirit foretold the Great Apostasy expressly in Dan. xi. 36-39.-An exact translation of these verses both in Latin and English.-The chief difficulties in them explained, and incidentally other places of Scripture.-The different opinions of Junius and Graserus about verse xxxviii.-The Author's translation free from the inconveniences of both.—A particular explication of "Mahoz," and " Mahuzzim :" that hereby are meant fortresses, bulwarks, as also protectors, guardians, defenders, &c.-How fitly this title is applicable to angels and saints, accounted to be such by those that worshipped them.

Now I come to the fourth particular of this prophecy, the warrant or proof thereof. The Spirit hath foretold it pŋrŵs, or in express words, in some place or other of Divine writ. The Spirit told Peter, Acts x. 19, "Behold, three men seek thee." The Spirit said, Acts xiii. 2, " Separate me Barnabas and Saul." The Spirit forbade St. Paul to preach in Asia. The Spirit said that the Jews should bind St. Paul at Jerusalem, Acts xxi. 11. But in all these the Spirit spake not pηrs, for these things were nowhere written; and, therefore, what it spake it spake appηrs, only by secret instinct or inspiration. But that which the Spirit speaks in the written Word, that it speaks pηros, verbatim, expressly. If, therefore, concerning this apostasy of Christian believers,

to be in the Latter Times, the Spirit speaketh pnrws, then is it to be found somewhere in the Old Testament, for there alone the Spirit could be said to speak fŋrâs, or verbatim, in the apostles' time. Having, therefore, so good a hint given us, let us see if we can find where the Spirit speaketh of this matter so expressly.

There are three main things in this our apostle's prediction, whereof I find the Spirit to have spoken pŋtws, or in express words, and that in the prophecy of Daniel: 1, of these Last or Latter Times; 2, of the new worship of Demons in them; 3, of a prohibition of marriage to accompany them. As for the first of these, the Latter Times, Daniel (as you have heard before) expressly names them "A time, times, and half a time," being those last times of the last kingdom, wherein the hornish tyrant should make war with the saints, and prevail against them. For the second, a worship of new demons or demi-gods, with the profession of the name of Christ, you will perhaps think it strange if I should shew it pnrôs but if I do, it was the appendix of hindering or debarring marriage, mentioned in the next verses, which as a thread led me the way to the end of the eleventh chapter of Daniel, where I found it; and in a place, too, very suspicious, being taken, I think, by almost all the ancients, for a prophecy of Antichrist, yea, and so expounded by the greatest part of our own, though with much variety of reading and application. (p)

* Καιρός, καιροὶ, καὶ ἥμισυ καιροῦ.

But hear the words themselves in vv. 36-39, of that eleventh chapter of Daniel, translated, as I think, pnros, verbatim, without any wresting or straining the Hebrew text. They are a description of the last or Roman kingdom, and the several states thereof, conquering nations, persecuting Christians, false-worshipping Christ. The words are these:

DANIEL XI. 36-39.

36 Then a King shall do according to his will, and shall exalt and magnify himself above every God.

Yea, against the God of gods shall he speak marvellous things, and shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished, for the determined time shall be fulfilled.

37 Then he shall not regard the Gods of his ancestors, nor shall he regard the desire of women, no, nor any God: but he shall magnify himself above all.

38. For to [or together with] God, in his seat, be shall honour Mahuzzims; even together with that God whom his ancestors knew not, shall he honour [them] with gold, and with silver, and with precious stones, and with pleasant things.

39 And he shall make the holds of the Mahuzzims withal [or jointly] to the foreign God, whom acknowledging, he shall increase with honour, and shall cause them to rule over many, and shall distribute the earth for a reward.

1. Now, for the understanding of this prophecy, we must take notice that the prophet Daniel, at the beginning of these verses, leaves off the Greek kingdom with Antiochus, of whom he was speaking before, and turns to the Roman : the reason being, because after Antiochus, in whose time Macedonia, whence that kingdom sprung, with all the rest of Greece, came under the Roman obedience, the third kingdom comes