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DISSERTATIONS

ON THE

PROPHECIES OF SACRED SCRIPTURE.

DISSERTATION I.

MORE ESPECIALLY RELATING TO THE PAPAL POWER.

PART I.

PROBLEM.-To determine the date of the close of the period of supre macy of the Papal power, or of the 1260 years as prophetically given in the "forty and two months," in chap. xiii. verse 5, of the Apocalypse of St John.

WE have already informed the reader that it is now, as far as we can remember, about five years ago since we heard the Reverend Edward Irving deliver a few cursory lectures upon prophecy in the church of Annan. Among other things in these lectures, we were much struck with the reverend gentleman's obtaining 1792, the year of the French Revolution, by adding 532, the year of our Lord in which the supremacy of the Pope was established by an edict of the Emperor Justinian, to 1260, the number of years of the papal period as given in the Revelations. A result seemingly so remarkable roused our curiosity, and we determined to investigate the matter, and satisfy ourself of the reality of a conclusion, of the correctness of which Mr Irving expressed himself so confident; and the justice of which certainly appeared to receive considerable support from the great blow which the power of the Pope sustained from the French Revolution.

Being as ignorant at that time of the coincidence of prophecy with history as any one could well be, we procured and read as a guide upon that subject the excellent and learned work of Bishop Newton. Towards the solution, however, of the problem that we had proposed to ourself, we could meet with nothing that could enable us to come

to a satisfactory conclusion. We next looked over Mr Irving's book upon prophecy, a work which has made some little noise in these islands, from a remarkable result of interpretation it contains, concerning the return of the Jews to the Holy Land in the year 1847. But we found, that in the interpretation of the holy text which had led the reverend gentleman to this conclusion, as well as to that concerning the year 1792 being the close of the papal period, he had been equally mistaken: the "two thousand and three hundred days” in Daniel, viii. 14, being in the original to be rendered "two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings," or absolute days, to distinguish them from days which in prophecy regarding dates are taken for years; and no event in the year 1792 befalling the empire of Germany, or Holy Roman Empire, as it was impiously called, from the kingdoms or horns of which the Pope, as we shall see, derived his power, but only a renunciation of the papal sway by one of them.

Having thus been able to obtain no satisfactory information concerning the solution of our problem from either of these two writers, and not caring to consult any more, even had they been at hand, we resolved diligently to study the text of the Bible itself. We began to reflect, too, that if the date of the conclusion of the papal period could be determined by data furnished by the sacred scriptures themselves, such a determination of it might be relied on with perfect confidence, to the utter exclusion of every result arrived at by the assumption of any date of the establishment of the Pope's supremacy taken from profane history. Turning, then, to the text of Daniel, who may truly be called the wonderful numberer, and who is the only chronologer of Jewish and Gentile prophecies yet to be fulfilled, we soon found reason to be satisfied that the date of the termination of the papal period of 1260 years could not be determined till after it had actually transpired; it having been concealed from human knowledge by God's appointment till that time; and that the number of years between a well-known date in profane history, the third year of Cyrus, or 534 years B. C., the conclusion of the papal period, was contained in an algebraical formula given by Daniel, containing an unknown quantity, with an unknown co-efficient; the numerical value of which formula could not be resolved, except by a key furnished by a more special revelation of number in the Apocalypse. But that our readers may more fully understand the import of what we have here stated, it will be necessary to furnish them with a compendious interpretation of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth chapters of Daniel.

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Daniel informs us, in chapter x., that in the third year of Cyrus, or the 534th year B. C., he was by the side of the great river Hiddekel, when he lifted up his eyes, and beheld a glorious personage, the sight of whom had such an extraordinary effect upon his feelings, as to cause him to fall prostrate on the ground. To reassure and strengthen him, it seems that no fewer than three different personages were appointed; the first of whom informs the prophet that he is come to shew him what shall befall his people in the latter days,—for yet, he adds, the vision is for many days-or literally, for yet the vision for days; the last, that

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he will shew him "that which is noted in the scripture of truth :" as if
the history of the world, to the very end of time, were all written out
in the Book of Providence, and angels, at God's good pleasure, were
permitted to read it there: accordingly, this last angel proceeds to
give the prophet a history of the Roman earth from the third year of
Cyrus, the very date at which he was speaking, till the first resurrection
from the dead, and the return of the Jews to their land of Palestine.
“Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia” (*“ Cam-
byses, 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"
(Xerxes)" shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength
through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
And a mighty king" (Alexander the Great) "shall stand up, that shall
rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when
he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided
toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor accord-
ing to his dominion which he ruled for his kingdom shall be plucked
up, even for others beside those." "It is to be observed," says
Jerome, "that after mentioning the four kings of Persia who followed
Cyrus, be omitteth nine, and comes immediately to Alexander. For
the prophetical spirit is not careful to follow the order of history, but
only to glance at these things which are more remarkable." "Xerxes,"
says Bishop Newton, "was the principal author of the long wars and
inveterate hatred between the Grecians and the 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' expedition
being the most memorable on one side, as Alexander's was on the other,
the reigns of these two are not improperly connected together." Alex-
ander, in the fulness of his power and glory, died of a fever at Baby-
lon. "He was succeeded," says Bishop Newton, "in the throne
by his natural brother, Philip Aridæus, and by his own two sons,
Alexander Aegus and Hercules: but in the space of about fifteen years
they were all murdered, and then the first horn or kingdom was en-
tirely broken. The royal family being thus extinct, the governors of
provinces who 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, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, who
parted Alexander's dominions between them, and divided and settled
them into four kingdoms." "But though the kingdom of Alexander,”
says Bishop Newton, in another part of his work,§" 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 kingdom of Macedon
having been conquered by Lysimachus and annexed to Thrace; and

*Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, Dissertation xvi.
Jerome, quoted by Bishop Newton, Dissertation xvii.
Dissertation xv.
§ Dissertation xvi.

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Lysimachus again having been conquered by Seleucus, and the kingdoms of Macedon and Thrace annexed to Syria. These two likewise continued distinct kingdoms, after the others were swallowed up by the power of the Romans. But there is a more proper and peculiar reason for enlarging upon these two particularly; 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 to their situation to Judea, that the kings of Egypt and Syria are called the kings of the south and the north." We have thought proper to quote thus extensively from the work of Bishop Newton; for nothing of ours could be so appropriate to the purpose of explaining to our readers the subject of the prophetical narrative of chap. xi., between verses 5 and 30 inclusively, the critical interpretation of which we had not materials at hand to enter into in an original manner; but for a full exposition of which, we must refer the reader to the Bishop's more elementary work: ours having no pretension to such a character, being only a dissertation on those parts of the prophetic scriptures which relate to the Antichristian, powers, adapted to the capacity of those who have made some little progress in the art of interpretation. The coincidence of the portion of the eleventh chapter of Daniel lying between verses 5 and 30 inclusively, was so exact with history, "that Porphyry," says Bishop Newton, "could not pretend to deny it; he rather laboured to confirm it, and drew this inference from it, that the prophecy was so very exact, that it could not possibly have been written before, but must have been written in, or soon after, the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, all being true and exact to that time, and no farther. Others after him have asserted the same thing, not only without any proof, but contrary to all the proofs which can be had in cases of this nature, as it hath been shewn in a former dissertation. The prophecy, indeed, is wonderfully exact to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes; but it is equally so beyond that time, as you will evidently perceive in the sequel, which cannot all with any propriety be applied to Antiochus, but extends to remoter ages, and reaches to the general resurrection." The reader must understand, that the prophetical narrative to the close of chap. xi. v. 30, brings us down to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, king of the north, or of Syria; and that it is to him that the personal pronouns "him" and "he" in chap. xi. v. 30, and the possessive pronoun "his" in v. 31, refer: the remainder of the chapter, from the word "strength" in v. 31, being altogether devoted to the history of the Antichristian powers; that of the papal power beginning with. v. 32, and ending with v. 35; that of the second Antichristian power beginning with v. 36, and ending with the chapter.

After the testimony of Porphyry to the exact coincidence with history, of the portion of chap. xi. above pointed out-of Porphyry, who had access to so many histories concerning the matter which have not reached us, we were indeed surprised when we found Mr Irving applying the prophetical narrative of chap. xi. from the begin

ning of v. 21, to the end of v. 39, to Bonaparte: thus appropriating to the actions of one individual man, during the short period of about twenty years, almost half of a narrative compendiously relating to us the history of a period, which, according to Mr Irving's own allowing, must reach from the third year of Cyrus, or 534 years B. C., to, at least, the year 1847, and thus extend to 2381 years. Surely, if Mr Irving had, like Sterne's critic, taken a pair of compasses and measured the eleventh chapter, he must have staggered his preceptor, Mr Frere," to whose personal instructions he owes all his knowledge of the divine prophecy." To this criticism with the compasses we shall merely add the following questions :-Did Bonaparte "exalt himself, and magnify himself above every God?" Did Bonaparte not regard "the desire of women?" What God did Bonaparte honour with gold and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things? And now, when the ashes of the warrior rest in their bier on his prison isle of the deep, how shall he arise before the first resurrection of the dead, to achieve the rest of his story set forth in the annals of the prophet, from the time when the king of the south shall "push at him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships," till the time when Daniel shall stand in his lot at the end of the days, which, according to Mr Irving's own chronology, must needs be in the year 1867, or 75 years after the year 1792, his end of the papal period? Truly, the allied powers of Europe had better renew their cordon salutaire upon the steeps of the ocean rock, lest a fiery flying spirit again should reach them from over the waters.

Verse 31" And arms shall stand on his part, [et brachia stabunt ab ipso,] and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." The "his" in the English version evidently refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria; and the meaning of the expression, "arms shall stand on his part," or, "brachia stabunt ab ipso," must unquestionably be taken to signify, that human power or force, succeeding to Antiochus Epiphanes, shall stand in Syria. The word sacrifice in the English version has no word corresponding to it, as our readers well know, in the original Hebrew, and is very improperly introduced here, from an erroneous conceit of the translators, they having thought that the same power which polluted the sanctuary of strength, also took away the daily offering at the temple; and that it was the religion of the Jewish people that was meant by the words in the original text, translated by Tremellius, in his Latin version, "jugis cultus," the constant worship, and most literally and most correctly in the French version, "le continuel," or, the continual. The meaning of the verse is evidently this, Human power shall stand up in the dominion of Antiochus Epiphanes, (that is, in Syria,) and it shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and it shall take away the continual worship, and it shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. We perceive, from a quotation given by the Bishop from Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel, that this illustrious per

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