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the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess it for ever and ever:" This will be the end of the matter; and if any one meditate thereon with singleness of heart, his thoughts like Daniel's will be troubled in him, and his countenance changed, and he will keep the matter in his heart. 3rdly. Compare again this vision, with that which is contained in the following chapter, where the Prophet having foretold the ruin of the Persian Empire, the conquest of Alexander, and the division of his dominions between four kings, comes at once to the little Horn, that should spring from one of them; namely, from that of Greece or Macedonia; for as the Spirit of God had shewn the Prophet before, all that concerned the beginning of the fourth kingdom, he passes lightly over it, to come to the main point, the rising of the little horn, at whose destruction the Empire of the Saints shall begin.

Let it be remembered here, that Constantine, having transported into Greece the seat of the Roman Empire, renewed, (as it were) that of Macedonia, of which Byzantium was one of the chief cities; and that it was under him, and his successors, that the Bishop of Rome increased in honours, and began to lift up himself above all the Bishops and Patriarchs in the world; so that in two or three hundred years, "he waxed exceeding great in the pleasant land, and cast down and stamped upon," Kings and Emperors, those stars in the heaven of government: he took away the daily sacrifice, abolished or quite disfigured the true worship of God and Jesus, and cut down the truth to the ground, with his army.

Here the prophet saw a Saint asking another Saint, How long the church should be thus corrupted and desolate? And the answer was 2300 days, and then the sanctuary should be cleansed.-Here is a number given, a number by which we may know that we are come to the very time the Spirit of God had in view: a number which fixes the beginning of the things which are coming on the earth: let us take some notice of it.

this question is not so easily answered as the others; but it can be resolved, with some knowledge of history and chronology; for if we compare the writings of sacred and profane historians, if we trust the Canons of Ptolemy, which have been tried by astronomical observations, with Petarius, Usserius, Prideaux, and others, we shalt agree that Belshazzar, (the same whom the historians call Nirieasoolassar, or Neriglissor,) having killed Evilmerodac, the son of Nebocolassar, or Nebuchadnezzar, seized upon the Assyr ian throne, A. M. 3476, i. e. 559 years before Christ, or as Torniel will have it, about 20 years after; because asserting that Evilmerodac (instead of two years that the abovementioned Chronologist give to his reign) enjoyed the diadem twenty-three years, which would make the reign of his successor, our Belshazzar, begin about 538 years before Christ. If we admit the first opinion, which is more probable, it follows that the third year of Belshazzar's reign, falls in 556 years before Christ, which is the epocha wanted, add to it four or five years, on account of the difference of the Judaical year of 360 days, and ours that is 365, and above; add three years more for the time that Belshazzar had reigned when Daniel had the vision, and we have about 550, which being subtracted from. 2300, gives the year 1750, for the cleansing of the sanctuary; or for such a tolerable progress in the cleansing of it, as may be taken notice of, and attract the eyes of all those who wait for the cleansing of God's Church.

1. When shall the sanctuary begin to be cleansed, in such a measure as to deserve to be taken notice of by the spirit of God? At the end of 2300 days, which are proved to be prophetic days, and to signify each a whole year, by the prophecy of the seventy weeks, and many other places of Scripture. 2. What is the epoch from which we must begin to reckon those 2300 years? It is evident it must be the time of the vision itself, which the prophet has taken particular care to observe for in the first verse of the chapter, "In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar, says he, a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel."

3. But how can we know certainly the time of Belshazzar's reign? I must own

4. If any one should ask, What happened so remarkable about that time, as to shew that the Sanctuary is in some degreé cleansed, or that this important work is really carried on with any tolerable success? I would answer, That God was working at that time, and still works such a work, as never was seen since the apostles' days; he has sent some chosen servants of his, both in these kingdoms and abroad, who by the manifest assistance of God's Spirit, have removed the filthy doctrine of justification by works, and the outward Christless performance of moral duties, which pollute the sanctuary, and make it an abomination to the Lord. The Holy Ghost is given, and the love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of believers, as in the days of old; and the Lord has taken to himself, servants that will rejoice to stand boldly for the Truth, to remain unshaken in the evil day, and to fight manfully his bat tles, when he shall call them to it. I own that the cleansing is but begun, but this first Revolution may, in all probability, be the forerunner of a greater: God has called; a few have obeyed his call; the generality still shut their eyes and ears against the tender invitations of their Lord, and continue to pullute the Sanctuary, and to look on the Blood of the Lamb as an unholy thing,

Shall not God carry on his work? Shall the creature still resist his Creator, and the arm of flesh be stronger than the living God! Not so! he will not always strive with obdurate bearts: what the gentle breathings of his Spirit cannot perform, he will do with war, sword and fire, plague and famine, tribulation and anguish; he is going to gird on his sword, and his right hand shall teach him terrible things: nations refuse the sceptre of his mercy; what remains then but to rule them with an iron sceptre; and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel?

5. If this answer, satisfying as it is, does not content those, who will not believe even what they see, I would answer farther, that the calculation above-mentioned, is so far from being made to reach farther than chronology will allow. (as I have heard some object,) that it will admit of an addition of twenty-one years, according to Torniel, as I said before; which would put off the cleansing of the Sanctuary till 1770. Chronolo gists may mistake in a few years, but cannot err upon the whole and as God is true and faithful, so it is manifest, that the prophecy of 2300, must be fully accomplished in our days, or those of the next generation.

6. To set the argument, drawn from the number of 2300, in a clear light; it is necessary to prove, that it was not designed to shew the time of the cleansing the Sanctuary by Judas Maccabæus and his brethren, from the pollution of Antiochus Epiphanes; nor the cleansing of Jesus and his Apostles, who freed the Church of God from pharisaical hypocrisy, and sadducean profaneness; nor lastly, that of Luther, &c. who cleansed the outside, and washed white the Sanctuary, but were not able to remove the filth of unbelief that remained within. Many arguments might be drawn from the number itself, which agrees with no cleansing but that in these days; it will be easier to draw them from the general drift of the prophecy, and the context of the chapter. Observe first these words, " at the time of the end shall this vision be fulfilled," where the word end, sig. nifies plainly, the catastrophe of God's drama, the last act of the wicked tragedy men have been acting for near 6000 years, and the πανζων αποκαλυψις of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, in the 19th verse, the angel said to Daniel, "Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be." What end is here spoken of, if it is not that of God's universal scheme.

Ponder also these words, (ver. 26,)" wherefore, shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days;" which agrees far better with our times, than those of Antiochus, Paul, or Luther. Observe again, these words of an angel to Daniel, chap. x. "I am come to make thee understand what shall

befall thy people in the latter days," for the vision is for many days, where it is plain that latter Days here, and End, in the 8th chapter, signify but one and the same thing. The angel, according to his promise, tells the prophet in the 11th chapter, many particulars of those things that shall soon come upon us, and of that time of trouble, which will be matchless and unheard of before; then, adds the angel: " Thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book :" And, who is the man, so little conversant with History, as to say, that here is meant the persecution of Antiochus, which, though fierce for awhile, by no means answers the angel's words; or the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus; for though the troubles of the Jews were beyond expression, yet the Spirit of God had a far more distant prospect, as can be proved by the assurance the angel gives Daniel, that, at that time, his people should be delivered;" which neither was then, nor has been hitherto the Jews sighing still in a shameful banishment, and expecting yet that promised deliverance. An argument as strong as the foregoing may be drawn from the first resurrection, which is to take place soon after that deliverance, "when many of them that sleep shall awake;" whereas, at the second and last resurrection, not only many, but all the souls of dead men shall re-enter their bodies; but more concerning this afterwards.

7. As what I have been writing on the number 2300, forms a complete proof, I shall not trouble you, Sir, with longer digressions upon the various prophetic numbers that occur in the Bible, concerning the things we expect to see in a short time; let me only beg of you, to observe the barmony of the following ones:

Rev. x 6, "And the angel swore by him who liveth for ever and ever, that when the seven thunders should have uttered their voices, Xpovoι 8K ɛçat, there will not be a time more; which word time, in St. John and Daniel, signifies a year, and a prophetic year, viz. 360 years. If it be true, that the seven voices here mentioned, signify the reformation of the seven Protestant Countries, it will follow, that from the reformation there will not be a whole time, or 360 years," till the mystery of God be accomplished," which he told for our comfort, his servants the prophets.

Chap. xi. 2, "Do not measure the porch, for it is given to the Gentiles, and they shall tread under foot the holy city forty-two months." Ver. 3, "My two witnesses shall preach 1260 days." Chap. xiii. 5, “Power was given to the beast to fulfil forty-two months."

The Woman, or true Church, flying from the serpent, retires to a place where she is fed for a time, times, and part of a time;

which number plainly signifies three pro phetic years and an half, and falls in a wonderful manner with the 42 months that are allowed the beast or pope: and the 42 months during which, two, or a few witness. es, will in spite of opposition, maintain the truth as it is in Jesus, against antichrist and their false brethren.

N. B. 1260 days are equal to 42 months, or three years and a half, Daniel xii. 11. From the time that the daily sacrifice should be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall 1290 prophetic days. It is easy to observe, that there are some years difference between the numbers of Daniel, and those of St. John; the reason is, that the Apostle had the beginning of the war against antichrist in view; whereas the prophet looked farther, viz. to some remarkable battle that he should lose, and in which he shall be utterly destroyed: as for his second number, it seems to refer to that happy year when the remotest nations of the earth shall have embraced the Christian faith.

You may probably have observed, Sir, that the various numbers which come to the same, or very near, must be reckoned from the time the Bishop of Rome shewed himself plainly to be the head Antichrist," and set himself up as a God, in the temple of God;" which was not in a very remarkable manner till the end of the 5th Century: Add then 500 years to 1260, and you will see, that in a few years these plain prophecies concerning the preaching of the two witnesses, the flight of the woman into the desert, and the dura tion of Antichrist's reign, will soon be accomplished.

It is worth observation, that as the tyranny of Antichrist will last 1260 years; so his last raging, or that tribulation which will be so uncommon, shall last also 1260 common days, and not prophetic ones, because of the Elect's sake those days shall be shortened, according to our Lord's merciful promise : this observation will cast a great light upon all those numbers, and prevent many objec

tions.

Having thus laid the prophetic numbers as the foundation of the edifice, I shall now give a short sketch of the above mentioned Gentleman's superstructure.

Seducers will come, saying, “ Here is Christ, or there, and they shall seduce many; we shall hear of wars and rumours of war: a kingdom shall rise against another kingdom; there will be plagues and famines, troubles and earthquakes, but this is but the beginning of woes :" For the man of sin (recovered of the wound he received by the reformation) shall gather an incredible strength; and Satan, knowing that he has but a short time, will rage beyond all expression. God, whose wrath is justly

stirred up by the iniquities and unbelief, nay open profaneness of the Protestants, will give them into the hands of their enemies, as he formerly delivered his ungrateful people into the hands of the Assyrians ; for his. Judgments always begin at his house. Then will come that dreadful persecution describ. ed in a hundred places in the sacred writ ings.. "As the love of many will be cold," and there will be, comparatively, no faith upon the earth, the apostacy foretold by all the prophets will soon take place ;" begin, in all probability, by the Lutherans in Germany, and follow in all the Protestant coun tries. Here cruelties unheard of since the beginning of the world, will be the refining fire of our decayed Faith ; part of the reformed Christians will be destroyed by the sword, or by famine; part will be carried into captivity, part will remain to serve their cruel conquerors, who (notwithstanding their falling away from the pure, outward worship) will treat them in a most terrible man.

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Those that shall escape, being hidden and saved in a wonderful manner, will be the seed of that harvest, and will remain concealed three years and a half, (see Rev. xii. the death and resurrection of the two witnesses) when God, giving them an extraordinary measure of his Spirit; with an undaunted boldness, shall call on them to "lift up their voices like tumpets," to proclaim pardon in the name of Jesus, and to rouse deluded nations, and bid them come out of Babylon, that they may not partake of her plagues, and be consumed at the appear. ing of the Lord. Then shall a tenth part of the City fall, or a great Kingdom, leaving the party of the man of sin, will turn to God, and give the signal of an universal reformation: Others shall join it in time, and all together will get the better of God's adversaries, in spite of their desperate resist

ance.

Rome shall be destroyed and Antichristianism will share the same fate. The greatest wonders and signs shall attend these Revolutions, insomuch that Turks and Jews, Heathens and Savages, will know the hand of the Lord, bow their stubborn hearts to his Grace, and "Give glory to him that sitteth on the Throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever."

Give me leave here, Rev. Sir, to propo.e

to you, a thing that many will look upon as a great parodox, but has yet sufficient ground in Scripture to raise the expectation of every Christian, who sincerely looks for the com. ing of our Lord; I mean, the great proba bility, that in the midst of this grand Revo lution, our Lord Jesus will suddenly come down from Heaven, and go himself conquer. ing and to conquer. For, what but the greatest prejudice, could induce Christians to think that the coming of our Lord spoken of in so plain terms by three Evangelists, is his last coming before the universal Judgment, and the end of the world; since there is hardly any thing in those Chapters that could have given occasion to such a thought. 1. Jesus himself says, that immediately (ɛɛwc) after the tribulation which has been proved to be very near, the powers of hea ven will be shaken, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory; and to the end of the chapter. Our Lord does not say a word of the end of the world, and the universal Judgment, of which he does not speak till the end of the following chapter, so far from confounding his third coming with the second.

2. I read the very same account in the 13th of St. Mark, when Jesus having spoken of the general Apostacy, and "abominable desolation," spoken of by Daniel, (which of course cannot be that of the Jews at the taking of Jerusalem) he adds, " Let him that readeth understand. In those days the sun shall be darkened, &c. and then shall they see the Son of Man," &c. Who does not perceive, that Christ will come to give the finishing stroke to the great work begun by the might of his Spirit, to establish his king dom upon earth, and to bring those happy days, When ten people shall lay hold on an Israelite, saying, Lead us to the Temple of the Lord;" when the kid shall feed with the lion, and a child lead them when he that dieth young "shall die an hundred years old ;" and when" righteousness shall cover the earth, as the waters fill the sea." I cannot conceive how so many divines have such an idea of God's Wisdom, as to think (contrary to the plain text of his word) that so happy a time will last but a few days; and that this Αποκαλυψις ζων παντων will no sooner take place, but the earth will be destroyed by fire; such must be however the inconsistent opinion of those who confound our Lord's second with his third coming.

3. After our Lord's ascension, the angels promise the Apostles, who then represented all true believers, that they should see Jesus Christ coming from heaven, but said not a word of the end of the world.

4. The second coming of our Lord was so frequently talked of in the Apostles' days,

that many expected it daily, so that St. Pauf who knew it was yet afar off, thought it necessary to refute the strong expectation of the Thessalonians concerning the nearness of Christ's appearing: "That day will not come," says he, " before the apostacy, and the Revelation of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition :" which is the same as if he had said, You shall know that the Lord will shortly come, when you shall see the Universal Apostacy that I foretel you: Nay, the Apostle goes a great deal farther, for in the same chapter he assures us, that the Lord "will destroy the Man of Sin by the bright. ness of his presence." Can any thing be plainer?

5. Our Lord told his Apostles, at the last supper, that he should not drink any more of the fruit of the vine, till he should drink it new in the Kingdom of Heaven; which kingdom will be set up on earth, thousands of years before the end of the world.

Having thus established the second coming of our Lord, give me leave, Sir, to remove a specious objection:

Those who dislike an opinion because it is not generally received, will object, that all that is said in Matt. xxiv. Mark xiii, &c. of our Lord's second coming, is certainly spoken of his last, immediately before the judg ment, because Jesus says, that the angels shall gather his elect from the four winds, which seems to imply the resurrection, and the judgment following: But so far from granting it, this is the very thing that shews our Lord did not speak of the end of the world and judgment: Else why should not the reprobate be gathered from the four winds, as well as the Elect; shall these only be judged, while the mouldered bodies of the wicked shall rest in peace; is this scriptural?

What then can be the meaning of that Gathering of the Elect? The question would be too deep for a short-sighted man to an swer, had not the Spirit of God revealed it to St. John, and all the believers who with an humble mind search the writings of the Prophets. I will begin at Rev. xvii. to shew by the by, how well every thing I have wrote concerning the Man of Sin, and his destric tion, agrees with the account St. John gives us of his vision.

There he gives such strong characteristics, as at once points out Rome, and the Pope; they agree extremely well with St. Paul's and Daniel's description: The beast and the ten kings that defend it, "having made war with the Lamb, shall at last be overcome by him, whereupon the ten Kings (xii. 16,) forsaking the whore, or Popish Idolatry, shall rebel in their turn against the Pope, and with the Lord's unexpected assistance, shall destroy him, his City, and all his adherents.

The xviiith chapter is a sublime description of the vast alteration which this fall of Ba bylon will cause in the world: pride and luxury falling with the same blow.

The xixth chapter contains a magnificent account of the sudden manner in which God's Kingdom shall take place: Christ comes down, (this is again his second appearing, not distinguished enough from the third by our divines :) Christ comes down to be avenged of his enemies, who are all destroyed in a last and decisive battle, whereupon all "the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdoms of our Lord."

The xxth chapter displays to our expectation, the most glorious scene that can be on earth. "Satan is bound for a thousand years," and if they are Prophetic ones, for 360,000.* "Thrones are set up, and Judg. ment is given to those that sit on them; which probably refers to what our Saviour promises his Apostles, that at his coming, "They shall sit upon twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, as well as the souls of those that had not worshipped the beast nor its image, &c" and, having been gathered from the four winds (Matt. xxiv.) "they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years: but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished: this is the first Resurrection! Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first Resurrection, on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

This is taking away all the difficulty arising from that gathering of the Elect so long before the day of judgment, and it confirms the ideas you give us in your hymns of God's wrath and mercy.

"His wrath doth slowly move,

His mercy flows apace." "2 Nor can I conceive, that Jesus would accept of a kingdom without his members, without the "heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ." The world, however, shall not last always in this happy state: Ezekiel and St. John are very express on this article; Satan shall be loosed at last out of his prison, and se duce two powerful nations, Gog and Magog: but this second almost Universal Rebellion will be quenched, as prosperously as that of

I should rather be of this opinion, for a day is before the Lord as 1000 years, and 1000 years as a day. How would at last vanish tee pitiful objections of un. believers concerning God's choosing to create a world, where the good were to hear no proportion to the wicked! What a fine instance should we have of God's mercy, and of the efficacy of our Saviour's blood! How gloriously would these words be explained" punish to the third or fourth generation, but shew mercy unto thousands [of generations] of them that love

me !"

Antichrist. How long the world shall last after this, no one knows, nor even the angels of God; but it is certain, that all those things must come to pass before the conflagration of this Globe, spoken of by St. Peter, as well as before the second Resurrection and Judgment: see the end of chapter xx. We have in the xxi. chap. an account of the Palingeny, [Regeneration,] of the earth after its purification by fire, of the New Jerusalem, and of the ravishing happiness of those who shall have persevered unto the end.

This is, Sir, a short account of the Gentleman's system, which far from fearing a severe examination, does never appear in a better and clearer light, than when it is compared with the writings of all the Prophets and Apostles, with the prophetic Psalms, and, in a word, with the whole Bible.

Give me leave to conclude with some reflections, that naturally flow from what has been said on that system.

1. Many people, I know, look on the meditations of Prophecies, so expressly enjoined by St. Peter, as one of the greatest instances of presumption and enthusiasm ; because they believe there is no sure ground to build upon, and that it is a land of darkness, in which the most enlightened Christians will never fail to stumble and fall shamefully: But is it probable that God, who foretold to a year, and very clearly, the deliverance of the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage, the returning of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, and the building of the second temple, and the birth and death of the Messiah; is it probable, (I say) that he should have been silent, or not have spok en as clearly concerning his coming to destroy the destroyers, and to set up that kingdom which we pray for, when we daily say, according to our Lord's appointment, "Thy kingdom come?" If God has exactly foretold, for the comfort of believers, the various revolutions that have happened to his church in ages past, is it possible that he should have left himself without a witness concerning the most important of all, I mean the last; if he shewed the prophets the first acts of his drama, is it not highly probable hè has not forgot the last, without which his wisdom, justice, and mercy would always remain under a thick cloud?

2. Let none say, that Jesus himself, as a ; and man, knew not the end of the world that Moses says, "hidden things are for the Lord, but revealed ones for us and for our children :" I acknowledge that the end of the world, and the time of the purification of this globe by dissolution and fire, is a secret too deeply hid in the glass of God's decrees for any man to fathom, before God himself is pleased to reveal it; but nobody talks here of the end of the world; no body fixes either the hour or day, nor even the year of

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