with their fulfilments, would be to give a brief abstract of the annals of the Nations; for so circumstantial is the statement, that a series of their kings so regular and complete, and an account of their affairs so concise yet comprehensive, is not to be found in any single author of those times. The prophecy is indeed more perfect than any one history; and it is only by collecting from various authors (as Polybius, Diodorus, Livy, Pompeius, Justin, and many others, whose

sold his office to Jason, (Onias' brother,) for 360 talents of silver; Onias being afterwards murdered by the king's deputy. Jason was, however, supplanted by his brother Menelaus; to whom, for 300 talents more, his office was again sold, and himself obliged to flee. But afterwards, on a false report of the death of Antiochus, he attempted to recover it; and marching against Jerusalem, took it, drove Menelaus into the castle, and exercised great cruelties. Antiochus, thinking the nation had revolted, and being informed that the people rejoiced much at his death, came with a great army, took the city,— slew 40,000 of its inhabitants,-sold as many more for slaves,-polluted the Temple and Altar with swine's flesh,-profaned the Holy of Holies by breaking into it,—took away the golden vessels and other treasures, to the amount of 1,800 talents,—and restored Menelaus to his office. Subsequently to this, on occasion of his being mortified by the interference of the Romans in the matters of Egypt, he returned to Syria, and vented his rage upon the Jews. He sent an army against Jerusalem; which slew great multitudes, plundered the city, and fired it in several places; and watching those who came to worship shed their " innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary;" so that the Temple was deserted and the city forsaken. He moreover published a decree obliging persons, on pain of death, to conform to the religion of the Greeks; abrogating the Jewish law, setting up heathen worship in its stead; and even consecrating the Temple itself to Jupiter Olympius. In all this, Menelaus and other apostate Jews were his aiders and instigators against their religion and country.

works have since perished, but which were extant in the time of Porphyry and Jerome, who extracted from them,) that we can arrive at all the particulars contained therein. This exactness was so convincing, that Porphyry, not being able to deny it, asserted that the prophecy had been written after the events it professed to predict. This assertion of his and of others also, who have made similar ones, is utterly foundationless, as has been demonstrated in a former Dissertation. But wonderful as is the prophecy with respect to the times already mentioned, it is also equally so with respect to those beyond it ;-(as will be shewn in the next Dissertation;)-extending to remotest ages, and reaching even to the "consummation of all things." No one could thus declare "the times and the seasons, but that God, who hath them all in his own power."

DISSERTATION XVII.

DANIEL'S Prophecy of the THINGS noted in the SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH:-CONTINUED.

Ar the thirty-first verse of the 11th chapter, Daniel the Prophet proceeds thus: "and arms shall stand on his part, [or rather after him] and they shall pollute the Sanctuary of strength," [the Temple, so called on account of its fortifications] "and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." Arms are every where, in this prophecy, put for the military power of a kingdom; and they are said to stand up, when they conquer and grow powerful. In the same year that Antiochus, by command of the Romans, retired out of Egypt, and set up the worship of the Greeks in Judæa 1,

1 See the last note;-page 438.

the Romans conquered the kingdom of Macedon, the fundamental kingdom of the Grecian Empire; and thereby they began to put an end to Daniel's "third Beast." This is thus expressed; "and after him, Arms (that is, the Romans, a power characteristically warlike) shall stand up." From this period, Daniel therefore ceases to advert to the kings of the North and South, and describes those of the ROMANS in Greece.

Having added Illyrium, Epirus, and other parts of Asia, to the conquest of Macedon, they subdued Syria and Egypt; and thus they "stood up" over the Greeks. And in the time of the Emperor Adrian, making war upon the Jews, "they polluted the Sanctuary of strength and took away the daily sacrifice, and then placed the abomination of desolation,"-(which circumstances took place after Christ's time, and to which He alludes in Matt. xxiv. 15.)-by building a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, where the temple of God at Jerusalem had stood. The admissions of the Jews on this point, and more particularly the fact of Christ himself using this very phrase "abomination of desolation," in his prediction of Jerusalem's destruction; -both clearly show that this is the proper application of the prophecy, in its full extent'.

As was before observed, some of the particulars in this prophecy seem to have been fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes; but as the whole

"And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries." (Dan. xi. 32.)

He,

gave

"And

—i. e. the Roman power just mentioned,—-by making use of the most alluring promises as well as horrid threats, prevailed upon many primitive Christians to apostatize from the faith and offer incense to their gods. "But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits ;" (Dan. xi. 32;) many trusting in God remained firm in their faith, and the most illustrious proofs of heroic fortitude. they that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by spoil, many days.” (verse 33.) The faithful primitive Christians, being dispersed by persecutions, went every where preaching the Gospel, "instructing many," and gaining numerous proselytes: but being exposed to the rage of ten general persecutions, they suffered all sorts of afflictions, injuries and tortures, with little intermission, for three centuries.

"Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help; but many shall cleave to them with flatteries; and some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet

thereof cannot be applied to him, we must have recourse to some ulterior period, and some other Power; and none other corresponds to the whole prediction so exactly as the Roman Empire.