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to worship, and shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it so that the temple was deserted, and the whole service omitted; the city was forsaken of its natives, and became an habitation of strangers. So he did,' and after his return' to Antioch he published a decree, which obliged all persons upon pain of death to conform to the religion of the Greeks :* and so the Jewish law was abrogated, the heathen worship was set up in its stead, and the temple itself was consecrated to Jupiter Olympius. In the transacting and ordering of these matters he had intelligence with them that forsook the holy covenant,' Menelaus and the other apostate Jews of his party, who were the king's chief instigators against their religion and their country. For as the writer of the first book of Maccabees says, " In those days went there out of Israel, wicked men, who persuaded many, saying, Let us go, and make a covenant with the Heathen, that are round about us: Then certain of the people were so forward herein, that they went to the king, who gave them license to do after the ordinances of the heathen: and they made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the Heathen, and were sold to do mischief."+ Josephus as plainly ascribes the distress of his country to the factions among his countrymen, and to those persons particularly "who fled to Antiochus, and besought him that under their conduct he would invade Judea."+

It may be proper to stop here, and reflect a little how particular and circumstantial this prophecy is concerning the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, from the death of Alexander to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. There is not so complete and regular a series of their kings, there is not so concise and comprehensive an account of their affairs, to be found in any author of those times. The prophecy is really more perfect than any history. No one historian hath related so many circumstances, and in such exact order of time, as the prophet hath foretold them: so that it was necessary to have recourse to several authors, Greek and Roman, Jewish and Christian; and to collect here something from one, and to collect there something from another, for the better explaining and illustrating the great variety of particulars contained in this prophecy. * 1 Macc. i. 41-64; 2 Macc. vi. 1–9.

+1 Macc. i. 11, 13, 15.

Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib 1, cap 1, sect. 1, p. 958. edit Hudson. Oide xarafuɣort προς Αντίοχον ἱκετευσαν, αὐτοῖς ἡγεμόσι χρωμενον, εἰς την Ι«δαιαν ἐμβαλειν. Illi vero ad Anti achum se receperunt, eique supplicarunt ut ipsis ducibus in Judæam irrumperet. [Trans iated in the text.]

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We have been particularly obliged to Porphyry and Jerome, who made use of the same authors for different purposes, and enjoyed the advantages of having those histories entire, which have since either in whole or in part been destroyed. For they had not only Polybius, Diodorus, Livy, and Trogus Pompeius, and Justin, some parts of whose works are now remaining; but they had likewise Sutcrius Callinicus, Hieronymus, Posidonius, Claudius Theon, and Andronicus Alipius, historians who wrote of those times, and whose works have since entirely perished.* If these authors were still extant, and those who are extant were still complete, the great exactness of the prophecy might in all probability have been proved in more particulars then it hath been. This exactness was so con

vincing, that Porphyry 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 shown in a former dissertation. The prophecy indeed is wonderfully exact to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, but 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 even to the general resurrection. No one could thus declare the times and the seasons,'-Acts i. 7, but he who hath them in his power.'

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* Ad intelligendas autem extremas partes Danielis, multiplex Græcorum historia necessaria est; Suctorii videlicet, Callinici, Diodori, Hieronymi, Polybii, Posidonii, Clau dii Theonis, et Andronici cognomento Alipii, quos et Porphyrius esse se secutum dicit : Josephi quoque et eorum quos ponit Josephus, præcipueque nostri Livii, et Pompeii Trogi, atque Justini, qui omnem extremæ visionis, narrant historiam. [To understand the latter part of the book of Daniel, various Greek histories are necessary, namely, of Suctorius, Callinicus, Diodorus, Hieronymus, Polybius, Posidonius, Claudius Theon, and Andronicus, surnamed Alipius, all of whom Porphyry tells us he followed: as also the histories of Josephus, and the authors quoted by him, and especially of Livy, Pompeius Trogus, and Justin, relate the whole history of this last vision.] Hieron. Præf. in Dan. col. 1074, edit. Benedict. Sutorii videlicet Callinici, Diodori, Hieronymi, Polybii, Posidonii, Claudii Theonis, et Andronici cognomento Alipii. Ita, eum locum emenda. In vulgatis est Suctorius, et ante Callinicus distinguitur, quasi a Sutorio sit diversus. [Namely of Sutorius Callinicus, Diodorus, Polybius, Posidonius Claudius, Theon, and Andronicus surnamed Alipius: For thus the passage should be corrected. In the common editions it is Suctorious, and a stop is placed before Callinicus, as if he was a different person from Sutorius.] Vossius de Hist. Græc. lib. 2, cap. 13.

DISSERTATION XVII.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED

PART II.

THUS far the meaning and completion of the prophecy is sufficiently clear and evident; there is more obscurity and difficulty in the part that remains to be considered. Thus far commenta

tors are in the main agreed, and few or none have deviated much out of the common road: but hereafter they pursue so many different paths, that it is not always easy to know whom it is best and safest to follow. Some, as Porphyry among the ancients, and Grotius among the moderns, contend that the whole was literally accomplished in Antiochus Epiphanes.* Others, as Jerome and most of the Christian fathers, consider Antiochus as a type of Antichrist; as in the seventy-second psalm Solomon is exhibited as a type of Christ, and many things are said of the one, which are only applicable to the other. Some again understand what remains, partly of the tyranny of Antiochus, and partly of the great apostacy of the latter days, or the days of the Roman empire. Others again apply it wholly to the invasion and tyranny of the Romans, the subsequent corruptions in the church, and alterations in the empire. There is no writer or commentator, whom we would choose to follow implicitly in all things; but in this we may agree with one, in that with arother, and in some instances perhaps differ from all.

* Cætera quæ sequuntur usque ad finem voluminis, ille [Porphyrius] interpretatur super persona Antiochi qui cognominatus est Epiphanes, &c. [The remaining prophecies, to the end of the book, he (Porphyry) understands as referring to Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes, &c.] Hieron. col. 1127.

Nostri autem hæc omnia de Antichristo prophetari arbitrantur.-Quumque multa quæ postea lecturi et exposituri sumus, super Antiochi persona non conveniant, typum eum volunt Antichristi habere—juxta illud quod de Domino Salvatore in septuagesimo rimo [secundo apud Hebr. et Sept.] psalmo dicitur, qui prænotatur Salomonis: et omnia quæ de eo dicuntur, Salomoni non valent convenire, &c. [Our writers are of opinion, that all these prophecies relate to Antichrist.-And since many of the things which we are about to read and expound, do not agree with the person of Antiochus, they consider him a type of Antichrist; as in what is said of our Lord and Saviour in Ixxi. Psalm (or the lxxii. as it is in the Hebrew and Septuagint,) Solomon is represented as a type of Christ. For all the things that are said of him there cannot apply to Solomon, &c.] Hieron. ibid.

The prophet proceeds thus, ver. 31,--And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength,' (the temple so called by reason of its fortifications,) and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.' Porphyry and his adherents "would have those to be signified, who were sent by Antiochus two years after he had spoiled the temple, that they might exact tribute from the Jews, and take away the worship of God, and place in the temple of Jerusalem the image of Jupiter Olympius, and the statues of Antiochus, which are here called the abomination of desolation.'"* And it is very true, as the writer of the first book of Maccabees saith, that Apollonius and others, commissioned by Antiochus, did "pollute the sanctuary, and forbid burnt-offerings, and sacrifice, and drinkofferings, in the temple, and set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol-altars throughout the cities of Judah on every side."+ Josephus likewise affirms, that "Antiochus, forbade the Jews to offer the daily sacrifices, which they offered to God according to the law: he compelled them also to leave off the service of their God, and to worship those whom he esteemed Gods; and to build temples and erect altars to them in every city and village, and to sacrifice swine upon them every day." This interpretation, therefore, might very well be admitted, if the other parts were equally applicable to Antiochus; but the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of applying them to Antiochus, or any of the Assyrian kings, his successors, obliges us to look out for another interpretation. Jerome, and the Christians of his time, contend, that "all these things were a type of Antichrist, who is about to sit in the temple of God, and to make himself as God:"§ but the fathers had very confused and imperfect notions

* Volunt autem eos significari qui ab Antiocho missi sunt post biennium quam templum expoliaverat, ut tributa exigerent a Judæis, et auferrent cultum Dei, et in templo Jerusalem, Jovis Olympii simulacrum, et Antiochi statuas ponerent; quas nunc abominationem desolatioms vocat. [Translated in the text.] Hieron. in locum, col. 1129.

1 Macc. i. 45, 46, 54.

* Και γαρ τας καθημερινας θυσίας, ας προσέφερον τω Θεω κατα τον νόμον ἐκωλυσεν αὐτας προσφέρειν. Nam et sacrificia quotidiana, quæ offerre solebant ex lege, offerre eng vetuit. Ηνάγκασε δ' αὐτὸς ἀφεμενος της περι τον άυλων Θεον θρησκείας, της ὑπ' ἀυτε νομιζόμενος σεβεσθαι· οἰκοδομησανίας δε ἐν έκαςη πόλει και κόμη τεμενη αύλων και βωμος καθιδρυσανίας, θυειν ¡ñ' áu3»ç ovç xãÐ1μv. Coegit etiam eos, Dei ipsorum cultu omisso, eos colere quos ipse Deos existimaret; et cum fana ipsorum oppidatim vicatimque extruxissent et aras collocassent, quotidie ibi immolare sues. [Translated in the text.] Joseph. Antiq. lib 12, cap. 5, sect 4 p. 533, edit. Hudson.

Quæ universa in typo Antichristi, nostri præcessisse contendunt; qui sessurus efi in templo Dei, et se facturus ut Deum. [Translated ite text.] Hieron. ibid.

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of Antichrist, the prophecies relating to him having not then received their completion. All things duly considered, no interpretation of this passage appears so rational and convincing, as that proposed by Sir Isaac Newton.* In the same year that Antiochus, by the command of the Romans, retired out of Egypt, and set up the worship of the Greeks in Judea, the Romans conquered the kingdom of Macedon, the fundamental kingdom of the empire of the Greeks, and reduced it into a Roman province; and thereby began to put an end to the reign of Daniel's third beast. This is thus expressed by Daniel. And after him arms,' that is, the Romans 'shall stand up.' As on signifies, 'after the king,'+-Dan. xi. 8: so may signify after him.' 'Arms' are every where, in this prophecy of Daniel, put for the military power of the king dom; and they stand up when they conquer and grow powerful. Hitherto Daniel described the actions of the kings of the north and south; but upon the conquest of Macedon by the Romans, he left off describing the actions of the Greeks, and began to describe. those of the Romans in Greece. They conquered Macedon, Illyricum, and Epirus, in the year of Nabonassar 580: 35 years after, by the last will and testament of Attalus, the last king of Pergamus, they inherited that rich and flourishing kingdom, that is, all Asia westward of mount Taurus; 69 years after, they conquered the kingdom of Syria, and reduced it into a province; and 34 years after they did the like to Egypt. By all these steps the Roman arms stood up over the Greeks: and after 95 years more, by making war upon the Jews, they'polluted the sanctuary of strength, and took away the daily sacrifice, and then placed the abomination of desolation,' for this abomination was placed after the days of Christ, Matt. xxiv. 15, in the 16th year of the emperor Adrian, A. C. 132, they placed this abomination by building a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, where the temple of God in Jerusalem had stood. Thereupon the Jews, under the conduct of Barchochab, rose up in arms against the Romans, and in the war had fifty cities demolished, nine hundred and eighty-five of their best towns destroyed, and five hundred and eighty thousand men slain by the sword; and in the end of the war, A. C. 136, were banished, Judea upon pain of

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* Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel, chap. 12, p. 188, &c. See also chap. 9 p. 125, &c. Nehem. xiii. 21, is after that time, or from that time forth So likewise in this very chap. ver. 23, 18 is translated after the league made with him. See the particle in Noldius and Taylor's Concordance.

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