God and also Governour from the first coming out of Babylon untill the second Temple was finished nor may we take in any Governours who did bear rule afterwards from the time that Ezra went up to Jerusalem untill the days of Nehemiah because in all this time Ezra was authorized by King Artaxerxes to set Governours and Magistrates over the people Chap. 7.25 And thou Ezra after the wisdom of thy God that is in thy hand set Magistrates and Iudges now it is not likely that Ezra a man inspired by God would set up such Governours or if through mistake he should the first time so do yet having seen the evil of it he would be more wary in his next choyce These unjust oppressing Governours must therefore be supposed to bear rule betwixt Zerubbabels time and Ezraes and if so then cannot we think with Doctor Light-foot the time should be so little as one year if more then of necessity must Darius and Artaxerxes be two distinct persons Now this which is the main Foundation-stone not being firm the building must needs be weak for if Darius were one person and Artaxerxes another then put case Darius dyed that very year the Temple was finished which is a thing very unlikely considering he craved the prayers of Gods people unto whom he had been such a friend that he might live long Ezra 6.11 And also suppose Artaxerxes his next Successor yet because Ezraes going up is not till Artaxerxes seventh year there will be upon the result six years more then Doctor Light-foot hath accounted for which makes such a breach in his building as cannot be made up again 4 Particular That it was seventy years compleat and no more from the time the first Temple was destroyed untill the second of Darius when the building of the second was advanced Ans This opinion standing upon the two first Suppositions viz. 1. That Artaxerxes Ahasuerus was Cyrus next Successor 2. That this Artaxerxes Ahasuerus reigned but fourteen years in all both which we have before disproved it falls of it self for in case we conceive any other King to have reigned betwixt Cyrus and Artaxerxes Ahasuerus or conceive Artaxerxes Ahasuerus to have reigned more years then fourteen the number of years amounts to above seventy and if so then Doctor Light-foots computation must needs be amisse 5 Particular That Ezra was Son to that Serajah the High Priest whom Nebuchadnezzar slew at the time the first Temple was destroyed which Doctor Light-foot proves from Ezraes Genealogie Chap. 7.1 Ans This I must confesse look upon it one way it seems to have in it much strength yet look upon it another and it seems altogether improbable for according to this reckoning suppose Ezra to be born but the year before Jerusalems destruction when his Father was slain yet must we as saith Doctor Light-foot himself suppose him fifty years old at least in that very year which the Scripture calls Cyrus first Now laying hereunto Doctor Light-foots own words upon Nehem. 13. which are these Ezra saith he lived near the times of Jaddua who met Alexander the Great coming to Jerusalem for he wrote the Book of Chronicles in the time of Iohanan Iadduaes Father Nehem. 12.23 and so he lived well towards the expiration of the Persian Monarchy Now let us lay all together and weigh the whole Ezra was fifty years old in Cyrus first year after that he must out-live four generations and in the fifth generation write the Book of the Chronicles that four generations though Doctor Light-foot doth not observe it did passe betwixt the first of Cyrus and the days of Iohanan Iadduaes father is evident Nehem. 12.10 11. And Jeshua begat Jojakim Jojakim also begat Eliashib and Eliashib begat Jojada and Jojada begat Jonathan and Jonathan begat Jaddua Now observe Ieshua was High Priest in the first year of Cyrus at the comming out of Babylon Ezra 3.2 Ezra out-lives him there is one generation Jojakim succeeded him there is a second Eliashib him there was a third Jojada him there was a fourth All these Ezra out-lived and in the fifth generation namely of Johanan or Jonathan Jadduaes Father hee wrote the Book of the Chronicles he must therefore certainly be very aged that after fifty years of age should out-live four generations and live to see the fifth yet this did Ezra in case hee were Son to that Serajah It is therefore Iconceive much better to say that that Serajah the Son of Azariah the Son of Hilkiah mentioned Ezra 7.1 was not immediate Father to Ezra but rather Grand-father or Great Grand-father now Ezra coming out of his Loyns is called his Son though he were not the immediate Son or next Issue for one of these Reasons Either first because that Serajah was more famoussy known being High Priest and killed at the sacking of Ierusalem then possibly Ezraes next Father was and therefore Ezra passeth over him in silence and begins his Descent from the other who was more famously known Or secondly because that Serajah was the first in the Line of Ezra upwards that was High Priest for though others did come betwixt Ezra and him yet were none of them High Priests for the Priest-hood from Serajah went on in another Line not that of Ezraes Father but that of Iehosadaz or Iosedech father of Ieshua 1 Chron. 6.14 15. Ezraes Father therefore though he came of the House of Aaron yet because he was not of Aarons Line he passeth him over beginning his Genealogie from the first of his Ancestors that was of that Line namely Serajah Or Thirdly which I rather incline to because it is very probable Ezraes immediate Father was also named Serajah and because the name of Father and Grand-father or Great Grand-father was the same he therefore in counting his Pedigree passeth over his Father and such other if any did come between as passed betwixt him and Serajah and begins as I have said from him Now a like example to this we have in the very text Ezra 7. if we compare it with 1 Chron. 6.4 to 15. for in the Genealogie as we have it in Ezra we finde betwixt Shallum and Merarioth but four generations viz. of Zadok of Ahitub of Amariah of Azariah but in the very same Genealogie as it is laid down in the Chronicles we have betwixt these two no lesse then ten Generations And what is the reason hereof Why this we have in the Chronicles between Shallum and Merarioth two Zadoks two Ahitubs two Amariahs two Azariahs now Ezra in his Genealogie to shun repetitions contents himself with naming each one and then leaps over the rest of the same name Now as I said Ezraes Father being in all likelihood named Serajah that Ezra might not come over with the same name twice he therefore omits him and begins with that Serajah who yet was more remote carrying on his Pedigree from him And that the thing I have said viz. That Ezraes Father was named Serajah yet not Serajah the
hath these sayings which he applies to the year 390. Concerning the Avarice and corruption of the Clergy Jerome thus Whence is this Avarice crept into the Church the Law now perisheth from the Priest the Vision from the Prophet And again Searching saith he former Histories I have not been able to find any who have so rent the Church and seduced those of Gods Family as those do who now go under the name of Priests they are become a crooked snare giving occasion to scandal in all places Farther He calls the then Roman Presbytery Scribes Pharisees a Synod of Pharisees and addes that from the Apostles dayes untill that time the Church grew under Persecutions and was crowned with Martyrdome But saith he at this day the same is greater in riches and power but lesse in vertue Concerning the Prohibition of Mariage Meats c. the said Jerome thus IN HYPOCRYSIE they speak who when they cannot contain will seem so chaste as even to condemn Mariage so abstemious that they judge those that use the creatures of God sparingly when as they give up themselves to follow luxurious Banquets Our aforesaid Author alleadgeth also a saying out of Augustine applying it to the year 399. tending to shew how greatly the Church about this time was fallen from her first purity The testimony speaks thus That Religion about this time was so corrupted with Traditions and humane Rites that the very condition of the Jews under the Law was more easie then that of Christians under the Gospel Also under the very same year as the next thing he brings a testimony of Dionysius Bishop of Corinth who by an Epistle admonisheth another Bishop that he should not load Christians with heavy Burdens Ceremonies and Traditions nor obtrude upon his Brethren single life After this he quotes Chrysostome declaming against the Bishop of Romes Purgatory c. which things he applies to the year 410. the recital whereof I forbear to mention Hitherto of what I find in our Authors Epistle The Book it self affords variety of the like betwixt the years 390 and 400 whereof I shall onely glean up some things Cent. 4. A. D. 391. Of the Clergies enriching themselves by Auricular Confession he saith thus That when any Prince or great man confessed himself guilty of any crime by him committed presently by threats and perswasions he was made to beleeve that he could not be saved unlesse he did confer on the Church a good part of his estate or else bidding farewel to all earthly things devolving them upon the Clergy should betake himself to a private Monkish life which done he should thereby not onely be freed from Hell but also obtain a sure certain and plentiful hope of life eternal A.D. 393. He saith thus That in that very year was seen hanging in the Heavens a burning Pillar by the space of thirty dayes And saith he about this very time began humane Traditions Monkish life c. A.D. 395. He makes mention of one Amphilochius Bishop of Iconium reprehending the worshipping of Images An Argument Image worship was up so early A. D. 396. He collects many things out of Epiphanius third Book Contra Haereses shewing how great the defection was at this time Concerning Image worship Epiphanius thus Whence is this Image worship and design of the Devil And a little after The Images of such as never lived do men introduce to be worshipped having the mind adulterated from the one and only God And a little after that Be mindful my beloved children that ye bring not Images into the Church but bear about God alwayes in your hearts for it is not meet that a Christian should be held by his eyes but by the occupation of his mind Concerning the Virgin Mary Epiphanius thus The body of Mary was truly holy but not God The Virgin her self was indeed a Virgin and to be honoured but not given us that we should worship her she her self worshipping him who was born of her flesh Much more is by the aforesaid Author quoted from Epiphanius which speaks the very same language with these all which he applyes to the year 396. the recital whereof I forbear A.D. 399. To this year Wolfius makes application of many sayings of Augustine who was made saith Helvicus Presb. Hyponensis A.D. 391. Concerning Purgatory Augustine thus The Catholick faith beleeves Heaven to be the first place the second Hell as for a third we are wholly ignorant nor is it found in the Scripture Concerning worshipping Saints thus It is not our Religion to worship dead men they are honored for our imitation sake not to be worshipped for the sake of Religion nor are we to consecrate Temples to them for they will not so be honoured of us Concerning Faith and Works Good Works do not precede Justification but follow the justified Concerning Peter and the Power of the Keyes thus We who are called Christians do not beleeve in Peter but in whom Peter did beleeve And again The Keyes of the Church are delivered to the whole Church not to one Peter A little after Augustine reprehending saith our Author the arrogancy of the Popes who suffered themselves to be called Gods saith He that would seem to be God when as he is man doth not imitate him who when he was God was for our sakes made man The aforesaid Author quoteth a saying of Gregory Nazianzene concerning Councels about this time Cent. 4. p. 127. If truth saith he be spoken I judge it best that all Councels be avoyded for I never saw good end of any Councel nor the abrogation of any evill thereby but only ambition contention and strifes about Prerogative and Dignity This cloud of witnesses standing up for the truth and that about this time is a manifest demonstration of that great Apostacy from primitive principles and purity which we are speaking of to be about this very time If any doubt of the Testimonies themselves or conceive I may in translating them have corrupted them they may satisfie themselves by having recourse to my Author where likewise they shall find in most things two for one of what I have translated Adde hereto as a Celestial sign of this defection and of the rise of the Antichristian Lucifer about this very time what is by Alsted recorded viz. That a little before this time as namely A. D. 383. And again A. D. 389. were seen two Comets one following the other like unto Lucifer the like to which were never seen in any other Age. In Chronologia Cometarum Yet as concerning the defection I am speaking of I grant that the same was in part more early The reason whereof is this because the mystery of iniquity from the Apostles dayes did begin to work and endeavour to thrust it self in 2 Thes 2.7 Hence in the year 198. when Victor was Bishop of Rome a great stir was made by him about the Celebration of Easter but the same was opposed by some Councels at that time Alsted in
5. which Horn was Alexander the Great so the rise of the second Monarchy of the Medes and Persians is described by a Ram having two Horns vers 3. which two Horns are interpreted the Kings of Media and Persia vers 20. Now as these two horns were both upon the Ram together at the time of his pushing against the Babylonian Monarchy for otherwise why is he described as pushing with two horns so must we conceive that Cyrus King of the Persians and Darius the Mede with their united strength did push against the Babylonians and overthrowing them did accordingly untill by Darius death the Monarchy fell to Cyrus alone Reign together 3 It s foretold to Belshazzar Dan. 5.28 that his Kingdome should be divided betwixt the Medes and the Persians But in case the same had fallen into the hands of Darius the Mede only then as I have observed before there had been no division of the Kingdome for where one hath all is no dividing Yea farther if Cyrus had had nothing to do with the Monarchy till after Darius death how then had Belshazzars Kingdome faln to him it had been Darius his Kingdome not Belshazzars 4 The Prophet Isaiah foretelling the ruine of Babylon Chap. 21. makes mention of two Nations as spoyling of her which two Nations are the. Medes and Persians vers 2. A grievous Vision is declared unto me The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously the spoyler spoyleth Go up O Elam besiege O Media Now observe Elam was that Province in which Shushan the Royal City of Persia stood Dan. 8.2 I was at Shushan which is in the Province of Elam by Elam therefore the Persians are meant as by Medea the Medes both which hand in hand march up besiege spoyl Babylon And therefore in the following verses of this Chapter the marchers up against Babylon are described by a double Chariot a Chariot of Asses and a Chariot of Camels noting the Medes and Persians which double Chariot by vertue of that union and neer conjunction that was now between them go both under the name of one and are called but one Chariot because they march up together so unanimously against babylon as if they had been but one people and not two which one Chariot is led on by a couple of Horsemen excellently pointing out Cyrus and Darius the two Heads or Leaders of this Army as vers 6. For thus hath the Lord said unto me Go set a Watchman let him declare what he seeth vers 7. And he saw a Chariot with a couple of Horse-men a Chariot of Asses and a Chariot of Camels and he hearkned diligently with much heed vers 8. And he cryed A Lion my Lord. I stand continually upon the Watch-tower in the day time and I am set in my ward whole nights vers 9. And behold here cometh a Chariot of men with a couple of horsemen and he answered and said Babylon is fallen is fallen and all the graven Images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground 5 The first year of Cyrus the Persian when the Decree went forth for building the Temple 2 Chron. 36 22 23. Ezra 1.1 2. is the very same year with that called the first of Darius the Mede Dan. 9.1 Chap. 11.1 For observe the first year of Cyrus the Persian must be that very year that immediately succeeded the ending of the seventy years of Captivity for otherwise Israels deliverance being not till the first of Cyrus the time of their Captivity should be upwards of seventy years which is expresly against the Prophesie Jer. 29.10 Thus saith the Lord That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return to this place Now the first year of Darius the Mede was the same year as is clear because with the end of Belshazzars reign from whom Darius the Mede takes the Kingdome the time allotted to the Babylonian Monarchy which was seventy years from the time that Israel was first captivated was now finished Dan. 5.26 and also because this seems to be the very thing that sets Daniel upon prayer and fasting Dan. 9.2 3. the understanding by Books in this first year of Darins the Mede that the seventy years were accomplished Nay let me say it must needs be so that the seventy years did expire with the first year of Darius the Mede when Babylon was taken and so consequently Darius first year and Cyrus first but one and the same year because the forequoted Prophesie Jer. 29. is clear that after seventy years were expired Israel should return from Babylon And Jer. 25.11 12. speaks it yet more clearly that Israel should serve the King of Babylon but seventy years which so soon as accomplished God would punish the King of Babylon and deliver them Whence I conclude that the seventy years are not to be extended any further then the time that Israel did serve Babylon and the time that Babylon was punished of God But Israel served Babylon no longer then the first year of Darius for with his taking the Kingdome as our former Reasons prove the Babylonian Monarchy ended if we should therefore suppose them in servitude afterwards it must be to the Medes not the Babylontans and also Babylon was sufficiently punished of God when the Babylonian Monarchy was translated to another people both which things having their plenary accomplishment in the first year of Darius the Mede therefore with that year must the seventy years of necessity expire and if so then must the first year of Darius the Mede be also the first year of Cyrus the Persian in which Israel was set free for otherwise they had remained in Captivity above seventy years If therefore the first year of Darius the Mede and the first of Cyrus the Persian were one and the same year then of necessity must their Reign be together and therefore I take it that those words Dan. 6.28 speak of Darius and Cyrus as Co-reigners and not as Reigning successively one after the other unlesse we understand it only of the time that Cyrus Reigned alone after Darins death So this Daniel prospered in the Reign of Darius and in the Reign of Cyrus the Persian Now the Reasons why Daniel speaks chiefly of Darius the Mede as if the ruling power lay in his hands only seems to me to have been one of these two or both 1 Because Darius the Mede being aged and of the two the greater Polititian took up his abode Babylon being taken in the Royal City of the Empire managing the affairs of State whilst Cyrus who was the younger and the braver Souldier was in all likelihood yet in the field subduing and bringing into subjection such Countries Cities and Towns as did yet stand in the way of his absolute Monarchy Hence Daniel whose employment lay in State affairs having chiefly to do with Darius makes mention of him as though be alone had been King 2 Because Darius the Mede being much
Mede before because I can neither bring forth his strength nor my own without references to the Author that we are to reckon upon seven and thirty years onely which by him are laid down thus viz. Cyrus three Artaxerxes Ahasuerus fourteen Artaxerxes Darius twenty the whole is seven and thirty But though I much value the learning and judgement of the Author yet cannot I conclude with him in this 1 Because the allowance of so few years to this Period can never unlesse new Heads agreeable to Scripture and Reason be found out for each several number cause a concurrence in ends betwixt the two thousand three hundred dayes and the one thousand three hundred thirty five the one thousand two hundred and sixty dayes and the one thousand two hundred and ninety which upon the account of the Reasons laid down in my Key Thes 17. and Thes 34. must be 2 Because the several suppositions upon which this opinion is built are not onely in themselves uncertain but even inconsistent with other parts of the Scripture History and Right-reason And therefore of necessity the foundation being sandy must the opinion fall Now the things by Dr. Lightfoot supposed which are bottome for this opinion are these 1 That Artaxerxes Ahasuerus mentioned Ezra 4.6 7. was Son and next Successor in the Persian Monarchy to Cyrus Asserted in his Chronicle upon the Book of Hesther 2 That this Artaxerxes Ahasuerus reigned but fourteen yeers in all Asserted upon Hesther 10. 3 That Darius in the sixth of whose Reign the Temple-work was finished Ezra 6.15 and Artaxerxes in the seventh of whose Reign Ezra went up to Jerusalem Ezra 7.1 7. and Nehemiah afterwards in the twentieth Nehem. 2. was one and the same person under two names In the Chronicle upon Ezra Chap. 6. Chap. 7. Chap. 9 10. 4 That it was the compleat number of seventy years from the time that Nebuchâ—â—nezzar destroyed the first Temple untill Darius second year in which the building of the second was advanced In the Chronicle upon Hesther 10. 5 That Ezra was Son to that Serajah the High Priest whom Nebuchadnezzar slew at the time the first Temple was destroyed 2 King 25.18 22. and therefore must necessarily be born before the destruction of Solomons Temple which being fifty years before Cyrus first and Ezra being so active now in the dayes of Artaxerxes it cannot agree to his age and activity that the time betwixt Cyrus first and Artaxerxes twenty should be long Upon Ezra 7. 6 That the design of the Holy Ghost in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah is to give us a Chronicle of the Porsian Kings Upon Nohemiah p. 204. These Six Particulars which I finde here and there scattered in Doctor Light-foot and have for the better discussing of the thing put them into this order will upon a due examination be all of them found too light 1 Particular That Artaxerxes Ahasuerus was next successor to Cyrus Ans This is a thing very unlikely 1. Because Cyrus Son being so deadly an enemy to the Iews as that he by his power did put a stop to the work of the Temple his Father yet living as is by Doctor Light-foot himself p. 190. and others assirmed we cannot conceive the Iews would attempt to build whilst he was alive or put case they should there would be no need of writing Letters to this wicked wretch and in them coyning false accusations to cause the work to cease as the Adversaries do to Artaxerxes for he of himself was and would have been ready enough to hinder the work 2 The very Circumstances of the Text argue this Artaxerxes to have been at a further distance from Cyrus then his immediate Successor for 1. He seems to have been a very stranger to the state of the Iewish affairs and therefore receiving Letters about them causeth the Chronicles to be searched Ezra 4.19 to finde what manner of people the Iews had been now it is not likely that Cyrus Son should be such a stranger to this People their State and Affairs whom his Father knew so well and he succeeding his Father according to Doctor Light-foot after his Father had reigned three years 2. He seems likewise to have been altogether unacquainted with Cyrus decree which Cyrus Son was not for how could he and yet hinder it whilst his Father was alive But this Artaxerxes was which the Adversaries knew well enough or undoubtedly durst not otherwise have charged the Iews with building a City when themselves knew it was but a Temple lest hereby they should give the King occasion to reply What now are they building a City I am sure my Father Cyrus never decreed that and so by this their craft and malice should come out All the colour that I finde in Doctor Light-foot for this opinion is That Cyrus Son was a hinderer and so was this Artaxerxes p. 190. But doth it therefore follow he must needs be Cyrus Son might not Cyrus Son be one hinderer and this Artaxerxes another after him which is the more likely opinion for the Reasons before given Now in case this Link prove weak the Chain is easily broken for if between Cyrus and Artaxerxes did reign any other King then will the years betwixt Cyrus first and the twentieth of the other Artaxerxes be more then thirty seven 2 Particular That Artaxerxes Ahasuerus reigned but fourteen years in all Ans It is the grant of Doctor Light-foot that Artaxerxes Ahasuerus Ezra 4. is the same with that Ahasuerus we read of in Esther upon which grant as sufficient for us we shall at present go leaving the proof of the thing to another place now let us by this rule examine the Position We read in Esther that full thirteen years of Ahasuerus reign were run out in that very Month wherein the Iews cut off their enemies in Shushan and elsewhere as is evident Compare Chap. 3.7 with Chap. 9.1 He hath then from this day according to Doctor Light-foots account but one year more to reign Now let it bee observed what after this was done and see whether or no the thing were likely to be compassed in a year First Mordecai sends Letters to all the Iews that were in all the Provinces of King Ahasuerus farre and near to establish the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the Month Adar as days of Thanksgiving to be kept perpetually every year Chap. 9.20 21. Secondly The Iews of the severall Provinces receive these Letters and upon receipt assemble together Ordain and Institute for themselves and posterity that these days should be observed as Mordecai had written ver 23.26 27 28. Thirdly The report of this is carried back again to Shushan from all quarters and thereupon Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Iew write Letters the second time and send to all the Iews in the one hundred and twenty seven Provinces to confirm what upon receipt of Mordecai's first Letters they had decreed for themselves and their â—eed ver 29 30 31.
for the generations since Moses his time Ans Not so for we finde Jehosada the High Priest who was not long before the Babylonian Captivity to have lived as long 2 Chron. 24.15 and also as is testified in the first Book of Maccabees Mattathias the Priest Father to Judas Maccabeus lived one hundred forty six years Chap. 2. verse last Indeed the age might seem too great should we as do some six upon Darius Nothus so taking in forty years more but here it is otherwise forty years is cut off which in a mans age is no little matter Again Observe that this age was not the age of Zerubbabel Jeshua and that generation that came out of Babylon but the age of those who were carried into Babylon by Nebucadnezzar and so indeed were of the generation before Zerubbabel and the multitude that came up with him though yet some of them were living at this day Obj. 2. I have met with it objected That the time from Cyrus first to the end of Darius second could not be very long because no Priest was by the Law to officiate above twenty years from thirty years old to fifty was their limited time Numb 4. vers 2 3 22 23 30 35 30 c. now Jeshua was High Priest in Cyrus first and so likewise in Darius second the distance therefore could not be great no not twenty years Ans This Law was not a Law for the High Priest but only for the inferiour Priests the Levites as is clear 1 Because wheresoever it is spoken of Levites only are mentioned as being subject to it 2 Because the work it self that at fifty years of age they were exempted from was servile work work that was a burden as the bearing about of the Tabernacle vers 24 25 26. which work too they were to be appointed unto by the High Priest as their Master and Lord as vers 19 27. therefore did not this work and so not this Law belong to him 3 I finde particular instances of High Priests that did officiate when they were above fifty years old what shall we say to Eli was not Eli High Priest when upwards of fifty considering he was ninety eight years old when he died 1 Sam. 4.15 and yet Samuel who it is evident was born in the time of Elies Priesthood but a childe even then when Eli was very old and his eyes dim as is clear chap. 2. compare vers 18 19. with ver 22. and chap. 3. vers 2. compare with vers 8. But the instance of Iehojada is undeniable for observe he creates Ioash King 2 Chron. 23. Ioash reigns forty years chap. 24.1 Iehosada dies before Ioash ver 17 18 19 20 21 22. Iehosada is one hundred and thirty years old when he dieth ver 15. if therefore Iehojada died in Ioash his fortieth year yet considering that he crowned Ioash King and that in the time of his Priesthood and died not till he was aged one hundred and thirty years it will necessarily follow that he was High Priest at ninety years old This Law therefore was not a Law for the High Priest but only for the Levites they ceased to officiate at fifty years of age but the High Priest was such during life and indeed he could not otherwise have been a fit Type of Christ who ever liveth to make intercession for us This Objection because I have met with it I thought good to answer though otherwise I should never have objected it to my self I know nothing else can be said for a shorter time unlesse we should here again bring up those forty six years Iohn 2.20 with Daniels seven weeks chap. 9.25 both which I have answered before in traversing the seventy weeks The time therefore from the beginning of Cyrus first unto the end of Darius second may well bee reckoned seventy years notwithstanding the weight of any objection against it But to come nearer what if we may finde in Scripture this time to be meted and measured seventy years If the Scripture measure agree to the measure of the ancient Greeks it will adde credit to their reports in more things then this one Let us here take into consideration Zecharies seventy years Chap. 1.12 chap. 7.5 this seeming to me to be their proper place That these seventy years should be understood of the seventy years of the Captivity cannot be because as Doctor Lightfoot hath well observed in his Chronicle upon Hester ten the seventy years of the Captivity beginning with the fourth of Jehojakim did end long before this time viz. with the third of Belshazzar or the last year of the Babylonian Monarchy but the seventy years Zechary speaks of bring us to the second of Darius which is many years upwards in the Persian Monarchy Doctor Lightfoots own account will not neither help the business for as he hath nothing but those former suppositions which having been put into the ballance were found too light to maintain that conception viz. That that Darius who advanced the work of the Temple did reign at such a distance from Cyrus so if these two things bee throughly scanned 1 What Darius it was who set this work on foot 2 At what distance from Cyrus I speak now of time in the general only the compelling circumstances of the story each duly weighed and laid together will necessarily infer him to have lived both which my former discourse will give some light into it will then appear That Doctor Lightfoot himself hath exceeded the bounds of seventy years as many years as hee chargeth upon the fore-going reckoning accounting it worthy for that reason only to be cast out by his own rule therefore his own must go out with it What will those Opinions make of these seventy years that will have the finishing of the Temple-work to stand at forty six years distance from Cyrus as some or else at one hundred and eleven or one hundred and thirteen years as others seeing it is most evident that the complaint the Angel makes of seventy years sufferings was in the second of Darius Zech. 1.7 compared with ver 12. which was but four years before the work was finished as appears from Ezra 6.15 May these allow the seventy years to be the years of the Captivity if so there had need be some good reason shewn for it why the Holy Ghost after the seventy years of the Captivity were ended and forty and odde years more run out as it follows upon the one opinion or upwards of an hundred years more as it follows upon the other should speak still of seventy years For my own part I think these seventy years are to be reckoned from the first of Cyrus from the beginning of which year untill the end of Darius second at which time the Angel makes this complaint and therefore the time of the complaint is expresly noted to be in the eleventh Month upon the twenty fourth day of the Month in the second year of Darius which was the very
an Antichristian state Now in the conclusion of all after all these things had passed before Daniel and he saw this last Monarchy in its last state upon the nick of vanishing away as were already the former then Daniel specially observes another thing of which he had not seen the like all the time and way before viz. He beholds many Saints and they are in very deep serious discourse and the subject of all their discourse is this Question HOW LONG SHALL IT BE TO THE END OF WONDERS or How long shall the Vision be To which Question of theirs Daniel hears answer given and immediately thereupon the whole Vision is at an end onely the interpretation of it comes in afterwards so that it is evident these words are properly the last in place and time both of the whole Vision which clearly affords us this Observation That Saints in the time of the end shall be much upon this Enquiry How long it shall be unto the end of Wonders This is farther clear from Daniels great Prophesie Chap. 11 12. in which two Chapters Daniel hath the very same thing viz. the three last Monarchies declared to him by way of Voice which in the former he saw by way of Vision Now after the declaration of the whole Daniel Chap. 12. vers 5 6. seeth two men standing betwixt which is a River and one is on the one side and the other on the other A fit resemblance of Jew and Gentile ready to unite yet not fully united for still there is a River betwixt them which argues that these words relate to the time a little before the coming in of the Jews when Jew and Gentile shall be upon the very bank of union yet not united Of these two one propounds a Question to the man cloathed in linnen upon the waters of the River How long shall it be unto the end of these Wonders This Querist I conceive to be not other then the Gentile Saints and my reason is because vers 7. answer to him is made in the Gentile Dialect of a time times and a half which is a time proper to the Gentile Churches Rev. 12.14 and not to the Jews And further I look upon the Enquirer here to be the very same for time and persons both with that Chap. 8.13 Onely with this difference the Enquirers though many are here called but one because in opposition to the Jews we have one here put for the whole body of the Gentile Saints there they are spoken of as many because in that Text is no such opposition bewith Jew and Gentile Now from the whole I make up this Conclusion That in the time of the end a little before the Jews coming in and Antichrists fall shall be great Enquiries made among the Gentile Saints concerning the end of Wonders And if so then in case we are fallen into that time as what I have said already in my Key and have farther to say will manifest that we are this Enquiry is not onely justifiable but necessary it being the great truth of this Age. 3. CONCLUSION That the Holy Ghost hath left particular and certain ground for the faith of Gods people in the last dayes to go to God upon for light and knowledge in this thing I say not onely that the promise made to runners to and fro Dan. 12.4 that knowledge shall be increased is yea ought to be for why is it else left upon Record a ground for our faith to build upon in making this Enquiry nor onely that the particular answers given to the Querists Dan. 8. and Chap. 12. is yea should be another for why is particular answer given to the Enquirers but to shew that upon a sober humble and beleeving Enquiry a knowledge of the thing sought after should be given forth But that which I chiefly aim at is the particular assurance left us in the word that the sealed Book of Prophesies should be unsealed the words opened the understanding of the Vision made manifest to the Saints at or in time of the end For this see Dan. 12.4 But thou O Daniel shut up the words and seal the Book even to the time of the end The Book is to be scaled the words therein shut up But how long Why but till the time of the end then Book and Words both are to be opened and read So vers 9. Go thy way Daniel for the words are closed up till the time of the end Daniel heard the answer given by the man that was cloathed in Linnen vers 7. to the Enquirer vers 6. but saith he I understood not therefore from a desire to know Daniel himself puts the Question vers 8. to whom answer is given vers 11.12 but withall observe Daniel hath first a kind of gracious check Go thy way Daniel for the words are closed up untill the time of the end as to say Daniel thou wouldest fain have the knowledge of these things presently but go thy way Daniel for the time of Revelation is the time of the end though I will give thee the words now yet the unsealing of them shall not be till the time of the end when and not before my mind in these sealed mysteries shall be made known to my children Sutable hereunto are the words Dan. 8.17 which words I have shewed in my Key Thesi 3. are not to bee understood of the time of the Vision nor the subject matter thereof but of the understanding of the Vision which though revealed in part to Daniel then yet was not to be fully and clearly opened untill the time of the end The Conclusion is That at the time of the end the Book is to be unsealed the understanding of the Vision to be made known and if so then surely this our practice we being fallen into the lap of the last times is justifiable for why hath God so long before given assurance that then he will unseal the Book open the words but onely to this end that our faith when this time comes on might as in other things so in this wait upon him for light and knowledge CHAP. II. Shewing That the Mystical Numbers of Daniel and the Revelations do hold forth a certain definite and determined time HAving in the foregoing Chapter shewed the justifiablenesse of our Enquiry and what comfortable hope the enquiring Soul may have of Gods presence and assistance to accompany him in this work In the next place it is requisite because we have no ground in Scripture to go upon for an answer to this Question but onely the mystical Numbers of Daniel and the Revelations that I proceed to shew that there is a certain definite and determined time held forth in those numbers onely in order to the thing to the end some of the following Arguments may not want their weight nor we be put in our proof to insist upon each particular number by it self I premise That look what is truly affirmed of any one or more
of the North and the King of the South are not appliable to two parties or people only but to divers parties and people For this Chapter carries us through the second third and fourth Monarchies and takes in the beginning of the fifth so that here is very frequently a change of persons though the old names are still retained King of the North and King of the South Now the reason of the names in understanding which lyes the chief mystery and the very Key of the Prophesie is taken from the situation of parties that party in every change contest skirmish here mentioned whose situation was more Northerly goes ever under the title of the King of the North that party whose situation was more Southerly under the title of the King of the South So in the very first contest where these names are used which was betwixt Alexanders two chief Captains after his death and the division of the Grecian Monarchy the Race of the Lagidae so called from Ptolomeus the son of Lagus the first of that Race is called the King of the South vers 5. because their situation was in Egypt and Africa which lay more towards the South The Race of the Seleucidae so called from Seleucus Nicanor the first of them are called the King of the North vers 6 7. because they were situated in Assyria Babylon and other parts of Assa which did border somewhat more upon the North then the other So in the next contest which begins with the beginning of the Roman Monarchy the parts first assaulted and invaded by the Romans when they were reaching after the Monarchy as Macedon Egypt Judea c. are called the King of the South vers 14. because these Countries were situated Southward from Italy and Rome and the Romans invading are called King of the North vers 15. because of their Northern situation And here by the way give me leave to observe what a notable mark the Holy Ghost hath left us in this close transition from the Grecian Monarchy to the Roman to give us light where in this Prophesie we are to begin the Roman Monarchy which otherwise considering how things all along hang as it were in a chain were a thing most difficult to find vers 14. And in those dayes many shall stand up against the King of the South which is a most proper description of the Roman Monarchy in its first rise and seems to point them out from all the people in the world for it is observable of them that at the time they were growing into a Monarchy they were governed by a Senate consisting of many persons which many also to shew us that they are to be understood of such a many as do yet make up but one Representative bony are therefore in the next Verse called the King of the North. The words in the close of the fourteenth Verse They shall fall which may seem to make this Exposition doubtfull do not relate to the many standing up against the King of the South in the beginning of the Verse but to the robbers of thy people in the end which are not the Romans but another people opposing the Romans in the beginning of their Monarchy and falling before them So likewise in the controversie afterwards betwixt the vile Person Antichrist and the Turks and Saracens which began about the year one thousand ninety six the Turks upon whom the vile person makes War are called the King of the South vers 25. because their situation lay Southerly from Rome and Antichrist is King of the North because his Seat was situated most Northerly This Light gained sets open a window to that which follows from verse forty to the end of the Chapter For the better understanding whereof let it be noted That these six last verses do set forth the very last part of that Tragedy that now for a long time together had been acting upon the Stage of the World and they are not as is most generally thought a repetition of things before delivered but indeed a continuation of the Prophecy and that from that very point of time where Antichrists Tyranny which is the thing described in the fore-going verses ends The description of Antichrists rage in the fore-going verses brings us down to the very end of the forty two moneths the one thousand two hundred and sixty days now with the end of that time begins this Prophecy which carries things on but with a special respect to the Jews untill Christs coming Hence the time is particularly noted to be the time of the end vers 40. At the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him and in this sence viz. for the very concluding time and shutting up of the things here fore-told is this phrase used throughout this Prophecy vers 27. The end shall be at the time appointed vers 35. even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed ch 12. v. 4. Seal the Book even to the time of the end vers 6. How long shall it be to the end of these Wonders vers 8. What shall be the end of these things So vers 9 13. all verifying our sense Now we are here to remember what I have proved in my Key That the one thousand two hundred and ninety days the time of the Jews first stirring concur in their end with the forty two months the one thousand two hundred and sixty days This noted things lie thus The foregoing verses brings us down to the end of the forty two months with which time ending ends likewise the one thousand two hundred and ninety days Now do the Jews stir and get their own Land which Land of theirs because it lies Southward from Rome the Seat of the Beast and Constantinople likewise the Seat of the Turk the new-stirring Jews in opposition to these take this name King of the South The Jews this new King of the South being gotten into their Land push at the Turk and Pope both at the one upon a Civil account at the other upon a Christian or at leastwise as favourers of the Gentile Saints This makes Pope and Turk though sometimes before they had been quarrelling with each other not herein serving any design of Christ so much as their own Lusts for though they quarrelled yet it is said of them vers 27. That both their hearts were set to doe mischief now at last gaspe to joyn hands and as Herod and Pilate the one a counterfeit Jew the other a professed Heathen deadly enemies to each other before became friends in opposing Christ so shall Antichrist and the Turk the one a counterfeit Christian the other an open Pagan who till this day lived by one another as enemies be now reconciled and made friends yea become one in opposing Christs Cause in doing which they shall fall together This combination of these two grand Enemies as chief goes under the name of the King of the North because
the Second Part. PART III. Computing the time of the Fourth Monarchy and shewing where the date of all worldly Kingdomes expires and when the Fifth Monarchy or that glorious Kingdome of Christ and the Saints which is to bear rule over all the Earth shall be set up CHAP. I. Of Daniels two thousand and three hundred dayes THe times that the Prophetical and Apocalyptical Numbers are conversant about are either the time of the Beasts Tyranny or the time of the fourth Monarchy The time of the Beasts Tyranny we have treated of in our Second Part and shewed where the date of his Commission ends It now remains that we enquire into the time of the fourth Monarchy to the end we may know how long that is to continue and when or by what time we may expect the total and final dissolution thereof Two mystical Numbers ending at one and the same point afford us light into this Question the one is Daniels one thousand three hundred thirty five dayes Chap. 12.12 the other his two thousand three hundred Chap. 8.14 I shall say no more as touching the first then what I have already written in my Key judging what I have there laid down Thesi 20. and Thesi 37. to be sufficient as to it My present Discourse shall therefore proceed upon the latter viz. of the two thousand and three hundred dayes SECT 1. The common-road opinion is that the little Horn mentioned in this eight of Daniel is to be understood of Antiochus Epiphanes the two thousand and three hundred days to be natural dayes a day consisting of four and twenty hours so the whole making up six years three months and twenty dayes which the Authors Favourers of this opinion apply to the time of Antiochus rage against the Jews Now in order to our answer hereunto let us premise That the Feet and Toes of the Great Image Chap. 2. The little Horn Chap. 7. The vile person Chap. 11. who is described from vers 21. to vers 40. and the little Horn in his second state or second waxing great in this eighth Chapter are one and the same the very same state or person if a particular person be here meant is signified by all these And this needs no proof because the common opinion hath granted it by making application of all that the Holy Ghost hath spoken as touching either of these to that horrible Monster Antiochus Epiphanes thereby plainly confessing that one and the same thing is signified in the aforesaid parts of each Prophesie This premised let us examine what truth there is in this principle so much hugged and contended for by many as the onely door of light into Daniel And although more can hardly be said in answer hereunto then what hath been already by some worthy men of later times who have opposed themselves to this opinion as Mr. Archer in his Personal Reign The Author of Clavis Apocalyptica ad incudem revocata but above all the learned Parker in his Daniels Visions and Prophesies expounded yet because in principles that men are wedded too as ordinarily they are to all be they right or wrong that have but a crowd of learned men to Patronize them they had rather to use the Popish Proverb beleeve as the Church beleeves then look out for an Author that is contrary to their mind I think it worth my pains in opposition to this opinion to present here though I shall but multiply whilst I so do things already published some of those Arguments that are and may be brought against it not doubting but that those who sincerely love truth will see reason enough to be of my mind as for others who following the genius of this age which is to be sick sullen and humorsome when any truth crosseth those principles they have received by tradition from their Fore-fathers have a principle or a will I know not which I may call it that they will not see any thing but with the eyes of their Fore-fathers or the multitude of the learned Doctors of the time let Scripture or right reason speak ever so clear or punctual I leave such to the judgement of being yet farther blinded But to come to the opinion it self the Question is Whether doth this Prophesie Chap. 8. run upon Antiochus Epiphanes or no This resolved it will be easily determined whether the dayes are Natural or Prophetical To this I answer That Antiochus Epiphanes notwithstanding Commentators have fearfully and shamefully stretched the Text Reason and the very sinews of the ancient Histories to gather up something that might colourably make the whole to agree to him cannot be the person here meant unlesse we look upon him as a common Tyrant and Persecutor and so I deny not but that many things spoken of Antichrist that Grand Tyrant and Persecutor of the Saints may very fitly be applied to him Yea I think withall that there might be a special design of God in it that many of the things here mentioned should be fairly appliable to him and others that so thereby doors of mistake might be left open and by it the Prophesie kept sealed which otherwise in an ordinary way could not have been untill the appointed time And the same design seems to me to run also through the Book of the Revelations in opening which it is very easie to mistake if every thing which hath a plausible look and fair colour outwardly may presently be taken up as an Interpretation But to passe this and come to the thing That this Prophesie as holds the common opinion should terminate in Antiochus Epiphanes and so have its fulfilling before the first coming of Christ cannot be My Reason is Because it will not agree to the mind of the Holy Ghost in any one of Daniels four Prophesier before mentioned First To begin with that of the Great Image Chap. 2. This opinion doth no way correspond with the truth of that Prophesie 1 Because that Prophesie runs down into the latter dayes or the end of dayes as our new Annotationists upon the Bible render it vers 28. But there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter dayes But this cannot be should the whole have its accomplishment two hundred years before Christs birth as this opinion doth and must necessarily maintain for Antiochus Epiphanes whose Kingdome they will have to belong to the Feet and Toes which are the extreme and utmost parts of the Image and therefore the close of the Prophesie reigned two hundred years before the birth of Christ 2 Because the Iron legs are called the fourth Kingdome or Monarchy vers 40. And the fourth Kingdome shall be strong as Iron but this opinion which applies the legs and feet to the Race of the Seleucidae and Antiochus Epiphanes one of that Race makes the Iron legs and feet a part of the third Kingdome or Monarchy for the house of the Seleucidae and Antiochus
him Thirdly The Preface prefixed to the fourth Beast After this I saw in the night Visions and behold a fourth Beast dreadfull vers 7. the proposing of him without a name as an unknown Monster the sollicitous and curious enquiry of Daniel concerning him ver 19. the bestowing of a farre larger more accurate description upon him then upon the former Beasts do plainly argue That the fourth Kingdom here signified is farre more great and wonderful then any of the former and therefore cannot be the Kingdom of the Seleueidae Fourthly The fourth Beast is said to be dreadfull and terrible and very strong in comparison with the Beasts going before having Iron teeth and Brazen nails devouring and breaking in peeces and stamping the residue under feet But the Kingdom of the Seleucidae was weaker then that of Alexander as is expresly said chap. 8.22 and did not devour and destroy so as the former Kingdoms as entring upon a world subdued already by Alexander the Great therefore the fourth Kingdom cannot be the Kingdom of the Seleucidae Thou wilt say The fourth Kingdom is thus expressed not in relation to the world or State generall but to the Jewish Church unto which it was more terrible and stronger then the former But it is manifest that the Iron strength is the Character of this Kingdome distinguishing it in a generall and unlimited comparison with the Kingdoms going before To exert in some particular place such as Judea more cruelty by reason of the weaknesse of the people and not by reason of his own absolute strength is not a sufficient reason that he should be Characterised and distinguished from the others by the character of strength and fearfulness no more verily then the Spanish Inquisition or Phalaris or some other Tyrant may be superlatively compared in strength with Cyrus Alexander Julius Caesar because more cruell and formidable then they in respect of some weak and not resisting persons over whom without exertion of much strength they might easily exercise their tyranny Again their strength was not so much terrible to the Jews as Nebuchadnezzars or Hamans was and the Jews against the Seleucidae would have vindicated themselves into liberty and had defended themselves sufficiently had not the Romans come upon them and broken them down at last and the Seleucidae together Lastly it is expresly said That the fourth Kingdom is thus strong irony and terrible not only in relation to the Jews but also to the whole earth vers 23. for it devours and treads down the whole earth 5 Because this Beast is said to bee unlike to the Beasts that were before it whereas the Kingdom of the Seleucidae was like other Kingdoms Some say it was unlike in respect of the ten Horns but these as they will have it are ten succeeding Kings which in kinde and nature is ordinary to all Kingdoms They say it is extraordinary in this respect because some of the Aegyptian Kings are mixed in the number But what ground is there of such a mixture because say they they are described chap. 11. Ans But in Chapter eleven is no mention made of ten Horns and the number there is not adaequately ten no reason to extrude some to intrude others but rather contrary to reason as Graserus sheweth 6 Because the fourth Beast hath ten Horns and a little Horn arising after them by whom three of the former were rooted out vers 7 8. How will this agree to the Kingdom of the Seleucidae They say they are ten succeding Kings whereof Antiochus Epiphanes is the tenth and last and the same the little Horn. Ans But if only by succession then really in all particular differences of time it had but one Horn and so the Kingdom might rather be said to have one Horn then ten 2. These ten Horns here described existed at the same time not by succession because the little Horn arose among them vers 8. and his look was more stout then his fellows vers 20.3 How can Antiochus Epiphanes be both the little Horn and also the last of the ten seeing the little Horn is said to arise besides and after them ver 8.20 24. 4. Antiochus cannot be the little Horn because the little Horn arising groweth greater and greater and more stately then the other Horns vers 2 20â— whereas Antiochus was not so great as his Father Antiochus Magnus 5. What are the three Horns and how did they fall before Antiochus ver 8. It is said That they are Prolomeus Philopater King of Aegypt Seleucus the Brother of Antiochus and Demetrius But was Seleucus rooted out because he dyed by slow and lingring hatred and how can Demetrius bee one of the three which was not reckoned by the Authors of this opinion among the ten vers 8. Lastly by the fall of the three the little Horn grew greater then the rest whereas nothing was added to Antiochus besides the ancient Kingdom of the Seleucidae 6. Sixthly the little Horn rageth against the Saints until a time times and a half How will this agree unto Antiochus because say they the Temple was prophaned by Antiochus three years and ten days Ans But here it is half a time or half a year as also appeareth by comparing chap. 12.7 Apoc. 12.14 and ten days makes not half a year 7. The Beast falleth in the destruction of the little Horn vers 11. but the Kingdom of the Seleucidae did not fall in Antiochus Epiphanes 7 Because it is extended untill the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven vers 13 14. which is his second coming Apoc. 1.7 Mat. 24.30 26.64 for it is not said that hee ascended in the Clouds but that he came ver 13. 8 It is extended to the time when all the Kingdoms of the earth shall be the Lords and his Christs ver 14. with Apoc. 11.15 And when the Kingdom shall be given to the Saints of the most high all Hostile forces utterly suppressed ver 14.26 ch 2.44 Apoc. 11.17 18. And how can this bee verified in the Kingdome of the Seleucidae Upon these grounds it appears That the aforesaid opinion will no way agree to Daniels Prophecy of the four Beasts and the little Horn. Thirdly For Daniels Great Prophecy ch 10. chap. 11. chap. 12. this opinion of Antiochus Epiphanes cannot agree to it 1 Because the feet and toes of the great Image chap. 2. The little Horn. chap. 7. and the vile Person in this Prophecy chap. 11.21 are as before I have observed one and the same but the two first as hath been already proved cannot agree to Antiochus Epiphanes therefore not this last 2 Because this Prophecy brings us to the time of the end chap. 11.35 some of them of understanding shall fall to try them even to the time of the end vers 40. At the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him chap. 12.4 Seal the Book even to the time of the end vers 9. yea to the very end of days
the Kings of Syria 4 How did Antiochus Epiphanes so excellently magnifie himself unto the South and to the East and to the pleasant land How unto the East forasmuch as he was ignominiously put to flight and expelled out of Persia in the East by the Citizens of Elemais How against the South seeing in both his expeditions against Aegypt he was at last shamefully repulsed the first time by the Captains of Ptolomeus the second time by the Ambassador Popilius And how unto the pleasant Land forasmuch as after his intestine cruelty on the Jews his Princes and Armies were in Judea over-thrown and put to flight by the Jews and their Captain Judas Maccabaeus 5 The Acts of this little Horn are extended to the time of the end vers 17. and of the last wrath vers 19. whereas Antiochus Epiphanes dyed long before the birth of Christ 6 In the judgement saith he of a learned Author the two thousand three hundred days are unappliable to Antiochus Epiphanes And Pererius sheweth saith my Author out of the first Book of Maccabees that Antiochus his Persecutions began in the year of the Grecian Kingdom one hundred forty three and ended in the year one hundred forty eight which could not be longer then six full years and therefore it cannot fill up exactly the measure of two thousand three hundred days which space containeth six years three months and twenty days for the three months and twenty days would over-abound Pererius to salve this difficulty saith That the two thousand three hundred years may be extended to the death of Antiochus which was in the next year following but according to Daniels words and the drift of the interpretation of the Authors of this opinion the aforesaid two thousand three hundred years must not end in the death of Antiochus although if they should yet the difficulty of exact accommodation will still remain but in the cessation of persecution and calamity of the Church and in the purgation of the Sanctuary vers 13 14. which being referred to the Iews in the time of Antiochus came to passe exactly in the year of the Greek Empire one hundred forty eight as hath been said and cannot be extended to the year following therefore are not the two thousand three hundred days appliable to this time yet because I finde some of our own who confesse Daniels other Prophecies to have a look to the end of the Fourth Monarchy somewhat doubting of this which therefore according to the common opinion they would make to terminate with Antiochus Epiphanes Let me therefore adde a reason or two farther to those already laid down by Mr. Parker 7 The time of the end here mentioned vers 17. and the Inst end of indignation vers 19. are undoubtedly of the same interpretation with the time of the end so oft spoken of Chap. 11.35 40. Chap. 12.4 9 13. and the accomplishment of indignation Ch. 11.36 which besides the wonderfull agreements of either King in their description of which for a taste compare these passages CHAP. 8. CHAP. 11. Vers 12. An Host was given him against the daily Saerifice Vers 31. And Armies shall stand on his part Vers 11. By him the daily Sacrifice was taken away and the place of his Sanctuary cast down Vers 31. And they shall pollute the Sanctuary of strength and shall take away the daily Sacrifice Vers 25. Through policy shall he cause craft to prosper in his hand and by peace shall destroy many Vers 23. After the League made with him he shall work deceitfully  Vers 24. He shall enter peaceably into the fattest places of the Province Vers 12 It cast down the truth to the ground and it practised and prospered Vers 36. Hee shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods and shall prosper Vers 24. Hee shall destroy the mighty and the holy people Vers 32 33. The people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame by captivity and by spoyl many days Vers 25. Hee shall magnifie himself in his heart Vers 37. Hee shall magnify himself above all Vers 25. Hee shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes but he shall be broken without hand Vers 45. compared with chap. 12.7 He shall come to his end and none shall help him and at that time shall Michael stand up I say besides all these agreements the inculcating that Phrase in either Prophecy as the bounds and limits of the tyranny of either King at the time appointed shall the end be chap. 8.19 So ch 11.27 The end shall be at the time appointed vers 35. The time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed is to me a clear Argument that either Prophecy terminates at one and the same point Now the point of time that Daniels Prophecy in the eleventh and twelfth Chapters terminates at being not the end of Antiochus rage but of the Fourth Monarchy therefore not Antiochus rage but the end of the Fourth Monarchy is also the point of time with which the Prophecy chap. 8. doth likewise terminate 8 Daniel is commanded to shut up the Vision because it was to be for many days vers 26. But as it is not likely that the Angel would have commanded Daniel to shut up the Vision but rather have given a contrary command as to Iohn Rev. 22.10 Seal not the sayings of the Prophecy of this Book for the time is at hand in case the fulfilling of it had been so near as the times of Antiochus Epiphanes so cannot two thousand three hundred Natural days no nor the whole of the time from the day Daniel had this Vision to the utmost point of Antiochus rage be called in the Phrase of the Holy Ghost who as I have said before calls a long time short many days The conclusion from the whole is That that opinion which makes application of this Prophecy chap. 8. to Antiochus Epiphanes interpreting the two thousand three hundred years of the time of his rage against the Jews neither doth nor will agree to any one of Daniels four Prophecies SECT 2. ERe I proceed I shall here by way of digression lay down my own thoughts concerning the little Horn chap. 8 9. upon whom the whole stresse of the Controversie lies All those that I have seen who differ from the common opinion of Antiochus Epiphanes will have this little Horn to be the very same with that Chap. 7. and accordingly some apply it to the Romish Antichrist some to Mahomet some to the Norman Race c. The two last opinions of Mahomet and the Norman Race I have disproved before and that throughout all the Prophesies of Daniel The first which interprets it of the Romish Antichrist is the most colourable because its clear the little Horn Chap. 7. is to be understood of him and also a large and full description of Antichrist comes under this little Horn. To this therefore onely I
malice which now lying upon them made all charges ineffectual but also find a fair opportunity to draw up a new charge But God who knows the rage of his enemies and takes care of his people had provided otherwise and turns this their crafty rage against the work even to a promoting of it as appears from the issue Chap. 6. As for the third foot of the Objection taken from Hananies report My Answer is That the breaking down of the wall of Jerusalem and burning the Gates relates to the ruines of Jerusalem in the dayes of Nebuchadnezzar My Reasons are 1 Because no Scripture mentions any building of the walls of Jerusalem betwixt the time of Cyrus and Nehemiah the forementioned Texts I have proved too weak therefore we have no ground for faith that ever such a thing was 2 Because its likely if the walls had been rebuilt by the Jews that came up in the dayes of Cyrus and afterwards broken down again by enemies and gates burnt they would also as well have broken down the Temple and burnt that for their malice was as great against the one as the other yea if more against any it was the Temple which being the place of the Jews worship was most abhorred by the Adversaries who hated them only for Religion sake but this was not done for Nehemiah coming to Jerusalem found a Temple there Neh. 6.10 3 Because should I grant which yet I cannot there being not one tittle of Scripture for it that City and Wall was built before yet must we confesse withall that this work was an obscure thing and no way to be compared with the after famous building of Nehemiah memorized by a whole Book written particularly upon that subject and therefore not fit in comparison of the other to be made head of Daniels Seventy weeks As for the ground of this part of the Objection That it could have been no news to Nehemiah to have heard of the ancient ruines by Nebuchadnezzar Ans Neither indeed was it nor is the businesse between Nehemiah and Hanani a hearing and telling of news as we commonly understand the word they were more spiritual and better employed then so Hanani was a faithful man one that feared God above many Neh. 7.2 This holy man coming to Nehemiah another choice Spirit two choice spirited men being now met together having both of them great hearts for the cause of God they as 't is comely for Saints at all times when they have the like opportunity to do presently fall into discourse about things that concern the people of God and Gods cause at that day and all the news that passeth between is indeed matter of so spiritual a concernment that it is too low a term to call it news Saith Nehemiah to Hanani brother Hanani how fares it with our brethren at Jerusalem O saith Hanani their condition is sad they are still in the old posture a reproach to the Heathen and the wall of Jerusalem lyes broken down the gates burnt with fire This thing this good man reports not so much as a matter of news though in part of it news there was as indeed a thing which was the present burden grief and affliction of his own soul and the souls of the remnant at Jerusalem how that Jerusalem the building of which they had long expected continued still a heap and withall how that now as it is Gods ordinary way to affect the hearts of his people and heighten his enemies against a work when the time thereof is come the thing lay more heavy upon the spirits of all the remnant then ever and also the enemies did more reproach them with their unbuilt City then ever In this last lay all the news if we may so call it Nehemiah upon hearing this and through that heart-warming discourse that had passed between them goes home from this meeting wondrously affected with the condition of Gods people and cause and betakes himself to his Closet and there spreads the whole before the Lord the issue whereof is favour in the sight of the King and authority from him to go to Jerusalem and build it Thus much by way of answer to the Texts in which the force of the Objection lyes Secondly I now come to adde two or three Considerations from Scripture which may be an answer to the whole of the Objection 1 Consideration Whether it be not a very strange thing to suppose that the Jews having been charged with such a thing as building Jerusalem and the work they were about stopped upon it that yet afterwards the original Copy of Cyrus Decree being found out among the Court-Rolls in the second yer of Darius and transcribed by Ezra Chap. 6.1 2 3 4 5. not one word should be mentioned of that about which had been so much noise and stir by the enemy but as the Command Chap. 1. So here the Decree should run altogether upon building the Temple and not a tittle in it of Jerusalem which who can think otherwise but that had there been but the least clause in Cyrus Decree empowring the Jews to the building Jerusalem upon which the Jews had undertook it Ezra though it were to vindicate the actings of his Nation and to shew that what they did which was so ctyed out against and they suffered so much though unjustly through forged accusations for was not without Law and Authority would not doubtlesse had the Jews been really guilty of the act or the Decree allowed them any such thing in transcribing the Decree have left it out 2 Consideration Whether the very words and manner of expression used by the Angel do not import an Effective command such a command as upon the going of it forth did cause a restoring and building Jorusalem vers 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the Commandement to restore and to build Jerusalem Observe the Command is a Command expresly to restore and to build which it is not proper to call that Command which by vertue of it self alone doth never produce any such effect considering too that Gods Commands as we are to look upon this though he use man as an instrument are every of them alwayes effective Now let it be considered whether the naked Decree of Cyrus ever had any such effect nay is not the contrary evident viz. That for many years after the going forth of that Decree even untill the twentieth of Artaxerxes Jerusalem lay waste as a ruined heap Neh. 1.3 and when the time of building it came the work had for its basis not that Decree but a new one of Artaxerxes by which only Nehemiah acts and not at all by the Decree of Cyras as is manifest from the whole of his Book 3 Consideration Whether the Angels giving Daniel so many serious hints to pry well into this thing and to take heed of a too hasty concluding any thing lest he should mistake vers 25. Know therefore and understand vers 23.
the Jews yet such should Gods care of and his providence over his people be in this so mighty a hurly burly and commotion of Nations and particular oppositions made against them as that in despight of all Jerusalem throughout this troublous time should continue building and built And so observe the words as they set forth the length of the time from the day Jerusalem should begin to be built untill the Messiahs appearance so do they include within them a sweet and gracious promise of the care God would have of his people through and amiust all these tossings untill the Messiah should appear they should still be preserved one way or other who ever went to wrack and this notably answers to Daniels prayer being a blessed quieting of his spirit and to the event also And indeed one principal thing that makes this place so knotty is in a manner but a trifle viz. making a half point betwixt the seven weeks and the sixty two weeks where none should be made and neglecting a Coma at the end of the sixty two weeks where for the more easie understanding of the words its requisite one should be Now as for the Reason why the seventy weeks which first are mentioned whole vers 24. are afterwards broken into parts I conceive it to be this onely That hereby the mystery of this Prophesie might be the greater and the time the harder to compute which otherwise the Head of the seventy once found would have had no difficulty in it therefore that the mystery might be so much the greater we have the seventy weeks which are first mentioned whole broken into three parts two smaller and one greater which are expressed severally first seven weeks then sixty two weeks then one week vers 27. and that too in such a manner as if the seven weeks had relation to one thing the sixty two to another the one to another whereas it is not so but all put together make up but that seventy we had before and serve to point us to the time of our Saviours Passion which is said vers 26. to be after sixty two weeks that is sixty two added to the other seven making sixty nine then viz. at the end of sixty nine weeks in the beginning of the seventieth is our Redeemer anointed to his work Hence that Character of the seventy weeks vers 24. Seventy weeks are determined to anoint the most Holy This day of his anointing is the day of his appearance to Israel being anointed he goes forth the rest of that seventieth week till the time of his Death preaching the Gospel doing good healing those that were sick casting out Devils c. And this I conceive to be the thing meant by his confirming the Covenant with many for one week vers 27. And indeed this agrees excellently well to that of Paul Rom. 15.8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the Fathers Christ himself by his own preaching must confirm the Covenant made with the Fathers which saith the Apostle is the reason why he was made a Minister of the Circumcision i.e. a Minister under the Law Now this he did in the beginning of the seventieth week going about preaching the space of three years and but three as is clear Luke 13.32 33. And this was till towards the middle of the week i.e. till four years before the four hundred and ninety were fully expired at which time he was cut off which I take to be the meaning of those words In the midst of one week shall he cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease vers 27. i.e. Christs Death which fell out not in the end but in the middle of the last and seventieth week did put an end to all the Jewish Sacrifices and Worship the Great Passcover being slain all other Sacrifices terminate in him And indeed that Christs Passion must necessarily fall out about the middle of the seventieth week is clear because the Text speaks positively that it should be but seven weeks and sixty two weeks i.e. sixty nine weeks untill the Messiah shall appear So soon therefore as ever the sixty nine weeks were at an end and the seventieth but begun we must of necessity conclude the Messiah did appear for otherwise it should be upwards of sixty nine weeks to his appearance Now the thing which will make all clear is what we are to understand by his Appearance We may not understand his Birth for if so then he not being put to death till he was four and thirty years old which space of time contains almost five of Daniels weeks it should be seventy three or seventy four weeks to the cutting off of the Messiah whereas the Text tells us he is cut off after sixty nine weeks or after seven weeks and sixty two weeks which make sixty nine I have in my Key Thes 57. pitched upon the time of his Baptisme but not so considerately for though his Appearance then was to John Baptist and some few Disciples whom he chose yet did he not till afterwards appear publickly This Appearance of his I do therefore conceive following herein the learned Mede is to be reckoned from that time in which he begun to preach publickly to the Nation of the Jews declaring himself to be the Messiah which was as Mr. Mede hath well noted after his Harbinger John had now finished his message and was cast into prison which circumstance of time is precisely noted in the Evangelical story and the place also where he began his preaching Mark 1.14 After John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdome of God and saying The time is fulfilled i.e. saith Mr. Mede the last week of the sixty two weeks is now come Matth. 4.12 compared with 17. This is the very time and place whence Peter reckoned the beginning of Christ's Prophecie in his Sermon to Cornelius Act. 10.37 That word which was published throughout all Judaea and began from Galilee after the Baptism which John preached And which is an evidence that this was the time of his anointing by his Father Luke tells us Chap. 4.18 19 20 21. That when he first opened the Book to teach the people in Nazareth of Galilee he opened upon that place The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor Upon which Text our Saviour himself Comments vers 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears as if hee should say This day is Daniels seventieth week begun now is the Messiah anointed from this time which according to Mr. Mede was a full year after Christs Baptism we are to reckon those three dayes or years Luke 13.32 33. To this opinion the several Passeovers betwixt Christs Baptism and Death do best accord which in case the Principle were as demonstrable as it is received and owned by
and Artaxerxes twentieth year could not be long As First the names of those who sealed the Covenant with Nehemiah Chap. 10. are many of them the very same with the names found in the Register of those who came up with Zerubbabel Ezra 2. it seems therefore that those persons were now living if so then cannot the time be esteemed long Ans The names Ezra 2. and again Nehem. 10. are not names of men as particular persons but as Heads of Families for which cause the persons mentioned by name are called the chief of the People the Princes Nobles Neh. 9.38 Chap. 10.14.29 Hence the Head of the Family of Parosh goes under the name of Parosh as he was a publick person and Head of a Family so called in the generation Zerubbabel lived in and also afterwards in Nehemiahs generation Not that Parosh and so of all the rest signifies in both one and the same particular person but indeed the Head or common person of one and the same Family which that the distinction of Families hereby might be the more conspicuous and the better preserved is called Parosh in Zerubbabels time and Nehemiahs likewise though these two were separated at least a generation from each other as I have already observed And that it is a thing ordinary to give to a publick person whether Prince or Noble-man as Marquesse Earl c. besides his own proper name which is peculiar to him a name common to him and all that do or shall succeed him in his place as such is a thing we cannot be ignorant of And also which is the thing to be minded as such a one who is a publick person in all his publick actions layes by his private name and acts by vertue of his name as such so the Heads of each Family acting as publick persons First In leading their Families forth out of Babylon in Zerubbabels time Secondly In sealing the Covenant for themselves and the whole Family they were Heads of in Nehemiahs time they lose their names as they were private men and retain only that common name which was given to them as publick persons and hence it comes to passe that there is still the use of the same names though yet persons and generations were different Secondly The Register mentioned Nehem. 7. doth somewhat vary in respect of the number of persons in sundry of the Families from that we read of Ezra 2. Now what may be the reason hereof Why saith Dr. Lightfoot in his Harmony upon Nehem ah page 204. Nehemiahs Register is a Register of the persons as they were then living in his time but Ezraes of the persons as they were at their first coming up with Zerubbabel in the first year of Cyrus And if so then considering that the variation betwixt one Register and the other is but small it will strongly argue that the time betwixt Zerubbabel and Nehemiah could not be long Ans The Reason given by Dr. Lightfoot is a mistake and against the Text and will not reconcile each place For observe It is expresly said of Nehemiahs Register Chap. 7. that the same was found by Nehemiah yea and found so written as he delivers it in the following verses vers 5. And my God put it into my heart to gather together the Nobles and the Rulers and the People that they might be reckoned by Genealogre And I found a Register of the Genealogic of them which came up at the first and found written therein These are the Children of the Province c. The Register therefore was not a Register made up partly of the persons then living and partly of those mentioned in the old Register because then the Register should be of Nehemiahs making but the Register he speaks of was a Register he sound written to his hand Nay how can we think it should be so seeing it was upwards of seven and thirty years in case we follow Dr. Lightfoots own reckoning from the time Zerubbabel went up when the first Register was made unto this time which was after Nehemiah was come to Jerusalem and had built the walls of the City Now observe as there is in most families mentioned in either Register the very same number of persons so likewise is there in both Registers one and the same number of Horses Mules Camels Asses as compare Ezra 2.66 67. with Nehem. 7.68 69. Now who can beleeve it that in seven and thirty years there should not be diminished nor increased not one person in many Families which Families too consisted some of divers hundreds of persons some of thousands Nor in so great a multitude not one Horse nor a Mule It is therefore more consonant to truth and will better reconcile each place to say That as Zerubbabel at his first coming up drew that Register Ezra 2. So suddenly after when by coming and going some change and alteration was made of persons he drew a second which second List or Catalogue Nehemiah in searching lights upon but misseth the first And as this doth much better reconcile each place so doth it no way injure us Nay that Nehemiah is fain to go to search old Registers to find the Genealogie of the persons then living is an Argumeat rather that the former generation who came up with Zerubbabel was extinct yea had been so some time the persons now living having in a manner forgotten their descent then that they should be alive Thirdly Ezra is particularized by name as being one of those that came up at the first with Zerubbabel Nehem. 12.1 it cannot therefore be considering how active this Ezra was even in Nehemiahs dayes that the distance of time betwixt Zerubbabel and Nehemiah should be very great Ans No Argument at all is or can be fetched out of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah from the agreement or likelihood of names unlesse only in such places where besides the bare name we have something else laid down that carries proof with it that we are by the same name alwayes to understand the same particular person and no other And the reason is because it is a thing of most common use in these two Books to give the same names to diverse and sundry persons as who consults either book diligently shall find no lesse then three or four different Jeshuaes and about some eight or nine distinct Zechariahs four several Eliashibs viz. Eliashib the High Priest and three other of that name we have in the tenth Chapter of Ezra only Seven or eight distinct Shemiahs and as many Meshullams are recorded in these two books Divers other like instances its most easie to produce Whence it follows that the use of the same name proves nothing at all as to this or that particular person in case there be not in the Text some other notation which devolves the name upon this or that person as considered distinct from all others As for example When Jeshua is called either Jeshua the High Priest or Jeshua the son
of Jozadak this is a manifest notation of the person distinguishing him from all others of that name when Nehemiah is called Nehemiah the Tirshatha or the Governor or Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah this denotes the particular person and distinguisheth him from that Nehemiah the son of Azbuk Chap. 3.16 But now in the Text objected we have only a bare name without any other notation and therefore it proves nothing Nay it is manifest from the Text that that Ezra who is recorded as one of them that came up with Zerubbabel cannot be the Ezra so much spoken of in this Book For observe vers 12 13 c. and we shall find that in the dayes of Jojakim who was Father to that Eliashib that was High Priest in the dayes of Nehemiah as vers 10. the Ezra who came up with Zerubbabel and also the Serajah the Jeremiah Amariah c. mentioned with him vers 1 2. were gone and another generation were come up in their rooms in the place of Serajah we have now Merajah of Jeremiah Hananiah of Ezra Meshullam of Amariah Jehohanan and so of all the rest so that not only this Ezra is gone but there is a change even of a whole generation in the dayes of Joiakim And this Jojakim being father to Eliashib must needs be of the generation before Nehemiah for in Nehemiahs dayes Eliashib the son is High Priest by consequence therefore Jojakim was now dead Now consider the Ezra who wrote the book of Ezra lived and acted with Nehemiah but the Ezra who came up with Zerubbabel was removed and another in his place a generation before Nehemiahs dayes therefore though the name is one yet have we not one but two persons signified by it the Ezra who came up with Zerubbabel was one the Ezra who acted with Nehemiah another and for this reason is this latter as seems to me called Ezra the Priest the Scribe vers 26. and Ezra the Scribe vers 36. to distinguish him from the foregoing Ezra vers 1. From the whole it appears that as Dr. Lightfoots Allegations singly are too weak so these added to them which if I mistake not is the utmost that with colour of reason can be urged from Scripture-Text will not help his opinion to narrow the time betwixt Cyrus first and Artaxerxes twentieth into so little a compass as thirty seven years nor will they maintain any other opinion whatsoever that either is or may be stated that doth or shall so shorten this time as that the whole put together will not amount to more then one full age Yet with all let me say when I consider the whole and how great a shew of reason there is if things laid down in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah be taken up upon the first look to cut this time short I do not at all wonder that the Jewish Writers whose aversnesse to take up reports from Heathens though ever so true and aptnesse to look upon these Books as a Chronicle a thing never intended by the Holy Ghost and mis-understanding the Story by taking up things too hastily might cause in them this error should adhere to this opinion of the shortnesse of the time betwixt the first coming up from the Captivity and Nehemiahs dayes and that Dr. Lightfoot Mr. Broughton and others should follow them for truly there seems at first blush to be much more reason for such an opinion then any other but when things are once throughly weighed and well digested the contrary is manifest and an unprejudiced eye will easily see that this Thred must be drawn out somewhat more at length then the Jewish Writers or Chronologers that adhere to them will allow of The Conclusion is That the Opinion of Dr. Lightfoot and others who following the steps of the Jewish Writers do bring this time into a little scantling is a mistake and not that certain rule by which we are to measure this Period SECT 2. Seeing we may not steere our course by the fore-going opinion it is necessary that some further enquiry be made into this business viz. What number of years passed betwixt the first of Cyrus and the twentieth of Nehemiahs Artaxerxes Now because Artaxerxes as also Darius was a name common to more then one or two of the Persian Monarchs we must therefore in order to the Principal Question in the first place discusse another viz. Quest What Artaxerxes was that from whom Nehemiah received Commission to build Jerusalem Ans That we may the better find out this I shall first enquire What Darius that was by whose order the Temple work was revived for that Darius was Predecessor to this Artaxerxes as is evident 1 From his place in the Story we read of Darius Ezra 5. but not of this Artaxerxes till afterwards 2 The Holy Ghost making a clear distinction betwxit Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes placeth Artaxerxes after Darius as being his Successor as he doth Darius after Cyrus as his Ezra 6.14 3 Ezra coming up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of that very same Artaxerxes in whose twentieth Nehemiah received his Commission findes a Temple there and did sacrifise Ezra 8.34 35. therefore must this Artaxerxes be Successor to Darius for untill the sixth of Darius no Temple was built Nay he was not only Successor to him but Successor at such a distance as appears to me he was not his next Successor but rather next to his next which is clear from that great change and alteration that there was in the Jewish Church and State both betwixt the sixth year of the one and the seventh of the other 1 In the Church in the sixth year of Darius Jeshua in all probability was alive and High Priest as lay these Scriptures together Hag. 1.14 15. Chap. 2.2 3 4. Zech. 3.6 7. Chap. 6.11 12. but in the seventh of Artaxerxes as I have before observed Eliashib who was Grand-childe to Jeshua stands in place of his Grandfather 2 In the State there had been Governours that oppressed the people and did not fear God betwixt Zerubbabels time who was Governour in the sixth of Darius and how long after is not known to us and Ezraes who came up to Jerusalem in the seventh of Artaxerxes which is an Argument of some good distance of time betwixt these two The question here then will be What Darius was that who by his Decree did the second time set the Temple-work on foot Ans Some and not a few will have this Darius to be Darius Hystasper who succeeded Cambyses the Son of Cyrus in the Kingdom But this cannot be because betwixt Cyrus and that Darius who set the Temple-work on foot did reign one Artaxerxe Ch. 4.7 by whom the work was hindred but none such reigned betwixt Cyrus and Darius Hystaspes To say as do some this Artaxerxes though recorded before yet reigned after Darius is so expresly against the Text that I cannot admit such a thought for the Copy of the Letters of Artaxerxes is the
half so many years but signifie so many years compleat p. 127. to 133 Sect. IV. That the two thousand three hundred days are not to be begun with the first year of Cyrus p. 133. to 137 Sect. V. Shewing two things 1 That Darius the Mede of whom Daniel speaks Chap. 5.30 did not belong to the Babylonian Monarchy but the Persian p. 137. to 142 2 That the first year of Darius the Mede and the first of Cyrus the Persian are one and the same year p. 142. to 152 Chap. 2. Wherein in order to a more full clearing up of the fore-going account viz. of two thousand three hundred days are Daniels seventy weeks discussed Sect. I. That the Seventy weeks do not relate to New Testament-times p. 152. to p. 161 Sect. II. That the Seventy weeks are not to be begun with the Decree of Cyrus p. 161. to 183 Sect. III. That they are not to be begun with the Decree of Darius Ezra 6.6 7.8 c. p. 183. to p. 193 Sect. IV. That they are not to be begun with the Decree of Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his reign Ezra 7.11 12 13. p. 193 That they are to be begun with the twentieth year of Artaxerxes when Nehemiah received his Commission to build Jerusalem Nehem. 2. p. 194. to 198 Sect. V. That the Seventy weeks end with the Passion of Christ p. 198 199 Sect. VI. A resolution of sundry knots about Daniels Seven weeks his Sixty two weeks his one week and his half week p. 200. to 217 Sect. VII An Objection against our ending of the Seventy weeks answered p. 217. to 225 Chap. 3. Wherein enquiry is made into the number of the years that passed betwixt the first of Cyrus and the twentieth of Artaxerxes when Nehemiah received his Commission to build Jerusalem Sect. I. Disproving the grounds of that Opinion which cuts this time much shorter than it should bee p. 225. to 251 Sect. II. Proving That that Artaxerxes from whom Nehemiah received his Commission was him whom the Greeks call Mnemon p. 251. to p. 281 In order to the clearing this is shewed That that Darius who advanced the Temple-building could not be Darius Hystaspes p. 253. to 281. nor Darius Nothus p. 259. but was Darius called by the Greeks Longimanus Here Zecharies seventy years are opened p. 260. to p. 274 Sect. III. Proving that the time betwixt Cyrus first and Artaxerxes twentieth was exactly one hundred forty seven years p. 281. to p. 290 An Objection from Dan. 12.1 2. That but four Kings did reign in the Persian Monarchy after Cyrus answered p. 290. to p. 298 Sect. IV. Something discussed about our Christian Epock p. 298. to p. 305. The computation of the whole p. 306 307 308. Added by way of Appendix 1 A general Rule for the right understanding of Prophecies together with a more full opening the great Mysterie of Daniels Little Horn p. 311. to p. 320 2 A particular Clause in our Discourse about the times opened from p. 328. to 331 3 Some Conclusions touching Christs Kingdom c. FINIS Books lately Printed and sold by Livewell Chapman THe Voyce of the Spirit or a Discovery of the Witnessing work of the Spirit by Sam Petto Minister of the Gospel The New Non-conformist witnessing both to small and great some of those glorious things which the Apostles the Prophets and Moses did say should come to passe Written by Mr. Christopher Feak Minister of the Gospel and now a Prisoner for the Truth A Declaration of several of the Churches and godly People in and about the City of London concerning the Kingly interest of Christ and the present sufferings of his Cause and Saints in England A Sermon of the Fifth Monarchy proving that the Saints shall have a Kingdom here on Earth which is yet to come after the Fourth Monarchy is destroyed by the Sword of the Saints the followers of the Lamb. Preached by Master Tho. Goodwin some years since at Crooked Lane London An Image of our Reformed Times or Jehu in his proper Colours displayed in some Exercitations on the second of Kings the ninth and tenth Chapters setting forth The opportunity was given him to do his work in The Cause he had committed to him to manage Also his Policy Zeal Profession Hypocrisie with his Sins and their aggravations reason for all this Concluding with a word to Jehu Jehonadab his Counsellor and the persecuted and despised people of God By Col. Edward Lane of Hampin-nulo This Author hath three other Books being called Generation-Work in Three Parts In the First Part is shewed what Generation Work is and how it differs from other works of a Christian Secondly That Saints in their several Generations have had their proper and peculiar works of their Generations Thirdly That it is of great concernment for a Saint to attend to the work of his Generation Fourthly What the present work is Fifthly How each one may finde out the part of it that is properly his work Sixthly How the Work may be so carried on as God may be served The Second Part is An Exposition of the seven Vials and other Apocalyptical Mysteries The Third Part is An Exposition of the Prophecies of the two Witnesses from the eleventh twelfth and fourteenth Chapters of the Revelations To which is added A Key to unlock the Mystical Numbers in Daniel and the Revelation