risen and come out of Captivity again but let us assure our selves that when Christ kills the Beast with the Sword he shall have no resurrection when he leades him into captivity no return Obj. But it may be objected That we must of necessity begin this Epock of one thousand two hundred and sixty years as high as Constantine if not higher for Rovel 12. it is the Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns and seven Crowns on his heads which is the embleme of the old Roman Empire and not the Empire of the Beast who hath ten Crowns and those upon his Horns Revel 13.1 that drives the Woman into the Wilderness I answer This cannot be for what hath been proved already viz. That the forty two Months and the one thousand two hundred and sixty days are one and the same time which begin and end together and how could this be in case the one thousand two hundred and sixty days were to begin before the rise of the Beast whilst yet the Roman Empire was ruled by the Dragon 2 Observe the Text it self and it will appear That the act of the Dragon there mentioned is not the driving of the Woman into the Wilderness but another thing viz. a lying in wait to devour her childe so soon as born v. 4. And the Dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her childe so soon as it was born The meaning whereof is That the faithful the true members and children of the Church which because one Body are here represented by one Childe and for dignity sake or else to represent their strength in their head Christ a Man-childe that in the time of Paganism had been oppressed by the Dragon the Divel perceiving them now through Constantines means to be in a rising way and ready as with a Rod of Iron to crush in peices his Heathenish Worship he therefore labours by stirring up the power of the old Pagan Empire to oppose Constantine to stifle this work in the beginning but this he cannot do Constantine prevails and the faithful in despight of him are caught up to God and to his Throne i. e. set out of the reach of the Dragon through Constantines prevailing The Church now after her sharp fiery Trial under the Pagan Emperours coming to enjoy great peace and prosperity under Constantine it comes to passe that shee abusing her prosperity and Jesuron-like now waxing fat beginning to kick and grow wanton her good is turned into evil and within a short time afterwards shee begins to Apostatize from her first Principles and instead of being cloathed with the Sun as was the Primitive Church ver 1. and having the Moon under her feet she neglects the Sun i. e. Christ crucified for Justification and true Holiness through his Death and Sufferings and arrayes her self with the Moon i.e. worldly ornaments as Dignities Preferments outward Riches c. which things a while after Constantine began to bee mightily stickled for by the Clergy generally yea in Councels also Now when it came to be thus the Woman i. e. the true Church vanisheth away and retires her self into the Wilderness and as shee retires so in her room stands up the Beast i. e. the false Antichristian Church But this is not done instantly but after the Church had had prosperity some time and abused it and thereby provoked Christ to with-draw his presence and Spirit which gone the Church straightway degenerates and shee that was before the Spouse of Christ becomes an Antichristian Harlot Hence the Womans flight into the Wilderness is noted in the Text as the very next thing after the childes being caught up to God and his Throne ver 5. And her childe was caught up to God and to his Throne ver 6. And the woman fled into the Wilderness Now observe as the childes being caught up to God and his Throne was successive to the Dragons gaping to devour the childe which was whilst yet the child was but in the birth So the womans flight into the Wilderness whence begins the one thousand two hundred and sixty days is to be looked upon as a thing successive as well in time as place to the childes being caught up to God and to his Throne And so the Objection is indeed a reason for us that we may not begin the one thousand two hundred and sixty days either before Constantine or with him but must some time afterwards The Arguments brought from History Civil or Ecclesiastical to prove this fall to the ground upon the account of these two reasons 1 Because History is only a Human testimony and therefore to be tried by the Divine but the Divine testimony or testimony of Scripture cannot be made to agree to this beginning as our two first Reasons prove 2 Because all that is said from History as viz. the Story of Constantines donation of Rome Italy c. to Pope Silvester the story of Queen Helens Crosse c. have only the authority of Popish Writers and not any of the Ancients to countenance them yea are exploded by Protestant Writers as Fables as see Melancthon in his review of Carions Chronicle lib. 3. Johan Wolf cent 4. Simpsons History of the Church lib. 2. cent 4. The Argument urged by some from the Indictions which of all Arguments from meer History is the most plausible tends only to prove that the Papists reckon the beginning of their Kingdom from about this time But doth it follow that therefore we are so to do What Scripture warrant is there for such a thing that there wee should begin the time of the Beasts reign where the Beasts own followers begin their Kingdome Certainly were this a rule to walk by there would be no difficulty at all in making up our account of the forty two Moneths the one thousand two hundred and sixty days yea take it at best it is but an uncertain Argument for some end the Olympiads and begin the Indictions sooner some later and what strength this Argument hath in it which in my account is but feeble will as wel agree according to some to a more likely time as to this for Rosse in his History of the World saith Lib. 3. Chap. 3. that about the year three hundred ninety five the Olympiads ceased and the Indictions were instituted The conclusion of all is That that opinion which begins the forty two Moneths and the one thousand two hundred and sixty days with Constantine is not that we are to cleave unto as truth in this thing SECT 2. THe opinion of a late Writer who hath bestowed much labour upon our Question is that we are to begin this Epocha with the time of Pope Leo the first and the particular year pitched upon by our Author is the year four hundred forty two But though I honour the Author yet cannot I receive his opinion 1 Because according to it the one thousand two hundred and sixty days cannot bee made
reform outward Kingdoms but when once the work comes to breaking and beating to pecoes i.e. subverting Kingdoms razing their very foundations and destroying their being as they are the Kingdoms of this World here unless we conceive God to do it by a Miracle must we also conceive some other hand besides a Spiritual to bee put to the work 3 Because the Stone to the end there might not be a vacancy in the world comes straightway in the place and room of the Great Image so soon as ever the same is totally broken verse thirty five for as the Great Image while standing bears rule over all the earth verse thirty nine so the same being broken the Stone becomes a Mountain and fills the whole Earth verse thirty five therefore must the Kingdom of the stone be such a Kingdom as was that of the Great Image viz. outward or otherwise the coming of that in the place of the other now taken away could not supply the want of the other From all which reasons and some others also that are laid down in the following Discourse page one hundred and five one hundred and six It is clear That the Kingdom of the Stone mentioned Daniel 2. cannot be a Spiritual Kingdom but must be an outward Thus much from Daniels first Prophecy Secondly As for that Kingdom Daniel speaks of in his Second Prophecy Chapter seven which is there said to be given to the Saints and to succeed in respect of the greatness and glory of it though not in respect of the beginnings the Kingdom of the Little Horn that it cannot be a Spiritual Kingdom but must also be an outward and visible is clear for these reasons First Reason Because it is a Kingdom in which outward judgement is given to the Saints verse twenty two Judgement was given to the Saints of the most High This Judgement must be outward because the effect of it is such viz. a casting down the Thrones of the Fourth Beast verse nine by consequence therefore the Kingdom it self must be such Second Reason Because it is a Kingdom the Saints are said to possesse verse twenty two The time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom but it is more proper to say of the Spiritual Kingdom that it possesseth them than they it Third Reason Because it is the very same Kingdom which was before governed by the Little Horn that is given to the Saints now that being an outward Kingdom such must the Kingdom given to the Saints be also That the Kingdom given to the Saints is the very same Kingdom that the Little Horn did before possess is clear from the plain words and expressions used by the Holy Ghost verse twenty one twenty two I beheld and the same Horn made War with the Saints and prevailed against them until the Ancient of days came and Judgement was given to the Saints of the most High and the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom Note we do not read it That the Saints possessed a Kingdom upon this their judging of the Little Horn but the Kingdom teaching us thus much That that very Kingdom which the Saints by judging the Little Horn do take from him they themselves do afterwards possesse So verse seventeen and eighteen These great Beasts which are four are four Kings which shall arise out of the earth but the Saints of the most High â—eall take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom for ever even for ever and ever Observe the Kingdom or that very Kingdom which was before governed by the four great Beasts and by the Little Horn as the last Limb of the Fourth Beast is the Kingdom that the Saints take i.e. from this Little Horn and so consequently from all the Beasts or Powers his Predecessors and having taken it do possesse it for ever and ever i.e. it shall never be taken from them again as they took it from all the other So verse twenty six twenty seven But the Judgement shall sit and they shall take away his Dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end And the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall serve and obey him Observe The Saints in the Evening of the Little Horns Kingdom are by the Decree of Heaven constituted a High Court of Justice hereupon they sit in Judgement by sitting in Judgement they take away his Dominion Whose Why the Little Horns upon whom the Discourse runs but what becomes of it when they have taken it away despoiled him of it why it is by God given to them the Kingdom and Dominion and greatnesse of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High Which yet further besides the general scope which shews this to bee the same Kingdom with that of the Little Horn that this Kingdom should bee an outward Kingdom the use of that Phrase the greatnesse of the kingdom under the whole Heaven which cannot without forcing the words be restrained to a Spiritual Kingdom only doth necessarily import The Kingdom of the Saints therefore which Daniel in his second Prophecy makes mention of cannot bee a meer Spiritual Kingdom but is and must be an outward But now as it was the great Master-peice of Satans policy at the time of Christs first coming when hee set up his Spiritual Kingdom to put that Generation of men altogether upon looking after the outward kingdom drawing them thereby to a neglect of that Kingdom which they in that day ought specially to have attended to So is it his great engine of Policy in the days a little before Christs second coming when now Christ is indeed and in truth entring into the World to set up his outward Kingdom to turn the eyes of this Generation altogether upon the Spiritual Kingdom drawing them thereby off from the outward hereby cunningly holding forth one truth as a bait to allure from another and endeavouring to draw the hearts of men from the great truth of the Generation by presenting them with some other truth every way as glorious considered in it self the time and season only which is still the thing that adds beauty to Generation-truth set aside as the truth it self of the Generation Upon the fore-going Principle That Christ is to have an outward visible Kingdom and the scope of the following Discourse which proves that the time of setting up this Kingdom is now approaching and upon us doth it not necessarily follow that all those who in this day shall by their sayings or actings be found to have any hand in keeping Christ from his Throne are by so doing become guilty of High Treason against this King of Kings and though they may and should escape the judgement of man may they not expect in case they remember not from whence they are fallen and
Others who begin with the time when Boniface was created universal Bishop by Phocas As for the first viz. the opinion of those who begin from the time of Constantine the Great some of that opinion fixing upon the year 304. others differ as to a few years yet keep within the compasse of 300. and 316. I say not in answer to it that the very foundation of this opinion is a mistake viz. That the two Witnesses are the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament But my reasons against it are 1 Because by this opinion the Harmony of the mystical numbers is destroyed for if the one thousand two hundred and sixty dayes and the two and forty months begin with Constantines time then is it not possible to bring the one thousand two hundred sixty dayes the two and forty months to concur in their end with Daniels one thousand two hundred and ninety which must be upon the grounds laid down in our Key Thesi 17. unlesse we shall finde some action which may be accounted a fit Head for the one thousand two hundred and ninety daies thirty years above Constantine and in case this should befound yet then will not the one thousand three hundred thirty five which begins from the same Head with the one thousand two hundred and ninety concur in their end with the two thousand three hundred which also must be for our reasons Key Thesi 34. unlesse some other beginning and carrying on of that great number may upon approved grounds be found which will notwithstanding bring the two thousand three hundred dayes to end at the same point with the one thousand three hundred thirty five 2 Because setting the Harmony wholly aside by this computation the seventh Government in the Roman Empire viz. by Christian Emperors which is that John calls a Government yet to come Rev. 17.10 There are seven Kings i.e. distinct kinds of Government five are fallen one is and the other is not yet come is either wholly cut off or else confounded with the Beasts For this Government did not begin till Constantines time now if we thence also begin the two and forty months of the Beast then do we I say leave no room for the seventh kind of Government so that either it must be cut off or confounded with the Beasts That it should be cut off cannot be for the Text saith expresly it was to come i.e. as really to have a being as the five fallen had had and the sixth then in being had That we should confound it with the Beasts may not be First because this Government is to continue a space before the rise of the Beast And when it cometh it must continue a short space This short space must either be meant of the time before the Beasts Kingdome or the time of his Reign If the time of his Reign be meant and so the seventh Government and his Reign be made one how then is it called a short space seeing the time allotted to the Beast is a long time two and forty months one thousand two hundred and sixty years yea how is it called a short space comparatively with the sixth or former Government which continued not half nay not one third part of this time this Government therefore must be distinct from the Beasts Secondly because the Beasts Government as relating to this is called the eighth vers 11. And the Beast that was and is not even he is the eighth Though the Beast in respect of his Seat and the Civil power he exerciseth which power did reside in all the former Governments is said to be of the seven and accordingly hath seven Heads i.e. Rome the Seat of and the Civil power of all the former Governments yet is he not called the Seventh but of the seven because successively and in order he followeth the seventh and his Government comes in as the eighth being a Government distinct from the seventh and all theseveral Governments before him For which reason we may not confound the Beasts Government with the seventh which yet this opinion either doth or shuts wholly out neither of which can stand with truth 3 Because according to this supputation the time is expired above a hundred years since And being so 1 How comes it to passe that yet of late yeers the Holy City hath been so trodden underfoot Saints for Religion sake driven to flight as it hath been with us here in England yea so many killed and put to death as have been in Germany the Low-Countries France and all this within much lesse time then one hundred yeers yea the greatest part of it not half the time Certainly whilst the Woman is driven from one corner of the world to the other to hide her self and her children are cruelly killed massacred we cannot look upon her as come out of the wildernesse whilst Antichristian injunctions and superstitions are set up and imposed instead of the pure worship of Christ who will say the treading underfoot of the Holy City is at an end and have not these things been more or lesse within lesse then twenty I may say within lesse then half this twenty years I would I could not say at this present 2 How also comes it to passe that so many years since the expiring of this time the Beast hath escaped and neither been killed with the sword nor led into captivity seeing it is said of him that at the end of his Reign his two and forty months expired He that leadeth into Captivity shall be led into Captivity he that killeth with the sword shall be killed with the sword Rev. 13.10 If it be said Christ hath these many yeers ever since Luthers time in a spiritual manner with the sword of his mouth been killing and captivating the Beast I answer true But what hath been done against him by a Civil sword or towards a Civil captivating of him which is the Sword and Captivity here spoken of For observe such a Sword as he hath killed the Saints with and such a Captivity as he hath exposed them unto such a Sword and such a Captivity it being brought upon him by God in a way of retaliation shall himself suffer by and be exposed unto but the one hath been Civil therefore shall the other also If it be replied was not this done some years since in Germany by Gustavus Adolphus Answ Grant it so to be Yet doth that fall many years too late the one thousand two hundred and sixty according to this opinion being expired long before his time but now no sooner is the time expired but instantly Hee that leadeth into Captivity is led into Captivity Hee that killeth with the Sword is killed with the Sword Neither the German War therefore nor any that hath been since will at all help this opinion 2. If the Wan of the Swedish King in Germany were a killing the Beast with the Sword a leading him into Captivity then most certainly since he is
Darius here meant even from Mr. Medes own Concession who upon the matter grants us one hundred and thirteen years betwixt the first of Cyrus and the sixth of Darius Nothus for saith he p. 9. the sixth year of Darius Nothus is concurrent with the three hundred and thirtieth Nabonassarean year but now the first year of Cyrus was An. Nabon two hundred and seventeen as affirms Helvicus Sir Walter Rauleigh and some others go seven or eight years higher which is one hundred and thirteen years walking by Mr. Medes own rule and keeping to the lowest reckoning Now though the Temple-work was after Cyrus first at a stand for divers years yet not for one hundred and thirteen for consider Zerubbabel who leading Israel out of Babylon in the first of Cyrus did lay the foundation stone hath a promise made to him that he should lay the Top-stone Zech. 4.7 8 9. Nay not Zerubbabel onely but also some who were so antient at the coming out of Babylon that they had seen and could remember the statelinesse of the first Temple which was destroyed fifty years before Cyrus first by Nebuchadnezzar were alive in Darius's second year as is clear Hag. 2.2 3. now allowing for the time which we must of their age when the first Temple was destroyed for were they not then of some age and judgement too they could not so remember as to judge betwixt the one and the other viz. the first Temple and Second and adding hereto the fifty years betwixt the destruction of that Temple and Cyrus first and one hundred and nine betwixt Cyrus first and Darius Nothus his second year and the whole upon account cannot amount to lesse then one hundred and seventy years which age is very improbable 5 Because Mr. Medes ending of the Seventy weeks not till the time of Jerusalems destruction is expresly against the several Characters of the Text vers 24. which point us to the time where the Seventy weeks are to end as the words vers 25. point us to the time where they are to begin as shall be made appear in due place Now beginning and ending both being mis-placed the whole must needs be weak yea altogether false 6 And lastly Because Mr. Mede to confirm and make good this opinion is constrained to lay down and that in his very foundation two strange Assertions for either of which the Text it self affords no solid bottome nor any other Scripture sufficient warrant and they are 1 Mr. Mede interprets the Angels words vers 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the Command to restore and to build Jerusalem to have relation not to the beginning of the Seventy weeks but of the sixty two weeks whereas it is most evident that the period or time the Angel had spoken of in the foregoing verse with a determination there of the end the beginning of which Daniel now seeks after and the Angel declares to him was the Seventy weeks not the Sixty two weeks which is not spoken of till afterwards and therefore it s more agreeable to the scope of the words to make the going forth of the Commandement to restore and to build Jerusalem the beginning of the Seventy weeks then of the Sixty two weeks to which if they are to be referred the Angel should point out a period for beginning before he had told Daniel any thing of the time Nay if this Command to build Jerusalem be not the beginning of the Seventy weeks then is there not in all the words any expresse Head of account for them for there is no other Head but this onely in the words unlesse we say the Seventy are to be begun from the time of the Vision which is as wide from and as inconsistent with Mr. Medes whole Discourse as any thing can be said Yea farther observe the Angel layes down this Head of account with great care that Daniel might not mistake Know therefore and understand Now it is not a thing likely that the Angel should take so much care to make us understand aright the beginning of the lesser Period as Mr. Mede calls it of the sixty two weeks and take no care to point us a beginning for the greater Period of the Seventy weeks which as Mr. Mede also saith comprehends the other and therefore by consequence if we know not where to begin and end that the bare knowledge of the other will adde but little to us 2 Mr. Mede is driven to assert the seven weeks and the sixty two weeks vers 25. to be one and the same he reading the words thus There shall be sevens of weeks and threescore and two weeks that is saith he many sevens of weeks so many as amount to sixty two weeks of years there being in sixty two week nine times seven wanting one which little want saith he makes no matter there being eight whole Sevens besides in the number p. 12. So he makes the sixty two weeks explicatory of the seven weeks and the fame number to be in both only set forth under diverse expressions But this as it seems to be over-curious so Mr. Mede himself saw so many intricacies in asserting it that he confesseth p. 14. that could the seven weeks be well bestowed the chiefest difficulty were taken off this Prophesie Nay let me say this cannot be but only with that supposition that the seventy weeks are one period and the sixty two another which hath been disproved already To all the rest I might adde that Mr. Medes distinction betwixt Solar and Lunar years which must come in to help or else all said will not do is over-curious yea groundlesse having no firm footing to warrant such a way of computing either in the Text or any other Scripture The Conclusion is That Mr. Medes opinion which begins the seventy weeks with the sixth year of Darius Nothus is not that which we are to imbrace and cleave to as truth and the mind of God in this place SECT 4. A third Decree or Commandement we have in Ezra Chap. 7. viz. of Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his Reign But this cannot be the Commandement we are to look at For neither did it concern the building of the Temple which work as to the building was finished before in the sixth year of Darius Ezra 6.15 nor the building Jerusalem whereof not one word is spoken But it was only a Licence given to Ezra and some Jews with him to go up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice and if need were to repair the Temple in case of any decay there might be since the time the building-work was finished or otherwise to adde something to the work by way of beauty or ornament which seems to be intimated Ezra 7.27 with a Command moreover to the Treasurers beyond the River to furnish Ezra with monies and other necessaries for the expediting hereof which looks in nothing like the Commandement we are now enquiring after I might adde that
Babylonians would permit such constant yearly Exercises in Babylon or no I am therefore inclined to think That the appointment and celebration of these Publique solemn Fasts was not in Babylon but upon their coming thence after the people of Israel had liberty given them by Cyrus to return from Babylon and were come up to Jerusalem with their hearts greatly raised through the present sense of their deliverance and also with expectations of something more then ordinary that God would now do for them and having no sooner set hand to the work but are stopped contrary to expectation they are now put upon looking backwards to see what might be the cause God should deal thus with them And to this their hearts being now melted and affected under the present sense of their deliverance they are in a frame and posture much better then while they remained in Babylon under a Cloud and a sense of wrath which we know ever unfits and makes a Soul uncapable of looking back upon former ways and walkings Now looking backwards they finde That they had received such and such heavy stroaks from God formerly which stroaks fell upon the whole Body of the Nation yet had they never as yet in any solemn way humbled themselves before God for those their sins and provocations which brought these stroaks upon them Hereupon they appoint several days of Humiliation to bee kept yearly till the anger of the Lord should be removed and the better to stir up their hearts through a putting them in remembrance by the stroak they appoint their days upon such and such times as the stroaks which did prove most fatal to them fel upon them which is all the reason can be given of the appointment of the Fasts in such and such Months as is before specified And therefore observe in the fourth of Darius in the ninth Month when now the people of God perceiving the storm to be well blown over the Temple-work being now on foot again and brought to some perfection do send men as Sherezer Regemmelech c. to enquire whether they should any longer it seeming that God was now pacified go on with that fasting which they had continued for seventy years the answer is given by the Prophet to the Congregation there present and the People that were in the Land ver 4.5 6 7 8 9 10. and not to those in Babylon of whom not one syllable is spoken A clear Argument that Sherezer Regemmelech c. were not sent by the people in Babylon as saith the generall opinion but were indeed employed being two Honourable persons by the whole Body of the People now in the Land to go up to the House of the Lord and enquire for them concerning this practice they had so long continued among them Whether Gods wrath seeming now to be pacified they should continue it any longer Answer hereupon by the Prophet is given to the people of the Land proving clearly that this Fast was not a Fast in Babylon but a Fast that had been kept up and continued by the people of the Land which as I have said began upon their coming thither and the cause till this day remaining had been continued by them ever since through which long continuance of time it was even now grown into a form therefore God by the Prophet seems at first to disown it Chap. 7.5 6. and yet afterwards as being a thing lawfull and good in its first institution though through continuance of time abused by them he ownes it Chap. 8.19 So that this text rightly understood is so farre from hurting us that contrariwise it brings with it a second testimony to prove the truth of our Assertion that it was seventy years betwixt Cyrus and the Darius that forwarded the Temple-work If any should yet think our measure to be misapplied and that surely it could not be so long as seventy years from the return of the Captivity to the end of Darius second I shall adde one consideration more viz. That Iddo who was Grandfather to the Prophet Zechary as appears Zech. 1.1 was one of them that came up with Zerubbabel as we shall finde Nehem. 12.4 which Iddo Nehemiah speaks of that it was the same person and not another of the same name appears in that we finde Zechariah and that in the daies of Jojakim sonne of Jeshua which well agrees to the latter times of Zechariahs Prophecy mentioned by name as succeeding in the line of Iddo ver 16. and though Zechariah is there recorded amongst the chief of the Priests yet doth not that hinder but it should be this very Zechariah seeing most ordinarily Prophets were taken from amongst the Priests Jeremiah was of the Priests of Anathoth and yet a Prophet Jer. 1.1 Ezekiel was a Priest Ezek. 1.3 and yet a Prophet All therefore that can be gathered thence is That Zechariah as hee was a Prophet so also he was one of the chief of the Priests Now Zechariah who mentions these seventy years being Grand-childe to one that came up with Zerubbabel it may very well bee thought that betwixt these two as much time as seventy years may be allowed and yet no monstrous Conclusion From the whole it appears That to fix the advance of the Temple-work upon the second year of Darius Longimanus doth not at all jarre but rather hath an admirable concurrency so as no opinion besides it with what seems to be most clear in Scripture as touching the time betwixt Cyrus first year and Darius second Withall though I would not be over-curious for I hate over-much niceness and curiosity in Notions as well as in Words yet let mee say hereby we gain this to run the time betwixt the beginning of the Babylonish Captivity and Christs Passion all along upon seventies the Number so famous for setting forth this time First We have Seventy years Captivity in Babylon Secondly Seventy years of mourning in the Land after their return thence before the Work of the Temple can go on Thirdly After that we have Seventy years and seven odde observe though we have some odde yet they run still upon the Number seven before the Jews can have liberty to build their City and form themselves into a Common-wealth for so many years passed betwixt Darius second and the time of Nehemiahs Commission Lastly We have Seventy Weeks which makes seven seventies from the building Jerusalem to the Passion of Christ In a word from the beginning of the Captivity untill Christs Passion we have ten Seventies and three odde years for though I mentioned even now seven odde years yet it must bee remembred that four years out of that seven are to be deducted to supply the want of those four years which I have before proved are to be cut off from the seventeeth and last of Daniels weeks these deducted there then remains three odde only Now allowing these three to the time Christ Preached which was three years we may then say That from the
beginning of the Babylonish Captivity when Israel lost their Kingdome to the annoynting of the Messiah or the first visible appearance of Christ their King was exactly ten times seventy years which maketh seven hundred running still upon the Number seven both in the tens and hundreds Within which time Matthew makes mention of fourteen Generations to have lived Matth. 1.17 Note That they must make short Generations that begin the seventy weeks with the first of Cyrus Seeing therefore that to pitch upon Darius Longimanus as he that in his second year set on foot the work of the Temple doth better then any other opinion agree to the Divine Story and other Scriptures as to the time and things fore-going and succeeding the Temple-building I do therefore conclude That that Darius whom the Greeks call Longimanus was the Darius under whom the Temple-work was finished Another Question now will arise which answered we come to our main Conclusion driven at throughout this Section viz. What Artaxerxes was that which succeeded Darius Longimanus for as I said at first the Artaxerxes we are now enquiring after must needs be by the clear circumstances of the text such a one as did succeed that Darius which gave life to the building of the Temple Now this is confessed on all hands to be that Artaxerxes whom the Greeks call Mnemon who was next Successor to Longimanus his next Darius Nothus succeeding Longimanus and Artaxerxes Mnemon Darius Nothus This Artaxerxes was he that first gave Commission to Ezra in the seventh year of his reign to go up to Ierusalem furnishing him largely with Monies and afterwards to Nehemiah in the twentieth of his reign to build Jerusalem which friendliness of his to Gods Cause and people went not unrewarded for he reigned forty three years And which I cannot but mention to set it before Rulers of all the Persian Monarchs Longimanus and Mnemon who had been of the most forward in favouring the People of God and promoting his Cause were blessed of God with length of days beyond any their Predecessors or Successors in the Empire And which is another thing most observable that by looking over these Histories mine eye hath been cast upon viz. That so long as any of the Race of Cyrus who first appeared to own the Cause of God did continue so long did the Persian Monarchy stand but under the very first King that was of another Race viz. Darius Codomannus or Darius the last who was as is affirmed a stranger to the bloud of Cyrus the whole Monarchy is lost and translated from the Medes and Persians to the Grecians So mindful was God of what Cyrus did for his people that whilst any of his Seed remained he would not give the Kingdom to another Now besides what hath been said already from the scope of our Discourse since I entred this Section it is a thing most evident that that Artaxerxes from whom Nehemiah received his Commission was yea can be no other than Artaxerxes Mnemon because two things are clear in Scripture concerning this Artaxerxes which can be applied to no other but Mnemon as 1 That he reigned many years two and thirty Nehemiah mentions Chap. 13.6 2 That the time of his reign was towards the latter end of the Persian Monarchy which is clear hence because Nehemiah who lived all the time of this Artaxerxes did afterwards live to see that Generation in which the Monarchy was translated for he makes particular mention of Iaddus the High Priest who met Alexander the Great at his coming to Ierusalem and of that Darius under whom the Monarchy was lost Nehem. 12.11.22 which clearly proves this Artaxerxes must be Mnemen none of the Monarchs after him reigning so long as the Scripture it self records him to have done Ere I can yet reach our Conclusion there is one knob in the way to be even'd Obj. If Artaxerxes Mnemon be the Artaxerxes we are to six upon from the twentieth of whose reign Daniels seventy weeks are to be begun then considering they end with Christs Passion Daniels account will superabound the account of all Historians who finde not so many years as four hundred and ninety betwixt the one time and the other Ans 1. There are not so many over and above in this account but there are full as many wanting in their account who begin Daniels seventy weeks with the Decree of Cyrus and whether we reckon more or less the matter is one and the same yet is the bone there swallowed without pricking by not a few godly and able men 2 I answer In case what I have said as touching the beginning and ending of Daniels seventy weeks be truth and it will not accord with Daniels Prophecy of the seventy weeks nor with other Scriptures to state any other beginning or ending then of necessity must we either condemn the Holy Ghost for mentioning more years within that time then indeed there are or Historians of neglect in not having accounted for so many years as they should and who shall we Let God be true but every man a Lyar. If it be said But why will I depart from the reports of Human Writers here when as I made use of them before to measure another time Ans 1. I did not make use of them before as building any faith upon them but because I finde the account they have kept of the time to be agreeable to the Scripture account and so farre I am bound to beleeve they have kept accounts aright not because they say so but because the Scripture saith so and this I verily think that there is sufficient in Scripture to make out this our account though they I mean the Heathen Writers were not yet withall I am of the minde that the considering what they say and laying it to those things that are left us in the Word may through the Spirits guidance be a help to us in things wherein they are in the right as to the more speedy finding them and the more casie making them out yet we holding this as a most constant and infallible rule That all their reports must be bowed to the Scripture and not one tittle of Scripture made to bow to them Upon this Principle therefore supposing the Heathen Writers to have computed sixty or eighty years from Cyrus first to Longimanus second yet would I reckon seventy and not regard their reports and also upon this Principle because the Scripture hath so clearly determined the beginning and ending of the seventy weeks I judge I am bound to account as many years betwixt time and time as Daniel doth though Human Writers will not allow it This Scripture rule once found determines all the different accounts of times that are left us by Human Writers and declares whether or no any of them be in the truth and in case any are who they are But secondly Should we go to the bare Authority of Man yet in common reason more credit is to
businesse in Daniel lyes thus The Holy Ghost is treating not of particular Kings but of Monarchies in generall and therefore it is no part of his scope to tell us how many Kings did reign in this or that Monarchy which is not a thing observed in any of the Kingdoms afterwards spoken of in this Chapter therefore should not be urged as any part of the scope here but his drift is to shew us 1 How many Monarchies from that time untill the time of the end should bee in the world 2 What remarkable changes should be in these Monarchies themselves not as to the reign of particular Kings but as to the alteration of Governments 3 What more noted things should be done in the time of these Monarchies by either of them as considered under this or that Government either against Gods people that were the Jews or Gods people that are the Gentiles or against both in the time of the end or the evening of the Worlds or worldly Kingdoms day or what more remarkable rents occasioning fearfull Civil broyls Commotions Divisions c. should befall this or that Monarchy within the time of its particular continuance And lastly Whence or upon what occasion the translation of Monarchies from one people to another as from the Medes and Persians to the Greeks from them to the Romans and from them the translation of the Kingdom and Dominion and greatnesse of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven into the hands of another people viz. The Saints of the most High who till this day had always and ever been crushed by and under these Monarchies should arise In these things lies the main scope of the Holy Ghost who doth not in the least drive at such a thing as to tell us what particular Kings succeeded one another in this or that Monarchy but only names things of this nature so farre as they serve the main scope but no further Now observe the thing the Holy Ghost would have us learn as seems to me from the second and third verses of this Chapter is this As to take notice of such a Monarchy as was that of the Persians so more especially to minde the cause and the occasion of the translation of this Monarchy from the Persians to the Graecians and the time when this cause should be given and the ground of a Quarrel betwixt these two Nations laid Now to make out this he tells us how that after Gyrus three Kings should arise in Persia and a fourth after them which fourth should be very rich and strong and through the greatness of his strength and riches should stir up all against the Realm of Graecia This as I have before said was most exactly to a tittle fulfilled in Xerxes the Great who was the fourth King after Cyrus in the Persian Monarchy exceeding all his Predecessors in power and riches and with all his power invades the Realm of Graecia Here now is the ground of an inveterate hatred and quarrel laid betwixt these two Nations which afterwards occasioned the translation of the Monarchy for the Greeks though at present they maintained their own Cause and did worst their potent Enemie yet was this work as Histories record chiefly done by Sea where though they were but a handful to the other yet being of the two the more skilful in Sea-affairs and the more resolute in this kind of fight having withall the better ships in the great Battail of Salamis they gained the day yet when this was done though hereby they delivered themselves were they not so potent by Land as to invade their enemie But many years after when that valiant Commander Alexander the Great who durst attempt any thing arose in Greece then the bad bloud begotten by this invasion though it were more than a Generation or two before began to work and the old grudge is remembred and Alexander in way of revenge of the old Quarrel invades the Persians by which invasion the Monarchy is translated from the Persians to the Graecians So that the Holy Ghost takes notice of the Kings reigning in Persia only so farre as serves his turn viz. To point out the time when the ground-work of that irreconcilable quarrel betwixt the Persians and the Graecians should be laid which would in time prove the overthrow and translation of the Monarchy as it then was in the hands of the Persians This was done by Xerxes invasion of Greece which quarrel afterwards is taken up by Alexander who to revenge the injury done to his Country though long before by the Persians invades them overthrows their Power wrests the Monarchy out of their hands This is the true meaning of the place without forcing or squeezing the text Now consider the thing and what can more punctually agree to the Heathen stories than doth this of Daniel to which if we lay what wee have said before as touching the time betwixt the return from the Captivity and Nehemiahs days from both wee may conclude That these ancient Writers though Heathens have given us a true account of the Persian Monarchy both as touching the Persons that reigned and the Time how long And notwithstanding the Jewish Writers as Josephus Philo c. vary from the Greeks yet are not their reports to be credited so much as the reports of the Greeks and the reason is because we have much more ground to suspect them of partiality than the other for Josephus Philo c. might out of design mention such Kings only as they finde in Ezra because besides the misunderstanding this place of Daniel they might have such a conceit that Ezraes Book was a perfect Chronicle and therefore in naming more should crosse not this only but that also and also being Jews might scorn to take a relation from the Gentiles whom they esteemed Lyars and accursed But now the Greeks had no temptation of this nature before them which might move them out of meer design to be silent as touching any Kings that were or tell us of Kings that were not Nay how can we readily think they should so do when as they do not only record Persons but their Acts of which many are things known and famous yea further whereas the History-Writers themselves living at sundry times of the Persian Monarchy did each mention the King that reigned whilst he lived as Herodotus mentions Xerxes Thucydides Artaxerxes Longimanus Xenophon Darius Nothus Artaxerxes Mnemon c. Now is it likely they would tell such lies in the very face of the times they lived in as to endeavour to make people beleeve such and such Kings reigned over them when every Childe knew the contrary Let us not Censure even Heathens beyond the rules of Reason nor because we are sick of their reports spew out the truth of the Scripture with them This Objection therefore doth not so offend us but that we may notwithstanding it safely and truly conclude That the number of years from Cyrus first to Artaxerxes Mnemons twentieth
nor gained years but to conclude the thing absolutely because the testimony though ever so true is but Human we may not Though therefore I determine upon a particular year yet not so absolutely but that I do confesse That in case men in their accounts of that time which at present to us is undetermined by Scripture have lost or gained years by so much will things in accomplishment fall either sooner or later than the year I have fixed upon Now though I will not here take upon me to determine as judging the thing upon a pure Scripture-account indeterminable whether Scaligers account of the Year of our Lord or the vulgar account be the true only adde That should the first which fixeth the day of Christs Birth two years higher than the vulgar account be the truth then the one thousand two hundred sixty days the one thousand two hundred ninety do end with the end of the present year one thousand six hundred fifty four but if the last viz. the vulgar have the truth in it then do they end with the end of the year one thousand six hundred fifty six the year I have always hitherto pitched upon for the Witnesses Rise Iews stirring c. though I confess I am in a great doubt which we are to hold to but lesse than twelve Months will untie this knot and unriddle this Mystery yet that neither account though they vary two years as to their beginning have since upon their reckoning either lost or gained years seems to mee a probable truth upon our fore-going Principle viz. of the concurrence of the two thousand three hundred and the one thousand three hundred thirty five days in their end For supposing some miscarriage may have crept into either of these or rather both for setting aside their small difference as touching the beginning they both as to number of years since Christ speak the very same thing in all likelihood the miscarriage must bee within the time of the first three hundred years for since that time Christian Religion hath been the Religion of a principal part of the World and hath always gone upon a publique date but now in case any miscarriage were in that time then seeing we must after once Daniels one thousand three hundred thirty five years are begun allow the like number of years viz. one thousand three hundred thirty five of the two thousand three hundred to it that these two by this allowance may concur in one end it will follow that so many years over or under as the miscarriage hath been so many years by that time we have counted the years of the two thousand three hundred before Christs Passion and the years of the two thousand three hundred which follow the beginning of the one thousand three hundred thirty five will be found within this time viz. betwixt Christs Passion and the beginning of the one thousand three hundred thirty five years over or under the general sum of two thousand three hundred for if the years within this time have been counted more than they should then will the totall sum of the years be more upon account of the whole time put together than two thousand three hundred if lesse then lesse so that the two thousand three hundred must by this means either be stretched or crooked neither of which must be for this two thousand three hundred is of all the most exquisite and perfect rule to measure times by it being the very Date that Heaven hath set upon all worldly Kingdoms the account that the wonderfull Numberer of times and seasons hath left us It therefore being a thing Divine determines of all accounts that are Human but suffers it self to be determined by none This Harmony therefore of the two thousand three hundred years and the one thousand three hundred thirty five in their end as it doth determine the truth of all our account till Julian viz. That we must of necessity reckon nine hundred sixty five years of the two thousand three hundred to be expired at the time of Julians Act not a year more or lesse for if upwards of nine hundred sixty five years were expired before Julian then would there not be one thousand three hundred thirty five remaining if lesse then more either of which destroys the harmony So likewise doth it determine that in all probability our Christian Epock hath neither lost nor gained years from that time to this day because if any where it had lost or gained years it is likely it should be within the first three hundred years but there it did not therefore much more unlikely that since when Christian Religion hath been more famous and gone upon the publique Date of the greatest Empire in the World it should have lost or gained any Having thus made good the whole of our account there is nothing now remaining but that we cast it up to the end we may see where or with what year Daniels two thousand three hundred years expire For the better doing hereof I shall divide the whole into Six Periods 1. Period Contains the number of years from the beginning of Cyrus first unto the end of Artaxerxes Mnemons twentieth note That the twentieth year of Mnemon though Nehemiah received his Commission within that year yet being the current year is to be reckoned into this Period the same rule is also to be observed in all the following Periods the years of this Period are one hundred forty seven 2 Period From the end of Artaxerxes Mnemons twentieth year unto the end of the thirty fourth year of our Lord The years of this Period are the four last of Daniels four hundred and ninety being cut off for our Reasons laid down in opening Daniels seventy weeks four hundred eighty six 3 Period From the end of the thirty fourth year of our Lord untill the end of the year three hundred sixty six the years of this Period are three hundred thirty two These three first Periods contain years nine hundred sixty five 4 Period From the end of the year three hundred sixty six untill the end of the year three hundred ninety six the years of this Period are thirty 5 Period From the end of the year three hundred ninety six to the end of the year one thousand six hundred fifty six the years of this Period are one thousand two hundred and sixty 6 Period From the end of the year one thousand six hundred fifty six to the end of the year one thousand seven hundred and one the years of this Period are forty five These three last Periods contain of years one thousand three hundred thirty five The years of the three first and the three last Periods put together make up exactly 2300. The sum of all is That Christs Personal Appearance Israels compleat Redemption The final overthrow of Beast and Great Turk The binding of the Dragon The total dissolution of the Fourth Monarchy The beginning of the one thousand
of all is That as those Charactors of truth left us in the naked letter of the text are the most certain rule to go by to finde the minde of the Holy Ghost in Prophecies so walking by that rule Daniels Little Horn is and can be no other but the whole body of the Romish Antichrist A particular Clause in our Discourse about the Times opened IT hath been said in the close of my fore-going Discourse about the times That it cannot bee determined from Scripture whether the present year one thousand six hundred fifty four or tho approaching year one thousand six hundred fifty six be the last of the Beasts reign and the Witnesses wearing sackcloth The ground of this uncertainty lies in the doubtfulness of the year of our Saviours Birth which although the Scripture tells us it was in the days of Augustus Gaesar yet in regard it hath not told us how long the said Augustus Caesar reigned therefore the doubt remaineth Nor will Human Records help us herein because they are divided within themselves and differ some from others a year or two as touching the number of the years the said Augustus reigned Two opinions there are about the time of Christs Birth the one fixing it two years higher the other two years lower The Vulgar Account which wee have followed because the most known and the common Date inclineth to the latter The account of Scaliger which is owned by other Modern Chronologers as Calvisius Alstedius Helvicus c. chuseth the former The difference betwixt these cannot be determined by Scripture nor can it be certainly made appear till the event hath decided it which is the truth Our proof from Scripture is firm and good that the year one thousand six hundred fifty six from the birth of Christ must necessarily be the last year of the Beasts reign and the Witnesses wearing sackcloth This is demonstrable from the two thousand three hundred days for sith that with the year of Christs Passion which was Anno Dom. thirty four six hundred thirty three of Daniels two thousand three hundred yeers were expired as I have proved it therefore follows that from that year to the end of the Fourth Monarchy are to be reckoned but one thousand six hundred sixty seven years more which one thousand six hundred sixty seven years being added to the former number six hundred thirty three as they make up the two thousand three hundred years which are the utmost date of the Fourth Monarchy compleat so do they also make the two thousand three hundred years to expire with the year from Christs Birth one thousand seven hundred and one for adde one thousand six hundred sixty seven to thirty four the year in which Christ suffered and we have the aforesaid sum Now in regard the end of the Beasts reign and the Witnesses wearing Sackcloth falls forty five years before the final destruction of the Fourth Monarchy it therefore follows the Date of the Fourth Monarchy expiring in the year one thousand seven hundred and one from Christs Birth that the end of the Beasts reign and the Witnesses wearing Sackcloth which is to be fixed forty five years above the other must of necessity expire with the end of the year one thousand six hundred fifty six from the birth of Christ But now because the time of Christs Birth is as to the year doubtful therefore I say can it not be determined what year we are to pitch upon as the year one thousand six hundred fifty six from the Birth of Christ If the account of Scaliger which ascends two years above the vulgar be the truth then of necessity in case years since Christ in the counting have not been lost as it is a thing very improbable any should upon the reason we have given in the precedent Discourse must this present year one thousand six hundred fifty four be the last of the Beasts reign and the Witnesses wearing sackcloth for in case Christs Birth be to be fixed two years higher than the beginning of our Vulgar account it will follow that the year which we following the Vulgar account call the year one thousand six hundred fifty four ought to be accounted and really is from Christs Birth the year one thousand six hundred fifty six and if so then will the next year after this be the year in which the German Witnesses and the Saints elsewhere shall put off their Sackcloth and be no longer subject to the tyranny of the Beast But if the Vulgar account be true then will the year we commonly call fifty six be the last year of the Beasts tyranny and the Witnesses wearing Sackcloth and consequently with the beginning of the year one thousand six hundred fifty seven must wee expect the blessed day of the Saints putting off their Sackcloth and leading into captivity that Beast that for one thousand two hundred and sixty years together hath captivated them This being a question of great moment which makes a variance two years throughout all our accounts and withal not being as I judge determinable by Scripture unlesse as I have said it could be proved how many years Augustus Caesar reigned which in case it could be done then indeed Johns beginning to preach in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Luke 3.1 would somewhat help us I thought good having but hinted it before to give here in our close the true and full state thereof leaving the two different accounts to the Readers consideration and the certain determination of the thing it self to the event Only adding that although in my account of times I have walked by the Vulgar reckoning as that which is to persons generally best known yet have I not done it from any such light as perswades me that the Vulgar account is to be chosen and adhered unto rather than the other therefore having shewed where this knot lies I leave it to time and Divine Providence to unty A few days wil resolve this question and many more FINIS AN APPENDIX Wherein is contained 1 Some Conclusions as touching Christs Kingdom and the generall Design Scope and Method of Daniels Prophecies 2 A General Rule for the right understanding of Prophecies together with a more full unfolding the Great Mystery of Daniels Little Horn. 3 An Explication of a particular Clause in the fore-going Discourse about the Times BY J. T. Printed at London by R. I. for L. Chapman dwelling at the Sign of the Crown in Popes-head Alley 1654. A few Conclusions touching Christs Kingdom and the generall Scope and Method of Daniels Prophecies I. THat Christ should have an outward visible Kingdom in which as King of Kings he should be exalted is the promise of the Father antiently made to Christ Gen. 49.10 11. compared with Isa 63.1 2 3. Revel 19.15 16. Numb 24.17 18 19. So Rom. 4.13 compared with Gal. 3.16 and is that thing of which all the Prophets have spoken II. A Type of this Kingdom was the Kingdom of the
Chap. 2.32 That third Beast considered as winged and swift in motion Dan. 7.6 which swiftnesse of march is noted as peculiar to Alexander Dan. 8.5 and is here excellently set forth by giving four Wings i. e. two pair of Wings to this Beast noting his swift march and speedy conquests the Great and notable Horn of the rough Goat Dan. 8.5 compared with vers 21. and what is spoken to Daniel of that mighty King Dan. 11.3 XX. The divided state of the Graecian Monarchy is set forth by the thighs of the great Image Dan. 2.32 the four Heads of the third Beast Dan. 7.6 the four Horns of the He-Goat coming up in the room of the great Horn Dan. 8.8 with vers 22. and what by voyce is delivered to Daniel chap. 11. ver 4 5 c. to ver 14. XXI The Fourth and last Monarchy is of the Romans which Monarchy in either Prophecy is set forth in its two-fold state First its state before Antichrists rise Secondly its state afterwards the one I have formerly called its pure Civil State the other it s mixt State XXII The Roman Monarchy in its first State wherein it chiefly attended to the work of Conquering and subduing Nations is set forth by the Iron Leggs of the great Image Dan. 2.33 which Iron-legged Kingdom or rather this fourth Kingdom considered as Iron-legged is said to break in peeces and subdue all things vers 40. By the fourth Beast Dan. 7.7 but yet considered only as a warlike Beast most dreadful and terrible to the Nations devouring the whole earth treading it down and breaking it in peeces vers 23. By the Little Horn considered in its first waxing great Dan. 8.9 by which waxing it becomes exceeding great pushing down all standing in its way towards the South and towards the West and towards the pleasant Land and by what is spoken to Daniel of the Conquests of the King of the North vers 14. to 21. XXIII The Roman Monarchy in its second State wherein the work it principally attends to is oppressing the Nations subdued already persecuting the Saints treading under-foot the Holy City is set forth by the feet of the great Image of Iron and Clay Dan. 2.33 by the Little Horn Cha. 7. by the Little Horn in its second waxing great Chap. 8.10 11 12 24 25. by the vile Person or that proud King Chap. 11. whose description we have at large vers 21. to vers 40. and afterwards goes under the title of the King of the North ver 40. to the end of the Chapter XXIV All the aforesaid Prophecies though their beginnings are different yet have they but one and the same general end XXV This end is the final dissolution of the Fourth Monarchy and the establishment of the Fifth contemporary with both which is the Personal appearance of Christ XXVI The two last Prophecies conclude with the destruction of the Fourth Monarchy the two first with the greatnesse and glory of the Fifth yet are not for this reason their ends different because though the things themselves are two yet both shall be performed by that one act of Christs Personal appearance It is the appearance of Christ that destroys the Fourth Monarchy establisheth the Fifth XXVII The admirable Harmony in every title betwixt these so antient Prophecies and the events or betwixt the things fore-told so many Ages ago and the things transacted in the Ages since is a strong and convincing Argument of the infallibility of the Prophecies themselves and of the certainty of the performance of the things yet to bee accomplished XXVIII The glorious work of setting up Christs outward visible Kingdom which is the thing pointed at in all the fore-going Prophecies is the great work of the present age and time we live in XXIX The mystical Numbers of Daniel and John both which direct us to the time in which this Kingdom is to be set up all which expire as the fore-going Discourse proveth within the compasse of this Age the visible dispensations of God which in our days have been very wonderful all tending to such a thing the cries of Saints and their faith and expectations generally looking this way the opposition of the Devil and the World against and the malignity of men of worldly Principles unto this glorious truth and blessed work do all speak that we are come to the dawning of that day in which Christ will in despite of Satan and the Worlds rage and all the Carnal policy of men of earthly Principles establish his own Kingdom XXX The former being true it is in its self no strange thing nor ought to be matter of stumbling or offence to any that the Witnesses of Christ in this our day direct their testimony against Civil Powers as they are in their present constitution bearing forth evidently the excellent brightnesse and the terrible form of the Great Image Dan. 2.31 which yet Saints of formet Ages subjected themselves unto and never medled with because the case with them and us is vastly different They lived within the compasse of that time in which the Great Image was to stand the World and worldly Powers were to bear rule which that they might do till their day should come to an end it was necessary that Saints in all Ages heretofore should subject themselves to them and never bear a testimony simply and directly against Civil Powers of a worldly constitution nor indeed could it be any part of their testimony because God having set a time how long worldly Powers should continue it behooved not them to attempt before the time to take from the World what by Divine permission for such a time was allotted them But now the case is otherwise for we being come to the beginning of that day in which the Great Image must be smitten till the same is crumbled to dust and finally carried away with the wind of Gods Wrath and that Kingdom and Dominion which before the Great Image did hold as it s by right to bee translated and given to the Saints of the most High as every Work of God must have light for its Basis because God leads his people to the execution of his will not blinde-fold but by light therefore of necessity must the Witnesses of Christ in this Age bear forth such a testimony of truth as may lay a foundation in the hearts of Gods people for such a work And indeed as the work that God is now about to do is a new thing in the World viz. the regaining that Kingdom which hath been in the hands of the World for now upwards of two thousand three hundred years viz. ever since the beginning of the Seventy years Captivity in Babylon so by the same reason that truth which must be laid as foundation to this work can bee no other but a new thing in the World It is therefore no Argument against the truth of Christs visible Kingdom that Saints our predecessors in the Ages before us medled not with
seventieth week For if those who reckon by years if the year designed answers the event will not stand upon the compleatnesse of months and dayes nor those who reckon by dayes upon the compleatnesse of hours and minutes no more in the Angels reckoning here by weeks if so be the number of the weeks be compleat are the parts of a week to be exacted Seeing therefore the Text is clear that the Messiah is to bee cut off in the seventieth week it matters not as to the making up of seventy weeks though the thing were done in the middle of the week for sufficient it is that the same is done in the seventieth week Thus the sundry great knots as touching the seven weeks the sixty two weeks the one week and the half week are all untied by this opinion which ends the seventy weeks with the Passion of Christ which no other opinion in a way agreeable to the Text other Scriptures yea reason it self either hath done or can do By this therefore we are yet farther confirmed in our foregoing Position viz. That we are with the Passion of our dear Lord and Saviour to end Daniels Seventy Weeks SECT 7. Object But against this our ending of the seventy weeks it may be objected viz. That the seventy weeks cannot end with the Passion of Christ because it is manifest from sundry expressions in the Text that the very Prophesie looks farther and treats of things that relate to another time For vers 26. mention is made of the destruction of Jerusalem both City and Sanctuary which was performed many years after Christs death by Titus Vespasian The people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and Sanctuary and the end thereof shall bee with a Flood Yea the following words in the very same verse Unto the end of the War desolations are determined relate to a time much lower according to the Exposition I my self have given of them Key Thes 17. Yea likewise those words verse 27. For the overspreading of abominations bee shall make it desolate even untill the consummation and that determined shall bee powred upon the desolate must needs relate to the very last times in which the Jews who for crucifying and rejecting the Lord of Glory were given up of God to remain a desolate forsaken people untill the Consummation or the time of the end shall bee again received into favour and restored under Christ to greater Liberty and Glory then ever Therefore must not the seventy weeks end as before but bee extended to some farther time Answ The foregoing Expressions though they come within the compasse of the Vision yet not within the compasse of the seventy weeks or thus Though they are a part of the words of the Prophecie yet are they no part of the seventy weeks that is They do not relate to things done within this time but things to bee done afterwards when the seventy weeks should bee expired For observe The Angel having informed Daniel that after seven weeks and sixty two weeks i. e. sixty nine to bee reckoned from the going forth of the Command to restore and to build Jerusalem the Messiah should appear who having confirmed the Covenant part of the seventieth week should in the middest of that week bee cut off by which Death of his hee should put an end to the Mosaical worship c. Hee now goes on relating farther what should befall the Jewes hereupon even untill their last Restoration not any longer speaking of things as referring to the seventy weeks to the end of which hee was come already but as suiting the former Discourse and also answering Daniels desire which was to know the final issue of things concerning his own people and therefore the Angel tells him that the Messiah being cut off the Jews City and Sanctuary should thereupon be destroyed the body of their Nation bee made desolate in which desolate forlorn unchurched condition they should remain even unto the time of the end when Christ notwithstanding all their unkindnesse to him would yet make himself known unto them taking that poor desolate people into his arms and favour again and this last of their Restoration seems to mee to bee the thing hinted in the very last words of the Prophecie and that determined shall bee poured upon the desolate i.e. as I conceive otherwise nothing at all is here spoken of their Restoration That determined One viz. the Christ the Mesiah the determined time of whose first coming was seventy weeks and who accordingly at the end of that time did come was cut off by the Jews Jerusälem for this destroyed they made desolate unchurched untill the consummation shall in the consummation or in the time of the end bee poured upon the desolate that is reveal himself unto pour out his Spirit upon this desolate Nation who now shall see and confesse that that act of their Fore-fathers in crucifying Christ was indeed the cutting off of their Messiah or that determined One promised to them at the end of seventy weeks Thus though the Prophesie it self brings us as low as Christs second coming yet are not the seventy weeks to be brought down thither but we are to end them as before with the Passion of Christ and whatsoever expressions have a farther look we are to interpret them not as having a respect to the seventy weeks which are compleat without them but as spoken to this end to give Daniel information how the case should stand with his people between the time of their rejection for the cutting off of the Messiah where ends the seventy weeks and their Restoration Thus much as touching Daniels Seventy Weeks CHAP. III. Wherein Inquiry 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 1. HAving in the fore-going Chapter found out the true beginning and ending of Daniels seventy weeks it now remains That we enquire into the number of the years that passed from Cyrus first unto the twentieth of that Artaxerxes when Nehemiah went up to Jerusalem with Commission to build it And the more is this peece of our way to be heeded because Chronologers themselves differ no lesse then above a hundred years some from others in computing this time and a hundred years lost or gained is no little matter I shall therefore as hitherto I have done so in this also make Scripture-Text compared and laid together my chief rule shewing what probabilities I have from the Scripture it self for the thing which I assert and by those examining others opinions chusing or refusing upon no other account To come therefore to the Question Quest What number of years are we to account upon betwixt the first of Cyrus and the twentieth of Artaxerxes Ans It is the opinion of Dr. Lightfoot in his Harmony of the Old Testament whom I am necessitated for truths sake here to mention by name as Mr.
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.