The Monarchies Prophefy. Or how can any one think, that Isaiah fhould Nor will the Expofition of fome other modern Jews, who apply this Prophefy to the Jewish Nation, be of more Validity. For how fhould the Prophet ever come to defcribe that refractory People, who were always fo ftubborn under their Afflictions, by a Lamb that openeth not his Month? When that Nation was fo often reproved by the Prophets, for their enormous Sins. How could they be faid to have done no Violence, neither to have any Deceit in their Mouth? How could the Jews, who were God's People, be faid to be stricken for the Transgreffions of God's People? This is to make the fame Jews to be both Innocent and Tranfgreffors, to fuffer and not to fuffer at the fame Time; which is fuch horrible Nonfenfe, as is not to be endured. Phil. I confefs I am more puzzled with this Chapter, than any other Place I know of; and when I am more at Leifure, I will give it a more attentive Confideration than I have hitherto done. And now, Sir, will you be pleased to proceed to fome other Prediction. Cred. Next, Sir, I defire you would reflect upon that wonderful Prophefy contained in the II. VII. VIII. and and Weeks IX. Chapters of Daniel. I pray you attentively to conProphefies fider, how evidently he fets forth the four great Monarof Chrift. chies of the World: Firft, By the Interpretation of in Daniel's Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, Chap. II. And then again, * plainly plainly fet down, Dan. viii. 21? Or that, upon the first King of Grecia's Death, feveral Kingdoms should arife out of his Conquefts? v. 21. What fhould move him to fay, That in the latter Time of their Kingdom (i. e. of the Grecian Monarchy) when the Tranfgreffors are come to the full, a King of fierce Countenance, and understanding dark Sentences, fhall ftand up; and his Power shall be mighty, but not by his own Power, and he shall destroy wonderfully, and Shall profper and practice, and fall destroy the mighty, and the holy People. And through his Policy he shall caufe Craft to profper in his Hand, and he fall magnify himself in his Heart, and by Peace fhall destroy many; he shall stand up against the Prince of Princes, but he shall be broken without Hand, &c. Dan. viii. 23. Which is a perfect Defcription of the Power, the Pride, and Craft of King Antiochus, one of the Seleucide; as alfo of his unmerciful Cruelty to the holy People, or the Jews, and of his remarkable Death, as you may find them recorded in the Books of the Maccabees, and in Jofephus. But this is not all; for after the Prophet has been foretelling of the Succeffions of these four earthly Monarchies, he begins to tell of the heavenly or fpiritual Kingdom of Christ. And in the Days of thefe Kings fhall the God of Heaven fet up a Kingdom, which fhall never be destroyed, and the Kingdom Shall not be left to other People, but it shall break in Pieces, and confume all thefe Kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever, Forafmuch as thou faweft, that the Stone was cut out of the Mountain without Hands, and that it brake in Pieces the Iron, the Clay, the Brafs, &c. Dan. ii. 44. And when in the VII Chap. he speaks of the fame Monarchies under the Reprefentation of Beafts, he fays: As concerning the reft of the Beafts they had their Dominion taken away, yet their Lives were prolonged for a Seafon and a Time. I faw in the Night Visions, and behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him: And there was given him Dominion, and Glory, and a Kingdom, that all People, Nations, and Languages fhould ferve him: His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away, and his Kingdom Cc3 390 Kingdom that which fall not be deftroyed. And again, T. Rate, one may write a Hiftory, as well as a Prophefy, by Guefs. In fhort, the great Porphyry was fo confounded by the furprising Exactness of this Prophefy, in relation to the four Monarchies, and the Cruelties of Antiochus, that he was forced to affert, That the Author of the Book of Daniel lived after Antiochus's Time. And I wonder why fome of you Deifts (to tread in your Master's Steps) don't as well affert, that he lived fince Conftantine, when the Empire became Chriftian: For the Prophefy is altogether as exact, about the Kingdom of Chrift, as about either of the Monarchies. Nay, if we were at this Day to contrive an hieroglyphical Description of the Prevalency of Chrift's Kingdom over the Powers of this World, and the Fall of the Pagan Empires by the Progrefs of Chriftianity; how could one better exprefs it, than by Daniel's Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands, which brake in Pieces the Images, which reprefented the four Empires? What could be more ftrong and powerful, than those vast Monarchies? And yet the ftrongest of them, viz. that of Rome, that had fubdued and proudly ftood upon the Ruins of all the reft, and laid out all its Force, and Power, and Policy, against the Chriftian Religion, was never able to prevail against it. For, notwithstanding this, This Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands, the Religion of Chrift that was founded upon no human Art nor Policy, a plain Inftitution, without any artificial Finery, propagated only by a few unlearned Fishermen, affifted by the Power of God, deftroyed all the Pagan Worship throughout the Roman Empire, brake down their Images, demolished their Temples, and banished their Gods, and never ceafed till it had perfectly broken in Pieces this great and gaudy Image, and had fubftituted, in lieu of it, the fpiritual Kingdom of Chrift, which muft endure to the End of the World. This is a wonderful Prediction, and the more we confider it, the more we must admire it; and that alfo which follows concerning the Time of the Death of the Meffias, is not only the Subject of our Admiration, but likewife Cc 4 a great 392 up a great Confirmation of our Faith. After threescore and * Vid. Ez. Cap. iv. Rev. xii, 6. xiii. 5. and particularly, Gen. xxix• 27. Fulfil her Weeks, (i. c.) her Seven Years, Levit. xxix. 27. Thou fhalt number Seven Sabbaths, or Weeks, of Years unto thee. How |