Now fome probably may be of opinion, that the affairs of Europe have fuddenly broken, and taken a new direction; and that a mighty change will be effected in the circumstances of mankind by means of the revolution of France, by the spread of its principles and the progrefs of its arms. They may also not unreasonably conclude, that, in this quarter of the world, the wheels of the existing fabrics of government, complex as they are in their original conftruction, injured by the ruft of age, often impeded by the collifion of jarring interefts, and every where clogged by the interference of fuperfluous weights, will in a fhort time be stopped by the obstructions which will be thrown in their way; and that those, who have hitherto regulated their movements, will ceafe to direct them, or to put in motion those engines of oppreffion, in the management of which they now discover so much expertnefs, as they will be driven from their pofts, covered with difgrace, and depressed by disappointment. The People, they may expect, will hereafter be the great Firft Moving Cause that shall actuate the machine of government; and the agents, whom they fhall appoint, will determine on the specific mode on which it shall be conftructed, and adjust and superintend its several operations, however numerous or complicated.

The change in the political world, already accomplished in France, fome perhaps may conceive, is equal in point of greatness, in point of rapidity, in point of benefit, to the most striking change which the natural world can produce. With refpe&t alfo to some of those lofty edifices of power, which are scattered over the furface of the European continent, it will perhaps be thought, that the rapidity with which these unwieldy fabrics, though they have fubfifted during the revolution of centuries, and to the fuperficial observer appeared poffeffed of ftrength which nothing could overpower or shatter, fhall fink and break in pieces, in con

fequence

fequence of that alteration of sentiment which shall prevail, and that ardor of patriotism which shall be kindled, may not unaptly be compared to the fuddenness, with which a vast sea of ice, that before exhibited a prospect the most dreary and comfortless, is fubdued by thaw, and all its different compartments, on the change of weather and the kindly approach of summer, melt and disappear; notwithstanding that fea has been fo frozen by a northern winter, as to have lafted a long fucceffion of weeks, and notwithstanding it appeared to the eye of the uninformed, too firm to be broken, and too hard to be diffolved.

I now proceed to take fome notice of the numbers which occur in the xiith ch. of Daniel; and as this concluding chapter of the Hebrew prophet is fhort and a very remarkable one, I fhall embrace this opportunity of quoting the greater part of it, and of introducing a few extracts in illuftration of it. The prophecies of Daniel,' fays Sir I. Newton, are all of them related to 'one another, as if they were but several parts of one 'general prophecy, given at feveral times 25. In agreement with this remark, it has been concluded, that his predictions in ch. xii. have a relation to what he has elsewhere foretold with refpect to the expiring of perfecution, the deftruction of the antichriftian monarchies, and the subsequent reign of genuine Christianity in the world.

In v. 4 it is faid, but thou, O Daniel, fhut up the words, and feal the book, even to the time of the end: many fhall run to and fro, and knowledge fhall be increased. To shut up a book,' fays Mr. Lowth, and to feal it, is the fame with concealing the sense of it,— as hath been obferved upon ch. viii. 25. And the fame

25 P. 24.

Bb 4

" reafon

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⚫ reafon is affigned in both places for this command, viz. 'because there would be a long interval of time between the date of the prophecy, and the final accomplishment ' of it. But the nearer that time approached, the more light fhould men have for understanding the prophecy 'itfelf; as is implied in the following words. Many 'Shall run to and fro, and knowledge fhall be increased. Many fhall be inquifitive after truth, and keep correfpondence with others for their better information: and 'the gradual completion of this and other prophecies fhall direct obferving readers to form a judgment con⚫cerning those particulars which are yet to be fulfilled.' But the latter words, though they may be admitted to have a peculiar reference to prophetic knowledge, may also be reasonably thought to refer to the augmentation of knowledge in general. But what is the time of the end? In its strict and proper fense, says an intelligent commentator on Daniel, it is that time, wherein the ⚫ years of Antichrift are finished 26.' Though the nature of the wonders foretold in this book of prophecy was thus imperfectly revealed to Daniel, fomewhat was communicated to him relative to the period of their accomplishment. For one of the angels of the vision is reprefented in v. 6 as faying unto another angel, in the prefence of Daniel, and for his information, how long fhall it be to the end of thefe wonders? And, fays Daniel (v. 7-12), I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and fware by him that liveth for ever, that it fhall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things fhall be finished. And I heard, but I understood not: then faid

6 Parker on Dan. p. 122.

:

I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of thefe things? And he faid, go thy way, Daniel: for the words are clofed up and fealed till the time of the end. Many fhall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked Shall do wickedly and none of the wicked fhall underftand: but the wife shall understand. And from the time that the daily facrifice fhall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh defolate fet up, there fhall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Bleffed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

The period here specified by Daniel, a time, times, and an half, fignifies, fays Mede, the 1260 years during which the ten-horned Beast was to reign". The extract which follows is from the paraphrafe of Dr. Wells. And I heard the angel fwear by Him, that lives for ' ever and ever, that it fhall be for a time, times, and an 'half of time, i. e. the said wonderful things are not to 'be accomplished, till the expiration or end of that por'tion of time of the Fourth Kingdom, during which '(according to what was made known unto Daniel in a ' former vision, viz. chap. vii. 25) the little horn fhall wear out the faints of the most High, and they shall be given into his hand.' As the words, repeatedly employed by Daniel in ch. vii. the faints of the Moft High, are most certainly not to be understood of the Jews, but of genuine Chriftians; fo in like manner there is reafon to believe, that that kindred expreffion, the holy people, has in ch. xii. exactly the fame fignification 28. The

6

claufe

27 P. 885.

28 That the holy people, in ch, xii. v. 7 of Dan, is to be understood of genuine Chriftians, the learned Dr. Goodwin conceived to be unquestionable, p. 185. The Chriftians may,' fays bp. Newton (on Dan. vol. II. P. 48), ' full as well as the Jews be comprehended under the name of the

clause containing these words Waple 29 endeavours to illuftrate by referring to a paffage in the apocalypfe. By the accomplishment of the fcattering, or dispersion of "the power of the holy people can,' he fays, be meant no other than the woman's coming out of the wildernefs 30, where the holy people were difperfed and fcattered.' But I do not conceive, that the prophet's words oblige us to conclude, that genuine Chriftians will cease to be oppreffed, immediately at the expiration of the 1260 years. When he says, that it fhall be for a time, times, and an half; and that when he shall have ac complished to featter the power of the holy people, all thefe things fhall be finished; the meaning may be, that it is, for the 1260 years, that the whole body of true Chriftians fhall be principally exposed to the attacks of civil and ecclefiaftical tyranny; and that fome time afterwards, when the period of their being in a difperfed and precarious and perfecuted state shall be completely accomplished, then that all the principal events foretold by Daniel fhall be finished. I fhall fhortly have occafion to introduce a quotation from St. John, wherein he has manifeftly copied from the 7th v. of the xiith ch. of

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holy people. By the holy people,' fays a learned writer, who was quoted in the last chapter, and whofe fignature is Synergus (Comment. and Eff. p. 481), I understand the Chriftians diftinguished by that general title 'from the rest of the world, without any regard to their moral character, or any thing besides their outward profeffion.' Thus it appears, that the appellation of the holy people, with respect to extent of import, is differently understood by different writers.

29 On Rev. x. 7.

30 It is in ch. xii. v. 6 of the Rev. that the fymbolic woman is reprefented as flying into a wilderness,' (I am now quoting from Mr. Lowman,) to intimate, the condition of the church would be difficult and dangerous in these times, like the Ifraelites, when they wandered in the ' wilderness.' • The wilderness into which she fled intimates,' says a foreign writer, the church's obfcurity, poverty, and diftrefs.' New Syft. of Apoc. p. 60.

Daniel,