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The resolution and reasons of learned Master Huet on the scope of verse 14 are likewise worthy of regard. "This king"dom (saith he) is ascribed to the person of the Messiah; yet in " verses 22 and 27 it is given to and possessed by the saints. It is Christ's authoritatively; it is the saints' by delegation and ministry. And such as rule for God, and according to God, "are said to rule with God.s This kingdom of our Lord is "either merely spiritual and inward, whereof he maketh no "vicar, saving his Holy Spirit; (and this regency he reserveth with himself, as a peculiar royalty ;) or it is outward and mixed, 'being partly spiritual in the ordinances of worship, and partly "civil in equity and justice, according to righteous laws, &c. " and admits of deputation. And the exercise of it may be ascribed either to God, or man; the first and second causes never "jarring. The dominion here mentioned is that whereof the 'Jews are deprived by the tyranny of the Roman monarchy; "but through the glorious appearance of the Deliverer it is re"stored to them again, never more to be wrested from them.” Finally, Mr. Mede, having learnedly shewn "that from this place, as from the mother text of Scripture, the Jewish Church grounded the name and expected the great day of judge"ment, with the circumstances of which almost all the descrip"tions and expressions thereof in the New Testament have reference;" goes on to say:

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The kingdom of the Son of man and of the saints of the "Most High begins in Daniel when the great judgement sits. "But the kingdom of the Apocalypse, wherein the saints reign with Christ a thousand years, is the same with the kingdom of the Son of man and saints of the Most High in Daniel: "therefore it also begins at the great judgement. That the kingdom in Daniel and that of the thousand years in the Apocalypse are one and the same kingdom appears thus : First, because they begin from the same period; viz. at the destruction of the fourth beast: that in Daniel, when the beast (then ruling in the wicked horn) was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame; (v. 11, 22, 27;) "that in the Apocalypse, when the beast and false prophet (the

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s Hosea xi, 12; Rev. ii, 26, 27.

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"wicked horn of Daniel) were taken, and both cast alive into "a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (xix, 20, 21.) Second"ly, because St. John begins the reign of the thousand years from the same session of judgement described in Daniel, as appears by the parallel expressions borrowed from thence.

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v. 13.)

St. John says, chap. xx.

Verse 4. I saw thrones, and they sat upon them.

And judgement was given

unto them.

And the saints lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Now if it be sufficiently proved, that the thousand years begin with the day of judgement, it will appear further out of "the Apocalypse, that the judgement is not consummated till they "are ended: for Gog and Magog's destruction and the universal "resurrection are not till then. Therefore the whole thousand years "is included in the day of judgement. Hence it will follow, "that whatsoever Scripture speaks of a kingdom of Christ to be "at his second appearing, or at the destruction of Antichrist, "must needs be the same which Daniel saw should be at that "time; and so consequently be the kingdom of the thousand ' years, which the Apocalypse includes between the beginning "and consummation of the great judgement.

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Chapters xi and xii.

That I may deliver myself from the prejudice of singularity, and save my labor in doing things already done to my hands, I shall here put learned Mr. Huet and Mr. Mede in the van; for they have well corrected some versions, punctations, and obscurities of both these chapters; which is necessary before any solid inferences can thence be safely made.

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The whole eleventh chapter (saith Mr. Huet) concerns the

"state of the Jews under the three last monarchies, viz. the "Persian, Grecian, and Roman: the twelfth contains the Jews' "deliverance. The first mention of the Romans is in xi, 30;

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For the ships of Chittim (alias Kittim) shall come against him; &c." This Mr. Huet paraphrastically reads thus." For the "navy of the Romans shall come against him, (Antiochus Epiphanes,) for fear of whom he shall be forced to retire from Egypt, and by the way shall execute his fury upon the Jews, the "refractory Jews assisting him. And whereas the Romans' aid, "sent under the conduct of Popilius, are called ships of Kittim, "it is because originally they came of Kittim, who was one of the sons of Javan; (Gen. x, 4;) from whom, not only some 'parts of Grecia, but all Italy did originally spring. Ancient "records declare how Latinus transported the Citians from the Greek islands into Italy: which is the more probable, since "all antiquity concludes the Italians originally to have sprung "from Græcia. And ships of Kittim are here mentioned, rather "than people of Kittim; 1st, because the arrival of the ships only, in the haven of Alexandria, drove Antiochus from Egypt, "without any other hostility, the soldiers being never landed; "-2dly, because the history of the Roman greatness, beginning "from these times, the Lord would have his people at once "discern the rise and ruin of their last and great oppressor. This he does by citing Balaam's unwitting prophecy, Numb. " xxiv, 24; "that the ships of Kittim should afflict Assur, (translating it into a province,) and also should afflict Heber, the Jews, (sacking their city, and scattering their people on the face " of the earth ;) and yet in the end perish for ever."

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Verse 31, And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall 'pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that "maketh desolate;" he thus paraphrases: "Wherein (that "is, in executing his fury on the Jews) having other power "to assist him, he shall defile the holy temple, and trample "under foot the strong holds of Zion; and shall destroy the "ordinance of God's daily worship, placing in the temple an "abominable idol, causing desolation where it comes."

In these sore desolations and destructions by mad Antiochus, a great trial of men's hearts appeared, as follows in verse 32:

"And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he cor"rupt by flatteries; but the people that do know their God shall "be strong, and do exploits."-Which Mr. Huet renders thus: "In which trials many of the Jews shall be corrupted by fair speeches to deny their religion; but such as are faithful with "God shall gather courage and cleave to their religion."

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In verses 33, 34 follows the event; " And they that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall "fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen "with a little help; but many shall cleave to them with flat"teries."Which in the way of paraphrase he makes: "Yea, "such of them as have the knowledge of the law shall instruct "and encourage their brethren in these sufferings; yet many of them shall suffer the sword, fire, bondage, and spoil for many days. Yet in this distress they shall be holpen by "the courage of some zealous of religion; but among them many of false and treacherous hearts shall be joined."

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"In verse 35 (which according to our last English transla"tion is, "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, "and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of "the end, because it is for an appointed time,") we have, (saith "Mr. Mede,) the close of Epiphanes' persecution;" and therefore he reads it thus: "And of those that are understanding '(men) many shall fall, for the trial of them, and to make "them pure unto the time of the end."—there putting the full stop, and adding this note-"That is, to the end of the Grecian kingdom." "For with this close of the Epiphanian per"secution, the Grecian kingdom, according to the reckoning "of the Holy Spirit, is judged to have its end; neither beyond "that doth it come into the account of the prophetical te"trarchy, or quaternion of four kingdoms." He bids us for proof of this compare Dan. viii, 23: to which let me add, that our English renders it "And in the latter time of their kingdom;" but Pagnin and Arias, "in novissimo regni eorum.” i. e. in the last of their kingdom.

Verse 36, which in our English is rendered thus-" And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, &c."-Mr. Mede begins from

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the last clause of verse 35; "Because as yet, unto an appointed "time, a king shall do according to his pleasure, and shall ex"tol and magnify himself above every god. For (saith he) "these words are a transition; and the article prefixed to king (b) is not here commemorative or repetitional of any thing mentioned before, but in this place only signifies some certain or eminent thing or person, as it does in Isa. vii, 14 :— Behold a virgin shall conceive;" of which virgin there is no " mention before, though it is written with the article prefixed (b). This 36th verse (he continues) is the charac"terism of the fourth, or Roman, kingdom, from the conquer"ing of Macedonia to the end of Augustus; who, as it were "with a fierceness and torrent of fortune, brought into subjec"tion to himself the gentiles, or nations, and their gods." See the like phrase also concerning the rising Persian monarchy,t and touching the Grecian." By a prophetical trope, the gods of cities and nations are said to be made subject and conquered, when the nations and cities themselves, over whom those gods were supposed to be presidents and protectors, are brought into subjection: even as, on the contrary, (which you may more wonder at,) those compelled to submit their necks to those nations, whose gods they were, are said to serve those gods. Here also it will be worth while to consider the solemn custom of the Romans, when they besieged cities, of calling forth in verse those gods or goddesses that were the protectors of those places, in order to bring them to be on their side.x "In the latter part of v. 36 (which Mr. Mede renders, Moreover he shall speak, or edict stupendous things against "the God of gods, and shall prevail till the indignation be con"summated, for there is made a decision of the time;") there is (saith he) the characterism of the same fourth or Roman kingdom, from the death of Augustus to the abrogation of Gentilism; in which interval of time, the said Roman "empire crucified Christ, that GOD OF GODS, then appearing in 'the flesh under Pontius Pilate; and also exercised his wor

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t Dan. viii, 4. u xi, 4. v Isa. xlvi, 2; Jer. 1, 2, and li, 44; and xlviii, 7. w Deut. iv, 28; xxviii, 36, 64; Jer. xvi, 13; 1 Sam. xvi, 19; on all which places see the Chaldee paraphrase. Formulam vide apud Macrob. lib. iii,

Saturnal. c. 8.

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