but the chief obligations to living writers have been mentioned where they occur. Several parts might, perhaps, claim to be strictly original; but this is a point of very small importance. My chief aim has been to furnish a manual of strict and conclusive evidence on these first elements of prophetic interpretation; and, for this end, to exclude carefully every false statement, and all fallacious reasoning; to offer no argument where the premises and the conclusion were not equally sound; and, in short, to set before the reader nothing but the pure truth of God. How far this humble and limited object has been attained, must be left to his candid decision. May it please God, even by these pages, however imperfect, to strengthen the faith of the Church, and to diffuse a sound judgment on the meaning of these mysterious portions of His holy word.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

1

CHAP. I.

ARGUMENTS ALLEGED AGAINST THE RECEIVED INTERPRETATIONS

Received maxims of prophecy, 1. Objection first-Clearness

of fulfilled prophecy, 3. II. Discordance of interpreters, 10.

The sixth seal, 13. Year-day, 14. Testimony of Gibbon,

15. III. Modern origin of the interpretations, 16. The

Year-day, 18. Testimony of Primasius, 20. Meaning of

Dan. xii. 9, 20-24. IV. The study of history required, 25.

Nineveh and Jerusalem, 27. V. Exaggeration of passing

events, 29. VI. Conviction of infidels, 32. Contrast of

the two views, 34.

Presumption first, Nature of prophecy as dealing in crisis ex-

amined, 36. Induction of scriptural instances, 38. II. The

tradition of the early Church, 40. Result of actual induc-

tion, 43. III. Simplicity of the Futurist view, 44. Futu

rist expositions of Daniel, 47; of Revelation, 51. Conclu-

sion, 57.

36

General subjects in debate, 61. Consent on the four empires,

62. Internal evidence, 62-65; external, 66. II. Sameness

of empires in the two visions, objections, 66. Future use of

the kingdoms, 67. Misinterpretation of Dan. vii. 23, 70.

III. The three first empires, 73. Mr. Maitland and Lacun-

za's hypothesis, 73-76. IV. Application of the fourth em-

PAGE.

pire to Rome, 78. Dr. Todd's objections, false maxims im-

puted, 78. Discord of interpreters, 81. Characters of the

fourth kingdom, 83. Mede's interpretation of the stone, 84.

Contrast of Bellarmine's reasoning, 87. Roman moderation,

Gibbon and Plutarch, 89. V. General inferences-time of

the prophecies, 91. Degradation of the parts of the image, 92.

Correspondence of symbols and history, 93. Silence of New

Testament on a future kingdom, 94.

CHAP. IV.

THE VISION OF THE RAM AND HE-GOAT (Dan. viii.)

General consent, 96. I. Historical evidence, date of the

vision, 97; its scene, 98; the horns of the ram, 99;

the three directions of conquest, 99. II. Objections—the

time of the end, 101; the two horns of the ram, 103. Divi-

sion of Alexander's kingdom, 104-109. Short continuance of

the division, 109. III. General remarks—change of dialect,

112; point of departure, 113; character of the symbols,

114; main outline of the vision, 116.

96

CHAP. V.

SUPPLEMENTARY OBJECTIONS

...

The two little horns, 118. Prophetic meaning of KINGS, 122.

Futurist objection, 123, 124. Question defined, 125. Scrip-

ture usage, 127-133.

CHAP. VI.

THE PROPHECY OF THE SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH (Dan. xi. 1-20)

Historical evidence, 135; Ptolemy, 137; Seleucus, 138; Phi-

ladelphus, 140; Antiochus the Great, 141; Raphia, 142;

perfecting of the temple, 145; Antiochus Epiphanes, 148.

II. Objections alleged-Authority of Jerome, 149; discord

of interpreters, 150; the latter days, 153; the mighty king,

154; the fourth king, Xerxes, 156; division of Alexander's

kingdom, 157; Bishop Newton defended, 158; kings for

kingdoms, 160; succession of persons, 162; homogeneity of

the kingdoms, 164; natural sense of the prophecy, 166.

118

135

General principles, 168. Mr. Tyso's objections, 169. Persian

decrees, 172. Discrepancy of interpreters, 173. Real source

of difficulty, 176. Outlines of the actual fulfilment, 176-179.

CHAP. VIII.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS FROM THE VISIONS OF DANIEL

The LAW of DEPARTURE, 182; of CONTINUITY, 183; of progres-

sive DEVELOPMENT, 185; of prophetical PERSPECTIVE, 186; the

cause of the peculiar clearness of the prophecy Dan. xi. 1-30,

187. The spiritual importance of the common events of Pro-

vidence, 189.

168

182

CHAP. IX.

THE PROPHECY OF THE FALL OF JERUSALEM

...

Nature of the difficulty, 194. Futurist theory, 195. I. Paral-

lelism of the three Gospels, 197. II. The point of departure,

199. III. The nature of the narrative in St. Luke, 202.

IV. The ABOMINATION Of DESOLATION, 204. Objections, 206.

the holy place, 209. The times of the Gentiles, 213. V. The

transition, 215. The great tribulation, 216. The shorten-

ing of the days, 217. VI. The meaning of "this generation,"

221-230. The day and hour, 231. VII. General conclu-

sions, 233.

CHAP. X.

THE GENERAL DESIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE-FUTURIST OBJECTIONS

TO ITS FULFILMENT

The variety of actual expositions, 243. Early use of the pro-

phecy, 245; later use, 247. II. The duty of literal in-

terpretation, 250. Opposite dangers, 251. Fallacy of the

common plea for the letter, 252; necessary limits, 253; stars,

rivers, and fountains, 255. The sealed tribes, 256; remarks

of Vitringa, 258. III. Alleged disbelief of miracles, 260.

IV. The analogy of Matt. xxiv., and the vision of the seals,

240

193

CHAP. XI.

PAGE.

THE GENERAL SCOPE OF THE APOCALYPSE-DIRECT ARGUMENTS 264

The title of the prophecy, 265. The analogy of the Old Testa-

ment, 267. The analogy of Daniel's visions, 272. The pro-

phecy of our Lord, 275. The prophetic allusions in the

Epistles, 277. The character of St. John's writings, 279.

The date of the prophecy, 284. The parties addressed, 286.

Direct statements of the prophecy-" things which must be

shortly done," 287. The opening benediction, 290. The

special occasion of the visions, 292. The Lord's-day, 294.

The opening emblems, 294. The allusions to the Jews, 296.

The Epistles to the Churches, 298. The prophetic scenery,

300. The oath of the angel, 302. The universal consent

of the Church, 303. Summary of the evidence and the

objection, 304-307.

CHAP. XII.

THE YEAR-DAY THEORY-THE QUESTION STATED

Importance of the subject, 308; state of the controversy, 309.

I. General nature of the theory, 310. Objections thus re-

moved, 312. Mede's statement explained and defended, 314.

II. Nature of possible evidence, 316; maxim of Hooker,

317. III. The nature of the passages themselves, 319.

IV. Symmetry of the sacred prophecies, 324; previous ex-

amples of revealed periods, 325. V. The symbolical nature

of the books, 326. VI. The dispensation, one of mystery,

328. VII. Their mysterious introduction, 330. Early re-

cognition of the mystery, 331.

CHAP. XIII.

308

332

THE YEAR-DAY THEORY-THE NUMBERS IN DANIEL

I. The seventy weeks, 333. Opposite answers, 334. Four

terms of prophetic time, 336. Gradation of periods, 337. II.

The sentence in the wilderness, 338. III. Typical siege in

Ezekiel, 344. Objections of Bishop Horsley, 346. IV.

The words of Christ, Luke xiii., 349. V. The time, times,

and half, 350. VI. The dream of Nebuchadnezzar, 353.

VII. The evening and morning (Dan. viii.), 356. Connexion