should prevail, and have power to oppress and persecute the saints; and there is special reference to the pope and those under his influence and direction, when he should be at the head of this empire and rule in it, who is particularly designed in the seventh chapter, denoted by the little horn, "which had eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things, which should make war with the saints and prevail against them, and speak great words against the Most High, and wear out the saints of the Most High." (Dan. vii. 8, 21, 25.) This power, indeed, did oppose and destroy the mighty and holy people, and stand up against the Prince of princes before it existed, and was exercised by antichrist in the church of Rome. Jesus Christ, the Prince of princes, was put to death by this power. And this horn persecuted the church, especially at times, for near three hundred years after the death of Christ; all of which is included in the description of the horn or kingdom which is the chief subject of this chapter; but there is particular and chief reference to what this power would be and do, when in the hands of antichrist, for he, above all others, has spoken great things, and opened his mouth to blaspheme God and the saints. He has introduced and promoted the grossest idolatry, and stood up against the Prince of princes; has magnified himself in his heart even to the Prince of the host, the Lord Jesus Christ, and has been the most cruel and bloody persecutor of the saints for many ages; he has cast down the truth to the ground, and practised and prospered, and has destroyed vast numbers of the holy people, or the saints. Gabriel, who was ordered to make Daniel understand the vision, said to him, "Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation; for at the time appointed the end shall be." (Dan. viii. 19.) His interpretation had chief respect to the latter end of this kingdom under the reign of antichrist, in whose end the kingdom should be ruined, and exist no more.

The question is here asked, "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?" Bishop Newton says, "In the original there is no such word as concerning; and Mr. Lowth rightly observes, that the words may be rendered more agreeably to the Hebrew thus: For how long a time shall the vision last, the daily sacrifice be taken away, and the transgression of the desolation continue? etc. After the same manner the question is translated by the Seventy, and in the Arabic version, and in the vulgar Latin."

The answer is, "Unto two thousand and three hundred

days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." (Dan. viii. 13, 14.) These are no doubt prophetical days, a day being put for a year. The time therefore specified is two thousand and three hundred years. All the difficulty in fixing on the time of the end of these days lies in determining at what time the reckoning begins. This is left in a degree of uncertainty, as is the beginning of the reign of antichrist, which is to continue twelve hundred and sixty years; the reason of which doubtless is, that it should not be precisely known to a day or year when this time will end till it shall be actually accomplished, while it is made certain the time of the end is fixed, and they who are willing to attend to the subject, and make use of all the light that is offered, may have sufficient evidence to determine within a few years when the time will be, and not be left in a total uncertainty about it.

The little horn, which is the chief subject of this vision, and was to do such great things against the holy people, the church, came forth out of one of the four notable horns, towards the four winds of heaven, which grew out of the goat, after the one great horn was broken which the goat had at first. (Verse 8.) The goat is the king of Grecia, or the Grecian empire, erected by Alexander the Great, who was the first king, or the great horn. (Verse 21.) After the death of Alexander, and when his successors in his family were extinct, four kings were set up, and divided the great empire between them into four kingdoms, which division was towards, or according to the four winds, east, west, north, and south. Cassander, one of the four kings, took the western part of the empire, or the western kingdom, containing Macedon, Greece,

etc.

Out of this horn came forth the little horn, which "waxed exceeding great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land." (Verse 9.) This horn Gabriel explains to be "a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences, who shall stand up." (Verse 23.) The Romans are meant by this horn, who were west of Greece, and may be considered as included in the western part of the empire, which was one of the four horns out of which they rose, and soon were conspicuous; and Prideaux says, "Their name began to grow of great note and fame among foreign nations, by their conquests in a few, not above five or six and twenty years after the above-mentioned partition of the empire of the goat into four horns or kingdoms. And they were a distinct people, and doubtless made some figure when the four horns first existed. From this time, and this small beginning, the Romans arose by their policy, power, and conquests, until they arrived to a vast and universal empire. And as they

existed as a people when the Grecian empire was divided into four kingdoms or horns, and they were really included in the western horn, and soon rose out of it, and went on and grew to universal empire, their beginning may properly be reckoned from the time when the western horn or kingdom arose, in which they were included, as they soon after that became a distinct power and kingdom, and were a little horn, and proceeded to conquer and destroy the horn out of which they came, and to subdue all the other horns.

This partition of the Grecian empire into four kingdoms, or horns, was just about three hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ, or the beginning of the Christian era; and as the incarnation of Christ was about the beginning of the fifth thousand years of the world, two thousand and three hundred years from the rise of the four horns will end at or near the beginning of the seventh thousand years of the world. Or, if the beginning of the little horn should not be reckoned from that time, but from the time when the Roman power or horn began to be conspicuous and acknowledged among the nations, two thousand three hundred years from that time will carry them but a few years beyond the beginning of the sev enth thousand years of the world; so that this number serves to confirm what has been observed from the other numbers in Daniel and the Revelation, viz., that the reign of antichrist, who is the last head of the Roman empire, will end about the beginning of the seventh millenary of the world, when the millennium will begin, and the meek, the saints, shall inherit the earth, take the kingdom, and reign with Christ.

In the last chapter of Daniel, "one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" The answer is made in a very solemn manner, in the following words: "It shall be for a time, times, and a half. And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." He who shall scatter the power of the holy people or the saints, is the same with the horn mentioned in the seventh chapter, who should "wear out the saints of the Most High," which is the same event which is here expressed in different words; and the time of his doing. this is the same which is mentioned here: "And they shall be given into his hand, until a time and times and the dividing of time." (Dan. vii. 25.) That is, three prophetical years and a half, in which are one thousand two hundred and sixty prophetical days, which are put for so many years; and this is the same power which is called a beast in the Revelation, who was to do the same thing mentioned here, viz., it was

given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And the same time is there fixed for his doing this. "And power was given unto him to continue (or prac tise and make war) forty and two months," after he was recovered to life from being wounded unto death, (Rev. xiii. 3, 5, 7,) which is just three years and a half, or twelve hundred and sixty days.

Daniel heard, but did not understand the answer, and, therefore, put the following question, "Then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" The answer is, "From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." Here are two different numbers or times mentioned, and neither of them agrees exactly with the foregoing answer. In that, the time of the continuance of the persecuting power which shall scatter and wear out the saints is limited to one thousand two hundred and sixty years. In the answer to Daniel's question, two different numbers of years are mentioned, when those evil things shall come to an end, and the profanation of the church, and the worship and ordinances of Christ, shall cease, and the church shall be restored to due order, and be blessed and brought to a happy, glorious state, viz., one thousand two hundred and ninety, and one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years. The first is thirty years longer than the time mentioned above and in the Revelation, and the last exceeds it seventy-five years. This seeming difference may be reconciled by observing, that these answers do not respect precisely the same event. The former expresses the time of the continuance and reign of antichrist, in which he shall oppress the church of Christ; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, he shall be destroyed. The latter looks forward to the recovery of the church of Christ from her low, afflicted, broken state, to a state of peace and prosperity, in the proper use and enjoyment of the worship, institutions, and ordinances of Christ, which have been so greatly corrupted by the false church of Rome. It may take some time to effect this, after the pope and the church of Rome are wholly destroyed and extinct. As the corruption and perversion of the church, worship, and ordinances of Christ were brought on by degrees, and considerable advances were made in this after antichrist arose, and the pope became a persecuting beast; so doubtless the church will not be wholly purified when this beast shall be destroyed; but it will be some time after this before all

corruptions and errors in doctrine and practice will be wholly extirpated, and the church appear in her true beauty, and come to a state of universal, established peace and prosperity. Within thirty years after the beast shall be slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame, or at the end of one thousand two hundred and ninety years, the church may become universal, and all nations be members of it, and it may arrive to a state of great purity and peace, and an end be put to all her troubles, and most of the wicked be swept off from the face of the earth by some remarkable event and sudden stroke, by which the kingdom of Satan shall be nearly extinct, and his influence among mankind almost wholly cease. But the church of Christ may not arrive to the most pure and happy state which it shall enjoy under forty or fifty years after this. For this happy period Christians must wait; and they will be in a peculiar and high degree blessed who shall come to this happy and glorious state of the church, when the first resurrection shall be universal and complete, and the millennial state established and brought to its full stature and proper height in holiness and happiness, which took place in a considerable degree, and might properly be said to have begun, a number of years before. But these events, and the precise time and manner of their taking place, will be fully known, and the prophecies by which they are foretold will be better understood when they shall be actually accomplished, and all the mistakes which are now made respecting them will be rectified; until which time, they must be in some measure sealed. Nevertheless, it may be evident from divine revelation, that the end of the reign of antichrist draws near, and the time of deliverance of the church from the dark and low state in which it has been near twelve hundred years, and of the ruin of the kingdom of Satan in the world, is not far off, and that these great events will come on within two hundred years, or about that time, and that the seventh thousand years of the world is the time fixed for the prosperity of the church of Christ, and the reign of the saints on earth. And it is hoped that what has been now observed on this point is sufficient to convince every unprejudiced, attentive inquirer that there is satisfactory evidence from prophecy and other things contained in Scripture, that the predicted millennium will take place at that time.

It has been observed, that as antichrist rose gradually from one degree of influence and power to another till he became a complete beast, so this persecuting, idolatrous, anti-Christian power will fall by degrees, until it is wholly taken out of the way; and there may, and probably will be, one thousand two