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his own Power, he reprefents it during the Reign of the fourth Beast.

THIS being premised, with regard to the general intent of this Prophecy, our Author defcends to particulars. The great Horn is the first Kingdom, that which lafted during the Reign of Alexander the Great, and his Brother Arideus, and two young Sons, Alexander and Hercules. The four Horns that came up afterwards, are the Kingdoms of Caffander, Lyfimachus, Antigonus, and Ptolemy. In all this our Author agrees pretty well with all other Commentators. But he differs entirely from them with regard to the little Horn that came forth out of one of the Four. This little Horn he takes to be the Kingdom of Macedonia, from the time it became subject to the Romans. This Kingdom, by the Victory of the Romans over Perfeus, King of Macedonia, Anno Nabonaff.580. ceafed to be one of the four Horns of the Goat, and became a Dominion of a new fort; not a Horn of the fourth Beaft, for Macedonia belonged to the Body of the Third; but a Horn of the third Beaft of a new Sort, a Horn of the Goat, which grew mighty, but not by his own Power; a Horn which rofe up and grew potent under a foreign Power, that of the Ro

mans.

HERE we beg leave to obferve, that there feems to be a little inconfiftency in Sir Isaac Newton's reasoning. Hitherto, not only the Goat represented an independent Kingdom; but the four Horns were alfo Kingdoms independent from one another, and from any foreign Power. And now the little Horn is no more a Kingdom by itself, but barely a Province of the Roman Empire. It is true, Sir Ifaac obferves,

that

that the Latins are not comprehended among "the Nations, reprefented by the He-Goat in "this Prophecy; their Power over the Greeks "is only named in it, to diftinguish the Times in which the He-Goat was mighty by his "own Power, from the time he was mighty,

but not by his own Power. He was mighty "by his own Power, till his Dominion was "taken away by the Latins; after that, his "Life was prolonged under their Dominion, "and this prolonging of his Life was in the

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Days of his laft Horn; for in the Days of "this Horn the Goat became mighty, but not

by his own Power." It appears by this, that our Author lays a great ftress upon these Words of the Prophet, His Power Shall be mighty, but not by his own Power*; as if they fignify'd that the Macedonians (for they are reprefented by the little Horn of the Goat, according to our Author) fhould become powerful by the help of the Romans: but this does not seem to be the fenfe of the Prophet's Words; Grotius's Expofition of them is much more natural, viz. that the King here fpoken of was powerful against the Jews, not fo much by his own Forces, as by the Factions and civil Broils of the Jewst.

OUR Author next fhews how the little Horn has accomplished all that is prophefied of it in this Chapter of Daniel. "The Romans, says

he, by the Legacy of Attalus, the laft King "of Pergamus, Anno Nabonaff. 615. inherited "that Kingdom, including all Afia-Minor, on "this fide of Mount Taurus; Anno Nabon.684,

and 685, they conquered Armenia, Syria, and Judea, Anno Nabonaff.718. they fubdued Egyft.

* Daniel viii. .

† Grotius in h. loc.

Egypt. And by this Conqueft the little Horti "waxed exceeding great towards the South, and "towards the East, and towards the pleasant

Land. And it waxed great, even to the Hoft" of Heaven; and cast down some of the Hoft and of the Stars to the ground, and stamped upon them; that is, upon the People and great "Men of the Jews. Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the Hoft, the Meffiah, the Prince of the Jews, whom he put to death, Anno Nabonaff. 780. And by him the daily Sacrifice was taken away, and the Place of his Sanctuary was cast down, viz. in the Wars which the Armies of the eastern Na tions, under the Conduct of the Romans, made against Judea, when Nero and Vefpa "fian were Emperors, Anno Nabonaff. 816; 817, 818: And an Hoft was given him againft the daily Sacrifice, by reafon of Tranfgreffion, and it caft down the Truth to the Ground, and it practifed and profpered. This Tranfgreffion is in the next Words called the Tranfgreffion of Defolation; and in Daniel xi. 31. the Abo "mination which maketh defolate; and in Matt: * xxiv:13. the Abomination of Defolations Spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, ftanding in the holy "Place. It may relate chiefly to the Worship'

of Jupiter Olympius, in his Temple built by "the Emperor Hadrian, in the place of the "Temple of the Jews, and to the revolt of "the Jews under Barchochab occafioned there

by, and to the Defolation of Juded, which followed thereupon; all the Jews being thenceforward banish'd Judea upon pain of Death. Then I beard, fays Daniel, one Saint Speaking, and another Saint faid unto that cerNo. XXIII. 1733VOL. IV;

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"tain Saint, whith fpake; How long shall be the Vifion concerning the daily Sacrifice, and the Tranfgreffion of Defolation, to give both the "Sanctuary and the Hoft to be trodden under foot? "And be faid unto me; unto two Thousand and "three Hundred Days; then fhall the Sanctuary

be cleanfed. Daniel's Days are Years; and "these Years may perhaps be reckoned, either "from the Destruction of the Temple, by the "Romans, in the Reign of Vefpafian, or from "the Pollution of the Sanctuary by the Wor

fhip of Jupiter Olympius, or from the De"folation of Judea, made in the End of the

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Jewish War, by the Banifhment of all the "Jews out of their own Country, or from

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fome other Period, which time will difcover. "Henceforward the laft Horn of the Goat "continued mighty under the Romans, till the Reign of Conftantine the Great, and his Sons, " and then by the Divifion of the Roman Empire, between the Greek and Latin Emperors, "it feparated from the Latins, and became the "Greek Empire alone, but yet under the Do"minion of a Roman Family; and at prefent "it is mighty under the Dominion of the "Turks."

THUS far our Author; but we doubt very much whether what he here afferts will be granted to him. How can it be faid the Kingdom of the Greeks waxed great, when the Romans made war against the Jews? What Kingdom were the Greeks then Mafters of? We must also observe, that to fay, that the time, when a Prophecy will be accomplished, must be computed from an uncertain Period, or from a Period which time will difcover, very much leffens the Credit of fuch a Prophecy. The

Reader

Reader is further to take notice, that there's a Circumftance in this Prophecy, of which our Author does not fay a Word. The Prophet tells us, that in the latter End of the Kingdom of the four Horns, a King of fierce Countenance, and UNDERSTANDING DARK SENTENCES,hall ftand up: Now, if by a King, we must here understand a Kingdom, how can it be faid of a Kingdom, that it understands dark Sentences? This, according to Grotius, was faid of Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a cunning Politician, and knew how to draw the Jews into Idolatry. But our Author offers fome Arguments against thofe, who maintain that this Prophecy ought to be understood of Antiochus Epiphanes. "A "Horn of a Beaft, fays Sir Ifaac, is never "taken for a fingle Perfon, it always fignifies a new Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Antiochus was an old one. Antiochus reigned over one of the four Horns, and the little "Horn was a fifth under its proper Kings. "This Horn was at first a little one, and wax*ed exceeding great, but fo did not Antiochus.

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It is defcribed great above all the former "Horns, and fo was not Antiochus. His King

dom on the contrary was weak and tributary to the Romans, and he did not enlarge it. "The Horn was a King of fierce Countenance, and destroyed wonderfully, and profpered and practifed; that is, he profpered in his Practices against the holy People; but Antiochus was frighted out of Egypt by a mere meffage of the Romans, and afterwards routed and baffled by the Jews. The Horn was mighty by another's Power, Antiochus acted by his own. The Horn ftood up against the Prince of the Hoft of Heaven, the Prince Hh 2" of

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