ground; and it practised and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, 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? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. viii. 8-14.

*

Now could there be a more perfect agreement than is here found between Josephus and Daniel? Antiochus set himself against a pleasant land, that is, against Canaan the holy land, which is always spoken of as one of the most pleasant and delightful portions of earth. So Josephus says, he marched against the Jews, and set himself against the holy land.

2. He fought against the host of heaven, or the people of God, the church, which is the kingdom of God, or heaven on earth. This agrees with Josephus.

3. He cast down some of the host of heaven; that is, of the stars, or the lights and pillars of the church, men eminent for their religious knowledge and piety. These he forced to comply with his idolatry, or be put to death; he trampled upon them, and triumphed over them; he put them to death with cruel tortures, because they would not eat swine's flesh. He gloried in it, that herein he insulted heaven, and exalted his throne above the stars of God.

4. He magnified himself even to the prince of the host. He set himself against the high priest, whom he deprived of his dignity; or rather against God himself, who was Israel's king of old; who

* These remarks on Antiochus are condensed from Henry.

reigns for ever as Zion's king; who himself heads his own hosts that fight his battles.

5. He took away the daily sacrifice; the morning and evening lamb, which God appointed to be offered every day upon his altar.

6. He cast down the place of the sanctuary; he profaned the temple; he made it the temple of Jupiter Olympus, and set up his image in it. He cast down the truth to the ground; trampled upon the book of the law, that word of truth; tore it, burnt it, and did what he could to destroy it quite, that it might be lost and forgotten forever.

These were things to be done by the little horn, or, as we understand it, Antiochus. I know it is thought, that it refers to the Papal power. I have not time in this lecture to show, that there is scarcely a single point of resemblance, though I will do that before I close my series.

If it were the Papal church, why does it speak about treading the sanctuary under foot? The sanctuary here means the temple at Jerusalem; and this we have seen was desecrated by Antiochus. If it were the Papal power, why does he talk about cleansing the sanctuary? Sanctuary must mean the temple. This is the sense in which it is uniformly used.

Well, when was the temple desecrated by Antiochus cleansed; when was the daily sacrifice restored? Let Josephus answer. He says,

"When, therefore, the generals of Antiochus's armies had been beaten so often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them, that 'after these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to Jerusalem, and purify the temple, and offer the appointed sacri

fice.' But as soon as he, with the whole multitude, was come to Jerusalem, and found the temple deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the temple of their own accord, on account of its desertion, he and those that were with him began to lament, and were quite confounded at the sight of the temple: so he chose out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight against those guards that were in the citadel, until he should have purified the temple. When, therefore, he had carefully purged it, and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of shew-bread], and the altar [of incense], which were made of gold, be hung up the vails at the gates, and added doors to them. He also took down the altar [of burntoffering], and built a new one of stones that he gathered together, and not of such as were hewn with iron tools. So on the five-and-twentieth day of the month Casleu, which the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lighted the lamps that were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar [of incense], and laid the loaves upon the table [of shew-bread], and offered burnt-offerings, upon the new altar [of burnt-offering]. Now it so fell out, that these things were done on the very same day on which their divine worship had fallen off, and was reduced to a profane and common use, after three years' time; for so it was, that the temple was made desolate by Antiochus, and so continued for three years." Josephus, Vol. I. p. 416.

Let me add here, that Josephus applied the prophecy of Daniel to this desolation and desecration of the temple. He says; "And this desola

tion came to pass according to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred and eight years before; for he declared that the Macedonians would dissolve that worship [for some time]." Josephus, Vol. I. p. 416.

Now I ask any candid person, if it is not perfectly reasonable to say, that Daniel has reference in the 2300 days, or, as it is in the original, mornings and evenings, to the desolation of the temple, and the removal of the morning and evening sacrifice by Antiochus?

Thus do we see that the 2300 years computed in the Lectures, come down to 1150 days! Verily this is quite a falling off from the large calculations there made!

Perhaps it will be said, we are not authorized in saying 2300 days means so many mornings and evenings; that they must at least be understood to signify so many days; and that if this is done, the reckoning will not apply to the desolation of Jerusalem by Antiochus ! I answer, there is no difficulty here; for 2300 days are 6 years, 4 months, and 20 days, which is just the time of the defection of the Jewish people, if you reckon, as commentators do, from the defection procured by Menelaus the High Priest, to the time the sanctuary was cleansed.

He

It is impossible, then, to make out 2300 years. Daniel says nothing about years in the text. is talking of days, or mornings and evenings.

I have dwelt at considerable length on this calculation, because the importance attached to it, seemed to require a full investigation of it; and from what has been said, we see it is impossible to prove any thing with regard to the end of the world from the 2300 days of our text.

We will now inquire, whether by adding the different computations together, we can make out 2300 years; for if we cannot, then there is nothing done towards proving the destruction of the world. Let us, then, examine these different computations.

Lecture V. is founded on these words: "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man and his number is six hundred threescore and six." This number is explained to mean 666 years; and is said to denote the time the beast shall reign. Well, what is the proof? We answer, -We are referred to the fact, that when the Scriptures say, man's days are numbered, they mean, they are determined. But, how does this prove that the number of the beast, which is 666, is 666 years? Why may it not be 666 days; or 666 months? In one place, it is said, "ye shall have tribulation ten days; and why may not 666 be so many days? Thus you see we have no proof yet, not a particle. Again. Suppose the 666 are 666 years. What then? When were those years to end? Why of course, you say, in 666 years from the prediction. Not at all, -the hearer is quite too fast, our prophet has a double face; he looks both ways. He does not simply tell the time the beast has to live, but also the time he has lived. But how is this known? Where is the proof? If assertion is proof, why then I can prove that the 666 referred to the time the beast had to live.

Again. If we say the 666 referred to all the years of the beast, how could it be ascertained when its existence commenced, or would end?