XIV. sign? for the spirit of enthusiasm is very hardly con- PROP. sistent with itself through the writings of one single person. How then is it possible that for 3000 years together, and pretending too (through all that time) to an uniform series of predictions, it should happen never to have fallen into such a track of expected events, as the nature and truth of things and the situation of the kingdoms of the world should have rendered absolutely impossible, and altogether incapable any farther, much less of any final completion? of 21. I shall conclude this head with pointing at some particular extraordinary prophecies, which deserve to be carefully considered and compared with the events, whether they could possibly have proceeded from chance or from enthusiasm. Some of them are of such a nature as that they can only be judged of by persons learned in history, and these I shall but just mention. Others are obvious to the consideration of the whole world, and with those I shall finish what I think proper at this time to offer upon this subject. Concerning Babylon, "it was particularly foretold *that it (Is. xiii. 17. xxi. 2.) should be shut up, and besieged by the Medes, Elamites, and Armenians: That the river should be dried up: (Jer. 1. 38. li. 36.) That the city should be taken in thetime of afeast, (Jer. li. 39. 57.) while her-mighty men were drunken ; which accordingly came to pass," when " Belshazzar and all his thousand princes, who were drunk with him at the feast," were " slain by Cyrus's soldiers;" (Cyropædia, lib. 7.) Also it was particularly foretold, that God would make the country of Babylon (Is. xiv. 23.) a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; which was accordingly fulfilled by the overflowing and drowning of it, on the breaking down of the great dam in order to take the city." Could the correspondence of these events with the predictions be the result of chance? * Prideaux Connection, part I, book ii. page 67. edit. fol. XIV. PROP. But suppose these predictions were forged after the event; can the following ones also have been written after the event? or with any reason be ascribed to chance? (Jer. 1. 39.) The wild beasts of the desert -shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: And it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. (Jer.li. 26. xxxvii. 64.) They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord: -Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and an hissing without an inhabitant: It shall sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her. (Is. i. 19, 20, 21.) Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: It shall never be inhabited; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation : Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there: But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there. Concerning Egypt, was the following prediction forged after the event? Or, can it, with any reason, be ascribed to chance? (Ezek. xxix. 14, 15.) Egypt --shall be a base kingdom: It shall be the basest of kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: For I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. Concerning Tyre, the prediction is no less remarkable: (Ezek. xxvi. 14, 21.) I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more; --thou shalt be no more; (Ezek. xxvii. 36.) The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more. (Ezek. xxviii. 19.) All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee. The description of the extent of the dominion of XIV. that people, who were to possess Judea in the latter PROP. days; Was it forged after the event? Or can it reasonably be ascribed to chance? (Dan. xi. 40, 41, 42, 43.) He shall come with horsemen and with many ships, and shall overflow and pass over: He shall enter also into the glorious land, [and (ver. 45.) shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain;] and many countries shall be overthrown: But these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Lybians and Ethiopians[]shall be at his steps. When Daniel,* in the vision of Nebuchadnezzar's image foretold (Dan. ii. 38-44.) four great successive monarchies; was this written after the event? Or can the congruity of his description with the things themselves reasonably be ascribed to mere chance? When the angel says to Daniel; (Dan. ix. 24.) seventy weeks† are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, &c. Was this written after the event? Or can it reasonably be ascribed to chance, that from (Ezra, vii. 6, 7, 8.) the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, (when Ezra went up from Bablyon-unto Jerusalem with a commission to restore the government of theJews,) to the death of Christ ;‡ [from ann. Nabon * The fame of which was so early spread, that Ezekiel, who was contemporary with Daniel, plainly alludes to it when he says of the prince of Tyre, chap. xxviii. 3. thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee. + Weeks, or septenaries, of years. Compare Gen. xxix. 27. Num. xiv. 34. Ezek. iv. 6. This and the following observation was extracted out of a MS. communicated by Sir Isaac Newton; and was published in his life-time in the foregoing editions of this discourse, with his express consent. PROP. ass. 290, to ann. Nabonass. 788,] should be precisely XIV. 490. 70 weeks of years? When the angel tells Daniel, that (Dan. ix. 25.) threescore and two weeks the street [of Jerusalem] shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times [ pry, but this in troublous times not like those that should be under Messiah the prince, when he should come to reign ;] was this written after the event? Or can it reasonably be ascribed to chance, that from the twenty-eighth of Artaxerxes,* when the walls were finished, to the birth of Christ, [from ann. Nabonass. 311, to ann. Nobonass. 745,] should be precisely 434 [62 weeks of] years? When Daniel further says; (Dan. ix. 27.) and he shall confirm [or nevertheless he shall confirm] the covenant with many for one week; was this written after the event? Or can it reasonably be ascribed to chance, that from the death of Christ, (anno Dom. 33,) to the command given first to St Peter to preach to Cornelius and the Gentiles, (anno Dom. 40,) should be exactly seven [one week of] years? When he still adds; (Dan. ix. 27.) and in the midst of the week [, and in half a week] he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate Was this written after the event? Or can it with any reason be ascribed to chance, that from Vespasian's marching into Judea in the spring anno Dom. 67, to the taking of Jerusalem by Titus in the autumn anno Dom. 70, should be [half a septenary of years,] three years and a half? When the same Daniel foretels a tyrannical power, which should wear out the saints of the Most High, and they should be given into his hand until (Dan. vii. 25.) a time and times and the dividing of time, and (Dan. xii. 7.) again, for a time,† times, and a half: * Τοῖς ̔Ιεροσολύμοις, ἀνῳκοδομήθη τὸ τεῖχος, ὀγδόῳ καὶ αἰκοστῷ τῆς Ξέξξου Βασιλείας ἔτει, μηνὶ ἐννάτῳ· τέλος δὲ τῶν τειχῶν λαβόντων, &c.-Josephus, Antiq. Judaic. lib. 11. cap. 5. Compare Nehem. v. 14. Three years and a half, or 1260 days, is, according to the analogy of all the forementioned numbers, 1260 years. (Which can no way be applied to the short persecu- PROP. tion of Antiochus, because these prophecies are ex- XIV. pressly declared to be (Dan. viii. 26.) for many days" concerning (Dan. x. 14.) what shall befal thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days, concerning (ch. viii. 17.) the time of the end, (ch. viii. 19.) what shall be in the last end of the indignation; concerning those who (ch. xi. 33.) shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days; (ch. xi. 35.) to try them, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed; concerning (ch. xii. 1.) a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation; the time (ch. xii. 7.) when God shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people; (ch. xii. 9.) the time of the end, till which the words are closed up and sealed; (ch. xii. 4.) to which the prophet is commanded to shut up his words, and seal the book, for many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased: even (ch. xii. 13.) the end, till which Daniel was to rest, and then stand in his lot at the end of the days. When Daniel, I say, foretels such a tyrannical power to continue such a determined period of time; and St John prophecies that the (Rev. xi. 2.) Gentiles. should tread the holy city under foot, forty and two months, which is exactly the same period of time with that of Daniel: And again, that (Rev. xi. 3.) two witnesses clothed in sackcloth, should prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, which is again exactly the very same period of time: And again, that the (Rev. xii. 6.) woman which fled into the wilderness from persecution,' should continue there a thousand two hundred and threescore days: And again, that she should (Rev. xii. 14.) fly into the wilderness for a time, and times, and half a time; which is still the very same period: And again, that a wild beast, a tyrannical power, (ch. xiii. 7.) to whom it was given to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, was (ch. xiii. 5.) to continue forty and |