Gfarttell Mttittersitij iCthranj 
 
 3ttjara, Nem fork 
 
 LIBRARY OF 
 
 LEWIS BINGLEY WYNNE 
 
 A.B .A.M., COLUMBIAN COLLEGE, '71. '73 
 WASHINGTON. D. C. 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 MRS. MARY A. WYNNE 
 
 AND 
 
 JOHN H. WYNNE 
 
 CORNELL '90 
 1922 
 
Cornell University Library 
 arV1531 
 
 The end as foretold in Daniel : 
 
 3 1924 031 184 488 
 olin.anx 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 924031 1 84488 
 
L 
 
 ££t % **-.&/ *T~4^ 
 
 
THE END, 
 
 .A.S PORBTOLiD IKT D^njTIEIj ; 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF SOME NUMBERS, 
 
 Clre Cjjnmalagij nf t jit Mthtm $ifi$am. 
 
 BEDFORD A. WATKINSON. 
 
 1 Quench not the Spirit : Despise not prophesyings : Prove all things ; kold 
 t that which is good."— Pact., 1 Thee. v. 19-21. 
 
 New IDorki 
 
 C. S. WES.TCOTT & CO., PRINTERS, 
 No. 79 Johm Street. 
 
 1865. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by' 
 
 REDPOKD A. WATKINSON, 
 
 .Ja the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District 
 of New York. 
 
 aa/£ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In venturing on an elucidation of the Book of Daniel, 
 over which so many learned men have labored, and some- 
 what in vain, I may seem to have embarked on a work of 
 temerity ; more especially may it seem so to the clergy, who 
 have, up to a recent date, monopolized this class of learn- 
 ing. But having discovered that the tendency of humanity 
 is to exalt itself ; and one of the most powerful means em- 
 ployed, mystery ; and having seen that the learned profes- 
 sions use this weapon, to a great extent, as a means of 
 monopolizing what little of their education is not shared by 
 the mass of reading men — I thought it no harm to suppose 
 that I might run my mind over the same road the priests 
 had travelled ; more especially so, as a careful reading of the 
 New Testament had brought the conclusion, that the words 
 of Jesus in the Gospels were the most reliable portion of the 
 book, and stand better on their own merits — having more 
 of the spirit of G-od in them ; and not being inspired with 
 the same respect for sundry epistles that have been incor- 
 porated in the same book with them, I determined to follow 
 the one to the exclusion of the other, to some extent. And 
 I find, in chap, xxiii. of Matthew, the Lord, in view of the 
 assumptions of the priests, tells his disciples, " Be ye not 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 
 
 BEDFORD A. WATKINSON, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District 
 of New York. 
 
 ia/6 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In venturing on an elucidation of the Book of Daniel, 
 over which so many learned men have labored, and some- 
 what in vain, I may seem to have embarked on a work of 
 temerity ; more especially may it seem so to the clergy, who 
 have, up to a recent date, monopolized this class of learn- 
 ing. But having discovered that the tendency of humanity 
 is to exalt itself; and one of the most powerful means em- 
 ployed, mystery ; and having seen that the learned profes- 
 sions use this weapon, to a great extent, as a means of 
 monopolizing what little of their education is not shared by 
 the mass of reading men — I thought it no harm to suppose 
 that I might run my mind over the same road the priests 
 had travelled ; more especially so, as a careful reading of the 
 New Testament had brought the conclusion, that the words 
 of Jesus in the Gospels were the most reliable portion of the 
 book, and stand better on their own merits — having more 
 of the spirit of God in them ; and not being inspired with 
 the same respect for sundry epistles that have been incor- 
 porated in the same book with them, I determined to follow 
 the one to the exclusion of the other, to some extent. And 
 I find, in chap, xxiii. of Matthew, the Lord, in view of the 
 assumptions of the priests, tells his disciples, " Be ye not 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 called rabbi," etc. He does not here signify master, for he 
 again repeats, with another word, " Neither be ye called 
 masters." From which I infer, that the Lord intended 
 that an exclusive organization of professional priests, 
 monopolizing his word, as under the old system, was to be 
 superseded. - Hence I felt free to act ; and although I can- 
 not but think that the learned reader will find many errors 
 and crudely-expressed ideas, yet I feel confident the pe- 
 culiar systems developed under the numerical symbols and 
 the corrected chronology, will render the work, in the 
 opinion of many, worthy of consideration, if only as a 
 vehicle to carry these two discoveries. 
 
 Again, I may safely plead a justification for my temerity, 
 in the Word itself, for the reader will not have advanced far 
 into the work ere he perceives that I entertain the convic- 
 tion that a new era is at hand — a new heaven and a new 
 earth is forming — when, in the words of Jeremiah, xxxi. 
 33, 34, the Lord says he "will put his word in each man's 
 heart." Therefore, I will briefly quote the command-^- 
 "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have 
 eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." 
 John v. 39. 
 
 How many have tried to pervert this, passage of the 
 Word, by endeavoring to rid it of the words, "think," "ye 
 think." Not understanding what it means, for it is gene- 
 rally supposed to teach — search the Scriptures, for in them 
 ye have eternal life ; but the terrible little word is there, 
 
INTKODTJCTTON. 3 
 
 and leaves the inference strongly that it teaches otherwise, 
 which it does. The idea is palpable, and the teaching 
 this : " Ye think ye have eternal life in the Scriptures, but ye 
 have not — in me ye have eternal life, and they are they 
 which testify of me." And he goes on to say, in the next 
 verse, " And ye will not come to me that ye might have 
 life." Thus, in Him who came to bring immortality to 
 light, and in Him only have we eternal life — which means 
 heavenly life. 
 
 The Lord referred directly to Daniel-r— showing that this 
 book is a scripture referred to. And nowhere in the Old 
 Testament is the coming of the Lord so distinctly prophe- 
 sied, when we consider, that in this book alone, is the day 
 of his coming told in the literal letter, as in the ninth chap- 
 ter. And nowhere else is foretold the kingdom of God, 
 with the distinctness which is here found. He is the only 
 prophet, except Zechariah to a small extent, who asked the 
 communicating angel the meaning of the symbols shown to 
 him, and has them given to him, as in chap. vii. 16-28, 
 which is a graphic explanation of the preceding verses; 
 likewise in chap. viii. 13, 15, and in chap. ix. 21, and 
 the whole tenth chapter. We are left without an interpre- 
 tation of the various visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jere- 
 miah, except by analogy with other scriptures. Not so 
 Daniel with him it is all given complete. He alone of the 
 prophets teaches of the kingdom of Christ ; others foreshad- 
 ow the coming of the Messiah, but Daniel tells of the 
 
6 mTBODUCTION. 
 
 coming kingdom. Therefore, I call the book the Gospel of 
 the Kingdom ; it having been referred to as such by the 
 Lord in Matt. xxiv. 14, 15. Daniel alone, of all the proph- 
 ets, excepting Jeremiah's seventy years (I dp not include 
 the Pentateuch), gives us exact chronological periods ex- 
 tending into the future. The reader will find I differ in 
 the elucidation of these periods from all the commentators ; 
 yet I follow the language of the Word more literally than 
 they : for it will be found in my interpretations, where 
 there is an explanation, I follow it with rigid literalness, 
 knowing that it means what it says. The only difficulty in 
 such a course was to arrive at the true word of the many 
 readings of different translations. I have adopted fully the 
 year-day theory of most of the Protestant commentators, 
 conclusively proven the correct one, so far as it was sus- 
 ceptible of proof from the original language, by Professor 
 George Bush. To which I add the proof of cycle periods 
 and the theory of numbers, which will probably be novel 
 to the orthodox reader ; but yet more fully is this theory 
 proven correct by its results as worked out in the follow- 
 ing pages. The periods referred to result thus: That 
 in chap. xii. 6, 7, the query, refers to wonder of chap, 
 vii. 3, 4, and 17, which is further explained from chap, 
 ii. 38. That wonder commenced its existence in A. M. 
 3257+1260=4517—4004 (old chronology), and we have 
 A. M. 513, when the holy people were scattered, which is 
 the same as when they were delivered over to the little 
 
INTRODUCTION. I 
 
 horn, chap. vii. 25. Thus : A. D. 513+1260= A. D. 1773; 
 or, 360 + 720 + 270=1850, the 270 being f of «60, or 
 "a dividing of a time:" or, 1350+A.D. 513=A.D. 1863. 
 In chap. viii. 13, 14, the vision is the one referred to, 
 whichs commenced with the ram, which verse 20 tells us is 
 the kingdom of Media and Persia, founded by Cyrus in 
 A. M. 3626, to which add 2300, and we have A. M. 5926, 
 or A. D. 1763 ; or perhaps more properly the date is more 
 accurately given in chap. xi. 3, where this explanation of 
 this vision of the ram shows its commencement to be with 
 Cambyses, 3633 (see chap. iv. Part II.), to which add 2300, 
 and we have 5933 ; deduct 4163, and we have 1770, but 
 three years from the last period. The 1290 days of chap, 
 xii. 11, begins at A. D. 70, as does the 1335, and ends in 
 A. D. : 360 and 1405, the days of Wyckliffe and Huss. 
 There are many others, but these are the chief periods. 
 These terminations will not please orthodoxy, because they 
 look to a revolution or earthquake in Rome in 1866, and 
 never think of a mote in their own eye. And although it 
 will please the Swedenborgian, inasmuch as it substantiates 
 some of the seer's most wonderful assertions, the book is too 
 literal for the New Jerusalem ideas,, and treats primarily 
 the letter, when in it, there is an evident meaning. Yet 
 in Part I., wherein I treat of the stories of the lion's 
 den and fiery furnace, etc., etc., the orthodox will be loath 
 to give up the old reading of the children in the fire, for 
 my allegorical reading, however powerfully they tell of the 
 kingdom. The Presbyterian will be disgusted that I quote 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Douay Bible, and use the word trance ; and the Cath- 
 olic, that I suggest that the papacy is the little horn. The 
 Episcopalian will be shocked that I use the word medium, 
 and consider that the word of God cannot be bound up in 
 any amount of calfskin. Tet the Spiritualist (modern) 
 will smile, that in spite of all the light from the spirits, I 
 should continue to see that there is but oae source of light — 
 and that the Lord Jesus Christ. Not knowing how to 
 reconcile the matter, the teachings must stand on their own 
 merit. But I must be permitted to say, that the termina- 
 tion of the chronological periods were worked out without 
 a reference to Sweden borg, and before perceiving thut they 
 coincided with his evidence, and the date A. D. 513, as to 
 when the saints, were delivered to the little horn, before 
 perceiving that it had the base of the 1260 years of chap, 
 xii. 7, to stand upon ; neither of which incidents, as the 
 reader will readily suppose, tended to cast doubts on my 
 mind as to the accuracy of the deductions. There is some 
 commingling of the periods of Narbonassor and the capture 
 of Israel by Babylon, and some of the cycles commencing 
 A. M. 3257, perhaps would more properly begin in A. M. 
 3280 or 3283 — the one being a period in profane history 
 and the other one in spiritual. On this point the reader 
 can speculate for himself. There is likewise considerable 
 repetition, which might have been avoided, but I have not 
 endeavored to do so, because a new idea often falls upon a 
 dead ear, which, when repeated, may find that ear alive 
 and lake root and grow. 
 
INTKODUCrriON. 9 
 
 The theory of the numbers is here merely introduced so 
 far as is necessary for the purposes of this work. Some 
 little embarrassment may ensue from the use of an entirely 
 new chronology ; but the reader can readily arrive at the 
 more familiar period by the addition of the difference, 
 which is about 159 years, in. some places 158, and in 
 others 160. 
 
 1* 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 -•♦• 
 
 PART I. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Relative to the Book of Daniel 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 On the Nature of Prophecy 32 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Chronology of Daniel 58 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 On the First Chapter of Daniel 76 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEB H. OF DANIEL.) 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of the Image 91 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 • (BEING CHAPTEB HE. OF DANIEL.) 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's Golden Image and the three Children, and 
 the History of Bel and the Dragon. 110 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTBB VII. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEB IV. OF DANIEIi.) 
 
 PASS 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of the Tree 133 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTER V. OF DANIEL.) 
 
 The Vision of Belshazzar's Feast 146 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEB VL OP DANIEL.) 
 
 Daniel in the Lions' Den. 162 
 
 FA-RT II. 
 
 CHAPTEB I. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEB VH. OP DANIEL.) 
 
 -The Vision of the Four Beasts 185 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEB TUL IN PAST, AND X. OP DANIEL.) 
 
 The Vision of the Ram and He-Goat, and the Vision of 
 Angels 220 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 (BEING PABTS OP CHAPTERS Tm AND XL OP DANIEL. 
 
 The King of the South and the King of the North . 236 
 
CONTENTS. 13 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTER Via. OP DANIEL, ?BOM VERSE 9.) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The History of the Little Horn 254 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTER IX. OP . DANIEL. ) 
 
 The Prophecy of the Seventy "Weeks to the Messiah 270 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 (BEINO CHAFTEB XL OF DANIEL, PBOH VEESE 20.) 
 
 The Rise of the Iron Monarchy of Rome over Judea 291 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 (BEING CHAFTEB STL OF DANIEL.) 
 
 Conclusion 316 
 
 Periods indicated as Termini of Prophecies '. . . 325 
 
14 CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 FAQH 
 
 Explanatory Remarks 327 
 
 The Sabbatic and Jubilee Tears 328 
 
 Table of Sabbatic and Jubilee Tears 329 
 
 Notes to Sabbatic Table 334 
 
 Hebraic Chronology 336 
 
 Notes to Hebraic Chronology 343 
 
 Second Sabbatic Cycle 347 
 
 Third Sabbatic Cycle 352 
 
DP^l R T 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 OF THE KINGDOM OF THE MESSIAH, 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS REVOLUTIONS LEADING TO IT. 
 
 " Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they 
 are they which testify of me."— St. John v. 39. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 RELATIVE TO THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 
 
 The authenticity of the Book of Daniel having been 
 frequently disputed, both as to its spiritual character 
 and the period of its composition, especially by Porphery 
 in the third century, Voltaire in the eighteenth, and De 
 Wette in the nineteenth, who, finding that they could not 
 deny the existence of th& work during the Maccabean 
 times, and that the historical events of those days are 
 pictured in it, concluded that it was then written, or after 
 the events which it portrays. These theories I will en- 
 deavor to investigate, and see what proof there is of its 
 authenticity and of Daniel's' identity, first noticing the 
 objections. De Wette claims that the work is a forgery, 
 and put together by subsequent writers, and that Daniel is 
 a myth, and that which pretends to be prophetic in it but 
 a satire written after the events it purports to foretell. All 
 of which might be freely admitted without impairing the 
 intrinsic value of the work, it being a matter of indifference 
 whether Daniel wrote it or not. 
 
 For example : Tobias in London is accounted a great 
 watchmaker, and manufactures a superior time-piece, for 
 which he receives commensurate prices by reason of his, 
 name and fame. His neighbor, taking advantage of this, 
 imitates his watch, making one equally good, and puts the 
 name of Tobias on it, and sells it to me as a Tobias 
 watch. Now if it is equally good, what matters it to me, 
 pecuniarily, who made it. Hence the author is of trifling 
 
18 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 importance if we have the book, and these objections are 
 not sound. He admits that it was written as early as 
 the Maccabean time, or in that of Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 whose history, he says, is recorded in the eleventh chapter ; 
 but if it is shown that a prophecy in the ninth chapter 
 reaches some two centuries beyond that period, his argu- 
 ments against prophecy and what he terms the super- 
 natural, are demolished, for if Daniel could prophecy into 
 the future two hundred years, or from the time of Anti- 
 ochus to the coming of the Messiah, he necessarily could 
 also reach into the future a much longer term, or twelve 
 hundred and sixty years. 
 
 As De Wette's work embraces all the arguments opposed 
 to the authenticity of this book, and the foundation of his 
 opinion is a total repudiation of all matters not resolvable 
 in the crucible of his own knowledge of natural laws, I 
 will notice his objections in the order in which he states 
 them. A passing remark may be made — that the man 
 who arrogates to himself a knowledge of all nature's laws 
 is necessarily ignorant, for he knows not himself. 
 
 De Wette repudiates all things of a spiritual nature, and 
 seems to know nothing of those laws which govern the 
 phenomena of trance, clairvoyance, vision, etc., or even 
 those mesmeric laws on which are based much of the 
 science of magic. 
 
 His first objection to the Book of Daniel is, that Daniel 
 was not the author, because of its legendary character, which 
 embraces most of the matter in the first six chapters. This 
 he subdivides, thus : First, that the king rewarded Daniel / 
 for restoring his lost dream. The objection is on account of 
 its marvellousness, to his comprehension. Whereas it is 
 clearly within the purview of clairvoyance, and more espe- 
 
RELATIVE TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 19 
 
 cially within the scope of impression, or inspiration from 
 heaven. Next to this, he objects to the image in the plain 
 of Dura, sixty cubits by six in dimensions, which he com- 
 mands men to worship. With regard to this, Hengsten- 
 burg says that the original Hebrew word, here used, desig- 
 nates obelisk as well as statue, which hypothesis renders 
 the proportions symmetrical ; but let us see wherein this is 
 improbable : the height may embrace a pedestal, render- 
 ing the proportion proper for an image; It being evident 
 that the like images were at Babylon. Herodotus alludes 
 to one of gold, which every one was obliged to kiss on enter- 
 ing the city ; and Diodorus Siculus, in an account of the 
 plunder taken by Xerxes from Babylon, mentions a statue 
 forty feet high. All this shows that colossal statues were 
 not uncommon in that city. Moreover, the dimensions are 
 more than equalled by the statue of Rhodes, which was 
 seventy cubits in altitude. His next and last objection, 
 under this subdivision, is the story of the fiery furnace. 
 The reader will find I treat this story as an allegory, yet in 
 doing so, never ignore the possibility of the fact, because 
 the allegories are invariably built upon a natural fact. Such, 
 for instance, as the history of the flood and- Noah's ark, 
 themselves impossible in the natural course of events. 
 Nevertheless, here, too, a real aqueous disturbance of the 
 earth is used by the inspired writer as a type or symbol on 
 which to weave his history of the spiritual change and dis- 
 turbance of that day ; so does this writer of the story of 
 the fiery furnace use an accustomed mode of Assyrian pun- 
 ishment to illustrate his allegory. 
 
 His second objection is because its prophetic contents differ 
 from other prophetic books. This really is a curious rea- 
 son to assign, for by the same principle we may say that 
 
20 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the Iliad is not poetry because it differs materially from 
 Moore's Melodies. Of this, however, the reader will find 
 a refutation as he advances in the work, especially wherein 
 I speak of Daniel as the " Gospel of the Kingdom." 
 
 His third, is that Daniel speaks honorably of himself, and 
 refers to these various passages, chap. i. 17, 19, 20; 
 chap. v. 11 ; chap. vi. 4 ; chap. ix. 23 ; and chap. x. 
 11. This, instead of being an objection to its authen- 
 ticity, but proves its origin, being peculiarly oriental, and 
 abundant parallels might be produced ; but I think I will 
 show, before I am through, that Daniel was not the author 
 in the sense that De Wette contends against, but only the 
 medium through whom the book was written ; Daniel hav- 
 ing probably written but a small portion, if any, of himself. 
 
 His fourth objection, is to the corrupt language used. 
 Again he falls far short of nice discrimination, for treating 
 the whole in a literal sense, we find Daniel removed from 
 the language of his fathers in his youth and then adopting 
 a new one. Now the invariable effect of changing a lan- 
 guage in early manhood is to render one inaccurate in 
 both ; it being a very rare thing for a man to master so 
 perfectly two langnages that a defect in the idiom may not 
 be detected in one or the other. 
 
 His fifth objection is, the position of the book in the 
 canon, and says, the hagiographa seem to prove it was 
 written after the prophets were closed. To the Christian 
 understanding this may be readily accounted for — the book 
 being sealed to the senses of the corrupt church of that and 
 the succeeding period. Owing to its spiritual character it 
 is but reasonable that a large portion of the Jews rejected 
 it altogether, and in perfect keeping with their history, for 
 they who rejected the ling would hardly receive the gospel 
 of the kingdom. Of this, more elsewhere. 
 
RELATIVE TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 21 
 
 The sixth objection is, to the doctrine of angels. I 
 scarcely know how to meet this objection, for it applies 
 equally to all scriptures, both Hebrew, Christian, and, in fact, 
 all those which originated in Asia, if not all others. It is a 
 position no argument can meet, it being the mere case of a 
 man who cannot realize and believe in the existence of a 
 spirit, and its sometime communication with men. The 
 lightning never having«struck him, he does not believe in 
 the cause of the thunderbolt. This objection to such a 
 person does, however, apply with force to Daniel, for the 
 book is pre-eminent among the prophets in this matter, and 
 stands among them as Shakespeare does in the drama, Gib- 
 bon in history, or Alexander and Napoleon in war. 
 
 The seventh objection is a more curious and negative 
 one, it being the silence of Jesus Siracedes, respecting Daniel. 
 These are the sum of objections to the Book of Daniel, by 
 all its critics, concentrated by De Wette. I hope to show 
 their fallacies affirmatively, as I proceed. 
 
 Hence I will probably look at it from a different stand- 
 point, and collate the proofs of the authenticity of the book, 
 and of Daniel's identity. 
 
 The one thing that will strike the reader will be, that 
 throughout the prophecies of this book, there are no his- 
 torical inaccuracies. That is to say, a natural fulfilment 
 will be found for each prophetic reference, both as to time, 
 place, and event. 
 
 That a youth, herein called Daniel, and named Belte- 
 shazzar, was among the captives, would seem true, from 
 the fact of its being recorded in Josephus, somewhat dif- 
 ferently from that in the text, showing that he did not rely 
 on this book alone for his history, for he says, that the per- 
 son's name with whom the youths cavilled about their food 
 
22 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 was Arioch, and the eunuch set over them Ashpenaz, where- 
 as, in the text it is Melzar the steward. 
 
 The book of Ezekiel, chap, xxviii. 3, refers to Daniel and 
 his wisdom, and in chap. xiv. 14, occurs the oft-quoted 
 passage, "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, 
 were in it," &c. This, if not a proof of the date of the Book 
 of Daniel, or at least his identity, involves also the Book of 
 Ezekiel in the same objection as to the period of its com- 
 position. 
 
 Again, the book is written from the third verse of the 
 eighth^ihapter, in Chaldaic, tending to show that the per- 
 son" who wrote it was a Hebrew who had been treated 
 with consideration by the Chaldeans. We find him stated 
 as a counsellor to Nebuchadnezzar, and to Darius and Cy- 
 rus. This involves a long period — say, some forty years. I 
 am now about to treat of the book, regardless of author- 
 ship. That it was written is manifest, and an interpola- 
 tion in one of such importance without detection, an impos- 
 sibility. "Were it a counterfeit, where is the original? There 
 is. but the one book extant, though several translations. 
 Now, had there been a pure Daniel, of which this is a cor- 
 ruption, why did not Porphery produce it, for the counter- 
 feit could scarcely survive the original. The evidences 
 that it was written during the captivity, are not weak, and 
 among the most frequently quoted is that passage from 
 Josephus, Ant. of the Jews, book xi. chap. viii. § 5, where 
 he says the book of Daniel was shown to Alexander, and 
 "his conquests prophesied therein. NoDe dispute the exist- 
 ence of the book- at this period, about A. M. 3830. The 
 only thing to be considered is the assumption, that it was 
 but written about that time. There have been efforts to 
 destroy the verity of this passage of Josephus, but they are 
 
BELATTVE TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 23 
 
 effectually silenced by Hengstenberg, who seems to have 
 probed the subject thoroughly. But we need no history to 
 teach the absence of such a fraud, let the reader ask him- 
 self, how was it possible that so singular a book should ap- 
 pear two hundred years before Christ, claiming to be some 
 three hundred years old when it first appeared, without 
 detection. The preceding silence on the work would re- 
 fute its pretensions at once, and the imposture would sur- 
 vive in the history of the book. But, as before remarked, 
 if it prophesied of the Messiah from this period, then may 
 it have done so from three hundred years anterior. 
 
 Again, let us look at the internal structure of the book, 
 and in doing- this I claim for it a completeness unknown to 
 other works, and a direct purpose in its composition. Also, 
 that it is the gospel of the kingdom referred to by the 
 Lord, in Matthew xxiv. 14, 15. Although other books 
 foretold the coming of the Messiah, it is the book of Dan- 
 iel alone that fully prophecies the coming kingdom. The 
 Lord preached salvation, and he also preached of his com- 
 ing kingdom, and in doing so referred to the gospel of 
 the same, and this is the only one then extant ;i and Daniel 
 was his witness and only one then, and the witness of the 
 kingdom, for he bore testimony of it ; for U was probably 
 he that told John, in Rev. xix. 10, " I am thy fellow-servant, 
 and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus, for 
 the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." That it 
 was Daniel who spoke to John, has been held by many I 
 divines for many ages, but a prejudice warps their judgment f 
 from the truth in these days. 
 
 Then again we turn to John, chap. xxi. 20-23, where- 
 in the Lord says: "John shall tarry till he comes," 
 which coming is foretold in Daniel, vii. 10-14, and John 
 
24: EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 
 
 did tarry and saw that coming while in. the Isle of 
 Patmos, and he also then saw, as foretold in Daniel 
 vii. 18, 22, 26, 27, the coming of the kingdom, and he 
 also became a witness, making the two witnesses of the 
 kingdom which are spoken of in Rev. xi. 3, "for they 
 prophesied in sackcloth," that is, in darkness, for 1,260 
 years, or during the dark ages of the church, which period 
 I will hereafter show is from the days of Theodorick to 
 about A. D. 1770. That Daniel and John are the two 
 witnesses referred to, is shown thus ; the 4th verse of Rev. 
 xi. says, " They are the two olive-trees and the two can- 
 dlesticks, standing before the God of the earth." And we 
 read in Zachariah iv., that an angel talked with him, and 
 he saw a candlestick, &c, and two olive-trees, and he ask- 
 ed the angel, " What are these, my Lord ?" and he said, 
 " This is the word of the Lord," &c, &c. In verse 11, 
 he asked again, " What are these two olive-trees V Then 
 said he, " These are the two anointed ones that stand by 
 the Lord of the whole earth." In Rev. xi. 6-11, we 
 read, " These have power to shut heaven that it rain 
 not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over 
 waters to turn them to blood," &c., "and when they 
 shall have finished their testimony, the beast that as- 
 cendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against 
 them and kill them, and their dead bodies shall lie in 
 the street of the great city, which, spiritually, is called 
 Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified, and 
 they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, 
 shall see their dead bodies three dftys and a half and shall 
 not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves and they 
 that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make 
 merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these 
 
BELATIVE TO THE B5oK OF DANIEL. 25 
 
 two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth ; and 
 after three days and a half the spirit of life from God en- 
 tered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great 
 fear fell upon them which saw them ;" which, in plain En- 
 glish, with the light of the present day, may be read thus : 
 The enemy of the witnesses had power to stop the descent? 
 of truth during the days of their prophecy, which extended 
 over the times of the fourth beast of Daniel and the two- ' 
 headed beast of John ; and they had power over people 
 to turn them to shedding blood, and when they have testi-, 
 fied, the beast, as described in Rev. xiii. 11, and chap, xvii., '' 
 and the little horn of Daniel vii. 8, shall have power over- 
 spreading the world with darkness from' the beginning of 
 the sixth century, 1,260 years, as told in Daniel, vii. 
 25, Rev. .xi. 2, and xii. 6, and the dead letter of these 
 prophecies shall remain uninterrupted in the dark and 
 Egyptian church which crucifies truth, and they shall 
 be thus seen 1,260 years, and the wicked are mystified and 1 
 tormented to ascertain their meaning, but after that time a \ 
 new spirit arises, the light of* the Reformation is culmina-J 
 ting, and in 1770 the Lord shed a new light upon thei 
 earth, through the spiritual world, as I will explain here- ) 
 after, and he had a witness to tell how it was done. That ' " 
 the import of these two books was a mystery for a period] 
 of about 1,260 years previous to 1770, is a fact easily! 
 . seen in every theological library, and that the books were! 
 regarded as out of place in the Bible, is ateo a matter of 
 history ; both having been nearly discarded by their re- f 
 spective churches — Daniel by the Jews, and John by the 
 pseudo Christians. I think this, together with the remarks i 
 hereafter touching the seventh chapter, will show conclu- 
 sively that this book is the " gospel of the kingdom," and one 
 
26 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OE DANIEL. 
 
 of the two witnesses named in the Apocalypse ; and if so, 
 then it has a peculiar and special office in the workings ot 
 Providence. 
 
 We can prove this more fully, however, from the inter- 
 nal structure of the book, and I will proceed to show a 
 consecutiveness in the order of narration, and a complete-, 
 ness in the whole, which will appear when we analyze it. 
 Many things I can but refer to in this chapter. One fact, 
 however, that cannot reasonably be ascribed to chance or 
 coincidence, and which, so far as I have been able to learn, 
 has not been noticed by any commentator, I will relate. It 
 is this : The book is of a dual nature ; it relates certain 
 
 : incidents in the natural world as a history, and certain spir- 
 \ itual things in the way of visions. Now these latter have 
 ■ a curious analogy to the order of creation. God first cre- 
 
 l ated the earth, and so the first thing mentioned as seen in 
 spirit is in the second chapter, and was an image of metal 
 
 \ and earth — being in the mineral kingdom. After tie earth 
 and the firmament were finished God created the grass, 
 herbs, and trees. So the next thing seen in Daniel is men- 
 tioned in the fourth chapter, and it was a tree, or in the 
 
 1 vegetable kingdom. Then God created the beasts, and liv- 
 ing and creeping things So the third vision is in the sev- 
 enth chapter, which is of four beasts, or in the animal 
 kingdom. The next vision is in the eighth chapter, which 
 is of domesticated animals. Then God created man ; and 
 the fifth vision is in the tenth chapter, which was of a 
 
 ;f " certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded 
 with the fine gold of Uphas." He had previously, as stated 
 in the ninth chapter, seen a man — the man Gabriel — which 
 was of the human kingdom, and the last was the heavenly 
 
 i kingdom — covering a period of 72 years. Now this may 
 
 | be mere coincidence, but to me it looks like plan. 
 
EELATIVE TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 27 
 
 Let us look, now, at the chronology in its structure. The 
 flrct chapter is a history of the young captives, in the year 
 A. M. 3558, wherein it is said he continued to the first 
 year of Cyrus ; and elsewhere, in chap. vi. 28, it is said he 
 prospered in the reign of Darius, and Cyrus the Persian, 
 and in chap. x. 1, it speaks of him in the third year of 
 Cyrus, king of Persia, which, instead of being an argument 
 against the book as De Wette would have it, is the contrary. 
 The first passage says, until the first year of Cyrus, and 
 the last, the third of Cyrus, king of Persia. Why is 
 this added ? To show the fact as being in the same year, 
 for the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, was the third's 
 of Cyrus, king of Persia, and connected with Babylon.) 
 He and his uncle took Babylon in 3625, and Cyaxares died 
 two years thereafter, and Cyrus entered on his first year as 
 king of Babylon, or of the Medo-Persian empire,- in A. M. 
 3627, or the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, being 
 70 years after Daniel's entrance into the court of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. 
 
 The second chapter relates a dream and vision in Nebu- 
 chadnezzar's second year ; this must have been his fourth 
 year, counting the two years' reign with his father, and is 
 about A. M. 3562, and must have been immediately after 
 Daniel's three years of training — which those kings put 
 upon such captives — we have no data to the incident of 
 the third chapter, but it was probably a statue after, and 
 to the idea from his vision of an image, and therefore sub- 
 sequent to it. The incident in the fourth chapter related, 
 being the vision of the tree, is likewise without date, but 
 we can gather from surrounding circumstances that it was 
 in the latter part of the king's reign. The fifth chapter 
 relates a scene in the year A M. 3625, and the next chap- 
 
28 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 ter an immediately consecutive event. These chapters are 
 historical externally, and Daniel has no visions related in 
 them, except — :if it may be so called, though improperly — 
 the dream of Nebuchadnezzar was revealed to Daniel in a 
 " night vision" chap. ii. 19, and that in the fifth and sixth 
 chapters are but evidences that Daniel had his spiritual 
 senses and understanding open to receive light from above. 
 With the seventh chapter begins the vision of Daniel. These 
 are a history of his life in the spiritual world, as the others 
 are of the same in the natural world. And we go back in 
 point of time seventeen years, to about the year A. M. 3608, 
 when Daniel had the king's vision elaborated and presented 
 to himself, after a period of nearly fifty years. Two years 
 after, he has his second vision ; some fifteen years later, or 
 about the year A. M. 3625, Daniel had given to him the 
 great revelation of the seventy weeks, to the Messiah, as 
 related in the ninth chapter. The tenth chapter relates to 
 incidents two or three years subsequent: — not having frac- 
 tions of years, we are necessarily inaccurate in these dates — 
 and this is about the year A. M. 3127 ; andhere I show in 
 my remarks on this chapter that Daniel had. been leading 
 an ascetic and pious life for twenty-one years, trying to 
 solve these mysteries, and that they were gradually given 
 to him. He had been praying as it were for twenty-one 
 years, and his angel tells him he would have come at first, 
 I chap. x. 12, 13, but the princes of the kingdom of Persia 
 withstood him that period. Now Cyrus had be<mn his 
 war against Babylon in the year A. M. 3605, and this ac- 
 counts for a twenty-one years' spiritual contest between 
 these peoples, the Babylonians and Persians. And it must 
 be borne in mind that all these five chapters are spiritual 
 and run into each other ; and we read in chap. xi. 1, "That 
 
RELATIVE TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 29 
 
 he stood to confirm and strengthen him in the first year of 
 Darius, which was the time that the revelation in the 
 ninth chapter was made. Now, if Daniel had been seeking 
 in prayer these truths for three full weeks, he must have 
 commenced in A. Ti/L 3606, a year previous to his great 
 vision of the four beasts ; and thus do we find the man re- 
 warded who prays in earnest. I am aware that this is an 
 entirely new view of these twenty-one days, but in a careful 
 scrutiny, I think it will be found correct. 
 
 Now, if this was a forgery, subsequently compiled, it was 
 at least done by one who was careful in the extreme to fit all 
 its parts, and one who was wonderfully posted in the science 
 of visions, mesmerism, and the spiritual laws, regarding 
 them — 'which things have only been revealed to us in the 
 last century. 
 
 Respecting the chronology or theory of time used in the 
 book, I will treat of that in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 Therefore, this book carries an internal evidence of its 
 verity — by the fitness of all its chronological periods one to 
 the other, and before I am through I will show that they 
 point so clearly to events, long subsequent to the Macca- 
 bean times, that it becomes evident to the intelligent reader 
 that there is more in the Book of Daniel than could have 
 been compiled by a forger. 
 
 The title of the book, when viewed in its true spiritual 
 significance, is another proof of its authenticity. I have sug- 
 gested that Daniel was not the name of the youthful prison- 
 er he represents, and this may be inferred from the feet 
 recorded in the first chapter. That they gave him the 
 name of Belteshazzar, but when we look into its true mean- 
 ing, especially as the reader will find — where I show in 
 one of the allegories, that Daniel is a third ruler in the 
 
30 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 kingdom, that he here represents the Holy Spirit — or the 
 operation from the Father and Son, and thus derives the 
 name Daniel. From Kabbinical writings, we learn that 
 the Gabalah or tradition, teaches thus, that God is all 
 mercy ; and the Son and Holy Spirit altogether judgment 
 and severity. Mercy is an inner principle — therefore the 
 face of the Father is always hidden. The outer face is the 
 principle of nature or dm, judgment — stern Justice. The 
 outer sicle, or din in its opposition to mercy, is called 
 "Tephereth" or "Splendor, glory," it is his office to be 
 ting or ruler. That the Holy Ghost is the heart of the 
 Son, and the Son the heart of the Father. The Son rep- 
 resents the active principle of mercy. The Holy Spirit, 
 however, is regarded as the female principle of mercy, 
 which purifies either by water or fire — (punishment) or 
 mediatorial restoration of a sinner, and the Holy Spirit is 
 the immediate governor of the world and is called by the 
 
 yn d A 
 
 name 13ns " Adonai," Lord. All that Jehovah does is 
 effected by him — the Holy Spirit, who is the Temple of 
 Jehovah — when he works mercy. The unspeakable qame 
 
 h vhy 
 
 of Jehovah, mm in the Scriptures has the pointing of 
 ijlK thus : mm and is pronounced Adonai. But when 
 
 A 
 
 the Son pronounces chastisement on the world, then the K 
 
 nyd 
 
 withdraws from the name inx and there remains "pi 
 
 din, the last letter being placed in the middle and the 5 at 
 
 the end, being always changed to the •) which is the same 
 letter as a final. Thus it is as it were the spirit with- 
 out the K "A" or father. Here the reader will find 
 the foundation of the name, of which he will see more 
 
RELATIVE TO THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 31 
 
 in the next chapter when treating of numbers, and in the 
 exposition of the first half of the book, wherein I show 
 that Daniel represents the Holy Spirit, or third ruler, in 
 the kingdom. The name being yn Din, or "Judgment," 
 andix El, "God." Thus "Judgment of God," which 
 the reader will find as the definition of Daniel in any 
 Bible dictionary. Therefore, this Book of Daniel is reallyi 
 the Book of the Judgment of God, and when read aright i 
 it will so turn out to be, for in that judgment is set forth the 
 kingdom of God. With these names and modifications of 
 the names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which were 
 extant and known when this book was written, there 
 can be no doubt that such is the significance of the name 
 " Daniel." 
 
 Moreover, the meaning of the word Don or Dan, in Per-' 
 sian, is science, knowledge, or wisdom ; but its application 
 here, is judgment. The reader will discover in my treat- 
 ment of the allegory of the sixth chapter of Daniel, I con- 
 sider him a third ruler in the heavens : therein I prove 
 more of the significance of this name. Again, the San- 
 hedrim consisted of seventy-two persons and three presi- 
 dents, whether inclusive or not does not appear. The first 
 was called n. s. i. (in Hebrew), the numerical significance of 
 which is n. 50, s. 300, i. 10=360. The second Ab. bit. din:, 
 or father of the house of wisdom ; or, in the older He- 
 
 n a 
 brew, T 1 4+50=54, meaning house of wisdom. The 
 
 third, H. K. M., or 8 + 20+40=68, meaning wise. For 
 the significance of these numbers the reader is referred to 
 the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTEK II. • 
 
 ON THE NATURE OF PROPHECY. 
 
 In reflecting on this subject, two prominent principles 
 are to be kept in view. The first being the character of 
 the language of angels or spirits, and the other the muta- 
 tions in the language of men. 
 
 The utmost that man in his natural life can see into the 
 future, is by what is called judgment from cause to effect, 
 and as man's senses and apparent natural effects are muta- 
 ble, the result is ever uncertain. But the spirit has facul- 
 ties of far greater power. It sees, when enlightened from 
 the sun of the spiritual world, immutable effects from 
 cause, and, as it nears the Divine Sun for light, so does its 
 powers increase, even to the extent of beholding from 
 cause to effect into future centuries. Such is the difference 
 between the natural and spiritual faculties. 
 
 But we must remember, that in the spirit world there is 
 no atmospheric air, as a medium, for the conveyance of 
 ideas, as in this, but the atmosphere, so to speak, is spirit- 
 ual — the language-thought made visible, a fact of which 
 men on this plane of life have had glimpses, as is recorded 
 in both Testaments and subsequent history. Yes, thoughts 
 become embodied entities, and when the prophet receives 
 the gift to see into the future, spiritually, as in the case 
 under consideration, he is transferred into that realm 
 where the laws of communication are so different from 
 those in this world, that Paul/ when led into it, was 
 forced to exclaim, that he "saw things impossible to 
 
ON THE NATUBE OE PEOPHEOY. 33 
 
 utter;" and again, "The natural man receiveth not the\ 
 things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness untofc 
 him, neither can he know them, because they are spirit-/ 
 ually discerned." Hence the natural man scouts at spirit- 
 ual things, because they are without the sensuous scope. 
 You can teach an animal anything within the power of his 
 natural faculties, but nothing beyond. From this it must 
 be inferred, that when the prophet receives, on one plane of 
 life, things to be communicated on another, where the law 
 and the manner of communicating ideas are different, he 
 must resort to symbols and correspondences, somewhat as 
 we would converse with the Japanese, with this difference, 
 however, supposing them to be blind from birth, it would 
 be like endeavoring to describe to them a flower-garden, 
 with all its varied hues and tints, made brilliant )by the 
 breath of spring, in which case we would necessarily resort 
 to such things as, when appreciated by the ear, or touch, 
 would correspond so as to give the idea from the fragrance 
 of the music of the rose-leaf, as its colors vibrate on the 
 senses. 
 
 The reader will perceive the difficulty-of this, yet such 
 is involved in all prophetic writing. 
 
 To repeat, however, fearing that the point may not be 
 • distinctly stated. In this life atmospheric air: is the me- 
 dium of the conveyance of ideas. They being conveyed 
 through the senses, and, without air, .the senses cannot 
 operate. 
 
 Whereas, in the life whence the spiritual idea comes, air 
 is not the medium of communication — hence come symbols 
 and correspondences — and the spiritual communication is 
 .presented by pictures, wherein we trace the origin of 
 
 2* 
 
34 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OE DANIEL 
 
 hieroglyphics, which were used by a people who received 
 spiritual communications. 
 
 The other principle to be observed is, discovering the 
 usus loquendi of words, which presents 'the difficulty of ar- 
 riving at the significance of the original words into which 
 the medium put the spiritually received idea. This has 
 been, to a great extent, overlooked ; although Herodotus, 
 who wrote some 480 years before Christ, is deemed the 
 father of history, and previous to his day all oriental nar- 
 ratives were clothed in allegory, metaphor, and parable, 
 yet commentators will persist in making these writings, an- 
 terior to Herodotus, an exception to the rule, when, in 
 fact, had they been so, they would not have been under- 
 stood in their day and generation. 
 
 In order to see the truth of the first proposition, and the 
 difficulty of rendering the language of the spiritual into that 
 of the natural world, let us look at a few instances. Paul, 
 /in 2 Cor. xii. 4, says, when he was in the spirit and was 
 caught up into paradise, he heard unspeakable things, which 
 / it is not possible for a man to utter ; or, as the Douay ver- 
 sion has it, " secret 'words, which it is not granted to man 
 to utter." When the spirit wrote upon the wall the warn- 
 ing to Belshazzar, Daniel v., it required a spiritual seer to 
 interpret it. "When Daniel had his vision of the four 
 beasts, " he did not understand it, for his cogitations 
 troubled him," chap. vii. 28. And as to the next vision, 
 "none understood it," chap. viii. 27 ; and Daniel fasted and 
 sought knowledge from God by prayer and a strictly asce- 
 tic life, for twenty-one years, and then was barely enabled 
 to understand the matters given to him, more in detail, as 
 related in chaps, xi., xii. Most of the communications 
 through Ezekiel, are in vision of things. 
 
ON THE NATUKE OF PBOPHECY. 35 
 
 There are a class of media, who become inspired and 
 have ideas impressed upon their brains, by being open to 
 the Lord, and they enunciate them in their own language. 
 Such a one was Isaiah, and David at times, as recorded in 
 the Bible. Such have been many unknown to themselves, 
 for inspiration likewise comes from angels and spirits below 
 them, and such probably are some of the present day, with 
 this difference only, that those who receive their inspiration 
 from spirits recently out of the natural life, give teachings 
 that are of the earth earthy, and often the spirits, having 
 been but a short period in the spirit-world, - have riot lost 
 the habit of enunciating their ideas in words, and impress 
 their own language on the medium, whereas those who re- 
 ceive their inspiration from the heaven of heavens, as Isaiah 
 and David, the spirit that gives the communication receives 
 his light from the Deity, and to have reached that height 
 has long since lost the habit of the use of words. Therefore 
 they psychologically impress the medium or seer with their 
 ideas, which he translates into mundane language. Now, 
 if this be correct, it is evident that we are in a measure 
 dependent on the purity of the medium for the truth, and 
 according as their lives are regenerate and unspotted are 
 they capable of fully understanding the idea given in a 
 manner to render it perfectly into words. Therefore, Daniel,. 
 who led a peculiarly holy life for many years, is found to 
 give a very intelligible story. His prophecies are pointed 
 and distinct, and never cloudy, he writes as though he had 
 seen with the natural eye. Again, inspiration comes in 
 more ways than one ; it comes from heaven and from the 
 hells, and from this earth. When it comes from the heav- 
 ens it comes with a power and tone that bespeak its origin, 
 and so with the hells ; and it comes from the earth in this 
 
36 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 way : let an impressible person of a timid nature, go to the 
 battle-field, surrounded by old soldiers, and he becomes in- 
 spired with courage. Let such a one listen to Theodore 
 Parker, and he will soon be inspired by him to utter his 
 sentiments ; then let him listen awhile to Mr. Chapin, 
 and he will be inspired with his belief. Thus some per- 
 sons become inspired by their own surroundings. The 
 world, however, has seen but one instance of a man who 
 lived as it were naturally, in both worlds at the same time, 
 and that was Jesus. The purest of the prophets only saw 
 visions when in abnormal conditions, as we find in Daniel, 
 vii. 15, where he says, "I, Daniel, was grieved in my 
 spirit .... and the vision of my head troubled me." After 
 his second great vision, he says in chap. viii. 27, " I, Daniel, 
 fainted, and was sick certain days," &c. 
 
 In Luke ix. 32, in the scene of the transfiguration, a 
 magnetic sleep is described, which overshadowed Peter and 
 John. So in every instance recorded in either the Old or 
 New Testament, whenever a seer or prophet had commun- 
 ion with the spiritual, or saw a spirit, subsequent to the 
 days, as related of Abraham, the person is either directly 
 or impliedly described as in a magnetic state. Some ar- 
 rive at that perfection of mediumship as to receive intelli- 
 gence without losing the proprium in the natural world, 
 but this only in degree. They are not in a perfectly nor- 
 mal or natural state. Whereas Jesus alone was otherwise, 
 as in Matthew xxiv., Mark xiii., and Luke xxi., when fore- 
 telling the destruction of the temple, the sign of the com- 
 ing of the Son of man, and the end of the dispensation, he 
 quietly goes on to tell the whole story, 1,700 years ahead, 
 without vision, trance, or dream. I regard this as one 
 of many strong external evidences of the divinity of the 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PKOPHECY. 37 
 
 Lord. Thus I have endeavored to present, the difficulty of 
 arriving at the true purport of the idea given to the seer 
 before it is diluted through his brain,"and how it is requisite 
 to have some knowledge of the spiritual world to aid us in 
 arriving at conclusions. If it is said we are shut out from 
 the spiritual world, I deny it. But as Paul said, in 1 Cor. 
 ii. 14, " The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
 spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither 
 can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned ;" 
 and he never uttered a truer saying, for the natural man 
 scouts at spiritual things to-day as violently as he did then, 
 but he teaches by that saying that there is a spiritual dis- 
 cernment, and we are not without witnesses. We have 
 Paul's testimony that he went into the spirit world. We 
 also have John's, and to him it was not impossible to tell 
 what he heard. ''The Lord used him — retained him in the 
 world for that purpose, as we find in John xxi. 22. Since 
 then we have Swedenborg, who gave incontrovertible evi- 
 dence of his intromission, and, as I will hereinafter show, he 
 also was used as a witness of things foretold in Daniel and 
 John. The Lord tells us, in Matthew xxiv. 27, " For as 
 the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto 
 the West, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." 
 This is plain language to picture great spiritual light, and 
 the Lord comes and gives the light, and among the instru- 
 mentalities of light may be ranked Swedenborg, who surely 
 shed' much of it, not only on the world by his Commenta- 
 ries, but by his experience and writings generally. There 
 are few comparatively that have an intelligent idea of this 
 man, and we give a few incidents that are related of him 
 as reliable, to prove his assumption that he did freely talk 
 with spirits. I make some extracts from Stilling's Pneu- 
 matology, p. S3 : 
 
38 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DAUIEL. 
 
 " The most remarkable individual of this kind was, un- 
 doubtedly, the famous ghost-seer, Swedenborg ; and this is 
 the place where I must notice him at some length. He 
 had the natural disposition to intercourse with the invisible 
 world, and as so much has been written for and against 
 this extraordinary man, I regard it as my duty to publish 
 the real truth respecting him, having had the opportunity 
 of obtaining it, pure and unmingled. 
 
 " Swedenborg was the son of a preacher in Sweden ; 
 his character was that of honesty and sincerity, and he 
 possessed great talents for learning, by which he profited 
 and devoted himself to the study of philosophy and nat- 
 ural history, but particularly to mineralogy, metallurgy, 
 chemistry, and geology. In order to perfect himself still 
 more in the latter of these sciences, he undertook long 
 journeys through Europe, and then returned to his native 
 country, where he was admitted as a member of the geo- 
 logical board. He has written a couple of thick folios, the 
 contents of which are philosophical ; they contain a well- 
 digested system of philosophy, which, however^ was not 
 favorably received. He then wrote two other thick folio 
 volumes, on copper and iron, which still maintain their ac- 
 knowledged value. To the surprise of every one, this able, 
 learned, and pious man, fell into intercourse with spirits. 
 He made so little mystery of this, that frequently at ta- 
 ble, before a numerous company, and when engaged in the 
 most rational and scientific conversation) he would say, 
 that he had just before spoken on this or that point with 
 the apostle Paul, or with Luther, or with some one who 
 had long been dead. It is easy to conceive that those pres- 
 ent gaped and stared at him with every mark of astonish- 
 ment, and doubted whether he was in his right senses. 
 
OS THE NATURE OF PROPHECY. 39 
 
 However, he occasionally furnished proofs which were un- 
 objectionable. It is true that these statements have been 
 controverted, ami the good man accused of deception, but 
 the latter I loudly deny. Swedenborg was no deceiver, 
 but a pious and religious man, but who might still occasion- 
 ally be deceived and mistaken. The three following proofs 
 of his having intercourse with spirits, are universally 
 known : 
 
 " 1. The queen of Sweden put him to the test, by com- 
 missioning him to tell her what she had spoken on a cer- 
 tain remarkable occasion with her deceased brother, the 
 prince of Prussia, in Charlottenberg, if I mistake not. 
 After some time Swedenborg announced himself, and stated 
 to her what had passed. The queen was deeply struck with 
 it, as may easily be supposed. This fact has been contro- 
 verted in the public papers, but a Swedish nobleman, who 
 was in other respects no admirer of Swedenborg, assured 
 me that the matter was most unquestionably true. He 
 gave me also other proofs of it, which I scruple to make 
 public, in order not to compromise certain individuals ; this 
 being generally the case with matters that relate to the in- 
 visible world. 
 
 " 2. Swedenborg arrived at Gottenburg, from England, 
 with a company of travellers. He there said he had learn- 
 ed from the angels that there was at that moment a fire in 
 Stockholm, in such a street. Among those present were 
 some who resided in Stockholm, and who felt uneasy at this 
 intelligence, but he came to them soon afterward and said 
 that they need not be alarmed, for the fire was extin- 
 guished. The next day they learned that such had been 
 exactly the case. This is a fact which is most certainly 
 true. 
 
40 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 " 3. A respectable widow was called upon to pay a con- 
 siderable sum of money, which she was confident her de- 
 ceased husband had already paid, but sfte could not find 
 the receipt. In her distress she went to Swedenborg, and 
 entreated him to ask her husband where the receipt was 
 laid. Some days after Swedenborg told her that the receipt 
 was in a certain press at the bottom, in a concealed drawer, 
 where it was immediately found. This fact has been thus 
 explained : Swedenborg knew where the receipt was, and 
 had merely made the woman believe he had ascertained it 
 from her husband. I know to a certainty that it would 
 have been morally impossible for this pious man to have 
 acted in such a manner. If he had known of the receipt 
 he would certainly have told the distressed widow where it 
 was on her first visit. 
 
 " But I must now add a fourth experimental proof, which 
 has never been previously made public, and is fully as im- 
 portant as any one of the foregoing. I can vouch for the 
 truth of it with the greatest confidence. 
 
 "About the year 1770, there was a merchant in Elber- 
 field, with whom, during seven years of my residence 
 there, I lived in close intimacy. He was a strict mystic, 
 in the purest sense ; he spoke little, but what he said was 
 like golden fruit on a salver of silver ; he would not have 
 dared, for all the world, knowingly to have told a falsehood, 
 This friend of mine, who has long ago left this world for a 
 better, related to me the following tale. His business re- 
 quired him to take a journey to Amsterdam, where Swe- 
 denborg at that time resided, and having heard and read 
 much of this strange individual, he formed the intention of 
 visiting him, and becoming better acquainted with him. He 
 therefore called upon him, and found a very venerable .look- 
 
OH THE NATURE OF PROPHECY. 4:1 
 
 ing, friendly old man, who received him politely, and re- 
 quired him to be seated, on which the following conversa- 
 tion began : 
 
 "Merchant. — Having been called hither by business, I 
 could not deny myself the honor, sir, of paying my respects 
 to you. Your writings have caused me to regard you as 
 a very remarkable man. 
 
 " Swedenborg. — May I ask where you are from? 
 
 " Merck. — I am from Elberfeld, in the Grand Duchy of 
 Berg. Your writings contain so much of what is beautiful 
 and edifying, that they have made a deep impression upon 
 me ; but the source whence you derive them is so extra- 
 ordinary, so strange and uncommon, that you will, perhaps, 
 not take it amiss of a sincere friend of truth, if he desires 
 incontestable proofs that you re.ally have intercourse with 
 the invisible world. 
 
 " Swed. — It would be very unreasonable if I took it 
 amiss, but I think I have given sufficient proofs which can- 
 not be contradicted. 
 
 "Merck. — Are ,they those that are so well known re- 
 specting the queen, the fire in Stockholm, and the receipt ? 
 
 "Swed. — Yes, they are those, and they are true. 
 
 " Merck. — And yet many objections are brought against 
 them. Might I venture to propose that you give me a 
 similar proof? 
 
 "Swed. — Why not 1 most willingly. 
 
 "Merck. — I had formerly a friend who studied divinity at 
 Duisburg, where he fell into a consumption of which he 
 died. I visited this friend a short time before his decease ; we 
 conversed together on an important topic ; could you learn 
 from him what was the subject of our discourse ? 
 
 "Swed. — We will see,, what was the name of your friend ? 
 
42 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 " The merchant told him his name. 
 
 " Swed. — How long do you remain here 1 
 
 " Merck. — About eight or ten days. 
 
 " Swed. — Call upon me again in a few days. I will see 
 if I can find your friend. 
 
 " The merchant took his leave, and despatched his busi- 
 ness. Some days after he went again to Swedenborg in 
 anxious expectation. The old gentleman met him with a 
 smile, and said : ' I have spoken with your friend. The 
 subject of your discourse was, the restitution of all things' 
 He then related to the merchant, with the greatest precis- 
 ion, what he and what his deceased friend had maintained. 
 
 " My friend turned pale, for this proof was powerful and 
 invincible. He inquired further : ' How fares it with 
 my friend ? Is he in a state of blessedness V Swedenborg 
 answered : ' No, he is not yet in heaven ; he is still in 
 hades, and torments himself continually with the idea of 
 the restitution of all things.' This answer caused my 
 friend the greatest astonishment. He ejaculated : ' My 
 God, what, in the other world V Swedenborg replied : 
 * Certainly ; a man takes with him his favorite inclinations 
 and opinions, and it is very difficult to be divested of them. 
 We ought, therefore, to lay them aside here.' My friend 
 took his leave of this remarkable man perfectly convinced, 
 and returned back to Elberfeld." 
 
 The present age has produced seers and media, and 
 from their various records we can arrive at a pretty good 
 general idea of spirit life, most of which, however, is de- 
 scribed in Swedenborg's writings. And in estimating spir- 
 itual things, the reader must endeavor to realize the thought 
 of a world without time or space as in this world ; there- 
 fore where there can be no measurement, as in the natural 
 
ON THE NATURE OP PEOPHEOY. 43 
 
 world ; and when measurement is given in spiritual wri- 
 tings, its significance can only be comprehended correspon- 
 dentially; as, for instance, when, in Rev. xxi. 17, the 
 measure of the city is given, the language precludes the 
 idea of natural measurement. And .this leads me to this 
 branch of the subject ; that is, the science of numbers as 
 expressive of things, and as so used in the Scriptures In 
 the first place, the knowledge of the origin of numbers or 
 quantities is lost to us, and the basis and principles that 
 govern them are not and cannot have been of human inven- 
 tion, because no mind, of which we have historical record, 
 can fathom the law of their inception. They have a spir- 
 itual foundation. T^iey were given to the earliest men, and 
 were by them used as expressive of ideas and things. We 
 arrive at this conclusion thus : In looking at the crea- 
 tion, so far as we perceive, it comprehends three principles : 
 matter, spirit, combination ; or, body, soul, and operation, 
 which are ultimated from the spiritual principles — wisdom, 
 love, and truth — which three are perfection, when com- 
 bined, and in proof of this, we find throughout the spirit- 
 ual writings of the Scriptures the number three having an ac- 
 tive significance. Swedenborg, in his " Arcana,'' has gath- 
 ered various references, and he says that the numbers four 
 and seven contain spiritual arcana, but it seems to me they 
 have not- the significance of the numbers three and nine; 
 and the reason for so thinking is the quality of these figures 
 beyond and different from all others ; for instance, take a 
 sum, say 26, the combined quantity of which numerals is 
 8, multiply it by three and the multiple is 78, the com- 
 bined quantity being 15 (or 6), or 5 threes. Now multi- 
 ply the 78 by any other number say four, which makes 
 312, being six, or two threes; multiply that by five, which 
 
M 
 
 EXPOSITION OT THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 makes 1560, making 12, or four threes; and so of the 
 number nine. If you make the quantity originally nine, 
 as 63 or 72, you may multiply it by any figure you choose, 
 and the same will be an even multiple of nine ; as for in- 
 stance, multiplied by 6, 72x6=432, which multiplied 
 by 2, is 864, which multiplied by four makes 3456, being 
 the sum 9, 18 (9), and 18 (9), or the even multiple of 
 nine ; again, if the first sum was not 63, 72, 54, 18, or 
 2574, or any even product of nine, but such as 44, 26, 32, 
 if once multiplied by nine, the even product is produced as 
 396, 234, 288, making 18 (9) + 18 (9), which sums may 
 be multiplied by any numeral, and the quality of being 
 the multiple of nine will not be destroyed, and so on in 
 many forms and combinations, as, for instance, all the 
 numerals combined make 45, or one nine ; this obtains 
 with no other numeral." 
 
 It is susceptible, too, of producing some amusing results 
 in the shape of diagrams. Thus, make four lines (fig. 1), 
 
 Kg. 1. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 Kg. 3. 
 
 Kg. i. 
 
 placing the numbers on each point regularly from left to 
 right, and you may place nine in the centre as the sum 
 total on each line. Again, take a solid triangle (fig. 2), 
 and at each point place an uneven number, beginning at 
 the top (fig. 3) ; then put the even numbers, beginning 
 where you left off, at 7, on the sides adjacent ; hence 2 goes 
 on the bottom (fig. 4) next to the 7, 4 goes next to the 5, 
 
ON THE NATCPEE OF PEOPHECY. 
 
 45 
 
 6 next to the 3, and 8, on the back, next to the 1, count- 
 ing 9 all round; and in this manner numerous curious 
 combinations can be made. 
 
 And you may take, for instance, the nine digits, and add 
 them together in reversed order, and they give nine ones, 
 thus : 
 
 123456789 
 
 987654321 
 
 1111111110 
 Or let one line be subtracted from the other thus : 
 
 987654321 
 123456789 
 
 The product is 8 6 4 
 
 or 45, being 5 nines, or thus : 
 
 12 3 
 Multiplied by 
 
 1 9 
 
 5 3 2 
 
 4 5 6 7 8 
 
 And the result is 1111111101 
 
 And again, if you desire the result in twos, 
 Multiply 1_ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 by 18 or two 
 nines thus : 18 
 
 987654312 
 123456789 
 
 2222222202 
 
 ( or 18, two 
 ( nines. 
 
 Or multiply the same by nine nines, or eighty-one and 
 you will Ijave nine nines for the product, and so of any 
 number of nines you multiply by. And again is a curi- 
 ous result, if the figure nine be multiplied in eight places 
 by two and the other digits up to nine inclusive, the whole 
 line of results will be ranged alike from left to right or 
 from right to left. Thus 
 
46 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 99999999 
 23456789 
 
 18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81 
 And in adding them up from left to right the figures speak 
 for themselves, up to eighty-one, or one nine, or nine nines. 
 The reason thai the digit nine has this power, may not 
 be so easily explained as the reason why it is used in 
 ancient writings in certain significations. The a ncien ts, 
 as I said, had a knowledge of the qual ity of numbers, and 
 their correspondential character to spiritual things. The 
 Pythagorians es pecial ly knew and worked upon them, and 
 they considered 1 (one) is a monad, which is indivisible, 
 and^the ieginmng; two, or duad, is the_first_double number ; 
 three, Jhe triad, is Jhe first combination of an odd and even, 
 i and was considered a perfect number ; four represents a 
 square, and contains the whole amount of numerals thus, 
 1, 2, 3, 4, = 10, containing the indivisib le, the duad, tri- 
 angle, and square, and reaches to the end. Thus four was 
 considered to contain great arcana; five is called the 
 pentad, and in the square of nine is the centre. Thus : 
 
 12 3 
 
 4 5 6 
 
 7 8 9 
 Seven was called the heptad, and combined the triangle 
 and square. Nine is the square of three, which contains all 
 the others in their, qualities, the ultimation of these repre- 
 sentative creations. 
 
 Therein is sufficient to show that there is a science of num- 
 bers, and a mystery in them, and the examples I adduce, 
 are not to expound the science or mystery, but only to 
 show that they are used in these prophetic writings in the 
 light of that science, which, being familiar to the learned 
 Chaldeans, was used by the author, to present to the read- 
 
ON THE NATUEE OF PBOPHECY. 47 
 
 er's mind the idea he had himself received, through their 
 presentation to him. On the chronology of Daniel in the 
 next chapter, this subject will again be necessarily referred 
 to, it being the true key to it. 
 
 Now, these numbers will always be found in the order of 
 creation, and it will likewise be found that they are used 
 thus in prophetic writings. 
 
 And the Scriptures, when speaking spiritually, therefore 
 express an idea or spiritual thing, of which the natural 
 thing is but the correspondence ; and it may be illustrated 
 thus : In 1 Kings, vi. 2, we have the measurement of the 
 Temple, which, from the result, I presume was spiritually 
 given. It is sixty cubits long, twenty broad and thirty high. 
 The solid contents of which is thirty-six thousand, whose 
 numerical product is nine. 
 
 In 2 Chron. iii. 3, it says, Solomon was instructed for the 
 building, &c, and the length was sixty cubits, the breadth 
 twenty, the height one hundred and twenty. Here is an ap- ( 
 parent difference in the story of the height. The solid meas- 
 urement, however, is one hunded and forty-four thousand, 
 or one nine. Josephus gives as the measurement thus — 
 Antiq. b. 8, chap. iii. Its height was sixty cubits, its \ 
 length the same, and its breadth twenty, the solid contents * 
 being seventy-two thousand, or one nine.- He then says ( 
 there was another building erected over it, eq ual to it _jn [ 
 its dimensions, so that the entire altitude was one hundred ' 
 and twenly cubits, giving solid contents one hundred and 
 forty^four thousand ; again, one nine. He describes the 
 porch which was to agree with the Temple, its dimensions 
 being 20 x 12 X120, solid contents twenty-eight thousand 
 eight hundred, making two nines, or eighteen. There were 
 three tiers of thirty rooms each, ninety rooms, the solid 
 
40 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 contents making forty-five thousand feet, or one nine. Now, 
 when we turn to the New Jerusalem, which John saw de- 
 scending from heaven, in Rev. xxi. , he says in verse 22, " 3 
 saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the 
 Lamb are the temple of it." This shows that the city is 
 ideal or spiritual, a thing not in time or space, yet the meas- 
 ure is given. It had twelve gates, three on each side, 
 twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve 
 apostles, the city was four-square, the length as large as 
 the breadth, which was twelve thousand furlongs, the length, 
 breadth and height, being equal, twelve thousand by twelve 
 thousand by twelve thousand, which without the height is 
 one hundred and forty-four millions, and with it one thou- 
 sand seven hundred and twenty-eight billions, t "And he 
 measured the wall thereof one hundred and forty-four cu- 
 bits, according to the measure of a man, that is of the angel." 
 
 Thus do we find all these measurements producing the 
 even sum of nine, which is the consummation of the nume- 
 rals. Three times three, or the perfect of perfect. It is 
 reasonable, therefore, to assume that the temple of the Jew 
 was a microcosm, or symbolical representation of a, man. 
 And the city of the New Jerusalem, that of a perfect man 
 or angel, nine being the measure used to designate an angel 
 and humanity, as will hereinafter appear. This is reason- 
 able,* too, when we remember, that Christ called himself, 
 that is, the man Jesus, a temple, when he said "Destroy this 
 temple, and I will raise it in three days." Hence the reader 
 will perceive that the representation of the New Jerusalem 
 in its measurement shows us the measure of humanity as a 
 temple of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The Israelitish being a typical church, the temple was a 
 type or microcosm of humanity. But in the dispensation 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PBOPHECY. 49 
 
 established by Christ, man is the temple of the Holy Spirit, 
 according to the same measure, and no longer is it a tem- 
 ple made with hands, but a fulfilment of the prophecy writ- 
 ten in Jeremiah, xxxi. 35-34: "Behold the days come, 
 saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the 
 house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. 
 
 " Not according to the covenant that I made with their 
 fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring 
 them out of the land of Egypt ; which my covenant they 
 brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the 
 Lord. 
 
 " But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the 
 house of Israel : After those, days, saith the Lord, I will put 
 my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, 
 and will be their Grod, and they shall be my peoj>le. 
 
 " And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, 
 and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for 
 they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the 
 greatest of them, saith the Lord ; for I will forgive their 
 iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." 
 
 These illustrations of the number nine and its combina- 
 tions have a tendency to show that numbers preceded letters 
 as vehicles of expression, letters being the arbitrary work of 
 man differing with different peoples ; numbers, however, ) 
 are universal, and h ave n ever varied, and man cannot vary I 
 them. The expression often used, without a knowledge of 
 its significance, " He lisped in numbers," embodies the 
 great truth meant to be expressed ; that is, he spoke poetry 
 in numbers before he knew language ; or, otherwise, he 
 lisped measured poetry. Thus, too, are many of the earlier 
 writings to be read, remembering that they spoke in num- 
 bers. And again, referring to the principles in the begin- 
 
 3 
 
50 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 ning of the chapter. To a spirit this is a more natural 
 
 mode of expression, than in the arbitrary channel made by 
 
 men; and, as a farther illustration of this truth, I will 
 
 give a few more examples, to show that nine is the measure 
 
 of a man, and an aggregate of nines a complex man or 
 
 angel, for an angel may be an aggregate of individual men, 
 
 or a complex man, for if their spirits are all alike, which 
 
 /they must be if they all receive their thoughts, light, and 
 
 j being, from the Lord, they are as one complex man, yet 
 
 j each is an individual man. And to begin at the beginning, 
 
 ' the word Adam signifying earth or earthy, and likewise man, 
 
 when read in the numerals that stand for the same letters, 
 
 or the numerals from which it is rendered into a word of 
 
 letters, it stands thus in Hebrew : a 1, d 4, m 40= 1440, or 
 
 one 9. Again, in Rev. xiii. 18, we find, " 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 three 
 
 score and six," 666 or 18, two nines. Among the Jewsihe 
 
 Rabbins used an arithmetical interpretation, and they have 
 
 said the letters yii (nine) in numbers make 70, thus, 
 
 7 7" 
 
 i = 10, "<=10, •j=50 = 70; and so the word mystery, 
 
 a V d 
 
 & = 60, 1 = 6, 1=40 = 70; or, Tio . In a periodical 
 called Tlie Israelite Indeed, there is a quotation from the book 
 " Jezira," as follows : " Our Holy Master saith, Know 
 
 h vhy 
 
 that the name (of God) of four letters is Dim , Jehovah, 
 „the producing God, from his name (called Hamforash, be- 
 : cause it was only allowed to the high-priest to pronounce 
 
 that name on the day of atonement in the holy temple), is 
 
 b a 
 
 derived the name of the twelve letters, which is A b or SX 
 
 nb srkkh vyv 
 
 Father, B n or p Son, and laixnn -pi Holy Spirit. From 
 
ON THE NATUKE OF PKOPHECY. 51 
 
 this name of twelve letters there emanates the name of 
 forty-two letters, which is Father God, Son God, Holy 
 Spirit God, three in one and one in three ; these are forty- 
 two letters, and thou must know that these names are of 
 Divine mystery." 
 
 In the most ancient Hebrew, peculiar' sanctity and arca- 
 num were attributed to the letters A tt = l, M n=40, and 
 T n. 400 = 9, which, in the earliest known alphabet, which 
 had sixteen (afterward twenty-two) letters only, these 
 were the beginning, the centre, and the end, and their nu- 
 merical significance are A 1, M 40, T 400, forming the 
 nine, as well as 144, so often met with. The arcanum is 
 that each in their sounds signified a character of Deity. 
 The first the sound of paternity, which in Hebrew was as 
 if spelled Ar-b. The second the character of maternity. 
 The third the operation or spirit. But the general theo- 
 logical sense of all the ancient religions, wherein is- found 
 the word of God, contains the three principles of A b 
 Father, A 1, b 2 = 3, Bn Son, b 2, n 50=52 or 7 -the tri-'j 
 angle and square combined, _or love and wiscjom ; but more j 
 of this hereafter. Thus numbers were used in the earliest 
 ages to express certain spiritual ideas or conceptions, and 
 the idea of a man as a temple of the spirit is presented by 
 the numbers 3 and 9, and not arbitrarily, but by a law of 
 their quantity and quality. This is still further exemplified 
 in Ezekiel xl. 6, wherein he had a vision of the temple, 
 and the angel which he saw had a measuring-reed " six 
 cubits long by the cubit and a hand-breadth," and the 
 breadth of the building was one reed — that is, six cubits, 
 or 18 spans, or 36 hand-breadths, or 108 thumb-breadths, 
 or 141 finger-breadths, and the height was one reed, and 
 the length 100 cubits, making 3,600 solid cubits. And 
 
52 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the measures throughout bear the same relation to the num- 
 ber nine and three as before indicated ; and so the ark con- 
 tained 450,000 cubits solid measure, as given in the sixth 
 chapter of Genesis. Now this cannot be the result of acci- 
 dent or coincidence, for these peculiar combinations will 
 not be found in any other numerals out of the 3 and 9, 
 and, consequently, they contain arcana. 
 
 We may say ideas were first rendered into expression by 
 geometry and numbers. The number seven, so often oc- 
 curring in spiritual language, as the sabbaths, the seven 
 candlesticks, the seven spirits of God, &c, it being fre- 
 quently used as a designation of completeness or fulness, 
 derives peculiar interest from the development of it shown 
 in the chronology in the Appendix, wherein we perceive that 
 moral and religious states ran in, and were governed by 
 septennial cycles, while the number nine seemed used in 
 the order of creation. We are but at the threshold of this 
 inquiry, but much of interest may be already seen. It de- 
 rives significance, also, as before remarked, from its being a 
 combination of a square and a triangle, or four and three, 
 which likewise are perfect figures, and which also corre- 
 spond with love and wisdom. And as these figures and sym- 
 bols are used so frequently in connection with the temple, 
 and the temple both material and spiritual, as we have 
 seen, are given with a correspondence to the numbers 3, 4, 
 7, and 9, it may not be inappropriate to hazard a conjecture, 
 and not without reason, that the builders of thg. Temple 
 were a secret society, using symbols originally received 
 from earlier ages ; and tradition tells us that John was not 
 only a Mason, but while Bishop of Ephesus, Grand Mas- 
 ter of the order, and as Daniel belonged to the family of 
 princes, it is more than likely he too understood all the 
 
ON THE NATUKE OF PBOPHEOY. 53 
 
 symbols now partially preserved iu the Masonic order, 
 though but little understood and spoken in their language. 
 The intelligent Mason who studies the Scriptures corre- 
 spondentially will perceive that if Swedenborg was not a 
 Mason he at least understood the whole foundation of the 
 degrees, and John shows this in his language in Revelation, j 
 here assuming that the ideas only were given to him in,; 
 heaven, and the language and illustrations ai - e his own. 
 Also, it appears by a reference to the corn, wine, and oil, j 
 in Rev. vi. 6. That it was in all probability used symbol- 
 ically then in the Temple, and so expressed in respect to 
 the spiritual temple, as it is preserved in the Masonic rites. 
 But with regard to numbers and ideas being expressed by 
 quantities, that, we learn from Masonry, was at least coe- 
 val with the Temple, for in the second degree the science of 
 geometry is particularly honored ; nevertheless, this only 
 relates to the mundane use of these numbers iu their cor- )l. 
 respondential significance, but of their spiritual applications 
 it is extremely difficult to comprehend ; and I have been told 
 that "science gives not the knowledge of the mystic num.-") 
 bers— it comes not of mind but of spirit, and things of the 
 spirit must be spiritually discerned." Nevertheless, as used^ 
 in writings to express correspondentially the spiritual idea, 
 we can somewhat master it, if we can reach the urns lo- 
 quendi of the writer. Chateaubriand, in his " Genius of 
 Christianity," on this point, remarks : " The idioms of the 
 primitive East, far from indicating a very ancient state of 
 society, exhibit, on the contrary, a close proximity to that 
 of nature. Their mechanism is simple in the highest de- 
 gree, hyperbole, metaphor, all the poetic. figures incessantly 
 occur, but you will find in them scarcely any words fpr the 
 expression of metaphysical ideas. It would be impossible to 
 
 \ 
 
54 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 convey, with perspicuity, in the Hebrew language, the the- 
 ology of the Christian doctrine." /Yet the principle of the 
 Trinity was not confined to Hebrew or Chaldean theology. 
 Plato, in the Epinonius, and elsewhere, in defining Deity, 
 lays down, as principles, the first good, the word or the 
 nndgj gtandin g, an_d thesoul. The first good is God ; the 
 word or the understanding is the Son of this first good, by 
 whom he was begotten like to himself and the soul, 
 which is the middle term, between the Father and the Sou, 
 and is the Holy Ghost." And Pythagoras says " Honor 
 chiefly the habit, the judgment-seat, and the triobolis (or 
 three oboli)," containing the principle of 12, which is in 
 amount three. 
 
 As a further elucidation or proof of this theory that num- 
 bers conveyed the idea of men and things, I have culled 
 from the Scriptures many names, each having their signifi- 
 cance and their number combinations, and they present a 
 singular uniformity, and that the names in the Old Testa- 
 ment are used to signify ideas, may be discovered in the 
 names of the ten patriarchs. Their meanings reading about 
 thus : They being, Adam, man ; Seth, placed or appointed; 
 Enos, miserable man ; Kenan, owner ; Mahalaleel, praiser of 
 God; Jared, ruling or coming down; Enoch, teaching; 
 Methusaleh, his death produces — of a flood (or judgment); 
 Lamech, stricken, debased; Noah, rest, comfort; which, 
 when combined, read about thus : Man, being placed in a 
 wretched and lamentable condition, the praised God de- 
 scends teaching, that his death produces to fallen and de- 
 based mankind, consolation and salvation.* 
 
 The following names, each representing a spiritual prin- 
 ciple, contain the number seven, or square and triad: 
 
 *Kev. John Brown's Dictionary of Bible, 1861. 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PBOPHEOY. 55 
 
 Melchizedek, whose letters amount to 214, or one seven ; 
 Noah, 61 ; Cain, 160 ; Jer usalem , 597 — Jjjree sevens ; 
 Daniel, 95, or 14, two sevens ; Abraham, 248=14 ■ Isaac, 
 205 ; Shem, 340; Japhet, 95. 
 
 And the following, when used in connection with man- 
 kind; or representing a somewhat different principle from 
 the above, have the nine in their numeral combination : 
 Enoch, 81; Nebuchadnezzar, 423; Adam, 45; Job, 9; 
 Jacob, 117; Methusalah, 387 ; Abram, 243 ; Ham, 45. 
 
 The names of the Deity are various ; first, we have 
 nirp " Jehovah," which, in numbers, is 10, 5, 6, 5, or 
 26 = 8, 2 squares; and dTiVx " Elohm," 1, 30, 5, 10, 
 40 = 86 = 14, two sevens ; and isis " Adonai," 1, 4, 50, 
 10 = 65. These names are pronounced differently, and 
 are made to signify differently by pointings. Thus: 
 r^rn , pronounced Elohim, the " Judging God" (though 
 the letters spell Jehovah), because it contains the same 
 number as the word snan Hatebah, "Nature." Thus: 
 n 5, a 9, a 2, s 70, together 86, the same as Elohim 
 above. I have presented enough to show the general idea, 
 that numbers have a bearing on the meaning of ancient 
 Hebrew words ; in fact, some Eabbinical writers have un- 
 dertaken' to interpret whole passages by what they call 
 "Gimatriah," or "arithmetic of letters."* "When in 
 Exodus xxiii. 21, God says of the angel sent to Moses, 
 " My name is in him." The Cabalah say his name was 
 Metatam, which, in Hebrew, contains the same number 
 as " Almighty God," written in the same characters. 
 
 n v r th th m 
 
 Thus : Tnaua , and contains a 40, B 9, B fl, "i 200, 1 6, 
 1 50+314 = 8. The word Shadai contains 1 10, 1 4, U) 300, 
 
 * Israelite Indeed, March and April, 1858, p. 226. 
 
56 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 314 = 8. So Serpent and Satan, in the original Hebrew, 
 each contain 359 = 17 ; and in the chronology in the next 
 chapter the reader will find more of this subject, especially 
 with regard to the circle. 
 
 And another element in the power of prophesying is the 
 understanding of the spiritual cycles, for by a reference to 
 the Appendix, it will be seen that national periods are gov- 
 erned by cycles of years, distinctly marked in the history 
 of the Jewish Church and nation. And the same law can 
 doubtless be traced in the histories of other nationalities ; 
 especially is this visible in the history of the four nations 
 symbolized by the four beasts of Daniel, whose periods 
 were terminated by the cycles of 1260 years. And Daniel 
 gives us a hint of this science when he says, in the ninth 
 chapter, second verse : " I Daniel understood by books 
 the number of the years." Although referring to the sev- 
 enty years of Jeremiah, yet he seems to imply that he un- 
 derstood more than the literal matter of seventy years. 
 
 And lastly, when we remember that' pro phetic writings 
 , ar^ wr itten in the spirit, treat o£ spiritual things, teach of the 
 ( spiritual world, and man, with his reason and understand- 
 j ing, is of the natural world, which is another state of 
 things entirely, it must be perceived that they can be 
 | comprehended only by the spirit, through light from the 
 / spirit which reason cannot compass. This seems inevitable. 
 Now, the spirit is governed by other than natural laws, i. e. 
 by spiritual laws, of which the natural man is not cog- 
 nizant. And, as man is taught of other men, in natural 
 laws, through the intellect or mind, so the spirit is taught 
 of other spirits, of spiritual things. Then, when the spirit 
 comprehends, so may the understanding from the spirit, 
 for there is connection between them. That the spirit is 
 
ON THE NATURE OF PROPHECY. 57 
 
 taught of other spirits we learn from "Daniel viii. 13, ix. 
 21, x. 5. And we also learn from the Scriptures that 
 there is one spirit from whom all others derive their light 
 and sustenance, who acts through his angels or messen- 
 gers, when enlightening men in the natural world ; as well 
 as by a direct influx of his own spirit, to those who are open 
 to receive it ; of this we can find the proof in John xvi. 7- 
 16. And in 1 Cor, ii. 14 : "For the natural man receiveth 
 not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolish- 
 ness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are 
 spiritually discerned." Also Kom. viii. 5, 6. 
 
 Therefore, they who, like the school of German philoso- 
 phers, attempt to refute the Scriptures, because not in con- 
 sonance with their natural understanding, only proclaim to 
 the spiritual man that they see nothing above the level of 
 the natural world ; and they are but like the illiterate, who 
 claim that the sun revolves around the earth, because to 
 them it really seems to do so. 
 3* 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF DANIEL. 
 
 By far the most important point to be certainly ascer- 
 tained in the prophetic writings is the chronology contain- 
 ed in them, especially in Daniel and John, for they adopt 
 a system of words and numbers differing from the other 
 writers ; they alone give specific periods, if we except Jere- 
 miah's seventy years. There may be others, but that Daniel 
 and John deal more decidedly and plainly in certain periods 
 is indisputable, and the question is, what do they mean. 
 Theologians have differed on this point ever since they 
 were written, and many learned essays on the original 
 words have appeared, all of which tend largely to elucidate 
 the subject, and perhaps few have brought more classical 
 learning to the encounter than Professor Stuart, of An- 
 dover Theological Seminary, and Professor Geo. Bush, who 
 held and advocated opposite opinions on almost every theory. 
 The latter of whom I shall follow, believing I can bring 
 other principles to bear on his arguments, and so substan- 
 tiate them with regard to the^/ear-dcu/ theory. The ety- 
 mology of the original Hebrew is clearly shown by Profes- 
 sor Bush, in a reply to Professor Stuart, in his Hierophant. 
 And I will incidentally remark that this was written while 
 the professor was accounted orthodox, and was not a Swe- 
 denborgian, except that he had received some of the same 
 truths, and the world had not yet discovered the heterodoxy. 
 Suffice it to say, that from Eusebius to the present day, 
 including Sir Isaac Newton, Mede, Faber, and a host of 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF DANIEL. 59 
 
 Rabbinical writers, the interpretation of a day for a year, 
 and a week for a week of years, and so on, is accepted, and 
 in fact proven ; but we need no argument outside the Bible 
 itself, which, when viewed as a whole, and tried as we 
 would try any other book, to discover the usus loquendi, it 
 becomes apparent (hat the word' day is used to designate 
 the period of a year. In Genesis iv. 3, the language, " end of , 
 days," is translated "process of time." In Gen. xxix. 27, it 
 reads ' ' Fulfil her week and we will give thee this also for 
 the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other 
 years, and Jacob did so and fulfilled her week." 
 
 In Exod. xiii., the words "from days days onward," is 
 rendered, " from year to year." 
 
 In Lev. xxv. 29, " a year of days," is translated "full 
 year." 
 
 In Numb. ix. 22, "days," is rendered "ayear." 
 
 In Numb, xxviii. 26, " after your weeks be out," may be 
 rendered, seven sabbaths. 
 
 In Deut. xvi. 9, 10, the Sabbath is ordained and a "feast 
 of weeks," which the text shows is seven weeks. 
 
 In Judges xxi. 19, the words "from days to days," is 
 rendered "yearly." Likewise in 1 Samuel i. 3 and ii. 9, 
 "the sacrifice of days," is rendered " yearly sacrifice." And 
 these instances may be largely multiplied. But apart from 
 them, we find positive statements and enactments to the 
 effect that a day stands for a j/ear. In Num. xiv. 34, we 
 find, " After the number of days in which ye searched for 
 the land even forty days each day for a year, shall ye bear 
 your iniquities even forty years." 
 
 AndinEzek. iv. 6, it reads, " I have appointed thee each 
 day for a year," or a day for a year, a day for a year. 
 
 These alone are sufficient to prove the usus loquendi of 
 
60 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 using the term day for a year. Yet when we turn to the 
 instances, and compare them in their historical bearing, it 
 becomes more apparent, and conclusively so by assuming 
 the premises hereinafter argued that Daniel and John are 
 the peculiar gospels of the Hngdom. And they are the two 
 witnesses named by John. And still more conclusively is 
 this proven by the results of this system of chronology, as 
 hereafter more fully shown, but which may be cursorily 
 stated thus, by enumerating each instance of the recurrence 
 of a stated period ; assuming here that a lime is three hun- 
 dred and sixty days or years ; the first occurring in Daniel 
 vii. 25, when the saints are given into the hands of the 
 fourth beast, until a time, times, and the dividing of time. 
 I will hereafter show how a time may be divided. And as 
 in John, we read of a " half time," it may be, this is not the 
 same. 
 
 When this period commences, is a question that has puz- 
 zled commentators ; yet I cannot see why, except in their 
 endeavors to follow authorities written at a period when the 
 prophecy was sealed. In chap. xii. 7, we find, after Daniel 
 had essayed twenty-one years to learn all the meaning of 
 this and other visions, and an answer was given to him, as 
 related in chaps, x., xi., and xii., he again asks, "How 
 long shall it be to the end of tliese wonders ?" he is told, a 
 time, times, and a half (or part), and when he shall have 
 accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all 
 these things shall be finished. This is very plain. The 
 power of the holy people is scattered when they are deliv- 
 ered into the hand of the beast ; that is evident, and the 
 wonders referred to, are the things seen in vision hy Daniel. 
 The first things seen were four beasts, chap. vii. 3, and we 
 learn from the seventeenth verse, and from chap. ii. 38, 
 
CHKONOLOGY QF DANIEL. 61 
 
 that Nebuchadnezzar's empire was the first of these beasts, I 
 and that beast arose 747 years-before Christ, which is the j 
 era of Narbonasscur ; and I will also herein show how certain 
 eras bear a prominent part in history. Now here we have 
 the commencement of the wonder, and taking 1260 as the 
 period in length, we have A. D. 51*3, as the time when the 
 power of the holy people was scattered, or delivered into the 
 hand of the beast. In turning to Rev. xiii., we find a 
 beast (or empire), it being generally conceded that the beast 
 symbolizes empire, arises corresponding to the fourth beast 
 of Daniel, chap. vii. 20 and ii. 40, 45, and power was 
 given unto him to continue forty and two months, which, 
 by the same theory, is 1260 years. This empire was 
 founded, according to most authorities, 753 years before 
 Christ, which brings us to A. D. 507. Here is but six 
 years difference, which is extremely small, when we consid- 
 er how easily an error may be made in such ancient chro- 
 nology, but more particularly, when I show that these pe- 
 riods are cycles or complex periods, and not restricted to 
 accuracy of years. Thus, we find, about the year A. D. 
 510, the period of termination of the fourth beast, being 1 
 the date given by John, as the end of that particular beast, j 
 and the date given by Daniel, as the end of the whole four j 
 beasts, including this fourth. History gives us the fact 
 that Theodoric the Goth conquered Italy in the first de- \ 
 cade of the sixth century. The exact extinction of the em- 
 pire is imgojjgible to fi nd, but it is be tween A. D. 480, and 
 A. D. 515 ; arid as will be hereaftOTshownj when treating 
 of the"seventh chanter, about t£ vear A. D. 510, the pa- 
 pacy assumed dictatorial power, and filled the jne^urejjf 
 ^rdescrin^onjinder the symTO^offlie Jittiehornj ^inDan- 
 iel vii. 8, 20, and the other bead, in Kev.^xiiL 11. 
 
62 EXPOSITION OB" THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Now if it is asked, how, if the pagan beast became extinct 
 at this period, were the paints delivered into his hand, I 
 answer by chap. xiii. 12, where we find he exerciseth all 
 the power of the first beast, before him, &c, and in Kev. 
 xvii 8, this other beast is described in connection with her 
 predecessor. Assuming then, as proven, that the period 
 commences for the cycle of Daniel vii. 25, at A. D. 510, 
 if it is 1260 years, it ends in A. D. 1770. I will, for rea- 
 sons already apparent, call it one time, 360 years, two 
 times, 720, and either a fourth, half, or three fourths, or 
 such division as will produce the multiple of nine, and it 
 will be 1170, 1350, 1260, 1152, or 1224, and so on. 
 With regard to this period, we turn again to Kev. xi. 2, 
 we read the Holy City was given unto the Gentiles forty- 
 two months or 1260 years. This evidently means the 
 I church was given to Antichrist, and was in falsities and er- 
 rors, and the,4wo witnesses prophesied in darkness 1260 
 years, that is jduring_the__same period. This includes the 
 dark ages ; all these end in A. D. l770, or coincident with 
 the time the saints were given into the hand of the little 
 horn. And in Eev. xi. 9, the dead bodies of the prophets 
 lay in the street of the great city Sodom and Egypt, that 
 is, the perverted and false church, three and a half days, or 
 1260 years, and after that, the spirit of life from God en- 
 ^tered into them, and the e nemi es tormented the dwellers on 
 I earth to understand them. They then ascended into heav- 
 / en, &c. This being the dark age, and a false church, the 
 J teachings of Daniel and John during this period were lost, 
 but in the subsequent light of Heaven, they began to be 
 understood, and in Eev. xii. 6, under the symbol of a wo- 
 man, the true church fled, into a spiritual wilderness, and is 
 nourished for a time, times, and half a time, or 1260 years. 
 
CHEONOLOGT. OF DANIEL. 63 
 
 These comprise all the cycle periods of 1260 years of 
 Daniel and Eevelation. In Daniel we have yet another 
 period, commonly called 2300 days ; it is in chap. viii. 14, 
 where one saint asked another how long a particular vision 
 should be, that is, what period of. time it comprehended. 
 The vision referred to commenced with the ram, and in 
 verse 20 we are told what it symbolizes, and ends with 
 a little horn, more fully described for Daniel's edification 
 many years later, in the eleventh chapter. From chap. xi.\ 
 2 we learn that the period commences with the first of the \ 
 last three kings of Persia, or Medo-Persia, succeeding the 
 conquest of Alexander, which is Cambyses, whose reign 
 commenced 530 years before Christ, and in the end of 2300 
 days, or years, the sanctuary (the church) would be cleansed. 
 Now , we must remember that the church is^in Heaven, and 
 isultimated on earth, and this brings us to A. D 1770, 
 just covering the other periods. The reader will look care 
 fully at the language in chap. viii. 13 and xi. 2, and 
 he will perceive the scene commences in the reign of Cyrus. 
 See chap. x. 1, where the narration commences in chap. xi. 2, 
 and says, " Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in I 
 Persia;" this excludes the present or Cyrus, and it being am 
 explanation we find it refers to the vision in the eighth' 
 chapter. For with regard to the vision in the seventh 
 chapter he says, " I kept the matter in my heart ;" but in 
 the eighth he says, "none understood it." Therefore this ' 
 vision commences with the next king after Cyrus, which is 
 Cambyses, whose reign commenced 530 years before Christ, 
 and add to that 1770 years, and we have 2300 years. : 
 Thus Daniel's two periods of 1260, making together 2520,{ 
 beginning 747 years before Christ, by adding 1773 we) 
 have the 2520 years, making the period when " the sanctuary* 
 
64 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 [shall be cleansed" (justified), and the expiration of the 
 ' time " when the saints were given into his [the little horn] 
 hand," one and the same, and the text is plain to this end- 
 The next chronology is the 1290 and 1335 days, which 
 seems such a puzzle to the commentators, but unnecessarily 
 so. Bear in mind it was in answer to the request of 
 Daniel for dates and times; bear also in mind my hy- 
 pothesis— that when the phrase "time, times, and apart," 
 &c, is used, the prophet uses a cycle period ; and when he 
 uses an odd number, that is one not governed by the cycle 
 numbers, or the three and nine, it is an arbitrary number 
 of days, i. e. years, and there is no reason why this should 
 be misunderstood. " From the time that the daily sacrifice 
 shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh des- 
 olate set up," &c. Now this period is easily fonnd, for 
 these two things occurred together but once ; and we have 
 the authority of the Lord as to the time and application, 
 in Matthew xxiv. 15, and Luke xxi. 20, 21. Taken 
 together it appears plainly that this refers to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem by Titus ; for in Luke it says, " When ye 
 shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that 
 the desolation is nigh ;" and in Matthew, " When ye, there- 
 fore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by 
 Daniel the prophet," &c. These are narrations of portions 
 of the same conversation by different hearers, Matthew 
 having been present, and Luke deriving it from another, if 
 not himself present, of which we are without proof, except 
 his language in his book leaves the inference that he writes 
 all from hearsay. Therefore it is demonstrable that Jesus 
 referred in this passage to the destruction by Titus ; in fact it 
 is impossible by distortion to give it any other date with 
 plausibility. Therefore we begin at A. D. 70, the date of 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF DANIEL. 65 
 
 the destruction, and add 1290, and we have A. D. 1360. 
 Let us turn again to the exposition of these things given 
 by the Lord, and we find, after telling the signs in the dark 
 periods of the church, he says, in Matthew xxiv. 29, " Im- 
 mediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun 
 [the Lord] be darkened, and the moon [the church] shall 
 not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and 
 the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." This is while 
 the woman has fled into the wilderness, where God prepared 
 a place for her, 1260 years, and while the witnesses lay 
 symbolically dead in the street, the same period ; and in the 
 next verse he says, " Then shall appear the sign of the Son 
 of man in heaven." Now we have seen by the 27th 
 verse, already qnoted, that the coming of the Son of man 
 is as great spiritual light. But here we have the first sign 
 ~of his coming by one of the stars that did not fall to the 
 earth, breaking through the yoke of the apostate church, 
 and shining through the fog of those days. This is the 
 first sign ; the period is A. D. 1360 ; the star is John 
 WicklhT, called the morning star of the Eeformation. The 
 pope issued five bulls against him, and he became famous 
 as the reformer in 1370. In order to show that this refers 
 to him, read the language of Daniel xii. 11, 12, the 
 latter saying, " Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to 
 tha 1335 days." This evidently refers to an individual, and 
 as I hereafter show he is blessed who is persecuted for 
 righteousness' sake ; and add 1335 to the 70, we have A. D. 
 1405, and what star arose then that was blessed"? Why, 
 John Huss, of whom D'Aubigne, in his History of the 
 Eeformation. says, vol. i., ch. 6 ; " Wickliff arose in England 
 in 1360, and appealed from the pope to the word of God, 
 but the real internal wound in the body of the church was 
 
66 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 in his eyes, only one of the numerous symptoms of the 
 disease. 
 
 " John Huss preached in Bohemia a century before Luther 
 preached in Saxony. He seems to have penetrated deeper 
 than his predecessors into the essence of Christian truth. 
 He prayed to Christ for grace to glory only in his cross, 
 and in the inestimable humiliation of his sufferings. But 
 his attacks were directed less against the errors of the 
 the Romish church than the scandalous lives of the clergy ; 
 . yet he was, if we may be allowed the expression, the John 
 the Baptist of the Reformation. The flames of his pile kin- 
 dled a fire in the church that cast a brilliant light into the 
 surrounding darkness, and whose glimmerings were not to 
 be so readily extinguished. John Huss did more : pro- 
 phetic words issued from the depths of his dungeon. He 
 foresaw that a real reformation of the church was at hand. 
 When driven out of Prague and compelled to wander 
 through the fields of Bohemia, where an immense crowd 
 followed his steps and hung upon his words, he had cried 
 out : ' The wicked have begun by preparing a treacher- 
 ous snare for the goose. [Huss, in Bohemian signifying 
 goose.] But if even the goose, which is only a'domestic 
 bird — a peaceful animal — and whose flight is not very 
 high in the air, has, nevertheless, broken through their 
 toils, other birds, soaring more boldly toward the sky, will 
 break through them with still greater force. Instead of a 
 feeble goose, the truth will send forth eagles and keen-eyed 
 vultures." This prediction was fulfilled by the reformers. 
 When the venerable priest had been summoned by Sigis- 
 mund's order before the council of Constance, and had 
 been thrown into prison, the chapel of Bethlehem in which 
 he had proclaimed the gospel and the future triumphs of 
 
CHEONOLOGY OF DANIEL. 67 
 
 Christ, occupied his mind much more than his own defence. 
 One night the holy martyr saw, in imagination, from the 
 depths of his dungeon, the pictures of Christ that he had 
 painted on the walls of his oratory, effaced by the pope 
 and his bishops. This vision distressed him ; but on the 
 next day he saw many painters occupied in restoring these 
 figures in greater number and in brighter colors. As soon 
 as their task was ended, the painters, who were surrounded 
 by an immense crowd, exclaimed : ' Now let the popes 
 and bishops come — they shall never efface them more,' and 
 many people rejoiced in Bethlehem, ' and I with them,' 
 adds John Huss. ' Busy yourself with your defence rather 
 than with your dreams,' said his faithful friend, the Knight 
 of Chlum, to whom he had communicated this vision. ' I 
 am no dreamer,' replied Huss, ' but I maintain this for 
 certain, that the image of Christ will never be effaced. 
 They have wished to destroy it, but it shall be painted 
 afresh in all hearts by much better preachers than myself. 
 The nation that loves Christ will rejoice at this, and I, 
 awaking from among the dead, and rising, so to speak, 
 from my grave, shall leap, with great joy.' A century 
 passed away, and the torch of the gospel, lighted up anew 
 by the reformers, illuminated, indeed, many nations that 
 rejoiced in its brightness." 
 
 John Huss openly preached the reformation about the 
 year 1405, and was burned alive ten years afterward. 
 
 There are but few other chronological periods in these 
 two books — one in Daniel vii. 12. As concerning the rest 
 of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, but a 
 prolonging of life was given to them for a season and a 
 time. A time being a cycle period of 360, and represent- 
 ing a year, and four seasons being encompassed in a year 
 
68 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK. OF DASTTEL. 
 
 in the calculations of this period, a season is one fourth ot 
 360 or 90, making together 450. The dominion of the 
 first beast, Babylon, was taken away A. M. 3625, add 
 450 arid we have 4075, about which period it may be said 
 to have expired, but we are without accurate dates. The 
 finishing blow was the building of Seleucia in its neighbor- 
 hood, in A. M. 4029. One of the Parthian kings ravaged 
 it. In Pliny's time it was desolate — was a desert. The 
 next beast, the Medo-Persian, lost its dominion in A. M. 
 3830, and 450 added, brings us to A. D. 117, at which 
 time, under Adrian, the country of Syria and Persia were 
 revolutionized in their state in one campaign against Barco- 
 caba ; 580,000 men and 985 towns were destroyed. Thus 
 this beast survived his dominion. About this period the 
 third beast, or Macedon, lost dominion in A. M. 4018, 
 when it became the Roman province of Achaia — add 450 
 and we have A. D. 305, at which time Greece was to all 
 purposes extinct, and from its ashes arose the Eastern em- 
 pire. Thus does the result of this chronology tend to prove 
 the year-day theory. The other period is in Rev. ix. 5, 
 10, being five months which the locusts had power to tor- 
 ment. As this period of 150 years has nothing that I can 
 see bearing on the other cycle periods, but is a collateral 
 matter, I shall not attempt to discuss it. 
 
 Although perhaps it would have been more in keeping if 
 the next branch of this subject had been in the beginning 
 of the chapter, nevertheless I ask the reader's indulgence to 
 receive it here, which is the theory of cycle periods. Now 
 we find that Daniel in both instances, when he names 
 " time, times, and a dividing," gives a period that by anal- 
 ogy with the same matter in John, is generally counted 
 360, twice 360, and half 360, making 1260. John gives 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF DANIEL. 69 
 
 this phraseology but once, in Rev. xii. 14, when the 
 woman, i. e. the church, flad into the wilderness where she 
 was nourished for time, times, and a half, or 1260 years. 
 I have already shown a significance in the numbers 3 and 9, 
 and this is applicable here. In the earliest days, men reck- 
 oned time by cycles, and the Hebrews by sabbaths and cy- 
 cles. There was a cycle of about six hundred years, called 
 the cycle of the Neros, see Josephus, b. 1, chap. 3, § 3. 
 There was also a great sabbath of about the same period ; 
 but the first efforts -at marking time were from visible ob- 
 jects, and the sun and moon presented the most feasible, es- 
 pecially as they seemed to be regular in their motions ; and 
 the revolutions of the moon being about thirty days, and 
 that being a perfect and tangible quantity by the first the- 
 ory shown, as to numbers, the thirty days for a month 
 was adopted, and in the same way the three hundred and 
 sixty days for a year ; for it was at a comparatively late 
 period that the correct number of three hundred and six- 
 ty-five days and six hours was ascertained, and all an- 
 cient nations adopted a year as the common measure of 
 time. There were many plans resorted to, to improve the 
 calendar, but the correct one was never used by the an- 
 cients. Yet it is obvious they must have known that three 
 hundred and sixty was short of a year. Therefore this pe- 
 riod was adopted, and called a " time," because it was about 
 a year, but more particularly because it is a perfect number; 
 and, spiritually speaking, it is the number of a man — 
 360 containing the nine, which number, as I have shown, 
 controls in so many scriptural things. Now when he 
 gives the period, time, times, and a dividing of time, we 
 would be at a loss how. many times were comprised in 
 the second period, and how to divide, were it not for this 
 
70 EXPOSITION OF TH^.-SOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 principle ; for it may be-divided by 2, 4, or 5, and retain the 
 nine — as by 2, it is 180, by 4, 90, by 5, 72 ; and this we 
 can only ascertain by analogy with John, who uses the 
 terms, 1260 days, 42 months, and three days and a half. 
 Therefore it is evident, as Daniel elsewhere uses arbitrary 
 numbers, as in the 1290, 1335, and 2300, that the 360, or 
 1260, are cyclical periods, and this becomes more evident 
 when we look into this period and learn how little there 
 is of chance in this world. 
 
 But beyond all this, the number 360 is a circle which is 
 a symbol or emblem of Deity, and a square is an angle ex- ■ 
 tending to ninety degrees, or a fourth of a circle, and here 
 is the measure of a man — a segment of a circle — "a part of 
 the great circle which has a common centre, that perfect point 
 from which all perfect forms or figures are drawn." This 
 is undoubtedly the true origin for the adoption of this pecu- 
 liar quantity in designation of time. 
 
 Since writing the preceding pages, I have seen a singu- 
 lar confirmation of the number theory, in a work enti- 
 tled "The Seeress of Prevorst," by Justinus Kerner, a Ger- 
 man physician, the facts of which are well authenticated. 
 In the early part of this century, there dwelt at Prevorst, 
 "Fredricka Hanfie," commonly called "the Seheren von 
 Prevorst, " who, during seven years of more or less ill health, 
 Kerner says, was subject to the trance state, and saw and 
 talked with spirits. She gave many wonderful accounts of 
 spiritual things and laws. But that which is in point here, is 
 this : In her description of the spheres, she said " the time 
 that had elapsed when she was asleep appeared to her a circle, 
 and there seemed to be several of these circles through 
 which she passed. On the first were seven stars, &c, &c. 
 Each circle seemed to embrace a year. There was a sun- 
 
CHRONOLOGY Off DANIEL. 71 
 
 sphere and a life-sphere, and there were signs and numbers 
 upon them. The numbers with which she had special rela- 
 tion were ten and seventeen. The first, ten, was the invari- 
 able number of all mankind, and at the same time the ter- 
 restrial number. The second number differs with each in- 
 dividual. It is the inner number and heavenly one. Both 
 these fundamental numbers are fundamental words. In ten 
 lies the fundamental word for man as a human being, and 
 for his relation to this world ; in the other number, seven- 
 teen, lies the number for that individual inner life which he 
 will take with him after death," &c. " He who gives him- 
 self up to evil, loses his number," &c. 
 
 "Besides the range of numbers which we have alluded to 
 as connected with the inner life, there appears to be anoth- 
 er of a deeper and higher signification, the explanation of 
 which she could not give. She was one day trying to trans- 
 late her own name into a figure, when she burst into tears, 
 and when I asked the reason, she said that she had sudden- 
 ly come upon a much deeper secret connected with numbers, 
 in which she had involuntarily discovered in her name the 
 number and hour of her death, but that happily she had as 
 suddenly lost it again," &c. Schubert says what is now 
 learning, was once intuitive knowledge, which faculty man 
 has lost, as he has deviated from his proper spiritual centre, 
 and Kerner says, the mystery and holiness attached to num- 
 bers in the early ages of the world, as seen in the prophets 
 and ancient astronomical tables, appear to be connected 
 with this lost science. Doubtles s the early systems of nhi- 
 losophy, especia lly that of Plato, were the offspring of this 
 intuitive knowledge, and the similarity between the system 
 of Pythagoras, regarding numbers, as far as we know of it, 
 and that of the seeress, is remarkable. Plato also says : 
 
72 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 "The soul is immortal and has an arithmetical origin, as 
 the body has a geometrical one." 
 
 And again, in a work recently (1855) published by the Hon. 
 
 i N. P. Talmadge, called " The Healing of the Nations," 
 said to be written mechanically, through Charles Linton, a 
 medium, and which is worthy of perusal by the most eleva- 
 ted Christian, both in point of high tone, and beautiful truths 
 
 > it contains, and having nothing in it to offend the most fas- 
 tidious, though the bigoted might not perceive all its beau- 
 ties, and also, as regards its phenomenal character, which 
 is well attested, indeed so well, that none but a very un- 
 truthful and perverted mind could doubt it — we find these 
 singular passages bearing on our theory: chap. xvii. 13. 
 " Figures, in their simplest addition, or in their grandest 
 combinations, cannot be made truthfully to trespass upon 
 the sacred ground of harmony." 14. "The mysterious 
 circle and triangle, whence its centre cometh, show him 
 that man is still ignorant of all the most refined elementary 
 principles of all things." 23. " Behold the mystery of the 
 triangle and circle." 25. " He understands why man 
 hath never fathomed the truths of the perfect circle. He 
 knows that effect cannot understand cause, and herein 
 seeth the difficulty." 26. " Three is the mystic number, of 
 which one is the centre." 27. "This one is eternal, even 
 Jehovah. The three great attributes pervading all things 
 
 \— Love, Light, and Truth," &c. Chap. xx. 41. "All 
 things being numbered, must, by numerical proportions, be- 
 revealed." 56. " Every branch of philosophy is dependent 
 upon the proportions shown by figures for its demonstra- 
 tion." 62. " He cannot prove the harmony of the universe 
 without using the emblems of harmony and truth, the de- 
 monstrations of all true science, couched in simple plain 
 
CHBONOLOGY OF DANIEL. 
 
 73 
 
 96. " The figures he used are but outward signs ~) 
 
 4*iM» 
 
 figures." 
 
 dependent upon his own inner intelligence for demonstration, 
 and upon the intelligence of the observer for comprehen- 
 sion." 107. " Solve the mystery of the circle, as thou art 
 necessary unto all science. Show thyself the master of all, J . 
 but to be the master, thou mustfiritbe t/ie servant." •—- iw.- thka^'O^u^. Av-*^ 
 I make these quotations for the purpose of showing that v^*»~a*, 
 the science of numbers, and the circle, must have a founda- 
 tion in fact, when we see it testified to under such a variety 
 of phases. It has been a co mmon thing \g e xpec t, in_ the 
 l anguag e of. the Bible, s om ething different from and un- \ 
 k nown to the ge ntile worM, l^lif thjs , is a^ great njjs|ake. 
 God and his pr ovidenc e were better known, and stand gut 
 mpxe c onspicuo usly at this day, in, the' writings of Pythag- 
 oras, Pjatpj and Zo^gagter, than in, the Hebrew literature 
 of the four c enturie s pr ece ding Qhrist, and since. The 
 Eabbins, catching a smattering idea of the significance of 
 numbers, adopted a theory based on a most external con- 
 ception of it, and counted the letters, verses, and words, in 
 the books, thinking to find arcana in it. 'This I have 
 shown in a former quotation. But the sp iritua l men of an 
 earlier age, both in the Hebrew n ation and o ther s (for it_is 
 a bsurd to su ppos e that thg Jews monopolized God, as most 
 C hristians believe), had a kn owled ge of the language o£num- 
 bers, which were correspo ndent to^the idea spiritually given. 
 This tendency of Jewish literature to teach their sole posses- *vj„ 
 sion of the truths of God, grew out of a strong desire to ap- 
 propriate, for the indulgence of which passion they are dis- 
 possessed. God, in his providence, having chosen them as j 
 
 v»4 <*< 
 
 media for his word, their egotism, in arrogating to them-t Vv>«mv XaGw 
 selves a monopoly of such uses, and also attributing the factf*^ 
 to their own superiority, led to their condemnation. . 7 
 
 
74 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 The reader will find, as I progress in the work, that the 
 results prove this theory of cycle periods. And to make the 
 ending more complete, another cycle of about forty or forty- 
 nine years must be observed as a transition period. This 
 forty is one ninth part of a circle or time of three hundred 
 and sixty years, and is ge neral ly included from the time that 
 a, prophecy ends (which is in the spiritua l), Jo its c omple te 
 intimation here. Thus the children of Israel ate manna 
 forty years, till they came to a land inhabited, Exod. xvi. 
 35. " And they shall wander in the wilderness forty years," 
 Num. xiv. 33. Joshua was forty years old when sent to 
 spy out the land, Josh. xiv. 7. And when they did evil 
 they were forty years in the hands of the Philistines, 
 Judges xiii. 1. Thus Absalom observed this period, 2 Sam. 
 xv. 7. And again, Psalm xcv. 10. Egypt was to be deso- 
 late forty years, Ezek. xxix. 11. See Acts xiii. 18, 21. 
 Take the cycles of six hundred, and forty, and see how they 
 • work. Israel or Judah was given to Babylon in A. M. 
 3560, one cycle of six hundred before the Messiah ; and one 
 after, Israel again was given to a more modern Babylon. 
 Add the cycle used by Daniel, 1260, and we have 1860, 
 and we find Babylon loses its temporal power. Thus may 
 the reader for himself use these cycles in their application 
 to history, giving a latitude of forty years for a transition 
 period, which was the number of days a rain continued ux. 
 Noah 's time ; not forgetting that the ark measures accordin g 
 to the microcosm of a man (as the subseguent t emp les do), 
 wherein was Noah, whose numerical si gnificanc e contains 
 the seven, or love and wisdom, while the ark as amicro- 
 cosm of man, contains the nine. See Genesis vii. 11, 
 and viii. 3, 4. 
 
 The reader will perceive that' I use the chronology of the 
 
CHRONOLOGY OP DAJTIEL. ' 75 
 
 Appendix, having found the usually- received data incorrect, 
 and not in consonance with the Hebrew system, as detailed 
 in the Scriptures. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 ON THE FIRST CHAPTEE OP DANIEL. 
 
 God had led a favored people away from the slavery of 
 a dark despotism, where they had dwelt for a period or a 
 cycle of four hundred and thirty years, into a land of light, 
 wherein he offered to give them his presence and guidance 
 if they followed his laws. He established for them, in the 
 land of Canaan, a benign, democratic government, and 
 told them, through Moses, that he. would punish them seven 
 times tf they disobeyed his precepts. They continued un- 
 der the democracy, after it was established, another cycle 
 of four hundred and thirty years, or a period of seventy 
 sevens or rests, and for their disobedience they were six 
 times p unis hed with servitude to the heathen nations sur- 
 rounding them, or, in otjier words, for six periods of thejr 
 existence under judges, they were under the dominion of 
 false gods, and their natural c onseq uence, false and bad 
 laws, and all the pains and penalties p roceedi ng from their 
 irregular life. Six times they were brought back into the 
 path of right and duty, but they were a headstrong and 
 selfish people, and gave way to temptation a seventh time, 
 when they cried out for an aristocratic form of govern- 
 ment, wherein they could indulge their passion for man 
 worship. They demanded a king (see 1 Samuel,- eighth 
 chapter) and God permitted a change in their form of gov- 
 ernment, and they continued under kings a transition period 
 of 49 years, and a cycle period of 430 years more. Yet 
 they did not cease sinning, and we find during this period 
 
ON THE FIBST CHAPTER OF DANIEL. 77 
 
 that but few of the sabbaths appear to hare been observed. 
 Qn the contrary w_e are told that 70 wer£ noj^or^thejram- 
 ber that should have been observed Jin 430 years. (See 
 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21.) Hence they are punished the seventh 
 time, and jjo into the B abylonis h captivity jior seventy 
 years, that the land might haye her rests for that period. 
 
 Therefore we read, verse 1, " In the third year of the 
 reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, 
 king of Babylon, to Jerusalem, and besieged it." This 
 was in the year A. M. 3558, or B. C. 605. 
 
 Here is a piece of literal history, pregnant with meaning. 
 Jerusalem represented to the Jew, as well as to the Chris- 
 tian of the present day, the heavenly state or church ; 
 and Babylon, the worldly state or churr.h ; and we are told 
 in these few words how the world was inoculating and 
 taking possession of the church, which God, through Moses, 
 had ordained. Verse 2 : " And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, 
 king of Judah, into his hand, with part of the vessels of 
 the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar 
 to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels into 
 the treasure house of his God." 
 
 Shinar is the land of which Babylon became the capital, 
 mentioned in Genesis, x. 10 ; and in chap. xi. 2, as 
 the place where the tower of Babel was built. From this 
 dates the beginning of the captivity ; although only some 
 three thousand were taken then, with Daniel. Jehoiakim 
 reigned eleven years, and we find, in 2 Kings xxiv. 
 1, that in his days Nebuchadnezzar made him his servant 
 for three years, and after him Zedekiah reigned eleven years. 
 When Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in A. M. 
 3577, or 586 years B. C, as was foretold by Jeremiah, 
 chap. xxv. 11, 12, they were taken in three different 
 parties, and returned, likewise, at different times. 
 
78 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 
 
 Remembering that the Israjjjtish church, andesp eciall y 
 the temple, is one of types and symbols, we_hexe learn 
 that a part of the vessels, or truths and do ctrine s, of the 
 church were engrafted on and retained in the worldly or 
 BaJ^lonish church, or in other words the livery of Heaven 
 was taken to serve the devil in. 
 
 Ver. 3-5: "Andf~the king spake unto Ashpenaz, the 
 master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of 
 the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the 
 princes ; children in whom was no blemish, but well favor- 
 ed, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, 
 and understanding science, and such as had ability in them 
 to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach 
 the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king 
 appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of 
 the wine which he drank ; so nourishing them three years, 
 that at the end thereof they might standbefore the king.'' 
 
 The Lord had told Hezekiah, through a prophet, " And 
 of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt 
 beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in 
 the palace of the king of Babylon." With the Orientals 
 as well as the Jews the physique was a great consideration ; 
 and we find in Lev. xxiv. 19, there is a law for the 
 punishment of one causing a blemish, and again in 
 Lev. xxxi. 19-22, the subject is elaborated. It is not 
 likely, therefore, that Daniel was so mutilated, because 
 of its known tendency to deteriorate the intellectual, 
 moral, and physical man, whereas Daniel is ever found 
 speaking fearlessly to the king, and acting as his counsellor. 
 Among the Jews those thus mutilated were forbidden to 
 enter into the congregation of the Lord, Deut. xxiii. 1. 
 Yet Daniel remained in high esteem, it being nowhere said 
 
ON THE FIBST CHAPTER OF DANIEL. 79 
 
 that he was so treated. He doubtless was not, though the 
 other youths may have "been, for we hear no more of them, 
 except their refusal to worship the image. The expression, 
 "stood before the king," is of frequent occurrence in the 
 Old Testament, and is of oriental origin, and derives its 
 usage from the custom of having no chairs, the king alone 
 occupying one, with a footstool. 
 
 But again recurring to the Chaldee and Eastern custom 
 of illustrating principles and history by literal imagery, we 
 read, that the princes were pillars of the state, and with 
 the Hebrews the state was the church and the church the/ 
 state ; hence pillars of the church are made eunuchs, and j 
 therefore in Babylon they cannot propagate the truths^of / 
 the church ; their uses are gone, and their dynasty ter- ' 
 minates in captivity. The reader will find that this mode 
 of illustration obtains throughout the book. And the king 
 wished them fed on Babylonish meat, in order that at the 
 end of three years they might present a becoming front for 
 the gods of that dominion — the Babylon, or church of this\ 
 world, based on materiality, and opposed to the true spirit- 
 ual church. This three years must be reckoned as three 
 periods, or years of years, and amounts to 1080 years ; 
 which from 605 years B. C, reaches to A. D. 475, -v^hichjs 
 the period of the termination of_the pagan empire of Rome, I 
 and the advent of the Babylonish empire^ of the little horn, 
 ashereafter shown in the chapters on the seventh an3 eighth 
 oTDaniel, and sometimes known as the church of Rome. 
 
 Ver. 6-9 : " Now among these were of the children 
 of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, unto 
 whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names : for he gave 
 unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah 
 of Shadrach, and to Mishael of Meshach, and to Azariah 
 
80 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 of Abed-nego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he 
 would not defile himself with the portion of the king's 
 meat, nor with the wine which he drank ; therefore he re- 
 quested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not 
 defile himself. Now G-od had brought Daniel into favor 
 and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs." 
 t The name of Daniel has been treated of in the first 
 
 (chapter. The name Belteshazzar signifies, "Belus hid his 
 glory;" Belus signifies "Lord," and Nimrod was worship- 
 ped as a god under that name. Here is first presented the 
 purpose of Daniel to acquire spirituality by a rigid course 
 of life and diet, and we can likewise read in it that Daniel 
 ; (the judgment of God) remained pure throughout its inter- 
 mixture with the corrupt church, and that the word remains 
 pure and intact, however the surroundmgs may fall. Tet 
 as it was told in Psalm cvi. 46, " He made them also to 
 be pitied of all those that carried them captives," hence 
 we are told they grew in favor with the prince of the 
 eunuchs. 
 
 "Ver. 10-16 : " And the prince of the eunuchs said 
 unto Daniel, ' I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed 
 your meat and your drink ; for why should he see your faces 
 worse liking [sadder] than the children which are of your 
 sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.' 
 Then said Daniel to Melzar [the steward] whom the prince 
 of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, 
 and Azariah, ' Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days ; 
 ft and let them give us pulse [of pulse] to eat [that we may 
 '<• eat], and water to drink. Then let our countenances be 
 looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the 
 children that eat of the portion of the king's meat ; and as 
 thou seest, deal with thy servants.' So he consented to 
 
ON THE FIBST CHAPTER OF DANIEL. 81 
 
 them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at 
 the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and 
 fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the por- 
 tion of the king's meat. Thus Melzar took away the por- 
 tion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink, 
 and gave them pulse." 
 
 It is well known that indulgence in animal food retards \ 
 spirituality, and an abstinent and vegetable diet ft con- t 
 ducive to the opening of the spiritual faculties, prophetic ; 
 powers, and mediatorial states. Beef-eaters are a material 
 people, as for instance the British, while the fruit-eating / 
 Italian produces the improvi|atore. We see here also that ; 
 the truth was not entirely crushed out, but continued jto 
 exist, clothed in the^ corrupt garments _of the churfih of 
 Babjflon, and this appears more consmcujjijsly in thenext, 
 or eighteenth verse r^Now, at the end of the days that the 
 king had said he should bring them in, their the prince of 
 the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.'-' 
 Here is used the expression " at the end of the days," when J 
 we already know that the period indicated was three years. 
 This is another key to their manner of noting time. 
 
 Ver. 19, 20: "And the king communed with them; 
 and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, 
 Mishael, and Azariah ; therefore stood they before the 
 king. And in all matters of wisdom [of understanding] and 
 understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found 
 them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers 
 that were in all his realm." 
 
 In one sense we find here that the abstinent and pure ac- 
 quire a far greater power in spiritual things than the gross. 
 And, also, that at the end of the time, which is, as before 
 shown, about A. D. 475, none were like these Hebrew 
 4* 
 
82 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 princes — or the fixed principle of the Israelitish establish- 
 ment, and they were preferred to all others ; therefore we 
 find the pagan system overthrown to give room for them, 
 and the rights and ceremonies of the Jewish church con- 
 tinue to clothe the' truths of the gospel, although Jesus had 
 established his church, meanwhile, but it had " fled into 
 the wilderness," and lay dead in the street fqr 1260 
 years. " Hence, this can be read as a prophetic picture of 
 the church through the future centuries. Its course at this 
 period will be more fully pictured hereafter, especially 
 when on the last chapters of Daniel. 
 
 Ver. 21 : " And Daniel continued even unto the first 
 year of King Cyrus." 
 
 This covers a long period, including 44 years of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, two of Evil Merodach, four of Neriglissor, one 
 of Laboraichid, and 17 of Belshazzar. Two years after 
 Belshazzar's death, at the fall of Babylon, 438 years before 
 Christ, Cyaxares, or Darius the Mede, died, leaving Cyrus, 
 his nephew, who had reigned jointly with him, sole mon- 
 arch. This is the first of Cyrus, in A. M. 3627, or B. C. 
 536. The kingdoms of the Medes and Persians and Bab- 
 ylonians were now united, the empire of the Medes and" 
 Persians beginning A. M. 3628. Here we have 70 years 
 from, the advent of Daniel. When, in chap. x. 1, we read 
 of Daniel in the third year of Cyrus, it may have relation to 
 the same period, or third of this reign, in conjunction with 
 that of Darius. His future history is entirely obscured. 
 We are told nothing more of him. And assuming his age 
 to have been 15 years when first brought to Babylon, he 
 must at this period have been 85 or 87 years of age. 
 
 Thus, this first chapter covers tire whole extent of the 
 captivity, and the matter of the whole book is contained in 
 it, and becomes elaborated as we proceed ; and this is here- 
 
ON THE tflKST OHAPTEB OF DANIEL. 83 
 
 in stated when we read that Daniel continued to the reign 
 of Cyrus ; that is, to the period whence the prophecies 
 reach, which is to the present decade of years, or the com- 
 ing of Christ, of whom Cyrus is the type — the name sig- 
 nifying the sun. The Chaldees worshipped their idols, as 
 Bel and dragon ; the Persians, God under the symbol of the 
 sun and fire. Hence the period extends through a typical 
 70 years of pagan worship, up to the worship of that God 
 whose light is the light of the world — the great spiritual 
 luminary of the universe. And so in its prophetical reading 
 the period extends over the whole reign of paganism un- 
 der the '.'beasts" and the "little horns" of Daniel, and 
 the " dragon" of John. The exact termini of these peri- 
 ods will be treated of in future chapters. It is also dis- 
 closed in several other portions of the Scriptures, and in 
 none more strikingly than in the following passage from 
 Ezekiel iv. 3-7 : " And it [Jerusalem] shall be besieged. 
 
 This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. Lie 
 
 thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the 
 house of Israel upon it ; according to the number of days 
 that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. 
 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity accor- 
 ding to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety 
 days ; so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 
 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy 
 right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of 
 Judah forty days. I have appointed thee a day for a year, a 
 ■day for a year. Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward 
 the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, 
 and thou shalt prophesy against it." 
 
 The time here indicated is 430 years ; but they are the 
 years of rest, which the prophet typifies by a sign. Be- 
 
8i EXPOSITION OB" THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 cause they had not kept the rests or sabbaths of God, 
 their punishment is prophesied by Ezekiel, during which 
 time their food is to be of the poorest kind. This, of 
 course, relates to their spiritual food which was almost 
 a famine unto death from this period to the end of the' 
 Reformation. The first point to be considered is, how long 
 is the period : and we find it is the number of years that 
 will contain 430 rests. Now there are eight in each 49 
 years, and by this rate we find Israel's portion is 2389 
 years, and Judah's 245, or 2634 years in all. The next 
 point is, at what period does the prophet indicate that this 
 siege commences ? I place it at the beginning of the iniquities 
 to which it relates, and they begin with the revolt of Reho- 
 boam, in A. M. 3184, when he set up two false gods, one 
 in Beth-el, or the House of the Lord, and one in Dan, or 
 -the Judgment. (See 1 Kings xii. and xiii.) And we find he 
 turned against the city of David, hence their falsity or 
 spiritual captivity continues from 3184, 2389 years for Is- 
 rael, which brings it to the year 1410, in the time of Huss. 
 And by adding the 245 years we have the 1655, or the 
 midst of the Cromwellian period, when the Reformation 
 was completed, beyond the power of the Dragon to crush 
 it out, The reader will find other computations of proph- 
 ecies relating to the time typified, by Cyrus, as we pro- 
 ceed, and some calculations bearing on the point in the 
 Appendix. 
 
 The story of Susanna and the two elders may properly 
 be introduced here. It is incorporated in the Douay ver- 
 sion, in chap. xiii. , but has been considered apocryphal by 
 the Protestants, a discrimination entirely arbitrary. It 
 illustrates the character of Daniel in his youth, and gives us' 
 an insight into his great acuteness and sound mental and 
 
ON THE FIRST CHAPTER OS 1 DANIEL. 85 
 
 moral organization, and we may gather from it the reason 
 why men do not receive inspiration as Daniel did, owing to 
 their corrupt natures, accumulated in a perverted ancestry. 
 The story shows us the material of a great prophet. The 
 The last verse, the 65th, as incorporated in the Douay Bi- 
 ble, seems to belong to the next chapter, and refers to the 
 reign of Cyrus, because the 45 th verse informs us that Dan- 
 iel was then a youth. The reader may judge of the story, 
 however. 
 
 " Now there was a man that dwelt in Babylon, and his 
 name was Joakim, and he took a wife whose name was Su- 
 sanna, the daughter of Helcias, a very beautiful woman, 
 and one that feared God, for her parents, being just, had 
 instructed their daughter according to the law of Moses. 
 Now Joakim was very rich, and had an orchard near his 
 house, and the Jews resorted to him, because he was the 
 most honorable of them all, and there were two of the an- 
 cients of the people appointed judges that year, of whom 
 the Lord said, ' Iniquity came out from Babylon, from the 
 ancient judges that seemed to govern the people.' These 
 men frequented the house of Joakim, and all that had any 
 matters of judgment came to them. And when the people 
 departed away at noon, Susanna went in and walked in her 
 husband's orchard ; and the old men saw her going in 
 every day and walking, and they were inflamed with lust 
 toward her, and they perverted their own mind and turned 
 away their eyes that they might not look unto heaven, nor 
 remember just judgments. So they were both wounded 
 with the love of her, yet they did not make known their 
 grief one to the other, for they were ashamed to declare to 
 one another their lust, being desirous to have to do with 
 her ; and they watched carefully every day to see her, and 
 
86 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 one said to the other, ' Let us now go home for it is dinner 
 time.' So, going out, they departed one from another, and 
 turning back again, they came both to the same place, and 
 asking one another the cause, they acknowledged their lust, 
 and then they agreed upon a time when they might find her 
 alone ; and it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went 
 in on a time, as yesterday, and the day before, with two 
 maids only, and was desirous to wash herself in the orchard, 
 for it was hot weather, and there was nobody there but the 
 "two old men that had hid themselves, and- were beholding 
 her. So she said to the maids, ' Bring me oil and washing 
 balls, and shut the doors of the orchard, that I may wash 
 me ;' and they did as she bade them, and they shut the 
 doors of the orchard, and went out by a back door to fetch 
 what she had commanded them, and they knew hot that the 
 elders were hid within. Now when the maids were gone 
 forth," the two elders arose and ran to her, and said, 'Be- 
 hold, the- doors are shut, and nobody seeth us, and. we are 
 in love with thee ; wherefore consent to us, and lie with 
 us, but if thou wilt not, we will bear witness against thee, 
 that a young man was with thee, and therefore thou didst 
 send away thy maids from thee.' Susanna sighed and said, 
 ' I am straitened on every side, for if I do this thing, it is 
 death to me, and if I do it not, I shall not eseape your 
 hands. But it is better for me to fall into your hands with- 
 out doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.' With 
 that,' Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and the elders al- 
 so cried out against her, and one of them ran to the door 
 of the orchard and opened it ; so when the servants of the 
 house heard the cry in the orchard, they rushed in by the 
 back door to see what was the matter. But after the old 
 men had spoken, the servants were greatly ashamed, for 
 
ON THE FIKST OHAPTEB OF DANIEL. 87 
 
 never had there been any such word said of Susanna, and 
 on the next day, when the people were come to Joakim, 
 her husband, the two elders also came full of wicked device 
 against Susanna, to put her to death. And they said be- 
 fore the people, ' Send to Susanna, daughter of Helcias, the 
 wife of Joakim,' and presently they sent, and she came with 
 her parents and children, and all hey- kindred. Now Su- 
 sanna was exceeding delicate and beautiful to behold. But 
 those wicked men commanded that her face should be un- 
 covered (for she was covered), that so at least they might be 
 satisfied with her beauty. Therefore her friends and all 
 her acquaintance wept. But the two elders rising up in 
 the midst of the people, laid their hands upon her head, 
 and she, weeping, looked up to heaven, for her heart had 
 confidence in the Lord. And the elders said, ' As we 
 walked in the orchard alone, this woman came in with two 
 maids, and shut the doors of the orchard, and sent away 
 the maids from her. Then a young man that was there 
 hid, came to her, and lay with her. But we that were in 
 a corner of the orchard, seeing this wickedness, ran up to 
 them, and we saw them lie together, and him indeed we 
 could not take, because he was stronger than us, and open- 
 ing the doors, he leaped out. But, having taken this wo- 
 man, we asked who the young man was, but she would not 
 tell us. Of this thing we are witnesses.' The multitude 
 believed them as being the elders and the judges of the peo- 
 ple, and they condemned her to death. Then Susanna 
 cried out with a loud voice and said, ' O eternal God, who 
 knowest hidden things, who knowest all things before they 
 come to pass. Thou knowest that they have borne false 
 witness against me, and behold I must die ! Whereas, I 
 have done none of these things which these men have ma- 
 
88 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 liciously forged against me.' And the Lord heard her 
 voice, and when she was led to be put to death, the Lord 
 raised up the holy spirit of a young boy whose name was 
 Daniel, and he cried out with a loud Voice, ' I am clear 
 from the blood of this woman.' Then all the people, turn- 
 ing themselves towards him, said, 'What meaneth this 
 word that thou hast spoken?' But he, standing in the 
 midst of them, said, ' Are ye so foolish, ye children of Is- 
 rael, that without examination or knowledge of the truth, 
 you have condemned a daughter of Israel 1 Return to judg- 
 ment, for they have borne false witness against her.' So 
 all the people turned again in haste, and the old men said 
 to him, ' Come and sit thou down among us, and show it 
 us, seeing God hath given thee the honor of old age.' And 
 Daniel said to the people, ' Separate these two far from one 
 another, and I will examine them.' So when they were 
 put asunder, one from the other, he called one of them and 
 said to him, ' O thou that art grown old in evil days, now 
 are thy sins come out which thou hast committed before, in 
 judging unjust judgments, oppressing the innocent, and let- 
 ting the guilty to go free, whereas the Lord saith, the inno- 
 cent and the just thou shalt not kill. Now if thou sawest 
 her, tell me under what tree thou sawest them conversing to- 
 gether. ' He said, ' Under a mastic tree. ' And Daniel said, 
 ' "Well hast thou lied against thy own head, for behold, the 
 angel of God, having received the sentence of him, shall cut 
 thee in two.' And having put him aside, he commanded the 
 other should come, and he said to him, ' O thou seed of 
 Chanaan and- not of Juda ; beauty hath deceived thee, and 
 lust hath perverted thy heart. Thus did you do to the 
 daughters of Israel, and they, for fear, conversed with you ; 
 but a daughter of Juda would not abide your wickedness. 
 
ON THE FIEST CHAPTER OF DANIEL. 89 
 
 Now, therefore, tell me, under what tree didst thou take 
 them conversing together?' and he answered, 'Under a holm 
 tree.' And Daniel said unto him, 'Well hast thou also 
 lied against thy own head, for the angel of the Lord wait- 
 eth with a sword to cut thee in two, and to destroy you.' 
 With that all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and 
 they blessed God, who saveth them that trust in him. And 
 they rose up against the two elders (for Daniel had convict- 
 ed them of false witness by their own mouth), and they did 
 to them as they had maliciously dealt against their neigh- 
 bors to fulfil the law of Moses, and they put them to death, 
 and innocent blood was saved in that day. But Helcias 
 and his wife praised God for their daughter, Susanna, with 
 Joakim, her husband, and all her kindred, because there 
 was no dishonesty found in her. and Daniel became great 
 in the sight of the people, from that day and thenceforward, 
 and King Astyages was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus, 
 the Persian, received his kingdom." 
 
 This is a crude allegory of a prophetic character, and, as 
 already shown, to a certain extent, the book is one of pro- 
 gression, beginning in a crude and imperfect state, in its 
 manner of teaching, and becoming more and more finished 
 and explicit as it progresses to the last chapter. 
 
 We find by the 45th verse that this commenced when 
 Daniel was a youth, and it stretches onward to the period 
 of Cyrus of which I have already written, and it may all 
 be read thus : Joakim or Jehoiakim (they being the same 
 name, meaning the Lord will establish or raise up), and Su- 
 sanna or Shusan (meaning life or joy), his wife, represent 
 the Lord in one of his attributes, and his spouse. The two 
 lustful elders represent the two churches that endeavored to 
 prostitute the truth, aud which ultimated in the Eastern and 
 
90 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Western, or Greek and Roman churches, the woman or 
 spouse meanwhile being fled into the wilderness for 1260 
 years, Kev. xii. 6, and Daniel, the witness, or the judgment 
 of God, eventually rescued her, and this continued down to 
 the age of Cyrus, or the time when, as we read in Matt, 
 xxiv. 27, " Like the lightning, coming out of the east and 
 shining even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the 
 Son of Man be." But in the end and at that time, these 
 lustiul men are entirely destroyed by the word proceeding 
 from the Lord. 
 
 This may seem far-fetched, and it is so ; but the allego- 
 ries of the primitive age which this beginning of the book 
 symbolizes, were all so, and improve in point as we pro- 
 ceed through the ages which the compilation of the book 
 symbolizes. It having been already shown, how the visions, 
 in their order, are analogous pari passu with the system 
 of creation as described in Genesis, beginning with the min- 
 eral kingdom, so these allegories begin in the most primi- 
 tive and simple imagery, and they become more ornate as 
 the book progresses. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 (being chapter ii. of daniel.) 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's dee am of the image. 
 
 Vee. 1-3. " And in the second year of the reign of Ne- 
 buchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith 
 his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. 
 Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the 
 astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to 
 show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before 
 the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a 
 dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream." 
 
 This chapter opens about the year A. M. 3559, and the 
 first verses give an account of a very general oriental cus- 
 tom concerning the interpretation of dreams, and they 
 bring out prominently the difference of power between or- 
 dinary soothsayers, magi, and media, for spirit communi- 
 cations, and the true seer, through whom the Lord speaks, 
 either by hi3 spirit or his messengers. These wonder- 
 workers were of various grades. First were the magicians, 
 who added to their learning the pretence of spiritual power, 
 and were probably in some instances media, for spirit com- 
 munication. Then there were astrologers and soothsayers, 
 were the enchanters, sorcerers, and charmers, who were 
 men acquainted with magnetism, and used its power and , 
 who pretended to consult stars, entrails, &c. Then theie- Ly* 
 influence to impose upon the ignorant, and the diviners or 
 false prophets, who consulted spirits. This we find pre- 
 vailing at a very early period in Mosaic record. It was 
 
92 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DAMIEL. 
 
 familiar to the Egyptians, who practised it largely; and 
 the Hebrews acquired so much of it from their residence 
 in Egypt, that Moses found it necessary to forbid the prac- 
 tice (see Deut. xviii, 9-13, and Lev. xxvi. 27), for its ten- 
 dency was to teach the worship of idols. It is, in short, 
 taking the inspiration from, idolatrous spirits and demons, 
 instead of from the Lord. 
 
 Ver. 4-9 : " Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in 
 Syriac : ' O king, live for ever ; tell thy servants the dream, 
 and we will show the interpretation. The king answered 
 and said to the Chaldeans, 'The thing is gone from me ; 
 if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the 
 interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your 
 houses shall be made a dunghill. But if ye show the 
 dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of 
 me gifts and rewards and great honor ; therefore show me 
 the dream and the interpretation thereof.' They answered 
 again and said, ' Let the king tell his servants the dream, 
 and we will show the interpretation of it. The king an- 
 swered and said, ' I know of certainty that ye would gain 
 the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But 
 if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but 
 one decree for you ; for ye have prepared lying and corrupt 
 words to speak before me, till the time be changed ; there- 
 fore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show 
 me the interpretation thereof.' " 
 
 These verses are instructive as teaching the superstition 
 of that age in Assyria. They also show the weakness of 
 the magi, and their total ignorance of prophetic power and 
 clairvoyance. And here we have a foundation for subse- 
 quent persecution of Daniel by the wise men or magi, when 
 they perceived his superiority over them all. Daniel did 
 
nebuchadnezzae's deeam. 93 
 
 what they could not do ; he told the dream, and their 
 prestige with the multitude was broken. They were the 
 priesthood of their day and generation, exercising a certain 
 sway over the minds of the people, and like their successors 
 in all after-ages, they could not brook an invasion of their 
 dominion. 
 
 Ver. 10-13 : " The Chaldeans answered before the king 
 and said, 'There is not a man upon the earth that can show 
 the king's matter, therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, 
 that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or 
 Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, 
 and there is none other that can show it before the king, 
 except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.' For 
 this cause the king was angry, and very furious, and com- 
 manded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the 
 decree went forth, that the wise men should be slain ; and 
 they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain." 
 
 It appears that the demand on the wise men was an ex- 
 traordinary one, and one of unusual occurrence at the 
 court ; hence they strenuously demur to the king's exaction. 
 This teaches us that it was not the interpretation of an 
 every-day dream, but it was a vision that moved the. king 
 to extraordinary measures ; and the hand of God may be 
 traced in it, by giving the instrument of interpretation 
 with it. 
 
 Ver7 14-23 : " Then Daniel answered with counsel 
 and wisdom to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, 
 which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon, 
 he answered and said to Arioch, the king's captain, ' Why 
 is the decree so hasty from the king V Then Arioch made the 
 thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel went in and desired of 
 the king that he would give him time, and that he would 
 
94 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. . 
 
 show the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his 
 house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, 
 and Azariah, his companions, that they would desire mer- 
 cies of the God of heaven, concerning this secret, that 
 Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the 
 wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto 
 Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God 
 of heaven. Daniel answered and said, ' Blessed be the name 
 of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are his ; 
 and he changeth the times and the seasons ; he remdveth 
 kings and setteth up kings, he giveth wisdom unto the wise, 
 and knowledge to them that know understanding ; he re- 
 vealeth the deep and secret things ; he knoweth what is in 
 the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank 
 thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast 
 given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto 
 me now what we desired of thee, for thou hast now made 
 known unto us the king's matter.' " 
 
 These details furnish us with evidence of the power of 
 prayer, as subsequently taught by Christ, for we find Dan- 
 iel sought his three companions, and when they three were 
 gathered together, then was the Lord in the midst of them. 
 They went to the true source of light for aid, and received 
 it. We find here, also, at what an early age Daniel was 
 open to the inspirations of the Lord. 
 
 Ver. 24-30- " Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, 
 whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of 
 Babylon : he went and said thus unto him, ' Destroy not 
 the wise men of Babylon ; bring me in before the king, 
 and I will show unto the king the interpretation.' Then 
 Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said 
 thus unto him, ' I have found a man of the captives of 
 
NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DKEAM. 95 
 
 Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpreta- 
 tion.' The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name 
 was Beltashazzar, ' Art thou able to make known unto me 
 the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation there- 
 of?' Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and 
 said, ' The secret which the king hath demanded, cannot the 
 wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, 
 show unto the king ; but there is a God in heaven that 
 revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, 
 and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these : As 
 for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon 
 thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter, and he that 
 revealeth secrets, maketh known to thee what shall come to 
 pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for 
 any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their 
 sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, 
 and that thou mightest' know the thoughts of thy heart.' " 
 
 The remarkable feature here is, that Daniel should have 
 recognized so clearly the new church truth, that all wis- 
 dom is from the Lord, and none from the natural man, and 
 that he should have spoken so boldly to the king, for it 
 was no small circumstance to stand before an oriental mon- 
 arch and talk plainly, when he had decreed death to all 
 the wise men, because they could not answer his inquiries. 
 
 Ver. 31-35 : " ' Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great 
 image ; this great image, whose brightness was excellent, 
 stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. This im- 
 age's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of sil- 
 ver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his 
 feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a 
 stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image 
 
96 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them 
 to pieces. Then was the iron, the clayV the brass, the sil- 
 ver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like 
 the chaff of the summer thrishing-floor, and the wind car- 
 ried them away, that no place was found for them, and the 
 stone that smote the image, became a great mountain, and 
 filled the whole earth." 
 
 In these verses we have the first of the prophetic visions 
 recorded in this book, and like visions generally, it carries a 
 double significance by the description. It seems the image 
 of a man inverted in the course of progression, the descrip- 
 tion beginning at the golden head and going downward to 
 the clay feet, and we subsequently learn that such was the 
 order of the image, Nebuchadnezzar being the head, and the 
 fourth succeeding empire, the feet. It is divided into four 
 parts or kingdoms, each with a downward progression, un- 
 til the stone, which is Christ, smote the image, and turned 
 the downward tide of civilization and spirituality, when it 
 had arrived at its lowest ebb, and inaugurated a new heav- 
 en and a new earth ; not the one, however, subsequently 
 mentioned in John's revelation ; that was deferred many cen- 
 turies. These empires are more particularly described in 
 the vision of four beasts* detailed in the seventh chapter, 
 with which, however, this must be read in connection, for 
 it relates to the same. In this the king is the seer, and Dan- 
 iel the interpreter ; whereas, in the other, Daniel is the seer, 
 some fifty years after, and the 35th verse here gives us a 
 view of the Kingdom when idolatries are crushed out. From 
 this vision, we learn that which history teaches, that civili- 
 zation and religion receded toward darkness, from the age 
 when a Babylon and Nineveh flourished, to that wherein 
 Christ was crucified. The vision, instead of going from the 
 
nebuohadnezzak's dkeam. 97 
 
 clay toes to the golden head, takes the reverse of this order, 
 and in proof of this, within a hundred years of this period, 
 the prophecies, excepting those of Malachi, one hundred 
 years latejj, closed. That is, men had become so utterly 
 material and corrupt that they were lost to spiritual inspi- 
 ration, and in effect were shut up from God. 
 
 This vision is pregnant with truth and meaning, and may 
 be taken as another evidence of the completeness of the 
 book, in showing the downward tendency of man. 
 
 Ver. 36-38 : " ' This is the dream, and we will tell the in- 
 terpretation thereof before the king. Thou, king, art 
 a king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee 
 a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And where- 
 soever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field 
 and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, 
 and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this 
 head of gold.' " 
 
 This is Daniel's interpretation ; the head being the Chal- 
 dean monarchy, which culminated its greatness in the reign 
 of Nebuchadnezzar. At this period it comprised under its 
 dominions, Assyria, Egypt, and Libea ; and the' empire 
 continued until A. M. 3626, when it was conquered by 
 Cyrus. Then commenced the empire of the Medes and 
 Persians, as told in chap. v. 28 ; which included Babylon, 
 Nineveh having been destroyed nearly a hundred years 
 previously. 
 
 Ver. 39 : " And after thee shall .arise another kingdom, 
 inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which 
 shall bear rule over all the earth." 
 
 This first is the Medo- Persian empire, or breast and arms 
 of silver, and as silver is inferior to gold, so was this em- 
 pire inferior to its predecessor, retaining its integrity but a 
 
98 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 
 
 comparatively short period, being 206 years. It was in- 
 ferior in its monarchs ; Xerxes and Darius are conspicuous 
 types of declining empire. The third kingdom, or thighs of 
 brass, symbolizes Alexander's Macedonian empire, which 
 did rule all the known earth, having conquered Darius at 
 Arbela in A. M. 3831. Josephus in his Ant. Jews, book 
 xi., chap. 8, after detailing the dream of Jaddua, the high- 
 priest, wherein he was told to go out and meet Alexander, 
 who was marching from Gaza to Jerusalem, says in 
 section 5 : 
 
 " And when he understood that he was not far from the 
 city, he went out in procession, with the priests and mul- 
 titude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and 
 the manner of it different from that of other nations. It 
 reached to a place • called Sapha, which name, translated 
 into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a pros- 
 pect both of Jerusalem and of the Temple, and when the 
 Phenicians and the Chaldeans, that followed him, thought 
 that they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment 
 the high-priest to death, which the king's displeasure fairly 
 promised them, the very reverse of it happened ; for Alex- 
 ander, when ha saw the multitude at a distance, in white 
 garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and 
 the high-priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his 
 mitre on his head, having the golden plate, whereon the 
 name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and 
 adored that name, and first saluted the high-priest. The 
 Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander 
 and. encompass him about ; whereupon the kings of Syria 
 and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, 
 and supposed him disordered in his mind. However, Par- 
 menio alone went up to him, and asked him how it came 
 
NEBUCHADNEZZAR S DREAM. VV 
 
 to pass that when all others adored him, he should adore 
 the high-priest of the Jews ? To whom he replied : ' I 
 did not adore him, but that God who hath honored him 
 with his high-priesthood ; for I saw this very person in a 
 dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios in Macedonia, 
 who, when I was considering with myself how I might ob- 
 tain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, 
 but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would 
 conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over 
 the Persians, whence it is that, having seen no other in that 
 habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering 
 that vision and the exhortation which I had in my dream, 
 I believe that I bring this army under the Divine conduct, 
 and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power 
 of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according 
 to what is in my own mind.' And when he had said this to 
 Parmenio, and had given the high-priest his right hand, the 
 priests ran along by him, and he came into the city, and 
 when he went up into the temple he offered sacrifice to God, 
 according to the high-priest's direction, and magnificently 
 treated both the high-priest and the priests ; and when the 
 book of Daniel was shown him, wherein Daniel declared 
 that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the 
 Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended." 
 This piece of history has given rise to many comments, 
 and many writers to whom the contents of this book were 
 sealed, have disputed its truthfulness. Some say that the 
 book of Daniel was written after the event. No authority, 
 however, of a character beyond refutation, now disputes the 
 fact that the book of Daniel was shown to Alexander. But 
 really it need not have given rise to so much controversy, 
 for it is not a matter without its parallel in many instances— 
 
100 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 for the history of all such leaders or pivotal men as Alexan- 
 der, teaches us, that they have their spiritual crises, and are 
 more or less controlled by them. They openly acknowledge 
 spiritual dictation — or feeling it, become fatalists, like Na- 
 poleon, thereby admitting a controlling power above them. 
 
 Whether the brass is here symbolical of the Greeks, be- 
 cause of their brazen.armor, or has a more interior spiritual 
 significance, it is needless to say, as the text explicitly points 
 to natural kingdoms. Whatever the language of correspon- 
 dences may read in this, the external interpretation is appa- 
 rent, and if not intended, at least makes a wonderful coin- 
 cidence with subsequent historical events. Swedenborg 
 says the image represents the four churches of God, Nebu- 
 chadnezzar being in the third, the first having been one of 
 correspondences then becoming lost. The third, the Israel- 
 itish, and the fourth, the Christian, T. C. K., 760. Now 
 the language is explicit that Nebuchadnezzar is the head of 
 the image, and the others succeed him — and however true 
 it is that there was a church of correspondences lost, ante- 
 rior to the Mosaic church, I think the great seer applied 
 this image to the same from his natural judgment and per- 
 ception, and erred — he does not say it was given to him. 
 The subsequent pages will show how this is true to history — 
 for externally it is history detailed in advance of its inci- 
 dents. The minutias of which arise so much more suc- 
 cinctly in the subsequent visions of Daniel himself, that they 
 will be there dealt with, 
 
 Ver. 40-45 : " And the fourth kingdom shall be strong 
 as iron ; forasmuch' as iron breaketh in pieces and subdu- 
 eth all things ; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it 
 break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the 
 feet and toes, part of potter's clay and part of iron, the king- 
 
Nebuchadnezzar's dkeam. 101 
 
 dom shall be divided ; but there shall be in it of the strength 
 of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with 
 miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron 
 and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and 
 partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with 
 miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed 
 of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as 
 iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these 
 kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which 
 shall never be destroyed ; and the kingdom shall not be left 
 to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all 
 these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as 
 thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain 
 without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, 
 the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made 
 known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter ; and 
 the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." 
 
 Here we have in the first four verses the Roman empire 
 and the culmination of paganism ; hero, and man worship 
 — or«the dominion of the natural man, which is but the an- 
 imal lighted with intellect — and it is the reign of selfishness — 
 the very antipodes of the rule taught by Christ. The Romai? 
 empire at this period — for the 44th verse identifies it as in 
 the reign of Tiberius — is a perfect picture of a kingdom of • 
 this world ; a strong picture of the reign of brute force, the 
 refinements and arts of previous ages having culminated, 
 dwindled into sensuality and impotence, and were crushed 
 out by the iron rule of Rome. It may be said we assume 
 too much in calling this the Roman empire, and we might 
 be obnoxious to the charge, were it not for the pictures given 
 in chapter vii., as well as in Rev. xiii. 1-10, by visions of 
 like character. And if we establish that the stone cut out 
 
102 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 without hands, is Christ, then we prove it to be the Roman 
 empire, for the time of his advent is undisputed. That 
 this stone symbolizes Christ may be proven, it being no 
 baseless theory ; for from a fair and philosophic analysis of 
 words and usages, both in Scripture and what we learn from 
 other gleanings of the Orientals, we can confidently trace this 
 stone to this symbolic meaning. The symbol, stone, rock, 
 and mountain, from its frequent occurrence in Scripture 
 must have been in common use with the Hebrews and Ori- 
 entals. Christ frequently calls himself a rock, chief corner- 
 stone, &c. In Matt. xvi. 16, he says, " On this rock I build 
 my church." This saying, accepted as the Eomanists receive 
 it, sinks into the insignificance of a pun. Now you who 
 have studied the character of Christ, imagine him utter- 
 ing a pun if you can. Christ had early given Simon the 
 appellation of Cephas, or Eock, and when he asked him the 
 question, " Whom say ye that I am?" he answered, " Thou 
 art the Christ," &c. Then Jesus said, " Blessed art thou, 
 Simon Barjona, - /br_/fc7j and blood hath not revealed it unto 
 thee, but my Father which is in heaven, and I say also unto 
 thee that thou art Peter [a rock], and upon this rock I will 
 build my church." The first reading of this was the lowest, 
 the pun of the Roman church. The second, as light was 
 shed on man, that of the reformed, that is, that the church 
 was built on a confession that Jesus was the Christ. And the 
 New Church reads in it that Christ said, " You Simon, as a 
 natural man, did not comprehend that I was the Christ ; but 
 you received it by inspiration from the Father, and on the 
 rock or principle of receiving the knowledge of Christ and 
 all great truths by direct inspiration from Heaven, I build 
 my chnrch." The reader must judge for himself which is 
 the most evident meaning. And this last reading teaches 
 
103 
 
 the doctrine of an inspired ministry, long held by Wesley- 
 ans — and that none should teach unless called of God. 
 When that prevails, and the ministry ceases to be one of the 
 lucrative professions — then will it come up again to the 
 standard promised by Christ in John xiv. 12, where he 
 says : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth 
 on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater 
 works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father." 
 Nor will they then repudiate this saying with the answer : 
 " Oh, those were intended for Bible days." No, reader, it 
 was intended for all time, and it will be found true when 
 men come up to it. 
 
 The fact of Peter's early and first development of vc - 
 power to receive inspiration, or the opening of the spiritual 
 faculty, which was ' so directly evinced and recognized by 
 the Lord, and which had been by him foreseen, immedi- 
 ately gave him a pre-eminence among the Apostles, which 
 will be plainly seen by a reference to the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, and the whole tenor of the Gospels. Not, however, 
 as the Romanists assume, that the Lord gave him any pe- 
 culiar pre-eminence; or the fact 'that because it is possible 
 he was the first bishop of the only church founded by the 
 Apostles that survived the fury of Roman paganism, that 
 therefore he, and he only, is the hereditary head of an 
 hereditary church. • 
 
 Again, in Luke xx. 17, 18, we read : " The stone 
 which the builders rejected, the same is become the head 
 of the corner. Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall 
 be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him 
 to powder." The Lord quoted David in Psalm cxviii., 
 when he said this, and prophetically refers to himself. 
 For we perceive, by a reference to our remarks concern- 
 
104 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 ing the Temple, as a symbol of a man, which is a temple 
 of God, or, as Paul, in 2 Cor. vi. 16, says, " Te are the 
 temple of the living God." So we find the analogy is sus- 
 tained throughout. Thus we read here : " The stone 
 was cut out of the mountain without hands, or which was 
 not in hands." We read of the symbol, or Jewish Tem- 
 ple, in 1 Kings vi. 7 : " The house when it was building 
 was built of stone, made ready before it was brought 
 thither, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any 
 tool of iron, heard in the house while it was in building." 
 This is commanded in Deut. xxvii. 5, 6. Thus do we ar- 
 rive at the meaning of the phrase, "without hands," i or 
 "handy-work." The original and spiritual reason and 
 meaning why this is so, I am not aware of. I only trace 
 the analogy to show that this stone, which was Christ, was 
 & perfect temple of the living God, and the comer-stone of 
 the Israelitish temple, by them rejected, but is now the 
 head of the corner in the city of the New Jerusalem. In 
 Zech. iii. 9, when the prophet speaks of the Branch, he 
 says : " For behold the stone that I have laid before Josh- 
 ua [the high priest] ;• upon one stone shall be seven eyes." 
 In Eev. iv. 5, when John saw what Zechariah here prophe- 
 sied, we learn the seven eyes are seven spirits of God, or 
 as Zech. iv. 10, says: " They are the eyes of the Lord." 
 They are wisdom, love, truth, beauty, strength, humility, and 
 purity ; and the stone embodies these seven eyes, " for in 
 him is the fullness of the Godhead bodily." I deem this 
 sufficient to sustain the theory that Christ is referred to by 
 the stone; if not, the subsequent structure of history will 
 prove it, for it is manifest, as will be seen in the remarks 
 on the seventh chapter, that, in the time of these kings, 
 or the fourth beast, Christ did set up a kingdom, 
 
105 
 
 which by its influence crushed out paganism as a state in- 
 stitution ; and during the eighteenth century of that king- 
 dom paganism has only raised its head and shown itself in 
 the garb of its conqueror, and by assuming his name and 
 endeavoring to pass under the name of Christianity ; in 
 which character, however, it continues to exercise a large 
 sway in the church ; ; but in Christ's new kingdom, as 
 shadowed in Rev. xxi., it obtains no foothold, for no tem- 
 ple is needed there. The Lord God is the temple thereof. 
 The reference to this prophecy of Christ, in Josephus, is 
 remarkable, in that he declines to give Daniel's definition 
 of the stone cut out of the mountain, and that his transla- 
 tion makes the explanation still more intelligible. It is as 
 follows, book x. of Ant. of Jews, chap, x., sec. 4 : " The 
 head of gold denotes thee and the kings of Babylon that 
 have been before thee ; but the two hands and arms signify 
 this : that your government shall be dissolved by two 
 kings; but another king that shall come from the west 
 armed with brass, shall destroy that government ; and an- 
 other government, that shall be like unto iron, shall put an 
 end to the power of the former, and -shall have dominion 
 over all the earth, on account of the nature of iron, which 
 is stronger than that of gold, of silver, and of brass. 
 Daniel did also declare the meaning of the stone to the 
 king, but I do not think proper to relate it, since I have 
 only undertaken to describe .things past, or things present, 
 but not things of the future." He then refers to the book, 
 if any one's curiosity lead him to know the truth, " which 
 he will find among the sacred writings.''' Thus do we find 
 the old Jew as time-serving as historians of the nineteenth 
 century, when a great temporal power frowns down upon 
 the truth. In this rendering we cannot mistake the Mace- 
 
106 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 donian and Roman empires, and though its nature was of 
 iron, yet it was towards its end mixed with clay, making 
 it weaker and more brittle, which will be more fully ex- 
 plained in the remarks on the seventh chapter, when treat- 
 ing of the fourth beast. Gibbon recognizes these symbols 
 of the four successive empires, in his view of the causes 
 operating on the Roman empire. He says, chap. 38 ; " And 
 the image of gold and silver or brass, that might seem to 
 represent the nations and their kings, were necessarily bro- 
 ken by the iron monarchy of Rome." This is rather sin- 
 gular for Gibbon, as it is not likely that he wrote it to 
 strengthen the theory of the fulfilment of prophecy ; and it 
 needs not a reference to history to ascertain that Rome 
 broke in pieces all the nations and peoples before the stone 
 smote the image. 
 
 The toes of the fourth division of the image, which are 
 the same as the ten horns of the fourth beast in the 
 seventh chapter, are characterized as different in regard to 
 their durability. We have here, also, the ^time pointed 
 out to us when this division existed ; in verse 44, he says, 
 " In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set 
 up a kingdom," &c, &c. This leaves no room for doubt 
 or trouble. The God of heaven set up his kingdom in the 
 reign of Tiberias Caesar, and at that time Rome was divided 
 into exactly ten kingdoms, namely, Italia, Gaul, Pannonia, 
 Rhoetia, Elyricum, Romelia, Meesia, Iberia, Syria, and 
 Egypt — Dacia and Britain being subsequently conquered. 
 This division may be. found in Gibbon's "Decline and 
 Fall," first chapter. They will be more fully treated of 
 in the seventh chapter, under the symbol of the ten horns. 
 It was in the days of these kings, that is, these nations, 
 that the stone commenced its work of revolution, and it 
 
JSTEBUOHADNEZZAK S DREAM. 107 
 
 has since been going on with its sure work, consuming, 
 bruising, grinding to powder, and crushing out, to make 
 way for a new heaven and a new earth. 
 
 Ver. 46-49 : "Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon 
 his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they 
 should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. The 
 king answered unto Daniel, and said, ' Of a truth it is, that t 
 your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a re- 
 vealer of secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret.' Then 
 the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great 
 gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Baby- 
 lon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of 
 Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set 
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of 
 the province of Babylon ; but Daniel sat in the gate of the 
 
 king." 
 
 This readiness of the king to fall down and worship a 
 man evinces the necessity as well as the wisdom and boun- 
 ty of the Creator, in descending to the plane of earth, and 
 by the incarnation, giving to fallen man the Divine human- 
 ity to worship, it being evident he could not realize God, 
 and therefore could not elevate his heart to that which he 
 could not comprehend. 
 
 The simple incident here related, in the last verse, of Dan- 
 iel caring and providing for his friends, is enough to take 
 this book out of the category of entire mysticism and sym- 
 bol painting, into which some writers would consign it, and 
 give it also the character of a truthful narrative running 
 over a period of seventy-two years, in the framework of 
 which is set the greatest spiritual picturg and prophecy of 
 which we have record, and seals this book as the Gospel of 
 the Kingdom, preached by the Lord when incarnate. 
 
108 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL; 
 
 The last words of this chapter are worthy of note, and 
 may have more than one significance. In the East the gate 
 was a place or court where power and justice were exercised. 
 It was second only to the throne ; in fact it was the ap- 
 pendage of the throne, and he who sat in the gate as Dan- 
 iel did, held a position equal to prime minister. 
 
 Again, it is a term used to symbolize power ; in Gen. 
 xxii . 17, we read, ' ' And thy seed shall possess the gate of 
 his enemies." The term is a very common one in the Scrip- 
 tures and other oriental writings, and is of too familiar use 
 and frequency to multiply quotations. But as matter of 
 history, we here find Daniel elevated to the right hand of 
 the king while yet a mere youth, and we find nothing to 
 lead to the supposition that he did not retain this position 
 throughout Nebuchadnezzar's reign", which typifies the 
 whole period of the Babylonish dominion. The reader will 
 hereinafter see more of the significance of Daniel's position, 
 where he is shown in a subsequent chapter, as the third 
 ruler in the kingdom, coinciding with the definition of his 
 name, the Holy Spirit, or active power of the Trinity. 
 
 And as in the first chapter, all that is prophesied in the 
 book is shown in this, and the subsequent pictures and 
 visions are but explanations of this great dream, wherein 
 they are elaborated and brought within the reading power of 
 men. The progress of the four kingdoms, the Messiah, under 
 the figure of the stone, his coming kingdom, and the fact that 
 when his kingdom "is established, the king of Babylon, the 
 prince of this world, shall acknowledge and fall down and 
 worship its monarch — all this is prefigured in this dream, 
 even the fact that the world could not tell it for centuries, 
 the wise men and the magicians, &c. But when the third ru- 
 ler in the Messiah's kingdom comes and diffuses the light of 
 
nebttchadjtezzab's dkeam. 109 
 
 Heaven, then the seal is broken, the book is opened, and 
 the dream foretelling the coming stone mil out without hand, 
 is revealed in its brightness. Even those who were lost, or 
 were decreed to be slain for their ignorance, are saved by 
 the power of Daniel. And we read from the 26th verse, 
 that in the spirit of prophecy is a saving power, as we find 
 subsequently told in Eev. xix. 10, "For the testimony of 
 Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." And the last verse shows 
 us that Daniel, the ruling spirit, procured the establishment 
 of the princes, who stand for the pillars of the Jewish Church, 
 as presiding over the affairs of Babylon. And so we find the 
 ceremonies as well as some of the pivotal truths of Scrip- 
 ture continue to preside over the modern Babylon, thereby 
 saving it from utter devastation, and those truths survive 
 and come out of the fiery furnace, unscathed, as we will find 
 as we proceed. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEE m. Or DAOTEL. ) 
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S GOLDEN IMAGE AND THE THREE CHIL- 
 DEEN, AND THE HISTORY OF BEL AND THE DKAGON. 
 
 "1. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, 
 whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth there- 
 of six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the prov- 
 ince of Babylon. 
 
 "2. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather to- 
 gether the princes, the governors, and the captains, the 
 judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all 
 the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the 
 image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 
 
 " 3. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the 
 judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all 
 the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the 
 dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had 
 set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnez- 
 zar had set up. 
 
 "4. Then a herald cried aloud, ' To you it is commanded, 
 O people, nations, and languages, 
 
 " 5 'That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, 
 flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of 
 music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Neb- 
 uchadnezzar the king hatb set up. 
 
 " 6. 'And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, shall 
 the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery fur- 
 nace.' 
 
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. Ill 
 
 " 7. Therefore, at that time, when all the people heard 
 the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and 
 all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the lan- 
 guages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that 
 Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 
 
 " 8. "Wherefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came near 
 and accused the Jews. 
 
 " 9. They spake, and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, 
 ' O king, live for ever. 
 
 "10. 'Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every 
 man thaj shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, 
 sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall 
 fall down and worship the golden image. 
 
 "11. 'And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, 
 that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery fur- 
 nace. 
 
 " 12. ' There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over 
 the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abed-nego ; these men, OTsing, have not regarded thee ; 
 they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which 
 thou hast set up.' 
 
 " 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, com- 
 manded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then 
 they brought these men before the king. 
 
 " 14. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, 'Is it 
 true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve 
 my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up 1 
 
 " 15. ' Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the 
 sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dul- 
 cimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the 
 image which I have made, well ; but if ye worship not, ye 
 shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery 
 
112 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 furnace ; and who is that God that shall deliver you out 
 of my hands?' 
 
 " 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and 
 said to the king, ' O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to 
 answer thee in this matter. 
 
 "17. ' If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to de- 
 liver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver 
 us out of thine hand, O king. 
 
 " 18. ' But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that 
 we will not serve thy gods, nor worship thy golden image 
 which thou hast set up.' 
 
 " 19. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form 
 of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abed-nego ; therefore he spake and commanded that they 
 should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was 
 wont to be heated. 
 
 "20. And he commanded the most mighty men that 
 were in his army, to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 
 
 "21. Then these men were bound in their coats, their 
 hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were 
 cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 
 
 "22. Therefore, because the king's commandment was 
 urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire 
 slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego. 
 
 "23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abed-nego, fell down, bound, into the midst of the burning 
 fiery furnace. 
 
 " 24. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, was astonished, 
 and rose up in haste, and spake and said unto his counsel- 
 lors, ' Did not we cast three men, bound, into the midst of 
 
nebuchadnezzak's golden image. 113 
 
 the fire ?' They answered and said unto the king, ' True, O 
 king.' 
 
 " 25. He answered and said, ' Lo, I see four men loose, 
 walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and 
 the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.' 
 
 " 26. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of 
 the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, ' Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, 
 come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 
 
 " 27. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the 
 king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, 
 upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a Hair of 
 their heads singed, neither were their coats changed, nor 
 the smell of fire had passed on them. 
 
 " 28. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, ' Blessed be 
 the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath 
 sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, 
 and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, 
 that they might not serve nor worship any god except their 
 own God. 
 
 "29. ' Therefore I make a decree, that every people, na- 
 tion, and language, which speak anything amiss against the 
 God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in 
 pieces, and their, houses shall be made a dunghill, because 
 there is no other god that can deliver after this sort.' 
 
 " 30. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon. - " 
 
 Between the twenty-third and twenty-fourth verses should 
 come in the song of the three young men usually placed in 
 the Apocrypha. It consists of sixty-five verses, and is re- 
 tained in the Douay version, but expunged from prot- 
 
114 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL 
 
 estant translations, because Jerome says it was not in the 
 Hebrew versions in his time ; but it was in the Greek trans- 
 lations. It is probable that they who excluded it, had no 
 more knowledge of its authenticity than they had of the 
 meaning of the other portion. It comes in appropriately, 
 and has indications of the same style and symbolism ; for 
 instance, in the forty-seventh or otherwise twenty-fourth 
 verse, we read that the flame mounted above the furnace, 
 forty and- nine cubits ; these are symbolic numbers, and it is 
 evident that it has not a literal signification, but will be ex- 
 plained. The first twenty-two verses of this song is the 
 prayer of Ayarias. Then is told in five verses, how the 
 fire was replenished, and the advent of the Angel of the 
 Lord. Then a prayer, and praises by the three, where oc- 
 curs the same expression found in the allegory of Jonah. 
 Thus, " O Ananias, Ayarias, and Misael, bless ye the Lord, 
 praise and exalt him above all forever, for he hath delivered 
 us from hell, and saved us out of the hand of death," &c. 
 See Jonah ii. 2, Jonah as the symbol of Christ having vol- 
 untarily had himself cast into the sea (the world of peoples) 
 and sacrificed, was heard from hell or hades, where he was 
 three days. These proofs of a like symbolism with the rest 
 of the chapter, I think, entitle us to suppose with the Ro- 
 man church that it is a part of the original book. 
 
 Like all the pictures and stories in Daniel, this one re- 
 lates to the coming Messiah, some referring to his advent on 
 earth and some to his second coming in spirit. This alle- 
 gory points to his advent, and that it is an allegory and not 
 to be read literally is evident, for it is not written as though 
 it was intended to be received as a miracle. The miracles 
 are not told in a manner to violate common sense. Those 
 acts related in the Scriptures as miracles, are described as the 
 
115 
 
 performances of one who is master of all law, and we are not 
 left in doubt as to what it is intended to represent. The mir- 
 acles of Christ for instance, being given to reach the spiritual 
 element of a material age, through the agency of the senses, 
 seem thus, as if Christ says to the people, " To prove to you 
 my office, I will show you my power and my knowledge of 
 the laws of nature, both of this world and the spiritual," 
 and the relations are in keeping. There is no conflict in 
 the several parts of the story. There are thousands of 
 miracles occurring daily, or things of which we are ignor- 
 ant as to the law of action. It is not to be supposed 1 that 
 God violates any law to perform a miracle, when daily 
 occurrences are miracles to men, as are all the processes of 
 nature of which man is ignorant. With some few only he 
 has become familiar ; but when a conflict with those laws 
 with which we are acquainted is related, it is to be pre- 
 sumed that the story is not literally true, and if told on 
 respectable authority, it is fair to presume it has some other 
 signification. And to analyze this narrative we find it ob- 
 noxious to these objections as a literal history, and moreover, 
 we must bear in mind that this is a piece of Chaldean litera- 
 ture, which abounds in allegory and fable. The Orientals so 
 write to this day, and it would be a marvel to find any 
 of their literature simply detailing a fact ; much more does 
 this principle appear in their spiritual writings. The Egyp- 
 tians, whence the Hebrews obtained much of their symbol- 
 ism, were given to the same style. And Moses who was 
 "learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians" engrafted it in 
 the Hebrew literature. "With this knowledge of oriental- 
 ism, which no commentator is without, for it is known to 
 the school-boy, who gleans it from his Arabian Nights and 
 Lalla Rookli, it is astonishing that a literal reading should 
 
116 EXPOSITION OF TEE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 ever have been attempted for this story. For the inconsis- 
 tencies of such are numerons ; for instance, we read in the 
 twentieth verse, that it required the mightiest men of the 
 army to bind the three young men, and these mighty men 
 were burned by a close approach to the mouth of the fur- 
 nace. Then we read in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth 
 verses that the king saw them within. Now had he gone 
 dose enough he would have been burned also ; and if he saw 
 them clairvoyantly he would not have arisen and asked his 
 counsellors, for he would have been entranced, and it would 
 have been unnecessary. 
 
 With regard to the image, on which commentators have 
 expended time to prove within the lines of probability, 
 as to proportions, I have referred in the first chapter to 
 this, wherein I explain that the symbols or pictures are ta- 
 ken from natural objects, though their groupings are fre- 
 quently unnatural. The chapter would develop inconsis- 
 tencies, as a literal and truthful story, at every step, if an- 
 alyzed with that object in view, but I present these few as 
 examples. 
 
 Now let us turn to the other side of the picture, and see 
 how far it is possible to explain it on the theory of allegor- 
 ical prophecy. And here we must begin by a reference 
 to the numbers explained partially in the second chapter, 
 wherein we find certain human institutions or types, are 
 signified hy the numerical proportion, containing the num- 
 ber nine, as the sign of man, and its various combinations, 
 signifying his many attributes ; and so we find this image, 
 which is a "counterfeit presentment" of the Divine man, 
 or the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is sixty cubits by six 
 in measurement, or three hundred and sixty cubits on its 
 surface. Here is not only the nine, but the symbol of Dei- 
 
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. 117 
 
 ty ; a complete circle of three hundred and sixty degrees, 
 with the number nine within it. This image is but a nat- 
 ural projection of the material man, from that given in ths 
 dream, yet it has the outward signs of the Divine humanity, 
 and the king ordered the worship of the sign instead of the 
 substance, which the three princes, or pillars of the Hebrew 
 church, refused to do, for they represent the unspotted 
 truths preserved in Babylon, to bear their fruit in a future 
 age. The next figure is the fiery furnace, which represents 
 , a false and perverted world. For we read in Psalm xxi. 9, 
 " Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven, in the time of thine 
 anger ; The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and 
 the fire shall devour them;" and in 1 Kings viii. 51, "For 
 they be thy people, and thine inheritance, winch thou 
 broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the fur- 
 nace of iron," and many more quotations of the same char- 
 acter can be found showing the use of this simile, which 
 here more immediately refers to paganism, represented by 
 the little horn. The next prominent feature in the allego- 
 ry is, that all the principal men and rulers of the people are 
 to take part in this image worship, showing it a peculiarly 
 worldly institution, and as is repeatedly told, set up by Neb-, 
 uchadnezzar, king of Babylon. 
 
 The three princes, being also types or symbols, are first, 
 Hananiah, meaning grace and gift of* the Lord, which the 
 Babylonians changed to Shadrach, or a follower of Shach, 
 the idol. Next was Mishael, signifying who is asked for, 
 God taketh away, changed to Meshach, or drawn by force, 
 surrounded. Then Azariah, or court of the Lord, changed 
 to Abed-nego, or servant of Nego, or light. Thu- it will 
 be perceived how these pivotal points or pillars of the 
 church which the Hebrew princes represent, were perverted 
 
118 EXPOSITION OB" THE BOOK OF DANIEI/. 
 
 in Babylon, to worldliness and idol worship. The three also 
 represent the Israelitish institution in its existence in time, 
 which, by a reference to the chronology in the Appendix, 
 will be found to be divided into three periods of 430 and 49 
 years, exclusive of the 70 of captivity. Now the first pe- 
 riod represents judges under the gift of the Lord, for they 
 were given by God, unasked. The second period, under 
 kings, or who is asked for, God taketh away, which was 
 the case in that cycle of their history. The third, the court 
 of the Lord, because it immediately preceded the entrance 
 to the period of the presence of the real Temple of God, 
 Christ. 
 
 This system of symbolizing periods by men, may also be 
 gleaned from the Appendix, where the numbering of the peo- 
 ple indicate their chronology. Then the next point in the 
 analogy is, that the furnace which has been shown to be a 
 perverted state of a people, was heated one seven times more 
 than usual. Here we have the great principles of the 
 church of Israel, immersed in paganism, as we see by the 
 Appendix, through three cycles of 430 and twice 49 years, 
 and then heated or extended one seven times more, for from 
 the time of Daniel there were 49 years of the past cycle, 
 and 479 years yet to come. This but announces that the 
 seven times or weeks is also to be added to the last cycle, 
 like the others, and that makes 49 years more, when the 
 Son of God is seen by the king, walking in the furnace. 
 This is farther shown by the forty-seventh verse, Douay ver- 
 sion, where it says the flames mounted up above the furnace 
 forty-nine cubits, this being in analogy with the other parts 
 of the allegory, where the cubit measures time as well as 
 space, as it does in John's revelation and in Ezekiel. Thus, 
 during three periods of 430 years, and a jubilee period of 
 
BEL AND THE DRAGON. 119 
 
 49 years, were great truths of Israel encompassed in the fur- 
 nace of Babylon, and the Son of God walked into the flames 
 and rescued them. It will be perceived that Daniel does 
 not appear in this picture, the second person in the Trinity 
 doing the office of rescuer. 
 
 This same tendency to worship the image is foretold as to 
 continue, in Eev. xiii., and there the same imagery is used 
 to a certain extent, under the figures of the beast, whose 
 number is given in the last verse, which is 666, or a per- 
 verted form of the number nine, the three containing it in 
 the amount of those numerals — 18. In immediate contin- 
 uation of this chapter comes the story of Bel and the Drag- 
 on, being Daniel xiv. in the Douay version, but accounted 
 apocryphal by the protestants, their position being quite 
 an arbitrary proceeding. I place the story in this connec- 
 tion, as it seems to be its proper place. The fourth chap- 
 ter likewise has an important bearing on these events, but 
 the first three verses of it, as found in the James version, 
 belong to the end of this chapter ; they are the ninety-eighth, 
 ninety-ninth, and one hundredth of the Douay version, and 
 read thus : 
 
 " Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all peoples, nations and 
 tongues, that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied un- 
 to you. 
 
 " The most high God hath wrought signs and wonders 
 toward me ; it hath seemed good to me, therefore, to pub- 
 lish 
 
 " His signs, because they are great, and his wonders be- 
 cause they are mighty, and his kingdom is an everlasting 
 kingdom, and his power to all generations." 
 
 It may be they are a preface to the fourth chapter ; but 
 it seems to have more connection with the third, as expres- 
 
120 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OE DANIEL. 
 
 sive of the king's astonishment, which he publishes to all 
 the people exactly ■■-• die Babylon after Christ continued 
 to publish the word, _, oi would follow the image. 
 
 The story of Bel and the Dragon tells us how Daniel, 
 the third ruler in the kingdom (as he will appear in the 
 next chapter, and in point of the time of writing these chap- 
 ters, they are so intimately connected that the various alle- 
 gories should be read together), representing the spirit of 
 God, destroyed Bel and the dragon, or two phases of pagan 
 worship ; first, Bel, or the image, and then the dragon, 
 which was no image idol, but a live god. And in this alle- 
 gory the reader will perceive how, by the rule I mentioned 
 in the beginning, that as we proceed, the stories in their 
 analogy become more accurate and apposite. The time of 
 this story is evidently before Cyrus, because we are told 
 that Daniel was the king's guest, and the king worshipped 
 Bel, or an idol. This we know the Babylonians proper 
 did, the dragon-worship coming in under Cyrus, which 
 was of a more spiritual nature. Daniel, it will be perceived, 
 destroyed Bel by common-sense appeals to the reason, which 
 was accomplished in his own day, or before the second 
 beast under the symbol of a bear arose, which was the Me- 
 do-Persian empire. That the writer intended to reproach 
 the Hebrews with this worship, or to show that the Israeli- 
 tish church was a worshipper of idols, becomes manifest 
 from the ninth verse, where we are told that the priests of 
 Bel were seventy, this being the pivotal number in the econ- 
 omy of the Israelitish institution, for in Numbers xi. 16, 
 the Lord says, " Gather unto me seventy men of the elders 
 of Israel, whom thou knowest to be of the elders of the peo- 
 ple and officers over them, and bring them to the taberna- 
 cle of the congregation, that they may stand there with 
 
BEL AND THE DEAGON. 121 
 
 thee." This is addressed to Moses. These seventy, with 
 Moses and Aaron, make seventy-two, the number nine in 
 one of its combinations representing the human ; so Jacob 
 started the institution of Israel with seventy-two persons, 
 though in the text it reads seventy ; see Ex. i. 5. Ezekiel 
 likewise, in one of his visions, saw this number, Ezek. viii. 
 11.- This number can be shown to signify the Hebrew 
 church institution, being seventy-two, while the more ad- 
 vanced man, the true temple, combines the nine in one hun- 
 dred and forty-four. But we will read the story : 
 
 " 1. And Daniel was the king's guest, and was honored 
 above all his friends. 
 
 "2. Now the Babylonians had an idol, called Bel, and 
 there were spent upon him every day twelve great measures 
 of fine flour, and forty sheep, and sixty vessels of wine. 
 
 " 3. The king also worshipped him, and went every day 
 to adore him, but Daniel adored his God, and the king said 
 to him, < Why dost thou not adore Bel?' 
 
 " 4. And he answered and said unto him, ' Because I 
 do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God 
 that created heaven and earth, and hath power over aH 
 flesh.' 
 
 "5. And the king said to him, 'Doth not Bel seem to 
 thee to be a living god, seest thou not how much he eateth 
 and drinketh every day ?' 
 
 " 6. Then Daniel smiled and said, ' O king, be not de- 
 ceived, for this is but clay within, and brass without, nei- 
 ther hath he eaten at any time ' 
 
 "7. And the king, being angry, called for his priests, 
 and said to them, < If you tell me not who it is that eateth 
 up these expenses, you shall die. 
 
 " 8. ' But, if you can show that Bel eateth these things, 
 ' 6 
 
122 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Daniel shall die, because he hatli blasphemed against Bel.' 
 And Daniel said to the k^ng : ' Be it done according to thy 
 word.' 
 
 " 9. Now the priests of Bel were seventy, besides their 
 wives, and little ones, and children, and the king went with 
 Daniel into the temple of Bel. 
 
 " 10. And the priests of Bel said, 'Behold, we go but, 
 and do thou, O king, set on Ihe meats and make ready the 
 wine, and shut the door fast, and seal it with thy own ring. 
 
 "11. ' And when thou comest in the mowaing, if thou find- 
 est not thajf Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death, or else 
 Daniel hath lied against us.' 
 
 " 12. And they little regarded it, because they had made 
 under the table a secret entrance, and they always came in 
 by it and consumed those things. 
 
 "13. So it came to pass after they were gone out, the king 
 set the meats before Bel ; and Daniel commanded his servants, 
 and they brought ashes, and he sifted them all over the 
 temple before the king, and going forth they shut the door, 
 and having sealed it with the king's ring, they departed. 
 
 "14. But the priests went in by night according to their 
 custom, with their wives and their children, and they ate 
 and drank up all. 
 
 "15. And the king arose early in the morning and Daniel 
 with him. 
 
 "16. And the king said, 'Are the seals whole, Daniel?' 
 ind he answered, 'They are whole, O king.' 
 
 " 17. And as soon as he had opened the door the king 
 iooked upon the table, and cried out with a loud voice, 
 •' Great art thou, O Bel, and there is not any deceit wifh 
 diee.' 
 
 " 18. And Daniel laughed ; and he held the king that he 
 
BEL AND THE DEAGON. 123 
 
 should not go in, and he said, ' Behold the pavement ; mark 
 whose footsteps are these V 
 
 " 19- And the king said, 'I see the footsteps of men, and 
 women, and children,' and the king was angry. 
 
 " 20. Then he took the priests, and their wives, and their 
 children, and they showed him the private doors by which 
 they came in and consumed the things that were on the 
 table. 
 
 " 21. The king therefore put them to death, and delivered 
 Bel into the power of Daniel, who destroyed him and his 
 temple. 
 
 " 22. And there was a great dragon in that place, and 
 the Babylonians worshipped him. 
 
 " 23. And the king said to Daniel, ' Behold thou canst 
 not say now, that this is not a living god, adore him, there- 
 fore.' 
 
 " 24. And Daniel said, ' I adore the Lord my God, for he 
 is the living God, but that is no living God. 
 
 " 25. ' But give me leave, king, and I will kill this 
 dragon without sword or club,' and the king said, ' I give 
 thee leave.' 
 
 " 26. Then Dauiel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and 
 boiled them together, arid he made lumps, and put them into 
 the dragon's mouth and the dragon burst asunder, and he 
 said, ' Behold him whom you worshipped.' 
 
 " 27. And when the Babylonians had heard this, they took 
 great indignation, and being gathered together against the 
 king, they said, 'The king is become a Jew. He hath 
 destroyed Bel, he hath killed the dragon, and he hath put 
 the priests to death.' 
 
 "' 28. And they came to the king and said, ' Deliver us 
 Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thy house.' 
 
124: EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 " 29. And the king saw that they pressed upon him viq-? 
 lently, and being constrained by necessity he delivered Dan- 
 iel to them. 
 
 " 30. And they cast him into the den of lions, and he 
 was there six days 
 
 "31. And in the den there were seven lions, and they 
 had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep, 
 but then they were not given unto them that they might 
 devour Daniel. 
 
 " 32. Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, 
 and he had boiled pottage and had broken bread in a bowl, 
 and was going into the field to carry it to the reapers. 
 
 " 33. And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc, ' Carry 
 the dinner which thou hast, into Babylon to Daniel, who is 
 in the lions' den.' 
 
 " 34 . And Habacuc said, ' Lord, I never saw Babylon, 
 nor do I know the den.' 
 
 " 35. And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of 
 his head, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set 
 him in Babylon over the den, in the force of his spirit. 
 
 " 36. And Habacuc cried, saying, ' O Daniel, thou ser- 
 vant of God, take the dinner that God hath sent thee. 
 
 " 37. And Daniel said, ' Thou hast remembered me, 
 God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love thee.' 
 
 " 38 And Daniel arose and ate, and the angel of the 
 Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place. 
 
 "39. And upon the seventh day, the king came to be- 
 wail Daniel, and he came to the den, and looked in, and be- 
 hold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions. 
 
 '< 40. And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying, 
 ' Great art thou, O Lord, the God of Daniel,' and he drew 
 him out of the lions' den. 
 
UEL AND THE DBAGON 125 
 
 "41. But those that had been the cause of his destruc- 
 tion he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a 
 moment before him. 
 
 "42. Then the king said, 'Let all the inhabitants of the 
 whole earth fear the God of Daniel, for he is the Saviour, 
 working signs and wonders in the earth, who hath delivered 
 Daniel out of the lions' den.' " 
 
 The first phase of idolatry in the Hebrew church here 
 satirized or admonished, is under this symbol of Bel, and is 
 intended to represent their materialism and their worship of 
 the Temple and its attributes, together with its fasts and fes- 
 tivals, as the Lord said in Isaiah i. 13, 14: " Bring no more 
 vain oblations, incense is an abomination unto me, the 
 new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot 
 away with [or I will not abide] : it is iniquity, even the 
 solemn meeting. Your new riloons and your appointed feasts 
 my soul hateth, they are a trouble unto me ; I am weary to 
 bear them." This is what the allegory points to. The 
 Temple had become an idol" — the Jews were lost to any 
 spiritual worship, and that this is the thing pointed at may 
 be gathered by other numbers than the seventy, for instance 
 — there was spent every day on him twelve measure's of fine 
 flour. Now it may be perceived that fine flour here typifies 
 men. For we read in Lev. ii. 1, that the meat offering to 
 the Lord was of fine flour with oil and frankincense upon it. 
 This typifies the offermg»subsequently made by the Divine 
 Man, and in Lev. xxiv. 5, we read, " Thou shalt take fine 
 flour and bake twelve cakes thereof." These were the offer- 
 ings. Here the analogy is almost perfect with Bel's offer- 
 ing. Now the very name of Bel signifies nothing — showing 
 that there was nothing in him to worship in this way, and 
 the twelve stands for the Twelve Tribes, thus showing the 
 
126 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 
 
 worship aimed at. But Daniel demonstrated that this sort 
 of worship would not feed the spiritual man, and it was 
 destroyed, its destruction being shown in the fall of Babylon, 
 whence a new era springs up, men begin to worship spiritual 
 gods. The third beast represented in Macedon begins its 
 sway,, and the western paganism begins to rear its head. 
 The worship of heroes and a multiplicity of gods from the 
 Roman world comes on the stage, and this is the dragon. 
 This, Daniel is told, is a living god, and he is defied to kill 
 him, and not being of material substance Daniel undertakes 
 to kill him without sword or club. Let us first analyze this 
 dragon and ascertain what he represents ; and to come to a 
 correct conclusion we must see in what connection he is 
 used elsewhere' in the Scriptures, and thus we find in the 
 ninety-first psalm, where " He that dwelleth in tlie secret place 
 of the Most High" is spoken of prophetically. We are told in 
 the thirteenth verse that "Thou [he] shall tread upon the 
 lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou 
 trample under feet." The Lion, both in Daniel and John, 
 symbolizes Babylon, one of the beasts ; and here we find the 
 Divine Man is to conquer the dragon. Again, in Isaiah 
 xxvii. 1, in speaking of the coming of the Lord, we read, 
 "He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." And in Jere- 
 miah li. where prophesying the destruction of Babylon, says 
 "it shall become a dwelling place for dragons," and " Thus 
 saith the Lord of hosts, the God^of Israel, . . . Nebu- 
 
 chadnezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath 
 crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath 
 swallowed me up like a dragon." 
 
 Here we find the dragon representing a power which 
 swallows up and supercedes the true religion, and he acts 
 under the guidance of the king of Babylon: Thus we find 
 
BEL AND THE DEAGON. 127 
 
 him used as a figure of speech by the old prophets ; and turn- 
 ing to the Revelation of John, we find him as they predicted 
 in Rev. xii. 3 thus portrayed : " And there appeared another 
 sign in heaven, and behold a great red dragon, having seven 
 heads and ten horns." This dragon stood ready, it appears, 
 to swallow up the child of the woman that was about to be 
 delivered. The woman here represents the true church, and 
 she fled into the wilderness for twelve hundred and sixty 
 years, chap. xii. 14. This dragon appeared to John like 
 the preceding four beasts of Daniel all combined. He 
 was like a leopard, or that which in Daniel -vii., repre- 
 sented the Macedonian dominion, his feet like a bear or the 
 Medo-Persian kingdom, and his mouth like a lion, or the 
 Babylonish empire. Thus in the dragon all these preceding 
 phases of idolatry are combined, and John saw one of them 
 wounded to -the death. This head we may have already 
 seen, was Bel, or image worship ; but this wound was healed 
 and this phase of worship revived again in Rome. See Eev. 
 xiii. 1, 2, 3. Here we learn how the dragon prevailed, and 
 had power given to him for twelve hundred and sixty 
 years. This period is computed after the usually re- 
 ceived method of three hundred and sixty years for a time 
 or cycle. But this definition of the dragon, as the last 
 phase of paganism will more fully appear as we proceed 
 with the prophecy. We have seen that Daniel- was to destroy 
 him without sword or club ; hence he was to resort to spir- 
 itual means or arguments ; and he put into the mouth of 
 the dragon pitch, fat, and hair. Now the mouth is the or- 
 gan of speech, and it will be from his own mouth that he 
 will be convicted and slain. To arrive at a knowledge of 
 how this is portrayed by the allegory, we will trace these 
 words as to their uses in the Scriptures, and we will find 
 
128 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 • 
 
 that they are used to portray just the principles that are 
 necessary to kill this beast, and it may seem singular, too, 
 that their correspondential meanings as given by Sweden- 
 borg, are likewise to this effect. For instance, pitch signifies 
 "protection against the lusts of the flesh," and conjunction, 
 or things conjoined ; hence the ark was to be pitched within 
 and without, Gen. vi. 14. This being an institution of the 
 Lord according to the measure of a man, as shown in the 
 second chapter, was to be guarded against the lusts of the 
 flesh. 
 
 Fat signified divine good ; things full of marrow or truths. 
 " It was prohibited to the Jews to eat fat arid blood." Lev. 
 iii. 17, 23-25. That they should not profane holy things, 
 for fat signified divine good, and blood divine truth, D. P. 
 231. This definition is fully sustained by the Scriptures, 
 fofin Isaiah xxxiv. 6, we read, "The sword of the Lord 
 is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness." Thus we 
 perceive that the sword of the Lord is good and truth joined, 
 blood signifying divine truth, and fat divine good. And Paul 
 adds clearness to this view when he tells us in Eph. vi. 
 17, " The sword of the spirit which is the word of God," 
 and John, in Rev. i, 16, says, " Out of his mouth went a 
 sharp two-edged sword." Of course this is metaphor, and 
 represents the word of God, which is fat (good) and blood, 
 (truth). Thus these correspondences do not rely for their 
 definition on Swedenborg's word, but are made tolerably 
 clear by the Scripture ; if not, we will show how elsewhere 
 these words are used metaphorically in the word. Isaiah 
 xxxiv. 9, says, "The streams shall be turned into pitch, and 
 the land thereof shall become burning pitch." Now literally 
 this is a false prophecy, but read as describing a state of 
 lust, the prophet but describes the fate of Babylon or a 
 
BEL AND THE DRAGON. 129 
 
 perverted church, that it will be consumed continually by- 
 its own lusts. And again in Isaiah xlii. 24, the Lord says, 
 in chiding this idolatry, " Thou .... neither hast thou 
 filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices," hereby showing the 
 want of good in them. Now the other ingredient used is 
 hair, "which signifies by correspondence among other things, 
 the ultimate of wisdom and intelligence ; and we find in Jer. 
 vii. 28, 29, in speaking of Israel, " Truth is perished, and 
 is cut off from their mouth. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusa- 
 lem, and cast it away." And in Isaiah xv. 2, we read, 
 " Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba ; on all their 
 heads shall be baldness." That is to say, the truth is lost 
 upon them, for they have no wisdom. Thus may we arrive 
 at the means used by Daniel to overcome this spiritual god, 
 or false religion which was necessarily of a spiritual charac- 
 . ter. He took hair, ultimate truth and wisdom, and fat, 
 goodness, and conjoined them with pitch, against the lusts of 
 the flesh, " for all "things in the universe which are accord- 
 ing to divine order have relation to good and truth, and 
 it is according to divine order that they shpuld be conjoined." 
 N. J. and H. D. 11. 
 
 Thus, then, we find the third ruler in heaven, the Holy 
 Spirit, putting the word of God into the mouth of the drag- 
 on (that is, the priesthood of Babylon), which bursts it 
 asunder. Having shown what this dragon is intended to 
 represent, we will now look at the consequences of his de- 
 feat on Daniel. It aroused Babylon to its utmost fury, and 
 the people said to the king (the church), " Deliver to us thy 
 ruling spirit, or we will destroy the institution ;" hence he is 
 delivered to the fury of the Babylonians ; and here the analo- 
 gy with the description given in John's Eevelation is per- 
 fect. We are somewhat at a loss for dates, as to when 
 
 6* 
 
130 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the word was put into the dragon's mouth that destroyed 
 him, and we therefore cannot pretend to accuracy; but 
 it must have been about the year 3773, when Babylon 
 ' having lingered one hundred and fifty years after its con- 
 quest by Cyrus, its idols were utterly destroyed, as was the 
 city. This too is the time when prophecy ceased. Daniel 
 was in the. den six days, or two thousand one hundred and 
 sixty years. Now we find in Kev. xi. that the two wit- 
 nesses of which Daniel was one, lay dead, in the street twelve 
 hundred and sixty days, or years, at the. end of which 
 period the spirit of life from God entered into them and 
 they stood upon their feet. Of this, much will be said in 
 other connections, where it will be found that this period 
 commenced about A. D. 510, and ends in A. D. 1770, when 
 as elsewhere shown, the Lord sent his apostles throughout ' 
 the heavens again to promulgate the truths ot the word, T. 
 E. C. 791. This makes the six days (two thousand one 
 hundred and sixty years) date from A. M. 3773, making two 
 and a half times or nine hundred years to A. D. 510, and 
 three and a half times thence to A. D. 1 770. During this 
 time he was in a den of seven lions, which had two carcasses 
 daily, and two sheep to feed upon. Let the reader remem- 
 ber that a lion is a beast, and "a beast the symbol of a king- 
 dom, and a carcass a dead beast or kingdom, and a sheep is 
 an animal that was a lamb, and has its semblance. Now 
 turn to Bev. xiii. 1, and we there read, "And I stood upon 
 the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea 
 having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten 
 crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy, . . . 
 and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion, and the dragon 
 gave him his power and his seat and great authority;" and 
 at ver. 11, 12, "And I beheld another beast coming up out of 
 
BEL AND THE DJBAGON. 131 
 
 the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake 
 as a dragon, and he exerciseth all the power of the first 
 beast before him." The den of lions is in Babylon, and the 
 time of the dragon therein covers the space from the thirty- 
 eighth century onward for seven times, or two thousand 
 five hundred and twenty years. The nations or beasts of 
 this period are first Macedon, or Greece, and Rome, and 
 then the second beast of John above described. The seven' 
 lions indicate periods or cycles in Babylon, which we have 
 seen is symbolized by that beast, both in Daniel and John. 
 These cycles are three hundred and sixty years each, this 
 being the manner of computation with the heathen; and 
 they fed on these two dead kingdoms, arid two sheep, for in 
 the latter years, the latter beast succeeding the other with 
 horns like a lamb, as a sheep has, but not the true symbol 
 of Christ. 
 
 On the seventh day the king came and took him out. 
 During all this period the spirit of judgment had remained 
 in, wrestled with, and protected Babylon from utter devas- 
 tation, and then it left, and it no longer moves the priest- 
 hood of the dead churches. Yet Babylon continues for a 
 while externally as its ancient prototype, and as Jerusalem 
 also, after their souls had fled or been taken away, and the 
 lions are left to their food of the carcasses of the dead beasts. 
 Hence these beasts will soon be devoured, for the time of the 
 seven lions is out, wherein they can feed on Daniel. There 
 are two beasts, it will be observed, most prominent in Daniel 
 and John. They begin their cycles about the same time, 
 that is, 750 B. C. The period of Narbonassar, the founder 
 of Babylon, and the period of Rome, the one following Bel "' 
 and the other the dragon. Their first cycle of 1260 years 
 ends in A. D. 510, and the second in 1770. " And a mighty 
 
132 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEI#; 
 
 angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast 
 it into the sea, saying, ' With this violence shall Babylon 
 that great city be thrown down, and shall be found no 
 more.'" Rev. xviii. 21. This is the history of Bel and 
 the dragon, and this great stone is the Christ that will come 
 in clouds of glory, "like lightning coming out of the east 
 and shining even to the, west," Matt. xxiv. 27, and w : U 
 fall on all the peoples (the sea) and burn the Babylon from 
 among them. The period has arrived, but an observer of 
 these papers will perceive these changes always involve a 
 transition period, which we are now in. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 (being ceapteb iv. of daniel.) 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the tree. 
 
 " 4. I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and 
 flourishing in my palace : 
 
 " 5. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the 
 thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled 
 me. 
 
 "6. Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise 
 men of Babylon before me, that they might make known 
 unto me the interpretation of the dream. 
 
 " 7. Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the 
 Chaldeans, and the soothsayers ; and I told the dream before 
 them, but they did not make known unto me the interpre- 
 tation thereof. 
 
 "8. But at the last Daniel came in before me, Whose 
 name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, 
 and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and before him 
 I told the dream, saying— 
 
 " 9. O- Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I 
 know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret 
 troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have 
 seen and the interpretation thereof.- 
 
 "10. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed. I 
 saw (I was seeing] and behold, a tree in the midst of the 
 earth, and the height thereof was great. 
 
 "11. The tree grew and was strong, and the height 
 
134 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL, 
 
 thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the 
 end of all the earth. 
 
 "12. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof 
 much, and in it was meat for all : the beasts of the field had 
 shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the 
 boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it." 
 
 In the 8th verse we find a confirmation of my remarks on 
 the name Daniel. Here he is called " Belteshazzar, accord- 
 ing to the name of my god," by inference saying that other- 
 wise he is called by the name of another's god; Bel, or 
 Baal, being the name which personified the idolatrous wor- 
 ship of several Eastern nations, and as such is of frequent re- 
 currence in the Scriptures, Baalim and Ashteroth being the 
 most frequent names used for the Assyrian and idolatrous 
 gods. Thus Nebuchadnezzar claimed that the spirit of truth, 
 which came through the prophet, was from his god Bel, 
 when in fact it was the Din, or judgment of God El or 
 Elohim. 
 
 The principal thing here to be observed is the tree in the 
 midst of the earth, that is the world of men. This is one 
 of the most frequent symbols in the Scriptures ; and in Ezek. 
 xxxi. 3, we read, " Behold the Assyrian was a cedar in Leb- 
 anon," which chapter in another form tells this same story. 
 Christ is called the tree of life. But it would be superflu- 
 ous to multiply instances of the use of this figure ; note, how- 
 ever, that it reached to heaven, and the sight thereof to the. 
 end of the earth, in that it contained all that was neces- 
 sary to man. This tree is the church whose perversion 
 Nebuchadnezzar symbolizes throughout this book. 
 
 "13. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and 
 behold a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven. 
 
 " 14. He cried aloud [with might] and said thus, ' Hew 
 
Nebuchadnezzar's dbeam of the tree. 135 
 
 down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, 
 and scatter his fruit ; let the beasts get away from under it, 
 and the fowls from his branches. 
 
 " 15. 'Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the 
 earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass 
 of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and 
 let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 
 
 " 16. 'Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a 
 beast's heart be given unto him, and let seven times pass 
 over him. 
 
 " 17. ' This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and 
 the demand by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that 
 the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the king- 
 dom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and set- 
 teth up over it the basest of men.' " 
 
 A watcher and a Holy One came down from heaven. 
 The Holy One throughout Scripture is Jesus Christ. In 
 Mark i. 24, we find, "What have we to do with thee, thou 
 Jesus of Nazareth, art thou come to destroy us. I know thee 
 -who thou art, the Holy One of God" and, " For thou wilt 
 not leave my soul in hell piadesj, neither wilt thou suffer 
 thine Holy One to see corruption," Psalm xvi. 10. For 
 others, see Cruden's Concordance. The watcher here des- 
 ignated that came with him, is Elias, or John in the spirit 
 of Elias. In Matt. xi. 14, Christ says, " And if ye will 
 receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come ;" and in 
 Luke i. 17, " Arid he shall go before him in the spirit and 
 power of Elias." 
 
 This becomes more apparent from the fact that in Luke 
 i. 19, we find that it is Gabriel, Daniel's angel, that com- 
 municates respecting Christ to Mary. And the Lord when 
 he came, wet with the dew of heaven the root of this church 
 
136 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 of Baal, it being thoroughly corrupted with idolatries. The 
 germ or root of truth, however, which that church contained, 
 is left in the earth, with a band of iron and brass around it. 
 This is its decline from the head of gold. It has descended, 
 into the feet of the image, and is encompassed by the Soman 
 iron and Grecian brass ; yet it is to be wet with the dew of 
 heaven, and not to be wholly lost. And the heart, no longer 
 like that of a man, or an image of God, becomes like that of 
 a beast, a mere animal nature, such as we find in paganism ; 
 as is depicted by the two-headed beast in Rev. xiii., which 
 symbolizes the Romish and Greek churches. "And let 
 seven times pass over it." Now with a strange inconsis- 
 tency commentators render times, a year of years, by the 
 year-day theory, yet read this as seven days, or years. If 
 this is but seven years, then is times, times and a half, but 
 three years and a half. When they adopt the theory they 
 should abide by it, and read for a timt a year of years, or 
 three hundred and sixty years. The fact that Josephus 
 calls this seven years, is not good authority, for he wrote in 
 the most material and darkened age ; at a time, too, when 
 this book was sealed. Therefore, this seven times is seven 
 cycles of three hundred and sixty years, or 2,520 years, which 
 is to pass over the church on earth that had lost the spirit 
 of the word, " to the intent that the living may know that the 
 Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, andgiveth it to whom- 
 soever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." For 
 a verification of this, the reader needs but to' read the his- 
 tory of Europe, political and ecclesiastical, since the Chris- 
 tian era. 
 
 " 18. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. 
 Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation there- 
 of ; forasmuch as all the -wise men of my kingdom are 
 
Nebuchadnezzar's dream op the teee. 137 
 
 not able to make known unto me the interpretation, but 
 thou art able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. 
 
 " 19. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was 
 astonished for one hour, and his thoughts' troubled him. 
 The king spake and said, ' Belteshazzar, let not the dream . 
 or the interpretation thereof trouble thee.' Belteshazzar 
 answered, and said, ' My lord, the dream be to them that 
 hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.' " 
 
 In these two verses is one little point of significance, in 
 a chronological aspect, and as confirming the completeness 
 of this book. It is, " Daniel was astonished for one hour," 
 which, in its literal signification, is too trivial for record ; 
 but it' applies also to the year-day theory, and although we 
 are uncertain what an hour represented at this period, most 
 probably it was the twelfth of a day. Such is the result 
 as nearly as we can ascertain ; hence an hour stands for 
 thirty years ; and as these scenes are undoubtedly in the 
 early part of the reign of this king — and he reigned forty- 
 three years, and Daniel did not have his prophetic powers 
 fully developed until the first and third years of Belshazzar's 
 reign, some thirty years after, when he began to see the 
 Roman empire — this one hour refers to that interim of 
 thirty years. 
 
 " 2GL ' The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was 
 strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight 
 thereof to all the earth ; 
 
 "21. ' Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, 
 and in it was meat for all ; under which the beasts of the 
 field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the 
 heaven had their habitation ; 
 
 " 22. ' It is thou, king, that art grown and become 
 strong, for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heav- 
 en, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. 
 
138 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DAOTEL. 
 
 "23. ' And whereas the king saw a watcher, and a holy 
 one coming down from heaven, and saying, ' Hew the tree 
 down and destroy it, yet leave the stump of the roots there- 
 of in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the 
 tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of 
 heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, 
 till seven times pass over him ; 
 
 "24. 'This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the 
 decree of the Most High, which is come upon my lord the 
 king. 
 
 " 25. ' That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwell- 
 ing shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make 
 thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee wi'th the 
 dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till 
 thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of 
 men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 
 
 " 26. ' And whereas they commanded to leave the stump 
 of the tree roots, thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after 
 that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. 
 
 " 27. ' Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable 
 unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine 
 iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a 
 lengthening of thy tranquillity [a healing of thine error] ' " 
 
 Having seen that this tree represents the church, symbol- 
 ized by Nebuchadnezzar, it may be well to remark here, 
 although elsewhere shown, that all those names and things 
 which designate man as the embodiment of an institution of 
 the church, have in their construction the number nine, the 
 name being but a combination of that number, subsequently 
 changed to the letters corresponding with the notation, as 
 for instance, Adam, Enoch, Abram, Job, Jacob, and lastly, 
 Nebuchadnezzar, all {he numbers of whose name amounts 
 
139 
 
 to 423 ; while the true combination seems to be, as spelt 
 in Adam, 144, and as seen by "John in his New Jerusalem. 
 The church here was great, ,and reached to heaven, for 
 we will find within its fold Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and a 
 host of prophets, open to the Lord or his spirit. It then 
 had abundant fruit and food, but the conceit and selfishness 
 of man grew apace, and was fast supplanting that which 
 was good. Solomon built a house to the Lord ; he likewise 
 built a house for Solomon: He finished the house of the 
 Lord in seven years, but he was thirteen years in building 
 his own house, which was built somewhat after the measure 
 of a man, as described in the second chapter. He began 
 the temple in A. M. 3147, his own house in 3154, and fin- 
 ished it in 3167. (See 1 Kings vi. 1, vii. 1, ix. 10.) This 
 is the palace of Babylon, above referred to. The time of 
 walking in it is from its conception, which was from 3147 
 to 3154. Add to this twelve months, during which he 
 walked in it, and we have from 3507 to 3514, bringing us 
 to the reign of Manasseh, when the king of Babylon took 
 him prisoner ; or in other words the church was cut down, 
 which ia thus described in 2 Kings, xxi. 10-15 : 
 
 " 10. And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, 
 saying, 
 
 " 11. Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these 
 abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the 
 Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah 
 also to sin with his idols ; 
 
 'fl2. Therefore, thus saith the Lord G-od of Israel, 'Be- 
 hold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, 
 that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. 
 
 "13. ' And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Sa- 
 maria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will 
 
140 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 ■wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turn- 
 ing it upside down. 
 
 "14. ' And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance 
 and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they 
 shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 
 
 "15. ' Because they have done that which was evil in my 
 sight, and have provoked me to anger since the day their 
 fathers came forth out of Egypt even unto this day.' " 
 
 And in 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11, it says: "Wherefore the 
 Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king 
 of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, bound 
 him with fetters and carried him to Babylon." 
 
 Thus is Israel in the meshes of idolatry, and is bound 
 captive to the " prince of this world," and the angel of the 
 Lord decrees that it be cut down till seven times pass over 
 it. This is, as already said, seven cycles of three hundred 
 and sixty years, or 2520 years, which period ends from 1864 
 to 1871. 
 
 But its roots were to be left in the ground, or the germ of 
 the church remained bound around with the age of brass 
 and iron, as pictured in chap. ii. of Daniel, the Bomish and& 
 G-reek churches, in the latter part of the Roman and Gre- 
 cian empires. During this period, man or the church was to 
 become beastly, and feed upon grass like the cattle. Now 
 grass, according to Swedenborg, signifies scientific principles ; 
 hence it passes through an age of intellectuality, of materi- 
 alism, when spiritual perception is entirely blunted or gone. 
 It moreover delineates the low animal nature which, is to 
 prevail during this period, and history teaches us how cor- 
 rect this prophecy was. 
 
 This interpretation of the seven times I am aware is new ; 
 but the reader must remember how universally these people 
 
141 
 
 talked in parable, how their symbols were brought from 
 Egypt during the early centuries of Chaldee history, and which 
 are peculiarly drawn from the heaven of stars, divided into 
 their twelve zodiacal signs and the circle of 360 degrees, 
 the square and the triangle. The Egyptians so placed their 
 pyramids, being an exact square, as to tell by their shadows 
 the position of the sun in the heavens. And he will likewise 
 see that since the captivity of Israel the world has not rec- 
 ognized the fact that the Most High ruleth in the affairs 
 of men. There has not been a nation governed on this 
 principle, and the only record of the kind that we have is 
 that of the Israelitish nation, where the church and state were 
 combined. In this intellectual age we hear a great outcry 
 against the union of church and state, but it emanates from a 
 perception that the church is perverted and without influence 
 and does not govern the people. The Mosaic Law of the 
 church was the governing power of the state. This ceased 
 about the year 656 B. C., and never since then has an army 
 been led avowedly by a prophet or by the arm of the Lord. 
 Imagine a man telling the commander-in-chief of the army of 
 ^ the United States, ' ' The Lord has commanded me to tell you 
 that you fight not on this my sabbath day, if you do you 
 shall surely be cut off from the face of the earth." Why, 
 the commander would laugh him to scorn, for however 
 much he might believe in the propriety of observing the 
 sabbath, he. would not believe that the Lord had sent that espe- 
 
 No nation since then has been governed on principles of 
 exact justice, but each nation like a beast has sought to 
 aggrandize itself at the expense of its fellows. The history 
 of the great nations of the earth of the present day, except- 
 ing the United States, which has been recently planted for 
 
142 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 especial purposes, is written in blood, rapine, and theft. There 
 exists not a nation in Europe that has done justly and hon- 
 estly toward those with whom it has had conflicting in- 
 terests. And even in these United States, where there is 
 more light of a spiritual character than anywhere else in the 
 civilized portions of the globe, with a declaration of purposes 
 and rights penned in 1776 (immediately after the great 
 spiritual revolution, the inauguration of which, in 1 770, 
 Swedenborg has recorded), bearing the impress of Heavenly 
 inspiration, no Jaw is passed in the Congress, after and 
 on account of an inquiry as to whether it emanates from God, 
 who rules in the affairs of men, with a view to do justice 
 solely between man and man; but on the contrary, the 
 motive power is the advantage to be gained by individuals 
 or sections over their fellows. With this regardlessness of the 
 behests of heaven, is it strange that we have civil war, to 
 cleanse the nation, to prepare it for the day so near at hand, 
 " that man may know that the Most High ruleth in the king- 
 dom, of men and giveth it to lohomsoever he will" f 
 
 But in this vast desert or wilderness into which the 
 " woman, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her ) 
 feet, with a crown of twelve stars," was driven, whose 
 child the great dragon would fain swallow up, there was 
 a germ of true religion left to be wet with the dew of 
 Heaven ; and so the watcher and the Holy One came during 
 the reign of iron and brass, and wet the roots with the 
 spirit of Christ. This watcher was Ellas, who came in the 
 person of John, and the Holy One was Jesus, who said, 
 when speaking of John, ' 'And if ye will receive it, this is 
 Elias, which was for -to come," Matt. xi. 14. And in 
 Luke i. 17 we read : " And he shall go before him in the 
 spirit and power of Elias. Thus they came and preserved 
 
143 
 
 the truths that had existed from eternity, to bud forth 
 afresh, when He shall come again in "clouds of glory," 
 after seven times shall have passed over it. This cycle of • 
 2520 years, or seven great days, is marked elsewhere in the 
 chronology of the church, but being so long a period it is 
 not often noticeable. From Enoch, the man or church (as 
 shown by his numbers) who walked with G-od, and then 
 was not, or ceased so to be, in A. M. 987, add 2520, and 
 we have the year A. M. 3507, when it was cut down for 
 another cycle of the same length, which ends in 1864. 
 Again, from the flood of Noah, in A. M. 1655, to Christ 
 in .the Temple, is the same cycle — 1655 + 2520=4175. 
 From the second cycle in the chronology, in the Appendix, 
 beginning with the Temple, A. M. 3147, add 2520, and we 
 have A. D. 1504, the advent of Luther, and the impulse 
 then given to the Eeformation. Thus the church seems to 
 have been 2520 years descending from Enoch to Babylon, 
 and the like period to the second coming of Christ in clouds 
 of glory. 
 
 These combinations can scarcely be mere coincidences, 
 for they are too frequent and prominent in their points, and 
 show clearly that in the order of Providence, a system of 
 laws with regard to time, works with unerring certainty, 
 a knowledge of which, when once attained, will enable 
 man to calculate the future as the past. 
 
 The reader may have perceived that this cycle of 2520 
 years is just double that of the well-known one of time, 
 times, and a half-time, or 1260 years, which occurs in 
 Daniel elsewhere, of which more hereafter, and its period 
 is shown in John by analogy. 
 
 I now quote the remaining verses of this chapter, on 
 which 1 have already commented. 
 
 " 28. All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
144 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 rt 28. At the end of twelve months he walked in the 
 palace of the kingdom of Babylon. 
 
 " 30- The king spake and said, ' Is not this great Bab- 
 ylon, that I have bnilt for the house of the kingdom, by 
 the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty V 
 
 "31. While the word was in the king's mouth, there 
 fell a voice from heaven, saying, ' O King Nebuchadnezzar, 
 to thee it is spoken ; the kingdom is departed from thee ; 
 
 "32. 'And they shall drive thee from men, and thy 
 dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field ; they shall 
 make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over 
 thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the 
 kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.' 
 
 "33. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebu- 
 chadnezzar j and he was driven from men, and did eat grass 
 as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till 
 his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like 
 birds' claws. 
 
 " 34. ' And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar 
 lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding 
 returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High ; and I 
 praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion 
 is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from genera- 
 tion to generation. 
 
 " 35. ' And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed 
 as nothing, and he doeth. according to his will in the army 
 of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and 
 none can stay his hand, or say unto him, 'What doest 
 thoul' 
 
 "36. 'At the same time my reason returned unto me ; 
 and, for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and bright- 
 ness returned unto me, and my counsellors and my lords 
 
Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the tree. 145 
 
 sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and 
 excellent majesty was added unto me. 
 
 " 37. ' Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and 
 honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and 
 his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is 
 able to abase.' " 
 
 The end of this period, it appears, will be marked by a 
 return to reason ; and that will be evinced by a recognition 
 that God rules in the affairs of men and a disposition to 
 be guided by Him. Insanity reigns until this era comes. 
 
 7 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTER T. OF DANIEL. ) 
 THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAB'S FEAST. 
 
 "1. BeLshazzar the king made a great feast to a thou- 
 sand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 
 
 "2. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded 
 to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father [or 
 grandfather] Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple 
 which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his 
 wives and his concubines, might drink therein. 
 
 "3. Then they brought the golden vessels that, were ta- 
 ken out of the temple of the house of God, which was at 
 Jerusalem, and the king and his princes, his wives and his 
 concubines, drank in them. 
 
 " 4. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and 
 of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." 
 
 The vessels here mentioned were doubtless of great beau- 
 ty and value, or they would not have been carried to Bab- 
 ylon and preserved. They were subsequently returned to 
 the temple, and after its destruction, taken to Rome by Ti- 
 tus, as Josephus, an eye-witness, tells us. In A. D. 455, 
 they were again the spoils of war, and taken by Genseric 
 to Carthage. They consisted of the table candlesticks and 
 cups, &c. After some eighty years they were again cap- 
 tured by Belisarius, and taken to Rome, and thence sent to 
 Jerusalem. Belshazzar was supposed to be the grandson of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, but it is Hebrew phraseology to call him 
 the son, or Nebuchadnezzar his father. It is to be observed 
 
THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAE'S FEAST. 147 
 
 how faultless the chronology of Daniel is in minute matters. 
 It was the custom of the Babylonians to have women at 
 their feasts, in this differing from many of the other nations 
 of the East. 
 
 "5. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, 
 and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of 
 the wall of the king's palace, and the king saw the part of 
 the hand that wrote. 
 
 " 6. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his 
 thoughts troubled him, so that the joints [girdles, bindings, 
 or knots] of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one 
 against another. 
 
 "7.- The king cried aloud [with might] to bring in the 
 astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers ; and the 
 king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, ' Whoso- 
 ever shall read this writing and show me the interpretation 
 thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet [or purple], and have a 
 chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in 
 the kingdom.' 
 
 "8. Then came in all the king's wise men ; but they 
 could not read the writing, nor make known to the king 
 the interpretation thereof. 
 
 " 9. Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his 
 countenance [brightness] was changed in him, and his lords 
 were astonished." 
 
 In the James version, the translation reads, " In the same 
 hour came forth fingers of a man's hand," &c, while in 
 the Douay, " In the same hour there appeared fingers as it 
 were of the hand of a man," &c., " An,d the king beheld the 
 joints of the hand that wrote," and the sixth verse should 
 read, " and the brightness of the king's countenance changed 
 (or it changed the brightness), and his thoughts troubled 
 
148 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DAOTEL. 
 
 him, so that the girdle or binding of his loins' were loosed, 
 and his knees smote one against another," which means 
 but this, that he was exceedingly frightened, so that he 
 shrunk within himself, and he quaked and his knees trem- 
 bled, all of which is natural. The seventh verse tells the 
 usual resort in such cases, to the wise men, and the eighth 
 verse, their ill success. The language here is to be particu- 
 larly noted, which the Douay version varies thus: "They 
 could neither read the writing nor declare the interpretation 
 thereof;" and Josephus has it, "When the magicians said 
 they could discover nothing," &c. He also says, "he [the 
 king] saw a hand proceed," which coincides with the fifth 
 verse, which says the king saw it. Then we come down to 
 the twenty-fourth verse, when the Douay version is the 
 more explicit and easily understood. " Wherefore he hath 
 sent the part of the hand which hath written this that is 
 set down." 
 
 " 10. Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king 
 and his lords, came into the banquet house ; and the queen 
 spake and said, ' O king, live for ever, let not thy thoughts 
 trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. 
 
 "11. 'There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the 
 spirit of the holy gods, and in the days of thy father [grand- 
 father] light and understanding, and wisdom, like the wis- 
 dom of the gods, was found in him, whom the king Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, thy father [or grandfather] the king, I say, thy 
 father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chalde- 
 ans, and soothsayers. 
 
 "12. 'Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, 
 and understanding, interpreting [or an interpreter] of dreams, 
 and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving [or a dissol- 
 ves] of doubts [knots], were found in the same Daniel 
 
THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAr's FEAST. 149 
 
 whom the king named Belteshazzar : now let Daniel be 
 called, and he will show the interpretation.' 
 
 " 13. Then was Daniel brought in before the king ; and 
 the king spake and said unto Daniel, ' Art thou that Dan- 
 iel which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, 
 whom the king my father [grandfather] brought out of 
 Jewry *' " 
 
 The time of the events related in this ehapter, is some 
 twenty-five years after the scenes of the last, or about sev- 
 enty from the opening of the bock ; and according to the or- 
 der of progression already observed, it depicts the last pha- 
 ses of idolatry previous to the coming of the Holy Spirit of 
 Judgment, as the third person in the kingdom. The prom- 
 inent feature in this feast, is the vessels which Nebuchad- 
 nezzar had taken out of the temple, bearing in mind that the 
 whole temple establishment was a type of a state of man to 
 come. The vessels are those which contain the wine, corn, oil,. 
 &c. Wine throughout the "Word signifies divine truth, and 
 is an appropriate symbol. Hence the Lord used it as such at 
 his last supper, as a symbol of the very life of the "Word ; that 
 is the blood of Christ, who was the embodied Word. "In the 
 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 
 the Word was God — John i. 1 ; hence these vessels are sym- 
 bols of that which contained the word of God, or the truth. 
 And it appears these vessels are no longer in the temple, but 
 out in the world, or to speak more plainly, the truths of 
 God are not now in the keeping of the church, or the 
 church no longer has them. Oil designates, by symbolism, 
 the principle of good, or the good of love, so all these ves- 
 sels and their typified contents are in the same category in 
 Babylon, and used for worldly ends and purposes. 
 
 The temple from which these were taken, I have else- 
 
150 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF JDAfflEL. 
 
 where shown to be the microcosm of man ; man as a 
 church or receptacle of the Holy Spirit. These vessels are 
 a part and parcel of his composition, and each one deline- 
 ates an attribute of the human church. Their forms and 
 measurements may all be read understanding^, and will 
 doubtless be, at some future day, under an illumination 
 from this third ruler in the kingdom, making an extremely 
 interesting study. 
 
 As we progress in this series of allegories, they become 
 plainer to the mental sight, the figures more accurately 
 drawn, and the symbols less mistakeable. 
 
 While Nebuchadnezzar typified the Babylonish era be- 
 fore Christ, which was cut down, and the root left in the 
 Roman and Grecian empires, which was then wet with the 
 dew of Heaven, Belshazzar presents to us the continuation 
 of it after Christ, and he is referred to his father's sin and 
 punishment in the twentieth and twenty-first verses, and 
 his own guilt in following his footsteps is set forth. 
 
 " 14. 'I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the 
 gods is in thee, and that light, and understanding, and ex- 
 cellent wisdom, is found in thee. 
 
 " 15. ' And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been 
 brought in before me, that they should read this writing, 
 and make known unto me the interpretation thereof, but 
 they could not show the interpretation of the thing. 
 
 "16. ' And I have heard of thee that thou canst [inter- 
 pret] make interpretations, and dissolve doubts ; now, if thou 
 canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpre- 
 tation thereof, thou shalt be clothed'with scarlet, and have 
 a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler 
 in the kingdom.' " 
 
 There are a few features in this narrative that have been 
 
THE VISION OB" BELSHAZZAk's FEAST. 151 
 
 entirely overlooked by commentators, mainly because of the 
 absence of spiritual light. These are, that it only records 
 that the king saw the writing, and that the others at the 
 feast do not participate in the fears of the king ; that the 
 magicians, or more properly the magi or wise men (for ma- 
 gicians are more than sorcerers), could not see it, nor inter- 
 pret it. I say they were magi or wise' men, or Daniel, a 
 good Hebrew, would not have been their master or head, as 
 the laws forbade consulting spirits, Deut. xviii. 20, because 
 they seduced the Hebrews to other gods, and Daniel would 
 not have consorted with soothsayers. Also observe that the 
 words are plain, translatable Chaldee, yet the wise men did 
 not at all see them, as it might be literally read, Mene, mene 
 (repeated to give emphasis), "There is number," or "Thy 
 kingdom is numbered," Tehel, " he hath weighed." Uphar- 
 sin is the plural of the same word, repeated in the twenty- 
 eighth verse ; "peres," though reading differently to us, is 
 the same word, and means "is divided." 
 
 In the Douay version it is rendered — 
 
 " 25. And this is the writing that is written, ' Mane, 
 thecel, phares.' 
 
 " 26. And this is the interpretation of the word Mane, 
 ' God hath numbered thy kingdom and hath finished it.' 
 
 "27. Thecel, 'thou art weighed in the balance and art 
 found wanting.' 
 
 " 28. Phares, ' thy kingdom is divided, and is given to 
 the Medes and Persians.' " 
 
 A plain inference very certain is, that none saw the wri- 
 ting, save the king. Had the wise men seen it, the induce- 
 ment was too great not to endeavor to win the prize by giv- 
 ing some reading thereof, but none attempted it until Dan- 
 iel was called, who was a real seer, whose spiritual vision 
 
152 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 ■was open, and who wao permitted, for certain uses, to have 
 those faculties awakened and active, while yet in this sphere, 
 and he saw and read that which was only visible to the 
 spiritual sight, spiritual writing by a spirit hand. The 
 king's senses had been opened by spiritual influences, suffi- 
 ciently to reveal this to him, to let it appear to him, as the 
 Douay version has it, which expression is Jrequently used 
 in the Scriptures when speaking of visions, as when Elijah 
 ascended, "there appeared a chariot and horses of fire," and 
 it is probable that it was but a momentary vision to Bel- 
 shazzar, or he would not have needed an interpreter. His 
 grandfather saw visions, and he, very likely, inherited the 
 faculty. 
 
 And this is proven by the 24th verse, where it gives us 
 the modus operandi, or the vision was repeated, " and the 
 spirit hand went from him and wrote," the 24th verse giv- 
 ing a practical illustration of the great truth promulgated 
 by this book, that the Lord rules in the affairs of men. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar typifies that portion of the Babylonish 
 church which worships from worldly motives, and wor- 
 shipped through idols made of hands, or the worship of Bel. 
 We have seen how Daniel destroyed that portion of it in a 
 preceding chapter, and Belshazzar as the last monarch of 
 Babylon typifies the next phase of idolatry which the Bab- 
 ylonish church adopted. We have seen how they pos- 
 sessed themselves of the vessels of silver, gold, and brass, 
 from the temple, all of which typify truths from the word ; 
 and as Belshazzar desecrated the original vessels that had 
 been used in the temple in the worship of God, in themselves 
 then symbolizing the word, so the Babylonish church in its 
 last era desecrate, and prostitute, the words and truth of the 
 gospel, which those vessels typified by using them for pur- 
 
poses of luuxry, worldly honor, and profit, and for the truth 
 of this assertion I will not refer to the histories of the Greek, 
 Roman, and Protestant churches generally, but merely di- 
 rect the reader's attention to that portion of Babylon as seen 
 in New York ; assuming that it is no better in the metro- 
 politan cities of the Old World, where the churches are more 
 like places for fashionable reunions than temples for the 
 worship of the Most High, a mere worldly institution, and 
 as such it is proven that the Babylonish church typified by 
 Belshazzar still exists, and the vessels of gold and silver are 
 daily desecrated for the sake of worldly ends and aims. 
 
 " 17. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, 
 ' Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards [or fee] to 
 another ; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make 
 known to him the interpretation. 
 
 " 18. ' O thou king, the most High God gave Nebuchad- 
 nezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and 
 power. 
 
 " 19. ' And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, 
 nations, and languages, trembled, and feared before him ; 
 whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive, 
 and whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put 
 down. 
 
 " 20. ' But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hard- 
 ened in pride [to deal proudly] he was deposed [made to 
 come down] from his kingly throne, and they took his glory 
 from him. 
 
 "21. ' And he was driven from the sons of men and his 
 heart was made like the beasts [or he made his heart equal], 
 and his dwelling was with the wild asses ; they fed him with 
 grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of 
 heaven ; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the 
 7* 
 
154 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever 
 he will, 
 
 " 22. ' And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled 
 thine heart, though thou knewest all this ; 
 
 " 23. ' But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, 
 and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, 
 and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have 
 drunk wine in them ; and thou hast praised the gods of sil- 
 ver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, whieh see not, 
 nor hear, nor know ; and the God in whose hand thy breath 
 is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified. 
 
 " 24. ' Then was the part of the hand sent from him, and 
 this writing was written.' " 
 
 The tone and style of Daniel, in his response to the king, 
 compare favorably with the courtier of the present day, 
 and tell in unmistakable characters how far in the depths 
 of hypocrisy, sycophancy, and avarice, man has fallen 
 from the spiritual state of Daniel. And here the reader 
 must bear in mind the matter of the last chapter, wherein 
 Nebuchadnezzar the king is a type or symbol of a king- 
 dom, which kingdom is a church. Daniel refers to its 
 grandeur and glory, and in the twentieth verse tells of the 
 encroachment of selfishness and pride, when the worship of 
 God is relinquished for the worship of self. Here mankind 
 enters the descending plane, and his course is downward ; 
 for the spirit left the kingdom near 400 years before the 
 establishment of the next or that of the stone cut out 
 without hands. And Belshazzar is the type or symbol of 
 the Babylonish church predicated thereon by men. Here 
 we find him reigning in Babylon, desecrating the things 
 holy to the Lord, as subsequently described in Bev. xviii. 
 2 : " And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, 
 
THE VISION OF BKLSHAZZAJb's FEAST. 155 
 
 ' Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the 
 habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and 
 a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.' " 
 
 Ver. 4,5: "And I heard another voice from heaven, 
 saying, ' Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par- 
 takers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 
 For her sins have reached unto heaven and God has remem- ; 
 bered her iniquities.' " 
 
 " 9. 'And the kings of the earth, who have committed 
 fornication and lived deliriously with her, shall bewail her, 
 and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her 
 burning.' " 
 
 And in fact the whole chapter records the spiritual blot- 
 * ting out of this Babylon, as that in Daniel does of the pro- 
 totype. And for a further exemplification of this view of 
 the Christian church, and in addition to what I have said, 
 as to how far it has been, and now is obnoxious to the 
 words of the twenty-third verse, let the reader peruse 
 Banke's " History of the Popes," any history of England, 
 that gives an account of the Established Church, their sys- 
 tem of preferments, advowsens and tithes, &c, especially 
 the revenues and rewards, or let him read impartially the 
 history of the church at this day in America, where large 
 moneyed corporations waste their thousands on gorgeous 
 edifices, and fat salaries, while blindness and spiritual misery 
 are churchless. In fact, the most lucrative profession now for 
 a talented man is preaching from the gospel : but it was not 
 so in Paul's time, nor has it ever been pecuniarily lucrative 
 to preach the gospel. However startling and heretical this 
 proposition may seem, it is true, and every pure and un- ' 
 bigoted reader will perceive it. The profession of the 
 priesthood, in point of morality, is little if any above the 
 
156 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 better class of the legal or medical professions, and even 
 more closed to light than they are. Thus does this chap- 
 ter tell us that because we are as idolatrous as our prede- 
 cessors we likewise will be blotted out. I say we, because 
 we still linger on the age of the effete church, which is 
 daily changing and taking on new garments. 
 
 " 25. ' And this is the writing that was written : Mene, 
 Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. 
 
 "26. 'This is the interpretation of the thing; Mene: 
 God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. 
 
 " 27. ' Tekel : Thou art weighed in the balances, and art 
 found wanting. 
 
 " 28. ' Peres : Thy kingdom is divided and given to the 
 Medes and Persians,' " 
 
 I have before referred to these words, but there are other 
 significances ; and the reader, for a more ready compre- 
 hension, will refer to the version from the Douay Bible 
 here given, and first, " God hath numbered thy kingdom 
 and finished it." Now turn to Rev. xiii. 11, and you will 
 find the history of a beast, which symbolizes a kingdom, 
 which succeeded its predecessor, another beast or kingdom. 
 And in the eighteenth verse you will find it is numbered, 
 and its number is 666.* And in the eighteenth chapter you 
 will find this beast is finished. It has been weighed iu the 
 scale of eighteen centuries and found wanting. Five times 
 passed over it ere men discovered that the "Most High 
 ruleth in the kingdom of men.'" Then they began to per- 
 ceive it. Phares, the kingdom is divided ; like its proto- 
 type again it is divided. The kingdom of Babylon was 
 divided between the Medes and Persians, and the modern 
 spiritual Babylon was divided between the Roman and 
 
 * This number is elsewhere explained. 
 
157 
 
 Greek churches ; after that, between Catholics and Protes- 
 tants ; and it is curious to trace this idolatrous kingdom 
 through its seven tones, without an exact certainty of its 
 commencement, owing to the fact that the spiritual king- 
 dom precedes its ultimation in the natural world. 
 
 Yet the data are sufficiently clear for recognition. At the 
 end of each cycle, from A. M. 3507, it will be found to coin- 
 cide with the prophecy ; at two cycles, or 720 years, from 
 the beginning, Jerusalem is being destroyed by Titus, and 
 already the old leaven is breaking out among the immediate 
 disciples of Jesus. Paul, a Hebrew, has fastened on to the 
 church those abstractions which have divided it into sects, 
 fervent in outward ceremonies and doctrines, while they 
 " disregarded the weightier matters of the law, judgment, 
 mercy, and faith." Another day brings us to A, D. 424, 
 and we find it divided by the Arians and Athanasians as 
 bitterly as possible, and again into the Eastern and Western 
 churches. Another cycle brings us to A. D. 784, when 
 the two divisions of Eastern and Western churches continue, 
 and in the Western a division is springing up on the worship 
 of images, the pope advocating it, and the emperors of 
 France and Germany opposing it. Another great year 
 brings us to the darkest age. As those hours immediately 
 preceding the break of day are the darkest, so was this ; 
 though in the East, Mohammedanism has sprung up and 
 divided that church. Mohammed was a great reformer on 
 the Christianity of his time, and his devotees were less idol- 
 atrous and more pure and sincere than the Christians. The 
 next brings us to 1504, when the great division in the West- 
 ern church takes place by the Reformation, the advent of 
 Luther. This last split is a fatal division, and one which 
 lets the light in on the benighted church. The church had 
 
158 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 been little else than a political institution, and entirely 
 corrupt, and this cycle of the Reformation brings us past the 
 present day. Thus we see the kingdom has been subject to 
 the prophecy Peres, having been divided and subdivided in 
 every possible form. Tekel, or found wanting, has this been 
 fulfilled ? In its present external form it is so. The church 
 has served as a vehicle to contain the truths, and transport 
 them to another age, that will feel and digest them ; but it 
 has not so used them as to regenerate the world. There is 
 no Christian nation on the globe, without it be a few persons 
 in the unknown depths of Africa. It has not commanded 
 the respect of the strong and intellectual ; while the gospel 
 of Christ has, the church has not, hence it was driven out 
 of France at one period, yet in doing so the people did not 
 know that they drove out with it the vehicle of the word 
 of God. Though blindly carried, the nation became in- 
 finitely worse without^ than with it. I have already said 
 and shown how it is numbered ; it has the number of the 
 beast, and not that of the divine man. " And a mighty 
 angel took up a stone [the Word] like a great millstone, and 
 cast it into the sea [the peoples], saying, ' Thus with violence 
 shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall 
 be found no more at all.' " 
 
 Many apply this to the city of Borne, forgetting that the 
 Word is used symbolically, as in Rev. xxi. 2 : " And I John 
 saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God 
 out of Heaven." Now this was not bricks and mortar, and 
 why should the other be, except in the minds of Protestants ; 
 but it is true that at Rome is the head and front of the re- 
 bellion against God. 
 
 All this history of Babylon is given in the twenty-fourth 
 chapter of Matthew, elsewhere quoted in this connection. 
 
THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAe'b FEAST. 159 
 
 " 29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed 
 Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, 
 and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should 
 be the third ruler in the kingdom. 
 
 " 30. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chal- 
 deans slain. 
 
 " 31. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being 
 about threescore and two years old." 
 
 There is more meaning in the 29th verse than is generally 
 accredited, bearing in mind that the old Hebrew was com- 
 posed of sixteen letters and not all the vowels. We find 
 the name of Daniel as explained in the first chapter, appli- 
 cable in its interpretation to this verse : Dan, implying 
 judgment, and ax God and wisdom ; and subsequently divided 
 into three syllables, Dn-y-al, and the i was substituted for 
 the y, for it was early an emblem of Deity, being a pillar, or 
 self-supporting, and standing alone ; and herein is a trinity 
 of the Godhead, which many will recognize. The first syl- 
 lable wisdom, that judges ; the next, strength, that supports 
 itself; and next the beauty of the creating God, or the opera- 
 ting spirit. This operation takes place through instrumen- 
 talities ; and we find, as elsewhere remarked, Daniel the in- 
 dividual prophet, the instrument to reveal to John the won- 
 ders of the kingdom as depicted in Rev. xxii. 9. The Lord 
 is the second ruler in the kingdom, and the spirit that speaks 
 through Daniel is the third ruler. Thus Daniel, as the 
 prophet of the kingdom, represents the Holy Spirit. " For 
 the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus," and it is 
 from the light shed by this spirit that the Word, which is the 
 Lord (see John i. 1), comes to man ; hence, at the end of 
 Belshazzar' s reign, the spirit is clothed with power to be 
 heard. 
 
160 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL 
 
 It can be plainly seen that Daniel the prophet was not 
 made a third ruler in Belshazzar's literal kingdom, for on 
 that night he was slain, and Darius the Mede took the 
 kingdom ; hence Belshazzar had it not to give. Neverthe- 
 less this is an allegory ; yet these allegories are drawn on 
 the canvass of real historic events, for we read that the 
 kingdom was that night destroyed ; and Herodotus and 
 Xenophon both tell us that the Persians killed the guards, 
 entered the palace and put to death the king and his party 
 while still at their drunken revelry. It is barely possible 
 that one draws the history from the other, and that it was 
 originally founded in fiction, but not likely, for the event is 
 foretold in Jeremiah li., some fifty years before, which 
 chapter may be .read and applied literally as well as 
 spiritually. 
 
 Let us trace out this picture : Babylon falls in the night, 
 or at a period when the sun does not shine on men, that is 
 at a period spiritually dark, and Darius the Mede took the 
 kingdom. In the next chapter, the appointment of Daniel 
 is carried out, and then explained. The fall of the city 
 being followed by a long night, with Daniel in the lions' 
 den ; and as that is explained in the next chapter, I will 
 only remark here on Darius' age, which must have more 
 meaning than the mere literal fact, which is of no conse- 
 quence whatever ; and this writing being purely spiritual, 
 every word is full of meat, and with no useless verbiage. 
 This period may be calculated thus : the kingdom, typified 
 by Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius, lasts' 2520 
 years, while a man's years are 70, this being the period 
 designating cycles under the figure of a man. Now, by 
 analogy, the king and the kingdom exist pari passu, hence 
 each year of the king, to correspond with the kingdom, is 
 
THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAR's FEAST. 161 
 
 36 years. Thus, if 70 gives 2520, one will give 36, and the 
 age of 62 marks 2232 years. We have seen the kingdom, 
 in its fallen state, commenced in A. M. 3507 ; hence Bel- 
 shazzar's reign or phase of the idolatry ended in A. D. 
 1576, as thus shown: 3507+2232 = 5739—4163, which 
 is =A. D. 1576 ; his eight additional years are 288, bring- 
 ing it to 1864 ; its subsequent history is in the lions' den. 
 
 Before leaving this chapter we will trace out the meaning 
 of Daniel being clothed in scarlet, with a chain of gold 
 around his neck. In Gen. xxxviii. 27, we find the history 
 of Judah's first family, when Tamar had twins, ver. 28 : 
 "And it came to pass when she travailed, that the one put 
 out his hand, and the midwife took and bound upon his 
 hand a scarlet thread, saying, ' This came out first.' And 
 it came to pass as he drew back his hand, that behold his 
 brother came out ; and she said, ' Wherefore hast thou 
 %ade this breach f this breach be upon thee' ; therefore his 
 name was called Pharez." This is the word written on the 
 wall, already explained, meaning, breaking forth, or divi- 
 ding violently. Ver. 30 : " And afterward came out his 
 brother that had the scarlet thread upon his hand, and his 
 name was called Zarah, which means, East, brightness rising." 
 The analogy here is distinct, the violent brother of the 
 breach reigned first ; then comes he dressed in scarlet, like 
 the light from the East. This same story is again told, 
 under the simile of brothers selling their birthright. 
 Again, we find this the prominent color for clothing the 
 symbols of the tabernacle, as related in Exodus, Leviticus, 
 and Numbers. And in David's lament over Saul, in 2 
 Samuel,^. 24, he says : " Ye daughters- of Israel weep over 
 Saul, who clothed you in scarlet," &c. These instances 
 show that the color signifies that which is good and true. 
 And gold is proverbially accepted to typify thesame attributes. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEB VI. OF DANIEL.) 
 DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 
 
 Darius the Mede, or Cyaxares, the uncle of Cyrus, with 
 him conquered Babylon, in the year A. M. 3625, and died 
 two years afterward. To read this in its literal sense it 
 appears Daniel was at this time upward of eighty years of 
 age, Darius, as stated in the last chapter, being sixty-two. 
 
 It is strong testimony to Daniel's mental and moral su- _ 
 periority, that a strange prince, and a conqueror also, should 
 have selected him for the highest post in the kingdom under 
 himself, and to the wisdom of the selection the text bears 
 record. We here discover an introduction of the laws of* 
 the conquering Medes and Persians into the conquered ter- 
 ritory, and the conspirators take advantage of it to make 
 the decree irrevocable. Darius' anxiety of mind respecting 
 the consequences of his decree indicates him to have been a 
 man that appreciated Daniel, and superior in religion to the 
 Chaldeans, as the Persians undoubtedly were, in the exact 
 degree that the people who worship the sun, as the symbol 
 of God (light), have a better god than those who worship 
 images. Whether Daniel's preservation from the lions was 
 by a special interposition of the Lord, or whether any and 
 every man who achieves the spiritual elevation and devel- 
 opment of Daniel would not fare the same, i3 left to the 
 conjecture of the reader I believe it is governed by the 
 latter theory, and that the spirit of the Lord so operates in 
 such men as to keep off all harm ; and he requires no special 
 
DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 163 
 
 interpositions of Heaven, for our Lord says, through John 
 xiv. 12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth 
 on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater 
 works shall he do." And in Mark xvi. 18, we read, " They 
 shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing 
 it shall not hurt them, and they shall lay hands on the sick 
 and they shall recover." But we will give the story in 
 order to give our views of its real significance. 
 
 " 1. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred 
 and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom. 
 
 " 2. And over these three presidents, of whom Daniel 
 was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them, 
 and the king should have no damage. 
 
 "3. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents 
 and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the 
 king thought to set him over the. whole realm." 
 
 We found in the last chapter that Daniel was to be the 
 third ruler in the kingdom. That was under Belshazzar, 
 and here we find him the same under a new dynasty, 
 immediately succeeding, occupying the same position 
 under two different nations of different religions. This to 
 be taken literally is a very improbable story, for the Per- 
 sians would doubtless have their own favorites, without 
 adopting those of the nation they had conquered ; hence we 
 must look otherwise for the interpretation ; and again, it is 
 easily found when we once regard the story as a prophecy 
 in allegory, the striking features of which in the opening 
 verses are the numbers one hundred and twenty princes and 
 three presidents. Bearing in mind that the ciphers act as 
 points, and not as numbers, the 12 and 3 are those to un- 
 ravel in this chapter. This Babylonish empire of which I 
 have written runs through three monarchs in the course of 
 
164 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 this book : first Nebuchadnezzar, then Belshazzar, and 
 then Darius ; hence Darius has but a third of a complete 
 circle of 360 degrees, and as there is a Trinity in all things . 
 three are presiding over them. In analogy to this we find 
 in the building of the Temple, which was of universal sym- 
 bolism, the microcosm of humanity, as already shown in the 
 second chapter, there were 3,600 overseers, and three grand 
 masters. The laborers and overseers worked one month and 
 rested two ; thus having 1,200 at a time at work. So we 
 find one third of this great Babylonish period of history un- 
 der the same numbers. The next point observable is, that 
 Daniel was the superior one of the three presidents, and that 
 the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Daniel, 
 the spirit of judgment, or the Holy Spirit, as explained al- 
 ready, was not yet in power, but subordinate. This is pe- 
 culiarly in accordance with the teaching of Jesus, when, in 
 John xiv. 16, 17, he says, " And I will pray the Father, and 
 he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with 
 you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot 
 receive ; because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him." 
 And in the 26th verse, " But the Comforter, which is the 
 Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall 
 teach you all things, and bring all things to your remem- 
 brance ;" thus showing that the reign of the Holy Spirit was 
 yet to come. Hence Daniel was not yet in his office, but was 
 lying dead in the streets of Babylon for three days and a 
 half, or 1260 years. This is during this, or the Darius 
 phase of the idolatry. 
 
 " A. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occa- 
 sion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could 
 find none occasion nor fault, forasmuch as he was faithful, 
 neither was there any error or fault found in him. 
 
DEN. 165 
 
 " 5. Then said these men, ' We shall not find any occasion 
 against this Daniel, except we find it against him concern- 
 ing the law of his God,' " 
 
 Throughout these allegories the complaint against Dan- 
 iel is continually his interference with the gods of the heath- 
 en, or jealousy excited by his superiority in spiritual strength. 
 This was the trouble when Daniel was cast into the lions' 
 den, in the story of Bel and the Dragon, and some have 
 thought one was a corruption of the other ; but it is evi. 
 dently not so, for that of Bel and the Dragon has no more 
 resemblance than the mere fact that Daniel was the hero of 
 both, and each time the punishment of being thrown into 
 the lions' den, the same. This being an oriental mode of 
 punishment, it is not singular that it should be used in this 
 connection, or, if this be but a fiction as regards the fact, 
 that the writer should have used this custom to illustrate 
 his allegory, for I have already shown, that these figures of 
 history are drawn from actual life. It is owing to this fact 
 that a more material age has mistaken the meanings for lit- 
 eral incidents, however preposterous they may be. 
 
 But these stories are distinct in point of time and cause. 
 In the one he was in the den for six days, and in this for an 
 indefinite period, but most likely, according to the reading, 
 one night. This time it was under Darius, because he wor- 
 shipped his own god. The other time because he destroyed 
 Bel and the dragon, which must have been before the fall of 
 Babylon, because the Persians did not worship images, and 
 Bel was an Assyrian god. And there is no difficulty in 
 discovering the distinctness of these, two stories as allego- 
 ries. 
 
 But there is one feature that holds good in both. In 
 each case it was religious bigotry which caused the persecu- 
 
166 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 tion. And this is one of the dominant features of the Baby- 
 lonish institution, from A. M. 3507, through the cycle of 
 2520 years, to 1864, provided the reform does not take 
 place within two years. 
 
 It illustrates, however, the power of the faithful and re • 
 generate man, for from the beginning he was declared lord 
 over the brute creation, and his power over animal nature is 
 sometimes seen in a wonderful manner, but especially so in 
 the prophet or mediumistic man, through whom the angels 
 exert an influence, animals being more or less subject to 
 magnetic power. 
 
 We will now proceed to the following verses : 
 
 "6. Then these presidents and princes assembled togeth- 
 er [or came tumultously] to the king, and said thus unto 
 him, ' King Darius, live for ever. 
 
 " 7. ' All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors 
 and the princes, the counsellors and the captains, have con- 
 sulted together to establish a royal statute, and make a firm 
 decree [or interdict] that whoever shall ask a petition of any 
 god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall 
 be cast into the den of lions. 
 
 " 8. ' Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the wri- 
 ting, that it be not changed, according to the law of the 
 Medes and Persians, which altereth not.' 
 
 " 9. Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the 
 decree." 
 
 But to leave entirely the literal, and enter upon the real 
 significance of this singular history, shows to us that this is 
 but a continuation of the delineation of the idolatries of 
 Babylon,, and their final overthrow. 
 
 The first feature to be observed is, the time the decree 
 was to last, thirty days, and what this period is intended to 
 
DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 167 
 
 represent. We will endeavor to see. It is under Darius. 
 Now by a reference to my theory of numbers and 
 cyclical periods, the reader will remember that the signifi- 
 cance of the figures depend on the quality and power of 
 expressing an idea, and the cipher is not included, but 
 is used only to designate the place or power .of the pre- 
 ceding digit, as subsequently, in the Hebrew language, 
 points expressed the use of letters, and marked their 
 value in the absence of vowels. Thus, Daniel would be 
 spelled Drayal, and the point would designate the first sylla- 
 ble, rendering it translatable, 1). a. n. In this way the 
 thirty days depends for its quantity on the digit pointed by 
 the cipher, which is 3. By this rule it will be found that 
 thirty days is equal to three times or three cycles of 360 
 years, which is 1080 years ; or take it by the days or years 
 of Darius' life, as explained in the last chapter, it is the 
 same 30 times 36 years, or- 1080, and Darius' decree must 
 have been from A. M. 3507 + 1080 years. Therefore we 
 place it in 3507, to which add 1080, and we have A. D. 
 424. Now about the year A. D. 380, Theodocius pub- 
 lished this decree, not unlike it: "We, the three emperors, 
 will that all our subjects follow the religion taught by St. 
 Peter to the Romans, professed by those saintly prelates, 
 Damasus, Pontiff of Rome, and Peter, Bishop of Alexan 
 dria," &c, &c. "We brand all the senseless followers of 
 other religions by the infamous name of heretics, and for- 
 bid their conventicles to assume the name of churches. We 
 reserve their punishment to the vengeance of Heaven, and 
 to such measures as divine inspiration shall dictate to us."* 
 .This appeared under the names of Gratian, Valentinian IL, 
 and Theodocius, three emperors, and is almost a.translation 
 
 * Milman's History of Christianity, 388. 
 
168 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 of the edict of the presidents and princes. There are later 
 decrees, however, of a like character. 
 
 The precise periods when these eras, represented by the 
 allegories thus portrayed, commence, may be somewhat 
 speculative, for they run into each other. Yet it is clearly 
 discernible that Nebuchadnezzar represented that phase of 
 idolatry given to image worship ; Belshazzar to that of a 
 perversion and desecration of the Word , and the third to 
 an intolerance or bigotry in the exercise of religion, the 
 latter showing the worst feature, it representing man steeped 
 in selfishness, the others but ignorance. And in tracing 
 these errors through the pages of history, the reader will 
 find they come in somewhat the order here presented, espe- 
 cially with regard to their first development, although they 
 progress pari passu. First the worship of Bel, then the 
 worship of the dragon, then the worship of self, the last 
 and darkest phase, which, of its own inherent rottenness, 
 destroys itself to give place for the coming kingdom, which 
 is never to be destroyed. 
 
 We will now proceed to the next, or tenth verse : 
 
 " 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was 
 signed, he went into his house ; and his windows being open 
 in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his 
 knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before 
 his God, as he did aforetime 
 
 " 11. Then these men assembled, and found Daniel pray- 
 ing and making supplication before his God 
 
 " 12. Then they came near, and spake beiore the king 
 concerning the king's decree : ' Hast thou not signed a de- 
 cree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any god_ 
 or man, within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be 
 cast into the den of lions !' The king answered and said, 
 
DEN. 169 
 
 ■ The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and 
 Persians, which altereth not.' 
 
 "13. Then answered they, and said before the king, 
 ' That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of 
 Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou 
 hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.' 
 
 " 14. Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore 
 displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to de- 
 liver him ; and he labored till the going down of the sun 
 to deliver him 
 
 " 15. Then these men assembled unto the king, and said 
 unto the king, ' Know, O king, that the law of the Medes 
 and Persians is, that no decree or statute which the king 
 establisheth may be changed.' 
 
 "16. Then the king commanded, and they brought 
 Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king 
 spake, and said unto Daniel, ' Thy God, whom thou 
 servest continually, he will deliver thee.' 
 
 " 17. And a stone was brought and laid upon the 
 mouth of the den ; and the king sealed it with his own sig- 
 net, and with the signet of his lords, that the purpose might 
 not be changed concerning Daniel." 
 
 The fourteenth verse is that which tells the most import- 
 ant piece of history ; that is, that Daniel bad the heart of 
 the king, who labored till the going down of the sun to deliver 
 him. And this we will find elsewhere described in the 
 Scriptures. The. going down of the sun refers to the time 
 when the light of heaven had ceased to shine on men, the 
 sun referring to the great spiritual sun of heaven; the moon ji 
 to the true church, for it reflects the light of the sun ; and 
 we will find that it went down about the time this decree 
 •ended. I have elsewhere referred to Daniel as one of the 
 
 8 
 
170 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 two witnesses. In the eleventh chapter of Revelation we 
 find the Holy City was to be trodden under foot 42 months, 
 or 1260 years, and the two witnesses were to prophecy for 
 that period in sackcloth, or in other words, in darkness ; 
 after which time the beast from the bottomless pit makes 
 war on them, and overcomes them ; and their dead bodies 
 shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is 
 called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 
 Their dead bodies were to be seen for three days and a half 
 or 1260 years, after which time the spirit of life from God 
 entered into them, and they .stood upon their feet, &c. 
 
 In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, this scene is de- 
 veloped. After telling how false Christs shall arise, the Lord 
 goes on to say, that they must not be misled by appearances ; 
 and he says, when the Son of man comes it will be known, 
 " For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth 
 even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be." 
 Then referring to the world of matter, designating a ma- 
 terial age, he says, " For wheresoever the carcass [of the 
 beast] is, there will the eagles be gathered together." Then 
 returning to the age of false Christs, that is the first five 
 centuries of the Christian era, he says, " Immediately after 
 the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and 
 the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall 
 fall from heaven, and the power of the heavens shall 
 be shaken ; and then shall appear the sign of the Son 
 of man." This is of course to precede him, "as.coming 
 events cast their shadows before." Hence the king 
 labored to save Daniel, from the period of these decrees, or 
 assumptions, then just springing up from the earth, in the 
 shape of the papacy, to the time when the sun was darken- 
 ed, which was about A. D. 510 to 520. Thence comes 
 the three days and a half that the prophets lay dead in the 
 
DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 171 
 
 darkness of Sodom and Egypt, which reaches to A. D. 
 1770. This is here depicted as follows . 
 
 "18. Then the king went to his palace, and passed 
 the night fasting ; neither were instruments of music brought 
 before him, and his sleep went from him. 
 
 " 19. Then the kiflg arose very early in the morning and 
 went in haste unto the den of lions. 
 
 " 20. And when he came to the den, he cried with a 
 lamentable voice unto Daniel ; and the king spake and said 
 to Daniel, ' Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, 
 whom thou servest continually,' able to deliver thee from the 
 lions'?' 
 
 " 21. Then said Daniel unto the king, ' O king, live for 
 ever. 
 
 " 22. ' My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' 
 mouths, that they have not hurt me ; forasmuch as before 
 him innocency was found in me, and also before thee, O 
 king, have I done no" hurt.' 
 
 "23. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and 
 commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. 
 So Daniel was takea up out of the den, and no manner of 
 hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God." 
 
 Thus we see the king passed that long night in which the 
 sun was darkened, in fasting; the prophets lay dead in 
 the streets of the great city of Sodom, which now overspread 
 all the so-called Christianized world, and the moon gave no 
 light, for the sun did not shine, but had retired to his palace. 
 But early in the dawn of the morning he went to look after 
 Daniel. This early dawn is in the 16th and 17th centuries, 
 and runs through a part of the 18th. For then, the sign of 
 the Son of man was seen coming under the influence of Huss, 
 Luther, Melancthon, and the other Reformers, as we see 
 
172 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the golden tints on the clouds above the horizon before the 
 king of day throws his beams upon the earth's surface. It 
 is needless to descant on the Reformation. The reader will 
 know the amount and sudden effulgence of spiritual light 
 then suddenly shed upon a benighted world, which was so 
 dark that even profane history has styled it the dark ages. 
 And the king spoke to Daniel, who answered that God had 
 sent his angel, who had shut the mouths of the lions. When 
 Luther and his co-operators strove against the abuses of 
 Rome, they undoubtedly were guided by some of God's 
 angels, for we not only learn from this book but from the 
 Bible generally, that God not only rules in the affairs of men, 
 but does so through the instrumentalities of angels, and the 
 Reformation greatly tended to shut the mouths of the lions, 
 when it curtailed the power of Rome, or Babylon. "We 
 next find that in the 24th verse, " And the king commanded, 
 and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and 
 they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, 
 and their wives ; and the lions had the mastery of them, and 
 brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came to the 
 bottom of the den." 
 
 "We have seen that Daniel was in the den one long night, 
 and that the prophet lay dead in the streets of the City of 
 Darkness one long period or night, as already referred to in 
 Rev. xi., to return to which we find several distinct periods 
 given, for a proper appreciation of which we must refer to 
 other portions of the Scripture. The first is the forty-two 
 months in which the Holy City is trodden under foot. This 
 is called the court witlwut the temple. Now the court 
 without the temple is the external man, the type, not 
 the substance. And turning to Ezek. xl. we find that 
 he saw in vision into the future ages ; and we have the 
 
DEN. 173 
 
 time when the typical " Holy City was smitten" given with 
 remarkable accuracy in the first verse. It is" also told in 
 chapter xxxiii. 21 ; this also refers to the type, the time of 
 being trodden under foot begins elsewhere. John next 
 states how long the prophets or witnesses shall testify in 
 . sackcloth, after which the beast overcomes them, and they 
 ■ lay in the street, where also our Lord was crucified, 1260 
 years. AH these periods are the same, a cycle of 1260 years, 
 and the crucifixion was in the midst of one of them. Then 
 he tells us that during the time that they were dead in the 
 streets, they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over 
 them and make merry, but after their restoration to life, 
 " great fear fell upon them which saw them, and then came 
 a great earthquake." 
 
 Thus we see that they who were tormented by jealousy of 
 Daniel in his deliverance had good reason to fear and trem- 
 ble, for about this time the judgment took place in the spirit- 
 ual world, if Swedenborg is correct on that point (1757), 
 the Lord describing this time as already referred to from 
 Matthew, says, according to Luke xxi. 25, " And there 
 shall be signs in the sun and moon, &c, men's hearts fail- 
 ing them for fear, and for looking after those things which 
 are coming on the earth, for the powers of Heaven shall be 
 shaken." Daniel was in the den one night, and the witness 
 lay in darkness one long night, and as Daniel's den was se- 
 cured by a stone, sealed with the signet of the king, so the 
 prophet that lay in the street having the testimony of Jesus, 
 had that same stone to secure him in both phases of the 
 . same history ; the corner-stone, which the builders re- 
 jected, but which has become the head of the corner. 
 Matt. xxi. 42, Psalm cxviii. 22. 
 "Ver. 25. "Then King Darius wrote unto all people, na- 
 
174 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 tions, and languages, that dwell in all the earth, ' Peace be 
 multiplied unto you.' " 
 
 This verse in itself is sufficient to prove that this chapter 
 is not intended for a literal reading, or that Darius repre- 
 sents a king of Persia, but a king of Persia is merely used 5 
 around whom to wreathe the spiritual story ; for the reader 
 will easily have perceived the absurdity of the supposed 
 correspondence above named, and as detailed in the twenty- 
 sixth verse, as follows : 
 
 " ' I make a decree, that in every dominion of my king- 
 dom, men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he 
 is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom 
 that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be 
 even unto the end.' " 
 
 Ver. 27 : " ' He delivereth and rescueth, and he maketh 
 signs and wonders in heaven and in -earth, who hath deliv- 
 ered Daniel from the power of the lions.' " 
 
 This period is described in several places, but nowhere 
 so forcibly as in Matt. xxiv. 31, "And he shall send his 
 angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gath- 
 er together his elect from the four winds, from one end ot 
 heaven to the other." In Matt. xiii. 41, we read, "The 
 Son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gath- 
 er out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which 
 do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire [den 
 of lions]7 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun 
 in the kingdom of the Father." Swedenborg tells us that " in 
 1770 he sent forth his twelve disciples, who followed him 
 in the world, into the whole spiritual world to preach the 
 
 GOSPEL THAT THE IiOKD GOD JeSUS ChBIST EEIGNS." T. 
 
 C. E. § 791. 
 
 And the history of the past century goes far to prove this 
 
DEN. 175 
 
 assertion, for more light has been shed on every department 
 of knowledge, and especially those knowledges leading to 
 an appreciation of man and his attributes, than during the 
 whole previous cycle of 1260 years. And these knowledges 
 began by an unfolding of the laws of electricity, metallic and 
 animal magnetism, geology, and a general uprooting of the 
 age of materiality and literalism ; readers of Scripture be- 
 gan to discover that Paul was correct when he said, " Who 
 also hath made us able ministers of the new testament, not 
 of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the 
 spirit giveth life." — 2 Cor. iii. 6. 
 
 The age realizes that truth is the word of God, wherever 
 written ; and if it seems to conflict with the Scriptures, it is 
 but in the seeming, which is traceable to ignorance in read- 
 ing. 
 
 Ver. 28 : " So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Da- 
 rius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." 
 
 We have seen that the natural age of Darius, calculated 
 at 70 years, would reach to 1864 ; for although history tells 
 us he died some two* years after the fall of Babylon, yet 
 when his age of 62 years is giveni, it is in regard to the al- 
 legorical Darius, and not the . literal king. He is used in 
 figure as a man, and in this sense, a man runs through seven- 
 ty years or cycles. And this last verse tells us that Daniel 
 continued into the reign of Cyrus. He enters upon this 
 new era as the third ruler in the kingdom, with the decree 
 gone forth, that men must obey the God of Daniel. Hence 
 the age arrives, when they will recognize that the Lord rules 
 in the affairs of men. So soon as that is thoroughly real- 
 ized, then men will reform and the world become regen- 
 erate. 
 
 We have seen the state of things as depicted by the Lord, 
 
176 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 in Matthew and Luke, and in Revelation, up to this peri- 
 od, through the last phase of idolatry under Darius. Now 
 let us return to those authorities and see what next comes. 
 He says in Matt. xxiv. 37-39, "But as the days of Noah 
 were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be ; for 
 as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating 
 and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the 
 day that Noah entered the ark, and knew not until the 
 flood came and took them all away." I read this as taken 
 away from the church, and after the flood the Noahtic 
 church existed 350 years. And so from the sign of the Son of 
 man, given by Luther in A. D. 1514, the days of Noah added, 
 and we have 1864. And in Luke we find that " then shall 
 they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and 
 great glory." And in Rev. xi, 15, in continuation of the 
 quotations already given, we read, " And the seventh an- 
 gel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, 
 ' The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, and he shall reign for ever and 
 ever.' " All this comes under the last king named, making 
 a final kingdom. And as this book reaches from the be- 
 ginning to the end of Israel- This last king must be anal- 
 ogous in character to the slate over which he presides. 
 Therefore let us scan him. We find the meaning of Cyrus 
 to be the sun, which is the symbol of God, for from him all 
 light emanates. It was he that conquered Babylon and 
 left his uncle Darius to reign over the dying embers while 
 he went and conquered Egypt, or dispelled the darkness of 
 ignorance. It was he who restored Jerusalem and had the 
 temple rebuilt. He brought forth the desecrated vessels taken 
 . by Nebuchadnezzar, and abused by Belshazzar, and restored 
 them, the history of which may be found in the book of Ezra. 
 
DANIEL IK THE LIONS' DEN. 177 
 
 Hence he is a fit symbol for this allegory to represent as the 
 king that presides over the period when the Son of man 
 reigns on earth, and men know that the Most High ruleth 
 in the affairs of men. And according to these prophetic al- 
 legories, we are now coming under the dominion of Cyrus. 
 
 He has been considered a type of Christ by many. Xen- 
 ophen styled him God's Shepherd, and he is thus treated of 
 in Isaiah. After saying of Jacob, " I have blotted out as a 
 thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins, re- 
 turn unto me, for I have redeemed thee And to the 
 
 cities of Judah, ye shall be built . . . I will dry up thy 
 rivers. .... That saith of Cyrus he is my shepherd and 
 shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, 
 ' Thou shalt be built,' and to the temple, ' Thy foundation 
 shall be laid.' " "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to 
 Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations 
 before him." Isaiah xliv., xlv. Here Cyrus is named and 
 marked as the Saviour of Israel. Now if Israel is the type 
 of the Christian church, Cyrus typifies its Saviour, and that 
 indeed is the truth. These chapters of Isaiah have their 
 spiritual as well as literal reading, and if they foretell the 
 restoration of the literal Jerusalem, so do they the spiritual, 
 ( that city which John saw descending from heaven, and that 
 this refers to the second coming of the Son of man, and the 
 salvation then, the reader need but read carefully the chap- 
 ter, for it says, " But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with 
 an everlasting salvation." This cannot refer to the literal 
 Israel, for it was yet future, but now present, in a cycle on 
 which we have just entered. And as I remarked in the 
 fourth chapter, on the first of Daniel, that it covered the 
 whole history contained in the book, the reader having fol- 
 lowed us through these allegories, which also cover the 
 
178 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 whole ground, will, by referring to the last verse of that 
 chapter, find it reads thus, " And Daniel continued even un- 
 to the first year of Cyrus," who, it must be remembered, 
 reigned some time in connection with Darius, showing that 
 the tares and the wheat grow awhile together until the time 
 of the harvest. 
 
 This ends the first part of Daniel, comprising eight 
 chapters, six as compiled in the Protestant version. The 
 reader will perceive this part is composed of dreams and al- 
 legories ; the dreams being those of King Nebuchadnezzar, 
 or the church or kingdom preceding the Christian ; and 
 Daniel, the third ruler in the Christian kingdom, interprets 
 them by the spirit ; and the allegories, read literally, are of 
 occurrences too insignificant in their interest to mankind to 
 encumber the Word of God ; for there are far more in- 
 structive lessons daily occurring, than the fact that an As- 
 syrian monarch, because he violated the laws of God, was 
 rendered imbecile for seven years ; or that three captives 
 were punished according to the laws of the Chaldeans; on 
 account of their religion, and they were saved by a miracle; 
 or that the king should dream about a tree ; or that a de- 
 bauched king should be frightened by a spiritual manifesta- 
 tion ; or that a celebrated magian, or seer, should incur the 
 envy of his brethren, and be punished, and miraculously 
 saved. These, I say, are not incidents that stand out so 
 prominently in the world's history, as to have been preserv- 
 ed, as they have, against attack after attack, from Pagan, 
 Jew, and Christian. No, they are the word of God, pre- 
 served for men, to comprehend when they can ; and when 
 " the kingdom comes" they will be legible to all, and no 
 longer be like spirit fingers on the wall of a banqueting 
 hall. 
 
DEN. 179 
 
 The book of Daniel covers two great periods, or seven 
 times — a sabbath of cycles or circles, divided into half, and 
 each half comprises two great Hebrew sabbaths. The first part 
 of the history is in the past kingdom or church, and told 
 according to their style and literature ; that is, by dream 
 and allegory. The latter half, or that which is symbolical 
 of the Christian church, is in open vision, or a return to 
 the primitive church, when men received direct influx from 
 the Lord, and talked with angels ; for that such is the church 
 to be, we are told in Rev. xxi. : " And the city had no need 
 of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of 
 God did lighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof ; and 
 the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light 
 of it. . . . And the gates shall not be shut," &c. Thus 
 do we learn that in the new church, man needs no priest 
 between him and his God. 
 
 And thus does the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar tell, after 
 its own manner of symbolism and composition, the coming 
 kingdom of the mountain; giving allegorical details of the 
 vicissitudes and surroundings of the kingdom that succeeded, 
 and which has now ended. The next six chapters give, in the 
 shape of four distinct narratives, the details of the kingdom 
 of Christ, in the manner of the revelation of that church, 
 entirely through its first period, or its age of paganism, and 
 into its emergence into a spiritual church. We learn from 
 the first part of Daniel (chap. i. 1) how the Jewish church 
 was given into the Chaldean kingdom and Babylonish 
 church, Wherein is taught their idolatry ; and being idol- 
 ators they were given to an idolatrous people or kingdom ; 
 hence I date the beginning of the era at A. M. 3453, or 
 B. C. 710, or the ending of the kingdom of Israel, which 
 is a little later than the era of Narbonasser. 
 
180 EXPOSITION Off THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 That this is correct, and that this refers to a church or 
 kingdom, and that it was from God, and spiritual, may be 
 seen and inferred from the text, and the method of the book. 
 Israel became idolatrous, -and God transferred them into an 
 idolatrous nation. Judah followed close on the steps of 
 Israel, in the year A. M. 3577, or thereabout. Neverthe- 
 less, this church was not abandoned of God, for he made 
 revelation to it through the spirit, or third ruler in heaven, 
 which was represented by Daniel. And by turning to the 
 first chapter we find the fact of the idolatry and transfer to 
 the Chaldeans recorded. Next we find in the second chap- 
 ter, or story of Susannah, the character of Daniel. In the 
 next, or second chapter, as in our version, we find a revela- 
 tion from the heavens, setting forth the future of the king- 
 dom and churches ; and the following chapter shows us how 
 man immediately perverted the spiritual into the material, 
 and set up a golden image to worship, an image of the 
 previous vision. Then, in the fourth chapter, again the 
 church, or Nebuchadnezzar, has a revelation, by dream, of 
 the future of the church for seven times. And in the next 
 Bel and the dragon show how he continued in his idolatry, 
 and how Daniel, or the spirit, conquered it at the end of 
 six times. Then, in the fifth chapter, we have a manifesta- 
 tion addressed to the succeeding kingdom or church ; fol- 
 lowed by the sixth chapter, depicting the perverseness of 
 man, and his continued idolatry, wherein he turns from the 
 worship of idols to the worship of a man ,- and the reader 
 will remember that this is the Christian church. The idol- 
 atrous orders may be found in the history of the head of 
 that church, in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. In 
 A. D. 533, the pope was made head of all the churches, 
 therein usurping the place of the Lord ; and he has ex- 
 
DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN. 181 
 
 communicated kings, and anathematized those who op- 
 posed him. They lay claim to infallibility, and have as- 
 sumed to be styled "Our Lord God the Pope," "His 
 Divine Majesty," " Deus Optimus Maximus," and "Vice 
 God ;" and Bishop Becket, of Canterbury, in a letter to the 
 pope, uses the words, "Kise, Lord, and delay no longer;" 
 and this language applied to the pope. In 1162, Pope 
 Alexander received the adulations of a Saracen prince, as 
 the " Good God of the Christians," with favor, instead of 
 rebuke ; and the idolators under him quoted Scripture thus, 
 to justify it, " In the word of the prophet David, ' All the 
 Mngs of the earth shall worship him, and all nations serve him.' " 
 However, this is too patent to quote more upon. The as- 
 sumption of the pope is in uncontroverted history. I shall, 
 however, refer to certain prophetic words of Paul to this 
 point, in 2 Thessalonians, ii. 3, i : " Let no man deceive 
 you by any means, for that day shall not come [he here 
 speaks of the day of the coming of the Lord, ver. 1, 2] ex- 
 cept there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be 
 revealed the son of perdition. . . . Who opposeth and ex- 
 alteth himself above all that is called God, or that is wor- 
 shipped ; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, 
 showing himself that he is God." Thus is this perversion 
 of the church set forth in this allegory, and also by the tes- 
 timony of Paul, to whom it was given to see that before the 
 era of Cyrus came, Belshazzar had a long reign. 
 
PAET II. 
 
 (COMPRISING CHAPTERS TO. TO m OP DANIEL) 
 
 § tatorg 'at tyt €§xi$tim Cjrart 
 
 AND THE 
 
 FOUNDATION ON WHICH IT WAS BUILT 
 
 DOWN TO THE THE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. 
 
 " The church as It should be : a spiritual rock, around which the waves of 
 skepticism heat in vain. The church as it is : in doctrine, material — in practice 
 (too often), a cloak to hide the vices of mankind."— Mestob. 
 
 "A disciple of the olden time was in the spirit on the Lord's day : why may 
 not another disciple, on another occasion, he in the same condition ? Is the arm 
 of the Lord shortened, or his strength weakened, that he cannot speak by the 
 mouth of an holy man as in the days of old? If tho power of the Almighty is still 
 unlimited, still may the soul glow with divine inspiration, and the. lips be touched 
 by a live coal from the altar of the Most High."— Mentok. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 BEING CHAPTEB VH. OP DANIEL.) 
 THE VISION OF THE POUR BEASTS. 
 
 The book of Daniel seems to be written somewhat out of 
 chronological order, which has led to the inference tl\at it was 
 compiled from various papers, written both by Daniel and of 
 him, and also at different periods ; but that which appears 
 as written of Daniel, is only as it were the filling in of the 
 fabric, or the background of the picture, and it is quite 
 immaterial whether he composed the book or not ; yet it is 
 correct to say that the work is his, as it is likewise of the 
 books of Moses, although it is apparent on the face of them 
 that a small portion is written by their editor or compiler. 
 The reader will have perceived however that 1 regard Daniel, 
 in giving a name to this book, as a great principle, not as a 
 person, and retain him in his personality, only as a conve- 
 nience, and for the purpose of illustration, considering it 
 entirely immaterial to the purpose whether there was such 
 a person, or in other words whether the book is literally 
 true or not. 
 
 We have seen in the previous allegories, four great eras of- 
 more or less spiritual debasement and captivity, dovetailing 
 into each other. First, King Nebuchadnezzar the Great, 
 walking in his palace ; then the same king cut down for 
 2520 years. This era extends under the style of Baby- 
 lon from 656 years before Christ to A. D. 1864. Bel- 
 shazzar represents the latter half or portion of this era, but 
 with no definitely fixed period, for we have not his age, or 
 
186 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the jears of his reign in the book. Next came Darius, 
 which phase commences, as we have seen in the eighth chap- 
 ter, at A. D. 1576, or in the Reformation, and runs side by 
 side in its latter years with Cyrus, who goes down into 
 Egypt leaving his uncle Darius to govern in his absence, sig- 
 nifying that the light goes down into the dark places in 
 these latter days and does not confine itself to the church, 
 for it left Canaan and went to Egypt. 
 
 This chapter likewise details the history of four great 
 eras, being the first of a series of visions seen by Daniel him- 
 self, but from its similarity of purport to the vision of the 
 king as given in chapter ii. the two must be read together 
 to have a clear understanding of either, for the one is in a 
 great measure explanatory of the other, as the subsequent 
 chapters are but explanations of this ; hence it is true what 
 I said of the first and second chapters, that they contain the 
 whole book. The king's vision was in A. M. 3559, Daniel's 
 in A. M. 3608, just forty-nine years after, or that same pe- 
 riod of seven sevens, as may be noted in the Appendix as a 
 transition period. 
 
 The vision of the king, as interpreted by Daniel, ran 
 through four kingdoms or monarchic periods of the world, 
 under different portions of the image, running as it were 
 through the metallic, the vegetable, the animal, and the hu- 
 man ages, as illustrated in chapter iv, of Part I. ; and these 
 kingdoms are types of the spiritual periods shown by the 
 allegories, and like them they pass away for ever. 
 
 " 1. In the first" year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, 
 Daniel had [saw] a dream and visions of his head upon his 
 bed ; then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the mat- 
 ters [words]. 
 
 "2. Daniel spake and said, ' I saw in my vision by 
 
THE TISION OF THE FOtfE BEASTS. 187 
 
 night, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon 
 the great sea. 
 
 "3. ' And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse 
 one from another.' " 
 
 The language here should be remarked, " he saw a dream," 
 distinguishing this from ordinary dreaming, and placing it 
 in the distinct character of vision. And he saw great strife 
 and contentions among men through the vista of ages, and 
 out of it arose four great idolatrous ages, periods wherein 
 men left to their depravity made the world a Babylon ; for 
 the reader can readily prove, by analogy, that the word sea 
 as here used denotes the world, for the four beasts arose out 
 of it, and in the 17th .verse we find that they arose out of 
 the earth, and are four kings, proving that the words are 
 not to be received literally. Each vision runs through the 
 first part of the Christian church, and shadows forth the 
 coming kingdom on their foundation, which involves the 
 second stage of the church and Christianity. 
 
 The third verse tells us that the beasts are diverse.. This 
 relates to their religion and spiritual condition, as may be 
 plainly seen by a little attentive observation to the nations 
 as they arise and their history. The first, or Babylonish 
 proper, worship images, or gods made by hand. The next, 
 or Medo-Persian, worshipped fire and the sun, or God un- 
 der them as symbols. The next, the Macedonian, worshipped 
 heroes, and followed a species of paganism. Nevertheless, 
 there was a certain amount of spirituality in their worship. 
 Hence Paul said, when viewing the monument to the un- 
 known god, "Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I 
 unto you." Then came the great Eoman beast, or the un- 
 adulterated paganism, the worship of men, the result of 
 which has been to induce that increase of selfishness which 
 
188 EXPOSITION OF THB BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 has degenerated into self-worship to an extent that men do 
 not realize it, and is the last phase of idolatry overthrown. 
 
 That the word " kings" is used elsewhere to denote king- 
 dom may be seen in chapter ii. 38, 39, where, after saying, 
 "Thou p. e., the king] art this head of gold," continues— 
 "after thee shall arise another kingdom," and "another 
 third kingdom ;" and in this chapter, verse 28, we read, 
 " The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom." Therefor^, 
 when he says "the four beasts are four kings," it becomes 
 evident it means kingdoms, and illustrations might be mul- 
 tiplied to this end. 
 
 " 4. The first was like a lion, and had eagles' wings ; I 
 beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and [or where- 
 with] it was lifted up from the eartfi, and made stand upon 
 the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." 
 
 There are several good reasons for reading in this beast or 
 kingdom, the Chaldean, and among them is the prophecy 
 in Deut. xxviii. 49, " The Lord shall bring a nation against 
 thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the ea- 
 gle flieth, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand." 
 And in Jeremiah iv. 7, " The lion is come up from his 
 thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way," &c, 
 &c. And in Ezek. xvii. 3, the symbol of the eagle is used. 
 But the seventeenth verse tells us that the four beasts are 
 four' kingdoms that shall arise out of the earth. It will be 
 noticed that they are kingdoms of the earth. The four 
 beasts arose out of the sea in the vision, as stated in the 
 third verse. There they represent churches or states of re- 
 ligion, and as detailed in the seventeenth verse, earthly king- 
 doms. This may be inferred from the fifth kingdom, which 
 is distinguished from the four, being not of this world, and 
 likewise the spiritual beast is ultimated into a natural king- 
 
THE VISION OF THE IWK BEASTS. 189 
 
 dom. Swedenborg treats them, I believe, solely as four 
 churches, yet I cannot disregard their wonderful resem- 
 blance to the earthly kingdoms. In the seventeenth verse 
 the word shall, it must be perceived, does not point to the 
 time of their coming, however, so as to render them future, 
 but whence they come, that is they arise in this world, and 
 the word may be here used retrospectively, as it undoubted- 
 ly is, and Daniel's visions begin at his own period, and 
 thence look into futurity. To tell of the past would not 
 need symbolic language, but a mere historic narration ; but 
 of the future, the prophet can only see spiritually, and in 
 spiritual forms, in the language of angels, hence in symbols 
 and correspondences. 
 
 Now the head of the image, we are told, is the Babylo-/ 
 nish empire, and the fourth of that series corresponds with 
 the fourth beast of this, the ten toes corresponding to the 
 ten horns, also in its iron quality, also that it brake others 
 in pieces ; see ii. 40 and vii. 7. Therefore we deem it safe 
 to travel in the beaten path of the commentators, and call 
 this beast the Chaldean monarchy, which ended in A. M. 
 3466, having been the most prominent and wealthy empire 
 in the known world, during a period of 211 years, which is 
 only the period of its greatness. 
 
 " 5. And behold, another beast, a second, like to a bear, 
 and it raised up itself on one side [or it raised up one do- 
 minion], and it bad three ribs [or rows] in the mouth of it, 
 between the teeth of it ; and they said thus unto it, ' Arise, 
 devour much flesh.' " 
 
 The last empire was succeeded by the Medo-Persiati, 
 founded by Cyrus. In the Douay version we read, "It 
 raised up one dominion, and it had three rows in its mouth 
 and in the teeth thereof," which is a more reasonable trans- 
 
190 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK. OF DANIEL. 
 
 lation, as with three rows of teeth the beast has more beast- 
 ly power. It is a good figure to denote a union of three na- 
 tionalities, as it raised up itself on one side, or raised itself 
 up from a side kingdom into one dominion. Babylon bad 
 conquered Nineveh and destroyed the city in A. M. 3538, 
 and she became the capital of the first Assyrian empire, 
 which expired in A. M. 3625. Now Media comes forward 
 and conquers Babylon, and raises up on one side a dominion 
 of three nations, Nineveh, Babylon, and Media. I do not 
 think the three rows or ribs can point to Egypt and Lydia, 
 as some maintain, because they did not become incorporated 
 into one dominion, and the Lydians were but in the position 
 of several other conquered provinces. This Medo-Persian 
 'empire continued two hundred and six years to the battle of 
 Arbela, and taking of Babylon in A. M. 3831, and the cap- 
 ture of Darius. This empire was conquered and extin- 
 guished by the Macedonian empire, raised to the pinnacle 
 of its power by Alexander, which is symbolized thus : 
 
 " 6. After this I beheld, and lo, another, like a leop- 
 ard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl ; 
 the beast had also four heads, and dominion was given 
 toit." 
 
 We need no better reason for this interpretation than the 
 pages of history, but the description in chap. viii. 8, 22, suffi- 
 ciently explains the kingdom here pictured, especially with re- 
 gard to the four heads, which are the divisions under Alex- 
 ander's successors. These figures, both of leopard and 
 wings, denote swiftness, which was evinced peculiarly in 
 Alexander's movements. And the four kingdoms into 
 which this empire resolved itself, gradually expired and be- 
 came absorbed in the Roman empire, which is symbolized 
 in the next verse. 
 
THE VISION OF THE FO0K BEASTS. 191 
 
 " 7. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a 
 fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly ; 
 and it had great iron teeth ; it devoured and brake in pieces, 
 and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was di- 
 verse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten 
 horns. 
 
 "8. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up 
 among them another little horn, before whom there were 
 three of the first horns plucked up by the roots ; and behold, 
 in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth 
 speaking great things." 
 
 This beast forms the important point of view in the vis- 
 ion, being the most conspicuous in the second chapter as 
 well as in this, so much so that Daniel is induced to in- 
 quire particularly about it, and in answer to his inquiry, 
 the spirit that stood by, ver. 16, 17, 18, 19, teHs that the 
 beasts are four kings or kingdoms, as I have shown ; and 
 as to the fourth beast, he says, in the twenty-third verse, it 
 is the fourth kingdom upon earth, different from the others, 
 which shall devour the whole earth, tread it down, and 
 break it in pieces. Commentators agree that this is the 
 Roman •empire, and as I write to prove and not to follow, 
 we will see how this will bear the test. In the first place, 
 the last preceding beast, th& Macedonian empire, expired 
 about the year 4014 (Rollin), at which time it became a 
 Roman province. 
 
 We notice the four consecutive beasts or kingdoms do not 
 spring up in the world independently of each other, or cease 
 independently, but are in order, each absorbed by its suc- 
 cessor. The Medo-Persian conquered and absorbed the 
 Assyrian or Babylonian, in the year '3625, two hundred and- 
 six years after the Greeks conquered and absorbed them-, A. 
 
192 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 M. 3831, and one hundred and eighty-three years after this 
 the Romans conquered and absorbed them, 4014, or B. C, 
 148, and in absorbing Greece they included the kingdoms 
 by her absorbed ; therefore, the three previous beasts "were 
 included in her kingdom to a great extent. She was to be 
 diverse, and was to devour the whole earth, ver. 23 ; and 
 above I have shown her in the year 148-147, B. C, the 
 absorbent of nearly all the then known world. A. M. 4016, 
 Corinth, the last of Greece, succumbed, and the third 
 Punic war ended with the destruction of Carthage. Some 
 one hundred years later, B. C, 31, the empire began with 
 the battle of Actium, and the earth then knew no other 
 power than Octavius Caesar, and Gibbon says in his gen- 
 eral observations on the fall of the Roman empire in the 
 West, vol. i., p. 633, "The arms of the republic sometimes 
 vanquished in battle, always victorious in war, advanced 
 with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, 
 and the ocean, and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, 
 that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, 
 were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome." 
 No other kingdom has devoured the whole earth, before or 
 since ; here it is diverse. Rome undoubtedly did. Augus- 
 tus Caesar's map of Rome was the map of the world. Again 
 in polity it was diverse from its predecessors or those that 
 were before. So it also was in religion ; the East was more 
 spiritual, worshipped the sun, and fire, and had many curi- 
 ous ideas. The Romans turned their heroes into gods, and 
 then- paganism was only like itself. Compared with the 
 Orientals they were undoubtedly " dreadful and terrible and 
 strong exceedingly ;" and it trod down and broke in pieces. 
 All this is Rome, and Rome only, the description fits no 
 other form. And it had ten horns. We find the symbols 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUK BEASTS. 193 
 
 used by seers are taken from their every-day surroundings, 
 and are therefore frequently lost on us, who have not the 
 same. To know correctly what a man says, for all men 
 speak more or les3 by illustration or metaphor, we must 
 place ourselves in his shoes, and by this rule we may find 
 the reason why this emblem is used. In Asia, a head-dress 
 was worn with a horn upon it, in size and quality corre- 
 sponding to and indicative of the social standing of the 
 wearer, and they remain in the East to this day. In 1 gam. 
 ii. I, Hannah says, "Mine horn is exalted in the Lord," 
 and in verse 10, " shall exalt the, horn of his anointed." 
 Thus it appears it was an emblem of dignity ; and as the 
 kitfgdom is called king, who is a dignitary, the inferior 
 kingdoms are styled by a synonymous emblem ; as the 
 24th verse tells us the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten 
 kings that shall arise. The etymology here is the same as 
 in the other verses, and the same reasoning applies to ren- 
 der the word kingdoms. This is the reading of Professor 
 George Bush ; I therefore rely oh it. Especially is this to 
 be considered when read in connection with Rev. xiii. 1, and 
 xvii. 12. Now there were ten divisions or kingdoms compris- 
 ing the Roman empire, and here we must consider ver. 7, 8, 
 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, together, and at what period we 
 must estimate them ; there is no limit of time for their exist- 
 ence in the 7th and seven succeeding verses, except that du- 
 ring their existence one arose on to, or out of three of them 
 as given in the 8th verse, and the 24th verse tells us they are 
 before this little one (horn) in point of time. But consid- 
 ering this beast as also pictured«by the image in chap. ii. 
 40 to 45, we then learn the character of the kings or king- 
 doms, how they shall be mixed, that they shall not cleave to 
 one another, how it shall be partly strong and partly broken ; 
 
194 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 and also when they shall exist, which time is when God sets 
 up the other kingdom, ver. 44, not made of hands ; the spirit- 
 ual kingdom. This is indisputably the kingdom of Christ. 
 Taken altogether, it cannot mean his perfected kingdom as 
 also foretold by Daniel and John, but the planting of his 
 kingdom. And this gives us the reign of Tiberius Cassar, 
 for then, and only then, was a kingdom set up, that so far 
 has not been, and bids fair never to be destroyed ; and it is 
 different from the others in many points, as described in 
 chap. ii. 34, 35, 44, 45, denoting it a spiritual king- 
 dom. This seems clear .to me is the kingdom of Christ so 
 often referred to by him, and in the gospels, as in Mark i. 
 15, " The kingdom of God is at hand ;" and Matthew i v. 
 17, " the kingdom of heaven is at hand ;" John xviii. 36, 
 '' my kingdom is not of this world," &c, " but now is my 
 kingdom not from hence." Thus we have the period, and 
 we find the Eoman empire then divided thus : First, Italia, 
 including Lombardy, Naples, Rome, Tuscany, Romagna. 
 Second, Gaul, including France, Netherlands, Piedmont, 
 Alsace, Switzerland and part of Germany, Lorraine and 
 Savoy. Third, Maesia, including Servia and Bulgaria. 
 Fourth, Iberia, or Hispania, including Spain and Portugal. 
 Fifth, Pannonia, including parts of Austria and Hungary. 
 Sixth, Boumelia, including Greece, Thrace, and Macedon. 
 Seventh, Dlyricum, or Dalmatia, including western Turkey, 
 Croatia and Bosnea. Eighth, Rhetia, including part of Aus- 
 tria, Bavaria and Tyrol. This completes the empire in 
 Europe. Ninth, Syria ; Tenth, Egypt, which at this pe- 
 riod covered the whole extent of the African and Asiatic 
 provinces. These divisions are from Gibbon's "Decline 
 and Fall of the Roman Empire," chap, i., with the assist- 
 ance of Lavoisne's Atlas. Britain was not subdued until 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 195 
 
 A. D. 43. Commentators have given other divisions, some 
 taking the peoples or tribes of invaders, others taking the 
 period of the dissolution of the empire for the reason stated. 
 I think that is error, for the period is fixed, if you take the 
 toes of the image together with these ten horns. The ten 
 horns in John are of a later division of the empire, ,f or "they 
 had not yet their kingdom." In the 8th verse we have a 
 little horn coming up among them, or as Mede translates this 
 in the 24th verse, another shall rise behind them, i. e., un- 
 perceived. Here we have the place among them. As to time 
 so far as this chapter gives us, we find it is at least during 
 the residue of the Koman empire, and it is fair to infer that 
 the plucking up of three was during the dissolution of the 
 empire, for the 24th verse says, " It was after the others, or 
 at the death of the beast, which is pagan .Rome." 
 
 Now this little horn is diverse from the others, and note 
 the language, " Before whom three of the first were plucked 
 up by the roots," and in explanation, the twenty-fourth verse 
 tells us he shall subdue three kings, i. e. kingdoms. This horn 
 is well described, and we assume it to be as commentators 
 generally agree, the papal power, or the relapse of the 
 church into idolatry, and prove it as we go along ; but to be- 
 gin, ire must subdue the three kingdoms, and as this is a sort 
 of spiritual horn on a temporal footing, perhaps the subdu- 
 ing is spiritual. As we can see no propriety or aptness in 
 the supposition that these three are the Heruli, Ostrogoths, 
 and Lombards, as held by Faber, it being an assumption,-- 
 and doing violence to history, or that Ravenna, the king- 
 dom of Greeks in Italy, and Franks, as held by Mede, be- 
 cause if Charlemagne recovered from the Lombards the ex- 
 archate of Ravenna, and gave it to the pope, and the pope 
 is the horn, he does not subdue it ; besides, it is not one.of 
 
196 
 
 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 tfie kingdoms. But on or about the time of the dissolution of the 
 Roman empire, two peculiar or diverse powers arose, the pa- 
 pal and eastern ; other divisions of kingdoms took place, but 
 they were not diverse, and we look in vain in the Ottoman 
 power for a similitude to the requirements and description as 
 set forth in chap. viii. 20, 24, 25, but in the papal power we 
 find a wonderful adaptation of history to the description, and 
 we need only look to the page of Gibbon, who has never been 
 accused of favoring Christianity, but why he is called infidel 
 is not to be found in his "Decline and Fall cf the Eoman 
 Empire," for this work seems like a key furnished by the Al- 
 mighty to these prophecies, and unbelievers will not accuse 
 Gibbon of straining facts to make them fit the Biblical proph- 
 ecies. In the year 384, Sericius, bishop of Rome, took the 
 titleof pope. About the year 385, Ambrose, archbishop of 
 Milan, openly and boldly refused to obey an edict of the 
 emperor Theodocius the Great, and was upheld and success- 
 ful in his rebellion. Five years later he imposed a penance 
 on Theodocius, which the emperor submitted to, and in five 
 years more, the sons of Theodocius divided the empire into 
 eastern and western, and the bishop of Eome was the head 
 of the western empire, and the patriarch at Constantinople, 
 of the eastern. Here is the infancy of a diverse power, 
 with a mouth speaking great things, and as the Doiiay ver- 
 sion has it in the twenty-fourth verse, "And he shall be 
 mightier than the former, and he shall bring down three 
 kings." The western empire was composed cf Italia, Afri- 
 ca, Gaul, Spain, Britain, and a part of Illyricum. This divis- 
 ion is found in Gibbon, and in the Encyclopaedia Americana, 
 and in the year 437, Illyricum went to the eastern empire. 
 About the year 381, Gibbon says, on the proscription of 
 paganism by the senate, &c, " Eome submitted to the yoke 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUE BEASTS. 197 
 
 of the gospel," and the pagan temples were converted 
 into Christian churches. The great cause of division in 
 the churches of the east and west, at this time, was Arian- 
 isra. 
 
 Here arises a power which we will trace, the Western or 
 Roman church. This we assume to be the little horn. 
 Now the three of the first ten plucked up by the roots, must 
 come from the divisions of the western empire, Italy, Gaul, 
 Africa, Spain, and Britain. As the last was not one of the 
 original ten horns, we are narrowed down to four. Italy, 
 the first, Gibbon says, " In ecclesiastical rank and jurisdic- 
 tion, the patriarch of Constantinople and the pope of Rome 
 were nearly equal, but the Greek prelate was a domestic 
 slave under the eye of his master," &c. By the eighth cen- 
 tury they had the supreme dominion in Italy. In 751, Pepin 
 presented the exarchate of Raveuna, Bologna, and Ferrara 
 (and indeed this included much more of Italy, see Gibbon), 
 to the pope, Stephen II., and in A. D. 774, these donations 
 were confirmed and enlarged by Charlemagne. The Ro- 
 manists date the temporal power of the pope from this peri- 
 od. Here is one subdued ; but Gibbon give3 an account of 
 the temporal power (by no means small) of Gregory the 
 Great, who died in 604, and it is evident from his pages 
 that Gregory I., pope of Rome, was the first or head man 
 in Italy, in all things. Previous to this period, Martin 
 bishop of Tours, had marched through Gaul with an army 
 of monks, against pagan temples, and the country was sub- 
 dued to the priestly power. Clovis, Charles Martel, Pepin, 
 and Charlemagne, successively paid homage to the pope. 
 The next of the ten horns is Africa, or Egypt, the prov- 
 inces being the same in fact, and which was among the first 
 to receive the gospel, somewhere in the early part of the 
 
198 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 fourth century, but was lost to Christianity, some three cen- 
 turies later. About the same period the Mohammedans near- 
 ly supplanted Rome in Spain. With regard to this prov- 
 ince, Milman, in his History of Christianity, says, " Theo- 
 docius was a Spaniard." In that province Christianity 
 fonnd less resistance from the feeble provincial paganism ; 
 " It was early and permanently established in the peninsu- 
 la." Yet, if nearly overcome, or quite, by the Ottomans, 
 she subsequently played her part for Rome, with regard to 
 the saints (v. 25). We need no quotation for that piece of 
 history. Here we have the little horn, a spiritual and tem- 
 poral power combined, which was something new or di- 
 verse. The union of church and state, claiming and exer- 
 cising authority and power, as does the papacy, subduing 
 after the time of the division of the ten horns, when that di- 
 vision had ceased to exist, three of the original horns, Spain, 
 Gaul, and Italy ; all of the others, Roumelia, Klisetia, 
 Massia, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Syria, adhering to the 
 eastern empire and church, and this little horn did come up 
 among them, and territorially it was little when it came up. 
 This horn had eyes and a mouth as of a man, being a sym- 
 bol of a seer and speaker. Mr. Cummings, page 227, says, 
 the original of the Greek word ImoKOTTog, from which is 
 derived the English word episcopacy, signifying " one 
 that oversees," &c, finds here an analogy; the name of a 
 prophet was a "seer," "one that sees," and here we have 
 an ecclesiastical power or king, kingdom, or horn, that talks 
 and sees, and its mouth was to speak great things ; for in- 
 stance, " If the pope should err by commanding vices, or 
 prohibiting virtues, the church would be bound to believe 
 that vices were good and virtues bad, unless she wished to 
 ein against conscience." 
 
THE VISION OF THE EOUB BEASTS. 199 
 
 The following is from a letter which the pope had the 
 impiety to write to Pepin : 
 
 " Peter, called to be an apostle by Jesus Christ the Son 
 of the living God, and by me, the whole Catholic and apos- 
 tolical Soman church, head of all the churches of God, 
 founded on the firm rock by the blood of our Redeemer." 
 " But if, which we do not believe, ye shall interpose any 
 delay, know that by the authority of the holy Trinity, and 
 through the grace of the apostleship committed to me, by 
 transgressing our exhortation, ye are shut out from the kingdom 
 of God, and life eternal."* 
 
 Another popish periodical writes thus : " The whole com- 
 munity of baptized persons in the kingdom of England, will 
 now owe obedience to the church of Rome~ under pain of 
 eternal damnation." 
 
 We now go to the 26th verse, and on to the full descrip- 
 tion of the little horn. JHere we find it is to look more 
 stout than its fellows ; in the Douay version "that was greater 
 than the rest." If this means than the rest of the horns, 
 history teaches that it clearly was. Its fellows may be the 
 other churches, among which the Eastern is the only rival; 
 and the Roman undoubtedly managed to look a little stouter 
 than'the Greek church. It made war with the saints and 
 prevailed. The first inquiry here is, who are the saints ? 
 We find in Rev. xvii. 6, " The great whore is drunk with 
 their blood-" In Rev. xvi. 6, the third angel pours out a 
 vial on those that shed their blood. Paul, in numberless 
 texts, speaks to and of the saints, meaning the Christians 
 and believers of his day, and it is very evident the true 
 Christian is meant ; and here it will be unnecessary to quote 
 history to show how much blood was spilled for opinion's 
 
 * Divine History of the Church. 
 
200 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 sake by this power of church and state, yet I will select a 
 few, " Persecution of Protestants in France in the reign of 
 Francis I." "In his days the light of the Reformation 
 dawned, and powerful efforts were made to extinguish it in 
 France. The Reformed were hunted down like wild beasts, 
 were hanged, drowned, torn in pieces, consumed by slow 
 fires, and slain in general massacres ; neither sex nor age was 
 spared. The king himself assisted at the burning of many 
 martyrs in Paris. On the 21st of January, 1535, he was 
 present with the queen, princes, &c, at the burning of 
 thirty-six persons in the metropolis." In the reign of Henry 
 II. of France, 1547, " So numerous were the victims of 
 popish cruelty that it was with difficulty that a sufficient 
 number of executioners could be found." " In 1592, at the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew, Coligny was the first victim ; 
 every kind of indignity was heaped upon his corpse, the head 
 was then cut off and sent as a present to the pope ; headless 
 bodies were thrown from the windows, the public roads 
 were blocked up with the dead and -dying. One wretch 
 named Cruce boasted that he had cut the throats of more 
 than four hundred in a day." And this continues to the 
 incidents of the 22d verse, of which, hereafter. Now go 
 to the 25th verse for a further description, and there we 
 find " he shall speak against the Most High, and wear out 
 the saints ;" and in proof that the pope did these things we 
 refer to any history on the subject. They will be found com- 
 piled under the abuses of this power. " And he shall think 
 to change times and laws." This also may be found in- 
 stanced in the ordinary orthodox commentators on Daniel 
 and Revelations ; as to the time, as related in the 25th verse, 
 and from what period we must begin the " time, times and 
 a dividing of time," or as the Douay Bible has it, "half a 
 time,'' depends on the meaning and antecedents of the word 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOOTS BEASTS. 201 
 
 they, whether it is the saints or " the times and laws." In 
 Kev. xii. 14, is described the church of Christ under the 
 similitude of a woman, and the dragon presented there is 
 supposed to be this little horn ; and he there drove the 
 woman away for the same period ; and in Daniel xii. 7, 
 the same time is allotted to the period when he shall have 
 accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, and 
 when " all these things shall be finished." 
 
 1 have elsewhere shown that this 1,260 years as to when 
 he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy 
 people, commenced in the year 3416, and ended in 513 ; 
 whence commences the other 1,260 years ; from this I infer 
 that the reference is to the saints. Then when, were they 
 given to his hand ? It was obviously when he assumed au- 
 thority and denied the* right of thought and free agency, 
 when the hydra-headed monster church and state combined 
 to exercise power. That this is anti-Christian tnay be in- 
 ferred from the general spirit evinced in Matt. xxii. 21, 
 where the Lord says " Render unto Caesar the things that 
 are Caesar's, and unto God," &c. When the church 
 first undertook to punish for opinion's sake, they rendered 
 unto Caesar the things belonging to God, or in other words 
 assumed his power, and hence became anti-Christ. Let us 
 now see when this power assumed its new function. 
 We have seen that in the year 384 the title of pope was 
 assumed ; that seems harmless enough. In the year 386, 
 Ambrose refuses to obey the emperor; all that may be 
 right. In 391 he imposes a penance on Theodocius ; here 
 is indeed an assumption of a temporal prerogative.. In 381, 
 Gibbon says, " Eome submitted to the yoke of the gospel " 
 As early as 256 we find an erroneous tendency in the bishop 
 of Eome. Firmilianus, bishop of Caesarea, says that " Ste- 
 
 9* 
 
202 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 phen was a heretic, a'schismatic, and the worst of heretics." 
 He speaks of his first indignation being excited by the plain 
 and palpable folly of Stephen, who boasted of his episcopal 
 rank, and of his beingthe successor of St. Peter. As to 
 the latter pretension he openly asserts that many things were 
 done at Rome which were contrary to spiritual authority. 
 (Burton's Ecclesiastical History, p. 551.) 
 
 In the year 380, Theodocius promulgated his edict in the 
 name of Gratian Valentinian II. and Theodocius, which 
 may be found in the last chapter of Milman's History of 
 Christianity," p. 388. D'Aubigne refers to an edict of Theo- 
 docius H. and Valentinian HI., proclaiming the bishop of 
 Rome rector of the whole church ; " Rector totius ecclesie." 
 This must have been between 425 and 450. The papacy 
 assumed to be the Head of all the churches in 530 or 533, 
 and was so declared by Justinian. In 554, Justinian regu- 
 lates by edicts the civil affairs of Italy in which the pope 
 had his share of power. In the year 476, in the time of 
 Augustulus, the western empire terminated. In 606, Bon- 
 iface IH. is declared universal bishop by Phocis, emperor 
 of the East, after a struggle of about three hundred years 
 to that end, and gradually arriving at it. In 752, Pope Zach- 
 arius begins the system of giving away kingdoms, and out of 
 this trade grew the session of Ravenna and other territories 
 to the temporal power of Pope Stephen in 755. I will not 
 go further for a starting point as to "when the saints shall 
 be given into his hand." 
 
 We have seen when and where the ten horns are. The 
 next question is, having concluded that the little horn is 
 the union of church and state, in the papacy, the question 
 is as to when it arose ; its existence having been shown, as 
 well as the foregoing epochs, in its infancy ; and for this 
 
THE VISION OF THE EOUE BEASTS. 203 
 
 purpose we are referred to the twenty-fourth verse. And 
 it is wonderful how accurate and minute the book of Daniel 
 is ; how perfect in its descriptions, its delineations, and its 
 finger-boards ; and here we are told he arises after them. 
 The empire, consisting of. those ten kingdoms, was divided 
 in 395, having at that time two other kingdoms, added 
 since the date of the first division, namely, Dacia and 
 Britain ; and in the division, the kingdoms of Britain, ' 
 Spain, and Gaul, Africa, part of Illyricum, and Italy, are 
 in the western empire. We have seen how these are dis- 
 posed of by the termination of -that empire in 476 ; and 
 here ends the fourth beast. And the little horn, com- 
 posed of three of the former ten parts of the beast, 
 arises, having more or less power before this date, which 
 was subsequently augmented. Now comes the question, at 
 what period, after this, were the saints given into his hand? 
 and at what time did he assume to dictate a religion, and 
 persecute for a disobedience to him, or to take to himself 
 the things of God ? And to arrive at the time we will 
 note various periods. In 530 and 554 he is supreme, and 
 in 752 we find him giving away kingdoms. Gibbon says, 
 chap. lix. : " It was universally believed that Constantine 
 had invested the popes with the temporal dominion of 
 Home, and subsequently the name Do/minus was on the coin 
 of the bishops of Borne ; but from the dissolution of the 
 empire, in 476, to the time of Theodoric, running into the first 
 quarter of the next century, there was no other government 
 of any power in Italy." And Gibbon says of him : " He 
 was not ignorant of the dignity and importance of the • 
 Roman pontiff, to whom the venerable name of pope was f 
 now appropriated." At this period active persecutions 
 began ; and in the same chapter lix. we read : " Even the 
 
204 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 religious toleration -which Theodoric had the glory of in- 
 troducing into the Christian world was painful and offensive 
 to the orthodox zeal of the Italians." They commenced 
 persecutions on the Jews, and the spirit of persecution once 
 begun, continued uninterruptedly for centuries, or for a 
 " time, times and half a time." It was, as near as can be 
 ascertained, between 505 and 535 that this commenced. 
 The spirit to do evil had long been in the papacy, but the 
 power to persecute was wanting, until about this time. I 
 therefore deem the period when the saints were given over 
 to his power, about the year 513, when Justinian, by his 
 edict, made the pope supreme, and which is the end of the 
 first cycle of 1260, of chap. xii. 7. Now I have shown 
 what the little horn is, when his power began ; when the 
 saints were delivered to him, how his look was big and 
 more stout than his fellows, and how he spake great things. 
 This takes in ver. 8, 15-26, ver. 15 to 26 being an ex- 
 planation of ver. 7, 8. By ver. 21, 22, it seems the 
 horn made war with the saints, until the Ancient of days 
 came and judgment was given them, and the saints pos- 
 sessed the kingdom. The next point is as to the meaning 
 of " time, times and a half." I adopt the year-day theory, 
 which makes 1260 years ; and I do this from reasons stated 
 in the chapter on chronology, and also on the arguments of 
 Prof. Geo. Bush, who says in his Hierophant, where he inves- 
 tigates the subject thoroughly, as none but a linguist, as he 
 was, can do : "In the cases where the word translated time 
 signifies time in the sense of a year, it occurs only in chap, 
 ii. 8, 9, 21, chap. iii. 5, 7, 15, chap. iv. 16, 23, 25, 32. and 
 chap. vii. 25. Elsewhere it signifies a stated and certain 
 fixed determinate period, a point of time ; in the others, as 
 above, a length of time. Therefore this sentence denotes a year 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 205 
 
 or year of years, as it is used in prophecy, and by this calci> 
 lation the cycle is of 1260 years." This makes the time of 
 their. release about the year A. D. 1773. Or if we read 
 this time, times and a dividing, three fourths instead of a 
 half, which it is equally correct to do, we have 1350 years, 
 which added to 513 makes 1863. I do not suppose this 
 is intended to indicate a precise period to a year. In 
 fact, it seems unphilosophical to estimate it so ; for most 
 powers decline gradually, and are nearly extinguished sev- 
 eral times ere they die. And the language of ver. 26 is : 
 " He shall consume and destroy it unto the end." This in- 
 dicates a period of time. Nevertheless it comes singularly 
 near, and the reader will bear in mind the transition period 
 of 49 years. In 1789, the French revolution broke out, and 
 in speaking of this kingdom we must remember that France 
 is a large portion or third of it. Here the guillotine did 
 its work. History- usually erroneously says that Chris- 
 tianity was proscribed in France in 1793, but this is not 
 true. An exasperated and justly disgusted people pro- 
 scribed a religion that had blasphemously assumed to be 
 Christian, but had lost all its traits. In 1798, the revolu- 
 tion broke out in Home, and the pope was taken by the 
 French. In 1789, in France, all the royal blood and most 
 of the clergy were either beheaded or forced to leave. The 
 churches and monasteries were plundered, and Europe del- 
 uged in blood. In 1810, Pius YYL. excommunicated Bon- 
 aparte, and the world merely laughed at it. In 1814, the 
 inquisition was abolished in Spain, and a period is reached 
 when the saints are delivered from Borne, for since 1790 
 the power of persecution has been very limited, and exer- 
 cised on a very small portion of territory, where the gospel 
 is preached ; in fact nowhere, for the gospel has not been 
 
206 exposition or the book of daniel. 
 
 preached in Italy or Spain yet, since its introduction and- 
 subsequent suppression by the papacy ; it has no power be- 
 yond those territories, and persecutions there are scarcely on 
 religious grounds, for the church has obliterated religion. 
 The persecutions that remain there, and are this day end- 
 ing ii* Koine and Naples, are political, and it is a fair deduc- 
 tion from the pages of history that the French revolution 
 freed the religious and Christian world from the power of 
 Rome. 
 
 In Rev. xi. 2, we read the Holy City, symbolical of 
 Christ's Church, shall be trodden under foot forty and two 
 months, which is 42 x 30 = 1260, and in the next verse, 
 "I will give power unto my two witnesses, that they shall 
 prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, 
 clothed in sackcloth." Now who are " my two witnesses" ? 
 They are those who prophesied of the kingdom, for we find 
 in Matt. xxiv. 14, these words, spoken by Christ in proph- 
 ecy, while teaching his disciples at their request the signs 
 and events froffi'the time of speaking to the coming of the 
 kingdom of himself, " And this gospel of the kingdom shall 
 be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, 
 and then shall the end come." We find by a reference to 
 Matt. iv. 23, ix. 35, Mark i. 14, &c, that the gospel of the 
 kingdom was a chief thing that Jesus preached. This gos- 
 pel of the kingdom clearly refers to the kingdom of Christ 
 believed by the church to be in the future, which the apos- 
 tles refer to when they say, " The kingdom of God is at 
 hand." The fourteenth verse shows that Jesus named the 
 "gospel of the kingdom," as a wit?iess. Now what was the 
 gospel referred to ? This is inferentially answered in the next 
 (fifteenth) verse, where he says, " When ye therefore shall 
 see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the 
 
THE VISION 'OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 207 
 
 prophet, stand in the holy place," &c. Daniel records this 
 kingdom, in the fourteenth verse of the chapter under con- 
 sideration, as well as elsewhere, and he clearly prophesies of 
 the kingdom, and his is a gospel of the kingdom, as Jesus, 
 when speaking of it, refers immediately to him. Therefore, 
 this gospel of Daniel I hold as the gospel of the kingdom, 
 which is a witness of Christ. Again we find in Eev. xix. 
 10, the angel that spake to John says, " I am thy fellow- 
 servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of 
 Jesus, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophe- 
 cy." This angel has been supposed to be Daniel, and 
 probably was, and he, by the spirit of prophecy, bore wit- 
 ness of Jesus. Some commentators have written that this 
 was Daniel, but the church now will generally deny this 
 plainly written text, and will not believe what they once 
 did, that human beings, when spirits or angels, can com- 
 mune with men, merely because the spiritualists hold to the 
 same doctrine, failing to perceive a truth, because it is 
 mixed with what it conceives to be error, in the same spirit 
 that the Presbyterians repudiated the sign of the cross, mere- 
 ly because it was used by the Romanists. I have often 
 been surprised, that in their zealous opposition, they did not 
 deny Christ for the same reason. Here we have the pro- 
 phetical gospel of the kingdom a witness, and John becomes 
 another, for the Apocalypse is a prophetical gospel of the 
 kingdom, and they, Daniel and John, in their gospel, are 
 his two witnesses, and they prophesied for 1260 years, in 
 sackcloth, that is, in darkness , for we find in all that period 
 no light of consequence thrown on these gospels, and what- 
 ever there was, it did not elucidate them until when the 
 Son of man comes, as it is told he would, in Matt xxiv. 
 27, thus : •' For as the lightning cometh out from the east 
 
208 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of 
 the Son of man be," and shed a light over the understand- 
 ings of those to whom he comes, that they shall see and un- 
 derstand his word. In Eev. xii, 6, we read that the wo- 
 man, the symbol of the church, fled into the wilderness to 
 be fed there 1260 days, and in the thirteenth and fourteenth 
 verses, the dragon persecuted the woman, and she was in 
 the wilderness a time, times, and a half time. This wilder- 
 ness is symbolical of darkness, outside of civilization, which 
 is true, for the papacy monopolized the civilized world, and 
 in Eev. xiii. 5, we read tho beast, synonymous with the lit- 
 tle horn, had power for forty and two months, and these 
 texts combined, prove the period of 1260 years of spiritual 
 darkness, that is, an absence of the Son of man, shining like 
 lightning from the east to the west. As to whether those 
 commentators are right who assume that the end of the 
 1260 years will see a sudden disruption of the world, or 
 temporal empire, or see a universal reign of goodness with- 
 out evil, much is conjecture yet, but Christ tells us in the 
 parable, in Matt xiii. 24, where he says the kingdom of 
 heaven retains the tares until the harvest ; moreover, a con- 
 suming of a kingdom is gradual ; at all events the facts are 
 before us, and with them is shed a light upon the proph- 
 esy. 
 
 "15. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit, in the midst of 
 my body [sheath], and the visions of my head troubled me. 
 
 " 16. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and 
 asked him the truth of all this ; so he told me and made 
 me know the interpretation of the things. 
 
 " 17. These great beasts, which are four, are four Mngs, 
 which shall arise out of the earth. 
 
 " 18. But the saints of the Most High [high ones, that is 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 209 
 
 things or places] shall take the kingdom and possess the 
 kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. 
 
 " 19. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, 
 which was diverse from all the others [all those], exceeding 
 dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass, 
 which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue 
 with his feet. 
 
 " 20.. And of the ten horns that were in his head, and 
 of the other which came up, and before whom three fell, 
 even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake 
 very great things, whose look was more stout than his fel- 
 lows. 
 
 "21. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the 
 saints, and prevailed against them. 
 
 " 22. Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was 
 given to the saints of the Most High ; and the time came 
 that the saints possessed the kingdom. 
 
 " 23. Thus he said, ' The fonrth beast shall be the fourth 
 kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all king- 
 doms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall trsad it 
 down and break it in pieces. y. 
 
 " 24. ' And the ten horns out of thisjdngdom are ten 
 kings that shall arise ; and another shall rise after them, and 
 he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three 
 kings. 
 
 " 25. ' And he shall speak great words against the Most 
 High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and 
 think to change times and laws ; and they shall be given 
 into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of 
 time.'*' 
 
 Ver. 26 says : " The judgment shall sit, and they shall 
 take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto 
 
210 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the end." And ver. 27 shows how they shall have the 
 kingdom. The first thing here is the judgment, and then 
 the power is to be consumed, &c. As to the judgment this 
 corresponds with the period of the seventh angel, Eev. xi. 
 15, where it is said : •' The kingdoms of the world are be- 
 come the kingdoms of our Lord." And in Matt. xxiv. 31 : 
 " And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a 
 trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the 
 four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other." And 
 as to the nature of this judgment, and where it is or was, 
 we must examine carefully and refer to other portions of 
 scripture, and for a full elucidation of this part of the 
 prophecy we must go back to ver. 9-14, inclusive, of 
 which ver. 26, 27, are a continuation of the explanation. 
 
 " 9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the 
 Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, 
 and the hair of his head like the pure wool ; his throne was 
 like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 
 
 "10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before 
 him ; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten 
 thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judg- 
 ment was set and the books were opened. 
 
 "11. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great 
 words which the horn spake ; I beheld, even till the beast 
 was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning 
 flame. 
 
 " 12. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had 
 their dominion taken away, yet [prolonging in life was 
 given them] their lives were prolonged for a season and 
 time. * 
 
 " 13. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like 
 the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 211 
 
 to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before 
 him. 
 
 " 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, 
 and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languageSj 
 should serve him ; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
 which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which 
 shall not be destroyed. " 
 
 "26. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take 
 away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the 
 end. 
 
 " 27. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness 
 of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to 
 the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom 
 is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions [rulers] shall 
 serve and obey him. 
 
 " 28. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me, 
 Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my counte- 
 nance changed in roe ; but I kept the matter in my heart." 
 
 And again I will draw largely on Prof. Bush, whose ex- 
 position of these verses in the Hierophant is the most 
 clear and philosophical I find, where the exact meaning 
 of the original of each word is weighed. His work is 
 an analysis of the language, and a copious reference to 
 other texts. I will therefore give his results as to his 
 (Daniel's) seeing till the thrones or kingdoms, i. e. the ten 
 horns and the three horns, were abolished and destroyed. 
 The Ancient of days designates the Father, and the sitting 
 js merely symbolical to convey to the mind the idea of a 
 judgment. The other. figures are the same used in Rev. i. 
 14, and in Luke ix. 29. I beheld (or was beholding, or see- 
 ing, or in an ecstatic state of perception) until the thrones 
 were cast down, or set, or placed, or planted ; that is, the 
 
212 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DAHIEL. 
 
 vision was seen until the ten horns or kingdoms existed. 
 Then he goes on consecutively to give what he saw. And we 
 must bear in mind that the prophetic vision brings the picture 
 as it were to the present time. And he saw from the year 550 
 B. C. to the reign of Tiberias Caesar, when the beast (pagan 
 Eome) was divided, according to Gibbon, into ten king- 
 doms ; for most versions, including the Douay, render the 
 passage, " till the thrones were set or placed," and Bush 
 adopts this translation, and when they were set he beheld 
 "till the Ancient of days did sit;" or as Bush translates, 
 the Enduring of days, or the Father. And then follows a 
 description of his sitting. And about this period, or shortly 
 after, in consecutive order, the Father sat, and as we learn 
 from ver. 13, 14, for the purpose of receiving the Son of 
 man, who came and received his kingdom. All this was 
 done in heaven, evidently not on earth. And G-od wanted 
 his witness to it, therefore do we read in John xxi, 26 : 
 "Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus 
 loved [John] following, which also leaned on his breast at 
 supper [John xiii. 23, 25 ; this was John] and said, ' Lord, 
 which is he that betrayeth thee V Peter seeing him [John] 
 saith to Jesus, ' Lord, what shall this man do *' " He having 
 just told Peter what lie should do, and his end, "Jesus saith 
 unto him, ' If i" will that he tarry till I come, what is that to 
 thee V" Then John says he is the disciple indicated, and the 
 implication is that Jesus said that John should tarry till he 
 came, which he did ; for in Rev. i. 10-18, John saw the Son 
 of man, and described him. His Jtairs were white, like wool, 
 as white as snow. And in the succeeding chapters of Rev- 
 elation we find the scene of these nine and ten verses more 
 fully described ; " The judgment was set, and the books 
 were opened." 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 213 
 
 In Rev. iv. 2, John saw "a throne set in heaven," &c. 
 These were things to transpire in heaven, and the Lord 
 gives us John as a witness to them ; and as Daniel's vision 
 extended into his future, likewise does John's. Here we 
 have this portion of the nine and ten verses given to us 
 in the first six chapters of Revelation, and then beholding 
 the great words of the little horn were seen, this brings us 
 down four or five hundred years more. And he beheld till 
 the beast (pagan Rome) was slain ; this, we have seen, was in 
 the year 476. As for the other beasts, their dominion was 
 taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and 
 a time, thus, Persia becoming an independent kingdom in 
 the third century. The history of Greece is fluctuating, 
 but it was lost to the beast before the destruction of the em- 
 pire. I have elsewhere defined the period of the season and 
 a time, nevertheless, Mr. Bush, on a careful analysis of the 
 language, "for a season and a time," concludes by a com- 
 parison with other scripture, that, by the usus loquendi, they 
 do not mean a definite point or period of time, but a length 
 of time, as where time is used in the sense of the twenty- 
 fifth verse. The translation, " a prolonging of life was giv- 
 en them," coincides better with their history as fluctuating, 
 and in the thirteenth and fourteenth verses, we find he saw 
 the Son of man coming and receiving his kingdom, &c, as 
 described in Rev. i. 7, 13. Here he goes back, and " he saw 
 his kingdom given to him." It must be noticed that Daniel 
 does not see into the kingdom of Christ, he only saw it 
 founded ; but in point of time his vision extended beyond its 
 foundation, and related to the beast being slain, and the lit- 
 tle hom speaking words, &c. The fact of the foundation 
 of {Be kingdom, he tells us he saw, but the Lord raised 
 John to be the witness of its history. The vision ends with 
 
214 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the fourteenth verse, and here Daniel tells us he was troub- 
 led in his head, &c., as all persons are after experiencing 
 great visions, or being deeply entranced. He asks the an- 
 gel the meaning of it all, and was answered as we have 
 seen throughout these remarks, until he comes to the twen- 
 ty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses, where he tells Daniel 
 what was not in the vision, that after the saints have been 
 in the power of the little horn 1260 years, the judgment 
 shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion. Here 
 again we must look to the spiritual world for the judgment, 
 as we do in John's Revelation for these prophecies, and all 
 history teaches the observing man, that revolutions, actions, 
 events, changes, &c, all things, even to men, used as instru- 
 ments, are from the spiritual world. Man proposes, but 
 God disposes ; and in proof of this, is this prophecy. It 
 was visible in the spiritual world centuries before it was ul- 
 timated in this, therefore it was designed to ultimate. More- 
 over, we find that all pivotal men, or great leaders, or rev- 
 olutienists, or reformers, are mediatorial men, used in the 
 providence of God as instruments, and this we discern in 
 their history, in features, however, which usually, through 
 ignorance, are discarded. Alexander saw the high-priest 
 of Jerusalem in a vision, before he saw him in the body. 
 There is no sound reason for doubting this, and attrib- 
 uting the story to policy. Socrates had a familiar, Luther 
 was open to spiritual influences, and probably guided by 
 them. He saw one whom he thought to be the devil. Kon- 
 aparte was a fatalist, evincing thereby an intuition of an 
 unseen guidance. Mohammed, as do all religious founders, 
 received his ideas from the spirit world, but unfortunately 
 not always from heaven. I merely name these to show the 
 fact, that the judgment will sit in heaven, or the spirit world, 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 215 
 
 and its decrees be ultimated here, when they relate hereto. 
 And now we have another judgment about or preceding the 
 period of 1260 years from the time when the saints were de • 
 livered into the little horn's power, and as the Lord raised 
 up John as a witness to the judgment, and setting of the 
 throne, &c, in the Apocalypse, so does he give us Sweden- 
 borg as a witness to this judgment ; and as the Jewish 
 church discarded the first witness, because he was a cap- 
 tive prophet, and subsequently because his Christ did not 
 suit them ; so at one period the Christian church entirely, 
 and much of it now in reality, discards the Apocalypse, be- 
 cause, as they lost Christianity they lost wisdom : I mean 
 the wisdom mentioned by Christ, in Rev. xiii. 18 and xvii. 
 9. So does the church discard the evidence of Sweden- 
 borg to this last judgment, which he witnessed in 1757 and 
 thirteen years after. He tells us in his T. C. R, 791, 
 "After this work was finished, the Lord called together his 
 twelve disciples who followed him in the world, and the 
 next day he sent them all out into the whole spiritual world, 
 to preach the gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, 
 whose reign will be for ages of ages, according to the pre- 
 diction of Daniel vii. 13, 14, and in Eev. xi. 15, and that 
 they are blessed who come to the wedding supper of the 
 Lamb. This was done on the 19th day of June, 1770. 
 This was meant by these words of the Lord, ' He will send 
 his angels, and they shall gather together his elect from one 
 end of the heavens even to the other,' Matt. xxiv. 31." In 
 this chapter of Matthew, the Lord at the request of the dis- 
 ciples, ver. 3-9, gave a cursory view of this era or gene- 
 ration, and at the ninth verse he comes to the persecu- 
 tions in the first century, then he reaches the. abomination 
 of desolation, spoken by Daniel, chap. xii. 11. Then shall 
 
216 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 arise false Christs and prophets, ver. 24, as they abundant- 
 ly did in the first and second centuries. Then he reminds 
 them that Christ does not come in the same way again, but 
 only by his spirit shedding light, as described in the twenty- 
 seventh verse ; then in the twenty-ninth verse, after the 
 tribulations caused by the various dissensions in the early 
 church, comes great darkness ; and common history has 
 called these the dark ages, as though the Lord christened 
 them. Then the sign of some light appears ; this is the Ref- 
 ormation. Then, as foretold in the thirty-first verse, this 
 judgment, and now the Lord Jesus Christ is preached with 
 light from his own spirit, in this and the spiritual world ; 
 and then he goes on to say the end is near, and the other 
 scriptures plainly teach the end of this era is approaching. - 
 The judgment seen by Swedenborg was in 1757 ; and 
 here we firtd the papal power waning, because a reform had 
 been inaugurated in the spiritual world, and is being ulti- 
 mated here. The twenty-seventh verse describes the state 
 of Christianity when the little horn shall have been destroyed 
 unto the end, and by adding the cycle of forty years we have 
 1797, of which the reader has already been told. There is 
 another point to be taken into connection with this chapter, 
 for as I before remarked, the book of Daniel must be taken 
 as a whole and complete work. We find this in his first vis- 
 ion, and he had two others, one in the eighth chapter, and 
 another in the tenth. I do not include his conversation with 
 the angels. In chapter xii., at the end of the explanation 
 of the third vision, Daniel overheard two men discoursing 
 on these visions, and one told the other the length of each 
 vision. This was evidently for Daniel's edification, though 
 his angel had closed his book and communication, &c, ver. 
 4. And it was revealed that it was for a time, times and a 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 217 
 
 half, when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power 
 of the holy people ; therefore this seventh verse tells us the du- 
 ration of Daniel's first vision in the seventh chapter. "We 
 find it commenced with the first beasjyiri'the seventh, or head 
 pf the image in.the second chapter. This beast we have seen 
 was the Assyrian or Chaldean empire. This commences in 
 the year A. M. 3416 ; this is 747 B. C, to which add 
 A. D. 613, and it makes 1260, being the length of the 
 vision ; and this is in the reign of Theodoric, the period we 
 named as the commencement of the dominancy of the pa- 
 pacy. If the first period is correct as to the birth of the 
 first beast, then we have an exact data for this seventh verse, 
 in chap. xii. which tells us it is 1260 years after that, that he 
 accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, which 
 is the extent of the first vision ; and commencing then the 
 1260 years of papal dominion, we have the year 1773, im- 
 mediately after Swedenborg's judgment revelation. This is 
 a period pregnant with revolutions in both Europe and 
 America. 
 
 Voltaire and others led the mind of Europe against 
 the spurious Christianity, and the world broke loose from 
 Rome. How this revolution has progressed, for great rev- 
 olutions are not matters ot a day, but of a time, is depicted 
 in the papers of this 31st March, 1860, wherein is announced 
 the vote of the people of central Italy for annexation to 
 Sardinia, and separation from the papal dominion. In 
 Bologna, Ravenna, Forli and Ferrari, total vote for annexa- 
 tion 202,659 ; for a separate kingdom, or to remain in statu 
 quo, 254 ; void votes, 444. So much for the pope's do- 
 minion at home ; and in a daily print of the same date we 
 find the following reflection of the times, showing that the 
 
 10 
 
218 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 world recognizes that these prophecies are being accom- 
 plished : 
 
 " When Martin Luther blazed upon Germany, a revolu- 
 tion was initiated against the ecclesiastical despotism, hoary 
 with centuries, which involved the whole of Europe in con- 
 flicts and coalitions for two centuries, settling down finally 
 in a partial consummation in the establishment of the new 
 kingdom of Prussia, under Frederick the Great, and the re- 
 form of the Roman Catholic Church everywhere. Hardly 
 had this been achieved, and the dynasties flattered them- 
 selves that they were now entering upon a peaceful era, in 
 which they could look after the commercial development of 
 their dominions, when the first French revolution burst upon 
 France, and the European continent was again involved in 
 revolution, now directed against the feudal despotism upon 
 which its dynastiea were founded. This revolution has 
 gone on, with varying success } for seventy years, but it still 
 exists. The political order of things in Europe is not yet 
 settled, The dynasties still cling to the hoary feudalism of 
 reigning by ' divine right,' and by ' the right of blood,' 
 and the revolution has its representatives, too, who claim to 
 reign in virtue of the popular will. Nay, more ; this rep- 
 resentative advances the idea that dynasties must be 
 founded on ' satisfied nationalities,' and, wondrous to be- 
 hold, Italy, the cradle and home of ecclesiastical despotism, 
 the people that for fifteen centuries has had no national or 
 political existence, comes forward, and, by the unanimous 
 exercise of the popular voice, constitutes herself a nation, 
 great and powerful, upon the revolutionary platform of 
 Europe. It is the greatest spectacle that the age has seen. 
 
 " But where will these progressive changes end ? Will 
 feudalism give up its hold on European society without a 
 
THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS. 219 
 
 struggle ? Is ecclesiastical despotism utterly routed ? Abun- 
 dant evidences are daily to be seen that the end is not yet; 
 that feudalism will still make a powerful resistance ; that 
 the ecclesiastics cling with desperate tenacity to the remains 
 of their temporal sway." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTER TOl, IN FAST, AND X. OP DANIEL.) 
 
 THE VISION OF THE BAM AND HE-GOAT, ASD THE VISION 
 OP ANGELS. 
 
 The eighth chapter contains the second vision of Daniel, 
 as seen in the third year of Belshazzar, about the year A. 
 M. 3610 ; and to come to a correct understanding of it, it 
 will be necessary to analyse each verse both of this and the 
 explanatory chapters, as was done in the preceding chapter. 
 As in that we must be guided by the whole book as one 
 story, and complete in itself, as well as in all its parts, as 
 before remarked. 
 
 Although this is some two years later than the other 
 vision of Daniel, yet he had not arrived at that state when 
 he comprehended them. Hence it becomes necessary to 
 treat thus early of the tenth chapter, showing that some 
 17 years later, Daniel having prayed for enlightenment 
 during the whole period, at the end of 21 years, or three full 
 weeks from the beginning, his prayers were answered, and 
 he received a full explanation of these visions unfolded to 
 him by degrees, as detailed in the eleventh and twelfth 
 chapters ; in the first of which the angel refers to his former 
 efforts with Daniel, and then proceeds to unfold in succinct 
 historical order, the incidents necessary to explain this and 
 the previous vision, as shown to him and recorded in the 
 seventh and eighth chapters, filling up, as it were, the long 
 blank periods. 
 
 Faber calls that in the eleventh chapter, a vision, but it 
 
VISIONS OF THE EAM AND HE-GOAT, ETC. 221 
 
 is more properly to be considered of an explanatory char- 
 acter, as it will be seen throughout the book that each rev- 
 elation is but a scene on a larger and more extended scale, 
 elaborated from those contained in the previous visions, as 
 that in the seventh chapter is but another view of that in 
 the second, and that in the eighth a scene amplified from 
 that in the seventh, and so with all the subsequent pictures. 
 
 Ver. 1 : "In the third year of the reign of King Bel- 
 shazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me, Daniel, 
 after that which appeared unto me at the first." 
 
 Ver. 2 : "And I saw in a vision ; and it came to pass 
 when I saw that I was at Shushan, in the palace, which is 
 . in the province of Elam ; and I saw in a vision, and I was 
 by the river of Ulai." 
 
 It will be perceived that in the first verse Daniel refers to 
 his previous vision in a manner that indicates a connection 
 between the two. Deeming that there are no superfluous 
 words or sentences in the book, this is evidently named to 
 draw attention to the explanatory character of this vision. 
 
 In the second verse he gives us his locality, at Shushan, 
 in the palace, in the province of Elam ; as he could not have 
 been there personally, in the body, he must have been there 
 spiritually, for this was in Persia, and Daniel, at the period 
 in question, belonged to the court at Babylon, between 
 which countries war then existed, of which the reader will 
 find more in the elucidation of the tenth chapter. Daniel 
 could not have been in the palace of the enemy, and visible 
 to them. Lowth, to obviate the difficulty, says : " The 
 province had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel- 
 was a governor there, though the viceroy afterwards re- 
 volted under Cyrus ;" but this is evidently error. Eollin 
 tells us that they were the earliest to throw off the yoke of 
 
222 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Babylon, under Cyaxares I., and were at this period at war 
 with Babylon, under Cyrus. 
 
 But the text is really clear enough on the subject. The 
 vision in the seventh chapter purports to be in the shape of 
 a dream. This comes otherwise, for he is impressive in 
 stating that he saw in a vision ; that is, not in the natural state. 
 The Douay version reads thus : " And I saw in the vision 
 that I was over the gate of Ulai;" which indicates that he 
 meant to say that it was in spirit only that he was there, 
 for he could not have seen in vision otherwise, and it was 
 totally unnecessary that he should have been there bodily, 
 to have seen in the vision that he was there. 
 
 The literal reading of the words are these, and the com- 
 mentators of the church, on this passage, depart from the 
 literal meaning evidently because they do not understand 
 the subject of the spiritual man, and its capacities to leave 
 the body, but there are numerous well-authenticated in- 
 stances of this phenomenon. 
 
 But the last verse of the chapter shows conclusively that 
 Daniel's body was in Babylon when his spirit stood at 
 Shushan, in the palace ; for it commences by saying the 
 thing occurred in the reign of King Belshazzar, and then 
 winds up by informing us of the physical effect of the deep 
 trance to which he had been subjected, and afterward he 
 " rose up and did the king's business." This refers to the 
 same king. 
 
 The same thing, in effect, is told of our Lord's tempta- 
 tion, when he went into the wilderness for forty days, being 
 led by the spirit. And we find he did much the same as 
 Daniel will be shown to have done in this chapter : he ate 
 nothing, thereby acquiring a spiritual state. "And the 
 devil taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him 
 
VISIONS OF THE EAM AND HE-GOAT, ETC. 223 
 
 all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.'' Now 
 no one will contend that this was seen from the natural body. 
 Nor can any sane person believe that he went with his 
 natural body to a pinnacle of the temple ; and this intends 
 to depict Jesus in his humanity, a man of flesh and blood. 
 Hence we are taught by this example that the spirit leaves 
 the body. These phenomena are only misconstrued by the 
 natural or materialistic man. He saw in his vision that he 
 was at Susa. Lowth, and the general run of commentators, 
 evidently have not had their attention turned to this spiritual 
 phenomenon ; and the idea of a man being at one place in 
 spirit, and at another in his body, was- beyond their thought, 
 it being a truth revealed only to this age, but imperfectly 
 if at all known heretofore ; but it comes now, because we 
 are in the early dawn of a new heaven and a new earth, as 
 foretold in this book. 
 
 This chapter like the last has a partial explanation in the 
 latter half of it, beginning at the fifteenth verse, which like- 
 wise shows- the writer to have been in the spirit, for he 
 heard a man's voice (or the appearance of a man's voice) 
 between the banks of Ulai, &c, which called on Gabriel, 
 who throughout appears as Daniel's guardian angel, and he 
 tells him "The vision shall be at the time of the end." 
 That is, the principal thing presented, the object of the vis- 
 ion, &c. 
 
 Ver. 3 : " Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, be- 
 hold, there stood before the river a ram which had two 
 horns ; and the two horns were high, but one was higher 
 than the other [or second], and the higher came up last." 
 
 Ver. 20 : " The ram which tho u sawest, having two horns, 
 are the kings of Media and Persia." 
 
 In the third verse, explained by the twentieth, the Medo- 
 
224 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DASIEL. 
 
 Persian empire is seen, and the peculiar literalness of this 
 verse is worthy of note, though perhaps not more so than 
 the others. Mr. Cummings says every historian will tell 
 you, " The ram's head of gold was the diadem of the Per- 
 sian kings. " The two horns are Media and Persia. Per- 
 sia was greater (higher) than Media, though the latter was 
 first, in point of time, a kingdom ; Media being coeval with 
 Babylon, B. C. 747, while Persia arose later, and of her 
 history we are in ignorance. They joined and formed this 
 empire B. C. 536. 
 
 Ver. 4 : "I saw the ram pushing westward, and north- 
 ward, and southward, so that no beasts might stand before 
 him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his 
 hand ; but he did according to his will and became great." 
 
 Ver. 5 : " And as I was considering, behold a he-goat 
 came from the west, on the face of the whole earth, and 
 touched not the ground \or none touched him in the earth], 
 and the goat had a notable horn [a, horn of sight] between 
 his eyes." 
 
 Ver. 21 : " And the rough goat is the king of Grecia, 
 and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first 
 king." 
 
 Ver. 6 : " And he came to the ram that had two horns, 
 which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto 
 him in the fury of his power." 
 
 Ver. 7 : " And I saw him come close unto the ram, and 
 he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram and 
 brake his two horns ; and there was no power in the ram to 
 stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and 
 stamped upon him ; and there was none that could deliver 
 the ram out of his hand." 
 
 Ver. 8 : "Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and 
 
etc. 225 
 
 when he "was strong, the great horn was broken ; and 
 for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of 
 heaven." 
 
 Ver. 22 : " Now that [the great horn or first king] being 
 broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall 
 stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." 
 
 Beginning at the fourth verse, with the partial explana- 
 tions, we must turn to the tenth and eleventh chapters for 
 the particulars, whereby we can recognize the historical 
 fabric, the framework of which they fill. Hence, the 
 fourth verse and the second of the eleventh chapter, must be 
 read together, being an explanation given seventeen years 
 after, about A. M. 3627, in the reign of Cyrus, as we find 
 by the opening of the tenth and eleventh chapters, in the 
 latter of which Gabriel refers to his efforts with Daniel, three 
 years previously. But for a more complete understanding 
 of the connection of these chapters, we must lay before the 
 reader our explanation of the tenth chapter. 
 
 Ver. 1 : " In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a 
 thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called 
 Belteshazzar, and the thing was true, but the time appoint- 
 ed was long [great], and he understood the thing, and had 
 understanding of the vision." 
 
 Ver. 2 ; "In those days I Daniel was mourning three full 
 weeks [weeks of days]." 
 
 Ver. 3 : "I ate no pleasant bread [bread of desires], nei- 
 ther came flesh nor wine in my mouth,, neither did I 
 anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled." 
 
 The translation in the Douay version reads thus : 
 
 " A word was revealed to Daniel, surnamed Baltazzar, 
 and a true word and great strength, and he understood the 
 word, for there is need of understanding in a vision. In 
 10* 
 
226 EXPQsrnoBr op the book of daniel. 
 
 those days I Daniel mourned the days of three weeks. I 
 ate no desirable bread," &c. 
 
 It may seem singular that the first verse is written in the 
 third person and the others in the first. De Wettes urges 
 this as an argument in favor of the spuriousness of the book, 
 but it is rather a matter of astonishment that he should crit- 
 icise a piece of Chaldean literature by the measure of a peo- 
 ple twenty-four hundred years later on the world's stage. 
 It refers in a manner to the name of Daniel, proving my po- 
 sition in the first chapter, that Daniel is really more the title 
 of this gospel than the name of a person, and applied to him 
 who was called Belteshazzar. It likewise refers to the great 
 length of time into which this prophecy runs, and that the 
 seer then had an understanding of it, which he did not have 
 of the early vision given to him some twenty years previous- 
 ly. This fact should be noted by the reader, that Daniel 
 had arrived at that time or state in which he had under- 
 standing of the vision. 
 
 Before entering on a discussion of the second and third 
 Verses, it may be well to have before us all that portion of 
 the chapter in any way bearing or relating to these, and 
 they proceed as follows : 
 
 Ver. 4 : " And in the four and twentieth day of the first 
 month, as I was by the side of the great river which is Hid- 
 dekel :" 
 
 Ver. 5: "Then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and 
 behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were 
 girded with fine gold of Uphaz." 
 
 Ver. 6 : " His body also was like the beryl [chrysolite], 
 and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as 
 lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to pol- " 
 iahed brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a 
 multitude." 
 
VISIONS OF THE RAM AND HE-GOAT, ETC. 227 
 
 To understand Daniel's position as here stated we must 
 ascertain what he means by the great river Hiddekel, which 
 is mentioned but once elsewhere in the Bible, in Gen. ii. 14, 
 in ajdescription of the generations of the heavens and t/ie earth, 
 often confounded with the generations of Adam. "We find 
 then, there are four rivers described, evidently not real rivers 
 of this earth ; hence, as is apparent from the style of the nar- 
 ration, they are spiritual rivers, and denote states. Sweden- 
 borg says this one denotes reason, and I see no cause to re- 
 ject that definition. Daniel says then, that he was in a 
 trance, having a vision, having understanding of the thing, 
 because his reason was clear ; he was in a state of lucid 
 reasoning. This state is likewise denoted by the period 
 named, i. e., the 24th of the first month, which is utterly 
 useless, and insignificant to record as a literal statement of 
 time, for, no principle whatever is involved therein ; hence 
 we read in this fourth verse, the state of Daniel's spirit by 
 reason of the fast through which he had been educated. 
 And being in this state, he was enabled to see and converse 
 with Gabriel, the angel who was instructing him. 
 
 Ver. 7 : " And I Daniel alone saw the vision, for the 
 men tlat were with me saw not the vision, but a great 
 quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves." ' 
 
 Ver. 8 : " Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great 
 vision, and there remained no strength in me, for my come- 
 liness [vigor] was turned in me into corruption, and I re- 
 tained no strength." 
 
 Ver. 9 : " Yet heard I the voice of his words, and when 
 I heard the voice of his words, then wasT in a deep sleep 
 on my face, and my face toward the ground." 
 
 Ver. 10 : " And behold, a hand touched me, which set 
 [moved] me upon my knees, and upon the palms of my 
 hands." 
 
228 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Ver.ll: " And he said unto me, 'ODaniel,a mangreatly 
 beloved [a man of desires], understand the words that I 
 speak unto thee, and stand upright, for unto thee am I now 
 sent.' And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood 
 trembling." . 
 
 These last verses describe the physical state into which 
 Daniel was thrown, being that of trance. The seventh 
 verse has a parallel in Paul's conversion, Acts ix. 7, wherein 
 he says : "And the men which journeyed with him stood 
 speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man." " And 
 Paul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened 
 he saw no man." This species of trance will be familiar 
 to those who have observed the phenomena to which some 
 men are subjected ; especially is the experience described, the 
 nausea, the lassitude and prostration which are abundantly 
 seen at this day. 
 
 Having spread before the reader the state of Daniel, we 
 will now recur to the second and third verses, which tell 
 us the process which he underwent to arrive at this state of 
 trance and lucid understanding, and much of this discussion 
 depends on the correct reading of the " three full weeks." 
 
 It seems never to have occurred to the commentators, 
 that a holy man might lead an ascetic life, or even an ab- 
 stemious one, for three full weeks of scriptural days or years. 
 The case as described by Daniel, and as practised by him- 
 self, is by no means a very difficult one, and has had many 
 a parallel, particularly in the Roman church, and among 
 the Asiatics, though perhaps to a less good purpose ; yet the 
 passage has been universally accepted as of three weeks of 
 ordinary days. In fact Professor Stuart bases one of his 
 arguments against Prof. Bush's theories, that it was absurd 
 to think otherwise, and says : 
 
VISIONS OF THE BAM AND HE-GOAT, ETC. 229 
 
 " And as to chap. x. 2, 3 : Surely no one will contend 
 that Daniel fasted twenty-one years, which must be the 
 conclusion, however, if days are to be regarded as the rep- 
 resentatives of years ; but in ix. 24, as has been said, days 
 are not brought at all into question, the phraseology em- 
 ployed (seventy heptades) is indeed elliptical, yet it is not 
 at all obscure, for every mind spontaneously supplies the 
 word years in such connection." To which Bush replies : 
 " Tou maintain that the original Hebrew phrase rendered 
 seventy weeks, properly signifies seventy sevens, and may as le- 
 gitimately be understood of weeks, of years, as of days. 
 Now, granting for a moment that this is correct, it would 
 seem that some consideration should be given to the fact 
 that the whole current of ancient versions and interpreta- 
 tions, Jewish and Christian, agrees in rendering seventy 
 weeks — E^dojuosde?, weeks, and not eTrradeg, heptades, as 
 might be inferred from your language, is the rendering of 
 the Greek, &c. This is a fact to be accounted for, and 
 one which no thorough-going discussion of the subject is at 
 liberty to overlook. Yet to this fact not the slightest allu- 
 sion is made in your critique, as if the case were one which 
 admitted no manner of doubt. You say that as disao is 
 a regular masculine plural, it is purposely chosen to desig- 
 nate the plural of seven, and of course seventy sevens must 
 denote seventy heptades of years, without any implication 
 whatever of weeks of days. But who has a right to take 
 this for granted? Every Hebrew scholar will of course ad- 
 mit that the word d^sais is derived from a root signifying' 
 seven, but D^SMB is not the normal plural of the Hebrew 
 term for seven." He proceeds with many quotations, 
 touching the etymology of the word, and says : ' r It appears 
 beyond debate that the Hebrews—had a distinct term for 
 
230 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the conventional designation of time which we call a week. 
 This term is S31B or more fully written SiaiU derived from 
 the radical saiB seven." Now, the original word, as dis- 
 cussed above, of the three full weeks stands in the original 
 thus : DTsaiD as above ; which Bush proceeds to show 
 indicates, primarily, weelcs of days, which, by the ususloquendi, 
 is appropriated to sevens of years. Thus we find both 
 authors sustaining, rather than otherwise, that this means 
 weeks of years, by the Hebrew usage. Yet both, in the 
 warmth of a debate on their specialty, the etymology of the 
 language, lose sight of the substance, respecting acts. 
 Daniel is not said to have fasted for the period in question, 
 but only to have observed an abstinence ; all that he did 
 was to abstain from wine, meat, and a certain quality of 
 bread, and the external application of oil ; the latter both 
 professors have done very well without for a longer period 
 than twenty-one years ; and doubtless they have known 
 instances of abstinence from wine, and perhaps meat, for 
 the like period. This was a practice in the East ; and it is 
 well known that this species of asceticism renders the man 
 more open to spiritual influx or inspiration, and a radical 
 change from a gross and material to a spiritual man can- 
 not- be made in a day or a year ; hence the number of fasts 
 proclaimed by Moses, and observed by the Jews; they 
 were especially observed by the so-called heathen nations. 
 And our Lord fasted forty days, which induced an exalted 
 spiritual experience ; and it stands to reason that if our 
 blood or body is replenished to some extent by the food we 
 eat, the composition of the man must partake somewhat of 
 its character ; hence, if the food be animal, the tendency 
 will be to increase the animal proportion of the man. If 
 fasting after Daniel's fashion were more observed it would 
 
VISIONS OF THE RAM AND HE-GOAT, ETC. 231 
 
 be well for the physical as well as the moral man. But let 
 us look at the historical surroundings of this piece of infor- 
 mation ; first premising that it were a small matter to 
 encumber the record with, that the writer kept a species of 
 Lent for three Weeks. Looking back we find the record of 
 Daniel's visions commences in the seventh chapter, and 
 they continue to the end of the twelfth, as a continuous 
 theme ; and they comprise all that is covered by the phrase 
 vision, when used in these connections, the two dreams of 
 the king, the same theme, in a more indistinct form, having- 
 occurred some three fourths of a century back. The first 
 vision, then, occurred in A. M. 3507, or early in 3508, 
 being in the first years of Belshazzar's reign. Two years 
 later he had another, recorded in the eighth chapter, " and 
 none understood the viswn." Yet Daniel must have been 
 perplexed, and desirous of understanding them. Therefore 
 by this mode of abstinence, and a suppression of the animal 
 nature, he opened himself to spiritual communings with 
 the heavens, and this course of life he continued in its 
 righteousness and abstemiousness to the end ; which was in 
 the third year of Cyrus, A. M. 3528, twenty-one years 
 from his first efforts to develop the prophetic state, which 
 must have been shortly before his first vision. That this is 
 the true meaning is apparent from the language, " in these 
 days,'" which is a mode of expression applied to a longer 
 period than days or weeks ; it means those times, or along 
 tho?e years. But the next fonr verses more fully prove 
 this position. 
 
 Ver. 12: "Then said he unto me, ' Fear not, Daniel, 
 for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to un- 
 derstand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words 
 were heard, and I am come for thy words. 
 
232 EXPOSITION Off THE BOOK OF "OANIEL. 
 
 "13. ' But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood 
 me one and twenty days : but lo, Michael, one [the first] 
 of the chief princes, came to help me ; and I remained there 
 with the kings of Persia. 
 
 "14. 'Now I am come to make thee understand what 
 shall befall thy people in the latter days ; for yet the vision 
 ' is for many days.' 
 
 "15. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I 
 set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb." 
 
 Here, we find, the messenger tells him from the first he was 
 heard, but he was detained by the prince of Persia. Now 
 this must mean the spirits of that empire, for an earthly prince 
 could not waylay an angel. This and the thirteenth verse 
 refer plainly to a war or contest extending over those twenty- 
 one days that the angel was detained, when Michael came and 
 stayed with the Persians. Cyrus began his war against 
 Babylon, about A. M. 3505, and undoubtedly invoked his 
 gods to help him. And it seems Michael, the great spirit 
 or angel of " your people," stayed with him, because the Lord 
 had so promised in Jer. xxv. Thus Michael was God's mes- 
 senger, to bring the Persians under Cyrus into Babylon. 
 The reader must bear in mind, as I have elsewhere stated, 
 Michael does not designate an individual spirit, but a grand 
 man, society, or power of angels combined. Thus was a 
 spiritual conflict carried on, ultimating in a mundane one, 
 whereby Cyrus conquered Babylon in 35^fe, making twenty- 
 one years that Daniel's angel was withstood. This, it will 
 be perceived, gives an intelligent and a reasonable meaning 
 to the matter ; otherwise it is an idle tale that Daniel fasted 
 for three weeks, and the angel that was sent to him by the 
 Lord, became engaged in a fight, and after a contest for 
 some twenty-one days he found a friend, named Michael, to 
 
VISIONS OF THE KAM AND HE-GOAT, ETC. 233 
 
 help him out of the scrape, and after he was so relieved he 
 then prosecuted his errand. Now this is wholly unworthy 
 of record. But viewing the angel as Gabriel, who stood in 
 the presence of God, and Michael the great heavenly spirit of 
 the Hebrew people, their guardian angel, we can readily 
 perceive that the contest wa3 one between two great states 
 (spiritual as well as natural) for twenty-one years, it being 
 in keeping with the writing throughout. 
 
 The fourteenth verse contains the gist of this chapter ; 
 that is, that the angel came to explain these visions in a 
 manner that Daniel could understand. Here it will be ob- 
 served, he says, " I come to make thee understand what 
 shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision 
 is for many days." The vision that is related in this tenth 
 chapter cannot be what he has particular reference to, for 
 that was but the vision of a man, but all the previous scenes 
 are evidently included, for which he has come to explain to 
 Daniel, for it runs a long way into futurity. The latter 
 days throughout these writings refer to the era or dispensa- 
 tion under consideration ; and when he says "your people," 
 which literally includes the Hebrew nation, the expression 
 refers to the state of people of which they were the type. 
 And when this is properly considered, it proves the position, 
 that these visions are but one, presented in series, explana- 
 tory as they proceed, and this chapter tells -how Daniel 
 came to an understanding of the explanation. 
 
 Ver. 16 : " And, behold; one like the similitude of the sons 
 of men touched my lips ; then I opened my mouth and spake, 
 and said unto him that stood before me, ' O my lord, by the 
 vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained 
 no strength.' " 
 
 Ver. 17 : " 'For how can the servant of this my lord talk 
 
234 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there re- 
 mained no strength, neither is there breath left in me.' " 
 
 Ver. 18: "Then- there came again and touched me, one 
 like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me." 
 
 This is rendered in the Douay version, " He that looked 
 like a man touched me again." 
 
 Ver. 19 : " And said, ' O man, greatly beloved, fear not ; 
 peace be unto thee ; be strong, yea, be strong.' And when 
 he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, ' Let 
 my lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me.' " 
 
 Ver. 20 : " Then said he, ' Knowest thou wherefore I 
 come unto thee ? and now will I return to fight with the 
 prince of Persia, and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince 
 of Grecia shall come,' " or by the Douay version, " When 
 I went forth there appeared the prince of the Greeks, com- 
 
 kg." 
 
 Ver. 21 : "But I will show thee that which is noted in 
 the scripture of truth, and there is none that holdeth with 
 me in these things, but Michael your prince." 
 
 It is worth while for the reader to note particularly the 
 process of giving the inspiration or information. First, we 
 find a spirit or angel throws Daniel into a trance. This is 
 the certain' man, described in the fifth and sixth verses. It 
 is curious to observe how Daniel has all the indications of 
 the trance as seen in that phenomenon at the present day, 
 and described in the eighth verse: the tremor, the fetid 
 breath, and deep sleep, indicating a mesmeric process, act- 
 ing powerfully on the brain and epigastric region, which 
 throws the medium into this abnormal condition. Now it 
 appears that Daniel, in the vision, saw one like the .simili- 
 tude of the sons of men, and touched his lip. Then again, 
 who is this one f for throughout the chapter there are two 
 
VISIONS OF THE KAM AND HE-GOAT, ETC. 235 
 
 persons, one described with a face as the appearance of 
 lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire. This person is 
 like that seen by John, as described in -Rev. i. 14-16, and 
 likewise by Ezekiel, in chap. i. 20, and as James tells us, 
 that men are made after the similitude of God, chap. iii. 9. 
 We can but infer that this was God, the Lord who spoke 
 to Daniel and strengthened him ; and the angel that had 
 put Daniel in the state to perceive the Lord, then addressed 
 him, and gave to him the scripture, or gospel of the king- 
 dom. Herein we see the office of this chapter, and the sto- 
 ry continues throughout the eleventh and twelfth, which Is 
 an arbitrary division. We will continue now with this ex- 
 planatory chapter of the scripture of truth, in connection 
 with the eighth chapter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 (BEINQ PARTS OF CHAPS. VIII. AND XI. OF DANIEL.) 
 THE KING OF THE SOUTH AND THE KING OF THE NORTH. 
 
 Dan. xi. 1, 2 : " Also I, in the first year of Darius the 
 Mede, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And 
 now I will show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand 
 up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far 
 richer than they all, and by his strength, through his riches, 
 he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia." 
 
 The reader will perceive that this is a continuation of the 
 tenth chapter, the same time, incidents, and character ; and 
 in the first verse the angel tells how he communicated the 
 celebrated prophecy of the seventy weeks to Daniel as re- 
 lated in the ninth chapter. 
 
 Ver. 3 : " And a mighty king shall stand up that shall 
 rule with great dominion, and do according to his will [as 
 he pleaseth]." 
 
 Ver. 4 : " And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall 
 be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of 
 heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to his domin- 
 ion which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, 
 even for others [strangers] besides those." 
 
 This was spoken in the third year of Cyrus, as we are 
 told in the first verse of the tenth chapter ; hence the phrase, 
 " there shall stand up yet," refers to his successors, and these 
 things are symbolized by the ram, as told in the third verse 
 of the eighth chapter, and explained in the twentieth verse. 
 Now Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, in A. M. 
 
THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND NOETH. 237 
 
 3633, and he in turn succeeded by Smerdis, within a year, 
 and he by Darius, who died in A. M. 3677. Here are the 
 three kings that were "yet to stand up," and the fourth, 
 "far richer than they all," was Xerxes, the son and succes- 
 sor of Darius. 
 
 Under Darius we find the ram pushing northward and . 
 reducing Babylon, which had revolted ; and southward and 
 westward, the ram pushed and conquered India, but is there 
 defeated by the Greek or "he-goat." But the fourth king 
 of the ram pushes southward and conquers Egypt, and he 
 stirs up a war with Greece, as told in the second verse 
 above, thus described in Eollin, book vi., chap. 2, § 1 : 
 " Xerxes puffed up with his success against the Egyptians, 
 determined to make war against the Grecians, . . . but 
 before he engaged in an enterprise of that importance, he 
 thought proper to assemble his council and take the advice 
 of all the greatest and most illustrious persons of his court. 
 He laid before them the design he had of making war 
 against Greece, and acquainted them with his motives. . . 
 He added further, that the war had been resolved on by his 
 father Darius, and consequently that he only followed and 
 executed his intentions. He concluded with promising 
 ample rewards to those who should distinguish themselves 
 by their valor in the expedition." 
 
 Xerxes commenced this war about the fifth year of his 
 reign, A. M. 3681. Here the ram pushes westward and 
 northward as told in chap. viii. 4 ; and although then beaten 
 by Greece, the he-goat, nevertheless, " he did according to 
 his will, and became great" for many years. The war with 
 Greece was more or less continuous until A. M. 3831, one 
 hundred and fifty years, until he encountered the goat with 
 the "notable horn between his eyes," which is admitted 
 
238 EXPOSITION OP THE BOOK OF DAHIEL. 
 
 to symbolize Alexander of Macedon, chap. viiL 5-8. 
 These spiritual symbols are generally found to have their 
 origin in mundane features, or the latter becomes the ulti- 
 mate of the- former, and history teaches u S that a goat was 
 used on the banners of Macedon as an emblem of their nai- 
 tionality (Justin's history 1 , book viii.). 
 
 This notable horn is. the first king on the Macedonian 
 side of this visipn and explanation, and he, is referred to in, 
 chap. xi. 3, 4, and' chap. viii. 6, 7, 8 ; and by applying the 
 test of history to it,, it will be found not wonderful that com- 
 mentators have rarely disagreed in deciding this, to refer to 
 Alexander, for he utterly overthrew the ram or Persian 
 empire in two battles, Issus and Arbela ; and it will be 
 found that at his death, his posterity were defeated of their 
 inheritance by the frauds and crimes of his generals, who 
 divided the conquests among themselves, and then fell to 
 quarrelling over their plunder, which state of things conn 
 tinued nearly twenty years, and resulted in the prevalence 
 of four survivors, as pictured in chap. viii. 8, and xi. 4, 
 who divided the world of Alexander thus : Ptolemy took 
 Egypt, Libya, Arabia,. Ceelo-Syria, and Palestine. Cas- 
 sandra took Macedonia and Greece. Lysimachus took 
 Thrace, Bitbynia, and Bosphorus, which comprises modern 
 Turkey, and Seleucus had Asia or Syria for his share.* Thus 
 it will be perceived the inheritance of his kingdom was not. to 
 his, Alexander's posterity, nor according to Macedonian law, 
 where he ruled, but was given to " strangers," as told in 
 chap. viii. 8. Then came up four notable horns or king- 
 doms towards the four winds of heaven as told in chap. xi. 
 3, 4; and the mighty king's dominion is scattered and 
 
 * Boffin, book xvii. chap. 1. 
 
THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND UOBTH. 239 
 
 broken, and plucked up for other than his posterity or legal 
 successors. 
 
 Thus far the eleventh chapter' to the fifth verse is explan- 
 atory of chap. viii. 21-23, which also are explanations of 
 the first eight verses, as the fifteenth verse shows ; but of 
 that portion of the vision described in the verses between 
 the eighth and fifteenth there is but a meagre reference in 
 the explanatory verses, and it is to this chapter xi. that a 
 structure is built up on which they stand ; hence it proceeds 
 with these four new powers thus : 
 
 Ver. 5 : " And the king of the south shall be strong, 
 and one of his princes ; and he shall be strong above him, 
 and have dominion, his dominion shall be a great dominion." 
 
 The Douay gives the better rendering of this verse as fol- 
 lows : " And the king of the south shall be strengthened ; 
 and one of his [Alexander's] princes shall prevail over him, 
 and he shall rule with, great power, for his dominion shall 
 be great. " 
 
 Thus Ptolemy Soter is here described as appropriating. 
 Egypt, and becoming the king of the south. Egypt was a 
 powerful kingdom, and succumbed to one more so, about 
 the year 3862, and become one of the four notable Iwrns. 
 Another one of his (Alexander's) successors, was the family 
 of the Seleucidae, the first of. whom was Seleucus Nicator, 
 king of the north, of whom it was said\ he shall be stronger. 
 
 The details hereafter are confined to these two, the other 
 two being soon absorbed by them. 
 
 Ver. 6 : "And in the end of years they shall join [asso- 
 ciate] themselves together, for the king's daughter of the 
 south shall come to the king of the north to make an agree- 
 ment [rights] ; but she shall not retain the power of the arm, 
 neither shall he stand, nor his arm ; but she shall be given 
 
240 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL 
 
 up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her [whom 
 she brought forth], and he that strengthened her in these 
 times." 
 
 Again the Douay version is preferable, from being more 
 explicit in its rendering this passage : 
 
 " And after the end of years, they shall be in league to- 
 gether ; and the daughter of the king of the south shall 
 come to the king of the north to make friendship, but she 
 shall not obtain the strength of the arm, neither shall her 
 seed stand ; and she shall be given up, and her young men 
 that brought her, and they that strengthened her in these 
 times. " 
 
 In elucidating these passages, it will become necessary to 
 quote largely from history, for it will be found as we pro- 
 gress, that each verse contains a whole chapter of history, 
 and the task of the commentator is but to select the page 
 that it applies to. This is wonderfully the case as we draw 
 near to the end, where the brief passages are elaborated in 
 the pages of Gibbon ; for the history of these two powers, 
 however, the king of the south (Egypt) and the king of the 
 north (Syria), including Jerusalem, I shall only resort to 
 Eollin, who has compiled from the originals better than I 
 could do if I had the means. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at when we see how strongly the 
 history is portrayed in the last two verses, that many should 
 have believed that they were subsequently written. Antio- 
 chus Theos, king of the north, in 3914 made war with 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, and then made peace on condition 
 that Antiochus should divorce Laodice, and marry Berenice, 
 Ptolemy's daughter, and secure the succession to her. 
 
 Eollin tells us, " Antiochus, after the ratification of the 
 treaty, repudiated Laodice, though she was his sister by 
 
THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND NORTH. 241 
 
 the father's side, and had brought him two sons. Ptolemy- 
 then embarked at Pelusium and conducted his daughter to 
 Seleucia, a maritime city, near the mouth of the Orontes, a 
 river of Syria. Antiochus came thither to receive his bride, 
 and the nuptials were solemnized When mar- 
 riages are contracted from no other motives than political 
 views, and are founded on such unjust conditions, they are 
 generally attended with calamitous and fatal events." 
 
 And again, " As soon as Antiochus Theos received intel- 
 ligence of the death of Ptolemy Philadelphus, his father-in- 
 jaw, he divorced Berenice, and recalled Laodice and her 
 children. Laodice, who knew the variable disposition and 
 inconstancy of Antiochus, and was apprehensive that the 
 same levity of mind would induce him to return to Bere- 
 nice again, resolved to improve the present opportunity to se- 
 cure the crown"for her son. Her own children were -disin- 
 herited by the treaty made with Ptolemy, by which it was 
 also stipulated that the issue Berenice might have by Anti- 
 ochus, should succeed to the throne, and she then had a son. 
 Laodice therefore caused Antiochus to be poisoned, and 
 when she saw that he was dead, she placed in his bed a per- 
 son named Artemon, who very much resembled him, both 
 in his features and the tone of his voice, to act the part she 
 had occasion for. He acquitted himself with great dexteri- 
 ty, taking care in the few visits that were paid him, to rec- 
 ommend his dear Laodice and her children, to the lords and 
 people. In his name were issued orders, by which his eld- 
 est son, Seleucus Callinicus was appointed his successor. 
 His death was then declared, upon which Seleucus peacea- 
 bly ascended the throne and enjoyed it for the space of 
 twenty years. It appears by the sequel, that his brother, 
 Antiochus, surnamed Hierax, had the government of the 
 
 11 
 
242 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 provinces of Asia Minor, where he commanded a very con- 
 siderable body of troops. 
 
 " Laodice, not believing herself safe as long as Berenice 
 and her son lived, concerted measures with Seleucus to de- 
 stroy them also, but Berenice being informed of their de- 
 sign, escaped with her son to Daphne, where she shut her- 
 self up in the asylum built by Seleucus Nieator. But being 
 at last betrayed by the perfidy of those who besieged her 
 there, by the order of Laodice, first her son and then herself, 
 with all the Egyptians who had accompanied her to that re- 
 treat, were murdered in the blackest and most inhuman 
 manner." 
 
 The above is a literal fulfilment of that prophecy. 
 
 Ver. 7 : " But out of a branch of her roots shall one 
 stand up in his estate [or in his place], which shall come with 
 an army and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the 
 north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail." 
 
 Ver. 8 : " And shall also carry captives into Egypt their 
 gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels 
 [vessels of their desire] of silver and of gold, and he shall 
 continue more years than the king of the north. 
 
 Ver. 9 : "So the king of the south shall come into his 
 own kingdom, and shall return into his own land." 
 
 The root of Berenice is Ptolemy, who having died (it 
 being he that begat her) was succeeded by Ptolemy Euergetes 
 in 3918, of whom we are likewise told by Eollin : " While 
 Berenice was besieged and blocked up in Daphne, the cities 
 of Asia Minor, who had received intelligence of her treat- 
 ment, were touched with compassion at her misfortune, in 
 consequence of which they formed a confederacy, and sent 
 a body of troops to Antioch for her relief. Her brother 
 Ptolemy Euergetes was also as expeditious as possible to 
 
THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND NORTH. 243 
 
 advance thither with a formidable army, but the unhappy 
 Berenice and her children were dead before any of these 
 auxiliary troops could arrive. "When they therefore saw 
 that all their endeavors to save the queen and her children 
 were rendered ineffectual, they immediately determined to 
 revenge her death in a Temarkable manner. The troops of 
 Asia joined those of Egypt, and Ptolemy, who commanded 
 them, was as successful as he could desire, in the satisfaction 
 of his just resentment. The criminal proceeding of Laodice 
 and of the king, her son, who had made himself an accom- 
 plice in her barbarity, soon alienated the affection of the 
 ■people from them, and Ptolemy not only caused Laodice to 
 suffer death but made himself master of all Syria and Ci- 
 licia He however left Antiochus, one of his gen- 
 erals, to govern the provinces he had gained on the side of 
 Mount Tarus, and Xanthippus was intrusted with those 
 that lay beyond it. Ptolemy then marched back to Egypt, 
 laden by the spoils he had acquired by his conquests. This 
 prince carried off forty thousand talents of silver, with a 
 prodigious quantity of gold and silver vessels, and two 
 thousand five hundred statues, part of which were those 
 Egyptian idols that Cambyses, after his conquest of that 
 kingdom, had sent into Persia. Ptolemy gained the hearts 
 of his subjects by replacing those idols in their ancient 
 temples, when he returned from this expedition ; for the 
 Egyptians, who were more devoted to their superstitious 
 idolatry than all the rest of mankind, thought they could 
 not sufficiently express their veneration and gratitude to a 
 king who had restored their gods to them in such a manner. 
 Ptolemy derived from this action the title of Euergetes, 
 which signifies a benefactor." 
 • Ptolemy Euergetes survived Seleucus Callinicus some five 
 
244 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 years. In the Douay version the reading is : " He shall 
 prevail against the king of the north ;" which is more in- 
 telligible. The ninth verse tells us that Ptolemy regained 
 a portion of his original kingdom, and returned to Egypt. 
 
 Ver. 10: "But his sons shall be stirred up [or shall 
 war] and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, and 
 one shall certainly come, and overflow and pass through ; 
 then shall he return [or then shall he be stirred up again] 
 and be stirred up, even to his fortress." 
 
 Ver. 11 : "And the king of the south shall be moved 
 with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even 
 with the king of the north, and he shall set forth a great 
 multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand." 
 
 The sons of Seleucus were Seleucus and Antioehus. The 
 first succeeded, but was weak, and soon died, and was suc- 
 ceeded by his brother in 3942, and three years after he 
 invaded Coelo-Syria, which Ptolemy Euergetes had retaken- 
 Again, to quote Eollin: "It was against that prince and 
 Ptolemy that Antioehus was resolved to turn his arms. 
 These were the two dangerous wars he had to sustain ; and 
 the subject of the deliberations of his council was, which of 
 them he should undertake first. After weighing all things 
 maturely, it was resolved to march first against Ptolemy, 
 before they attacked Achaaus, whom they only menaced in 
 the strongest terms; and accordingly all the forces were 
 ordered to assemble in Apamea, in order to be employed 
 against Coelo-Syria. In a council that was held, bejbre the 
 army set out, Apollophanes, the king's physician, repre- 
 sented to him that it would be a great oversight should 
 they march into Coelo-Syria, and leave behind them Se- 
 leucia in the hands of the enemy, and so near the capital of 
 the empire. His opinion brought over the whole council, 
 
THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND NOETH. 245 
 
 by the evident strength of the reasons which 'supported it ; 
 for this city stands on the same river as Antioch, and is but 
 five leagues below, near the mouth of it. "When Ptolemy 
 Euergetes undertook the invasion already mentioned, to 
 avenge the death of his sister Berenice, he seized that city, 
 and put a strong Egyptian garrison into it, which had kept 
 possession of that important place full twenty-seven years. 
 Among many inconveniences to which it subjected the in- 
 habitants of Antioch, one was, its cutting off entirely their 
 communication with the sea, and ruining all their trade, for 
 Seleucia being situated near the mouth of the Orontes, was 
 the harbor of Antioch, which suffered grievously by that 
 means. All these reasons being clearly and strongly urged 
 by Apollophanes, determined the king and council to follow 
 his plan, and to open the campaign with the siege of Seleu- 
 cia. Accordingly the whole army marched thither, invest- 
 ed it, took it by storm, and drove the Egyptians out of it. 
 This being done, Antioch us marched with diligence into 
 Coelo-Syria, where Theodotus, the JEtolian governor of 
 that province, under Ptolemy, promised to put him in pos- 
 session of the whole country. We have seen how vigor- 
 ously he had repulsed him the year before ; nevertheless the 
 court of Egypt had not been satisfied with his services on 
 that occasion. Those who governed the king had expected 
 greater things from his valor, and were persuaded that it 
 was in his power to have done something more. Accord- 
 ingly h'e was sent for to Alexandria, to give an account of 
 his conduct, and was threatened with no lees than losing 
 his head. 
 
 "Nicolaus, one of Ptolemy's generals, though he was of 
 the same country with Theodotus, would not, however, de- 
 sert Ptolemy, but preserved his fidelity to that prince. The 
 
246 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 
 
 instant, therefore, that Theodotus had taken Ptolemais, he 
 besieged him in it, possessed himself of the passes of Mount 
 Libanus, to stop Antiochus, who was advancing to the aid 
 of Theodotus, and defended them to the last extremity. 
 However, he was at length forced to abandon them, by 
 which means Antiochus took possession of Tyre and Ptole- 
 mais, whose gates were opened to him by Theodotus. 
 
 ',' In these two cities were the magazines which Ptolemy 
 had laid up for the use of his army, with a fleet of forty 
 sail. He gave the command of these ships to Diognetns, 
 his admiral, who was ordered to sail to Pelusium, whither 
 the king intended to march by land, with the view of inva- 
 ding Egypt on that side. However, being informed that 
 this was the season in which the inhabitants used to lay 
 the country under water by opening the dikes of the Nile 
 and consequently, that it would be impossible for him to ad- 
 vance into Egypt at that time, he abandoned that project, 
 and employed the whole force of his arms to reduce the rest 
 of Coelo-Syria. He seized upon some fortresses, and others 
 submitted to him, and at last he possessed himself of Da- 
 mascus, the capital of that province, after having deceived 
 Dinon, the governor of it, by a stratagem 
 
 " The last action of this campaign was the siege of Dora, 
 a maritime city in the neighborhood of Mount Carmel. 
 This place, which was strongly situated, had been so well 
 fortified by Nicolaus that it was impossible for Antiochus to 
 take it. He therefore was forced to agree to a four 'months' 
 truce, proposed to him in the name of Ptolemy, and this 
 served as an honorable pretence for marching back his army 
 to Seleucia, on the Orontes, where he put it into winter 
 quarters. Antiochus appointed Theodotus, the Italian, 
 governor of all the places he had conquered in this country. 
 
•v 
 THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND NOETH. 247 
 
 During the interval of this truce a treaty was negotiated 
 between the two crowns, in which, ^owever, the only view 
 of both parties was to gain time. Ptolemy had occasion 
 for it, in order to make the necessary preparations for car- 
 rying, on the war, and Antiochus, for reducing Achseus. 
 The latter was not satisfied with Asia Minor, of which he 
 was already master, but had no less in view than to de- 
 throne Antiochus, and to dispossess him of all his dominions. 
 To check his ambitious views, it was necessary for Antio- 
 chus not to be employed on the frontiers, or engaged in re j 
 mote conquests. r 
 
 ' ' In this treaty the main point was to know to whom Coelo- 
 Syria, Phoenicia, Samaria, and Judea, had been given, in 
 the partition of Alexander the Great's empire, between 
 Ptolemy, Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus. Ptolemy 
 laid claim to them by virtue of their having been assigned 
 by this treaty to Ptolemy Soter, his great-grandfather. On 
 the other side, Antiochus pretended that they had been giv- 
 en to Seleucus Nicator, and therefore that they were his 
 right, he being heir and successor of that king in the em- 
 pire of Syria. 
 
 " In A. M. 3787, or B. C. 217, the campaign was again 
 opened in the spring. Ptolemy caused seventy thousand 
 foot, five thousand horse, and seventy-three elephants, to 
 advance toward Pelusium. He placed himself at the head 
 of these forces and marched them through the deserts 
 which* divide Egypt from Palestine, and encamped at Pa- 
 phia, between Rhinocorura and Gaza, at the latter of which 
 cities the two armies met. That of Antiochus was some- 
 thing more numerous than the other. His forces consisted 
 of seventy-two thousand foot, six thousand horse, and one 
 hundred and two elephants. He first encamped within ten 
 
248 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 furlongs, and soon after within five of the enemy. All the 
 time they lay so near one another, there were perpetually 
 skirmishes between the parties who went to fetch fresh wa- 
 ter, or to forage, as well as between individuals who wished 
 to distinguish themselves. 
 
 " At last the two kings, resolving to decide their quarrel } 
 drew up their armies in battle array. They rode from one 
 body to another, at the head of their lines, to animate their 
 troops. Arsinoe, the sister and wife of Ptolemy, was not 
 content with exhorting the soldiers to behave manfully be- 
 fore the battle, but did not leave her husband even during 
 the heat of the engagement. The issue of it was that An- 
 tiochus, at the head of his right wing, defeated the enemy's 
 left. But while, hurried on by an inconsiderate ardor, he 
 engaged too warmly in the pursuit, Ptolemy, who had 
 been as successful in the other wing, charged Antiochus' 
 centre in flank, which was then uncovered, and broke it be- 
 fore it was possible for that prince to come to its relief. . 
 An old officer, who saw which way the dust flew, conclu- 
 ded that the centre was defeated, and accordingly made 
 Antiochus observe it. But, though he faced about that in- 
 stant, he came too late to amend his fault, and found the 
 rest of his army broken and put to flight. He himself was 
 now obliged to provide for his retreat, and retired to Pa- 
 phia, and afterward to Gaza, with the loss of ten thousand 
 men killed, and four thousand taken prisoners. Finding it 
 would now be impossible for him to maintain himself in 
 that country against Ptolemy, he abandoned all his con- 
 quests, and retreated to Antioch with the remains of his 
 army. This battle of Paphia was fought at the same time 
 with that in which Hannibal defeated Flaminus, the con- 
 sul, on the banks of the lake Thrasymenus and Etruria. 
 
THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND NORTH. 249 
 
 " After Antiochus' retreat, all Coelo-Syria and Palestine 
 snbmitted with great cheerfulness to Ptolemy. Having 
 been long subject to the Egyptians, they were more at- 
 tached to them than to Antiochus. The conqueror's court 
 was soon crowded with embassadors from all the cities 
 (and from Judea among the rest), to make their submission, 
 and to offer him presents, and all met with a gracious re- 
 ception." 
 
 I have quoted thus largely from Bollin, because his history 
 compiled from the heathen authors almost contemporary 
 with the events, gives such a perfect account of the ultimating 
 of the prophecy in these verses, and which continues thus: 
 
 Ver. 12 : "And when he hath taken away the multitude, 
 his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many 
 ten thousands ; but he shall not be strengthened by it." Douayi 
 "he shall not prevail." 
 
 Ver. 13 : " For the king of the north shall return and 
 shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall 
 certainly come [at the end of times, even years] after certain 
 years, with a great army and with much riches." 
 
 Ver. 14 : " And in these times there shall many stand up 
 against the king of the south : Also [the children of] the 
 robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves tp establish the 
 vision, but they shall fall." 
 
 Ptolemy Philopater was succeeded by Ptolemy Epiphanes 
 in A. M. 3960, and in a year or two after Coelo-Syria and 
 Palestine were invaded and taken from him by Antiochus ; 
 and in 3995 Ptolemy Epiphanes made another effort to re- 
 cover them, but unsuccessfully. 
 
 Some commentators refer this passage of the u lifting of 
 his heart' to his effort to enter the Holy of holies at the 
 temple ; but this is error as I will show. Antiochus had 
 U* 
 
250 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 formed an alliance with Philip, king of Macedon, when he 
 conquered Palestine in 3961. Thus many stood up against 
 the king of the south ; and as to who are the robbers or 
 children of the robbers is the question. The Douay version 
 gives the word prevaricators instead of robbers, which throws 
 some light on the meaning. We find the Samaritans 
 were always regarded by the Jews as their enemies. They 
 were a people from Persia, and Jdsephus says in his Anti- 
 quities, book xii., chap. 5, that the Samaritans repudiated 
 the Jews when they were in trouble because of the taking 
 of Jerusalem by Antiochus, and the desecration of the tem- 
 ple, at which time they claimed to be a colony of Medes 
 and Persians, and petitioned the king whom they styled a 
 god, to give orders that their temple be named the temple 
 of Jupiter Hellenicus. And in book xiii., chap. 3, we read, 
 " The Samaritans dispute with the Jews," and elsewhere 
 he tells of one of their quarrels wherein was much blood- 
 shed, and he says that after that time Judea was overrun 
 with robbers, book xx., chap. 6. They are always men- 
 tioned by Josephus as the enemy of the Jews, and we here 
 find them joining the Jews' enemy. Whether the meaning 
 of the text is to fulfil or establish the vision we can arrive at 
 a pretty correct conclusion from the facts. It evidently 
 does not relate to this vision, but to the power of prophecy, 
 or establishing the prophetic office with its surroundings, as 
 the temple which was then used in that connection by the 
 Jews. The Samaritans established an independent temple, 
 dedicated to heathen gods. Their religion differed, and 
 they emulated the prophetic office which was lately lost to 
 the Hebrew people, and the probable meaning of their effort 
 of establishing the vision may be seen in the person of Simon 
 Magus, who essayed to prophesy, and clearly set himself up 
 to fulfil the vision and prophecy. 
 
THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH AND 2TOBTH. 251 
 
 Ver. 15 : " So the king of the north shall come and cast 
 up a mount, and take [the city of munitions] the most fenced 
 cities, and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither 
 his chosen people [people of his choice], neither shall there 
 be any strength to withstand." 
 
 Ver. 16 : " But he that cometh against him shall do ac- 
 cording to his own will, -and none shall stand before him, 
 and he shall stand in the glorious [goodly] land, which by 
 his hand shall be consumed. " 
 
 The word sollelah, translated mount, likewise means a 
 battering ram, or engine for throwing.* And as to taking 
 "the city of munitions, the reader may find the whole story 
 told in Bollin ; how Antiochus Epiphanes took Gaza, a 
 strong fenced city, and how he reduced all Judea ; went to 
 the city of Jerusalem and reduced the chosen people in A. M. 
 3966. Glorious land was a common expression for Pales- 
 tine, as found throughout the Scriptures. 
 
 Ver. 17 : " He shall also set his face to enter with the 
 strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him, 
 [or much uprightness, or equal conditions] ; thus shall he do ; 
 and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting 
 [to corrupt] her ; but she shall not stand on his side, neither 
 be for him." 
 
 This last verse is rendered thus in the Douay version : 
 
 " And he shall set his face to come to possess all his king- 
 dom, and he shall make upright conditions with him, and 
 he shall give him a daughter of women to overthrow it, and 
 she shall not" stand, neither shall she be for him. ' 
 
 The treachery of Antiochus with the Egyptians is related 
 in Eollin, where he „made agreements with Mm, sending the 
 Rhodian Eucles to Alexandria to offer his daughter Cleopatra 
 
 * Lowth's notes. 
 
252 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 in marriage to King Ptolemy, on condition -that their nup- 
 tials should be delayed awhile, by which treaty he succeeded 
 in his designs. The daughter was given to corrupt the 
 agreement, but like many young women since, she stood by 
 her husband instead of her father, and subsequently joined 
 her husband in congratulating the Romans on a victory over 
 her father.* 
 
 Ver. 18 : " After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, 
 and shall take many, but a prince for his own behalf shall 
 cause the reproach [his reproach] offered by him to cease, 
 without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon 
 him." 
 
 Tne Douay reads : " And he shall turn his face to the 
 islands, and shall take many, and he shall cause the prince 
 of his reproach to cease, and his reproach shall be turned 
 upon him." 
 
 Ver. 19 : " Then shall he turn his face toward the fort of 
 his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found." 
 
 Douay : " And he shall turn his face to the empire of his 
 own land, and he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be 
 found." 
 
 Again the Douay version gives us the more intelligible 
 reading, while the James is very obscure. In Hebrew 
 phraseology all the coast was called the is&s.f 
 
 In the eighteenth verse, reference is had to another power, 
 " but a prince, for him." This is Scipio ; Antiochus having 
 reduced the whole country to the coasts or isles, was flat- 
 tering himself in fancied security, but, at about A. M. 3963, 
 the Romans came upon him. Antiochus had reproached 
 Scipio, the Roman consul, who made the reproach to turn on 
 his own (Antiochus') head, and defeated him in a great vic- 
 
 * Lowth'a notes. f Lowth, 
 
THE KINGS OF THE BOtJTH AND NOBTH. 253 
 
 tory gained at Mount Sipylus, whereby Asia was delivered 
 to Kome through the agency of Scipio. All this can be 
 seen in Livy, book xxxvii. 
 
 Antiochus then returned to his capital, Antioch, the chief 
 fortress of the kingdom, and in an attempt to rob the tem- 
 ple at Eleymais he was killed. Here again we see a literal 
 fulfilment of the prophecy in these two verses, 
 
 This brings us to the latter time- of the power of the 
 Selucidce, the eighteenth verse foreshadowing the rise of an- 
 other power in the same locality, the Komans, and with the 
 nineteenth verse the empire of the Seleucidae ends. The 
 term ' ' ling of the south " continues, but the reader may note 
 that the " king of the north " is not spoken of again until 
 we reach the fortieth verse, which carries us into a far later 
 period. Thus, they cease to be found, after being an empire 
 as "king of the north" for 250 years. The expression 
 not found, may be seen from analogy to mean extinction, 
 when used in this manner, as in Job xx. 8, " He shall fly 
 away as a dream, and not be found." And in Ezekiel xxvi. 
 21, " Yet shalt thou never be found again." 
 
 A careful perusal of these historical prophecies will show 
 that families or dynasties are grouped as individuals, as in this 
 of the Seleucidae. Here we have seen a literal reading of 
 this prophecy fulfilled in history ; yet there is another and a 
 deeper reading, one of more significance and difficulty ; a 
 history of spiritual states during the time over which Dari- 
 us stands as a type in the book of Daniel. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEB m OF DANIEL FROM VEB. 9.) 
 THE illSTOBY OP THE LITTLE HOEN. 
 
 Having filled in all the historical incidents related in the 
 eleventh chapter, necessary to support and explain the first 
 eight verses of chap, viii., including the twentieth to the 
 twenty-third, we must now return and proceed with chap, 
 viii. , taking up the thread of incidents there detailed, and 
 after having shown this part of the vision, we will again re- 
 cur to the filling up. 
 
 As it will be necessary to have an explicit understanding 
 of the text, I will here give two versions in juxtaposition for 
 the benefit of the reader, for we are now approaching the 
 region where speculation has been almost exhausted. 
 
 Ver. 9 : " And out of one of them came forth a little 
 horn which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and 
 toward the east, and toward the pleasant land." 
 
 Which the Douay version renders thus : 
 
 " And out of one of them came forth a little horn, and it 
 became great against the south, and against the east, and 
 against the strength." 
 
 The explanatory verse will be now given as before : 
 
 Ver. 23: "And in the latter time of their kingdom} 
 when the transgressors are come to the full [or are accom- 
 plished], a king of fierce countenance and understanding 
 dark sentences shall stand up." 
 
 Which in the Douay version reads thus : 
 
 " And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown 
 
THE HISTORY .OP THE LITTLE HOE1T. 255 
 
 up, there shall arise a king of a shameless face, and under- 
 standing dark sentences." 
 
 This king of fierce countenance will appear conspicuously 
 when we proceed with the eleventh chapter, where we dis- 
 continued at the. extinction of the Seleucidae, at the twen- 
 tieth verse. For the above verses show that the new power 
 now about to be presented, arose in the latter time of their 
 kingdom. The word "their," refers to the four kingdoms, 
 stated in the preceding (twenty-second) verse. And the 
 historical boundaries are here clearly defined, when the 
 transgressors have accomplished their iniquities, when the 
 four kingdoms expire, or about expiring, as it is in the lat- 
 ter time of their kingdom. Thus we can clearly come to 
 the period, and the next point will be the character of the 
 new power, and that likewise we will find painted in un- 
 mistakable colors. 
 
 And before proceeding with the other verses, I desire to 
 call the reader's attention to the division of this chapter. 
 The first twelve verses, relating the vision, the next two, 
 stating its endurance, and from the fifteenth out, an expla- 
 nation given, because Daniel sought the meaning of the vis- 
 ion. 
 
 Ver. 10 : " And it waxed great even to [against] the 
 host of heaven ; and it cast down some of the host and of 
 the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." 
 
 This in the Douay reads : 
 
 " And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven, 
 and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod 
 upon them." 
 
 Ver. 11 : " Yea, he magnified himself even to [or against] 
 the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was 
 taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." 
 
 In the Douay : 
 
256 EXPOSITION OF THE. BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 " And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength, 
 and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast 
 down the place of his sanctuary." 
 
 Ver. 12 : "And a host [or the host was given over for 
 the transgression against the daily sacrifice] was given him 
 against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it 
 cast down the truth to the ground ; and it practised and 
 prospered." 
 
 In the Douay : 
 
 " And strength was given him against the continual sac- 
 rifice, because of sins, and truth shall be cast down on the 
 ground, and he shall do and shall prosper." 
 
 And the explanatory verses continue thus : 
 
 Ver. 24 : " And his power shall be mighty, but not by 
 his own power, and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall 
 prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty, and the 
 holy people [or people of the holy ones]." 
 
 Douay : 
 
 "And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his 
 own force, and he shall lay all things waste, and shall pros- 
 per and do more than can be believed, and he shall destroy 
 the mighty and the people of the saints." 4 
 
 Ver. 25: "And through his policy also he shall cause 
 craft to prosper in his hand ; and he shall magnify himself va. 
 his heart, and by peace [or prosperity] shall destroy many ; 
 he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes, but he 
 shall be broken without hand." 
 
 In the Douay : 
 
 " According to his will, and craft shall be successful in his 
 hand, and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance 
 of all things he shall kill many, and he shall rise up against 
 the Prince of princes, . . and shall be broken without hand." 
 
 The first expression to be noted is, " out of one of them." 
 
THE HISTORY OE THE LITTLE KOEISr. 257 
 
 That is, out of one of the four : the Seleucidae, the Ptole- 
 maic, the Macedonian kingdom of Cassandra, or the Thra- 
 cian kingdom of Lysimachus. And in order to arrive at an 
 intelligent conclusion we will proceed to fix periods to these 
 kingdoms, beginning with the last, which is, Lysimachus, 
 who was defeated by Seleucus and slain in the year A. M. 
 3883, and his kingdom transferred to Syria, having lasted 
 some nineteen years. The next, Cassandra, was conquered 
 by Paulus Emelius in A. M. 3997, and his kingdom ended 
 by being incorporated in Come, having lasted one hundred 
 and thirty-three years. The next, the Seleucidse, ended 
 with Antiochus Asiaticus in A. M. 4095, when Syria be- 
 came a Koman province, having existed 231 years, and the 
 last, that of Ptolemy, remained but 18 years longer, being 
 reserved for the same fate ; and the family of the Lagaid® 
 ended in Cleopatra after having lasted 294 years. Here 
 -we have the period and locality for the little horn to arise 
 in, the territory being in the four divisions ot Alexander's 
 kingdom. 
 
 It may seem temerity to advance a confident opinion 
 in conflict with those of so many able commentators as have 
 speculated on this theme, yet their errors are so apparent 
 that I feel free to show them. There are two prominent 
 theories for this "little horn." One is, that it refers to 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, and the other that it refers to the 
 Moslem power. Faber, an advocate for the latter theory, 
 gives many good reasons why it cannot apply to the former, 
 besides some quoted from Sir Isaac Newton. The Antiochus 
 Epiphanes theory was first held by Josephus, then by Eol- 
 lin, and many subsequent commentators of the Eoman and 
 English school ; but I will here add a conclusive one of 
 their errors, so far as relates to the commentators preceding 
 
258 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Mr. Faber's time. It is this. In chap. xii. 4, we find 
 Daniel is told to seal the book to the time of. the end, and 
 in the 9 th verse this is repeated more forcibly. Now if 
 Mr. Faber's theory of A. P. 1866, regarding the termina- 
 tion of the chronological periods, is correct, he and his pred- 
 ecessors must be merely guessing, for to them the book is 
 shut or- sealed; yet I show that it was not necessarily sealed 
 to Faber, nor to this age, for the time of the end was about 
 the year 1770. 
 
 And another reason Antiochus did not stand up against 
 the Prince of princes, for then he had not come and mani- 
 fested himself; and his kingdom which was that of the 
 " stone cut out of the mountain" was not then yet estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Next we come to the Moslem power, said to be indicated 
 by the " little horn." Faber, and after him Mr. Cummings, 
 of this day, give this interpretation. 
 
 My first objection is, that in chap. xii. 6, 7, we find that 
 to the question, " How long shall it be to the end of these 
 wonders?" that is, the visions, the answer is, 1260 years. 
 Now what wonders or visions * It is evident the visions in 
 chaps, vii. and viii. are referred to, for we find Gabriel and 
 Michael are the agencies that showed these wonders. This 
 is apparent from chap. xi. 1, which refers to chap. ix. ; and 
 we find Gabriel named as the angel in the 21st verse ; and 
 he not only says they shall go over a period of 1260 years, 
 but gives us a sign of the end, which is, when he shall have 
 scattered the power of the holy people. And I have shown 
 this is done when they are delivered into the hand of the 
 other little horn, as shown in chap. vii. 25. Then? all that 
 is seen or passed in review in these visions shall cease, and 
 then the holy people or saints are delivered over to the idol- 
 
THE HISTOBT OF THE LITTLE HOEN. 259 
 
 atrous power during another cycle of 1260 years, which I 
 have shown elsewhere to have these commencements and 
 terminations, 747 B. C. and terminating A. D. 513 ; whence 
 commencing again and terminating A. D. 1773. 
 
 But the historic incidents were not understood by Daniel, 
 that fill up the second cycle, while that of the first cycle 
 was given to him in the eleventh chapter, and that of the 
 second cycle was reserved for John. He is however told 
 of the future kingdom, and that Michael will stand up, &c. 
 The period of 1260 years in chap. xii. 7, is confined to the 
 visions. That is the tableaux vivant that passed before Dan- 
 iel's entranced vision. That this commences at 747 B. C, 
 and ends A. D. 513, we may learn thus : The first scene in 
 the first vision is a beast, for whose identity lye look to chap, 
 vii. 18-24, and to chap. ii. 37, to ascertain more of the 
 first beast, as the fourth kingdom in each chapter is so evi- 
 dently the same, that is, the Roman power, it is correct to 
 infer the first to be likewise. And we find Nebuchadnez- 
 zar as the head of a kingdom, is the first beast. That king- 
 dom is the second Assyrian empire, which, as nearly as we 
 can ascertain, commenced about A. M. 3416,jto which add 
 1260, and we have A. M. 4676, or A. D. 513. Now the 
 Moslem religion did not spring up until a century later than 
 this, nor until six centuries after the last of the four horns 
 of Alexander's successors had come to their end. Nor did 
 it spring up out of either of them, for although Ptolemy's 
 kingdom included Arabia, it was only a portion of Arabia 
 Petrea, and not Arabia Felix, and Southern Arabia Petrea, 
 whence Mohammed started his religion. Arabia remained 
 free frotn the Persian and Assyrian conquests, and although 
 Alexander reduced a portion in the north, they recovered 
 
260 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 their liberty immediately from his successors.* See also in 
 chap. xi. 41, how this portion of country escapes the latest 
 Persian invasions. 
 
 Therefore it cannot be the Moslem power indicated, nor 
 Antiochus Epiphanes. And moreover, Moslemism waxed 
 great northward and westward, and not southward and east- 
 ward. Then wh at is it ? Why, the new and peculiar (to Syria) 
 paganism of Rome, the idolatrous demon and hero worship. 
 This fills entirely the measure of the description, and ac- 
 cords with the character of another power subsequently ari- 
 sing, indicated by the same symbol, " the little horn." The 
 kingdom of the Seleucida? was succeeded and spread over 
 by this power ; it waxed great to the east, over all Syria, 
 and to the south, over Egypt, and to the pleasant land, Pal- 
 estine. 
 
 These prophecies have been dealt with in a very loose 
 manner by commentators, but I trust I have shown that the 
 Moslem does not answer the description, when compared 
 critically with the language of the prophetic word. And I 
 will now show by a careful comparison, that the religion of 
 paganism fully meets each and every item of the descrip- 
 tion, because the religion, as allied to the state, is a power 
 in a similar manner to that of the other little horn. And 
 we will find that in the time of Herod, as shown in the elev- 
 enth chapter, he disregarded the temple and the religion, 
 and he cast down some, and interfered and changed the 
 high priesthood at his own will, as I have heretofore shown, 
 and acted as supreme and above the laws of Moses, for the 
 government of the priestly office, which he assumed himself. 
 He alone took away the daily sacrifice, for after the year 
 
 * Erie Am. 
 
THE HISTOBY OF THE LITTLE HOEN. 261 
 
 70, there was none to be taken away, and he alone at this 
 age of the world cast down the sanctuary which then was 
 the temple. The only subsequent daily sacrifice in church 
 economy, is the mass of the Roman and Eastern churches, 
 which was not then instituted, and has not been taken 
 away yet. And the reason assigned why a host was given 
 to him, was because of sin or transgression, and as we read 
 in the explanatory twenty-third to twenty-fifth verses, it was 
 when the transgressors were come to the full. Now the 
 transgressors here are the infidel Jews, as we find in chap, 
 ix. 24-27, and where we also find the confirmation that this 
 is the period when the transgressors will come to the full. 
 The cup overflowed at the crucifixion, for he then stood up 
 against the Prince of princes. He cast down truth to the 
 ground, when he scattered the religion which contained the 
 seeds or words of God. These are things seen in vision, 
 which, as I said before, is as a tableaux vivant before the 
 spiritual eyes ; and all these pictures are previous to A. D. 
 513. Now we turn to the explanatory twenty-third to 
 twenty-seventh verses, and the reader must not confound 
 this with vision, as Mr. Faber and other commentators do. 
 It is explanation by word of mouth, one man talking to an- 
 other, and explaining the vision, as asked for in the fifteenth 
 verse, when he speaks of the vision as ended, and with it 
 symbolisms. This we can treat more literally, for we have 
 only to ascertain the usus loquendi, and in the twenty-third 
 verse he says, " In the latter time of their kingdom." This, 
 as I have shown, is in the last century before Christ, and 
 when the transgressors are come to the full, the last four 
 verses of the ninth chapter prove, as I will show when I 
 reach it, to be the period of the crucifixion. 
 
 Rome was a kingdom of fierce countenance, and as Mr. 
 
262 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Cummings quotes from Gibbon to prove it, to fill the mean- 
 ing of dark sentences, we will refer to him as describing pa- 
 ganism, which is of itself a definition of " dark sentences,'' 
 see Gibbon iii. 132, quoted elsewhere.^ Now if we take this 
 more literally, it would apply to either Herod or Pilate, but 
 as it is a description of a power more than a person, it 
 means paganism as a power, or man, hero, and self wor- 
 ship, eminently seen in pagan Borne. Especially is this 
 probable, when we consider that the same symbol is used in 
 the seventh chapter to designate an ecclesiastical power, 
 and as such his power is not of his own, but derived from 
 connection with the state ; and the explanation gives us the 
 history of pagan Home, ultimated through Herod and Pi- 
 late, and in this view it is needless for me to quote more 
 history to sustain the illustration. He literally stood up 
 against the Prince of princes, whereas Moslemism only 
 stood against him in a form and shape that many have ; and 
 lastly, he shall be "broken, without hand ;" this phrase has 
 caused some trouble, yet by a reference to chap. ii. 34, 45, 
 and Lamentations iv. 6, and Job xxxiv. 20, it is obvious 
 that it means literally what it says, that is, that it shall not 
 be broken by man, or man's hands or acts, but by spiritual 
 power ; for by analogy, as the " stone cut out of the moun- 
 tain without hand," is a spiritual power, so it is amenable 
 only to the same, and so paganism is a similar power, only 
 differing in its source, and can only be destroyed by the 
 same. Thus, an army of men with all the improved weap- 
 ons, cannot destroy an idea, or thought, or belief; yet a su- 
 perior idea, thought, or truth, can destroy them. So with 
 this religion. The stone cut out of the mountain destroyed 
 it, and the story of its destruction is thus graphically and 
 clearly told by Gibbon, with a surprising literalness : " And 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE LITTLE HOEN. 263 
 
 so rapid, yet so gentle was the fall of paganism, that only 
 twenty-eight years after the death of Theodocius (in A. D. 
 395), the faint and minute vestiges were no longer visible to 
 the eye of the legislator." Thus is its death recorded, 
 without hand being destroyed, and superseded by a superior 
 spiritual jsower. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the religions in the East were 
 of a much more spiritual character than this. That of the ' 
 Assyrian kingdom worshipped the one God, but was cor- 
 rupted, and when the Hebrew church was given over to 
 Nebuchadnezzar 600 years before Christ, it was because it 
 was an improvement. The Babylonish religion was then 
 nearer truth than the corrupted Judaism, and so with the 
 Persian, who worshipped God through the symbolism of 
 the sun. 
 
 But this new power, this little horn of paganism, never 
 came from God, as the Jewish, Assyrian, and Persian reli- 
 gions had ; and instead of being the true word, corrupted 
 and materialized by a debauched race of men, it was a re- 
 ligion more immediately springing from and controlled by 
 demons or spirits, without any knowledge of the true God, 
 and the understanding dark sentences is evidenced by their 
 peculiar ceremonies as described in Gibbon. They had fif- 
 teen Pontiffs in Rome, fifteen Augurs to observe the face of 
 the material heavens ; fifteen keepers of sibylline books ; six 
 vestals to guard the sacred fire, "and of the unknown pledges 
 of the duration of Rome, which no mortal had been suffered 
 to behold with impunity ;" seven Epulo, who prepared the 
 table of the gods. The three flamins of Jupiter, Mars, and 
 Quirines, were considered as peculiar ministers of three 
 most powerful deities. There was a king of sacrifices, several 
 confraternities, all carried on with great pomp, &c, to tickle 
 
264 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the people's eye and ear ; and all these mysteries and rites, 
 with their dark sentences, continued far into the fourth cen- 
 tury, throughout the reign of Gratian, under the name and 
 style of paganism. But under the reign of Theodocius they 
 took the name of Christianity, and have continued with 
 scarcely any change or modification except in the soubriquet 
 of some of the officials, who are now called cardinals, bish- 
 ops, priests, and monks ; these latter corresponding with the 
 confrat.erm.ty. The pontiffs retain the name. Let the reader 
 see Gibbon's or any other description of the pagan rites, and 
 the Roman which succeeded to them in the fourth and sub- 
 sequent centuries, and he will be puzzled to find a difference ; 
 therefore is the same symbol used to describe the two, that 
 is, a little horn. It is the same thing continued under different 
 names and a slightly modified form, but increased power and 
 assumption. I think I have shown clearly how he fills the 
 description as gathered from the two versions which I have 
 given. 
 
 Ver. 13 : " Then I heard one saint speaking, and another 
 saint said unto that certain saint [or the numberer of secrets, 
 or the wonderful numberer] which spake, ' How long shall be 
 the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgres- 
 sion of desolation [or making desolate] to give both the 
 sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?' " 
 
 Ver. 14: "And he said unto me, 'Unto two thousand 
 and three hundred days [evening, morning] ; then shall 
 the sanctuary be cleansed' [justified]." 
 
 Bead in the Douay thus : " And he said unto him, ' Unto 
 evening and morning two thousand three hundred days, and 
 the sanctuary shall- be cleansed.' " 
 
 The Romanists generally hold that the twenty-three hun- 
 dred days indicates literally some six years and four months, 
 being the time that they say the persecutions of Antiochus 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE LITTLE HORN. 265 
 
 Epiphanes lasted, or from the beginning of them to his 
 death, which is a wide license. Few commentators, strange 
 to say, read the plain and obvious meaning of these two 
 verses, but each twists and turns it to suit some favorite 
 theory. Whereas the question in the 13th verse is a direct 
 and easily-understood one, and the answer in the next verse 
 equally as direct and unequivocal. The query is, how long 
 shall be the vision concerning, &c, the question is analogous 
 to this. Suppose the history of the United States was 
 dramatized in a tableau, and pictured in symbols and cor- 
 respondences from the Eevolution onward, and ending in a 
 description, and so presented to the sight of a trance seer or 
 medium, and a spirit present should be asked how long shall 
 be this vision or wonder, and he should answer, ' Even to 
 one hundred days,' the solution would be simple. The 
 vision commenced with incidents which we know occurred 
 in 1776,- to which add 100, and we have the end in 1876. 
 Now with regard to the question, we must determine what 
 vision is referred to, and we find it described as the one con- 
 cerning the daily sacrifice and transgression of desolation ; 
 all of which we find in the 19th verse of chap. viii. and the 
 2d of chap, xi., showing that to be the vision referred to. 
 And we likewise perceive the first act in the drama which 
 is clearly indicated as the ram, which is the Medo-Persian 
 empire or kingdom, and the vision of that kingdom com- 
 menced eight years after Belshazzar's doom was written on 
 the wall ; and Darius the Mede and Cyrus, who had founded 
 the Medo-Persian kingdom, died, and were succeeded by the 
 first of the " three kings" (see chap, iii.), in A. M. 3633, to 
 which add 2300 and we have A. D. 1770. Now it is a lit- 
 tle remarkable that this is the date at which Swedenborg 
 places his last diffusion of light, which he says he witnessed 
 12 
 
266 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OP DAHIEL. 
 
 in A. D. 1770, at which time the sanctuary was cleansed. It 
 is likewise the period when the power of the little horn of the 
 papacy relinquished its hold over the saints, which com- 
 menced, as I have shown elsewhere, in A. D. 513, to which 
 add 1260, and we have 1773, only three years later. 
 
 It must be remembered that these revolutions are not ac- 
 complished in a day. Babylon was in a rapid decline many 
 , years, from its capture by Cyrus to its death. Paganism 
 from its death blow was thirty years before it ceased to have 
 a definite political existence, and took refuge in the church 
 of Rome ; and so these' transitions, though seeming rapid, 
 yet comprehend a period of years. The first vision begins in 
 3416 + 1260, and we have A. D. 513, when the little horn 
 received its power, 513 + 1260, and we have 1773, which 
 is the same period or cycle that the church, under the sym- 
 bol of a woman, was driven into the wilderness, as seen in 
 Rev. xii. 14 ; and the power was given to the beast in Rev. 
 xiii. 5, the same period, to make war on the saints, being the 
 identical story in another form ; and in Rev. xi. 2, the holy 
 Jerusalem is given unto the Gentiles, to be trodden under 
 foot, the same period, during which. the two witnesses 
 prophesied in sackcloth. In Rev. xii. 6, the woman fled for 
 1260 days, and in ver. 7 John tells us that there was war 
 in heaven, and Michael fought the dragon, and the dragon 
 and his angels fought and prevailed not. This was like- 
 wise seen by Daniel, xii. 1, when he says that Michael 
 shall stand up, &c., which is at the end of the historic 
 • time of incidents related in the eleventh chapter, and ending 
 in the sixth century. The result of that war, which lasted 
 some 1260 years, is seen in ver. 9, 10, 11, was that by the 
 blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony (that is, 
 of the saints) the dragon was cast out of heaven into the 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE LITTLE HORN. 267 
 
 earth. About this period with the New Jerusalem comes a 
 living distinction between the man in Christ, or heaven, and 
 the man in this world. The one serves the Lord and the 
 other the dragon, which is in this earth. 
 
 Next, as to the evidence we have of the marks pointing 
 to this period of 1770 and 1773. Legally speaking, the 
 evidence is of the same character which we have of the ful- 
 filment of the vision of Daniel, told in chap. vii. 9, 10, 11,, 
 of which John is the witness and revelator. 
 
 And we find in ver. 7, 26, 27, after the saints are deliv- 
 ered over to the little horn for 1260 years, it says, "Judg- 
 ment shall sit," which, as I have shown, is at the end of 
 the period of time ; and when Michael stands up for God's 
 people, and fights the powers of darkness, error, and mock 
 Christianity. And inasmuch as the Lord reserved John for 
 a witness of the fulfilment of the first cycle, so does He raise 
 up a witness to the end of the other, and that witness is 
 Emanuel Swedenborg, who was called to see, and saw with 
 his own eyes, as he assures us, when in full wakefulness, 
 the last judgment in the year A. D. 1757. And subse- 
 quently he says, the Lord called together his disciples, who 
 followed him in the world, and sent them throughout the 
 spiritual world to preach the gospel, that the Lord God 
 Jesus Christ reigns, according to the nMrd, in Daniel vii. 
 13,-14, 27, and Rev. xi. IS, and Matt. xxiv. 31. 
 
 Eespecting the credibility of Swedenborg, I have already 
 shown ; but would remark, for the reader who scansthings 
 in the light of reason and true philosophy without the 
 usual admixture of superstition, that wa have precisely the 
 same evidence that Swedenborg saw the events in the 
 spiritual world, which he describes, that we have that John, 
 as stated in the Apocalypse, saw what he says he saw, 
 
268 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 ■ neither more nor less ; and that is their own unsupported 
 testimony of the fact, backed by a life to give assurance of 
 verity. If the reader says John was a chosen apostle, I 
 say, so was Paul, who never saw Jesus in the flesh ; there- 
 « fore the Lord can choose apostles now as well as then. The 
 arjn of the Lord is not shortened, and who dares to say that 
 the word of God is circumscribed by one book, or from the 
 mouths of a limited number of men. Swedenborg having 
 been a godly man through a long life, I hold it to be un- 
 philosophical to discard his testimony, and accept Paul's, of 
 precisely the same character, merely because a council of 
 most ungodly bishops decided that certain of his writings 
 are the word of God, and this some centuries after his 
 death. The teaching of Christ on the subject is the only 
 true criterion, and that is : " By their fruits ye shall know 
 them." Then, I say, Swedenborg saw the cleansing of the 
 sanctuary, and the ending, of its being trodden underfoot ; 
 and, as elsewhere shown, that all reforms and revolutions 
 are begun in the spiritual world, and ultimated here. There- 
 fore these things, seen in the spiritual world, are there ful- 
 filled ; and are being ultimated here, and the New Jerusalem 
 or Christ's kingdom is actively set by his coming in " power 
 and glory," as told in Matt. xxiv. 
 
 Ver. 26 : " And the vision of the evening and the morn- 
 ing which was told is true ; wherefore shut thou up the 
 vision, for it shall be for many days." 
 
 Ver 27 : " And I Daniel fainted and was sick certain 
 days ; afterward I ro?e up, and did the king's business, and 
 I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." 
 
 The points noticeable in these two verses are, first : The 
 angel describes the vision as of the evening and morning. 
 Now it is apparent that this is not to be read literally, but 
 
THE HISTORY. OF THE LITTLE HORN. 269 
 
 the evening of one world, or church or spiritual state, and 
 the morning of another, which morning commenced with 
 the dawn of light in the latter part of the last century, 
 when as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth 
 even to the west, so shall the coming of truth from the , 
 Lord be. 
 
 Another thing is that none understood the vision ; and 
 herein we see why Daniel prayed and fasted for twenty-one 
 years, as recorded in the tenth chapter. I have elsewhere 
 remarked on the physical effect of entrancement as pro- 
 ducing nausea ; and Daniel was not exempt from this law 
 of spiritual intercourse. 
 
CHAPTER V.' 
 
 (BEING CHAPTER IX. OF DANIEL. ) 
 THE PBOPHECT OP THE SEVENTY WEEES TO THE MESSIAH. 
 
 Vee.1 : " In the first year of Darius,- the son of Ahasue- 
 rus, of the seed of the Medes. which [in which he] was 
 made king over the realm of the Chaldeans." 
 
 Ver. 2 : "In the first year of his reign, I Daniel under- 
 stood by books, the number of the years whereof the word 
 of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would 
 accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. " 
 
 This is in A. M. 3626, or B. C. 537, sixty-eight years 
 from the commencement of the captivity, as indicated in 
 chap. i. 1 , some three years before the execution of the edict 
 of Cyrus, liberating the Jews, which was in the first year 
 of Cyrus as sole king of Babylon, or the third of his reign 
 in conjunction with his uncle Darius or Cyaxaris. 
 
 We here- learn that Daniel understood by books the num- 
 ber of the years. Is not this an intimation that Daniel un- 
 derstood the system of cycles containing seventy rests ? And 
 by that means he could tell the duration of the spiritual 
 captivity, as well as that another cycle was yet to intervene, 
 and although literally he refers to Jeremiah xxv. 12, yet he 
 speaks of the desolation of Jerusalem; and if we read in 
 " Jerusalem," the church of God, the desolation refers to a 
 longer period, to wit : 430 years, if the jubilees are included, 
 or 479 or 483 years, if it be a period of sabbaths alone. 
 And this is likely, as "Jerusalem" represents a sabbatic or 
 
PBOPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 271 
 
 holy state. Hence we read that Daniel understood this 
 period of the desolations, for the subsequent verse shows, 
 what he had loilg prayed for, was the object in view, 
 that is, not the literal liberation from a seventy years' 
 captivity, but from the captivity into which the people 
 had fallen, to the great spiritual Babylon, which ran 
 through a long period of desolation. His prayer is thus 
 prefaced : 
 
 Ver. 3 : " And I set my face unto my Lord God, to seek 
 by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, 
 and ashes." 
 
 This, it will be seen, is but a repetition of that already 
 given from the tenth chapter, and has relation to the first 
 chapter, where we found that the worship of God, being 
 lost and corrupted in the Israelitish church or kingdom, 
 God handed it over to the Babylonish, and into that state 
 was given what of truth and purity was remaining in the 
 Israelitish, as exemplified by the vessels of silver and gold, 
 of which mention has been made, as taken by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, and also the four children without blemish, for 
 these children would not eat of the king's meat, that is, they 
 would not derive their spiritual sustenance from a church 
 which was so worldly in its aims, hence their persecutions ; 
 hence also, when the truths given to the Babylonish church 
 by the Israelitish, in their vessels of the temple, were so 
 wholly lost to the Babylonians that their king, Belshazzar, 
 prostituted them, and worshipped the gold and silver alone ; 
 then was that church wiped out, having been numbered, 
 weighed, and found wanting, and the best church then on 
 earth succeeded, that is, they who worshipped God through 
 the symbolism of fire and the sun ; and this occurred at the 
 end of the seventy years, chap. v. 25. At this era of the 
 
272 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL'. 
 
 world's history, man was rapidly falling into utter darkness, 
 the light of heaven being almost shut out by the infestation 
 of the hells into humanity. This general tendency is more 
 conspicuously shown in the allegories of the first part of the 
 book. We now come to the prayer of Daniel. 
 
 Ver. 4-19: "And I prayed unto the Lord my God, 
 and made my confession, and said, ' O Lord, the great and 
 dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that 
 love him, and to them that keep his commandments. We 
 have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done 
 wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy 
 precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we heark- 
 ened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy 
 name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all 
 the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth 
 unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day, to 
 the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and 
 unto all Israel that are near, and that are far off, through 
 all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of 
 their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, 
 to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, 
 and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To 
 the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though 
 we have rebelled against him. Neither have we obeyed the 
 voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he 
 set before us by his servants the prophets. Tea, alllsrael have 
 transgressed thy law even by departing, that they might not 
 obey thy voice ; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and 
 the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of 
 God, because we have sinned against him. And he hath con- 
 firmed his. words, which he spake against us, and against 
 our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil ; 
 
PEOPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 273 
 
 for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath 
 been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of 
 Moses, all this evil is come upon us, yet made we not our 
 prayer before the [entreated we not the face of the] Lord 
 our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and under- 
 stand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon 
 the evil, and brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is 
 righteous in all his works which he doeth, for we obeyed 
 not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought 
 thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty 
 hand, and has gotten thee renown [made thee a name] as 
 at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, 
 according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine 
 anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusa- 
 lem, thy holy mountain ; because for our sins, and for the 
 iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are be- 
 come a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, 
 our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his suppli- 
 cations, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that 
 is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine 
 ear and hear ; open thine eyes and behold our desolations, 
 and the city which is called by thy name [whereupon thy 
 name is called] ; for we do not present our supplications 
 [cause to fall] before thee for our righteousnesses, but for 
 thy great mercies. O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, 
 hearken and do ; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, 
 for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.' " 
 
 In the middle of his prayer Daniel refers to the curse pro- 
 nounced by the Lord through Moses. In this prayer the 
 reader may perceive that when he refers to the city of Jeru- 
 salem, it is in such a form and manner that he means thereby 
 the sanctuary, called Jerusalem in all the earth j in God's 
 12* 
 
274 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 holy mountain, a literal reading contains but a small portion 
 of its significance. 
 
 Ver. 20 : " And while I was speaking and praying, and 
 confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and pre- 
 senting my supplication before the Lord my God for the 
 holy mountain of my God:" 
 
 Ver. 21: "Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even 
 the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the be- 
 ginning, being caused to fly swiftly [with weariness or flight] 
 touched me about the time of the evening oblation." 
 
 ""Ver. 22 : " And he informed me, and talked with me, 
 and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill 
 and understanding [make thee skilful 6f understanding]." 
 
 Ver. 23 : " At the beginning of thy supplications the 
 commandment [word] came forth, and I am come to show 
 thee, for thou art greatly beloved [a man of desires], there- 
 fore understand the matter, and consider the vision." 
 
 Ver. 24 : " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy peo- 
 ple and upon thy holy city to finish [to restrain] the trans- 
 gression, and to make an end of sins [or to seal up] and to 
 make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting 
 righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy 
 [prophet] and to anoint the Most Holy." 
 
 The Douay version reads : " Seventy weeks are shortened 
 upon thy people and upon thy holy city, that transgression 
 may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may 
 be abolished, and everlasting justice may be brought, and 
 vision and prophecy may be fulfilled, and the Saint of saints 
 may be anointed." 
 
 The man Gabriel above mentioned is he who has revealed 
 visions heretofore to Daniel. Michael is never thus desig- 
 nated, because he is a complex man — a heaven of men, 
 
PBOPHEOY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 275 
 
 through whom the Lord operates ; but Gabriel gives reve- 
 lations in his individual capacity to Daniel, yet Gabriel may 
 be and doubtless is a part of Michael, the names having 
 in themselves peculiar significances. When he refers to this 
 angel whom he had seen in the vision at the beginning, he 
 refers to chap. vii. 16, where is told the incident, and he 
 here refers to the fact that at the beginning of Daniel's sup- 
 plications his prayers were heard, and he came and gave 
 him some instruction, yet he could not receive the whole 
 until some two years later, as described in the tenth and 
 eleventh chapters. 
 
 The twenty-fourth verse is one of great import, and one 
 on which many have given their comments. But for a cor- 
 rect understanding of it the reader must bear in mind what 
 is already adverted to, yet not fully explained, that is, the 
 downward tendency of man at this era, his rapid relapsing 
 into sin and spiritual darkness. Now the reason of this is, 
 that the evil spirits from the hells so surrounded and infested 
 the earth as to control mankind and shut out the light of 
 heaven. That this is true can be seen from the stringent 
 laws of Moses in Deuteronomy and Leviticus against divina- 
 tion and consulting spirits, the laws anticipating the evil, 
 &c. ; and that the evil occurred, is recorded wherever the 
 Evangelists record the exorcism of an evil spirit by the Lord 
 when on earth. But few men could keep themselves open 
 to heaven, and Consequently in one hundred and forty years 
 from this period prophecy wholly ceased with Malachi. 
 There was one way to remedy this evil and to stop it, and 
 put an end to sin and to transgression. That necessity hav- 
 ing been foreseen, the remedy was foretold in "all the 
 prophets," Luke xxiv. 27. And that remedy was the in- 
 carnation of Deity in humanity, whereby God took on him- 
 
276 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 self a human form, and conquered by his life of temptation 
 and the passion on the cross. At which time he said, as 
 recorded in John xii. 31, "Now is the judgment of this 
 world ; now shall the prince of this world be cast out." "And 
 I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto 
 me." And in chap. xvi. 33, he said, " In the world ye 
 shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I liave overcome 
 the world." It was in respect to this state of the world that 
 the Lord says he will " shorten and determine the time." 
 And in seventy weeks this state of things shall cease, and 
 transgression shall end, or be restrained, and a reconcil- 
 iation made ; that is, an avenue shall be opened to heaven, 
 and all that has been told by prophecy during this Mosaic 
 dispensation shall be fulfilled, and vision and prophecy shall 
 be sealed or fulfilled, as God will take another means of 
 communication, through Christ ; for man had so long un- 
 heeded vision and prophecy through his servants the proph- 
 ets, that the Master came and spoke to man face to face, as 
 man to man; and the time allotted ere he woulido this is 
 seventy weeks, that is weeks of years shortened, when the 
 Holy One will be anointed, and his human nature glorified '. 
 the effect of which was to conquer hell and restrain trans- 
 gression by the influence of his spirit, to make an end or 
 seal up sin, which is done by the judgment then pronounced, 
 in John xii. 31, by which the devils and evil spirits were 
 cast out of this world, or at least out of that portion of it 
 which accepts Him, and they are condemned to the hells. I 
 have elsewhere shown that the Holy One, or Anointed One 
 points to Christ, and the period is seventy sabbatic years to 
 this consummation, which time is thus divided. 
 
 Ver. 25 : " Know, therefore, and understand, that from 
 the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build 
 
FBOPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 277 
 
 Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven 
 weeks, and threescore and two weeks ; the street shall be 
 built again [shall return and be built] and the wall [breach 
 or ditch] even in troublous [in strait of] times." 
 
 Ver. 26: "And after threescore and two weeks shall 
 Messiah be cut off, but not for himself [and shall have 
 nothing] ; and the people of the prince that shall come shall 
 destroy the city and the sanctuary ; and the end thereof 
 shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desola- 
 tions are determined [or, it shall be cut off by desolations]." 
 
 The Douay reads : " 26. And after sixty-two weeks 
 Christ shall be slain, and the people that shall deny him 
 shall not be his ; and a people with their leader that shall 
 come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end 
 thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the ap- 
 pointed desolation." 
 
 Ver. 27: "And he shall confirm the covenant with 
 many for one week ; and in the midst of the week he shall 
 cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the 
 overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate [or 
 with the abominable armies] even until the consummation, 
 and that determined, shall be poured upon the desolate [or 
 upon the desolater].'*- 
 
 Which in the Douay reads : 
 
 " And he shall confirm the covenant with many in one 
 week, and in the half of the week tihe victim and the sac- 
 rifice shall fall, and there shall be in the temple the abom- 
 ination of desolation, and the desolation shall continue even 
 to the consummation and to the end." 
 
 The period whence to date the 479 years, or the seven 
 weeks, is from the command to restore and to build. These 
 are separate and distinct proceedings, and here we have an 
 
278 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 instance of the literal distinctness of this book, for a com- 
 mand went forth to restore, and twelve years later another 
 one to build. Mr. Cummings selects the seventh year of 
 the reign of Artaxerxes, because, he says, it is a public and 
 royal decree, whereas that in the twentieth year of his 
 reign is not. If that were the only reason, the later would 
 be the correct one, because nothing is said of building in that 
 decree, which reads thus, in Ezra vii. 11-26 : 
 
 " Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artax- 
 erxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of 
 the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his 
 statutes to Israel : Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra 
 the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect 
 peace, and at such a time. I make a decree that all they 
 of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my 
 realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to 
 Jerusalem, go with thee. Forasmuch as thou art sent of 
 the king [from before the king] and of his seven counsellors, 
 to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to 
 the law of thy God, which is in thine hand ; and to carry 
 the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have 
 freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in 
 Jerusalem ; and all the silver and gold that thou canst find 
 in all the province of Babylon, with the free will offering of 
 the people and of the priests, offering willingly for the house 
 of their God, which is in Jerusalem ; that thou mayst buy 
 speedily with this money, bullocks, rams, lambs, with their 
 meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon 
 the altar of the house of your God, which is in Jerusalem. 
 And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy breth- 
 ren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that 
 do after the will of your God. The vessels, also, that are 
 
PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 279 
 
 given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those 
 deliver thou before the G-od of Jerusalem. And whatsoever 
 more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou 
 shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's 
 treasure house. And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, do make 
 a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that 
 whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of 
 heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily, unto a hun- 
 dred talents pf silver, and to a hundred .measures of wheat; 
 and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, 
 and salt without prescribing how much. Whatsoever is com- 
 manded [is of the decree] by the Ged of heaven, let it be dili- 
 gently done for the house of the God of heaven, for why should 
 there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons. 
 Also we certify you that, touching any of the priests and Le- 
 vites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of 
 God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom, 
 upon them ; and thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God 
 that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may 
 judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know 
 the laws of thy God, and teach ye them that know them 
 not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and 
 the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon 
 him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment [or root- 
 ing outj, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment." 
 The spiritual significance of the above is to show a resto- 
 ration of the church and the truths thereof to Jerusalem. 
 But aside from any such theorizing, my purpose being to 
 follow this in its most literal sense, the reader can notice 
 the purport of the above, which is a decree of restora- 
 tion only, given in A. M. 3696, but in the twentieth year 
 of the reign of Artaxerxes, or A. M. 3703, a decree is 
 
280 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 made and the word or command to build Jerusalem is giv- 
 en in Nehemiah ii. 1-8, as follows : " And it came to pass 
 in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes 
 ' the king, that wine was before him ; arid I took up the wine 
 and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been before- 
 time sad in his presence ; wherefore the king said unto me, 
 ' "W hy is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick f this 
 is nothing else but sorrow of heart.' Then I was very sore 
 afraid, and said unto the king, ' Let the king live for ever ; 
 why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the 
 place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates 
 thereof are consumed with Are V Then the king said unto 
 me, ' For what dost thou make request V so I prayed to 
 the God of heaven ; and I said unto the king, ' If it please 
 the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, 
 that thou wouldst send me unto Judah, unto the city of my 
 fathers' sepulchre, that I may build it. ' And the king said 
 unto me (the queen [wife] also sitting by him), ' For how 
 long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return V So it 
 pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. More- 
 over, I said unto the king, ' Jf it please the king, let letters 
 be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may 
 convey me over, till I come into Judah ; and a letter unto 
 Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me 
 timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which ap- 
 pertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for 
 the house that I shall enter into.' And the king granted me, 
 according to the good hand of my God upon me." 
 
 Without recurring to the year-day theory, I assume it as 
 having been fully established, and with this starting point 
 we will see how the time divides. In A. M. 3696, Ezra 
 went up and labored in Jerusalem toward the restoration of 
 
PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 281 
 
 the temple and morals, some thirteen years. The temple 
 was rebuilt under a decree of Cyrus in 3625, some seventy 
 years previously, and Nehemiah subsequently went up to 
 build the walls, having been appointed governor, which of- 
 fice he retained twelve years, Neh. v. 14, 15. There is 
 some confusion in history relative to the reigns of Xerxes 
 and Artaxerxes, but there is little doubt that Xerxes, who 
 was succeeded by Artaxerxes, reigned with him altogether 
 sixty years. Eollin says Ezra went up in the seventh year 
 of Artaxerxes, which he makes the year 3537, materially 
 differing from Lavoisigne's Atlas and the marginal notes of 
 protestant bibles. But De Wette, in his introduction to the 
 Old Testament, a work entirely unfavorable to a Christian 
 interpretation, places the seventh year of Artaxerxes in A. 
 M. 3546 , which corresponds with the year 3704 of my chro- 
 nology. Josephus likewise runs the two reigns into one, for 
 he says, " In the time of Xerxes, when a son of Jeshua, 
 named Joachim, was high-priest, Ezra received his commis- 
 sion, and went up to Jerusalem." Now Joachim was high 
 priest by the old chronology from f £ f | to f ytf> an< * Xerxes 
 reigned from ff-^g- to f£§^. Josephus likewise tells us that 
 Ezra and Joachim died about the same time, and it is evi- 
 dent that Nehemiah did not go up to build the walls until 
 the latter part of Ezra's time, when Eliashib was high-priest. 
 Hence by the data furnished by Josephus, the time of Ezra's 
 commission could not have been in Xerxes' seventh year, 
 but in the subsequent reign of Artaxerxes, as detailed in the 
 Scripture. There is mnch discrepancy between the text and 
 Josephus, and I deem the text the more reliable of the two. 
 To proceed in chronological order, in the year 3625, just the 
 time that Daniel looked forward to in his prayer, being the 
 end of the seventy years' captivity, Cyrus made his decree 
 
282 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 for rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem, in which he says, 
 '' let the height be sixty cubits, and the breadth sixty cubits," 
 making a surface measurement of thirty-six hundred cubits, 
 with three rows of great stones for its foundation, which the 
 reader will readily perceive from the principle of interpre- 
 tation already shown, symbolizes the Trinity of the God- 
 head, and that in the form of humanity ; for here we have 
 again the measure of a man, in the 3600, or number nine 
 in this foim. The work on the temple was unfinished in 
 3642, but the walls, &c, were delayed and remained un- 
 finished for many years. We next find that in the sev- 
 enth year of Artaxerxes, which is in 3696, Ezra went 
 up with Ms commission from the king (chap. vii. 7, 8), to 
 restore Jerusalem. Ezra died, according to Josephus, about 
 the year 3718, when Joachim also died. 
 
 The walls had been commenced, Ezra iv. 12, but de- 
 layed, as had also the work on the house, unto the second 
 year of Darius, in 3692, Ezra iv. 24. Nehemiah was the 
 governor, and remained twelve years at this time, and re- 
 turned to Babylon in the thirty-second year of the king's 
 reign, A. M. 3721, Nehemiah xiii. 6, and he remained 
 there to the end of certain days, which expression signifies 
 some years. It is necessary to be quite careful in ascertain- 
 ing when Nehemiah returned and finished his work. Yet 
 there are incidental points here and there from which we 
 may gather a knowledge of the time when he returned and 
 restored Jerusalem, which work Ezra had begun. 
 
 It is evident from the whole book of Nehemiah, that his 
 work was done during the high-priesthood of Joakim and 
 Eliashib, which lasted until 3753, Nehemiah having re- 
 turned to Babylon in 3721, two years after the accession of 
 Eliashib, chapters 'v. 14, and xiii. 6, 28, and remained 
 
PKOPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 283 
 
 there while Eliashib allowed many abuses to grow up, see 
 chap. xiii. This involved many years. He must have 
 been some forty years of age when appointed governor in 
 3709, and Josephus relates that he died an old man, and 
 supposing him to have died at the age of seventy-six, he 
 would have returned to Babylon at the age of fifty-two ; in 
 3721, returned again to Jerusalem and finished the work in 
 twenty-four years, and died in 3745, during the priesthood 
 of Eliashib. 
 
 This completes the first division of seven weeks or forty" 
 nine years, from 3696 +' 49=3745, in which was accom- 
 plished by Ezra and Nehemiah, the restoration and building 
 of Jerusalem. Now we have the next period of 62 weeks, 
 or the cyclical period of 430 years, which is four days short ; 
 but we have seen the time is to be shortened, and by refer- 
 ring to the chronology, the reader will find that it is but the 
 repetition of a cycle, being the fourth and last one of 479 years. 
 
 The 430 years added to 3745, brings us to A. M. 4175, 
 and if the reader will turn to the chronology, he will see 
 how this comes" out in analogy of time with the other pe- 
 riods, and as this interpretation is different from the re- 
 ceived comments, it will be necessary now to recur to each 
 of the verses under consideration, and examine them critically. 
 
 First, in reply to the prayer of Daniel, he is told that 
 seventy weeks are determined or shortened on thy people 
 to finish the transgression, meaning that another cycle of 
 seventy sevens or weeks was to roll around, to complete the 
 prophetic times. This seventy weeks, in its original mean- 
 ing, has reference to a stated time of this nature. For one 
 of the ablest Hebrew scholars of the age (Bush) says : " It 
 appears beyond debate, that the Hebrews had a distinct 
 term for the conventional designation of time which we call 
 
284 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 a week. This term is S^aa, derived from the radical sau, 
 seven, and properly indicates a septemized period." The 
 
 tikln tlhib s 
 
 scriptural term for weeks is msaiB, and msisio, except as 
 occurring in the book of Daniel (Bush), and Professor Stu- 
 art translates the phrase "seventy sevens are appointed," 
 &c. We readily find here that the words, when properly 
 viewed, do really refer to a "septemized" period. Now 
 the twenty-fourth verse stands alone and complete by itself 
 telling Daniel that another cycle must pass ere the end of 
 the Israelitish establishment. This answer was given by 
 Gabriel to Daniel in A. M. 3626, and it was just seventy 
 years after that, Ezra went up to restore Jerusalem in 3696 
 the beginning of the time indicated in the next or twenty- 
 fifth verse. Here we also find a septemized period. We 
 then have come to seven sevens, during which the edifice was 
 restored during troublous times, and the sixty-two sevens, 
 bringing us di^svn to the- time when Jesus was twelve years 
 of age, and was found in the temple teaching the doctors a 
 new religion, and establishing a new church, Luke ii. 41-50 
 thus ending the cycle of seventy rests or sevens (see chro- 
 nology), as divided in the twenty-fifth verse, in seven and 
 sixty-two. 
 
 The next verse (the twenty-sixth) tells us that after this 
 time or end, the Messiah was cut off, and describes the cir- 
 cumstances in a most graphic manner. That the facts are 
 as described, needs neither comment nor explanation. The 
 expression, " after sixty-two weeks," evidently intends to 
 refer to the previously noted cycle-period, as if to say, " af- 
 ter this period has been consummated," then the end, and 
 the people of the prince that came (the Romans), did de- 
 stroy the city as with a flood of people. 
 
PEOPHECY OP THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 285 
 
 It seems to me it has been a prevalent error to consider 
 the last four verses of this chapter as entirely referring to 
 and explaining each other ; but on the contrary I think they 
 are in a measure independent of each other ; the first an- 
 swering that another cycle is- to intervene, the next dividing 
 the time and measuring it off. The third or twenty-sixth, 
 stating that after that, not stating how long, the Saviour 
 should be cut off, and the last, that he should confirm the 
 covenant with many for another seven or septemized period. 
 In this we have two points to investigate : first, as to what 
 covenant he refers to, and what kind of a seven is meant, 
 whether a week of days, years, or weeks of years ; for the 
 jubilee week of forty-nine years is equally a seven or week. 
 
 We will first look into the covenant referred to. Mr. 
 Cummings says there is but one covenant, and quotes Jer. 
 xxxi. 31, "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
 will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with 
 the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I 
 made with their fathers," &c. But there were other cove- 
 nants, and in Isaiah xlii. 6, 7, we read : " I the Lord have 
 called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and 
 will keep thee for a covenant of the people, for a light to 
 the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the pris- 
 oners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of 
 the prison-house.'' 
 
 This has direct reference to the Messiah, as the chapter 
 elsewhere shows, saying, " I have put my spirit upon him," 
 and " he shall set judgment in the earth ;" and in Isaiah 
 xlix. 6-8, the Lord says : " It is a light thing that thou 
 shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and 
 to restore the preserved [or desolations] of Israel ; I will al- 
 so give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayst be 
 
286 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the 
 Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him 
 whom man despiseth [or to him that is despised in soulj, to 
 him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, 
 kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because 
 of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and 
 he shall choose thee. Thus saith the Lord, ' In an accep- 
 table time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation 
 have I helped thee ; and I will preserve thee, and give thee 
 for j, covenant of the people, to establish [or raise up] the 
 earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages." 
 
 Here is a great covenant, which is but the renewal of a 
 promise made from the first, and it is further promised, that 
 the time will come when any and every one who opens him- 
 self to the 'Lord, shall know him and his law ; and it is 
 again renewed through John in Rev. xxi., wherein he says: 
 " The tabernacle of God is with men," and that every man 
 may receive his light direct from Christ. This relates to 
 the New Jerusalem, wherein (in which state) every man 
 who wills it, may seek Christ of himself without an inter- 
 mediate priest. Here we see the external or Israelitish and 
 typical church changed to the internal and real. 
 
 Thus the covenant is to give Christ for a light to ihe 
 Gentiles. The Hebrews having been used as an external 
 people, to retain the types and symbols of the coming Chris- 
 tianity, outlive their uses and are scattered. The lamps 
 have been lighted, and although put out for a period, their 
 beams are travelling on the waves of time, until the " times 
 of the Gentiles is filled " Thus much for the covenant. 
 Now let us contemplate the period (a week). We must re- 
 turn to the commencement of the typical church or period 
 the father of which is " Israel." About the year 2189 he 
 
PEOPHECT OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 287 
 
 entered the land of Canaan, having ended his servitude, and 
 Joseph was born about this time. In that portion of Genesis 
 giving the history of Jacob and Joseph, we find the age 
 given to Joseph, which is entirely omitted in the other 
 brethren ; for instance, we are told when he was seventeen 
 years of age, and when thirty, see Gen. xxxvii. 2 and xli. 
 46. These time-marks are not without their purpose, for a 
 period of 49 years brings us to 2238, when the 430 years 
 sojourn in Egypt begins. By a reference to the chronology, 
 it will be found that these extra periods of one week or for- 
 ty-nine years, are transition periods, though this one during 
 Joseph's time is not so marked in my calculation. Joseph 
 was the type of Christ ; the cherished son of his father, he 
 was tempted and overcame, and he saved iis brethren ; 
 thus these weeks of 49 years precede the cycles of 430, or 
 62 weeks, and then also follow them, as the transition oc- 
 curs from one moral state to another ; hence in analogy to 
 this system, when Daniel is told, that the covenant is con- 
 firmed for one week, it but says there shall be another trans- 
 ition period under the covenant for one cycle of forty-nine 
 years, and then comes the overspreading abominations and 
 desolations, even until the* consummation of the era. 
 
 Thus the weeks ended in A. M. 4175, and add 49 and we 
 have the year 4224, the midst of which week is A. M. 
 4200, when Jesus was near thirty-seven years of age and 
 had been " cut off," " but not for himself." Allowing for 
 the error (usually reckoned) of Dionysius of three or four 
 years, 4175 would be A. D. 8 or 9. Tiberius began his 
 reign in A. D. 14, and in his 15th year, A- D. 28. Jesus was 
 30 years of age, Luke iii. 1, 23. In A. D. 30, he was bap- 
 tized, and some four years later was crucified, in A. D. 34, 
 he being about thirty-seven years of age. (See Chronologi- 
 
288 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 cal Table.) Luke tells us that Jesus was baptized of John, 
 and that John preached but a short time, and he was baptized 
 at an early period of John's mission. It is needless to say how- 
 Christ was a light to the Gentiles, how Philip was caused to 
 unfold Christ to the Ethiopean, and how Saul was called to 
 bear his name and gospel before the Gentiles and kings and 
 children of Israel : thus Christ was a light to the Gentiles. 
 That the sacrifice and oblation ceased, Mr. Cummings says : 
 " Most interestingly God's providence reveals to us the truth 
 of God's prophetic word. The Tahnudists say, that about 
 forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, about 
 the time of the death of Jesus, the lots were not cast for the 
 victim, or passed into the priests' hand, the wool was not 
 dipped in the blood of the atonement, nor were evening 
 lamps lighted, and the temple doors were all left open ; that 
 is, in the very year in which Christ was cut off, or about 
 forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, it is admit- 
 ted that there was a suspension of the regular office of the 
 Jewish priests, the secession of the Sanhedrim had taken 
 place, in consequence of which the high-priest was incapa- 
 citated to perform the chief functions of his office. We find 
 moreover, that when the Jewish National independence had 
 ceased to exist, Pilate took away the robes of the high-priest, 
 in which robes alone he could officiate on the three high festi- 
 vals. These robes of the high-priest, in which alone he 
 could officiate, were locked up under seal in the tower An- 
 tonia, and for six months before and eighteen months after 
 Christ's death the offering and the oblation ceased, because 
 the high-priest had not the proper robes in which to perform 
 the one or the other. How striking is this fact, and the 
 very money collected to pay the offering, Pilate took away 
 from the church and appropriated to the state, and it be- 
 came a political tax, and not as it might be called a church 
 
PBOPHEOY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 289 
 
 rate. The very means and elements of Jewish worship 
 were thus exhausted, the sacrifice and oblation ceased." And 
 the overspreading of abominations which are idolatrous and 
 Babylonish religions of and for this world, are to last until 
 the end, or consummation of the age ; and consummations 
 take place by cycles, and when the church becomes entirely 
 perverted to idolatry, or becomes a Babylon, it is destroyed, 
 and the spirit builds up another, so that God in his mercy 
 has never left the .world without light. Thus, Noah was 
 succeeded by Abram, and from the death of Noah, about 
 A. M. 2000, to the end of the kingdom of Israel, is a cycle 
 of 1260 years, and that this is a cyclical point in the world's 
 history is seen from the fact that it is the era of Narbonas- 
 ser, or A. M. 3257, and the era of Rome 3253, and the 
 destruction of Israel shortly after. In Abraham's church, 
 God revealed himsqlf through angels and spirits to man. 
 In the next cycle he spcjke to him in dreams, visions, and 
 prophecies, and that Babylonish church became desolate 
 after a time, or 360 years, and received no revelation from 
 God ; but its worldly cycle went 1260 years, to about A. D. 
 520, and thence another cycle brings us to the period when 
 the Lord had established his new Jerusalem, as elsewhere 
 shown, as testified by Swedenbprg. 
 
 Thus, when we read this prophecy as one of spiritual im- 
 port, more than the mere building of a city* it is not only 
 clearly made out, but cannot be accurately deciphered other- 
 wise. Thus, seventy weeks are determined to the end of 
 the transgressions, which are divided as shown, from the 
 command to restore and build Jerusalem seven and sixty-two 
 weeks. Now we all know what restore means ; to bring 
 back something lost. The city of Jerusalem was not lost 
 or destroyed ; the Temple was already rebuilt, the citv was 
 13 
 
290 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OE DANIEL. 
 
 there. Then what was to be restored ? why, Jerusalem ; 
 and now let us see what that means in prophetic phraseol- 
 ogy. In Isaiah Lxv. 17, 18, we read, "For behold I create 
 new heavens. and a new earth," &c. "I create Jerusalem 
 a rejoicing," &c. " I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in 
 my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard 
 in her." This surely is not a true prophecy of the external 
 city of Jerusalem. And again in Isaiah xlii. 1, we read, 
 " For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest Until the righteous- 
 ness thereof go forth as brightness." This is not true of 
 the literal city as the chapter elsewhere shows, as does also 
 Isaiah lii., wherein it says : "Awake, awake, put on thy 
 strength O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusa- 
 lem the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more 
 come unto thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." 
 And so throughout the book of Isaiah, it is evident the 
 prophet refers to a spiritual condition under the symbolism 
 of Jerusalem, and not to the city itself, for literally read 
 they are not true ; for instance, this from Zech. viii. 3, " I 
 am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jeru- 
 salem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth," " and 
 the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain." 
 And in Joel iii. 17, Jerusalem is called holiness, "and no 
 stranger shall pass through it any more." Hence it is ev- 
 ident that the Jerusalem that was to be restored was a spirit- 
 ual state of man, which had become Babylonish. 
 
 But to return to the week of 49 years. "We rested in the 
 imidst of the week A. D. 34, when the oblation ceased and 
 the Christ was crucified. We travel on to A. M. 4224 or 
 A. D. 58, and already the true spirit was waning. After 
 the week the abomination of desolation was in the temple 
 even until the consummation, which period is elsewhere 
 pointed out and the desolation of the interim is fully shown. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHAPTER XL OF DAHIEIi FBOM VEB. 20.) 
 THE RISE OP THE IRON MONARCHY OP ROME OVER JUDEA. 
 
 Ver. 20. " Then shall stand up in his estate [or in his 
 place] a raiser of taxes [one that causeth an exactor to pass 
 over] in the glory of the kingdom, but within few days he 
 shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle." The 
 Douay version reads thus : " And there shall stand up in his 
 place one most vile, and unworthy of kingly honor, and in 
 a few days he shall be destroyed, not in rage nor in battle." 
 
 Ver. 21. " And in his estate [pr in his place] shall stand up 
 a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the 
 kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the king- 
 dom by flatteries ;" which in the Douay reads : " And there 
 shall stand up in his place one despised, and the kingly 
 honor shall not be given him, and he shall come privately, 
 and shall obtain the kingdom by fraud." 
 
 Here we find a new state or dynasty described. The 
 third chapter ended with the nineteenh verse, which termina- 
 ted the period of the Seleucidse in the year 4098. And this 
 one coming to stand in his place, as in one that does not 
 belong to him, is the aggressive Eoman power, impersonated 
 in Pompey in 4098, or before Christ 65, he made himself 
 master of all Syria, depriving Antiochus Asiaticus, the last 
 of the Seleucidse of his' dominion, reducing it to a Eoman 
 province. He stood up in the glory of the kingdom when he 
 entered the Temple, ' ' and saw that which it was unlawful 
 for any other man to see but only for the high-priest." Jos. 
 
292 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Antiq. book xiv. chap. 4. We also read in Josephus " for 
 now we lost our liberty and became subject to the Romans- 
 .... Moreover the Romans exacted of us in a little time 
 above ten thousand talents." Pompey also reinstated a high- 
 priest, Hyrcanus. 
 
 In the year B. C, 54, Crassus and Pompey divided their 
 empire, Crassus taking Syria, where he plundered the Tem- 
 ple to the amount of 10,000 talents, or 17,500,000. In 
 them is plainly discernible " a raiser" of taxes, or as it is 
 expressed in the text, " causeth an exactor to pass over." In 
 Luke ii. 1, referring to this period, we read : " And it came 
 to pass in those days that there went out a decree from the 
 Csesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed," and 
 Matthew it seems was one of the tax-gatherers. 
 
 The literal exactness with which the words of the proph- 
 ecy are used in the details of its fulfilment, as in the word 
 exactor and the taxing as mentioned by Josephus, is very 
 striking, but in nothing more than in the death prophesied 
 • for the raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom. But within 
 a few days (years) he shall be destroyed, and he shall not 
 die in rage, but inferring that the death shall be peculiar, 
 " not in anger or in battle," pointing to a singular rather than 
 an ordinary death, which is fully and literally verified in 
 Pompey, who after his defeat at Pharsalia fled to Egypt, 
 and asked permission of Ptolemy to land, and his council 
 through fear of Caesar, treacherously invited him ashore 
 and had him murdered on the strand. Thus, through fear, 
 policy, and treachery, he died, instead of in battle or in anger, 
 in A. M. 3956. 
 
 With regard to the next, the 21st verse, which relates to 
 the successor of the last, who stood in his estate, I do not 
 perceive how commentators agree that this is Antioqhjis 
 
THE IRON MONARCHY OF ROME. 293 
 
 Epiphanes,- for he was not despised, and the Mngly honor 
 was given to him ; and if the last explanation is correct the 
 time precludes the possibility of a reference to Epiphanes. 
 To me it is evident that this is the Herodian family, begin- 
 ning with Herod the Great in A. M. 4126, who had not the 
 honor of the kingdom, for it belonged to the Romans, and 
 history teaches that he was vile and despised, as also how he 
 obtained the kingdom peaceably and by flatteries, which he 
 procured through the favoritism of Antony, fully detailed by 
 Rollin. 
 
 Ver. 22. " And with the arms of a flood shall they "be 
 overflown from before him, and shall be broken, yea also 
 the prince of the covenant." 
 
 Douay : " And the arms of the fighters shall be overcome 
 before his face, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of 
 the covenant." 
 
 This tells how Herod with the aid of the Romans or fight- 
 ers tinder Josias, Antony's general, besieged and took Jeru- 
 salem ; he had the kingdom given to him by flatteries, but 
 he had to fight for its possession three years afterwards.* 
 And when they conquered Jerusalem they took Antigonus, 
 the last of the Asmonean kings, prisoner, who was put in 
 chains and sent to Antony at Rome, and by him was put 
 to death, on which the Jewish historian remarks : " And 
 thus did the government of the Asmoneans cease a hundred 
 and twenty and six years after it was set up. This family 
 was a splendid and illustrious one both on account of the no- 
 bility of its stock and of the dignity of the high-priesthood. 
 j. . And it came to Herod, the son of Antipater, who was of 
 no more than a vulgar family and of no eminent extraction, 
 but one that was subject to other kings." He elsewhere 
 
 Josephus, book xiv. chap. 16. 
 
294 EXPOSITION OP THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 calls him an " Idumean or lialfjew." Thus have we shown 
 the successor a vile person [vulgar or despised] without the 
 kingdom in his own right, and how he came and took his 
 kingdom by fraud. The fraud was in the marriage he con- 
 tracted, which is told in Josephus. Now as to the prince of 
 the covenant, which we will show thus : In Exod. xl. 15, 
 we read : " For their anointing shall surely be an everlasting 
 priesthood throughout their generations." And in Numbers 
 xxv. 12, 13: "Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace, 
 and he shall have it and his seed after him, even the cove- 
 nant of an everlasting priesthood," &c. And in Malachi 
 ii. 4, 5 : " And ye shall know that I have sent this com- 
 mandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi," 
 &c. "My covenant was with him of life and peace," &c. 
 And in Mai. ii. 11, 12, we are told, " Judah hath dealt treach- 
 erously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in 
 Jerusalem, for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the 
 Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a 
 strange god. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth 
 this," &c. 
 
 This is the covenant, which being broken by Judah, it is 
 cancelled by the Lord. Antigonns was of this family and 
 included in this covenant, being both a prince and a high- 
 priest ; and thus he is the prince of the covenant. He 
 (the Roman) also stood up against the covenant when he 
 had John Hyrcanus, a Maccabean high-priest, put to death 
 in A. M. 3974. 
 
 Ver. 23 : " And after the league made with him he shall 
 work deceitfully ; for he shall come up, and shall become 
 strong with a small people." 
 
 Ver. 24 : " He shall enter peaceably [or into the peaceable 
 and fat] even upon the fattest places of the province ; and he 
 
THE IKON MONARCHY OF EOME. 295 
 
 shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his 
 fathers' fathers, he shall scatter among them the prey and 
 spoil and riches ; yea, and he shall forecast his devices [or 
 think his thoughts] against the strongholds, even for a time." 
 
 That Herod worked deceitfully towards the Romans and 
 all others is apparent, and I again quote from Eollin, who 
 says : " While the works necessary for the siege were car- 
 rying on, Herod made a tour to Samaria, and at length 
 consummated his marriage with Mariamne. They had 
 been contracted for years to each other, but the unforeseen 
 troubles which had befallen him had prevented their con- 
 summating the marriage till then. She was the daughter of 
 Alexander, the son of King Aristobulus and Alexandra the 
 daughter of Hyrcanus the Second, and thereby grand-daugh- 
 ter to those two brothers. She was a princess of extraor- 
 dinary beauty and virtue, and possessed in an eminent de- 
 gree all the other qualities that adorn the sex. The attach- 
 ment of the Jews to the Asmonean family made Herod 
 imagine that by espousing her he should find no difficulty 
 in gaining their affection, which was one of his reasons for 
 consummating his marriage at that time."* 
 
 Josephus in Antiq. book xiv. chap. 10, gives a full 
 list of the leagues and treaties with the Romans, and closes 
 the chapter with these words : " And thus have we. suffi- 
 ciently explained that friendship and confederacy we at those 
 times had with the Romans." Herod was in favor with 
 Cassius, who robbed the temple, and when Antony had come 
 to Syria and had beaten Cassius near Philippi, certain Jews 
 went to him to accuse Herod, but Herod had bribed them 
 with money, and he would not hear them. He married 
 Mariamne from policy, and Josephus again tells us, "He 
 
 * Book xxi. art. 1, sec. 6. 
 
296 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 did also other things in order to secure his government which 
 yet occasioned a sedition in his own family ; for being cau- 
 tious how he made any illustrious person the high-priest of 
 God, he sent for an obscure priest out of Babylon whose 
 name was Ananelus, and bestowed the high-priesthood upon 
 him." This was not in the order of the covenant, and here 
 he did unlike his fathers, &c. Mariamne wanted the hidi- 
 priesthood for her son, who was more entitled to it ; and 
 this was the disturbance in his family. So he took the 
 high-priesthood away from Ananelus and gave it to the son 
 of Mariamne, and here again he did unlike his fathers, for 
 none ever took away the high-priesthood before but Antio- 
 chus Epiphanes and Aristobulus. The whole history of 
 Herod as given by Josephus meets the requirements of these 
 verses. He rebuilt Caesaria and other cities ; he had the 
 city fortified, had a fortified palace close by the fortress 
 called " Antonio" rebuilt by himself, he made Samaria a 
 fortress for himself against all people. He built a fortress 
 for the whole nation, which of old was called Strato's Tower, 
 but by him, Gcesaria ; he built a place for a garrison in Gal- 
 lilee called Gaba, and he " was always inventing somewhat 
 further for his own security, and encompassing the whole 
 nation with guards." Thus did he forecast devices against 
 the fenced cities or strongholds. 
 
 He furthermore released a third part of t'ie taxes to the 
 people to regain their good will, which he had lost by rea- 
 son of his innovations in the religion, by having dedicated a 
 temple to Caesar. And thus he particularly did different 
 from his fathers, for here is the first intrusion of Soman 
 paganism or hero worship. 
 
 Ver. 35 : " And he shall stir up his power and his cour- 
 age against the king of the south, with a great army, and 
 
THE IRON MONARCHY OF ROME. 297 
 
 the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a 
 very great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for 
 they shall forecast devices against him." 
 
 Ver. 26 : " Yea, they that feed of the portion of his 
 meat, shall destroy him, and his army -shall overflow, and 
 many shall fall down slain." 
 
 Ver. 27 : " And both these kings' hearts [their hearts] 
 shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one ta- 
 ble, but it shall not prosper ; for yet the end shall be at the 
 time appointed." 
 
 Ver. 28 : " Then shall he return into his land with great 
 riches, and his heart shall be against the holy covenant ; and 
 he shall do exploits, and return to his own land." 
 
 Ver. 29 : " At the time appointed, he shall return and 
 come toward the south ; but it shall not be as the former, or 
 as the latter." 
 
 The twenty-fifth verse relates to the wars now waged by 
 the Roman power against the king of the south ; that be- 
 ing the power in the north, covering all Syria, -&c. This 
 is represented on one side by Cassar, and on the other by 
 Cleopatra. The next verse, whose phraseology is so pecu- 
 liar, gives us the history of Antony on one side and Caesar 
 on the other, for the expression, " they that eat bread with, 
 him," or "feed of a portion of his meat," in plain English, 
 would be some of his family kith or kin ; and the party 
 jointed to is Antony, his brother-in-law, who, with Cleo- 
 patra, was king of the south, the Ptolemies still reigning 
 there. But the king of the south shall not stand, for he 
 was defeated at the battle of Actium, whereupon Antony 
 killed himself, but before doing So, he proved himself one of 
 the chivsalry, by challenging Caesar to a single combat. 
 But Oassar coldly sent him word, that if he was weary of 
 13* 
 
EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 life, there were other ways to die, besides that. Thus we 
 see the heart of these two kings to do mischief, and the 
 minutiae of the history of this transaction, from Actium to 
 the death of Antony and Cleopatra, presents a fulfilment of 
 the twenty-seventh verse. 
 
 The twenty-eighth verse brings us to the end of Herod's 
 days, when he ordered the massacre of the Jewish children, 
 as related in Matt, ii., wherein he showed that his heart 
 was against the holy covenant. There are several cov- 
 enants related in the Scriptures ; but only one holy covenant 
 ultimated in the crucifixion under the Romans, as repre- 
 sented by the Herodian family ; the holy covenant being 
 the promise of the Messiah, and none other, and here we 
 find the king of the north, through the Herods, endeavor- 
 ing to circumvent it. That this is the covenant referred to 
 can be seen by a reference to Luke i. 72, and the marginal 
 references there found. "We have seen how the Seleucidae 
 became extinct, in B. C. 69, and with Cleopatra the family 
 of the Ptolemies, called the Lagidce, ended their empire in 
 B. C. 43, and we enter the twenty-ninth verse. The Bo- 
 mans do not return as they did, as to either party, but they 
 come toward the south, which is a conquered province, and 
 it brings us to the times of Agrippa. Here things are 
 changed ; they are not as they were ; and we read ; 
 
 Ver. 80 : " For the ships of Chittim [Douay, " of the 
 Romans "] shall come against him, therefore he shall be 
 grieved and return, and have indignation against the holy 
 covenant ; so shall he do, he shall even return and have in- 
 telligence with them that forsake the holy covenant." 
 
 Ver. 8.1 : " And arms shall stand on his part, and they 
 shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away 
 the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that 
 [astonisheth] maketh desolate." 
 
THE IRON MONARCHY OF BOMB. 299 
 
 Many vicissitudes rapidly befell the country and people at 
 this period. Sedition followed sedition, and the nation was 
 distracted, but the Romans kept them in subjection, and 
 the thirtieth verse teaches us of the indignation of the holy 
 covenant. This is done through Pontius Pilate, rather an 
 unwilling instrumeut, and a man to be pitied. 
 
 And the Jews who forsook the covenant, and crucified 
 the Messiah, had devices, agreements, and intelligence, with 
 the Romans as fully set forth in Matt, xxvii. 
 
 The thirty-first verse brings us down some forty years, 
 and refers to the destruction of the temple by Titus, the 
 setting up the Roman standards and offering sacrifices to 
 them, which they did, and which was to the Hebrew 
 an abomination of the deepest dye ; in fact it is going after 
 a strange god, and it is Roman paganism, and consequently 
 man-worship, and in this sense it is the abomination of des- 
 olation, and this abomination has lasted to this day, but the 
 sanctuary is cleansed to those that enter it. 
 
 Of the taking of the temple, Josephus remarks that it nad 
 been taken five times, though this was the second time of 
 its desolation, first by Nebuchadnezzar, and now by Titus, 
 and this time by reason of transgression. 
 
 Ver. 32 : " And such as do wickedly against the cove- 
 nant, shall be corrupt by flatteries [or cause to dissemble], 
 but the people that do know their God shall be strong and 
 do exploits." 
 
 Ver. 33 ; " And they that understand among the people, 
 shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword, and 
 by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days." 
 
 The thirty-second verse is fully explained where Jose- 
 phus tells us how the different parties contended in Jerusa- 
 lem, and how the Romans flattered and used the transgres- 
 
300 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 sors for their own purposes, and the next verse foretells the 
 fate of the early martyrs of the church. The Jews were 
 now largely scattered, and that this portion of the chapter 
 relates to this period, may be seen from an enlightened readr 
 ing of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, wherein the 
 Lord, at the request of his disciples, answers these questions, 
 "When shall these things be, [i. e. the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem], what shall be the sign of thy coming, and when 
 shall be the end of the world [or era]." In consecutive or- 
 der, beginning with the first question and at the fifteenth 
 verse, the Lord comes to the point and says, " When ye 
 therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of 
 by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place," &c. He 
 then proceeds to show the signs of the coming of the Son of 
 man, which he symbolizes by lightning, and thereby teaches 
 his coming is evidenced by spiritual light. He speaks of 
 the dark age, when the sun shall be darkened, and the moon 
 (the church), the reflector of the sun, give no light, and the 
 Stars (priests) fall from heaven to become of the earth earthy. 
 This reference of the Lord to the destruction of the temple, 
 is, as Mr. Faber remarks, very conclusive, proof of the time 
 and occurrence referred to. The Newtons and their pred- 
 ecessors, as well as Kollin and Josephus, from whom the 
 error springs about Antiochus Epiphanes, could not have 
 had the truth regarding it, for in chap, xii, 9, we learn the 
 book is sealed until the time of the end. Mr. Faber wrote, 
 but in the dawn of the morning following. 
 
 We have now arrived at a period when the theatre of 
 action is as much out of Judea as in it ; the people are scat- 
 tered, and the power that governs is the Roman. That em- 
 pire is the one in question. 
 
 Ver. 34 : " Now when they shall fall they shall be holp- 
 
THE IKON MONARCHY OF ROME. 301 
 
 en with a little help ; but many shall cleave to them with 
 flatteries." . 
 
 Ver. 35 : " And some of them of understanding shall fall 
 to try them [or by them] and to purge, and to make them 
 white even to the time of the end, because it ,is yet for a 
 time appointed." 
 
 These verses tell of the earliest dissensions in the church, 
 among Jews and Gentiles. The half-converted Jews and 
 the Gnostics, were they who were holpen with a little help, 
 that is, they who had some light, and Simon Magus is one 
 that deals deceitfully. Burton (Ecclesiastical History) says : 
 " His history is so mixed with fable that it is difficult to say 
 whether it contains any foundation in truth." Most of the 
 converts of the first century or two were Jews, Paul alone 
 preaching generally to the Gentiles, and throughout India, 
 Africa, and Italy, they were already quarrelling over doc- 
 trines, and consequently fast becoming impervious to the 
 light from heaven. The theory of Bishop Newton is 
 adopted by Mr. Faber, who says that "the accession of Con- 
 stantine to Christianity was helping the cause a little. They 
 had gone through direful persecutions, and here those per- 
 secutions ended, for paganism was subdued, and the help, 
 though in that light much, nevertheless was little, because, 
 although adding to its temporal prosperity, it contributed 
 little to spiritual virtue. It corrupted the heart and re- 
 laxed the simple virtue taught by the Master," and inas- 
 much as it made Christianity fashionable instead of pagan- 
 ism, many clave to it with flatteries. The application of 
 . this hypocrisy to the religion called Christianity, thus ear- 
 ly begun, has steadily increased, until, as a general thing, 
 church-going is one of the standard articles in fashionable 
 conventionalism. Understand me, I say not that church- 
 
302 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DAJSXEL. 
 
 going is not good ; I refer to its abuse, and the motives which 
 actuate its use. 
 
 The 35th verse refers to the Arian heresy of the fourth 
 century. Arius, a bishop, was persecuted because bis mind 
 was not in the exact form of certain other bishops , yet, if his 
 doctrines were now read, nineteen out of twenty of those 
 called intelligent Christians would fail to detect heresy until 
 their priest pointed it out to them ; for in fact it was but a 
 subtile and hair-splitting argument on that which in their 
 materialistic or natural condition they could discern but lit- 
 tle, that is, the Trinity, the Logos, and the Holy Ghost, ques- 
 tions on which the world seemed to be generally in darkness 
 until after the Eeformation. Gibbon, in the twenty-first chap- 
 ter of his " Decline and Fall," gives a full history of the con- 
 troversy, and says : " The authority of a general council to 
 which the Arians themselves had been compelled to submit, 
 inscribed on the banners of the orthodox party the mysteri- 
 ous characters of the word Hpmoousion, which essentially 
 contributed, notwithstanding some obscure disputes, some 
 nocturnal combats, to maintain and peipetuate the uniform- 
 ity of faith, or at least of language. The Consubstantialists, 
 who by their success have deserved and obtained the title 
 of Catholics, gloried in the simplicity and steadiness of their 
 own creed, and insulted the repeated variations of their ad- 
 versaries, who were destitute of any certain rule of faith. 
 The sincerity or the cunning of the Arian chiefs, the fear 
 of the laws or of the people, their reverence for Christ, their 
 hatred of Athanasius, all the causes, human and Divine, that 
 influence and disturb the counsels of a theological faction, 
 introduced among the sectaries a spirit of discord and incon- 
 stancy, which in the course of a few years erected eighteen 
 different models of religion and avenged the violated dignity 
 of the church." 
 
THE IKON MONAEOHT OF EOME. 303 
 
 One question which gradually arose from the Arian con- 
 troversy may however be noticed, as it served to produce 
 and discriminate the three sects, who were united only by 
 their common aversion to the Homoousion of the Nicene 
 synod. If they were asked whether the Son, was like unto 
 the Father, the question was resolutely answered in the_neg- 
 . ative by the heretics who adhered to the principles of Arius, 
 or indeed to those of philosophy, which seem to establish an 
 infinite difference between the Creator and the most excel- 
 lent of his creatures. 
 
 The omnipotence of the Creator suggested a specious and 
 respectful solution of the likeness of the Father and the Son ; 
 and faith might humbly receive what reason could not pre- 
 sume to deny, that the Supreme God might communicate 
 his infinite perfections and create a being similar only to 
 himself. These Arians were powerfully supported by the 
 weight and abilities of their leaders, who had succeeded to the 
 management of the Eusebian interest, and who occupied the 
 principal thrones of the East. They detested, perhaps with 
 some affectation, the impiety of Arius, they professed to be- 
 lieve, either without reserve or according to the Scriptures, 
 that the Son was different from all other creatures, and sim- 
 ilar only to the Father. t But they denied that he was either 
 of the same or of a similar substance, sometimes boldly jus- 
 tifying their dissent and sometimes objecting to the use of 
 the word substance, which seems to imply an adequate or at 
 least a distinct notion of the nature of the Deity. 
 
 The sect which asserted the doctrine of a similar substance, 
 was the most numerous, at least in the provinces of Asia, 
 and when the leaders of both parties were assembled in the 
 council of Seleucia, their opinion would have prevailed by a 
 majority of one hundred and five to forty- three bishops. 
 
304 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 The Greek w >rd which was chosen to express this mysteri- 
 ous resemblance bears so close an affinity to the orthodox 
 symbol that the profane of every age have derided the furi- 
 ous contests which the difference of a single diphthong ex- 
 cited between the Homoousians and the Homoiousians, as 
 it frequently happens that the sounds which approach the 
 nearest to each other accidentally represent the most oppo- 
 site ideas, the observation would be itself ridiculous, if it 
 were possible to mark any real and sensible distinction be- 
 tween the doctrine of the semi-Arians, as they were improp- 
 erly styled, and that of the Catholics themselves." 
 
 " Such was the rise and progress and such were the natu- 
 ral revolutions of those theological disputes which disturbed 
 the peace of Christianity under the reigns of Constantine 
 and his sons. But as those princes presumed to extend their 
 despotism over the faith as well as over the lives and for- 
 tunes of their subjects, the weight of their suflrage sometimes 
 inclined the ecclesiastical balance, and the prerogatives of 
 the King of Heaven were settled or changed or modified in 
 the cabinet of an earthly monarch." Arid as this last quo- 
 tation is more fully foretold in the subsequent verses, we 
 must now look to them. 
 
 Ver. 36 : "And the king shall do according to his will ; 
 and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every 
 god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of 
 gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, 
 for that that is determined shall be done." 
 
 Ver. 37 :. "Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers 
 nor the desire of women, nor regard any god ; for he shall 
 magnify himself above all." 
 
 Ver. 38 : "But in his estate shall he honor the god of 
 forces [or munitionsj, and a god whom his fathers knew 
 
THE IKON MONARCHY OF BOMB. 305 
 
 not shall he honor with gold and silver and with precious 
 stones and pleasant things [things desired]." 
 
 Ver. 39 : " Thus shall he do in the most strong holds 
 with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase 
 with glory : and he shall cause them to rule over many, and 
 shall divide the land for gain [a price]." 
 
 The king, that is, the temporal government, now concen- 
 trated in Constantine, and subsequently in Julian, as we have 
 seen from Gibbon, monopolized spiritual matters, settles them 
 according to- the dictates of his natural judgment without 
 any improvisation of the spirit, or " according to his mil," 
 thereby exalting himself above God, by assuming his pre- 
 rogatives. An evidence of the want of knowledge and the 
 true light is evinced in the vacillating manner Arius and his 
 confreres were treated by those who assumed spiritual dic- 
 tation within three years after the Council of Nice. 
 Arius and the exiles were recalled and treated at court 
 with respect, and on the day fixed for his triumph he 
 expired, and mysteriously ; so far as to excite a suspicion 
 that the orthodox saints had contributed more efficaciously 
 than by their prayers' to deliver the church from the most 
 formidable of her enemies. We also read that the sons of 
 Constantine like him, presumed to pronounce their judgment 
 on mysteries into which they had never been regularly initia- 
 ted, and the fate of the trinitarian controversy depended in 
 a great measure on the sentiments of Constantine^ who in- 
 herited the East. 
 
 The thirty-seventh verse describes the same dynasty in 
 the person of Julian, the apostate, who ascended the throne 
 in A. D. 360, and came to his dominion of the whole em- 
 pire in A. D. 361. He embraced paganism in A. D. 361, 
 therein disregarding the God of his fathers. Gibbon says : 
 " A devout and sincere attachment to the gods of Athens 
 
306 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 and Borne, constituted his ruling passion." This Julian 
 was a spiritual medium, which he cultivated by fasting and 
 other necessary processes, for the physical means and appli- 
 ances are much the same for facilitating the mediumistic 
 powers, whether the intercourse be with celestial or earthly 
 spirits, or those from the hells, for we read, "And it was in 
 honor of Pan or Mercury, of Hecate or Isis, that Julian, 
 on particular days, denied himself the use of some particu- 
 lar food which might • have been offensive to his tutelar dei- 
 ties. By these voluntary fasts, he prepared his senses and 
 his understanding for the frequent and familiar visits with 
 which he was honored by the celestial powers. Notwith- 
 standing the modest silence of Julian himself, we may learn 
 from his faithful friend, the orator Libanus, that he lived 
 in a perpetual intercourse with the gods and goddesses ; that 
 they descended upon earth to enjoy the conversation of 
 their favorite hero ; that they gently interrupted his slumbers 
 by touching his hand or his hair ; that they warned him of 
 every impending danger, and conducted him byitheir infal- 
 lible wisdom, in every action of his life ; and that he had ac- 
 quired such an intimate knowledge of hi3 heavenly guestSi 
 as readily to distinguish the voice of Jupiter from that of 
 Minerva, and the form of Apollo from the figure of Her- 
 cules. These sleeping or waking visions, the ordinary ef- 
 fects of abstinence and fanaticism, would almost degrade 
 the emperor to the level of an Egyptian monk. But the 
 useless lives of Antony and Pachomius were consumed in 
 these vain occupations. Julian could break from the dream 
 of superstition to arm himself for battle, and after vanquish- 
 ing in the field the enemies of Borne, he calmly retired in- 
 to his tent to dictate the wise and salutary laws of an em- 
 pire, or to indulge his genius in the elegant pursuits of lit- 
 
THE IKON MONARCHY OF HOME. 307 
 
 erature and philosophy."* And Milman in his History of 
 Christianity (page 375), tells us, "The Christians believed 
 in the existence of the heathen deities with perhaps more 
 undoubting faith than the heathens themselves. The de- 
 mons who inhabited the temples were spirits of malignant 
 and pernicious power, which it was no less the interest than 
 the duty of the Christians to expel from their proud and at- 
 tractive mansions. The temples were the strongholds of 
 the vigilant and active adversaries of Christian truth and 
 Christian purity, the enemies of God and man. The idols, 
 it is true, were but wood and stone, but the beings they 
 represented were real ; they hovered, perhaps in the air, 
 they were still present in the consecrated spot, though re- 
 buked and controlled by the mightier name of Christ, yet 
 able to surprise the careless Christian in his hour of supine- 
 ness, or negligent adherence to his faith or his duty." 
 
 And that Julian worshipped the god of forces, or Mauz- 
 iim, is more distinctly shown again by that peculiar ex- 
 pounder of these prophecies, Gibbon. I say peculiar, be-^ 
 ca*use he seems to have been an unconscious instrument in 
 the work. In chap. xxiv. he tells us, after describing a 
 night preceding a battle: "The monarch started from his 
 couch, and stepping forth to refresh his wearied spirits with 
 the coolness of the midnight air, he beheld a fiery meteor, 
 which shot athwart the sky, and suddenly vanished. Ju- 
 lian was convinced that he had seen the menacing counte- 
 nance of the god of war. The council which he summoned, 
 of Tuscan Haruspices, unanimously pronounced that he 
 should abstain from action." 
 
 That he disregarded the "desire of women," is reasona- 
 
 * Gibbon's Decline and Fall, ii. 419. 
 
308 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 
 
 bly explained by Faber, who refers to the proverbial desire 
 of all Hebrew women to bear the Messiah, and therefore 
 calls the Messiah " the desire of women," and that this fa 
 correct can be plainly gathered from their history, it being 
 the chief pride and glory to be the mother of the Messiah. 
 Thus, we read in Luke i. 28,- " And the angel came in un- 
 to her and said, ' Hail, thou that art highly favored, the 
 Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among women.' " And 
 v. 42, " And she spake out with a loud voice and said, 
 'Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of 
 thy womb.' " And in 1 Samuel is. -20, we read that Samuel 
 says to Saul, "And in whom is all the desire of Israel? is 
 it not in thee and on all thy father's house?" Now the 
 reader can trace how important a part Saul played toward 
 David, the head of the line of Jesus. And in Haggai ii. 6, 
 7, we read, "Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake 
 the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ; 
 and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations 
 shall come; and I will fill this house with glory." And 
 this was fulfilled when the desire, Christ, came. That house 
 was filled with glory, and the heavens and the earth were 
 shaken. , Thus do I establish from the Word, Mr. Faber's 
 theory. And that desire was entirely and pointedly repu- 
 diated by Julian. 
 
 The expression, "In his estate," agrees throughout with 
 a change of family, or dynasty, in the empire or king, as in 
 the seventh verse, where the Lagidce are referred to, and in 
 the twentieth, where the Komans succeed the Seleucida, 
 and it here introduces into power the Valentinian family, 
 in A. D. 364, Valentinian governing the west* and Valens, 
 his brother, the east. The former was warlike, and forti- 
 fied the banks of the Rhine from its source to the ocean, 
 
THE IRON MONARCHY OF BOMB. 309 
 
 closely planting them with strong castles and convenient 
 towers. He invented new works, for he was skilled in me- 
 chanical arts, " the land was covered with the fortifications 
 of Valentinian."* This brings us to the period when pa- 
 ganism was legally abolished, and the empire took " a new 
 or strange god." From the age of Numa to that of Gratian 
 the Romans preserved a regular succession of pontiffs, fif- 
 teen pontiffs ruling all things in the name of the gods, with 
 the various symbols and rites, such as the ceremonies of -the 
 Augurs, the keepers of Sibylline books, the Vestals, and a 
 multitude of offices and officers. But the ruin of paganism, 
 consummated in the reign of Theodociu3, still had its traces 
 and votaries in Borne, and quite a contest arose over the 
 altar of victory. " At length, in a full meeting of the sen- 
 ate, the emperor proposed, according to the forms of the 
 republic, the important question, whether the worship of Ju- 
 piter or that of Christ should be the religion of the Ro- 
 mans."! And on a regular division, Jupiter was con- 
 demned and degraded by a large majority. 
 
 This dynasty, after thus deposing the Roman gods, ended 
 by a permanent division of the empire, in A. D. 395, thus de- 
 scribed-by Gibbon : "The genius of Rome expired with The- 
 odocius. .... After the death of their father, Arcadius and 
 Honorius were sainted by the unanimous consent of man- 
 kind, as the lawful emperors of the east and of the west, and 
 the oath of fidelity was equally taken by every order of the 
 state, the senates of old and new Rome, the clergy, the mag- 
 istrates, the soldiers, and the people. Arcadius, who was 
 then about eighteen years of age, was born in Spain, in the 
 humble habitation of a private family, but he received a 
 
 * Gibbon. t Gibbon. 
 
310 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 princely education in the palace of Constantinople, and his 
 inglorious life was spent in that peaceful and splendid seat 
 of royalty whence he appeared to reign over the prov- 
 inces of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, from the 
 Lower Danube to the confines of Persia and Ethiopia. 
 His younger brother, Honorius, assumed, in the eleventh 
 year of his age, the nominal government of Italy, Africa, 
 Gaul, Spain, and Britain." 
 
 Arcadius had a favorite named Eutopius, one of his prin- 
 cipal eunuchs, who succeeded Rufinus, the last minister, 
 " whose vices he soon imitated." This person was the first 
 of his artificial sex who dared to assume the character of a 
 "Roman citizen." He became a master of avarice and 
 depravity, of whom Gibbon records, " the usual methods of 
 extortion were practised and improved, and Claudian has 
 sketched a lively picture of the public auction of the state." 
 't The impo'tence of the eunuch," says that agreeable satirist, 
 " has served only to stimulate his avarice ; the same hand 
 which, in his servile condition, was exercised in petty thefts 
 to unlock the coffers of his master, now grasps the riches of 
 the world, and this infamous broker of the empire appreci- 
 ates and divides the Roman provinces from Mount Haemus 
 to the Tigris." 
 
 One man at the expense of his villa is made pro-consul 
 of Asia, a second purchases Syria with his wife's jewels, and 
 a third laments that he has exchanged his paternal estate for 
 the government of Bithynia. In the antechamber of Eu- 
 topius a large 'tablet is exposed to public view which marks 
 the respective prices of the provinces. The different value of 
 Pontus, of Galatia, of Lydia, is accurately distinguished.- 
 Lycia may be obtained for so many thousand pieces of gold, 
 but the opulence of Phrygia will require a more considera- 
 
THE IEON MONARCHY OF SOME. 311 
 
 ble sum. The eunuch wishes to obliterate by the general dis- 
 grace his personal ignomy, and as he has been sold himself 
 he is desirous of selling the rest of mankind." 
 
 Thus do we find in Gibbon the land divided for gain, or 
 "gratis," as it is rendered in the Douay Bible, or for a 
 " price." These words have by no means the same mean- 
 ing : price,, for gain, and gratis. Nevertheless it is some- 
 what singular, that either of them are fully met by the facts. 
 
 I follow the history of the Eastern empire more particu- 
 larly because this is a revelation^is to what shall befall " thy 
 people," which probably applies here to the Hebrews, as 
 the angel was speaking to Daniel, who prayed much for his 
 people in particular, and also Israel, in its general sense, or 
 all God's people ; but at this period the area of one is that 
 of the other ; it is therefore immaterial which is meant by 
 the phrase. Syria continued under the Easterm empire. 
 The dividing of the land took place in the last decade of the 
 fourth century, after which history gives us little of moment 
 for a long space of time, and as the revelation recedes in 
 time and space from the seer, the circumstances as detailed 
 become more vague and fewer. Thus the time of the end 
 is approached. 
 
 Ver. 40 : "And at the time of the end shall the king of 
 the south push at him, and the king of the north shall come 
 against him like a whirlwind, with chariots and with horse- 
 men, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the coun- 
 tries and shall overflow and pass over." 
 
 Ver. 41 : " He shall enter also into the glorious land [or 
 goodly land, or land of delight or ornament], and many 
 countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of 
 his hand, even Edom and Moab, and the chief of the chil- 
 dren of Ammon." 
 
312 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OE DANIEL. 
 
 Ver. 42 : "He shall stretch forth [or send forth] his hand 
 also upon the' countries and the land of Egypt shall not 
 escape." 
 
 The Dpuay reads, " at the time prefixed." But it is evi- 
 dent that we open here on new matter and a new time. He 
 that was previously called the king of the south is no longer 
 in a condition to make war on the north, and the only south- 
 ern power left is Persia, whose king " indulged the ambitious 
 hope of restoring the Empire of Cyrus," This king is Chos- 
 roes, and he aspired to redeem the province of Yeman or 
 Arabia Felix, which had escaped rather than opposed the 
 conquerers of the East, and Judea was invaded. The con- 
 test between Borne and Persia had continued from the death 
 of Crassus, and was re-opened with fresh vigor by Chosroes 
 in the early part of the sixth century and continued during 
 a long reign. Home augmented her forces in the East with 
 150,000 cavalry, yet the king of Persia gave them battle at 
 Melitem, in Armenia, and was defeated. Some years later 
 another Chosroes, of this family, however, invaded Syria, 
 and Heraclias suddenly found a portion of his empire about 
 to be wrested from him. The Persians seemed successful, 
 and " the pleasant vale of Damascus which had in every age 
 a royal city," became a theatre of war, "and Chosroes re- 
 posed his troops in the paradise of Damascus before he as- 
 cended the hills of Iibanus. The conquest of Jerusalem 
 which had been meditated by Nushiroan (the first Chosroes), 
 was achieved by the zeal and avarice of his grandson." 
 When Jerusalem was taken, Gibbon says, "the devout 
 offerings of three hundred years were rifled in one sacrile- 
 gious day." The Patriarch Zachariah and the true Cross 
 were transported to Persia, and 90,000 Christians were 
 massacred. " Egypt itself, the only province which had 
 
THE EBON MONARCHY OF BOMK 313 
 
 been exempt since the time of Diocletian from foreign and 
 domestic war, was again subdued by the successors of Cy- 
 rus." " His western trophy was erected in the neighborhood 
 of Tripoli, 'and the conquerer treading in the footsteps of 
 Alexander returned in triumph through the sands of the 
 Libyan desert. If Chosroes had possessed a maritime 
 power his boundless ambition would have spread slavery and 
 desolation over the provinces of Europe."* 
 
 Ver. 43 : " But he shall have power over the treasures of 
 gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, 
 and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps." 
 
 He stretched forth his hand on these countries and Egypt 
 did not escape ; and returning, the Libyans and Ethiopians 
 were at his steps, or as it is rendered in the Douay version, 
 " and he shall pass through Libya and Ethiopia." 
 
 Having achieved the ancient limits of Persia, the-differ- 
 ences of religion inculcated in the one thousand years since 
 Cyrus, rendered it impossible to remain in tranquillity. But 
 before going further let us consider the literalness of this 
 prophecy and its fulfilment as recorded in Gibbon. Egypt 
 did not escape, but Edom or Idumea and Moab, lying south 
 and east of his route, were untouched, as well as the land of 
 the children of Amnion. The treasures of gold and silver 
 referred to, are most likely the treasures of the Temple taken 
 to Carthage by Genseric, recaptured by Belisarius, and 
 brought to Constantinople, and thence restored to Jerusalem ; 
 and with regard to these spoils, Gibbon thus concisely de- 
 scribes this portion of the prophecy : " The various treasures 
 of gold and silver, gems, silks, and aromatics, were deposited 
 in a hundred subterranean vaults." 
 
 * Gibbon. 
 14 
 
314 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DAOTEL. 
 
 Ver. 44 : " But tidings out of the east and out of the 
 north shall trouble him ; therefore he shall go forth with 
 great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many." 
 
 We have left Chosroes in triumph, for which the reader is 
 referred to the historian for a minute and interesting ac- 
 count, who now tells us that "an obscure citizen of Mecca 
 wrote to him to acknowledge Mohammed as the ' apostle of 
 God,' which invitation he rejects,, and the Arabian proph- 
 et exclaimed, as Chosroes tore the epistle, ' It is thus that 
 God will tear the kingdom and reject the supplications of 
 Chosroes.' At the time when this prediction is said to 
 have been delivered, no prophecy could be more distant 
 from its accomplishment, since the first twelve years of He- 
 raclius announced the approaching dissolution of the em- 
 pire." 
 
 Chosroes was at the very gates of Constantinople, and in 
 answer to an embassy, answered : "I will never give peace 
 to the emperor of Rome till he has abjured his crucified 
 God, and embraced the worship of the sun." Yet, in A. 
 D. 625, Heraclius, by a bold and brilliant campaign, recon- 
 quered the lost provinces. A large body of Turks having 
 joined him, Chosroes was driven home. The historian 
 gives us an ample account of how he went forth to destroy, 
 and the tidings from Mohammed in the east troubled him, 
 as well as the account of the recuperation of Heraclius. 
 There is always an aroma about a prophecy that carries 
 conviction. 
 
 ) Ver. 45 : " And he shall plant the tabernacle of his pal- 
 ace between the seas, in the glorious [or goodly mountain of 
 delight, of holiness] holy mountain, yet he shall come to his 
 end and none shall help him." 
 
 The Douay reads : 
 
THE IKON MONARCHY OF EOME. 315 
 
 " And he shall fix his tabernacle Apadno between the 
 seas, upon a glorious and holy mountain, and he shall come 
 even to the top thereof, and none shall help him." 
 
 This undoubtedly is more significant in its spiritual than 
 in its external reading. Yet in the literal it was fulfilled. 
 The tabernacle of his palace is the altar of his religion, see 
 Ezek. xxxvii. 27. And when Chosroes conquered Syria, 
 he held it several years, #nd imposed the Persian sun wor- 
 ship on the people, and set it up between the Mediteranean 
 and Dead seas, in the glorious holy mountain, Jerusalem. 
 Gibbon says, " The Christians of the East were scandalized 
 by the worship of fire, and the impious doctrine of the two 
 principles, and it soon led to fierce contentions." 
 
 Another but more interior readimg would be that he set 
 up his religion between the seas or peoples of the Christian 
 and Mohammedan world. 
 
 Chosroes was shortly after deposed, imprisoned, his sons 
 all massacred before his face, and there were none to help him, 
 and he expired on the fifth day of his imprisonment, in a 
 dungeon, " and the glory of the house of Sassan ended with 
 the life of Chosroes," and the empire was revolutionized. 
 Thus the prophecy is found ending again with a family ex- 
 tinguishment. 
 
 The prophecy continues in the next three verses of the 
 twelfth chapter, and again after a period, for this is the 
 time of the end of this history. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 (BEING CHAPTEE XII. OF DABIEL.) 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Ver. 1 : " And at that time shall Michael stand up, the 
 great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, 
 and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since 
 there was a nation, even to that same time ; and at that 
 time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be 
 found written in the book." 
 
 Ver. 2 : " And many of them that sleep in the dust of 
 the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to 
 shame and everlasting contempt." 
 
 Ver. 3 : " And they that be wise [or teachers] shall shine 
 as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many 
 to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." 
 
 These verses end the narrative detailing to Daniel the 
 historical incidents that fill up the space of time covered by 
 his great vision, and particularly describes the state of the 
 world at the " time of the end," which period corresponds 
 to the time described in Matt. xxiv. 30, 31, heretofore no- 
 ticed. 
 
 Michael, the prince here mentioned, we have been intro- 
 duced to before, in chap. x. ^ where he is also represented 
 as the powerful prince of Israel, and in the epistle of Jude 
 he is alluded to in an incomprehensible relation ; but in 
 Rev. xii. 7, he is presented in a position corresponding 
 with this of Daniel. That is during the period of 1260 
 years that the woman fled into the wilderness, which was 
 
CONCLUSION. 317 
 
 about A. D. 513, as elsewhere explained, then Michael and 
 his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. 
 
 "We had arrived in the course of the events of the elev- 
 enth chapter to the beginning of the seventh century, and 
 the time here specified that Michael stood up, is a time of 
 great trouble. 
 
 After the opening of the seventh century, Chosroes hav- 
 ing died about A. D. 628, the Saracens and Turks com- 
 menced their wars, which were of the most desolating char- 
 acter. The contest at this time is as represented in Eev. 
 xii., between Michael and the dragon, or between Chris- 
 tianity and paganism in its various forms, both in and out 
 of the Christian church. The dragon represents in Revela- 
 tion, the idolatries that drove the woman into the wilder- 
 ness, or the true religion out of the church. This contest 
 continues for several centuries, because the dragon was cast 
 out into the earth, and governed in this world during this 
 period of 1260 years. At length a line of demarcation was 
 drawn between the rule of heaven and that of hell ; this 
 time is toward the end of the dark ages, when " thy people," 
 meaning God's people, and not Jews alone, are about to be 
 delivered, and new light shed upon the earth, the deliver- 
 ance being from sin, Satan, or error : they being cast out 
 of heaven, and into the earth. 
 
 This is the time when many that " sleep in the dust of 
 the earth shall awake ;" that is to say, those whose spirits 
 are dead to the light of life and asleep in the dust of ignor- 
 ance and selfishness, shall awake, shake off the lethargy of 
 sin, cease to be of the earth earthy, and arouse to a spiritual 
 state and open their souls to the glory of the star whose 
 beams are shedding the light of early morn in the north. 
 This may be called almost before the break of day, being in 
 
318 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 the 14th century. The star, is Wickliffe, the morning star of 
 the Reformation, through whose light many awake to ever- 
 lasting life and from the dust of the earth. Many in the 
 church were convinced against their wills, and awoke to 
 their own reproach, and they that accepted the truth and 
 perceived the sign of the coming of the Son of man as de- 
 scribed in Matthew xxiv. 30, were awakened to everlasting 
 life. 
 
 The third verse applies to these stars of the Reformation, 
 Wickliffe, Huss, and others, who turned many to righteous- 
 ness, and consequently are blessed,- and shine as stars for ever 
 and ever. That this is the end, we learn from ver. 8, 11, 
 where the angel told Daniel in answer to the question, "What 
 shall be the end of these thftigs?" and they make answer, 
 " that it would be twelve hundred and ninety days [years] 
 from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the 
 abomination of desolation set up." The year A. D. 70, is 
 assumed as the period indicated, because it was then that 
 the daily sacrifice was taken away, concurrent with setting 
 up the abomination which is here regarded as the setting up 
 the Roman standards as objects of worship. The initiation 
 of paganism in the Temple, Josephus tells us that Antiochus 
 Epiphanes took away the daily sacrifice for the period of three 
 years, correcting his previous statement that it was for three 
 and a half years ; but this was not accompanied by the other 
 incident. And in the time of Agrippa, the emperor desired 
 to set up his statue in the temple, which created intense op- 
 position from the Jews, but at that time the daily sacrifice 
 was not removed ; and it would seem that the Lord in his 
 conversation with his disciples as related in Matthew xxiv. 
 especially points to this period in the 15th verse as indicated 
 by DanieL This is the only occasion where we find in the 
 
CONCLUSION. 319 
 
 external history of the church in its transition from Judaism 
 to Christianity, wherein there is a concurrence of the two 
 events named in the prophecy. And this ends this " scripture 
 of truth," territorially confined in its chief historic incidents 
 to the Eastern empire or that of the " he-goat." It was 
 about this " time of the end" that the Moslem conquered the 
 Eastern empire and entered Constantinople, but these periods 
 will be more fully explained as we progress in the chapter. 
 
 The narration or explanation having ended, Daniel still 
 asks for more light, and a few data are given to him chrono- 
 logically, thus : 
 
 Ver. 4 : " But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and 
 seal the book, even to the time of the end ; many shall run 
 to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.'' 
 
 Here we find it clearly indicated that the book of Daniel 
 is a sealed book " until the time of the end," which is the 
 latter part of the Reformation toward the eighteenth century. 
 
 Ver./ 5 : "Then I Daniel looked, and behold there stood 
 other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and 
 the other on that side of the bank of the river." 
 
 Ver. 6 : " And one said to the man clothed in linen which 
 was upon [or from above] the waters of the river, ' How long 
 shall it be to the end of these wonders'?' " 
 
 Ver. 7 : " And I heard the man clothed in linen which 
 was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right 
 hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that 
 liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half [or 
 part], and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the 
 power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." 
 
 There is a feature in this history worthy of notice, from 
 the fact that the like is seen in the phenomena of the pres- 
 ent age. Gabriel is the angel who gives Daniel the vari- 
 
320 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 ous communications as recorded, except in the matter of 
 numbers and chronology, when a different spirit comes on 
 the stage to impart that class of knowledge, as for instance, 
 the chronology given in chap. vii. 16, 25. The explanation 
 was from "one who stood by;" and so in chap. viii. 13. 
 Daniel overheard one saint speaking to another, and thus 
 he gathered the time twenty-three hundred days ; and so in 
 this instance, he" saw two spirits, and overheard one ask the 
 other as to time, and he is answered that it shall be for a 
 time, times, and a half, to the end of the wonders, and not 
 yet understanding, he again asks as follows : 
 
 Ver. 8: " And I heard but I understood not ; then said I, 
 ' O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things V" 
 
 Ver. 9 : " And he said, ' Go thy way, Daniel, for the 
 words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.' " 
 
 The question and answer in the sixth and seventh verses, 
 relate to the whole vision, which is opened in the seventh 
 chapter, and as related in the comments on that chapter. 
 That wonder was the first beast or Babylonian empire, 
 which we have seen commenced 747 B. C, and the dragon 
 accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people about 
 A. D. 5 1 3, or 1 260 years thereafter. So that wonder lasted 
 that length of time. 
 
 But not clearly comprehending the scene, he asks, 
 " What shall be the end of these things?" which is as much 
 as to say, "Not that great wonder, but these latter pictures 
 which I saw, as related in the eighth chapter. Tou have 
 given me the historical incidents, now give me the dates." 
 Therefore he is again told that the book is sealed to the 
 time of the end. Yet the following data are given by way 
 of guide-posts, pointing to the ultimation of the vision. 
 
 Ver. 10 : " Many shall be purified and made white, and 
 
CONCLUSION. 321 
 
 tried, but Hie wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the 
 wicked shall understand ; but the wise shall understand." 
 
 Ver. 11:. "And from the time that the daily sacrifice 
 shall be taken away, and the abomination [or to set up the 
 abomination] that maketh desolate [astonisheth] set up, 
 there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." 
 
 Ver. 12: "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 
 thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." 
 
 Ver. 13: "But go thou thy way till the end be, for 
 thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." 
 
 The tenth verse but promulgates a doctrine elsewhere 
 dearly taught, as in John vii. 17, where we read, respect- 
 ing a want of understanding, " If any man shall do his will, 
 he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. " And 
 again, in chap. viii. 47, "He that is of God, heareth God's 
 words ; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of 
 God." This points to the period of the dark ages, when 
 the book was sealed, but toward the time of the end, some 
 begin to be wise. 
 
 The eleventh verse gives us the point of the taking away 
 the daily sacrifice and setting up the abomination to reckon 
 the 1290 years from, which was in A. D. 70, at the fall of 
 Jerusalem, and reaches to the era of Wickliffe, the morning 
 star of the Reformation, for about that time it is apparent on 
 the pages of history, that some that then slept in the dust 
 . of the earth were awakened, this being one of the indica- 
 tions preceding the end. This is in the year 70 + 1290, 
 A. D. 1360. Then comes a statement in the twelfth 
 verse, which seems like a voluntary statement, to fix more 
 certainly the period alluded to. These two periods begin 
 like two beacons pointing to the light-house close by. 
 
 It is well here to mark especially the language of the 
 14* 
 
322 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OP DANIEL. 
 
 twelfth verse ; it says, " Blessed is he that waiteth," not 
 blessed are they ; now we are told that he who is perse- 
 cuted fpr righteousness' sake, is blessed, and by adding 1335 
 to 70, we have A. D. 1405, or the advent of John Huss, 
 the greatest of the reformers, of whom D'Aubigne, in his 
 History of the Reformation, says (see extract in chap. iii. of 
 part 1 of this work) : John Huss openly preached the refor- 
 mation about this period, and after a ten years' warfare, was 
 burned at the stake by the dragon. This is the last effort 
 to teach Daniel the years encompassing the vision and the 
 periods of its boundary. Then he is told to go his way un- 
 til the time appointed, as if to say, then we will have use 
 for you, and in the course of the pilgrimage through, we 
 find the Holy Spirit, or third ruler in ' the kingdom, in the 
 person of a prophet, talking with John, and giving him the 
 light Daniel had had before him. This is recorded in Eev. 
 six. 10, and xxii. 9. Many commentators have heretofore 
 arrived at the conclusion that this prophet* was Daniel, and 
 it undoubtedly was, in the interior sense — the spirit in the 
 form of the third ruler or operation. 
 
 And now in conclusion, let us rehearse what is discover- 
 able in this book. It opens by teaching us that the active 
 or operating spirit of God which had prevailed, the Israel- 
 itish church departed from, and it was taken into Babylon, 
 or the Babylonish church, and the spirit, or third ruler in 
 Heaven was attached to the church of which Nebuchadnez- 
 zar typefied the earthly head, and the four children that 
 stand before the king are the four representatives, and the 
 vessels of the temple are the truths taken in by the Babylo- 
 nish church. 
 
 Next we find the Lord revealing himself to that church 
 
CONCLUSION. 323 
 
 and nation, and teaching it that he will eventually set up, a 
 kingdom which will supercede all earthly kingdoms, and the 
 Holy Spirit that judges and rules sat in the seat of the king, 
 or reigned in that church. 
 
 Next we perceive the tendency of the church to natural- 
 ism. They lose the spiritual perception and endeavor to 
 embody the words and truths given to them in an external 
 image ; and they are taught a lesson by the fiery furnace,' 
 and perceive that God is the only deliverer. 
 
 And next we find the church is rebuked for its worldli- 
 ness, and is told of its own downfall and end, and how from 
 its roots a better tree shall grow. 
 
 And then, while in the pride of its power and indulgence, 
 it is numbered, weighed, and found wanting. 
 
 Then a new church or kingdom arises, and is governed as 
 was that institution at the building of the Temple, which 
 church goes through a night of darkness, during which time 
 the testimony of Jesus lies dead in the streets of Sodom, and 
 the Holy Spirit is not in the church but in a den of lions, 
 whence it emerges and teaches men the presence of the 
 living God, and that the Lord reigns, and rules in the 
 affairs of men . 
 
 The seventh chapter of Daniel opens a new era in the 
 spiritual world, the gift or beginning of open vision. The 
 word had been otherwise given to the Hebrews heretofore 
 by an opening of the spiritual sense of hearing, sometimes 
 in dreams, and by angels talking with men. Thus we learn 
 from 1 Samuel iii. 1 : "And the word of the Lord was 
 precious in those days. There was no open vision." This 
 was 1165 B. C. : a hundred years later David says, Psalm 
 lxxiv. 9 : " We see not our signs, there is no more any 
 prophet." " 
 
324 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 But Daniel and Ezekiel had open vision. The future 
 history of the world is portrayed in pictures, and we are 
 taught practically, what Jesus preached when he came, that 
 there is no limit to the power of a righteous man in prayer, 
 as Daniel by his perseverance received all the knowledge he 
 prayed for, and overcame the world and its dangers. 
 
 We trace throughout this book the knowledge of the 
 ancient zodiacal and astronomical systems as applied to 
 religion, the general science of which is lost ; the externals 
 of that religion Jesus preached to .set aside, yet his disciples 
 retain that which he discarded, and that which he preached, 
 the spirit of the ancient religion, they discard. 
 
 Throughout this work the letters A. M. indicate the year 
 from the beginning of Genesis, according to the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, rather than the year of the world. 
 
TERMINI OF PROPHECIES. 
 
 325 
 
 PEEIODS INDICATED AS TEBMINI OE PEOPHECIES 
 HEREIN. 
 
 Danl i. 1. 
 
 Ezk. iv. 3-7. 
 
 DanL xiv. 30 
 Douay. 
 
 Danl. iv. 23. 
 
 Danl. v. 30.. 
 
 Dartl. vi 
 
 Danl. vi. 7. . 
 Danl vi. 14. 
 
 Danl. vii 
 
 DanL xii. 7. . 
 Danl. vii. 25, 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 In the lion's den 6 days, or 2160 years, 
 from A. M. 3773 + 900 = 4673, or A. D. 
 Audience 1260 years to 
 
 Ohaptek vn. 
 The tree out down until 7 times pass 
 over it. The palace of Babylon "3147, 
 
 add 12 M. 360 = 3507 + 2520 
 
 Again, 
 
 From Enoch 987 + 2520 = 3507 
 
 Prom Noah's floodJ655 + 2520 = 
 
 ZF'AIFl.T I. 
 
 Chapter IV. [B.G. 
 
 3 years to prepare to stand before the 
 king. 3 years of years, 1080, from A 
 M. 3558, when Daniel was taken 605 
 
 Erom 3184, add 2389 + 245 = 2634 . . 
 
 Chapteb vnx 
 
 The age of Darius 62 -f- 36 = 2232 + 3507 
 
 Add 8 years or 288 
 
 656 
 
 A.M. 
 4175 
 
 AM. 
 5739 
 
 Chapteb IX. 
 
 Babylonish from 3507 + to 2520 
 
 30 days, 1080, from 3507 
 
 To help Daniel, end of decree 510=1260 
 (witnesses dead). 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Chapteb I. A.M. 
 
 Medo-Persian empire began P625 
 
 Absorbed by Greece 3831 
 
 Absorbed by Eome 4014 
 
 Accomplished to scatter the holy people 
 
 1260 years, from 3416 
 
 Whence commences the other 1260 J 
 When they are given into his hand j ' ' 
 Or 513 + 1350 = 
 
 390 
 
 B.C 
 538 
 332 
 149 
 
 747 
 
 AD. 
 
 475 
 1655. 
 
 510 
 
 1770 
 
 1864 
 12 
 
 1576 
 1864 
 
 1864 
 
 424 
 
 1770 
 
 A.D. 
 
 513 
 
 1773 , 
 1863 
 
326 
 
 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 Danl. viii, 14 
 Danl. xii. 6. 
 
 Danl. ix. 24, 
 25. 
 
 Danl. is. 26. . 
 Danl. ix. 26.. 
 
 Danl. xii. 7. . 
 Danl xii. 11. 
 
 Danl xii. 12. 
 
 Chapteb IV. 
 The beginning of the vision 3633+2300= 
 The beginning of Wonders 3416 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Cyrus decreed the rebuilding of the Tem- 
 ple 3626 
 
 7th of Artaxerxes, Ezra went up 3696 
 
 Jerusalem restored in 7 weeks 3745 
 
 62 weeks or 430 years 4175 
 
 1 week, renewal of covenant .. .,,,,... 
 
 Chapteb YH. 
 
 The length of the Wonder 3416 
 
 From the taking away of the daily sacri- 
 ■ fiee 1290 years, from A. D. 70 
 
 From he that waiteth to the 1335th day.. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 747 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1770 
 513 
 
 537 
 467 
 418 
 
 747 
 
 12 
 61 
 
 A.D. 
 
 70 
 
 513 
 1360 
 1405 
 
A. IP PEN 3D IX. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 Although this chronology differs greatly from the stand- 
 ards usually received in its results and combinations, in its 
 details it differs but little, the instances being very few* 
 which I will enumerate. 
 
 The first is the advent into Egypt. By a reference to 
 the note, the reader will perceive that I follow literally the 
 Hebrew statement, which cannot be found to give the period 
 of Abraham's seventy-five years, as chronologers usually date 
 it. The second is in the judgeship of Ehud, which is ex- 
 plained in a note. The third is from the death of Eli to the 
 eighth of David, which is likewise amply justified by the text. 
 
 These are the only prominent deviations from the usually 
 received chronology, excepting the interregnum of eleven 
 years after Amaziah, and setting back the dial ten degrees, in 
 the reign of Hezekiab, which are explained in their respec- 
 tive places, while elsewhere I follow literally the numbersas 
 given in the text, which I violate but once in the figures, and 
 the whole becomes reduced to a system susceptible of proof 
 internally and externally, by the peculiar manner of reckon- 
 ing, as developed in the proofs adduced, which are first by 
 the sabbatic and jubilee years ; secondly by the system of 
 counting by sevens and seventies, or rests; and thirdly, the 
 cycles of 360, based on the generation of 120 years, or the 
 cycle which includes the cycle of 1260 years, or time, times, 
 and a half time, all of which are illustrated in the notes to the 
 
328 APPENDIX. 
 
 several periods. This system throws a flood of light on the 
 celebrated prophecy in Daniel, of seventy weeks, as it is but 
 following out the same plan. (See chapter on Daniel ix.) 
 
 It is necessarily but briefly set forth here, not belonging 
 to this work beyond a reference for its dates, but this whole 
 system of numbers and chronology will be published in a 
 form fully explaining each position, wherein here the reader 
 has but the outline, which puts him at the threshold of 
 some important inquiries, to wit: whether these septennial 
 cycles have their foundation in an arbitrary dictum of Mo- 
 ses, or in the laws of nature. And we may study how far 
 the number nine pervades the processes of creation or na- 
 ture, and how far septennial cycles govern moral and ethical 
 revolutions. 
 
 TABLE SHOWING THE SABBATTIC AND JUBILEE 
 TEARS. 
 
 The observance of these, is thus ordered in Lev. xxv. 
 8-10 : " And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years 
 unto thee, seven times seven years, and the space of the seven 
 sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 
 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound 
 on the tenth day of the seventh month. . . . And ye shall 
 hallow the fiftieh year, and proclaim liberty throughout all 
 the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof, it shall be a jubi- 
 lee unto you. ... A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be un- 
 to you ; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth 
 of itself in it," &c, &c. 
 
 And thus the sabbatic year, Lev. xxv. 3-6 : " Six years 
 thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy 
 
1PPBNDIX. 329 
 
 vineyard and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh 
 year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for 
 the Lord ; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy 
 vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord, of thy 
 harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy 
 vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto the land. And 
 the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you," &c, &c. 
 
 TABUS OP SABBATIC AND JUBILEE TEAKS. 
 
 A.M 
 
 The law promulgated 2668 
 
 1st Sabbatic year. 2675 
 
 2, Moses 2682 
 
 4 " 
 
 5, " 2703 
 
 6, Joshua 2710 
 
 7, 1st Jubilee, 2718, in 11th of Joshua 2717 
 
 8, Joshua 2724 
 
 9, " : 2731 
 
 10, Interregnum. ,2738 
 
 11, " >... 2745 
 
 12, Chusan 2752 
 
 13, " .....:..::;. 2759 
 
 14, 2d Jubilee, 2767, 9th of OthnieL 2766 
 
 15, Othniel 2773 
 
 16, " 2780 
 
 17, " 2787 
 
 18, " 2794 
 
 19, Eglon. 2801 
 
 20, " 2808 
 
 21, 3d Jubilee, 2816, 18th of Eglon 2815 
 
 22, Ehud 2822 
 
 23, Jabin 2829 
 
 24, " 2836 
 
 25, " 2843 
 
 26, Deborah. 2850 
 
 27, " 2857 
 
 28, 4th Jubiiee, 2865, 21st of Deborah 2864 
 
 29, Deborah 2871 
 
 30 " 2878 
 
 31, « 2885 
 
 32, Midian 2892 
 
330 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. M. 
 
 33, Gideon 2899 
 
 34, " 2906 
 
 35, 5th Jubilee,. 2914, 23d of Gideon 2913 
 
 36, Gideon 2920 
 
 37, " - 2927 
 
 38, Abimelech 2934 
 
 39, Tola 2941 
 
 40," 2948 
 
 41, " 2955 
 
 42 6th Jubilee, 2963, 6th of Jair 2962 
 
 43, Jair. 2969 
 
 44, "...'. 2976 
 
 45, Philistines 2983 
 
 46, " 2990 
 
 47, " 2997 
 
 48, Jephtha 3004 
 
 49, 7th Jubilee, 3012, 2d of Elon. 3011 
 
 50, Elon 3018 
 
 51, Abdin 3025 
 
 52, Philistines 3032 
 
 53, " 3039 
 
 54, " : 3046 
 
 55, Eli 3053 
 
 56, 8th Jubilee, 13th of Eli, 3061 3060 
 
 67, Eli 3067 
 
 58, " 3074 
 
 59, " 3081 
 
 60, Samuel 3088 
 
 61, " .• 3195 
 
 62, " and Saul 3102 
 
 63, 9th Jubilee, 9th of David, 3110 3109 
 
 64, David 3116 
 
 65, " 3123 
 
 66, " 3130 
 
 67, " 3137 
 
 68, Solomon 3144 
 
 69, " 3151 
 
 70, 10th Jubilee, 17th of Solomon, 3159 3158 
 
 71,.Solomon 3165 
 
 72, " 3172 
 
 73, " 3179 
 
 74, Rehoboam 3186 
 
 75, " 3193 
 
 76, " andAbigam 3200 
 
 77, 11th Jubilee, 6th Asa, 3208 3207 
 
 78, Asa 3214 
 
 79, " 3221 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 A. M. 
 
 80, Asa 3228 
 
 81, " 3235 
 
 82, " 3242 
 
 83, Jehoshaphat 3249 
 
 84, 12th Jubilee, Jehoshaphat, 3257 3256 
 
 85, Jehoshaphat 3263 
 
 86, Jehoram 3270 
 
 87, " 3277 
 
 88, Jehoash 3284 
 
 89, " *.... 3291 
 
 90, " 3298 
 
 91, 13th Jubilee, 23d of Jehoash, 3306 3305 
 
 92, Jehoash 3312 
 
 93, " 3319 
 
 94, Amaziah 3326 
 
 95, " 3333 
 
 96, " : 3340 
 
 97, " : 3347 
 
 98, 14th Jubilee, 3d of Interregnum, 3355 3354 
 
 99, Interregnum 3361 
 
 100, Azariah 3368 
 
 101, " 3375 
 
 102, " 3382 
 
 103, " 3389 
 
 104, " 3396 
 
 105, 15th Jubilee, 41st of Azariah, 3404. . . . '. 3403 
 
 106, Azariah 3410 
 
 107, 2d of Jotham 3417 
 
 108, Jotham 3424 
 
 109, " , 3431 
 
 110, 7th Ahaz 3438 
 
 WlvAhaz 3445 
 
 |f£ 16th Jubilee, 6th of HezeMah, 3453 3452 
 
 113, HezeMah '. 3459 
 
 114, " 3466 
 
 115, Manasseh 3473 
 
 116, " 3480 
 
 117, " 3487 
 
 118, " 3494 
 
 119, 17th Jubilee, 36th of Manasseh, 3502 3501 
 
 120, Manasseh 3508 
 
 121 " :.: 35i5 
 
 122, Amon 3522 
 
 123; " 3529 
 
 124, Josiah .....■• 3536 
 
 125! " 3543 
 
 126, 18th Jubilee, 18-28 of Josiah, 3551 3550 
 
332 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 127, 
 128, 
 129, 
 130, 
 131, 
 132, 
 133, 
 134, 
 135, 
 136, 
 137, 
 138, 
 139, 
 140, 
 141, 
 142, 
 143, 
 144, 
 145, 
 146, 
 147, 
 148, 
 149, 
 150, 
 151, 
 152, 
 153, 
 154, 
 155, 
 156, 
 157, 
 158, 
 159, 
 160, 
 161, 
 162, 
 163, 
 164, 
 165, 
 166, 
 167, 
 168, 
 169, 
 170, 
 171, 
 172, 
 173, 
 
 A.M. 
 
 Eliakim 3557 
 
 3564 
 
 Zedekiah 3571 
 
 First of Captivity 3578 
 
 3585 
 
 3592 
 
 19th Jubilee, 43d of Nebuchadnezzar, 3600 3599 
 
 Captivity 3606 
 
 3613 
 
 3620 
 
 . . . . , 3627 
 
 3634 
 
 3641 
 
 20th Jubilee, 9th of Darius, 3649 3648 
 
 Darius 3655 
 
 3662 
 
 3669 
 
 3676 
 
 3683 
 
 3690 
 
 21st Jubilee, 2d of Artaxerxes, 3698 3697 
 
 Artaxerxes 3704 
 
 3711 
 
 3718 
 
 3725 
 
 3732 
 
 «< 3739 
 
 22d Jubilee, ' ioth of Darius Nothus, 3747! ...... . . . '. '. 3746 
 
 Darius Nothus .• 3753 
 
 " 3760 
 
 3767 
 
 3774 
 
 3781 
 
 « 3788 
 
 23d Jubilee, 41st of Artaxerxes 2d, 3796 3795 
 
 Artaxerxes 2d , 3802 
 
 " 3809 
 
 3816 
 
 3823 
 
 3830 
 
 " 3837 
 
 24th Jubilee, 15th after Persian Empire, 3845 3844 
 
 After Persian Empire 3851 
 
 3858 
 
 3865 
 
 " " 3872 
 
 '* " ■ 3879 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 333 
 
 AM. 
 
 174, After Persian Empire 3886 
 
 175, 25th Jubilee, 14th of Seleucus, 3894. ..-. 3893 
 
 176, Seleucus 3900 
 
 177, 
 178, 
 179, 
 180, 
 181, 
 
 3907 
 3914 
 3921 
 3928 
 3935 
 
 182, 26th Jubilee, 5th of Antiochus 3d, 3943 3942 
 
 183, Antiochus 3d. 3949 
 
 3956 
 3963 
 3970 
 3977 
 3984 
 
 184, 
 185, 
 186, 
 187, 
 188, 
 
 189, 27th Jubilee, 6th of Antiochus Epiphanes, 3992 3991 
 
 190, Antiochus Epiphanes 3998 
 
 191, " 4005 
 
 192, " 4012 
 
 193, «' 4019 
 
 194, " 4026 
 
 195, " 4033 
 
 196, 28th Jubilee, 3d of Antiochus Gryphus, 4041 4040 
 
 197, Antiochus Gryphus 4047 
 
 198, " 4054 
 
 199, • " 4061 
 
 200, " 4068 
 
 201, " 4075 
 
 202, " 4082 
 
 203, 29th Jubilee, 11th of Tigranes, 409*0 4089 
 
 204, Tigranes 4096 
 
 205, " 4103 
 
 206, " 4110 
 
 207, " 4117 
 
 208, " 4124 
 
 4131 
 
 210, 30th Jubilee, 14th of Herod, 4139 4138 
 
 211, Herod 4145 
 
 212, 
 213, 
 214, 
 215, 
 216, 
 217, 31st Jubilee, A. D. 25 = 4188, or 12th of Tiberius. 
 
 4152 
 4159 
 4166 
 4173 
 4180 
 4J87 
 Af D. 
 
 287, 41st Jubilee 515 
 
 427, 61st Jubilee 1495 
 
 473 Sabbaths or weeks 1865 
 
334 APPENDIX. 
 
 Of these Sabbatic and Jubilee years but few are found re- 
 corded as having been observed ]-hence the land had her rests 
 altogether for the space of seventy years during the captivity, 
 equal to the number of 430 years. 
 
 The Jubilees in the reigns of Othniel, Eglon, and Deborah, 
 appear not to have been observed, and each is said to have 
 "done evil in the sight of the Lord." These are the 2d, 
 3d and 4th, the first having been kept around Jericho. 
 
 The 5th, however, under Gideon, was kept, and the 
 trumpet sounded, Judges vi. 28 to 35. None appear again 
 during Judges, for they " did evil," until the 9th, in the 9th 
 year of David, when a Jubilee is very evidently described in 
 the 6th of 2d Samuel, when David brought up the Ark to 
 to the city of David [Jerusalem] in A. M. 3110. 
 
 The 10th Jubilee was likewise observed by Solomon in 
 3159, as may be inferred from 1 Kings, viii. 1 and 2, and 62 
 to 68. 
 
 The 1 1th Jubilee occurs in Asa's reign, and we read in 
 1 Kings, xv. 14, " the high places were not removed, and 
 Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days." It may 
 be remarked here that the phrase high places has a double 
 significance, it indicated not only the hills on which they 
 erected altars, being the high places of the pagans and also 
 those of the Lord ; but the feasts and rests or sabbaths, were 
 so designated, as a close observation of the term as used in 
 the scripture will show. (See 2d Chron. xiv. 3-5.) 
 
 The 12th Jubilee is thus indicated in the reign of Jehosh- 
 aphat in 2 Chron. xx. 28, 30, 33 : " And they came to Je- 
 rusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets." " So the 
 realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest 
 round about," " Howbeit the high places were not taken 
 away." 
 
APPENDIX. 335 
 
 The 13th Jubilee came in the 23d of Jehoash, in 3306, and 
 we find in 2 Kings xii. 3-4 : " The high places were not 
 taken away," and the next verses describe a restoration such 
 as is ordered to be done in-Tjev. xxv. 
 
 The 14th and 15th Jubilees are not noted in the scripture. 
 The 16th, however, in the 6th of Hezekiah is fully referred 
 to in the chronological text, which see. 
 
 The 17th appears not to have been observed, it was in 
 the reign of Manasseh, and we find in 2 Kings xxi. 2, 3, 
 that he " did evil and built up the high places of Baal." 
 
 The 18th Jubilee is clearly indicated in 3551, or 28th of 
 Josiah. This reckoning is in conformity with Hezekiah's, 
 which was made correct by removing the dial back 10 de- 
 grees, 2 Kings, xx. 11. If the same was done in this case 
 this Jubilee described in 2 Kings, xxii., xxiii v as in the 18th 
 of Josiah, would be correct, as it occurs by the table in the 
 28th. Thus his reign begun in 3524 ; the Jubilee was in 
 3551 ; hence it is his 28th year, as Hezekiah's was in his 
 6th, and is recorded in his 15th, or year after his 14th. 
 (2 Kings, xix., xx.) So Josiah's must be set back 10 degrees. 
 
 A Sabbatic year occurs in the 11th of Zedekiah, and 1st 
 of Captivity, A. M. 3578 ; and we read in Jere. lii. 6, and 
 2 Kings, xxv. 1-27 its indications, and that " the famine 
 was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the peo- 
 ple," the Lord having cursed instead of blessing the 6th year. 
 
 A Sabbatic year is also described in Haggai ii. 15-19, jn 
 the 2d of Darius, in 3641, agreeing with the table. 
 
 The 19th and 20th Jubilees are not discoverable. The 
 21st we find in Nehemiah v. 8-15, as well as the preceding 
 sabbath in 3697. Nehemiah went up from the captivity in 
 3696, and caused these two years to be observed according 
 to Levitical law. This was after the wall was built, although 
 
336 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Josephus says it was building two years and four months 
 (Jos. book 1, chap v. § 8); but A. M. 3697 agrees with the 
 table, as does likewise the text, that- it was done in fiftyrtwo 
 days. The journey was more than four months from Bab- 
 ylon, Ezra vii. 9, and it was in the 7th month from the time 
 Nehemiah started. He returned immediately to Babylon, 
 Neb. xiii. 6, v. 14. Ezra it was who observed these rests. 
 Ezra x. 5. 
 
 Gen. i. 1 . . . 
 Gen. i. 27. . 
 Gen. v. 3. . . 
 
 Gen. v. 6... 
 
 Gen. v. 9. . . 
 
 Gen. v. 12. . 
 
 Gen. v. 15. . 
 
 Gen. v. 18. . 
 
 Gen. v. 21. . 
 
 Gen. v. 24. . 
 
 Gen. v 
 
 Gen. v. 28. . 
 
 Gen. v. 29. . 
 Gen. v. 32. . 
 
 Gen. vii. 11 
 
 HEBRAIC CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 In the beginning God created the heaven 
 and the earth. 
 
 So God created man (Adam) in his own 
 image. 
 
 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty 
 years and begat a son in his own like- 
 ness after his image, and called his 
 name Seth 
 
 And Seth lived a hundred and five years 
 and begat Enos 
 
 And Enos lived ninety years and begat 
 Cainan (Kenan) 
 
 And Cainan lived seventy years, and be- 
 gat MahakHed 
 
 And Mahalaleellived sidy and five years, 
 and begat Jared (Jered) 
 
 And Jared lived a hundred sixty and 
 two years, and begat Enoch 
 
 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, 
 and begat Methuselah 
 
 And Enoch walked with God andwas not, 
 for God took him (his age being 365). 
 
 And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty 
 and seven years, and begat Lamech. . . 
 
 And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and 
 two years, and begat a son and he 
 called bis name Noah 
 
 And Noah was five hundred years old 
 whenhebegatShem, Ham and Japhetb. 
 
 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, 
 in the second month, the seventeenth 
 day of the month, were all the foun- 
 tains of the great deep broken up, and 
 the windows of heaven were opened. . 
 
 Years 
 
 A.M. 
 
 130 
 
 105 
 
 90 
 
 70 
 
 65 
 
 162 
 
 65 
 
 187 
 
 182 
 500 
 
 99 
 
 987 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 337 
 
 Gen. vii. 17 
 Gen. viii. 4. 
 
 Gen. viii. 6. 
 Gen. viii. 7. 
 Gen. viii. 10. 
 
 Gen 
 Gen 
 
 viii. 12. 
 viii. 13. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 viii. 14 
 
 Gen. 
 
 si. 
 
 10.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xi. 
 
 12.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xi. 
 
 14.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xi. 
 
 16.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xi. 
 
 18.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xi. 
 
 20.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xi 
 
 22.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 XL 
 
 24.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xi. 
 
 26.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xii 
 
 4.. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xxi 5. . . 
 
 Gen. 
 
 xxv. 26. 
 
 And the flood was forty days upon the 
 earth, and the waters increased, 
 
 And the ark rested in the seventh 
 month, on the 17th day of the 150 
 month, and the waters decreased 
 until the tenth month, in the tenth 
 month the Jfj-si day thereof were the 
 tops of the mountains seen 73 
 
 And it came to pass at the end of 
 forty days, that Noah opened the 
 window of the ark, and he sent 
 forth a raven 40 
 
 And he stayed yet other seven days, 
 and sent forth a dove 7 
 
 And it came to pass in the six hun- 7 
 dred and first year, in the first 
 month, the first day of the month, 
 the waters were dried up 37 
 
 And in the second month, on the 
 twenty-seventh day of the month 
 was the earth dried 56 
 
 Days.! 370 
 Shem was a hundred years old and begat 
 
 Arphaxad, two years after the flood. . 
 And Arphaxed livedlfive and thirty years, 
 
 and begat ScUah 
 
 And Salah lived thirty years and begat 
 
 Eber 
 
 And Eber lived four and thirty years 
 
 and begat Pdeg .' 
 
 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat 
 
 Beu 
 
 And Reu lived two and thirty years, 
 
 and begat Serug. 
 
 AndSerug lived thirty years, and begat 
 
 Nahor 
 
 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, 
 
 and begat Terah ...» 
 
 And Terah lived seventy years, and be- 
 gat Abram 
 
 And Abram was seventy and five years 
 
 old when he departed out of Haran. . 
 And Abram was a hundred years old 
 
 when his son Isaac was born 
 
 And Isaac was threescore years old 
 
 when Jacob and Esau were born 
 
 • 15 
 
 Years 
 
 A.M. 
 
 1 
 
 1656 
 
 2 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 29 
 
 1878 
 
 70 
 
 1948 
 
 75 
 
 2023 
 
 25 
 
 2048 
 
 60 
 
 2108 
 
338 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Gen. xlvii. 9. 
 
 Gen. xxxii. 27 
 Gen. xxxii. 28 
 
 Ex. xii. 40. . . 
 Ex. xii 41. . . 
 
 Num. xL 35. 
 
 Num. -rami 
 
 17. 
 Num. x. 11 . . 
 
 Num. xiii. 2. 
 Num. xiii. 6. 
 Num. xiii. 16 
 Num. xiii 26 
 
 Deut. ii. 14. . 
 
 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh the days 
 of the years of my pilgrimage are a 
 
 hundred and thirty years 
 
 See from first to ninth verses 
 
 Beginning of sojourn in Egypt 
 
 And he said unto him, What is thy name ? 
 and he said, Jacob. 
 
 And he said, Thy name shall be called no 
 more Jacob, but Israel. 
 (See note No. 1.) 
 
 Now the sojourning of the children of 
 Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four 
 hundred and thirty years 
 
 (Cycle of 430 years.) 
 
 And it came to pass, at the end of the four 
 hundred and thirty years, even the 
 selfsame day, it came to pass that all 
 the hosts of the Lord went out from 
 the land of Egypt. 
 
 And the people journeyed from IGbrolh- 
 hattaavah unto Eazeroih. This is their 
 fourteenth journey. 
 
 And it came to pass, that on the twen- 
 tieth day of the second month, in the 
 second year, that the cloud was taken 
 off the tabernacle of the testimony, and 
 the children of Israel took their jour- 
 ney out of the wilderness of Sinai, and 
 the cloud rested in the wilderness of 
 Paran 
 
 And afterward the people removed from 
 Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilder- 
 ness of Paran. 
 
 Send thou men that they may search 
 out the land of Canaan. 
 
 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb, the son of 
 Jephuuneh. 
 
 These are the names of the men that 
 were sent to spy out the land 
 
 And they went and came to Moses and 
 to Aaron to all the congregation of the 
 children of Israel, unto the wilderness 
 of Paran to Kadesh. 
 
 And the space in which we came from 
 
 Kadesh-barnea, until we were come 
 
 over the brook Zered, was thirty and 
 
 eight years, &c % 
 
 Tears A. M. 
 
 130 
 
 2238 
 2238 
 
 430 
 
 2670 
 
 38 
 
 2708 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 339 
 
 Num. xiv. 32. 
 
 Josh. xiv. 6. 
 Josh. xiv. 7. 
 
 Josh. xiv. 10. 
 
 Ex. vii. 7. 
 
 Num. v « « H i 
 
 Deut. xxxiv. 7 
 
 Num. xiv. 33. 
 
 Ex. xix. 1 . . . 
 
 Num. i. 1 . . . 
 Lev. xxv. 1 . . 
 Lev. xxv. 4. . 
 Lev. xxv. 8.. 
 Lev. xxv. 9, 
 10. 
 
 Num.xxi. and 
 
 Nnm. xiv. 30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the 
 land, &c, save Caleb the son of Je- 
 phunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 
 But as for you, your carcasses, they shall 
 fall in this wilderness, and your chil- 
 dren shall wander in this wilderness 
 forty years [forty last above from the 
 
 search for the land] 
 
 And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the 
 
 Kenezite said .... 
 Forty years old was I when Moses the 
 servant of the Lord sent me to espy 
 out the land And now be- 
 hold the Lord has kept me alive these 
 forty-five years . . . And now, lo, I 
 am this day fourscore and five years 
 
 old 
 
 And Moses was fourscore years old and 
 Aaron fourscore and three years old 
 when they spake unto Pharaoh . . 2668 
 And Aaron was one hundred and twenty- 
 three years old when he died on Mount 
 
 Hor 2708 
 
 And Moses was one hundred and twenty 
 
 years old when he died 40. .2708 
 
 la this year they passed from Mount 
 Hor to Moab, but they were to wander 
 forty years from the searching of the 
 
 land thus 2670 
 
 And your children shall wander in the 
 wilderness forty years, after the num- 
 ber of days in which ye searched the 
 land, even forty days, each day for a 
 year, shall ye bear your iniquities, 
 
 even forty years, making 
 
 In the third month they came to the 
 
 wilderness of Sinai 
 Here Moses received the law. 
 The seventh year was a year of rest, a 
 
 Sabbath. 
 The fiftieth year was a year of rest, a 
 a jubilee, and the trumpet was to 
 sound in the seventh month. 
 The fourth sabbatic year from the begin- 
 ning which was 2668, was in 2696. 
 They were then in the border of Moab, 
 this is in 2696 
 
 YearB 
 
 A.M. 
 
 2710 
 
 271S 
 
 2710 
 
340 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Num. xxi. . 
 Num. xxv. to 
 xxvi. 
 
 Josh. x. 12. 
 
 Doway 
 
 2 Chr. xiv. 5. 
 
 Judges, xi. 26 
 
 Josh. iii. 17. 
 Josh. iv. 2. . 
 Josh. vi. . . . 
 
 Josh. vi. 20. 
 
 Josh. xxiv. 29 
 
 Josh. xiv. 10. 
 Judges ii. 8 
 Judges ii. 7. . 
 Josephus, B, 
 vi c. 5, s. 4. 
 Josh. xxiv. 31 
 
 Judges, iii 8 
 
 Judges, iii 9 
 Judges, iii 11 
 
 Judges, iii. 12 
 Judges, iii. 14 
 
 Judges, iii. 30 
 
 Sihon king of the Amorites would not 
 let Israel pass. They fight the Amo- 
 rites, and the battle is prolonged in- 
 to the Sabbatic year. 
 
 Then Joshua said " Sun, stand thou still 
 upon Gibeon" (hill or high place). 
 Or, "Move not, O sun, toward Gibe- 
 on." Or, "Be silent, or stand still" 
 This was an arbitrary change of the 
 dial (or sun image, see margin of 
 Bible) or degrees, and a year was 
 blotted out, hence the fourth Sab- 
 batic year is 2698. 
 
 Jephtha said in A. M. 2996, while Israel 
 dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and 
 in Aroer and her towns, along by the 
 coast of Arnon, 300 years, why did ye 
 not recover them within that time. 
 
 Their forty-third journey was across the 
 Jordan, in the year 2710. 
 
 They compassed Jericho six years, 
 (days) 2716. 
 
 The seventh is a sabbatic year, 2717, 
 the next a year of jubilee, A. M. 2718, 
 hence the land was divided in 
 
 And Jericho fell in the jubilee 
 
 (Cycle of 49 years.) 
 
 Joshua died at the age of one hundred 
 and ten, having led the Israelites 
 twenty-five years. From the death of 
 Moses in 2708 add twenty-five less 
 nine above, having been eighty-five 
 when he commenced " . . . . 
 
 There was no form of government 
 after the death of Joshua for (but 
 they served the elders that overlived 
 Joshua) eighteen years. 
 
 And the children of Israel served Chu- 
 san eight years 
 
 And the Lord raised up a deliverer, 
 even Othniel. And they had rest 
 forty years 
 
 And Eglon, king of Moab, came against 
 Israel, and they served Eglon eighteen 
 years 
 
 Ehud subdued Moab, and the land had 
 rest fourscore years. See note 2d 
 
 sA. M. 
 
 2715 
 2717 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 40 
 
 18 
 
 2733 
 
 2751 
 2759 
 
 2799 
 
 2817 
 2825 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 341 
 
 Judges, iv. 3. 
 Judges, v. 31. 
 Judges, vi. 1. 
 
 Judges, viii.28 
 
 Judges, ix. 2. 
 
 Judges, x. 1. 
 
 Judges, x. 2. 
 Judges, x. 3 . 
 
 Judges, x. 8. 
 Judges, xi. 26 
 
 Judges, xii. 7 
 Judges, xii. 9 
 
 Judges, xii. 11 
 
 Judges, xii. 13 
 Judges, xii. 14 
 Judges, xiii.l 
 
 Judges, xv. 20 
 1 Sam. iv. 18 
 
 1 Sam. iv. 11 
 1 Sam. vi. 1 . 
 
 Third servitude under Jabin, and twenty 
 years he mightily oppressed Israel . . . 
 
 And the land had rest under Deborah 
 forty years 
 
 Fourth servitude. And the Lord de- 
 livered them into the hand of Mdian 
 seven years 
 
 Thus was Midian subdued . . . and the 
 country was in quietness forty years, 
 in the days of Gideon 
 
 Fifth servitude under Abimelech, who 
 reigned three years 
 
 And after Abimelech there arose to de- 
 fend Israel Tola, . . . and he judg- 
 ed Israel twenty and three years 
 
 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, 
 and judged Israel twenty and two 
 years 
 
 Sixth servitude, under the Philistines, 
 eighteen years which brings us to 
 
 This is about the year that Jephtha 
 computes three hundred from the 
 conquest of Amnion and Arnon. 
 - (See note 3d.) 
 
 And Jephtha judged Israel six years. . . 
 
 And after him Ibzon judged Israel, and 
 he judged Israel seven years 
 
 And after him Elon . . . and he judg- 
 ed Israel ten years 
 
 And after him Abdon . . . judged Is- 
 rael eight years 
 
 And the children of Israel did evil again 
 in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord 
 delivered them into the hand of the 
 the Philistines forty years. 
 
 And he (Samson) judged Israel in the 
 time of the Philistines twenty years . . 
 
 And he (Eli) had judged Israel forty 
 years ; twenty of this is in the forty 
 above 
 
 As for Samuel (see note 4th), he must 
 have reigned about 
 
 (2d cycle of 430 years. ) 
 
 The ark was taken at the death of Eli, 
 and it was in the country of the Phil- 
 istines seven months. 
 
 Tears 
 20 
 40 
 
 40 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 22 
 18 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 10 
 
 A. M. 
 
 2845 
 2885 
 
 2892 
 
 2932 
 2935 
 
 2958 
 
 2980 
 2980 
 
 3004 
 3011 
 3021 
 3029 
 
 20 
 
 40 
 
 9 
 
 430 
 
 3049 
 
 3089 
 3098 
 
342 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 1 Sam. vii. 1 
 1 Sam. vii. 2, 
 
 1 Sam. vii. 15 
 1 Sam. viii. 4 
 1 Sam. viii. 5 
 
 1 Sam. x 11 
 
 2 Sam. iL 4 . 
 2 Sam. v. 4. . 
 
 2 Sam. vi. 1. 
 
 2 Sam. vi. 4 
 
 2 Sam. v. 4. . 
 1 Kings, ii. 12 
 1 Kings, vi. 1 
 
 1 Kings. 
 
 And the men of Kirjath-jearim came 
 and fetched np the ark of the Xiord, 
 and brought it into the house of 
 Abinadab, in the hill. And it came 
 to pass, while the ark abode in Kir- 
 jath-jearim, that the time was long, 
 for it was twenty years 20 
 
 And Samuel judged Israel all the days 
 of his life. (See note 4.) 
 
 And the elders of Israel gathered them- 
 selves together . . . and said .... 
 now make us a king to judge us like 
 all the nations. 
 
 Saul was made king, and reigned, as can 
 only be estimated 
 
 David succeeded Saul — David was thirty 
 years old when he began to reign, 
 and he reigned forty years. In He- 
 bron he reigned over Judah seven 
 years and six months, and in Jerusa- 
 lem he reigned thirty-three years over 
 Israel and Judah. 
 
 And David, gathered all the chosen men 
 of Israel, thirty thousand, and David 
 arose and went with all the people 
 that were with him from Baale (Kir- 
 jath-jearim) to bring up the ark of 
 God, and they brought it out of the 
 house of Abinadab, that was in Gib- 
 eah, on the hill. (See note) 
 
 This twelve years with the nine of 
 Samuel completes twenty-one years 
 that the ark was with the Phil is tines. 
 
 David's subsequent reign 
 
 (This runs six months over.) 
 
 Then sat Solomon upon the throne of 
 David his father. 
 
 And it came to pass in the four hun- 
 dred and eightieth year after the chil- 
 dren of Israel were come out of Egypt, 
 in the fourth, year of Solomon's reign 
 over Israel, in the month of Zif, which 
 is the second month, that he began to 
 
 build the house of the Lord 
 
 (See note 5.) 
 
 Add the years under Judges 
 
 And we have the four hundred and 
 eightieth year 
 
 Years A.M. 
 
 3102 
 
 3110 
 
 33 
 
 3143 
 
 3147 
 
 49 
 430 
 
 479 
 
APPENDIX. 343 
 
 Note 1. 
 
 Gen. xv. 13 : "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stran- 
 ger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they 
 shall afflict them four hundred years." 
 
 Ver. 19: "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither 
 again. " 
 
 It has been attempted to. prove that the sojourn was but 215^ 
 years from Jacob's 130th year, beginning the 430 from Abram's* 
 75th, and that by the above passages ; but the time of a genera- 
 tion was overlooked, which was fixed at 120 years (chap. vi. 6), 
 and four generations are 480, a period occurring throughout this 
 chronology, and in the fourth they came out. 
 
 There is no authority in the Scriptures for dating the com- 
 mencement of the sojourn in Egypt from Abram's visit at his 75th 
 year of age. Abram was never called Israel, but Jacob only, and 
 the text states distinctly, that the children of Israel dwelt there 
 430 years. Ex. xii. 40. 
 
 Abram returned to Canaan, lived and died there, and Canaan 
 and Egypt represent- opposite ideas ; one the land of light, the 
 other of darkness. 
 
 Nor could the briefer period suffice to increase the Hebrews 
 from 72 persons to 625, 550 men, for it would require each pair to 
 reproduce 10 children, each 30 years, and then count the men 1 in 
 8. This error of chronologists has probably been blindly adopted 
 from Josephus and Paul. 
 
 Note 2. 
 
 Although the text is clear that the rest under Ehud was 80 
 years, yet I am constrained to consider it an error, as it is impos- 
 sible to reconcile it with the 300 years of Jepthah, Judges xi. 26, 
 or with the 480 years named in 1 Kings vi. 1. Nor am I without 
 authority in this. Whiston adopts the 8 years, and supposes 
 that Josephus did also, as in some of his copies it so appears. 
 
 Moreover, 80 years must embrace a great age, for the judge 
 was chosen, the office not being hereditary. 
 
 Note 3. 
 
 By referring to the table of sabbatic years, and to the text, 
 Josh. x. 12, and Numbers xxi. 24-26, and Judges xi. 26, it will be 
 perceived that Jephthah names the term of the possession of Am- 
 nion as 300 years, which coincides with the dates I have given to 
 each event. 
 
344 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note 4. 
 
 The record here becomes somewhat complicated, if we ignore 
 the 20 years that the ark was in the house of Abinadab, making 
 21 years from the death of Eli to the 8th of David. This period 
 is given with exactness, while none others are. It likewise coin- 
 cides with the general tenor of the text . I have given Samuel 9 
 years to fill up a cyclical period. We are told that he judged Is- 
 rael all his life, and his sons judged contemporary with him, but 
 no years are given. He must have lived contemporary with Eli, 
 who died an old man, and Samuel was an old man at his (Eli's) 
 death, 1 Sam. viii. i. At this time they desired a king, and Sam- 
 uel selected Saul. Chronologists have given Saul generally a long 
 reign, but this is unlikely, for it must come within the twenty 
 years of the ark at Kirjath-jearim, 8 of which are David's We 
 find in 1 Sam. imi 1-4, that in Saul's second year, his son Jonathan 
 led his men to battle. About this time he did foolishly, 1 Sam. 
 xiii. 8-14, and Samuel said to him, -"But now thy kingdom shall 
 not continue." See also 1 Sam. xv. 
 
 Again, David is described to Saul as " cunning in playing, and a 
 mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and 
 a comely person " (1 Sam. xvi. 18), and although elsewhere called 
 by the Philistines "a youth " (1 Sam. xvii. 42), yet he must have 
 been a man when he played before Saul on the harp, and David was 
 but thirty when he began his reign (2 Sam. v. 4). Hence Saul's 
 reign was necessarily short, and no circumstances detailed in the 
 old Scriptures sustain the idea of a long reign. As a matter of 
 course the division of the 13 years preceding the 8 of David's 
 reign, to complete the 21 years' absence of the ark, is arbitrarily 
 divided to agree as near as possible with the text. 
 
 Note 5. 
 
 There is evidently a chronological significance in the numbers 
 of persons, as given so frequently in the Old Testament The 
 tribes and their history being typical, so their numbers are types 
 of time. According to the Mosaic polity, there were rests every 
 7th and 50th year, maMog the 49th (7 sevens) and 50th both 
 rests, we find the periods of 430 years prevailing, as 'well as the 
 number 70, which will appear more distinctly as we progress. 
 Now in 430 years there are 70 years of rest, and 427 years con- 
 tain 70 rests when beginning with the 7th sabbatic year. The 
 tribes were numbered (see hereafter), and they were divided into 
 four parties, and each numbered. These numbers are typical, as 
 I will show, of the length of their sojourn in Canaan, and is thus 
 worked out : 70 day rests being in each year, so 70 yearly rests 
 
APPENDIX. 345 
 
 represent a great year, or year of years, 70 rests being the qualitv 
 or skeleton of this great year, as of the lesser, year,, hence 427 
 the number containing 70 rests, when of persons, typifies one year 
 therefore, the number 427, divided into the number of personal 
 gives the chronological period of their history ; thus, the whole 
 number being 625,550 (Num. i. 46, iii. 29) divided by 427, gives 
 1,465 years, which added to the date of the extinction of these men 
 on the banks of the Jordan, results thus, A, M. 2710+1465= 
 A. M. 4175. The same rule continues throughout — as fol- 
 lows : They were first numbered, then the tribes were divided 
 into two parties, six to bless for obedience and six to curse them 
 for their sins (Deut. xxvii. 12). The first six numbered 318,400, 
 the others 307,150 ; and 427 divided into 318,400 gives 745 
 years, which added to A. M. 2710, gives the year 3455, which is 
 the year Samaria was taken captive, and their blessings ceased. 
 
 So, too, in their order of march, they were divided into four 
 
 parties. (Num. ii.) The first under Judah, with 186,400 men, 
 
 which, divided by 427, gives 437 years, which, added to 2,710 
 
 gives 3147, the year of building the temple. 
 
 w When the ark was taken, there fell of Israel 30,000 men. — 1 
 
 •Saml. iv. 10. 
 
 Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 
 thirty thousand ; now, 30,000 is equivalent to 70 years, and David 
 took thft number to bring up the ark from the house of Abin- 
 adab.— 2 Saml. vi 1. 
 
 The 70 years thus appears : 
 
 Yrs. mos. 
 
 1 SamL vi. 1. — The ark was with the Philistines 7 
 
 1 Saml. vii 2. — Atthe house of Abinadab 20 
 
 2 Saml. v. 4, 5. — This brings us to the 9th year of Da- 
 vid— a jubilee. He reigned after this 33 
 
 1 Kings, viii. 1-4, and 65 and 66. — After Solomon had 
 finished both houses (see chap, vii.) "Then Solomon 
 assembled the elders of Israel, &c., and placed the ark in 
 the temple, this was in his 17th year, being the 10th 
 Jubilee 16 5 
 
 (See the whole chapter, 1 Kings viii). 70 
 
 The reader will easily see the whole term is correct, though 
 me fractional parts of the year may not be correctly placed. 
 
 This is the order in which the tribes are represented as march- 
 ing in their tents and their numbers (see Numbers ii.) : 
 
 Judah 74,600 equivalent to 174 and 8 m. 
 
 Issachar 54,400 " "127 " 5 m. 
 
 Zebulun 57,400 " "134 " 3 m. 
 
 186,400 " " 436 " 4 m. 
 
 15* 
 
346 APPENDIX. 
 
 Reuben 46,500 equivalent to 108 and 11 m. 
 
 Simeon 59,300 " "139 " In. 
 
 Gad 45,650 "* "106 " 11m. 
 
 151,450 354 and 11 m. 
 
 Levi 22,000 equivalent to 51 and 6 m. 
 
 Ephraim , 40,500 equivalent to 94 and 5 m. 
 
 Manasseh 32,200 " " 75 " 5 m. 
 
 Benjamin 35,400 " " 82 " 10 m. 
 
 08,100 252 and 8 m. 
 
 Dan 62,700 equivalent to 146 and 10 m. 
 
 Asher 41,500 " " 97 " 2 m. 
 
 Naphthali 53,400 " " 125 " 1 m. 
 
 157,«00 369 and In. 
 
 EECAPITULATION. 
 
 Judah 186,400 equivalent to 436 and 4 m. 
 
 Eeuben 151,450 " " 354 " 11m. 
 
 Levi . ^ 22,000 -" " 51 " 6 m. 
 
 Ephraim 108,100 " " 252 " 8 m. 
 
 Dan. 157,600 " "369" 1 m. 
 
 625,550 " "1,464 " 6 m. 
 
 This principle will be amplified as we proceed. Thus, next to 
 Judah, Issachar and Zebulun, who bring us down to A. M., 3147, 
 
 came Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, numbering 151,450 
 
 Then came the Levites 22,000 
 
 Ephraim 40,500 
 
 Numbering in all 213,950 
 
 ■Which, by the same principle, gives 501 years, and brings us 
 down to 3648, the year the temple was rebuilt, and the end of the 
 captivity of 70 years. 
 
 These results will be noted at the end of each cycle ( see note 
 2 of next section). And the result being always coincident with 
 some great historic period, without a single exception, the idea 
 of " chance," in this system is utterly precluded. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 347 
 
 1 Kings, vi. 37. 
 1 Kings, -"i. 38. 
 
 1 Kings, xi. 42. 
 
 1 Kings, xi. 43. 
 1 Kings, xiv. 21 
 
 1 Kings, xv. 1 . 
 
 1 Kings, xv. 2.. 
 1 Kings, xv. 9.. 
 
 1 Kings, xv.. 10 
 
 1 Kings, xxii.41 
 1 Kings, xxii.42 
 
 2 Kings, viii. 16 
 
 2 K™gs, viii. 17 
 2 Kings, viii. 25 
 
 2 Kings, viii. 26 
 
 2 Kings, xi. 1 . . 
 2 Kings, xi. 2 . . 
 2 Kings, xi. 21 . 
 
 2 Kings, xii. 1 . 
 2 Kings, xiv. 1. 
 
 2 Kings, xiv. 2. 
 
 Second Sabbatic Circle. 
 
 In the fourth year was the foundation 
 of the house of the Lord laid, in the 
 month Zif. 
 
 And in the eleventh year,in the month 
 Bui, which is the eighth month, was 
 the house finished, throughout all 
 the parts thereof, and according to 
 all tie lashion of it 
 
 And the time that Solomon reigned 
 in Jerusalem, over all Israel, was 
 fortyyears (deduct 11 already noted) 
 
 And Behoboam, his son, reigned in 
 his stead. '. . and he reigned seven- 
 teen years in Jerusalem 
 
 Now, in the eighteenth year of Jero- 
 boam reigned Abijam over Judah. 
 
 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem . 
 
 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king 
 of Israel, reigned Asa over Judah. 
 And forty and one years reigned he 
 in Jerusalem 
 
 And Jehoshaphatjihe son of Asa, began 
 to reign over Judah . . . And he 
 reigned twenty and five years in Je- 
 rusalem 
 
 In the fifth year of Joram, the son 
 of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehosha- 
 phat being then king of Juhah, Jeho- 
 ram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of 
 Judah, began to reign ; . . . and he 
 reigned eight years in Jerusalem . . 
 
 In the twelfth year of Joram, the son 
 of Ahab, king of Israel, did Ahaziah, 
 the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, 
 begin to reign . . . And he reigned 
 one year in Jerusalem 
 
 AihaMah the mother of Ahaziah, now 
 reigned while Jehoash was hidden. 
 
 Seven years old was Jehoash, when he 
 began to reign, and forty years 
 reigned he in Jerusalem 
 
 In the second year of Joash, son of 
 Jehoahaz, king of Israel, reigned 
 Amaziah the son of Joash, king of 
 Jiidah, . . . and reigned twenty- 
 nine years in Jerusalem 
 
 1 
 6 
 
 40 
 
 i A.M. 
 3147 
 
 3154 
 3183 
 3200 
 3203 
 
 3244 
 
 3269 
 
 3277 
 
 3278 
 
 3284 
 
 3324 
 
 29 3353 
 
348 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 2 Kings, xiv. 23 
 
 2 Kings, xv. 1 . 
 2 Kingo, xv. 2. . 
 
 2 Kings, xv. 2. 
 2 Kings, xv. 7. 
 
 2 Kings, xv. 33 
 2 Kings, xvi. 1 
 
 2 Kings, xvi. 20 
 2 Kings, xviii. 2 
 2 Kings, xviii.10 
 
 2Kings,xviii.l3 
 2Kings,xix.29 
 
 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, ; . . 
 Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of 
 Israel, began to reign in Samaria, 
 and reigned forty and one years. 
 This was in 3338. 
 
 In the twenty-seventh year of Jero- 
 boam, king of Israel, began Azarv- 
 ah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah 
 to reign, being in 3364. 
 
 Sixteen years old was he when he be- 
 gan to reign, and he reigned fifty- 
 two years in Jerusalem. This was 
 from 3364. 
 
 Thus there was an interregnum of 
 eleven years 
 
 Azariah's reign 
 
 So Azariah slept with his fathers . . . 
 And Jotham, his son, reigned in his 
 stead. . . . And he reigned sixteen 
 years* in Jerusalem 
 
 In the seventeenth year of Pekah. . . 
 Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of 
 Judah, began to reign and he reign- 
 ed sixteen years in Jerusalem 
 
 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and 
 Hezekiahhis son reigned in his stead 
 .... And he reigned twenty and 
 nine years in Jerusalem 
 
 In the sixth year of HezeHah, Sama- 
 ria was taken by Shalmaneser, king 
 of Assyria, 3453. 
 
 Now, in the fourteenth year of Heze- 
 kiah, did Sennacherib, king of As- 
 syria, come up against Judah. At 
 this time there was a Jubilee. (See 
 text.) 
 
 And this shall be a sign unto thee, ye 
 shall eat this year such things as 
 grow of themselves, and the second 
 year that which springeth of the 
 same ; and in the third year, sow 
 ye, and reap and plant vineyards, 
 and eat the fruits thereof; this would 
 be in 3461 
 
 Add the two years of rest 2 
 
 And the Jubilee came in 3463 
 
 Years 
 
 A.M. 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 29 
 
 3364 
 3416 
 
 3432 
 
 3448 
 
 3477 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 349 
 
 2 Kings, S3. 1-6 
 
 2 Kings, xx. 8. . 
 2 Kings, xx. 9. . 
 
 2 Kings, xx. 10 
 
 2 Kings, xx. 11. 
 Is. xxxvii. 8 . . . 
 
 2 Kings, xx. 21 . 
 2 Kings, xxi. 1 . 
 2 Kings, xsi. 18 
 
 2 Kings, xxi. 26 
 2 Kings, xxii. 1 
 2Kings,xxiii.30 
 
 2Kings,xxiii.31 
 
 2Kings,xxiii.36 
 2 Kings, xxiv. 6 
 
 2 Kings, xxiv. 8 
 
 In those days Hezekiah had his life 
 prolonged fifteen years from 3462, 
 which prolongs his reign to 3477. 
 
 Then itwasthathe said, What shall be 
 the sign that the Lord will heal me? 
 And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou 
 have of the Lord, that the Lord will 
 do the thing that he hath spoken: 
 Shall the shadow go forward ten 
 degrees, or go back ten degrees (or 
 lines) ? And Hezekiah answered, It 
 is a light thing for the shadow to go 
 down ten degrees, nay, but let the 
 shadow return backward ten de- 
 grees. And Isaiah cried unto the 
 Lord, and he brought the shadow 
 ten degrees backward, by which it 
 had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. 
 hence this Jubilee, which would ap- 
 pear in 3463, goes back ten lines, 
 to 3453 (see. table), and we deduct 
 (See note No. 1. ) 
 
 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, 
 and Manasseh, his son, reigned in 
 his stead, and reigned fifty-five 
 years in Jerusalem 
 
 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, 
 and Amon, his son, reigned in his 
 stead, and he reigned two years in, 
 Jerusalem 
 
 And he was buried in his sepulchre, 
 in the garden of TTzza, and Josiah, 
 his son reigned in his stead, and he 
 reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem 
 
 And the people of the land took Je- 
 hoahas, the son of Josiah, and made 
 him king in his father's stead, 
 and he reigned three months in 
 Jerusalem 
 
 And Pharaoh-necho made Miakim, 
 the son of Josiah, king, and he 
 reigned eleven years in Jerusalem . 
 
 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, 
 and Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in 
 his stead . . . and he reigned three 
 months in Jerusalem 
 
 Years A. M. 
 
 336 
 10 
 
 320 
 
 55 
 
 31 
 
 10 
 3467 
 
 3522 
 
 3524 
 
 3555 
 
 11 
 
 3566 
 
350 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 2 Kings,xxv. 2, 
 
 DanI i. 1 . 
 
 2Kings,xxiv. 17 And the lHrig of Babylon made Mat- 
 taniah, his father's brother, lring in 
 his stead, and changed his name 
 to Zedekiah . . . And he reigned 
 
 eleven years 
 
 And the city was besieged unto the 
 eleventh year of King ZedeMah, 
 and in the fifth month, on the 
 seventh day of the month, which is 
 the nineteenth year of- T?irig Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, captain of the guard of 
 the 'king of Babylon . . . And he 
 burnt lie house of the Lord, and 
 the king's house, &c., see note 2. 
 Jehoaikiin went into captivity in 
 3566, being the seventh punish- 
 ment promised by Moses. 
 The first of the captivity dates from 
 the third of Jehoaikim, 3558, or 
 the first of Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 again with Jehoaiehim the eighth 
 of " Nebuchadnezzar, 3566. The 
 third from the destruction of the 
 temple, in the nineteenth of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. In the thirty-seventh 
 year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, 
 in the twelfth month, &c. . .that Evil 
 Merodach in the year that he began 
 to reign did lift up the head of Je- 
 hoaichin ; this gives additional to 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar 24 
 
 Evil Merodach reigned 2 
 
 Neriglissor 4 
 
 Laborcaichad 1 
 
 Belteshazzar 17 
 
 Cyaxerxes, or Darius the Mede, 
 
 and Cyrus. 8 
 
 Cambyses, (Ahasnerus) 7 
 
 Smerdis 1 
 
 7ih of Darius ends the captivity. 6 
 
 70 
 Wherein it was told by Jeremiah, 
 they should serve the ting of Baby- 
 lon, because they had not kept the 
 seventy years of rest. 
 And the temple was rebuilt. 
 
 2 Kings, xxv. 8 
 
 2 Kings, xxv. 27 
 
 Whiston 
 
 Josephus 
 
 Rollin 
 
 DanL Li. 
 
 DanL vii. 1. . . . 
 
 Rollin, b. iv. 
 
 eh. 1 and 2. 
 Ezra, i. 7. 
 
 Ezra ii 
 
 Jer. xxv. 11 . 
 Den. xxvi.32,36 
 Ezek. xx. 24. . . 
 2Chr.xxxvi.21 
 
 Teara 
 
 A. H 
 
 10£ 
 
 3577 
 
 430 
 
 3577 
 
 3577 
 
 3601 
 
 3608 
 3625 
 
 3633 
 3640 
 3641 
 
 3647 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 351 
 
 Ezra, vi. 15 . 
 
 Herodo. i. 7. . . 
 Itollin b. vi. ch. 
 
 ii. b. 1. 
 
 Ezra vii. 1 
 
 Josephus, b. xi 
 
 e. v. § 1. 
 Ezra vii. 1. 
 Neh. xiii. 6 . . . . 
 
 Danl.ix. 25.. 
 
 This seventy years is not to be count- 
 ed in thecycle of 430 and 479 years, 
 because it properly belonged to the 
 last 430, where there were no rests. 
 
 Darius reigned after the temple 
 
 He waa succeeded by Xerxes, who 
 reigned within a fraction of 
 
 He was succeeded by Artaxerxes, in 
 whose seventh year Ezra went up. . . 
 
 This is the third well-defined cycle of 
 479 years or the 480th year. 
 
 Here begins the seven and sixty-two 
 weeks. 
 
 Years 
 
 30 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 479 
 
 A.M. 
 
 3677 
 3690 
 3696 
 3696 
 
 Note 1. 
 The chronology as related in the Bible seems evidently to bear 
 a close relation to the feasts and high places which were the 
 years of rest, as may be observed from 2 Kings, xii. 3. But the 
 high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and 
 burnt incense in the high places. Again in 2 Kings xv. 4 and 35, 
 and throughout 2 Kings, this phraseology may be observed. This 
 chronology does not so much appear as a record of time as of 
 reigns, and this movement of the dial back compensates for the 
 interregnum that preceded Azariah, which is usually overlooked 
 in chronology, being in the last jubilee period, the reckoning of 
 which was neglected by Ahaz. The discrepancy of one year may 
 be found in the fractional parts of the year. 
 
 Note 2. 
 
 The reader will note the accuracy with which the date is given, 
 and by note 5 the previous cycle of 430 years, will have learned 
 the principle of numbering the years by the people. So it ap- 
 pears here — Solomon employed 183,600 men in building the 
 temple, it lasted 430 years, and 427 divided into 183,600 gives 
 430 years. 1 Kings, v. 13-16. 
 
 1 Sam. xv. 4. Saul being the first in the new order of govern- 
 ment, numbered -the people, and they numbered 210,000 which 
 is equal to 491 years, which, by a reference to this chronology it 
 will be seen is the number of years the government of kings lasted, 
 i. e. from A. M. 3098 + 491 — 3589 ; deduct the interregnum of 11 
 years not noted as a reign, and we have A. M. 3578. 
 
 The numbering of the tribes brings us here to Ephraim, and 
 the end of the captivity in 3648, being Beuben, Simeon, Gad, 
 Levi, and Ephraim, in all 213,950 which is equal to 501 years, 
 3147 + 501 = 3648. 
 
352 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Rollin and La 
 Voisne. 
 
 Third Sabbatic Cycla 
 
 Balance of Artaxerxes' reign. .... 
 
 ' ' Xerxes and Sogdianus . 
 
 " Darius Nothus 
 
 " Artaxerxes 2d 
 
 " Ochus 
 
 " Arses 
 
 " Darius Codomanus 
 
 Josephus and 
 Eollia. 
 
 1 Mae. vi. 16 . 
 
 1 Mae. -vi. 17. 
 IMae. vi. 20. 
 
 1 Mae. vi. 49 . 
 
 1 Mac. vi. 53.. 
 
 Eollin and La 
 Voisne. 
 
 Years 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 43 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 End of the Persian Empire 
 
 The kingdom of Syria begins, after an 
 anarchy of 18 years 
 
 The Seleucidaa begin. 
 
 Seleucus reigned 
 
 Antiochus Sotor reigned 
 
 Antiochus Theos, " 
 
 Selencus 2d " 
 
 Seleucns3d " 
 
 Antiochus 3d " 
 
 Selencus Philopater" 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes reigned.. ..... 
 
 Antiochus Eupator, " 
 
 " So king Antiochus died there in the 
 year one hundred and forty-nine." 
 Add 148 to A. M. 3849, and we have 
 it is as above, 3997. 
 
 Eupator, his son succeeded him. 
 
 They besieged Jerusalem in the year 
 150. 
 
 " And he made peace with them, and 
 they came forth out of the city be- 
 cause they had no victuals, being 
 shut up there, for U was the year of 
 rest in the land." 
 
 ' ' But there were no victuals in the city 
 because it was the seventh year." 
 
 This one hundred and fiftieth year, is 
 A. M. 3998, and by turning to the 
 table of years it will be seen it was 
 a sabbatic year. 
 
 Demetrius Sotor reigned 
 
 Alexander Balas - 
 
 Demetrius Nicator 
 
 Seleucus 5th 
 
 Antiochus Gryphus 
 
 Seleucus 6th 
 
 135 
 
 18 
 
 31 
 20 
 15 
 20 
 
 3 
 36 
 12 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 5 
 
 23 
 2 
 
 27 
 3 
 
 A. II. 
 
 3757 
 3802 
 3823 
 
 3831 
 
 3849 
 
 3880 
 3900 
 3915 
 3935 
 3938 
 3974 
 3986 
 3997 
 3999 
 
 4011 
 4016 
 4039 
 4041 
 4068 
 4071 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 353 
 
 Josephus . 
 
 Joseph, b. xvii. 
 
 c. 8, 51. 
 Wars. b. i. o. 
 
 33, 38. 
 
 Luke ii. 42 to 
 49. 
 
 Luke iii. 1 and 
 23. 
 
 Joseph, b. xviii. 
 c. 3 and 40. 
 
 Antioohus 9th reigned 
 
 Philip " 
 
 Tigranes " 
 
 Antiochus Asiatieus" 
 
 Pompey reduces Syria to a Boman 
 province, thence to the death of 
 Antigones and first of Herod 
 
 Hence to the birth of Christ during 
 Herod's reign, see Matt, ii. 13-19 . . 
 
 Hence to the thirteenth year of Jesus, 
 when after three days he is found in 
 the temple, about his Ibtther's business 
 
 End of third sabbatic cycle 
 
 Tiberius began to reign, A. D. 14. . . . 
 Hence to his thirty-first year, and 
 
 fifteenth of Tiberius 
 
 Hence to the Crucifixion. 
 
 The crucifixion was near the end of 
 
 the reign of Tiberius, who reigned 
 
 twenty-two years . 
 
 lYears 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 4 
 
 A.M. 
 4072 
 4082 
 4096 
 4100 
 
 26 
 
 
 430 
 
 4126 
 
 37 
 
 4163 
 
 12 
 
 
 479 
 
 4175 
 
 2 
 
 4177 
 
 14 
 5 
 
 4191 
 1196 
 
 21 
 
 
 Note 1. 
 
 The tribes in their order of march having been calculated down 
 to Ephraim, which brought us to 3648, we now go on in the 
 order of march, with Manassah, Benjamin, Han, Asher, Naph- 
 tali, in all numbering 225, 200=527 + 3648 = A. M. 4175. This 
 ends the Israelitish period (Numbers, i. 41, and iii. 29). They 
 numbered 625,550. They entered Canaan in 2710, the number- 
 ing gives 1465 years, hence they end in A. M. 4175. 
 
 These years like these numbers must all perish before the num- 
 bers or men in chapter xxvi. enter. The first should see, but not 
 enter the Canaan. The next period of people enter upon the light 
 of Christianity — of which Canaan was typical — hence from A. 
 M. 4175 or A. D. 12, commences the new series of prophetic 
 numbers. 
 
 CorNCXDENTAIi PBOOFS. 
 
 We find in Genesis vi. 3, the years of a man shall be 120, the 
 third of a circle of 360. This number stands for a year or period, 
 a week of these years is 2,520 years, the half of which is 1260, 
 and from one point' to another in the chronology, the reader will 
 find these cycles embraced. Thus, from the year when Enoch, 
 
354 . APPENDIX. 
 
 the maa that walked with God, "was not," A. M. 987, add six 
 days, or 2160 years, and we have 3147, the year of the temple; 
 when by adding another day or cycle, it runs to 3507, thus 3147 
 + 360 = 3507 at which time Manasseh was taken captive, and 
 the Lord determined to blot out Israel. (2 Kings, xxi, 83.) " 
 
 Adam in Hebrew is spelled by its notations thus, A 1 d 4 m 40 
 =1440, or twelve complete generations. Adam had three sons, from 
 the third one, Seth, there are nine generations to Noah, who had 
 three sons, and from Sliem are nine generations to Terah, then 
 come Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of the Israelitish church, 
 representing the trinity, Abram, the father, Isaac, the son, and 
 Israel, the spirit. Here are 18 generations of 120 years to Terah, 
 constituting 6 days, cycles, or times. Terah was born accord- 
 ing to this chronology in A. M •. . . J.878 
 
 Add thereto a trinity or complete circle of Abram, Isaac, 
 
 and Jacob, three generations 360 
 
 And we have the advent into Egypt 2238 
 
 This system was the one known in the East, whence came 
 Abraham; and among the Chaldees, Moses established the system 
 of sevens, the other being predicated on nine. And the change 
 is thus noted in frenesis xvii. 5, "Neither shall thy name any 
 more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham." Now 
 the numerals that spell the word Abram are the multiple of 9 — 
 while those of Abraham are 7. Thus changing the system of circles 
 or cycles of 360, to septennial periods as promulgated by Moses, 
 in the mode of keeping the calendar. Hence, Daniel when in 
 Ghaldee, whence Abram came, adopted the nine, and prophesied 
 by cycles of time, or days of 360 degrees, as well as the other. 
 Again, from Joshua (Jesus) to Jesus the Christ is 1440 years. 
 Thus 2734 + 1440 = 4174. So from the flood in 1655 to Jesus 
 in the temple is — twice twelve generations, or seven times, thus 
 1655 x 2520 = 4175, in the midst of which week Joshua the type of 
 Jesus was cut off. 
 
 Hence from these numbers may be deducted the system of 
 prophecy in numbers, and its interpretation, by which we will 
 find certain years coinciding as the termini of prophecies. 
 
 Thus the vision of the tree in Daniel begins when the king 
 walked in the palace at Babylon in 3147, to which add twelve 
 months or 360 years, and we have A M. , 3507 a date above noted, 
 hence 2520 for seven times, and we have A. M. 6027, or A. D. 
 1864, when his reason returned. (See chapter on 4th Daniel ) 
 
 The marching around Jericho is a prophetic allegory. Thus the 
 six surroundings represent the six servitudes. The seventh com- 
 mencing with Babylon in A M. 3507, under Manasseh, when 
 they compassed itseum times, or 2520 years, thus 3507+ 2520 = 
 6027 or A. D. 1864. Supposing the Hebrew periods typical of the 
 
APPENDIX. 355 
 
 church then to come, and. it would result thus from the Christian 
 era 4163. 
 
 The sojourn in Egypt 430 
 
 Judges 430 
 
 Kings and Jubilee period 49 
 
 Kings with a temple 430 
 
 To next temple 7 weeks 49 
 
 62 weeks shortened 382 
 
 1770 
 
 Balance of cycle period 49 
 
 Next transition 49 
 
 98 
 
 1868 
 
 Here the fractions are included. 
 
 From the foregoing may be deduced the following system of 
 prophecy ; inasmuch as the 625,550 men representing 1465 years, 
 or one year for each 427, did not cross Jordan (although the years 
 they typify extended from the period of Jordan to Christ), so 
 the subsequent numbers of men that did go across Jordan, repre- 
 sent one year for every 427 of them, beginning where the others 
 end, and it will result thus. They were numbered by Moses, and 
 found 601,730. The Levites 23,000. (Numbers xxvi. 57. ) 
 
 Now Eeuben, Gad. and the half tribe Manasseh, stayed on the 
 other side of Jordan (Joshua, xui. 8-10). They numbered 136,930, 
 or the equivalent of 320 years, A. D. 332, which is about the peri- 
 od the Jews continued to linger as a nation. 
 
 Nine tribes crossed and had an inheritance, as well the half 
 tribe of Manasseh, which counted on both sides (Joshua, xvii. 
 1). First was Judah, then Ephraim, then Manasseh (Joshua, xv., 
 xvi., xvii.) numbering'in all 161,700, or equal to 379 years, which 
 added to A. M. 4175, gives us A. D. 391. This is the period 
 when the church, like its prototype, said, ' ' Give us a king. " Here 
 begins the papacy. And Saul numbered the people — for an ad- 
 ditional period— it being a new system, therefore here we add 
 their numbers 210,000 or 491 years, which added, and we have 
 A. D. 882, by which time they were in full captivity to Babylon, 
 as all history of Christianity teaches, this being the beginning of 
 the Dark Ages. 
 
 There remained yet seven tribes, which were distributed tnus: 
 Beniamin, Simeon, Zebulon, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan 
 (Joshua, xviii. , xix. ), numbering 355,800 to which add Levi 23,000, 
 
 and we have 378,800, or 887 years. 
 
 To which add 882 and 1 for fraction 883 
 
 And we hove, A. D 1.770 
 
356 APPENDIX. 
 
 when Swedenborg tells lis a new spiritual era commenced (True 
 Christian Religion, § 791), vide French and American revolu- 
 tions. 
 
 As the march and numbering in the desert, under Moses and 
 Joshua, are prophetic types of the Israelitish period, hence those 
 that crossed Jordan, and the numbering them, are prophetic types 
 of the Christian period. There were forty-two journeys from 
 Egypt to Jordan (Numbers xrviii, ), so there were forty-two reigns 
 or rulers after the crossing to the captivity. The next number- 
 ing is after the captivity, at the restoration of the temple — when 
 Nehemiah numbered them. (Neh. vii. 5-66 ; Ezra, ii. 64.) 
 
 The captivity and dark ages have brought us down to the res- 
 toration, or A. D ~. 1770 
 
 And we will now add the sum of 42,360, 1 year for each 
 427, equal to 99 
 
 And we have A. D. 1869 
 
 The fractions should reduce this about a year. These number- 
 ings run out the typical church to its end. So the second series 
 run the Christian church out to its end, when the Messiah comes 
 in his fullness. 
 
 THE END.