Yah. Ms. Var. 1Ms. 7.1 e25r
Chap. VII.
Of the prophesy of the Ram
and He Goate.
The four Monarchies predicted by the vision of the image composed
of four metalls, & again by the four Beasts, are again predicted by that of the Ram
& he Goat; the two first being represented by the Ram, & the two last by the Goat.
For the Ram had two horns both of which were high, & the higher horn came up last;
& this Ram having two horns is said to be the kings of Media & Persia, that is the
kingdoms. The higher horn wchwhich came up last is the kingdom of Persia, & this arose at
the fall of the kingdom of Babylon; & the lower horn wchwhich came up first is the preceding
kingdom of the Medes, & this arose at the fall of the kingdom of Assyria, & is here consider
ed from the time of the date of this prophesy wchwhich was in the third year of the reign of
Belshazzar. By the fall of the empire of the Assyrians & the division thereof between
the Medes & Babylonians, the two empires of the Medes & Babylonians arose together
under Cyaxeres & Nebuchadnezzar, & they are represented by the two wings of the
Lyon, Dan. VII.4. And these continued standing together till that of the Medes by the
conduct of Cyrus a Medo-Persian subdued that of the Babylonians, & then began
it self to fall by the revolt of Cyrus & the Persians. For upon the conquest of
Babylon by the Medes, Cyrus & the Persians revolted from the Medes, I think before
the end of the yeare, & beat them in battel the next year; & the king of the Medes
raised a new army & was again beaten the year following & lost his kingdom to
Cyrus, who by that victory set the Persians above the Medes. Now in the history of
the life of Daniel (Dan. I.21) its said that he continued even untill the first year
of Cyrus, that is, untill the first year of his reign over Media: & afterwards
(Dan. X.1) its said that he received the prophesy of the scripture of truth in the
third year of Cyrus, that is in the third year of his reign over Persia. And therefore
the Persians revolted two years before he conquered the Medes. He conquered
Babylon Anno Nabonass. 209 & died Anno Nabonass. 218 according to the Canon of
Ptolomy, & reigned seven years after his conquest of the Medes according to
Xenophon, & therefore conquered them Anno Nabonass. 211. The horn therefore
which rose up first, represents the kingdom of the Medes from the time of
the fall of the Assyrian Empire, or at the least from the time of the third
year of Belshazzar, the year in which this Prophesy was given; & the second
horn represents the kingdom of the Persians which began to rise up Anno
Nabonass. 290, & within two years after overcame the kingdom of the Medes.
The He-Goat had a notable horn between his eyes, & smote the
Ram & brake his two horns, & waxed very great: & when he was strong the
great horn was broken off, & for it came up four notable ones towards the four
winds of heaven. And these represent the same kingdoms with yethe four wings of Daniel's
third Beast. The Goat is called the king of Iavan, that is, the king of the people
descended from Iavan the son of Iaphet, & is usually interpreted to signify the
king of Greece, that is, the kingdom; & in the reign of his first horn it signifies the
kingdom of Alexander the great & his brother Aridæus & two sons. After their
reign the governours of Provinces put crowns on their own heads own heads, & thereby
divided the Monarchy into smaller kingdoms the four chief of which were
chief the kingdoms of Macedon Egypt Syria & Thrace. And these are represented
by the four horns. And in the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors
are come to the full, that is, in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes when the
transgressors against the holy covenant are arrived at the height; not before
but in his reign, after one of them [after the kingdom of Madedon] came forth a
little horn wchwhich waxed exceeding great. For in the eighth year of Antiochus,
when they had spoiled the temple, prohibited the daily worship, burnt the sacred
books, & set up the religion of the heathens in all Iudea; the kingdom of Macedon, the26r the principal horn of the four was conquered by the Romans, & the ships wchwhich
the Romans at the time of this conquest sent with an embassy against Antiochus
Antiochus Epiphanes then in Egypt, are called the ships of KittimKittim is a plurall & signifies yethe children of Kit or some such name or Son of Iavan the
son of Iavan, & so belong to the body of the Goat. And if we may regard
the prophesy of Balaam so far as it is recited by Moses in favour of Israel,
the Romans are there also called Kittim. And ships, saith he, shall come
from Kittim, & shall afflict Assur & shall afflict Eber. Assur is here put for
Syria. Italy was so far peopled from Greece as to be called magna Græcia,
& it might be peopled originally from Kittim*sh be explained tho we want the history
thereof.☉ ☉ For it was usual in those before the times of the Trojan war to call the
people by the names of their kings & princes.. And some aa See Bochart
in Phaleg. lib. 111.
cap. 5. pag. 181. tell us that Telephus
the son of Hercules & Auge & father of Latinus reigning in Italy changed the
name of the Cetij (or posterity of Kittim) into that of Latines. But it is sufficient to make the Romans a horn of the Goat that
they are called Kittim in the prophesies of Daniel.
This horn was at first but a little one comparatively to what it be
came afterwards, It waxed exceeding great towards the south by conquer
ing Afric Libya & Egypt, & towards the east by conquering Asia minor, Armenia
& Syria & towards the pleasant land by conquering Iudea. It waxed great
even to the host of heaven (the people of the Iews,) & it cast down some
of the host & of the starrs to the grownd, & it stamped upon them. Yea he
magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, the Prince of princes
([Iesus Christ whom he crucified)] & by him the daily sacrifice was taken
away & the place of his Sanctuary (the Temple) was cast down, vizt in
the war which he made upon the Iews in the reign of Nero & Vespasian
And the host was given over to him by the transgression against the daily
sacrifice, & it cast down the truth to the grownd & it practised & prospered.
For in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian the Romans built a temple
to Iupiter Olympius on mount Sion where the temple of the Iews
had stood, & provoked them to rebell, & made war against them with
very great slaughter, & banished them from Iudæa upon pain of death,
& placed the carved statue of a hog on one of the gates of the city.
Then, saith Daniel, I heard one saint speaking, & another saint said
to that certain saint that spake, How long shall be the vision concerning
the daily sacrifice & the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both
the host sanctuary & the host to be troden under foot? And he said
unto me, Vnto two thousand & three hundred (prophetic) days. Then
shall the sanctuary be cleansed. – – For at the time of the end shall
be the vision – – even at the last end of the indignation, that is, at
the last end of Gods indignation against the Iews, or at the last end of
the long captivity & dispersion of the Iews predicted by Moses & the
prophets, which is not yet at an end. Thus the power of this last horn
of the Goat became mighty but not by his own power; not by the
power of Kittim or Iavan, but by that of Afric, Armenia, Syria, France,
Spain, Helvetia, Dacia, & Germany conquered by Kittim.
Some take this little horn to be Antiochus Epiphanes, as if Antiochus was
a little horn growing out of another horn, & the Goat had five horns standing
up at once. But Daniel by the horns of a Beast understands not single kings
but kingdoms. The ten horns of the fourth Beast were four ten kingdoms, & the
four honsrns of the Goat were four kingdoms, & are called kingdoms by Daniel
himself, Dan. VIII.232. And the first horn, the great horn in the room of wchwhich
the four came up, was of the same kind with the four. The horn after wchwhich
the little horn came up, was one of the four: & Antiochus & his kingdom
were not two horns. Each of the four horns had many kings, & Antiochus
was only one of those many kings. It was at first a little one & grew
mighty towards the stouth & towards the east & up to the host of heaven.
But Antiochus did not so. He made no conquests. The little horn magni
fied himself even to the Prince of the host, & cast down his sanctuary to
the grownd, & so did not Antiochus. He did not cast down the Temple to
the grownd, nor stand up against the Prince of princes. He only polluted
the temple & took away the daily sacrifice during three years or 1080
days, 1 Maccab. I.20, 29, 54. He spoiled the temple two years before, but did
not then take away the daily sacrifice, & the whole five years amount
only to 1800 days. Before this, some Iews apostatized from the law to the
heathen religion, & got a licence from the king to do after the ordinances of27rIof the heathens, & built a place at Ierusalem for their religious assemblys
1 Maccab. I.11, 13, 14. But they neither cast down the sanctuary, nor polluted
it, nor took away the daily sacrifice. The little horn acted till the last
end of the indignation & this indignation is not yet at an end. The
sanctuary continued cast down 2300 days before it was cleansed, &
days in sacred prophesy are put for years, Ezek. IV.5, 6.
Chap.
VIII. X 10
Of the Prophesy of the seventy weeks.
The vision of the image composed of four metalls was given first to
Nebuchadnezzar & then to Daniel in a dream. And Daniel began then to be
celebrated for revealing of secrets, Ezek. XXVIII.3. The vision of the four Beasts
& of the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven was also given to Daniel in a dream. That of the Ram & the hee Goat appeared
to him in the day time when he was by the bank of the river Vlay, & was explained
to him by the prophetic Angel Gabriel. It concerns the Prince of the host & the
Prince of princes. And now in the first year of Darius the Mede over Babylon,
the same prophetic Angel appears to Daniel again & explains to him what is
meant by the son of man & by the Prince of the host & the Prince of princes. See the back of
this leaf. The prophesy of the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven relates
to the second coming of Christ, & that of the Prince of the host relates
to his first coming: & this prophesy of the Messiah in explaining
them & assignes relates to both comings, & assignes the times thereof.
This prophesy like all the rest of Daniels prophesies consists of two
parts, an introductory prophesy & and an explanation thereof. The prophesy begins
thus. Seventy weeks are allotted upon thy people & upon thy holy city &c These
are to be dated from the time that the Iews, after their government was dissolved
by the Babylonian captivity, began to be reunited into a body polytic so as to become
again a people & a holy city; & this was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes
Longimanus, the year in which EzraEzra VIII came to Ierusalem with a solemn commissi
on from the king to set up magistrates & judges to judge the people who know the
laws of God, & to teach those that know them not, & to punish offenders against
the laws of God & the king with death, or banishment, or confiscation of goods,
or imprisonment. Seventy weeks are allotted upon them to finish transgressi
on, & to make an end of sins, & to make reconciationreconciliation for iniquity, & to bring in
everlasting righteousness, & to seal up the vision & the prophesy & annoint
the most holy. All which was accomplished by the death of Iesus Christ. And
from the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus to the death of Iesus Christ
were 490 years; that is, just seventy weeks, recconing seven years to a
week, as is done in Gen. XXIX.27, 28. From the Hebrew word Messiah which
signifies annointed; the most holy who is annointed, is in the next words called
the Messiah the Prince; & this is the Prince of the host & the Prince of princes son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
mentioned in the preceding prophesyies. Know also & understand that [after his
annointing & a long captivity to follow it] from the going forth of the com
mandment to restore & to build Ierusalem unto [the coming of] the Messiah
[to reign as] the Prince, shall be seven weeks. This is the prophesy concern
ing the timstimes of the coming of Christ first to be annointed & then to reign: & the inter
pretation distinguishes these two comings, & is as follows.
Also threscorethreescore & two weeks the street shall be built again & the wall
[unto his coming: but not in prosperous times as in the seven weeks,] but in
troublesome times: that is 434 years counted from the 28th year of
Artaxerxes Longimanus in which the wall was finished & the gates set up
according to Iosephus, unto the birth of Christ. But after [his coming at
the end of ] the threescore & two weeks, the Messiah shall be cut off & not
reign over them [as at the end of the seven weeks,] but the people of a Prince
to come [the Romans] shall destroy the city & the sanctuary, & the end thereof
shall be with a flood, & unto the end of the war desolations are determined
[vizt in the reign of Nero, Vespatian, & Adrian.] Yet he shall keep the co
venant [that of the Iews being Gods peculiar people] with many for one
week [till the calling of Gods people Cornelius & the Gentiles which was seven years
after his resurrection] & in half a week [or three years & an half, by the war28rII war of Nero & Vespasian] he shall cause the sacrifice & oblation to cease, & with
the overspreading of Abominations [in the days of Hadrian by banishing
the Iews from Iudea & giving their land to the heathens who overspread it
with their abominations] he shall make it desolate even untill the con
summation & that wchwhich is determined shall be poured upon the desolate [that
is, during the two thousand & three hundred years counted, I think, from
the destruction of the temple: & then shall the Iews return from all na
tions into their own land, & the sanctuary shall be cleansed.]
29r
Chap. IX.
Of the prophesy of the Scripture of
truth.
This prophesy begins thus. And I, saith the Angel, in the first year
of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm & to strengthen him. And now
I will shew thee the truth. Behold here shall stand up yet three kings in
Persia [Cyrus, Cambyses, & Darius Hystaspis,] & the fourth [Xerxes] shall
be far richer then they all, & by his strength through his riches he shall stirr
up all against the realm of Greece. And a mighty king [Alexander the
great] shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion & do according
to his will. And when he shall stand up his kingdom shall be broken & shall
be divided towards the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor
according to his dominion wherewith he ruled. For his kingdom shall be
pluckt up [for Cassander king of Macedon, Lysimachus king of Thrace,
Ptolomy king of Egypt, & Seleucus king of Syria &] even for others besides those.
After this the prophetic Angel describes the actions of the kings of
Syria & Egypt by the names of the kings of the north & south untill the conquest
of the kingdom of Macedon by the Romans, wchwhich was in the eighth year of An
tiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus began his reign in the 137th year of the king
dom of the Greeks. (1 Maccab. I.10,) & smote Egypt, & returned from thence
the first time & spoiled the temple in the 143d year (1 Maccab. I.20) &
after two full years, that is, in the 145t year (1 Maccab. I.29, 54) in
returning from Egypt the second time, he surprized & smote Ierusalem
& put a garrison therein, & interdicted the worship therein the Temple, &
commanded that the Iews should leave their children uncircumcised, & that
all men should be of one religion upon pain of death. And on the 15th day of
the month Casleu in the same year, they set up the abomination of desola
tion (as the historian calls it) upon the Altar in the temple, & built idol-
altars throughout the cities of Iudah, & burnt the books of the law, & com
manded that those who preserved them should be put to death. All this was
done in the eighth year of the king.not in the old And for pointing out this very remark
able period, Daniel pursues the description of the affairs of the kings of the
north & south very particularly untill he comes to it, & then describes
it by telling us that the king of the north shall come towards at the
time appointed shall come towards the south a second time: but the
latter expedition shall not be as the former. For the ships of Chittim
shall come against him. Therefore he shall be grieved & return from the
south, that is, from Egypt, & have indignation against the holy covenant:
so shall he do, he shall even return out of Egypt, & have intelligence
with them that forsake the holy covenant. And when he had thus carried
on the description of the affairs of the kings of the north & south to the
eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes, he passes from the affairs of the
Greeks descended from Iavan,to those of the Romans desendeddescended also from Iavan, & describes
them by much larger steps then he had done those of the Greeks. In
the prophesy of the Ram & He Goat, its said that after one of the four
horns of the Goat came forth a little horn & waxed exceeding great,
that is, after one of the four kingdoms of the Greeks came forth a
kingdom of the Romans. And the same transition is here repeated in
the following manner.
And after him arms shall stand up: that is, after Antiochus Epi
phanes. As תחלך signifies after the king Dan. XI.8, so here מפגו sig
nifies after him. These arms appear upon the body of the goat by
conquering Macedon, & stand up gradually by conquering Carthage &
Afric, Asia, Armenia, Syria, Iudæa, France, Spain, Britain, & Egypt. And
then they pollute the sanctuary of strength & take away the daily sacrifice
[in the days of Nero & Vespatian] & & place the abomination which maketh desolate30r desolate [in the days of Adrian.] And they that understand among the people
[the Apostles & other Christian teachers,] shall instruct many, yet they
shall fall [in the heathen persecutions] by the sword & by flame & by
captivity & by spoile many days. Now when they shall fall they shall be
holpen with a little help [in the reign of Constantine the great & his sons] but many
[pretending to come over to them from the heathens] shall cleave to them
with flatteries [being still heathens in their hearts & feigning themselves
Christians for the sake of interest & preferment.] And some of those of
understanding shall fall [by new disputes] to try them & to purge [them from
the flatterers] & to make them white even to the time of the end, because
it is yet for a time appointed.
In the reign of Constantine the great when the Christians were
holpen with a little help, the heathen empire began to fall, & thereby to
fill the Christian Churches with dissemblers. And this continued untill the reign
of Iulian the Apostate, who revived the heathen empire for a year
& eight months. And after his death it fell again the heathnheathen religion was tolerated untill the Empe
rors Gratian & Theodosius the great rejected the title of Pontifex
maximus of the heathens; which put an end to it in the Roman
government.
And the king shall do according to his will & he shall exalt &
magnify himself above every God, & shall speak marvellous things
against the God of Gods [the ancient of days,] & shall prosper till the
indignation [or long captivity of the Iews] be accomplished. For that
that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God
of his fathers [those who were holpen with a little help] nor the
desire of weomen [in lawfull matrimony, but set up the professi
on of Moncks & Nunns,] nor regard any God for he shall mag
nify himself [or preferring his own will] above all. And in his estate
shall he honour Mahuzzims, [potent saints, the souls of dead men]
together with a strange God [a new God] whom his fathers [those
who were holpen with a little help] knew not, shall he honour them
[with gold & silver, & with pretious stones, & valuable things. Thus
shall he do in the most strong holds [or temples of his Gods] with a
strange God, whom he shall acknowledge & increase with glory,
& cause them to rule [the Mahuzzims] to rule over many, &
Divide [among them] the land for a patrimony.
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south [or Em
pire of the Saracens] push at him. And the king of the north [the
empire of the Turks] shall come against him like a whirl
wind with chariots & horsmen & with many ships; & [by conquer
ing Constantinople A.C. 1453] he shall enter into the countries
& shall overflow & pass over. He shall enter also into the glo
rious land [of Iudea,] & many countries [in those parts] shall be
overflown. But these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom & Moab &
the chief of the children of Ammon [to whom his Caravans in
their way to Mecca pay tribute.] He shall stretch forth his hand
also upon the countries; & the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he
shall have power over the treasures of Gold & silver & over all the
pretious things of Egypt. And the Libyans & the Ethiopians shall be at
his steps.
But tidings out of the east & out of the north shall trouble him: therefore
he shall go forth with great fury to destroy & utterly to make away many. And he
shall plant the tabernacle of his plalace between the seas in the glorious holy
mountain: yet he shall come to his end [in the battel of the great day] & none
shall help him. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince
wchwhich standeth for the children of thy people, [the Prince of Princes with a two-
edged sword] & there shall be a time of trouble such as there 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. And many that sleep in the dust sleep in the dust shall awake some to everlasting life & some to shame &
everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of
the firmament, & they that turn many to righteousness as the starrs for ever
& ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words & seale the book even to the
time of the end. This is that book wchwhich in the visions of Iohn the Apostle was
sealed with seven seales, & which the Lamb of God took out of the hand of
him that sat upon the throne to open the seals thereof. And then many shall
run to & fro [the two witnesses at the time of the end] & knowledge shall be in
creased.
Then I Daniel looked & behold there stood other two, one on this side
of the bank of the river & the other on that side of the bank of the river. And
one said to the man cloathed in linnen who was upon the waters of the
river. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man
cloathed in linnen who was upon the waters of the river, when he held
up his right hand & his f left hand upnto heaven, & sware by him that
liveth for ever & ever, that it shall be for a time times & an half. This
is the duration of the reign of the last horn of Daniel's fourth beast.
And therefore the affairs of that horn are included in this Prophesy. And
[after this] when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of
the holy people [by bringing them back out of all nations into Iudea]
then all these things shall be finished.
And I heard but I understood not. Then said I: O my Lord, what
shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way Daniel, For
the words are closed up & sealed till the time of the end. Many shall
[then] be purified & made white & tryed [by persecutions] & these are the
two witnesses.] And none of the wicked [in power] shall understand [because it is against them]: but the wise
[under persecution] shall understand. And from the time that the daily worship [not
only that of the Iews, but that also of the converted Gentiles] shall
be taken away, so as to set up the [great] abomination of deso
lation wchwhich maketh desolate [untill he shall have accomplished to
scatter the power of the holy people] there shall be a thousand
two hundred & ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth & cometh
to the thousand three hundred & five & thirty days. But go thou
thy way [Daniel] till the end be. For thou shalt rest, & stand in
thy lot [amongst those that awake out of the dust] at the end of
the days.