Fragment on Daniel on the back of a draft account of Pyx Trial procedure (section 7.3n)
That the coynage of the money of due weight & finess is a thing of very great consequence to the nation as may be understood by the ill consequences of bad money & by the great punishments of them that clip or counterfeit it . And therefore the IJury ought to be very exact in examining the moneys in the Pix for the satisfaction of the nation.
That they are to try these moneys by her majesty's standard weights & trial pieces kept in the Treasury & now produced before them for that purpose & that to satisfy themselves that her Majesty's trial Pieces are genuine they are allowed to compare them with the Indented trial pieces in their own custody. & if they desin to satisfy themselves about the trial pieces in the custody of the officers of the Mint they are allowed to also to see them compared with her Majesties standard pieces
That they are to examin the moneys by the rules set down in the Indentures made between the crown & the p{r}{e}sent Master & worker of the Mint & particularly to try if 44li 10s in Gold moneys make a pound weigh Troy recconing a Guinea at 20s & if 3li 2s in silver moneys also make a pound weight Troy.
They are also to try if the gold moneys be 22 carats fine gold & two carats allay & the silver moneys 11 ounces two pen{ny} weight fine silver & 18 penny weight allay.
And because the moneys cannot be coyned exactly without some accidental error in weight or in finess or in both they are to take notice of the error if they find any & see whether it be within the limits allowed by the Indentures & called the Masters remedy, that is, to say whether in weight or fineness or both together it do not exceed the sixt part of a carat in gold moneys or two penny weight in silver moneys in the pound weight Troy.
In the constitution of the Mint great care is taken to have the money coyned exactly. The gold & silver is reduced to standard by the assay before melting & after melting it is again assayed to see if it bee standard, & in the coynage every piece is weighed apart & reduced to a just weight & after coynage it is again weighed & assayed before delivery & is not deliverable if it be either without the remedy or within the remedy & yet faulty by designe. For no error is allowed in the coynage otherwise then by accident. And for greater security one piece of gold moneys in every 15 pounds weight Troy & one piece of silver moneys in every 60 pound weight troy is put into the Pine to be now tried in weight & assay according to her Majesty's standards & Indenture in this publick manner with the utmost exactness.
& therefore a limit called the Masters remedy is allowed of the sixt part of a carrat in the gold moneys & of two penny weight in the silver moneys in the pound weight Troy, which limit or remedy the error in weight or fineness or both is not to exceed: the Iury is to observe this error ( if there be any ) & if it doth not exceed this remedy.
A little before the death of Philopator his son Demetrius was sent hostage to Rome in the place of Antiochus Epiphanes the brother of Philopator & Antiochus was at Athens in his way home when Philopator died. Whereupon Heliodorus the treasurer of the kingdom stept into the throne. But Antiochus
& therefore in these few words & after him arms shall stand up , he comprehends all the succesive conquests by which the Romans extended their dominion over the Greeks & from the last of those conquests which was the conquest of Egypt, he steps down to the next action of great note within the dominions of the Gre{ee}ks, which was the war against the Iews the taking away worship, & setting up the heathen Idols throughout all Iudea & dispersing the people into all nations . This Daniel calls the setting up of the abomination of desolation, or the setting up of the abomination which maketh the land desolate This was the setting up of idolatry not in the temple alone but in all the cities & towns of Iudea & compelling all the inhabitants to worship them or fly their country. Such an abomination Antiochus endeavoured to set up but without success. The abomination which he set up did not make the land desolate . Such an abomination was effectually set up by the Romans. They & they alone set it up with success & ever since they set it up the land has continued desolate & empty of its people the Iews as we see at this day.
Thus all things came to pass as Daniel had foretold, and this destroying the city & sanctuary by the Romans & causing desolations in the land untill the end of the war, & making the daily sacrifice to cease & overspreading the land with a wing of abominations & thereby making it desolate unto the end of the indignation is a full explication of what Daniel in other places calls taking away the daily sacrifice & setting up the abomination of desolation.
Before this desolation the Iews – – – who were thereby grafted into the stock of the Iews & became Gods people till the abomination of desolation was set up also in their churches.
that is he shall speak them as a lawgiver & by dictating laws against the laws of God he shall exalt & magnify himself above every God & weare out the saints . For dictating laws in matters of revealed religion is usurping divine authority & sitting in Gods throne, or as the Apostle Paul expresseth, it is exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped {& at} that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God. It is sitting in Gods throne in the Temple between the Cherubims where God dictated laws to the Iews & was worshipped by them as their lawgiver. When Daniel tells us that the little horn of his fourth Beast should speak great words against the most High & wear out the saints of the most High : he means that this Horn should speak as a lawgiver & by making laws against the laws of God should wearout the saints. For in the next words he adds that this horn should think to change times & laws & they should be given into his hand for a time times & half a time . And in the same sense he tells us that the king who doth according to his will should magnify himself above every God & speak marvellous things against the God of Gods
Among the Heathens of Persia & India there are to this day sects of people who live very austere lives placing their religion in abstinence from marriage & from meats, & in bodily exercises & austerities which are mischievous to themselves & of no advantage to mankind. And such a sort of superstitious people were the Monks among the Christians. They were a new sort of Christians not instituted by Christ or his Apostles You may know them by their fruits: For they were the ringleaders in bringing into the Christian Churches the doctrine of Ghosts, the invocations of the dead, the worshipping of their reliques pictures & images, & all manner feigning of miracles {&} legendary stories for promoting these things.
– and with things of value. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds [ or Temples ] with a strange God whom he shall acknowledge & increase with honour & he shall cause them [ the Mahuzzims ] , to rule over many & shall divide the earth [ among them ] for lucre every city town family & trade honouring his Guardian saint with gifts . Now this king by magnifying himself above every {Go}d & speaking marvellous things ( in his laws ) against the God of Gods & together with a strange God whom his fathers knew not honouring Mahuzzims in the Temples with ☉ & ☾ & gems &{illeg} things of value that is with statues & pictures & altars adorned with these things , took away the daily worship of the true God & set up the abomination of desolation in the Christian cities & towns as the old Romans had done before in the Iewish; & the Chirstian nations are now become as desolate of Gods people as Iudea is of the Iews & must remain so till the end of the indignation.
Thus the Empire of the Greeks is by Daniel distinguished into several successive periods. The first is of the Greeks alone before the Romans began to conquer them, the second is of the rise & reign of the Romans over the Greeks untill the Roman Empire became divided into the Greek & Latin Empires the Third is of the Greek Empire after separation from the Latins untill the rise of the mahometans religion The fourth is of the Mahometan Empires & their wars upon the Greeks. And these periods are distinguished by saying between the first & second & between the second & third that the end is yet at at time appointed & by calling the fourth the time of the end. . The first precedes the practises against the daily sacrifice of the Iews the second conteins the history of those practises & of the primitive Christian religion succeeding the Iewish the third conteins the history of the religion of the Moncks succeeding the religion of the first Christians. ‡ , & the fourth conteins the history of the Mahometans. In the third the religion of the Moncks proceeded to the invocation of Saints which was a breach of the first commandment in the fourth it proceeded to the worshipping of Images which is a breach of the second, & is by Daniel called the abomination of desolation And while true Chirstians abominate & fled from , these Idols, & left the Idol-Churches desolate of Gods people & were not suffered to assemble in other places, the setting up of these Idols was setting up the abomination of desolation. among Christians The first ended & the second began an. Abr. 1831 when Antiochus Epiphanes & Philometor the kings of Egypt & Syria plotted mischief & spake lyes at one table against the holy Covenant & Antiochus immediately marched to Ierusalem & spoiled the Temple. The second ended & the third began when the religion of the Monks & particularly the veneration of Mahuzzims or invocation of Saints began to prevaile & {over spread}{overspread} the Greek Empire. This third is distinguished into two principal parts of which preceded the time of the end & the other is called the time of the end. In the first the religion of the Moncks grew up & ware out the saints & became universal. In The second the kings of the South & north rose {illeg} up & made war upon the Greek Empire, & therefore the time of the end begins with the rise of the Empire of the Saracens. In the first the religion of the Moncks proceeded to the invocation of Mahuzzims which was a breach of the first commandment. In the second it proceeded to the setting up images to the Mahuzzims & venerating the Images which was a breach of the second commandment .
<1v>In the first the Mosaical daily sacrifice continues without interruption. In the second it is taken away & the true worship remains only among the Christians. In the third the primitive Christianity is succeeded by the religion of the Moncks. In the fourth the abomination of desolation reigns.
Thus Daniel has described by steps, all the chief actions & revolutions in the Empire of the Persians & Greeks down from his own days to ours & in doing this he has distinguished the times into five cardinal periods. The first of the reign of the Persians, the second is of the reign of the Greeks alone until the Romans began to conquer them the third is of the rise & reign of the Romans over the Greeks until the division of their Empire into the Empires of the Greeks & Latines the fourth is of the Greek Empire at Constantinople after separation from the Latines untill the rise & reigne of the Mahometans & the fift is of the Mahometans reigning successively in the South & north & making warr upon the Greeks. And the four last periods are distinguished from one another by saying between the second & third & again between the third & fourth that the end is yet at at a time appointed & calling the fift the time of the end. The third began with the practises against the daily sacrifice of the Iews, the fourth with the rise of the religion of the Moncks & fift with the rise of the religion of the Mahometans. In the third the heathen abomination was set up in all Iudea. In the fourth the Monkish abomination of invoking Saints, which is a breach of the first commandment, was set up in the Christian Churches in all the Empire. In the fift the Monks abomination of worshipping Images, which is a breach of the second commandment, was also set up in all the Empire . And these abominations made a desolation of Gods people wherever they were set up. In Iudea the heathen abomination made a desolation of the Iews, the believing Iews flying their country & the unbelieving being slaughtered & expelled. In Christendom the Monkish abomination wore out the saints & made a desolation of all Gods people & The first act against the holy covenant was in autumn in the {Iudaic} year of Seleucus 143 ( 1 Maccab. 1.20 ) when Antiochus spoiled the Temple. the last act of setting up the abomination was in the year of Christ 842 {toward} the end of the Iudaic year of Seleucus 1153 when a Council called at Constantinople by the Empress Theodora decreed that Images which had been condemned & thrown down by some former Emperors should be set up again & venerated as before & an annuall festival was instituted on Febr. 11 in memory of their restitution. and that the difference between these periods being 1010 Iudaic years is the same with the difference between the 2300 & the 1290 days putting a prophetic day for a Iudaic year
