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CHAPTER XV.

ON THE PROPHETICAL PERIOD of TWELVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY YEARS-CONCLUDED.

In the foregoing chapter a series of propositions, which appear to be founded on the scriptures, were laid down, with regard to the commencement and end of the above great prophetical period; and in each of the historical arguments deduced from these propositions, I arrived at the conclusion, that the twelve hundred and sixty years ended at the French revolution. I propose in this chapter to offer an argument in support of this most interesting fact, founded on the consideration of another mysterious number revealed to us in the eighth chapter of Daniel; and I shall afterwards consider some of the objections which have been made to the above conclusion, concerning the termination of the twelve hundred and sixty years.

In the course of this inquiry, I shall be led in the first place, to the consideration of Daniel's vision of the ram and he-goat; but I deem it proper to observe that it forms no part of my design, to enter into the full explanation of that vision; but only so far as it seems necessary to do so, for the immediate end I have in view, namely, the investigation of the beginning and end of the mysterious number therein revealed.

In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, the prophet Daniel saw a vision by the river of Ulai in the province of Elam. He beheld a

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ram standing before the river with two horns, one of the horns higher than the other, and the higher came up last. He saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward; he did according to his will, and became great. This ram is, as is afterwards declared, a symbol of the empire of the Medes and Persians. The two horns typify these two kingdoms; the higher horn the kingdom of Persia, which was of later origin than that of Media, having till the reign of Cyrus, been only a dependent or tributary state to the more powerful kingdom of Media.

The complete establishment of the Medo-Persian empire did not take place till the year A. C. 536, when Cyrus began his reign as sole sovereign of the two kingdoms, on the decease of his uncle Cyaxares. But the rise of the empire may be dated from the year A. C. 559, when Cyrus was appointed commander of the united armies of the Medes and Persians, to conduct the war against the empire of Babylon. From that time a federal union, of the most intimate nature, was formed between the two kingdoms, and then it is probable that the ram with two horns first arose.

The period when Daniel first beheld the ram was, however, evidently later than this: for he saw him standing before the river Ulai, or already firmly established to the west of that river, in those provinces which had composed the empire of Babylon.*

The Hebrew word used to express the standing of the ram is Ty, of which the proper sense is not to stand still, but "to continue, “ subsist, be continued, or supported, in the same state, whether of rest or of motion." See Parkhurst's Lexicon on the word.

This circumstance shows that the date of the vision cannot be prior to the year A. C. 536; for, as I have said above, the establishment of the empire is not to be dated till that year."

That the ram's standing before the river Ulai denoted his being on ths western side of it, will appear evident for the following reasons. A French army beaten out of Germany, when it re-crosses the Rhine, is said in common language to retire behind the Rhine; and vice versa, it is considered as before or in advance of the Rhine, when it crosses that river to invade Germany. Now on this principle, as the ram's chief career of conquest was confessedly to the west of the Ulai, he could not be said to be before that river, till he had crossed it and advanced into the territories on its western bank. It is further manifest, that the ram continued to stand before the river, until his power was broken by the he-goat for the decisive battle, wherein Darius was finally defeated by Alexander the Great, was fought at Gaugamela in Assyria, to the east of the Tigris, and considerably to the westward of the Ulai. It has indeed been argued, from the ram being spoken of in ver. 6. as the ram which Daniel had seen, standing before the river, that his position when overthrown by the goat, must have been different from what it was when Daniel first beheld him ; but the verb, in ver. 6, is in the preterite tense, and the preterpluperfect sense which our translators have given to it is altogether arbitrary.

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* If the Holy Spirit had intended to show the rise of the empire of the Medes and Persians, and its first conquests, the idiom of the Hebrew would have been different; it would not have been,

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a ram standing," but would probably have run in this way: "and behold there stood up a ram with two horns, &c. and he pushed "westward, &c."

There are several reasons for believing that this vision must be posterior to the year A. C. 536. 1st. When Daniel originally saw the rám he already had his two horns, and the Persian horn was higher than the other one which symbolized the kingdom of Media. It is added, indeed, by way of explanation, that the higher horn came up last; but it does not appear that Daniel saw this circumstance, for the words plainly imply that the horns were in this state when he first beheld the ram. I conceive, therefore, that the more recent origin of the higher, or Persian horn, was made known to Daniel by the Holy Spirit, perhaps when he wrote down the vision. Now until the reign of Cyrus, which began A, C. 536, the Scriptures inform us, that

But, further, when Daniel saw the ram, he was actively employed in butting with his horns "west

the kingdom of the Medes was higher than that of Persia. Thus in Dan. v. 31, it is written, that Darius the Mede took the kingdom, and in chap. vi. 1, that he administered its affairs, and set over it one hundred and twenty princes. In the same chapter, ver. 25-27, we have a decree issued by Darius to all the inhabitants of the empire.— On the other hand, after the accession of Cyrus, Persia was placed before Media in the acts of public administration, Esth. i. 3. 14. 18, 19. The sovereign was also thenceforth styled the king of Persia: and therefore the Persian horn now became higher than the other. But since this elevation of Persia over Media did not take place till the first year of Cyrus, being A. C. 536, and since when Daniel saw the ram the Persian horn was already higher than the Median, it follows that the vision of the ram cannot be dated earlier than that year.

2dly, Had the Babylonian monarchy still been in existence at the commencement of the vision of the ram, the analogy of prophecy would have required its being introduced on the scene of action in the shape of a distinct symbol, opposing itself to the establishment of the Medo-Persian kingdom. The whole chronology of prophecy (as observed by Mede in a passage already quoted) is marked by the succession of the four kingdoms of Daniel. Now since when Daniel saw the ram pushing westward, &c. no symbol specially representing the Babylonian monarchy is brought upon the scene as opposing the ram, the conclusion naturally is, that the pushing of the ram belongs to a point in the chronology of prophecy, when the empire of Babylon had already been overthrown, and consequently that this pushing does not relate to the conquests of Cyrus.

3dly, After Cyrus, Darius was the greatest prince who swayed the Persian sceptre. "There have been few princes more expert than he "in the art of governing, or more experienced in the business of war." -"He not only restored and entirely confirmed the empire of Cyrus, "which had been very much shaken by the ill conduct of Cambyses " and the Magian impostor, but he likewise added many great and "rich provinces to it, and particularly India, Thrace, Macedonia, and "the isles contiguous to the coasts of Ionia." Rollin's Ancient Hist. vol. iii. p. 200.-In the second year also of his reign, the decree for rebuilding the temple, which is recorded in Ezra vi. was issued, and in the sixth year it was finished and dedicated. The period in which he filled the throne of Persia is, therefore, a very remarkable one in the history of the church, and seems in every way worthy of having

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ward, northward, 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." The commencement of the vision, therefore, belongs to some period of the Persian empire after its establishment, when it was engaged in a series of successful wars, adding to its dominions to the west, the north, and the south. Now, as Cyrus made no conquests after the year A. C. 536, when his empire was established, this vision cannot belong to his reign neither can it be referred to the reigns of Cambyses and Smerdis, for in their time the kingdom founded by Cyrus was much shaken. But in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, the empire enjoyed a series of uninterrupted prosperity, and Darius added to his already extensive dominions the provinces of Thrace, Macedon, and the Ionian Isles, in the north and west, and India in the south. Darius began to reign in the year A. C. 521, and died in A. C. 485. Soon after his death, in the year A. C. 481, Xerxes undertook his unfortunate expedition against Greece, from which may be dated the decline of the Persian empire; so that after the year 481, the ram ceased to become great, and his power was gradually diminished. The commencement of this vision is therefore plainly limited to the reign of Darius, for at no other period after the establishment of the Persian empire, did it push successfully westward, northward, and southward, and become great.

It will be found, by a reference to history, that

been selected for the opening of a vision containing matter of so much importance.

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