DANIEL.

VII. 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man, came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.

Moreover, I had, in my night visions, represented unto me one, like to Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who is withal the Eternal Son of God; who, to shew his deity, came in the clouds of heaven to descend to the earth; and now, in the fulness of time, came to take our nature upon him, and to accomplish the great work of man's redemption; who presented himself before God the Father, as the Mediator betwixt him and mankind.

VII. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

And there was all power given him, in heaven and earth; and he was, by the eternal decree of God, appointed to be the glorious King of his Church for ever; so as there can be neither any bounds, nor any term, of his dominion.

VII. 15 I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

I, Daniel, was much perplexed in my thoughts, at the consideration of these wondrous visions; and was unquiet in myself, till I might attain to the interpretation thereof.

VII. 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.

I came therefore, methought, to one of those glorious angels, which stood about the throne, and inquired of him the meaning and purpose of these representations, &c.

VII. 17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

These great beasts, which are four, are the resemblances of Four
Great Empires, which shall successively arisé on the earth; the
Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, Asian.

VII. 18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

But, at last, after all the persecutions and oppressions of violent enemies, the Church and Saints of God shall prevail, and shall have and enjoy the benefit of the perpetual and peaceable government of Christ, their King, for evermore.

VII. 19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast. Then was I earnestly inquisitive after the signification of the fourth beast. See verse 7, and 8.

VH. 21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.

I beheld, and that last horn, which was the last of the race of Seleucus, persecuted: God's people exceedingly, and prevailed against them.

VII. 23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall

devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

Thus be said, The fourth beast resembleth the fourth of these great imperial governments, which shall be worse to God's people than all the rest: this shall be the usurped kingdom of the posterity of Seleucus Nicanor, which, upon the extinction of the line of Alexander the Great, shail set up a new kingdom in Babylon; and tyrannize most cruelly over the Church of God, the people of the Jews, and waste and destroy it to his utmost.

VII. 21 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

And the ten horns are ten several kings, which shall arise and succeed, out of this stock, in this government; and the last of the ten, which shall be more cruel than his fellows, shall be that bloody king, Antiochus Epiphanes, who shall defeat and displace three kings, to make room for himself.

VII. 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.

:

And he shall blasphemously and impiously oppose himself against the religion of the Most High God; and shall endeavour, all he can, to root out the Jewish people, and shall go about to change or abrogate their solemnities and their laws; and they shall, in the just proceedings of God, be given up into his hand, for the space of three years, and somewhat more.

VII. 26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end!

But the powerful and righteous Judge of the World, who noteth all his wicked courses, shall soon call him to account, for all his cursed impiety and intolerable cruelty, and shall bring his kingdom to utter ruin.

VII. 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 shall serve and obey him.

And after this, the Son of God being exhibited upon earth, his Church shall be enlarged, so as all the kingdoms and dominions upon earth shall submit themselves to the regiment of their God and Saviour.

VII. 28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.

Hitherto, I have related the speech, which the angel had with me, concerning these great affairs of the Church and the World; as for me, Daniel, my thoughts were much perplexed with the consideration of these wonderful visions, and my very countenance could not but bewray much trouble in my heart; but I did carefully lay up and meditate on all these dreadful representations.

VIII. 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.

There was a second vision represented unto me; wherein, methought, I was at Shushan, in the royal palace, within the borders of Persia; and was sitting by the river Ulai, which runneth by the said palace and city.

VIII. 3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

Then I lifted up mine eyes, and I saw certain other resemblances of those same three Kingdoms and Monarchies, which shall follow upon the expiration of this of Babylon, which is now near to an end the first whereof was represented to me, under the type of a ram with two horns, in signification of the two kingdoms united of Media and Persia; and these two sovereignties were very high and great, but the Median government was in time before that of Persia, and the higher in power was the later in time.

VIII. 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and 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.

I saw this Persian Monarchy assailing all the nations round about, both towards the west, and the north, and the south; neither could any kingdom stand before it, or be free from the power and subjugation thereof; by the spoils and ruins of all which, this kingdom became great.

VIII. 5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground : and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

And as I was considering, behold, a rough goat, figuring the Grecian or Macedonian Empire, came from the west, and invaded all the kingdoms of the earth; and he came on, so swiftly, as if he had not touched the ground in his passage: and this empire was famoused and enlarged by an eminent king, which was Alexander the Great, who is set forth by that notable horn, which arose between the eyes of this Grecian goat.

VIII. 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.

And this Macedonian monarch came to the Persian Ram, which had those two great titles and kingdoms, and set upon him in the fury of his great and unresistible power.

VIII. 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. And I saw him assault the Persian Monarchy, being moved with choler and rage, and smite it, and break off his two great domi

nions of Media and Persia: and there was no power in the Persian to stand before him.

VIII. 8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven,

Therefore the Macedonian Monarchy waxed very great and strong: and, when it was at the strongest, Alexander the Great, who was the remarkable horn betwixt the eyes of that goat, in his return from his eastern conquest, died; and, in his stead, came up four governors, which were the chief commanders under him, and divided his kingdoms amongst them; even in all the coasts of the world: Cassander possessed himself of Macedonia; Seleucus, of Syria; Antigonus, of Asia the less; and Ptolemy of Egypt.

VIII. 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.

And, shortly after, the government coming into two hands, Seleucus of Syria and Ptolemy of Egypt, out of the one of them, namely Seleucus, there came forth, at last, a king, which seemed but of small power at his first beginnings; even Antiochus Epiphanes, who became afterwards exceeding great, extending his dominions both to the southward, and to the east, and to the choice and pleasant land of Judea.

VIII. 10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.

And this king grew mighty and insolent; daring to war against the God of Heaven, and his Saints on earth and against some of them he prevailed accordingly; casting to the ground and trampling upon those, that were most noted for piety and holiness.

VIII. 11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

Yea, he presumed to exalt himself so far, as to offer defiance to the God of Heaven; and by him, the daily sacrifice, which God hath enjoined to his people, and all the public service required by God's law, was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary defiled and broken down.

VIII. 12 And an host 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.

And a whole army of apostates were given over, by reason of their great sins and transgressions, to take part with him against the holy worship of God; and they spitefully opposed the truth of God, and prevailed in their impious practices.

VIII. 13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

Then I heard one angel speaking; even an angel speaking to Christ, the Eternal Son of God, who hath all secrets exactly numbered; and saying to him, How long shall be the continuance of the matter, contained in this vision? How long shall the daily sacrifice be abolished and interdicted? How long shall be the time of this desolation, which our transgressions have caused? How long shall it be, that the sanctuary and the people of God shall be trodden under foot?

VIII. 14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

And he said unto me, in whose behalf this question was moved by the angel, It shall be for the space of two thousand and three hundred natural days, or, six years, three months, and eighteen days; at the end whereof, the sanctuary shall be cleansed, and God's worship restored.

VIII. 16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

And I heard the voice of Him, who was the Word of his Father, speaking in the tone of a man, betwixt the banks of Ulai; which called, and said, Gabriel, it is the pleasure of Him, who is the God of Spirits, that thou make this man to understand the vision. VIII. 17 Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.

Understand, O son of man: for at the expiration of the time determined, shall this vision be accomplished.

VIII. 20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. See verse 2 of this chapter. The interpretation of the rest of this chapter is in the preceding

verses.

VIII. 23 And in the latter times of their kingdom, when the transgressions are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

And towards the latter end of the kingdom of the Scleucida, when the transgressions of the world and of my people are come to their full height, there shall arise a king of a fierce countenance and disposition, and one that is of a great wit and deep understanding; even Antiochus Epiphanes.

VIII. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power and he shall destroy wonderfully.

And his power shall be great; yet shall not he do so great things by his power, as by his craft and subtlety: by both, he shall destroy wonderfully.

VIII. 25 And by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand,

By fair and colourable treaties, and pretences of peace, he shall destroy many he shall exalt himself against God himself, but he shall speed accordingly; for he shall be brought to a most misera.