tary scepticism respecting it. But the view which I have given above of Dan. xii. 6, 7, seems to me to remove one of the most plausible objections to the old interpretation, founded on its alleged inconsistency with prophetic chronology: and the unexpected resuscitation of the military prowess and warlike enthusiasm of the Turks, which we have recently witnessed, appears to solve another difficulty arising out of the impossibility which did exist of reconciling the yet future expedition of the king of the North, "with great fury to destroy and make away many," Dan. xi. 45, with the long apparent imbecility of the Ottoman power. If the reader would see the minute accomplishment of the prophecy respecting the king of the North in the past history of the Ottoman power, I must refer him to the very able and interesting illustration of it to be found in the Rev. Mr Keith's volume on the Evidence of Prophecy. * I shall only observe further, that I still feel that the subject is one of very considerable difficulty, and that I wait for future events before I finally acquiesce in that view of it which is given by the older interpreters, and which commends itself to my own mind, not indeed with the force of demonstration, but with a weight of moral evidence to which I am only prevented from succumbing, by a deep sense of the necessity of habitual caution in forming conclusions respecting the interpretation of prophecy.

1

Whether the Ottoman power be or be not the king

Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion, Derived from the Literal Fulfilment of Prophecy.

of the North who is to perish on the glorious holy mountain, may, however, be very probably decided beyond controversy by the events of a very few years. At the present moment the question possesses an intense degree of interest. But we are called upon to keep our souls in patience, and in expectation of the mighty events which God will speedily accomplish for his church and ancient people.

CHAP. IV.

A SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT FOR THE CONCLUSION THAT THE THREE TIMES AND A HALF, OR TWELVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY YEARS, OF DANIEL AND ST JOHN, ARE TO BE COMPUTED FROM THE DATE OF THE EDICT OF JUSTINIAN IN THE YEAR 533.

HAVING in the two preceding chapters considered the reasoning of Mr Faber, to show that the unanimous recognition of the Papal supremacy by the ten Gothic kingdoms marks the commencement of the 1260 years; and having also entered upon the discussion of his position, that the very principle of reckoning the latter three times and a half from the edict of

any Roman emperor is itself erroneous; it becomes necessary, in order to complete my argument in reply to the last mentioned position of the learned author, that I should now vindicate the leading principle of the prophetic chronology adopted by me in my former controversy with Mr Faber, and in my work on the Apocalypse, by setting before the reader a summary view of the reasons which still lead me to believe, that the edict of Justinian is the true date of the three times and a half, or 1260 years of Daniel and St John.

In the first place it is to be observed, that if that great leading prophetic synchronism be established, that the foregoing prophetic period expires at the coming of the Ancient of Days, the sitting of the

judgment, and the sounding of the seventh trumpet, then it must follow, that as soon as the events occurring on the great theatre of the world prove the sitting of the judgment to have commenced, they no less demonstrate the 1260 years to have expired. Now that the above mentioned synchronism is founded on the most irrefragable evidence, as well as confirmed by the almost unanimous testimony of the ablest commentators, has, I think, been proved in the last chapter, wherein I also showed that its truth was formerly acknowledged by Mr Faber himself, who, at the period alluded to, unhesitatingly affirmed, that the sitting of the judgment commences at the expiration of the 1260 years.

Seeing also that the events of our own times prove that we are in the midst of the sitting of the judgment, and that this is acknowledged by Mr Faber himself, who concurs with me in placing its commencement at the French Revolution (although there is a difference between us of three years, Mr Faber now assigning the year 1789 as the date of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, while I adhere to the year 1792, which was adopted by me from the earlier editions of Mr Faber's work, on the 1260 years ;) it follows as a necessary inference from the preceding reasoning, that it is no longer a matter of doubt, but must be considered as a point decided by the history of our own times, that the 1260 years are expired; that they terminated at the period of the French Revolution; and further, that their commencement must be dated in the reign of Justinian.

In reply to that part of Mr Faber's reasoning

which affirms that, at that period the Roman princes neither did nor could possess the power of erecting a spiritual supremacy in the Western empire, I offer the following observations.

The power of the Popes was, according to the reasoning of Mr Faber himself, and the decrees of prior emperors which are cited by him from Sir Isaac Newton, already established over all the Catholic Churches of the Western Empire, when Justinian ascended the throne.* Sir Isaac Newton in his Observations on Daniel informs us, in reference to the edict of Gratian and Valentinian, that the granting of this jurisdiction to the Pope gave several Bishops occasion to write to him for his resolution upon doubtful cases, whereupon he answered by Decretal Epistles, and henceforward he gave laws to the Western Churches by such epistles. "Himerius, Bishop of Tarraco in Spain, writing to Pope Damasus for his direction about certain ecclesiastical mat

* Though it is not immediately necessary for the illustration of the question at issue, yet it is by no means a matter destitute of interest to ascertain what was the state of the Papal See as to power and influence, as well as corruption, even at an earlier period. We are informed by history, that as early as the fourth century the election of the Popes was commonly the occasion of the greatest agitation in the city of Rome, and sometimes of bloody and cruel tumults. In the year 366, on the death of Pope Liberius, two rival candidates, Damasus and Ursinus, were elected by different factions; a civil war was the consequence, and one hundred and thirty-seven dead bodies were found in the place where the Christians held their religious assemblies. "When," says a Pagan historian quoted by Gibbon, "I consider the splendour of the capital, I am not astonished that so valuable a prize should inflame the desires of ambitious men, and produce the most fierce and bloody contests. The successful candidate is secure that he will be enriched by the offerings of matrons, that as soon as his dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed in his chariot through the streets of Rome, and that the sumptuousness of the imperial table will not equal the profuse and delicate entertainments provided by the taste and at the expense of the Roman pontiffs."-Gibbon, ch. xxv.