when he had ſpoken unto me, I was ſtrengthened, and '
ſaid, Let my Lord ſpeak ; for thou baft ſtrengthened
me.
u The Lord is gracious and compaſſionate towards his Saints under their Infirmities, 7/al. 103. 13, 14. x And this tender Carriage to- wards him, was a token for good to him and his People, that the Lord would be propi:ious to them.
20 Then ſaid he, Knoweſt thou wherefore I come unto thee y? and now will I return to fight with the Prince of Perfiaz - and when I am gone forth, lo, the Prince of Grecia ſhall come. ; » i.e, By what I have ſaid already, and what T have further to tell
thee upon thy Prayers which God hath accepted, and hath given me
in charge to reveal to thee as followeth to the end. x Cyrus, or Cam«
byſes, who by their Counſels and Captains hinder the Work of God,
and to bring the Prince of Greece upon him, viz. Alexander the Great,
who utterly ruined the Perfizn Monarchy ;- which is uſhered with the
word Lo, becan(e it was a wonder that the Prince of Greece with
30000 Men ſhould do it. T hus the Lord ſets and diſpoſeth the Fates
of Empires, and changeth them as he liſts ; eſpecially in his Church's
Quarrel. | |
* 21 But I will ſhew thee that which #5 noted in the Scripture of truth a- and there s none that holdeth + Heb, with me in theſe things but Michael your Prince b. ftrenzthen. '4 7.e, In the pcremptory Decree and Purpoſe of God, more au- erh himſelf thentick and unalterable than the Laws of the Medes and Perþans :
How God hath appointed to deliver the Fews from the Perſians by the
Greeks ; and from the Greeks by the Maccabees, eſpecially the Seleucids
and Lagids z and how the Kom4ins ſhould come after, and plague the
Pcople of God Jong, both by the perſecuting Emperors, and by A4n1-
ctrif, and how that allo ſhould have an end, 6 Jeſys Chriſt alone is
the Champion, and Prote&tor of his Church, and that all-lutfcient,
when all the Princes af the Earth beſides deſerted or oppoſed it. For
it cannot be meant of Angels in any found ſenle, as Poprſp Interpreters
would have it, thereby to countenance their Angei-worſpip 5 for can we
imaginz upn rational and orthodox Principles, that the Angels of
Heaven ſhould be divided into Parties, aud but two of them mind
che Cauſe of the Church of God, with other like Abſurdities, which accompany the Popiſh Senſe that Mellenare, 4 Lapide, &c, tairen upon
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Chap. 1X. DAN
|, Or, # flood; and unto the end of the war || deſolations are de- ſhall 9e Ut termined 7, of -roi q i. e. After the ſeven before, and after the ſixty two that fol- JOIHOMS, Jowed them, which all make up fixty nine, called by the Angel teventy \Weeks, though no Week more be deſcriaed, becauic it makes up the. Number a round Number, after the Fewiſy manner of Calculation, ard there migic be ſome Fragments in the particular reckoning, to znake up the Sum; or it might be finiſhed in the 70th Week, and that was enough to call it Jo Weeks, wiz. 244 7 The Word 7:52 fignifies cutting off, or cutting down as a IreC, //4. 44+ I 4. Fer. 10, 3» Sccondly tis uled for cutting off by capital Pu- nithmenr, Exo/. 12. 15. and 30. 32, 38. whether this be by the ſignal Hand of God, or by the Magiſtrate, for ſome hainons Ot- fence, Lev. 19. 29. and 20. 17. Pſdl. 37. 34+ This foreſhews that the Death of Chriſt hould beas of a cond-mned Malefattor ſentenced $1'] to Death, and that juſtly, So did the Fews, Chriſt's Executioners, | proclaim that he died for B7z/phemy, anc that he was a deviliſh Impo- itor, Cc. Yea God himſelf charged Sin upun him and the Cur{e, Iſa. 53+ 4+ 2 Cor. wit, Gal, 24.32 J'S) Which being abrupt 15 va rioully ;endred, and read ; ſome referring it to Chrift, and ſome to the iconle,and others to both,and all with very probable Conjectures, Pile 2:. 6,7. Ia. 55. 3. tt. not tokim:; There was none to ſuccour him ; 6: rhat they wonld none of him for their Meſſiah; they ſet him at nought and would not have him live, and therefore he would not Ki own them for his People, but caft them off ; for thus dying is exprel- \bh {ed in ſhort nor to be, "Thus Enoch, Gen. 5. 24. Foſeph, Gen. 42 36. and Aache!s Children, Fer. 31. 15, Math, 2. 17,18. But our Engliſh Tranſlation ſeems to hit the trucſt Senſe, i- e. not for himſelf. He was ins cent and guiltleſs ; he died for others, not for himſelf, but for our Sakes and for our Salvation. t The Romans under the Condutt of Tj- tus Veſpaſianus. u God hath decreed to deſtroy that Place and People, by the Miſeries and Deſolations 07 War, 7. e. Sword, Famine, Sick- nels, Scattering. All this is figniticd by Skowa2moth: allo the protaning of the Temple by Idcels, which are called Abomzmations that make de- ſolate 3 this was done by the Grecks and Jews before, and the Komans at their Seige and after. Queſt, Bur ſome will query, why the Angel who was ſent to comfort Dantel, ſhould inſert here this tragical Butt- .ncls of Deſtruction and Deſolation, being beyond the Space of ſeventy Weeks? Arſw. 1, That Daniel might be informed of the Judgments of God upon that Place and People, and the Reaſons of it, viz. their rejecting and killing Chriſt, 2. That the Spirtt of God's People ſhould not fail, wheu theſe Tragedies were acted, being foretold ; thereby they were prepared and fortified againſt it, and ro expett it, and not to be ſurprized by it when it came. 27 And he x ſhall: conirm the covenant y with ire week, IMAny & || for one week a : and in the midſt of the ll] '{ Or,ozh Week he ſhall cauſe the ſacrifice and the oblation to hy: the abomi-ceaſe b, and || for the overſpreading of * abominati- zable ar- ons he ſhall make it deſolate c, even until the conſum- ' In7% mation, and that determined ſhall be poured upon the