and seeing also that, at the moment of this expedition of Xerxes, and ever since his father had restored and confirmed the empire of Cyrus, and had added to it India, Thrace, Macedonia, &c. the empire was at the height of its greatness; I hence consider it as a likely period from which the number 2300 might proceed. For now its sovereign reigned, as the author of the book of Esther informs us, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces, ch. i. 1. However, the essential parts of my method of interpretation do not depend upon this particular year.

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Mr. Faber says (vol. i. p. 264) "Never surely was his"tory more injudiciously brought forward as the inter"preter of prophecy. Daniel tells us that the pushing of "the ram was so irresistible, that no beast could stand be"fore him, and that none could deliver out of his hand; "but that he did according to his will, and became great. "Herodotus assures us, that the huge unweildy_arma"ment of Xerxes was totally discomfited by the Greeks, "and that the king himself was compelled to flee with disgraceful precipitancy into Asia. In fact, the push"ing of the ram relates almost exclusively to the victories "of Cyrus, which were atchieved long before Xerxes "came to the throne." Almost, but not altogether, most certainly. Hear what Rollin says (vol. iii. p. 200) of Darius Hystaspis, the father of Xerxes. "There "have been few princes more expert than he in the art of "governing, or more experienced in the business of war. "Nor was the glory of being a conqueror, if that may be "called a glory, wanting to his character; for 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." To this we may add the testimony found in the Ancient Universal History, vol. iv. p. 151. "He had the honour to have "his name recorded in Holy Writ, as a favourer of God's "people, a restorer of the temple, and a promoter of the "true worship at Jerusalem. His kindness towards the

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Israelites was rewarded with a numerous issue, a long "reign, and great prosperity; for though the Sythian and Grecian expeditions proved unsuccessful, yet he

"was fortunate in all his other undertakings, having not "only restored and entirely settled the empire of Cyrus, "which had been very much shaken by the impolitic

government of Cambyses, and usurpation of Smerdis, "but also added many great and rich provinces to that "prince's conquests, namely, India, Thrace, Macedonia, "and the isles of the Ionian sea." Thus, Darius Hystaspis was, next to Cyrus, the greatest monarch that ever reigned over the Persian empire, and its power may be considered as in its zenith during this reign. Nor did it begin to decline till about five or six years after his death, for the first years of Xerxes were prosperous. Thus the acme of the Medo-Persian power may be fixed somewhere between the years before Christ 521 and about 480. At what point we shall inquire.

Seeing that the number 2300 could not commence with the conquests of Cyrus, nor above three or four years be fore the reign of Darius, as otherwise it would have been run out before this time, and we must, ere this, have seen the sanctuary cleansed; and as, after this reign, Persia experienced little besides defeat, it is worth while-if dissatisfied with the expedition of Xerxes-to inquire whether there may not be reasons for concluding that the 2500 years commenced at some period of this reign.

But I shall here beg leave to observe, that as our chronology, before the Christian era, is, probably, not correct by two years, and as every one knows that the annals of the history of those times are so uncertain, that it is hardly possible to ascertain with certainty the exact time of any facts; a perfectly exact agreement, therefore, of dates, in calculating the accomplishment of chronological prophecies, is not to be too rigidly insisted upon.

According to the chronology of Prideaux, Darius Hystaspis was elected to the throne of Persia B. C. 521. Passing over the former years of his reign, it is agreed that about the ninth year of his reign he marched an army of 700,000 men into Europe-being the very first time that any of the Persian monarchs had ever marched an army into this quarter of the globe. According to Herodotus, (as quoted by Mr. Beere, rector of Sudbrook, in his Dissertation on Dan. viii. 13th and 14th, p. 16, 17,) Darius in this same year sent also another army into Libia, or Africa. And thus, though the Persians were now not equally successful in all their attempts at conquest, yet they pushed westward, and northward and southward, and

.

Thrace, and Macedonia, and the Ionian isles, were added to the Persian empire, and, three or four years afterwards, India also. The expedition against the Scythians was not so fortunate, for though the Scythians could not stand against them, yet by flying they occasioned those disasters to the Persian army, which obliged it to retreat. Now, as by the conquests of Darius about this time, the Medo-Persian empire was carried to the acme of its power, it is not impossible but that the 2300 years of Daniel might be dated from this interesting period; and if so, then, according to the chronology generally followed, they would end A. D. 1787, or thereabouts, something before the French revolution. But it has been demonstrated, and I believe satisfactorily, that this chronology is erroneous as much as two years. The way in which this is proved, is by a calculation of the total eclipse of the sun, which Thucidides says was at Athens on a summer's day in the afternoon, in the first year of the Peloponnesian war. Mr. Beere, in the above Dissertation, has taken the trouble to make this calculation, and has found that such an eclipse did happen in August, 420 years before Christ, but not in the year 431, in which the first year of the Peloponnesian war is generally placed, and which proves that the ninth year of Darius must have been the year before Christ 511, and not 513, as our chronologers generally make it; and thus the French revolution, in 1789, was exactly 2300 years after the ninth year of Darius's reign.-According to the chronological tables of Dufresnoy, the above expedition into Europe, when Darius added Macedonia, Thrace, &c. to the Persian empire, happened in the year 508 B. C. that is, 2300 years before the fall of the French monarchy in 1792, when, as Mr. Faber supposes, and as I also think; the third woe trumpet was blown.

But to this mode of explaining the prophecy it may be objected, that it has been supposed the 2300 years must terminate with the cleansing of the sanctuary. This, I acknowledge, has been my opinion, and it was this idea which induced me to reckon back from 1819, rather than from 1789-though I was struck with the correspondence of the events in the ninth year of Darius, at the time when I first published my sentiments on these subjects.But it must be allowed, that it is far from certain that the two numbers 2300 and 1290 in Dan. viii. 14, and xii. 11, must necessarily end together. The former may refer to

the beginning of the cleansing, and the latter to its completion. Thus the former passage, which is a reply to the question, For how long a time shall the vision last, the daily sacrifice be taken away, and the transgression of desolation continue? may be paraphrased in this manner : "From the beginning of the vision to the time to which "the violences and impieties of the little horn shall ex"tend, and, tiil which time, the tyranny represented by "it shall practise and prosper, (ver. 12) shall be 2300 years; but then shall an effectual stop be put to its "enormities, and that series of judgments commence "which shall cleanse the sanctuary of God from all those "impurities and oppressions, of which it will be the "scene for so long a time." And, supposing the latter passage to refer to the complete removal of the abomination that maketh desolate, as I think it must-though this is not clearly expressed-then we may understand it thus. "From the time that the desolating abomination shall be "set up in the church and sanctuary of God, by which "the free and constant services of his people (the daily "sacrifice) are interrupted and suppressed, to the time "when it shall be perfectly removed, and the church "purified from its pollutions, shall be 1290 years.

Thus, if it be allowed that the number 2300 ought to be dated from some period of the Persian conquests (the pushing of the ram) with which the vision opens, as I think it must, and if it be impossible for it to have commenced before the reign of Darius, that being nearly 2330 years ago; and if it be not likely to be dated after the Persians ceased to make conquests, and their empire began to hasten to its ruin, the probability is, that it commenced about the ninth year of Darius Hystas pis, 511, years before Christ, and terminated in the French revo lution, when, it is likely, that series of divine judgments on the antichristian party began; and which, it is probable, will not end till the church of God is cleansed from all the abominations of the papacy, subsisting both in popish and protestant countries; nor till the Turks are cast out of the Holy Land, and the restoration of the Jews

commences.

Of Mr. Faber's scheme, in which, on the most questionable authority, he first substitutes the number 2200 for that of 2300, and then fixes the commencement of these 2200 years at the fall, instead of the conquests, of the Persian ram, many comments might be made; but this

Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance, he will render unto her a recompence.

We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed; forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country.

JEREMIAH.

PRINTED IN THE YEAR M.DCCC.VIII.