phecy Chap. viii. 13. 14. that it should have continued. "

We have already stated that we consider Epiphanes to be a type of the Popedom; could we then determine the date from which Popery should be dated, we should then be able to ascertain the time of its destruction. Various dates have been assigned for this purpose; but the year six hundred and six seems most probable, when the Emperor Phocas gave to the Bishop of Rome the title of UNIVERSAL BISHOP. If this be the true date, the one thousand three hundred and thirty five typical days, i. e. one thousand three hundred and thirty five years added to six hundred and six, will come nearly down to the year of our Lord two thousand, when, or before which time, we may hope and believe that a very great and glorious reformation will take place throughout the earth; When the, Christian church shall be purified from all the Idolatries of Popery, the Mahometans converted to Christianity, and the Jewish and heathen, nations shall be all united in the Faith of Christ, the true Messiah and only Saviour of the world.

L

But these things will not be fully understood till after the accomplishment: And this is evidently implied when it is said (v. 8. 9), “And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Some obscurity is intended; but it is an obscurity which time will explain. Nor ought we to wonder at this, since Daniel himself needed explanation from an angel of his own visions; and the

▾ Wells on Dan. c. 12.

+

-explanation, which is given by the man clothed in linen, is shaded by obscurity, for he says, "Go thou thy way till the end be: For thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days" (v.13). And here we have not only an indication that some obscurity would rest upon the prophecy till the time of its fulfilment, but also an àllusion and reference to the day of -"judgment, when " we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. v. 10). Nor only is a day of judgment referred to, but also of a resurrection: For "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. xv. 51-2). So that the doctrines of a resurrection and a day of judgment, or in other words, of a future state of happiness and misery, are here in Daniel clearly revealed. The old, as well as the new Testament, teaches us these important truths, which are intended to have a practical effect upon our tempers, lives, and manners.

The book of Daniel ends with subjects of the most serious and practical nature; subjects, in which he himself, and all other men, were most deeply interested, For however favoured he had been with visions, in which the history of the world and of God's church was placed, as in a picture before him; yet this did not render it less necessary for him to prepare to meet his God than other men. He was to stand in his lot at the end of the days; for God will render to every man according to his works, and not according to his knowledge. Knowledge can never free us from the obligations of the practice of Piety: In some, know

ledge does but puff up the mind with vanity and selfconceit; but true heavenly wisdom leads to humility, and to every thing that is excellent and of good report. For "whether there be prophecies they shall fail; whether there be tongues they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away, but Charity never faileth. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

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