18.4. 4•

67.

V. 5. He says, They shall be like the noise of the Flame of Fire that devoureth the Stubble. The Prophet Nahum says, they shall seem like Torches, they shall run like Light

*Seelf.9.5, ning, Chap. 2.4. Fire, Flame, Lightnings, &c. being common Metaphors in Scripture, to 10:17.50. express the Powers of both the light and 11. dark World *

Zech. 2. S.

Mal.3. 2. V. 7,8. They shall run' like mighty Men :

Ecclus. 3. They shall climb the Wall like Men of War, &c. 6, 7.

c Here is an Account of their assaulting and Mat. 3.11. taking Jerusalem; under which also may Luke is. be comprehended and understood the other 18 Cities belonging to the Church of Christ. There is, v. 8. one very remarkable Expression which doth strongly express their Magical Power, that when they fall upon the Sword (or Dart) they shall not be wounded.

. Something like that Privilege granted by our Lord to his Apostles, Luke 10. 19. That. nothing should by any means hurt them. Mark 16. 18. If they should drink Poyfon, it should not hurt them. That Jerusalem shall be taken in this last and great Invafion, is evident from Zech. 14. 2. Rev.

18. IF Ferusalem is to be taken; it must of the be restored, and the Temple rebuilt before taking of this Invasion, and be inhabited by convert

Jerusa

lem.
ed fews, as will appear by the sequel of
this Prophecy. Now the Fathers who talk
of Antichrift's sitting Blasphemously in the
Temple at Jerusalem, as if he were God,
do generally agree that both Temple and
City should be rebuilt by Antichrist him-

self,

II. 2.

self, Vid. Sulp. Sev. Dial. 2°. Cyril Hieros. Cat. 15. 07. Hippolytus de Consum. p. 12. Edit, Biblioth. Patrum &c. Upon what Authority this Opinion was grounded, I am not able to determine; but that it is erronious I am verily perswaded, particularly by this Exposition of the Prophecy of Foel, which I believe the more it is confidered, the more reasonable it will appear. For thereby it is plain, that the Temple shall be standing, and the true Worshippers assembled in it at the Approach of Antichrist, Chap. 1. v. 18. Unless perhaps the afore-mention'd Writers meant by Antichrist, the Eastern false Prophet ( whom some of them call by that Name ) as he that should rebuild the Temple, and place the Image of the Western Beast in it, which is the Opinion of some. But for my Part I think it more probable, that both shall be rebuilt by the Jews themselves, many of whom no doubt shall be converted by the Ministry that shall go forth with the Everlasting Gospel a little before the great Desolation, they being instructed in some of those great Truths that have long been hidden under the covering of Darkness and Error, and finding how far Jerusalemi shall be concerned in the great approaching Revolution, shall retire thither and build up the City and Temple (the Turkish Empire being perhaps at an End, or at least some of those Parts in the Hands of the Christians) where the Christian Worship may be Celebrated in great Purity and

Exacthefs, as may be in a great Measure collected; Dan. 11. 31. where mention is made of the Daily Sacrifice ( viz.) of the Body and Blood of Christ, which shall be then counted as an Effential part of the Daily Worship, without which (as I before observed) the Service of the Church is Imperfect. (See Mr. Mede's Christian Sa. crifice.) Upon the approach of the Antichristian Army an Alarm is Sounded, and Advice is given upon the Cessation of the Daily Sacrifice by reason of the scarceness of Provisions occasion'd by the Multitude of the Armies, and perhaps by a Curse flowing from these Magicians on all sides; upon this (I say ) advice is given, Chap. 1. v. 13. to the Priests to gird themselves and Lament, to lie all Night (or Day and Night) in Sackcloath, to San&tifie a Fast, to call a Solemn Assembly, to gather the Elders, and all the Inhabitants of the Land, &c. i. e. to 'humble themselves, that they may be worthy to escape this Curse, and enjoy the following Blessings. v 14. See Zeph. 2, 3. From v. 14. it plainly appears, that upon the beginning of the Invasion, before the City shall be taken, the Daily Sacrifice shall be cut off, that being the Signal for the great Humiliation. Chap. 1. 9, 13, &c. The Fruit of this great Humiliation is a. 18. of the Second Chap: that God will be jealous for bis Land, and Pity his People. By which it cannot be supposed to be meant 'that God will immediately oblige the Enemy to res tire from Fersefalem-; no, the City shall

be

1

be taken, as was observ'd before, and the Temple, 2 Thell. 2. 4. or rather the outward Court of the Temple, Rev. 11. 2. will be in the Hands of Antichrist, where he'll sit as God, to receive Divine Worship. What then is the advantage of this Humiliation, if it delivers neither the City nor Temple? Why it is this, that all they that obey and Repent, shall deliver their own Souls, and be hid in the Day of the Lord's Anger. Zeph. 2. 3. How God shall deliver them, is hard to determine; it may be most probably by giving them notice to depart, before the City is Invested, and hiding them in the Deserts or Mountains, where the Enemy can't find them, as the Prophets were hidden, during Ahab's ApoItacy, (a Type of these Times) 1 Kings 18. 4. Thus Fehoash the Heir of the Kingdom of Judah was preserved in the Houfe of the Lord from the Massacre of Atbaliab, during

the whole Six Years (the Number of AfSome Per. fiction) of her Usurpation. 2 Kings. II. Fonal Cha- 19. HERE then we see Jerusalem tarafters at. ken by the Antichristian Army, and Antributed 10

tichrist himself fitting in the Temple of God, Antichrift in Scriam magnifying himself as if he were God, speaking pture, viz. marvellous things against the God of Gods, ShewHis Blaf- ing himself that be is God, according to what phemy; not was forecold; Dan. 11. 36. 2 Thesl. 2.4. regarding This is no doubt the ultimate meaning of the Desire of Women; the Abomination of Desolation standing in the Hobis worship-ly Place.For what can be a greater Abominaing the God tion to the Divine Nature, than Antichrift, his doing his very Opposite and Reverse ? Let us here

Wonders.

yiew him in all those Characters and diftin-
guishing Marks whereby the Holy Scri-
ptures point him out in his Compleat and
Perfect State, which I presume he must
have attain'd when he is come to this peri-
od. Both the Prophet Daniel Chap. 11. and
also St. Paul 2 Ep. Thes. 2. 4. and St. John
Rev. 13. foretell that he shall Blasphemous-
ly exalt himself above every thing that is
called God, sitting in the Temple, and
commanding himself to be Worshipped as
God. Daniel says that he shall not regard the
desire of Women, by which I understand (not-
withstanding all that Dust that Expositors
have raised about it) that he shall not mar-
ry himself, and shall discourage it in others,
(and perhaps it was with a peculiar Regard
to this that St. Paul, 1 Tim.4.1, 3. calls the
forbidding to marry a Doctrine of Devils, as the
place is commonly understood) thereby
giving Encouragement to Fornication, and
a Promiscuous use of Women. The next
thing that Daniel says of him is, that he shall
not regard the God of his Fathers, but in his
Estate be. Shall Worship the God of Maozzim. Dan. 11;
Concerning this there are various Conje-
&tures of Learned Men, some taking it for
Mars, others for Hercules, others for Jupiter
Olympius the Abomination of Antiochus, o-
thers applying it to the Papacy make it to
be the Saints and Angels which the Roman-
ifts Worship with Divine Honours, others
make it to be the Mass it self. The Learn-
ed Selden, after the most diligent Enquiry,
chooses rather to be silent, as finding no-

thing

V

I