Anno 509.

Darius 9.

"About this time, Darius being desirous to "enlarge his dominions eastward, "in order to the conquering of "those countries, laid a design of "first making a discovery of them;" which he successively executed by building a fleet of ships, and sending it to sail down the whole course of the river Indus into the southern ocean. This enterprise being completed, and the fleet having returned by the way of the Red Sea, within the space of about two years and a half from its first sailing, he shortly af terwards "entered India with an army, and "brought all that large country under him, "and made it the twentieth prefecture of his empire."

Instead therefore of a series of successful actions to the West, to the North, and to the South, in which the Medes and Persians beat down all opposition and became great, we have a successful expedition indeed, but unfortunately towards the East, and an "ill-advised expedi"tion" to the North-west, which (though Thrace was at this time conquered, and added to the dominions of the Medes and Persians) does not in its circumstances and character at all agree with the symbolical description of the prophet.

I now leave it to the reader, having both the

descriptions before him, to decide, whether the prophet describes the victories of Cyrus, or the conquest of" Thrace, Macedon, and the Ionian isles," by "Darius, the son of Hystaspes*.'

66

As I only differ from Mr. Faber as to the date of the commencement of the vision of the Ram and the He-goat, and in what relates to the early history of the Persian empire, I proceed now to make one or two further observations, that apply exclusively to the interpretation of this prophecy given by Mr. Cuninghame, who has followed Sir Isaac and Bishop Newton, in considering the little horn of the He-goat as a symbol of the Roman Power in the East: but who, by endeavouring to shew that the vision

*Faber's Dissert. 3d edit. p. 262.

Mr. Faber states in his last editions (see Faber's Dissert. 4th edit. p. 290, 5th, p. 287) that he considers, that the “successful pushings" of the Ram, "did not commence "until the year A. C. 508." This idea, however, does not appear to agree with his own interpretation, for Thrace was conquered by Darius prior to this date; and I am not aware of any successes of the Persians in or subsequently to this year, excepting those of Darius eastward, in his expedition to India. It appears from a reference to Prideaux, that in the year A. C. 503, the Persians failed in an attack upon the Island of Naxus-in A. C. 502, the Ionians revolted from Darius-in A. C. 494, Mardonius failed in an expedition against the Greeks-in A. C. 491, the Persians were defeated in the battle of Marathon-and in A. C. 486, Darius died; we find therefore, subsequent to the year 508, nothing to

terminates in the year 1792, is involved in difficulties with respect to the commencement and termination of it, to which their interpretations are not liable.

Mr. Cuninghame's opinion as to the object of the prophecy causes him to differ from Mr. Faber in the interpretation of an important passage, where the Sanctuary or the Temple at Jerusalem is said to be cast down: Mr. Cuninghame understanding it literally, and supposing that in this prophecy the destruction of the Temple by the Romans is foretold; and Mr. Faber understanding the Temple to be the symbol of the Church of Christ, and that the prophecy refers to the desolation of the Eastern

answer to the successful pushings of the Ram. Mr. Cuninghame, consequently, whose hypothesis will not permit him to begin the vision of the Ram and the He-goat prior to the year A. C. 508. (the year now adopted by Mr. Faber, as the first year of the successful pushings of the Ram), advances nothing further on this subject, than that the troops of Darius "were

probably occupied at this time in consolidating his" (former) "conquests in Thrace and Macedonia." (Cuninghame's Dissert. p. 278.) I must now therefore leave it to the reader to decide whether such an interpretation of the prophecy be admissible, and whether these probable events in the Northwest, whatever they we:e, which if they took place, it seems, were not of importance enough to be recorded in history, are a satisfactory substitute for the actual conquests of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire.

Church, by the introduction of the spiritual abomination of Mahometanism. Both these interpretations are plausible; and the only way of satisfactorily deciding which is the correct one, is by inquiring which meaning of the Temple, whether the literal or the symbolical, can be maintained consistently to the end.

Mr. Cuninghame, however, having first adopted the literal meaning of the Temple at Jerusalem, admits that latterly the desolation of the visible Church of Christ is spoken of, and supposes that where it is said to be cleansed at the expiration of the period of the vision, those judgments are foretold which commenced in the year 1792. But though Bishop Newton also has given his sanction to this transition from the literal to the symbolical meaning of the Temple, I cannot but consider that it is inadmissible, and that the interpretation of Mr. Faber, being the only one that can be consistently maintained to the end, is consequently proved to be the correct one; for, if we do not allow this, we lose the advantage peculiar to a continued and chronological prophecy, which is, that the interpretation of one part of it serves as a check upon the interpretation of the other.

That the period of the vision of the Ram and He-goat did not expire in the year 1792, as Mr.

Cuninghame supposes, will appear, if we consider that the cleansing of the Sanctuary mentioned in it must necessarily be understood as referring exclusively to the Eastern Church, the whole prophecy relating to the Eastern Roman empire. But we shall in vain inquire what change took place in the year 1792 in this Church; we well know that it was in no respect cleansed in that year from the abominations with which it is polluted; viz., those of the Mahometan superstition.

Mr. Cuninghame may justly say, that the Sanctuary of the Western Church ceased in this year to be trodden under foot by the Papists, and that the period of their prosperity then terminated; for so far facts and prophecy agree together the period of their rioting in the Western Church then ended, and the Infidels broke in upon them, and became the instruments of their punishment. But we must observe, that the period of Infidelity had yet to succeed to that of Popery, and that prophecy is so far from representing the sanctuary of even the Western Church, as being cleansed at the end of the 1260 years, that we are expressly guarded against such an idea by that passage in Rev. chap. xv. ver. 8, where it is said, that "no man was able to enter into the Temple till "the seven plagues of the seven angels were

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