Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	begin_v	speak_v	zion_n	17	3	8.9294	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75736	The work of the age: or, the sealed prophecies of Daniel opened and applied. VVherein is plainly proved that all the governments in the world, except the government of Christ, are but images, or parts of Nebuchadnezzars image, and shall be suddenly broken in pieces by the little stone cut out of the mountain without hand: together with the means how Christ will effect all this. Shewing also that image-government, and image-worship have always been companions. Explaining likewise Daniels mystical numbers, and discovering some misprisions about the little horn, both in the translation and application of the same. Amending sundry places in our common translation, and clearing some chronological points from the common errours. / By William Aspinwall.	Aspinwall, William, fl. 1648-1662.	1655 (1655)	Wing A4010; Thomason E832_1; ESTC R207510	48,246	60

for as much as some good men do take it to be meant of the Roman Civil State or Antichristian State or both let mee propound these Queries to be considered of 1 How can the Roman Civil State or the Antichristian State 1 Quere be called in Scripture Language a younger Brother according as it is said of this Horn 2 How can the Roman Civil State much lesse the Antichristian 2 Quere State which did not arise till many years after that be said to trample upon the Saints and upon the Temple and Ordinances in the first of Cyrus ere either the Roman Civil State or the Roman Antichristian State had a Being Which yet must be granted if the 2300 daies be counted for years and that they do begin with Cyrus 3 Who can averre that either the Roman Civil or Antichristian 3 Quere State shall be broken without hand whereas the contrary seems rather to be true Thus have I briefly opened this Chapter and proposed the divers interpretations and applications of the same and so I shall shut up this subject with this request unto every one that searcheth after the truth to follow the example of those noble Bereans Act. 17. 11. when they read various interpretations of mysticall Prophecies search the Scriptures whether those things be so as they are represented that so your faith may not be founded upon humane credit but upon the eternall truth of God Even so be it Dan. Chap. 9. 23 At the beginning of thy supplications the WORD went forth and I come to declare it for thou art z Or a man of desires desires therefore understand that word and consider that Vision 24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon a Heb. the City of thy holinesse thy holy City to restrain transgression and to seal up sinnes and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse and to seal the Vision and the Prophet and to anoint the b Or most holy holy of holies 25 Know thou therefore and weigh thou that from the going forth of the WORD to bring back and to build Jerusalem unto c Or the anointed Prince Messias the Prince are seven weeks and sixty and two weeks the street and the ditch d Heb. Shall return and be built shall be built again and that in the streit of those times 26 And after those sixty and two weeks the Messias shall be cut off but not for himself and in that City and in that Sanctuary God will permit to be destroyed the people of the Prince that is to come and their end shall be with a flood and at the end of the warre a finall judgement of desolations 27 And hee shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in half of that week hee shall cause to cease the Sacrifice and oblation making it also desolate by the e Heb The Wing of abominations Meaning the Roman Army Army of abominations even untill the consumption even the determined consumption be powred forth by the destroyer THis sealed Prophecy having been long since accomplished and by most men understood to lead us unto the death of our Saviour Jesus Christ I shall not enter upon any large explication of the words but briefly as may be indeavour to clear up from the words of this Text and other parallell Scriptures what time wee ought to account for the beginning and ending of Daniels Seventy weeks For wonderfull is the policy of Sathan to raise up mists that hee may darken our discerning of a truth which in it self is most clear In so much as wee are now lesse able to read the Book distinctly since the accomplishment thereof than good old Simeon was a little before The principall reason of which dimness I cannot attribute to any thing so much as our leaning upon humane writers which hath a secret nature of poison in it to narrow our sight So that wee are not able to discern things which are easily discernable in themselves Wherefore it will be wholsome to vomit up this poison laying humane stories a side and looking wistly at the word of God alone To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no morning light in them Let every Christian therefore in these Knowing times put the question to his own heart and accordingly eccho forth an answer thereunto Whether the word of God alone be not f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-sufficient as I may say That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished for every good work And if so then what need of humane writers to perfect the Scriptures Chronology First Therefore to speak something of the beginning of Daniels The beginning of Daniels seventy weeks seventy weeks It is most evident from the Text as Mr. Tillinghast well observes in his Knowledge of the Times pag. 162. that these seventy weeks of Daniel must take their beginning from some WORD Only the Question will still be what WORD it is by whom that WORD was spoken from which wee ought to begin our account of Daniels weeks I shall first shew what WORD it is Our Translators render it Commandement but the Originall calls it a WORD I know wee commonly put a difference between the word of a subject and of a Prince Wee call the one a word and the other wee call a Command Edict Ordinance or Proclamation I would not strive about words I put not much in letters and syllables Yet let mee say thus much that Scripture language is ever best and fittest for Syons Children And good it were for Princes that they should know that God makes no more account of their Commands Edicts Ordinances and Proclamations than of so many words But to speak a little more fully and directly to the matter of this WORD what it is Or about what it is The Angel gives a clear answer to that that it is a WORD which concerns the return of Gods people to Jerusalem to built Jerusalem For so runne the Angells words to cause to return and to build Jerusalem This is the WORD And this Ezra calls a VOICE which Cyrus caused to passe through all his Dominions and put it also in writing that whosoever there was of the people of God he should go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and there build the house of Jehovah the God of Israel and his God be with him Ezr. 1. 1 3. And Cyrus gives the ground or reason of his action The Lord God of heaven hath given mee all the Kingdoms of the earth and hee hath charged mee to build him an house at Jerusalem which is in Judah Quest And how did Cyrus know this Answ I conceive it to be most likely that Daniel who was Ruler of the Province of Babel the third person in the Kingdom and continuing in Babel to that time as hath been shewed before might have easie

hee stumbles not because hee seeth the light of this world But if a man walk in the night hee stumbleth because there is no light in him And such was the distribution from the beginning Gen. 1. 5. And God called the light Day and the darknesse hee called Night and the Evening was and the morning was the first Day These two parts which wee commonly call artificiall added together do constitute a whole day of twenty four hours which wee call a Naturall day In summe therefore the Angels answer amounts to thus much to satisfy the Saint who made inquiry how long God would give the Host and the Sanctuary to be troden under foot Namely for the space of 2300 artificiall daies Which is all one as if hee had said 1150 naturall daies or three years and two months For though in this verse there be an Ellipsis or defect of the Conjunction Vau or the Demonstrative Article He yet in the 26 verse you have a supplement of both Where it is said and the Vision of THAT Evening and of THAT morning is truth It is not therefore rightly translated 2300 daies as in our new translation which hath given occasion to some to mistake the Angells answer and to think hee here speaks of propheticall daies But search wee the Scriptures throughout and wee shall never find the Holy Ghost expressing propheticall daies in that phrase of speech putting an Evening for a year and a Morning for a year Nor were it proper so to speak because there is no revolution of the Sun in twelve hours space Alwaies when Scripture speaks of propheticall daies in the Old Testament he useth the word Jo● or day As Ezech. 4 5 6. Three hundred and ninty daies a day for a year And forty daies putting a day for a year So Dan. 11. 12. Wherefore I conclude that since no instance can be given from Scripture where Evening and Morning are put for a year but for parts of a Naturall day wee are to understand the Angell to speak of 2300 artificiall daies distinctly and orderly succeeding one another Secondly For the time of the end it is expressed in these words then shall the Sanctuary be justified or cleansed As if hee should have said this justifying of the Sanctuary doth terminate the number of daies foretold And having the determinate period given it is as easie a matter after the accomplishment to account backward to the beginning as it would be to account forward from the beginning to the end I am not ignorant that some godly men do apprehend these 2300 daies to be spoken of propheticall daies or years and they make their account to beginne either with the Persian Monarchy or with the Babylonish Captivity But I cannot consent with them unlesse I could consent unto such a sence of the original words as I can no where find in Scripture Otherwise I should rejoyce to concurr with such worthies whose praise is in the Gospell and men whom I do so highly honour in mine heart as fellow witnesses But let mee be excused if I cleave more close to the Scriptures than to them Amicus Plato amicus Socrates sed magis amica veritas I shall leave every one liberty to abound in his own sence till more convincing light shall appear which may give just occasion to entertain second thoughts And for help in this case I shall leave these Queries upon that interpretation Quere 1 First If wee beginne the account with the Capivity then let it be inquired how it can stand with the nature of a Vision to runne backward from the time of the Vision to seek an Epocha or beginning of such an Account For as much as Visions are representations of things present or to come to the eye either of the body or of the mind but not of things past Quere 2 Secondly If wee beginne the account with Cyrus let it be inquired how it can be said of the reign of Cyrus that the Host of Heaven the Saints and the Sanctuary were given unto treading Could the Sanctuary the Temple be given to a treading in the first of Cyrus before it was built And did not Cyrus in his first year command that the Temple should be built and how can that agree with the Text which saith it was given for a treading Again how can it be said of the Host the people of God that they were given for a treading Did not Cyrus in his first year proclaim liberty to them And how can that be called a treading under foot Object If any say there happened an obstruction of the Temple-work soon after they beganne and Gods people were troden upon with the false accusations of Tobiah and Sanballat c. Answ Yet let it be considered how suitable or unsuitable this will be to the number 2300 and to the end of the same whether you understand them to be Naturall or propheticall daies For if you take them to be 2300 naturall daies wee know the Temple was hindred much longer time in the re-edifying thereof And if you take it for 2300 years wee know it was not neer so long time from the hindrance of the Temple untill the finishing of it in the daies of Artaxerxes or the cleansing of it in the daies of Antiochus Epiphanes So that I see not how that interpretation can any way suit with the words of the Text. And if it be said the Temple is to be taken in a spirituall sence and the cleansing of the Temple also which cannot be expected to be accomplished till the end of the Fourth Monarchy how can that stand with the Angells words which saith the Temple shall be justified in the daies of one of Alexanders successors long before the fourth Monarchy had a Beeing Vers 17. Towards the time of the end this Vision will be The Angel that he might beget in Daniel also in us a right understanding of this Vision tells us that the season in which these troubles should happen shal be towards the time of the end What is the meaning of that Read the 23 vers there it is said that in the after part of their Kingdom who succeeded Alexander this Horn shal arise that shal tread the Sanctuary and the Host under foot 2300 Evenings and Mornings Which after part is in this present verse called towards the time of the end and vers 19 it is called the appointed time of the end Vers 22. But not in his power That is not with the power and might of Alexander As if hee should say these four Kingdoms which stand up after Alexander shall not be comparable to him for power This is spoken of all the four Kingdoms that succeeded Alexander But the same words are spoken of that Horn which was a King of fierce countenance a younger Brother He shall strengthen himself and shal be a puissant Prince but not with his power vers 24. The meaning is this Horn shal be a potent Prince but not comparable to

accesse to these great Princes And though Darius for his seniority and antiquity of his Kingdome had the preheminence yet Daniel understanding by books to wit the Book of Jeremy that the years of their Captivity were now expired and by Esaiah that this Cyrus was the instrument designed of God for that service hee makes his application to Cyrus and acquaints him with the whole mind of God revealed by Isaiah and that hee should be the man that must grant the Jews deliverance and give them authority to build the City and Temple leaving great weight upon the building of the house of God as a matter of highest concernment wherein hee most desired the Kings gracious answer Which done this holy prophet retires himself and goes to God wrestling earnestly with him for the deliverance of his people and for the building of the City and Temple Whereupon God sends his Angel to ascertain him of the grant of his desires and therefore calls him thou art desires As if he should have said thou hast left thy desires with Cyrus and now also with the Lord and hast prevailed with both and therefore gives him that name and also to reveal unto him how long it should be from that day unto the death of the promised Messias But to return to the point Cyrus caused a VOICE to passe for causing Gods people to return and build the House of God in Jerusalem And this is the WORD of which the Angel here speaks And of this Jeremy prophesied many years before Jer. 29. 10. Thus saith Jehovah that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and there hee makes a great distinction And what means hee by the word visit The next word tells you That I may perform THIS my good word towards you and there makes a distinction And what word was that which he calls THIS my good word The Prophet in the next words gives answer to cause you to return saith hee to this very place to this Jerusalem This is the WORD which God put into Cyrus heart to publish according as Isaiah had prophesied of him that hee should perform all Gods pleasure saying to Jerusalem thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy foundation shall be laid Isa 44. 28. The exact time of the beginning of Daniels weeks Having shewed more generally the time of Daniels weeks and in whose reign they beganne I shall give a more particular answer By which you may take a true estimat of the very nick or season when they began which was as the Angell certifieth Daniel at the beginning of thy supplication the WORD went forth Daniel did not know so much that Cyrus had published such a voice till the Angell brought him tydings But now saith the Angel to Daniel know thou and weigh thou Had this WORD been to come forth a long time after when Daniel was dead how could the Angell say weigh thou know thou For there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave Eccle. 9. 10. And therefore saith the Angell do thou O Daniel know it and do thou weigh the matter as Merchants weigh silver in a ballance if thou wouldst understand For I assure thee the WORD whereof I speak it is already gone out And if the Angell say it is gone out yea so soon as ever Daniel beganne to speak to God the WORD went forth what boldnesse is it in any man to say it is not yet gone forth when Daniel saw this Vision but was to go forth afterwards what Scripture have wee for that Object But it may be said that Darius Cyrus did both reign at one and the same time and Daniel seems to give preheminence to Darius in as much as hee dates his time from Darius and therefore it may be inquired from whether of those Kings the word was to go forth Answ I answer It much matter 's not as touching the substance or matter of the account whether you should reckon from the one or from the other since both of them reigned together But yet if you read 2 Chron. 36. 22. and Erz. 1. 1 3. it will plainly appear that this WORD came forth in the name of Cyrus King of Persia and so fulfilled the word of the Lord by Isaiah the Prophet Object 2 Yet it may be further said that the Angel tels Daniel of the going forth of a WORD to build Jerusalem And we do not find any word of building Jerusalem recorded by Ezra in that WORD or Proclamation of Cyrus Answ I answer It is true indeed that there is no mention made by Ezra of building Jerusalem nor is it absolutely necessary It is enough that hee speaks of building the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem For who would not conclude that he who was so seriously carefull about the building of Gods House would also grant liberty to Jehovahs servants to re-edify their own houses But secondly I answer that though Ezra make not mention of that particular of building Jerusalem yet Isaiah prophesied long before that such a WORD should proceed from Cyrus mouth saying to Jerusalem thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy foundation shall be laid And hath God said it and shall it not come to passe What is become of our faith if a company of poor Historians can turn us besides our path And thirdly I answer That as Isaiah prophesied that it should be so the Angel tells Daniel that hee no sooner set himself to intercede with God but the WORD went forth imediately vers 23. And what WORD was it that went forth Look to the 25 vers where the Angel doth proceed to shew Daniel what WORD it was of which hee had spoken and hee saith that it was this very WORD to cause to return and to build Jerusalem So that if we will beleeve either Isaiah or the Angell Cyrus is the man that gave out this WORD that Jerusalem shall be built Yet suppose Jerusalem had not been named nor yet the Temple neither by Daniel nor by Ezra save only this one word to cause to return it had been enough to determine the beginning of Daniels seventy weeks Thus much concerning the beginning of Daniels weeks The durance of Daniels weeks The next thing to be considered is the durance which is here expressed two waies 1 Collectively giving us the grosse summe vers 24. Seventy weeks are determined 2 Distributively dividing the whole into three unequall parts The first division is into seven weeks or 49 years the true distance of time betwixt the going forth of the WORD and the finishing of the Temple in the sixth year of Darius which agreeth with the Jews speech unto Christ Joh. 2. 20. forty six years was this Temple a building Whereunto add one year and a half from Cyrus Proclamation untill they beganne g Ezr. 3. 8. to build the temple as much more that the Temple was interrupted in the beginning of h Ezr. 4. 4.

Darius it will make up the just number of 49 years as the Angell here speaketh From which time count 62 years untill Christ was 25 years of age according to the Law Num. 4. 3. From which time Christ beganne to confirm the Covenant from one week as the Angel speaketh and to prepare for the full execution of his office in his 30 year current then in half of that week to wit the latter half he made the sacrifice and oblation to cease offring up himself once for all in the very close of the same And thus you have the totall summe and the integrall parts to agree and constitute the just number of 490 years from the WORD that went forth from Cyru unto the death of Christ Now the close or end of Daniels account is twice expressed The end of Daniels weeks First When the Angell tells Daniel in one grosse summe that seventy weeks are determined vers 24. to end at the death of Christ as all these expressions do fully import to restrain transgression to seal up sins to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse For without blood there is no remission of sins Heb. 9. 22. We were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne Rom. 5. 10. Therefore it is most clear that the seventy weeks did determine at the death and resurrection of Christ For if Christ be not raised our faith is in vain wee are yet in our sins 1 Cor. 15. 17. Secondly The end of these seventy weeks is expressed when the Angel makes a distribution of them into parts allotting the last week unto Christs confirming the Covenant saying and in half of that week he shall be cut off c. That is he shall be wholly set apart to the mediators office during that half and in the close thereof shall offer up himself by death This half I take to be the latter half And so the account of the particulars doth agree with the totall summe of seventy weeks Some would have it understood of the former half of the week but that will not agree with the summe totall nor can it stand with truth for in 69 week an half is not 70 weeks And it had been as easie in that language to have said 69 weeks and an half as to say in half of that week Wherefore I conclude that those 70 weeks of Daniel were terminated in the death of Christ and neither before nor after Thus much I thought necessary to speak of this ninth chapter in respect of the various interpretations which men do give of the Chronologicall part thereof Which opens a door to some to question the Doctrinall part not only of this but of other Scriptures also For if Scriptures be uncertain or untrue in any respect it will infirm the credit of their Testimony in every respect I might have added much more but that I affect brevity only one word let me adde which I have pretermitted to advertise those that are not acquainted with the original that in all the Commission granted to Nehemiah where some with overmuch confidence do fix the beginning of Daniels weeks there is not one word of i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Command k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Edict Decree or l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclamation once mentioned And therefore cannot with any colourable ground bee accounted to bee the going forth of that WORD m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the Angel speaks to Daniel Wherefore as the Angel commands Daniel let us weigh all interpretations in the ballance of the Sanctuary DAN Chap. 11. Vers 1. Now I in the first year of Darius the Mede stood in my station to confirm and strengthen him 2 And now I will declare to thee the truth Behold there shall yet stand up three Kings in Persia and the Fourth shall be farre richer than all and by his strength with his riches he shall stir up all even the Kingdom of Graecia 3 And a mighty King shall stand up and he shall rule with great Dominion and shall do according to his pleasure 4 And as he shall stand up his Kingdom shall be broken and shall be n Hebr. Halfed or divided in halfs divided towards the four Winds of Heaven but not to his posterity nor according to his Dominion wherewith he ruled for his Kingdom shall be plucked up even for others besides those MY intention is not at this time to insist largely upon this chapter but only to shew from Scripture how many Persian Kings there were from Cyrus unto Alexander the first Graecian Monarch That men may better judge of the falshood and uncertainty of Graecian Stories that have forged thirteen Monarchs or Kings of Persia to have reigned after Cyrus But let the Sons of Sion that love the truth hearken to what God hath spoken by the Angel in the words of Truth Vers 1. Now I These words hold forth to us a description of the Angel that spake to Daniel In the former Chapter wee read that Daniel had a Vision in the third year of Cyrus King of Persia And an Angel appeared to him to shew him what should befall in after times Now I to wit the same Angel But what I or what Angel is it Even the Angel that stood to confirm and strengthen him To strengthen whom Not Darius the Mede for he was at this time dead but Cyrus the Prince of Persia of whom you read in the twentieth verse of the former Chapter And when was this Angel first designed to this service to attend at the Court of Persia In the first year of Darius the Mede And now you may read the Angels name for that Angels name was Gabriel who first appeared to Daniel in the first year o● Darius Dan. 9. 21. So that it seems this Angel Gabriel was designed to attend the Persian Princes Court and to order the affairs thereof even from the first taking of Babylon during the continuance of that Monarchy as the words Dan. 10. 20. seem to import where it is said And when I am gone forth that is when I depart from the Court of Persia and am discharged from attendance there then behold the Prince of Graecia coming Vers 2. I will shew thee the truth Why did the Angel ever shew him any thing that was not truth what then doth he mean to use this expression Doubtlesse the Angel did fore-see that there would be many false and forged relations and stories of these Persian Monarchs which would trouble the Chronologie of the Scriptures Now that he might fortifie the Sons of Sion against such kinde of Forgeries he gives unto Daniel a perfect and true relation of the Persian Monarchs that he might leave it upon Record to all posterity saying and now I will shew thee the truth where he makes a great distinction Now what is this Truth which the Angel declares to Daniel Behold saith he there shall yet stand up