&c. And at laft, "Having a Form of Godliness,

" but denying the Power thereof; from such turn

"away;

"For of this fort are they which creep into Houses, and lead away Captive filly Women, "laden with fins, led away with divers Lufts;

"Ever Learning, and never able to come to the "Knowledge of the Truth."

cc

And then he adds, "But they fhall proceed no further, for their Folly shall be made manifest unto all Men.

Of the fame St. Peter fays, "But there were "Falfe Frophe's alfo among the People, even "as there fhall be felfe Teachers among you, who "privily fhall bring in Damnable Herefies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves fwift Deftruction.

"And many shall follow their Pernicious Ways, "by means of whom the VVay of Truth shall be " evil spoken of.

"And thro' Covetousness fhall they with feigned "Words make Merchandize of you, whofe Judg"ment now of a long time lingereth not, and

"their Damnation flumbereth not.

cr

And afterwards, "Having Eyes full of Adul- 2 Pet. II.

tery, and that cannot cease from fin, Beguiling "Unstable Souls; an heart they have exercifed with Covetous Practices, Curfed Children, And he clofes thus,

"For when they fpeak great Swelling Words "of Vanity, they allure through the Lufts of the "Flesh, thro' much Wantonness, those that were "clean efcaped from them who live in Error.

"While they promise them Liberty, they "themselves are the Servants of Corruption; for " of whom a Man is Overcome, of the same is "he brought in Bondage :

"For if after they have Escaped the Pollutions "of the World, thro' the Knowledge of the "Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ, they are again Entangled therein and Overcome, the latter End "is worse with them than the beginning.

"For it had been better for them Not to have

"known the Way of Righteousness, than after they "have known it, to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them.

There is little Occafion to fhew how well all

T

thefe

14.

18.

19.

20.

21.

thefe Paffages of Scripture agree with one another and with Daniel's and St. John's Defcriptions of Popery.

It remains now to Determine What is meant by this Period in the XII. Chapter of Daniel, Dan.xii. more particularly, "From the Time that the "Daily fhall be taken away, and the Abomination. "that maketh Defolate fet up, there shall be One "Thoufand Two Hundred and Ninety Days."

11.

VIII. 13.

14.

It has been fhown, That He that With-holdeth was Taken out of the way, when the Western Empire ended with Valentinian the III. in 455. from whence counting 1290 years, it will reach to 1745.

Now let us Examine the Period in the VIII. Chapter, in anfwer to the Question, "How long shall be the Vifion concerning the Daily, and "the Tranfgreffion of Defolation, to give both the "Sanctuary and Hoft to be troden under Foot?

"And he faid unto me, Unto Two Thousand "and Three Hundred" (Evening Mornings, for fo is the Original rendred) "Days, Then fhall "the Sanctuary be cleanfed."

Mofes

31.

Mofes fpeaks in the fame Stile, putting the Gen, I. Evening first, when he says, an Evening and a 5, 8, 13. Morning were a Day; but Daniel's employing that Expreffion here, and no where else, ferved to make this Calculation ftill the more obfcure, or Shut up till the many Days were near their End, to which this Vision of the Evening and Dan, viii the Morning belonged. 26. i

Now reckoning from the third of Belshazzar when Daniel had this Vision, the whole Period of Two Thoufand and Three Hundred Prophetical Days, which were Tears, we fhall find they began, by the common Account, 553 years before Chrift. But if with Petavius, in order to make up the Seventy Tears of the Babylonish Captivity, we begin Nebuchadnezzar's Reign two years fooner than the common Account, in his Fathers Life time, and yet allow Nebuchadnezzar but forty three years Reign, according to Ptolomy's Canon, and Berofus, Then these Two Thousand three hundred years will begin just 555. before Christ, and confequently will end in

1745.

2 Kings

XXV.

By which we fee the compleat Agreement of thefe two different Accounts, which is the strongest Proof that they are both Right

And fince I have had occafion to mention the XXIV. Babylonish Captivity of 70 Years, I muft obferve that the beginning of it was not a Total Captivity, but for the first 18 Years Jerufalem still Subfifted with her own Government, tho' marry were lead away Captives from her. And this resembles the Rife of the Papacy, and the beginning of the Captivity inSpiritual Babylon, which was far from Total or Severe. In Zedekiah's Time the Old Captivity became Total; And this resembles the Greatness of the Papacy, and the Severity of the Mystical Captivity. And as before that Old Captivity ended, Jehoiakin was taken out of Prison and treated as a King, this perhaps may allude to the deliverance of fome of the People and Kindreds, c. at the Reformation, out of Perfecution in Spiritual Babylon, long before its fall.

Before I close what I have to say on this Second Period, which feems to me to carry the Strongest