45.

Luke

of Heaven fet up a Kingdom, which fhalf "never be deftroyed, and the Kingdom fhall "not be left to other People, but it shall break in pieces, and Confume all thefe Kingdoms, and it fhill ftand Forever.

i

"Forafmuch as thou faweft that the Stone was cut out of the Mountain without Hands, and "that it brake in pieces the Iron, the Brass, the "Clay, the Silver and the Gold, The great God " hath made known unto theKing what shallCome to Pafs hereafter; and the Dream is Certain, "and the Interpretation thereof Sure."

This Represents the Kingdom of Chrift, which being The Stone which the Builders Rejected, the XX. 17. fame is become the Head of the Corner.

18.

Whosoever shall fall upon that Stone, shall be broken; and on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to Powder.

One part of this has been fully Accomplished from our Saviour's Time to this day, upon all who have Perfecuted the Followers of Chrift, Pet. II. who, coming unto the Lord as a Living Stone difallowed indeed of Men, but Chofen of God, and Precious.

4.

They

They alfo, as lively Stones are built up a Spiritual Houfe, &c.

Their firft Perfecutors, the Heathen Roman Emperors, fell under the Conquering Sword of Conftantine; and their laft Perfecutors (the Popish Deut. Powers, who have endeavoured to Crufh the XXXII. 18.30. Reformation) have themselves, one after another, Split upon that Rock.

And the Proteftant Interest in Europe is now come to that Height, that it will not be very difficult for them, if they are again Provoked, To Grind their Enemies to Powder.

It is, evidently, to this Time, that Ifaiah and Micah Refer, when they fay,

And it shall come to pass in the Laft Days, that the Mountain of the Lord's Houfe shall be Eftablished in the Top of the Mountains, and shall be Exalted above the Hills, and all Nations shall flow unto it.

31.

1.Cor. X

4..

Luke

XX, 18

Ifa. II. 2.

Micah

IV.

IV. 1.

Ifaiah

XXIV

And the Prophet Ifaiah in another place, after he had defcribed the Lord of Hoft's Reigning in Mount Zion & Jerufalem, and before his Antients gloriously, he adds, The City of the Terrible Na- XXV. 3.

tions

231

5.

tions shall fear Thee, and The Branch of the Terrible Ones shall be brought Low...

Here is a plain Allufion to Babylon, which be-Dan. II. ing The Head, gave the Name to This Image in Taniel, whofe Form was Terrible, and which did not loose its Name, even in the Branches, as appears by St. John's Mystery Babylon the great, XVII. 5. written in the Womans Forehead. And this ne turally leads me (now that I have Explain'd the feveral parts of this Dream) to make Two Ob. fervations upon the whole..

Rev.

Den. III.

I---6.

6:

I. It may be obferved, fift, That the ncxe Chapter where Nebuchadnezzar, (unmindful) of the Warning of this Dream) fets up a GoldenImage to be Worshipped, is a good Illustration of the great Propriety of this Dream, to Represent: the whole Scene of Tyranny that was to follow to the end of the World, which would be as one Image or Idol, which, Whofo faileth not down. and Worshippeth, shall be caft into the Burning Fery Furnace. Though the Perfons who have ufed this Cruel and Arbitrary Power, have been

different

different, and the Form of Government has often Varied, yet it has not fared better with the People or Subjects: They have ftill continued in the fame Slavery, tho' under different Masters, and this is ftill with the greater Propriety of Speech Represented by an Image or Idol, because the Superftitious Conceits of Mankind have been the chief Instruments of their Mifery, for nothing impofed more on them than the Divine Honours that Princes often Affumed to Themfelves in their Life Time, and which were Univerfally paid them, after their Death; and as this was the chief Source of the Heathen Religion, so it was by this Deceit chiefly, that The Princes of the Gentiles Exercifed Dominion Over them: for, XX. 25. First, The People was made to believe, that Kings after their Death were Tranflated to Heaven, and ought to be Worshiped as Gods, and from hence it grew Cuftomary to make Statues, in Honour of them, before which the Ignorant Multitude ufed to Worship and offer Sacrifices: Thefe Statues of Kings and EmpeTours, St. Paul calls, Thefe Dumb Idols, unto 1 Cor. which XII. 2

Math.

which the Gentiles were carried away; Whereas Chap. he fays, We know that an Idol is nothing in the VIII. 4. whole World, and that there is no other God but

6.

Cor,

X.. 19:

20.

One; For tho" there be that are called Gods,

whether in Heaven or Earth, (as there be Gods
many and Lords many.)

But to us there is but One God-- and One
Lord.---
And again,

What shall I fay then, that an Idol is any thing, ar that which is offered in Sacrifice to Idols, is any thing?

But I fay, That the things which the Gentiles Sacrifice, they Sacrifice to Levils, and not to God.--

Where the word [Devils] fhould be rendred Damons, which was the Name the Heathens gave to their Deified Princes, and means the fame with those that were called Gods, as there be

Cor. Gods many and Lords many. Now the Pfalmist VI 1.5. Explains to whom all this belongs, when he says, 1XXXII I have faid, ye are Gods. But ye shall dye like 6.7. Men, and fall like one of the Princes:

Pfalm

But Secondly, Tho' the great Quantity of Idols that were Worshipped, were in Honour of the

Dead,