of Wrath, and of the just Judgment of God, V.7. when he will give Glory, and Honour, and Immortality to the Righteous, and at laft Tribulation and Anguifh to the Unrighteous. Thus he defcribes the Beginning of the Millennium, by the Judgment, and the Rewards of the Righteous; and the End of it, by the Punishment of the Wicked. But the Millenary Reign was not fully reveal'd, till St. John wrote his Revelations.

CHAP,

CHAP. III. and IV.

Efdras difputes with the Angel, why the Jews Juffer under the Babylonians, and when their Deliverance will be; the Tokens of which are delivered in Ch. 5. and the Rule of Cyrus in that Countrey, and the Beginning of the Perfian Empire after the Destruction of Babylon.

Esdras

Sdras was in Babylon the thirtieth Year after the Ruin of the City of Jerufalem, which happen'd by Nebuchadnezzar, before Chrift 588; 30 Years after was 558, and then great Preparations were made by the Mides and Babylo nians for War against each other; and this was in the Reign of Nerigliffar, who was flain by Cyrus, the General of the Medes and Perfians, not long after.

Efdras reflects on the Defolation of Sion, and the Profperity of Babylon; God's fparing them much perplex'd Efdras, feeing Ifrael had God's Covenant, and kept his Law: And all this Argument may be read in Chapt. 3. and in Chapt. 4. is the Angel Uriel's Answer, that Efdras could not comprehend the Way of the Moft High, when he judges the World. He corrects Efdras, by bidding him weigh the Fire, measure the Blaft of Wind, or call again the Day that is paft, to tell how many Springs there are in the Beginning of the Deep, or about the Firmament, or which are the Out-goings of Paradife: They that are in the Earth, understand what is in the Earth, but he that dwelleth above the Heavens only, can understand fuch things: The World bafteth to pass away, and cannot comprehend the things that are promised to the Righteous in time to come: By Measure he hath meafur'd the Times; and by Number hath he num bred them; and he doth not move or ftir them, until the said Measure be fulfilled.

Efdras defir'd to know, whether there was more time to come than was paft. The Angel told him, the Quantity paft does exceed, as Fire does Smoke, and Rain does the Drops which fall after it.

Efdras asked, whether he fhould live to that time, and what Token fhould happen in those Days? The Angel replies, he did not know whether Efdras would live to long; but he would tell him part of the Tokens. The Wars lafted between the Medes and Babylonians about 20 Years; for Babylon was taken by Cyrus 539, and the Jews were not fet at liberty till the Firft of Cyrus, 536; and concerning this time Efdras was concern'd to enquire, which was 22 Years.

Ch. 5. The firft Token was, they which dwell on the Earth fhall be taken Captive in great Numbers; the Way of Truth fhall be hidden, and the Land fhall be barren of Faith.

555. Cyrus being General of the Medes and Perfians, under Cyaxares, flays Nerigliffar in Battel; Laborofoarchod fucceeds and is flain; Belshazzar fucceeds 555, in the 52d Year of the Captivity; Belshazzar goes into Afia the Leffer, and hires a great Army againft Cyrus, of which Crafus takes the Command; 549, Cyrus vanquisheth Crafus at the River Halys, and pursues him to Sardis, and takes him, and that City; 548, Cyrus brings all the Leffer Afia under his Dominion; 544, Cyrus fubdues Syria, Palestine and Arabia; 541, Cyrus returns into Affyria, and lays Siege to Babylon.

The want of Faith may respect the Armenians, who revolted from the Medes, and Cyrus furpriz'd them 557; 556, Nerigliar was flain, and his Army routed; Laborofoarchod, his Son, was given to all manner of Wickedness, Cruelty and Injuftice; but his own People confpired againft him, and flew him. Cyrus having ravag'd the Countrey, fhew'd himself twice before the Walls of Babylon, to provoke the Enemy to Battel: But he went into Afia, till he had conquer'd that, and then returned to befiege Belshazzar in Babylon, who was the Grandfon of Nebuchadnezzar. He was an impious Prince, and was overthrown in Battel after Crafus was conquer'd, and then befieg'd in Babylon.

2 The fecond Token is; Iniquity fhall be increas'd in thẹ Babylonian Kings mention'd; and the Land thou feeft now to have root, fhalt thou fee wafted (by Cyrus.)

३. The.

3. The third Token, after the third Trumpet, that is, after the War with Nerigliffar, after that with Crafus, after the Battle with Belshazzar, the Sun fhall fuddenly fhine in the Night; fome Meteor, like a Ball of Fire, fhall then appear by Night, and fome falle Appearance of the Moon thrice in the Day; and the Moon might be a Symbol of Babylon, which could not be taken in the Day, after two Years Siege; and the Babylonians derided Cyrus for all his Attempts; but at laft he took it in the Night; which is represented by the Sun appearing in the Night.

4. Blood fhall drop out of Wood, the Inhabitants fhall be flain in their Houfes. (This is either a Prodigy or a Symbol of a Slaughter.) And the Stone fhall give its Voice, and the People fhall be troubled. (This is the Hand-writing on the Wall, mention'd by Daniel; which was a Prodigy, and terrify'd Belshazzar and his Nobles at their drunken Feaft; or else, a Note of their Injuftice, as Habakkuk 2d, v. 11. The Stone fhall cry out of the Wall, and the Timber an(wer it.)

5. He fhall rule whom they looked not for, that dwell on the Earth; (This is Darius Medus,) and the Fowls fhall take away their Flight together. (Cyrus released all thofe Jews in the firft Year of his Reign, who would return into their Countrey, 536 Years before Chrift.)

6. And the Sodomitifh Sea fhall caft out her Fifh, and make a noise in the Night which many have not known; but they fhall all hear the Voice thereof. Cyrus in the Night cut the Dam of the River Euphrates, and let the Water run thro' a Canal into the great Lake, and he entred the City by the Channel of the River, and flew Belshazzar. Thus Cyrus concluded his Conquefts, after 21 Years; of which this is a Prophecy. Babylon, or the great Lake by it, is the Sodomitifh Sea; the Fifh are its Citizens carried into Media; they at Babylon hear the Noife of the Waters in the Night.

The Prophecy of Ifaiah, Ch. 13. calls the Deftruction of Babylon, the Day of the Lord to lay the Land defolate, and to deftroy the Sinners out of it. V. 10. he mentions thefe Prodigies; the Stars of Heaven, and the Conftellations thereof, fhall not give their Light; the Sun fhall be dark

ned,

ned, and the Moon fhall not caufe her Light to fhine. I will fhake the Heavens, and the Earth fhall remove out of her Place. By the Heavens, the Government is altered; and by the Earth, the People removed; and Babylon was never the Seat of that Empire afterwards. Every Man fhall turn to his People, and flee into his own Land, as Efdras's Birds do.

Ch. 14. God would fet Ifrael in their own Land, v.1. and the reft of that Chapter is a Satyr on the Fall of Babylon. V. 23. I will make it a Poffeffion for the Bittern, and Pools of Water; which could never be dried up; fince Cyrus let the Water out of Euphrates, that Countrey has ever been a boggy Ground.

7. There fhall be Confufion in many Places, and the Fire fhall be oft flaked. Thefe are Cyrus's Conquefts, and Cambyfes's, and at laft the Second Siege of Babylon, on its Revolt 516, Darius took it.

8. The wild Beafts fhall change their Places, (this may relate to the Empire paffing firft in Media, then Perfia, and the Government of Alexander,) and the menftruous Women fall bring forth Monfters. (This may relate to the Birth of Cyrus, who was call'd a Mule by the Oracle; or else Monsters are a Punishment of Incontinence, mention'd v. 10. or the Dreams of Alyages about Mandanoe, that She fhould inundate all Afia, or be a Vine to cover Afia.)

Ifaiah, Ch. 13. v. 21. fays, the wild Beafts of the Defart hall lie there, and Satyrs dance, and the wild Beats of the Iflands fhall cry in their defolate Houfes, and Dragons in their Palaces, to these and the Bitterns. Efdras relates when the Beafts will change their Places, and come to the Lakes of Water.

9. In the Lake mention'd, Salt Waters fhall be found in the Sweet; (or, this is a Mixture of different Nations, or Cambyfes's Expedition into Egypt, which he conquer'd; tho' Cyrus married an Egyptian, of whom Cambyfes was born. Thus Friends deftroyed one another. Then Wit will hide it felf, and Underftanding will withdraw it felf into his fecret Chambers. (This relates to the Succeffion of the

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