ten tribes. Joel iii. 1. likewise relates to the overthrow of the Antichristian confederacy. And Micah v. 5, 6, 9, 15, equally relates to the same event, describing the chief of the Roman Babylon, as he is elsewhere described by Isaiah *, under the mystic name of the Assyrian. On the whole, since we undoubtedly find nothing in our present Hebrew Scriptures that at all resembles the remarkable prophecy of Ezekiel respecting Gog and Magog; whence Eichhorn naturally observed, that, as far as we can discern, this great piece is entirely new and peculiarly his own t: on the whole, I say, Abp. Newcome's opinion seems to me the most probable, that the prophets of Israel, alluded to by Ezekiel, are those, "whose predictions on this

subject were never committed to writing, or are "now lost." Yet I think we may discover a remote hint of the war of Gog and Magog in Daniel vii. 12. The prophet, having foretold the destruction of the great Roman beast in all his members and of his tyrannical little horn, in other words, of the Antichristian confederacy of the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the Latin earth, informs us concerning the rest of the beasts, namely

Isaiah xiv. 4, 25.

"In many poems, as far as we can discern, he is really new. The great piece of Gog and Magog is his own." Eichhorn's Introduct. to the Old Testament, cited by Abp. Newcome, Pref. to Ezekiel, p. xxvii.

Translation of Ezekiel in loc.

the

the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, and the Macedonian, that, although their dominion should be taken away, yet their lives should be prolonged for a season and a time. But this season and time, during which their lives were to be prolonged, can only mean the Millennium or the reign of the mountain; because there is no other period, during which they could be prolonged. And, if their lives are to be prolonged to the end of this period, I know not what we can conclude but that the beasts themselves are to be slain at the end of it. And, if they are to be slain at the end of it, then they must be finally identified with Gog and Magog, who are to be overthrown at that very era. The Rabbies accordingly suppose the prolongation of their lives to mean some season and time after the destruction of the fourth beast, which extends to the war of Gog and Magog; though, from their unavoidable ignorance of the length of this season, they place the war of Gog and Magog soon after the restoration of their people *.

Still on a subject, so confessedly difficult and mysterious as that respecting which we are treating, the reader may continue to have his doubts, and may be disposed to ask; Why may not Ezekiel's Gog and Magog be, not indeed the Turks, for that is plainly impossible, but the great Antichristian confederacy which will be destroyed at the era

See Mede's Works, B. iv. Epist. 24.

of

of the restoration of Judah? They have certainly many points of resemblance in common: they both invade Palestine from the north; they both attack the Jews; and they both perish partly supernaturally, and partly by internal discord*.. Why then may we not suppose them to be the same: and consequently that Mr. Mede is at least right in that part of his scheme, which makes the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel to be entirely different from the Gog and Magog of St. John?

To this I answer, that the two expeditions of Ezekiel's Gog and Magog and the Antichristian confederacy certainly resemble each other in these points, although even in these the resemblance is far from being perfect for Gog and Magog invade Palestine, not merely from the north, but (as it appears from the description of their allies) from the east, the south, and the west, that is (in the language of St. John) from the four quarters of the earth; whereas the Antichristian confederacy invades Palestine solely from the north, and, after passing through it in the full tide of success, subjugates Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia †. But, whatever partial resemblance there may be between the two expeditions, since they differ in the three grand points of time, of persons, and of circum

* Compare Ezek. xxxviii. 21, 22. with Zechar, xii, 4. xiv. 3, 4, 12, 13.

↑ Dan. xi, 43.

stances,

stances, it is not easy to conceive how they can be identified-1. Their difference in time has already been shewn. The Antichristian expedition takes place during the restoration of Judah, and prior to the restoration of Israel: the Magogian expedition takes place after the restoration both of Judah and Israel, after they have coalesced into one people, after they have been long securely dwelling in their own land under David their prince-2. Their difference in the persons, respectively engaged in each, is even yet more remarkable. The Jews begin to be restored at the close of the 1260 years; the power of the Roman beast and his little horn begins to be broken at the same period; the confederacy of the Roman beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the Latin earth, begins to be overthrown under the seventh vial, likewise at the same period; the infidel king, or the atheistical Antichrist of the last days, comes to his end also at the same period; the Jews themselves, as we have seen, understand the mystic Edom, which the Lord destroys at the time of their restoration, to mean the Roman empire: from all which we must unavoidably conclude, that the great confederacy, which is destined to be overthrown at the close of the 1260 years, and which is noticed more or less explicitly by almost every prophet who foretells the return of Judah, will be composed of powers situated within the limits of the ancient Roman empire. If then Ezekiel's Gog and Magog be the same as

the

the Antichristian confederacy, we may expect to find both them and their allies described as being Roman powers, and as answering exactly to the ten-horned beast; the little horn or false prophet, the infidel king, and his associated cassal kings. Not the least similarity however can be discovered between the persons who compose the confederacy of Gog and Magog, and those who compose the confederacy of Antichrist. On the contrary, as the Antichristian confederacy is plainly a Roman one; so the Magogian confederacy does not comprehend a single Roman power, but is entirely composed of the relics of the three first empires, which Daniel assures us should have their lives preserved after the destruction of the Roman beast, though their dominion or power of injuring the Church should be taken away. According to Ezekiel, the confederacy of Gog will consist of Magog, Rosh, Mesech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Phut, Gomer, and Togarmah. Now let the reader consult the map which Bochart has prefixed to the first book of his Sacred Geography, and he will find every one of these nations seated within the limits of the three first great empires, although some of their colonies doubtless extended beyond them. In Asia Minor he will perceive Gomer, Tubal, and Togarmah; close to Tubal he will see the Moschic hills; a small distance further east he will find Rosh or Rhos; due north of Rosh he will see Mesech, Gog, and Magog; in Syria, another colony of Magog:

in