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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 circumstances, it is not easy to conceive how they can be identified-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-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

* Dan. xi. 43.

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 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 vassal 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 of power of injuring the Church should be taken away. According to Ezekiel, the confederacy of Gag 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, Mesech, Gog and Magog, in Syria, another colony of Magog; in the region of Babylon and in Arabia, Chut or Cush*; and

*"Nos asserimus omnes Chusi filios, quos hîc nominat Moses habitâsse circa mare Persicum, præter Nemrodum, quem Babylonem migrâsse testatur Moses" (Bochart. Geog. Sacr. L. iv. C. 3.). In after ages the posterity of this patriarch astonishingly spread themselves. We find them in Colchis upon the Euxine; in Egypt; in Thrace, in Thessaly, and in Greece, the seat of the third great empire; in Babylon and in Persia, the two other great empires. (See Bryant's Anal. vol. iii. p. 443-601.). "The land of Cush in holy Writ (commonly, but by mistake, rendered Ethiopia) is properly that district of Arabia, where the sons of Cush first settled. But, as this race multiplied exceedingly, and spread, not only into other parts of Arabia, but eastward, round the head of the Persian gulph, to the confines of Susiana; and westward, across the Arabian gulph, into the region since called Abyssinia, which extended along the coast from Ptolemaïs to Arsinoë, and inland to the very

in Africa immediately west of Egypt, Phut. Pères or Persia, which completes Ezekiel's catalogue, was itself the head of the second of the four great empires. Having thus ascertained the situation of these powers, let the reader next fix his eye upon Palestine, and imagine a joint invasion of it to take place from all these countries at once; and he will plainly see how exactly St. John's account tallies with Ezekiel's, that is to say, he will perceive that an invasion of Palestine jointly undertaken by the nations which Ezekiel enumerates would necessarily come from the four quarters of the earth, north, south, east, and west. Since then the Antichristian confederacy is a Roman one, and since the Magogian confederacy is not a Roman one, they certainly cannot be the same. And, since the Magogian confederacy is composed of the relics of the three first empires, since the lives of those empires are to be preserved after the fall of the Roman empire, and since the confederacy itself is not to be formed till some time after the restoration of Israel; I know not what it can be except the confederacy, which St. John similarly terms Gog and Magog*-The circumstantial difference between the Antichristian and the Magogian confederacies will close the argument. The Antichristian sources of the Nile: the land of Cush is often taken more largely for a great tract of country, not only comprehending the whole of Arabia Felix, but having for its eastern boundary the branch of the Tigris below the town of Asia, and for its western boundary the Nile." Bp. Horsley's Letter on Isaiali xviii. p. 93.

* The discussion of this interesting prophecy serves to shew, that I was right in assigning the expedition, foretold in Dan. xi. 40---45, to the infidel king, and not (with Bp. Newton) to the king of the North. Since that expedition is contemporary with the restoration of Judah at the close of the 1260 years (Dan. xii. 1, 7.), it can only be an expedition undertaken by some Roman power, which shall then either be the last head of the beast, or at least his most powerful horn. Now the wilful king is allowed on all hands to be a Roman power, whether he be the empire in general, the Pope, or Antichristian France; whereas the northern king seems plainly not to be a Roman power. But the expedition during the restoration of the Jews is to be undertaken by a Roman power; and the wilful king, confessedly a Roman power, is at this very era engaged in hostilities with the northern king: hence it is plain, that, in or der to avoid a palpable contradiction, we must ascribe the expedition in question, not to the northern king, but to the wilful king. Thus, what the concinnity of Daniel's prophecy evidently required, is proved by the instrumentality of another prophecy. The only expedition into Palestine at the era of the restoration of the Jews is the Roman one: the expedition therefore, here predicted by Daniel, must undoubtedly be ascribed to the Antichristian Roman king, not to his northern antagonist. See my Dissert. on the 1260 years, vol. i. p. 352---356. (2d Edit. p. 384---400.)

confederacy will at first prove successful, will overrun the whole of Palestine, will take Jerusalem, will conquer Egypt, and will reduce the Libyans and Cushim to some kind of subjection*. The Magogian confederacy will not be at all successful: at least Ezekiel does not give us the slightest hint that it will; and St. John, if it be allowed that he speaks of it, explicitly declares, that, although it will encamp around the beloved city, it shall not be able to take it, but shall be destroyed by fire from heaven. Of the Antichristian confederacy a third part will be spared and converted, and when scattered through all nations will be instrumental in bringing about the restoration of Israel†. Of the Magogian confederacy a sixth part only will be spared; for, although God will not even then forget to be merciful, yet the superior guilt of this last, as having the fate of its audacious precursor before its eyes, and therefore not being able to plead an equal degree of ignorance, will doubtless deserve a more severe punishment.

The sum of the whole is this: since the Magogian confederacy of Ezekiel can neither be the Ottomon empire, nor the Roman Antichristian confederacy; since it does not commence its expedition till so long after the restoration both of Judah and Israel, that they have coalesced

* Isaiah xi. 15. xix. 4. xxvii. 12. Dan. xi. 41-45. Zechar. x. 11. xiv. 2. Compare Zechar. xiii. 8. and Isaiah Ixvi. 19.

Ezek. xxxix. 2. It is proper however to observe, that the word svv, rendered by our translators to leave a sixth part, is rendered by the LXX as meaning to lead, by the Vulgate to bring out, and by the Targum to seduce. But in this case the difference will still be no less striking between the fate of the two confederacies; for of the one we are plainly taught that a third part shall be spared, whereas of the other we may infer that all will perish (See Ezek. xxxviii. 21, 22. xxxix. 4, 5, 9---16.). Buxtorf translates the word, to drag with a six-pronged hook, supposing it to allude to Chap. xxxviii. 4: and R. D. Kimchi, to afflict with a six-fold punishment, supposing it to allude to the six plagues mentioned in Chap. xxxviii. 22. The fact is, the word only occurs once in the whole Bible: hence we have this uncertainty of interpretation, and hence I did not think myself authorized in rejecting our present translation. Yet, when we recollect that the destruction of Gog is at the end of the Millennium, and immediately before the general day of judgment, I cannot refrain from thinking, that our translation (although I have retained it) is of all the others the least likely to be the right one. The most obvious dérivation of Ng is nevertheless from w six; whence I much incline to think, that Buxtorf's interpretation is the best. Kimchi's seems too much laboured, and too far fetched. Abp. Newcome retains, as I have thought it most prudent to do, our common English version

into one people, and are dwelling securely in their land; since therefore it must begin to act after the commencement of the Millennium; since we have every reason to believe, that it will not begin to act during the Millennium, so that one part of the Millennium should precede and the other succeed it; since consequently it will not begin to act till the close of the Millennium; since we find it composed of the relics of the three first empires, the lives of which Daniel declares shall be preserved after the overthrow of the Roman beast, and therefore during the Millennium, for there is no other period during which they can be preserved, if they be preserved beyond the destruction of the Roman beast; since St. John predicts, that, at this very era, namely the close of the Millennium, when we may expect the expedition of Ezekiel's Gog and Magog to be undertaken, a similar expedition will be undertaken by a confederacy which he similarly terms Gog and Magog, and that too from the regions marked out by Ezekiel, the four quarters of the earth; and lastly, since both Ezekiel and St. John agree, that each expedition will totally fail of success, and that the respective Gog and Magog of each will be miraculously destroyed by fire from heaven: when the whole argument in short is considered in all its bearings, what conclusion can we arrive at, except that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel arc the Gog and Magog of St. John?

Having now sufficiently anticipated any objections that might have been made, so far as Gog and Magog are concerned, to my proposed interpretation of the present prophecy, I shall proceed to discuss it at large. And here I apprehend, the parallel prediction of St. John will be found of essential use, inasmuch as it treats of the same events in precisely the same order. The only difference indeed between the two prophets is this: Ezekiel peculiarly directs our attention to the children of Israel, and connects the history of their restoration with the successive confederacies of Antichrist and Gog and Magog, the one previous to the commencement of the Millennium, the other at its close; whereas St. John, writing the prophetic history of the church in general, does not notice the Jews otherwise than as involved in that church, but simply

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