dence took care that there should be authentic and
full accounts of this period preserved in profane
history. It is remarkable, that with respect to the
events of the five preceding periods, of which the
scriptures give the history, profane history gives us
no account, or at least of but very few of them.
There are many fabulous and uncertain accounts of
things that happened before ; but the beginning of
the times of authentic profane history is judged to
be but little more than a hundred years before Ne-
buchadnezzar's time. The learned men among the
Greeks and Romans used to call the ages before that
the fabulous age ; but the times after that they
called the historical age. And from about that time
to the coming of Christ, we have undoubted ac-
counts in profane history of the principal events ;
accounts that wonderfully agree with the many pro-
phecies that we have in scripture of those times.
Thus did the great God, who disposes all things,
take care to give an historical account of things
from the beginning of the world, through all those
former ages which profane history does not reach,
and ceased not till he came to those later ages in
which profane history related things with some cer-
126 HISTORY OF REDEMPTIO^J.
tainty: and concerning those times, he gives us
abundant account in prophecy, that by comparing
profane history with those prophecies, we might see
their agreement.
2. This being the last period of the Old Testa-
ment, and the next to the coming of Christ, seems
to have been remarkably distinguished from all
others in the great revolutions that were among the
nations of the earth, to make way for his kingdom.
The time now drawing nigh, wherein Christ, the
great King and Saviour of the world, was to come,
great and mighty w^ere the changes that were brought
to pass in order to it. The way had been preparing
for his coming, from the fall of man, through all the
foregoing periods ; but now the time drawing nigh,
things began to ripen apace, and divine providence
wrought wonderfully now. The greatest revolutions
that any history whatsoever gives an account of,
fell out in this period. Almost all the then known
world, all the nations that were round about the
land of Canaan, far and near, that were within the
reach of their knowledge, were overturned again and
again. All lands were in turns subdued, captivated,
and as it were, emptied, and turned upside down,
and that most of them repeatedly, in this period ;
agreeable to that prophecy. ' Behold, t]ie Lord
maketh the earth empty ; he maketh it waste, and
turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the
inhabitants thereof.' Isai. xxiv. 1
This emptying, and turning upside down, began
with God's visible church, in their captivity by the
king of Babylon. And then the cup from them went
round to all other nations, agreeable to what God
revealed to the prophet Jeremiah, (xxv. 15—27.)
Here special respect seems to be had to the great
revolutions that there were on the face of the earth
in the times of the Babylonish empire. But after
that, there were three general overturnings of the
world before Christ came, in the succession of the
three great monarchies of the world that arose after
the Babylonish empire. The king of Babylon is
FROM THE CAPTIVITY TO CHRIST. 127
represented in scripture as overturning the world ;
but after that the Babylonish empire was overthrown
by Cyrus, who founded the Persian empire in the
room of it ; which was of much greater extent than
the Babylonish empire in its greatest glory. Thus
the world was overturned the second time. Then,
after that, the Persian empire was overthrown by
Alexander, and the Grecian set up upon the ruins
of it ; which was still of much greater extent than
the Persian. Thus there was a general overturning
of the world a third time. At last the Grecian em-
pire was overthrown by the Romans, and the Ro-
man empire established in its stead ; and this far
exceeded all the foregoing monarchies in power and
extent of dominion. And so the world was over-
turned the fourth time.
These several monarchies, and the great revolu-
tions of the world under them, are abundantly
spoken of in the prophecies of Daniel. They are
represented in Nebuchadnezzer's image of gold, sil-
ver, brass, and iron, and Daniel's interpretation of
it in the second chapter ; and the vision of the four
beasts, and the angel's interpretation of it in chap,
vii. The succession of the Persian and Grecian
monarchies is more particularly represented in the
viith chapter, in the vision of the ram and the he-
goat, and again in chapter xi.
Besides these four general overturnings, the world
was kept meanwhile in a constant tumult and state
of convulsion, through this whole period till Christ
came. Before this, the face of the earth was com-
paratively in quietness ; though there were many
great wars, yet we read of no such mighty and uni-
versal convulsions as there were in this period. Most
of the nations of the world had long remained on their
lees, as it were, without being emptied from vessel
to vessel, as is said of Moab. Jer. xlviii. 11. Now
these great overturnings were because the time of
the great Messiah drew nigh. Ezek. xxi. 27. ' I
will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be
no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will
128 HISTORY OF REDEi^lPTION.
give it him.' The prophet, by repeating the word
' overturn' three times, has respect to three over-
turnings, as in Rev. viii. 13. The repetition of the
w^ord ' woe ' three times, signifies three distinct
woes; as appears by what follows. ' One woe is
past ; ' and again, * the second woe is past, and be-
hold the third woe cometh quickly.' Rev. ix. ] 2—
14.
It must be noted, that Ezekiel prophesied in the
time of the Babylonish captivity ; and therefore
there were three great and general overturnings of
the world to come after this prophecy, before Christ
came. The first by the Persians, the second by the
Grecians, the third by the Romans ; and then after
that, Christ, whose right it was to take the diadem
and reign, should come. Here these great revolu-
tions are evidently spoken of as preparatory to the
coming and kingdom of Christ. But to understand
the words right, we must note the particular expres-
sion. ' I will overturn, overturn, overturn it,' i. e.
the diadem and crown of Israel, or the supreme tem-
poral dominion over God's visible people. This God
said should be no more; the crown should be taken
off, and the diadem removed, as it is said in the
foregoing verse. The supreme power over Israel
should be no more in the royal line of David, to
which it properly belonged, but should be removed
away, and given to others, and overturned from one
to another. First the supreme power over Israel
should be in the hands of the Persians ; then it
should be overturned again, and come into the hands
of the Grecians ; and then it should be overturned
again, and come into the hands of the Romans, and
should be no more in the line of David, till that very
person should come, who was the son of David,
whose proper right it was, and to whom God would
give it.*
* The sceptre was not to depart until Sliiloh came ; here we see the
crown was to be taken away, and not restored till the Messiah's coming.
These assertions may appear at first sight inconsistent ; but are to be
reconciled by a very obvious distinction between the sceptre of the tribe,
FROM THE CAPTIVITY 10 ClIlllST. 129
That those great revolutions were all to prepare
the way for Christ's coming", and erecting his king-
dom in the world, is farther manifest by Haggai ii.
G, 7. * For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Yet once it
is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and
the earth, and the sea, and the dry land : and I
will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations
shall come, and I will fill this house with glory,
saith the Lord of hosts.' See also ver. 21—23. It
is evident that these commotions, whereby the
thrones of kingdoms and armies were overthrown,
and every one came down by the sword of his bro-
ther, were to prepare the way for the coming of him
who is ' the desire of all nations.'
The great changes and troubles that have some-
times been in the visible church, are compared to
the church's being in travail to bring forth Christ.
Rev. xii. 2. So these great troubles and mighty
revolutions before Christ was born, were like the
world's being in travail to bring forth the Son of
God. The apostle, in the viiith of Romans, repre-
sents the whole creation as groaning and travailing
in pain together until now, to bring forth the liberty
and manifestation of the children of God. The
world being kept so long in a state of war and blood-
shed, prepared the way for the coming of the Prince
of peace, as it showed the great need there was of
such a prince.
It pleased God to order it in his providence, that
earthly power and dominion should be raised to its
greatest height, and appear in its utmost glory, in
those four great monarchies that succeeded one
another, and that every one should be greater and
more glorious thaji the preceding, before he set up
and the diudt^m of the kingdom. It is certain, that long before Christ's;
incarnation the Jews became subject to the heathen empires, and yet
were not wholly stript of temporal power till afterwards. They pre-
served a form of civil, as well as ecclesiaslical government of their
own ; yet were in a stace of vassalage and subjection to other crowns.
In a word, they had a pow er, but not the supreme power, among them-
selves. This makes the accomplishment of these prophecies m'lcb
hiore remarkable.
130 IIISTOllY OF REDEMPTION".
the kingdom of his Son. By this it appeared how
much his spiritual kingdom exceeded the most glo-
rious temporal ones. The strength and glory of
Satan's kingdom in these four mighty monarchies,
appeared in its greatest height : for those were the
monarchies of the heathen world, and so the strength
of them was the strength of Satan's kingdom. God
suffered the latter to rise to so great a height of
power and magnificence before his Son came to
overthrow it, to prepare the way for his more glo-
rious triumph. Goliah must have on all his armour
when the stripling David comes against him with a
sling and a stone, for the greater glory of David's
victory. God suffered one of those great monarchies
to subdue another, and erect itself on the other's
ruins, appearing still in greater strength, and the
last to be the strongest and mightiest of all ; that
so Christ, in overthrowing that, might, as it were,
overthrow them all at once ; as the stone cut out of
the mountain without hands, is represented as de-
stroying the whole image, the gold, the silver, the
brass, the iron, and the clay ; so that all became as
the chaff of the summer threshing-floor.
These mighty empires were suffered thus to con-
vulse the world, and destroy one another : and
though their power was so great, yet they could
not uphold themselves, but fell one after another,
and came to nothing, even the last of them, which
was the strongest, and had swallowed up the earth.
It pleased God thus to show in them the instability
and vanity of all earthly power and greatness ;
which served as a foil to set forth the glory of the
kingdom of his Son, which never shall be destroyed,
Dan. ii. 44. ' In the days of these kings shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never
be destroyed : and the kingdom shall not be left to
other people, but it shall break in pieces, and con-
sume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.'
So greatly does this differ from all those kingdoms :
they vanish away, and are left to other people, but
this shall stand for ever. God suffered the devil to
FROM THE CAPTIVITY TO CHRIST. 131
do his Utmost, and to establish his interest, by
setting up the greatest, strongest, and most glorious
kingdoms in the world, before the despised Jesus
overthrew him in his empire. Christ came into the
world to bring down the high things of Satan's
kingdom, that the hand of the Lord might be on
every one that is proud and lofty, and every high
tower, and every lofty mountain. Isai. ii. 12. And
therefore these things were suffered to rise very
high, that Christ might appear so much the more
glorious in being above them. — Thus wonderfully
did the great and wise Governor of the world pre-
pare the way for the erection of the glorious king-
dom of his beloved Son Jesus.
3. Another thing for which this last period or
space of time before Christ was particularly remark-
able, was the wonderful preservation of the church
through all these overturnings. This was, on some
accounts, more remarkable through this period, than
through any of the foregoing. It was very wonder-
ful that the church, which now was so weak, and in
so low a state, and mostly subject to the dominion
of heathen monarchies, should be preserved for five
or six hundred years together, while the world was
so often overturned, and the earth was rent in
pieces, and made so often empty and waste, and
the inhabitants of it came down so often every one
by the sword of his brother. I say it was wonderful
that the church in its weak and low state, being but
a little handful of men, should be preserved in all
these great convulsions ; especially considering that
the land of Judea, the chief place of the church's
residence, lay in the midst of them, as it were in
the centre of the contending parties, and was very
much the seat of war amongst them, and was often
overrun and subdued, and sometimes in the hands
of one people, and sometimes another, and very
much the object of the envy and hatred of all hea-
then nations, and often almost ruined by them, great
multitudes of its inhabitants being slain, and the
land in a great measure depopulated ; and those
132 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.
who had them in their power, often intended the
utter destruction of the whole nation. Yet they
were upheld ; they were preserved in their captivity
in Babylon, and they were upheld again under all
the dangers they passed through, under the kings
of Persia, and the much greater dangers they were
liable to under the empire of the Greeks, and after-
wards when the world was trodden down by the
Romans.
Their preservation through this period was also
peculiarly remarkable, in that we never read of the
church's suffering persecution in any former period,
to such a degree as they did in this, under Antiochus
Epiphanes, of which more afterwards. This won-
derful preservation of the church through all these
overturnings of the world, gives light and confirma-
tion to what we read in the xlvith psalm. ' God is
our refuge and strength, a very present help in trou-
ble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth
be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea ; though the waters thereof
roar, and be troubled ; though the mountains shake
with the swelling thereof.'
Thus I have taken notice of some general things
wherein this last period of the Old-Testament times
was distinguished. I come now to consider how
the work of redemption was carried on in particu-
lars.
1. The first thing that here offers is the captivity
of the Jews in Babylon. This was a great dispen
sation of providence, such as never was before. The
children of Israel in the time of the judges, had
often been brought under their enemies ; and many
l)articular persons v/ere carried captive at other
times. But never had there been any such thing as
destroying the whole land, the sanctuary, and the
city of Jerusalem, and rdi the cities and villages of
the land, and carrying the whole body of the people
out of their own land into a country many hundred
miles distant, and leaving the land of Canaan empty
FROM THE CAPTIVITY TO CHRIST. 133
of God's visible people. The ark had once for-
saken the tabernacle of Shiloh, and was carried cap-
tive into the land of the Philistines : but never had
there been any such thing as the burning of the
sanctuary, and utterly destroying the ark, and car-
rying away all the sacred vessels and utensils, and
breaking up all their stated worship in the land, and
the land's lying waste and empty for so many years
together. How lively are those things set forth in
the Lamentations of Jeremiah.*— The work of re-
demption was promoted by this remarkable dispen-
sation in these following ways.
(1) It finally cured that nation of their idolatry.
The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the setting up of
the kingdom of Christ, says, ' the idols he shall
utterly abolish.' When the time was drav/ing near,
that God would abolish heathen idolatry through
the greater part of the known world, it pleased him
first to abolish heathenism among his own people,
by their captivity in Babylon. They who were so
addicted to idolatry for so many ages, and not re-
formed by all the reproofs, warnings, corrections,
and judgments inflicted on them for it, were now
finally cured ; so that however some might fall into
this sin afterwards, as they did about the time of
Antiochus's persecution, yet as a nation they never
showed any hankering after this sin any more.
This was a remarkable and wonderful change in that
people, and what directly promoted the work of
redemption, as it was a great advancement of the
interest of true religion.
(2) It was one thing that prepared the way for
* There is nothing in all the traoedians, that is equally movin": and
tender with the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah — ' Oh that my
liead were waters, and mine eyes fountains of tears ! — Oh all ye that
pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow!'
The composition is a piece of superlative beauty, and comprises all
the eloquence of mourning. ' ]>id we ever find (says an eloquent
author) sorrow flowing in such a natural prevailing pathos ? One
would think that every letter was written with a tear ; every word was
the noise of a breaking heart ; that the author was a man made up of
sorrows, disciplined to grief from his infancy ; one who never breathed
but in sighs, nor spoke but in a groan.'
]34 IlISTORV OF REDEMPTION.
Christ's coming, and setting up the glorious dispen-
sation of the gospel, as it took away many of those
things, wherein consisted the glory of the Jewish
dispensation. First, it removed the temporal diadem
of the house of David, or the supreme and indepen-
dent government of themselves. The time now
approaching, when Christ, the great and everlasting
King of his church, was to reign, it was time for the
typical kings to withdraw. The Jews henceforward
were always dependent on other nations, until Christ
came, for near six hundred years, except about nine-
ty under the Maccabees and their posterity, during
which space they maintained a sort of independence
by continual wars.
By the captivity also, the glory and magnificence
of the temple was taken away, and the temple that
was built afterwards was nothing in comparison
with it. Thus it was meet, when the time drew nigh
that the glorious antitype of the temple should ap-
pear. They also lost by the captivity the two tables
of the testimony delivered to Moses, on which God
with his own finger wrote the ten commandments
on Mount Sinai. These seem to have been pre-
served in the ark till the captivity, and were there
when Solomon placed the ark in the temple. 1 Kings
viii. 9. ' There was nothing in the ark, save the two
tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb.'
Another thing that the Jews now lost, was the
Urim and Thummim. Ezra ii. 63. ' And the Tir-
shatha said unto them, that they should not eat of
the most holy things, till there should stand up a
priest with Urim and Thummim.' And we have no
account that this was ever restored ; but the ancient
writings of the Jews say the contrary. What this
Urim and Thummim was I shall not now inquire ;
but only observe, that it was something by wliich
the high priest inquired of God, and received imme-
diate answers from him, or by which God gave
forth immediate oracles on particular occasions.
This was now withdrawn, the time approaching
hen Christ, the antitype of the Urim and Thum-
w
FKOM T7IK CAPTIVITY TO CHRIST. 135
mim, the great word and oracle of God, was to
come.*
Another thing that the ancient Jews say was
wanting in the second temple, was the Shechinah,
or cloud of glory over the mercy seat. This was
promised to be in the tabernacle, Levit. xvi. 2. ' For
I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.'
And we read of the cloud of glory descending into
the tabernacle, Exod. xl. 35 ; and so likewise A^ith
respect to Solomon's temple. But we have no ac-
count that this cloud of glory w^as in the second
temple ; and the ancient accounts of the Jews say,
that there was no such thing there. This, indeed,
was needless in the second temple, considering that
God had promised to fill it with glory another way,
viz. by Christ's coming into it ; which was after-
wards fulfilled. * 1 will shake all nations, and the
desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this
house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.' Hag.
ii. 7.
The Jews in their ancient writings mention ano-
ther thing as being now withdrawn, and that was
the fire from heaven on the altar. When Moses
built the tabernacle and altar in the wilderness, and
the first sacrifices were offered on it, fire came down
from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering. Lev.
ix. 24. And again, when Solomon built the temple
* Most christian writers take the Urim and Thummira to mean the
precious stones i;i the breastplate of tlie high priest ; but the rabbins
will have it that the ineft'able name (Jehovah) was inserted between the
folds, not by the workmen, as the stones were, but by Moses himself
under divine direction. Exod. xxviii.
The answer of this oracle must either have been collected by the pe-
culiar radiancy of certain letters of the names of the tribes engraved
on these stones ; or rather be delivered by a voice from the Sheccinah,
as at other times. Num. vii. 8, 9. 1 Sam. xxiii. U, 12. xxx. 8. 2 Sam.
ii. 1. All are agreed that this method was only lawful for the most
eminent persons, and on the most important occasions. The Jews add
that it was neved used after the building of Solomon's temple ; and
give this reason, that the tribes were soon after divided, and it could
only be lawfully consulted in cases in which they were all concerned.
If the answer was given by a voice from the most holy, then the only
use of the breastplate seems to have been as a memorial of the twelve
tribes before God, lierein typifying him who bears all the names of his
chosen people on his heart, and thus constantly appears in the presence
of God for us.
136
HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.
and offered the lirst sacrifices. 2 Chron. vii. I. Ihis
fire was never to go out, but with the greatest care
to be ke]Dt alive. Lev. vi. 13. ' The fire shall ever be
burning upon the altar ; it shall never go out.' And
there is no reason to suppose the fire in Solomon's
time ever went out till the temple was destroyed
by the Babylonians ; but then it was extinguished,
and never restored. And the Jews, after their re-
turn, were forced to make use of their common fire
instead of it, according to the ancient tradition of
the Jews. Thus the lights of the Old Testament go
out on the approach of the glorious Sun of righteous-
ness.
(3) The captivity in Babylon was the occasion of
another thing, which afterwards promoted the setting
up of Christ's kingdom in the world, viz. the disper-
sion of the Jews through the greater part of the
known world, for the whole nation being carried
far out of their own land, and continuing in a state
of captivity for so long a time, they got them pos-
sessions, built houses, and settled themselves in the
land of their captivity, agreeable to the direction
that Jeremiah gave in the letter he wrote to them,
chap, xxix ; and therefore, when Cyrus gave them
liberty to return to the land where they had formerly
dwelt, many of them never returned. They were
not willing to leave their settlements and posses-
sions there to go into a desolate country, many hun-
dred miles distant, which none but the old men
among them had ever seen ; and therefore they were
but few, but a small number that returned. Great
numbers tarried behind, though they still retained
the same religion with those that returned, so far as
it could be practised in a foreign land. Those mes-
sengers that came to inquire of the priests and pro-