by the Old Prophets. And for this reafon I efteem Efdras as the beft Key to all the Prophecies.

In the Eleventh Century the Schools of the Jews were deftroyed at Babylon, and all the Jews were driven thence into the Weft, by the Saracens : And for their Perfecution of both Jews and Chriftians, Babylon is destroyed,

Efdras's Elegant Lamentation for the Deftruction of Babylon, Afia, Syria, Ægypt; and the Cruelty of the Ottoman Empire is defcribed, which is the Antichriftian Kingdom.

W°E

OE unto thee, Babylon and Afia; woe unto thee, Egypt and Syria. (Thele Countries were firft deftroyed by the Saracens, and then by the Turks, and afterwards by the Tartars, who ftarved the Caliph to death. He died on his Bed, as Efdras lays of the middle Head, but not without Pain.) The Ruin of thefe Countries is elegantly lamented by Efdras ; who afterwards defcribes the Government of the laft Head, the Ottomans, and their Oppreffion of the Jews.

V. 68. The burning Wrath of a great Multitude is kindled over you, & cibabunt Idolis occifos; that is, threaten you with Death, if you will not confefs that Mahomet, whom they idolize, is the Prophet of God. The most natural Sence is, They perfwade their Followers to fight for their Religion; and those that are kill'd, Mahomet will admit into Paradife. Thus they delude their Soldiers to facrifice their Lives for Mahomet's Empire.

They that confent unto them, fhall be had in derifion, and in reproach, and fhall be trodden under foot: for there shall be in every City a great Infurrection, on them that fear the Lord; and they fhall be like mad Men, fparing none, spoiling and deftroying them that fear the Lord: They fhall take away your Goods, and caft them out of their Houses ; and then fall be known who are God's Chofen; and they fhall be tried as Gold in the Fire. Hear, O my beloved, faith the Lord; behold the Days of Trouble are at hand; but I will deliver you out of them.

Here

Here is defcribed the miferable State at laft of the Jews and Chriftians under the Ottoman Empire, which role after the Deftruction of Babylon, in the Year 1300. This is the Description of Antichrift, the laft Head of the Eagle, which must be deftroyed by the Sword near Mount Sion, by Chrift and his Army of Saints, Rev. 19. Zech. 14. when he befieges Jerufalem, after the Return of the Jews, after the Battel of Armagiddon.

Efdr. Ch. 11. This is the Head of the Eagle, which devours that on the left fide, v. 35.

V.39. Art thou not it that remaineft of the Four Beafts, whom I made to reign in my World, that the End of the Times might come through them ?

V. 41. The Earth haft thou not judged with Truth. (This is an Intimation of Mahomet's Impofture.)

V. 42. Thou haft afflicted the Meek, thou haft hurt the Peaceable, thou haft loved Liars, (Mahomet,) and deftroyed the Dwellings of them that brought forth Fruit, (the Chriftiáns,) and haft caft down the Walls of fuch as did thec no harm. (This is an Intimation of the Deftruction of Conftan tinople and Greece.)

V. 43. Therefore is thy wrongful Dealing come up unto the Higheft, and thy Pride unto the Mighty." Therefore appear no more, thou Eagle.

He fhall reprove

Ch, 12. v. 3. The whole Body of the Eagle was burnt. V. 32. The Lion, who reprov'd the Eagle, is the Anointed, which the Higheft hath kept for them. them, and upbraid them for their Cruelty. fet them alive before him in Judgment, and correct them.

V. 33. He fhall shall rebuke and

Note, This is a plain Explication of Daniel's Prophecy concerning the little Horn, Ch. 7. The Judgment fhall fit, and take away his Dominion, to conlume and destroy it unto the End.

Note, This laft Head of the Eagle must be the laft Kingdom in the Fourth Empire, and will make Babylon, Afia, Syria, and Egypt defolate, according to Efdras's woul Lamentation, The burning Wrath of a great Multitude, . 68. ch. 16. and v.70. There fhall be au Inlurrection upon those that fear the Lord, relates to the laft Wars

H 2

with

with Gog, (or the Turk) when they come to befiege Fe rufalem, after the Return of the Jews; and there this Multitude will be deftroyed, as is related Ch. 13.

V. 73. Then fhall they be known who are my Chofen ; and they fhall be tried as Gold in the Fire.

What Efdras has writ in this Prophecy, agrees with Daniel, Ezechiel, Zachary, and the Revelations: And therefore I affirm as 'tis faid of them, Ch. 15. v. 2. his Prophecies are faithful and true; and without the Help of this Prophecy, the other can't be fully explain'd. Efdras, Ch. 45. feems to have foreforetold the Oppofition of the World against his Prophecy. V.3. Fear not the Imaginations against thee; let not the la credulity of them trouble thee, that speak against thee.

I have hereafter given my Comment on Zachary's Prophe cies; because it agrees with Efdras; and in Efdras there is a fuller Account of the Roman and Conftantinopolitan Empires, to whom the Holy Land was fubject many hundred Years, than in any other Prophet: And he relates the Deftruction of the Eagle's Heads by the Sword; and fhews the Rife of the Saracens and Turks, and the Deftruction of Babylon by the Tartars: And he gives a fuller Account of the Return of the Jews, and the Destruction of Gog's Multitude. And these Events will prove that Efdras was a true Prophet, and is a plain Interpreter both of Daniel's and Zachary's Prophecies. Zachary's Prophecy explains thofe of Daniel, and relates to the Hiftory of the Saracens and Turks, who are called Gog. It feems very abfurd, that these Prophecies fhould mention the Divifion of the Roman Empire into Ten Horns, and omit the Conftantinopolitan, Saracen, and Turkish Empires. All these are reprefented in Dan. 11. Zachary's Chariot, and Efdras's Heads of the Eagle, as well as the Revelations.

RE

رقة

REMARKS

ON THE

Prophecies of ESDRAS.

CHAP. I.

That Efdras has written True Prophecies, which agree with Daniel, and the Revelations.

Will firft prove, that Efdras's Prophecies agree with Daniel, who wrote before him; and with the Revelations, which were written after him. And this is a convincing Argument that Efdras's Prophecy is no Fiction by a converted Few; because they contain more than either Daniel or St. John mentions; and therefore are not taken from either of those Prophecies: And I will also obferve, that divers of Efdras's Prophecies have been fulfilled, as appears by Hiftorical Events recorded fince he wrote; and there are fome not yet fulfilled, which agree with the future Hiftory, in the Prophecies of St. John and Daniel. And I will add the Teftimonies of the Primitive Fathers in the next Chapter.

1. Thefe