as to run parallel with the Revelation of St. John, and extend to the end of the world. In the following Prophecy we shall find the exact time of the manifeftation of the Meffiah clearly determined.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the tranf greffion, and to make an end of fins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to Seal up the vifion and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to reftore and to build Jerufalem, unto the Meffiah the Prince, fhall be feven weeks, and threefcore and two weeks: the street fhall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threefcore and two weeks shall Meffiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the fanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war defolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shall caufe the facrifice and the oblation to ceafe, and for the overSpreading of abominations he shall make it defo

.

late, even until the confummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the defolate.

Y. W. 3497. B. C.

537.

The leading circumstances to be confidered in examining the accomplishment of this prediction, are, the completion of the time fpecified, and the events connected with it. All agree that thefe 70 weeks are weeks of years, that is, every day in the week is reckoned as a year, which makes the whole number amount to 490 years. This computation is not unexampled in profane authors, and is used elfewhere in Scripture. It is ufed in reckoning the years of the Jubilee -the time of sojourning in the wilderness, and in the Prophecy of Ezekiel. Thefe 70 weeks commence in the Jewish month Nisan, or March, in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, King of Perfia, in the year of the world 3547, as is clearly fhown by many accurate Chronologifts, and proved at large by the learned Prideaux, in his Connexion of the History of the Old and New Testament

a Daniel ix. 24, 25, 26, 27. See Apthorpe's Differtations. Levit. xxv. 8.

Numb. xiv. 34.

• Ezek. iv. 5, 6.

with Profane Hiftory. This was the diftinguished year and month in which Ezra, the Leader of the Jews, obtained a commiffion for his return to Jerufalem, in order to restore the government of that city and the fervice of the Temple. And the 70 weeks were completed in the month Nifan in the year of the world 4037. This was the ever memorable year and month, when Jefus Chrift, the Meffiah, clofed his Divine miffion, and fuffered death upon the crofs.

It is evident that various events are predicted by Daniel in this remarkable Prophecy. The Meffiah fhall be cut off - The people of the Prince that shall come, shall deftroy the city and the fanctuary-Defolations are determined, and the facrifice and the oblation fhall ceafe for the overspreading of abo

minations.

Now there are no occurrences in the Jewish hiftory, to which these circumstances can be at all applied, except to the crucifixion of

f Prideaux, vol. i. p. 208. Boffuet, p. 228. Smith's p: Summary View, p. 165. Uffer Annales, tom. i. p. 195. tom. i. p. 568. Jofephi Antiq. Jud. 1. xi. c. 5. Gray's Key to the Old Teftament, p. 414. p. 857. Calmet's Dict. vol. i. p. 398.

Mede's Works,

Chrift the final deftruction of the City and Temple of Jerufalem, and the defolation of Judea by the Romans. But to those great events the words of the Prophecy apply with fuch fingular exactnefs, that they give a very energetic and lively description of them. And it may be farther obferved, that this Prophecy very plainly delineates the fpiritual purposes of the Gofpel: for, at the completion of this great epoch of the 70 weeks, it is determined to make reconciliation for iniquity-to bring in everlafting righteoufnefs-and to feal up the vifion and the prophecy-Thus pointing out Chrift, the Meffiah, who died as the propitiatory facrifice for the fins of the worldrofe again to certify that he had made atonement for fin, and had established the promised kingdom of everlafting righteousness and life" and fealed up the vifion and the prophecy by his final revelation of the Divine will to his beloved difciple St. John, the last of the Prophets.

Three different periods of time are included within the 70 weeks, and each of them is connected with an important eventThe Seven weeks to restore and rebuild Jerufalem -the threefcore and two weeks in addition to these feven weeks, after which the Meffiah

was

was to be cut off:-and the midst of the week, in which he fhould caufe the facrifice and oblation to cease. The first series of seven weeks, being 49 years, relates to the restoration of the Jews, and the rebuilding Jerufa lem, begun by Ezra, and completed by Nehemiah. The oppofition which the Jews, when returned from captivity, met with from the Samaritans, prolonged this facred work exactly for that period of time; and the obftacles with which they had to contend, fully confirmed the words of the prophet, that the wall fhould be built in troublous times. The threescore and two weeks that fucceeded added to the foregoing feven, or in other words 483 years, bring the calculation of time down to the year 4739 of the Julian period, which was the exact year in which the Gofpel began to be announced to the world-John the Baptift having been sent to prepare the Jews for its reception by his public miniftry, which continued for the space of three years and a half. Its commencement at this period is accurately marked by the words of Chrift, who faid expressly, “the Law and the Prophets were until John, fince that time the kingdom of God is preached "."

Luke xvi. 16.