Heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy City, the Lamb's Wife, the City of the great King, the City into which the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour. Now, while such a return from captivity was the expectation of Israel, even before the times of Daniel, I know not why Daniel should omit it in his prophecy. This part of the prophecy, therefore, not being yet fulfilled, I shall not attempt a particular interpretation of it, but content myself with observing, that as the seventy and the sixty-two weeks, were Jewish weeks, ending with sabbatical years, so the seven weeks are the compass of a Jubilee, and begin, and end with actions proper for a Jubilee, and of the highest nature for which a Jubilee can be kept: and, that since the commandment to return and to build Jerusalem, precedes the Messiah, the Prince, forty-nine years, it may, perhaps, come forth not from the Jews themselves, but from some other kingdom friendly to them, and precede their return from captivity, and give occasion to it; and, lastly, that this rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the waste places of Judah, is predicted in Micah vii. 11; Amos ix. 11-14; Ezek. xxxvi. 33, 35, 36, 38; Isaiah, liv. 3, 11, 12; lv. 12; lxi. 4; lxv. 18, 21, 22; and Tobit xiv. 5; and, that the return from captivity, and coming of the MESSIAH and his kingdom, are described in Daniel, vii; Rev. xix; Acts i; Matt. xxiv; Joel iii; Ezek. xxxvi, and xxxvii; Isaiah lx; lxïi; lxiii; lxv; and lxvi, and many other places of Scripture. The manner, I know not. Let time be the interpreter.

"Yet, threescore and two weeks, shall it return, and the street be built and the wall, but in troublesome times; and, after the threescore and two weeks the Messiah shall be cut off, and it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary," &c. Having foretold both comings of Christ, and dated the last from their returning and building Jerusalem; to prevent their applying that to the building Jerusalem, by Nehemiah, he distinguishes this from that, by saying, that from this

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period, to the ANOINTED, shall be, not seven weeks, but threescore and two weeks, and this, not in prosperous, but in troublesome times; and, at the end of these weeks, the MESSIAH shall not be the Prince of the Jews, but be cut off; and Jerusalem not be his, but the city and sanctuary be destroyed. Now, Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the 20th year of this same Artaxerxes, B. C. 445, while Ezra still continued there, and found the city lying waste, and the houses and wall unbuilt, (Nehem. ii. 17; vii. 4); and finished the wall on the 25th day of the month Elul, (Nehem. vi. 15,) in the 28th year of the king, that is, in September, in the year of the Julian Period, 4278. Count, now, from this year, threescore and two weeks of years, that is 434 years, and the reckoning will end in the year of the Julian Period, 4712, which is the year in which CHRIST was born, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenæus, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Orosius, Cassiodorus, and other ancients; and, this was the general opinion, till Dionysius Exiguus invented the vulgar account, in which CHRIST's birth is placed two years later. If with some, you reckon that CHRIST was born three or four years before the vulgar account, yet, his birth will fall in the latter part of the last week, which is enough. How, after these weeks CHRIST was cut off, and the city and sanctuary destroyed by the Romans, is well known.

"Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many, for one week. He kept it, notwithstanding his death, till the rejec tion of the Jews, and calling of Cornelius and the Gentiles, in the seventh year after his passion.

"And, in half a week, he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease; that is, by the war of the Romans, upon the Jews; which war, after some commotions, began in the 13th year of Nero, A. D. 67, in the spring, when Vespasian, with an army, invaded them; and, ended in the second year of Vespasian, A. D. 70, in Autumn, September 7, when Titus took the city, having burnt the temple twenty

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even days before: so, that it lasted three years and a half.

"And, upon a wing of abomination, shall he cause desolation, even until the consummation, and that which is determined, be poured upon the desolate. The prophets, in representing kingdoms by beasts and birds, (see note at p. 274) put their wings stretcht out over anyc ountry, for their armies sent out to invade and rule over that country. Hence, a wing of abominations, is an army of false gods: for, an abomination is often put in Scripture for a false god; as, where Chemosh is called the abomination of Moab, and Moloch, the abomination of Ammon, (1 Kings xi. 7.) The meaning, therefore, is that the people of a Prince to come, shall destroy the sanctuary, and abolish the daily worship of the true God, and overspread the land with an army of false gods; and, by setting up their dominion and worship, cause desolation to the Jews, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. For CHRIST tells us, that the abo mination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, was to be set up in the times of the Roman Empire, Matt. xxiv. 15. Thus, have we in this short prophecy, a prediction of all the main periods relating to the coming of the MESSIAH; the time of his birth, that of his death, that of the rejection of the Jews, the duration of the Jewish war, whereby he caused the city and sanctuary to be destroyed, and the time of his second coming." See Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel, ch. 10.

Whichever of the foregoing expositions be the right, or whether either be, time must decide; they are given in this work, that the reader may not feel himself a total stranger to either hypothesis, when advanced, or alluded to, by the author he may be perusing; and, that being furnished with the evidence on both sides, his opinion may prove the result of a due balancing of the arguments advanced on each. The treatises that are the most likely to be preferred, usually pre-suppose a knowledge of the general outlines of

the subject, and which, however easy to be obtained, are not always distinctly impressed upon the minds of the class of students for which this little work is compiled, in a way that would leave the attention at liberty to dwell upon more important objects of investigation. The present article may be concluded with the observation that, whenever the seventy weeks of years might commence, it is plain that the prophecy connected with them reached to the time of the end, as may be deduced from the application of it by our Saviour, in connection with his second coming,

V.

V. THE PROPHECY OF THE THINGS NOTED IN THE SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH. Ch. xi.

This vision forms an illustrative comment upon all the preceding prophecies of Daniel, and, was revealed to the prophet in the third year of the reign of Cyrus over the Persian empire, after his succession, by the death of his uncle Darius, or, B. C. 534,* and gives the history of the world as connected first with the Jewish, and afterwards, with the Christian church, from that time, to the end of the grand period of 1260 years, and may be divided into five sections, viz. :

1st, Contained in ch. xi. 2, sketches the succeeding histors of Persia.

2nd, Ver. 3, 4, the conquest of that empire by Alexander the Great, and the division of his dominions amongst his generals.

3rd, Ver. 5-30, recounts the exploits of the kings of Egypt and Syria, to the death of Antiochus Epiphanes.

4th, Ver. 31 to 35, the history of the church of God, 1st,

By an unfortunate oversight this event is misplaced in the Chronological Tables of this work, being dated in the year B. C. 538, see the article, Table VII. the corresponding period in the first, and the 5th Division V, of the second Table of Prophecy.

Jewish, and then Christian, under the fourth empire till the time of the end or period of 1260 years.

5th, Ver. 36, to the end of the chapter, describes the reign of Antichrist, or, (according to Mr. Faber) of infidelity inFance.

Dr. Hales observes, that this vision was ushered in with circumstances of peculiar solemnity; with the presence of CHRIST himself, and his angels; both appearing in human form; First, the spiritual HIGH-PRIEST, clothed in linen, as on the great day of atonement, appeared in glory to Daniel, and spake to him; and, when he heard the voice of his words, he fell into a trance, with his face to the ground. The prophet alone saw this great vision, for, his trembling attendants fled to hide themselves, ch. x. 1-9.

Daniel was raised from his trance, by the hand that touched him (probably, of the angel Gabriel) who encouraged him nearly in the same terms as in the former vision of the seventy weeks, and, who again came in human form, and touched, and strengthened him, that he might shew him the Scripture of Truth; representing himself as assisted by MICHAEL, one of the chief princes and Daniel's prince; who, therefore, could be no other than the spiritual HIGHPRIEST, OF CHRIST, signified by the name "Who is like God?" ver. 10-21. Cyrus is supposed to be " the Prince of Persia," who, for one and twenty days, withstood the decree for the return of the Jews," Ezra i. 2. Hales's Anal. vol. ii. p. 574.

Bishop Newton, Dean Prideaux, and others, date the commencement of this vision from the time of Cyrus; but, Dr. Hales considers it as an amplification and continuation of the vision of the Ram and the He-goat. By following him, we avoid the great chasm which would intervene between the fourth king of Persia, (supposing him to be Xerxes I.) and Alexander the Great, and the description of the fourth king, is equally applicable to Darius Codo