temple-worship at Jerufalem, but alfo "to do with it whatsoever should feem good to Ezra and his bretheren, according to the will of their God;" verfe 18th. The prefents of filver and gold received from the king and his counsellors, and lords, and all Ifrael, are faid, chap. 8th, verfe 26th, 27th, and 28th, to amount "to 650 talents of filver, 100 talents of gold," &c. And, chap. 9th, verfes 9th, Ezra declares, that, in confequence of the favours granted to the Jews by the kings of Perfia, they had not only been enabled to repair the "defolations of the houfe of God," but alfo "to build a wall about the city;" and we find, Nehemiah, chap. 1ft, verses ift, 2d, 3d, that, in "the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes, the wall of Jerufalem," which had been rebuilt by Ezra, was then "broken down, and the gates thereof burnt with fire," by the enemies of the Jews. Dating then the beginning of the seventy weeks from the feventh year of Artaxerxes's reign, when the order was given him to levy money for defraying the expences of rebuilding Jerufalem, and the maintenance of the temple-worship there:

And that, according to all chronologers, he reigned 41 years, from which, if we shall deduct feven, as the commiffion was given to Ezra in the seventh year of his reign, there Years. will remain

Darius Nothus, according to all chronologers, reigned

Artaxerxes Mnemon reigned, according to Ptolomy's aftronomical canon

Artaxerxes Ochus, according to ditto
Arfes, according to ditto, reigned

34

19

46

21

2.

Darius Codomannus reigned, according to ditto 6
Alexander the Great reigned, according to

ditto

6

From

From Alexander's death to the era of the Seleucida, or the first year of the reign of Se Years leucus Nicanor, according to Scaliger and Petavius, and the exacteft chronologers

From the æra of the Seleucide to the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Jofephus, and all chronologers

From the death of Antiochus, to the taking of Jerufalem by Herod, according to Jofephus From the taking of Jerufalem by Herod, to his death

From the death of Herod, to the death of our Saviour

12

149

126

36

33

490

Thus the general calculation is not only fupported by the teftimony of the best hiftorians, and the obfervations of the moft accurate chronologers; but the truth of it is alfo proved by an exact agreement with Jeremiah's prophecy of the feventy years of the Jewish captivity, and the feventy weeks of Daniel, or the 490 years which were to intervene between the effectual commandment to rebuild and restore Jerufalem, and the paffion of our bleffed Lord. This exact coincidence, as it ferves to rid commentators of all difficulties, by fhewing, that, according to the beft authorities, the prophecies had their accomplishment at the precife time foretold; fo it ferves perfectly to afcertain the truth of almost all thofe parts of the general calculation of the 2300 years, that are subject to any difpute. For, fince I have fhewn from the prophecy of Zechariah, and the book of Daniel and Ezra, that the beginning of the feventy years of the Jewish captivity, happened in the third year of Jehoiakim's reign; and that they must have ended in the fixth year of the reign of Darius; And since the

time

time betwixt the third year of Jehoiakim's reign, and the end of Zedekiah's, is clearly fixed by fcrip ture-history, as above; and that the time allotted by Berofus for the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, EvilMerodach, and Belshazzar, and by Xenophon and Ptolomy, for the reigns of Cyrus, Cambyfes, and Smerdis, together with the first fix years of Darius, added to the above fcriptural chronology, ex actly complete the feventy years; therefore, from this exact coincidence of facred and profane authors, whereby the accomplishment of the predicted feventy years captivity is clearly fhewn, we may juftly conclude, that in the fixth year of the reign of Darius, 23 years of the 2300 had then elapfed.

From this to the feventh year of the reign of his grandfon Artaxerxes, there is no difference amongst chronologers, unlefs about the reign of Xerxes. But, of this afterwards.

The next part of the general calculation is that large space of time between the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and the paffion of our Saviour and, as I have fhewn from the best evidence, that this period confifts precifely of 490 years; fo the chronological deduction which I have made in the general calculation is infallibly afcertained by the prophecy in the 9th chapter of Daniel, 24th and 25th verfes, compared with the 7th chapter of Ezra. For, having found by an exact collation of thefe two paffages of facred writ, that the beginning of the feventy weeks muft have happened in the feventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, when tle effectual commandment was given to restore and to build Ferufalem; and, that the end of thefe prophetical weeks, or 490 years muft alfo have happened, according to the clear marks given of them in fcripture, at the time of our Saviour's paffion; we may therefore, trufting to the infallible veracity of revelation, confider the intermediate fpace of time

to be abfolutely fixed and determined by the years mentioned in the prophecy, and conclude, upon the jufteft grounds, that there were precisely 490 years between the above events.

Having thus afcertained the time betwixt our Saviour's paffion, and the feventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and found, that it exactly agrees with the above general calculation, taken from the beft authorities; we may then, with great propriety, conclude, that the time fixed (by the reafons advanced in fupport of the general calculation) for our Saviour's nativity, namely, the beginning of the 4713 year of the Julian period, is much about the true time. And as, fince that period, amongst the innumerable multitude of chriftian hiftorians and chronologers of different fects and communions, there hath not been, nor could properly be, any dif ference concerning the years from that time to the prefent, unless about the year of our Saviour's nativity; fo they all agree in this, that, if the nativity fhall be fixed to the beginning of the 4713 of the Julian period, that 1771 years have paffed fince that time; and that, by adding to the above year of the Julian period 4713, 33 years and some months, the age of our Saviour at his crucifixion, as ap pears from the evangelifts, our Lord's paffion must have happened, according to this calculation, in the year of the Julian period 4746; and confequently the years which have elapfed fince that time are precifely 1738, as in the general calculation.

Thus, I flatter myself, that the above long calculation is founded upon folid, nay, I had almost said immoveable foundations, namely, its exact coinci❤ dence with these two famous prophecies of Daniel and Jeremiah; and, where it is not fupported by thefe, it is fuftained by the univerfal agreement of hiftorians and chronologers, excepting the interval betwixt the fixth year of the reign of Darius, and

the

the feventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes. Here, I formerly obferved, there was a difference betwixt Diodorus and Petavius, concerning the reign of Xerxes, the firft affirming, that he had reigned twenty years without a partner, and the second, depending upon the authorities of Herodotus and Thucydides, affirming he reigned only eleven years. Thefe certainly deferve greater credit than Diodorus, who lived 400 years after them. Herodotus lived in the reign of Xerxes, and Thucydides a very little thereafter: And, I am perfuaded, that who ever fhall read their hiftories with care and impartiality, will be convinced, from the paffages which I have quoted out of them, that Xerxes reigned eleven complete years and no more. But, that which puts the matter beyond all difpute is this, that, if we fhall, according to Diodorus, allow nine years more to the reign of Xerxes, then the end of the two thousand three hundred years, when the fanctuary at Jerufalem was to be cleansed from all spiritual impurites, would have happened, confiftently with the prophecy, about eight years ago. But, as this did not happen, and as the word of God cannot be broken, we have this additional argument for giving a preference to the above hiftorians, being abfolutely fure, from the non-accomplishment of that grand and important event, that, whatever fewer years Xerxes might have reigned, he could not have reigned any more than eleven; and the fame objection ftands against those who date our Saviour's nativity two or three years earlier than what I have done in the general calculation; and against those also, who date the beginning of the feventy weeks from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, when a fecond commiffion was given by him to Nehemiah to reftore and build Jerufalem. This objection alfo ftands in full force against all the accounts of time given by hiftorians and chronologers,