By the ftrength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent-Shall the ax boaft itself against him that heweth therewith ?-Go up, O Elam; befiege, O Media; all the fighing which she was the cause of have I made to ceafe. Recompence her according to her work-because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his Temple-the day of the Lord is at hand, a day cruel with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land defolate; behold I will punish the King of Babylon, as I have punished the King of Affyria [in the deftruction of Nineveh] I will cut off from Babylon the name and the remnant, from generation to generation fhall it lay waste."

What a description is this of the Prescience, the Omnipotence, the retributive Juftice, and the over-ruling Providence of God, directing all things, even the oppofing springs of human action, to execute the uniform defign of his unchanging will! Can the best wrought veil of Metaphyfics obfcure these radiant characters of Truth? Can the utmost strength or art of Infidelity prevent their indelible impreffion on the mind of unfophifticated man, when thus united with the power of Facts?

Ifaiah xlvii. 5. x. 5, &c.
L 3

CLASS

CLASS I.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTH,

The Appearance of the Meffiah according to the precife Time predicted by Daniel 537 Years before his Birth.

DANIEL was favoured with many revelations of the Divine will, and fupported by the Divine power in a very remarkable manner. He was honoured with the firft diftinctions in the court of Perfia, and his piety and his wisdom were equally confpicuous. In one point he differs from all other Prophets, and becomes an object of attention peculiarly interesting to us; for to him alone was communicated the exact time when the Meffiah would appear and he likewife predicted the time of many of the principal events which were to take place after the efstablishment of the Meffiah's kingdom, with fuch accuracy,

as

as to run parallel with the Revelation of St. John, and extend to the end of the world. In the following Prophecy we fhall 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 transgreffion, and to make an end of fins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to feal up the vifion and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and underfland, 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 fireet fhall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks fhall Meffiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall deftroy 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 fhall 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 overfpreading of abominations he fhall

make it defolate, even until the confummation, and that determined fhall be poured upon the defolate.

pre

The leading circumstances to be confidered in examining the accomplishment of this diction, are, the completion of the time specified, and the events connected with it. All agree that these 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 elsewhere in Scripture. It is used in reckoning the years of the Jubilee d-the time of fojourning in the wilderness, and in the Prophecy of Ezekiel'. These 70 weeks commence in the Jewish month Nifan, or March, in the feventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, King of Perfia, in the year of the world 3547, as is clearly shown by many accurate Chronologists, and proved at large by the learned Prideaux, in

Daniel ix. 24, 25, 26, 27. b Y. W. 3497. B. C. 537. See Apthorpe's Differtations. d Levit. xxv. 8.

Numb. xiv. 34,

f Ezek. iv. 5, 6.

1

his Connexion of the Hiftory of the Old and New Teftament with Profane History %. This was the distinguished year and month in which Ezra, the Leader of the Jews, obtained a commiffion for his return to Jerufalem, in order to reftore the government of that city and the service 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 cross.

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 destroy the city and the fanctuary-Defolations are determined, and the facrifice and the oblation shall ceafe for the overspreading of abominations.

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

8 Prideaux, vol. i. p. 208. Boffuet, p. 228. Smith's Summary View, p. 165. Uffer Annales, tom. i. p. 195. tom. ii. p. 568. Jofephi Antiq. Jud. 1. xi. c. 5. Gray's Key to the Old Teftament, p. 414. Mede's Works, p. 857. Calmet's Dift. vol. i. p. 393.