whereby they are all comprehended under one general description as predictive of the things, that are to take place in the remainder of the term, after the sixty two weeks; but, being in their nature successive, they cannot be supposed to come to pass, all at once, or immediately after the expiration of those weeks.

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Interpretation of the Prophecy, with proofs of its accomplishment.

I am now arrived at the last, and that, which will be found, I trust, the most useful, as well as the most important, part of my labours; to erect upon the text, which on examination has been found to be the true one, upon the translation, which by many proofs and high authorities has been shewn to be the correct one, and upon the preliminary positions, which have been collected and laid down, not without considerable search and pains, for the very purpose of regulating and controuling this portion of the work, to erect,

I

say, a reasonable, clear, and consistent interpretation of the prophecy, though without pretending to absolute certainty, or a freedom from the possibility of objection, and to authenticate the same, as I proceed, by historical proofs of the accomplishment of the predictions accordingly.

Since the ensuing chapter extends itself over the whole prophecy, comprehending several determined periods of time, and the prediction of many specific and highly important events to be arranged accordingly; since, moreover, it will be found necessary to enter into various digressions of a critical and discursive nature and of considerable length, whereby the reader, unless very attentive, may be in danger of losing sight of the main subject, or at least of entangling and confusing himself amid a variety of incidental disquisitions, it has been thought, not only conducive, but really necessary, to perspicuity and convenience, to divide it into portions conformable to the periods and to the events predicted. The reader will therefore find it distributed under six sections; of which the first relates to the main term of the seventy weeks; the second, to the six particulars; the third, to the term of seven weeks; the fourth, to the predictions of Messiah's excision and the destruction of Jerusalem; the fifth, to the supplemental week, or week of the covenant confirmed; and the sixth, to the remaining part of the prophecy.

CHAPTER IV.

SECTION I.

Of the beginning and end of the Seventy Weeks.

24. SEVENTY WEEKS ARE THE DETERMINED PERIOD, or, as our English version, entirely to the same purpose, ARE DETERMINED,

UPON THY PEOPLE AND UPON THY HOLY
CITY.

That the weeks of this prophecy are weeks, not of days, but of years, seven years to each week, according to the analogy of proper weeks, has been sufficiently, though briefly, proved in the second preliminary position laid down in the third chapter, so that it would be wholly superfluous to enter upon the subject in this place. The product of seventy multiplied by seven is four hundred and ninety. Such is the term of years announced by the angel to Daniel, as impending over his beloved countrymen and his desired Jerusalem; and these have been proved

to be years properly so called, or solar years, such as were in use among the Jews of old, and have ever been among all nations in their longer computations of time.

The true measure of the seventy weeks being thus understood, the term itself must be deemed to take its beginning, according to the third preliminary position, from the period, when Jerusalem was fully rebuilt in its proper character as a defenced city, and reinhabited by the Jewish people, serving God and living together according to the rites of worship and the civil laws ordained by Moses, then reestablished in their proper force and efficacy. For the prophecy does not regard merely the literal or material city of Jerusalem, its walls and bulwarks, its streets and houses, but includes the figurative city, the inhabitants, with their government, laws, and religious ordinances. These are all to be taken together according to the express declaration of the angel; seventy years are the determined period upon thy PEOPLE as well as upon thy HOLY CITY. Again, the term of seventy weeks must be considered to have reached its end at whatever time the city and its inhabitants ceased to be in that state; that is to say, whenever the city should be destroyed, the temple demolished, and its religious services abolished; whenever