Page images
PDF
EPUB

to it; and is to be distinguished from the external buildings and walls of the city, which were not finished till some time after the temple and sanctuary were finished,*-you will then take your reckoning from the time of Darius.

In the 21 year of this king (supposed by the best. chronologers, to be Darius Nothus) in the year of the Julian period 4292, which answers to Anno Olymp. 415, the word of the Lord came to Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua the high-priest, commanding them to begin the work of rebuilding the temple.Now to apply these predictions to the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour as an event that will fix the other periods-However men have heretofore cavilled about the exact fulfilment of this important prophetic. declaration, notwithstanding the conclusive nature of the testimony, the late discoveries by astronomical calculations put the question out of doubt.-No one will dispute, that Jesus the Christ was crucified on the Friday of the Jewish passover, which was always held on the day of the full moon, and that particular one, next after the vernal equinox-Josephus expressly says" the passover was kept on the 14th day of the month Nisan according to the moon, when the sun was in aries-and the sun always enters aries at the instant of the vernal equinox, which in our Saviour's time fell on the 22d March-Therefore to ascertain the year of his death, we must compute Vide Mr Mede's Daniel's weeks, for a full explanation of this.

in which of those years, there was a passover full moon on a Friday-for there could not be two pass. over full moons on the same day of the week, within the compass of a few years, and there is no dispute exceeding four or five years. Now on an accurate calculation, the only passover full moon that fell on a Friday for several years before or after the disputed year of the crucifixion, was on the 3d day of April in the 4746th year of the Julian period, which was the 490th year after Ezra received the commission from Artaxerxes Longimanus to restore and build Jerusalem (according to Ptolemys Cannon) and the year in which the Messiah was to be cut off, according to prophecy, reckoning from the going forth of that commission or command; and this 490th year was the 33d year of our Saviour's age, according to the vulgar æra, but the 37th from the truc ara thereof; and we have already seen that from the 7th of Artaxerxes Mnemon, or the year 4316, to the baptism of Christ by John, in the year 4743, is exactly 427 solar years, or from the 20th year of the same king, and reckon by lunar years you arrive at the same period, in fulfil ment of these extraordinary predictions.

Indeed there can be little doubt at this day, with any one who believes the history of the life and death of our blessed Saviour, of the strict and literal fulfil ment of Daniel's prophecy of the first coming of Christ in the flesh and his subsequent humiliation and sufferings.

L

This astonishing conformity to so distant predic tions must greatly establish our faith and hope, as to that part of the prophetic declarations, respecting the second coming of our Lord in glory, which yet remains to be fulfilled.-The same Omniscient power who could foresee events at the distance of one hundred years, with equal ease could recount those of three thousand.

The prophet in chap. viii. 23. proceeds to mention the events that are to introduce the glorious second advent of the Messiah with the special circumstances that would attend it, as if he had already seen it"And in the latter time of their kingdoms when the transgressors are come to the full, a King of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up (or arise) and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people-and through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; he shall also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."

The king here referred to, was the last king mentioned in the vision of Daniel-He was to come up out of one of the 4 horns and was to be exceeding great.

Although I agree with some learned men that in some of the prophecies of the scriptures of

truth, they have a double reference, making one event of an earlier date, typical of another of a more remote date, that the expectation of the people of God might not be wearied out, but confirmed notwithstanding the distance of the remotest periods,-yet I cannot agree in all their conclusions.

[ocr errors]

According to Sir Isaac Newton the latter times were to take place, when the Romans began to conquer Perseus king of Macedon-At that time, he says, the transgressors came to the full-Then the high priesthood of the Jews was exposed to sale; the vessels of the temple were sold to pay for the purchase. The high priest with some of the Jews, procured a license from Antiochus Epiphanes "to do after the ordinances of the Heathens," and they sat up a school at Jerusalem for teaching those ordinances, (vide 2d Macabbees.) This related chiefly to the worship of Jupiter Olympus in the temple built to him by the emperor Hadrian in the place of the temple of the Jews, and which was followed by the revolt of Barchochebas, and the desolation of Judea, when 580,000 Jews were said to be slain-fifty cities and 985 of their best towns destroyed, and every Jew banished Judea on pain of death.-This horn or government prospered and practiced, that is, he prospered in his practices against the people of God-He stood up against the prince of the host of heaven, the prince of princes, which is a char acter of Antichrist-He took away the daily sacri. fice and cast down the sanctuary and the truth

to the ground."-But it is remarkable, that though this was originally and in the first instance fulfilled so long ago, yet it is expressly declared that these practices, were to last till the end of the indignation against the Jews; and till the sanctuary, that had been thus cast down, should be cleansed; which clearly shows that the prophecy must refer to an event to be completed at the very end of the Roman gov

ernment.

Now, however, this prophecy might have (in part) been accomplished, in events of that early date, as typical of what was to come thereafter in the last times, which in respect to so many men of learning and piety who have wrote on this subject, I must acquiesce in, yet on a careful examination, the events that are finally referred to, must be of a later date-It is positively declared that this prophecy is to be fulfilled in the latter times-It was to end when the sanctuary was to be cleansed. It was at the time of the end of the 4th or Roman government, that the vision was to be. It was to be in the last end of the indignation against the Jews. At the time appointed the end should be-The prophet is assured that the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true; wherefore shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days."

It is to take place when the transgressors are come to the full. Then the king or government of a fierce countenance is to arise, and the times of the Gentiles are to come to an end.

1

« PreviousContinue »