mandment, of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah, exactly agrees with the express character of the commandment in this prophecy under confideration. The seven weeks were to bear date from the going forth of a commandment to restore and to build Jerufalem, even the fireet and wall thereof. Now there never was any commandment went forth before this, on the account of the city and wall of Ferufalem, nor any fince: there being no need of any, for by virtue of this, the city, street, and wall, were actually re-edified. Now here must the epoch of the feven weeks, or forty-nine years, be fixed, within which compafs of time this event was to be fulfilled, namely, the rebuilding the streets, and wall of the city of Jerufalem; for that this event belongs folely to the period of the feven weeks is manifeft, as Dr Prideaux obferves ", from the appropriating the time of the Meffiah to the period of fixty two weeks in the next verfe, which neceffarily leaves this entirely here where I have fixed it; befides, it is here predicted, that the fireet should be built again, and the wall any pa which fome have rendered in the ftrait or smallest pittance of time, in anguftia temporum, in the narrow space of these two periods, that is, in the leffer of them, which is that of feven weeks; fo that the prophecy exprefsly refers this event to this diftinct period; though, if it should be rendered troublous times, or times of oppreffion and affliction, it is notorious enough, what trouble and affliction Nehemiah and the Jews met with, from Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gefbem the Arabian; fee Neb. iv. and vi. Now for the compleating of this work, feven weeks, or forty-nine years, are cut out, limited and determined, in which space of time it is reafonable to fuppofe the city was built upon her own beap, its streets, or broad places, were filled with agreeable ranges of houses, and its wall fettled upon its own foundation, and indeed in much less time all this could not well be done. But I proceed,

W

2dly, To confider the fixty-two weeks, or 434 years, after the expiration of which the Meffiah was to be cut off. Having fixed the epoch of the feven weeks, or forty-nine years, there is no difficulty in beginning thefe, for these weeks begin where the others end; the feven weeks and fixty-two weeks have not one and the fame epoch, as the author of the Scheme of Literal Prophecy, from father Harduin, would have it, who here contends for abbreviated weeks; for the feven weeks, and fixty-two weeks, are, in the 25th verse, reckoned by the angel, in one and the fame continued reckoning, as reaching to the Messiah; for he expressly fays, that from the going forth of the commandment unto the Meffiab the prince, fhall be feven weeks and threefcore and two weeks, that is, fixty

• Connect. Part 1. Book 5. p. 290.

p. 133, Marshall's Chron. Treat. p. 3.

nine

nine weeks, or four hundred and eighty-three years; but there being this particular event, of the street and wall to be rebuilt within the compafs of the first seven weeks of this fixty-nine, or which was to be compleated about the end thereof, is the true reafon of the angel's ufing this uncommon way of reckoning; and therefore having difpatched the first period, and the event which belonged to it, he now proceeds to the fecond and larger period, which would reach down to the Meffiah's death; and in order to the clearing of this part of the prophecy, it will be proper, 1. to enquire who is to be understood by the Meffiah, and the Meffiab the prince, 2. what by his being cut off, and that not for himself; and, 3. the exact and precife time thereof according to this prophecy.

1. I fhall enquire who we are to understand by the Meffiah, and the Meffiah the prince: that the Meffiab the prince in ver. 25. is the fame with the Meffiab in ver. 26. that was to be cut off, manifeftly appears at first view, there being no character whereby to diftinguish one from the other in the whole prophecy, though indeed the author of the Scheme of Literal Prophecy, with the help of father Harduin, has found out no lefs than three Meffiahs in this prophecy, namely Messiah Cyrus, Meffiab Judas Maccabæus, and Meffiab Onias the high priest; the two first he makes to be Meffiah princes, and the other a Meffiab priest. The Meffiah Cyrus he makes to come at the end of the feven weeks, or forty-nine years, from the date given, which he fuppofes to be the fourth of Jehoiakim; and the Meffiah Judas Maccabæus at the end of fixty-two weeks, or four hundred and thirty-four years, beginning from the fame date; about which time alfo a third Meffiah was to arife, even Meffiah Onias the high priest, who was an upright perfon, of great holiness, and taken off by an unjust death; but to all this I reply, that Cyrus cannot be intended by the Messiah in ver. 25. whom this author places at the end of the seven weeks, or fortynine years, because he was dead long before thefe weeks began; nor can Judas Maccabæus be the Meffiah that was to come after the expiration of fixty-two weeks, fuppofing that they bear the fame date with the former; because Judas Maccabeus must have lived and been dead many years before the expiration of these weeks; and for the very fame reafon Onias the high priest cannot be meant, whose death father Harduin makes typical of the death of the true Meffiah, Jefus, who he fays is directly intended here by the Holy Ghoft; and herein the author of the Scheme of Literal Prophecy diffents from him, seeing he will not allow the Meffiah, Jefus, to be at all intended; but as for Harduin, he fays the prophecy particularly belongs to Chrift, and that it had not its completion

UU 2

y Pag. 177, 183. Vid. Harduini opera. p. 593, 591.

1

completion in the times of Antiochus and Judas Maccabeus and herein oppofes both Eftius and Sixtus Senenfis; he likewife afferts, in fo many words "that "this was far from being fulfilled in Onias, that he was the most haly, for ftrictly and properly speaking, says he, this word only denotes him who is "eminently the holy one; nor was it ever fulfilled in the times of Onias that "everlasting righteoufnefs fhould then appear; nor was it then fulfilled that "the Meffiah fhould be flain, neither was Onias properly the Meffiah, as we "have before faid, as the Jews themfelves acknowledge, nor was it ever ful "filled under Onias, that the whole Jewish nation should deny him, and that the "fame people fhould be rejected upon that account; nor was it fulfilled after "the death of Onias, that the defolation of the temple should continue until "the confummation; for before the people were to cease to be a people, that "is, before the last and utter deftruction of the temple, all the prophecies "concerning the Messiah were to be fulfilled." Some Jewish writers' would have Herod Agrippa intended by the Meffiah that was to be cut off, who they say was the last king of the Jews, and was flain by Vefpafian in the deftruction of Jerufalem; but this is all false; for he was not properly a king of the Jews, having only Galilee for his jurifdiction, was not flain by Vefpafian, but was a confederate of the Romans, lived fome years after the deftruction of the city, and at last died in peace. This is manifeftly defigned to deftroy the application of the prophecy to the Meffiah, though fome of them have acknowledged that it belongs to him. R. Nebumiab, who lived fifty years before Christ, afferted, that the time of the Meffiab, fignified by Daniel, could not be protracted beyond thofe fifty years. The Jews tell us a story of Jonathan ben Uzziel, that having finifhed his Targum on the law, he attempted to write one upon the Hagiographa, but was hindered by a voice from heaven, which gave this as a reason why he should not proceed, because therein the end of the Meffiab is delivered to us, that is, the time of the Meffiah's being cut off as fixed in Daniel, which book is one of the Hagiographa; that the Meffiah is here intended may be collected from the name and title here given him, by which I not only mean that of Nagid the prince, who was to come out of Judah's tribe, 1 Chron. v. 2. but

* Atque impletum certe non eft in Onia, ut effet ipfe Sanctus San&torum, nam proprie & in rigore nonnifi cum vox illa denotat qui xalx fanctus fit. Non eft impletum Oniæ temporibus, ut tunc appareret juftitia fempiterna-non eft tunc impletum ut Chriftus occifus fit, neque enim Onias certe, ut ipfimet Judæi confitentur, proprie o Xpisos erat, ut diximus, &c. Harduini opera, p. 597. a Jarchi & Abarbinel in loc. b Vid. Wagenfeil. Mantissa de LXX. Hebdom.. P. 73. In Grotius de Verit. C. R. lib. 5. f. 14. Vid. Talmud Megillah. fol. 3. 1. e Vid. Buxtorfii Tiberiadem. c. 11.

but that other of Meffiah; it is certain that this name was well known among the Jews, and that in the times of Jefus, as belonging to that great perfon spoken of by all the prophets; it is ufed fixty or feventy times in the Targums. Now, if this does not belong to him here, it will be hard to find another place where it is abfolutely, and by way of eminency, given unto him, and yet we find that he was commonly known among the Jews by this name, and that by the meaner fort; fee John i. 41. and chap. iv. 25. which furely they must have learned from fome of the prophecies, and it can hardly be conceived from whence, unless from this prophecy; befides, the work this perfon was to do, can agree with no other; the feveral branches of which, are mentioned in ver 24. I go on,

2. To enquire what is meant by his being cut off. The Hebrew word n here used, fignifies to be cut off in a judicial way, and fo it is frequently; fee Gen. xvii. 14 Exod. xii. 15. Numb. xv. 30, 31. fo that when the Meffiah is faid to be cut off, the meaning is, that he fhall die, and that his death fhall be penal, or executed upon him in a judicial way, which was verified in Jesus, who was tried, condemned, and adjudged to death in a judicial way by men, as well as made a curfe by God; and herein fulfilled what was prophefied of the Meffiah in Ifa. liii. 8. who was to be taken from prison and from judgment, to be cut off out of the land of the living, and to be ftricken for the tranfgreffion of the people of the Jews. And now, least it should be thought that he was cut off for any iniquity that was found in him, it is added, and not for himself; no, as Ifaiab fays in chap. liii. 5. be was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our iniquities; though fome choose to render this claufe otherwise, as be shall have no people, that is, among the Jews, that will believe in or obey him; as Jefus had few indeed in that nation; or they shall not be his people; for upon their rejection of the Meffiah, Jefus, they were rejected from being the people of God; or there fhall be none to help him, that is, in obtaining eternal redemption, because he needed none. Jarchi makes to be the same as is not, which phrafe is frequently expreffive of death, as Gen. xlii. 13, 32, 46. Jer. xxxi. 15. Then the meaning will be, that the Meffiah fhall be cut off and die, or be cut off by death. The author of the Scheme of Literal Prophecy objects, upon this account, against the application of this prophecy to the Meffiah; and obferves, that "the Jews, in Jefus's time, were fo far "from understanding Daniel's Meffias, who was to be cut off, to have any re"lation to the Meffias they expected; that their opinion was, that the Meffias "fhould

g

"fhould never die; and even the apoftles and difciples of Jefus thought Jefus "could not be the Chrift when they faw him fuffer and die." To which I anfwer, this is no proof that the Meffiah, according to the prophets, was not to die; but only a proof of the ignorance of those perfons, which feems to arife from want of being fufficiently acquainted with this truth, that the Meffiah was to be both God and man; and indeed it is no wonder that the common people were ignorant of thofe things, when their learned doctors were fo; hence it was that they were so wretchedly confounded by Christ when he questioned them about the Meffiah, and in what fenfe he was both David's fon and Lord, Matt. xxii. 42. besides, this notion that the people had learnt out of the law, that Christ abideth for ever, was no ways inconfiftent with his death; for though Jefus was dead, yet he is now alive, and will continue fo for evermore: It is certain the Jews are aware that the Meffiah of the prophets was to fuffer and die, as well as to be exalted and dignified; and finding fuch different characters of him, which they thought irreconcileable in one perfon, have vainly imagined two Meffiahs; the one they call Meffiah the son of Jofeph, who they say shall be flain in the war of Gog and Magog, and the other they call Messiah the fon of David, whom they fancy will be a very potent, magnificent, and victorious prince; though about the " time of his continuance they are divided; and as to the difciples of Jefus, it must be acknowledged that there was much ignorance, diffidence, and unbelief in them, efpecially in thofe two referred to by this author, all which was removed by the refurrection of Chrift from the dead, when life and immortality was brought to light, and he declared to be the Son of God, and true Meffiah, with power. In fhort, these exceptions are infufficient to difprove the Meffiah being intended in Daniel's prophecy, or that the Jews understood it of him, for this they might, and yet not understand all those things that were faid of him therein, and much lefs be capable of reconciling them with the characters elfewhere given of him. I have already given inftances of Jews, both before and after the times of Jefus, who understood this prophecy of the Meffiah; befides, we have the teftimony of Jofephus in this matter, and in him, as Bishop Chandler observes, the testimony of the whole nation. But I proceed,

3. To confider the exact and precife time of the Meffiah's cutting off; in order to which, it will be proper to fix the form of the year here made use of, which it is highly reasonable to fuppofe, was that which was in common use among the Jews. The learned Mr Marfbal, according to whofe hypothesis I

h Vid. Talmud Sanhed. fol. 99. I. Christianity p. 141.

have

Pocock Porta Mofis, p. 159, 160. i Defence of Chron. Treat. part 2. c. 4. p. 233, 234, &c.