dermined by the famous prophecy of the 70 weeks:

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Ego vero, fi melior dari oraculi interpretatio nequit, aut textum malè descriptum arbitrer, aut tantum abfim ut hoc vaticinium arcem invictam Chriftianæ religionis habeam, ut hic potius cuniculos maximè timeam." Letter to Sir John Pringle,

P. II.

And moft decidedly indeed would his own verfion (or, as he more properly calls it," doubts," dubitationes,) of this famous prophecy undermine its evidence :

1. Without any fufficient authority, reckoning by lunar years, instead of folar; and computing "the 70 weeks = 490 lunar 475 folar years, ending with the capture of Jerufalem by Pompey, B. C. 63.

2. Introducing a new divifion of 70 lunar, or 67 or 68 folar years, unknown to the Sacred Text; and ending, as he furmifes, with the introduction of the Roman Cenfus into Judea by Quirinius, or Cyrenius, a little before the birth of ChriftB. C.

O 2

B. C. 4, or U. C. 749. But B. C. 63 634 = 59, not 67.

3. Rating the principal divifion of "62 weeks," or, as he reckons, 60 folar years, as ending A. D. 66, at the commencement of the Jewish war. But B. C. 4+ 60 = 64, not 66.

4. Extending" the one week," or 7 years, in the midst of which" the Leader Chrift was cut off,"-beyond the deftruction of Jerufalem A. D. 70, to "the end of the war," A. D. 73.- Whereas the Jewish war was not compleatly ended until the demolition of Jerufalem, and defolation of Judea by Adrian, A. D. 136.

See the fummary of his whole perplexed and moft intricate argument near the end of his Letter, p. 210, &c.-" Jam ut uno oculorum conjectu luftrare poffis," &c.-furnishing indeed a striking and melancholy fpecimen of the juftice of his own obfervation, p. 62:

"Eratne hic dubitandi occafio? Veùm literæ nimia, et difputandi fervor, hominum

hominum eruditorum animos a fenfu communi avocant, nimifque intendendo oculos

cæcutiunt."

X. Improving in hypercriticism on his predeceffor Michaelis, on Haffencamp, and the rest of his brother Profeffors of the German School, Dathe of Leipfic, in defiance of all the ancient verfions, which, with one accord, render the two leading words of the prophecy-" feventy weeks," -(plainly understanding the former to be written fully wow "weeks," as diftinguished from the latter av "Seventy,"

שבועים

and as now fully established by Kennicott's invaluable collation of Hebrew MSS.) renders both by a repetition of the latter : "Complures porro feptuaginta [anni] definiti funt."

-"Many feventy [years] are determined," &c.-defining, by "a downright abfurdity”—in defiance of all logic and common sense an indefinite period ! ! ! ——— Speaking of this repetition, adopted by Dathe" feptuaginta feptuaginta -Michaelis thus reprobates it, p. 32:

"Mirum, in tantâ errandi facilitate, tantoque incitamento,-(fudantibus in diftorquendo oraculo Judæis, nec facilè res fuas expedientibus Chriftianis) neminem erraffe — " neminem vertisse

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Septuaginta feptuaginta fatales funt anni urbi

tuæ.".

While, on the other hand, Dathè no lefs juftly reprobates the interpretation of Michaelis, applying "the one week" to the end of the war, and deftruction of Jerufalem in the midft of it:

"Chronologia enim non confentit ut ultimum hoc feptem annorum fpatium de bello Judaico explicetur, quod in dimidio hujus feptennii (A. D. 70.) jam finitum erat."— Michaelis, protracting the war three years after the deftruction of Jerufalem by Titus!!!-And yet Dathè, no less abfurdly, himself understands it of the Paffion Week of feven days :-" Sed nihil obftat, quin potius exigit hiftoria, ut fub hebdomade, hoc loco, vulgarem — Septem dierum intelligamus."-Not understanding that the Meffiah was "cut off," on Good Friday,

Friday, near the end of the week, not "the_middle;”—and that the analogy of prophecy requires, that "weeks," not of days, but of years, fhould be understood; as in Levit. xxv. 8.—“ Seven sabbaths (or weeks) of years," fignify "Seven times feven," (or 49) years.

To rescue this wonderful and luminous prophecy from the obfcurity in which it has been enveloped by fuch literary fcuttle fishes, I will attempt a more literal and lefs incorrect verfion than I have hitherto

feen;-endeavouring to fill up the ellipfes (in which its principal difficulty confifts,) from the general tenor of the foregoing chain of prophecies, of which this is the denoüement or development; and from the preceding prophecies of Isaiah liii. and Mofes in Deut. xxviii. of which this is the sequel and the amazing commentary, as it is the further illuftration of the grand prophetic period of 2300 days in the ceding chapter, Dan. viii.

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