Fury on all the Heathen, (as the Mahometans are cal· led for their denying of Chrift's Divinity) when they are gathered to behege Ferufalem, as is defcribed in Zach. 14. where the Deftruction of Antichrift mouft be ... at Chrift's Second, Coming.!

Ch. 6. Declares what God required of the Jews, that they might escape the. Calamities threaten'd. N, 8. What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do Juftice, and to love Mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

1.Ch. 7. He menaces both Samaria and Jerufalem, to de ftroy them; and their Divifions then are described v. 6. The Son difhonoureth the Father, the Daughter rifeth up againft the Mother, the Daughter-in-law against the Mother-in law, and a Man's Enemies are those of his own Houfe. But from .&. is the Promife of the Jews laft Return: When I fall, I fhall rife; when I fit in Darkness, the Lord Vide Ifa. 60. fhall be a Light unto me.

V. 10. Then he that is mine Enemybfhall fee it, (that is, Babylon,) and Shame fhall cover her; now fhall fhe be trod den down as Mire in the Streets.

V. 11. The City of Jerufalem is to be built in that Day; then they will overturn thý Ordinances, and thy Cities fhall come to agree and divide Affyria; and thy Cities fhall reach from Tyre to Euphrates, (these are fortified Towns,) and from the Sea to the Sea, and from Mountain to Mountain.

V. 13. Notwithstanding the Land fhall be defolate with them that dwell therein, because of the Fruits of their Religion. (These are the Mahometans,)

V4. Feed thy People, the Sheep of thine Inheritance, who dwell folitarily in the Wood, in the midft of Carmel ; let them feed in Behan and Gilead, as in the Days of old.

V. 15. And as in thy coming out of Egypt, thon fhalt see marvellous things.

V. 16. The Nations fhall fee, and be confounded at their Strength; they fhall lay their Hands on their Mouths, and their Ears be deaf.

V. 17. They lick the Duft like Serpents; they fhall be a fraid of the Lord our God, and fhall fear because of thee.

V. 18. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth Iniquity, and paffeth by the Tranfgreffions of the Remnant of his Heritage?

20. Thou wilt perform the Truth to Jacob, and the Mer cy to Abraham, which thou haft fworn to our Fathers from the Days of old.

Note, When God deftroys and cafts his People out of their Land, he always promifes their Return, because of his Promife to Abraham and his Pofterity.

The Jews will return from Affyria. Ch. 5. v. 6. They fhall feed Affur with the Sword: And Ch. 7. v. 11. They fhall divide Affyria.

They fhall be afraid of the Lord our God; that is, Chrift; who will ftand on Mount Olivet, as Zachary lays,

Ch. 14.

According to the Days of thy coming out of Ægypt, I will Thew thee marvellous things. The Jews continued in their coming from Egypt into Judea, Forty Years; during which they faw many Miracles, the Manna, Quails, the Water from the Rock, and the Cloud by Day, and the Fire by Night.

The fame, or like Miracles will happen to the Jews on their Return into their Countrey; or elfe, fome extraordinary Prodigies, fuch are Earthquakes, fiery Meteors, extraordinary Eclipfes, Comets, Inundations. Tho' these have Natural Caufes, yet they have their appointed time for Signs to them that fee them, by Direction of Providence, to be Signs of fucceeding Changes in Empires.

The Heathens are blamed in Scripture, because they im puted Prodigies to the Power of their Idols, or thei Anger, for want of Sacrifices to them: But

if

if Prodigies be acknowledged as Effects of Divinē Providence, they are Proofs of God's Government in the Changes of Kingdoms, defcribed in the Prophecies. All Kingdoms are raised and fubverted, according to God's Decrees; and Prodigies are unufual Appearances in Nature, which portend those Changes.

SOME

SOME

OBSERVATIONS
Concerning the

PROPHECIES

D

O F

DANIEL.

ANIEL's Seventy Weeks make 490 Years; and these are to end when the City and Temple are deftroy'd. But we cannot find that that Number will accord with the Decrees of Cyrus or Darius, or with Efdras's or Nebe miah's Commiffion from Artaxerxes.

536 Years before Chrift, Cyrus reftores the Jews from their Captivity, and decrees the Re-building of the City and Temple. To that Number if we add to Years after Chrift, when the City and Temple were deftroyed, they will make 606 Years.

520 Was Darius's Decree for the Building; and by add ding A. D. 70, there will be 590 Years.

458, Efdras is fent by Artaxerxes to reftore the Law and Worship. To which if we add A. D. 70, that will amount to 528.

445, Nehemiah was fent by Artaxerxes to build the Walls: and if we add the 70 Years, they will make 515. This is the neareft Computation to 490: But there is a Difference of 25 Years; which ought to be imputed to the Uncertainty of the Perfian Hiftory and Chronology; the Jews were ignorant in it, who lived under it as Subjects.

Since none of these Computations do explain this Prophecy, it must not be computed from any Decree of the Emperors; but from Nehemiah's Command for the Dedication of the Wall, 434; and the City was not filled with Citizens till his Return; every tenth Man was taken by Lot to dwell in Jerufalem to build. He fortified the City; and ordered the Watch. Thus, if all these things were not compleated till 420, then the time till A.D. 70, will be exact 490; and Nebemiah continued his Reformation till 409, and returned 418.

Some may doubt of the Sense of the Prophecy, as not taken literally; but fince Jeremy expreffed the Captivity by 70 Years, we may believe that the 70 Weeks were underftood as 490 Years; and that was the time for the continuance of the Mofaic Conftitution, and the Introduction of Chrift, and the Destruction of the City and Temple by a War. This time is divided into three Sections; 49 Years are the feven Weeks; the 62 Weeks, 434 Years; one Week, feven Years.

I will give my Senfe of this Prophecy, as it is in the Sepa tuagint, and begin with Dan. 9. v. 27. Many will defend the Law, (or Judaic Covenant, for one Week, that is, 7 Years,) but in the Middle of that Week, the Sacrifice and Libations will be taken away, and the Temple perfectly desolated, and the Roman Enfigns fet upon it; and this Defolation will continue to the End of the 490 Years. (Jofephus continues the Hiftory to A. D. 76.) in which the War continued,

V. 26. After the 62 Weeks, the Priesthood fhall be de ftroyed, and have no Jurifdiction; and the Governour_who is to come, fhall deftroy the City and Temple; like a Flood he fhall beat them down to the End of the War, so as not to be seen.