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"From the going forth of the Commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks." In explaining which passage it must be noticed,

First, that Daniel uses here the prophetical way of reckoning each day for a year, so that a week or seven days represents a week of years or seven years. Thus the whole number of years mentioned becomes sixty-nine times seven, or 483*.

Secondly, The time of the Messiah's death, which happened A. D. 33, is supposed to be that of the fulfilment of the prophecy. For in the preceding verse, Daniel refers to the reconciliation for iniquity, and the bringing in everlasting righteousness, which our Messiah's death effected.

Thirdly, The Commandment to restore and build the city and walls of Jerusalem was given to Nehemiah" in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (Longimanus ")," who began to reign, according to the general computation, B. C. 464. The twentieth The twentieth year of

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his reign would consequently be B. C. 445. And from that date to our Saviour's death would comprise a period of 478 years, according to our reckoning. But by the computation of the Chaldeans, among whom Daniel was living, the year consisted of 360 days, i. e. 69 of our (the Julian) years were nearly the same as 70 Chaldean years and hence 478 of our years were nearly the same as 483 Chaldean years, the number mentioned by Daniel. By this prophecy then the Jews were enabled to calculate the time of Christ's coming ".

The preaching of John the Baptist fulfilled also two remarkable prophecies relative to the advent of Jesus. First, that of Isaiah, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry

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There is also a prophecy in Zechariah xiii. 1. to the same effect. "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." In conformity with which declaration we find, that previous to the time of our Saviour's appearance, there was at Jerusalem a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda" (John v. 2. 4.), endowed with the miraculous property of healing diseases of every kind. And as prophecy had ceased about 400 years before, this renewal of divine interposition was particularly calculated to attract the notice, and raise the expectation of the Jews. See Lightfoot's Har. Evang. in Loc. and Law's Theory of Revealed Religion, p. 133. Sixth Edition.

unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. (Then shall be heard) the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,

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prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high

way for our God. (Then) the glory of the

Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Secondly, that of Malachi. "Behold I will send my Messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in: behold he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts "."

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The accomplishment of these predictions appears from St. Matthew and St. Mark's histories. "In those days," saith St. Matthew, " came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand "." John did baptize in the wilderness," saith St. Mark, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, saying, there cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not

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worthy to stoop down and unloose, he shall bap tize you with the Holy Ghost."

Surely these manifestations of the forerunner of our Saviour, so clearly predicted and so evidently fulfilled, proved that the day of the Lord was at hand, in such a way as wilful blindness alone could mistake or be ignorant of.

Q. The Jews however we know, were thus blinded, and still continue to expect the coming of Christ. Shew that they must be wrong. A. It is written in Genesis, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Now we know that many centuries back the sceptre did depart from Judah, and there has not since been any lawgiver among the Jews. Therefore we conclude that Shiloh must have come previous to those events.

• Mark i. 4. 7, 8.
d Genesis xlix. 10.

• That Shiloh means the Messiah is plain even from the acknowledgment of the Jews themselves. The paraphrasts Onkelos and Jonathan, the ancient Hebrew Commentaries on Genesis, and the Talmudists agree in so explaining it. Calmet's Dict. SHILOH.

Shiloh is a very apt and significant title for our Saviour, as, to which root it may be referred, signifies prospere et feliciter agere. Shiloh, therefore, is the person by whom salvation is wrought.

2dly. Again, in the passage just quoted from Malachi, it is said, "The Lord whom ye séek shall suddenly come to his temple." And in Haggai are these words: "I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former; and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts "." These prophecies, it is evident, could only be fulfilled by the coming of our Saviour before the destruction of the second temple at Jerusalem. That He, our Redeemer, and no one else, was meant, is evident from this consideration. In the first temple were the Urim and Thummim, the ark of the covenant, and other especial marks of the divine favour and illumination. The first temple also far surpassed the latter in the beauty of its architecture, and the magnificence and sumptuousness of its arrangements". Nothing then short of the appearance of our Redeemer, the Son of God, in it; of him, who in his own person united the full powers of the Godhead, and came there for the glorious purpose of opening the gates of heaven to all mankind, could possibly make the latter house surpass the former.

Q. From the various quotations just made out

'Mal. iii. 1.

h Ezra iii. 12. Hag. ii. 3.

Hag. ii. 7. 9.

A

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