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"threescore and two Weeks of Years, that is, "four hundred thirty-four Years, and the "reckoning will end in September, in the Year

of the Julian Period 4712, which is the Year "in which Chrift was born, according to Cle"mens Alexandrinus, Eufebius, Irenæus, Epi

phanius, Jerome, Orofius, Caffiodorus, and "other Ancients. If with fome you reckon

that Chrift was born three or four Years be"fore the vulgar Account, yet his Birth will "fall in the latter part of the last Week, which "is enough,"

HE fhall confirm the Covenant with many for one Week. He kept it, fays our Author, notwithstanding his Death, till the Rejection of the Jews, and Calling of Cornelius and the Gentiles in the seventh Year after his Paffion.

IN balf a Week he shall caufe the Sacrifice and Oblation to ceafe. That is, fays Sir Ifaac, by the War of the Romans upon the Jews; "which War after fome Commotions, began

in the thirteenth Year of Nero, A. D. 67, "in the Spring, when Vefpafian with an Army "invaded them; and ended in the second Year "of Vefpafian, A. D. 70, in Autumn, Sept. 7, "when Titus took the City, having burnt the Temple twenty-feven Days before; fo that "it lafted three Years and a half.”

OUR Author obferves upon the latter part of this Prophecy, that the meaning of it is, that the People of a Prince to come, fhall deftroy the Sanctuary, and abolish the daily Worfhip of the true God, and overfpread the Land with an Army of falfe Gods; and by setting up their Dominion and Worship, cause Desolation to the Jews, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. He then fums up in a few Words,

what

what he has offered concerning this Prophecy. Thus, fays he, have we in this short Prophecy, a Prediction of all the main Periods

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relating to the coming of the Messiah; the "time of his Birth, that of his Death, that of "the Rejection of the Jews, the Duration of "the Jewish War, whereby he caused the City

and Sanctuary to be deftroyed, and the time "of his fecond coming: and fo the Interpreta❝tion here given is more full and complete,and

adequate to the Defign, than if we fhould "reftrain it to his firft coming only, as Interpreters .ufually do. We alfo avoid the

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doing Violence to the Language of Daniel, "by taking the feven Weeks, and fixty-two "Weeks for one Number; had that been "Daniel's meaning, he would have said fixty

and nine Weeks, and not seven Weeks, and fixty-two Weeks, a way of numbering ufed "by no Nation." In the remaining part of this Chapter, Sir Ifaac gives us the grounds of the Chronology he has followed; but it would be too long to transcribe them here.

THE eleventh Chapter treats of the times of the Birth and Paffion of Chrift. Upon reading the Title of this Chapter, we were in hopes that our learned Author fhould have endeavour'd to folve the Difficulties which arife from the feeming Oppofition, there is, between St. Matthew and St. Luke, with regard to the time when Chrift was born; but Sir Ifaac does not fay one word of it. He contents himfelf with giving us a fhort Hiftory of Christ's Preaching, in order to find out how much time he spent in the exercife of his minifterial Functions: He concludes, from the Obfervations he makes, That we have in the Gospels of Matthew

"Matthew and John compared together the

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Hiftory of Chrift's Actions in continual or"der during five Paffovers. The first Pas "fover was between the Baptism of Christ, "and the Imprisonment of John; John ii. 13. "the fecond within four Months after the Im

prifonment of John, and Chrift's beginning "to preach in Galilee, John iv. 35. and there"fore it was either that Feaft to which Jefus "went up, when the Scribe defired to follow

him, Matt. viii. 19. Luke ix. 51. 57. or the "Feaft before it. The third was the next "Feaft after it, when the Corn was eared and ripe, Matt. xii. 1. Luke vi. 1. The fourth "was that which was nigh at hand, when "Chrift wrought the Miracle of the five

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Loaves, Matt. xiv. 15. John vi. 4, 5. and the fifth was that, in which Chrift fuffered, "Matt. xx. 17. John xii. 1. Between the firft "and second Paffover, John and Christ bap"tifed together, till the Imprisonment of

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John, which was four Months before the "fecond. Then Chrift began to preach and "call his Difciples; and after he had instruct"ed them a Year, fent them to preach in "the Cities of the Jews; at the fame time.

John hearing of the fame of Chrift, fent to "him to know who he was. At the third, "the Chief Priefts began to confult about the "Death of Chrift. A little before the fourth, "the Twelve, after they had preached a Year "in the Cities, returned to Chrift; and at the "fame time Herod beheaded John in Prifon,

after he had been in Prifon two Years and a "quarter: and thereupon Chrift fled into the "Defart for fear of Herod. The fourth, "Chrift went not up to Jerufalem for fear of

"the

"the Jews, who at the Paffover before had

confulted his Death, and because his time "was not yet come. Thenceforward there"fore till the Feaft of Tabernacles he walked "in Galilee, and that fecretly for fear of Herod: and after the Feast of Tabernacles he "returned no more into Galilee, but fometimes "was at Jerufalem, and fometimes returned

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beyond Fordan, or the City Ephraim by the "Wilderness, till the Paffover in which he was betrayed, apprehended, and crucified."

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THE Years, during which Chrift preached, are, according to our Author, diftinguished by fuch effential Characters, that they cannot be mistaken. "The fecond Paffover is diftin

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guifhed from the firft, by the Interpofition "of John's Imprisonment. The third is diftinguished from the fecond, by a double "Character, firft, by the Interpofition of the

Feaft to which Chrift went up, Matt. viii. «Ε 19. Luke ix. 57. and fecondly, by the Di"ftance of the time from the beginning of "Chrift's Preaching: for the fecond was in the σε beginning of his Preaching, and the third fo

long after, that before it came, Chrift faid, "from the Days of John the Baptist, until now, "the Kingdom of Heaven fuffereth Violence, "and upbraided the Cities, Chorazin, Bethfaida, and Capernaum, wherein most of his

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mighty Works were done, because they repented not, Matt. xi. Which fhews, that "from the Imprisonment of John, till now, "there had been a confiderable length of time. "The fourth is diftinguished from the third,

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by the Miffion of the Twelve from Chrift, "to preach in the Cities of Judea in all the Interval. The fifth is diftinguished from

"all

"all the former, by the Twelve's being re"turned from preaching, and continuing with "Chrift during all the Interval between the

fourth and the fifth, and by the Paffion, and "other infallible Characters."

OUR Author having fixed the Summer in which John firft began to baptife, in the fifteenth Year of the Emperor Tiberius, the first of the five Paffovers we have mention'd, fell confequently in the fixteenth Year of that Emperor'; and the laft Paffover, in which Chrift fuffered, on the twentieth Year of the fame Emperor'; and by confequence in the Confulfhip of Fabius and Vitellius, in the feventy-ninth Julian Year, and of Chrift the thirty-fourth, which was the fabbatical Year of the Jews. This Sir Ifaac proves further by fome other Arguments, on which we think it needlefs to enlarge.

THE twelfth Chapter is intitled, Of the Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth. Here the Author explains the eleventh Chapter of Daniel, and fhews how it foretels the Hiftory, from the time of Alexander the Great, to the prefent time; and he tells us, that the Nations spoken of, from verse the fortieth to the forty-third, are those Nations that compofe the Empire of the Turks, and therefore this Empire is here to be understood by the King of the North. Thefe Nations compofe alfo the Body of the He-Goat'; and therefore the Goat ftill reigns in his last Horn, but not by his own Power. As it is almoft impoffible to give an exact Account of this Chapter, without tranfcribing the whole; we muft content ourfelves, with laying before the Reader a particular Paffage, which will hew in what manner Sir Ifaac reafons, and

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