X. Lastly, The Oracle observes this Order in the Events which it foretels: For first it says, That Christ should certainly come fixty two Weeks after the going forth of the Commandment, concerning the building of a new Temple; to which seven must be added more, as is evident by the foregoing Verse, which make up in all fixty nine Weeks. Then Christ was to confirm the Covenant for one Week, in the midst of which he was to cause the Sacrifice and Oblation to cease; and then was to follow the over-spreading of Abominations, or abominable Wings, which were to pour down that terrible Desolation we have already mentioned. We may not only say that Jesus Chrift alone came fixty nine Weeks after the going forth of the Commandment; but he may justly pretend that he confirmed the Covenant for a Week, or the half of a Week, that is, for the space of three Years, or thereabouts that he preached; and of his having made the Sacrifice and Oblation to cease by his Death in the midst of that Week, I mean, three Years and an half after he began to confirm his Covenant, by performing the Functions of his Holy Ministry. 'Twas at that time that he abrogated the Lam, made the Ceremonies of it needless; that his Sacrifice deprived all those under the Law of their Virtue and Efficacy; that all those things ceased and were at End, with respect to the Right, though not with respect to the Use and Custom of them, as he himself testified, when he cried out on the Cross, It is finished. And as God himself made it appear in a very sensible manner, when by causing the Vail of the Temple to rend in twain from top to bottom, he rejected the Sacrifices of the Jews, till the time was come which he he had appointed for the consuming of that Temple by his Fire, where they offer'd those Sacrifices to him, which he begun to loath. And 'tis well known, that after the Death of Jesus Chrift, and the Preaching of his Apostles, God poured the Desolation upon the Desolate, and fulfilled in i every Particular, that terrible Prediction which is contained in this Oracle. Those who shall fairly consider all these things, will find that if there be some Chronological Difficulty in the Supputation of the 70 Weeks, yet 'tis wonderfully compensated by the Light, which arifes from those general Agreements which we find betwixt the Prophecy and its Accomplishment; and that we must, by some unaccountable Phrenzy, be determined to cheat our selves, to be capable of being dissatisfied with them. Da For every one of them is very remarkable, and worthy a particular reflection from us. niel we find weeping for his own Sins, and the Sins of his Nation; and God declaring to him the Time in which he would make a Reconciliation for Iniquity, and bring in Everlasting Righteousness. What more seasonable Comfort than this could have been given him? He groans for the Mifery and Oppression of the People of Ifrael; and God foretels him the coming of a Deliverer, who should break in pieces the Enemies of God's People; the Time of whose coming he denotes to him by the fatal overthrow of those Monarchies which had afflicted the Holy People. Nothing could be more seasonable and proper, than to express the coming of the Meffias by such a Mark, as was so comfortable to Daniel's Heart. Nor could this Mark be made more certain, than by by the general Subversion of the four great Ma narchies of the World. Herein 'tis impoffible to be mistaken; so strange and signal Revolutions as these were, being too certain Epochaes, to give us the least occafion to fear any Deceit or Illufion in this refpect. The State and Condition of the Jews, after the Goming and Death of the Meffias, is again another of those Marks and Signs which may make a deep Impression on our Senfes, but can never impose upon them. In effect, 'tis very manifest, it was not left at the Prophet's disposal, to bring in the Desolation of Ferufalem, and to fettle the Abomination in the holy Place, after a Man who called himself the Christ, should be cut of욱 out of the Land of the Living. The erecting an Everlasting Dominion, which should be joined with Reconciliation for Sin, and the Everlasting Righteousness, and a People of just and holy Men, is a Thought of that Nature, as could never come into any Man's Mind of it self, but must of necessity proceed from a Prophetical Spirit. Who was it that so distinctly foretold Daniel, there should be such a Kingdom which should have none but Saints for the Members of it? And who taught him that this Spiritual King should have Dominion over all Nations, Tribes and Languages? : It sometimes happens, that we may foresee very great Events, by our own Penetration and Judgment, accompanied with Experience: But to foretel that a Stone cut out of a Mountain without Hands, should break the Statue in pieces, which represented the four great Monarchies of the World, or that from a very inconfiderable Cause should spring the most strange and furpri zing Effects that ever were heard of, is fuch a Conjecture as is not easy for any Man, by the natural strength of his Imagination to make. Daniel having been bred up at the Court of the most magnificent Kings of the World, might perhaps have his Mind filled with lofty and exalted Thoughts, answerable to the Glory and Grandeur of those Kings: But whence could he borrow this Notion of an heavenly, Spiritual and everlafting Kingdom, and consequently so different from those he had then before his Eyes? And wherefore should he speak only of a Propitiation for Sins, and of a Nation of Saints, in a time in which he himself, with all the rest of the Jews, were longing after nothing so much as the Land of Canaan, and their temporal Deliverance? &c. He might perhaps flatter himself with the thoughts there would come a Deliverer to refcue the Jews from the Tyranny of the Nations; and fo far indeed his natural Light, assisted by his Defires, might lead him. But to foretel the Death of that Deliverer, and so exactly to declare he should not fuffer Death for himself, is a Circumstance so strange and surprizing, as must needs open our Eyes to perceive that Daniel did not speak like an ordinary Man, He might very well foresee, by the meer information of common Sense, that Jerusalem would be razed a second time to the Ground, and fore afflicted. But who told him it should be brought to pass by the overspreading of Abominations, or of abominable Eagles, which is the Expression he uses to represent the Roman Armies, as if he had had them before his Eyes? How could he forefee, that the Desolation that should follow the cutting off of Christ, should be so extream as to extend to to a Confummation? And that the Abomination should be set up in the Holy Place? These are such Circumstances, a humane Understanding can never pretend to foresee; and which 'tis not to be fupposed that Divine Wisdom would be so careful to accomplish, meerly out of complaisance to a pitiful Impostor. : CHAP. IX. Where we shall prove, by the 53d Chapter of Ifaiah, that Jesus Christ is the tre Meffias. HE Prophecy contained in the 53d Chapter of Ifaiah, is so exact, so coherent, and gives so particular an Account of the Humiliation and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ, that there's no reason to wonder if the Rabbies do all they can, to rob us of this great Column of our Faith. Some of them pretend that this Oracle concerns either Jeremiah, or some other Prophet: Others affirm that Ifaiah understands the Ifraelites in this place, where he foretels how great the Humiliation and Mifery of that People would be, during this last Captivity they now groan under. Another fort of them are compelled to pretend, there were to be two Messias's; the first the Son of Manaffeh, who was to suffer many things, and be at length overcome in a Fight by Gog and Magog: And the other the Son of Judah, who was to be glorious and triumphant, and to |