could not have been worth the notice of prophecy in comparison with him. But that Michael signified Christ may be gathered from what St. Paul tells the Hebrews, who believed that Michael was the Shechinah, or glory of God. See Schotgen. Hor. Hebr. et Talm. tom. II. p. 15. He says that Christ was this very Shechinah, viz. the brightness of God's glory, Heb. i. 3, and thus identified Michael at once with Him. For translating "Messiah shall make a covenant" we refer to the elliptical sense, which the words will bear, when stripped of the human Masoretic punctuation, and to the evident allusion to such meaning in the ensuing verse. For the ellipse, see 1 Sam. xx. 16; xxii. 8; 2 Chron. vii. 18; Is. lvii. 8. That it was on the division of the week, that our Lord was sealed by baptism and the Holy Ghost, and proclaimed to be the Lamb of God, appears from his own saying, that the time was then fulfilled, Mark, i. 15; which could not have been the end of the week, for he was not yet crucified, nor the commencement of it, for his ministry did not last seven years; and therefore, since there was no other particular time foretold of, must have been the division, or middle of the week. When it is said, Luke, iii. 23, that Jesus was about thirty years of age when he commenced, it may be, that he was thirty-three years, it being perhaps only sufficient to show, by saying that he was about thirty, that he, who was to fulfil all righteousness, did not assume the office of public teacher before the usual and legal age. The authorised version, began to be about, has no meaning in it, and is incorrectly rendered.

3. The two thousand three hundred days. The two thousand three hundred years from the perfect re-establishment of the religious affairs of the Jews by Artaxerxes, B.C. 457, (who relieved " the Priests and Levites, Sing

ers, Porters, Nethinims or ministers of the house of God," from paying toll, tribute, or custom to him, Ezra, vii. 24, and thus rendered them free in the service of their God, of which the daily sacrifice formed the chief part), till the church is sanctified and cleansed with the washing of water by the word, and presented to Christ a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Eph. v. 26, 27; Rev. xxi. 2; xix. 7. See DAILY. Dan. viii. 9-14. And out of one of them came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great, towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host, and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And the host was delivered up, together with the daily sacrifice, for APOSTACY, And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one Saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, HOW LONG IS THIS VISION OF THE DAILY SACRIFICE, AND IS THIS APOSTACY OF DESOLATION TO GIVE BOTH SANCTUARY AND HOST TO BE TRODDEN UNDER FOOT? And he said unto me, UNTO TWO THOUSAND AND THREE HUNDRED DAYS; THEN SHALL THE SANCTUARY BE CLEANSED. It must be known that at the time of the delivery of this vision, the temple and the temple service, of which the daily sacrifice formed the chief part, did not exist; for the sanctuary was desolate, Dan. ix. 17, 18, and the people scattered abroad. Dan. ix. 7. Daniel sees in this vision the sanctuary restored, and the service going on; but the sanctuary again cast down, and the

service again interrupted. The question, then, very naturally is asked, How long a time is this vision of the restored daily sacrifice to occupy?-how long is the restored daily sacrifice, which is seen going on in vision, to last, before this fresh interruption ensues? and after this fresh interruption occasioned by this fresh apostacy, how long is the sanctuary and host to be desolate before it is again re-established? The answer is, that the whole period to elapse till the cleansing of the sanctuary is to be 2300 days, i. e. years: but what portion of the time the vision of the daily sacrifice by itself was to occupy, is not here said. But we are told afterwards, when Gabriel, whom Daniel "had seen in the vision at the beginning,' i. e. in this vision, Dan. viii. 15, 16, came purposely to give Daniel "skill and understanding," ix. 21, 22—for "he was astonished at the vision," viii. 27, (as well he might be, when he foresaw another desolation after the one already subsisting-viz. that during the seventy years captivity), "and none understood it,"-that with respect to the daily sacrifice, Messiah would cause all sacrifice (virtually) to cease on the division of the last week of seventy weeks, i. e. of the last seven years of 490 years, after its full and effective restoration under its proper Prince, which happened B. C. 457. By this ostensible key of Gabriel's, it appears, that the daily sacrifice would be delivered up by reason of the apostacy iu 487 years time from the commencement of the 2300, of which consequently the remaining 1813 would elapse before the cleansing of the sanctuary. But as the 487 years expired A.D. 30, at the commencement of our Lord's ministry, the remaining 1813, or the whole 2300, will expire A.D. 1843.-But in another method the same calculation of the 2300 years may be deduced. This vision of the daily sacrifice and the subsequent desolation

was to last 2300 years. But as the daily sacrifice is not recognised by Gabriel as existing before Messiah is sole Head of the Jewish Church, well rid of the civil interference of the Persian Antichrist, we declare at once, that the commencement of the 2300 years began B. C. 457, though the temple was built and the sacrifices performed before. For prophecy does not regard the putting together of stocks and stones. Jerusalem and the daily sacrifice mean the civil and religious polity of the Jews, settled on its own independent basisMessiah the chief corner stone, and the law and prophets the foundation.

4. The twelve hundred and ninety days-The twelve hundred and ninety years till the cleansing of the sanctuary, or end of the 2300 years. Dan. xii. 11. And from the time of the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and to set up the abomination of desolation, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days, or to English the verse properly, And from the time of the taking away of the daily sacrifice, the time that the abomination shall be set up shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. In the authorised version, it is so rendered as to imply, And FROM the time that the abomination that maketh desolate shall be set up, which does not give the sense of the Hebrew; for the Hebrew implies not FROM the time, but the TIME the abomination which maketh desolate shall be set up, denoting the time which the abomination is to last. The introduction of the particle into the second member of the sentence, diverts it from its line of connexion with the first in a translation, and requires something to be supplied for which there is no occasion in the original; for being broken into two sentences, it stands thus: And from the time of the taking away of the daily sacrifice, there shall be a thousand two hundred

N

and ninety days; and the abomination that maketh desolate, shall be set up a thousand two hundred and ninety days, where both the commencement and the duration of the abomination is given. The before an infinitive, after the verb substantive expressed or understood, gives it the form of a future. See Ges. Lehrg.der. Hebr. Sp. sec.211, 1,2. Leips. 1817. As the termination of 1290 years calculated from A.D. 70, when the abomination of the Roman army was set up in Jerusalem, brought neither an end of the abomination, nor any thing else so important to the Jews or the Christians as to warrant us to conclude that the period was then completed, we are authorised to believe, that the abomination of the Roman armies mentioned in this vision; Dan. xi.31; xii. 11, is not the abomination which is precisely intended. Nevertheless, as the abomination is mentioned definitely as the abomination, some abomination noticed before, it must also be that very abomination. But the abomination noticed before is that at Dan. ix. 27, and of the little horn's desolation of the Sanctuary, viii. 10, 11; and this relates to the abomination of the Romans in Jerusalem. But this abomination of the Romans in Jerusalem, as was just said, cannot be the abomination mentioned at Dan. xii. 11, and yet must be that abomination, by the definiteness of the expression and legitimate construction of language. The conclusion then is, that the abomination of the Romans in Jerusalem, has a double fulfilment, at ix. 27, and viii. 10, 11; and that one of them must regard the literal Jerusalem, and the other the spiritual Jerusalem. Consequently the seventy weeks or 490 years at Dan. viii. must be predicated of the Church of Christ, as well as of the literal Jerusalem; and we must calculate the same period of time which elapsed between the commencement of one covenant and one abomination, as elapsed between the