320 DANIEL’S PROPHECY VINDICATED.
Now ébis oracle was no other but this prophecy of Daniel, whose accomplishment at that time the Jews all over the east expected. And they acknowledge in their Talmud that they were made pro- digiously obstinate in the war they had undertaken against the Romans, by their continual expectation every day and moment that their Messiah, who was to come about that time, would appear for their relief ; for, because of some expressions in this prophecy, they always looked for his coming in some time of great distress But this, through their lusts and blindness, was hid from them, thaé their distress Indeed arose from their rejection of him who was come, and had actually called them unto that repentance which alone would have prevented it. And this persuasion, that the Messiah was to come at or about the end of Daniel's weeks, and that those weeks Were now come to an end, was so fixed in their minds, that when they found that he came not, as they thought, according unto their expectation, they attempted to make a Messiah themselves, even the famous Bar-Cosba; which proved the means and cause of their utter extirpation out of the land of Canaan, as hath been declared. Thus was it with them of old, whose posterity, through obstimacy in their unbelief, do now curse all that compute the time of his coming, and, confounding it with his second appearance at the end of the world, cast it off to the last day, or a small proportion of time im- mediately preceding it.
25. The prophecy itself (that we may return to its cmideneial contains a mixture of alias good and ‘desirable with those that are terrible and dreadful. That there is a prediction of things terrible and penal, in destructions and desolations, upon or after the close of the seventy weeks, is both plain in the text and acknowledged by the Jews. That there is any thing of mercy, love, and grace, con- tained in the words, some of them deny. This course takes Abar- banel in his Aw \yD,—“ Springs” (or “ Fountains’) “of Salva- tion.”
But this figment is directly contrary to the whole prophecy, the context, and express words of the text. The vision itself was granted unto Daniel in answer unto his prayer. That the design of his solemn supplication, was to obtain mercy and grace for Israel, is also plainly set down. The answer is given him in a way of merey and love, and for his consolation in his great distress; and is it not strange that the Spirit of God should direct him to pray solemnly for grace and mercy, and give him a blessed answer for his comfort and supportment, which should contain nothing at all of the mercy prayed for, but only terrify him with wars, desolations, and destruc- tions? As such an apprehension hath nothing in the Scripture to warrant it, so it is altogether dissonant from reason. Besides, the things mentioned and summed up, verse 24, contain tose:
SECT.25-27.] DANIEL’S PROPHECY VINDICATED. 321
tract of all the good things that ever were promised unto the church
from the foundation of the world, and which it had for many ages been nourished with the expectation of But these things will be more particularly evinced in our ensuing discourse.
26. For the computation itself, the Jews universally acknowledge that the sevens here denote sevens of years; so that the whole dura- tion of the seventy sevens compriseth four hundred and ninety years. This is granted by R. Saadias Haggaon, Jarchi, and Kimchi, on the place. Here we have no difference with them or others; for it were lost labour to divert unto the consideration of the fancy of Origen, who, Hom. xxix. on Matthew, would have every seven to contain seventy years, ten years to each day, and the account to begin at the creation of the world, making the whole sum of years to be 4900, which expired, as he thought, at the coming of Christ. Apollinaris also indulged a more vain imagination, supposing the prophecy to give an account of the whole space of time from the death of our Saviour unto the end of the world.
But these fancies are exploded by all. Both Jews and Christians are generally agreed that the precise duration of the time deter- mined is four hundred and ninety years, and that it extends not farther than the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Whether it reach
_ 80 far or no shall afterwards be discussed.
’ SeEconDiy, That which we have to prove and establish from this prophecy against the Jews is,—first, That the true and only Messiah promised unto the fathers is here spoken of, and the time of his coming limited; secondly, That he was to come and to discharge his work before the expiration of the seventy weeks, or four hundred
_ and ninety years from their proper date,—that is, before the sacri- _ fice and oblation were caused to cease in the destruction of the city and temple. These things if we clearly evince from the text, we have satisfied our argument, and confirmed that the Messiah is long since come. Neither are we, as to the importance of the testimony itself, concerned in that chronological computation of the time limited, which we shall afterwards inquire into. _ The first thing incumbent on us is, to prove that it is the true and __ only Messiah and his coming that are here spoken of. And this we _- Shall do from,—(1.) The context and scope of the prophecy; (2) _ The names whereby he is called; (3.) The work assigned unto him ; _ (4) The general confession of the Jews of old, and the follies and open mistakes of the later Jews in substituting any other thing or person in his stead. 27. (1.) The context and scope of the place evidence him to be in- tended. This in general was before declared. It was about the great- st concernment of that people that Daniel had newly made his plications. First, The answer given him is, as the angel declares, VOL, XVIIL - 2]