"And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound, on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." Lev. xxv. 8-10.

Here we see they were to number 7 sabbaths or weeks of years, that is, 49 years to the jubilee. Daniel's prophecy, in the original, is weeks of years, so that he spoke in terms perfectly understood by the Jews.

pos

3. He may have had allusion to the 70 years captivity in Babylon; and designed to show that as the Jews had so long been kept out of the session of the holy land, that now being restored to it, they should seven times as long be kept in possession of it; and enjoy their sabbaths 7 times 70 years, and in them have 70 sabbatical years, or ten jubilees.

Such is the vision of the 70 weeks; and such are the reasons why Daniel uses weeks of years, instead of giving the number in years.

Now we would ask, how this proves that days in our text, signifies years? Do you answer, because there a day stands for a year?

The author of the Lectures says, all commentators agree with him in regard to the 70 weeks;

and hence he concludes, that he has a key, being right there, by which to unlock the whole vision. But I am unable to see the least aid to be derived from this towards proving that 2300 days are 2300 years. How can the fact, that 70 weeks of years signifies 490 years, prove that when the prophet speaks in different terms, and uses days instead of weeks of years, he means by day, a year?

We have seen why a day, when used in weeks of years, signified a year; that was the way the Jews were told to reckon it; but never were they told to reckon invariably, under other circumstances, a day for a year. The whole argument, therefore, rests entirely on assumption; there is no more relation between Mr. Miller's premise and conclusion, than resemblance between light and darkness. For myself, I can hardly imagine how a man could have taken such a leap as he did, to get at this conclusion.

Let us turn to the text a moment.

"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."

According to the interpretation in the Lectures before us, the daily sacrifice means the Pagan abomination, the transgression of desolation the Papal abomination, and the sanctuary to be trodden under foot, the Christian church. We cannot stop, however, now to consider these; we

6*

must wait till we have first settled the point in regard to the sense of days.

Dr. Clarke says, 2300 days signifies literally 2300 mornings and evenings. Henry says, 2300 days means evenings and mornings; this, he tells us, is the import of the original word days, and he adds, some make the morning and the evening in this number to stand for two; and then 2300 mornings and evenings will make but 1150 days. This answers to the morning and evening sacrifices; they should see their sanctuary trodden under foot unto 2300 sacrifices.

Let me now inquire to what we could apply the prophecy in such a case? Did any thing occur to which it was applicable? Let Josephus answer. He says,

Antiochus Epiphanes "came up to Jerusalem, and pretending peace, he got possession of the city by treachery; at which time he spared not. so much as those that admitted him into it, on account of the riches that lay in the temple; but, led by his covetous inclination (for he saw there was in it a great deal of gold, and many ornaments that had been dedicated to it of very great value), and in order to plunder its wealth, he ventured to break the league he had made. So he left the temple bare; and took away the golden candlesticks; and the golden altar [of incense], and table [of shew bread], and the altar [of burntoffering]; and did not abstain from even the vails, which were made of fine linen and scarlet. also emptied it of its secret treasures, and left nothing at all remaining; and by this means cast the Jews into great lamentation, for he forbade them to offer those daily sacrifices which they

He

used to offer to God, according to the law. And when he had pillaged the whole city, some of the inhabitants he slew, and some he carried captive, together with their wives and children, so that the multitude of those captives that were taken alive amounted to about ten thousand. He also burnt down the finest buildings; and when he had overthrown the city walls, he built a citadel in the lower part of the city, for the place was high, and overlooked the temple, on which account he fortified it with high walls and towers, and put into it a garrison of Macedonians. However, in that citadel dwelt the impious and wicked part of the [Jewish] multitude, from whom it proved that the citizens suffered many and sore calamities. And when the king had built an idol altar upon God's altar, he slew swine upon it, and so offered a sacrifice neither according to the law, nor the Jewish religious worship in that country. He also compelled them to forsake the worship which they paid their own God, and to adore those whom he took to be gods; and made them build temples, and raise idol altars in every city and village, and offer swine upon them every day. He. also commanded them not to circumcise their sons, and threatened to punish any that should be found to have transgressed his injunction. also appointed overseers, who should compel them to do what he commanded. And indeed many Jews there were who complied with the king's commands, either voluntarily, or out of fear of the penalty that was denounced; but the best men, and those of the noblest souls, did not regard him but did pay a greater respect to the customs of their country, than concern as to the punish

ment which he threatened to the disobedient; on which account they every day underwent great miseries and bitter torments, for they were whipped with rods, and their bodies were torn to pieces, and were crucified, while they were still alive and breathed. They also strangled those women and their sons whom they had circumcised, as the king had appointed, hanging their sons about their necks as they were upon the crosses. And if there were any sacred book of the law found, it was destroyed, and those with whom they were found miserably perished also." -Josephus, Vol. I. p. 410.

With this quotation in our mind, let us read what Daniel says. After having described, under the figure of a ram, the Persian empire; of a hegoat, the Grecian empire; he goes on to describe, under the figure of a little horn, a king of the Grecian empire, or Antiochus Epiphanes. His language is,-

"Therefore the he-goat waxed very great and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones, toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward 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 an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the