and to throw the autumn feast into the winter or spring. But, as we find these feasts, without any clashing, occurring at the same periods in the days of Solomon as in those of Moses, it is plain, that the Hebrew civil year must have coincided with the solar, as near as it was possible. Third. As these feasts were of divine origin, God knew that a perfect knowledge of the true solar year was requisite, to keep them up with regularity; and if the correct solar year was unknown, it is unreasonable to suppose that God would keep the Hebrews in ignorance of it, and yet require a close observance of it, as this would be preposterous.

Fourth. The Talmud, which is followed by most modern writers on Hebrew chronology, relates that the ancient Hebrew year consisted of twelve lunar months, which, falling short of the solar year, a month was intercalated whenever the 12th of Nisan happened to fall before the vernal equinox; and this month was called ve-Adar. This may have been their mode after the captivity, and after they became acquainted with the Gre cians, but is plainly not of Mosaic origin. The Comp. Commentary remarks: "This arrangement of the Hebrew calendar, is made on the authority of (late) Jewish writers, who are not the best guides even in the affairs of their own nation. Their notation of the months has been implicitly followed by Christian critics and commentators universally; but we believe it to be incorrect; for, according to their distribution of the months, the religious festivals could never have been observed at the stated times; the seasons in Palestine not answering the purpose." In Carpenter's Calendarium Palestinæ, it will be seen that "the present Jewish calender is carried up a month too high." It is irrational to suppose that the Hebrew lawgiver, who regulated all things else

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with consummate skill and nicety of harmony, could have left the solar year in such an awkward and ungainly predicament as the Talmud represents it; for, according to its account, all of the fasts, feasts, sacrifices, ceremonies, summers, winters, harvests, and spring times, all of the Sabbatic years and jubilees were moving in a perpetual jerk, going hop, step, and jump, and jolting all civil business and sacred affairs into a perpetual jumble every three, or five, or eight years. A prelate, who was taught that the earth was the center of the universe, and that stars and suns rolled round it every day, impiously remarked, as he saw the absurdity of the doctrines, "that had he been of God's privy council, he would have advised him better." And many a prelate, in reading the Talmud, has felt that he could have advised Moses to adopt a more convenient year for his system to work by. The mechanism of the original Hebrew fabric can not be impeached of imperfection, for all its parts are of divine institution. But unless it was adjusted as near to the solar year as days can begin and end such a year, it was imperfect, as its motions were dependent upon a solar year to keep the machinery in well balanced operation. Springtime, and harvest-feasts were obliged to occur at precise seasons of the year, which could not have been the case, had these seasons been jostled about by the difference of a month or two almost every year. But Moses himself totally demolishes the Talmud fable, for he shows that he did not follow lunar months. The account of months and time, incidentally exhibited in the seventh chapter of Genesis, says Calmet, shows that he estimated the year to be 365 days long, (at least.) Scaliger, Prideaux, and Usher, inform us that the ancient Chaldean, Persian, and Egyptian year was 365 days long; and that some of them intercalated,

to keep up with the sun. seem identical in origin; as to equal solar time, and thus to suit his system, we must suppose that he adopted it for general use; but if it was not so intercalated, he must have remedied its deficiency. Had it not approximated as near to solar time as a year can be made to do, his system would have become deranged by it, and hence, he must have adopted such a year, because the demand was imperious. But the nearest that a year of days can approach to the solar year, is to allow 365 days to three years successively, and give 366 days to the fourth. From the considerations, then, that the Mosaic law demanded a year as near to the Julian as is the solar, and that Moses knew of a year of 365 days long, it is a legitimate conclusion, that he intercalated one day in every four years, as his system imperiously required. The history of the Julian year is, that it was brought to Rome from Egypt by Sosigenes, and adopted by Julius Cæsar as the Roman year. But it is likely Sosigenes obtained it from books or traditions, rather than from observation. The famous astronomers of Greece and Rome, and other nations, were not able to ascertain the number of days of a solar year, nor to approximate closely to it; nor did ancient astronomy afford remarkable facilities for any correct knowledge on the subject. The fact, then, that a year of 365 days was known as early as Moses and Noah, is presumptive of a direct revelation on the subject. Indeed, as Moses gives the account of the deluge, and the time of its continuance, by immediate inspiration, and not from books, the revelation of the days and months of the year is certain.

Their year, and that of Moses, and if his was so intercalated

Lastly. If prophecy is found to be fulfilled in years of this kind, it will confirm all our views indubitably. We

have now seen, that all Hebrew time was divided in weeks, whether days or years, or years of years; and that a part of all their time was sacred time; and that the year was of two kinds, the sacred of 364 days, and the secular of 365 and 366. We now take another step, and will show that they had full and abbreviated time.

SECTION IV.

ABBREVIATED TIME AND FULL TIME.

We have already seen that the Hebrews had weeks of years, and we know that 70 weeks of years, or 490 years, will not fill the demand which the fulfillment makes, that they should equal 564 and 603 years. To these periods, we know they must be equal, from the absolute nature of the case. Now, as 70 weeks are less than 603 years, it is a plain case that a certain amount of time, not expressed by the 70 weeks, must be understood as connected with them, and that this must be added to them in order to fill the demand. It is also plain, that this time to be added, must be added in accordance with a clear and well defined principle. The next question, then, is, What is the principle? We reply, that the principle is this, That spiritual time is to be added to these weeks; that it is not expressed in them; and that the weeks are weeks of secular time. The weeks are, therefore, abbreviated weeks, and represent full time, but do not express it. We must, therefore, add spiritual or rest time to the weeks, in the proportions in which it actually existed in all Hebrew time, and then we shall reach the periods coinciding with the 564 and 603 years; and having done this, we not only show a fulfillment, but

the fulfillment incontestably verifies the correctness of our interpretation.

A secular week will, it is obvious, contain a less number of days than a full week, which includes the Sabbath or Sabbatic year, and in order to get the full length of a Sabbatic week or jubilee, consisting only of secular time, a proper proportional of sacred time must be added to it. Because, during the existence of fortytwo secular years, seven spiritual or rest years must also have transpired. It may be here observed, that in all Christian countries the rest days, such as Sabbaths and holy days, are unknown in law as days. So that a legal year is composed of not over 312 days, and generally, of not so many. To obtain then the solar time which transpired during 312, or less legal days, we must add in the uncounted, but understood, Sabbaths and holy days. Of this nature the seventy weeks partake; they are weeks of legal time, to which the Sabbath, or holy day time, must be added, in order to ascertain the full solar time that passed during their existence.

Besides the seventy weeks, there are other examples in scripture where abbreviated years are used instead of full ones. Thus, Moses and Paul both say it was 430 years from the Abrahamic covenant to the exodus; while Moses, in another place, shows that it was at least 603 years in full, from the covenant to the exodus. The book of Kings says that it was 480 years from the exodus to the foundation of the temple; while the books of Joshua, Judges, and Acts, show that it was over 600 years. Now, in each of these cases, both accounts must agree, because they are both inspired. The only way in which they can coincide is, by considering the shorter. periods as consisting of secular time, and the longer, of both spiritual and secular time. These examples confirm