firmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?"*

*Heb. ii 1, 2, 3, 4

235

LECTURE X.

DANIEL, IX. 27.

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease: and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

IN marking the progress of the illumination imparted by revelation, the analogy has been often traced between the manner of its diffusion, and the gradual dispersion of light in the heavens. Prophecy, which is revelation, bearing the evidence of inspiration impressed on it, seems in this view to have struck the Apostle, and to have suggested the fine image in which he so happily compares it to "the light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the daystar arise," by which our steps are directed. In discharging this part, as addressed to our

* 2 Pet. i. 19

feeble senses, it was accommodated to the structure of organs, the sound exercise of which was as liable to be precluded by an overpowering splendor, as a palpable darkness. As it advanced in its clearness and certainty, with the progress of civilization and intelligence, it supplied a degree of evidence, fitted for the conviction of the times to which it was progressively addressed; in its feebleness, acquiring support from the easy credulity of the ruder ages, and in its strength overpowering the scepticism of the more refined and informed.

In no part of revelation, is the character, to which prophecy lays a claim, so signally maintained as that which solicits our present attention. The view which it opens into the future, is displayed with that distinct and steady light, which is adequate to the conviction of any age, however enlightened and inquiring. Of the revelations professing to be delivered from on high, none surpass it in the interest and importance of the event predicted. In the establishment of it alone, the great question on which the Jewish and Christian Churches are opposed, is decided; whether Jesus be "he that should come, or we are to look for another."* While it is of itself adequate to prove the inspiration of the prophet, and to establish the truth of

* Luke, vii. 19.

revelation, it is competent to dispel the doubt, in which the unassisted mind is perplexed, in its scrutiny into futurity; and to give to the hopes and consolations which religion alone can inspire, a stability not to be shaken.

The general outline of the prophecy was traced by me on a former occasion; and the different periods were defined, into which it is divided. The grounds of the triple division, adopted by the prophet, have been examined, and the object of the different revelations, which each section of it was intended to convey, has been explained in its order. In pursuing the subject, it will be at present only necessary to observe on the regularity with which the period of seventy septenaries is distributed. As it opens with the term of the jubilee, and closes with that of the semitah, or sabbatical period, and when regarded as a whole, comprises the remarkable term of ten of the former, and seventy of the latter cycle; in thus conforming to that division of time, which was of divine appointment, it bears internally those marks of a controlling providence, by which the future is not merely foreknown but predetermined. Suitably to this regular and tripartite distribution, the Jewish polity was modified, for the period of nearly five centuries, to which it extended; commencing with the restoration of "the sacrifice and oblation," on the rebuilding of the temple, and

ending with its cessation, on the sacrifice of "him who through the eternal Spirit offered himself to God for us,' "* who " once in the end of the dispensation, appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself," † and according to the prediction, of the prophet before us, "to bring in everlasting righteousness."‡

To this great consummation the principal place is assigned in the prophecy of " the seventy weeks;" it is accordingly announced at the opening of the prediction. And on this account, it would appear, that it is less prominently advanced at the close of it, which demands our immediate attention. The last septenary of the seventy, which he proceeds to define and distribute, according to the principal events by which it would be distinguished; in declaring, of "the people of the leader who should come," § that they "should strengthen the covenant with the multitude for one septenary, and in the midst of it, cause the oblation and sacrifice to cease."||

I. In fixing, on a former occasion, the close of the second, and of the third and last period of the prediction; the limits of the septenary, defined in the text, were necessarily determined. This period, it was accordingly shewn, extended to the seven years, which occurred between the ↑ Dan. ix. 24.

*Heb. ix. 14.

§ Ibid. 26.

+ Ibid. 26.

|| Ibid. 27.