times seven, the people of God shall have a double blessing happily conferred upon them; that is, a free and gracious remission of sin, and everlasting righteousness, by the exhibition and by the death and passion of Christ the Saviour; who shall fulfil all those prophecies which have been before of him, and shall preach to the world that saving Gospel which is only able to give them life; and by his eternal priesthood shall make way for his Church to the true holy of holies, even the glorious sanctuary of heaven.

25. "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."]-Know therefore and understand, that from the first year of king Cyrus, wherein his edict goes forth for the return of the Jews to their native country and for the building of Jerusalem, until the death and accomplishment of the great work of the Messiah, shall be four hundred and ninety years, or seventy weeks of years, accounting seven years to a week: which said number, of four hundred ninety years, shall be thus reckoned and subdivided: forty-nine of the first years, which are seven weeks of years, shall be taken up in the building of the temple and restoration of God's worship and service; from thenceforth to the last septenary of years, when the Messiah shall suffer death, shall be four hundred thirty-four years; in which time the city and the walls shall indeed be built up, but the people of the Jews shall undergo manifold troubles and vexations.

26. “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."]-And after the end of the said four hundred thirty-four years from the restitution of the temple shall the Messiah be slain; not for any cause that shall be found in him, but for the sins of men, which by that redemption he shall expiate; neither shall he have any more part in that city; for the Romans shall soon after come and destroy Jerusalem and the temple, and shall sweep away all before them like some violent inundation of a flood; and from the beginning to the very end of this war there shall be grievous desolations to this people.

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, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."]—And in the last of those septenaries he shall, by preaching of the Gospel of peace and institution of evangelical sacraments, establish and confirm his everlasting covenant with all believers; and in the midst of that septenary he shall put an end to all the legal sacrifices and rites by his one all-sufficient sacrifice made for the sins of the world: and for the sinful city Jerusalem, he shall cause it to be overrun with the abominable legions of the Roman victors, to the utter desolation thereof; and shall not cease till all the judgments which are determined unto it be fully consummated and poured out upon that miserable city.

X. 4. "As I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel ;"]—I was in vision by the side of the great river Tigris;

5. "Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:"]-And, behold, the Son of God stood before me in the form of a man clothed in pure white linen, to signify his perfect holiness; and his loins were girt about with a girdle of the finest gold:

6. "His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude."]-His body was of a bright celestial colour; and his face glorious and shining, like the appearance of lightning: his eyes, from which nothing can be hid, were beamy and piercing, like flames of fire: his arms and feet were resplendent, like to polished brass; to signify the pureness and unquestionable perfection of his proceedings: and the voice of his words was mighty and forcible.

9. "Yet heard I the voice of his words : and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground."]—And when I heard the dreadful voice of his words I was cast as it were into an ecstasy, with my face grovelling to the ground; being for the time bereft of the use of my senses, through astonishment.

13. "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia."] -But that angel, which hath the guardianship of the kingdom of

Persia, pleaded earnestly with me for these one and twenty days, in a desire to retain thy people somewhat longer; but, lo, Michael, one of the chief of angels, who standeth out in favour of thy nation, came to advance and to set forward the execution of my will, concerning my Church; but I decreed, for holy and just causes, to withhold my appearance from thee for a time, upon the occasion of the affairs of the king of Persia.

I am induced to interpret this prince of the kingdom of Persia to be an angel; because, in the same verse, and verse 21, Michael is termed the prince of Israel; and one prince of these spiritual governments is brought in pleading against another; neither is it probable that Christ is here meant by Michael, sith it is he who in this glorious appearance speaketh to Daniel concerning Michael.

20. "Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come."]-Knowest thou wherefore I came unto thee? even lest thou shouldst think thyself neglected by my absence or delay; and now, I will return to plead with the angel of Persia for your remove; and when I, together with my people, am gone forth thence, the angel that is for Greece shall come and prevail mightily against the Persian kingdom.

21. "But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince."]-But I will show thee the particularities of these passages which are enrolled in the counsel of God's everlasting decree; wherein I will let thee know, that neither the Persian nor the Grecian monarchy shall long subsist: but ye, my Jewish people, shall not be cut off, notwithstanding the great malice of your enemies; neither shall ye need to fear, for Michael, your prince and spiritual guardian, is ready at hand to attend your safety, and to yield his service to me in your protection.

XI. 1. "Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him."]-Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, though insensibly to men, stood out for the confirmation of that monarchy of his.

2. "And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia."]-And now I will

show thee the true event of future things. Behold, there shall stand up three kings successively in Persia, after this Darius, who shall yield up his kingdom to his partner and successor, namely, Cyrus, Cambyses' son, and Darius Hystaspes; and the fourth, which shall be Xerxes, the son of that later Darius, shall be far richer than they all, both through the treasures left by his father, and his own exactions; and, in the pride and confidence of his strength and great riches, he shall stir up all those of the east to war against Grecia.

3. "And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will."]-But a mighty king, even Alexander of Macedon, shall stand out against him, and shall overthrow the Persians; and shall rule very powerfully, and with great freedom and absoluteness.

4. "And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.”]— And when he shall have thus overcome, and continued his monarchy for seven years, his kingdom shall be broken in pieces, and shall be divided amongst his four peers, towards all the four coasts of heaven: divided, I say, not to his posterity, for the two sons of Alexander the Great, namely, Alexander and Hercules, shall shortly after die without issue, but to four of his chief commanders: Seleucus shall have Babylon, Cassander Macedonia, Antigonus Asia, and Ptolemy Egypt: but these kings shall not be able to carry that sway and greatness in this subdivision of their state which that great monarch bore before them; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, and parcelled out to others beside them of his own loins.

5. "And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion.”]— Now I shall tell thee what shall befall after this division, in the intercourse of the affairs betwixt two of these great sharers of the monarchy: the king of Egypt, who is the king of the south, shall be strong and mighty; and one other of the posterity of one of those princes, even of Seleucus Nicanor, shall be stronger than he, &c.

6. "And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement; but she shall not retain the

power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times."]-And after some years, these two princes, the one being the king of Egypt, or of the South, the other the king of Syria, or of the North, shall join in a league together; for the king of Egypt's daughter, viz. Berenice the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, shall match in marriage with Antiochus Theos the king of Syria; but she shall not be able to maintain and continue either her marriage or the league betwixt those kings; neither shall the said Antiochus hold firm to his engagements, but the said Berenice shall be forsaken and given up by Antiochus, who shall receive again his former wife Laodice, lately cast off, to make way to that other wedlock with Berenice; and afterwards, upon war hereupon raised betwixt Ptolemeus Euergetes, the brother of Berenice and Antiochus king of Syria, she shall, together with her son and all her retinue, fall into the hands of Seleucus Callinicus the son of her rival Laodice, and by him be miserably slain.

7. "But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north."]-But out of the same stock whence she came shall one stand up in revenge of her death, even her brother Ptolemy Euergetes, which shall come with an army, and enter into the fortress of the king of Syria, &c.

9. "So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land."]-So, when these things are thus despatched in Syria, the king of Egypt shall come back, and return into his own land.

10. "But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up even to his fortress."]-But the sons of Seleucus Callinicus, king of Syria, (which were Seleucus, Ceraunus, and Antiochus the Great,) not digesting this defeat and slaughter, shall raise a new war against the king of Egypt; and, gathering great forces together, shall come powerfully up to invade and recover those parts of Syria whence they were driven; and one of them shall so far prevail by his strong incursions, that he shall pass through Syria and Judea, and, having rescued them, shall return to his own fortress.

II.

"And the king of the south shall be moved with choler,