place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over, till I come into Judah; and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me."

As the intrinsic importance of the work which Nehemiah performed in consequence of this favour from Artaxerxes, appears rather for the greater perfecting of Ezra's commission, which was to "restore and build the walls of Jerusalem," than for any original or new

privileges which it conferred-as well as from the consideration of the date of the latter having already been employed in a similar way in a chronological period relating to the same sanctuary; and also from being connected with the memorable preservation of the Jews under Esther and Mordecai-I have no hesitation in giving it the preference on this occasion; and therefore consider the edict given to Ezra, as that from which the commencement of these 2300 years ought to be dated.

But this preference is sustained by other evidence, deduced alike both from the last and the succeeding Period; which is, that it brings the termination to the year 1843, the same year in which the consummations of all the prophecies relative to the deliverance both of the Jewish and Christian churches centre. The final termination of the "seven times" was proved to correspond exactly to this year-that is, 2520 years, reckoned from 677 B.C. the date of Israel's final ruin; and 2300 years, reckoned from Ezra's commission in 457 B.C., both terminate in the year 1843. As it regards the former, this termination will bear to be expressed as the end of the TIMES; or, as this term is emphatically expressed in Rev. x. 6, as the end of "TIME," for the angel sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, that there should be "TIME no longer;" alluding, I imagine (as the correspond

ing passage in Dan. xii. 7 proves), to the period of the restoration of the Jews, and consequently to the period in question. But the termination of these 2300 years is also called "the time of the end;" for the angel said unto Daniel, "Understand, O son of man; for at the time of the end shall be the vision." Irrespective, therefore, of the synchronism in the chronology, this expression appears to be a still further evidence that the decree of Artaxerxes to Ezra is to be preferred to that of Nehemiah; for if the termination of the period of seven times be THE END OF TIME, which it undoubtedly is-and the termination of this period of 2300 years be said to be THE TIME OF THE END-the consummations appear to be one and the same. Thus the two prophecies confirm and strengthen each other; and afford, by such strong coincidences, presumptive demonstration that the principles of interpretation which have been applied to them, may be correct. And as it is affirmed, in concluding this prophecy, that "the vision of the evening and the morning," which was told, "is TRUE, for it shall be for many days," the mere probability of such great events being now so near, should excite us all to increasing watchfulness, and an anxiety to possess an interest in that only ark of safety which is to be found in the Gospel.

PERIOD VII.

OR

The Great Period of 1260 Years.

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FROM THE GIVING OF THE SAINTS INTO THE HANDS

OF THE PAPAL POWER, TO THE INCHOATIVE FALL OF THAT APOSTASY:

1260 YEARS,

FROM A.D. 533 TO 1793;

AND

FROM THE FORMATION OF THE TEN PAPAL KING.

DOMS TO THEIR DESTRUCTION,

1260 YEARS,

FROM A. D. 583 TO 1843.