agreeable to make an admission of a circumstance which, though Mr. Pym does not notice as an argument, might well be noticed in favour of his view of establishing a connexion between the two visions. Daniel says, chap. ix. 21:-" The man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation, and he informed me, and talked with me." The prophet, in relating the circumstances under which the revelation was made to him, mentioning Gabriel, says, that he was the same whom he had seen in the former vision. This certainly does not establish a connexion between any part of the matter of the two visions. But if it should, by any one, be thought to favour an inclination to look for some mutual relation in one to the other, I would hold that the true connexion should be this:- The former vision had foretold a period of desolation, of the date of the commencement of which no sufficient intimation had been given. Now, then, the angel tells him that 490 years are determined upon the people, (not separated,) that is, that such a period is allowed them, and then ensues the desolation. Examine and see if this be not so. I say, not that the angel or the prophet expressly connects the two periods, but the matter of the two is capable of this relation and agreement.

The

The 2300 years is, I presume to say, beyond contradiction, a period of desolation, during which the sanctuary should be trodden under foot. 70 weeks, or 490 years (prophetic days), is the period commencing from the then instant, during

which the sanctuary should be, and was standing in all its latter glory, and the daily sacrifice regularly performed. It was at the end of this time when the Messiah should be cut off, that (chap. ix. 26, 27,) "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 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."

"He" in the last verse appears to refer to Messiah, who is said to cause the oblation to cease at this time, because his death prepared the cause for the removing of the sacrifice, which therefore virtually ceased then, although the actual removal of it and the desolation attending the judgment did not arise immediately.

Let us turn now to what is said of the long period in chap. viii., although that passage has, I believe, been already transcribed. Speaking of the little horn, ver. 11-14, " He magnified himself against 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. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said to 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 three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."

It appears very reasonable, I think, to understand the desolation for the overspreading of abominations spoken of at the end of the short period, and the transgression of desolation with which the long period commences, with their corresponding circumstances, to be one event. And the words in chap. viii. 9, "At the time of the end shall be the vision," seem to lend weight to that opinion; for the days of our Saviour are very properly the days of the end to the ante-christian period. With this, however, I am not concerned further. The opinion I have stated is the most commonly received and best supported, which regards these events as one, and as referring to the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Romans. At the same time a very good case is made out by those who attribute these actions to the ascendency of the faith of Mahomet. Even so, however, I can conceive that the prophecy might have the profanations of Islamism in view as its principal object, and yet commence in a preparatory manner with the persecutions of that other infidel power to which it regularly succeeded in one part, as taking up its chief seat in the very metropolis of the eastern empire. But in fact, all such parts of prophecy as this, are of evident purpose left so involved in obscurity, and the commencement alike and termination of its periods so frequently extend through a length of time, as in a course of gradual progression, that it is not to be presumed to decide in any case the precise moment when a prophecy must be fulfilled.

To revert for a little to what has gone before. I have written" The 2300 is, I presume beyond contradiction, a period of desolation, during which the sanctuary should be trodden under foot." I observe, however, that Mr. Pym does probably not confine it so. In fact, he appears to me to overlook the point of action in the vision itself with which it must necessarily commence, going, as I said, to another vision, distant in time, and totally unconnected in matter and interest, for a hint by the by as to the commencement of this. As this is a part of the illegitimate process which I have endeavoured to expose, it is right that I should notice it, both for fear the argument should be taken up that the period is as undefined in its place, as Mr. Pym has used it as though it were; and secondly, to add another proof how very insecure an authority Mr. Pym is, and how unfit to be received as a guide to difficult parts of Scripture, who so unwarrantably involves what is of itself unperplexed. Mr. Pym then seems in a loose manner to speak of the period of the vision as the period of the whole vision, not what it is, the period of that part of it which is called the vision of desolation. Now would not any careful searcher of truth, in inquiring the commencement of a period, forming part of an historical prophecy, first consider well that period in connexion with the rest of the same prophecy, and ascertain whether it were intended as the duration of the entire prophecy, or only as the duration of a part of it, and if the latter, then of what part; and in what particular event that period should have its commencement. Now is it not strange that Mr. Pym, in his desire to ascertain

the commencement of this period, never once takes any notice of the historical actions of which it is said in its own place to specify the duration, or makes any question of the actual era of any one of those long past and fully cognizable events? Suppose he had said this is the period either of the whole prophecy, or of a definite part of it, or of an indefinite part of it. I conceive it must be one of these three cases; so let us first decide which. Then, I think, upon referring to the passage itself, he would have found the terms sufficiently clear of themselves, and that it measured a definite part of the whole visionthat part which is called the vision of the desolation. But what are we to think of a commentator, who, without seeking to reduce his thoughts to that degree of exactness, but on the contrary keeping far from the point, gives it the indefiniteness of his own inattention. I beg to refer the reader to the text. The time is in the days of Belshazzar. As yet the Babylonian empire stands. As yet the whole vision is in futurity. The Medo-Persian empire is seen to rise, to push westward, northward, and southward. Then is pictured the rise of the Grecian empire, and its division into separate kingdoms. Then arises another power that magnifies himself against the Prince of the Host, takes away the daily sacrifice, and casts the sanctuary down to the ground; and again it is repeated, he takes away the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and casts the truth down to the ground. Then is heard an angel asking, "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