<1r>

Considerations on
The Prophesy of Daniel concerning the Messiah . I Romme

By the Babylonian captivity, the kingdom of Iudah was dissolved & the Iews ceased to be a body politick, & continued in this condition till the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who then sent Ezra with a commission to restore the worship of God in the second Temple lately built by the commandment of Cyrus & Darius Hystaspis, & to set up Magistrates & Iudges that might judge all the people & teach them the laws of God & punish offenders against the Laws of God & the King with death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment. This was done Anno Nabonass. 290. And hereby the people of God became again a body politick called by Daniel a people & a holy city, & continued so till the death of Christ which was 490 years after.

In the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede the son of Achsuerus (that is the son of Achseres, Axeres or Cy – Axeres) over Babylon, [Ann Nabonass. 2{6} the Angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel & said to him Seventy weeks are allotted upon thy people & upon thy holy city [such weeks as Laban spake of when he said to Iacob, Fulfill her week] to finish the transgression & to make an end of sins & to make reconciliation for iniquity, & to seale up the vision & prophesy, & to annoint the most Holy. [All which was done by the death & resurrection of Christ Anno Nabonass 780.]

Know also & understand that from the going forth of the commandment [at the end of the long captivity] to restore & to build Ierusalem unto [the coming of him that was annointed] the Messiah the Prince [to reign over it] shall be seven weeks.

Also threescore & two weeks [or 434 years] the city shall be built & the wall [ unto his coming vizt [ from the 28th of Artaxerxes Longimanus unto his birth] but this [not unto his coming in glory to reign as at the end of the seven weeks , but] in troublesome times. And after the threescore & two weeks the Messiah shall [not reign as Prince but] be cut off, & they [shall] not [be] his [people.] And the people of a Prince that shall come [the Romans] shall destroy the City & the sanctuary, & the end thereof shall be with a flood, & unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Yet [before they cease to be his people,] he shall keep the covenant with many for one week [vizt untill the calling of Cornelius & the gentiles which was seven years after he was cut off] & [after that] in half a week he shall [by the aforesaid war under Nero & Vespatian] cause the sacrifice & oblation to cease, & [further in the reign of Adrian ] with the overspreading of abominations he shall overflow & fill the land, &] make it desolate [of its old inhabitants,] even untill the consummation [of the times of desolation] & [untill all] that which is determined shall be poured upon the desolate, [& untill the commandment go forth to cause the captivity to return, & to restore & to build Ierusalem the city of the great king. And from the going forth of this commandment unto the coming of the Messiah the Prince & unto the coming of his kingdom shall be seven weeks of years, as was prefigured by Moses in the Iubile which he instituted at the end of seven weeks of years.

The prophetic Angel in the third year of Cyrus predicted to Daniel a perpetual series of events down from those days to the great tribulation & the resurrection of the dead (Dan XI & XII; & then added that when God should have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all those things should be finished: & Daniel said that he understood not & asked the Angel what should be the end of these things? And the Angel answered that the words were closed up & sealed till the time of the end. –– And from the time that the dayly sacrifice shall be taken away to set up the abomination which maketh desolate [untill God shall have finished to scatter the power of the holy people] there shall be a thousand two hundred & ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth & cometh to the thousand three hundred & five & thirty days. But go thy way Daniel for thou shall rest & stand in thy lot [amongst those that awake out of the <1v> dust] at the end of the days. So then God will have finished to scatter the power of the holy people forty & five days before the resurrection of the dead & the coming of Christ to judgment; that is forty & five years: for all Daniels days are years. And if four years be allowed for the people to return from their captivity after the going forth of the commandment to cause them to restore & to build Ierusalem: this commandment will go forth 49 years before the coming of the Messiah to reign as Prince, for which end he was annointed at his first coming. And thus , this Prophesy will reach to the day of judgment like all the rest of Daniels Prophesies.

[1]

According to the vulgar interpretation nothing is predicted in this prophesy but the death of Christ & destruction of Ierusalem, nothing of moment is done at the end of the seven weeks or at either the beginning or end of the 62 weeks or at the beginning of the week; Christ is annointed to reign but nothing is said of his coming to reign or of his kingdom; & the week ends a week before God ceased to keep his covenant with the nation of the Iews. According to the interpretation here proposed, every period of time beginns & ends with something of great moment; the birth & death of Christ, the calling of the Gentiles, the destruction of Ierusalem & the Temple, the bloody warrs by which the Iews were wonderfully slaughtered & banished from Iudea & their land given entirely to the Gentiles, & the return of the Iews from their long captivity, & the coming of Christ to reign & judge the world, for which end he was annointed; are all of them predicted. The prophesy of the seventy weeks is already confirmed by the event. That of the seven weeks is here proposed not as a certainty, but by way of enquiry untill it shall be either confirmed corrected or confuted by the event.

< insertion from lower down f 2r >

It is already made probable by the expulsion of the Iews from their own land & their dispersion into all nations & very long continuance in that dispersion, an event so extraordinary & miraculous that it never happened to any other nation; & yet it was predicted by Moses above three thousand years ago, & that they should at length return out of all nations into their own land, Deut XXIX & XXX. [And so did the other Prophets. Isa. LIX, LX , LXI, LXVI.20. Ier XXIII.3, 6, 8. Hosea III.4, 5. Ioel II.31. & III.1, 2, 17. Amos IX.14, 15. Luke XXI.24. Rom XI.25, 26. Ezek. XL.21, 22. & XXXVI.24, 28 & XXXVII.12, 24, 25 & XXXIX.27, 28.] And when this comes to pass the wise shall understand.

Moses above three thousand years ago predicted the dispersion of the Iews into all nations & their long continuance in that dispersion & that they should at length return out of all nations into their own land Deut XXIX & XXX XXVIII. When this comes to pass we shall understand better what is meant by the going forth of the Commandment to restore & to build Ierusalem.

< text from f 1v resumes > [2] <2r> [3]

All Daniels Prophesies reach to the day of judgment & consist of two parts, a Prophesy & a supplement for making the Pr. more full & plane. And so doth the Apocalyps. And why should not this of the Messiah be like the rest. The Prophesy is of the Messiah's coming first to be annointed at the end of the seventy weeks & then to reign at the end of the seven weeks. And the supplemental explanation is to distinguish between the two comings by the periods of the sixty two weeks, the week & the half week & the ensuing desolation of the land untill the consumation thereof & untill all that which is determined be poured upon the desolate people of the Iews; that is, untill the commandment go forth to put an end to the desolation by causing the desolate to return home & to restore & to build Ierusalem.

<2v> [Editorial Note 1]

Æschylus about fifty years after the death of Cyrus wrote that the first king who led the army & reigned over all Asia was a Mede & the next who was his son finished the work, & the third was Cyrus a happy man Cyrus succeeded Darius the Mede the son of Achsuerus (according to Daniel) that is of Assuerus, Oxyares, Axeres, or Cy-Axeres the son of Astyages. This is that Assuerus who together with Nebuchadnezzar took & destroyed Nineveh according to Tobit: which action is by the Greeks ascribed to Cyaxeres & by Eupolemus to Astybar{e}s. He & Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Nineveh, & shared the kingdom of the Assyrians, & thereby erected two potent Empires, & his son Darius by conquering the kingdoms of Lydia & Babylonia finished the work. And the third king was Cyrus the son of Mandane the sister of Cyaxeres & daughter of Astyages. Cyrus being sent by Darius took Babylon in the year of Nabonassar 209 according to Ptolemy's Canon: & two years after by the assistance of the Persians beat Darius at Pasargadæ & suceeded him & reigned seven years alone. And then reigned his son Cambyses 8 years, Darius Hystaspis 36 years, Xexes 21 years, Artaxerxes Longimanus 41 years according to the Canon. And the reign of Artaxerxes began Anno Nabonass. 284.

By the Babylonian captivity the kingdom of Iudah was dissolved & the Iews ceased to be a body polytic, & continued in this condition till the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus who then sent Ezra with a commission to restore the worship of God in the second Temple lately built by the command of Cyrus & Darius Hystaspis, & to set up Magistrates & Iudges that might judge all the people & teach them the laws of God, & punish offenders against the laws of God & the king with death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment. This was done Anno Nabonass. 290. And hereby the people of God began again a body polytic called by Daniel a people & a holy city. And in the 28th year of Artaxerxes, Anno Nabonass. 311, the wall of the city was finished & the Gates set up by Nehemiah according to Iosephus.

In the first year of Darius the Mede the son of Achsuerus the Angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel, & said to him: Seventy weeks are allotted upon thy people & upon thy holy City [such weeks as Laban spake of when he said to Iacob, Fulfill her week] to finish the transgression & to make an end of sins, & to make reconciliation for iniquity, & to seal up the vision & the prophesy & to annoint the most Holy. [All which was done by the death & resurrection of Iesus Christ, Anno Nabonass.780.

Know also & understand that [after the most Holy is annointed,] from the going forth of the commandment [to cause thy scattered people to return from captivity &] to restore & to build Ierusalem, unto [the coming of him that was annointed] the Messiah [to be] the Prince of thy people & reign over them, for which end he was annointed] shall be seven weeks.

<3r>

Considerations
on the Prophesy of Daniel
concerning the Messiah. II Ch{illeg}

Æschylus about fifty years after the death of Cyrus wrote that the first king who led the army & reigned over all Asia was a Mede, & the next who was his son, finished the work, & the third was Cyrus a happy man. Cyrus succeeded Darius the Mede the son of Achsuerus according to Daniel, that is, of Assuerus, Oxyares, Axeres Prince Axeres or Cy-Axeres, the son of Astyages. This is that Assuerus who together with Nebuchadnezzar took & destroyed Nineveh according to Tobit: which action is by the Greeks ascribed to Cyaxeres & by Eupolemus to Astýbares, a name perhaps corruptly written for Assueres. He & Nebuchadnezzar shared the kingdom of the Assyrians, & thereby erected two potent empires, & his son Darius by conquering the kingdoms of Lydia & Babylonia finished the work of erecting one Monarchy over all Asia. And the third king of this Monarchy was Cyrus the son of Mandane the sister of Cyaxeres & daughter of Astyages. < insertion from lower down f 5r > Herodotus represents Astyages the father of Mandane & grandfather of Cyrus, to have been the son & successor of Cyaxeres, & Cyaxeres to have been the son & successor of Phraortes the son & successor of Dejoces: & by this recconing he has inverted the order of the kings Astyages & Cyaxeres, & made Astyages of the same age with his grandson Cyrus & attributed to Astyages what he should have attributed to Darius the son of Cyaxeres & grandson of Astyages. Let the true order be restored & the kings of the Medes will have reigned in this order: Dejoces, Phraortes, Astyages, Cyaxeres, Darius, Cyrus: whereof Cyaxeres (according to Herodotus) much excelled his ancestors & was the first who ordered the military affairs of the kingdom & distinguished the Monarchy into provinces. His predecessors reigned only over Media, he extended the dominion into Armenia, Cappadocia, Persia & Parthia & his son Darius (by the conduct of Cyrus,) extended it into Lydia & Babylonia. Cyrus being sent by Darius took Babylon in the year of Nabonassar 209, according to the Canon of Ptolomy, &c < text from f 3r resumes > Cyrus being sent by Darius took Babylon in the year of Nabonassar 209 according to the Canon of Ptolomy, & after two years by the assistance of the Persians beat Darius at Pasargadæ & succeeded in the throne & set the Persians above the Medes & reigned seven years over them. And then reigned his son Cambyses eight years, Darius Hystaspis thirty & six years, Xerxes twenty & one years, Artaxerxes Longimanus forty & one years & Darius Nothus. 19 years according to the Canon, & the rest of the kings of Persia till the conquest of Persia by the Greeks seventy & four years. # See the paper inclosed in the {illeg} < insertion from f 4r > # In the book of Ezra these kings Cyrus, Darius, Ahasuerus or Xerxes, & Artaxerxes are named in order Ezra IV.5, 6, 7. And in the book of Nehemiah the next king, Darius Nothus, is called Darius the Persian Nehem. XII. 22.

By the Babylonian captivity the kingdom of Iudea was dissolved – – – a people & a holy city. But the people of the land still troubled them & wrote a letter to Artaxerxes that the Iews who came up from him were building the city Ierusalem & setting up the walls thereof, & that if this was done they would revolt; whereupon the king gave order that the city should not be built till another commandment should be given from him. Ezra IV.7, 12, 13, 16, 21. Then nehemiah hearing that the Iews were in affliction & that the wall of Ierusalem was broken down, became sorrowfull & the king asking him why he was sad, he replied because the city of his fathers sepulchers lay west & the gates thereof were burnt, & thereupon he obteined leave of the king to go unto Iudah & build the city Nehem. I.3 & II.2, 3, 5. And in the 28th year of the king (Anno Nabonass. 311) the wall of the city was finished & the gates set up by Nehemiah, according to Iosephus. And the Rulers dwelt in Ierusalem but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one in ten to dwell at Ierusalem & leave nine parts in the other cities; Nehem. XI.1. And in the two & thirtith year of this king Nehemiah went back from Ierusalem to the king, & after certain days returned & continued as governour of Iudea till the reign of Darius nothus Nehem XII.22.

Now In the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede the

<4v>

Cyrus in the beginning of his reign sent Zerubbabel to rebuild the Temple, & he laid the foundation but the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Iudah, & troubled them in building & hired Counsellours against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus untill the reign of Darius . Then ceased the work [not of the wall of the city but] of the house of God. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia & then was finished by the prophesying of Haggai & Zechariah. Ezra IV.2, 3, 4, 5, 24. Symbol (cross with 2 uprights) in text < insertion from lower down f 4v > Symbol (cross with 2 uprights) in text And this was about seventy years after the destruction of the Temple of Solomon by Nebuchadnezzar (Zechariah I.12 & VII.1, 3, 5) & by consequence in the reign of Darius Hystaspis. But in the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus or Xerxes the people of the land wrote a new accusation against the inhabitants of Iudah & Ierusalem (Ezra IV.6) & thenceforward the Iews continued in distress till the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus. < text from higher up f 4v resumes >

But in the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus or Xerxes the people of the land wrote a new accusation against the inha bitants of Iudah & Ierusalem. Ezra IV.6. And so they continued in distress till the reign of Artaxerxes.

By the Babylonian captivity the kingdom of Iudea was dissolved &c.

And thenceforward Ierusalem & Iudea were peopled by the Iews till the Romans expelled them.

< text from f 3r resumes >

By the Babylonian captivity the kingdom of Iudea was dissolved & the Iews ceased to be a body politick, & continued in this condition till the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who then sent Ezra with a commission to restore the worship of God in the second Temple lately built by the command of Cyrus & Darius Hystaspis, & to set up Magistrates & Iudges who might judge all the people & teach them the laws of God, & punish offenders against the laws of God & the king with death or banishment or confiscation of Goods or imprisonment. This was done Anno Nabonass. 290. And hereby the people of God became again a people & a holy city. And the twenty eighth year of Artaxerxes (Anno Nabonass. 311,) the wall of the city was finished & the gates set up by Nehemiah according to Iosephus. In the two & thirtith year of this king Nehemiah went ‡ < insertion from f 5r > ‡ back from Ierusalem to the King & after certain days returned & continued governour of Iudea till the reign of Darius Nothus called Darius the Persian in scripture Nehem XII.22. < text from f 3r resumes >

In the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede the son of Achsuerus over Babylon, the Angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel & said to him: Seventy weeks are allotted upon thy people & upon thy holy city [such weeks as Laban spake of when he said to Iacob, Fulfill her week,] to finish the transgression & to make an end of sins, & to make reconciliation for iniquity, & to seal up the vision & the prophesy, & to annoint the most Holy. All which was done by the death & resurrection of Iesus Christ, Anno Nabonass. 780; that is 490 years after the government of the Iews was set up by the commission of Artaxerxes.

Know also & understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore & to build Ierusalem [for thy scattered people then returning from captivity] unto [the coming of him that was annointed] the Messiah [to be] the Prince [of thy people & reign over them, for which end he was annointed] shall be seven weeks.

Also threescore & two weeks [or 434 years] the city shall be built & the wall [vizt from the 28th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus.] But this [not unto <3v> his coming in glory to reign as at the end of the seven weeks, but unto his birth ] in troublesome times. And after the threescore & two weeks the Messiah shall [not reign as Prince but] be cut off, & they shall not be his [people.] And the people of a Prince that shall come [the Romans] shall destroy the city & the sanctuary, & the end thereof shall be with a flood, & unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Yet [before they cease to be his people] he shall keep the covenant with many for one week [vizt untill the calling of Cornelius & the gentiles which was seven years after he was cut off] and [after that] in half a week he shall [by the aforesaid war under Nero & Vespasian] cause the sacrifice & oblation to cease, and [further in the reign of Adrian] with the overspreading of abominations he shall [overflow the land and] make it desolate [of its old inhabitants] even untill the consummation [of the times of desolation] & [untill all] that which is determined be poured upon the desolate, [& untill the commandment go forth to restore & to build Ierusalem the city of the great king And from the going forth of this commandment unto the coming of his kingdom shall be seven weeks of years, as was præfigured by Moses in the Iubile which he instituted at the end of seven such weeks.

The prophetic Angel in the third year of Cyrus predicted to Daniel a perpetual series of events down to the great tribulation & the resurrection of the dead, (Dan XI & XII,) & added that when God should have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all those things should be finished; & Daniel said that he understood not & asked the Angel what should be the end of those things. And the Angel answered that the words were closed up & sealed to the time of the end. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away to set up the abomination which maketh desolate [untill the end when God shall have finished to scatter the power of the holy people] there shall be a thousand two hundred & ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth & cometh to the thousand three hundred & five & thirty days. But go thou thy way Daniel, for thou shalt rest & stand in thy lot [amongst those that awake out of the dust] at the end of the days. So then God will have finished to scatter the power of the holy people forty & five days before the resurrection of the dead & the coming of Christ to judgment; that is forty & five years. For all Daniels days are years. And if four years be allowed for the people to return from their captivity after the going forth of the commandment to cause them to restore & to build Ierusalem: this commandment will go forth 49 years before the coming of the Messiah to reign as Prince, for which end he was annointed at his first coming. And thus this Prophesy will reach to the day of judgment like the rest of Daniels prophesies.

All Daniel's prophesies consist of two parts, a prophesy & a supplement for making the prophesy more full & plane. And so doth the Apocalyps. And why should not this of the Messiah be like the rest? The prophesy is of the double coming of the Messiah; his coming first to be annointed at the end of the seventy weeks, & next to reign at the end of the seven weeks. And the supplemental explanation is to distinguish between the two comings by the periods of the sixty two weeks, the week & the half week, & the ensuing desolation of the land untill the consummation thereof & untill all that which is determined to be poured upon the desolate people of the Iews; that is untill the commandment go forth to put an end to the desolation by causing the desolate to return home & to restore & to build Ierusalem.

<5r>

NBAccording to the vulgar interpretations, nothing is predicted in this Prophesy but the death of Christ & destruction of Ierusalem, nothing of moment is done at the end of the seven weeks, or at either the beginning or end of the 62 weeks, or at the beginning of the week; Christ is annointed to reign but nothing is said of his coming to reign or of his kingdom; & the week ends a week before God ceased to keep his covenant with the nation of the Iews. According to the interpretation here proposed, every period of time begins & ends with something of great moment, the birth & death of Christ, the calling of the Gentiles, the destruction of Ierusalem & the Temple, the bloody warrs in the reign of Adrian by which the Iews were wonderfully slaughtered & banished from Iudea, & their Land given entirely to the Gentiles, & the return of the Iews from their long captivity, & the coming of Christ to reign & judge the world, for which end he was annointed, are all of them predicted. The interpretation of the prophesy of the seventy weeks is already confirmed by the event, that of the seven weeks is here proposed not as a certainty, but by way of enquiry & to be examined amended & improved by the event of things untill the Iews shall return from their long captivity as Moses & the Prophets have predicted, & untill the coming of the kingdom for which we daily pray. For Daniels visions are sealed up unto the time of the end. And then many shall run too & fro & knowledge shall be encreased. And the wise (those that fear God & believe his prophesies) shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand Learning is not sufficient to make those understand who are prejudiced by unbelief.

<6r>

Sect VI. Of the Prophesy of Daniel
concerning the Messiah. III.

Cyrus in the beginning of his reign sent Zerubbabel to rebuild the Temple, & he laid the foundation: but the people of the Land weakened the hands of the people of Iudah & troubled them in building & hired counsellours against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus untill the reign of Darius. Then ceased the work [not of the wall of the city, but] of the house of God. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia; & then it was finished by the prophesying of Haggai & Zechariah. Ezra IV.2, 3, 4, 5, 24. And this was about seventy years after the destruction of the Temple <6v> of Ierusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Zech. 1.12 & VII.1, 3, 5) & by consequence in the reign of Darius Hystaspis. But in the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus or Xerxes, the people of the land wrote a new accusation against the inhabitants of Iudah & Ierusalem (Ezra IV.6) & thenceforward the Iews continued in distress till the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus & the coming of Ezra.

By the Babylonian captivity the kingdom of Iudea was dissolved & the Iews ceased to be a body politick & continued in this condition till the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who then sent Ezra with many Iews & a commission to restore the worship of God in the second Temple, & to set up Magistrates & Iudges who might judge all the people & teach them the laws of God, & punish offenders against the laws of God & the king with death or banishment or confiscation of Goods or imprisonment. This was done Anno Nabonass. 290. And hereby the people of God became again a people & a holy city. But the people of the land still troubled them & wrote a letter to Artaxerxes that the Iews who came up from him were building the city Ierusalem & setting up the walls thereof, & that if this were done they would revolt. Whereupon the king gave order that the city should not be built till another commandment should be given from him Ezra. IV.7, 12, 13, 16, 21.

Then Nehemiah hearing that the Iews were in affliction, & that the wall of Ierusalem was broken down, became sorrowfull. And the king asking him why he was sad, he replied, because the city of his fathers sepulchres lay wast, & the gates thereof were burnt. And thereupon he obteined leave of the king to go unto Iudea & build the city Nehem. I.3, & II.2, 3, 5. And in the 28th year of the King, according to Iosephus, (Anno Nabonass. 311) the wall of the city was finished & the gates set up by Nehemiah. And thence forward the Gates were kept, & the Rulers dwelt in Ierusalem, & the rest of the people cast lots to bring one in ten to dwell at Ierusalem & nine parts in the other cities Nehem VII.10 & XI.1. And in the two & thirtith year of this king Nehemiah went back from Ierusalem into Persia & after certain days returned & continued governour of Iudea till the reign of Darius Nothus. Nehem. XII.2. And thenceforward Ierusalem & Iudea were peopled by the Iews till the Romans expelled them.

Now in the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede the son of Ahasuerus over Babylon, the Angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel & said to him: Seventy weeks are allotted upon thy people & upon thy holy city [such weeks as Laban spake of when he said to Iacob, Fulfill her week,] to finish transgression & make an end of sins, & to make a reconciliation for iniquity & to seal up the vision & the prophesy, & to annoint the most Holy. All which came to pass by the death & resurrection of Iesus Christ, Anno Nabonass. 780, that is 490 years after the government of the Iews was set up in Iudea by the commission of Artaxerxes to Ezra, as above.

Know also & understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore & to build Ierusalem [for thy scattered people then returning from captivity,] unto [the coming of him that was annointed] the Messiah [to be] the Prince [of thy holy people & reign over them, for which end he was annointed] shall be seven weeks.

Also threescore & two weeks [or 434 years] the city shall be built & the wall [vizt from the 28th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus] but this [not unto his coming in glory to reign as at the end of the seven weeks, but unto his birth] in troublesome times. And after the <7r> threescore & two weeks the Messiah shall [not reign as Prince but] be cut off, & they shall not be his [people.] And the people of a Prince that shall come [the Romans] shall destroy the city & the sanctuary, & the end thereof shall be with a flood, & unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Yet [before they cease to be his people] he shall keep the covenant with many for one week [vizt untill the calling of Cornelius & the gentiles which was seven years after he was cut off.] & [after that] in half a week he shall [by the aforesaid war under Nero & Vespatian] cause the sacrifice & oblation to cease, and [further in the reign of Adrian] with the overspreading of abominations he shall ~ [overflow the land &] make it desolate [of its old inhabitants] even untill the consummation [of the times of desolation,] and [untill all] that which is determined to be poured upon the desolate; [and untill the commandment go forth to restore & to build Ierusalem, the city of the great king. And from the going forth of this commandment unto the coming of his kingdom, shall be seven weeks of years, as was prefigured by Moses in the Iubile which he instituted at the end of seven such weeks.]

The prophetic Angel in the third year of Cyrus predicted to Daniel a perpetual series of events down to the great tribulation & the resurrection of the dead (Dan. XI & XII,) & added that when God should have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people all those things should be finished; & Daniel said that he understood not & asked the Angel what should be the end of those things. And the Angel answered that the words were closed up & sealed to the time of the end. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away to set up the abomination which maketh desolate [{until}{untill} the end when God shall finished to scatter the power of the holy people] there shall be a thousand two hundred & ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth & cometh to the thousand three hundred & five and thirty days. But go thou thy way Daniel for thou shalt rest, & stand in thy lot [amongst those that awake out of the dust] at the end of the days. So then God will have finished to scatter the power of the holy people forty & five days before the resurrec{tion} of the dead & the coming of Christ to judgment; that is, forty & five years. For all Daniel's days are years. And if four years be allowed for the people to return out of all nations from their captivity after the going forth of the commandment to cause them to restore & build Ierusalem: this commandment will go forth 49 years before the coming of the Messiah to reign as Prince, for which end he was annointed at his first coming. And thus this Prophesy will reach to the day of judgment like all the rest of Daniel's prophesies.

All Daniels prophesies consist of two parts, a prophesy & a supplement for making the prophesy more full & plane. And so doth the Apocalyps. And why should not this of the Messiah be like the rest? The prophesy is of the double coming of the Messiah: his coming first to be annointed at the end of the seventy weeks, & then to reign at the end of the seven weeks. And the supplemental explanation is to distinguish between the two comings by the periods of the sixty two weeks the week & the half week & the ensuing desolation of the land untill the consumation thereof, & untill all that which is determined be poured upon the desolate people of the Iews; that is, untill the commandment go forth to put an end to the desolation & to restore & <7v> to build Ierusalem

According to the vulgar interpretations nothing is predicted in this Prophesy but the death of Christ & destruction of Ierusalem, nothing of moment is done at the end of the seven, or at either the beginning or end of the 62 weeks, or at the beginning of the week; Christ is annointed to reign but nothing is said of his coming to reign or of his kingdom, & the week ends a week before God ceased to keep his covenant with the nation of the Iews. According to the interpretation here proposed every period of time begins & ends with something of great moment. The birth & death of Christ, the calling of the Gentiles, the destruction of Ierusalem & the Temple, the bloody warrs in the reign of Adrian by which the Iews were wonderfully slaughtered & banished from Iudea, & their Land given entirely to the Gentiles, & the return of the Iews from their long captivity, & the coming of Christ to reign & judge the world, for which end he was annointed, are all of them predicted.

The interpretation of the prophesy of the seventy weeks is already confirmed by the event. That of the seven weeks is here proposed, not as certainty, but by way of enquiry, & to be examined amended & improved by the event of things, untill the Iews shall return from their long captivity as Moses & the Prophets have predicted & untill the coming of the kingdom for which we daily pray. For Daniels visions are sealed up unto the time of the end. And then many shall run to & fro, & knowledge shall be encreased. And the wise (those that feare God & believe his prophesies) shall understand but none of the wicked shall understand. Learning is not sufficient to make those understand who are prejudiced through unbelief.

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[Editorial Note 1] This entire page is written upside down.

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Professor Rob Iliffe
Director, AHRC Newton Papers Project

Scott Mandelbrote,
Fellow & Perne librarian, Peterhouse, Cambridge

Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL - newtonproject@history.ox.ac.uk

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