THE notable Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks of Years in Daniel ix., 24 to 27, reads as follows, and it is in its last paragraph regarding the final seventieth week that the prediction of Napoleon's coming Covenant with the Jews is found. (Some authorised marginal readings are inserted in brackets.)

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for (or cover over) iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy, (in the Hebrew, the Most Holy Place). 25. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto 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. 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 désolations are determined. 27. And he shall confirm the (or, a) 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, (or, upon the battlements shall be the idols of the desolater,) even until the Consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate, (or, desolater)."

In explanation of these seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, which they are universally understood to mean, it has generally been admitted by expositors that the first seven and sixtytwo weeks, or altogether sixty nine weeks, amounting in fact to 483 years, were fulfilled before the first Coming of Christ, and that they began with the going forth of a decree in Artaxerxes' reign and ended just before the Messiah's crucifixion-according to the plain statement, "from the going forth of the commandment (or decree in Artaxerxes' reign) to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks (i.e., sixty-nine weeks or 483 years) and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself (at his crucifixion)."

Thus the fulfilmen f sixty-nine weeks out of the seventy weeks, is easily discove..ed and understood from the plain terins

of the text itself, and has been agreed upon by most expositors, as having taken place previous to the cutting-off of Messiah upon Mount Calvary.

After this it is said in the twenty-sixth verse," And the people (the Romans) 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." Here is described the well-known destruction of Jerusslem in A.D. 70, forty years after the cutting-off of Messiah; and the Romans its destroyers are called "the people of the prince that shall come," that is, the people of a coming future latter-day Roman Prince, who is here mentioned for the first time, and concerning whom it is immediately added, "And he shall confirm a covenant for many for one week, and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease even until the Consummation," etc. Hence it is manifest that some future Roman prince "that shall come," is the person who shall confirm a covenant with the Jews for seven years: and that such covenant could not have been made before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, because in the regular order of the prophecy, it is detailed as taking place after that destruction, and moreover is described as occurring seven years before the Consummation or end of this dispensation.1

Hitherto, there has never been any record in history of such a covenant having been made, and in any case, it would have to be followed by the abolition of the restored sacrifices in the midst of the week of seven years, and by the Consummation at the end of the week.

It is manifest, then, that this covenant transaction has yet to be accomplished; and "the Prince that shall come and shall confirm it, is understood by many expositors to be obviously the Last Head of the Roman Empire, who is also generally called the "Last or Personal Antichrist." There are mentioned by name in the author's

1 In addition to these self-evident reasons that Christ could not have confirmed this covenant, it is certain that neither He nor his disciples ever made any seven-years' covenant whatever with the Jews, much less that they ever made a covenant and afterwards faithlessly broke it in the midst of the week-a discreditable act, of which it would be impious to suppose a covenant-keeping Messiah capable. Again, as Messiah is distinctly declared to have been cut off at the end of the sixty-nine weeks, he could not be supposed to be the confirmer of a covenant that was to be made at some period after his death at the beginning of the subsequent seventieth week.

treatises altogether more than EIGHTY expositors or exposi tions, which distinctly maintain this view, that Daniel's seventieth week is the final seven years of this dispensation, just before the descent of Christ and battle of Armageddon and Millenium, and that the latter half of the seven years will be the three-and-a-half years of the Antichrist's desolations. Among these eighty writers are Archbishop Cyprian, and five BishopsIrenæus, Hippolytus, Victorinus, Appollinarius, and Primasius-Fathers of the early church, in which this interpretation of the seventieth week appears to have been quite prevalent; also in the Church of England Canon H. Browne and the Reverends Dr. De Burgh, Edward Bickersteth, T. Birks, C. J. Goodhart, Capel Molyneux, C. Maitland, A. Fausset, J. Baillie, J. G. Gregory, F. Fysh, W. Marrable, James Kelly, etc.; also in other bodies, the Revs. Dr. J. Seiss, E. E. Reinke, E. Guers, H. G. Guinness, R. A. Purdon, A. A. Rees, J. Darby, W. Kelly. and Sir Edward Denny, Judge T. Strange, Dominick McCausland, Dr. Tregelles, B. W. Newton, Major Phillips, etc.

Archbishop Cyprian, in his Computus de Pascha, explained this seventieth week in Dan. ix., 27, as follows:- - This is one week which the angel has divided off from the seventy weeks, and placed it at the latest period of this dispensation. And this hebdomad or week we recognise as containing seven years, in which Enoch and Elias are to come. And in the midst of the week, he says, the sacrifice and oblation shall be taken

1 In the author's treatise on Louis Napoleon, in the third chapter, the names of fifty-s y-seven expositors or expositions are giver, and now twentyfive more are added, making more than EIGHTY writers that hold this view. Archbishop Cyprian, Computus de Pascha; Canon H. Browne, Ordo Sæculorum; Rev. A. Fausset, Collin's Glasgow Commentary; Rev. J. Baillie, Preface to Great Events of Prophecy; Rev. J. G. Gregory, Earth's Eventide; Rev. F. Fysh, The Coming of Christ; Rev. J. C. Chase, Approaching Crisis; Rev. Wyndham Madden, Sketch of Last Days; Rev. W. B. Moffett, The Emperor Napoleon; Rev. L. C. Baker, Prophetic Times; Rev. C. J. Goodhart, (various pamphlets); Dr. C. Cowan, Reading, Thoughts on Prophecy; J. Coleman, Prophecy unfolded; Andrew Bonar, Esq., Development of Antichrist; L. A. D. Pugetz, Chronology; Dr. D. M. Reed, Napoleon III. in Prophecy; the Editor of the London Monthly Review for Feb., 1857; H. Lederer, The Israelite Indeed; Dr. Mason; W. Baker; a Boston Barrister, Prophetic Briefs; the Crisis; Peace; Notes on Revelation; Christ's Second Coming. There are doubtless other similar expositions which the author has not met with. Most of those who are sometimes called "the Brethren" hold this future fulfilment of the Seventieth Week. Canon Browne considers that it had a mere typical fulfilment at the destruction of Jerusalem, and will chiefly be fulfilled in the future.

away. But half of the week is shown to be a time, times, and half a time, which is three years and six months; which become a thousand, two hundred, and three score days, according to the Apocalpyse; in which days that Antichrist shall commit great devastation, and will begin to sit in the temple of God, and to assert himself to the ignorant to be God; whom Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, must destroy by the spirit of his mouth and by the brightness of his coming, and bring the world to its Consummation, as it is written, 'even unto the Consummation, and that determined, shall be poured upon the desolate.""

Andrew Bonar remarks upon these seventy weeks, "The break in the prophetic history of the Jews may be seen in the seventy weeks of Daniel. Is it not evident that that prophecy must reach to the end of this dispensation from the mention of its terminating in the everlasting righteousness and anointing of the Most Holy, which are yet to be seen in times as unlike the present, as prevailing evil is to prevailing righteousness? It is true, the price was paid on the cross, but the redemption of the purchased inheritance' is still future, and until it is completed, the prophecy cannot be said to have been accomplished in all its parts. Yet as so large a portion has without contradiction been already fulfilled, how is it possible, without admitting the break spoken of, that the seventy weeks with the cutting-off of Messiah occurring at the close of the 69th, (ver. 25,) could reach to the times of everlasting righteousness which are to be only when the kingdom' is set up which shall never be moved? (Dan. ii. 44.)

"In fact no other solution can be given of the difficulty than that which will be found to be in harmony with all else, namely, that Daniel, giving as he did, the future history of his people to the end and the promises which are yet to be made good to

St. Cyprian here evidently refers to Revelation, i.e., Apocalypse xi. 3, and xii. 6, 14, and Dan. vii. 25, xii. 7, where Antichrist three-and-ahalf years, or latter half of the seventieth week, is described.

2 St. Cyprian is here quoting 2 Thess. ii.

It is important to notice, that while it appears quite certain that some Napoleon must be the seventh-eighth head of the Roman Empire, who is to make the seven-years Covenant with the Jews; it also seems in the highest degree probable that it is to be Louis Napoleon for the reason stated on page 325, and also because personally he so much agrees with the wilful king's portrait in Dan. viii. 23, 25; xi. 21. Hence, in the improbable event of Louis Napoleon's death, some other Napoleon, standing in his place, would have to fulfil these prophecies.

them, spoke of them as he was moved by the Holy Ghost only as a nation, which they ceased to be when their Messiah was 'cut off' at the end of the 69th week, and when they themselves were scattered (as predicted elsewhere) and the gospel sent to the Gentiles. As their times' draw to a close, Scripture indicates the return of the Jews again as a nation, although in unbelief, (Ezek. xxii. 19-23,) when the last week, shown to be a week of years from the portion of the prophecy already fulfilled, will remain naturally still to be accomplished before the happy days of universal righteousness and the anointing of the Most Holy are seen, which, as we are told, seal up the vision and prophecy.' And here it may just be noticed, thai the word 'week' is in the original simply a hebdomad or seven, and would have been better so rendered in our translation, for a wee with us implies a week of days only. In this instance, by the measure observed in the other parts of the prophecy already fulfilled, (Messiah having been cut off at the end of the 69th hebdomad of years,) it must mean a seven of years also, or seven years. Jacob served Laban for Rachel seven years, and was said to have fulfilled her week' or hebdomad. (Gen. xxix. 28.)

"It is of this week accordingly that express mention is made immediately after (verse 27), the 'he' there spoken of being manifestly the destroying Prince that shall come, and with whom Daniel's people will enter into a covenant, choosing, in the strong delusion sent them, the false prince for the True. What strange and deep meaning is there in that declaration of our Lord when so viewed, 'I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if (or when) another shall come in his own name, him ᎩᎾ will receive'! (John v. 43)

"His coming is declared to be with all 'deceivableness of unrighteousness.' He adapts himself, just as the first Napoleon did, to the prevailing system of the godless times he appears in, and especially to the prejudices of the Jewish people, who replaced by his help in their own land once more as a nation with their great wealth, will rise into importance there. In this 'deceivableness' also it is, that the covenant is made with them for the whole remaining week. All the world will (Rev. xiii. 3) wonder after him, and not only wonder after, but worship him and the Dragon too, who gives him his power and great authority.' How fearful to think even of such an apostacy as this-well may it be called 'THE apostacy,' connected as it is