SIR,
THE true secret of expounding the Times of Scripture language is this; the expressions used signify every portion of time, according to their application to individuals, families, sects, churches, and the universe of nations.
To instance at once, and also, CARDINALLY—Daniel, speaking of the MESSIAH, says, ‘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.’
You justly observe, that ‘the Messiah [1], by HIMSELF AND HIS APOSTLES, for one week of years, confirmed the covenant, and, in the midst of the week; caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease, by the one great sacrifice and oblation of himself, in the fourth year of his ministry.’ Then, what is become of the remaining half of this week? I see immediately, by my canon, that as the former part of the week, calculated for Christ and his immediate personal household, was on the scale of a week of years; so the remainder, being calculated for the UNIVERSE OF NATIONS, must have the utmost possible extension: therefore, I take a week of CENTURIES; that is, three and a half times 490 years: this gives 1715 which added to 33 years, produces the æra of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, terminating that war, in which ROME was vanquished in her last attempt to resubdue the kingdoms, who had emancipated themselves from her bondage.
This canon will serve to reconcile you with a sensible writer, who published, in 1786, on the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days: you give these a shorter revolution; but he ends them, respectively, in 1715, 1745, and 1790, and so, actually concludes with you, in your deductions from other prophecies.
Isaiah, who prophecies with a full view to the universe of nations, gives this ratio of calculation, which I have now brought forward: ‘The light of the Sun, in that day, shall be as the light of SEVEN days.’ Seven, being the complete number of creation, is the constant multiplier—As it was in the beginning, NOW, and EVER shall it be.
Now, sir, having given you a minor canon for judgment, let me suggest to you the GREAT SOURCE of knowledge —that source to which Daniel attended and applied, and by which HE was answered—it being, previously, a constant auxiliary canon, that THE CHANNEL THROUGH WHICH A PROPHECY IS DELIVERED IS EVER IDENTICALLY THE SAME, THROUGH WHICH AN UNDERSTANDING OF IT IS TO BE DERIVED. First attend to the latter part of the 8th verse of ch. x. and 18th and 19th verses: then read the last verse of the same chapter, and the first of the xiith: now read the 5th, 6th, and 7th verses, leaving out the interpolated word one in the sixth verse, the reverse of that being exactly the canon I wish to inculcate. The verses are, ‘I, DANIEL, that is, I who judge by and with the Spirit of GOD, looked, and beheld, There stood OTHER TWO, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river, and said (As one, if you please) to the man in linen, who was on the waters of the river, (by its equilibrium and incessant flowing, representing Divine Truth and Wisdom), ‘How long to the end of these wonders?’ [E1]
This, I conceive, to be exactly your question and Mr. Levi’s.
And I HEARD the man clothed in linen, who was on the waters of the river, when HE held up his RIGHT HAND AND HIS LEFT HAND TO HEAVEN and sware by HIM who liveth for ever, &c. Lastly, sir, if yet you do not fully understand, attend earnestly to the advice, cautions, and immediate hopes of the succeeding and concluding verses.
Your friend, B.
P. S. I may add something in the next Magazine, astrologically.
N. B. You justly single out England; but do you know the reason? As the Hebrews were the fountain of all nations, Gen. xx. 18. Jer. xlvi. 28; so the English are the reservoir. The language of the first is full of Homonyms; the last has many Synonyms—England has nothing indigenous of fruit—Canaan, every principal sort.
B.