gestion which prompts the declaration, that from the setting up of the abomination which maketh desolate to the taking away of the daily sacrifice should be 1,290 days;-it is not a leap in the dark which supplies the rejoinder, "the outer court shall be given to the Gentiles" for the same period.

No human wisdom dictated the enigmatical prediction, "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred, and five and thirty days," and no human foresight could have supposed that the elucidation was to be supplied by an adversary. Little did that adversary think, when he recorded the fact, that the daily sacrifice was taken away on the seventeenth day of the month Thamuz, and that the city fell on the eighth day of the month Elul, that he was supplying the solution to the mysterious time of Christ's second coming. The power of the holy people is scattered in that time of trouble of 1,290 days, the daily sacrifice is taken away, still no blessing comes to the faithful, forty-five more days have they to wait, until Jerusalem settles down in flaming fire, and the time for the manifestation of the sons of God is come. Immediately after the tribulation of those days"— "In those days after that tribulation" they see his chariot wheels, and the armies of heaven following the Son of Man. "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred, and five and thirty days." Blessed they who "wait for the Son from heaven.", Blessed they who, in the days when the Lord brought down the fortress of the high fort of her walls to the ground, even to the dust, could say, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation." 1

1 Isaiah, xxv. 9.

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LECTURE XI.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE TWO WITNESSES.

make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

11. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

12. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

8. And I heard, but I understood not then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?

9. And he said, Go thy way, Daniel for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

10. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

12. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

13. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

We

In the comparison of the prophecy of Daniel with that portion of the Apocalypse which formed the subject of our last Lecture, we noticed many clear points of coincidence. showed the identity between "Michael the great prince,”—and "The mighty angel who came down from heaven." His superb appearance as "The man clothed with linen,"—and the angel "clothed with a cloud." The "Book of Deliverance,"-and the Open Book." The book containing the names of the Jewish people who should be delivered at that time," and the angel setting his "right foot on the sea and his left on the earth" -Judæa. "The man clothed in linen . . holding up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swearing by Him that liveth for ever," and "The angel lifting up his hand to heaven, and swearing by Him that liveth for ever and ever."

His voice," as the sound of a great multitude,"--The angel's voice, "as when a lion roareth," and as "seven thunders uttering their voices." The purport of the oath of the man clothed in linen, that "when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished," and that of the angel, "That there should be time no longer (no more delay), but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." And the time when all this was to be done, declared to be the same both in the prophecy of Daniel and in the Apocalypse. According to Daniel, "The time of the end;" according to St. John, "In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound and the mystery of God should be finished." According to Daniel, "The time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away," "the abomination that maketh desolate set up," "when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people; "-according to St. John, "When the court without the temple is given to the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." 1 And the period during which this desolation was to continue, clearly defined under both predictions. According to Daniel1, "a time, times, and a half," according to St. John, "forty and two months."

Hitherto the identity has been of a most marked kind, affording a presumption that the remainder of the symbol shall correspond with the same prophecy. Let us proceed to institute a few further points of comparison.

"Time, times, and a half" - 31 years. In Dan. iv. 32., seven times are said to pass over Nebuchadnezzar. "Seven times shall pass over thee.” This is explained by Josephus to mean, seven years. "The king saw in his sleep another vision: how he should fall from his dominion, and feed among the wild beasts; and that when he had lived in this manner in the desert for seven years, he should recover his dominion again." (Antiq. x. 10.) This shows that "a time," according to Jewish notions, would mean a year, and that the Jews knew nothing of the idea of days being put for years: this is confirmed in Rev. xii., where the period of time during which the woman is sheltered from the attack of the dragon is first said to be "a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days," and afterwards "time, times, and half a time." The same period is called (Rev. xi. 2.), "Forty and two months."

The witnesses prophesy.

Many run to and fro and knowledge is increased.

They prophesy clothed in sackcloth, when "the tenth part of the city fell."

At "a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation."

When their testimony is finished they are slain.

Many are purified and made white (used of the resurrection of the martyrs) and tried.

They experience a resurrection.

Many that sleep in the dust of the earth awake.

99

Passing by the coincidence between "the witnesses who should preach or prophesy, and those described by Daniel, who should run to and fro that knowledge might be increased; between the sufferings of these preachers of Christianity who should be "clothed in sackcloth," or as the same idea is expressed by the elder prophet who should be "tried" by "the wicked who should do wickedly;" simply calling a passing attention to the very important circumstance, that the time when all this was to be done is accurately defined by each, and declared by St. John to be the time when "The tenth part of the city fell1, and by his prototype Daniel, as "a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time;"-I proceed to direct attention to a still more extraordinary feature introduced in both predictions: it is that of A RESURRECTION at that period. Daniel declares that at this time of trouble, "Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament," and the echo of St. John is, "The Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither, and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them." The idea is so strange and new, that, like the subject of the Euphrates and Babylon introduced into the same trumpets and vials, it seems impossible it could have found

1 Rev. xi. 13.