dedicated to God, and was blessed by good old Simeon; there he confounded the Jewish doctors by his wisdom, when only twelve years old; there he often went to worship; there he cast out the buyers and sellers by an authority divine; there he proclaimed the precious truths of salvation; there he wrought splendid miracles, the displays of his almighty power and Godhead; and his personal presence there, as the incarnate Jehovah, imparted to it a glory surpassing far the glory of the Shekinah in the first temple; and, finally, he died for man's salvation before that temple was destroyed. It was, therefore, "in due time." But only forty-one years afterwards Titus, the son of Vespasian, surrounded the city and destroyed it by a powerful army, when the temple was consumed to ashes; and at this day the mosque of the false prophet desecrates the spot where once that temple stood. Half a century's delay would have falsified the prophecy; but Providence caused the event to coincide with the prediction, and thus supplied another proof that "in due time Christ died for the ungodly." (Mal. iii. 1; Hag. ii. 7; Dan. ix. 26.)

If

Two of the prophecies we have named limit the Redeemer's death to a given century, or, strictly, to within half a century; but there is a remarkable prophecy in Daniel, which prescribes the very year, yea, the very month, of his death. "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish (or restrain) the transgression, and to make an end of sin-offerings (ni), and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up (by fulfilling) the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." (Dan. ix. 24.) To make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, are the great moral effects of the Redeemer's death. This is the central event of the prophecy, and from it flow the restraining of transgression, the abolition of sin-offerings, the outpouring of the Spirit; indeed, all the blessings named in the text. This prophecy, then, foretells in the clearest and most expressive terms the year and the month when the atonement should be made by Christ-namely, within the period of the seventy weeks. In these prophetic terms a day stands for a year, a week for seven years, and the seventy weeks, therefore, mean 490 years. we knew when these years began, we should know when they ended; and knowing this, we may see whether the prophecy coincides with the event foretold. Now, the following verse tells us when the prophecy commenced-namely, when the commandment or proclamation should go forth to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem; which means not merely to complete the restoration previously begun, but to effect that reformation in Jerusalem, to restore that order of worship, and establish that regular constitution of law and government in the Jewish church, which should be a rebuilding and restoring of her equal to her former state. This decree or commandment was issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus, and you may find it at length in Ezra vii. 11-26. It was issued in the seventh year of his reign, in the month of Abib, and, according to Usher's Chronology, in the year of the world 3547. This was the year when the prophecy began. Now, add to this date the 490 years of Daniel's prophecy, and we come to the year 4037. In what year did the Redeemer die? In the year 4037, being the very year which the prophecy of Daniel foretold.

In what month did he die? In the month Abib, the very month when the proclamation was issued. This synchrony is wonderful; but not more wonderful than true. The year and the month were precisely those which the prophecy had foretold. It was "in due time that Christ died for the ungodly."

If we regard (as we certainly must) the types as prophetical as well as emblematical, as relating to time as well as to facts, we have one great sacrifice, the passover, which indicates not only the month, but the day and the very hour of the Redeemer's death. The connection of that expressive sacrifice, as a type, with the death of our Lord as the antitype, is strongly affirmed by the Apostle Paul, who says, "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." The time for the performance of that typical sacrifice is laid down with rigorous exactness in Exodus xii., and is often repeated with special minuteness. The appointed month was Abib; the day was the fourteenth of that month; the hour specified in the Hebrew "between the two evenings," was the ninth hour of the day with the Jews, and the same as our three o'clock in the afternoon. Now in what month did the Redeemer of the world die as a sacrifice for sin? In the same month, Abib. On what day of the month? On the fourteenth. In what hour of that day? In the self-same hour, the ninth hour of the day, Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. This is, indeed, another wonderful coincidence. Was this coincidence accidental or designed? If accidental, it has no meaning. If designed, it connects the type with the antitype, in time as well as in fact; and, if thus connected,

*A difficulty has been felt in reconciling verse 24 with verses 25, 26, 27, because the former speaks of 70 weeks as a whole; while the three following verses speak of three distinct periods-namely, 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 week. But these three distinct periods make the same total of 70 weeks, and therefore are separate parts of the same prophecy, setting forth events included within the same period. The first period of 7 weeks, or 49 years, applies to the time taken up in completing the reformation begun by Ezra at the going forth of the commandment by Artaxerxes Longimanus, and finished by Nehemiah, for this was exactly the time prescribed by the prophecy, 49 years. The second period, 62 weeks, or 434 years, was exactly the time that elapsed from the end of the 49 years to the beginning of the Christian dispensation, when the kingdom of Christ was proclaimed by John the Baptist. Here began the third period of one week, or seven years, when the covenant was to be confirmed with many. Under the powerful ministry of John many were converted and brought into God's covenant. John's ministry continued about 34 years, and then the ministry of Christ began, when many others were converted and brought into God's covenant of salvation. The ministry of Christ continued about 3 years, which, added to the time of John's ministry, makes 7 years, or the 1 week of the prophecy. Let us add these figures together-namely, 49+ 434 +7=490, the years of the prophecy.

A difficulty is still felt from the words, "after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off." This, however, does not mean that there should be no interval between the 62 weeks and Messiah's death. Indeed, the word "after" suggests an interval of time, and that interval is the week or seven years following, at the end of which Messiah should be cut off, as history informs us he was. This is confirmed, also, by the following words, "In the midst of the week (literally, in the half-part thereof) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." It was within and not beyond the second half of the last seven years that Messiah died, and by his death abolished all the Jewish sacrifices and oblations. Thus, when examined, the difficulties vanish, and the prophecy receives a fuller light, and we see a more circumstantial fulfilment.

it was anticipative and prophetic, being ordained 1,500 years before the event. Hence the narrative of the precise time of the Saviour's death as the antitype is as particularly stated by three of the evangelists as the time appointed for the type is stated by Moses, both showing that at the moment when the paschal lambs were bleeding in Jerusalem, Jesus the Saviour of the world was bleeding on the cross, and expiring as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. This view is supported by another coincidence-the time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Fifty days were ordained between the two types and the two events. Discordance between the time of the Saviour's death and the time of the passover would have marred their coincidence with the time of the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Pentecost; but the exact synchrony of the former determined the exact synchrony of the latter; and the synchrony of both argues in both a purpose in the time fixed, and a providence in the events accomplished. How emphatically true are the words of the Apostle, "in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

In these wonderful facts how irresistible the evidence that Christ is the true Messiah! The Old Testament, as well as the New, is full of Christ; the types, the promises, and the prophecies, from the beginning of time, all centre in him, and in him have their complete, exact, and circumstantial fulfilment. To him gave all the prophets witness a witness so full and special, that every lineament in his person, character, and work was portrayed, and the year, the month, the day, and the very hour of his death indicated many centuries before he was born. So that Christ, on entering the synagogue of the Jews, could unroll the sacred vellum and say, "In the volume of the book it is written of me, Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." And when his great work was done, and all the things spoken concerning him by the prophets were fulfilled, he could appeal with still greater fulness to the sacred records, and say, "Ought not Christ to have suffered, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." And his apostles after him, fortified by the evidence of facts and dates, could everywhere reason with Jews and Gentiles out of the scriptures, "opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom we preach is the Christ."

So complete, indeed, is the proof that Jesus is the Christ, that the facts exclude all pretenders, and show the blind folly of the Jews in waiting for another. The prophecies of Christ can receive no future accomplishment. The time for his coming is passed by more than 1,800 years; the Jewish genealogies, which proved him to be the Son of David, have perished, or are all in confusion. The Jews themselves, among whom he should appear, are dispersed, and have no country of their own; the land is evacuated of its people; the once verdant valleys of Palestine are desolate, the vine-clad hills are naked, sunburnt, and blasted; the temple that was to be filled with Messiah's glory is destroyed even to its foundations; the Jews themselves, in their condition, have borne for many centuries, and still

bear, the brand of Heaven's displeasure for their rejection of the Son of God; and the Scriptures to which they still cling, and carry with them in all their wanderings, bear witness against them, and prove beyond all controversy that Messiah has come, and that it was "in due time he died for the ungodly."

The facts before us demonstrate that the Scriptures are divinely inspired. No human sagacity could have foreseen the facts and dates predicted; they are too numerous, too complicated, and too remote; they are blended with the personal histories of individuals and with the fate of various nations-of individuals and nations then unborn; and with human volitions and actions which no intellectual penetration could foresee. The growing revelations of prophecy concerning Christ constitute a system of the most perfect symmetry; each prophecy is connected with its predecessor and its successor; and all centre in one person. They grow out of each other. They are, as a whole, as much connected and dependent on each other as the fruit with the branches, and the branches with the trunk, and the trunk with the root, and all with the seed from which they have been developed; they form a Tree of Life. No eye but the eye of God could pierce through those remote events and times, with their complicated contingencies, and no power but the providence of God could have brought them to pass. It is idle to say the prophecies were written after the events had transpired, for the very language in which they were written was obsolete 400 years before the death of Christ. As well-known facts of history, the prophecies existed in a Greek translation 280 years before the Redeemer's death, and some nations, blending with the prophecies, had lain in ruins 1,000 years before he was born. It is besotted folly to aver that the sacred writers had acted in collusion to fabricate the system of prophecy, for this is to say that Adam was a contemporary with Moses, and David a contemporary with Malachi, and that all of them were later than Christ! Collusion was impossible. The prophecies began with the fall of man, and they only closed with Malachi, extending over 3,500 years. The prophets lived apart, separated by different countries, and by intervals of hundreds, yea, some by thousands of years; not one predecessor knew what his successor would foretell, nor whether he would have a successor at all before the Redeemer came. And yet all their prophecies are connected, like a building with its foundations, pillars, capitals, architraves, and elaborate sculpture, complete. Solomon's temple was a wonder of art, because every stone and pillar was cut before brought to its place in the building: so perfect in all its adaptations, that neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron was heard in that magnificent structure. But in that work men acted in concert, guided by a plan made ready to their hands. But the temple of prophecy, so perfect in all its parts, so minute in its adjustments, and so complete in its symmetry, was the growth of thousands of years; kingdoms rose and fell as the stately edifice of truth advanced; no builder knew the plan he was working out, no two minds were acting in concert; each uttered his simple oracle, which was but dimly apprehended even by himself at the time, and yet the temple of Solomon was not more beautiful, more complete, more worthy of its architect, than this wondrous structure of prophecy is worthy of its

Author; and that Author is no other than the Architect of the universe. God hath raised a pyramid of evidence so broad and deep in its foundations, and so lofty in its summit, that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.

In thus gradually unfolding the truth, God hath caused the evidence of inspiration to be continually brightening. Had the Saviour come at once, and taught, and worked wonders and died, and risen again, there would indeed have been a refulgent light, and a powerful evidence of truth; but without a series of miracles and special interpositions continued for ages, that light must have faded, the evidence must have died out, and distant generations have become immersed in darkness. But the gradual development of prophetic truth during 3,600 years fortified revelation as it grew, and its evidence is perpetuated to the end of time. The light of the Gospel, like the light of day, began with a few feeble rays, and gradually advanced through successive stages, from the dawn of morn to meridian brightness; and there it stands now, at once flinging its beams upon the past, and affording to the present and future generations of mankind ocular demonstration for their faith. Blessed be the Lord God who alone doeth wondrous things; and blessed be his glorious name for ever and ever!

See how the issue of events has resolved a profound mystery into a display of Divine wisdom! The great and prolonged trial of Old Testament saints was the delay of the promised Saviour. Their hopes of eternal salvation depended solely upon a Being whom they or their fathers never saw. They had promises and predictions of him, which in their day were never fulfilled. They passed through one national crisis after another, now prosperous, now ruined, but the Messiah never came. High hopes of the blessed hour as at hand, were raised only to be cast down, and the disappointments of one generation were repeated in the next. Meanwhile, no explanation was given; not a word. The delay was a profound enigma, which baffled reason and sometimes staggered faith; and often the question arose, Why doth he delay his coming? Can the promise be true when thus delayed? Is God unfaithful, or have his prophets deceived us? Many a time were hard thoughts of both indulged; which nothing could exclude, but a faith which pierced through all improbabilities, and rested on the sublime truth that God is faithful, whatever clouds envelop his throne, or obscure our mental vision, or perplex our reason. But with the coming of Christ, the clouds were dispersed, and as they roll away, what a light they disclose around the throne of God! Faith is turned into vision, and we see only to admire and adore; and our exultant voices sing, "He hath done all things well." The very delay which tried the faith of prophets serves to establish ours; and the facts which perplexed their reason, satisfy ours. Yet God hath not changed; he hath only proved that he is unchangeable; and shown. that his ways, however inscrutable, are wise, and holy, and just, and good. We have here an instructive lesson teaching us to wait for the future, as our forefathers waited for the past; and amid all providential discouragements, and all prophetic delays, to be strong in faith, giving glory to God; knowing that "He is not slack concerning his promises as some men count slackness; " for "one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”