transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy, (or, more literally, Holiest of Holiest.) Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, unto the 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. 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 desolations are determined. And 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.

The connection between the 8th and 9th chapters is rendered more evident when taken in connection with the 25th chapter of Jeremiah.

The vision of the 8th chapter was seen in the third year of the reign of the king Belshazzar. And when it was all explained but the time, Daniel fainted and was sick certain days, and was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. The want of an explanation of the time, could be the only reason why it was not understood.

Fifteen years after this, in the last year of Belshazzar, that king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand out of the golden vessels that were

taken out of the temple of the house of God in Jerusalem-the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. "They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another." Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." "In that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom." See Dan. 5th chap.

Thus was fulfilled the prophecy in Jer. xxv. 11, 12. "And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations." This prophecy Daniel had been considering, and saw that the 70 years terminated that night in which

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the king of Babylon was slain; for he says, (ix. 1-3,) In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books, the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackloth, and ashes." He then prayed for the cleansing of the sanctuary -the very thing that was predicted should be accomplished at the end of the 2300 days,-showing that Daniel expected that those days were literal days, and that they terminated with the 70 years; and that the sanctuary would then be cleansed. He prayed, "O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name." Dan. ix. 16-19.

While Daniel was thus praying, the angel Gabriel, that had explained all of the vision in the previous chapter, but the time, came to him, and corrected his error with regard to the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the length of the 2300 days, which were to extend to that cleansing. Daniel says, (ix. 20—23,) “And while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sir of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved; therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” What vision was he to understand? Daniel says he made him know the interpretation of the 7th, and there is no vision in the 9th; it must therefore be the vision in the 8th chapter. That vision Gabriel was commanded to make Daniel understand; and he told Daniel he would make him know what should be in the last end of the indignation; but Daniel says, after he fainted, that none understood it. The angel therefore must fulfil his promise and the command at some future time; and he says he is now come to make him understand the vision. He must therefore give the information on those points, at this time, which would remove the ob