and three nights in the whale's belly, so he should be three days and nights in the heart of the earth, Matt. xii. 40; and that he would in three days rebuild that temple which they should destroy. John ii. 19. 8. Beside these, I am not aware of any other passage but that relating to the ten days, mentioned Rev. ii. 10, of which I have spoken already; and which, as far as I can find, the greater part of commentators do not understand to mean years. I am not aware that any individual has ever supposed the word " day," in any one of these passages, (except the 7th and 8th) to mean year. There are, indeed, those who imagine the ten days in No. 8 to refer to Dioclesian's persecution; and others, who suppose the three days in No. 7 to be fulfilled by our Lord's personal ministry during three years, but their opinion is far from being generally received. I would, however, particularly recommend the second passage to the attention of those who talk of symbolical" prophecies, and argue that in the explanations of them we must expect the periods to be mystically expressed. Let me ask in my turn,-Is there any prophecy which is known to have been fulfilled in a given number of years, (except that of the seventy weeks,) the period of which had been specified otherwise than by years? I find these predictions in terms of years: 1. The bondage of Abraham's posterity in Egypt, during 400 years. Gen. xv. 13. 2. The seven years of plenty and of famine, predicted by Joseph to Pharoah. xli. 27. Gen. 3. The forty years' wandering of the Israelites. Num. xiv. 33. 4. The seven years of famine predicted by Elisha. II. Kings, viii. 1. 5. The sixty-five years respecting Ephraim. Is. vii. 8. 6. The three years respecting Moab. Isa. 7. The seventy years respecting Tyre. Is. 9. The seventy years' captivity. Jerem. 10. The forty years' desolation of Egypt. Ezek. xxix. 12, 13. I would beg the reader to consider these passages, and then to look again to Mr. Mede's question, and I think he will wonder how a writer, so well acquainted with the Scripture, could ever propose it; and I wish it may lead him to examine, meekly but carefully, all such broad assertions, even when sanctioned by names as much entitled to veneration as that of Mede. 66 The remainder of this objection, which relates to the application of the 2300 Evenings and Mornings, (Dan. viii. 14) to Antiochus Epiphanes, is now, I apprehend, of no other use than to shew that Mede's opinion differed from that of almost all his successors; and is directly opposed to all the popular systems of the present day. Most modern writers, I believe, are prepared to follow Sir Isaac and Bishop Newton, and to say with the latter, "these 2300 days can by no computation be "accommodated to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, even though the days be taken "for Natural days."m To mention only the three writers to whom I have before alluded, and whom I quote as the most popular writers on the subject, Mr. Faber, Mr. Frere, and Mr. Cuninghame; all concur in understanding the days to mean years, though no two of them agree as to when the period began, and while Mr. Cuninghame makes the period 2300 years, Mr. Faber and Mr. Frere make it 2400. For my own part, I should agree with Mr. Mede in supposing the mornings and evenings to mean natural days, though not for the reason which m Vol. II. p. 73. he suggests. If, as he supposes, the angel avoided saying days, lest he should be supposed to mean years, the end has not been answered, for, as I have stated, almost every modern writer does understand him to mean years. I merely suppose the 2300 evenings and mornings are to be taken literally, because I know of no reason for supposing otherwise. If it be asked why it pleased God to employ this form of expression, rather than the simple word day, I do not know that I am bound to find or to make a reason; but to myself it does not appear very unnatural, considering that the subject matter of the prophecy is the cessation of the morning and evening sacrifice. Having thus gone through the five reasons adduced by Mede, I venture, with some confidence, to ask the reader whether it is not too much to say that they "CLEARLY DEMON"STRATE the antichristian, or apostatical times, "to be more than three single years and a "half." REMARKS ON A PASSAGE IN" DIALOGUES ON PROPHECY," PART IV. P. 312. "Philalethes.-Do you feel quite confident the 1260 days means always 1260 years? "Anastasius.-The question in this place is rather, what 66 period is meant to be measured by the words' time, "times, and half a time.' The argument drawn from "the word day,' never meaning a year' in other parts of Scripture, is wholly inapplicable here, for "the word is time,' and not day;' and certainly "there is as much right to assume that the word 'time' signifies a 'year' as any other period; and it will hardly be contended that, in the fourth chapter, ver. "16, of this same prophet, the word signifies only a day, when during seven times' Nebuchadnezzar was to have his nails grow as long as birds' claws, "his hair like eagles' feathers, and he was to be driven "from men. In chap. xi. 13, we find the expression, "shall certainly come at the end of times, even years,' marg., which alone might settle the question." This may be very conclusive against those persons who have contended that a "time" F |