,8z The Prophecyof Daniel concerning the illef¡ah being a Churchor people. Nor was there at that feafon any other ratification oftbe Covenant, but only what was made in thedeath of the Nepal,. 4.37 Then alto, Eighthly, did he caufe toceafe the Sacrifice, and Gift,' ór Offering. Firft, He caufed it to ceafe, as unto force and efficacy, or any ufe in the Worfhip of 'God , by his own accomplifhment of all that was prefiguredby it, or intended in it. Hereby it became as a dead thing , ufelefs , unprofitable , and made ready to difappear, Hrb. 8.1/.13. And then thortly after he caufed it utterly to be taken away , by a perpetual defalation brought upon the place wherealone Sacrifices and Offerings were acceptable untoGod according unto the Law ofMfs. And tins is thethird evidence that this Prophecy affordsunto our Affertion ; namely, that it is the true promifed Moab and none other, whole coming and cutting off is here foretold. The great things here mentioned were fulfilled in him alone ; nor had they ever the leaf' refped# unto anyother. And the Jewsdo not in any thing more evidently manifeft the de- .fperatenefs of their caule, then when they endeavour to wren there words unto any other fenfe or purpofe. 4. 3$. Moreover , betides the contef ion of the Ancient Jews , contenting unto theTruth contended for, wehave for our confirmation therein, the wofull perplexities of their later Miters in their attempts to evade the force of this Teffimony. For fomeAges they have abhorred nothing more, then that the true Mefab fhould bethought to be here intended. For if that be once granted, they know thatit brings an ínttant ruine unto the pretences of their Infidelity ; and that not 'meerly upon the account of his coming, which they have invented a forty relief againft, but on that of his being penally cut off, which can lro way be reconciled unto their prefumptions and expeeta- Lions: But ifhe be not here intended, it is -incumbent on them to declare who is. For the utmolt extent ofthe time limited in the Prediêtion being long fince expired, theProphecy hash certainlyhad aceomplithment in force one or other ; and it is known ormaybe known who ; or otherwife the wholeAngelical Meffage, never was,. not ever will be of any ufeto the Church ofGod. But here ourMafers are by no means agreed amongft themfelves; nor do they know what to anfwer unto this enquiry. And if they do gueis at any one ; it is not be- caufe they think it poffible he fhould be defigned, but becaufe they think it impoffible for them to keep life in their raule, and not to fpeak when the fword of truth lyes at the heart of it. Some of them therefore affirm the Mefah fpoken ofto be Cyrus, whomGod calls lrnuto bisAnnointed, Ifa.45. v. r. But what the cutting off, or death ofCyrus ibould make in this Predii9cion they know not. Nor do they endeavour to thew that any thing here mentioned to fall out with the cuttingoff theMeffiah,hath the leali Relation unto Cyrus or his death. And if becaufe Cyrus is once called the Annointedof theLord, hemutt be fuppofèd to be intended in that place , where no one word or circumliance is applicable unto him, they may as well fay, that it is Saul the firft Kingof Ifrael who is fpoken of, Peeing he alto is called Çfirn, MUD, the An= nointed of the Lord, s Sam. 24.v. 6. as was Zedekiahalto, Lament.4. v. 20. But it mull needs bealtogether incredible unto any, unlefs they are Jews who can believe what they pleafe that ferves their ends, that becaufe the Lord calleth Cyrus his Annointed, in reference unto the efpecial work of efiroying the Babylonian Empire, in which fenfé the term ofannointing, namely for a defignation unto any employment, is ob. vious and familiar in the OldTeftament, fhould therefore be efteemed the promifed Mefab of the people of God, who is here evidently defcribed. But that which calls this fancy beneath all conlderation is the time allotted to the cutting off of the Mefliah. Thofe amongft the Pews themfelves who begin the Account of the Weeks from the molt early date imaginable, fix their Epocha in the giving of the Promife unto Jere= miab concerning their return from captivity, which was in the dayes of Jebsjakirx. Now from thence unto the Death of Cyrus, no computation will allow above LXXXyears; whichcomesfhort fomewhat above four hundredyears of the [talon here allotted for the cutting off the, Mefiah. And the fame is the cite withJofhua, Zerubbabeland Nehemiah,whom fume of them would have to be defigned. For neither were anyof them poenaily cut off, nor did they caufe in any fenfe the Sacrificer to ceafe, but endeavoured to continue them in a due manner, nor did they live within force hun- dreds ofyears ofthe timedetermined,nor was any thingbetides here forefold, wrought, or accomplifhed in their days. f. 39, Abarbinel , and after himManaf Ben Ifrael with fome others ofthem fixonAgrippa the
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