[See Priestley's notes on the scriptures, in loco; and the context before and after.] We have now come to the last subject proposed to be considered in this chapter, viz., Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks, the "instar omnium" of the prophetical proofs of Christianity, and which was for ages held up to the view of "the unbelieving race," as cutting off beyond doubt their "hope of Israel" from ever appearing, since the time so distinctly foretold had elapsed.

But such is the instability of human opinions, that it was at length suspected, and at last ascertained-by the learned, that "the stubborn Israelites" had some reason for denying that prophecy, any voice in the affair.
During many years, one learned man after another, had amused himself with destroying the system of his predecessor, and replacing it with his own, not a whit better, but tending to the same end, viz., to make the prophecy of the seventy weeks tally and fit with the event of the crucifixion.

At length Marsham, a learned Englishman, declared, and demonstrated, that his predecessors, in this enquiry, had been grossly mistaken, for that the prophecy in all its parts was totally irrelevant and irreconcileable with the time of the crucifixion.

The appearance of his book put all the theologians of that age in an uproar! But many learned Christians in the last, and present, century, now freely acknowledge, that Daniel is not on their side, but as much a Jew as his brethren.
This celebrated prophecy, literally translated from the original, is as follows:--Dan.

ix.