HAVING thus reached the close of my subject, I now, in the form of an appendix, desire to add a few words on one prominent point in the foregoing pages, namely, the question as to the precise time of the ministry of John and of Jesus. This, as I have said, was SEVEN YEARS, OR A WEEK—that is, one of the Jewish Levitical weeks, divided, as we have seen, into two equal parts.
But how, it may be asked, is this proved? What chronological data have we in Scripture, on which to ground this assertion? None, I unhesitatingly answer—none, at least, that I am aware of; nor do I believe it is to be settled in this way. Being, as I feel assured, rather a moral, than a chronological question, it does not depend for its proof on any knowledge of dates. Hence, I would ask my reader, should he be disposed to require a proof of this kind, to suspend his judgment awhile, and assuming the truth of this statement, to follow the argument contained in the foregoing pages, viewing the subject, not in detached parts, but as a whole. Having done this, he will be better prepared to come to a decision. And, supposing him to be generally acquainted with prophetical truth, and therefore competent to form a judgment upon it, I have no doubt whatever as to the result. Let him only trace the connection between one part and another, the beautiful harmony, the wondrous consistency which runs through the whole, and he will, I believe, be unable to withstand the conviction that the period in question must have been just what I have stated-A WEEK. To give my reasons for this would be only to repeat what I have already advanced: to go through the whole subject again. Let me however remind my reader of three leading points.
FIRST, I have endeavored to show that between the birth of Abraham and Christ there were four dispensational cycles of seventy weeks. Does this, let me ask, commend itself to my reader? If it does, and that he, at the same time, views the last week of Daniel as future, then let me remind him that the week in question is needed, in order to fill up the period—to complete the last of the three cycles between Moses and Christ.
SECONDLY, when Christ offered Himself to the Jews as their king, is it to be supposed that He did so otherwise than just at the time when they had been taught to look for the kingdom—at the termination of the seventy weeks? Accordingly we read, "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son;” and again, “The time is fulfilled," said His messenger John. This, of necessity, brings in A WEEK, which though unnamed and unmeasured, both in the four Gospels and Daniel, must, in order to perfect " the time," have existed, and so, uninterruptedly following the seven and threescore and two weeks of our prophecy, completed the period of seventy weeks between Nehemiah's return, and the cutting off of Messiah.
Then, THIRDLY, the correspondence and, at the same time, the contrast, between the two weeks, namely, the last week of grace, and the week of retributive judgment—both as to the time—the twofold and equal division of each—the events—and the persons connected therewith, is so evident, that it is wholly impossible that such an analogy can be fortuitous. At this I have, however, hinted before; I will therefore merely observe, that to me the future existence of one leads to the thought that the other must have also existed.
These, then, are the points to which I allude. And now let me ask, though no week can chronologically be traced in any one of the Gospels, whether there is not a moral necessity why such a period, and that, too, divided in the way I have shown, must have come in at this point?
It is a principle, allowed on all hands, that when, in reasoning, we admit certain facts to be true, we are bound to receive as truth any inference deducible from these acknowledged truths, unless it can be clearly or equally proved to the contrary. I, for my part, do not ask for further proof of the question. True, if there be indeed any chronological point in Scripture which would corroborate my statement, I shall be thankful to anyone who will direct my attention thereto; but, in the meantime, I feel perfectly satisfied, believing that the more strictly the whole subject is canvassed by the intelligent reader, judging of things in the light of the Lord, the more fully persuaded he will be on the subject.
And here let me add, that whatever discoveries I may have made with regard to other matters discussed in the foregoing pages (the cycles, for instance, and so on) began with that which I made more than twelve years ago with regard to This VERY week: the others originated with this. This may be compared to the first circle caused by a stone cast into water; the others were like circle after circle, succeeding the first. To use a different figure, this I may term the keystone on which the whole theory sets, so coherent in every respect as this theory is, so aptly fitted together, without effort on my part to work out a system. If this then once be removed as untrue, the whole fabric falls to the ground. Nothing else in these charts could stand for a moment, I believe, if this view of the cancelled week should be proved to be a fiction on my part. But it is not so, I feel fully persuaded. The Lord, in His goodness, has shown it to me; and through me, I humbly trust, he will show it to others, who, willing to judge of all things in the light of His presence, are dependent, not on their own understanding, but on the teaching of God's blessed Spirit. Such will see that these are not matters of curious inquiry, or chronological interest; not the imaginations of the natural mind, which, with regard to the things of God, is, at best, only a chaos of endless confusion: but, on the contrary, that they are the deep and wonderful secrets, the " witty inventions" of Him whose mind is the source of all that is beautiful. Happily for us, it is with Him that our souls have to do; and these things are treasured up in His word for our instruction, our comfort, and blessing; His object therein being nothing less than to display His infinite wisdom, His justice, His grace; and in this way to teach us how fully, on our way through this stormy and sorrowful world, we may rest in His love, what a rich and inexhaustible store of blessing and gladness He has in reserve for the heart that thus reposes in Him.