to particulars; and laid down three propositions (if I
may be allowed the term,) or periods.

First. "Know, therefore, and understand, (that) from the going
forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem, unto the anointed
prince, (shall be) seven weeks."

That is, it shall be seven weeks or forty nine years from the
destruction of the first temple, to Cyrus, "the anointed prince,"
who shall give leave to build the second. [With regard to the
import of the phrase "the going forth of the word," I refer the
reader to Levi's Letters to Priestley, and shall here only concern
myself with settling the meaning of the expression of "the
anointed prince."] Many Christians have objected to the term
Messiah, or anointed, being applied, as in our interpretation to
Cyrus a heathen prince; and they apply it themselves to Jesus of
Nazareth. But that the term, or appellation, Messiah, can be applied
to Cyrus, is evident; since we find it so applied by God himself in
the xlv. ch. of Isaiah. "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to
Cyrus. 2. It is a singular fact, that the appellation "Messiah" is
never applied to the expected deliverer of the Israelites in the
whole bible, except, perhaps, in ii. Psalm. It is an appellation
indifferently applied to kings, and priests, and prophets; to all who
were anointed, as an induction into their office, and has nothing in
it peculiar and exclusive; but the application of it to the expected
deliverer of Israel, originated in and from the Targums. 3. In order
to make this prophecy, and this phrase, "Messiah the prince," or
"the anointed prince," apply to Jesus of Nazareth, Christians
connect, and join together, this first member of the prophecy with
the second, in open defiance of the original Hebrew; and after all,
they can reap no benefit from this manoeuvre; for the term
"Messiah Nagid," or "the anointed prince," can never apply to
Jesus, in this place, at any rate; because he certainly was no prince
or "Nagid," a word which in the Hebrew bible always, without
exception, denotes a prince, or ruler, one invested with temporal
authority, or supreme command. Now, as it is allowed on all
hands, that Jesus had no such temporal power, as a prince, or ruler;
it, consequently, follows, that he can by no means be the
"anointed prince" mentioned in the prophecy.

Second Period. "And (in) threescore and two weeks, the street
shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times,"

Here the ang