was of using such threatnings to a Warning them especially against Idolatry People that were so inclined to Idolatry And therefore the more to secure them against that when he had gone through all the rest of his Ten words as it were in one breath he return'd to this against Idolatry for so we see it again vers 22 23. c v. 22 23. The Lord said unto Moses thus shalt thou say to the Children of Israel you have seen that I have talked with you from Heaven from thence d Deut. IV. 13 15. you only heard a Voice but you saw no similitude therefore take heed and do not make with me Gods of Silver nor Gods of Gold This plainly shews what the especial danger was against which God thought fit to provide for the safety of his People in Religious matters 78. After this God gave them a Body of e Ex. XXI XXII XXIII Political Judicial He gave them the Judicial Law Laws chiefly for the keeping of that vast number of People together and the Governing of them in Civil Society Then Moses having f Ex. XXIV 3 4. written all these in a Book as well the Ten words before-mention'd as also the Iudgements now deliver'd did by God's Command call all the People together and read the Book in their hearing Which having done he g v. 7. bound them to the observation of these Laws by h v. 8. an especial Covenant made by Sacrifice for that purpose And to make the stronger impression on their minds he first sprinkled i Ex. XXIV 6. half the blood of the Sacrifice on the Altar of God and then having taken a solemn promise from them in these words k v. 7. all that the Lord hath said we will do and be obedient then he sprinkled the other half of the blood on the People saying to them l v. 8. Behold the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words viz. all the words of the Law and also of the Judgements beforementioned 79. When this Business was over then Moses by God's Command Moses gets up into the Mount went up to him into the Mount there to receive m Deut. IX 11. the Tables of the Covenant from God himself They were two Tables of Stone on which there were written n Ex. XXIV 12. the Law and the Commandment as Moses calls them Ex. XXIV that is to say o Deut. IX 10. the words which the Lord spake to them out of the midst of the fire on Mount Sinai Deut. IX The Tables were no bigger than Moses could carry in his hands Ex. XXXII 19. and yet they were cut out of the Rock by the Almighty hand of God which also writ all that was contained in them to give them the more Authority with his People 80. There Moses continued in the Mount a Ex. XXIV 18. fourty daies and Stays there forty daies fourty nights neither eating nor drinking but wholely taken up with Attention to God who delivered to him those Instructions and Laws concerning the b Ex. XXV XXXI making of the Ark and the Tabernacle and all the furniture of it together with all the Utensils for his Instituted worship and also concerning the Priest's Vestments and their Consecration c. They were matters in which there was c Ezek. XX 25. no Intrinsec Goodness at all Ezek. XX. 25. And therefore these things were d Ier. VII 22. not commanded by God to his People at their first coming up our of Egypt Ier. VII 22. but were superadded afterwards to fill the Eyes and the Ears of a Sensual People that seemed to be scarce capable of any thing of Spiritual Religion having their minds wholely taken up with the remembrance of those Pompous and Noisy rites they had seen among the Idolatrous Nations 81. They shew'd now a great Instance of this upon occasion of The People set up a Golden Calf Moses's being so long absent from them while he was with God in Mount Sinai fourty daies e Ex. XXXII 1. For when the People saw that Moses delaied to come down out of the Mount in all that time they came in a Body to Aaron whom he had left in charge over them and said to him up make us Gods to go before us for as for this Moses the Man that brought us up out of the Land of Egypt we know not what is become of him It was strange indeed that they that within three months before had seen all those plagues of Egypt and their wonderful deliverance from thence and had been ever since conducted by the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire and did neither eat nor drink any thing but what came to them immediately from God by perpetual Miracles should notwithstanding all this so f Ps. CVI. 21. forget God their Saviour as to say it was that Man Moses that brought us up out of the Land of Egypt It was yet more strange that when by their g Ex. XXXII 22. importunity and threats they had gotten Aaron to make them a Molten Calf the likeness of an Ox that eateth Grass Ps. CVI. 20. they would cry up that as they did saying h vers 4 8. * This is thy God .... So it is in Neh. IX 18. this is thy God O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt But this was strangest of all that Aaron who had seen the Glory of God should so quite forget that as to build an Altar to this Image of a beast and make Proclamation before it as if the great God had come down to dwell in it saying i v. 5. tomorrow is a Feast to JEHOVAH But however they had brought him to do this the People were pleased it was done And as if it were a God indeed k v. 6. on the morrow the People rose up early and offer'd Sacrifices of all sorts as well burnt offerings to this new made God as peace offerings to feast themselves with After which a Ib. 7. they rose up to play b vers 17 18 19. singing dancing and shouting as they had seen it done by the Egyptians at the Feasts of their Idols 82. On that very Morning Moses being to come down from the Moses intercedes for them Mount God c v. 7. hasten'd him away to see what they were doing in the Camp And it may be observed that as they had called Moses d v. 1. the Man that brought us up out of Egyt so God speaking to Moses called them e v. 7. thy People which thou hast brought up out of Egypt Ex. XXXII 7. As the People gave the Honour of that great work from God to Moses so in effect God bids him take the People together with it Their making an Image of the Lord Iehovah their God was so great a breach of their Covenant with him after so
the People of Israel and together with him the Daughter of a King of the Midianites who would surely make it a National Quarrel This was such a thing as God would not let vs be ignorant of and therefore he plainly tells us that the Name of the Man was g v. 14. Zimri the Son of Salu a Prince of the cheif family among thr Simeonites and that the Woman was h v. 15. Cozbi the Daughter of Zur who as he tells us i XXXI 8. elsewhere was one of the five Kings of Midian Such an Heroic Action as this was being done in pure Zeal for Gods Cause was so highly acceptable to him that thereupon he stopt his hand and would not suffer the Plague to proceed any farther And not onely so but as well for a Reward to Phineas at present as for a Memorial of it in future times God gave him the promise of continuing the Priesthood to him and his seed after him for ever 120. By this one Act of his it came to pass that this Judgment of The Plague held but one day God was no more than k 〈◊〉 Cor. X. 9. one days work It was l Num. XXV 18. the Day of the Plague as Moses calls it But in that short space of time there dyed m v. 9. of the Plague no fewer than 24000. Moses elsewhere has told us that those were n Deut. IV. 3. all the Men that followed Baal-Peor And that none dyed after this day till the Date of the Book o Deut. I. 3. of Deuteronomy which was but one Month before his death This is certain from what he told them in the next words p v. 4. You that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day 121. No doubt they that saw this terrible Judgment of God Moses's last numbring of the People though they knew how just it was upon them that perished in it yet could not but be in some kind of fear for themselves none of them being secure but that living as they did among those Idolatrous Nations with whom God would not let them be in hostility they might by conversing with them be ensnared into some Sin or other for which they might perish in like manner God was pleased therefore to let them know that the danger they were in on that account was not long to continue There was onely the a Num. XXVI 3. River Iordan between them and the Land which God had promised to their Fathers Their next Remove would bring them thither And when they had taken possession of that Land which God could give them as easily as he had given them all on this side Iordan they were then b 53 ... 55. to divide it for an Inheritance among themselves To let them see it was the Care of Gods Providence that it should be equally shared he was pleased to order c v. 1. Moses and Eleazar the High Priest to make a second Numbring of the People like that which Moses and Aaron had d Num. l. 1. formerly made in the Wilderness of Sinai It could not but comfort them to see that after the dying away of more than e v. 46. 600000 men that had been then Numbred many of them no doubt dying Natural deaths but all the rest save f Num. XXVI 65. onely Ioshua and Caleb having been swept away by those Judgments of God that had fallen upon them within these last 38. Years yet now they were but g v. 51. 1120. men fewer than they were at that former Numbring which small Number of men might very likely have been lost by their own Miscarriages in the h XXI 31 35. Conquering of those two Kingdoms 122. All this while as well they as their Fathers before them They had now all Extraordinary means had continually before their Eyes those i v. 71 86 93. evident proofs of Gods presence among them in the Pillar of fire all night and of cloud all day either moving before them or resting over the Tabernacle They had the k Deut. VIII 3. Manna which their Bread was made of immediately from Heaven They had their l v. 15. Water first out of one Rock and then out of another still following them all the while they were in the Wilderness None of them had his Raiment waxen old nor his m v 4. and XXIX 1. Shoes grown uneasy to his feet in all these 40. Years God was pleased to let them know that his design in all this was as well to n v. 2 3 16. humble them seeing they had nothing they could call their own as also to teach them to live in an entire Dependance on his Providence 123. There was certainly Need of such Extraordinary ways to With little of the Ordinary instruct them and to mind them of their duties there being then so little of the Ordinary means which God gave to his People in after times They had not the Sacrament of o Iosh. V. 5. Circumcision since their coming up out of Egypt They had no p v. 10 12. Passeover since the second Year after that They had no written Rule to walk by but onely that of the q Ex. XX. Ten Commandments r XXXIV 27. written in Tables of stone and they had also those National Judgments which are all conteined in s Ex. XXI XXII XXIII three Chapters of Exodus Whatsoever Teaching they had more it could be no other than what they had from the mouth of Moses for he writ nothing till the last l Deut. XXXI 9 25. year of his life 124. And yet perhaps no people in the world ever needed teaching Their great Degeneracy more than they did For though they were Abraham's Seed by Sarah his wife and that according to the a Gen. XVII 19. promise of God which was their great Privilege yet even that did not free them from Original Corruption that came to them from much nearer Parents than Abraham and Sarah The immediate Fathers of the Twelve Tribes of Israel were the Twelve Sons of Iacob by whose names they were called But for these Patriarchs how any of them lived or what they did we have no Account in any other Book but that of Genesis and even there we have nothing told us particularly but of the four Eldest Sons and of Ioseph And though this last appears to us wholely without Spot yet of those four others the most that we know is of their Crimes We cannot read of the Incests of b Gen. XXXV 22. Reuben and c XXXVIII 18. Iudah the Faithbreach and Cruelty of d XXXIV 27. Simeon and Levi without sad reflections on the Ignorance of those times For the rest of Iacob's Sons God has not been pleased to let us know any thing of them save only this that when those two Bloudy men were for e XXXVII
to his Sword and driven stubble to his Bowâ—… they could not but observe how God laid such weight on these Prophecies that he challenged them of Babylon to produce any such predictions as these that had been given out so long before by any of their Gods which the Goldsmiths had made and the Carpenters set up for them to worship a XLI 7. XLVI 6 7. and him coming from the North Esaia XLI 7. XLVI 6 7. 32. In the former of these Prophecies XLI 25. there is added something more of that Eastern Prince that he should come immediately b XLI 25. out of the North and so Cyrus did come from the North against Babylon this is not only introduced with such a Challenge in these words c v. 22. 23. shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods v. 22. 23 but also it follows d v. 26. v. 26. who has declared from the beginning that we may know c. So again in the e XLVI 9. other Prophecy Esaia XLVI 9. 10. God assumes the whole Glory to himself not only of foretelling what shall be Declaring the End from the Beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet come to pass but also of bringing them to pass in the time that he had prefixed saying my Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure 33. But that which God chiefly insists on as a most clear Demonstration CYRUS by Name of this is his naming the very man that should be his Instrument in doing the work that he had foretold he would do God had thus named Iosiah some hundreds of years before he was born that by him he would destroy all that Ieroboam had built for his Idolatrous worship f 1. Kin. XIII 2. at Bethel 1 Kings XIII 2. And God having raised up Iosiah and made this Prophecy known to him he came thither to Bethel and ordered every thing to be done according to that Prophecy In like manner now God declared that he would raise up a King named Cyrus to deliver his people out of the Babylonian Captivity and to order the building of his Temple at Ierusalem and that He should build the Temple g Esai XLIV 28. Esaia XLIV 28. saying of CYRUS he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure God declares that by his performing of this he would evidently prove that he was the only true God h v. 24 27. v. 24 27. Again i XLV 1. Esay XLV 1. Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH to his Anointed to CYRUS whom I have enabled to conquer Cities and Kingdoms this I doe that thou mayst know that I who call thee by thy Name am the God of Israel 34. That Cyrus did know this it appears by the Edict he put forth Cyruâ—… knew of this Prophecy in the k Ann. 536. before Christ. first year of his Reign over Babylon l Ezra I. 1. Ezra I. 1. It was the year in which K. Darius dyed m Ann. 606. before Christ. that was the 70th year from the fourth of Iehoiakim according to Ieremy's Prophecies n Ieâ—… XXV 1 10. XXV 1 10. In the preamble of this Edict Cyrus declared that JEHOVAH the God of Heaven so called in opposition to Idols had given him all the Kingdoms of the Earth and charged him even CYRUS by Name to build him an house at Ierusalem So great and so wise a man as he was would never have said this to the honour of a God whom neither he nor his Forefathers had known and whom he now knew to be the God of no other but a Conquer'd people that were come to be his vassals and slaves Especially he would not have said it in such a publick Act as this was if he had not Read what was written of himself in those Prophecies and if those Prophecies themselves had not been so well attested to him that he could have no reason to doubt but that they were of that Age in which they were pretended to be written 35. It is not to be imagined that Daniel had not read all those But he could not build it yet Prophecies No doubt they were his Comfort and his Hope the whole time of his Captivity and therefore when he saw them all fulfilled to the last namely the Promise of his people's deliverance that being the chief thing of all he could not but be greatly concerned to see that fulfilled as well as the rest But yet it did not come presently after Cyrus's taking of Babylon For the Power that Cyrus had there at present being only under King Darius who perhaps knew nothing of the Jews at that time or at least had given no order concerning them therefore when Cyrus had done all that he had Commission to do there at Babylon he left it and as it seems taking Daniel with him he went to King Darius in Media and leaving Daniel there went on into Persia as it has been a see n. 18 19. already shewn 36. There being no appearance all this while of any thing done This made Daniel think of Two Prophecies each of LXX weeks for God's people or to be done now Cyrus was gone so far from them this was in all likelyhood that which put Daniel upon searching into BOOKS as he tells us he did b Dan. IX 2. Dan. IX 2. He knew and was fully assured that the time of their Deliverance was not far off but he had a Mind to know how much longer they were to wait for it And where should he look to find this but in those Prophecies of Scripture that set forth the time during which they were to be in Captivity There are two such Prophecies in the Collection of Ieremy's writings We call that whole Collection the Book of JEREMY but the Prophet himself called each of these Prophecies a BOOK And in two of these BOOKS there is express mention of a time of seventy years which God had prefixed for two very different purposes One was for the duration of the Babylonian Empire the other was for the time of his people's Captivity We shall speak of both these particularly 37. The first of these was the BOOK which Jeremy prophecyed 1. that after LXX weeks God would punish Babylon against all the Nations therein named c Ier. XXV 13. Ierem. XXV 14. There it is said these Nations shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years and it shall come to pass when 70 years are ACCOMPLISHED that I will punish the King of Babylon and that Nation saith the Lord d v. 11 12. v. 11 12. The Time spoken of in this Prophecy should begin e Ann. 607. before Christ. in the third year of Iehoiakim for then it was that Nebucadnezzar came up against f Dan. I. 1. Ierusalem and besieged it Dan. I. 1. This time being reckon'd by Chaldee years whereof 70 are
very near * see DISSERT III. equal to 69 Iulian must necessarily expire in the first year of King Darius And so it came to pass for in a Ann. 538. before Christ. that very year those 70 years being ACCOMPLISHED God did punish Belshazzar King of Babylon and his Nation as it hath been already shewn 38. The other a BOOK for so it is called in the Original a a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the b Ier. XXIX II. that after LXX weeks he would bring back his Captive people Epistle which Ieremy sent from Ierusalem to his Brethren that were in the Babylonian Captivity In this Epistle among other things the Prophet saies thus saith the Lord AFTER 70 years be ACCOMPLISHED at Babylon I will visit you and perform my Good Word towards you in Causing you to return to this place c Ier. XXIX v. 10. v. 10. It was in the fourth year of Iehoiakim that Nebucadnezzar smote the Army of Pharaoh Necho King of Aegypt at Charchemish d Ier. XLVI 1. Ierem. XL. VI. 1. And then it was that he took Ierusalem and brought Iehoiakim under Tribute e XXV 1. Ierem. XXV 1. At which time also he carryed away Daniel and many others together with a great part of the Vessels of the Temple to Babylon f Dan. I. 2. II Chron. XXXVI 7. Dan. I. 2. 2 Chron. XXXVI 7. In that g Ann. 606. before Christ. fourth year of Iehoiakim was the beginning of the 70 years of Captivity which years according to that Prophecy must be ACCOMPLISHED at Babylon There were just so many Chaldee years from the fourth of Iehoiakim till h Ann. 537. before Christ. the second year of year of Darius inclusively And AFTER these 70 years were ACCOMPLISHED then God was to visit his people and to cause them to return to Ierusalem accordingly this came to pass in the first year of Cyrus i Ezra I. 1. Ezra I. 1. 39. That there were just 70 Chaldee years from the third year of Daniel saw that the first LXX years were past and Babylon punished Iehoiakim till the first of Darius and so likewise from the fourth of Iehoiakim till the Second of Darius this will be k Dissert III. afterwards shewn in the proper place The mean while by what has been said thâ—… Readâ—…r â—…ay understand that which l Dan. IX 2. Daniel saith IX 2. In the â—…st year of HIS that is of K. DARIUS'S Reign I Daniel understood by m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 BOOKS the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the Prophet that he would Accomplish 70 years in the Desolation of Jerusalem 40. By these n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He saw the second year near past but nothing done for his People BOOKS or Prophecies Daniel understood now in the first year of DARIUS that his People were within a year or little more of being restored from their Captivity And though at this time he was for his own part in a most prosperous and flourishing Condition o Dan. VI. 2 3. Dan. VI. 2 3. such as drew upon him the Envy of them that were the Chief men about King Darius p v. 4. c. v. 4 c. yet he considered not Himself nor any thing that he enjoyed nor any thing that could happen to him All his thoughts were taken up with those Promises of God concerning his people's Deliverance and especially the building of the Temple at Ierusalem 41. These Promises being made without any Condition God was He knew they must Pray for it sure to perform for his Truth 's sake even to them that should have no benefit by it The Benefit would be only to them that were qualified by Faith and Obedience and that sought it with fervent Prayer All this Daniel could not but know to be so according to the General rules of God's dealing with his people But besides he knew that as to these partâ—…cular Promises God was pleased a Iâ—… XXIX 12 13 14. in the Prophecy it self to charge them with this Condition that whosoever would receive any benefit by them should obtain it by Prayer he should not have it otherwise This God had expresly b vers 1â—… required of his people v. 12. Then shall you call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you And you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your Heart And I will be found of you saith the Lord and I will turn your Captivity c. 42. It is more likely that also at this time his People having been He Prayed and joyn'd Fasting with it for many years Captives at Babylon had contracted much Impurity by living so long in that Idolatrous City and Nation And that Righteous man dwelling among them might have seen and known so much of this that though he could not doubt of God's Truth in performing his Promisâ—… 〈◊〉 he might fear least the Generality of his people might be very 〈◊〉 to receive any Benefit by it Therefore he not only prays for their Deliverance 〈◊〉 he joyns fasting with it and Confession of those Sins by which they 〈◊〉 made themselves unworthy of that Mercy c Dan. IX 3 4. Dan. IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 43. First as for Daniel's Fast on this occaâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…rs to have He kept a strict Fast. been only for One day But how strict a Fast it was he expresly tells us It was not such a fast as he says he kept d Dan. X. 2 3. in the third year of Cyrus Dan. X. 2 3. That was not so properly a fast as a MOURNING for three full weeks v. 3. that is for e 1. 13. one and twenty days together v. 13. All which time he eat no f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pleasant Victuals particularly no flesh nor wine came into his mouth nor did he * The Persians used to anoint themselves every day delicately and profusely Pâ—…in Nat. Hist. XIII 1. Anoint himself he used no manner of delicacy But then he kept his Fast as devout people do among us their Passion week or as many do their whole Lent as well here as in other Countreys But this one days Fast on this solemn occasion was joined with g Dan. IX 〈◊〉 Sackcloth and Ashes v. 3. These are higher expressions of â—…row than were used in any ordinary Fast. They were such 〈◊〉 King of Ninive used for the averting of the Judgements of God 〈◊〉 were denounced by the Prophet h 〈◊〉 III. 6. Ionas against him and his people Ionas III. 6. Whether he did it by the Prophet's advice or out of a meer natural sense of Religion In like manner did i Eâ—… IV. 1 2 3. Mordecai and many other of the Jews afflict their souls for the Sins of their People when they were at the very brink of Destruction
the God of Israel but that God made him leave the doing of that to his Son Solomon But without that Addition the City alone David called a Ps. XLVIII 1. the holy Mountain of God Ps. XLVIII 1. And so did Daniel in this b Dan. IX 16 24. Prayer v. 16. which the Angel refers to vers 24. It was the City of Ierusalem that was called the holy Mountain by God himself Zech. VIII 3. Now indeed it was nothing but a Mountain of Rubbish without either Houses or Walls It was as David foresaw it would be a heap of Ruins without any Inhabitant and he made several * Ps. LXXIV LXXIX LXXX CII CVI CXXXVII all or most of them see Tract V. Psalms for it when it should be in that condition One of those Psalms Ps. CVI. it may reasonably be presumed Daniel had in his mind when he used the c Ps. CVI. 6. words of it in his Prayer 51. It may well be enquired what the reason should be why not so much for the Temple Daniel in his Prayer speaks so d Dan. IX 7 12 16 18 19. often of the City of Ierusalem that lay then in ruines and scarce †The Onely mention of the Temple in Daniel's prayer vers 17. where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy holy place is render'd the Sanctuary But some take that to be the same which the Angel calls thy holy City vers 24. once mentions the Temple of God which was in the same condition This deserves to be thought of so much the more because the Angel in his Answer to Daniel takes e vers 24. notice of his praying for his holy City and in his Prophecy tells him of a f Dan. IX 25. Commandment that there would be for the building of Ierusalem upon which the Wall should be built and the Street but the Angel saith nothing of the Temple in his Answer nor promiseth any thing of it in his Prophecy But at last g 〈◊〉 vers 26. where he speaks of the death of the Messias he saies that after that both the City and the Temple should be destroyed In these last words it was plainly implyed that there was a Temple to be built for there was none in being at the time of this Prophecy and it must be Built before it could be destroyed But there was no Promise of this 52. Now the reason of Daniel's saying so little of the Temple he knew that would forth with be built and therefore the Angel's saying nothing of the rebuilding of it was plainly this that Daniel was perfectly secure that the Temple should be built the Angel also knew that he was so having God's word for it not only that it should be done but that it should be now within a year or two He also knew who should Order the doing of it He saw and knew the Man even CYRUS by name of whom God had said h Esaia XLIV 28. it is He that shall perform all my pleasure saying to Ierusalem thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy Foundation shall be laid 53. It was little more than a year after this that King Darius But he knew not when the City would be built died and Cyrus being his Successor did give out that order upon which soon after i Ezra I. 1. the foundation of the Temple was laid according to that k Esai XLIV 28. Prophecy of Esaiah But that was all that was done to it in Cyrus's time the building of the Temple being put off till the g Ezra IV. 5. 24. second year of King Darius which was some fifteen years after No doubt Cyrus gave also order or leave for the building of Houses at Ierusalem for the dwelling of thòse few that had to do about the Temple But for the Generality of the People that came up from Babylon h Ezra II. 70. they went to live in the Cities about which their Inheritances lay so that after all that Cyrus had done there were no more than scatter'd Houses or Sheds for present use at Ierusalem There were i Neh. VII 4. no Streets built to make it a City and much less Walls to make it defensible till the k II. 1. twentieth year of Artaxerxes which was above seventy years after this When that would be done Daniel had no manner of View there being no Prophecy in Scripture concerning it till that which the Angel now gave him in this l Dan. IX 24. Prophecy of LXX weeks Here indeed the Angel being to set the Time from whence he was to date the beginning of these weeks told him v. 25. these weeks were to begin m vers 25. from the going forth of the Commandment to build Ierusalem again and that there might be no mistake of his words the Angel shew'd what Commandment he meant by adding what was to follow upon it namely n Ib. that the Wall should be built and the Street even in a streight of Times This was clear to them that lived in King Artaxerxes's time when they came to see the o Neh. II. 5 6. Issuing forth of that Commandment of his in the year of his Reign p Neh. III VI c. before mention'd And to Us it is as plain by reading the account of it in the Book of Nehemiah who lived at that time and was employ'd by that King in that building 54. But Daniel who lived so long before being wholely ignorant Therefore he prayed for that chiefly of this till he had this intimation of it from the Angel in the words of this Prophecy it is no wonder that he was so passionately concern'd for the rebuilding of the City of Ierusalem as we see he was by his so often repeating it in his Prayer for his Church and Nation that being their Center of Union in all their Civil affairs as well as those of Religion 55. We are next to shew the ardent Zeal that he had for God's He also shewed his Zeal for God's Glory in the Arguments that he used in his Prayer Glory which especially appears in the Arguments that he made use of for the speeding of those his Petitions He made use between whiles of Arguments drawn from the Attributes of God that are known even by the light of Nature to them that have no Divine Revelation a Dan. IX 4 7. 9 c. Arguments from the Wisdom and Power the Truth and Holiness of God his Justice and Goodness and Mercy all these do afford us helps in Prayer some of them for the strengthening of our Faith and Hope and Resignation to God others also to mind us of those Divine qualities in which we are as near as we are able to conform our selves to the Image of God and thereby to qualify our selves for those Mercies and Blessings we ask of him which is the most proper use of such Considerations 56. But this holy