To find the Domini. cal letter. To find And therefore, if the leap-year begins on Sunday, it will end on Monday; and the next year will begin on Tuesday, the first Sunday whereof must fall on the sixth of January, to which is annexed the letter F, and not G, as in common years. By this means, the leap-year returning every fourth year, the order of the Dominical letters is interrupted; and the series cannot return to its first state till after four times seven, or 28 years; and then the same days of the months return in order to the same days of the week as before. 391. To find the Dominical letter for any year either before or after the Christian æra. In Table III. or IV. for old style, or V. for new style, look for the hundreds of years at the head of the table, and for the years below a hundred (to make up the given year) at the left hand; and where the columns meet, you have the Dominical letter for the year desired. Thus, suppose the Dominical letter be required for the year of CHRIST 1758, new style, I look for 1700 at the head of Table V. and for 58 at the left hand of the same table; and in the angle of meeting, I find A, which is the Dominical letter for that year. If it was wanting for the same year old style, it would be found by Table IV. to be D. But to find the Dominical letter for any given year before CHRIST, subtract one from that year, and then proceed in all respects as just now taught, to find it by Table III. Thus, suppose the Dominical letter be required for the 585th year before the first year of CHRIST, look for 500 at the head of Table III. and for 84 at the left hand; in the meeting of these columns you will find FE, which were the Dominical letters for that year, and shew that it was a leap-year; because leap-year has always two Dominical letters. 392. To find the day of the month answering to the day any day of the week, or the day of the week answering to any day of the month, for any year past of the months. or to come. Having found the Dominical letter for the given year, enter Table VI, with the Dominical letter at the head; and under it, all the days in that column are Sundays, in the divisions of the months; the next column to the right hand are Mondays; the next, Tuesdays; and so on, to the last column under G; from which go back to the column under A, and thence proceed toward the right hand as before. Thus, in the year 1757, the Dominical letter new style is B, in Table V; then, in Table VI, all the days under B are Sundays in that year, viz. the 2d, 9th, 16th, 23d, and 30th of January and October; the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th of February, March, and November; the 3d, 10th, and 17th of April and July, together with the 31st of July; and so on, to the foot of the column. Then, of course, all the days under Care Mondays, namely, the 3d, 10th, &c. of January and October; and so of all the rest in that column. If the day of the week answering to any day of the month be required, it is easily had from the same table by the letter that stands at the top of the column in which the given day of the month is found. Thus, the letter that stands over the 28th of May is A; and in the year 585 before CHRIST, the Dominical letters were found to be F, E, § 391; which being a leap-year, and E taking place from the 24th of February to the end of that year, shews, by the table, that the 25th of May was on a Sunday; and therefore the 28th must have been on a Wednesday; for when E stands for Sunday, F must stand for Monday, G for Tuesday, &c. Hence, as it is said that the famous eclipse of the Sun foretold by THALES, by which a peace was brought about between the Medes and Lydians, happened on the 28th of May, in the 585th year before CHRIST, it fell on a Wednesday. 393. From the multiplication of the solar cycle gulian of 28 years, into the lunar cycle of 19 years, and the period. Roman indiction of 15 years, arises the great Julian To find the year of this period. period, consisting of 7980 years, which had its be- 394. The Dionysian or vulgar æra of CHRIST'S birth was about the end of the year of the Julian period 4713; and consequently the first year of his age, according to that account, was the 4714th year of the said period. Therefore, if to the current year of CHRIST we add 4713, the sum will be the year of the Julian period. So the year 1757 will be found to be the 6470th year of that period. Or, to find the year of the Julian period answering to any given year before the first year of CHRIST, subtract the number of that given year from 4714, and the remainder will be the Julian period. Thus, the year 585 before the first year of CHRIST (which was the 584th before his birth) was the 4129th year of the said period. Lastly, to find the cycles of the Sun, Moon, and indiction, for any given year of this period, divide the given year by 28, 19, and 15; the three remainders will be the cycles sought, and cycles of the quotients the numbers of cycles elapsed since that year. the beginning of the period. So in the above 4714th year of the Julian period, the cycle of the Sun was 10, the cycle of the Moon 2, and the cycle of indiction 4; the solar cycle having run through 168 courses, the lunar 248, and the indiction 314. And the The true æra of 395. The vulgar æra of CHRIST's birth was CHRIST's never settled till the year 527, when Dionysius Exiguus, a Roman abbot, fixed it to the end of the 4713th year of the Julian period, which was four birth. years too late.-For our SAVIOUR was born before the death of Herod, who sought to kill him as soon as he heard of his birth. And according to the testimony of Josephus (B. xvii. ch. 8.) there was an eclipse of the Moon at the time of Herod's last illness; which eclipse appears by our astronomical tables to have been in the year of the Julian period 4710, March 13th, at 3 hours past midnight, at Jerusalem. Now as our SAVIOUR must have been born some months before Herod's death, since in the interval he was carried into Egypt, the latest time in which we can fix the true æra of his birth is about the end of the 4709th year of the Julian period. There is a remarkable prophecy delivered to us in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel, which, from a certain epoch, fixes the time of restoring the state of the Jews, and of building the walls of Jerusalem, the coming of the MESSIAH, his death, and the destruction of Jerusalem.-But some parts of this prophecy (Ver. 25.) are so injudiciously pointed in our English translation of the Bible, that, if they be read according to those stops of pointing, they are quite unintelligible.-But the learned Dr. Prideaux, by altering these stops, makes the sense very plain; and as he seems to me to have explained the whole of it better than any other author I have read on the subject, I shall set down the whole of the prophecy according as he has pointed it, to shew in what manner he has divided it into four different parts. Ver. 24. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy People, and upon thy boly City, to finish the Transgression, and to make an end of Sins, and to make reconciliation for Iniquity, and to bring in everlasting Righteousness, and to seal up the Vision, and the Prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Ver. 25, Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the Commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the MESSIAH the Prince shall be seven weeks and three-score and two weeks, the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times. Ver. 26. And after three-score and two weeks shall MESSIAH be cut off, but not for himself, and the people of the Prince that shall come, shall destroy the City and Sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a Flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Ver. 27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even until the Consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. This commandment was given to Ezra by Artaxerxes Longimanus, in the seventh year of that king's reign (Ezra, ch. vii. ver. 11-26). Ezra began the work, which was afterwards accomplished by Nehe miah: in which they met with great opposition and trouble from the Samaritans and others, during the first seven weeks, or 49 years. From this accomplishment till the time when CHRIST'S messenger, John the Baptist, began to preach the Kingdom of the MESSIAH, 62 weeks, or 434 years. From thence to the beginning of CHRIST's public ministry, half a week, or 3 years. And from thence to the death of CHRIST, half a week, or 3 years; in which half-week he preached, and confirmed the covenant of the Gospel with many. In all, from the going forth of the commandment till the Death of CHRIST, 70 weeks, or 490 years. And, lastly, in a very striking manner, the prophecy foretels what should come to pass after the expiration of the seventy weeks; namely, the Destruc tion of the City and Sanctuary by the people of the Prince that was to come; which were the Roman The Doctor says, that this ought to be rendered the half part of the week, not the midst. |