fake of its effential interefts, fubjects himself to oppreffion and reproach, and, in imitation of his great Mafter, endures hardships, defpifes fhame, and enjoys a distant profpect of the glorious advantages he is labouring to procure for the prefent, and tranfmit to fu. ture ages. Or let us contemplate one acting in a lower sphere, who, uninfluenced by fear or hope aiming only at the general good, performs with integrity all thofe truits which either the ftate, or any lefs fociety, has committed to him. He too will be entitled to car warmeft approbation, if we can difcern his fentiments and motives. But, whether we can difcern them or not, he will certainly obtain, what are of infinitely more value, the approbation of his own conscience, and the approbation of his Maker.'

The Charges are upon religious controverfies-on the connexion between merit and the reward of merit in the profeffion of a clergyman-and on the use and abuse of philosophy in the ftudy of religion.

ART. III. A free Inquiry into Daniel's Vifion or Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. In which the Vifion is applied to the State of the Jews under the Perfian Monarchy, and the Weeks are fhewn to be Weeks of Days. With an Appendix on the Jewish Notion of a Meffiah. 4to. 2s. 6d. Payne.

TH

HE Author of this Inquiry feems to be an ingenious and learned critic; and though he adopts a new interpretation of a paffage, the meaning of which has been much controverted, he does not content himself with arbitrary fuppofitions and conjectures. He difcovers a confiderable degree of that kind of knowledge which the difcuffion of this fubject requires. He begins with offering fome confiderations from the defign and letter of Daniel's celebrated prophecy, in order to fhew that it does not admit an application to the death of Chrift and the deftruction of Jerufalem, events to which it has been uíually referred. Daniel, when he received this prophetic vifion, had been confeffing the fins of his countrymen, and fupplicating their deliverance from captivity, He knew, in confequence of the divine promife by Jeremiah, chap. xxx. ver. 18. compared with Daniel ix. 1, 2, that, after seventy years, Jerufalem fhould be rebuilt; and he waited the approach. ing termination of this period with anxious expectation. The prophecy therefore our Author imagines, refers to this event, which Daniel contemplated in near profpect, and not to any other, that was more diftant. He likewife supposes, on a general view of this paffage, that the commandment here mentioned related to the rebuilding of Jerufalem, predicted by the prophets Ifaiah and Jeremiah; that the Maffiah Prince was Cyrus the Perfian, who immediately upon his acceffion published a decree for the return of the Jews, and the rebuilding of the holy city; and that the feven weeks are weeks of days, fpecifying the pre

cife time, for Daniel's confolation and encouragement, which was nearly arrived, when Darius fhould die, and leave Cyrus in poffeffion of the Babylonifh monarchy. The word ya, here rendered week, does, in other paffages which the Author has cited, fignify fimply a week, in the common acceptation of the term; and our Author thinks that the context fhews, that the words, v. 24, to feal up the vifion and the prophecy, alludes to the ratification and completion of Jeremiah's predictions. He then enters into a critical examination of the several parts of this prophecy, and adduces a variety of authorities, in order to fupport the rendering and interpretation which he has adopted. We shall infert his verfion of the Hebrew text, and the explication that accompanies it in two feparate columns, so that they may be eafily compared.

Verfion of the Hebrew. Ver. 24. Seventy weeks are abbreviated unto thy people, and unto thy holy city, to check the revolt, and to put an end to fins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in the righteouf nefs of ages, and to feal the vifion and the prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holics.

V. 25. And thou fhalt know and understand, that from the going forth of the word to rebuild Jerufalem unto the Meffiah Prince, ball be feven weeks; and threefcore and two weeks it fhall be built again, the street and the lane, even in troublous times.

V. 26. And after the threefcore and two weeks Meffiah fhall be cut off, and it shall not be his and the people of the Prince that fhall come fhall deftroy the city and the fanctuary, and the end thereof fall be with a flood, and

unto

EXPLICATION.

Ver. 24. Seventy weeks are abbreviated (or there fhall be nearly seventy weeks) to thy people, and to thy boly city, to check the revolt (or the apoftacy from Jehovah) and to put an end to other offences, and to make facrificial atonement for iniquity, and to bring again the righteousness of ancient times, and to feal or confirm the truth of Jeremiah's prophefies, and to anoint or confecrate the most holy altar.

V. 25. Know therefore and underfand, that from the going forth of the divine word or commandment to rebuild Jerufalem (which was iffued at the beginning of thy fupplications, as I have juft informed thee) to the acceffion of the Meffiah Prince Cyrus, who is to execute it, shall be feven weeks; and in threescore and two weeks from bis acceffion, Jerufalem fhall be built again, the fireet and the lane (that is, the streets and the lanes of Jerufalem fhall be rebuilt) even in times of trouble, from the jealousy and malignity of the neighbouring people.

V. 20. And in the times fucceeding the threefcore and two weeks, shall the Meffiah Prince Cyrus be flain in battle, and Jerufalem shall be no longer under his power and protection; and the people of the Prince that shall come after him, (or the Samaritans, the fubjects of his fucceffor Cambyfes) ball lay wafle the

city

Verfion of the Hebrew. unto the end of the war defolations are determined.

V. 27. And the first week fhall confirm the covenant unto many; but the midst of the week fhall caufe the fa crifice and the meat-offering to ceafe; and upon the wing, or border, fall be the abomination of defolation, even until deftruction, and that determined, shall be poured upon the defolator.

EXPLICATION.

city and the fanctuary that fall be building in it, and the end thereof foall be with a flood (or with a fudden incurfion of the adverfary) and the defolations fall continue till the second year of Darius Hyftafpes, when the kingdoms of the earth fhall be at reft from war.

V. 27. And the first week of the times fucceeding the threefcore and two weeks (that is, the feventieth from the going forth of the commandment) fall, in the opinion of many, once more eftablish the covenant between Jehovah and his people; for in the beginning of this week the foundations of the temple fall be laid; but the midst of the week hall cause the facrifice and the meat offering to ceafe (or the Samaritans in the midst of the week shall put a stop to the facrifices) and on the wing or eaftern border of the fanctuary, fhall be the abomination of defolation, even until deftruction, and that determined, fall be poured upon the defolator (that is, the place appropriated to the altar fhall remain defolate and defiled, till Cambyfes, the enemy or defolator of the Jews, shall be deftreyed).

The Author clofes his Inquiry with the following recapitulation :

Jeremiah had foretold that Jerufalem should be defolate feventy years. Near the expiration of the term predicted, Daniel, who well knew of the prophecy, was fervently praying for the refloration of the holy city; and as he was greatly beloved by Jehovah, Gabriel is commiffioned from heaven to acquaint him with the divine orders concerning it, which had been given out at the beginning of his prayers.

The angel comes to him, and opens his information, ch. ix. ver. 24, in terms implying, that within feventy weeks the Jews fhould return from captivity, the worship of Jehovah should be introduced again, and Jeremiah fhould be found to have been a true prophet. He then proceeds to a more circumftantial detail, and tells him,

1. That Cyrus, who was to fend back his countrymen to their land, and to restore Jerufalem, should fucceed to the throne in feven weeks.

2. That in fixty-two weeks from his acceffion, the ftreets of Jerufalem fhould be rebuilt.

3. That after thefe weeks, Cyrus fhould be flain, and the Samaritans, inftigated by the edict of his fucceffor Cambyfes, and by a fpirit of revenge, fhould come fuddenly upon the Jews in their low

condition,

condition, and lay wafte the city and the fanctuary, that fhould be building is it, and that Jerufalem fhould continue defolate, without a temple, and without walls, till the fecond year of Darius Hyftaf pes, a time of profound peace throughout the Perfian empire, when it should begin to rife again out of its ruins.

4. That in the first week after the fixty-two, or the feventieth from the vifion, the temple fhould be founded, and many of the Jews be encouraged by this, to expect the firm re-establishment of their covenant with Jehovah, but that in the midst of the week the Samaritans fhould oblige them to defit from their worship, by polluting the altar that had been fet up about feven months before, which should remain deferted and unhallowed, till the death of Cambyfes, the enemy of the Jews, who was to perish miferably.'

The Appendix contains merely a confirmation of the generally received opinion, that the Jews were ftrongly prepoflefied with the expectation of a Meffiah, who was to be a mighty con queror, and whofe kingdom was to be foltly of this world: nor have they to this day given up this flattering opinion.

ART. IV. Essays relating to Agriculture and rural Affairs. In Two Parts. Illuftrated with Copper-plates. By a Farmer. 6 s. Boards. Cadell. 1775

8vo.

F this publication has been unnoticed by us fomewhat longer than ufual, it has not been owing to want of refpect. We have the utmoft regard for the hufbandman and his labours, and are no strangers to the veneration in which he was held throughout antiquity. One of the greatest and wifeft princes of the Eaft, Xerxes, when he led his army into Greece, gave ftrict orders to his foldiers not to annoy the perfon of the hufbandman and the fhepherd; among the Indians it was held unlawful to take these men in war, or to waste their labours † ; and of the famous general Belifarius we are told, Agricolis ita , peperciffe, ita confultum voluiffe, ut nunquam eo exercitum ducente, vis ulia ipfis illata fuerit.

This wisdom of antiquity feems to be greatly revived in the prefent age, and to the profeffors of agriculture, we not only afford protection but encouragement: a truly laudable fpirit, which has been generously cultivated by the Society of Arts!

The Author of these Effays has thrown into the general stock of rural science such obfervations as have been the result of his own experience . And there is no doubt but that, if fuch deHerodotus.

15 Geog.

+ Arrian in lib. rer. indic. Strabo, † Suidas.

We are informed, in the previous advertisement, that these Essays were written by the perfuafion of the late ingenious Dr. John Gregory, of Edinburgh, who always wifhed to turn the attention of mankind to the purfuit of what was folid and useful, in arts and fciences.'

tails are honeftly and faithfully executed, it is the beft mode of conveying agricultural inftruction. For we agree with this very fenfible Farmer, that It may not perhaps be looked upon as one of the smallest inconveniences attending the profeffion of agriculture, that fo many of the most confpicuous writers on that subject, having been themfelves entirely unacquainted with the practice of that art, and of confequence unable to felect with judgment from the works of others, have frequently copied their errors with the fame fcrupulous nicety as the most valuable parts of their works. And, as it ufually happens that when a man indulges his imagination, and creates to himself ideal plans of improvement, he can render them apparently much more perfect than any thing that really takes place in practice, it is but natural to expect that thefe places fhould catch the attention of an inexperienced compiler; who being thus feduced himfelf, employs the utmoft of his rhetorical powers to perfuade his readers to adopt these particular practices: which is but too ready to impofe upon the judgment of the young and inexperienced farmer, and make him adopt opinions, and follow certain favourite practices with a perfevering oblinacy that his own better judgment never would have allowed him to do, if he had proceeded with that atteɛtive diffidence that always accompanies ignorance when attended with native good fenfe. So that although books of that kind often contain obfervations that may be of very great utility to an experienced farmer, who may be able to diftinguish between the good and the bad; yet to those who have molt need of inftruction, and who ofteneft confult them, these books frequently prove the fource of very capital errors: fo that it would ufually be better for fuch farmers that no fuch books had ever been written.'

The firft of thefe Eflays treats of inclofures and fences, and contains thirty fections, the laft of which is employed in gene. ral obfervations with regard to the proper divifion of a farm into inclofures. The fecond effay is on draining bogs and fwampy grounds; the third on the beft method of levelling high ridges; the fourth on the proper method of fowing grafs feeds; and the fifth on hay making.-This laft, as we look upon it to be one of the most useful parts of the work, we fhall lay before our Readers, convinced as we are, both from obfervation and experience, that there is hardly any process in hutbandry fo erroncouly carried on in general. The extremes of dry and dank prevail in common. In the former the radical moisture is loft, in the latter it is corrupted; and in either case the pabulum is of very little value.

Before artificial graffes were introduced into this ifland, haymaking was a very tedious and troublefome operation; but, as the graffes now ufually cultivated for yielding hay, are not fo fott and fucculent as the natural meadow graffes in general, we have it in our power greatly to fhorten that operation, and at the fame time keep our hay much fweeter than it would be if treated after the old method. For the fake, therefore, of fuch as may not be well acquainted with the best method of making hay from artificial grades,

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