[DAWSON] SOLAR AND LUNAR CYCLES IN BOOK OF DANIEL 51 



of the Gentiles is found in Luke XXI, 24, and it is connected with these 

 periods in Eevehition XI, 2 and 3. 



That the day in prophecy stands for a year, has been recognized 

 by all the leading expositors since the Eeformation. " The great mass 

 of interpreters in the English and American world have, for many years, 

 been wont to understand the days designated in Daniel and the Apoca- 

 lypse as the representatives or symbols of years. I have found it 

 difHcult to trace the origin of this general, I might say almost universal, 

 custom." (Prof. Moses Stuart, "Hints," page 77). A number of 

 passages show this to be a frequent usage in the Scriptures themselves, 

 in the case of predicted periods, from the time of the Exodus and in 

 the Prophets. These passages are detailed by Fleming, writing in 1701, 

 in " An Epistolary Discourse ;" and they are usually quoted by later 

 writers. A thorough discussion of this year-day principle will be found 

 in Elliott, '^Horœ Apocahqjticœ," Vol. III., pp. 260-297 (5th edition, 

 1862). Amongst writers who accepted this principle in the 16th cen- 

 tury, it is probably fair to include Calvin and Melancthon; for al- 

 though their statements are not very definite, they appear to assume 

 it to be correct; but amongst the earliest who have clearly enunciated 

 the matter, are Osiander (1544j, Aretius of Berne (previous to 1574), 

 and Dr. Chytraeus (1571), Also in the next century, David Parens 

 (1615), Mede (1627), and Faber. The prophetical periods were cal- 

 culated on this basis by Sir Isaac Newton, and his successor in the 

 Mathematical Professorship at Cambridge, Dr. Whiston (1706), These 

 authors are followed by many more recent writers. 



The measurement of prophetical periods by the lunar year was 

 first suggested, so far as we can ascertain, in 1823 I y J. A. Brown, in 

 " Even Tide," with application to Eastern peoples, which is appropriate. 

 This use of the lunar year has been made by others, noLably H. Grattan 

 Guinness in "The Approaching End of the Age;" and in "Light for 

 the Last Days," pp. 52 to 55, the measurement of prophetic periods in 

 both solar and lunar years is shown to result from the fulfilment of the 

 Messianic prophecies. 



XoTE B. — Fulfilment of the " Seventy Weeks " extending to 

 the advent of the Messiah. See Sir Isaac Newton, " Observations upon 

 the prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John," published 

 in 1733. Also Auberlen, " Daniel and the Eevelations of St. John," 



1856; pp. 91 to 131, where this subject is very thoroughly discussed. 

 The exact fulfilment of the period is well explained by Guinness, " Light 

 for the Last Days," 1893 ; pp. 28, 53 and 198. 



Note C. — Regarding the closing era of the prophetical periods, a 

 long list of expositors might be given in support of the era indicated. 



