Memoirs of William Miller - Sylvester Bliss

5. The Commencement of the Seventy
Weeks. -- These were believed by Mr. Miller to be
weeks of years, -- four hundred and ninety years, --
and commenced with the decree of Artaxerxes
Longimanus to restore and build Jerusalem,
according to Ezra seventh, B. C. 457. This has also
long been considered by commentators to be a
settled point; and it probably would not have been
disputed were it not for a desire to avoid the
conclusion to which Mr. Miller came, on the
supposition that it was the beginning of the 2300
days. On so settled a point as this it is only
necessary to mention such names as Horne[28],
Prideaux[29] , Clarke[30] , Watson[31] , William
Howel, LL.D.[32] , Scott, and Cunninghame.
This point was not much questioned by any. A
Mr. Kindrick, in a “New Exposition of the
Prophecies of Daniel,” said: “They are seventy
years only, and commenced with the birth of Christ
and ended with the destruction of the Jewish
nation.”[33] Rev. Calvin Newton affirmed, in the
Christian Watchman, that they were fulfilled in
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