DANIEL 
written after the fa&s to which they refer had occurred. 
To him they appeared to be a narration of events that had 
already taken place, rather than a predi&tion cf things to 
denied their genuinenefs and authority. In the 12th of his 
15 books again the Chriftian religion, he attempts to de- 
preciate Daniel’s 
Bat, as ferom rightly a lla this method of oppofing 
the prophecies, affords the {trongeft teftimony to their truth, 
For they were fulfilled with ack exatinefs, that, to infidels, 
that the prophecy relatin s of Syria and 
Egypt, (ch. xi.) which is faid to have been written after the 
times of Antiochus Epiphanes, was tranflated into Greek 
roo years before his time, and the tranflation was in the 
hands of the Egyptians, who had no great kindnefs for the 
Jews and their religion: and thofe prophecies = foretell 
the fucceffes of Alexander (ch. vil. 5. xi. e fhewn 
to Alexander by the Jews, in confequence of ae they 
obtained fevera] privileges from him. 
The author of * ‘The Scheme of Literal Prophecy” con- 
fidered, (A. Collins, efq.) hath followed the fteps of Por 
phyry; and formed eleven objections againft is book of 
Daniel, concluding with no fmall degree of confidence, that 
it muft have been written in the time of the Maccabees. 
But his two learned opponents, both of the fame name, 
have folidly and clearly refuted his eleven objeétions, and 
fhewn that they are all mere cavils, unfounded oe 
erroneous quotations, or evident contradi€tions. (See B 
7 ty asl s Vindication of his Defence of Chriftianity, 
B 
‘ 
wer to the 
Schem ) The following 
a of Mr. Collins’s obje€tions, and the replies'to them, 
may not be unacceptable to the theological reader; and 
comport with the defign of the editor in all articles of this 
ind, which is to defend and eftablih the truth of our holy 
ae and the authenticity of the Scriptures, upon which 
aith 
in it depends, Collins objedis, fir, that the 
ae Daniel, mentione zekiel, faa not be th 
ears the book of Daniel; becau Eze iel, who 
ed 
court of Babylon (‘Dan ii. 48.); and he was . therefore 
very fit and worthy to be celebrated Diy his fellow-captive 
Ezekiel. _ Bee Daniet. The fecond: a of Collins 18s 
courts of the 
kings, we may obferve, that there are only four kings men- 
tioned in the book o aniel, wiz. Nebuchadnezzar, Bel. 
azzar, Darius A Mede, and Cyrus. Of the ar 
there never wa y doubt ; e other tw be 
rightly named, honel they have been differently devon 
by the Greek hiftorians, who Be iffer as much from one 
another as from Daniel. aftern monarchs, it is well 
known, had feveral different names: an 
ufe one, and another writer might ufe another. 
further ftates, that it is more fuited to a fabulous writer 
than to a contemporary hiftorian, to fpeak of “ Nebuchad- 
nezzar’s ner with the beafts of the field, eating 
grafs like oxen, &c.’? and then returning again to t 
It fhould be sonfidered, ee 
perience What is there in this account (aaa or 
abfurd? The dream was not indited by Daniel, but was 
told by Nebuchadueaaa himfelf. i 
rs Collins is, that of Daniel ot b 
written by that Daniel, who was a captive at Babylon, 
becaufe it abounds with derivatives from the Gree 
which language was unknown to th ws till long after 
the captivity: it is not true, that the of Daniel 
nt 
ords are names of mufical inftruments s 
a ck themes acknowledge that they received 
thei fr. aftern nations, from whence the 
aatelyes orginally defcended. It is objected, fourthly, 
that the book of Da niel does not appear to have been 
n the other books of the Old 
T 
the prefent Greek verfion, inferted in the Septuagint, being 
taken from the tranflation of Theodotion, made in the fecond 
century of the Chriflian era. pears, however, that 
here was an ancient hedicas venon of Daniel, which is attri 
lumn of the Hexapla of Ori 
times by Jerom. This oi, olich had been fea 
by the an ‘oF the church, and in the room of w 
Theodotion’s was fubftituted, was publifhed fome years a 
ae kind of argument againft the hase of Daniel. His pro- 
phecies are clear, and therefore are no prophecies. —_ 
8 no 
