DAN 
emblems are ufed by other prophets, and they are agreeable 
ito the flyle and genius of all the eaftern writers of his time. 
‘So far from having borrowed them from the Grecian fchools, 
if any ia them ever were ufed by the Greeks, they borrowe 
-them from the oriental writers. The laf objection ill ac- 
cords ues the jifth and tenth. There obvious matters o 
faG were narrated with the clearnefs of hiftory; and the au. 
thor was charged with forgery, on account of his uncommon 
Flere all is dark and aeons oe 
a 
sother prophets; it is clear and concife, and his narrations 
and defcriptions are fimple oe natural; and he writes more 
like an hilterian than a prop 
the genuinenefs and Avehentiaiey of the book of Da- 
niel, we have all the external and internal evidence, which 
t 
auicient hiftorians, who relate many o 
tions; of the mother of the 7 fons, and of the father of the 
who both recommend the example of Daniel 
to their jee of old Eleazar in Egypt, who, praying for 
the Jews then fuffering under the petayons of Ptolemy 
ae deliver- 
Ezekiel, a contemporary writer, who greatly eee - ae 
and wifdom. The internal evidence is not lefs c cing 5 
for the language, ftyle, manner of writing, aod ‘all, other 
internal marks and charaGers, are perfe&ily agreeable to 
that age; and he appears plainly and pores to have 
been a prophet, by the exact accomplifhment of his prophe- 
cies, as well thofe which have poet scaly fulfilled, as 
thofe which are now fulfilling in the w orld. 
Of the vifions and prophecies of Daniel we fhall now 
give a brief account. is-firft prophecy was his interpre- 
tation of Nebuchadnezzar’ 8 aa. ecorded in the fecond 
or wife men, had failed to inter- 
ordered them to be deftroyed, 
pret it, he ki 
Daniel offered himfelf to ae captain of the guard, bene. 
volently interpofing for preferving the lives of the i, 
enten ruGion, and modeltly afcribing to 
typify the various Kndom arife. It con- 
fifted of four different metals, gold, filver, brafs, and ircn 
mixed with clay 5 and thefe four ioe according to Da- 
niel’s interpretation, mean fo s; and the 
order of their fucceffion is dey ac jan 
the parts; the head and higher sake eet the earlier 
he head o 
h Dani el inter- 
IEL 
and his haa loa ‘The Babylonian was, therefore, 
the firfk of thefe kingdoms, fitly reprefented by the head 
reat riches. But this em- 
yet of ne long duration 5 
the me tine ae was the Mc 
and tre two fhouldcrs, fays Jofephus, (Act. 70, 
§ 4.) iy a the empire of the Baby] —— “thould be 
diffolved § by two kings; who were the kin ngs of the Medes 
aud Perfians, "whofe powers were united under Cyrus, by 
whora Babylon was befiegced and taken, and who, putring 
an end to that empire erected on its ruins the Medo- Pe: flan, 
or Perfian empire. Thus far all critics and commentators 
are agreed, that the two firft kingdoms reprefented in the 
Gream of Nebuchadnezzar were the Babylonian and the 
Perfian, ‘The belly and thighs of the image oe of 
which Daniel interprets (v. 39.), § 
; which thall bear a over 
verted ai Perfian “empire $ and therefore the Lagden 
which fucceeded to the Perfian was the Macedonian, re- 
prefented by brafs, becaufe, as it is faid, the Greeks were 
famous for their brazen armour, It has been controverted, 
> raaaied this kingdom terminated in the perfon of Alexan- 
der, or was continued in his fucceffors, The two thighs of 
brafa,, . is fuggefted, might be defigned to denote the Sa- 
leucid#, who reigned in Syria, and the Lagide, who 
reigned in Pail ie who were the only fucceffors of Alex 
and the fame kingdom, t t 
diftinct ; for they are fo reprefented by all ancient authors. 
“The legs of the image are of iron, his feet part of iron and 
33.) which defcription is pha by 
his fourth ki s de- 
and O- 
all ne ane kingdoms. 
tions. 
from the image, and the kingdom 
ferent from the kingdoms of this world ; 
hands, that is, this kingdom was fpiritual : 
by the God of heaven, and hence the phrafe of the ‘kingdom 
of heaven came to fignify the kingdom of the Meffiah, as it 
was underftood by the Jews, and is applied by our = in 
the New Teftament. This kin gdom was to “ iy n pie oe 
and confume all the kingdoms,” to_{pre eae rge 
felf, fo that it fhould: comprehend hs ifelt all the a 
