390 DAN 
'hibi many ingenious and learned works, of which the 
following were the' mod important : i. De Spiritus SanEli 
Proceffionc, j.tO. 2. De Chrifli Pnjbna Officio & Benejiciis, 
•Svo. 3. he Voto Jcphleeo, 8vo. 4. Pradamita, 8vo. 3. 
Collegium Pfychologicvm circa Ariflotclcm de Anima, 8vo. 6. 
Idea-, boni Interpret is & maliciqfi Ca/umriiatoris, Svo. 7. Idea 
boni Difput : atoris & malicioji Sophifia, 8vo. 8. Difputationcs 
Dccalogicce. ,9. Chriflojopliia Antichrifophiq. 
DA'NICHA, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 
Tobollk, on the Chatanga: 360 miles north-north-eaft 
of Turuchanfk. Lat. 70. 45. N. Ion. 116.E. Ferro. 
DA'NIEL, Heb. the judgment of God.] The 
name of a prophet; a proper name of men. 
DA'NIEL, the fourth in number of the greater Hebrew 
prophets, was a defcendant, mod probably, from the race 
of Jewidi kings, born in Judea, fome time during the 
reign of Jofiah. When Jerufalem was taken and plun¬ 
dered by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, in the reign 
of Jehoiakim, 606 years before Chrift, Daniel was in the 
number of the young perfons who were felebted from the 
fird families' in the kingdom, and carried into captivity, 
when, according to the mod probable conjecture, he was' 
.about eighteen or twenty years of age. On his arrival 
at Babylon, he was fixed upon, with fome others diffin- 
guifhed by their fuperior perfonal and mental accom- 
plidunents, to be inftrufted in the language and litera¬ 
ture of the Chaldeans, in order to their becoming quali¬ 
fied to fill dations "in the fervice of government. For 
this purpofe they were delivered to the care of the chief 
of the king’s eunuchs, and were ordered a daily allow¬ 
ance of provifion and wine from the king’s table. Da¬ 
niel, and Hananiah, and M-ilhael, and Azariali, who were 
all of the tribe of Judah, appear to have recommended 
themfelves by the fuperiority of their abilities and im- 
provements, and acquired tlie favour and affection of the 
chief of the eunuchs, who gave them the Chaldaic names 
of Beltefhazzar, Shadrach, Mefhach, and Abednego. 
As a drong proof of his regard for them, he connived at 
their difufe of the royal provifion and wine, which, ac¬ 
cording to the Jewidi law, were unclean, on account of 
their having been ofFered up to idols. After tire time 
appointed by the king for the inftruCtion of the young 
Tevvs had expired, they were brought to court, and ex¬ 
amined by Nebuchadnezzar himfelf, who found Daniel 
and his three companions above-mentioned eminent for 
their accomplifhments, and more profoundly (killed in 
learning and knowledge than the abled of the magi or 
learned men in his kingdom. “ Therefore they flood be¬ 
fore the king,” or had adigned to them honourable da- 
tidns and offices iivhis fervice. Some time after this, in 
the fecond year of his reign, according to the Chaldee 
computation, Nebuchadnez-zar was rendered very urieafy 
by a dream, the particulars of which he was utterly un¬ 
able to recoiled!:. In thefe circurridances he fummoned 
together the Chaldean magi, requiring them not only to 
interpret his dream, but to difcover what he dreamt. 
Upon their unanimoufly declaring, that although it fell 
within their province to interpret dreams, the gods alone 
could difcover what his dreams had been ; the king was 
fo enraged, that he gave orders to Arioch, the captain 
■of his guard, to feek out, and put to death, all the magi 
in Babylon. But before thefe orders could be put into 
■ execution, Daniel, who would neceffiarily be included un¬ 
der that cruel profcription, prevailed upon Arioch to per¬ 
mit him to enter into the king’s prefence, where he un¬ 
dertook, upon the condition of being allowed a Ihort re¬ 
spite, to difcover to the king both his dream itfelf and 
the interpretation. This difficult talk he was enabled to 
perform, in confequence of the fecret’s being divinely 
communicated to him in a night vifion ; and obtained the 
higheft honours from the king, who made him rich pre- 
Lents, and appointed him ruler over the whole province 
of Babylon, and chj^f of the wife men, and permitted 
him to employ his three friends, Shadrach, Mefhach, 
and Abednego, as his alii Hants in conducting the affairs 
DAN 
of his government. Daniel’s interpretation of thisdreafia 
contains his prophefy of the four great monarchies, and 
the fucceeding kingdom of the Mefliah, concerning which 
numerous additional particulars were afterwardsdelivered 
in the account of his own vifions.. Some years after this, 
Nebuchadnezzar was troubled with another dream, which 
he diftinctly recollected, but was unable to obtain a fa- 
tisfaftory explanation of it from the Chaldean magi. On 
this occafion he had again recourfe to Daniel’s power of 
interpretation, who honeftly told him, that his dream 
was predidtive of the lofs of reafon to which he ffiould 
be fubjected as a punifhment for his pride and other 
vices, and earneftly exhorted him to that repentance and 
reformation which might -prove “ a lengthening of his 
tranquillity.” At the expiration of twelve months from 
that time, the truth of Daniel’s interpretation was jufti- 
fied by the infanity which feized the. haughty king ; 
from which he afterwards recovered, and by a public 
decree acknowledged the honour due to the one only God 
who reigns in heaven and on earth. The next memorable 
event recorded concerning Daniel, took place in the reign 
of Belfliazzar, who was molf probably the grandfon of Ne¬ 
buchadnezzar, and the lad king of the Babyloniffi race. 
That prince, who was a vicious and abandoned charac¬ 
ter, was one night alarmed in the midfl: of his gay and 
impious caroufals, by the appearance of an hand that 
wrote feveral characters upon the wall of the banquet- 
ing-room, which the magi were unable to decipher. 
At the fuggeftion, as it is generally underftood, of the 
queen-mother, who had the chief management of public 
affairs, he fent for Daniel, to whom he promifed honour¬ 
able rewards if he would interpret the meaning of the 
dreadful prodigy. Without flattering the vices ot the 
monarch, Daniel affureu him that it contained a de¬ 
nunciation of the divine vengeance againft him for his 
wickednefs and profligacy, and of the fpeedy lofs ot that 
crown which he was unworthy to wear. During the very 
fame night, this prediction was fulfilled; for Darius the 
Mede made himfelf matter of Babylon, which he had 
for fome time belieged, by furprife, and put to death 
Belfliazzar and his nobles in the midfl: of their feafting 
and revelling, and united the kingdom of Babylon to the 
Medo-Periian empire. Under the new government Da¬ 
niel, who had now poffeffed long experience in public 
affairs, was appointed the firfi of three prefidents over' 
120 governors, to whom the fuperintendency of the dif¬ 
ferent provinces of the empire was committed. In this 
lituation he became an object of jealoufy to the Medo- 
Perfian nobles, who, knowing his integrity to be unim¬ 
peachable, took advantage of the vanity and weaknefs of 
Darius to obtain a decree, which they-were fure Daniel’s 
religious principles would lead him to difobey, and by 
that means prove the occafion of his ruin. By that de¬ 
cree all perfons were forbidden to put up any petition 
whatfoever to God or man, excepting to the king, for 
the fpace of thirty days, upon pain of being cafl: into the 
lions’ den. But as Daniel would not permit the inter¬ 
ference of any human tribunal to prevent the exercife 
of his duties towards the God of heaven, and continued 
without concealment daily to perform»his devotions, his 
enemies dcculed him of breaking the folemn law of the 
(late, and demanded that he (hould fuffer the punifhment 
due to his crime. After ineffectual endeavours to five 
Daniel from the confequences of that fatal decree, which 
flattery had induced him to pafs, Darius was obliged to 
relign his faithful fervant to the malice of his accufers, 
who haftened to put the dreadful fentence into execu¬ 
tion. By the providence of God, however, he was mi- 
raculoufly preferved from the fury of the lions, and re- 
ffored to his honours and dignities, which he appears to 
have retained until the reign of Cyrus the Perfian, when 
he died at a very advanced age. His predictions entitle 
him to be ranked among the mod important of the He¬ 
brew prophets, and are fo determinate and clear, and 
have been lb exactly illuffrated by the events which 
have 
