the princes, the counsellors and the captains, to solicit the establish- A.M. 3467. ment of a royal statute, by which it was to be enacted, that whoever B.C. 537. should ask any petition either of a god or of man during the period of thirty days, excepting of the king himself, should be cast into the den of lions. The Persian monarchs were extremly tenacious of their honour, and the people universally held their persons in the same degree of veneration as they cherished for their gods. Darius, conceiving this application as intended to do him honour upon his accession to the sovereignty, most readily granted their request, taking no time to reflect upon its absurdity. den of lions. Daniel was perfectly aware of the stratagem which the princes Cast into the had adopted to effect his destruction; the vigilance of his administration being such that it must have been scarcely possible for so daring a conspiracy to elude detection. But infinitely more concerned for the glory of his religion, and the honour of God, than distressed at the apprehension of personal suffering, he did not, even for a moment, desist from those devotional exercises to which he had conscientiously addicted himself through all the period of his captivity, and by which he maintained a total separation, both of spirit and practice, from the heathen impieties of Chaldea. As soon as he 46-49. was informed of the royal signature being given to the decree, he retired into his house, and, according to his usual custom-a custom, too, which was always observed by the Jews in any distant situation -he prayed with his face turned towards Jerusalem. This he continued, as usual, three times a-day, with his chamber window open in the direction of the Jewish capital. This was not a mere caprice or formality; it was founded upon the consideration of the blessings which were connected with such a proceeding, and which were pleaded distinctly by Solomon at the dedication of the temple: "If 1 Kings viii. thy people sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives into the land of the enemy, far or near; yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; and so return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven, thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause. The enemies of Daniel soon discovering that their plot had succeeded, and that he was, as they had reason to expect, a resolute adherent of the divine religion of his country, hastened to Darius to acquaint him with the disobedience of his subject, and to demand the enforcement of his decree. They endeavoured to aggravate his A.M. 3467. conduct by misrepresentation, intimating that Daniel was guilty of B.C. 557. disaffection to the royal person; for, said they, "He regarded not His deliverance. thee, O king, nor, the decree which thou hast signed." The king now found himself in an extreme difficulty, and, dismissing the accusers for a time, devoted several hours to devise some expedient, if possible, to evade the execution of a law which affected the life of a favourite and most meritorious servant. He felt excessively grieved at his own folly in so suddenly adopting a suggestion which drew in its train such fatal consequences; and, as the sacred historian records, "laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him." His courtiers, however, were determined, representing to him, that the law of the Medes and Persians, when once passed, was absolutely unalterable; and to this urgency he felt himself at last obliged most reluctantly to yield. The object of their malignant persecution was accordingly delivered up to them, and with all the impatience that characterizes successful guilt, they issued instant orders to seize and convey him to the den of lions. A stone was rolled against the mouth of the den to prevent escape, which was sealed both with the king's own signet, and that of the different nobles and princes: upon which Darius withdrew to his palace in a very disconsolate state of mind, probably having perceived the manœuvre of his courtiers; but finding himself incapable of resisting their will, he had sacrificed a favourite servant to their baseness, and one whose public character had excited a confidence proportioned to its merit—a character against which the tongue of calumny dared not to utter a sentence. The night was spent in fasting and sleeplessness; and all the instruments of music were discarded. Whether the king, however, at the moment of executing his decree, had any presentiment of his deliverance, we cannot tell; it appears that he said to him, "Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.' If this were the conviction of his mind, it no doubt originated in his knowledge of the innocence and integrity of Daniel, and from an impression of his piety and peculiar intercourse with heaven, arising out of the prophetic character he had displayed on more than one occasion. It might, indeed, have been only an ardent desire for this purpose, dictated by his partiality for the sufferer; and is, indeed, susceptible of the rendering, "May thy God deliver thee. However this may be, the king's anxiety brought him to the mouth of the den of lions at an early hour in the morning, where he inquired, in a doleful and desponding tone of voice, whether he was possibly alive: to which he had the inexpressible satisfaction of hearing Daniel reply in the affirmative. He informed the king that his God had sent his angel, and shut the lions' mouths, that they could not do him any injury; thus miraculously attesting his perfect innocence of the alleged crime of disparaging the royal authority. Darius immediately issued orders that he should be extricated from his melancholy situation, which were also immediately followed by A.M. 3467. the command to cast his accusers, with their wives and children, into B.C. 537. the den, where they were speedily torn to pieces: a cruel measure, but perfectly according with the custom of the age, which always visited the offence of the father upon his family. A decree was then issued, which recognized the extraordinary providence apparent in this deliverance, and desired all men to reverence the God of Daniel. prayer. As the period which the prophet Jeremiah had assigned for the Daniel's captivity drew near its termination, Daniel offered solemn supplications to heaven for the accomplishment of the prophetic intimation, accompanied with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes; after which the angel Gabriel appeared to him, to give him assurance that his prayers were heard, and should be answered, and to inform him, in repeated visions, of some of the most wonderful events of a far distant futurity, and, in particular, of the redemption of mankind from the captivity of Satan, of which the Babylonian was antitypical and illustrative. After Cyrus had obtained a full possession of the empire, he Decree of issued a decree, in which he gave permission to the Jewish captives Cyrus. to return to their own country, and to accomplish, if they pleased, A.M. 3468. their favourite purpose of rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. B.C. 536. Nothing, indeed, could be more entirely consonant to their wishes than this royal edict, and they most readily availed themselves of the long anticipated opportunity of quitting a foreign land, where they had hung their harps upon the willows, and been afflicted by the sight of idolatrous observances. It seems, to say the least, highly probable that Daniel instigated Cyrus to this acceptable measure, since he had the release of his fellow-countrymen much at heart, and since he possessed every advantage of benefitting their cause by his eminent situation and extensive influence. We have seen that Cyrus was not insensible of his merits, but, as soon as he had secured the government, raised him to the most elevated rank, as minister of state. This ascendancy gave him free access, and great influence at court; and as his prayer, recorded in the ninth chapter of the book which passes under his name, indicates his solicitude for the restoration of the children of the captivity, it cannot be questioned that he would introduce the subject to his sovereign, and probably plead earnestly on their behalf. We find, from the decree itself, which is recorded in the book of Ezra, and from the testimony of Josephus, that Cyrus was well acquainted with the Jewish prophecies; and nothing can be more likely, if, indeed, it ought not to be considered as absolutely certain, than that his prime minister should have pointed out to him these predictions, and especially the passages relating to himself, and distinctly mentioning him by name in the prophecy of Isaiah; a minute specification of his actions which had been perceived at the distance of upwards of two hundred years. A.M. 3468. Although, however, Daniel was accessary to the publication of B.C. 536. the decree of Cyrus, it does not appear that he availed himself of its proffered benefits; which may perhaps be imputed partly to his advanced age, for he must have been approaching the extraordinary period of ninety years, but principally to the conviction that by retaining his present situation, he should be better able to subserve the interests of the Jews, than by accompanying them on their return. If, as is likely, his royal master urged his continuance, it would tend still further to enhance his influence, and promote his patriotic views. Death of The death of this illustrious individual may be assigned to near the period of his last vision, concerning the succession of the kings A.M. 3470. of Persia, which happened in the third year of the reign of Cyrus, B.C. 534. or about A.M. 3470. At this time he must have attained his nine tieth year. Epiphanius, who is followed by the generality of historians, supposes that he died in Babylon, where it is affirmed that his sepulchre was afterwards to be seen in the royal cave. This, however, cannot accord with fact, because the sepulchre of the Persian kings was near Persepolis, and Strabo states that Cyrus was interred there, and that his monument was observed by Alexander; besides, his last vision was apparently revealed to him in Persia, as it is dated by a Persian æra. It is certain that he resided some time at Susa, or Sushan, the capital of Elam, or Persia Proper, which a more probable tradition represents as the place of his death and burial. Benjamin Tudelli, in his Itinerarium, mentions that the reputed tomb of Daniel was pointed out to him at Tuster, on the Tigris, which was the ancient Susa. Josephus states,1 that Daniel built a magnificent edifice in the form of a tower, at Ecbatana, (or rather Susa, as Jerome writes it, who professed to copy his account,) which was finished with the most consummate taste and skill, and retained all its beauty unimpaired in his days. It was used as a sepulchre for the Persian and Parthian kings, and was committed to the superintendence of a priest of Jewish extraction. In reviewing the life and character of Daniel, to whose superiority of moral and intellectual qualities the testimony of inspiration is given in the most unequivocal terms, the circumstance, first men. tioned in the detail of his actions, respecting his being educated as an astrologer, is apt to strike pious minds with astonishment, and to impress them with some feelings of disrespect and repugnance; detracting, in their view, very materially from his excellence. It cannot but be recollected, that the law of Moses not only denounced immediate death upon all the professors of magic, but on every one who resorted to them. Soothsayers, diviners, observers of times, and interpreters of dreams, are uniformly represented in 1 Antiq. Lib. X. C. 12. education Scripture as an abomination to Jehovah, and yet Daniel is peculiarly a.м. 3470. commended by the Babylonish monarch for his remarkable profi- B.C. 534. ciency in astrological studies. To this it may be justly said in Daniel's reply, that the learning of the Chaldeans, in which he excelled, astrological included a very considerable knowledge of astronomy, in the considered. modern acceptation of the term, and also architecture, (of his skill in which art we have seen he left a memorial,) and of the art of war. It is not necessary to suppose that Daniel pursued insignificant or criminal studies, or addicted himself to the superstitious practices of those amongst whom he was educated. The history has already recorded his objections against the meat which was accustomed to be dispensed from the king's table; and the same scrupulousness, founded in principle, which induced him to refuse such sustenance, would unquestionably influence his conduct on still more important occasions. He and his companions might be permitted to follow such studies as were most congenial to their taste, most consonant to their religion, or most adapted to qualify them for official situations in the state;-as, the niceties of language, the arts of war, the plans of civil policy. 66 In further illustration of this topic, we may be permitted to introduce the judicious remarks of Dr. Gleig, in the notes to his edition of Stackhouse's History of the Bible. That he (Daniel) was taught, even by the astrologers, much useful knowledge, can hardly be doubted; for those men could not have pretended to foretell future events from the conjunctions or oppositions of the stars or planets, without acquiring great knowledge in the useful and sublime science of astronomy, which the agricultural life of the Jews, and the perfection of their law, deprived them of almost every inducement to study. No Chaldean astrologer can have employed himself in more frivolous pursuits than were those of the alchymists, in the dark ages of modern Europe, in quest of the philosopher's stone; and yet to the alchymists we are in a great measure indebted for the origin of the science of chemistry, which has, within these thirty years, been carried to such perfection, and contributed so much to the comfort and elegance of civil society. 66 Even in the interpretation of dreams something might be learned from the Chaldean wise men. Neither the gods of Babylon, indeed, nor the conjunctions of the stars, could reveal any thing to the astrologers or soothsayers; but no man, who admits the divine origin of any part of the Scriptures, can doubt but that the true God occasionally revealed his will to the prophets in dreams and visions: and when he did so, he must have made use of such symbols, or such language, as were generally employed to denote the thing intended. The narrowness of original languages, and the practice of hieroglyphical writing, which seems to have prevailed in most nations, especially in the East, during some period of their existence, rendered it almost necessary to express occasionally one thing by another to |