A M. 3470. which it was supposed to have some resemblance or analogy. In B.C. 534. visions or dreams, whether sent by God or not, some symbols or

language must have been employed; and the business of the oneirocritic, or interpreter, was to ascertain the import of such symbols. The interpreter, who practised by art, could only guess at that import, and in nine instances out of ten was likely to guess erroneously; but he who interpreted by inspiration was in no danger of falling into error, though each symbol, or word, taken by itself, must have had some meaning generally understood by those among whom such symbols and words were in general use, as well as by the prophet.

666

The early interpreters of dreams,' says Bishop Warburton, 'were not juggling impostors; but, like the early judicial astrologers, more superstitious than their neighbours, and so the first that fell into their own delusions. However, suppose them to have been as arrant cheats as any of their successors, yet, at their first setting up, they must have had materials proper for their trade; which could never be the wild workings of each man's private fancy. Their customers would look to find a known analogy, become venerable by long application to mysterious wisdom, for the groundwork of their deciphering; and the decipherers themselves would as naturally fly to some confessed authority, to support their pretended science. But what ground or authority could this be, if not the mysterious learning of symbolical characters? The Egyptian priests, the first interpreters of dreams, took their rules for this species of DIVINATION from their symbolic riddling, in which they were so deeply read; a ground of interpretation which would give the strongest credit to the art, and equally satisfy the diviner and the consulter; for it being generally believed that their gods had given them hieroglyphic writing, nothing was more natural than to imagine that those gods, who, in their opinion, gave dreams likewise, had employed the same mode of writing in both revelations.' 2

In

"When the true God gave revelations by dreams, he, of course, made use of the symbols that were most likely to arrest the dreamer's attention, and, at the same time, were generally understood; and in different countries he would make use of different symbols, according to the practice of the people for whose information the dream was sent. Thus, in Pharaoh's two dreams, the symbols made use of were, in one, seven kine; and in the other, seven ears of corn. the hieroglyphics of Egypt the ears of corn denoted its fertility; and the kine, its great tutelary patroness, Isis. Thus far Pharaoh seems to have understood the dream without an interpreter; and hence arose his anxiety to understand the rest, as a matter that concerned the public. Accordingly, when Joseph comes to decipher the dream, he does not tell the king that the two sevens denoted seven years in

2 Div. Leg. B. IV.

Egypt, but simply seven years; the scene of the famine needing no A.м. 3470. deciphering. In Nebuchadnezzar's second dream he saw a fair and B.c. 534. high tree, of which the height reached to heaven; and this being the symbol of majesty in general, very naturally made the proud monarch anxious to know what particular monarch it signified; and therefore the prophet Daniel begins his interpretation with saying-The tree that thou sawest is THOU, O king! But if Daniel was intended by God, as he certainly was, to be an interpreter of the dreams sent by him to the king of Babylon-the scourge by whom he chastised sinful nations-it is obvious that a knowledge of the symbols by which events were supposed to be represented in Chaldea, was a species of preparatory knowledge absolutely necessary to him. The symbols employed for this purpose by the Chaldean magi may have been different from those in use amongst the priests of Egypt; but whether they were or not, it seems evident that hieroglyphical writing, and all kinds of symbolical representations of God and his attributes, were absolutely prohibited by the Mosaic law. Daniel, therefore, must have been taught the import of the Chaldean symbols, to fit him for an important part of the office he was destined to fill; and as God appears not on any occasion to work miracles for an object which can be attained by natural means, it is to be hoped that the deist will permit Christians to believe that Daniel might, without sin, be taught the meaning of the mysterious symbols of Chaldea, by those wise men of that empire, among whom they were best understood. The sciences of astronomy and chemistry furnish many illustrious proofs of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator and Governor of the world; these sciences have been successfully cultivated by philosophers in France, who seem not to acknowledge the moral attributes of the GREAT FIRST CAUSE— -if, indeed, they allow any cause to be first; but surely an intelligent Christian clergyman, of a mind tolerably firm, might take lessons in astronomy and chemistry from such men, not only without incurring guilt and danger, but with great advantage to himself.""

66

as a man and

saint.

As a man, and as an Israelite, indeed," Daniel was truly pre- Character eminent: so much so, that on one occasion he was addressed by a celestial messenger in these extraordinary terms of affection, "O man! Dan. x 19. greatly beloved, fear not." At an early period of his life we have seen him manifest a conscientious scrupulousness, and subsequently, an inflexible adherence to his religion, amidst circumstances of extreme danger and powerful temptation, which have conferred upon him immortal renown. It was by no idolatrous compliances, no creeping meanness, that, during the various changes which occurred in the government, he retained, nevertheless, his elevated situation. His worst enemies, too, acknowledged the integrity and singular wisdom with which he conducted the affairs of the kingdom intrusted

3 Hist. of Bible, Vol. II. p. 504-506.

A.M. 3470. to his management, and devised a method of bringing him into B.C. 534. trouble, which, from proving successful, as they had probably

Compared to Joseph.

anticipated, was itself a memorable testimony to his worth as a man, and his piety as a saint. In chafing and rubbing the gold, they only burnished it into greater brightness, and exhibited more conspicuously its substantial value.

Daniel has been compared to Joseph, perhaps with some propriety, as there are unquestionably points of resemblance, and a coincidence of circumstances to be traced in these two illustrious individuals. Each of them was removed at an early period from his native country into a land of strangers; the one sold as a slave, the other seized upon and borne away as a captive. Each was elevated by a marvellous train of events to similar stations of dignity and influence in a foreign court; by means, indeed, which demonstrated, in either case, the interference of a particular providence in their behalf. Each preserved his fidelity to God, amidst the most embarrassing circumstances; and notwithstanding the corruption of manners and of religion with which they were encompassed; and it is by no means easy, without being placed in somewhat of a similar situation, to estimate, properly, the strength of principle, the heroic fortitude of character required to sustain, not only the outward attacks of adversaries, but the nameless and numberless efforts of a more insidious, more secret, and more constant kind, which, in such cases, are employed to shake fortitude and refrigerate zeal. The conduct both of Daniel and his three companions furnish a very fine specimen of religious firmness. It may be asked, indeed, whether, instead of incurring so much danger by their inflexibility, they might not have evaded the decrees which threatened their destruction: whether, for instance, Daniel could not have desisted for a month from the usual exercises of his religion, without any material departure from his principles; and whether life was not too precious, and his influence too important, to be risked upon a mere scruple of conscience? Might he not have closed his windows, and have been more private in his devotions; or might he not have availed himself of some business of state, to have withdrawn into some remote and secluded part of the empire? It is true, this might have been done; and thousands, and tens of thousands, would have adopted such an expedient; but Daniel justly appreciated the entire circumstances of the case, and no sooner saw the consequences which would result from any thing like evasion or artifice, than he determined, at every hazard, to maintain his integrity, and do honour to his religion and his God. It was not an affair of trivial moment; it was no part his character to sacrifice conscience to convenience or personal safety; and he plainly foresaw that such a conduct would be pleaded hereafter as a disparagement to religion; that evasion, in such circumstances, would in reality be tantamount to renunciation; and that he should be justly exposed to be censured as cowardly and hypocritical.

of

ardent

The true cause of his boldness must be traced to an origin which A.M. 3470. illustrates another very remarkable trait in his character. He was B.C. 534. a man of ardent devotion, and, no question, the flame of his piety, a man of vigorous as it was, and bright as it appeared, was kindled from above, devotion. and perpetually recruited from the altar of heaven. Nothing can be more interesting than his humility and unremitted intercourse with God, amidst the weighty cares of state, and in defiance of all the machinations of wickedness. That his sedulous attention to secret duties, prepared him for public action, is obvious, and worthy of imitation: for, whoever derives his support from the same quarter; whoever derives his means and motives to conflict from the same armoury, will, by consequence, be able to encounter similar difficulties, and come off victorious from the same field.

The book which passes under the name of Daniel, in the inspired record, was certainly of his composition, although some Jewish writers maintain that prophecies were never committed to writing out of the limits of Judea, and that the book in question was composed by men of the great synagogue. In many passages, however, he represents himself as the author, in the most express and unequivocal terms. This composition was admitted into the Hebrew canon as his, and its authenticity, as such, is confirmed by the references of the New Testament. Josephus, moreover, affirms, that Daniel himself committed his prophecies to writing."

4

The style of Daniel is not in general so remarkable for its His style. poetical and figurative cast, as that of most of the other Jewish prophets, but possesses more of the simplicity and ease of historical narration; though the visions which he records are in themselves highly figurative and emblematical. The whole book comprises a detail of regular history and remarkable prophecy; and this intermixture gives it a very novel and interesting complexion. The first six chapters are principally historical, with the exception of the second chapter, which contains the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's prophetic dream, respecting the successive establishment and decay of the chief kingdoms of the world, till the introduction of that which was finally to obtain unrivalled power and universality. There is such an air of truth, and such a justness of colouring in the different accounts of the miraculous deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, from the fiery furnace, to which they were consigned by the persecuting intolerance of Nebuchadnezzar; in the unhallowed and sacrilegious festivity of Belshazzar, with the awful consequences that ensued; in the story of Daniel's commitment and deliverance from the lions' den; and in all the minute details of these transactions, that the reader is transported to the very spot, and has his passions infallibly engaged in every scene. The alternations of terror and of delight agitate

4 Comp. Mat. xxiv. 15; Mark xiii. 14.

5 Antiq. L. X. C. 22.

A M. 3470. the bosom, while sentiments of the sublimest nature are incidentally B.C. 534. communicated. It is, indeed, a tale of wonder, divested of all

His rank as a prophet.

fictitious adornments; but a tale of great political and moral importance, and of most evident practical utility. The events of the sixth chapter belong to the time of Darius the Mede: in the seventh and eighth the reader is carried back to a previous period, namely, to the first three years of the reign of Belshazzar. The last six chapters consist of prophecies, which, though manifestly connected, were delivered at different times.

As a prophet, Daniel must be allowed a very high rank, whether we consider the magnitude and glory of the events themselves which he describes, or the explicit minuteness and exactitude of his delineations. "The prophecies of Daniel," observes Dr. Gray, 66 were in many instances so exactly accomplished, that those persons who would otherwise have been unable to resist the evidence which they furnished in support of our religion, have not scrupled to affirm that they must have been written subsequently to those occurrences which they so faithfully describe. But this groundless and unsupported assertion of Porphyry, who, in the third century, wrote against Christianity, serves but to establish the character of Daniel as a great and enlightened prophet; and Porphyry, by confessing and proving from the best historians, that all which is included in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, relative to the kings of the north, and of the south, of Syria, and of Egypt, was truly, and in every particular, acted and done in the order there related, has undesignedly contributed to the reputation of those prophecies of which he attempted to destroy the authority; for it is contrary to all historical testimony, and contrary to all probability, to suppose that the Jews would have admitted into the canon of their sacred writ, a book which contained pretended prophecies of what had already happened. And indeed it is impossible that these prophecies should have been written after the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, since they were translated into Greek near a hundred years before the period in which he lived; and that translation was in the possession of the Egyptians, who entertained no kindness for the Jews, or their religion. Those prophecies also, which foretold the victories and dominion of Alexander, (ch. viii. 5, xi. 3.) were shown to that conqueror himself by Jaddua, the high priest, as we learn from Josephus, and the Jews thereupon obtained an exemption from tribute every sabbatical year, and the free exercise of their laws. Many other prophecies in the book have likewise been fulfilled since the time of Porphyry.

6

"Daniel not only predicted future events with singular precision, but likewise accurately defined the time in which they should be fulfilled, as was remarkably exemplified in that illustrious prophecy

6 Lib. X. Cap. 12. Lib. XI. Cap. 8.