tion. It is, therefore, of the greateft confequence, not only that unbelievers be made converts to the Christian faith, but that the faith of believers themfelves be ftrengthened, and they be thereby converted from 'merely nominal into real Chriftians.-Now faith is increafed by the very fame means by which it is first 'generated, viz. by an attention to the proper evidences, ' and a frequent contemplation of the object of it. Those 'perfons therefore, who call themselves Christians, and 'who must be supposed to wish to feel and act as be'comes Chriftians, fhould ftudy the evidences of their ' religion.—They should both frequently read the fcriptures, and alfo other books, which tend to prove their truth, and illuftrate their contents 56."

Having fo long confined the attention of the reader to general remarks alone, I shall shortly again bring before his view fome illuftrations of particular prophecies: having had an opportunity, on the fubject of the prefent chapter, of felecting from a more than ordinary number of excellent writers, I fhall abftain from introducing any obfervations of my own.

The prefent chapter confifts almost entirely of extracts. If this circumftance be conceived to call for an apology, I have only to obferve, that it feemed important to the cause of truth and to the interefts of revelation, that all the principal arguments on the credibility of prophecy, arguments which have already been clearly ftated by different writers, fhould be brought together" into a tolerably narrow compafs; and that I was unacquainted with any work, in which this useful task had been com

56 Priestley's Inftitutes, vol. I. p. 168.

57 At the fame time it may not be improper to obferve, that those general remarks on prophecy, which are introduced in the ivth chapter of the prefent work, occur not again in the xixth; and therefore these two chapters may, with propriety, be perufed in connexion,

pletely

pletely performed. And though there may occafionally, in the course of the extracts, have been fomewhat of repetition, it may be remarked, that the ideas repeated are generally fufficiently important, to deferve to be brought before the mind again and again, and to be placed in a variety of lights.

CHAPTER XX.

ON THE MONARCHICAL IMAGE AND THE TENHORNED BEAST IN DANIEL,

THE

HE predictions, relative to modern times, which occur in chapters ii. and vii. of Daniel, are pecuculiarly worthy of examination; for they are more than ufually clear, and will reflect a light on the apocalyptical prophecies'. But, previously to entering on a brief examination of them, I fhall cite a few fhort teftimonies of writers respecting this diftinguished prophet.

With respect to the authenticity of the book of Daniel, there is,' fays bp. Newton, all the external evi'dence that can well be had or defired in a cafe of this 'nature; not only the teftimony of the whole Jewish 'church and nation, who have conftantly received this 'book as canonical; but of Jofephus particularly, who 'commends him as the greatest of the prophets; of the 'Jewish Targums and Talmuds, which frequently cite

and appeal to his authority; of St. Paul and St. John,

who have copied many of his prophecies; of our Sa

Comparing fcripture with scripture is the best way to understand 'both the one and the other,' bp. Newton, vol. I. p. 494.

'viour

'viour himself, who citeth his words, and ftyleth him • Daniel the prophet;' and of ancient hiftorians, who "relate many of the fame tranfactions.-Nor is the inter'nal lefs powerful and convincing than the external evi'dence; for the language, the ftyle, the manner of writing, and all other internal marks and characters, are 'perfectly agreeable to that age; and he appears plainly ' and undeniably to have been a prophet by the exact 'accomplishment of his prophecies, as well thofe which have already been fulfilled, as those which are now fulfilling in the world'.'

Dr. Samuel Chandler, in fpeaking of Daniel, fays, upon account of his extraordinary piety and wisdom, he is taken notice of and commended by Ezekiel', who was his fellow prophet and contemporary.-The purity of the language in which the book is written, both of the Chaldee and Hebrew, is an undeniable argument of its great antiquity.' For fince every language, from the very nature of it, is in a conflant flux, * and in every age deviating from what it was in the for'mer; the purity of Daniel's language makes it evident, that it must be written before the purity of thofe languages was loft, i. e. about the time when Ezekiel's 'Daniel lived and flourished'.'

4

Porphyry, an heathen philofopher of the third century, and a pupil of Longinus, who wrote an elaborate work in fifteen books again ft Chriftianity, did, as we are informed by Jerom, object against the character of

This prophecy is writ partly in Hebrew, and partly in Chaldee: ' for which this reason may be assigned; that those parts of it in which the Babylonian empire was concerned were writ in that language, viz. from eh. ii. 4. to the end of the viith chapter: a great part of which was pro⚫bably entered into their public registers.' Mr. Lowth's Intr. to Dan. 5 Vindic. of Dan. p. 61, 63.

Daniel,

Daniel, that he was criminal in accepting with fo much readiness the honours conferred upon him at Babylon.

6

But there is no ground,' fays the excellent Lardner, ' for fuch a cenfure: Daniel was guilty of no mean com'pliances: he afcribed all his wisdom to God; and upon every occafion preferved his integrity without blemish, and openly profeffed his zeal for true religion, and the worship of God according to the directions of the law of Moses. It was not decent for him to refuse the 'honours bestowed by a great king, when no finful compliances were exacted; and when he might, in the high ftation to which he was advanced, both promote the interest of true religion, and the welfare of his people in a ftrange country. Daniel does not appear to have been fond of worldly honours. When Belshazzar 'made him great promifes, he answered: Let thy gifts 'be to thyfelf, and give thy rewards to another.'

A learned anonymous writer, in his obfervations on the book of Daniel, fays, I think it no inconfiderable argu

ment, that it has not been foifted in upon the world by • Chriftian or Jewish zealots, that parts of it have continued 'fo long in obfcurity, and now, in this age, are gradually ' explained. Had any impofition been defigned, these 'pretended oracles would have been underflood at the firft moment of their publication, as well as now; and would not have waited for elucidation till this time, fo long after the views of a false prophet must have been ' at an end'.'

Our bleffed Saviour,' fays Dr. Apthorp, has so af'ferted the authority of the prophecies of Daniel, as to 'reft his own veracity on their truth; and it is of

Dau. v. 17. Lardner's Works, vol. VIII. p. 203.

7 Commentaries and Effays, vol. I. fignature Synergus, p. 508.

6

Daniel that Sir I. Newton fays, to reject his prophecies, is to reject the Chriftian religion. For this religion is founded upon his prophecy concerning the Meffiah'.' 'I conceive Daniel,' fays Mede, to be Apocalypfis Contracta, and the apocalypfe Daniel Explicate, in that where both treat about the same subject; namely what ⚫ was revealed to Daniel concerning the Fourth Kingdom, but fummatim and in the grofs, is fhewed to St. 'John particulatim, with the distinction and order of the feveral fates and circumftances 10,' The apoca lypfe of John,' fays Sir I. Newton, is written in the ⚫ fame ftyle and language with the prophecies of Daniel, ⚫ and hath the fame relation to them, which they have to ⚫ one another, fo that all of them together make up but one complete prophecy".'

Of the predictions in ch. ii. and ch. vii. of Daniel fuch is the preciseness, that they admit not of two interpretations 12. That they refer to a remote period, the prophet has himself declared, telling us in the former of those chapters (v. 28), that they related to what shall be in the LATTER days.

In chapter ii. it is predicted, that the great Image, fymbolical of the monarchies of the world, fhall be overthrown and deftroyed; and (v. 34 and 42) that its Ten

Toes fhall be shattered to atoms.

The great idol of

Daniel was,' fays a valuable writer, very properly

• used as a representation of the grand imposture under

"P. 254. With respect to Sir I. Newton's character as a critic and a theologian, the teftimony of an adversary may be cited. 'The first of 'philofophers,' fays Mr. Gibbon, was deeply skilled in critical and theo'logical ftudies.' Decl. and Fall of the Rom. Emp. vol. VIII. p. 272.

Dr. Sykes, fpeaking of chapters ii. and vii. of Daniel, fays, the prophetic ftyle is plain and easy; and the terms fuch as will admit of very little, if any debate, Eff. on the Tr, of the Chr. Rel. p. 12.

' living