language, which was better understood by the Jews than the Hebrew * was. But Rabbi Nehumiast, who lived fifty years * See this matter examined more at length in Wintle's "Preliminary Dissertation;" in Newton " on the Prophecies;" in Prideaux's " Connection;" in Chandler's "Defence," and in his " Vindication of the Defence," Vol. i. 466 Magister Hebræus Nehumias, qui annis quinquaginta eum (Christum sc.) præcessit, aperte jam tum dixerit, Non posse ultra eos quinquaginta annos protrahi tempus Messiæ a Daniele significatum." Grot. de verit. v. 13. Le Clerc justly observes, that Grotius should have mentioned his authority for this extraordinary story, but thinks that Grotius wrote to his Brother, that he had received it from a Jew. Dr. Jenkin also quotes it from Grotius, and says that he took it from the Talmud, and also refers it to" Sarrav. Epist." a work with which I am not acquainted. However the anecdote is to be met with in Purchas's Pilgrimage, Book ii. Chap. 12, quoted from Galatinus a Franciscan Monk, who wrote in 1520," de arcanis Catholicæ veritatis." The contents of this work are principally extracted, from Raymund Martyn's " Pugio Fidei," but this story is quoted by Galatinus (who was a converted Jew) from certain Jewish manuscript opuscula, of which it is by no means clear that they ever were in being. Probably it rested only on tradition, and is of very doubtful authority. See this point enquired into, in several letters in Censura Literaria," vol. viii. 1808. But Godwyn says, in his Moses and Aaron, that Galatinus quoted from the Talmud. before before Christ, bore witness to Daniel's prophetic character still more strongly, for he affirmed that according to the time foretold by Daniel, it was impossible for the coming of the Messiah, to be delayed longer than fifty years from that time. To us however, no other testimony is necessary than that of our Lord himself, who quotes him by the name of Daniel the Prophet*, and agreeably to his description of him, calls himself by the name of the son of man†. While then this wise and pious prophet was a captive in Babylon, in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, that king had a remarkable dream, which he was unable to call to mind when he awoke. To Daniel alone, in consequence of his earnest prayers to God, was this dream revealed, and the interpretation thereof. The dream was concerning what shall be in the latter days; an expression which is generally understood to refer to the days of the Mes Matt. xxiv. 15. + Dan. ii. 28. siah. siah *. The first part of the dream, the great image (Chap. ii. 31.) relates, as Daniel himself interprets it, to the four great kingdoms which were to arise, before the coming of Christ, including that of Babylon then flourishing. When the last of these, the Roman empire, with legs of iron, and feet, part of iron, and part of clay, was observed by the king in his dream, then says the prophet, ver. 34, thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. Now the interpretation given of this last passage by Daniel himself, (ver. 44, &c.) is this, And in the days of these kings (that "Uti jam diximus R. Moses Gerundensis et alii omnes sapientes per finem dierum intelligunt dies Messiæ, Sanhedrin, as quoted by Chandler, p. 123. See also Dr. G. Sharpe " on Prophecy," Chap. iii. « Αι εχαται ημεραι (in the Lxx) per quod Ebrei dies Messiæ intelligunt." Sanhedrin, Cap. xi. 29; apud Coch in notis. is, the Roman Kings or Emperors, the fourth and last great monarchy) shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. Here as well as in many other places of scripture, the Messiah is obviously signified by the word stone, and this has generally been believed both by ancient and modern commentators, Jews as well as Christians. In Psalm cxxii. ver. 22, we read, the stone which the builders refused, is become the head of the corner; in Isaiah xxviii. 16, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; and again in viii. 14, he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for for a rock of offence: and to these passages our Lord alludes, applying them to himself in Matt. xxi. ver. 42 and 44. On whomsoever, says he, this stone shall full it will grind him to powder; which is the same idea as is contained in the words of Daniel, shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms. This stone, says Daniel, was to set up a kingdom in the days of these kings, which shall never be destroyed. Accordingly the eternal kingdom of Christ was established under the Roman Emperors, and his kingdom, unlike the four great monarchies preceding, was not to be left to other people, that is, not to be destroyed and succeeded by any other, but was itself to break and consume them all, and to stand for ever. This stone was cut out of the mountain without hands; the kingdom of Christ was not to be erected by any human art or power, nor was he himself to be born according to natural generation, but by the immediate operation of God, without the intervention of an earthly father. It was also to break in pieces all the different parts of the |