meant, Cyaxares king of Media, who was confederate with Cyrus in the war, wherein Babylon was conquered. But Scaliger saith it was Nabonadius, and hence proves that he was a Mede, and quotes this place in Megasthenes for it. If you ask him why he saith this, his answer is, that the person who is in that prophecy said, to be the assistant of Cyrus, and fellow-causer with him, in bringing servitude upon Babylon, must be Nabonadius, because he was an assistant, and fellow-causer with him herein, in being beaten and conquered by him. This argument needs no answer, it is sufficiently refuted by being related. And, therefore, Isaac Vossius well observes that the arguments which Scaliger brings for this, are indigna Scaligero; i. e. unworthy of Scaliger." i

And as Daniel was in the highest reputation and esteem with Darius, or Cyaxares, so he continued with Cyrus his nephew; for he prospered with him, as well as with his uncle. And that influence, which he had so justly acquired by his integrity and wisdom, was no doubt used for the welfare of the Jews, whose interest so deeply engaged his thoughts and cares. When Cyrus therefore came into full and sole possession of the Medo-Persian empire, he incited him to restore the captive Jews to their native land: For, "since he had been so earnest with God in prayer for the restoration of his people, as we find in the ninth chapter of Daniel, it is not to be thought that he was backward in his intercessions for it with the king, especially when he was in so great favour, and of so great authority with him. And to induce him the readier to grant his request, he shewed him the prophecies of the prophet Isaiah, which spake

Prid. v. 1. p. 125-7. Un. Hist. v. 5. p. 49.

Be

of him by name an hundred and fifty years before he was born, as one whom God had designed to be a great conqueror and king over many nations, and the restorer of his people, in causing the temple to be built, and the land of Judah and the city of Jerusalem to be again dwelt in by its former inhabitants. That Cyrus had seen and read these prophecies, Josephus tells us; and it is plain from Scripture that he did so. For they are recited in his decree in Ezra, for the rebuilding of the temple: And who was there that should shew them unto him, but Daniel, who, in the station that he was in, had constant access unto him; and of all men living had it most at heart to see these prophecies fulfilled, in the restoration of Sion? sides, Cyrus in his late expedition into Syria and Palestine, having seen so large and good a country as that of Judea lie wholly desolate, might justly be moved with a desire of having it again inhabited. For the strength and riches of every empire being chiefly in the number of its subjects, no wise prince would ever desire that any part of his dominions should lie unpeopled. And who could be more proper again to plant the desolated country of Judea than its former inhabitants? They were first carried out of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar, to people and strengthen Babylon, and perchance under this government of the Persians, to which the Babylonians were never well affected, the weakning and dispeopling of Babylon might be as strong a reason for their being sent back again into their own country. But whatsoever second causes worked to it, God's overruling power, which turneth the hearts of princes, which way he pleaseth, brought it to pass, that in the first year of Cyrus' monarchy over the East, he issued out his royal decree for the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem, and the return

"k For,'

of the Jews again into their own country. "now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, ( that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished) the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me, and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.

Dissertation

9.

CHAPTER VII.

AS

S in many things, in the natural world, there is an evident progress towards maturity; so is it in Revelation. For whether we consider the prophecies respecting the Messiah, or those referring to the four great empires of the world, we shall find them gradually expanding, and becoming more clear and distinct. God has treated and conducted the world much in the same way, in which individuals are treated by the general course of divine providence; for, as men attain to eminence in the knowledge of their professions by degrees, so, by a slow progress, mankind have received the knowledge of the divine will.

In the second Chapter we have an account of Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the great image; by which God revealed to him an outline of the four great empires, and gave him a general view of their state and character. But that outline admitted of much filling up; and what was represented in the general, required much detail for its illustration. In this Chapter,

then, we have Daniel's vision of the same subject, in which it is represented in a very different manner, and with many additional circumstances. But since, in the dissertation on Chapter second, we have endeavoured to illustrate the subject in general, we shall not now go over the same ground; but attend chiefly to those particulars which are not contained in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, and which give us a more detailed view of this leading subject of prophecy.

In the first year of the reign of Belshazzar, which was Five hundred and fifty five years B. C. and Forty eight years after Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the image, the four great empires were revealed to Daniel in a dream, under the form of four beasts of prey. For (v. 2, 3,) "The four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea: And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The description here given is worthy of the subject: the winds and the ocean are in a state of the most violent agitation; and four huge beasts of prey are thrown into view. The winds strive upon the great, i. e. upon the Mediterranean sea; and, by the commotions, which they produce, powerfully represent the tumults and the wars, by which the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires were raised to their distinction and eminence. The Mediterranean sea is fitly the place for the rise of the four beasts; because the four empires, which they represent, were all, more or less, formed of the nations which were situated upon its shores. For what, indeed, is the ancient history of the world, but an account of those nations which skirted the Mediterranean, or pushed their arms along its coasts? Nor is the violent agitation of the sea, tossed by the winds, more descriptive of the origin of empires than beasts of prey are of their nature and