of the sublime and imposing manner in which they were made known to Daniel, the effect which such a manifestation had upon his mind, how he was strengthened to bear the important disclosures that were about to be made to him, the gracious assurances that were conveyed to him of personal favour; and it likewise confirms what is named in Job, and some other parts of Scripture, how much the affairs of mortals occupy the minds and engage the attention of the highest celestial as well as of the highest infernal spirits.

The particulars of this interesting introduction are given in the following words :-"In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision. In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel; then I lift up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with the fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning,

and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words, like the voice of a multitude."

In considering the historical contents of the eleventh chapter, it is very important, for the proper understanding thereof, that the professed object of the vision, as given in the 14th verse of the last chapter, as above quoted, should be kept in mind. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befal THY PEOPLE in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days." In like manner as the vision of the four beasts traced the rise of the Papal power from the then existing state of things, confining its details to the Western Empire; and that of the ram and he-goat traced the rise of the Mohammedan power from the same era, confining its details to the affairs of the East; so the present vision, as it was intended more particularly to relate to THE JEWS, beginning still at the same point of time, confines its details to two most important epocha of their history-namely, the persecutions of their nation by Antiochus Epiphanes; and the rise, exploits, and fall of that Infidel Power which is to have such a great and decisive influence in bringing about the events that will immediately usher in their restoration. In furtherance of this object, it slightly passes over all the intermediate spaces of time, and dwells chiefly upon the

transactions connected with these two distinguished portions of their history. The chapter may, in short, be divided into three parts: the first thirty verses relate to events connected with their nation, as long as they continued a nation; the second part is contained in the next five verses, and belongs to the interregnum between the time of their dispersion by the Romans and the occurrence of the events that are to unite them as a people; and the third part, consisting of the remaining ten verses, belongs to the time immediately preceding the close of the Gentile dispensation, and the termination of their long dispersion.

The chapter commences by enumerating in order of succession the first three kings of Persia, Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspes; and then names, that after these a fourth should come, "far richer than they all;" which was Xerxes, who, by his strength and through his riches, should stir up his whole empire against the realm of Greece. And it is a settled point in history, that so greatly were all the nations of Greece roused by this alarming and unprovoked invasion, that the spirit of retaliation and revenge which it excited never ceased, till, in the person of Alexander the Great, it was satiated by the overthrow of the Persian empire. The aggression and riches of Xerxes, therefore, which first excited this ruling principle of action

among the Greeks, being named, the eight succeeding Persian monarchs are passed over, and the third and fourth verses describe Alexander's powerful and extensive empire, and its fourfold division among his generals after his death-designated in the two former visions by four heads of a leopard, and four horns of a he-goat; but in this place, divested of all metaphor, by "his kingdom being broken and divided towards the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity."

The remaining part of the first thirty verses is taken up in recording various transactions connected with the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, which were the two of these four kingdoms between which Judea was situated, and called here the kingdoms of the South and the North. The prophecy notices the most prominent events of both nations; and specifies, in a succinct narrative full of various and complicated interests, their alliances, treaties, treachery, marriages, and successes; till at length it brings down the history, in verse 21, to Antiochus Epiphanes, who was the greatest enemy the Jews ever had among all the successors of Alexander. In consequence of his wanton and barbarous attempt to exterminate the Jewish church, and of the savage and tyrannical violence of which he was guilty towards the nation in general, he is more particularly pointed out than any of the former

kings. His origin, the method in which he possessed the kingdom, the treacherous policy he adopted, and the ravages he committed, are all mentioned.

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He is then represented as going on an expedition to Egypt-which was, according to Rollin, his fourth expedition-when he was effectually stopped in his career by the interference of the Romans, as described in verse 30; and, being grieved at receiving such a check, he returned and vented his rage against the Jews, killing all the men capable of bearing arms, selling women and children, and committing other atrocities; to which cruelties he was chiefly instigated by the apostate Jews, "with them that forsake the holy covenant." length, after plundering the city, breaking down the walls, and polluting the service of the temple by all manner of profaneness; after issuing a decree that the Jews should worship his idol gods; after dedicating the temple to a heathen deity, and abolishing the Jewish rites and institutions, God in this hour of distress raised up the family of the Maccabees, at whose call the dormant energy of the whole nation was roused, and by their instrumentality it was brought to a higher state of prosperity than it had known since the Babylonish captivity, and so continued for nearly a hundred years.

In consequence of this surprising change of