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vision of the Grecian Monarchy, upon the death of Alexander the Great; in which the several kings of Asia the Less, and Syria, and Egypt shall bear the sway: but especially that of Seleucus Nicanor, which shall have the rule of Syria and Babylonia, and shall overtop the rest, and offer most violence to the Church of God; which shall be as the legs of iron, in respect of strength and hardness; for, as iron breaketh all things in pieces, so shall this tyrannical government crush and extremely oppress God's people.

II. 41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of clay, and part of iron, it foreshews to thee the same fourth kingdom, divided in itself, and in process of time weakened and sensibly abated of the former power: the iron of it figures strength and power; but. the clay, fragility and weakness.

II. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so those substitutions and under-governments, which shall be subordinated to this fourth kingdom, shall be of a mistempered mixture; some of them strong and able to subsist; others, weak and brittle.

II. 43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with a baser kind of clay, it fore-signifies, that these kingdoms, thus divided, shall endeavour to unite and conjoin themselves by leagues of marriages; for Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, shall be matched with Antiochus, king of Syria; but this conjunction shall not hold, neither shall be any more possible to continue, than it is possible, that iron and clay should make and hold a perfect mixture.

II. 44 And in the days of these kings 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.

And in the days of some of those kings, which shall be derived from this stock, and namely of Herod who shall tyrannically usurp the kingdom of Judah, shall the God of Heaven send the Messiah; and shall erect that Spiritual Kingdom of his, which shall never be destroyed: and this kingdom shall be proper to God's Church, and shall be administered and ruled only by his Anointed King, the Saviour of the World; and shall outwear the forenamed Monarchies, and, when they are extinct and forgotten, shall last for

evermore.

II. 45 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; &c.

This Messiah is the stone, which thou sawest cut out of the mountain, without hands; that is ordained and sent from heaven, by the eternal counsel and decree of the Almighty, who, by his om nipotent power and infinite wisdom, hath determined to subvert all these successions of kingdoms and monarchies, according to his good pleasure; &c.

II. 46 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.

Then the king Nebuchadnezzar, as admiring the prophetical spirit of Daniel, and imagining some divine power to be in him, worshipped Daniel; and commanded his people and servants that they should offer sacrifices to him, as to a more than human person.

II. 49 Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

Then Daniel, as desiring to prefer his partners and colleagues, made suit to the king, that he would make Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the chief rulers over the provinces of Babylon: but Daniel was appointed to be the prime officer of the king's court.

III. 1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits : he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then the Chaldeans, moved with envy at these Jewish governors, and desiring to have some advantage against the Jews, moved Nebuchadnezzar to erect an image of gold, as a monument of his own greatness, seventy foot high and nine foot broad; which he set up accordingly, not in some obscure desert, but in the well known and frequented plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon; for the use of public adoration.

III. 12 There are certain Jezes whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

There are certain Jews, whom, at the request of Daniel, thou hast made governors over the province of Babylon, even Shadrach, &c. these men, O king, have not given that respect to thee, which thy greatness requires: they are refractory to thy commands, and enemies to thy gods; refusing to serve them, or to worship thy golden image; which is so much more intolerable, for that they have dared thus to affront thee in that very province, the charge whereof thou hast committed unto them.

III. 16 0 Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

O king Nebuchadnezzar, we are not to seek of a ready answer to this charge of thine; neither can we take any thought to avoid this danger, which thou threatenest unto us.

III. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us. If thou have firmly and resolutely determined to deal thus with us, we know that our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us. III. 25 And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

And the form of the fourth is very bright and glorious, above the possibility of all human beauty and resplendence.

III. 28 And have changed the king's word.

And have boldly varied from that charge, which was given by the king.

IV. 8 Whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God.

Whose name was, since his coming to Babylon, changed to Belteshazzar, in allusion to the name of Bel, the great god of the Babylonians.

IV. 13 And, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven.

And, behold, a holy angel of God came down from heaven; one, who is charged with the careful inspection of these earthly things.

IV. 17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones.

This charge is not given by the sentence of one angel alone, but by the joint consent of all the powers of heaven.

IV. 19 Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him.

Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was much troubled in his thoughts, for the space of a whole hour; not with the disquisition of the signification of the dream, but with the consideration of those great and fearful things, which were portended and foresignified, by that dream, unto king Nebuchadnezzar.

IV. 25 That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, &c.

It is decreed in heaven, and the execution of it is committed to the angels of God, that thou shalt be driven from the society of men; and, in an extremity of a sottish melancholy, thou shalt both spend thy time amongst the beasts of the field, and repute thyself as one of them, and accordingly demean thyself, both for thy diet and lodging; so as, while thou liest abroad, thou shalt be wet with the dew of heaven; and seven years shall pass over thee, in this forlorn condition, till God have thoroughly humbled thee, and taught thee to know and acknowledge his infinite power.

IV. 27 Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

Wherefore, O king, as it hath pleased thee to inquire my interpretation of this dream of thine, so now vouchsafe to accept and

regard the counsel, which I do thereupon give thee: since Gəd hath threatened these things against thee, be thou careful to tura away from those sins, wherewith thou hast provoked him, unto a holy and righteous carriage before him: instead of those sinful courses, which thou hast hitherto taken, resolve now to demean thyself religiously towards God, and mercifully towards his af flicted people; and, if there be any possible means to continue thy peace and welfare, this is it, which I have now prescribed thee.

IV. 33 And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair was grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. All that time he endured, abroad, the extremity of the cold in winter, and of the scorching heat in summer; until his hair was overgrown to cover his body, in a savage manner, and his nails were grown over his fingers like claws; so as he was become not more neglected, than monstrous and deformed.

V. 1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

Now, when those seventy years were expired, which God had appointed for the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and his issue, Belshazzar, his debauched grandchild, made a sumptuous feast to a thousand of his lords, and, beside his custom, sat with them openly, at that royal banquet.

V. 2 Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. Belshazzar, while he was drinking wine, commanded, in a scorn and reproach to God, to bring forth those vessels of gold and silver, which his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had brought out from the temple of God, which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and concubines, might please themselves in insulting upon that God, whose spoils they were. So verse 3.

V 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

And, as they drank their wine in these once-hallowed vessels, they triumphed over that God, to whom they had been consecrated; and magnified the power of their idols of gold, and silver, &c. as if by their might these victories had been atchieved, and these rich spoils obtained.

V. 5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that

wrote.

In the very same hour, while they were offering this affront to the God of Heaven, it pleased the just and powerful God, to shew, that he took notice of this presumptuous impiety; and therefore he caused a sudden and dreadful apparition of the fingers of a man's hand, as it were, writing over against the candlestick, where it might best be seen, upon the plaister of the wall of the ban

queting house; and the king only, at first, saw these fingers that thus wrote.

V. 6 Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

Then the king's colour began to go away, and he waxed pale and ghastly; and his mind was so troubled at this fearful and strange sight, that he grew, as it were, suddenly paralytic: his joints seemed as if they had been quite loosed, and, in an extremity of trembling, his knees smote one against another.

V. 25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSİN.

And this is the writing that is written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin; that is, God hath perfectly numbered and reckoned up the days, both of the Babylonish Empire and the Jewish Captivity, and their utmost date' is now come: and the same God hath well considered all thy ways and actions, and hath found thee utterly unanswerable both to his benefits, and to thine own place; and therefore hath determined to cast thee aside, as light gold, not fit for further use; and now hath taken a course to cut thee off from the earth, and to give thy kingdom into the hands of the Medes and Persians.

V. 30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

And, accordingly, that very night, Belshazzar the king was slain by the hands of Gadata and Gobrya, two of Cyrus's noblemen; who, that very night, surprised Babylon, and became Lord of that Monarchy.

V. 31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

And Darius, the Median, father-in-law to Cyrus, by the consent and appointment of Cyrus, whom he had aided in this war, took upon him the kingdom, being threescore and two years old.

VI. 4 Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault.

Then the other two presidents, and the hundred and twenty princes, sought to get some advantage against Daniel, in matter of government, or accounts for the king's profits; but they could find none.

VI. 7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

All we, the presidents and governors and princes of thy kingdoms, have consulted, which way we may do thee the most ho nour, and most ingratiate thee with thy subjects, now, at thy first

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