PRIM'ETON, N. J 
 No. Case, 
 
 No. Shelf__^^^^^ 
 
 No. Book,- -__-_.^5r^. 
 
 
NOTES ON DANIEL. 
 
* 
 
NOTES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 By William"^ KELLY. 
 
 LONDON: 
 GEORGE MORRISH, 24, WARWICK LANE, 
 
 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G. 
 
NOTES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 BOOK OF DANIEL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 It must be evident to any attentive reader, that this 
 first chapter is purely a preface to the book. It in- 
 troduces us into the scene to which the prophecies, of 
 which Daniel was either the interpreter or the vessel, 
 are the great after-piece, the subject-matter which the 
 Spirit of God is about to convey to us. We may 
 therefore take advantage of this, to inquire into the 
 peculiar nature of the book on which we are about to 
 enter. 
 
 The properly prophetic part of Daniel begins with 
 the second chapter. Then follow certain historical 
 incidents, which, as I conceive, have a most intimate 
 connexion with the prophecy, — if not directly, in the 
 way of types, — which show out the moral principles or 
 the issues of the powers of the world, with which the 
 book is occupied. 
 
 In order to understand Daniel, it is necessary to 
 bear in mind that prophecy in the Old Testament 
 divides itself into two great parts. There were pro- 
 phecies that concerned the people of God, Israel, when 
 they were still under His government ; unfaithful often 
 but still subject to His discipline and owned of Him 
 to a certain extent. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 
 indeed many of the lesser prophets, such as Hosea, 
 
2 DANIEL. 
 
 Amos, and Micah, have this first character, Israel was 
 still recognized as God's people, if not the whole, ati 
 least that part of the people with which God still had 
 certain dealings in the land : of coutse I refer tc^ 
 the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which clave to 
 the house of David. After awhile they too fell, and 
 the heir of David became the leader in rebellious 
 idolatry against the Lord. Then a change of the 
 utmost importance ensued. The throne of the Lord, 
 which was established in Jerusalem, ceased altogether 
 upon the earth. God no longer owned Israel, nor 
 even Judah, as His people. And I call your attention 
 particularly to this, because there are often vague 
 thoughts as to what is meant by " the people of God " 
 in Scripture. As Christians we look at God's people 
 as those that really belong to Him — His children by 
 faith of Christ. Now there is a danger of carrying 
 the same thoughts back to the language of the Old 
 Testament. But it will be found, if we examine 
 Scripture with care, that, in the ancient oracles, by 
 people of God is meant only the Jews or Israel. Nor 
 is it merely a certain aggregate of the elect there, but 
 the entire nation, or that part which still clung in a 
 measure, though very unfaithfully, to God's king, and 
 whatever they might be, owned as the people of God. 
 Then came a time when God disowned His people. 
 This was predicted by Hosea. It was accomplished 
 when God gave up the last king of Judah to the 
 Chaldean conqueror. God would have sacrificed His 
 own holiness, truth, and majesty, if He had longer 
 tolerated the Jews or their idolatrous king. 
 
 Now it is a remarkable thing in the history of the 
 world, that although there were certain powers of 
 growing importance and ambition in the east, none 
 before had been allowed to step into positive superiority 
 to all rivals. In the west there were only hordes of 
 wanderers, or, if some were settled, they were uncivilized 
 
CHAPTER I. 3 
 
 barbarians. In the east and south powers had rapidly- 
 risen ; one of them, Eg-ypt, is particularly well known 
 in connexion with Israel. Another too, Asshur, is quite 
 as ancient in its origin : indeed we read of its name, 
 and of certain aspirations and efforts after power, 
 before we read of Egypt at all. These were the great 
 rivals of the early ^world, and they had a civilization 
 of their own. It might have a rude character, but 
 that it was barbaric grandeur none can deny who 
 believes the scriptures, nay, who sees the relics of Egypt 
 and Assyria. Well, these powers were constantly 
 struggling for the mastery. But however God might 
 use the Egyptians and Assyrians, or others less con- 
 siderable, as a rod of discipline for the good of Israel, 
 yet to no nation on earth was supremacy allowed 
 until it was perfectly plain that God's people were 
 proved to be unworthy of being His witness and the 
 scene of His government on the earth. First, then, 
 Ephraim (the ten tribes), having sunk into hopeless 
 idolatry, was swept aw^ay. For a long time there had 
 been monarch after monarch only following or exceed- 
 ing each other in evil; and all through it had been a 
 scene of rebellion and idolatry. Thus God had been 
 compelled to root such a people, that only disgraced 
 Him, out of the land where they had been planted. 
 Still the two tribes that clung to the house of David 
 were owned. But clouds hung over them, and snares 
 were laid by the enemy of the most fatal kind. At 
 this crisis prophecy shines out in all its fulness. For 
 prophecy always, 1 think, supposes failure. It never 
 comes in during a normal state. But when ruin is 
 impending or begun, then the lamp of prophecy shines 
 in the dark place. 
 
 This we find true from the first. Take the revela- 
 tion in Gen. iii. — that the Seed of the w^oman should 
 bruise the serpent's head. When was it given ? Not 
 when Adam walked sinlessly, but after he and his wife 
 were fallen. Then God appears, and His word not 
 
4 DANIEL. 
 
 only judged the serpent, but took the form of promise 
 to be realized in the true seed — certainly a blessed 
 disclosure of the future, on which the hope of those 
 who believed rested. It was the condemnation of 
 their actual state. It did not allow the faithful who 
 followed to sink into despair, but presented an object 
 above the ruin on the part of God, to which their 
 hearts became attached. Again, Enoch is the person 
 in the antediluvian world who, above all others, is 
 said to have " prophesied," though we do not get the 
 record of it till one of the latest books of the New 
 Testament. " Behold the Lord cometh with ten 
 thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all, 
 and to convince all that are ungodly among them of 
 all their ungodly deeds which ihey have ungodly 
 committed, and of all their hard speeches which 
 ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Now that 
 the evil, found in the germ in Adam, had broken out 
 into all but universal corruption and violence, we have 
 a well-defined prophecy of judgment coming on the 
 world. It was the interference of God in testimony 
 before He acted in power. Then Noah is seen, who, 
 still more than Enoch, was publicly connected with 
 this evil state. I believe that Enoch's prophecy had 
 a remarkable application to the deluge, though it looks 
 onward, of course, to the grand catastrophe in the 
 last days. When a prophecy is given, there is often 
 a partial accomplishment at the time or soon after. 
 But we must never look back at the past pledge as if 
 the whole thing were exhausted. That would be to 
 make scripture of private interpretation. And this is 
 the true sense of 2 Peter i. 20 : " No prophecy of the 
 Scripture is of any private interpretation." We 
 must take it in the vast scope of the plans of God, 
 and the unfolding of His purposes, which alone find 
 their consummation at the close. It is to that point 
 that all prophecy looks. Then only we have the grand 
 fulfilment. 
 
CHAPTER I. 5 
 
 Again, let us take the patriarchs, who are expressly 
 called prophets. " He suffered no man to do them 
 wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying. 
 Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no 
 harm." Their claim to this title may be explained on 
 the same principle. They were the then interpreters 
 of the mind of God; "called out,'' because there was 
 a new and fearful evil come into the world, which we 
 never read of before the days of Abraham — idolatry. 
 Worship of idols, as far as Scripture reveals it to us, is 
 only mentioned after the flood. This was spreading 
 everywhere, and becoming paramount even in the de- 
 scendants of Shem ; and therefore God called out a 
 witness in word and deed separate from so flagrant 
 iniquity. Prophecy, or a prophet, always supposes the 
 presence of new and increasing evil, because of which 
 God is pleased to unfold His mind with regard to the 
 future, and to make it of present practical value to 
 those then on the earth. 
 
 In the case of Moses it was manifest. For though 
 he was the great lawgiver, the golden calf was set up 
 almost immediately after, and thus the ruin of Israel, 
 as a people under law, was complete. And so it 
 remained for him, as the great prophet of Israel (Deut. 
 xxxiv. 10), to reveal the sure and growing corruption 
 of the people, whatever might be the resources of 
 God's grace at the end ; as, at an earlier epoch, he had 
 predicted the inevitable judgment of God upon Egypt. 
 Coming lower down in the history of Israel, we have 
 one who begins the line of prophets emphatically 
 so-called ; for he is mentioned thus : " Yea, all the 
 prophets from Samuel^ and those that follow after," 
 &c. His call was at a very critical period in Israel's 
 history; at a time when the children of Israel had 
 fallen into such a frightfully low state, that they were 
 willing to use even the ark of God as a charm to 
 preserve them from the power of their enemies. 
 Then it was that God put His people to shame. His. 
 
6 DANIEL. 
 
 own ark was taken, and Ichabod was the only name 
 that godly feeling could dictate. The glory was 
 departed. Just about that time we hear of Samuel the 
 prophet. If this was the token of some new crisis, 
 equally at least did it show that God, in vindication of 
 His own name, brings in the light of prophecy as 
 a comfort to the hearts of those who stand for 
 Himself. 
 
 Descending still further, we find the full outburst of 
 prophetic light in the time of the prophet Isaiah. 
 The reason is apparent. Not merely had Israel 
 committed itself to idolatry, but the king, David's 
 son, had actually taken the pattern of the heathen 
 altar at Damascus, and must have another made for 
 himself in the holy city ! There was a sin, heinous 
 and most insulting to God. Isaiah is set apart with 
 unusual solemnity to the prophetic office. The evil 
 condition of the Jews is realized by him. He sees 
 the glory of the Lord, which draws out from him the 
 immediate confession of his own and the people's 
 uncleanness. " Then said I, Woe is me, for I am 
 undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I 
 dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips : for 
 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." 
 But one of the seraphim touches his lips with a live 
 coal, assuring him that his iniquity was taken away, 
 and his sin purged. And he is sent with a message of 
 judicial darkness upon the people, which must last till 
 the cities were wasted, and the land made utterly 
 desolate. Thus we have prophecy so much the more 
 brilliant because the evil was manifest and profound. 
 The consequence of the prophetic warning, where 
 received, was, a genuine spirit of repentance and of 
 intercession. And God subsequently raised up a royal 
 witness for Himself, so that for a time the evil was 
 suspended. 
 
 And all this while you have prophecy coming 
 out with more and more distinctness, directing the 
 
CHAPTER I. 7 
 
 hearts of the saints to Him whom the virgin should 
 conceive and bear — the Son of David, Emmanuel, 
 that was to be the only and sure foundation for 
 the people laid in Zion. I need not now attempt 
 to give even an outline of the distinctive features of the 
 prophets that followed. But thus far, I trust, the 
 great principle is clear, that prophecy, as a whole, 
 comes in when there is ruin among the people of God. 
 As the ruin deepens, prophecy adds fresh light in the 
 goodness of God. 
 
 Besides this universal character of prophecy, we 
 have seen it, first, while God is still disciplining the 
 people and owning them as His. But there is another 
 form of which Daniel is the great example in the Old 
 Testament. This is, when God, no longer able to 
 address His people as such, makes an individual to bcj 
 the object of His communications. 
 
 For this is the manifest feature of Daniel. It is 
 no longer a direct address to the people, reasoning, 
 pleading, warning, opening out bright hopes, as in 
 Isaiah, &c. Nor is it, as in Jeremiah, a prophet 
 ^,' ordained to the nations," with most affecting ap- 
 peals to Israel and Judah, or at least a remnant 
 there. In Daniel all is changed. There is no message 
 to Israel at all ; and the first and very comprehensive 
 prophecy contained in the book, was not at first 
 given to the prophet himself, but rather a dream of 
 the heathen king, Nebuchadnezzar, though Daniel 
 was the only one who could recall it, or furnish 
 the interpretation. The other visions were seen by 
 Daniel only, and to him all the interpretations were 
 given. What is the great lesson to be drawn from 
 this ? God was acting on the momentous fact that 
 His people had forfeited their place — at least for the, 
 present. They had lost their distinctive standing as a 
 nation — God would no longer own them. The pre- 
 sence of elect persons among them did not, in the 
 least degree, arrest the divine sentence. It was not 
 
8 DANIEL. 
 
 a question of there being " ten righteous in their 
 midst." Of a corrupt Canaanitish city, like Sodom, 
 that was said as a reason why it should be spared. 
 But does God ever speak so about Mis people ? He 
 may liken them to Sodom for their iniquity, but there 
 can be no such hindrance to judgment in their case. 
 On the contrary, it is expressly said in Ezekiel xiv., 
 that " though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, 
 were in it (the land of Israel), they should deliver but 
 their own souls by their righteousness ; " and again, 
 " they shall deliver neither son nor daughter." That 
 is, in His own land, and in the midst of His guilty 
 people, no matter who were there, nor what their 
 righteousness, the righteous only should be delivered, 
 and God's four sore judgments must be sent. And so, 
 at this very crisis of the captivity, there were righteous 
 men, such as the prophets themselves, and others, 
 kindred spirits in their measure. Whatever, then, be 
 His willingness to spare the world, God does not refrain 
 from judging the evil of His own people, because of a 
 handful of righteous men in their midst. " Hear this 
 word that the Lord hath spoken against you, children 
 of Israel, against the whole family which I brought 
 up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only have I 
 known of all the families of the earth : therefore, I 
 will punish you for all your iniquities." Otherwise, 
 there never could have been a national judgment of 
 Israel at all; for there was always a line of faithful 
 ones in their midst. The entire principle is false. In 
 a book I lately met with, such was the plea why 
 England should come comparatively unscathed out of 
 the terrible judgments about to fall on the nations 
 of the earth. There are so many good men ! — such 
 changes for the better in high and low — such benevolent 
 and Christian institutions — the scriptures not only 
 printed in abundance, but everywhere circulated, read, 
 and expounded ! But these are the very grounds which, 
 to my mind, make divine judgment inevitable. For it 
 
CHAPTER I^ y 
 
 is quite clear from scripture, that, if there is to be any 
 difference in the measure, those who know His will 
 and do it not " shall be beaten with many stripes." A 
 more fearful illusion can scarcely be conceived, than 
 that the possession of a greater amount of spiritual 
 knowledge and privilege is to be an effectual shield 
 when the earth comes into judgment. 
 
 The Lord recalled the memory of Tyre and Sidon 
 (Matt, xi.), but it was only to show the far greater 
 guilt of the cities wherein most of His mighty works 
 were done. " Woe unto thee, Chorazin, woe unto 
 thee, Bethsaida<; for if the mighty works which were 
 done in you., had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they 
 would have repented long ago, in sackcloth and ashes. 
 But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for 
 Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you." 
 But there was another city still more favoured (else- 
 where called His own city. Matt. ix. 1), because it was 
 where He then usually dwelt; and, therefore, was its 
 case so aggravated in guilt. " And thou, Capernaum, 
 which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down 
 to hell ; for if the mighty works which were done in 
 thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained 
 until this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be 
 more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of 
 judgment than for thee." In other words, the 
 measure of privilege is ever the measure of respon- 
 sibility. 
 
 We have seen, then, the startling fact that the 
 government which God had set up in Israel (accompa- 
 nied by the visible sign of His presence, i.e, the 
 Shekinah of glory), was now to subsist no more. God 
 Himself stripped them of their name as His people. 
 Henceforth they were " Lo-Ammi," not my people. 
 That was their doom now, as far as He was concerned, 
 whatever the ultimate designs of His grace might be : 
 for His " gifts and calling are without repentance." 
 
 Along with this sad change, and dependent on it, 
 
10 . DANIEL. 
 
 the prophecy of Daniel begins. And in this respect 
 there is a strong analogy between this book and the 
 grand prophecy of the New Testament. No doubt, 
 in the latter, special messages were sent to the seven 
 churches through John. But the book, as a whole, 
 was addressed and confided to him, however much it 
 was intended that the things should be testified in the 
 churches. Christ sent and signified the revelation, by 
 His angel, unto His servant John, who stands in the 
 same sort of relation to Christendom that Daniel did 
 to Israel. The failure was so complete that God 
 could no longer address the prophecy directly to His 
 people in either case. Thus there is a very serious 
 moral sentence of God upon the condition of Christen- 
 dom. It was a ruin as regards practical testimony 
 for God — Ephesus threatened with the removal of its 
 candlestick, if it did not repent, and Laodicea with 
 the certainty of being spued out of the Lord's mouth. 
 Not but what God continued to save souls : this He 
 always did and does. But it has nothing to do with 
 the witness which His people are responsible to render. 
 More than two hundred years after Judah had become 
 Lo-Ammi, Malachi could tell of them that feared 
 the Lord speaking often one to another : " And they 
 shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day 
 when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them 
 as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." All 
 that might be true ; yet the solemn sentence of 
 God — " not my people " remained on them. Circum- 
 stances could affect neither His judgment of the nation, 
 nor His grace to faithful souls within it. And 
 "what was true then remains equally true now. The 
 salvation and blessing of souls go on. But before 
 God, that which bears the name of Christ in the 
 world is as far from satisfying the thoughts of God 
 about us, as the people of Israel were from fulfilling 
 His design in them. 
 Accordingly, we find that the character of the book 
 
CHAPTER I. 11 
 
 perfectly accords with the time and circumstances in 
 which Daniel was called to be a prophet. It was when 
 the last vestiges of God's people were being taken away. 
 In Jeremiah xxv. 1, the date of Nebuchadnezzar's 
 reign is reckoned from the first attack. And I would 
 just observe, that there is a little difference from what 
 is said in Daniel ii. In Babylon, where the latter 
 wrote, the reckoning was naturally from the time 
 when Nebuchadnezzar succeeded to the throne upon 
 his father's death ; whereas, in Jerusalem, where 
 Jeremiah prophesies, it was just as naturally from the 
 time that Nebuchadnezzar, during his father's life, 
 wielded the power of the kingdom, to the ruin of 
 Jerusalem and the Jews. The truth is, the case is 
 not uncommon, both in sacred and profane history. 
 Whatever may be the difficulties in the word of God, 
 they really arise from want of light. Generally, the 
 object of the particular portion where they occur is 
 not understood. But speaking of dates, another 
 little thing it is well to bear in mind, which the first 
 verse of our chapter, as compared with Jer. xxv. 1, 
 gives occasion to : years are sometimes reckoned from 
 their beginning, sometimes from their end, that is, 
 either inclusively or exclusively. So it is in the well- 
 known instances of the days between our Lord's death 
 and resurrection, and of the six or eight days before 
 the transfiguration. Thus in Daniel it was said, " in 
 the third year of Jehoiakim;" but in Jeremiah, "in 
 the fourth year." The one was the complete, the 
 other the current year. 
 
 Looking then at the moral character of Daniel's 
 prophecy, the key to the ways of God at the time it 
 was given lies in this, that God no longer exercised a 
 direct, immediate government upon the earth. He 
 had owned David and his seed as the kings that He 
 had set upon the throne of Jehovah at Jerusalem. 
 (1 Chron. xxix. 23.) No other kings there were thus 
 recognized of God. They were emphatically His 
 
12 DANIEL. 
 
 anointed, before whom even the high priest had to 
 walk. 
 
 And here was what .God intended to set forth by 
 them : a foreshadowing of what He irs going to do by 
 and in the Christ, the true Son of David. The same 
 thing is found throughout Scripture. First, a position 
 is committed to man's responsibility, and failure is 
 immediate ; then, it is taken up by Christ, who 
 establishes it on a foundation which cannot be moved. 
 Thus, God makes man, and sets him sinlessly in 
 paradise, with dominion over the lower creation. 
 Man falls at once. But God never gives up His 
 purpose of having a man in paradise. Where shall 
 we find it now? In the first Adam it broke down 
 utterly. He was turned out of Eden : his race 
 became outcasts from that day to this; and all the 
 efforts and the material progress that man makes in 
 this world, are only so many remedial measures to 
 hide the fact that God has driven him out of paradise. 
 But the last Adam is God's glorious answer to that 
 first trust which was confided to man's keeping — the 
 Second Man exalted in the paradise of God. Again, 
 Noah, as it were, begins the world afresh after the 
 flood, and has the power of life and death first com- 
 mitted to his hand. The sword of magistracy was 
 introduced. " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man 
 shall his blood be shed ; for in the image oi God 
 made he man." This was the root of civil government, 
 and man was thereby made responsible to restrain or 
 punish the violent hand. This is never reversed. 
 Christianity J wherever received, brings in other and 
 heavenly principles. But the world remains bound by 
 this irreversible statute of God for its guidance. 
 Noah, however, failed in his trust as completely as 
 Adam had in the garden. He did not govern himself 
 nor his family to God's glory. He becomes intoxi- 
 cated, and his younger son insults him : and the issue 
 is, that, instead of the universal blessing of righteous 
 
CHAPTER I. 13 
 
 rule, a curse falls upon a portion of his descendants. 
 So, in due time, the principle of a king, responsible to 
 rule righteously over God's people, -was tried in the 
 house of David. And what is found? Even before 
 David died, there was such dreadful sin that the 
 sword was never to depart from that very family 
 which ought to have secured blessing to Israel. Did 
 God therefore abandon His designs ? In no wise. 
 The Lord Jesus takes up headship, government, and 
 the throne of David's Son. And so with all the other 
 principles that broke down in man's hands ; all will 
 be illustrated and established for ever in the person 
 and glory of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 We saw that Jerusalem ceases to be Jehovah's 
 throne. And Jeremiah shows us the holy city counted 
 as one among the other nations; and as most privi- 
 leged, so the first to drink the cup of God's fury. 
 Babylon must drink it also, but Israel first. It is in 
 the same chapter (xxv.) that you have the distinct 
 prediction of the seventy years' captivity, during 
 which Judah was to be carried away to Babylon ; and 
 then should come at the end the judgments of the 
 power that led them captive. But while Jeremiah 
 predicts the rising supremacy of Babylon, and its 
 final judgment, and that too not as a matter of history 
 alone, but as the type of the world's overthrow in 
 the day of the Lord, we have not there the details 
 that intervene. So Ezekiel, among the captives at 
 Chebar, brings ns up in the first half of his prophecy 
 to the time of the great struggle for the chief place 
 among the powers of the world. Pharaoh-Necho, 
 King of Egypt, desired to have it ; but, as the 
 Assyrian before him, he is destroyed, and Babylon 
 remains the ambitious claimant of universal dominion. 
 There were these three powers, Assyria, Egypt, and 
 Babylon ; the latter comparatively young as a great 
 kingdom, though founded probably upon the oldest 
 associations of all, viz., Babel — " the beginning of 
 
14 DANIEL. 
 
 Nimrod's kingdom." They were like fierce animals, 
 held in by an unseen leash till the experiment was 
 fairly tried, whether the daughter of Zion would walk 
 humbly and obediently with the Lord, or whether she 
 would turn from her backsliding and repent at His 
 call. But she did neither. This left room for what 
 had never been seen before — the rise of an universal 
 empire. 
 
 After the flood, and the judgment of the Lord at 
 Babel, the great dispersion of nations took place — 
 families, kindreds, tongues, and lands, all separate. 
 Israel was the centre of this system of independent 
 nations. So it is written in Deut. xxxii. 8 : " When 
 the Most High divided to the nations their inhe- 
 ritance ; when he separated the sons of Adam, he set 
 the bounds of the people according to the number of 
 the children of Israel." All was arranged with 
 reference to Israel, for " Jehovah's portion is his 
 people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." They 
 were the divine centre for the earth, and God will yet 
 make good His purpose. Though completely frus- 
 trated through the wickedness of the people, Israel 
 must yet be His centre of nations in this world, for 
 the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. This, too, was 
 first tried in the hands of man and failed ; then it is 
 turned over into the hands of Christ, who will esta- 
 blish it in due time. Israel's pride made it to depend 
 at first upon their obedience to God. At Sinai they 
 undertook the responsibility of the law. V/henever a 
 sinner attempts to stand upon that ground with God, 
 he is lost. The only safe and lowly ground is, not 
 what Israel would be for God, but what God would be 
 in faithfulness and love and pity toward Israel. And 
 so it is with every soul at all times. Israel accepting 
 that condition, the law became their scourge, and God 
 was compelled to judge them. Death accordingly was 
 certain, spite of God's marvellous patience. People 
 fail, priests fail, and kings at last became the leaders 
 
CHAPTER I. 15 
 
 in all evil. God was compelled to give up His people. 
 From that moment all that held in check the nations 
 of the earth was taken away, and the vast rival dynas- 
 ties struggled for the mastery. God no longer had a 
 people that He owned as the theatre of His govern- 
 ment. If their heart had only turned to Him, like 
 the needle to the pole, spite of quivering to and fro, 
 there would have been long-suffering (as indeed there 
 was to the uttermost) and the intervention of divine 
 power would have established them in blessing for 
 evermore. But when not only the people, but the king 
 anointed of Jehovah, blotted out His very name from 
 the land ; when His glory was given to another in His 
 own temple, all was over for the present, and 
 " Lo-Ammi " was the sentence of God. They had 
 become now the most bitter in their idolatry, being 
 apostates from the living God, and, if maintained, would 
 have been the active champions of heathen abomina- 
 tions. By God's judgment, therefore, the people and 
 the king at length passed into captivity. 
 
 At this crisis Daniel appears at the court of the 
 Babylonish monarch, according to the sure word of 
 Isaiah to King Hezekiah. (Is. xxxix.) " The times of 
 the Gentiles " (for so runs the remarkable phase in 
 Luke xxi.) were begun, and of those times Daniel was 
 the prophet. They are not always to run on ; they 
 have a limit assigned by God, when the present inter- 
 ruption of His direct earthly government shall cease, 
 and Israel shall again be acknowledged as the people 
 of God. During this interval, as we saw, their dis- 
 tinctive calling being lost, God allows in His providence 
 a new system of government, the system of imperial 
 unity, to rise up in the great successive Gentile 
 powers. It is no longer independent nations, each 
 having their own ruler, but God Himself sanctioning, 
 in His providence, the surrender of all nations of the 
 earth, to the absorbing authority of a single individual. 
 This is what characterizes " the times of the Gentiles." 
 
16- DANIEL. 
 
 Such a thing was unexampled before, though there 
 may have been strong kingdoms encroaching upon 
 weaker ones. Even the infidel historian is compelled 
 to recognize, as all history does,' the four great 
 empires of the ancient world. Israel was now merged 
 in the mass of nations. Hence that expression comes 
 in, "the God of heaven," He had, as it were, re- 
 treated from the immediate control of the earth, in 
 which character, at least in type. He had governed 
 Israel. This had now wholly disappeared, and God, 
 acting sovereignly, and at a distance, so to speak, from 
 the scene — " the God of heaven "—gave certain defined 
 powers of the Gentiles to succeed each other in a 
 world-wide empire. 
 
 Before these preliminary remarks close, I add a little 
 word on the great moral features of this chapter ; for 
 if they are brought out prominently in Daniel, they 
 were not written for his sake only, but for ours, if we 
 desire the same blessing. 
 
 The chapter opens with the scene of the complete 
 prostration of the Jews before their conqueror. ^ They 
 were now besieged and overwhelmed in their last 
 stronghold. "In the third year of the reign _ of 
 Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king 
 of Babylon, unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And 
 the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his 
 hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, 
 which he carried into the land of Shinar, to the house 
 of his God; and he brought the vessels into the 
 treasure-house of his God." Next we have the fulfil- 
 ment of the remarkable prophecy of Isaiah, already 
 alluded to. Hezekiah had been sick, nigh unto death. 
 At his urgent desire to live, God had added to his 
 days fifteen years, and this was sealed to him by a 
 striking sign ; the sun returned ten degrees by which 
 it was gone down. But it had been better to have 
 learnt well the lesson of death and resurrection, than 
 
CHAPTER I, 17 
 
 to tave life prolonged, fall into a snare, and Lear of 
 the sorrows that yet awaited his house, and, with it, the 
 eclipse of Israel's hopes. Whether a sign so remark- 
 able was what chiefly attracted the notice of a nation 
 the most celebrated in the ancient world for its 
 astronomical lore, I cannot say. Certain it is, that at 
 that time the king of Babylon sent letters and a present 
 to Hezekiah, and this, not merely because he w^as 
 recovered of his sickness, but to inquire of the w^onder 
 that w^as done in the land. (2 Chron. xxxii. 31.) In- 
 stead of going softly all his years, Hezekiah displays 
 his treasures to the ambassadors of Merodach-baladan. 
 " There was nothing in his house, nor in all his 
 dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not." " Then 
 said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of 
 hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine 
 house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store 
 until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing 
 shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that 
 shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall 
 they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the 
 palace of the king of Babylon." 
 
 Here we see this accomplished. " And the king 
 spake unto Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, that 
 he should bi'ing certain of the children of Israel, and 
 of the king's seed, and of the princes; (or nobles;) 
 children in w^iom w^as no blemish, but well-favoured, 
 and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, 
 and understanding science, and such as had ability in 
 them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they 
 might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chal- 
 deans." Accordingly " the king appointed them a 
 daily provision of the king's meat and of the wine 
 which he drank ; so nourishing them three years, that 
 at the end thereof they might stand before the king." 
 Along with this, the names of Daniel and of his three 
 companions are changed. It would, appear, that the 
 desire was to efface the memory of the true God, by 
 c 
 
18 DANIEL. 
 
 giving them names derived from the idols of Babylon. 
 " The prince of the eunuchs gave to Daniel the name 
 of Belteshazzar ; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and 
 to Mishael, of Meshach ; and to Azariah, 'of Abed-nego ;" 
 in all probability names derived from Bel and the other 
 false gods then worshipped in Chaldea. 
 
 And now let us mark what the Holy Ghost records, 
 as peculiarly showing Daniel's heart for God, that in 
 his moral ways he might be a vessel to honour, and 
 meet for the Master's use. How remarkably is the 
 power of God superior to all circumstances ! Daniel 
 and his companions say nothing to the change of 
 names, painful as it must have been. They were 
 slaves, the property of another, who had the authority 
 to call them as he pleased. " But Daniel purposed m 
 his heart that he would not defile himself with the 
 portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which 
 he drank." Naturally they would have received such 
 fare with thankfulness ; faith works, and it is refused. 
 It was connected with the false gods of the country, 
 being a part of the daily food of an idolatrous king. 
 Even in their own land, and apart from idols, God 
 insisted upon separating between things clean and un- 
 clean, and much that was prized among the Gentiles 
 was an abomination to a Jew. The law was stringent 
 as to these defilements, and Daniel, as a Jew, was 
 under its obligations. Christianity comes in and de- 
 livers the conscience from anxiety as to such things. 
 " Whatsoever is sold in the shambles," St. Paul says, 
 " that eat, asking no question for conscience sake." 
 And so at a feast. If it were known, however, that 
 certain food had been offered unto idols, the Christian 
 was not to eat, both for the sake of those that named 
 the fact and for conscience sake. But for the Jew, 
 there was unqualified separation required. Daniel at 
 once shows himself decided for the true God. It was 
 not to him a question of doing at Babylon what was 
 done there, but of the will of God as enjoined upon 
 
CHAPTER I. 19 
 
 Israel. Therefore lie requested of the prmce of the 
 eunuchs that he might not defile himself. God had 
 meanwhile wrought in His providence that Daniel 
 should find special favour. But this did not lessen 
 the trial of faith. And when difficulties and dangers 
 were pleaded, still he has confidence in God. We are 
 all apt to find good reasons for bad things ; but 
 Daniel's eye was single, and his whole body full of 
 light — the only means of understanding the mind of 
 God. He did not consider what was pleasing to him- 
 self; he did not fear to risk the peril; he looked at 
 the matter in connexion with God. He only asks that 
 they may be proved for ten days ; " and let them give 
 us pulse to eat and water to drink. Then let our 
 countenances be looked upon," &c. Not " pleasant 
 bread," but that which spoke of humbling themselves 
 before God, was what a true heart felt to be their 
 suited food ; such fare as the lowest in that proud and 
 luxurious city might have disdained. What is the 
 result of this trial ? Daniel and his companions turn 
 out " fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children 
 which did eat the portion of the king's meat." Thus 
 they were spared further trouble on that score. 
 
 But that is not all. There was the positive blessing 
 of God, in giving them knowledge and skill in all 
 learning and wisdom. And of Daniel it is said, that 
 he was made to understand all visions and dreams. 
 They were prepared of God, each for what he had 
 afterwards to fill. God was their teacher, and the 
 trial of their faith was a needed, essential part of 
 their training in His school. Then, when they stood 
 before the king, none was found like them. When 
 the king inquired of them, he found them, in all mat- 
 ters of wisdom and understanding, " ten times better 
 than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all 
 his realm." (Verses 17—20.) 
 
 If we, too, are to understand the Scriptures, I believe 
 that we must travel the path of separation from the 
 
20 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 world. Nothing more destroys spiritual intelligence 
 than merely floating with the stream of men's opinions 
 and ways. The prophetic word is that which shows 
 ns the end of all man's projects and amlSition. " And 
 the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof; but he 
 that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." Doubt- 
 less, " the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of 
 the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 
 But all the plans of men will come to nothing first, 
 though " they shall labour in the very lire, and shall 
 weary themselves for very vanity." Himself shall do 
 it. " If there be one scripture truth which stands out 
 more prominently than another, or rather which under- 
 lies all truth, it is the total failure of man in everything 
 that pertains to God, before His grace interferes and 
 triumphs. And this is true, not of unconverted men 
 only, but of His people of old, and of His Church since. 
 Nor is there any advantage greater for the enemy, 
 short of destroying the foundations, than the mixing 
 up of the saints of God with the world, and the con- 
 sequent darkening of all spiritual intelligence in those 
 who ought to be its light. God would have us in 
 practical communion wdth Himself: in His light we 
 see light. If we see the end of all the plots of Satan 
 to thwart the work of God, it separates us from what 
 leads thereto, and joins us with all that is dear to Him. 
 Then " the path of the just is as the shining light, 
 which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 
 So walking, we shall understand the word of God. It 
 is not a question of intellectual capacity and learning. 
 I am confident, that human erudition in the things of 
 God is only so much rubbish, wherever it is made to be 
 anything more than a servant. Unless Christians can 
 keep what they know under their feet, they are incapable 
 of profiting fully by the word of God. Otherwise, 
 whether a man know much or little, he becomes its 
 slave, and it usurps the place of the Spirit of God. 
 Faith is the sole means and power of spiritual 
 
CHAPTER II. 21 
 
 luiderstanding ; and faith puts and keeps us in sub- 
 jection to the Lord, and in separation from this evil 
 age. Daniel was separated from what, to a Jew, 
 dishonoured God, and God blessed him with wisdom 
 and understanding. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Before entering upon my present subject, I would 
 point out an obvious proof that chapter i. has a 
 preparatory character. The last verse of the chapter 
 informs us, that " Daniel continued unto the first year 
 of king Cyrus." It is not merely an account of certain 
 circumstances, before we are introduced to the various 
 revelations or facts that are given in succession in the 
 book ; but we have the preparation for the place that 
 Daniel was to keep. And then we are carried, as it 
 were, on to the end. The continuance of Daniel is 
 shown through the whole term of the Babylonish 
 monarchy, and even to the beginning of the Persian. 
 It is not meant that Daniel only lived to the first 
 year of king Cyrus; because the latter part of the 
 book shows us a vision subsequent to that date. The 
 fact is simply stated, that he lived at the commence- 
 ment of a new dynasty. And it will be found that 
 the end of the last chapter is an equally suitable 
 conclusion to the book ; answering, as such, to the first 
 chapter as a preface. 
 
 But before going farther, I would make one remark 
 of a general kind. The book divides itself into two 
 nearly equal volumes or sections. First, that which 
 refers to the great Gentile powers, and the features 
 that would mark their outward conduct; and, finally, 
 to the judgment of it all. This is continued up to 
 
22 DANIEL. 
 
 tlie end of chapter vi. Then, from chapter vii. to the 
 close, "we have not the external history of the four 
 Gentile empires, but that "which is of,jnore peculiar 
 interest to God's people. This was, evidently enough, 
 indicated by the circumstance, that the first portion 
 of the book does not consist of visions that Daniel 
 saw ; for the only one, properly so called, was seen by 
 Nebuchadnezzar. There is one in chapter ii., and then 
 another of a different character in chapter iv. ; chapters 
 iii,, v., and vi., being facts, that had' to do with the 
 moral condition of the two first monarchies, but nothing 
 at all that was made known in the first instance to 
 Daniel, or visions seen by the prophet himself; where- 
 as, the latter part of the book is occupied exclusively 
 with communications to the prophet himself. And 
 there it is that we find, not merely what ought to strike 
 the natural mind, but the secrets of God that peculiarly 
 affect and interest His people, and hence details also. 
 The external proof of this is, that chapter vi., which 
 closes what I have called the first section of Daniel, 
 brings us up to the close again. " So this Daniel 
 prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of 
 Cyrus the Persian." Now this is remarkable, because 
 the next chapter goes back again to Belshazzar. " In 
 the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel 
 had a dream, and visions of his head," &c. That was 
 long before Cyrus the Persian. Then in chapter viii., 
 " In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar." 
 And in chapter ix., " In the first year of Darius, the 
 son of Ahasuerus." So far all is regular. Next, we 
 come down to chapters x. — xii. " In the third year of 
 Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel," 
 &c. The first part (i. — vi.) brings us down to the close 
 in a general way, and the second (vii. — xii.) with 
 equal order; divided, not merely in this outward 
 manner, but having the moral difference, already 
 explained, i.e., the one external and the other internal. 
 That this is not an unprecedented thing in the word of 
 
CHAPTER II. 28 
 
 God is familiar to tlie reader of Matthew xiii. There, 
 we have an orderly setting forth of the kingdom 
 of heaven under certain parables — the first of these 
 being a prefatory one. Now, taking the other six 
 parables, (for there are exactly seven in all,) you have a 
 division of them into two sets of three, the first of 
 which refers to the exterior of the kingdom, and the 
 last to more inward and hidden relations. 
 
 This exactly answers to what we have in Daniel. 
 First, the external history goes down to the close, and 
 then the internal succeeds, or what was of special 
 interest to those that had understanding of the ways 
 of God. This will suffice to show, that the book is 
 characterized by that divine method which we ought 
 to expect in the word of God. There is a profound 
 design, which runs through the works of God, and 
 more especially through His word. The finger of 
 God Himself is evident indeed upon what He has made ; 
 yet death has come in, and the creature is made subject 
 to vanity. Hence, we hear the groans of the lower 
 creation; and, as you rise in the scale of animal life, 
 the misery is more intense. Man is more conscious 
 and capable of feeling the wretchedness that his own 
 sin has brought upon the world, and upon that creation, 
 of which he is made the lord. But in the word of 
 God, although there may be slips and errors of scribes, 
 they are for the most part but specks. They may 
 obscure its full light; but they are trifling in com- 
 parison with the evident brightness of that which God 
 gives, even through the most imperfect version. In 
 passing through the hands of men, we discover more or 
 less of the weakness that attaches to the earthern 
 vessel ; but through the great mercy of God, there is 
 ample light for every honest soul. 
 
 But turning to this first great scene, we have the 
 entire failure of the wisdom of the world. Unusual 
 care was taken, at the court of Babylon, to have men 
 trained in all wisdom and knowledge. The time was 
 
24 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 now come when this was to be put to the test. God 
 was pleased, while the great Gentile king was medi- 
 tating upon his bed, to give him a visiojjr of the future 
 history of the world: on the one hand, gratifjdng his 
 desire to see the world's course thence onward unveiled ; 
 while, on the other hand, he was made to feel the utter 
 powerlessness of all human resources. It was God's 
 opportunity for displaying His own power, and the 
 perfect wisdom of which even a poor captive was made 
 the channel. This is a signal example of God's ways. 
 Here were these Jews; and the proud king might have 
 supposed that, if God was for them, they could not 
 possibly have come under his hand. But if God's 
 people are guilty, there are none whose faults He so 
 much exposes. How do we know the wrong that 
 Abraham did ? or David ? Only from God. He loves 
 His people too well to hide their faults. It is a part of 
 His moral government, that He is the very last to put 
 or allow a veil, over what displeases Him, in those even 
 whom He loves best. Take a well-governed family. 
 Is it the way of .love to cover over the fault of the 
 child, when the child ought to feel it ? — and feel it he 
 must if he is to be happy. So with God's people. 
 Israel had abandoned Him — had denied their relation- 
 ship to Him; and God shows that He felt their sin, 
 and that they must feel it too. He disowned them as 
 His people for a time — swept them out of the land 
 in which He had planted them; and now they were the 
 slaves of the Gentiles. 
 
 But in turn their conqueror must be taught that, 
 after all, the mind — the lieart of God, was with the 
 poor captives. The power of God might be with the 
 Gentile for a season, but the affections of God and 
 His secret were with His own, even in the hour of 
 their abasement. 
 
 The circumstances, through which this was brought 
 out, strikingly illustrate the ways of God. The king 
 dreams a dream: the thing departs from him. He 
 
CHAPTER II. 25 
 
 summons his wise men, and calls upon them to make 
 known the dream and the interpretation of it. But 
 all in vain. ^ They themselves are so struck with the 
 unreasonableness of the demand, that they say, 
 " There is none other that can show it before the king, 
 except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." 
 (Ver. 11.) It was impossible to meet the king's request. 
 Thus all was allowed to come out in its reality. Their 
 wisdom proved to be unavailing for what was wanted. 
 Daniel hears of the decree which went forth, that the 
 wise men should be slain. He goes to Arioch, and 
 begs for time to be given him. But mark this — and 
 it is the characteristic of faith — he has confidence in 
 God. He does not wait till God gives him the answer, 
 before he says that he would show the interpretation 
 of tlie dream. He j^roffers it at once. He is confident 
 in God, and that is faith — a conviction founded on the 
 known character of God. The secret of the Lord is 
 with them that fear Him ; and Daniel feared the Lord. 
 Therefore, also, he was not alarmed at the decree. He 
 knew that God who ga^e could recall the dream. At 
 the same time, he does not in the least degree pretend 
 to answer it himself. We have thus two great things 
 brought out in Daniel : first, his confidence that God 
 would reveal the thing to the king ; secondly, his con- 
 fession that he could not. He goes to his house, and 
 makes the thing known to his companions. He wishes 
 that they also should " desire mercies of the God of 
 heaven concerning this secret." He has exceeding 
 value for the prayers of his brethren — the witnesses 
 with himself of the true God in Babylon. He gets 
 them on their knees before God, as well as takes that 
 place himself. But Daniel, having special faith, was 
 the one that God therefore honours. " Then was 
 the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night-vision." 
 (Verses 14—19.) 
 
 Neither does he go directly to the king, nor even to 
 his companions, to tell them that God has made known 
 
26 DANIEL. 
 
 the dream to him. The first thing he does is to go to 
 God. The God that has made known the secret is the 
 One that Daniel at once owns. He is^n the place of 
 one that worships God. And allow me to say, that 
 this is the grand object of all the revelations of God. 
 Do not suppose it is a question of making known to me 
 my sin and a Saviour meeting all the need of my soul. 
 What God works by His Spirit in His saints, is not 
 merely that they should know they are delivered from 
 hell, or that they should walk as His children. There is 
 a higher thing still. God makes His people worshippers 
 of Himself; and, if there is one thing, in which God's 
 children fail more than another, it is in realizing their 
 place as worshippers. 
 
 Now, Daniel understood this. Though comparatively 
 young, he was well acquainted with the mind of God. 
 And here we have this beautiful feature. He brings 
 out in his outburst of praise the mind of God; and 
 these, not so much in connexion with His power — 
 though it is true that " He changeth the times and 
 seasons; he removeth kings and setteth up kings,'' &c. 
 — but what his heart specially dwells upon is this : " He 
 giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them 
 that know understanding." I call your attention to 
 the words. It is quite true, that the Lord looks with 
 compassion on the ignorant, and shows His goodness 
 to those that have no urderstanding. But Daniel is 
 speaking of His ways with those whose hearts are 
 towards Him; and in their case the Lord's principle 
 is, " To him that hath shall be given; but whosoever 
 hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he 
 hath." Nothing is more dangerous, in the things of 
 God, than to stop short in the path of learning His 
 ways. What arrests souls is the consciousness that 
 the truth is too practical; and they fear the conse- 
 quences: for the truth of God is not a thing merely 
 to know, but to live ; and the soul instinctively shrinks 
 back because of the serious present results it entails. 
 
CHAPTER II. 27 
 
 In Daniel's case the eye was single, and the whole body, 
 therefore, full of light. This is the real secret of 
 progress. Let the desire only be towards God, and the 
 progress is sure and steady. 
 
 Daniel then goes in unto Arioch, and says, " Destroy 
 not the wise men of Babylon : bring me in before the 
 king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation." 
 Accordingly, Arioch brings him in before the king in 
 haste, and says, " I have found a man of the captives of 
 Judah, that will make unto the king the interpre- 
 tation." The king asks him whether it is true, that 
 he is able to make known the dream and the interpre- 
 tation. Daniel's answer is beautiful. Real, deep 
 knowledge of the ways of God is always accompanied 
 by humility. There is no greater mistake, nor one 
 more nnfounded in fact, than the supposition, that 
 spiritual intelligence puffeth up ; knowledge may — mere 
 knowledge. But I speak of that spiritual understanding 
 in the word, which flows from the sense of God's love, 
 and seeks to spread itself, if I may so say, just because 
 it is divine love. Daniel intimates how impossible it 
 was for " the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, 
 and the soothsayers," to show the dream unto the king. 
 " But there is a God in heaven, that revealeth the secrets, 
 and maketh known [he does not even say to Daniel, 
 but] to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the 
 latter days." He desired that Nebuchadnezzar should 
 know the interest that God took in him. " As for 
 thee, king, thy thoughts came into thy mind, upon 
 thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and he 
 that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what 
 shall come to pass." But he is not satisfied with that: 
 he adds, " As for me, this secret is not revealed to me 
 for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but 
 for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation 
 to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts 
 of thy heart." 
 
 Then he enters upon the dream. " Thou, king, 
 
28 DANIEL. 
 
 sawest, and "behold a great image. This great image, 
 whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; 
 and the form thereof was terrible." He had seen the 
 course of empire, not merely in a fragmentary succes- 
 sion al manner, but as a whole. In the latter part of 
 the book, we have the succession more minutely marked, 
 and the detailed ways of the different powers towards 
 Daniel's people: but here it is the general history 
 of the Gentile empire. 
 
 " This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and 
 arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass." 
 That is, there was deterioration, as the empires de- 
 parted from the source of power. It was God who 
 gave imperial rule to Nebuchadnezzar. Consequently, 
 that which is nearest to the source is seen as " this 
 head of gold." There comes in a certain measure 
 more of what was human in the Persian empire ; " the 
 breast and the arms of silver," an inferior metal and 
 so on, down to the legs, which are of iron, and the 
 feet, part of iron and part of clay. It is quite plain 
 from this, that, as we descend from the original grant pf 
 power, there is a gradual debasement. 
 
 But it is well, now, to state a principle or two, 
 which I believe to be of importance in looking at 
 prophetic scriptures. One of the commonest maxims, 
 even among Christians, is this: that prophecy is to be 
 interpreted by the event —that history is the proper 
 exponent of prophecy — that when the prophetic 
 visions are realized upon the earth, the facts explain 
 the visions. This is .a false principle; it has not one 
 particle of truth in it. People confound with inter- 
 pretation of prophecy the confirmation of its truth. 
 When a prediction is fulfilled, of course its fulfilment 
 confirms its truth, but that is a very different thing 
 from explaining it. The proper understanding of 
 prophecy is just as difficult after the event as before it. 
 For instance, let any one take the seventy weeks of 
 Daniel. That chapter has furnished occasion for 
 
CHAPTER II. 29 
 
 immense controversy and dispute among believers 
 themselves. It is one of their commonest assumptions, 
 that it is all fulfilled, (which is not correct,) and yet 
 there is no such thing as agreement among them about 
 its meaning. 
 
 Looking again at Ezekiel's prophecy, we find that 
 the difficulty of prophecy arises from a totally different 
 source. The first part of Ezekiel was fulfilled in the 
 then ways of God with Israel; it extended over the 
 time when Daniel lived. But that does not explain it. 
 It is, in fact, more obscure than the closing chapters, 
 which are future. 
 
 What, then, does explain prophecy ? That whicli 
 explains all scripture — the Spirit of God alone. His 
 power can unfold any part of the word of God. Do 
 you ask, if I mean to say, that it is of no importance 
 to know languages, understand history, and so on ? I 
 am not raising a question about learning: it has its 
 use; but I deny that history is the interpreter of 
 l^rophecy, or of any scripture. And if there are 
 Christians who know the history of the world, or the 
 original tongues of Scripture, it is Christ that has to 
 do with their spiritual intelligence, and not their know- 
 ledge or learning. Besides, even if men are Christians, 
 it does not necessarily follow that they understand 
 Scripture. They know Christ, else they would not be 
 Christians. But real entrance into God's mind, in 
 Scripture, supposes that a person watches against self, 
 desires the glory of God, has full confidence in His 
 word, and dependence on the Holy Ghost. The under- 
 standing of Scripture is not a mere intellectual thing. 
 If a man has no mind at all, he could not understand 
 anything: but the mind is only the vessel — not the 
 power. The power is the Holy Ghost, acting upon 
 and through the vessel; but it must be the Holy Ghost 
 Himself that fills a soul. As it is said, " They shall 
 be all taught of God." 
 
 There is a great difference in the measure of the 
 
30 DANIEL. 
 
 teacliing, because there is mucli difference in the 
 measure of dependence upon God. The important 
 thing is to bear in mind, that the understanding of 
 Scripture depends much more upon what is moral, than 
 what is of the mind — upon a single eye to Christ. The 
 Holy Ghost can never give us anything to save us from 
 the necessity of dependence and waiting upon God. 
 
 How, then, are we to interpret prophecy? It is 
 entirely independent of history; it was given to be 
 understood before it becomes history. That this is 
 true must be manifest. The great mass of prophecy is 
 about the terrible judgments that are to fall at the end 
 of this age. What becomes of the people who do not 
 profit by the prophecies, till the facts have taken place ? 
 It is a serious thing to despise it. The believer that 
 understands prophecy has got special help, which he 
 lacks who neglects it. 
 
 Starting, then, with this great principle — -that it is 
 the Holy Ghost who gives us to read prophecy, as 
 bearing upon the glory of God, and connected with 
 Christ, who shall yet be exalted, and whose glory shall 
 fill the earth and heavens, all usurpers and pretenders 
 being put down — let us look at this scene, as that 
 which shows us the course of the world, up to that 
 time. First, consider the position of the parties. 
 Here was the proudest king in the world. He had 
 gone forth at the head of, victorious armies, before his 
 father's death — before he had properly come into the 
 undivided kingdom of Babylon. And now he has 
 laid open to him a sphere of dominion, perhaps, beyond 
 his ambition. He learns, v/ith certainty, that it w^as 
 God, in His providence, who had put him in this 
 position. But, more than that: he sees brought before 
 him, in a few touches, the whole chart of the Gentile 
 world — the leading features of its history from that 
 day to the day of glory and judgment that is coining. 
 He has brought before him the rise of another and 
 neighbouring power, that had been already alluded to 
 
CHAPTER II. 31 
 
 in prophecy ; so that there was therefore no difficulty 
 at all in gathering what was meant by it. The prophet 
 Isaiah, who lived a hundred -and-fifty years before 
 Cyrus was born, had not only referred by the Holy 
 Ghost to the nation and king of the Medes and Persians, 
 but had called him by name. 
 
 Again: another empire was foreshown, that was 
 then comparatively in its infancy, or consisting only 
 of so many se|)arate tribes, without any stable bond 
 of cohesion among them — I refer to the Greeks. 
 But, more remarkable still, the kingdom, which is 
 most dwelt upon by the Spirit of God, was then one 
 that was in a mere embryo condition, and probably 
 not even known by name to the king of Babylon. 
 For though that kingdom was destined to play the 
 greatest part ever taken by a kingdom in the history 
 of the world, it was then utterly obscure. It was 
 engaged in home and neighbouring squabbles of the 
 pettiest kind, without any thought of extending its 
 dominion. The more marvellous, therefore, it is to 
 look at that great king, and the servant of God that 
 stood before him, unfolding the history of the world. 
 
 "Thou, king, art a king of kings: for the God 
 of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and 
 strength, and glory." It was not a question of his 
 own prowess, nor special wisdom, that he possessed. 
 If Nebuchadnezzar had been allowed to carry away 
 these captives — to triumph over the power of Egypt, 
 that had wished to dispute the supremacy of the 
 world, it was the God of heaven who had given it to 
 him. " And wheresoever the children of men dwell, 
 the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, hath 
 he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler 
 over them all. Thou art this head of gold." Clearly 
 the Babylonish monarchy is meant. God had referred 
 to this by Isaiah. And Jeremiah, who was a con- 
 temporary of Daniel's, had brought before him not 
 only the length of period, during which the Baby- 
 
32 DANIEL. 
 
 lonisli monarchy should last, hut even the succession. 
 There would be Nebuchadnezzar and his son, and his 
 son's son. This had a remarkable fulfilment. So 
 that we need not go beyond Scripture to understand 
 prophecy. It is the right spiritual use of what is in 
 the word of God, and I bless God for it. If you find 
 the simplest man who only studies with diligence the 
 Bible, in his mother tongue, and is led by the Spirit of 
 God, he has the elements and the power of a true 
 interpretation. But as sure as a man tries to find an 
 interpretation here and there, by the help of history, 
 antiquities, newspapers, and what not, he is only 
 deceiving himself and his hearers. Such is the uni- 
 versal moral sentence of God upon the soul that 
 searches, in what is of man, the proper key to God's 
 secrets. I must find it in God Himself, by a right 
 use of what is in His own Avord. 
 
 An early Jewish writer, whose history is every 
 where read and valued, Josephus, I had the curiosity 
 to look at, and, finding the common version peculiar, 
 I examined the original Greek of his history, but 
 found the same strange sense still. He makes out 
 that the head of gold means Nebuchadnezzar, and the 
 kings that were before him! Thus, there is an entire 
 want of understanding what the word of God says. 
 The going away from Scripture, and allowing one's 
 own thoughts, always leads astray. Babylon was first 
 made an empire of in the person of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 who here includes, as it were, those that were to fol- 
 low. " Thou art this head of gold." There is no 
 reference to the kings that were before him. Babylon 
 never was allowed to have the empire of the world 
 till Nebuchadnezzar's day; therefore it Avas that he, 
 and not his forefathers, formed the head of gold. He 
 was the one in whom the imperial place of Babylon 
 finds its beginning. 
 
 In Jeremiah xxv. we find not only the epoch of 
 seventy years of captivity, but, farther on (chap, xxvii.)^ 
 
CHAPTER II. 33 
 
 the succession is mentioned. *' All nations shall serve 
 him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time 
 of his land come." It happened that, after his son, 
 Evil Merodach, was cut off, there was one w^ho took 
 the throne, not in the order of succession, but called to 
 it by the Babylonish people, with a sort of claim, 
 through marriage, with Nebuchadnezzar's daughter. 
 This man reigned for a time, and after him, his son, 
 who was, therefore, the son of Nebuchadnezzar's 
 daughter, not of his son. It might, so far, then, 
 appear that the prophecy had failed. Not at all. A 
 few months after, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson was 
 called to the throne. " Scripture cannot be broken." 
 It had been said, " Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his 
 son's son," and so it was. In Belshazzar, the grand- 
 son of Nebuchadnezzar, the whole thing terminated. 
 For this then scripture furnishes all the main parts. 
 So that prophecy does, in fact, explain history, but 
 history never interprets prophecy. The man who 
 understands prophecy can open up history; but no 
 understanding of history will enable him to explain 
 prophecy. It may confirm the truth of a prediction, 
 to a doubter, so far as it is clear. Thus, if the history 
 of the taking of Jerusalem, as it is given in the Wars 
 of Josephus, is a true one, it will, of course, coincide 
 with the inspired notice told us by St. Luke. But 
 it is quite plain, that if I have confidence in the word 
 of God, there I have a much more certain account of 
 it. In a word, the circumstance of being uttered 
 before the event has nothing to do with the matter. 
 The eye of God saw all along, and through the stream 
 of Gentile empire ; and the language is as plain in the 
 prophecies of Daniel, as in the writings of the Greek 
 and Latin historians.* And so true is this that those 
 
 *"The four empires are clearly delineated; and the invin- 
 cible armies of the Romans described with as much clearness, 
 in the prophecies of Daniel, as in the histories of Justin and 
 Diodorus. ' ' — Gibbon. 
 D 
 
'34 DANIEL. 
 
 who have no sympathy with what is of God, even 
 infidels, are obliged to acknowledge, that whatever 
 clearly bears upon the subject coincides with what 
 Daniel had said hundreds of years before the events. 
 
 " And after thee shall arise another kingdom, inferior 
 to thee." Not inferior in territorial extent, but in 
 splendour, and perhaps most of all in the admixture of 
 control outside the ruler, instead of a man acting in 
 the conviction that God had put him in his place of 
 authority. Darius (chap, vi.) took the advice of 
 unscrupulous subjects and suffered bitterly for it. Had 
 he felt the sense of immediate responsibility to God, 
 the snare had been avoided. Men naturally shrink 
 from absolute authority, chiefly because it is uncon- 
 trolled power in the hands of a weak and erring man. 
 But suf)posing it was one who had all the wisdom and 
 goodness in his own person, nothing could be happier. 
 This is exactlv what will be true in the reifjn of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, when full authority will be put 
 into His hands, and all will be blessed and according to 
 the will of God, and when the contrary will of men 
 would only be rebellion. 
 
 What seems to confirm this, is, that when we come 
 down to the third kingdom, the Macedonian, of which 
 Alexander the Great was the founder, there we have a 
 man, who not merely acted at the suggestion of his 
 wise men, but was controlled by his generals. It be- 
 came, in fact, a kind of military rule — a less respectable 
 thing than the aristocratic interference of the Med^s 
 and Persians, and their inflexible laws. 
 
 Then we come down much lower still, and have a 
 fourth kingdom, represented by iron. " And the 
 fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron ; forasmuch as 
 iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things ; and 
 as iron breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and 
 bruise." There, strength is the great feature of the 
 kingdom, and the quality of the metal is consistent 
 with it. But it is of the commonest sort — not one of 
 
CHAPTEE II. 35 
 
 the precious metals; perhaps, [because the Roman 
 empire was distinguished by this, that it was nominally 
 the people that governed. However despotic the 
 emperor, he always pretended, in theory at least, to 
 consult the people and senate. Even under the empire, 
 the Romans had still the semblance of their old re- 
 publican constitution; whilst, in point of fact, it was 
 but an individual who had clothed himself with all 
 the real power. 
 
 Here, then, we have sketched before us the whole 
 course of empire. But, it may be asked, How do you 
 know these things ? It is not said that the second 
 empire represents Medo-Persia, or the third Macedonia, 
 or the fourth Rome. I think it is. It may not be 
 said here : but Scripture does not always hang up the 
 key exactly at the door. It is not often that we find 
 the explanation of one portion in the very next verse. 
 God wants me to know His word, to be familiar with 
 all that He has written, and to be assured that all is 
 very good. To instruct even the unconverted child in 
 the^ Scripture is always of great value. It is like 
 laying a fire well, so that a spark alone is needed to 
 kindle it into a flame. It is a good and wholesome 
 thing for Christians to be most particular in training 
 up their children in a thorough knowded^e of the word 
 of God. 
 
 But, returning to consider what light Scripture 
 gives, we need not go farther than this Book of Daniel 
 to find the names of these empires. In chapter v. 28, 
 we are told, "Peres: thy kingdom is divided, and 
 given to the Medes and Persians." There is the 
 answer at once. We find the Babylonian kingdom 
 just tottering and about to be destroyed. We were 
 told that the Medes and Persians succeed. Nothing 
 simpler or more certain. The only people I ever 
 heard of that found difficulties, were some learned men 
 who strove to make out that the empire of Babylon 
 extends to Persia as well, so as to make Greece the 
 
36 DANIEL. 
 
 second, Rome the third, and the fourth a distinct 
 and purely future antichristian power. Another class 
 of these scholars have contended that Alexander's king- 
 dom is one thing, and that of his successors another 
 wholly different: in fact, one the third and the other 
 the fourth empire; so as to make even the fifth king- 
 dom (that of " the little stone") a past or present 
 thing. Had Scripture been read and weighed without 
 an object, mistakes like these could never have been 
 made. But the believer, instead of seeing in history 
 things to perplex his mind, takes up his Bible, and 
 finds the solution before he leaves the prophecy itself. 
 For it is plain from Daniel viii. 20, 21, that the empire 
 of the united Medes and Persiars gives place to the 
 Grecian kingdom, with its four-fold division at Alex- 
 ander's death. This again is succeeded by the fourth, 
 or Roman Empire, the peculiar feature of which is, 
 that in its last stage it is seen divided into ten separate 
 kingdoms. (Chap, vii.) Was this ever the case with 
 the successors of Alexander ? His kingdom was 
 divided into four, never into ten. Thus we have pro- 
 phecy explaining history; while the general use that 
 mere learning makes of history is to obscure the bright- 
 ness of the word of God. But let us understand the 
 word of God first; and then, if we turn to history, we 
 shall find it comes in as a human witness, and con- 
 firms, with its feeble voice, the divine testimon)\ It 
 is obliged to do so. Thus, the man that does not know 
 history stands upon at least as good ground as those 
 who are learned, but find difficulties. He is not per- 
 plexed as others are, who look through the mist of 
 their own speculations. 
 
 In the third kingdom a feature is introduced which 
 is not in the second. It was to " bear rule over all 
 the earth." How remarkably this was fulfilled in the 
 Macedonian or Grecian kingdom ! Because, although 
 Cyrus was a great conqueror, it was altogether in the 
 region where he lived. He overcame the whole of 
 
CHAPTER II. 37 
 
 those parts to the north of Media and Persia, and also 
 southward, as well as the west. All that was true; 
 but he never went outside, as far as I know, the bounds 
 of Asia. 
 
 But now we see a kingdom marked by extraordinary 
 rapidity of conquest. One might challenge all ages to 
 show anything that fulfils this prophecy, as the king- 
 dom of Alexander did. In the course of a few years, 
 that remarkable man overran almost the whole of the 
 then known world. He even lamented, as we know, 
 that he had not another world to conquer. This is a 
 striking commentary upon what we have here. Do 
 we need to go to history for it all ? No. We find in 
 this very book the explanation. In chapter viii. 20, 21, 
 the third empire is shown to be the Grecian. "The 
 ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings 
 of Media and Persia." There you have also a con- 
 firmation of what I said before, as to the second 
 kingdom. But when this ram was there, a fierce goat 
 came that had a notable horn between his eyes. With 
 the single horn that he has in his head, he butts 
 against the ram, who represented these kings of Media 
 and Persia. Here we have the third kingdom, that 
 was to " bear rule over all the earth." What is its 
 name ? The 21st verse gives the answer. " The rough 
 goat is the King of Grecia, and the great horn that is 
 between his eyes is the first king." We do not need 
 history to explain prophecy. We have here the 
 distinct, positive answer from the word of God, as to 
 what the third kingdom is ; and all real research you 
 may make in history will only confirm this, but you 
 do not need it. If you take your stand upon the word 
 of God, you are upon a ground that no history can 
 touch for a single instant. God, who gives the only 
 sure account, shows that the Medo- Persian empire is 
 followed by the Grecian. The sole great horn of the 
 latter is broken, and " for it came up four notable ones, 
 towards the four winds of heaven." The kingdom of 
 
38 DANIEL. 
 
 Alexander, at liis death, was broken up into four great 
 parts, which his generals fought for. You have their 
 comparative littleness in the presence of Alexander. 
 He was the great horn, the first king and representative 
 of the third kingdom. The next question is, What 
 was to follow that ? What other great empire was to 
 succeed: and that, the last empire before God should 
 set up His kingdom? The Old Testament history 
 closes before the third empire begins. The last facts 
 historically stated are in the Book of Nehemiah, while 
 the Persian was still the great king: i.e., the second 
 empire was yet supreme. But the New Testament 
 history opens, and what is found there ? I have only 
 to read the beginning of Luke, and I hear of another 
 great empire then ruling. " It came to pass in those 
 days, that there went out a decree from Cwsar 
 Augustus, that all the world should be taxed." There 
 we have, at once, the fourth kingdom, without re- 
 quiring to ask history for it. There is a fourth 
 kingdom, and the word of God shows it to be universal; 
 it summons men throughout the world to be enrolled 
 in its register, and God takes care that there should be 
 a legal acknowledgment even of His own Son's having 
 been then born. 
 
 The fourth kingdom, then, was the Roman empire. 
 WTien I know that from Scripture,* I can go to his- 
 tory, which tells me that it was the Roman Empire 
 which crushed the power of Greece. They got the 
 Greeks first to join them in beating the Macedonians, 
 and then they turned upon the Greeks, and soon put 
 them down. 
 
 Afterwards, the Romans extended their conquests 
 all over Asia. What does God say about it ? " The 
 
 * I have no doubt that, in "the ships of Chittim," (Dan. 
 xi. 30,) we have a reference to the naval power of Eome, 
 which interfered with Antiochus Epiphanes. But as the allusion 
 is less explicit than Luke ii. 1, iii. 1, xx. 22 — 25, John xi. 48, 
 xix. 15, I add the dkect proof from the New Testament. 
 
CHAPTER II. 39 
 
 fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as 
 iron breaketh in pieces. .. .and as iron that breaketh 
 all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise." And if 
 people do call in history, can they see things more 
 clearly? Where can they show as just a description 
 of that empire as that which God gives here? One 
 well-known historian, when speaking about the em- 
 pires, describes them in the liveliest imagery, derived 
 from these very symbols of Daniel the prophet. He 
 could find no figures so apt as those which the Spirit of 
 God had consecrated to their use already, though every 
 one knows it was from no lack of imagination, any 
 more than from the wish to accredit Scripture. 
 
 Even this is not all that God gives us. " Forasmuch 
 as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things : and 
 as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces 
 and bruise." Never was a description more exactly to 
 the point. I could quote passages from the old Roman 
 writers, which show that they themselves gave an 
 account of their own empire and policy, in terms 
 substantially similar. 
 
 But there was something they could not tell, and 
 that was beyond what man could foresee. That power 
 that above all other was distinguished for its strength 
 in warring down every one that rose up against it, 
 whatever its kindness to those who stooped to the 
 conqueror — that very power is described here thus: — 
 " And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of 
 potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be 
 divided." The Romans do not tell us this. History 
 is not always a truthful speaker. Those who describe 
 their own country's statecraft are not in general very 
 trustworthy. If there was that which threatened ex- 
 tinction, they are as glad to hide it, as they were ready 
 to boast in whatever evidences their boldness, strength, 
 and glory ; but God tells all out ; and we find, that the 
 same empire, that was to be so celebrated for its amazing 
 strength, is to exhibit also the greatest inherent 
 
40 DANIEL. 
 
 weakness. " There shall be in it of the strength of 
 the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with 
 miry clay. 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 whereas thou sawest 
 iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle them- 
 selves with the seed of men : but they shall not cleave 
 one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." 
 The iron was the original element; the clay was 
 brought in subsequently, and properly did not belong to 
 the great metal statue: it was a foreign ingredient. 
 When and whence did it come ? I believe that the Spirit 
 of God in using the figure of clay refers not to the original 
 Roman element, which had the strength of the iron, 
 but to the barbaric hordes, which broke in at a later 
 period, weakening the Roman power, and forming by 
 degrees separate kingdoms. I can, however, only state 
 this as my own judgment, founded upon the general 
 use of Scripture language and ideas. We have what 
 was not properly and originally Roman, but was 
 brought in from elsewhere: and it is the mixture of the 
 two elements that is productive of the weakness, and 
 that finally leads to division. These hordes of barba- 
 rians, that forced themselves in at first, professed not to 
 be conquerors, but guests of Rome, and finally settled 
 themselves within its limits. This it was that subse- 
 quently led to the division of the empire into a number 
 of separate independent kingdoms, when the power and 
 pride of imperial Rome was broken. Charlemagne, 
 later on, cherished the desire of universal empire, which 
 he laboured hard to realize ; but it w^as a failure ; and 
 all that he acquired in his life was separated in his 
 death. Another man attempted it in our own days: 
 I mean, of course, the exile of St. Helena. He had at 
 heart the same universal monarchy. What was the 
 issue ? His success was still more short lived. All was 
 completely broken up into its original constituents before 
 he had breathed his last. And so it will continue in 
 
CHAPTER II. 41 
 
 the main, until the moment spoken of here, but more 
 fully entered into in the book of the Kevelation. 
 
 This is, I believe, what Scripture lays down about 
 the matter. There will be, before the age closes, the 
 most remarkable union of two apparently contradictory 
 conditions — a universal head of empire, and separate 
 independent kingdoms besides, each of which will have 
 its own king ; but that one man will be the emperor 
 over all these kings. Till that time comes, every effort 
 to unite the different kingdoms under one head will be 
 a total failure. Even then, it will be not by fusing 
 them together into one kingdom, but each independent 
 kingdom will have its own king, though all subject to 
 one head. God has said they shall be divided. This, 
 then, is what is shown us. " They shall not cleave 
 one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." 
 And if ever there was a portion of the world, that has 
 represented this incoherent system of kingdoms, it is 
 modern Europe. As long as the iron predominated, 
 there was one empire : but then came in the clay, or 
 foreign material. In virtue of the iron there will be a 
 universal monarchy, while in virtue of the clay there 
 will be separate kingdoms. 
 
 " And in the days of these kings shall the God of 
 heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroy- 
 ed : 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." Mark those 
 words, " In the days of these kings." They are a com- 
 plete answer to those who have tried to make this the 
 birth of Christ, and the introduction of what they call 
 the kingdom of grace. At the time here spoken of, 
 the empire is broken up and divided. Was that the 
 case when the Lord was born ? Could it be said then, 
 " in the days of these kings ?" Nothing of the sort. 
 Rome was then in its fullest power: there was not 
 the smallest breach apparent throughout the empire. 
 There was but one ruler, but one will predominant. 
 
42 DANIEL. 
 
 It was not therefore " in the days of these kings." 
 What then does the verse refer to ? I believe to the 
 closing scene of the Roman Empire: not' to the time 
 when Christ was born, but when God " bringeth again 
 the First-begotten into the world " — when the Lord 
 Jesus is brought in, not as the Nazarene to suffer and 
 to die, but when He comes wath divine power to judge. 
 The " stone cut without hands," though in a sense 
 applicable to Him at any time, applies really and fully 
 then. We have the interpretation here. It does not 
 refer to His person, so much as to the kingdom that 
 the God of heaven shall set up in Him and by Him. 
 No doubt He is the stone; but this is a destructive 
 stone extinguishing the kingdoms of the earth. Can 
 any one deny it ? The stone was " cut out of the 
 mountain without hands, and it brake in pieces the 
 iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold." 
 There was the crash of all the image. Was that the 
 case when Christ was born ? Did Christ attack the Ro- 
 man Empire ? Did He destroy it ? On the contrary, 
 Christ w^as killed, and it was its minister that was the 
 official means of His crucifixion. The image, we may 
 say, smote Him, instead of His smiting the image. 
 Such an interpretation is unworthy of serious attention. 
 The stone falls upon the feet of the image, the toes 
 of which were part of iron and part of clay; that is, 
 upon the last condition of the Roman Empire. After 
 all the division, the stone smites it. Thus, its action 
 is not grace, but judgment. It is not a sow^er sowing 
 seed, to produce life ; still less is it leaven diffusing 
 itself over certain limits. Its blow falls destructively 
 upon the image and shatters it completely. It is evi- 
 dent, then, that the first coming of Christ is not the 
 question here. His birth is wholly passed by. It took 
 place during the course of the Roman Empire and in 
 no way destroyed it. Whereas what will deal with 
 the Roman Empire yet, is the coming of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ in a day that is future. 
 
CHAPTER II. 43 
 
 But some will say, How can tliat be ? There is no 
 Roman Empire now. But let me ask, How does 
 this show that there is not to be a Roman Empire ? 
 Can you prove that the Roman Empire is not to revive ? 
 What is given me here is, that the iron, the clay, the 
 brass, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces 
 together, and became like the chaff of the summer 
 threshing-floors. 
 
 Further, we are told in the Revelation, that the 
 beast, representing the imperial power of Rome, is 
 remarkably characterized, as " the beast that was, and 
 is not, and yet is." (Rev. xvii. 8.) The last clause, 
 which in the English version is so obscurely rendered 
 "and yet is," should be "and shall be present."* There 
 is no doubt about this at all: no man that knows 
 the Apocalypse properly would dispute it. If so, it 
 follows that the beast, or empire that existed, when 
 St. John was there, was to be in a state of non- 
 existence, and then to appear again, ascending out of 
 the bottomless pit. That is, it will be the pow^r of 
 Satan that will accomplish the re-union of the frag- 
 ments that make up the Roman Empire. And it is 
 remarkable, that when the beast is seen again, this 
 chapter shows that there will be ten kings who will 
 agree to give their power to "the beast," or person then 
 raised up of Satan to organize and govern the empire. 
 He will use this vast power against God and the 
 Lamb; every appearance of Christianity will be de- 
 stroyed, idolatry will be restored, and antichrist set 
 up. Then God, as it were, will say, I will endure this 
 no longer; My hour is come. The Lord Jesus will 
 leave the right hand of God, and will execute judgment 
 upon these vile pretenders. 
 
 " In the days of these kings shall the God of 
 
 heaven set up a kingdom it shall break in pieces, 
 
 and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for 
 
 * It depends on an indisputably good various reading. 
 
44 DANIEL. 
 
 ever." The first action of that stone is to destroy. It 
 is not a question of saving souls: it is judgment and 
 destruction: putting down kingdoms, and'' everything 
 that exalts itself against the true God. 
 
 But a difficulty may arise here, as to how it is that, 
 when this destructive blow falls, we have the gold, the 
 silver, and the brass all jumbled together, with the 
 iron and clay — as if these successive empires existed 
 together at the end. The truth is, that though Baby- 
 lon, for instance, lost its imperial place, it existed 
 subordinately under the powers that succeeded ; and so 
 with each following empire till Eome. (Comp. Dan. 
 vii. 11, 12.) So that when the final judgment of the 
 fourth empire takes place, there will still be the repre- 
 sentatives of its three predecessors, distinct from itself. 
 And this makes evident, that by the last empire is 
 meant what is exclusively western, and not that which 
 had belonged to the previous empires. 
 
 Thus it is the great seat of modern civilization (i. e., 
 the ten kingdoms of the beast) that will be the scene 
 of this tremendous apostasy. And this will be allowed 
 in the judicial wisdom of God, because men have not 
 received the love of the truth that they might be 
 saved. God will send them strong delusion, that they 
 should believe a lie : " that they all might be damned 
 who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un- 
 righteousness." I have nou a question that this is 
 the future history of the world, on the authority of the 
 word of God. This remarkable prophecy brings us 
 down from the first beginning of imperial power, and 
 finally shows us in the last days, before God sets up 
 His kingdom, the judgment of the world as it is, when 
 God will deal with the quick, not with the dead merely. 
 " He will judge the habitable world in righteousness, 
 by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he 
 hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath 
 raised him from the dead." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The chapters whicli fill up tlie interval between chaps, 
 ii. and vii. are devoted to the statement of historical 
 facts, and therefore might not seem, at first sight, to 
 have a prophetical character. But we must bear in 
 .mind that Scripture in general has an infinitely larger 
 scope than the bare statement of circumstances, be it 
 ever so instructive and important morally. Indeed, 
 this is true of all the Bible. Take such a book, for 
 instance, as Genesis. Though it is clearly historical, 
 and one of the simplest narratives in the Bible, yet it 
 would be wrong to strip it of an outlook into the 
 most distant future. We have the Spirit of God in 
 the New Testament referring over and over again to 
 its most significant facts. Thus, in the incident of 
 Melchizedec, we see the bearing that is given it by 
 the Holy Ghost in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and 
 the allusion to it in other parts of Scripture. A 
 priest and king, two characters that were often united 
 in those days, meets Abraham on his return from the 
 slaughter of the kings, brings forth suited refreshment 
 for the victors, pronounces blessing in the name of 
 Him whose priest he was, and receives tithes as well 
 from Abraham. Yet we must remember that the 
 word of God reasons on this, as indicative of a vast 
 change which has already come in, and leaves open a 
 good deal more, looking onward to the day of Christ, 
 as I conceive. In the Hebrews, where the subject ol 
 Christ's priesthood, as now in heaven, is discussed, 
 some important features of the type are barely alluded 
 to, not applied. The primary drift there is to show, 
 from the Jewish Scriptures, a higher character of 
 priesthood than that of Aaron — a priesthood that was 
 not derived from any predecessor, nor handed down to 
 a successor. I only refer to this to show that Scripture 
 
46 DANIEL. 
 
 gives a typical (and what is that, in other words, but 
 a prophetical ?) value to what might appear to be an 
 authentic account of an historical event-r Such a 
 character I claim for these facts in the Book of 
 Daniel. For it is plain that, if in the most un- 
 varnished books of inspired history, such as Genesis 
 or Exodus, where prophecy is not the ostensible object 
 or peculiarly-marked feature, you have incident on 
 incident, clearly used in the New Testament as fore- 
 shadowing good things to come, we may still more 
 strongly infer that, in a prophecy such as this of 
 Daniel, we are to read not only the visions as directly 
 prophetic, but also the facts connected with them as 
 instinct with a kindred spirit. It were easy to produce 
 analogous examples from elsewhere. Let us look for 
 a moment at the prophecy of Isaiah. There, after a 
 long series of prophetic strains, you have a break. 
 Certain well-known historical facts are related — the 
 invasion and destruction of the Assyrian; and as to 
 Hezekiah, his sickness and his recovery, the wonder 
 done in the land, and the visit of the embassy from 
 the King of Babylon. Then you have the prophecy 
 recommencing, and following on its course. It could 
 be readily proved that the facts related of Sennacherib 
 and Hezekiah have a definite and most instructive 
 bearing upon the prophecies in the midst of which they 
 are imbedded. So that meisly to regard them as facts 
 introduced historically into such a connexion, and, with 
 no further or deeper reason, dividing one half of the 
 book from the other, would be to deprive them of at 
 least half their value. Am I too bold, therefore, in 
 assuming it as a general truth, applicable to the word 
 of God as a whole, that Scripture is not to be lowered 
 down to the mere recital of the facts it records; but 
 that those facts were chosen expressly in the wisdom 
 of God, and were given in an orderly manner, for the 
 purpose of representing the awful ways of man and 
 Satan, and the glorious scenes before the mind of God 
 
CHAPTER III. 47 
 
 Himself, tliat are to be re-enacted in the latter day ? 
 And if this be the case with the strictly historical 
 portion of God's word, it is only reasonable that it 
 should be emphatically true of a prophetic book such 
 as this. 
 
 The evidence, however, of this will much more 
 appear as we follow the facts as they are given here. 
 We shall then see what is the connexion, and what 
 the special bearing, of the chapters themselves, better 
 than by more laboured presumptions that one might 
 gather from other parts of the Word of God. For 
 that is and must be the grandest testimony of all to 
 the real meaning of Scripture. Revealed truth is 
 like the light. It is not that which requires illumina- 
 tion from without in order to let us know what it 
 means; but it displays itself. You do not need a 
 taper or a torch from man to find out the light of day. 
 The sun, as it wants none, entirely eclipses all such 
 artificial helps; it shines for itself, and rules the day. 
 So it is that, wherever you find a man capable of 
 seeing, the truth commends itself. He has, what the 
 Evangelist Luke calls, " an honest heart," and what 
 other Scriptures speak of as " a single eye." Wher- 
 ever the truth is really brought to bear upon a man 
 who is open to receive it as the precious light of God 
 in Christ, they answer mutually to each other. The 
 heart is prepared for it — desires it; and when the 
 truth is heard, bows, receives, and enjoys it. When 
 the heart, on the contrary, is occupied with itself, or 
 •with the world, there is no truth that can possibly 
 bend it. The will of man is at work; and that is the 
 constant, unvarying enemy of God. Therefore it is 
 said (John iii.) that no man can see or enter the 
 kingdom of God without being born again — born of 
 water and of the Spirit. That is, there must be a 
 direct, positive work of the Holy Ghost, dealing with 
 the soul, judging it and giving a new nature, which 
 has as decided an affinity for the things of God as 
 
4S DANIEL. 
 
 the old life has for the things of the world. The 
 Spirit acts upon the new creature, and gives intelli- 
 gence; and the truth is, we may say,. -its natural 
 sustenance. 
 
 I do not doubt, therefore, that we shall find, in this 
 third chapter of Daniel, as in the three which follow, 
 that each has its distinctive features; and that these 
 were not merely seen in what was passing in the days 
 of Daniel, but that they were registered by the 
 prophet to indicate the course now past, and the 
 future destiny of the great Gentile powers. We are 
 to view them in the light of the prophecies that 
 surround them — to take them, not as facts put down, 
 as any man might do it, at haphazard. In short, God 
 has given them here, linked in the most intimate way 
 with the prophecy where they are found. 
 
 In chap. ii. we saw God's sovereign dealing with 
 a man, raised up from among the Gentiles, to be the 
 minister of His authority. This takes a new form, in 
 consequence of the people of Israel and their kings 
 having definitively proved themselves unworthy of 
 God's purpose and calling. Thereon God introduces the 
 imperial system of government in the world. It was 
 not merely allowing a single nation to grow in power, 
 and be the terror of its neighbours; or creating a 
 blessed example of the ways of God. One ruler is 
 allowed to be the master of the world — one great 
 sovereign, not only himself mighty, but a ruler of 
 kings, who were but subordinate or satellites. This 
 began with Nebuchadnezzar, and it characterizes the 
 Gentile empires. An objection might be raised, that 
 we do not find any such power existing now. That is 
 true. There exists no such imperial rule in the 
 world, nor has there been since the fall of Rome; 
 though there have been certain pretenders to it. But 
 it has failed. The Book of the Revelation shows us 
 
CHAPTER III, 49 
 
 this suspension. There was such a ruler once, while 
 imperial Rome subsisted — one who had kings for his 
 servants. But now there is an interval, when all that 
 is over. Still it is to be revived. And this, I believe, 
 is one great fact that awaits the world at the present 
 time. It will take men by surprise ; and when ac- 
 complished, it will be the means of concentrating the 
 power of Satan, and of bringing about his plans on 
 the earth. 
 
 All this has a very serious interest for us. We 
 stand near the crisis in the world's history; and 
 even those who look for signs own that we are draw- 
 ing near the close of the age, and of the times of the 
 Gentiles. The re-organization of the empire is not far 
 off. And it is solemn to remember that, when revived, 
 it will not be a mere repetition of what has been done 
 before; but the power of Satan will be put forth in a 
 way never yet w^itnessed. " And God shall send 
 strong delusion that men should believe a lie, because 
 they believed not the truth, and had pleasure in un- 
 righteousness." Very many of my Christian brethren 
 may cry out that I speak uncharitably. The Word of 
 God, however, is wiser than men. It is not a thought 
 of mine, nor of any other man. None would have 
 gathered such a prospect from their own minds. But 
 God has most clearly revealed it. People may plead 
 the wonderful works of God of late in one distant 
 country and another; and the answer of blessing that 
 is, as it were, echoing back from some quarters near us. 
 But these things in no way contradict what has been 
 stated. We may always see these two things going 
 on together, when men approach the verge of some 
 mighty change. On the one hand, the general power 
 of evil increases, and the pride of man swells to an 
 unprecedented height. On the other hand, the Spirit 
 of God works energetically, winning souls to Christ, 
 and separating those that are to be saved from the 
 destruction which is the necessary end of sin and pride. 
 
 E 
 
50 DAKIEL. 
 
 Hence, I believe, when any crisis of evil is at hand, 
 what we ought to expect is this increase of blessing 
 from God, during the time of suspense winch imme- 
 diately precedes judgment. 
 
 But, turning to the immediate subject of the chap- 
 ter, imperial power is in the hands of the Gentiles ; 
 and the first thing told of that power, is, that It was 
 used to set up idolatry — abused, rather, to give a 
 splendour to idolatry unexampled in the old world. 
 And a most humbling consideration it is: the evident 
 connexion between the golden idol that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar set up in the plain of Dura, and that image 
 which he had seen in the visions of the night. It is 
 true that the image he had made was not an exact 
 copy. Still, is it not grave to find that the first thing 
 that Nebuchadnezzar does, as far as Scripture gives it 
 to us, is to command a golden image to be set up, 
 that all the peoi:)les, the nations, and the languages, 
 might fall down and worship it ? One thing, at least, 
 is plain: that whether the golden head of the great 
 image had suggested the thought or not, at any rate 
 it did not hinder him. On the contrary, here we find 
 that the authority which God had put into his hands, 
 is turned to this frightful use. The reason, I believe, 
 was this : Nebuchadnezzar was a man as wise accord- 
 ing to the flesh as he wa? wilful. He stood most 
 evidently in a place that no man had ever occupied 
 before. Not only the sovereign of a vast kingdom, 
 but the absolute master of many kingdoms, speaking 
 different tongues, and having all sorts of contrary 
 habits and policies. What then was to be done with 
 them? How were all these various nations to be 
 kept and governed under a single head ? There is an 
 influence that is mightier than any other thing, which, 
 if common, binds men closely together; but which, if 
 jarring, on the contrary, more than anything else, 
 arrays people against people, house against house, 
 
CHAPTER III. 51 
 
 cliildren against parents, and parents against children, 
 nay, husbands and wives against each other. There 
 is no social dislocation to be compared with that which 
 is produced by a difference of religion. Consequently, 
 to avert so great a peril, union in religion was the 
 measure that the devil insinuated into the mind of the 
 politic Chaldean as the surest bond of his empire. He 
 must have one common religious influence in order to 
 weld together the hearts of his subjects. In all pro- 
 bability, to his mind it was a political necessity. 
 Unite them in worship, unite all hearts in bowing 
 down before one and the same object, and there would 
 be something that would give the hope and opportunity 
 of consolidating all these scattered fragments into a 
 whole. Accordingly, he projects the idea of the 
 gorgeous image of gold for the plain of Dura, near the 
 capital of the empire: and there it is that he summons 
 all the leading men, the princes, the governors, and the 
 captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the 
 sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, all m powder 
 and authority, to come together to the dedication. He 
 surrounds it, too, with everything that could attract 
 nature and act u|)on the senses. All kinds of music 
 must contribute to the scene. When the sound of the 
 cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, &c., 
 was heard, this was the signal for the representatives 
 of that vast realm to " fall down and worship the 
 golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set 
 lip." Man can but make an idol ; he cannot even find 
 out the true God. If it is a question of having 
 the w^orld's homage, the only thing that will carry 
 awav men on a vast scale must be somethinsr of this 
 creation, something adapted to the nature of man as 
 he is. Yon cannot unite hearts that are true with 
 such as are false. But if the true God is shut out, 
 Satan is there to find something which, if introduced 
 by the authority of man, may command all but uni- 
 versal acquiescence. So it was here. The authority, 
 
52 DANIEL. 
 
 therefore, of the empire was put forth, and all were 
 commanded to worship the golden image on pain of 
 death. *' AYhoso falleth not down and worshippeth, 
 shall the same hour he cast into the midst of a burning 
 fiery furnance." 
 
 " Therefore, at that time, when all the people heard 
 the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, 
 and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, 
 and the languages, fell down and worshipped the 
 golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had 
 set up." (Verse 7.) 
 
 But there were some apart from that idolatrous 
 throng; very few, alas ! though, no doubt, there were 
 others hidden. We may be bold enough to say there 
 was one not mentioned here — Daniel himself. How- 
 ever that be, his three companions were not there ; 
 and this made them obnoxious to others; especially 
 as their position, exalted as it was in the province of 
 Babylon, exposed them to more public notice. Of 
 course they were singled out for the king's displeasure. 
 " Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near 
 and accused the Jews." Then they remind the king 
 of the decree that he had made, and add, " There are 
 certain Jews, whom thou hast set over the affairs of 
 the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abed-nego. These men, king, have not regarded 
 thee; they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden 
 image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, 
 in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abed-nego," &c. 
 
 Now this appears to me a fact of very great impor- 
 tance. The use which the Gentile makes of his power 
 is to set up a religion connected with the politics ot 
 the kingdom, a religion for present earthly purposes. 
 Where this is the case, religion cannot be left between 
 God and the conscience. It is no longer a question of 
 having a real conviction as to God and His truth, nor 
 is there liberty to judge the imposture. The worship 
 
CHAPTER III. 53 
 
 devised by the Gentile king is bound down upon the 
 subject under penalty of death. 
 
 There may be certain things, "which hinder, for a 
 season, the natural results of the world's will in having 
 its religion condemned. And this has been the case 
 for some time. For the last fifty years and more, 
 every one knows there has been a certain system of 
 opinion, commonly called liberalism. This has got 
 hold of men's minds. In no way does it respect God 
 and His Word as such. Its great stock-in-trade is the 
 rights of man. Its cardinal virtue is, that all should 
 be left free to think, act, and worship as they please. 
 As long as the idea of man's rights is allowed to have 
 play, the mercy of God turns it into an occasion for 
 Christians, having a conscience towards Himself, to 
 pass quietly through, and worship God according to 
 His will. And as it was always unquestionable that 
 God claimed the right over His own people; as His 
 revealed will alone can rightly govern them ; so, as the 
 Father, He now seeks His children, that they may 
 worship Him in spirit and in truth. The renewed 
 heart and conscience delight in His will and find 
 the chief blessedness here in exalting Him. To the 
 believer, that will is more peremptory than the abso- 
 lutism of the heathen king. Liberalism really dislikes 
 this exclusive claim over the conscience. Still, it has 
 led to a sort of calm in the world; and the full ex- 
 ercise of its authority, as to religion, is in abeyance 
 for the time. For, apart from temporary circum- 
 stances, none can deny that, wherever there is a 
 religion introduced by the monarch, for the guidance 
 of his realm, necessarily it does not admit of dif- 
 ference, contradiction, or compromise. This would 
 defeat the purpose for which it is imposed. But it 
 is to fight against God. The monarch himself may 
 have a conscience, and he is, of course, bound to 
 worship God according to His will. But the using 
 the authority of the realm to coerce others is the 
 
54 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 denial, practically, of God's direct control over the 
 individual conscience. 
 
 The lesson, then, that we have here, is that, at the 
 very outset, this was what the Gentile made of the 
 power God gave: to set up his own religion, and bind 
 it upon the whole of his subjects. That is, all his 
 authority from God was turned to deny the true God, 
 and to compel universal obedience to his own idol,' 
 with a frightful death held up as the immediate forfeit 
 m case of disobedience. This was the great charac- 
 teristic of the first of the Gentile empires. 
 
 But the evil of man and the craft of Satan only 
 serve to bring the faithful into view. The king com- 
 mands them to be cast into the burning fiery furnace. 
 He first, no doubt, remonstrates, and gives' them the 
 opportunity of yielding. " Is it true, Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor 
 worship the golden image which I have set up ? Now, 
 if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of 
 
 the cornet, flute, harp, &c., ye fall down and 
 
 worship the image that I have made, well: but if ye 
 worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the 
 midst of a burning fiery furnace: and who is that God 
 that shall deliver you out of my hands?" It is 
 solemn to see how evanescent was the impression made 
 upon the king's mind. The last act recorded before 
 this image was set up, was his falling down on his face 
 before Daniel, paying him all but divine honours He 
 had even said, " Of a truth it is that your God is a 
 God of gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of 
 secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret." But it 
 was another thing, when he finds out his power dis- 
 puted and his image despised, spite of the burnino. 
 nery lurnace. ^ 
 
 It was all very well to acknowledge God for a 
 moment when He was revealing a secret to him. That 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 55 
 
 was plainly decided in chap. ii. And Daniel there 
 represents those who have the mind of God and who 
 are found in the place of fearing God. " The secret of 
 the Lord is with them that fear him." 
 
 But God had delegated power to the head of the 
 Gentiles, Nebuchadnezzar. And now that these men 
 had dared to brave the consequences rather than wor- 
 ship the image, he is filled with fury, which vents itself 
 in scorn of God Himself. " Who is that God," he 
 says, " that shall deliver you out of my hands ? " The 
 consequence was that it became now a question between 
 him whom God had set up and God Himself. 
 
 But a most beautiful and blessed feature comes out 
 here. It is not God's way, at the present, to meet 
 power by power. It is not His way to deal with the 
 Gentiles in destruction, even where they may be 
 abusing power against the God who has set them in 
 authority. And I call your attention to this, believing 
 it to be an important thing practically. Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abed-nego do not in any way take the 
 ground of resisting Nebuchadnezzar in his wickedness. 
 We know afterwards that his conduct was so evil that 
 God stripped him of all glory, and even intelligence 
 as a man, for a long time. But still these godly men 
 do not pretend that he is a false king because he sets 
 up and enforces idolatry. For the Christian, the 
 question is not about the king, but how he ought to 
 behave himself. It is not his business to meddle with 
 others. He is called to walk, relying on God, in 
 obedience and patience. In the great mass of every- 
 day obligations we can obey God in obeying the laws 
 of the land in which w^e live. This might be the case 
 in any country. If one were even in a popish kingdom 
 I believe that, in the main, one might obey God with- 
 out transgressing the laws of the land. It might be 
 necessary, sometimes, to hide oneself. If they were 
 coming, for instance, with their processions, and re- 
 quired a mark of respect to the host, one ought to 
 
56 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 avoid the appearance of insulting tlieir feelings, while 
 on the other hand, one could not acquiesce in their 
 false worship. -^ 
 
 But it is extremely important to rememher that 
 government is setup and acknowledged of God; and 
 it has, therefore, claims upon the obedience of the 
 Christian man wherever he may be. One of the New 
 Testament epistles takes up this question, the very one 
 that, more than any other, brings out the foundations, 
 characteristics, and effects of Christianity, as far as 
 regards the individual. I allude to the Epistle 
 to the Romans, the most comprehensive of all the 
 Pauline epistles. There we have, first of all, man's 
 condition fully developed; then the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus. The first three chapters are de- 
 voted to the subject of man's ruin; the next five to 
 the redemption that God has wrought as the answer 
 to the ruin of man. Then, in the three chapters which 
 follow, you have the course of the dispensations of 
 God— that is. His dealings, on a large scale, with Israel 
 and the Gentiles, After that, we have the practical, 
 or, at least, the preceptive part of the epistle: first, 
 in chapter xii., the relations of Christians, one to 
 another; and then, after a gradual transition, to enemies 
 at the close ; and, next, their relation to the powers 
 that be. (Chap, xiii.) The very expression—" the 
 powers that be" — seems intended to embrace every form 
 of govei-nment under which Christians might be placed. 
 They were to be subject, not merely under a king, but 
 where there was another character of sovereign; not 
 only where the government was ancient, but let it 
 be ever so newly established. The business of the 
 Christian is to sho^v respect to all who are in authority, 
 to pay honour to wdiom honour is due, owing no man 
 anything save love. What makes this so particularly 
 strong, is, that the emperor then reigning was one of 
 the worst and most cruel men that ever filled the 
 throne of the Cassars. And yet there is no reserve or 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 57 
 
 qualification, nay, the very reverse of an insinuation 
 that, if the emi^eror ordered -what was good, the 
 Christians were to obey, but, that if not, they were 
 free from their allegiance. The Christian is always to 
 obey — not always Nero or Nebuchadnezzar, but always 
 to obey God. The consequence is, that this at once 
 delivers from the very smallest real ground for charg- 
 ing a godly person with being a rebel. I am aware 
 that nothing will of necessity bar a Christian from an 
 evil reputation. It is natural for the world to speak 
 evil of one that belongs to Christ— to Him whom they 
 crucified. But from all real ground for such an accu- 
 sation this principle delivers the soul. Obedience to 
 God remains untouched ; but I am to obey " the powers 
 that be" in whatever is consistent with obeying God, 
 no matter how trying. 
 
 The light of these faithful Jews was far short of 
 what the Christian ought to have now: they had only 
 that revelation of God which was the portion of Israel. 
 But faith always understands God: whether there is 
 little light or much, it seeks and finds the guidance of 
 God. And these men were in the exercise of a very 
 simple faith. The emperor had put forth a decree 
 that was inconsistent with the foundation of all truth 
 — the one true God. Israel was called expressly to 
 maintain that Jehovah was such, and not idols. Here 
 was a king who had commanded them to fall down and 
 worship an image. They dare not sin; they must obey 
 God rather than man. It is nowhere said, that we 
 must ever disobey man. God must be obeyed — what- 
 ever the channel, God always. If I do a thing, ever so 
 right in itself, on the mere ground that I have a right 
 to disobey man under certain circumstances, I am doing 
 the lesser of two evils. The principle for a Christian 
 man is never to do evil at all. He may fail, as I do 
 not deny; but I do not understand a man quietly 
 settling down that he must accept any evil whatever. 
 It is a heathenish idea. An idolater that had not 
 
58 DANIEL. 
 
 revealed light of God conld know no better. Yet' you 
 will find Christian persons using the present confession 
 of the condition of the Church as an exctfse for per- 
 severing in known evil, and saying, Of two evils we 
 must choose the lesser! But I maintain that, whatever 
 the difficulty may be, there is always the path of God 
 for the godly to walk in. Why then do I find practical 
 difficulty ? Because I wish to spare myself. If I 
 compound for even a little evil, the broad way of ease 
 and honour lies open, but I sacrifice God and come 
 under the power of Satan. It was just the advice that 
 Peter gave our Lord when He spoke of being put to 
 death. "Far be it from thee — pity thyself — Lord." 
 So with the Christian. By doing a little evil, by 
 compromising the conscience, by avoiding the trial 
 that obeying God always entails, no doubt a person 
 may thus often avoid a good deal of the world's enmity, 
 and gain its praise, because he does well to himself. 
 But if the eye is single in this, God always must have 
 His rights, always be owned in the soul as having the 
 first place. If God is compromised by anything re- 
 quired of me, then I must obey God rather than man. 
 Where this is held fast, the path is perfectly plain. 
 There may be danger, possibly even death staring us in 
 the face, as it was on this occasion. The king was 
 incensed that these men should dare to say, " O 
 Nebuchadnezzar, we are not- careful to answer thee in 
 this matter." Not careful to answer him! And what 
 were they careful for? It was a question that concerned 
 God. Their care was to " render unto Cassar the things 
 that are Cfesar's, and unto God the things that are 
 God's." They were in the very spirit of that word of 
 Christ before it was given. They had walked dutifully 
 in the place the king had assigned them : there was no 
 charge against them. But now there arose a question 
 that deeply affected their faith, and they felt it. It 
 was God's glory that had been interfered with, and they 
 trusted in Him. 
 
CHAPTER III. 59 
 
 Accordingly they say, " If it be so, our God, whom 
 we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery 
 furnace." How beautiful this is! In the presence of 
 the king, who never thought of serving any but him- 
 self, and who saw none but himself to serve, they say, 
 " Our God, whom we serve." They had served the 
 king faithfully before, because they had ever served 
 God: and they must serve God still, even if it had the 
 appearance of not serving the king. But they have 
 confidence in God. " He wid deliver us out of thine 
 hand, king." This was not the mere abstract truth : 
 it was faith. " He will deliver us." But, mark some- 
 thing better still. " But if not, be it known unto thee, 
 O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship 
 the golden image which thou hast set up." Even if 
 God will not put forth His power to deliver us, we 
 serve Himself; we will not serve the gods of this world. 
 Oh! beloved reader, in what a place of dignity faith 
 in the living God puts the man who walks in it. 
 These men were at that moment the object of all 
 the attention of the Babylonish empire. What was 
 the image then? It was forgotten. Nebuchadnezzar 
 himself was powerless in presence of his captives of 
 Israel. There they were, calm and undaunted, when 
 the king himself showed his weakness. For what 
 can be more evident weakness than to yield to a 
 fury that changes the form of his visage, and that 
 litters menaces which utterly failed of their purpose ? 
 The furnace was heated seven times more than it was 
 wont to be heated. The mighty men, the king's 
 agents to cast them in, were themselves devoured 
 by the flames. 
 
 And now, when the deed is done, a new marvel 
 passes before the eyes of the king. It w^as no vision 
 now, but the manifest power of God. When the sword 
 of the king was drawn out against God, how miserably 
 futile it was! In the midst of this burning fiery fur- 
 nace was a sight which arrested him. Astonished, the 
 
60' DANIEL. 
 
 king " rose up in liis haste, and spake, and said imto 
 his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into 
 the midst of the fire ? They answered ancTsaid, unto 
 the king. True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, 
 I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, 
 and they have no hurt." What was to be said of the 
 power of Nebuchadnezzar now ? What did it avail 
 to be the mightiest monarch of the world, surrounded 
 too with all that constituted the sinews of his force 
 and the grandeur of his empire ? There were these 
 men, who had been bound and cast into the midst of 
 the burning fiery furnace, apparently the most pitiable 
 case in his realm. But now he is obliged to behold 
 their bonds burnt, and themselves only set free by 
 what he meant for their destruction. But not this 
 merely. There was another to be seen, and that other 
 he can but say is the Son of God. " Lo, I see four 
 
 men loose and the form of the fourth is like 
 
 the Son of God." 
 
 Just as God might use a Balaam or a Caiaphas 
 to speak the truth when they little thought of it 
 and had no communion with Himself in it, so, in this 
 expression of the king's, " the Son of God," there 
 seems to be amazing propriety. We cannot suppose 
 that he entered into its meaning with intelligence. 
 Still there was striking propriety in this respect. 
 There are other titles he might have used. He might 
 have said, " Son of man," or " the God of Israel," or 
 many more. But " Son of God" seems exactly suited 
 to. describe the scene: and therefore, I think, the 
 overruling power of the Spirit of God was manifest in 
 leading the king to use this expression. In the New 
 Testament, where all truth comes out with distinctness, 
 we find our Lord Himself referring to these two titles, 
 both of which occur in Daniel — Son of man and Son 
 of God. Son of man is the title of Christ in His 
 judicial glory. He is Son of man "because all judg- 
 ment is committed to Him." As Son of God He 
 
CHAPTER III. 61 
 
 gives life: He quickens in the midst of death. As 
 Son of God, He frees those that were bound: and " if 
 the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." 
 That verse seems to me a doctrinal commentary upon 
 this very scene. There was the Son, and He was 
 making the prisoners free. Man had bound them, had 
 attempted to execute his threat of vengeance against 
 any who should acknowledge the true God. These 
 three men had jeoparded everything upon the truth of 
 God Himself against all rivals and images; and God 
 had come in for them with delivering power. The 
 proud king not only owns his word changed, but asso- 
 ciates their names with the most high God, who w^as 
 not ashamed to be called their God. 
 
 The Gentile dominion is not over yet. And I be- 
 lieve that the close of it will bring in the same thing 
 with as great force as ever. The Book of the Revela- 
 tion shows us that the last great Gentile king will 
 employ all the authority of his government to enforce 
 what might be called the " religion" of that day. And 
 then God will put forth His power miraculously to 
 preserve His witnesses for their appointed work. 
 There may be some that will suffer unto death, there 
 may be differences in the ways in which God will 
 act. But the Revelation shows us that there will 
 be persons preserved in the midst of the power that 
 enforces idolatry in the last days. 
 
 When this takes place, we shall not be upon the 
 scene. Hence the mention of the Jews is emphatic at 
 the time of the last great tribulation. For while men 
 in general will be forced at the end to acknowledge the 
 true God, before that there will be a fiery persecution 
 put forth. There will be such a thing as " glorifying 
 God in the fires;" an expression decidedly used about 
 the remnant of Israel in the last days. The wonderful 
 hand of God w^ill be at work, but it will be with the 
 Jews, not with Christians. As far as we are concerned, 
 
62 DANIEL. 
 
 tribulation is our constant and proper portion in 
 the world. The New Testament shows^this from 
 beginning to end. Nothing is plainer than that the 
 Holy Ghost never acknowledges the Christian in 
 any way except as separate from the world, the 
 object of its animosity and persecution, cast out, 
 despised, unknown by the world. That is our place 
 as recognized by the word of God. It is for 
 Christians to account for the fact, that they have 
 lost it ; for clearly, what I have been describing, 
 somehow or another, does not apply at the present 
 time. Is it that the world is getting better, or that 
 they themselves have become worse ? Conscience 
 ought to answer, and God will use it, if upright, as 
 the means of bringing one back to the place that 
 ought never to have been left. All through the time 
 of the Gentile supremacy, the Christian's place is 
 obedience. For the most part what the power in- 
 sists upon is that which the Christian can render 
 with a ready mind; but when there comes a collision 
 between the world's authority and God's, we must 
 obey God rather than men, let the consequences be 
 what they may. This is the only thing that God 
 owns in His people. 
 
 The chapters that follow have each of them an 
 increasingly marked connexion with the course of the 
 Gentile empire. But this is sufficient to bring out 
 the fact, that idolatry — worldly religion — a religion 
 that is intended for every one, and bound down upon 
 all, under pain of death — is the first great feature 
 recorded of Gentile empire, and will be found, more 
 or less, to run through the whole of it. As this was 
 the first exercise of authority, so it will be at the end 
 of the age. The Book of the Revelation shows us the 
 last stage of the last Gentile empire ; and there we 
 find that what it began with, it will end with: that 
 the same compulsion used here, to make all its subjects 
 
CHAPTER III. 63 
 
 bow down and worship in a way of its own setting up, 
 will re-appear at the close. 
 
 But we find another analo.2:y. G^od at that time 
 had His witnesses. And as the Jews were the per- 
 sons that then withstood Gentile idolatry, they will 
 come again upon the stage of God's dealings, and will 
 be especially the witnesses that God will put honour 
 upon. This godly remnant of Israel is represented 
 by the disciples in the days of our Lord's earthly 
 ministry. They will be a godly seed, cleaving to Him 
 and loving His name; and this, because they will 
 have got hold, with more or less light, of the Messiah. 
 These persons will be found waiting for Jesus to come 
 and take His kingdom, after the Church, properly so 
 called, has passed out of the scene of God's dealings 
 on the earth. 
 
 Thus, then, as Gentile authority began with this 
 idolatry forced upon all, and the only witnesses for 
 God w^ere among the Jews ; so, at the close, idolatry 
 will^ re-appear, and God will have a faithful remnant 
 again among that poor people — a testimony for Him- 
 self in the midst of apostasy. 
 
 But I hope, in looking at future chapters, to enter 
 a little more into details. May we remember, that 
 what we have been now seeing is not merely for that 
 day, nor does it concern the witnesses of that time 
 only ! If God will have a faithful peoj^le among the 
 Jews then, may we who are Christians not be found 
 disobedient unto the heavenly vision! We have a 
 brighter prospect than any vvhich Daniel saw. He 
 was not privileged to see Jesus, because of the suffer- 
 ing of death, crowned with glory and honour. He 
 could testify, on the one hand, of the rejection of 
 Messiah, and, on the other, of His universal and ever- 
 lasting dominion. Between the one past and the other 
 future, we know other and higher glories in Him 
 now, and Himself, in whom these blessings are 
 treasured up. We know that He is the true God 
 
64 DANIEL. 
 
 and eternal life, and ourselves blessed with all spiritual 
 blessings in heavenly places in Him. We are called 
 out from this world to follow Him and be^he sharers 
 of His heavenly glory. It is but "a little while, and 
 He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry." 
 And if this be so, how ought we to be apart from 
 this present evil world ! How ought we to keep 
 clear of its attempt to put on the appearance of 
 reverence for the name of Jesus ! Alas I how often 
 people get perplexed, and ask. Where and what is 
 the world ? The truth is, that all this is a lament- 
 able proof that they are so mixed up with the world 
 that they do not know it. The Lord grant that we 
 may have no difficulty in knowing where the world 
 is, and where we are. The Jew was obliged to enter 
 it with the sword in his hand, executing judgment. 
 But that is not the place of the Christian. We 
 began with the sword against Christ, and Himself 
 bowing to it. We began and should go on with 
 the cross, looking for the glory of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. All our blessedness is founded on the cross, 
 and all our hopes centre in His glory, and His 
 coming again for us. 
 
 The Lord grant that we may live thus, in the in- 
 creasing knowledge of the Blessed One, with whom 
 we have to do, and to whom we belong. Whatever, 
 then, may be the danger rnd trial, we shall have the 
 Son of God with us in it. 
 
 May we know more and more what it is to walk 
 with Christ in liberty and joy ! So shall we have 
 Christ with us in every time of need. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 We have seen, after the vision of the great image, 
 that a chapter followed, presenting at first sight little 
 appearance of connexion with the prophecy, but which, 
 I trust, was shown to have a very important bearing 
 upon it. For in chap. ii. we had merely the general 
 history of the Gentile powers, not their moral qualities. 
 Empire after empire rose on, and disappeared from, the 
 scene of God's providence. But what was the cha- 
 racter of these empires, how they used the power that 
 was given into their hands by God, we saw not. These 
 historical incidents were introduced purposely between 
 the first grand outline in chap ii. and the details 
 which follow from chap. vii. to the end of the book. 
 They show the conduct of the empires while in 
 possession of supreme authority from God in the 
 world. The first picture of their moral ways was 
 given in chap. iii. : religion, such as it was, rendered 
 compulsory by the Gentile power, irrespective of the 
 claims of God and the conscience of man. 
 
 The principle of this from the first runs through 
 the times of the Gentiles. No doubt it seemed 
 necessary, in consequence of the immense extent of 
 the empire, to have some one controlling religion 
 that would bind together the various lands and subject 
 nations. What a return for the place of honour in 
 which God had put Nebuchadnezzar ! Nevertheless, 
 it only gave occasion for God to display His power, 
 even in the Jewish captives now under the control of 
 the Gentiles. In the chapter before it was plain that 
 the ivhdom of God was found among them. All the 
 lore of the Babylonish empire was completely at 
 fault. Daniel alone could explain the visions. But 
 although divine wisdom was there, power is another 
 thing, and God took advantage of the terrible punish- 
 
QQ DANIEL. 
 
 ment, as it seemed, of the three Hebrews, and showed 
 Himself most conspicuously as the Deliverer of the 
 faithful in the hour of their need. The "beginning of 
 Gentile empire is only the foreshadowing of what will 
 he the closing scene. And as there was then deliver- 
 ance hy divine power at the beginning, so there will 
 be by and by : and this specially found in connexion 
 with the faithful of Israel, the Jews. I do not mean, 
 of course, with the Jews in their present state; be- 
 cause, now, a Jew remaining such is an enemy of God. 
 But that will not always be the case. The time is 
 coming when the seed of Abraham, without ceasing 
 to be Jews, will be converted to God — will receive 
 the Messiah, according to the prophecies. I do not 
 mean the Jew will enter into the same blessed know- 
 ledge and enjoyment that we have now; but that he 
 will be among the faithful to be found in the latter 
 day, as is predicted in many prophecies. Of course, 
 a very important change is supposed, which is to take 
 place in the history of the world; or rather, God will 
 remove from the world that which is not of the vv^orld, 
 in order that He may resume His interest in what is 
 taking place upon the earth. Because, at the present 
 time, God's work is not immediately connected with 
 the movements of the world. Its stages of progress 
 and decline are not the expression of His will, 
 although He always exercises a providential control 
 over them. 
 
 But there was a time, we know, in the world's 
 history, when God took a direct, immediate interest iu 
 what was going on among men. Even their battles 
 were said to be the Lord's battles; and their defeats, 
 famines, &c., were sent as a known infliction from 
 God for some evil that He was dealing with. Now, 
 while it remains perfectly true, that there is no war or 
 sorrow of any kind that happens without God, and all 
 is decidedly under His sovereign control, it is not in the 
 way of the same direct government. So that a person 
 
CHAPTER IV. 67 
 
 cannot now say, This war is at the word of God; or, 
 This famine is a chastening for such and such an evil. 
 That wonld be indeed both ignorance and presumption. 
 No doubt there are persons quite ready enough to 
 pronounce as to these matters. Their mistake arises 
 from not appreciating the great change that has taken 
 place in God's government of the world. As long as 
 Israel was the nation in which God was displaying 
 His character for the earth, these things were found 
 directly and immediately from God. But from the 
 time God gave up His people Israel, it has been 
 merely the indirect, providential control of a general 
 kind, that God exercises over human affairs. 
 
 Another thing has come in. When the true Christ 
 was rejected by Israel, and Israel thereby lost their 
 opportunity of being restored to their place of supre- 
 macy, God, we may say, took advantage of this to 
 bring in another thing — the calling of the Church. 
 It was no longer God governing a nation like Israel 
 under His law ; nor was it simply an indirect govern- 
 ment of the Gentiles; but the revelation of Himself 
 as a Father to His children in Christ, and the Holy 
 Ghost sent down from heaven, not only to act upon 
 their hearts, but to dwell in their midst, and to baptize 
 them, Jew or Gentile, into one body, the body of 
 Christ the Head in heaven. That goes on now. And 
 therefore God has no particular relations with the 
 Jews now: He does not deal with them any more 
 than with others, save that they have a sentence of 
 judicial blindness upon them. They were blind before. 
 God did not make them to refuse Christ. He never 
 makes any person blind in that sense : only sin thus 
 blinds. But when men refuse the light of God, and 
 obstinately reject its every testimony. He may and 
 does give up sometimes to a total darkness, in the 
 sense of its being a judicial one, added to what is 
 natural to the human heart. The nation of Israel is 
 under that judicial blindness now. But while this is 
 
68 DANIEL. 
 
 the case with the great mass, it is not so with all. 
 There is always to be a remnant of Israel. They are 
 the only nation indeed of which that can be^said — the 
 only nation that God has never absolutely given up. 
 Other nations may know God visiting them for a 
 time, and visiting them remarkably in grace. Onr 
 own country God has most marvellously blessed — 
 given men His word freely, and many other privileges. 
 But while such is the case, there is no obligation on 
 God's part always to keep England in that position. 
 If the country show a deaf ear, turning away from 
 the truth, and preferring idolatry, which is not at 
 all impossible, it will certainly be given np, and will 
 fall under the delusion which God will send upon the 
 world by and by. But God bound Himself by special 
 promise to Israel, and He will never give them up 
 entirely. In Israel there will always be a holy seed 
 in the very darkest times. And this is connected 
 with a remark that I made before. While God is 
 occupied with the work of gathering out the Church, 
 there cannot he any special relation with Israel in 
 bringing them out as His people, and delivering 
 them out of their distresses, and the like. But when 
 God is pleased to remove the Church out of this 
 present scene, Israel will come forward again; and 
 it is in that day, when their hearts are touched 
 by the Spirit of God, that there will be the fulfilment 
 of a deliverance, the type of which we see in the end 
 of chap. iii. 
 
 Upon that occasion, I may just observe, the king 
 was so far moved, that he commanded, as a sort of 
 ordinance of his realm, that the God of Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abed-nego should be honoured; and 
 that any person w^Iio attempted to speak against that 
 God should be cut in pieces, and their houses made a 
 dunghill. But w^e do find this : that, whether it was 
 the special honour that he paid to Daniel, in chap, ii., 
 or the command that his subjects should honour the 
 
CHAPTER IV. 69 
 
 God of Shadrach, Mesliach, and Abed-nego, in chap. 
 lii., it had but little permanence. It was merely a 
 passing feeling, which, like the morning cloud, faded 
 away from the mind of the king. He himself records 
 in this chapter how little the ways of God had reached 
 his heart, however he might for the moment have 
 been struck with the display of His wisdom. It is 
 one thing to show honour to a prophet, and to compel 
 the subjects of his realm to honour the God who 
 delivered as none other could. But how was it with 
 Nebuchadnezzar himself ? " I, Nebuchadnezzar," he 
 says, " was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in 
 my palace." 
 
 Thus, you see, it is plain, from his own account, 
 although he gives it to show the mercy mani- 
 fested towards him, that, after all the wondrous 
 transactions of the previous chapters, Nebuchadnezzar 
 was just the same man at bottom still. There was no 
 thorough change in his soul — no such thing as his 
 heart brought to God. He was at rest in his house 
 and flourishing in his palace. As the man of the earth, 
 all that God had given into his hands only fed his 
 pride and self-complacency. In this condition God 
 sends him a fresh testimony. " I saw a dream which 
 made me afraid; and the thoughts upon my bed, and 
 the visions of my head, troubled me." Therefore he 
 makes a decree, commanding to bring in all the wise 
 men of Babylon, that they might make known the 
 interpretation of the dream. It was in vain. They 
 came, and he told the dream. But he says, *' They 
 did not make known to me the interpretation thereof. 
 But, at the last, Daniel came in before me, whose name 
 was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god," 
 &c. To him he speaks with confidence. " Belte- 
 shazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that 
 the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret 
 troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I 
 have seen, and the interpretation thereof." He may 
 
70 DANIEL. 
 
 speak to him in a heathenish style ; the wisdom of the 
 Most High God in him he may attribute to^ his own 
 gods ; but still he does acknowledge that there is some- 
 thing special and peculiar in Daniel. He also alludes 
 .to the vision in the same style. Daniel, when he hears 
 the dream, and realizes its meaning, was troubled and 
 amazed for one hour. Nor must we confine this to 
 the story of Nebuchadnezzar. Just as we saw in 
 chap. ii. that the king was said to be the head of gold, 
 so in this chapter he was the tree. But in chap. ii. it 
 was not the king personally alone, but his dynasty that 
 was represented by the head of gold. In a certain 
 sense, what was true of Nebuchadnezzar would charac- 
 terize the Gentile empire to the close. So in this 
 present scene. Daniel had the pain and horror of 
 seeing what awaited Nebuchadnezzar. And this, alas ! 
 too plainly foreboded the issue of this new system that 
 the God of heaven had set up. 
 
 But following simply the chapter before us, Daniel 
 explains the vision. " My lord," said he, " let the 
 dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpreta- 
 tion thereof to thine enemies. The tree that thou 
 sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height 
 reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all 
 
 the earth It is thou, kino;, that art grown and 
 
 become strong." Every one must be familiar with the 
 way in which both the psalms and prophets use the 
 figure of the tree to describe the position assigned by 
 God to Israel, as well as to other people. Thus, the 
 vine in Ps. Ixxx, is clearly what Israel was intended to 
 be in the purpose of God. But there w^as total failure. 
 And so we see in Jer. ii., Ezek. xv., &c., God's purpose 
 seemed to be broken. But He never gives it up. He 
 may repent of creation. But wherever there is that, 
 which is not barely the work of His hand, but the fruit 
 of the action of His heart, — and that His purpose is, — 
 God never abandons. Where He merely calls into 
 being that which did not exist before, a change may 
 
CHAPTER IV. 71 
 
 come in. But there is no change where God sets His 
 love upon a person, and gives certain suited gifts. 
 " The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." 
 (Rom. xi. 29.) This is a very important thing, as 
 connected with individual souls. Doubt the faithful- 
 ness of God in any one respect, and you weaken it as 
 to everything else. If God could call His people 
 Israel, and afterwards give them up absolutely, how 
 could I be sure that God would keep me always as His 
 child ? For if ever it was tried, it was in Israel. 
 If I believe in the faithfulness of God to myself, 
 individually, why doubt it as to Israel ? The question 
 always is. Is God faithful ? Has He departed from His 
 purpose, or withdrawn His gifts ? If not, whatever 
 appearances may say for a time, God will vindicate His 
 truth and mercy in the end. 
 
 But to return, the figure of the cedar-tree in Ezek. 
 xxxi. 3, may yet more help to illustrate what we 
 have in Daniel. " Behold the Assyrian was a cedar 
 in Lebanon, with fair branches and with a shadowing 
 shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among 
 the thick boughs." Then later on we find " the cedars 
 in the garden of God could not hide him." Those 
 were the other powers in the world. " The fir-trees 
 were not like his boughs," &c. And, further still, we 
 find that there is an allusion to Pharaoh king of Egypt 
 (ver. 18). But I will not dwell upon it further. My 
 desire has been to prove from these various passages, 
 that it is a common thing in Scripture to use the tree, 
 either as the symbol of fruit-bearing or of a place of 
 high dignity and importance. In the New Testament 
 the figure extended to that which for a season super- 
 sedes Israel. Matt. xiii. shows us that the dispensa- 
 tion of the kingdom of heaven is, in one of its phases, 
 compared to a tree sprouting up from small beginnings. 
 The Lord unfolds the history of professing Christen- 
 dom. In Matt. xii. He had given His sentence upon 
 Israel. The last state should be worse than the first. 
 
72 DANIEL. 
 
 Such will be the state of the wicked generation of Israel, 
 that put the Lord Jesus to death, before God judges it. 
 Then the Lord turns to Christendom, and shou's, first of 
 all, His own work on earth. He sows seed. In the 
 next parable an enemy appears upon the scene, intrudes 
 into the field, and sows bad seed. It is the inroad of 
 evil into the field of Christian profession. The parable 
 following discloses that what was little in its commence- 
 ment grows into a vast towering thing in the earth. 
 The little mustard-seed becomes a great tree. 
 
 Now, we may see by these passages that in every 
 case, whether it be an individual as expressive of 
 power, as Nebuchadnezzar, or a nation, which takes the 
 ascendant, or a system of religion, as in Matt, xiii., 
 the symbol of a tree points to greatness in the earth, 
 unless fruit be the object. Such is its universal 
 teaching. Of course I am speaking now not so much 
 of those trees, that were merely for bearing fruit, as of 
 such as were chosen for their size and stateliness also. 
 Earthly power is clearly meant by the tree in Daniel 
 (ver. 21). "In it was meat for all: under which the 
 beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the 
 fowls of the heaven had their habitation. It is thou, 
 king, that art grown and become strong; for thy 
 greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy 
 dominion to the end of the earth." This tree was the 
 admiration of men. There was everything that grati- 
 fied the heart: its own magnificent proportions, the 
 beauty of its boughs and leaves, the abundance and 
 sweetness of its fruits, the kindly shadow, under which 
 all these creatures, the beasts of the field and fowls 
 of heaven, found protection. All this and more was 
 found in it, and such were man's thoughts about it. 
 But what was God's estimate ? " And whereas the 
 king saw a watcher, and an holy one coming down 
 from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down and 
 destroy it." Observe, it is merely a destruction for a 
 time; there is no such thing as annihilation in any 
 
CHAPTER IV. 73 
 
 one tiling in the mind of God. " Yet leave the stump 
 of the roots thereof in the earth." There must be 
 means used of God to maintain it alive. Leave it, 
 therefore, He says, " with a band of iron and brass, 
 in the tender grass of the field ; and let it be wet with 
 the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the 
 beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him." 
 " This is the interpretation," he says, " king, and 
 this is the decree of the Most High, which is come 
 upon my lord the king." And then he gives its per- 
 sonal application to Nebuchadnezzar. In this case 
 all was perfectly simple. Nebuchadnezzar was warned 
 of what was to come upon him. He was to be driven 
 from men, and his dwelling was to be with the beasts 
 of the field. But more than that, he himself was to 
 be reduced to their condition. " They shall make thee 
 to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the 
 dew of heaven." And this for a certain defined time. 
 " And seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know 
 that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and 
 giveth it to whomsoever he will." We need not dwell 
 upon this history of Nebuchadnezzar. No simple- 
 minded believer would be disposed to raise difficulties 
 about it. Men have done so, explaining it as a mere 
 delusion in the king's mind. But these are not cjues- 
 tions that a Christian ought even to consider, except for 
 the good of another. The word affirms that king Nebu- 
 chadnezzar was, by God's power, reduced in appearance 
 to a bestial condition. If we own that God could and 
 did set aside the laws of nature, giving some to walk 
 unhurt in the fiercest of fires, and 'preserving another 
 intact in a den of lions, we must feel that it is a mere 
 question of His will and word whether Nebuchadnezzar 
 was brought into this terrible debasement ; hunted 
 about among the beasts of the field, and made to eat 
 grass like the [oxen. The man that believes the one 
 must believe the other. God's power alone could so 
 work, and God's power is the warrant for all. 
 
74 DANIEL. 
 
 But while that is plain and simple enough, we have 
 a further image of the Gentile power, its self-exalting 
 character, and the judgment of God upon it. 'T! appre- 
 hend that Nebuchadnezzar, personally, only showed 
 what would be the general tendency of the Gentiles, as 
 having power given him from God. He would admire 
 and exalt himself; turning all the greatness that God 
 had conferred upon him to his own credit. He was 
 clearly shown the judgments that would come upon 
 him ; but the warning was unheeded. Therefore, 
 " all this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At 
 the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of 
 the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, 
 Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the 
 house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and 
 for the honour of my majesty ? While the word was 
 in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, 
 saying, king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken ; 
 the kingdom is departed from thee." The sentence 
 was executed. Exactly so have the Gentile powers 
 acted with regard to God. 1 am not now speaking of 
 individuals who may arise from time to time. Godly 
 persons may have been in the position occupied even 
 by Nebuchadnezzar; but, as a general rule, his suc- 
 cessors, from that day to this — those that have had the 
 supremacy of the world, and the world's glory — have 
 used it in the main for themselves. I do not now 
 speak so as to allow a feeling of disrespect towards 
 these powers for a moment; but am only stating the 
 well-known facts of Gentile rule. They were heathen 
 for many centuries down to Christ, and after Christ ; 
 and when Christianity was accepted by Constantine, 
 and its profession was by degrees taken up by the 
 empire, no one can suppose that it was more than a 
 system of religion adopted. But this did not hinder the 
 general course of things. The only difference was : the 
 heathen profession, which was dominant before, was put 
 down, and that Christianity, which was trampled down 
 
CHAPTER IV. 75 
 
 before, was set np. Heathenism and Christianity 
 change places. Constantine may have thought it 
 right to put down the heathen and show honour to 
 the Christians ; but there was no such question as his 
 taking the Bible and inquiring, What is the will of 
 God about me ? How shall I show my obedience to 
 God ? That never has been the case, since Nebuchad- 
 nezzar's time, with any one that has swayed the world's 
 destinies. It could not be. I speak of the great 
 masters of the world, when the empire was an unbroken 
 thing. And even since that, though there may have 
 been exceptional cases of kings who have had the fear 
 of God before them, yet even then it has not been in 
 their power to change the substantial course of policy 
 in their kingdoms. Those who have attempted to do so 
 have completely failed. God's authority in the world 
 is one thing, and God's having a soul obedient to Him 
 as His servant is quite another. 
 
 This chapter shows us, then, the turning of all the 
 power, and authority, and glory that God gave men, 
 into a means of gratifying their own pride. The con- 
 sequence of this is, that all understanding of God's 
 mind would be taken from them. Nebuchadnezzar 
 had remarkable visions and revelations from God. But 
 what did they avail ? He had had this warning, the 
 most personal one of all. But what did it avail ? 
 Daniel had counselled him to break off his sins by 
 righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy 
 to the poor. He heeded it not. Twelve months 
 passed away, when, in pride of heart, he attributed all 
 the greatness and splendour, with which he was 
 surrounded, to himself and the work of his own hands. 
 That great Babylon was what he had built " for the 
 house of the kingdom, by the might of mij power, 
 and for the honour of my majesty." At once the 
 sentence takes effect upon himself; and what was then 
 literally true of him individually, was morally true of 
 the Gentile powers as a whole. The character of the 
 
76 DANIEL. 
 
 Gentiles all through would be without intelligence of 
 God and without subjection to Him. 
 
 " The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebu- 
 chadnezzar; and he was driven from men, and did eat 
 grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of 
 heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, 
 and his nails like birds' claws." In ver. 16, it had 
 been said, " Let his heart be changed from man's 
 and let a beast's heart be given unto him." All 
 thought of God was entirely lost. He had no more 
 idea about God than the beast of the field. Even a 
 natural man has a conscience in him. But Nebu- 
 chadnezzar lost all thought; he was reduced to the 
 non-intelligence of a beast. Man was formed to be the 
 being on earth that looked up to God, and stood in 
 dependence upon Him. That is his glory. A beast 
 enjoys, so to speak, what is its own sphere of enjoy- 
 ment, according to the capacity that God has conferred 
 upon it naturally, but it has no idea of the God that 
 made it and all things. Man has. That is, recogni- 
 tion of God is the great essential difference between a 
 man and a beast, if one may speak now in a sort of 
 practical way of the truth intended to be taught by 
 the history. I apprehend that we are shown by this 
 history, if we read it typically, that the Gentile 
 powers would give up the recognition of God in their 
 government. They might use his name outwardly, 
 but as for any owning of God as the source of all they 
 possessed, it would completely pass from their minds; 
 and so it has. 
 
 But there was a physical change, which was what 
 really took place in Nebuchadnezzar's case. Reduced 
 to the condition of a beast, he lost what characterizes 
 a man — all recognition of God. He had a beast's 
 heart, as it is said here. He had nothing of the 
 character and glory of a man. Man is put here below 
 as the image and glory of God. He is responsible to 
 make God known; and he can only do it because he 
 
CHAPTER IV. 77 
 
 looks np to God. There are those that have an out- 
 ward semblance of man, but " man that is in honour 
 and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." 
 This received its most remarkable confirmation in the 
 case of Nebuchadnezzar; but the same thing is true, in 
 principle, of every man that has got self and not God 
 before his eyes. That was exactly true of the Baby- 
 lonish king. He understood not. He attributed all 
 to himself and not to God; and so, by a terrible retri- 
 bution, he is reduced to the most abject state. Never 
 had a Gentile possessed such glory and majesty as 
 Nebuchadnezzar; but in a moment, all is changed. In 
 the height of his pride the sentence of God falls upon 
 him. " He was driven from men, and did eat grass as 
 oxen," &c. But all this had its limit. It was to be 
 " till seven times had passed over him." " Times " 
 may have been used rather than years, perhaps, because 
 this judgment of Nebuchadnezzar is the type of the 
 condition to which the Gentile powers are reduced 
 during the whole course of their empire. Hence a 
 symbolic term may have been chosen rather than one 
 of ordinary life. The Gentiles, spite of God's gift of 
 supreme power, would be without any adequate recog- 
 nition of Him in their government. They would use 
 their power for their own ends and interests. As to 
 really and honestly conforming themselves to the will 
 of God, when was such a thing ever heard of as the 
 great object of any nation's policy since they got their 
 power? I am not aware that it was ever even thought 
 of. So truly does this figure apply to the whole 
 course of the Gentiles. 
 
 Let us look a little at the effect on the judgment on 
 Nebuchadnezzar. The seven times passed over the 
 king. " And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven." Then was the 
 first great sign of returning intelligence. A beast 
 looks dowmvard. He never looks upward, in the 
 moral sense of the expression. Man, acting morally 
 
78 DANIEL. 
 
 as man, acknowledges in his conscience One from 
 whom he has derived all, and One whom he is bound to 
 honour and obey. Nebuchadnezzar, when th© term of 
 the judgment was passed, lifted up his eyes unto 
 heaven. He is taking the true place of a man. 
 " And mine understanding returned unto me." What 
 was the consequence ? " And I blessed the Most 
 High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for 
 ever." Mark the difference. On previous occasions, 
 he might have bowed down before the prophet, and 
 commanded sweet odours to be offered to him: he 
 might send out statutes and decrees that the God of 
 the Jews should be honoured by all his subjects. But 
 what does he now ? He drops all others for the 
 moment, and bows before God. Nebuchadnezzar is 
 not occupied with compelling other people for good or 
 ill, but himself, blessing, praising, and honouring the 
 Most High. Observe, too, the expression, " Most 
 High;" because it is used here with particular em- 
 phasis. " I blessed the Most High, and praised and 
 honoured him that liveth for ever ; whose dominion is 
 an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from 
 generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of 
 the earth are reputed as nothing : and he doeth accord- 
 ing to his will in the army of heaven, and among the 
 inhabitants of the earth : and none can stay his hand, 
 or say unto him. What doest thou ? " 
 
 When the times of the Gentiles close, the stump will 
 assert its vitality, which was left in the earth protected 
 by divine Providence, and allowed still to be a stay 
 in the midst of the anarchy that would otherwise have 
 overspread the earth. We must remember, that the 
 world's government is a signal mercy for the earth 
 compared with having no government at all. Yet, 
 while God has controlled it and kept it in His provi- 
 dence for the good of the world, there is a time 
 coming, when it will sprout up again and will be 
 found really fulfilling the object for which God has 
 
CHAPTER IV. 79 
 
 established it in the earth. And when will this be ? 
 " When thy judgments are in the earth, the in- 
 habitants of the world will learn righteousness." 
 When everything that has come from God will really 
 be accomplished according to His will — when man 
 will be blessed fully, and will no longer be as the 
 beasts that perish — when Israel will not any more be 
 found rejecting their own Messiah, nor the Gentiles 
 arrogating to themselves the power conferred on them 
 by God, in His sovereign bounty. That same day 
 will see all these glories shining out; but it can only 
 be when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, and when 
 we shall appear with Him in glory. It is reserved for 
 Him to be the head of the Gentiles as well as of the 
 Jews. All nations and tribes and tongues shall serve 
 Him. For God can only be known where Christ is 
 known — can only be seen in His goodness and glory 
 where Christ is recognized as the expression and 
 substance of it. And so it will be in that bright day. 
 The Lord Jesus Christ Himself will come and esta- 
 blish, in perfection, everything that has only crumbled 
 imder man's hand, and had, at best, only a negative 
 effect in the world, staying the evil here and there, 
 but far short of the full means of blessing that God 
 intends. When that day comes, it will be seen that 
 Gentile government, not in its present corrupt state, 
 but cleared of evil, and expanded according to the 
 thoughts of God, will flourish in the earth, and be the 
 channel of nothing but blessing. It is only sin which 
 has hindered God's mercy in it hitherto. Thus, when 
 the grand fulfilment will take place of this typical 
 history of Nebuchadnezzar — when the time of the 
 *' beast's heart " towards God, caring only for self, 
 gratifying pride and lust of power, shall have passed 
 away, God will take the reins into His own hands as 
 the Most High God, and Gentiles shall bow in praise 
 and thankful joy. 
 
 When that expression, " Most High God," first 
 
30 DANIEL. 
 
 occurs, there is a very striking scene. And in Scrip- 
 ture we must often recur to the first use, in-order to 
 get the full meaning. " Most High God " appears 
 first in the case of Melchizedec, when Abraham was 
 returning victorious from pursuing the kings who had 
 taken Lot prisoner. So it will be at the close of this 
 dispensation, when there will be not only victory over 
 all the powers that assemble against God's people, but 
 the answer to the blessed scene that followed. Mel- 
 chizedec meets Abraham, and Abraham gives him 
 tithes of all, and receives his blessing. And Melchi- 
 zedec is the type of Christ in this, that He unites 
 the kingly glory with the priestly. He was the King 
 of Salem, and His very name was king of righteous- 
 ness. Then will be the day of peace founded on 
 righteousness. But he was the priest of the Most 
 Hio-h God also. It is not the offering of sacrifice 
 or of incense that characterizes his action ; but the 
 bringing out of bread and wine for the refreshment of 
 the " conquerors. He blesses, and pronounces the 
 blessing of the Most High God, possessor of heaven 
 and earth. For in that day, there will be no longer a 
 moral chasm between heaven and earth, but comj)lete 
 union. It will be no confusion or amalgam of the two, 
 but a link of most intimate harmony; and the Lord 
 Jesus will be that uniting bond. The Head of those 
 that belong to heaven, He is also the King of kings, 
 and Lord of lords — the sovereign Disposer of all 
 earthly power. To Him all will bow, of things in 
 heaven and things in earth, and things infernal too. 
 This will be the full epoch of the restoration of 
 Gentile intelligence and blessing. 
 
 If any persons are called to honour the truth of 
 God, and to walk in the intelligence of His ways, it 
 is His own children who enjoy the consciousness of 
 their Father's love. And may we, understanding this 
 our place, be enabled to remember what will be the 
 end of all things, as far as man is concerned ! That 
 
CHAPTER V. gl 
 
 day of judgment approaches which is coming upon 
 the world, and the weight of which will fall upon the 
 Jew and Gentile, both in a state of apostasy. Still, 
 we know that it will see a remnant of both brought 
 out to shine with greater blessedness than ever— the 
 Jews exalted, the Gentiles blessed, in their true places. 
 No longer a poor, mutilated stump, but again sprout- 
 ing up into its normal strength and majesty, under 
 the dews of heaven. The Lord grant that we may 
 expect good from God, remembering that in the midst 
 of judgment there is mercy that triumphs over judg- 
 ment in every case, save in that which utterly rejects 
 Christ — which lives, refusing His mercy — which 
 dies, counting itself unworthy of everlasting life. 
 Eemember, that no soul that hears the gospel is lost 
 simply because it is evil. There is a sure remedy for 
 all we are. Men are lost because they reject and 
 despise eternal life, pardon, peace, everything-, in the 
 Son of God. ^ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Dan. v. and vi. form a part of the series of, what we 
 may call, moral chapters. They are historical, but 
 withal stamped with the character of a foreshadowing 
 of the future, receiving light from and casting liglu 
 upon the prophecies which precede and follow them. 
 Of these practical illustrations of the Gentile powers 
 we have had already two following the dream of 
 Nebuchadnezzar. We are now to enter upon the 
 first of two more, before we examine the more precise 
 communications made to the prophet himself in chap, 
 vii. Chaps, v. and vi. have this peculiarity, that they 
 bring out, not so much the general characteristics of 
 
82 DANIEL. 
 
 the Gentiles, as certain particulars to be found in 
 them at the close, the forerunners of speedy^estruc- 
 tion. In short, they typify special acts or outbreaks 
 of evil, rather than what pervaded their whole stand- 
 ing and history. Nevertheless, there is a marked 
 difference between each of these chapters, and we 
 must now proceed to look briefly at the first of them. 
 
 " Belshazzar made a great feast to a thousand of 
 his lords, and drank wine before the thousand." It 
 was a scene of gorgeous, and perhaps unwonted, 
 revelry. The sacrilegious king, " whiles 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. Then they brought the golden vessels, 
 &c. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold 
 and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and stone." 
 History may tell us that it was an annual festival, 
 w^hen a loose rein was given to licentiousness; and 
 that thus was furnished a favourable opportunity for 
 the besieger to seize an unguarded moment, and turn, 
 his vast preparations to account. Scripture shows us 
 that the king, wrapped in that false security which 
 precedes destruction, used the occasion for insulting 
 the God of Israel. Rash, blinded man ! It was the 
 eve of his ruined dynasty, and of his death. 
 
 For Belshazzar, the past was a profitless blank. 
 For him it was a lesson, unheard and unlearnt, that 
 God had in His providence made his forefather to be 
 the instrument of just but terrible judgments. The 
 city, the holy city of God, was taken, the temple 
 burnt, the vessels of the sanctuary, with people, 
 priests, king, carried into the enemy's land. It was 
 an astonishment to men everywhere when Israel thus 
 fell. The importance of the fact was entirely out of 
 proportion to the number of the nation or the extent 
 of their territory. For poor as they might be indi- 
 
CHAPTER V. 33 
 
 vidually, tlie halo encircled them of a God who had 
 brought them of yore out of Egypt, through the Bed 
 Sea — who had fed them with angels' food for many a 
 long year in the dreary desert— and who had shielded 
 them for centuries, spite of sad ingratitude, and a 
 thousand perils, in the land of Canaan. Was it not a 
 strange sight for the world, when God gave up His 
 own elect and favoured people to he swept out of 
 their land by a Chaldean king, the chief of the idolatry 
 of that day ? For Babylon was ever famous for the 
 multitude of her idols. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, in all the pride of successful 
 ambition, had not been so insensate. He had bowed 
 to the wonderful truth, that the God of heaven, who 
 had abandoned Israel for their sins, had raised himself 
 in His sovereignty to be the golden head of Gentile 
 empire. He had owned the God of Daniel to be a 
 God of gods and a Lord of kings; he had confessed 
 the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to be 
 the Most High God — a deliverer and a revealer of 
 secrets beyond all others. Nebuchadnezzar had been 
 guilty of much sin— had been proud and self-compla- 
 cent, spite of warning, and had been abased as no 
 king nor man ever was because of it; but he had 
 acknowledged throughout his wide realm his own sin, 
 
 and the mighty wonders of the King of heaven all 
 
 whose works are truth, and His ways judgment. But 
 before this bright end, even in his most reckless days, 
 (when all trembled before him, and whom he would 
 he slew, and whom he would he kept alive, and 
 whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put 
 down,) never had he proceeded to such an act of 
 contemptuous profanity as that now perpetrated by 
 his grandson. 
 
 But the sentence of instant, inevitable judgment at 
 once made itself heard. For the cup of iniquity w^as 
 full ; and long had the mouth of the Lord proclaimed 
 the punishment of Babylon's king, (Isa. xiii.; Jer. 
 
84 DANIEL. 
 
 XXV., &c.) Yet, even the stroke does not fall without 
 a solemn sign from God. "In the same hojir 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." 
 
 It was no dream of the night now; but a silent 
 monitor of awful omen in the midst of their wild 
 revelry and impious defiance of the living God. The 
 hour of the execution of wrath was now come. Bel 
 must how down, Neho stoop before an indignant but 
 most patient God. The king needed no intimation 
 from another. His conscience, corroded with de- 
 pravity, trembled before the hand which traced his 
 doom, though he knew not a word that was written. 
 Instinctively he felt that He whose hands none can 
 stay, was dealing with him. " Then the king's counte- 
 nance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so 
 that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees 
 smote one against another." Forgetful of his dignity 
 in his fright, " the king cried aloud to bring in the 
 astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers." 
 But all was vain. The highest rewards are offered; 
 but the spirit of deep sleep closed all eyes. " They 
 could not read the writing, nor make known to the 
 king the interpretation thej'eof." 
 
 In the midst of the still-increasing alarm of the 
 king and astonishment of his lords, the cjueen (doubt- 
 less the queen-mother, if we compare verses 2 and 10,) 
 comes into the banqueting-house. Her sympathies 
 were not in the feast, and she reminds the king of 
 one who was yet more outside and above it all — a 
 total stranger in person to the impious king. " There 
 is a man," &c. (Verses 11 — 14.) 
 
 This fact of Daniel's strangership to Belshazzar is 
 one that speaks volumes. Whatever the pride aud 
 audacity of the great Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel sat in 
 the gate of the king — ruler over the whole province 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the 
 wise men. His degraded and degenerate descendant 
 knew Daniel not. 
 
 This reminds me, by the way, of a well-known 
 incident in the history of King Saul, the moral force 
 of vvhich is not always seen. When troubled by an 
 evil spirit, a young son of Jesse was sought out, 
 whose music God was pleased to use as a means of 
 quieting the king's mind. "And it came to pass 
 when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that 
 David took an harp and played with his hand ; so 
 Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit 
 departed from him." (1 Sam. xvi. 23.) Not long 
 after, Saul and all Israel were in »sore dismay when 
 the giant of Gath challenged them in the valley of 
 Elah. God's providence brought there, in the humble 
 path of unwarlike duty, a youth who heard the vain- 
 glorious words of the Philistine with different ears. 
 Instead of terror, his feeling was rather amazement 
 that the uncircumcised should dare to defy the armies 
 of the living God. The victory was no sooner won, 
 than the king turns to the captain of the host with 
 this question, " Whose son is this youth? " And Abner 
 confesses his ignorance. Here was a strange case : 
 the very youth who had ministered to him in his 
 malady unknown to King Saul! The interval was 
 certainly not long; but Saul knew not David. This 
 has perplexed the critics immensely; and one of the 
 most distinguished of Hebraists has tried to make 
 out that the chapters must have been shuffled some- 
 how, and that the close of chap. xvi. should follow the 
 end of xvii. ; so as to remove the difficulty of Saul's 
 ignorance of David after he had stood in his presence, 
 won his love, and become his armour-bearer. But I 
 am convinced that all this arises from not apprehending 
 the very lesson that God teaches in the scene. The 
 truth is, that Saul might have loved David for his 
 services ; but there never was a particle of sympathy ; 
 
S6 DANIEL. 
 
 and where this is the case we readily forget. Stranger- 
 ship of heart soon ends in actual distance, w^ben the 
 service of the Lord comes in. It is the very spirit of 
 the world towards the children of God. As St. John 
 says, " Therefore the world knoweth us not, because 
 it knew him not." They may be acquainted with many 
 things about Christians, but they never know them- 
 selves. And when the Christian passes away from the 
 scene, there may be a passing reminiscence, but he is 
 an unknown man. Saul had been under the greatest 
 obligations to David. But although David had been 
 the channel of comfort to him, yet all knowledge of 
 David completely passed away with the service that he 
 had rendered. So of Daniel the queen could say, " In 
 the days of thy father, light, and understanding, and 
 wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, w^as found in 
 him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the 
 king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, 
 astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers." Yet there 
 was no thought about him now. He was comparatively 
 unknown by those at the feast. The only one who 
 thought about him was the queen, and she was only 
 there because of their trouble. 
 
 Accordingly Daniel is brought before the king, and 
 the king asks him, " Art thou that Daniel, which art 
 of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the 
 king my father brought out of Jewry ? " Then he tells 
 him his difficulty, arid speaks of the rewards he is 
 prepared to give to any who should tell the interpreta- 
 tion of the writing. Daniel answers as became the 
 occasion. " Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy 
 rewards to another ; yet I will read the writing unto 
 the king, and make known unto him the interpreta- 
 tion." But first he administers a most painful word 
 of admonition. He brings before him in a few words 
 the history of Nebuchadnezzar, and God's dealings 
 with him. He reminds him withal of his own entire 
 indifference; nay, of his reckless insults against God. 
 
CHAPTER V. 87 
 
 " And thoii his son, Belshazzar, hast not humbled 
 thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast 
 
 lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven and 
 
 the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all 
 thy ways, hast thou not glorified." He brings before 
 him what that scene was in the eye of God. For this 
 is what sin, what Satan, seeks ever to hide. Before the 
 Babylonish court, it was a magnificent feast, enhanced 
 by the memorials of the success of their arms, and the 
 supremacy of their gods. But what was their gorgeous 
 revelry in the eye of God ? What was it to Him 
 that the vessels of His service were brought up so 
 proudly to vaunt the triumph of Babylon and her 
 idols ? To one who knew Him it must have been a 
 most painful moment, however sure and speedy the 
 issue. Yet there are scenes that take place in the 
 world now that give forebodings of a character at least 
 as grave. The question is. Are we in the secret of 
 God so to read His judgment on all these things for 
 ourselves ? We may readily and without cost pro- 
 nounce, in a measure, on the presumption of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar and on the open impiety of Belshazzar ; 
 but the great moral criterion for us is this : Are we 
 discerning aright the face of the sky and of the earth 
 in this our day ? Are the lowering aspects of this 
 time lost upon us ? Are we identified simply and 
 solely with the Lord's interests at the present time ? 
 Do we understand what is going on in the world now ? 
 Do we believe what is coming upon it ? Clearly the 
 king and his court were but the instruments of Satan ; 
 and the contempt they showed for the God of heaven 
 was not the mere working of their own minds, but 
 Satan was their master. And it is a true saying that 
 ■wherever you get the will of man, you invariably find 
 the service of Satan. Alas! man knows not that the 
 enjoyment of a liberty without God is and must be to 
 do the devil's work. King Belshazzar and his lords 
 might think that it was but celebrating their victories 
 
88 DAI^IEL. 
 
 over a nation still prostrate and captive in Babylon; but 
 it was a direct, personal insult offered to the tnia God, 
 and He answers to the challenge. It was no longer a 
 controversy between Daniel and the astrologers, but 
 between Belshazzar himself and God. The command, 
 to bring the vessels of the house of the Lord, might 
 seem but a wicked drunken freak of the king's: but 
 the crisis was come, and God must strike a decisive 
 blow. Depend upon it, these tendencies of our day, 
 although not met at once by God, are not forgotten ; 
 there is a treasuring up of wrath against the day of 
 wrath. The present is not a time when God lets His 
 judgments fall. Eather is it a day when man is build- 
 ing up his sins to heaven, only so much the more 
 terribly to fall when the hand of God is stretched out 
 against him. 
 
 But there is even then a warning, solemn, immediate, 
 and before all. And observe, as to this writing seen 
 upon the wall, what was the great difficulty of it? 
 The language was Chaldean, and those who saw the 
 hand and the characters were Chaldeans. We might 
 have judged then, that the mere letters must be more 
 familiar to the Chaldeans than to Daniel. It is not 
 the way of God, when he communicates anything, to 
 put it in an obscure form. It would be a monstrous 
 theory, that God, in giving a revelation, makes it im- 
 possible to be understood by those for whom it is- 
 intended. What is it that renders all Scripture so 
 difficult? It is not its language. A striking proof of 
 it is found in this: — if any one were to ask, what 
 part of the New Testament I conceive to be the most 
 p)rofound of all, I should refer to the Epistles of St. 
 John; and yet if there be any part, more than others, 
 couched in language of the greatest simplicity, it is 
 these very Epistles. The words are not those of the 
 scribes of this world. Neither are the thoughts enig- 
 matical or full of foreign, recondite allusions. The 
 difficulty of Scripture lies herein, that it is the revela- 
 
CHAPTER V. 89 
 
 tion of Christ, for the souls that have their hearts 
 opened hy grace to receive and to value. Now John 
 was one who was admitted to this pre-eminently. Of 
 all the disciples he was the most favoured in intimacy 
 of communion with Christ. So it was, certainly, when 
 Christ was upon earth; and he is used of the Holy 
 Ghost to give us the deepest thoughts of Christ's love 
 and personal glory. The real difficulty of Scripture, 
 then, consists in its thoughts being so infinitely above 
 our natural mind. We must give up self in order to 
 understand the Bible. We must have a heart and an 
 eye for Christ, or Scripture becomes an unintelligible 
 thing for our souls ; whereas, when the eye is single, 
 the whole body is full of light. Hence you may find 
 a learned man completely at fault, though he may be a 
 Christian — stopping short at the Epistles of John and 
 the Revelation as being too deep for him to enter into; 
 while, on the other hand, you may find a simple man 
 who, if he cannot altogether understand these Scrip- 
 tures or explain every portion of them correctly, at 
 any rate he can enjoy them; they convey intelligible 
 thoughts to his soul, and comfort, and guidance, and 
 profit too. Even if it be about coming events, or 
 Babylon and the beast, he finds there great principles of 
 God that, even though they may be found in what is 
 reputed the obscurest of all the books of Scripture, 
 yet have a practical bearing to his soul. The reason is, 
 Christ is before him, and Christ is the wisdom of God 
 in every sense. It is not, of course, because he is 
 ignorant that he can understand it, but in spite of his 
 ignorance. Nor is it because a man is learned, that he 
 is capable of entering into the thoughts of God. 
 AVhether ignorant or learned, there is but one way — 
 the eye to see what concerns Christ. And where that 
 is firmly fixed before the soul, I believe that Christ 
 becomes the light of spiritual intelligence as He is the 
 light of salvation. ' It is the Spirit of God that is the 
 power of apprehending it; but Me never gives that 
 
90 DANIEL. 
 
 light except throngli Clarist. Otherwise man has an 
 object before him, that is not Christ, and therefore can- 
 not understand Scripture which reveals Christ. He is 
 endeavouring to force the Scriptures to bear upon his 
 own objects, whatever they may be, and thus Scripture 
 is perverted. That is the real key to all mistakes of 
 Scripture. Man takes his own thoughts to the Word 
 of God, and builds up a system which has no divine 
 foundation. 
 
 To return, then, to the inscription upon the wall, 
 the words were plain enough. All ought to have been 
 intelligible, and would have been, had the souls of the 
 Chaldeans been in communion with the Lord. I do 
 not mean that there was not the power* of the Spirit 
 of God needed to enable Daniel to understand it; but 
 it is an immense thing for the understanding of the 
 word, that we have communion witli the God that is 
 making known His mind to us. " Therefore," said St. 
 Paul to the elders, " I commend you to God, and to the 
 word of his grace." 
 
 Daniel was entirely outside the revellings and such 
 like. He was a stranger to those that were at home 
 there. He was called in from the light of the presence 
 of God to see this scene of impiety and darkness ; and 
 coming, therefore, fresh from the light of God, he reads 
 this writing upon the walk and all was bright as the 
 day. And nothing more solemn. " This is the inter- 
 pretation of the thing." (Yer. 25 — 28.) He at once 
 sees God in the matter. The king had insulted God in 
 what was connected with His worship. " Tekel; thou 
 art weighed in the balances, and found wanting. 
 Peres ; thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes 
 and Persians." It was not that anything appeared 
 then; nothing was seen at the time that made it 
 even probable. And I call attention to this, because it 
 is another proof, how utterly false is the maxim, that 
 we must wait till prophecy is fulfilled before we can 
 understand it. If a man is an unbeliever, to see the 
 
CHAPTER VT. 91 
 
 fulfilment of prophecy in the past, is a powerful 
 argument that nothing can surmount. But is that 
 what God wrote prophecy for ? Was it to convince 
 infidels ? No doubt God may use it for such. But 
 was that what God intended the writing upon the wall 
 for on that night? Clearly not. It was His last 
 solemn warning before the blow fell, and the interpre- 
 tation was given before the Persians broke into the city 
 — when there was not a sign of ruin, but all was gaiety 
 and mirth. " In that night was Belshazzar the king 
 of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took 
 the kingdom, being about threescore and two years 
 old." In short, Babylon was judged. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 We have now another and final type of the Gentile 
 powers brought upon the scene. But in looking at 
 types we must always bear in mind that the question 
 is not about the personal character of him that affords 
 the type. Thus, Aaron officially was a type of Christ, 
 but we are not therefore to suppose that his ways were 
 like His. In some respects he was a very guilty man. 
 It was he who made the calf of gold and who even 
 sought to deceive about it. But this does not dis- 
 qualify him from being a type of Christ. He was a 
 type of Christ in spite of all that, not in that. David 
 typified Christ, not as a priest but as a king — as a 
 suffering and rejected king first, and then as one reign- 
 ing and exalted. There are two parts in the life of 
 David. First, the time when he was anointed king 
 but when the poAver of evil was still allowed, and he 
 was hunted about and persecuted; and secondly, when 
 Saul died, he takes the throne and puts down his 
 
92 DANIEL. 
 
 enemies. In both respects, David was a type of Christ. 
 But there was manifestly also the contrast of Chi'ist in 
 the failure of King David, and the dreadful sin into 
 which he fell. 
 
 But if, on the other hand, we find a type here, as I 
 helieve there is, of an awful scene, that closes the pre- 
 sent dispensation, we are not to suppose that it cannot 
 be its type, because there were good equalities in the 
 king. King Darius, rather than Belshazzar, fore- 
 shadows the way in which man will take the place of 
 being God. It was what Darius did, or suffered to be 
 done, that sets this forth in principle. While Belshaz- 
 zar was one of the most degraded of the human race, 
 Darius was a person who, in his own character and 
 ways, had much that was exceedingly amiable, if not 
 something better. But I am not now raising a ques- 
 tion of Darius personally. We have had the type of 
 Babylon's fall, and the judgment of God that will 
 come down upon it, because of its wickedness in insult- 
 ing and profaning what belongs to the true God, and in 
 mixing up its own idols, and giving its praise and 
 worship to them, in indifference to the sorrows of God's 
 people. This will be verified a great deal more in 
 future history. There is that upon the earth which 
 takes the highest place as being the church of God. 
 There is that, which boasts of its unity, of its strength, 
 and antiquity; which boasts of its uninterrupted line- 
 age; which takes credit to itself for sanctity and the 
 blood of martyrs. But God is not indifferent to its 
 sins, which have been going on increasing and deepen- 
 ing from generation to generation; and they are only 
 awaiting the day of the Lord to come, for judgment to 
 be executed and to receive the sentence that is due to 
 them. In the Revelation there are two great objects 
 of judgments — Babylon and the beast. The one 
 represents religious corruption, and the other violence; 
 two different forms of human wickedness. In the 
 latter form of it, we see a man urged on by Satan, 
 
CHAPTER VI. 93 
 
 presuming to take the place of God upon the earth. 
 Kow this is what Darius permits to be done. He might 
 not know it himself, but there were others around him 
 that led him to the dreadful deed. 
 
 The historical circumstances that led to it were 
 these : — They wanted an occasion against Daniel, and 
 they well knew that it was impossible to find one ex- 
 cept they found it against him " concerning the law of 
 his God." So they jDut their heads together, and 
 taking advantage of the usage of the Medes and 
 Persians for the nobles to form the law and for the 
 king to establish and sign it, they devise a decree that 
 it should be lawful for none to ask a petition of any god 
 or man for thirty days save of the king. What was 
 this but for a man to take the place of God ? That no 
 prayer was to be offered to the true God, and that 
 every prayer that was offered at all was to be offered to 
 the king: if that was not giving the rights of God to 
 man, I know not what is. The king fell into the trap, 
 and signed the decree. 
 
 But now we have to mark the beautiful conduct of 
 Daniel. There is no intimation that thinsfs were a 
 secret to Daniel, On the contrary, he was perfectly 
 aware (verse 10) of what had passed into law. But, 
 on the other hand, he could not compromise his God. 
 His course, therefore, was taken. He was an old man, 
 and the faith that had burned within him from early 
 days was at least as bright as ever. So when he knew 
 that all was signed, and sealed, and settled, as far as 
 man could, and that the unchangeable law of the 
 Medes and Persians demanded that no knee of man 
 should bow down to God for thirty days, knowing it 
 all, he goes to his chamber. There is no ostentation, 
 but he does not hide it. With his windows open, as 
 usual, toward Jerusalem, he bows down before his God 
 three times a day, and prays and gives thanks as he 
 had done aforetime. He gives his enemies the occasion 
 that they sought. They at once remind the king of 
 
94 DAJTIEL, 
 
 the decree that he had made, and proceed to arraign 
 Daniel before him. " That Daniel," they say, -^ which 
 is of the captivity of Jndah, regardeth not thee, 
 king, nor the decree that thoii hast signed, but maketh 
 his petition three times a day." Then Darius, the king, 
 was sore displeased with himself, and labours in vain 
 till the going down of the sun, to deliver the one 
 whom he respected at least. Miserable though he was, 
 yet, on the appeal of the nobles to him on the ground 
 of the immutability of the laws of the Medes and 
 Persians, he sins again. He gives up the prophet to the 
 rage of his enemies, to be cast into the lions' den, with 
 the hope, which perhaps he scarcely allowed himself, 
 that his God would deliver him. And God appears 
 for His servant. God does deliver: and the dreadful 
 fate, that was intended for the prophet, fell upon those 
 who had accused him to the king. " The heathen are 
 sunk down in the pit that they .made ; in the net which 
 they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known 
 by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is 
 snared in the work of his own hands." Ps. ix. 15, 16. 
 Nothing can be plainer than the bearing of this on the 
 deliverance of the godly remnant at the close by the 
 outpouring of wrath and destruction upon the traitors 
 within and the oppressors without of the last days. 
 The end will be as here — bhe acknowledgment on the 
 part of the Gentiles, that the living God is the God of 
 delivered Israel, and that His kingdom shall not be 
 destroyed. 
 
 Here we have then, in Daniel v. and vi., the com- 
 bined types of that which will close the present 
 dispensation. For if you look later on in this book of 
 Daniel, you have a person introduced called "the king." 
 (Chap. xi. 36, &c.) You have there a direct prophecy 
 of similar deeds. " The king shall do according to his 
 own will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify him- 
 self above every god, and shall speak marvellous things 
 against the God of gods," &c. Not that Darius per- 
 
CHAPTER VI. 95 
 
 sonally did these things. I am speaking of what his 
 act or decree meant in the eye of God. The question 
 is, what God thought of the sin Darius had been drawn 
 into, and this, as a type of the future. 
 
 It is said, further, of " the king," in chapter xi., 
 
 " Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers 
 
 for he shall magnify himself above all." In the New 
 Testament we have this alluded to in more than one 
 place. A person might say to me. That is about the 
 Jews, and does not concern the present dispensation. 
 "Well, then, taking up what does refer to it, I would 
 cite in proof 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. " Let no man deceive 
 you by any means : for that day (that is, the day of the 
 Lord's judgment upon this world) shall not come 
 except there come a falling away first, (strictly, it 
 means ' the apostasy first,') and that man of sin be 
 revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and 
 exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that 
 is worshipped; so that he as God, sitteth in the temple 
 of God, showing himself that he is God." Now, 
 it is plain, that what Darius did was in effect to exalt 
 himself aboTC all that is called God or is worshipped. 
 Because, to forbid prayer to God, and to demand that 
 the prayer that was offered to God usually should be 
 offered to himself, only for a certain space of time, 
 was nothing more nor less than the type of him who 
 would take this place in a far more dreadful and gross 
 and literal way. We have clearly a New Testament 
 proof that these days spoken of iu Daniel, and typified 
 then, are yet to come; that this person, who is looked 
 forward to by prophecy, is one who is to set himself up 
 as God, not as the vicar of Christ merely, having 
 persons ready to bow before him and kiss his foot. All 
 this is wicked and superstitious ; but it is not a man 
 saying that he is God, setting himself up in the temple 
 of God, and saying, There is no prayer to be offered 
 except to myself. Whatever be the evil of Popery and 
 the presumption of the pope, there is a great deal 
 
96 DANIEL. 
 
 worse to come. And tlie solemn thing to remember is 
 this, that it will not be merely the issue of -Popery, 
 but of Popery AND Protestantism, &c., without God. 
 Not even the spread of truth will be an infallible pre- 
 servative against it. Most guilty and foolish were 
 those who once fancied, that because Israel had the ark 
 of the covenant of the Lord, they were necessarily safe 
 in the conflict with the Philistines ! The ark returned 
 in triumph, but where were they ? 
 
 Beware of the fond conceit that, because of religious 
 zeal, no harm can befall this country. Rather be sure 
 of this: the more light, the more Bibles, the more 
 preaching, the more of everything that is good there 
 is, if men are not conformed to it, and not w^alking in 
 it, the greater the danger. If they treat it as a light 
 thing, and despise it; if they have no conscience about 
 practical bowing to the light of Scripture, they are 
 most sure to fall under one delusion or another. For 
 who is to say what is not of importance in Scripture, 
 or by what means the devil gains power over the soul ? 
 Wherever the soul commits itself to a refusal to listen 
 to God, gives itself up to disobedience to God in any- 
 thing, who is to say w' here it is to end ? There is no 
 security except in the path of holy dependence upon 
 God and obedience to His word. We are not to 
 be choosing one part of Scripture above another because 
 we get more comfort from it. There is no security save 
 as we take all Scripture. It is very sweet to be 
 enjoying the presence of the Lord, but, more than that, 
 it is a fearful thing to be found in disobedience to the 
 Lord. Disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft. There 
 is nothing more terrible. To disobey God is virtually 
 to destroy His honour. It was so in Israel, and yet 
 there is much worse to come, arising out of the lax and 
 evil state of Christendom. 
 
 We have first, then, the apostasy. Christianity 
 ■will be given up, and the more light, the more 
 certainly it will come for the mass who refuse that 
 
CHAPTER VI. 97 
 
 light. There never was a time in Israel that appeared 
 so promising as the day when our Lord was upon earth, 
 never such a time of religious activity, the Scribes and 
 Pharisees compassing sea and land to make one 
 proselyte. They showed zeal, apparently, in the reading 
 of the Scriptures. They had the priests and Levites; 
 there was no idolatry, nothing gross. They were a 
 Bible-reading people, and a Sabbath-keeping people; 
 they called our Lord Himself a Sabbath-breaker, so 
 rigid did they appear outwardly to observe the day. 
 All this was going on, but what did it end in ? What 
 did they do ? They crucified the Lord of glory, and 
 they rejected the testimony and the gracious working 
 of the Holy Ghost, so that the end was that the King 
 sent forth his armies, destroyed those murderers and 
 burned up their city. Nor was it that there was no 
 conversion going on. God put forth His power and 
 they were converted by thousands. James says, 
 '' Thou seest, brother, how many thousands (rather 
 myriads) of Jews, there are, which believe." There 
 were, then, thousands and tens of thousands converted 
 after the cross of Jesus, and people might think that 
 all Israel and the world were going to be converted. 
 But what was the fact ? God was merely gathering 
 out these thousands in His grace to leave the rest to be 
 destroyed in the judgment that fell upon Jerusalem. 
 That is a little foreshadowing of the judgment which 
 is to fall upon the world by and by. And if God is 
 now putting forth His power and gathering out souls 
 everywhere from the world, it is a solemn question for 
 every one whether they are converted or not. And if 
 they are converted, it is a call to them to be walking in 
 the path of obedience, submitting in all things to the 
 word of God, and looking for Christ. The idea that 
 some have of universal conversion is a delusion. 
 Babylon or the beast: these will be the two great 
 snares of the latter day. The one will be the source of 
 corruption coupled with religion and a profaning of all 
 
 H 
 
98 DANIEL. 
 
 things holy. The other will be characterized by the 
 last degree of pride and violence. It will appe'ar that 
 Christianity has been a complete failure, and men will 
 think they have a new panacea for all the ills and 
 miseries of man better than the Gospel. And they 
 will praise up their idols of gold, and silver, and brass, 
 glorying- in the fact that Christianity, save the outward 
 form, has disappeared from the face of the earth. 
 Then will come the judgment. 
 
 Rev. xvii. shows us that as with Babylon in Daniel, 
 so it will be with the New Testament Babylon, the 
 corrupted form of religious apostasy. Man will be 
 used as the instrument of the downfall of Babylon, 
 the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and 
 with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. We have 
 men wreaking their vengeance upon her. She is no 
 longer seen riding upon the scarlet-coloured beast, but 
 trampled upon, hated, and desolate. And then what 
 do we have ? Not Christianity everywhere over- 
 spreading the world. On the contrary, the beast fills 
 the scene, and assumes the place of God. Instead of 
 merely having an intoxicating, debased Christianity, it 
 will then be man that sets himself up in proud 
 defiance of God. He takes God's place upon the 
 earth. I do not pretend to say what space of time 
 will elapse between the destruction of Babylon and 
 the fall of the beast. Rev. xvii. proves that so far 
 from the destruction of Babylon making the world to 
 be an improved scene, we have only bold evil in place 
 of hypocritical evil; and instead of religious corrup- 
 tion, you have irreligious pride and defiance of God. 
 " The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, 
 which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive 
 power as kings for one and the same time with the 
 beast. These have one mind and shall give their 
 power and strength unto the beast"-— not to God. 
 All is given to the beast for the purpose of exalting 
 man. The hour will have come for man to have 
 
CHAPTER VI. 99 
 
 tlie supreme place in the world. But, contrary to 
 the ambition of man generally, there will be the 
 giving up of their own will to the will of another 
 — the desire to have some one very high and exalted, 
 to whom all must bow. When this is achieved, 
 " These shall make war with the Lamb, and the 
 Lamb shall overcome them." That this follows the 
 destruction of Babylon is plain. For it says after- 
 wards, " The ten horns which thou sawest, and the 
 beast, (so it ought to be read,) these shall hate the 
 whore, and shall make her desolate and naked." This 
 is exactly what answers to the type of Darius. Da- 
 rius comes in and destroys Babylon and takes the 
 kingdom immediately; and the next thing is, he is 
 led on by his courtiers to take the place of God 
 Himself. He passes a law, or confirms one, that no 
 prayer shall be offered to any save to himself, for 
 thirty days. That is, he assumes, in effect, to be the 
 object of all worship; he arrogates that which is ex- 
 clusively due to the true God. 
 
 These two types are highly instructive, as closing 
 the general history of the Gentiles. They show, not 
 what had characterized them from the beginning and 
 during their progress, but the main features of evil at 
 the close. There will be destruction falling upon 
 Babylon, because of its profaneness in the religious 
 things of God; and then the height of blasphemous 
 pride to which the head of empire v/ill rise by assum- 
 ing the honour and glory due only to God Himself. 
 I was anxious to connect the two things together, 
 because we cannot otherwise get the true force of 
 them so well. 
 
 We have now concluded what I may call the first 
 volume of Daniel, because it divides exactly into two 
 portions at the close of this chapter; and that is one 
 reason why it is mentioned that Daniel prospered in 
 the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the 
 Persian. In the next chapter we shall find that we 
 
100 DANIEL. 
 
 come back to the reign of Belshazzar, when Daniel 
 is again brought before us. But this I must leave, 
 only praying that this sample of the great importance 
 of reading Scripture typically, where it is so intended 
 to be read, may stir up the children of God to see 
 that there is much more to be learnt from Scripture 
 than what appears on the surface at a first glance. 
 What God says has got a character about it that is 
 infinite. Instead of being exhausted by a draught 
 taken from it here and there, it is the well itself; 
 the constantly-flowing spring of truth. The more we 
 grow in the truth, the less we are satisfied with what 
 we have got, and the more we feel what we have yet 
 to learn. It is not to affect words of humility, but the 
 real, deep feeling of our own total insufficiency, in 
 presence of the greatness and 'goodness of our God, 
 that has taken such poor worms as we are to set us 
 in His own glory — for such indeed are the mighty 
 ways of His grace. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 TVe enter now upon the second great division of the 
 book. The Spirit of God gives us here not merely 
 the history or visions of heathen, such as Nebuchad- 
 nezzar or others, but communications from God to 
 the prophet himself. Hence what related to the Jew 
 as the object of God's special favour at that time, 
 and more particularly what was in store for them 
 in a blessed day that is coming, are the uppermost 
 thoughts in the mind of the Spirit. Daniel was the 
 fitting channel for such revelations. Accordingly, the 
 Spirit again goes over the ground of the four great 
 Gentile empires, as well as the fifth empire, the king- 
 
CHAPTER VII. 101 
 
 dom of heaven, to be introduced by the Lord Jesus. 
 But all is presented, though of course with perfect 
 consistency, from a different point of view. It is not 
 now a great image beginning with that which was 
 gorgeous, the gold and the silver, and descending, 
 with evident deterioration of splendour, to the belly 
 and thighs of brass, and the legs of iron and feet of 
 clay. Here we have ravening wild beasts. The very 
 same powers are meant, but it is another aspect of 
 them. Most fitly was the figure of the image pre- 
 sented to the eye of the great head of Gentile empire, 
 their changes and relations to each other; but it is 
 now God's view of these same powers, and their re- 
 lation to His people. 
 
 Thus we have in this simple consideration the key 
 to the different way in which these powers are depicted. 
 We shall find also in the details that wisdom which 
 v/e may always look for in what comes from the mind 
 of God. 
 
 The prophet, in the vision, sees a mass of w^aters, 
 agitated by the winds of heaven. Out of this troubled 
 sea four wild beasts emerge, successively I may add; 
 for it is very plain that, as in the empires set forth by 
 the metals, &c., in chap, ii., so in the same powers here, 
 we have to look at empires not contemporaneous, but 
 succeeding each other in rule over the world under the 
 providence of God. " The first was like a lion and had 
 eagle's wings." There, beyond question, we have the 
 empire of Babylon. Nor is it at all a novelty to find 
 the Holy Spirit applying the figure of a lion to Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, nor of an eagle either. Jeremiah has 
 already employed the same. " The lion is come up 
 from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is 
 on his way." ( Jer. iv. 7.) Ezekiel, as well as Jeremiah, 
 represented him also under the figure of an eagle. 
 Indeed, he is mentioned both as the lion and the eagle 
 in Jer. xlix. 19, 22. In the vision of Daniel the Holy 
 Ghost combines the two figures in one symbol, in order 
 
102 DANIEL. 
 
 fitly to represent what the Babylonish empire was in 
 the mind of God. " 
 
 But, besides these symbols of grandeur and rapidity 
 of conquest, we have the sign of a remarkable change 
 that was to pass over this beast, and one of which 
 there was no appearance, humanly speaking, at that 
 time. But all was open to the eye of God, whose 
 object in giving prophecy is, that His people should 
 see beforehand what He sees. God has been pleased, 
 in the perfect wisdom and goodness that belong to 
 His nature, to impart such a measure of knowledge of 
 the future as He sees to be for His own glory; and 
 an obedient child hears and keeps the words of his 
 Father. 
 
 Now He brought before the prophet the knowledge 
 that the Babylonish empire was to be humbled. It 
 was not to be absolutely destroyed as a nation, but 
 completely put down as a ruling power in the world. 
 This w^as what was signified by the wings being 
 plucked, and the animal made to stand upon the feet 
 as a man, which would of course destroy its strength. 
 For however proper such an attitude may be to a man, 
 it is plain that to a ravening beast it would be rather 
 a humiliation. In accordance too with this, " a man's 
 heart was given to it." There may be in this a sort 
 of contrast with what was actually done in the case of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, who had a beast's heart given to him. 
 The proud king was not looking up to God, which 
 clearly is the bounden duty of every soul of man. He 
 is not properly a man who does not recognize the God 
 that brought him into being, and that watches over 
 him and abounds in beneficence towards him every 
 day: the God that claims the allegiance of the con- 
 science and that alone can convert the heart. In 
 Nebuchadnezzar's case man was occupied with himself. 
 The very gift of universal dominion from God was 
 perverted by the power of Satan, so as to make self 
 and not God the object of his thoughts. In the 
 
CHAPTER VII. 103 
 
 emphatic phrase of Scripture, his was not a man's 
 heart which looks up, owning one above him, but a 
 beast's that looks down in the gratification of itself 
 and the pursuit of its own instincts. This was the 
 case with Nebuchadnezzar, and therefore a most solemn 
 and personal judgment was executed upon him. But 
 the mercy of God interposed after a certain time of 
 humiliation, and he was restored. This was a token of 
 the condition to which the Gentile powers were to be 
 brought from not recognizing the true God ; but there 
 was also the witness of their future blessing and resto- 
 ration, when they shall own the kingdom of heaven by 
 and by. In the case before us, the lion was reduced 
 from its power as a beast to a position of weakness. 
 This actually took place when Babylon lost its supre- 
 macy in the world, which seems clearly the meaning of 
 the latter part of the verse. We have first, Babylon, 
 in the fulness of its power, and then the great change 
 that occurred when it was stripped of the empire of 
 the world. 
 
 In the next verse (ver. 5) there is a description 
 given of the Persian empire, which had been repre- 
 sented in the great image as " the breast, &c. of silver." 
 " And behold another beast, a second like to a bear, 
 and it raised up itself on one side," — a remarkable 
 feature, which, at first sight, might not be obvious, 
 but which is soon explained. It was an empire not 
 so uniform as the Babylonish. It consisted of two 
 peoples joined under one head. Another remarkable 
 feature is this: it was the inferior of the two king- 
 doms that prevailed. The Persian takes the npper 
 hand of the Mede. Thus we saw in chap. v. that 
 Darius the Median took the kingdom; but Cyrus 
 soon folio vved, and from thence onward it was always 
 the Persian that governed, and not the Median. We 
 have in this circumstance a fresh instance that we do 
 not really need history for the understanding of 
 prophecy. Inattention to this plunges people into 
 
104 DANIEL. 
 
 nncertainty. We may liave recourse to historj. as a 
 sort of homage jDaid to prophecy, but the historical 
 confirmation of fulfilled prophecy is a very distinct 
 thing from its interpretation. Prophecy, like all 
 Scripture, is explained only by the Spirit of God; and 
 Se need not leave the written word for human help to 
 explain what He has inspired: only He who is the 
 author of Scripture is really capable of explaining it. 
 I ought not to have to press this, as it is a first principle 
 of truth ; but we have to insist on first principles of 
 truth quite as much now as ever. 
 
 Here then Scripture furnishes us with the evident 
 fact, that while the second empire consisted of two 
 parts, and while the Medes w^ere the elder branch of the 
 empire, yet it was Cyrus the Persian that was to be 
 most prominent. This was the side that raised itself 
 up. " It had three ribs in the mouth of it, between 
 the teeth of it," clearly, I think, the sign of the extra- 
 ordinary rapacity that would characterize the Persian 
 empire. If we were to see presented to us, in a kind 
 of panorama, different beasts, and if one of the animals 
 w^ere painted with a quantity of prey and actually 
 devouring it, at once we should have the idea of a 
 singularly voracious appetite. Such was the case with 
 the Persians, There were , frequent outbreaks which 
 they had to encounter, because of their extortion and 
 cruelty. It is true that God wrought providentially 
 through them in behalf of the Jews; but this only 
 made the contrast with their ordinary ways the more 
 striking. For while the Persians were excessively 
 hard upon others, there w^as leniency and favour 
 shown towards Israel ; but this was only the exception. 
 In general, as depicting their character, a rapacious 
 wild beast sets it forth. Hence the bear is said to 
 have three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It 
 was in the very act of showing its ravening propen- 
 sities. " And they said thus unto it, Arise, devour 
 much flesh." That was the explanation in words 
 
CHAPTER VII. 105 
 
 of the vision : it referred evidently to its predatory- 
 habits. 
 
 In the third case, we have a leopard, with some 
 notable features about it, though we are not to look 
 for the regularity of pictorial consistency. There are 
 certain truths intended by every figure ; but if men try 
 to put all the particulars into a formal harmony, they 
 will not hold together. In the present case there was 
 nothing in nature like this leopard; but God takes 
 from different things that existed in nature features 
 that were necessary to give a combined idea of this 
 new empire. Hence, while the leopard is remarkable 
 for its agility in pursuing its prey, yet, in order to 
 give something beyond nature, we hear that it had 
 " upon the back of it four wings of a fowl." If ever 
 there was a case in which impetuous courage in pur- 
 suing great designs and speed in achieving a succession 
 of conquests were united, we find it in the history of 
 Alexander the Great. The Macedonian or Grecian 
 kingdom has a character of swiftness attached to it 
 that no other empire ever had ; and hence the leopard, 
 on the one hand, and the four wings of the fowl on the 
 other. But, besides that, " The beast had also four 
 heads, and dominion was given to it." There you have 
 not so much what was found in Alexander himself, but 
 rather in his successors. The four heads refer to the 
 division of his empire into four different parts after 
 his death. It is not, therefore, merely a symbol of 
 what the Greek empire was in its first origin, but it 
 presents thus its future also. It is emphatically the 
 empire that separated into four distinct divisions. 
 Not that there were only four, because it is clear that 
 at one time there was a sort of division among his 
 generals, six of whom reigned over different parts, but 
 they gradually subsided into four. This we know 
 from the next chapter : there is no need to go to 
 history for it. All facts, all science, must confirm the 
 word of God; but the word of God does not need 
 
106 DANIEL. 
 
 them to prove that itself is divine. If it didy what 
 would become of those who understand nothing of 
 science and history ? Persons who dabble much in 
 either one or other for the purpose of confirming the 
 Scriptures, have never reaped anything but the scan- 
 tiest gleanings, as far as the scripture harvest is con- 
 cerned. It is another thing if a person feeds upon 
 the word, grows in the knowledge of the Scripture, 
 and then is called on, in the course of duty, to take 
 up what men say about it : he will find that there is 
 nothing, even down to the most recent discoveries of 
 science, that does not pay unwitting obeisance to 
 Scripture. The man that takes his stand upon Scrip- 
 ture, looking up to God, and using whatever means 
 are given through the word and Spirit of God, has the 
 real vantage ground: his confidence is in God, and 
 not in the discoveries or the thoughts of men. The 
 man that is searching here below is subject to all the 
 uncertainty and mists of this lower world. He who 
 derives his light from the word of God has a sun 
 brighter than that at noon-day ; and, therefore, just 
 as far as he is subject to it, he will not, cannot, 
 stray. And the Spirit of God is able and willing 
 to produce this subjection in us. We all do stray, 
 more or less, as a fact ; but the reason is not from any 
 defect in the word of God, or any lack of power to 
 teach on the part of the Holy Ghost. We err be- 
 cause we have not sufficiently simple faith in the 
 perfectness of Scripture, and in the blessed guidance 
 w^hich the Spirit loves to exercise in leading us into 
 all truth. 
 
 The next verse (ver. 7) is the opening of another 
 vision. For, properly speaking, from the first verse 
 down to the seventh is one section or vision, each being 
 introduced by the words, " I saw in the night-visions." 
 Daniel first beheld the four beasts in a general way ; 
 if any were particularly specified, it was the first three. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 107 
 
 But the fourtli beast was evidently that which more 
 peculiarly occupied the mind of the Holy Spirit, and 
 the prophet, therefore, gets a fresh view of it. '^ After 
 this I saw in the night-visions, and beheld a fourth 
 beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; 
 and it had great iron teeth." Here is, clearly, a pro- 
 phetic figuration of the fourth or Roman empire. I 
 will not now enter into the many proofs of it. Hardly 
 any person who reads these pages is likely to combat 
 the thought, that in the four well-known empires we 
 have the statue of chap, ii,, and the beasts of chap. vii. 
 Some have denied this, but it is such an eccentricity, 
 that one need say no more about it. 
 
 Admitting this, then, we have in the fourth beast 
 the Roman empire plainly set forth. What marks it 
 politically is all-overcoming strength. It is repre- 
 sented by a monster to which nothing in nature can be 
 found to answer. We have a fuller account of it in 
 the Revelation ; because the Roman empire, being then 
 established, and its future destiny carrying us on to the 
 end of the age, it became the exclusive object of 
 attention — the beast. Accordingly we have a descrip- 
 tion of it in chap, xiii., where we find it represented as 
 a leopard, the " feet as those of a bear, and its mouth 
 as that of a lion." And this composite creature is 
 further distinguished (ver. 1) by having seven heads 
 and ten horns, and upon its horns ten crowns. That 
 was the power under which St. John was at that very 
 time suffering in the isle of Patmos; and as greater 
 sufferings were in reserve for God's people, and blas- 
 phemy against God, we need not wonder that we have 
 a minute account of it. 
 
 Here it is seen as " a fourth beast, dreadful and 
 terrible, and strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron 
 teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped 
 the residue with the feet of it." That is, there was 
 unexampled power of conquest and aggrandizement, 
 and what it did not incorporate into its own substance, 
 
108 DANIEL. 
 
 it stamped upon and thus spoiled for others. " And it 
 was diverse from all the beasts that were before it." 
 It was an empire that maintained a strong feeling of 
 the will of man — of the people. It combined certain 
 republican elements with as iron a despotism as ever 
 ruled in this world. These two things were brought 
 into distinct, but apparently harmonious play. Besides 
 this, there is another and most distinctive mark: "it 
 had ten horns." In other empires it was not so. The 
 Greek empire gradually devolved, after its founder's 
 death, into four heads; but the peculiarity of the 
 Roman is the possession of ten horns. Yet we are 
 not to look for the actual development of history in 
 this vision. Had this been the case, it is clear that 
 the ten horns would not have been seen in the Roman 
 beast, when it first met the eyes of the prophet. 
 In fact, it was not until hundreds of years after Rome 
 had existed as an empire, that it had more than one 
 ruler. The Spirit of God clearly brings into the very 
 first view the features that would be found at the close, 
 and not at the beginning. It was strong and fierce; it 
 was one that devoured ; it stamped the residue with its 
 feet; it was diverse from all others. Rome may have 
 been all this during the time of the Cassars ; but it had 
 not then ten horns. There can be no possible j)retence 
 for such a notion until the empire was broken up ; and 
 after that, properly spe.'^king, the Roman empire 
 ceased to exist. There might be the keeping up of the 
 name and title of emperor, but it was the emptiest 
 thing possible. How, then, could this prophecy be 
 accomplished if, as long as there was an undivided 
 empire, there were no horns ; and if, on the other hand, 
 the empire, as such, expired when once broken up 
 into separate kingdoms? How are we to put these 
 two facts together ? Because it is clear from what 
 is given us here, that a beast is a totally different 
 thing from a horn. A beast represents imperial 
 unity. But in Rome, as long as the empire subsisted, 
 
CHAPTER VII. 109 
 
 there were no " ten horns;" and when the divided 
 kingdoms sprang up, there was no such thing then 
 as imperial unity. 
 
 How, then, are the two things put together in the 
 prophecy ? The Spirit of God was, I believe, looking 
 onward to the last stage of the Roman empire, when 
 both features shall re-appear, and that together. This 
 last stage ends in a divine judgment ; as it is written 
 a little after, " I beheld till the thrones were set up ; 
 (for so it ought to be, instead of "cast down;" and 
 this is not merely my opinion, but the uniform way in 
 which it is understood in the best ancient and modern 
 translations of Scripture;) " I beheld till the thrones 
 were set up, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose 
 garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head 
 like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery 
 flame, and his wheels as burning fire." There you 
 have evidently a figure of the divine glory in judg- 
 ment, not some mere providential dealing on the earth, 
 but the process of judgment that God Himself will 
 institute. " A fiery stream issued and came forth from 
 before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, 
 and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him : 
 the judgment was set, and the books were opened." 
 At whatever time this may be supposed to take place, 
 it is manifest that it is a divine judgment. " I beheld 
 then because of the voice of the great words which 
 the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, 
 and his body destroyed and given to the burning 
 flame." The horn alluded to here is the eleventh one, 
 the one that came up among the ten. And it was this 
 little horn that began with small beginnings, that, by 
 some means or another, managed to root up three of 
 the first horns, and that subsequently became the guide 
 and governor of the whole beast. " I beheld because 
 of the great words which the horn spake," not " till 
 the horn was put down," but " till the beast was 
 slain," so that it is implied that this little horn had 
 
110 DANIEL. 
 
 managed to govern the entire beast. This verse 
 shows that there was to be a divine judgment that 
 would deal with the little horn and with the beast, 
 and destroy them. Has that taken place ? Clearly 
 not. 
 
 It is plain, that whatever has fallen upon the 
 Roman empire in past times, has been the ordinary 
 course and decline of a great nation. Barbarian hordes 
 tore it up, and separate kingdoms were formed. But 
 prophecy tells us of another thing altogether. It 
 warns of a judgment that .disposes of the beast in a 
 totally different way, and in contrast with the others. 
 " I beheld till the beast was slain, and his body 
 destroyed and given to the burning flame. As con- 
 cerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion 
 taken away : yet their lives were prolonged for a 
 season and time." That is, the remains of the Chal- 
 deans, or of the races that were called so, we have still. 
 Persia abides a kingdom, and the Greeks have lately 
 become one. They exist, therefore, though not as 
 imperial powers. We have these races of men, more 
 or less, representing those powers ; smaller, it is true, 
 and no longer having dominion as empires. This is 
 the meaning of ver. 12. Their dominion was taken 
 away as rulers of the world, " but their lives were pro- 
 longed for a season and time." In this last empire, 
 when the hour of its judgment comes, the foot is far 
 otherwise. In the case of the three first beasts, they 
 lost their imperial dignity, but themselves might be said 
 to exist. But in the case of the fourth empire, the 
 hour when its dominion is destroyed is the same hour 
 in which it is itself destroyed. " The beast was slain, 
 and its body destroyed, and given to the burning 
 flame." Who can doubt that this is the same scene 
 that we have alluded to in Rev. xix., where we are 
 told, " And I saw the beast, and the kings of the 
 earth and their armies, gathered together to make 
 war against Him that sat on the horse, and against 
 
CHAPTER VII. Ill 
 
 His army ? " The prophet had come to the last beast. 
 Further back in. divine revelation we had the other 
 three beasts; they had had their day, and there only 
 remained the last. Consequently, when John says " the 
 beast," we are to understand the Roman empire. This 
 beast, then, and the kings of the earth, are warring 
 against the Lord. " And the beast was taken, and 
 with him the false prophet that had wrought miracles 
 before him, with which he deceived them that had the 
 mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his 
 image. These both (mark) were cast alive into a lake 
 of fire burning with brimstone." Now, this is very 
 remarkable; because here we have the lake of fire, 
 which answers to the judgment of the burning flame 
 ill Daniel : only it is a fuller statement. It was not a 
 mere control of circumstances, but a divine power 
 that casts straight into hell without the necessity of a 
 previous judgment. For it was perfectly plain what 
 they were about. They were found in open antag- 
 onism to the Lord of glory, and were cast into the 
 flames. Has that ever been verified in the Roman 
 empire? Clearly not. What then follows? The 
 Roman empire has passed away ; for the last thousand 
 years and more it has had no existence, except as an 
 unmeaning title, which has been the object of conten- 
 tion among ambitious men. Separate kingdoms have 
 taken the place of the undivided Roman empire. 
 
 But what have we here ? The Roman empire re- 
 appearing. And this exactly agrees with other parts 
 of the word of God. For there is a remarkable 
 expression in the Revelation, that has been alluded to 
 more than once. It is Rev. xvii. 8, &c., " The beast 
 that was, and is not, and shall be present^ I do not 
 know how persons could have used the expression, 
 " and yet is." It is not even sense, and the real thought 
 is particularly simple. No enigma is meant here. 
 The Roman empire was to have three stages. The 
 first is its original imperial form, when John suffered 
 
112 DANIEL, 
 
 under the last of the Cassars. Then next is its con- 
 dition of non-existence, from abont the fifth centnry, 
 when the Goths, and Vandals, &c., broke it up; in that 
 condition it is now. But then there is a third stage, and 
 it is in that last condition that it is to be found in open 
 opposition to God and the Lamb. This is the future 
 of the Roman empire. It is to be re-organized, it is 
 to come out again as an empire, and in this last phase 
 it will fight against God to its ruin. And mark how 
 this leaves room for the point which I wished to illus- 
 trate. We could not in the past have had ten horns as 
 well as the beast; in the future we can, and that is 
 what the scene in Rev. xvii. show's. " The ten horns 
 which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received 
 no kingdom as yet." But it is added, " They shall 
 receive power as kings one hour with the beast." So 
 that when the beast should make its re-appearance, 
 there would be this singular feature: that while there 
 would be a great head of imperial unity, it would not 
 be to the exclusion of separate kings. There would 
 still be the kings of France, Spain, &c. Let none 
 suppose that to say this is prophesying. The true way 
 to be kept out of that presumption is to study pro- 
 phecy. In the one case you are learning ^vhat God 
 says; in the other you are but giving out your owm 
 thoughts. In this passage the point is, not an empire 
 alone without the ten kings, nor the ten kings without 
 the empire, but the union of these two things. There 
 is the imperial unity, which answ^ers to the beast ; 
 at the same time there are these separate kings. It 
 is their co-existence w^hich will mark the Roman 
 empire in its last phase. To that everything is 
 tending now. 
 
 The prophet sav/ the last condition of this empire 
 with its ten horns. " I considered the horns, and, 
 behold, there came up among them another little horn, 
 before w^iom there were three of the first horns plucked 
 up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like 
 
CHAPTER VII. 113 
 
 the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." 
 (Ver. 8.) Men used to apply all this to the pope. No 
 doubt the Roman Pontiff was extremely obnoxious to 
 every one that valued the word of God. But we must 
 always take care, when we read Scripture, not to be too 
 anxious about applying the word of God to what is in 
 our way, or to what we may think extremely evil — as no 
 doubt the pope and popery are. But we must seek to 
 understand what God means by His word. Granted 
 that there is a remarkable analogy between the papacy 
 and the little horn. It may have been intended to be 
 applied by the children of God in different ages, who 
 were suffering through the papacy, for their help and 
 encouragement. The changing of times and laws, 
 (ver. 25,) as well as his great words and persecution of 
 the saints, may have been accomplished in its canons, 
 bulls, and political influence. But it remains to be 
 enquired. Is that the full meaning and the proper design 
 of the prophecy ? Take an example from Matt. xxiv. 
 There was the beginning of sorrows ; then the abomina- 
 tion of desolation set up in the holy place, and a warning 
 to flee from Jerusalem ; unexampled tribulation, &c. I 
 can understand all this having a measure of application 
 to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. But who 
 will say that this is the end of all, and that the full 
 meaning is realized there ? It is impossible that any- 
 one can think so who examines it attentively. When 
 God gives a prophecy, He very often allows that there 
 should be a sort of earnest in the accomplishment of it; 
 but we are never to take that as the full thing. The 
 Roman Empire has fallen, and, out of the fall of that 
 empire, a new and singular power, with divine claims, 
 has started up and set itself against God. But to say 
 that this is the full accomplishment of the prophecy, 
 would be as great a mistake as to suppose that God 
 never alluded to it at all. There was to be Maho- 
 medanism in the east, and the papacy in the west; 
 but still the question recurs, Is that all that the Holy 
 I 
 
114 DANIEL. 
 
 Ghost meant? I say, No; for the reason already 
 given — that if the history of the papacy be looked at, 
 the beast was gone, properly, when the pope took his 
 place. 
 
 More than that. The pope has never acquired 
 three of the ten kingdoms. He might receive Peter's 
 patrimony, but it has always been a petty power 
 politically, of no consequence as to territory. Instead 
 of acquiring three of the ten kingdoms, all its weight 
 has arisen from its spiritual delusion over the souls of 
 men. Clearly, then, a power, small in its beginnings, 
 is to rise and put down three of these greater powers, 
 acquiring all their dominion. The pope never has 
 done any such thing So that, although there has 
 been a measure of likeness, there is enough difference 
 to make their distinction quite plain. 
 
 The empire is in full force at the time that these 
 ten horns and the little horn appear. This last sub- 
 sequently aggrandizes itself, and rules the whole beast. 
 Instead of this, the pope has long lost almost the half 
 of his influence in Europe, and has been of late stripped 
 of the chief part of his dominions in Italy; and what 
 may be the end of agencies now at work no man 
 can say. 
 
 We have here a most vigorous power, that has the 
 ten horns in subjection to itself. The Eevelation tells 
 us that all the ten kings conspired to give their powder 
 and strength unto the beast. God has given all up, 
 because it is the time when there shall be strong delu- 
 sion, and men will believe a lie. I gather from that, 
 not that this has no bearing upon the papacy, but that 
 its full accomplishment is in the future. Scripture 
 is explicit that the Roman Empire, which has ceased to 
 exist, wall be re-organized, and will be the instrument, 
 under the direction of the false prophet, for carrying 
 out the last great effort of Satan against the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 In Daniel we find that this little horn overthrows 
 
CHAPTER VII. 115 
 
 three powers. Then we have its moral characteristics. 
 It has eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth 
 speaking great things. It is marked by immense 
 intelligence — not by brute force. The description of 
 it contrasts with that of the Lord, the Lamb that 
 was slain, who is characterized as having seven horns 
 and seven eyes — that is, the perfection of intelligence 
 and of power. In this case it is not so. The power 
 outwardly looks much greater. It has ten horns instead 
 of seven — a monster instead of perfection. The result 
 is a sort of grotesque exaggeration of the power 
 and wisdom of Christ that wretched man, energized 
 of Satan, will arrogate to himself. Then comes the 
 overthrow (ver. 11) because of its fearful blasphemy 
 against God. 
 
 A new vision follows (verses 13, 14,) in contrast 
 with the powers that were represented by ravening 
 beasts. The new and prominent object is ** one like 
 the Son of man." Just as in the second chapter it 
 was an insignificant stone that struck the great 
 image, and all crumbled to pieces from head to foot. 
 Here the Son of man " came with the clouds of 
 heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they 
 brought him near before him." The Ancient of days 
 represents God as such, " the high and lofty One 
 that inhabiteth eternity." 
 
 In the Revelation the two glories are both united in 
 the Person of Christ. Rev. i. shows us one like the 
 Son of man : but when we find the description of Him, 
 some of the features are exactly the same as are attri- 
 buted here to the Ancient of days, whose garment is 
 said to be as wdiite as snow, and the hair of His head 
 like the pure wool, &c. The Jewish prophet sees 
 Christ simply as man. The Christian prophet sees 
 Him as man, but as God withal. 
 
 " And there was given him dominion, and glory, and 
 a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages 
 should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting 
 
116 DANIEL. 
 
 dominion, whicli shall not pass away, and his kingdom 
 that which shall not be destroyed." There wilLJbe no 
 such thing as its being taken from him, or as another 
 power succeeding him. It will be everlasting in the 
 sense of as long as the world shall endure. But, 
 strictly, this is not an eternal scene. The Jewish 
 prophets show you the millennium; but they do not 
 unfold, as the New Testament does, that when all 
 things are subdued to God, even the Father, God shall 
 be all in all. This was reserved for another day; 
 and the Revelation follows it up in the most blessed 
 manner, in chap. xxi. 1 — 8. 
 
 Just mark, by the way, a feature of some importance. 
 The latter part of the chapter consists of explanations; 
 but we are never to suj^pose that the explanations of 
 Scripture merely refer to what has already been given. 
 This is the case in human writings, but in God's ex- 
 planations there is always further truth brought out. 
 This is of moment. Through not understanding it, the 
 kingdom of Christ has been supposed to be merely the 
 ascendancy of His saints. There will be the kingdom 
 of the Son of man and the kingdom of His people, 
 but we are assuredly not to suppose that thereby is 
 meant the reigning of the saints in a figurative way to 
 the exclusion of the Son of man. The explanation 
 brings out the saints, which the vision does not. It is 
 no less than denying the personality of the reign of 
 Christ, if you make the explanation merely tantamount 
 to the vision. But the principle is false, and so is 
 the deduction. 
 
 In ver. 17, the person to whom the prophet appeals 
 tells him, " These great beasts, which are four, are 
 four kings which shall arise out of the earth." Their 
 origin was purely earthly. There is no contradiction 
 at all between this and the fact that we are told in 
 ver. 2 that they came up from the sea. The reason 
 why they are said to rise thence is that the sea repre- 
 sents a mass of men in a state of political anarchy. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 117 
 
 It is out of this troubled state of peoples that empires 
 arise. Take the French Empire for example. A 
 revolution broke up the old system of government. 
 Then followed a state of confusion, like the sea torn 
 with the winds, and out of it all emerged an empire. 
 From such a state of things in the world the four 
 great empires arose. It was, too, very much about the 
 same time that the beginnings of the four great empires 
 were laid. There was an immense difference in the 
 degree of development in the East as compared with 
 the West. The Western powers were comparatively 
 only in the cradle; but the beginning of these various 
 powers was traceable to much the same date and the 
 same state of confusion and anarchy. That seems to 
 be what is meant by their coming up out of the sea. 
 But in ver. 17 they are said to arise out of the earth. 
 They have not a heavenly origin. The force of the sea 
 was merely to show that it is out of a previously 
 troubled state of society that they grew. Such was 
 their providential origin. But here their moral origin 
 is looked at as being purely earthly, in contrast with 
 the Son of man, who comes in the clouds of heaven. 
 
 What makes this still plainer is that in the next 
 verse (ver. 18) it is said, " But the saints of the Most 
 High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom 
 for ever." The margin says, the saints of the " high 
 ones." It is the origin of the expression in the New 
 Testament, " heavenly places." The phrase is the same 
 whether applied to our blessings, " blessed with all 
 spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," in 
 Eph. i., or to the foes in " high places," in Eph. vi. The 
 saints of the heavenly places (that is, probably, of God 
 in connexion with the heavenly places) " shall take the 
 kingdom." This gives the contrast. As for these four 
 great powers, the best that could be said of them, if 
 you look at their political origin, was that they arose 
 out of a confused and tumultuous state of things in 
 the world ; or, if at their moral origin, it was not from 
 
118 DANIEL. 
 
 heaven. If, on the other hand, you look at the saints 
 of the heavenly places, they are those destined t©^ take 
 the kingdom, which they possess for evermore. This 
 adds an important truth to the fact of the Son of 
 man's getting the kingdom. When dominion is 
 given Him, He will not take it alone. All that have 
 ever waited for this kingdom, in all ages, will come 
 alono: with Him. It will be the time when He will 
 manifest His risen ones, when Abraham, Enoch, David, 
 no matter who they may be that have known Him by 
 faith, will be there in their changed and glorified bodies, 
 and will reign along with Him. " Know ye not," the 
 Apostle says, " that we shall judge the world ? " That 
 clearly must mean in this kingdom of the Son of man. 
 Because if it were merely a question of going to 
 heaven to be with Christ, that is not judging the 
 world. So that, while it is true that we are to go up 
 to heaven, it is not all. " Know ye not that we shall 
 judge angels ? " If we have not known it, how comes 
 it to pass ? Some truth has been let slip, if we have 
 not looked for such things. And mark the practical 
 importance of it. The very fact that you do not know 
 it proves that you want something that God makes a 
 great deal of. And how does God use it in the epistle 
 to the Corinthians ? It was to reproach those saints 
 for carrying their questions before the world. Do you 
 not know, he reasons with them, that you are called 
 to this place of dignity ? It is not merely that you 
 will have it by and by; but God makes it known and 
 true to faith now. Just as the heir to the kingdom is 
 instructed and fitted for the throne that he is to occupy, 
 so God is educating His saints now to share the king- 
 dom of the world which is to belong to Christ. It is 
 a revealed truth of God that the kingdoms of the world 
 shall become that of our Lord and of His Christ; but 
 when He does reign, the saints will reign also. The 
 saints of the heavenly places — who are they ? Those 
 whose hearts are with Christ above, those who will 
 
CHAPTER VIT. 119 
 
 be converted before Christ comes, and will govern a 
 people gathered upon the earth; those who have in 
 past ages died in Christ, or who are now waiting for 
 Christ; those too who will pass through the great 
 tribulation: all these are saints of the Most High. 
 They are in contrast with others. For there will also 
 be saints when Christ comes to reign, who will be 
 blessed upon the earth. There will be a great harvest 
 there. The Lord will bring those saints into all the 
 promised blessings of His kingdom. But we are 
 chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, 
 and shall reign over the earth. That is distinguished 
 from the kingdom and dominion under the whole 
 heaven. There are certain saints that are in the 
 heavens; but there is another class spoken of that is 
 here below. The kingdom shall be given to the people 
 of the saints of the Most High. Those are some of 
 the persons that the saints will reign over. " Know 
 ye not," urges St. Paul, " that the saints shall 
 judge the world?" Accordingly, here we have "the 
 people of the saints of the Most High," as a dis- 
 tinct class. 
 
 There are many details in this chapter that I have 
 not entered into. But there is a description of the evil 
 conduct of the little horn that I must say a few 
 words upon, although a little out of order. It is said 
 (ver. 20,) that " it had eyes and a mouth that spoke 
 very great things, whose look was more stout than his 
 fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made vvar with 
 the saints, and prevailed against them ; until the 
 Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the 
 saints of the Most High ; and the time came that the 
 saints possessed the kingdom." Then, in the further 
 account, it is said, (ver. 25,) that this little horn 
 " shall speak great words against the Most High, and 
 shall wear out the saints of the Most High, (referring 
 to his persecutions,) and think to change times and 
 laws; and they shall be given into his hand, until a 
 
120 DANTEL. 
 
 time and times and the dividing of time." It is 
 necessary to understand what the little horn wijj do. 
 The meaning is, that he will destroy the Jewish 
 worship, at that time carried on upon the earth. By 
 the " times " is meant their festivals or feast-days. 
 He will interfere with these as Jeroboam did ; " and 
 they shall he given into his hand," &c. It has been 
 often supposed that " they " means the saints. But 
 this is a total mistake. It is " the times and laws " 
 that are to be given into his hand, for a certain limited 
 period of time. God will allow him to have his way. 
 He shall think to do it. And the fact that they are 
 to be given into his hands shows that he succeeds for 
 a time in carrying out his desires. But God will 
 never give His saints into the hands of His enemies, 
 even for a time ever so short. He always keeps them 
 in His own hands. Job was never more in the hands 
 of God than when Satan desired to have him that he 
 might sift him as wheat. The sheep are in the hands 
 of the Father and the Son, and none shall ever be 
 able to pluck them thence. There is no such thought 
 in the Word as God leaving or forsaking them. Here 
 it is simply the outward arrangements of worship, of 
 which the Jews will be the representatives on the 
 earth; and they will be allowed for a time to fall 
 under his power. For it is plain that at that time 
 there will be Jewish saints owning God and Jesus, 
 too, in a measure: as it is said, (Rev. xiv.,) " Here is 
 the patience of the saints: here are they that keep 
 the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." 
 These saints will be in a very peculiar position. There 
 will be a sort of combination of the law with a re- 
 cognition of Jesus to a certain extent. During this 
 state of things, they will come under the power of 
 the little horn, " for a time, times, and the dividing of 
 time " — that is, for three years and a half, closed by the 
 coming of Christ in judgment. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 There is a remarkable change wliicli takes place at 
 the point where we are now arrived, and it may 
 not be known to all readers of the book of Daniel. 
 The language in which the Spirit of Ood reveals this 
 vision, and those that follow, is a different one from 
 that in which He had conveyed the previous portions 
 of the book. From an early part of chap. ii. up to 
 the end of chap. vii. the language was that of the 
 Babylonian monarch — Chaldee : whereas from chap, 
 viii. to the close, it is Hebrew — the ordinary language 
 of the Old Testament. Now this was not without 
 purpose. And I think the clear inference that we are 
 to gather from it is this : that what particularly con- 
 cerned the Gentile monarchies was given in the 
 language of the first great Gentile Empire. They 
 were immediately concerned in it: and, in fact, as we 
 know, the first vision (of the image) was seen by the 
 Gentile king himself — Nebuchadnezzar. From that 
 to the end of chap. vii. is in his own tongue. 
 
 But now we are about to enter upon visions which 
 specially concern the Jews. Chap, viii., e.g., alludes 
 to the sanctuary, to the holy people, to the daily sacrifice, 
 and a number of other particulars, which would hardly 
 have been intelligible to a Gentile, and which had no 
 sort of interest for him. But although they may 
 even be little in our eyes now, although it may seem 
 only something of the past, concerning a people broken 
 to atoms, scattered over the face of the earth, yet, 
 nevertheless, it has a real and enduring interest in 
 the mind of the Spirit. For the Jews are not done 
 with yet. Far from it. The Jews have known, 
 throughout their whole history, the misery of attempt- 
 ing to deserve the promises that were given to the 
 fathers; and they have been allowed to work out the 
 
122 DANIEL. 
 
 terrible experiment of the folly and ruin that neces- 
 sarily follow man's attempting to earn what the^grace 
 of God alone can bestow. That has been, and is, the 
 whole secret of their past and present history. They 
 were brought out from Egypt by the power of God ; 
 but at Sinai they undertook to do all that the Lord 
 spoke unto them. They did not say one word about 
 what God had promised. The Lord alluded to it. 
 But in no way did they remind Blm that they were a 
 stiffnecked nation — a rebellious, unbelieving people. 
 And when God proposed that they should obey Him, 
 instead • of acknowledging their utter incapacity, 
 instead of throwing themselves only on His mercy, 
 their answer betrayed, on the contrary, that boldness 
 which always characterizes man in his natural state. 
 " All that the Lord hath spoken," say they, " will we 
 do, and be obedient." The result was that they did 
 nothing that the Lord had said. They were disobedi- 
 ent at every turn, and God was obliged to deal with 
 them as they deserved. No doubt there was divine 
 goodness in it all ; and every step even of their failure 
 only brought out, through' God's grace, some type or 
 shadow of the blessings that God will give them by and 
 by, when, cured by His mercy of this fatal mistake of 
 the flesh, and being disciplined in suffering and trial 
 and that fearful tribulation through which they are 
 destined yet to pass, they will then fall back upon the 
 Blessed One whom their fathers despised and crucified, 
 and will own that the mercy of God alone can give 
 them any blessing, and that it is His faithfulness which 
 will accomplish all that He had spoken to their fathers. 
 This we saw beginning to dawn in a particular way in 
 the prophecies of Daniel. For although in the previous 
 parts there had been types of it, (Daniel himself in the 
 den of lions — or as interpreter to the king — the three 
 Hebrew children who refused to worship idols,) all 
 these things foreshadowed what God will work in the 
 latter day for Israel, in a little seed that He will reserve 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 123 
 
 for Himself. But they are not types so clear, but that 
 many Christians now would think it fanciful to consider 
 them as such at all. We are now about to find what 
 none ought to gainsay for a moment. Yet there are 
 many true Christians who take these prophecies as 
 finding their only answer in what concerns the Christian 
 Church. Such suppose that the little horn of chap. vii. 
 is the papacy. And in this chapter many have been 
 disposed to find Islamism, the scourge of the eastern 
 world, as the papacy is of the west. Whatever may 
 be the analogies that would ^readily occur to any 
 thoughtful mind, and that I by no means denied as to 
 the little horn in chap, vii., I admit there are the same 
 with regard to Mahomedanism in the east. But what 
 I would desire to bring out clearly is the direct inten- 
 tion of the Spirit of God in these Scriptures. It is all 
 very well to find that there are seeds of evil germinating 
 in the world, and that the horrors of the last days have 
 their heralds — admonitory signs that arise ever and 
 anon over the surface of the world, to show us what is 
 coming. But in looking at the word of God, it is of 
 importance to be divested of any desire to find the 
 answer to prophecy in the past or present. The great 
 thing is to go to it with an unbiassed mind, desiring 
 nothing but to understand what God is teaching us. 
 Therefore, whether it be about the past or the future, 
 just as about the present, the chief rec[uisite is, that we 
 should be subject to God and to the word of His grace. 
 I desire, in this spirit, to endeavour, as far as the Lord 
 enables me, to explain the meaning of our chapter. 
 
 As in chap, vii., so here, the vision was during the 
 reign of Belshazzar; w^iereas the subsequent visions 
 were after the power of Babylon was overthrown. 
 But up to this time there was no judgment of Babylon. 
 Notwithstanding, the very place where the new vision 
 was seen prepares us for a certain change. It was in 
 the east — still farther east — at Shusan in the palace, 
 which is in the province of Elam. Elam is the Hebrew 
 
124 DANIEL. 
 
 name for Persia, or one of the names, at any rate. 
 " And I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of 
 Ulai." I only mention this to show that we have 
 certain clues as to the bearing of the prophecy that 
 follows. He lifts up his eyes and sees a ram — a well- 
 known symbol, used in Persia itself, and very familiar 
 in its monuments and public documents. " Behold 
 there stood before the river a ram which had two horns : 
 and the two horns were high ; but one was higher than 
 the other, and the higher came up last." Clearly the 
 allusion is to the coniposite character of the Persian 
 Empire. There were wo elements in that empire, as 
 distinguished from others — the Medish, which was the 
 first, and the Persian, which was the younger element 
 of the two. But the younger becomes in course of 
 time the greater. Therefore it saj^s that one horn was 
 higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 
 Although Darius the Mede takes the kingdom on the 
 fall of Babylon, yet Cyrus the Persian is the one who 
 acquires the supremacy in due time, and after that it is 
 always the Persian that is more particularly mentioned. 
 But still, earlier even in the language of the nobles to 
 Darius, we find them saying, " the law of the Medes 
 and Persians." The ram had two horns. 
 
 " I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, 
 and southward " — that is, the direction of the various 
 conquests of the Persian Empire — " so that no beasts 
 might stand before him, neither was there any that 
 could deliver out of his hand : but he did according to 
 his will and became great." We find as to this how 
 entirely all profane history is obliged to bow to the 
 word of God. But we need not go farther than Scrip- 
 ture itself. Let any one read the books of Ezra, 
 Nehemiah, &c., and he will see how wide and undisputed 
 was that dominion. Even in profane history this was 
 the term used about them — "the great king" — em- 
 phatically so about the Persian monarchy. It is 
 manifest how entirely this goes along with the pro- 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 125 
 
 phetical acconnt given of them here. " He did accord- 
 ing to his will and became great." 
 
 "And as I was considering, behold, an he-goat came 
 from the west." Now this was the first inroad that 
 the west had ever made upon the eastern world. And 
 nothing seemed more improbable, because the east was 
 the cradle of the human race. It was in the east that 
 man was put when he was first made. It was in the 
 east that he began his second history in the world — I 
 mean in the world after the flood. It was from this 
 centre that the various races of men, after the Lord 
 had confounded their language at j^abel, spread them- 
 selves all over the w^orld. It was also in the east that 
 there was any considerable development of civilization, 
 for hundreds of years before the west had emerged 
 from barbarism. Yet here we find, from this striking 
 prophetical figure, that when the Persian kingdom was 
 still without a rival, not declining, but in the very 
 plenitude of its power, there suddenly comes from 
 quite another quarter a power represented in the vision 
 as an he-goat — a western adversary. And this power 
 advances with the greatest possible swiftness ; as it is 
 said here, " he touched not the ground." No person of 
 the least openness to conviction could question for a 
 moment what is meant, even supposing he had not a 
 divine interpretation of it in the chapter. There was 
 but one ancient empire that it could be conceived to set 
 forth — the Grecian EmjDire — and the great horn in its 
 head was clearly its first chief, Alexander. "And he 
 came to the ram that had two horns which I had seen 
 standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury 
 of his power. And I saw him come close unto the 
 ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and 
 smote the ram and brake his two horns." Here we 
 have the Spirit of God giving in a few words what all 
 history confirms. A new empire should rise after the 
 fall of the Babylonian, symbolized by the ram, peculiar 
 in this that it had two difi'erent peoples which composed 
 
126 DANIEL. 
 
 its strength. This empire might go on in falness of 
 power for a certain time; but then, from another -quar- 
 ter, where there had been no kingdom of any note 
 known before, comes a power of amazing swiftness in 
 its progress, led on by a king of extraordinary courage 
 and ambition. And this personage smites the Persian 
 empire so completely that " there was no power in the 
 ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the 
 ground and stamped upon him; and there was none 
 that could deliver the ram out of his hand." " Moved 
 with choler " is said more particularly about the Greek 
 empire and Alexander. The Greeks had a ground of 
 hatred against the Persians, which was not the case 
 with the other empires. There was much of personal 
 feeling in it, and this is admirably expressed by the 
 word choler here. Why so ? We do not read of that 
 in the attacks of the Persians on the Babylonians, 
 ferocious as they might be, or in those of the Romans 
 upon the Greeks; but it was peculiarly true of this 
 Greek inroad upon the Persian empire. The Persians 
 had before invaded Greece, and thus had roused the 
 strongest feeling against themselves. This traditional 
 resentment descended from father to son, so that the 
 Greeks considered themselves the natural enemies of 
 the Persians. Such was the provocation that the 
 Persians had given to the Greeks, who were but a 
 petty nation at that time, and who had not at all sought 
 to extend their bounds beyond their own native country. 
 Now the moment was come that this blow should be 
 returned and the Persians attacked in their own land: 
 and the he-goat with this notable horn in its head 
 comes, moved with choler, and smites the ram and 
 breaks his two horns, casts him down to the ground 
 and stamps upon him. Nothing can be clearer, 
 nothing more exactly descriptive as giving an idea of 
 the relative position of these two j)owers to one 
 another. If you were to read history all your life) you 
 could not have a more vivid picture of the Persian 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 127 
 
 downfall than what the Spirit of God has furnished in 
 a few lines. 
 
 In this case it was rather less than three hundred 
 years from the time of Daniel till these great events 
 took place — a time long enough to show the wonder of 
 God's perfect wisdom and the way in which He 
 unveils the future to His people, but a comparatively 
 short space in the history of the world ; yet this is not 
 His great object. The Spirit always looks forward to 
 the close. He may introduce what is to be fulfilled in 
 a comparatively brief time, but His main attention is 
 directed to the end of this age and not to those events 
 that actually surround the parties of the world. God 
 has a people that His heart is set upon : a people, it is 
 true, who, through their own folly and want of leaning 
 upon God, have been most feeble and failing, and who 
 are, to this day, the scorn and by-word of the nations 
 according to the word of God. But whatever might he 
 the apparent might of Persia, if not of Greece, and 
 the importance of their controversies as filling up the 
 history of the world, God thinks but little of them. 
 He disposes of the records of centuries in a few words. 
 The point to which God hastens forward, might be small 
 then in the eyes of the world, but being connected with 
 the interests of His king, and His people, He goes on to 
 the great events connected with them in the last days. 
 This gives the key to the verses that follow. Their 
 importance is because of their connexion with Jewish 
 history, and because they reflect what is to take place 
 before the great day of the Lord come. 
 
 " Therefore the he-goat waxed very great ; and when 
 he vvas strong, the great horn was broken." This was 
 exactly the case with Alexander. He was cut off, 
 while quite a young man, in the midst of his victories. 
 "And for it came up four notable ones, toward the 
 four winds of heaven." There was a certain time that 
 elapsed after the death of Alexander, when his generals 
 were squabbling together and trying to set up a number 
 
128 DANIEL. 
 
 of kingdoms; but the end of all was that there were 
 four kingdoms formed out of the proper domiuTOns of 
 Greece. So that I do not question that the allusion 
 here is to the well-known division of Alexander's 
 empire, into four kingdoms, which took place about 
 three hundred years before Christ. 
 
 "And out of one of them came forth a little horn," 
 otherwise called in Scripture the King of the North. 
 Being in the north, he pushes his dominions down 
 " toward the south, and toward the east, and toward 
 the pleasant land." My reasons for so thinking, be- 
 yond that of the direction of his conquests (which 
 shows where his own power lay, and the point from 
 which he started,) will more particularly appear when 
 we come to verse 11. What we have here is the suc- 
 cession of these two empires — Persia first, and then 
 Greece. For out of one of the fragments of the 
 Grecian Empire there sprang a king that was after- 
 wards to play a most important part in connexion with 
 the land and people of the Jews. This is the great 
 point of the chapter. 
 
 Here then we find that this little horn " waxed great 
 even to the host of heaven ; and it cast down some of 
 the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped 
 upon them." Thereby is meant, I apprehend, those 
 that were in a position of honour and glory before the 
 Jewish people. Thus, stars are used, in the New 
 Testament, as the symbol of those who are set in a 
 place of authority in the Church. Just so, I conceive, 
 the " host of heaven " here alludes to persons that 
 held a place of authority in the Jewish polity. It is 
 the key-note to all this part of the prophecy. The im- 
 portance of all that affects Israel is now more and 
 more coming into view. Hence you find an expression 
 used that may seem strong — " the host of heaven." 
 But we must not be surprised at this. God takes the 
 utmost interest in His people. Bear in mind that this 
 does not imply that His people were in a good state. 
 
CHAPTER VIII, 129 
 
 On the contrary, in judging of failure, we must take into 
 consideration the position the people occupied, and for 
 which they are responsible. If you look at Christendom 
 you must remember that all who profess the name of 
 Christ, whether truly or falsely — every baptized person 
 —every person that has come under the outward re- 
 cognition of the name of Christ, is in the house of 
 God. People fancy that it is only those who are really 
 converted that have any moral obligations. This is a 
 total mistake. A new kind of responsibility, no doubt, 
 flows from the fact of conversion and the relationships 
 of grace. 
 
 But there is a responsibility that involves a vast 
 accession of guilt when men are in any place of pri- 
 vilege. This is a very solemn truth, and God attaches 
 importance to it. Look at the Second Epistle to 
 Timothy. God's house is there compared to a great 
 house among men, and in it there are vessels to dis- 
 honour as well as to honour. The former are not con- 
 verted at all ; they might be altogether bad people, but 
 still they are said to be vessels in the house of God. 
 The Church, that which bears the name of Christ 
 upon the earth, is always responsible to walk as the 
 bride of Christ. Yet you cannot allude to such a pri- 
 vilege and responsibility as that, without seeing the 
 utter ruin, and failure, and declension of what bears 
 His name. And this is the practical importance of 
 keeping in view the position which God has assigned 
 us. We never can judge how low we have got till we 
 see the place in which God first put us. Supposing I 
 have to examine my ways as a Christian, I must bear 
 in mind that a Christian is a man whose sins are 
 blotted out; that he is a member of the body of Christ, 
 and loved with the same love wherewith the Father 
 loved the Son. Some are accustomed to think that, if 
 a man is not a Jew or a Turk, or heathen, he must be 
 a Christian. But when a believer hears that a Christian 
 is one who is made a king and a priest to God-r-a purged 
 
 K 
 
130 DANIEL. 
 
 worshipper, having no more conscience of sin, he be- 
 comes anxious, and feels that he has not on&Tight 
 or full idea of his own calling and responsibility. He 
 then begins to find a different standard of judgment, 
 in Christ to measure how he ought to feel, and work, 
 and walk for God. 
 
 The same thing applies to Israel here. Those that 
 held this place of responsible authority in Israel are 
 alluded to here as the host and stars of heaven. They 
 were put in a place of authority by God. For we must 
 remember, in connexion with Israel, that they are the 
 people that, in the mind of God, have the first place 
 upon the earth. They are the head, and the Gentiles 
 the tail. This, I am aware, is a new thought to 
 persons who are wont to look at Jews with an air of 
 contemptuous pity, only judging of them by their 
 present degraded condition. But, in order to judge 
 rightly, we must look at things with God, we must 
 feel with God ; and God uses this strong language in 
 regard to persons put of old in a position of outward 
 authority among the Jews. Commentators have sup- 
 posed that, because certain were spoken of in such ex- 
 alted terms, Christians must be meant. But, as God's 
 nation, Israel held the first place in His mind in the 
 government of the world. That is their calling ; and 
 " the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." 
 God will never give up the great thought, that He 
 has called Israel into this place; and they are judged 
 according to it. This vision is while the power of 
 Babylon is not yet judged. It gives you a view of 
 what will be realized in the last days with regard to 
 Israel, before the power that began with Babylon has 
 been completely set aside. 
 
 This little horn waxed great, and cast down some 
 of the hosts and stars of heaven, and stamped upon 
 them. That is, certain Jewish rulers are overthrown 
 that were in this place of great authority; treating 
 them with the utmost cruelty, and degrading them. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 131 
 
 " Yea, lie magnified himself even to the prince of the 
 host," which, I suppose, means the Lord Himself. 
 The marginal note is right in the next clause. " From 
 him the daily sacrifice was taken away." This at once 
 makes it all plain. On the contrary, it introduces the 
 utmost confusion to take " by him" to mean the little 
 horn, and then "the place of his sanctuary" to mean 
 that of the prince of the host. The person that was 
 represented by this little horn is to magnify himself 
 even to the prince of the host. " And from him the 
 daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his 
 sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given 
 him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgres- 
 sion." And then we ffo back to the little horn asrain. 
 " And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it 
 practised and prospered." In other words, the 11th 
 verse and the first half of the 12th form a parenthesis. 
 Then in the latter part of the twelfth verse we again 
 have " 27," which designates the little horn in verse 10. 
 The "it" takes up the horn that was |to appear and 
 deal in a cruel way with the Jewish people, and with 
 their rulers, in an aggravated form. 
 
 Then we have, as the prophet says, " one saint 
 speaking, and another saint said unto that certain 
 saint which spake. How long shall be the vision con- 
 cerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of 
 desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to 
 be trodden under foot ? And he said unto me. Unto 
 two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the 
 sanctuary be cleansed." I strongly suspect that, in 
 the main, "what we have here, save the portion which is 
 marked parenthetically, has had a partial accomplish- 
 ment in the past. We shall read of a personage in 
 chap xi. where the characteristics alluded to here, as 
 marking this little horn, are still more minutely stated. 
 He is called, in profane history, Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 and was a particularly bad man. If you have read 
 the books of the Maccabees, (which, though not 
 
132 DANIEL. 
 
 Scripture, are in the main historically true, at least 
 two of them,) you will know that they describe this 
 king of Syro-Maceclonia, and show the dreadful 
 feeling he cherished against Israel. He attempted to 
 force heathen worship upon them, especially that of 
 Jupiter Olympius; and he put to death all the Jews 
 who resisted his designs, till at last, partly by the 
 Romans and partly by the force and courage of the 
 Maccabees themselves, he was repressed and defeated, 
 and the temple was once more cleansed again, and 
 the Jewish worship resumed. No doubt, this was the 
 person meant historically by the little horn. But he 
 shows the same kind of features, which will re-appear in 
 another great leader of the last days, and I think that 
 this will be made evident from the last part of this 
 chapter. For when the prophet is spoken to by the 
 angel Gabriel, he says, "Understand, O son of man: 
 for at the time of the end shall be the vision." 
 
 The statement denotes, that what he is going to 
 explain more particularly looks onward to that time. 
 But it gives me the opportunity to repeat a remark 
 which has been before made — that we are never to 
 suppose that the explanations of a vision in Scripture 
 are merely a repetition of what has j^i'cceded. They 
 allude to the past, but they add fresh features not 
 given before. This is particularly plain in the present 
 case. The past portion of the vision (that which 
 had already been seen by the prophet) has been in 
 the main accomplished ; whereas the explanatory part 
 adds fresh imformation that looks onward to the last 
 days. Nevertheless, there is an explanation in measure 
 of what has gone before. But it is observable how 
 frequently, in the explanations of the angel, the last 
 days are brought before us. 
 
 " And he said, (verse 19,) Behold I will make 
 thee know what shall be in the last end of the 
 indignation ; for at the time appointed the end shall 
 be." There can be no cjuestion, if we are at all familiar 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 133 
 
 "with the prophets, what this means. Take the first 
 of them. There I find this very expression, " the 
 indignation." In the end of Isaiah v., and then in 
 chaps. ix.,x., this word, "indignation," is repeated over 
 and over again. The prophet shows, that, in conse- 
 quence of the idolatry of Israel, and especially of their 
 kings, God's indignation was roused against His 
 people. He sends a chastening upon them. But, 
 whatever the first effects of the chastening might be, 
 the evil burst out again with fresh fury, as evil always 
 does, unless it is put away. Therefore sounds forth that 
 terrible word, '' For all this his anger is not turned 
 away ; but his hand is stretched out still." His 
 wrath burns again and again. Then, in chap. x. 25, 
 we find the Lord saying His indignation shall cease. 
 But wherein ? There is a personage brought forward 
 there, called the Assyrian ; and this scourge of Israel 
 was set forth in measure by Sennacherib, the then 
 King of Assyria. He was the first who was par- 
 ticularly mixed up with the affairs of Israel, or 
 rather of Judah. And what do we learn ? The 
 Assyrian there is to be used as the rod of God's anger; 
 but when God has performed His whole work upon 
 Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem — when He has allowed, 
 as it were, the indignation to burn out, it will cease in 
 the destruction of the Assyrian himself, because he 
 forgot that he was merely a rod in the hands of the 
 Lord. He flattered himself that it was all his own 
 w^isdom and might; but the Lord says, that He will 
 deal with the rod itself and destroy it. Accordingly, 
 that very chapter shows us the indignation of the Lord 
 ceasing in His destruction. The indignation is solely 
 connected with His people Israel. 
 
 It is evident to me, that this confirms what was 
 before said, that here we are upon Jewish ground. It 
 is not a question of what popes or Moslems may 
 do, nor about the inroads of the eastern or western 
 apostasy. It concerns Israel — the last indignation o. 
 
134 DANIEL. 
 
 God against Israel. But, it may be asked, Why is 
 not the fourth empire introduced here ? The reason 
 is this: that while the dominion of these empires is 
 taken away, upon which we have the successive rise 
 of a new empire, yet the body remains in existence. 
 Because it is out of the third empire, and not out of 
 the fourth, was to rise this power that plays so im- 
 portant a part in the last days. So that w^e must 
 remember, that the little horn of chap. viii. is an 
 entirely distinct j^ow^er from the little horn of chap. vii. 
 That of chap. vii. is the last leader of the Roman 
 Empire, wdio arises out of the fourth empire wdien it 
 is divided into ten kingdoms ; whereas this power rises 
 from the third empire, wherein there w^as a division 
 into four parts — not into ten. Nothing can be more 
 distinct. Although the chief dominion of the world has 
 passed aw^ay from the third to the fourth empire; and 
 although we have had in Sennacherib a representative 
 of the third empire, yet in the last days there will also 
 be an inheritor of the third empire, who will meddle 
 "with Israel in a particular way. As there will be a 
 grand leader in the west, so there wdll also be one in 
 the east, springing out of the Greek empire. Further, 
 we must remember, that, although being the Grecian 
 Empire, it w-as west in comparison with Babylon and 
 Palestine, it was east in comj^arison with Rome. This 
 little horn we shall see more of afterwards. 
 
 In verse 20, the ram with two horns is explained to 
 represent the kings of Media and Persia ; and, in 
 verse 21, "the rough goat is the King of Grecia; and 
 the great horn that is between his eyes is the first 
 king."' Then, in verse 22, we have the breaking up of 
 the Grecian Empire ; and, in verse 23, it is added, 
 " And in the latter time of their kingdom, wdien the 
 transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce 
 countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall 
 stand up." This, I think, does not refer to Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, but to the person whom Antiochus typified. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 135 
 
 Mark the expression again, '' In the latter time of 
 their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to 
 the full." " And his power shall be mighty, but not 
 by his own power:" a remarkable word, which is not 
 said at all about the little horn of chap vii. There, 
 I apprehend, it was by his own power. Satan might 
 give him power, too ; but in his own person he wielded 
 the force of the Roman Empire. But, in the case of 
 this ruler, though his power will be mighty, it will not 
 be by his own power. He depends upon the strength 
 given him by others. IJe will be the instrument of 
 foreign policy and power, not his own. " And he 
 shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and prac- 
 tise and destroy the mighty and the holy people." 
 That is, we find that he is principally and expressly 
 mentioned in connexion with the Jews as a people. 
 Observe here, that you have not the saints of the 
 Most High. What we find now is merely a figura- 
 tive expression of the great men of the Jewish people, 
 and this, as contrasted with Gentiles. There is no 
 allusion to their character personally; that does not 
 come into view in chapter viii. 
 
 This king shall meddle with them and destroy the 
 mighty and the holy people. " And through his policy 
 also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand ; and 
 he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace 
 shall destroy many." That is, he will take advantage 
 of their being in a state of ease and unprepared for 
 his wily encroachments. " He shall also stand up 
 against the Prince of princes ; but he shall be broken 
 without hand." He will be utterly helpless in this 
 last struggle; as in another Scripture it is said, (Dan. 
 xi. 45,) " He shall come to his end, and none shall 
 help him." 
 
 Let me point out Scriptures that will make the 
 importance of this clearer than by confining our- 
 selves to Dan. viii. Is there light from other passages 
 as to who this personage is, and what he will do? 
 
136 DANTEL. ^ 
 
 I answer, Yes. He is the same person that is spoken 
 of, in various parts of the word of God, as the " As- 
 syrian," or " king of the north." He is always described 
 as the great foe of the Jews in the last days. The 
 Jews at that time will be exposed to two evils. They 
 will have an evil within in their own land — the 
 Antichrist setting himself up as God in His temple; 
 and they will have another evil from without — the 
 Assyrian. He comes up as an enemy against them; 
 and he is one also marked by a subtle policy. It is 
 not merely by warlike power that he is distinguished. 
 He is, no doubt, of fierce countenance, but he under- 
 stands dark sentences. He will take the place of a 
 great teacher, which would naturally have much in- 
 fluence over the Jewish mind; for they have always been 
 a people given to research and intellectual speculations 
 of all kinds. Of late years, the mass of them have 
 been too much occupied with money-getting to pay 
 much attention to these things; but there have been 
 constant representatives of the intellectual class among 
 the Jewish people. And over such the influence of 
 this king will be immense, when they are re-established 
 in their own land, and are becoming important again, 
 as the objects of the dealings of God in the way of 
 judgment. For the indignation will not have ceased. 
 Thus it is that these two evils will afflict the Jews. 
 The Antichrist, or the wailful king, will take the place 
 • of the true Messiah in the land of Israel. For, it is 
 plain, that if anyone assumes to be Messiah, it must be 
 in the midst of the Jewish people, and in the land of 
 the Jews ; whereas the Assyrian is one who is opposed 
 to them as an open enemy. This I take to be the king 
 alluded to by the other prophets as the king of the 
 north. 
 
 I would now refer to a few Scripture proofs, that 
 the Assyrian and Antichrist are totally distinct and 
 opposed powers. The Assyrian will be the enemy of 
 the Antichrist: the one will be the great self-exalting 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 137 
 
 man inside, and the other the leader of the enemies 
 outside. Isaiah x. gives us the first plain intimation 
 that we have of him in the prophets. '^ Wherefore it 
 shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed 
 his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, 
 I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King 
 of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks." Many 
 persons will tell me, the Assyrians are all gone ; there 
 is no such nation existing. But, I ask, has the Lord 
 performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on 
 Jerusalem ? No ! Then the Assyrian is not all gone. 
 The Lord tells me here, that when He shall have 
 performed this whole work, He will punish the fruit of 
 the stout heart of the King of Assyria. But the 
 Jews are not in their land, and Jerusalem is still 
 trodden down of the Gsn tiles. Who knows it not ? But 
 does it prove that the Jews are not to he in their land 
 again, nor Jerusalem to be delivered from Gentile 
 JDondage ? When the power of God gathers the Jews 
 back into their own land, that same Providence will 
 bring out the representative of the Assyrian in the 
 last days. And as the Assyrian was the first great 
 enemy of Israel, so he is the chief one at the 
 last. He it is that will come up for his judgment, 
 when the Lord shall have performed His whole work 
 upon Zion and Jerusalem. God has not performed the 
 whole. He has performed a part of it, but His 
 indignation still continues against Israel. This is the 
 reason why they are not in their land. Even when 
 they do get back, the indignation will still break out. 
 There will be a return of the Jews in unbelief; and 
 then will come this great crisis; and God will gather 
 the scattered ones that remain, and set them in their 
 own land; and the Assyrian will be judged. There is 
 a certain great personage, typified by the Assyrian in 
 the past, that will re-appear in the last days. He is 
 spoken of as this redoubtable king. He will govern 
 in the very quarter where this Httle horn had its 
 
138 DANIEL. -^ 
 
 power — Turkey in Asia. Whether the Sultan "will be 
 the then possessor of these dominions, I do not pretend 
 to say; but, whoever he may be, he is the person 
 referred to by our prophet (chap, xi.) as the king of the 
 north. He will come down towards the pleasant 
 land and will attack the Jews ; but will afterwards 
 be broken to pieces. " He shall come to his end, and 
 none shall help him." 
 
 Look again at Isaiah xiv. And what makes it 
 remarkable is this: that, in the beginning of that 
 chapter, you have the King of Babylon spoken of. 
 (Yer. 4.) " Take up this proverb against the King of 
 Babylon, and say, Hoav hath the oppressor ceased ! the 
 golden city ceased! " The King of Babylon does not 
 represent the Assyrian. Babylon and Assyria were 
 two distinct powers. Babylon was only a little pro- 
 vince when Assyria was a great empire. And when 
 the Assyrian was in ruins, Babylon rose to an 
 altogether new rank, as an imperial power. 
 
 Isaiah xiv. opens by showing, that " the Lord will 
 have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and 
 set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be 
 joined to it and them, and they shall cleave to the 
 house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, 
 and bring them to their place," &c. It proves the 
 intense interest that God will give the people of the 
 world in seeing them back in their place. " And 
 the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of 
 the Lord for servants and handmaids." The Gentiles, 
 instead of being masters, will be glad to be servants 
 in those days. " And they shall take them captives, 
 whose captives they were : and they shall rule over 
 tlieir oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the 
 day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy 
 
 sorrow that thou shalt take up this proverb 
 
 against the King of Babylon, and say, How hath the 
 oppressor ceased ! the golden city ceased ! The Lord 
 hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 139 
 
 of the rulers." There evidently yon have what has 
 never yet been accomplished. No person with know- 
 ledge of Scripture can suppose that ever, from the 
 time of Babylon's supremacy, Israel had been in a 
 position to take up such a proverb as that. The 
 " times of the Gentiles " began with the Chaldean 
 power being established over the Jews. And Jeru- 
 salem is, to this day, trodden down by the Gentiles. 
 One power after another has taken possession of the 
 city. Now, in these last days spoken of here, we 
 have the Jews putting these Gentiles under them — 
 making them their servants. And when that time 
 comes, and not till then, they will take up this pro- 
 verb, " How hath the oppressor ceased ! " &c. And 
 this prophetic strain looks at the King of Babylon, of 
 whom Nebuchadnezzar was the type — the last holder 
 of that same power that came in with Babylon. Who 
 is this ? The beast — the last inheritor of the power 
 that commenced with the King of Babylon, whose 
 strange destruction calls forth the joy and triumph 
 of Israel. When the King of Babylon got this 
 power, where was the Assyrian ? Gone — broken. The 
 empire of Babylon, that had been a little power, 
 rose upon the ruins of the Assyrian. But mark, in 
 this chapter, ver. 24, " The Lord of hosts hath sworn, 
 saying. Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to 
 pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that 
 I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my 
 mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke 
 depart from off them, and his burden depart from off 
 their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed 
 upon the whole earth." There, evidently, we have 
 the fact, that when the day of Israel's restoration 
 comes, not only will they triumph in the fate of the 
 King of Babylon, but the Lord will put down the 
 Assyrian. How can this refer to the mere historical 
 Assyrian of the past? He was already gone when 
 Babylon came into power: so that he can only have 
 
140 DANIEL. 
 
 been a type of a power yet to come. This shows that 
 there will be two great powers in the latter day — the 
 beast, represented by the King of Babylon, who at that 
 time will be the enemy of the true-hearted Jews, though 
 he purports to be the friend of the nation, that is, of the 
 ungodly mass; as the Assyrian, on the contrary, will 
 be the leader of the openly adverse coalition of the 
 Gentiles against Israel. 
 
 Other Scriptures prove the same thing. Thus in 
 Isaiah xxx. you will find the same two powers 
 coming into view again. In verse 27, it is said, 
 " Behold the name of the Lord cometh from far, 
 
 burning with his anger And the Lord shall 
 
 cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show 
 
 the lighting; down of his arm For through the 
 
 voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down 
 which smote with a rod" — (evidently alluding to his 
 being the instrument of the Lord's chastening His 
 people, as in Isa. x. 5 ;) " And in every place where 
 the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall 
 lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and 
 in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For 
 Tophet is ordained of old;" yea, for the king it is 
 prepared : he hath made it deep and large : the pile 
 thereof is fire and much wood ; the breath of the 
 Lord, like a stream of brimstone shall kindle it." 
 This shows that it is not merely a judgment of 
 the earth, but a deeper thing. Tophet, or the pit, is 
 ordained of old. " For the king also " is the true 
 meaning of the next clause. Tophet is not merely 
 for " the Assyrian," but also for " the king." There 
 are two distinct personages referred to, as we saw 
 also in chap. xiv. " The king " will be in the land 
 of Israel, and will reign there, under the auspices of 
 the inheritor of the power of Babylon in that day. 
 He will there assume to be the true Messiah. Tophet 
 is prepared for him — but also for the Assyrian. They 
 will be both consigned to divine judgment. I need not 
 
CHAPTER VITI. 141 
 
 refer to all the passages that refer to them ; but ycu 
 will find a great deal that is deeply interesting in Isaiah 
 and other prophets as to " the king." 
 
 But so far is it from being true, that Antichrist, or 
 " the king," most occupies the mind of God, that, on 
 the contrary, the prophets speak far more of the As- 
 syrian. Christians are not generally aware of the large 
 extent of prophecy. One of the most important powers 
 in it is hardly thought of by them. If you look at the 
 minor prophets — for instance, Micah v. — you will find 
 an allusion to the same ruler, -which is very plain. 
 The chapter opens with a call. " Now gather thyself 
 in troops, daughter of troops : he hath laid siege 
 against us; they shall smite the judge of Israel with 
 a rod upon the cheek." There is the rejection of the 
 Messiah. Then the second verse is a parentheses, which 
 shows us who the Judge of Israel is. " But thou 
 Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the 
 thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come 
 forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel." They 
 may smite Him upon the cheek; but, after all, not only 
 is He to be the Ruler, but He is the everlasting God, 
 *' whose goings forth have been from of old, from ever- 
 lasting.'' Then he resumes, in connexion with verse 1, 
 " Therefore will he give them up, until the time that 
 she which travaileth hath brought forth :" that is, till 
 the great purpose of God come to pass about His 
 people. " Then the remnant of his brethren shall return 
 unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and 
 
 feed in the strength of the Lord And this man 
 
 shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into 
 our land." Mark that — "when the Assyrian shall 
 come," and "when he shall tread in our palaces:" a 
 thing that never has been accomplished yet. When the 
 Assyrian came of old into the land of old, it is clear 
 there was no such fact as this Judge of Israel there, 
 nor had Israel been given up at that time; but the 
 Assyrian of that day was only the type of the great 
 
142 DANIEL. "^ 
 
 heir of the same name and power of the last days. 
 And then will the Judge of Israel go forth on behalf of 
 His people. The Judge, that was once smitten upon the 
 cheek, will be received by His people, Avhen God's great 
 purposes are accomplished. " This man shall be the 
 peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land." 
 Then we find, (verse 6,) " Thus shall he deliver us from 
 the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when 
 he treadeth within our borders. And the remnant of 
 Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew 
 
 from the Lord and the remnant of Jacob shall 
 
 be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as 
 a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion 
 among the flocks of sheep, who if he go through, both 
 treadeth down and teareth to pieces, and none can 
 deliver." So that it is- very plain, that we have the 
 encroachment of the Assyrian and his final overthrow 
 in connexion with the final deliverance of Israel. 
 
 I have endeavoured to show, that while Antiochus 
 Epiphanes was the type of this Assyrian, yet that 
 after all it was only in a very small part indeed that 
 he meets the requirements of the prophecy; which, 
 while it makes use of him, as a type, looks onward to 
 the latter times of the indignation of God against 
 Israel, when their foe comes up to receive his judgment 
 from God. You will see how important it is to keep 
 clearly in mind, that God has these great purposes 
 about Israel, and that what man makes so much of — 
 the episode of Popery now or of Mahomedanism — is 
 passed over very slightly indeed. I acknowledge, that 
 we find a certain measure of accomplishment in both, 
 but the Church is never allowed by God to be an 
 earthly people. When the Jews again come into view, 
 then we have the importance of what touches them, 
 and the Assyrian will come down from without, at the 
 same time that there will be " the king" within: and 
 both will fall under the unsparing judgment of God 
 who will put down all enemies. And His people, purged 
 
CHAPTER IX. 143 
 
 by their trials, and looking to Jehovah- Jesus, will be 
 thus made meet for the purposes of God in mercy, and 
 goodness, and glory, throughout the world to come. 
 
 The Lord grant that we may know His purposes 
 about us. We have nothing to do with this world, 
 being strangers in it. We are entitled to read all 
 these visions in the light of heaven. It is not said 
 that Daniel did not understand them: the others did 
 not. But, whatever may have been the case then, 
 we, by the Holy Ghost, are entitled to understand 
 these things now. And the Lord grant, that our minds 
 may be heedful of what He puts before us as to our 
 own path. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The fall of Babylon was connected, in the prophecies 
 of Isaiah, as well as Jeremiah, with brighter hopes for 
 the Jew. The partial restoration, that took place in 
 consequence, furnishes the type of the final ingather- 
 infj of Israel. This accounts for the notion, which 
 has prevailed among some Christians, that what hap- 
 pened then is all that we are to look for in behalf of 
 Israel as such, and that their subsequent sin in rejecting 
 their Messiah, and the mercy of the gospel to the 
 Gentiles, has involved them in irreparable national 
 ruin. 
 
 Although there are true elements in such thoughts, 
 they are very far indeed from being the whole truth, 
 God does not abandon the people that He called. 
 Never does He give a gift of grace and then withdraw 
 it utterly. For the same grace which promised deals 
 with the person and heart of the believer, and works 
 till it is brought home morally by the power of the 
 Holy Ghost. Thus, along with the mercy, whether 
 
144 DANIEL. 
 
 to an individnal or to a people that He calls, there is 
 also the longsufferiiig faithfulness and power, which in 
 the end always triumph. 
 
 The history of the past, no douht, has been a total 
 failure. The reason of this was because Israel chose 
 to stand upon their own strength with God, and not 
 upon the goodness of God towards them. This is 
 always and necessarily fatal for a time. " This gene- 
 ration shall not pass away till all these things be 
 fulfilled." That is, all that w^as threatened and pre- 
 dicted must yet befall the generation of Israel, which 
 presumed upon its own righteousness, and which 
 finally showed its real character by rejecting Christ 
 and the gospel. A real sense of moral ruin (that is, 
 repentance towards God) ever accompanies real, living 
 faith. Israel have gone through this phase of self- 
 confidence, or are still going through it. " This 
 generation" has not yet passed away: all things are 
 not fulfilled. They have not yet suffered the full 
 results of their own folly and hatred of God's Son. 
 They have yet to suffer the severest chastening for it: 
 for, although the past has been bitter enough, there 
 are still more terrible things in the future. But when 
 all has taken place, they will begin a new scene, 
 when it will be, not the Christ-rejecting generation 
 going on, but what Scripture speaks of as " the gene- 
 ration to come : " a new stock of the same Israel, who 
 will be children of Abraham by faith in Christ Jesus 
 — children, not in word only, but in spirit. Then 
 will follow the history, not of man's failure, but of 
 a people whom the Lord blesses in His grace; when 
 they will joyfully own that same Saviour, whcm their 
 fathers with wicked hands crucified and slew. 
 
 This chapter is especially occupied with Jerusalem 
 and the Jews. It is a sort of episode in the general 
 history of Daniel, but by no means an unconnected one. 
 For we shall find, that the closing history of Israel 
 
CHAPTER IX. 145 
 
 peculiarly connects tliem with these personages that 
 are yet to figure against God and His people, as we 
 have read in previous chapters. It must be evident 
 to any person who reads the chapter intelligently, 
 that its main object is the destiny of Jerusalem and 
 the future place of God's people. Now Daniel was 
 exceedingly interested in this. He was one that loved 
 them, not merely because they were his people, but 
 because they were God's people. He resembles Moses 
 in this — that even when the moral condition of the 
 people hindered God from being able to speak of them 
 as Ris people (He might care for them secretly, but 
 I speak now of God's publicly owning them), Daniel 
 still continues to plead that they were His people. 
 He never gives up the truth, that Jerusalem was God's 
 city, and Israel His people. The angel might say, 
 Daniel's people and city — that was all quite true; but 
 Daniel still holds to the precious truth, which faith 
 ought never to give up — Let the people be what they 
 may, they are God's people. For that very reason 
 they might be chastened more and more sorely. In 
 truth, nothing brings more chastening upon a soul who 
 belongs to God, and who has fallen into sin, than that 
 he does belong to God. It is not merely a question of 
 what is good for the child. God acts for Himself and 
 from Himself; and this is the very hinge and pivot 
 of all our blessing. What would it be to us if it 
 were merely true that God was working for our 
 glory ? We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
 We shall have something far better, because it will 
 be God blessing us according to what is worthy of 
 Himself. 
 
 Now Daniel was one that emphatically entered into 
 this thought. It is the prominent feature of faith. 
 For faith never views a thing barely in connexion 
 with oneself, but with God. It is always thus. If 
 it is a question of peace, is it merely that / want 
 peace ? No doubt I do want it, as a poor sinner that 
 
 L 
 
146 DANIEL. 
 
 has been at war with God all my life. But how -infi- 
 nitely more blessed when we come to find that it is 
 " peace with God:" not merely a peace with one's own 
 heart and conscience, but with God! He gives a peace 
 that stands in His sight. All His own character 
 comes out in giving it to me, and in putting it upon 
 such a basis that Satan shall never be able to touch. 
 It is to deliver me, to break the very neck of sin; and 
 nothing does it so completely as this — that God met 
 me when I deserved nothing but death and eternal 
 judgment, and spent His beloved Son in giving me a 
 peace worthy of Himself. And He has done it; He 
 has given it; and all christian practice flows from the 
 assurance, that I have found this blessing in Christ. 
 
 Here, then, we have Daniel deeply interested in 
 Israel, because they were God's people. He conse- 
 quently seeks in God's word what He has revealed 
 about His people. This took place " in the first year 
 of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the 
 Medes." It was not some new communication. " In 
 the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by 
 books the number of the years, whereof the word 
 of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he 
 would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of 
 Jerusalem." 
 
 Beside being a prophet, Daniel understood that 
 Israel were to be restored to their land, before the 
 event took place. He did not wait to see it accom- 
 plished, and then merely say. The prophecy is fulfilled. 
 But he understood " by books," not by circumstances. 
 No doubt there were the circumstances in the fall of 
 Babylon ; but he understood by what God had said, 
 and not merely by what man had done. This is the 
 true way of understanding prophecy. So that it is 
 remarkable that when we are about to enter upon a 
 very distinct prophecy, occupied almost exclusively 
 with the narrow sphere of Israel, God shows us the 
 true key to the understanding of prophecy. Daniel 
 
CHAPTER IX. 147 
 
 read the propTiecy of Jeremiah; and he saw from it 
 clearly, that, Babylon once overthrown, Israel would be 
 allowed to return. And what is the effect of this on 
 his soul ? He draws near to God. He does not go to 
 the people whom the prophecy so intimately concerned, 
 telling them the good news, but he draws near to God. 
 This is another feature of faith. It always tends to 
 draw into the presence of God him who thereby 
 understands the 'mind of God in anything. He has 
 communion with God about that which he receives 
 from God, before even he makes it known to those 
 who are the objects of the blessing. We have seen 
 the same thing in Daniel before, in chap. ii. Now, we 
 may observe, it is not with thanksgiving, but with 
 confession. We could understand readily, that if the 
 people of Israel were just going into captivity, he must 
 feel it as a deep chastening, and would be before 
 God to acknowledge the sin and bow under His rod. 
 But now God had judged the oppressor of Israel, and 
 was about to deliver the people. Nevertheless, Daniel 
 draws near, and what does he say ? When he does 
 speak to God, it is not merely about their deliverance. 
 It is a prayer, full of confession to God. 
 
 As to this, I would make another remark of a 
 general kind. If the study of prophecy does not tend 
 to give us a deeper sense of the failure of God's people 
 upon the earth, I am persuaded we lose one of its 
 most important practical uses. It is because of the 
 absence of this feeling that prophetic research is gene- 
 rally so unprofitable. It is made more a question of 
 dates and countries, of popes and kings ; whereas 
 God did not give it to exercise people's wits, but to 
 be the expression of His own mind touching their 
 moral condition: so that whatever trials and judgments 
 are portrayed there, they should be taken up by the 
 heart, and felt to be the hand of God upon His people, 
 because of their sins. This was the effect on Daniel. 
 He was one of the most esteemed prophets — as the 
 
148 DANIEL. 
 
 Lord Jesus Himself said, " Daniel tlie prophet." 
 And the effect upon him was, that he never lost the 
 moral design in the hare circumstances of the pro- 
 phecy. He saw the great aim of God. He heard His 
 voice speaking to the heart of His people in all tliese 
 communications. And here he spreads all before 
 God. For having read of the deliverance of Israel, 
 that was coming on the occasion of the downfall 
 of Bahylon, he sets his face unto the Lord God, " to 
 seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and 
 sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord 
 my God, and made my confession, and said, Lord, 
 the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and 
 mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep 
 his commandments, we have sinned, and have com- 
 mitted iniquity, and have done wickedly," &c. 
 
 Another thing observe here. If there was one man 
 in Babylon who, from his own conduct and state of 
 soul, might be supposed to have been outside the need 
 of confession of sin^ it was Daniel. He was a holy 
 and a devoted man. More than that, he was carried 
 away at so tender an age from Jerusalem, that, it 
 is clear, it was not because of anything he had 
 taken part in, that the blow had fallen. But not the 
 less he says, " Pf'"e have sinned, and have committed 
 iniquity." Nay, I am even bold to say, that the more 
 separate you are from evil, the more you feel it : just 
 as a person emerging into light feels so much the 
 more the darkness that he has left. So Daniel, being 
 one whose soul was with God, and who entered into 
 His thoughts about His people — knowing the great 
 love of God, and seeing what He had done for Israel, 
 (for he does not keep this back in his prayer,) he 
 does not merely notice the great things that God had 
 done for Israel, but also the judgments that He had 
 inflicted upon them. Did he, therefore, think that 
 God did not love Israel? On the contrary, no man 
 had a deeper sense of the tie of affection that existed 
 
CHAPTER IX. 149 
 
 between God and His people; and for that reason it 
 was, he estimated so deeply the ruin in which the 
 j)eople of God were. He measured their sin by the 
 depth of divine love, and the fearful degradation that 
 had passed upon them. It was all from God. He 
 did not impute the judgments, which had fallen npon 
 them, to the wickedness of the Babylonians, or the 
 martial skill of Nebuchadnezzar. It was God he sees 
 in it all. He acknowledges that it was their sin — 
 their extreme iniquity; and he includes all in this. 
 It was not merely the small people imputing their 
 sorrows to the great, nor the great to the small, as is 
 so often the case among men. He does not dwell 
 upon the ignorance and badness of a few; but he 
 takes in the whole — rulers, priests, people. There was 
 not one that was not guilty. " We have sinned, and 
 have committed iniquity." And this is another effect 
 wherever prophecy is studied with God. It always 
 brings in the hope of God's standing np in behalf of 
 His people — a hope of the bright and blessed day 
 when evil shall disappear, and good shall be established 
 by divine power. Daniel does not leave this out. 
 We find it put as a kind of frontispiece to this chapter. 
 The details of the seventy weeks show you the con- 
 tinued sin and suffering of the people of God. But, 
 before this, the end, the blessing is brought before the 
 soul. How good this is of God ! He takes occa- 
 sion to give me, first of all, the certainty of final 
 blessing, and then He shows me the painful pathway 
 that leads to it. • 
 
 I need not enter now upon the thoughts suggested 
 by this beautiful prayer of Daniel, save one thing of 
 practical importance. It is this — that the prophecy 
 came from God as the answer to the state of soul which 
 was found in Daniel. He took the place of humble 
 confession before God, became the expression of the 
 people, the representative of the people, in spreading 
 out their sins before God. Perhaps there was not 
 
150 DANIEL. 
 
 another soul that did so, certainly there were not 
 many. It is rare, indeed, to find many souls taking 
 the place of real confession before God. How few nq\y 
 have an adequate sense of the ruin of the Church of 
 God ! How few feel the dishonour done even by the 
 faithful to the Lord! In Babylon, those who were the 
 most guilty felt it the least; whilst the man, who was 
 the most free from guilt, was he who spread it out the 
 most honestly before God. 
 
 In answer to his genuine and deep feeling of Israel's 
 state, God sends the prophecy. The soul that refuses 
 to examine such words of God as these, knows not 
 the loss it thus sustains. And wherever the child of 
 God is kept from what God communicates as to the 
 future, (I speak not now of mere speculations, which 
 are worthless, but of the grand moral lessons contained 
 in prophecy,) there is always feebleness and want of 
 ability to judge of the present. 
 
 But there is another thing to notice, before passing 
 to the seventy weeks. Although Daniel spreads out 
 before God their great failure, and falls back upon His 
 great mercies, yet he never pleads the promises that 
 were given to Abraham. He does not go beyond what 
 was said to Moses. This is of interest and import- 
 ance. It is the true answer to any who suppose that 
 the restoration of Israel, which took place at that 
 time, was the fulfilment of the Abrahamic promises. 
 Daniel did not take this ground. There was no such 
 thing then as the presence of Christ among His people 
 as their king. Now, the promises made to the fathers 
 suppose the presence of Christ, because Christ is, in 
 the only full and proper sense, the seed of Abraham. 
 Without Him what were the promises ? Accordingly, 
 with divine wisdom, Daniel was led to take the true 
 ground. Whatever restoration was to take place then 
 was not the complete one. This prophecy does bring 
 us to the final blessing of Israel when the seventy 
 weeks are consummated. But the return, after the fall 
 
CHAPTER IX. 151 
 
 of Babylon, was the accomplishment of "what was 
 partial and conditional, not the fulfilment of the pro- 
 mises to the fathers. This is worthy of observation. 
 The promises made to Abraham, &c., were absolute, 
 because they depended upon Christ, who is the true 
 Seed in the mind of God, though Israel were the seed 
 after the letter. So that until Christ came, and His 
 work was done, there could not be the full restoration 
 of the people of Israel. When Israel took the ground 
 of the law, in the time of Moses, they soon broke it 
 and were broken. Even before it was put into their 
 hands, on the tables of stone, they were worshipping 
 the golden calf. The consequence was, that Moses 
 from that time took a new place — the place of a 
 mediator. He goes up again into the mount, and 
 pleads with God for the people. God would not call 
 them His people. He says to Moses, " thy people," 
 and would not own them as His. Moses, however, 
 will not let God go, but pleads with Him that, let the 
 people have done what they may, they are " Tliy 
 people; " rather let me be blotted out than Israel lose 
 their inheritance. This was what God delighted in — 
 the reflex of His own love to them. You may have 
 got some fault to find with one whom you love, but 
 you would not like to hear another person finding it. 
 So Moses' pleading in behalf of Israel was what met 
 the heart of God. No doubt they had sinned a great 
 sin, and Moses felt and confessed it, but he insists 
 withal that they are God's people. 
 
 God draws out the heart of Moses more and more; 
 puts grand things before him, offers to exterminate the 
 people, and make of him a great nation. No, says 
 Moses, I would rather lose everything than that they 
 should be lost. This was the answer of grace to 
 the grace that was in God's heart about His people. 
 Consequently, when God gave the law a second time, 
 it was not given as before; but the Lord proclaimed 
 His name as One that was abundant in goodness and 
 
152 DANIEL. 
 
 truth, while He showed at the same time that He 
 would by no means clear the guilty. In other words, 
 the first time it was pure law, pure righteousness, 
 which terminated in the golden calf, i.e., pure un- 
 righteousness on the part of the people. And they 
 must justly have been destroyed, but that, on the 
 pleading of Moses, God brings in a mingled system, 
 partly law and partly grace. 
 
 This was the ground Daniel takes here. He pleads 
 that, although they had broken the law, God had pro- 
 nounced His name as " abundant in goodness and 
 truth." He believes that. He does not go back to 
 the promises made to Abraham ; on which ground the 
 restoration would have been full and final, whereas 
 this was not. And if you take a man now, who is 
 partly standing upon what Christ has done for him, 
 and partly upon what he does for Christ, will you ever 
 find such an one happy ? Never. That was the 
 ground the Israelites were on. Daniel, therefore, does 
 not go beyond it there. Christ was not yet come. On 
 the other hand, when Christ is born, you will find, if 
 you look at the song of Zacharias (Luke i.) or of the 
 angels (Luke ii.), that the ground taken was not what 
 God had said to Moses, but the promises made to 
 the fathers. Up to the moment appointed of God, 
 Zacharias had been dumb, a sign of the condition of 
 Israel. But now that the forerunner is named, on the 
 eve of the coming of Christ, his mouth is opened. 
 
 Before we enter upon the prophecy of the sevfenty 
 weeks more fully, as the Lord may enable us, I would 
 first call your attention to this — " Whiles I waa 
 speaking and praying, and confessing my sin, and the 
 sin of my people Israel." Observe, all his thoughts 
 are about Israel and about Jerusalem. The prophecy 
 is not about Christianity, but about Israel. There is 
 no understanding it, unless we hold this fast. " Whiles 
 
 I was speaking and presenting my supplication 
 
 before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my 
 
CHAPTER IX. 153 
 
 God ; yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the 
 man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the 
 beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me 
 about the time of the evening oblation." Then, in 
 verse 24, the prophecy begins. It has to do with 
 Daniel's people — " upon thy people." It speaks of a 
 special period that was defined in connexion with Israel's 
 full deliverance. " Seventy weeks are determined 
 upon thy people and upon the holy city." Any one 
 must see that the Jews and Jerusalem are meant. 
 It is " to finish the transgression, and to make an 
 end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and 
 to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up 
 the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy 
 (or Holy of holies)." From first to last this was a 
 period that was marked out in the mind of God, and 
 revealed to Daniel, touching the future destiny of the 
 city and the people of God here below. 
 
 Some are startled and ask, Have we, then, nothing to 
 do with " reconciliation for iniquity " and " everlasting 
 righteousness ? " I ask, of whom does the verse 
 speak ? You will find other Scriptures, which reveal 
 our interest in the blotting out of sin, and the righte- 
 ousness which we are made in Christ. Bat we must 
 adhere to this golden rule in reading the word of God 
 — never to force Scripture in order to make it bear 
 upon ourselves or others. When a person is converted, 
 but not yet in peace, if he sees something about " an 
 end of sins," he at once applies that to himself. Feel- 
 ing his need, he grasps, like a drowning man, at what 
 cannot bear his weight, or at least is not said about 
 him. If directed to the declarations of the grace of 
 God to us poor sinners of the Gentiles, instead of loss 
 great would be his gain; he would have far more 
 definite Scripture to meet his need, and, if assailed by 
 Satan, he would feel no weakness, or fear, or un- 
 certainty. Whereas, if he were taking passages that 
 applied to the Jews, Satan might touch him as to the 
 
154 DANIEL. 
 
 ground of his confidence, and he wonld be obliged to 
 say, This is not literally and certainly about me at all. 
 The " seventy weeks are determined upon thy people 
 and upon thy holy city." But I do not belong to 
 them. There is the importance of understanding 
 Scripture, and seeing what God is speaking about. 
 
 Had this been borne in mind, the greater part of the 
 controversy that has arisen about the passage never 
 could have taken place. People were hasty and 
 anxious to introduce something about themselves as 
 Gentiles or Christians; whereas the attitude of the 
 prophet, the circumstances of the people, and the 
 words of the prophecy itself, exclude all thought, save 
 of what concerns the Jews and their city. We must 
 look elsewhere to find what relates to the Gentiles. 
 Allow me, however, to remark, that the end of sins 
 for that city and people rests upon exactly the same 
 foundation as our own. Thus the Apostle John tells 
 us, Jesus died " not for that nation only, but that also 
 He should gather together in one the children of God 
 that were scattered abroad." (John xi. 52.) There 
 I find two distinct purposes in the death of Christ. 
 This prophecy only takes in the first. He died for 
 that nation — the Jewish nation. But He also, in the 
 very same act of death, made provision, not only for 
 the salvation that God has brought in for sinners, but 
 also for gathering together ' the children of God that 
 were scattered abroad." 
 
 Thus, if we take the Bible as it is, without being 
 too anxious to find ourselves here or there, instead of 
 losing, we shall ahvays be gainers, in extent, depth, 
 and, above all, in clear firm hold of the blessing ; and 
 we shall not feel that we have been taking other 
 people's property, and claiming goods upon a tenure 
 that can be disputed, but that what we have is what 
 God has freely and assuredly given us. This will 
 never be the case, if I take up prophecies about Israel, 
 and found my title to blessing upon them ; for they are 
 
CHAPTER IX. 155 
 
 neither the gospel for the sinner, nor the revelation of 
 the truth about the Church. 
 
 This, then, is the proper bearing of the closing*' 
 verses of the chapter before us. The details of the 
 weeks follow the first general statement. " Seventy 
 weeks," he says, " are determined upon thy people, 
 and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression and 
 to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for 
 iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and 
 to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the 
 most Holy." Then, in verse 25, the first particular 
 comes in, after defining the starting point. " Know 
 therefore and understand, that from the going forth of 
 the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, 
 unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, 
 and threescore and two weeks." Now, in the book 
 of Ezra, we have a commandment from the king 
 Artaxerxes, called in profane history Artaxerxes Lon- 
 gimanus, one of the monarchs of the Persian empire. 
 The first commandment was given to Ezra, the scribe, 
 *' in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king." In the 
 twentieth year of the same nionarch's reign, another 
 commandment was given to Nehemiah. Now it is 
 important for us to decide which of these two is 
 referred to by Daniel. The earlier of them is recorded 
 in Ezra vii., the second in Nehemiah ii. A careful 
 examination of the two will show which is meant. 
 Many excellent persons have interpreted it in a way 
 which differs from that which I believe to be correct. 
 But Scripture alone can decide the questions that arise 
 out of Scripture. Foreign elements often lead to per- 
 plexity. Remark, that it is not merely a general 
 order to the Jews, like that of Cyrus permitting their 
 return, but a special one to restore their polity. Now, 
 what is the difference between the two in the reign of 
 Artaxerxes ? The one to Ezra was mainly with a 
 view to the rebuilding of the temple; the other to 
 Nehemiah looks toward the city. Which is it here ? 
 
156 DANIEL, 
 
 " Know therefore and understand, that from the goin^ 
 forth of the commandment to restore and to build 
 Jerusalem." Evidently the city is intended in Daniel ; 
 and if so, then we must see which of the two com- 
 mandments concerns the city. There can be little 
 doubt it was the second, not the first. It was the 
 commission given to Nehemiah in the twentieth year 
 of Artaxerxes, not that to Ezra thirteen years before. 
 A comparison with Nehemiah will confirm this. 
 
 What led some to take the first of these decrees, as 
 the one meant here, was the idea, that the seventy 
 weeks were to terminate with the coming of the Mes- 
 siah. But this is not said. Verse 24 gives us much 
 more than the coming of the Messiah. " Seventy 
 
 weeks are determined to make an end of sins 
 
 and to make reconciliation for iniquity." There you 
 have at least His work. His suffering and death, we 
 know, are implied. But more than that: " to bring in 
 everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and 
 prophecy, and to anoint the Holy of holies," by which 
 last every Israelite would understand the sanctuary of 
 God. It is plain that all this did not take place when, 
 the Messiah came, nor even when He died. For 
 though the foundation of the blessing was laid in His 
 blood, yet the bringing it in was not yet realized for 
 Israel; and these seventy weeks suf)pose, that Israel 
 will after them be fully blessed. This shows us the 
 great importance of attending to the prophecy itself; 
 not merely looking at the events, but interpreting the 
 events by the prophecy. " From the going forth of 
 the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, 
 unto the Messiah, the Prince, (without defining what 
 time,) shall be " — not seventy weeks — but " seven 
 weeks, and threescore and two weeks;" that is, sixty- 
 nine weeks. There at once I learn that, for a reason 
 unexplained at the beginning of the prophecy, sixty- 
 nine weeks out of the seventy are rent from the last 
 week. The chain is broken: one week is severed from 
 
CHAPTER IX. 157 
 
 the rest. I am told that, from the word to restore 
 and build Jerusalem, (which is here made the starting 
 point, or the time from which we begin to reckon the 
 seventy xveeks,) there are seven weeks, and sixty-two 
 weeks — somewhat separate periods, but making in all 
 sixty-nine weeks to the Messiah, the Prince. There 
 evidently we have a very notable fact. And why, we 
 may ask, are the seven weeks separated from the 
 sixty-two weeks ? The next words show: " The street 
 shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome 
 times." The seven weeks, I apprehend, were to be 
 occupied with reconstituting the city of Jerusalem. 
 In the lapse of seven weeks, or forty-nine years (for I 
 suppose no reader will doubt that they are weeks of 
 years), from the point of departure, the building that 
 was begun would be finished. The street was to be 
 built again, and the w^alls, even in troublous times. 
 Now the accounts of these times of difficulty and strait 
 we have in the book of Nehemiah, who gives us the 
 latest date that Old Testament history records. Then, 
 taking up the other period, after not only the seven 
 weeks, but the sixty-two weeks, " shall Messiah be 
 cut off." 
 
 Before proceeding, I may observe, that there are 
 several little inaccuracies. It is " after the threescore 
 and two weeks." The article is left out in ver. 26, 
 where it ought to be inserted, and put, where it ought not 
 to appear, in verse 27. " After the threescore and two 
 weeks" — that is, in addition to the seven weeks spent 
 in building the city of Jerusalem — " shall Messiah be 
 cut off, but not for himself." The proper meaning 
 of that last expression, no one can doubt, is " and 
 shall have nothing." The margin is here more correct 
 than the text, and gives it so. The idea is, that Mes- 
 siah, instead of being received by His people, and 
 bringing in the blessing promised at the end of the 
 seventy weeks, should, after sixty-nine weeks, be cut 
 off, and have nothing. The entire rejection of the 
 
158 DANIEL. 
 
 Messiah, by His own people, is intimated in tliese 
 words. And here is the consequence. The key conies 
 in now and explains the difficulty, stated at the 
 beginning, why the sixty-nine weeks are severed from 
 the seventieth. The death of Christ rent the chain 
 and broke off the relations of the people of Israel 
 with God. Hence, the Jews having rejected their own 
 Messiah, the last week is for a time set aside. This week 
 terminates in full blessing; but the Jews are them- 
 selves rejected for their sin against their own Messiah. 
 That is the reason why we read, after this, " and th 
 people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the 
 city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be 
 with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations 
 are determined;" He had said before, that seventy 
 weeks were determined to make an end of sins, and to 
 bring in everlasting righteousness, &c. ; that is, at the 
 end of this appointed time, full blessing should be 
 brought in. Whereas now we find that, so far from 
 the blessing coming in, they have cut off their 
 Messiah, who has nothing ; and the consequence is, that 
 the city and sanctuary are not blessed, but on the 
 contrary, " the people of the prince that shall come 
 shall destroy the city and the sanctuary," &c. There 
 will be nothing but wars and desolations upon the 
 Jewish people. The interruption of the seventy weeks 
 takes place after the death of Christ, and the next 
 events related are no accomplishment of that series 
 at all. 
 
 None can deny, that a long period elapsed between 
 the death of Christ and the taking of Jerusalem. 
 Until Christ are sixty-nine weeks, and then' events 
 occur which the prophecy clearly reveals, but as clearly 
 reveals that they are after the sixty-nine weeks, and 
 before the seventieth. We have another people, belong- 
 ing to a prince quite different from the already rejected 
 Messiah, and this people come and destroy the city 
 and the sanctuary. It was the* Romans who came. 
 
CHAPTER IX, 159 
 
 spite of the dreadful expedient of Caiaphas — nay, 
 because of it. They came and destroyed the city and 
 the sanctuary. But thus was brought the accoraplish- 
 ment of this part of the prophecy. The Messiah was 
 cut off, and the Romans, whom they had so desired to 
 propitiate, swept them away from off the face of the 
 earth, and there has been nothing but misery in theiy 
 city up to the present time. Jerusalem was thence- 
 forward to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the 
 times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. There is a period 
 still. going on. Since then Jerusalem has only been 
 changing one master for another. In our day we 
 have seen a war undertaken about that very city 
 and sanctuary, and none can say how soon there 
 may be another. The objects of that war have been 
 anything but gained and at rest. The same elements 
 of strife and combustion still exist. It is an un- 
 settled question. Like Jonah in the ship, such will 
 Israel prove to the Gentiles by and by. There will be 
 no rest for them — nothing but storms, if they meddle 
 with that people with whom the Lord has a contro- 
 versy. The Jewish people are in a miserable state; 
 they are suffering the consequences of their own sin. 
 But those Gentiles will find their danger who mix 
 up with that city and sanctuary, which God does 
 not destine yet to be cleansed. If we are not ar- 
 rived at that period of blessing yet, it must be 
 granted, that the seventieth week is not yet accom- 
 plished. On the arrival of that week, full blessing 
 comes in for Israel and Jerusalem. But no such 
 blessing is realized; and therefore we may be quite 
 sure, that the last of the seventy weeks has not been 
 fulfilled. 
 
 The prophecy itself ought to prepare us for this. 
 There is a regular chain up to the close of the sixty- 
 ninth week, and then comes a great gap. The 
 death of Christ broke the bond of connexion be- 
 tween God and His people, and there was now no 
 
160 DANIEL. 
 
 living link between them. They cut off their own 
 Messiah, and have since lost, for a time, their national 
 y^lace. A deluge of trouble broke upon them. " The 
 king sent forth his armies and destroyed those mur- 
 derers, and burned up their city." The last part of 
 verse 26 shows us the continuous desolation which 
 has befallen their city and race, and this subsequent to 
 the cross of the Messiah: and, as none can pretend that 
 anything like this occurred within the seven years 
 subsequent to the crucifixion, a gap, more or less ex- 
 tended, must necessarily be allowed between the sixty- 
 ninth and seventieth weeks. 
 
 Mark the accuracy of Scripture. It is not said, that 
 the coming prince was to destroy the city and sanc- 
 tuary, but that his " people" should. Messiah the 
 Prince had already come and been cut off. Now we 
 hear of another and future prince, a Roman prince ; 
 for all know, that it was the Romans who came and 
 took away both the place and nation of the Jews. It 
 is simply said, " The people of the prince that shall 
 come," implying, that the people should come before a 
 certain prince who was yet in the future. This I hold 
 to be very important. No doubt there was a prince 
 that led the Roman people to the conquest of Jeru- 
 salem, but Titus Vespasianus is not the personage 
 alluded to here. If the people come first, and the 
 prince here intended was to follow at some future 
 epoch, nothing more simple. " The end thereof will 
 be with a flood, and unto the end of the war deso- 
 lations are determined." A long period of enmity and 
 desolation is intimated. This is exactly where Israel 
 are now. They have been turned out of that city 
 and sanctuary, and have never had it since. It is 
 true, they have made a remarkable footing for them- 
 selves in most countries of the earth ; their influence 
 extends into every court and cabinet of the world; 
 but they have never obtained the smallest power in 
 their own land and city — they are of all persons the 
 
CHAPTER IX. 161 
 
 most proscribed there. And there we see these deso- 
 lations going on. 
 
 In verse 27 comes the closing scene. " And he shall 
 confirm a covenant with many for one week." The 
 margin gives it correctly. It is not " the " covenant. 
 The little word " the" has misled many. It is "a," 
 or rather the idea is general, meaning " to confirm 
 covenant." If you read it " the covenant," the reader 
 is at once apt to infer, that " the prince" means 
 the Messiah, and that He was going to confirm His 
 covenant. But the passage runs, " He shall confirm 
 covenant (or a covenant) with the many for one week." 
 No doubt the Messiah brought in the blood of the 
 new covenant ; but is that meant here ? It supposes 
 the desolations going on all this while, after which 
 comes the end of the age, which includes, or occurs in, 
 the seventieth week. The death of the Messiah took 
 place long ago; the destruction of Jerusalem thirty or 
 forty years after. After that followed a long period of 
 desolations and wars in connexion with Jerusalem. 
 After all this, again, we have a covenant spoken of. 
 Thus, we must examine the passage to see who it is 
 that makes this covenant. There are two persons men- 
 tioned. In verse 25 there is Messiah the Prince; but 
 He has come and been cut off. In verse 26 there is 
 *' the people of the prince that shall come," It is to 
 this future Roman prince that verse 27 alludes. He it 
 is that shall confirm covenant with many, or rather 
 with "the many;" i.e., the mass, or majority. The 
 remnant will not have any part in it. Observe, that 
 now it is, for the first time, that the seventieth week 
 comes forward. *' And he shall confirm covenant with 
 the mass for one week." 
 
 Now I ask those who contend for the supposition 
 that Christ was meant, what sense does it give 
 here? One week can mean nothing but a period of 
 seven years. Was the new covenant ever made for 
 seven years ? Such a thought involves mere nonsense. 
 
 M 
 
162 DANIEL. 
 
 Is it not quite plain, that the idea of interpreting this 
 to be the covenant of Christ carries absurdity upon the 
 face of it ? For Christ's is an everlasting covenant — 
 this is only made for seven years. When and how did 
 Christ make a covenant for seven years ? " And he 
 shall confirm a covenant "with the many for one week: 
 arid in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacri- 
 fice and the oblation to cease." I am aware that 
 persons apply this also to the death of Christ. But 
 we have had Christ's death long ago — before the 
 seventieth week began; then the desolations of Israel 
 flood in after that; and subsequently another prince 
 comes, who confirms a covenant for one week. He, 
 not Christ, makes it with them for seven years. 
 But, in the midst of the term, he puts an end to their 
 worship. They have got sacrifice and oblation again 
 at this time, and he causes all to cease. 
 
 But have we not other light upon this passage ? Is 
 it only here that we read of such a covenant, and 
 of the sudden termination of Jewish rites and cere- 
 monies by a certain foreign prince ? As to the cove- 
 nant, if we refer to Isa. xxviii,, it is said, in ver. 15, 
 " Because ye have said, We have made a covenant 
 with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when 
 the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall 
 not come unto us." And in verse 18, "And your 
 covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your 
 agreement \vith hell shall not stand; when the over- 
 flowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be 
 trodden down by it." I have no question that this is 
 the covenant referred to here. And the meaning of 
 it is confirmed by another thing: that is to say, that 
 in consequence of this Roman prince having made a 
 wncked covenant •with the Jewish people, and then 
 interrupted their sacrifices and brought in idolatry, 
 (or what is called in Scripture, " the abomination of 
 desolation,") he will stop the Jewish ritual, and set up 
 an idol, and himself to be worshipped there. When 
 
CHAPTER IX. 163 
 
 open idolatry is in connexion with the sanctuary, 
 Ood sends a dreadful scourge upon them. They had 
 hoped to escape by making a covenant with this prince ; 
 they fondly thought, as it is said in Isaiah, to be thus 
 delivered from the overflowing scourge, i.e., I suppose, 
 the king of the north that becomes the great head of 
 the eastern powers of the world arrayed against the 
 western. The mass of the Jews will make a covenant 
 with the great prince of the west, who will then be 
 nominally their friend. And when the half of the 
 time is expired, this personage will introduce idolatry, 
 and force it upon them. Then will come the final 
 catastrophe of Israel. 
 
 The stopping of the Jewish ceremonies, be it re- 
 marked, does not depend upon this scripture only. 
 In Dan. vii. the little horn is the emperor of the west, 
 or " the prince that shall come." Of him it is said that 
 " he shall speak great words against the Most High, 
 and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and 
 think to change times and laws: and they shall be 
 given into his hand until a time and times, and the 
 dividing of times." Mark the analogy between that 
 statement and w^hat we have here. What is meant by 
 " a time and times, and the dividing of time ?" 
 Three and a half years, to be sure. And what is 
 meant by half a week ? Exactly the same period. 
 In the midst of the term for which the covenant was 
 made with Israel, he will arrest their worship, and will 
 take all their Jewish ceremonials into his own hands. 
 Nor will he allow them to keep their feasts. " They 
 shall be given into his hand" — that is, the Jewish 
 times and laws. God will not own Jewish Avorship 
 then; and therefore He will not preserve them in it. 
 He will let this man have his own way ; who, although 
 he has made a covenant with Israel as a friend, will 
 break it and substitute idolatry. Then will come the 
 overflowing scourge. " In the midst of the week, he 
 shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." 
 
164 DANIEL. 
 
 But I am obliged to claim another and more correct 
 representation of the words that follow. The English 
 translators were very doubtful of its true meaning. 
 There are different ways of taking it, but the literal 
 version is this : " And for (or, on account of) the 
 wing of abominations, a desolator." That is, because 
 of his taking idols under his protection, there shall be 
 a desolator, namely, the overflowing scourge, or the 
 Assyrian. " The prince that shall come" does not deso- 
 late Jerusalem. At this time he has made a covenant 
 with them; and, although he breaks his covenant, still, 
 being their head and patron, and having his minion, 
 the false prophet, who will have his seat there as the 
 great arch-priest of that day, he will carry on, with 
 the aid of this false prophet, the worship of his 
 image in the temple of God. Compare the abomi- 
 nation of desolation in the holy place. (Matt. xxiv. 
 15.) In consequence of this, the king of the north 
 shall come down as a desolator. There will thus be 
 two enemies at that time for the righteous Jews. The 
 desolator, or the Assyrian, is the enemy from without. 
 The enemy from within is the Antichrist, or their 
 wilful king, that corrupts them in connexion with the 
 Eoman prince. Thus, the true meaning of this text 
 is: " Because of the protection of abominations, [there 
 shall be] a desolator, even until the consummation, 
 and that determined, shall be jDoured upon the deso- 
 late." Jerusalem is meant by " the desolate." And 
 the whole consummation, or what God has decreed 
 against the Jews, must take its course. " That gene- 
 ration shall not pass away till all these things be 
 fulfilled." These will be the last representatives of 
 the Christ-rejecting portion of Israel, and God will 
 allow all His judgments to come down upon them. 
 They will be swept away, and then will remain the 
 holy seed, the godly remnant, whom God will con- 
 stitute the great nucleus of blessing to the whole world 
 under the reign of the Lord Jesus. 
 
CHAPTERS X., XL 
 
 It is plain that chapters x., xi., xii. are one continuous 
 subject, and show us the circumstances in which. 
 Daniel received this last, and, in some respects, most 
 remarkable of all his prophecies. For, in the whole 
 compass of divine writ, there is no such circumstantial 
 and minute statement of historical facts, and that, 
 too, running down from the Persian monarcliy, under 
 which Daniel saw the vision, till the time when all 
 the powers of this world shall be obliged to bow to 
 the name of the Lord. Not that the prophecy runs 
 on from the time of the Persian empire to the reign 
 of Christ without a single break: that would indeed 
 be contrary to the analogy of all the rest of God's 
 word. But we have, first of all, a concise, and, at the 
 same time, clear, statement of the facts, until we 
 come to a remarkable personage, who was the type of 
 the great and notorious leader of the opposition to 
 God's people at the close of the present age. Having 
 brought us up to this, the prophecy breaks off, and 
 then at once spans over the interval, and gives us 
 "the time of the end;" so that we can understand 
 how it is that there is that gap. For the present I 
 must close where the break comes in. Upon a future 
 occasion, I hope, the Lord willing, to take up the 
 antitypical crisis at the close, which begins with 
 chap. xi. 36. We shall find that it is not confined to 
 any particular evil one; but that in the end of the 
 chapter we have the conflicts of the leaders of that 
 day in and round the Holy Land. And then chap xii. 
 shows us the dealings of God with His own people, 
 until they and Daniel himself shall stand in their lot 
 at the end of the days: this last — that is to say, the 
 blessing of God's people, or at least of the godly 
 remnant — being the great object of the close. 
 
166 DANIEL. 
 
 " In the third year of Cyrus, King of Persia, a 
 thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was 
 called Belteshazzar," &c. Daniel, we find, had not 
 taken advantage of the decree of Cyrus, which went 
 out two years before, leaving the Israelites at liberty 
 to return to their own land, according to prophecy. 
 Daniel was still in the scene of the captivity of the 
 Jews. But more than that, the Spirit of God drawls 
 attention to the state of the prophet's soul. He was 
 not enjoying himself in a stranger-land, but mourning 
 and fasting; and this, in circumstances where he had 
 all, of course, at his command. He was found, as it 
 is said, eating no pleasant bread, " neither came flesh 
 nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at 
 all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled." Now 
 surely it is not for nothing that the Spirit of God has 
 shown us Daniel, not only before the decree of Cyrus 
 was issued, but afterwards, in such an attitude before 
 the Lord. We can all understand, when the moment 
 approached for the little remnant to leave Babylon 
 and return to the land of their fathers, that he should 
 be found chastening his own soul before God, and 
 passing in review the sin that had occasioned so fearful 
 a chastening upon the people from the Lord — although 
 he was even then doing exactly the contrary of what' 
 the flesh would have sought under these circumstances. 
 For when some great outTard mercy is vouchsafed, 
 then is the time when man naturally is apt to give 
 rather a loose rein to his enjoyment. In Daniel we 
 see the contrary of this. He took the place of con- 
 fession; and of confessing the sins, not merely of Israel, 
 but his own. All was before him. None but a holy 
 man could have so deep a sense of sin. But the same 
 energy of the Holy Spirit, which gives real self- 
 abasement, enables one also in love to take in the sad 
 and abject condition of God's people. Such thoughts 
 as these seem to have filled the soul of Daniel when 
 he found out, by the prophecy of Jeremiah, that 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 
 
 1G7 
 
 deliverance was just at hand for Israel. There was no 
 kind of exultation over a fallen enemy — no shouts of 
 triumph because the people were to go free; although 
 Cyrus himself considered it a high honour that God 
 had made him to be the instrument of both. Well 
 might a man of God ponder over what sin had wrought, 
 when the Lord could not even speak of Israel as His 
 people, although faith in Daniel only the more led him 
 to plead that they were. 
 
 Here the decree had gone forth according to his 
 expectation. The Persian conqueror had opened the 
 door for the prisoners of hope to leave Babylon, and 
 those who pleased had gone back to their own land. 
 Daniel was not among these. Instead of novv antici- 
 pating nothing but bright visions of immediate glory, 
 he is still found, and found more than ever, in a 
 posture of humiliation before God. When the reason 
 cf this prolonged term of fasting comes out, we are 
 let into the connexion of the world that is seen with 
 that which is unseen. The veil is not merely raised 
 from the future, for all prophecy does this; but the 
 statement of the vision here given us discloses, in an 
 interesting light, what is around us now, but unseen. 
 Daniel was permitted to hear it, in order that we 
 might know it, and might also have the consciousness 
 for ourselves, that, beside the things that are seen, 
 there are things invisible, far more important to the 
 people of God than all man looks upon. 
 
 If there are conflicts upon earth, they flow from 
 higher conflicts — the angels contending with these 
 evil beings, the instruments of Satan, who constantly 
 seek to thwart the counsels of God with regard to 
 the earth. This comes out remarkably here. We 
 know that angels have to do with the saints of God; 
 but we may not have discerned so clearly, that they 
 have to do also with the outward events of this world. 
 The light of God here shines upon the subject, so 
 that we are enabled to understand, that there is not a 
 
168 DANIEL. 
 
 movement of the world but what is connected with 
 the providential dealings of God. And angels are the 
 instruments of executing His will; they are expressly 
 said to do His pleasure. On the other hand, there 
 are those that oppose God constantly: evil angels are 
 not found wanting. Those who are not alive to this 
 certainly lose something, because it gives us a far 
 stronger view of the necessity of having God as our 
 strength. Were it a mere question between man and 
 man, we could understand that one person, in the 
 consciousness of his strength or his wisdom, or other 
 resources, might not fear another. But if it be a fact, 
 that we have to contend with powers that are im- 
 mensely superior to us in everything of outward 
 intelligence and might, (for angels " excel in strength," 
 as we are told,) it is clear that we are thrown, if we 
 are to be conquerors, upon the support of Another, 
 who is mightier than all that can be against us. The 
 faith that thus counts on God is a deliverance from 
 tvnxiety about all that is taking place in the world. 
 For although there are wicked spirits, and men are 
 only as the pieces that are moved by them in the 
 game of this life, yet, in fact, there is a supreme hand 
 and mind that leads to the moves, behind the scene 
 and unknown to the persons acting. This gives a 
 much more solemn character to our thoughts of all 
 that occurs here below. 
 
 Beside these angels, another appears on the scene: 
 *' a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were 
 girded with fine gold of Uphaz." He, of whom we 
 have so magnificent description in ver. 6, and whom 
 Daniel alone sees, does not appear to have been a 
 mere angel. He may have been seen in some features 
 of angelic glory ; but I conceive this is One, who often 
 appears both in New and Old Testament history — the 
 Lord of glory Himself. He appears now as a man — r 
 as One, who had the deepest sympathy with His 
 servant upon the earth. All others had fled to hide 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 169 
 
 themselves, Daniel abode: nevertheless, there remained 
 no strength in him — his comeliness was turned into 
 corruption. Even a beloved man and faithful saint 
 of God must prove that all his past wisdom was 
 unavailing; for he was now a very aged man, and had 
 been singularly faithful to the Lord. At this very 
 time he was the one who best realized the true con- 
 dition of Israel. For he saw well that a long time 
 must elapse before the Messiah must come, and the 
 revealing angel had announced that the Messiah 
 should be cut off and have nothing. No wonder, 
 then, that he was mourning. Others might be full of 
 their bright hopes, that the Messiah would soon appear 
 and exalt them as a nation in the w^orld. But Daniel 
 was found mourning and fasting; and now the vision 
 passes before him, and this blessed person reveals Him- 
 self to him. Yet, spite of all the love that rested upon 
 him — spite of his familiar knowledge of God's ways, 
 and the favour that had been shown him in previous 
 visions, Daniel is made thoroughly conscious of his 
 own utter weakness. All his strength crumbled into 
 dust before the Lord of glory. And this has a moral 
 for us of no little moment. However much may be 
 the value of what a saint has learnt, the past alone 
 does not enable us to understand the new lesson of 
 God. God Himself is necessary for this — not merely 
 what we have learnt already. I think that this is a 
 weighty truth, and most practical. We all know the 
 tendency in prudent men to lay up a store for the time 
 to come. I do not deny the value of spiritual know- 
 ledge in various ways — whether in helping others, or 
 in ourselves forming a right and holy opinion of cir- 
 cumstances that are passing around. But where the 
 Lord brings out something not previously learnt, then 
 Daniel, spite of all that he had known before, is utterly 
 powerless. He is most of all prostrated in this last 
 vision, and realizes more than ever the nothingness of 
 everything within him. He is thrown entirely upon 
 
170 DANIEL. 
 
 God for power to stand up, and enter into what the 
 Lord was about to make known to him. The same 
 thing appears in St. John, who had lain in the 
 Saviour's bosom while on earth, and of all the disciples 
 had most entered into His thoughts. Yet, let that 
 Saviour stand before him in His glory, to make known 
 to him His mind about the future, and what vvas 
 even the Apostle John ? The Lord has to lay His 
 hand upon him, bidding him fear* not. He has to 
 encourage him by what He was Himself — the Living 
 One, who had died but was alive again, and had the 
 keys of death and hades. Therefore it was that he 
 was to listen with the most perfect confidence, 
 because this Avas what Christ is. There was no 
 power but must fail before Him. 
 
 Here Daniel, in his measure, enters into this. The 
 death of the flesh must always be realized before the 
 life of God can be enjoyed. This is important, prac- 
 tically. In the grace that brings salvation, it is not 
 that death must be learnt first, and life afterwards. 
 Life in Christ comes to me as a sinner, and that life 
 exposes the death in which I lay. If I must realize 
 my death in order for that life to come to me, it 
 would be evidently man set into his true place, as a 
 preparation for his blessing from God. This is not 
 
 grace. " That which was from the beginning 
 
 which we have looked upon, and our hands have 
 handled of the Word of life." That is to say, it is 
 the person of Christ Himself, who comes and brings 
 the blessing. After that, the soul learns that " God 
 is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." It learns 
 that if we say we have light, or fellowship with 
 Him who is light, and yet walk in darkness, we lie, 
 and do not the truth. All the practical learning of 
 what God is, and what we are, follows the manifestation 
 of life to us in the person of Christ. If you speak of 
 the order as to a sinner, it is sovereign grace which 
 gives life in Another; but if of the order of progress 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 
 
 171 
 
 in the believer, it is not so. The believer, having 
 already got life, must mortify all that pertains to him 
 merely in nature, in order that the life should be 
 manifested and strengthened. This is all important 
 for the saint, as the other is for the sinner. Man in 
 his natural state does not believe that he is dead, but 
 he is labouring to get life. He wants life; he has 
 none. It is Another alone that brings and gives it to 
 him in perfect grace — seeing only evil in him, but 
 coming with nothing but good, and bringing it in 
 love. This is Christ, But in the believer's case, 
 having already found life in Him, there must be the 
 judgment of the evil, in order that the new and 
 divine life should be developed and grow. So that, 
 while to the one it is life, exposing the death, and 
 meeting the man in death, and delivering him from it, 
 to the other it is the practical putting to death every- 
 thing that has already existence naturally in him. 
 All this must have the sentence of death put upon it, 
 in order that the life be unhindered in its growth 
 and manifestation. 
 
 Daniel was proving this, as the practical means of 
 entering into, and being made the suited witness of, 
 the wonders that the Spirit of God was about to 
 bring before him. Hence, whatever might have been 
 the favour in which he stood, — and he was '* a man 
 greatly beloved," — nevertheless, death must be realized 
 by his soul. " And when he had spoken this word 
 imto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me. 
 Fear not Daniel; for from the first day that thou 
 didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten 
 thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I 
 am come for thy words." And then we have an 
 intimation conveyed to him how it was that there 
 had been such a delay. " But the prince of the 
 kingdom of Persia withstood me one-and-twenty days ; 
 hut, lo! Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help 
 me: and I remained there with the kings of Persia." 
 
172 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 Here, I apprehend, we have another person speaking.^ 
 Not the first and glorious One that Daniel had seen, 
 but one. used as a servant — an angel, in fact, that the 
 other employed. The last chapter will prove clearly 
 that there was more than one person sent: and it 
 is plain, from the language of the speaker, that he is 
 subordinate. Daniel is encouraged by learning that, 
 from the first day that he had set his heart to under- 
 stand and to chasten himself before God, his words 
 were heard. He did not receive the answer the first 
 day nor the second. Not until one-and-twenty days 
 after did the answer arrive, and yet it was sent from 
 God the very first day. Of course, He could at once 
 have given it. But what then ? First of all, the 
 terrible struggle, that is always raging between the 
 instruments of God and the emissaries of Satan, 
 would not have been so clearly understood. Then, 
 again, faith and patience would not have had their 
 perfect work. 
 
 I am not forgetting, that the Holy Ghost is sent 
 down now to dwell in the hearts of believers in a way 
 not known then. For, although the Spirit of God 
 was always at work in the holy prophets and in holy 
 men, yet the abiding indwelling of the Holy Ghost 
 was that which was not, and could not be, till Jesus 
 was glorified, and the great work of redemption was 
 wrought, in virtue of which ^he Holy Ghost was sent 
 down from heaven to take His abode in the hearts of 
 those that believe, the seal of the blessing which is 
 theirs in Christ. So that, besides the outward pro- 
 vidential care of God, so beautifully brought out here, 
 we have that blessed. Divine Person constituting our 
 bodies the temple of God. Yet the outward struggles 
 go on. The same thing, that hindered Daniel from 
 having the manifest answer to his prayer, may hinder 
 us from having the answer of circumstances. The 
 answer of faith we ought always to reckon on at 
 once ; the answer of circumstances, governed of God, so 
 
CHAPTERS X., Xt. 173 
 
 as to bring out a manifest answer, we may have to wait 
 for. Daniel had to wait, and the reason is given us. 
 From verse 13 we learn, that although God had sent 
 the answer from the very first day, the prince of the 
 kingdom of Persia withstood for twenty-one days — 
 exactly the time that Daniel was kept in mourning 
 and fasting before God. " But, lo ! Michael, one of 
 the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained 
 there with the kings of Persia." Plainly it is an 
 angel that speaks. It would be derogatory to the 
 Lord to suppose, that He was the One who needed 
 help from one of His own angels. But Michael was 
 mentioned here, because he was well known to be the 
 archangel, who took a special guardian care over the 
 nation of Israel. So that, however people may make 
 a mock at the truth of the interposition and guardian- 
 ship of angels, yet Scripture is quite clear about it. 
 Romanism, as we know, has made them objects of 
 adoration. But the truth itself is of special interest. 
 
 That angels are employed of God in particular ser- 
 vices is plain from the word of God. Nor was this 
 merely a new truth. We find that Jude mentions, as a 
 well-known circumstance, the contention of Michael 
 the archangel with the devil about the body of Moses. 
 The same truth comes out again in this. It was 
 Michael's care over the Jewish people. He knew 
 their tendency to idolatry, and that the man, whom 
 they had rebelled against during life, they would make 
 an idol of after his death. And thus, Michael, as 
 the instrument of blessing on God's part to Israel, 
 contends with Satan, so that the body of Moses was 
 not found ; the Lord is said to have buried it, 
 though the instrument that the Lord employed was 
 Michael. Now here we have this interesting ray of 
 light cast upon earthly circumstances. The powers 
 of this world may be governing, but angels have not 
 given up their functions. There are the devil and his 
 angels, and Michael and the holy angels with him, 
 
174 DANTEL. 
 
 brouglit forward again in the last book of the Bible. 
 The facts of Christ having come, and of the Holy 
 Ghost having been given, do not supersede this. On 
 the contrary, we know that there will be one most 
 tremendous conflict at the close between the holy 
 angels and the wicked ones, when the heavens shall 
 be for ever cleared of those evil powers, which had for 
 so long defiled them. This is most interesting, as 
 showing the perfect patience of God. Because we 
 know, that with a word He could put down the devil 
 and all his host. But He does not. He allows Satan 
 even to venture into the lower heavens — nay, still to 
 have possession of them. Therefore it is that he is 
 called " the prince of the power of the air," as he is 
 called elsewhere " the prince " and " the god of this 
 world." But I believe it is only there that he is 
 prince. We never read of such a thing as Satan 
 being prince in hell. It is a favourite dream of great 
 poets, and of small ones too, but we never read of it 
 in Scripture. The Bible shows us, that his real 
 power now is either in the heavens or on the earth ; 
 but that when he is broken, both in his heavenly 
 usurpation first, and then in his earthly power, he is 
 cast down to hell; and that, instead of being a king 
 in hell, he will be the most miserable object of the 
 vengeance of God. The solemn thing is, that he is 
 reigning here now, and p'^ople do not feel it. His 
 worst reign is that which he acquired — not that which 
 he had before. The death of Christ, although it is 
 the ground on which he will eventually lose all his 
 power, was, nevertheless, the means, by which he 
 became the great usurping power, opposing God in 
 all His thoughts about this world. But here is a 
 thought that is of importance for us. If God permits 
 such a thing as this — if He allows the presence of 
 this evil one, the enemy of His Son in heaven itself — • 
 if, instead of the crucifixion of Christ leading God to 
 deprive Satan of all his power, we find Him after this 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 175 
 
 displaying His greatest loiigsiiffering, what a lesson 
 it all is for ns not to trouble ourselves about circum- 
 stances ! No man has ever trodden these unknown 
 regions; there has been none to tell us about them 
 except the word of God, which lays it bare before us. 
 We do not know all of course; but we know enough 
 to see that there is this tremendous power of evil 
 opposed to God, and that the power of God is always 
 and infinitely mightier than the power of evil. Evil 
 is but an accident, which has got into the world 
 through the rebellion of the creature against God. By 
 " accident," I mean that it was only the creature's 
 interrupting for a time the purposes of God; while 
 in truth it but served to bring them out with brighter 
 lustre. To bless heaven and earth was the plan of 
 God, and this will stand. Evil will be banished from 
 the scene, and evil men will suffer the awful conse- 
 quences of having rejected the only good and blessed 
 One in Christ, the Lord. 
 
 But while the certainty of all has been made known 
 to faith before the execution of the thoughts of God, 
 we have the view opened to us of the grave conflict 
 meanwhile that is unseen. This puts faith to the test. 
 Paniel had to go on waiting, mourning, praying, 
 spreading out all before God. We see in him the 
 perseverance of faith — praying always. And how was 
 his faith not rewarded ! For when the ansrel does 
 
 o 
 
 come, he makes known this at the bidding of the 
 glorious One, who had first appeared to Daniel. It 
 was the prince of the kingdom of Persia who had 
 withstood him one-and-tvventy days; but Michael had 
 come to his help. 
 
 I may also observe, that we have an important 
 hint, in the next verse, of the main objects to which 
 God had an eye in this prophecy. Only persons who 
 have read much know the torture the chapter has suf- 
 fered through men's own thoughts brought to explain 
 it by. The pope, of course, has been very prominently 
 
176 DANIEL. 
 
 introduced into it. And then the darino* soldier of the 
 early days of this century was found in it too: I allude, 
 of course, to Napoleon. In short, whatever has been 
 going on in the world of extraordinary interest 
 persons have tried to find in Daniel xi. The 14th 
 verse of chap. x. puts to the rout all such thoughts. 
 " I am come," says the angel, " to make thee know 
 what shall befall thy people in the latter days : for 
 yet the vision is for many days." Nothing can be 
 plainer. It is put as a sort of frontispiece to the 
 prophecy to show, that the great thought of God for 
 the earth is the Jewish people, and the main design 
 of this prophecy is what must befall them in the latter 
 days. We have the series of the history almost from 
 the day in which Daniel lived, but the latter days 
 are the point of it. Prophecy in general may afford 
 to give a little earnest close at hand, but we never see 
 the full drift of it, save in the latter-day; and then the 
 thoughts and plans of God always have, as their 
 earthly centre, the Jews and their Messiah. I do not 
 mean to deny, that the Church is a far higher thing 
 than the Jews, and the relations of Christ to the 
 Church nearer and deeper than His relations to the 
 Jews. But you do not lose Christ and the Church, 
 because you believe in His link with Israel. Nay, if 
 you believe not this, you confound them with your 
 own relations to Christ; and both are lost, as far as 
 definite knowledge and full enjoyment go. This is 
 for want of looking at Scripture as a whole. If 
 chap. X. had been read as an introduction to chap, xi., 
 such a mistake might not have been made. But some 
 read Scripture very much as others preach it. A few 
 words are taken, and are made the motto of a discourse, 
 which perhaps has no real connexion with the scope of 
 that passage — perhaps not with any other in the 
 Bible. The thoughts may be true enough abstractedly, 
 but what we want is a help to understand the word of 
 God as a whole, as well as the details. If you were 
 
CHAPTERS X., XT. 177 
 
 to take a letter from a friend, and were merely to fasten 
 upon a sentence or a part of one, in tlie middle of it, 
 and dislocate it from the rest, how could you under- 
 stand it ? And yet Scripture has infinitely larger 
 connexions than anything that could be written on our 
 part ; and therefore there ought to be far stronger 
 reasons for taking Scripture in its connexion than the 
 little effusions of our own mind. This is a great key 
 to the mistakes which many estimable people make in 
 the interpretation of Scripture. They may be men of 
 faith too; but still it is difficult to rise above their 
 ordinary habits. The pro|)hecy before us shows the 
 importance of the principle I have been insisting on. 
 Take the ordinary books on this prophecy — no matter 
 when, where, or hj whom written, and you will find 
 that the great effort is to make a centre of their own 
 days, &c. Here is the answer to all. Neither Rome, 
 nor the papacy, nor Napoleon, is the object of the 
 prophecy, but " what shall befall thy people (Daniel's 
 people, the Jews) in the latter days." 
 
 We then find Daniel expressing in humbleness of 
 mind his unfitness for receiving such communications. 
 First, one like the similitude of the sons of men 
 touches his lips and he is instructed to speak unto the 
 Lord. He confesses his weakness — that there was no 
 strength left in him. But " there came again and 
 touched him one like the appearance of a man, and he 
 strengthened me, and said, man, greatly beloved, 
 fear not. Peace be unto thee ; be strong, yea, be 
 strong." Men, until they are thoroughly established 
 in peace, until their hearts know the real source of 
 strength, are not capable of profiting by prophecy. 
 Here we find Daniel set upon his feet, his mouth 
 opened, his fears hushed, before the Lord can open 
 out the future to him. His heart must be in perfect 
 peace in the strength of the Lord, and in the presence 
 of his God. Anxiety of spirit, the want of settled 
 peace, has more to do than people think with the little 
 
178 DAKIEL. 
 
 progress that they make in understanding many part& 
 of God's word. It is not enough that a man have 
 life and the Spirit of God; but there must be the 
 breaking down of the flesh and the simple, peaceful 
 resting in the Lord. Daniel must go through this. 
 Bcene, in order to fit him for what he is to learn ; and so 
 must we in our measure. "We must realize that same 
 peace and strength in the Lord. If I am in terror 
 of the Lord's coming, because I am not sure how I 
 shall stand before Him, how can I honestly rejoice 
 that it is so near ? There will be a hindrance in my 
 spirit to the clear understanding of the mind of God 
 on that subject. The reason of this lack of compe- 
 tence is not want of learning, but of being thoroughly 
 established in grace — the want of knowing what we 
 are in Christ Jesus. Ko matter what other things 
 there may be — nothing will repair this sad deficiency. 
 I speak now of christian men. As for mere scholars 
 dabbling in these things, it is as completely out of 
 their sphere as a horse would be in being set to judge 
 of the mechanism of a watch. " The natural man re- 
 
 ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God 
 
 neither can he know them, because they are spiritually 
 discerned." It is only a scribe of this age meddling 
 with what belongs to another world, of which he 
 knows nothing. 
 
 We have a rapid survey of what was about to befall 
 Israel in the latter days. It is the same speaker 
 here as in chap. x. " Also I, in the first year of Darius 
 the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen 
 liim. And now will I show thee the truth. Behold 
 there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia." 
 There we have the succession of Persian monarchs 
 from Cyrus. Scripture does show us who these were, 
 although their names are not mentioned here. I would 
 refer you to Ezra iv., where will be found these very 
 three kings mentioned. In Ezra iv. the occasion arose 
 out of the attempt of the enemies of Israel to stop 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 179 
 
 the building of tbe temjDle; and these hired "conn* 
 sellers against them to frustrate their purpose, all the 
 days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign 
 of Darius, king of Persia." Now in order to under- 
 stand that chapter, you must bear in mind that, from 
 the sixth verse down to the end of verse 23, is a 
 parenthesis. The beginning and end of the chapter 
 refer to events during the reign of Darius. But the 
 Spirit of God goes back to show that these adversaries 
 had been working from the days of Cyrus till the days 
 of Darius. Consequently, in the parenthesis, from 
 verse 6 — 23 inclusively, you have the various monarchs 
 that had come between Cyrus and Darius, whose minds 
 the adversaries had been trying to work upon. " In 
 the reign of Ahasuerus," (i.e., the successor of Cyrus, 
 called in profane history Cambyses,) "in the beginning 
 of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against 
 the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem." Then we 
 have the next king. " And in the days of Artaxerxes 
 wrote Bishlam," &c. This is a different person from 
 the Artaxerxes mentioned in Nehemiah, who lived at 
 a later epoch, and is called in profane history Smerdis 
 the magician, who by wicked means acquired the crown 
 for a time, and lent an ear to the accusations against 
 the Jews. This usurper was put to death through a 
 conspiracy headed by Darius, not the Mede of Daniel, 
 but the Persian spoken of in the book of Ezra. 
 Darius Hystaspes was his historical name. He follows 
 immediately. Hence we have these three kings enu- 
 merated in Ezra iv., exactly answering to the three 
 in Daniel xi. 2. Thus we find one part of Scripture 
 throwing light upon another, without the need of 
 going into the territories of man at all. " Behold 
 there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia." These 
 came after Cyrus, and were called in Scripture, as we 
 have seen, Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, and Darius; and in 
 profane history Cambyses, Smerdis the magician, and 
 Darius Hystaspes. " And the fourth shall be far 
 
180 DANIEL. 
 
 richer tlian they all; and by his strength through 
 his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of 
 Grecia." It is the celebrated Xerxes, who stirred 
 up all against Greece. This confirms an idea thrown 
 out on a former occasion, that the reason why the 
 he-goat rushed with such fury against Persia, was 
 in return for the Persian assault upon Greece. 
 Xerxes was the man who made that great attempt. 
 His riches are proverbially known, and no event 
 made so profound an impression on the world 
 then as that expedition against Greece and its con- 
 sequences. 
 
 In verse 3, Persia, the ram of chap, viii., is dropped, 
 and we find the he-goat of that chapter, or rather its 
 horn. " A mighty king shall stand up that shall rule 
 with great dominion, and do according to his will." 
 This is Alexander. " And when he shall stand up, 
 his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided 
 toward the four winds of heaven." That was true at 
 his death: the Greek empire was then shivered into 
 fragments. " And not to his posterity, nor according 
 to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall 
 be plucked up even for others besides those." It was 
 not to be a single head getting rid of the family of 
 Alexander, and taking possession of all. His kingdom 
 was to be divided into a number of parts, four more 
 particularly; and out of the?e four divisions two ac- 
 quire an immense importance. But what constitutes 
 their chief importance here ? When God speaks of 
 things upon the earth, He always measures from 
 Israel; because Israel is His earthly centre. 
 
 Hence it is, that the powers which meddle with 
 Israel are those that in God's view are important. 
 This is the reason why the other kingdoms are not 
 noticed; only those of the north and of the south. 
 And why are they so described ? Palestine is the 
 place from which God reckons. The king of the north 
 means north of the land that His eyes were upon; 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 181 
 
 and the southern power means south of that same 
 land. These are the countries commonly called Syria 
 and Egypt. They are the two referred to throughout 
 the chapter, the other divisions of Alexander's empire 
 being put aside. Only those are looked at which had 
 to do with Israel. Now we are told that "the king of 
 the south shall be strong" — he is the person well 
 known as one of the Ptolemies or Lagidae — " and 
 one of his princes" (i.e., of the chiefs of Alexander); 
 " and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; 
 his dominion shall be a great dominion." This is 
 another person, the first king of the north, who rises 
 in strength above Ptolemy. In profane history he is 
 called Seleucus. The descendants of both these and 
 their strife are often spoken of in the history of the 
 Maccabees. There minute accounts are given of the 
 transactions predicted in this chapter ; and of the two, 
 what God says in few words is infinitely more to the 
 point than man's elaborate detail. 
 
 But let us look a little at some of these events. 
 " And in the end of years they (i.e., the kings of the 
 north and of the south) shall join themselves together. 
 For the king's daughter of the south shall come to 
 the king of the north to make an agreement." One 
 remark before going further. In this chapter it is 
 not the same king of the north, nor the same king of 
 the south, that we have all the way through, but a 
 great many that succeed each other. The same official 
 title runs throughout. As people say in law. The king, 
 or the queen, never dies. That is just the way we are 
 to look at it here. This sixth verse is an instance. 
 *' In the end of years they shall join themselves 
 together." They are not the same kings of the north 
 and south, who had been spoken of in verse 5, but 
 their descendants. " In the end of years they shall 
 join themselves together; for the king's daughter of 
 the south shall come to the king of the north to make 
 an agreement." They made, not only an alliance, 
 
182 DANIEL. 
 
 but a marriage between their families. " But she 
 shall not retain the power of the arm." The attempt 
 to make a cordial understanding between Syria and 
 Egypt, by marriage, would be a failure. Of course, 
 this was exactly verified in history. There was such 
 a marriage, and the king of the north even got rid of 
 his former wife in order to marry the daughter of the 
 king of the south. But it only made matters a great 
 deal worse. They had hoped to terminate their 
 bloody wars, but it really laid the foundation of an 
 incomparably deeper grudge between them. As it is 
 said here, ''Neither shall he stand nor his arm; but 
 she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and 
 he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in 
 these times. But out of a branch of her roots shall 
 one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an 
 army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king 
 of the north, and shall deal against them and prevail." 
 It was not her seed, but her brother — out of the same 
 parental stock. She was one branch and he another. 
 The brother of this Bernice, daughter of the Egyptian 
 king, comes up to avenge the murder of his sister, 
 and prevails against the king of the north. Here we 
 have the exjDlanation confirmed of what the kingdom 
 of the south is. " He shall also carry captives into 
 Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their 
 precious vessels of silver and gold ; and he shall 
 continue more years than the king of the north." " So 
 the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, 
 and shall return into his own land." There we see 
 Egypt triumphant for a time; but the tide was soon 
 to turn. " His sons shall be stirred up, and shall 
 assemble a multitude of great forces. And one shall 
 certainly come, (the other disappeared,) and overflow 
 and pass through ; then shall he return, and be stirred 
 up, even to his fortress. And the king of the south 
 shall be moved with choler." Now comes another 
 war at a subsequent dat^ ; and this time it is the south 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 183 
 
 returning the blow of the north. " The king of the 
 
 south shall come forth and fight with him, 
 
 even with the king of the north; and he shall set 
 forth a great multitude ; but the multitude shall be 
 given into his hand." There the Spirit of God refers 
 to several notable facts. The two principal actors are 
 the kings of Syria and Egypt. The land of Israel, 
 that lay between them, was a sort of burdensome stone to 
 these kings who made it their battle-field, which ever 
 went to the conqueror. If the king of the north was 
 victorious, Palestine fell under Syria ; and in the same 
 way if the king of Egypt got the better. But God 
 never allowed rest to those who took His land. They 
 might intermarry and contract alliances; but it only 
 proved the prelude to graver outbreaks — brothers, sons, 
 grandsons, &c., taking up the quarrels of their kindred. 
 " The Scripture cannot be broken." All was distinctly 
 laid down beforehand. 
 
 " And when he hath taken away the multitude, his 
 heart shall be lifted up ; and he shall cast down many 
 ten thousands: hut he shall not be strengthened by 
 it." Then we find, that the king of the north returns 
 and " sets forth a multitude greater than the former, 
 and shall certainly come after certain years with a 
 great army, and with much riches. And in those 
 times there shall many stand up against the king of 
 the south ; also the robbers of thy people shall exalt 
 themselves to establish the vision." Allow me to 
 call attention to these words. It at once settles the 
 question that might be asked — How do you know that 
 Daniel's people do not mean God's people in a spiritual 
 sense ? The answer is given here — " the robbers of 
 thy people." This at once puts aside the plea for a 
 spiritual sense. We could hardly talk about " rob- 
 bers " in that case. This confirms what ought not to 
 have needed further evidence — that Daniel's people 
 mean the Jewish people, and nothing else. Here we 
 find that some of the Jews form a connexion with one 
 
184 DANIEL. 
 
 of these contending monarclis of the north. These 
 are called here " the robbers of thy people," and take 
 the part of Antiochns, the king of the north, against 
 Ptolemy Philopator, or rather his son; but all came to 
 nought. The Syrian king might hope that, by bringing 
 in this new element, by getting the countenance of 
 the Jews, perhaps God would be with him. But no. 
 They were the robbers of the people — unfaithful to 
 God, and not holding fast their separation from the 
 Gentiles. They, too, might think to establish the 
 vision, " but they shall fall." 
 
 " So the king of the north shall come and cast up 
 a mount, and take the most fenced cities; and the 
 arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his 
 chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to 
 withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do 
 according to his own will, (that is, the king of the 
 north,) and none shall stand before him: and he shall 
 stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be 
 consumed." Another remarkable thing that we see 
 here is, that the Spirit of God still holds to the impor- 
 tance of that little strip of land — the territory of 
 Palestine. It was God's gift to God's people. What- 
 ever might be its deplorable condition, it is the 
 glorious land still. God repents not of His purposes: 
 " He will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own 
 land." And if, when it is f question of God's earthly 
 purposes. He thus holds to them, spite of every 
 hindrance, what will He not do for His heavenly 
 people ? Who can doubt that He will bring them to 
 heavenly glory wdth Christ ? 
 
 " He shall also set his face to enter with the 
 strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones 
 with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him 
 the daughter of women corrupting her ; but she 
 shall not stand on his side, neither be for him." 
 This is another attempt at marriage; only it is the 
 converse. It is not now the king's daughter of the 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 185 
 
 south 'coming to the king of the north ; hut the king 
 of the north gives his daughter Cleopatra to the king 
 of the south, hoping that she will maintain Syrian 
 influence at the court of Egypt. That is -what is 
 called here "corrupting her;" because it was plainly 
 contrary to the very essence of the marriage- tie : it 
 was an attempt to use her in order to serve his political 
 purposes. " But she shall not stand on his side, 
 neither be for him." The reasons of state — the inner- 
 most secrets of their hearts, alike come out here. 
 
 There is another disgrace, which is not only known 
 to God, but is made known to His servants. " After 
 this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall 
 take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall 
 cause the reproach offered by him to cease ; with- 
 out his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon 
 him." That is, Antiochus meddles with Greece, 
 and takes many of the isles; but this other prince, 
 for his own behalf, takes up the contest against the 
 king of the north. Here we have the entrance upon 
 the scene of a new power — the first allusion to the 
 Romans. A Roman consul is meant by the prince 
 that comes on his own behalf against the king of 
 the north. He will not allow Greece to be touched. 
 It was one of the Scipios who interfered. " Then 
 he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own 
 land ; but he shall stumble and fall and not be 
 found." He is obliged to return to Syria, but he 
 shall stumble and fall. 
 
 " Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes, 
 in the glory of the kingdom," The Romans, who de- 
 feated the father, obliged his son to raise a heavy 
 annual tribute. That was all that the poor man did 
 during his life. " Then shall stand up in his estate a 
 
 raiser of taxes but within few days he shall 
 
 be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle." He 
 was killed by one of his own sons. " And in his 
 estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall 
 
186 DANIEL, 
 
 not give the honour of the kingdom; but he' shall 
 come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flat- 
 teries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be 
 overthrown from before him, and shall be broken; 
 yea, also, the princes of the covenant. And after the 
 league made with him he shall work deceitfully; for 
 he shall come up and shall become strong with a small 
 people." This is the man who typifies the last king of 
 the north. Called in profane history Antiochus Epi- 
 phanes, he was morally abominable, but most notorious 
 for his interference with the Jews; first by flattery and 
 corruption, and afterwards by violence. This is the 
 man the Spirit of God dwells most on, because he 
 most meddled with Israel, the glorious land, and the 
 sanctuary. He it was who enforced idolatry in the 
 temple itself, setting up an image to be worshipped 
 even in the holy of holies. Therefore it is that he 
 acquires importance. Otherwise he was a man little 
 known, except for daring wickedness. Nothing can be 
 more simple. His history consists of intrigues, first 
 against the king of the south, and then against the 
 Jews; and of various expeditions, in some of which 
 he was successful at first but afterwards entirely defeated. 
 " He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest 
 places of the province; and he shall do that which his 
 
 fathers have not done, nor his father's fathers 
 
 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against 
 the king of the south with a great army; and the 
 king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a 
 Yerj great and mighty army; but he shall not stand." 
 These kings meet and plan against each other, but 
 all is vain. " Both these kings' hearts shall be to do 
 mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but 
 it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the 
 time appointed. Then shall he return into his land 
 with great riches; and his heart shall be against the 
 holy covenant ; and he shall do exploits and return to 
 his own land (i.e., in the north). At the time ap' 
 
CHAPTERS X., XL 187 
 
 pointed he shall return, and come toward the south ; 
 but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.'* 
 Then we have farther details. 
 
 " For the ships of Chittim shall come against him.*' 
 There are these indefatigable Romans that come in 
 again. They had dealt with his father when he had 
 made an attack upon Greece; and now that the son 
 had his hand over the throat of his prej, the Roman 
 consul came, and at once forbad his doing anything 
 further. He even drew a circle round him, as is well 
 known, when the artful king wished to gain time to 
 evade. The answer was demanded before he stepped 
 out of the circle, and he was obliged to give it. This 
 was a death-blow to all his policy. He went home a 
 miserable, defeated man, with a heart vexed and infuri- 
 ate, though putting on an humble appearance before 
 the Romans. What should hinder him from wreaking 
 out the anger of his heart upon the Jews ? As it is 
 said here, " Therefore shall he be grieved, and return 
 and have indignation against the holy covenant: so 
 shall he do ; he shall even return and have intelligence 
 with them that forsake the holy covenant." Poor as 
 the Jews were, they were witnesses for God upon the 
 earth ; and Antiochus hastens to pour out his fury upon 
 whatever bore a testimony to God among them. This 
 was his ruin, and brought God's vengeance upon him. 
 " He shall even return and have intelligence with them 
 that forsake the holy covenant," i.e., with the apos- 
 tates of the Jews. " And arms shall stand on his part, 
 and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and 
 shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place 
 the abomination that maketh desolate." He will put 
 an end to the Jewish service, and will set up an idol, 
 " the abomination that maketh desolate," in the tem- 
 ple of Jerusalem. It is a mistake to suppose that 
 this refers to the last days. It is only a type of 
 what will take place then. The latter part of the 
 chapter, and the next chapter, do refer to the latter. 
 
188 DANIEL. 
 
 day in the full sense of the word. But here is the step 
 of transition from what is past to the future. 
 
 We come down in regular historical order- to 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, and then meet with a great 
 break. Scripture itself intimates as much. But 
 Antiochus did on a small scale what the great northern 
 king of the latter day will do on a larger one. It is 
 
 said, (v. 35,) "even to the time of the end: 
 
 because it is yet for a time appointed." There God 
 stops. He says, as it were, I have come to the man 
 that shows you in type what is to befall you in the 
 latter days; and so He dwells emphatically upon this 
 king, laying before them the extreme wickedness of 
 his heart and conduct. The Spirit then cuts short 
 the course of the history, and plunges at once into 
 the last scene. This, however, must be reserved for 
 another occasion. What we have seen shows us that 
 whatever may be the general outline of events else- 
 where, God can be, and sometimes is, singularly minute 
 in the details of a prophecy, and no where more so 
 than in this very chapter. And what is the main ob- 
 jection raised by infidels against it? That it must 
 have been written after the events had taken place ! 
 Certain it is, that there is no historian since these 
 times who gives us such an admirable account as we 
 have in these few verses. If I want to know the 
 history of these two contending monarchies, Syria 
 and Egypt, I must look here. How entirely we can 
 confide in the word of God about everything ! It 
 may be an exception to His general rule to dwell 
 upon the kings of the north and of the south, but He 
 does so at times. The great thing on which He be- 
 stows care is the souls of His people. May our 
 hearts answer to the interest He takes in us! 
 
 From the twenty-first verse we have had the account 
 of the king of the north, known in profane history as 
 Antiochus Epiphanes. The Spirit of God has entered 
 
CHAPTERS X,, XI. 189 
 
 into mncli fuller detail in speaking of his history, 
 because his conduct, specially at the close, in meddling 
 with the Jews, and their city, and their sanctuary, 
 furnished the occasion for a type of the last king of 
 the north, who will be found following in his pre- 
 decessors' wake, save that his guilt will be incomparably 
 graver in the sight of God — so flagrant indeed, that 
 His judgment can tarry no longer. This accounts for 
 a circumstance that has often perplexed the students 
 of Daniel's prophecy. We read of an abomination of 
 the desolation in the predicted account of Antiochus 
 (xi. 31) ; and it has been commonly supposed that our 
 Lord refers to this in Matt. xxiv. 15. Those who 
 looked for the future fulfilment of this abomination 
 have sought to reconcile it with the facts by the 
 assumption, that the Spirit of God must have branched 
 off to the future personage that Antiochus represented. 
 But in my judgment there is no need for anything 
 so unnatural. Antiochus Epiphanes was only a type, 
 and verse 31 does not go beyond his history, save 
 as a foreshadowing. 
 
 In other words, to the end of verse 31 all is strictly 
 historical — typical, of course, of the future, but 
 nothing more. And therefore the answer to the 
 difficulty that some find in our Lord's quoting, as 
 they suppose, Dan. xi. 31, is really as plain as possible. 
 He does not quote this verse. The passage He refers 
 to is in chap. xii. In chap. xii. 11, ycu will find an 
 expression similar to this. " And from the time that 
 the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the 
 abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall 
 be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." There 
 we have a defined date, which connects this last setting 
 up of the desolating abomination with the deliverance 
 our Lord predicts in Matt, xxiv.; for Jacob's most 
 fiery trial is that which just precedes his deliverance. 
 
 Now there are more reasons than one for believing 
 this passage in Dan. xii. to be what our Lord cites. 
 
190 DANIEL. 
 
 Some of them depend upon considerations more fit 
 for the study than for public ministry. But the sum 
 of the matter is, that the expressions the Holy Ghost 
 employs, in chap. xi. 31 and in chap. xii. 11, dilfer. 
 In chap. xi. 31 it means the abomination of him that 
 desolates, or of the desolator. Whereas, in chap. xii. 
 11, the true meaning is that which is given in our 
 Lord's words — not the abomination of him that 
 maketh desolate, but " the abomination of desolation;" 
 which is, I suppose, what is meant in the English 
 version by the words, " that maketh desolate." Thus 
 the two phrases are distinct. Although there is a 
 resemblance between them, there is also a difference; 
 and that difference is enough to show, that our Lord 
 spoke not of the abomination set up by Antiochus, 
 but of that mentioned in chap. xii. Consequently, 
 there is, in fact, no difficulty to be removed; because 
 the desolation spoken of in chap. xi. is past, and 
 the desolation of chap, xii., that our Lord draws 
 attention to, is future. 
 
 That this is so, will appear from other considerations 
 also. Thus, in the verses that follow, we have a state 
 of things distinct from what w^ill be in the future 
 tribulation of Israel. " Such as do wickedly against 
 the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries; but the 
 people that do know their God shall be strong, and 
 do exploits." Now we find from the Revelation, and 
 other parts of Scripture which speak about the future 
 of Israel, that the godly remnant could hardly be said 
 to do exploits. They will suffer; but I do not think 
 that deeds of power thus characterize the blessed 
 ones who are to pass through the dreadful crisis of 
 the future. In the days of Antiochus, it was not so 
 much suffering, but " being strong, and doing exploits" 
 — exactly what was true of the Maccabees and others, 
 v/ho undoubtedly were not so much a band of martyrs 
 as a set of men who roused the spirit of Israel, and 
 resisted the cruel and profane scourge of that day. 
 
CHAPTERS X.J XT. 19t 
 
 Again, we read, " And tliey that understand among 
 the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by 
 the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, 
 many days." There is a long period, observe, of 
 sorrow and trouble, that follows the outburst of 
 courage and prowess against the desolator, and this is 
 still continued in the following verses. " Now, when 
 they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help; 
 but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And 
 some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, 
 and to purge, and to make them white, even to the 
 time of the end ; because it is yet for a time appointed." 
 Clearly, then, these trials are before the time of the 
 end. The Spirit of God is here referring to what has 
 already taken place. Accordingly we have a picture 
 of terrible disaster that goes on, as it is said, " to the 
 time of the end." 
 
 From all this, I infer, then, that the Spirit of God 
 singles out the desolation which then befell the people 
 of Israel, and the defiling of the sanctuary under 
 Antiochus or his generals. This brought vividly out 
 the circumstances of the last days; but, along with 
 them, certain other circumstances were added, which 
 ought not to be expected in those days. In other 
 words, we arrive at what may be called the long and 
 dreary blank that severs the past history of Israel, and 
 the struggles in their land against neighbouring 
 aggressors, from the great crisis of the last days. 
 This is where the true break occurs. Certain disasters 
 were to go on '' to the time of the end; because it is 
 yet for a time appointed." There is no place in the 
 chapter where the interruption of the history so well 
 fits in as after verse 35. 
 
 But now, in verse 36, we have another person 
 abruptly introduced into the scene. We are not told 
 who he was, or whence he came; but the character 
 that is given of him, the scene that he occupies, the 
 history that the Spirit of God enters into in con- 
 
192 DANIEL. 
 
 nexion witli him — all declare, too plainly, tliat it is the 
 terrible king who will set himself up in the land of 
 Israel in personal antagonism to the Messiah of Israel, 
 the Lord Jesus. He it was of whom our Lord spoke, 
 when He said that, if they refused Him who had come 
 in His Father's name, they would 'receive another 
 coming in his own name. Nor is this the only passage 
 of Scripture, where this same false Christ, or rather 
 Antichrist (for there is a difference between the terms), 
 is described as " the king." Not only are there dif- 
 ferent references to him under other epithets, but in the 
 greatest and most comprehensive prophecy of Scripture, 
 Isaiah, like Daniel, introduces " the king," as if he 
 must he known at once. In chap. xxx. we have an 
 enemy of Israel called the Assyrian. Doubtless, 
 looking at past history, Sennacherib was their great 
 head in that day. But he only furnished the oppor- 
 tunity to the Spirit of God to bring out the future 
 and final adversary of Israel. His fall is here brought 
 before us. " For through the voice of the Lord, shall 
 the Assyrian be beaten down who smote with a rod. 
 And in every place where the grounded staff shall 
 pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall 
 be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking 
 will He fight with it." After the end of that 
 victory there will be exceeding joy for Israel; instead 
 of the train of sorrow, which most victories hring, 
 there follows unfeigned gladness before the Lord, 
 " It shall be with tabrets and harps." For the 
 enemy there will be proportionate misery. Something 
 still more awful and unending than temporal de- 
 struction falls upon the proud foe. " For Tophet 
 is ordained of old, yea, for the king it is prepared: 
 He hath made it deep and large; the pile there- 
 fore is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, 
 like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." In our 
 version there is a singular obscurity, remarked by 
 another, in this verse. At first sight it might appear 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 19S 
 
 that the Assyrian and " the king " were the same 
 person. The true rendering is, " For the king also it 
 is prepared " — that is, Tophet is prepared for the 
 Assyrian, but besides, for the king also. Just as in 
 our passage in Daniel, we have the Assyrian or king 
 of the north on the one hand, and " the king " on the 
 other. The same frightful end awaits them both. 
 But I only refer to this now for the purpose of showing, 
 that the expression, " the king," is not unprecedented 
 in Scripture, and that it applies to a notorious person- 
 age the Jews were taught in prophecy to expect. 
 God, in judicial retribution for their rejection of the 
 true Christ, would give them up ty receive the Anti- 
 christ. This is " the king." He would arrogate to 
 himself the royal rights of the true king, the Anointed 
 of God. Tophet was prepared for the king of the 
 north, and also for " the king." 
 
 But this is not all. In Isaiah Ivii. we have him 
 introduced quite as unexpectedly. In chap Iv. are 
 shown the moral qualities that God will produce in 
 his people. In chap. Ivii. He shows us the fear- 
 fully iniquitous state then also found in Israel. And 
 in that day God will no longer endure anything but 
 reality. Forms of piety, covering uncleanness and 
 ungodliness, will have passed away. There 'Hhe 
 king" is suddenly introduced to us (v. 9). "Thou 
 wentest to the king with ointment, aud didst increase 
 thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, 
 and didst debase thyself even unto hell." To have to 
 do with him was to debase oneself unto hell. No 
 wonder that for "the king also" Tophet was prepared. 
 This shows that, before the mind of Israel from the 
 first, there was one that the Spirit of God led them 
 to expect to reign over the land in the last days, who 
 is called " the king." 
 
 Thus at once is furnished a most important clue to 
 Dan. xi. We are come to the time of the end. The 
 blank is closed — the long dark night of Israel's dis- 
 o 
 
194 , DANIEL. 
 
 pei'sion is well-iiigh over. Tlie Jews are in the land. 
 In what condition? Are they under Christ? Alas! 
 there is another and a terrible scene that must first 
 be enacted there. " The king" that we have read--of 
 is there, and the course he pursues is just what we 
 might expect from the landmarks of the Holy Ghost. 
 " The king shall do according to his will." Ah ! are 
 any of us sufficiently aware what a fearful thing it is 
 to be the doers of our own will? Here is the end of 
 it. It was the first great characteristic of sin from 
 the beginning. It is what Adam did, and the fall of 
 the world was the immediate result. Here is one 
 who at that day may seem to be the loftiest and most 
 influential of Adam's sons. But he does " according 
 to his will." And nothing worse. Are we to read 
 such a history as this without moral profit to our 
 own souls? To forget what an evil thing it is ever 
 to be the doers of our own Avill ? Let none suppose 
 that, because they may be in a position to rule, they 
 are therefore outside the danger. Alas! it is not so: 
 no one thing so unfits a person for righteous rule as 
 the inability to obey. It is good first to know v/hat 
 it is to be subject. Oh ! may it strike deep into all 
 our hearts, that " the king," the Antichrist, is first 
 stamped as one doing his own will. May it test us 
 how far we are seeking ours ! — how far, under any 
 circumstances, we are doing, or allowing anything, 
 that we would not wish e/ery soul in this world to 
 see — perhaps even those that are nearest to us. Alas ! 
 one knows, from experience and observation, the diffi- 
 culty and danger in these things from one's own heart. 
 Yet there is no one thing more contrary to that Christ 
 whom we have learnt. We are sanctified " unto the 
 obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 
 It is not only to the blessing, in the sprinkling of the 
 blood, but to the obedience of Jesus Christ — to the 
 same spirit and principle of obedience; for that is the 
 meaning of the expression. We are not like the Jews 
 
CHAPTERS X., xr. 195 
 
 who were put under the law, and whose obedience had 
 the character of obligation to do such and such things 
 under penalty of death. We are already alive unto 
 God, conscious of the blessedness in which we stand, 
 and awakened to see the beauty of the will of God; 
 for His will it is which has saved and sanctified us. 
 This is our calling, and our practical work here below. 
 Christians have no other business, properly speaking, 
 than to do the will of another. We have to do God's 
 will according to the character of the obedience of 
 Christ — as sons delighting in the will of the Father. 
 It does not matter what we may have to do. It may 
 be one's natural daily occupation. But do not make 
 two individuals of yourselves — with one principle in 
 your business or family, and another for the Church 
 and worship of God. Never allow such a thought. 
 We have Christ for everything and every day. Christ 
 is not a blessing for us merely when we meet together 
 or are called to die; but if we have Christ, we have 
 Him for ever, and from the first moment we are 
 emancipated from doing our own will. This we 
 learn is death ; but it is gone now in Christ's death. 
 We are delivered, for we are alive in Him risen. 
 But what are we delivered for? To do the will of 
 God. We are sanctified unto the obedience of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 As for " the king," you have in him the awful 
 principle of sin which has always been at work, but 
 which here exceeds all bounds. The moment has 
 come when God will remove the providential checks 
 which, up to that time. He will have put upon men, 
 when Satan will be allowed to bring about all his 
 plans ; and that, too, in the very land whereon the eyes 
 of God rest continually. 
 
 " The king shall do according to his own will, and 
 he shall exalt himself and magnify himself " — not only 
 above every man, but " above every god." And it is 
 not only that he takes his place above these so-called 
 
196 DANIEL. 
 
 gods, but " he shall speak marvellous things against 
 the God of gods." And, strange to say, (if one did 
 not know the perfect wisdom of God, and could not 
 wait for His counsels to be matured,) in spite of his 
 fearful profanity, " he shall prosper till the indigna- 
 tion be accomplished ; for that that is determined shall 
 be done." The clause contains a word that gives us 
 the key to the passage. For some have found immense 
 difficulties in this portion of the word of God. Many 
 have transported into this verse the Pope of Rome, 
 others Mahomet, or Buonaparte. But here we find 
 that " the king" is to prosper till the indignation be 
 accomplished. What, or about whom? Has God 
 indignation against His Church ? Never. This is 
 the time, too, of God's patience with man — not of His 
 indignation. With whom, then, is it connected ? 
 The w^ord of God is perfectly plain. It is when 
 dealing with Israel that God speaks of indignation: 
 I have already shown this fully from Isa. v. — x,, xiv., 
 and other passages, as it is entirely confirmed by the 
 whole nature of the revelation here. For we read of 
 one that would be the king of Israel — not in Con- 
 stantinople or Rome, but — in Palestine. And the time 
 is a future outburst of indignation against Israel in 
 the promised land. He (the false king) shall prosper 
 till the indignation be accomplished. Neither shall he 
 regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of 
 women. The expression, " the desire of women," 
 clearly, to my mind, refers to Christ — the One to 
 whom all Jews were looking forward, and whose birth 
 must have been above all things desired by Jewish 
 women. It is plain from the connexion that such is 
 the true meaning. For it occurs between " the God 
 of his fathers" (Jehovah) and " any god." Nothing 
 is less likely than, if it had merely referred to natural 
 relationships, that it w^ould have been thus placed. It 
 was, probably, from the wish to apply this to the pope 
 that such an interpretation has found currency. But 
 
CHAPTERS X., xr. 197 
 
 let us only understand that the prophecy concerns 
 Israel and their land, and all is plain. " He shall not 
 regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of 
 women." Christ is distinguished from "the God of 
 his fathers," perhaps, because the Son was to become 
 incarnate. But Christ is regarded no more than the 
 God of his fathers — an expression, by the way, which 
 implies that he himself is a Jew. It is " the God of 
 his fathers." " For he shall magnify himself above 
 all. But in his estate shall he honour the god of 
 forces." It is not that he goes forward as Antiochus 
 did, trying to force Jupiter Olympus upon the Jews ; 
 but he adopts a new superstition. This also disproves 
 the reference to the Syrian king, who was a Gentile. 
 Here it is a Jew, who will take the place of the Christ, 
 and who, of course, regards neither the true Christ 
 nor Jehovah. It is a self-exalting personage who 
 opposes the true God, i.e., who equally sets aside the 
 superstitions of men and the faith of God's people. 
 Self-exaltation is his marked feature. 
 
 But this is not all. The Antichrist will be infidel, 
 but not merely infidel. He will have rejected the 
 God of Israel, and the Messiah. Nor will he honour 
 any of the gods of the Gentiles. But even this man, 
 although he sets himself up as the true God upon the 
 earth, will, for all that, have some one to whom he 
 bows and causes others to bow along with himself. The 
 human heart, even in Antichrist, cannot do without an 
 object of idolatry. So, in ver. 38, there is this appa- 
 rent inconsistency that comes out in the Antichrist. 
 " But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces." 
 He makes a god, as well as setting himself up to be 
 God. " A god whom his fathers knew not shall he 
 honour with gold and silver, and with precious stones, 
 and pleasant things." It is entirely an invention of 
 his own. More than that. He will divide the land 
 among his adherents. " He shall cause them to rule 
 over many, and shall divide the land for gain." Such, 
 
198 DANIEL. 
 
 then, is God's account of the king that will be found 
 in Palestine in the last days. And it is plain that 
 this last verse is a most conclusive proof that he is in 
 Palestine reigning. It is " the land." The Spirit-T)f 
 God never so speaks of any other country. It was 
 that land which was nearest to God — a sort of centre 
 for all others. 
 
 Then we have a chanp^e in the history. " And at 
 the time of the end shall the king of the south push 
 at him." This confirms what was said before — that 
 " the king" is found " at the time of the end." Then 
 ''shall the king of the south push at him: and the 
 king of the north shall come against him like a whirl- 
 wind, with chariots and with horsemen, and with 
 many ships." The Spirit of God had long before 
 spoken about the kings of the north and of the south. 
 It was important to show, that at the time of the end 
 these powers will have successors, who will make their 
 push at "the king" in the Holy Land. " The king of 
 the south" — that is, Egypt — and " the king of the 
 north" — that is, the holder of the present Syrian 
 possessions of the Sultan — these two persons shall 
 make a movement against " the king." Not that 
 they have a common policy: on the contrary, they 
 seem bitter enemies one of another. But " the king " 
 so exalts himself, arrogating to liimself such pre- 
 tensions in the Holy Land, that God permits the final 
 catastrophe to arrive. The king of the south comes 
 first, and then the king of the north, who appears to 
 be the great military and naval leader of the east in 
 those days. " The king of the north shall come 
 against him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horse- 
 men, and with many ships ; and he shall enter into 
 the countries, and shall overflow and pass over." *' He 
 shall enter also into the glorious land." This can be no 
 other land than that of Israel. The king is there. 
 The northern king is a totally different person, an 
 antagonist of " the king," as well as the king of the 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 199 
 
 south. The Spirit of God having introduced " the 
 king," without telling us whence he came, now drops 
 that personage without telling us what became of him. 
 His frightful destiny is shown us fully in other scrip- 
 tures. But it was important to introduce him as an. 
 episode in chap, xi., for the purpose of showing the 
 last great conflict between the kings of the north and 
 of the south. Accordingly he drops " the king," and 
 the rest of the chapter is occupied with the king of 
 the north. He not only enters the glorious land, but 
 he goes on with conquests elsewhere. " Many coun- 
 tries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of 
 his hand, even Edom and Moab and the chief of the 
 children of Ammon." We find from Isaiah xi. that 
 this is a very notable fact. These borderers lived on 
 the outskirts of the Holy Land. God so orders that, 
 if they escape the king of the north, they are to be 
 ravaged by the triumphant Israelites. God will not 
 permit that the early and bitter enemies of Israel 
 should meet with their righteous retribution from the 
 hands of any but the people whom they had so sought 
 to oppose and injure. Accordingly, it would appear 
 from Isaiah, that, a very little after, the Israelites 
 execute God's judgment on them. 
 
 " He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the 
 countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 
 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold 
 and of silver, and over all the precious things of 
 Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be 
 at his steps." From this we learn, that the king of 
 the north is not acting as a colleague with the king of 
 the south. He proceeds down to the south, where, it 
 would appear, (ver. 43,) there will be a great develop- 
 ment of material prosperity, whether from the re- 
 fiources of the land itself, or more probably from its 
 becoming the great emporium of western and eastern 
 commerce in that part of the world. " But tidings 
 out of the east and out of the north shall trouble 
 
200 DANIEL. 
 
 him." It is when he is down in the south, beyond 
 Pale^stine, that he hears these rumours of perplexity 
 in the north and east. He had come himself from 
 the north, and was the conqueror over the east 
 also; and now he has tidings from these quarters which 
 agitate him. He hastens back from the land of Egypt 
 and reaches Palestine. " And he shall plant the 
 tabernacles of his palaces between the seas [that is 
 between the Mediterranean and the Dead seas] in the 
 glorious holy mountain : yet he shall come to his end, 
 and none shall help him." This is the doom of 
 the once victorious king of the north — not of " the 
 king " who was introduced by the way to show us 
 the occasion of the final struggle between the north 
 and south. 
 
 I would now desire to inquire whether there be not 
 other Scriptures of interest to connect with what we 
 have just been looking at. In the close of Zechariah, 
 we shall find information of great interest. Just a 
 word or two first on the end of chap. xi. The Spirit 
 of God there says, " Woe to the idol shepherd that 
 leaveth the flock." This I conceive is clearly the 
 Antichrist — "the king^." For, looking at verse 16, 
 we learn that this idol shepherd is in the land. " Lo, 
 I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not 
 visit them that be cut off, neither shall seek the young 
 one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that 
 standeth still; but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, 
 and tear their claws in pieces." This utter selfishness, 
 and self- exaltation, and spoiling the flock, instead of 
 feeding it and carrying the lambs in his bosom, is in 
 frightful contrast with Christ, the Good Shepherd. 
 Thus the false shepherd. Antichrist, is to be raised up 
 in the land of Israel, and there he does not spare the 
 flock of God. 
 
 But in chap. xii. we have another power. It is 
 said, in verse 2, " Behold I will make Jerusalem a 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 201 
 
 cup of trembling unto all the people round about, 
 •when they shall be in the siege both against Judah 
 and against Jerusalem." There are nations gathering 
 against Jerusalem. Just as in Dan xi., the king of 
 the north comes down, and the king of the south. 
 Nations assemble against Jerusalem while this idol 
 shepherd is there. Jerusalem and the Jews are the 
 object of attack. " And in that day will I make 
 Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people ; all that 
 burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, 
 though all the people of the earth be gathered to- 
 gether against it." Victory seems to incline to the 
 assailants of Israel. But none can then harden them- 
 selves against them and prosper, because the Lord 
 will have identified Himself with them in that day. 
 '•' In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse 
 with astonishment, and his rider with madness ; and 
 I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah;" 
 and then we have the way in which the Lord will 
 defend His people in that day. But what may make 
 it still plainer is that which we read in chap. xiv. 2, 
 " For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to 
 battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses 
 rifled, and the women ravished; and half the city 
 shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the 
 people shall not be cut off from the city." Here we 
 have additional disclosures that you would not have 
 gathered from chap. xii. Thus we learn that " the 
 
 city shall be taken and half of the city 
 
 shall go forth into captivity ;" evidently distinguishing 
 this future siege from the past. When the Chaldeans 
 took the city, they carried all away captive. When 
 the Romans took it, all they spared were made 
 prisoners. Here we liave another siege, in which 
 half will be taken and the other half not. And if 
 anything can more clearly mark off the future from 
 the past, it is that the nations, having taken half of 
 the city, will not pursue their victory farther. Why ? 
 
202 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 " Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those 
 nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And 
 His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of 
 Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east." Who 
 can pretend that this has ever been accomplished? 
 Who can say that the Lord has thus come and stood 
 upon the Mount of Olives ? How can you reconcile 
 the past with such a statement as this ? The Lord 
 has never been on Jerusalem's soil as a conqueror since 
 that day. Was it thus when Titus besieged it ? Do 
 you try to explain it away as merely a providential 
 deliverance ? But, I ask, were they delivered then ? 
 They were taken captive. Jerusalem, to this day, 
 remains trodden down of the Gentiles, and must, till 
 the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. But the passage 
 indicates the times of the Gentiles closing in, the end 
 of Gentile oppression. When this day is verified, 
 and the Lord goes forth to fight against those 
 nations. His feet shall stand upon the Mount of 
 Olives. And, as a mark that this is not to be allego- 
 rized, we find that the Spirit adds, that the Mount of 
 Olives is to split in twain — an outward physical proof 
 that the Lord God has planted His feet there. *' The 
 Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof to- 
 ward the east and toward the west, and there shall be 
 a very great valley: and half of the mountain shall 
 remove toward the north, and half of it toward the 
 south." " Ye shall flee to tne valley of the mountain," 
 — that is, it will form a valley between the two — " for 
 the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel. . . . 
 and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints 
 with thee." There, again, we find a most clear 
 proof that there is a future siege of Jerusalem, and 
 that this siege will be characterized by two attacks. 
 The first attack will be successful against Israel; half 
 the city will be taken, and all the miseries of a fright- 
 ful siege will follow, as far as half the city is concerned ; 
 but the other half is reserved for the Lord, who will 
 
CHAPTERS X., XT. 203 
 
 bring the third part through the fire. He will put 
 Himself at their head, and crush all the nations of 
 the earth that come together against Jerusalem. 
 Thus the second attack will be to the ruin of those 
 that make it. If we connect this with Daniel, how 
 plain is the additional light that we get! The king of 
 the north first comes down when the king of the 
 south is pushing at " the king" in the Holy Land. 
 There is a simultaneous assault made upon Israel, to 
 destroy the people in the land, who, alas ! deserve it. 
 But in the midst of evil there \vill be a godly seed. 
 God will employ these assailants to do the work of 
 ths executioner. The wncked will be taken away; 
 and, when God has purged those that remain, there 
 will come another scene. The king of the north, 
 having been successful in his first attack, pursues his 
 way towards Egypt, against the king of the south. 
 He comes there, but tidings from the north and east 
 trouble him, and he returns to his own destruction. 
 
 Meanwhile, we may ask, what is become of " the 
 king ? " Has he been destroyed in the collision 
 between the kings of the north and of the south, that 
 had taken place in the land ? No. What then is 
 become of him ? How does he fall ? " By the bright- 
 ness of the appearing of the Lord" from heaven. He 
 is reserved for the hand of God Himself. He will be 
 cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 
 " For the king also it is prepared." Thus we have 
 the Old Testament and the New giving us one con- 
 current testimony. It will be by no ordinary doom 
 of ruined man that he will perish. It is God de- 
 parting from all His ordinary ways of dealing with 
 the wicked. Men have been from time to time taken 
 up in the grace of God from this world without 
 passing through death ; and there are men for whom 
 it is destined of God to be sent down alive into hell — 
 the terrible contrast of those, who are alive when 
 Christ comes, waiting to be taken up to heaven. It 
 
204 DANTEL. 
 
 will be so witli that wicked one, tlie idol shepherd — 
 " the king" — and not with hira only. The king of the 
 north is a bolder enemy still. " The king" has set 
 himself up in the land, corrupting and apostatizing 
 the people of Israel. He has met with his doom. If 
 only the slightest word of the judgment that had been 
 executed in the land were to reach the king of the 
 north, we can understand how he would be troubled. 
 Whether that is the cause of his hasty return to 
 Palestine, or because the ten tribes were in movement, 
 I do not pretend to say. We are not told. But 
 he comes up to the Holy Land again; and, this time, 
 it is to fall under the immediate hand of God — 
 not with the sword of a mighty man, nor wdth the 
 sword of a mean man. Not man, but God, will exe- 
 cute the vengeance upon him. Here we find the 
 reason why there were two attacks. After his first 
 assault on Jerusalem, he has gone down into the 
 south and has pursued certain conquests there. Ex- 
 cited by the tidings referred to, he hastens to return, 
 hoping now to have it all his own way. " Then shall 
 the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as 
 when He fought in the day of battle." 
 
 But I must also ask you to look, before closing, 
 at one or two other passages. Take Isa. xxviii. 
 and xxix., where you will find abundant confirma- 
 tion of all that I have touched upon in this closing 
 scene. In Isa. xxviii. you will observe that there are 
 two great powers of evil connected with the land of 
 that day — one '' the king," who is in relation with the 
 people, and in the land; the other the king of the north, 
 who comes down as an antagonistic power.* We 
 
 * Mr. Elliott {HorcB Apoc, 5th ed., vol. iv., p. 735, note 4,) 
 makes it to be an essential part (!) of the futurist theory that 
 the Antichrist is, during part of the last three and a half years, 
 to be occupied in besieging Jerusalem fi*om without. That 
 some writers, ancient and modern, have fallen into this stu- 
 pendous mistake, is plain" enough; but Mr. E.'s assertion is 
 totally unfounded. The truth is (and Mr. E. ought to know 
 
CHAPTERS X., SI. 205 
 
 stall find both these in this chapter. First, Ephraim 
 is mentioned, and the Lord pronounces woe npon 
 *' the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is 
 
 a fading flower Behold the Lord hath a mighty 
 
 and strong one, which, as a tempest of hail, and a 
 destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters over- 
 flowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand." 
 There, I apprehend, you have the inroad of the Assyrian 
 as the dreadful storm from the north, that would 
 break forth upon Ephraim. If we look at the middle 
 of the chapter, we shall find another thing. We have 
 seen what was the condition of Ephraim, who dwelt 
 in the outskirts of the country. But what was the 
 destiny of Jerusalem, the capital ? " Because ye 
 have said, (ver. 15,) We have made a covenant with 
 death, and with hell are we at agreement." There 
 we have evidently what is connected with " the king" 
 who will be in Jerusalem, and who will form a compact 
 with " the beast," the great imperial power of that day, 
 to whom Satan will have given his throne. There is 
 full harmony between what we have in Isaiah and 
 Revelation and Daniel. " We have made a cove- 
 nant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; 
 when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it 
 shall not come unto us." Mark that. The over- 
 flowing scourge is the king of the north, the outside 
 power that is coming down upon them. They of 
 Jerusalem have made a covenant with death and with 
 hell, (that is, with instruments of Satan) in that day: 
 and they hope by this means to escape the king of the 
 north. I have already shown that " the beast," the great 
 power of the west, will be in connexion with " the king" 
 
 it well), that very many authors, both historical and fu- 
 turist, have been guilty of confounding "the king" with 
 " the king of the north," at the close of Dan. xi. and else- 
 where J but it is false that the error is essential to futurism 
 more than to the Protestant school. Not a few beside myself 
 had seen and avoided this confusion before Mr. E.'s book was 
 written. 
 
206 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 at Jerusalem — that the western parts will be the 
 great seat of the beast — that he will command all 
 Europe that properly belonged to the Roman Empire. 
 When that empire is re-organized, he will be the 
 main instrument of using its strength. ''The king" 
 will have made a covenant with him; or, as it is said 
 in chap, ix., he, that is, the Roman prince, will make 
 a covenant with the mass of the Jews. At the close, 
 both are found in Jerusalem, fighting against the 
 Lord and His saints coming from heaven. They will 
 find their supposed strength in this covenant, but it 
 will not stand. The overflowing scourge (the As- 
 syrian) sweeps on, and half the city of Jerusalem is 
 taken. How marvellously does Scripture hang to- 
 gether ! Then (Isa. xxviii. 16) comes in the reference 
 to the Lord's laying a foundation-stone in Zion, which 
 is evidently a word for the faithful remnant of that 
 day, however true for us who believe now. 
 
 Isaiah xxiv. is the last portion to which I wish to 
 refer. There we have the closing desolation of the 
 city. " Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David 
 dwelt, o . . . .Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall 
 be heaviness and sorrow : and it shall be unto me as 
 Ariel. And I will camp against thee round about, 
 and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I 
 will raise forts against thee." This is the siege 
 spoken of in Zechariah. " And thou shalt be brought 
 down and shalt speak out of the ground," &c. That is 
 their condition when they are desolated. But mark, 
 in verse 5: " Moreover the multitude of thy strangers 
 
 shall be like small dust Thou shalt be visited of 
 
 the Lord of Hosts with thunder and with earthquake 
 
 And the multitude of all the nations that fight 
 
 against Ariel and that distress her, shall be as 
 
 a dream of a night-vision." The Lord has gone forth 
 and fought with those nations as He fought in the day 
 of battle. Sufficient evidence is thus brought from 
 yarious parts of the word of God, which entirely falls 
 
CHAPTERS X., XI. 207 
 
 in with, and throws light upon, the very interesting 
 portion of Daniel now before us. All concur in 
 showing most clearly that there is a terrible future for 
 the apostate Jews and their western associates; and no 
 less terrible for their confederate eastern adversaries. 
 The covenant with hell will not stand. When the 
 great powers of the world will have, apparently, 
 swept all before them, and have gathered for the 
 last great struggle before Jerusalem, God will take 
 that opportunity for dealing with them after His long 
 term of patience. It will be the closing scene. They 
 will think that universal monarchy is to be in their 
 hands; but it will be God's day for summoning them 
 to judgment. Here I speak of a judgment of nations 
 and of kings — not of the dead before the great white 
 throne. (Rev. xx. 11 — 15.) 
 
 God is about to deal with the earth — with men in 
 the midst of all their plans. The regeneration of the 
 world will be the great day when the Lord, having 
 weeded out of Israel the transgressors, and used 
 " the king" himself, and the judgment that fell upon 
 him, to separate the true ones of Judah from the 
 wicked, will cause the hour to chime when the account 
 must be settled with the nations. This appears to 
 me to be the simple, straightforward statement of 
 the truth of God that we have here. We are not to 
 suppose it is merely a question of one great power 
 only. There will be different principles at work. 
 And it is an awful thing to think that these lands, 
 where we enjoy such privileges are to be then over- 
 spread with the deepest darkness. The covenant with 
 death and with hell will be because of an alliance 
 made with the highly civilized western world. What 
 a humbling thing for the pride of man ! Civilization 
 in a day that is past did not keep the mightiest minds 
 from degrading idolatry and filthiness. Alas ! we 
 shall have a still worse scene at the close. Christen- 
 dom will end in restored idolatry, in novel false gods, 
 
208 DANIEL. 
 
 in man himself worsMpped as God. Such, I be- 
 lieve, is the predicted future of this age. But love 
 can keep the heart the same from being entangled 
 with all that leads to it — Christ Himself. May 
 v^^e be occupied with Him, not building upon men's 
 foundations, not hoping their hope, not trusting to 
 progress, or even to religion, so called ! If Christ is 
 my object in every tiling, safety is found there, and 
 nowhere else. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The trouble, of which the prophet speaks, at the be- 
 ginning of this chapter, is not a thing long after and 
 distinct from the conflicts described at the end of the 
 preceding one, but, as he says himself, " at that time." 
 So that we have now really come, in looking at the 
 closing events of chap, xi., to the latest period that 
 Daniel brings before us. For it has been often re- 
 marked, that Daniel never enters upon the reign of 
 glory, but just brings us up to that point. He shows us 
 that which will introduce it, gives us the execution 
 of judgment previous to it, without furnishing many 
 details, and tells us of the kingdom of heaven, that is 
 to fill the whole earth, but he does not describe it. 
 The people of the saints, as he calls the Jews, shall 
 have the whole kingdom under heaven. The truth is, 
 that the Spirit of God had already by others most fully 
 entered into the reign of the Messiah over Israel and 
 the blessedness of their portion; and He was about 
 to predict the same subject by others subsequent to 
 the captivity. And this last was of importance. Be- 
 cause He well knew that many would suppose that the 
 return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity was 
 
CHAPTER XII. 209 
 
 the accomplisliment of the prophecy. Therefore great 
 pains were taken in some of the latest prophecies, to 
 show that nothing was farther from the fact and that 
 the blessing of Israel was yet future. They are de- 
 scribed as being in a miserable condition after they 
 return from Babylon; and the Spirit of God launches 
 out into a distant future as the period when Israel are 
 to be really delivered and blessed according to God's 
 mind. The past return was only a pledge of the full 
 restoration which God intended for them. But 
 Daniel does not enter into this time of blessedness. 
 He brings you up to the moment and then closes. 
 His peculiar object was " the times of the Gentiles." 
 This accounts for the remarkable character of his 
 prophecy. He is simply a prophet of the captivity, 
 and of its end. 
 
 In chap, xii., we have what takes place between the 
 judgment of the Gentiles and the ushering of the 
 Jews into their blessing. We have seen " the king " 
 and his wickedness in the Holy Land, and have also 
 heard of the kings from the north and from the south. 
 Whatever may have appeared to be the temporary 
 power of the great leader of the north against the Holy 
 Land, "yet he shall come to his end and none shall 
 help him." Such was his miserable close. 
 
 But now comes an interesting question — What will 
 be the condition of Israel at that time ? The answer 
 is given in these first verses : " And at that time shall 
 Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for 
 the children of thy people." This was the people that 
 Daniel was concerned about. He had no idea of what 
 we call now a Christian people — no notion that thei'e 
 was a time coming, already settled in the counsels of 
 God, when there should no longer be any distinction 
 between Jews and Gentiles, and when both would be 
 formed, by the faith of a crucified Christ, into one 
 body by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. All 
 this was a novelty to Daniel, and the Lord never 
 
210 DANIEL. 
 
 even gives him to anticipate such a state. Not one 
 prophecy in Daniel, nor in any other, reveals it, 
 though many intimate certain particulars which are 
 now realized in it, as we see in Romans ix., x., &;c^, 
 "Thy people" means, simply and solely, the Jewish 
 people. Daniel was rightly and deeply interested in 
 them, as a true Israelite of God should be, that felt 
 for the glory of God connected with His people. Ac- 
 cordingly, the Spirit of God communicates to him, 
 that at that time there should be a turning-point in 
 Israel's history. Instead of mere providential control 
 — Michael resisting this prince or that, he will 
 stand up for them, undertaking their case and putting 
 down definitely their adversaries; but, even then, not 
 •without a fearful struggle. Their defence was his 
 habitual task. ]^ut now he shall stand up to com- 
 plete the great earthly purposes of God in the de- 
 liverance of the Jews. 
 
 " And there shall be a time of trouble, such as 
 never was since there was a nation even to that 
 same time : and at that time thy people shall be de- 
 livered, every one that shall be found written in 
 the book." There we have the important information 
 that at once distinguishes this standing up of Michael 
 from all times that had ever been. So far from de- 
 liverance as yet, the trouble that fell upon the Jews 
 under Titus was more terrible than that which had 
 befallen them under Nebuchadnezzar. What folloAvs 
 then ? That this time of trouble is yet to come. 
 The Spirit of God is here describing that which, having 
 had no answer in the past, must await the future. 
 And, in fact, we have only to look at Jerusalem, and 
 at the present condition of the Jews, to see that this is 
 so. Are they delivered ? On the contrary, there is 
 not a country under the sun but what bears its witness, 
 in one way or another, that they are degraded, and out 
 of the land of their glory, where the Lord's eyes rest 
 continually. But their misery ought to tell him who 
 
CHAPTER XII. ' 211 
 
 has ears to hear, that Jerusalem must yet be called 
 the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be 
 gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem ; 
 when Gentiles shall walk no more after the stubborn- 
 ness of their evil heart; and the house of Judah shall 
 walk with the house of Israel, both settled and united 
 in peace and love in the land given of God for an 
 inheritance to their fathers. 
 
 There are those who regard what is spoken of here 
 as future, but who say, that it must be taken spiritu- 
 ally, and be interpreted of the Church, or God's people 
 now. But, first, it is enough to answer that we have 
 had a long prophecy which was ushered in by the 
 angel to Daniel with the positive announcement that 
 it was what should befall his people in the latter days. 
 This excludes such ideas. Next, observe throughout 
 the prophecy that none but Jews are spoken of as 
 the objects of God's interest up to this time. The 
 Holy Land was in question, and the conflicts of the 
 north and south around it. Under Christianity, there 
 is no such thing as a holy land. It is mere Judaism 
 or heathenism to regard one place as more sacred than 
 another, now that the full light of Christianity has 
 come in. But if there be a land that is in God's 
 purpose glorious, it is Israel's. Only it loses that 
 character during the Gentile calling. There is the 
 revelation of heavenly things now — not of earthly. 
 And therefore, whatever was holy before, in a mere 
 earthly point of view, is passed away for the present, 
 being eclipsed by something brighter. God has other 
 counsels now in view. The ancient people proved 
 themselves to be false and unholy in rejecting their 
 own Messiah. And until they are brought as a nation 
 to Jesus, or, in the words of the Revelation, to " keep 
 the commandments of God, and have the testimony 
 of Jesus Christ" — until a remnant has got some 
 sort of divine knowledge of Christ, God will not own 
 them. Meanwhile, He has turned to another work, 
 
212 DANIEL. 
 
 that of forming the Church, -which is not referred to 
 here. It is a blessed truth that God has gone 
 out in rich mercy to the Gentiles; but what comfort 
 would this be as to what lay so heavily upon the heart-^ 
 of the prophet ? Whereas all is suitable and clear, if 
 we see that his own people are described, and their 
 passage through the terrible scene spoken of here, the 
 eve of their deliverance, and this of God. " There 
 shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since 
 there was a nation even to that same time : and at that 
 time thy people shall be delivered," &c. 
 
 I will show that this is not the testimony of one 
 sacred writer only, but of several. Take the sorrowing 
 prophet Jeremiah, chap. xxx. There we have a clear 
 reference to Jacob's great trouble, followed by his 
 mighty deliverance. " These are the words that the 
 Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah." 
 Who will contest the meaning of that ? " Thus saith 
 the Lord, We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, 
 and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a 
 man doth not travail with child ? Wherefore do I see 
 every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in 
 travail, and all faces are turned into paleness ? " It is a 
 state of things beyond all that is ordinarily reasonable. 
 Men filled with the deepest anguish, depicted even in 
 their faces, and their courage fled in presence of fear- 
 ful trouble. The seventh verse explains it. " Alas ! 
 for that day is great, so that none is like it." As in 
 Daniel, it is a time unprecedented. " It is even the 
 time of Jacob's trouble ; but he shall be saved out of 
 it." Jacob, " that w^orm Jacob," is the name used for 
 the people regarded in their weakness, as Israel is their 
 name of power. It is the time of Jacob's trouble, but 
 he shall be saved out of it. So far it is the same 
 train of thought, in the mind of the Spirit, as we have 
 in Daniel. We have Israel and Judah in question, 
 called by the name that expresses their weakness 
 as exposed to every kind of calamity from with- 
 
CHAPTER xir. 213 
 
 out. It is a day of unparalleled trouble, and the 
 Israel of that day are to be delivered out of it. 
 
 If I were to look through Isaiah, I might show, 
 from the beginning to the end of the book, the same 
 thing, only more diffused. I need not dwell upon 
 passages so well known. (Chaps, i., ii., x., xiv., xvii., 
 xxii., xxiv. — XXXV., xlix. — Ixvi.) 
 
 But it may be asked, if there be anything from the 
 New Testament to bring forward ? — I have beerf' 
 producing passages from the Old Testament. Can 
 I show you something from the New, giving the in- 
 creased and full light of God through His beloved 
 Son? The thought might arise, as it has indeed, that 
 Christianity sets aside the Jews altogether, not merely 
 during the present economy, but for ever; so that we 
 are to read " the people" merely as the type of those 
 whom God is now forming for His praise. Our Lord 
 Himself decides that question in Matt. xxiv. He 
 shews us that there is a destiny of Israel which 
 Daniel brings before us and which is not to be 
 applied to any other people under the sun. It is their 
 own portion, both in its sorrows and deliverances. 
 The disciples had said, (ver. 3,) " Tell us, when shall 
 these things be ? And what shall be the sign of thy 
 coming and of the end of the age." Observe here that 
 the end of "the age" is the only proper meaning. It 
 has no reference to the last catastrophe of the world as 
 a material system, but to a certain dispensation running 
 out its course in the world, from which the term anov 
 is totally distinct. The Lord warns them that they 
 were in danger of being deceived; that persons were 
 to come pretending to be Christ; that there were to 
 be outward troubles; that His testimony was in no 
 way to change the ordinary current of human affairs, 
 for nation is to rise against nation, and kingdom 
 against kingdom; and, as regarded the physical state 
 of the world, there would be famines and pestilences, 
 and earthquakes. He is there only preparing them 
 
214 DANIEL. 
 
 for a fearful crisis that was coming. " All these are 
 the beginnings of sorrows." " Then shall they deliver 
 you up to be afflicted and shall kill you, and ye shall— 
 be hated of all nations for my name's sake." Up to 
 verse 15, we have general statements. Then He at 
 once narrows the scene to Jerusalem and to the land 
 of Judea. He does not continue the account of the 
 gospel of the kingdom traversing the whole world, but 
 shuts up His view to that strip of ground, where 
 God's people dwelt, and to that city near which He 
 then pronounced this very prophecy. " When ye 
 therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, 
 S23oken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy 
 place, (whoso readeth, let him understand,) " &c. 
 Here we have positive direction to look at the very 
 book that we are examining. The Lord in this part 
 of His discourse was speaking about the same things 
 that Daniel predicted in his prophecy. " Then let them 
 which be in Judea flee into the mountains." 
 
 I ask, can there be a question as to the meaning of 
 these verses ? Does any one doubt what " the holy 
 place " means ? Is it ever used in any other sense 
 than the sanctuary of God at Jerusalem ? The holy 
 place, as a spot on earth, is invariably, in Scripture, 
 the Jewish centre for worshipping God. The abomina- 
 tion of desolation means an idol which should bring 
 in desolation upon the Jews. When this, then, spoken 
 of by Daniel the prophet, stands in the temple, those 
 who heed Christ are to flee. There is not a word 
 about Gentiles here — not a hint about the Church of 
 God as such. Godly people, but Jews, in their own 
 city, are warned, when they see this idol, to flee to 
 the mountains of Judea in the vicinity. " And woe 
 unto them that are with child, and to them that give 
 suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be 
 not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day." It is 
 not at all a Christian but a Jewish scene. The Lord's- 
 day is that which Christians observe. It is the great 
 
CHAPTER XII. 215 
 
 symbol of our recognition of Christ risen, and of onr 
 blessing in Him ; but the Sabbath was a sign between 
 God and Israel. 
 
 " For then (our Lord says) shall be great tribulation, 
 such as was not since the beginning of the world to 
 this time, no, nor ever shall be." Many, I am aware, 
 apply this to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, 
 and to the great calamities that then broke up the Jews. 
 But there is one essential point of difference that ought 
 not to be overlooked. The Jewish people were not 
 delivered then. Whereas, when Daniel's prophecy is 
 accomplished, they are, and must be, delivered — not at 
 a subsequent epoch, but at that time. If Daniel is a 
 true prophet, (and no one who reveres the Lord, and 
 rightly weighs His words, will question it,) it is not 
 that his prophecy failed, but that it remains to be 
 fulfilled. Our Lord distinctly and positively quotes 
 from that prophecy, and from the very chapter (xii.) 
 we are considering. And what does He connect with 
 Israel's deliverance? His own coming as the Son of 
 Man from heaven. Who can say that this has been? 
 The Romans, instead of being broken down in the 
 time of Titus, were allowed to enslave the Jews. 
 These were not then delivered, nor, up to the 
 present moment, have they ever been the masters 
 of their own temple, nor allowed to be in their own 
 land, even as ordinary men. If there is one race 
 more peculiarly proscribed in the Holy Land, it is the 
 Jewish. The Turks, the present possessors of it, have 
 held it for many a long year; and all, whether Cru- 
 saders or Saracens, have agreed to shut out the Jews. 
 So that there has been nothing like the Son of Man 
 coming to deliver Israel. Michael has not stood up 
 for them in that sense yet. 
 
 Thus, what I have shown from the Old Testament is 
 amply confirmed by the New. Prophet after prophet, 
 all distinctly furnish the same outline, i.e., a time of 
 trouble, such as never was before, followed immedi' 
 
216 DANTEL. 
 
 ately by a deliverance such as Israel has never yet 
 enjoyed. It is perfectly plain, as we all believe, that 
 these prophecies are of God, that it is only a question 
 of waiting God's time for Himself to accomplish'^ 
 them to the very letter. As our Lord says in this 
 same chap. xxiv. of Matthew, " Heaven and earth 
 shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." 
 It is not only that the general strain is true, but 
 not one jot nor one tittle shall pass till all be fulfilled. 
 The notion that God has cast away His people, Israel, 
 because He is now in mercy filling up the blank season 
 of their rebellion against the Lord Jesus and the 
 gospel, is distinctly treated in Romans xi., as the off- 
 spring of Gentile conceit. For not only is God able 
 to graft the natural branches into their own olive tree, 
 but when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, all 
 Israel shall be saved according to clear prophecy. 
 They are to become objects of divine saving mercy 
 at the end, as we now; only in their case it will 
 be in their land. " And the Redeemer shall come 
 to Zion," &c. 
 
 If this be so, we have an important key to the 
 prophecy of Daniel. Although the destruction of 
 Jerusalem by the Romans ^vas so near, yet the Lord 
 distinctly looks onward to another time. And what 
 makes it the more remarkable is, that one evangelist 
 does give us the destruction of Jerusalem by the 
 Romans, but also distinguishes it from this future time 
 of trouble. In Luke xxi. is the chief reference of a 
 positively prophetic kind to the Roman destruction 
 of Jerusalem. And mark the difference of the lan- 
 guage: " And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed 
 about with armies." Not a word about the abomina- 
 tion of desolation standing in the holy place. St. 
 Luke passes over this entirely, and introduces what 
 Matthew does not mention — Jerusalem encompassed 
 with armies. " When ye shall see Jerusalem, en- 
 compassed with armies, then know that the desolation 
 
CHAPTER XII. 217 
 
 thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea 
 flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the 
 midst of it depart out," &c. That is, the Lord pre- 
 scribes exactly the same course to be taken by the 
 Jews in Jerusalem, whether at the approaching sack 
 of the city by the Romans (as in Luke), or at the 
 future desolation that should fall upon it (as in 
 Matthew). So far there was an analogy between the 
 two things: the godly were to flee away; they were 
 not to trust to vain hopes of deliverance through 
 some pretended Messiah, but were to know from the 
 lips of the Lord Himself, that Jerusalem was to fall 
 under the hand of the Gentiles. If any wanted to 
 escape, it must be outside Jerusalem. " And let not 
 them that are in the countries enter thereinto." No 
 matter what people may say of the necessity of any 
 keeping their feast, their path of safety is to avoid 
 Jerusalem. There is no deliverance for Israel yet. 
 " For these be the days of vengeance, that all things 
 which are written may be fulfilled." 
 
 Luke, it will be observed, does not say. This is 
 the time of trouble, such as was not since the begin- 
 ning of the world. There is the most surprising 
 perfectness of expression. Luke takes up first the 
 destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and Matthew 
 nothing but the last siege, before the Jews are 
 delivered. " For these be the days of vengeance, that 
 all things which are written may be fulfilled. But 
 woe unto them that are with child, and to them that 
 give suck in those days! For there shall be great 
 distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And 
 they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall 
 be led away captive into all nations." This was not, 
 therefore, the time of Jacob's trouble, when he should 
 be delivered. At the time spoken of by Luke, instead 
 of deliverance, they only fell into the trouble of a 
 captivity, after the troul3le of the war. " Jerusalem 
 «hall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times 
 
218 DANIEL. 
 
 of the Gentiles be fulfilled." That is accomplishing 
 to the present hour. " The times of the Gentiles " 
 are going on still. The Gentiles have always lorded 
 it as yet. The Jews have not got a land or a city" 
 that they can call their own on the face of the earth. 
 Who have their city and their land ? The Gentiles. 
 " The times of the Gentiles" are not expired. " Jeru- 
 salem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the 
 times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." They are its 
 masters, and, as such, they will tread it down till the 
 allotted times are fulfilled — not for ever. Nowhere 
 is it said that this is to go on till the end of time. 
 On the contrary, Gentile dominion over the Jews, is 
 soon to close. We have this in the next verse. 
 
 We have already seen a most regular, orderly setting 
 forth of the troubles that were to befall Jerusalem. 
 And the times of the Gentiles have been running on 
 ever since the days of Titus to the present moment. 
 But in verse 25 begins the closing scene, which is the 
 only thing mentioned in Matt, xxiv., from verse 15 
 and onwards — and this, because of the question put by 
 the disciples, " What shall be the sign of thy coming, 
 and of the end of the age ? " But in Luke they 
 simply ask, " What sign will there be when these 
 things (i.e., the overthrow of the temple) come to 
 pass ? " Accordingly, the Lord gives them the coming 
 up of the Romans; and then He goes on, down the 
 Gentile stream of time, to the end. But Matthew 
 confines himself to the close in answer to the question 
 which he records. This is the simple reason, and 
 nothing can be more beautiful than the way in which 
 the truth comes out. After this in Luke we have the 
 great events when the times of the Gentiles close. 
 " There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, 
 and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, 
 
 with perplexity men's hearts failing them 
 
 for fear, and for looking after those things that 
 are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven 
 
CHAPTER XTI. 219 
 
 shall be shaken. And then shall they see the 
 Son of man coming in a clond, with power and 
 great glory." All this is kept distinct from the past 
 siege. 
 
 People who apply Matt. xxiv. in a tropical way to 
 the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, are obliged to 
 make out that the coming of the Son of man from 
 heaven is a mere figure, representing the providential 
 acting of God through Titus to put down the Jews. 
 But Luke xxi. gives a complete refutation to this 
 idea. For here the Spirit of God shows that Jeru- 
 salem has been taken, and the Gentile times run on: 
 when they are about to expire, the Son of man comes 
 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory — 
 hundreds of years after Titus. The closing scene is 
 brought in as finishing up, or consequent on, the 
 times of the Gentiles. 
 
 But there is more. " And when these things begin 
 to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads: 
 for your redemption draweth nigh." And then, 
 a little further on, (ver. 32,) we find this remark- 
 able expression, " Verily I say unto you. This gene- 
 ration shall not pass away till all be fulfilled." It 
 is a misuse of this term which lias led to a good 
 deal of the confusion on the subject. When does 
 the phrase "this generation" come in? After the 
 Son of man has already come in power and glory — 
 not when they saw Jerusalem compassed with armies. 
 That is an important point to help in determining its 
 true meaning. If " this generation really meant a 
 man's life-time, such a place in the prophecy would 
 be incongruous. The vulgar notion might have been 
 reasonable, if the phrase occurred just at the compass- 
 ing of Jerusalem with armies. But it has no sense if 
 put in after the times of the Gentiles are accomplished. 
 So that " this generation," if taken temporally, must 
 plainly embrace a scope of eighteen centuries at the 
 least. What then, is its true force ? It means 
 
220 DANIEL. 
 
 — what it does very often in Scripture — this Christ- 
 rejecting race of Israel, and not a mere period of 
 time. It is used in a moral sense to describe a race- 
 acting after a particular way, good or evil. Moses, 
 reproaching them, says, " They have corrupted them- 
 selves they are a perverse and crooked gene- 
 ration And he said, I will hide my face from 
 
 them, I will see what their end shall be, for they are a 
 very froward generation." Here, most clearly, their 
 moral condition as a people is meant, and not the time 
 in which this was manifested. In the Psalms w^e have 
 a further key to the proper meaning. Thus, in Psalm 
 xii., *' Thou shalt keep them, Lord; thou shalt 
 preserve them from this generation for ever." If by 
 " generation " were merely meant a term of thirty or 
 forty years, what sense would there be in the words 
 " for ever ? " This refers, not at all to a course of a few 
 years, but to the moral state of a people, and that of 
 the people of Israel. In like manner, the force of the 
 words in St. Luke is quite plain. " This generation 
 shall not pass away till all be fulfilled." The race of 
 Israel still going on in unbelief and rejection of 
 Christ is what the Lord means. He is saying, as it 
 were, I will prepare you for the terrible truth, that 
 this Christ-rejecting generation is to continue till all 
 these things are fulfilled. Apart from prophecy, how 
 could such an issue have bean anticipated ? For it 
 might have been supposed that, while Christianity was 
 going over the whole earth, and making conquests 
 everywhere, if one nation more than another was to be 
 brought under the power of Christ, it must be Israel, 
 loved for the fathers' sake. But no. The Jews are 
 to proceed in the same unbelief. There might be a 
 line of faithful ones among them, but the wicked 
 generation which Christ then denounced shall not 
 pass away till all is fulfilled. And what will follow ? 
 Even as the Psalms say, " the generation to come." 
 Israel will be born again — will have a new heart given 
 
CHAPTER XII. 221 
 
 tliem. Then are they to be the people that shall 
 praise the Lord. 
 
 This, I must add, entirely falls in with the rest of 
 Scripture. For the Lord, under the figure of a 
 fruitless fig-tree, had set forth the then Israel. On 
 that tree He consequently pronounced a curse. When 
 it is said in one of the Gospels that the time of figs 
 was not yet, it means the season of their ripeness or 
 of their ingathering was not yet arrived. Hence the 
 figs could not have been taken from the tree. Had it 
 borne any, they must have been there. It was merely 
 when the figs were still unripe, that our Lord came 
 to seek fruit; but there was not one. There was 
 plentiful profession — leaves, but no fruit. Therefore 
 said He, " Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for 
 ever ! " Such, in figure, is " this generation." But 
 how is that to be reconciled with Israel's being to the 
 praise of the Lord by and by ? Israel must be born 
 again. " This generation" will never produce fruit 
 for the Lord. It is to be destroyed under the judg- 
 ment of God; and a new race will be born. The 
 type of the past makes room for a striking figure 
 of the future. 
 
 From these prophecies that we have looked at, two 
 out of the Old and two out of the New Testament, it 
 is clear that the time of trouble of which Daniel 
 speaks, is entirely future; and that St. Luke dis- 
 tinguishes expressly the time of great distress just 
 about to fall, and which, in fact, has fallen on Jeru- 
 salem, from a closing time of far more intense trouble 
 which is yet to come. We now return to Daniel, with 
 the clear light of other Scriptures from both Testa- 
 ments, shewing God's word to be positive and precise, 
 that Israel must pass through an unheard-of sea of 
 trouble, but out of that they are to be delivered. It 
 is, in fact, the precursor of their great salvation from 
 God. 
 
 Still there was another question unanswered. 
 
222 DANIEL. 
 
 However important Daniel might feel it to know 
 that his countrymen would infallibly be delivered, yet 
 there was another question: — What will be the con- 
 dition of the Jews who are not in the land ? What 
 will become of those not in Jerusalem or in Judea, who 
 consequently are not the immediate objects of the great 
 deliverance wrought there ? The second verse of this 
 chapter answers it. " And many of them that sleep 
 in the dust of the earth shall awake — some to ever- 
 lasting life and some to shame and everlasting con- 
 tempt." Tlie verse is constantly applied to the 
 resurrection of the body ; and it is true that the Spirit 
 founds the figure, which is here used to foreshadow the 
 revival of Israel, upon that resurrection. But it can be 
 shown that it has not the least reference to a bodily 
 resurrection either of us or of Israel. As this may 
 seem difficult to some, I am bound to produce evidence 
 from Scripture that the Holy Spirit uses resurrection 
 as a figure of a blessed restoration from ruin. 
 
 In Isaiah xxvi. you have what I suppose will not be 
 questioned : an account of Israel's trouble — their trou- 
 ble under Gentile lords. In verse 13, it is said, " 
 Lord, our God, other lords besides thee have had 
 dominion over us; but by thee only will we make 
 mention of thy name." That is not by or about the 
 Church, though it may be applied to us ever so fre- 
 quently. We have not got other lords over us — the 
 Jews have. They have had masters over them for 
 thousands of years, and they have still. "But by thee 
 only will we make mention of thy name. They are 
 dead, they shall not live ; they are deceased, they 
 shall not rise." These lords who had dominion over 
 them are gone: they are dead — they shall not rise. Can 
 these words be about literal resurrection ? If it were 
 meant, they must rise like others. It is clearly said of 
 their perishing in this world. That is, the figure of 
 the resurrection is applied. They are gone and shall 
 not be lords over Israel any more. " Therefore hast 
 
CHAPTER XII. 223 
 
 thou visited and destroyed them and made all their 
 memory to perish. Thoii hast increased the nation, 
 Lord ; thou hast increased the nation ; thou art glori- 
 fied." Who can doubt that the passage speaks of Israel 
 only ? " Thou hast removed it far unto all the ends 
 of the earth." Could that be said about the Church ? 
 When the gospel extends itself all over the world, it 
 is the power of love in men — the activity of God's 
 grace going out everywhere. Not so with Israel. 
 They have a central city, where, had they been faith- 
 ful, God would have maintained them ; — so that their 
 removal to the ends of the earth was a divine judg- 
 ment upon them, not a mission of love. " Lord, in 
 trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a 
 prayer when thy chastening was upon them." That 
 was the effect of it. Israel humbles himself. He 
 that had waxed fat and kicked, was now penitent; and 
 the Lord listens to his confession, and looks on his 
 anguish. " Like as a woman with child, that draweth 
 near the time of her delivery, is in pain and crieth 
 out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, 
 Lord." And then in verse 19, the Lord answers. 
 " Thy dead men shall live, my dead body shall they 
 arise." He claims them as His own, even though they 
 had so sinned and were in that deplorable, degraded 
 condition. " My dead body shall they arise." Mark 
 that expression as connected with Daniel. " Awake 
 and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the 
 dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." 
 
 Can it be questioned by any one who has followed the 
 reasons already advanced, that the Spirit is not speak- 
 ing about the Church there, but about Israel, in con- 
 trast with their Gentile lords now prostrate, never to 
 domineer again? Israel, on the contrary, though in 
 the most dismal condition, was only as the dead body 
 which the Lord claims as His own, and as pertaining 
 to Him they shall arise. The resurrection of the body, 
 of the dead, is a blessed and fundamental truth, which 
 
224 DANIEL. 
 
 underlies and is assumed in the prophetic imagery. But 
 the passage speaks of the nation as yet to arise ac- 
 cording to God spiritually, but withal as a nation, too, 
 as the next chapter (Isa. xxvii,), which is the conclusion 
 of the strain, makes yet more evident. Use, enjoy, 
 apply this Scripture as you will, but deny not its strict 
 and primary force. 
 
 Turning to Daniel, now, see what a light is thrown 
 upon the passage. Not only will there be deliverance 
 for the Jews in the Holy Land, who have witnessed all 
 the conflicts between Antichrist and the king of the 
 north, but for many that sleep (that is, many who 
 had not yet come forward, who had been apart from 
 the troubles of their nation, who had been in total 
 obscurity, as it w^ere sleeping in the dust of the earth). 
 *' Many of them shall awake, some to everlasting life, 
 and some to shame and everlasting contempt." The 
 text shows plainly that it is not the resurrection of 
 the just ; because when this takes place, nobody rises 
 to shame and everlasting contempt. The passage has 
 no direct reference to a bodily resurrection, which 
 simply furnishes a figure for the national revival of 
 Israel, who are described as sleeping in the dust, to 
 express the greatness of their degradation. Now they 
 were to awake and sing, according to Isaiah. 
 
 But we must turn to another passage — the clearest, 
 perhaps, of any upon the subject. It is in the pro- 
 phecy of Ezekiel, where, in a most plain prediction of 
 the restoration of Israel, the same figure is used. 
 Isaiah called them a dead body, and spoke of them as 
 dwelling in the dust, from which they were to awake. 
 Daniel also called it an awaking out of their sleep in 
 the dust. Ezekiel goes yet farther, and speaks of 
 them as not only dead, but buried in their graves. 
 Now, if it can be proved that this does not refer to a 
 literal bodily resurrection, but to a national restoration 
 of Israel, the chain of evidence will be complete. 
 That it is so, I doubt not ; for in this prophecy we are 
 
CHAPTER XII. 225 
 
 not left to gather from the context what the meaning 
 is, but there is a divine interpretation. We have not 
 only the prophecy, but the prophecy explained. And 
 the explanation of the prophecy given to and by 
 Ezekiel shuts out e"very other thought save the one I 
 have been endeavouring to set before you. In the 
 beginning of chapter xxxvii. we find an open valley 
 full of dry bones. " And he said unto me, Son of man, 
 can these bones live ? And I answered, Lord God, 
 thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon 
 these bones and say unto them, ye dry bones, hear 
 the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto 
 these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter into 
 you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon 
 you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you 
 with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and 
 ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as 
 1 was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a 
 noise, and, behold, a shaking, and the bones came 
 together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the 
 sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the 
 skin covered them above : but there was no breath in 
 them." Can any one seriously think this is the way 
 in which the Church will rise from the dead ? Is 
 there a soul so deluded as to take this for a description 
 of the order in which our bodies are to be raised ? 
 Bones coming together first; then the flesh and skin 
 covering ; and then breath put into them ? Can it 
 be with sobriety maintained that this is primarily 
 intended as a figure of the work of the gospel in 
 giving life to souls ? If so, what is the meaning of 
 the bones first, &c. ? 
 
 " Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, 
 prophesy, Son of man, and say to the wind. Thus saith 
 the Lord God, Come from the four winds, breath, 
 and breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I 
 prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came 
 into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, 
 
226 DANIEL. 
 
 an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son 
 of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel." 
 What more simple than the explanation God gives of 
 the vision ? He applies it to the whole house of Israel, 
 though, no doubt, it was the vision of a resurrection. 
 Ezekiel saw the bones live, and the men stand on their 
 feet. But, then, we have God giving us the real mean- 
 ing and proper application of it. The resurrection of 
 the body we have most fully elsewhere, as in the New 
 Testament, and in Job also. In the Gospels, the Acts, 
 the Epistles, and the Revelation, we have the resur- 
 rection, both of the just and of the unjust — a blessed 
 resurrection for the one, and another resurrection that 
 will have awful consequences of sorrow for those in- 
 volved. But here we have the same God, using the 
 figure of resurrection to describe the blessing that 
 He is to confer upon the people of Israel. Similarly 
 the figure is applied in Luke xv. to the conversion of 
 the prodigal son: "This my son was dead, and is 
 alive again; he was lost, and is found." Paul gives 
 us the blessing that will result to the world by and 
 by through the restoration of Israel under the same 
 figure: — "What shall the receiving of them be, but 
 life from the dead?" (Rom. xi. 15.) I maintain, then, 
 that no other interpretation of this passage bears 
 the stamp of the Spirit of God. People may preach 
 the gospel from it, or apoly it figuratively: I am 
 not objecting to such an employment of it. But the 
 word of God gives us both the vision and the inter- 
 pretation. And I have no more reason to believe 
 the one than the other. God says it means the 
 house of Israel; therefore it does not mean the re- 
 surrection of the body. When men are raised from 
 the dead in proper physical sense, there will be no 
 such thing as the house of Israel among; those so 
 raised. Resurrection terminates all relations of time 
 and the world. Hence, what we have here is simply 
 a figure taken from resurrection, and applied to the 
 
CHAPTER XII. 227 
 
 future blessing of Israel — then to be a holy nation, 
 but a nation still. 
 
 "These bones are the whole house of Israel: be- 
 hold they say, Oar bones are dried, and our hope is 
 lost: we are cutoff for our parts. Therefore prophesy 
 and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, 
 my people, I will open your graves, and cause you 
 to come up out of your graves, and bring you into 
 the land of Israel." Nothing can be plainer. All 
 the evidence of the chapter confirms the same thing. 
 But more than that: " And ye shall know that I am 
 the Lord, when I have opened your graves, my 
 people, and brought you up out of your graves, and 
 shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live; and I 
 shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know 
 that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, 
 saith the Lord." The next portion throws yet more 
 light upon it. We have another vision connected 
 with this. Two sticks are taken and joined in one, 
 presenting another aspect of the blessing in store for 
 Israel. If all Israel were to be brought out of their 
 graves, the twelve tribes might still have formed two 
 separate parties, as in earlier days. But now comes 
 in a new condition, to show that, when the resuscita- 
 tion of Israel takes place, their once-divided interests 
 will coalesce. That does not refer to the Church, nor 
 to our condition when raised from the dead. We 
 shall not be planted in the land of Israel under David 
 as our king. Even if we take David as a type of 
 Christ, yet this is not our relationship. We are 
 Christ's body and bride — not a people merely, reigned 
 over by a king. 
 
 Thus, by comparing these different portions of the 
 word of God, we have strong proof that the passage 
 in Daniel refers solely to Israel. And as the first 
 verse shows us the deliverance of the Jews in their 
 land at the time of their sorest trouble, the second 
 verse shows us that which is the key to so many of 
 
228 DANIEL. 
 
 the prophecies — the coming out of the race of Israel 
 from their hiding-places and deep degradation, set 
 forth under the figure of sleeping in the dust, andr- 
 being raised up out of it. But whether it be those 
 in the land or those who come out of the dust of the 
 earth, or from among the Gentiles, none will be 
 delivered except those that are the objects of the 
 counsels of God, i.e., " found written in the book." 
 Borne of them may awake, as the figure expresses 
 it, to take their part in the great struggle at the close; 
 but not being registered in God's book, they shall be 
 abandoned to shame and everlasting contempt. For 
 the rest it is not a mere national deliverance, but 
 much more. Those that are delivered will be truly 
 born of God. A spiritual character will attach to 
 their rise, as well as a national one. 
 
 But let us pursue the rest of the chapter briefly. 
 The Spirit of God shows us that some among them 
 will have a remarkable maturity. They are those 
 who are said to be " wise." They that be wise shall 
 shine as the brightness of the firmament." These 
 have been distinguished in a time of trouble among the 
 Jews. "And they that instruct the many in righte- 
 ousness as the stars for ever and ever." We are obliged 
 thus to change the version, because the expression 
 that is used here — " turn many to righteousness " — is 
 unhappy. The real sense it " they that teach righte- 
 ousness to the many." It is not a question of their 
 success: — whether they actually turn them to righte- 
 ousness, or not, is not the point; but "they that 
 instruct the many," or the mass of the Jews, are thus 
 promised the blessing. They might, perhaps, have 
 scanty results; but the question is, whether they are 
 labouring for God, and maintaining the authority of 
 His truth. The same Hebrew word is used in other 
 parts of the Scripture, where it no doubt means to 
 justify. The English translators — judging, with good 
 jeason, that "justify" would not suit in a clause 
 
CHAPTER XII. 229 
 
 which describes the action of men, whereas justifica- 
 tion certainly belongs to God — have changed it into 
 "turn to righteousness." But I take the liberty of 
 preferring the version already mentioned — " instruct- 
 ing in righteousness." Thus it would appear, that 
 there are certain of the Jews that will have shown 
 comparatively a great degree of intelligence in the mind 
 of God. They are called " the wise." But besides 
 the intelligent, others go out in spiritual energy, as 
 we have seen, to teach the mass of the Jews, who 
 then were, or afterwards fell under the power of Anti- 
 christ. " The many " is a technical phrase in Daniel 
 for the faithless mass or those that are lost. They 
 that instruct the many in righteousness are to shine 
 as the stars for ever and ever. 
 
 And, further, I must take the opportunity of saying 
 that this is the true meaning of a verse in Isaiah 
 liii., that has amazingly perplexed the critics: "By 
 His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify 
 many.*' No doubt many Christians have connected 
 it with " hy His obedience shall many be made 
 righteous." But there is no connection whatever 
 between the two thoughts. Take it as has been 
 suggested in the passage before us, and all is plain. 
 Nor have I the least doubt that such is its true 
 meaning. It is to instruct in righteousness; justifi- 
 cation is not the point there. In the Lord's case the 
 instruction of course will be perfect ; but even there 
 the object is " many" (not " the many," as in Daniel). 
 Here we find that these godly souls among the Jews 
 have a certain knowledge of divine truth, and they 
 instruct the mass in righteousness. It will not be a 
 question of showing and preaching grace at that day. 
 They will instruct them in righteousness. They may 
 bring out the blessed thoughts of God in connection, 
 with Israel ; but it will be instruction in righteousness. 
 The sense of "justify" would not be true, if we look 
 either at the subjects or the objects of the action, 
 
230 DANIEL. 
 
 We could understand, perhaps, that of the Lord in 
 Isaiah liii. But even so; ask any person, what is the 
 meaning of His justifying many through His know- 
 ledge, and he will have to travel far enough for a" 
 probable answer. Some advocates for it may try to 
 understand, " by the knowledge of Him," but that wnll 
 not stand. The true meaning is that the Lord would 
 use His knowledge as the means of instructing many. 
 In Isaiah and Daniel, it refers to instructing in righte- 
 ousness, not justifying nor turning to righteousness. 
 
 In the next verse comes an important principle, 
 upon which a few words must be said, " But thou, 
 Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to 
 the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and 
 knowledge shall be increased." Daniel is here in- 
 formed that the things which he had seen, and the 
 communications which he had heard, though they 
 were, no doubt, of God, were not to be turned to use 
 for the present. All was to be a sealed book until a 
 distant day; in a word, until the time of the end. 
 In a later verse, Daniel puts the question, " What 
 shall be the end of these things ? " And the answer 
 is, " Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up 
 and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be 
 purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked 
 shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall 
 understand ; but the wise shall understand." Thus 
 clearly are we shown that the understanding of the 
 words of God is a spiritual thing, and not a matter of 
 mere intellect. If it were so, then the wicked might 
 understand as much as the righteous. It is expressly 
 said, that " none of the wicked shall understand ; but 
 the wise shall understand." That is, these intelligent 
 ones, of whom we have heard before. Mark the 
 importance of this. In the last chapter of the 
 Apocalypse, we have the prophet John addressed at 
 the close of his prophecy. The contrast is most 
 
CHAPTER XIT. 251 
 
 striking. In the last of Daniel, he is told that allfis 
 to be closed up and sealed until the time of the end. 
 In the last chapter of the Revelation, John is told not 
 to seal "the sayings of the prophecy of this book: 
 for the time is at hand." In other words, there is an 
 exact contrast between the injunction given to the 
 two prophets. To the Jewish prophet all is sealed 
 till the time of the end. To the Christian prophet 
 nothing is sealed : all is open. How comes this ? 
 The answer is, that the Church — the Christian — is 
 always supposed to be at the time of the end. The 
 gift of the Holy Ghost has changed everything. From 
 that time nothing has been sealed to the Christian. 
 All the mind, the affections, the counsels of God, yea, 
 and His secrets about the world, in the Scriptures of 
 truth, are opened to him by the power of God. 
 
 The Christian, even if you take the weak and igno- 
 rant, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him. Therefore, 
 in writing to the babes, does St. John say, "Ye have an 
 unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 
 All the learning in the world can never make a man 
 understand the Bible; whereas, if a soul is born of 
 God, he is capable of understanding anything that 
 God reveals: he only requires to be led on, and more 
 perfectly instructed. The apostle is not speaking of 
 the actual acquirements of the babe, which might be 
 very slight. In whom, then, do we boast, and ought 
 we to boast ? In God, who has given us such an 
 amazing privilege. Whoever has the Spirit of God, 
 has therein a divine capacity of entering into the 
 things of God. He only wants to be in proper cir- 
 cumstances, dependent on God, and valuing His word, 
 and what is of God will be manifest and proved to be 
 divine. This is connected with the fact, that the 
 Spirit of God is given to the Church, in a special sense, 
 which not even the prophets knew. For although 
 they had the Spirit to inspire them, as we, of course, 
 have not, yet we have the Holy Ghost always dwelling 
 
232 DANIEL. 
 
 in us; one consequence of which is, that we have 
 spiritual intelligence, " the mind of Christ," which 
 they had not. And therefore, as you may remember, 
 the Spirit of God in 1 Peter i. contrasts the condition 
 of the Christian now with that of the saints, yea, of 
 the prophets themselves, under the Old Testament. 
 He shows us that they were " searching what and what 
 manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in 
 them did signify, when it testified beforehand the 
 sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow. 
 Unto whom it was revealed that, not unto themselves, 
 but unto uSj they did minister the things which are 
 now reported unto you by them that have preached 
 the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down 
 from heaven." That is, we stand in the present 
 knowledge and enjoyment of things which, thet/ were 
 told, did not concern them but us of the New Testa- 
 ment. This is very important. They had the promise, 
 and it was salvation to them. But we have much 
 more: we have positive, accomplished blessing — re- 
 demption not merely promised, but effected. And the 
 Christian now, relieved by grace from all question 
 about his sins, is free to enter into the blessed things 
 of God. 
 
 God accordingly says now, You are not to seal 
 the book. The time of the end is that in which we 
 are contemplated, the end morally being come. And 
 therefore we are waiting for the Lord to come at any 
 time. Where the Jewish thought prevails, people 
 are always looking out for an antecedent time of great 
 trouble. They do not see that God has a purpose 
 about Israel, as well as about the Church ; that, when 
 He has removed us to our own proper place in heavenly 
 glory. He will again take up the Jews ; and that they, 
 not we, must go through the great tribulation, and 
 see the appointed signs which herald the approach of 
 the Son of man to the earth. 
 
 This also serves to explain how it is that we can 
 
CHAPTER XII. 233 
 
 understand these prophecies. Daniel could not: as he 
 says here, "And I heard, but I understood not; then 
 said I, my Lord, what shall be the end of these 
 things ? And he said. Go thy way, Daniel, for the 
 "words are closed up and sealed till the time of the 
 end." Then comes in Christianity, and not one of the 
 words is sealed — not one shut up. They are all open. 
 To us the end is always nigh; we are said to be in 
 the end of the world: as it is written in 1 Cor. x. 11, 
 *' These things were written for our admonition, upon 
 whom the ends of the age are come." And it is 
 always so. " Christ is said to have appeared once in 
 the end of the world, to put away sin by the sacrifice 
 of himself." The Church is ever supposed to be in 
 the end, and, by virtue of the Spirit, anticipating the 
 godly, intelligent remnant. Indeed, the Church be- 
 gan with a remnant of Jews that had faith in their 
 Messiah. Thus Pentecost began with that which 
 will be true again after we are removed to heaven. 
 For when God has translated the saints, and the time 
 of the end is literally come, there will once more be a 
 remnant of faithful Jews. " But the wise shall 
 understand." The Church is always supposed to be 
 standing in these privileges, and is essentially above 
 the mere discoveries or progress of the age. 
 
 As to the " days" spoken of in the close of the 
 chapter, what is their meaning? In verse 11, it is 
 said, " From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be 
 taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate 
 set up, there shall be a thousand, two hundred, and 
 ninety days." It had been previously said in verse 7, 
 by the man clothed in linen, that it should be " for a 
 time, times, and a half" — that is, for 1260 days. 
 Verse 16 adds thirty days, or one month more, to the 
 1260 days. Then, in verse 12, we find a further 
 epoch : " Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to 
 the thousand, three hundred, and five- and- thirty 
 
234 DANIEL. 
 
 days." That is, a month and a half are added still. 
 So that we have, first of all, 1260 days; then 1290 
 days; then 1335 days. What, we may ask, is the^ 
 meaning of this ? and from what time are we to 
 reckon these days ? The answer is, " From the time 
 that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomi- 
 nation that maketh desolate set up." 
 
 And now I would make a remark of some impor- 
 tance, as linking all which had been said together, and 
 yielding a conclusive proof of the true interpretation 
 of this prophecy. It is the very verse that our Lord 
 quoted in Matt. xxiv. : " When ye, therefore, shall see 
 the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel 
 the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, 
 let him understand!) then let them which are in 
 Judea flee into the mountains.'' The question is, 
 Where does Daniel speak of this ? I answer, in verse 
 11 of this chapter. It is the only verse that properly 
 answers to the one in Matthew. 
 
 We are told that from that time there are to be 
 1290 days; next, a further period of 45 days, and 
 then full blessing^. Has that been the case ? If you 
 apply it to anything past, as for instance, to the des- 
 truction of Jerusalem by Titus; when you reckon 1335 
 days from the time when the Romans took Jerusalem, 
 is the blessing really come? It matters little how 
 you take the days. Let Jiem be conceived to be 
 1335 years from that destruction of Jerusalem: still 
 have you got the blessing of the Jews and the saint's 
 blessing according to the word of God here? Nothing 
 of the sort. What then follows ? That you have 
 dated it from a wrong epoch. " The abomination that 
 maketh desolate" is not yet come; when it does come, 
 in the sense of w^hich our Lord speaks, 1335 days 
 follow, and then will be the full blessing. 
 
 But now another word as to these differences :] first 
 the 1260, then the 1290, and then, lastly, the 1335 
 days. I think the reason is, because the blessing 
 
CHAPTER XII. 235 
 
 of Israel will not be brought in at once. The first 
 great turning point will be the destruction of "the 
 king." That takes place when the 1260 days expire. 
 But as we saw in chapter xi., the king of the north 
 has to be disposed of, after " the king." Accordingly, 
 there is another period of delay. But whether that 
 will coincide with the thirty days more (or 1290), or 
 with the subsequent 45 days (1335), I am not pre- 
 pared to say. Of this, however, we may be assured, 
 that the last of them bring us down to the accomplish- 
 ment of the whole work: and I am inclined to think 
 that the destruction of the king of the north is rather 
 one of the latest, if not the last, of these acts of 
 judgment before the epoch of blessing begins. In 
 Isaiah x. 12, it is said, " When the Lord hath per- 
 formed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on 
 Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of 
 the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks." 
 Does not this seem to indicate that it is the last act of 
 the Lord in judgment connected with the blessing of 
 Israel ? Thus we have a brief interval or two after 
 the destruction of Antichrist, during which the Lord 
 is still putting down His and Israel's enemies. " Bles- 
 sed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand, 
 three hundred, and five-and-thirty days." 
 
 I now close the book, praying the Lord to make it 
 of real profit as well as interest. One of the most 
 important points of profit will have been this — to de- 
 liver God's children from the idea that the Church is 
 everything. That is not a true system. It is to 
 fall into the same sort of mistake that the old astro- 
 nomers used to make, when they viewed the world as 
 the centre of the solar system, because it was the place 
 where they were living. This always spoils man. 
 He makes himself the centre of everything. The 
 same error is made in theology. The Church, because 
 we are in it, has been made the centre of Scripture, 
 
236 DANIEL. 
 
 whereas Christ is the true one. He is the centre of 
 heavenly blessedness, and the Church circles around 
 Him ; He is the centre of Jewish blessing, and the 
 Jews circle around Him. Therefore, whether in- 
 heaven or earth, Christ is the kernel of all God's 
 thoughts of blessing. And when our hearts are 
 fixed in Him, there is peace, progress, and blessing. 
 The reason why souls very often have not peace, is 
 because they are occupied with themselves; for they 
 do not find what they think ought to be in a Christian. 
 Whereas, if I am looking at Christ, there is no diffi- 
 culty. The question then becomes: Does Christ 
 deserve that such an one as I am should be saved ? 
 Can I deny it ? The effect of this is that I am happy, 
 and God can use me in His service. But if I am 
 troubled about the salvation of my own soul, how 
 can I be occupied in the service of others ? The 
 great question of self never will be settled till Christ 
 is the centre of everything to us. May it be so ! 
 He is the centre for all God's thoughts of love and 
 righteousness as well as of glory. 
 
 G. Morrish, Printer, 24, Warwick Lane, London. 
 

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