most unequal and unpromising of a successful issue they inculcate a lesson which is not less edifying than instructive. As they tend to convince us, that the special providence of an Omnipotent Ruler extends to the affairs of this lower world; and that where his countenance and assistance are rightly sought, good will ultimately prevail, and evil meet its retribution. Let us then, following the example and admonition of him, who under providence was instrumental in "recovering the law out of the land of the Gentiles,... consider, that none that put their trust in him shall be overcome."* 1 Maccab. ii. 48, 61. 135 LECTURE VI. DANIEL VII. 15-18. "I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." IN tracing to their moral causes, the great revolutions which have attended the transfer of empire to the principal nations of the earth; the history of our race exhibits difficulties, in the means by which power has been attained and exercised, of which the first principles of ethical and political science furnish no direct solution. We easily deduce, from the abuse of that freedom which is necessary to a state of probation, the enormities which furnish evidence of a future state of retribution; to which we must look, for the removal of the main difficulties that embarrass our inquiry into those causes. But the existence and prevalence of evil, of which the pages of the historian contain little more than the recital, are not so easily reconciled with the attributes of the moral Ruler of the world; whose works, as viewed in the book of nature, proclaim his power and goodness to be infinite. The task would be indeed impracticable, were not the dimness of our natural faculties assisted by the divine illumination. Before the light that it affords, the uncertainty, in which we are benighted, gradually disperses. In the assurance which it gives us, not merely that what is now resigned to lawless power, will be one day requited with a just retribution; but that this world, which is the scene of disorder and wickedness, will be rendered not less worthy the superintending providence of its Divine Governor, than its natural frame appears indicative of the power and goodness of its Creator. For, "the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.” - The evidence vouchsafed to us that this gracious purpose, of which prophecy gives the promise and forms the preparation,-is consigned to various predictions, that shadow the truth under imagery, of which the text supplies the key. In the revelation which they make of the great political revolutions that would convulse the earth; and in which the brute force, by which tyrannical power was extended and sustained, is forcibly depicted, under the figure of "those great beasts which are four:" they furnish adequate proof of the final completion of the divine purpose, to which they are represented as forming the preparation. We have the conviction, arising from the observation of fact, that as far as the great system of which they form a part has admitted of development from time, it has been exactly fulfilled. In the experience of what is past, we have an earnest of the final accomplishment of what is predicted as future. As the prescience by which the result of remote and contingent events is determined, can proceed only by inspiration from Him, who can neither be deceived nor conspire in deceiving others: in his attributes of infallibility and truth, the sure anchorage is found for our faith, that what yet remains unaccomplished will as certainly follow, as what has preceded. Of the persons who were chosen to reveal the method of God's providence, in compassing those ends, one of the most remarkable was the prophet Daniel. From the notices of his life, which are scattered through his writings, we readily collect, that he was fitted, above all persons of his order, for the high charge to which he was deputed. It appears, from what he has declared of himself, that he was brought at an early age among the Jewish captives of rank, who were carried to Babylon. Having been received into the royal household, he was committed to the care of one of the domestics, who were intrusted with the instruction of youth,-" to be taught the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans."* He here recommended himself to the royal notice and favour, until at length, by an act of caprice, not unusual among the monarchs of the east, who frequently fill the principal offices of the state from the humblest walks in life, he was raised to the highest dignity in the empire. While the revelations, which God has vouchsafed to mankind, principally concerned the destination of the Jews; the communication of his purposes was committed to seers of their nation ; as the admonitions of such were best qualified to awaken the sympathies, and command the attention of their hearers. But from the time of the captivity, when Daniel was called to discharge the prophetical office, the purpose of God, to admit the Gentiles to a participation in the promises made to the Jews, became more apparent. As he delivered his prophecies at such a conjuncture, when his countrymen owed submission to an alien prince; it was wisely and providentially ordered, that he should attain that elevation, which, while it gave intensity to the light which he diffused, extended the sphere of its influence. The extraordinary sensation in favour of the Jews, on the fall of the Babylonian and * Dau. i. 4. |