worthy of the deity, nor unsuitable to the other methods of his providence, but is rather an argument of his infinite goodness.

In the former vision there appeared four beasts, because there four empires were represented: but here are only two, because here we have a reprefentation of what was tranfacted chiefly within two empires. The first of the four empires, that is the Babylonian, is wholly omitted here, for its fate was fufficiently known, and it was now drawing very near to a conclufion. The fecond empire in the former vifion, is the firft in this; and what was there compared to a bear, is here prefigured by a ram. Then I lifted up mine eyes, faith Daniel, (ver. 3.) and faw, and 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 laft. This ram with two horns, according to the explication of the angel Gabriel, was the empire of the Medes and Perfians; (ver. 20.) The ram which thou faweft having two horns, are the kings or kingdoms of Media and Perfia. The fource of this figure of borns for kingdoms, as a (3) learned writer obferves, must be derived from the oriental languages, in which the fame word fignifies a born, and veteri fædere. Spanheim de Ufu Numifmatum, Vol. 1. Differt. 7. P. 400.

dæis interpretibus aliquoties * feu regnum redditur, ut vidit illuftris Grotius; et cornua pro regna & regibus paffim in

(4) Xeno

and a crown, and power, and splendar. Whence a born was an enfign of royalty among the Phenicians, and. the Hebrew word np keren or a born, is several times by the Chaldee paraphrafts render'd sn malchutha or a kingdom; and horns are frequently used for kings and kingdoms in the Old Teftament. This empire therefore, which was formed by the conjunction of the Medes and Perfians, and is often called the Medo-Perfian, was not unfitly reprefented by a ram with two horns. Cyrus, the founder of this empire, was (4) fon of Cambyfes king of Perfia, and by his mother Mandane was grandson of Aftyages king of Media; and afterwards marrying the daughter and only child of his uncle Cyaxares king of Media, he fucceeded to both crowns, and united the kingdoms of Media and Perfia. It was a coalition of two very formida ble powers, and therefore it is faid that the two borns were high: but one, it is added, was higher than the other, and the higher came up laft. The kingdom of Media was the more ancient of the two, and more famous in hiftory; Perfia was

(4) Xenophon. Cyropæd. Lib. 1. & 8.

(5) Herod. Lib. 1. Sect. 130. p. 56. Edit. Gale. Strabo. Lib. 15. P. 739. Edit. Paris 1620. p. 1062. Edit. Amftel. 1707. Juftin. Lib. 1. Cap. 6.

(6) Herod. Lib. 3. Sect. 65.

p. 188. Edit. Gale.

of

1

(7) quis fufpicari poffit, etiam arictis de rege Perfarum in eadem vifione typum, ad nominis Elam (quod alterum duorum eft quo ea gens appelletur) fignificatum alludere. enim Hebræis (unde nomen

of little note or account till the time of Cyrus; but under Cyrus the Perfians gained and maintained the ascendent; some (5) authors say that Cyrus fubdued the king of the Medes by force of arms; and his fon (6) Cambyfes upon his death-bed earnestly exhorted the Perfians not to fuffer the kingdom to return again to the Medes. But a question ftill remains, why that empire, which was before likened to a bear for its cruelty, should now be reprefented by a ram? Mr. Mede's conjecture is ingenious and plaufible enough, (7) that the Hebrew word for a ram, and the Hebrew word for Perfia, both springing from the fame root, and both implying fomething of strength, the one is not improperly made the type of the other. The propriety of it appears farther from hence, as is fuggefted likewise by another writer in the general preface to Mr. Mede's works, that it was ufual for the king of Perfia to wear a ram's head made of gold, and adorned with precious ftones, instead of a diadem; for fo (8) Ammianus Marcellinus describes him. Bishop Chandler and

aries) et atque by Chaldæis, idem fignificant, nempe fortem feu robuftum effe. Forte igitur by Elam iftis, ut illis arietem fonabat, indéque rex Elam hoc typo Danieli figuratur. Mede's Works. B. 3. Comment. Apoc.

p. 474.

others

(8)- -aureum capitis arietini figmentum interftin&tum lapillis pro diademate geftans. Amm. Marcell. Lib. 19. Cap. 1. p. 208. Edit. Valefii. Paris 1681.

(9) Bishop

others farther (9) observe, that "rams heads "with horns, one higher and the other "lower, are still to be seen on the pillars at Perfepolis."

The great exploits of the ram are recapitulated in the next verse. (ver. 4.) I faw the ram pushing weftward, and northward, and fouthward, fo that no beasts might fland before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will, and became great. Under Cyrus himself, the Perfians pushed their conquefts weftward (1) as far as the Ægean fea and the bounds of Afia: northward they fubdued (2) the Armenians, Cappadocians, and various other nations: fouthward they conquered Egypt, if not under Cyrus as (3) Xenophon affirms, yet most certainly under (4) Cambyfes, the fon and fucceffor of Cyrus. Under Darius they subdued (5) India, but in the prophecy no mention is made of their conquests in the east, because those countries lay very remote from the Jews, and were of little concern or confequence to them. The ram was ftrong and powerful, fo that no beafts might ftand before him, neither was there

(9) Bishop Chandler's Vindication, Chap. 1. Sect. 4. p. 154. Aries item bicornis inter rudera Perfepoleos. Wet

any

ftein in Rev. XIII. 11.
(1) Herod. Lib. 1. Xenoph.
Cyropæd. Lib. 7.

(2) Xe.

that could deliver out of his hands; that is any none of the neighbouring kingdoms were able to contend with the Perfians, but all fell under their dominion. He did according to his will, and became great: and the Persian empire was increased and inlarged to fuch a degree, that it extended (Efther I. 1.) from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and feven and twenty provinces; so that seven provinces were added to the hundred and twenty (Dan. VI. 1.) which it contained in the time of Cyrus.

eyes.

After the ram the he-goat appears next upon the scene. And as I was confidering, faith Daniel, (ver. 5.) behold, an be-goat came from the weft on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable born between his Which is thus interpreted by the angel Gabriel, (ver. 21.) The rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes, is the first king, or kingdom. A goat is very properly made the type of the Grecian or Macedonian empire, because the Macedonians at firft, about two hundred years before Daniel, were denominated Egeada or the goat's