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clares the design of his coming, verse 14: "Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days; for yet the vision is for many days." This prophecy therefore contains the fate and fortune of the people of God for many years. As it was said before, verse 1: 'The thing was true, but the time appointed was long and consequently this prophecy must extend farther than from the third year of Cyrus to the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, which was not above three hundred and seventy years. ality it comprehends many signal events after that time to the end of the world: but the types and figures of the things are not exhibited in this as in most of the other visions, and then expounded by the angel; but the angel relates the whole, and not by way of vision, but only by narration, informs Daniel of that which is noted in the Scripture of truth. Verse 21: I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth;' as if future events were noted in a book before God: and this prophecy being taken from the Scripture of truth, is therefore deserving of our strictest attention; and we may depend upon the certainty of all the particulars contained therein, if we can but rightly understand and expound them.

"The angel first prophesies of the Persian empire, which was then subsisting. xi. 2: 'Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia ; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all; and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.' There shall stand up yet; that is, after Cyrus, the founder of the empire, who was then reigning. Three kings in Persia; these were Cambyses, the son of Cy

rus; Smerdis the Magian, who pretended to be another son of Cyrus, but was really an impostor; and Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who married the daughter of Cyrus. And the fourth shall be far richer than they all. The fourth after Cyrus was Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius; of whom Justin truly remarks: "If you consider this king, you may praise his riches, not the general; of which there was so great abundance in his kingdom, that when rivers were dried up by his army, yet his wealth remained unexhausted." Pythius, the Lydian, was at that time the richest subject in the world. He generously entertained Xerxes and all his army, and proffered him two thousand talents of silver, and three millions nine hundred ninety-three thousand pieces of gold with the stamp of Darius, towards defraying the charges of the war. But Xerxes was so far from wanting any supplies, that he rewarded Pythius for his liberality, and presented him with seven thousand Darics, to make up his number a complete round sum of four millions. Each of these Darics was worth better than a guinea of our money. And by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all, both subjects and allies, against the realm of Grecia. Xerxes' expedition into Greece, is one of the most memorable adventures in ancient history. Herodotus affirms that Xerxes, in raising his army, searched every place of the continent, and it was the greatest army that ever was brought into the field; for what nation was there, says he, that Xerxes led not out of Asia into Greece? Herodotus lived in that age, and he recounts, with great exactness, the various nations of which Xerxes' army was composed, and

computes that the whole number of horse and foot, by land and sea, out of Asia and out of Europe, soldiers and followers of the camp, amounted to five millions two hundred eighty-three thousand, two hundred and twenty men. Nor was Xerxes content with stirring up the east, but was for stirring up the west likewise, and engaged the Carthagenians in his alliance, that while he with his army overwhelmed Greece, they might fall upon the Greek colonies in Sicily and Italy: and the Carthagenians for this purpose not only raised all the forces they could in Africa, but also hired a great number of mercenaries in Spain, and Gaul, and Italy; so that their army consisted of three hundred thousand men, and their fleet of two hundred ships. Thus did Xerxes stir up all against the realm of Grecia: and after him no mention is made of any other king of Persia. It is to be noted,' saith Jerome, 'that the prophet having enumerated four kings of the Persians after Cyrus, slippeth over nine, and passeth to Alexander; for the prophetic spirit did not care to follow the order of history, but only to touch upon the most famous events.' Xerxes was the principal author of the long wars and inveterate hatred between the Grecians and Persians and as he was the last king of Persia who invaded Greece, he is mentioned last. The Grecians then in their turn invaded Asia; and Xerxes' expedition being the most memorable on one side, as Alexander's was on the other, the reigns of these two are not improperly connected together.

"Alexander is thus characterized, verse 3: 'And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule

with great dominion, and do according to his will.' That Alexander was a mighty king and conqueror; that he ruled with great dominion, not only over Greece and the whole Persian empire, but likewise added India to his conquests; and that he did according to his will, none daring, not even his friends, to contradict and oppose him, or if they did, like Clitus and Callisthenes, paying for it with their lives; are facts too well known to require any particular proof or illustration.

"But his kingdom was soon to be broken and divided. Verse 4: And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven; 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.' These particulars were in good measure suggested before; viii. 8, 22: He waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken : and for it came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.' Alexander died in Babylon, having lived only thirty-two years and eight months, of which he reigned twelve years and eight months. In so short a time did this sun of glory rise and set: and in the space of about fifteen years afterwards his family and posterity became extinct, and chiefly by the means of Cassander. It was soon after Alexander's death, that his wife Statira, the daughter of Darius, was murdered out of jealousy, by his other wife Roxana; and her body was

thrown into a well, and earth cast upon it. His natural brother, Aridæus, who succeeded him in the throne, by the name of Philip, was, together with his wife Eurydice, killed by the command of Olympias, the mother of Alexander, after he had borne the title of king six years and some months; and not long after Olympias herself was slain in revenge by the soldiers of Cassander. Alexander Egus, the son of Alexander by Roxana, as soon as he was born was joined in the title of king with Philip Aridæus; and when he had attained to the fourteenth year of his age, he and his mother were privately murdered in the castle of Amphipolis, by order of Cassander. In the second year after this, Hercules, the other son of Alexander by Barsine, the widow of Memnon, was also with his mother, privately murdered by Polysperchon, induced thereto by the great offers made to him by Cassander. Such was the miserable end of Alexander's family; and then the governors made themselves kings, each in his province, from which title they had abstained as long as any just heir of Alexander was surviving. Thus was Alexander's kingdom broken and divided not to his posterity, but was plucked up even for others beside those: and it was divided toward the four winds of heaven; for four of his captains, as it hath been shown in former dissertations, prevailed over the rest, and Cassander reigned in Greece and the west, Lysimachus in Thrace and the north, Ptolemy in Egypt and the south, and Seleucus in Syria and the east.

"But though the kingdom of Alexander was divided into four principal parts, yet only two of them have a place allotted in this prophecy, Egypt