Alain. This decree involved in it | Daniel and his friends. Being made acquainted with it, they requefted a fufpenfion of the execution, promifing to fulfil the demand of the king. A fufpenfion | being granted, they fervently fupplicated the God of heaven to reveal the fecret, and God granted their request. Confequent upon this Daniel being introduced to the king, related the dream in the following terms: Thou O king faweft and behold a great image. This image's head was of fine gold, his breaft and arms were of filver, his belly and thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet and toes part of iron and part of clay. Thou faweft till that a ftone was cut out without hands which fmote the image in his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brafs, the filver and gold broken to pieces to gether and the ftone that fmote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. Upon this permit the following remarks, Babylon, but alfo to all the ruling empires which fhould fucceed it until the end of all things fhall come. It related not only to earthly kingdoms, but to Chrift's univerfal and holy kingdom in the world. That the moft holy God fhould make known to a haughty and idolatrous king what should be in the latter days, is it not very wonderful? But for this, may we not conclude, there was a very important reafon. Had the mind of Daniel, (or any other pious jew) been divinely impreffed with this vifion, he might have kept the matter in his heart, as he did, chap. vii. 28, the vision of the four beafts. He might have related it to his particular friends, to his jewish brethren, and to his Ba bylonifh connections. It might have exercifed their minds intenfely; but can we fuppofe it would ever have been related to the king? Or if it had, would it not have excited the fmile of ridicule, or the fneer of contempt, as the peculiar fancy of the worshippers of a ftrange God, or the wild reverie of an enthusiastic brain? But God had important ends to ac complish, and he adopted an ef fectual method to attain them. He impreffed the mind of the king himself, and fo that the dream troubled his fpirit: And the diftrefs of the king agitated the palace, the city, and filled the minds of all conditions with great and anxious expectation. Add to this, 1. It is very extraordinary and wonderful that Nebuchadnezzar, a proud and idolatrous heathen, fhould be a fubject of this divine impreffion. Is it not without a parellel Pharoah, indeed, an idolatrous king of Egypt dreamed dreams by a fupernatural influence. They were ominous of events to be accomplished in divine providence. Thefe however related only to the seven years of plenty and of famine, and were fulfilled in the fhort period of A dream fo fingular and which fourteen years, and immediately fo troubled his spirit, it should natextended only to the land of urally feem, would have fo powEgypt. But the dream of Ne-erfully impreffed his mind, that buchadnezzar was of very extenhe would retain a perfect rememfive and univerfal import. It rebrance of it. But he forgat it; lated not only to the empire of and he could not regain it by the VOL. IV. No. 5 2. It is very wonderful that the dream fhould go from him. X ity and influence, by which he might protect his people in their abject ftate. pe 3. This dream fummarily comprifed a representation of the fucceffion of empires from that riod to the end of the world. This is fully implied or clearly expreffed inthe interpretation of it by the prophet himfelf. Thou, Ó king, art a king of kings-Thou art this head of gold. And after thee fhall arife another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brafs which shall bear rule over all the earth, and the fourth kingdom fhall be strong as iron-and as iron that breaketh all thefe fhall it break in pieces and fhall bruife. And whereas thou faweft the feet and toes part of potters clay, the kingdom fhall be divided, but there shall be in it the ftrength of the iron. In the days of thefe kings fhall the God of heaven fet up a kingdom which fhall never be deftroyed; and it fhall not be left to another moft vigorous exertions. And may we not believe that this was from the fame caufe which produced it? Had the king retained his dream and related it to the magicians and aftrologers, is it not very probable, that they would have framed an interpretation which would have pacified his mind, and the great ends in the divine view would have been prevented? As the king could not retain the dream, fo neither were the wife men permitted, when he required them to make it known, to imagine any thing which they might impofe upon him for it. For the fame reafon, alfo, fhould not the king be fatisfied with their very pertinent and reasonable remonftrance against his unjuft demand, but be fo incenfed by it as to iffue the very cruel decree, that all the wife men of Babylon fhould be flain, and Daniel and his friends must be fought for execution among the reft: and they muft intercede for a fufpenfion of the decree, implore the God of heav-people, and it fhall break in pieces en to reveal the king's matter, that he might anfwer them according to the defires of their hearts, and reveal the fecret to Daniel, that he might relate it to the king. But for what purpofes may we conclude the moft high proceeded to this very extraordinary difpenfation? For what indeed, but to furnish an occafion of revealing himself to Nebuchadnezzar his princes and fubjects, and convince them of his infinite fuperiority to Beltheir God, and extort from Nebuchadnezzar that devout acknowledgment, v. 47. Of a truth it is that your God is a God of Gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of fecrets, and at the fame time provide a powerful patron for his people by inducing the king to elevate Daniel to offices of author and confume all these kingdoms, and it fhall ftand forever. This interpretation fufficiently informs us, that the four different materials which compofed this image, fignified four different fucceffive kingdoms or empires, which fhould fubfift in the woald. Thefe by expofitors have been generally underftood to confift of the Babylonian, the Medo-Perfian, the Macedonian, or the kingdom of the Greeks and the Roman empires, and these were again to be fucceeded by the kingdom of Chrift as a fifth univerfal empire, which for extent and permanency fhould far exceed any of the other, filling the whole earth and ftanding for ever. To defcribe thefe kingdoms, or give a fummary view of the events represented by this image, would be, in effect, to explain all the vifions of this prophecy. They being only different views of the fame general fyftem, or particular reprefentations, of detached parts of it; but this with divine permiffion will be the work of future numbers. The Serpent's fubtilty detected; ing fome thoughts fuggefted reading Genefis iii. 1-5. pected of being unfriendly to man. 2. Satan begins his temptation, by inquiring whether they were not abridged of fome privilege, which they might enjoy; Yea, hath God faid, Ye fhall not eat of every tree of the garden? He did not fay, hath God given you liberty to eat of every tree of the garden except one? Here it is be-worthy of notice, that the woby "Now the ferpent was more fubtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he faid unto the woman, Yea, hath God faid, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman faid unto the Serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath faid, refall not eat of it, neither fall ye touch it, left ye die. And the ferpent faid unto the woman, Ye fball not furely die:" UPO PON this paffage we obferve; 1. Satan was fubtil in making ufe of another creature, as his organ to tempt Eve, that he might keep himself out of fight. It would not have anfwered his purpose fo well, to have come to our first parents, who still remained attached to the divine government, and faid, I am the devil, I am a fallen angel, I have commenced a rebellion againft God, for which I am turned out of heaven, and I have now come to get you to join me in oppofing is righteous government. No, this could not have done; it would immediately have put them upon their guard againft every thing elfe which he fhould fay. He therefore made ufe of the ferpent, which, tho' a creature diftinguished for his fagacity, was not hitherto fuf man still remaining upright as the was created, inftantly repelled the bafe infinuation of the tempter; trees of the garden"-we have "We may eat of the fruit of the been very kind to us : our full liberty to eat, God has "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midit of the garden, God hath faid, Ye fhall not eat of it, neither fhall ye touch it, left ye die.” Here obferve, God had made the matter plain to Adam and Eve, what a condition they stood in. They knew what trees they might eat of, and which the tree was, that they might not touch. They alfo knew that God had faid, if they did eat, they should surely die. 3. Satan advanced in his temptation, by denying the connection be tween fin and mifery; between difobedience and punishment. "And the ferpent faid unto the woman, Ye fhall not furely die." God had faid, In the day thou eateft thereof, thou shalt furely dieThe ferpent faid, Ye shall not surely die. There could not be a more flat contradiction. From this, we may clearly fee, that the devil is not afraid to contradict the God of truth, and we may reft affured that he will do it, when ever it will anfwer his unholy purpofes. The purpofe which he de figned to anfwer by it here, is very evident. He wished to bring about the fall of our firft parents. Their falling, or not falling, depended upon eating, or not eating of the forbidden fruit. The pains of endlefs death were placed by the great Lawgiver, as a hedge around the forbiddentree, to keep them from touching it. Satan knew that he could not get them to approach it, unlefs he could make them think that this dreadful hedge was pulled up. He therefore endeavored to perfuade them, that there was really no fuch hedge about the tree; but that, what they faw and feared was a mere frightful chimera; fomething put there, by the Creator, who wifhed to monopolize all knowledge and happinefs to himself, to terrify them from what was their just right, and what would advance their greatnefs and bleffednefs beyond conception; "For God doth know, that in the day ye cat thereof, then your eyes fhall be opened; and ye fhall be as God's, knowing good and evil.” The fuccefs of Satan's fubtil temptation is but too well known. Our first parents, by hearkening unto him more than to God, were induced to eat of "That forbidden tree, "Whofe mortal tafte brought death into the world "With all its woes" They incurred the difpleasure of the Almighty, fell under the curfe of his holy law, and became expofed, with all their pofterity, to endlefs death. Thus fatan proved to be a liar, while Jehovah was found to be a God of truth. From fatan's fubtilty in bringing about the fall of man, feveral ufeful leffons of inftruction may be learned: I. From the attempts which the devil made to ruin man, while under the firft covenant, we should naturally conclude, that he would make fome attempt, if permitted, to prevent him from partaking of the benefits of the fecond, which is a covenant of grace. Certainly his enmity against God has grown no lefs. It has had thousands of years in which to ftrengthen. He, no doubt, envies man a place in the heavenly paradife more than he did a place in the earthly paradife. It is altogether likely, that this enemy of God's glory and our happiness is vaftly more fubtil than when he beguiled Eve, That he is ftill a fubtil and dan 4. It is worthy of particular obfervation, that in all Satan's temptation, he appeared to be the friend of our firft parents. He feemed to have a tender regard for their happinefs, as if he could not bear to have them abridged of any privilege, which they were capable of enjoying. He loved them fo well, he could not bear to have their heart withheld from any joy he could not think of having one tree in the garden kept back from them, efpecially a tree, which would do fo much towards raifing them in the fcale of intelligence. When it was fuggefted by the woman, that they muft die, i. e. lofe all their happinefs, if they did this thing; he fays, you may reft affured, it is not fo.gerous foe is evident from 2 Cor. Think I would perfuade you to xi. 3. But I fear left by any any thing which would be your means, that as the ferpent beguil ruin, when I love you fo? No, if'ed Eve thro' his fubtilty, fo your minds fhould be corrupted from the fimplicity that is in Chrift. fuccefs in telling our firft parents, 66 } they should not die," that he would try this very project again ; that he would again try to difcredit divine threatenings, and difconnect fin and punishment. Satan knows that we love fin and hate fuffering; therefore it would be natural to fuppofe, that he would try to perfuade us, that fin and fuffering were not fo connected as we thought for. Chrift faid, that thofe who did not repent fhould perish; that thofe, who did not believe fhould be damned; that they who blafphemed the Holy Ghoft fhould never have forgivenefs, and that those, who do not love, are not kind to his people on earth, shall go away into everlafting punishment. He alfo declared, that the flothful servant, who would not work for God, fhould be bound hand and foot, and be caft into outer darkness, where there fhall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Thefe are awful threatenings. They give pain to thofe men who ftill go on Under the covenant of works, man had a probation, or time of trial, during which he was expofed to Satan's wiles': And now, in view of the covenant of grace, we have a time of probation; during which mercy waits-God is waiting to be gracious. The first trial was this, whether holy, upright man would continue fo, during an appointed term of probation-the fecond trial is, whether finful men, during the period of mortal life, will forfake fin and return unto God, from whom they have deeply revolted. Then it was, if you tranfgrefs, you fhall dieNow it is, if you do not cast away from you your tranfgreffion, and make you a new heart and a new fpirit, you fhall die.* Then it was, fin and die-Now it is, except you repent of your fin, you fhall all perish. Then it was, if you eat of a particular tree, you fhall be damned-Now it is, if you do not believe on the Son of God, you fhall be damned.‡ A-frowardly ;-whofe characters are dam, during his probation, could lofe the favor of God, and we during our probation can fail of the grace of God; we can fail of obtaining his favor, which is life, and his fmiles, which are better than life. From this statement, which, I think, is agreeable to the lively oracles, it is evident, that there is yet room for Satan to exercife his malice and fubtilty, to our difadvantage, if he fhould be difpofed and permitted; and that he is both difpofed and permitted, is alfo clear from the fcriptures. II. It would be natural to conclude, fince Satan had fo much Ezek. xviii. 31. § Heb. xii. 15. denounced. When they read or hear thefe threathings, it makes them afraid to go on in fin and unbelief. They fay, we must attend to religion, or we shall lofe our fouls. If the threatnings produce fuch an effect upon the confciences of the ungodly, we can fee that it must be for the intereft of the ad versary of fouls, to destroy the force of the threatnings. But what way fhall he take? It will not do for him to fay plainly, that Chrift fpake falfe. Satan knows that he was found to be a liar before. He now ufes much more fubtilty than at first. He now profeffes to be God's friend, as * Matthew xxy. |