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a good part of Daniel is in the Caldee Tangue, and upon that account might the lefs need one; 'tis a general Complaint among the Jews themselves, that a great many of their ancient Targums have been loft, and an acknowledg'd Cafe, that fome of their facred Writers (fuch as Ezra and Nehemiah, for Inftance, Men famous in the Jewish Story, and the latter of them highly celebrated by the Son of Syrach) never had any. The Truth is, the frequent Calamities, which befel the Jewish Nation, and difpers'd them into other Countries, made them negligent of their Books ; left them no leifure to tranfcribe long Paraphrafts, and when, by mixing among other People, they had loft the Knowledge of the Language, left them no Ability to do it. So that, amidst this Ignorance and Confufion, 'tis no Wonder, if many valuable. Copies were loft; * fome of which have fince come to Light, but there is Reafon to apprehend that the Targum upon Daniel never will. For fo much does Daniel speak of the Meffias, defcribe the Signs, and define the time of his coming fo precisely, that the Jews,

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*It is but the other Day that the Targums of the two Books of Chronicles were discovered. Bishop Chandler's Vindication.

perceiving the Advantage, which their Adverfaries, the Christians, might make of it, were under ftrong Temptations, either to omit, or fupprefs the Paraphrase of a Prophet fo diametrically against them: And accordingly, we have a Story from * one of their Rabbins, that favours not a little of fome fuch Practice, viz. "That when Jonathan had fi"nished his Targum on Job, Proverbs, "and the Pfalms, and was going on "to Daniel, he was reftrained by a "Voice, which bid him give over "there, left the Sons of Men should "learn from Daniel the time of the Meffias.

The Plainnefs indeed of Daniel's Pro- The Plainnefs phefies has been an Objection to their of his Authority of a long ftanding, though Prophesies. it be certainly † as eafy for an allknowing God to foretel all the Circumstances of any Event, or to reveal the whole Series of Events, in their proper Connexion and Succeffion, as to declare one fingle Occurrence: But the Cavil against them upon account of their Style, as being dark and fymbolical, unlike what the other Prophets write, agreeable to the turn of the Grecian Schools, and, confequently, of a more modern

* R. Abrudaham in Zaceath's Inchasm. f. 45.
Bishop Chandler's Vindication.

modern Date, is fomewhat new and fingular. All the Greeks, that we know. of, are Strangers to this manner of wri

ting; they abound indeed in Figures His Em- and Allegories, but the fymbolical and blemati- emblematical Form was purely Oriental, cal Style. and what the other Prophets as well as Daniel, as Occafion requires, pursue.

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For does not Isaiah foretel the Deftruction of the Egyptians under the Image of his ftriking with a great and frong Sword the Leviathan (or Crocodile) and laying the great Dragon that is in the Sea? Does not Ezekiel prophefy of Pharaoh, under the Figure of a great Dragon, that lives in the midft of the River; of the King of Babylon, under the Emblem b of a large Eagle with great Wings; and of the Affyrian, under the Similitude of a tall Cedar upon Lebanon, exalted above all Trees, and reaching to the Clouds with its Top, c? It is the Genius of the Eaftern People to be delighted with Fiction and Imagery; and therefore no wonder, if the Time, and Place, where Daniel was Captive, fuggefted to him this Method of writing, which, however ftrange and abftrufe it may feem to us, was

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Ifai. xxvii. 1. Ezek. xxix. 3. 3, 12. Ezek, iii, 1,

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* as intelligible to the skilful Readers of those Days, as the moft plain and fimple Narration.

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'Tis Folly therefore for us, at this And Books Distance of time, to talk of the Proprie- forged ty of the prophetick Style; nor is it Name,can worth while to difpute, whether the be any Jews, more than other Nations, were valid Objection. Forgers of Books under fome great Mens Names. Let it but once be proved, that the Jews did ever approve of the Authority of thofe Pieces, which were fathered upon Daniel; or that any other Greek Book (for thefe Pieces were all written in Greek) was ever allowed to creep into the Jewish Canon, and then fomething may be faid: But to tell us, that fome Greek Jews, remote from Judea, wrote two or three Romances, and afcribed them to Daniel, affects the Prophet's Credit only in this refpect, that it gives us to understand (fince no one chufes a Father of difrepute in fuch a Cafe) that his Writings were in great Efteem with the Jewish Church at the time, when thefe fpuri

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The Ram was the Royal Enfign of the Perfians, and the Goat, (fince their King Caranus,) was the Arms of Macedon: And these Kingdoms, reprefented by Daniel under thefe Emblems, were as well understood then, as are the Arms, the Colours, and Field of Efcutcheons by Heralds now. Bishop Chandler's Vindication.

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ous Pieces were publish'd in his Name. Daniel's After this full Vindication of the AuProphety thority of the Book of Daniel, it will vindica- be no hard matter to juftify the Application of his Prophefy, concerning the Seventy Weeks, to the times of our bleffed Saviour. For, though the original Word [Debar] which we render Commandment does fometimes denote a Promise or Injunction from God to his Prophet; yet, in this Place, it can fignify nothing but a Royal Decree, becaufe mention is made therein of rebuilding Jerufalem with its Streets and Walls, and restoring the People to their ancient State, which could never be effected, but by the Favour and Encouragement of the Prince, who had them in Captivity.

Though Jefus was put to Death fea ven and thirty Years before the Deftruction of Jerufalem, and did not appear in Perfon to Head any Army againft it; yet, as we believe that he rofe from the Dead, and was afterwards feated at the Right-hand of God, to carry on the Ends of the mediatoral Kingdom; and, as the Orders and Councils of Kings are executed by their Servants, while they themselves are at a great Distance, and yet the Events are afcribed to their Names: Such was

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