" obtained the Grace and Favour of God 1n giving him Safety and wiſdom; the other, that he found him a God hearing Prayer, and thar .n a thing of a high Nature, he made known to him the King's Matter,
24 « Therefore Daniel werit in_ into Atioch þ
whom the king had. ordained to deſtroy the wiſe men of Babylon: he went and faid thus unto him, Deltroy not the wiſe m7ex q of Babylon : bring me before the king, and I will ſhew unto the king the incerpre- ta.lon, | | | |
p Being now prepared he goes to Ariochto go in with him to the King. 9 was becauſe they could not. tell the Kings Dream : Come, ith he, I
will ſhew that, by that I take away the Ground of thy Commiſſion to.
eſf-roy. Queſt. Did Daniel do well in deſiring to have them ſpared, — {es to die for their unlawful Arts, Divin-rs, Necroman- cers? '&. Anſw. Two things are uſually anſwered to this: 1. They were notall ſuch ; ſome were innocent, ſtudied Arts and Sciences taw- ful and laudable. ., 2. Thoſe that were otherwiſe, he pleaded not for chem as ſach, but for Juſtice, that they ought not todie unjuſtly ; and hat was their Caſe and Cauſe. |
25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in
k
bis. haſte, and ſaid thus unto him, 4 1 have found a man r of. the + captives of Judah, that will make known unto the |
Id.
ti» bim by great Search, or by great Chance, and as if Danze! had been
king the interpretation. = | | r How comes Ariochto boaſt of what he had fonnd ; as if he got
ſome obſcure unknown Perſon, when Danie! had askzd time of the
King juſt before? Ir is themanner of Conrtiers to be very officious,and | to commend their own {ittle Deeds, that thereby they may ſignify | ſomething with their Prince, and make themlelves neceffary to him ; | but poſſibly Arioch might not know that Daniel had been with the King, | and therefore comes with this ("Evenzs. ) I have found your Man, |
here he is, behold him, he will give the King full SatisfaQtion ia all
concerning the Dream. |
26 The king anſwered and ſaid to Daniel, whoſe | name was Belteſhazzar s, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have ſeen, and the interpreta-| tion thereof 72 wy |
s By this name of Bel::ſhazzar he had given Daniel, he took Cou-
rage as if he mighe expe& ſome great thing fiom him ; for the word ſignifies the Keeper of ſecret Treaſure, 7. e. to lay up and bring forth. * As if he had ſaid, I queſtion if thou canſt, ſeeing all my wiſe Men cannot doit ; canſt thou preſume to do more than all they ? ; :7 Daniel anſivered in the preſence of the king, and ſaid, The ſecret which the king hath demanded, cannot the wile men, the aſtrologers, the magicians, the ſooth. fayers ſhew unto the king « z =
# He reckons up here all forts of Divination, to ſhew that Divine Things, and the Secrets of God, cannot be comprehended by Man without ſpecial Revelation ; and that thoſe who preſume to dot, ar- rogate too much tv themſelves, and that it is roo tyrannical to require it of any, and that upon pain of Death ; for faith Daniz! they cannot doit. 28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth ſe. crets x, and + maketh known to the king Nebuchad-
dream, and the viſions of thy head upon thy bed, are
theſe ;
x Hereby the Prophet gives God entirely all the Glory, proving all the Powers on Earth ro come ſhort in it ; it belng orie of God's pecu- liar Prerogatives to reveal Secrets: Yea, in great humility he denies, himſelf ro have any ſhare in it; as alſo ver. 29. y Obſcrve here the; Prophet's Wiſdom in this Diſcovery ; he doth not fall abruptly upon | the Dream, bur firſt prepares this lofty King for it in general, and by ' degrees he labours to win him to the Knowledge of the true God ; I. By this his Power : And 2. By his gracious Favour to the King, in revealing to him the greateſt Secret in the World about the Change of | Kingdoms and Governments, and touching the Power of Chriſt's | Kingdom over all in the latter days. See wer. 44-
29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts
+ came into thy |
' -mind, upon thy bed, what ſhould come to paſs hereafter : |
and he that revealeth ſecrets maketh khowh unto thee |
what ſhall come to pals. ; |
. 39 * Bur as for me, this ſecret is not revealed to me, for any wiſdom that I have more than any ing, buc + for their ſakes that ſhall make known the interpretation to the |
Church of God," by
He bad him ſtay his Hand, and nor deſtroy the wiſe Men of | B4by.0n. Arioch might plead the King's Command; Danze! tells, him thar
terrible c, .. 8 Not a Preſent o
God+) called here and ſhadow, rather than in ſubſtance,
narchies.
] painted ſuperficial Image, but a Maſſy One, a Statue'in Man's oe great, ſplendid, majeltical; (chus they were wont tore. old. great Emperors and Empires, and worſhipped them as an Image, and in a bs en all which is in ſhew and therefore vaniſhing : An that upright,of a prodigious height, noting the Grandeur of choſs Ne 6 Some ſay the Image was fo plac'd, that the Face look'd
towards the King, and thus it might crouble and terrify him. c Govern-
ment is to be feared ; Fear-to whom alſo ſome had rather be feared than loved.
32 This images. head 4s of. fine gold,
Fear, and Hinour to whom Howour ;
his: breaft
and his arms of filver, his belly and his || thighs cf |LD:, ſieer.
braſs,
Clay 4.
rowed
it ended ar laſt, as this Image in the Text, in Dirt. |
' 34+ Thou faweſt till that a ſtone was cut out _ which ſmote the image upon, hisjOr, w4:-h won and clay, and brake them to was w in
| without hands, feet that were of
. pieces e, |
tion of all follows.
35 Then was the iron, the day, the braſs, the fil- ver and the gold broken to pieces together, and be-
. 4 By this we ſee the World is much worſe and far declined, every
ge degeneraring from what it was of old, as the Poets (which bor- their Fancy from this Image) have deſcribed the;Ages of the World from Merals; the firſt was golden, and ſo coming on courſcr,
, 33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of
hands, as
ei.e. Allof itto pieces, all vaniſhed ; and the Stine became a great =” ON
Mount and filed the whole Earth: this is the Dream, and the Iaterpreta«»
came .* like the chaff of the ſummers threſhing-floors, * Hol. :3.
was image became a earth.
35 pretation thereof before the king f.
.
| F By this werd we, appears Daniel's Piety and Modeſty ; for he de» | Clares by it, that he and his Companions had begged this Skill rom | God; and therefore he did not,nor could arrogateit,to himſelf exclu.