sion of God's power to save and deliver in all
possible circumstances. The prophecies are mostly in the form of dreams
and visions; and they are in wonderful harmony with Daniel's position as
a minister of state at the court of Babylon, and also with the relation
of Judaism to the heathen world. In the providence of God, the history
of his covenant people, and through them of the visible kingdom of
heaven, had become inseparably connected with that of the great
monarchies of the world. How appropriate, then, that God should reveal,
in its grand outlines, the course of these monarchies to the final and
complete establishment of the kingdom of heaven (2:44, 45; 7:26, 27). In
all this we find nothing against the general analogy of prophecy, but
every thing in strict conformity with it. In the seventh chapter there
appears, for the first time, an interpreting angel communicating to the
prophet, _in connected discourse_, the meaning of the vision which he
has just seen. So also in the eighth chapter and onward. Such a mode of
revelation is peculiarly adapted to _the communication of details_, and
in the eleventh chapter these are given to an unparalleled extent. But
this constitutes no ground for denying the reality of the prophecy.
Though the spirit of prophecy does not, as a general rule, give future
events in their succession, this is sometimes done. So it is in God's
announcement to Abraham of the bondage of his posterity (Gen. 15:13-16);
and also in our Lord's prophecy of the overthrow of Jerusalem (Matt.,
chap. 24). In this respect it does not become us to prescribe rules for
the wisdom of God.

We need not pursue this subject any farther. No one of the above
difficulties, nor all combined, can outweigh the evidence we
have for the genuineness and authenticity of the book of Daniel.
On the contrary, the hypothesis that it belongs to so late an
age as that of the Maccabees is beset with difficulties
inconceivably greater. It has for its foundation not sober
criticism, but the denial of the supernatural.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS.

1. By the Jewish arrangement, which places together the twelve minor
prophets in a single volume, the chronological order of the prophets as
a whole is broken up. The three greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Ezekiel, stand in the true order of time. Daniel began to prophesy
before Ezekiel, but continued, many years after him. The Je