Mr Lundie's style is, throughout, clear, sententious, and unaffected, showing a mature and solid understanding, with early proficiency in the fruits of a well-directed education. His Hints for the use of Missionaries, towards the close of the volume, evince a judgment and sagacity worthy of a sage in missionary experience. The task of the editor, also, one of much delicacy, requiring an effort which only a mind of superior energy could have ventured on at such a time, is well and ably performed. The book is divided into brief chapters, each one headed by a title which will be held fanciful, or as adding to the interest of the contents, according to the taste of the reader. It starts somewhat remote from the subject, in a way that does not clearly indicate relation to it, or disclose at once how we are to be led into it, but does not linger long in general reflection, or occupy a moment afterwards in superfluous details. We are soon brought into personal intercourse with the leading actor in it, carried by him to the field of missionary labour, and engaged with him in all its interesting and gratifying pursuits.

The glimpse that is occasionally given of feelings too deep for general sympathy, is quickly withdrawn, and those parts of the letters or journal that might unveil too fully domestic scenes and affections, seem curtailed or omitted. We cannot but respect the temperance, with which such emotions are indulged, in a series that must have opened every where to the writer's mind, inlets to sorrow; their inevitable intrusion, on particular occasions, with the prompt and resolute dismissal that attends them, commands our consideration, more perhaps for the feeling that is suppressed, than for that which claims our notice.

ART. IV.-Providence, Prophecy, and Popery; as exhibited in the first seven chapters of the Book of Daniel. By the Rev. WILLIAM WHITE, of the Original Secession, Haddington. Edinburgh: W. P. Kennedy, 1845.*

THE field traversed by this work is one of the most interesting in sacred Scripture. The church of God is there presented to us in close relation with the kingdoms of this world. The wealth,

* As the concluding part of this article touches on the millennarian controversy, our readers will understand that the Review does not stand committed to the author's opinions. It is the reviewer simply, not the Review. that is to be understood as speaking.

power, and magnificence of Babylon and Persia are on the one side; faith in the things that are invisible on the other. There is also a most interesting development of individual character. We behold the mighty monarch of the east returned from his hundred triumphs; a mind cast in lofty mould, but spoiled by prosperity and adulation; full of headlong impulse, and yet generous withal. Around him are a crew of servile flatterers, contrasting, as by a painter's skill, with the upright, we had almost said, sublime simplicity of Daniel, in whom shine conspicuous an unwavering reliance on his God, a holy superiority to all baser passions, a wisdom derived from above, and a becoming affection for the person of his sovereign. Then we have the unworthy successor of Nebuchadnezzar revelling in his impious debaucheries, and the queen-mother appearing for a moment in a scene of terror and dismay, and reminding the profligate court of the memorable events of the former reign. And lastly, to make no mention of the subordinate characters, there appears before us the mild Darius, evidently disposed to all that is just and merciful, and we would fain hope even to something more; but weak and irresolute, evidently ill at ease on his newly-acquired throne, and therefore yielding far too much to the influential counsellors of the empire. A succession of startling incidents gives a dramatic interest to the story. The astonishment and confusion of the soothsayers when commanded to recal the monarch's forgotten dream; the multitude on Dura's plain bowing down amid the crash of music to the golden image; the fiery furnace heated for the destruction of the Hebrew youths, and consuming only those who flung them in; the fourth like unto the Son of God walking with the three in the midst of the fire; Nebuchadnezzar among the beasts; the hand tracing on the palace wall the mystic characters of doom, while all is mirth and revelry below; the servant of God in the den of lions;-all these are scenes on which the imagination loves to linger, and which acquire even a deeper interest from the moral lesson which they convey.

In dealing with this part of his subject, Mr White brings out well the dealings of God's providence with nations, and in a lucid and forcible manner applies the lessons inculcated by the history of Daniel to the events of the present day. If his reflections are sometimes commonplace, they always arise naturally out of the subject; and if in perusing them we do not add much to our stock of information, we are at least pleased to find a new charm imparted to what is familiar, by being presented to us in an easy and agreeable style.

A commentator upon the Book of Daniel, however, must deal with prophecy as well as providence. This our author felt; and

no inconsiderable portion of his work is devoted to a consideration of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image, and Daniel's vision of the four beasts. It is perhaps no great dispraise to say, that in this part of his work he has not aimed at originality. Yet there are in these prophecies some points which, after all that has been written on them, still require farther elucidation. It was, however, perhaps safer to follow in the beaten track; and as on some of the points in regard to which he enters into controversy, we have the misfortune to differ from him, we shall confine our attention to this portion of the volume.

The gold, the silver, the brass, and the iron of which the successive portions of the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar were formed, are unquestionably symbolical of four successive empires. But we must not suppose that any countenance is here given to the heathen fable that the world is gradually deteriorating.

"This idea is not correct in point of fact. It is true that every nation, after reaching a certain stage, has decayed and been dissolved by the corruption of manners, as the human body, after reaching a certain stage, gradually decays, and is at length dissolved by death. But while every particular nation has in course of time deteriorated, the human race has been steadily progressing in the knowledge of art, science, legislation, and everything that is most conducive to the individual and social advancement of mankind. National progression may be compared to the incoming of the sea. Almost every wave advances farther than that by which it was preceded, and then falls back, leaving the sand bare which once was covered; but another and another wave follows, each succeeding one advancing nearer to the shore, until the sea covers all its sands, having reached the point at which the voice of the Almighty said to it, 'Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther.' In like manner society has experienced successive waves of civilization, each one advancing farther in some respects than that by which it was preceded, and then falling back and leaving in barbarism what was once the abode of refinement. And thus will it go on until the full tide of earthly blessedness arrives, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." Pp. 119, 120.

In this last sentence, however, there appears to be some confusion of ideas. It may be very true that civilization may be gradually increasing, but it does not follow, and is not the case, that the knowledge of God is increasing in the same proportion. We can see no traces in the progression of the human race hitherto which lead us to conclude that this progression will terminate in an era of millennial blessedness. A nation may increase in civilization, and at the same time in determined hostility to God. The latter days are not described in Scripture as days fitted in the natural course of events to usher in the millennium, but as days of abounding iniquity. And as we shall presently have

occasion to observe, the vision before us decisively gives the lie to any such anticipation.

Our author brings out well and forcibly the distinctive characters of the first three empires, answering to the gold, the silver, and the brass. But let us pass to the fourth, whose distinguishing character is strength. The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; and as iron that breaketh in pieces all things, will it break in pieces and subdue.

"The Babylonian empire owed its rise, under God, to the distinguished abilities of Nebuchadnezzar; and it survived but a little while the death of the great man by whom it had been won. Persia owed its rise, as a universal monarchy, to the great talents of Cyrus, and under him it reached the zenith of its power. The Macedonian empire was indebted for its existence to the marvellous genius of Alexander. But Rome grew out of the talents of a whole people. In her the world first beheld a great nation. Ages, not years, were required for the growth of the mighty fabric. Gradually and slowly it reached maturity, and like everything of slow growth, it was well compacted; every portion of it had the solidity of rock, and the irresistible strength of iron." Pp. 129, 130.

The iron legs, according to Mr White, denote that period of the Roman sway during which she was a conquering power, (i. e. the republic); the feet of iron and clay represent the empire properly so called, and the ten toes denote the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided. But what is implied in the mixture of clay and iron? Weakness is evidently the idea intended to be conveyed; but the conditions of the vision require, 1. That it be a weakness in which the republic did not participate, for the legs had no such admixture; 2. That it be a weakness peculiar to the Roman empire, and not common to the other empires, for none of them were part of clay; 3. That it be a weakness in which every one of the ten kingdoms which sprung from it participate, for each of the toes was partly of iron and partly of clay; and, 4. That it be such a kind of weakness as may be in some measure repaired by intermarriages, for this seems to be the meaning of the clause, They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.' We agree, therefore, with Mr White in rejecting that interpretation of this portion of the vision which would apply it to the mingling of powerful and weak kingdoms among the European states, and the efforts made by intermarriages among the ruling families to preserve the balance of power. But we do not think his own theory, in which he follows Bishop Newton, as at all better founded. He makes the iron mixed with clay in the feet of the image to represent the mixed character of imperial

Rome, and he traces the course of degeneracy in her several institutions, summing up his review as follows:

"In short, if we take the condition of Rome as a whole, during the empire, it is the most marvellous collection of contrasts to be met with in the history of mankind. We see glory and ignominy, strength and weakness, cowardice and courage, softness and cruelty, superstition and atheism, all that is magnificent and all that is contemptible, meeting in their extreme degrees, and mingled together in one wonderful spectacle."

P. 141.

But when he comes to the toes, he interprets the iron as the remains of Roman civilization, discipline, literature, and law; and the mixture with clay as denoting that there would be a mixture of strength and weakness in those states; while the mingling with the seed of men is supposed to refer to the admission of foreign nations to the privileges of Roman citizens, and the mixture of various races with one another, which took place in the earlier ages of European history. Now, here two of the conditions laid down are violated, for the clay in the toes is made to signify something different from the clay in the feet; and the intermarriages are not represented as being between that denoted by the clay on the one hand, and that denoted by the iron on the other. It seems to us that another interpretation is required, which shall come nearer to the terms of the prophecy. It was in the empire of Rome that the people were first divided into two classes. There had, indeed, been contests for power among different parties during the republic, but these had not broken up the unity of the state, nor weakened their powers of resistance to a foreign enemy. 'Constantine,' says a recent author, formed his government into a caste separate from the people, and thus placed it, from the very nature of man, in opposition to the mass of his subjects. In his desire to save the world from anarchy, he created that struggle between the administration and the governed, which has ever since existed, either actively or passively, in every country which has inherited the monarchical principle of imperial Rome; and the problem of combining efficient administration with constant responsibility, seems in these states still unsolved.* The upper and lower classes in the modern European states will not cleave together. In spite of the multitudinous ramifications of relationship which bind the one to the other, they will not adhere. Every day is showing this more and more. They must fall asunder; iron will not mix with miry clay. We now come to the overthrow of these

6

kingdoms by the

* Finlay's Greece under the Romans, p. 123.