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 LIBRARY 
 
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 University of California. 
 
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 Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. 
 
 Received October, 1894; 
 Accessions No.S^/O^^ Class No. 
 
 
 
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DANIEL, 
 
 A MODEL FOR YOUNG MEN 
 
 §1 Stem (tf States, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. W. A. S C T T, D. D. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 285 BROADWAY. 
 
 1854. 
 
 ^A Of TEtw/^ 
 
 TJWBr 
 

 $7*7*- 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1854, by 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 TOBITTS COMBINATION-TYPE, 
 
 181 William st 
 
 PRINTED BT 
 
 JOHN A. GRAY 
 95 & 97 Cliff St. 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 To the Young Men of the South and South-West, and especially of 
 New Orleans, this volume is most respectfully inscribed, as an expres- 
 sion of the author's admiration of their enterprise and noble bearing 
 in business. And in making this dedication, lie cannot withhold his 
 fervent prayer, that, like Daniel, they may by an enlightened piety and 
 patriotism serve their country and their God faithfully, and attain at 
 last to everlasting life and glory. 
 
RECOMMENDATORY NOTICE. 
 
 BY W. B. SPRAGUE, D. D. 
 
 The Lectures that compose this volume, have manifold claims 
 od the patronage of the Christian public. That these claims will 
 be acknowledged and honoured, in due time, there is no reason to 
 doubt ; but meanwhile it may not be amiss just to advert to some 
 of the grounds on which they rest. 
 
 In the first place, these Lectures are invested with great interest, 
 in consideration of the class to whom they are addressed. They are 
 young persons, who have just entered the great school of life ; whose 
 characters are yet but partially formed, and around whom Christian 
 philanthropy would naturally desire to throw every influence, favour- 
 able to their intellectual and moral culture, with reference to both the 
 life that now is, and that which is to come. They are young men — in 
 whom are prospectively bound up both the civil and Christian well- 
 being of society ; on whom it will devolve a few years hence to settle 
 great problems of weal or woe, that will tell on the destinies of the 
 world. They are more especially the class of young men who reside 
 
iv recommendatory notice. 
 
 in cities; where, more than anywhere else, the tempter holds his 
 throne j where the opportunities for doing good or evil are multiplied 
 indefinitely j insomuch that it takes but little time for a young man in 
 these circumstances to work himself into a model of Christian activity, 
 or a monster of vice and crime. Any well-directed effort then to form 
 the characters of young men, especially in large cities, to virtue and 
 piety and honourable usefulness, is worthy of all praise, and will be 
 sure not to lose its reward. 
 
 In the next place, the portion of Scripture which forms the subject 
 of these Lectures, is, on many accounts, one of remarkable interest. In 
 its historical details, nothing can exceed it — it records events which 
 stand out in the world's history, and form some of the most impressive 
 illustrations of the Divine character. Its prophecies also are worthy 
 of the most profound and earnest inquiry \ though, as these Lectures 
 were designed to be of altogether a popular character, it was not fitting 
 that they should include any elaborate investigation. Then the char- 
 acter of Daniel is one of the purest and most exalted of which even 
 the inspired record has preserved an account. In respect to intelli- 
 gence, industry, integrity, consistency and devotion, he shone with 
 almost unequalled lustre ; and there is no condition of prosperity, or 
 adversity, or temptation, in which a young man can be placed, but 
 that the example of Daniel, duly considered, may either shed some 
 light upon the path of duty, or suggest some motives for diligently 
 pursuing it. 
 
 There will be little difference of opinioD, it is presumed, on the 
 question, whether the author has done justice to his noble theme. No 
 intelligent and candid reader will doubt that he has brought out the 
 mind of the Spirit with great clearness and force. He has discussed a 
 
RECOMMENDATORY NOTICE. T 
 
 great variety of questions — historical, theological and practical, that 
 naturally suggest themselves ; and has shown himself at every point 
 thoroughly at home. One very important feature of the work is, that 
 it furnishes incidentally a vast amount of evidence of the Divine 
 authority of the Scriptures — a point upon which young men, especially 
 at this day, need to be enlightened and strengthened, in order that 
 they may resist the insidious and multiform assaults of skepticism. 
 Dr. Scott has left upon every page of his work the impress of a vigor- 
 ous, discriminating, independent mind. Without any affectation of 
 originality, he has his own way of saying things ; and a terse, striking 
 and effective way it is. "Without apparently thinking of the graces of 
 composition, his style is always perspicuous and manly, and sometimes 
 radiant with beautiful imagery. You feel that you are in contact with 
 a mind of bold and lofty impulses, and with a heart that is in unison 
 with every measure for the promotion of human virtue and happiness. 
 There is yet one other circumstance to which I cannot but allude, 
 that seems to me to bespeak for these Lectures a more than common 
 share of attention — I refer to the fact that Dr. Scott's position as a 
 minister in New Orleans, rendered it peculiarly fitting that he should 
 perform just such a service as this : it is doubtful whether there is 
 any other place in the United States in which he could speak to so 
 large a number of young men, especially those who are thrown out of 
 the range of the endearing associations of home ; and the instructions 
 and counsels which he would address to the young men of his own 
 charge, must of course be equally adapted to others of the same class 
 in similar circumstances. And I cannot forbear to add that, to my 
 own mind at least, the work gathers additional interest from the fact 
 that its author was prevented from giving it the revision he intended, 
 
VI RECOMMENDATORY NOTICE. 
 
 by having been kept so constantly in contact with sickness and death 
 during the last summer. His readers, while they will be well con- 
 tented to take the work as it is, will hardly fail to have their gratitude 
 awakened, that such a life as his was preserved amidst such self-deny- 
 ing and perilous labours. 
 
 There is one circumstance pertaining to the history of this pub- 
 lication which I cannot forbear to note, as strikingly illustrative of. the 
 care which Providence often takes of our concerns, through indirect 
 and apparently undesigned instrumentalities. The publishing of this 
 work was originally undertaken by the Harpers ; and the sheets, as 
 they were printed, were sent to me, by the author's request, with a 
 view to my writing an introductory paragraph or two, after I had read 
 them. As the printing was nearly finished, I had written all that I 
 thought necessary, and had forwarded it to the publishers on the very 
 day before the fire swept away their immense establishment. Not 
 only my humble contribution, but the MS. of the Lectures, and even 
 the stereotype plates, which were nearly completed, perished in the 
 conflagration ; and the only copy of the Lectures that remained was 
 that which had been sent to me in the proof-sheets, and which, by the 
 merest accident, had escaped destruction. I congratulate myself on 
 having been thus instrumental in the preservation of a work, the good 
 effects of which I confidently expect will reach far beyond the present 
 generation. 
 
 It is due to myself to state that the only consideration that has 
 seemed to me to justify, in any degree, the writing of these paragraphs, 
 is that the respected author of this work resides in a part of the coun- 
 try so distant from this, that there may be some circles at the North, 
 and especially in New England, in which he is not so familiarly known 
 
RECOMMENDATORY NOTICE. VU 
 
 as to supersede the necessity of an introduction from some one more 
 immediately identified with this region. It was this circumstance, I 
 am sure, that drew from him the request with which I have now com- 
 plied ', and if what I have written shall procure an additional reader to 
 the book, I shall feel quite satisfied. I will only add that he and I 
 have never yet seen each others' faces ; nor will he have read this brief 
 notice, till the printer has rendered it useless for either his judgment 
 or his modesty to suggest corrections. I am glad of the opportunity 
 thus to give him the hand of fraternal fellowship even a thousand miles 
 off ; and I pray God to cause his course as an author as well as a 
 Christian minister, to shine more and more unto the perfect day. 
 
 Albany, March 2, 1854. 
 
[UNIVBRSITr 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 It has been my custom for more than ten years to devote my 
 Sabbath evenings, during the winter and spring months, to young 
 men. On such occasions I have delivered above one hundred and 
 fifty different discourses. During this portion of the year I have 
 to preach three discourses each week, the Sabbath evening discourse 
 being one of them. The lectures now presented to the public are 
 not a selection out of these hundred and fifty, but the Sabbath 
 evening series of the last season. It will be understood, therefore, 
 that these lectures were prepared from week to week amid the 
 pressure of the duties, cares, and anxieties inseparable from a large 
 city congregation. They were listened to by crowded assemblies, 
 and with increasing interest to the close of the series. When these 
 lectures were promised to the publishers, it was my intention to 
 revise them during the leisure moments of summer. But it is well 
 known that early in June the yellow fever became epidemic in our 
 city, and has continued to prevail, with perhaps unparalleled fatality 
 up to the present time. More than ten thousand persons have died 
 in this city since its ravages began in June ; and among them, 
 many of the precious youth who listened to these lectures have 
 fallen its victims, and are now sleeping their long sleep with the 
 dead, in a soil that knows not the dust of their fathers, and from 
 which the trumpet of the last day alone can awaken them. It may 
 be readily supposed that in filling my pulpit, and in visiting the 
 
PREFACE. ' ? 
 
 sick, in burying the dead, and in attempting to instruct, encourage, 
 and comfort the living and the bereaved, and alleviate the miseries 
 of the suffering poor, I have had but little time or heart for the 
 work of revision. And now with the autumn a new campaign 
 opens, that imperatively requires day by day all my time and all 
 my strength. These lectures, then, must be published as they are, 
 or not at all. With the humble hope that they may do good, I 
 have ventured to send them to the publishers. 
 
 Whoever looks into this volume will see that I do not enter upon 
 the prophecies of Daniel. If it were desirable for me to give the 
 public my views of them, it does not fall within the scope of this 
 effort to do so. The plan of these lectures requires that they should 
 be read with an open Bible, and that the portions of Scripture 
 indicated in each lecture should be read at the same time with the 
 lecture. One great object in view, in this and in all my labors as 
 a minister of the Gospel, is to give prominence to the Scriptures 
 of God, which are the testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, and are intended to lead us to a saving ap- 
 prehension of His Truth and Grace. / am persuaded that the 
 young men required for our times must be thorough Bible men. 
 They must be brought up on the pabulum of Bible truth. And I 
 know of no more effectual method of imparting such truth to them 
 than by explaining and enforcing the doctrines, precepts, and 
 duties set forth in the lives of Bible heroes. 
 
 The authors that have fallen in my way, and to which I am 
 more or less indebted for help in preparing these lectures, are the 
 following: Prselectiones Joannis Calvini in Librum Prophetiarum 
 Danielis, published in 1571 ; Diodati's Notes; Works of Plutarch 
 and Josephus ; Orton's Exposition ; Layard's Nineveh ; Vaux's 
 Nineveh and Persepolis ; Herodotus ; .Rich's Babylon and Perse- 
 polis ; Fletcher's Assyria ; Kitto's Bible Illustrations ; Gausen's Lec- 
 tures ; White's Provideuce, Prophecy, and Popery ; and especially 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 do I desire to acknowledge my obligations to the first-named above, 
 the immortal Calvin, and, next to him, to Prof. Stuart, for his Com- 
 mentary on Daniel, and to Hengstenberg, for his work on the 
 Genuineness, <fcc, and to Tregelles on Daniel, and to the lectures 
 of Dr. Cumming, of London, on Daniel. As in the delivery of 
 these lectures, it was my earnest endeavor, with God's help, to do 
 good to the multitudes of young men that attended my ministry, 
 so now they are committed to the press with the hope that by the 
 Divine blessing they may be useful in directing such to the proper 
 performance of their duties to their country, their fellow-men, and 
 their ever blessed Creator ; and to Him, through Jesus Christ, be 
 all the praise. Amen. 
 
 W. A. Scott. 
 New Orleans, 20th September, 1853. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 PAGH. 
 SUPERIORITY OP BIBLE BIOGRAPHY FOR GIVING LESSONS TO THE 
 
 YOUNG MEN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 17 
 
 LECTURE U. 
 
 DANIEL A TRUE BIBLE PROPHET. 35 
 
 LECTURE ILL 
 
 DANIEL AS A MAN A MODEL. 56 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 PRINCIPLES AND LESSONS FROM THE EUPHRATES 74 
 
 LECTURE Y. 
 
 THE LOST DREAM 98 
 
 LECTURE YL 
 
 THE DREAM RECOVERED 116 
 
 LECTURE YII. 
 
 THE FIERY FURNACE 138 
 
 LECTURE YIH. 
 
 CAVILS AT THE KING'S PROCLAMATION 150 
 
 LECTURE IX 
 
 LESSONS FROM THE KING'S DREAM 183 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 GOD'S UNIVERSAL SCEPTRE 201 
 
xv i CONTENTS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 LECTURE XI. 
 belshazzar's feast : its lessons to young men 220 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 
 WEIGHED AND WANTING 247 
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 DANIEL THREATENED WITH THE LION'S DEN 269 
 
 LECTURE XIY, 
 
 DANIEL CAST INTO THE LIONS* DEN 291 
 
 LECTURE XY, 
 
 FAITH TRIUMPHANT 309 
 
 LECTURE XVI, 
 
 DANIEL, A STUDY FOR YOUNG MEN AWAY FROM HOME 326 
 
LECTUBES ON DANIEL. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 " To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity, is 
 to continue in a state of childhood all our days." — Plato. 
 
 " Social life is the aggregate of all the individual men's lives who con- 
 stitute society. History is the essence of innumerable biographies." 
 
 SUPERIORITY OF BIBLE BIOGRAPHY FOR GIVING LESSONS TO 
 
 YOUNG MEN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 i 
 
 Rom., xv. 4: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written 
 for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, 
 might have hope. 
 
 Scriptures suited for all Ages. — Reflection on the Period of early Youth. — The 
 Bible a Picture-gallery. — William von Humboldt. — Bible to be read Earnestly. 
 — Superiority of Example illustrated. — Origen, Cicero. — Wellington, Webster. 
 — Field open to all. — No possible Excuse for low Attainments in personal 
 Piety and Christian Character. — Fountain-men wanted in our Times. 
 
 The apostle alludes here to the Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures, and assures us that they were not intended merely 
 for the Jews, nor for those generations in which they first 
 appeared, but also for the instruction of succeeding gene- 
 rations of mankind. That we, through patience and 
 comfort of the Scriptures — that is, through those remark- 
 able examples of patience exhibited by the saints and 
 3 
 
18 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 followers of God, whose history is given in the Scriptures, 
 and by seeing the comfort which they derived from God, 
 in their sufferings for the truth and in maintaining their 
 piety in the midst of a wicked world — might have hope 
 — that we shall be upheld and blessed as they were, since 
 we worship the same God and adhere to the same faith 
 with them. The apostle, in writing to the Hebrews, uses 
 the same allusion. In the eleventh chapter to the He- 
 brews, he enumerates a host of Old Testament worthies, 
 and then says : Wherefore, seeing we also a/re compassed 
 about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside 
 every weight, and the sin which doth so easily heset us, 
 and let us run with patience the race that is set hefore us, 
 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. 
 
 " Whoever/' says Sir Charles Bell, " has sat on a sunny 
 stone in the midst of a stream, and played with the 
 pebbles, and osier-twigs, and running waters, must, if he 
 have a soul, remember that day, should he live a hundred 
 years ; and to return to such a spot after twenty years of 
 a struggling life in the great world of man's inventions, 
 is a still greater epoch. In age to go back thus to child- 
 hood — to Nature in her simple guise — to look upon the 
 same scenes, and again to behold the same trees, still in 
 their youth and freshness, and the same clear-running 
 waters and soft, sweet-looking grass-plots that we looked 
 on in our dewy youth — it is impossible to do this, and 
 not feel something of the deep marvelousness of this ever- 
 changing life, and something of an earnest longing for 
 clearer communings with the unseen world. If, with such 
 reflections we seem, on the one hand, to be little better 
 
A CITY OF TOMBS— BIBLE GALLERY. 19 
 
 than corks floating on the stream, still, on the other hand, 
 this very deep consciousness of earth's unsatisfying na- 
 ture preaches to us that this stream of life may bear us 
 onward and upward to glory, honor, and immortality. 
 
 Perhaps most of you, after years of absence, have re- 
 visited the scenes of earlier youth ; or, if not the scenes 
 of your own childhood, you have visited the birth-places 
 and residences of great men ; and every remarkable ob- 
 ject, every street and corner, tree, stone, and running 
 brook, seemed to have a tale to unfold, and to bring to 
 your recollection some circumstance important to your 
 own or their times, and you seemed to yourself to be 
 walking in a city of tombs. 
 
 The Bible is just such a city of tombs. It has nothing, 
 however, of the gloomy sadness of tombs about it. It is 
 fragrant as the spicy groves of "Araby the Blest !" It is 
 a historical gallery that stretches across the waste of far 
 off centuries, and delivers us from false conjectures, wild 
 fablings, and vague theories. By opening up a system 
 of pure Theism, it emancipates the world from degrading 
 superstitions ; and by revealing the origin of our race, 
 and incidentally communicating their dispersion over 
 the globe, we are taught that all men are brethren. At 
 Hampton Court there is a gallery of the beauties of 
 Charles the First and Second; at Holyrood House, in 
 Edinburgh, there is a gallery of all the kings of Scot- 
 land ; and in the City Hall of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, 
 there is a gallery of all the emperors of Germany ; and 
 in Versailles, in the collection of pictures, statues, and 
 
20 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the like, which is dedicated to all the glory of France,* 
 a large suite of rooms is devoted to likenesses of the 
 marshals of France. Now we have the privilege, young 
 men, of opening a gallery containing more beauty, more 
 sprightliness, more intellect, more courage, and more sub- 
 limity of character, a thousand times told, than Hampton 
 Court, Holyrood House, Frankfort, and Versailles can 
 show. Our gallery of paintings begins with the first 
 man and woman, and comes down from Eden to Patmos 
 — a long array of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, 
 sages and kings, and their mothers, wives, and daugh- 
 ters. The pictures are drawn by hands as unerring as 
 the rays that now give us our daguerrotypes. And these 
 pictures, while life-like and flesh-colored, are always 
 salutary in their influence. They feed no idle and licen- 
 tious thoughts. They awaken the intellect and sanctify 
 the affections. They regulate the passions, and point to 
 themes ever elevating and noble. They save us from 
 much that is evil, and inspire us with earnest desires for 
 that which is good and holy. These are the pictures our 
 fathers and mothers looked on for so many years, until 
 they assumed their likeness, and have gone to their com- 
 munion above. "When traveling in a foreign land, it was 
 always a delightful thought to me that my beloved ones 
 at home might look at the same sun and moon, and gaze 
 on some of the same stars that shone on me ; and when- 
 ever I caught sight of the ocean, there was relief to the 
 sadness of separation, in reflecting that its waters washed 
 
 * " A toutes les gloires de la France." 
 
FAMILY PORTRAITS.— HUMBOLDT. 21 
 
 the shores of my own native land. So there is something 
 affecting, deeply affecting, in the thought that the Bible 
 portraits, which have been made by the direction of the 
 Holy Spirit, are our family pictures — our household orna- 
 ments and furniture from generation to generation. The 
 good in every age before us have admired and imitated 
 the faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, and the bene- 
 volence of the New Testament. 
 
 A profound scholar and great statesman, "William von 
 Humboldt, minister of the King of Prussia, says of the 
 Scriptures, that " among the strongest, purest, and finest 
 tones in which the voice of antiquity has reached us, may 
 be reckoned the books of the Old Testament ; and we 
 can never be enough thankful that in our translation they 
 have lost so little of their reality and strength of expres- 
 sion." He speaks of Luther's translation from the He- 
 brew into the German language, which is, indeed, one of 
 the finest translations ever made. Happily for us and 
 our children, the same simplicity and strength charac- 
 terizes our English version. u I have often," continues 
 the Prussian statesman, " reflected with pleasure on the 
 existence of so much that is exalted, rich, and varied, as 
 is contained in the Bible, in the books of the Old and 
 New Testaments ; and if this be, as is very frequently the 
 case, the only book in the hands of the people, yet have 
 they in this a compendium of human thought, history, 
 poetry, and philosophy, so complete, that it would be 
 difficult to find a feeling or a thought which has not its 
 echo in these books. Neither is there much in them 
 which is incomprehensible to a common, simple mind. 
 
22 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 The learned may penetrate deeper, but no one can go 
 away unsatisfied. ''* 
 
 The Bible, my young friends, is indeed, as your honored 
 parents have taught you, the gracious gift of God to man- 
 kind. The Holy Scriptures are an invaluable blessing to 
 our race. They bear upon their front and within them- 
 selves the indubitable marks of their divine Original. 
 The attempts of unbelievers to weaken or destroy the 
 evidences in their favor, have only brought out the more 
 clearly the many "infallible proofs" that they were 
 " written by inspiration of God." But while the out- 
 works of Eevelation have been ably defended, too few 
 have searched out with honesty and diligence the trea- 
 sures deposited therein. It is something to be well estab- 
 lished in the faith — to receive the Bible as the "Word of 
 God, but so far as a personal salvation is concerned, we are 
 no better than the heathen, if we remain ignorant of what 
 the Bible contains. A crude, undigested notion of divine 
 things is a very unsatisfactory way to receive God's re- 
 velation to us for our salvation. We may assent to the 
 truth, excellence, and importance of the Scriptures, yet 
 not give our serious attention to know what they teach, 
 whereby we may glorify God and enjoy Him forever. 
 Curiosity alone might be deemed sufficient to prompt us 
 to a diligent perusal of the sacred Yolume. But our duty 
 in this matter is not left to the promptings of mere curi- 
 osity. We are commanded by the very highest authority 
 
 * Eeligious Thoughts and Opinions of William von Humboldt. Boston : 
 1843. 
 
BIBLE BIOGRAPHIES WRITTEN FOR YOU. 23 
 
 to search the Scriptures. Nor can we remain in ignorance 
 of the sublime knowledge they reveal without a manifest 
 contempt of God. Nothing should be more interesting 
 to us than the will of God which is revealed to us, and 
 requires of us unfeigned obedience. Who is the Lord, 
 that I should serve Him ? What would He have me do % 
 May I obtain His favor ? Should I not dread His anger ? 
 These are questions, which to us, as sinners hastening on 
 to death and judgment, it is of very serious consequence 
 we should have answered in a proper manner. But these 
 are questions which the Bible alone fully and faithfully 
 resolves. It is something to insist on our duty to read 
 the Bible from its beauties of language, the surprising 
 facts it relates, the grandeur of its representations, and 
 the sublimity of its doctrines ; but the highest recommen- 
 dation for its study is : That it is the Word of the Living 
 God, which is able to make us wise unto salvation. 
 " But that which stamps upon the Scriptures the highest 
 value," says Bishop Porteus, " that which renders them, 
 strictly speaking, inestimable, and distinguishes them 
 from all other in this world, is this, that they, and only 
 they, contain the words of eternal life. In this respect, 
 every other book, even the noblest composition of man, 
 fails ; they cannot give us that we most want, and what is 
 of infinitely more importance to us than all other things 
 put together — eternal life." But lest we should fail to 
 see the practical tendency of Eevealed Truth, much the 
 greatest part of it is taken up with the records of history, 
 and the description of remarkable lives. Nor are these 
 to be passed over carelessly. They are written for our 
 
24: LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 admonition. 1. The narrative of striking facts and the 
 delineation of celebrated characters, is perhaps, of all 
 methods of instruction, the most effective. Important 
 truths are hereby conveyed to us in the most pleasing 
 form, and deep impressions are made upon the mind be- 
 yond any thing that mere dry doctrines or precepts can 
 produce. No one is ignorant of the power of example 
 both for good and evil. Such is man's nature, that he is 
 more guided hj the practice of others than by his own 
 reason. A child writes more easily after a copy than by 
 rule. Men are prone to imitate whatever they see done, 
 be it good or bad, emulating the one and aping the other. 
 Men love to be in society. You know the proverb says : 
 "As well be out of the world as out of the fashion." 
 Hence men will go any whither in company, presuming 
 on defense, support and justification in the countenance 
 of their fellow-men. Hence men will do as a mob what 
 they could not be prevailed upon to do as individuals. 
 Hence it is more difficult to make men behave with gra- 
 vity and decorum in large assemblies, even in delibe- 
 rative bodies, legislative and ecclesiastical, than in their 
 social circles or as individuals. They satisfy their own 
 minds, and justify their doings partly by dividing the 
 responsibility, and partly by pleading the authority of 
 others. They are prone to think that laudable, allowable, 
 or at least excusable, for which such precedents can be 
 alleged. 
 
 2. Examples inform and impress the mind in a man- 
 ner more compendious, easy, and pleasant than precepts 
 or any other instrument or way of discipline. Precepts 
 
EXAMPLES THE BEST TEACHERS. 25 
 
 are abstract, naked, powerless — without a hold on either 
 the fancy, sense, or memory ; like the shadows of a pass- 
 ing cloud, too subtle to make any great impression, or 
 leave any remarkable footsteps. But example comes 
 home with irresistible power and strikes out its likeness. 
 Precepts are but a skeleton, dry, meagre, lifeless, exhibit- 
 ing nothing of person, place, time, manner, or indivi- 
 duality — things in which chiefly consist the flesh and 
 blood, the colors and graces, the life, and soul, and idea- 
 lity of both men and things. These are the very things 
 that please, affect, and move us ; and example is their 
 embodiment. It gives us the body in its full, and pro- 
 per, and beauteous proportions, preserved amid trials 
 and in spite of temptations — life as it is and must be, 
 just in the same kind of world we now live — life in mov- 
 ing tableaux — transforming a notional universality into 
 the reality of individual existence. Precept is the man 
 chiseled out, standing mute in the awful majesty of a 
 statue of Praxiteles ; example is the man with the life- 
 speaking eye, the grace of living motion, and the lips 
 parted with instructive lessons. The most successful 
 professors of arts and sciences explain, illustrate, and 
 confirm their general rules and precepts by particular 
 examples. Mathematicians demonstrate their theorems 
 by schemes and diagrams ; orators hack their enthy- 
 memes with inductions ; philosophers urge the reason 
 and nature of things, and then throw themselves aback 
 on the practice of Socrates, Zeno, and such like person- 
 ages. Politics is more easily and clearly drawn out of 
 veritable history than out of books De Republica. Plato, 
 
26 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 More, Sidney, and Harrington, had never dreamed their 
 republics and commonwealths in the fairy land of Uto- 
 pia if they had had the example of the United States of 
 America in reality before them. Artificers describe mo- 
 dels, and set patterns before their learners with greater suc- 
 cess than if they merely delivered accurate rules and pre- 
 cepts to them. A man can more readily learn to build by 
 looking at and carefully examining the parts and frame 
 of a well-contrived house while it is constructing, than 
 he can by ever so studious an inquiry into the rules of 
 architecture ; or he may learn to draw by setting a good 
 picture before him, than by merely speculating upon the 
 laws of perspective ; or to write fairly by imitating one 
 good copy, than by listening to a thousand oral directions. 
 Nor is the case at all different when these principles are 
 applied to morals. Seneca* says " that the crowd of phi- 
 losophers which followed Socrates -derived more of their 
 ethics from his manners than his words." 
 
 It is said of Origen, the most learned man of his age, 
 the author of a Hexapla — a man that employed seven 
 amanuenses at once — " that he recommended religion 
 more by his example than by all he wrote." One good 
 example may represent more fully and clearly the nature 
 of virtue than a thousand eloquent descriptions of it. It 
 is good in God to give us food ; but it is a still higher 
 proof of His benevolence to give us a taste for and a 
 relish in our food, so that we enjoy it. It is a proof, both 
 of Divine wisdom and goodness, that we have a Keve- 
 
 * " Plus ex moribus, quam ex verbis Socratis traxit. — Ep. ii. 
 
VIRTUES ILLUSTRATED IN THE BIBLE. 27 
 
 lation of the Divine will ; but it is still a higher proof of 
 Supreme goodness that so much of the Divine will is 
 given to us illustrated by examples. We have in the 
 Bible examples of all the Christian virtues. Is it faith 
 we have to acquire ? Then we have but to look at 
 Abraham. Is it wisdom, constancy, humility, and reso- 
 lution ? Behold Moses. Is it zeal, patience, perseve- 
 rance, and piety? Then look at Peter, Paul, and John. 
 Is it self-denial, courage, steadfastness, integrity, and 
 devotion to high and ennobling principles of duty that 
 we seek? Then we have only to study the histories 
 of Joseph, John the Baptist, Nehemiah, and Daniel. 
 
 3. Good examples are •powerful, because they per- 
 suade and incline us to follow them by plausible author- 
 ity. That prudent, wise, and pious persons do any thing, 
 is itself a very probable argument that we are under 
 obligations to do the same thing ; and if we err, it is a 
 great comfort to be found in such company. " Will you," 
 says the great Eoman orator, " will you commemorate 
 to me the examples of Scipio, and Cato, and Leilas, and 
 say they did the same thing ? Though the thing dis- 
 pleases me, yet I cannot withstand the authority of such 
 men : their authority is so great, that it can cover even 
 the suspicion of a fault."* 
 
 In a word, examples incite our passions and impel us 
 to duty. They raise hope, influence courage, provoke 
 emulation, urge up timidity, awaken curiosity, and affect 
 the fancy, and set in motion all the springs of activity. 
 
 * Cicero in Terrem. 
 
28 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 The examples of the Bible instruct and warn, encourage, 
 admonish, and comfort. They teach principles and 
 duties. They show us what to believe and what to do, 
 that we may inherit eternal life. 
 
 It is by reading and studying the lives of those who 
 have distinguished themselves above the rest of mankind, 
 that we may both amuse and instruct ourselves. History 
 has, therefore, done well in immortalizing those men who 
 have, by their talents or genius, or by their enterprise 
 and benevolence, done much for the well-being of their 
 fellow-men. The Supreme Being sends into the world, 
 from time to time, and in every age, men who distin- 
 guish their day by eminent sag vices done to their gene- 
 ration and to posterity. The private and public lives of 
 such men should be carefully treasured up, and perused 
 with universal interest. God, of his goodness, has so 
 constituted our world, that great benefactors to our race, 
 though dead, continue to speak to us. Although all that 
 is mortal of Daniel "Webster is gone to the grave, yet, in 
 his own immortal words, He still lives ! 
 
 But if biographical studies in general are thus greatly 
 valuable, and especially to the young, they become much 
 more so when they are applied to the lives, characters, 
 and principles of holy men, of divinely inspired men — 
 such as prophets and apostles, and lives and characters 
 written by them. Between ordinary biography and that 
 of the Bible there is this remarkable distinction. In 
 perusing the lives of eminent statesmen and warriors, or 
 of those whose names have been celebrated in the paths 
 of science, philosophy, or literature, we usually derive 
 
PATRIOTISM AND PRINCIPLES NOT PATENTED. 29 
 
 all the benefit which they are calculated to confer, when 
 we have thereby gained a better acquaintance with the 
 varieties of human character and the springs of human 
 action — when we have gathered some gleanings of infor- 
 mation upon the subjects or modes of life, and splendid 
 achievements with which they were most familiar, or for 
 which they were renowned. "We do not seem to have 
 the courage to make an application of their glorious 
 deeds, and discoveries, and principles, to ourselves. "We 
 never dream that we ourselves may, through their exam- 
 ple and agency, become warriors, statesmen, artists, 
 poets, philosophers, or philanthropists. "We may ad- 
 mire, and not attempt to imitate. It was therefore 
 gratifying to see, in the remarks of Lord John Eussell in 
 Scotland, and of Lord Brougham in England, on the 
 death of Wellington, that they both took occasion to 
 remind their countrymen, and particularly young men, 
 that while Providence might deny to them the circum- 
 stances that could make them heroes, like the great 
 duke, still it was in their power to imitate him in the 
 essential elements of all true greatness — purity of prin- 
 ciple and fervent devotion to the welfare of his country. 
 Integrity and patriotism are virtues not patented to any 
 sect or age. It is greatly to be regretted that the duty 
 of selecting the available virtues of the great should be 
 so generally overlooked. But even were it otherwise, 
 biography in general falls far short of Christian bio- 
 graphy. When the faith, or the piety, or the benevo- 
 lence, or the endurance of trials for the truth's sake, or 
 the noble deeds of a disciple of Jesus is the object of our 
 
30 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 admiration, we ought not to rest satisfied with yielding 
 our esteem and approbation — we ought to follow in his 
 footsteps, since our safety and happiness, as well as our 
 duty to ourselves and our country, lie in the same path. 
 Two important particulars are worthy of being men- 
 tioned here and remembered ; namely, that the field is 
 open to all, and that special divine energy is promised to 
 all. that will trust in God, and walk in the way of his 
 commandments. Each one of us is invited to walk in the 
 same way of life in which the patriarchs, prophets, 
 apostles, and martyrs have travelled home to God and 
 glory. Each one of us is freely invited to come and take 
 of the fountain of God's sanctifying grace. God's word, 
 moreover, warns us that all the by-paths of man's own 
 devising communicate with the broad way that leadeth 
 to destruction. 
 
 Again, in studying Bible biographies, we should be 
 careful to separate the peculiarities of individual char- 
 acter and experience, and the extrinsic circumstances 
 by which these may have been called into action, from 
 the grand general outlines which characterize the whole 
 family of the good and pious. In natural temperament 
 and external circumstances there may be a great dis- 
 tance between men of the same age, and much more 
 between different ages and countries. But all the pious 
 are new creatures in Christ Jesus. All the virtues, in 
 every age, and under all circumstances, are alike in 
 their adherence to truth and attachment to principle. In 
 reading the lives of prophets and apostles, " holy men of 
 old," and of eminent servants of God in modern times, 
 
GOD HELPS HUMAN EXERTION. 31 
 
 we must guard against sheltering ourselves in our own 
 littleness, indolence, and impiety by saying to ourselves 
 that if we had been endowed with equal talents, or had 
 been placed in similar circumstances, we should have 
 developed equal heroism, and have shone with equal 
 light. It is not so. Circumstances aid great men, hut 
 do not make them. On the contrary, great men make 
 circumstances. They lay a contribution on every thing 
 around them, and make it lie at their feet, obedient 
 to their will. As there is no situation in life in which 
 we may not serve God — no trial under which his grace 
 cannot impart peace and strength to enable us to endure 
 and conquer, so no circumstances can be found so fa- 
 vorable to the development of genius or of piety, as that 
 its rise or progress can be ascribed to mere chance or 
 caprice, or to any other source than God's help in unison 
 
 WITH HUMAN EFFORT. 
 
 We must, then, guard against the excuse for our sloth, 
 and for our low attainments in the knowledge of divine 
 things, that we are not inspired as were the prophets and 
 apostles. True, we are not, but the mere gift of inspi- 
 ration was not always connected with saving grace. Saul 
 was among the prophets, but did not yield the fruits of 
 sincere obedience to God. Balaam prophesied, and was 
 slain in battle by the people of God. Isaiah, and Paul, 
 and John were eminently pious, not because they were 
 inspired, but because they were partakers of divine 
 grace ; and it is in their experience of pardoning mercy, 
 and attainment of personal holiness, and not in prophe- 
 tic phrensy, that we are to be like them. True piety is 
 
 UFI7E-.. 
 
32 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the same in all ages. There is but one Gospel, one Lord, 
 one faith, one baptism. Christ is the essential figure of 
 all time, past, and to come. Before the Incarnation, the 
 pious looked forward to the coming of the Son of God ; 
 since the Advent, the pious look back to Calvary, to the 
 lifting up of the Son of Man. The Gospel is alike ad- 
 dressed to the learned and to the unlearned — to the Sab- 
 bath-school child and the believer of fourscore years — to 
 the soldier on the tented plain, the operative in the mill, 
 and the slave in the field — to the dwellers in palaces and 
 the tenants of cottages. It is God's message of mercy 
 and good- will to all men, of every tribe, kindred, tongue, 
 people, and nation, under the whole heaven. Are the 
 truths of God's word, then, precious to you, as they were 
 to the servants of God in olden time ? The work of the 
 Spirit is in every believer, a renewal of the whole man 
 after the image of God, enabling him to die unto sin and 
 to live unto righteousness. The varieties of individual 
 characters produced by any outward circumstances are 
 but the distinctions of time, and shall pass away when 
 time shall be no more. It is of infinite moment, then, 
 that Christ be formed in your heart, the hope of glory. 
 There is no reason why you should not receive the 
 grace of God — no reason why you should not be among 
 the number of the faithful, who, having " turned many 
 to righteousness, shall shine as the stars, for ever and 
 ever." 
 
 " When a man turns to the Lord," says an old Jewish 
 writer, " he is like a fountain filled with living water, and 
 rivers flow from him to men of all nations and tribes.'' 
 
YOU MUST BE FOUNTAIN MEN. 33 
 
 It is just such men, my young brethren, you are called to 
 be. Your age and your country call for fountain-men — 
 men of deep original experience in the grace of faith and 
 in the knowledge of God's Word. God has given you 
 bodily constitution, health, and nerves, the education and 
 the style of mind, and the social and political status in 
 the world, which with fixity of thinking and sincerity in 
 praying will make up such an aggregate of character as 
 will be a blessing now, and. an hon#* forever. Your 
 country and your God require of you to be men like 
 Joshua and Caleb, to whom the giants of Canaan — all 
 the adversaries of truth — shall he bit as bread. We want 
 men of large minds and warm hearts — men of sound 
 understanding and of sincere faith ; then " shall our peace 
 be like a river, and our righteousness like the waves of 
 the sea." 
 
 The development of character which we have to study 
 in the biographies of the Bible speaks volumes of en- 
 couragement and hope, warning and admonition. Like 
 the pillar-cloud of the Hebrews, one side is bright and 
 glory-revealing, while the other is dark and full of terror. 
 The lives of God's servants tell us there is a beauty and 
 excellence which the wicked do not prize nor seek to 
 obtain — that there is a blessedness, both here and here- 
 after, in which the ungodly have no interest ; tell us there 
 is danger around the unbelieving and impenitent, doubt 
 and darkness before them, while they are without the ark 
 of safety or without the light of hope. But the lives of 
 Old Testament worthies, and of all true Christians, speak 
 to us also the language of encouragement. They tell us 
 
34: LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 there is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared — 
 that the grace of God is sufficient for all the trials of life 
 — and that Heaven makes amends for all the sorrows of 
 earth. 
 
DANIEL'S PERSONAL HISTORY. 35 
 
 • LECTUEE H. 
 
 DANIEL A TRUE BIBLE PROPHET. 
 On Dan., viii., 1-3; Ezek., xiv, 14, and xxviii., 3. 
 
 Personal History of the Prophet true. — Expositors of Daniel. — The Scope and 
 Definiteness of his Prophecies. — Sir Isaac Newton a patient Student of his 
 Writings. — Porphyry refuted. — Mysteries and Miracles no Objection. — Proofs 
 of the Authentictiy of tlie Book of Daniel. — Daniel is its professed Author. — 
 Monumental Proof. — The Book was received by the Jews. — Josephus 1 Testi- 
 mony. — Incidental Allusions, such as Mode of capital Punishment, reckoning 
 of Time, Style of Houses, Presence of Females at Festivals, personal Incidents, 
 Food, Change of Name, and the Language of the Book itself. — Convenience 
 of small Change. — Beady to give an Answer for your Hope. — Mans per- 
 sonal Responsibility to God. — Ihe Atonement of the Bible Mans only Hope. 
 
 Among the Hebrew prophets, Daniel's celebrity is next 
 to that of Moses. There are none whose wisdom, and 
 dexterity, and elevation, and influence have been more 
 celebrated among the Jews. It would be as reasonable 
 to deny the personal existence and reign of David or 
 Solomon, as to deny either the personal history or extra- 
 ordinary prophetic character of Daniel. Yet there are 
 not wanting those who deny both.' And this is the more 
 remarkable when we consider the evidence in support of 
 his personal history. There is no more reason to doubt 
 that such a distinguished man, a Jewish exile, lived and 
 flourished at Babylon during the captivity, than there is to 
 doubt the existence of Nebuchadnezzar himself. Indeed, 
 as a mere matter of history, the proof in favor of Daniel 
 is stronger than that in favor of Nebuchadnezzar. None 
 of the Greek historians mention such a king as Nebuchad- 
 
36 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 nezzar of Babylon. But surely this is not sufficient proof 
 that there never was such a king. 
 
 Recent discoveries on the banks of the Euphrates, even 
 if we set aside all traditions and all ancient historv on 
 the subject, have brought to light the absolute certainty 
 of the existence of such a king as Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 that he lived and did just as the Bible says he did. The 
 Jews have always considered Daniel as one of their 
 greatest prophets. See Josephus, Antiq., lib. x. 
 
 But the only authentic source whence we $an learn the 
 true history of Daniel is the book which bears his name. 
 There are many apocryphal narratives respecting him, 
 but they belong to a later period, and are not trustworthy. 
 The simple profession of the author of the book before us, 
 that he was Daniel, a prophet in the Babylonish capti- 
 vity, is prima facie proof that this is the fact. The onus 
 jprobandi may be fairly thrown on those who deny it. 
 How do we know that a monument pointed out to the 
 traveler at Rome is the arch of Titus \ The monument 
 speaks for itself. It says it was erected in honor of Titus 
 after his destruction of Jerusalem.* The inscription it- 
 self, standing on a public edifice, is proof of the fact it 
 relates. And we know from history and tradition, and 
 the nature of the monument itself, that it is both genuine 
 and authentic. It is true, antiquarians are sometimes 
 deceived. Inscriptions are sometimes forged. But this 
 
 * The inscription on the arch of Titus : 
 
 Senatus. 
 
 popvlvsqvk romanys. 
 
 Divo. Tito. Divi. Vespasiani. F. 
 
 Yespasiano. Augusto 
 
AUTHORS.— PRINCIPLE OP GOD'S GOVERNMENT. 37 
 
 proves the general principle of evidence which I insist 
 upon to be true. " If," as Tregelles has well stated it, 
 " ancient inscriptions had not been admitted as carrying 
 with them much weight of evidence, forgeries would 
 not have been attempted. The existence of counterfeit 
 coins proves that coins in general pass current as genu- 
 ine." You are aware that men of thorough acknow- 
 ledged piety and scholarship, such as Sir Isaac Newton, 
 Bishop Newton, Faber, and Calvin, devoted a considera- 
 ble portion of the best part of their lives to the elucida- 
 tion of the book of Daniel. The most recent works 
 on this book that I am acquainted with ai*e from the 
 pens of the late Professor Stuart, of Andover, Dr. dim- 
 ming, of London, Dr. Tregelles, of England, and the 
 works of Professors Hengstenberg and Havernich, of 
 Germany. I have named these authors, because, as 
 many of you are blessed with a liberal education, you 
 may be inclined to devote some portion of your time to 
 mental and moral improvement by giving your attention 
 to some of them. The late Moses Stuart's " Commentary 
 on Daniel," Dr. Tregelles' " Defense of the Authenticity 
 of the Book of Daniel," and Hengstenb erg's " Genuine- 
 ness of Daniel," leave but little more to be said on the 
 authority of this book as a true part of the inspired 
 "Word. Hengstenberg and Stuart state and answer the 
 objections that have been made to the authenticity of the 
 book that seem to deserve refutation ; and Tregelles sets 
 forth the arguments that establish the claims of the book 
 of Daniel to its place in the blessed Yolume. All ex- 
 positors of the Bible have testified to the excellence of 
 the book of Daniel. In at least one point of view, it is 
 
38 LECTURES OX DANIEL. 
 
 regarded as one of the most interesting books of the 
 whole Bible ; namely, as an exposition of the great prin- 
 ciples on which God governs the world, and as a running 
 commentary in advance upon the history of things and 
 nations that are now passing over the stage of time. This 
 book comprehends so many events, and extends through 
 so many successive ages, that it presents to us an astonish- 
 ing proof of divine Providence and of divine Eevelation. 
 Who but the omniscient and omnipotent God could thus 
 declare the things that shall be, with their times and their 
 seasons ? Surely he who could thus foretell the dispensa- 
 tions of Providence must have been an honest and truth- 
 ful servant of Him, whose dominion is an everlasting 
 dominion, and whose kingdom endureth from generation 
 to generation. Sir Isaac Newton, "who explored the 
 firmament with unwearied wing, and made an apocalypse 
 of the stars," felt that he was sounding a greater depth, 
 and rising to a loftier height, when he sat down a patient 
 student of this book, to ascertain the mind and meaning 
 of the spirit of God therein, anoVmake it plain to less 
 gifted souls, than when engaged in his loftiest astro- 
 nomical studies. There is no part of divine prophecy so 
 definite, so reduced to facts and figures, as the book of 
 Daniel. No prophecy, if false, could, therefore, be more 
 easily exposed. And yet there is no part of the divine 
 Volume that has given more trouble to the unbelieving 
 Israelite and the skeptic than the prophecies of Daniel. 
 The Israelite sees plainly that if Daniel's chronology be 
 of God, then the Messiah must have come, and that it is 
 in vain to look for another ; and the infidel only gets over 
 the difficulty by denying that there is any divinity in the 
 
PORPHYRY REFUTED. 39 
 
 Old or New Testament. Genesis and Malachi, Matthew 
 and Revelation are alike to him. He receives none of 
 them as true, although he is not able to give any satisfac- 
 tory solution of their origin, character, preservation, and 
 influence. In the face of the most astonishing body of 
 evidence that has ever been produced to prove any thing, 
 in favor of the inspiration of the Scriptures, he sets them 
 aside as fables and fictions without any authority. And 
 in rejecting what God has said as unworthy of credence, 
 he believes more than he is required to believe in receiv- 
 ing the Bible as the "Word of God. Infidels are, after 
 all, the most superstitious and the most credulous. 
 
 One of the earliest opponents of Daniel and of Chris- 
 tianity was Porphyry, who saw so clearly the fulfillment 
 of part of his prophecies, that he declared the book must 
 have been written by some one who lived in the days of 
 Antiochus Epiphanes — that is, that the prophecies, so 
 called, are but narratives of events fulfilled. The answer 
 to this is very simple and easy. The book of Daniel is 
 found not only in the Hebrew Bible, just as we have 
 Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophecies and histories, 
 dating back to the time when it is believed they were 
 respectively written, but also in the Greek translation 
 from the Hebrew, called the Septuagint, which was made 
 and scattered throughout the Greek empire at least one 
 hundred years before Antiochus Epiphanes was born. 
 Josephus and the whole Jewish nation are witnesses of 
 this fact. 
 
 If it should be said there are too many mysteries and 
 miracles in this book, we answer, there are mysteries in 
 it that we are not able to solve, nor shall we now attempt 
 
40 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 to explain. It is not my purpose, in the present course 
 of Lectures, to enter upon any discussion of the prophe- 
 cies of Daniel, but mainly to pursue the narrative, so far 
 as it shall suit our design — which is, to present the pri- 
 vate and public life of Daniel, as far as we can ascertain 
 what it is, as a model for the young men of our age and 
 country — taking also, as we proceed with it, such a survey 
 of the monuments and histories of those times and countries 
 as may elucidate the divine record, or serve to prove its 
 genuineness and authenticity. The manifestations of God 
 found in this book seem to have been necessary for the 
 peculiar times and trials of his servants. The Jews were 
 then in captivity, their temple was destroyed — their 
 sacred rites, their sacrifices, and their ceremonies had 
 ceased. Their priests and their Levites were gone. It 
 would seem, therefore, natural to expect, when all the 
 outward signs of their religion were thus removed, that 
 God should manifest more of himself to them, in order 
 to keep up the light of religion in the absence of its out- 
 ward and visible ordinances. We may sum up some of 
 the main points that prove the authenticity of the book of 
 Daniel and set forth his claims to be considered as a true 
 prophet, in the following order : 
 
 1. The hook of Daniel was received as authentic by the 
 Jews before the coming of Christ, and before the Macca- 
 bean Age. Its place in the canon was never disputed by 
 them. As it existed in the Hebrew Bible, so we find it 
 translated with the other books of the Old Testament 
 into Greek, by the learned Jews of Alexandriaj about 
 three hundred years before Christ. Accordingly, we 
 have it in the Septuagint translation to this day. Jose- 
 
HEBREWS AND CHRISTIANS RECEIYE THIS BOOK. 41 
 
 phus, the learned and distinguished Jewish historian, 
 bears honorable testimony to the character of Daniel and 
 the authenticity of this book. The point of his testimony 
 which I cite relates to the authority of the book called 
 the Prophecy of Daniel. Josephus, speaking of this 
 book, says, " All these things did this man leave behind 
 him, writing as God had showed to him ; so that those 
 who read his prophecies, and see how they have been 
 fulfilled, must be astonished at the honor conferred by 
 God on Daniel." This is the testimony of the distin- 
 guished Jewish historian, who was bitterly hostile to 
 Christianity. In his antiquities, he shows how each pre- 
 diction of Daniel had been fulfilled in regard to the 
 Babylonian empire, and the Persian and the Medean. 
 And if it be asked why he does not also speak of the ful- 
 fillment of Daniel's prophecies concerning the last of the 
 four great monarchies, we answer: Josephus was a ser- 
 vant of the Roman empire, and he had not the courage 
 to proclaim that Daniel's prophecies relating to Rome, 
 the then existing empire, would be as certainly fulfilled 
 as they had been concerning the three former empires. 
 
 Again, 2. Jesus Christ and His apostles expressly re- 
 fer to Daniel as one of the prophets of the Old Testament. 
 In Matthew, xxiv. 15, the Saviour says : " When ye shall 
 see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the 
 prophet, stand in the holy"&c. This allusion of our 
 Lord proves that He and the Jews of his time regarded 
 Daniel as a real prophet, just as they did Moses, and 
 David, and the other prophets, and proves also that 
 Daniel prophesied of the judgments of God upon Jerusa- 
 lem and the Holy Land subsequent to the crucifixion of 
 
42 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the Messiah. In like manner, there are allusions scat- 
 tered through the New Testament which clearly point to 
 events, and things, and expressions contained in the book 
 of Daniel, though the prophet himself is not named. 
 
 We find the apostle saying of some of the Old Testa 
 ment hero saints, " By faith they stopped the mouths of 
 lions," and " quenched the violence of fire." These are 
 evidently allusions to Daniel's deliverance from the lion's 
 ■den, and to the escape of his three friends, Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into the fiery 
 furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, and had not even their 
 garments singed by the flame. These allusions to Daniel 
 and his prophecy show that the book of Daniel was 
 known to our Lord and his apostles, and received by 
 them as inspired. 
 
 Time at present does not allow me to dwell on these 
 allusions. The most remarkable fact about them is, the 
 wonderful harmony that runs through them and through 
 the whole "Word of God. " You cannot touch, as it were 
 (Dr. Cumming,) a note in Daniel, but all the apostles of 
 the New Testament respond to it. You have noticed 
 sometimes in a building, in a church or a hall, that if a 
 certain note or tone be given by the speaker, the whole 
 building will instantly vibrate in harmony or in unison. 
 In the same way, you cannot touch a truth in Daniel, 
 but tones of harmony will burst from the lips of Paul and 
 from the writings of Peter. The whole Bible is a grand 
 harmony, revealing the mind, the will, and the glory of 
 God." 
 
 3. Daniel's truthfulness as a writer is seen in the re- 
 cord he has made of the capital punishments inflicted in 
 
KENTUCKTANS.— FIERY FURNACE. 43 
 
 his time at Babylon. Casting into a heated furnace was 
 a mode of practising cruelty known only to the Chal- 
 deans ; while casting into a den of wild beasts was a 
 punishment peculiar to the Medes and Persians. In our 
 age, the historian of Cuba does not say that the victims of 
 some unfortunate attempt at revolution are bastinadoed, 
 or put to death by the bowstring or the silken cord ; he 
 does not speak of the mode of inflicting death in Turkey, 
 Persia, China, or Japan ; but he does tell us that Critten- 
 den and his brave but ill-fated companions, who, like 
 true Kentuckians, would kneel to none but God, were 
 slaughtered by a file of soldiers with Spanish muskets, 
 and that Lopez was put to death by the garote ml. This 
 garote vil, I believe, is a refinement upon any thing 
 known in Spain in the days of Columbus. It would, 
 therefore, be a great mistake to say that any suspicious 
 gentleman of Spain was put to death three hundred 
 years ago by Spanish officials as Lopez was at Havana. 
 We have, therefore, a plain argument in favor of the 
 truthfulness of the history of Daniel, that, in speaking of 
 the infliction of capital punishment under the Chaldeans, 
 he mentions that of the fiery furnace ; and when speaking 
 of capital punishment under the Medo-Persian dynasty, 
 he, without saying a word about the change, relates that 
 it was performed after the national manner, namely, by 
 casting into a den of lions. It were difficult to conceive 
 a more striking proof of the simple straightforwardness of 
 the writer, and of his perfect acquaintance with the man- 
 ners and the customs of his age, than we have in the nar- 
 rative. 
 
 4. The method of reckoning years is also a proof that 
 
44 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the record before us is in perfect harmony with the age 
 and country when and where it was made. Thus we 
 read in chap. ii. : " In the second year of King Nebu- 
 chadnezzar." The writer then lived in the age and king- 
 dom of Nebuchadnezzar. From the way in which a 
 traveler speaks or writes of longitude, we can tell to 
 what country he belongs. For as each country reckons 
 longitude from its own meridian, so each traveler would 
 allude to his own sovereign and meridian whenever 
 occasion requires. An Englishman would reckon his 
 longitude from Greenwich, under the reign of her Ma- 
 jesty Victoria. A Frenchman reckons his longitude 
 from Paris in the time of Louis Napoleon. An American 
 says : In such a year of the Independence of the United 
 States of America, and such a degree of longitude west 
 from "Washington, the star-spangled banner was planted 
 on such a fortress or island. Thus, as the mode of reck- 
 oning longitude, and the mention of the sovereign or 
 government found in some distant shore or island, would 
 show the country to which the discoverer and writer 
 belonged, so the allusion here made to the mode of reck- 
 oning time shows that the narrative comes from the pen 
 of one who was well acquainted with the habits and 
 customs of the people among whom he lived, and of 
 whom he wrote. Another proof of the same kind is 
 found in ch. ii., v. 5, where the king commands their 
 houses to be made a dunghill. 
 
 Now, if their houses had been built of stone or brick, 
 or even of wood, as in this country, it would be difficult 
 to see the propriety of such a decree. But when you 
 remember that the houses of the Chaldeans, as also the 
 
THEIR HOUSES.— FEMALES AT FEASTS. 45 
 
 houses of the ancient Egyptians, were made of bricks of 
 clay hardened in the sun, there is no difficulty in under- 
 standing it. Such bricks might easily be dissolved by 
 violent rains, and soon be reduced by moisture and rain 
 to a pulp or mass of soft clay. Our Saviour refers to 
 such houses in Matthew vii. 
 
 5. The presence of females at the great festival of Bel- 
 shazzar is another proof of the same kind in favor of the 
 claims of this book. Such a statement made now, con- 
 cerning a great festival of the Sultan of Constantinople, 
 would be pronounced at once to be false. But the an- 
 cients were not Moslems. The ancient Egyptians, Chal- 
 deans, and Persians did not exclude their females from 
 their feasts. Abundant proof to the contrary can be 
 collected from history and monuments. Xenophon, the 
 historian of Cyrus, says that it was a custom peculiar to 
 Babylon, and unknown among subsequent nations. He 
 was mistaken in part. Such a custom prevailed among 
 the Jews and Egyptians, as well as with the Chaldeans. 
 Our record accords minutely with the actual peculiarities 
 of the age and country concerning which it is made. 
 Xenophon further corroborates the statements of Daniel 
 about Belshazzar, for he tells us that the " last king of 
 Babylon was cruel, cowardly, and voluptuous, who des- 
 pised the Deity, and spent his time in riot and debauch- 
 ery." This is precisely the character which Daniel gives 
 to Belshazzar, who was the "last king of Babylon." 
 And again, it is known that the Cyaxares of Xenophon is 
 the same with the Darius of Daniel. The character is 
 similar. Xenophon says he was weak, cruel, and pliable, 
 yet furious in his anger, and tyrannical in the exercise of 
 
46 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 his power. This corresponds to his conduct as recorded 
 by Daniel. He tells ns that, as king, he allowed his 
 nobles to make laws for him which were unalterable, and 
 afterward repented and endeavored to retract them. He 
 casts Daniel into the den of lions for non-compliance 
 with his orders, and then spends the whole night in 
 lamentation and remorse at the consequences of his cru- 
 elty. It is thus that we catch, sounding along the lapse 
 of centuries, and from the ruins of Persepolis and Baby- 
 lon, now being brought to light, echoes of the great 
 original — proofs that the Prophet Daniel was truthful, 
 both as a historian and as a foreteller of future events, 
 and that, like the other holy men of old who wrote the 
 Scriptures, he was moved thereto by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 6. And we have still other similar proofs that Daniel is 
 the author of this book, and that it is a truth-telling book, 
 and was written at the time assumed, and that he was a 
 living participator in the events which he records. For 
 example, it is here stated that the Hebrew youths were 
 fed from the royal table. Is this fact sustained by the 
 history of the Chaldeans ? "Was there any such custom 
 among them ? It is alluded to here as a common and a 
 well-known fact, just as an eye-witness would record a 
 custom prevailing at the period when he lived. And in- 
 quiry satisfies us that such a custom did prevail at that 
 time among the Chaldeans and Persians, but that it was 
 a custom peculiar to them, and common to no people be- 
 sides. 
 
 The change of their names from Hebrew into Chaldee 
 is another proof of the genuineness and authenticity of 
 the book. This was in accordance with a custom univer- 
 
CHANGE OF NAME— LANGUAGE. 47 
 
 sally prevalent among the Chaldeans. In 2 Chron., 
 xxxvi., 4, we find the King of Babylon changing the 
 name of Eliakim into Jehoiakim. See also 2 Kings, 
 xxiv., 17. 
 
 The fact stated is in harmony with the age and the 
 country in which it purports to have been penned. 
 
 An argument, also, in favor of the authenticity and 
 genuineness of the book is derived from the language in 
 which it is written. The book of Daniel, as also the book 
 of Ezra, was written partly in Hebrew and partly in 
 Chaldee, a language that differs in its forms and struc- 
 ture from the Hebrew about as much as the Italian or 
 Spanish differs from the Latin. Now a historian of 
 Italy, writing the history of his country two centuries 
 ago, would contain allusions to passing events and things 
 that had happened before, and would contain peculiari- 
 ties of style belonging to the language of Italy at that 
 time ; and if he lived at Florence, Bologna, or Naples, 
 he would most likely betray the peculiarities of the lan- 
 guage and customs prevailing where he resided. If a 
 liberally educated man, he might refer to events in the 
 past history of Asia, Greece, and Rome, but he could not 
 allude to the electric telegraph, steam-ship, or the crown- 
 ing of Louis Napoleon as Emperor of France. And so 
 clearly are these things understood, that scholars can de- 
 termine quite accurately where and when a book was 
 written by its style, allusions, and facts. So we find the 
 internal evidence of the book of Daniel just what we 
 have a right to expect. It is written in Hebrew and 
 Chaldee, just such as a well-educated Hebrew, well ac- 
 quainted with Chaldee, would use, and in just such Chal- 
 
48 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 dee as prevailed in his time on the banks of the Eu- 
 phrates, but such as did not prevail before nor since, nor 
 at any other place. This is precisely one of the argu- 
 ments which prove the genuineness and authenticity of 
 the New Testament ; namely, we find the language of 
 Matthew, John, Peter, and Paul, just such as their his- 
 tory would lead us to expect — a Syro Chaldaic Greek. 
 The Greek of the New Testament is not the Greek of 
 Homer nor of Xenophon, nor is it the Greek of Chrysos- 
 tom nor Athanasius. The New Testament is written in 
 the language that prevailed among the Jews in their own 
 country in the age of the Caesars — a language that never 
 prevailed before, and did not prevail after the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, and a language that never existed any 
 where, as a living tongue, but in Judea — a language, 
 which, indeed, none but Jews under Greek-Eoman em- 
 perors would have used. There is, then, in this fact 
 strong presumptive proof that the New Testament was 
 written by the men, and at the time, -and in the country 
 that we claim for its authors, and that its authors were, 
 as they profess to have been, inspired by the Holy Spi- 
 rit to write as they did. The same argument avails for 
 Daniel. 
 
 Possibly there may be those who are saying in their 
 hearts, you are dwelling too long on the introductory 
 part of the series — we want to get at once to the dreams, 
 and the image of gold, and the lions' den. Why prove 
 to us what we already receive as true ? True, you be- 
 lieve the Scriptures, and it is a great blessing that your 
 minds are not tainted with the poison of infidelity. But 
 there are many precious young men in all our cities who 
 
WHY PROVE THE BOOK TRUE? 49 
 
 are not so fortunate as you are in this respect. They 
 have not been so well educated, or have been thrown into 
 unfavorable circumstances, or have been led astray by 
 wicked companions. And even you will find yourselves 
 sometimes in nests of Infidels, who will taunt, and jeer, 
 and scoff at the simplicity of those that believe in the 
 Bible. Is it not well, then, to have you armed for such 
 emergencies % The boldness of our age, the exigencies 
 of our times, demand thorough conviction of the truth of 
 what we profess. It is both reasonable and scriptural 
 that I should endeavor to make you intelligent, and able 
 to give a reason for the faith that is in you. As we can- 
 not live this year upon the provisions consumed last 
 year, so it is well to ply the mind and conscience day by 
 day with evidences of spiritual realities. You may be 
 convinced in your hearts — and nothing is so convincing 
 that the Bible is really the Word of God, as an inward, 
 experimental knowledge of its precious teachings applied 
 to ourselves — and nothing is so well calculated to con- 
 vince one of the truth of the Bible as the honest, prayer- 
 ful, regular waiting upon a minister of the Gospel, who 
 expounds divine truth from his own knowledge of its 
 preciousness. But you will need as you go your way 
 through the world, not only what will convince your own 
 hearts that the Bible is from God, but you need to be so 
 well rooted, and established, and furnished, that you may 
 be able to convince others also. It is most important to 
 have money with 'your banker ; but you will lose many 
 little comforts and many solid advantages if you have 
 not a little change in your pockets. I found, in traveling 
 in the East, that the circular notes of our countryman, 
 
50 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 banker in London (Mr. Peabody,) were generally, and 
 among civilized people, even better thaji French or Bri- 
 tish gold ; yet it was exceedingly convenient to be able 
 to save ten per cent, commission and exchange from an 
 Egyptian or Asiatic banker by having a little ready mo- 
 ney on hand. So it is most important to have deep con- 
 victions in your own soul — a bank of faith at communion 
 seasons and in the solemn assemblies of Sabbath congre- 
 gations ; but it is not less valuable, in this strange rail- 
 road and lightning-speed world, and amid its multitudi- 
 nous excitements, and amid its strange mixture of society, 
 to have a little ready argument which you can employ — a 
 little mother wit, that you may answer therewith a fool 
 according to his folly. Religion is not a thing to hang 
 up at the church door or in an antiquarian hall, along 
 with the armor of past ages. It is not to be left in the 
 vestry as a clergyman does his gown, to be put on only on 
 Sabbath. True religion is a cosmopolite. It is to be seen 
 on our highways and in our market-places, and should be 
 honored in our halls of science, commerce, and justice. 
 
 In concluding this discourse, remember that the grand 
 distinctive feature throughout the whole book of Daniel 
 is to depress all that is human, and unfold and lift up the 
 glory of all that is divine. The great object seems every 
 where to be to make man feel what the late Mr. Web- 
 ster considered the greatest thought he ever had in his 
 mind — man 's personal responsibility to God. It is regard- 
 ed as an evidence of an able address to a jury by an 
 attorney, that he lodges in their bosoms the conviction he 
 desires for his client; so it is a good sermon that con- 
 verts the hearer — that places the creature in the dust, 
 
GREATEST THOUGHT.— GOD ALONE GREAT. 51 
 
 and exalts God upon his throne. If, then, the book of 
 Daniel humbles man, and exalts the Creator and the Re- 
 deemer of man, it must be in keeping with the Gospel of 
 Christ. In reading the book of Daniel, we see kingdoms, 
 and monarchs, and statesmen — their councils, their ar- 
 mies, their great men, their magnificence and glory, 
 as the dust of the balance, and God alone is great. 
 Throughout the book we have these two grand ideas de- 
 veloped ; man, even the mightiest of men, are poor, frail, 
 short-lived, guilty, miserable ; and God is wise, and good, 
 omnipotent, supreme, and glorious. 
 
 In this, as in every portion of the Word of God, we 
 find great saving truths. " Amid the foliage of prophesy 
 — amid the flowers of poetry — in the detail* of biogra- 
 phy, and in the long annals of national or universal his- 
 tory, truths profitable, or refreshing, or sanctifying to the 
 soul, flash forth continually. God in providence never 
 omits to feed the minutest insect in his provision for the 
 greatest and the most important of created intelligen- 
 ces."* In his Word there is living bread for the soul of 
 the humblest, as well as warning, and instruction, and 
 reproof, for kings, and presidents, and nations. In the 
 pages of the prophets, as truly, if not as fully as in the 
 pages of the evangelists, such truths are written as unfold 
 to us our true condition as sinners, and our hope of par- 
 don and eternal life. The whole Bible is an intensely 
 practical book. Christianity is an intensely practical 
 thing. It is the one thing needful for all men. It is the 
 great want of the human soul. It is not a dead, lifeless 
 
 * Dr. Cumming's Preface to Daniel. 
 
52 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 body; but a living, earnest, expansive, heartfelt, pro- 
 gressive thing. Man has sinned, and therefore he suf- 
 fers. Sin has entered our world, and death by sin. The 
 conscience, intellect, and heart of man — all is morally 
 diseased. The great question then is, How can we escape 
 the consequence of sin ? This question the Bible answers 
 promptly and fully. Jehovah laid upon His Son our ini- 
 quities ; He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for 
 us, that we might become the righteousness of God in 
 Him. The moment man sinned Jesus stood between the 
 living and the dead — He offered himself as a victim in 
 our room and stead, and was accepted. Being without 
 sin, and exempt from obligations of his own, he had a 
 right to assume our place. We as sinners were without 
 holiness and without strength. No man can save him- 
 self. All the popes, bishops, prelates, poets, philosophers, 
 and councils in Christendom can no more change the 
 heart of man than they can create a fixed star, or soar to 
 the sun. They can no more pay the price of human re- 
 demption than they can create a universe. Yet it is true 
 that the history of the world without God is nothing but 
 a history of successive efforts and successive failures to 
 regenerate and save itself without Christ. "What are all 
 the thousand smoking altars, and the ten thousand bleed- 
 ing victims of heathenism, rude and refined, ancient and 
 modern, but so many efforts of man to redeem and save 
 his own soul ? What is Pantheism, but man's vain effort 
 to regenerate man, and perfect his character and happi- 
 ness without Christ? What are Popery and Puseyism 
 but priestly and abortive efforts to regenerate man with- 
 out Christ ? Aristides, Socrates, Plato, Alfred, and other 
 
THINGS PAINFUL.— PRIESTS SPIES. 53 
 
 names of the like character are not types of humanity. 
 They are the exceptions to the general character and con- 
 dition of our race — they are the few tall trees seen from 
 a distance ; while beneath and around them we find here 
 and there, and everywhere, the pestilential swamp, and 
 all manner of vile and worthless things. The mass of 
 terrible corruption which lies and festers in the mass of 
 the heathen population of our globe may be estimated 
 from the first chapter of Romans, and from the lanes, and 
 alleys, and dens, and Bridewells, and Tombs of the large 
 cities of the earth. The lower stratum of society is not 
 a basket of flowers, but a terrible reality that calls for 
 help. It were painful enough to see the ancient heathen 
 worshiping Mars, a sort of cannibal, who drank the blood 
 of his victims ; Mercury, who was a thief; and Jupiter, 
 who was a monster. But it is more painful to see the de- 
 pravity, corruption, and wretchedness of modern times — 
 to see the Gospel, itself pure, precious and Godlike in all 
 its influences, perverted and made the patron of cruelty 
 and persecution — made to set up inquisitions for the 
 murder of saints, for the plunder of widows, and its 
 ministers spies of the police, through the Confessional, for 
 the suppression of freedom and the enslavement of man- 
 kind. It is more painful still to see young men of the 
 nineteenth century, enjoying the blessings of Christian- 
 ity, surrounded and urged by every honorable induce- 
 ment to noble conduct, throw away all their privileges, 
 and destroy themselves by indolence or dissipation, or by 
 following false principles. In the very outset of life, my 
 young friends, you feel your need of religion ; you feel 
 your need of a guide and protector. Let this holy Yol- 
 
54 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 urne be jour guide, and God your protector. The Gos- 
 pel is not a mere directory nor rule — it is a prescription 
 also. It directs the living and healthy, and it also cures 
 the diseased, and gives life to the dead. Calvary is not 
 a mere composite of Sinai. It is the spot on which the 
 Son of man was lifted up, and the Son of God in human 
 nature died — died for us ! God gave his Son for us. The 
 great Redeemer left the robes of majesty and beauty for 
 the vile refuse garment that Pilate cast upon his shoulders. 
 He left the admiration of angels for the execration of the 
 mob. He exchanged a diadem of glory for a wreath of 
 thorns — and why ? It was for us — that our ruined souls 
 might be redeemed, and live forever with God and holy 
 angels. 
 
 It is not enough, then, that you are intelligent, and 
 honest, and industrious, and high-minded — you must 
 have a personal interest in the salvation of the Cross. 
 You must receive Christ, and rest upon Him alone for 
 salvation, as He is offered in the Gospel. The Gospel is 
 the power of God unto salvation to every one that be- 
 lieveth. And when it shall prevail over our globe, then 
 there will be an end to all bitterness and pride, sectarian- 
 ism, selfishness, and vain-glory — to all insubordination 
 among subjects, and to all despotism on the part of rulers. 
 The great rainbow of the covenant, that started from the 
 cross and vaulted into the sky from Jerusalem, and now 
 sweeps over the throne of Jehovah, shall complete its 
 orbit, and rest again on the ground, and Christ shall reign 
 supreme over all nations and people. It is for you now 
 to choose the Lord's side and be found with his conquer- 
 ing hosts, or by refusing to accept of his mercy, make 
 
CHRIST WILL CONQUER.— CHOOSE HIS SIDE. 55 
 
 your everlasting destruction sure. The old year is gone 
 and is now numbered with your earliest years.* Pas- 
 sion's fervid hopes and fears for another year are gone. 
 
 " The dream of youth is broken — 
 Gone are the voices once so sweet ; 
 Friends too dear shall never meet — 
 Treasures of the heart's young day, 
 Yain delusions — pass away ; 
 
 All earthly things are flying." 
 
 Heaven only is sure. Fly now to Christ and live fob- 
 eveb. Amen. 
 
 * Delivered at the beginning of the year 1853. 
 
56 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 LECTUKE HI. 
 
 DANIEL AS A MAN — A MODEL. 
 
 On Dan, L 
 
 Affairs in Judea. — Shinar. — Three Carryings-away to Babylon. — Sketch of 
 DanieVs History and Character. — Why refused King's Fare. — Benefits of 
 early Education. — Ashpenaz a cunning Politician. — Melzar a sharp Contract- 
 or. — The Experiment. — Attainments of Daniel and his Friends. — A Model 
 for his Intelligence, high Bearing, and Steadfastness in his Religion. — King's 
 Efforts to seduce him all fail. — Reflections. 1. Appreciate a good Educa- 
 tion. — Lord Dartmouth. — Webster's Eulogy. 2. Duty of immediate personal 
 Piety. — Solemn Questionings. 
 
 .'Read verses 1-5. 
 
 From 2 Kings, xxiii., 34-36, we learn that Jehoiakim 
 was raised to the throne of Judah by Pharaoh-Necho, 
 King of Egypt. He continued tributary to Egypt three 
 years, but in his fourth year, which was the first year of 
 the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, a great battle was fought 
 near the Euphrates between the Egyptian and Babylonian 
 kings, and the Egyptian army was defeated. This victory 
 placed all Syria under the Chaldean government ; and 
 thus Jehoiakim, who had been tributary to Egypt, now 
 became a vassal of the King of Babylon. See also, Jer., 
 xxv., 1, and xlvi., 2 ; 2 Kings, xxiv., 1. 
 
 After three years, the King of Judah rebelled against 
 the King of Babylon, who came against Jerusalem, and 
 besieged and took it, as soon as his engagements with 
 other wars allowed him to direct his attention to Jewish 
 affairs. The land of Shinar was the ancient name of 
 
TREASURES.— DANIEL'S AGE. 57 
 
 Babylon. And brought the vessels into the treasures of 
 his god. His god was Bel, the tutelar guardian of the 
 Babylonish empire. To carry away the richest and finest 
 vessels of the temple of a conquered people was a com- 
 mon custom among conquerors. What, however, was 
 necessary to carry on the worship of Jehovah, he left. 
 The King of Babylon did not attempt to alter the civil or 
 religious constitution of the land. He left Jehoiakim on 
 the throne, and the religion of his God in His temple. 
 He only laid the land under tribute. 
 
 The Chaldeans carried away the vessels of the Lord's 
 house three different times. 1. In the war spoken of in 
 the text. 2. In the taking of Jerusalem, a few months 
 after. — See 2 Kings, xxiv., 13. 3. Eleven years after this, 
 when Zedekiah was king in Jerusalem, and when the 
 temple and city were destroyed. 2 Kings, xxv., 8-15. 
 
 Among the captives of the children of Israel we find 
 Daniel and his three friends. They were of the king's 
 seed and of the princes. Various opinions have been ex- 
 pressed as to Daniel's age when he was carried to Baby- 
 lon. The term applied to him and his friends (jDHV) 
 means boys, lads, or youths. "We are in the habit, after 
 the manner of the Apocrypha, of speaking of the three 
 Hebrew children, but without any authority. The term 
 should be considered as signifying young men, in this 
 place. Ignatius thinks Daniel was twelve years of age 
 when he was carried to Babylon. Chrysostom says he was 
 eighteen. These and similar statements ©f the Fathers 
 are but guesses. They are probably, however, near the 
 truth. Daniel and his friends were given in charge to 
 Ashpenaz, the master courtier of the Chaldean conqueror, 
 
58 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 to be fed and educated, so that in time they might be- 
 come personal waiters and attendants of the monarch. 
 It is known that it was the usual custom of Oriental 
 monarchs to prepare for themselves active and sprightly 
 waiters from the highest classes of society, and that these 
 waiters were usually put in training at about fourteen 
 years of age. The history also renders it probable that 
 Daniel was of regal descent, of the royal family of David. 
 You perceive that he and his three friends are said, in the 
 3d verse, to have been " of the king's seed and of the 
 princes." They were drawn from the upper classes of 
 society at Jerusalem, and retained in Babylon as hostages, 
 to secure the quiet and submission of the Jewish king 
 and his nobles in their tributary condition. Daniel's 
 good education, fine intelligence, amiability of manners, 
 his knowledge of his own language and nation, and the 
 rapidity with which he acquired a knowledge of the 
 Chaldee tongue and customs, soon rendered him a person 
 of distinction at court. "When, by the interpretation of 
 the king's dream, he is raised to be the head of the Magi, 
 and of all the learned men in the kingdom, he does not 
 forget his old friends, nor despise the religion of his 
 fathers. He had nothing of the spirit of jealousy and 
 self-exaltation. He made his friends participators in the 
 honors and emoluments that he gained by being placed 
 over the Magi and astrologers of Babylon. He has, 
 moreover, perpetuated the memory of his friends as 
 among the noblest of martyrs for truth that stand record- 
 ed on the pages of sacred history. The history which he 
 has given of his three pious and distinguished companions 
 
THE WRITING ON THE WALL. 59 
 
 in the 3d chapter consigns them to the heartfelt applause 
 and perpetual remembrance and admiration of mankind. 
 A second dream of the king is the occasion of his being 
 again raised to honor, which he seems to have retained 
 during the interregnum. Next we find Belshazzar on 
 the throne, and, in the midst of his Bacchanalian tumult, 
 heathenish impiety, and contempt, he is alarmed by the 
 mysterious hand- writing on the wall ; and when his Magi 
 and astrologers were summoned in vain to give him the 
 interpretation, his mother tells him what Daniel had 
 done in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel is forth- 
 with sent for, and large promises of reward are made 
 to him, in case he should read and explain the writing on 
 the wall. He did so ; and the explanation was, that the 
 death of the king, and the extinction of his dynasty, was 
 near at hand. And in that very night Cyrus made him- 
 self master of the city, and the king was slain. Belshaz- 
 zar, however, complied with his promise. Daniel was 
 clothed with most costly decorations, and made the third 
 ruler in the kingdom. But this honor lasted only an 
 hour. The prophet's elevation was followed by the fall 
 of the kingdom, the king's death, and the extinction of 
 his dynasty. Darius the Mede now assumed the throne 
 of Babylon ; and Daniel's talents and honors so disturbed 
 his companions, that they succeeded in having him cast 
 into the lions' den for his steadfastness in his religion. 
 Jehovah did not forsake his servant, but sent his angel 
 to heep Daniel in safety, even among the hungry lions. 
 When the king discovers this, he takes Daniel out and 
 casts his persecutors into the den, and they were instantly 
 torn in pieces. Of his visions I shall not here speak. 
 
60 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 He lived to be upwards of eighty-four years of age. 
 And, as his name is not found among those Jews who 
 returned to Palestine after the proclamation of Cyrus, it 
 is probable that his age, and perhaps his office, prevented 
 him from leaving Babylon. He probably died in Chal- 
 dea. His tomb, it is said, has been discovered at 
 Shushan. Never was there raised up a truer patriot, a 
 warmer and more faithful and constant friend than 
 Daniel. His visions close with kind and comforting as- 
 surances. It has been beautifully suggested that this 
 was appropriate. He needed them. His life had been 
 one of care and labor, study and prayer. His bosom had 
 beat so high and so long with patriotic and devotional 
 feeling, that now, when the liberation of his countrymen 
 was at hand, it was very trying for him to bear up under 
 the future miseries and vexations which, as a prophet, he 
 saw were coming on his nation. It was fitting, therefore, 
 that his last days should be cheered' with strong faith 
 and personal assurance of Divine favor. Daniel's char- 
 acter is pre-eminently worthy of our attention. His life 
 was not only conspicuous, but singular and difficult. A 
 Hebrew — a Hebrew prophet — and yet prime minister at 
 a heathen court, which then governed the world ; and yet 
 never did he fail in his duties, either as a statesman or as 
 a true disciple of Moses. Amid all the luxury, and 
 splendor, and honors of the Babylonish court, he pre- 
 served an incorruptible integrity and spirituality of 
 character. The length of time that he acted as prime 
 minister of state is proof of the ability and fidelity with 
 which he discharged the duties of his high station. The 
 whole of his life presents in high relief the fearlessness of 
 

 DANIEL PRIME MINISTER. 
 
 Iris spirit and the fervor of his heart. He ever cherished 
 humble views of himself, but the warmest emotions of 
 patriotism toward his country. What is more pathetic 
 and powerful than his intercessions in behalf of his suf- 
 fering countrymen! What more heroic than his ever 
 life-long simple obedience to and trust in his. God ! Such 
 is a summary of the life and character of Daniel, the 
 prime minister, and the prophet of Jehovah. I desire 
 you to take him as a model. He is eminently worthy of 
 your profound study and earnest efforts. 
 Read from the eighth to the sixteenth verse. 
 Why did he firmly refuse to eat of the king's meat or 
 drink of the king's wine ? The temptation to do so was 
 certainly very strong. Did he refuse because it was sin- 
 ful in itself to eat meat and drink wine, or to eat and 
 drink with a king % Did he refuse because he had no 
 taste for meat and wine, like other young men % His re- 
 fusal was doubtless for other reasons. 
 
 1. The Chaldeans probably ate such unclean beasts as 
 hares, swine, and the like animals, which were not lawful 
 for a Jew to eat. 2. The Chaldeans, as the heathen 
 generally did, and do still, probably ate animals which 
 had been strangled, or not properly cleansed of their 
 blood. According to the law of Moses, a Jew could not 
 eat of such flesh. 3. It was a heathen custom to offer the 
 animals that were eaten first as victims to their gods. 
 Among the Romans these oblations were called libamina. 
 The provisions then set apart for Daniel and his friends, 
 coming from the king's table after this dedication to idols, 
 were to be looked upon as offerings to heathen deities, 
 and could not, therefore, be eaten by them, either as 
 
62 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Jews or as worshipers of the only true God. The case 
 was plain. The King of Babylon was in the habit of doing 
 just what is equivalent to our "asking a blessing at 
 table." And in " saying his grace," he took a portion of 
 his food and of his wine and offered them to his idol be- 
 fore he tasted it himself. This offering consecrated the 
 whole of his subsistence to his god. Daniel and his 
 friends could not participate in such worship to idols. 
 They could not thus deny their country and the religion 
 of their parents. They were prepared to run all hazards, 
 rather than appear to compromise themselves with hea- 
 thenism. In our velvet and morphine churches and 
 latitudinarian age, it may seem difficult to decide the 
 course of action. In flying from Charybdis we fear to 
 fall upon Scylla. But Daniel did not hesitate. He could 
 not comply with the wishes of the great king, for, by so 
 doing, he should offend his God. But will he not offend 
 so mighty a monarch, whose servant, captive, and slave 
 he is, and give up all hope of advancement, for the sake 
 of his religion ? And might he not excuse himself by 
 saying, this has an air of exclusiveness and of self-right- 
 eous arrogance about it — I do not like to set myself up 
 as too good to eat of the king's provisions ? But it was 
 not thus Daniel reasoned. The case seems scarcely to 
 have admitted of debate in his mind. He purposed in 
 his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion 
 of the Icing's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. 
 Young, high-minded, sensitive, and well bred as these Pie- 
 brew youths were, they shrunk not from the task, odious 
 as it seemed to be, of adhering with unwavering stead- 
 fastness to their religion. Daniel was the leader in this 
 
IMPEMSHABLENESS OF EARLY TEACHING. 63 
 
 matter ; and God had given him peculiar fitness for the 
 trial (verse 9.) Their conscientious scruples were sup- 
 ported by their education, and the favor of the God whom 
 they served. The result would have been very different 
 if these young men had not received a religious education. 
 But, happily for them, they had not been brought up in 
 public " godless " schools, where there was no regard for 
 God, and none for his Word. They had not been edu- 
 cated in such schools as the Socialists and Infidels of our 
 day would establish, where Pantheism and Atheism are 
 either taught directly, or allowed to occupy the young 
 mind by withholding from it the knowledge of the true 
 God. On the contrary, they had been brought up — 
 though in a wicked, apostate age of their country — still 
 they had been brought up at their fathers' home to a 
 knowledge of the God of Abraham, and the writings of 
 Moses and the early prophets. Their early education 
 was, under God, the means of their preservation. " The 
 deep engraving of truth upon the heart of the young is 
 never altogether effaced. Those impressions of divine 
 truth that are made on our hearts in youth often emerge 
 in after years with all the freshness and the beauty of 
 yesterday ! Silenced they may be, overshadowed they 
 may be, but they are rarely extinguished." — Dr. Gum- 
 ming. 
 
 The goodness of God is seen in their education, and in 
 bringing to bear upon its impressions such a train of cir- 
 cumstances as brought forth its fruit. The characters of 
 Ashpenaz and Melzar, and their respective conditions, 
 concur in allowing an experiment that resulted trium- 
 phantly. 
 
64 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Daniel, seeing at once the necessity of action, deter- 
 mines to follow the plainest, strictest, most honest, bold- 
 est mode of proceeding, as, in the end, the safest and the 
 best. He goes, therefore, at once to head-quarters, to 
 Ashpenaz, who has already conceived favorable impres- 
 sions of him. The answer of this high functionary is both 
 kind and cautious. It amounts to this, that he would 
 willingly grant his request, if he could ; but he was afraid 
 to do so. He was appointed by the king to take care of 
 these youths, and to prepare them for his service in a 
 given time. The king had also appointed the fare, and, 
 if the result desired was not attained, his head was in 
 peril, and especially if it should appear that the failure 
 was owing to his not having strictly obeyed orders. 
 Daniel at once saw how the matter stood. He saw that 
 Ashpenaz was an old politician. This great man, like 
 many of his successors in high places, was willing enough 
 to share any advantage that might accrue from disobedi- 
 ence of orders, but not willing to take the responsibility. 
 He would wink at any thing a subordinate might do in 
 the matter, who chose to risk his head. Daniel goes 
 next, therefore, to Melzar, who was either the master of 
 the boarding-house where the young men were served, 
 or he was an officer under Ashpenaz, whose duty it was 
 to attend to the food, clothing, &c, of the royal captives. 
 As in Turkish seraglios, so it seems to have been the 
 custom at Babylon, that every three or four lads should 
 have one eunuch to take care of them ; and Daniel, now 
 understanding how the matter stood, makes his address 
 accordingly. He proposed they should make an experi- 
 ment of ten days, and, if they did not look worse, then 
 
PECULATION.— CHALDEE LEARNING. 65 
 
 the experiment was to be continued. To this Melzar 
 consented. One reason of his consenting, no doubt, was, 
 that he could keep the young men on pulse and water 
 cheaper than on such fare as the king provided, and he 
 could abstract and sell the king's portions sent to the 
 young Hebrews, and thereby drive a profitable specula- 
 tion ; for it is to be observed, they did not demand to be 
 fed on Hebrew luxuries, such as they might have used 
 without doing violence to their religious scruples. They 
 only asked for the simplest, cheapest, and most easily- 
 prepared diet. And the result of the experiment was 
 triumphant. See 15th and 16th verses. Pulse means 
 grain, such as barley, wheat, rye, peas. 
 
 A vegetable diet may have been healthful, and have 
 had a tendency to produce a fine complexion and pleasant 
 countenance ; yet, as this spare diet was chosen from con- 
 scientious scruples, no doubt God gave them his special 
 blessing. They were sincere and faithful in their ad- 
 herence to religious principle, and God rewarded them. 
 They became not only more handsome than the other 
 lads, but grew more comely than they themselves had 
 been before ; and in the examination at the end of the 
 days, (i. <?., of the three years,) they are found fit to stand 
 before the king. It seems, from verses 18-21, that of all 
 the noble captives from different nations, only four were 
 wanted to stand before the king, and that Daniel and his 
 companions were found ten times better than all the ma- 
 gicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. 
 
 The learning and the tongue, of the Chaldeans. The 
 
 Chaldeans were then more renowned for learning and 
 
 wisdom than the Egyptians. In three years Daniel be- 
 
 5 
 
66 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 came as celebrated in the Chaldean court for his know- 
 ledge of their science and literature as for his deep piety. 
 Even in his own lifetime his reputation for wisdom be- 
 came a proverb. Thou are wiser than Daniel. Ezekiel 
 and Daniel are ranked with Noah and. 1 Job for exemplary 
 conduct. Daniel's writings give abundant evidence of 
 his scholarship. His style is pure and correct; .. He wrote 
 iu Hebrew, where he delivers to us a bare narrative of 
 events; but in Chaldee, where he relates the conversa- 
 tions which he had with the wise men and the kings. 
 Nebuchadnezzar's edict, after Daniel had interpreted his 
 dream concerning the great metallic image, is given in 
 Chaldee. It is probable that the ancients knew more 
 than we are in the habit of ascribing to them. However 
 this may be, Daniel, being a Hebrew, was brought up to 
 a knowledge of the arts, customs, laws, and religion of 
 his nation. With him science was associated with reli- 
 gion, and the more he knew of science and literature, of 
 men and things, under the control of religion, the greater 
 were his advantages of gaining influence. And so it 
 should ever be. Learning should be the handmaid of 
 devotion. The spoils of Egypt should beautify the temple 
 of Salem. 
 
 Another feature of Daniel's circumstances at this time, 
 that makes his steadfastness to his country and his coun- 
 try's God the more worthy of perpetual remembrance, is, 
 that he was of noble, if not of royal birth. 
 
 He was of the royal tribe of Judah. It is true, not 
 many mighty, not many noble are called, but some are. 
 Piety has friends among the friends of science and learn- 
 ing. Some men of the highest rank and the most gigantic 
 
SOME NOBLE.— WHY NAMES CHANGED. ffl 
 
 intellect have been and are sincere believers in the Gospel. 
 The prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the 
 New Testament were of different callings and rank in 
 society. David was a shepherd-boy ; Isaiah and Daniel 
 were of the royal tribe; Amos was a herdsman ; Zecha- 
 riah, a captive from Babylon; Elisha was a plowman; 
 Matthew was a fisherman ; Luke a physician ; and Paul 
 a learned man. There is a sense in which rank and 
 wealth, power and station, do not affect the value of the 
 soul. In the Gospel, every soul is regarded as of trans- 
 cendent worth ; still, it is true that some men are in posi- 
 tions that render their piety of, more value to the world 
 than others. 
 
 The King of Babylon desired to detach Daniel from his 
 Hebrew associations, and to unteach him his Christianity, 
 and for this purpose he not only required him to eat from 
 his table, but changed his name'. The good education 
 and family religion of Daniel and his three friends were 
 sadly in the way of the king's purpose. He had to pull 
 down a noble structure before he -could begin to build. 
 He had to root out what tradition and parental training 
 had implanted, before he could hope to make them 
 heathens like himself. Each of their names had "God" 
 in it, and thus their names served to remind them of their 
 religion, and, at the same time, doubtlessly annoyed the 
 king. He had strong reasons, therefore, for changing 
 their names; and, profiting by their example, he gave 
 them names that were either merely civil and social, or 
 contained an allusion actually idolatrous. Collateral his- 
 tory proves that such a custom did prevail in ancient 
 Babylon. 
 
^8 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 The change of names was a mark of dominion and au- 
 thority. It was customary for masters to give new names 
 to their slaves. The same custom prevailed in Egypt ; 
 and all know that then, as now, rulers, on ascending the 
 throne or coming into power, often assume a name dif- 
 ferent from what they had before. 
 
 Daniel signifies God is my Judge. Changed into Belte- 
 shazzar, which means, the Treasure of Bel ; or, the De- 
 pository of the Secrets of Bel. 
 
 HanarAah signifies the Lord has been gracious to me ; 
 or, he to whom the Lord is gracious. Changed into 
 ShadracK a Chaldee word, which has been variously 
 understood. The chief meanings attached to it are : The 
 Inspiration of the Sun ; the God who is the author of evil, 
 be propitious to us ; let God be propitious to us, and pre- 
 serve us from evil. 
 
 Mishael, one that comes from God. Changed into 
 Chaldee, Meshach, which means one that belongs to the 
 goddess Sheshac, a celebrated deity among the Chaldeans, 
 mentioned by Jeremiah, xxv., 26. 
 
 Azariah signifies the Lord is my helper. This was 
 changed into Abednego, which means the servant of 
 Kego, who was one of their divinities ; which was the 
 Chaldee name for the sun, or the morning star. 
 
 As the king did not like their religion, he sought, by 
 heathenizing their names, to heathenize their hearts. 
 
 It may be true, as the poet says, that " A rose by any 
 other name would smell as sweet" — still there is much in 
 a name. A happy soubriquet may make a president. 
 Abstractedly and logically, there may be nothing in the 
 names we give to our children, but practically it is of im- 
 
IMPORTANCE OF A CHRIST [AN EDUCATION. 69 
 
 portance to give them such names, and to apply to them, 
 as they are growing up, such epithets, as may bring to 
 their minds high and noble examples, and give them 
 worthy associations. 
 
 The king was delighted with Daniel's scholarship, but 
 not with his religion. He would have Daniel's good face 
 and deep science in his court, but not his piety. And so 
 it is now with many people. They hear, like Herod, 
 gladly, but do not obey. They are pleased with the 
 Gospel, but do not bring forth fruits meet for repentance. 
 They like Christianity for its decencies, but do not like 
 the urgency of repentance. 
 
 In changing the young Hebrews' names, the king, 
 however, as we have seen, did not yet get rid of their reli- 
 gion. Their creed and character remained the same. It 
 is true, they seem not to have resisted their new appel- 
 latives. They quietly submitted to be called by heathen 
 names, because this was a matter they could not control. 
 And so Christians have in all ages patiently submitted to 
 the reproach of the world, and have borne them joyfully. 
 There are several great principles raised from the history 
 of Daniel and his companions, which I shall reserve for 
 the next discourse, accommodating the history before us 
 
 to the DUTY AND MEANS OF SELF-IMPROVEMENT, and apply it 
 
 to the design of the young men's Christian Association, 
 at whose request and in whose behalf it will, God per- 
 mitting, be delivered. 
 
 With two reflections I close : 
 
 I. From the example before us, we should learn to 
 appreciate a Christian education. These young men of 
 the best families of Jerusalem were brought up to know 
 
70 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 and serve the God of their fathers. And they did not 
 disgrace their education. As they had been carefully 
 brought up in the institutions of Moses, so they continued 
 to regulate their conduct by them, even in the court of 
 a heathen king, where they were prisoners and slaves. 
 They were not ashamed to acknowledge their principles. 
 An incident of Lord Dartmouth is related that is worthy 
 of being remembered by young men from home. You 
 know that one of our New England colleges is named 
 after him. He gave a large sum of money to endow it. 
 A fine picture of him still graces one of its halls. He 
 was a young English nobleman, rich, and handsome, and 
 accomplished ; but he had something far better than all 
 these things. He was sincerely pious ; " he loved and 
 honored his Saviour ; and although, at the time when he 
 lived, it was the fashion to mock at serious things, he was 
 never ashamed of his religion. The king and some noble- 
 men agreed, on one occasion, to take an early morning 
 ride. They waited a few minutes for Lord Dartmouth. On 
 his arrival, one of the company seemed disposed to call him 
 to account for his tardiness. ' I have learned to wait 
 upon the King of kings before I wait upon my earthly 
 sovereign] was Lord Dartmouth 9 s answer. No matter 
 ■what he had to do, or who wanted him, reading the Bible 
 and secret prayer were duties which he never put qffi" 
 Remember his example, and be faithful to God, as he 
 was. 
 
 Mr. "Webster, in closing a beautiful eulogy upon a 
 young gentleman of the bar, who had recently died, said: 
 " Gentlemen, and he did what I fear many of us have 
 not done — he achieved a religious character." 
 
REVIEW OP THE YEAR. 71 
 
 II. The other point that I would have you seriously 
 consider is the duty of being- pious now. Responsibility 
 and eternity stand connected with the flight of time. 
 Our present life gives coloring to our whole future eter- 
 nity. Like a mighty river, time flows on noiselessly in 
 its course, and we approach nearer and nearer to the 
 judgment-seat. 
 
 " 'Tis greatly wise to talk witn our past hours, 
 And ask them what account they bore to heaven." 
 
 Many of your days are past — your days of infancy, of 
 childhood, and early youth. Many days of instruction, 
 too, are past. Days when God's voice was heard — days 
 of conviction, when His Spirit strove with you — when 
 your companions united with the Church — days, too, of 
 judgment, when His arm was stretched out to you in 
 affliction and warning — and what has been the result ? 
 Has your instruction produced conviction, and your con- 
 viction resulted in conversion ? Have you come to Christ 
 as a poor sinner, and received forgiveness % The weeks, 
 months, and Sabbaths of another year are gone ! What 
 is the net result or gain to your soul of all your past 
 years ? Does your heart — does the closet, the family, the 
 Church — your every sphere of duty, show that you have 
 been doers of the Word, and not hearers only ? During 
 the past year, some of you have had days of prosperity — 
 when new relationships were formed, and new schemes of 
 business were brought to maturity, and new hopes were 
 fulfilled. These days are gone, and their remembrance 
 is now like a pleasiug vision. But were the causes and 
 measures of your prosperity such as God approves ? Did 
 
72 LECTUEES ON DANIEL. 
 
 holy angels sympathize with you in your pleasures and 
 pursuits ? 
 
 Perhaps, my dear friend, your review of the past year 
 is filled with sorrows. You may have had stroke upon 
 stroke. Days of pain, of losses, of bereavement, of dis- 
 appointment, may have filled up the year. Well, they 
 too are gone, and will return no more. And did the 
 Saviour support you by his power? cheer you with his 
 promise ? animate you by his own bright example and 
 glorious victories ? Then are you prepared to bless Him 
 for the days of your sorrow. Then you are living in the 
 cheerful expectation that the day will soon come when 
 it shall be found that your trials and sorrows were the 
 seeds of an abundant harvest of joy. Or is the storm 
 still beating upon you? Are the heavens still dark 
 around you ? Then, while you humble yourself under 
 the mighty hand of God, He will exalt you in due time. 
 Ask of the days that are past where happiness is to be 
 found. Time past is a chronicle and an oracle. Look 
 into this chronicle and see, ask this oracle and know. Is 
 sin profitable ? Is there a single instance of one, regis- 
 tered in the hoary chronicles of the past, who hardened 
 himself against his God and prospered ? Hark ! The an- 
 swer is prompt and unequivocal, "The way of transgressors 
 is hard.'' "The wages of sin is death." Millions of the 
 votaries of fashion, of the slaves of Mammon, and of the 
 worshipers of Fame, have tried to find happiness apart 
 from God, but all have failed. It is a delusion to seek 
 happiness in the things of the world. It is a scheme of 
 the Evil One to allure souls down to eternal death. But 
 does the oracle and chronicler of the mighty past show 
 
THE FUTURE FORETOLD. 73 
 
 aught against the goodness of God ? Nothing. Not a 
 syllable. No sincere penitent has ever been repulsed — 
 no true mourner was ever sent away without comfort- 
 no praying soul rejected — no trusting believer forsaken. 
 Maris manner of life describes his character, and fore 
 tells his end. Young man, immortal you are — you must 
 live when time is dead. Answer, then, in the sight of 
 God and in prospect of eternity, "What is your course 
 of life ? on what is your heart set ? about what have you 
 been most anxious ? What do you labor most to possess i 
 Which has been esteemed most in your estimation — the 
 favor of God and the pardon of sin, or the pleasures 
 of this world and the possession of riches % By your 
 souVs preference and pursuit is your state for eternity to 
 be judged. Answer these questions honestly to yourselves, 
 and let not time's oracle speak in vain. Pray, then, 
 with the pious poet : 
 
 " Teach me, thou sacred Power, 
 Every pulse, and every hour, 
 At Thy hallowed cross to lie, 
 On Thy promise to relyl" 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 74 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 LECTURE IT. 
 
 V 
 
 PRINCIPLES AND LESSONS FROM THE EUPHRATES.* 
 
 On Dan. i. 
 
 Young Men's Christian Association : its Subjects. — Bangers of Young Men in 
 Cities. — Lessons' from the Euphrates to the Mississippi. — Young Hebrews in 
 Exile at Babylon teaching young Men from home at New Orleans : 1. To ad- 
 here to right Principles. 2. That a Man is no Loser for maintaining right 
 Principles. — True Expediency. — Use ofPvMic Lecturing. 3. Bedded, avowed 
 religious Principles. — General Cass's Testimony. — True Piety eminently 
 Social. — Regular Church-going. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Scott read the first chapter of Daniel, and 
 then said : 
 
 Respected Hearers, — The vigilance of the Argus-eyed 
 daily prints of the city have already informed you of the 
 formation of the " New Orleans Young Men's Christian 
 Association," and that it is, moreover, at their request 
 that I have the honor of delivering before you this even- 
 ing their opening address, which, I am happy to be in- 
 formed, is to be followed by addresses from other gen- 
 tlemen of acknowledged eloquence and ability. I have 
 read the first chapter of Daniel in the introductory portion 
 of the services this evening, for two reasons : 1st, because 
 Daniel is the subject of a series of discourses to young 
 men now in the course of delivery from this pulpit on 
 
 * Delivered as the opening address before the Young Men's Christian 
 Association of New Orleans, Sunday evening, January 16, 1853. Published 
 by the unanimous request of the Association. The occasion of this Lecture 
 will explain how it is that there are some repetitions of ideas found in the 
 preceding. 
 
SOLICITUDE FOR YOUNG MEN. 75 
 
 Sabbath evenings, and it were desirable not to interrupt 
 wholly this series. 2dly, because, if I were at perfect 
 liberty to select from the whole Bible, I do not know that 
 I could find any other portion more suggestive of appro- 
 priate reflections for the opening address of this laudable 
 Association. The first article of the constitution declares 
 that the object of this Association "is the mental, moral, 
 and religious improvement of young men." " We aim," 
 say they in their address to the public, " so far as is in 
 our power, to counteract bad example, to throw around 
 our young men an elevating moral influence, and, by so 
 doing, to cherish their earlier religious and moral im- 
 pressions, and thus continually incite them to diligence 
 in well-doing." 
 
 The duty, nature, and means of self-improvement and 
 of mutual protection against the perils of a city life is, 
 therefore, the theme which I shall attempt to illustrate 
 from the example of Daniel and his friends in Babylon, 
 and apply to the condition of young men in our large 
 towns and cities, and to the design of this association. 
 And, 
 
 I. As to the subjects of this Association. — They are 
 young men, upon whom are concentrated the hopes and 
 prayers of the good and patriotic throughout the land. 
 jSTo man who looks understandingly at the interests of 
 mankind, in families, cities, churches, or states, can fail 
 to see that the enlightened, liberal, and Christian educa- 
 tion of the young is the fountain-head of their well-being. 
 The testimony of many of the ablest and best men of our 
 age and of all past ages, the sorrowful confessions of many 
 mourning parents, as well as my own deep convictions on 
 
76 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the subject, have made me believe that a large portion of 
 Christian effort should be directed toward the right moral 
 training of the young. And there are but few cities in 
 the world where the importance of the virtuous character 
 of young men is a subject of greater and more wide- 
 spread interest than in this city. This is apparent at 
 once from the greatness of their number among us, and 
 from the commercial importance and relative position of 
 this city to our country and the world. 
 
 Under this conviction, I may be excused in saying that 
 I have felt it to be my duty and privilege to give my 
 Sabbath evenings, during the winter and spring season, 
 for more than ten years past, to the delivery of discourses 
 to young men. 
 
 The pious Baxter says that in Kidderminster, England, 
 where God most blessed his labors, " my first and great- 
 est success was upon the youth. And when God, in a 
 most marvelous way of divine mercy, had touched the 
 hearts of young men and girls with a love of goodness 
 and delightful obedience to the truth, the parents and 
 grandparents, who had grown old in an ignorant, worldly 
 state, did many of them fall into a liking and love of 
 piety, induced by the love of their children, whom they 
 perceived to be made by it much wiser and better, and 
 more dutiful to them." (Works, vol. xv., p. 299.) 
 
 But aside from a merely religious view of the subject, 
 no one that has passed through the trials of early life, 
 especially away from home, and remembers its hopes and 
 fears, its discouragements and success, its joys and sor- 
 rows, can think of young men coming to a strange city 
 and entering on the same field of action, of struggle, of 
 
TRIALS OF EARLY LIFE. 77 
 
 success or disappointment, as they did, without the deep- 
 est sympathy. 
 
 The young men, Mr. President and gentlemen of this 
 Association, whom you seek to reach with your kind 
 offices, are not the ordinary and common youth of the 
 country. Those that forego the joys of home, and the 
 cheering hearth of the paternal roof, and enter into the 
 fierce struggles of city life, are the more excitable, the 
 more ambitious, more able and determined youth of the 
 country j* and their danger in a great city, where they 
 must meet with great excitements and sensual allure- 
 ments is in proportion to their own excitable and ambi- 
 tious temperament. While the less enterprising are con- 
 tent to remain at home and grow old under the trees of 
 their native village, or within sight of the village steeple, 
 the more bold and ambitious seek to make their way 
 abroad to honor and wealth. And as soon as they enter 
 a great city, they encounter the competition of the most 
 ambitious and hardy spirits of an enterprising country, 
 who have got positions in the field before them. The 
 rapacity of the avaricious, the temptations of the plea- 
 sure-offering seductions, the insolence of the proud and 
 successful, and the indifference of the heartless, make the 
 world they enter into very different from the one they 
 have left at home. Removed far from parental coun- 
 sels and the sweet influence of brothers and sisters, they 
 are plunged at once into a mass of human beings who 
 know them not, and care only to know them so far as 
 
 * See this point beautifully and strongly presented in Mr. Daniel Lord's 
 address before the Young Men's Christian Association in New York. 
 
78 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 their own selfish purposes may be served by their ac- 
 quaintance. It is such young men your noble Associa- 
 tion proposes to take by the hand, and point to a suitable 
 boarding-house, and a reading-room and Christian associ- 
 ates, whose examples may keep alive in them the inner 
 life they have brought from home, but which is in dan- 
 ger of being smothered to death by the threatening 
 masses of a great city, where a sense of personal identity 
 and responsibility may be so easily lost. And when 
 your kindness has given them a table and a pillow, 
 friends and books, and a place to worship their God, you 
 propose to help them to honorable employment. In the 
 fierce competition of mercantile and professional life you 
 have the best opportunities of knowing where situations 
 are to be had, and by your acquaintance with young 
 men seeking employment, will be able to point out to 
 them such situations as they are fitted to fill ; and thus 
 you may do very great service both to heads of business 
 houses and to the young men themselves. 
 
 II. The duty of self-improvement is apparent from the 
 faculties, gifts, and opportunities bestowed upon us by 
 our Creator, and from the duties required of us ; and the 
 duty of mutual assistance in the work of " mental, moral, 
 and religious improvement" is obvious from our social 
 and dependent nature, from the constitution of society, 
 and from the express teachings of our holy religion. This 
 part of our theme there is not, however, time to dwell 
 upon. The means for accomplishing the objects of this 
 Association call for more extended remarks. The end in 
 view by you, young gentlemen, is substantially the same 
 that was desired and gained by- Daniel and his compan- 
 
THE YOUNG HEBREWS AN EXAMPLE. 79 
 
 ions, namely, honor and happiness. What, then, did 
 they do which yon may imitate ? 
 
 1. They scrupulously maintained the moral and reli- 
 gious principles that had been imparted to them in their 
 earlier education. They made a supreme regard for the 
 will of God their rule of conduct, even in little things. 
 Daniel and his three friends seem to have entered the 
 capital and palace of the proud heathen king, who was 
 the great Napoleon of his day, just as many young men 
 enter our cities, with full purpose of heart to preserve 
 their integrity, and to keep their soul undefiled from the 
 various temptations which, in such a place as Babylon, 
 there was every reason to fear would assail them. They 
 probably thought on these things as. they were marched 
 over the weary sand deserts from Jerusalem to the Eu- 
 phrates, and reckoned beforehand that they should have 
 to bear hard treatment from their superiors, and the 
 sneers, the shrugs, and taunts of their less pious compa- 
 nions — things that fall keenly upon the raw sensitiveness 
 of youthful spirits ; but they made up their minds that, 
 let it cost what it might, their religion they would not 
 abandon. And soon their trial came. They were placed 
 in circumstances of great peril to their principles by their 
 heathen conqueror. The strength of their attachment to 
 the religion of their earlier youth was put to the severest 
 test. But when tried, they were found to be pure gold ; 
 and their triumph proves that a pious education is one of 
 the greatest blessings that can be bestovfed upon youth. 
 If you, young men, have received such an education, be 
 profoundly thankful for it. Thank God every day of 
 your lives for Christian and intelligent parents, who have 
 
80 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 secured to you a liberal education, and endeavor to ap- 
 preciate its advantages by using them for your own hap- 
 piness, and the good of your fellow-men. You need not 
 be told of the degradation and wretchedness of ignorance 
 and depravity. You need not be told that the infant 
 generation of to-day are the adult generation of to-mor- 
 row, and that what we make our children the next gene- 
 ration will be. The first lessons a child receives from a 
 mother's tones and smiles are the last to fade from the 
 memory. The lessons of divine truth taught at school 
 may be silenced for a season, or overborne by the noise of 
 the busy world without, yet there will come an hour 
 when these early lessons will revive as if touched by 
 some living influence, that makes quite distinct and 
 fresh what was for a time invisible. The lessons Daniel 
 had learned in his childhood home in Jerusalem were the 
 lessons that sustained him against temptation, and guided 
 and comforted him while a captive in Babylon. 
 
 Tie King of Babylon tried by all means in his power 
 to remove all the religious impressions of these young 
 men, and to make them adopt his religion. He did not 
 on this occasion try to root out their principles and im- 
 plant his own by persecuting them, as if the tormenting 
 of the body could convert the soul. He tried a more 
 rational plan. He treated them well, gave them portions 
 from his table ; he changed their names, hoping by thus 
 erasing the name of their God, and supplying that of his 
 own, to make tliem forget their early lessons and associ- 
 ations, but he failed. Their principles were too strongly 
 rooted. They remained steadfast. The refusal of these 
 young Hebrews to eat and drink of the royal portion was 
 
PRINCIPLES.— TRUE LIBERALITY. gl 
 
 not grounded upon any mere fancy or whim, but on the 
 most substantial reasons. The animals eaten were either 
 such as were unclean according to Hebrew law, or were 
 killed in such a way that the law of Moses forbade the 
 Jews to eat of them ; or, which alone was a sufficient 
 reason for declining, the king's meat and wine had been 
 dedicated to his idols, and could not, therefore, be used 
 by these pious Hebrews without compromitting them 
 with heathenism. Nor were they over righteous in this 
 firm but courteous refusal. Nor were they narrow and 
 bigoted sectarians. They were liberal Christians, but 
 not latitudinarians. The Bible and the very nature of 
 the human mind command us to be liberal, but forbid us 
 to be latitudinarian. True liberality of sentiment and 
 largeness of soul ar*e the attributes of strength and con- 
 viction of one's own mind. But latitudinarianism gives 
 up essential foundation principles, and says there is no 
 difference between right and wrong — that it is equally a 
 matter of indifference what a man believes, or whether he 
 believes any thing at all. Dr. Cumming, of London, on 
 this part of Daniel's life, says : "We cannot be too liberal 
 in conceding to a brother the largest husks of his pre- 
 judices; we cannot be too strict in refusing to com- 
 promise the least living seed of vital and essential truth." 
 (See his Lectures on Daniel.) 
 
 It is true that it was not in itself sinful to eat meat and 
 drink wine ; nor was it sinful to eat meat and drink wine 
 with a king ; but it was sinful for Hebrews to eat and 
 drink in honor of idols. There are, however, not wanting 
 those who say these young men were at liberty to do in 
 Babylon as Babylon did. In London, Rome, or New 
 
 G 
 
 f TnTI7!F-ITYl 
 
82 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Orleans, young men must do as those around them do. 
 Such a plea cannot be maintained with seriousuess. Duty 
 is not a thing of latitude and longitude. It is the same 
 thing everywhere. Conscience and God are the same 
 in Paris or Constantinople, as in your New England or 
 Scottish homes. Polar snows or tropical flowers cannot 
 change the eternal principles of rectitude. Go.d's laws, 
 the will of the Supreme Creator, is the only standard of 
 duty. This was the rule adopted by the pious Hebrew 
 captives. To eat and drink of the royal bounty was in 
 itself nothing ; but as by so doing they would be con- 
 sidered as sympathizing with idolatry, and as having 
 denied the religion of their parents, of their country, and 
 their God, they refused, and were prepared to run all 
 hazards rather than comply. They chose to live on pulse 
 and water, the least nutritious of the elements of nature, 
 rather than the dainties of the royal table ; because they 
 thought, and thought correctly, that a good conscience 
 and the smiles of the God of heaven were of more im- 
 portance than the patronage of the mightiest king that 
 ever swayed an earthly sceptre. 
 
 It was not the mere concession of a prejudice, not the 
 mere giving up of some little matters of denominational 
 detail ; but the surrender of principle, compromise of 
 truth, apostacy from the true religion, that they were 
 required to submit to. And the lesson taught us is of 
 vast importance. It is that we must not sacrifice con- 
 science, with its awful requirements, to any temporary or 
 worldly convenience. We must not stifle its deep con- 
 victions to gain any temporary and evanescent advantage. 
 We must not give up an article of our creed to gain a 
 
IMPORTANCE OP A GOOD CHARACTER. 83 
 
 place. It is better to die of starvation than gain a val- 
 uable living by the sacrifice of the soul. It is a light 
 thing to be judged of man, for He that judgeth us is God. 
 Our Lord has said, " He that is faithful in a little is 
 faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in a little is 
 unjust also in much." The bearing of the history of the 
 Hebrew youths, and of this Scripture text on our every- 
 day life, is palpable, even among those who do not pro- 
 fess to be Christians. A young man of talents and 
 business capacity may destroy all his prospects for honor- 
 able success in life by small derelictions. Dead flies will 
 destroy the largest pot of the most precious ointment. The 
 want of moral character will mar the prospects of the most 
 gifted. Without stern integrity in little things, there is a 
 want of confidence which is fatal to success. A most per- 
 nicious delusion prevails with many good people. They 
 are waiting until they can do some great thing, and 
 think that if a great crisis were to come, they would then 
 have nerve to meet it, and do something triumphant. 
 They cannot find, at present, a place large enough for the 
 discharge of their duties. Because they cannot go as 
 foreign missionaries, they will not labor in the Sabbath- 
 school at home. As there is no romance in gathering in 
 the poor and ragged to the house of God to be taught the 
 way of virtue and godliness, they will do . nothing. In- 
 stead of quietly laying one brick upon the earth, they are 
 constantly building castles in the air; instead of dis- 
 charging the plain every-day duty which they owe to 
 God and their fellow-men, they pass life in looking for 
 some grand occasion for the display of their virtues. 
 They vainly think that, though they live not as useful 
 
84 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Christians, yet, if the crisis were to come, they would die 
 as martyrs. They are mistaken. With them the crisis 
 has come, and they have failed to meet it. They have 
 failed to take the tide in human affairs that rolls on to 
 the fortune of duties well done. The little things that 
 are usually the turning-points of character, they have not 
 apprehended. They have not learned that events which 
 seem at first frivolous and unimportant, may become the 
 " Thermopylae of a Christian's conflict, the Marathon of a 
 nation's being, or the turning-point of everlasting life or 
 of everlasting death." The dazzling exploits of the great 
 are too frequently ascribed to circumstances, and set 
 down as something wholly beyond our reach, because we 
 have not the same emergencies to bring us out. Al- 
 though Providence may deny to you such circumstances 
 as might concur in making you exactly like the great 
 heroes of the world, still, in the essential elements of 
 greatness — in purity of principle, industry and perse- 
 verance, and in life-long, fervent devotion to the welfare 
 of their country, you may be like them. Integrity and 
 patriotism are not patented to any sect, age, or nation. 
 It is greatly to be regretted that young men sometimes 
 copy the single vice of a great man, without attempting 
 to imitate his many virtues. They are like the filthy 
 birds of prey that fly over a whole continent of healthful 
 beauties to light on one carcass. Their only resemblance 
 to the great man they profess to admire is the one blemish 
 that constituted his weakness. They can drink gin like 
 Lord Byron, and so can an idiot or a clown ; but are not 
 worthy to unloose his shoe-latchet as to genius and intel- 
 lect, energy, chivalry, and noble bearing. 
 
FILTHY BIRDS.— PRINCIPLES PARAMOUNT. 85 
 
 The pgint with Daniel was to follow his conscience or 
 his appetite ; to cease to be an Israelite, or cease to be a 
 favorite of the great King of Babylon. And his deter- 
 mination was soon made to make every thing give way 
 to his religion. He would not let his religion bow to the 
 world, but made the world bow to his religion. 
 
 2. The next lesson which the Euphrates sends to the 
 Mississippi, and reads to us from the early life of Baby- 
 lon's vizier or prime-minister and his friends is, that a 
 man is no loser for maintaining right principles. The 
 three years of training are ended. The high court of 
 learning is held in Babylon. There are the treasures of 
 the world. There are assembled the nobles, grandees, 
 and sages of the kingdom. The king himself presides. 
 And now the chief of the eunuchs introduces to the royal 
 presence these four Hebrew youths. How fair, well 
 formed, and intelligent they look ! Minute, and search- 
 ing, and repeated examination convinces the king that 
 they are ten times wiser than his magicians and astro- 
 logers. And while only four are to be chosen out of all 
 the captives that had been fed and instructed in know- 
 ledge and languages for the royal use, these Hebrews are 
 the four chosen ones. An interesting story is told in 
 Esdras, one of the Apocryphal books — which was extant 
 before the time of Josephus, for he quotes largely from it 
 — of the mental contests of these youths, which, as an 
 illustration of this Oriental custom, is worthy of being 
 read. The examination of the four Hebrews presents a 
 noble example of the success of prudence, temperance, 
 and a steady regard to religion. These young men did 
 not think, because they were well born and liberally 
 
86 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 educated, that they might therefore indulge their^appetites 
 without control. On the contrary, with heroic steadfast- 
 ness they made the will of God, even in little things, their 
 rule of conduct. And what was the result. Did Daniel 
 lose any good thing by his firm adherence to principle ? 
 !Not at all. The very reverse was the result. Daniel's 
 faithfulness to his conscience, his allegiance to his God, 
 his courteous but firm refusal to do what was sinful, was 
 turned to his advantage, even in this world. Upon ex- 
 amination, the Hebrew youths were found, at the end of 
 the three years, to have become more comely than they 
 were before, and to be ten times more comely, fatter, and 
 fairer than any of the other captive young men who had 
 lived upon the royal bounty ; and in all matters of know- 
 ledge and skill they were many times wiser than all the 
 astrologers and magicians in the kingdom. Them that 
 honor God, He honors. The result of their faithfulness 
 to God was their promotion in the palace, and the favor 
 of the king. What, then, is the true principle of ex- 
 pediency for young men? We answer, True principle is 
 true expediency. Duty is the way of peace and promo- 
 tion. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
 ness, and all other things will he ' added unto you. The 
 success of these young men was owing to their good 
 education, and the blessing of God upon their education 
 and their own efforts. Josephus says of them, that " by 
 the diet they took, they had their minds in some measure 
 more pure and less burdened, and so fit for learning, and 
 had their bodies in better condition for hard labor ; for 
 their bodies were not oppressed by a variety of meats, nor 
 effeminate for the same reason, so they readily amassed 
 
RATIONALE OF THEIR SUCCESS. 87 
 
 • 
 
 all the learning of the Hebrews and the Chaldeans/' It 
 is true, proverbially true, that he who striveth for the 
 mastery must be temperate in all things. Temperance is 
 highly favorable both to health and virtue, by keeping the 
 faculties clear and strong, and in fitting men for great 
 services, and the endurance of great sufferings. 
 
 The great commanders and the great scholars of the 
 world have been remarkable, while young men, for tem- 
 perance in eating and drinking. Nothing more effec- 
 tually blasts the prospects of a young man than the soul- 
 destroying sin of intemperance. The explanation, how- 
 ever, of the Jewish historian of the wonderful pheno- 
 menon does not give the whole rationale of the experi- 
 ment made by these young Hebrews. God gave them 
 favor with the king and his court, and God gave them 
 skill and wisdom ; yet God gave his favor to them in the 
 most diligent use of the best means, and in the use of 
 the best means according to His will. They were blessed 
 in doing all they could themselves. God helps those that 
 help themselves. 
 
 It is reasonable for young men to ask God for help in 
 mental as well as in spiritual efforts. He is the father of 
 the Spirit as well as the maker of the body. In the toil 
 and business of life, and amid all its perplexing difficulties, 
 cast yourself, therefore, upon the Lord's protection, and 
 look to Him for counsel and guidance! It is easy for Him 
 to "illumine what in you is dark." It is an old saying, 
 that to pray earnestly is to study well. Many difficulties 
 that seem insuperable would be smoothed, many blessed 
 thoughts might be suggested, many desirable things for- 
 gotten be brought to mind again, many annoyances 
 
88 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 buried, many weak purposes strengthened, if we trusted 
 more to God, and looked more confidently to Him for 
 His blessing upon our earnest endeavors to know and do 
 His will. 
 
 Josephus's solution of the wonderful improvement in 
 his young countrymen at Babylon reminds us of many 
 modern philosophers, who find God nowhere. In the 
 plague, or pestilence, or epidemic, in wars or revolutions, 
 in the facts and phenomena of science, history, creation, 
 or providence, or even in the miracles of Holy Scripture, 
 they see nothing but something they call laws. Their 
 stereotyped explanation for every thing is, " such is the 
 law of Nature." And what is Nature, and what are Na- 
 ture's laws, without a Creator ? The laws of Nature are 
 nothing but the impressions of the ineffable Mind that 
 created and governs all things made visible, or, at least, 
 rendered palpable by their effects. I am persuaded, 
 therefore, that the objects of this Association will be all 
 the more readily and surely attained, as they may be 
 sought by imitating Bible heroes, such as Joseph and 
 Daniel ; and as they may be pursued in obedience to the 
 Divine will, as revealed to us by the prophets and apos- 
 tles, holy men of old, who wrote the Scriptures as they 
 were moved thereto by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 III. Let us, then, briefly examine in this light the ob- 
 jects of this Association. 
 
 One object is the social improvement and protection to 
 those of your own age who grow up here, or come among 
 you from a distance. The propriety of such an associa- 
 tion for such an object is suggested at once from the 
 acknowledged power of society and of united efforts, 
 
OBJECTS OF THIS ASSOCIATION. 89 
 
 especially over those who are allied to one another by a 
 similarity of enjoyments, tastes, wants, temptations, and 
 dangers. Your object is also conservative, that is, the 
 preservation of your more inexperienced brethren from 
 the impositions and perils incident to a residence in a 
 great and luxurious city. You seek to do for them here 
 what their parents and friends have done for them in their 
 distant homes and earlier years. Your object is also 
 elevating. You propose to have a reading-room, and 
 journals and books for the use of those young men who 
 may be associated with you. You design to supply the 
 hours of relaxation with employments that will both 
 amuse and improve, by affording opportunities of con- 
 versation with those of your own age and pursuits, and 
 for hearing instructive lectures from men of approved 
 talent and sentiment. 
 
 You need not be told that public lecturings are now 
 one of the chief means of enlightening the world. There 
 never was a period in the history of the world when the 
 public mind was so much occupied with printed and oral 
 lectures as it is now. Lectures in Europe and in this 
 country are now delivered on all sorts of subjects and by 
 all kinds of individuals, from English lords and French 
 peers to American husbands' better halves. Dull, trashy, 
 flimsy, skeletonized, and superficial as many of the lec- 
 tures imposed upon a patient public are, still, the great 
 thinkers of our times, and the standard-bearers of civiliza- 
 tion in past ages, have been, in the best sense of the term, 
 lecturers. Not a few professional lecturers have made 
 fortunes by their discourses. It is a strange but interest- 
 ing feature of our generation, that lecturing is almost as 
 
90 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 good a profession as that of a great vocalist, and fre- 
 quently far better than the law or medicine. In Europe, 
 the men who'" stand upon the forehead of the coming age 
 are lecturers." The platform is more mighty than the 
 University, for it is a cosmopolitan college, without test 
 oaths, and almost without money and price. The best 
 scholars and most influential men of the country have 
 perfected their education in the lecture-room. The print- 
 ing-press, the Protean, ubiquitous, daily newspaper press, 
 public schools, and public lecturing from the platform 
 and the pulpit, and from the professors of our law and 
 medical schools, are the great educators of our age. It 
 were, therefore, exceedingly desirable for you to secure a 
 controlling influence in these great agencies. The Young 
 Men's Christian Association of London have had each 
 year, for a number of seasons, a regular course of lectures 
 before them by some of the most distinguished men of 
 Great Britain. The same course is pursued by the as- 
 sociation in New York. Men of science are no longer 
 shut up in their laboratories or observatories, or confined 
 to their classes in the University. They now seek op- 
 portunities for imparting the knowledge of their dis- 
 coveries or the results of their experiments and investiga- 
 tions to the public. Our age is truly remarkable for 
 popularizing literature, science, and art. The rapidity 
 with which winged words grow into facts, and witkwhich 
 the results of the profoundest theory and the most patient 
 and thorough experiments are applied to popular use, is 
 most astonishing. Yoices that move senates, and control 
 courts, and sway assembled masses of the "fierce de- 
 mocratic," are now heard imparting reason and argument, 
 
RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES IN SOCIAL LIFE. 91 
 
 and the results of life-long study and experience, to the 
 multitudes who, in the best days of the classic ages, were 
 considered the " unwashed and profane," who were shut 
 out from all sympathy with the truths of philosophy and 
 the blessings of knowledge, and doomed forever to be 
 hewers of wood and drawers of water. These delusions 
 have passed away forever. 
 
 Your object is also religious — not, indeed, to proselyte 
 or fill the mind with dead sectarian dogmas, but to 
 encourage one another in firm adherence to religious 
 principles, and, by your own example of a pure and holy 
 life, preach the most powerful sermons in favor of the 
 ways of heavenly wisdom. The object of this Association 
 is not religious, in the cold sense of schoolmen and theo- 
 logians, but religious as to the bearings of pure Chris- 
 tianity upon social life. It is manifestly a perversion of 
 the Bible to make it enjoin or sanction a hermit life, as 
 it is also a failure as to self-cultivation. The highest 
 piety has not been found in the professed secret commu- 
 nion of the heart with its Maker on the tops of mountains 
 and pillars, and in the caves and deserts of the earth. 
 The highest piety does not consist in deserting the ordi- 
 nary commerce of men, for fear of its distractions, con- 
 taminations, and dangers, but in meeting them, and 
 maintaining one's principles immaculate. 
 
 I rejoice that you have incorporated with " mental and 
 moral" the term " religious improvement ;" for I am per- 
 suaded that every plan of social improvement, or social 
 enjoyment and usefulness, not resting on the basis of 
 religious principle, will be uncertain both as to its final 
 tendencies and as to its permanency. Nothing but a 
 
92 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 sense of a personal religious accountability can give life 
 to any scheme of human advancement. With earnest- 
 ness, an aged senator (Mr. Cass,) at Washington, said, in 
 his place, a few days since : 
 
 " I am free to confess, sir, that for myself, I rejoice at 
 the occasion thus given to us, while pleading for the full 
 toleration of religion, to bear our testimony on its price- 
 less value. Independent of its connection with the hu- 
 man destiny hereafter, I believe the fate of republican 
 governments is indissolubly bound up with the fate of 
 the Christian religion, and that a people who reject its 
 holy faith will find themselves the slaves of their own 
 evil passions, and of arbitrary power. And I am free to 
 acknowledge that I do not see altogether without anxiety 
 some of the signs which are shadowed forth around us. 
 
 " A weak and sublimating imagination with some, and 
 irregular passions with others, are producing founders 
 and followers of strange doctrines, whose tendencies it is 
 easier to perceive than it is to account for their origin 
 and progress. But they will find their career and their 
 remedy, not in legislation, but in a sound religious opin- 
 ion, whether they inculcate an appeal to God by means 
 of stocks and stones, and rappings — the latest and the 
 most ridiculous experiment upon human credulity — 
 or whether they seek to pervert the Scriptures to the 
 purposes of their own libidinous passions, by destroying 
 that safeguard of religion and social order, the institation 
 of marriage, and, by leading lives of unrestricted inter- 
 course, thus making proselytes to a miserable imposture, 
 unworthy of our nature, by the temptations of unbridled 
 lust. 
 
PIETY NOT A GOWN NOR REGIMENTAL. 93 
 
 "This same trial was made in Germany some three 
 centuries ago, in a period of strange abominations, and 
 failed. And it will fail here. Where the Word of God 
 is free to all, no such vile doctrine can permanently 
 establish itself." 
 
 There is no preaching like a kind and social example, 
 no argument so effective as the exhibition of religious 
 character in the vicissitudes of every-day life. One great 
 reason of the failure of Christianity in not producing the 
 effects desired upon Christendom is, that its practical 
 nature is not acted out in the life of professed Christians. 
 They do not constrain the world by the social contact and 
 the free and warm intercourse of a loving heart. 
 
 True religion is not a cold, austere, forbidding, mere 
 psalm-singing, long-faced thing. It is not a mere Sunday 
 dress, to be hung up in the vestry, as the clergyman does 
 his gown, all the rest of the week. On the contrary, it 
 is a thing of life, a " thing of beauty which is a joy for- 
 ever." It is full of motion, grace, and unction. It holds 
 no parley with vice. It requires severe and persevering 
 piety, but it is intensely practical and eminently social in 
 all its bearings. Instead of being a mere catalogue of hard 
 names and dry propositions, it is a vital and diffusive 
 spirit. It mingles itself not only with the inner life, but 
 sanctifies every action of the outer life. It applies its 
 holy teachings to all our relations, personal, domestic, and 
 public. It is by intimate and vivid associations with 
 men of like passions with themselves, and of like dangers, 
 who, amid the furor of passions and the imminency of 
 dangers, exhibit the simplicity and earnestness of Chris- 
 tianity, that its power is to be clearly seen. 
 
94: LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 The Bible does not tolerate a lukewarm, lopsided, 
 segmental Christianity ; but a deep, equable, and over- 
 flowing, circumferential, whole-bodied, whole-hearted 
 piety, a piety that is in strong sympathy with our indi- 
 viduality in this up-and-down world, that seizes the soul 
 and fastens upon it the great vitalized convictions of 
 truth, as it flowed from the lips of the Divine Saviour, 
 and carries them out into the parlor and the highways of 
 life. The bearing of the examples in hand upon you, 
 young men, is palpable. You should seek such places of 
 residence, and such associates, and give attendance upon 
 such ministers of the Gospel, as will most effectually 
 assist you in maintaining correct religious principles. 
 
 You must choose for yourselves your church, and your 
 associates, and your business ; but I urge you to choose 
 such as will be consistent with what your conscience tells 
 you to do. Join yourselves to some Christian congre- 
 gation. Be regular and punctual in your attendance 
 upon the pulpit instruction of some servant of God. The 
 benefits you may derive by so doing are manifold. Such 
 a course would keep you out of the way of many temp- 
 tations, and would fortify your principles and increase 
 your respectability. Enter into no business where you 
 are required to violate your conscience. Engage in no 
 business where it seems to be necessary to violate the 
 Sabbath, or to neglect the public preaching of God's 
 "Word. If the issue is made, a continuance in such and 
 such business, and a good living, or the sacrifice of 
 Christian duties, you must not hesitate. God is to be 
 obeyed rather than man. Duty is ours, and God will 
 take care of the consequences. Nothing is plainer, from 
 
ATTEND CHURCH.— FOLLOW DUTY. 95 
 
 the highest testimony and observation on the course of 
 things, as well as on the philosophy of the physical con- 
 stitution of men and of animals, than that by sacrificing 
 your Sabbaths you will, in the end, be losers, even in a 
 temporal point of view. There has yet to be produced a 
 single instance in which true Christian principle has not 
 been found the highest expediency. 
 
 The Bible vade mecum for young men is, " Fear God 
 and keep his commandments." Make religion the great 
 thing of your hearts and lives, and all the rest will fol- 
 low in its place. " True godliness hath promise of the 
 life that now is, as well as of that which is to come." 
 The knowledge of our Creator is before all other things. 
 You should study science, and observe men and things ; 
 but not science, not philosophy, not literature, not music, 
 nor painting first, and then Christianity, but Christianity 
 first of all. Take the knowledge of God into the school, 
 into the University, into the learned professions, and into 
 the encyclopedia of life, as first and last. You should 
 not go through college, and through the world, and come 
 to Christ last, but seek first to know him whom to know 
 aright is eternal life. 
 
 Secular knowledge, tdeep and varied, we would have 
 you all diligently seek ; but we would also have you pos- 
 sess true piety, which will adorn, exalt, and sanctify you 
 as students, and make you heirs of the kingdom of hea- 
 ven. The first and highest study of every man is the 
 safety of his soul. And no man ever yet gained the 
 world by the sacrifice of his soul, though many have 
 made this wretched experiment. Our Saviour says, " If 
 you gain the whole world and lose your own soul, what 
 
96 LECTUKES ON DANIEL. 
 
 shall it profit you ?" The meaning is not that if you set 
 out to gain the world by sacrificing your soul, you must 
 succeed. The result is certainly, in most cases, far other- 
 wise. Those that set out to gain the world by sacrific- 
 ing the soul, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred lose 
 both. While, on the other hand, the man who sets out 
 in life determined to provide first for his soul, and then 
 pursue and enjoy the world as it may be found subser- 
 vient to and consistent with his soul's salvation, finds, if 
 not the greatest abundance of worldly things, yet far the 
 greatest enjoyment. Pulse and water are far better with 
 the blessing of God, than the king's meat and the king's 
 wine without it. 
 
 Finally, let me say to you, young gentlemen of this 
 Association, you have done nobly in beginning this en- 
 terprise. Grow not weary in your undertaking. Your 
 high calling savors of that divine charity which is " the 
 perfume of the blossoms of the Tree of Life." In doing 
 good to the bodies and souls of your fellow-men — in find- 
 ing situations for them, places of rest, relaxation, and 
 improvement, and places for them to worship God, and 
 retreats for them in sickness, and succor in temptation 
 and want — you most nearly resemble the Son of God, 
 who spent his life in doing good to men. And whether 
 or not you succeed in doing all your hearts have pur- 
 posed for others, still your efforts cannot fail as it regards 
 yourself. God is a good paymaster. He gives back 
 again with large interest, good measure, and pressed 
 down, and shaken together, and running over. The his- 
 tory of Joseph and Daniel strikingly proves this. I doubt 
 not the wise, patriotic, and good will give you their 
 
HAPPIEST THOUGHT^ IN" DEATH. 97 
 
 hearty co-operation. Your example and efforts will en- 
 courage a public spirit, and the exercise of social virtues, 
 and the permanence of good laws. From your ranks a 
 discerning public will look for statesmen, public men, 
 and merchants of wealth, who shall be examples of social 
 virtue and true religion. Our high places in the Church 
 and the State must soon be filled from your numbers. 
 And perhaps the happiest thought on your dying bed 
 will be that you leave your mantle to some young man 
 occupying a useful and honorable position in society, 
 whom you took by the hand when he came a stranger to 
 the city and helped to a situation, and led to the house 
 of God, and by your timely aid and influence his life has 
 become one of honor and usefulness. Such a result may 
 well be said to be a monument in your memory that will 
 fade last on earth, and loom up first and brightest in 
 eternity. They that turn many to righteousness shall 
 shine as the stars forever and ever. In the examination 
 of the great day, may you all be found worthy to stand 
 before the Eternal King. Amen. 
 
98 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 LECTUKE V. 
 
 THE LOST DREAM. 
 
 On Dan., iL, 1-30. 
 
 DanieTs personal Relations. — The Triangle. — Rail-road via Orontes to India. 
 — JosiaK's Death. — DanieVs Times. — His Chronology explained. — Oriental 
 Salutations. — Professors of occult Sciences. — Chaldeans. — Punishment of 
 the wise Men. — Altercation with the King. — Prophetic Dreams from God. — 
 DanieVs Answer to the King. — Resemblance to Joseph. — Inferences : 1. How 
 contemptible a Tyrant in a Passion. 2. God is in Modern History as well as 
 in Ancient. — Washington not a Pantheist. — Politics and Religion. — Must 
 read the Old Testament as well as the New. — Erasmus on Reading the Bible. 
 — Infallible, unfailing Source of Relief to all young Men in Trouble. 
 
 To understand the history and writings of Daniel, it is 
 necessary to remember his relation to two other prophets 
 and to three kings, all of whom are frequently named in 
 the Scriptures. These three kings are, Pharaoh-nechoh 
 of Egypt, Jehoiakim in Jerusalem, and Nebuchadnezzar 
 in Babylon. It is curious that something like an equila- 
 teral triangle, whose base should be a line from the Per- 
 sian Gulf, near which stood the city of Susa, also called 
 Persepolis, running west to the Mediterranean, would 
 comprise that portion of our globe most renowned in the 
 history of ancient times. "With this line for a base, and 
 the Mediterranean on the west side, and the Euphrates on 
 the east side, and the apex in the Mountains of Lebanon 
 or of Northern Syria, we have the area of the supposed 
 Garden of Eden, and the sites of Tyre, Sidon, Babylon, 
 Nineveh, Edom, Petra, Mecca, and the cities of the Philis- 
 tines, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Any one that will take 
 
DANIEL'S CONNECTIONS. 99 
 
 the trouble to look at a map of Asia and Africa, will see 
 that from Alexandria the Mediterranean shore inclines to 
 the east, and that as one ascends the Euphrates and the 
 Tigris, he travels west as well as north, so that the head 
 of the valley of the Euphrates and the northeastern side 
 of the Mediterranean come near together. You are aware 
 that it has been proposed in England to open up a high- 
 way to India by a railroad from the Mediterranean, up 
 the Orontes, through Celo-Syria, and then down the valley 
 of the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf, and thence by steam- 
 ship to Bombay. 
 
 Such is the relative position of Egypt, the Holy Land, 
 and Babylon. And the prophets to whom I have alluded, 
 whose positions, history, and writings, are nearly allied to 
 Daniel, are Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Jeremiah prophesied 
 first in Jerusalem and afterward in Egypt, where he 
 probably wrote his Lamentations. Ezekiel prophesied in 
 Babylon, by the River Chebar ; and Daniel, as you know, 
 begins his public life at the court of Nebuchadnezzar, in 
 Babylon. He lived also in the reign of the Medo-Persian 
 kings, and probably died at Susa, i. e., Persepolis, then 
 the capital of Persia. The Pharaoh just named marched 
 a great army out of Egypt and made conquests as far as 
 the River Euphrates, and took the city of Carchemish. 
 At that time the young and pious king of Judea was 
 named Josiah. Imprudently he was induced to march 
 against the King of Egypt, and in the battle that followed 
 he was slain, and his dead body was conveyed to Jerusa- 
 lem, and there was great mourning for him in all the 
 country. After the defeat of the Israelites and the death 
 of Josiah, *Pharaoh hastened to Jerusalem, and carried 
 
100 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 away captive into Egypt the young Jehoahaz, whom the 
 people had made king in the place of Josiah. The King 
 of Egypt made Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah, king in 
 Jerusalem, and he reigned as a tributary to Egypt. In 
 the mean while, God brings Nebuchadnezzar into the 
 field. At the head of a powerful army of Assyrians, he 
 marches against the Egyptians under Pharaoh-nechoh, 
 and defeats him in a battle near the Euphrates, and 
 drives him back to Egpyt, and proceeds to lay siege to 
 Jerusalem. Jehoiakim surrenders the holy city, and be- 
 comes tributary to Babylon instead of Egypt. And among 
 the captives taken as hostages by the 'King of Babylon 
 were Daniel and his three friends. Nebuchadnezzar 
 engages in other wars, but hearing of his father's death, 
 returns to his capital laden with immense riches, and 
 builds a most magnificent palace. But God, who had 
 determined to make this great king — -just as he afterward 
 did with Alexander, Cyrus, and Napoleon — an instru- 
 ment in carrying out His providences to the human race, 
 caused him to have a dream, which filled his soul with 
 terror. Such were the times, and such the kings whose 
 history it is necessary to know in order to understand the 
 writings of Daniel. The scene of the history before us is 
 laid in the far distant country of Babylon, by the great 
 Kiver Euphrates, and about two thousand five hundred 
 years ago. And in the second year of the reign of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. We are aware of an alleged chronological 
 error here, which it may be worth while to notice. It is 
 said in ch. i., v. 1, that Nebuchadnezzar, as King of Baby- 
 lon, besieged and took Jerusalem. And it is admitted 
 that Daniel and his three friends were subjected to a three 
 
TIME OF THE DREAM. 101 
 
 years' discipline, and then presented to the king, and all 
 this was done before the king's dream, which is said in 
 the text to have occurred in the second year of his reign. 
 The explanation of the difficulty given by some is, that 
 Nebuchadnezzar is called king in ch. i., v. 1, by anticipa- 
 tion, because he did actually become king before the his- 
 tory was written. This would be in accordance with 
 common Hebrew usage. The solution, however, which I 
 greatly prefer is different from this, but strictly in accord- 
 ance with history. It is this — that in chap, i., v. 1, Nebu- 
 chadnezzar is called king, being then colleague with his 
 father, and that he reigned two years with his father ; and 
 that the second year of verse 1 of chap. ii. means the sec- 
 ond year of his reign after the death of his father. The 
 dream happened, therefore, in the fifth year of his reign, 
 and in the fourth year of the Jewish captivity. 
 
 One morning the King of Babylon rose from his royal 
 couch in agitation and alarm. An indescribable dream 
 had chilled him with horror, and yet he had forgotten all 
 its details. All he remembered was its terrible majesty. 
 It was unlike any thing that had ever troubled his sleep 
 before. It had made a deep and abiding impression on 
 his mind. He felt quite sure that it meant something 
 more than an ordinary or common dream. He was con- 
 vinced it imported an affair between Heaven and himself, 
 which he was, of course, extremely anxious to have ex- 
 plained. 
 
 And as to the sneering Infidel question, How could a 
 fm^gotten dream trouble the king ? it seems quite a suffi- 
 cient answer to ask whether its propounders have common 
 sense enough to dream ? For every one must know from 
 
102 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 experience that the mind is often greatly agitated by 
 visions of the night, which vanish, leaving only a general 
 impression. It is easy to suppose cases where the agita- 
 tion would be even increased by the very fact that the 
 particulars were no longer remembered, and the relief 
 that might be hoped for could not, therefore, be so readily 
 obtained. Every one knows that impressions from dreams 
 remain after their particular details have escaped recollec- 
 tion. The dimness, indistinctness, mysteriousness of the 
 subject only increases the agitation. 
 
 The king knew three things. He had had a dream. It 
 was lost : but still it greatly troubled him. He therefore 
 called for his wise men. 
 
 1. The salutation of the 4th verse is exactly according 
 to Oriental style. There are other instances of the same 
 kind of address in the Bible. Xenophon, iElian, Quintus 
 Curtius, and others confirm the correctness of the Bible 
 account of Oriental salutations. You are not ignorant of 
 the style of Oriental sovereigns, particularly on the Nile 
 and the Euphrates. They are called on the monuments, 
 "King of kings," "Lord of the world," "Light of life," 
 and such like names. The meaning of, Jcing, live for- 
 ever, in the sober every-day language of the common life 
 of us Western Barbarians is, may your life be very long, 
 and your reign prosperous. 
 
 2. Four classes of Babylonian protessors of occult 
 sciences, are named in the 2d verse : Magicians, Astro- 
 logers, Sorcerers, and Chaldeans. The first and last orders 
 are supposed to have been the Magi so often referred to, 
 in whom the priestly character was connected with the 
 pretensions made to the interpretations of dreams and 
 
PROFESSORS AT BABYLON. 103 
 
 prodigies, and the foretelling of things to come. This last 
 order is recognized in the Assyrian Sculptures, from the 
 peculiar dress of the functionary, and from the distinctive 
 offices in which he is seen to be engaged. In Babylon, 
 as also in other Oriental countries, the priests were also 
 diviners. These priestly Magi are represented as wearing 
 a peculiar dress, such as is also represented upon the 
 persons of gods and deified persons. Their garb is com- 
 posed of jeweled head-bands, and bracelets, and flowing 
 skirts. They are generally represented with a gazelle 
 upon their left arm, and a flower in their right hand. I 
 cannot now, however, even if I were able to do so, stop 
 to describe these several classes of philosophers and astro- 
 nomers, and point out the difference between them. 
 
 It is more important and more difficult to know who 
 are meant by the Chaldeans (v. 4,) than it is to inquire 
 after the rest. Some suppose they were a college of 
 learned men, where all arts and sciences were professed 
 and taught. Dr. Clarke suggests that they were the most 
 ancient philosophers in the world, and that they dwelt in 
 the Babylonian Irak ; and as they preserved themselves 
 from contact or mixture with the inhabitants of the other 
 one hundred and twenty provinces of which the empire 
 was composed, so they appropriated to themselves ex- 
 clusively the name of Chaldeans. They spoke to the 
 king in Syriac, that is, in the language of Aram. Here 
 begins the Chaldee part of the book of Daniel, which 
 continues to the end of the 7th chapter. The Syriac, then, 
 differed but little, if at all, as a language, from the Chal- 
 dee. It was written, however, in a different character. 
 The language of the New Testament is frequently called 
 
104 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Syro-Chaldaic — that is, it was the Hebrew- Chaldee that 
 was used in Syria after the conquests of Alexander the 
 Great. The idioms and many of the words are Hebrew 
 and Chaldee, but the characters are Greek. 
 
 It is a well-known historical fact, that the kings of the 
 East had in ancient times a learned body of men about 
 them, whose duty it was to entertain the king with intel- 
 lectual discussions, and to explain to him all high and 
 difficult questions. With such a corps of learned men, 
 who professed such high degrees of knowledge, it is not 
 surprising that the king thought they should restore to 
 him his lost dream, if their pretensions were well founded. 
 When summoned into his presence, they professed to be 
 ready to interpret the dream, if the king would only tell 
 them wnat his dream was ; but to tell a dream which the 
 dreamer had himself forgotten, was beyond their power. 
 
 3. The punishment threatened was not singular, but 
 such as was known to the country and the times. Cutting 
 to pieces was known to the Jews, for Samuel " hewed Agag 
 to pieces." But to render the abode of the culprit a 
 memorial of abomination occurs only in Babylonian and 
 Persian decrees. We have the same punishment in Ezra, 
 vi., 11 ; and again in Daniel, iii., 29. Xenophon tells us 
 that such a custom existed also at Athens, for that there 
 were many spots in that city that remained vacant, where 
 the habitation had either been destroyed by fire, or erased 
 by a decree of the people. " No sooner was a citizen," 
 says De Pauw, " accused of high treason, or some such 
 crime, than immediately his house was demolished, as 
 a vessel is broken that has contained poisonous liquor. 
 Neither was it lawful to rebuild there, for the very ground 
 
TROT AND JERICHO.— THE DREAM LOST. 105 
 
 was supposed to become fatal and execrable, from the 
 crimes of its former possessors."* 
 
 You may remember that it was an ancient custom to pro- 
 nounce a curse against him that should attempt to rebuild 
 a ruined city. It is believed, says Strabo, that those who 
 might have wished to rebuild Troy were deterred from 
 so doing, partly by the sufferings they endured there, and 
 partly by the curse that Agamemnon had pronounced 
 against him that should attempt to rebuild it. The same 
 thing is true of the attempt to rebuild Jerusalem by 
 Heraclius. And you know that Joshua cursed the man 
 that should rise up to rebuild Jericho. The language of 
 the text is a strong expression, indicating that their 
 houses would be utterly destroyed, or converted into 
 ruinous heaps, which should become receptacles for all 
 manner of filth. The threatening, moreover, was the 
 more to be dreaded, as their houses were built of straw, 
 bitumen, and unburned brick, and as the rains of their 
 winter season were more like torrents than showers, and 
 when once their houses should begin to give way and fall 
 to pieces, they would soon crtfmble into a shapeless mass 
 of ruin. Every traveler has a feeling and vivid impres- 
 sion of the masses of ruins about the ancient cities of the 
 old world. 
 
 4. "With us there is no resource by which to recover a 
 lost dream. It was different with the King of Babylon 
 He supposed his wise men could tell him his dream 
 His court was crowded with men of professed learning 
 and science. At this time Babylon was as renowned for 
 
 * A note quoted by Kitto, p. 350. 
 
106 LECTUEES ON DANIEL. 
 
 learning as Egypt had been in the days of the great 
 Pharaohs. Indeed, from both sacred and profane history, 
 it is doubtful whether the Babylonians were not more 
 devoted, especially to occult sciences, than the Egyptians. 
 The Bible and profane history agree in stating that there 
 were several classes of persons who devoted themselves 
 to the different branches of learning and curious arts. 
 In the East, in ancient as well as in modern times, those 
 who really have some science are not content with what 
 is really known, but always connect themselves with 
 some kind or other of necromancy or charlatanry, just as 
 the wise men of the Indians of our own continent do. 
 They seem to think it necessary, in order to keep up their 
 credit as wise men, that they must at least profess some 
 knowledge of hidden and peculiar sciences. For exam- 
 ple, astronomy, which it is believed was first studied by 
 the Chaldeans, was with them intimately connected with 
 astrology, so that, in fact, the two formed but one science, 
 of which astrology was deemed far the most important. 
 This is still the case in the East. And English history 
 furnishes us with a trial for constructive treason, in 1477, 
 in which the accusation is stated in these words : " That 
 the accused had imagined and compassed the death of 
 the king and prince by calculating their nativities, to 
 ' know when they should die ;' and thus, in order to carry 
 their traitorous intention into effect, worked and calcu- 
 lated by art, magic, necromancy, and astronomy, the death 
 and final destruction of the king and prince."* 
 Bead verses 10 to 13. 
 
 * Prom the Athenaeum of 1832, quoted by Kitto in hoc loco. 
 
THE KING ENRAGED. 107 
 
 5. Let us pause here, and for a moment listen to the 
 altercation between the wise men and their royal mas- 
 ter. They declare that his demand is unjust, unreason- 
 able, and unusual. They say no other king has ever 
 taxed the skill of his diviners to such an extent as this. 
 The king becomes enraged, and says, your want of power 
 to tell me my dream is a proof that if I could tell you the 
 dream, you could not interpret it. I strongly suspect 
 you are all a set of knaves, that pretend to great wisdom, 
 in order that you may eat of my meat and drink of my 
 wine. According to your professed principles and pre- 
 tensions my requirements are reasonable, and if you do 
 not tell me the dream and the interpretation, you shall 
 all be destroyed. 
 
 6. Read verses 12 to 18. 
 
 It is strange that the king or Arioch did not apply to 
 the Hebrews at once, as they had been found ten times 
 wiser than the magicians and astrologers of the kingdom. 
 Perhaps they were thought to be too young, or too re- 
 cently brought to court to be consulted in such grave 
 affairs, or perhaps the court was prejudiced against them 
 on account of their nation or religion. Whatever may 
 have been the cause, Providence so ordered all the cir- 
 cumstances as to make Daniel's discovery of the dream 
 more remarkable. 
 
 7. The decision of the Chaldean wise men, that none 
 could restore to the king his lost dream but the gods, 
 whose dwelling is not with flesh, was eminently correct. 
 Their decision was right, and when the living and true 
 
 % God, who indeed condescends to dwell with men, and 
 who alone could reveal the dream and the secrets con- 
 
108 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 tained in it, actually made it known to Daniel, He 
 evinced the infinite difference there was between Jeho- 
 vah and his prophets, and the idols and magicians of 
 Babylon. Daniel's opinion was the same as that of the 
 Chaldean diviners, namely, that none but the gods could 
 do what the king required. And when he and his com- 
 panions were called for to be put to death with the other 
 wise men of the kingdom, he besought time to seek the aid 
 of his God, confident that the secret would be imparted 
 to him. The execution of the sentence was accordingly 
 delayed. Daniel and his friends have recourse to the 
 God of their fathers. They gave themselves up to prayer, 
 and God heard them, and revealed the whole matter to 
 Daniel in a night-vision. And when Daniel gave the 
 dream and the interpretation, the wise men of Babylon 
 were consistent in saying that the Spirit of the holy gods 
 was in him. 
 
 And here we cannot but admire the Providence of God 
 that brought Daniel and his friends forward at the time 
 and in the way that were most conducive to their ad- 
 vancement of the Divine glory. 
 
 8. Bead verses 24 to 30. 
 
 Dreams are not confined to the East nor to ancient 
 times. Men dream dreams still, both when awake and 
 when asleep. But there are no such dreams now as this 
 of the great King of Babylon. Nor is the losing of a 
 dream any thing very remarkable. All of us know how 
 deeply we have been absorbed in the visions of the night, 
 and how they have vanished as dissolving scenes when 
 we awoke, and how vain have been all our efforts to re- 
 tain the circumstances that so deeply affected us in our 
 
MEANING OF THE KING'S DREAM. 1Q9 
 
 sleep ; but they elude our grasp. It was not, then, the 
 fact that .Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that calls for re- 
 mark — nor the fact that he lost his dream, but its re- 
 covery and significance. The dream was intended to 
 make known the. succession of empires and of revolutions, 
 which in their turn were to decide the destinies of nations 
 and of the people of God in ages to come. Every school- 
 boy and girl knows something of the four great monarch- 
 ies represented in the king's image — the Babylonian, the 
 Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman — and can tell more 
 or less of their founder s, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alex 
 ander, and Caesar 
 
 "Arioch went in to the king in haste, to tell him that 
 he had at length found a person who could make known 
 to him his dream. How courtier-like this man's manner. 
 Surely he was at great pains to find an interpreter, and 
 surely it is owing entirely to his diligent researches that 
 Daniel is brought to give the king his dream and its in- 
 terpretation ; and yet the fact was, Arioch had no care 
 nor trouble in the matter. It did not concern him that 
 all the wise men in the kiugdom were to be torn to 
 pieces, for he did not belong to that order. All the dili- 
 gence he used was to find this innocent youth Daniel, to 
 put him to death for belonging to the learned class. "/ 
 have found" said he pompously, "a man of the captives 
 of Judah, that will make known unto the king the inter- 
 pretation." And the king seeing Daniel, a youth of some 
 twenty years, brought forward to explain what all the 
 wise men of Chaldea had not been able to do, said to him, 
 evidently with astonishment and surprise, " Art thou able 
 
HO LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, 
 and the interpretation thereof?" 
 
 . And Daniel said, " The secret which the king hath de- 
 manded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magi- 
 cians, the soothsayers, show unto the king ; but there is a 
 God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known 
 to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter 
 days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy 
 bed, are these : (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 known 
 to thee what shall come to pass ; but as for me, this secret 
 is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more 
 than any living, but for their sakes that shall make 
 known the interpretation to the king, and that thou 
 mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.") 
 
 Daniel's answer is sublime and beautiful. It was ex- 
 ceedingly appropriate. He agrees with the wise men of 
 the kingdom, that it was impossible for them, or for him 
 as a mere man, to do what the king required. It was as 
 if he had said to the king, Your wise men cannot do what 
 you require of them. Do not, therefore, put your con- 
 fidence in them as diviners ; but do not treat them so 
 crrelly. If I come to make known to you your dream, it 
 is not .because I have of myself more wisdom than they 
 have. I have not discovered it myself. It has been 
 revealed to me by the God of heaven, whom I serve. 
 What is indeed impossible with you and with your wise 
 men, and with all men, is possible with God. There is a 
 God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and He it is that 
 
CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY A BLESSING. HI 
 
 maketli known unto the king the revolutions of empires 
 and the great things which shall be in the latter days. 
 Mark how much he resembles Joseph in his modesty. 
 Both, when called before the great heathen kings, were 
 particular to ascribe their wisdom and ability to interpret 
 dreams to the revelations made to them by the God of 
 heaven ; and they are both careful to instruct their royal 
 masters that their dreams and the thoughts of their hearts 
 were made known that they might give glory to the God 
 of heaven, who is the Maker of all things, and to whom 
 all secrets are known. 
 
 A few inferences, and I am done. 
 
 1. How poor and wretched a creature is a man left to 
 the power of fierce and ungovernable passions! How 
 contemptible a figure does the great King of Babylon 
 make in demanding what was impossible ! Hot-headed 
 and furious men are generally without reason, and deaf 
 to all remonstrances. How blessed are your privileges, 
 that you live under constitutional laws, and are not sub- 
 ject to the arbitrary power of a tyrant ! Magna Charta, 
 Habeas Corpus, and trial by jury are blessings that cannot 
 be too highly valued. As your lives and property are 
 protected by law and courts of justice, so you, as good 
 citizens, are bound to honor the magistrate, and uphold 
 the institutions of your country. To fear God and honor 
 the king, that is, the civil government, are apostolic in- 
 junctions. 
 
 2. In the rise and fall of nations, shadowed forth in 
 prophecy, and presented in history, it is of great import- 
 ance to bear in mind the fact that the Supreme Being 
 
112 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 does rule over all the inhabitants of the world, and yet 
 does no violence to the free agency of any rational creature. 
 The mightiest planets in the highest heavens sweep round 
 in their orbits at his bidding, and so arise and fall the 
 mighty dynasties of our race, both in ancient and modern 
 times, and in both the Old and New World. Not a few 
 seem to think that God's providence was concerned with 
 ancient nations, but has ceased to take notice of modern 
 nations. This is nothing but practical atheism. God is 
 not less vigilant and supreme now, in the midst of our 
 inventions and improvements, than He was in the days 
 of Jerusalem and Babylon. The historian of the times of 
 Daniel does not say, " Jehoiakim fell into the hands of 
 the King of Babylon ;" but he does say, " The Lord gave 
 Jehoiakim into his hand." The celebrated and pious 
 Bogue was in the habit of saying, when he took up the 
 papers in the time of Napoleon the Great, to read what 
 was passing : " Let us see how God governs the world." 
 You cannot be too often nor too earnestly reminded that 
 God is supreme in the modern world, as he was in the 
 ancient. Nor can you be too deeply impressed with 
 your dependence upon God for your social, domestic, and 
 public blessings. It is remarkable how often the Divine 
 Providence is mentioned in the writings of Washington. 
 You will find that in ' more than one hundred different 
 places in his writings he refers to the care of Providence 
 over him and the affairs of the American people. 
 
 3. In the history of nations there are always two 
 classes of interests and facts very distinct, and yet ex- 
 ercising over each other a powerful influence. I mean 
 
HOW TO READ ALL THE BIBLE. H3 
 
 political and religious events. The first relates to kings, 
 emperors, rulers, cabinets, and forms of government ; the 
 second relates to the moral character, religious sentiment 
 of the people, and pertains to the salvation of their souls 
 and the condition of the Church of the living God. These 
 interests must necessarily exercise over each other a 
 powerful influence. The history of nations and the his- 
 tory of the Church of Christ reflect mutually the state of 
 the other. It has always been so. It will continue to be 
 so. It cannot be otherwise. As patriots, then, you are 
 bound to be truly pious yourselves, and to uphold by all 
 proper means the true religion. 
 
 4. It is a solemn and imperative duty on all of you to 
 make yourselves acquainted with the Old Testament as 
 well as with the New Testament. Many do not read the 
 Old Testament at all, or if at all, only that portion of it 
 which speaks of giants and of wars. They seem to think 
 that two or three orthodox doctrines picked out of the 
 Scriptures are all that is necessary for them to know. 
 This was not the view our pious fathers had of the duty 
 of searching the Scriptures. They thought, and correctly 
 too, that all Scripture, the whole Old Testament, is 
 " given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doc- 
 trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in right- 
 eousness." It was in reference to the Old Testament 
 Scriptures that the apostle thus speaks. And it was of 
 them the blessed Saviour speaks when He says : " Search 
 the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of me." 
 Nor is it enough to read the Bible occasionally or super- 
 ficially, or by fits and starts. It requires care and study 
 
114 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 to understand the Scriptures. They must be read re- 
 gularly, systematically, and with such helps, as maps, 
 dictionaries, and concordances, as are needful for the in- 
 terpretation of any other ancient book. The Bible must 
 be read with the profoundest reverence, and with the 
 docility and humility of a little child, and with fervent 
 prayer to the Father of our spirits to "illumine what in 
 us is dark." It is for the want of patient, persevering, 
 diligent study of the Holy Scriptures, that so many people 
 are fickle, and easily carried away with every wind of 
 doctrine that may chance to blow on their path. Eo won- 
 der that such persons make little progress in the divine 
 life. They neglect to study the Scriptures, in which are 
 hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They do 
 not grow in knowledge and grace, because they do not 
 seek nourishment where it is to be found. " My people 
 perish for the lack of knowledge, saith the Lord." 
 
 "I speak it from experience," says the celebrated 
 Erasmus, " that there is little benefit to be derived from 
 the Scriptures if they be read cursorily or carelessly ; but 
 if a man exercise himself therein constantly and con- 
 scientiously, he will find such efficacy in them as is not 
 •to be found in any other book whatsoever." 
 
 Finally, here you are taught where to go in all cases of 
 difficulty. How did Daniel obtain the knowledge of the 
 lost dream ? By asking for it. He prayed to God. He 
 sought help in the right direction. We do not, indeed, 
 expect miracles now, yet we do expect answer to prayer. 
 You may be far from home. You may be in distress 
 in a foreign land. The stern, cold, inquiring gaze of 
 
GOD IS A GOOD PORTION. H5 
 
 strangers may be your only welcome in the populous city. 
 But there is one ear always open to your cry — one arm 
 always stretched out for your relief. The God that heard 
 Daniel in Babylon, on the banks of the Euphrates, will 
 hear your prayer on the banks of our mightier river. 
 Make Daniel's God your friend, and you will always have 
 a protector. Ask, and you shall receive. Amen. 
 
116 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 LECTUKE VL 
 
 THE DREAM RECOVERED. 
 
 On Dan., ii, 31-49. 
 
 Daniel's Modesty. — Not vain or rash. — Effect of his Address to the King. — Tlie 
 great Image. — Its Meaning. — The Dream interpreted an Argument for the 
 Book of Daniel. — The fifth Kingdom.-r-Napoleon's Testimony on the Divinity 
 of Christ. — The four Empires. — The Book authentic. — Rise of Cyrus. — 
 Washington. — J*as Casas' Map. — Alleghany Eagle. — God supreme Sover- 
 eign in Providence and in Nature. — pie Creator's physical Code. — The Re- 
 ligion of Astronomy. — Professor Mitchell. — The two Testaments. — Prophecy 
 the Inspiration of the Almighty. — Newton's Eclipses. — A Comparison. — 
 Romulus founding Rome. — History important to young Men. — Elements of a 
 Nation. — Religion essential. — Young Men must be Politicians. — Be some- 
 thing. 
 
 The king's inability to recollect the dream that caused 
 him so much anxiety gave occasion to call for Daniel, and 
 enabled him to prove the vast superiority of his God over 
 the gods and magicians of Babylon. By being able to 
 restore the lost dream, he proved at once that he was able 
 to give its true interpretation. By restoring the dream 
 and giving its interpretation, he revealed to the king two 
 mysteries at once — a mystery from the past and a mystery 
 of the future. On hearing the past, the king must have 
 felt — "that is true, it was just so; I now remember it. 
 Surely this is from God." And thus was he prepared to 
 hear concerning the future, which his dream was to reveal. 
 It was natural, therefore, for him to reverence Daniel 
 when he heard the interpretation of his night vision. As 
 soon as Daniel was done speaking, the king replied. See 
 
KING'S REVERENCE FOR DANIEL. 117 
 
 verses 46 and 47. It has been urged, as an objection to 
 the history before us, that Daniel is here represented as 
 receiving improper homage from the king. We answer, 
 Daniel does not seem to have desired it. He certainly 
 expresses no approbation of the king's conduct. He may, 
 indeed, have objected to it, and the objection have been 
 omitted from the record. He was a subject — a slave ; it 
 was not for him to dictate to his master. Repeatedly, 
 however, he assured the king that all he could do was 
 to be ascribed to the power and wisdom of the God of 
 heaven. He gave God all the glory. He never for a 
 moment, by word or deed, failed to show his fixed aver- 
 sion to idolatry. On all occasions, with singular modesty, 
 firmness, and fidelity, he avowed that the God whom he 
 served was the only real and true God. Some suppose 
 that the text means that Nebuchadnezzar was willing to 
 worship Daniel, but that, seeing Daniel's opposition to it, 
 he did not do so. But, aside from these conjectures, it is 
 a sufficient answer for you to recollect that the Hebrew, 
 and even the English translation of it, do not determine 
 whether the king meant to pay divine or merely civil 
 honors to Daniel. Such prostration and tokens of respect 
 were common before kings and princes, and any one 
 whom it was intended to honor. Abraham paid such 
 honor to the children of Heth, who gave him a burying- 
 place for Sarah. If the king did actually fall on his face 
 before Daniel, it does not follow that he paid him homage 
 in the sense of religious worship. Neither do the sweet 
 odors indicate the kind of homage intended ; for these are 
 and were as common in the East as prostration, and are 
 in themselves merely a token of honor. It is enough for 
 
118 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 • 
 
 our present purpose to know that Oriental history, and 
 coins, and monuments, and the well-known customs of 
 the East to this day, prove that prostration and the pre- 
 senting of costly perfumes was one of the ways in which 
 honor was shown to any person deemed worthy of such 
 homage. 
 
 The effect of Daniel's interpretation upon the king was 
 not altogether such as was desired. The impression was, 
 at the time, deep, but not abiding. The lesson which he 
 had to learn, as we shall see in succeeding lectures, had 
 to be repeated ; and its repetition was harder than when 
 given for the first time. Some suppose that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar was converted when he fell on his face and wor- 
 shiped Daniel. His subsequent conduct, before his sec- 
 ond chastisement, renders this improbable. If he ever 
 was converted, as I hope he was, it must have been after 
 his restoration to his mind and kingdom, and shortly be- 
 fore his death, when he said, " The heavens do rule, and 
 he blessed the Most High" 
 
 Let us now hear the lost dream. Read verses 31-35. 
 
 A great image. Yerse 31. It appears from ancient 
 coins and medals that both cities and nations were repre- 
 sented by gigantic figures of men and women. The old 
 writer Florus, in his history of Rome, represents the 
 Roman empire under the form of a human being, in its 
 different states from infancy to old age. The recently- 
 discovered monuments of the Nile, and of Nineveh, and 
 of Babylon, show that stupendous human figures were 
 objects and emblems familiar to the ancients. Geogra- 
 phers, also, have used similar representations. The Ger- 
 manic empire has been represented by a map in the form 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT IMAGE. H9 
 
 of a man, different parts being pointed out by the head, 
 breast, arms, &c., according to their geographical and 
 political relation to the empire in general. The various 
 metals of which Nebuchadnezzar's image was composed 
 represented the various kingdoms which should arise sub- 
 sequent to the fall of his own empire. Their position in 
 the body of the image clearly denoted the order of their 
 succession. The different metals and their position also 
 expressed different degrees of strength, riches, power, and 
 durability. Clay, earth, and dust, of course, mean weak- 
 ness, instability. 
 
 The interpretation we have in verses 36 to 45, which 
 please read with me. The image is a symbol of empire. 
 Its different materials symbolize different dynasties arising 
 out of, and subsequent to, the Babylonian. The extreme 
 part of the gigantic image, which was a mixture of iron 
 and clay, represents a very heterogeneous and mixed domi- 
 nation. It does not come within my present purpose to 
 dwell upon the empires symbolized by this image. It is 
 sufficient, while referring you to authors who have ably 
 treated this subject, to say that the image doubtless was 
 designed to represent four different governments, and to 
 show their successive risings, and their comparative 
 strength and grandeur. It was the Spirit of the God of 
 heaven that taught his servant things which could only 
 be known to himself; and this inspiration proves the 
 truthfulness of the Bible. Daniel must have been an 
 honest and truthful man; and his interpretation of the 
 king's dream, foretelling events to transpire in distant 
 ages, must have been, as he said it was, a revelation from 
 God. It cannot be supposed that the Supreme Being, 
 
120 LECTUEES ON DANIEL. 
 
 who is infinite purity, and wisdom, and goodness, would 
 inspire a knave to predict, as Daniel did, some of the 
 greatest political events that have ever taken place on 
 earth. Daniel, then, must have been a good man, and he 
 must have received his knowledge of things to come from 
 God. He was a man of truth, and he says his under- 
 standing of the king's dreams was given to him by 
 Jehovah. The argument here alluded to for the Divine 
 authority of the Bible is one that grows stronger by the 
 lapse of time. 
 
 If it be true that the argument from miracles is weaken- 
 ed by age, the argument from prophecy, on the contrary, 
 gains strength by every revolution of time and of the 
 nations of the earth. 
 
 Daniel's prophetic mind was not, however, limited to 
 the rise, extension, glory, and fall of the four great 
 monarchies, which he saw so distinctly in the king's great 
 image. He speaks of a fifth kingdom, and his predic- 
 tions concerning it have not only been true thus far, but 
 are now in the course of fulfillment. The phrase last 
 days, in the Prophets, signifies the times of the Messiah. 
 The kingdoms of the image arose and prepared the way 
 for the advent of the Son of God, who is the King and 
 Head of this fifth kingdom, set up by the God of heaven. 
 Mountains, you recollect, in the Bible are the emblems 
 of mighty kingdoms, states, and empires. The stone cut 
 out without hands means Jesus Christ and his kingdom ; 
 and being cut out of the mountain without hands, signifies 
 without human aid or power. The hand is a common 
 Hebrew symbol for power; and we find all these par- 
 ticulars remarkably fulfilled. The kingdom of the true 
 
FIFTH KINGDOM SET UP. 121 
 
 Messiah is spiritual, in contradistinction to the other king- 
 doms foreshadowed in the image, which were of the 
 earth, earthy— founded by blood and conquest. Christ, 
 you recollect, is represented in many Scriptures as a 
 stone. 
 
 And in the days of these Icings — that is, in the days of 
 the Caesars, the God of heaven set up a kingdom. Pales- 
 tine, at the birth of Jesus, was a Eoman province. Mes- 
 siah was born, *and his kingdom set up under the Eoman 
 government. Christ came as the messenger of free, 
 sovereign love. God gave His Son. Bus birth was au 
 extraordinary miracle, and His kingdom, in its origin, na- 
 ture, extension, and preservation, is a miracle of miracles. 
 Its whole nature is different from all others that have 
 ever been established by the Nebuchadnezzars, Caesars, 
 and Napoleons of the world. This fact did not escape 
 the quick and powerful mind of Napoleon himself, and 
 you know that he considered it the most remarkable fact 
 known in human history, and regarded it as an infallible 
 proof of the Divinity of Jesus Christ. His empire was 
 founded in blood, but in his own. Its policy and maxims 
 are not according to the rules of the courts of this world. 
 It was not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of 
 Jehovah of Hosts tRat the kingdom of Heaven was estab- 
 lished in our world. But let us briefly consider Daniel's 
 interpretation. Thou, king, art a King of kings : thou 
 art this head of gold. Verses 37, 38. Under Nebuchad- 
 nezzar the Chaldean empire rose to its height, and em- 
 braced not only Chaldee, but also Assyria, Arabia, Syria, 
 Egypt, and Lybia. The head of gold represents its im- 
 mense riches. In gold Babylon far surpassed any other 
 
122 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 ancient kingdom. Next after Nebuchadnezzar's empire 
 arose that of the Medes and Persians, whose union was de- 
 noted by the breasts and arms of silver. Cyrus captured 
 Babylon B.C. 538, when this Medo-Persian empire may 
 be said to have been founded. 
 
 The third kingdom was the empire of the Macedonians, 
 or Brazen-coated Greeks, aptly represented by the belly 
 and thighs of brass. This empire was founded by Alex- 
 ander the Great, who put an end to the Persian monarchy 
 by the defeat and overthrow of Darius Codomanus at 
 Arbela B.C. 331. 
 
 The fourth empire was the Roman, which comprised 
 nearly the whole known world. Its elements were dis- 
 cordant, and the empire was, therefore, fitly represented 
 by iron and clay, which would not cleave one to another, 
 even as iron is not mixed with clay. 
 
 The Roman empire was weakened by a mixture of bar- 
 barians, and by their incursions was finally overthrown, 
 and at length divided into ten kingdoms, answering to 
 the ten toes of the great image. It is thus the image is 
 generally interpreted. Josephus, Tacitus, Gibbon, Hero- 
 dotus, and Rollin furnish us with abundant evidence of 
 the fulfillment of the predictions of Daniel. As to the 
 insinuation of modern skeptics, that tne book of Daniel is 
 a mere political satire, written long after the events hap- 
 pened of which it speaks, it must suffice for the present 
 for me to say, as I have shown in a previous lecture, that 
 the evidences internal and external, are all arrayed 
 against it, and prove, on the contrary, as clearly as such 
 a subject admits of proof, the authenticity and genuine- 
 ness of the book. "We have positive proof of the exist- 
 
% REMARKABLE RISE OF CYRUS. 123 
 
 ence and general knowledge of the book of Daniel before 
 the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes and Alexander the 
 Great. And all the discoveries yet brought to light by 
 M. M. Botta, Layard, Rawlinson, and Hincks, as far as 
 they bear on the subject at all, corroborate the general 
 truthfulness of the commonly received opinions about the 
 book of Daniel and the four great empires. 
 
 I have said the position of the different parts of the 
 image and the" different kinds of metal are descriptive of 
 the time of the rise, and of the nature of the several 
 empires spoken of. 
 
 A change in the metal denoted a change of the people 
 and language ; and, as there is no interval in the image 
 between the gold and the silver, so the empire signified 
 by the gold and silver is one. It was begun by the Chal- 
 deans, and continued by. the Persians without interrup- 
 tion. The gold, i. e., the Babylonian empire ; the silver, 
 that is, the Persian., are succeeded by the empire of brass 
 — an empire less rich and less glorious than that of Baby- 
 lon, but more powerful and terrible. The chronology of 
 these empires is indicated by the position of the metals in 
 the image. The order of time is the order of the parts of 
 the body from the head downward. Nor is the geogra- 
 phy of these empires less clear and satisfactory than their 
 chronology. Time does not allow me to point out this. 
 I gave in a sort of a triangle, in the last lecture, a sort 
 of a bird's-eye view of the geographical position of Judea, 
 Babylon, and Egypt. From that triangle we have now 
 to look westward for the rise of Alexander the Great, and 
 eastward for the rise of Cyrus. As in the human body 
 the two arms unite above the breast, so in like manner 
 
124 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the Medes and Persians were united, and made but one 
 empire and one people. Cyrus' father married a daughter 
 of the King of the Medes, and this led to the union of the 
 two kingdoms ; and the rise of Cyrus and of the Medo- 
 Persian kingdom, from an obscure province, under tribute 
 to Babylon in the time of Daniel, is certainly very re- 
 markable. Five years after the interpretation of the 
 dream by Daniel — that is, 600 B.C., in the mountains 
 east of Babylon, in a country called Elam or Persia — a 
 child was born, whose parents gave him the name of 
 Gyrus. His father and mother were heathens. They 
 lived at least twelve hundred miles from Jerusalem. 
 There was no travel between the two countries, except as 
 armies were marched and counter-marched. The Jewish 
 nation was weak and despised. The Medo-Persian parents 
 were very far, therefore, from suspecting that the name 
 of their child had been written down in a Hebrew book 
 two hundred and forty years before. And yet all this 
 was true ; and not only the name but the deeds of their 
 son were foretold by the Jewish seer, who wrote his name 
 in the sacred book of his nation. Now suppose a book, 
 relating chiefly to the religion and national concerns of 
 the Chinese, had been written two hundred years before 
 the birth of Washington, and deposited among the sacred 
 books of the Chinese empire, in which it was foretold that 
 a child should be born in the province of Yirginia, belong- 
 ing to the crown of Great Britain, and that his name 
 should be called George Washington, and that he should 
 become a great general and statesman, and that the 
 colonies should declare their independence of the mother 
 country, and that Washington, at the head of their 
 
CHARTS OF LAS CASAS, 125 
 
 armies, should capture Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, and 
 that the colonies should then become a nation, and Wash- 
 ington be the first President of the United States ; and 
 suppose copies of this book were multiplied, and that it 
 had been translated into another widely-spread tongue, 
 and that the original of the chief translation had been so 
 sacredly kept that it was impossible for them ever to have 
 been materially corrupted or interpolated — with what pro- 
 found astonishment and reverence would we look upon a 
 copy of such a book ? We need not wonder, therefore, 
 that when Cyrus became acquainted with the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, and read the prophecies of Daniel, that he 
 favored his nation, and issued his decree for their return 
 to their own country. 
 
 Another observation here seems worth making in this 
 place : that Las Casas, the friend of Napoleon, drew up a 
 series of synoptical charts while he was with the emperor 
 in St. Helena, in which he distinguishes both the empires 
 and the subdivisions by different colors. I have not these 
 charts at hand, but this is a correct description of them. 
 Now it is not probable that Las Casas thought of Daniel 
 while he was engaged in drawing them ; yet Daniel, two 
 thousand four hundred and forty-three years before, at 
 the side of his friend, the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar, could 
 have drawn them for him just as accurately as he did. 
 Like Daniel, Las Casas divides the history of the world 
 into four parts, and he employs four colors to designate 
 the empires of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, 
 and the Komans. The Macedonian empire he divides 
 into four kingdoms, of which the Syrian and the Egyptian 
 are the two most powerful ; and so also does he divide 
 
126 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the Roman empire into ten parts. And thus the friend 
 of Napoleon and the friend of Nebuchadnezzar have given 
 the history of the world substantially, and in many things 
 even to the most minute particulars in the same way. 
 The one writes from an island in the ocean, about 2400 
 years after the events transpired which he relates, and 
 the other writes from the banks of the Euphrates 600 
 B.C., and before the events themselves took place. The 
 main and only essential difference between the historic 
 charts of Daniel and of Las Casas is that, while the latter 
 had no Messiah, the former speaks of a fifth kingdom to 
 be set up by the God of heaven, which was to rule forever 
 — the kingdom of the Messiah, Jesus. 
 
 We see the hand of Providence in bringing Daniel 
 and his friends forward at the Babylonish court at the 
 time when it was the most proper they should be honor- 
 ed. He who gave the dream to the king ordered all 
 the circumstances that took place, and gave to Daniel 
 the honor of restoring and interpreting it, and through 
 Daniel brought out the heathen king's acknowledgment 
 that the God of the Hebrews was superior to the gods of 
 Babylon. The elevation of his faithful servants, the He- 
 brew youths, was another result of the Divine interposi- 
 tion. God never forsakes those that trust in Him. 
 
 I. The dream, its predictions, and their fulfillment 
 
 PROVE THE SUPREME AND PARTICULAR PrOVLDENCE OF GOD, 
 AND THEREBY ALSO SHOW THE TRUTH OF THE BlBLE. As the 
 
 eagle hovering in the clouds, above the summit of the 
 Alleghanies, discerns from a distance the valleys of the 
 Ohio and Mississippi, toward which he wings his flight, 
 with their tributary streams, forests, and cities, so does 
 
GOD SOVEREIGN IN NATURE AND HISTORY. 127 
 
 Daniel, the man of God, in the sublime revelations which 
 God gave him, rise above time, and mount up into the 
 heights of faith, and soar tranquilly over the vast future, 
 and discover in the distance the kings, the empires, and 
 events which were to agitate the world at successive 
 periods ; and in one glancing of his prophetic eye he 
 takes in the whole series of ages, from his stand-point in 
 the palace of Nebuchadnezzar to the second coming of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this prediction of the future 
 destinies of nations could not be without revelations from 
 God, nor could it be unless God be both sovereign in 
 providence and in natuhe. It is God only and alone 
 who can foretell the distant changes of time and nations ; 
 and this he can do and has done as infallibly as he knows 
 the revolutions of the heavenly bodies. God knows as 
 perfectly and as certainly what the commotions of the 
 people and the thousand passions of kings and statesmen 
 will produce, as what the thousand attractions of the stars 
 and their most distant courses will bring about in im- 
 mensity. Astronomers give us beforehand the details of 
 eclipses, because the Creator has impressed his will upon 
 the universe as a code of physical laws. These laws are 
 regular, harmonious, and certain ; just as much so as if 
 we could see myriads of angels executing them in all 
 directions throughout the universe. The globe, the orrery, 
 and the planetarium demonstrate the existence, beauty, 
 harmony, accuracy, and sublimity of these laws. Astro- 
 nomy proves to us that the world had a beginning, and 
 that its beginning was caused by an Infinite Mind, and 
 that it is still governed by Supreme Intelligence. The 
 Psalmist well understood these things when he said, "For- 
 
128 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thou hast 
 established the earth, and it abideth." Now the God 
 who governs the seasons and governs the stars is the same 
 God that governs the nations of the earth. He rules 
 mankind, who dwell on the earth, as well as the worlds 
 which roll in infinite space. He stays the commotions of 
 the people, as well as the billows of the sea. He holds in 
 his hand the hearts of the rulers of the earth, as He counts 
 the hosts of heaven and calls them all by name. Hence 
 it is that Daniel, by the Spirit of God, could predict the 
 revolutions of empires, just as Sir Isaac Newton was able 
 to predict, centuries beforehand, the variations and revolu- 
 tions of the remotest planets in the regions of space, where 
 they travel at the rate of one million and a half miles per 
 day. Newton, with his telescope, and his pen, and the 
 use of mathematics, read the laws which the Creator has 
 promulgated in the physical universe. Daniel, by the 
 Spirit of God, read the laws which the Almighty Creator 
 hath ordained in the intellectual and sensitive world, and 
 saw their results. You know that such is the precision 
 with which the motions of the heavenly bodies can be as- 
 certained, than an astronomer in his observatory at Baby- 
 lon, 2500 years ago, could have foretold every eclipse of 
 the sun and moon that has happened from that day to 
 this. Our countryman,* on the hill at Cincinnati, can 
 say, " I will fix a telescope opposite that window, with 
 two threads of spider's web placed across one another in 
 the centre of its glass, and if one of the heavenly bodies 
 touches on them for a thousand years, I can tell at what 
 
 * Professor Mitchell. 
 
ASTRONOMY AND PROPHECY. 129 
 
 hour, what minute, what second, any given world shall 
 pass the intersection of those two threads at the end of a 
 thousand years, after having traveled millions of milliona 
 of miles in all directions of the universe. I can even tell 
 at what distance from the earth that star will be at the 
 expiration of three thousand years." Now how is it that 
 astronomers are able to predict such things ? It is because, 
 first, they have minds trained, disciplined to thought, 
 which are capable of perceiving objects which the Creator 
 has made, and the laws He has given to them; and, 
 secondly, because God has. been pleased, by the putting 
 forth of his omnipotence and wisdom, to ordain laws in 
 nature which are permanent ; and, thirdly, because it has 
 pleased God to discover to such men, by the permanence 
 of his laws in nature, that he is a God of order and of 
 truth, and will certainly accomplish all that his hands 
 begin. And is not God as truly sovereign in the Bible 
 as he is among suns, moons, and stars ? Are not the 
 heavens and the earth one volume, and the writings of 
 the prophets and apostles but another volume having the 
 same author! Nature and Revelation are the Old and 
 New Testaments of the same Creator and Redeemer, 
 God. The first is written in huge hieroglyphs and sym- 
 bols, while the second is written in human languages. 
 The first are the inscriptions of an Omnipotent finger, 
 flaming on the forehead of the universe, and declaring 
 the power and ownership of the Creator ; the second is 
 the inspiration of the Almighty, uttered to us in words 
 of our own tongue. And these two volumes — these two 
 Testaments — are harmonious. And as the astronomer, 
 
 with his pen, and 'paper, and telescope in his hand, can 
 
 9 
 
X 30 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 predict, ages before, the positions of the heavenly bodies, 
 their motions, changes, eclipses, and revolutions, so the 
 prophets of the Bible were able, by the Spirit of God, to 
 predict, ages before, the positions of kingdoms, and the 
 rise, prosperity, and fall of conquerors. 
 
 The dream of Nebuchadnezzar, as interpreted by Dan- 
 iel, and as understood by Josephus and by most biblical 
 scholars, agrees with the best historians of ancient and 
 modern times. Nebuchadnezzar was himself the golden 
 head of the image. The Medes and Persians come next. 
 And at the time that Daniel wrote out his interpretation 
 of the king's dream, the Persians were as insignificant a 
 people as the inhabitants of Siberia are now, and far more 
 unknown to the world. And, to use the suggestion of 
 another, there is as much probability now that some 
 Cyrus will be born just five years hence in the mountains 
 of Siberia, who shall capture St. Petersburg, and put the 
 Autocrat of all the Kussias to death, as there was, in mere 
 human view, in the time of Daniel, that Cyrus should be 
 born in Persia, and conquer Babylon. The Persians 
 dwelt in their own mountains, and were especially un- 
 known to the Hebrews ; and yet there lived at Jerusalem, 
 about two hundred years before Daniel, a Hebrew prophet, 
 who not only predicted the downfall of Babylon, but 
 even told the name of its conqueror. Isaiah also foretells 
 the birth and conquests of Cyrus about 240 years before- 
 hand. See 44th and 45th chapters. Thus, if there had 
 been a Bible-class or a Sabbath-school in Jerusalem, a 
 child with the book of Isaiah in his hand, two hundred 
 years before the Medo-Persian empire, could have fore- 
 told its rise, and the downfall of Babylon by the hand of 
 
ISAIAH'S PROPHECY OF CYRUS. 131 
 
 Cyrus, just as our astronomer at Cincinnati, with his 
 telescope and his mathematical tables, can predict an 
 eclipse of the sun a thousand years hence, and tell in 
 what places such an eclipse will be visible. It is no 
 wonder, then, that Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest 
 mathematicians and astronomers that has ever lived, set 
 himself to the study of prophecy, saying, " I have long 
 studied the stars, and the glory of God in creation ; I will 
 now study Daniel, and the glory of God in the prophecies 
 of His word !" And the result of his studies are, first, 
 a work on the "Principles of Natural Philosophy," in 
 which he teaches us to look far into the mysteries of 
 creation ; and, secondly, we have, from the same gigantic 
 mind and laborious pen, a work on the " Prophecies " of 
 Daniel and the book of the Revelations of St. John. It 
 would be extremely interesting to trace out, if we could, 
 the internal and experimental connection in the mind of 
 this illustrious philosopher between his studies of creation 
 and his studies of prophecy, and see how the one in- 
 fluenced and operated upon the other. May it not be 
 that he said to himself, I have fixed, by discoveries and 
 calculations, with certainty the motions, eclipses, and re- 
 volutions of the heavenly bodies. By all these I am 
 firmly persuaded the universe is governed by an all-wise, 
 supreme, and benevolent Creator. May it not be true 
 that, by the revelations of His prophets, He has recorded 
 for us the revolutions of men on the earth, as He has re- 
 corded by His laws the motions of the planets in heaven? 
 And accordingly, we find that he set himself to work to 
 fix the chronology of ancient times by eclipses. As he 
 could fix the time of the eclipses mentioned by ancient 
 
132 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 writers, so could he fix the date of all contemporaneous 
 events which they recorded. For example, when he read 
 in Plutarch that the sun was vailed in darkness in Italy 
 the year that Eomulus founded the city of Rome, he 
 turned to his astronomy, and it revealed to him with ab- 
 solute certainty that this celestial phenomenon took place 
 753 years B.C., and at 4 o'clock, P.M., on the 5th of July. 
 This, then, was the year in which the foundation of Rome 
 was laid. And the connection of this fact with prophecy 
 is remarkable in two ways. First, in counting back in 
 this way, he found that the events spoken of by Daniel 
 as to the rising of the four great monarchies, and the 
 seventy weeks, and the appearance of the fifth kingdom 
 set up by the God of heaven, were all perfectly correct as 
 to time. And a second point brought out is very remark- 
 able, which I give in the words of Professor Gaussen, of 
 Geneva. Sir Isaac Newton "employed for his compu- 
 tations a catalogue of eclipses drawn up by a very ancient 
 astronomer named Ptolemy. This man lived 140 years 
 after Christ, and was a heathen. He left in his writings 
 an account of astronomical observations made at Babylon 
 for a long series of years. Now what must have been 
 Newton's admiration for Daniel when he saw that the 
 heathen Ptolemy, to mark the years of his eclipses, had 
 divided the ages of antiquity exactly as the Hebrew 
 prophet had done 745 years before him ; that is, Ptolemy 
 the astronomer looked back, and saw the four great 
 monarchies, just as Daniel the prophet did in the distant 
 future. One would suppose, in reading Daniel, that he 
 had followed Ptolemy, or, in reading Ptolemy, that he 
 had copied Daniel. Ptolemy, in his list of kings, which 
 
GOD SUPREME IN ALL THINGS. 133 
 
 he calls a mathematical rule or canon of kings, counts the 
 kings of Babylon just as Daniel does."* The coincidence 
 is certainly very remarkable. 
 
 What, then, is the result which we have obtained ? In 
 a few words, it is this : God is the governor of nations, 
 
 JUST AS HE IS OF WORLDS. He IS AS SUPREME LN PROPHECY 
 
 as in astronomy. He rules in the rise of nations and in 
 the fall of empires, as He does in the revolutions of hea- 
 venly bodies, which make their mighty journeys day and 
 night in immensity. His laws are equally potent and 
 harmonious in both. The astronomer, by the use of his 
 intellect and the appliances of science, stands in his 
 observatory and predicts the motions and phases of stars 
 and planets. The Hebrew seer stood on the mount of 
 holy vision, and predicted the developments of the pre- 
 determined counsels of the Almighty concerning the na- 
 tions that were to appear upon the earth. 
 
 H. Again, young friends, the study of the prophetical 
 history of nations is of vast importance to young men, 
 not merely as such history is a running commentary upon 
 mankind, and a volume of evidence in favor of Chris- 
 tianity, but also in this : namely, that the history of na- 
 tions presents two elements in themselves perfectly dis- 
 tinct, and yet always more or less united, and always 
 more or less subjected to mutual and reciprocal influences. 
 I mean the political and religious history of a country. 
 The religious habitudes of a people do of necessity deeply 
 affect their morals, and their social and national char- 
 
 * Gaussen's Lectures on Daniel, p. 91, 92. Presbyterian Board of Pub- 
 lication, 
 
134 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 • 
 
 acteri sties. So palpable is the influence of religion upon 
 a nation, that it has long been received as a canon of 
 philosophical history, that the religion of a country being 
 known, all the rest of that country's history can be easily 
 known. It is not essential to mere physical existence 
 that we have comfortable houses to live in, and that they 
 are adorned with the products of industry and filled with 
 the comforts of commerce. We could live in tents or in 
 adobe houses. But certainly those who have once tasted 
 the elegances of refined life will not desire to go back to 
 semi-barbarism. So it is not essential for all pious people 
 to be politicians, yet all the members of Christ's Church 
 are interested in the political interests of the world ; and 
 Christian young men should prepare themselves to take a 
 part in the civil affairs of their country. If the adminis- 
 tration of our laws and the outwork of our great insti- 
 tutions are left wholly in the hands of ungodly or unprin- 
 cipled men, we cannot expect God's blessing to rest upon 
 us. Noisy demagogues are not good models for Christian 
 young men, but all Christian young men should make 
 themselves intelligent about civil affairs, and by their 
 votes and influence promote only good men and uphold 
 only correct principles. We are on the eve of great 
 events. You should prepare yourselves for acting a high 
 and noble part in the great history of the future ; you 
 should cherish a love of country and of your fellow-men ; 
 you should habitually pray for your rulers, and throw 
 your whole influence in favor of the laws of the land. 
 
 III. Observe how careful Daniel was to remember his 
 friends in his prosperity. Like Joseph, when exalted, 
 
NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S CONFESSION. 135 
 
 he was not ashamed of his poor kin. At his request his 
 three friends were promoted to high employments in the 
 department over which he presided. As his friends had 
 shared his anxieties — as they had united with him in 
 prayer to God for wisdom, so it was becoming for him in 
 his advancement to secure them places of trust. 
 
 IY. Throughout Daniel's history we see in him, as in 
 Joseph, a disposition to humble himself and exalt his God. 
 Without prevarication or hesitancy, he shows his abhor- 
 rence of idolatry, and his deep and earnest conviction 
 that the God whom he served was the only real and true 
 God. He claims nothing for himself. When the king 
 asks him if he is able to make known the dream and its 
 interpretation, he reminds the king that there had been 
 no power in the gods of his diviners which had enabled 
 them to do this ; but " there is a God in heaven that re- 
 vealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchad- 
 nezzar what shall be in the latter days." And in the 
 whole affair we hear him ascribing every thing to God : 
 the dream itself — the interpretation — the existence and 
 power of the Babylonian empire — the power of the king 
 himself, and all the historical developments which the 
 dream prefigured — all he ascribes to the God whom he 
 served. And his object was in part attained. The king's 
 mind became so powerfully impressed with Daniel's 
 arguments and demonstrations, that he made the remark- 
 able declaration : " Of a truth it is that your God is a 
 God of gods, and a Lord of kings." The king, like other 
 heathen nations in those times, supposed that every coun- 
 try had its local deities, and that Daniel's God was 
 
136 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 certainly one of the superior ones. His confession was 
 remarkable, but it was far short of what he ought to have 
 said : " There is only one living and true God, who made 
 heaven and earth, and besides Him there is no God. 
 
 Finally, from the imperfect and hasty view presented, 
 of the beauty and harmony with which God, as sover- 
 eign both in nature and providence, governs the uni- 
 verse, is not your duty palpable t Clearly it is your duty 
 to study both the works and the word of God. You were 
 created in His image and after His likeness. You have, 
 therefore, a noble heritage. Cultivate your minds — 
 elevate your affections — seek the knowledge of great and 
 glorious subjects. The earth beneath you, the heavens 
 above you, and the elements around you, and the history 
 and achievements of your race in ages past, and the 
 prophecies of its futurity, all demand your attentive re- 
 search. Resolve to be something — to do something for 
 your age — to serve your generation and your God. Every 
 thing in the universe invites your intellectual exertions. 
 Suffer not your mind and your affections to go to waste 
 by indolence — destroy them not by excesses. Let them 
 not rot in dissipation or selfishness. Cleave to your 
 mother's Bible. Admire the spirit of heavenly prophecy, 
 which laid so broad, and deep, and sure a foundation for 
 your faith. Be thankful that the God of heaven has set 
 up a kingdom that will endure forever, and that you are 
 all invited to become its subjects. While you are enjoy- 
 ing the blessings of this kingdom, pray earnestly for its 
 advancement, and labor diligently to bring your fellow- 
 men into it. Strive to walk worthy of Him who hath 
 
AIM AT THINGS HIGH AND NOBLE. 137 
 
 called you, through the Gospel, to glory,' honor, and 
 immortality. Of the God of heaven, Christ is made unto 
 us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and complete re- 
 demption. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all things 
 needful shall be added unto you. Amen. 
 
138 . LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 LECTUKE YII. 
 
 THE FIERY FURNACE. 
 
 On Dan., iii. 
 
 Recapitulation. — Daniel a close Student of the Holy Writings and of the Ways 
 of Providence. — Sat in the Gate, Grand Vizier. — The Image set up in the 
 Plain of Dura. — The King enforcing Uniformity. — Propagandism by the 
 Sword older than Mohammed or the Pope. — Rawlinson's Beading of Assy- 
 rian Inscriptions illustrates the Text. — Size of the Golden Image. — Colossus 
 of Nero and of Rhodes. — Burning Heretics not original with the Jesuits. — 
 Truthfulness of DanieVs History. — Measures used by the King to produce 
 Uniformity, seductive and minatory. — How like Popery. — Best Music. — 
 Eunuchs. — The Furnace: Savages understand it. — TJie Fire that would not 
 burn. — Young Hebrews inflexible. — Freedom of Conscience. — The old Hebrew 
 Catechism of Jerusalem in Babylon. — WHY these young Men remained 
 steadfast in their Faith. 
 
 LESSONS. 
 
 I. Young men must prepare for fiery times. — The King not the Head 
 of the Church, nor Government a Conscience-keeper for the People. 
 
 II. Truth is real power, and will prevail. 
 
 III. True principle is true expediency. — That only is right which is 
 according to God's ' Will. 
 
 You recollect that the last Lecture was on the Dream 
 recovered, and that its interpretation proved to us that 
 God is indeed supreme in Providence as in Nature, and 
 that human history, written by man's pen, is nothing but 
 the echo of God's prophecy uttered by His prophets. The 
 continuous fulfillment of those ancient prophecies in the 
 times that roll past before us is one of the strongest proofs 
 that the prophets were indeed holy men, and spake in 
 times past as they were moved thereto by the Holy Ghost. 
 
"RAB-MAG."— "SUBLIME PORTE." 139 
 
 Daniel's whole career shows that he was a man of singular 
 sincerity, humility, and piety. He was an earnest, hard- 
 working, close-thinking man. He was a diligent student 
 of the Holy Writings of his nation, and a close observer 
 of the ways of Providence. In this chapter his own nar- 
 rative is suspended, to tell us what happened to his friends 
 for their fidelity to God. 
 
 Daniel was promoted to distinguished honors. Great 
 gifts were bestowed upon him, and he was made Rah- 
 Mag, that is, chief of the learned order, and the civil 
 government of the metropolitan province of Babylon was 
 committed to him. Probably this was necessary to enable 
 him — being a foreigner and of an adverse religion — to 
 maintain his authority. He held a plurality office, such 
 as in Great Britain would comprise both that of Lord 
 Chancellor and Minister of the Home Department. Dan- 
 iel's successor now in the East is called the " Grand 
 Yizier" of Persia or of Turkey. 
 
 Daniel sat in the gate of the Icing — i. e., he was the 
 confidential adviser of the king, and chief officer in the 
 palace. " Judgment in the gate," " Honored among the 
 elders in the gate," and such expressions, occur frequently 
 in the Scriptures. You know that the gate of a city, in 
 ancient times, was the place from which justice was dis- 
 pensed. It was a strong place, and well guarded. You 
 also know that the government of the Turkish empire is 
 frequently referred to as the " sublime Porte." Porte is 
 from Latin— tyorta, which means a gate. This retention 
 of an ancient Oriental custom in a modern tongue, as at 
 Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish empire, is a 
 link connecting the world that now is with the rites and 
 
140 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 customs of a world that is past away. One of the most 
 curious and suggestive sights a traveler now meets with 
 in the Levant is the struggling of the new Western World 
 for an introduction to the aged Orient. The Frank's coat 
 and the Fez cap are in conflict on the soldier of Stamboul. 
 Constantinople itself is half European and half Asiatic — 
 partly new and partly old ; and while Europe is striving 
 to enter Asia and China from the West, young America 
 from the farthest West knocks imperatively at their east- 
 ern gates. It is the will of God. 
 
 Daniel's honors and the rewards of his friends were of 
 short duration. Yesterday they were objects of royal 
 homage, and courtly gifts were bestowed upon them ; to- 
 day the same men, and without any cause on their part 
 for such a change of treatment, are the objects of fury 
 and vengeance. Surely it is a vain thing to trust in 
 princes. Yain is the help of man. 
 
 Bead verses 1 to 7. The image is set ujp. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar was the Napoleon of his age. He was 
 a man of vast ideas and of vast undertakings. His wealth 
 and power enabled him to gratify a most towering ambi- 
 tion. He consolidated a vast empire, comprising many 
 different nations. These nations had different gods and 
 different forms of religious service. Being supreme in 
 the State, he determined to be supreme in the Church 
 also. He was another Henry YHL, as to the religion of 
 his subjects. He resolved to enforce religious conformity 
 — to make his god supreme over the consciences of his 
 people, as he was himself supreme over their persons and 
 property. To bring about this obedience to and honor of 
 his god, he set up a vast golden image of him in the plain 
 
RELIGIOUS CONFORMITY. 141 
 
 of Dura, and required that, at a signal given by bands of 
 music, all the persons assembled in the vast plain at the 
 time of the dedication should fall down and worship it. 
 All the inhabitants of his empire could not assemble at 
 his capital, nor fall down and worship the image in the 
 plain of Dura. The governors, therefore, of the different 
 provinces of the empire, who where representatives of the 
 different conquered nations at the court of Babylon, were 
 summoned to assist at the ceremony of the dedication. 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell on the nature of the several 
 offices and posts occupied by the several distinguished 
 personages named in the narrative. The governors of the 
 different provinces, no doubt, answer to the satraps of the 
 ancient Persian empire, and to the pashaws of the Turkish 
 empire of the present day. Then, as now, they were 
 generally natives of the provinces they governed. Their 
 assistance at the dedication, as representatives of their 
 respective nations, and cities, and countries, was proof of 
 their subjection politically to the King of Babylon and of 
 their religious conformity to the state religion of Babylon. 
 Provincial governors are represented in the Assyrian 
 sculptures in the garbs of their different nations, and are 
 easily distinguished by their bearing the model of a city 
 as a symbol of their office. The books and drawings of 
 these monuments sometimes represent a distinguished 
 personage bearing two such models, one in each hand, 
 and these are supposed to have been governors of two 
 adjacent provinces, or of one province containing two im- 
 portant cities. 
 
 Other and various motives have been assigned to 
 Nebuchadnezzar for setting up this great golden image. 
 
142 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 But it seems clear that his object was to promote the 
 worship of his god, in whose likeness this image was 
 made. The Assyrian inscriptions discovered by Botta 
 and Layard, and read by Major Bawlinson and Hincks, 
 show that this people were very zealous in promoting the 
 worship of their god, Assarac, among conquered nations. 
 Contrary to what was once the prevailing opinion, it now 
 appears, from Bawlinson's reading of the Nineveh in- 
 scriptions, that religious propagandism by the sword was 
 known in the East long before Mohammed. The inscrip- 
 tions show conclusively that the Assyrians showed little 
 respect to the religious creeds of the nations they con- 
 quered ; but wherever they went they destroyed their 
 idols, and endeavored to force upon them the worship of 
 their own* 
 
 We are not without historical confirmation of the nar- 
 rative as to the existence of gigantic idols of gold among 
 the Babylonians. Herodotus writes, that in his day there 
 was at Babylon an idol image of gold twelve cubits high ; 
 and, what is still more remarkable, another authority, 
 obviously speaking of the same statue, mentions that 
 every stranger was obliged to worship it before he was 
 allowed to enter the city.f Diodorus Siculus mentions 
 an image found in the temple of Belus forty feet high, 
 which some think was the same as the golden image ot 
 Nebuchadnezzar. Other images almost parallel in mag 
 nitude are mentioned in history. The Colossus of Nero 
 
 See Kitto on the Prophets for the quotations of these inscriptions, p. 
 91, 92, 
 
 f Kitto quotes Philostratus, De Vita Apollon, ch, 19, for this, 
 
COLOSSI OF RHODES AND OF NERO. 143 
 
 was one hundred and ten feet high. The Colossus of 
 Rhodes was seventy cubits high, and was considered one 
 of the seven wonders of the world. According to classic 
 story, it took thirteen years to construct this colossus; 
 and on its being thrown down by an earthquake, so great 
 was its weight, it plowed up the ground, and buried itself 
 under the ground. These historical facts show that such 
 images were not unusual, and that it was not impossible 
 to construct such by ancient art. The Colossus of Nero 
 and of Ehodes were not, however, of gold ; nor do we 
 suppose that the image of Nebuchadnezzar was of solid 
 gold. It must have been either hollow, or made of wood 
 and covered with gold. It does not appear that the 
 ancients made any but small images of solid gold. The 
 proportions of this image are out of order, unless we 
 understand the height to include the thickness of the 
 pedestal, which it seems to me we should do. The in- 
 struments of music in verses 5 and 7 have Greek names. 
 This is thought to indicate that they were brought from 
 Tyre when Nebuchadnezzar conquered that city, and that 
 they were introduced into Tyre by Greeks. Tyre was 
 renowned for its instruments of music. 
 
 It is thought that we have in this chapter the first in- 
 stance in the Bible of the division and measurement of 
 time by hours. We come now to the 
 
 ACCUSATION AND THE PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Read verses 8 to 25. 
 
 The penalty for not worshiping the golden image was 
 death, by being cast into a hurning fiery furnace. Burn- 
 ing alive for heresy is not, therefore, original with the 
 
144 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Jesuits. It was a very ancient punishment of the body, 
 by father confessors, to save the sonl. But have we any 
 proof that such a mode of punishment was used in Baby- 
 lon ? In the Bible (Jer., xxix., 22) we are told that the 
 King of Babylon roasted Zedekiah in the fire. Sir John 
 Chardin tells us that it is not long since such a custom 
 prevailed in Persia, the great repository in modern times 
 of ancient usages. He says, " There is still a particular 
 way of putting to death those who have transgressed in 
 civil affairs : as by causing a dearth, or by selling above 
 the prescribed rate by means of a false weight, or who 
 have committed themselves in any other way. The cooks 
 are put upon a spit, and roasted before a slow fire. Dur- 
 ing the dearth of 1688, 1 saw ovens heated in the royal 
 square of Ispahan to terrify the bakers, and to deter them 
 from deriving advantage from the general distress." The 
 principle acted upon was to punish crime in hind. Cooks 
 were to be cooked, and bakers baked. 
 
 Some of you may remember that we found in a former 
 lecture, on the respective modes in which capital punish- 
 ments are recorded in this book, an evidence of Daniel's 
 truthfulness as a historian. While casting into a heated 
 furnace was a cruelty practiced only by the Chaldeans, 
 casting into a den of wild beasts was a punishment pecu- 
 liar to the Medes and Persians ; and this is precisely what 
 Daniel says. Under the Chaldeans his friends are cast 
 into a fiery furnace, while he was himself thrown into a 
 den of lions by the Medo-Persians. 
 
 There are two things that strike us here as worthy of 
 notice : 
 
 First, that we have a state religion persecuting the 
 
POPERY ANCIENT .—EUNUCHS. 145 
 
 people for their religious opinions, and threatening them 
 with death if they do not comply with its decrees. It 
 was not that their ministers should be turned out of their 
 manses and their livings taken from them ; but they 
 themselves were to be burned alive if they did not obey 
 the royal mandate. The second thing that strikes us is 
 the measures taken to popularize the king's religion, and 
 persuade the people to embrace it. These measures were 
 two-fold. They were seductive and minatory. They 
 were directed to the sensual tastes and natural fears of 
 man. If the voluptuous swells of music from all kinds 
 of instruments could not cause the people to fall down 
 and worship Bel, why then the furnace was to do its 
 work. And have we nothing like this in our times? 
 Does not the devil use great adroitness and large sums 
 of gold to monopolize the best music ? Where but in the 
 theatre are the best voices that nature, God, and culture 
 can produce ? "Where but in Popish cathedrals do we 
 find singers maimed of their vital organs, that they may 
 have voices to imitate angelic choirs ? Where do we find 
 ceremony, pomp, and music — a gorgeous pageantry de- 
 signed to strike the senses of the rude and ignorant? 
 Where do we see processions with images, before which 
 all men must uncover their heads and bow down, and 
 remain prostrate till the image passes ? Where is the 
 penalty, confiscation, exile, or death, for not worshiping 
 the God of heaven according to the decrees of eccle- 
 siastical states ? The king desired these young men to 
 conform to his decree, but did not prove to them the truth 
 of his religion. Mohammed demanded tribute or the 
 
 Koran. Papal governments give no instruction to the 
 
 10 
 
146 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 people further than to subject them to the sway of the 
 priesthood. All their machinery, from beginning to end, 
 is to enslave the people to blind submission to the priest- 
 hood. 
 
 "When the three young men refused to worship the 
 golden image at the sounding of the music, and gave a 
 faithful testimony in favor of their God, and avowed their 
 belief that He was able to deliver them even from " the 
 burning fiery furnace," the king was so enraged that he 
 caused the furnace to be heated seven ' times more than 
 it was wont to be heated." The phrase, heated seven 
 times more, proves that this kind of punishment was 
 frequent, and that the furnace was the usual instrument 
 for such executions. Whether seven times is to be un- 
 derstood literally and exactly, or, according to a common 
 usage of speech, seven, a definite term, is used for an 
 indefinite one, and means many times, is a question of 
 no importance. ¥e have instances in ancient languages 
 and in our day of the use of definite numerals for large 
 numbers, without meaning to be precise. We say a 
 hundred times as great, or a hundred times as many, 
 meaning a great many times more. The literal meaning 
 is not to be urged here. It signifies intensity. The 
 means of giving seven-fold heat to the furnace were very 
 easy in that country. The whole soil of Babylon to this 
 day, according to Mr. Kich* and others, is full of naphtha 
 and bitumen. They had only to collect the brushwood 
 of the forests, and cast in plenty of this naphtha and bit- 
 umen, just as our steam-boat men do rosin and bacon into 
 
 * Rich's Babylon and Persepolis. London, 1839. 
 
FIRE THAT WOULD NOT BURN. 147 
 
 their furnaces, and the heat — even seven-fold, would soon 
 be produced. The infidel objection about the size and 
 shape of the furnace is scarcely worth a remark. It was 
 not necessarily like a modern brick-kiln, a solid, inclosed 
 building with brick or stone walls, and with only one 
 aperture for putting in wood, and vent holes above for 
 the emission of smoke and flame. The furnace of Baby- 
 lon was probably a simple inclosure of fire, or an area of 
 fire, surrounded by a low wall, without a covering, into 
 which the victims were thrown, bound hand and foot. 
 The savage Indians of the northwest could teach such 
 skeptics how it was that the strong men who threw in the 
 Hebrews were burned by being caught in the flames, and 
 how the king could easily have seen the furnace, and 
 looked into it, even from his palace windows. 
 
 But let us see who were the real victims. So fierce was 
 the flame, we are told, that the strong men were destroyed 
 who were employed to throw the young men, bound, into 
 the fire. What an awful pause and shuddering must 
 there have been as the spectators strained their eyes to 
 see how the sea of fire would roll over and consume these 
 victims of the king's wrath ! But to the king's astonish- 
 ment, he sees the young men moving safely amid the 
 flames, which had power only to burn their bonds, but 
 could not hurt a hair of their heads, or so much as singe 
 their clothing. Even " the smell of fire had not passed 
 upon them." The witticisms of Eichorn and others at 
 the gigantic disproportions of the king's image, and at the 
 fire of Daniel that would not burn, fall very naturally, of 
 course, into the hands of those who deny all supernat- 
 uralism in the Bible. The whole difficulty about the dis- 
 
148 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 proportion of the image is removed, as we have seen, by 
 including the pedestal in the height ; and the whole diffi- 
 culty about the fire that would not burn is explained by 
 remembering that the flame did what infidels do not, 
 recognized the presence of Him that made it, and bowed 
 reverently to the authority of Him in whose hands are 
 the winds, and waves, and all the elements and powers 
 of nature. The flame lost its power to consume, simply 
 because it was commanded to do so by Him that kindled 
 it at the .first. 
 
 There were many flattering arguments which these 
 young men might have urged against the conviction of 
 their earlier education, and in favor of complying with 
 the king's command, which they did not urge, nor even 
 seem to have allowed to have so much as a moment's con- 
 sideration. They might have said — but they did not so 
 say — that it was their duty to obey the king, and worship 
 the image, for this was the established religion of the em- 
 pire. They chose to obey God rather than man. They 
 believed, what we enjoy, that the worship of God should 
 be free and unfettered, according to the prescriptions of 
 that conscience which governments and tyrants can 
 neither bind nor free, which laughs at fire and sword, 
 and glories only in subjection to God as its Sovereign. 
 God alone is Loed of the conscience. These young men 
 might have urged also — but they did not do so — that it 
 was most expedient to bow down and worship the image. 
 Mark their situation. They were captives in the hands 
 of an absolute Oriental monarch, who could take off their 
 heads at any minute, and no one ever ask why or where- 
 fore. They were, moreover, advanced to places of power, 
 
OLD CATECHISM.— DUTY SUPREME. 149 
 
 where they were able, perhaps, to do many kind things 
 for their suffering countrymen. The expediency-mongers 
 of our day would have said, " It is indeed a distressing 
 thing to bow down and worship the image ; but we hold 
 places of power ; we have excellent salaries ; we may lose 
 the means of doing good to our poor captive countrymen ; 
 we will do so only once ; and besides, our parents and 
 friends in our fatherland will never know it. Had we 
 not better bow down the body, though we will not bow 
 down the soul, to this golden image ?" But they did not 
 parley thus. They remembered their old Hebrew Cate- 
 chism, which had taught them that God had said to them, 
 " Thou shalt not bow down to any idol gods, nor worship 
 them." The matter touched their conscience. It lay 
 between their souls and their Creator. They could not 
 hesitate. Like Joseph, and like Daniel about the royal 
 fare, they determined to do what was right, whether it 
 seemed to be expedient or not. They could not do this 
 great wickedness and sin against God. It is plainly 
 taught in God's Holy Word that right is always true ex- 
 pediency. It may not seem to be so ; but it will always 
 be found so in the end. Do not, then, look before you 
 nor behind you for a rule, nor compare yourselves with 
 yourselves, but look to the law of God. What does He 
 command ? That you must do. Duty alone is ours ; all 
 the region beyond is God's. He will take care of the 
 issues of duty. 
 
 Nor did these three Hebrew youths urge that they 
 were compelled to obey the king's commandment because 
 they wero under great personal obligations to him. He 
 had shown them much kindness, and heaped honors upon 
 
150 LECTURES OX DANIEL. 
 
 them ; but their duty to God was stronger than gratitude 
 to the king. Employers, parents, teachers, and bene- 
 factors may lay you under great personal obligations ; but 
 you must follow your conscience in the matter of religion. 
 " He that loveth father or mother more than me cannot 
 be my disciple.'' If you would be saved, you must take 
 up your cross and follow Jesus. Do all you can to gratify 
 your friends that is consistent with your duty to your own 
 soul and your God, but do no more. 
 
 Nor did they urge that they would be out of fashion, 
 and marked for their singularity, if they did not worship 
 this golden image. Singularity assumed for the sake of 
 being singular or famous is contemptible, and indicates a 
 weak mind ; but to be singular as a necessary result of 
 not sinning as others do, is worthy of a Christian. This 
 was the singularity of Noah, of Moses, and of Daniel and 
 his friends. When duty requires us to be singular, then 
 we must not hesitate. Do not mind that the multitude 
 are against you, if God be with you. " If sinners entice 
 thee," God says, " consent not." " Follow not the multi- 
 tude to do evil." Nor did these young men urge the 
 terrible penalty to which they were exposed by disobeying 
 the king's commandment. They might have said, It is a 
 terrible thing to be cast alive into a burning fiery furnace. 
 But they did not falter. The heat of the furnace was not 
 so strong as their sense of duty. Is there any young man 
 here to-night, who is saying to himself, " I would become 
 a Christian : I wish to save my soul ; but if I do, I must 
 give up such and such pleasures ; I must shut up my shop 
 on Sunday, and quit my lake-rides on the Lord's day ?" 
 And what if it does cost you all these pleasures to save 
 
NEGLECT NOT SALVATION. 151 
 
 your soul ? "Would it not be better to be thrown into the 
 fiery furnace than to have both body and soul cast into 
 hell fire forever ? " What shall it profit a man if he gain 
 the whole world and lose his own soul I" Your privileges 
 are greater than those of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego. You have heard of Calvary, its cross, its agony, 
 its bloody sweat. The Gospel has unfolded to you its 
 grace, glory, and riches. How then can you escape if 
 you neglect so great a salvation ? What will it profit a 
 man in eternity to have had a few years of dissipation ? 
 What will it profit a man to have kept his store open on 
 Sabbath, and have worked late and early to acquire 
 riches, and then — and then lie down and die, a poor, 
 miserable, unpardoned sinner, and lift up his eyes in hell ? 
 Duty, conscience, responsibility, the soul, God and the 
 Saviour will alone stand out as great, and blessed, and 
 eternal realities in the judgment-day. 
 
 But why, think you, did these young men refuse to 
 obey the royal decree ? They could not obey it, because, 
 first, of the force of their religious impressions. Secondly ', 
 consistency of character and of profession forbade them to 
 w r orship idols. They were Hebrews. They had avowed 
 Jehovah to be their God. They could not obey the king 
 without denying the God of their fathers. What satisfac- 
 tion would it have been, think you, to their pious parents, 
 who in their homes at Jerusalem had taken so much 
 pains to instruct them in the law and in the w T orship of 
 the true God, could they have seen how firmly their sons 
 adhered to the principles they had implanted with so 
 many fears, and tears, and prayers ? Eemember, young 
 men, in all the vicissitudes of the w r orld, that you are 
 
152 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Americans, that you are Protestants, that you are Chris- 
 tians. Never allow yourselves to imbibe any creed or do 
 any thing inconsistent with your birth, education, privi- 
 leges, and destiny. 
 
 Thirdly. These Hebrew youths refused, because they 
 were sustained by the hope of deliverance. They do not 
 seem to have had any special revelation on the subject. 
 Their faith taught them that their God was able to deliver 
 them. They believed in God's promises. They had learn- 
 ed to trust in the promise of their parents' God to Isaiah : 
 " When thou passest through the waters I will be with 
 thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow 
 thee. When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not 
 be burned, neither shall the flames kindle upon thee." 
 They believed that God would make all things work to- 
 gether for their good. 
 
 Now let us consider 
 
 THEIR DELIVERANCE. 
 
 Read verses 22 to 30. And who was this that walked 
 with them in the flame. 
 
 The king says : " Lo, I see four men loose, walking in 
 the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt ; and the 
 form of the fourth is like the Son of God." No wonder 
 that he was astonished — that he was alarmed, and filled 
 with remorse, and called upon the young men to come 
 out of the fire ; and the whole court crowded around, and 
 saw that the fire of the seven times heated furnace had 
 no power upon those servants of God. It was natural 
 that the king should conclude that Jehovah, the God of 
 these Hebrews, was not a God that lie could trifle with. 
 
SON OF GOD IN THE FLAMES. 153 
 
 This conviction forced him to respect the religion of the 
 Jews in future. Nay, he decreed " That every people, 
 nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss 
 against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 
 shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a 
 dunghill ; because there is no other God that can deliver 
 after this sort." Who was this Son of God, and how did 
 Nebuchadnezzar know any thing of the appearance of the 
 Son of God ? It is agreed that the manifestations of God 
 in the Old Testament were either types of the manifes- 
 tations of God in human flesh in the person of Jesus 
 Christ, or that, in fact, it was Christ himself who appeared 
 to the patriarchs and prophets, as a pledge of his Incar- 
 nation. But how did a heathen king come to have any 
 notion of the second person of the Trinity ? We answer, 
 he may have asked Daniel and his three friends many 
 questions, and received much instruction from them con- 
 cerning their religion, of which no record is made. Dan- 
 iel's superior wisdom, and the king's acknowledgment of 
 Jehovah as the revealer of secrets, when Daniel told him 
 his dream and its interpretation, must have excited his 
 curiosity, if nothing more, to know something of their re- 
 ligious doctrines and practices. 
 
 But if Nebuchadnezzar had no such notions of the 
 Messiah, he had notions of angels; and while it was 
 Christ who walked with the Hebrews, the king may have 
 mistaken him for an angel. The language is plural, and 
 may be rendered like a son of the gods. This language 
 indicated an angel or celestial intelligence. The proof 
 that the inhabitants of this part of the world believed in 
 the existence and interference of such angelic beings is 
 
154: LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 manifold. The Assyrian inscriptions depict such intel- 
 ligences with wings. The king explains his language 
 when he glorified God for having sent "his angel" to 
 deliver his servants. 
 
 The special lessons from the fiery furnace of Dura to 
 young men of the nineteenth century are, I. In the cour- 
 teous hut firm refusal of these Hebrew youths, we have a 
 model for them in less painful circumstances. The idea 
 of heathen temples and of persecution unto death for re 
 ligion's sake on American soil, are things that may well 
 trouble us ; but both will become realities, unless the 
 pure Gospel of Christ prevails. History, the present, 
 aspect of the world, the prophecies yet to be fulfilled, and 
 the promises concerning the spread of the Gospel and the 
 establishment of Christ's kingdom over all the world, in- 
 dicate to our mind times of great commotion and peril. 
 Even now we almost dread to receive the intelligence of 
 the steam-ships from Europe. That we are to have gen- 
 eral peace for many years, I do not believe. It certainly 
 is not probable. That the next general war in Europe 
 will involve the hatred of races and the cruel asperity of 
 opposing religions, I think is certain. Our reading of 
 the future of the Gospel Church teaches us to expect 
 fiery trials. The sword, the dungeon, and the stake will 
 yet have many, many victims. Young men, therefore, 
 who are coming forward on the stage should seek en- 
 larged, accurate intelligence on religious subjects, and 
 strive to know the truth, that they may support correct 
 views and high moral principles. They should prepare 
 themselves to endure all manner of opposition rather 
 than sacrifice principles. It may not be proper to de- 
 
THE BIBLE THE ONLY RULE. 155 
 
 mand or expect of them in health and peace, when there 
 is no opposition to their profession of Christ, the grace that 
 would enable them to die for the Gospel. "When God's 
 providence calls for martyrs, then He will give grace 
 sufficient for the crisis. The principle, however, must be 
 well settled, that if the day comes when you are required 
 to give up your liberty or religious freedom, or perish in 
 the field of battle or at the stake, you would firmly prefer 
 the latter. The prior point, in our times of freedom from 
 persecution, is to become the true followers of Christ. 
 To repent of our sins, believe in Him, and trust alone 
 upon his most perfect righteousness, and take up our 
 cross and follow Him by discharging all our duties to- 
 ward God and man. Then, when the crisis comes to try 
 our souls, God's grace will appear in our deliverance. 
 There are not wanting authors and public teachers who 
 argue that these young men should have complied with 
 the wishes of the king, because the religion of Bel was 
 the established religion of the empire. As loyal subjects, 
 they should have embraced the same religion that was 
 professed by their king. This is the old worm-eaten effete 
 doctrine, that the government or the king is the head of 
 the Church, and the keeper of the consciences of the peo- 
 ple. Such is not the teaching of the Bible. The king- 
 dom of Jesus Christ" is not of this world ; nor has He given 
 to any human power the authority of enacting laws for 
 Him. The Scriptures are the only rule of faith. The 
 mere fact that a religion, or a system of dogmas, meta- 
 physical, political, or religious, is established by law 
 throughout a country, does not make it true or false. 
 Mormonism prevails in Utah ; if I go to the Salt Lake, 
 
156 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 must I turn Mormon ? Brahminism is the established 
 religion of certain parts of India and China, must the 
 English and Americans that go thither become Hindoos ? 
 If you live in Constantinople, must you, therefore, become 
 a Mohammedan? If you live in Paris, is it right for you 
 to become an Infidel, Papist, or Socialist ; or if in Ger- 
 many, a Pantheist or a Protestant, simply because any one 
 of these may be the established or prevailing creed around 
 you ? It is monstrous to suppose that a man's duty to his 
 Creator is to be decided by any such standard as this. 
 The only authority binding on the conscience is the 
 authority of God. There is no real power but that of 
 truth. Wealth is power, talent is power, and knowledge 
 is power ; but more mighty than all is truth. It is of God, 
 and invested with His attributes of eternity, omnipotence, 
 and 
 
 It is the most potent element of social or individual 
 life. It may be tossed upon the billows of popular fury, 
 or cast into the seven-fold heated furnace of persecution, 
 or be trampled to the dust by the iron heel of despotism ; 
 but it is absolutely imperishable. " Hers are the eternal 
 years of God." ISTor can those die who fall in her great 
 cause : 
 
 " The earth may drink their gore ; their limbs 
 May sodden in the sun ; their heads 
 Be hung on castle walls and city gates, 
 But still their spirit walks abroad." 
 
 All the resources of earth and hell cannot crush it, nor 
 vitiate and poison it. It has never failed, and it never 
 will. Cleave to it ; it is more than your life — it is your 
 salvation. 
 
PRINCIPLES THE ONLY FOUNDATION. 157 
 
 II. As Christian young men you have, therefore, the 
 great consolation of knowing that the greatest efforts of 
 the mightiest men are utterly unavailing against the Gos- 
 pel of Christ. The most furious opposition to the Church 
 has only served to spread its principles, and to add new 
 attractions to those that professed them. If you will read 
 history, you will see how insignificant are all the plans 
 of the mightiest on earth against the Church of Christ. 
 The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. The Hebrew 
 youths walked amid the glowing furnace as amid groves 
 of orange and myrtle. The fury of the king was disap- 
 pointed, the party spirit of his ministers checked, and they 
 that kindled the fire were themselves its first and only 
 victims. All the power of earth and hell cannot burn out 
 one single truth from God's word ; nor can all the popes 
 and assemblies, cabinets, and armies on the globe add 
 one single doctrine or precept to the Bible necessary to 
 salvation. It is God's great law of the universe that all 
 things shall, directly or indirectly, build up the truth, 
 and work together for the good of them that love him ; 
 and the greatest of all truths is the faithful saying, and 
 
 WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO 
 THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS, EVEN THE CHLEF, WHO BELIEVE 
 IN HIM. 
 
 III. Learn then, and though this lesson has been taught 
 before, I must repeat it, that true expediency is true 
 principle. "The path of duty is the path of safety." 
 " Honesty is the best policy." It was so with Joseph. It 
 was so with Daniel and his three friends. It has always 
 been so with the great and the good. "Without sincerity, 
 depth of conviction, and firmness in one's principle, there 
 
158 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 is no foundation for greatness. Let nothing, therefore, 
 induce you to do a thing because it seems expedient un- 
 less it also seems to be right ; and remember that that 
 only is right which is according to the will of God. And 
 remember also, that the experience of the wisest and 
 happiest, greatest and best men, teaches us that what 
 
 * God declares to be right is the highest possible expe- 
 diency. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely. God- 
 liness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that 
 which is to come. 
 
 Whatever God calls you to do or to suffer, fear not to 
 obey. He will be with you in whatever he calls you to. 
 If he calls you to enter the fiery furnace, hesitate not one 
 moment. He will be with you, and either sustain you or 
 deliver you, or make it conducive to your higher and future 
 good. If you could go to Paradise itself upon any other 
 rule than what is right, according to God's will, Paradise 
 would become a Marah— a fountain of bitter waters only. 
 The greatest prosperity, without God's blessing, is nothing 
 but a curse — a very furnace seven times heated. God is 
 always able and is always willing to deliver you. And 
 remember, I beseech you, young men, in every place and 
 under all circumstances, that if you put your trust in him 
 he will, deliver you in the way that shall be most for his 
 
 . glory and best for you. God never forgets his own. 
 Nature is pliant in his hand. There is but one thing in 
 the universe to be afraid of, and that is sin ; and God is 
 faithful and just to forgive us our sins, if we confess them 
 to him and sincerely repent of them, for the blood of 
 
 HIS SON JESUS CHRIST CLEANSETH US FROM ALL SIN 
 
AN ACT OF FAITH. 159 
 
 LECTUEE Yin. 
 
 CAVILS AT THE KING'S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 On Dan., iv., 1-33. 
 
 Auto da Fe at Babylon. — Objections to the King's Proclamation.— ^Insufficiency 
 of the Argumentum a Silentio. — Daniel does not profess to write a complete 
 History of Babylon nor of Nebuchadnezzar. — Webster. — George III. — Omis- 
 sions are not Contradictions. — Nothing improbable in this Proclamation. — 
 Necessity of considering Infidel Objections. — Nobles hunting for the King. — 
 Who built Babylon? — Eclipse of Thales. — Wives bearing the King's Name. 
 — Description of Babylon. — Tunnel of the Euphrates. — Nebuchadnezzar's 
 Greatness and Weakness. — Justness and Nature of his Punishment 
 
 LESSONS. 
 
 I. Beware of pride. 
 II. Insanity a great misfortune. 
 
 III. Benefits of sanctified affliction.— Randolph's Letter. 
 
 IV. Omniscience of God should comfort youth and old age. 
 
 In the last Lecture we saw Daniel's three friends in 
 the fiery furnace of Babylon, and heard of their deliver- 
 ance by one whose appearance was like that of the Son 
 of God. We were carried back to an auto da fe cele- 
 brated on the banks of the Euphrates, in the plain of 
 Dura, some two thousand five hundred years ago. It 
 was just such an act of faith as was witnessed about two 
 hundred years ago in various cities of Italy, France, and 
 Germany, and especially in Spain, and even in Great 
 Britain. This act of faith was persecution unto death 
 for the sake of religion. In the one case we are in the 
 distant East, about six hundred years before Christ, and 
 
160 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the head of the persecution is Nebuchadnezzar, aided by 
 his courtiers, and the victims are pious Hebrew captives. 
 In the other case we are in Europe, about one thousand 
 six hundred and fifty years after Christ, and the leader of 
 the persecution is the Pope of Rome, aided by a college 
 of Holy Inquisitors, who were priests, and the victims 
 were hundreds of men and women, burned alive in the 
 public market-places for no other sin than that they would 
 not surrender their conscience to the confessor and believe 
 as he told them. The Saint Bartholomew Massacre and 
 the revocation of the Edict of Nantes are not yet forgot- 
 ten, nor yet washed out from the history of France. All 
 persecution for righteousness' sake — for religious opinion 
 — is wholly irreconcilable with the Gospel of Christ. 
 Never can we pay the debt we owe for civil and religious 
 liberty ; never should we forget to do to all others as we 
 would that they should do to us. I refer to the auto da 
 fes of the Old World to quicken our zeal for liberty of 
 conscience and freedom to worship God, and not because 
 I cherish any unkind feelings toward any sect or party, 
 political or ecclesiastical.' But it is our duty to keep our 
 eyes open to the dealings of Providence with us, and to 
 the pages of history, and learn hence what principles to 
 support. 
 
 This chapter is a most remarkable one. It was written 
 by Nebuchadnezzar himself, and sent as his royal pro- 
 clamation unto all people, and nations, and languages 
 that dwell in all the earth. It is one of the most ancient 
 decrees on record. It was copied, no doubt, by Daniel 
 from the state papers of Babylon. 
 
 The fashionable criticism of the day has urged several 
 
KING'S MADNESS. 161 
 
 objections to this chapter of Daniel, a few of which only 
 seem to deserve serious consideration. 1. It is said that 
 it is an utter improbability that Nebuchadnezzar should 
 have published such a decree as this, for it holds him up 
 to the contempt of his subjects and to public disgrace. To 
 this it may be answered, we have the decree in the ori- 
 ginal Chaldee in our Hebrew Bible, and in the Greek 
 translation made at Alexandria about two hundred and 
 eighty years before Christ. The language of the decree 
 is just such as we are led to believe prevailed at Babylon 
 in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and such as would in all 
 probability have been used by him. The internal evi- 
 dence for the truth of this proclamation is very strong. 
 The proof of its genuineness and authenticity — that is, of 
 its being the actual proclamation of the King of Babylon, 
 and that it sets forth truth and not fiction — is as strong 
 •as, in the nature of the case, it could be. Abydenus, a 
 historian, who probably lived in the second century B.C., 
 relates the story of Nebuchadnezzar's madness. And al- 
 though his story differs in some minor points from the ac- 
 count in Daniel, yet it is evident that he framed his story 
 out of the traditions that reached him concerning the 
 king's malady. 
 
 The argumentum a silentio has been well called " one 
 of the most treacherous of all that encumber the logic of 
 history."* No one at all acquainted with history, either 
 ancient, Oriental, or modern, will dare to set up such a 
 standard as the test of historical truth in contradistinction 
 to fiction. For example, no one supposes that the his- 
 
 * Professor Stuart, page 121. 
 11 
 
162 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 torical veracity of the writer of the book of Chronicles 
 should be called in question because no mention is made 
 by that writer of the adultery and murder committed by 
 David, nor of the polygamy, sensuality, and idolatry of 
 Solomon in his old age. It is easy to raise similar ques- 
 tions in regard to the New Testament. For example, 
 how could such miracles as that of the pool of Bethesda, 
 or the raising of Lazarus from the dead, be passed over 
 in silence by three of the Evangelists, and be recorded 
 only by John ? As to the history of Nebuchadnezzar, at 
 best we have nothing but fragments. The Bible does not 
 profess to give us a full account of all the wars and works 
 of his long reign. Daniel writes of this king only what 
 related to himself, and his countrymen, and prophecies. 
 Jeremiah and Ezekiel died before the close of his reign, 
 and of course have left nothing concerning it. The Scrip- 
 tural history of this great king is confined to the early 
 part of his reign. And Herodotus, who writes so much 
 about Babylon, never mentions Nebuchadnezzar, nor does 
 he speak at all of his great expedition to Egypt. Josephus 
 and Eusebius, who have brought together all they could 
 find about Nebuchadnezzar, mention only six writings 
 which recognized him, and in no two of these is there a 
 perfect agreement. There is, I believe, no essential con- 
 tradiction between them ; but while one relates one thing 
 and speaks of one part of his reign, another speaks of a 
 different part of his actions in a different part, of the 
 world. The Phenician annals merely mention his attack 
 on Phenicia. Another account speaks of his besieging 
 Tyre. The fragments of his history in the Bible speak 
 of his wars upon Syria, and of his connection with the 
 
OMISSIONS NOT CONTRADICTIONS. 163 
 
 Jews. It is unreasonable to expect that all the facts 
 mentioned in one account of a great man must be men- 
 tioned in all the other accounts of his life. Because one 
 of the compilers and authors of a life of the sage of Marsh- 
 field, in giving to the public what he knew, heard, and 
 saw of the late Daniel Webster, omits what another heard 
 and saw, and gives in his own way to the public, it does 
 not follow that either of them forces upon the public a 
 pure fiction. Suppose a historian, writing the history of 
 George III. during a long and eventful reign, and being 
 confined to a few pages, should omit to speak of this 
 king's madness, and the particulars of the interim re- 
 gency, would it follow that his history was a fable or a 
 fiction, and that George the Third was never afflicted 
 with such a malady, and that there was no regency in 
 his reign ? Here, then, let us settle once for all, that mere 
 omissions in historians are not contradictions, nor jproofs 
 of fiction. Acknowledged truthful history abounds with 
 omissions. Manetho, and the great writers generally, for 
 instance, celebrate the victory of Pharaoh-nechoh, over 
 the Israelites at Megiddo, but they do not tell us of his 
 defeat at Carchemish. The plain reason is that Manetho 
 did not wish to wither the laurels of his hero. What 
 Persian historian acknowledges the defeat of Xerxes by 
 the Greeks, or of Darius by Alexander in Asia ? Where 
 is the English historian that acknowledges manfully the 
 defeat of the eighth of January, or the French writer who 
 details the disasters of Waterloo ? In the gallery devoted 
 to all ike glory of France at Versailles, there is no picture 
 of Waterloo. A nation's monuments, pictures, and his- 
 torians preserve only its glory. For this reason Josephus 
 
104 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 says nothing of the golden calf or of the brazen serpent ; 
 and for the same reason, perhaps, no monument on the 
 Kile tells us the particulars of the Hebrew bondage and 
 deliverance from Egypt. As to national disasters, the 
 rule with great and proud nations is to speak no evil of 
 the dead. 
 
 But after all, is it indeed so improbable that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar would have been unwilling to publish such a de- 
 cree ? This act is in harmony with his character. If any 
 thing could humble his pride, what he had suffered must 
 have done so. The impression on his mind from Daniel's 
 character and the interpretation of his dreams, and their 
 exact fulfillment, must have been very strong. It is un- 
 reasonable, therefore, to suppose that he was willing to 
 publish such a decree as might lead his subjects to do 
 what he himself did— -praise the most High, and acknoio- 
 ledge his dominion over all things ? The very first thing 
 to which all strong emotions of penitence lead, is ample 
 confession of sin and reparation ; and is it not probable that 
 even Nebuchadnezzar became truly penitent ? Certainly 
 he felt deep regret for his pride and haughtiness, and a 
 strong sense of humiliation. The state of mind in which 
 the historian presents the king leaves no room for selfish 
 and honor-saving devices. From the ardor and intensity 
 of his emotions, from the energy and earnestness of his 
 character, and from the nature of time penitence, we 
 should have expected Nebuchadnezzar to do just as Dan- 
 iel says he did do. And besides, may not the providence 
 of God have been exerted to procure such a proclamation 
 from such a hero and conqueror, who had advanced his 
 country to the highest pinnacle of .dominion and fame? 
 
SCALIGER'S CHARACTER OF THIS KING. 1^5 
 
 Would not such a proclamation have a powerful influence 
 on the minds of the Babylonians, and induce them to 
 treat the Hebrew exiles among them with more respect 
 and kindness ? and does not the testimony of such a man, 
 under such circumstances, convey to us in these ends of 
 the earth some exceedingly important lessons ? It is not 
 impossible for Major Rawlinson to find a copy of this 
 very decree amid the ruins of the Euphrates, and identify 
 the Nebuchadnezzar of Daniel, and confirm in every par- 
 ticular the Bible narrative of his reign. This appears the 
 less impossible, since he has actually made out from the 
 inscriptions on the great Assyrian bull the truth of the 
 Bible account of Senacherib's campaign against Heze- 
 kiah. The learned Scaliger and other writers quote a 
 fragment of an ancient historian of the days of the Baby- 
 lonian empire, who gives some account of the wonderful 
 things that befell this king. He was a man of impulses, 
 of strong passions, and of a haughty spirit, but, when the 
 storm of passion had blown over, capable of vast under- 
 takings and susceptible of generous impulses. It is not 
 Nebuchadnezzar as the head of a great empire, nor as a 
 mere conquering general, who speaks in this chapter, but 
 Nebuchadnezzar as rebuked, punished, disciplined, in- 
 structed, and made to feel that he was powerless in the 
 hands of an all-wise and overruling Providence. His 
 proclamation is a singular testimony of his susceptible 
 and variable temper, and vast conquests. It must have 
 been issued near the close of his life and reign. It is the 
 last account we have of him in the Bible. 
 
 2. Again, it is said, if Nebuchadnezzar ran wild with 
 the beasts, how could his nobles seek after him, and know 
 
106 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 where to find him, or know when his reason returned, or 
 know whether it returned at all f I have scarcely pati- 
 ence to notice such pitiful and insignificant criticisms, 
 and the less so because they are made in ignorance of the 
 language of the text, though made by men who profess 
 great learning ; and yet I suppose it is best to consider 
 them, for you are aware that the tendency of our times 
 is to extract the life out of the Bible by criticisms and 
 sophistries. It is too late in the age of the world to deny 
 the Bible its place as a history ; therefore the mode of 
 attack now usually made is to impeach the correctness 
 of our translation, or to destroy its spirituality and in- 
 spired authority, or to tear out all of the miracles, the dis- 
 tinguishing works of Christ as the Son of God, and all 
 Divine influence. 
 
 The isms out of the Church and the infidelity in the 
 Church agree in this mode of attack. It is necessary,, 
 therefore, to strengthen our defenses by removing objec- 
 tions to the sacred text, and to prove the truth of the great 
 doctrines taught in the Bible. But to return to the mat- 
 ter in hand. When it is said that his nobles sought for 
 him, it is not meant that they hunted for him as for a lost 
 animal. When Arioch, in chap, ii., v. 13, is said to have 
 sought after Daniel to kill him — the term is the same in 
 the original — the meaning is not that Daniel had either 
 run away or concealed himself. Such was not the fact. 
 The meaning is, that he made inquiry for him. And this 
 is all that Nebuchadnezzar's nobles did, as soon as they 
 heard of his restoration to reason. No doubt his haunts 
 were known, and that some kind of watch-guard s was 
 placed over him, whose business it was to look to any 
 
ROYAL MADNESS NOT UNUSUAL. 167 
 
 exigency that might occur. His rank, popularity, and 
 relations would certainly have secured for him, even in 
 his madness, such attentions ; and when his mind was re- 
 established he would, of course, return to his home and 
 his friends. There was no need of hunting him out of 
 the forest. It often happens that persons who have fallen 
 into a mania which lasts for years come suddenly to the 
 consciousness of the state and circumstances they were in 
 when attacked by the malady ; the intervening period is 
 entirely lost. 
 
 The fantastic representations of Nebuchadnezzar that 
 are sometimes made, founded upon a forced literal inter- 
 pretation of the text, do not deserve consideration. The 
 text needs no illustration nor proof from heathen hydras, 
 chimeras, centaurs, and the like. Stripped of its gorgeous 
 Oriental costume, the narrative is easily explained. The 
 meaning is not that he became an ox or an eagle, but 
 fancied himself such, and resembled them in his habits 
 and residence. Madmen have often acted over scenes 
 just like those here described. 
 
 As to the objection about the length of time that the 
 king was mad — till seven times passed over him — only a 
 few words need be said. Calvin thinks that seven is here 
 an indefinite number employed to denote a considerable 
 period. The term is often so used. The idiom of the 
 book forbids that we should regard the times of the text 
 as astrological periods, as Havernich does. 
 
 But why object to the term of seven years? Surely a 
 seven years' madness is not so unusual a thing, even 
 among crowned heads, as to throw a suspicion on the re- 
 cord. Nor is this the only case in which men have ima- 
 
168 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 gined themselves to be beasts ; nor, alas ! it is the only 
 case in which men have made themselves like beasts. 
 
 And the kingdom, for even seven years, could have 
 been preserved for him, and his affairs have gone on as 
 usual. The extent of his conquests and the durability of 
 his power show that he was a man of promptness, de- 
 cision, and discipline, and it is probable, therefore, that 
 his state affairs were all in a prosperous condition when 
 his madness began. 
 
 3. Again, it is said that it is not true that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar built Babylon. It is of very little consequence 
 whether he did or not, so far as the integrity of the text 
 is concerned. Daniel is not responsible for the truth of 
 what Nebuchadnezzar said, but only for giving us a cor- 
 rect report of what the king did say. If it is an error, it 
 is the king's fault, and not Daniel's. The inspiration of 
 the Bible is not responsible for the matter and manner of 
 the speeches of Job's friends, nor for the words of Jethro, 
 nor for the letter of Claudius Lysias to Governor Felix, 
 nor for the decrees of Nebuchadnezzar, nor of the Persian 
 kings. It has pleased God to have these and other simi- 
 lar things spread on the pages of Revelation for our in- 
 struction ; but the prophets and apostles are not fairly 
 chargeable with the errors of the speeches which they 
 merely report. 
 
 But let us look a little at the case in hand. 
 
 From the Bible we gather that Nineveh was standing 
 609 B.C., but had fallen in the year 605 B.C. It was 
 taken and destroyed by Cyaxares, who formed an alliance 
 with Nabopolasar, king of Babylon, about the year B.C. 
 606. This Nabopolasar was the father of Nebuchadnez- 
 
FOUNDING OF BABYLON. j^g 
 
 zar. And from this time Nineveh ceased to occupy any 
 place in prophecy or in the history of the world. With 
 the fall of Nineveh the history of all Assyria and Media 
 is merged into that of Babylon, and with Nebuchadnezzar 
 as its king commences the grand era of Babylonian great- 
 ness. After the capture of Nineveh, Nitocris is named as 
 the wife of Nebuchadnezzar and queen oft Babylon by 
 Herodotus, and mother of Nabonnadius. This passage 
 of Herodotus agrees with the history of Daniel as to facts, 
 and gives us in addition some of the names of the king 
 and queen, which are omitted by him. It is to Nebuchad- 
 nezzar and to his queen, a Median princess, that ancient 
 authors ascribe most of the great works for which Baby- 
 lon was renowed.* Herodotus says that the son of Nito- 
 cris was called Labynitus, after his father. He was also 
 called Nabonnadius. It was against him that Cyrus 
 marched in 538 B.C. Nabonnadius or Labynitus II., of 
 Herodotus, is therefore the Belshazzar of the Bible. 
 
 I have "before alluded to the use of astronomy in ascer- 
 taining the precise year of important events. As, for 
 example, when Plutarch tells us that Romulus founded 
 Rome in the year of the great eclipse in Italy, we have 
 only to reckon back on the Planetarium, and we shall 
 find the year, month, day, and hour of that eclipse. So 
 we can come near to the year of the rise of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar by considering the eclipse predicted by Thales. 
 The truth of this prediction is admitted by modern astron- 
 omers, and they tell us that it took place 610 B.C. Now 
 it happened that the great battle between Cyaxares and 
 
 * Yaux's Nineveh and Persepolis, p. 42. 
 
170 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 his enemies, which immediately preceded the fall of 
 Nineveh and the rise of Babylon, was fought on the day 
 of Thales' eclipse. This eclipse caused the contending 
 armies to separate, from fear of the vengeance of the 
 gods, and a peace was made, and one of the mediators 
 was Nebuchadnezzar — Labynitus I., king of Babylon. 
 
 It is true, then, that Babylon existed before the time of 
 Nebuchadnezzar. Its foundation may be traced back to 
 the Tower of Babel and to the time of Nimrod. But it 
 is true 5 also, that nothing now remains of the old city that 
 existed before Nebuchadnezzar. Major Rawlinson tells 
 us that not only Babylon, but the whole region around is 
 full of ruins having his great name ; but no ruins are 
 found prior to his reign. You recollect it was a custom 
 in Egypt to inscribe the name and titles of the monarch 
 and of the builder of the pyramids on the stones used in 
 their construction ; so it was a custom in Babylon, as it 
 was no doubt with the Assyrians, to stamp the brick 
 used in building their cities with the name and titles of 
 the royal founder ; and the hope is entertained that the 
 bricks collected from different sites on the Tigris and 
 Euphrates may enable us to reconstruct the chronology 
 of that country. It is stated to be a fact, that every ruin 
 in Babylon proper, in an area of about one hundred miles 
 iu length, and thirty or forty in breadth, has its bricks 
 stamped with the name of Nebuchadnezzar. Rawlinson 
 states that he has examined himself the bricks in situ 
 belonging to about one hundred different towns, and that 
 he has never found any other royal name than that of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolasar, king of Babylon. 
 A. vast number of these brick inscriptions is in the India 
 
DESCRIPTION OF BABYLOK- 171 
 
 " House in London, showing that Nebuchadnezzar built a 
 great many cities. The extent and number of the cities 
 which he built would " almost pass belief on any evidence 
 less conclusive ; and certainly the necessity of finding in- 
 habitants for the numerous towns built by him supplies a 
 new and interesting motive for his zeal in sweeping the 
 population of Judah, and doubtless of other conquered 
 nations, into this quarter." — Kitto. 
 
 Though Nebuchadnezzar was not the actual founder of 
 Babylon, yet he might be said to have been the builder 
 of the city as it was in his day. When a great prince 
 adds new buildings to those already existing, he is said to 
 have built it. So in the Apocryphal Judith, it is said 
 Phraortes built a very strong city and called it Ecbatana, 
 when it is clear the meaning is, that he only repaired, 
 enlarged, and added to its buildings ; and so the Temple 
 of Jerusalem, built after the return from captivity, is 
 called Solomon's Temple, when the meaning clearly is, 
 that it was modelled, built on the site of, and in part out 
 of the materials of the old temple. Nebuchadnezzar 
 greatly enlarged, improved, and adorned Babylon, and 
 rebuilt large portions of it. Josephus and other old 
 writers say that he adorned the Temple of Bel with the 
 spoils he took in war ; that he embellished all that re- 
 mained of the old city — made the triple wall of burned 
 brick around it — erected a new and extraordinary palace, 
 and raised stone terraces which had the appearance of 
 mountains planted with various kinds of trees. The cel- 
 ebrated hanging gardens were of similar construction. 
 These terraces and gardens were erected, it is said, to 
 gratify his Median wife, who desired to have in the dead 
 
172 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 level country of the Euphrates some scenery resembling 
 that of her native country. The greatest wonder of Baby- 
 lon was its temple of Belus and its palaces. These edifices 
 alone are said to have occupied a space of nearly three 
 miles square. The hanging gardens were immense par- 
 terres formed on vaulted terraces, four hundred feet 
 square, rising one above another to the height of the 
 wall. These terraces were built of stone, and covered 
 first with sheets of lead, then with a layer of bitumen and 
 reeds, and finally with a thick coating of earth, out of 
 which rose the different kinds of trees. On the topmost 
 platform was a large basin filled with water, forced up by 
 a powerful hydraulic engine from the Euphrates. But 
 another work still, that must have given strangers visiting 
 Babylon a very high idea of Nebuchadnezzar's genius, 
 was the passage, constructed of brick and bitumen, under 
 the River Euphrates. The Thames Tunnel is not so stu- 
 pendous a work now as the tunnel of the Euphrates was 
 in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. It is admitted, I believe, 
 that the works ascribed to the fabulous Semiramis belong 
 properly to this king. 
 
 4. Let us now consider the humiliation of the king's 
 punishment. (See verses 32, 33.) 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar was without doubt a very remarKable 
 man, a man ■ of vast ideas and of vast undertakings, and 
 of almost uninterrupted successes ; and, on the whole, a 
 much better man, I think, than people generally suppose. 
 The lapse of ages is continually bringing to light new 
 evidences, long hidden, indeed, of the eminence, of the 
 power, and magnificence which the Scriptures ascribe to 
 him. His misfortune was not that he was the most illus- 
 
THE KING'S PUNISHMENT. 173 
 
 trioua prince of his age, and one of the most illustrious 
 that the world has ever seen. His sin was not that he 
 had genius, intellect, and wealth — not that he was vic- 
 torious in battle, and absolute in influence, but that he 
 was too conscious of his greatness. His sin lay in his for- 
 getfulness of God — in ascribing all that he had achieved' 
 to the strength of his own arm and to the vastness of his 
 own conceptions. When he looked on the magnificence 
 of his city and on the vastness of his empire, and the 
 multitudes of nations he had conquered, forgetting the 
 Supreme Power by whom kings reign, and who had given 
 him all he had, his heart was lifted up in pride, and the 
 just punishment of Heaven fell upon him. 
 
 We may say that his pride was natural ; still it was 
 criminal. He was the successor of the Assyrian kings, 
 whose monarchy was ancient and mighty ; and from the 
 death of his father, Nebuchadnezzar met with unparall- 
 eled and most extraordinary success for many years. 
 
 The glory of Cyrus, of Alexander, and of the Cajsars 
 never equaled the splendor of the kings of Babylon. 
 Hence the head (himself) in his first dream, was of gold ; 
 and in this second dream he is a tree in the midst of the 
 earth, whose height reached unto heaven, and the sight 
 thereof to the end of all the earth. But as he forgot God, 
 the heavenly watchers cried, Hew down the tree, and cut 
 off his tranches. (See verses 14-16.) 
 
 The mind of a man was taken from him, and the mind 
 of a beast entered into him. He rushed out into his great 
 park on the banks of the river and mingled with the beasts 
 that fed there, living upon the herbs of the field, fleeing 
 from the sight of man and remaining exposed to all the 
 
174 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 vicissitudes of weather, day and night, summer and win- 
 ter. 
 
 Meanwhile, his son, Evil-merodack, governed as regent, 
 and no doubt the king was looked after and protected as 
 far as was necessary, or as his peculiar circumstances 
 would allow. If he had built, in the days of his power, 
 an insane asylum, he would no doubt have been put into 
 it. The penalty was suited to the offense. The sin was 
 special, so also was the punishment. Pride was the sin ; 
 degradation was the punishment. As a general rule, 
 punishment is just the rebound of sin. Generally speak- 
 ing, sin may be traced out in the light of the punishment 
 inflicted ; for God sends punishment not merely to reform 
 the sinner, but also to reveal the odiousness of sin. Sin 
 is the conductor that draws down the lightning of God's 
 judgment. 
 
 The severity of the king's suffering was much greater 
 than we can easily imagine in this climate. Think of a 
 man whose body is relaxed by the heat, and its pores 
 open, after being twelve hours in a blazing sun, exposed 
 to a cold falling dew, so heavy as to saturate a tent like 
 rain,* and you will have some idea of the king's condi- 
 tion. 
 
 * The day is hotter in Western Asia, and the nights colder, than with us. 
 While traveling in Arabia and Syria, I often found the heat most distressing 
 at noon, and yet at night I required all the covering I had — a capote, quilt, 
 and blanket. I often thought of Jacob's words in Gen., xxxi., 40, "In the 
 day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night." After, the heat of 
 a summer day, the cold and chilling winds and frosts of night in the neigh- 
 borhood of the mountains of Asia are peculiarly severe. So well known 
 and striking are these contrasts, that they are referred to by the Arabs in at 
 least two proverbs which are common among them. Of an unhappy man> 
 
PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION. j.75 
 
 Observe also the suddenness of his punishment. One 
 day, as he walked on the terraces or roof of his palace, in 
 a burst of imperial pride he said, " Is not this great Baby- 
 lon, that I have built for the house of the kingd«a, by 
 the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ?" 
 And while the word was still in his mouth, a voice from 
 heaven said, " The kingdom is departed from thee V 1 
 Verses 31-33. 
 
 Finally ) let us attend to some of the lessons which this 
 history of this remarkable proclamation of the king teaches 
 to young men. 
 
 First. The fall of pride warms you of the sinfulness 
 and danger of presumption and vanity. "Pride goeth 
 before destruction." " Those that walk in pride he is 
 able to abase." More on this point at another time. 
 
 Secondly. It is a great misfortune to he deprived of 
 reason. It is one of the greatest calamities that can befall 
 men in this life. A great man is wont to say in his daily 
 prayers, "Lord, deliver me from sudden death, hydro- 
 phobia, insanity, and tetanus." The fame of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar filled the then known world, but the poorest beg- 
 gar in the streets of his proud capital, or the humblest 
 peasant in his kingdom, was better off than he was in his 
 insanity. You should be thankful, my young friends, for 
 the use of reason and speech, and for the flowings forth 
 of liuman sympathy. These are all God's gifts to you. 
 You should be careful not to impair your understanding 
 by neglecting to use it, or by abusing it. The great 
 causes of insanity are the letting of our mental faculties 
 
 they say, " The sun falls on his head by day, and the dew by night." " Ho 
 is scorched by the sun, and made wet by the dew." 
 
176 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 rust, and the abuse of them by gluttony and drunkenness, 
 and by the indulgence of violent passions and of excessive 
 anxieties. You should do all you can to relieve such as 
 are ajflicted with this awful calamity. One of the best 
 remedies against it is to be actively engaged in useful and 
 honorable employments. Homes and personal comforts 
 should be provided for the insane, as well as for all in- 
 valids ; their thoughts should be drawn away from them- 
 selves. It is a sure recipe for unhappiness to be selfish. 
 
 Thirdly. The King of Babylon testifies to the benefits 
 of sanctified affliction. This is, indeed, a lesson verified 
 from our experience, and from the general tenor of all 
 Bible instruction. ]STo doubt Nebuchadnezzar found, as 
 David did, " It is good for me that I have been afflicted." 
 He had been warned. He had been made to confess the 
 superiority of Daniel's God to the gods of Babylon, when 
 Daniel restored to him his lost dream and interpreted it, 
 and had delivered his three friends out of the fiery fur- 
 nace ; but still he had not submitted his proud heart to 
 God. There are lessons in affliction that we never can 
 learn in prosperity. When God hides the sun from us, 
 he reveals to us a thousand suns by night. You know" 
 that on a sick-bed, or in the moment of an expected ship- 
 wreck, in the hour of bitter and sorrowful bereavement, 
 vows and resolutions are formed, which, if kept, would 
 lead to great zeal in behalf of religion. Though bitter in 
 the experience, yet the results of sanctified affliction are 
 blessed. I have before me a letter, but recently publish- 
 ed, from the brilliant but eccentric orator of Koanoke, 
 which bears in part on the subject in hand, and which, 
 although many of you have doubtless read it, I will take 
 
RANDOLPH'S REMARKABLE LETTER. 177 
 
 the liberty of presenting to you. It has rarely ever been 
 surpassed for terms of tenderness and propriety. It was 
 written by Mr. Randolph to his half-brother on the occa- 
 sion of the death of his eldest son. I earnestly comijend 
 all young men, but especially law students and honorable 
 members of the Legislature and politicians, if there be 
 any present, to give particular attention to the points of 
 Christian doctrine advanced in this letter, and the trains 
 of thought which it suggests. Mr. Randolph was without 
 doubt one of the most brilliant and remarkable men this 
 country has ever produced : 
 
 "The father of Lord Russell, when condoled with 
 according to form, by the book, replied, 'I would not 
 give my dead son for any other man's living.' May this 
 thought come home to your bosom, too, but not as the 
 chimera of heated brains, nor a device of artful men to 
 frighten and cajole the credulous, but as an existence 
 that can be as much felt and understood as the whisper- 
 ings of your own heart, or the love you bore to him that 
 you have lost — may that Spirit, which is the Comforter, 
 shed his influence upon your soul, and incline your heart 
 and understanding to the only right way, which is that 
 of life eternal ! Did you ever read Bishop Butler's Ana- 
 logy ? If not, I will send it to you. Have you read the 
 Book? What I say upon this subject I not only believe, 
 but I know to be true, that the Bible, studied with cm 
 humble and contrite heart, never yet failed to do its work, 
 even with those who, from idiosyncrasy or disordered 
 minds, have conceived that they were cut off from its 
 promises of a life to come" 
 
 " i Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; 
 
 12 
 
178 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' This was my 
 only support and stay during years of misery and dark- 
 ness ; and just as I had almost begun to despair, after more 
 tha% ten years of penitence and prayer, it pleased God to 
 enable me to see the truth, to which, until then, my eyes 
 had been sealed. To this vouchsafement I have made the 
 most ungrateful returns. But I would not give up my 
 slender portion of the price paid for our redemption — yes, 
 my brother, our redemption, the ransom of sinners, of all 
 who do not hug their chains and refuse to come out from 
 the house of bondage — I say, that I would not exchange 
 my little portion in the Son of David for the power and 
 glory of the Parthian or Roman empires, as described by 
 Milton in the temptation of our Lord and Saviour — not 
 for all with which the Enemy tempted the Saviour of 
 man. 
 
 " This is the secret of the change in my spirits, which 
 all who know me must have observed within a few years 
 past. After years spent in humble and contrite entreaty 
 that the tremendous sacrifice on Mount Calvary might not 
 have been made in vain for me, the chiefest of sinners, it 
 pleased God to speak his peace into my heart, that peace 
 of God which passeth all understanding to them that 
 know it not, and even to them that do. And although I 
 have now, as then, to reproach myself with time misspent 
 and faculties misemployed — although my condition has, 
 on more than one occasion, resembled that of him who, 
 having one evil spirit cast out, was taken possession of 
 by seven other spirits more wicked than the first, and the 
 first also, yet I trust that they too, by the power and 
 mercy of God, may be, if they are not, vanquished. 
 
"THE BOOK," OR ATHEISM. 179 
 
 "But where am I running to? On this subject more 
 hereafter. Meanwhile, assure yourself of what is of small 
 value compared with that of those who are a piece of 
 yourself —of the unchanged regard and sympathy of your 
 mother's son. Ah ! my God ! I remember to have seen 
 her die, to have followed her to the grave, to have won- 
 dered that the sun continued to rise and set, and the order 
 of nature to go on. Ignorant of true religion, but not yet 
 an atheist, I remember with horror my impious expos- 
 tulations with God upon this bereavement — ' but not yet 
 an atheist!' The existence of atheism has been denied, 
 but I was an honest one. Hume began, and Hobbes 
 finished me. I read Spinoza and all the tribe. Surely I 
 
 fell by no ignoble hand. And the very man ( ) who 
 
 gave me Hume's \ Essay upon Human Nature' to read, 
 administered ' Beattie upon Truth' as the antidote ; Yenice 
 treacle against arsenic and the essential oil of bitter al- 
 monds ; bread and milk poultice for the bite of the cobra 
 capello. 
 
 " Had I remained a successful political leader, I might 
 never have been a Christian. But it pleased God that 
 my pride should be mortified ; that by death and deser- 
 tion I should lose my friends ; that, except in the veins of 
 a maniac, and he too possessed ' of a child by a deaf and 
 dumb spirit,' there should not run one drop of my father's 
 blood in any living creature besides myself. The death 
 of Tudor finished my humiliation. I had tried all things 
 but the refuge to Christ, and to that, with parental stripes, 
 was I driven. Often did I cry out with the father of that 
 wretched boy, 'Lord! I believe — help thou mine un- 
 belief ;' and the gracious mercy of our Lord to this waver- 
 
180 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 ing faith, staggering under the force of the hard heart of 
 unbelief, I humbly hoped would, in his good time, be ex- 
 tended to me also. Mark, vii., 17-29. 
 
 " Throw Revelation aside, and I can drive any man by 
 irresistible induction to atheism. John Marshall could 
 not resist me. When I say any man, I mean a man 
 capable of logical and consequential reasoning. ' Deism 
 is the refuge of those that startle at atheism, and can't 
 
 believe Revelation, and my (may God have forgiven 
 
 us both) and myself used, with Diderot & Co., to laugh 
 it the deistical bigots who must have milk, not being 
 able to digest meat. All theism is derived from Reve- 
 lation — that of the laws confessedly. Our own is from the 
 same source— so is the false revelation of Mohammed ; 
 and I can't much blame the Turks for considering the 
 Franks and Greeks to be idolaters. Every other idea of 
 one God that floats in the world is derived from the 
 tradition of the sons of Koah handed down to their pos- 
 terity. 
 
 "But enough, and more than enough; I can scarcely 
 guide my pen. I will, however, add that no lukewarm 
 seeker ever became a Christian ; for ' from the days of 
 John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of Heaven suf- 
 fereth violence, and the violent take it by force' — a text 
 which I read five hundred times before I had the slight- 
 est conception of its true application. 
 
 u Your brother, 
 
 "J. R., or Roanoke. 
 
 " To H. St. G.Tucker, Esq." 
 
 Fourthly. You are here taught the omniscience of God. 
 The king was walking on his palace top, and he said to 
 
DIVINE OMNISCIENCE 181 
 
 himself, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built V' 
 And, at the end of days, he "lifted up his eyes unto hea- 
 ven." In both instances God was nigh unto him. He 
 heard the thoughts of his heart in his pride- ind he heard 
 the whispering of his soul in his penitence. Prayer ic 
 equally powerful in the cabinet and in the hovel of straw. 
 God sees as clearly the toilings of the slave as the labors 
 of the statesman. God's eye is just as closely riveted 
 upon you, young man, or upon you, young woman, as you 
 pursue your occupation in the crowded city or seek a 
 home in a strange land, as if you were the only individual 
 in the universe. There is not a thought that nutters in 
 your hearts — there is not a purpose in your mind formed 
 for to-morrow or for the future — there is not a secret 
 spring of wickedness arising in any bosom — there is not a 
 design that is cherished in the secrecy of any heart, either 
 for good or evil, that you can hide from God. His eye 
 pierces the darkness — His ear hears in silence — His laws 
 and his presence are every where. He is the final Judge, 
 who will bring every secret thing to light, and judge 
 every man according to the thoughts of his heart, the 
 words of his mouth, and the deeds of his body, whether 
 they be good or whether they be evil. How solemn is 
 the consideration that those thoughts which you wish to 
 conceal from that person who sits beside you in the pew 
 are known to God ; and your schemes, plans, and imagin- 
 ations, that you would not disclose to a mother or a friend 
 for all the world, are perfectly known to Him. How 
 solemn is the reflection that all your vows and resolutions 
 in times of danger, and on your sick-bed, are daguerreo- 
 typed for the day of judgment. How can you meet all 
 
182 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 your sins at the bar of God ? What an awful idea is this, 
 that at the judgment- day a man's secret thoughts will be 
 set in the light of God's countenance ! What a fearful 
 spectacle to an impenitent sinner to see all his sins rise 
 with his body from the grave ! Is the doctrine of God's 
 omniscience a source of alarm or of comfort to you ? 
 Does the thought of God trouble you? Is there any one 
 of you ready to say, "lama wretch undone ; how can I 
 escape the wrath of God? I am a guilty sinner!" Then 
 hear what the Gospel says to you : " The Blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Jesus Christ came 
 to seek and save the lost. Amen. 
 
L'ESSONS FROM THE LAST LECTURE. 183 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 LESSONS FROM THE KING'S DREAM. 
 
 On Dan., iv. 
 
 Moral Lessons in History do not prove that History Fiction. Sparks' Wash- 
 ington. — Proper End of all Government — Prosperity is dangerous. — Scotch 
 Fir-tree. — When Riches are safe. — Danger of Pride. — Flat Roofs in the East. 
 — Lesson of all History is that Pride goeth before Destruction. — Luxembourg 
 Picture of tlie Decadence of tlie Romans. — Money the Idol of the nineteenth 
 Century. — Several Characters who walk in Pride. — Obstinacy of Pride. — It 
 prevents Conversion to God. — Sunbeams only can melt the Icicle. — Salvation 
 only by Grace. — Finally impenitent cannot escape. — God's Providence gen- 
 eral and special. — Preservation of Judah. — Angels in Charge of the Universe. 
 — God has Purposes. — Man free Agent. — God warns before He smites. — A 
 faithful Prophet and Minister of State. 4 
 
 The lessons which were drawn from the defense and 
 teachings of the king's remarkable decree in the last lec- 
 ture were, 
 
 L The sinfulness and danger of pride. 
 
 II. That madness is a great misfortune, and conse- 
 quently the use of our faculties calls for gratitude and 
 their proper improvement. 
 
 III. Tlie benefits of sanctified affliction. This is a pre- 
 cious though painful lesson that all of us may learn. We 
 all share in earth's sorrowings. The remarkable letter of 
 John Randolph, of Roanoke, was presented, condoling 
 with his step-brother on the death of nis son. In this 
 letter, amid much that was tender and appropriate, you 
 recollect this brilliant man bears his bold and decided 
 
184 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 testimony to the divinity of Christ, the reality of IJis 
 atonement for sin, the influence of the Holy Spirit, and to 
 the old-fashioned doctrines of conversion to God and re- 
 demption by the blood of Christ, and to the supreme 
 authority of the Bible, and of the necessity of personally 
 seeking religion with persevering earnestness. It is not 
 true, then, that great and liberal minds have outgrown 
 these doctrines. Let our law and medical students, and 
 the members of our University, and our literary and poli- 
 tical men, remember that America's great men have been 
 not only believers in the Bible, but most of them decided 
 and firm adherents to the doctrines and principles of the 
 Westminster Catechism.* 
 
 IY. A fourth lesson was the Omniscience of God, as 
 seen in his knowledge of the king's heart, and in the 
 hearing of the king's prayer, as well as in the hearing of 
 Daniel's prayer. 
 
 You are aware that the fact that moral lessons are 
 taught in the history before us is alleged as a reason for 
 denying the historical truth of the book of Daniel, and for 
 making it a mere romance or political satire. But it is 
 difficult to see why or how the moral lessons of the nar- 
 ratives and decrees should make the whole history a 
 romance. Nor is there a single incident or shadow of 
 proof that the book is a pious fraud. If the object of the 
 book was, as these critics say, to represent the character 
 and the doom of Antiochus Epiphanes, and to encourage 
 the Jews to persevere in their opposition to that tyrant, 
 why is there no mention of him? How comes it that 
 
 * Many of the students of the University and of the members of the 
 Legislature attended the delivery of these Lectures. 
 
SPARKS' LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 185 
 
 there is nothing in his life to correspond with the chapter 
 before us? The points are not similar, but dissimilar. 
 Antiochus Epiphanes was no otherwise a madman than 
 as all tyrants are. His madness was from the vileness 
 of his conduct and the insatiable cruelty of his heart, and 
 not from any derangement of his intellect. Nebuchad- 
 nezzar did not persecute the Jews for their religion. An- 
 tiochus did, even to the last extremity. Nebuchadnezzar 
 repented after his madness, and proclaimed his penitence 
 to the world. Antiochus did neither. Both, indeed, were 
 heathen kings, and both were zealots for idolatry ; but so 
 were hundreds of other kings. There is, therefore, no 
 speciality in his case to make him the subject. The parti- 
 culars of this fourth chapter do not suit the life and death 
 of Antiochus. And besides all this, we have proof, as I 
 have shown before, of the existence of the book of Daniel 
 long before Antiochus was born. Josephus boldly de- 
 clares that Daniel wrote his book many years before the 
 things happened which came to pass in the days of An- 
 tiochus. It is readily acknowledged that the book of 
 Daniel has a moral and religious substratum. This we had 
 a right to expect from his character, but it certainly does 
 not follow that the historical part of it is not a true his- 
 tory. There are many moral, political, and pious lessons 
 to be learned from Sparks' Life and Writings of Wash- 
 ington, but surely it does not follow that Sparks' Life of 
 Washington is a political satire, or a religious romance. 
 
 Read verses 1-19. It appears from the history that 
 there was a class or order of men in the kingdom whose 
 business it was to interpret dreams, especially such as 
 were supposed to be supernatural. History and the monu- 
 
186 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 ments of the Nile and the Euphrates tell us that such 
 an order of dream interpreters existed generally among 
 Oriental nations. The interpretation of the dream is given 
 in verses 19-28, which please read. Let us continue our 
 Lessons ; and, 
 
 I. We see what should be the end of all government. 
 Yerses 11, 12. 
 
 A great man is often symbolized by a tree in ancient 
 and Oriental writers. The king's tree gave shelter to 
 some, a home to others, and protection to all. As the 
 shade and fruits of trees protect and support the beasts 
 that seek shelter under them, so governments should 
 protect and support their people. 
 
 The end of every government should be the greatest 
 possible amount of freedom and happiness to all the 
 people. It should protect the weak, give shelter to the 
 oppressed, hope and employment to the poor, and provide 
 for the diffusion of useful knowledge. By the stump of 
 the roots remaining is meant that his kingdom should not 
 be destroyed or alienated from him during his affliction. 
 A regent, probably his own son, Evil-merodach, governed 
 for him during his insanity. 
 
 II. This history teaches us another thing — that prosper- 
 ity is dangerous. It is not always the beggar that loses 
 his soul. The man who has just lost all his property is 
 oftentimes not in as much danger as the man who has 
 just gained a large fortune. It requires more care to 
 hold a full cup than an empty one. Wealth is attended 
 with ceaseless anxiety — anxiety to keep it, to preserve it, 
 to increase it, to enjoy it, or to make a show of it, and 
 anxiety, more or less, for the responsibility it imposes. 
 
DANGER OF PROSPERITY— SCOTCH FIR. 187 
 
 " Adversity may depress, but prosperity elevates to pre- 
 sumption." The accumulation of wealth for its own sake 
 brings with it its own punishment in the drying up of 
 every fountain of human affection within us, in the dis- 
 ruption of every tie with which the charities of life are 
 bound, and in the conversion of the heart into a substance 
 " harder than the nether millstone." The hoarding up of 
 riches is a curse both here and hereafter. Beware of 
 covetousness, saith the Bible, which is idolatry. It is my 
 duty frequently to ask the prayers of the congregation for 
 a member of the Church in deep affliction, for one who is 
 sorely bereaved, or extremely ill, or otherwise in great 
 distress. It is always agreeable to ask the prayers of the 
 Church for any one that desires them, but it is often true 
 that the members of the Church who are visited with 
 great prosperity need prayers just as much, if not more, 
 than those that are suffering adversity. On the lofty 
 pinnacle, where all is sunshine, we need a special power 
 to keep us, a special arm to sustain us. " The Scotch fir- 
 tree," says one, " to my mind, is the best symbol of the 
 Christian. The least of earth is required for its roots ; it 
 finds nourishment in a dry soil, and amid barren rocks, 
 and yet, green in winter as in summer, it towers the 
 highest of all the trees of the wood toward the sky, and, 
 with least of earth, makes the greatest approach to heaven. 
 So it is with the tree of God's planting : with the least of 
 earth about its roots, it towers the nearest to heaven; 
 deriving nourishment not from the earth below, but from 
 the sunbeams that fall upon it and the rain-drops that 
 sprinkle it, supported by that hidden nourishment that 
 comes from God." — dimming. 
 
188 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Never, perhaps, was there a time of more general pros- 
 perity than the present. In all departments of business 
 throughout the land, industry and enterprise are attended 
 with unwonted success. Kail-roads and steam-ships are 
 built, and commerce is carrying our influence over the 
 world. The gold of California and of Australia, with the 
 abundant products of the ground, promise an auspicious 
 future. Let me warn you, then, to remember that pros- 
 perity is not always permanent. Commercial disasters 
 often come in a way and at a time least expected. The 
 tendency of prosperity is to lead to dangerous expendi- 
 tures and speculations. "What now seems so promising 
 may result in disappointment. God sometimes leaves 
 those that forsake Him to have their portion for a season 
 in worldly things, who find that the end is bitterness and 
 woe. But even if your prosperity continues, riches un- 
 sanctified are exceedingly dangerous to the soul. "They 
 that will be rich pierce themselves through with many 
 sorrows, and fall into divers temptations." Experience 
 has long since settled the question about the vanity of 
 worldly honors and possessions. Happiness and the in- 
 crease of wealth do not always go hand in hand. The 
 joys of a miser's heart are not to be envied. The life, 
 experience, joys, character, and death of the richest men 
 of this city are not such as we wish you to possess, nor 
 such as you yourselves can rationally desire. Beware of 
 misusing the gifts of Providence. If riches increase, set 
 not your hearts upon them. Seek daily to know what 
 God would have you do with the good things He intrusts 
 to your hands, and especially take care that your piety 
 and usefulness keep pace with your prosperity. If your 
 
OEIENTAL HOUSE-TOPS. 189 
 
 fervency of spirit and enlargedness of heart keep pace 
 with your increase of worldly goods, then your riches will 
 prove to you a rich fountain of spiritual good, and your 
 prosperity prove to be a blessing, and not a curse. 
 
 III. As the great lesson of this chapter is, that pride is 
 in itself and in its utterances an exceedingly dangerous 
 thing, and odious in the sight of God, I will dwell here a 
 little upon it. " And those that walk in pride, He is able 
 to abase." See verses 29-35. 
 
 At the end of twelve months, he walked in the palace of 
 the kingdom of Babylon. 
 
 You all know that the houses in Bible lands are built 
 with flat roofs, and frequently so joined together that one 
 may go over a large part of an Oriental city without des- 
 cending into the street at all. The streets are narrow, 
 and the houses frequently protrude on both sides of the 
 street, so as to join each other over the head of street 
 travelers- It was and is the custom of the East to medi- 
 tate and take recreation on the house-top, to pray, and 
 even receive company, and take tea and other meals. I 
 have seen this done in Cairo, Damascus, and Jerusalem. 
 Peter, you know, was on a house-top at Joppa when 
 Cornelius' messenger arrived. And we read (1 Sam., ix.) 
 that Saul and Samuel conversed together on the house- 
 top, and they spread a bed for Saul on the house-top, and 
 he slept. The verse before us, then, is easily understood 
 by all who consider the customs of the country. The 
 king walked upon the roof of his palace, or upon the 
 terrace thereof, to enjoy the fresh air and a fine prospect, 
 and survey the city, and he fell into a revery of pride and 
 presumption. The view was indeed a magnificent one. 
 
190 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 His palace was the greatest and richest then on earth. It 
 rose above the walls of the surrounding dwellings. The 
 atmosphere of that country is. transparent, and the skies 
 brilliant. His palace overlooked the city, the mistress of 
 the world — its size and riches, and the height and breadth 
 of its walls wonderfully prodigious. Its hanging gardens, 
 and glittering palaces, and profusion of gold and of huge 
 statuary, are the astonishment of all historians, both an- 
 cient and modern. The great Euphrates rolled its majestic 
 flood through the middle of the city, and was shut in both 
 above and below by strong bulwarks and doors of solid 
 brass. With such a view within the field of his vision, 
 and himself the absolute lord of all, and crowned with 
 singular prosperity for a long life, it was natural, yet 
 wicked for him, to be elated and arrogant in the way des- 
 cribed. 
 
 That pride goes before a fall, is one of the great lessons 
 of all history. The providence of God has been inculcat- 
 ing ever since the world began, that " those which walk 
 in pride He is able to abase." 
 
 The first sin is supposed to have originated in pride. 
 Man tried in paradise to soar to heaven; but his frail 
 wings were soon dissolved. He fell, and earth received 
 the terrible retribution. "Sin brought death into the 
 w r orld, and all our woe." Cain, stained with his brother's 
 blood, went forth into the world with this legible inscrip- 
 tion upon his scathed brow, Them that walk in pride 
 God is able to abase. 
 
 And in the period of human history immediately pre- 
 ceding the flood, we are told that the pride and wicked- 
 ness of men were exceedingly great. They were corrupt, 
 
COtTTURE'S GREAT PICTURE. 191 
 
 and full of all iniquity. And God opened the fountains 
 of the great deep, and the old world was drowned, and 
 the truth disclosed was, " Them that walk in pride God is 
 able to abase." The confusion of tongues at the Tower 
 of Babel proves the same thing. The destruction of 
 Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the Canaanites, like the 
 text, are proofs that pride leads to destruction. The his- 
 tory of the world's great empires is a running comment- 
 ary on Nebuchadnezzar's text. They have not all fallen 
 by some sudden stroke of Almighty power, yet the same 
 truth is demonstrated. The very principles that influenced 
 their great founders by a slow but sure process brought 
 their ruin. There is a picture in the Luxembourg gallery 
 in Paris — " The Decadence of the Romans"—- which made 
 the fame and fortune of the painter Couture. This picture 
 is a whole history, with the moral. It represents an orgie 
 in the court of a temple, during the last days of Eome. 
 A swarm of revelers occupy the middle of the picture, 
 men and women intermingled in all the elaborate intri- 
 cacy of luxurious posture. Their faces, in which the old 
 Roman fire scarcely flickers, are brutalized with excess 
 of every kind, while from goblets of an antique grace they 
 drain the fiery torrent which is destroying them. Around 
 the bacchanalian feast stand, upon pedestals, statues of 
 old Rome, looking with marble calmness and severity 
 upon the revelers. In one part of the picture a boy is 
 seen proffering a dripping goblet to the marble mouth of 
 a statue ; and in the corner of the picture, as if leaving 
 court — Rome, as finally departing — is a group of Romans, 
 with care-worn brows, and hands raised to their faces, in 
 melancholy meditation. The causes of the decline and 
 
192 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 fall of the Koman empire were within itself. They were 
 luxury, pride, faction, corruption, and crime. Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, Tamerlane, Alexander, and Caesar all found that 
 the higher they soared, the deeper and the more disastrous 
 was their fall. Whenever and wherever great schemes 
 and systems have arisen that have thrust out God and 
 exalted man, the same great result has invariably follow- 
 ed. " Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither 
 let the mighty man glory in his might ; let not the rich 
 man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory 
 in this, that he knoweth the Lord and doeth His will." 
 Money is the idol of the nineteenth century. The banker 
 has far more power than ever Nebuchadnezzar had ; and 
 the greater is the responsibility of having wealth, as the 
 means for doing good with it are increased. Power and 
 wealth, beauty and accomplishments, are not the only 
 causes of pride. The impenitent, careless sinner, who 
 thinks nothing of God, and cares nothing about his soul, 
 walks in perilous pride upon the brink of an awful pre- 
 cipice. The self-righteous man, who thinks his own 
 righteousness good enough to take him to heaven, and 
 rejects the righteousness of Christ, walks in pride ; and 
 the worldly-minded man, whose living is after the lust of 
 the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, walks 
 in pride. Pride does not belong exclusively to the rich 
 and great. It is not patented to those that have fine 
 houses and carriages. Pride grows in a hovel as well as 
 in a palace. We are all proud by nature. It is a part 
 of our corrupt disposition. It is the cause of many sor- 
 rows and of most of our misfortunes. It is through pride 
 and stubbornness, the pride of intellect and pride of stand- 
 
GRACE ALONE CAN CONVERT. 193 
 
 ing with their neighbors, that many men lire and die 
 unconverted. Nothing but the grace of God can subdue 
 the pride of the human heart. All the miracles of Moses, 
 even the death of his first-born, failed to bring down the 
 pride of Pharaoh. All the preaching, and reasoning, and 
 pleading of the most eloquent minister of Christ that ever 
 spoke will fail to abase the pride of a single individual in 
 his audience, unless the rays of the Gospel are made to 
 fall by the Holy Spirit upon his heart. The wind may 
 beat upon the icicle — the storm may smite it — the earth- 
 quake may split it — the avalanche may descend, and send 
 it thundering down into the valley below, but it is the 
 sunbeam only that can thaw and melt it. Experience of 
 mercies and of judgments cannot subdue the pride of 
 man's heart. How often do you see this verified. Have 
 you not tried cistern after cistern, and found them broken 
 cisterns that could hold no water, and yet gone on dig- 
 ging other cisterns as laboriously as if you had had no 
 experience of failures ? And you, that other young man, 
 have you not found flower after flower fade and wither, 
 the instant you touched it? and yet you are still seeking 
 other flowers as fragile. How is it that, after joy on joy 
 has been pursued, and has perished, the instant you 
 thought you had grasped it, that you seek, and still seek, 
 pleasures where they cannot be found ? Why is it that 
 you will still seek the living among the dead ? It is be- 
 cause you do not like to be indebted even to God for 
 salvation. You would like to save yourself — to justify, 
 regenerate, and sanctify yourself. If by money, or com- 
 mercial integrity, or domestic virtues, or if even by pen- 
 ances and pilgrimages you could work out jour salvation, 
 
 13 
 
194 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 you would be content ; but to submit to be saved by 
 grace, just as the greatest criminal may be saved, is re- 
 volting to the pride of every unrenewed heart. But there 
 is no other way to heaven than by faith in Christ. The 
 song of the redeemed ascribes all the praise to Him who 
 hath loved them, and washed them from their sins in his 
 own blood. 
 
 IV. We have' here one of the most striking and in- 
 structive lessons of God's power to humble the proud that 
 is recorded in the Bible. Babylon's mighty monarch had 
 made many successful campaigns, and obtained great 
 glory. He was the head of the mightiest kingdom and 
 ruler over the greatest city then in the world; but his 
 riches and his fame, his treasures and his power, could 
 not preserve his peace of mind. His well-appointed 
 guards and numerous army could not keep him from be- 
 ing terrified by dreams. The majesty and all-governing 
 influence of God are here displayed in his acknowledged, 
 absolute, undisputed sovereignty over the world. God's 
 victory over the mightiest and proudest conqueror was 
 easy and complete. He is made to confess that his own 
 strength of mind and body, and the power and splendor 
 of all his kingdom, were nothing; and all the inhabitants 
 of the earth are as nothing before Him : " And he doeth 
 according to his will in the army of heaven, and among 
 the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, 
 or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time 
 my reason returned unto me, and, for the glory of 
 my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto 
 me, and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me, 
 and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent 
 
GOD'S PEOVIDENCE.— JOSEPHUS. 195 
 
 majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, 
 praise, and extol, and honor the King of heaven, all whose 
 works are t/uth, and his ways judgment ; and those that 
 walk in ^ride he is able to abase." 
 
 How utterly in vain, then, for the impenitent to hope 
 to escape from the presence of God ! If they dig into 
 hell, in the language of the prophet, thence will He take 
 them — though they climb up to heaven, thence will He 
 brine: them down. The Lord God of Hosts is his name : 
 all the universe is in his hands. There is but one way of 
 escape, and that is to fly to Christ, the Lamb of God. 
 
 Y. The history of Nebuchadnezzar and his dreams 
 shows that God exercises a general and special provi- 
 dence over all the affairs of the universe and of men 
 
 Josephus, after explaining Daniel's visions which he 
 had at Shusha concerning the Babylonian, Median, and 
 Persian empires, and concerning the Greeks and Komans, 
 and his own countrymen, says, " And so it came to pass, 
 that our nation (as well as these other nations) suffered 
 the things foretold by Daniel under Antiochus Epiphanes 
 — which things Daniel wrote many years before they 
 came to pass. All these things did this man leave in 
 writing, as God had showed them to him, insomuch that 
 such as read his prophecies, and see how they have been 
 fulfilled, would wonder at the honor wherewith' God 
 honored Daniel ; and may thence discover how the Epi- 
 cureans are in error, who cast Providence out of human 
 life, and do not believe that God takes care of the affairs 
 of the world, nor that the universe is governed and con- 
 tinued in being by that blessed and immortal nature, but 
 say that the world is carried aloug of its own accord with- 
 
 ^ 
 
196 LECTURES ON DANIEL, 
 
 out a Ruler and a Creator .; which, were it destitute of a 
 guide to conduct it, as they imagine, would be like ships 
 without pilots, which we see drowned by the winds, or 
 like chariots without drivers, which are overturned ; so 
 would the world be dashed to pieces by its being carried 
 onward without a Providence, and so perish and come to 
 naught. So that, by the before-mentioned predictions of 
 Daniel, those men seem to me very much to err from the 
 truth who determine that God exercises no providence 
 over human affairs ; for if that were the case, that the 
 world went on by mechanical necessity, we should not 
 see that all things would come to pass according to his 
 prophecy." — Antiq., book x. chap. 11. 
 
 God has always exercised a special providence over his 
 people. Although, for their sins, the Jews were carried 
 away to Babylon, and deprived of their political and per- 
 sonal liberty, still they were not left without some tokens 
 for good — still God had not abandoned them. They still 
 had a prophet. Nor were they reduced to an absolute 
 famine of the word of God. By the captivity the ten 
 tribes either became amalgamated with their heathen 
 conquerors, or were transported to foreign lands, and thus 
 disappeared from the pages of history. This was foretold 
 by their prophets ; and the lapse of two thousand years has 
 brought nothing to light concerning their fate. But it 
 was different with Judah. They were restored by the 
 edict of Cyrus ; and the especial interferences of God in 
 the history of Daniel were intended to preserve a remnant 
 of the kingdom of Judah, that out of the root of Jesse 
 might come the Messiah. 
 
 The ministration of watchers and holy ones — i.e., of the 
 
HEAVENLY WATCHERS.— DECREES. 19^ 
 
 angels — in the government of the world, is taught in the 
 Bible, as well as in the religions of the East. Angels are 
 represented in the Bible as watching over and having an 
 interest in the affairs of men, and as being the execu- 
 tioners of God's will, and they seem to be spoken of here 
 as having cognizance and control of the fate of men. 
 
 VI. We see from the king's proclamation that God has 
 pceposes or decrees as well as prescience. " He doeth 
 according to his will in the army of heaven, and among 
 the inhabitants of the earth." God, as a being of infinite 
 perfection, not only foreknows what will come to pass, 
 but He also purposes the events that take place. He 
 doeth according to His will. Without this prophecy 
 would be all nonsense. How could God inspire a man 
 to foretell an event, unless he also worked out its fulfill- 
 ment ? The knowledge of an event to take place, on the 
 part of God, comprehends all the means to bring about 
 that event. The term foreknowledge, used in reference to 
 the Divine Being, is so used wholly out of regard to our 
 weakness. There is no such thing with God as fore- 
 knowledge or <z/fer-knowledge. His knowledge is per- 
 fect. It can never be increased or diminished — cannot 
 be added to or taken from> His knowledge was as ac- 
 curate and complete on the day of creation as it will be 
 at the day of final judgment. 
 
 The holy men of old, who spoke as they were moved 
 thereto by the Holy Ghost in uttering prophecies, were 
 amanuenses of God's truth ; and history is the work of 
 men, holy and unholy, as amanuenses of God's provi- 
 dence. " God writes the prophecy in Scripture, and God 
 
198 • LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 fulfills the prophecy in history, and yet God is not the 
 author of sin." God, though the author of every thing 
 that is good, is not the author of any thing that is sinful. 
 No violence is done to the freedom of the human will. 
 Man is not a mere automaton, but a rational, reflecting, 
 free, responsible being, deliberately choosing his own 
 destiny. 
 
 VII. God often manifests loth his sovereignty and bene- 
 volence in learning Then of the consequences of their sins, 
 in order that they may avert the doom threatened, but 
 not yet sealed, by repentance and righteousness. Daniel 
 interpreted the king's dream, and boldly and faithfully 
 warned him, and told him how to escape from the judg- 
 ment which it portended. The king had a whole year 
 given him to reflect on the interpretation of his dream, 
 but the warning was in vain. The fruit sought was not 
 obtained till after the threatened punishment had been 
 inflicted. God was pleased to pursue the same method 
 in the time of Noah, and toward the Jews before the cap- 
 tivity, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the time of 
 the Saviour, and so now by the Gospel. " Moreover, O 
 king, let my counsel be acceptable before thee, and break 
 off thy sins by righteousness, and thy transgressions by 
 showing mercy to the poor." He does not tell the king 
 to redeem his sins by penance, genuflection, and pilgrim- 
 age. He tells him to break off from his sins — to cease to 
 do evil, and learn to do well. He was reluctant to an- 
 nounce calamities to his king, yet he could not turn aside 
 from the truth. "While, therefore he warns him of im- 
 pending afflictions, he earnestly entreats him to bring 
 
HONESTY IN FAITHFUL PREACHERS. 199 
 
 forth fruits meet for repentance, and to be ready to show 
 mercy to others, especially the multitudes of poor captives 
 that were in his kingdom. O that we could imitate Dan- 
 iel in his honesty and earnest faithfulness. What a lesson 
 have we here for all ministers of state, as well as of reli- 
 gion! He told the king honestly the whole truth, and 
 was not afraid. ISTor did he make any apology. His 
 duty was a painful one, but honestly and faithfully did 
 he execute his trust. If what ministers of the Gospel 
 preach be not true, no apology can palliate it; if it be 
 true, no excuse is valid for not preaching it, and, conse- 
 quently, no apology is required. It cannot afford them 
 pleasure to bear evil tidings to their people ; yet, as they 
 watch for souls, they must declare the whole counsel of 
 God, whether the people will hear or forbear. Our con- 
 gregations are always composed of two classes — those 
 that are sinners by nature, and still impenitent and dis- 
 obedient ; and those that are penitent and believing. 
 This is the only division that will be known at the judg- 
 ment-seat. And though we have not the spirit of Daniel, 
 yet we must say to you who are living in sin, and dis- 
 obedient to the calls of the Gospel, that the dream were 
 to them that hate thee, and tJie interpretation thereof to 
 thine enemies. Long have you stood as a fair tree in the 
 vineyard, but fruitless. "And I saw, and behold a 
 watcher and a holy one came down from heaven, and 
 cried, Hew down the tree." " Cut it down, why cum- 
 bereth it the ground % n But, O Lord, may it not stand 
 another year ! May not this impenitent sinner live till 
 after the next communion season, and we will dig about 
 

 200 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the roots, and see if it will not bear fruit ; we will plead, 
 O Lord ! we will agonize and urge sinners to be reconciled 
 to Thee. O that you were wise — that you would now 
 consider your latter end, and accept of salvation while 
 the golden sceptre is held out. Amen. 
 
 .» 
 
SUMMARY OF LAST LECTURES. 201' 
 
 LECTUEE X. 
 
 god's universal sceptre ; or, Nebuchadnezzar preaching 
 
 TO YOUNG MEN ABOUT GOd's ABSOLUTE DOMINION OVER THE 
 WORLD. 
 
 On Dan., iv., ], 3, 17, 25, 34, 35. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's Conversion. — Liberty of Conscience. — Heavens do rule. — Or- 
 igin of Sin considered.-r-Bible alone not responsible. — Believer's Advantages 
 over the Skep'ic. — One Sinner God's Executioner on another. — Analogy shows 
 that Objections to God's Government are not valid. — This World a State of 
 Trial.— Eternity a Retribution.— The Righteous and Wicked separated.— 
 Their distinct Destinies. — Facts which show that the Heavens do rule, 
 
 LESSONS. 
 I. Never out op God's Jurisdiction. 
 
 II. GrOD'S ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGN TY SHOULD TEACH YOU TO TAKE A WIDE 
 AND FAR-SEEING VIEW OP YOUR RELATIONS AND OBLIGATIONS. 
 
 III. Look at your every-day Conduct in the light of all its Bear- 
 ings. 
 
 IV. Never despair op Progress, either personal or of Mankind. 
 
 In the preceding discourses of this series, the language 
 and figures of speech used in the king's proclamation have 
 been explained, objections answered, and various impor- 
 tant lessons drawn for the instruction, warning, and en- 
 couragement of young men. Josephus and other ancient 
 writers have been consulted, and collateral history, and 
 the recent discoveries and decipherings of the inscriptions 
 of Nineveh and Babylon, have been referred to as coin- 
 cidental proof of the genuineness and authenticity of the 
 book of Daniel, and of Nebuchadnezzar's edict. In the 
 present discourse our object is to explain, defend, and 
 
 ^P|$ 
 
202 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 apply the doctrine set forth in the king's edict concerning 
 
 THE UNIVERSAL SCEPTRE AND DOMINON OF GoD. The tree in 
 
 the king's dream symbolized himself. Daniel gave him 
 a faithful interpretation thereof, and called upon him to 
 avert the threatened calamity, by ceasing to do evil and 
 learning to do well ; but Nebuchadnezzar would not learn 
 his lesson till the punishment threatened was actually 
 inflicted. Afterward, when he lifted up his eyes to heaven, 
 and his understanding returned unto him, the king sent 
 forth his proclamation, which contained, as we have seen, 
 many things to us deeply interesting, appropriate, and 
 suggestive. The points to be presented now are : 
 
 I. The result, in the 'king's own mind, of the conviction 
 that God is the absolute Sovereign of the universe. The 
 dream, its interpretation and fulfillment, evidently pro- 
 duced a great change in his mind. The evidences of his 
 Ae and actual conversion, at which we have hinted be- 
 fore, are two : first, his deep humility, self-abasement, and 
 gratitude to God. The punishment of Nebuchadnezzar 
 was such as was due to his pride. It was suited to his 
 crimes, and he acknowledges God's justice in punishing 
 him for his sins, and gives Him the glory. This proves 
 that he felt sin to be a grievous thing, and that he was 
 truly sorry for his sins, and now rejoiced in the humble 
 assurance of their forgiveness; and therefore his heart 
 blessed God, and pronounced benedictions on all man- 
 kind. The substance of his proclamation unto all people, 
 and nations, and languages that dwell on the earth, was 
 " Peace be multiplied to you." And the ground of this 
 proclamation was that he might show " the signs and the 
 wonders that the high God" — not his idol Bel, whose 
 
EVIDENCES OP HIS CONVERSION. 203 
 
 praises he had sung before, but, "that the high God hath 
 wrought toward him." 
 
 Now what are the evidences of genuine conversion to 
 God ? Are they not humility, deep penitence for sin, an 
 acknowledgment of God's just judgment and deserved 
 wrath for sin, an humble hope of divine forgiveness, and 
 a heart flowing with gratitude to God and good-will to- 
 ward man? These seem to have been the effects pro- 
 duced in the king's mind by his dream and its fulfillment. 
 The haughty monarch seems to have been altogether 
 changed. Instead of war, he now proclaims peace. The 
 hand that had been stretched forth with the sword from 
 the Indus to the Hellespont, now pours forth benedictions. 
 The lion has become a lamb. He that blasphemed and 
 defied God, now submits and owns his power and justice, 
 and prays that all nations may own him as God. Another 
 and second proof of his conversion is the missionary feel- 
 ing of his proclamation. One of the proofs of a suitable 
 state of mind for becoming a member of the Church is 
 that, " feeling a strong desire for the conversion of all 
 mankind, you promise to do all you can to sustain the 
 institutions of the Gospel, and to aim at increasing holi- 
 ness of heart and life, and that you will constantly en- 
 deavor to do all in your power for the glory of God and 
 the good of your fellow-men." Nebuchadnezzar's pro- 
 clamation breathes this spirit. He seems to say, as David 
 had done before him, " Come, all ye that fear God, and 
 I will make known to you what he hath done for my 
 soul." So the King of Babylon says, " I have seen the 
 greatness, glory, and terrible majesty of Jehovah ; I have 
 tasted of his goodness. It is now my wish that all the 
 
OQ4 LECTURES OX DANIEL. 
 
 p>eople in my vast realm should see, and know, and learn 
 that the God whom I now fear is not the great golden 
 image that I once set up in the plain of Dura ; but that 
 the God I now worship is Jehovah, the only true and 
 living God, who made the heaven and the earth, and 
 whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." 
 
 The remark has been happily made in reference to some 
 of the able addresses recently delivered in the Congress 
 of the United States on the liberty of conscience in foreign 
 countries, that some of our greatest men had turned 
 preachers, and made their desk in the Senate Chamber a 
 pulpit. Thank God for this ! And we hope the persecu- 
 tions of the poor Madiai, for no other crime than that of 
 reading the Bible, and the grievous annoyances of Ameri- 
 can travelers and residents abroad about their private 
 books of devotion and religious opinions, will never cease 
 to stir the hearts of our statesmen until that toleration of 
 religious opinion in other countries is secured for Ameri- 
 can citizens that is freely granted to all religions on earth 
 in our own country. It is, brethren, indeed wonderful to 
 see what grace can do — wonderful to see how Saul of 
 Tarsus became Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles. Wonder- 
 ful transformations of character are made by the Spirit 
 of God even in our day. The same grace that changed 
 the heart of Saul of Tarsus and saved the penitent thief 
 on the cross can save the vilest of our race. The grace 
 of God, like the air of heaven, can enter the smallest 
 hovel and the loftiest palace. It has, and it can, and it 
 will still find its way into Congresses, into Divans and 
 Cabinets, and to the thrones of empires. " It will find its 
 way into the temples of Bramah, into the mosques of 
 
TURKISH TRADITIONS. 205 
 
 Islam, and into the cathedrals of Romanism." There is 
 a tradition among the Turks in the East, that as their 
 mosques were once Christian churches, so they will again 
 become Christian temples. May this day speedily come! 
 The Babylonian throne was once turned into a Christian 
 pulpit. Its mighty monarch himself became a humble 
 and faithful missionary, and his royal edict an epistle, a 
 sermon eloquent of the wonders of God's supremacy and 
 sovereignty, both in providence and grace — and of righte- 
 ousness and peace. O how much should we all rejoice 
 in the apostle's great announcement! It is a faithful 
 saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners, even the chief. 
 
 II. Let us now, in the second place, consider the king's 
 acknowledgment that the heavens do rule — to the intent 
 that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in 
 the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, 
 and setteth up over it tlie hasest of men. I desire the more 
 to dwell on the absolute dominion of God over the affairs 
 of the world, and of every creature in the world, because 
 it is a subject of great practical importance to young men, 
 and at the same time it is a subject about which there is 
 much practical skepticism, even where there is no avowed 
 disbelief. There are also some honest difficulties which I 
 hope may be explained or removed. There seems to be 
 in the unconverted heart a proneness at all ages, and es- 
 pecially a strong tendency in our times to rebel against 
 the sovereignty of God. As unconverted men do not like 
 to retain God in their thoughts, so they are disposed to dis- 
 pute the ever-present, ever-active supremacy of a living, 
 personal Deity. The only great first cause they acknow- 
 
206 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 ledge is an abstract principle, or an impersonal, apathetic, 
 far-removed God, who now takes no notice of earthly 
 things. Many admit that there was an active Creator at 
 the beginning of the world, who seem to deny or have a 
 very faint belief that there is a God, ruling still in the 
 heavens and over the affairs of men. Divested of its 
 poetry, its dreamy generalities, and its philosophizing 
 essays and literature, the system of many seems to be 
 this : that God created the world, set its vast machinery 
 going, and wound it up a few times to see that it would 
 all work well, and then wound it up so as to run for many 
 years, and retired from it ; and that, consequently, acci- 
 dents have been continually occurring ever since, and that 
 second causes are now ruling, and will finally overthrow 
 the existing economy of all things. It is on this sort of a 
 theory that unbelievers try to explain the origin of moral 
 evil. In answer to which, and in explanation and defense 
 of the doctrine set forth in the king's proclamation, our 
 first remark is : 
 
 That the question of the origin of moral evil, like the 
 existence of God, is known, absolutely known as a fact, 
 without our being able to comprehend its ?node or manner 
 of existence. There are many things admitted to actually 
 exist, the how or manner of whose existence and essence 
 we are not able to explain. Gravitation, the circulation 
 of the blood, digestion, the growth of animals and vege- 
 tables, the human soiil and its connection with the body, 
 and the existence of God, are all mysteries. These are 
 all realities, not all indeed equally mysterious, but all in- 
 volving many points which cannot be explained at pre- 
 sent. Many of the greatest minds in the Old as well as 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THE SKEPTIC. 207 
 
 in the New, in the Oriental as well as in the Western 
 "World, have labored hard to solve the problem of the 
 origin of moral evil ; but no satisfactory solution has been 
 found beyond the facts revealed in the Bible. All admit 
 that sin is now in the world. How can we reconcile its 
 entrance here with the supreme government of God ? 
 "Why should a wise, merciful, omnipotent Being allow 
 such an intruder as sin to come into our world and pro- 
 duce apostasy, rebellion, and discord ? But, first, young 
 men, remember the Bible is not responsible for the solu- 
 tion of this serious question. The entrance of sin into our 
 world, " which brought death and all our woe," is not a 
 disclosure peculiar to the Bible. It is a disclosure of fact, 
 of human experience and observation, of geology and of 
 universal history. The skeptic as well as the Christian 
 is called upon to explain why sin is in the world. The 
 historian, the geologist, the philosopher, as well as the 
 Christian, admit the existence and the reign of a God — ■ 
 admit as a fact the presence and the disturbing power of 
 sin — that it is on account of sin that we see darkness, and 
 degradation, and guilt, where we should see knowledge, 
 righteousness, and holiness. If there be a difficulty, then, 
 on this subject, it is a difficulty at :he door of the skeptic 
 himself, as broad and as palpable as at the door of a Bible 
 Christian. By denying the truth of revelation and re- 
 jecting the Gospel of Christ, we cannot, therefore, get 
 rid of this difficulty ; it still remains in all its force. But, 
 secondly, the Bible believer has an advantage over the 
 mere geologist, historian, or skeptical philosopher. He 
 can look at the entrance and reign of sin in such a light 
 as to see that it is not the fault of the Divine Being that 
 
208 ' LECTURES ON PANIEL. 
 
 sin is in the world. His faith is a telescope that reveals 
 to him such distant worlds, and the remote, but still 
 closely united links of the long chain of Providence, that 
 he sees God supreme and yet just, merciful, omnipotent, 
 and good. His faith takes in the end with the beginning, 
 and shows him that all God's ways are perfect. The 
 Bible believer sees that God made man in his own image 
 and after his own likeness, perfectly free and unfettered, 
 with every bias to good, and with no bias to evil — with 
 every inducement to retain his allegiance — with every 
 possible dissuasion against apostasy — able to stand, but 
 free to fall. He gave him a heart to love— He gave him 
 a conscience, and placed him under law. This was essen- 
 tial, as man was a creature. His Creator was of course 
 the lawgiver, and when God placed Adam under law, He 
 might, speaking with reverence, by his omnipotence have 
 prevented him from touching the forbidden fruit. He 
 might have struck Ere dead the moment she ate, and 
 have prevented her from giving the apple, or whatever it 
 was, to Adam ; but it surely does not follow, because the 
 Almighty could have thus prevented man from sinning, 
 that it was best for Him to have done so, or that he ought 
 thus to have prevented him from sinning. To have done 
 this would have been to destroy human agency, and to 
 have annihilated human virtue. The order of the human 
 mind would then hate been changed, and man become 
 no more than an animal or a stone. But, 
 
 Thirdly. The Bible believer has such a wide sweep 
 before him, so magnificent is the field of his vision, that 
 he sees grander and more magnificent results to be 
 
MAN CREATED A FREE AGENT. 209 
 
 evolved from the wrecks of paradise than ever could have 
 been reflected from it in its pristine glory. 
 
 " God, in the person of his Son, 
 Hath all his mightiest works outdone." 
 
 It is impossible to sustain the argument, that because 
 God was able to have prevented the entrance of sin into 
 the world, therefore he ought to have done so. You have 
 the power to burn up this city, or to throw yourself into 
 the sea, but you need not be told that your possession of 
 such power does not make it right for you to do so. The 
 Almighty, by the exercise of omnipotence, might Have 
 rendered it impossible for man to have sinned ; but then 
 this very impossibility would have made man a mere 
 automaton — a piece of machinery, moved by extraneous 
 impulses, without a will to determine, a conscience to 
 feel, or a judgment to reflect. To use another's illustra- 
 tion of this matter : if a man goes to put his hand into the 
 Are, God tells that man, by the experience of others, and 
 by the exercise of his reason, "If you put your hand into 
 the fire you will burn it, and suffer pain." This is the 
 plan which God adopts to keep a man from burning his 
 hand. He might, speaking with reverence, have taken 
 some other method. He might, by the mere fiat of omni- 
 potence, render it a physical impossibility for a man to 
 burn his hand. But he does not do so. He shows a man 
 that if he puts his hand into the fire, such are His laws, 
 that his hand is sure to be burned. And it was just in 
 this way God dealt with Adam in Paradise. He did not 
 draw back Adam's hand from touching the forbidden 
 
 fruit ; but he told him that if he ate that fruit, death and 
 
 H 
 

 210 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 woe would be the inevitable consequences. He said to 
 him> You are a free and responsible being ; it rests with 
 yourself to abstain and live forever, or to touch it and 
 perish. In defending, therefore, the doctrine of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar's edict, which is the doctrine of the whole 
 Bible, " we vindicate the ways of God to man," and show 
 that permitting sin, not the sending of it, not the becom- 
 ing the author of it, is the only way that God could have 
 treated man as a rational and responsible being ; and as 
 far as we can see, or comprehend human nature at all, 
 there was no other way to have treated man in consis- 
 tency with the dignity of his nature, which would, at the 
 same time, have been consistent with the wisdom, the 
 benevolence, the holiness, and the justice of Him who 
 rules in the heavens. 
 
 III. The history of Nebuchadnezzar, as drawn by the 
 Hebrew prophets, presents another difficulty in regard 
 to the ruling of the heavens, and that is this : that one 
 sinner is often made the executioner of divine judgments 
 upon another. This is true. Cyrus was employed to ex- 
 ecute j udgment upon Babylon . Nebuchadnezzar himself 
 was employed to execute judgment on Nineveh, and on 
 Tyre, and on the other w T icked nations of Syria. It is 
 expressly said in Isaiah that God would give Egypt to 
 Nebuchadnezzar as his wages for his services in conquer- 
 ing Tyre. God himself says, " O Assyrian, thou art the 
 rod of mine anger ; I will send thee against an hypocrit- 
 ical nation, against the people of my wrath will I give 
 thee a charge, to take the spoil and to take the prey, and 
 to tread them down as the mire in the streets." The 
 prophet tells us that God put a hook in his nose and led 
 
GOD'S EXECUTIONERS.— NAPOLEON. 211 
 
 him whithersoever he would. It is not only the teaching 
 of the Bible, but it is a chapter in the history of every 
 nation, and almost of every individual, that one wicked 
 man is made the instrument of punishing another, and 
 that often a man's own sins are the executioners of their 
 own curses. The Roman sword, in the hands of Titus and 
 Yespasian, punished the gross transgressions of God's 
 own people, as the Assyrians and Babylonians had done 
 ages before. [Napoleon the Great was not a saint in all 
 his motives and plans, yet he was an instrument in the 
 hand of God to punish the sins of profligate Europe, just 
 as his successor, Napoleon III., may be in our day. The 
 moral character of the agents of Providence are not al- 
 ways such as God accepts. His agents are sometimes 
 winds and flames, earthquakes and wars, pestilence and 
 plague. The personal salvation of the men employed by 
 divine Providence for great national or political events is 
 not necessarily embraced in their mission ; that depends 
 altogether upon their obedience to God. The agency of 
 wicked men in carrying on the purposes of God is un- 
 designed, and therefore not meritorious. He maketh the 
 wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath 
 he restraineth. And may it not be that God makes one 
 sinful man or one wicked nation execute his judgment 
 upon another sinful man or upon another w T icked nation, 
 rather than inflict the punishment by his own hand, in 
 order that incorrigible sinners may know that it is vain 
 to rely upon one another for support in their rebellion 
 against Him, or to hope to escape his wrath by their 
 united strength ? There is not, and there cannot be any 
 conspiracy of wicked men against God, however secret, 
 
 
212 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 or however great, powerful, and wide-spread may be their 
 dominions and the ramifications of their power, without 
 having the elements of its own disorganization, decay, and 
 destruction within itself. If all the wicked men in the 
 world were arrayed in a conspiracy against the cause and 
 kingdom of Christ, it could not last. The elements of 
 disorganization and ruin are essentially combined in all 
 such unions. The leagues and covenants, and tripartite 
 and quintuple holy alliances of the despots of Europe, 
 cannot last ; nor can all the guns and bayonets that can 
 be manufactured in all the shops in Christendom make 
 them enduring. They will quarrel among themselves. 
 It is as easy for God to confound their interpretations of 
 treaties as it was for Him to confound the tongues of the 
 builders of Babel. It is as easy for the Almighty to bring 
 to naught the counsels of Metternich, and annihilate the 
 armies of Austria, as it was for him to confound the wis- 
 dom of Ahithophel, and destroy the army of Sennacherib. 
 The same God is on the throne now. Small, obscure, 
 and unexpected causes concurred in producing the Revo- 
 lutions of 1782 and of 1848. The downfall of kingdoms 
 has generally come from sources but little anticipated. 
 It is easy for God to light a spark that shall cause all 
 Europe to blaze in war from the North Pole to the Medit- 
 erranean. It is easy for Him who ruleth in the heavens, 
 and giveth dominion to whomsoever he will, and setteth 
 over empires sometimes the basest of men, to make one 
 conspirator rise against another, and make the very 
 means — the priesthood, army, and fortifications of a king 
 — designed for his protection the very instrument of his 
 overthrow. Ham an is often hanged on his own gallow* 
 
NATURE, NOT THE BIBLE, RESPONSIBLE. 213 
 
 IT. Again, it is said, If it be true, as Nebuchadnezzar 
 asserts in his proclamation, that God doeth according to 
 his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabit- 
 ants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto 
 him, " What doest thou ?" how is it that one generation 
 suffers for the sins of former generations t The same 
 answer in part that has just been given may be made to 
 this objection. It is true that one generation does suffer 
 for the sins of former generations, and it is true that God 
 lives and reigns. The Bible, then, is not responsible for 
 the solution of this difficulty. The Bible Christian is not 
 alone in this matter. The chronicles of all ages and of all 
 lands have legible records of the .fact, that children for 
 several generations suffer the consequences of the sins of 
 their parents. The constitution of the universe and of 
 human nature then, and not the Bible, is responsible for 
 this difficulty. It is one you cannot escape. Whether 
 with or without the Gospel, you must meet it. We prefer 
 to explain it with the help of the Word of God ; and as 
 before, so here, the believer's view of* the constitution of 
 the universe, and of human nature, is far higher, more 
 hopeful and consoling than that of the unbeliever. The 
 Bible view of this subject teaches us lessons of the great- 
 est practical value. Does not the very fact that children 
 suffer for their parents' dissipation, profligacy, and im- 
 providence, teach us that we have an interest in the well- 
 being of all around us, and cannot escape from the re- 
 sponsibility of exerting an influence on the ages that are 
 to come after us ? Are we not thus palpably taught that 
 we are morally as well as physically related to all man- 
 kind, and bound by the laws of the great Creator himself 
 
214 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 not to live for ourselves, but for the good of our fellow- 
 men ? Does not the fact that children's children to the 
 third and fourth generation suffer in their bodies, minds, 
 and character, for the vices of their parents, constitute a 
 most pressing and powerful argument to induce you to 
 live soberly, righteously, and godly % And thus a more 
 sober, philosophical, and correct view of this matter 
 shows you that what at first seemed to be a hardship is 
 really a mercy, fitted to arouse all your feelings against 
 sin, and to lead you by the deepest instincts of your na- 
 ture to guard against such sins as will not only ruin your 
 own bodies and souls, but transmit suffering, and pain, 
 and tribulation to the distant generations of your des- 
 cendants. 
 
 And as to the removal by death of parents from their 
 children, and of children from their parents, the whole 
 difficulty does not rest with the Bible Christian. The 
 facts lie as palpably at the door of the skeptic as they do 
 at his. But here again, as before, the Bible Christian has 
 sources of reflection, comfort, and hope that the infidel 
 has not, and cannot have. Revelation comes in to his 
 relief, and teaches much that reason could not disclose. 
 The Christian sorrows not as the heathen. He finds 
 lessons in the providential dispensations of God, that 
 elevate his affections and make him happy here, and pre- 
 pare him for glory and immortality hereafter. In the 
 fact that infants, though free from actual transgressions, 
 do die, the enlightened faith of the Christian says there 
 may not only not be any thing inconsistent with the 
 universal sceptre of God, but there is that which emi- 
 nently makes his reign palpable. Does not the babe die 
 
CONSOLATION FOR DYING- INFANTS. 215 
 
 to teach us that original sin is an actual thing, and to 
 prove what geology and philosophy teach, that some ter- 
 rible disaster has fallen upon, mankind, which blights the 
 flower that has just budded and bloomed to-day, and 
 smites down the aged man of fourscore years ? Does not 
 Revelation teach wl^at heathen sages have said — those 
 whom the gods love die early, in order that they may 
 escape from the evil that is in the world ; and as all who 
 die in infancy are saved, are not our little ones taken 
 from us to become missionaries to draw us to heaven? 
 In the day of eternity it will doubtless be found that 
 many parents are saved through the death of their little 
 ones. 
 
 V. There are other difficulties that might be dwelt on, 
 but only a few words can now be said in relation to 
 them. That sentence against an evil work is not speedily 
 executed ; that vice and fraud are sometimes prosperous, 
 while the good and pious are poor and persecuted ; and 
 that sometimes wicked men live to be very old, while 
 pious and eminently useful men die at an early age, are 
 facts. The Bible tells us that it has been so, and that it 
 will continue to be so ; and the Bible tells us also that 
 these things sometimes troubled Old Testament saints, but 
 that when they went to the house of God, and considered 
 all, and took into the account the awful end of wicked 
 men, they were satisfied that God did all things well, and 
 that even on these points the heavens not only rule, but 
 rule in righteousness and goodness. This world is not the 
 state of absolute justice ; this world is only a place of trial 
 and probation. The world to come is the world of retri- 
 bution. In hell the wicked all suffer, and in heaven all 
 
216 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the righteous are happy. There are degrees in both future 
 rewards and punishments, but there is no mixture in either 
 heaven or hell. There is in the world to come a perfect 
 separation of the righteous from the wicked. Here the 
 wicked and the righteous are mingled together, and parti- 
 cipate together in the vicissitudes of earth, but in eternity 
 they are separated and rewarded according to their works. 
 If all good men were rewarded on earth, then we should 
 live not by faith, but by sight, and all men would become, 
 nominally, at least, believers in Christ, for the sake of 
 worldly prosperity ; and if all pious men suffered on earth, 
 then to become a Christian would be to become a martyr, 
 and this would be an objection to the profession of faith 
 in Christ. It is far better, then, for things to be just as 
 they are — namely, that the tares and the wheat should 
 grow together in the same field till the harvest. And 
 such are the necessary relations of society, and such the 
 nature of moral goodness and of Christian virtues, that 
 whenever the effort is made to separate them now, it ends 
 in the injury of the wheat. The mingling together of the 
 wicked and of the pious, and the present prosperity of the 
 wicked and the temporary afflictions of the people of God r 
 are calculated to fasten our faith upon God, and to show 
 us that we are to be saved by grace. And after all, who 
 can show us that it is not far better for the pious to be 
 afflicted just as they are ? What if Voltaire did live to 
 be eighty years of age, and Thomas Paine to be an old 
 man and die a drunken sot I" It is only the worse for 
 them. If Enoch is translated to heaven, it is because he 
 walked with God. If a pious man dies early, it is because 
 his work on earth is finished, and is pleasing to God and 
 
FACTS PROVING GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. 217 
 
 accepted of him. "Whatever is taken off from a good 
 man's days on earth is added to his existence in heaven, 
 and he is abundantly satisfied. 
 
 VI. There are some positive facts which prove that 
 Nebuchadnezzar is correct when he says the " heavens do 
 rule," and that the reigning of the heavens is wise and 
 good, merciful and gracious. The first fact now to be 
 stated is, that it is natural to expect God to govern the 
 world. It would be unnatural for him to leave all his 
 creatures orphans. The presence of fixed permanent laws 
 in every department of nature proves that He has not so 
 left them. The vegetable and animal kingdoms, the sea- 
 sons of the year, and the revolutions of the heavenly 
 bodies, show that He is supreme in nature. 
 
 2. The perfections of God prove that He must still gov- 
 ern the universe. His wisdom is infinite. All that God 
 does is, therefore, infinitely perfect. As we have said, 
 his laws prove his presence. By them he reigns in the 
 atom as well as in the fixed star. He rides on the tiny 
 breeze as upon the whirlwind. The sweet odors of the 
 spring, as w T ell as the thundering avalanche, are but pal- 
 pable manifestations of His presence. But infinite wis- 
 dom is not the only attribute of God. His goodness also 
 is infinite. He so loved the world, not only as to permit, 
 but actually to send — to give his son to die for the world. 
 The Bible does not teach that God loves us because Christ 
 has died for us, but that Christ died for us because God so 
 loved us. And if God gave his Son for us, how much 
 more will he give us all things else needful ? 
 
 And all the more so, because He who governs the 
 world is omnipotent. "Whatever, therefore, His wisdom 
 
218 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 devises, or His love inspires, His power will execute. It 
 is impossible, then, for any error, mistake, or failure to 
 occur in God's government of the world. All history and 
 experience confirm the Psalmist's words, where he says, 
 " O Lord of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee, or 
 to thy faithfulness round about thee ? Thou rulest the 
 raging of the sea ; when the waves thereof arise, thou 
 stillest them. Justice and judgment are the habitation of 
 thy throne ; mercy and truth shall go before thy face." 
 
 3. A third source of argument, which I cannot now 
 present, in favor of a particular and universal providence, 
 is the plain teaching of the Bible on the subject. You 
 are already familiar with many such proof-texts. 
 
 Finally. Let us attend to the lessons of this subject. 
 I am fully persuaded there is no fact in history, or in na- 
 ture, or in human experience, that can be shown fairly to 
 be in conflict with the ruling of the heavens, but that a 
 proper consideration of all the facts in nature, human ex- 
 perience, and history, establishes the doctrine set forth in 
 the proclamation of the King of Babylon — that God's do- 
 minion is particular, and absolute, and universal over the 
 affairs of the world, and over the affairs of every creature 
 in the world. But what have young men to do with the 
 absolute, general, and particular providence of God ? A 
 great deal, a very great deal. 
 
 First. Ever bear in mind that there is no such thing 
 as an accident in the true sense of that term. You are 
 always and every where within the jurisdiction of God. 
 You cannot escape His presence, nor hide yourself from 
 the search-warrant of His laws. The laws which he has 
 given to the elements and imprinted on your own soul, 
 
NO ESCAPE FROM GOD'S CLAIMS. 219 
 
 will always find you out when you do violence to your 
 conscience and sin against Him. If you were in the heart 
 of the universe, and it in ruins piled over you, still would 
 God's eye beam full upon you, and His almighty hand be 
 over you. Be sure of this : your sin will find you out, 
 and you will find that it is an evil and a bitter thing. 
 There is but one refuge from sin, and that thing is the 
 blood of Christ. 
 
 Let this subject, secondly, teach you to take a wide and 
 far-seeing view of your relation to your fellow-man, and 
 of your obligations to your Creator and to the universe He 
 has made, and in which He has given you your place. 
 As the Creator has designs of ultimate good to you, 
 and of ultimate glory to himself through you, so you 
 should be diligent to work out your high mission among 
 your fellow-creatures. Your first and highest duty is to 
 seek the salvation of your own soul. There is a personal 
 responsibility resting upon you to do this, from which 
 there is no possible escape. It is identical with your ex- 
 istence. You owe it as a debt for which nothing can be 
 substituted — as a debt imposed upon you by the Almighty 
 Creator, a debt to Him, to the universe, and to yourself 
 to be pious, for it is only by being pious that you are in 
 harmony with the higher laws of your being, and in com- 
 munion with the Father of your soul ; and it is only in 
 such communion you can find the happiness that will fill 
 your longing spirit. If, then, God suffers sin to develop 
 itself into crimes and horrible calamities upon the earth 
 around you, it does not prove that He hates you, but that 
 He would have you look upon this earth as the great 
 lessor-giving book of the universe, and have you show 
 
220 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 your obedience and love to him by fleeing to Christ as a 
 Saviour from all sin. And who can tell but that the in- 
 habitants of sister orbs and sister stars may be grouped 
 into gazing clusters, beholding with rapture how God is 
 bringing good out of evil on our planet, and at the same 
 time establishing his laws by the warning that is given 
 in the punishment of sin, and exalting his grace and glory 
 in its forgiveness through the blood of his own Son ? 
 
 Thirdly. Learn, therefore, young men, to look at your 
 conduct in all its hearings for all coming time. A stone 
 is thrown into the sea, but when and where do the agita- 
 tions of the waters cease ? A spark ignites a house, and 
 that house communicates with other houses, and a whole 
 city is wrapped in flames. All languages have proverbs 
 earnestly inculcating the wisdom and duty of resisting 
 evil at its beginning. Almost all of the objections raised 
 against revelation are raised on narrow, obscure, and 
 partial, if not superficial views of its doctrines. Accustom 
 yourselves, then, to take broad, and deep, and thorough, 
 and intelligent, and high, and manly, and honorable views 
 of all subjects. Fetter not your soul down to any thing 
 little, low, or superficial. Guard against a narrow, en- 
 vious, jealous, fault-finding spirit. If you see only the 
 foundation of a house, you ought not therefore and thence 
 to judge what will be the splendor of its superstructure. 
 If you read the title-page of a book, or even the index of 
 a book, or even a few chapters, you are not authorized, 
 surely, to say that it is good or bad, false or true, as a 
 whole. In judging of men and things, and of the dis- 
 pensations of Providence, never allow yourself to rest on 
 a mere outside first view. Judge not by appearances, 
 
LIFE-LONG EVENTS TOGETHER, 221 
 
 but judge righteous judgment. Joseph's history teaches 
 you to wait for the end before you make up your judg- 
 ment. His character, or the providence of God over him, 
 is not to be judged of from any one part of his life separ- 
 ated from the rest. You cannot make up your verdict 
 concerning him or concerning God's providence as it 
 relates to him, from seeing him on one of the Ishmaelite 
 camels, on his way through the desert to Egypt ; nor as 
 you see him under the temptation of Potiphar's wife, nor 
 when thrown into Pharaoh's round-house. If you stop 
 with your pictures of Joseph here, you will say, what a 
 poor, unfortunate young man — a very "Murad the un- 
 lucky ;" if excellent in character, he is certainly most un- 
 fortunate in life. But judge not the Lord by feeble sense. 
 Wait for the second series. See Joseph at Pharaoh's 
 right hand — see him receiving his brethren and father, 
 and saving them and the Egyptian empire from destruc- 
 tion—see him triumphant over all his trials, and dying 
 full of years and honors, and his name held in everlasting 
 remembrance ; and then say, Do not the heavens rule ? 
 Is there not a God who judgeth righteously in the earth ? 
 So in regard to Daniel and his three friends, you must 
 put all their life-long events into the series after their 
 order and kind before you can make up your judgment 
 as to the doctrines of Nebuchadnezzar in the text. And 
 as to yourself, whether prosperous or adverse, remember 
 that the end is not yet. Blow after blow may have fallen 
 upon you, wave after wave have rolled oyer you, one dis- 
 appointment after another have pursued you ; whichever 
 way you have looked, whatever you have attempted, 
 
222 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 nothing but trials and losses have met you. Wait for the 
 end. God hideth himself that He may be trusted. Hope 
 on, and look up, and hope ever. It is only when the 
 whole chain of Providence shall be seen in the clear light 
 of eternity that we shall be able to see that all its links 
 are of pure gold, and that they bind together our happi- 
 ness and the Divine glory, and the greatest good of the 
 whole universe. You must look, then, at all of God's dis- 
 pensations in this world in connection with another world. 
 Your residence here on earth is but a pilgrimage through 
 which you are passing, and the world to come is your 
 eternal home. This world is but a small spot, a little tiny 
 nook and part of God's universe. What seems dark and 
 irreconcilable with wisdom and goodness now, and in its 
 relations to this world, when seen in eternity and in its 
 relations to the vast domains over which God's sceptre is 
 swayed, will be found to be perfectly consistent with Al- 
 mighty power, wisdom, justice, and love. God is a rock ; 
 all his ways are perfect ; all the works of the klxg 
 of Heaven are truth, and his ways judgment ; and 
 those that walk in pride he is able to abase. 
 
 Finally. The fact that the heavens do rule, and that all 
 the works of the King of Heaven are truth, and his ways 
 judgment, teaches you never to despair of the progress and 
 happiness of the human race. Truth cannot die. " The 
 eternal years of God are hers." Principles are like the 
 Eternal attributes ; they are transcripts of Infinite excel- 
 lence. Hence the earnest expectation of the creature 
 waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God ; for we 
 know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.— ROBESPIERRE. 223 
 
 pain together until now. In looking at the scenes of hor- 
 ror that took place in the French Revolution of 1782, at 
 first, it might seem strange that God would allow such 
 awful crimes to be perpetrated within his dominions ; but 
 time and reflection have shown that great lessons were 
 taught by these atrocities, which would not, in all proba- 
 bility, have been so successfully taught in any other way, 
 nor by any other people. How else was the profligacy 
 of the court and aristocracy, and even of the people them- 
 selves, which had been so notorious for ages, to be pun- 
 ished ? How else was the world to be taught, asks Dr. 
 Cummin g, of London, so effectually, what a people can 
 do and will do who cast off God, as was taught by the 
 French nation during the reign of atheism and terror? 
 How else could so perfect a demonstration have been 
 given that the world cannot be carried on without reli- 
 gion, and that society cannot cohere without Qod — that, 
 in the words of Robespierre himself, " if there be not a 
 God, we must make one, in order to make society hold to- 
 gether. 
 
 Even the athiest, in his blasphemy, here proclaims 
 God almost as distinctly as Nebuchadnezzar, when he de- 
 clares that " God reigns and the heavens do rule." The 
 miseries, then, of one generation, and the blessings of an- 
 other, are often in many ways connected ; and in looking 
 at God's dispensations to men and to nations, you must 
 look at them as a whole, and as completed only at the 
 judgment-day. The sufferings of our fathers prepared 
 the soil and sowed the seeds which have ripened for us, 
 and now it is for us to prepare precious harvests for the 
 
224: LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 generations to come. God reigns, and the powers of 
 hell cannot prevail against his government. All history 
 proves that every false religion is a blunder, and that 
 every atom of Truth is immortal. All history shows 
 
 THAT WHERE THE SPIRIT OF GoD IS, THERE, AND THERE ONLY 
 
 is liberty. Is there, then, nothing to encourage your 
 faith and command your exertions in the faithfulness of 
 God's providences toward his people ? Is there not pal- 
 pable evidence of his sovereign dominion, in making all 
 men, in all sorts of pursuits, consciously or unconsciously, 
 designedly or undesignedly, contribute to spread the 
 splendor of his name ? Is it no evidence that the heavens 
 do rule, that you have proofs of the truth of the Bible dug 
 up from the lava of Herculaneum, from the pictures of 
 Pompeii, and excavated from the graves of Mneveh and 
 Babylon, and from the tombs of Egypt and Arabia ? Is 
 there no proof that God is watching over the Bible of 
 your mother, whose every page she once bedewed with 
 tears from eyes that now can weep no more, in the fact 
 that he is bringing forth elucidations of its truth, and 
 proofs of his Gospel from the graves of long-buried cities, 
 and the wreck of nations, as well as from the depths of 
 the earth and the heights of the heavens — -till at last the 
 most skeptical minds are constrained to own that the re- 
 ligion of Jesus Christ is the most astonishing fact in the 
 world ? Is there nothing in your own personal history — 
 nothing of goodness and mercy that should lead you to 
 repentance — nothing of judgment that warns you to flee 
 from the wrath to come — nothing that convinces you there 
 is a Providence above that watches over you, and calls 
 you to seek glory, honor, and immortality ? You believe 
 
BELIEVE IN CHRIST. 
 
 225 
 
 in God ; believe also in his Son Jesus Christ, and then in 
 the ruling of the heavens you shall find that all things 
 work together for good to them that love God, for that 
 the blood of his son Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all 
 sin. Amen. 
 
 r V 0* THT 
 
 Sterol 
 
220 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 LECTUEE XI. 
 
 On Dan., v. 
 
 I 
 The Bible God's Crystal Palace. — Authors on Daniel. — Prophecy fulfilled. — 
 The Feast, why it was sinful. — Babylonians not Turks. — Their Wives might 
 be at their Feasts. — How the Vessels were used. — The Narrative corroborated. 
 — Toleration. — Desecration. — Music. — The. Glee spoiled. — Why learned Men 
 could not read the Writing. — Grotefend. — Woman's Agency. — She is neces- 
 sary to Man's Happiness. — The Chaldean Astrologers were not Spirit Rap- 
 pers — were Magi, but not Magicians. — Daniel, President of the Babylonish 
 Smithsonian Institute. — The Stars preaching. — One Sin often leads to an- 
 other. — Great Sin not to heed Divine Warnings. — Where Responsibility 
 rests. — Deists' 1 Condemnation. — The Worldling's Stone of Stumbling. — Do 
 not neglect regular Preaching of the Divine Word. — Fear the Power of Con- 
 science. — Sin is indeed a bitter Thing. — Evil-doers only fear the Law. — Rea- 
 son why Universalists and Hell-redemptionists preach Nothing but that there 
 is no Devil and no Hell. — The Orthodox Way the more philosophical. 
 
 In the morning discourse we made a hurried visit to 
 the Crystal Palace for the exhibition of the industry of 
 all nations, and attempted to show that the Bible is God's 
 Crystal Palace, built expressly for the exhibition of his 
 attributes and glory to all nations, and for the supply of 
 their wants. This evening we ask you to go with us far 
 to the eastward, not to an exhibition of industrial arts, 
 but to an Oriental feast on the banks of the Euphrates 
 some two thousand three hundred years ago. The last 
 lecture was on God's universal providence over men and 
 things, as taught in Nebuchadnezzar's remarkable edict. 
 Repeatedly have I asked your attention to three works on 
 the book oft Daniel, which I again name, and hope you 
 
PROPHECY FULFILLED IN BABYLON'S FALL. 227 
 
 will procure and read as far as you have opportunity. 
 The first is by the late Professor Stuart, of Andover, and 
 is designed particularly for students and theologian s. The 
 second is by Professor Gaussen, of Geneva. His lectures 
 on Daniel have been translated, and are published by the 
 Presbyterian Board in Philadelphia. They are addressed 
 especially to Sabbath-school children. The other work to 
 which I allude is by Dr. Cumming, of London. The last- 
 named works are popular in their style. They are devoted 
 mainly to Daniel's prophecies, and are directed parti- 
 cularly against Popery. It is not to be inferred tiiat by 
 naming these authors I endorse all the opinions they ad- 
 vance. I do not agree with them in many places, yet 
 they are able writers, and worthy of being read. 
 
 In regard to the chapter before us, two things are to be 
 remembered : 
 
 Firstly. The particulars of the taking of Babylon by 
 Cyrus, as given by Herodotus and Xenophon, correspond 
 with our narrative. 
 
 Secondly. In the taking of Babylon we have a remark- 
 able fulfillment of divine prophecies. The time and man- 
 ner of its fall and subsequent history all fulfills exactly 
 what the Hebrew prophets foretold. Jeremiah had said 
 that all nations should serve Nebuchadnezzar, and his son 
 and his son's son, and that then his empire should cease. 
 Belshazzar was his grandson. You know from history 
 that Cyrus gained a victory over the King of Babylon, 
 and shut him up in his metropolis, which was considered 
 impregnable, and had within its walls provisions for 
 twenty years. The siege had continued over two years, 
 when, during the feast spoken of in this chapter, Cyrus, 
 
228 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 having drained the River Euphrates, which ran through 
 the city, marched his army into the city along the channel, 
 and surprised the palace guards, slew the king himself, 
 and became absolute master of the city. 
 
 I. Our purpose now, however, is first to attend to the 
 Feast of Belshazzar. It was a great annual festival, 
 commemorative of some great event. Some think it was 
 Sacae, the Saturnalia of the Babylonians. Others say it 
 was a feast in honor of the king's birth-day, or of his 
 coronation. Whatever feast it was, it seems to have been 
 attended with the pomp, religious rites, and services of 
 the empire. The Babylonians were famous above all 
 other nations for intemperance, especially in drinking. A 
 feast commemorative of a man's birth-day or of his marri- 
 age is not necessarily sinful. A national festival, as the 
 Fourth of July, is not in itself sinful ; nor was it the 
 eating and drinking in moderation, but the excess, and 
 the spirit in which it was done, that made Belshazzar's 
 feast so impious. Their excess was a great sin, but their 
 defiance of Jehovah and impious mockery in using the 
 sacred vessels brought from Jerusalem was a far greater 
 sin. The king and his lords, by using the holy vessels 
 of the Jewish temple for their licentious and idolatrous 
 festival, hurled defiance at the God of Abraham, and 
 showed their contempt for the power of Him who doeth 
 according to his will in the armies of heaven. In ac- 
 counting for the presence of the king's wives and con- 
 cubines and the queen-mother at this feast, you must 
 recollect that the Babylonians were not Mussulmans, nor 
 were they even like the Persians. Yashti, the Persian 
 queen, we are told in Esther, did not appear at the feast- 
 
WOMEN AT BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. 229 
 
 table, even when commanded by the king. Among the 
 Greeks, none but women of depraved character sat down 
 to feast with men. But among the Babylonians, ancient 
 historians agree in saying, the custom was different, as it 
 was also with the ancient Egyptians. The excess of eating 
 and drinking, and the character of the dancing at an 
 Oriental feast, are beyond the limits of modesty in a 
 public discourse. The dancing of men and women in the 
 East is far worse than the Polka, which we rejoice to 
 know is about to be prohibited in the most respectable 
 circles. 
 
 The king, heated with wine, commanded them to bring 
 in the vessels of the Jerusalem temple. There was need- 
 less insult to the captive Jews, as well as impious blas- 
 phemy against their God, in this desecration of their holy 
 vessels. It was according to the customs of the times 
 and the fortunes of war among the Eastern nations, for 
 the victorious party to carry away the idols or images 
 worshiped by the vanquished, as well as their treasures 
 and other precious things. The prevailing idea was, that 
 every nation had its own presiding god or gods, and that 
 the respective deities were interested in the wars of their 
 worshipers, and that therefore the gods as well as the 
 people of a conquered country were vanquished, and 
 made the servants of the conquering people and gods. 
 The prophets, before the captivity, told the people that if 
 they continued impenitent, they and their idols should be 
 carried away to Babylon. This was true of the kingdom 
 of the ten tribes ; and of Judah it was true that the people, 
 and the holy vessels from the temple of God at Jerusalem, 
 and the royal treasury were taken to Babylon. 
 
230 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 History speaks of the outrages committed on the god3 
 of Egypt by Cambyses, and of the profanation of the gods 
 of Babylon by Darius and Xerxes. It was very natural 
 that a weak, haughty, and impious monarch like Belshaz- 
 zar, when heated with wine, should have sent for the 
 splendid temple vessels as evidences of his magnificence, 
 and proof that the God of the Jews was inferior to his 
 own. Still, the conquest of Jerusalem, the captivity of 
 the Hebrews, and the possession of their holy things, gave 
 no right to King Belshazzar to insult these poor captives. 
 No King, Synod, Council, Pope, or Sanhedrim has any 
 warrant to prescribe my faith, or to insult the humblest 
 rite of any man's religion. Let a man's faith be that of 
 Hindooism, Mormonism, Mohammedanism, Romanism, 
 or any other ism, no mortal has a right to oppress, or per- 
 secute, or insult him for his faith. It is our duty to be 
 able to give a reason for the faith that is in us. It is a 
 great misfortune to follow a false faith and worship a false 
 god ; it is, therefore, our duty to labor and to pray for the 
 conversion of all men from error to truth. It is our duty 
 to try to enlighten and convince them, and bring them to 
 the knowledge of the true God. "We may labor to con- 
 vince our fellow-men of their errors, but we may not per 
 secute them nor cast ridicule upon their sacred things. 
 The sin consisted mainly in the desecration of that which 
 was holy, or the application of the vessels of the temple 
 of Israel's God to profane and licentious purposes. Nor 
 is this sin peculiar to the ancients. Unfortunately, it has 
 not been confined to the banks of the Euphrates nor the 
 Nile, the Tiber nor the Thames. The same sin is found 
 on the banks of the Mississippi. Any and every perver- 
 
DESECRATIONS.— USE OP MUSIC. 231 
 
 sion of holy things is a desecration of them. "When the 
 sacrament is taken without faith to discern the Lord's 
 body, or to cover some sinister design, or to obtain a 
 degree in some university, or as a passport to some office 
 or as a qualification for a political or civil sphere, as is 
 sometimes done in Great Britain, then the sacred vessels 
 of the Lord's house are desecrated to an unholy end. 
 When a man professes to be a Christian for any mere 
 worldly purpose, then, like Simon Magus, he seeks to 
 make gain of godliness, and is guilty of awful hypocrisy. 
 "When the facts and the expressions of the Bible, its 
 sublime, its pure, and its holy truths are used, as they 
 frequently are, to point a pun, add edge to a jest, or keen- 
 ness to a sarcasm, to excite a laugh, or to provoke a sneer, 
 you have God's vessels desecrated to unhallowed and 
 profane ends." It is dangerous to construct jests from 
 the Bible. Such a habit indulged will often destroy the 
 salutary influence of the most solemn lessons of the Bible. 
 It may fairly be called into question whether or not many 
 of our musical festivals are not a desecration of holy 
 things. The opera, concert, and oratorio, it is true, are 
 very different things from the theatre. There is no science 
 more noble and more befitting than music for the un- 
 folding of the attributes of God, and making more vivid 
 and glorious the grandeur of his truth and works. But 
 when the awful agonies of Calvary, the deep and sorrow- 
 ful experiences of the Son of God, and the sublime des- 
 criptions of the judgment to come are used and encored 
 by an unthinking crowd, I fear there is then a desecration 
 of holy things. The noble productions of Handel and the 
 magnificent oratorios of the masters of music should be 
 
232 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 used as acts of solemn worship, and not at Belshazzar's 
 feasts. There are so many ways in which God's vessels 
 are desecrated, that I cannot now attempt to point them 
 out in detail. In whatever way religion is dragged from 
 its lofty and controlling sphere, and made to gild the 
 claims of a party or of a sect, then and there we have a 
 repetition of Belshazzar's profanation. When the Sabbath 
 is made a day of pleasure, of visiting, feasting, and writing 
 letters — when the house of God is used for any thing but 
 the purposes of religious worship — then we have an ap- 
 proach to the desecration of Belshazzar's feast. It does 
 not require all the circumstances of Belshazzar's feast to 
 be guilty of his sin. If the heart that was made for God 
 is made the throne of Mammon — if the affections are set 
 on things earthly, then God is dishonored, and we are 
 guilty of desecrating holy things. 
 
 But let us leave this disquisition about the desecration 
 of holy things and observe the feast. It was one of the 
 greatest splendor. The most spacious and magnificent 
 rooms in the richest city in the world were crowded with 
 rank and beauty ; wit, learning and aristocracy, and roy- 
 alty were there. Precious stones and costly perfumery 
 filled the saloons with dazzling lustre and sweetest fra- 
 grance. "Wit sparkled with the sparkling of cups, and 
 reason flowed with the flowing of the wine. They drank 
 toasts of enthusiastic patriotism ; they sang songs of 
 boundless loyalty, and shouted defiance to every foe. 
 The high noon of the splendor of the feast has come. All 
 hearts were bounding and all spirits were joyous. But 
 what is this ? The cup falls from the king's hand — his 
 countenance has changed and his thoughts trouble him ; 
 
COLUMBUS' EGG.-THE WKITING. 233 
 
 the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote 
 the one against the other. A thrill of terror pierces like 
 a sword through every soul ; many faint, and many shriek 
 with alarm. And what is the cause of this strange scene % 
 A mysterious writing appeared upon the plastering of the 
 palace wall. ~No eye was seen there to guide the hand — 
 the fingers that traced the characters belonged none knew 
 to whom, and the inscription none could read. As the 
 king and his lords could not read the inscription, it is 
 said, why were they thus afraid ? They were afraid be- 
 cause their own consciences condemned them. All men 
 who live in sin dread what is future and unknown. But 
 the man who is at peace with God sees all events ap- 
 proaching him with the assurance that they shall work 
 together for his good. 
 
 II. It has been asked why the wise men of Babylon 
 could not read the inscription. The words are mainly 
 Chaldean. Why could not the Chaldee scholar read 
 them then as well as now ? To this we answer, all the 
 learned men of Spain could make an egg stand on the 
 table after Columbus had shown them how. There will 
 doubtless be several claimants for the invention of a 
 caloric ship after the Ericsson is unfait accompli. 
 
 Several reasons are assigned by commentators for the 
 inability of the king's astrologers to read the writing. 
 One is, that the words were written in the ancient Hebrew 
 character, the knowledge of which was even then lost to 
 all except the Jewish priests and scribes, and not in the 
 modern Hebrew character, which differs little or nothing 
 from the Chaldee. The characters, the forms of the 
 letters in winch the Old Testament is commonly written, 
 
234: LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 is not the ancient Hebrew characters. It is supposed that 
 the square form of the letters now used is not the primi- 
 tive form. We might take three or more words having 
 the same radical letters, and having the same significations 
 in Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic, and yet a scholar must 
 be acquainted with each of these languages before he 
 could read these words in all of them. The words are the 
 same, but the forms of the letters are different. Latin and 
 English letters are alike, but the Greek characters are 
 different. So, when, for convenience' sake, the printer 
 puts the Greek word aidnios in English letters, the mere 
 Greek scholar does not know his old acquaintance, nor 
 the mere English scholar divine whence it comes nor 
 what it means. If the inscription, then, on the wall at 
 Belshazzar's feast was in ancient characters, it is not 
 strange that his wise men were unable to read it. Others 
 think that the words were inscribed in hieroglyphics, of 
 which the astrologers had no key, and that we have not the 
 original in our Bible, but translations of the forms of the 
 letters, as well as of the sense ; others think that the writ- 
 ing was intelligible only to such as were aided in reading 
 it by the Spirit of God ; and others think they were so in- 
 toxicated or so frightened that they could not read. You 
 may adopt any or whichever of these opinions about their 
 inability that pleases you best. It is plain, I think, that 
 the characters were neither the usual demotic nor hieratic. 
 Grotefend has rendered it nearly certain that the Baby- 
 lonians used both, and that their magi, like the priests of 
 Egypt, were able to read both. I only insist, however, 
 on the fact that the king's astrologers could not read this 
 inscription, and that Daniel could; and you will be 
 
WOMAN, MAN'S BEST FRIEND. 235 
 
 pleased, no doubt, to observe how the interpretation was 
 brought out. It was obtained, as is often the case with 
 our greatest blessings, through the agency of woman, the 
 aged grandmother of the king, the queen dowager, as our 
 European cousins would call her. Blank terror and alarm 
 rei^n in the court. The kin^ and his courtiers are at 
 their wit's end. No one seems to be calm and self-pos- 
 sessed but Nitocris, the widow of old Nebuchadnezzar. • 
 She instantly steps up and suggests that Daniel should be 
 sent for, and gives her reason. It is strange that he was 
 not thought of before, or that he was not at hand. His 
 services to the state seem to have been forgotten. Em- 
 pires as well as republics will sometimes be ungrateful. 
 It often happens that a woman, whose sex is usually so 
 easily agitated by trifles, when overtaken by some great 
 crisis, which calls forth all the latent energies of her soul, 
 is found to display a calmness, a magnanimity, a self- 
 possession that puts to shame the powers of the other sex. 
 Our London friend goes off here into an ecstacy at the 
 magnanimity and self-possession of this aged woman. 
 The whole history of Christianity does indeed show that v 
 woman is made for a crisis, and happy is he who has one 
 at his side in the day of trial. Our earthly happiness 
 depends upon the society of an intelligent, amiable wo- 
 man — the mere consciousness of the presence of a female I 7 j 
 heart is a great blessing. Who was last at the cross? 
 Who was first at the tomb on the resurrection morn? 
 Woman. If Eve was the first in the transgression, her 
 daughters have ever been first in healing the sorrows of 
 the fall. The vigils of the dead, the beds of the sick, and 
 the chambers of the dying are witnesses of her patience 
 
236 LECTURES Otf DANIEL. 
 
 and sleepless care. It is important for young men to 
 properly estimate the position of woman. She needs no 
 other charter of rights than the Bible. No conventions 
 can do for her what Christianity has done. It is the 
 ordinance of God that she should be, not the slave, but 
 the helpmate and companion ; not the head, but the friend 
 of man. Just where woman is placed in her proper 
 position, there society culminates in its loftiest grandeur. 
 And her proper position is just where the Bible has 
 placed her, as daughter, sister, wife, and mother, and 
 every where man's best friend and counselor. 
 
 III. These astrologers were not enchanters — they were 
 not diviners — they professed no communion with evil 
 spirits. They were men who studied the signs of the 
 heavenly bodies, and having no written revelations, they 
 believed that God had written the past, the present, and 
 also something of the future in the sky — that the stars 
 were the letters of that revelation, and that by studying- 
 them they might interpret things to come. In allowing 
 himself, therefore, to be placed at their head, Daniel does 
 not violate the laws of Moses against soothsayers, witches, 
 and the like Satan-possessed persons. These wise men 
 of Babylon were not peeping and muttering spirit rappers, 
 whose pretended revelations were filling the land with 
 lunatics. They were magi, but not magicians. They 
 were philosophers, but not sorcerers. They held com- 
 munion with God's outward world, and not with the 
 spirits of the dead or with devils. When Daniel, there- 
 fore, consented to become the head master of this learned 
 body, he became the patron of science, the principal of a 
 university, or, as we would say, the President of the 
 
GOD SEEN IN NATURE. 237 
 
 Smithsonian Institute. Nothing more. Daniel gave no 
 countenance to, and had no sympathy for sorcerers, magi- 
 cians, or persons professing to hold communion with evil 
 spirits. The Chaldean astrologers and wise men pos- 
 sessed more science than we generally give them credit 
 for. Even now, what is more instructive, and refining, 
 and elevating than the study of the flowers, the earth, and 
 the stars of the sky — things bright and glorious above, 
 and beautiful around and below ? The next best book to 
 the written Word of God is the volume of nature. It is 
 God's will written " all in capitals." The stars teach as 
 well as shine. They are the Creator's throne. 
 
 " Nature all over is consecrated ground, 
 Teeming with growths immortal and sublime." 
 
 Nature's volume is inferior to Revelation, never con- 
 tradictory to it. We see the wisdom, power, and glory 
 of the ineffable Godhead in the visible things of creation. 
 We can see his smile in the sunbeams, his mercy in pro- 
 vidence, his footprints in the depths that are beneath us, 
 and his glory in the vast immensity that is above us. 
 The astrologers of the distant Euphrates, where the air is 
 extremely transparent, the skies brilliant, and the stars 
 glowing with tropical splendor, are not to be blamed, if, 
 without a Bible such as we have, they took for their Bible 
 the book of the outer world, and from it sought to under- 
 stand the mind, the purposes, and the will of God. 
 
 Let us then, in bringing home the lessons of this feast, 
 
 IY. Learn, in the next place, that one sin often leads 
 
 to anothee. The king makes a feast for his thousand 
 
 lords. He drinks wine before them ; orders in the sacred 
 
238 LECTUKES ON DANIEL. 
 
 vessels ; and then they drink deeper, and became more 
 profane, and praise their idols in defiance of Jehovah. 
 
 Sensuality is usually connected with profaneness, and 
 both lead to ruin. The king and his lords, instead of de- 
 fending their city when closely besieged by a formidable 
 enemy, were spending the night in drinking and revelry. 
 Such low vices are always sinful, but more so when in- 
 dulged in at the time that God's judgments are heavy 
 upon us. It is a great mistake to think that sorrow can 
 be drowned in the intoxicating cup. It is but to add fuel 
 to the flame to flee to sensual excesses as a remedy for 
 grief, pain, losses, or bereavement. The records of crime 
 abound with cases illustrating the connection between 
 sins against the body and our fellow-men, and sins against 
 God. Men in drunken frolics proceed to profaneness 
 that would make them shudder at other times. It is then 
 they throw off the fear of law and justice, and vent their 
 unlawful passions, and make a jest of holy things, and 
 dishonor religion, and blaspheme against God. Take 
 heed, says the apostle, then to yourselves, lest at any tims 
 your hearts he overcharged with gluttony and drunkenness, 
 and that the day of calamity and judgment come upon 
 you unawares. 
 
 Y. Learn that there is great guilt and deserved 
 punishment in not taking warning from the judgments 
 of God upon others, especially our own countrymen 
 and ancestors. This matter is often referred to in the 
 Bible. Daniel was now, it is thought, about eighty-five 
 years of age, a wise and holy man, in whom dwelt the 
 spirit of the Most High God. When he was called before 
 the anxious king to interpret the writing, he first reproves 
 
OBSERVE GOD'S PROVIDENCES. 239 
 
 and admonishes the haughty monarch for not having im- 
 proved the dealings of God with his father and grand- 
 father. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, 
 Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to an- 
 other; I neither deserve nor desire them. Yet I will read 
 the writing unto the Icing, and maks known to him the 
 interpretation ; but before I can explain the writing, it is 
 my solemn and painful duty, as a servant of Jehovah, to 
 try and awaken the king's mind to serious reflection. The 
 time is short — the crisis is at hand. If repentance is now 
 available, it nnist be done quickly. Know then, O thou 
 King of Babylon, that the Most High God, &c. — See v. 
 18 and 24. As though he had said, You, O king, have 
 either wilfully forgotten or wholly neglected to profit by 
 the confession of Jehovah's power which your grandfather 
 made. Thou, his grandson and successor, notwithstand- 
 ing *his remarkable edict, and penitence, and conversion, 
 hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knowest all 
 this. Thou hast not given honor to Him who has the 
 supreme disposal of thy affairs and thy life. Therefore, 
 this is thy doom, this is the writing : thou art weighed 
 
 IN THE BALANCES AND FOUND WANTING. 
 
 It is a great sin not to observe God's providences, and 
 especially in our own families and in our own personal 
 history. It is a fearful thing to rebel against God, when 
 he is striving to save our souls by calling us to repent 
 and forsake our evil ways by the voice of affliction or be- 
 reavement. Since your breath and all your ways, the 
 avenues of life and death, are in his hands, let it be your 
 highest care to glorify him. Daniel condemned Belshaz- 
 zar, not so much for the crimes he was in the act of com- 
 
240 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 mitting, as for his not having availed himself of the 
 opportunities he had had of knowing and doing the will 
 of God. The history of his grandfather and of his con- 
 version, surely, ought to have taught him who was the 
 true God, and how he was to be worshiped. The con- 
 demnation at the judgment-day will not be that you 
 conscientiously believed a lie, but it will be that you 
 neglected the opportunities of acquiring and making your- 
 selves acquainted with the truth. The responsibility of a 
 man for his belief is just as certain as his responsibility 
 for his conduct. You must as certainly give an account 
 to God for the sentiments, opinions, and principles you 
 hold and communicate, as for the deeds done in the body. 
 The responsibility for serious errors or for false principles, 
 or, as the apostle calls them, " Damnable heresies," does 
 not begin at the moment they are embraced, nor end with 
 their avowal. The responsibility goes far aback, and may 
 rest in part on your teachers, on your companions, on the 
 pictures you have looked at, the books you have read, the 
 imaginations you have indulged. The condemnation will 
 not be that men are in darkness, but that they refused to 
 come to the light — not that they were dead in trespasses 
 and sins, but that they would not come to Christ that they 
 might have life. The deist will not be condemned merely 
 for his rejection of Revelation, but for his neglect of the 
 means of making himself a Christian. Many a man is 
 sincere in error, but his sincerity does not change his 
 error into truth. If a man sincerely makes a mistake that 
 causes him to lose his property or his life, we may pity 
 him, but neither our pity nor his sincerity changes the 
 result. He must bear the consequences. The damning 
 
SINCERITY IN EEROU NO EXCUSE. 24:1 
 
 fact at the judgment-day will not be that impenitent and 
 unbelieving sinners were honest in their delusion, and 
 conscientious in their belief of erroneous doctrines ; but 
 that they did not use the means they had, or could have 
 had, to know the truth. The condemnation will be, that 
 they spent more time in the study of shells and flowers, 
 stars and butterflies, than in the study of Moses and the 
 prophets — that they spent more time, and strength, and 
 means, and exertions of intellect, in enriching themselves, 
 feeding and adorning their bodies, increasing their com- 
 missions and rent rolls, than in the prayerful study of 
 Christ and his apostles — that they spent more anxious 
 moments in studying out how to satisfy their own minds 
 that there was no necessity to repent of their sins and be- 
 lieve in the vicarious atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 or to establish themselves in the belief that there is no 
 devil, no hell, no everlasting punishment, than they ever 
 spared for the solution of the great and yet simple ques- 
 tion, " What shall I do to be saved V — a question which 
 we are ready to think should be the first and the last with 
 every thinking man. There is fearful guilt in not doing 
 our duty, as well as in doing what we are commanded 
 not to do. It may be that the very Sabbath which you 
 have resolved to spend in dissipation at home might have 
 been that on which you would have heard the truth 
 which would have saved your soul. It may be that the 
 very discourse which, for some slight cause you neglected 
 to hear, was the one of all others which would have done 
 you good. Never, therefore, lose an opportunity of hear- 
 ing the truth preached as it is in Jesus, if you can pos- 
 sibly avoid it. You do not know when the saving word 
 
 16 
 
242 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 may be spoken that will turn you from darkness unto 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto God. 
 
 VI. and lastly. Learn to fear the power of con- 
 science. It was a sense of guilt which put Belshazzar 
 into such terror, and filled his lords with astonishment. 
 There was no thunder, no lightning, no earthquake, no 
 assault as yet — nothing but a handwriting on the wall of 
 his banqueting hall. For aught he knew of the meaning 
 of the writing, it might have been some good tidings of 
 victory, some favorable message from the gods whom he 
 was praising in his drunken feast. Why, then, was he so 
 alarmed? Why did his countenance change and his 
 thoughts trouble him, so that the joints of his loins were 
 loosed and his knees smote one against another? Why 
 did he cry aloud for some one to tell him the meaning of 
 the writing? Plainly, because he was conscious of being 
 sensual and profane, and conscious that such things were 
 deserving of punishment. It is conscience that " makes 
 cowards of us .all." The righteous are bold as a lion, but 
 the wicked flee where no man pursueth. It is clear, from 
 the history, that a man's own mind can be made the 
 source of his greatest terror. ~Eo extraneous cause of 
 alarm was as yet brought to bear upon the king. It was 
 his own consciousness of guilt that tormented him. So 
 now God can easily strike terror into the most profligate 
 man, by letting his own thoughts loose upon him. [No 
 language can overdraw the picture of a profligate sinner 
 left a prey to his lusts, and to an awakened conscience. 
 It is not in the power of wine, nor of splendor and com- 
 panions, to calm his spirits. Sin, however gilded or 
 sugared over, is a misery ; it is an evil and bitter thing. 
 
TERRORS OF A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. 243 
 
 It was a guilty conscience that made Adam and Eve run 
 and hide themselves. It was conscience that made Felix 
 tremble when Paul reasoned before him. And what was 
 it that made Herod think that Jesus was John the Baptist 
 risen from the dead % He probably was a Sadducee, who 
 did not believe in a devil, nor the existence of spirits, nor 
 the resurrection ; yet so strong was his conscience, that 
 it overpowered his cold convictions, and suggested to him 
 that John, whom he had beheaded, was risen from the 
 dead, and had come to punish him for his crimes. 
 
 A guilty conscience is a fearful enemy, but a good con- 
 science is a man's best friend — it is a perpetual feast. If 
 you would be happy, you must keep a clear conscience, 
 void of offense toward God and man. The only certain 
 peace is to have the heart staid upon God through Jesus 
 Christ. The great doctrines of religion, therefore, instead 
 of leading to licentiousness, or filling the mind with gloomy 
 terror, are the best and the only preventives of unhappy 
 forebodiDgs. Who is it that lives in habitual fear of the 
 officers of the law, and is constantly talking of the pains 
 and penalties inflicted on convicted criminals, and trying 
 to prove that they are too severe, and should be repealed X 
 Is it the good citizen who is intent only to do his duty 
 toward God and man ? Your reading of men and things 
 satisfies you that it is not among such that you find con- 
 tinual anxiety about the penalties of the law. It is not 
 among such that you find unceasing efforts to prove that 
 penalties are not penalties, or if, indeed, there be any such 
 things, there at least ought not to be such things — efforts 
 so unceasing that they will never, never have done with 
 their statements of the case — never satisfied with their 
 
244 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 own defense, but ever trying to make them stronger. 
 Your Observation confirms the Bible declaration, that 
 laws and the penalties of law are for evil doers, and not 
 for those who live in obedience to the will of God. So a 
 little reflection will satisfy you that the old Bible method 
 of salvation is not only the true one, but the only one that 
 can make you happy. It is admitted men are sinners. It 
 is admitted sin deserves punishment. It is admitted that 
 as sinners our consciences trouble us. How, then, can we 
 be saved from sin? How can we be saved from the guilt 
 and consequent terrors of a guilty conscience ? Does it 
 seem to you that the best way is to set to work to prove 
 that there is no evil in sin — that God is top good to punish 
 sin — that the terror of conscience is owing altogether to 
 the prejudices of education? Certainly not. Tacts, re- 
 alities, every one's own experience, prove that such at- 
 tempts are vain. These things are not fancies, but dread- 
 ful realities. Does it seem to you, then, that the way of 
 escape from sin and from the wretchedness of a guilty 
 conscience is to spend your life in trying to get arguments 
 and facts to prove that there is no hell, no devil, and no 
 everlasting punishment ? The very fact that some men 
 spend all their lives trying to prove that there is no hell, 
 no devil, and no everlasting punishment, proves, after all, 
 that they themselves are dreadfully afraid of these very 
 things. Now there is a more excellent way — a way more 
 philosophical, harmonious, and elevating — a way infinitely 
 more suitable for man, and honorable to the laws of the 
 universe and to God. This way is to acknowledge what 
 every one must feel, that we are sinners against God and 
 deserve his wrath, and then accept of Jesus Christ as He 
 
ORTHODOX FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 245 
 
 is offered in the Gospel, as a perfect, all-sufficient Saviour. 
 It is true, there is such a thing as sin, and that it is an evil 
 and bitter thing. But here is a sacrifice for sin which 
 God accepts. He hath made Him, His own Son, who 
 knew no sin, to he made sin — a sin-offering — an availing 
 sin-atonement for us, that we might be made the righteous- 
 ness of God in Him. Who, then, can condemn us \ It 
 is God that justifieth. It is true, there is a devil, and a 
 hell, and everlasting punishment ; but we have no fear of 
 these things. Christ has delivered us. It is true, by na- 
 ture and practice, we have a guilty conscience, but we 
 are saved from its terrors through faith in Christ, whose 
 blood cleanseth us from all sin, and whose Spirit renews 
 our hearts, and purifies our affections, and prepares us for 
 His glory. Sickness and death, the devil, hell, and ever- 
 lasting punishment, are sad realities ; but they are not to 
 De feared by us. Death is a conquered enemy ; the grave 
 a vanquished foe. The devil is overcome and his works 
 destroyed, and we are translated from his kingdom into 
 that of God's dear Son. It is no wonder, then, that those 
 who reject Christ as a world-redeeming God, and who 
 deny the personality and influence of his Holy Spirit, and 
 laugh at the idea of being born again, and of being saved 
 by faith in a vicarious atonement, are so unhappy, so much 
 annoyed by a guilty conscience, that they can never satisfy 
 themselves with their own arguments that there is no 
 devil, no hell, and no future and everlasting punishment. 
 The happiest and bravest men have ever been those that, 
 believing in the realities of their enemies, have adopted 
 such means as enabled them to triumph over them, and 
 not such as have spent their lives in vain expedients to 
 
LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 try to prove that there were no such enemies. Which is 
 best, to cheat one's self into a delusion, or to believe in 
 disagreeable realities, and adopt the sure and certain 
 method of escape ? And the more so, since religion is a 
 present blessing. Godliness has the promise of the life 
 that now is, as well as of that which is to come. The 
 blessings of piety are not all reserved for the world to 
 come. Her ways are ways of peace in this world, and all 
 her paths are paths of pleasantness. Seek ye the king- 
 dom or God and his righteousness, and all things need- 
 ful shall be added unto you. Amen. 
 
THE KING'S FIDELITY.— CITY'S DOOM. 247 
 
 LECTUEE XII. 
 
 WEIGHED AND WANTING. 
 
 On Dan., v., 25, 31. 
 u Tekel — Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." 
 
 Belshazzar's Fidelity to his Word. — Defenseless State of the City. — Nations die 
 Suicides — Couture" 1 's Decadence of the Romans. — Egypt's Doom. — Our Safe- 
 ty. — How and why Righteousness exalteth a Nation. — National Responsibility 
 of American young Men. — God Weighs all Men. — Art of Writing in Moses' 
 Day. — Egyptian Book of the Dead. — Bible does not fix the Chronology of the 
 Creation, but only the Facts of its Creation and Adaptation to Man. — Objec- 
 tions to the Flood — Size of the Ark. — Top of Ararat. — Quantity of Water. 
 — Style and Proportion of the Ark. — Sum of Proofs of a Deluge. — Wrath 
 upon the Canaanites. — Eerculaneum. — Famine in Ireland. — Spirit of the 
 Psalms not Maledictory. — Infidelity dangerous to the State. — The Moral Man 
 wanting. — Salvation by Grace does not lead to Sin. — True Religion eminently 
 conducive to present Happiness. — Orthodox Creed eminently the safest for the 
 Future. — Fearfulness of our personal Responsibility. 
 
 1. The first thing that strikes me from the history as it 
 opens before us in the text, is the fidelity of King Bel- 
 shazzar. Though he had but an hour to live, he kept his 
 promise to the servant of God. See v. 29. Luxurious, 
 profane, and wicked as he was, this was one good trait 
 in his character. This one good trait did not, however, 
 redeem him from the consequences of other sin. 
 
 II. We are struck with the defenseless condition of the 
 city. We see how maddened and utterly feeble cities and 
 nations hecome w/ien ripe for destruction. After a siege 
 of more than two years, the king and his lords, instead 
 of watching and resisting the attack of their sleepless be- 
 
248 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 siegers, were engaged in a profane revelry, and were sur- 
 prised and slain, and the city taken. And thus ended 
 the golden empire, of which Nebuchadnezzar was the 
 head. The heathen proverb that " Those whom the gods 
 wish to destroy they first make mad," seems to contain 
 the verity of actual history. In both ancient and modern 
 times, it seems that, when God has pronounced the hour 
 of a nation's doom, the inhabitants of that nation lose the 
 caution, the skill, and the energy they had exhibited be- 
 fore, and do themselves precipitate the very result they 
 wish so much to avert. Never, perhaps, was there a 
 more full, palpable, and fearful illustration of this than in 
 the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus. Some of you 
 may remember the illustration presented in a previous 
 lecture of the causes of a nation's decline and fall, as set 
 forth in Couture's " Decadence of the Romans," in the 
 Luxembourg Gallery at Paris. In his picture, life-like 
 and true to history, luxury and corruption are represented 
 as the causes of the fall of Rome. Nations rarely fall 
 before a foreign aggressor. Their ruin or their glory is 
 placed by God within themselves. Epidemics and want, 
 and even civil wars, may overturn nations, but do not 
 destroy them. These calamities may lessen their power, 
 diminish their influence, narrow their limits, but they do 
 not blot them out from the map of nations. Nations die 
 suicides. Nothing so soon dissolves the national charac- 
 ter as luxury. It is worse than flood or fire. It hurts 
 not the trade or agriculture of a people so much as it 
 hurts themselves. It produces a degenerate set of men. 
 All history shows that it is one of the greatest national 
 evils. It is even worse that the temporary loss of free- 
 
RIGHTEOUSNESS OUR ONLY SAFETY. 249 
 
 dom to a brave and resolute people. It is corruption and 
 vice that cut off nations by the root. It is infidelity and 
 credulity that so far materialize men as to smother all 
 their generous instincts, and thus destroy their nation- 
 alities and annihilate them. It was thus Egypt, once so 
 powerful and flourishing, passed, impoverished, into the 
 hands of the Mohammedan, and became, and continues 
 to this day, according to the predictions of the Hebrew 
 prophet, the basest of kingdoms. It was thus Babylon 
 fell into the hands of the Mede- A nation true to God 
 and loyal to his laws, and with such a history and such a 
 local habitation as we have, has nothing to fear from the 
 world in arms. But we have a great deal to fear from 
 Jesuitism, and from corruption and ignorance. Our 
 safety consists in the purity of the ballot-box ; and to pre- 
 serve this, we must employ the press in all its thousand- 
 fold avenues to the popular mind ; and true religion must 
 irradiate our high places, and cast its softening influence 
 over the lanes, and alleys, and hovels of our cities, and 
 over the mountains and valleys of all our States and Ter- 
 ritories. There are two great reasons why righteousness 
 exalteth a nation, and why society cannot cohere without 
 religion. These are, first, that when a due regard to God 
 is lost sight of in the institutions of a nation, or in the 
 administration of its affairs, a jarring inevitably ensues 
 between the laws and doings of that nation and the 
 universe, of which it is a part. This want of harmony — ■ 
 this want of conformity to the order of God's government 
 — must result in disaster. And as the government of 
 God cannot be subverted, every government opposed to 
 the divine must in time fall. A second reason is, that all 
 
250 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 constitutions and laws not in harmony with the universe 
 are unsuited to the people placed under them ; and con- 
 sequently, discontent, restiveness, and insurrection will 
 inevitably arise, sooner or later. If there be not a har- 
 mony and adaptation in the laws and institutions of a 
 country for the wants of a people, it is impossible there 
 should be permanence in its polity. It is, then, a matter 
 of incalculable importance to the happiness of mankind 
 that civil government should be conducted on religious 
 principles. And next to the salvation of their own souls, 
 is the responsibility of American young men to study 
 the purity, vigor, and perpetuity of their civil institutions. 
 It is their duty to see that men of sound religious prin- 
 ciples and proper abilities be elevated to offices of power 
 and trust. As the principle of immortality in man con- 
 sists in his capacity of knowing, fearing, serving, and 
 loving God, so is religion the principle of durability in 
 social bodies. When the Ship of State is far out at sea, 
 and amid the darkness of night, and tempests are raging, 
 there is then nothing on which to fix the eye but the 
 eternal lights of heaven ; then the only sure compass is 
 the Word of God. It was very reprehensible, certainly, 
 for Belshazzar and his thousand lords to abandon the de- 
 fense of the city as they did. They showed themselves 
 to be unworthy of the government of such a city. Little, 
 indeed, did they think what would be on the morrow. 
 Little did they think that the last hours of Babylon had 
 come — that the remaining sands in the glass of her des- 
 tiny would be emptied ere their banquet should close. 
 But before another rising sun, the monarch was slain, his 
 nobles captives, and Darius the Mede was sitting on the 
 
THE SUPREME WEIGHING OF MEN". 251 
 
 throne of Nebuchadnezzar, in the great Babylon which 
 ne had built. And so, when the hour allotted for the 
 downfall of an empire or of a dominion, political or eccle- 
 siastical, has come, the wheels of Providence will move 
 with an irresistible power, and with a fearful velocity ; 
 and then all attempts to keep back the tide of divine in- 
 dignation will but increase its fury. The upholders of a 
 doomed system always act like doomed men. The ill- 
 timed, impious feasting of Belshazzar did more in one 
 night for the downfall of Babylon than Cyrus with all his 
 troops was able to accomplish in a siege of two years. It 
 is an awful thing for an individual or nation to be aban- 
 doned of God. 
 
 III. The Bible represents God as weighing all men, all 
 their motives and characters. It is a common scriptural 
 expression: "The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by 
 Him actions are weighed." David also says : " Men of 
 low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie ; 
 to be laid in the balance they are altogether wanting." 
 The Prophet Isaiah says : " Thou most upright dost weigh 
 the path of the just." And, again, Solomon tells us, " All 
 the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes ; but the 
 Lord weigheth the Spirit." These texts are sufficient to 
 show that the idea contained in the inscription on the 
 palace wall is one frequently found in Scripture. It is 
 also found in heathen mythology. It is a common idea 
 in the proverbs of the Arabs to this day. The terms of 
 the inscription are sufficiently explained by Daniel him- 
 self, and need no extended commentary. 
 
 The idea of being weighed by the Judge of quick and 
 dead at his judgment-seat in reference to our eternal 
 
252 : LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 destiny, is certainly a fearful one. Who can think of 
 being weighed against God's law ? This law says; " Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
 all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
 strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." And it says, 
 " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
 written in the law to do them." The requirements of 
 God's law are absolute, perpetual, supreme. It requires 
 all the heart, and at all times, and allows of no cessation, 
 of its love and obedience. This law is placed in one scale, 
 and every man's character is placed in the opposite scale, 
 and thus every man's doom is to be fixed, and that for- 
 ever. What, then, have we to place in the scales of the 
 sanctuary ? One is ready to say, " I have not kept the 
 law of God, but I place in the opposite scale my objections 
 to it. Indeed, I object to the law of God and the revel- 
 ation of His will, and the whole subject of Bible religion ; 
 and I do so for several reasons." Well, let us hear them. 
 First. "The law of God so called is contained in the 
 book called the Bible, and the first five books of the Bible 
 are said to have been written by Moses ; but I do not 
 believe this, for in the days of Moses the art of writing 
 was not known. Man was not then sufficiently advanced 
 from his primitive savageism to have written any such 
 books." This is a bold and clearly stated objection, and 
 if it is as true and heavy as it claims to be, it will certainly 
 weigh down its end of the scale. But let us look at it. 
 You know that Napoleon invaded Egypt, and that a corps 
 of scientific men accompanied his army to examine the 
 hieroglyphics, and explore in the most thorough manner 
 possible its far-famed antiquities ; and you know that they 
 
ART OF WRITING.— EGYPTIAN TOMBS. 253 
 
 climbed the Pyramids and entered the, tombs, and visited 
 the chambers of Egypt's embalmed kings ; and you ought 
 to know, also, that in these sepulchral, chambers they 
 found many manuscripts as old at least as the time of 
 Moses, and one which it is believed was written two cen- 
 turies before his day. These manuscripts were found 
 with the mummies and funeral relics which were deposit- 
 ed in the tombs. They have been read and published to 
 the world. They contain their burial service and rites 
 for the dead. And thus the matter-of-fact discovery of. 
 the French savans have silenced the objection that infidels 
 made for centuries against the Pentateuch. It is only 
 with the ignorant or malicious that such objections can 
 now do their mischievous work. 
 
 Secondly, "It is alleged that the Bible cannot be relied 
 on as teaching the will of God, for it asserts that the world 
 was made about six thousand years ago. This cannot be 
 true, for the learned now tell us that this world must have 
 existed millions of ages." In weighing this objection, let 
 it be observed that it is not correctly stated. The Bible 
 does not say that God created the world about six thou- 
 and years ago. Moses says nothing on this point. He 
 only tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens 
 and the earth. The beginning may have been millions 
 of millions of ages anterior to man's creation. It is evi- 
 dent that Moses only designs to speak of two great facts; 
 first, that God is the Creator of all things ; and secondly, 
 that God prepared and adapted, according to his account, 
 the globe for the introduction of man upon it. In the 
 second place, let it be remembered that geologists are 
 crude, unsatisfactory, and contradictory still in their spec- 
 
254 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 ulations aoout the age of the earth. They are not agreed 
 among themselves. They are guilty of monstrous errors 
 in mnch of their past reasoning, themselves being judges. 
 There is a great want of facts among them. And, thirdly, 
 their investigations have resulted in the conviction that 
 the human race cannot have existed on this globe for a 
 longer period than that asserted by Moses. And thus 
 science, in the hands of the most eminent geologists, 
 instead of contradicting the Mosaic account, gives what- 
 ever influences she has in its favor. " Thou art weighed 
 in the balances, and art found wanting." 
 
 Thirdly. Another says, " There is so much about the 
 deluge in the Pentateuch that I do not understand, that 
 I object to the whole Bible, and to revealed religion al- 
 together. There was not water enough to drown the 
 world. The ark was not large enough to contain one 
 half of the animals for which it was intended ; and it was 
 such a miserable, clumsy old hulk that it could not have 
 floated any how, and if it did ever get to the top of Ararat, 
 there is so much ice and snow there that old Noah could 
 never have descended. I do not understand these things, 
 and therefore I do not believe in evangelical religion." 
 There is so much crowded into this objection, that only a 
 word or two can be spared for each point. 
 
 I. You do not understand all the points involved in the 
 history of the flood ; neither do I, nor any one else. The 
 most eminent scholars and geologists confess their ignor- 
 ance on this subject. But your want of understanding is 
 certainly no good reason for denying the truth of the Jiis- 
 tory. You do not understand your own existence. There 
 are a thousand things all around you that are unques- 
 
ARARAT.— ANIMALS IN THE ARK. 255 
 
 tioned realities, and yet you do not understand them. 
 There are mysteries in nature as well as in religion. Holy 
 mysteries are rather a proof of the truth of the Bible than 
 otherwise. If you will not receive as true any thing till 
 you can comprehend every thing about its essence and 
 laws of existence, then you will perish of starvation, for 
 you must inevitably die before you can comprehend the 
 analysis of your food, and how it sustains the animal 
 economy. 
 
 II. As to the top of Ararat, it is admitted that the term 
 Ararat signifies a whole chain of mountains. Noah may 
 not, therefore, have had so far to descend. The ark prob- 
 ably rested on one of the lower spurs of that mountain 
 range. It may, moreover, not have been so cold just 
 after the flood as it is now in Armenia ; and besides, 
 could not the same God that piloted him over the seas 
 have helped him down from the highest snowy peak of 
 all Ararat? 
 
 III. As to the size of the ark, it is ascertained that it 
 was about as large as eighteen of the largest ships of our 
 day. 
 
 The distinct species of four-footed animals known amount 
 to but about two hundred and fifty. These eighteen ships 
 will carry twenty thousand men, with eighteen hundred 
 pieces of cannon, and provisions for six months. Who 
 then can for a moment doubt that the ark, built, not for a 
 clipper race from Shanghai to London — not for speed nor 
 for beauty, but merely for buoyancy and strength, would 
 aflford accommodations for these two hundred and fifty 
 pairs of quadrupeds, with the specified number of birds 
 and insects, and eight human beings, with provisions for 
 
256 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 a year \ It seems almost like trilling to answer such 
 arguments, and yet deists are scattering them about 
 among the ignorant and the credulous as powerful objec- 
 tions to the credibility of the Scriptures. The fact is, as 
 stated by Bishop Wilkins, " That of the two it is more 
 difficult to assign a number and bulk of necessary things 
 to answer to the capacity of the ark, than to find sufficient 
 room for the several species of animals and their food 
 already known to have been there." 
 
 There is one very interesting fact in this connection 
 deserving of notice. " It can be proved to demonstration 
 that the proportion of the length to the breadth, and of 
 both to the height, in Noah's ark, is exactly that which 
 renders any substance the most buoyant and the most 
 perfectly secure even in a storm." Now it is a question 
 really deserving of thought, how did Noah obtain such 
 skill in architectural dimensions ? It has been the result 
 of long experience and careful observation by which 
 architects of the present day have obtained this knowl- 
 edge. It has not come to them intuitively. How then 
 does it happen that Noah, so long ago, was so accom- 
 plished a ship-builder? The deist cannot answer — the 
 Bible believer has no difficulty. 
 
 IV. As to the quantity of water, it is somewhat difficult 
 to know what to say to a man who has such crooked 
 ideas of Omnipotence as to think that He who made all 
 worlds and all oceans is unable to roll a flood of waters 
 over this little globe. But frivolous as such objections 
 are, they are not unanswerable. Bold assertions are not 
 arguments. First It is not believed by all Bible readers 
 that the deluge was universal. I so understand the He- 
 
WATER ENOUGH FOR THE DELUGE. 257 
 
 brew record ; but some others read it differently. Second- 
 ly. Nearly three-fourths of the whole surface of the globe 
 are now covered with water ; and how much more water 
 the Creator could pour upon the land has never yet been 
 accurately determined. Nor has it ever been shown that 
 the Creator could not so sink the portions of land now 
 dry as to cover them with water — just such a process as 
 was probably carried out in the flood. Thirdly. The 
 fact of a deluge is certain. Tradition, history, and geo- 
 logy prove there must have been such a thing, and all 
 agree in fixing the time about the period assigned to 
 Noah's flood in the Bible. The rocks, caverns, and moun- 
 tains of the earth must have been at some former period 
 covered with water. How else can we account for skele- 
 tons of whales on the sides of high mountains, far from 
 the ocean ? How else can we account for the remains of 
 animals,. in the frigid regions of the North, that can live 
 only in the torrid zone ? All science testifies that some 
 great convulsion has taken place in our planet. The fact 
 that there has been a deluge is written in living charac- 
 ters upon the face of nature. If you could blot out the 
 record from the Bible, still the evidence remains indis- 
 putable. This objection, when weighed in the balances, 
 like the others we have had before it, is found wanting. 
 
 Fourth. Another says, "I do not believe the Bible to 
 be the Word of God, because the Hebrews were ordered 
 to urge an exterminating war upon the Canaanites. Men, 
 women, and children were put to death. It is impossible 
 to believe that God would issue such a command." In 
 weighing this objection, our first remark is, that God may 
 
 use whatever instruments he pleases for the execution of 
 
 17 
 
258 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 his judgments. In point of fact, He does use pestilence 
 and famine, fire, flood, and earthquake ; why may He not 
 also use the sword? Was it not God that sent disease 
 into the esculent roots of Ireland; and, for the want of 
 their accustomed food, men, women, and children died ? 
 "Was it not God who poured an ocean of burning lava on 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii ? Then, neither age nor in- 
 fancy, neither mother nor babe, was spared. All were 
 overwhelmed in indiscriminate destruction. Was it not 
 God that shook the foundation of the earth, and opened 
 one wide grave for thousands of the inhabitants of Lis- 
 bon ? What but the providence of God sent the Asiatic 
 cholera into the cities and towns, and along the river 
 coasts of Europe and America, sparing neither age, sex, 
 nor color ? In point of fact, then, this objection is just as 
 powerful against the God of nature as against the God of 
 Revelation. Even, therefore, if we could see no reason 
 why God should exterminate the Canaanites, we are not 
 at liberty to cavil at the fact, any more than at the devas- 
 tations of earthquakes, floods, pestilence, and famine. 
 But, secondly, we do see a reason. Their cup of iniquity 
 was full. Their day of grace and of probation was ended. 
 They were abandoned to the most polluting idolatry. 
 Their destruction was, therefore, nothing but the execu- 
 tion of the divine penalty upon their sins. It will not 
 be denied that God has a right to exterminate an aban- 
 doned nation in any way that shall seem best to him, 
 either by flood, or pestilence, or famine, or sword. In 
 point of fact, He has often done this. Nor will it be 
 denied that, in so doing, God may inflict the judgment in 
 such a way as to produce the deepest impression of the 
 
IMPRECATIONS IN THE PSALMS. 259 
 
 enormity of sin npon the minds of those that survive. 
 This objection is, therefore, found wanting. 
 
 Fifthly. It is objected, again, "That the Psalms, which 
 are conspicuous in Christian worship, and much read and 
 admired by Christians, are nothing but the ravings of 
 malice or of personal revenge. David, or whoever was 
 the author of the Psalms, instead of forgiving his enemies, 
 and praying that God would bless them, imprecates ven- 
 geance upon their heads ; and yet it is said in the Bible 
 that the Psalms are dictated by the Holy Spirit." Now 
 in answer to this, let it be remembered, 
 
 1. That in many of those passages in which David uses 
 strong language against his enemies, he refers not to 
 personal or political enemies — not to his fellow-men as 
 enemies of his body, of his family, or of his kingdom, but 
 to the enemies of his soul, those that were seeking to de- 
 prive him of his salvation. He speaks of the devil, and 
 evil spirits, and wicked men as instruments of the devil. 
 
 2. The words which are rendered in our version in the 
 imperative mood and present tense are, in the Hebrew, 
 in the indicative mood and future tense. The passages, 
 then, simply declare what will befall the incorrigibly 
 wicked and finally impenitent. David was a prophet, 
 and foresaw the end of the wicked and of all that forget 
 God. 
 
 3. Let us suppose a horrid murder was committed at 
 our very door. The axe and the knife of robbers have 
 covered the floor of our friend's dwelling with the mangled 
 bodies of the family. A Christian man, appalled by such 
 a horrid spectacle, prayed, in the fervor of his morning 
 prayer, " O God, bring these guilty men to justice! let 
 
* 
 
 • 
 
 260 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 them not escape I let swift retribution overtake them ; let 
 them suffer just punishment for their crime, that the honor 
 of our laws may be preserved, and that terror may fill 
 the hearts of the wicked." And does the infidel cry out, 
 " What a revengeful, malicious wretch this man must be ! 
 Instead of praying that these murderers may escape and be 
 prospered, he prays that they may be brought to justice?" 
 And is this really the issue ? Does the infidel mean that 
 a good man ought not to pray that the laws should be 
 honored, magistrates obeyed, the innocent protected, and 
 the guilty brought to punishment, in order that peace and 
 justice may reign over society?" Is it out at last that 
 infidelity is dangerous to the state, and at war with estab- 
 lished public morals, order, and law ? Does the caviller 
 really think that it is wicked to pray that those who are 
 scattering fire-brands, arrows, and death through the com- 
 munity, may be shut up in prison, and punished accord- 
 ing to law and justice ? If so, then all law, all established 
 order, is .malignant and to be put down. But mankind 
 have determined to the contrary. Their experience is, 
 that established laws, enforced by penalties, are absolutely 
 necessary for the happiness of mankind. The same is 
 distinctly taught in the Bible. And observation teaches 
 us, moreover, that those who receive the Bible, and live 
 under the conviction of a judgment to come, and a belief 
 in future rewards and punishments, are the best citizens, 
 bravest soldiers, and purest patriots ; while, on the other 
 hand, those that have the impudence and arrogance to 
 assert that God is too good to punish men for their sins 
 by shutting them up in the prison of hell, are dangerous 
 men in society. He that fears God, regards his fellow 
 
THE MORAL MAN WEIGHED. 261 
 
 man. Both worlds are best cared for when they are taken 
 care of together, and the present life is made a preparation 
 for the life to come. 
 
 Sixthly. Another says, "I have nothing to do with 
 these absurd infidel cavils you have named. I would not 
 consider them worthy of any serious notice. I am just in 
 all my dealings with my fellow-men. I owe no man any 
 thing. I try to do my duty as a good citizen." And we 
 will add, that such an one is all he claims to be, and even 
 more ; he is high-minded, honorable, generous, and char- 
 acterized by every social, personal, national, and domestic 
 excellence. But what is the result, when all these social 
 virtues, and all this public spirit, and all this commercial 
 integrity (and would to God that such things were more 
 common,) are placed in the scale opposite to the holy, 
 unchanging, everlasting law of God? The experiment 
 will inevitably show that "by the deeds of the law no 
 man living can be justified." Then will the Judge say, 
 It is true you have done well, but you have not done all 
 your duty. You have done justly toward man, but how 
 stands the account in reference to your Creator? You 
 have acted generously toward society, but how have you 
 acted toward God ? You have kept the last six command- 
 ments, but what have you done with the four first f If 
 you have kept the second table of the law, why have you 
 broken the first ? Have you loved your neighbor as your- 
 self? Have you loved God all your life-long, every mo- 
 ment, With ALL Y0TJR HEART, MIND, AND STRENGTH ? If not, 
 
 then you are found wanting. But is not the case better 
 with this man's neighbor, who, in addition to such amiable 
 instincts, and social virtues, and business traits, is a re- 
 
262 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 gular baptized member of the Church* ? He is strict in 
 all his religious duties ; he always bows at the name of 
 Jesus — wears black on Good Friday, and dresses in white 
 upon Easter Sunday — is never absent from confession, or 
 vespers, or communion ; he is at the prayer-meeting, the 
 Bible class, the Sabbath-school, and can repeat the Creed, 
 the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. Surely, 
 such an one will weigh well in the scales of the sanctuary. 
 Alas ! it is nowhere written in the law that such things 
 as these will be taken as substitutes for obedience to the 
 will of God, and for the want of the devotion of the heart 
 to Him. The law of God is not satisfied with forms and 
 ceremonies ; the rubrics do not silence the thundering 
 sound of the Judge's solemn voice, saying, Who hath re- 
 quired this at your hand ? He hath required love. You 
 reply, I have done penance ; I have performed this good 
 work ; and you are weighed and found altogether want- 
 ing. Nor will it at all alter your case to say, I am sincere 
 in my views. Sincerity added to heresy does not make 
 it true. No doubt there are sincere unbelievers, as there 
 are sincere Moslems and sincere madmen. Saul of Tarsus 
 said, " I verily thought that I ought to do many things 
 contrary to the name of Jesus." He was as sincere in his 
 persecution of Christians before his conversion as he was 
 sincere in his preaching the Gospel and suffering for it 
 afterward. Sincerity deserves to be treated with respect 
 and pity ; but it is impossible that sincerity can make 
 error truth, or save us from the consequences of our errors. 
 Our accountability rests in the use of the means given us 
 for the discovery of the truth. The matter is brought 
 down to a very definite point. The Bible considers all 
 
THE WEIGHED AND "WANTING. 263 
 
 under sin. The Bible says, " There is none good, no, not 
 one." " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
 selves and the truth is not in us." There is no one that 
 seriously looks at his heart and life, and the requirements 
 of God's holy law, who does not feel, a If thou, O Lord, 
 shouldst mark iniquity, who would stand V If all have 
 sinned and come short of the glory of God, how, then, can 
 we meet his law ? Are we all found wanting, and brought 
 under the fearful inscription Tekel ? Blessed be God, 
 there is a more excellent way. " God is just, and yet the 
 justifier of them that believe in Jesus." "For of God 
 Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctifica- 
 tion, and complete redemption." 
 
 " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every 
 one that believeth." 
 
 " God hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for 
 us," &c. 
 
 Against the law, therefore, is weighed the magnifier of 
 the law. Against the law, with its infinite demands, is 
 weighed the infinite righteousness of him that made it 
 honorable. Against the sin of disobeying God's law is 
 placed the blood of His own Son, which cleanseth from 
 all sin. Against Mount Sinai, in one end of the scale, is 
 placed Calvary, in the opposite scale, and the voice of 
 pardon from the latter prevails over the thundering and 
 terrors of the former. "When we look on the law, the in- 
 scription impressed upon every soul is, " Weighed and 
 found wanting.'' But when we look at Christ, who is our 
 righteousness, then the inscription, "Tekel," is washed 
 away in his precious blood, and the following glorious 
 and illuminated characters are inscribed in their stead * 
 
264 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 " Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with 
 God through our Lord Jesus Christ." We are " complete 
 in Christ, without spot or blemish, or any such thing." 
 
 Who, then, are weighed and found wanting? The 
 atheist, the pagan, the unbeliever, the profane, the evil- 
 doer, and the vicious. "Whoremongers and idolaters 
 God will judge." "Drunkards cannot inherit the king- 
 dom of God." " All liars shall have their part in the 
 lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." And also 
 all the impenitent and unbelieving ; for it is written, 
 " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." " Ex- 
 cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God." This being born again is not mere baptism, nor is 
 it a mere outward reformation. It is a total transforma- 
 tion of character. It is a change from^ darkness and sin 
 to a state of light and holiness. It is to become a new 
 creature. Do not allow yourselves, my young friends, to 
 be deceived on this matter. It is declared to be an essen- 
 tial point by our Lord himself. Men may laugh at re- 
 generation, but to be saved we must be converted. And 
 what is conversion? It is not seriousness — it is not con- 
 viction — it is not conformity to any mere outward require- 
 ment, but a thorough, inner, radical revolution of mind. 
 It is not a change of the features of the face. It is not a 
 revolution of the intellect, but of our views, preferences, 
 wishes, and hopes. It is not an ecstasy, an emotion, or a 
 passion. It is not an outcry — it is not religious excite- 
 ment — it is not ecclesiastical zeal. It is life from the 
 dead ; it is a new heart and a right spirit within us, 
 created by the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of justification 
 by faith is sometimes greatly misrepresented. Even in 
 
EVIDENCES OP SALVATION. 335 
 
 the days of the Apostle Paul, as now, it was charged with 
 leading to licentiousness ; but nothing is further from the 
 truth. The whole Gospel method of salvation comprises 
 holiness as essential. Without holiness no man can see 
 God ; without holiness no one can be happy. Christ is 
 called Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins. 
 Good works are not the procuring cause, but the evi- 
 dences of our salvation. Penitence, faith, and charity, 
 and holy living, are essential to happiness. Just in pro- 
 portion that men are vicious, so are they subjects of 
 misery. All men, therefore, who are living in the prac- 
 tice of any known, deliberate, and voluntary sin are 
 "weighed and found wanting." Creeds, and baptisms, 
 and confessions of faith avail nothing without a living 
 faith in Christ, which, while it justifies, also works by love. 
 It is solemn mockery for a man to profess his faith in 
 Christ, and yet live in disobedience to his commands. 
 Whoever takes the name of Christ upon him, must be 
 careful to maintain good works, and to depart from all 
 iniquity. Do not imagine that you are a Christian, if you 
 harbor deliberately pride, avarice, ambition, vain-glory, 
 covetousness, which is idolatry, murdering, discontent, 
 bitterness, lying, evil-speaking, and slandering. All who 
 knowingly indulge in such things will be found wanting 
 when weighed by the Searcher of all hearts. 
 
 Never forget that you need the work and righteousness 
 of Christ, and the work of the Spirit of God in you to ^.t 
 you for heaven. Amiable instincts, commercial virtues, 
 and social excellences are praiseworthy. These things 
 are lovely and of good report, and are earnestly to be 
 coveted, but they cannot procure the pardon of sin. They 
 
266 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 give no title to heaven, nor do they produce any fitness 
 for its services. Constitutional morality and amiableness 
 of temper often exist without faith and penitence. If 
 constitutional morality and amiableness of natural dis- 
 position entitle us to heaven and prepare us for its glory, 
 then two things are palpable. First, that many people 
 cannot in any way or on any account ever be happy ; for, 
 without inquiring into the cause, or stopping to show why 
 it is so, it is a fact that many people are born with indif- 
 ferent moral constitutions, and with positively bad dis- 
 positions. Secondly, in regard to those that are more 
 fortunate by birth and education, there was no necessity 
 for Christianity at all. Mere heathen morals are suffi- 
 cient, if such things entitle us to, or prepare us for, 
 heaven. Then Christ died in vain ; the Holy Spirit is 
 useless. But it is not thus you read the Holy Scriptures. 
 "What are called evangelical sentiments on this subject 
 recommend themselves to you by two plain and powerful 
 considerations. First. Such sentiments are not only true 
 and clearly according to the teachings of the Bible, and 
 supported by a large majority of the great, the learned, 
 and the pious, in all ages of the world, but they are 
 eminently conducive to present happiness. Evangelical 
 views of religion are pre-eminently the views that produce 
 happiness in the present life. The reasons of this are 
 palpable. Such views take hold of present realities, and 
 embrace a sufficient remedy for present evils. This is 
 true of an individual man and of the human race. Such 
 views supply an antidote for earth's sorrows. They fix 
 the mind on high and ever-enduring sources of consola- 
 tion ; they stay the heart upon God ; they appease the 
 
"WHAT SENTIMENTS ARE BEST AND SAFEST. 267 
 
 crying of the human soul for reconciliation with its Maker. 
 The altars and victims of all ages and of all races are 
 satisfied in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. All things 
 are ours in Christ. Peace of conscience and the abundant 
 fruits of the Spirit cannot fail to make a happy man. In 
 keeping God's laws there is great reward. Godliness 
 with contentment is great gain in the present world, as 
 well as in the world to come. 
 
 But, again, our views of religion claim your attention, 
 
 BECAUSE THEY AKE NOT ONLY PRE-EMINENTLY CONDUCIVE TO 
 HAPPINESS EVEN NOW, BUT THEY ARE THE SAFEST FOR THE 
 FUTURE. 
 
 With the conviction on our mind that they are true, 
 and according to the Scriptures, this is an exceedingly 
 low point of view. But for the sake of illustrating our 
 argument, suppose the opponent of evangelical sentiments 
 is correct, what does he gain ? He gains nothing, either 
 in this world or the world to come. The evangelical be- 
 liever fares as well as he does. He loses nothing. But 
 suppose the rejecter of evangelical religion is mistaken, 
 that he is in error, as he most certainly is, then what is 
 the result ? He loses every thing. If it were possible for 
 you to be in error by believing the Scriptures and receiv- 
 ing the atonement, and striving for a new heart, even then 
 you lose nothing ; but if such things are true, then he who 
 rejects them is weighed in the balance and found wanting. 
 
 Finally. Live under the habitual conviction that all 
 your actions must be weighed in the just balances of the 
 eternal God. " It is appointed unto all men once to die, 
 and after death the judgment." 
 
 "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of 
 
LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Christ." An awful scrutiny, therefore, awaits every one 
 of us at the bar of God. Well then might we say with 
 the late sage of Marshfield, that the greatest idea that 
 could ever enter a man's mind is his personal account- 
 ability to God. The very nature of the constitution of the 
 universe requires that there should be a final judgment, 
 and that there should be a difference between those that 
 serve God and those that serve him not. As there is good 
 and evil, so there is a God and there is a devil ; and com- 
 mon sense, as well as reason and revelation, teaches that 
 there must be a separation of the righteous and the wicked. 
 Accordingly, our Lord has told us that the righteous shall 
 go away into life everlasting, and the wicked into ever- 
 lasting punishment. The duration of the happiness of the 
 righteous is in this place and in other Scriptures explained 
 by the very same Greek term that is used to express the 
 duration of the punishment of the wicked. It is impossi- 
 ble for language to be plainer, and for the teachings of 
 the Bible to be more positive than they are as to the 
 characters and destinies of the righteous and the wicked. 
 Since, then, these things are so, What shall we do to be 
 saved f The way of salvation is through faith in Christ. 
 All of our race, when weighed in the balances of God, are 
 found wanting. It is Christ, and Christ only, who can 
 turn the scale in favor of any of Adam's race. But He is 
 an almighty, and everlasting, and gracious Saviour. He 
 casts out none that come to Him. He that believeih shall 
 be saved / he that believeth not shall be damned. . 
 
BABYLON'S LAST NIQHT. 269 
 
 LECTUKE XIII. 
 
 DANIEL THREATENED WITH THE LIOn's DEN. 
 
 On Dan., vi., 1-11. 
 
 A Tragedy in four Acts on the last Night of the Babylonian Empire. — Feast 
 described. — Herodotus and Xenophon detail the Fulfillment of DanieVs Predic- 
 tions. — Cyrus 1 grand Review. — Cyaxares. — Darius. — Men for Places, not 
 Places for Partisans. — Division of Labor. — As good Patriots, pray for your 
 Rulers. — Six Satraps not too many. — Daniel a model Statesman. — Statesmen 
 should be pious as well as capable. — Daniel envied. — His Promotion not con- 
 firmed by the State: why. — Cunning Politicians. — DanieVs Danger. — No 
 Impeachment can lie except in the matter of his Religion. — The Conspiracy 
 arranged. — The TYRANNY of the Edict against Prayer. — DanieVs Oratoire. 
 — His Mother's Principles deeply rooted. — " Toward Jerusalem" does not 
 authorize high Altars looking to the East. — Daniel was not a mere heart 
 Christian, but a CONFESSOR — a Man for a Crisis. 
 
 LESSONS. 
 
 I. Trials burn away the dross. 
 II. Learn patience and prudence under trials. Foundation op all 
 
 LAW IS THE WILL OP GrOD. 
 
 III. Surrender yourselves in youth cheerfully and unreservedly 
 
 TO THE SERVICE OP GOD. 
 
 I. The two last lectures comprised a visit to the city 
 and court of Babylon under most extraordinary circum- 
 stances. We were at a royal feast, on the last night of 
 the existence of the Babylonian empire, which began in 
 great splendor, proceeded with unexampled mirth, and 
 became impious, and ended in fearful disasters. In this 
 most imposing tragedy were four acts. 
 
 First Act. — A magnificent banquet — joy, splendor, be- 
 
270 LECTURES ON DANIEL, 
 
 witching beauty, sparkling wines, rich dresses, glittering 
 jewelry, enchanting music — an assemblage of wit, rank, 
 and beauty, such as could be seen only in the metropolis 
 of the world. 
 
 The Second Act opens like a flash of lightning. A 
 hand, silent and terrible, comes out on the plastering of 
 the palace wall, and writes, MENE, MEKE, TEKEL, 
 UPHARSIN. The king is seized with terror — utters a 
 piercing cry — his limbs tremble — his countenance is 
 changed — his eyes are fixed — his joints are loosed and 
 his knees smite together — he calls for his wise men ; and 
 the whole assembly is thrown into the same inexpressible 
 anguish. 
 
 Third Act. — The queen dowager enters — she is receiv- 
 ed with marks of profound respect — she comes not as the 
 wife of the king, but with the authority of the queen- 
 mother. But does she come to read herself the mys- 
 terious writing ? Can she explain this appalling prodigy ? 
 All is silent. Let us hear her speak : " O king," says she, 
 " live forever ! There is a man in thy kingdom in whom 
 is the Spirit of the holy God. In the days of thy father, 
 light, and understanding, and wisdom, like the wisdom 
 of the gods, was found in him ; he interpreted dreams, 
 and showed hard sayings, and resolved doubts. Let him 
 be sent for ; he is the only man in your kingdom who can 
 explain these awful mysteries." 
 
 Fourth Act. — Daniel arrives. What a moment ! Here 
 are the thousand lords — the women of the harem, in their 
 extravagant and licentious attire — here are the festive 
 tables — the unhallowed remains of a royal debauch — the 
 golden vessels of Jehovah's temple of Jerusalem, still full 
 
DAx^IEL IN THE ALARMED COURT. 271 
 
 of the wine of their impure libations. The lamps, amid 
 all the splendors of the palace, still beam upon a thous- 
 and countenances on which terror is depicted — the king 
 himself, lately so joyous and so proud, is now trembling, 
 dejected, gasping for breath. But while such were the 
 scenes going on beneath the porticoes of the palace, and 
 on the terraces, and in the hanging gardens of Babylon, 
 night reigned over the Eastern World* The stars, in 
 silence, were filling their offices in the heavens ; and in 
 the camp of the Medes and Persians, without the walls 
 of Babylon, not a sound was heard. The besieging army 
 appears more silent and more tranquil than ever. And 
 now the Hebrew prophet enters the royal presence. He 
 is an old man, grown gray with years ; his venerable 
 countenance beams with devotional intelligence. The 
 monarch reminds him, by his salutation, that though he 
 has sent for him, yet he was only a captive and a slave. 
 " Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the 
 captivity, whom the king my father brought out of the 
 Jewry ? I have heard of thee, that thou canst make in- 
 terpretations. Now if thou canst read this writing, thou 
 shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold 
 about thy neck, and thou shalt be third ruler in the king- 
 dom." Whereupon Daniel reads the interpretation and 
 is rewarded as the king promised. But, according to 
 Daniel's words, that very night " was Belshazzar, the king 
 of the Chaldeans, slain ; and Darius, the Median, took 
 the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old." 
 Read here chap, vi., 1-11. 
 
 You are aware that all that the prophets predicted con- 
 cerning the fall of Babylon was fulfilled to the letter, 
 
272 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 even to the minutest details. The accounts of Herodotus 
 and Xenophon, who lived two hundred years after Cyrus, 
 are in perfect accordance with the great scenes of this 
 wonderful transaction, as recorded in Daniel, and foretold 
 by other prophets. The confederate armies of Media and 
 Persia were entrusted to the command of young Cyrus, 
 who, without his or their knowledge, was to be the con- 
 queror of Babylon, according to Isaiah and Jeremiah. 
 Cyrus, having taken the city, held a review of his cavalry 
 in the streets and squares. Four thousand horsemen, as 
 the royal body-guard, were stationed before the gates of 
 the palace, and two thousand more on either side. .When- 
 ever he went out, these marched before him, and two 
 thousand lancers followed. Next followed four great 
 divisions of the army of ten thousand horse in each ; and 
 lastly, two thousand war chariots, armed with scythes, 
 four abreast, closed the order of march. The army re- 
 viewed by Cyrus in Babylon is estimated to have consist- 
 ed of one hundred and twenty thousand horse and six 
 hundred thousand foot, numbers not at all improbable in 
 the armies of the East. 
 
 Darius the Mede was not present when Babylon was 
 taken. Although Cyrus was the conqueror of the Baby- 
 lonians, he did not reign ostensibly over the Medes and 
 Persians, for both his father and mother were still alive. 
 After his great victory, he went to visit his parents in 
 Persia, and his uncle, the Darius of Daniel, called also 
 Cyaxares, who was also the father-in-law of Cyrus, return- 
 ed with him to regulate the affairs of the empire. It was 
 to him that Cyrus yielded the first place. And after such 
 a grand review as that which I have just spoken of, Cyrus 
 
DANIEL UNDER DARIUS.— MEN FOR PLACES. 273 
 
 left Babylon to lead an army to the shores of the Red 
 Sea. It was during his absence that the events of the 
 sixth chapter took place. Darius reigned only two years 
 over the Babylonian empire, and under his reign Daniel 
 was cast into the den of lions. According to verses 1 and 
 3, Darius, finding Daniel in favor, continued him in office. 
 All classes were, no doubt, occupied with his predictions. 
 He had read the mysterious words on the wall, and fore- 
 told the destruction of the king and the loss of his empire. 
 It was no doubt also now called to mind how that for 
 half a century he had served the great Nebuchadnezzar. 
 The conquerors were no doubt made well acquainted with 
 his wisdom, his probity, his presence of mind, and eleva- 
 tion of character. His incomparable excellence of spirit 
 and talent for government recommended him to the chief 
 bureau of the presidencies. Men should be selected for 
 places, and not places made for friends. Men should be 
 appointed to office who have shown themselves to possess 
 capacity and integrity in the situations they have already 
 occupied ; and one proof of their requisite qualifications 
 for office is, that they have the good sense and modesty 
 to stay at home and diligently attend to their business 
 until their services are called for by a discerning public. 
 History and experience have shown that it is better for 
 individuals and for society that there should be a division 
 of labor, and different grades in society, and different 
 avocations ; and that society is best which allows to all 
 the free pursuits of life and happiness in such avocations 
 as may be individually selected, and guarantees to them 
 security and enjoyment in the awards of their several 
 
 pursuits. Without such division, freedom, and guarantee, 
 
 18 
 
274 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the arts and sciences can never be carried on to perfection. 
 It has ever been one of the greatest tests of character and 
 of talent, as well as one of the most delicate and difficult 
 trusts of government, to select suitable men for public 
 services. Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon ; Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, and, greater than all — ex- 
 cept the Bible heroes — Cromwell and Napoleon, were re- 
 markable for ther ability in this. And as you and all 
 Christians should pray daily for all in authority, so you 
 should never forget to implore Him who is the fountain 
 of wisdom to give a discerning of spirits and sound under- 
 standing to all rulers, that they may be able to find men 
 that fear God and are anxious for his glory, to fill the 
 various offices of government. When God would punish 
 a people for their sins, he says, "I will give their children 
 to be their princes, and babes shall reign over them." — 
 Isaiah iii., 4. 
 
 II. For an answer to the objection made to the very 
 beginning of this chapter, that there was no such king as 
 Darius the Median, I refer you to history, and to what 
 I have just said about Cyaxares. And as to a similar 
 objection about the number of provinces and satraps, the 
 following remarks may suffice : The term satrap is said 
 to be Median or Persian, and to mean simply a super- 
 intendent of revenue. In process of time, the satraps 
 took also the office of military governor of the provinces 
 over which they were appointed as revenue officers. The 
 extent and number of such provinces depended wholly 
 upon the will and convenience of the sovereign. Sub- 
 satrwps may be included also under the same term. It 
 may be true, then (Cyrop., viii., 6, 1, and viii, 5, 19,) that 
 
DANIEL A MODEL STATESMAN. 275 
 
 Cyrus did appoint six satraps over his kingdom. It is 
 true that his empire was larger than that of Darius. It 
 may he true, also, according to Herodotus (iii., 89,) that, 
 after Thrace and hither India were added to the empire 
 by Darius Hystaspis, only twenty satraps were appointed. 
 And Xerxes appointed 127 ; why, then, could not Darius 
 the Mede appoint 120 % 
 
 III. As soon as Darius became lord of the then civilized 
 world, he began to feel the cares of office and the per- 
 plexities of the power of patronage. An increase of care 
 is the first consequence of an increase of power. The 
 newly- conquered provinces, as well as the older parts of 
 his vast dominions, were now to be provided with military 
 governors and tax collectors. Over the one hundred and 
 twenty rulers of the provinces he appointed three pre- 
 sidents, of whom Daniel was chief. The preference for 
 Daniel was well founded. He was a model statesman — 
 a prime minister that should be imitated. He was, 1, well 
 known for his probity and talents for government under 
 the Babylonian empire. He was a tried man. 
 
 2. He was preferred above the presidents, because an 
 excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to have 
 set him over the whole realm. Kings and presidents are 
 now often mistaken in the estimate which they form of 
 men. But Darius was correct. Daniel was one of the 
 most excellent of the earth. If in particular talents and 
 services he was excelled by other Bible heroes, certainly, 
 in the union and assemblage of gifts and graces, and in 
 life-long devotion and uniform adherence to principles, he 
 was surpassed by none. From his youth he honored God, 
 by an intelligent, consistent, and exemplary piety ; and 
 
276 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 God so honored him, that even heathen kings did him 
 reverence, while they contemned his religion. Great 
 talents and high station with him were not inconsistent 
 with inviolable purity and inflexible integrity. His badge 
 of office was not the badge of ignominy. He did not owe 
 his elevation to any fawning, cringing, flattering submis- 
 sion ; nor was his high position owing to blind favoritism 
 or party zeal. He had no patron but his God ; no cer- 
 tificate but his character ; no recommendation but his ex- 
 cellent spirit, and incomparable talent and experience. 
 
 Honorable as Daniel's appointment was to himself, it 
 was no less so to his royal master. To govern a country 
 well, rulers must not only be great men, but good men- 
 men of public spirit and courage, who will neither seek 
 to please themselves nor the people by sinister purposes, 
 but endeavor, in all honesty of heart, to promote the peo- 
 ple's welfare and the glory of, God. Happy. was it for the 
 Persian empire that such a man as Daniel was chief of 
 its prefects. But no appointment to office ever was satis- 
 factory to all. Somebody is dissatisfied. Excellent as 
 Daniel's character was, his appointment to the first place 
 in the kingdom gave great offense to the dignitaries of 
 the realm. They were filled with envy to see a foreigner, 
 a captive, a professor of the hated Jewish religion, exalted 
 above the ancient and hereditary nobles of the' land. 
 Probably, also, Daniel's inflexible integrity in the admin- 
 istration of affairs was another cause of their hatred. A 
 man of such strict purity was in their way; he was a 
 running commentary of rebuke ; his character awed them, 
 reproved them, restrained, and therefore irritated them. 
 He would not join in their peculations, nor overlook their 
 
WHY HE WAS PERSECUTED. 277 
 
 oppression. It was impossible for them to aggrandize 
 themselves, with such a man to represent the interests of 
 the nation always calling them to an account. As col- 
 lectors of the ports and directors of the revenue deposits 
 of those days, they could not * loan to one another, upon 
 their own pledged stock, or otherwise, the moneys of the 
 empire, while a man so sagacious, so penetrating, so 
 scrutinizing, was at their head to check their rapacity. 
 They could not deceive him by the pretext that it was 
 for the accommodation of the public they were so liberal 
 in helping themselves to the dividends of the royal exche- 
 quer. They were, however, far-seeing politicians. They 
 did not attack outright the justice or wisdom of the king's 
 appointment. They set about effecting Daniel's removal. 
 "No doubt they were anxious to find some public act 
 which they might challenge — some instance of partiality, 
 of oppression, or injustice — some harsh expression — some 
 instance of prejudice against the national religion, or of 
 bigotry toward his own — some overlooking of the king's 
 interest — something or other which, by being exaggerated 
 or highly colored, might be so presented to the monarch 
 as to produce Daniel's downfall, and possibly his death. 
 And how easily they might have effected this, if there 
 had only been found some plausible pretext, you will 
 easily perceive, when you reflect that Daniel was prime 
 minister in an empire where the will of the monarch was 
 law absolute, unquestioned, irrevocable; where there 
 was no constitutional liberty, no trial by jury, no regular 
 impeachment and investigation ; but where upon a charge, 
 or at the pleasure of the monarch, the head of any subject 
 rolled trunkless at his feet in a moment. These courtiers, 
 
.278 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 however, find no occasion against Daniel in any matter 
 that pertained to his official duties, or to his loyalty to 
 the king. If keen-eyed malignity had brought some 
 charge against Daniel, he would have fared as most pub- 
 lic men do ; but so well was his character balanced, and 
 so great were his wisdom and prudence, that he avoided 
 even the appearance of evil. His enemies were obliged 
 to confess that his public conduct was unimpeachable. 
 Did they then cease their purpose of destroying him % 
 When did the enemies of a godly man ever cease to hunt 
 for occasions to accuse him ? When they cannot find 
 causes, they will invent them ; they will endeavor to turn 
 his very virtues into crimes. There is no more hateful, 
 no more unhappy disposition than one that gloats in dis- 
 covering another's faults. It is a most godless and repro- 
 bate state of mind. To be gratified in discovering the 
 sins of our fellow-men, is to partake of the fiendish dis- 
 position of the great enemy of all good. I had rather 
 forget and forgive ten thousand times ten thousand errors 
 in my neighbor than discover one of his faults. Our re- 
 ligion is love ; our God is love. And though Christians 
 are not saints, though they are imperfect, yet their prin- 
 ciples compel them to be benevolent, forgiving, and 
 kind. Drunkards, thieves, fornicators, and liars are 
 nearer the kingdom of God than those persons who are 
 full of enmity against their neighbor. He that hateth his 
 brother is of the wicked one, the father of Cain. " He 
 that hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that 
 no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." 
 
 I apprehend that verses 4 and 5 do not mean that there 
 was any thing in Daniel's conduct toward his God that 
 
HIS SPLENDID EULOGIUM. 279 
 
 justly laid him liable to a charge on that ground. No, 
 the meaning is the very opposite of this. He was not re- 
 miss in the duties he owed to his God. They meant to 
 say, Our only hope is to find something in his religious 
 creed or practice that can be construed into an offense 
 against the king or the empire. There is no other way 
 of getting up a charge against him that will have even 
 the appearance of plausibility. And was there ever a 
 more splendid eulogium than this upon Daniel's charac- 
 ter? Nothing can be charged against him but what is, 
 in fact, his highest honor. 
 
 IV. The conspirators, having arranged their arguments, 
 approach the throne with the loudest professions of de- 
 votion and disinterested loyalty. Kead verses 6, 7, and 8. 
 
 The tyranny of this law consisted in its penalty, and in 
 its interdiction of all intercourse between God and his 
 creatures. It was an impious attempt to banish God from 
 the Persian empire for thirty days. It exalted the king 
 into the place of the Creator. The decree claimed more 
 for Darius than the Maker of the universe claims for him- 
 self. God forbids us to pray to saints, or angels, or any 
 other creature or God but himself, but does not, as Darius 
 did, forbid our making requests of our fellow-men. It was 
 a most unreasonable and cruel law. If the beggar in the 
 streets of Babylon or Persepolis asked alms for thirty 
 days, he was to be food for lions. If the child, in the 
 overflowings of affectionate desires, should make a request 
 to his father, he was to be thrown straightway into the 
 lions' den. This decree was the carrying out of the ab- 
 surd, tyrannical, superstitious, atheistical principle, that 
 rulers may legislate for the consciences of their subjects. 
 
280 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 It is the pressure of this principle that makes Europe to- 
 day groan under such intolerable burdens. Priests and sol- 
 diers eat up the substance of the people. The priests keep 
 the conscience, and, by the terrors of the world to come, 
 wrest the hard earnings of the people from them for the 
 support of courts and armies, and the government upholds 
 the hierarchy for their service to the state. The estab- 
 lishment of a religion by law, and the intolerance that 
 forbids any other, is an assumption on the part of human 
 lawgivers that they have the right to tell men what to 
 believe, and to compel them to believe, and consequently 
 have a right to debar them from all correspondence with 
 God — to lay an embargo upon all intercourse with heaven. 
 
 The dishonest and treacherous method by which these 
 men obtained the passing of this cruel and unrighteous 
 decree is characteristic of zealots and political partisans 
 to this day. The device is still the king's honor, while 
 in reality it is their own miserable selfish purposes they 
 are seeking, and seeking by encompassing the ruin of 
 Daniel. So it is the good of the country — the country, 
 the people, the public welfare, that we hear of; while it 
 is too often party or sectarian interests, or personal ag- 
 grandizement, that lies at the bottom of all their zeal. 
 Though the patriotism of many is like a chameleon, it 
 cannot live on air ; it has a strong passion for loaves and 
 fishes. 
 
 Y. But what'did Daniel do? Yerses 10, 11. 
 
 And his windows were open in his chamber — an apart- 
 ment probably built on the top of the house, with a roof 
 of its own, and designed for retirement. Such an upper 
 room is frequently mentioned in the Bible. This upper 
 
OPEN WINDOWS.— "UPPER ROOM" 281 
 
 room was the usual place for prayer : see Acts, i., 13, 9. 
 In the Septuagint translation of Daniel, which you may 
 remember was made from the original Hebrew and Chal- 
 dee into Greek, about three hundred years before the 
 birth of Christ, by Alexandrian Jews, at the command of 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, the word that is used for Daniel's 
 chamber*, is the very same that is used in the Acts to 
 denote the place in which the Christians met at Pentecost. 
 This room is called the "upper room," because it was 
 built upon the flat roof of the house, and sequestered from 
 the noise and interruption of the other rooms. It was 
 into this room the pious Jew retired to read the law, and 
 pray, and hold communion with God. It was in such a 
 room the first Christians were wont to assemble for prayer, 
 and for the observance of the Lord's Supper. It was to 
 such a room Daniel was in the habit of withdrawing him- 
 self from the cares of state to hold communion with the 
 God of his fathers, and still the covenant-keeping God of 
 his suffering countrymen. There is not to my mind any 
 thing strange, improbable, or proud and ostentatious, in 
 the fact that Daniel prayed with his windows open, and 
 toward Jerusalem. It was not for the mere purpose of 
 display, or to defy the conspirators against his life, that 
 he did so. It had always been his custom thus to worship 
 God. He knew that the decree was made, and that it 
 was unchangeable ; but in his hour of trial he had no 
 thought of forsaking his God. It was the more proper 
 for him now to seek his blessing and presence. Daniel 
 had no difficulty or hesitancy in determining what he 
 should do. His early education had fortunately been 
 pious; he had studied well with his mother and father, 
 
LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 in his quiet Jerusalem home, the laws of Moses and the 
 Catechism of his Church. His principles were, therefore, 
 not only sound, but deeply-rooted ; and his conscience 
 had been so faithfully trained and developed by his habits 
 of duty, that it intuitively pronounced an instant and final 
 sentence on the matter. What if his fortune, his life, was 
 at stake ? How could he sin against God ? No sooner, 
 therefore, did he hear that u the writing was signed than 
 he went into his house ; and his windows being open in 
 his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees 
 three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his 
 God, as he did aforetime." 
 
 Toward Jerusalem, because that was the place where 
 the special presence of God was supposed to be. Thus 
 David says in Fsalm v., 7, " And in thy fear will I worship 
 toward thy holy temple." And again, xvii,, 2, " Hear the 
 voice of my supplications, when I say unto thee, when I 
 lift up my hands toward the holy oracle ;" or, as it is in 
 the margin, " the oracle of thy sanctuary." And again, 
 in Psalm xx., where we have the ground of this practice, 
 " Jehovah hear thee in the day of trouble. Send thee 
 help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion." 
 The sublime prayer of Solomon contains several repeti- 
 tions of the idea that their prayers were to be directed to 
 the temple in Jerusalem. 1 Kings, viii., 35, 38, 44, 48, 
 49 ; 2 Chron., vi., 34. 
 
 "We learn from Ezekiel, viii., 16, that the worshipers of 
 Ormuzd, the god of the Persians, looked to the rising sun, 
 the symbol of Ormuzd, when engaged in worship. The 
 ancient Christians used to pray with their faces toward 
 the East. In like manner, the Mohammedans pray with 
 
"TOWARD JERUSALEM."— HIGH ALTARS. 283 
 
 their faces toward Mecca. As Daniel was east of Jeru- 
 salem, Ms face was turned toward the west. Nor can we 
 suppose for a moment that we have here, or any where 
 else, any authority prescribing it as the duty of Christians 
 to look toward any of the cardinal points when they pray. 
 It is not in this mountain, not at Babylon nor Persepolis, 
 not in Rome, nor Jerusalem, that God requires us to wor- 
 ship him ; but every where, in all places. God is a Spirit, 
 and seeketh such to worship him as do it in spirit and in 
 truth. The reason why pious Jews directed their face 
 toward Jerusalem in prayer was, that there was the temple 
 and its furniture which was to them the type of the Me- 
 diator, by whom their worship was to be made acceptable 
 to God. The spiritually-minded Jew fixes his eye on the 
 temple service as a figure representing the mediation and 
 intercession of the Messiah. It is no argument, but a 
 vain plea of superstition, to tell us that because the Jews 
 prayed in ancient times with their faces toward Jeru- 
 salem, we ought to do so likewise. Of precisely the same 
 nature is the idea that we should build our churches in 
 the form of a cross, or with their chancels, which are 
 ignorantly called by some "altars," and "high altars," 
 looking toward the East. Our houses of worship should 
 be tasteful, elegant, commodious, and fitted for the wor- 
 ship of God ; but to burden ourselves with forms and 
 rules such as these, is to do just what Paul tells the 
 Galatians not to do : " The letting go the liberty where- 
 with Christ has made us free." This were to go back to 
 Judaism ; this were to conform to heathen and Moham- 
 medan forms. And what is infinitely more, this is to dis- 
 place Christ, the only Mediator, and to " substitute an 
 
284 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 exhausted type, a shriveled symbol, in the room of Him 
 who is its substance, its reality, and its end." If the 
 great law of Solomon to the Jews was, " Pray with your 
 face toward Jerusalem," the great law of the Gospel is, 
 "Pray every where in the name of Jesus." The Jewish 
 Church consisted of a temple built of stones, a grand 
 altar, overshadowing cherubims, with bright beams of 
 ineffable glory, and the ministration of the priests with 
 sacrifices — all of which was a type of good things to come. 
 The Christian Church is composed not of dead stones, but 
 of living ones. The glory is not visible and palpable, but 
 spiritual ; the worship is spiritual ; its completeness is the 
 fullness of Christ, who is all. in all, and over all, God, 
 blessed for evermore. , And hence there is a true Christian 
 Church without priest or bishop, wherever there is faith 
 in Christ and obedience to his commandments. On the 
 ocean shore, on the deep-sounding sea, on the mountain 
 top, in the deep secluded glen, in the mountain gorge, 
 hidden from persecuting tyrants ; in the deep caves and 
 catacombs of the earth ; in the field, in the wilderness, in 
 the city; wherever there are two or three met in the 
 name of Jesus, there is a temple more glorious than 
 Solomon's ; there is the temple of the Holy Ghost, in 
 which God dwells, and manifests his excellent glory. 
 
 It is sometimes said, Daniel could have been just as 
 pious, and have prayed to God in his heart, and God 
 would have heard him just as well, if he had shut his 
 windows and prayed in secret, and not have let his ene- 
 mies know that he violated the king's decree. 
 
 It is true that bodily exercise profiteth little, but the 
 Bible does not say it profiteth nothing. On the contrary, 
 
POINT OF DANIEL'S TRIAL. 285 
 
 we are commanded to glorify God in onr bodies as well 
 as in our spirits, which are His. The form of godliness is 
 a part of religion, as well as the power. When God calls 
 upon us to believe with the heart unto righteousness ', no 
 outward action, such as fasting, or praying with a loud 
 voice, or pilgrimages, or penances, or the giving of youi 
 goods to feed the poor, of your bodies to be burned, will 
 be accepted by God as a substitute for faith. So, on the 
 other hand, when God calls you to make confession of 
 Christ with the mouth unto salvation— to acknowledge 
 him before men — then no inward frame of spirit, neither 
 faith, nor love, nor self-denial, will be accepted by him as 
 a substitute for that open and visible adherence to His 
 truth and identification with His people which He has 
 been pleased to require as a test of your obedience to 
 Him, and a means of salvation. In a time of trial, it is 
 not mere inward feeling of devotion, but the outward 
 manifestation of it, that God requires. It is not so much 
 the image of God in the heart, as his " name upon the 
 forehead," that proves that we are " the called, and chosen, 
 and faithful." In the case of Daniel, the point on which 
 the authority of God and of the king came into collision, 
 was about the external acts of divine worship. Praying 
 to God in the Spirit was not prohibited, but rendering 
 him outward acts of homage was forbidden. This was 
 the point on trial. God said, on the one hand, " In all 
 thy ways acknowledge me, and I will direct thy steps." 
 " In the day of trouble, call upon me, and I will answer." 
 Darius said, "Thou shalt not ask a petition of God for 
 thirty days." In this case, the inward state of the heart 
 could be ascertained only by the outward act. It was 
 
286 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 not enough that the heart believed ; the mouth must make 
 confession also. If Daniel had shut his windows, if he 
 had ceased to kneel, or ceased to speak unto God with his 
 lips, and rested content with the mere utterances of the 
 heart, he would have denied his God before men ; but by 
 praying as he had done aforetime, he gave his testimony, 
 and God honored and delivered him. Daniel's hi^h sta- 
 tion at the head of the Persian empire, instead of excusing 
 him from fidelity to his religion, enhanced the peculiar 
 responsibility attached to him in this emergency. He 
 was a city set upon a hill ; he was the head of all the pro- 
 fessors of the true religion then in the world, as well as 
 chief of the presidents of the empire. He was the " ob- 
 served of all observers." The eyes of friends and enemies 
 were upon him. Any indecision, any appearance of hes- 
 itance, any compromiting of his principles, or seeming 
 compliance with the decree, would have been productive 
 of the most painful results ; but happily he was the man 
 for the crisis ; the cause in his hands was safe. Closing 
 his eyes on danger, he thought only of his duty. The 
 fear of lions could not make him disown his God. At the 
 perilous post, his attitude clearly defined his position ; and 
 as his faith was shown by his conduct, the Bible records 
 only his magnanimous outward act. The Bible does not 
 tell us how he felt or what he said, but what he did. It 
 refers not to the frame of his soul, but to the posture of 
 his body and the utterances of his lips. It was by his 
 outward actions that he was to show that he was willing 
 to lay his body down as a living sacrifice on the divine 
 altar. 
 
 First, then, this case teaches you that GooZ sometimes 
 
SOMETIMES MUST SUFFER OR SIN. 287 
 
 allows his people to be placed in situations in which they 
 are shut up by Sis providence either to suffer or to sin. 
 It was not any fault of Daniel's three friends that placed 
 them in the dilemma of worshiping the great image on 
 the plains of Dura, or of being cast into the fiery furnace. 
 And so here it was for no fault of Daniel that he is shut 
 up to the necessity of deciding whether he would obey 
 God or man, whether he would disown God or be cast into 
 the lions' den. Joseph had similar seasons of trial. Caleb 
 and Joshua also. They had another spirit, and followed 
 the Lord fully. Them the Lord brought into the promised 
 land. Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of 
 God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. 
 And so there are now, in the lives of most men, seasons 
 of peril, critical periods, when they must either sin or 
 suffer ; when they must decide, and take their position on 
 the Lord's side or against him. Such trials answer holy 
 and wise purposes. They benefit God's true people, by 
 burning away the dross of selfishness and worldly-mind- 
 edness. But, 
 
 Secondly. Learn from Daniel to possess your soul in 
 patience and prudence in the days of severe trial. 
 
 Daniel adds nothing, by way of insult, to his persecu- 
 tors, nor of defiance toward his sovereign, nor yet does he 
 omit any thing from fear of danger. He worships God 
 just as he had been accustomed to do. He goes to his 
 own house, into his private chamber, and with his win- 
 dows open, looking toward Jerusalem, he kneels down 
 and prays to God, just as if no decree had been issued 
 against prayer. We see here no fool-hardiness ; we see 
 no vain courting of martyrdom ! nor do we see any pre 
 
288 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 caution to escape the doom that awaited him. We see 
 him praying three times a day, as he had done aforetime. 
 The place, and manner, and substance of his prayers were 
 now just as before. He had been accustomed to mingle 
 thanksgiving with prayer, and though he is now exposed 
 to the hungry lions, he still sees abundant cause of thank- 
 fulness. He felt honored in being counted worthy to 
 suffer for his God. He remembered how he had been 
 hitherto sustained, and now that he was old and gray- 
 headed, he thanked God that he would not leave him nor 
 forsake him. 
 
 It is sometimes said Daniel did wrong in disobey- 
 ing a law which had been passed by the highest legis- 
 lative power in the country. First, I have no sympathy 
 with the "higher law" faction of our times; but it is 
 certainly clear that the foundation of all law is the will 
 of God. Governments are ordained of God. The will 
 of God is aback of and above all social compacts or civil 
 enactments. Secondly, as all the authority which man 
 possesses over man is derived from God, so that authority 
 is limited by the Divine law, and therefore the laws of 
 man ouly bind when they are not inconsistent with the 
 law of God. The moment any decrees of man require 
 what God has forbidden, or forbids what God has com- 
 manded, they cease to be binding upon the conscience, 
 and in such cases it is our solemn duty to protest against 
 them, and to disobey them. Kesistance and passive obe- 
 dience may be pressed to a point when they become sin- 
 ful. The edict of Darius, thirdly, was tyrannical, and 
 opposed to the plainest commands of God. It would have 
 been, therefore, sinful in Daniel to obey it. 
 
DANIEL COULD NOT BE SEDUCED. 289 
 
 Thirdly. Learn then, young men, I beseech you, the 
 duty of surrendering yourselves at once cordially and 
 with a wliole-hearted magnanimity to the service of God. 
 Daniel kept back nothing. He did not waver or hesitate. 
 But as soon as his hour of prayer comes, though he knows 
 the decree is signed, he goes to his chamber, there to 
 offer his protest against this impious decree, and to give 
 his testimony for the supremacy of his God. Daniel was 
 not dragged t# duty, nor to suffering. No doubt there 
 were those who were ready to say he was over-righteous, 
 some that were ready to say, Why do you peril your life, 
 Daniel, for a mere form ? why will you make yourself a 
 martyr for the little matters of keeping your windows 
 open, kneeling down, and speaking your prayers aloud ? 
 Surely, you are not going to sacrifice your splendid 
 emoluments and high station by refusing to obey the 
 king for the short space of thirty days. Consider too, 
 mighty man ! chief of the presidents, how valuable your 
 life is to others. Consider how much you owe to your 
 countrymen, whose cause is in your hands, and to the 
 Church of the Living God. Surely, you will not put in 
 peril all these great matters by such obstinacy. How 
 many, or which, or whether any of these pleas were sug- 
 gested to Daniel, I know not. There are always plausible 
 apologies at hand for treachery to the immortal soul, and 
 treason to God ; but no one can doubt how Daniel re- 
 plied to such cowardly proposals, if indeed any one ven- 
 tured to name them to him. His reply, no doubt, was, 
 " Talk not to me of prudence, nor of the value of my life ; 
 it belongs to Him who gave it to me. He can preserve 
 
 me, or He can raise up others better than I am. I cannot 
 
 19 
 
290 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 refrain from avowing that I dare to do. I would rather 
 refrain fi*(jm praying altogether, than pretend to neglect 
 it while I was secretly engaged in it. I must be honest ; 
 and, as to the time of thirty days, I do not know that I 
 shall live thirty hours. Life, reputation, influence, is 
 nothing without the blessing of God. I will pray, there- 
 fore, just as I have been accustomed to do. He shall 
 hear my voice morning, noon, and evening, as heretofore. 
 The result I cheerfully leave in His haUds." And, my 
 young friends, when you are called upon to take up your 
 cross, deny yourselves and confess Christ before men, re- 
 member Daniel. It is no honor to be brave on the drill 
 ground, but it is an honor to act bravely in the day of 
 battle. It is no faint, or feeble, or fickle effort that will 
 secure your salvation. If you would be saved, you must 
 press into the kingdom of God. He that putteth his hand 
 to the plow, and looketh back, is not fit for the kingdom 
 of heaven. It is not enough to be a Christian in heart, you 
 must be one in life. It is not enough to read sermons at 
 home ; which is not often done, after all. You must honor 
 God's word, and house, and Sabbath, by witnessing with 
 the solemn assemblies of his people your faith in His Son 
 and your attachment to Him. You cannot be a secret 
 Christian, and steal along to heaven without any body 
 knowing it. If you would be saved, you must avouch the 
 Lord as your God. Choose ye, then, this day, whom you 
 will serve. And God give you grace to make such a 
 choice as shall make you forever happy. Amen. 
 
DANIEL PROFESSEDLY PIOUS. 291 
 
 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 On Dan., vL, 13-17, and 24 
 
 Summary. — Interdict of Prayer not so cruel as to be improbable. — Collateral 
 History. — Xenophon, — Be Sacy. — Grotefend. — Daniel not a Defaulter. — 
 How the Decree was obtained. — Nero, Haynau, Duke of Tuscany. — God 
 worked Miracles. — Professor Stuart. — Cunning and Meanness of DanieVs 
 Accusers. — Iheir Success. — The King's Character. — Difference between Baby- 
 lon and Persia. — King's Heart with Daniel, — Church Members rebuked. — 
 Every Atom has its Place and Laws. — Tour Diamond. — Was Darius 
 Converted, or were his Words an unconscious Prophecy ? — Young Men must 
 take a bold and open Stand for God. — Daniel was a Man pre-eminent for 
 Prayer. — Praying Statesmen. — Congressional Prayer-meeting . 
 
 L In previous Lectures we have seen that Daniel was 
 a public man — -a model statesman — a prime minister of 
 extraordinary talent for government, and distinguished 
 for diligence, honesty, and piety. Being a plain, unosten- 
 tatious, tried man, to whom all persons in official stations 
 under him had access, it was easy for his enemies, who 
 were now conspiring against his life, to acquaint them- 
 selves with his religious faith and pious habits. Daniel 
 was not one of those who vainly think they can be relig- 
 ious without letting any body know it. He professed 
 what he felt. He acted out openly what he believed. 
 He was a man of regular and known habits. He had at 
 least three stated hours for prayer in his private chamber, 
 with windows open toward Jerusalem ; but in thus con 
 
^92 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 tinually serving his God he violated the king r s decree, and 
 exposed himself to death by ravenous beasts. 
 
 Head here verses 13-17', and 24. 
 
 II. But it is said, This decree of Darius, that no prayer 
 or request for thirty days should be made of God or man, 
 except of himself — a decree that could proceed only from 
 a madman — is a thing incredible. To this I answer, 1. It 
 may be said truly that the author of such a decree de- 
 served a madhouse rather than a palace ; but even kings 
 do not always receive their just deserts at once. 
 
 2. It is not, however, so improbable a thing as that its 
 record should throw disbelief over the whole narrative. 
 You know that when Themistocles fled from Athens to 
 Persia, and wished to be presented to the king, the cour- 
 tier Artabanus said to him, "It is our custom to honor 
 the king, and worship the image of God, who preserves 
 all things." And you know, also, that Xenophon blames 
 the Persians because " they thought themselves worthy 
 of enjoying the honors of the gods." They worship a 
 mortal man, and call him a divinity, and had rather treat 
 the gods with neglect than their fellow-men."* The king 
 was considered among the Persians as worthy of homage, 
 being the symbol or personification of Ormusd. Alexan- 
 der the Great, in imitation of the Persian kings, required 
 divine honors to be paid him on his entrance into Baby- 
 lon. The great scholar De Sacy says " that the Persian 
 kings call themselves the celestial germ of the race of the 
 gods." On the ruins of Persepolis recently brought to 
 light, kings are evidently presented as objects of adora- 
 
 * See the original references in Stuart, in loco. 
 
DECREE NOT IMPROBABLE.— EXAMPLES. 293 
 
 tion.* It can no longer be a matter of doubt that the 
 Persians did require men to pay supreme homage to their 
 king as the representative of their god Ormusd. There 
 are, then, no special marks of improbability in the narra- 
 tive of the importunity of the king's courtiers and nobles. 
 The king was a weak, vain, ambitious man. 
 
 Daniel's enemies knew well the weak points of their 
 sovereign. They knew that it would gratify his vanity to 
 have such a decree made as they proposed. They knew, 
 also, the character of Daniel. They knew that he was 
 distinguished for ardent piety and decision of character. 
 They were satisfied nothing could be found against him 
 save in the matter of his religion. He was not a defaulter 
 to the government. He could not be charged with neg- 
 lecting the king's interests in any way. As Darius, 
 moreover, was addicted to an excessive use of wine, it is 
 not improbable that the affair was transacted near the 
 close of a banquet, and proposed and carried with many 
 loud professions of reverence, loyalty, and honor toward 
 the king. Is there, then, such a want of probability in 
 the narrative as to throw discredit over the history of the 
 whole matter ? Have drunken despots never committed 
 as outrageous and absurd acts as this ? The king designed 
 to gratify his own vanity. He did not think of the con- 
 sequences. Nor is history without parallels. Nero, Cali- 
 gula, Herod the Great, Genghis Khan, the authors of the 
 Saint Bartholomew massacre, Haynau, and even the 
 amiable Duke of Tuscany, could perpetrate such things 
 
 * Grotefend says on one of these ruins is the inscription, Stirps mundi 
 
 UJ^I7■IlSIT7 , 
 
294 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 without at all throwing their histories into fables. Nor 
 is the charge of intolerance against the king's decree, in 
 the last part of the chapter, worthy of extended remark. 
 It is probable that such a king as Darius, under such cir- 
 cumstances, would have acted just as our narrative says 
 he did act. It was a Persian custom to inflict capital 
 punishment on criminals by throwing them into a den of 
 lions. The covering of the pit was not necessarily so 
 tight, though sealed, as to exclude air. There may have 
 been sufficient side avenues for light and air, without at 
 all interfering with the closing up of the mouth. It was 
 also usual in the East to destroy whole families for the 
 offense of the head. In England, to this day, treason 
 taints the blood and confiscates the property otherwise 
 inalienable. In what, then, was the persecution or intol- 
 erance of the king's decree so remarkable, as to throw 
 such an air of suspicion over the history? The king, 
 under the excitement of Daniel's miraculous deliverance, 
 as Nebuchadnezzar had, under similar feelings, done be- 
 fore, calls upon his subjects to do homage to the God of 
 Daniel. He does not forbid them to continue their own 
 worship, nor compel them to become Jews, nor even 
 annex a penalty for disobedience to his mandate. 
 
 And as to the argument against the narrative, because 
 it implies and affirms, indeed, as the king's edict does, that 
 God did worJc miracles> it is only necessary now to say, 
 that it rests entirely upon the assumption that miracles 
 are impossible and absurd. This assumption, I am per- 
 suaded, you are not willing to take. Such an assumption 
 is certainly no legitimate argument. Nor is it within 
 my present* scope to enter the field of miracles. It is 
 
MIEACLES NOT IMPOSSIBLE, BUT PROBABLE. 295 
 
 certainly clear from the Scriptures that God has, for im- 
 portant ends, and with special designs, such as appear in 
 the history of Daniel, wrought signs and wonders. Nor 
 has it ever been shown that such miraculous interposi- 
 tions are contrary to reason or inconsistent with the Divine 
 economy. I am strongly inclined to adopt the language 
 of the late lamented Professor Stuart on this subject, and 
 say " that one must needs feel himself hard pressed who 
 resorts to such objections. It is a confession which im- 
 ports that he who makes it, is conscious of weakness in his 
 cause. Simple candor and consciousness of a good cause 
 are not apt to lead men to employ argumentation so 
 captious."— P. 173. 
 
 III. The duplicity ', and cunning, and meanness of Dan- 
 iel's accusers are seen in their pretexts. Unable to find 
 fault with Daniel's official conduct, they set about ensnar- 
 ing him in the matter of his religion. They pretended to 
 be actuated solely by their anxiety for the honor of the 
 king in urging him to pass the decree against prayer to 
 God, while in reality their sole design was to entrap 
 Daniel ; and, having obtained the king's signature to the 
 decree, they go to Daniel's house at the hour when they 
 knew he was accustomed to perform his devotions. They 
 may have professed to come on business, while their real 
 design was to get proof against him to take away his life. 
 The enemies of truth and righteousness are always char- 
 acterized for duplicity and cunning. Satan, as the grand 
 enemy of God and man, is said in the Bible to have a 
 face like a lamb, and yet speaks as a dragon. The Greeks 
 bringing gifts are always to he feared. The outward 
 aspect of the agents of evil is generally smooth, and harm- 
 
LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 less, and benignant, as if they were a compound of gentle- 
 ness and innocence, while, in reality, their spirit is fierce, 
 and their designs murderous to the soul. The malignant 
 enemies of godliness usually mask their treacherous pur- 
 poses underneath a smooth and often polished exterior. 
 They seldom go straight to their purpose ; they look one 
 way and move another ; they come down upon the Lord's 
 hosts, not with the sword, and the shield, and the spear, 
 but with the gin, and the snare, and the net. Like beasts 
 of prey, they crouch, and conceal themselves, until they 
 can make an advantageous spring upon their unsuspecting 
 foe. It is thus the sons of Belial in olden time, and now 
 the Jesuit and the Puseyite, and the enemy of civil liberty 
 and popular education in our times, endeavor to effect 
 their designs. As the Bible says, " He lieth in wait 
 secretly, as a lion in his den ; he lieth in wait to catch the 
 poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth 
 and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong 
 ones." 
 
 IV. The charge against Daniel is stated in verses 12 
 and 13. They recited the decree without saying a word 
 about Daniel. They obtained the king's assent that such 
 was the decree, and that, according to the law of the 
 Medes and Persians, it could not be altered. This was 
 just what they desired. 
 
 Doubtless they proceeded thus cautiously, because they 
 knew that the king was attached to Daniel. It was not 
 till they had gotten the king to commit himself to the 
 correctness of the decree, and as to the unchangeableness 
 of a Persian edict, that they ventured to inform him who 
 it was that violated it, and, in defiance of it, continued to 
 
THEIR ACCUSATIONS FALSE AND CUNNING. 297 
 
 pray, as aforetime, three times a day to his God. This 
 information they made known to the king in the most 
 ensnaring and insidious terms. They tell him that 
 Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Ju- 
 dah, regardeth not thee, king, nor the decree that thou 
 hast signed, hut maketh his petition three times a day. 
 They pretend that Daniel's disobedience arose from want 
 of respect to the king, and disaffection toward his govern- 
 ment. By this statement they sought to rouse the king's 
 personal feelings, and to awaken his political jealousy ; 
 and, under all, to heighten the enormity of Daniel's dis- 
 obedience, by reminding the king of his base ingratitude. 
 He was a Jew, a captive, a professor of a hated foreign 
 religion. He had been highly honored ; and yet this is 
 his gratitude : " He regardeth not thee, O king, nor the 
 decree that thou hast signed." The charge was, however, 
 palpably false. It was not from any want of respect to 
 the king's person, nor any disposition to set at naught the 
 king's laws as such and in themselves considered, apart 
 from his higher duty to God, nor was it for the want of 
 gratitude. Daniel's whole conduct was the legitimate 
 result of his pious education. He acted from a solemn 
 sense of duty to his God, the Judge of all men, kings as 
 well as others. He could not elevate any creature above 
 his Creator ; he could not erect the palace of loyalty on 
 the grave of the religion of Jehovah. The principles, 
 also, involved in the charge of these men against Daniel 
 were utterly false. They not only sapped the foundations 
 of morality, but they were fraught with danger to the 
 state. 
 
 It was not correct to say that the man who dared not to 
 
298 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 disobey his God was, on that account, an enemy to the 
 state. It is not true that conscientious men and pious 
 men are traitors to the state ; and yet this is the stereo- 
 typed charge against them. In distant and widely differ- 
 ent countries and ages, the people of God haVe been 
 assailed again and again with this false accusation. It is 
 the custom of their enemies to asperse and blacken their 
 characters, just as these men attempted to destroy Daniel. 
 Their loyalty was but a pretense. Their regard for the 
 majesty of the laws of Persia, and their respect for the 
 kkig, were entirely hypocritical. They cared nothing for 
 either. Their object was to gratify their envy, and ad- 
 vance their own selfish views. Our blessed Lord (Luke, 
 xviii.) connects a want of fear for God with a want of regard 
 to man ; and history shows that, so far from being antago- 
 nistic, they are essentially and organically related. Intel- 
 ligent piety and the highest civil virtues have ever been 
 consistent. The best statesmen, priests, and civilians, and 
 the ablest and most successful military leaders, have been 
 Christian men. The maxim advanced by the conspirators 
 against Daniel was blasphemous and atheistical. The de- 
 cree which they induced the king to make exalted the king 
 to the throne of the Deity. And Daniel's continuing to 
 pray to his God, they said, was proof that he disregarded 
 both the king and his government ; as if they had said, 
 " The man who regards thee, O king, will not regard his 
 God, if thou shalt forbid him to do so. Thou hast a right 
 to forbid any of thy subjects to pray to the God of hea- 
 ven. Thou canst absolve thy subjects from their allegi- 
 ance to the Creator ; and as Daniel persists in praying to 
 his God, therefore he is thy personal enemy, and should 
 
DARIUS AND NEBUCHADNEZZAR COMPARED. 299 
 
 be put to death." False and groundless as the charge 
 was, such was the weakness of the king, and such the 
 customs of the Persians, that, notwithstanding the king's 
 personal friendship for Daniel, the decree is executed, 
 and he is cast into the lion's den. — V. 14. 
 
 The king labored hard to save Daniel, even " till the 
 going down of the sun, to deliver him," but in vain. His 
 conduct was very different from that of Nebuchadnezzar 
 on a similar occasion. When the young Hebrews refused 
 to fall down and worship the great golden image he had set 
 up in the plains of Dura, he was "full of rage and fury," 
 and commanded them to be cast at once into the furnace. 
 Proud, imperious, self-willed, and passionate, he could 
 not bear disobedience for a moment. However cruel and 
 unreasonable his commands were, he would have them 
 obeyed without a word or a moment's delay. Not so with 
 Darius. He was a different sort of a man. Yain, rather 
 than proud, he wished to be loved rather than to be fear- 
 ed. Easily flattered, and of a compliant disposition,-with 
 some generousness of heart, he was misled by his nobles. 
 But now that the truth has flashed upon his mind, and he 
 sees their artifice, "he was sore displeased with himself, 
 and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him." He was not 
 enraged with Daniel for having dared to disobey his edict. 
 His displeasure took the right direction. It went inward 
 upon his own heart. He sees at once the folly of which 
 he has made himself guilty. As yet he says nothing of 
 the deceitful, base, and insulting conduct of his nobles. 
 He stops not to tell them how he regarded their attempt 
 to make him the blind and degraded tool of their own 
 malignity. He does not say as Adam did, " The woman 
 
300 LECTURES ON DANIEL 
 
 which thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, 
 and I did eat." He did not say as Eye did, " The serpent 
 beguiled me, and I did eat." Darius reads no homily on 
 the frauds of his courtiers. He urges no plea to justify 
 himself, but sets about effecting Daniel's deliverance. 
 He is sore displeased with himself, and desires to arrest the 
 evil as far as he can. He exerts his ingenuity to discover, 
 if possible, some method of evading the law. He tries to 
 persuade the Persian nobles not to insist upon the execu- 
 tion of the edict. He calls upon them in private. They 
 seem to relent. He assembles the Divan. It is a re- 
 markable contest between the king and his parliament, 
 between the president and his cabinet ; but, encouraging 
 one another, they become bolder and more cruel when 
 assembled than when seen separately by the king in their 
 own houses. The princes sternly refuse to let Daniel 
 escape. All their boasted loyalty has suddenly vanished. 
 They will not grant a single petition to him whom they 
 had made the only god in Persia for thirty days. What 
 a struggle must this have been ! How unfortunate the 
 position of the monarch ! encompassed by an assembly of 
 designing, unprincipled villains, and bound hand and foot 
 by his own rash decree. This should teach us to turn our 
 eyes inward — to guard well our own hearts ; for out of 
 them are the issues of evil. We should ponder well all our 
 footsteps. One rash act may do what we shall never be 
 able to retrieve. 
 
 Y. Read here verse 15. 
 
 Such* an assembly around the throne of Nebuchadnezzar 
 or of Napoleon, or before Cromwell or Andrew Jackson, 
 would have met with a very different reception. But the 
 
EXAMPLES.— REX LEX. 301 
 
 case before us is one of those remarkable and undesigned 
 coincidences that prove the truthfulness of the history. 
 It illustrates the character of Darius, and the peculiarity 
 of Persian law. The incidents of this sixth chapter could 
 not have been true of Nebuchadnezzar and of the Chal- 
 dean empire ; but history informs us they might be, and 
 actually were, true of Darius and of the Persian empire. 
 The Chaldean emperor would have ordered these cour- 
 tiers to instant execution. His power was supreme and 
 arbitrary. In Babylon it was Rex Lex — the king was 
 law, just as it is now in France with her autocrat. In 
 Persia it was different. They had a constitution. There 
 it was Lex Rex — the law was king. A law once enacted 
 by the proper authority was not only supreme, but un- 
 changeable. This was both ridiculous and impious in the 
 case of Daniel. It was wrong ever to have made such a 
 fundamental law, and now that it had been made, and 
 was found to be against reason, morality, and religion, it 
 should have been instantly repealed. As all human power 
 springs from God, so the obligation to obey ceases when 
 the obedience required comes into collision with our duty 
 to God. In preserving his conscience, and disobeying the 
 edict, Daniel was right ; his conduct was noble, heroic, 
 and sublime. And so when Darius found the folly and 
 egregious iniquity of his decree, and saw the artifice of 
 his nobles, he ought to have put his own life and the ex- 
 istence of his empire into peril, rather than to ha 
 executed it. If nothing else would do, he ought to have 
 gone to the lion's den himself, rather than have signed 
 the warrant for casting Daniel into it. The claims of 
 expediency, however, prevail, as they did in the case of 
 
302 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 Herod against John the Baptist, and with Pilate against 
 Jesus Christ ; and impelled, like Jephtha, by a rash de- 
 cree, the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and 
 cast him into the den of lions. 
 
 What a sight is this ! Cruel policy prevails over friend- 
 ship and over the most eminent worth. A venerable 
 servant of God is given to the wild beasts. Daniel, the 
 aged prime minister of the Persian empire, and the head 
 of all the professors of the true religion then in the world, 
 is cast into the lions' den ; but for what ? Simply for 
 continuing to pray to God, as he had been accustomed to 
 do all his life. " Now the king spake and said unto Dan- 
 iel, Thy God, whom thou servest continually, He will 
 deliver thee. And a stone was brought, and laid upon 
 the mouth of the den ; and the king sealed it with his own 
 signet, and with the signet of his lords, that the purpose 
 might not be changed concerning Daniel." 
 
 These words of the king to Daniel are remarkable on 
 several accounts. The king seems to say, " My heart, as 
 a man, goes with thee, O thou incomparable man of God, 
 in opposition to my act as a king. I have done all I could 
 to deliver thee, but I have failed. I commit thee in hope 
 to Him whom thou servest continually. Thy God will 
 deliver thee." Was this the king's hope? was it his 
 fervent prayer? or had the king been made acquainted 
 with the history of Daniel and his three friends in Baby- 
 lon, and with the history of the Jewish nation, so far as 
 to believe in the reality of Divine interposition by angels 
 and miracles for the deliverance of the worshipers of 
 Jehovah ? Had Darius ever heard of the Jewish Scrip- 
 ture, which says, " Fear not, for I am with thee ; be not 
 
THE SENTENCE.— PERSUASIVE ELOQUENCE. 303 
 
 dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee ; yea, 
 I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right 
 hand of my righteousness. I will give mine angels charge 
 concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Thou shalt 
 tread upon the lion and adder ; the young lion and dragon 
 shalt thou trample under foot." 
 
 Or are we to understand these memorable words of 
 King Darius to Daniel as a true prophecy ? Was he led 
 unconsciously to utter them by a divine impulse for the 
 encouragement of Daniel ? Some understand these words, 
 together with the decree in the last of the chapter, as 
 evidence of Darius' true conversion — so Dr. Cumming. 
 If so, then the king, by means of Daniel's instruction and 
 example, was brought to the knowledge of the true God. 
 And why should this be thought a thing incredible? 
 Were not the integrity, the meekness, the magnanimity, 
 the gentleness, the patience, the submission of Daniel 
 such an exponent of his religion as to make the king ask 
 after its doctrines ? and were there no lessons in Daniel's 
 prayers that spoke to the king's inner man ? Is not the 
 grace of God quite sufficient for the conversion of kings 
 and statesmen ? and should we not pray fervently for the 
 conversion and eminent piety of all our leading men? 
 They need the grace of God for themselves and for our 
 sakes. We have here, moreover, a striking illustration 
 of the variety of means which it pleases God to use in 
 producing the conversion of men. It is not only the truth 
 as believed, but the lives that Christians lead, and the 
 deaths that Christians die, that produce conviction in the 
 minds of men in behalf of Christianity. The sick-beds 
 of some of the humblest followers of Christ have exceeded 
 
304 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 the most learned pulpits in persuasive eloquence, and 
 dying martyrs have made conversions that living apostles 
 were never honored with. When soliciting, the other 
 day, a friend, who is not a member of the Church, for his 
 influence and contribution to advance the cause of the 
 Saviour in the city, he said, " Go to the members of the 
 Church ; many of them are more wealthy than I am. 
 They have not given any thing. Get them all to do what 
 they can, and then I, as an outsider, will help you." 
 These are his exact words. He is a liberal, high-minded 
 man. His excuse was not a good one ; but I shall never 
 forget it. It was humiliating and mortifying to be com- 
 pelled to feel that such accusations are just against our 
 professed followers of Christ. I name the case now sim- 
 ply to illustrate the fact that it is impossible for any man, 
 much less a Christian, to live to himself; nor can a Chris- 
 tian die to himself. Every atom and every planet has its 
 place and orbit — a place and orbit that no other atom or 
 planet can fill. The Creator has given to every particle 
 of matter, and every globe and system in the vast uni- 
 verse, its own proper place, and impressed upon it certain 
 laws ; and so every human being has his or her place, 
 and his or her duties assigned by the Creator, from the 
 performance of which there can be no exemption. In- 
 dividual accountability to God is as inseparable from 
 every one of you as your identity and immortality. What 
 if God, my young friend, should place in your hand 
 a diamond, and tell you to inscribe on it a sentence 
 which should be read on the last day, and shown there 
 as an index of your own thoughts and feelings ? What 
 caution and anxiety would you feel about the selection 
 
THE DIAMOND.— GOD'S AGENTS. 305 
 
 of that sentence! JSow God has given you something 
 more imperishable and precious than a diamond. He 
 lias placed before you immortal minds, on which, by 
 your example, your principles, and influence, you in- 
 scribe every day and every hour something which will 
 remain and be exhibited, for or against you, at the judg- 
 ment-day. He has commissioned all the elements of na- 
 ture to take your daguerreotype likeness — the likeness 
 of your inmost soul through life, and the true nature and 
 extent of all your influence upon your fellow-men — and 
 these pictures will all be exhibited for your acquittal or 
 condemnation at the trial of the last day. 
 
 Happy as I should be to dwell on the conversion of 
 King Darius, I cannot insist upon it, for the text does not 
 fully establish it. The lessons I have just pointed out 
 are, however, true. His words may be understood as 
 expressive of his regret and pity, and as a sort of apology 
 for his severity toward such an aged and eminent servant, 
 whom he really loved. It is possible, also, that God 
 made the king utter an unconscious prophecy of Daniel's 
 deliverance. Balaam and Saul were prophets, though not 
 saints. God has made men that were not pious predict 
 truths of which they themselves knew not the glory. 
 Caiaphas, being high-priest, gave counsel to the Jews, 
 saying, " It was expedient that some one should die for 
 the people." In this Caiaphas was the trumpet of a glo- 
 rious prophecy. God made the Chaldean empire his ham- 
 mer, and Cyrus his battle-axe, to execute his judgments 
 upon the earth, and especially against the enemies of his 
 people. So the Bible expressly says. God makes the 
 
 wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder thereof 
 
 20 
 
306 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 He restraineth, that his people may learn to trust in Him 
 always, and that all men may see that all things are under 
 the power and control of Him who holds the reins, and 
 sways the sceptre of the universe. 
 
 "With two lessons briefly stated, I close this lecture. 
 
 First. Young men are taught here to expect that GooVs 
 providence will sometimes place them in such circum- 
 stances, that an open, bold, avowed performance of reli- 
 gious duty and adherence to principle will be the test of 
 their fidelity to Sim. It is not profession, nor equivoca- 
 tion, that will do ; but a steadfast adherence to principle, 
 and an open, straightforward performance of duty. The 
 king's edict was against prayer. It was prayer aloud that 
 exposed Daniel to the lions' den. The performance of 
 prayer in his usual way was, therefore, the test of his 
 fidelity to God. It is useless for us to imagine how Daniel 
 could have employed the thirty days. There were doubt- 
 less many things which in themselves and at other times 
 would have been proper, but which, as substitutes for 
 prayer were not available. He might have shut himself 
 up to study the books of Moses, or to read Jeremiah, and 
 see when the captivity was to come to an end. He might 
 have spent his time weeping and singing by the willows 
 beside the rivers of Babylon. He might have set about 
 some great scheme to induce his monarch to release his 
 countrymen, and have offered this as an excuse to his 
 conscience for neglecting his prayers ; but all or any of 
 these things would have been unacceptable to God. He 
 remained faithful, and prayed as he had done aforetime. 
 It is certainly no availing plea with our Maker that the 
 performance of our duty exposes us to danger. No degree 
 
DUTY AND PRAYER OURS AND REST GOD'S. 307 
 
 of danger can justify us in concealing our attachment to 
 God ; it is not for us to choose the circumstances in which 
 we shall be called to the performance of duty. It is nor 
 for us to ask questions, but to obey. Duty is ouks, con 
 
 SEQUENCES ARE God's, 
 
 Finally, this page of the inner life of the prime 
 minister of King Darius contains a most earnest recom- 
 mendation of prayer. You see what Daniel's habits 
 were. He was evidently known to be a praying man. 
 He did not begin to pray now that he was in danger. It 
 was no family bereavement, it was not severe sickness or 
 the fear of death that made him retire into his chamber 
 for prayer. He prayed and gave thanks before his God, 
 as he did aforetime. He was the chief of the prefects or 
 presidents, the first man next to the king in the empire ; 
 yet he was a man of prayer. Rank and station, official 
 duties, power and influence, do not, therefore, furnish 
 sufficient reasons for neglecting secret and family prayer. 
 It is impossible to be a genuine Christian and live a 
 prayerless life. There is no reality in our profession of 
 religion if we have not communion with God. 
 
 Daniel had set times for prayer ;• and if we would de- 
 rive the full advantage which may be obtained from 
 prayer, we must have stated times for engaging in it. 
 Without set times of prayer, there is imminent danger ot 
 its being omitted or crowded out. Mere forms in religion 
 are to be avoided ; but regularity ought to be cultivated. 
 Without order in our affairs, we shall always be liable to 
 interruptions and confusion. Regularity will in due time 
 ripen into a habit ; and that which at first seemed a griev- 
 ous burden, by practice will become light. If Daniel, 
 
308 LECTUBlflS ON DANIEL, 
 
 with all the affairs of an empire to manage, found time, 
 three stated times a day, for calling on the name of God;, 
 surely none of you can plead the want of time for this 
 purpose. " Prayer and provender hinder not the journey." 
 " To have prayed well, is to study well." " In all thy ways 
 acknowledge thou Him, and He will direct thy steps." 
 Daniel's inner life was fed by prayer, and hence his outer 
 life was characterized by integrity, justice, heroism, mag- 
 nanimity, and faithfulness. His home habits made his 
 court habits so beautiful, and just, and true. His private 
 intercourse with God made his public character so con- 
 sistent. An hour in the " upper chamber" in communion 
 with God is worth many hours in the cabinet. I have 
 said before that I believe God has not given to any nation 
 for so long a time rulers so able, pure, and patriotic as 
 we have had ; and I am not aware that any thing like our 
 Congressional prayer-meeting has ever been known in 
 the courts of Europe. Our leading men, thank God, 
 have been and are religious men, men of religious edu- 
 cation, and many of them of religious habits and avowed 
 faith in Jesus Christ. This we hope will always be the 
 case. It is impossible for statesmen to govern the world 
 without God. We cannot expect his blessing on poli- 
 ticians that are godless in their principles and prayerless 
 in their lives. It should be written on our council cham- 
 bers, our halls of commerce, and the doors of our capitols, 
 By me kings reign and princes decree justice. Kight- 
 eousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any 
 
 PEOPLE. 
 
HIS ENEMIES SEEMING TO TRIUMPH. 309 
 
 LECTURE XT. 
 
 FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 
 
 On Dan., vL, 16-24. 
 
 State of Parties. — King's Conscience. — Listen to yours. — King's Visit to the 
 j) en , — Daniel's Night with the Lions. — Servant of God, highest Appellation. 
 — God the Vindicator of His People. — The King's Cruelty not a thing impro- 
 bable. — Josephus' Account of the Destruction of DanieVs Enemies. — Gods 
 Power over Lions. — God is not to be dethroned from Nature and Providence. 
 — Lieutenant Maury and the Sovereign of the Seas. — What are the Laws of 
 Nature ? — Cuvier. — Daniel's Flesh as sweet to the Lions' Taste as that of his 
 Enemies. — God has the Reins of all Animals still. — The Pious every where 
 under God's Care. — Miser and Slave. — You are NOW in God's Presence. — 
 Newton only followed where his Creator had been before him. — Science does 
 not overreach the Creator. — Faith triumphs over Death. 
 
 In the last lecture we saw Daniel, the servant of God 
 and prime minister of Persia, cast into the lions' den be- 
 cause he would obey his God rather than his king. "We 
 come now to see how faith stopped the mouths of lions, 
 and wrought his deliverance. It would seem from the 
 narrative that Daniel was dropped as unfeelingly into the 
 lions' den as a pebble is cast into the silent sea, to be for- 
 gotten forever. The moon and stars held on their joyous 
 way over the Eastern "World. Our little globe kept on 
 its course, as if nothing had happened ; the wicked seem- 
 ed to have succeeded to their hearts' content ; the aged 
 servant of God was cast into the den of lions. Now, 
 thought his enemies, he will trouble us no more. They 
 supposed, when that heavy stone was placed over the 
 
310 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 mouth of the den, and sealed with the signet of the king 
 and of his lords, that all was safe. They thought that, as 
 no cry from the suffering man could be heard to excite 
 sympathy — as the sufferings of the martyred prophet, 
 while he was being devoured by the hungry lions, were 
 hidden from the people, so there would be nothing to 
 arouse popular indignation, and nothing more would ever 
 be heard of him. But God's thoughts are not as man's 
 thoughts, nor His ways as man's ways. Let us look a 
 moment at the condition of the three parties. How did 
 they respectively pass this memorable night ? The con- 
 spirators returned to their homes ; they drank deeply, 
 they sang merrily ; they congratulated each other that the 
 old Jewish favorite was now out of the way — that he who 
 feared God, and, rather than compromise his allegiance 
 to his God, was willing to live poor, and to die a martyr, 
 would testify no more against their rapacity. 
 
 And the poor king — he went home also. Then the 
 king went to his j?alace, and passed the night fasting / 
 neither were instruments of music Drought before him; 
 and his sleep went from him. How sad was that night 
 for royalty ! Filled with remorse for having signed the 
 fatal decree, and not knowing how to retrace his steps 
 or to retrieve the effects of his rash act, the king passed 
 the night in agony. Ah! it is true that most crowns 
 have thorns. It is true that palaces are magnificent piles 
 — an Oriental court was peculiarly luxurious ; but what 
 are most palaces but splendid misery? What was the 
 crown of France, the crown of Louis le Grand, of Francis 
 the First, and of Clovis, a few years since ? What is the 
 throne of Naples, and the head of the house of Hapsburg, 
 
WHY SLEEPS NOT MY LORD, THE KING. 311 
 
 but a mark for the assassin ? The one wounded, and the 
 other maimed, within a few weeks, by subjects who 
 sought to encompass their deaths. The sleepless kiug of 
 Persia is a demonstration that conscience can shake the 
 stoutest hearts. It is not nerve, but a conscience full of 
 peace, that makes the bravest men. There can be no 
 peace, no presence of mind, no true heroism, where the 
 conscience is lashed with the scorpions of guilt. Armed 
 battalions and thick palace walls cannot keep the sting 
 of a guilty conscience from the chambers of the mighty. 
 All the opiates of the physicians to his majesty — all the 
 drugs of " Araby the Blest" and from the " distant Ind," 
 cannot woo sweet sleep to the imperial pillow. JSTo 
 sounds of music are heard, all books are closed, all tes- 
 timonies are silenced, not a voice is lifted up : Why sleeps 
 not my lord, the king? It is on account of the presence of 
 a visitor he cannot shut out from his bed-chamber. His 
 own conscience, grieved, wronged, offended — God's vice- 
 gerent reasoning with him, rolling over and over with 
 him, and agitating his royal bosom, and making him 
 tremble; this is the disturber of his slumbers. The 
 laborious poor through his vast dominions slept sweetly. 
 With them the night passed as a swift hour. Refreshed 
 with " Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," they are 
 prepared for another day's toil. But not so with the con- 
 science-tormented master of the world. He seems to have 
 given full scope to his inward monitor. His sleep went 
 from him. He communed with his heart in the night 
 season. He did not strive by pleasure, by company, or 
 by dissipation, to lull his conscience asleep. And in this 
 matter the king set you a good example. When con- 
 
312 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 science speaks, attend to her lessons ; she is thy friend. 
 Give ear to her faintest whispers ; be not afraid to listen 
 to her loudest accusations ; they may be necessary to your 
 soul's welfare. There are times in every man's history 
 when conscience is quickened, and is faithful and tender. 
 Whether this awakening of conscience is owing to some 
 severe personal illness, or to some bereavement, or to the 
 reading of some book, or to the preaching of the Word, 
 such times are eras of immense importance in the history 
 of immortal beings. Such a turning period in your life 
 may be just now passing over you. Every moment 
 is precious. While conscience pleads, and God calls, it is 
 for you to obey. Habits of sin may be so indulged as 
 to debilitate and exhaust the power of conscience. The 
 impenitent sinner may be left for years without hearing 
 her accusing voice. God can, however, at any moment 
 quicken it by one single beam of light, and so kindle 
 and inflame it, that the most hardened sinner will be 
 troubled, as Belshazzar was at the writing on the wall. 
 There is no torment like an accusing conscience. Wher- 
 ever a guilty sinner goes, he carries his accuser in his 
 own bosom. There is but one way for a guilty conscience 
 to find peace ; and that is, to have it sprinkled by the 
 atoning blood of Jesus Christ, and purified by the sanc- 
 tifying influences of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 But there is a third party in the transactions of this 
 night we have not yet visited. The courtiers are more 
 gleesome than usual. The king is more sad. The night 
 is awfully tedious to him. How often did he look for the 
 streaks of the morning light ! It seemed to him as if the 
 day would never come. But how was it with the servant 
 
DANIEL WITH THE LIONS. 313 
 
 of God ? What tidings from the lions' den ? Let us go 
 with the king and see what has become of Daniel. Then 
 the king arose very early in the morning, and went in 
 haste unto ths den of lions. Does he find it the grave of 
 the murdered prophet of Jehovah ? The king, doubtless, 
 feared to speak ; he was afraid there would be no other 
 answer from the gloomy depths of the pit than the echo 
 of his own voice, and the growling roar of his royal execu- 
 tioners. But he must speak : so, when he came to the den, 
 he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel, and said, 
 Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom 
 thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions t 
 The king was probably not altogether without hope. He 
 had no doubt heard of the marvelous interpositions made 
 in behalf of Jehovah's servants in times past. The records 
 of the empire were then in his possession, and from these 
 he may have learned how Daniel's God had preserved his 
 friends amid the flames of the seven-fold heated furnace ; 
 and, knowing the purity of Daniel's character, he may 
 have concluded that God would deliver him. But while 
 he, thus half hoping, half despairing, is afraid to learn the 
 result of his own inquiry — is afraid to look into the pit, 
 let us look in. There is the old Hebrew prophet and 
 grand vizier of Persia ; he is on his knees, with hands 
 uplifted and face toward heaven, beaming with calm 
 benignity. On either side of him, and before and behind 
 him, and all around him and almost touching him, stand, 
 or lie, or crouch, the lions of the desert. Daniel's coun- 
 tenance is calm, self-possessed, buoyant with hope. We 
 see no blood, no scratch from the teeth or claws of the 
 fierce kings of the forest ; we see no crushed bones, no 
 
314 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 signs of violence, no marks of uneasiness. This night 
 among the lions has been the happiest night of his whole 
 life. Free from all cares of state, and from every other 
 anxiety, he had nothing to do but to let his heart com- 
 mune with his God. But Daniel is ready to speak ; and 
 his voice that morning was sweeter to the king's ears than 
 the music of his court had ever been. He had spent the 
 night sick at heart, but now he is filled with gladness. 
 Then was the king exceeding glad for him. Then said 
 Daniel unto the king, king, live forever .* My God 
 hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that 
 tJiey have not hurt me / forasmuch as before him inno- 
 cency was found in me / and also before thee, king, 
 have I done no hurt. 
 
 As Daniel's first words were to the king, so his second 
 utterances are for the glory of his God. He explains at 
 once the means of his deliverance. 
 
 I. The king's denomination of Daniel is worthy of re- 
 mark. He does not address him as first of the presidents ; 
 but says, " Daniel, servant of the living God" This 
 was an honor above any official station — angels and 
 archangels can occupy no higher position. It was better 
 for Daniel to have been a servant of the living God than 
 to have been the first president of Persia. His official 
 rank in the empire could not prevent him from being cast 
 among the lions ; but his being the servant of the living 
 God protected him from their fury. His piety was not a 
 
 * The salutation of Daniel, " king, live forever !" does not mean that he 
 wished him literally to live forever. It was equivalent to the English " God 
 save the Queen." It was the common court salutation, and meant nothing 
 more than a wish of long life and prosperity. 
 
UNIFORMITY OF HIS PIETY. 315 
 
 sickly, fitful, feverish, fashionable thing ; his devotion was 
 deeply rooted ; he served God continually, not occasion- 
 ally ; his mind was thoroughly pervaded and imbued 
 with sound religious sentiments and feelings. The king 
 had not failed to observe his punctuality in his religious 
 duties, the uniformity, spirituality, and heavenliness of hi3 
 mind in all his conduct. His religion was so natural to 
 him that he could not hide it ; every thing he did proved 
 him to be a man that feared and loved God. O, what a 
 living power there would be in religion if it were acted 
 out in our social walks and public conduct, and not shut 
 up to mould all week within the walls of our churches ! 
 Why should your labor and talents, influence and time, be 
 principally devoted to the world which is passing away? 
 The surest way to peace, and honor, and usefulness, is in 
 the service of God. It is not b} r professing to be religious, 
 but by consistency of conduct, that you will vindicate reli- 
 gion in the eyes of worldly men, and lodge a testimony to 
 its reality in their consciences. And as you would not be 
 a partaker in other men's sins, so you must be careful to 
 exert a good influence, both by your example and by the 
 sentiments you hold, upon all around you. 
 
 II. The reason for God's interference in Daniel's behalf 
 was not that his conduct really merited such an interposi 
 tion. The meaning is, that God, being a witness of his 
 innocence, indicated it by this interposition. As Daniel 
 was not guilty of disobedience to his God, so neither was 
 he guilty of any treasonable designs. He harbored no 
 disloyalty in his bosom. His conduct was not the result 
 of any pique, or from any factious or discontented spirit, 
 but purely from a conscientious regard to the divine au 
 
316 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 thoritj and glory ; and God, by this interference, showed 
 that He had taken notice of Daniel's conduct and was 
 pleased with it, and thus declared that it was worthy of 
 imitation in all similar cases. 
 
 You may learn, therefore, from this case, that God is 
 the vindicator of his people. This truth is strikingly 
 exemplified in the history of the pious who in past ages 
 have stood in the front rank of the Redeemer's host. He 
 has never forsaken his people. " Trust in the Lord, and 
 do good, and verily thou shalt be fed. Commit thy way 
 unto the Lord ; trust also in him, and he shall bring forth 
 the righteousness as thy light, and thy judgment as the 
 noonday." 
 
 III. The personal property in God, referred to both in 
 the king's words and in Daniel's reply, is remarkable. 
 The king said to Daniel, " Is thy God, whom thou servest 
 continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?" And 
 Daniel replies, " My God hath sent his angel and shut 
 the lion's mouths, that they have not hurt me." Mark 
 the difference. Darius had heard of God by the hearing 
 of the ear, Daniel was acquainted with him as a friend 
 and a father. Daniel had chosen him as his portion, and 
 devoted himself to his service. To believe there is a 
 God is cheering compared with blank, heartless atheism. 
 Surely it is good news that the universe is not an orphan. 
 Surely all well-disposed minds will rejoice in the tidings 
 that the world is governed by its Creator. How much 
 more comfortable to be able to feel that He who is the 
 ineffable Creator is our Father ! 
 
 IV. Eead here verses 23, 24. 
 
 I have already, in the preceding Lecture, shown, 1st. 
 
CRUELTIES.— MAMELUKES. 317 
 
 That such a rash and passionate, sinful, improper, and un- 
 worthy act as this, was not so improbable a thing in the 
 life of an Eastern monarch, or even of a Western tyrant, 
 as to render the history of it incredible. He who could 
 order the Saint Bartholomew Massacre, or the murder of 
 the Mamelukes in Cairo, or murder the children of Beth- 
 lehem, or set Rome on fire for mere pastime, and then put 
 Christians to death on the pretense that they had done 
 what he knew he had himself done, would have been 
 capable of doing all, and even more than it ascribed to 
 Darius. It has been shown that it was a Persian custom 
 to execute convicts by casting them into a den of lions, 
 and it has v also been shown that the families of those who 
 fell under royal displeasure, were often destroyed with 
 them. Such a custom is spoken of in the Bible as well as 
 in profane history. The narrative, then, that mentions 
 such things is not on that account to be thrown, at the 
 mere caprice of a cloudy-headed critic, into fable-land. 
 But, 2dly. The Bible does not say that the decree of 
 Darius against prayer was right ; nor does the Bible justify 
 the cruelty of the king against Daniel's persecutors. Our 
 history simply states the facts. These men were guilty 
 of many crimes. Whether their punishment exceeded 
 their guilt is not decided by the text. The Bible is res- 
 ponsible only for the record of the facts. 
 
 The great Jewish historian, in recording this fact, says, 
 that when Daniel was delivered, the princes said it was 
 because the lions had been previously surfeited with food, 
 and on that account it was that they refused to touch 
 Daniel. This so enraged the king that he ordered a great 
 quantity of flesh to be given to the lions, and then com 
 
318 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 manded that these princes, Daniel's enemies, should be 
 cast into the den, and they were all destroyed. Whether 
 this account of Josephus be true in all its details or not, I 
 am not able to say. The main points are true. And the 
 history of Daniel's deliverance illustrates God's power over 
 the leasts of the field. ]STo doubt these Persian princes 
 were anxious to explain away the miraculous interposition 
 of Daniel's God. Like many pretended friends of the 
 Bible in our day, they were so careful of the divine power, 
 that they could not think of any useless expenditure of 
 Omnipotence. There are those that talk of laws and na- 
 ture, and yet find God nowhere. If a pestilence comes, it 
 is not the hand of God that sent it, but the want of ozone, 
 or it is some volcanic action that occasioned it. If the 
 epidemic is removed, it was a change of the atmosphere, 
 or of the w T ind, that removed it. If the soil yields bene- 
 ficently, and rewards the toil of the husbandman, it is not 
 the Creator, but the frosts and snows of last winter, that 
 have occasioned the fruitfulness of the earth. If our 
 astronomer, in his studio at Washington, predicts, from 
 the observance of certain sailing directions, which he him- 
 self lays down, and gives to the captain of one of our 
 vessels, the passage of that vessel from New York to San 
 Francisco, a voyage of more than seventeen thousand 
 miles, it is nothing but science and natural causes. God, 
 whose works and laws are the substance of all science, is 
 forgotten. This last illustration is a fact, and is one of 
 the most remarkable instances of the triumphs of science 
 that has ever been recorded. Lieutenant Maury, in his 
 instructions and predictions of the voyage of the vessel 
 " The Sovereign of the Seas," occupying one hundred and 
 
LIEUT. MAURY.— KEPLER AND LAPLACE. 319 
 
 three days froni New York to San Francisco, it is said, 
 did not err two hours in his calculation of the time the 
 voyage would take. And yet, strange as it is, many, 
 practically if not professedly, make the thermometer, the 
 state of the weather, the quadrant, the compass, the laws 
 of vegetation, their god. But what are the laws of na- 
 ture but the will of the Creator impressed upon nature ? 
 Whence these laws ? "What is the thermometer, the com- 
 pass, the telescope, or the sprouting of seed, without the 
 upholding power of the Creator ? Nature is nothing with- 
 out the active presence of her Maker ; the laws of matter 
 are nothing but expressions of the will of the Creator. 
 Cuvier did not originate the four great plans on which 
 the animal kingdom is constructed ; he only discovered 
 what the Creator had done. Kepler and Laplace have 
 not made any of the laws of the universe ; they have only 
 discovered them. Of the miracle, then, before us, what 
 think you ? Was not the flesh of Daniel as sweet to the 
 taste of the lions as the flesh of his enemies ? Why did 
 the lions leave Daniel untouched, and yet devour his per- 
 secutors as soon as they were cast into their den ? The 
 Bible answers this question. Daniel was not hurt by the 
 lions, because he believed in his God. Daniel gives him- 
 self the true explanation. " My God hath sent his angel, 
 and hath shut the lions' mouths that they have not hurt 
 me." It was faith, as the Apostle Paul tells us, that 
 stopped the lions' mouths. It was in consequence of Dan- 
 iel's faith in God that the angel quelled the fury of the 
 hungry lions. Their ferocious disposition is proverbial ; 
 but they surround Daniel gently as lambs. We are not 
 told how the angel shut their mouths ; whether they were 
 
320 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 awed by the majesty and brightness of the angelic nature, 
 or whether their physical powers were for the time par- 
 alyzed, or whether some powerful influence operated on 
 their nature, we cannot determine. The result we know, 
 but not the mode of producing it. The agent of Daniel's 
 protection was an angel — -probably the angel of Jehovah's 
 presence, who appeared to Abraham and to the three He- 
 brews in the fiery furnace. 
 
 The Scriptures give us many examples of the agency 
 of angels in ministering to God's people. "We may not 
 comprehend how or in what way God exerts his power 
 over the instincts and fierce propensities of the beasts of 
 the earth, and yet the fact is beyond doubt. The Creator 
 gave man dominion over the earth and its animals, and 
 placed his fear upon the beasts of the field. The fire of 
 the human eye proclaims man's supremacy over the fierce 
 monsters of the forest. Man's ingenuity in making in- 
 struments of defense is more than a counterbalance to 
 brute agility and strength. It is supposed by some that 
 the fierce passions of animals are consequences'of Adam's 
 fall, and that the Millennium, or the triumph of the 
 Gospel, will restore the animals to their primeval state ; 
 that then the lion and tiger, and the fish of the sea and 
 birds of the air, will recognize man as their lord, and do 
 him homage as God's vicar on earth. This theory I re- 
 gard more in the light of poetry than of sober truth — as 
 more beautiful in theory than probable in reality. Still, 
 it is true that God has power over the destructive pro- 
 pensities of animals. If man has lost the reins of abso- 
 lute dominion over the beasts of the field and birds of the 
 air, God has not ; He still holds them. There are numer* 
 
GOD'S DOMINION OVER ANIMALS. 321 
 
 ous instances scattered throughout the Bible. The ravens 
 bring food to the prophet ; the dumb ass, at God's bidding, 
 preaches a most effective and direct sermon to the dis- 
 obedient and self-willed prophet. A fish of the sea 
 swallows Jonah, and another brings tribute-money to our 
 Lord. And in the example before us, the fiercest of all 
 the animal kingdom sit or stand, and crouch around the 
 man of God, and dare not touch him ; the hand of God 
 was upon them. The power of God over the fury of the 
 lions is seen not only in shutting their mouths, but also 
 in opening them — in shutting them against Daniel, but in 
 opening them upon the princes ; they cannot hurt Daniel, 
 but devour his persecutors. 
 
 God had wrought many "signs and wonders" before 
 Pharoah, when his court was the dominant power in the 
 world. He had given miraculous proofs of his supreme 
 Divinity before the Chaldean court, when it was at the 
 zenith of its power and glory. The deliverance of Daniel 
 and the destruction of his enemies was a demonstration 
 of the same to the court of Persia. The miracles wrought 
 before Pharoah and Nebuchadnezzar were intended to 
 call the attention of these monarchs toward the Jewish 
 religion, and secure favor for the Jewish captives. The 
 same thing was designed and secured by the deliverance 
 of Daniel. See verses 25-27. 
 
 Y. The history in hand teaches us, again, that the power 
 of God is not only over all the leasts of the field, and all 
 the elements of nature, but that He is every where, to 
 
 PROTECT AND BLESS ALL THOSE THAT TRUST EST HlM. Daniel 
 
 was not hurt by the lions, " because he believed in his 
 
 God." His God sent his angel to shut the lions' mouths- 
 
 21 
 
322 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 because before him Daniel was found innocent of any 
 fault either toward him or toward the king. A believer 
 cannot be shut out from the presence of his God. He may 
 be banished from his country and his home ; he may be 
 cast into the depths of the angry sea ; he may be thrown 
 into caves of the earth — sealed up in the lions' den; but 
 he cannot be banished from his God. On the top of 
 Ararat and of Mount Sinai — in the silent catacombs of 
 Rome — amid the parching sands of the desert — on the 
 great waves of the sea — wherever there is a Christian 
 heart, there is the Christian's God, to bless and deliver 
 him. How blessed is the thought that God is not con- 
 fined to temples made with hands. What a blessed pri- 
 vilege that we are not obliged to have a consecrated 
 altar, a priest, a wafer, holy water, and the oil of extreme 
 unction before we can obtain the forgiveness of our sins. 
 The Christian, whether in the depths of the forest, or in 
 the mines of California, or toiling as a slave under the 
 burning sun of Louisiana, or on the loftiest pinnacle of 
 the Andes, every where finds a temple, a sacrifice, and 
 an altar, even Jesus. " If he ascend into heaven, He is 
 there ; if he descend into the grave, He is there ; if he 
 take the wings of the morning and go down into the depths 
 of the sea, even there is his Lord and Saviour too. God's 
 eye can pierce all darkness ; God's heart can pity his 
 captive any where ; and God's hand can help him in spite 
 of all obstacles. So Daniel felt, and so thousands of God's 
 saints have felt it too." — Cumming. 
 
 VI. In view, then, of Daniel's deliverance, learn, al- 
 ways AND EVERY WHERE, TO PUT YOUR TRUST IN GoD 
 
 Under all circumstances, at home or abroad, in health or 
 

 PUT YOUR CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 323 
 
 in sickness, with friends ,or under the stern gaze of in- 
 quiring strangers, never cease to put your confidence in 
 God. Do not look at things, but look at the Creator and 
 Governor of all things. If you are an enemy to God, then 
 all the universe is arrayed against you ; but if you are 
 reconciled to God — if you are once more at peace with 
 him — then you are in harmony with yourself, in harmony 
 with his laws, and consequently happy with all things. 
 He commands the elements to do you good. For you the 
 winds are to make music, and the waves are to bring you 
 the fruits of the earth, and all things shall work together 
 for your good. 
 
 It is true, as the Persian monarch says in his decree, 
 " God maketh signs and wonders." It is his voice that 
 has called forth the beauteous spring. The flower that 
 germinates — the bud that bursts from the stem — the frag- 
 rance that floats in the air — the sweet warblings from 
 gardens and forests that charm you, and the glorious 
 heavens above you, are all evidences of his presence, and 
 power, and goodness. There is just as much of God's 
 mighty power present in making your living heart con- 
 tinue to beat this moment, as there was in making Laza- 
 rus' dead heart begin to beat again. God's signs and 
 wonders are all around us. We are ourselves a part of 
 them. Our history is full of miracles of mercy. Philo- 
 sophers, in their pride, and to hide their own ignorance, 
 call the tokens of the living God, phenomena. The Bible 
 calls them his signs and wonders. Newton discovered 
 orbs, and laid the line and the plummet on the very out 
 skirts of creation ; but this he could never have done had 
 not the Creator's hand been there before him, and laid 
 
324 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 His laws upon them, by which He guides them still. It 
 was the hand of Daniel's God that mingled those beau- 
 teous colors which the same Newton was the first to 
 analyze, and have since been made to paint the unerring 
 portrait. God launched into being the suns and systems 
 whose vast revolutions the astronomer now calculates 
 with so much accuracy. God buried the vast Saurian 
 tribes before man was created. He knows all the dis- 
 coveries that science will make. He understands all the 
 creeds that men will ever propound. He sees through 
 all the cabinet councils that will ever sit in Parliament, 
 in Divan, or Congress ; and He has determined that the 
 wrath of man shall praise Him, that the Gospel shall pre- 
 vail, and His glory fill the earth. 
 
 Finally. In Daniel's fidelity to his conscience and his 
 God, we have an instance of the sublimest moral heroism. 
 It was not that Daniel was insensible to the favor of the 
 king; it was not that he did not love life, or that he cared 
 nothing for the privileges of his position as first of the 
 presidents. • The penalty threatened was death, and death 
 in an aggravated form. Death is a terrible penalty. 
 Death is the most unnatural of all things. It is something 
 abhorrent to all living creatures. Man was not made to 
 die ; his very nature shrinks from death. Death, in itself, 
 was not desirable even to the Apostle Paul. He did not 
 desire to "be unclothed," but he desired "to be with 
 Christ." He was willing to meet the foe, for the sake of 
 the victory ; he was willing to pass through the dark and 
 stormy sea, that he might gain the shore of beauty and 
 blessedness that stretched beyond it. Nature shrinks 
 from death,' but faith teaches the true Christian to say, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN'S HAPPY DEATH 325 
 
 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy 
 victory ? Thanks be nnto God that giveth us the victory 
 through Jesus Christ." It was a true and living faith, 
 then, that enabled Daniel to triumph over the fear of 
 death. His faith taught him that his God was able to 
 deliver him, or to make his death, amid the ravenous 
 wild beasts, the forerunner of endless life. Faith whis- 
 pered to him, as he was led along and cast into the lions' 
 den, If this is to be the manner of my death, then this den 
 will be the vestibule of glory. His faith told him that 
 death was not a sinking into nonentity — that it was not 
 even a momentary suspension of the continuity of life. It 
 is only a transition. When the Christian dies, he does 
 not cease to be. When the eye that looks upon us with 
 so much affection, and the lips that breathe our name are 
 closed, our father or child has not ceased to be. Their 
 eyes are open upon another and a brighter world. They 
 have only begun to live. The evening twilight of this 
 world closes only upon the eye of a believer as the morn- 
 ing twilight of glory bursts upon him, and begins to open 
 into the brightness of eternal day. The flame that con- 
 sumes the martyr's body is the chariot that wafts his soul 
 to immortality. 
 
 The sublime moral heroism of Daniel was the result of 
 his faith in God, and his faith in God was the result of 
 his early religious education. The Christian principles 
 in which he was educated sustained him through his 
 eventful life. 
 
 May your lives be full of honor and happiness, and 
 your deaths be for the glory of God, through Jesus Christ, 
 to whom be praise forever. Amen. 
 
326 LECTURES ON DANIEL 
 
 LECTUEE XVI. 
 
 DANIEL A STUDY AND MODEL FOR YOUNG MEN AWAY 
 FROM HOME. 
 
 On Dan., vi., 28. 
 
 " So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of 
 Cyrus the Persian." 
 
 Young Men in Cities. — Advantages and Dangers. — Evils of Clubs and College 
 Commons. — Perils of Young professional Men and of Clerks. — Crisis in a 
 young Man's Life. — New Orleans not the worst City above Ground. — Young 
 Men's Christian Association. — Daniel 1 s Diligence. — A Model Statesman. — 
 His Promptitude, Punctuality, Integrity, Temperance, Benevolence. — High 
 Character of New Orleans Business Men. — Aim High. — " Tracts for the 
 Times." — Our Savans not yet manufactured a Spider. — Every Age has its 
 Peculiarities. — Young Men must be armed for the Battle of the Age. — Gross 
 Materialism of our Times. — Namby-pambyism of our popular Press. — Bible. 
 — Young Men are the only Men for the Times. — Air-gun Attacks. — Don't 
 wear out your Certificates. — Not Churchmen nor Sectarians, but pious. — Not 
 Crab-apple Christians, but active mes. — Importance of early religious Cul- 
 ture. — MOTHERS wanted. — Trust in Providence. — No Fanaticism in per- 
 sonal Religion. — God the young Man's best Patron. — Your Privileges supe- 
 rior to those of Daniel. — You must have a personal Acquaintance with Re- 
 ligion. — Farewell of the Series. 
 
 With this sixth chapter the historical part of the book 
 of Daniel ends. "We find no further use of the Chaldee 
 language after this chapter. The subsequent part of the 
 book being occupied with an account of Daniel's own 
 visions, and not containing edicts of Chaldean or Persian 
 kings, is written, as we should expect it to be, in Daniel's 
 own language, and in just such Hebrew as we should ex- 
 pect such a man as Daniel, a well-educated Hebrew, liv- 
 
YOUNG MEN AWAY FROM HOME. 327 
 
 ing in the courts of Babylon and Persia in the time of 
 Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, would use. It is easy to see 
 that the object of the writer of this book has not been to 
 give a regular and complete history, either of the Baby- 
 lonish kings, of their successors, or of Daniel himself. 
 Those, and only those, events are noticed which tend to 
 exhibit Jehovah as working miracles, in order to preserve 
 and, in due season, deliver his ancient covenant people 
 out of their captivity. That there is an ethical and re- 
 ligious design in the narratives is most palpable ; but we 
 have shown that this is no reason for believing the whole 
 history a mere fable. It is clear that the writer designed 
 to commend a steadfast adherence to the principles and 
 practice of piety and virtue, amid the trials and tempta- 
 tions to which the Hebrews were exposed in their captiv- 
 ity in Babylon. And in Daniel we have a most felicitous 
 grouping of virtues, personal, private, and public, for the 
 study and imitation of young men who are, as he was, 
 away from home, and obliged to live in great cities. If 
 extremes do not meet in our large towns and cities, they 
 are certainly near neighbors. In such a city as London, 
 Vienna, Paris, New York, or New Orleans, there is to 
 be found something of every thing, and something of 
 every thing of the best, and something of every thing of 
 the worst. It is this fact that gives such importance to 
 the entrance of young men into large cities, or to their 
 assuming independent positions in them, even after they 
 have been brought up there. For example, as to amuse- 
 ments, whether for the health of the body or the cultiva- 
 tion of the mind, a young man may find the worst or the 
 best in a great city. The intellect may be enlarged, the 
 
328 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 perceptive powers quickened, habits of promptness and 
 decision formed, and the mind be stored, by attendance 
 on Lectures by men of the highest science and of ap- 
 proved moral characters and sentiments, and by inter- 
 course with intelligent, high-minded, active business men. 
 The very atmosphere of a busy community is inspiring, 
 and should be elevating. This is one view of the mat- 
 ter. There is another, and a different one also. Young 
 men in cities may quicken their talents at the expense of 
 their virtue and reputation, by the coarser wit of clubs 
 and societies where religion furnishes the best joke, and 
 sobriety and chastity the loudest laugh. It may be put 
 down as a safe, as a very important rule, that no youth 
 at school or college, or away from home, should be al- 
 lowed to lodge or board in commons ; but always to take 
 meals where a lady presides at the head of the. table. I 
 had rather a son of mine should grow up ignorant of the 
 curriculum of university studies, than for him to live 
 without the society of intelligent and pious females for 
 three or four years. But let us take another illustration 
 of the point in hand. A young man, away from home, 
 and beginning life in a great city, desires to enter the 
 learned professions. As such, he may be associated with 
 the most high-minded, religious, straightforward lawyer 
 or physician, or he may be placed with the very reverse ; 
 and instead of learning from his associates an honorable 
 way to renown and fortune, he may be taught, by their 
 example, and by a gradual training under the older mem- 
 bers of the profession, to regard as the one object of his 
 life and business, to draw the life-blood to the last drop 
 from every unfortunate client or patient. Or if the young 
 
ENTRANCE UPON CITY LIFE. 329 
 
 man enters a house of business, he may find himself 
 with a firm who, both by theory and practice, inculcate 
 every thing that is honest, noble, and of good report ; or 
 he may find his lot among those with whom profession is 
 not principie^whose lengths, measures, and descriptions 
 of merchandise are varied to suit customers — where 
 Mammon is the only god served, and where clerks are 
 complimented on the principle that gain is godliness — 
 where honesty to the buyer is counted dishonesty to the 
 seller — where the net profits shown by the ledger are 
 counted of more consequence than the certain losses re- 
 corded in the Book of God. The dangers to which youths 
 are exposed in large cities have often been pointed out, 
 and in the most earnest and affectionate manner, from 
 this pulpit. It does not come within my present scope 
 to dwell upon them. This much, however, must now be 
 said, that the entrance of a young man upon his life in a 
 large city is a great crisis in his existence. It is then, if 
 not before, that the trial comes that will show what stuff 
 he is made of. It is then the question, to be or not to be, 
 is pressed with an emphasis totally unknown before ; to be 
 or not to be, a virtuous man ; to be or not to be, an hon- 
 orable man ; to be or not to be, a religious man — a man 
 of God, thoroughly furnished unto every good work ; to 
 be or not to be, mindful of the principles of their pa- 
 rent ; to serve or not to serve the God of their fathers : 
 these are the questions which, of all others, he must de- 
 cide on his entrance upon life in a city. Here are temp- 
 tations to vice, facilities for gratifying a depraved taste, 
 opportunities for profound secrecy, and refinement in the 
 forms of sensuality ; and here the gradations of the down- 
 
330 LECTUKE3 ON DANIEL. 
 
 ward course of iniquity are so imperceptible, and yet 
 their tendency so certainly fatal, both to body and soul, 
 to happiness here and hereafter, that it is not without 
 some appropriateness that our city is called " the modern 
 Babylon." I do not admit that our city is as bad as its 
 reputation abroad makes it. I do not believe it is any 
 worse, not quite as bad as other cities in our own country, 
 and certainly not equal in vice to the large cities of the 
 Old World ; still, a young man's life in New Orleans is 
 full of perils. It is proper that the arrival of a youth 
 from the country, or from a smaller town, or the starting 
 out in life of one brought up among us, should be an oc- 
 casion of deep anxiety. To one from the country every 
 thing is new — the modes of doing business are new — the 
 subjects of conversation are new. His associates and 
 channels of news are different from those with which he 
 has been accustomed. The churches, and modes of wor- 
 ship, and ministers, are all new. He is not acquainted 
 with the pious people of the city. No wonder, then, that 
 we have thought it important to have a Young Men's 
 Christian Association formed in this city, that may sym- 
 pathize with the young man from home, and throw 
 around him a shield of protection and encouragement. 
 The young man that now knows the heart of a stranger 
 need be friendless no more. He is no longer left to the 
 mercy of the vicious and ungodly. But so precious are 
 his interests, and so perilous still is his condition, that it 
 is no wonder his family at home follow him with deep so- 
 licitude. No wonder that his mother and sisters laid a 
 Bible and some earnest religious books with his apparel, 
 and that they follow him with letters, and look anxiously 
 
YOUR RESEMBLANCE TO DANIEL. 331 
 
 for his, and if his letters arrive irregularly, that they are 
 troubled. Now, while the dangers of city life are immi- 
 nent,' they are not inevitable. A youth may be brought 
 up in, or come to and reside in, our modern Babylon un- 
 harmed amid all its temptations, just as Joseph did in 
 Egypt, and as Daniel remained in Babylon and Susa, amid 
 all the temptations of the luxurious heathen courts of the 
 Babylonish and Persian empires. Daniel so acted as to 
 escape the corruptions that surrounded him, and to the 
 end of a long life feared God and obtained his blessing. 
 His conduct in the chief cities of the old Oriental empires 
 supplies a moral for young men in our cities of the West- 
 ern World. His character is now presented for your imi- 
 tation ; the points of resemblance are not without their 
 force. The disparities are in your favor. He was carried 
 to Babylon, a heathen city, as a captive. You come as a 
 freeman to a city of Gospel privileges, a city where there 
 are thousands that do not bow the knee to Baal. If, in- 
 deed, there be not a Lot and an Abraham here to inter- 
 cede for the city, there are hundreds of pious Christian 
 men and women in this city, whose example and prayers 
 are worth more than the gold of Babylon. Daniel and 
 his three friends were of the first families of Jerusalem. 
 They were carried to Babylon when about seventeen or 
 twenty years of age. Their age and temperaments, hopes 
 and fears, trials and temptations, were, therefore, similar 
 to your own. It will not be proper for me to repeat what 
 has been already said in this series of Lectures. I can 
 now do but little more than seize on a few of the more 
 important points of his character. And, 
 
 I. Daniel is a model man for all young men on ao 
 
332 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 count of his diligence in business. You remember how 
 he declined the royal table, and yet became more comely 
 than the other captives, and how he was promoted to 
 great; honors. He served at least £.yq royal masters: 
 Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, Belshazzar, £>arius, and 
 Cyrus, yet his unscrupulous persecutors could "find 
 neither error nor fault in him " — no partiality, no selfish 
 ness, no remissness, no harshness, no mismanagement of 
 the public funds, nor of the public business in any way 
 What a model for business young men, clerks, agents of 
 commercial houses, and politicians. His success was 
 doubtless owing, in part, to his diligence in acquiring 
 knowledge. As a statesman under so many different 
 monarchs and dynasties, it required effort to make him- 
 self acquainted with the diversified duties of his official 
 station. He was the first president of the rulers of one 
 hundred and twenty provinces, and Bab Mag, or chief 
 of the college of learned men ; consequently, he had to 
 make himself familiar with the scientific and political 
 knowledge of his times. He had no time to read novels 
 and superficial .Reviews, had there been such trash then 
 in the metropolis. His intellect was expended in re- 
 searches for knowledge as for hid treasures. Few states- 
 men have served so many masters without flattering any, 
 or been so successful in the management of public affairs, 
 or been so useful to the states over which they have pre- 
 sided. Samuel, Joseph, and Daniel are the best speci- 
 mens of prime ministers that have ever appeared on 
 earth. 
 
 In the administration of the royal laws, Daniel was dili- 
 gent and prompt. At the appointed hour he was at his 
 
PERFECTION OE HIS CHARACTER. 333 
 
 place in the Icing's gate. No one could accuse him of a 
 want of punctuality — no one could charge him with im- 
 patience in hearing causes, nor of the want of delib- 
 eration in his decisions, nor of weakness in the exe- 
 cution of the judgments decreed ; nor was there any 
 deficiency in the revenue of one hundred and twenty 
 provinces. As Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary 
 of State, his enemies themselves being judges, there was 
 nothing to be found against him. Uncertain markets, 
 distracting competitions, a voluminous correspondence, 
 the incessant cares and excitements of office — how must 
 all these things have pressed upon him ! yet his strong, 
 well-balanced, prayer- sustained mind, took such a clear, 
 comprehensive, wide-reaching control of the vast affairs 
 of the dominant empire of the globe, that he was without 
 fault. He so counseled his royal masters, as to preserve 
 their dominions tranquil, loyal, and secure. As a student, 
 as a subject, as a statesman, from early youth to old age, 
 Daniel was remarkable for his habits of sobriety, indus- 
 try, and piety ; he was both diligent in business and fer- 
 vent in -spirit, serving the Lord. He was no idler, no 
 loiterer, no lackadaisical youth ; his industry was not to 
 feed and pamper himself. Never did man spend less for 
 his personal gratification who had so much at command. 
 He never pandered to any guilty passions, nor luxuriated 
 in the debaucheries of vice ; he made no provisions for 
 the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Had he been guilty 
 of such things, his enemies would not have failed to ex- 
 pose his guilt with malignant joy. He was not a world- 
 ly-minded .man. The love of money was not found in 
 him. His toil was not to indulge himself in low gratifi- 
 

 334: LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 cations, nor to aggrandize himself or his relations. He 
 was thoroughly a man of business, and he was quite as 
 thoroughly a man of God. 
 
 Young men, it is your duty to be men of business, of 
 high business talents and character. You know better 
 than I can tell you, that loiterers, procrastinators, and 
 tattlers, and busy bodies in other men's business, cannot 
 succeed in this community. You already know that la- 
 ziness is disreputable, that dilatoriness is disgraceful, that 
 procrastination is a reproach. There is not a more in- 
 dustrious, honest, manly, high-minded, upright, prompt, 
 whole-souled business community on the globe than we 
 have here. Fix your mark high. Acquire at once a 
 character for integrity, and for the quickness, punctual- 
 ity, neatness, and high manliness of all your transactions. 
 With the urgency of such motives upon you as the Gos- 
 pel supplies, you must not be content with small things. 
 In such a city as this, aim directly at becoming first-rate 
 business men. Let it be a point of honor with you, 
 whether you are in the lecture-room, or in the warehouse, 
 or in the mechanic's shop, or in the profession of the law 
 or of medicine, that you will seek for distinction, for in- 
 tegrity, and proficiency in your particular calling. The 
 apostle has told us, " It is good to be zealously affected 
 always in a good thing." 
 
 II. Daniel is the young man's model for earnestness 
 in his religion. His whole life illustrates the criminality 
 of indifference to such a subject as religion. I have 
 sought to make these Lectures u Tracts for the Times," as 
 it respects the duties of young men to their country and 
 their God. I have sought to make you somewhat ac- 
 
CHARACTER OF OUR AGE. 335 
 
 quainted with some of the modes of attack upon your 
 religious faith most to be feared, and to put you in some 
 measure on your guard against the phases of infidelity 
 and skepticism peculiar to our day. It is true that hu- 
 man nature is every where the same ; and it is also true 
 that the world, for at least some six or seven thousand 
 years, has not furnished us with a single experimental 
 fact going to show that it is possible, by any process of 
 development, to make a world without a Creator ; and 
 surely the experiment has been continued long enough. 
 And if now our savans, with all the light of the " Ves- 
 tiges of Creation " and of the nebular hypothesis, are 
 not able to make one spider, nor to make a human being 
 out of a monkey, we may be excused for holding still to 
 our old orthodox belief, that " in the beginning God cre- 
 ated the heaven and the earth," " and all that in them 
 is." Every age has its characteristics in philosophy, 
 science, morals and religion. Our age is grossly mate- 
 rial, and yet ethereal. For while we live amidst intense 
 pursuits of the things that perish, our received opinions 
 of common sense, and of man's relations and hopes, are 
 violently attacked from the airy heights of a dreamy, im- 
 personal, impalpable, soi disant philosophy. The poets, 
 essayists, and historians of the age generally, and not a 
 little of every species of our popular literature, is a mass 
 of namby-pambyism that enfeebles the intellect, cor- 
 rupts the imagination, and destroys the soul. And these 
 are all the more dangerous because they are made chiefly 
 by professed lovers of truth. By giving specious titles 
 to things, and wrong names to errors, their batteries are 
 masked, their shots are from air-guns that makeno noise, 
 
336 LECTURES ON" DANIEL. 
 
 and their deathly blows are not seen till the victim is 
 past hope. 
 
 In an age so impetuous and vigorous, the only men for 
 the times are young men, who by education, discipline, 
 and noble bearing, are up to the exigencies of their age. 
 Such men are always Bible made ; their characters are 
 formed after Bible models, and their conduct regulated 
 by Bible principles. In seeking a home, therefore, in a 
 strange city, be sure to carry with you the evidences of 
 your church membership, and call at once on the minis 
 ter of the place whether God leads you. Don't put it 
 off till you wear out your certificate by carrying it in 
 your pocket. Engage at once in the Sabbath school and 
 other approved agencies, by which to encourage and 
 comfort the servant of God in whose congregation your 
 residence may be, Never was there an age or' a country 
 where pious young men had such a destiny in their 
 hands as in this age of the United States. It is intelli- 
 gent, Bible-formed piety that will save this continent 
 from paganism and papal priestcraft, and that only, 
 Nothing else will do. Every possible motive urges you 
 not to be bigots, churchmen, or sectarians, but earnest, 
 intelligent, high-minded, whole-hearted Christians. In 
 ages past, and even now, there are too many pious people 
 living in the strait-jackets of little prejudices, and lying 
 on the Procrustean beds of their own short and narrow 
 creeds. But the Gospel is not a yoke of ceremonies or 
 dogmas. It is liberty, life, and salvation. The age calls 
 you not to be sour-faced, fault-finding, complaining fol- 
 lowers of Christ, but cheerful, hopeful, active, earnest, 
 pious disciples of the one and only great Kedeemer. The 
 
TAKE DANIEL AS YOUR MODEL. 337 
 
 great Napoleon was told that all that France wanted to 
 make her the greatest nation in the world was mothers. 
 It is true that intelligent, pious, praying mothers are 
 the greatest benefactors of any age or country. Never 
 can you too highly appreciate the blessings of religious 
 culture. 
 
 III. In conclusion, then, we desire you to take Daniel 
 as your model. Study him in all the completeness of his 
 character as a man, a prophet, and a statesman ; as to his 
 capacities and their improvement ; his habits and busi- 
 ness traits. Forget not his steadfast adherence to prin- 
 ciple, seen in his life-long devotion to the law and service 
 of his God ; and that, too, ' amidst the most appalling 
 persecutions. He served God in little things as perse ver- 
 ingly and as fully as in great things. With him true 
 principle was ever and always the only expediency. 
 Varied and oft repeated as were his trials, he had but 
 one exile, which was to obey his God unhesitatingly and 
 cheerfully. The result he committed to Him whom he 
 served. His enemies left no stone unturned by which to 
 compass his ruin ; but always did they fail. They flat- 
 tered, they threatened, and they tried to overreach him ; 
 but no cause for his accusation could be justly found 
 against him, either as to his activity and capacity, or 
 honesty in business, nor as to his loyalty. It was at last 
 only in regard to his religion that they dared to attack 
 him. His heroism was of the noblest kind. It overcame 
 the most appalling difficulties in the best of causes, and 
 from the purest of motives. And was not Daniel right in 
 his steadfast adherence to the law and service of his God ? 
 
 From whom had he his being? By whom had he been 
 
 22 
 
338 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 preserved all his life long, and exalted to favor in various 
 kingdoms ? To whom was he indebted for the revelations 
 of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar as well as for the ex- 
 planation of the handwriting on the wall % And are you 
 not indebted to the Creator likewise for your existence 
 and well being ? Is not the God of Daniel your Maker, 
 Preserver, and Benefactor, and will He not soon be your 
 Judge % Have you not ^vour health, education, reason, 
 speech, and civil, social, and religious status from Him ? 
 Ought not the creature to worship the Creator ? Ought 
 not the beneficiary to praise the Benefactor? And 
 ought not the sinner to seek reconciliation with his 
 Sovereign, and acceptance with his Judge ? There is then 
 no fanaticism in religion like that of Daniel. It is the 
 highest reason, and the only true heroism, to fear God 
 and keep his commandments. 
 
 Like Daniel, then, let me urge you, in closing this 
 series of discourses, to rely upon God with an unfaltering 
 trust in his providence. Daniel's heroism was such as 
 the w r orld can neither give, nor appreciate, nor take away. 
 It was godly. He was decided, open, and bold in his 
 avowal of the God of his fathers as his God. He again 
 and again declared that he could not deny or forsake the 
 religion of his fathers. Nothing could induce him to 
 conform to the fashionable, court religion of Babylon. 
 And his professions were his principles. He had not a 
 mere form of godliness, but also its spirit and power. 
 He was a Jew inwardly. He belonged to the true circum- 
 cision. Hence he trusted in his God, and relied on Him 
 in the face of the most appalling and cruel punishment. 
 He believed in his heart, and confessed with his mouth, 
 
CONFESS CHRIST ALWAYS. 339 
 
 and put his trust in the true God, and he was not dis- 
 appointed. He would not take any situation, nor keep 
 any place, upon the condition either expressed or implied, 
 that he must depart in the smallest matter from the in- 
 junctions of the law of his God. Like him, then, take 
 care never to offend your conscience, never shrink from 
 duty, because of difficulties ; never tamper with convic- 
 tions ; never forget the words of the Lord Jesus, who has 
 said : " Fear not them who can kill the body, but after 
 that have no more that they can do, but rather fear Him, 
 who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell.'' 
 Fix the resolve deep in your souls that you will abide by 
 well formed convictions, cost what it may. If you must 
 suffer persecution for confessing Christ, be it so. Confess 
 Him cheerfully amidst all persecution that may arise to 
 you on that account. Bear up against all temptations to 
 deny Him, by remembering his gracious promise, that 
 He will confess you before his Father and his holy angels. 
 " Him that honoreth me, I will honor. He that despiseth 
 me, shall be lightly esteemed." To be like Daniel, you 
 must have a personal interest in the God of your pious 
 fathers. You must, by sincere penitence and faith, appro- 
 priate Him to yourself as your God. And to do this, you 
 must, like Daniel, be regular, punctual, fervent, and 
 persevering in prayer and in the study of God's revealed 
 will. The strength and rationality of Daniel's character 
 is found in the divine imprimatur of his deliverance 
 from the lions : Because he believed his God. His edu- 
 cation had been a good one. He had been instructed in 
 his early years in the law of his God, and he had kept 
 himself from all defilement. He never read sickly, sen- 
 
340 LECTURES ON DANIEL. 
 
 timental, moon-stricken novels and essays, nor gazed on 
 licentious pictures, nor consorted with profligate " fast 
 boys about town," nor done that which he would have 
 been ashamed to tell his father, nor found where the ap- 
 proach of his mother's footfall would have made him take 
 to flight. He was a diligent student of the Scriptures 
 of God. But you have advantages even greater than he 
 had. Your age and country are in advance of his. You 
 are a freeman. He was a captive. You have Christ and 
 his Apostles, in addition to Moses, the Psalms, and the 
 Prophets, which he had. But all will be of no avail, but 
 rather aggravate your guilt, if you believe not in the Son 
 of God, and receive Him as the only Bedeemer. Make 
 God your portion. Serve Him with all your soul. Trust 
 in Him, and to the end of the earth He will be your 
 friend. And to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost be everlasting praise. Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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