Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

ing them. No doubt they argued that if they could have some one in place of this old Hebrew here they could make enough in a few years out of the kingdom to retire from business; but now they could not, on the salary the king gave them.

They could never get rich. Of course, if they could get rid of this man they could plunder the government. A great many think it is not dishonest to take what belongs to the government, and it don't trouble their consciences; and these princes wanted to get this man Daniel out of their way, and so they formed a conspiracy to destroy him. They raked up his whole past, life when he had been with Nebuchadnezzar, but they came to the conclusion that they could not find anything against him, except touching the law of his God. I consider that a greater encomium for him, that he stayed by the law of his God, than could be given to any statesmen of the country. He had kept the accounts right and had not committed any peculations; he had not put any nephews or brothers into office that had defrauded the government, aud there he was standing alone in that great city for God and the majesty of the law. They found no occasion to condemn him. There was not a solitary man that could injure his reputation. He had been true to the government and to his God. They could only say that he had abided by the law of his God. These wicked princes, knowing that Daniel would worship no one but the God of Israel, thought if they could get Daniel to do something to trap him, so that he would be destroyed, it would be just the thing. They were not going to have Daniel cast into a furnace, as his disciples were in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, but they thought if they could get him cast into the den of lions, they would soon make way with him. I suppose they had a secret council together. Perhaps it was all night. When men want to do something mean, they want to do it in the dark. You can see these princes having a meeting and conspiring together, and perhaps one of them was a lawyer acquainted with the laws of the Medes and Persians, and they thought if they could only get a decree signed by Darius, that no man should worship any God or anybody else for thirty days but Darius, he should be cast into the den of lions. "Remember," they said to one another, "and don't tell your wives and daughters, because if you want to keep it private, don't let the women know it." They got a decree drawn up to be signed by the king, and the penalty was that the one who violated it should be cast into the lions' den. I can see these one hundred and twenty princes writing that document carefully, line by line, sentence by sentence, so that there should be no mistake, beca se they knew that Darius loved Daniel, and if there was any chance by which he could save him and keep the law he would do it. And they decreed that Darius should sign it without calling upon his, prime minister or chief secretary, because they knew that if he read it he would not sign

it. And they also knew that Daniel worshiped the God of the Hebrews, and was not going to disobey the law of his God. Probably they sent three or four princes to the palace, and they probably told Darius what a mighty man he was, and how the whole population loved him. They knew his weak point, and they probably told him if he signed the decree for nobody to call upon any other God but him it would hand his name down to posterity, and that mothers would teach their children to pray to Darius, and instil his name into their minds and make him their God, and that it would lift him up from the position he held to make him a God, and all in the kingdom would bow down and worship him.

And they might have argued that if it was kept thirty days it would become the universal religion and hand his name down to generations. If you want a man to do a mean thing, just touch his vanity. These princes had touched Darius' vanity. He thought he would like to have all the people worship him. He thought it was a very fine suggestion. They did not wait for him to read it all. He could see no objection, and put his signet of the Government upon it, and one of the princes might have said after he had done that, in a tone of mockery: "The laws of the Medes and Persians alter not. They can not be changed." Darius, of course, approved of them all. And you can see this man going out of the palace elated, saying: "Daniel has looked over our accounts long enough." He had watched their accounts to see that no damage came to the Government. The news soon spread that Darius had signed such a decree. I can just see the man going into the office of the secretary. I can see his gray locks and beautiful white beard, as he sat there at his desk, and, perhaps, looking over the accounts of these very men who were conspiring against him. This messenger comes to Daniel and says: "Hive you heard of the conspiracy to destroy you?" "No; what is it?" Why, these one hundred and twenty princes have got Darius to sign a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or any man within thirty days, save of the king, shall be cast into the den of lions." I am afraid if some of us had been there, some of the Christians of the nineteenth century, we would have said; "Now, look you, don't be too religious; don't be too conscientious; don't you let them catch you praying for the next thirty days on your knees at your open window. (You know it was the custom to pray with an open window toward Jerusalem.) These princes have spies and will report it to the king." Or they might have said: "It will be ruinous to the Government. Don't you pray to the God of the Hebrews, or if you do, don't you do it at an open window. If you are determined to pray, hadn't you better pray with your shutters closed? Put some paper in the key-hole so that nobody can peek in and see you. Get into your bed and pray silently and they won't hear you. Call upon your God secretly, and it will be just as

[ocr errors]

well as to pray at an open window." I am afraid that that would have been our advice, but do you think that this man who had served God all these years was going to deviate a hair's breadth from his custom? He had taken his stand on the Lord's side, and he was not going to deviate from it. Let all the devils in hell form a conspiracy against him, he would not. If he had got to go into the lion's den, his God was going there with him. I can just imagine how indig nant he was at the suggestion. The Scripture tells that after the decree was signed, the old man went to his room three times a day and prayed to his God three times a day. He had time to pray. There are a good many business men nowadays in Boston who have not got time, they think. Statesmen and politicians have not got time to pray. You go to Washington and start a prayer-meeting there, and they would laugh at the idea, and say, We are Senators and Representatives; we have so much business we have no time to pray; but this person found time. This man, who was the chief man in that kingdom, found time-you might say a ruler of the whole world at that time. I doubt whether or no there was a man living in his day so busy as this man, and he found time. He had not only the king's business to attend to, but his own private affairs also, and had to watch these one hundred and twenty rascals to keep them from stealing from the Government, and yet he prayed three times a day as aforetime, and he prayed with his windows open toward Jerusalem. When that temple was dedicated in the days of Solomon, we are informed that God had promised to answer the prayers of those who prayed with their windows open toward Jerusalem. What cared Daniel for the lion's den! He was on his way to heaven, and that den had no terror for him. He is not going to lose his soul, and so he prays; and if there had been any reporters in those days they would probably have got that prayer in the next edition. These princes were watching. They had two men there probably to take it down. "Now listen, now see if he prays to Darius." He goes down on his knees and lifts up his voice toward heaven, and prays to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and to the God of his fathers, but before he gets through he prays for this kingdom, he prays for Darius, but not to him. It is all right to pray for kings, and we ought to pray more for this country. Let us pray for our rulers. We ought to find time. This prophet found time to pray every day. I have no doubt he prayed every day for the king and for that nation. While he is praying his enemies are taking down his prayer, and after he gets through they go to the princes and say: "Here is the prayer; we heard the prayer; he prayed for ten minutes, but never called upon Darius at all. He prayed for the Hebrew God to bless the kingdom, but he did not pray to the king." And away these men go to tell the king of it, saying: "Oh, Darius, live forever. Do you know there is a man in your kingdom who

won't obey?" "Won't obey me! Who is it?" "Why, that man Daniel." And the king says: "Of course he won't bow down and worship me. I might have known he would not have done it. How could I have done such a thing?" Instead of condemning Daniel, he condemns himself. He walks up and down in great agony and begins to realize what the effect of that decree is to be. But these princes say, sardonically: "The laws of the Medes and Persians alter not." They perhaps twit him of it. They have got him. Darious loved Daniel very much, but he did not love him so much as your Darius and mine, our Christ, loves us. Our Christ went down into the lions' den and kept his law, and for hours Darius set his face against delivering up Daniel; but these wicked princes held him. to his decree, and he would not break the law. They probably said: "If you break that, your kingdom will pass from you. The law must be kept. The law of the Medes and Persians does not alter." So the king gave the command to the princes to cast Daniel into the lions' den. You might see, if you had been there, that old man led along the streets of Babylon and guided by some mighty men of. the Chaldean army. He is cast into the den, and they put a stone upon the mouth of the den. Then these princes probably rejoiced that they had got Daniel out of the way. But Daniel had confidence in his God, and we can see him sleeping calmly with his head on one of the lions for a pillow. He slept more calmly than the king. When morning came, the king orders out his chariot and rolls through the streets of the city until he comes to the den. There he calls out to Daniel and asks him if his God has delivered him. And hark! there is his voice. God has sent down an angel and saved Daniel, and he came forth unharmed. And the king is exceedingly glad, and takes him in his chariot back to the palace, and they were two joyful men. God stood by him. He was on the Lord's side. Oh, who is on the Lord's side here to-day? If you will take your stand on his side he will deliver you from temptation, trial, and darkness. When Daniel died he went to heaven. I do not believe he was a stranger there; for all knew him, for he was greatly beloved of God. If we stand up for what is right in the sight of God, God will bless us, and we will be in constant communion with him. Let us pray to Daniel's God.

HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE.

"Understandest thou what thou readest?" ACTS 8: 80.

One thing I have noticed in studying the Word of God, and that is, when a man is filled with the Spirit he deals largely with the Word of God; whereas the man who is filled with his own ideas refers rarely to the Word of God. He gets along without it, and you seldom see it mentioned in his discourses. A great many use it only as a text-book. They get their text from the Bible, and go on without any further allusion to it; they ignore it; but when a man is filled with the Word, as Stephen was, he cannot help speaking Scripture. You will find that Moses was constantly repeating the commandments; you will find, too, that Joshua, when he came across the Jordan with his people, there they stood, and the law of the Lord God was read to them, and you will find all through Scripture the men of God dealing much with his Word. Why you will find Christ constantly referring to them, and saying, "Thus saith the Scriptures." Now, as old Dr. Bonar, of Glasgow, said, "The Lord didn't tell Joshua how to use the sword, but he told him how he should meditate on the Lord day and night, and then he would have good success." When we find a man meditating on the words of God, my friends, that man is full of boldness and is successful. And the reason why we have so little success in our teaching is because we know so little of the Word of God. You must know it and have it' in your heart. A great many have it in their head and not in their heart. If we have the Spirit of God in our heart, then we have something to work upon. He does not use us because he is not in us. Know, as we come to this Word to-day, as Mr. Sankey has been singing:

"No word he hath spoken
Was ever yet broken."

"And the Scripture can infidelity around, and it These doubters take up

Let us take this thought in John 10: 35: not be broken." There is a great deal of has crept into many of the churches, too. the Bible and wonder if they can believe it all-if it is true from back to back, and a good many things in it they believe are not true. I have a good deal of admiration for that colored man who was approached by some infidel-some skeptical man, and who told him, Why, the Bible is not true; all scientific men tell us that now;

66

« НазадПродовжити »