(W. A. Gray), 193 (D. Moore). Homiletic Review, xliii. 43 (B. D. Thomas) ; li. 53 (A. Maclaren).
273
A Promised Inheritance.
But go thou thy way till the end be : for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days. — Dan. xii. 13.
1. Daniel was one of the favoured ones under the Old Testament dispensation. Like Enoch, who walked with God and was not found, for God took him ; like Elijah, who went up in the chariot of fire to heaven ; like Moses, whom God buried, and no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day ; like Job, who found the latter end of the Lord to be mercy — so Daniel was one of those few who had their special reward assigned them at the end of life. Of other saints we read chiefly of the great things God did for them in their lives. Our eyes are fixed on their lives, and on what they did, on what they went through, on what they were saved from. Abraham and Samuel and David and the other prophets we think of as in the midst of trial, or in the thick of life ; we do not turn our thoughts much towards their end or to what accompanied it. But of Daniel there is nothing that we read about in his life so striking as that which belonged to its close. He had, no doubt, a most remarkable life. He, as much as any, had gone through strange changes ; he had been a proof of the strength of faith and of the power of God to protect and reward it. To him had been shown, in awful mixture of clearness and mystery, the things that were to be on the earth after him. He was most remarkable as a witness to the truth — remarkable as a prophet, remarkable as a living saint of God. But all these things he shares, more or less, with others. The thing which he has alone, the thing which will always come upon the readers of his awful book with the most solemn force, is the promise made to him individually with which it ends — the clear promise of rest be- yond the grave. Daniel was one to whom it was given without any uncertainty to know what was to become of him when this world was over. He is marked out among his fellow-servants in the jer.-mal. — 18
274 A PROMISED INHERITANCE
company of the prophets by the privilege of his death. The light of the other world shines on him while he is yet in this. He knows, before he goes, while death is yet at a distance, that he is to " stand in his lot at the end of the days." He is one to whom death seems scarcely death, so surely does he still live beyond it.
T| The following letter to Lydia Maria Child was written upon Mr. Whittier's return from the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in Portland, in June 1879 : —
" Eeturning from our Yearly Meeting, I was glad to welcome once more thy handwriting. I did not see thee at our dear Garrison's funeral. Was thee there ? It was a most impressive occasion. Phillips outdid himself, and Theodore Weld, under the stress of powerful emotion, renewed that marvellous eloquence which, in the early days of anti-slavery, shamed the church and silenced the mob. I never heard anything more beautiful and more moving. Garrison's faith in the continuity of life was very positive. He trusted more to the phenomena of spiritualism than I can, however. My faith is not helped by them, and yet I wish I could see truth in them. I do believe, apart from all outward signs, in the future life, and that the happiness of that life, as of this, will consist in labour and self-sacrifice. In this sense, as thee say, ' there is no death.' " 1
2. Daniel was a man greatly beloved, and many secrets were revealed to him. He had seen many visions of coming events in the history of the Church and of the world ; but the time came when he was to receive no further communications, and he was told to shut up the words and seal the Book, even to the time of the end. He had received much general information regarding the coming ages. He was told that there would be days of trouble, such as never were since there was a nation ; he was told of a time when sleepers in the dust should awake, some to ever- lasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt ; he was told that at that time they who are wise shall shine as the bright- ness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But when he did not understand what was said as to the time of these great events, and asked for further information, saying, " 0 my lord, what shall be the issue of these things ? " the answer he received was this, " Go thy way, Daniel : for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the 1 Life and Letters of John Grecnleaf Whittier, ii. 649.