II. He adores God for his dispensations towards
himself —
[These had been beyond measure humiliating: yet he speaks of them in the beginning of this chapter with wonder and admiration : " I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the High God hath wrought toward me : how great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonderse!" So also at the close of the chapter ; " I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment f." Here he shews indeed that he was restored, not only to the possession of his throne, but to the best possible use of his faculties. The end of the dispensation was now completely answered. In truth, painful as the dispensation was, it was richly compensated, yea, in- finitely overbalanced, by the effect it produced. No suffering can be accounted great, that is over-ruled for such good to the soul. To bless and adore God for our afflictions is one of the highest exercises of faith and love. Who does not admire Job, when, under the pressure of his accumulated calamities, he said, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the name of the Lord ? " This is to be done, not merely when, as in Nebuchadnezzar's case, we see the termi-
c Acts iv. 28. d Acts ii. 23. e Dan. iv. 2, 3. f The text.
nation of them ; but in the very midst of them all, while they are yet lying heavy upon us, and we see no way for our escape : then, I say, we should give glory unto our God, con- vinced that " He doeth all things well," and saying, with Hezekiah, " Good is the word of the Lord concerning me." To kiss the rod in this manner, " O ! how lovely a spirit does it manifest ! " How much better is it than murmuring, and complaining, and fretting under our troubles " like a wild bull in a net ! " Let us imitate Nebuchadnezzar then, in this res- pect ; and however afflictive the dispensation with which we are visited may be, let us say, " It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him good."]
III. He warns others to avoid that sin which brought this calamity upon him —
[He had " walked in pride," and been abased for it below the meanest of the children of men. Secure as he had fancied himself from any calamity, God had inflicted in a moment a punishment, which might well deter all who heard of it from the commission of a similar offence. God is never at a loss for means to accomplish his righteous will : in the judgment in- flicted on this haughty monarch, he has sufficiently shewn, that He is both able and determined to " abase all who walk in pride."
Now this consideration is of infinite importance, not to kings only, but to all the human race. Pride is natural to man : there is not a more powerful principle in our fallen nature than pride. The ungodly world are full of it. There is not any distinction, natural or acquired, which is not made an occasion of self-preference and self-complacency. If a man be born of high parentage, or have acquired rank or fortune by his own exertions, how will he be puffed up with his honours, and almost conceive himself to be made of a finer clay than his less-distinguished neighbour ! ' My might and my wisdom have procured me all these things :' and on the same endowments they rest for a continued enjoyment of them. Thus " they sacrifice to their own net, and burn incense to their own drag." Nor is this confined to the ungodly world : there are amongst those who profess godliness, many, who are as full of pride and conceit as those who are altogether ignorant of religion : the object in which they pride themselves is changed ; but the principle is the same as ever. Some, like the Pharisee in the Gospel, " trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despise others:" they say in their hearts, " Stand by thyself; come not near to me ; I am holier than thou." Of these says God, " They are a smoke in my noseg." Others, like Diotrephes,