IMPENITENCE reproved.
Dan. v. 22. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou kneivest all this.
AMONGST the endowments of a pious minister, two of the most important are, disinterestedness and fidelity. A man who is " looking to his own gain," or is afraid to " declare the whole counsel of God," is unworthy of the sacred office : nor can he hope to
be either profitable to man, or accepted of God. The example of the Prophet Daniel is worthy of universal imitation. He, having been sent for by king Bel- shazzar to interpret a writing which God had caused to be inscribed upon the walls of the room where the impious monarch was feasting, declined with scorn all the proffered rewards ; and reproved, to his very face, the sovereign, whom no other person in the empire would have dared to offend : " Thy gifts be to thyself," says he; " and give thy rewards to ano- ther." ' God has here written thy doom, because of thine impiety. He has borne with thee long, and given thee singular advantages for repentance, if thou hadst had a heart to improve them : he has made known to thee all his dispensations towards thy father, Nebuchadnezzar :' " but thou, his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this."
The reproof here given to Belshazzar is not a whit less applicable to ourselves. Permit me, then, to stand to you in the place of Daniel, and to shew you,
I. What advantages we have enjoyed for the humilia- tion of our souls —
It was certainly a great advantage to Belshazzar, that he had seen God's dealings with his father, (his grand- father,) both in the judgments inflicted on him, and in the mercies vouchsafed unto him. God had in these dispensations clearly marked his indignation against sin, and his readiness to shew mercy to returning peni- tents. The judgment inflicted on Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest monarch in the universe, was the depriving him of his reason ; and causing him, for the space of seven years, to resemble a beast, and to be treated as a beast ; being turned out to eat grass like an ox, and to be exposed, like any common beast, to all the changes and inclemencies of the weather, without shelter, and without a friend to compassionate his forlorn condition. Having, however, by this humi- liating dispensation, effected his gracious purpose towards him, God restored him to soundness of mind