Let us then begin the employment this day, under a full assurance, that "he who thus humbleth himself under the mighty hand of God, shall in due time be lifted up."]
4. If we approach him in the same manner, we shall assuredly obtain the same success —
[That which Daniel desired on this occasion was, to obtain an insight into the prophecy of Jeremiah relative to the return of the Jews from Babylon, and the mystery which was prefigured by it, the redemption of the world by the promised Messiah. And behold, here was the angel Gabriel sent to give him the desired information, and to inform him, that " at the very beginning of his supplication, God, in answer to his prayer, had sent him" this gracious message d.
Now, if this nation at large engaged in the services of this day with any good measure of that spirit with which we pro- fess to have approached our God, there can be no doubt but that a blessing would be poured out upon the whole land; and that the mercies we more immediately need would be vouchsafed unto us, or the judgments which we deprecated would be averted e
But if only in our individual capacity we improved this season aright, I can have no hesitation in saying, that we should have the Scriptures more fully unfolded to us by the Spirit of God ; yea, and special manifestations of God's love to us by that same Spirit witnessing to our souls, " Thou art greatly beloved." Did Daniel gain by prayer such discoveries of Christ f, and shall not we ? Yes assuredly; and, if we will dedicate this very day truly and diligently to its peculiar and appropriate use, we shall before the close of it add our tes- timony to that before us, that " God has not said to any, Seek ye my face in vain."]
d ver. 20 — 23.
e This, of course, must be accommodated to existing circum- stances. f ver. 24 — 26.