supornnturnl. Iloth elements nro under Divine direction. Everywhere Ge"\ enc!l'aft 8 tho epirituol upon tho natural. The laws and processes of nalure anrl nf ham~~ Jir,, God uses so far ns they servo his particular pmpose, and when they fall short of fitness ho introcluces the higher element of miraclo. If Nebncharlnezzar already saw the clovolopment of militr1ry strength in other royal courts, it was impossible but this knowledge would mnke o. corrosponding impression upon his minrl, and it wonl,l he wanton blindness on our part to exclude this from our investigation of the truth. It is oqually certain that on influence from God moved upon the monarch's minrl- armnging (it may be) tho materials of the imagery, impressing his imagination with the portentous meaning of the vision, and partly effacing the recollection from his memory, 3. With stupendous condescension, God accommodates himself to the infancy of the race. lie who tempers the wind for the shorn lamb, simplifies his lessons to the weakness of our understanding. To the inquiry, "Why should God make known his will to men through dreams?" it is a sufficient reply that he found this method the most suitable to the capacity of man in the childhood of his intelligence. During the hours of sleep, the soul is more free from the disturbance of outward event.g ; the will does not play so dominant a part over the movements of thought; the predi- lections and propensities of the inner man are unveiled. Men have an intense longing to know the future. We cannot doubt that the same God who has given us a faculty for acquiring all the past could have given us a faculty for foreseeing the future. Some potent reason has prevailed with him to hang an impenetrable veil over our untraversed life. Yet some of the grand outlines of the future have gradually been revealed. Our character forecasts our futnre fortunes. Practical obedience to the will of God is the best telescope through which we may discern our distant weal. Our real destiny is not wrapt in night. But Nebuchadnezzar was mainly concerned about his dominion and his dynasty; hence his inward distress produced by the midnight vision. II. TnE IMPOTENCE OF HUMAN QUACKS. 1. It must be granted that these Babylonian magicians had attained -to knowledge and craft beyond the ordinary attainments of men; but (as is frequently the case) their knowledge fed their vanity; they imposed on themselves the belief that this knowledge gave them access to the secrets of the unseen world, and they sought to impose on others the conviction that they could foretell coming events. Knowledge does not always ripen into wisdom-does not always bear the froits of humility and truthfulness. These men were deceivers and self-deceived. They made a market out of the ambition and fear of kings. 2. Inflated conceit. They imagined that their skill was the measore of universal attainment. Failing themselves to decipher the problem, they plead, "There's not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter." The usual plea of weakness : "What I cannot do, no one else can do: let us yield to the inevitable." Thls is the sophistry of modem sceptics, who prefer to style themselves agnostics. Because they fail to unravel difficulties in nature and in the universe, they rush to the conclusion that the matter itself is inexplicable. "A little child shall lead them." 3. .A crucial test. The monarch, unreasonable and unscrupulous as he may seem, brings their boasted knowledge to a real test. Whether these magicians did or did not accurately interpret dreams or forecast the future, the king had never known. He had been compelled to take their pretensions wholly upon trust. The oracular deliverances had been delightfully ambiguous-were capable of wide significance. No guarantee bad ever been furnished by these magicians of their honesty. Now a favourable opportunity occurred for testing the skill of these boasted diviners. If their scientific calculations allowed them to descry the future, much more should it enable them to read a page of the recent past. If their popular deities gave them skill to interpret the meaning of a dream, much easier was it for these deities to give their servants power to revive in a man's memory the loss of a dream. If they could not accomplish the lesser task, it was vain to pretend they could perform the greater. It was therefore only just that the king should i;harply rebuke them in the words, "Ye have prepared lying and corn1pt words to speak before me." III. THE HASTY VERDICT OF THE KING. 1. See the violence of carnal passion. Haste o.nd impatience are always conspicuous signs of weakness. His expectation of escape from mental disquietude had been awakened by the pretentious arts of these magicians, and, this expectation having collapsed, disappointment added another TF!E BOOK OF DANitt.
in~rcdient to his cup of trouble. Jf be had only given himself time to recover from t~is mente.l disturb~nce, time to reflect upon his responsibility e.s e.rbitar of hunmn life, tnne to perceive his own folly in pe.ndering aforetiwe to the pretensions of these men, he would have gained a reputation for wisdom, and have rendered the world a service by exposing the hypocrisy of sorcerers. 2. His verdict was 6(J)C68Sively sever.,, 'l'he penalty of death was the severest he could inflict upon his subjects, and if this penalty was enforced on every occasion, even when no public injury was done to the state, he confounded all degrees of crime, and encouraged men, who bad transgressed in lesser matters, to become desperate inflictors of mischief. When men know that their offence is tri,ial compared with other forms of guilt, and yet have to endure the heaviest sentence of doom, theyll·ill often lend themselves to some desperate project of vengeance. 3. HiH verdict was indiscrimi'11,Q,/;e, and involved both the righteous and the wicked. Not content with inflicting capital punishment on the offenders, he decrees that their "houses shall be made a dunghill." By such a vindictive deed, innocent women and young children would have been plunged into suffering and disgrace for no fault,, and without any advantage to the state. Moreover, the arbitrary decree required "that all the wise men should be slain." This included Daniel and his comrades-yea, all men of intelligence and wisdom, though they had made no pretence to maaical O art. By a blind act of ungovernable passion, the king would have stripped his court of every ornament, and bis government of its best supports. A passionate man usually maims his own face. Nebuchadnezzar would have defeated bis own purpose-cut off his only chance of having his dream interpreted-if his vindictive and unscrupulous command had been executed. What vile deeds have royal hands frequently performed I How does the cry of innocent blood from a myriad battle-field rise to heaven against them!-D.