The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 164

it ~ht\pe. True religion is the outgrowth of the truest life of the eoul. 'l'o mt\ke it conforrnal1lc to human law is simply to destroy it. IV. CoEBCION IN RELIGION MAKES MEN BIGOTS, nYPOOBITES, 0B MARTYRS. You will find in every empire, men and women who are ready to yield compliance to royal mand11tes in the sphere of religion; but these are always persons of slender faith, or persons having no faith at all. Unworthy motives in crowds act upon the mind to induce servile obedience. .All the motives which appeal to present advantage, and to ~elf-interest in its lower forms, will be ranged upon that side. To retain official rank, to secure royal favour, to gain emolument, multitudes have always been ready to bide their real opinions or have forbidden convictions to mature in the conscience. They have stult.itied their manhood, starved their soul, and sold their immortal birthri"ht for a mess of pottage. This has been the effect of coercion upon one class of the community. On another class the effect has been to produce unbelief in all religious truth~old, blank atheism. If religion (aay they) can only be propagated by the lash and the sword, it is not worth propagating at all. If the great God cannot maintain his Ol\'n authority and rule without the aid of human violence, surely it is best to believe the.t there is no God I Such is the argument of many whom coercion baa hardened and embittered. And on a third class of society the effect of coercion ia martyrdom. :Men and women who prize truth more than present convenience, who honour God more than they honour m1on,-thue firmly decline the mandates of human authority in the sphere of religion. Come what may, they must be obedient to conviction and to conscience. They are bound by a prior obligation to follow the Spirit of truth whitbersoever it leads. A voice speaks to them direct from heaven; and, let kings rave and storm as they please, they yield their first deference to the heavenly command. After all, a human king is but a fellow-worm, and it is an ignoble thing to steer our life-course according to the changing whims of pompous princes. And the result of honest resistance to religious tyranny has always been suffering-the rack, the dame, the prison, the gibbet.-D. Vers. S-12.-77ie worki.,ig of base and bitter m;11y, The men of Chaldea, who plumed themsel ve.s with great titles, but possessed little souls, were not content with rendering servile homage to the king's golden image; they must needs turn informers against those who had the courage of religious conviction. Wbile true religion ennobles a man every way, superstition dwarfs intellect and soul-emasculates a man, .A gnat may sting to m.adneBB a mettled war-horse, and some men who are impotent to do good are busy with venting malicious spite on nobler natures than their own. l. &""VY 18 THB liA.TURAL OlllLD OP SELl"IBHNESS-tbe base progeny of a base parentage. Under pretence of solicitude for the king, they were chiefly anxious to berid themselves of formida.blerivals. These accused pc,rsons were foreigners, captivea, and had been raised to eminent offices by virtue of their personal merits. But the little-minded I1J1.tive ariat.ocrats could not endure this competition for royal honours, and were willing enough to degrade and injure good men, if only they could promote their own worldly interest. That is a despicable vice which bas sel.fishneBB for its root, The envious man is ashamed to own his real object. II. ENVY STOOPS TO usE THE MEANEST A.BTB. These Cbaldeans invented a new name, a name of opprobrium, by which to designate these hated rivals, As the foes of Christ invented the name of "Christian" as a byword and a reproach, so these Chaldean informers used the word "Jew" as a stigma of disgrace. Further, they sought to flatter the king with all the arts of sycophancy. They flattered his greatness, his love of power, his bigotry, his religious zeal, his autocratic will 'l'he best friends of a monarch are those who speak in his ear at proper times most unpalatable truths, and seek wisely to abate the growth of imperious tyranny. But these men, with ingenious skill, sought only to inflame the baser passions of the king, They reminded him that his royal authority was outraged; that his gods were dishonoured; that his honour, as a truthful monarch, was at stake. No stone was left unturned by which to gain their nefarious end. Theirs was a busy zeal, worthy of a nobler object. . UL ENVY MAGNIFIES TllE SUPPOSED FAULTS OP OTHERS. From what appears ID the narrative, there was no occasion for these Cbaldean magnates to make any accusation agaiw;t the llebrews. It was no pa.rt of their office to become public prosecutors, The OJI. III, 1-30,] 'l'IlE llOOK Ob' DANIEL. 127