Vers. 4-18, 20-21.-Human greatness, ita rise, fall, and restoration. "Behold a tree in the midst of the earth, aud the height thereof was great" (ver. 10). The subject naturally fiUggested by the text is that of human greatness, its rise, its decay, its restoration. It should be rem•am bered, even in the first entertainment of the theme, that this greatness may inhere in man individual as in man collective. 'l'o guide our thoughts, especially in its practical applications, it will be well, then, to keep distinctly before us the concept man, and also that other-the nation. 'l'he applications will then be rich and manifold. A striking illustration of the greatness of a nation is to be found in the slow growth and present position of Great Britain. That tree has indeed "reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth." The pre-eminence of the Anv,lo-Saxon race, including now the people of the U1Jited Stau,s, is a still grander illustration. Another hint-that we may not lose ourselves in the gra □ diloq nent and miss the practical, observe that greatness is, after all, only relative, that all humanity is as nothing compared with the majesty of the Eternal. A workman may be relatively great in the workshop; a child in the F~Luf,I ; therefore there is no limit to the applications of the subject. Apply it to the ]c,w lnds of cummon lift>, as well as to the highest, OH. IV, 1-37.] 'l'HE IlOOK OF DANIEL.
I. HUMAN onEATNESS-lN ITS nISE. Observe: 1. It.~ dependence. The tr,,e an,1 the man nre nliko in this-in being living things. Now, lifo at first is from Go,\; an,\ is over sustained by cfiluence from him. The tone of the kini!: (ver. 30) was that of moral ma,lncss (see also ver. 17). 2. Its growth. The tree from its tiny seed. The law of man's lil'e is that he must grow. The tendency of man (hotil indivi,l,ial an•\ collective) is to growth. He ought to be so indefinitely. The man that ceases to grow nt forty or fifty, mentally, morally, is dead. The youn;;, a,p-ring spirit is to be retained to life's last hour. Looked at on the reverse side, no greatn,.~s is instantly attained. Neither man nor nation vaults into the throne of morn! eminence. Wait, but actively wait, not pas,ively, as the child of mere circumstance. 3. Its majesty. The tree majestic. Man majestic. So a nati0n. Let not false humility preach otherwise. The grander our conceptions of man, the higher our adoration of his Maker. Even sin cannot bide the original grandeur. A teruple, albeit in ruins. 4. lts loneliness. ~minence ever lonely. 'l'he spires above the city. The snow- domes above the lower mountain ranges. As man rises, be retains, or he should retain, sympathy with all below; but he himself rises into a region where the lower sympathies do not follow him (see Robertson on 'The Loneliness of Christ;' and Dr. Caird on ha. )xiii. 3, in volume of 'Sermons'). 5. Its conspicuoosness. The tree was seen from every part of the far horizon. The more eminent man or nation, the more the observed of all observers. The attenc-Jant rasponsibility, therefore- virtue more influential, vice more pestilential. 6. Its use. (Ver. 12.) Literal pressing of the figure here impossible. Keep to the commanding central thought, that human greatness must not have Belj for its object. The eminence of man is for beneficence. We live for others, and in so doing find our richest life. Oue might be tempted to say that in this we contrast with God; but not so. All things, indeed, flow in upon God as their object, but only that he may again give himself, in the grandeur of his love, to the universe. II. IN ITS DECLINE. Note : 1. The failure. In the dream-parable of the tree, nothing is said of the failure; but look at the man, Nebuchadnezzar. To appreciate his usual delinquency we must take account of the extraordinary character of bis public works; the aim, pitilessly pursued, of his own aggrandizement; the consequent sacrifice of the wealth, labour, comfort, happiness, and lives of his people. (See 'Daniel, Statesman and Prophet,' R.T.S., pp. 119-121, 126, 127.) The eminence of the great king was not for use and benediction. 2. The judgment. (1) Its time. In the very height of the king's prosperity. "I was at rest in my house, and green in my palace " (ver. 4). We do not know the exact date, but we know the time m rdation to the rest of the king's life. At rest in domestic relations; no serious solicitude about public affairs; conquests achieved; great building~ finished. (2) Its cause. Insist on the truth that the doom of men and nations is morally co:iditioned. lllustration8 are more than abundant in modern life. (3) Its source. Observe: the "watchers" here are not necessarily angels; for they are not objectively real, but subjective in the dream. Still, they point to a reality in heaven. (a) Intelligence there. The watcher intellec- tually was characterized by a large, piercing, sleepless eye. (b) Holiness. This the moral characteristic. "A holy one." (c) Arbitrament there. (d) Powe,· there. "Cried aloud." 'l'he execution certain (ver. 17). 3. The decay. (Ver. 15.) Compare parables of the talent and of the pound. III. IN ITS RESTORATION. Observe : 1. The subject remains. The man indestructible (ver. 15), 'l'be more.I possibilities abiJ,,. 2. The conditions of restoration. (1) The reaw,ilcening of the consciousness. of God. (Ver. 34.) (2) Penitence. (3) Bearing practical fruit. (Ver. 27.) (4) The conditions accepted on the ground of Christ's atone- ment. 'l'he 11tonement, so far as its efficacy goes, is a perpetual fact. The Lamb has been "slain from the foundation of the world." Knowledge of the atonement not absolutely necessary to those blessed by it. It stands as an objective grouud, jnsti- fying Divine benedictions on the uuworthy. The providence of God is the atouement in action. 'l'be moral government of God is, srnce the Fall, mediatorial, always and evcrywbcro.-n.
Yer,. HJ, 2G, 27 .-Reproof by the saintly. "Tben D,miel, whose name was Belte- 1hazza1·, was astonicd for ono hour, and his thoughts troubled him" (ver. 19). 154' 'l'HE BOOK OF DANIEL. [err. 1v. 1-37.