The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 195

to suffer a suc1den and complete reverse. "Riches make· for themselves wings, and fly away." The props of a throne are soon snapped. The arm of military power is soon broken. Kinii:s have ended life in a dungeon or on a scaffold. Not more complete is the contr&Bt between a fruit tree in spring ~nd the same tree in the frosty days of winter, than the conditions of some men-in the morr.ing prosperous, in the evening 11trippod and naked. Cnn Fortune's best gifts be worth much, which give no warrant of continuance? The calamity which was preparing for Nebuchadnezzar was certainly the most severe that could befall a man. Worse than disease I Worse thnn leprosy I Worse than death I He who had "set his heart as the heart of God," who hnd aspired to a place among the stars, was to fall below the level of a man-was to have the hrart of a ~ea~t, abject_ we~kness . insteAd of imperial might, im bccility in place of boasted msdom. This disaster 1s said to be proclaimed by a holy watcher. This language was an accommodation to prevalent beliefs. The unfallen ano-els beina unburdened with a corporeal naturl', and having, therefore, no need of sleep, a:e eve~ wakeful to execute the commissions of Jehovah. These watch our course, grieve over our declensions, and correct us for our follies. So did an angel scatter the hosts of Sennacherib. So did an angel smite Herod with a fatal disease. "A.re they not all ministering spirits?" "Excelling in strength, they do his commands, hearkenincr0 to the voice of his word." Ill TwIN RAYS OF HOP&. The Divine sentence proceeds with a succession of melancholy chastisements, until the word "nevertheless" is reached; then the deepen- ing darkness is relieved by a gleam of hope. The stump of the root was to be preserved, This, of course, implied that the overthrow was not absolute and final. Room was yet left for repentance and restoration. Special means were chosen to preserve the stump from rot and injury. So all God's judgments, in this life, are corrective and are designed to be remedial. Judgment and mercy are blended in human discipline. The affliction, though severe, was not to be permanent and eternal. There was a limit in respect to duration: "Till seven times are passed over him." A. sad apprentice- ship in the c'ark pri.:;on of insanity, for seven years, was to be endured. And then, what? This was the momentous question. Was the issue, then, to be death? Or repentance, amendment, life? Tremendous issues hung upon the man's use of God's judgment. Every man is upon his trial. We are here "prisoners of hope." A. ray of mercy gilds our path, which ray may broaden and brighten into eternal noon, or may be quenched in blackest night. IV. A MERCIFUL DESIGN. There is no room for caprice or chance in the government of our world, nor in any of the affairs of men. Does insanity fa.11 upon a man? It is by a heavenly design. "The purpose of Jehovah, that shall stand." Mark, that God's inteution was not simply the good of one individual man, but the good of all li\·ing. God uses one to teach many-dillciplines one, that he may be a blessing to multitudes. "No man livetb unto himself." We receive good and evil mediately from the human race. We transmit blessing or bane to the future ages. God's high design is to teach meu religious truth-" that the living may know that God ruleth." To know God, as the Ii vino-, reiguing God,-lhis is among the highest blessings we can obtain. If we know Goj, ~ve shall long to be reconciled to him, to enjoy his friondship. Acquaintance with God will quicken the aspiration to be like him. To know him is tbe way to virtue, wisdom, eminence, peace It is comparatively easy to in~truct the beggar, it is very difficult to instruct the monarch, in this lore. How hardly shall they tliat have riches confess themselves poor! How hardly shall they that have dominion acknowledge their dependence! The poorest in this way may become the richest; the meanest among men. may become the mightiest in the kingdom of !,eaven.-D. Vers. 19-28.-P1'0phetic COf/,n&el. The true prophet is God's messenger to men. He has a definite mission to perform, and his service here is unspeakably precious. We have here several marks of a genuine prophet. I. HEAL SYMPATHY WITH HIS FELLOW-HEN. As a servant of the most high GoC:, be can have no sympathy with self-indulgence, pride, ambition, or any form of sin, But be has real affection for men. Beneath th(l thick crust of worldliness, he perceives a 1,rerJous soul, bearing still some lineaments of the Divine image; and his aim is to en. IV, 1-B7.J TITE BOOK OF DANIEL. lG!:l