what onr position will be at" the end of the days" I How vain to be satisfied with present ease, ~ince these days of sinful idleness are few and shortening I Who of us will be able to say at the end of life, "It is finished"? 2. Abuse of opportunitiea will loo.d to the loss of them. The kingdom appears to be "numbered and finished," swiftly, abruptly, and in judgment. Doth king and people might have been spared longer, if they had lived better. Time is a talent which is justly tl'lken from those who do not make a good use of it (Ps. xxxvii. 9; M:itt. x:x.v. 28, 29). This applies with special force to kingdoms-the judgment of ,vhich belongs to this world (Isa. xiv. 22). 11. THE TRIAL. The second word," weighed," is explained by Daniel to mean that Belsbe.zzar e.nd bis kingrlom have been " weighed in the balances, and found wanting." l. There is a fudgm.ent awaiting us all. Our future will not be determined by chance, or fate, or easy md1fference. It will depend on our past. This will be revealed examined, p'.oved, tested, weighed in every tho?ght. and word and deed, for everi moment of life. None can expect to escape this tnal. The greatest king is here subjected to its searching scrutiny. 2. This judgment will be effected by weighinq our conduct, and testing it by a Divine standard. We shall be weighed in the balances. On Egyptian mummy-cases there may be seen representations of the sonl weiahed in ~cales with truth 11s a counterpoise. The truth or ideal 'conduct by which we ~hall be tested may be va1iously viewed as (1) absolute right; (2) God's will; (3) God's idea of our life; (4) duty and vocation ;-these being shaped and modified accordina0 to our powers, oor opportunities, and our light (Rom. ii. 6-12). 3. The ground of con- demnation will be to be "found wanting." As darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of good. We can only keep out sin by being filled with holiness (Rom. xii. 21). To be "wanting" in tmth, or purity, or love, is the essence of sin. More particularly we shall be judged by our defection of duty, not merely by our commission of offences. Mere negative harmlessness will be of no avail if we have failed in our positive service (Matt. :xxv. 4~--45). III. THE SEJITENCE. The third word, "divided," is interpreted to mean that the Babylonian "kingdom is divided, and given to Media and Persia." 1. After a verdict of" guilty," there mnst be a sentence of punishment. Whatever be the nature of future punishment, justice. present analogies, and revelation concur in pointing to the certainty of its execution. For individuals this is mostly reserved to the future world; but for kingdomB, which remain in this world for successive generations, allowing time for moral laws to work out their ends here, it is executed on earth and is witnesRed by history. 2. The most natural punishment is the loss of the honours and powers which have been abused. The kingdom is taken away. The unused talent is taken away (Matt. :x:xv. 28, 29). 8. The worst form of punishment is death. The kingdom is to be divided- to die as a kingdom. Corruption, disintegration, dissolution, spiritual death in outer darkness, are the awful mysterious doom of sin unrepented and persisted in to the end (JM. i. 15),
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1--4.-The downward road. "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, e.nd drank wine before the thousand" (ver.1). The history of the fall of Be.bylon must form the background of any homiletical treatment of this chapter (see the li°istories; and the Exposition above). Tbe clearing up of the difficulty of this portion of Scripture, of the seeming discrepancy between Daniel's statements and the records of secular history, by the discovery of clay cylinders, simultaneously by M. Oppert and Sir Henry Rawlinson in 1854, is one of the most interesting episodes in the history of Chri6tian apologetics; and is eminently suggestive in that line of things, showing particularly how easily Biblical mists would be cleared away if only we could have at hllnd all the facts. But we tum here to the bearing of the passage on the ordinary life of man, I. 'faE POSITION OF PRIVILEGE. Guilt must ever stand related to knowledge. ,vhat were the king's opportunities of knowing the will of God? They were more tlian some may think, such as ought to have saved him from the degradations of that Dight. The parallel with our own position is clear. Though our advantages are in 011, T. 1-81.] THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 177