virtue is not rrsf'{'nsible for this result. Eminent goodness either allures or repels men. Yirtue may be the innocent occasion of wickedness: it is not its oriainating cause. The warm er the sun shines on our gardens, the faster grow the weed.:' on the dunghill. Yet the sun is not to be blamed, The peerless purity of Jesus Christ exasperated men to commit the foulest offence that our earth has ever witnessed, Aa a rule, it is not the virtue itself that is envied, but the advant11ges and rewards which virtue secures. Men, for the most part;, wish to !(ain the fruits of virtue rather than the virtue itself; and if they cannot, with facility, rise to the elevation of their rival, they seek to bring him down to their level or else deM.roy him altogether, Decauso Daniel WllS preferred by the k~~~ on account of his probity and prudence the evil nature in his competitors developea in the direction of bitter envy. ' III. EKVY JS LABORIOUS IN THE SEABOH AFTER OTHERS' BINS. The base and con- temptible nature of envy is SPen in its occupations. It is not conducive to the health of men's minds to be perpetually engaged in the study of disease. There may be compensations and alleviations to be obtained from other sources. But the pursuit itself is injurious. Much more injurious to the soul is it to be on the search for diseases of the soul, and to find a satisfaction in the supposed faults of our fellow- rnen. In the case of Daniel, this search served only to bring more clearly into view Daoiel's exceptional virtue. Not even the sharp lynx-eye of ambitious envy could find a blemish on his reputation. His unworthy detractors were at length compelled to acknowledge his private and his public virtnes; l!IO they confessed to each other, " We shall find no occasion of blame against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the Law of his God," IV. ENVY SEEKS TO GAIN ITS END BY THE KOST DISCREDITADLE METHODS, It matters little to Envy whether she speaks the language of truth or of falsehood; whether she employs just or unjust measures, These jealons rivals of Daniel went to the king with a lie in their mouths when they said that "all the presidents" and princes had united in asking this decree. How sedulously busy is Envy in her intrigue l She counts no toil inordinate! She had paced up and down the land, whispered in the ear of every state official, and secured their adhesion to this deadly 11lot. Seeming success makes her bold. She will involve the king himself in her murderon11 scheme. A crafty nse of flattery will win his powerful patronage. 'l'he intrigue shall be masked under the pretence of excessive loyalty. For thirty daya the king shall be the sole dispenser of bonnty to the people, His ear shall be open to every complaint. This will gain him wide popularity; this will bring pious Daniel within the meshes of contumacy. These professed believers in other gods will neglect their deities for a whole month in order to encompass the murder of the best and noblest man in the empire. V. E~-YY 1s NOTHING BETTER THAN INOIPIENT KURDEB, No tender or humane feelina can dwell in the same breast as Envy. She will gradually banish every ,·irtuo"us occupant, and introdnce instead the basest crew. Hide her final intention as she may, she must at length confess that murder is the final act in her programme. These jealous colleagues of Daniel would probably have been for the moment satisfied, if only they could have deposed Daniel from his just eminence, or if they could have seriously injured his reputation with the king. But since these ends were compassed with insuperable difficulty, they determine to aim _hig?er still,. and bec_ause this end seemed witlun easier reach, they make a thrust at his hfe. It 1s a penlous thing to harbour an evil principle in any comer of the heart. Like a tiny leak in a mill-dam, it will steadily increase : the trickling stream will carve for itself a larger and a larger channel, until every barrier at last gives way, and devastation on a large see.le is the result. "Keep thine heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Envy, when developed to maturity, becomes red-handed murdcr.-D.
Vere. 10-13.-Piety in perilous circumstances. Daniel was at this time advanced in yeari!. His principles, good at the first, had grown in strength and mutual suppor~. A.t his age he was not to be surprised by alarm nor driven into rashness: His character had been moulded into heavenly shape under the rough handhng of oppression and peraecution, and now every fibre of his moral nature had toughness and tenacity. He was manly because he was eminently devout. OR, VI, 1-28.] THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 203