The Pulpit Commentary — Daniel — Section 359

a faithful record or history has proceeded from the hands of an intelligent mnn, we are also compelled to conclude that accnrate predictions of distinct events can only result from supernatural agency-a revelation made from heaveu.-D. Vere. 21-46.-The specious sucuss of a bad monarch. There ls mystery in tho fact that, under the adminiRtration of & righteous God, bad men should be elevated to highest rank. Yet, evil though it is, it would prob.lbly be a greater evil to employ mere force to prevent it. It is evident that God rules among men by ruoml agencies, This is one circumstance among the "all things " that " work together for the good" of God's elect. I. BAD MEN ABE PEBl[ITTED BY Goo TO CLIMB INTO IlllPEBIAL THRONES. There is a sense in which it is true that "God setteth up one, nnd putteth down another" Yet it is not true that God acts apart from men, nor is he responsible for any unrighteous act. Without his permission it could not be; but if power should interfere to pre1•ent wrong-doing, this would be to make virtuous by compulsion-this would be to destroy virtue's essential nature. The people of Israel~ in Samuel's day, clamoured for a king. God did not approve; yet, in anger, he permitted them to have a king. Nor would it have then availed for God to have furuished Israel with a king" after his own heart." The people would not at that time have tolerated such a prince. Very clear iE it that God sets no high value on the highest earthly dis- tiuctions. The wealth and dignities and sceptres of earth are not deemed worthy to be rewards for his friends. Hiches and sovereignties often fall to the lot of the vilest or mankind-clear proof this how God values such possessions. " That which is highly esteemed among men is often an abomination in the sight of God." The wise men in Gcd's kingdom will not envy any of fortune's favourites. II. THE BOLD ABTS OF FRAUD AND DECEIT OFTEN FIND A PASSING SUCOESS. From the hour when Antioch us was liberated from Rome, until the hour of his death, he was studying the shrewdest arts of duplicity and treachery. If men wish to make a lie succeed, they must make it big enough and utter it boldly, and it will travel far and wide. So too any act of wickedness will best succeed if it is carried out with brazen effrontery. No consideration of truth, or duty, or feeling, or self-consistency, was allowed by Antiochus to stand in the way of vile success. To be rightly or wrongly a monarch over a large area-this was his one ambition, and to this evil deity everything was sacrificed. If lying, or reserve, or deceit, or tergiversation, would serve his turn, all were resorted to. No covenant, or treaty, or promise, issuing from him, was worth a groat. He was more a demon than a man ; for all manly qualities had been parted with. To the eye of his courtiers and generals it would seem as if this course of life secured success ; yet it was a very doubtful success and very epliemeral. Granted that it continued, more or less, through his lifetime; this was merely a period of eleven yeal'B. To estimate justly the success of a man's life, we must measure it, not by years, but by centuries-not by the fleeting hours of time, but by its continuance through eternity. Posterity has long since reversed the judg- ment of this Syrian king's contemporaries. Scorn and detestation are his inheritance. III. SUCCESSFUL WICKEDNESS .ATTRACTS BAD MEN TO 1TB SIDE. The majority of men are more fitted to follow than to lead. If only a bold and self-assertive leader appear, crowds of weaker men will attach themselves to his person; and if only something can be gained, be it earthly spoil or glory, the appetite of avarice will be sharply whetted. The public and faithful testimony of a good man will strengthen the confidence of feebler saints, and make the pulse of piety beat stronger. This has an effect in drawing righteous spirits more closely together, and, as a consequence, increasing their severance from the wicked. So it is also a fact that the public success of a bad man (especially if be be an opponent and persecutor of the Church) will serve to detach hypocrites and self-deceivers from the cause of truth and right- eousness. Tbe succes~ful violence and blatant profanity of Antiochus separated the impiuus Jews from the pious. Then it was discovered that many who observ 7d the sacrnd riles of Judaism were atheists at heart, and were more cager to share in the si:,uils of sacrilege than to defeud their temple and their God. In days of prosperity •od peace, multitudes are content with a superficial faith. But persecution is a sterling test, and well brings out the genuine and the spurious in character.  OR. ]UL 1-18,] THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 333