Evening, June 24
Go To Morning Reading
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said ... Be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods.”
Daniel 3:16, 18
The narrative of the manly courage and marvellous deliverance of the
three holy children, or rather champions, is well calculated to excite
in the minds of believers firmness and steadfastness in upholding
the truth in the teeth of tyranny and in the very jaws of death. Let
young Christians especially learn from their example, both in matters
of faith in religion, and matters of uprightness in business, never
to sacrifice their consciences. Lose all rather than lose your integrity,
and when all else is gone, still hold fast a clear conscience as the
rarest jewel which can adorn the bosom of a mortal. Be not guided
by the will-o’-the-wisp of policy, but by the pole-star of divine authority. Follow
the right at all hazards. When you see no present advantage, walk
by faith and not by sight. Do God the honour to trust him when it
comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle. See whether he
will be your debtor! See if he doth not even in this life prove his
word that “Godliness, with contentment, is great gain,” and that they who “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, shall have all
these things added unto them.” Should it happen that, in the providence of God, you are a loser
by conscience, you shall find that if the Lord pays you not back in
the silver of earthly prosperity, he will discharge his promise in
the gold of spiritual joy. Remember that a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of that which he possesseth.
To wear a guileless spirit, to have a heart void of offence, to have
the favour and smile of God, is greater riches than the mines of Ophir
could yield, or the traffic of Tyre could win. “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and inward
contention therewith.” An ounce of heart's-ease is worth a ton of gold.