The Lions' Den
(No. 2859)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1903.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"O Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God, whom you serve
continually, able to deliver you from the lions?" Daniel 6:20.
THE empire of Babylonia and Chaldea passed into the hands of a new
dynasty and king Belshazzar was slain in a night-assault upon his
capital. On that very night, he had clothed Daniel in scarlet and made
him the third ruler in the Kingdom. This was Providential, for, had
Daniel been in obscurity, he would have been little likely to attract
the notice of Darius. But, observing him in the palace, clothed in
scarlet, Darius would naturally ask who he was and enquire into his
antecedents. The fame of his wisdom would be quickly told and the fact
of his having twice interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, in former
times, and of his having just then, with startling precision, foretold
the downfall of Belshazzar and the capture of the city by the Medes and
Persians, would be eagerly related. Hence it was not at all surprising
that Darius took great notice of Daniel, weighed his character,
observed his conduct and, after a while, exalted him to be prime
minister of his realm.
Daniel's prosperity and honors excited the envy of the courtiers. Full
of sullen spite and brimming over with jealousy, presidents and princes
conspired together to cast him down with calumnious accusations. We are
known to say that "any stick will do to beat a dog," so they looked
about for any charge with which they might assail him. I have no doubt
they watched him constantly, waited eagerly for his halting–all the
while basely flattering the man they wanted to trip up. Can they
discover a flaw in his accounts? Can they question the impartiality of
his judgment? Can they detect a lack of loyalty in the administration
of his government? Can they find fault with his private life? No, but
is there nothing against him? Is Daniel such a four-square man that he
is more than a match for them? I can well believe that they hunted him
here and there till their haughty faces grew haggard in the sin effort
to find a cause of complaint–and that they set spies to skulk about
his house and mark his movements. And, in fact, they stooped to the
meanest stratagems, little heeding how much they compromised themselves
if they might but compass his downfall. But his integrity was proof
against all their devices. The more closely they observed him, the more
clearly they discerned that he was always diligent, discreet and
devout. So conscientious and so uniformly consistent was Daniel, both
in his character and his conduct, that every effort to entangle him in
the meshes of their conspiracy proved to be vain.
At length the devil, who does not often run short of devices, puts them
up to a fresh plot. O Satan, you are full of all subtlety! "Let us
contrive a new law," they say, "that shall bring his piety and his
patriotism into conflict. He is a Hebrew by birth and he believes, with
all his heart, in only one God. Our divinities he despises. Towards our
temples he shows a silent scorn. He sets no value on the magnificent
statues that we venerate. Three times in the day he has been accustomed
to offer prayer to an invisible Protector whom he calls, 'the living
God, Jehovah'–surely these peculiarities will supply us with a pretext
and so we shall entrap him." So they laid their evil heads together and
devised as cunning a snare as they could possibly invent. And yet,
clever as they were, they perished in the trap they had prepared! They
managed to involve the king, himself, in their iniquitous device and to
entangle him in such a way that he must either sacrifice his favorite
courtier, or compromise his own truthfulness and violate the sacred
traditions of the empire! A royal statute was framed and a decree
published forbidding any petition to be asked of God or man for 30
days. How preposterous!
But when was there ever a despot who was not, sooner or later, deserted
of his wits? The passion for power, when indulged without restraint,
will lead a man to the utmost foolishness and urge him to a madness of
vanity. In such a false position stood the monarch who was easily
persuaded to issue the infamous edict desired. In this strait, how will
Daniel acquit himself? Will he count it prudent to desert his post and
get out of the way? No. Daniel had a soul above such policy. Yet you
might imagine that if he must pray, he would go down into the cellar,
or offer his supplications to God in some retired place where he need
not challenge notice. His petitions will be heard in Heaven without
respect to the place from which they are presented. Or it might have
been expedient to suspend the vocal utterance of prayer and offer his
supplications silently. Daniel, however was a servant of the living God
and, therefore, he scorned thus to compromise and play the coward. Well
does one of the old writers call him, Coeur de Lion, for he had the
heart of a lion! Into that den of lions he went, a lion-like man, not
cruel, like the beasts of the forest, but far more courageous! His
conscience towards God was clean and the course he pursued before his
fellow creatures was clear. His sense of the Truth of God would not
suffer him to be a trimmer. He does not change his habit, but goes
upstairs, though he might have known that it was like climbing the
gallows. He drops upon his knees, puts his hands together, with his
windows open toward Jerusalem in the presence of all his
adversaries–and there he prays three times a day as he had done
before. He prays openly, not ostentatiously. He prays in the spirit of
a Protestant rather than in the fashion of a Pharisee. He sought no
honor, but he shunned no danger. To encounter shame, or to endure
reproach, if necessary, for the cause of righteousness, had long been
his fixed habit–and now that it threatens to bring on him swift death,
he swerves not!
Hear those quick feet as they patter along the streets of Shushan! All
the presidents and princes are coming together! There is mischief
brewing, for they are going to seek an interview with the king. They
are anxious to inform his majesty that they have caught Daniel
committing the horrible crime of prayer! Was not this a new offense?
Oh, no! The first man that ever died fell a victim to his religion and
so, I suppose, for many and many a century, this was one of the foulest
offenses a man could commit against society! Those who serve the living
and the true God are sure to challenge the sneers of the time-servers
in any age. There are many, nowadays, who hate nothing as much as a
religious man! All the epithets in the catalog of scandal are too good
for the man who offers homage to God in everything. An infidel may be
reputed honest, intelligent and worthy of respect–but a genuine
Christian is at once denounced as a hypocrite! Away with such a
fellow–his conscience is as offensive as his creed! There is
toleration for everybody who conforms to the fashion of the day, but no
toleration for anyone who believes that the laws of Heaven should
regulate life on earth.
So they told the king that the laws of his empire must be kept
inviolate. Good, loyal souls as they were, they would not have a
statute broken for the world! There is an end to your monarchy if your
royal proclamations are not to be respected! They are so jealous for
the common law and so earnest for the king's honor that they must, at
all hazards, even if it is at the risk of seeing their dear friend,
Daniel, put into the lions' den, maintain the dignity of the king and
assert the majesty of his imperial edict! The king perceives that he is
caught, but thinks the matter over and, finding no alternative, gives
Daniel up to the conspirators.
Alas! I see the godly man flung in among the lions, but what do I hear?
Do I hear his bones cracking? Can I hear a shriek from the Prophet? Is
there a noise of the howling of those savage beasts of prey? There is
an awful hush while the king puts his seal upon the stone–shall we
step down and peer into the den to see what is going on there? No
sooner had Daniel arrived at his destination than an angel of God
encamped in that dungeon. Stretching his broad wings, he seems to have
fixed his station in front of those fierce beasts. The safety of Daniel
was secured! The mouths of the lions were shut and they lay down like
lambs. Perhaps Daniel found a comfortable pillow for his night's rest
upon the shaggy body of one of those monsters that would have devoured
him had not the heavenly visitant hushed them into silence by his
presence! Or perhaps the appearance of the angel was as a flame of fire
and worked an illusion before the lions' eyes, so that Daniel seemed to
them to be surrounded with flame, or robed with fire. At any rate, that
night the prophecy of the latter days–that the lamb shall lie down
with the lion, was fulfilled to the letter! God, in His Providence and
Grace, preserved His servant!
We can easily imagine that, like Paul and Silas, when Daniel did not
sleep, he made the lions' den vocal with his songs and that the lions
growled the bass while God's angel stood there listening to such music
as he had never heard before! And when the morning dawned he then sped
his way up to Heaven as the king came to fetch Daniel out of his
prison house. So Daniel was delivered and his foes were confounded.
There is the story. Now, what lessons are we to learn from it?
I. First, I want to set before you DANIEL'S EARLY AND ENTIRE
CONSECRATION TO THE SERVICE OF
GOD.
The king said, "Your God, whom you serve continually." This was no
empty compliment. His scrupulous uprightness had become so habitual
that it was like an instinct of his nature. Daniel began to serve God
in his youth. There are no saints to be compared with those whose
childish minds were imbued with heavenly Truths as soon as their infant
lips began to lisp them. Just as there are no sinners so inured to
wickedness as those who are bred and trained in haunts of vice, tutored
from their cradle to utter profane words and prone to act as they
think, bravely, in defiance of every precept of the Decalogue till they
become proficient in every kind of profligacy. They, who give their
morning to God, shall find that, in beginning early, they can keep pace
with their work all day. Happy Daniel, thus continually to serve his
God from his youth up! Yet it was not the good fortune of his birth
that gilded his name with glory. Far from that–it was his sad lot to
be carried away captive from his native land while but a stripling!
Alienated from the home of his ancestors, he was taken to the palace of
Nebuchadnezzar and there, with three other youths, he was entered as a
bursar in a heathen school to be instructed in the strange literature
of a strange nation and so to become one of the king's learned men!
His loyalty to the faith of his forefathers was at once put to the
test. Certain food that was repugnant to his conscience, was served up
every day. Probably it had been offered in sacrifice to a false god.
Daniel feels that he would be polluted by partaking of it. He,
therefore, with his companions, refuses either to eat the king's meat
or to drink the king's wine. As a total abstainer, he drank nothing but
water and, as a vegetarian, he ate nothing but simple plants. With no
desire to please his palate, it was his delight to serve his God
continually. Another man might have thought it mattered little what he
ate and drank, but, for Daniel, the jots and tittles of Divine
Revelation had a meaning. He dared not go contrary to the Law of his
God, even with regard to meats and drinks. Though far from the land
that Jehovah cared for, he longed to live in the Light of God's
Countenance. Strict obedience to God has a swift reward. His face soon
became fairer than the faces of those who fed on the royal diet!
At length, the time arrives when Daniel is to be brought from private
tuition into public notice. Nebuchadnezzar has been distressed by a
dream which his astrologers cannot comprehend and his soothsayers try
in vain to search out. To Daniel, alone, who served his God
continually, the secret is revealed. Of that vision I do not now
attempt to speak–but with what nobility of heart does Daniel stand
before the king! He does not tremble before the earthly potentate, nor
does he conceal the name of the God in Heaven who inspires him with
wisdom. He recalls the forgotten dream and forthwith he is made a great
man in the realm–yet he still goes on to serve his God continually!
Obscurity could not hinder him, publicity could not mislead him. Again
the king dreams. again Daniel boldly explains, though that explanation
is to the effect that the haughty monarch shall be driven as a lunatic
from the abodes of men!
For a while, Daniel retires into the shade. You hear nothing of him
till Belshazzar ascends the throne, but he is still serving his God. I
doubt not, sometimes ministering to his poorer brethren and visiting
the sick, but often in his chamber, by prayer, and by study of the
Scriptures, seeking and finding communion with the Most High. All of a
sudden Belshazzar summons him to his presence. There is a mysterious
writing on the wall which can be read by no eyes and interpreted by no
lips but his. He is not disconcerted, but, at the call of royalty, to
court he goes. Oh, with what simple dignity, with what sublime
composure, with what heroic courage does the man of God tell the proud
monarch, who might cut him in pieces if he willed, of his immediate
doom–"You are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting"! If you
want to find a counterpart of John Knox in the Bible, I do not know,
leaving out Elijah, where you will find a rival to Daniel. How
confidently he speaks, "This is the writing"! And again, "This is the
interpretation." His word commends itself to the conscience–no man
dares to gainsay it.
He is promoted to the highest honor in the realm–now what will he do?
There has been a change of monarchs, but there is no change in Daniel.
No time-server, he stands to his principles at all times. "Servant of
the living God," is still his title! He had taken for his motto, when
he began life, "I serve God," and he retains the motto to his life's
close. The glory of his God was his one objective throughout all his
days–and he never swerved. He is now lifted to a higher post of
dignity than he had ever been raised to before. He is prime minister of
the greatest monarch of the age, yet he abhors the idolatry of the
heathen and maintains his allegiance to him who rules in the heavens.
They can find no flaw in him,
though the eyes of envy watch him from early morn to dewy eve! O my
Brothers and Sisters, it is a hard thing to serve God in high places!
Many a man seems to adorn the Doctrine of God our Savior when humbly
earning his livelihood by the toil of his hands, and eating his bread
in the sweat of his face, but, afterwards, when advanced to ease and
opulence, he has turned his back upon his friends and forsook the Lord.
Be very jealous of yourselves if you are rising in the world. Riches
are deceitful. It is not easy to walk on a high rope–what lamentable
Providences have befallen those who have thus risked their lives! Let
us be the more circumspect when we are called to walk in high places.
Popularity and fame, riches and honor are among the sharpest trials of
integrity that mortal man can pass through. But Daniel could endure
them all without his head growing giddy, for he served his God
continually.
Now note the effect of what Daniel did. It is comparatively easy to
follow the Lord in bright days, but the sun of prosperity suddenly
darkens and the man of God is encompassed with perils. If he continues
in his holy course, he will forfeit the king's favor and lose his life
in the most dreadful manner. What will Daniel's determination be? Oh,
the true grit is in him! He is a blade of the true Jerusalem
manufacture and is not to be broken. He will do just as he did before!
He opens his window and in the same posture, down on his knees, he
prays as he did before! Glory be unto the God of Daniel, who made and
who kept such a man with his head clear in the crisis, with his heart
pure in the midst of persecution and his feet steadfast to the end!
Ah, dear Friends, some of us little know what these pinches mean. There
are a few of you who do–you have endured torture without accepting
deliverance. I have felt a holy pride in some of you when I have seen
how you have borne trial. Witness the man who has a shop which brings
him in more profit on a Sunday than it does all the rest of the days of
the week, and who says, "It must be one thing or the other. I cannot go
to the Tabernacle and keep my shop open, too– which shall it be?" His
faith proves stronger than his fear! The shutters are closed on the
first day of the week. His business goes–he loses everything and yet
he does not regret it. He parts with ill-gotten gain without a grudge
and goes back to hard manual labor with a moral satisfaction and a
manifest ease of conscience that he never knew before! Dear souls, your
pastor is proud of you! I feel that I can thank God and take courage
since the Gospel of Christ educates and brings up such simple, honest
servants of the living God! And when I have heard of young men serving
in a shop, who, when asked to do something positively dishonest, have
at first mildly answered that they could not–but when told that they
must either comply or retire–have boldly said, "Then we will leave," I
have felt how highly honored I am of God to have such men in our ranks.
My eminent predecessor, Dr. Gill, was told by a certain member of his
congregation, who ought to have known better, that if he published his
book, " The Cause of God and Truth," he would lose some of his best
friends and that his income would fall off. And the Doctor said, "I can
afford to be poor, but I cannot afford to injure my conscience." The
devil and the deceit of your own heart will readily suggest that you
must look after your family–and some good Christian people mistake
prudence for piety. I daresay, had Daniel gone to consult Mr. Prudent
Thrifty and asked his advice, he would have said. "Well, you see, it is
a very important thing for us to have you at the head of affairs. I do
not think you ought to throw away such an opportunity as you have of
doing good. It is not absolutely necessary for you to pray for thirty
days! Would it not be better for you to trim a little and yield a point
or two? You do distinguished service to our cause and, by keeping your
position, you will be putting your foes to a non-plus. By compromise
you will obtain concessions. Worldly wisdom is worth your study." This
is the way that fools are beguiled and in this way many Christians,
alas, drift from their moorings. To plead the present distress is, for
the most part, a mere pretence. "Let us do evil that good may come,"
never was in the code of Old Testament or New Testament Truth!
I remember a notable instance, some years ago, of this fallacious
reasoning. A reflection was cast on the career of a distinguished
clergyman who resigned his connection with the Established Church and,
after much consideration, allied himself with the Baptists. "Did he
gain credit," it was asked, "or increase his congregation by the
change?" What of that? The answer is easy. Let conscience assert its
supremacy, for circumstances do not weigh a feather in the scale. Long
departed from among us, we may still speak of him as the Hon. and Rev.
Baptist Noel–and he was right and righteous in his decision, as one
who feared the Lord in the face of any loss. If, by stopping where he
thought he ought not to stop, or by conforming to what he believed to
be a corrupt corporation, he could have saved multitudes of souls, the
good done to others would not have extenuated the guilt incurred by
himself! You and I have nothing at all to do with consequences! Be it
ours to hearken to the voice of the Lord and obey His high behests.
When God prompts our conscience to a
course of action, the slightest demur will recoil with a sense of
intolerable guilt. Though the heavens should fall through our doing
right, we are not to sin in order to keep them up! At the call of duty,
never parley with danger. Should everything seem to go amiss with us
after we have done the right thing, there is no cause for regret.
Remember that our conduct is the maker of our character. You men of
faith, hoist your colors! Leave to your God the providing! Stick to the
obeying. Learn your duty and do it bravely. "Through floods and
flames," if Jesus leads, follow on, never dubious that your welfare is
assured.
Here, dear Friends, I would remark that the only service to God which
is real, genuine, remunerative, is this continual service that sticks
at nothing. Any hungry dog will follow you in the streets if you do but
entice him with a piece of meat, or a bit of biscuit. How closely he
keeps to your heels! But, after a while, the bait is gone and the dog
retreats. That is like many a professor. There is some little pleasure
in religion, or some advantage, and so he follows Christ, but, after a
while, there is an attraction elsewhere and, impelled by greed rather
than gratitude, he pursues it. Thus do false professors forsake Christ,
whom they never did really follow. But I have seen a man on horseback,
splashing the mud about and I have seen his dog keeping close at the
horse's heels, up and down hills, whether the roads were smooth or
rough–what did it matter to the faithful hound? His master was before
him, so on he went! That is the only kind of dog I would care to own
and I believe this is the only sort of follower that our Lord Jesus
Christ is willing to acknowledge. Oh, those time servers who look one
way and pull the other, like the ferry-men upon the stream! As for Lord
Fair-Speech, Lord Time-Server, Mr. Smooth-Man, Mr. Anything, Mr.
Facing-Both-Ways, Mr. Two-Tongues and all the members of their club,
Mr. By-Ends included, the entire company of them will be swept away
when the Judge comes with the besom of destruction!
I know you feel the force of this Truth. How you loathe a friend who
will not stick to you in dark times! Do you remember that companion of
yours who used to call in the evening and sit and chat with you? What a
dear fellow he seemed! You always thought he was a sincere friend. You
liked him much and you confided in his judgment as you often took
counsel together. And all went well till, one day when the dark clouds
began to gather over your head. It made a serious change in your
circumstances. What was it? A severe loss in business, or perhaps a
bankruptcy–now you cannot keep such a well-spread table, or wear as
good a hat as you used to–there is not so much nap on your Sunday
coat. You look rather less thriving than in days of yore. What has
become of your friend? Ah, never mind, let him stay where he is for you
have not suffered much loss by getting rid of him. He was never worth
knowing, before, but you have found out his worthlessness, now, and I
advise you to have nothing more to do with him. Do you not despise the
character of such a man? Do you not feel in your heart, "Well, I can
forgive him, but I will have nothing more to do with such a fellow"?
This is but a picture of yourselves if you try to follow Jesus Christ
only when you are in the society of His people and as easily lend
yourselves to sing a frivolous or lewd song when you are with the
ungodly. What is that man's profession worth who lets his tongue run
loose with flippant speech and vain conversation when he gets into the
company of such friends as are known to be sons of Belial? Oh, that we
had more Daniels who would serve the Lord continually! The only way to
build up a character which will be proof against the temptations of the
age and of your own immediate surroundings is to commit your cause to
God, as Daniel did. Be much in prayer! Prayer keeps the Christian
steadfast. You may make a loud profession, but it will not last without
prayer. Amidst work and worry, heavy responsibilities and incessant
anxiety, you had need often renew the confession of sin and weakness on
your bended knees. Then, again, you must have a lively faith in the
living and true God, as the Prophet had, for only this can sustain you
in such a warfare. Is your faith genuine, of the right metal? Spurious
faith soon loses its edge.
The Christian is in hard straits if he finds that when he needs courage
and comfort most, all his strength and joy have departed! Prove your
faith in the petty skirmishes of the passing hour, if you would have it
endure the perilous conflicts of an evil day. Have you a religion that
did not begin with rigorous self-denial. Then, get rid of it! If you
have a religion that suits your constitutional fondness for ceremonies,
your aesthetic taste for culture, your habitual passion for music,
beware of it! The root of all real religion is simple faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Away with every counterfeit. That faith which lives only
on Jesus, rests solely on Jesus, builds wholly on Jesus and shows
itself in earnest prayer will give you a consistency and decision of
character that will make you like Daniel all your days!
II. Now, secondly who WAS THIS GOD WHOM DANIEL SERVED CONTINUALLY?
Let me ask–Is Daniel's God worthy of our worship?I ask the question in
all earnestness because I feel positive that multitudes of men have a
religion that, in their own judgment, is hardly worth debating about,
far less worth dying for. It must have been a sorry spectacle to watch
a Papist going to the stake or the scaffold as many Protestants have
gone, for the maintenance of a fiction or a lie! I should be surprised
to see an Agnostic lay down his life for the defense of nothing. But
what shall we say of the living and true God whom Daniel delighted to
honor? Is He worth living for, worth serving, worth dying for?
Doubtless the Prophet's devotion grew stronger with the proof he made
of the Lord's goodness and greatness. With childlike faith he clung, at
first, to simple precepts that he would not transgress. The Revelations
he afterwards received seem like rewards for his unfaltering integrity.
In his direst emergencies, God manifestly delivered him. He had no
other longing for life than communion with the Lord of All the Earth!
From the Christian point of view, he was a "man greatly beloved." To
the outside heathen, he was "a servant of the living God." But let us
repeat the question, that we may have the pleasure of answering it for
ourselves. Is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ worthy of our
love and our life? Words are lacking to tell the gratitude and joy that
we cherish towards God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love with
which He loved us even when we were dead in sins!
By faith I understand that the blessed Son of God redeemed my soul with
His own heart's blood and, by sweet experience, I know that He raised
me up from the pit of dark despair and set my feet on the rock. He died
for me–this is the root of every satisfaction I have! He put all my
transgressions away. He cleansed me with His precious blood. He covered
me with His perfect righteousness. He wrapped me up in His own virtues.
He has promised to keep me, while I abide in this world, from its
temptations and snares! And when I depart this life, He has already
prepared for me a mansion in the Heaven of unfading bliss and a crown
of everlasting joy that shall never fade away! To me, then, the days or
years of my mortal sojourn on this earth are of little concern, nor is
the manner of my decease of much consequence. What more can I wish than
that while my brief term on earth shall last, I should be the servant
of Him who became the Servant of servants for me?
You, dear Friends, must be the best judges of your own religion,
whether or not it is worth suffering for. If it is not full of
immortality, I would not advise you to risk your reputation on
retaining it. If it is only a fair profession, you may well blush for
it as a foul delusion. The fleeting fashion of the time has its market
value, but the sterling Truth of God is a commodity that never
fluctuates. Have you found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the
Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth? Your religion is genuine if
Christ Himself is the All-in-All of it. Is He your own dear Savior?
Then you have pardon and peace, happiness in this present time and
Heaven in prospect–happier lot no heart can wish for!
Then there comes another question–Is Daniel's God able to deliver us
from the lions?My dear Friends, you who are suffering just now for the
Cross of Christ, you who know what it is to be losers for Jesus, to
stand out and to endure pains and penalties as Daniel did–you are well
aware that the lions are fierce and furious creatures. They are not
stuffed animals, having the name without the nature of those beasts of
prey! So, the sufferings of a Christian are not sentimental–they are
real! Those lions had not their teeth knocked out, they were not
transformed into lambs. They could have devoured Daniel if they had
been permitted to do so. It would be foolish to talk of your troubles
as trifles, but for the Grace of God they might have been enough to
drive you back into the world and to reduce you to despair! Full often,
your steps have well-nigh slipped. The lions have sharp teeth and they
would have devoured you–only Divine Grace has found a means of
delivering you out of their mouths.
I ask the man who has given up a profitable appointment because he
would not be false to his convictions, whether, on shorter commons he
has not found the sweeter luxury of contentment? I ask him whether he
has not enjoyed, on a harder pillow, more refreshing sleep? I appeal to
you, one and all, if a sense of rectitude has not invariably a soothing
effect and a gentle stimulus? I know, Brothers and Sisters, that those
of you who have passed through such trials will bear me witness that
there is a sustaining influence vouchsafed to you while you are cast,
as it were, into the lions' den. Some of you are enduring the ordeal,
now, but others, who have got farther on, have been rescued from dire
peril. In most cases that have come under my notice, when anyone has
ventured loss for Christ, he has presently reaped some substantial
advantage–and his loss has, in the end, proved to be his gain.
Many a man has, in this manner, proved God's Providence. For an honest
scruple, he has been put out of a position that supplied him with a
scant livelihood. Contentment, with a bare pittance, was his only
outlook. Loosed from his moorings, he feared lest he should be
lost–yet he afterwards traced his enlarged prosperity to that very
date! God, who
is rich in mercy, has soon found for that man a far better position
than he could have held had it not been for his forfeiting the other.
And even if your deliverance is not thus speedy and sudden–if, like
David, you should say, "My soul is among lions: I lie even among them
that are set on fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and
arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword," yet shall you sing, like
David–"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and
give praise."
But should we even dwell among lions till we die, what joy shall it be
to leave the lions and be linked with saints and holy angels in the
beatific hereafter! The higher reward is bestowed on the higher service
and brighter crowns encircle their brows who have suffered most
bitterly and most bravely. You and I have but few and slender
opportunities, in this soft and silken age, of showing our love to our
Lord by the surrender of liberty and life for His sake. There are no
stocks or racks, no stakes or gallows for martyrs now. These are smooth
and slippery time, yet, if we are so inclined, we can work with the
will, with the self-denial and self-sacrifice of missionaries! For the
love of Jesus, we can dare to die under a cloud with no hope of being
canonized. Faith and patience are martial virtues which it may be quite
within our province to illustrate in humble rather than heroic fashion.
You may wonder why I keep on in this strain. I am aiming at instances
which are much more common than some of you may imagine. There are many
worshippers gathered within these walls whose constant attendance at
what is snee-ringly called "a conventicle," exposes them to no reproach
and, in some instances, would rather win them a measure of esteem.
There are others, to my knowledge, who can never enjoy the privileges
of the Lord's people without encountering grievous provocations and
bitter malice.
In a congregation of this magnitude, the confidential words spoken to
the pastor by the solitary ones would often startle those who sit in
their family pews. Confession of Christ frequently causes division in a
household. Husband and wife are, for His sake, in hostility. Mother and
daughter cannot agree. Taunt and jibe are difficult to bear with
equanimity. Perhaps it touches men in their trade and it goes hard with
the bread-winner when faithfulness takes away his bread and cheese. My
sympathy, however sincere, is of small account–would to God I could
inspire you with more fortitude! Let me challenge you to quit
yourselves like men! Let me exhort you to play the Daniel! Is your God
the living God able to deliver you out of the den of lions? I hope you
will be able to cheerfully respond, "I believe He can! I believe He
will! But if not, though I abide in the den till I die, I will rest
quietly there with the Angel of His Presence as my guardian for I know
He will bring me, when I have suffered a while, to everlasting Glory!"
"Is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the
lions?" Let me put this question in one or two lights and thus draw our
reflections to a close. Leaning over, like that Persian king, I look
down into a greater den of lions than he ever descried. It is dark. The
stench is foul and 'midst the dim shadows I discern struggling forms
and figures. Tormentors, whose faces are hidden, stretching women upon
racks and torturing men with switch and leather flogs. And, yonder, a
spot where, on hundreds of stakes, martyrs have been burned to the
death. In the far distance, a wild horse and a human victim tied to his
heels to be dragged to death. Strange and horrible spectacle that, out
yonder!–a long procession of men who were scourged, who were stoned,
who were beheaded, who were sawn asunder– saintly men were they, of
whom the world was not worthy! Leaning over the mouth of this great
lion's den, I ask the persecuted saints of all ages–Has your God been
able to deliver you? And with a cheerful shout, loud as the voice of
thunder, they cry, "In all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us!"
I look down upon another lions' den. It is still dark, but not so
dreary. Night reigns in sacred shade and solitude. The stars are hid,
but tapers burn in chambers dimly lit. There, sons and daughters of
sorrow are tossed on beds of sickness. Thus they have lain for months,
perhaps for years–all hope of health extinguished, all prospect of
pleasure passed. Their limbs paralyzed, their sight failing, their
hearing dull–calamities of every kind have befallen them. God has
permitted the great lions of affliction to come howling round and to
tear away all their comforts and their joys till they are left without
any of that cheerful fellowship with nature which seasons mortal life
with sweet relish.
Some of you are robust in health–your head never throbs, your heart
never aches, you are hardly conscious that you have any nerves. Small
account do you take of the secret, silent, saintly heroism of sufferers
whose pilgrimage on earth is blighted with pain. Oft have I been their
companion in tribulation. I appeal to these tried and afflicted
children of God. Tell me, you Daniels, has your God been able to
deliver you out of the mouths of the lions? And I hear each one
say, "Bless the Lord, O my Soul!" And all join in chorus, saying, "Not
one good thing has failed of all that the Lord our God has promised!
Our shoes have been iron and brass, and as our days, so has our
strength been."
Will I strain my parable too far if I turn my eye upon another lions'
den? It lies in a deep valley. The night hangs heavy. The beasts of
prey are diseases that skill and shrewdness, time and talent have
striven in vain to tame. Like lions, strangely dissimilar in outward
fashion, but strongly resembling them in instinct, they pounce on their
victims and seal their doom. We call this place "the Valley of the
Shadow of Death." I think I am gazing, now, on the forms of shivering
men and women as they are dragged down by the lions. One after another,
my familiar friends descend into the grave and I ask them, in the hour
of their departure, "Is your God, whom you serve continually, able to
deliver you from the lions?" Calm is their countenance and clear their
voice, as each one chants his solo, "O Death, where is your sting? O
Grave, where is your victory? Thanks be to God, who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" So, at length, this lions' den,
too, loses all its terror.
Then I look into another den. It is almost empty. There is a lion in
it, a grim old lion, but I do not see so much as a bone to tell the
tale of its victims. No trace of its ravages is left behind. On this
soil there once were countless thousands of the slain, but it is empty,
now. All of a sudden I look up and, lo, I see myriads of immortal souls
and they all tell me, "Our God delivered us from the grave, and rifled
the tomb of its prey. By a glorious Resurrection, He has brought all
His ransomed people forth to meet their Lord at the Great Day of His
appearing. There shall they stand before the Throne of God, for He has
broken the teeth of the lion and rescued all His children from the
power of the adversary!"