Daniel Facing the Lions’ Den

Delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the [1]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his
house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he
kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks
before his God, as he did aforetime"— Daniel 6:10.

Daniel was of royal race, and, what is far better, he was, of royal
character. He is depicted on the pages of scriptural history as one of
the greatest and most faultless of men. How grand and impressive his
first appearance as a young man, when he was introduced to
Nebuchadnezzar! The Chaldeans and magicians and astrologers had all
failed to divine the secret which perplexed the king and troubled his
spirit; till at length there stood up before him this young prince of
the house of Judah to tell his dream and the interpretation thereof. No
wonder that the excellent spirit which shone in him led to his being
made a great man, procured for him rich gifts, and led to his promotion
amongst the governor, of Babylon. In after days he showed his dauntless
courage when he interpreted the memorable dream of Nebuchadnezzar, in
which the king's pride was threatened with a terrible judgment. It
needed that he should be a lion-like man to say to the king, "Thou, O
king, shalt be driven from among men, and eat grass as oxen, and thy
body shall be wet with the dew of heaven, till thy hairs are grown like
eagles' feathers, and thy nails like birds' claws." Yet what he told
him came true, for all this, came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel
discharged his duty to his conscience, so there was nothing to disquiet
him. Well might he have said—

"I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,
A still and quiet conscience."

In lurid light, in terrible grandeur, Daniel comes forth again, on the
last night of Belshazzar's reign, when the power of Babylon was broken
for ever. Persians had dried up the river, and were already at the
palace doors. "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting,"
said the prophet, as he pointed to the mysterious handwriting on the
wall. After this he appears again, and this time in a personal dilemma
of his own. Great as he was in the palace, and great in the midst of
that night's carousel, he appears, If possible, greater, because the
faith that animates him shines more radiantly when he is upon his
knees. The princes have conspired against him. They have, by fraud,
perverted the king's mind, so that he has passed an edict. Though
Daniel knows that it is contrary to the law of the realm for him to
pray or ask a Petition of any god or man save of king Darius, yet he
does pray and give thanks before his God. In the higher sovereignty of
the King of kings he believes; and to the edicts of his everlasting
kingdom he yields fearless and unqualified obedience. The sequel shows
that the Most High God delivers him. Of this Daniel we are about to
speak to you.

I. Our first point will be that DANIEL'S PRAYERFULNESS WAS THE SECRET
OF HIS POWER. Daniel was always a man of prayer. If you saw him great
before the people, the reason was because he was great before his God.
He knew how to lay hold of divine strength, and he became strong. He
knew how to study divine wisdom, and he became wise.

We are told that he went to his house to pray. He was a great man—the
highest in the land—consequently he had great public duties. He would
sit as a judge probably a large part of the day. Life would be engaged
in the various state offices distributing the favors of the king; but
he did not pray in his office, save of course that his heart would go
up in adoration of his God all day long. He was in the habit of going
to his house to pray. This showed that he made a business of prayer,
and finding it neither convenient to his circumstances nor congenial to
his mind to pray in the midst of idolaters, he had chosen to set apart
a chamber in his own house for prayer. I don't know how you find it,
but there are some of us who never pray so well as by the old
arm-chair, and in that very room where many a time we have told the
Lord our grief, and have poured out before him our transgressions. It
is well to have, if we can have, a little room, no matter how humble,
where we can shut to the door, and pray to our Father who is in heaven,
who will hear and answer.

He was in the habit of praying thus three times a day. He had not only
his appointed seasons of morning prayer and of evening prayer, as most
believers have; but he had his noon-day retirement for prayer, as
perhaps only a few have. He was an old man, over eighty years of age at
this time, but he did not mind taking three journeys to his house to
pray. He was a very busy man. Probably no one here has half so much
important business to transact daily as Daniel had, for he was set over
all the empire, and yet he found time regularly to devote three stated
intervals for prayer. Perhaps he thought that this was prudent economy,
for, if he had so much to do, he must pray the more; as Martin Luther
said, "I have got so much to do to-day that I cannot possibly get
through it with less than three hours of prayer." So, perhaps, Daniel
felt that the extraordinary pressure of his engagements demanded a
proportionate measure of prayer to enable him to accomplish the weighty
matters he had on hand. He saluted his God, and sought counsel of him
when the curtains of the night were drawn, and when his eyelids opened
at the day dawn, as well as when the full sunlight was poured out from
the windows of heaven. Blessing the Lord of the darkness, who was also
the Lord of the light, Daniel thrice a day worshipped his God.

A singularity in his manner is noticeable here. He had been in the
habit of praying with his windows open towards Jerusalem. This had been
his wont: by long use it had become natural to him, so he continues the
practice as heretofore; though it was not essential to prayer, he
scorns to make any alteration, even in the least point. Now that the
decree had been signed that he must not pray, he would not only pray,
but he would pray just as often as he had done, in the same place and
the same attitude, and the same indifference to publicity, with the
windows open. Thus openly did he ignore the decree! With such a royal
courage did he lift his heart above the fear of man, and raise his
conscience above the suspicion of compromise. He would not shut the
window, because he had been accustomed to pray with it open. He prayed
with his window open towards Jerusalem, the reason being that the
temple was being built, and if he could not go himself at any rate he
would look that way. This showed that he loved his native land. Great
man as he was, he did not scorn to be called a Jew, and everybody might
know it. He was "that Daniel of the children of the captivity of
Judah." He was not ashamed to be accounted one of the despised and
captive race. He loved Jerusalem, and his prayers were for it. Hence he
looked that way in his prayer. And I think also he had an eye to the
altar. It was the day of symbol. That day is now past. We have no altar
save Christ our Lord; but, beloved, we turn our eyes to him when we
pray. Our window is open to Jerusalem that is above, and towards that
altar whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle with
outward religiousness. We worship with our eye to Christ. And during
that age of symbol Daniel saw by faith the realities that were
foreshadowed. His eyes were turned towards Jerusalem, which was the
type and symbol of the one Lord Jesus Christ. So he prayed with his
window open. I cannot help admiring the open window, because it would
admit plenty of fresh air. There is much good in fresh air; the more
the better. We do not want our bodies to be sleepy, or our senses
sluggish, for if they are we cannot keep our souls awake and our
spirits lively.

And it would appear that whenever Daniel prayed he mingled his
supplication with thanksgiving. He "prayed and gave thanks." I wonder
if he sang a psalm; perhaps he did. At any rate prayer and praise,
orisons and p3/4ans, sweetly blend in his worship. He could not ask for
more grace without gratefully acknowledging what he had already
received. Oh, mix up thanks with your prayers, beloved! I am afraid we
do not thank God enough. It ought to be as habitual to us to thank as
to ask. Prayer and praise should always go up to heaven arm in arm,
like twin angels walking up Jacob's ladder, or like kindred aspirations
soaring up to the Most High.

I will not say more of this feature of Daniel's character. Oh, that we
might all emulate it more than we have ever done! How few of us fully
appreciate and fondly cultivate that communion with God to which secret
prayer, continuously, earnestly offered, is the key and the clue! Could
we not all of us devote more time to seeking the Lord in the stillness
of the closet greatly to our advantage? Have not all of us who have
tried it found an ample recompense? Should we not be stronger and
better men if we were more upon our knees? As to those of you who never
seek unto the King eternal, how can ye expect to find him? how can you
look for a blessing which you never ask for? How can you hope that God
will save you, when the blessings he does give you you never thank him
for, but receive them with cold ingratitude, casting his word behind
your backs Oh, for Daniel's prayerful spirit!

II. We pass on to DANIEL'S DIFFICULTIES, OR THE PRIVILEGES OF PRAYER.
Daniel had always been a man of prayer; but now there is a law passed
that he must not pray for thirty days, for a whole calendar month. I
think I see Daniel as he reads the arriving. Not proud and haughty in
his demeanour, for, as a man used to govern, it was not likely that he
would needlessly rebel; but as he read it, he must have felt a blush
upon his cheek for the foolish king who had become the blind dupe of
the wily courtiers who had framed a decree so monstrous. Only one
course was open to him. He knew what he meant to do: he should do what
he always had done. Still, let us face the difficulty with a touch of
sympathy. He must not pray. Suppose we were under a like restriction. I
will put a supposition for a minute. Suppose the law of the land were
proclaimed, "To man shall pray during the remainder of this month, on
pain of being cast into a den of lions,"—how many of you would pray? I
think there would be rather a scanty number at the prayer-meeting. Not
but what the attendance at prayer-meetings is scanty enough now! but if
there were the penalty of being cast into a den of lions, I am afraid
the prayer-meeting would be postponed for a month, owing to pressing
business, and manifold engagements of one kind and another. That it
would be so, not here only, but in many other places, I should he prone
to anticipate. And how about private prayer? If there were informers
about, and a heavy reward was offered to tell of anybody who bowed the
knee night or morning, or at any time during the day, for the next
thirty days, what would you do? Why, some persons will say, "I will
give it up." Ah, and there are some who would boastfully say, "I will
not give it up," whose bold resolve would soon falter, for a lion's den
is not a comfortable place. Many thought they could burn in Queen
Mary's days that did not dare to confront the fire, though I think it
almost always happened that whenever any man through fear turned back,
he met with a desperate death at last. There was one who could not burn
for Christ, but about a month afterwards he was burnt to death in bed
in his own house. Who has forgotten Francis Spira, that dreadful
apostate, whose dying bed was a foretaste of hell? It is left on
record, as a well authenticated narrative of the miseries of despair,
though it is scarcely ever read now-a-days, for it is far too dreadful
for one to think upon. If we quail at suffering for Christ, and evade
his cross, we may have to encounter a fiercer doom than the terror from
which, in our craven panic, we shrunk. Men have declined to carry a
light burden, and been constrained to bear a far heavier one. They have
fled from the bear, and the lion has met them; they have sought to
escape from the serpent, but the dragon has devoured them. To shrink
from duty is always perilous. To demoralize yourselves in demoralized
times is a desperate alternative. Better go forward, better go forward.
Better, I say, even though you may have no armor. The safest thing is
to go on. Even if there are lions in front, it is better to go ahead,
for if you turn your back the stars in their courses will fight against
you. "Remember Lot's wife! "She looked back, and was turned into a
pillar of salt. The apostate is of all creatures the most terrible
delinquent; his crime is akin to that of Satan, and the apostate's doom
is the most dreadful that can be conceived. Master Bunyan
pictures—(what was the man's name? I forget for the moment)—one
Turnaway (was it not?) who was bound by seven devils, and he saw him
taken by the back way to hell, for he had been a damnable apostate from
the faith as it is in Jesus. It may be hard going forward, but it is
worse going back.

Now it is a great privilege that we enjoy civil and religions liberty
in our favored land; that we are not under such cruel laws, as in other
times or in other countries laid restrictions upon conscience; and that
we may pray, according to the conviction of our judgment and the desire
of our heart. But as I want you to value the privilege very much, I
will put a supposition to you. Suppose there was only one place in the
world where a man might pray and offer his supplications unto God.
Well, I think there is not a man among us that would not like to get
there at some time or other, at least to die there. Oh, what pains we
should take to reach the locality, and what pressure we would endure to
enter the edifice! If there were only one house of prayer in all the
world, and prayer could be heard nowhere else, oh, what tugging and
squeezing and toiling, there would be to get into that one place! But
now that people may pray anywhere, how they slight the exercise and
neglect the privilege!

"Where'er we seek him he is found,
And every place is hallowed ground."

Yet it would argue sad ingratitude, if seeking were therefore less
earnest or prayer less frequent. And suppose there was only one man in
the world who might pray, and that one man was the only person who
might be heard, oh, if there was to be an election for that man, surely
the stir to get votes for that man would be far more exciting than for
your School Boards or your representatives in Parliament. Oh, to get to
that man and ask him to pray for us; what overwhelming anxiety it would
cause! When the promoters and directors of railways had shares to
dispose of during the old mania, how they were stopped in the streets
by others who wished to get them and secure the premiums they carried
in the market! But the man who was entrusted with the sole power of
prayer in the world would surely have no rest day or night: we should
besiege his house with petitions, and ask him to pray for us. But now
that we may each pray for ourselves, and the Lord Jesus waits to hear
those who seek him, how little is prayer regarded! And suppose nobody
could pray unless he paid for the privilege, then what "rumblings there
would be from the poor, what meetings of the working men, because they
could not pray without so many pounds of money. And what a spending of
money there would be! What laying out of gold and silver to have the
privilege of speaking to God in prayer! But now that prayer is free,
without money and without price, and the poorest need not bring a
farthing when he comes to have audience with God, oh, how prayer is
neglected! Perhaps it would not be a bad thing on some accounts if
there could be a law to prevent men from praying; because some would
say, "We will pray." They would pray. They would get over the traces
and stoutly protest, "We are not to be kept down, we must pray."
Suppose I were bound to tell you now that God would not hear your
prayers all next week, you would be afraid to abide in your houses, and
you would be equally afraid to leave them. You would be scared with
terrors in your bed, and you would be afraid to get up and face the
perils of moving about. You would say, "Whatever happens, I cannot ask
God for his blessing; whatever I do, I cannot expect his blessing on
it, for I must not pray." Then perhaps, you would begin to wish that
you could pray. Oh, dear soul, do not live this night through without
prayer! Get you to the mercy seat! Let sin be confessed to God. Let
pardon be sought, and all the blessings of grace. Do not despise or
turn away from that blessed mercy seat which stands open to every soul
that desires to draw near unto God.

III. Having thus dwelt upon Daniel's difficulty, I now want to draw
your attention to DANIEL'S DECISION. The king says he must not pray.
Daniel did not deliberate for a single minute. When we know our duty,
first thoughts are the best. If the thing be obviously right, never
think about it a second time; but straightway go and do it. Daniel did
not deliberate. He went to his house and prayed in the morning, he went
to his house and prayed at noon; and he retired to his house and prayed
at eventide. "He kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed,
and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."

I greatly admire one feature in Daniel's decision. He did not alter his
accustomed habit in any single particular. Without disguise and without
parade he pursued the even tenor of his way. As we have already said,
the time was the same, the attitude was the same, the open window was
the same. There was no precaution whatever to conceal the fact that he
was going to pray, or to equivocate in the act when he was praying. He
does not appear to have taken counsel of his friends, or to have
summoned his servants, and charged them not to let any intruder come
in. Neither did he adopt any measure to escape his enemies. Not one jot
of anxiety did he betray. His faith was steadfast, his composure
unruffled, his conduct simple and artless. Doubtless Daniel felt that
as he was the greatest man in Persia, if he, a worshipper of Jehovah,
the God of the Hebrews, failed in any degree, he would set a bad
example to others, and greatly discourage any poor Jew who might have
grace enough to stand out, provided his example led the way. Persons
who occupy high positions should know that God expects more of them
than of other people. England expects every man to do his duty, but
especially the men that are put to the front. If the standard-bearer
fall, how is the battle to hold? Now, Daniel, thou art much looked at
and watched; God has put thee in an eminent place; therefore take care
that thou dost not flinch one solitary jot: go and do as thou hast been
wont, though the sky look overcast with clouds of evil omen. It would
have been foolish daring rather than self-possessed courage in Daniel,
had he been accustomed ordinarily to shut his window, should he have
selected this crisis to open it; and if he had been accustomed to pray
twice a day, I do not see why he should go now and pray three times;
but he did as aforetime; it was his habit, and he would not be put out
of it. He would show that his conscience was obedient to God, and owed
no allegiance to man. He could not and would not yield anything through
menace. What a despot might lay down as law, a degraded sycophant might
accept as equity; but a just man is proof against the corruption of an
unjust judge.

It might be asked, perhaps, "Should not Daniel obey the king?
"Certainly kings' laws are to be respected; but any law of man that
infringes the law of God is, ipso facto, null and void at once. It is
the duty of every citizen to disregard every law of earth which is
contrary to the law of heaven. So Daniel felt that whatever he owed to
his temporal sovereign, he owed to his God a vast deal more. "But
should not a man take care of his life? Life is valuable; should he run
such a risk? "Remember that if a man were to lose his soul, in order to
save his life, he would make a wretched bargain. If a man lost his life
to save his coat he would be a fool; and a man who loses his soul to
save his life is equally a fool, and more so still. So Daniel felt that
the risk of being put into a den with lions was nothing to the risk of
being put into hell, and he chose the smaller risk, and in the name of
God he went straight on. And I will tell you what Daniel would have
said, if he lived in these days and had he been like some of my
brethren—I mean like some of my brethren in the ministry—clergymen of a
political church, by law established. He would have said, "This is not
quite right! The decree of his Majesty's Privy Council is utterly at
variance with my creed; but you see I occupy a position of great
usefulness, and would you have me give up that position of usefulness
that I hold, to let these governors and counsellors, that are all such
bad fellows, have the entire management of the realm? Everything will
go wrong if I do not compromise my profession. Although it perhaps may
not be quite consistent with conscience, it is pardonable in the light
of policy, and thirty days will soon pass away; so for the sake of your
usefulness," he would have said to himself, "for the sake of your
usefulness, you had better stop where you are." Oh, I have heard men
who teach little children to repeat the words, "In my baptism I was
made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the
kingdom of heaven," and who know that that is a lie, and yet stick in
their un-protestant church, and say, "I remain here because of my
usefulness,"—my precious usefulness!—"for if I were to go out of the
church I should be leaving it to those bad persons who are in it." To
know that as long as I am there, I am in complicity with men who are
dragging back the church to Romanism, as fast as ever they can, and yet
to say, "I am so useful, and I should injure my usefulness"! In the
name of Almighty God, are we to do evil that good may come? If I
thought I could save every soul in this place, or do any other
stupendous thing by making the slightest compromise with my conscience,
I dare not in the sight of the living God do it, for so have I not been
taught by the Spirit of God. Consequences and usefulness are nothing to
us: duty and right—these are to be our guides. These were Daniel's
guides. The empire of Persia might go wrong; Daniel could not help
that, he would not go wrong himself. It might be that these villanous
courtiers and lords of the council might have the sway. Be it so. Leave
God to manage them. It was not for Daniel even for thirty days to give
up prayer. "Ah, but," they would say, "you can pray in your heart; you
need not boor the knee; you can pray in your soul." But it will not do
to sell principle, or to bide with strict integrity and sterling truth
in the smallest degree. Every jot and little has its intrinsic value.
Our bold Protestant forefathers were of a different breed from the
present race of temporizing professors. Talk ye of apostolic
succession! By what strange process ye suppose that Fuller, Ridley,
Latimer, Donue, and the like worthies, did transmit their mitres and
their benefices to the craven seed who now hold their titles and enjoy
their livings, we are at a loss to understand. The identification
baffles us. Do they inherit the same spirit, defend the same doctrines,
or observe uncompromising allegiance to the same gospel? We trow not.
It seems to us that progenitors and progeny are wide apart as the
poles. If Jesus Christ were here to-day, there are plenty of people who
would sell him for two groats; they would not want thirty pieces of
silver, but would sell him for a smile of patronage or a nod of
approbation. Oh that we had book the old covenantors who would not
swerve an inch! Look at John Bunyan when they bring him up before the
magistrates and tell him he must not preach! "But I will preach," said
he, "I will preach to-morrow by the help of God." "But you will be put
in prison again." "Never mind, I will preach as soon as I get out."
"But you will be hanged, or kept in prison all your life." "If I lie in
prison," said he, "till the moss grows upon my eyelids, I can say
nothing more than this, that with God's help, I will preach whenever I
get a chance." Do not tell me that these are non-essentials. To men
that will follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, even the opening or
the shutting of a window, if need be, is essential. Be jealous over
what are called "trifles." They may be mere straws, but they show which
way the wind blows. We want the race of grand old bigots back again. We
have been howling at bigots these many years and praising up universal
"charity," which means nothing else than denying that there is any
truth in the world to defend, or any army of saints in which to enlist.
A Protestant on one occasion was bidden to bow down before the cross
when he was about to be knighted, and many others did so. "It is only a
form, you know," they said. "But," said he, "by God, I won't." And they
called him "By God," and afterwards others who stood out boldly in the
same way were called "By Gods," or "Bigots." So that tone of refusal
has become a term of reproach. Here is a grandest bigot of all! Daniel
is his name. He will pray. They will throw him into a lions' den. "The
bigoted fool! "Ah, yes, but God did not discountenance his unswerving
uprightness. He had said before his God that he would do the right, and
the right thing he did, whatever might happen. Young men and young
women, I would like you to go to school before Daniel and learn to say,
"Whatever happens, we cannot lie, cannot do the wrong thing; are cannot
believe what men teach us, when contrary to God's teaching; we cannot
give up prayer and personal holiness, whether there be a lions' den or
no lions' den. We will stand fast by that for God's own sake." May that
same spirit come back to Englishmen, and if it ever does, then I
warrant you the shavelings of Rome will need to pack up and get
straight away, for it is the bending men, the willow men, that will
sell truth any price. Oh that we may learn to sell it at no price, but
to stand fast like pillars of iron for God, for Christ, for truth, for
every holy thing!

Now I fear me I ought to say, before I leave this series of
reflections, that there are some who have no decision of character at
all, because they are not Christians. Some men are Christians, perhaps,
though they have not decision enough to avow it—sneaking Christians!
They have, they say, with their heart, but never with their mouth,
confessed Christ. They have never been baptised as he bids them, and as
they ought to be, according to his word. And there are some that have
made a profession, but it is a smuggled profession. Their friends at
home hardly know it, and they do not want them to know it. Oh, if I
enlisted in Her Majesty's service, and had my regimentals given me to
wear, I would wear them. I should not like to have them packed away and
go about in other clothes, for I should be afraid of being taken up as
a deserter. There are others who dishonor their profession, and do not
live as they should. And there are those who, if they were persecuted,
would speedily throw off their profession. They can go with Christ with
silken slippers over smooth-shaven lawns, but as to walking through
mire and mud with him, that they cannot do. Oh for the heart of a
Daniel, every one of us, to follow Christ at all hazards.

IV. Our last point is DANIEL'S DELIVERANCE. With that we will conclude.
The evil that threatened Daniel did come. He was to be put into a
lions' den, and into a lions' den he was put. So, young man, you say,
"I will not do wrong." You hope to escape unscathed. Yet it may be that
you will be discarded by your friends, and discountenanced by your
associates. Expect it, go through it. If you are a tradesman, and by
saying you will not subunit to an evil custom of the trade you will
become a loser, be willing to be a loser; expect that the lions' den
will be there, and that you will be put into it. Daniel came there, but
there was not a scratch upon him when he came out of it. What a
splendid night he must have spent with those lions! I do not wonder
that in after days he saw visions of lions and wild beasts; it seems
most natural that he should; and he must have been fitted by that night
passed among these grim monsters to see grand sights. In any case he
must have had a glorious night. What with the lions, and with angels
all night to keep him company, he was spending the night-watches in
grander style than Darius. And when he came out the next morning, so
far from being a loser, he was a gainer. The king approved him, admired
him, loved him. Every body in the city had heard that Daniel had been
put into the lions' den. He was a great man, and it was like putting
the prime minister into the lions' den. And when he came out, with what
awe they looked upon him! The king was not regarded as half so much a
god as Daniel. Daniel had a smooth time of it afterwards. The
counsellors never troubled him again; the lions had taken care of them.
There would be no more plotting against him. Now he would mount to the
highest place in the empire, and no man would dare to oppose him, for
very dread of the same fate that had fallen upon his enemies and
accusers. So Daniel had to the end of his days smooth sailing to the
port of peace.

Now, believe me, to be decided for the right is not only the right
thing but the easiest thing. It is wise policy as well as true probity.
If you will not yield an inch, then somebody else must move out of the
way. If you cannot comply with their proposals, then other people will
have to rescind their resolutions. So you will find that, if you
suffer, and perhaps suffer severely at first, for decision of
character, you will get speedy recompense for all you endure, and a
grand immunity in the future. There will be an end to the indignities
that are offered you. If it be not obstinacy, but real conscience that
prompts you, you will rise to a position which otherwise you could not
have attained. The opposition so strong against you at first will very
likely lead to your enemies endorsing your views, and the dishonor you
have meekly to bear will be followed by a deference flattering to your
vanity, if not perilous to your future consistency. Only put your foot
down now, be firm and unfaltering now. If you yield to-day, you will
have to yield more to-morrow. Give the world an inch, and it will take
many an ell. Be resolved, therefore, that no inch you will give, that
to the lions' den you would sooner go than there should be
equivocation, prevarication, or anything approaching to falsehood.
However great the difficulty may be at the outset, yet do it, and you
will be unhurt: you will be an immediate gainer by it, and, to the rest
of your days, God will give you a better and happier life than ever you
have had before. "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his
enemies to be at peace with him." You Christian soldiers in the
barracks, be decided; stand up for Jesus. You will be ridiculed at
first, but you will live that down before long. But if you are
cowardly, the ridicule will last many and many a day, and your
fellow-soldiers will take delight in laughing at you. If any of you are
in a workshop, take courage, do not yield. Why should not we have our
way, as they have theirs? Young men in business, take care how you
begin your business in an honest, straightforward manner; for, if you
begin it with artifice and crooked stratagem, it will go on crooked,
and then, it you try to get straight, you will find it very difficult.
But begin as straight as a line, never swerve from it. Act on the
outset as a Christian should. What if employers should frown, or
customers be vexed, or friends fail? Bear it! It will be the best
policy in the long run. That is not, however, for you to consider. Do
the right thing, whatever happens. Let us be as Daniel. Oh that the
young among you would emulate the purpose of heart with which Daniel
began life! Oh that the active and vigorous among you would seek with
Daniel's constant prayerfulness for that high gift of wisdom equal to
all emergencies with which God so richly endowed him! And, oh, that the
harassed, tempted, and persecuted among you would learn to keep a clean
conscience in the midst of impurities, as Daniel did; to preserve, like
him, faith and fellowship with the faithful and true God, though living
among strangers and foreigners, profane in all their thoughts and
habits; and to hold the statutes and commandments of the Lord as more
to be desired than wealth or honor—yea, dearer to you, as Daniel
accounted them, than even life itself! So shall you honor God, and
glorify Christ, and bless and praise his precious name in a way in
which nothing else but decision of character can possibly lead you to
do. God grant us all to have Christ for a Savior, and to live to his
praise. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—Daniel 6.
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