People who are very courageous in doing wrong, become abject cowards when they think their sins are finding them out. Like the Babylonian king, their countenances change, and their thoughts trouble them, and their knees tremble.

DANIEL.

DARIUS, who succeeded Belshazzar, made Daniel one of three presidents, who were set over a hundred and twenty princes, and we are told Daniel was "preferred" above them all, "because an excellent spirit was in him." But Daniel was a Jew, and the other princes were very jealous of him, and tried to find fault with him, but in vain. He did his duty so thoroughly, both to the king and those he had to govern, that his enemies said, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." So then they persuaded the king to make a new law, "a firm decree," as they called it, "that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king," they said,

establish the decree and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree."

It was a custom, and a foolish one, as it appears to us, amongst the Medes and Persians never to alter any law that they had made, whatever

happened. Now this sort of obstinacy often gets people into trouble. They do something that they know they had better not, just because they pride themselves on never changing their minds. When Daniel heard of the decree, he must have known why it had been made; but with the courage of a good man," 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."

When his enemies found him out, they went to the king, and said, "That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, but maketh his petition three times a day."

The king was very sorry when he heard these words. "He was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him." But in vain. Daniel's enemies reminded the king that the law of the Medes and Persians never changed, and the king was obliged to order him to be thrown into the den of lions. But he seems to have felt that Daniel was guarded by a stronger power than his own, for he said to him, "Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den: and the king sealed it with his own signet," or seal, "and with the signet of his lords, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel."

How miserable and anxious the king must have

been all that night! It is said, "he went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were instruments of music brought before him; and his sleep went from him." Well it might. How could he sleep, when he thought of the horrors going on in the den of lions ?

"Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions, and cried with a lamentable voice, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions ?" Then said Daniel, "O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God."

"And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the den."

"Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for He is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which

shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."

We can scarcely imagine now what courage was needed in such a situation as that of Daniel. There was no Jewish temple in Babylon where he could have worshipped, but it was the custom of the Jews, wherever they might be, to turn their faces towards their own city, Jerusalem, whenever they knelt before God in prayer. This, Daniel might have done secretly; but he scorned to act as if he was ashamed of his religion, and boldly opened his windows, so that all his enemies might see him.

Yet children are often ashamed of kneeling down before other people, to say their prayers before they go to bed, or when they get up. Some boys and girls think that it shows a high spirit and good courage, to be foremost in all unruly and riotous behaviour. But in fact, those are the really brave, who refuse to have anything to do with those who want to entice them to follow evil courses, when by so doing they expose themselves to ridicule, and perhaps to ill-treatment, from their bad companions.

CONCLUSION.

You have now read about many of the heroes and saints whose lives are told us in the Old Testament.

None of them were perfect, and the Bible does not conceal their faults; but they are described in the Epistle to the Hebrews as those who "through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain by the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

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Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."