The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night. Isa. 21:11, 12.
WHILE to His own believing children the second coming of Christ will be the dawn of the glad morning of eternal day, to the wicked it will bring the blackness of everlasting midnight. Thus while the morning comes, the night also draws on apace. To the righteous that day is a time of final salvation; to the wicked it is a time of darkness, of desolation and death.
Shortly before the Lord appears in the clouds of heaven, probation closes, and the dread decree goes forth, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” Therefore the coming of the Lord means the closing of the door of hope to all who are not at that time God’s children. They having chosen sin and refused to be separated from it, the Lord says of them, “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.” And a little later they are destroyed; for—
Sin must perish, and with it all must die
Who to transgression cling, who God defy,
And crucify afresh the Lord who for them died
That they might live forever.
It must suffice for the present to state briefly that “the day of the Lord,” beginning with the close of human probation and ending with the final destruction of sin and of sinners, embraces a period of approximately one thousand years. This will be shown quite definitely at a future time. But in this study, judgments upon the wicked will be referred to without stopping to locate them as to time, or in other words, without showing whether they fall upon the finally impenitent in the early part of the day of the Lord, or at its close.
The Wicked “Cut Off”
The Lord through the psalmist David gives this counsel, and incidentally reveals what the coming of Christ means to the wicked: “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evil-doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.” Ps. 37: 7-9.
Of that day the prophet Isaiah says, “Behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” Isa. 26: 21.
The Great Day of the Lord
Looking down the stream of time to the end of the history of sin, the prophet Joel exclaims, “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” Joel 1:15. Of the same dread time Obadiah testifies: “The day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen [the wicked]: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as tho they had not been.” Obadiah 15, 16.
“The great day of the Lord is near,” testifies another prophet; “it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy: for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zeph. 1: 14-18.
The Vision of God’s Throne
Still another phase of the same dreadful day is described in these words: “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [the grave] delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Rev. 20: 11-15.
The Day of Burning
Of that day the prophet Malachi writes: “The day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal. 4: 1.
Of that day and of what it means to the wicked, our Lord Himself says: “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King . . . say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25: 31-34, 41.
Ushered in by the Plagues
In Revelation 16 we learn that the ushering in of the day of the Lord means the falling of the seven last plagues upon the unprotected heads of the impenitent. That6these plagues fall after the close of probation is evident from two considerations; first, we learn from Rev. 14:10 that in these plagues the wrath of God is poured out without mixture of mercy; therefore there must be at this time no place of repentance for sinners.
Again, Rev. 16:11, 12 reveals the fact that under the plagues men do not repent; but always in the past it has been true that when the judgments of God are abroad in the land the people “will learn righteousness.” Their failure in this instance to learn righteousness is conclusive evidence that the day of their salvation is past when the plagues are poured out.
Such are a few of the pen pictures that divine inspiration gives us of the judgments that the day of God holds in store for the finally impenitent. We are now living in the time to which the words of the prophet apply, “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord.” And this warning is given in mercy while probation still lingers, that all who will heed the warning voice of that day may escape the wrath of God which is presently to be poured out “without mixture into the cup of His indignation.”
The Lord takes no delight “in the death of him that dieth;” but He can not deny Himself; He must be true to His own character. He is infinite not only in mercy but in justice.
Sin must perish, and with it all must die
Who to transgression cling, who God defy.
But those who yield to God now, that the body of sin may be crucified and destroyed while they live, will in the end find themselves crowned with eternal life in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Do Today’s Duty
By Charles Kingsley
Do to-day's duty, fight to-day's temptation; and do not weaken and distract yourself by looking forward to things which you can not see, and could not understand if you saw them.
The Use of Leisure Time
By Jeremy Taylor
BIND together your spare hours by the cord of some definite purpose, and you know not how much you may accomplish. A man is commonly either made or marred for life by the use he makes of his leisure time.—Jeremy Taylor.
Studies in Daniel
God the Teacher—A Lesson for the Ages
VIEWED from a temporal and politic standpoint, it was to no mean education that Nebuchadnezzar called the royal Judean youth. In many respects it would compare favorably with much of the education of to-day. In fact, some of the things then known in natural science are now lost to the world, and neither Yankee ingenuity nor European persistence has been able to restore them. Babylonia was a great educational world center. Great universities were established at Borsippa—a suburb of Babylon—and at Ur, or Orchoe. Great Babylonian libraries existed, written by Chaldeans and by the magi. Says the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia: “The contents of the inscriptions [in these libraries], as well as the materials inscribed, are most various. Stone slabs, gems, clay tablets, glass, and metals are all employed; and the subject-matter is historical, mythological, religious, official, commercial, astronomical, and mathematical,”—just what we would find in our great libraries of the present day. Some of these works are translations of older works in other languages, the original and translation occupying parallel columns.
Art, also, the finest of which has perished, was manifest in various forms. Their sculpture, painting, and coloring show them to have possessed no small knowledge of metallurgy and chemistry. And stones used in sculpture, which were bored, shaped, or engraved, were not merely the softer kind of rock, but the harder kinds, such as carnelian, agate, quartz, jasper, syenite, lodestone, and green feldspar. To cut these, emery, or some similar substance, must have been used, as well as rapidly revolving drills and disks, such as lapidaries now use. The work, “sometimes exceeding delicate,” shows a complete mastery over tools and material. In fact, a lens has been found in Assyria, and it is well known that glass was used and cut into various shapes in Babylon. In metals gold and silver, bronze and copper, lead and iron were used. Solid, massive gates were cast of bronze. The pottery is of excellent quality. Their textile fabrics were of great celebrity even as early as the days of Joshua (see Joshua 7:21), standing in the ancient world as do the fabrics of Turkey and Persia now. These were composed of wool, cotton, and linen.
Plan of the Babylonian temple at Borsippa (Birs Nimrud) thought to be the Tower of Babel
Rawlinson tells us that in mechanical art they “decidedly excelled the Egyptians,” and “may challenge comparison with the most advanced nations of antiquity,” “falling little, if at all, short of the Greeks and Romans.”
In astronomy they distinguished between fixed stars and planets, mapped out the heavens into constellations as they exist to-day, computed eclipses, and learned the relative distances of moon and planets.
All these things were taught in their universities. The practical application of the wise men of Babylon is evidenced in the great works of the city of Babylon itself. The men who projected and directed in the construction of these works in that mighty city were not novices. In the days of Daniel ancient sun temples had been or were being repaired. Gold-covered temples and royal palaces exceeding imagination in their barbaric splendor had been erected. Colossal and beautiful hanging gardens containing rocks and forest trees had been constructed by Nebuchadnezzar in the heart of the city, that his wife, a royal mountain maiden, might enjoy the beauties of the country in the midst of the most luxurious metropolitan life. By mighty moat and wall the city was fortified against all known weapons of war which might be wielded by an attacking foe. This wall was said to be sixty miles in length, fifteen miles on each side of the city, 350 feet high and 87 feet thick. Flowing through the city was the Euphrates River, and on each side of the river there was a wall equal to one half the cubic contents of the outer wall. It was such a city as this that Nebuchadnezzar surveyed when, in his pride of heart, he exclaimed, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” It was to this glorious city, teeming with works of art and grandeur, that the children of exile, mourning for desecrated Jerusalem, were carried, there to witness even in their humiliation to the truth of God.
A cameo portrait of Nebuchadnezzar, made as a votive offering to his god
Nebuchadnezzar purposed that they should be educated in the best schools the world knew. How the king’s purpose affected the Judean youths is told in the Scripture. Let us—
1. What selections did the king instruct the master of his eunuchs to make from the children of Israel?
And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in certain of the children of Israel, even of the seed royal and of the nobles. Verse 3. Note 1.
2. What were to be the character and qualifications of those selected?
Youths in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and endued with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king’s palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. Verse 4. Note 2.
3. What did the king appoint them?
And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king’s dainties, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at the end thereof they should stand before the king. Verse 5. Note 3.
4. What change did he make in the names of four of these youth?
Now among these were, of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And the princes of the eunuchs gave names unto them:
unto Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego. Verses 6, 7. Note 4. (See last article.)
5. What purpose did Daniel form regarding the diet?
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Verse 8. Note 5.
6. How had God’s providence overruled in behalf of this faithful young man?
Now God made Daniel to find kindness and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. Verse 9. Note 6.
7. What reply did the prince of the eunuchs make to Daniel?
And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your food and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths that are of your own age? so would ye endanger my head with the king. Verse 10. Note 7.
8. What test did Daniel propose?
Then said Daniel to the steward whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king’s dainties; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. Verses 11-13. Note 8.
9. How did the prince of the eunuchs receive this proposition?
So he harkened unto them in this matter, and proved them ten days. Verse 14.
10. What was the result of the test?
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that did eat of the king’s dainties. So the steward took away their dainties, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them pulse. Verses 15, 16. Note 9.
11. How did God work with these young men?
Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Verse 17. Note 10.
12. At the final examination in the universities at the close of the three years’ course, how did the young Hebrews stand as compared with others?
And at the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm. Verses 18-20. Note 11.
Babylonian landmark, inscribed with the purchase-deed of a plot of ground about B.C. 1100 (British Museum)
13. What is said concerning the further life of Daniel?7And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus. Verse 21.
Note and Comment
1. THE MASTER OF HIS EUNUCHS. The one occupying this position was very often one of the chief servants of the king, and the one who was most trusted for particular work which the king might designate. This officer was asked to choose of Israel's best — at least what Nebuchadnezzar would consider Israel's best. They must be of the seed royal and of the nobles of Judah, those who had received training and those who gave promise of future usefulness.
2. IN WHOM WAS NO BLEMISH. The object of the training was that they should stand in the king's palace, that they should be special servants of his, men gifted in learning and wisdom, those who would be able in the future to give counsel and stability to the kingdom. They must therefore be fine looking young men. They could not be cripples, or blind, or having physical defects; they must be "well favored," having not only a knowledge of the wisdom which they had been taught, but skill in using it — those who had gathered knowledge in their education, and who had studied science as a good groundwork for further education, and who in their very person would give promise of making just such men as the king chose them for. These he would give the best education that Babylonia afforded, the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
3. THE KING APPOINTED. The king's students must have no impoverished diet. They must be well fed. Evidently he did not understand the true inwardness of the matter himself. It is not the sleek, fat, well-fed men who are always the best students, by any means. Some of the greatest thinkers that the world has known, some of the astutest men, some of the most diligent students, have been men whose diet was spare, who were very temperate and even abstemious in their lives. The king enjoyed his food, evidently. He thought the special students he was training should be fed the best the empire afforded.
4. GAVE NAMES. That is, the prince of the eunuchs in a shrewd way desired to wean them from their old associations, and so the very names that were given them were taken away and names substituted in their places. See the last article for the meaning of these names.
In arabic numerals the above may be expressed as follows: Soss Units Value 43 21 equals 51^2 45 4 ". 52^2 46 49 ". 53^2 48 36 ". 54^2 50 25 ". 55^2 52 15 ". 56^2 54 9 ". 57^2 56 4 ". 58^2 58 1 ". 59^2 60 0 ". 60^2. Extracts from a table of squares found at Senkereh, Chaldea. Berosus says that in computing time, the Chaldeans used an alternate sexagenimal and decimal notation, reckoning the years by the "soss" (60 years), the "ner" (600 years), and the "sar" (3,600 years). The calculations in every case, Rawlinson tells us, have been proved to be correct.
5. DANIEL PURPOSED IN HIS HEART. He made a strong resolve that he would not defile himself with the king's dainties. There were several reasons for this: First, they could not drink of the wine of the king, the wine of Babylon. Secondly, they could not be partakers of the unwholesome, rich viands of which royalty was partaker. They had been taught that service to God demanded strong, healthy bodies and clear minds; and the Holy Scriptures which they had learned from their infancy had taught them, as doubtless their own observation, that the dainties of the ruler were "deceitful meat," that "wine is a mocker," and that princes should "eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness." See Prov. 23: 1-3; 20: 1; Eccl. 10: 17.
The school of the prophets, which at least in a perverted form they had doubtless attended, embraced the education of the whole man within its compass,—physical, mental, and moral. The very foundation of that education was the Word of God. Therein are found the best rules of sanitation and hygiene, the instruction as to the best dietary, that were taught in the ancient world; and those are the wonder and guide of enlightened sanitarians to-day. And that people—the Hebrews—who have but blindly, superstitiously, half-heartedly followed those instructions, are among the healthiest peoples of the world.
Babylon knew but little of this. Luxuriousness and lasciviousness reigned in their courts, fostered by luxury. These things were taught, or counseled, or permitted, in the Babylonian system of education. But the Judean princes, loyal to God, remembered the words of their wisest king: "Be not among wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty [of both soul and body]; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." Prov. 23: 20, 21, 31, 32. Remembering this, they nobly refused to defile themselves with the king's meat, or with the wine which he drank.
Third, the eating and drinking of the Babylonians was more or less connected with their religion, the root of which was nature-worship, and the chief of which was sun-worship. Great feasts came weekly, monthly, yearly, in connection with this worship. Licentiousness in some form was a part of it, and this was fed and fostered by rich, unwholesome viands, exciting condiments and sauces, and the stimulating, intoxicating, maddening wine drunk on all such occasions. And the mad revels of students in our great institutions of learning to-day, connected more or less with fraternal secret societies, may be easily traced to the idolatrous feasts and revels of the various cults and guilds of ancient Babylon. But such feastings and revels were expressly forbidden by the law of Jehovah, in which the Judean youth had been educated. See Deut. 4: 19; 17: 3; Lev. 19: 26-29; Job 31: 26-28; Eze. 8: 7-16; and elsewhere. They saw their own nation reaping the fruit of their evil sowing in their own captivity and the enforced exile from beloved Zion, which lay in utter ruin. (See 1 Kings 16: 30-33; 2 Chron. 33: 1-6; Jer. 7: 17-20; 44: 16-22.) Even Israel's wisest king, who was famous throughout all nations for his knowledge, to whom all the world sought for wisdom, the scope of whose knowledge embraced botany, and zoology, and entomology, and rhetoric, and psychology, and art, and ethics, whose proverbs are even now in their comprehensive scope the wonder of the world—even he, through the seductive influences of wine and the idolatrous women of his court, fell. And the language, the memories, the associations of these Heaven-taught youth were stronger than all the glittering generalities, the seductive atmosphere, the full-some flatteries, the strong delusions, of the popular education of wealthy, world-renowned Babylon—a lesson which all Christian parents and youth should take to heart.
6. GOD MADE DANIEL TO FIND KINDNESS. God will always work with those who are true to Him. "The eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." 2 Chron. 16: 9. Oftentimes to the tempted one there seems to be no way of deliverance, but the way of the tempter. We wonder how, if we don't yield, any good whatever can come to us. Satan makes the way of conscience and truth seem to be utterly closed, or enveloped in disaster, catastrophe, calamity, and defeat; and so the soul yields, and compromises, and passes on to destruction or defeat. But Daniel purposed, purposed for God, for truth, for righteousness, for strong, well-balanced manhood. And God worked with him. The hearts of kings are in His hand, and He moved the officer of the court to have compassion upon Daniel and his fellows, in order that Daniel's purpose might be carried out.
7. "WHY SHOULD HE SEE YOUR FACES WORSE LOOKING?" Ashpenaz had doubt of Daniel's proposition. He had not seen any of those things worked out in Babylon. He knew no abstemious, temperate youths in the great universities. They were like the universities of to-day, and perhaps worse—the sons of nobles and princes and kings then, the sons of wealthy men now—and they led the mass of the students. But here facing Ashpenaz were sons of princes who pleaded that they might not have to use the royal diet, might not eat of the king's dainties, might not drink of his wine. It was a marvelous thing to him, and he feared for its results. He thought that that diet would grow poor, weak, puny, feeble-minded, feeble-bodied young men.
8. PROVE THY SERVANTS. Daniel appreciated the position of Ashpenaz; he recognized that he held a critical place, and therefore he courteously laid before him a very simple proposition, so that Ashpenaz could say, Well, if I allow them the starvation diet for ten days, we can recover from all that before the king sees them. Daniel believed that God would work with him, and that God would manifest even in ten days that the diet that he asked for was best. And he asked for simply pulse, thought by some to be leguminous foods—lentils, beans, peas—by others to include herbs, as well as seeds of any kind. It was a granivorous diet that he asked, or what would be called a diet of grains. For drink he asked for no tea or coffee, or wine, or beer, or any of the imitations or temperance drinks that men put in the place of stimulants or intoxicants. All that he wanted was pure water. Then, he said, at the end of ten days look upon us, and look upon the others, and we are willing to abide by your judgment at the end of that time. "So deal with us." And Ashpenaz accepted the proposition.
9. AT THE END OF TEN DAYS. The time of the test came to an end. We may be sure that they were days of anxiety on the part of Ashpenaz. They doubtless were days of confidence on the part of the young men. Every day increased their confidence in the test that they had given. Every day they built into their bodies good, strong, clean material, and their countenances were fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that ate of the king's dainties. And so the officer, called in the Hebrew Hammelzar, took away the dainties and the wine, and gave them pulse. They had read in their own Scriptures concerning the wrong course: "Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." Yet we can readily understand that their course cost them something. We can hear the protests and ridicule of the disloyal Judean youths among the captivity—there probably were such. We can hear the taunts of the Babylonians and captives from other nations; we can hear the reproach cast upon the simple diet of leguminous foods, as peas, beans, or lentils. We can see the curled lip and contemptuous glance; and we can note the repressed word on the part of the persecuted, can read their inward prayers, can almost join them in their prayer-meetings, when alone, as they poured out their souls to the living God, their personal Friend, as they stood for Him and His truth in Babylon. Like one of old, they were bearing the reproaches8of Christ, counting them greater riches than the treasures of Babylon. They were building characters of eternal worth.
10. GOD GAVE THEM KNOWLEDGE. The three years' university course soon terminated. The Judean princes had studied the language and learning of the Chaldeans, the arts, the sciences, the knowledge—all of worth, and doubtless much which they had studied unwillingly, not of worth, among the renowned teachers of Babylon. But during all this time, and previously, they had had a higher Teacher than Babylon ever knew. Beyond the voice of heathen tradition they had heard the words of infinite truth. Above the workings of nature and nature-worship they saw the work of the great Jehovah. High sounding over the traditions of the priests, the commentaries of the lawyers, the guesses of the scientists, the vague generalities of the evolutionists, the droning of the temple choirs, they heard the voice of the infinite God. They had opened their heart and mind and soul and flesh to let God in, and He came. They were taught of Him in all the life-expanding, light-progressing power of infinite truth. How little in comparison with that were the hypotheses and suppositions and superstitions of men! With the whole being opened to God, who is seeking entrance to His temple—man's body—what wonder is it that God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom!
11. AND THE KING COMMUNED WITH THEM. They passed examination, they finished brilliantly their course, so much so, and so marked was that finishing, that the king brought them in to commune with him. All that has come down to us of Nebuchadnezzar shows that he himself was a remarkable king; he was not willing to leave the momentous affairs of his kingdom in the hands of officials. Of the young men that were to stand before him, he must know himself that they possessed the qualifications; and so he brings before him Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And the record is that "in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better [not than all the students who had taken the course of study with them—inexperienced youth—but] than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm." No wonder that he was impressed. Therefore they stood before the king as counselors. One reading the history of Daniel, and having in mind that wonderful 119th Psalm, must see Daniel's experience there written. Note especially verses 97-101: "O how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers; for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have kept Thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might observe Thy word." And because of such character, God could trust him. He opened to his mind new revelations of the far future, made him a prophet, a "see-er" of the time to come. Daniel could be trusted with the great prophetic gift to the glory of God, the warning of the world, to the good of his people. And the glorious lessons of infinite worth have come down to us. Will we heed them?
