story well. In the issue an angel closes the mouths of the lions, and Daniel's faithfulness

is acknowledged. Just as the fire slew those men who bound the three Hebrew friends

(Dan. 3:), so the lions slay the men who had plotted against Daniel. A word of comfort

and encouragement from these two records of tested faithfulness has been published in an

earlier volume and is worth repetition here.

Nebuchadnezzar represents absolute autocracy. The king in whose hand was the

power of life and death, tried to kill these three friends, and could not. Darius represents

a limited monarchy. Here we have a king who wanted to save Daniel, but could not!

These two aspects of the subject will reprove a tendency which sometimes arises to think

that one system of government would be safer or better for the Christian than another.

Scripture likens all Gentile governments to wild beasts; one is not much better than

another, and in the two cases before us, both were powerless for either good or ill.

Members of the One Body can find no warrant in Scripture for concluding that they will

not be called upon to suffer, to endure, and, if needs be, to die for the truth. When the

time of trouble arrives, they will fare no better and no worse under one system of

government than under another--in God's hand alone will be the deciding factor, and

blessed will be all those who can say, "But if not . . . . . we will not" (Dan. 3: 18).

The presence and continuance of idolatry to the very end is a matter of solemn

concern to all children of God. Although in the present series the subject only arises

naturally out of the threefold conflict with those who would impose idol worship upon

the captive Hebrews, we dare not, in view of the depth and scope of the truth, try to

compress reference to the subject into a closing paragraph. We shall, however, be

brought face to face with it when we consider, as a counterpart of these three passages

dealing with idolatry, the three decrees published by the idolatrous kings in which they

speak of the God of Israel, and we can then devote a little more space to its consideration.

The series of confessions by the rulers of the people, recorded in this book, shows a

growing acknowledgment, on their part, of the one true God. The first of these is

recounted in chapter 2: 46, 47, after Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream. It

is not a clear testimony, and is mixed with idolatrous practices, but it marks a step in the

direction of light and truth:--