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they looked down with contempt; for they esteemed themselves rich in a more precious treasure, and eloquent in a more sublime language; nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand.

The very meanest of them was a being to whose fate a mysterious and terrible importance belonged-on whose slightest actions the spirits of light and darkness looked with anxious interest-who had been destined, before heaven and earth were created, to enjoy a felicity which should continue when heaven and earth have passed away. Events, which short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes, had been ordained on his account. For his sake empires had risen, flourished, and decayed. For his sake the Almighty had proclaimed his will by the pen of the evangelist and the harp of the prophet. He had been rescued by no common deliverer, from the grasp of no common foe. He had been ransomed by the sweat of no vulgar. agony, by the blood of no earthly sacrifice. It was for him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been rent, that the dead had arisen, that all nature had shuddered at the sufferings of her expiring God!

Thus the Puritan was made up of two different men: the one all self-abasement, penitence, gratitude, passion; the other proud, calm, inflexible, sagacious. He prostrated himself in the dust before his Maker; but he set his foot on the neck of his king. In his devotional retirement, he prayed with convulsions, and groans, and tears. He was half maddened by glorious or terrible delusions. He heard the lyres of angels, or the tempting whispers of fiends. He caught a gleam of the Beatific Vision, or woke scream. ing from dreams of everlasting fire. Like Vane, he thought himself intrusted with the sceptre of the millennial world; like Fleetwood, he cried in the bitterness of his soul, that God had hid his face from him.

But when he took his seat in the council, or girt on his sword for war, these tempestuous workings of the soul had left no perceptible trace behind them. People who saw nothing of the godly but their uncouth visages, and heard nothing from them but their groans and their whining hymns, might laugh at them. But those had little reason to laugh, who encountered them in the hall of debate or in the field of battle. These fanatics brought to civil and military affairs a coolness of judgment and an immutability of purpose, which some writers have thought in

consistent with their religious zeal, but which were in fact the necessary effects of it. The intensity of their feelings on one subject made them tranquil on every other. One overpower. ing sentiment had subjected to itself pity and hatred, ambition and fear. Death had lost its terrors and pleasure its charms. They had their emiles and their tears, their raptures and their sorrows, but not for the things of this world.

Enthusiasm had made them stoics, had cleared their minds from every vulgar passion and prejudice, and raised them above the influence of danger and of corruption. It sometimes might lead them to pursue unwise ends, but never to choose unwise means. They went through the world like Sir Artegale's iron man, Talus, with his flail, crushing and trampling down oppres sors, mingling with human beings, but having neither part nor lot in human infirmities; insensible to fatigue, to pleasure, and to pain; not to be pierced by any weapon, not to be withstood by any barrier.

Such we believe to have been the character of the Puritans. We perceive the absurdity of their manners. We dislike the sullen gloom of their domestic habits. We acknowledge that the tone of their minds was often injured by straining after things too high for mortal reach. And we know that, in spite of their hatred of Popery, they too often fell into the worst vices of that bad system, intolerance and extravagant austerity that they had their anchorites and their crusades, their Dunstans and their De Montforts, their Dominics and their Escobars. Yet, when all circumstances are taken into consideration, we do not hesitate to pronounce them a brave, a wise, an honest, and a useful body.

xi. 33; where we are reminded of "the prophets, who, through faith, stopped the mouths of lions." This explanation elevates the whole occurrence immeasurably above all the extravagances of fiction, all the wondrous feats of mere animal courage and brute force, and above all those pretended miracles, whose end and execution are unworthy of Him to whom they are falsely ascribed.

Faith is the restored life of the soul, by which the lost union between man and his Creator is recovered. The believer sees the invisible Jehovah in all his works, and in all the history of the world; hears him in his Word, recognizes his perpetual presence, feels the awe of that presence, and the pressure of his authority and claims. He obeys, as well as trusts; and vain, utterly vain, is the confidence that does not fear and obey. True faith can therefore be understood only in this twofold aspect: as giving our Creator and Redeemer a hold upon the human will, to secure its obedience, even under the severest trials; and at the same time as giving man a hold on the promises and power of Jehovah, to deliver and save him in the way of obedience. This distinction furnishes the key to Daniel's entire history; which exhibits on the one hand an unreserved consecration to the service of God, with obedience sustained even to the last extremity of difficulty and danger; and on the other that faithfulness of God which fails not.

Although torn from the arms of his parents at a tender age, and carried across a dreary desert in chains; although removed from the restraints of home, an exile among a nation of idolaters, he firmly walks in the singular path of holy obedience, and steadfastly relies upon the promised aid of God, amid the most discouraging circumstances. When he was ordered to adopt a prescribed diet, that he might appear in good condition before the king, he "purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself" with meats prohibited by the law of Moses, meats offered to idols; and wines, which perhaps, as a Nazarite, he had vowed not to drink.

He was early thrown into the society of learned idolaters, of bigoted astrologers, and shrewd magicians, of proud and sensual courtiers; and yet, through the long period of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, through those of Evilmerodach, Neriglissar, Laborosoarchod, Belshazzar, and Darius, his devotedness to God, his faith in God, his attachment to the oppressed and exiled church, remained unshaken. The seeds of his

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firm faith were early planted-probably by the hand of maternal piety-in the tender heart of the child. And this faith made him cheerful in the desert, in exile, and in slavery; and upright in the midst of powerful temptations. The loveliness and dignity it imparted, placed him in the first rank of human excellence. In fact, a more perfect character of mere man is not on the records of history. His firmness, tempered with modesty, humility, and courtesy; his fidelity to God, to the king, and to the church, make him a model most earnestly to be studied.

He

Darius, with that instinct peculiar to great leaders, discerned in this stranger superior qualities for the administration of civil affairs. accordingly raised him to a rank nominally the second in the empire, but really, in some respects, the first.

He made him the chief of the three princes who ruled over the hundred and twenty governors of the Persian provinces. The manifestation of the royal favor, in elevating an aged Jew and a former minister of the rival Babylonian king. dom, to this high position, together with the holiness of his life and the faultlessness of his administration, combined to excite in the native princes a murderous spirit of envy, which could not rest until it had secured his destruction. Their plot was cunningly laid, and skilfully executed. They chose the absolute will of the monarch for their instrument; and, to obtain the control of that, they enlisted his vanity; so that the manifestation of his irresistible power might reconcile him to any inconveniences the decree should cause, and at the same time prevent his looking to those more serious results which they were seeking. Such is the indifference to consequences which absolute power is apt to engender.

When one dash of the pen can convulse half the globe, the temptation to frail human nature is very strong to try the fatal experiment; and that, without any definite intention to injure a human being. While, therefore, we exculpate the king from any positive intention to do wrong, and from the slightest participation in the malice of the nobles, we at the same time cannot overlook the base and cruel indifference to the rights of conscience, and to the happiness of his subjects, involved in signing the bloody decree. What could be more arbitrary, unreasonable, cruel, and impious, than to forbid all prayer throughout his vast dominions for a month? The decree ran thus: "That whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man, for thirty days, save of the king, shall be cast into

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the den of lions." Thus, for thirty days, not a prayer could be offered, even to the gods in whom the nation believed; not a child could make a request, even of his parents; a man could not ask the slightest favor of his friend, without exposing himself to a horrible death. Unaccustomed to dread a tyrant's frown, we can scarcely conceive the impression that decree produced; or the gloom which hung, like a dread eclipse, over the millions inhabiting the vast territory between India and the African desert.

There were, doubtless, many who saw the absurdity and the wickedness of this law; but, if they should venture to violate it, who could tell what base informer might convey the intelligence to some petty tyrant in the magistracy of his district Sin always shoots farther than it aims. Envy struck at a single victim, but the blow sent consternation through the heart of an empire. Flattery was its fitting and successful instrument. The king's vanity blinded his judg ment, and stifled within him the voice of humanity that would have pleaded for his unoffending children. Putting his royal hand to the writing and decree, he signed away the religious and social rights and liberties of all hisloyal subjects, and exposed to a terrible death his personal friend, and the most valuable man in the kingdom. God be praised, that in his mercy the "lines have fallen to us" under a constitutional

government! In his autobiography, the prophet tells us nothing of a mental struggle, or even of a debate with himself, in regard to his duty. He simply says: "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."

It had always been his duty to pray; and it was his duty at that time. No princes or sovereigns can abridge the authority of God, who commands us to pray without ceasing; nor the rights of man, who needs communion with God, --whose spiritual life demands the exercise of prayer and praise. No human legislation can make it wrong for any man to pray three times a day, or more frequently. No human cruelty, no suffering nor loss, can make it right in man to omit it. He had a fixed time and place of prayer, which all men might know if they chose to penetrate his seclusion. It was near an open window, looking toward the west, and toward Jerusalem; because idolaters turned to the east, to worship the sun; because the Jewish system at

tached importance to the Temple; because his hopes, concerning the restoration of the sacred city, were the chief burden of his prayers. And he looked toward it, as if to keep the Lord and himself reminded of it, and of the promises concern. ing its restoration. He prayed toward the place of the Temple, because Christ is the true Temple, where God meets man, and to whom the believer must ever look, in prayer. He prayed with fre quency, constancy, and regularity; because he es teemed prayer the most important employment of life. He kneeled; because it is the most suitable attitude, where it can conveniently be practised. He praised; because we ought ever "make our requests known with thanksgiving;" and be cause every thing that hath breath ought to praise the Lord.

Daniel, doubtless, was fully aware of the dangerous consequences of persevering in this course. He knew that the Laws of the Medes and Persians were immutable; but he also knew that those of Jehovah are more so. The wrath of Darius was terrible; but not to be compared with the displeasure of Jehovah. He knew that he occupied an important station, not only for the temporal welfare of the empire, but also for their spiritual benefit, and for the good of the Jewish church. No other life was so important to their cause. The whole kingdom respected

the Jews on his account. His mysterious prophecies had been promulgated in their hearing, and fulfilled in their observation. He had announced Cyrus's victory only a few hours before the conqueror burst through the thick-leaved gates of brass, and drowned the din of their revelry in the shouts of his victorious army.

Daniel was everywhere known and respected, for his wisdom, probity, genius, and nobleness, He had displayed incomparable talent for government; had been at the head of affairs for more than half a century, under the Babylonian and the Medo-Persian kinge. If any man could further the interests of the Jewish church with the government, and hasten the return of the exiles to rebuild Jerusalem, it was he. And now his life was to be sacrificed, unless he could cease to pray for thirty days. Alas! many of us have not waited for such an excuse, to omit prayer. And why could he not close his window, or pray without kneeling, or pray as he was engaged in his business, or pray at some other times, so as to escape observation? Because he would thus have appeared to obey the unrighteous edict; and so both be guilty of deception, and prove himself "ashamed of Christ."

His enemies calculated with confidence upon the success of their plot, because they knew that he would listen to no plea of worldly prudence against the dictates of his conscience. They expected, almost to a certainty, that he would still pray as aforetime, even after he had heard the thunder of the decree and the roar of the lions. Nor were they disappointed. And having found him engaged in prayer to the God of heaven, they hastened to inform the king, and secure their victim. The king discovering, too late, that he was entrapped; that the axe of envy had hewn down a pillar of his empire; and that the cruelty of false friends had robbed him of the man whose friendship and counsels he most prized, yields a reluctant consent to his destruction. But how affecting is the description of his feelings and conduct! "Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. And he labored till the going down of the sun, to deliver him." Then these men, that their prey should not escape, through the clemency and honorable feelings of Darius, assembled unto the king, and said unto him: "Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth, may be changed. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions." These animals were probably kept for the purpose of destroying criminals; and perhaps were deprived of food for a long time, to insure a voracious appetite. "Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee." And when he was cast in, and the stone door closed upon him, and sealed with the royal signet, and that of the lords, "then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were instruments of music brought before him; and his sleep went from him."

Here is the last severe trial of Daniel's obedience. At eighty-two years of age he is borne away by fierce executioners, from the royal presence, from his seat of power, and, most painful of all, from his place of prayer, to be cast down into a cavern, and either perish horribly, or pass the night with filthy and ferocious beasts.

His faith has now gone through its probation. It has proved that God had complete control of his heart, and complete command of his will; that the earth possessed nothing which, by its appeal to his hopes or his fears, could make him swerve from his duty.

Happy man! holy man!

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Now let us see what the faithfulness of God will do for him. His deliverance is complete. It is not only a deliverance from death, but also from the fear of it; from all cowardice, all hesitation or perplexity about duty, and from the excessive love of life. He had much to live for; but he was ready to depart, to die even by the machinations of men, more cruel than the beasts they employed. The lions' den had nothing to shake his nerves, if God were with him there. It is affecting to contrast his composure through the whole of this trying scene with the agitation and anxiety of Darius. We sympathize with the king; and we esteem him for his strong attachment to this excellent man. But Daniel stands like a rock amid the sea of passions-paltry, malignant, and fierce-in the hearts of his enemies; and the tossings of remorse, sorrow, and anxiety, which racked the breast of this poor king. We can readily believe that Daniel slept quietly in that dreary place, while the king found no rest, even upon his royal couch. So that, we are told, he "arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the lion's den. he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the liv. ing God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?"

And when

Here was the king in person, in an unsuitable place, at an untimely hour. Why is he not on his couch? Because he finds no repose there. Why does he not send some one of his thousand servants to inquire of Daniel's safety? Because he cannot wait for the tardiness of a messenger. He must hear the voice of Daniel, and assure himself that his friend survives. Now, hear Daniel reply, with the same calmness and courtesy that he would have employed in the palace: "O king, live forever. 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." There is here no perturbation, no revenge; but a calm, meek, and grateful acknowledgment that God has vindicated him. This is the fruit of faith. "He that believeth shall not make haste." It is the fruit of the spirit; which is "joy and peace in believing." The deliverance was not natural but supernatural. To regard it in any other light, is to turn the whole history into a fable. All that malice could suggest and power could furnish to insure his destruction, had been done. The malicious princes had whetted the appetites which their own carcasses should first satiate. It is in

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the plan of God that many believers shall seal their testimony with their own blood. And Daniel did not know but that his case was one of these. But the Lord had designed to glorify himself before the king and princes, and people of Babylon, by a miraculous display of his power. And he had also an important part for Daniel yet to perform, in preparing the mind of Cyrus to reestablish his people in Jerusalem. By faith, then, Daniel stopped the mouths of the lions. He trusted in God, whom he had obeyed, that, if it were best, he would render the lions harinless. The Lord delivered him; and then graciously ascribed the deliverance to Daniel's faith.

These nobles had defied Jehovah to vindicate his claims, his cause, and his character, in the person of his servant. They had thus arrayed heathenism against the true religion; superstition and unbelief against faith in God. Bel and Jehovah were set against each other, in the presence of that mighty empire. Satan was here attacking the church of God, through its acknowledged representative. When, therefore Daniel came out of the den unhurt, and these men were thrown in, "the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the den," it was a triumph for God, for truth, for religion, and for the best interests of mankind. Benevolence could have wished that they might not place themselves in such a position. But being in that position by their own choice, an enlightened benevolence must rejoice in Daniel's deliverance from their wicked machinations, and in so glorious a triumph of faith.

ANTIQUITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

BY STEPHEN H. TYNG, D. d.

THAT the Bible has existed from very remote ages, is universally acknowledged. The proofs of its antiquity are more numerous and convincing than can be advanced in favor of any other book in existence. It has never been without its intelligent witnesses, and zealous guardians; though some of them have been the greatest perverters of its peculiar principles, or the bitterest enemies of the Christian name.

The Old Testament has been preserved by the Jews in every age, with a scrupulous jealousy, and with a veneration for its words and letters,

bordering on superstition; demonstrating their regard for it as divinely inspired. The Hebrews never were guilty of negligence in relation even to the words of their sacred books; for they used to transcribe and compare them so carefully, that they could tell how often every letter came over again in writing any book of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament contains, besides the account of the former ages of the world, the code of the Jewish laws, both civil and religious; and the records of their national history, for more than one thousand nine hundred years, from the call of Abraham; as well as prophecies, which regarded a distant futurity, and which have respect to times yet to come. The celebrated Roman historian Tacitus, who lived in the apostolic age, speaks of the Jewish books as very ancient in his time. They were translated from the Hebrew into the Greek language more than two thousand one hundred years ago; and they were possessed in both those languages by the Jews. By those Jews who lived among the Greeks, they were read in their Synagogues every Sabbath day, in the translation, the same as the Hebrew Scriptures were read by the native Jews; commentaries were written upon them by their learned doctors; copies of them were circulated in every nation where the Jews were scattered, and thus the sacred books were multiplied without number.

The books of Moses, including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, were written more than three thousand and three hundred years ago, and nearly fifteen hundred years before the Christian era: many of the other books were published above a thousand years, and those of the elder prophets about eight hundred years before the advent of Christ.

The writings of all uninspired men, are modern, compared with the Holy Scriptures. The earliest profane history which is known, is that of Herodotus, in Greek; which was written no earlier than the time of Malachi, the last of the Old Testament writers. Somewhat more ancient than Herodotus are the poems of Homer and Hesiod: the period in which they were written cannot be correctly ascertained; but those who allow them the remotest antiquity, place Homer only in the days of Isaiah the prophet, and Hesiod in the age of Elijah. It is not, indeed, agreed among the learned, whether there ever was such a person as Hesiod. The books of these ancient, uninspired writers are of a quite different character from the Holy Scriptures ;