wrought in his favour, a dispensation which, while it supersedes the necessity of further miracles, leaves him the well authenticated records of the younger world to strengthen his faith and to animate his practice.

It appears from the chapter under consideration, that the haughty monarch of Babylon dedicated a golden image on the plain of Dura, and impiously commanded every subject in his empire, under the penalty of a cruel punishment, to pay it that homage, which the Supreme Being has righteously reserved for his exclusive property. At the voice of the herald, when the princes and governors of provinces, the judges, counsellors, and other timid and wicked parasites of the audacious heathen, fell down and worshipped the molten deity; there were found but three Israelites among the multitude, who abhorred the ungodly ceremony, disputed the authority of the enraged tyrant, and defied his vengeance. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were men of rank and estimation in the empire, and having been serviceable to the king, he was at first unwilling to destroy them. He therefore ordered them into his presence, and having repeated his command with regard to the golden image and his threat against the disobedient, in the pride of his heart he concluded, "and who is that God, that shall deliver you out of my hands?" mindful of the commandment of a

higher Power, the heroic Jews replied, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter, if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King; but if not, be it known unto thee, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

In pursuance of this virtuous resolution these devout men were thrown into the fiery furnace, heated so hot, as to slay the guards who assisted at the execution. But where is the situation in which God cannot defend his servants? what are the difficulties whence he cannot extricate them? His friends in the midst of fire, are safer than his enemies in a royal palace, and the proud king of Babylon beheld the Redeeming Spirit conducting his votaries through the flames, which served only to reveal in brighter radiance the glories of their Saviour. "Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the King's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God."

From this interesting and instructive narrative, I propose to educe two practical applications. First, The necessity of living in such a

state of religious obedience to the commandments as cannot fail to acquire for us an interest in the favour of God, and

Secondly, The superlative value of an humble though unshaken trust in the providence of God.

I. The necessity of living in a state of religious obedience and discipline will appear from the example before us. The history does not say, that Shadrach and his companions were converted by miraculous interposition to the worship of the true God,-but it gives us simply to understand that they were "certain Jews whom the King had set over the affairs of the province of Babylon." We may therefore consider them as men, brought up in their own country, instructed in their youth by their own priests, practising from their earliest years the religious rites ordained by their law, and by their integrity and ability subsequently exalted in the kingdom of their conqueror. Their first prosperity, then, can only be attributed to their piety and virtue. It was these that gained them an interest in Divine favour, it was these that brought down upon them those temporal blessings, which must nevertheless be held as only secondary objects, and it was these that gave them, above all, that tranquillity of mind which, leaving every thing to the disposal of Providence, never fails to place its possessor beyond the malevolence of his enemies.

The practice of the ceremonial law of the Jews was without doubt extremely irksome and difficult, must frequently have broken in upon their various labours and occupations, and have taken up much of that time which, in an age of greater latitude, is unprofitably and often sinfully employed. The requisitions of the moral law of the Jews were uncommonly severe. Many crimes, which with us are esteemed venial or slightly censurable, were punished by them with exceeding rigour. Corporal death was denounced against offenders for offences no longer penal; and a death of endless duration was the fate of him, who died without repentance, having violated the least tittle of the commandments. "The soul that sinneth, says the Lord, it shall surely die!" To persons free from the cares of business, the exaction of implicit obedience must have been always formidable and often painful. The law promulgated for the benefit of the community must have sometimes borne hard upon the individual; and indeed the very perusal of the Levitical Code, with its corollary of penalties, must make even a good man tremble. But if the duties of life were thus difficult to men of leisure and comparative idleness, what must they have been to governors and statesmen, encumbered with the toils of office, and oppressed with the anxiety of a nation's welfare? Yet Daniel, with the

whole weight of the Assyrian empire on his hands, performed them. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were, in the midst of public business," servants of the most High God." Surrounded by idolatry, they continued in the pure and holy worship which characterized the chosen people. Occupied in the administration of the Chaldean affairs, they forgot not the Jewish commandments. If such was the obedience demanded of the Jew, what then may we reasonably suppose to be expected from the Christian? For him the rigour of the law has been mitigated; for him the prophecies have been accomplished; for him the Gospel of peace and joy displays the road of righteousness; for him has the Redeemer suffered, to bring him unto God. In terms so easy of performance, so gracious of purpose, so comfortable in practice, shall we delay a moment to draw nigh unto him, that stands with open arms to fold us in his embrace? Shall we refuse the gift of these sweet mercies because their streams are plentiful? Shall we be less wrought upon by the invitation of love, than by the threats of vengeance? We cannot have a more clear and comprehensive view of the benevolence of the Gospel-dispensation, than that taken by our blessed Saviour when he declared, that, on the principles of love to God and man, hang all the Law and the Prophets; and believe me, my friends and