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ation of danger or of trial, in which the servant of God may not experience the comfort of heavenly

communications.

Lo, said the king, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.* Nebuchadnezzar perhaps hardly knew the force and meaning of his own words: but other parts of the Old Testament will justify us in understanding them according to their literal sense, and in concluding that this fourth person, evidently a divine person, was no other than the eternal Son of the Father, thus visibly manifesting His care for His servants, and proving to the assembled multitudes that the divine Presence was with them: and could they be destitute of comfort while the Son of God was there? Or was there, in all the provinces of the empire, a post of honour which could have imparted to them any satisfaction comparable to the holy pleasure which they derived from this sacred communion in the fiery furnace? And that Presence will, in its blessed communications, never be withheld from the servants of Christ. If He dwell in their hearts by faith, then shall they verify, in its spiritual

* Verse 25.

sense, the force of the promise, When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee!*

We may notice, thirdly, the illustration which this narrative affords to the statement, Them that honour me, I will honour.†

These men honoured God in their fixed determination, under all circumstances, to abstain from idolatry, and in the public avowal which they made of their immovable trust in Him. And how remarkably did He honour them in return! They were miraculously delivered from the fire there was a declaration from the king himself, that the person who walked with them in the furnace was like the Son of God! He acknowledged further, that for their fidelity in the service of Jehovah, their God had delivered them; and that there was no other God who could deliver after this sort; and the king promoted them in the province of Babylon. Neither will that promise remain without fulfilment, in any instance, to them that honour the Lord. Generally it will be found that piety commands * Isa. xliii. 2. +1 Sam. ii. 30.

Verses 28-30.

respect reverence is often felt, where it is not proclaimed: the man who seems even to mock at religion, will sometimes say in his heart, Let me die the death of the righteous!* And frequently, in the bitterness of his feelings, he would be glad to exchange conditions with the meanest of the children of God. And where there is nothing of worldly honour, the Almighty does not the less condescend to honour His servants. He takes them into His favour; He watches over them for good; He sends His angels, as ministering spirits, to attend them; He will acknowledge them at the last day: and admit them into the society of heaven.

Lastly, we see that God can make even the wrath of man to praise Him, and the most unfavourable events to show forth His glory.

The king collects all the chief men of his dominions to celebrate his idol worship, and proceeds to execute vengeance without mercy upon the worshippers of Jehovah; and what is the result? The servants of the living God are saved by a great deliverance: the intelligence of it flies into every part of the empire and the sovereign himself, who had so daringly insulted the Majesty of heaven, is compelled to

* Numb. xxiii. 10.

acknowledge that there is no god like the God of the Jews! What might be the permanent effect of this scene upon the princes and nobles, it were vain to conjecture: but it must have tended greatly to preserve all the captives of Judea in the faith of their fathers, and have procured for them a liberty of conscience and of worship which might otherwise have been denied them. So wonderfully are the events of this world overruled for the honour of God, and for the furtherance of His counsels! So confidently may we rely, in all circumstances, upon the wisdom and power of the Most High, in the fulfilment of His heavenly purposes! So surely shall even the bad passions of men be controuled by His authority, and rendered instrumental to the furtherance of His will! So certainly shall events, apparently the most adverse, be found to magnify the riches of His grace, and be made subservient to the manifestation of His glory!

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SERMON XIV.

SOWING IN TEARS, AND REAPING IN JOY.

PSALM CXXVI. 5, 6.

They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

THIS psalm was probably composed on the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. In proportion to the distress which they had experienced during their long and painful exile, was their joy on the prospect of beholding again the land of their fathers; of again taking possession of a country so intimately connected with the history of their tribes, and associated with so many welcome recollections. But far different was the Jerusalem which they were now to visit from that which the hand of violence had compelled them to abandon: far other was the appearance of that Judea, once the glory of all lands, from

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