tively no allusion to the most important fact in the annals of humanity-the Incarnation"! Inveterate stupidity! As though the existence and sovereign administrations of a king did not imply that he was born!-as though the sublimest consummation and crown of our Saviour's work does not carry with it every fact involved in the constitution of such a Lord and in such an accomplishment! As well might we set aside what the vision told of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and Alexander, because "there is positively no allusion" as to how or where or under what conditions these mighty conquerors came into existence ! How, on such principles, can the vision refer to Cæsar, since "there is positively no allusion" to the fact that Cæsar came into the world in a way different from other men! I wonder and am amazed when I see on what slender and silly grounds the professed teachers of God's word allow themselves to be turned away from its sublimest substance, and to be cajoled into the denial of many of its plainest and most pregnant texts. But no such boggling can hinder the fulfilment of the vision to its utmost letter. Twenty-five hundred years have added their seal of demonstration to the truth and accuracy of the prediction as respects the transient empires of this world; and how can it fail in that greater, more inportant and crowning portion respecting the immortal and eternal regency which is soon to take their place? No matter what reverend unbelief or blatant infidelity may say, let us remember the words of the prophet, that "the dream is certain, and the interpretation

thereof sure." Our cavilling, skepticism and rationalizing will not alter or hinder the eternal decrees of Heaven. From the beginning of earthly empire Jehovah has made known the coming of a kingdom. which shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and which shall stand for ever-a kingdom of which the God-man is to be the Head and King, the possessors of the authority of which are immortals, and the establishment of which in our world will be the consummation of that redemption to which all dispensations look and for which all the ages wait.

I

LECTURE FIFTH.

THE GOLDEN MEMORIAL; OR, NEBUCHAD

NEZZAR'S GREAT IMAGE.

Daniel 3: 1-30.

TAKE Nebuchadnezzar to have been a man of a deeper, broader and nobler nature than Napoleon Bonaparte. He was as great a warrior, and a much greater emperor. He was a man of larger intelligence, of less selfishness and of a much more generous and earnest mind. He was impulsive and hasty betimes, and even harsh, but his impulses were not mere passions, and were generally founded upon correct reasonings. He was quick in forming conclusions, and very firm in carrying them into effect. He mostly did his own thinking, and spoke and acted officially according to his own convictions, no matter against whom or what they went. He was a heathen potentate, absolute in his authority, but he had a deep religious sense, and was greatly influenced by it, and came the nearest to being a true servant of God of all the heathen kings of whom we have any account. When he beheld evidences of the presence and power of God he noted them, acknowledged them, and fashioned his actions accordingly. He

had a conscience, and a strong perception of honor, duty and right. When he gave his word he kept it to the full. When he beheld sham and falsehood

he was severe upon it. When he saw the divine Hand he bowed before it, and used his royal place and prerogatives to give others the benefit of what he himself knew and felt. When convinced that messengers of the Most High were before him, he honored them and gave glory to the God of heaven, and was not ashamed to make confession before all men of what his heart believed. He sometimes forgot himself in the midst of his greatness and glory, and took to himself honors which evinced an overweening pride; but when punished for it he frankly confessed it and proclaimed it to the whole empire, that men might know and fear the God of heaven. He never entirely let go the idolatry in which he was reared, but he never failed to hold and confess the infinite superiority of one God, even the God of heaven, over all the idol gods of his kingdom. He was not a saint, but he was nearer to being one some who profess the true religion and have greater opportunities and fewer hinderances than he possessed.

than

and

We cannot but admire his reverent ingenuousness

appreciation under the proofs of the majesty and mercy and help of God in the matter of his dream. Though the sublime head of the greatest of empires, no false dignity prevented him from prostrating himself before the young prophet in acknowledgment of the one Almighty God, and of young Daniel as

His true messenger. Such holy services as his heathen education and ideas suggested he at once commanded to be rendered.

Our modern savants and legislators seem to think that the state has no use for the doctrines and counsels of those who make known the mind and will of God; that the teachings of inspiration had better be excluded from the public schools; and that the less the ministers of Bible Christianity have to say or do in matters of education, legislation and jurisprudence the safer for the community. To such, of course, it was a great weakness in Nebuchadnezzar to think and believe that a man in communion with Heaven, and able to declare the rights and purposes of the Lord of kings was a proper person for the government to exalt and honor, or suitable to be made a counsellor, judge and administrator in affairs of state, or fit to be invested with the presidency over all the institutes of learning and schools of wisdom. That God pronounced him the golden head of a golden kingdom is nothing to the point; he did not live amid the wisdom of an age of "miry clay," and how could he be a right-reasoning philosopher? And yet I take his side, and claim that it showed his good sense as a logician, his sound policy as a king and his just feeling as a man, that he bowed adoringly before the Spirit of inspiration; that he acknowledged and proclaimed the worshipfulness and majesty of the God whom it attested; and that he at once constituted the man through whom it came "the ruler [sultan] over the whole province