The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-05-25
SABBATH SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOE
May 20,
Lesson Text: "Nebuchadnezzarss
Dream" Daniel IT,, 38-40-
Golden Text: heb. tv.. =
1S-Commentary.

56. "This Is the dream, and We will tall
the Interpretation thereof before the king"
! Daniel offered to show the King both the
dream and the interpretation II he would
| give him time. Then Daniel and his com.
panions gave themselves to prayer, and ths,
vision (verses 1919; after which Daniel
stands before the king, and giving Ill the
credit to the God Of heaven, be tells the
dream and is now about to give tho inter-
probation tverses 27-39. Consider Joseph
in similar way clarifying God (Gen. XII, !,
| Is, 16. And as to dreams see Gen. ~.
3;xU9:, "a; xxxvii., S, 8: Il, 5: Kngsi ILL.,,
&. & ?sa' e. w. s. 7'i' l. A'''' L. 80; d. =
81. THE God Of heaven hath given thos
kingdom, power end strength and glory
Not BY His own might had He obtained Il,
but God had given 1t to him. Ono Of the
greatest facts Of this book Is that Tho Most
High ruleth In the kingdom Of men. and.
giveth it to whonsoever BE wilp tchaptar
which we possess which God has NOT eiven to
US JAS l.. ~; and His gifts ara bestowed
upon US that thereby we may glorify Him.
We are expected to giorify tho God In whoss
hands our breath Is and whose arc all our
ways (chapter ", 49,.
SO. "And hath made the Ruler over them
all. Thou art this head Of gold" We are
reminded Of the original dominion given TO
Adam Gen. l., 20 whereby he was to mag
dren have failed, and shall fail till he come. i
the King who shall reign In righteousness,
the last Adam who shall subdue all things Z
unto Himself and be King over all the earth 4
lisa. xxxi., I; I Cor. xv., 45, IS; Zech. NV.
9; Rev. xi., 49,. s# 1865
80. "And after these shall arise another.
and another, which shall bear rule over all !:
the EARTH" One great peculiarity OF ths
Kingdoms designated by the metals Of this
over the known world. Their authorityl
was to be world wide. The two worldj
powers to succeed the Babylonian were,
without possibility Of mistake, the Medo.A
Persian, and then the Grecian. This the
Spirit plainly states in chaptersv, 81, vih., I.
2O, 81. Is; .s; tEgi
40. "And the fourth kingdom shall be
strong as iron, forasmuch as Iron breaketh
in pieces and subdueth all" Il b equally
clear that the next world wide dominion
after the Grecian was the Roman uuke H., 3
u, under whose principles OF government
all nations may be said to continue. There
has been no world wide dominion by any
empire since the Roman. nor viii there be :
till the stone kingdom Of the Lord Jesus il ,
established on earth.
Al, AZ. "And whereas thou sawest thu
feet and toes part of potter's clay and part
Of iron. the kingdom shall be divided; partly
strong and partly broken" There WILDE
power mixed up with that which n wholly
Of man; power in the hands Of the people
having no internal stability, though SOME
thing is left Of the strength Of the iron. +
| Tregelles., -s
43. "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed
with miry clay, they shall miugle themselves
with the seed Of men," This seems 10 refer
| to Gen. vi, 2. where the marriages OF the
! seed OF the godly Seth with the daughters Of
| ungodly Cain are described In similar
words. The reference, therefore, seems to-
be to the blending Of the Christianized
Roman empire with the pagan nations, q
and Napoleon made an effort to reunits the
parts into one great empire but In vain.
Christ alone shall effect that. (Fausset. &
| a. '.And in the days OF these kings shall
shall never be destroyed" These kings"
signify the final state Of the Roman empire,
represented by the ten toes. They cannos
mean the four successional mouarchies, as
| they do not coexis5 as the holders Of power.
II the fourth had been meant the singular,
not the plural, would be used. The falling
Of the stone on the image must mean de-
stroying judgment on the fourth GENTLE
power, not gradual evangelization OF it by
| grace, and the destroying Judgment cannot
be dealt by Christians for they are taught
to submit to the powers that be, so that 1t
must be dealt by Christ Himself at His
coming again. tTregelles.)
| IS. "The great Goa hath made known to
| the king what shall come to pass hereafterit
and the dream is certain and the interpreta-
ton sure" That Christ shall break in pieces
the kingdoms OF this world when he returns
in power and glory is unmistakably clear
from such passages as Ps. H.. 9, .; cxlix.,
SO; Rev. IL, 26, q; Ii, 1918; xix, ILLS.
His kingdom will end and supersede all the
otners, and shall not, like the Babylonian,
Medo-Persian ald Grecian pass to others,
but it shall stand forever. That the king
| dom which was c. hand when he came in
| His humiliation was not then set up but
postponed till His return, Is evident from
Luke xix, II, 12. The establishment Of His
| kingdom is sure because it Is the work OF the
Lord Of Hosts, who hath sworn, saying,
| Surely as have thought, 50 shall It come TO
pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it
| stand lisa. xiv, "a.
46. "Then the king Nebuchadnesz:r fell {
upon his face and worshiped Daniel." That
Daniel would not tolerate this we conclude
from the conduct OF Parl AMI Ba:-aoas
when in q certain place the people would
have sacrificed unto them (Acts xiv. 16).'
And also from the conduct OF the angel when
John fell at his feet to worship him Rsv.
xii, s. 81. :,
a. THE king answered unto Daniel and
said" This seems to imply that Daniel pro.
tested against the kings worshiping him, and
hence the king honors Daniels God, saying;
"Of a truth it is that your God Is God OF
gods, and Lord of kings, and reveaier on
Secrets, seeing thou couldst revee! this Sc.
cret," Thus the king glorifed God In Daniel
(Gal. j., 24l. To reject all praise OF sell, and
seek not honor from man, but earnestly de-
sire that God in all things may be glorfded,:
this is the only true Christian life III Cor
", Is; John ", A; Pet. iv., II.
4s. Then the king made DaniA greas.
man, and gave him many great gifts. and
made him ruler" This Is all in an earthly
and apparent sense. Daniel was already
great in the sight of God and had received
great gifts from Him,tchapter l., II; Luke J..
15). But Daniel no doubt recognized the
hand of God in this earthly promotion and
would glorify God there as we'll as In more
lowly position.
49, daniel sat in the gate Of the king"
He did not forget his faithful friends but OBJ
tanned positions Of honor for them also. but
Daniel was over all. Very suggestive Is this
remarkable story of Jew thus exalted BY
Gentle world power.-Lesson Helper.
THE danger Of Chinese monopoly
of the laundry business seems to have
passed. The second exclusion bill is
far more exclusive than the first.