The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-19
In The
Religious World
, STATESMAN IN TROUBLE.
Tt,c International Sunday school Les
son for september "A is "DanieI in
tl,e Lions Den" Dan. 6.
(Bv William r. Ellis

(By William T. Ellis.)
This is one Of the dear old stories.
which children love, and cultivated
men and women must know if they
are 10 understand countless literary
illusions. Now is a good time to get
the event fixed in its setting. Great
rnanges have taken place since the
last lesson. The naughty N~ebuchad-
y zZar, king of kings, who threw the
three youn Hebrews into the fiery
furnace, has become insane, his sue
,essors have had their little day, and
his throne itself has been overturned.
The great Babylon has become a vas
sal Kingdom. The first step Of Dan
jeIs interpretation of the image of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream has been ful-
filed.
\ new king rules, a new nation pre-
walls. Cyrus. the Persian, great pre-
decessOr of the ignoble Shah, about
whom We are nowadays reading in the
dispatches, had conquered Media, and,
at the head of the Medo-Persian en-
pire, has overthrown Babylon. Cyrus
himself reigns at Shushan, in Persia,
and Darius is his viceroy in Babylon.
With regal powers, Darius plans the
government, placing one hundred and
twenty satraps Ca familiar word to all
VINO have. studied \enophon) over the
territorial divisions, n three presi-
dents over these. Daniel. the sage and
statesman, was one OF the presidents,
though now an old man.
An Exile and Some M%Onarchs.
a bit of Latin was often in my mind
- / roamed over the ruinS of Assyria
and Babylonia and succeeding m
pres: Sic transit gloria mundI-"so
lasses the glory Of earth For kings
and even dynasties and empires were
only as strata in the accumulated lay
ers Of dirt ruins. The kings Of some
Of the STEELE that | saw amid the ruins
along the Tigris could not be identi-
fed, though they were full Of most
boastfuI biographical statements. The
IN erage person does we'll who can
Keep in mind the names of the
greater empires and their order, along
with the names Of the foremost
rulers.
But there is no difficulty about re-
membering Daniel. And amid all the
mutations and transformations of the
centuries in this Tigris-Euphrates re-
giOn the people of Daniel have stood
fast, WOrshipping the one true God.
Myriads. if not millions Of them are
to be found in the territory which was
cnce the Medo-Persian kingdom; and
row they seem to be coming to their
own again. History is more wonderful
.''@ y
Gods word and Of Gods people is
written large in the records of time
P%lotters and Their Plan.
Quite as the Hindus in a govern
nent office in India scheme against
the Mohammedans, or the Turks in
'onstantinople against the Jews, SO
The ChaIdeans under Darius plotted
against this Jew Daniel, who was set
over them all. He excited their
f1alOUSN. and all mon fami1iar with
office politics. know Ia this
means; and also their fear, for his
principles stood as a barrier against
grating. One honest man in a cor
iupt organizat ton can spoil the
schemes of the most prominent and
sNilful predatory plotters, if he have
the courage of a Daniel. This l1s
ton.
All Orientals are adopts at sublety
and intrigued; and the plot of the
satraps against Daniel was based on
their knowledge Of the vanity of the
king. 1t was not a lard thing foI
Darius. any more than for the present
emperor of Japan. to believe himself
q god. He gulped down the alluring
bait thrown to him by these court1ers
never suspecting the hook it held. II
We did not understand something OF
'Aio NhO
the hattery which men will accept
TINS part of the story might seem
Incredible. But Darius readily, ano
thoughtlessly. assented to the propo-
Sition that no god but himself should
be worshipped for the space of thirt,
Gays, under peril Of the lions.
Trapped!
Never trap Was sprung with create!
certainty of catching its quarry. A fine
compliment was paid to Daniel by his
enemies. for they kne that he Wouie
never crook the pregnant hinges O
the knee to any other God than Je-
hovah. They also knew that he wa:
100 much of a man to dodge sayins
his prayers as before. Being with
out fear and without r~eproach.' n
could be counted on to be true Il
Lis highest allegiance; and thf!
manauVer Of his enemies made tina
higher fidelity seem like a breac O.