The Topeka state journal., 1911-09-23

and cultivated men anu
women must know il they
are to understand countless
literary illusions NOW IS
good time to get the event fixed IN us
setting Great changes have taken
place since the last lesson. The naughty
Tebuchadnezzar, king Of kings, who
threw the three young Hebrews into
the fiery furnace, has become insane
his successors have had their little day
and his throne itself has been over
turned. The great Babylon has become
a vassaI kingdom. The first step OF
Danfel's Interpretation of the image OF
Nebuchadnezzar's dream has been 1ui-
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, ana
at the head of the Medo- Persian I'm I'm
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 ana ana
twenty satraps Ga familiar word TO all
who have studied Xenophon) over the
territorial divisions, and three presl-
dents over these. Daniel, the sage ana
statesman, was one of the presidents
though now an old man.
An Exile and Some Monarchs.
A bit of Latin was often in my mind
1
and Babylonia and succeeding en-
pires: ''Sic transit gloria mundi-so
passes 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 stele that / saw amid the ruins
along the Tigris could not be identified, |
though they were full of most boast |
full biographical statements. The aver |
age person does we'll who can keep in
mind the names of the greater en-
pfres and their order, along with the /
names of the foremost rulers.
But there is no difficulty about re-
uembering Daniel. And amid all the |
mutations and transformations of the |
centuries in this is-Euphrates re-
gion the people of Daniel have stood !
fast, Worshiping the one true GOD, |
Mvriads, If not millions of them are I
to be found in the territory which was
once the Medo-Persian Kingdom; and |
now they seem to be coming to their /
own again. History is more wonderful
than prophecy. The vindication of
Gods word and of Gods people is
written large in the records of time.
PIotters and Their Plan.
Quite as the Hindus in government
office in India scheme against the Mo-
hammedans, or the Turks in Constan-
tinople against the Jews, so the Chal- /
deans under Darius plotted against
this Jew Daniel, who was set over
them all He excited their jealousy; |
and all men familiar with "office poll
tics know what this means; and also
their fear, for his principles stood as
a barrier against grating. One honest
man in a corrupt organization can
spoil the schemes of the most promi-
nent and skillful predatory piotters, If
he have the courage of Daniel. This
has recently been illustrated in Wash
ington.
All Orientals are adopts at sublety
and intrigue; and the plot of the
satraps against Daniel was based on
their knowledge Of the vanity OF the T.
king. It was not a hard thing for
Darius, any more than it was for the
present emperor of Japan to believe
himself a god He gulped down the
alluring bait thrown to him by these
courtiers never suspecting the hook
1t held. If we did not understand
something of human nature. and the
grossness of the hattery which men
viii accept. this part Of the story might
seem incredible. But Darius readily.
and thoughtlessly, assented to the
proposition that no god but himself
should be worshipped for the space of
thirty days. under peril Of the lions.
Trapped!
Never trap was sprung with greater
certainty of catching its quarry. A
fine compliment was paid to Daniel by
his enemies, for they knew that he
would never "crook the pregnant
hinges of the knee to any other God
too much of q man to dodge saying his
prayers as before. Being without fear
and without reproach," he could be
counted on to be true to his highest
allegiance; and this maneuver of his
enemies made that higher fidelity seem
like a breach of his worldly loyalty.
Daniels character. like his heart, was
fixed; he was now an old man, and he
could be counted upon not to play
false to his God.
All honor to the stalwart men who
do las aforetime" in the face of Satan
himself. Christian history has as It's
brightest pages the record of the Dan
iels who have stood fast; who have
dared to defy councils, courts. kings {
and churches in obedience to their
convictions. These are the king-men
They follow in the train of the great
and steadfast Christ, who knew how
to die, but did not know how to save
his life at the expense of his honor.
4ul at praying as at fighting, is the
sort upon whom man and God rely.
Even the enemies of right know where
to dnd him always.
UntroubIed by Trouble.
Everybody must meet trouble some i
day. He is a foolish sailor who builds {
his boat only for fair weather. Now !
trouble should be prepared for, but {
not worried about Daniel was not
went about his work as usual, and ]
prayed with his windows open toward {
Jerusalem even as he did every day. J
He was not vauntingly ostentatious in ]
his defiance of the kings edict; nor l
was he cravenly cautious. He simply s
did as usual Blessed be noble routine. E
The king. who was as weak as most S
vain men, was troubled by the plot /
against Daniel when he perceived 1t. l
How he must have cursed his own silly I
V4@1re. -7rrt