Daniel 3

Daniel 3:1-30

DANIEL S . OR THE VICTORY OF FAITH Daniel 3:1-30IN the first chapter of this Book we are introduced to four young men, “the Children of Israel” and “of the king’s seed”. They are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These four children seem to stand upon a somewhat common level, for it is written “God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom”. However, even there, it is further remarked “and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams”.This hint of Daniel’s superiority takes on more positive expression in the second chapter, where, by direct revelation, he gave the king both the forgotten dream and the interpretation thereof; and, as a result, wins the king’s approval and acknowledgment that Daniel’s God is a “God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets”.By the same authority Daniel is made a great man, given “many great gifts”, and made “ruler over the whole province of Babylon”, and “chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon”.It is at Daniel’s request that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego—new names given to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—were appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon.In this third chapter no reference is made to Daniel. On the contrary, the entire chapter is contributed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. That does not mean that Daniel is dropped out of the scene; only that he is, for the moment, standing in the shadow of his office as Premier, while his three brothers face the king’s fury for having refused his command.It may be accepted as certain, however, that Daniel is discoverable in the conduct of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

He is a natural leader of the four, and the others necessarily partake of his spirit.The young officer who accompanied Sir Charles Napier, that courageous Indian leader of imperishable renown in his campaign, in the Cutchee Hills, said of him:“When I see that old man incessantly on his horse, how can I, who am young and strong, be idle? I would go into a loaded cannon’s mouth, if he ordered me.”Even weak men are tremendously strengthened if given a strong leader; while strong men under strong leadership will dare almost anything.The whole third chapter clearly indicates that Daniel’s spirit reigned in this entire fellowship, and that when you touched any one of the four, you were truly dealing with him. In the speech and conduct of these brothers, you discover his spirit.But to the text and its lessons!I think possibly we may get the greatest profit if we think together of, The Idol—Compulsion, The Courageous Revolt, and The Conquest of Faith.THE IDOL— “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers . of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. “Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. “Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, “That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: “And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace”. (Daniel 3:1-6). The king created this image. “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold”.Man’s disposition to idol worship is age-old. He began his existence upon the earth with a full knowledge of the one God, who no sooner completed His creation than He spake to man, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”.That first communication was followed by constant communications that were at once direct and verbal.The whole doctrine of the evolution of religion is false to fact. Man didn’t begin his worship by wondering at the sun, moon, and stars. The fear of lightning and thunder, and the notion that they were voices of the gods and flashes of their anger, was not the first form of worship.On the contrary, sinless man walked and talked with God in the garden of Eden as the first and second chapters of Genesis reveal, and sinful man was upon the way back to this high communion with his Creator in the blood offering that Abel brought and for which the Lord had respect!But this original faith was not retained. Cain took the first step downward by bringing “of the fruit of the ground” and offering it unto the Lord— an attempt to substitute works for Grace; and ere many centuries had passed, this disposition developed to the point where men attempted, by the Tower of Babel, to build their way to Heaven; and from that time till now a thousand points of departure have been employed by the disobedient and unbelieving, and all manner of idols and gods have been invented.This decline in faith is not the fruit of ignorance, for man originally knew God. It is rather the product of perverted hearts. The Law given by Moses was intended as a check on this degrading tendency.God said,“I am the Lord thy God * * “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, “Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them” . That Commandment was born of the sinful disposition to worship idols.People sometimes sympathize with the heathen in their worship of suns and stars, sticks and stones, and even the lowest and most loathsome forms of animal life; and they say of them: “The poor things do not know any better.”True; but the ignorance is a self-imposed one. Their forefathers knew better, but knowledge retreated before lust, and this degradation to idols followed.“The Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the Children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from Heaven. “Ye shall not make with Me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold” (Exodus 20:22-23). And yet when Paul came to Ephesus, the charge that the Ephesians made against him was that he was persuading and turning away much people, “saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands” (Acts 19:26).It is now nearly two thousand years since Paul, and yet man goes on creating gods or idols.Reginald Campbell, in his New Theology, said, “The Bible teaches that God created man in His own image, but man returns the compliment, and now makes God in his image instead.” How true!Humanism is the latest product of philosophical evolution; and what is humanism but another false god,—a sort of man in totality? When we come to study him, he is not altogether unlike the figure that Nebuchadnezzar created and set up in the plain of Dura. That figure, we are told was sixty cubits in height and only six cubits in breadth. Its breadth was one-tenth of its height. That also is suggestive!The modern man, following current philosophy, imagines himself to be so exalted, so high, as to deserve worship; but when we come to consider his form, he is pitifully narrow and thin.The city that God is building lies “foursquare”, and while man’s egotism may be symbolized by this lofty and lean figure, God’s solid qualities of love, wisdom, and power are suggested by a better memorial.The second Commandment not only sets itself against the papal practices of images, but equally against the present University philosophy of Materialism, Mechanism, and Humanism. Jehovah is still saying, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” or in My presence!Mark again The king’s compulsion of worship!“That at what time ye hear the sound of the cortiet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fait down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: “And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace”. This also is modern enough! True worshipers of the True God seldom or never coerce the souls of men. Every time that “professed Christianity” has undertaken to make converts by force it has proven itself only a corrupt and corrupted form of the Faith that is in Christ. Christ called men to His fellowship; He invited them to become His followers. He never coerced them! True Christianity exemplifies the Master at this point.

It does not believe in compulsory religion.The Puritan Fathers came to this country in search of freedom of Faith, and when this government was founded, its basal philosophy was a free conscience in that whole matter, and up to this good hour, pure Christianity and apostate Christianity have alike revealed their characters in this very point, while false faiths and the true Faith have also been recognized by their course in this very matter. True faiths are never coercive; false faiths are commonly so.The Christians of America believe in letting men exercise a free conscience.The Modernists of America—Apostate Christians—through the schools, are imposing their Darwin infidelity upon defenseless children, and by hook and crook are compelling tax-payers and parents to foot the bill of an education in which those tax-payers and parents do not believe, nor desire for their own.The Atheists of America, last autumn, protested against a Thanksgiving day, and asked to have the name of God taken out of all Federal documents, and all offices, held in the interest of Christianity, to be abolished.In Russia today where Atheism is triumphant, parents are not permitted to teach their children about God, but the State imposes upon those same children its Atheism, thereby coercing conscience.Such is the difference between the religion of Divine revelation and the religion of the unregenerate!The true conscience refuses to be coerced!“There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”. Those three sons of Judah have their successors,—men that refuse to be made in the mold; consciences that refuse to accommodate themselves to the wiles and wills of their frail fellows.Job, speaking in the integrity of his heart, said, “I will maintain mine own ways before Him” (Job 13:15). There are always men who have opinions that are not easily shaken, consciences that run too deep to be easily uprooted. “They stand; and having done all, stand!”Such men you will discover again in the New Testament. Peter and John had a spirit akin to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. On the way to the Temple they found a paralytic and healed him; but when the Council called them and commanded them not to speak at all or teach in the Name of Jesus, Peter and John answered and said unto them, ((Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard”.The threats of prison; yea, even the sight of a seven times-heated furnace does not shake the resolution of God’s man. He knows the reason for his conduct and refuses to let others determine the course thereof. This brings us to the very subject suggested.THE REVOLT The report of courage commonly comes abroad.“Certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews” (Daniel 3:8). Their accusation is adroitly phrased. In verses ten and eleven they remind the king of his decree, and also of his declaration that “Whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace”.The inference is, the word of the king is supposed to be dependable! Vacillation is not to characterize his conduct, nor timidity his course. From him the people expect consistency as well as courage.When that speech has had its effect they proceed further, “There are certain Jews”, (and one can feel the scorn in the phrase,—foreigners, importations, a beggarly company, unnumbered, captive slaves, unfit and unfitted for control; men who should be hewers of wood and drawers of water, and not administrators of affairs), “Whom thou has set over the affairs of the province of Babylon”— a plain intimation of mis-judgment on the king’s part.And then to make the charge specific, they name them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego” and continue, “These men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”.The stinging speech had its effect! The result was exactly what the Chaldeans hoped for; their words had found the king. They had forced him to see that he had made a false political move; that his official appointments were not popular; and now, to make it still worse, they were not even loyal.Disloyalty to a man in authority is the most destructive element conceivable to government, and that is why political opponents are always trying to prove the same.

One can hardly imagine what this means unless he himself is a part of administration; and one cannot imagine how much of this circulates in the circle close to rulers.Recently I received “The Inside Story of the Harding Tragedy” prepared by Ex-U. S.

Attorney Daughtery and Tom Dixon, the famous author. The reading of the book is a revelation of what disloyalty can do to the king, and equally a revelation of what jealousies characterize and curse the close-in political circle.Daugherty justly suspected the disloyalty of Gaston B. Means, and quietly reported the same to President Harding, only to find that unsuspicious, and kindly man, non-convinced! Later revelations, however, are increasingly proving the infamy of Means’ character. He came into the public notice as a murderer of a woman; he has already spent three years behind the bars—a time too short to justly measure his offense,—and there is a fair prospect that he will end his life there.On the other hand, this same volume, while it reveals a multitude of Chaldean accusers, often exhibits also the bad motive lying back of their accusations. Daugherty tells us plainly that not a president from Washington to the present incumbent, has escaped the scandalous whispers and stinging tongues of this eternal undercurrent.Discussing the degeneracy of the United States Senate, a subject with which the public is becoming sadly familiar, and touching upon Fall’s confession that he had received from Doheny a loan of $100,000.00, Daugherty says:“This incensed the Nation to the injury of President Harding’s memory, and the standing of his Cabinet.

Hundreds of letters poured into the White House, to members of the Cabinet, members of the House and Senate. The Senate became a caldron of filthy gossip and slanderous accusations.

The destruction of the character of public officials became a national sport. Red Senatorial gas-bags poured poison fumes into the air until an honest man could scarcely breathe within the walls of the Capitol.”Old Joseph Parker once said: “Jealousy can be very astute, engage little tricks and ways that easily take upon them the guise and semblance of perfect innocence * * There are many ways of stabbing a man; and guilt is never so guilty as when it tries to be mealy-mouth and mock pious.” The longer one lives the more profoundly is he impressed with the fact that the man around whom criticism surges is at least accomplishing something. Even the Chaldeans take no account of dead Jews; they have no interest in Jewish nonentities, and no word to speak against even Jewish cowards. But the courageous man, the man who does not bow the knee upon another’s command, the man who refuses to take on putty consistency and be shaped into position in somebody’s machine; the man who thinks for himself and insists upon the fact that since he must give an account to God, that account shall have first consideration; He is the man that blocks the way of selfish politicians, and brings a flaming anger to those who build a machine and arrange for themselves a comfortable seat at the center of the same, and propose to have no impediments across their chosen path.However, let it be known that the result is often exactly as here, the names of such Chaldeans are forgotten, but those of the independent thinkers live. The world knows the names of these three Jews; but the man does not live who can call the names of any one of their critics. Courage is a virtue so rare and so valuable that it marks its possessors for immortality.Here courage takes the form of flat refusal.

The king called these men before him and offered them a second opportunity. That fact alone indicates that the king, furious as he was, felt their importance and feared too hasty a judgment against them.Mark their reply:“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”. That is the speech of real men! That is the answer of the most unusual element of character, namely, courage! In that reply there is no indefiniteness, no uncertainty; it is at once clear and final. Honest men and brave men do not often employ circumlocution. The fact that they mean what they say renders it easy to say what they mean.John Foster tells us that when the executioner went behind Jerome of Prague to set fire to the pile, Jerome said: “Come here and kindle the fire before my eyes, for if I dreaded such a sight I should never have come to this place when I had a free opportunity to escape.” The fire was kindled and he sang a hymn which was soon finished by the encircling flames.Algerius, an Italian martyr, wrote from his prison a little before his death: “Who would believe that in this dungeon I should find a paradise so pleasant; in a place of sorrow and death, tranquility and hope and life. Where others weep, I rejoice.”Wishart, when in the flame which removed him from the world, exclaimed, “The flame doth torment my body, but no whit abates my spirit.”Who wonders that the names of such men are immortal!Charles Spurgeon said: “We have heard that the old warriors before they would use their swords commonly bent them across their knees.

By that test they discovered whether they were made of the right stuff and would not fail them in battle. So God does with His servants; He tries them, tests them, and proves them; and when they have been tested and proven, then He can employ them.That refusal was not effected by a threat.

The answer was: “Either God will deliver us out of it, or we will endure it.”Solomon, in discussing the folly of playing with sin, and at the same time counting one’s self safe, declared, “Caw one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned”?The answer for such an one, of course, is known; but if a man, in loyalty to God, has to walk the path of fire, he can do it and yet escape the burning from the brands. The truth is that fires kindled against God’s servants have no tendency to eat the flesh, but rather power to revive the spirit.Gustavus Adolphus was horrified one day when he saw a certain Swedish lad fall from a window to the pavement many feet below. But the lad jumped up, and seeing his ruler standing by, smiled and limped away.“I prophesy that lad will be ready for emergencies,” said Adolphus. He became the famous General Bauer.Fires for God’s servants are refining elements. It is said that Michael Angelo was so eager an artist he would strike off more chips in an hour than a laborer could carry away in three; and yet every blow of his hammer brought that block of’ marble nearer to angel form.Saints are made after the same manner. The cuts they receive may be deep, the discouragings they endure may be severe; but if the true saint is there, these things will but combine to bring him forth.THE OF FAITH It is interesting to move on in this study. This story has none of the marks of a myth. On the contrary, there is a veri-similitude in it all. It reads like what it is—history. The only point in the story at which the honest reader might balk is the miracle of preservation.That is between faith and infidelity! To the man who believes in God, “with God all things are possible”; to the man who denies God, that feature of the story is nothing more nor less than a myth.But as the record stands, the conquest of faith is complete.The fires only suffice to burn away the fetters!“These men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. “Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. “And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. “He answered and said, Lo, 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” (Daniel 3:21-25). Fire is a destructive element. It not only ends life, it consumes the forms thereof. Water can end life, but it does not consume.When Pharaoh followed the Children of Israel in their exodus, God rolled back the sea and brought Israel over in safety. But when Pharaoh and his army attempted to employ the same path through the deep, they perished in it.He who holds the sea in the hollow of His hand is also Master of the flame.When we were in the Book of Isaiah we heard from God the promise to Israel, and it took this form: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee”: and at the Red Sea God kept His Word. Then the Prophet said, “When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee”. That promise was kept to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.But, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.The sight of the Son of God resulted in the king’s conversion.“Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. “And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. “Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. “Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. “Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon” (Daniel 3:26-30). The devil often defeats himself. He did so here. He attempted to burn up these men because they were uncompromisingly loyal to God. He succeeded only in bringing them to an undreamed victory.How often has it been so?That was his object when he sicked on his hounds and sent Paul to prison, but the Epistles that emanated from the Apostle’s hand, even while behind the bars, have been a veritable battery of Gospel guns trained on the adversary ever since.He imagined when he sent those same millions to nail Christ to the Cross that his conquest was complete, but the risen Christ, incapable of a second death, and now proven to be none other than God Himself, was a far more implacable foe.How often it is true that by smiting some servant of God’s he supposed himself to be gaining a victory against the Son of God, as in the instance of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. But, how often it is also true that the Divine intervention in those servants’ behalf so impress even the godless as to affect new converts from Satan’s ranks to the cause of the Christ.Some years ago one of the greatest preachers that America ever knew, my own prized and intimate friend, was holding a most successful meeting in the church of which he was pastor. He dreamed that Satan, displeased with the progress of it, sought to shoot him, but the Saviour appeared and said, “You can shoot him in the feet only.”Almost immediately he was awakened out of the dream with extreme pain in that member of his body.

He got up and examined the foot and found it was a small pimple on the instep. Erysipelas set in and his suffering was intense, confining him to his bed.He called for the deacons of his church to come, and he told to them the strange dream and pled with them to carry the meeting on.

They promised, and the report, reaching the church, intensified the interest; the revival increased, and scores were converted.The sickness of Dr. C. increased. He became delirious, but talked constantly of his unconverted sons. The Christian boy who was at home made note of his father’s sayings, and mailed them to two of his unsaved brothers. They read them, were brought under conviction, repented of their sins, and sought the Saviour. In a few days they both appeared, bringing with them even a companion who had been reached by the same notes and turned to God, and the three united with the father’s church.Satan succeeded in putting this great preacher into the flames of affliction, but when he came out of them and found that they had resulted in the conversion of his two sons and their most intimate friend, he praised God, and had no doubt that the dream was true to fact, that his affliction was from the adversary; nor did he doubt that Christ was faithful to His promise and not only was with him in the flame, but utilized the same in the conversion of his godless sons.There are people who say that God’s promises are to be spiritually interpreted.

God’s own course and conduct is an answer to that claim. There are times when He keeps them literally, when He fulfils them to the letter.God’s work is a perfect work.

He performs no half miracles. There isn’t a single record in the New Testament Scriptures of His ever having touched the sick man to improve him a bit, or ever having cast a few demons out of the possessed to leave him still under the power of several others. What He does is complete; like His life— it’s a finished thing.I heard a woman in the South a few days since say she had been healed of the same disease several times in answer to prayer. Then it must have been someone else than Jehovah who wrought the work!When He touched the blind man, his sight came back to him. When He spake healing to the leper, his flesh became clean and whole. When He dispossessed the Gadarene, all the demons departed, and he was henceforth “in his right mind”.

When He struck the shackles from Peter’s feet, He also unmanacled his hands, and he went forth a free man. His work is like Him: it is a perfect work!But the effect here was more than freedom.

It was refinement. The faces of those men in the fire must have shone with an unusual radiance. In fact, the king, looking upon them, practically saw the souls shining through the flesh, revealing the true characters of the commissioned men. It takes the heat and rays of the furnace of affliction to bring out the moral beauty of God’s man.Dr. Buckingham said “Wendel Phillips was the most beautiful person I ever saw. I refer not so much to his graceful form or his handsome face as to his brightness of mind, his perfection, purity, and whiteness of soul.”But let it not be forgotten that Wendel Phillips lived in the furnace of opposition.

His abolition sentiments fanned that furnace into white flame, and standing as he did in the midst of it, it did not suffice to destroy, but rather glorified him.You know the process of china painting. The artist puts his dull paints on the duller pottery and places the pieces in the oven.

Flames are kindled about them, and if they were sensitive and could speak, they might cry out with suffering; but when the process is finished, and the dull part appears again, it is a china piece fit to grace the king’s table.This text, however, holds a further and more important subject:The king beheld the form of the fourth walking with them.“Lo, 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” (Daniel 3:25). There are people who imagine that Jesus was never seen in this world until He appeared by the way of Mary’s womb. On the contrary, “the Angel of the Lord” in the Old Testament is none other than the Lord Himself. Nebuchadnezzar saw Christ some hundreds of years before His virgin birth. He walked with the three Hebrew Children in the fiery furnace. That was a pre-historic fulfilment of the promise connected with the Great Commission: “Lo, I am with you alway”.That promise was made to those who should be in the line of duty, and that promise is constantly fulfilled to all such as are found there. They walk not alone!It is our plan today to ask you at the close of this service to lend financial assistance to the students who will go out this summer to teach and to evangelize.I called one of the Seniors in, a few days since, and asked him to rehearse to me the story which I had heard some months since, and this is something of what he said:“Yes; when I became conscious of God’s call to the ministry, I found bitter opposition in my own family; but, turning my back on all, I set off for the Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School, bringing my wife and babies.“I was without means to carry me through and without a job, and knew almost nothing of city affairs.

But I bought a paper over at the corner of Eleventh one day and the first thing my eyes rested upon was ‘A janitor wanted.’ I went straight to the place and found thirty-three other applicants there. The man who was empowered to engage selected me out of the entire company, and I accepted it as God’s answer to prayer.“Things moved along fairly until rheumatism smote me and made my work both difficult and painful.

When the end of the term came, I thought to go back to my home for the summer, and loading my family, a niece, and my father-in-law into my automobile, I made it only as far as Excelsior and the car broke down. I had but $12 saved up and the garage demanded $10 for repairs. I assembled the family on the shore of the lake and we slept on the sand that night.“When I arose in the morning, my rheumatism was worse with the cold wind that had blown over me through the hours of the night. But I pulled myself together the best I could, caught a ride back to the city and borrowed $6 from a fellow-student.“Riding to Excelsior, I took my repaired car and started, getting only as far as Chaska when it broke down utterly. What to do, I did not know! I stopped at a garage and asked the fellow if I could trade it in.

He said ‘Certainly not!’ It was worth nothing! However, the real owner of the garage came.

I told him who I was and what had happened. He pointed down to a whole collection of second hand cars that he had on the lot, and said, ‘Go down and pick out the best one you can find and I will give it to you.’ I went down and started their motors and listened to them and selected the best one, which proved to be good, and went my way rejoicing.“Christ did not fail me. He who said, ‘Go and I will be with thee’ attended me. And though I am caring for this family, I have been able to continue my studies and complete my course, and, by the Grace of God, am graduating now with the rest.”There is no Book in the Bible, the reading of which stirs my soul above the Book of the Acts. In the series of forty volumes which I am publishing on the Bible, I gave three to the Book of the Acts. It is a marvelous record.

Christ is keeping the promise made in Matthew 28:20—“Lo, I am with you alway”.He is with Peter when he stands forth to speak at Pentecost. He is with Peter and John when they meet the lame man at the gate of the Temple.

He is with those same Apostles when they are thrust into prison, and He brings them forth. He is with Stephen when he stands before the Council. He is with the saints when Saul persecutes them, and He is with Saul in his conversion and consecration. He is with Paul and Barnabas in their evangelistic journeys. He is with the brethren in the Council at Jerusalem. He is with Timothy when he joins the Apostle, and He is with Paul when he is on trial before the Sanhedrin, on trial before Felix, on trial before Agrippa, and with him when he goes to the Roman prison.But, I speak advisably when I say that I could assemble this morning on this platform twelve young men and an equal number of young women students, now in the Northwestern Bible School, whose experience of His grace, and especially of His strengthening presence, would make another book of Acts as readable and stirring as the Book bound into the Bible.

I am not claiming at all that their reports, or my record of it, would be inspired as was the Book of Acts; but I am maintaining that the record would be equally inspiring. Christ has not quit His own.

He is with them still!Go to our students that are in Africa, and they will tell you that He has been with them there. Visit our graduates who are in India, and they will give you instance after instance of His presence and His help. Drop into the missions conducted by our graduates in the continent of South America, and they will say:“He is not localized. He has been with us here again and again. We have felt His presence. We have received His help. We have heard His voice. We have experienced His fulfilment of His promises.

He is our daily Captain and Leader and our constant Companion and Friend. Oh, it’s great to walk with the King!”“I walk with the King, hallelujah, I walk with the King, praise His Name! No longer I roam, my soul faces Home, I walk and I talk with the King.”