see in these men a noble contempt of death-of death in all its terrors. They feared not the wrath of the king, though it was "as the roaring of a lion." They trusted in the living God, and by faith "endured, as seeing him that is invisible !"

Let us pause a moment.-Ask yourselves, what is the nature, and what are the grounds of your confidence? Is your "hope in God?" Does it rest on his truth, and on the certainty that he will secure his own glory? Alas! the confidence of most is easily shaken, and faith wavers with every wind of trial. We profess to believe those principles which disarm death of its power to injure; yet, through fear of death, are we not continually "subject to bondage?" We read of Stephen, calm and collected, amidst a shower of stones. We read of many martyrs, suffering at the stake, with magnanimity and joy; but death to us is full of terror, though on a bed of ease, and surrounded with our kindest friends. Does not this evidence that it is not with us as it ought to be? Have we not reason to pray, with peculiar fervour, "Lord, increase our faith?" And should we not make it our serious concern to be enabled to say for ourselves, "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day?"-The address discovers,

4. Steady resolution, at all events, to obey God rather than man. Mark what they say: "But if not," though it should not please the Almighty to interpose by miracle for our deliverance; though he should suffer us to fall into thy hand, and to fall by it; "be it known unto thee, O king, that we will

*2.Tim. i. 12.

not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.' Here we see the strength of religious principle, and how powerfully it operated. -These young men are called "children:" were they not rather champions? They rank high among the worthies of the kingdom of God.

A variety of considerations might have shaken their constancy, and led them to a compliance. They might have reasoned thus; "We are not required to abjure our God, or expressly to declare our approbation of an idol, but only to bow down before it; and can we not do this with a secret reserve of mind? We are not called to a constant course of idolatry, but only to one single act: it can be done at once, and the danger is over." They might have pleaded; "We are strangers and captives here, not at our own disposal. Is not the man who requires this act answerable for its guilt? Besides, is he not our benefactor? Do we not lie under many obligations to him?" They might have thought-" Did not most of our own countrymen practise idolatry, not once only, but frequently, and with far less temptation than we have: why should we be more scrupulous than they?" And might they not have thought-" By this easy compliance, we shall secure our future usefulness; our lives will be spared, our places will be kept, our credit at court preserved; and thus we shall be able to do much good to the church for many. years to come?" You see, much might have been said on the side of yielding; but all was silenced by a simple regard to the revealed will of God-" Thou shalt not bow down to any images, nor serve them *.” Indeed, when we consider the situation of these per

* Ex. xx. 5.

sons, how theywere circumstanced, without any to countenance or encourage them; the whole empire against them, and the fiery furnace before them; we shall allow, as one observes, "that this instance of heroic constancy, in a good cause, was scarcely ever equalled, and was never exceeded by any mere man since the beginning of the world."

Let us advert here to the disposition of many professors of religion in the present day. Could not you have got over this difficulty without hazarding your life? Would you not have temporized a little? Would you not have yielded, and then, by some expedient, have settled matters with your conscience? Yes, some have settled much more difficult points. You have complied with the world on very slight temptation you have run into sin without the least excuse, except the vile propensity of a depraved heart. And have not you, in all this, contrived to preserve a kind of rest? Have not you found a variety of opiates, which, for a season, have kept all quiet within? You have whispered to yourself, "I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart*." Let sin be viewed in its own deformity, let the heart be known in its real deceitfulness, and we shall all discover the abundant cause we have for humiliation and shame. Thank God, there is grace sufficient for the most guilty; there is a remedy provided, suited to the deepest disease of the soul; there is a glorious Deliverer, whose ability to save is more than equal to our largest wants.

But we proceed to notice,

III. The remarkable EFFECTS which the address produced.

* Deut. xxix. 19.

On Nebuchadnezzar they were effects of more violent anger: it stirred up all his malignant rage, which appeared in the distortion of his countenance : he was "full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed." Henry remarks; "Would men in a passion but look at their faces in a glass, they would blush at their own folly, and turn their displeasure against themselves." In his fury he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it was before that the most mighty men of his army should bind these youths, and cast them into the destructive fire. And so intensely hot was the prepared furnace, so vehement the flame which issued from it, that the men employed in this desperate business were immediately consumed. Most likely these men were forward enough to execute the king's orders, and to shew their malice against the Jews, though at the expense of their own lives. But the day is coming when proud tyrants will be called to account, not only for the cruelties which they have themselves practised, but also for those which they have instigated others to commit: and an awful reckoning it will be!

But what became of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego? They "fell down, bound, into the midst of the burning fiery furnace;" but in the furnace they remained unhurt! They were preserved in the midst of the flames by that faith which "quenched the violence of fire." Not even a hair of their heads was singed, nor did the smell of fire pass upon their garments. The bands by which they were bound were dissolved, for they walked at liberty in the fire; and there probably enjoyed such heavenly consolation as they had never before experienced.

How is this to be accounted for? Their Omnipotent Redeemer was with them; his power supported them; his grace was abundantly sufficient for them!

The king, who doubtless expected the instantaneous destruction of these victims of his fury, was astonished," as well he might, in perceiving that they were still alive.-He "rose up in haste, 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!" It may be read " a son of God," denoting an angel, or celestial messenger; and this might be all that Nebuchadnezzar meant. Yet his declaration was true, if we

understand it in a higher sense. It was "the Messenger of the Covenant," "the Angel of the Lord," "the Son of the living God." He takes the injury done to his servants as if done to himself; and, in all ages, is present with them in the deepest adversity and distress. The fury of the king immediately subsided he regarded these three young men with honourable respect: he called them "servants of the Most High God:" he invited, them, with tenderness, to come forth from their fiery prison: he directed the attention of his princes, governors, captains, and counsellors to their miraculous preservation, and thus spoke; "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