may be considered as a general appeal to the perfections of the Deity, and to the veracity of his promises, yet it ought never to be forgotten that a peculiar sacredness has, from the carliest ages, been attached to the term which was employed by his own authority to designate the eternal Being; and to this. it becomes us always in prayer to cherish the most reverential regard. "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty (Al-Shaddai, that is, self-sufficient); but, by my name JEHOVAH (that is, self-existent, and the cause of all being), was I not known to them," Exod. vi. This proclamation of the Divine name was not published till the time of Moses. After the captivity, the Jews, out of a superstitious veneration, ceased to pronounce it; and they say that this name was only uttered once in the temple, on the great day of expiation, and not at all subsequently to the destruction of the temple. How awfully criminal is the conduct of those who dare to employ any one of the appellations of the Great Supreme in blasphemous imprecations; and with what "godly fear" does it become his sinful creatures to approach him even in devotion, and while privileged to plead the merits of the Saviour as the ground of access!

3.

2. Daniel refers also to the direct agency of Providence in the conduct of human affairs. The

blessed God is represented not only as possessing the "wisdom" to contrive and to superintend, but the "might" to "change the times and the seasons," and to exalt or depress the potentates of earth. With this truth impressed upon our minds, let us always proceed whenever we propose to unlock the treasures of history; treasures, indeed, they can only be, when through its enlightening influence, they are justly appreciated; otherwise they are but an accumulation of trifles. Their value is to be estimated by their utility; and that utility can only be evinced by the illustrations they afford of the government of God. Of this we may feel assured, that whatever darkness may involve our conceptions, "the light," as it is here expressed, "dwelleth with him."

3. Daniel humbly acknowledges the especial favor bestowed upon himself and his companions, in the disclosure of that mystery which the king demanded. It is instructive to observe how he comprehends his brethren in the efficacy of those prayers which they had mutually offered, and in answer to which the secret was unfolded. Religion emancipated him from the bondage of selfishness, and freed him from the littleness of pride-"Who has made known unto me now what we desired."

The appeal, "O thou God of my fathers," reminds us that the recollections of piety are

the most solemn and endearing that earth can afford. Some are privileged to look back upon an extended succession of holy ancestry, and to recount the names of multitudes endeared by relationship to themselves, as well as distinguished for their faith, who now form a part of the celestial society. Their sun is set, but their example continues to shed its holy twilight around the horizon of life, and cheers them on their pilgrimage.

This phraseology must, to a Jew, have been peculiarly significant. It inspired reflections on his covenanted relationship to God, by virtue of his connexion with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The promises flowed in the channel of his descent; and he felt himself allied to those whose histories were interwoven with the earliest transactions between man and his Maker. He thus felt at once the bond that united him with the splendid past, and the more splendid future-with the patriarchs of former times, and the sons of light at all periods-with all that was glorious in heavenly revelations and inspired predictions.

Especially did this exiled servant of the Most High cherish these sentiments, and refer with ardent emotions to this beloved and venerated name, in his present circumstances. Country, kindred, home, religion—a thousand thoughts which language fails to express,

would rush upon him in confluent tides of feeling, while he recorded the expressive words-"God of my Fathers!"

24.-Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon : he went and said thus unto him, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.

25.-Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah that will make known unto the king the interpretation.

26.—The king answered, and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? 27.-Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded, cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king;

28.-But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets,

and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;

29.--(As for thee O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed what should come to pass hereafter; and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass:

30.--But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.)

If, in the manner which Arioch is said to have introduced Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, we perceive the courtier, willing to embrace an

opportunity of ingratiating himself into the affections of his sovereign, we need not be surprised, especially as the prophet had solicited his interference. But let us improve the circumstance, by using it as a motive for humiliation before God, that we are so little solicitous of the highest place in his approbation, and so little zealous in promoting the interests of his glorious empire!

The answer of Daniel to the king's question, whether he was able to make known the dream and the interpretation, furnishes a new demonstration of his superior character. Having intimated that the astrologers, magicians, and soothsayers were incapable of revealing the mystery by their arts of divination, he does not proceed to affirm his own ability, but imputes the discovery to the "God in heaven that revealeth secrets ;" wishing himself to be regarded as simply the channel of communication; and, to prevent all possibility of misapprehension, he reiterates the statement, and insists that the secret was not disclosed to him for any wisdom he possessed more than any living. How opposite is this to that spirit of self-exaltation which is frequently evinced by persons under circumstances of far less powerful temptation! What a contrast to the disposition to bend every trifling circumstance into subserviency to personal distinction, and to give a false co