A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, January 5, 1873, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.  

Oh man greatly beloved, do not fear: peace be to you, be strong, yes, be strong. (Da 10:19)

1. I anticipate an objection to my preaching from this text, and using it in reference to anyone in this congregation. “The words were spoken to Daniel, and we are not Daniels,” — that is probably the form which the objection will take in certain minds, and my reply is, “If we are not Daniels, at least we should desire to be, and we should remember that there are possibilities of our being so, in many parts of Daniel’s character we can, by divine grace, tread in his steps.” Daniel is not set up far above us as one who cannot be imitated, but he is an example whom it should be our joy to follow. “But,” one cries, “we shall never reach to Daniel’s height of grace.” I pray God we may. Under all ages there have been men of the class to which Daniel belongs. The antediluvian period produced an Enoch who “walked with God and was not, for God took him,” and he, like Daniel, prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord. In the patriarchal period there was an Abraham who is called “the friend of God,” with whom the Lord communed in a most particular manner. In the later days, under the law, there was a David, “a man after God’s own heart,” and though his character was more faulty, yet still his nearness of fellowship with God, as we read about it in the Psalms, puts him in the same category. If you tell me that all these, and many more whom I might mention, belong to the olden times, and to the days of miracles, and so forth, I would remind you that nowadays the child of God under the gospel has privileges which were unknown to the greatest believers in former ages; for even John the Baptist, of whom it was said that no one born of woman was greater than he, is said also to be less than the least in the kingdom of heaven. With the clearer light and richer indwelling of the Holy Spirit, instead of being inferior to Enoch, or Abraham, or David, or Daniel, we ought to excel all these. And, further, I would also remind you that the New Testament age produced a John, and is there a nearer fac simile of Daniel anywhere than John? The two, though so very different in positions and in circumstances, were in their disposition, in their walk with God, in their familiarity with the Most High, and in the extraordinary visions of the future with which they were indulged, so similar that I might say that Daniel was the John of the prophets, and that John was the Daniel of the evangelists. Now, if there is one John produced under the gospel, why not another? If two, why not two thousand, or twenty thousand? And each Christian may ask, “Why may I not be one among them?” The Spirit of God is not stinted, the dew from heaven is not exhausted, because it fell on Daniel’s branch and rested on John’s leaf. You may have it, my brother, and under its fertilizing influence you may bud and blossom, and from every blossom shed around you the fragrance of fellowship with God.

2. Moreover, if I waive the question of our imitating Daniel I would add that from another consideration I feel justified in using my text most freely; for every true Christian is in some sense, and that a very deep and true sense too, a “man greatly beloved.” Though there are differences in the degrees of the love of God, so that we may say there are elect ones out of the elect, yet all the elect are “greatly beloved.” There are choice spirits among the chosen, such as the seventy who were selected from the disciples, the twelve out of the seventy, the three — Peter, James, and John, out of the twelve, and John out of the three: election rises out of itself again and again, ascending like a pyramid; yet, for all that, the common disciples, at the base of the pyramid, are “greatly beloved,” loved with an infinite love. The weakest babes in grace are as truly loved as those who have come to the fulness of the stature of men in Christ Jesus. There are delightful places where the sun’s light seems to rest most constantly, yet the sun of God’s love shines on all the field which he has chosen. The promised land was honoured with the superior excellency of its Carmel and Sharon; yet from Dan to Beersheba, every acre was blessed by the Lord. Every heir of heaven is purchased with the same blood, written in the same roll of life, called by the same Spirit, preserved by the same divine power, and is matured under the same spiritual influences for the eternal glory, surely then every believer is “beloved,” and “greatly beloved” too. Great love has been shown in the salvation of each one of us, and in our preservation to this day. Therefore, if none of us should be bold enough to hope that the expression of the text could be applied to us in any particular and eminent sense, yet our faith, without presumption, dares to know that we are men greatly beloved, seeing we have been saved by the sovereign grace of God, and made near to God by the blood of Jesus Christ. We shall, however, expect every Christian, as he recognises the great love which he has enjoyed, to recognise also the great obligations which spring from it. This is only common honesty; if we eat the bread of children, we must render the obedience of sons.

3. Now let us proceed to the words themselves. In them I see, first, a choice title, “oh man, greatly beloved”; secondly, a common infirmity very gently rebuked, — “do not fear”; and then thirdly, certain very gracious consolations given to meet that infirmity — “peace be to you, be strong, yes, be strong”.

4. I. To begin then, the text glitters with A CHOICE TITLE. Daniel is said to be a “man greatly beloved,” or as some read it, “a man of desires” — a desirable man towards God, whom God desired to commune with, in whose company the Lord delighted. He was a “man greatly beloved.”

5. Now the great love of God for Daniel is very conspicuously seen in his character. I shall not describe his character as the reason why God loved him, far from it, but I shall mention his character as being the effect of God’s great love for him. God loved him greatly, and therefore he made him this and that.

6. The first sign of the Lord’s great love for Daniel which we shall consider was this, God gave him early piety. From his very youth Daniel feared God. We do not know the time at which he was brought fully to know the Lord, but it must have been in his boyhood; for while he was still a stripling we find him playing the man for the Lord God of his fathers. It is true his early days were spent in captivity. He was of the royal house of Judah, and he was carried away to Babylon, but there is something significant in the fact that he was carried captive at the same time that the holy vessels were taken from the temple of Jerusalem. What if I say that he was himself one of the holy vessels? For he was indeed a vessel fit for the Master’s use, and he and the golden vessels of the house of the Lord were in captivity together, yet still under the divine care, so that they should not be profaned for unholy use. My dear friends, no one can ever over estimate the great privilege of being brought to God in childhood or youth. If it were only to be saved from the injury which a course of sin brings upon the mind, if it were only to escape from the regrets for the past which will arise even when the conscience is in later days purged from sin, if it were only to have saved those precious hours of the early morning of life and to have used them in the Master’s cause, if it were only for those three reasons, and they are only part of a great cluster, they are something for which eternally to bless the special love of God. I appeal to those who have been brought to love the Lord in their more mature days, and those especially who have come to know him in old age. Beloved brethren, you love the Lord who has called you to himself, but have you not often said in your heart, “Oh that I had known him like Timothy, at my mother’s knee!” And is it not at this time the dearest desire of your soul that your children should not delay the decision for God as long as you did, but that they should cast in their lot with the people of God while the ruddy hue of youth is still on their cheeks? I know I speak your very hearts. You, therefore, are witnesses to the fact that early piety is a choice blessing, and he who has received it may think that he hears an angel say to him this morning, “Oh man, greatly beloved, when you were a child the Lord delighted in you.”

7. But, secondly, the great love of God for Daniel appeared in his early and thorough nonconformity to the world. He was placed in circumstances of particular peril, removed from every godly association, taken away from every sacred influence of holy hearth, or gracious guardianship. He was carried into an idolatrous country, and trained in an idolatrous court for a superstitious pursuit. Everything was done that could be done to make the young Hebrew forget the God of his fathers. His very name was changed as well as those of the three very worthy companions of his captivity. They had grand names in the Hebrew, each one significant of some gracious truth, but they were changed into mere Babylonian titles, so that they might forget that they were Jews and forget the name of God himself! Everywhere around them they saw idolatry, lust, and crime. There was nothing when they went outside or when they stayed at home that would not suggest to them the abominations of the heathen. Yet here it was that, while still a mere lad, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s food, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” The food and wine that would be brought to Daniel would not have been of the kind that should have been eaten or drank by an Israelite. The meat might have been defiled with blood or killed by strangling, in violation of the legal precept; and frequently the meat eaten by the Babylonians would be the flesh of an unclean animal. The wine also would probably have been dedicated to the false gods by a libation of a part of it, and the food would have been offered to idols; therefore Daniel determined to go too far rather than not far enough, and would not defile himself with the king’s food, nor the king’s will at all. It is always safest if you are at war with a deadly enemy to have a very high wall between you and him. There will be no fault in its being too high if he wants to destroy you. Any division which we establish between us and sin, will never be too broad or too deep. Daniel, with surprising decision, determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food. Now, this was rather a strong position for a child to take up — a mere schoolboy shall I call him, for he was then at the college of the soothsayers, being taught in the wisdom of the Chaldeans — he was only a scholar, and yet upon this he was very resolute. Being resolute he was not imprudent: he did not court persecution, but he went to work with that gentle courtesy which is always so becoming a companion of firmness. The “Suaviviter in modo” should always go with the “Fortiter in re.” Gentle manners are a fit robe for firm principles. We read, therefore, that Daniel “requested of the prince of the eunuchs, that he might not defile himself. Now, God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.” So that after expressing a fear that he might be injured in health by not eating the food provided, he allowed him to make a trial of it. The trial of a diet of vegetables and water turned out most satisfactorily. Daniel and his friends were found to be both better in health and stronger in mind than the rest of the young students in the college. Was it not a grand thing for this young hero to have taken such a stand? We may hope that he who begins well, will go on well: but, oh, abhor, young Christian, all faltering at the beginning, all compromising with the world, all trying to parley with evil, all attempting to see how near you can go to sin. If you are not at the outset thorough for God, I fear you never will be. Christians ought to grow in grace, but I am sorry to say that with many of them they go from weakness to weakness, and I fear all because there is not a sound beginning. Every builder will tell you the necessity of having the foundation laid well. Let the foundation of your religion be decision, resolution, sincerity, and thoroughness. Your half and half Christian makes a fine pretence at godliness, builds very rapidly, and daubs with his untempered mortar only to secure a fall. But may God make us deep Christians, those who know what they know and mean what they mean, and mean for God and for his truth to be decided by his help. Daniel was a man greatly beloved, because even early in his life, he was distinguished for his nonconformity to the world.

8. In later life we find another sweet result of God’s love, in his courageous trust in God. He was called on two occasions, at any rate, in his life, to exhibit the utmost conceivable courage. Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed a dream. Daniel had before interpreted a dream to him, and therefore on this occasion he obtained admittance to the king. He heard the king’s dream, but the interpretation of it was one which foreboded the most grievous ill to the tyrant, how should he tell him the dreadful tidings? Only let the monarch lift his finger and Daniel’s head would roll upon the floor. All the empire of Babylon was under the absolute sway of the despot, Nebuchadnezzar, and yet Daniel did not hesitate to tell him that he would be insane and that his hair would grow like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws, and that he would be driven from the abodes of men. I think I see him, with fearless bearing and voice, telling the monarch to cease his sins by doing righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, so that his tranquillity might be lengthened. Now, in these days, it needs no great courage to speak the truth, because no sudden death awaits the boldest messenger of Christ. We live in days of liberty, in which we may believe what we please, and say almost anything we wish, but it needed heroic courage then to come like a Nathan, saying, “You are the man,” not to a David, with grace in his heart, but to one who had no fear of God before him, a Nebuchadnezzar who thought himself to be a god. And that was a brave deed, on that dread night, when Daniel stood up in the presence of Belshazzar and all his court, while the princes and lords of the different provinces were gathered together, and there interpreted the handwriting on the wall. Remember, he was surrounded by soldiers who would in a moment have put him to death, and he stood before a young and proud monarch, licentious and imperious, who would make no account of human blood, and he had to say to him, “You are weighed in the balances and found wanting; your kingdom is given to the Medes and Persians.” It required great spirit to be able to be the stern interpreter of a monarch’s final doom: when he had been young he had faced Nebuchadnezzar, and when he had grown grey with years, with the same calm, brave spirit, he faced Belshazzar, and rebuked him for his sins, and for his proud defiance of the Lord God of Israel. He was a man greatly beloved to be such a lion as he was in the midst of all his foes.

9. Coupled with this as another evidence of God’s love for him, was his wonderful endurance of prosperity. If I have already said that early piety is a great proof of God’s particular affection for a man, I think I may say that the power to endure popular esteem, success in life, wealth, and rank, is also a very special and particular sign of the divine favour. He was only a youth at the time when he went to Nebuchadnezzar and told him his dream and the interpretation. I suppose he was about seventeen years of age when he sat in the king’s gate and was the head of all the king’s wise men in Babylon. Scarcely that number of years had passed when Ezekiel spoke of him as being well known as the wisest man of his time. Addressing the King of Tyre, Ezekiel said, “Are you wiser than Daniel?” Now, for a young man to be elevated to that position, we all know, or think we do, the dangers that must surround him. Even a man that has experience does not always find the lofty places of power to furnish an easy foothold for him; but for the young and inexperienced man to stand there he must be a man greatly beloved. And then remember, that through forty-three years or more of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Daniel was one of the great men of the kingdom; all through the reign of Belshazzar, on through the time of Darius the Mede, we still find Daniel one of the greatest men in the government. Belshazzar had made him the third man in the kingdom, there being, I suppose, at that time two kings, and, therefore, he could not be made the second, but he was made the next to the kings in all the empire; yet never do you see him betraying any sense of his own greatness. His book is singularly free from any desire to promote himself. Have you not often wondered where he was when the three holy children were put into the burning fiery furnace? I think if I had had the writing of the book of Daniel I should have wished to insert a verse or two to explain where I was. But Daniel is so forgetful of himself, he does not vindicate himself, or try to avert suspicion, and leaves it open to us to think whatever we like. We may be sure he was acting nobly, but he does not try to make us think so. He considers himself nothing, the service to his people and for his God — this is what absorbed all his thoughts. Oh, it is noble to see a man lifted up into the high places of wealth and position, made to wear a crown and scarlet robe, and yet for all that walking humbly with his God and fulfilling his duty without a flaw, even as those do who do not have such high things to try them. I read this week of a vessel at sea which was overtaken by a storm, and a mountainous wave, a very alp of water, went right over it, putting out the engine fires at once, and sweeping away the wheel and the steering house, so that the vessel lay like a log in the trough of the sea. Now many a man has been like that, a great amount of wealth and prosperity has come upon him, put out the fires of his former zeal, taken away all the steerage of his soul, and he has lain like a log tossed up and down between the waves of worldliness and pride, and has become a total wreck. But Daniel was a man greatly beloved, for God set him on his high place and made his feet like hind’s feet.

10. A further example of God’s great love for him comes out in his resoluteness under trial. There will come to most men some special time in which they will be tested, and it happened to Daniel in his old age. There were those who could not bear that he should always be in the forefront in political affairs, and they plotted against him, but they found nothing against him except concerning his God. They obtained a decree that no one should pray during thirty days except to the king. But Daniel cared little for decrees: it was his custom to bow three times a day before his God with his window opened towards that dear country which he still loved, though he had been an exile from it for those many years; and he with that stern simple heartedness, which was so prominent in him, went to pray at the time he would have prayed if there had been no decree: he did not alter the window neither to the putting of it up nor the putting of it down; but just as he had been accustomed to do previously, he bowed his knee and prayed. The lion’s den was nothing to him — his duty was all, and if the way of duty lay through the jaws of wild beasts Daniel still pursued it. And you know the result, and how God vindicated his servant. Truly, I might have said, when he was thrown into the pit where the lions were raging, that the martyr was a man greatly beloved; but all confess that fact when they see him honoured by Darius, brought up alive out of the pit where God had sent his angel to preserve him — then all who saw him confessed that he was a man greatly beloved.

11. Let me add, that here we ought not to forget that God’s grace and love shone conspicuously in making Daniel a man of such continuous devotion. Every day witnessed his constant regularity in prayer. Not that he was a Pharisee and thought that one time was better than another, but because he probably felt what most of us have done, that if we do not have a time for prayer we may neglect it altogether. Three times a day, whatever might occur — notwithstanding the immense pressure of business upon the statesman’s mind, three times a day he cried to his God. And then he had his special times besides. Three weeks we find him spending in prayer and fasting. The top of his house witnessed to his regular devotions, but his special pleadings were by the lonely willows of the brook, and there he cried and wrestled with his God; and we find that as the result of this, he was favoured with visions from on high, which he would never have received had his devotion been less regular or continued. It is no small sign of God’s love for a man, if the man lives in the spirit of prayer, if he delights himself in prayer, and if year after year prayer has not become a monotony to him, if it is real to him, yes, and if he so much hungers after more of it that he devotes increased times to its more intense exercise. If God privileges him to become mighty in prayer, then he is a man greatly beloved. Power in prayer is one of the most divine of the Lord’s gracious gifts. I could mention here today the name of one, a name well known to you, of one whose prayers God has heard these many years, and helped him to feed thousands of orphans, and send out scores of missionaries. Whenever we think of him, we think of him as a man greatly beloved. And whenever I look upon a man who is powerful in prayer, who by supplication brings down blessings on his own family, and the church and his neighbourhood, I know that there is to be found a man who is indeed greatly beloved.

12. I think that I have shown you that the outward signs of God’s love for Daniel were such as many of us have enjoyed in a measure and may enjoy still more, for there are some here who were saved in youth, some who began early to be decided for God, some who have been brave for Christ, and have not denied the faith, who have sustained prosperity, and have endured trial too, and who have by grace been taught to plead with God. Perhaps they will not recognise themselves, but we may be able to recognise them, and call them men greatly beloved.

13. In one word, there was one crowning sign of God’s love for Daniel, and that is the perfect consistency of his life all through. Daniel seems to me to be as nearly as possible a perfect character. If anyone should ask me for what particular virtue I consider him to be famous for, I should hardly know how to reply. There is a combination in his character of all the excellencies. Neither do I think I could discover anything in which he was deficient. He was a sinner, doubtless, before the eye of God; he is faultless towards man. His was a well balanced character. There is an equilibrium maintained between the various graces, even as in John’s character, which is also exceedingly beautiful. There is perhaps a touch of loveliness about the character of John, a tender softness that we do not find in Daniel; there is somewhat more of the lion in the prophet and of the lamb in the apostle, but still each of them is perfect in his own way. All through Daniel’s life you do not find a flaw; there is no breakdown anywhere. There was a great occasion in which he might have broken down, but God helped him through it. There he was, a business man for a long lifetime, a man bearing the burden of state, and yet never once any accusation could be brought against him of any wrongdoing. A man of large transactions will usually be chargeable with something or other of wrong performed through his subordinates, even if he himself should be strictly upright; but here was a man rendered by grace so upright and so correct in all that he did, that nothing could be, even by his enemies, brought against him, except concerning his religion. This is a great sign of grace, an ensign of piety far too rare. Many are Christians, and we hope they will creep into heaven; but, alas! alas! alas! the less said about their inconsistencies the better. It is a special sign of a man greatly beloved, when he is consistent from the beginning to the end through the grace of God.

14. II. But my time will fail me, and therefore, I must hurry in the second place, to notice that Daniel became the subject of a COMMON INFIRMITY.

15. He was full of fear on one occasion, and therefore, an angel said to him, “Do not fear.” I am glad of this, because it teaches us that even the best of men may be subject to very great fears. I was pleased to read in our lesson just now, of Daniel on his face, and of Daniel dumb, and so on, for it shows that he was touched with our infirmities, and that great as God made him, he was nothing in himself, and owed all his greatness to the grace of God. Those fears on the part of Daniel were not the result of personal trial just then, they came to him indeed, when he had been highly honoured with visions from God; but his fears sprang from a sight of his Lord, and from a sense of his own unworthiness. Just a word on that. You may be a man greatly beloved, and, therefore you may have a clearer sight of the Lord Jesus than other men have; and for that very reason you may feel a greater shame and confusion of face whenever you think of yourself. Remember how Daniel says concerning himself, “There remained no strength in me, my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.” Oh beloved, if the Lord ever favours you with much love, and with nearness of access to himself, you must expect its other side — that is to say, you must feel your own nothingness, baseness, unworthiness; and, while you feel that, I do not wonder that you almost wish you had never been born, and feel as if the sooner this life was ended the better — feel as if you were unfit to do anything for God’s people, unfit even to bear Christ’s name, and yet all the while you may be a man greatly beloved and may be eminently blessed. Look at Job, when he is covered all over with severe blains he justifies himself in some measure; but the moment he sees his God what does he say? “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I abhor myself.” It is sure to be so — great love from God will make you have great humbleness of soul, and lay you low in the dust. Do I address a brother who has been finding out recently more of the deformity of his own heart than he ever did before? Did he come up here this morning crying, “Alas! woe is me?” No, dear brother, not “woe is you,” but “Oh man greatly beloved,” though you have found this out through a sight of your Lord, yet do not fear, this is a blessing to you, and not a curse.

16. Perhaps, too, Daniel’s great fears had been awakened by the disclosures that had been made to him of the history of the nations, and especially of his own people. He had a particular anxiety for his own people. Did you ever get into that state, and begin to look upon the world, and upon the country, and upon the church, and then fall into a fit of trembling? I assure you it is wonderfully easy to put on the garb of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. If you look around even on this little island of ours, everywhere you see mischief coming to the front and error prevailing, and the cause of truth seems to be like a tempest tossed bark, almost a wreck. Truly one might find plenty of room for weeping and lamentation. And if we look at the world at large and see how infidelity spreads, “Woe is me!” we may well say. Yes, Daniel had seen the history of the world for a long time to come, therefore he was full of fear. And are you full of fear too? Well, it is a part of the lot of men whom God greatly loves that they should bear the troubles of the times, that they should be like Christ on the behalf of their age, and should bear the sins of men upon their hearts, and plead concerning them before the living God.

17. I think too that Daniel’s sorrow was occasioned partly by the repetition of those words to him: “The vision is true, but the time appointed is long.” It seemed to come over and over to Daniel. “The time is long.” I do not know any trouble that presses more heavily on my heart than that. It seems to be a dreadful long while since God has performed a miracle — such a while since the church has had any great thing done in the midst of her. Christianity only holds under its power a miserable minority of mankind: the number of evangelical Christians in the world is a contemptible fraction as compared with the mass of idolaters and Mohammedans, Catholics, and the like. The true churches do not seem to be growing, and meanwhile the challenges of the infidel come to us, and we do not seem to have the courage to reply to them as they ought to be replied to. Almost two millennia have gone by, and there is no progress or scarcely any! Oh Lord, how long! How long! How long! How long! And yet Jehovah is the Lord, yes he is the only God, and he could in a moment enlighten the darkness of mankind, and his Spirit could raise up men who should flash like flames of fire amidst the midnight of the times. Why does he tarry? This is the cry which the church universally sends up wherever she lives near to God. And if any here have been favoured to be beloved by God, I am sure this will weigh upon them, “How long, Lord how long? Why do you tarry?”

18. III. Now we close, in the third place, by noticing THE CONSOLATIONS which the angel brought to Daniel, and which, in proportion as we are greatly beloved and the subject of similar fears, he brings to us.

19. He said to him first, “Peace be to you.” So he says to everyone of the beloved here, — “Peace be to you. Why are you fretting, worrying, tossed up and down in your mind? Peace be to you.”

20. Let peace be yours first, because you are “greatly beloved.” Whatever is happening or not happening, you are greatly beloved. The Lord loved you before the earth ever was, he redeemed you with the blood of his own Son, he has called you into fellowship with Jesus — Peace! you are beloved, does that not give you peace? “Hush, my babe,” says the mother, “lie still and sleep,” and the sweetest hush in all her lullaby is the mention of her own love. So, dear child of God, be still, be calm, you are beloved by heaven.

21. And next, do not fear, peace be to you, God is still ruling — he ruled the world before you were born, and accomplished all his will; he will rule it when you are dead, and fulfil his own decrees. Why do you worry? What use can your fretting be? You are on board a vessel which you could not steer even if the great Captain put you at the helm, of which you could not so much as reef a sail, yet you worry as if you were captain and helmsman. Oh be quiet, God is Master — do you think that all this din and hurly-burly that is abroad indicates that God has left his throne? No, man, his chargers rush furiously on, and his chariot is the storm, but there is a bit between their jaws, and he firmly holds the reins and guides them as he wishes! Jehovah is still Master — believe it, peace be to you — do not be afraid!

22. And whereas you are disturbed about the length of time, — with what do you measure? Do you measure with your own age of seventy years, or with days and weeks? — Have you ever seen the measuring line of the Eternal, and do you know, that if this world were to last through millions and millions of years, yet it would be only a speck between the two eternities that should precede and follow? God’s life is not made up of tickings of the clock! He can wait, he can wait. He can let generations of wicked men follow one another, indeed, he could for ten thousand years ten thousand times told, permit the devil to trail his chain across the world, and yet at the end be more than conqueror, and the more glorious a conqueror because of the length of the battle. It is a child’s fight that only lasts for an hour, but vast is the conflict of nations when they struggle with each other from year to year, when a campaign only begins the war, when another campaign only kindles the strife, and a third only inflames the passions, and another brings out all the fury of the combatants, and only far on at the close comes the grand crash which ends it all. Shall the wars of God be less in length than the battles of men? You have seen only one campaign, or perhaps only the first flight of the artillery which begins the fight; you have not seen the crossing of the bayonet, that may yet be to come, for the time of tribulation such as the world has never seen is still in reserve. But rest assured of this, it is all short to him with whom a thousand years is as one day, and one day as a thousand years. Come down from the measuring place, child, come down! It is God who weighs and measures. Leave that alone and sit down at his feet and be still. Be still, it is all well, it shall surely end well. God is master still.

23. Then he adds “be strong,” as if these fears of Daniel made him weak, and as if it was important that he should be strong. Now, if there is any importance in us at all, and there is not much, certainly anything that we can do in our present place will require all our strength. And since our fears decidedly weaken us for all practical purposes they should be shaken off. Hence the angel says twice, “Be strong, yes, be strong”; and, beloved, we ought to be strong in faith, for God deserves it. He has given us promises of our own security, of his own ultimate conquest, and the triumph of his own cause, and God has never lied yet. Why, then, should we doubt him? Those who trust in him have never been confounded yet. He deserves that we should rely upon him, and if things grew blacker, and the times were worse, and true religion were almost crushed out, and lived only in one solitary man’s heart, that man ought still to believe that God would still be conqueror, and have no doubts, for why should even he distrust the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the infallible, the immutable and true? Oh brother, while you have this ground and foothold for your strength, remember your work demands all your strength from you. How can you pray with these doubts about you? How will you teach others while you are doubting yourself? How can you perform your service when sighs come from you? Song, sweet song, is what should stream from the worker for the Lord God of Israel. Be strong then. Fall before the Lord in earnest prayer, and ask him to take away your fretfulness, and make you, since you are greatly beloved, to be strong.

24. Remember, beloved, especially those of you who are at all prominent, that others will take their cue from you, and if you speak with bated breath, with trembling language, others will be weak too. Therefore, do not fear, — be strong, yes, be strong. And remember, there is no cause for alarm after all. Have you not lived long enough to see that when men have always thought that things were going the worst, they have been going the best. There is an undercurrent which the eye does not see, which is often stronger than the upper flow. And besides, if it were not so, have you never seen it, have your fathers not told you about it, that the darkest part of the night is what precedes the dawning of the day? Have you never perceived that when true religion either in your own soul or in the world seems to have gone back that suddenly it makes a leap again? There will come waves upon the beach, and each one will seem stronger than its predecessor; but then there will follow one that sucks them all back, and you might think the sea was retiring from its strength: yet the flood tide is coming in, coming even while that wave recedes so far. All is working for progress, though there may seem to be a regression here and there. There rushes on the stream like a mighty Niagara, and you are there by the shore in a little eddy, revolving round and round in a tiny vortex, and you say the stream is rushing in the wrong direction, it has made no progress, “I am weary with this circular motion.” Ah! but you have never been in the broad current, or if your eye has gazed upon it, it has been dazed with the sight of its breadth and length, and you have not understood it. The Lord reigns, the Lord God omnipotent reigns, and Jesus sits at his side, while truth like his angel follows at his heel, still mighty! The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall yet perform his word! And the Spirit who for a while has hidden his great might and concealed himself in the secret chambers of his church shall come out, and the day shall be in which the Lord’s truth shall be declared among the people with power, even with such power that the world shall bow before it, and the song shall go up to the Lord God Almighty, and he shall be worshipped from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same!

25. Oh you virgin souls that have followed the Lamb so far wherever he goes, still follow him! Keep your garments unspotted from the world. Be rigidly faithful to truth and conscience. You are men greatly beloved, do not let your spirits fail you. Let no man’s heart fail him because of Goliath who stalks before us! He is only a creature, and will fade and die. Do not fear, peace be to you, be strong, yes, be strong! May the Lord strengthen you. Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Da 10]

Mr. Spurgeon’s Almanac for 1873 can be had for One Penny from all booksellers, or from Messrs. Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings. It is the companion of many thousands from day to day, and brings them their portion of meat in due season. It is always welcomed among the poor, and is most seasonable for present distribution.