Daniel 3:28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel… The occasion of these words must be too well known to be repeated in all its circumstances. I. THE PARTICULAR CAUSE OF THE GREAT DANGER WHICH THESE MEN WERE BROUGHT INTO. They would not serve or worship any god except their own God. There is no one who has any conception of God but must allow Him to be infinite in all His attributes. But infinity implies unity; and if this being is One, Divine worship must be due to Him alone. This made God forbid the Jews the serving any of the gods of the neighbouring nations, under such severe penalties. As God showed his approbation of those Jews' refusal to worship the image by the miracle He wrought in their deliverance, so, I doubt not, but He has showed so many wonders in delivering this nation so often for its constancy in the same refusal, though, in all other respects, most unworthy of the least of His mercies. II. EXAMINE THE PRETENCES OF RELIGIOUS CRUELTY. They are, either to promote God's glory or our neighbour's good. Cruelty is not proper for either of these purposes. By God's glory is probably meant the improving that notion of God which men have by the light of nature; or making His revealed will to be more readily embraced by them. With mankind in a state of nature, fear forced the acknowledgment of a superior being, so their worship was cruel and their manners were barbarous. When they began to settle into societies, and when they reflected upon the first cause of the benefits they enjoyed, and discovered the goodness of God, then love grew as the principle of their glad obedience, and their worship was bloodless and cheerful, and their manners innocent and endearing. The improvement of human nature consists in the notions of goodness in the Divine. But if, when men had got thus far by the light of nature, anyone should have started up and pretended to have offered violence to his neighbour, by a particular commission from God and for His glory, then love must at once have given place to fear, and human nature turned savage and wild again. Take the other pretence, that violence is intended to promote the Gospel. How contradictory and absurd is this! This is to recommend love by hatred, mercy by cruelty, and forgiveness by destruction. That which distinguishes the Gospel is its being so admirably disposed to beget love and peace, justice and charity, among all men. Here forgiveness is improved into beneficence, and humanity exalted into charity. Here injuries are returned with prayers, and curses with blessings. The Pharisees taught that it was lawful to hate enemies. The Cynics renounced all humanity. The Stoics reckoned compassion an infirmity. All other sects were deficient in this particular. But Christianity improved human nature into the likeness of the Divine. Our Lord's disciples were to be distinguished from the whole world by their "loving one another." And what examples did the great Master leave us? Shall men, then, dare to imprison, impoverish, and murder their brethren in the name of this Jesus? Another pretence of religious cruelty is that it may promote the good of our neighbour. This is generally disguised under the specious pretence of zeal. But true zeal ought first to be employed upon ourselves. Zeal is as necessary to the life of devotion as the natural heat is to that of the body. Religion must be a free consent of the soul; it can be acceptable to God only as it is voluntary. How can full conviction be wrought but by gentle usage, calm reasoning, and good example. The will can never be forced to give a sincere assent, after all the violence that can be offered. Beside, all error, considering the vanity of mankind, is of a nice and tender nature; it requires a great deal of management and address to make people own that they are in the wrong, especially in matters of religion. The utmost we can expect from force is an outward compliance. Violence may extort confession from the mouth, but will not hinder curses, at the same time, in the heart. It may fright people into counterfeiting, but not persuade them into believing. One particular reason against the rashness of zealous cruelty is because the good should not suffer with the evil. The true causes of religious cruelty are: 1. The pride and haughtiness of power. 2. The endeavouring to recommend ourselves to man rather than to God. 3. The opinion that such violence is meritorious for the expiation of former sins. III. COMPARE THE DELIVERANCE MENTIONED IN THE TEXT WITH OUR OWN. These men trusted in God. (J. Adams.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 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. |
    |