something more than an interview between him and his God. They were now the tests of his principle -the manifestations to an heathen court of the strength of an Hebrew's attachment to his fathers' God—and the measure of his reliance on his protecting power. Talk of saving his life for future usefulness to his kind, and prolonged service to the Almighty! Why, if he falters now, his influence will become lighter than vanity itself. The breath which he perishes to retain, will afford him a mere animal existence, not worthy the name of life. The most pitiable of all objects is a man who has turned recreant to his principles, and survives himself. His was not a case to be settled by the statement of a series of abstract truths, on the nature and essence of prayer. It was vastly important that Daniel did express, as well as feel, his unfailing trust in God: not that he should seek unwonted publicity in his devotions, and rush on martyrdom with the frenzy of a fanatic; but that calmly and thoughtfully, in his usual place, and at his accustomed times, he should "make supplication before his God" with "his window open," for it was aforetime, and "towards Jerusalem," the city of the Great King, that he might not be charged with addressing that pitiful phantom of Divine power, who had issued a decree, that all the prayers of his subjects should be offered to himself. It was a great occasion, and Daniel was great enough to appreciate its dignity, and to meet its tremendous demands. purpose which he knew was right. He formed a In its pursuit It contem he perilled nobody's safety but his own. plated no end but the glory of God. It needed for its successful issue no allies but the angels; and with the counsel of the Holy One he pursued the even tenor of his way; his confidence as serene at midnight, in the depth of the lion's den, as at noonday in his chamber, on his knees before God! Let us visit the palace, and see how it fares with power, while its innocent victim makes his bed with the beasts. Darius, inflated by the compliments of his courtiers, has also adopted a purpose. The tongues which suggested it were guided by jealous hate and rancorous envy. He, poor tool, is transported with vanity. He decrees that all entreaty shall be addressed to him alone for the space of thirty days; and foresees no result, but his own pre-eminence in being honored with the attributes of a God. He stays not to inquire if his purpose be right. He is too besotted with self-complacency to realize that the interests of thousands are to be compromised by his folly, and their consciences exposed to violation, or their lives to forfeiture. A design so rashly and selfishly conceived, suggests afterwards no sustaining and satisfactory reflections. The application of his mad decree to the prime minister of his kingdom is soon brought home to his startled apprehension; and he discovers, when the fact can be fruitful of nothing but vain regrets, that, in attempting to usurp the worship which was due to God, he is entrapped for the extinction of the brightest luminary of his empire, and the loss even of a king's prerogative to rescue from a death of violence his counsellor and friend. The dainties that load his royal table cannot tempt his appetite, for his soul is sickened with disgust at his own headlong folly. His attendants draw near with tabret and harp to soothe his ear, and waft him on strains of soft music to the Elysium of pleasant dreams, but he will not hear their beguiling notes. His spirit revolts at the entertainment, while through his weakness the man to whom he owed nothing but kindness is already a prey to the ravening beasts, or kept waking by their savage howls. "His sleep went from him." The down of his pillow cannot impart of its softness to his midnight musings. The gorgeous canopy, with its voluminous hangings, "Like clouds of crimson and amber," cannot shut out the "wakeful trouble" that haunts his soul. The common tide of pity no doubt sought Daniel with ready flow, and many a heart that rejected his religion, admired his consistency and bewailed his doom. But he who needed most the commiseration of his fellows received no sympathy; for he passed the night in a palace, amid the elegancies which are vainly supposed to banish the misery they do but hide. When will the multitude learn that he is enviable, who, sustained by "a good conscience," is thrust into a den of lions, fearless of their rage, because sure of the favor of God; and he is pitiable, who, beneath the Tyrian mantle of royalty, wears in his bosom the thorn of conscious wrong wrought by his own folly? That is majesty, which empowers a man to stand erect like Daniel, in every position, and to fix on Heaven an unfalter ing eye. And that is servitude, - whatever the world may call it, which, under all the garniture of life, stoops to baseness in pursuit of glory, and bends afterward in chagrin and mortification, under an incurable sense of its own weakness. CONSOLATION FOR MORTALITY. BY W. CULLEN BRYANT. YET a few days, and thee The all-beholding sun shall see no more In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, Thy image-Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim To be a brother to the insensible rock And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak Shall send his roots abroad and pierce thy mouth; Yet not to thy earthly resting place Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings |