Please be seated. Well, this evening, we're going to examine a sermon that was preached about seven years after the last one that I'd reviewed a couple weeks back. The first thing I'd like to do is put us all in context. And so that means I'm going to read to you. You may follow along if you choose. Daniel, chapter 6. Verses 1 through 10. It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they should be in charge of the whole kingdom. And over them three commissioners, of whom Daniel was one, that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss. Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom. Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs. but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption inasmuch as he was faithful and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. Then these men said, we shall not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God. Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows. King Darius lived forever. All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the high officials, and the governors have consulted together that the king should enforce a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god, small g, or man besides you, oh king, for 30 days shall be cast into the lion's den. Now, O King, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked. Therefore, King Darius signed the document that is the injunction. Now, when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house. Now, in his roof chamber, he had windows open towards Jerusalem. And he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. So there was obviously high priority of prayer in Daniel. I made the parallel, I think, last time around, that not only do we see that in the book of Daniel, I trust that we experience that in church life here. We should. I've acquired another book from E.M. Bounds. And I've learned some things about this departed brother. He lived in 1835, died in 1913. He was a lawyer, an army chaplain. And I subsequently learned that he did not wear a blue uniform. He wore a gray uniform in the war between the states and a pastor. He served in Georgia in the pastoral ministry. And this book is titled On Prayer. I'm going to share with you a paragraph or two out of a chapter titled Prayerless Christians. Now, that sounds like a misnomer. Listen to this. Praying men are God's agents on earth, the representatives of government of heaven set to a specific task on the earth. While it is true that the Holy Spirit, the angels of God, are agents of God in carrying forward the redemption of the human race, yet among them there must also be praying men. For such men God has great use. He can make much of them, and we could insert women too. He can make much of them and in the past has done wonderful things through them. These are his instruments in carrying out God's great purposes on the earth. They are God's messengers, his watchmen, shepherds, workmen who need not be ashamed. Fully equipped for the great work to which they are appointed, they honor God and bless the world. Above all things beside, Christian men and women must primarily be leaders in prayer. No matter how conspicuous they may be in other activities, they fail if they're not conspicuous in prayer. They must give their brain and heart to prayer. Men who make and shape the program of Christ's church, who map out its line of activities, should themselves be shaped and made by prayer. Men controlling church finances, her thought, her action, should all be men of prayer. The progress to consummation of God's work in this world has two basic principles, God's ability to give and man's ability to ask. Failure in either one is fatal to the success of God's work on earth. You know, it's sometimes helpful to have an earthly example. Okay, so I read this is ancient history. He's been gone for over 100 years. But I thought of two examples of praying men. And you can think of your own. Could be a woman. Well, here's one of them, E.M. Bounds. Again, a lawyer, an army chaplain, and a pastor. And his personal habit was, at 4 o'clock every morning, he got up and prayed for three hours. And now, how about a more contemporary example? And this brother is in heaven, too. He's among those who are ceaselessly giving praise unto Jesus. Have you heard of man named Pastor Bob Prentiss? December 20th, 2020, the Mebane Church lost a good man. He, 63 years old, physically fit, and COVID. COVID took him. But Pastor Bob, as he was known, had a habit of coming to the church house early. And I read this, this was something that was posted online by a young pastor. This young man in the ministry had been given an assignment to preach. And so he thought he would show up early to get his notes together and prepare his heart. And he went into a room where he figured he'd be all by himself, flicked the light on, and in the corner, there was a man on his knees. He's praying and prayed continuously for the youth of the church that had left. He did that for years. And this brother also commented on how when he preached one particular meeting, it was an evangelistic meeting, there's Pastor Bob in the back. In the back of the meeting house, scanning the crowd, I settling on two or three individuals we knew were visitors, and then a short prayer for their souls. And that's not all. When this dear man of God was on his deathbed, he'd learn that the author of that blog, his wife had just given birth to a baby girl, and he called this brother to find out the name of the baby so he could pray for her soul. You need some earthly examples? There's one. Well, how about the sermon itself? Let's look at that. The sermon was delivered in 1874. It was about seven years after the last one we looked at. God's servant was about 40 years old. We don't know a precise date. It doesn't really matter. According to the text, I believe he preached this in the evening sometime that year. Well, let's get started. We'll start off with the first paragraph. Daniel was of royal race. And what is far better, he was of royal character. He is depicted on the pages of scriptural history as one of the greatest and most faultless of men. And then Mr. Spurgeon is going to review some history. The Chaldeans and magicians and astrologers had all failed to discover the secret which perplexed the king and troubled his spirit till at length there stood up before him this young prince of the house of Judah to tell his dream and the interpretation. And then later, and after days, he showed his dauntless courage when he interpreted the memorable dream of Nebuchadnezzar. Skipping down a sentence, you, O king, shall be driven from among men and eat grass as oxen, and your body shall be wet with the dew of heaven till your hairs are grown like eagle's feathers and your nails like bird's claws. Daniel discharged his duty to his conscience so there is nothing to disquiet him. And then he goes on, the following paragraph, in lurid light and terrible grandeur, Daniel comes forth again on the last night of Belshazzar's reign when the power of Babylon was broken forever. The Persians had drived up the river and were already at the palace doors. You are weighed in the balances and are found wantings of the prophet, as he pointed to the mysterious handwriting on the wall. After this, he appears again, and this time in a personal dilemma of his own. great as he was in the palace, and great in the midst of that night's carousel." I'm not quite sure what he meant by that. I think of a merry-go-round when I think of carousel, although there is an archaic description meaning a tournament of sorts. I guess we could insert the word party. He appears, if possible, greater because the faith that animates him, Daniel, shines more radiantly when he is upon his knees. And now, bringing us up to chapter 6, the princes have conspired against him. They have by fraud perverted the king's mind so that he must pass an edict. Though Daniel knows that it is contrary to the law of the realm, the land, for him to pray or ask a petition of any god or man save of King Darius, yet he does pray and gives thanks before his god. It is the higher sovereignty of the king of kings, he believes, and to the edicts of his everlasting kingdom he yields fearless and unqualified obedience." That was introduction. Now the first point. Daniel's prayerfulness was the secret of his power. If you saw him great before the people, the reason was because he was great before his God. He knew how to lay hold of divine strength and he became strong. He knew how to study divine wisdom and he became wise. We're told he went to his house to pray. He was a great man. He was an important man. The highest in the land. Consequently, he had great public duties. He was a busy man, running a country's busy business. A little redundant. He would sit as a judge probably a large part of the day. So he's doing a little speculating as to his workload. He would be engaged in the various state offices. But he did not pray in his office, save of course that his heart would go up, perhaps a secret prayer here and then. He was in the habit of going to his house to pray. This showed that he made a business of prayer, and finding it neither convenient to his circumstances, nor congenial to his mind that to pray in the midst of idolaters, he had chosen to set apart a chamber in his own house, for prayer. So he had his priorities set. And in the next paragraph, he mentions having a favorite spot in your home. I'm not going to read that. You probably have your own place, your own prayer closet. He was in the habit of praying thus three times a day. Think about it. Some of us are advanced in age, maybe not quite to the point where he is. But he was an old man, over 80 years of age at this time. You notice he wasn't retired. And he didn't think he was too old to pray. But he did not mind taking three journeys to his house to pray. He was a very busy man. Probably no one here has half so much important business to transact daily as Daniel had. For he was set over all the empire, and yet he found time regularly to devote three stated intervals for prayer. Perhaps he thought that this was prudent economy. This was an important thing to help things move along. For if he had so much to do, he must pray them more, as Martin Luther said. And then he quotes Luther, I've got so much to do today, I cannot possibly get through it with less than three hours of prayer. Skipping a paragraph, a singularity in his manner is noticeable here. He'd been in the habit of praying with his windows open towards Jerusalem. This had been his custom, so he continues the practice. Now that the decree had been signed that he must not pray, he would not only pray, but he would pray just as often as he had done in the same place and the same attitude with the same indifference to publicity with the windows open. Thus openly did he ignore the decree. He would not shut the window because he'd been accustomed to pray with it open. And then another interesting sentence. He prayed with his window open towards Jerusalem. And holy speculation, I believe, the reason being that the temple was being built. I don't know exactly when they started work on the temple. I think it was around 538 or so, 535. But that would be pretty close to the time frame in which Daniel was 80 years of age. So that's within the realm of possibility. The temple was being built, and if he could not go himself, at any rate, he would look that way. This showed that he loved his native land, great man as he was. Again, some speculation. He did not scorn to be called a Jew, and everybody might know it. He was, quote, that Daniel of the captivity of the captivity of Judah. He was not ashamed. And I think, and this is, again, the holy speculation, I think also he had an eye to the altar. It was the day of symbol. That day has now passed. Indeed it is. We have no altar save the Christ our Lord, but beloved, we turn our eyes to him when we pray. Our window is open to Jerusalem that is above, the heavenly Jerusalem. We worship with our eyes to Christ. And during that age of symbol, Daniel saw by faith the realities that were foreshadowed. His eyes were turned towards Jerusalem, which was the type and symbol of the one Lord Jesus Christ. We've got a sentence or two to say about fresh air. You can read that on your own. Next page. It would appear that whenever Daniel prayed, he mingled his supplication with thanksgiving. He prayed and gave thanks. Got a couple of words here. I wonder if he sang a psalm. At any rate, prayer and praise, orisons and peens. An orison is a prayer. A peen, and that's the way it's pronounced, is a praise or a psalm. sweetly blend in his worship. He could not ask for more grace without gratefully acknowledging what he'd already received. Mix up thanks with your prayers, beloved. I'm afraid we do not thank God enough. Prayer and praise should always go up to heaven arm in arm. Next paragraph. Could we not all of us devote more time to seeking the Lord in the stillness of the closet greatly to our advantage? Have not all of us who have tried it found an ample recompense? How many people here can truly say in an honest spirit of prayer that it was a waste of time? Should we not be stronger and better men if we were more upon our knees? As to those of you who never seek unto the King Eternal, how can you expect to find Him? How can you look for a blessing which you never ask for? How can you hope that God will save you when the blessings He does give you, you never thank Him for, but receive them with cold ingratitude, casting His word behind your back? Oh, for Daniel's prayerful spirit Second point, Daniel's difficulties or the privileges of prayer. Daniel had always been a man of prayer, but now there's a law passed that he must not pray for 30 days. It was not likely that he would needlessly rebel, but as he read it, he must have felt a blush upon his cheek, for the foolish king had become the blind dupe of the wily courtiers. Only one course was open to him. Daniel was not, and we talked about this last, he was not looking for a fight. He wasn't out to try to make a political statement. But he knew what his duty was. Still, let us face the difficulty with a touch of sympathy. And he's going to use a little sanctified imagination here. Let's go along for the ride. He must not pray. Suppose we are under a like restriction. Suppose the law of the land were proclaimed, no man shall pray during the remainder of this month. How about this? Month of July, no prayers. You do that, you're going to get a knock on the door and you're coming with me. but not just a fine, capital punishment. How many of you would pray? I think there would be rather a scanty number at the prayer meeting. You can almost feel the tongue in the cheek when he says this. Not but what the attendance of prayer meetings is scarce enough now. Same problem at times. But if there were the penalty of being cast into a den of lions, I'm afraid the prayer meeting would be postponed for a month, owing depressing business, manifold engagements of one kind and another. I'm sorry. I've got things I've got to do. Busy time of year. Got to mow the lawn. Kids coming into town. Working late. Not going to have my supper. How about private prayer? So we talked about public prayer. Now let's look at private prayer. If there were informers about, and a heavy reward was offered, what would you do? Some persons will say, I'll give it up. And others, there are some who would boastfully say, I will not give it up. Whose bold resolve would soon falter, for a lion's den is not a comfortable place. Ah. Many thought they could burn in Queen Mary's days that did not dare to confront the fire, though I think it almost always happened that whenever any man through fear turned back, he met with a desperate death at last. There was none who could not burn for Christ, but about a month afterward, he was burnt to death. I'm not even going to finish that sentence. You can read that on your own, because that's old history. But you mentioned Queen Mary. Now, if you Google Queen Mary, you're going to come up with a couple pictures. You're going to come up with this ship that's dry docked, or it's on dry land out in California. And you might come up with a picture that looks something like this, this lady right here. That was Queen Mary. Queen Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII. And among other things that she did was she, one of her attempts was to restore the rule of Catholic religion in England. And as a result of her efforts, she ordered 280 Protestants to be burned at the stake as heretics. So later on, she would be known as Bloody Mary. It was a terrible death. That was Queen Mary. And then the next paragraph is another gentleman whose name. Who has forgotten Francis Spira? Well, I'd never heard of him, so I couldn't have forgotten him. So I did a little research. Francis Spira, that dreadful apostate. Francis Spira was an Italian lawyer. And in the year 1548, Spira converted to Lutheranism. began to spread presumably the gospel message to others. But he was arrested and under pressure from the Catholic Church. He was intimidated and renounced his Protestant faith. He had a very miserable existence after that. He asked forgiveness, his conscience was smitten, but he never knew peace of soul. He died a terrible death. Some assume that he died of hunger or thirst, others that he had committed suicide. He compared himself prior to his death to Judas. I believe there's a warning passage in Hebrews or two, a couple of warning passages. Francis Spira, the dreadful apostate. It's left on record as a well-authenticated narrative of the miseries of despair, though it is scarcely ever read nowadays, for it's too dreadful for one to think upon. If we quail at suffering for Christ, now a quail can either be one of these things that flies off and the hunter tries to shoot with a shotgun, or it can also be a verb. In this case, Our preacher is using it as a verb, which means to falter, to cower, to be afraid of, to back off. If we quail at suffering for Christ and evade his cross, we may have to face, encounter a fiercer doom than the terror from which in our cowardly panic we shrunk. To shrink from duty is always perilous. Next page. He mentions Lot's wife. The apostate is of all creatures the most terrible delinquent. His crime is akin to that of Satan and the apostate's doom is the most dreadful that can be conceived. And then he mentions Master Bunyan. There's a man And a minor character, my understanding, and Spurgeon read Pilgrim's Progress repeatedly throughout his lifetime. So he was conversant with it. There was a character named Turnaway. Who was Turnaway? Well, let me just quote a little bit here. The two pilgrims went on, and this is from Pilgrim's Progress. Two pilgrims went on while ignorance followed after them. Now when they had put some distance ahead of him, they entered into a very dark lane where they met a man who seven devils had bound with seven strong cords. They were carrying him back to the door that they had earlier seen in the side of the hill being escorted by the shepherds. And then there's some comment as to the language here. He's captive to seven devils. He's being carried away to the byway to hell. He is thought to be turned away from the city called apostasy. And then there's a reference in Hebrews 10, 26 to 29, the warning passage. Once you've tasted grace and you turn away from it, there ain't no going back. It may be hard going forward, but it is worse going back. And then the next paragraph. Now it is a great privilege that we enjoy civil and religious liberty in our land. We're not under such cruel laws. We may pray according to the conviction of our judgment and the desire of our heart. But as I want you to value the privilege very much, I will put a supposition to you. Suppose there is only one place in the world where a man might pray and offer his supplications to God. Well, I think there's not a man among us that would not like to get there at some time or other, at least to die there. Oh, what pains we should take to reach the locality and what pressure we would endure to enter the edifice, the building. If there were only one house of prayer in all the world, and prayer could be heard nowhere else, what tugging and squeezing and toiling there would be to get to that one place. But now that people may pray anywhere, how they slight the exercise and neglect the privilege. I'm going to the next paragraph about almost all the way towards the bottom. The man who was entrusted with the sole power of prayer in the world would surely have no rest day or night. We would besiege his house with petitions and ask him to pray for us. Suppose we didn't have access to the throne of grace. We had to go to a priest. Well, we're all priests. We don't have that problem. And that one man, busy guy, can't get to him? Well, that's speculation. Thankfully, we don't have that. OK. The third point. Having thus dwelt upon Daniel's difficulty, Daniel's decision. Daniel's decision. The king says he must not pray. Daniel did not deliberate for a single minute. And there's a bit of application here. If the thing is obviously right, never think about it a second time, but straightway go and do it. Daniel did not deliberate. He went to his house and prayed in the morning. He went to his house and prayed at noon, and he retired to his house and prayed at night. He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime. Without disguise and without parade, He pursued the even tenor of his way. As we've already said, time was the same, the attitude was the same, the open window was the same. There was no precaution whatever to conceal the fact that he was going to pray or to equivocate in the act when he was praying. He does not appear to have taken counsel of his friends or to have summoned his servants and charged them not to let any intruder come in. and speculation, neither did he adopt any measure to escape his enemies. Doubtless, Daniel felt he was the greatest man in Persia. If he, a worshipper of Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, failed in any degree, he would set a bad example to others. and greatly discourage any poor Jew who might have grace enough to stand out, provided his example led the way." Listen to this. Persons who occupy high positions should know that God expects more of them than of other people. I'm going to make a point. A church member has other eyes looking upon them. We cut a corner here or there. What does that say to our brethren? Well, he did it. Why can't I? Would have been foolish daring rather than self-possessed courage in Daniel had he been accustomed ordinarily to shut his window should he have selected this crisis to open it. Foolish daring. Well, he didn't do that. down towards the bottom of that paragraph, what a despot might lay down as law, a degraded sycophant might accept as equity, but a just man as proof against the corruption of an unjust judge. It might be asked, should not Daniel obey the king? Well, we're to obey lawful authority. Certainly, king's laws are to be respected, but any law of man that infringes the law of God is ipso facto null and void at once. It's the duty of every citizen to disregard every law of earth, which is contrary to the law of heaven. So Daniel felt that whatever he owed to his temporal sovereign, he owed to his God a vast deal more. What an argument. But should not a man take care of his life? Life is valuable. Why should he run such a risk? Remember, that if a man were to lose his soul, in order to save his life, he'd make a wretched bargain. Daniel felt that the risk of being put into a den with lions was nothing to the risk of being put into hell. And so he chose the smaller risk. And in the name of God, he went straight on. I'm going to skip the following paragraph. Now he's going to take aim at some of his Protestant colleagues, specifically the Anglican Church. I've heard men who teach little children to repeat the words, in my baptism I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. That's from the Book of Common Prayer. And who know that this is a lie, yet they stick to their un-Protestant church and say, I remain here because of my usefulness. It's my precious usefulness. For if I were to go out of the church, I should be leaving it to those bad persons who are in it. Okay, another sentence or two. In the name of Almighty God, are we to do evil that good may come? If I thought I could save every soul in this place or do any other stupendous thing by making the slightest compromise of my conscience, I dare not in the sight of the living God do it, for so I have not been taught by the Spirit of God. Listen to this. Consequences and usefulness are nothing to us. Duty and right, these are to be our guides. These were Daniel's guides. The empire of Persian might go wrong. Daniel could not help that. He could not go wrong himself. It might be that these villainous courtiers and lords of the council might have the sway, be it so. Leave God to manage them. It was not for Daniel, even for 30 days, to give up prayer. I'm going to skip the next paragraph and start on with the following one. If Jesus Christ were here today, there are plenty of people who would sell him for two groats. Well, groat is a very, it's an archaic term for a very small amount of money, okay? Two cents, all right? They would not need 30 pieces of silver, but would sell him for a smile of patronage or a nod of approbation. Oh, that we had been back, we had back the old covenanters who would not swerve an inch. Look at John Bunyan. When they bring him up before the magistrates and tell him he must not preach, his answer, but I will preach. I will preach tomorrow by the help of God. Should be put in prison again. Never mind. I'll preach as soon as I get out. Should be hanged or kept in prison all your life. If I lie in prison till the moss grows over my eyelids, I can say nothing more than this, that with God's help, I will preach whenever I get a chance. Do not tell me these are non-essentials. His point, this wasn't an academic exercise. ivory tower academia. To men that follow the lamb whithersoever he goes, even the opening or the shutting of a window if need be is essential. Be jealous over what others call trifles. Skipping down a sentence or two, a Protestant on one occasion was bidden to bow down before the cross when he was about to be knighted and many others did so. It's only a forum, you know. They said, but, said he, by God, I won't. And they called him by God. And this is an interesting exercise of, forget the term, but they believe that bigot came from these two words, by God. Now there's some controversy in other circles, but we're going to go with what Mr. Spurgeon has to say here. By God, I won't. And they called him by God. And afterwards, others who stood up boldly in the same way were called by gods or bigots. Again, bigot has another nuanced meaning today. Next paragraph. Young men and young women. And there are some here tonight. Young men, young women scattered around. I see your faces. Plug in. I would like you to go to school before Daniel and learn to say, whatever happens, we cannot lie, cannot do the wrong thing, we cannot believe what men teach us when contrary to God's teaching. We cannot give up prayer and personal holiness, whether there be a lion's den or no lion's den. We will stand fast by that for God's own sake. Turning to the next page, the first full paragraph, I feared I ought to say before I leave this that there are some who have no decision of character at all because they're not Christians. It doesn't mean anything to me. It's a waste of my time, maybe you're thinking. Some men are Christians, perhaps, though they have not decision enough to avow it. They're sneaking Christians, secret Christians. They have, they say, with their heart, but never with their mouth, confessed Christ. They've never been baptized as he commands them or bids them, as they ought to be according to his word. And there are some that have made a profession, but it is a smuggled profession. It's sneaky. It's hidden. Their friends at home hardly know it. And they do not want them to know it. Oh, if I'd enlisted in Her Majesty's service and had my regimentals given me to wear, I'd wear them. Yeah, OK. So you join a team. You're going to wear the team uniform. You go down to the recruiter. and commit your life to serving our nation, you're going to wear the uniform. You don't wear the uniform, you're not in the Army or the Marine Corps. I should not like to have them packed away and go about in other clothes, for I would be afraid of being taken up as a deserter. What did they do to deserters? Blindfold, get the firing squad ready. There are others who dishonor their profession and do not live as they should. And there are those who, if they were persecuted, would speedily throw off their profession. They can go with Christ with silk and slippers over smooth-shaven lawns, but as to walking through mire and mud with him, they can't do it. I'll be a Christian. Just don't ask me to go through any trouble. Doesn't work that way. Oh, for the heart of a Daniel, every one of us, to follow Christ at all hazards. Now his last point, Daniel's deliverance. The evil that threatened Daniel did come. He was to be put into a lion's den, and into a lion's den he was put. So, young man, you say, I will not do wrong. You hope to escape unscathed. Yet it may be that you will be discarded by your friends. and discountness by your associates. Expect it. Go through it. It costs something to bear the name of Christ. You can count on it. If you are a tradesman and by saying you will not submit to an evil custom of the trade, you'll become a loser. You're going to lose some business. You mean I can't pay cash? You know, just slide you some cash and you not charge me tax. Not my story you can't. Expect that the lion's den will be there and then that you will be put into it. In the next paragraph, about halfway down, what with the lions and with angels all night to keep him company, Daniel was spending the night watches in grander style than Darius. Well, speculation, but there was an angel of God with him. And those animals weren't hungry. The king And when he came out the next morning, so far from being a loser, he was a gainer. The king approved him, admired him, and loved him. So Daniel had the end of his day smooth sailing to the port of peace. Now, that's not normative. But it happened for our edification and Daniel's usefulness. Believe me, to be decided for the right is not only the right thing, but the easiest thing. It is wise policy as well. as true probity. Well, probity is another term meaning integrity. If you will not yield an inch, then somebody else must move out of the way. If you suffer, and perhaps suffer severely at first for decision of character, you will get speedy recompense for all you endure and grand immunity in the future. Maybe not in this side of heaven. Maybe so. Only put your foot down now. Be firm and unfaltering now. If you yield today, you will have to yield more tomorrow. Give the world an inch, it will take many an L. What is an L? Well, an L was another archaic term for a unit measure. An L was what? Something like 43 inches, that was what they used. It was a term they used to describe measuring out fabric for the garment industry. A yard and a half, something like that. Be resolved, therefore, that no inch you will give, that to the lion's den you would sooner go than there should be equivocation, prevarication, or deviation from the truth. or anything approaching falsehood. However great the difficulty may be at the outset, yet do it, and you will be unhurt. You will be an immediate gainer for it to the rest of your days. God will give you a better and happier life than ever you had before." And then he quotes Proverbs 16. When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Yet Christian soldiers in the barracks, be decided, stand up for Jesus. You'll be ridiculed at first, but you will live that down before long. If you're cowardly, the ridicule will last many and many a day, and your fellow soldiers will take the light in laughing at you. Well, you're not being the army. You could insert the word fellow employee or fellow student. If any of you are in the workshop, take courage, do not yield. Young men in business, young women in business, take care how you begin your business in an honest, straightforward manner. For if you begin it with crooked policies, it will go on crooked. And then if you try to get it straight, it just gets worse. What if employers should frown or customers be vexed or friends fail? If you feel like you're all alone, bear it. It will be the best policy in the long run. That is not, however, for you to consider. Do the right thing. Whatever happens, let us be as Daniel. And then an appeal to the younger crowd. Oh, that the young among you would emulate the purpose of heart with which Daniel began life. And then though it was a little advanced in years, that the active and vigorous among you would seek with Daniel's constant prayerfulness for that high gift of wisdom equal to all emergencies. And oh, that the harassed, tempted, and persecuted among you would learn to keep a clean conscience in the midst of impurities, as Daniel did, to preserve, like him, faith and fellowship with a faithful and true God. God grant us all to have Christ for our Savior and to live to his praise. Amen.