probably a greater truth involved, namely, the need for personal cleansing. John said, "I fell at his feet as one dead." Isaiah cried, "Woe is me for I am undone." David exclaimed, "Wash me and I shall be clean." Daniel says, "I stood trembling. Unto John was given the assuring word, "Fear not.' To Isaiah came the angel with a live coal. David received the quiet assurance of pardon. For Daniel there was the message, "Fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong." Personal purity is not only the Christian's heritage but an essential necessity if we are to be the mediums through which God is to send his light unto men.

Dr. Robert E. Speer in discussing this matter of personal purity says,

"There died on the Atlantic Ocean, some years ago on his way from Persia, one of the oldest missionaries of the church. They embalmed his body on the ship and brought it to New York, and we held, one sweet spring morning, in the chapel of Dr. Stevenson's church, a little Christian funeral service. When the service was over, as I went out of the door, I met a Persian who is professor of Oriental languages in Columbia University, a man who had lived his boyhood life in the same city in which for more than forty years Dr. Labaree had been a missionary. "Mr. Speer, "Mr. Speer," he said, "you didn't speak this morning of the characteristics in Dr. Labaree which most impressed us people out in Persia." "No," I said, "what were they?" "Well," he said, "the first one was his carefulness. We never saw so careful a man," by which he meant a man so punctiliously faithful in the little veracities of his life. "And the second one, he said, "was his innocence." It seemed to me about as noble a tribute as could be paid to a man, seventytwo years of unsullied innocence. There are young men who say a man cannot live a pure life for twenty years. Here was an old man who lived one for seventy-two and who went back in cleanness and honor to the great pure God from Whom he

came. You and I may be perfectly sure that if our lives are going to be sendings of God into the world they have got to be characterized by those qualities which characterize God.”

The life that is to be of service to men must be clean, pure and innocent.

(c) PASSION. 10:20-21.

20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.

21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.

"But I will shew thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth." What a marvelous promise this was. It assured the prophet that such books of the scriptures as were then in existence, in which holy men of old had spoken as they were moved, being borne upon by the Holy Spirit, would be made plain unto him. What a hunger and passion this promise must have aroused in the prophet's heart for a deeper understanding of the things that were aforetime written. He who made this promise to Daniel comes to each of us today as the Word of Life. No man can truly see Him without having a passion to know more of the Bible. The Word of God can also be to us, "a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.' "There is none that holdeth with me in these things." Such was the declaration and such continues to be the declaration which the Savior makes to his followers. Why should we look for authority other than his. In the face of so many heresies as taught by false teachers today, why not let us sit at the feet of Him beside whom all other teachers fade into insignificance? Light followed increaseth light, and they that hunger after righteousness shall have their desire satisfied with the bread of life. We have a passion today for art, music, drama and a hundred other things. Why not let us have a passion to know more of that which is noted in the scripture of truth.

The empire of Caesar is gone; the legions of Rome are mouldering in the dust; the avalanches that Napoleon hurled upon Europe have melted away; the pride of the Pharaohs is fallen; the pyramids they raised to be their tombs are sinking every day in the desert sands; Tyre is a rock of bleaching fishermen's nets; Sidon has scarcely left a rock behind; but the word of God still survives. All that threatened to extinguish it have only aided it; and it proves every day how transient is the noblest monument that man can build, how enduring is the least word that God has spoken. Tradition has dug for it a grave, intolerance has lighted for it many a fagot; many a Judas has betrayed it with a kiss, many a Peter has denied it with an oath; many a Demas has forsaken it, but the word of God still endures.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THEME "Spiritual Madness." 11:1-45.

Divisional Words-Protectorate-Protraction-Protagonist.

(a) PROTECTORATE. 11:1-2.

Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.

2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. From the previous chapter we learn that a heavenly visitor came to the prophet while he mourned by the riverside. The occasion of his lamentation lay in the news which reached him concerning Jerusalem. Only a small number of Jews had accepted the offer of Cyrus to return to the Holy City. The Temple which they had rebuilt was so inferior in glory as compared to the first Temple that the prophet could only weep. Then too, there was open hostility between the Samaritans and the returned exiles. This hostility became so bitter as to cause

Persian sympathy to be withdrawn. Here the divine messenger assures the aged prophet that it was in the first year of Darius, the Mede, that he stood to confirm and to strengthen him. How little we know of divine movements. We imagine that world diplomats fashion the affairs of earth. This is utterly untrue.

The great astronomer, Mitchell, was one day making some observations on the sun, and as it descended towards the horizon, just as it was setting, there came into the rays of the great telescope the top of a hill seven miles away. On the hill was an orchard, and in one of the apple trees were two boys stealing apples. One was getting the fruit and the other was keeping watch. But there sat Professor Mitchell, seven miles away, seeing every movement as plainly as if he were on the spot.

Thus has God watched from his throne in heaven the nations of the world noting their persecution of his chosen people.

Whilst Daniel trembled for the fate of his people the stars in their courses fought for them. Over Israel there was a Heavenly Protectorate. In spite of the hindrances of Satan, the eternal God sent his heavenly ambassador to the council chambers of Darius the king. In the face of intrigue and diplomatic jealousies so did the heavenly messenger guide king Darius, that confirmed and strengthened, he dealt with the Jewish people according to the will of Jehovah.

(b) PROTRACTION. 11:3-35.

3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.

4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides those.

5 And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dom

inion shall be a great dominion.

6 And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.

7 But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail:

8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north.

9 So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.

10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress.

11 And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand.

12 And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.

13 For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.

14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.

15 So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand.

16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the