in this extremity walk worthy of his vocation, and bring no disgrace on the religion of his fathers? Thus did Daniel, and thus should we do, whenever tempted to screen ourselves from peril by concealing truth or compromising principle. And if it seem hard to us to acknowledge ourselves disciples of Christ, when the acknowledgment may expose us to insult, provoke hostility, or deprive us of some temporal advantage, let us transport ourselves in thought to Babylon, when the decree was issued for the suspension of prayer. Yes, if it ever appear to us a sufficient excuse for disguise-a justifiable apology for our keeping our sentiments to ourselves, that the open avowal of love towards God and reverence for his laws may occasion us much inconvenience, and perhaps much actual injury, let us remember, and then be dastards, if we can, that it was when the writing was signed, that Daniel went into his house, and knelt upon his knees, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God. But the history in question, does more than present us with an example; it furnishes an encouragement, as recording the protection which God afforded to the prophet. We should have had the same cause for admiring the heroism of Daniel, and we might equally have proposed him as a pattern to ourselves, had he perished in the lion's den, in place of being the subject of a miraculous deliverance. We should have heard, no doubt, that God had taken to himself his bold and faithful servant, and abundantly rewarded his constancy and his sufferings; but the history would then have wanted its great charm, and it would not have proved the watchfulness of God over his people, nor have shown that in every sense, a conscientious course is the safest. It is in these respects, that the record is most valuable. Again and again we turn to it and draw encouragement for the performance of duty. If Daniel had acted with what the world would have called prudence-if he had withdrawn himself from observation, till the thirty days were expired, he might, or he might not, have escaped the lion's den. But we can all perceive that his cowardice would have brought upon him a scorn and reproach, which would have caused him to gain very little by escape. And if we could say nothing more than this, there would be abundant ground for our arguing from the prophet's case to our own, and inferring the advantage which always attends a manly and unflinching avowal of our principles. We may be sure that the likelihood is far greater of sinking in men's opinion and provoking their contempt and dislike, if we basely desert, than if we boldly sustain our profession. The world is thoroughly aware that there ought to be consistency; it looks for consistency, and to a certain extent it admires, it respects consistency. The coward, of whatever description, is an object of scorn; whereas, there is a kind of reverence for bravery, even when men are inclined to wish it a better cause. When a man has once declared himself the disciple of Christ, the world expects him to act up to the declaration; and though it may despise his principles, and hate his preciseness, it will think the worse of him, in proportion as he seems ashamed of his religion, and the better as he is firm in its maintenance and its display. So that if you consulted only what was politic, you should make it your endeavour to imitate Daniel, and be constant as he was in avowing his principles. In almost every situation in which we can be placed, there are observers who know well what we profess, and who also know well how we ought to act. They know we have taken into our hands the banner of religion, and that we ought not to furl it just because an enemy is in sight; and if they per ceive that we have ostentatiously displayed the ensign, when all has been peace, and suffer it to drop when there are the lowerings of war, you may be sure they will treat us as they would dastards on the battle-field, who forsake their colours, when they should grasp them to the death. We cannot believe that men ever gained any portion of esteem by that deference to prejudice which leads to the keeping back truth; but we know with certainty, that in a variety of cases, the manly, yet unassuming avowal of religion commands respect, even if it do not disarm enmity. But we gather still greater encouragement from the history of Daniel; we not only infer that it would be our policy, were there nothing higher to be thought of, to be consistent in religion; we learn also that where there is consistency on our part, there will be protection upon God's. The duty of the prophet was clear; the king's edict might be imperative; the lion's den might be fearful; but it was his business to obey God rather than man, and leave to the Almighty the avenging of his wrongs; and therefore does he open his windows and offer his petitions in thorough assurance that he was keeping the Divine law, and in thorough confidence that he should therefore receive Divine succour. I do not say the example is always to be literally followed. There is a prudence as well as a valour demanded from the servants of God; and since prayer may be privately offered, so as to be known only to Him to whom it is addressed, the Christian may sometimes bow to the storm, and confine his worship, for a time, to his own breast. It is not always our duty to brave persecution; sometimes it is our duty to avoid persecution. "When they shall persecute you in one city," said Christ to his disciples, "flee ye to another." A plain intimation that discretion must be exercised as well as courage, and that flying from evil as well as facing it, may become those who take God for their hope. But, as we before said, the circumstances of Daniel were peculiar. What would have been prudence in another would have been cowardice in him; therefore did he brave the decree, in thorough confidence of receiving help from above. Neither was he disappointed in this his expectation. Things were, indeed, permitted to reach an extremity-his enemies found him on his knees, the king sought in vain to deliver him, the den was opened, the victim of injustice was thrown to the lions; but just then, when to all human appearance rescue was hopeless, just then God mightily interposed, defeated the machinations of the wicked, and placed his servant in safety. Who, after this, will fear to trust himself to the Lord, even if duty can be performed only at the risk of loss or inconvenience? Be it so, that if we would serve our God boldly and faithfully, we must peril reputation, or substance, or life. At least we serve a Being who, if he see fit, can secure our deliverance, and who, if he permit an injury, will give a thousand-fold more than equivalent. If we must enter the lion's den, he can send his angel to shut the lions' mouths; and if he put no restraint on the ravenous beasts, we can still reckon that the "sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." And the experience of believers in every age of the church has been but a counterpart of that of Daniel; so that the prophet is one of a cloud of witnesses, testifying to the power of faith, and the carefulness of the Almighty to make good his promises. The followers of Christ have been exposed to one kind or another of difficulty or persecution, and have, therefore, had cause to exclaim with the Psalmist, "My soul is among lions." They have even been so beset by fierce and malignant opponents, that they could adopt as their own, the words of St. Paul, when he declares of himself, that "after the manner of men he fought with beasts at Ephesus." But is there a solitary instance to be produced in which, though God has been trusted, man has been deserted? Does the case of Daniel stand alone without parallel, either before or since its occurrence? Alone it may stand in the marvel of its incidents, and the miracle of its deliverance; and regarded as a demonstration how God can suit his succours to the exigence, it is but one of an innumerable throng which every day and every hour is only helping to swell. We must be deaf to the voice which rolls in upon us from the haunts of the living and the homes of the dead, if we doubt whether the Almighty God is a strong tower to them that commit themselves to him. I know that the devil as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour; but I know also if we face the lion as did Daniel, the promise will be verified: "Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you." I know that like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, the wicked man will lie in wait and seek to destroy; but I know also, that the wicked man can do nothing except as God permits, and that there is a promise to such as make God their portion: "Thou shalt tread on the lion and the adder." I know that there is a pit into which we must descend, and that the devourer of the nations reigns there insatiable; the grave gloomier than the den of lions into which Daniel was cast; the territory of death which remains as ravenous as ever, though generation upon generation has been given as its prey—this must be entered, without exception, by all. But Daniel is to me a type of the resurrection. Yea, I could almost call him a type of the Redeemer, who is emphatically "the Resurrection and the Life." He went down, as did Christ, to the lower parts of the earth, the wicked men having prevailed against him, and triumphing in his destruction; and the stone was rolled to the mouth of the cave, the king and the lords sealed it with their signets; as did the chief priests and pharisees when the Saviour was entombed; but the prophet, like the Mediator, came forth without seeing corruption. Both met the Conqueror in his own abode, and both left him vanquished in the moment of apparent victory. And as Daniel rose uninjured from the lion's den, so shall all who imitate his constancy and trust in him whom he would seem to have typified, rise gloriously at last from the sepulchre; and there shall have passed upon them no manner of hurt, and their righteousness shall be vindicated in the face of every enemy. And there is something more to complete the parallel. So as soon as Daniel was delivered, Darius commanded his accusers to be brought, and their wives and children, and cast to the monsters who had reverenced the prophet. The lions, we read, had the mastery of them, "and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den." And thus, at last, whilst the righteous are delivered, the inveterate foes of religion must be bound hand and foot and cast to that second death, from which, alas-comes no deliverance! We can only add an earnest prayer, that when that last day breaks on this creation, when the lion of the tribe of Judah shall acknowledge his friends and scatter his enemies-we may be found to have followed the example, that so we may have a share in the triumph of Daniel. 104 THE GOSPEL NET. A Sermon DELIVERED ON TUESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 11, 1856, BY THE REV. HENRY MELVILL, B.D. (Chaplain in Ordinary to Her Majesty, and Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's.) "And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."-Matt. iv. 19. THESE words, as you may remember, were addressed by our blessed Redeemer to Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, whom he had found "casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers." It was very natural that in summoning these men to be his disciples, and to engage in the preaching of his gospel, our Lord should employ language adapted to their profession. Accustomed to fishing, they were not so much to give up their occupation as to pursue it in a new scene, and on new objects. "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." But whilst this is sufficiently obvious, we may well think that more was intended by our Lord than a mere passing allusion to the worldly calling of those whom he addressed. When, in another place he calls himself the Good Shepherd, do you not at once feel that there is a double reference in the description-a reference to men as sheep, as well as to himself as the Shepherd? The image is suggestive as well as descriptive. Whilst it delineates Christ with all the care and tenderness of a shepherd, it delineates men with all the waywardness and helplessness of sheep; and any discourse on the alleged character of the Saviour would be bald and imperfect if it did not extend itself to the implied character of the sinner. And thus also with regard to our text. If the apostles are to be styled "fishers of men," then there is evidently suggested to us the patience and the skill which those who seek to save souls should display, like anglers plying their work assiduously, and baiting the hook variously according to varieties in the fish which they desire to take; there is further suggested that the gospel itself-for this it is with which the fishers are to fish-must have some resemblance to the implement with which, on the river or in the sea, the fisherman plies his occupation. If the preacher be a fisher, then the gospel must be a net; just as if the Redeemer be a Shepherd, then the church must be regarded as the sheep. And this, as you will remember, is verified by one of the parables of our Lord, so that it has something better to rest upon than supposition or inference, for Christ expressly likens the kingdom of heaven-that is, God's Divine dealings with men under the gospel dispensation-to a net. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." So that if we work out in full No. 2,673. the simile adopted in our text-if, that is, from finding preachers called fishers, we deal with the visible church as with that into which men of dif. ferent classes and characters are swept as a net-we shall only be keeping up the scriptural imagery, and employing illustrations which our Lord himself furnished. Come, then, take your stand by the sea of Galilee; we have to present to you the gospel under an aspect with which you are, perhaps, hardly familiar. Listen to the terms in which the Saviour is calling to those men to abandon their boat and their trade; and let us see what is to be learned as to the gospel itself from his employing these peculiar words: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' Now, we shall, of course, make frequent reference to the parable which we have already quoted, for this parable is our warrant for the supposition, that if the preacher be a fisher, the gospel which he preaches, in other words, that with which he fishes, may be like unto a net. And here it is worth your observing, that the word employed by our Lord in likening the kingdom of heaven to a net is one which denotes a larger and more powerful implement than is ordinarily understood by the expression. If the net were such as to extend from one side to another of a piece of water, and at the same time to reach the bottom, so that being forced along it would necessarily enclose whatsoever fish there were, and allow none to escape, it would be of the kind which the word here employed must be understood to denote. With such a net as is here meant, and indeed we might say, with any kind of net, it is not at all in the power of the fisherman to secure only the good fish to the exclusion of the bad. He must gather promiscuously, whatever the separation which he afterwards attempts. If he could ascertain beforehand, that there is only this or that species of fish in the water, through which his net is to sweep, he might, of course, determine that he would not encumber himself with aught that is worthless. But, since this is wholly beyond his power, he can only proceed diligently with his occupation, doubtful whether what he is bringing to shore will be of any value, but persevering in hope, and determining that when he can look upon the draught, he will separate the good from the bad. And when you pass from the figure to that which it represents, you are diligently to bear in mind this inability of the fisherman to exclude the bad fish from his net. The kingdom of heaven, or Christianity, as introduced into the world, and to be propagated therein, resembles a spacious, all comprehensive net, which will necessarily include bad as well as good. The ministers of Christianity, the "fishers of men," those who are ordained of Christ to the admitting members into his church, must be regarded as entrusted with this net, and commissioned to throw it into the waters of the world. Then, these "fishers of men," have no power of providing that there shall be no mixture of nominal with vital Christianity, or that all whom they receive into the visible church shall have fellowship equally with the invisible church. Nay, and it yet further follows that it is no part of their office to attempt excluding the worthless from their net. The province as well as the ability of the spiritual fisher, like that of the natural, is confined to the using an instrument of which the workings are concealed. He must let down the net, but until the net is brought to shore he has no power of knowing what kinds of fish he has enclosed. Such power is taken from him by the very nature of his occupation, and yet more in the case under review by the nature of the implement with which he has to work. We hardly know how it can be thought consistent with such scriptural representations as these, that it should be reckoned a part of Christian duty to endeavour to provide that none but the good should be received into the church; and nothing else but godly jealousy to refuse admission where we have no proofs of excellence. Suppose it once admitted that the ministers of Christianity are to ascertain by rigid examination the characters of all candidates for admission into the church, and what resemblance is there between their office and that of the fisher who must catch the fish before he can know what it is, and not know what it is before he lets it into his net? Suppose, for example, that infant baptism were unlawful, that none ought to be received into membership with the visible church but such as are able |