Bible CharactersTalmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
Religion
Bible Characters
Talmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
Bible -- Biography
Where are the great men who did not know Daniel’s God? Did they shine
long? Why, we know of Nebuchadnezzar and the rest of them scarcely a
thing, except as they fill in the story about these humble men of God.
We are not told that statesmen shall shine; they may, for a few days or
years, but they are soon forgotten. Look at those great ones who passed
away in the days of Daniel. How wise in council they were! How mighty
and victorious over hundreds of nations! What gods upon earth they were!
Yet their names are forgotten--written only in the grave. Philosophers,
falsely so-called--do they live? Behold men of science--scientific men
they call themselves--going down into the bowels of the earth, digging
away at some carcass and trying to make it talk against the voice of God!
They shall go down to death, by-and-by, and their names shall rot.
But the man of God shines. Yes, he it is who shall shine as the stars
for ever and ever. This Daniel has been gone for 2,500 years, but still
increasing millions read of his life and actions. And so it shall be
to the end. He will only be better known and better loved; he shall
ever shine the brighter as the world grows older. Of a truth, they that
be wise and turn many to righteousness shall shine on, like stars, to
eternity.
DAVID.
You know how David fell. No man rose so high and fell so far, I think.
God took him from the sheepfold and put him upon a throne. He took him
from obscurity and made him king of Israel and Judea; gave him lands in
abundance, and would have given him more if he had wanted them. He was on
the pinnacle of glory, and honored among men.
But one day, while looking out of a window, he saw a woman with whom he
became enamored. He yielded to the temptation, and ordered her to be
brought into the palace, and committed the terrible sin of adultery.
After that, as is the case with all men who commit a sin, he had to
commit another to cover it up, so he laid plans to kill her husband, and
ordered him to be put in a position in the ranks of his army so that he
could be killed.
Months rolled away, and one day Nathan came into the palace of the king.
I can imagine that David was glad to see him. Nathan began to tell him
about two men who dwelt in a certain city. The one was rich, the other
poor; one had herds and flocks, and the other had only a little ewe lamb,
and he went on to tell how this rich man seized this ewe lamb, all that
the poor man had, and slew it. I can see the anger of David as it flashed
from his eye when he heard the story, and he cried: “As the Lord liveth,
the man that hath done this thing shall surely die.” He turned to Nathan,
and in tones of thunder demanded who the man was. “Thou art the man.”
This was the reply of Nathan. David had convicted himself. “The man who
did this thing shall die.” Then the Lord said: “I will raise up evil
against thee out of thine own house, because thou hast kept this thing
secret.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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