Sermon Tone Analysis

Thou, O King, sawest, and behold a great image.

The Aggregation of Evil

Look at evil as represented by this colossal image.

I. IT IS A COMPOUND THING.

The image was made up of various substances: gold, silver, brass, iron, clay.

Evil does not often appear here in its naked simplicity, it is mixed up with other things.

Errors in combination with truths, selfishness with benevolence, superstition with religion, infidelity with science, injustice with law and evil, too, is in combination with customs, systems, institutions.

It is a huge conglomeration.

Unmixed naked evil could not, perhaps, exist.

Worldly souls so compound it as to make evil seem good.

II.

IT IS A BIG THING.

This image was the biggest thing in the imagination of the monarch.

Evil is the biggest thing in the world.

The image represents here what Paul meant by the “world,” the mighty aggregation of evil.

Alas, evil is the great image in the world’s mind.

III.

IT IS AN IMPERIAL THING.

The various substances that composed the image, Daniel tells us, represent kingdoms—Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome.

Evil here is imperial.

The New Testament calls it “The kingdom of darkness.”

It wears the purple, occupies the throne, and wields the sceptre of nations.

IV.

IT IS A HUMAN THING.

The colossal image was a human figure—human head, breast, arms, legs, feet; and of human manufacture.

All the errors of the world are the fabrications of the human brain; all the had passions of the world are the lusts of the human heart; all the wrong institutions of the world are the productions of human power.

Evil is human, it thinks with the human brain; it speaks with the human tongue; it works with the human hand.

Man is at once its creator, organ, and victim.

V. IT IS A TOTTERING THING.

On what does the figure stand?

On marble, on iron, or brass?

No, on clay; his feet part of iron and part of clay.

Evil, big, grand, and imperial though it be, lacks standing power; it is not firm-footed.

It has clay feet, and must one day tumble to pieces.

(Homilist.)

Symbolical Metals

The metals symbolical of the four kingdoms are placed after one another in the order of their value.

First gold,

then silver,

then brass,

then iron.

There is a progressive deterioration in this arrangement of the metals.

That which is accounted most precious is first; that which is of least value is last.

To hold out the idea that the world is constantly growing worse, heathen fable represented it as passing through four ages, which were also named from these four metals, the golden age, the age of silver, the age of brass, and the iron age.

In each succeeding period the world became worse than it had been during that which preceded.

From the fact of the metals in this image following one another in the order of their value, the most precious being first, and the least valuable being last, we are not to suppose that Scripture countenances this idea of heathen fiction, and that the world is really in a state of constant deterioration—becoming more base and worthless by every succeeding revolution.

This idea is not correct in point of fact.

It is true that every nation, after reaching a certain stage, has decayed and been dissolved by the corruption of manners, as the human body, after reaching a certain stage, gradually decays and is at length dissolved by death.

But while every particular nation has in course of time deteriorated, the human race has been steadily progressing in the knowledge of art, science, legislation, and everything that is most conducive to the individual and social advancement of mankind.

National progression may be compared to the incoming of the sea.

Almost every wave advances farther than that by which it was preceded, and then falls back, leaving the sand bare which once was covered; but another and another wave follows, each succeeding one advancing nearer to the shore, until the sea covers all its sands, having reached the point at which the voice of the Almighty said to it, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther.”

In regard to the four monarchies, it is not a fact that the condition of mankind became worse under every succeeding monarchy than it had been during the reign of that by which it was preceded.

On the contrary, it could easily be shown that the iron monarchy, which on the other supposition should have been the worst, was more conducive to the welfare of mankind than any of the other three.

From these statements it appears that the metals are not prophetic of the relative condition of the world under these monarchies, but are descriptive of the character of the monarchies themselves.

Each of the metals represents the principal feature of the monarchy of which it is the symbol.

As regards the order of their succession, it ought to be remembered that these metals have a real and a nominal value, and that their real value is in the inverse ratio of the nominal.

Gold and silver possess the greatest nominal value, because in exchange for them everything else can be procured; but in themselves they are of less value than brass and iron.

Keeping this universally recognised distinction in view, the succession of metals in the image may intimate that in these monarchies there would be a declension in outward splendour, and a progression in those things which were useful to mankind.

Gold, the symbol of the first monarchy, intimates that sumptuous splendour would be its most striking feature.

(J.

White.)

The Dream Recovered

The king’s inability to recollect the dream that caused him so much anxiety gave occasion to call for Daniel, and enabled him to prove the vast superiority of his God over the gods and magicians of Babylon.

By being able to restore the lost dream, he proved at once that he was able to give its true interpretation.

By restoring the dream and giving its interpretation, he revealed to the king two mysteries at once—a mystery from the past and a mystery of the future.

A great image.

It appears from ancient coins and medals that both cities and nations were represented by gigantic figures of men and women.

The old writer Florus, in his history of Rome, represents the Roman empire under the form of a human being, in its different states from infancy to old age.

The recently-discovered monuments of the Nile, and of Nineveh, and of Babylon, show that stupendous human figures were objects and emblems familiar to the ancients.

Geographers, also, have used similar representations.

The Germanic empire has been represented by a map in the form of a man, different parts being pointed out by the head, breast, arms, etc., according to their geographical and political relation to the empire in general.

The various metals of which Nebuchadnezzar’s image was composed represented the various kingdoms which should arise subsequent to the fall of his own empire.

Their position in the body of the image clearly denoted the order of their succession.

The different metals and their position also expressed different degrees of strength, riches, power, and durability.

Clay, earth, and dust, of course, mean weakness, instability.

(W. A. Scott, D.D.)

The Dream Recovered

We see the hand of Providence in bringing Daniel and his friends forward at the Babylonish court at the time when it was the most proper they should be honoured.

God never forsakes those that trust in Him.

I. THE DREAM, ITS PREDICTIONS, AND THEIR FULFILMENT PROVE THE SUPREME AND PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AND THEREBY ALSO SHOW THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE.

Now this prediction of the future destinies of nations could not be without revelations from God, nor could it be unless God be both sovereign in providence and in nature.

It is God only and alone who can foretell the distant changes of time and nations; and this He can do and has done as infallibly as He knows the revolutions of the heavenly bodies.

God knows as perfectly and as certainly what the commotions of the people and the thousand passions of kings and statesmen will produce, as what the thousand attractions of the stars and their most distant courses will bring about in immensity.

Astronomers give us beforehand the details of eclipses, because the Creator has impressed His will upon the universe as a code of physical laws.

He rules mankind, who dwell on the earth, as well as the worlds which roll in infinite space.

He stays the commotions of the people, as well as the billows of the sea.

He holds in His hand the hearts of the rulers of the earth, as He counts the hosts of Heaven and calls them all by name.

II.

THE HISTORY OF NATIONS PRESENTS TWO ELEMENTS IN THEMSELVES PERFECTLY DISTINCT, AND YET ALWAYS MORE OR LESS UNITED, AND ALWAYS MORE OR LESS SUBJECTED TO MUTUAL AND RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES.

I mean the political and religious history of a country.

The religious habitudes of a people do of necessity deeply affect their morals, and their social and national characteristics.

So palpable is the influence of religion upon a nation, that it has long been received as a canon of philosophical history, that the religion of a country being known, all the rest of that country’s history can be easily known.

It is not essential to mere physical existence that we have comfortable houses to live in, and that they are adorned with the products of industry and filled with the comforts of commerce.

We could live in tents.

But certainly those who have once tasted the elegances of refined life will not desire to go back to semi-barbarism.

So it is not essential for all pious people to be politicians, yet all the members of Christ’s Church are interested in the political interests of the world; and Christian young men should prepare themselves to take a part in the civil affairs of their country.

If the administration of our laws and the outwork of our great institutions are left wholly in the hands of ungodly or unprincipled men, we cannot expect God’s blessing to rest upon us.

III.

Observe HOW CAREFUL DANIEL WAS TO REMEMBER HIS FRIENDS IN PROSPERITY.

Like Joseph, when exalted, he was not ashamed of his poor kin.