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At the Deanery, Norwich, in the eighty-third year of his age, the Very Reverend JOSEPH TURNER, D. D. Dean of Norwich, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Rector of Sudbourn and Orford, in Suffolk.

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THE Rev. Gilbert Ainslie, M. A. Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College, has been unanimously elected Master of that Society, in the room of the late Very Rev. Joseph Turner, D. D. Dean of Norwich.

Messrs. John Wolvey Astley and Charles Luxmoore, of King's College, have been admitted Fellows of that Society.

CLERGYMEN MARRIED.

Rev. William Greenwood, M.A. Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Rector of Thrapston, Northamptonshire, to Catherine, second daughter of John Otter, Esq. of Clayworth.

Rev. Henry Thomas Jones, B. D. Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, and Rector of Tackley, to Elizabeth, daughter of the late Major Winchester.

Rev. William James Earley Bennett, B. A. Student of Christ Church, Oxford, to Mary, eldest daughter of Sir William Franklin, of Charlotte Street, Portland Place.

THE

CHRISTIAN

REMEMBRANCER.

OCTOBER, 1828.

SERMON.

DANIEL IN PRAYER.

(FROM AN UNPUBLISHED VOLUME, BY DR. TOWNSON.)

DAN. vi. 10.-Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

We have here recorded, an action of great piety and religious courage; which I shall endeavour to illustrate in the following discourse. But, first, it may be convenient to give some short account of him, who performed the action here recorded; his fortunes, advancement, and situation, when he was thus called upon to show what manner of person he was.

Daniel was of the royal race of the kings of Judah. He was carried captive to Babylon in his childhood, about nineteen years before Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; and appointed to be bred in the palace of this king, together with some others of like family and fortune. These persons were educated in the manner that might best qualify them to be attendants upon the king, and his service; and accordingly were chosen, as their appearance and parts were most promising. Of this number, were the three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were appointed first to bear witness to the cause of the Lord, before the nations of the East. With these confessors, Daniel was allied in blood, and agreed in sentiment; for during the whole time of his youth, he carefully abstained from all the costly food and delicacies that were set before him; contenting himself to eat of such things, as were allowed by the law of his fathers; and of those, only the plainest and simplest and this his temperance was rewarded with comeliness of person, strength of body, and more remarkable vigour of mind; so that he soon equalled and in a short time after exceeded, the most famous of the wise men of Babylon, in the deepest part of their learning. Which secular studies he did not neglect to temper and sanctify, with that better wisdom, from which the Psalmist found such advantage, when he declared, "I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy

VOL. X. NO. X.

4 I

testimonies are my meditation; I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." And it pleased God to enlighten his mind, thus fitted and prepared, with an uncommon degree of divine truth; and to reveal to him the knowledge of things to come.

The first public instance of this, appeared in the case of Nebuchadnezzar's vision. This monarch having dreamed a dream, and remembering no more of it than that it was of an unusual kind, Daniel was enabled by Heaven, to recall the dream, and interpret it to the king; and thus became the instrument of saving the Chaldean sages, his instructors in learning: for the king had ordered them to be put to death, because they could not give this proof of their skill in divining. By this interpretation, Daniel obtained a large share of the confidence and esteem of the great potentate and conqueror of the East. And in the day of his prosperity, he did not forget his countrymen before mentioned, the friends of his youth and companions of his religious hours: who, by his means, were advanced to high offices in the state, while he himself was "made ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon."

This province he obtained, when he was not more than twenty years old; and administered it so well, and with such a character of justice and prudence, that he probably held it on, under the succeeding kings, till he was of a great age. For he seems to have been possessed of it, at the time that Babylon was taken, when he was fourscore years old or more. The conquerors then were the Medes; whose king, Darius, having appointed governors over the several parts of his kingdom, set three to preside over all the rest; and named Daniel, so great and well known was his merit, to be the first of these three presidents: and he was designed for still greater honours, when the princes and nobles conspired, with a general consent, to work his ruin. It is easy to imagine, that a variety of motives might spur them on, and unite them, in this design: envy of his high advancement, and ambition in those who might hope to obtain what he lost; aversion to his religion and nation; and, we may add, no good. will to his temperance and equal justice, which probably reproached the lives of the great men in an arbitrary and luxurious state. The downfall of Daniel, therefore, was a point in which all their views centered; but this it was not easy to compass. Darius, whose interest and that of his people, Daniel studied to promote, had a just sense and esteem of his merit; and his conduct was too upright to furnish them with any matter of complaint against him. His religion was the only thing that gave them hopes of success, if they could make a crime of it against the state: for they knew he would adhere to it inviolably, under all circumstances. And, therefore, they agreed upon a law, which was so contrived, as to seem to intend only the honour of the king, whom it placed, as it were, in the seat and throne of the divinity; while it was certain to involve his faithful and most valued servant in its penalties. This law, the nobles and great men presented to Darius, in a body, and with one voice desired his ratification of it. Let us hear the Scripture account of the matter. "The presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel, concerning the

kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him, concerning the law of his God. Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors and princes, the counsellors and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king! he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king! establish the decree, and sign the writing that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore, king Darius signed the writing and the decree."

Then follow the words of the text.

"Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his chamber, toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."

From which passage, as was proposed, I now proceed to deduce a few practical observations.

And, first, we may observe, that the account here given of the prophet's piety, who kneeled upon his knees three times a day, is a description of his religious exercises, not only for thirty days, but during his whole life. He prayed and gave thanks, as he did aforetime and upon this knowledge of his usual and daily course of devotion, the plot of his enemies was founded; as, by means of this plot it was occasioned, that so edifying a part of his character is known to us. We here see a person of great endowments of nature, and improvements of learning, eminent for skill in civil and sacred affairs, taking more delight in the humble exercise of prayer, than in all those high speculations of science, for which his mind qualified him; or in the public honors, to which his station entitled him; or in the ease and repose, which his great age seemed to require, in the vacancies of business. For this exercise, he allotted a considerable part of every day; and seems to have made his high offices, and large employments, a reason for increasing, rather than an excuse for omitting, his prayers. He seems to have judged, that increase of authority and trusts, multiplied the relations in which he stood, to the king and the community; that these were attended, each with its peculiar train of duties; and that duties multiplied and enlarged, required more disposition, and greater wisdom, in the magistrate, to discharge them. And, therefore, to be diligent in recurring to God, the Father of lights, from whom every good and perfect gift cometh down, was agreeable to the piety of Daniel, as it had been before to that of David and Solomon, and other great and wise men; from whose sentiments and practice it appears, that devotion is not such an enemy to the sight and converse of the world, as some would represent it that we may discharge its offices without secluding ourselves from society; and without neglecting our duty to God, live friendly and serviceable to man.

Another thing that offers itself to our consideration in the text, is the firmness and deliberate courage of this good man. He knew that the writing was signed; he knew that it was aimed at himself: and that they who would endeavour to convict him by it, were a numerous and powerful party. What, then, was his conduct in these circumstances? Did he endeavour to avoid suspicion, by being never alone? Was he always conversing in public; and more than ever diligent in his court-attendance? ... When he knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and what he there did, we may conclude from the ripeness of his wisdom and years, was not undertaken lightly, and without consideration. His usual exercises of devotion were now under the interdiction of a law; and he was not one of those, who pay no deference to the laws of men: the proper power of the magistrate he allowed; but not that of commanding what God forbade, or of forbidding what He commanded. The ordinances of man cannot be law, against the will of God. Thus his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, had thought and acted several years before; when they refused to kneel down and worship the golden image, which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, in the plains of Dura. If these, his three friends, could show such neglect of life, and such faith in God, in their early days, as to go into the flames with an undaunted mind, how much more was it suitable to his age and piety, not to draw back through fear of death, or desert the cause of that God, who had never forsaken him? The eyes of believers and unbelievers, of that and all succeeding ages, must be turned upon him: if he held on the course of his religious exercises without being discovered by his enemies, the silent praise and testimony of a good conscience, which he had long enjoyed, would increase his satisfaction: but if, as he rather supposed and presaged, the vigilance of his adversaries detected him, God would be honoured by the confession of his faith; infidels must acknowledge the sincerity of his religion; the captived and afflicted Israelite would receive fresh courage, not to temporize or make wrong compliances, in matters of religion; and the force and credit of his example would reach to all places and times of the universal church. He therefore made no account of the writing and the decree, which Darius had signed; nor of the penalty annexed, which, through the laws of the Medes and Persians, could not be remitted him: but was contented to close a life crowned with affluence, power, and royal favour, in a shameful and barbarous death, rather than desist from his custom of adoring and praising God, during the space of the interdiction, or even for a single day.

The firmness and fortitude of the Prophet will appear further, from another particular of the text, which, at the same time, shows us the reverence with which his devotions were performed: his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees; for this chamber, into which he withdrew, was probably a room set apart for religious purposes; it being usual among the Jews, as may be collected from many passages of Scripture, as well as from the writers of their antiquities, to have a chapel in the upper part of their house, with a window looking towards Jerusalem: into this sanctuary, therefore, he retired, for the more solemn performance of his

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