remarkable for pointedness, simplicity, and interest. They have been printed in nearly every language. Some of his tracts are like the Dairyman's Daughter of Legh Richmond, for simple truth and beauty. They present the living realities of the gospel in a manner most impressive and affecting to the mind, in narratives, ir dialogues, in familiar parables, and illustrations.

As a preacher, Dr. Malan is eminently spiritual and instructive. The cardinal doctrines of salvation are the staple of his discourses, and he loves to dwell upon the bright and persuasive side of truth divine, leading his flock in green pastures beside the still waters. The sermon which follows, though not as bold and imposing in its eloquence as some of the author's productions, is a fine example of his unction and vivacity of style, as well as his peculiar facility in simplifying the greatest and most important truths, and evolving them from seemingly the slightest incidents.

THE PIETY OF YOUNG DANIEL.

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."

"And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat."-DANIEL, i. 8, 15.

WE have before us, Christians, one of those noble witnesses, who compose that cloud of which the Apostle Paul speaks, and who surround the church while she is militant upon earth. He is but a man, it is true, but he is a faithful man; and we behold him placed in such circumstances as at once to engage our lively attention, and afford us the most important lessons.

Daniel is a young man, distinguished in every way, and surrounded by all the charms and all the attractions of the world. He is in the flower of his age, accomplished in person, of high birth, and cultivated mind. The path to dazzling glory, in the court of a powerful monarch, is open before him. It is under these circumstances that a mighty temptation approaches him. Infidelity, clad in sublime array, knocks at the door of his heart. Daniel is a Hebrew: his law forbids him to touch impure meats; and it is upon such as an idolatrous king offers to his false gods that Daniel is required to feed.

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What will he do? Will he, like the greater number of young brews who are brought up with him, make necessity his pretext? Will he make his faith bend to his circumstances, and eat of these meats? You who, like Daniel, fear the Lord, and trust in him, can answer the question. "Daniel," you will reply, "is a believer; the Spirit of Christ is with him; and, strengthened by this Spirit, he will be rendered more than conqueror."

Yes, my brethren, more than conqueror; nor is he alone in the victory

With him, three of his companions, sprung like himself from the tribe of Judah, and like him obedient to the Son of God, come to the resolution not to defile themselves with the meat and the wine of the king. They strengthen themselves in their God, and then make known their requests to the prince of the eunuchs, who, secretly influenced by Daniel's God, consents to permit the trial which the young Hebrews desire, whatever may be the consequence.

It is, then, neither by the dainties, nor upon the wine of the king, that these four faithful men are supported. It is by their determination alone; first, during ten days, and, subsequently, during the three years of their preparation for their reception at court; and the eye of Jehovah meanwhile rests upon them.

How I delight to contemplate these young men thus honoring their religion! It excites our interest, it commands our respect. Daniel, knowing himself to be a child of God, and ardently loving his Father, earnestly repulses the charm which the temptation presents, gives no place to sin in his heart, and thus manifests the devotedness of a disciple who is filled with the love of Jesus, and led by his Spirit.

Christians, and above all, young Christians, is this a model that we desire to imitate? Would we place this firmness, this sincerity, this perseverance, before ourselves, as the example which we would follow? Do we desire that blessing of the Lord which he causes to rest upon those who fear his name? Are we willing, acting on the same principle as Daniel, to make his resolution our own, and look to heaven for the same result?

His principle was faith. His resolution was to yield an unshaken fidelity. And the result was the favor of his God, which he estimated far above all besides. Happy was Daniel to take this course! Happy every disciple who shall follow him in it!

I. Observe, first, DANIEL'S PRINCIPLE.

"I am the child of God. As such, my whole being is his. I am consecrated to him. I am a vessel to his honor." Such was Daniel's principle. It was faith in the testimony of God; the certainty of being one of his elect and it was by this that he triumphed.

And it is here, at this first point, this starting point, that the religion of Daniel, of a soul scaled by the Holy Spirit, essentially differs from that of those fearful and double-minded disciples, who, believing only the half of God's testimony, scarcely dare to hope for salvation, and make the attainment of certainty respecting it, consequent upon, and subsequent to, a long course of labors and of sacrifices. "How can I believe?" cries such a disciple, “that I am already a subject of grace, and that God has made me his child? Ah! I must see in myself other feelings, other works, before I dare to repose on the promise which is in Christ! I must be more holy, more withdrawn from the world, before I dare to believe that I belong to him, and to confide in his pardon.”

But so long as this disciple preserves this course of human reasoning, he will be but a slave to the law, will obey only from fear, and will remain destitute of that holiness which the spirit of adoption produces in the redeemed of the Lord. Always fearing, always doubting, he will only serve his God to obtain some quiet, and if he does not, like the unbelieving, hope to merit salvation by his works, like him, at least, he remains far from Jesus, and wearies himself under a yoke, borne from constraint and fear, and not from love.

I address myself so you, half-disciple of the Saviour, who fear to repose unreservedly on his promise, and who would receive from him signs and miracles before you resolve to believe in his testimony. You wish to see in yourselves, you say, fruits of righteousness, before you believe that mercy has been extended to you; and thus misconceiving the work of the Spirit of grace, you imagine that the seal of your adoption will only be affixed on the summit of the pyramid of your filial obedience. But you are in error. As the Apostle Paul said to his Galatian friends, so will I say to you: Can you obey with the love of a child, if in the first instance you are not sure of being one? Can you render to God that filial obedience of which you speak, if first you are not sealed with that spirit of adoption which produces it? Is it not necessary that the sap which nourishes the tree be heavenly, before it can produce heavenly fruits? And since this sap is the anointing of the spirit of a son, how can your souls bring forth fruit to God, if you are strangers to this divine unction-if you dare not to call God your Father-if you doubt of being his children?

No, undecided disciple, no. It was never in acting as a slave that the sentiments and rights of a son were acquired. Never will you obtain the seal of promise whilst you hold yourselves bowed under the law. Never will you render to God that which love alone can render to him, so long as fear and its torments have rule over you. (1 John, iv. 18.) Rather raise the pyramid of your obedience on the wide and solid basis of your adoption in Christ. As the first step to be taken, be assured that mercy has been extended to you, and that you are, as says the apostle, from this time, "children of God." Seize the promise, as it were, from the mouth of the Lord. Then, certain that life is yours, certain that you are henceforward and forever justified in Jesus, act as the elect and well-beloved of the Lord.

Such was the assurance of Daniel-such was the principle whence sprung his obedience. Doubtless, this child of man differed not from each of us. A sinner by birth, a sinner by practice; like us, he was taken and condemned by the law of God, which taught him the lesson which we are to learn, that he had no resource in himself, nor in his own righteousness. It was not, then, upon his performances that he supported himself; but upon the goodness and the grace of God alone. That is to say, Christians, Daniel was a believer! he had faith in the

testimony of God. Thus his soul reposed simply and entirely upon Christ, and upon the promise which he has given, that "he who believes is justified." (Acts, xiii. 39.) Daniel, humbled in spirit, looking only to the mercy of God, reposing implicitly upon it, and sure of being its object, desired to act as one of the blessed of the Lord-as a soul set at liberty.

Happy and holy liberty of grace! glorious privilege, with which the spirit of adoption enriches the faithful, bringing him into communion with his Saviour. While the still wavering disciple drags himself with pain and languor toward the road of obedience, the believer whose heart has been set free, runs in it with joy (Ps. cxix. 32), under the eye of his God, whose love sustains him, whose Spirit strengthens his heart, and whose promises nourish his vigor and his hope.

He will be charged, perhaps, with presumption; he will be told that he wants sobriety, prudence, and that humble distrust which becomes a sinner. He will be warned that he is exposing himself to grievous falls, and that his assurance is the same rock on which the licentiousness of some, and the slothfulness of others, has already split. But this is the language of self-righteousness, or of the doubt of wavering faith. Daniel, and all other servants of God, will with one voice fearlessly reply: “You err, not knowing what is the grace of God. Seek to know it, that you may learn from it, that the Spirit of the Lord deigns to dwell in that man who believes in his grace; and that the man thus regenerated by God, has thenceforward one single desire, which is, 'to glorify him in his body and spirit which are his; because he has been bought with a price.' To be an obedient child, holy as his God is holy; because he has been washed in the precious blood of the Lamb; because he knows 'the mercies of God.' 'He would purify himself, as his Saviour is pure; for he knows that he shall see him as he is, and be made like him.” ” Thus speak the Scriptures; thus spake Daniel; such was his principle. Let us see it now in action.

II. Observe, again, DANIEL'S RESOLUTION.

The principle of faith, on which Daniel acted, demanded from him courageous fidelity. His whole heart had been given to the Lord; and with his whole heart he now prepared to obey him, though it should cost dear to his flesh and his ease.

For, let us not suppose that it was an easy matter for Daniel and his companions to come to the resolution which they had adopted. It was not, indeed, a very difficult thing to renounce delicate and dainty food for that which was more simple; but it was no easy task to resist the order of the jealous king, whose slaves they were, and thus to endanger their lives. Nor were they ignorant of the danger they incurred. The chief eunuch had shown it to them (i. 10). Surely, then, they had weighed well the possible result of the step, as subsequently his three companions weighed the fearful alternative, when they preferred rather

to be cast into the fiery furnace, than to prostrate themselves in worship before an idol; and as Daniel himself, on a still later occasion, had the case laid before him, and considered it well, when he preferred being cast into the den of lions, rather than cease to pray to the Lord his God. Doubtless they had well weighed the consequences of the step. They counted the cost before they commenced building the tower; they calculated the requisite labor before they put their hands to the plow. (Luke, xiv. 9, 28, 62.)

Often, no doubt, had they spoken to each other of their duty and its consequences. Many a time, perhaps, had excuses, pretexts of the flesh, weakness of heart, the promises or the menaces of the world, and that powerful principle, the love of life, interposed between them and the path of duty, throwing a gloom over their minds, or shaking their resolution. On such occasions, what mutual exhortations to faithfulness would be given; how would they place before their own and each other's eyes the words of the Lord and the examples of his servants; how earnestly would they implore their God for the spirit of a Moses, a Samuel, a David, an Elijah, that they might, if called to it, be ready to forfeit life rather than abandon their faith.

No; it was not lightly that Daniel advanced to the combat, nor was it in his own strength. It was in the sincerity of his heart that he resolved, and it was from the word and the Spirit of the Lord, that he drew his courage and his perseverance. Such were the means by which he acted. Mark them well, you who, like him, desire to be faithful.

My son, give me thine heart," says divine Wisdom. "Thou shalt serve the Lord with all thy heart and with all thy soul," says God again to his people. And they responded, "Amen: we will keep thy precepts. with our whole heart." Again, the Lord says: "O! that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my com mandments always." And the Spirit moves them to cry: “O! Lord, make our hearts to fear thy name.'

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It is your heart, your entire submission, that your Saviour demands of you, who are the purchase of his blood, when he says to you: "Bear my burden, take my yoke, take up my cross and follow me." his love upon you when he gave himself for you; when, for you, quitting his heavenly glory, he abased himself upon earth; when he took upon himself your sins; supported for you all the weight of the curse of the law; was crucified and died; so he expects from you the willing surrender of your whole heart. This offering, and this alone, is pleasing to the Lord. He demands your faith; he requires your gratitude.

O! then, lukewarm disciples, who walk with reluctance in the narrow path, who yield with sorrow and regret the scanty measure of submission that you offer to Jesus; see wherein the reason lies! Learn why, far from imitating a Daniel, in presenting yourselves unreservedly to the Lord, it is with pain, with multiplied reservations and conditions,