Daniel does not give a continued history of the reigns in which he lived, nor of the state-affairs of the kingdoms of Chaldea and Persia, though he was himself a great man in those affairs; for what are those to us? But he selects such particular passages of story as serve for the confirming of our…

We are told concerning Daniel, I. What a great man he was. When Darius, upon his accession to the crown of Babylon by conquest, new-modelled the government, he made Daniel prime-minister of state, set him at the helm, and made him first commissioner both of the treasury and of the great seal.

Daniel’s adversaries could have no advantage against him from any law now in being; they therefore contrive a new law, by which they hope to ensnare him, and in a matter in which they knew they should be sure of him; and such was his fidelity to his God that they gained their point. Here is, I.

Here is 1. Proof made of Daniel’s praying to his God, notwithstanding the late edict to the contrary : These men assembled, then came tumultuously together, so the word is, the same that was used Dan. 6:6, borrowed from Ps.

Here is, I. The melancholy night which the king had, upon Daniel’s account, Dan. 6:18. He had said, indeed, that God would deliver him out of the danger, but at the same time he could not forgive himself for throwing him into the danger; and justly might God deprive him of a friend whom he had…

Darius here studies to make some amends for the dishonour he had done both to God and Daniel, in casting Daniel into the lions’ den, by doing honour to both. I. He gives honour to God by a decree published to all nations, by which they are required to fear before him.