Daniel 6:3

Because an excellent spirit was in him.

The man of an “excellent spirit,” or of a good conscience

All men have what we call a conscience, something within that concerns itself with the right and wrong of actions. A good conscience is something more than a sincere conscience. Many sincere consciences are bad consciences. We learn here certain facts concerning the man of a good conscience, or excellent spirit.

I. THAT HE IS INFLEXIBLY HONEST IN ALL HIS WORLDLY TRANSACTIONS. Where there is true loyalty to God, there will be honesty towards men.

II. THAT HE OFTEN EVOKES THE ANTAGONISM OF UNJUST MEN. What led to the Crucifixion of Christ but this?

III. THAT HE IS INVINCIBLE IN HIS LOYALTY TO HEAVEN. In extreme danger he did nothing, but just went on with his ordinary life.

IV. THAT IS A DISTURBING FORCE TO THE SOUL OF HIS PERSECUTORS. The king had a miserable night.

V. THAT HE IS EVERMORE IN THE SAFE KEEPING OF HEAVEN. Daniel ascribed his deliverance to an angel. What better angel has God in his universe than a good conscience?

VI. THAT HE IS SURE TO MEET WITH A RETRIBUTIVE VINDICATION. What became of the enemies of Daniel?

VII. THAT HE IS THE BEST AGENT TO BRING THE WORLD TO TRUE WORSHIP. “Then King Darius wrote unto all people,” etc. Learn

(1) That the right thing is always the strongest thing.

(2) That the right thing is always the expedient thing. (Homilist)

An excellent spirit

It was not mere talent that raised Daniel to his high position. No doubt he was a shrewd, able, and clever man. Intellect, like ice, is colourless. Let a young man have large mental capacity, it will not weigh for much, if that be all. His real strength or weakness is closely linked with his moral nature; the heart, even more them the brain, determines the man. In Daniel we see a man whose conscience holds a tight rein over his lower nature; we see that stern loyalty to principle is not inconsistent with the urbanity and courtesy of the perfect gentleman; we learn that the busiest man may be a man of prayer; that fervent piety may be sustained under circumstances most unfavourable to its growth; that a robust faith in God can carry one through the most trying outward conditions it is possible to experience. This “excellent spirit” was

1. A spirit of self-control. He kept his body under. He held the mastery of his animal nature. He laid an iron hand upon his appetites and passions here is a lesson on a temperate and physiological habit of life that young men would do well to attend to, who propose to invest any capital in their brains.

2. A spirit of genuine piety, He was, above all, a man of God. I believe that his convictions were the fruit of early training. To him, God was a reality, a living and reliable friend, to whom he could take every difficulty, and on whom he could trust in every danger. It was this that carried him through. It was his “excellent spirit” that led to his preferment. His piety actually led to his promotion.

3. A spirit of unshaken faith in God. All through his troubles, he never lost confidence in God, never failed to betake himself to him in prayer. Daniel’s faith in God was too deep mud strong to suffer any serious shock from spurious philosophy. (J. T. Davidson, D.D.)

A Man of Excellent Spirit

The key to Daniel’s splendid fidelity may be found in the statement of my text, repeated in other parts of the book, “an excellent spirit was in him.” This statement literally means that in Darnel spirit predominated, was uppermost, was enthroned. We are accustomed to use the word “excellent” with other values and intentions, all of which may be right in certain connections. For instance, we say “excellent” means fine, noble, admirable. Yet the etymology of the word has another signification. Excellent is something that excels, goes beyond, predominates, and the word lying beyond this word excellent carries exactly that meaning. We may with perfect accuracy, read our text thus--it would not be rhythmic or admirable as a translation, but it would at least be accurate--“A spirit that excelled was in him” a spirit that jutted out was in him. Not flesh, but spirit was the chief thing. This is evident at the very beginning of the book of Daniel. Not king’s dainties, not wine from the king’s table; these are not the principal things, but rectitude, which means life harmonising with the infinite and the true and the eternal. The principal thing in Daniel was not the physical, though he was fair, ruddy, and splendid; spirit was the dominant factor in the personality of this man. Daniel was not a man who thought of himself within the physical, as possessing a spirit; he thought of himself within the spiritual “as possessing” a body. “An excellent; spirit was in him.” He was a man who began his life in the spiritual, and from that centre governed the material. Darnel was a man proportioned after the pattern and ideal of Deity. He recognised in himself and in all his relationships the supreme quality, to be spirit. “A man of an excellent spirit.” Let us examine the qualities of fruit “manifested in the life-story of the man in whom spirit excelled and was the principal thing. I want to say four things about Daniel, as revealing that life where spirit excels, is dominant, is enthroned. The man of excellent spirit, in whom spirit excels was

(1) a man of purpose;

(2) a man of prayer;

(3) a man of perception;

(4) a man of power.

Two things tell the cause, two things describe the effect. The cause is found in the fact that this man of excellent spirit was a man of purpose, and a man of prayer; and the effect is seen in that he was a man of perception and a man of power. Purpose and prayer, these are the words that indicate our own responsibility. Perception and prayer, these are the words that declare what will follow in some way in the life of every man in whom spirit is dominant, and who, therefore, is a man of purpose and a man of power. Daniel was a man of purpose. “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s meat,” (Daniel 1:8.) Notice carefully what this means. Purpose is at the beginning of everything. Directly he found himself in a place of peril “he purposed m his heart.” That is a matter of supreme importance. Thousands of men drift into evil courses for a lack of a definite and positive committal of themselves to some position, for lack of having purpose, something in their heart. To delay at the first consciousness of perilous surroundings is to compromise presently, and, unless we are very careful, it is finally to apostatise. Purpose in a man’s life is all important. It affords him anchorage in the time of storm, creates for him a base in the day of battle. To have committed oneself to some definite thing is always of value whatever walk of life you are in. In every walk of life, when a man has formed his purpose, he is halfway to victory. This is so with a boy who is looking forward to his life work. When he knows what his purpose is, he is half-way to victory. Every man has, underlying his life somewhere, a purpose. But Daniel found it, named it, announced it, stood by it. It is quite impossible for s man to live without a purpose of some sort. Purpose lies at the back of will, and purpose operates through all activity. Some men have a score of purposes, but never one named, defined, announced, to which they are committed. Daniel’s purpose was a very simple one, and yet sublime; simple in its expression, sublime in its great underlying reach. What was the simple purpose announced as he came down into the midst of the Chaldean Court and its corruption? “I will not touch the king’s dainties, I will not drink the king’s wine.” That is the simplicity of the purpose, but not the sublimity of it. What underlay it? “He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank.” He purposed in his heart that his spirit was the supreme thing. He would not permit fleshly indulgence of any sort to rub the bloom from spiritual life, to weaken the nerve of spiritual endeavour, to dim the vision of spiritual outlook. Daniel’s deepest purpose was that of loyalty to God, expressed in separation from the corrupting influences of his position; and because at the beginning he stood there, through all the coming days he was strong and victorious. To-day, amid the allurements and enticements of a godless age, let every man purpose in his heart that he will be loyal to Jesus Christ. That is the simple purpose for to-day. You and I live in a much easier age than Daniel did, with forces far more potent than had Daniel. This age may be more complex in its temptations, more subtle and insidious in the way it is likely to spoil men. But it is also an age when true life is become possible because of the simplicity of the purpose is just that I commit myself to Christ; I am His, avowedly; His, confessedly His. I will follow Him. That is the first and the simple purpose to which I invite every man. Remember that the purpose of loyalty to Christ, formed in the heart, confessed with the lip, is simply the centre from which a man is to correct everything else in his life. Purpose loyalty to Christ, affirm it, and then from that centre you are to begin to construct your circumference and set the externalities of your life right. I meet scores of men who say, I try, but I fail. I want to be a Christian, but this or the other thing stands in my way.” I reply, “You are not to do these things to be a Christian; you are to become a Christian to do these things.” Do not attempt to construct your circumferences in order to be in right relationship with your centre. Find your centre in order to correct your circumference. We have not forgotten how impossible it is to form a circumference until we have found the centre. Daniel was a man of prayer. Nothing stands out more clearly than this fact. When the interpretation of the king’s dream was asked, he called his friends together into a compact of prayer, asked them to pray with him, that he might have the necessary light for interpretation. As the story moves on it reveals the truth that he was a man who had regular habits of prayer, who three times a day turned his face towards old Jerusalem, thought on God, spoke to God.. Here we touch the secret that underlies his fulfilment of purpose. Strong purpose is only powerful in execution as we are dependent upon God. The heart may be firmly determined to loyalty, but, unless we know how to lean hard upon God, the forces against us will prove too much for us. A man meaning to do right and depending on God is absolutely invincible. What lies behind the fact of a man’s praying? First, his sense of personal limitation; secondly, his profound conviction of Divine sufficiency. What is prayer with these things lying in the background? It is the use of the means of communication between his weakness and God s power, his limitation and God’s sufficency. Now, if you desire to live this life in which spirit excels, the life of victory and of power, to have purpose is not enough. You and I must recognise our own limitation, frailty, weakness. In the days of our young manhood we feel so self-sufficient. We can do the high thing, the noble thing in our own strength. Oh, that God may reveal to you at once that this is not so, that the life godless is always sooner or later a failure and a wreck! Was there ever man of stronger personality or individuality, apart from Christ, than Saul of Tarsus? Yet he confessed, “When I would do good, evil is present with me.” Be that as it may, unless you learn the secret of dependence on God, sooner or later, on one side or other of your nature, you will be wrecked and ruined. I shall never tell you that all you have to do is to realise your own manhood and fight the battle and conquer. I am here to tell you evil is too strong for you, that the forces that lure are the forces that ruin. In your own strength you cannot overcome. But there is another truth, the truth that Daniel knew, the truth that God and Daniel were stronger in combination than all Chaldean corruption and idolatrous evil, the truth that you and God in London are invincible against all the forces that will sweep against you. Doubtless I speak to some who have fallen, who have sinned, and they know it. I take you back to the point of your fall, and tell you that your fall was due to your independence. Had you been a dependent soul, trusting in God, recognising His power, communicating with Him by prayer, always leaning hard upon Him, you would have won where you failed. Form habits of prayer, Daniel prayed with his face towards Jerusalem every day. I urge you to have special times, special seasons; I urge you to continue in prayer. Then follow the two results I have mentioned. A spirit of perception. There is no doubt that the gift of interpretation which Daniel received was specially bestowed by God for special purposes. The immediate application to us is, that to the man who has made his purpose and prays, there will be given a clarity of vision which will enable him to accomplish the divine work allotted to him. It may be, as in the case of Daniel, that of interpretation, or it may be in some other department. The thing is that the man will be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. Have you not felt that you need spiritual perception to discern between right and wrong, and that quickly? How often a man says, “I had done it before I knew it; I had fallen before I was conscious of the temptation.” But to the man of purpose and prayer there comes a growing keenness of insight, sensitiveness of soul, quickness of perception in the commonplaces, and a keen vision in the crises of life, special illumination from God flashing upon the pathway, saving him in the moment of his peril. Finally, Daniel was a man of power; first, as we have seen, in small things, but also in great things. I am not suggesting that if you take this position of purpose and maintain it, take this life of prayer and follow it, that if you have this quick, keen perception of God by the Holy Spirit, you will come to a place of worldly power. It certainly is remarkable that this man held office in three kingdoms--in Babylon, in Media, and Persia. The man of purpose, the man of prayer, the man of perception, was recognised by the men of his age and trusted, and put into places of power, and, as the text says, “the king thought to set him over the whole realm.” I am not saying that will necessarily follow, but I am saying that the man of purpose, of prayer of perception, becomes the man of power--power that enables him to say No. The highest courage is not the courage of the battlefield; it is moral courage--the power to say No. The thing that nerves a man to say No in the presence of temptation is the fact that he has taken his stand and is a man of purpose, is perpetually a man of prayer, and, therefore, a man of perception, seeing the issues, understanding the virtues, and able to say No when the moment comes. Our age wants men who are superior to it, not men who are driven by it. (G. Campbell Morgan, D.D.)

The Uncompromising Young man

The grandest object for human contemplation is s noble character. A lofty type of a true and regal man, great and good, is humanity’s richest heritage. Such is the character which is the subject of our present study. We cannot contemplate it without feeling the fires of inspiration kindle in our hearts. Daniel is a model character for the study and imitation of all who would achieve anything worthy in life. The foundation of all Daniel s after-greatness and success is true personal merit. If God favours and honours him, it is because of a subjective ground for such favour in himself; and the same favour awaits everyone who would bear himself in similar manner. What awaits young Daniel in his new sphere of life? A test of character which thus early exhibits his uncompromising spirit, and unswerving fidelity to the truth he holds. Daniel, though firm of purpose and invincible in his integrity, is yet well-mannered and courteous. An incorruptible conscience does not imply a sour temper, or incivility of manners. Daniel’s religion and temperance proved no hindrance to his advancement, but helped him up the way of promotion. This praying Daniel is a young man of highest honour and truest humility. The lofty courage, the sublime moral heroism of this Daniel deserves special notice, as seen in the later acts of his eventful life. Never did man occupy so high a position who was more deserving of it. But honour and merit are always targets for the malicious arrows of envy. Daniel’s colleagues seek occasion for his overthrow, but seek in vain for any fault in his character or administration. They have to declare there is but one point at which he can be assailed, and that is, his fidelity to God! Thus true and faithful to the last was Daniel. What Daniel’s God was to him, that He will be to you. Learn to honour and serve the God of Daniel; learn that true principle is true expedience; learn that the busiest man may be a praying man; learn to do right, though the heavens fall. (C. H. Payne, D.D., LL.D.)

Christian Character--Daniel

One of the most dangerous beliefs of the present day is that an earnest religious life is not compatible with success in business, or with promotion in public life. The success and promotion of Daniel, and of Joseph, Moses and Samuel, prove that an upright life, lived in fellowship with God, is not a hindrance, but a help to success in life. A life of piety and obedience to God cultivates in us the best possible business habits--diligence, integrity, patience, control of temper, control of appetite, an interest in the welfare of others, and a trustful confidence in ourselves, as the result of firm reliance on God. See some of the principles illustrated in the life of Daniel.

1. It is always safe to do right. There are many who think otherwise. They will try to soothe conscience by saying that they approve the right, and that, under more favourable circumstances, they would certainly do it. But swerving from duty makes it easier to do wrong again; and there lies the danger. When we are resolutely doing God’s will, He will open up a way for us. A man of weak faith and weak will, yields to circumstances, and excuses himself by saying that he could not help it. We should rule circumstances, and not allow circumstances to rule us. Fortune follows in the footsteps of faith.

2. Daniel’s love of private prayer. That man is always strong for duty, and strong against temptation, who has learned to prevail with God! Daniel not only maintained communion with God in spirit, but he had also stated times for prayer. His public life was upright and beautiful, because his inner life was devout and prayerful. He made it the habit of his life to take everything to God in prayer. Special times for private prayer may soon enable the Christian to live constantly in the atmosphere of heaven.

3. Daniel’s decision of character. A man may be pious and prayerful, and yet, if he lacks decision of character, he is liable to be led into any form of evil. What the world and the Church want to-day are men who have some backbone in them; men who will do right, and do it at all hazards.

4. Daniel’s Faithful Friendship. When he was promoted by the king he did not forget his three companions.

5. Daniel’s Contentment and Resignation to his lot. We find no murmur or complaint that God dealt hardly with him in allowing him to be carried away captive. He was able to see the providence of God in his captivity. No man has ever risen in life by repining at his lot, and by spending his strength in lamenting over lack of opportunity. Daniel’s success depended largely upon that contentment that always accompanies a loving confidence in God, and cheerful submission to His will.

6. Daniel was most courteous and amiable in his manner. This gave him great power over men. He was a true gentleman--that is, he was both gentle and manly. He was too manly to be weak and irresolute; and he was too courteous to be coarse and offensive. Courtesy and gentleness give a man great power over his fellow men.

7. Daniel’s Business Fidelity. Some narrowly pious people would have said that he had far too secular duties on his hands. They would necessarily interfere with his spirituality of mind and his intercourse with God. Daniel did not think so. Because he gave himself to prayer he could busy himself with secular things and not suffer; and because he was so busy with secular affairs he needed his frequent seasons of prayer. It was because Daniel lived in the presence of God that he was able to leave such a noble record of the administration of the affairs of the kingdom We may make Daniel’s life our own, if we have Daniel’s faith, and trust as Daniel trusted. (S. Macnaughton, M.A.)