od shut the
mouths of the lions against Daniel, but opened them wide against
those who had opened their mouths against His servant.

A man is known by his works, and the works of Daniel were his three
friends, who, rather than bow down to men or gold, braved the fiery
furnace.

Again we see him going to the banquet hall, and hear his conductor
whisper in his ear, "Draw it mild, Daniel, be statesmanlike. Place
and power again for you if you are tactful and wise--especially
tactful!" And Daniel's simple reply, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
There he stands before the king, braving torture or instant
death--but it's the king who quails, not Daniel--who tells him to his
face the whole hot truth of God, diminishing not a jot.

JOHN THE BAPTIST--a man taught and made and sent of God--good old
John! Who doesn't love and admire him? Why, even Herod did. A genuine
deficiency of oil and treacle in his composition. He always told the
bang flat truth, with emphasis. As he loved, so he warned. He knew
not how to fawn. HE WOOED WITH THE SWORD, AND "MEN" LOVED HIM THE
BETTER FOR IT. They always do.

The leaders of religion sent to John to ask him the dearly loved
question of every Pharisee, "By what authority doest thou these
(good) things?" They asked that of Christ Himself, and crucified Him
for the doing of them. John's answer was plain and pungent, "I will
tell you what you ask, and more. (John was always liberal!) I? I am
nobody, but ye and your masters are a generation of vipers." A good
hot curry, that! John never served his curries with butter sauce, but
he was always very liberal with chutney--a man of God--NO SUGAR PLUM
NOR CHOCOLATE SOLDIER HE!

Thus also he faced Herod after six months in an underground dungeon,
and he a man of "God's Open-air Mission". Brought straight in before
the king; surrounded with all the might and majesty of camp and
court; blinking at the unaccustomed sight of light, but by no means
putting blinkers on the truth, he blurted out his hot and thunderous
rebuke, "Thou shalt not have that woman to be thy wife." A whole
sermon in one sentence, as easy to remember as impossible to forget.
John had preached like that before; like Hugh Latimer, he was not
above repeating a good sermon to a king, word for word, when the king
had not given sufficient heed to it.

John received the unique distinction of a first-class character from
both God and the agent of the devil. Hark to the Savior indulging in
a