Dissertation

2.

CHAPTER 1. Vs. 8-21.

WHEN men are employed in the pursuit of knowledge, it is of great consequence to them, that their minds should be at ease with respect to other things, and that they should feel secure of all the necessaries of life. A life of care and anxiety, as well as of luxury and ease, is necessarily prejudicial to literary pursuits. And though there have been some instances of men making a great progress in certain parts of learning amidst poverty and surrounded with obstacles to their pursuits, yet these particular cases will never invalidate the general rule.

Upon this principle, therefore, of the mind being free from care and anxiety, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that the young men who were to be educated for purposes of state, should be fed from his own table, and should eat and drink such things as he himself did. This he did, no doubt, from principles of po

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It is, perhaps, impossible to ascertain the exact kind of food and wine which Nebuchadnezzar eat and drank; though we may give a general description of the productions of the country around Babylon. The Palm flourished naturally all over this land, and chiefly that of the date kind; which afforded them food, wine, and honey. The

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licy, and also of kindness; that they might be stimulated to exertion in their studies, and attached to his person from motives of gratitude and affection. As captives, the Jews would feel dispirited; they would therefore need a particular attention from the king, to give vigour to their minds, and energy to their exertions.

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The food which Nebuchadnezzar eat, and the wine which he drank, was of the most exquisite kind, and therefore unfit for students; because it would tend to make them too attentive to animal gratification, and more solicitous about the pleasures of the palate than the improvement of the mind. While, therefore, there is some reason to praise his kindness for his attention to the young men, and his policy in making their minds easy, with respect to their supply of food, yet his judgment was wrong with respect to its kind. Voluptuous living enervates the mind as well as body; and, therefore, we generally find that the greatest scholars have been men of abstemious habits, and sober

manners.

However kindly, therefore, the king intended, yet Daniel, and his three companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, determined not to defile themselves with the king's victuals. Now, to perceive the propriety of their conduct in this instance, it will be necessary to consider the reasons of it, and how the king's meat could defile them.

Now it might defile them, first, by inciting them

Vine, the Olive, and the Fig tree were not here of the best s>rt. For grain it exceeded all other land; the Millet and the Sesame shot up here in the size of trees, and the leaves of the Barley and the Wheat, were usually four fingers broad. The Sesame afforded them oil instead of the Olive; and the Palm, instead of the grape, afforded them wine Herod. L. 1 C. 193.

to intemperance, and hence prevent their advancement in learning. We have already hinted at this; but it is a subject of such great importance to all those who are in early life, and are preparing for situations of trust and importance, that it may be necessary to say a little more upon it.

'The union of mind and body, though inexplicable in its mode, is yet, we well know, of such a nature, that those practices which injure the body, also enervate the mind. Intemperance produces a momentary flow of spirits, and exuberance of wit, occasionally, it is true; but this is generally succeeded by languor and incapacity for close application. One night's undue mirth and jollitywill often destroy the inclination, and even the physical power of attention to study for a week. But occasional excesses, though highly injurious, are not so destructive to habits of industry, as a life of soft indulgence and regular voluptuousness'; and upon this ground, principally, it is necessary to caution the student, lest he should prevent his improvement, whilst it is not easy to charge him directly with vice. Many young men at College are exceedingly moral, in the general sense of the word, whose improvement is very limited, because of their effeminate habits, and regular indulgence in the refinements of life. Their manners are delicate, and behaviour polite; but their minds are destitute of vigour, or expansion; they wish to possess knowledge, but have not courage to encounter the fatigue of acquiring it,

In the refusal of Daniel, therefore, to live delicately, we may mark a great as well as a pious mind; for religious considerations would operate to prevent him from eating of the king's victuals. The law of Moses forbade the eating of many things, which were es