Commentaries of the diuine Iohn Caluine, vpon the prophet Daniell, translated into Englishe, especially for the vse of the family of the ryght honorable Earle of Huntingdon, to set forth as in a glasse, how one may profitably read the Scriptures, by consideryng the text, meditatyng the sense therof, and by prayer

19 Then was Nebuchadnezer full of rage, and the forme of his visage was chaunged agaynst Sadrach, Mesach, and Abednego: therfore hee charged and commaūded that they should heate the fornace at once seuen tymes more then it was wont to be heat.

20 And hee charged the most valiant men of warre that were in his army, to binde Sadrach, Mesach, and Abednego, and to cast thē into the hote fiery fornace.

At the first sight God séemeth here to forsake hys ser∣uantes because he doth not openly helpe them. The kyng commaundeth them to be cast into a fiery fornace: no helpe appeareth from the heauens. Wherfore this was a full and perfect triall of their fayth. They were now armed, as we did sée before, to suffer all things. For they do not aunswere so constantly onely because they trusted in the present helpe of God: but because they were determined to dye, and a better life dyd so comfort their mindes, that they were con∣tent to lose this present lyfe.

This was the cause that they were not afrayde for the terrible cōmaundement of the king, but they followed theyr course, euen to suffer death without all feare for the honor of God. For there remayned no thyrd thing, but eyther to chuse to dye, or els to deny the worship of the true God. By the which example we are taught to premeditate this im∣mortall life in our quiet state, that if it so please God, we do not doubt to lay downe our liues for the testimony of the truth: for this is one cause why we are so fearefull. Agayne, when we doo come into present daunger, then doo we tremble and quake, because whiles we are forth of danger we vaynely imagine to our selues a continuall se∣curitiy. So long therefore as God geueth vs quietnes, we must apply our myndes to meditate the life to come, that the worlde may waxe vile vnto vs, and that we may be rea∣dy so oft as néede shalbe, to geue our bloude for the testimo∣ny of the truth. For this history is not set forth vnto vs, that we should onely commend and magnify the vertue and constancy of these thrée holy men, but it is set forth for vs to imitate theyr constancy.

And concerning the king Nebuchadnezer, here Da∣niel agayne, as it were in a glasse, doth shew vnto vs the pride and arrogancy of kinges when theyr commaunde∣mentes are not obeyed. Surely a hart of yron should haue bene mollified with this answere, that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did commit theyr liues vnto God, and ther∣fore could not for feare of death be drawn from theyr fayth.

But he is filled with anger. Cōcerning this rage we ought to consider what power Sathan hath ouer mē, whē he hath them in his clawes. They haue no moderation nor rule of themselues, although at other times they make a fayre shew of vertue: As this king had many tokens of vertue, as we haue sene before, but because the deuill doth now styr hym, there appeareth nothing in hym but crueltie and rage.

Forthermore, let vs remember that our constancy doth please God, although it doo not shew forth the fruite therof before the world. For many vnder this colour spare themselues to liue in their pleasures, because they thinke it a rashnes to offer themselues to death when there appea∣reth no profit. And many excuse themselues vnder this pre∣tence, that they striue no more for the glory of God, because they should lose their labour, and theyr death should be fruit¦les. But we doo heare Christ pronoūce this to be a pleasant sacrifice vnto God,* 1.1 when we offer our liues for the testimo∣ny of the heauenly doctrine, although the generation before whom we testify the name of God, be crooked & adultrous, yea though it waxe the more stubbern at our constācy. And such an example is here set forth vnto vs in these thrée holy persons. For how so euer Nebuchadnezer waxed more & more outragious with their bolde confession, yet did that playne confession please God, and they did not repent it, al∣though they did sée no such fruit of theyr constancy as they desired. And the prophet doth expresse the circumstance, to declare the kinges rage: that he commaundid the fornace to be made seuenfolde hoater then it was wont, and chu∣sed of his strongest men to cast these into the fornace. But as it appeareth by the successe, all this was done by the se∣cret prouidence of God. For the deuill might els haue ob∣scured the miracle, if all doubtes had not bene remoued. But when the king commaundeth the fornace to be made seuenfolde hoater, and did chuse out his strongest men to doo the execution, God by deliuering his seruauntes tooke away all doubtfulnes, that the more light should shine forth of that darkenes which Sathan thought to haue blinded

men withall, the kinges policy and his power.

Thus God vseth to disapoynt the wicked, and the more witty that they be to obscure Gods glory, the more doth God cause both his glory and his doctrine to shyne forth: Like as here, as it were in an image, Daniel doth paynt vnto vs, that the king Nebuchadnezer left nothing vndone, whiles that he would thus smite a terror vnto all the Iewes with this cruell punishment: and yet atteyned he nothing with all his subtill fetches, but that the power of God and his fauour should be more euidently opened to∣wardes his seruaunte.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Mat. 5.11.10.32. Mar. 8.38.