True Devottion Calms The Spirit

 True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but
superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions.
The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud
men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord,
that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or
death were not to be considered. Those that would avoid sin,
must not parley with temptation when that to which we are
allured or affrighted is manifestly evil. Stand not to pause
about it, but say, as Christ did, Get thee behind me, Satan.
They did not contrive an evasive answer, when a direct answer
was expected. Those who make their duty their main care, need
not be anxious or fearful concerning the event. The faithful
servants of God find him able to control and overrule all the
powers armed against them. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst. If He
be for us, we need not fear what man can do unto us. God will
deliver us, either from death or in death. They must obey God
rather than man; they must rather suffer than sin; and must not
do evil that good may come. Therefore none of these things moved
them. The saving them from sinful compliance, was as great a
miracle in the kingdom of grace, as the saving them out of the
fiery furnace was in the kingdom of nature. Fear of man and love
of the world, especially want of faith, make men yield to
temptation, while a firm persuasion of the truth will deliver
them from denying Christ, or being ashamed of him. We are to be
meek in our replies, but we must be decided that we will obey
God rather than man.