; and the omission makes
the clause more emphatic, as insisting on the act, and slurring over the
self-evident result.

On the other hand, in the next clause the act is slightly touched ('if
ye worship not'); and all the stress comes on the grim description of
the consequence. This monarch, who has been accustomed to bend men's
wills like reeds, tries to shake these three obstinate rebels by terror,
and opens the door of the furnace, as it were, to let them hear it roar.
He finishes with a flash of insolence which, if not blasphemy, at least
betrays his belief that he was stronger than any god of his conquered
subject peoples.

But the main point to notice in this speech is the unconscious
revelation of his real motive in demanding the act of worship. The
crime of the three was not that they worshipped wrongly, but that they
disobeyed Nebuchadnezzar. He speaks of 'my gods', and of the 'image
which I have set up.' Probably it was an image of the god of the
Babylonian pantheon whom he took for his special patron, and was erected
in commemoration of some victorious campaign.

At all events, the worship required was an act of obedience to him, and
to refuse it was rebellion. Idolatry is tolerant of any private opinions
about gods, and intolerant of any refusal to obey authority in worship.
So the early Christians were thrown to the lions, not because they
worshipped Jesus, but because they would not sacrifice at the Emperor's
command. It is not only heathen rulers who have confounded the spheres
of civil and religious obedience. Nonconformity in England was long
identified with disloyalty; and in many so-called Christian countries
to-day a man may think what he likes, and worship as he pleases in his
chamber, if only he will decently comply with authority and pretend to
unite in religious ceremonies, which those who appoint and practise them
observe with tongue in cheek.

But we may draw another lesson from this truculent apostle of his god.
He is not the only instance of apparent religious zeal which is at
bottom nothing but masterfulness. 'You shall worship my god, not because
he is God, but because he is mine.' That is the real meaning of a great
deal which calls itself 'zeal for the Lord.' The zealot's own will,
opinions, fancies, are crammed down other people's throats, and the
insult in not thinking or worshipping as he does, is worse in his eyes
than the offence against God.

The kind of furnace in which recusa