with some inscription on it was used as a seal. In sealing the den it is probable that the fastening of the stone which secured the entrance was covered with wax or clay, and so impressed with the seal that any violation of it could be detected at once.

QUESTIONS.

To what honour was Daniel advanced in the time of Darius ? What was the fault that the princes found in him? Was this really a fault, or was it a good point in Daniel's character? What was to be the result if Daniel worshipped the true God? Shew that he did not care for it. Give an account, in your own words, of Daniel cast into the den of lions.

OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD.

ABOVE-below-where'er I gaze,
Thy guiding finger, Lord, I view,
Traced in the midnight planet's blaze,
Or glistening in the morning dew;
Whate'er is beautiful or fair,

Is but Thine own reflection there.

I hear Thee in the stormy wind,

That turns the ocean wave to foam;
Nor less Thy wondrous power I find,
When summer airs around me roam;
The tempest and the calm declare
Thyself, for Thou art everywhere.

I find Thee in the depth of night,
And read Thy Name in every star
That drinks its splendour from the light
That flows from mercy's beaming car ;
Thy footstool, Lord, each starry gem
Composes-not Thy diadem.

And when the radiant orb of light

Hath tipped the mountain tops with gold, Smote with the blaze, my weary sight Shrinks from the wonders I behold;

That ray of glory bright and fair,
Is but Thy living shadow there.

Thine is the silent noon of night,

The twilight eve-the dewy morn;
Whate'er is beautiful and bright,

Thine hands have fashioned to adorn.
Thy glory walks in every sphere,

And all things whisper, "God is here!"

Anon.

CHAPTER LXXVIII,

THE SAMARITANS.

THE ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel never came back from captivity, but were scattered about, and now they are lost, so that we do not know where they are. But the King of Babylon sent some other people that he had taken prisoners near his own country, to live in Israel; and these people were heathens.

"The King of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Se-phar-va-im, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

"And so it was in the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

"Wherefore they spake to the King of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

"Then the King of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land,

"Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria, came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

"Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.

"So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

"So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children as did their fathers, so do they unto this day." (2 Kings xvii. 24-29, 32, 41.)

These were called Samaritans, and they became enemies to the Jews at Jerusalem, and they hindered them in building the temple, and would not let those who lived in Galilee go through their land up to the Holy City, to keep their feasts; and "the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans." You will remember that our Lord said to the woman of Samaria, "Ye worship ye know not what" (John iv. 22); and once when He wanted to go through their country to the feast at Jerusalem, they would not let Him, and James and John asked if they should call down fire from heaven upon them, as Elijah had done; but Jesus rebuked them, and said, "Ye know not what spirit ye are of."

QUESTIONS.

What tribes did not come back? What became of them? Who went to live in their land? From whence did they come? What religion had they? What did God do to them? What did the king do? What did the priest teach them? How did they mix · the worship? What is said about them in the New Testament?

CHAPTER LXXIX.

RETURN FROM CAPTIVITY.

THE Lord had said by the mouth of Jeremiah,"These nations shall serve the King of Babylon seventy years; and it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the King of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity" (Jer. xxv. 11, 12).

At the end of seventy years the King of Babylon gave a great feast, and used the sacred cups of the Lord's temple, when the finger of the Lord wrote on the wall,

THE RETURN FROM THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.

and Daniel told him that the end was come; and that night Cyrus took Babylon and slew Bel-shaz-zar; so the Lord "punished the King of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity."

In the first year of his reign Cyrus made a decree, that the Jews might go back to their own land; and about fifty thousand of them did so, under Ze-rub-ba-bel, or, as he was also called, Shesh-baz-zar, a prince of Judah, grandson of Jehoi-a-kin. Jeshua the high priest went with them; and Cyrus gave them back all the vessels of the house of the Lord, five thousand four hundred vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and they took them back to Jerusalem.

In the second year after their return they laid the foundations of that temple in which our Lord used to teach. But the people who lived in Samaria wanted to join in building it, as if they belonged to the same people, and wanted to make one nation with the Jews; but the Jews would not let them, because they were heathens, and were not of the seed of Abraham; so the Samaritans tried to stop them, and at last they sent men to Babylon to tell the king how re-bel-li-ous the Jews had always been, and he had better not let them build up a strong city like Jerusalem. The building of the temple was stopped for a time, but they went on with the houses of the city.

In the reign of Darius, twenty years later, the Jews tried again, and got a new decree from the king, and he ordered those people who had hindered the Jews to help them, and the governors to give them timber, and stone, and money out of the taxes to help the work on.

Then the temple was finished in the eighth year of Darius; and they de-di-ca-ted it, and kept the Passover. But the old men mourned because this house was not what the temple of Solomon had been. They had lost the ark, and the two tables of stone, and the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, and there was no longer the glory of the Lord sitting between the cherubims.

NOTES.-The captivity was from B.C. 606 to 536, i.e., seventy years. For the writing on the wall, see chap. lxxv,