trusted in Him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon." What a picture does such a story as this give of the power of God, and of the weakness of man! One of the greatest of Eastern kings, surrounded by his princes, and judges, and treasurers, and counsellors, in the midst of his splendid city, insisted that these three Jews, who were in fact his prisoners, should worship the golden image that he had set up. One would fancy that his orders must have been obeyed. So they would, if only an earthly power had upheld the victims of his cruelty. But they knew in whom they had believed, and were content to be thrown into the burning fire. The angel of the Lord was with them, and they were guarded from all hurt.

We are in no danger in this country of martyrdom of this sort; but there are still in one sense golden images set up which we may worship in our hearts. If we do wrong things for the sake of money, or of getting into favour with bad, but powerful people, we are forgetting the example of these three faithful Jews. And if we give up any advantages for conscience' sake, we shall have that

peace in our own minds that will enable us to go through the fiery furnace of ridicule or of persecution from those that hate us.

Nebuchadnezzar, however, did not learn any lesson of humility from all this. When walking amidst the glories of the city, he exclaimed, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honour of my majesty?"

:

"While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the days," says this proud king, "I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured Him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and

among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?"

"At the same time my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me, and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, and extol, and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”

BELSHAZZAR.

Bel

AFTER this we hear of another king of Babylon, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, called Belshazzar, who "made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. shazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, and his wives might drink therein. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone."

"In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his

thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another."

"The king cried loud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers" (that is, all the wisest men in his kingdom, who professed to be able to explain dreams, and to tell what was going to happen). "And he said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men, but they could not read the writing."

Probably the words were written in the Hebrew character, which they would not understand, though the Jews could. The queen came into the banquethouse and told Belshazzar, that "there is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods," and she added, "In the days of thy father light and understanding, and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. Now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation."

They sent for him, and the king repeated his promise of clothing him in scarlet, and putting a chain of gold round his neck, and making him the third ruler in the kingdom. But Daniel

said, "Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing unto

the king, and make known to him the interpretation." Then Daniel fearlessly reminded him of the awful visitation of the loss of reason that had occurred to his proud father, and added, "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, and thy wives have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified. And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin."

These words mean, numbering, weighing, dividing, and Daniel thus explained them: Mene, numbering "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it;" Tekel, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting;" Peres, "Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." In that night we are told Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom.

How terrified he must have been when he saw the mysterious writing, fearing, no doubt, that his profane use of the golden and silver vessels belonging to the Temple would bring some trouble upon him! He indeed did not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but he knew that the Jewish nation did, and it was wrong and cruel of him to shock them by using the holy vessels for such purposes.