THE FIERY FURNACE.

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at whose dedication all the people were to fall down and worship it. Disobedience to this decree was to be punished by death in a fiery furnace, prepared on purpose. As the exaltation of the three Jews had procured them the envy and enmity of certain Chaldeans, they drew near and informed Nebuchadnezzar that the persons he had promoted had not obeyed his command, nor worshipped the image. Their reply evinced unshaken piety and intrepidity: 'Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.' Nebuchadnezzar, full of fury, commanded instant execution of the sentence, which was so unjust, that the men who delivered the victims to the flames were destroyed by the intense heat of the furnace. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace;' when the king was astonished to perceive four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, the form of the fourth being like the Son of God. Awed and subdued by the sight, the king called the three Jews by their names to come out, and they came out unhurt, nor had the smell of the fire passed upon them.—DAN. iii.

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HIS king had another dream, which troubled him much, but which none but Daniel could interpret ;

and it foretold grievous calamity to the monarch -even madness, and his exclusion from human society. The prophet conveyed his message with firmness and respect, coupled with good advice, which, it seems, was unheeded; for all that had been predicted fell upon him. Whilst exulting in his greatness he was struck with insanity, and driven from man to partake of the grass in the fields with the oxen.-DAN. iv.

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THE WRITING ON THE WALL.

ELSHAZZAR [another king of Babylon] made a

great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank

wine before the thousand. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. 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 Chaldeans were now sent. for, but they were confounded at the sight, and could answer nothing.

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It remained for Daniel again to stand interpreter, and again to bear a message of calamity and ruin. And this is the writing that was given, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.'DAN. V.

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DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN.

IT pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred

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and twenty princes, which should be over the whole

kingdom; and over these three presidents, of whom Daniel was first: and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to

DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN.

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find occasion against Daniel; but they could find none occasion nor fault. Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. All the presidents of the kingdom have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree. Wherefore King Darius signed the decree.' This stratagem, of course, had the desired effect of entrapping Daniel, who kneeled to his God before his open window three times a day. Notwithstanding that the king now saw through this malicious device, and was anxious to save Daniel, he could not, in the face of his people, alter a law of the Medes and Persians. He therefore committed Daniel to the den, with an assurance that his God would deliver him: and such, indeed, was the fact. After a restless night of anxiety, the king hastened to the den, and called to Daniel to know if his God had indeed preserved him. 'Then said Daniel, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths that they have not hurt me.' The king then commanded Daniel's accusers to take his place in the den, where they met with swift destruction.-Dan. vi.