portion of the king's meat." After this, Daniel and his friends were allowed to live according to their own law; they received the best education which the wise men of Babylon could give, and became learned in all the arts and sciences then known.

At the end of three years, when all the captives educated in the palace appeared before the king, and he examined their attainments and abilities, none were found equal to these four Jews therefore they were selected to stand before the king. "And in all matters of wisdom and understanding the king enquired of them, and found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers of the realm."

Daniel thus early distinguished himself by his piety and abilities; but within the year, a new lustre was thrown upon his character, by an incident not uncommon in that age. Nebuchadnezzar had now succeeded to the whole government of the vast empire of the Chaldeans, since the death of his father Nabopolassar, and by his conquests and exalted talents, obtained the title of Great for two years previously he had been joined in the government by his father Nabopolassar, and successfully commanded his armies, and invaded Egypt during that monarch's life; but immediately on his father's death he returned to Babylon, and there governed with vigour, and wisely ordered all the internal affairs of his kingdom. In the second year of his reign, reckoning from the death of his

father Nabopolassar,* Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream, which troubled his spirit. And he commanded the magicians and astrologers to be called; and he ordered them to tell him his dream, and its interpretation. As these astrologers pretended to possess supernatural power, by which they could foretell future events, this demand was not perhaps so unreasonable as it at first appears; but it completely took them by surprise, and they could only reply with timid fear, "tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation." But the king answered impatiently, "the thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known to me the dream, and the interpretation, ye shall be cut in pieces; but if ye will shew me the dream and the interpretation, ye shall receive gifts and great honor." Again the terrified magicians implored the king to tell them the dream, and they would interpret it: the irritated monarch rejected their demand with scorn, "I know of a certainty," he said, “that ye would gain time, because ye see the thing is gone from me:† ye have prepared

* The Babylonians reckon this king's reign from the death of Nabopolassar, and Daniel does the same: but the Hebrew writers in other parts of the Bible, reckon from the time Nebuchadnezzar was joined by his father in the empire, which is two years earlier this was natural, as it was then he first conquered Jerusalem, and was recognised by them as the sovereign of Chaldea.

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† The thing is gone from me, in the Septuagint the decree is gone forth from me.

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lying and corrupt words to speak, till the times be changed: but if ye will not make known to me the dream, there is but one decree for therefore tell the dream, and I shall know if ye can shew the interpretation." From this it appears, that the king remembered sufficient of his dream to know if they truly repeated it, but refused to tell it, in order to test their knowledge.

The Chaldeans now declared there was not a man upon the earth who could shew what the king desired, nor was there any ruler, king, or lord, however powerful he might be, who had ever asked such a thing of any astrologer: "none but the gods could shew it, and their dwelling is not with flesh." But it was all in vain; the haughty monarch became furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon should be slain.

Daniel was not then more than two or three and twenty years of age, and consequently, though already enrolled among the wise men, he was too young to be selected to go into the royal presence on this occasion: when therefore the captain of the guard sought Daniel and his friends, to put them to death, he was greatly surprized he ventured to remonstrate, and asked why is the decree so hasty from the king? then, having access to the royal apartments, he went to the angry monarch, and desired that he might have time, when he promised that he would interpret the dream.

Daniel forthwith went to his house, and communicated the decree to his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: they all spent the night in prayer to God, beseeching him that he would reveal this secret, that they might not perish with the rest of the wise men: their prayer was heard, and that night the thing was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Full of pious gratitude he uttered this beautiful thanksgiving.

"Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings, and setteth up kings; he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desire of thee, for thou hast made known unto us the king's matter."

Early in the morning, Daniel went to the captain of the guard, and said, "Destroy not the wise men of Babylon, and I will shew the king his dream." Then Arioch the captain, brought Daniel before the king, who regarding his youth with surprize, asked if he could indeed tell him his dream, and its meaning? Daniel replied with humble piety,

"The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magi

cians, the soothsayers, shew the king: But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days." "But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart."

"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee: and the form thereof was terrible. The head of the image was of fine gold, the breast and arms of silver, the body and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors: and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."

"This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation before the king.

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Thou, O king, art a king of kings, for the God in heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory: And whereso