men, nor the heathen nations amongst whom they dwelt, but we ourselves, Edward, with the whole Church of God, have reason to be glad that Daniel went into captivity. For by his explanation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and by other prophecies of a like nature, which were afterwards made known to him by God, he has thrown a glorious light upon history in general; not only upon that of heathen and ancient countries, but upon the history of other nations which have succeeded them, even up to our own day. Nor do his prophecies reach only to our own times; there are some of them which are still to be fulfilled, to guide the people that are yet unborn in the study of events to come hereafter.

From being placed in so distinguished a station, and being employed so much in the business of government, and brought so much into intimate acquaintance with the greatest kings and princes, Daniel had excellent opportunities of studying the history of nations. In this learning, too, God was pleased to give him uncommon wisdom, and to his wisdom to add the wonderful gift of prophecy, that so he might teach the world how really to study history with profit.

E. What do you mean by that, mamma?

M. I mean, that if we take Daniel for our guide, we shall read the history of all nations, not only to the improvement of our minds, which is too often made the only object, but to the good of our souls also, and the advancement of God's glory. We shall be getting heavenly wisdom whilst reading of earthly things. Thus, when we read of the rise and fall of great empires, we shall admire in them the wonderful VOL. II.

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providence of God; we shall see how even the most mighty kings and princes, the worst too of men as well as the best, the most selfish as well as the most religious, heathen conquerors no less than devout prophets, we shall see how all these were overruled by the Almighty, and made to bring about not their will, but his. Each page that we turn over will convince us more and more, that it is the Most High that ruleth in the kingdom of men. We shall see how God made use of the ambition of Nebuchadnezzar for the punishment of his rebellious people, who were led by him into captivity in Babylon; how he put it into the heart of Cyrus to pity and restore them when they were sorry for their sins; how he overthrew the Persian empire which Cyrus founded, by means of the Macedonian or Grecian, and that again by the Roman ; things of which you will read at large one day, when you come to be instructed in what is called profane history.

These great changes, although at first sight they seem to be the work only of men, and were brought about by their means, were yet ordered by the overruling Providence of God to advance the cause of true religion, and to bring about that happy period when all the kingdoms of the world shall become, as the prophets have foretold, “ the kingdoms of God and of Christ.” This is the kingdom of which Daniel spoke, when he said, that one day “ The God of heaven should set up a kingdom which should never be destroyed; a kingdom which should not be left to other people, but that it should break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and stand itself for ever.”

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You see now, my child, I think, many good reasons why Daniel was allowed to go into captivity; what a pity it would have been to have lost those precious prophecies which he delivered relating to the whole course of this world, and to the final triumph of the Church of God !—I have been talking to you to-night of hard things, but if you do not quite understand them now, we will come back to them again when you are a little older.

E. Mamma, I think I understand what you have been talking to me about quite as well as I do my English History, and other books which I read to you; and I like the history of the Bible so much; pray go on.

I will be very attentive, and try to understand you.

M. Then I think I may tell you of one other prophecy which God granted to Daniel, which is far more interesting than any of which I have yet spoken. I was mentioning just now, how earnestly Daniel prayed to God for the restoration of the Jews. Well, in answer to this prayer, the Almighty was pleased to assure him, that “the commandment should go forth to restore and to build Jerusalem; and that her street should be built again, and the wall, though in troublous times."

This was good news to Daniel, but there were still better things than these. God told him that far greater blessings than this were in store for his country. Even the coming of “the Messiah the Prince," that is, of our Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem or set free his people from a worse captivity than that of the body; I mean the captivity in which the souls of men are held by the power of sin and of Satan. These were

glad tidings for Daniel, and he wrote them in the book of his prophecies; but not only was he told that our blessed Redeemer should come to make peace for us with God, by atoning for our sins, and to bring in an everlasting righteousness, but the very time was mentioned when Christ should visit our fallen world, and by his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, finish the great work of our salvation. This, Edward, is one of the last of Daniel's prophecies, and one of the clearest concerning our Saviour, which any part of the Old Testament contains.

E. Did Daniel live to go back to Jerusalem ?

M. He lived, my love, to see his people return to rebuild their city and her temple, but he did not go among them. God had better things in store for him : his labours in this world were at an end—he was to die now, and rest in peace, till the finishing of all the wonderful events which had been made known to him. He did not live to see those gracious things accomplished, of which he spoke so clearly; he did not behold with his own eyes the coming of that glorious kingdom of the Messiah, of which he had uttered such remarkable predictions, for he died at Babylon, in a good old age, more than five hundred years before the birth of our Lord. But we may be very sure that faith like Daniel's shall not be forgotten, but receive, through that Saviour whom he foretold, a blessed and abundant reward.

Daniel is indeed gone his way from this troublesome world, as God had told him, until the great end shall come to clear up all his prophecies : gone to wait for their glorious fulfilment; taken away from the toils of his returning countrymen, and from all