a miracle. But it is believed that the last event which is recorded of his life, affecting him personally, made a permanent impression.

Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest warrior of his age, was now the undisputed master of all Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and the celebrated cities of Neneveh and Tyre having likewise submitted to his arms, the conqueror was in peace and at leisure to embellish and strengthen the metropolis of his great empire. The wonders of Babylon are more like fairy tales than reality, yet their existence is not questioned, for they are very particularly described by historians. You have read of the prodigious walls of Babylon, and her hanging gardens, which were amongst the wonders of the world, and have never been surpassed; her canals, and her palaces, and her superb temple of Belus, in which were placed the sacred vessels obtained by the plunder of the sanctuary at Jerusalem. I will not detain you by repeating what has been so often described, but proceed to the fall of this great prince from the eminence on which he stood after all these great works were completed.

About this time he is represented to himself in a dream, under the figure of a magnificent tree, high and extending, whose branches afforded provision and shade for every creature under heaven. Whilst he gazed on the tree, he saw in his dream "a watcher and an holy one come down from heaven, and commanded the destruction of the tree and the dispersion of the beasts and the fowls that reposed under its shadow, or had their dwelling in its branches." "Nevertheless, " continued the angel, "leave the stump of his roots in the earth, and let it bé wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with

the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. To the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." The wise men, as on a former occasion, were summoned to relieve the consternation of the king-but none could interpret the portentous dream until Daniel was called in. Inspired by a prescience unknown to the Chaldean impostors, he saw the decree against Nebuchadnezzar, and would have declined an explanation; but told him at length that the tree represented himself," whose greatness reached unto heaven and his dominion to the ends of the earth;" that he was to be driven from the dwelling of men, to eat grass with the beasts of the field, until he should know that the most high was the supreme ruler of kingdoms. And whereas the stump being left in the earth, was an intimation that he should return to his throne-Daniel ventured in the conclusion, respectfully and affectionately, to advise him to " repent of his sins and shew mercy to the poor," if he might peradventure avert the dread sentence !

Nebuchadnezzar seems not to have been moved, for at the end of the year as he walked on a terrace, exulting in the splendour of his capital and exclaiming, "Is not this great Babylon which I have built by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty !" he was suddenly bereft of his senses, and either wandered into the forests, or was driven out by his servants, who were probably rejoiced to get rid of a master who had oppressed them to aggrandize himself. Seven years, however, he remained in the fields: at that time his reason returned, and he was restored to his

throne, confessing that God, the Most High, was the Sovereign disposer of kingdoms and the ruler of the universe! FANNY. Did he not relapse into idolatry?

MRS. M. We have no further account of Nebuchadnezzar: but it is believed that he did not, for this story of his chastisement and repentance is given by his own hand, and he lived but one year afterwards: having reigned fortyfive years.

Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, succeeded to the throne of Babylon, of whose reign but one act is recorded in scripture. This was the liberation of the captive king of the Jews, Jehoiachin, from his prison, in the sixty-third year of his age. Thirty-seven years of confinement had probably rendered the unfortunate monarch indifferent to the pleasures and charities of life. Such, however, as Evil-merodach could give, he bestowed: a seat at the table of his master, an establishment suitable to his rank, together with the precedence of all other princes and nobles then at the court of Babylon.

CATHERINE. By what motive was the new king induced to show so much kindness to a man who had been so inhumanly treated by his father?

MRS. M. Tradition ascribes it to his having contracted a friendship for the royal captive, whilst he was himself confined in the same prison by his sire. Sympathy, we know, is the very natural result of similar sufferings. The munificence of the king of Babylon, to Jehoachin, was certainly not the effect of his native disposition, for historians describe him as so vile, that even his own relations conspired with his subjects to put him to death, when he had reigned but two years!

The chief object of the Old Testament being to record

the history of the Jews, that of other nations is but men→ tioned incidentally, as they were connected with that most favoured people.

The reign, therefore, of one king of Babylon, occupying four or five years after the death of Evil-merodach, is passed over without notice, and the story of Daniel is resumed in the reign of Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchad

nezzar.

In the first year of Belshazzar, the revolution of empires, which had been revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, under the emblem of a great image of various metals, was revealed to Daniel in a dream, under the similitude of four wild beasts, denoting, by their different dispositions, the prevailing characters of the several nations, which should subvert and succeed one another.

"So*

Again in the third year of Belshazzar, the conquest of the mighty empire of Babylon by the Persians, and the subsequent dominion of Alexander the Great, were exhibited in a vision to Daniel, as he walked in one of the royal palaces at Shushan, beside the river Ulai. likewise Ezekiel saw visions by the river of Chebar," observes Bishop Newton, " as if the holy spirit had delighted to manifest itself in such retired scenes: and the gifts and the graces of the spirit are often, in scripture language, described by the metaphors of springs and streams of water, than which nothing was more agreeable and refreshing in hot and dry countries." (B. C. 553.)

That Daniel was still in the royal service, appears from the effects, which he says in his account of these astonish

* See Newton on the Prophecies, vol. 1. p. 283, where the reader will find a full exposition of the visions of Daniel.

ing visions, especially the latter, were produced by them. It is said that he fainted, became sick, and was unable to attend to the “ king's business" for some days.

But Belshazzar, devoted to his pleasures, whilst the conduct of the state was directed by Nitocris, his mother, a lady of superior wisdom and courage, was unacquainted with the value of his minister. A war with the Persians was bequeathed to him by his father, and was conducted by the queen-mother with great spirit, during the whole reign of Belshazzar. Babylon, at length, the city impreg nable, as it seemed, from its stupendous fortificationsBabylon itself was besieged by the celebrated Cyrus-and the time was at hand, when the judgments, denounced by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Daniel, were to overwhelm it. Human prudence or power, in the balance against these, were but as chaff before the wind! The impious prince, however, as confident as careless, made a splendid entertainment for his nobles on an annual festival, and profanely decorated his tables with the sacred vessels of gold from the temple. Whilst they revelled in fearless security, a mysterious hand appeared against the wall, opposite to the seat of Belshazzar, and recorded upon it at once his reproof and his punishment. All were chilled with amazement, but none could decypher the writing! The wise men were called, but their arts were ineffectual! At this crisis, the dismay of the assembly was suspended by the entrance of the dowager queen. Attentive as she had been to the affairs of the empire, she had become acquainted with the singular endowments of Daniel, and now hastened to inform the king, that he who had been called Belteshazzar, and had been honoured "because the spirit of the holy gods was in him," and because