tive, now chief of the province of Babylon, was the only man in the court of Nebuchadnezzar who had in him the Spirit of that God who had caused the vision to pass before the mind of the terrified monarch. Daniel being sent for, remained astonished for one hour; he then unfolded the meaning of this fearful and interesting message from the King of kings, to the trembling potentate of Asia.

"The tree that thou sawest, is thee, O king." And "this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which is come upon my lord, the king. That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree-roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt know that the heavens do rule."

Daniel not certain but that the divine indigna

tion, might, as in the case of Nineveh, be averted by the repentance of the king, advised him to break off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor, as it might be the means of lengthening his tranquillity."

Nebuchadnezzar having heard the interpretation of his dream, appears to have remained peaceably at Babylon for a year after it, till, having finished his great works there, his glory in them seems to have filled his heart with the last possible degree of human pride, and human elation.

It is supposed, by profane historians, that while the king was walking in those magnificent gar dens, which he had made to gratify the feelings of his queen Amyitis, and viewing from their beautiful terraces, the wide prospect of the plain of Shinar, the golden city,-the domes, towers, pinnacles, and palaces of

"The eternal Babylon!

"Then girt with bulwarks strong as adamant,

"O'er which Euphrates' restless waves kept watch ;"

that entranced with the glorious spectacle, he

exclaimed, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty." But while he was thus giving utterance to the exultation of his heart, there came a voice from heaven, rebuking his pride, and calling him by name, said, "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, and they shall make thee 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." ;

These seem to have been the last words which the king understood before he was deprived of his reason; and the terror which they inspired might concur to bring the judgment upon him. The sentence was immediately carried into execution; and he continued brutalised, so to speak, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. It is not necessary to inquire into the nature or causes of this malady.

Is any thing too hard for the Lord? Whatever appearance of severity it might assume, it was sent in mercy; and the previous notice given by the dream, and Daniel's solution of it, would tend to dispose the government to concur with the divine appointment, and to leave Nebuchadnezzar for the time to the life of a brute."

After the expiration of the seven years the king's reason returned to him, he was restored to his throne, and all his former honours and majesty were re-established. And being by the fearful chastisement of the Almighty, and by the power of divine grace, convinced of the omnipotence of the God of heaven and earth, he, by a public edict, declared to the utmost boundaries of his empire, his faith in the power, wisdom, and mercy of the supreme ruler of the universe, praising and magnifying God for restoring him to his reason and his kingdom.

After his restoration to sanity of mind, and to the functions of royalty, Nebuchadnezzar lived only one year, having reigned, from the death of his father, forty-three years; or, according to the Jewish computation, from the time he was asso

ciated with Nabopolassar in the government of Assyria, forty-five years.

There have been few Asiatic princes who reigned so long, and achieved so much as Nebuchadnezzar, and none in whom the grace of God was so conspicuous. That such a man should have been the subject of redeeming love, is one of those wonders which men and angels may well desire to look into. By him the holy city was three times taken, and three times plundered; till at last it was completely sacked and levelled to the foundation; and by him the Hebrew people were blotted out from their place among the nations. During his reign he had put to death one king in Jerusalem, and two of her monarchs had been his prisoners at Babylon; while the princes of the blood-royal, of the line of David and Solomon, were subjects, and servants, and slaves in his palace; and the great mass of her captive population were colonizing his distant possessions in Persia and Media.

With the talents of her artificers he had raised some of the stupendous structures of his wonderful capital. With her mighty men of valour, the

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