DANIEL INTERPRETS THE DREAM.

LETTER OF JEREMIAS TO THE CAPTIVE JEWS IN BABYLON.

Build ye houses, and dwell in them and plant orchards, and eat the fruit of them: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in

number.

And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall be your peace.

For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners deceive you : and give no heed to your dreams which you dream:

For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have not sent them, saith the Lord.

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I will visit you: and I will perform my good
word in your favour, to bring you again to this
place.
For I know the thoughts that I think
towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace,
and not of affliction, to give you an end and
patience.

And you shall call upon me, and you shall go and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you.

You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with all you heart.

And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away captive. warns their brethren in

For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, Jeremias in this letter captivity, that God would make the people who remained in Jerusalem, a hissing and a reproach to all the nations to which He would drive them out, "because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord." The seventy years of captivity in Babylon, proved thus the chastisement of a father to his children. The prophets Ezechiel and Daniel were the guides and comforters of the people during this period.

§ 60. Daniel interprets the Dream of Nabuchodonosor.

Daniel was one of the children of the captivity of B.C. 605, taken at an early age into the household of Nabuchodonosor. Here, because he and his companions when mere boys, had been faithful to the law of Moses, and had refused to be defiled with the meats from the king's table, which were frequently such as had been sacrificed to the idols of Babylon, God to them such knowledge and understanding, t all matters of importance the king consulted

and found them ten times better than all the other wise men and diviners of his kingdom.

In the second year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor had a dream, and his spirit was terrified, and his dream went out of his mind. The king called together all his diviners and wise men, and required from them the interpretation of his dream. They replied, "O king, live for ever; tell to thy servants thy dream, and we will declare the interpretation

THE VISION OF THE FOUR EMPIRES.

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thereof." The king answered, "The thing is gone out of my mind; but unless you tell me the dream and the meaning thereof, you shall be put to death, and your houses shall be confiscated." The wise men replied, that none could be found to answer the king, except the gods, "whose conversation is not with men." Nabuchodonosor, in his fury at not having his dream told to him, commanded all the wise men to be put to death.

Daniel hearing of this cruel command from Arioch, the general of the army, who was charged to put it in execution, went in and requested of the king to give him time to solve the question, and declare it to the king. Daniel returned to his house and told the matter to his companions, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias, bidding them to ask the mercy of the God of heaven concerning the secret, that they might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. The same night the king's dream was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he returned thanks to God.

When Daniel was brought before the king, he said to him, "Thinkest thou that thou canst tell me the dream that I saw, and the interpretation thereof ?" Daniel answered, "This secret is revealed to me, not by any wisdom that I have more than all men, but there is a God in heaven that revealeth mysteries, who hath shown thee, O king, what is to come to pass in the latter times. Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these:

THE DREAM OF NABUCHODONOSOR,

Signifying the four kingdoms, (I.) of Babylon, (II.) of the Medes and Persians, (III.) of the Greeks, and (IV.) of the Romans, to be followed by that of the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ.

Thou, O king, sawest and behold there was as it were a great statue: this statue, which was great and high, tall of stature, stood before thee, and the look thereof was terrible.

The head of this statue was of fine gold, but the breast and the arms of silver, and the belly and the thighs of brass:

And the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay.

Thus thou sawest, till a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands: and it struck the statue upon the feet thereof that were of iron and of clay, and broke them in pieces.

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of a summer's thrashing floor, and they were carried away by the wind and there was no place found for them: but the stone that struck the statue, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

This is the dream: we will also tell the interpretation thereof before thee, O king.

Thou art a king of kings: and the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, and strength, and power and glory:

And all places wherein the children of men,

and the beasts of the field do dwell: he hath also given the birds of the air into thy hand, and hath put all things under thy power: thou therefore art the head of gold.

And after thee shall rise up another kingdom, inferior to thee, of silver; and another third kingdom of brass, which shall rule over all the world.

And the fourth kingdom shall be as iron. As iron breaketh into pieces, and subdueth all things, so shall that break and destroy all these.

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But in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever.

According as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and broke in pieces the clay and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold, the great God hath shown the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof is faithful.

King Nabuchodonosor on hearing these words fell on his face before Daniel, and commanded that they should offer to him in sacrifice, victims and incense, and said to him, "Verily your God is the God of gods, and Lord of kings, and a revealer of hidden things seeing thou couldst discover this secret."

After this Daniel was made chief magistrate over all the wise men in Babylon.

§ 61. Daniel shows the king the tricks of the Idol Priests.

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The Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and the king said to Daniel, Why dost not thou adore Bel ?" And he answered and said to him, "Because I do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, that created heaven and earth, and who hath power