he tells Pharaoh that he will meet in the grave "Asshur, and all her company; Elam, and all her multitude; Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude; Edom, her kings and all her princes; the princes of the north, all of them; and all the Zidonians, fallen by the sword"—the sword of this same resistless power. The conquest of Tyre and Zidon naturally also involved the Phoenician colonies in Africa and Spain; so that Philostratus declares Nebuchadnezzar's dominion "advanced to the Pillars of Hercules." He subdued Egypt, and set up over it a king subject to himself. Meshech, and Tubal, and all they of the north quarters, and their bands, are mentioned among the peoples brought under him, which would extend his dominion to the Caucasian Mountains, over the countries around the Black Sea, the Sea of Azof, and the valleys of the Don and the Dnieper, including much of the present empires of Russia and European Turkey.

The enormous public works which he wrought sufficiently corroborate these accounts of his victories, resources, and vast dominion. He adorned and exalted Babylon with a magnificence befitting the metropolis of so mighty an empire. He built an enclosure around it so thick and high as to embody more solid masonry than the Chinese Wall. It took in not less than one hundred and thirty square miles. Through this wall were one hundred passage-ways, secured by ponderous gates of solid brass. Inside these walls were two palaces, themselves very wildernesses of architectural magnificence and artistic adornment,

besides the famous artificial mountains and mighty temples, the mere ruins of which have left piles still one hundred and forty feet in height. Near to this city he made a reservoir one hundred and thirty-eight miles in circumference and twenty fathoms deep, into which to drain off the river and retain its waters. He lined the Persian Gulf with great break waters against the irruptions of the sea. He cut various navigable canals, one of which remains to this day and is still called the "King's River." He walled up the sides of the Euphrates all along its course to the sea, casting up enormous embankments, some of which exist to this present. And all the great cities of Upper Babylonia he rebuilt, adorned with magnificent temples, and exalted with works which still tell of him to the antiquarian and explorer.

Having made all these mighty conquests, become invested with the sole authority over the great empire of Babylon, and settled down now as the sublime lord of all this realm, riches, power and glory, Nebuchadnezzar began to think over his affairs. Being a man of breadth and seriousness of intellect, he was led to consider very profoundly the situation of things and to wonder about the end of all this magnificence, how he got it, what was involved in it, and what was to be the future history and outcome. He was yet young. All the known world was at his feet and subject to his will, He had been wonderfully successful and had reached very dizzy heights. Glory and dominion unparalleled were his. What was he to do with it? To what landing was this proud ship

of state to come when once his little span of life was measured? What was to be in the hereafter? These were the "thoughts" that came upon him. They came up even into his bed. His very sleep was disturbed as he thus contemplated the unknown and inscrutable Beyond.

We are not informed whether there was anything in all this akin to the experience of King Richard III., of which Shakespeare makes him say—

Methought the souls of all that I had murdered

Came to my tent; and every one did threat

To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard."

But it could hardly be much otherwise. We may be sure, at least, that these invading "thoughts" had reference to the security and destiny of himself and his throne, including all the mysterious implications besetting such an administration. Out of these

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thoughts" God also framed for him a dream-picture of the whole matter, which disturbed him yet the more when the morrow came, even though he could not remember so as to describe it.

A bright and mighty image stood before him with the outlines and lineaments of a man. The form of it was lustrous and terrible. The head of it was glittering with gold. The breast and arms were shining silver. The chest and thighs were glowing brass. The legs were pillars of iron. And the feet and toes were mingled iron and clay. A mystic stone, self moved, rolled down from the mountain and struck the image on its feet, breaking them to

pieces and grinding the whole image to dust, which the winds blew away, while the stone developed into a great mountain and filled the whole earth! It was the image of worldly empire, from its beginning, through all its varying fortunes, down to the end of time, and of the supernal power which is then to supplant it. The king could not describe the vision when he awoke. It went from him with his recovering consciousness, as it had framed itself to his thoughts when he uneasily sank into those slumbers. But the awfulness of it was upon his soul. It was such a strange and overpowering intermingling with his thinking, and seemed so evidently a supernatural answer to his questions, that it stirred him profoundly. If in the power of man to recall that vision, he determined that it should be recalled and its meaning ascertained. Nor was it mere curiosity, but sober seriousness, which moved his anxiety.

Nor can I but admire the earnestness of this man in this matter. It is just what ought to press most urgently upon the heart and conscience of every young man as he moves out into the cares and responsibilities of life. Especially if our efforts have brought us great successes, honors, greatness and power, it should much occupy our thinking to know where we are, how it is likely to go with us, what rocks and quicksands may be encountered in our voyage, what precipices and dangers may be before us, how best to secure what is made dependent upon our will, and how to steer that things may have an honorable and

happy outcome. It belongs to every one's proper manhood to exercise himself well in this very way, and to be earnestly anxious in this very line. Many are born into this world, and live through it, and die out of it, and even take prominent part in its affairs, who never seem to become conscious of themselves, or to think whence they came, what they are, or what is to come of them or the things on which they are spending their energies. And though God comes to them with many a brilliant vision, many an imposing dream, and many a word of useful information, they let it go as if it concerned them not. Eternal Wisdom condescends to put the sublimest teachings within their reach, but they care not to know what they are or what is to be in the future. Let this heathen king rebuke and shame their brutishness. Not all his honors, greatness and power could divert him from solemn thought of what was to come. Upon his royal couch he seriously moralizes and thinks. He reasons and wonders and inquires about the end. And when sensible of some mysterious tokens from the Deity, he will not rest till he learns the import of the vouchsafed revelation. All the masters of sacred wisdom are summoned to help him to an understanding of the heavenly intimations. It was noble in him, and evinced the seriousness and dignity of a true man, who will rise up in the judgment and condemn those who never cast a thought upon the solemnities of life or care to learn what God has vouchsafed for their guidance to a happy destiny. Very incompetent, however, were the helpers to whom the king