“Praised be the name of Jehovah, under whose direction thou comest at this time to seek knowledge!  Happy is thy servant Daniel to know that he is indeed able to impart unto the king that which he inquireth after.  Jehovah is the only God, and the signs which he hath in all ages given of himself, O king, are abundant.  We hear much of the exploits of the gods of the heathen; but of these performances there are no proofs, and they exist only in the imaginations of their worshipers.  Not so with our God—­ the God that made the world.  The history of our nation, which history no one can gainsay, is an assemblage of miracles.  Examine the records of our historian Moses, who conversed with God face to face.  Our God brought us out from under the dominion of Pharaoh with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.  He gave evidence of his presence by the infliction of twelve terrible plagues on the king of Egypt and his people.  He opened before the Hebrews a passage through the sea, and brought them dry-shod to the opposite shore.  For forty years were they fed with manna from heaven, while water was called forth from the flinty rock.  And as the waves of the Red Sea were parted before them as they left Egypt, so, in like manner, were the waters of Jordan parted as they left the plains of Moab; and thus were they settled in the land of Canaan.  Since that day, nine hundred and fifteen years have passed away; and during all this period, Jehovah hath given unto his people abundant signs of his presence.  Thus our God is not a being that dwells only in the imagination of men, but his wonderful acts, O king, are written on the pages of correct history.”

“If these things are so, surely the God of Israel is the only God.  But, Daniel, thou knowest that it is much harder for Cyrus the Persian to believe these things than for thee, who art a native Hebrew, and a firm believer in the God thou worshipest.  Have not the Persians their histories of their gods as well as ye?”

“They have, O king!  But those histories are dark, indefinite, and without date, which is a conclusive evidence that they are fiction, and not history.  If my lord the king hath aught to doubt in regard to the correctness of our ancient historians concerning our God, what thinketh he of those miraculous displays of Divine power witnessed by his servant and by thousands more, during the last threescore years and ten?”

“Proceed, Daniel; the king is well pleased to hear thee!”

“Be it known to thee, O king, that all the calamities that of late have befallen Babylon have come to pass in perfect accordance with the predictions of God’s prophets, some of whom prophesied over two hundred years before these events transpired.  When thou comparest these prophecies with the actual occurrences, there remaineth no longer a place for doubt.  Even the draining of the Euphrates, O king, was spoken of by the prophet of Jehovah over one hundred and fifty years before the wonderful thing was conceived in thy mind.”