The form which Nebuchadnezzar saw amid the flame, as invested with more than human majesty, may have been but one of the ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the martyrs—­the embodiment of the divine power which kept the flames from kindling upon them.  But we have Jesus for our Companion in all trials, and His presence makes it possible for us to pass over hot ploughshares with unblistered feet; to bathe our hands in fire and not feel the pain; to accept the sorest consequences of fidelity to Him, and count them as ’not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed,’ and is made more glorious through these light afflictions.  A present Christ will never fail His servants, and will make the furnace cool even when its fire is fiercest.

MENE, TEKEL, PERES

’Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another:  yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 18.  O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:  19.  And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him:  whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. 20.  But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:  21.  And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses:  they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. 22.  And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this:  23.  But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of Heaven:  and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know:  and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:  24.  Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 25.  And this is the writing that was written, ’MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.’ 26.  This is the interpretation of the thing:  MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27.  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28.  PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 29.  Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30.  In that night was Belshazzar the king of the