iron and the clay stood for these; but in the days of the kingdom of
iron and clay the God of heaven would set up a kingdom which should
never be destroyed, but it would destroy all the kingdoms that had gone
before it. This kingdom--the great stone cut without hands from the
mountain--meant the Kingdom of Christ.

The king was so astonished at Daniel's wisdom--for it was the dream he
had forgotten brought back and interpreted--that he fell on his face
before Daniel and reverenced the God of heaven. He made Daniel chief
ruler in his realm and gave also great honors to his friends.

Nebuchadnezzar soon forgot God, for he set up a great golden image on
the plain of Dura, and called a feast of dedication. He had all his
princes and governors there, and his captains, and judges, and rulers.
The musicians were there also, with many kinds of instruments, and a
herald was there who cried in a loud voice the command of the king. It
was a call to worship the golden image. At the first sound of the
bands of music all were to fall down before the golden image, or
failing to do so, be thrown into a fiery furnace.

Among the rulers were the three friends of Daniel, whose names had been
changed by the king to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They did not
fall before the golden image, and some jealous Chaldeans who saw them
went and told the king. Then the king, who had a fiery temper, was
angry, and sent for the three young men. He told them the bands should
play again, and if they failed to worship the golden image they should
be cast into the furnace, "and who is that God that shall deliver you
out of my hands?" he asked.

"We are not careful to answer thee in this matter," they said, "If it
be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning
fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king."

Then the king in a great rage called his mighty men to bind the young
men, and after the furnace was heated seven times hotter than before,
they were thrown in. So great was the heat that the men who threw them
in were killed by it in the sight of the king. As he watched the great
door of the furnace the king rose up and said,

"Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?"

"True, O king," said his lords and captains.

[Illustration: In the fiery furnace]

Then the king with his eyes fixed upon the glowing door of the furnace
said,

"Lo I see four men loose, walking in the mid