ss, his legs of iron, his feet part of
iron and part of clay.

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote
the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to
pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer
threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was
found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great
mountain, and filled the whole earth."

The prophet next declared the interpretation. And now follows the
history of the world in miniature.

Babylon

"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given
thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the
children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the
heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them
all. Thou art this head of gold."

[Illustration: THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

"Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." Dan.
5:28.]

The parts of the image, then, of various metals, from head to feet,
represented successive empires, beginning with Babylon; and the kingdom
of Babylon, represented by Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold.

History shows how fitly the golden head symbolizes the Babylonian
kingdom. Long before, the prophet Isaiah had described it as "the glory
of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency." Isa. 13:19. And
now, in Nebuchadnezzar's day, it was the golden age of the Babylonian
kingdom. No such gorgeous city as its capital ever before stood on
earth. And Nebuchadnezzar was the great leader of its conquests, and the
beautifier and builder of its walls and palaces. "For the astonishment
of men I have built this house," one tablet reads; and hundreds repeat
the story.

"Those portals
for the astonishment of multitudes of people
with beauty I adorned.
In order that the battle storm
to Imgur-Bel
the wall of Babylon might
not reach;
what no king before me
had done."--_East India House Inscription._

Thus Nebuchadnezzar's records of stone today repeat the proud boast
faithfully reported in the Scripture, "Is not this great Babylon, that I
have built?" Dan. 4:30. To the king it seemed that such a city could
never fall. One inscription reads:

"Thus I completely made strong the defenses of Babylon. May it
last forever."