hich
the world can neither give nor take away, and which has converted many a
fiery furnace into a shadow from the heat.

Over those who love Him God watches in the night, and holds sweetest
communion with them, as through the long dark hours they lie upon their
beds; but to the wicked He sends no thought of comfort or consolation.
He does not soothe them to rest with the remembrance of His loving care.
And often He troubles them with dark thoughts and unwelcome dreams, that
banish true repose.

So this wicked king, Nebuchadnezzar, who lived for himself, and not for
God, who enriched himself at the expense of others, who closed his ears
to the cry of the fatherless and the widows, and who passed by judgment
and justice and mercy, was perplexed with a mysterious dream.

He saw, growing in the middle of the earth, a mighty tree, which reared
its lofty head to the skies, and, on every side, sent out boughs to the
ends of the world. Large bright green leaves thickly covered its
branches, from which hung, in unheard-of abundance, great clusters of
fruit. The beasts of the field found under it a grateful shadow from the
heat of the burning sun. The fowls of the air came and built their nests
in its leafy branches, and there laid their eggs, and reared their
young, and joyously sang out their gladness. All was bright and
beautiful; and the sleeping king, as he gazed wonderingly at the giant
tree, admired its grandeur and its greatness.

To what length of days, he thought, might this majestic tree not attain!
and how would the earth be able to hold it if it should go on increasing
in size?

But suddenly there was a fluttering in the air; and down from the bright
heavens came "a watcher and an holy one," who was terrible in his
strength, and whose face shone like the sun. Judgment, and not mercy,
was written upon his forehead. And oh, his voice! How dreadful it
sounded to the startled king, who would gladly have closed his ears to
it.

"Hew down the tree," the Angel cried, with a voice of thunder, his eyes,
which were like balls of fire, flashing with righteous indignation. "Hew
down the tree, and cut off his branches; shake off his leaves, and
scatter his fruit. Warn the beasts to get from under it, lest they be
crushed with its weight. And bid the little birds leave its branches.
But do not destroy the tree. Leave the stump of his roots in the earth.
Let it be wet with the dew of heaven; and let his portion be with the