yrs--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: ME