sions by tens of
thousands.

The four Hebrews still continued in power, and more than retained their
former excellence. Daniel was highly esteemed by the king for his great
wisdom and skill in the affairs of government; but the impressions of the
superiority of Jehovah, made upon the monarch's mind at the
interpretation of the dream, had well-nigh been obliterated. Pride
rebelled against the thought of the future overthrow of the empire; and
fain would he have persuaded himself that uneasiness brought about by a
troublesome dream was unworthy of him.

The three brothers, in their spheres, performed their duties with a
degree of perfection and exactitude that greatly pleased the king; and
for this, more than on account of their genuine excellence, were they
regarded by him in a favorable light. Those pleasing qualities so
apparent in the earlier history of the king were fast disappearing, to
give way to pride, vanity, peevishness, and even cruelty.

The bold and impetuous declaration of the king, in regard to the
sovereignty of the God of Israel, and the peculiar circumstances under
which the poor Hebrews were promoted, were far from being forgotten by
the Babylonians. There was a deep and abiding dissatisfaction in the
minds of thousands in the realm, not so much on account of the elevation
of the Hebrews, as on account of the conviction that the sovereign was
not a sincere worshiper of the gods of the empire. The king, by
occasional remarks from his nobles, had noticed more than once that there
was something in their language that indicated a lack of confidence in
his fidelity to the gods. Nebuchadnezzar, notwithstanding his increasing
vanity, was far from being indifferent to the estimation in which he was
held by his subjects. He knew that his safety was based on the confidence
and friendship of his people, and he was determined, if by his former
professions he had unwisely magnified the God of Daniel, and thereby lost
the confidence of his Chaldean subjects, to give them unmistakable proof
that he still was a worshiper at the shrine of Belus.

Summoning Belrazi, one of his most trusted officers, to his side, the
king said:

"From the nature of thy position, thou art called to mingle in very
numerous circles, and no man at the palace is better qualified than thou
to judge of the feelings of the subjects toward their king. Come, now, be
frank and plain with thy sovereign, and tell me how I stand in the
estimatio