ey could
not interpret it. The king promised that whoever could read it should
be made the third ruler in the kingdom; that he should have gifts, and
that a gold chain should be put round his neck. But the wise men tried
in vain. The king was greatly troubled.

At last, in the midst of the consternation, the queen came in, and she
told the monarch, if he would only send for one who used to interpret
the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, he could read the writing and tell him
the interpretation thereof. So Daniel was sent for. He was very
familiar with it. He knew his Father's handwriting.

"This is the writing that was written, _Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin_.
This is the interpretation of the thing: _Mene_--God hath numbered thy
kingdom and finished it. _Tekel_--Thou art weighed in the balances,
and art found wanting. _Peres_--Thy kingdom is divided, and given to
the Medes and Persians."

If some one had told the king an hour before that the time had come
when he must step into the balances and be weighed, he would have
laughed at the thought. But the vital hour had come.

The weighing was soon over. The verdict was announced, and the
sentence carried out. "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the
Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom." Darius and
his army came marching down those streets. There was a clash of arms.
Shouts of war and victory rent the air. That night the king's blood
mingled with the wine of the banquet hall. Judgment came upon him
unexpectedly, suddenly: and probably ninety-nine out of every hundred
judgments come in this way. Death comes upon us unexpectedly; it comes
upon us suddenly.

Perhaps you say: "I hope Mr. Moody is not going to compare me with
that heathen king."

I tell you that a man who does evil in these Gospel days is far worse
than that king. We live in a land of Bibles. You can get the New
Testament for a nickel, and if you haven't got a nickel you can get it
for nothing. Many societies will be glad to give it to you free. We
live in the full blaze of Calvary. We live on this side of the cross,
but Belshazzar lived more than five hundred years on the other side.
He never heard of Jesus Christ. He never heard about the Son of God.
He never heard about God except, perhaps, in connection with his
father's remarkable vision. He probably had no portion of the Bible,
and if he had, probably he didn't believe it. He had no godly minister
to point him to the Lamb of God.