518
the dream as told by the youthful
prophet :—
“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a
great image. ‘This great image, whose
brightness was excellent, stood before
thee: and the form thereof was terrible.
This image’s head was of fine gold, his
breast and his arms of silver, his belly
and his thighs of brass, 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.”
Can human mind frame such a history
in so few words? How must the king's
heart have warmed with conviction as
part after part of his dream was once
more brought to his mind. Twice had
the king said to the magicians, “The
thing is gone from me.” Now it all ap-
pears. Ie knows it is the real dream,
and the God who can reveal the dream
can certainly make its meaning known.
Methinks those wise men listened with
awe as the dream was unfolded to the
king, told with no shade of doubt in face
or voice. And as the light of memory
broke upon the face of the king, they
knew that, though unworthy, they were
saved.
Daniel continues: “This is the dream;
and we will tell the interpretation thereof
before the king. 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. And after thee shall arise
another kingdom inferior to thee, and
another third kingdom of brass, which
shall bear rule over all the earth. And
the fourth kingdom shall be strong as
iron : forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces
and subdueth all things; and as iron that
breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces
and bruise. And whereas thou sawest
the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay,
and part of iron, the kingdom shall be
THE WATCHMAN
divided ; but there shall be in it of the
strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou
sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were part of
iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall
be partly strong and partly broken. And
whereas thou sawest iron mixed with
miry clay, they shall mingle themselves
with the seed of men; but they shall not
cleave one to another, even as iron is not
mixed with clay.
“And in the days of these kings shall
the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed: and the
kingdom shall not be left to other people,
but 1t shali break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for-
ever.” Verses 30 - 44.
In eight short verses the history of
twenty-five centuries of this world is
written, and the eternal future is also
grasped in its scope. Kingdoms rise and
fall, rivers of blood wash the surface of
the earth, the earth itself waxes old and
uncertain under its burden of sin, and,
reeling on, falls to its state of chaos and
darkness. “ Thou art this head of gold.”
The kingdom is here meant instead of
the king, as he continues: “And after thee
shall arise another kingdom inferior to
thee.” “Another kingdom” signifies
that the one before must have been a
kingdom. He adds: “And another third
kingdom of brass.” Also it is evident
that four kings of Babylon came up after
Nebuchadnezzar before another kingdom
came up.
The kingdom of Babylon was the
golden age of ancient kingdoms. God
speaks of it as, “ Babylon, the glory of
kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’
excellency.” Isa. 13:19. “ His breast
and his arms of silver; ” ““ after thee shall
arise another kingdom inferior to thee.”
The Babylonian kingdom came to an end
with the overthrow of Belshazzar, B. c.
538. ‘This king, more profligate than all
before him, though knowing the dealings
of God with Nebuchadnezzar, his grand-
father, proclaimed an idolatrous feast,
and to throw contempt upon the God of
Israel, he called for the vessels, once
made sacred by their use in the temple at
Jerusalem, and himself, his wives, and
his concubines drank in them wine which
had been consecrated to their heathen
gods. Dan. 5:1-4.
The same hour the hand of a man ap-
peared which wrote strange characters on
The king called
the plaster of the wall.
HEALTH AND HOME
THE KITCHEN
Mrs. M. H. Tuxford
F, seldom see a large kitchen
these days, and I certainly
prefer the small kitchen, for,
if it is furnished as it should
be, there is a look of restful-
ness one cannot see in the
old-fashioned kitchen.
What formerly was given to
the immense room is now kitchen, din-
ing-room, and pantry. The smallest
kitchen can be made handy, nor is it im-
possible to have it contain all necessary
articles. At one end of the kitchen have
a cupboard which reaches to the ceiling.
You will need shelves for so many things,
I would have the doors divided into two,
making four doors in the cupboard, be-
cause you may require something out of
the lower half of the cupboard, and if
the doors are divided, you can open just
the one you require. It is easier to man-
age in this way.
It is well to have the stove near the
window, but on no account have one op-
posite a window, because where the sun
is always shining on the range, the fire
will not burn nearly so well. The stove
should be as near to the cupboard as pos-
sible. The sink should have a place at
one side of the room, and a small leaf
table at one end is a great convenience.
I like to see a curtain around the sink to
hide the unsightly pipes. Have white
curtains at the windows, and the walls
covered with a cheery neat and clean
sanitary paper, so one can take a damp
cloth and wipe it down when it is re-
quired. All the oilcloths on the tables
and shelves of the cupboard should be
white, and a light linoleum on the floor.
for the wise men of Babylon, but again
they failed. Again Daniel was called.
this time to read the doom of the drunken
king. The record is briefly stated: “In
that night was Belshazzar the king of the
Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median
took the kingdom, being about threescore
and two years old.” Dan. 5:30, 3I.
One has fittingly said, “ That night's
work cost them their kingdom and their
freedom. ‘They went into their brutish
revelry subjects of the king of Babylon;
they awoke from it slaves to the king of
Persia.”