Nebuchadnezzar is not the only monarch of whom we read in the Scripture as smitten for intolerable pride. In some aspects his history forms a counterpart to that of Pharaoh. Both were mighty and of lofty spirit; both persecuted the people of God; if one threw martyrs into the furnace, the other murdered infants in the Nile. Both were warned by a holy prophet, and dread judgments descended upon both. But here the resemblance stops. In Pharaoh we behold a man whom no chastisement could reclaim, whom no grief could effectually humble. had trembled at the awful thunder from heaven, and started as the fierce fire ran along the ground; he had seen clouds of locusts darken the sky, had beheld a river running blood, he had swelled the wail of a nation when his firstborn was smitten with death. Yet Pharaoh never truly repented; his heart like the hardened rock returned sparks of fire for the blows that struck it; he died as he had lived, in open rebellion against God.

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But the case was otherwise with Nebuchadnezzar. We have no reason to suppose that though sorely chastened he was cast off for ever, rather may we hope that he was one whose sins, though many, were forgiven. Mercy watched over the poor maniac, and preserved his life for happier days; mercy guarded for him his kingdom, so that as soon as reason returned, power and greatness were also restored. Nebuchadnezzar was permitted to mount the throne

of Assyria once more, we believe a happier and a wiser, because a more humble man. The king's besetting vice had been pride; how ready he was to sacrifice to God even this, his bosom sin, is shown by the striking fact of his proclaiming "to all people, nations, and languages," the shameful punishment which a proud man would have been most intensely desirous to hide. Nebuchadnezzar was so eager to give glory to God, that he was the recorder of his own shame; it was he who bade the world know that he had crouched with the beasts of the field. "I thought it good," wrote the contrite monarch, "to show the signs and wonders that the great God hath wrought towards me. How great are His signs, and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation."

This is not the language of pride or rebellion. The loftiness of man was bowed down, and the haughtiness of man was made low, and the Lord alone was exalted. Nebuchadnezzar had not suffered. in vain. How simple and affecting is his account of the blessed hour when his heavy cloud of affliction departed, not without leaving a blessing behind!

"And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured Him that liveth for ever." The first words uttered by the late

maniac's lips were those of thanksgiving and praise ; the first glance of the eyes, no more rolling in frenzy, were directed upwards to heaven.

They that humble themselves shall be exalted. Is it a light honour to Nebuchadnezzar that he alone of all Gentile monarchs should be permitted to write a chapter in the holy Scriptures of truth? Where millions of Christians, age after age, have found comfort, warning, and instruction from the writings of David, Isaiah, and the apostles, there till the end of time will they also find them in the words of Nebuchadnezzar. Not one stone rests upon another of the lofty tower of Belus; Babylon itself is no more; but the Word of God abideth for ever, and in that Word is embalmed the noble proclamation of Assyria's king. It is a grand thought that amongst the ransomed children of light the once persecuting tyrant may be numbered, blessing God to all eternity for seven years of misery and madness, and repeating in glory the words which he penned upon earth, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol, and honour the King of Heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase."

Full of instruction for ourselves is the history of Nebuchadnezzar. If ever there appeared to be a man lifted up beyond reach of misfortune, want, or shame, that man was the king of Assyria, But in his pride lay his peril, in his grandeur his snare.

With the lowly is wisdom. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life. The same God who cast down Nebuchadnezzar from the height of his glory and pride, is He who hath declared in the gospel, Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. It is as little children that we must seek the kingdom of heaven, if we would enter therein; it is as poor sinners that we must come to God, i we would be received into His glory. Man's strength withereth like the grass, his beauty as the flower of the field; riches take wings and flee away, and he who has the widest possessions to-day, may to-morrow own nothing but a shroud. On what then shall man build his tower of pride? in the words of the apostle, words as much suited for the highest as the lowest, for the monarch as for the slave God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In ourselves we are dust and ashes; life, honour, riches, immortality, all we may have in Him; all we can have in Him alone!

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Let the answer be given

XIV.

Conspiracy.

DITH wondered when the lecture was concluded, and the clergyman knelt in offering his prayer, why her father sat upright as ever, and why all the rest who were present, save Holdich and his wife, followed the baronet's example. Edith was perplexed, and scarcely knew what was right to be done, yet as by instinct the little child knelt, and covered her eyes with her tiny hands, till the solemn prayer was concluded. There seemed a chill over all the assembly, and no one was more painfully sensible of this than Mr. Eardley himself.

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Why does the good man not speak to me, as he always does," thought Edith when the service had come to an end. She hoped that her father would break the silence, but he only bowed slightly and stiffly to Mr. Eardley, and taking hold of the hand of his child, went forth from the cottage. Edith, feeble, and constrained by the iron frame-work which she constantly wore, could scarcely by painful efforts keep pace with the long strides of her father.