Belshazzar was Da-ri-us.

He was a proud

man, and he worshipped idols: yet he liked Daniel very much; and he set him over all the other judges, and lords, and told all the people to mind him. Daniel was a very wise old man, and he was fit to be a judge. There were a great many rich men, who hated Daniel, because the king told them to mind Daniel, and because the king liked Daniel better than them. These men were envious of Daniel. They were like Cain, who was envious of Abel, and like Joseph's brothers, who were envious of Joseph, and like Saul, who was envious of David.

Perhaps, my dear child, you have sometimes felt envious, when you have heard people praise another child and give it presents. Then you were like Satan. You must pray to God to keep you from being envious, for we are very apt to be envious, because we have wicked hearts.*

These wicked rich men wished to hurt Daniel, and to get him into disgrace with

iv. 2.

The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. James

king Darius but they did not know how to get him into disgrace; they never saw Daniel do anything wrong. afraid of telling the king they should be found out.

I suppose they were

lies of Daniel, lest But at last they

thought of a way to get Daniel into disgrace. They knew that he prayed very often to his God, so they went to the king, and asked him to make a law, that no one should pray to any God or man, but to the king himself, for thirty days; and that if any one did pray to any one else, he should be cast into a den of lions. Now the king did not know why these men asked him to make this law: if the king had known that Daniel always prayed to his God, I do not think he would have made this law, for the king loved Daniel.

The king was so foolish as to say that he would do as these men wished, because, you know, the king was a heathen, and he did not love the true God. So he wrote down the law, and promised not to change it.

Daniel heard of the law that the king had made.

Do you think that he went on praying?

Daniel would have thought it very dreadful not to pray to God for thirty days. He wanted to praise God very often, and ask him to bless him.

He used always to pray before the open window in his room. Perhaps you wonder why he did so. The reason was, he liked to look to wards the place where he knew Jerusalem was. He could not see Jerusalem from his window, because it was so very far off; but still he knew which way it was, and he knew that God loved Jerusalem, and that God used to come down into the temple, before it was burnt; so Daniel liked to look that way when he prayed.

He knelt down three times every day, and prayed, and thanked God for all his kindness to him.

The men who hated Daniel heard that he went on praying: so they went one day to look at him praying, that they might tell the king that they had seen him.

Then they asked the king, "Did you not make a law that if any one prayed to any God or man, excepting you, that he should be cast into a den of lions ?"

And the king said, "Yes, it is true, and I cannot change the law."

Then the men said, "That Daniel, who was brought from Jerusalem to be a slave, does not mind you, nor your law, but prays three times a day."

Then the king was very sorry that he had made a law against praying, and tried to think of some way of not letting Daniel be killed; but he could think of no way. In the evening the men came to him, and said, "You cannot alter the law that you have made, for in our country it is a law that laws may not be altered.".

Then the king desired Daniel to be brought, and he was cast into a den of lions; the lions lived in a deep place under ground. Lions are always very hungry in the evening, and roar for their food. Would they not eat up Daniel, as soon as he was thrown into the den?

But Darius knew that Daniel's God was a very great God, and he said to Daniel," Your God, whom you serve always, is able to deliver you."