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diff --git a/old/orig8710-h/p5.htm b/old/orig8710-h/p5.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06889bb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig8710-h/p5.htm @@ -0,0 +1,891 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>Dore Bible Gallery, Vol. 5</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {background:#faebd7; margin:15%; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; } + .figleft {float: left;} + .figright {float: right;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-family: Times; font-size: 97%; margin-left: 15%;} + // --> +</style> + +</head> +<body> + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p4.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="8710-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p6.htm">Next Part</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> + +<center> +<h1>THE DORE GALLERY OF BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS</h1> +<br><br> +<h2>By Gustave Dore</h2> +<br><br> +<h3>Volume 5.</h3> +</center> +<br><br> + +<center><i> With a click all images will expand to their full size</i></center> + +<br><br> + +<center> +<a href="images/cover2.jpg"><img alt="cover3.jpg (34K)" src="images/cover3.jpg" height="658" width="478"></a> +</center> +<br><br> +<center> +<a name="front"></a> +<br><br> +<a href="images/front.jpg"><img alt="front2.jpg (57K)" src="images/front2.jpg" height="660" width="484"></a> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> +<center> +<a href="images/titlepage.jpg"><img alt="titlepg.jpg (39K)" src="images/titlepg.jpg" height="725" width="539"></a> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>This volume, as its title indicates, is a collection of +engravings illustrative of the Bible—the designs being all from +the pencil of the greatest of modern delineators, Gustave Dore. +The original work, from which this collection has been made, met +with an immediate and warm recognition and acceptance among those +whose means admitted of its purchase, and its popularity has in +no wise diminished since its first publication, but has even +extended to those who could only enjoy it casually, or in +fragmentary parts. That work, however, in its entirety, was far +too costly for the larger and ever-widening circle of M. Dore's +admirers, and to meet the felt and often-expressed want of this +class, and to provide a volume of choice and valuable designs +upon sacred subjects for art-loving Biblical students generally, +this work was projected and has been carried forward. The aim has +been to introduce subjects of general interest—that is, those +relating to the most prominent events and personages of +Scripture—those most familiar to all readers; the plates being +chosen with special reference to the known taste of the American +people. To each cut is prefixed a page of letter-press—in, +narrative form, and containing generally a brief analysis of the +design. Aside from the labors of the editor and publishers, the +work, while in progress, was under the pains-taking and careful +scrutiny of artists and scholars not directly interested in the +undertaking, but still having a generous solicitude for its +success. It is hoped, therefore, that its general plan and +execution will render it acceptable both to the appreciative and +friendly patrons of the great artist, and to those who would wish +to possess such a work solely as a choice collection of +illustrations upon sacred themes.</p> +<br><br><br><br> +<center><h2>GUSTAVE DORE.</h2></center> +<br> +<p>The subject of this sketch is, perhaps, the most original and +variously gifted designer the world has ever known. At an age +when most men have scarcely passed their novitiate in art, and +are still under the direction and discipline of their masters and +the schools, he had won a brilliant reputation, and readers and +scholars everywhere were gazing on his work with ever-increasing +wonder and delight at his fine fancy and multifarious gifts. He +has raised illustrative art to a dignity and importance before +unknown, and has developed capacities for the pencil before +unsuspected. He has laid all subjects tribute to his genius, +explored and embellished fields hitherto lying waste, and opened +new and shining paths and vistas where none before had trod. To +the works of the great he has added the lustre of his genius, +bringing their beauties into clearer view and warming them to a +fuller life.</p> + +<p>His delineations of character, in the different phases of +life, from the horrible to the grotesque, the grand to the comic, +attest the versatility of his powers; and, whatever faults may be +found by critics, the public will heartily render their quota of +admiration to his magic touch, his rich and facile rendering of +almost every thought that stirs, or lies yet dormant, in the +human heart. It is useless to attempt a sketch of his various +beauties; those who would know them best must seek them in the +treasure—house that his genius is constantly augmenting with +fresh gems and wealth. To one, however, of his most prominent +traits we will refer—his wonderful rendering of the powers of +Nature.</p> + +<p>His early wanderings in the wild and romantic passes of the +Vosges doubtless developed this inherent tendency of his mind. +There he wandered, and there, mayhap, imbibed that deep delight +of wood and valley, mountain—pass and rich ravine, whose variety +of form and detail seems endless to the enchanted eye. He has +caught the very spell of the wilderness; she has laid her hand +upon him, and he has gone forth with her blessing. So bold and +truthful and minute are his countless representations of forest +scenery; so delicate the tracery of branch and stem; so +patriarchal the giant boles of his woodland monarchs, that the' +gazer is at once satisfied and entranced. His vistas lie +slumbering with repose either in shadowy glade or fell ravine, +either with glint of lake or the glad, long course of some +rejoicing stream, and above all, supreme in a beauty all its own, +he spreads a canopy of peerless sky, or a wilderness, perhaps, of +angry storm, or peaceful stretches of soft, fleecy cloud, or +heavens serene and fair—another kingdom to his teeming art, +after the earth has rendered all her gifts.</p> + +<p>Paul Gustave Dore was born in the city of Strasburg, January +10, 1833. Of his boyhood we have no very particular account. At +eleven years of age, however, he essayed his first artistic +creation—a set' of lithographs, published in his native city. +The following year found him in Paris, entered as a 7. student at +the Charlemagne Lyceum. His first actual work began in 1848, when +his fine series of sketches, the "Labors of Hercules," was given +to the public through the medium of an illustrated, journal with +which he was for a long time connected as designer. In 1856 were +published the illustrations for Balzac's "Contes Drolatiques" and +those for "The Wandering Jew "—the first humorous and grotesque +in the highest degree—indeed, showing a perfect abandonment to +fancy; the other weird and supernatural, with fierce battles, +shipwrecks, turbulent mobs, and nature in her most forbidding and +terrible aspects. Every incident or suggestion that could +possibly make the story more effective, or add to the horror of +the scenes was seized upon and portrayed with wonderful power. +These at once gave the young designer a great reputation, which +was still more enhanced by his subsequent works.</p> + +<p>With all his love for nature and his power of interpreting her +in her varying moods, Dore was a dreamer, and many of his finest +achievements were in the realm of the imagination. But he was at +home in the actual world also, as witness his designs for +"Atala," "London—a Pilgrimage," and many of the scenes in "Don +Quixote."</p> + +<p>When account is taken of the variety of his designs, and the +fact considered that in almost every task he attempted none had +ventured before him, the amount of work he accomplished is fairly +incredible. To enumerate the immense tasks he undertook—some +single volumes alone containing hundreds of illustrations—will +give some faint idea of his industry. Besides those already +mentioned are Montaigne, Dante, the Bible, Milton, Rabelais, +Tennyson's "Idyls of the King," "The Ancient Mariner, +Shakespeare, "Legende de Croquemitaine," La Fontaine's "Fables," +and others still.</p> + +<p>Take one of these works—the Dante, La Fontaine, or "Don +Quixote"—and glance at the pictures. The mere hand labor +involved in their production is surprising; but when the quality +of the work is properly estimated, what he accomplished seems +prodigious. No particular mention need be made of him as painter +or sculptor, for his reputation rests solely upon his work as an +illustrator.</p> + +<p>Dore's nature was exuberant and buoyant, and he was youthful +in appearance. He had a passion for music, possessed rare skill +as a violinist, and it is assumed that, had he failed to succeed +with his pencil, he could have won a brilliant reputation as a +musician.</p> + +<p>He was a bachelor, and lived a quiet, retired life with his +mother—married, as he expressed it, to her and his art. His +death occurred on January 23, 1883.</p> +<br><br><br><br> + +<center> +<table summary="Illustrations"> +<tr><td> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<br> + +<a href="#front">GUSTAVE DORE</a><br> +<a href="#044">ISAIAH</a><br> +<a href="#045">DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB'S HOST</a><br> +<a href="#046">BARUCH</a><br> +<a href="#047">EZEKIEL PROPHESYIN</a>G<br> +<a href="#048">THE VISION OF EZEKIEL</a><br> +<a href="#049">DANIEL</a><br> +<a href="#050">THE FIERY FURNACE</a><br> +<a href="#051">BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST</a><br> +<a href="#052">DANIEL IN THE LION'S DEN</a><br> +<a href="#053">THE PROPHET AMOS</a><br> +<a href="#054">JONAH CALLING NINEVEH TO REPENTANCE</a><br> +<a href="#055">DANIEL CONFOUNDING THE PRIESTS OF BEL</a><br> +<a href="#056">HELIODORUS PUNISHED IN THE TEMPLE</a><br> + + + + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + + + + +<br><br> +<a name="044"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>ISAIAH.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/044.jpg"><img alt="044th.jpg (29K)" src="images/044th.jpg" height="452" width="373"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Isaiah (in Hebrew, Yeshayahu, "Salvation of God"), the +earliest and most sublime of the four greater Hebrew prophets, +was the son of Amoz (2 Kings xix, 2-20; Isaiah xxxvii, 2), and he +uttered his oracles during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, +and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The dates of his birth and death +are unknown, but he lived from about 760 B.C. to about 700 B.C. +He was married and had three sons—the children referred to in +Isaiah viii, 18; and he appears to have resided near +Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>But by most competent critics it is now held that the last +twenty-seven chapters (40-66) of the book bearing his name were +the work, not of the prophet, but of a later writer who is +commonly styled the second or Deutero-Isaiah. In this portion of +the book, Cyrus, who was not born till after 600 B.C., is +mentioned by name (Isaiah, xliv, 28; xlv, i); and events which +did not take place till a century after the prophet's death are +referred to as happening contemporaneously with the writer's +account of them. The style of these last twenty-seven chapters, +also, is different, and the tone is more elevated and +spiritual.</p> + +<p>Dore's ideal portrait is more suited to the second or +pseudo-Isaiah, than to the real one.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="045"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB'S HOST.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/045.jpg"><img alt="045th.jpg (35K)" src="images/045th.jpg" height="483" width="370"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, +He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor +come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the +way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come +into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to +save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.</p> + +<p>And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went +out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore +and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, +behold, they were all dead corpses.</p> + +<p>So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and +returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was +worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and +Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into +the land of Armenia. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his +stead.—2 Kings xix, 32-37</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="046"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>BARUCH.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/046.jpg"><img alt="046th.jpg (35K)" src="images/046th.jpg" height="484" width="377"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of +Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the +Lord, saying, Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all +the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and +against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake +unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be +that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to +do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; +that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.</p> + +<p>Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch +wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which +he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book. Jeremiah xxxvi; +1-4.</p> + +<p>The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son +of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth +of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah +king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, +unto thee, O Baruch; thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the Lord +hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I +find no rest.</p> + +<p>Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord saith thus; Behold, +that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have +planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou +great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will +bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I +give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goesth. +Jeremiah xlv, 1-5.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="047"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>EZEKIEL PROPHESYING.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/047.jpg"><img alt="047th.jpg (33K)" src="images/047th.jpg" height="490" width="384"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Ezekiel, the third of the great Hebrew prophets, was the son +of the priest Buzi. (Ezekiel i, 3). He was probably born about +620 or 630 years before Christ, and was consequently a +contemporary of Jeremiah and Daniel, to the latter of whom he +alludes in chapters xiv, 14-20 and xxviii, 3. When Jerusalem was +taken by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. (2 Kings xxiv, 8-16; Jeremiah +xxix, 1-2; Ezekiel xvii, 12; xix, 9), Ezekiel was carried captive +along with Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, and thousands +of other Jewish prisoners, to Babylonia, or as he himself calls +it, "the land of the Chaldeans." (Ezekiel i, 3). Here, along with +his exiled fellow-countrymen, he lived on the banks of the river +Chebar (Ezekiel i, 1-3), in a house of his own (viii, i). Here +also he married, and here, too, his wife, "the desire of his +eyes," was taken from him "with a stroke" (Ezekiel xxiv, 15-18). +His prophetic career extended over twenty-two years, from about +592 B.C. to about 570 B.C.</p> + +<p>The book bearing his name is written in a mystical and +symbolical style, and abounds with visions and difficult +allegories which indicate on the part of the author the +possession of a vivid and sublime imagination. Ezekiel's +authorship of it has been questioned. The Talmud attributes it to +the Great Synagogue, of which Ezekiel was not a member. It is +divisible into two portions. The first (chapters i-xxiv) was +written before, and the second (chapters xxv-xlviii) after, the +destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C, the +eleventh year of the prophet's captivity (Ezekiel xxvi, 1-2; XI, +i). The present text is very imperfect, being corrupted by the +interpolation of glosses and other additions by later hands.</p> + +<p>Dore's picture represents the prophet uttering his oracles to +his fellow-exiles ("them of the captivity"), or to the "elders of +Judah," or "elders of Israel," on one of the occasions to which +he himself alludes (viii, I; xi, 25; xiv, I; xx, I).</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="048"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>THE VISION OF EZEKIEL.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/048.jpg"><img alt="048th.jpg (37K)" src="images/048th.jpg" height="480" width="378"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the +Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley +which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round +about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, +lo, they were very dry.</p> + +<p>And he said unto me; Son of man, can these bones live? And I +answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.</p> + +<p>Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto +them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the +Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter +into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and +will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put +breath in you, and ye shall live and ye shall know that I am the +Lord.</p> + +<p>So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there +was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the, bones came together, +bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh +came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was +no breath in them.</p> + +<p>Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of +man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the +four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may +live.</p> + +<p>So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into +them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding +great army.</p> + +<p>Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole +house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our +hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy +and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, +I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your +graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know +that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, +and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in +you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: +then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed +it, saith the Lord.—Ezekiel xxxvii, 1-14.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="049"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>DANIEL.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/049.jpg"><img alt="049th.jpg (32K)" src="images/049th.jpg" height="491" width="376"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Respecting the parentage or family of Daniel, the fourth of +the great Hebrew prophets, nothing is known, though he appears to +have been of noble if not of royal descent (Daniel i, 3). When, +in the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim (607, 606, 605, +or 604 B.C.), Jerusalem was first taken by Nebuchadnezzar, +Daniel, then a youth, was among the captives carried to Babylon. +By the king's orders, he, with others of the Jewish youth, was +educated for three years (Daniel i, 3-7). At this time Daniel +acquired the power of interpreting dreams (i, 17), which he used +with such advantage in expounding a dream of Nebuchadnezzar, that +he was made ruler over the whole province of Babylon (Daniel ii, +46-48). Daniel's interpretation of Belshazzar's famous vision +having been fulfilled by the capture of Babylon by Darius, that +conqueror promoted Daniel to the highest office in the kingdom +(Daniel vi, 1-3). The prophet also prospered greatly during the +reign of Cyrus (Daniel vi, 28).</p> + +<p>The book of Daniel is written partly in Chaldaic or Syriac +(the vernacular Aramaic language spoken by the people of +Palestine), and partly in sacred Hebrew. It is manifestly +divisible into two portions. The first (chapters i-vi) narrating +the details of the prophet's life, and the second (chapters +vii-xii) setting forth his apocalyptic visions. Much doubt has +been cast upon the authenticity of the work. The evident +reference in the eleventh chapter to the conquest of Persia by +Alexander the Great, which took place about 330 B.C., or more +than two hundred years after Daniel flourished, has led many +modern critics to believe that the work was composed in the time +of the Maccabees.</p> + +<p>Dore's picture appears to be intended to represent the prophet +meditating over one of the many visions which came to him.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="050"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>THE FIERY FURNACE.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/050.jpg"><img alt="050th.jpg (32K)" src="images/050th.jpg" height="490" width="381"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and +accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, +O king, live forever. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set +over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, +and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they +serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast +set up.</p> + +<p>Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring +Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men +before the king.</p> + +<p>Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O +Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego? do not ye serve my gods, nor +worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready +that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, +sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall +down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye +worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a +burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you +out of my hands?</p> + +<p>Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the +king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this +matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us +from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of +thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, +that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image +which thou hast set up.</p> + +<p>Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his +visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: +therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the +furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And +he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind +Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the +burning fiery furnace.</p> + +<p>Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and +their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the +midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king's +commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame +of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abed-nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego +fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.</p> + +<p>Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in +haste, and spake, and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast +three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered, and +said unto the king, True, O king.</p> + +<p>He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the +midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the +fourth is like the Son of God.</p> + +<p>Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning +fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth and come +hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the +midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and +the king's counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, +upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their +head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of +fire had passed on them.—Daniel iii, 8, 9, 12-27.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="051"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/051.jpg"><img alt="051th.jpg (39K)" src="images/051th.jpg" height="490" width="380"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his +lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he +tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels +which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which +was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and +his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden +vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God +which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, +and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine and praised +the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and +of stone.</p> + +<p>In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote +over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the +king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. +Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts +troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and +his knees smote one against another.</p> + +<p>[On the failure of his astrologers and soothsayers to +interpret the writing, the king, at the suggestion of his queen, +sends for Daniel, who interprets it as follows:]</p> + +<p>O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father +a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor: and for the majesty +that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages, trembled +and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would +he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he +put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened +in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took +his glory from him and he was driven from the sons of men; and +his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the +wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was +wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God +ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it +whomsoever he will.</p> + +<p>And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, +though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against +the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his +house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy +concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the +gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which +see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath +is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.</p> + +<p>Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing +was written.</p> + +<p>And 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.</p> + +<p>In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. +And Darius the Median took the kingdom.—Daniel v.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="052"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/052.jpg"><img alt="052th.jpg (36K)" src="images/052th.jpg" height="484" width="375"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into +his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward +Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and +prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.</p> + +<p>Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making +supplication before his God. Then they came near, and spake +before the king concerning the king's decree Hast thou not signed +a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or +man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into +the den of lions.</p> + +<p>The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to +the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.</p> + +<p>Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, +which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not +thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh +his petition three times a day.</p> + +<p>Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased +with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he +laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.</p> + +<p>Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the +king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, +That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be +changed. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and +cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto +Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver +thee. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den +and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet +of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning +Daniel.</p> + +<p>Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night +fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: +and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in +the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he +came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: +and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the +living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to +deliver thee from the lions?</p> + +<p>Then said Daniel unto the King, O king, live forever. My God +hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they +have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in +me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.</p> + +<p>Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that +they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up +out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because +he believed in his God. And the king commanded, and they brought +those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the +den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the +lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in +pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.—Daniel +vi,</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="053"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>THE PROPHET AMOS.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/053.jpg"><img alt="053th.jpg (30K)" src="images/053th.jpg" height="468" width="381"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Amos, one of the earliest of the Hebrew prophets, flourished +during the reign of Uzziah, about 790 B.C., and was consequently +a contemporary of Hosea and Joel. In his youth he lived at Tekoa, +about six miles south of Bethlehem, in Judaea, and was a herdsman +and a gatherer of sycamore fruit (Amos i, i; vii, 14). This +occupation he gave up for that of prophet (vii, 15), and he came +forward to denounce the idolatry then prevalent in Judah, Israel, +and the surrounding kingdoms.</p> + +<p>The first six chapters of his book contain his denunciations +of idolatry; the other three, his symbolical vision of the +overthrow of the people of Israel, and a promise of their +restoration. The style is remarkable for clearness and strength, +and for its picturesque use of images drawn from the rural and +pastoral life which the prophet had led in his youth.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="054"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>JONAH CALLING NINEVEH TO REPENTANCE.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/054.jpg"><img alt="054th.jpg (42K)" src="images/054th.jpg" height="481" width="373"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, +saying, Arise, go unto to Nineveh, that great city, and preach +unto it the preaching that I bid thee.</p> + +<p>So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word +of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three +days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's +journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh +shall be overthrown.</p> + +<p>So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, +and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least +of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose +from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him +with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be +proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the +king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor +flock taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let +man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto +God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the +violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn +and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish +not?</p> + +<p>And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; +and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do +unto them; and he did it not.—Jonah iii.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="055"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>DANIEL CONFOUNDING THE PRIESTS OF BEL.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/055.jpg"><img alt="055th.jpg (38K)" src="images/055th.jpg" height="485" width="381"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel: and there were +spent upon him every day, twelve great measures of fine flour, +and forty sheep, and sixty vessels of wine. The king also +worshipped him, and went every day to adore him: but Daniel +adored his God. And the king said unto him: Why dost thou not +adore Bel? And he answered, and said to him Because I do not +worship idols made with hands, but the living God, that created +heaven and earth, and hath power over all flesh. And the king +said to him: Doth not Bel seem to thee to be a living God? Seest +thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day? Then Daniel +smiled and said: O king, be not deceived: for this is but clay +within, and brass without, neither hath he eaten at any time.</p> + +<p>And the king being angry called for his priests, and said to +them: If you tell me not, who it is that eateth up these +expenses, you shall die. But if you can show that Bel eateth +these things, Daniel shall die, because he hath blasphemed +against Bel.</p> + +<p>And Daniel said to the king: Be it done according to thy +word.</p> + +<p>Now the priests of Bel were seventy besides their wives and +little ones and children. And they went with Daniel into the +temple of Bel. And the priests of Bel said: Behold, we go out: +and do thou, O king, set on the meats, and make ready, the wine, +and shut the door fast, and seal it with thy own ring: and when +thou comest in the morning, if thou findest not that Bel hath +eaten all up, we will suffer death, or else Daniel that hath lied +against us.</p> + +<p>And they little regarded it, because they had made under the +table a secret entrance, and they always came in by it, and +consumed those things.</p> + +<p>So it came to pass after they were gone out, the king set the +meats before Bel: and Daniel commanded his servants, and they +brought ashes, and he sifted them all over the temple before the +king: and going forth they shut the door, and having sealed it +with the king's ring, they departed.</p> + +<p>But the priests went in by night, according to their custom, +with their wives and their children: and they eat and drank all +up.</p> + +<p>And the king rose early in the morning, and Daniel with him. +And the king said: Are the seals whole, Daniel? and he answered: +They are whole, O king. And as soon as he had opened the door, +the king looked upon the table, and cried out with a loud voice +Great art thou, O Bel, and there is not any deceit with thee. And +Daniel laughed: and he held the king that he should not go in: +and he said: Behold the pavement, mark whose footsteps these are. +And the king said: I see the footsteps of men, and women, and +children. And the king was angry. Then he took the priests, and +their wives, and their children: and they showed him the private +doors by which they came in, and consumed the things that were on +the table.</p> + +<p>The king therefore put them to death, and delivered Bel into +the power of Daniel: who destroyed him, and his temple.—Daniel +xiv, I-21 (Douay Version).</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="056"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<h2>HELIODORUS PUNISHED IN THE TEMPLE.</h2> +<br><br> +<a href="images/056.jpg"><img alt="056th.jpg (41K)" src="images/056th.jpg" height="483" width="373"></a> +</center> +<br> + +<p>But Heliodorus executed that which he had resolved on, himself +being present in the same place with his guard about the +treasury.</p> + +<p>But the spirit of the Almighty God gave a great evidence of +his presence, so that all that had presumed to obey him, falling +down by the power of God, were struck with fainting and dread. +For there appeared to them a horse with a terrible rider upon +him, adorned with a very rich covering: and he ran fiercely and +struck Heliodorus with his fore-feet, and he that sat upon him +seemed to have armor of gold. Moreover, there appeared two other +young men, beautiful and strong, bright and glorious, and in +comely apparel: who stood by him, on either side, and scourged +him without ceasing with many stripes.</p> + +<p>And Heliodorus suddenly fell to the ground, and they took him +up covered with great darkness, and having put him into a litter +they carried him out. So he that came with many servants, and all +his guard into the aforesaid treasury, was carried out, no one +being able to help him, the manifest power of God being known. +And he indeed by the power of God lay speechless, and without all +hope of recovery.—2 Maccabees iii, 23-29.</p> + + + + +<br> +<br> + + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p4.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="8710-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p6.htm">Next Part</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> + +</body> +</html> + |