242 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.

fourth is like the Son of God.” Then Nebuchadnezzar came
near to the mouth of the burning, fiery furnace, and cried
out and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye ser-
vants of the Most High God, come out and come here.”
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the
midst of the fire. And the princes, the governors, and the
captains, who were gathered together, saw these men whom
the fire had not hurt, nor was a hair of their heads ‘burned,
neither were their coats changed, nor was the smell of the
fire upon them.

And now the furious, foolish, unreasonable King, rushed
from one extreme to another. An hour ago he would burn
to ashes these faithful young men who trusted in the
God of Israel; and now, because God has appeared so mani-
festly on their behalf he would force all Babylon to turn
away in a moment from the Golden Image and worship the
God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So he issued his
decree:

‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
nego, who has sent his angel and saved his servants that
trusted in him. Therefore I make a decree anda law, that
every nation and people which shall speak evil of the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be destroyed, and
their houses shall be torn down and made into heaps; for
there is no other God that can save him.”

Then the King made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
nego greater than they had been before in the province of
Babylon. .

‘The story of these young Hebrews is well worth a
boy’s most careful study. The moral of their lives is as
clear and simple as the day: “Trust in God, do the right,
and all will be well.”