Page 104 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

had suddenly reappeared after his seven-year absence, and covered with rich purple
and gold cloth and festooned with gorgeous flowers, stood Colonel Nabunaid and the
Princess Hanniel in full view of the multitudes who filled the streets in front of the

palace, and in the presence of the Prime Minister, Daniel. The bride and the groom
each followed by six attendants had mounted the platform from the rear by separate
steps. Mithras, the Greek, and his orchestra were again very much in evidence with
the rendition of musical numbers before and during the entrance of the royal pair.

Seated in a semicircle on either side of the Prime Minister were the king and queen
and General Nebuzaradan and other notables of the court.

There was complete and profound silence before the Prime Minister began to read

from the Hebrew Book of Beginnings, the record of the deliverance by Jehovah
concerning the first man, that it was not good that the man should be alone; wherefore
He made a woman from the rib of the man and impelled her unto him, establishing the
institution of marriage. Having completed the reading, Daniel gave a brief charge to

the groom and bride on the sanctity and permanency of the marriage relation, but
spoken in a sufficiently loud voice to be heard by the assembled crowd. Then,
anticipating the practice of many centuries later, he took from each a vow that they
would adhere to the principles of purity monogamy, and fidelity set forth in the Divine

Commands. The entire ceremony was brief but impressive and made an impact of the
Jehovistic concept of marriage upon the Babylonian multitude that was indelible.