Large Temperance Meeting
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may be able to say, “Here, Lord, am I, and the children whom thou
hast given me.”
But in the work of temperance there are duties devolving upon the
young which no other can do for them. While parents are responsible
for the stamp of character as well as for the education and training
which they give their sons and daughters, it is still true that our position
and usefulness in the world depend, to a great degree, upon our own
course of action.
Nowhere shall we find a more comprehensive and forcible illustra-
tion of true temperance and its attendant blessings than in the history
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of the youthful Daniel and his associates in the court of Babylon.
When they were selected to be taught the learning and tongue of the
Chaldeans, that they might “stand in the king’s palace,” “the king
appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine
which he drank.” “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not
defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine
which he drank.” Not only did these young men decline to drink the
king’s wine, but they refrained from the luxuries of his table. They
obeyed the divine law, both natural and moral. With their habits of
self-denial were coupled earnestness of purpose, diligence, and stead-
fastness. And the result shows the wisdom of their course.
God always honors the right. The most promising youth of every
land subdued by the great conqueror, had been gathered at Babylon;
yet amid them all, the Hebrew captives were without a rival. The
erect form, the firm, elastic step, the fair countenance showing that the
blood was uncorrupted, the undimmed senses, the untainted breath,—
all were so many certificates of good habits, insignia of the nobility
with which nature honors those who are obedient to her laws. And
when their ability and acquirements were tested by the king at the close
of the three years of training, none were found “like Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah.” Their keen apprehension, their choice and
exact language, their extensive and varied knowledge, testified to the
unimpaired strength and vigor of their mental powers.
The history of Daniel and his companions has been recorded on the
pages of the inspired word for the benefit of the youth of all succeeding
ages. Those who would preserve their powers unimpaired for the
Service of God must observe strict temperance in the use of all his
bounties, as well as total abstinence from every injurious or debasing