Reasons for Reform
429
The Review and Herald, January 25, 1881
The youth (Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah), in this school
of training were not only to be admitted to the royal palace, but it was
provided that they should eat of the meat, and drink of the wine, which
came from the king’s table. In all this the king considered that he was
not only bestowing great honor upon them, but securing for them the
best physical and mental development that could be attained.
[183]
Among the viands placed before the king were swine’s flesh and
other meats which were declared unclean by the law of Moses, and
which the Hebrews had been expressly forbidden to eat. Here Daniel
was brought to a severe test. Should he adhere to the teachings of his
fathers concerning meats and drinks, and offend the king, probably
losing not only his position but his life, or should he disregard the
commandment of the Lord, and retain the favor of the king, thus
securing great intellectual advantages and the most flattering worldly
prospects?
Daniel did not long hesitate. He decided to stand firmly for his
integrity, let the result be what it might. He “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.”
There are many among professed Christians today who would
decide that Daniel was too particular, and would pronounce him narrow
and bigoted. They consider the matter of eating and drinking of too
little consequence to require such a decided stand, one involving the
probable sacrifice of every earthly advantage. But those who reason
thus will find in the day of Judgment that they turned from God’s
express requirements, and set up their own opinion as a standard of
right and wrong. They will find that what seemed to them unimportant
was not so regarded of God. His requirements should be sacredly
obeyed. Those who accept and obey one of His precepts because it is
convenient to do so, while they reject another because its observance
would require a sacrifice, lower the standard of right, and by their
example lead others to lightly regard the holy law of God. “Thus saith
the Lord” is to be our rule in all things.
The character of Daniel is presented to the world as a striking
example of what God’s grace can make of men fallen by nature and
corrupted by sin. The record of his noble, self-denying life is an