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Alcohol and Men in Responsible Positions
47
harsin,” were the words written, and they were interpreted by Daniel
to mean, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting....
Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” And
the record tells us, “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the
Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.”
Little did Belshazzar think that an unseen Watcher beheld his
idolatrous revelry. But there is nothing said or done that is not
recorded on the books of heaven. The mystic characters traced by
the bloodless hand testify that God is a witness to all we do, and
that He is dishonored by feasting and reveling. We cannot hide
anything from God. We cannot escape from our accountability to
Him. Wherever we are and whatever we do, we are responsible to
Him whose we are by creation and by redemption.—
Manuscript 50,
1893
.
Awful Result of Herod’s Dissipation
—In many things Herod
had reformed his dissolute life. But the use of luxurious food and
stimulating drinks was constantly enervating and deadening the
moral as well as the physical powers, and warring against the earnest
appeals of the Spirit of God, which had struck conviction to the heart
of Herod, arousing his conscience to put away his sins. Herodias was
acquainted with the weak points in the character of Herod. She knew
that under ordinary circumstances, while his intelligence controlled
him, she could not obtain the death of John....
She covered her hatred as best she could, looking forward to the
birthday of Herod, which she knew would be an occasion of gluttony
and intoxication. Herod’s love of luxurious food and wine would
give her an opportunity to throw him off his guard. She would entice
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him to indulge his appetite, which would arouse passion and lower
the tone of the mental and moral character, making it impossible
for his deadened sensibilities to see facts and evidences clearly,
and make right decisions. She had the most costly preparations
made for feasting, and voluptuous dissipation. She was acquainted
with the influence of these intemperate feasts upon the intellect and
morals. She knew that Herod’s indulgence of appetite, pleasure, and
amusement would excite the lower passions, and make him spiritless
to the nobler demands of effort and duty.
The unnatural exhilaration which intemperance gives to the mind
and spirits, lowers the sensibilities to moral improvement, making it