The Medical Missionary, vol. 15
May 1906
“The Divine Call to True Temperance” The Medical Missionary, 15, 5, pp. 133-135.
WE have studied the principles of Christian fellowship and spiritual right-living that are given to us in the Bible for the guidance of Christians in their church relationship; and which are therefore the principles that must actuate us and be our guide in our relationship in this institution, in order that the institution shall be what it was planted to be and do the work that God has from the beginning designed that it shall do. MEDM May 1906, page 133.1
We shall now for a while study the principles of temperance and physical right-living which must actuate us and be our guide, in order that this institution shall be what it was planted to be and shall do what God from the beginning designed that it shall do: the principles that are the very life of the institution. MEDM May 1906, page 133.2
I begin by reading two texts of scripture:— MEDM May 1906, page 133.3
“In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain and Darius the Median took the kingdom.” Daniel 5:30, 31. MEDM May 1906, page 133.4
“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.” Daniel 7:17, 18. MEDM May 1906, page 133.5
In the sense that it is the kingdom and dominion of the earth, these two texts refer to the same thing. And in this sense the kingdom which the saints of the Most High are to take is exactly the same that Darius the Median took. For you see in the second text, that the angel speaks of the four great world-wide kingdoms that in succession have ruled the earth, and then without any break of either thought or connection he says, “But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom”—the same kingdom which in succession these four have held. MEDM May 1906, page 133.6
Babylon was the first of these. In that night when Belshazzar was slain, and the kingdom of Babylon passed away forever, “Darius the Median took the kingdom.” Afterward, in its time, the kingdom of Medo-Persia passed away forever, and Grecia “took the kingdom.” Then, in turn, the kingdom of Grecia passed away forever, and “Rome took the kingdom.” Rome passed away forever, and ten kingdoms took its place, that could never cleave one to another in a great world-wide dominion as the four that had come and gone; so that the next universal kingdom will be that which God shall set up and which the saints of the Most High shall take when “the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,” and which the saints shall possess “forever, even forever and ever.” MEDM May 1906, page 133.7
Thus you see that “the kingdom” which Darius the Mede “took” and that which the saints of the Most High are to “take,” are the same kingdom—the kingdom and the dominion of this earth, each in its place in the succession. MEDM May 1906, page 133.8
What I now in this study ask your attention to is, the principles upon which this kingdom has always been taken; and upon which, only in a far fuller and most intense degree, it must yet be taken, when “the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom.” MEDM May 1906, page 133.9
Upon what principles was it that Darius the Median took the kingdom that night when Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was slain? To ask the question in another way, what were the principles by which in that awful night the kingdom of Babylon lost the dominion and sank to everlasting ruin? What was Belshazzar doing that night? Oh, you all know: “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.” Nor was it only the intemperance of feasting and drinking that there prevailed, but also of a general confusion of male and female relationships in lascivious excesses: for the feast was the annual celebration “in honor of the god Tammuz, the Babylon Adonis, who married their Venus, or Ishtar; and the 14th of Tammuz was the regular time to celebrate their union with lascivious orgies.” And the intemperance there indulged, and which caused Babylon to sink, was intemperance in both the quantity and the kind of eating and drinking, and which carried with it intemperance and wickedness of other kinds. MEDM May 1906, page 134.1
What principles alone then could it have been upon which Darius the Median took the kingdom that night? If Darius the Mede with his people had practised the style of eating and drinking that the Babylonians did, would he that night have taken the kingdom? Impossible. Then it is perfectly plain that as certainly as it was the principles and practise of intemperance by which the kingdom of Babylon was lost that night, so certainly it was the principles and practise of temperance upon which alone Darius the Mede took the kingdom. MEDM May 1906, page 134.2
Such is the record in the history. For though Darius the Mede, being the older, took the throne and the kingdom, it was Cyrus the Persian who led the forces that took the city, and destroyed the kingdom, of Babylon, and who took the throne and the kingdom in full right at the death of Darius the Mede two years later. It was the Persian element which dominated in the kingdom. And the history declares that “the only food allowed either the children or the young men [of the Persians] was bread, cresses, and water. For their design was to accustom them early to temperance and sobriety. Besides they considered that a plain, frugal diet without any mixture of sauces or ragouts [high seasoning] would strengthen the body and lay such a foundation of health as would enable them to undergo the hardships and fatigues of war to a good old age.”—Rollin. MEDM May 1906, page 134.3
Therefore, by both logic and historical fact, we find it true that it was upon the principles of temperance, sound and true, that Darius the Median took the kingdom. And now to all of you and I present this proposition: The saints of the Most High can not take the kingdom on principles of temperance any less true than those upon which Darius the Median took the kingdom. MEDM May 1906, page 134.4
Indeed, we have a scriptural illustration of this. For it is a fact that in that night when Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was slain, and the kingdom of Babylon sank forever, a saint of the Most High took the kingdom before even Darius the Mede received it. And this saint of the Most High took the kingdom upon the principles of temperance, identical with those of the Persians and by virtue of which Darius the Median took the kingdom. MEDM May 1906, page 134.5
Note it: When Belshazzar saw on the wall the handwriting that announced the doom of himself and the world-empire of Babylon, he proclaimed that whosoever would read the writing, and tell the meaning of it, should be clothed in scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and be “the third ruler in the kingdom.” The reward that was to be bestowed was the highest that could be bestowed by him. And so make him the third ruler in the kingdom was the highest position that could be given, for the reason that Belshazzar was king in association with his father, and so himself was the second ruler in the kingdom. If Belshazzar had been king alone in his own right, then the highest position would have been the second ruler; but when there were two kings already ruling, the third ruler was the highest honor that could be given to another. And so it was. MEDM May 1906, page 134.6
Then in the campaign of the Medes and Persians against Babylon, Nabonadius was taken prisoner and Belshazzar was slain. Thus both kings were taken away; and Daniel being “the third ruler,” possessed the kingdom at least for the little time until Darius the Median sat on the throne. And this saint of the Most High in the royal apparel and insignia, Darius and Cyrus found in possession of the kingdom when they came to take it into their own possession and with him they consulted in taking over the kingdom and settling the affairs. MEDM May 1906, page 134.7
And it was the principles of temperance that Daniel, this saint of the Most High, had lived in Babylon by which he took the kingdom, and by which he had become qualified to take the kingdom. For when he with his brethren was seated at the royal table in Babylon, he refused the king’s meat and the wine which he drank; and asked that they be given “pulse to eat and water to drink.” The word “pulse” in Daniel 1:12 corresponds exactly to the word “cresses” which the historian used in describing the dietary of the Persians, each word signifying a vegetarian diet. MEDM May 1906, page 135.1
And the time has now come for the kingdom of God to be established on this earth, in the place of the kingdoms of this world. This is the truth: people may not believe it, but that makes no difference. That kingdom will be established in the earth whether people believe it or not. And the thing to do is to believe it and have the benefit of it. And because the time has come when the kingdom of God is to be set up on the earth, now is the time when the saints of the Most High must be diligently preparing to take that kingdom. And as a part of this preparation, the espousal of true temperance upon divine principles is all-essential. And the purpose of this institution of which you and I are a part, is to spread abroad and inculcate these very Christian principles of temperance and right living. MEDM May 1906, page 135.2
Shall we not answer to this call of God in this time, and in this place, and for this all-glorious purpose? MEDM May 1906, page 135.3
A. T. JONES.