A PRESENT LESSON FROM THE PAST.
A MOST striking lesson of the past, pre-eminently applicable to-day, is the fall of Belshazzar, the last of the kings of rich, proud, luxurious, voluptuous Babylon. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime," an apostle of Jesus Christ declares, "were written for our learning." Be assured we can study this with profit. Belshazzar was not sole king of Babylon. He reigned conjointly with Nabonadius, his father, who gave up his last days to his religious devotions and temple-building, leaving the pleasure-loving Belshazzar to deal with the grave affairs of state. Belshazzar seems to have been the grandson of Babylon's mightiest king, Nebuchadnezzar. HE had had the privilege of learning some of the useful lessons of life. He must have known of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, interpreted by Daniel, the prophet of the God of Israel; and that God in that interpretation had declared that it was He, the God of heaven, that had given to Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom. He had learned of Nebuchadnezzar's attempt to force the loyal servants of God to worship the great golden image on the plains of Dura. He had learned the utter failure of that attempt, the death of the king's warriors who attempted to execute his sentence, and the miraculous preservation of the servants of God in the furnace of fire. He had learned of the proud monarch's humiliation when he exalted himself against God, of his seven "times" of insanity and exile, of his subsequent restoration to his kingdom, and his acknowledgment that the God of Israel "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth," and that "those who walk in pride He is able to abase." Belshazzar doubtless knew, or had had the opportunity to know, all these things; for they must have been matters of public record. Yet he did not take them to heart. INSTEAD of learning that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men," he seemed to think that he ruled, and his kingdom, Babylon, would stand forever; that even then, while the victorious Medes and Persians were without, the city's mighty walls would resist all attack; and in nightly revel he boasted of his puny power and cheap glory. On the last night of his inglorious revel, drunken with wine and vanity, he called to his lackeys to bring forth, from the place where Nebuchadnezzar had deposited them, the golden vessels taken from the holy temple of Jerusalem, "that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein." In the graphic words of the poet— "Bring forth, cried the monarch, those vessels of gold
Which my father tore down from the temple of old,
They are brought, and before him the vessels all shine;
And he bows unto Baal, and he drinks the dark wine." The Scriptures declare, "They drank wine and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, and of wood, and of stone." He debased the holy of the Lord to honor the heathen sun-god Baal and his images. BELSHAZZAR had taken his last step, and had crossed the "hidden boundary," beyond which there is no returning. "In the same hour" the hand sent from God traced in letters of fire on the plaster of the wall of the palace before the king, "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN"—numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. The king's guilty heart told him that it portended evil, but he could not read it. His wise men and astrologers and soothsayers and Chaldeans are blind to its meaning. The fiery, heart-piercing letters strike deeper terror to the guilty soul of the king as they remain unread. Finally, through Nebuchadnezzar's widow, Daniel, the aged, is called. He comes in; boldly he tells the king to give his rewards to others, and keep his gifts to himself. It is not the mission of God's prophets to labor for such baubles. He pointed out the lessons which God had taught the kings of Babylon through Nebuchadnezzar, how God humbled his pride, and yet Belshazzar had not humbled his heart, tho he knew it all; but he had lifted up himself against God, had profaned God's holy things by praising the gods that were no gods, while "the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." Therefore the writing, the sentence, the doom: "MENE: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL: Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. PERES: Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." That very night was slain Belshazzar the king, and Babylon passed to her conquerors. "WHATSOEVER things were written aforetime were written for our learning." Rom. 15:4. God gave these lessons in the beginning to teach those who lived at the time the lesson was given. He had them written, that after ages might profit by the same lessons. May we not learn the lesson here? There are no divers weights and measures in God's4balances. His weights and measures and rules are of eternal righteousness, weighing, measuring, estimating, us at just what we are. He has given us lessons, many precious lessons, and often repeated. By numerous scriptures and simple laws, repeated "o'er and o'er again," has He told us His will. He has declared the reward of obedience, and the fearful results of disobedience. He has illustrated this by numerous examples, from Cain to Ananias. He has shown, and is constantly showing, us that righteousness is life, and sin is death. He has shown that righteousness enlightens, while sin blinds and deceives. He has revealed by precept and example how holy are His precepts and institutions, and that He accepts no substitutes for either. His glory will He not give to another. The proud ruler and the humble peasant are alike amenable to His laws. The common fire will not become sacred, tho kindled by a consecrated priest, whose miter bears the inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." The holy ark can not be wantonly handled by the "holy nation," or even by the consecrated Levites. Not even the king may serve at the priestly altar; in the holy work, with unholy heart and hands, health turns to leprosy. The man and woman who loved a lie could not live in the presence of the Spirit of God, while the sinner who longed for righteousness is cleansed and made whole. These are among the lessons that God has given this generation, lessons that should lead to consecrated carefulness and faithfulness in His service. More than this, He has revealed to us His great love and His mighty helpful power and sympathy in Christ Jesus,—a love longing to save, stooping to save, mighty to save, from sin to righteousness. And God has revealed all this that responsive love and gratitude may lead us to the greatest faithfulness in His service. WEIGHED—but we shall be weighed, all and each. The kings and rulers of earth will be weighed. A great, proud, worldly church will be weighed in the balance of God's sanctuary. Six thousand years of light and object-lesson have been flooding and beaconing her pathway; how has she received it? Has she turned toward it? or has she placed herself between it and the clearly revealed duty, blinding self and obscuring duty? God's law of Ten Words, interpreted by prophet and apostle, worked out in the life of Christ, has been demanding obedience—obedience to the one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, regard for His holy name, reverence and observance of His holy Sabbath; how has she regarded these things?—She has turned from the law to tradition, has offered her man-made substitute for the holy Sabbath of the Lord. "Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them." Eze. 22:26. God is weighing these things. He is weighing each one, you, reader, among the rest. He is measuring your character by the law; He will weigh us all by the unerring scales of truth and justice. "FOUND WANTING"—shall this be the verdict? Man's tradition, however hoary, will not profit then. Great names, however honored of men, will not furnish introduction to Eden's home. Church, priest, or pope can not grant absolution then of sins unconfessed to God. The counterfeit Sabbath or creed or character will not pass current there. The all-scrutinizing eye of God will detect every sham and every flaw. The letters of living light of His holy law will strike through and through with fearful dread every guilty soul, and TEKEL will be inscribed on every brow, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting." But it need not be so to a single soul. God has given us this lesson of Belshazzar to warn us. He has given us His Word to guide us. He has given us His Spirit to enlighten us. He has given us His Son to save us. Will you not yield all to Him, that the verdict may be, 'Well done'?