“Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants”— Daniel 1:12, 1312Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. (Daniel 1:12‑13).
IN the story of youthful Daniel and his three like-minded companions we have set forth most vividly the blessings attendant upon sobriety and clean living generally. These youths, taken from home influence and exposed to all the license and frivolity of a worldly court, purposed in their hearts to refrain from all that was defiling and debasing, thus cleaving to the high standards set forth in the precepts of the law, and the instruction received from their spiritual leaders in the land of their fathers.
God honored their self-denial, and caused even those who might naturally have been prejudiced against them to acknowledge that their way of living was far superior to that of those who permitted appetite to rule them.
“Henceforth may no profane delight
Divide this consecrated soul;
Possess it Thou, who hast the right,
As Lord and Master of the whole.
Nothing on earth do I desire.
But Thy pure love within my breast;
This, only this, will I require,
And freely give up all the rest.”
—Byron.