Middletown transcript., 1899-07-22
HOODS Pills
'OuSe the Liver
SCHOOL.
LEssoN ~, THIRD QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES, JULY %.

Il
/ NATIONAL SERIES, JULY %.
| Text of the Lesson, Dan. Vi 17-S1.
Memory Verses, 24-2s-GOIden Text,
Pa. Ixxv, documentary Prepared
by the Rev. ID. MI. Stearns.
| copyright, 1899. by D. M. stearns.I
II. "Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give
thy rewards to another, yet Twill read the
writing unto the king and make known
to him the Interpretation. Thus spake
| Daniel to Belshazzar when brought In to
read and interpret the handwriting on the
wall For the third time the wise men Of
Babylon had failed to understand the
things Of God. In chapter ii they could
not tell the dream, in chapter iv they
could not interpret dream when they
beard 1t, and now they fail either to read
| or interpret four words plainly written on
the wall before them (verse 81. These
three instances fully den 1onstrate the utter
inability Of the wisdom of this world to
understand the things Of God. How much
a chair Is needed to teach our students
| how to depend upon the Holy Spiritl
16, 19. 20 thou king, the Most High
| God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father, q
kingdom and majesty and glory and hon.
or" Then he refers to its worldwide
character and the power Of the king. The
great thing to be noted In these two verses
is that all this kingdom and glory was the
| gift Of God. The kingNdid not obtain it
| by any power that he had. One of the
| great truths which God sought to impress
hot bets and
| wealth was not gotten by their hand, but
that He had given it to them Deut. viii.
| II, 16; compare Chron. xxx, II, 12l.
90. "But when his heart was lifted up
and his mind hardened In pride, he was
deposed from his kingly throne, and they
| took his glory from him." The story of
1 his humiliation Is fully recorded in his
| epistle to all the world found in chapter
". He was faithfully warned by Daniel
| as Gods messenger and had whole year
given him In which to profit by the warn
| ing, but he failed to lay 1t to heart and
| the Christening came upon him.
81. "Iin he knew that the Most High
God ruled In the kingdom of men, and
that He appointeth over it whomsoever He
WILL" The name "Most High God'' Is
| first used in Gen. xiv, IS, 10, in connec-
| ton with this other title, "The Possessor
Of Heaven and Earth. As such He has
perfect right to do what He will with His
own, and this NsbunhRdnezzar learned, as
he states in his epistle "He doeth accord
ing to His will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay His hand or say unto Him,
What doest Thou? (chapter iv, 85; COM
pare Ps. cxxxv, g; lxv, g, %.
20. Sand thou his son, 0 BelshazZar;
hast not humbled thine heart, though
thou knewest all this" Anon and Zede-
kiah are mentioned among the kings as
those who humbled not themselves, though
they knew they ought to Oh Chron. 0xiii
90; xUvi, 12). The Spirit says by James
1 that God resisteth the proud, but giveth
grace unto the humble (Jas iv, 81, and in
Prov. xxx, 2S, "a mans pride shall bring
him low, but honor shall uphold the hum
BILE In spirit.
28. 1.-THE God in whose hand thy breath
is and whose are all thy ways hast thou
not glorifed." How apt we are to forget
that In Him we live and move and have
our being (Acts xvii, 2s); that it is not
In man that walketh to direct his steps;
mans heart deviseth his way, but the
Lord directeth his steps (Jer. x, %; Prov.
xvi, %. So we go on not considering that
the life God gives and the unceaslng care
day and night from the beginning of our
existence are intended to lead us to Him
self that we may know Him.
1926. "This is the Interpretation OF the
thing: MEME; God hath numbered thy
kingdom and finished it," It was not
whole hand that was seen writing these
words, but part Of hand; only the fingers
/ (verses 8, 24). Sometimes God causes
voice to be heard and sometimes the mes
senger Is wholly visible He doeth accord
ing to bis will and always with reason.
Great things doeth He which we cannot
comprehend (Ezek. xiv, %; Job xxxvii, 81.
II we are wholly His. He will perfect that
which ooncerneth u.s.
81. "TEKEL; thou art weighed in the
balances and found wanting" The Lord
Is God Of knowledge, and by Him ac-
tions are weighed. All the ways of man
are clean IN his own eyes, but the Lord
weigheth the spirits q Sam. ii, 8; Prov.
xvi, -. Job desired to be weighed In an
even balance, but while men of low degree
are vanity men of high degree are lie; to
be laid In the balance they are altogether
lighter than vanity Dob XXI, g.: Ps xii.
e).
90. "PERES; thy kingdom is divided
and given to the Medes and Persians." In
the first year Of Belshazzar Daniel saw in
the vision Of wild beasts that which Ne
buchadnezzar had seen in the vision of the
great image. the succession Of kingdoms,
Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian and
Roman, then the kingdom without end
The differences In the visions are at least
suggestive Of this fact-that to man of
the world like the king Of Babylon power
is something precious as gold or silver,
but to q man Of God, waiting for the king
dom of God, the present governments Of
earth are Ike devouring wild beasts.
30. "They clothed Daniel with scarlet
and put chain of gold about his neck,
and made proclamation concerning him,
that he should be the third ruler in the
kingdom" Thus he is again honored be-
fore men because he honored God. AS it
Is written, "H any man serve Me, him
will My Father honor" John xii, 20), and
again, Them that honor Me viii hon
or" Q Sam. II, 80). All earthly honors
are very feeting, and Daniel sought them
not. He sought the honor that cometh
from God only John v, AZ.
30. "In that night was Belshazzar, the
king of the Chaldeans, slain" And what
Of his soul, the person, the one who in
that body, now dead, had spent his last
night on earth at drunken, God defyfng
feastf We think Of the words 'sThou fooll
This night thy soul shall be required Of
thee, and OF the rich man who when he
died lifted up his eyes in torment Huke
Xii, 20; xvi, S3). Poor indeed is he who
has kingdom, but no Saviourl
81 "And Darius the Median took the
kingdom, being about threescore and two
years old. It was In the first year of
- ~. - -
the prophecy Of Jeremiah that the captiv-
fly was about over, gave himself to prayer
and supplication for his people, with fast
ing and sackcloth and ashes Dan. Il, 1-S),
and to him it was revealed by Gabriel that
after 483 years more OF Jewish history the
Messiah would come and be cut on with
out bringing the kingdom, but that after
another seven years Of Jewish history flor
which seven we still waftl there will be