The Ohio organ, of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, [Ohio]) 1853-1854, 1853-10-14
For the Ohio Organ.
The History Of Wine as an Intoxi.
eating Beverage.

Wine Is undoubtedly the most an
cient intoxicating drink. In antedi-
luvian times, the people had great
knowledge, much more than we dsu-
ally concede. They, then appear to
have had no other Intoxicating artif.
cial liquid drinks, than the fermented
juice Of the grape, Our Lord, the
highest authority says, Luke: XVII,
72," In the days Of Noe, they did eat,
they drank, they married wives, "&c.
These remarks look conclusively TO
the revelry and drunkenness then too
common; may be, in sight of the Ark,
and in opposition to all Good Noah's
remonstrances and warnings of jhdgs
ments Just about to burst upon that
guilty race. STEPPED in iniquity, they
being engaged in ieasting, intoxica-
ton, lust and wine, bade defiance to
all the messages of Heaven, to turn
and repent. Hence their destruction.
After the deluge Noah became a hus-
bandman or planter, and cultivated
the. grape, pressed out and fermented
the delicious, tempting and intoxica-
ting wine, and drank of it. Either
from weakness Of Body or some other
natural infrmity, he seems to have
been oyertaken, was drunk and ex-
posed, In consequences, deep disaster
fell upon a branch of his family which,
to appearance, continues to the pres
ent day. The intemperance of Lot
and the disgrace Of his family, have
set the mark Of touch not, taste not,
handle not, on the ternaented juice of
the grape, even from remote antiquity.
Ahasuerus when healed by wine, COM
manded Vashta, his queen, that her
beauty might be seen by his lords, to
appear before a drunken court. She,
a proud, independent woman-a stick.
Ter for woman'S rights, refused to
obey, and was degraded from her high
position. O aRa 3,gst tt lfand
In celebrating the feasts Of popular
divinities, the pagan inhabitants Of
cities and states were for time, ac-
cording to usage, entirely drunken
with wine. The debauch of lust and
wine, for they are usually united, con-
tinued for a day, a week, or longer,
to the ruin of virtue and disgrace of
human nature. Such season of
wine drunkenness did the crafty Cyrus
seize, to drain the river E1phrates into
lake, and attack the great city of
Babylon. w hen the monarch Bel
shazzar, in full security with his lords,
wives and concubines, was engaged in
a revel of wine,a using, in contempt,
the holy vessels ofthe temple at Jefu-
salem, the hand wrote on the wall his
doom. AT that moment, the veterans
of Cyrus had entered the river gates
of the city, in sight of the drunken
guards reeling on the walls, made their
way to the palace, slew the court, IN
merssd IN aOsns, and took the city Of
strength, the wonder of the world.
In showing the true character Of
wine, permit me to recall lamenta-
BILE act of Alexander the Great. In
the midst of a feast, with his generals
and friends, with his own hand, when
flledwith wine, he slew Clitus hissbo-
som companion. While the world
seemed to lie at the feet Of the con-
queror, and his prospects Of empire
were most prosperous, wine conquered
him. lie died in a wine revel, to the
disappointment Of his friends, and
the disgrace of his character as a VIC
torious monarch. ~, t
70 come down to more modern
times, we discover Nero, a Caligula,
a Heliogabalus, and hostof others,
both noble andignoble, who have dis
graeed the human form, by tyranny,
lust and debauchery chiefly produced
by the free use of the wine cup. See
the courts Of almost oil antiquity, and
of modern despots, down to the pres