The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-05-17
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON VII, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, MAY ri.

Text of the Lesson, Prov. xiii, 1885.
Memory Verses, 2e-3e- Golden Text,
Prov. Xxx. documentary by the Rev. d.
n. Stearns.
%. "Who hath woe2 Who hath sorrow2
Who hath contentious? Who hath bah
bling? Who hath wounds without cause'
Who hath redness of eyes?" The Golden
Text tells MS that wine is a mocker,
strong drink is raging, and whosoever is
deceived thereby is not wise" Yet there
are fools without number who seem TO pre-
fer the woe and sorrow and contention.
AT least they prefer the wine and strong
drink, even though it bring these things.
The woes of Scripture against those who
have to do with wine are not few. "Woe
TO them that rise up early in the morning
that they may follow strong drink that
continue until night till wine inGame
them" "Woe unto them that are mighty
10 drink wine, and men of strength to min
gle strong drink" Woe unto him that Civ
eth his neighbor drink. that puttest thy
bottle to hirl and maketh him drunken
also" lisa. V, IL, %; Hab. ii, 15). Then it is
plainly written that drunkards shall not
inherit the kingdom of God q Cor. vi, lO),
so for this life and the life to come it is
strong drink But thank God for deliver
ance, even for those who are bound with
such chains, for the drunkards and vile
people of Corinth had, many of them, ex-
perienced the power of the grace Of God
and become washed, sanctifled and justi-
fed in the name Of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of our God Il Cor vi, ID.
so. They that tarry long at the wine;
they that go to seek mixed wine" This is
the answer to the previous verse. Drunk
enneSs is invariably associated with trouble
In verse 81 it is said that 1.-THE drunkard
shall come to poverty" The story Of
drunken Nabal, aud of Elah, who was slain
while he was drunken, are among the sad
records of the Bible q Sam. XIV, SO, IS;
i Kings xvi, $40. But perhaps more sad
Is the story of righteous Noah, who forgot
himself and his high calling and became
drunken, thus bringing great humiliation
to himself and one of his sons and giving
great occasion to the enemy to blaspheme
(Gen. tx, 1925. Worse still is the story of
David making Uriah drunk II Sam XII, 49,
Surely every man Mt his best estate is alto
gether vanity, but what can be sad of a
drunken man except that he has descended
lower than the brutes?
81. Look not thou upon the wine when
cup, when it moveth itself Alright" The
R. v has for the last clause, "When it 90
eth down smoothly" Wine has is attrac-
tions and its pleasures, but they are wholly
on the side of self and sensuality when car
ried TO excess. There is no manner of use
in making joke Of Paul's advice to Tim
Othy to use little wine for his stomach's
sake q Tim. V, 23l, nor in saying that the
wine Of the New Testament was wholly I'M
fermented, for how could unfermented
wine burst wineskns? But there is use
in letting the word of God stand and in all
humility and teachableness take it to mean
what it says in its plain, literal sense, I'M
less it is clearly figure or a symbol Hap
py are those whose stomachS need no wine;
happy those who prefer TO let even meat
alone, if need be- rather than be a STUN
bling block; happy the church that prefers
to use an unfermented wine at the com
munion rather than put temptation before
any weak one Happiest of all those who
can truly say, Not /, but Christ, who liv-
eth in me-"
30. AT the last it biteth like a serpent
and stingeth like an adder" 1t is on the
principle of ''he that soweth TO the flesh
shall Of the flesh reap corruption" (Gal.
vi, 81. For the mind of the flesh is death"
y, vi.
itself in greater or less degree in some or all
of the works named in Gal. V, 1921, and
the record is that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God" IL man is simply natural man, a
man after the flesh, never born from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God, but
must in due time experience the second
death, which is the lake of fire (Rev Xxx,
10, 14. Then shall he indeed know TO his
eternal sorrow the serpent's bite and adj
ders sting. FOretastes of hell are in mercy
given even in this life Get any drunkard
testify if perchance men may repent and
so escape the lake of fire.
33. Thine eyes shall behold strange
women, and thine heart shall utter per
verse things" Woman in Scripture is the
type of the very best and the very worst.
The church is spoken Of as a chaste virgin,
espoused to Christ, and as a bride adorned
for her husband Oh Cor. xi, 2; Rev. xxi, q,
while all that is vile and false is described
as n woman seated upon scarlet colored
beast, full of names of blasphemy REV.
XVII, 81. The strange woman is described
in verses %, %, of this chapter, and more
fully in chapters V, 3-5; vi, 24-26. The way
to be saved from such destruction is to
give heed to verse %, MY son, give me
thine heart and let thine heart observe my
ways" Not only do we need to be kept from
uttering perverse things, but we need to be
kept from foolish thoughts, for the thought
of foolishness is sin Chapter xiv, 81.
And since we are not sufficient to think
anything as of ourselves, how utterly nelp-
less is our condition, but our sufficiency is
of God III Cor. ill., -.
a. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth
down in the midst of the sea or as he that
lieth upon the top of n mast" Dangerous
positions surely. Such a one might say, in
deed, what David thought was true of him.
self, ''There is but a step between me and
death" Il Sam. Xxx, -. When we know
that death shall usher us into the presence
of the King, that TO die is gain and to de-
part is to be with Christ, then indeed one
has no cause to fear that enemy. But il
ones sorrows have already begun through
wine and women, on the edge of what a
fearful precipice does such a one standl
But the figure is that of one asleep in dan
ger. This j. more fearful still, for if one is
only awake there is some hope of escape,
but what hope can there be for Samson
asleep in the lap of Delilah?
49, They have stricken me, shalt thou
say. and was not sick; they have beaten
me, and felt it not. When shall | awake?
will seek it yet again" Refusing to re-
ceive correction, they make their faces
harder than a rock and refuse to return
der. V, 81. They say come and we will
fill ourselves with strong drink, and to-
morrow shall be rs this day and much
more abundant Qsa. lvi, 12) OF such it
will oubtless become true He that being