Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1893-06-24

gence In artificial excitement. Health goes.
Disease comes. Shame Is lost. Hopeless
and helpless, the drink slave sinks lower
till he dies. In Rome how sad 1t is to gaze
on the ruins of ancient nagni1cence, but a
ruined man is a sadder spectacle than Ce-
SER g palace or the Flavian ampbitheater, for
the human ruin implies that soul Is for
ever lost to God and goodness. (b) The
drunkard must feel In thoughtful mo-
ments how terrible is the drink snake en-
twinsd around him, biting his very vitals
while unable to struggle with his destroy
er. (c) The adder" is supposed to mean
the ccrastes or horned snake. Zockler says
that the very poisonous species Of viper
mentioned In lisa. XII, 8, Is meant. This Is
probably the large yellow viper called "Da-
boia xanthina." 1ncurable poison is the
material type of the effect Of strong drink.
III - 1NTEMPERANCE CAUSES INSANITY.
| Verses 1885,
|. Perverse things. (a) All sin is insanity
In the sense that only the good man is sane
In soul. AS the wicked choose sin they
are responsible for it. Yet it is true that no
pcrverse soul can view Things Alright. Only
because he brought this delusion on himself
is lie held guilty. (b) Drunkenness is akin to
impurity. Both are fleshly lusts; bot are Of
ten found together; both generally conspire
To ruin the victim that indalges in them.
Drink ncitcs evil passions: hence the Au-
thorized Version renders this passage in an
ineligible way when it speaks Of the tipsy
man seeing 'strange women" Yet the He.
brew says, "Thine eyes shall see strange
things" According to the parallelism,
strange things" are contrasted with" per.
verse things" in the same verse. While in
drink the tippler is liable to illusions.
Things around him seem to reel; sometimes
they appear double; sometimes, as theresult
of prolonged drinking, phantom forms ap-
pear to thedrink injured eyes, to the disturb
ed imagination; hence even "delirium ire
mens," vulgarly called seeing snakes"
may be included. THE horrors" after de
bauch are doubly horrible when the victim
sees strange thing" perverted images
of dsordered vision and fancy run wild In
short, the man is for the time insane. (b)
"Perverse things"-evil thoughts, plans
and devices. Drink is an excitant of vice,
an auxiliary Of crime. Men often do when
melted by Grink what they would not do If
sober Drink incites the heart to wicked
ness.
g. Delirious. (a) 1.-The midst of the sea"
is what the sailors call "the trough of the
Sea'-tne hOliOW between tDe creStS OF TWO
waves The ship is in the trough, and the
storm tossed mariner 10 ON deck, staggering
to and fro Such is the picture of the
drunkard when intoxicated. (b) The sec
ond form Of tossing is the man on the top
of the mast regardless of his danger Some
render this ''asleep on the rudder;' Others
interpret this 1.-THE cradle at the top of
mast" on which the sailor sleeps. The
meaning in either case is clear enough-the
drunk man is sleeping amid danger, as does
the wave tossed ship, every billow threat
ening his destruction.
8. Relapse. (a) The man awakes to find
how he has been abused while drunk. He
was stricken, but felt it not. He was
pounded, but knew it not. (b) But though
now wide awake he is not penitent. He
takes no warning. Bound by inclination,
appetite and habit, he gets drunk again at
the first opportunity. (c) This Is the old
form of a modern vice. No one can deny
that the picture is accurately drawn. Add
the sentence, mo drunkard shall inherit the
kingdom of heaven" and then surely the
terrible consequences Of this vice thus de
picted should deter the young from enter
ing upon the drunkard's s dangerous career.