The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-24
Sunday Study.
THE WORLDS TEMPERANCE LES
SON

| THE WORLDS TEMPERANCE Les
SON.
The International Sunday school lesson
| for Nov. "a is found in Isaiah ", $50.
| The time is 760 B. c., and the place
| Jerusalem. The golden text is Woe
/ unto them that are nightly to drink
wine," from Isaiah ", %. Although
| Isaiah touches strongly in other parts
| of his book upon self-indulgence, luxury
| and vice, which were practiced even by
| the leaders of Judah, his first six chap
| tiers are given up to social themes Those
| who would find only so-called temper
| ance lesson in this chapter are something
| like those who find nothing in all the
| Bible but how to be saved. The book
| is called "The vision of Isaiah concerning
| Judah and Jerusalem CHAP. t., u, and
| therefore the first application of Its
| words must be to them. The summit of
| the whole book is seen in such passages
as verses IS of our lesson, chap. H., IL,
| H. and similar passages, "The Lord alone
! shall be exalted
| The men OF whom Isaiah are not
| gluttons; give them music and wine and
| they have a feast. The thought Of God
| and His work does not interest them so
! much as do the pleasures of life.-Those
who have been guilty Of living in this
| fashion are the men who ought to have
| been the leaders of their nation. By their
neglect the people have been left with
| out knowledge of danger and the cap
tivity that is coming will be unexpected.
When the evil falls, luxury will be
turned to desperate want, and because
of that want men will die and go down
into the yawning jaws of the outer
world.-The effect of this day of terror
is shown in verses 15-17. Among men.
all pride and power, in whatever station
in life, are brought down. and only God s
righteousness and justice stand on high.
In the physical world the place where
wealth and luxury dwelt becomes the
pasture ground of wandering shep-
herds
The woes of sin spoken of in verses
IS and 10 is differently explained by diff
ferent scholars. The suggestion that
Isaiah thought of these men as beasts
drawing burden is probably the best.
The men of whom he Is speaking are
profane scoffers, who make sport of re-
ligion and throw morality to, the Winds
In verse 90, the woe is against those false
teachers who lead their pupils to mis-
Judge morality, calling good evil, and
evil good. The result of such teaching
is to upset and confuse the moral taste.
so that pleasure is found in things that
ought to give pain, and vice versatile
woe Of verse q Is against intellectual
pride, some form cf which was probably
especially prominent in Isaiah's eyes
Verses %, % describe the governors and
judges of the land. They have great
force and vaior to exhibit in drinking
and mixing liquors, but none for the
,, maintenance of justice. Verse "a gives
an eloquent description of their utter
overwhelming.
Wine and StrOp0 drink r,111ddIa m ON q
brains and blur their vision and wake
up all the evil in them and make them
to care only for their own present re-
ward, no matter who may suffer there
by. Children regard not parents nor
parents their children. The husband
thinks not of his wife nor the wife of
her husband All is lost sight of in the
craving for drink when once this habit
las obtained control. But there are
many who never touch strong drink yet
are SO drunken with their own intense
selfishness that they cannot think of
aught but how they may be pleased and
how some one else may add to their
comfort A sudden end shall come to all
their glory, and they shall find them
selves in trouble from which there is no
deliverance because they have cast
away the law of the Lord of Hosts and
despised the word of the Holy One of
Israel" The lesson teaches:
1. The woe of the cup consists in in
flaming the man until he becomes worse
than brute to his loved ones.
2. The woe of the cup consists in strip
ping a man of everything he prizes
place, home, honor.
3. The woe of the cup consists in per-
verting mans vision, so that he cannot
|. tell good from evil.
| 8. The woe of the cup consists in evok-
| ing reckless blasphemy and defiance of
| God.