The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-24
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL
 LESSON
Fourth Quarter. Lesson VIII. Asnsnn
 v. I1-2S.--N0vembeF 2Ss 1o0us THE WORLDS TEMPERANCE SUN

70 a rourth Quarter. Lesson VIII. Isaiah
 VI II-2S--November zB, 1000.
 THE WORLDS TEMPERANCE SUN,
 DAY.
 Isaiah appears in new role. , prophet becomes the temperanCe a0ol turer. The seer who has seen tae Ness siah, and described His Person au Kingdom. now stands forth as the pup s1- lie rebuker of the immoralities oA his days. But there is no change or styie or diction. He does not drop to VuI- gar familiarity or facetiousness' or epfthet. He maintains his dignity ana his elevated mode of speech even deai- . ing with drunkards and drunkenness.
 The extraordinary assonance or the exordium can not be ,reproouceo lh translation It is fairly meliinuent' But the jewels of the hilt detract notn- ing from the keenness of the blade. Tn the prophets fearless hand, this hign- ly-tempered and richly traced sword lays wide open the national heart with all its wicked thoughts and evil ln- tents.
 National opportunity and national re. sponsibility are graphically pictured under the figure of the vineyard advan- tageously located, planted with choice seed. protected with wall and tower and furnished with substantial wine- press. National failure Is portrayed under the figure of the favored vine- yard producing wild grapes. Retribu- ton comes in the desolation or tne vineyard. And now Isaiah's auditors feel the relentless grip of the iron hand beneath the velvet glove of his diction' as he says: "The vineyard is the house of Israel. What the Divine Pianter expects from His vineyard is Judgment and righteousness. What He gets IS oppression and crvF
 This graceful, but skillful and fear less, arraigner of public morals pro- ceeds now to specifications under his general charge. He denounces the pre- vailing rapacity. the inordinate greed of those who increase their landed es- tates by foreclosing upon the unfor' tunate whom they have charged extorT tionate rates of interest. He arraigns those who. in violation Of the reVer" sionary clause of the Jubilee Law, H. legally hold on to their ill-gotton es- tates. With an index finger of steel, he points out the irretrievable ruin In" volyed in this violation of the diVinely instituted agrarian law.
 The second specification is drunken ness The greed of money is accom-" panied by a greed for the pleasurable sensations of intoxicatIon. Men pursue It as they would a remunerative occu- patton, rising early and continuing late at it. Others engage in 1t in sociaI and festive manner to an orehestraI accompaniment. But both are equally forgetful of the Lord
 Violation of agFarian law spells land; hut violation of physiological laws snoils men. The prophets woe against the land Is fulfilled to the jot, A land that once flowed with milk and honey is now comparatively desolate, and it's yielding power immeasurably decreased But what is that compared with the fearful ruin of men impending? The prophet sees an endless procession in its descent to hell It is glorious, InuItitudinous, pompous, and rejoicing procession; but on it's way to hell none +ha less. The harmless silken cords Of the first stages of inebriety have grown to the size of cart-rope traces. But these drunken wretches are, in meas ure. oblivious to the fact that they have degraded themselves to the leVel or dumb, driven cattle.
 In the height of their drunken au- Hacity they profanely and unbelievingly challenge the Almighty. Let him come on with His judgments. We would like to see, of what manner they are" Their moral senses are so utter ly perverted that evil Is good to them, and good evil; darkness is light, and bitter is sweet. In the prophets de- generate day the wine-standard is the gauge of the hero. And there Is such an utter perversion of public justice that the guilty never falls of an acc uuittal if he can furnish the bribe.
 TO receive this rapacious. drunken, skenticaI generation, the jaws of hell are open wide. His hideous tusks are still dripping with the blood of genera tions previously consumed. But the multitude already doomed and damned LcarceIy halts in It's descensus Averno to listen to the prophets fervid tenn perance address.