The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1911-05-18
SONG OF THE
VINEYARD
Sunday School Lesson for May Fl, 1911
Specially Arranged for This Paper

! LESSON TEXT Isaiah 5:1-l2.
! MEMORY VERSE-ll
GOLDEN TEXT-"woe Unto Them
! That Are Mighty TO Drink Wine, and
Men OF Strength TO Mlngle Strong Drink"
lisa 5.22
| TlME-Probably near the beginning OF
lsalah's long life as prophet. which was
lnsugurated IN the year when King Uz-
tlah died, Il. G. 1ij (Beecher) or B G. 10
/ tHastlngO
! PLACE Isaiah prophesled IN Jerusalem.
kiNGs-In Israel. Menahem. in Assyria,
/ Asshur- daan III
PROPlIETS-Hos Micah
Isaiah, like all great teachers, was
Obliged to speak many stern warnInga
individuals and nations are best
pleased with leaders that praise and
latter them; but such men are enc
mics rather than friends. demagoguea
rather than statesmen. In our own
nation we have many braggarts, and
many easy-going over-sanguine citi-
zens; but the wise men are like Isaiah,
clear-eyed to perceive national and
personal sins. Vigilance against
these is the only price Of liberty in a
nation and peace IN an individual The
old Greek maxim Know thyself.' is
still the foundation Of true knowledge
and wisdom In our lesson the great
prophet warns HIS nation against three
national evils National ingrautude to
God; the menace Of ungodly and un,
philanthiopic wealth; intemperance
.he great peril Of the nation.
We can look back over a history full
Of deliyerances America was settled
by men escaping from civil and rels
gious oppression The colonists had
many marvellous dellverances from thA
Indians and other foes The Union
has been saved by the greatest civil
war in all history. We have had
among our leaders some Of the worlds
chief Washington. Lincoln.
Grant, Jefferson, Franklin The worlds
greatest oceans preserve our country
from attack. We have a vast territory,
wonderfully rich in minerals and pro
ducing harvestg abundant enough for
us and for other nations
The natural fruit OF vineyard,
carefully prepared-fine. cultivated
grapes. and a full crop; that is. he ex.
pected obedience 20 his commands.
and love and gratitude and worship.
Instead, he got nothing but Wild
grapes, small sour and hard-such re,
suits as nation might show that had
received no special benefits from Je-
hovah.
Isaiah next comes TO particulars
the two great fundamental sins Of his
people, and of all nations II is with
remarkable persistence that in every
civilization the two main passions OF
he human heart, love OF wealth and
love Of pleasure, the instinct to gather
and the instinct TO squander, have
sought precisely these two forms de.
bounced by Isaiah IN which to work
their social appropriation Of
the soil and indulgence in strong
drink Every civilized community de-
velops sooner or later its land ques-
ANh aAAh AAH AANlAbl NNfNAAhu
Is the land question an American
question also? In It's essentials, yes.
But what. back of the land question.
Is the fundamental difficulty? The
menace Of ungodly and philanthropio
wealth, I'm any form-land. or rail
roads. or mines, or mills. or houses to
rent, or stocks and bonds or money to
lend There is more than one Ameri.
can whose income Is more than a mil
ion dollars month
What is Isalah's second "Woe?"
Against drunkenness and its accom-
Danying evils. and the irreligion that
goes with them.
Would Isaiah pronounce this woe
upon our nation, II he were living to-
lay? lie certainly would. TO be sure,
here is the most drinking late at
light, especially after the theater per
ormances are over; and for that rea-
son the temperance reformers try
everywhere TO pass laws closing the
ialoons by II o'clock at night Still.
I is very common, in our cities, to see
lrunken men staggering around the
streets in the morning. in the midst
II spree" that may last for days.
Modern men drink many fiery, dis.
illed liquors unknown to the ancients
rhey have added the common use OF
many drugs, such as opium and Co
.aine, whose physical and mental eff
ects are more terrible and swift even
han those of alcohol. And sull the
aloon is the center of all other sins
gainst y-licentiousness, mur-
Ter. gambling graft, political misrule.
III are closely connected with the
aloon Ex-Governor Hanly OF lndi.
ma, in his final message to the legis.
nture, January s. 1909, said: Alcohol
must be held responsible for about
Of the propensitles that
make necessary the huge parapherna-
la of police systems, criminal courts,
ais prisons and reformatories that
onstitute so serious blot upon pres
nt-day civilization" This ruin of ma
lonal character and of individual
Ives is the indirect cost of the drink
railic, and by far the heavier even In
ollars, in spite of the fact that the
irect cost of the saloon, our national
rink bill, reaches the incomprehensi.
le sum of more than two billion dol
lrs every year
II our public schools are to give the
cholars a practical preparation for
fe. certainly no subject is of greater
Importance than temperance. Laws
scientific temperance In
truction have therefore been passed