The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1911-10-12

=
Isaiah's long life as prophet, which was
inaugurated in the year when King Uz-
ziah died, B. c. T55 (Beecher). or B. C. 74s
(Hastings)
PLACE-Isaiah prophesie1 in Jerusalem.
kINGS-Ip Israel. Menahem; in Assyria,
Asshur-daan III.
PRoPHETs-Hosea, Micah.
Isaiah, like all great teachers. was
Obliged to speak many stern warnings.
individuals and nations are best
pleased with leaders that praise and
fiatter them; but such men are enc
mics rather than friends, demagogues
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
nation and peace in an individual The
old Greek maxim, Know myself" is
still the foundation of true knowledge
and wisdom. In our lesson the great
prophet warns his nation against three
national evils: National ingratitude to
God; the menace of ungodly and un-
philanthr0pic wealth; intemperance
the great peril of the nation.
We can look back over a history full
of deliverances. America was settled
by men escaping from civil and reli-
gious oppression The colonists had
many marvellous deliverances from the
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 men-Washingt Lincoln.
Grant, Jefferson, Franklin. The worlds
greatest oceans preserve our country
from attack. We have vast territory,
wonderfully rich in minerals and pro-
ducing harvests abundant enough for
US and for other nations.
The natural fruit of a vineyard.
carefully prepared-fine, cultivated
grapes, and full crop: that is, he ex
pected obedience to his commands,
and love and gratitude and worship.
Instead, he got nothing but wild
grapes, small, sour and hard-such re-
suits as a 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. 1t is with
remarkable persistence that in every
civilization the two main passions OF
the 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.
nounced by Isaiah In which to work
their social havoc-appropriation of
the soil and indulgence in strong
drink. Every civilized community de-
velops sooner or later It's land ques-
ton and its liquor question.
Is the land question an American
question also? In its essentials, yes.
But what, back of the land question,
Is the fundamental difficulty? The
menace of ungodly and nphilanthropic
wealth, In 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 mil
lion dollars a month.
What is Isaiah's second ''Woe?"
Against drunkenness and It's accom-,
panying evils, and the irreligion tina:
goes with them.
Would Isaiah pronounce this woe
upon our nation, If he were living to
day? He certainly would. To be sure.
there is the most drinking late at
night, especially after the theater per
formances are over; and for that rea'
son the temperance reformers try
everywhere to pass laws closing the
saloons by IL o'clock at night. Still,
It is very common, in our cities, to see
drunken men staggering around the
streets in the morning, in the midst
of a spree" that may last for days.
Modern men drink many fiery, dis /
titled liquors unknown to the ancients.
They have added the common use OF
many drugs, such as opium and CO.
7aine, whose physical and mental eff
fects are more terrible and swift even
than those of alcohol And still the
saloon is the center Of all other sins
against y-licentiousness, muir
der, gambling. graft, political misrule,
all are closely connected with the
saloon. Ex-Governor Hanly Of InGi-
ana, in his final message to the legis-
lature, January 8, 1909, said: Alcohol
must be held responsible for about
four-fifths of the propensities that
make necessary the huge parapherna-
liza of police systems, criminal courts. |
jails, prisons and reformatories that
constitute so serious blot upon PRES
ent-day civilization" This ruin of ma,
tional character and of individual
lives is the indirect cost Of the drink
traffic, and by far the heavier even In
dollars, In spite of the fact that the
direct cost of the saloon, our national
drink bin, reaches the incomprehensi-
BILE sum of more than two billion dol
lars every year. ,.s., saHtq.
If our public schools are togiye the
scholars practical preparatory for
life, certainly no subject ID Of greater |
than temperance. Laws |
requiring scientific temperance in
struction have therefore been passed
in al, the states and by the nationapf
and more than forty tenn
perance physiologies, for all grades, |
have been written. Nearly a million |
essays on temperance themes are writ |
ten every year by school children.
The universities, colleges and normal
aahonln nra failing m the otildu