The Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Ark.) 190?-current, 1911-05-19
SONG OF THE
VINEYARD
ssoN TFxT-Isaiah B.I-l2.
Sunday sehool Lesson for May Il. 1911
Specially Arranged for This Paper

III
MEMORY vERsE-li.
GOLDEN TExT-"woe Unto Them
That Are Mighty TO Drink Wine. ana
Men OF Strength TO Mingie Strong Drink
lisa. SEA.
TIME-Probably near the beginning OF
Isaiah's long life as a prophet. which vas
tnaugurated In the year when King Uz-
ziah died. b. c. 75 tBeecher) or b. c. 10
CHastinEst.
PLACE-Isaiah prophesled in Jerusalem.
KINGS-Tn Israel. Menahem, In Assyria'
Asshur-daan III
PROPHETS-Hos Micah.
Isaiah. like all great teachers. was
obliged to speak many stern warnings.
Individuals and nations are best
pleased with leaders that praise ana
aatter 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 cltl-
zens; but the wise men are like Isaiah
2lear-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 thyseif, 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-
philanthropie wealth; incompetence
the great peril of the nation.
We can look back over history fuli
If deliveranees. America was settled
by men escaping from civil snd reli-
gious oppression. The colontsts had
many marvellous deliverances rom the
Indians and other foes The Unien
has been saved by the greatest civil
war In all history We haze had
among our leaders some of the worlds
ehlef men-Washington Lincoln,
Grant. jefferson. Franklin. The worlds
greatest oceans preserve our country
| from attack. We have a vast territory,
wonderfully rich IN minerals aud pro,
ducing harYests abundant enough for
us and for other nations.
The natural fruit of vineyard,
carefully prepared-fiue, cultivated
grapes, and full crop; that Is, he ex-
peeted obedience to his commands.
and love and gratitude and worship.
Instead, he got nothing bGt 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 It 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 hayoc-appropriation Of
the soil and Indulgence In strong
drink Every civilized community de-
velops sooner or later its land ques-
/ ton and It's liquor question.
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 nphilanthropic
wealth, in any form-land. or rail
roads, or mines, or mills, or hoIses to
rent, or stocks and bonds or money to
lend There is more than one tmeri
can whose income is more than mil
lion dollars month.
What Is Isaiah's second "Woe?"
| Against drunkenness and It's accom-
panying evils. and the irreligion that
goes with them.
Would Isaiah pronounce this woe
upon our nation, II 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 reform ers try
everywhere to pass laws closing the
saloons by II o'clock at night. Still
Il is very common, In our cities, to see
drunken men staggering around the
streets In the morning. in the midst
of spree" that may last for days.
Modern men drink many fiery. dis
TILED liquors unknown to the ancients
They have added the common use OF
many drugs, such as opium and Co
came, whose physical and mental et
fects are more terrible and swift even
than those OF alcohol And still ths
saloon is the center of all other sins
against observation-disclosures, muir.
der. gambling, graft. political misrule.
all are closely connected with the
saloon. Ex-Governor Hanly OF Indi-
ana in his final message to the legis-
lature, January s, 1909, said Alcohol
must be held responsible for about
hfths OF the propensities that
make necessary the huge parapherna-
Ia OF police systems, criminal courts.
tails. prisons and reformatories that
constitute so serious blot upon pres
ent-day civilization This ruin Of ma.
tional character and OF Individual
Ives is the indirect cost OF the drink