The Carlisle independent., 1917-05-17
LESSON FOR MAY 20
THE IMPORTANCE OF SILICON
 TRoL--TEMPERANcE LESSON.
LESSON TExT-Isa. 2s:1-1s.

| LESSON TEAT-lSa. S.l-13.
 GOLDEN TExT-Every man that striv- 1 eth for the mastery is temperate ir all; l things.-I Cor. Ss5.
 l Wine in the Scriptures is spoken of under four aspects. First, social, that | as illustrated by it's use at the mar riage in Cana. We must not, however,
 confuse this wine with the spirituous,. l strong drink of this present day. Sec
 ond, medicinal lProv. 31 :6-7; Him.. l 5 :23). These passages do not com
 mand us to use it as such, and God
 has very graciously revealed to us- l in modern medical research the futil- 1 ity of the use of alcohol in the matter.
 of medicine as a remedy. Third, sacri- l ficial wine (Matt. 26 :27-29; Luke 9 IT, l 20), and, fourth wine is spoken about
 as productive of the woes of men (See-
 Amos 6:1; Heb. 2:15; Prov g POI. It is also mentioned by way of contrast 1 (See Eph. 5 :1S).
 The Scriptures speak of drunkards-
 in four different ways: CD They are
 to be stoned (Deut. 21 :20) (2) Drunk
 ards lead to poverty (Proy. g :2D i: l (3) Drunkards are to be separated from other men q Cor. SID; (4)
 they are to be finally separated from,
 God q Cor. 6:9).
 Abstinence from strong drink is en-
 joined in the Scriptures under three heads: CD the priest and Nazarite
 (Num. 8; Luke :15); (2) the ruler
 (Prov. 31 :4); (3) those who are to-
 worship Jehovah Uev. 10:3).
 This particular lesson is taken from
 portion of Isaiah's prophecy where he is anticipating what is about to hap
 pen to Samaria, and uttering his warn- ings unto Judah.
 l. The Steps of lntemperanee. First,
 Disgrace and Dishonor (v. D. The
 city of Samaria is compared to a
 chaplet of flowers on a drunkard's- brow, which shall be trodden under
 foot because of his inebriety. Drunk enness seemed to have been so vide spread as to become a national sin.
 Second, Disease and Degeneracy tv. ?. The pride of beauty spoken of in verse,
 one is to fall to the earth" This. glorious beauty was after all only a fading flower" q Pet. :24). The, coming of the Assyrians upon Samaria is described in three-fold way: CD
 AS a tempest of hail"; CD as a "de- stroying storm;" (3) as tempest
 of mighty waters overflowing." The
 thought contained is that of wide
 spread and overwhelming destruction.
 Back of this work of devastation and destruction and desolation was the wrath of God against sin (Ch. 2:4-9).
 All earthly pride shall be trodden un- der foot Samaria, "a fading fiower," was to be greedily eaten up by the on-
 coming enemy.
 II. Those Reached by lntemperance. Strong drink causes men to err in their
 conduct. in their moral insight, in their judgments. It reaches the beautiful | (v. D; it reaches the learned (v. D; it reaches those in authority; in fact all classes. It leads men to the depths of degradation and to the loss of their
 wills (v. S); it makes men to become
 beasts, wallowing in their own yomit. Not only Samaria, but "these also"
 tvv. z and s), that is pe1F saafu.. salem have erred through winke and strong drink. Even the priestfs ana the prophets had and do so noH (See On. 56 :10-12; Micah 2:11). The Ibriesss | were especially inexcusable becduse of l the plain directness of God'sE word l dev. 10:9-10; Ezekiel A :21).l The | result of their intemperance wa,s that they utterly failed in their 4fficial acts. They reeled in vision and lstum- bled in judgment. The use of wine and strong drink made their !social gatherings filthy and disgusting. Tenn 1 perance is the habit of abstainina from | everything that destroys. It is thle con- l trol and right use of Gods goodi gifts
 for service. Intemperance is lafk of
 control or the wrong use of Gods gifts in self-indulgehce.
 III. The Lesson in Contrast. 4eru-
 salem vs. Samaria. Samaria's c1owD l of pride was not the glory of God.
 It's beauty was fading flower (v,A4), his wisdom condemned through the l ignorance of Samaria (vv. 6, 2, X2),
 his strength versus their weakness and
 wickedness- (vv. 6, 13). God teaches by contrast as well as by direct | pIcCcpts verses Qluc duu tcu udy VS
 taken as mocking answer of the ie0. | pie to Gods prophet. Isaiah intimates
 that the time to begin our instruction
 is in childhood (v. 9, that precept
 must be upon precept, and line upon
 line, here a little and there little.
 There never is time when we can let up in this struggle against the mighty
 evil of intemperance.
 Take as reply (v. 9) this would
 seem to indicate that God took them to
 be babies just weaned. If the prophet
 himself, is the speaker, then Jehovah Is represented as teaching knowledge
 to babes and not tp the self-suficient
 It Is these whom he makes to under.
 stand his messager (R. V. ), and thu
 method of his teaching is precept upoI
 precept. If we wkll not hear God
 loving and patient kcall to repentance]
 he will speak to us through cruel ent mics. If we will mot teach our chilf