The Liquor Question. 



141 



The Jews were also afflicted by the consequences of excessive indul- 

 gences. In Exodus we have a sad account of the irreligion and licen- 

 tiousness into which the children of Israel fell, on the occasion of 

 the feast in which they indulged, " When they sat down to eat and 

 to drink, and rose up to play." In the time of the Judges drunken- 

 ness had become so common in Israel as to have involved even the 

 women in its shame. The daughters of Belial had for their associates 

 the sons of the judge and high priest, who were so debauched as to be 

 called the " sons of Belial." Under the strong rule of Saul, and the 

 wise government of David, the nation regained its position and Divine 

 favor, but drunkenness soon worked mischief in the royal household, 

 and produced discord and rebellion. David made use of the severest 

 terms in reprobating the use of wine, and, when endeavoring to set 

 forth the idea of the judgments of the Almighty, he chose the figure 

 of the inebriating cup in the hand of Jehovah, which, as He pours it 

 out upon the nations, spreads terror and desolation wherever it falls. 

 "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is 

 full of mixture, and He poureth out of the same; but the dregs thereof 

 all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them." 



Solomon, out of a deeper and more varied experience than that of 

 David, wise above all others, exclaims: "Wine is a mocker, strong 

 drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Then 

 he lifts up his voice in warning: " Look not thou upon the wine when 

 it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself 

 aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an 

 adder." Isaiah, who flourished just before the Babylonian captivity, 

 describes the immoral condition of the masses, and ascribes their pre- 

 dicted ruin to their intemperate habits: " Woe unto them that rise 

 up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink; that con- 

 tinue until night till wine inflame them." * * * "Woe unto 

 them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle 

 strong drink: which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the 

 righteousness of the righteous from him." When he denounces woe 

 upon Samaria, it is because of intoxication: " Woe to the crown of 

 pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading 

 flower, which are on the nead of the fat valleys of them that are over- 

 come with wine. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, 

 which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of 

 mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the 

 hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be 

 trodden under feet. * * * They have erred through wine, 



