Wine is a mocker, strong drink is
raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs
20:1
The history of the world from the days of
Noah (Gen. 9:21) proves, that the love of wine and strong
drink is a most insidious vice. The
wretched victims are convinced too late,
that they have been mocked and
grievously deceived.
Not only does it overcome them before they
are aware, but it promises pleasures which it can never
give. And yet so mighty is the spell, that the besotted slave
consents to be mocked again and again, till "at last it
biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." (Chap.
23:29-32.)
Its raging power degrades below the
level of the beasts. The government of reason is surrendered to
lust, appetite, or passion. Ahasuerus, with his merry heart,
showed himself most irrational. The conqueror of the East
murdered his friend. All is tumult and recklessness.
The
understanding is gradually impaired. "The heart uttereth
perverse things." (Chap. 23:33.) Other sins of the same black
dye follow in its train, often hurrying into the very jaws of
destruction. Surely then whosoever is deceived thereby is not
wise.
Humbling indeed is it to human nature, to
see, not only the mass of the ignorant, but
splendid talents. brutalized by this lust;
that which was once "created in the image of God," now
sunk into the dregs of shame! Yet
more humbling is the sight even of God's
own people "wallowing in this mire." The examples of Noah
and Lot are recorded (Gen. 19:33), not as a laughing-stock to
the ungodly, but as a beacon to the saints. "Let him that
thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor. 10:12.)
Even an Apostle had practically learned, that his security lay
not in the innate strength of his principles, but in the
unceasing exercise of Christian watchfulness. (lb. ix.27.) "Take
heed to yourselves "-- is the needful warning of our Divine
Master --" lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and
drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares. Be not
drunk with wine "--said the great Apostle--" wherein is excess;
but be filled with the Spirit." (Luke, 21:34; Eph. 5:18.)
