p. 14 | Strong Drink by J. D. Montgomery

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 17, 1913

Strong Drink

By J. D. Montgomery

J. D. MONTGOMERY

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” There is no higher motive than this. It at once precludes all intemperate habits of eating or drinking. If all applied this test to their habits of life, there would be no excuse whatever for discussing the question of strong drink.

There are two kinds of wine mentioned in the Scripture. One is the harmless and useful kind used by Jesus in the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and provided by him at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. It is of this wine that Paul spoke when he said to Timothy: “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” 1 Tim. 5: 23. This is “the pure blood of the grape” (Deut. 32: 14), the wine referred to by Christ when he said, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Matt. 26: 29. It is a food-drink which “maketh glad the heart of man” (Ps. 104: 15), and is said to contain a “blessing” (Isa. 65: 8).

There is another kind of wine that is responsible for the misery in many hearts and homes in the world to-day. It is mentioned as the wine of the heathen in Deut. 32: 32. “Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.” Verse 33. Could words describe it better?

Is it not a poison, a cruel poison? Is it not the product of death, and does not death hover over its habitation?

From that chapter of the Proverbs which has so much to say about intemperate eating and drinking we borrow a word-picture of the drunken condition. It is not a beautiful picture, but it is a vivid one. It portrays the shame of debauchery, and reveals the fact that the victim does not realize his disgrace. It is not unfamiliar to Bible readers. It is as follows: “Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babblings? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 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. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.” Prov. 23: 29-35.

Could anything be more plain? It is the state of a man who is under the control of another but does not know it. He feels as if he were lying down among the waves of the sea, or maybe on the top of the mast as it sways back and forth with the motion of the ship. In his stimulated condition he beholds strange women: his passions are inflamed; and his heart uttereth perverse things, things not natural to him in his sober moments. He is beaten, and he does not know it: he is narcotized. He is stricken, but he is not sick: his body is benumbed and does not react to punishment. Then the shame of it all: “When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”

The passing of the intoxicated condition is not the end of the matter by any means. Its power over the body and mind can not so easily be shaken. It lures its victim from wine-bibbing to intoxication, and then it holds him with a power that only Omnipotence can loosen. “Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

Concerning the responsibility of giving strong drink to our fellows we note the following: “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken.” Hab. 2: 15. There is a very great burden of responsibility laid upon those who teach others the use of intoxicating drinks. If no drunkard can enter the kingdom of heaven, what could be said of those who are drunkard-makers?

Of the stimulating effects of strong drinks the Scriptures have this to say: “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continueth until night, till wine inflame them.” Isa. 5: 11. The effects of wine and other alcoholic drinks are inflaming to the tissues with which they come in contact. This is the effect on the body tissues and on the mind and the temper. Of the effects on the religion of the user we read these words: “They also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.” Isa. 28: 7. No teacher of morals could possibly retain his high standards and use wine and liquors either to excess or moderately. He would soon begin to err. He would stumble in judgment, err in vision, and fall out of the way. He could not retain his integrity, however earnest he might be in the endeavor.

There is only one safe stand to take on the strong-drink question, and that is to taste it not. No man is safe if he dabbles with danger; and this is especially true with so insidious a thing as alcohol. It may be disguised and colored, flavored and sweetened never so wisely, but it is alcohol still, and in it lurks the germ of drunkenness and spiritual blindness. It may be called whisky or brandy, wine or champagne, beer or ale; it may be hidden in patent medicine or in other medicine; it may be found in home-made wine and cider, or possibly in toddies, or cordials, or what not, but it is alcohol still,—the product of death, the forerunner of perdition. Shun it; pass by it; look not upon it; turn from it and leave it alone.

Newark, Ohio.