p. 14 | Wine Is a Mocker by Mrs. S. N. Haskell

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 5, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 17.

Wine Is a Mocker

By Mrs. S. N. Haskell

It Perverts the Judgment — It Gives the Brewer and the Wine-Grower Silks and the Drinker Rags

By MRS. S. N. HASKELL

"WINE is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Prov. 20: 1. These words of Solomon, written nearly three thousand years ago, are as true to-day as when written. Wherever wine enters, evil of various forms immediately appears. Many good men and women have been deceived by it; but the character of the persons, before drinking the wine, does not prevent the appearance of the evil in them, after drinking it.

Great Men Perverted by It

Noah, who, previous to the Flood, had been a preacher of righteousness, was deceived by wine, became drunken, and immediately his purity and chastity departed, and he lay shamefully exposing his person in his own home. Gen. 9: 20-23.

The second mention of intoxicating wine, in the Bible, is when the daughters of Lot, corrupted with the licentiousness of Sodom, deceived their father with wine, until under its influence he did that from which his whole nature would have recoiled when sober. Gen. 19: 30-35.

It Deceives and Corrupts

The use of intoxicating wine is connected with licentiousness. "Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart." Hosea 4: 11; Prov. 23: 31-33. The person who allows himself to be deceived thereby soon becomes corrupt.

There are those who, for the love of wine, or of the money they receive from the sale or manufacture of it, may claim that it elevates the mind; but the history of intoxicating wine for over four thousand years, shows that it debases all who become contaminated with it. The wrecks of manhood strewn on the shores of the past verify the statement.

The Bible says wine defiles the one who drinks it. Dan. 1: 8. It is deceptive altogether. The exhilaration that comes after drinking it, is only a stimulation for a moment. It excites the nerves for a short time, only to leave them weakened and exhausted afterward. It is truly a deceptive mocker, one of the devil's active agents in the destruction of both the soul and the body of those whom Christ has purchased with His precious blood.

It Clouds the Vision

Wine causes the person who drinks it to err in vision and stumble in judgment. Isa. 28: 7. It will cause one to forget the law and pervert judgment. Prov. 31: 4, 5.

The drinking of intoxicating liquors clothes the families of the wine-growers and the brewers in silks, but it clothes the families of those who drink it in rags. Prov. 23: 20, 21. "He that loveth wine . . . shall not be rich." Prov. 21: 17.

Does the Bible Sanction It?

The advocates of the use of intoxicating liquors, or "moderate drinkers," as they are called, claim that the Bible sanctions the moderate use of wine, and that those only have wo and sorrow who "tarry long at the wine." They love to speak of "the eye that sparkles in the cup,"—the token that fermentation has taken place; but the Lord gives the following command to all, the moderate drinker as well as the drunkard: "Gaze not at the wine when it assumeth the ruby, when it sparkles in the goblet." Prov. 23: 31, Spurrell's translation.

Caused by Decay

Fermentation is a sign of decay. Death and decay followed sin into the world. Alcohol is the result of fermentation. It has a bad parentage. The Lord says, "Wo unto him who maketh his neighbor drink, who places the flagon near him." Hab. 2: 15, Spurrell's translation. Wo to the man that manufactures the intoxicating liquor. Wo to the man that offers it for sale, that "places the flagon near" the one who has become weakened by sin, or the youth who is just entering manhood.

To the wine-grower, the brewer, the saloon-keeper, and the bartender, who form the combination that "giveth his neighbor drink," God says, "Against thee shall be turned the cup in Jehovah's right hand, and great shame shall be on thy glory." Hab. 2: 16, Spurrell's translation.