the confession. Lev. 9: 24; Num. 16: 35. What we do matters little, if it is not done in obedience. It is strange fire, also, to lower any religious act to the standard of the world. This is done, for instance, when the church becomes a mere theater for the display of operatic singing, when money is given through ostentation, or when the spirit of caste separates Christians in their worship. SECOND TEMPERANCE LESSON: INTEMPERANCE BLUNTS THE SPIRITUAL NATURE. The drinker soon loses both his insight into God's will, as Nadab and Abihu did, and his ability to do it. Julia Codman gives an illustration: "A man who was seeking religion in a protracted meeting seemed to start anew every night. In the morning when visited by his pastor he was as hard and indifferent as ever, yet in the evening meeting he would become penitent again. This went on until his pastor learned that at night when he went home he drank deeply. When he was induced to give up that practice his convictions became constant, and his conversion followed." Religion, being the best thing in the world, requires a man at his best to understand it and retain it; and a drunkard is always a man at his worst. There is not a crime that is not fostered by the saloon. The statistical editor of the Crime and the Saloon. Chicago Tribune declares that the saloons of the nation are responsible for more than 53,000 murders committed in this country during the past decade. Massachusetts statistics for 1895 show that of every 100 convicted of crime that year, 96.44 per cent. were users of strong drink. The Committee of Fifty, after careful investigation of 13,402 convicts, declare that intemperance was the cause of their crime in the case of 49.95 per cent. In 1899 The New Voice obtained the testimony of one thousand jailers, whose terms of office aggregated more than six thousand years, and they declared that 72 per cent. of the criminals then in their jails were brought there by drink. Alcohol weakens the will power, so that the pitiable wretch cannot do right even when he longs to. A young man in Des Moines, Iowa, recently went before a justice of the peace and begged to be arrested for drunkenness and locked up, that he might get sober out of reach of the saloon's irresistible temptations; and the merciful judge sent him to jail. Alcohol destroys the natural affections. One day a poor wife appeared in a Buffalo court and testified that her husband even stole the little shoes and the underclothing of his baby as she lay in the cradle, and sold them for a five-cent drink. "Intemperance wipes out God's image, and stamps souls with the counterfeit die of the John B. Gough. devil.". III. Fire from God: the Fatal Result of Sin. V. 2. And there went out fire. A miraculous fire, like that which had just before approved Aaron's ministry by consuming his sacrifice (Lev. 9: 24). This, as Keil says, is like Christ's gospel, which is life to the righteous and death to the wicked (2 Cor. 2: 16). From (before) the Lord. From the Shekinah resting on the tabernacle (Ex. 40: 34, 38). And devoured them. Killed them as with a stroke of lightning, without consuming even their clothes (v. 5). WAS THIS PUNISHMENT JUST? Some have thought that this terrible penalty was too severe for the sin; but consider the following arguments (condensed from Dr. Kellogg): (1) We are ourselves sinners, and so are inclined to look on all sin too leniently. (2) There is no need of inferring that spiritual death followed the physical death inflicted on the two young men. The Bible says nothing about their eternal fate. (3) In ordinary natural life a moment's sinful indulgence may bring a life-time of bodily suffering, a sinful infraction of a natural law may result in crippling or death. To argue God out of the tenth of Leviticus is to argue him out of nature and history. (4) Nadab and Abihu had just been consecrated, and committed their sin in their priestly robes, and before all the assembly. The day's entire ceremony was intended as an object-lesson in the right mode of worship, and the people, all through history and even to the Pharisees of Christ's time, showed themselves prone to slight the divine order of worship and make additions or changes of their own. No one knows what excesses of idolatry and self-willed departures from the true religion were prevented by this startling punishment of Nadab and Abihu. Similar cases, where the first offense was made an awful warning for the good of others, are the deaths of Uzzah (2 Sam. 6: 3-7), the Sabbath-breaker (Num. 15: 32-36), and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5: 1-11). 3. Then Mō'ses said unto Aar'on, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be 2 glorified. 3 And Aar'on held his peace. 4 4. And Mo'ses called Mish'a-el and El'za-phăn, the sons of * Uz'zi-el the uncle of Aar'on, and said unto them, Come near, 5 carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. 5. So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Mō'ses had said. lest not, 6. And Mō'ses said unto Aar'on, and unto E-le-a'zar and unto Ith'a-mar, his sons, Let not the hair of your heads go loose. 6 Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; 'die' that ye and lest 7 wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Is'ra-el, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled. that he be not wroth with I Ex. 19: 22; Lev. 21: 6, 17, 21. 2 Isa. 49: 3; John 13: 31; 2 Thes. I: 10. 3 Psa. 39: 9. congregation: God is con THIRD TEMPERANCE LESSON: STRONG DRINK LEADS DOWN TO DEATH. stantly sending forth his fiery indignation against "fire water," as he sent forth his flames to rebuke false fire in the tabernacle. How terrible that men convert God's good gifts, which he designs as the fount of their life, into the cause of their just death! Men need a deeper sense of the might of God's anger; "its fire is not quenched." The Fatal Results of Intemperance. Aside from the spiritual death, alcohol leads swiftly to physical death. Strong drink works fatal injury to the human body. Thousands of eminent scientific men join with the celebrated physician, Sir Andrew Clark, in his testimony: "Alcohol is a poison. So is strychnine, so is arsenic, so is opium. It ranks with these agents. Health is always in some way or other injured by it; benefited by it never." Alcohol is not to be called a food, even though, taken in small amounts, it supplies energy to the body. "Strychnine in limited doses will supply energy, but strychnine is not a food. Alcohol cannot be classed with starch, sugar, and fat. Who ever heard of starch making a man brain his family? How many asylums are filled with victims of the sugar habit?" —- Rev. Joseph W. Cochran, D.D. Dr. Alexander Lambert says that of the 24,300 patients in Bellevue Hospital, New York, in 1900, one-fourth went through the alcoholic ward, among them being many who had taken the various " 39 cures. IV. Broken Laws and Broken Hearts.— V. 3-7. 3. And Moses said unto Aaron. Not in reproof, but explaining the terrible judgment. This is it that the Lord spake. If in these words precisely, they are not recorded; but God had often uttered their substance (Ex. 19: 22). Saying, I will be sanctified. "I will have my holiness made manifest to the people." In them that come nigh me. A frequent designation of the priests, who, because of their very nearness to Jehovah, had the greater responsibility of showing him forth in virtuous lives. God was like a human father, who, just because his son is so near and dear to him, dares not permit any wrong-doing of his to go unpunished. The principle applies to-day to all men and nations that have the best opportunities of knowing God. (See Amos. 3: 2.) And Aaron held his peace. His wailing might have been interpreted by the people as upbraiding God. Besides, remembering how weak he was in the matter of the golden calf, perhaps he had brought up his sons weakly, and felt himself a sharer in their guilt. So the Psalmist: "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it " (Lev. 39: 9). 4. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan. These first cousins of Aaron were probably the nearest relations who were not priests, and it may have been on account of their defilement that the second passover was established (Num. 9: 6-11). Aaron's other sons could not be given the satisfaction of performing the last rites for their brothers, because the people would connect them with their brothers' sin. Carry your brethren. The term "brethren" is used often of near relatives. Out of the camp, where all burials took place. 5. So they . . . carried them in their coats. "The long white tunics, which were the most characteristic part of the priest's dress." Cook. 6. Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's remaining sons. Let not the hair of your heads 8. And the LORD spake unto Aar'on, saying, 9. Drink no 3 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest tent of meeting, that throughout your generations: 1 Lev. 21: 12. ye die: 2 Ex. 28: 41; Lev. 8: 30. it shall be not: it shall be a statute for ever 3 Ezek. 44: 21; Luke 1: 15; 1 Tim. 3: 3. go loose. "Both this and the rending of the clothes were among the most common signs of mourning among the Jews." — Lange. Lest ye die. Aaron and his sons were forbidden to mourn in public for any death (Lev. 21: 2, 3) except near kindred; but even this was forbidden them in this case, that the people might know that they acquiesced in God's just decree. Lest wrath come upon all the people, since no ruler can sin without involving his people in the sad results. But let your brethren . . . bewail. The mourning of the people would not be misinterpreted, and would deepen the impression of the event. 7. And ye shall not go out, to accompany the dead bodies. They were to keep right on with their priestly duties. For the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. By the anointing they had been set apart to represent God before Israel."-Kellogg. It was called "the oil of gladness" (Psa. 45:7), and was not to be associated with mourning. Compare Matt. 8: 22. ILLUSTRATION. The story of the young nobleman who held Alexander's censer while the emperor was sacrificing. A coal fell upon his flesh, but he let it burn rather than disturb the service. FOURTH TEMPERANCE LESSON: INTEMPERANCE INVOLVES THE SORROW OF MANY INNOCENT ONES. If the evil effects of drunkenness were confined to the guilty, it would be woe indeed, but the most pitiful results of intemperance would be abolInnocent Victims ished. Wisely, however, God has so bound the world together that no of the Saloon. man can sin, but that others, and usually many others, suffer with him. ILLUSTRATION. An anonymous writer describes a new map of the United States. "On that map is a canal - the canal of death 50 miles long, 40 miles wide, and 10 feet deep. It is filled with liquor, a new supply every year. Down each bank is a line of corpses, and another line down the middle, three continuous lines of corpses, each line 50 miles long, the yearly victims of the saloon. Along one line of latitude are 2,500,000 drunkards, stretched across the continent. Around the coasts of both oceans, the great lakes and gulf, Canada and Mexico, is a boundary line, — the widows and orphans, the weeping fathers and mothers, of these 2,500,000 drunkards, — the nation's girdle of sorrow. "When once the demon enters, Stands within the door, Dwell there nevermore." V. Temperance Lessons written in Flame. Vs. 8-11. 9. Do not drink wine nor strong drink. The nearness of this injunction to the story of Nadab and Abihu implies that their sin was due, partly if not wholly, to intoxication. "The Palestinian Chaldee adds here, as thy sons did who died by the burning fire."" - Ginsburg. Thou nor thy sons. No father wants his boy to be a drunkard; but the boys will follow the example of a drinking father rather than his precept. The saloon could not exist ten years without the boys. "Cultivate a taste for liquor by treating the boys," was the abominable advice given frankly by a saloon-keeper at a convention of that trade in Ohio. When ye go into the tabernacle. The immediate reason is, of course, that the liquor would confuse their brains, and keep them from performing their duties properly. FIFTH TEMPERANCE LESSON: STRONG DRINK INJURES ALL LABOR. In no case is the use of strong drink as a beverage anything but a detriment to a Strong Drink, worker, whether he work with hand or head. This injury is direct, if Weak Workers. the worker himself uses liquor; and it is indirect but definite and very heavy, if the worker has to pay for the crime, disease, and pauperism that the saloon causes. II. the the clean; 2 And that ye may teach the children of Is'ra-el all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Mo'ses. 1 Lev. 11: 47; Jer. 15: 19; Ezek. 22: 26. 2 Deut. 24:8; Jer. 18: 18. ILLUSTRATIONS. Figuring the annual liquor bill of the United States at $900,000,000, it would equal a pile of silver dollars 1,578 miles high. "It would take ten men with scoop shovels to throw away money as fast as we are wasting it for grog."— Christian Observer. Robert J. Burdette has a humorous talk with his "friend with the chromatic nose who longs for the independent life of a farmer. He shows him that for some years he has been drinking a good improved farm at the rate of 100 square feet at a gulp. "Now pour down the fiery dose, and imagine you are swallowing a strawberry patch." "Forty-seven of the great trunk railroads now discriminate against employees that drink. A recent bulletin of the United States Labor Commission reports that of 7,025 establishments, agricultural, mining, and transportation, of which inquiries were made, 3,527 take into account a man's drinking habits when they employ him." Rev. William Parsons. In 1898 a committee of the Hennepin Avenue M. E. Church of Minneapolis addressed thirty of the city's leading business men in a great variety of callings, all of whom replied with emphasis that they discriminated against drinking men in choosing their employees. The American Grocer, using government statistics and writing April 3, 1901, figures the total drink bill of this country at $1,228,674,925, of which alcoholic drinks cost $1,059,563,787, the slight remainder being spent for coffee, tea, cocoa, and the like. The greater part of this drink bill is paid by the laboring classes. The Perpetual Law of Temperance. SIXTH TEMPERANCE LESSON: INTEMPERANCE IS UNDER GOD'S ETERNAL BAN. It shall be a statute for ever. It is a great satisfaction to get one's life based upon permanent principles, and temperance is one of the most necessary of these. The temptations to drunkenness are many times greater now than in Bible times, and the sin is far more prevalent in our nation than ever in Palestine. Never was there so great need of emphasizing this standing law. "Drunkenness is a sin. The Bible condemns the drunkard. He is not to inherit eternal life. He is excluded from the Kingdom as having defiled that body which was made to be a temple for the divine indwelling, and desecrated that soul which was meant to be a reflex image of the God of holiness." Pres. John Henry Barrows. -- 10. That ye may put difference between the holy and unholy. Drunkenness (see v. 1) dulls the moral nature. Intemperance and religion are eternal foes because the first is unclean and the second holy, the first is slavery to the body and the second mastery over it. The church should be the active opponent of the saloon, because the saloon is seeking to destroy everything which the church is seeking to promote. SEVENTH TEMPERANCE LESSON: INTEMPERANCE DESTROYS INFLUENCE OVER OTHERS. II. And that ye may teach the children of Israel. The Levites Intemperance were the official teachers of the nation; and as the blind cannot lead the and Influence. blind, so neither can heads muddled with strong drink teach the truth to others. Aaron was passing through a terrible experience, but it was well worth while, since it enabled him to keep his nation from experiences still more terrible. It is especially necessary that teachers, public officials, employers, all in positions of authority and influence, be total abstainers. But every Christian, also, is a light set on a hill. A Christian life is an electric advertisement of Christianity, and the least departure from strict temperance is like the breaking of some of the lamps, leaving gaps in the sign and spoiling it. ILLUSTRATIONS. The introduction of the saloon into the Philippines is teaching the natives what hundreds of missionaries can scarcely counteract. "This," said President Schurman, chairman of the Philippine Commission, "has hurt the Americans more than anything else in the eyes of the natives." Among ex-President Harrison's last public utterances was an earnest plea for the suppression of the rum traffic with the feeble races of Africa and the Pacific islands. NUMBERS 10: 11-13, 29-36. LESSON VII. THIRD QUARTER. One of the finest examples of consistent temperance influence is shown in the life of Khama, the Christian chief of South Africa. He stopped native beer-making. He prohibited the introduction of strong drink by white men. When he found them transgressing this rule, he drove them from his country. He carried out his temperance program in the face of tremendous opposition, native and foreign. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. Win Attention by asking the class to tell the differences between a cornstalk and an oak sapling of the same height. Why is the latter so much stronger? Thus illustrate the slow growth of the Hebrews and their consequent endurance through history. Draw, as you go on, a sketch map of the two wildernesses, Sinai and Paran. Get the class to draw it with you, on pencil tablets. Represent the three days' journey northward by a dotted line. Indicate the three nights' encampments. Write oppo site these the three lessons in spiritual progress as they are developed in teaching: the cloud, the accession of Hobab, the journey songs. Draw two parallel bars across their route to symbolize the barriers to progress raised by the discontent, first of the people, and then of their leaders, Miriam and Aaron. Continue the dotted line as you show how these barriers were removed. Close with an earnest application of the whole to the personal needs of your scholars. PSALMS 31: 3. LEARN BY HEART. THE SECTION includes a rapid survey of Numbers up to this point, the lesson, and chapters II and 12. The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Pentateuch, and is named from the two numberings or censuses of the people it records, one near the beginning, and the other near the end of the forty years' stay in the desert. It contains the account of the forty years in the wilderness, with many important laws then formulated. See Introduction to the quarter. |