There are many passages of Holy Scripture that show forth the dangers of drunkenness. In the Old Testament we read that Noe and Lot were both taught by sad experience the shame and degradation arising from the loss of self-control through the excessive use of intoxicating drinks. {438} No sanction can, be found in the Bible for the opinion that intemperance is a pardonable weakness. It is a very long time ago, indeed, since this vice of drunkenness was first condemned by the authorized teachers of religion. Among the vices it is properly classified with gluttony, which is one of the seven deadly sins. The Apostles sent forth by our Lord to teach all nations strenuously inculcated the duty of _sobriety_ and _watchfulness_ on each individual Christian. St. Peter and St. Paul especially insist on this personal vigilance as being of the utmost importance. _"Being sober_, hope perfectly for that grace which is offered you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. _Be sober and watch_, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he may devour" (First Epistle of St. Peter v. 8-13). St. Paul teaches the same lesson of _personal vigilance_ in these words: "Let us _watch and be sober_, having on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation" (1 Thessalonians v. 6-8). "For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men, instructing us that, renouncing impiety and worldly desires, we should _live soberly_, and justly, and piously in this world" (Titus ii. 3). A great doctor of the church, St. Augustine, in the fourth century declared that there were at that time drunkards, plenty of them, and that people had grown accustomed to speak of drunkenness, not only without horror, but even with levity. This condition of things was brought about by the vicious teaching of the pagans, who sanctioned every form of sensual gratification. {439} In one of his sermons St. Augustine uses these words: "The heart of the drunkard has lost all feeling. When a member has no feeling it may be considered dead and cut off from the body. Yet we sometimes are lenient, and can only employ words. We are loath to excommunicate and cast out of the church; for we fear lest he who is chastised should be made worse by the chastisement. And though such are already dead in soul, yet, since our Physician is Almighty, we must not despair of them."