The voluntary curse of Cain and the pomp of drinking parties

Why do you draw Cain's curse upon yourself, trembling and wandering through your whole life? For when the body lacks its natural support, it is inevitably shaken and convulsed. How long will wine go on? How long will drunkenness? You are in danger of being mud instead of a man, so completely have you been mixed with wine and rotted away with it, stinking of wine from your daily hangover—and this too spoiled, like the most useless of vessels. Isaiah laments over such people: "Woe to those who rise early in the morning and chase after strong drink, who linger late into the evening, for wine inflames them. They drink wine with lyres and flutes, but they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor consider the work of His hands" (Isaiah 5:11-12). The Hebrews customarily call every drink that can produce drunkenness "strong drink." So those who at daybreak look around for where drinking parties are happening, who peer about at wine shops and taverns, who invite one another to drink, and who spend all the soul's concern on attending to such things—these are the ones the prophet laments, because they leave themselves no time to contemplate the wonders of God. Their eyes have no leisure to look up to heaven and learn its beauties, or to examine the whole order of creation, so that from its arrangement they might perceive the Creator. Instead, as soon as day begins, they adorn their drinking parties with embroidered tapestries and flowered curtains, and they show zeal and care in preparing the cups, arranging coolers and mixing bowls and saucers as if for some procession or festival, so that the variety of vessels may steal away their satiety, and the changing and passing of cups may give them ample occupation in drinking. And on top of this there are presidents of the drinking party, chief wine-pourers, and masters of the banquet: order has been devised in disorder, and arrangement in a chaotic affair, so that just as the dignity of public offices is increased by their attendants, so too they surround drunkenness with a kind of royal service, and by the excess of their zeal they cover over her disgrace. Then come garlands and flowers and perfumes and incense, and countless other external pleasures, which provide still more occupation for those who are perishing. Then, as the drinking goes on and on, there are contests for who can drink more, rivalries and competitions, as they strive to outdo one another in drunkenness. The devil presides over their contest, and the prize of victory is sin. For the one who pours down the most unmixed wine carries off the victory over the others. Truly "their glory is in their shame" (Philippians 3:19). They compete with one another, but it is themselves they punish. What words can reach the shamefulness of what happens? Everything is full of unreason, everything of confusion: the defeated are drunk, the victors are drunk, the servants laugh. The hand grows weary, the mouth cannot receive more, the belly is bursting, and the evil does not let up. The wretched body, its natural tone paralyzed, flows out on every side, unable to endure the violence of excess. A pitiful sight for Christian eyes: a man in the prime of life, vigorous in body, distinguished in the military rolls, carried home on a litter, unable to stand upright or to go on his own feet.