Esther 1:10-22

(10) В¶ On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, (11) To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. (12) But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. (13) Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment: (14) And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;) (15) What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? (16) And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. (17) For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. (18) Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king's princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. (19) If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. (20) And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great), all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small. (21) And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan: (22) For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.

We have here the relation of the sad effects of feasting and drunkenness, which for the most part end in broils and contentious, and sometimes even in bloodshed and murder. Reader! recollect in your own knowledge whether you cannot call to mind evils resulting from intemperance. Indeed it can produce no good. The pampering our corrupt appetites, and feeding more than nature requires for sustenance, is at all times pernicious. Here we have ancient history of a divorce between Ahasuerus and his queen. And in more modern times what horrible consequences have ensued in public bodies, and in private life, from the excess of sensuality. Reader! depend upon it the happiness of man, even in relation to this life only, must consist in crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts.