Bible Songs — Temperance Songs

Look not upon the Wine

No. 1383
Tune LOOK NOT UPON THE WINE.
Words F. E. Belden.
Music D. S Hakes.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 3/4
4 stanzas

Words

Look not upon the wineThat sparkles in its flow,For death is slumb'ring there,Beneath its ruddy glow.No happiness it bringeth,At last it only stingeth;It biteth, and it wringethThe heart with bitter woe.

Chorus.

Look not upon the wine,O shun the glowing cup!A demon's arms entwineThe souls of those who sup.

Behold the giant fiendWho laughs in mockery;He binds the strongest heart,And boasts of victory.No human hand can severHis bands that loosen neverUntil the soul foreverRests in eternity.

Go thou, unveil his form,And bid the erring flee;O lift the demon's mask,And let the tempted see.Implore them to awakenEre happiness be taken,While fetters may be shaken,While yet they may go free.

Lift up the tempted soulNow fallen in despair,Direct his thoughts above,To God, who heareth prayer.His arm in mighty powerCan bid the demon cower,And in temptation's hourWill an escape prepare.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1383» (large, left), title «LOOK NOT UPON THE WINE.» centred (condensed capitals and small capitals, «Look not upon the Wine.»); under it the epigraph in two centred lines of small roman, «"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder."—Prov. 23 : 31, 32.» (old-style figures); on the next line «F. E. BELDEN.» at the left (words) and «D. S HAKES.» at the right (music; no period after the «S»). No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. All four stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.»–«4.», between the staves of systems 1–3; the printed lines run on across the systems and are given here one verse line per line. «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) stands over the treble after the heavy bar in system 3; the chorus words are printed once: «Look not up - on the wine,» in the second lyric row of system 3 (after stanza 2), the rest in the one row of system 4. Many words are printed unbroken under two notes («sparkles», «mocker - y;», «bringeth», «glowing», …) and many are set without a word space («Wholaughsin», «ToGod,», «Thesouls», …): the spaces are restored here (details in `truth.json`). Under the music, centred: «Copyrighted 1878 by J. E. White.». The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («flee ;», «cup !», «23 : 31»); it is closed up here; curly quotes are written straight. Spelling and punctuation are the print's.