Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1851-01-10
CHURCH OPPOSITION.

adversary with which the Temperance reform
has to contend. 1t is urged by some, that our
is contrary to the teachings Of revelation,
as wine is spoken of in terms of appreciation by
Apostles and Prophets, and even Christ himself.
Paul, it is true, advised Timothy to take a lit
tie wine for his stomacb's sake, and often in
frmities !" but Paul here advises the use of it
medicinaHy-take a little, says he-use it spar
ingly, as you would any other medicine. A
gain, it is said, Christ turned the water into
wine, that the people might drink. We ac-
knowledge that Christ turned the water into
VINE, for that is a recorded fact of evangeli-
cal history; there is no evidence, however,
that this wine was alcoholic wine, or such as is
in common use at this day. We think it very
evident that this wine did not possess a parti-
Gle of alcohol for, Christ, who is God, as the
author of the Bible, had prohibited the use of
alcoholic wine and strong drink, by the solemn
sanctions of his law and under penalty of eter-
nal death. "Wine," says he by the inspired
penman, is a mocker, strong drink is rag
ing" and " cursed is he that putteth the bottle
to his ~neighbor's mouth" 1t cannot therefore
be supposed that he became the first v~iolator
of his own law, by putting the bottle to his
neighbours mouth, or by working a miracle to
give them the means of intoxication! To say
so, would be rank blasphemy.
God had so created man as a physical be-
ing, that alcoholic stimulants were poisonous
to his nature, producing disease, insanity and
death. 1t cannot be p~resumable then, that
Christ, as the creator of man, would give him
alcoholic wine, which would poison his body
and disease his mind! To ~insinuate such a
thing, would be to give the lie to the errand of
mercy upon which he visited earth.
Again; Christ, as a teacher of righteousness,
could not make and give to the people
that which all history proves, and he knew,
would dethrone mans reason, inflame his pas
sions, deaden his sensibiIities, harden his heart,
stupefy his conscience and render him a per-
feet demon incarnate! Impossible
Indeed. the entire passage seems to favor
our view of the subject. The governor of the
feast pronounced it the best wine, or better than
that which they had previously been drinking.
On the superstition that it was intoxicating in
its properties, the Son of God is represented
as producing that which was more i~ntoxica-
ting. This is an inference which few Chris
+ tians in the present day would be willing to
) draw. But as history teaches us that wine,
} destitute of alcoholic properties, was then in
common use among the Hebrews, the only "a
tional and consistent construction of the pas
, sage is that which we have given. For the
Saviour annot be regarded as aiding a prac-
tice inconsistent with those laws Of the animal
economy which he himself had framed, and
injurious to the objects of his creation.
: Others object, that the prohibition of our
/ pledge is inconsistent with gratitude to God for
all his blessings. Alcohol, it is said, is a crea-
ture of God, and it is therefore ungrateful not
to use it. The objection assumes what is moi
true, that alcohol is a creature of God. 1t can.
not be found in its pure state in any of the
vegetable creation, but is in every instance OIL
|, its production the result of vinous fermenta.
ton. 1t is true that the constituent elements
of alcohol exist in vegetable matter, but not in
e the combination that forms alcohol The con.
:, %stituent principles of vegetables, are, we are
told by chemists, carbon, oxygen and hydro
} gen. The deadly Upas, and nutritious grape
n the fragrant rose and virgin lily, the refresh
d ing foliage and delicate tints of the vast arcan;
of nature, each owe their peculiar quality tt
= these simple substances. The different com
n bination of these substances produce alik,
at mans food and his poison. There is produced
from vegetation, alike the wholesome food tina
~sustains life, and the poisonous miasma tina
u generates pestilence and disease The deli
cious pulp of the peach is known to contain il
st its kernel, a poison of the most deadly charac
of ter. The chemical constituents of olive O
Oh approach near to those of alcohol, but no,
widely do they differ in their operation upo
it the human system? Sugar, acknowledged b
all to be a nutritious substance, may by
O chemical process be dissolved into oxalic aci
o. "a deadly and destructive poison. Nitri
IS. acid, well known to be an active and fatal pc
nd son, and the air we breathe, are composed
as the same ingredients but few individual
as however, would be bold enough to contend TIL
er, nitric acid is contained in the atmosphere.
the elements of alcohol are contained in veg
~ tables, but not alcohol itself. So long as IL
'er chemistry of life retains its sway, SO long is
impossible to produce alcohol from vegetab
in creation. 1t is not until death has subvertt
the natural order of things, and vegetable ma
W. ter becomes subject to the laws of decompo
ne ton, that alcohol is produced.
BIT, But suppose we were to admit that alcoh
Ext is a creature of God, would it necessarily fc