The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-01-29

wine Drinking In Churches.


To tile Edit1r # tie Daily Gloje
The practice of wine drinking is en-
phatically christian practice. The new
Testament informs us that Christ while he
was on earth INDUCED in the practice. and
habitually INDUCED in it, and not only 50
but tnught others to DO 50, even command
cd them t. drink. lie distributed it among
his friends inviting them and commindn.
them to take and drink of it. In onr in
stance at least he is said to have minulac-
'urci ii, for the purpose of drinkngou th.
"rct'iol of q marriage feast.
Eat it i, said by some that the wine OF
ancient time, was not iutoXica ting
That assumption is not well founded.
The evidence 81 far rs it goes tends Ia show
not that it was not Intoxicating but that it
was. People at Christs time and hundreds
OF years before were accustomed to get
drunk on wine. Christ was not a teetotallcr.
He was never known to raise his voice
against the practice Of drinking the strong
est kind of liquor known to lie in use at
the time.
Christians feel that they cannot be His
disciples without obeying his teachings and
commands in this respect as well as in re-
iation to other matters To drink wine
was one Of his commands, and il Is suppos-
ed to be as authoritative and binding asany
other Christians have been true to that
command, and have kept up the practice of
slipping their wine in church, and that to
professedly for the very reason that lie
practiced it and commanded it to he kept
up by others, knowing and feeling that
this practice constituted a part of christi
anity. BY this practice they have meant
to show to the world that they consccrated
themselves to the service and cause of the
master. But in so doing they have kindled
fire that has extended beyond their con
troll. \ fire that many christians perhaps
majority OF them) would cXtinguish if
they could, but cannot. Still they con-
tlnuc to sip their wine in church.
'1ioh'ii'S NhN idEptS ANEW, CltulllR lIlt
fame anew and imparting new force to the
appetite already commenced to form. Hug
ing the delusive thought that wine drank
in church will not intensity the cravings
for strong drink 1t is historic fact,
believe, that christian nations are the most
remarkable for drunkenness of all the ma
lions of the earth. 1t cannot be denied
that the communion has had much to do
with producing this state of things. 1t has
had its share at least in bringing 1t about
But as said before, this custom as taught
by Christ and practiced in the churches
has spread beyond the limits of the church
into places they cannot control. | do not
mean to impeach the motives of the church
people They mean to be good christians
and good temperance people too. But the
temperance cause Lays and it is evident
that the churches are powcrlcss to do more
than they have already done in the good
work of suppressing drunkenness. cspeci-
ally while they indulge in the use Of wine
in church while they condemn its use else
where. This course subjects them to the
charge of looking one way and rowing in
the opposite direction The fruit that ha,
flown from the teachings of Christ has
been bitter indeed. though christians have
not meant il for that But the fact that
they have not meant the effect should bc
bad has not prevented the dark and bitter
stream that has flown from the fountain.
1t cannot be expected that the servant
viii he better than his lord or the subject
better than the law-giver. 1t is hard to
turn our backs on Jesus after all lis posi-.
tive commands and His example too in re-
lation to this subject, especially while lie
has lett Us statement ON record indicat
ing that he designed to resume the same
practice anew when lie shall come in His
kingdom. But this we must do | think
and appeal to the good sense ot the
churches to say whether the time has not
come to renOunce the whole thing absolute.
" and entirely without any reservation. If |
not it seems to me that their usefulness in
this direction has come to an end, and that
they cannot 20 farther in the movement of
temperance without first making the in
side of the platter clean. Do not lay to
the devil that which we do ourselves.
lie has faults enough in all conscience.
There can be no doubt Of that But be-
lieve we have no account on record going |
to show that lie ever drank or sought TO |
others to drink or manufactured |
any intoxicating drinks. But the practice
has somehow crept in among mankind and
Tor hundreds of years has been growing
from bad to worse until the state of things
has become alarming.
The continued use of wine in time nm
created an appetite calling for
something stronger, and that in turn to
some extent led to the invention of the
manufacturing of rum, gin and brandy.
These appeared for time to suffice, but
recently arsenic, vtriol, ETC., are in reouisi.
ton. What will be the next step God
only knows. Now the custom of wine
has been the stepping stone by