The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1878-04-19

If found at the Lords Supper. The con-
elusion is confirmed by the further ex-
animation of the records. On Luke %,
IL and 1S,) the Savior is represented as
saying oft the Cup, take this and divide
it among yourselves" undoubtedly i'm
plying, that there was no cause of harm
in that cup.
He then adds, i say unto you i will
not drink Of the tr1si, of the oine until the
kingdom Of God shall come" In Mark
"a, 25) 1 will drink no more of the f-uit
Of the rine until that day when drink it
new In the kingdom of God. @And in
Matthew (26,2e) will not drink hence
forth of this fruit of the riRe until that
day when drink it ner with you in my
Fathers Kingdom Mark the special
prominence which he gives to the phrase,
'The fruit Of the oine.' Had he said
~Wine' we might have been much more
in doubt as to his meaning. Since this
word does not necessarily give us any
information as to the question of strength
in the liquor, but this thrice repeated
phrase certainly does. One of the reas-
ons for recording the instution of the
Lords Supper toa9. tises is that of the
importance thereby indicated as attach
ing to that institution, and so to this re-
petition of the these words "The fruit If
the riRe."
What then is its teaching2 under the
dispensation which was at that last
pdschaI supper passing away Even
strong drink could be used in offer
ings by fire before the Lord, but those
officiating then were not to taste lest they
die" Lev. 10, 9. At the Passover, all
were to partake but all learen was to be
put away. This was precisely the case
before us. The Savior took "the fruit
of the vine" which was left over and
with this instituted with the bread) this
feast of the Christian dispensation.
Three times He is recorded as taking
the fruit of the vine and what is remark
able the word aCine is never used in any
inspired record respecting the Lords
supper. What then do these facts i'm
port? As the word wine is aeuer used,
what does this thrice repeated phrase
mean? Manifestly, that the liquor used
by the Savior was produced by the wine,
But alcohol is N no sense such pro
duct. Whether found in fermented or
distilled liquor it is always the product
of some form of sugar undergoing de-
composition and whether found in bar
ley bread or barley beer, it is precisely the
same. Whether found to the amount of
SO per cent, as in brandy, or 25 per cent
as in port wine, or 20 per cent, as in
currant wine, or from 5 per cent to Is or
20, as in Scotch ale or lager beer. Still it
is alcohol. Not the fruit of the rye or
the corn or the barley or the ctGTaM or
the grapes, but simply the product of
the decomposition of saccharine matter as
found in grain fruit or other sugar pro-
ducing substance. But the liquor used
at the Lords Supper saith "the faithful
and true witness was the fruit of the
vine." And, who will dare to affirm that
it scas not. When He 80 emphatically
adds, Il will drink it new with you in
my Fathers Kingdom"
Not ne'ely, as of manner, but neW as Of
condition and quxlity. As He gave them
the new wine here so will we drink the
new wine of the upper kingdom with
them there. The type and antitype
shall correspond when He and they shall
meet again at the marriage supper Of
the lamb. Thus while it is clearly evi-
dent that the New Testament is consist
ent with the Old Testament in condemn
ing the use of all beverages that could
cause drunkenss, even those passages
concerning which good men have enter
tanned doubts. when properly examined
are strictly CONSTANT with the whole
word of God in this particular. The
same God who said Look not upon the
wine when it is red" or fermented is He
who commands. @Do this in remember
ance of me" but at the same time He
shows by his own thrice recorded exam
pie that the profered cup contained
the fruit of the wine" In substance he
tells his followers 1 will not drink of this
myself and yet the time shall come when
| will drink it Ilew with you in my up
per kingdom of which glorious meeting
this new wine is both the promise and
the symbol. So, to, His first miracle was
in no sense e contradiction Of his in
spired word in its forbidding the use of
drunk producing beverages. AS the
God Of providence, He from the day of
Noah and long before has placed the
new t1ine in the cluster and men for
ages had called it blessing. They had
praised that God that had caused food
to be brought forth out of the earth and
urine that maketh glad the heart Of
man." BY the slow process Of natural
law all this had alrays been done and
men believed that in this way alone this
could be done. But in this very begin
ming of miracles, the Savior would shOw
that at o11ce and by His own power, H
could place similar blessing in the
vessels of those who bore the water
changed to wine to the lips of him who
pronounced ii good. This was simply
divine power displayed instantaneously
in connection with the command of the
divine Redeemer, while the fruit of The
Wine ordinarily, is the product of this
same power exercised through the slow
er process of what dim sighted mortais
call natural lars. But God in nature and
God as a Redeemer are one and the
same. The working of miracle in
making wine as at Cana of GaliIee was
only an exhibition of Gods power out Of
its ordinary course while the turning of
lcater into Uine in the cluster, as Isaiah
expresses it is the ordinary manner of
producing it.
Both were what men could call truth
fully the pure blood of the grape, gen.
uinely and in all respects deserving the
name, "the fruit Of the vine" Thus we
see that Gods word never contradicts
itself, but in strict consistent commands
Look not upon the wine when it is red
when it giveth His color in the cup
when it moveth itself Alright" 1t was
the new wine which is in the cluster.
The fresh which the Lord always ap-
proved and never condemns the genuine
fruit of the vine' which @the Lord our
here approves and COM
mends by his example.
These are one and the sGHse
They are neither the product of fer
from molasses as in gin or Of
yrain "a in whisky. beer and ltLe- of fruit