Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1881-12-24
A Stumbling Block Removed.


In the strife between good and evil, one portion
of which s the warfare against drunkenness, we
need every vantAee-ground to he taken from the
enemy One stronghold is the argument drawn
from Holy Scripture against total abstinence 1t
s said that the use Of Ni.e is sanctioned in God 3
word and by our Lord chosen to be used in the
most solemn and Joyous of all our holy observ-
ances, therefore it cannot be in itself an evil.
What Is wine! II is grape juice. The alcohol in
the wine il an accidental. not essential ngre-
dent, exactly as in preserved fruits the fermenta-
ton that sometimes takes place changes but does
not characterize the preserve. Breweries and dis
tilleries things of modern invention; this at
once removes from consideration here all the
spirits, WHISTLES. &c., and all fortified wines, that
are made from the gra. juice and have an addi-
ton of spirit III them. Like there are two
different words III Greek that are translated in
our Bible hell there are nine words in
Hebrew and four in Greek, III the Bible translated
:" wine."
The most prominent words mean boiling
foaining. fiom the appearance of the Juice run
ning from the pressed grapes into the vat. In
Scripture 1t is used as it is ill the grape growing
countries to day for the wine il the grape. See
Jeremiah XII TO- u; Deuteronomy xviii 30, DC.
- So gather wine and summer fruits" In Isaiah
xvi 10. jeremiah xviii 3D. it is used for the grape
trodden III the vat. and probably has the same
meaning i'll Psalm civ 10. Jeremiah XII TO- II.
Isaiah Lvi, Deuteronomy xiv 70. Another word
translated VINE means tine grape rs fruit of the
vineyard in its natural condition, Isaiah I.xv s.
and ii Chronicles XXI and 6, lain in heaps
The word with this meaning occurs IS times, and
is always spoken of as blessing. Another word
translated as hagons OF wines occurring four
times in the Bible Is really cake of dried grapes,
ii Samuel vi IS, Chronicle xvi 3, Hosea Iii l.
In grape growing countries as France and Italy
they eat bread and grapes Grapes contain that
which makes flesh and another part that gives
heat and force. Vegetable matter has tendency
to decay very rapidly in hot countries, and doubt
less very often before men aware of it, fer
mentation began in their cases of fresh juice, as
perhaps was the case with Noah.
The sugar IN the grape combines with the oxy
gen of the air, ferments and becomes alcohol and
afterwards vinegar. The wine or grape juice was
preserved, not by completing the change, but by a
process that kept all its sweetness and nourishing
boiling point The grape juice thus preserved
from fermentation needs to be kept from contact
with oxygen. The TASKS containing it were care
fully closed, sometimes buried, sometimes i'm
brought to him, Melchisedec brought it to Abra-
ham. So in Luke 81, 49, Mr.. Frank Wright of
hensington, England, who is q chemist and makes
pure unfermented WINE says My experiments as
a chemist made upon the various modes of pre-
serving grape juice for sacramental purposes have
convinced me, not only that the wine alluded to
might not have been fermented, but that it must
have been unfermented." Mark what is said of
1t. lst.-It is wine that will burst old bottles.
2nd-Will not burst but be preserved in new bot
ties. 3rd.-lt is wine better old than new. Burst
ing Is plainly due to fermenting action by which
large quantities of mixed gases are generated and
which, when allowed to accumulate within con-
lined space exert an immense pressure. Strong
oaken, iron-bound casks and thick stoneware
bottles, are rent like tissue paper by the force of
fermenting grape juice within. The bottles spoken
OF were the common bottles of the country /. E.
SKINS of animals sewn together the and inside
smeared over with pitch to make them air and wa
ter-tight the old bottles being very often rubbed
over with honey for the same purpose. The pres
sure which such bottles would bear even when new
must be small indeed. There expansibility under
pressure must also be very triting; and hence
these bottles, 10 matter whether they were old or
new must be quite incapable of resisting the enor-
nous force of the expansive gas arising from fer
menting fluid. The new bottle would not burst,
not because 1t was so much stronger than the old
one, but because as nothing would ferment in it,
its strength would never be tried like the other.
Tins determining quality in the old bottles, might
be derived from one or two sources, or from both.
1stfrom portion of the skin where the pitchy lin
ing had cracked or peeled off, being in a state of
decay through exposure to the air in moist state;
md, from portions of sediment deposited from the
previous contents of the bottle and which like the
bottle itself would into decay when exposed to
the action of air and moisture In either case a
fermenting action would be communicated to any
fluid capable of undergoing such a change; very
soon after being placed in such bottle, the bottle
won!d burst and the wine be spilled.
Therefore the wine could not have been fer
mented, because it would not bust the bottles and
the spirit III II would dissolve the btuminous lin
ing and so render the flavor repulsiye. 1t must
have been unfermented. Such fluid if intro
duced into an old bottle would be liable to run in
to fermentation very rapidly, and if left without
vent would soon make way of escape But if
properly bottled i'll new bottles which contain no
particles of ferment, it would remain fresh and az
secure as when in its natural bottles ON the vine
Such wine is better the longer kept. Jews make
such wine for the Passover to-day, by pouring
boiling water dried grapes raisins never fer
mented wine. When such wine is condemned in
Scripture 1t Is such wine after fermentation has
set in. Therefore Scripture does not warrant US
in drinking alcoholic drinks
l am yours etc., Il.