The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1881-09-30

unmingled with other ingredients, and
= term (mesech) expressive Of it when
mingled with water or dfugs.'
''Tirosh," he goes. on to say, always
used by the sacred writers TO denote
the fruit Of tho vine in It's natural, and
not In its artificial state, occurs but
thirty eight times in the Hebrew Bi
ble. In thirty-six Of which II IL clear
ly used in good sense and with appro
bation; and once, and only once, in q
bad sense or with disapprobation, and
there in conectioH with yagiu, Hoses
4slI) 1t Is also used once in doab,
ful sense, Hosea 7:l4.C "Yagin," HI
says further, sis generic term, and
when not restricted in It's meaning By
some word or circumstances, compre
hends vinous beverages Of every sort
however produced IL Is however, M
we have seen. often restricted to the
fruit Of the vine in It's natural and un
intoxicating state. But when 80 re.
stricted, we have Ia no instance found
IL used in q bad sense, or with disapprc
sation. Yagin is also often restricted
70 the 6rst of the vine in It's artificial
or Intoxicating state, In which state IL
Is usually, IL not uniformly, usel in q
bad sense or with disapprob alton
And, IL the numerous commendation
OF the fruit Of the vine, before fermen-
tation, with which the Bible abounds,
be laid out OF the account, IL will be
very difficult 10 find any clear and un-
equivocal commendation of wine in the
Bible ut oil. For IL is before and not
after fermentation. that the deprivation
Of the fruit Of the vine is spoken Of az
q Judgment, that il is associated with
other blessings, and pronounced itself
to contain blessing; and II is after and
not before fermentation that the fruit
Of the vine is styled mocker, associat-
ed with crime. and employed itself AZ n
symbol Of wrath"
Now, Of all this SIR. Stevens gives
his readers not word OF intimidation,
but writes a. though the Hord wine
aitcays meant the same thing in the
Bible, and that what IL commands un-
der this term il intoxicating wine such
a. We get in the market to-day.
With much apparent confidence my
friend appeals 70 the authority Of cef-
tain Bible critics" They are all great
and good men whom l venerate. But
great and good men are not always
free from prejudice. they are often
theorists TO such "a extent as In make
thoir conclusions lrs. ~n,nd than those
Of other men with mnch ls@s education.
From their special. oIis'-sids-d, and s..li-
contradictory plea,iingr, the al horitiss
leave my frien.l nacl, worse Df than
be wonll l- without them.
One Of them Alfad.) in commenting
On John &C. AIief conteb,liug that il
vas snlnaIly wine which The Sayinr
made (which noto,ly doubts for the
record says so,l theo takes the ol.post"-
nifty Of showing that be do-r I,at l---
lieve in "pledgea." lie "a, lbas that
'Lbey end in the degradation 81 n,d,vid-
nal motives, and ia social d-,norelisa-
tion." just Lotc the Lord condemned
pledges by farming water into wine At
Cana, Is more than ordinary mortals
can see: A pledge Is covenant, and
the Bible and also practical life are full
Of them. At the alter the husband
pledges himself TO the wife and the
wife 70 the husband. The son on leav-
ing home, pledges himself 70 the
mother that he will read the Bible she
gives him as her parting gift, and that
he will avoid bad company, and refrain
from Intoxicating drinks. Men in
practical life are also constantly taking
pledges. Any promise TO do, or not 10
do, note, bond, contract or deed, is n
pledge And yet all this il degreda-
ton Of the individual motives. aud so
cial decentralization" according to MIR.
Afford, because Jesus turned water in
to wine at Canal This is certainly
wonderful, but the trouble is that plain
practical men who 90 on common
sense, rathes than abstract theory, will
not be able TO see Is.
Another Of these authorities Bishop
Wordswsrth), com menting on Romans
l4:2l, which reads, at il good neither
TO eat flesh, now to drink wine, nor
anything whereby the brother STUN
bleth, or Is offended, or is made
weak" al this question = "Niay it
not therefore be the duty TO take
vows of total abstinence from wine, etc,
in order that by 10 doing we may ir-
claim our brother from inlemperanae 7"
He answers his own question thus !:
"This ID no consequence OF st. Paals
teaching. For il is true that we
should not put stumbling block in
our brothers way, neither should We
put stumbling block IN our Way.
And this we should do by taking un-
necessary VOWS which God aud his
church may not proscribe." From tue
Bishops own admission that we should
not put stnmbling block in our
brothers way, the real question is
whether, az things now are, the ex-
ample Of christian man using wine
AZ a beverage ia stumbling block to
men Whether by such example
men are tempted and encouraged to
drink and 40 led into danger and drunk
enness Every man who has paid any
attention to the influences Of society
knows that snch is the case. For u
man of bis scholarship, it is a very
lame argument.to say that by \ vow
to abstain from intoxicating drinks
we are putting stumbling block in
our own way Every man Of com
mon sense knows that this is not so.
A pledge in temperance work ia no
more "a stumbling block to ourselves"
than onr pledges in the practical busi-