The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-11-11
What the People Say.
NJ Moderation w.. Prohibition.

Moderation ~. Prohibition.
Me. EDIToR,-If We accept the teachings
Scripture, to remove temptations out of tn
world, does not appear to be the order of tn
Divine mind in its appointments to make me
better but according to the revelation of tina
mind, we are led to conclude that evil will Onl
cease by men being made better frst-an'
through the fundamentally of its own advers
agency. And L hold that, however well an argu
ment in favor of abstinence might be based upol
scientific principles, it can have no ground upon
those of Scripture. The Scriptures Inculcat'
temperance, bat not abstinence, and especially
Is this the case IN regard to wine drinking
What the Bible means 10y strong drink III contra
distinction from wine, 1 shall not pretend to say
but 1t has even strong drink to be
given as medicine III cases of need.
Any fair constituting of Scripture must lead to
a belief in the intoxicating quality OF the wine
there referred to. and we are there cautioned
against putting of new wine into old bottles,
lest the bottles burst and the wine be spilled y
IA sufficient Indication of the estimation in
which wine was held by Christ himself and also
Of the fact OF the fermentation, a necessary
causative agent in the bursting referred to.
Mr.. Cruzau says Not more than fifty-twO
texts can be proved to refer to intoxicating wine,
and not one of these is connected with the
Div ne approval" Let me ask Mr.. Cruzan,
where the Bible, either old or new, makes the
distinction he refers to between fermented and
uufermented wine Until he furnishes his data
IN favor ri such an assertion, 1 shall claim the
privilege of answering him by references to
Scripture as l have been led to understand it.
He asks for proof that in the miracle that Christ
performed in Cana of GalIilee he made intoxi-
eating wine, but the burden of proof lies with
him. / have read of "a process being employed
in ancient times. referred to by heather authori-
ties of inspissating the juice of the grape but
can show respectable authorities to prove that
even the juice so inspissated still contained
alcohol in quantities sufficient to render this
papers on the subject written by the Rev. Sher-
man Thompson, Van Lennop, and others, "whose
shoe-ls tchets - either myself or the Rev. Mr.. Cru
might again be equally unworthy to unloose
with those of the gentleman he refers to. But 1
il to be an impossibility for Mr.. CruZan
to bring any satisfactory proof that the wine
used by our Savior, or that generally referred to
N Scripture rs typical of blessedness, was the
iaspissated juice of the grape.
II IL distinction between intoxicating and nom
intoxicating wine was known in scripture times,
t seems quite incredible that no reference
should have been made to tAe fact. Mention
) made of wine, mixed wine and strong drink,
md that wine was the juice OF he grape; but
zone, Of the very odd process Witch would make
distinctions far broader than thai existing be-
ween the things named, ana which it was
hought nece s;iry upon several occasions to de
ignate by Scripture reference. In Proverbs,
IN. ), V. 10, it says: $50 shall thy barns be
He'd with plenty, thy presses shall burst out
With new wine In Hosea, there occurs
passage (Ch. 4, V. III which would naturally
Fad to n belief in the identity of the wine
as ii blessing, with that also. referred
as taking away the heart" 1t is said,
'Whoredom and wine and new wine take the
cart away IA distinction is evidently meant to
e established betweeu wine and new wine but
9th are spoken of as productive of evil. New
inc is IA blessing promised, and yet it is a curse
cknowledged: III on what other theory them
nan that of the scripture sanction of modera-
on in use (temperanceJ can We explain what
-ould be otherwise Il manifest contradiction.
And Noah began to be a husbandman, and
planted IL vineyard; and he drank of the wine,
nd was drunken.''-Genesls Oh. 8, v. 90.
-emIah, in I'll. D, V. II and Is speaks of hav-
~ at his OWE table " all sorts of wine" and
hall we condemn so holy and devotional a man
Nehemiah; or can it be proved that the "aIl
" referred only to unfermented wine? If
be two kinds of wine referred to in Scrip
and the 'unfer1pented - variety be that by
hich our Lords blood was intended to be re-
resented; how can the fact be explained, that
lie intoxicating kind found its way into the
Church; aud how is it the apostle
ade no reference to it AS a base and profane
for the genuine wine; but con-
emned only the excess, in the disgraceful affair
"One, he says, is hungry. and an
is a drunken"
The entire drift of Scripture, on the subject of
inc, in its prohibitory or condemnatory% notices,
As not governed by the opposed properties of
'ntr;iry wines but invariably by the act of ex-
IS and abuse, as is sufficiently indicated by
lch passages as the following
- Look not thou upon the wine when it is
Il in the cup, when 1t moveth itself Alright, - in
eating undue affection and the slavery of APP
,tite, see Proverbs, CHI. %, V. 81; BE not
nong wine bibbers, - &C., indicating the neces-
ty of avoiding bad company and. = the drunk
Il and the giuifOn shall come to poverty, denot-
= only a condemnation OF excess, and not OF
,e-see same chapter, verses 20 and 81.
- Who hath woe =? who hath sorrow ? who
,th contentious who hath baJbling o.
They that tarry long at the wine they that
to seek mixed wine VERSES, % and so.
Why are . they that tarry long only men
oned, if they that even sip, are meant?
1t is not for kings, o Lemuel, it is not for
ings to drink wine nor for princes strong
rink, lest they drink and forget the law and
ervert the Judgment of any of the afflicted -
roverbs chapter 81, 18th verse.
But how about the vow of the Nazarite ? see
umbers, chapter 6. q He shall separate him
IF from wine and strong drink, and shall drink
D vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink,
either shall he drink any liquor of grapes nor
at moist grapes or dried" But when tie term
his vow has expired, and he has fulfilled the
thereof, latter that the Nazarite may
rink wine The wine at first prohibited and
st readmitted, must be the same; but why pro-
tied at all, If essentially harmless in its effects,
afterwards, specially allowed, if inherently
nj and it, farnf,aratn 80 ag