The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-07-19

to favor wine-drinking. But on the
Wnole they are very rare and found
mostly in the old testament.
Fourteen-hundred and fifty years B. G.
Moses said: "Thou shalt bestow thy mon
ey for what thy soul lusteth after, oxen,
wine, strong drink &C." but as time
passed on and people became more intel
lgent, seven-hundred years B. C. we hear
Isaiah saying: Wherefore do you spend
your money for that which is not bread.
and your labor for that which satisfeth
not?"
Some claim that the example exhibited
at the marriage feast in Cana, where
Christ turned water into wine, shows
that he sanctioned the use of it, or he
would not have made it on this occasion
That wine was used at this feast is an
undeniable fact. But what kind of wine
1t was, cannot be satisfactorily proven
One popularity about it, however, was
that it was made from water And Pro-
hlbltlonists are willing for you to drink
all the wine made of pure water you de-
sire. But instead of that you are buy
ing, selling, and drinking the adulterated
wines of the present day, composed of
ralslns, sweet cider, water, yeast, honey,
ambergris, sugar, orris-root, boiled milk,
powdered catechue and sulphuric acid
mixed thoroughly in their right proper
tions, colored with the tincture of log
wood, and planned off as the best "Sher-
ry'' and "Catawba."
Does the wine used at this feast, made
of sparkling water, have anything to do
with the wines of commerce to-day
With regard to quality they are surely at
antipodes.
Paul's letter to Timothy is sometimes
quoted as an argument in favor of wine
drinking. When he said: Drink no
longer water but use little wine for thy
stomach's sake and thine often infirmi-
ties
1t is the very essence of ignorance to
believe that Paul intended for Timothy
to use wine as a luxury.
But it is plainly seen, from the latter
part of the text, that he advised him to
use it on the account of its medicinal
qualities. Timothy in travelling from
place to place preaching, came in con-
tact with different kinds of drinking wa
ter, and by using them he had become
sick. Paul recommended wine as a sub
stitute with the idea "that it would be
conducive to Timothy's health
To construe this so as to make it favor
the use of Intoxicating liquors as bever-
age is as unreasonable as the man who
undertook to defend gambling from this
passage: ''The lot is cast into the lap
but the whole disposing thereof is of the
Lord
Men have discussed and rediscussed on
the wines of the scriptures and we are
left none the wiser by their investiga-
tions and arguments. And as last re-
sort, we turn to the scriptures and by ex-
amining them closely, with unprejudiced
minds, see if we cannot find something
which forbids the use and sale of intoxi-
eating liquors.
"Wine is mocker, strong drink is rag
ing and whosoever is deceived thereby is
not wise" "Who hath woe? Who hath
sorrow? Who hath wounds without
cause? Who hath redness of eyes ?'
"They that tarry long at the wine. They
that go to seek mixed wine." Look not
upon the wine when it is red. When it
moveth itself Alright, When it giveth it
color in the cup.
At the last it ,'biteth like a serpent and
stingeth like an adder" "He that loveth
wine shall not be rich" "The wines
through which the priests and prophets
have erred. Through which they err in
vision and stumble in judgment, through
which all tables are full of vomit and
filthiness, that there is no place clean"
poison of dragons and cruel venom of
asps."
Who hath woe? "Who hath sorrow
They that tarry long at the wine" Now
comes the quotation which is indigestible
to rumsellers: "Woe unto him that Civ
eth his neighbor drink" And here is the
passage which bars heaven against his
customers: mo drunkard shall enter
the kingdom of heaven" Will a sane
man believe that after Christ has re-
proved the Pharisees by calling them
HypOcrites, &c. on the account of their
inconsistency, be so inconsistent himself
as to say to the people: "Woe unto him
that giveth his neighbor drink" While
he would use it and give to others?
Jesus was not that kind of a parsonage.
He was called "the perfect man." and we
with our human minds would not Judge
a man perfect who was so inconsistent.
Consistency is said to be a level. and
Jesus was true possessor of it. He is
true to his doctrines at all places, and
throughout all his teachings he firmly de-
nounced the liquor traffic, and closes heav-
en- against its offsprings.
1t is bad enough to hear of men talking
about taxing the crime. But to try and
prove it right, and sanctioned by High
Authority, in this day and age of the
world, looks like going from the sublime
to the ridiculous"
Intelligent men will not try to prove it
right, for they know that all arguments
in its favor are but chaff, and like the
house built on the sand, must fall.
After all your reasoning and demon
strating your own conscience tells you it
is wrong, and it sis neither safe nor right
to go against conscience"
The widow and the orphan say it is
wrong; The young man on the verge of
ruin says it is wrong; The drunkard
says it is wrong; God says it is wrong
and exceedingly wrong.
At the October election the people
should acknowledge it is wrong; pub
lie and social evil: a DESTROYER of homes