The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1888-10-19
The Egis & Intelligencer
Bel Air, Md, October 10, 1883.
DRUNK ENNESS,

For The Agis and IntelliGencer.
How this hideous vice may be suppressed or
lessened, is matter deserving the consideration
of every worthy man. A few years ago, exercisI
Assembly, a majority OF the voters IN Har,
ford decided that no Intoxicating liquors should
been found for the assertion that the law passed
Is a failure, the question whether prohibition De
the best mode OF contending against me evli IS =
IL will be declared whether an attempt snail be
made to enforce more stringent statute; or
whether the restriction OF high license snail pc
relied on. Expedience will govern many men in
casting their vote; while not few feel constran-
cd ask, what Is right taking God wora as me
ter Is reduced to q single point. ltGod nave Tor
hidden the use Of what may, by abuse, lead to
pr0hibtion. If. on the contrary, God have given
sanction to the temperate use OF what may be
abused then II they %p1 hsD RS Ser 70
will not, by the urgency of Others, or by their
own fears of seeming to be encoutagers OF evil
be persuaded that pronlbltiOn Is Tue CHRISTIAN
cure for drunkenness.
was promised last week to give here the state
ing opinions, the one class saying that &c could
not sanction the use OF what can cause drunken
ness: the other showing that God has done
so. This promise will now be redeemed.
Under he title Hero and Martyr" there he's
been published the IRE OF heV' geo, =; naddock,
three years ago. drawer man never lived, nor
one more capable of self sacrifice Not from
sentiment or sudden impulse, but after calmly
Weighing duty and with a clear knowledge of the
dangers that would beset him. he offered his life
to what he considered the cause of g od and man.
He was murdered because, against the sense Of
the community in which he lived. he persistently
attempted to enforce the laws OF Iowa prohibit
ing the sale of Intoxicating liquors. No man
r .sdinR his life, however often constrained to
differ in Judgment. can withhold the need of
honor to Haddock who feared God and nothing
eIse In this volume may be found the matter
here treated of fairly stated. Page 43O.l
"If Christ and the Holy Apostles of old, he said,
were n q Ierate users of alcoholic beverages,
then the moderate use of alcoholic beverages eau
not be wrong now, And il the moderate use of
these beverages is not wrong, then the moderate
sale of them.is not wrong, and therefore II is not
right to prohibit such sale. That Is the logical
sequence from the proposition that Christ made
and both He and HIS Disciples nhOitualIy useu
fermented wines. 49,
sense no opponent of prohibition could desire
clearer statement Of mis- own claims as based 90
the teaching example Of our Lord and His Disci-
piles. If this example sanction the use as
beverage to any ext ent of what may intoxicate
then ut is not right to prohibit" wholly the use
or the sale OF such beverage. But the statement
is on the part of Mr.. Haddock, only suppositiou
to be Immediately denied In toto.
"But say there is no foundation In Scripture
for such position. believe the true doctrine is
that held by most Christians on total abstinence
and prohibition, that there were two Kinds or
wine among the ancients, fermented and unftr-
and biabIy esteemed by the better classes that
this kind was commended, and the fermented
kind was forbidden in any quantity and that
where the excessive use of wine Is mentioned II
means the excessive use of unfermented wine.
which, like all other harmless things, might be
used Tss e s r tnS PUsGn nd by
[The martyr for prohibition does not deny that
the Lord Jesus himself drank wine. This can
not be denied. The history OF the Institution OF
the Lord Supper shows the habtual use OF wine
In His presence. The Sacrament was instituted
after the Pasehal feast or else after an ordinary
wine was used as beverage. AZ the Passover
each person present drank of four cups how
much was taken is not told but rules for the
Observance of the feast provided against the
danger of undue excitement.
Moreover our Lord himself asserts that in
contrast with the habits of the Baptist who was
an ascetic He "came drinking" and was there
fore called "wine bibber." The word in the
original is the same as that used in the Soptua-
gint version OF proverbs kill. 20.l BE not
among vino bbbers; among riotous eaters Of
flesh. For the drunkard and the glutton shall
OF what can not be denied Is found in the theory
held by "most Christians" as says Mr.. Haddock,
unfermented, "was commended" the other be-
ing fermented and therefore Intoxicating, was
forbidden In any quantity All that need be said
dence of this in the New Testament. In Ephesans
", lS, is written "Be not drunk with wine where
10 S SI be ed WIN !hs e
used to signify wine of any kind In the New Tes-
lament. No! there is another used In only one
place but there definitely connected with drunk
enness on the day of Pentecost the Apostles,
who were then "hlled with the Spirit" were ac-
cused OF being drunk on new wine" Sweet is
the Greek. The Iexcons render 1t new or un-
fernented wine, mus. If we turn from the
Greek OF the New Testament to the Hebrew of
the Old Testament, we find number of words
rendered in English wine, but no single one Of
them that will support this notion OF two
kinds" Markedly the word that desgnates that
beverage that was offered to and In worship
drunk before Jehovah is elsewhere the term for
the cause of beastly drunkenness.l
This view,' namely that unfermented, non
Intoxicating commended,
wine forbidden,) continues Mr.. Haddock, "har-
monies the Bible with modern science, which
shows that alcohol is a poison and can not be
habitually used In any quantity without injury.
And 1t makes no sort of difference whether
brandy. 1t is the same deadly poison in all and
1t Is for us to consider whether the divine Being
commends poison to mankind. and whether
Christ the Son of God made poison. drank
Himself and commented its use TO others. We
say no. And this We say ia true TO science and
true to Gods word, while taking the opposite
view is false both to science and 10 God, because
1t favors what science condemns and puts God in
a false position, by insisting that He recommend
ed that which human experience and scientific
Investigation shows to be harmful"
st. Paul has said, LET God be true and every
subjectng Gods righteousness to scientific in
vestigaton2 But here let a man OF science
speak Professor Atwater, whose statement may
be found In late Century.
Among the curious side issues of the current
temperance discussion is the question whether
alcohol is a natural product. This is believe
vigorously denied in some quarters. Alcohol
like bread. ia manufactured artihcally from q
natural product. In each case, fermentation,
natural process, is made use of. But while bread
alcohol appears to be very widely distributed in
nature. though In extremely minute quantities.
Professor MuntZ. of tho National Agronomic
Institute, in Paris, has, by refined chemical tests,
discovered evidences Of alcohol in cultivated
soils, in rain water, In sea and river water, and
In the atmosphere.
Another side issue of our Temperance discus
sion is the so-called "Bible Wine" theory, which
int nt hat hn ptnn In ftnnt fhn
time of Christ was not alcoholic. l have been I'M
able TO End evidence that the composition of the
Juice of the grape, the laws of fermentation, or
the practice In the making ami using of wine
we're different in that country at that time from
those in other countries, or in that country at
other times and believe 1t safe to say that the
theory that Bible wine was different from other
wine, that 1t had not the alcohol which other
wines contain is without any basis TO support