The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1890-02-20
CHRISTIAN WINE DRINKERS

4 Great Hindrance to tho Progress OF
Temperance Reform.
If to be Christian is to be Christ
like, then many indulgences common to
the worldly-minded must be forborne by
the true followers of the Master.
Among these is the indulgence in wine
of the kind which is ''mocker," and
which at the last ''biteth like serpent
and stingeth like an adder" There is a
wine which ''maketh glad the heart OF
man," the pure juice of the grape, I'M
fermented and without alcohol. 1t is
not of this wine that we write now.
Alcoholic wine-drinking, as has been
abundantly demonstrated by science, is
In no sense necessity, and the illustra-
tons are only too frequent and too
painful that it is harmful for all; and
for many, with the hereditary alcoholic
appetite, extremely perilous. The
ethics of seltishness prompt the con-
tinuance of the indulgence, though,
through the force of example, other
souls are imperiled thereby. Christian
ethics enjoin abstinence, alike for the
individual and on account Of others
The great Presby terian church voices
truly the Christian sentiment when it
declares officially: ''Total cabstinence
from inebriating drinks should be the
principle followed by all the followers
of Jesus"
One of the greatest OF the present
hindrances to the progress of the Ten
perance reform is the continuance of
aesthetic wine-drinking by many pro-
Tossing Christians. While such continue
the wine indulgence, at private dining
tables, club and college dinners, and at
elegant receptions, it will be practically
impossible either to dissuade, or to
legally prevent, others from the evil in
diligence in beer and the stronger
liquors. Mrs. Ballington Booth, in a
recent address, eloquent and very i'm
pressive, in the hall of the Young Mems
Christian Association, upon 1.-THE Work
of the Salvation Army in the Slums OF
New York." presented in a striking
light the deeper depths of degradation
to which multitudes TO men and women
are plunged by the grosser forms of al
coholic drinking. Mrs. Booth and her
associates of the Salvation Army seek,
in the name of Jesus, to in
duce these poor, wretched Great
ures to abandon the drink as a
step toward rehabilitation and the bet
ter life. In some cases, with such as
are quite below the range of ordinary
church and mission agencies, they are
very successful in their rescue work,
but it is done at great disadvantage, all
the greater on account of the pernicious
example of some well-to-do members of
churches and of here and there q popu-
lar wine-drinking doctor of divinity.
The Christian principle of abstinence,
rs officially interpreted by nearly all
Protestant churches, is of universal ap-
plication and should govern the elegant
private and public banquet halls of
Fifth avenue and the state dinners at
the White House as we'll as in the
slums of the metropolis. Fashion prop
agates downwards, not less in the mat
ter Of drinking usages than with respect
to dress and other social customs. To
every true Christian the bond of broth
erhood- for the temporal and
eternal welfare of the tempted weaker
brother-will be paramount to the self
hh dictates Of worldly fashion.