Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1893-01-11
REPLY TO REV. Ill. WHITE
WINE DRINKING AND THE
HOLY SCRIPTURE0.

WINE DRINKING AND THE
HOLY SCRIPTURES.
Drank Wine That Had the Al
cOh0lic Among other Proper
ties, and That He Did Not Be-
lieve Brink ing it Vvas wrong.
EDITOR THE CITIZEN 1T Is claimed
that Christ made wine for the guests at
the wedding in Cana to recognize Gus
tom that was innocent. 1t is claimed
that this wine was az other-intoxicat-I
ing!" So said an eminent divine in a
sermon recently delivered at Asheville.
sit was called good not in the sense in
which wine is called good today. but in
| the sense that it was harmless. The
wine made by the Savior was the wine
which God could commend-the pure
juice of the grape"
This is too radical an assertion to
| stand alone; it requires supportive evil
dence to prove it. One can be a most
profound and learned rheologian, most
el ,nuent preacher, and vet have incorrect
id as to the nature and properties of
| w e.
| Webster dc fines wine as "the fermented
Juice of grapes" Wine can be made also
from he juice of currants, elderberries,
sooseberries, Strawberries. and from the
rhubarb plant. The ancient Jews made
wine from pomegranates. But the word
wine is never applied to any of these
products unless the juice has first been
fermentcd. The term wine, or its equiv
| oil 30 need he world tO mean the
fermented Juice OF fruits.
| During the process Of fermentation, the
sugar contained in the juice, is gradually
lconyerted into alcohol. When that has
been accomplished the vinous fermenta-
ltion ceases, and the result is wine.
Hence, it follows, that all wines are
alcoholic to a greater or less degree
according to the quality of sugar con-
tanned in the grapes-and must necessa-
rily be more or less Intoxicating; it
being only a question of quantity drunk.
| If what the Rabbis assert is true, that,
during the feast of the Passover, fer
mented drinks were prohibited. then we
must infer that the Jews possessed the
art Of preserving the must" fresh iuicc)
Of the grape in an unfermented condition
because the Passover occurred several
months after the vintage season. This
could have been done then, as it is some
times done now, by boiling the must
and so destroying the germs of ferment
with which it abounds. Therecan be nc
doubt that the drink used at the Last
Supper was the product of the grape
because Christ at the time designated il
as "the fruit of the vine" The fact is
significant, (and may be corroborativ'
evidence, that it was fermented craps
juice) that. in no account we have OF the
Last Supper, is this drink called wine.
If unfermented grape juice was used by
the ancient Jews at all, it must hav
for md
only during this season Of the Passover
1t could not have entered into commerce
. nor have been generally used as a die
tary article, as was the case with wine
because we can find no mention made o
it in the Bible. Being only layman, W.
= with the Book, and it is possible we ar
mista aiken; if so, we beg to be set Alright
On the contrary, both the Old and tn
New Testaments abound in illusions tt
wine (the fermented juice of the grape
because it is everywhere mentioned il
its stimulative or alcoholic sense: and 1
is invariably called wine.
"Corn shall make the young mel
cheerful, and new wine the maids
l-Zech. 8: II. "Give wine unto thos
that be of heavy heart. Let him drin
and forget his poverty and remember hi
that maketh glad the heart of man,
I-Psalms 1O4: Is. "Be not drunk wit
wine wherein is excess."-Eph. 5: Is
"When we walked in excess of wine.
IL Pet. 4: 3.
At the time of the wedding in Cans
Christ had two disciples, Andrew an
Simon Peter, who were eye-witneSses
the miracle, and, who doubtless. gay
an accurate and truthful description I
it to St. John. He says that Chri:
made wine. The governor of the fra:
and the guests pronounced it wine, nc
only that, but good" wine; in fac
much better than that furnished durir
the earlier stages Of the festival.
Is it at all probable that the supply
wine having been exhausted. the gues
would have accepted unfermented graz
juice in its stead without noting Il
change? Is it all probable that a cor
pany of wine-drinkers, as they mu
have been at this festival, would ha
exclaimed that the better wine had be-
withheld until the last, if it had not be
wine? Its excellence was so pronounce
. that the departure from the usual c,
tom of serving the best wine first. W
. commented on "It was called goo
. not in the sense in which wine is call
good today, but in the sense that it W
harmless"
From our point of view, it is higl
improbable that a wine-drinker of eil
teen centuries ago, would classify wi
as good or bad, from a moral star
point, anv more than he of today.
good wine should contain the desira
qualities of flavor, bouquet. smoothue
delicacy and sufficient alcohol to give
proper strength or body" bad w
Is lacking in some or all of these ess
tials. That these qualities were
easily detected and appreciated by
wine connoisseur of then as now, c
hardly be doubted.
If by the word Harmless" it v
meant that the wine contained no al
hol. then we maintain that Christ
not make wine, but unfermented gra
Juice, and that the translators of
- Bible have used the wrong word.
also contend that the astonishment
the guests. was, under the circumstan,
perfectly natural, and not ascribablt
the excellence of the wine, but the sh
caused by having to drink sweet, un
mented grape-juice after wine. One
readily fancy that the festi ivaI came