Iron County register., 1893-06-01
Jesus and the Drinking Of Wine.

s~oAAOA "
Jersey friend, is easily answered:
.sIn your editorial under the head o1
"A Question Christians Cannot, Debate.
you aver that Christians with the ex.
ample OF Jesus before them, cannot
consistently condemn the use of intox-
icating drinks as a beverage; also that
Christ Himself was drinker of wine.
Will you kindly tell me how you make
out the above. and where the Bible
says that Christ indulged intoxicating
drinks? NV. T.. B."
In the SD and 34th verses OF the 7th
chapter of st. Luke it is written;
s.For John the Baptist came neither
eating bread nor drinking wine; and
ye say, He hath a devil. The Son oi
man is come eating and drinking; and
ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and
a wine blbber, friend of publicans
and sinners!'
when they wanted wine" at the ..mar-
riage in Cana of Gallilee," as the Cd
chapter of st. John records, .sthe moth.
er Of Jesus saith unto him, They have
no wine.n Then this occurred:
.sJesus saith unto them, Fill the wa
ter pots with water. And they filled
them up to the brim. And He saith
unto them, Draw out now, and bear
unto the governor of the feast. And
they bare it. When the ruler OF the
of the feast tasted Of the water
that was made wine, and knew not
whence it was, {but the servants which
drew the water knew, the governor Of
the feast called the bridegroom, and
saith unto him, Every man at the be-
ginning doth set forth good wine. and
when men have well drunk, then that
which is worse: but thou hast kept the
good wine until now
It appears. therefore, that Jesus not
only furnished a miraculous supply of
wine, but that he produced it after the
guests had already ..well drunk and
among those guests. as the Evangel-
ist records, were both Jesus and His
disciples, the oblivious inference being
that he partook OF the beverage along
with the others, He would not have
made ..this beginning of miracles" by
changing water into wine if He had OBJ
jected to the use of wine even in con-
siderable quantities.
st. Mathew tells us that at the In
stitution of the Holy Supper, Jesus
..took the cup, and gave thanks, and
gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all
of it. But say unto you, will not
drink hencefOrth of this. fruit of the
vine until that day when drink it new
with you in my Fathers Kingdom. =
st. Paul admonishes st. Timothy to
s.drink no longer water, but use q
little wine for thy stomach's sake and
thine often infirmatives." At the time
of Jesus, too, the drinking of wine to
was an even more serious
evil in society than it is now. In the
carly Christian community intemper-
ance was danger against which st.
Paul and st. Peter often warn the
churches. It is thus made plain that
the wine used was intoxicating, and
that its excessive use was both frequent
and regarded as vice. though COM
plete abstention from its consumption,
as in the case OF the Nazarites when
under their VOW, was q mark Of extra
ordinary asceticism. Among the Jews
the drinking OF wine was general.
Au attempt has been made to prove
that the vino niraculousiy produced
and habitually used by Jesus was un-
fermented. but the theory Is utterly
It has not q leg to stand
upon. The wines used BY the ancients
were intoxicating, and drunkenness
was consequently terrible evil ii the
society Of the time. II was grave
evil in the days Of Noah. who, as We
are told in Genesis. planted vine-
yard and did drink az the wine md