The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-02-18
REV. DR.. YATES THINKS so
AND GIVES HIS REASONS FOR
REACHING THAT CONCLUSION.
AMERICAS BEVERAGES ARE VARIED
Time For Sensible People to do Something to
Throttle the Tom foolery That is
Hung About the Neck of
Religion.

AS contribution TO the gayety of
latter-day Religionism l clip the follow
ing from current newspaper literature:
"Dr Edward Everett Hale has sub
stituted water for wine in the commun
ion service in the South Congregational
church in Boston. Speaking of the
change he said:
THE use Of Wine is in no way essen
tial TO the communion. At the great ma
rional conference of the Unitarian
church / administered communion with
water. Christ in His life on earth took
the cup and drank the Wine of the cOun-
try. In every land it is customary to
use in the communion service the bever-
age of the country, and thank God, wa
ter has now come to be the beverage of
America"
Now, it seems to ME that the learned
Doctor has perhaps unconsciouSly, or at
least thoughtlessly, allowed his mental
machinery to slip out of gear. He has
made, in the above short paragraph, two
very grave and glaring mistake He
has missed entirely the spiritual signi6-
cation aud intention of tue lns,tiLdtIoll
OF what is known in the church as the
Sacrament Of the Lords Supper; and
has perpetrated bold, not to say funny,
solecism in the current history of Ger
many. France and America, with the
emphasis on America! These two no.
fice in their order.
When Christ instituted perpetual re-
membrance of His death and passion in
the last supper, He handed to his dis
ciples bread TO represent His body, and
wine to represent His blood and said:
DO this in remembrance of me-" Let
it be particularly noted, also, that on
another occasion, when by-standers OBJ
jected and asked 'How can this man give
us his flesh to eat?" Jesus answered
IF ye eat not of my flesh, and drink not
of my blood, We have no life lin you; for
my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed"
Now, if our learned Doctors theory Of
religion is merely a fatalism, and there
fore all that is necessary for the saints
to do is to observe decent Journalism.
then water would do instead of wine
In the Sacrament" But how strange
it is that men get such views of the
religion of Christ. The scheme Of re-
demption, and the whole apparatus of
grace is not an arbitrary arrangement
most perfect knowledge of human
necessities; and is a scheme of the most
perfect philosophy and metaphysics
that the world has ever had any knowl-
edge of.
1t will be observed that Christ uses
the figure of metaphor-thiS wine is nv
blood and this bread is my body-and
at the same time uses such symbols as
10 furnish a perfect analogy in the nat
ural to the spiritual. The appropriation
by the soul Of the benefit of the "Atone-
ment' made by His death, is likened by
hinl--(and in this form the figure is
similitude)-to the appropriation by the
body of food and drink Now. let us
think first of the solid food used by
Christ. Bread is somewhat generic
term, that IS. ii stands for all solid food
that nouriShes the body. and in the
metaphor used by Christ is expressed by
the term meat" But animal flesh
(meat as VIC call iD is subject TO more
rapid decomposition than is wheat
bread. And rs bread" in the latter
form is more generally used by man. or
bread made of grain that approximates
the nature of wheat, so Christ used
wheat-bread in His last supper. TO repre-
sent tho nourshing and strengthening Q
elements of the gracious provisions of
His atoning death. Oat. barley or rye
bread, would therefore do for bread
in the Lords Supper" But this can
not be said Of water in the place of wine.
Water, taken into the body, is not really
aT element of nourishmelt. It's office is.
at least mainly. to cleanse the body in
side and ont of impurities: and to fur
nish an anti -febrile for the system.
Wine, on the other hand. is analogous
70 blood in this: first, il is the product of
living Organismt-the grape-because
il IS the life-huid Of thar fruit. Second
ly, it is obtained by bruising or wound
ing, the body of the grape The prophet
says Of Christ: He was bruised.
wounded for our transgressions.' And
again. it is written. THE life is in the
blood" And again, Il bave trodden the
wine-press alone" Thereby wine is an.
alogous to the blood, because the in
sIired writer says that wine maketh
the heart of man to rejoice" The life
in the animal-blood- determines the
healthy and happy condition of body
and mind.
Now transferring this plain truth to
the atoning death of Christ, we reach
the summit of the analogy. Wine and