The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-02-20
REV. DR.. YATES IHiNKSS Sc
AND GIVES HIS REASONS FOX
REACHING THAT CONCLUSION.
AMERICAS BEVERAGES ARE VARIED
Time For Sensible People to do Something 70
Throttle the Tom FooIery That is
Hung About the Neck of
Peligion

AS a contribution to the gayety OF
latter-day Reiigionism | clip the follow
ing from current newspaper hterature;
s.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
tfal to the communion. At the great ma
fional conference of the Unitarian
church | administered communion with
water. Christ in His life on earth took
the cup and drank the w:ne OF the coun-
try. In every lane 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 Leverage OF
America
Now. it seems to me that the learned
Doctor has perhaps urconsciouSly. 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 signiti-
cation and intention Of the institution
of what is known III the church as the
Sacrament of the Lords Supper; and
has perpetrated a bold. not to say funny,
Solecism in the current history Of Ger
many, France and America, with the
emphasis on America! These two no
tice in their order.
When Christ instituted a perpetual re-
membrance Of His death and passion in
the last supper, He handed to his dis
cilleS 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 ard ask d How can this man give
us his flesh to eat?' Jesus answered.
If we eat not of my flesh. and drink not
of my blood, We have no life in YOU: for
my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed
Now. if our learned Doctors theory of
religion is merely q fatalism, and there
fore all that is necessary for the saints
to do is to observe q decent Journalism,
then water would do instead of wine
I'm the Sacrament" But how strange
1t 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
of God; but is founded by Him in the
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 VIII be observed that Christ uses
the figure Of metaphor-this wine is my
blood and this bread is my bOdy-and
at the same time uses such symbols as
TO furnish u 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
him-(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 Il somewhat generic
term that is, it stands for all solid food
that nourishes the body, and III the
metaphor used by Christ is expressed by
the term meat" But animal fiesf
tmeat as VIC call it, is subject to more
rapid decomposition than is wheat
bread. And as dread" in the latter
form is more generally used by man, OF
bread made of grain that approximate
the nature of wheat. so Christ use(
wheat-bread in His last supper, to repre-
sent the nourishing and Strengthening
elements of the gracious provisions O
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 reall.
an element of nourishment. Its office is
at least mainly. to cleanse the body in
side and out of impurities; and to fur
nish an anti febrile for the system.
Wine. on the other hand. is analogou
TO blood in this: first, it is the product o
a living organism-the grape-becaus
it is the l~ife-iuid of that fruit. Second
ly, it is obtained by bruising or wound
ing, the body of the grape. The prophe
says of Christ: He was bruised
wounded for our transgressions.' An
again. it is written, The life is in tn
blood And again, Il have trodden til
wine-press alone, Thereby wine is AZ
alogous to the blood, because the il
spired writer says that wine maket
the heart Of man to rejoice The lf
in the Observation-Disclosures tn
healthy and happy condition of bod
and mind.
Now, transferring this plain truth
the atonins death of Christ, we reac
the summit Of the analogy. Wine an
bread are the only elements that Gov
yey a spiritual meaning. Acceptance
the saving truths of Christ's death. Civ,
the soul its proper nourlshment. groWt
strength and joy. Water meets none
these necessities. except that of cleansl1
and Of course is better than wine IN II
Sacrament of Baptism. SO much, the
for our learned Doctors understands
Of the reasons for the institution OF o.
Lords last supper in the church.
Having noticed the first defect III I
Doctors statement we come TO [
second and last. which is this:
And thank God. water has nc
come to be the beverage Of America
confess that l am as much surprised
this statement as I am at the first.