The Newtown bee., 1905-03-31
The NewtOwn Bee.
Ten Pages.
LOCAL AFFAIRS.
SOCIAL TOPICS.

SOSAAA AoA ASos
 REFORMER' SJEwEL.-BY o. 0. WRIGHT
 Consistency" depends upon what
 you are trying to be consistent with
 To be consistent things must stand
 together in proper relations, in due
 proportions, and in substantial agree
 ment. If you want to make paste
 diamond you must have just the right
 proportions of substances. If you have
 false theory and want to square the
 facts of life to support it you must be
 careful to select such facts as will least
 appear to have congruiuy of some sort
 with your premises. It sometimes
 makes great difference whether you go to the Bible to learn what is taught therein, or to find words which may be made to confirm ones prejudices.
 We will suppose now that the bread which our Lord broke when He insti- tuted the Sacrament of His body and blood was unleavened. Still it was bread, not fish, not flesh, nor fowl. He ordained the symbol and it was bread. Many churches use only the unleavened wafer, which no doubt comes nearest to the original element which was di- vinely chosef and adopted to stand for His body. Common loaf, yeast bread, is used by many churches, and because 1t is bread, the common food and staff of life, is the all-suff1cient symbol to them. This is in general consistent with the original ideal, spirit and pur- pose of the institution. Bread is the food of the body and Christ Is the food of the soul. These are the essential facts. And besides, we are not keep ing the Jewish Passover; we are not literally bound by the Law of Moses.
 But who would be so presumptuous as to change the symbol? Who would be willing to substitute fruit, vegeta- ble or any other edible in place of some kind of bread? And if one can change the element of the sacrament what is to hinder changing all there is in the church and in the Bible, or of leaving it off altogether?
 Now about the cup. Supposing, with "Reformer," that the wine Jesus gave to His disciple was "good wine" or the unfermented juice of the grape, which is the symbol of His life-blood. Still 1t was in some sense wine, the fruit of the vine." It was not water. The essential element is wine. There fore the argument that water was as consistent as fermented wine, or "no more sacriligious, does not appear to have the ''consistency" of real jewel. It is artificial. Moreover, I was con- vinced many years ago that the ''good wine" and bad wine theory is tenn perance fiction. Wine in the Holy is the fermented juice of the grape and therefore alcoholic. As pr Smith in his Dictionary of the Bi- ble concludes: "The Hebrew words | wine refer to fermented, in toxicating wine." He also says: "The use of wine at the pascal feast was not enjoined by the law, but had become an established custom, at all events, in UnO HOoU-hoOvtOutol pCIAOO.
 When I was young I read little book entitled: Scripture Testimony Against Intoxicating Wine" by Rev William Ritchie and I was interested in the theory that all wines commend ed in the Bible were unfermented and all wines forbidden were intoxicating. Then when became student in the theological school, in the course of our Biblical studies we made critical ex- of the Hebrew words bear ing on the subject under the lead of one of the best scholars of his day, and l our conclusion was that the wine of the Bible was intoxicating.
 And so we come back again to the l same inevitable question of use and abuse. Consistency is a jewell" But let me be consistent with my theory and my convictions and let Reform CT be consistent with his or hers. Con- sistency depends upon mixing the right ingredients in the right way. Let us seek the truth and be willing to abide by 1t. Let us speak our minds and then sign our names.