The Newtown bee., 1905-05-12
SOCIAL TOPICS.
BIBLE WINES.-BY O. o. WRIGHT.

SOCIAL TOPICS.
It was not my intention to follow
up this subject; but the article by c..
F. Sheldon, in The BEE of April I,
suggests few thoughts which may be
of interest to some. l have often
heard 1t said that you can select texts
from the Bible to prove anything you
please. And so you can II you simply
choose the words you want, to sup
port your doctrine, without regard to
the context, or the subject matter Of
the Holy Scriptures. You can easily
wrest the word of God so as to make it
mean the opposite from what it vas
intended to teach. A false theory
easily leads to false reasoning; false
reasoning results in wrong conclusions:
and false conscience preSumptuously
bears false witness against the truth;
and the fanatic is very apt to be per-
sOnal.
Prohibition Sheldon, like our ere
former," evidently holds the false
created certain things that are evil in
themselves, and nothing but evil; and
that wine which will intoxicate is one
of the DEVILS inventions. Therefore
there can be no proper use of wine, un-
less there is an "unfermented wine"
which is good. And SO he falsely ac-
cuses me of "dallying with tempta-
tion," in my article on "Prohibition:"
though distinctly said that all abuse
is, and must be prohibited of course.
l advise Sheldon to study the use
and meaning of English as well
as of Hebrew words
He says 1.-THE whole Bible is bris-
tling with prohibition" Yes: but the
But right and proper use, never. Ex-
cess is always forbidden. Perversion
is always prohibited. The Word of
God does not contradict itself. 1t
cOmmendS that which is right and
good and condemns that which is
wrong and evil. Sheldon exhorts us to
''uSe some common SenSe.' Let us do
so. 'Take little wine for thy stom-
ach's sake" Timothy. Notice, "a
little" Not much. Be temperate.
Take it as medicine. Be self con-
trolled and stop when your stomach is
better. "Be not among wine bibbers. "
drunkard.
"Wine is mOcker, strong drink is
raging, and whosoever is deceived
moral? Be not deceived. Be self-con-
trolled. "Look not thou upon the
wine when it is red." Go back aud
read the whole paragraph which be-
gins at the 10Th verse, Prov. %. What
is the connected thought? 1t is a
solemn warning against tippling and
drunkenness. 10 look upon the wine
is to seek occasion to drink; to covet
it, and to tarry long, and indulge to
excess, to be drunken which is always
and everywhere a sin and crime.
The same warning is given against ex-
cess in eating in the same chapter:
"Be not among wine bibbers; among
riotous eaters of f1esh." The drunk
ard and the glutton are in the same
case. Shall we never eat therefore be-
cause there are many gluttons in the
world?
Sheldon concludes from these few
passages that there are two kinds of
wine in the Bible, "a good wine and a
bad" The kind which St Paul COM
mended to Timothy was the unfer.
mented which could not intoxicate;
and the kind against which we are
erbs must have been alcoholic. And
he says: sThere can be no middle
ground unless we are willing to &C
knowledge that the Bible flatly con.
tradicts ITSELF" That is, to say, the
theory of the absolute prohibition OF
intoxicating wine must be upheld
though God be made liar in His Holy
Word.
So we have Sheldon VS.. the Almigh.
ty. Now for little more of that
same common sense" Palestine was
land of vineyards and OF wine max.
ing in the Bible times. 1t was the
home Of the vine. The use of wine
was as common in those days as tea
and coffee are with us: or at least We
may say as common as the use of cider
fathers here in New England. And
that is why they had such wealth Of
words to express the vine in all it's re-
latiOns. The very symbol of the lane
was the vine. Even the people of God
was represented by the vine; ano
Christ used the same figure to express
the spiritual relations Of His faithful
followers to Him. II am the vine, ye
are the branches" There are six diff
ferent words in Hebrew for wine anC
three for winepress. There may be
others which signify wine in some
sense or relation. May we not think
this matter of wines? Wine is wine
but there are different qualities an(
different conditions of wine. There il
old wine and new wine. Sweet win'
and sour wine. Wine made of different
kinds of fruit, by different methods
and wines made in different loca]i ties
We have claret, sherry, Rhine wines
California wines, champagne, etc. Bu1
wine is the fermented juice of th'
grape, or of some other fruit. Th,
very root of the word "yayin," th'
common word for wine, which occur
about 137 time in the Hebrew, il
descriptive Of the process of fermen
tatiOn. There is no wine, in an.
proper, scientific sense, without fer
mentation. Grape juice, or must, il
childish, therefore, to talk Of ''unfer
mented wine." 1t would be like swee
cider, or boiled cider or apple jelly; an
[ was taught that cider right from tn
press had already begun to ferment
Fermentation is one of Gods universe
laws, and just as much His law a
temperance is one Of His laws.
Sheldon admits that ''yayin" whicl
undoubtedly means wine. real, fel
mented wine which will intOxicate i
taken in excess, sometimes seems
| represent a wine that is commende
and sometimes condemned" Noa
drank of ''yayin,' and unfortunately
) as charitablY think, was deceived
and got drunk; for he was righteou
man, and preacher of righteous
ness" Melchizedek the priest of th
Most High, brought forth the brea