The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-08-18
THE Spirit of Christ. the Bible, Liquor and the
State Fair"

Spirit is a personality; is of the three per-
sons OF the Trinity. For proof of this truth,
quote John IA: 26-"But the comforter. whom
the father will send in my name he (not io
will guide you in all truth" Also John IS: 3
l-'Howhett when the spirit of truth is come. he
mot ID will guide you In all truth" God is
impartial In His dealings with all humanity.
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on
the unjust" Likewise. the holy spirit teaches
the same truth to all men, and they would not
differ widely If all men would accept and
believe the truth 1t is presented in the holy
scriptures ] will illustrate by using one of
your scripture quotations. Wine In mocker
and Took not thou upon the wine when 1t is
red, when 1t giveth its color in the cup, when
lit moveth itself Alright At the last it biteth
like a serpent and stingeth like an adder
That language is plain and unmistakable there
lis no room for two opinions as to It's meaning,
and yet understand ii to teach prohibition of the
'mocker'' kind of wine; not even to look upon
that kind of wine; but you do not accept and
believe the command II reads ] believe the
truth the language conveys;you to not believe that
scripture as it reads, and consequently you and
II are very far apart. If you and hoth &C
icept and believe the scripture as 1t reads, there
would be difference between us. We would
both 1t as it reads
You may be sure where there Is wide diff
ference between Christian men on important
Bible truths, it is because of unbeiief some
where.
You refer to Ephesians 5: 1S. and First Timothy
! 3. 90, to prove that they refer to Intoxicating
wine. If that true then these scriptures
would contradict the scripture first quoted above
and there is no contradiction of one scripture
by another scripture. Ephesians 5: 18-''Re not
drunk with wine wherein Is excess, but be We
flled with the spirit" This scripture refers to
the character Of the wine and not to the quality
The wine wherein Is excess" refers to the
nocker Kind The word drunk has the sense
of being filled and agrees with the latter clause
of the sentence The word excess Is elsewhere
translated riot. The text has no reference to
quality but to the kind of wine-wherein IS ex-
cess riot. So the verse would read-"Be not
filled with wine wherein Is riot; but he filled
with the spirit. The wine wherein is excess
/ (riot) refers to the mocker KIND.
/ First Timothy s. 23-"Drnk no longer water,
Ihut take a little wine for thy stomachs sake
and often infirmity' No man can prove that
scripture refers to intoxicating wine, but the
contrary is true. Mr.. Pliny. the Latin historian,
who lived In the first century, tells us that the
people in Palestine in the time OF the LORD
fprized that be their best wine which was
nearest free of alcohol, and that fact throws
a food of light upon what the governor of the
feast said of the wine made in the first miracle
of the Iord--fouud in John 2: 10-'E Every man
as the beginning doth set forth the good WINE,
and when men have well drunk, then that which
lis worse but thou hast kept the good wine until
now" Now according to the testimony of the
historian. Pliny, it good wine'-the best
wine because the Lord made it, and it contained
the least quantity of alcohol
Did it ever occur to you, Brother Moody, that
the Lord converts water into wine every year.
and deposits 1t in the cluster of tho vine, and
therefore, we can see clearly that the WINE OF
the first miracle was like unto mat whlch he
makes every year, the miracle consisted Of
His doing instantly what takes several months To
produce in the ordinary way every year. In
the first miracle the Lord could have made either
Intoxicating Misunderstanding wine; then
which would He have made, think you? We
can safely Judge the character Of the wine by
the character of Him who made it.
Let me assure you Brother Moody, that you
ought to know that you in the wrong cam
pagn for Christian man to advocate the traffic
and drinking of intoxicating liquors; and still
worse when you attempt to place the Lord at
the heard of that iniquitous business, business
which says the churches: You set them up
and viii knock them down: a business that
is the fruitful parent of many vices yea, all the
Ixripn "a G v.
and do believe that If the money that has been
wasted in trying to Danish liquor from the land
. had been spent to feed the starving and clothe
the naked. the time and talents preaching Jesus
and His salvation to the same many thousands
of souls would have been born into the king
dom of God"
Now, Brother Moody, turn your eyes upon the
liquor side of the situation. which you are help,
ing to keep alive The following facts and
people Of this country invested twenty million
dollars to pay the salaries of 163Ts9 ministers
Iof the gospel. for church support in all its
avenues of work fifty million dollars; for educa-
ltion one hundred million dollars that Is, an
aggregate of hundred and seventy million
dollars for preaching the gospel church support
and education. During the same time. In the
same country one thousand and two hundred
million dollars were spent to support liquor sa-
looms; so that for every dollar paid for the
three ohtects-preachers of the gospel, church
support and education. dollars spent
to support the saloon. And besides the ravages
iof the drink habit in death rate are greater
than that of war, pestilence and famine combined
1t
thousand human victims annually, two hundred
and seventy -four every day. And what are
lfnuor saloons but recruiting places for the devil
to train our boys and others in those habits
that lead to ruin for time and eternity? I'm
fortunately for the cause OF righteousness, there
are many members in the various churches who
believe and act as you do, by throwing their
influence to the liquor saloons, and the drinking
of Intoxicating liquors. and they responsible
for the tolerance OF liquor saloons in our city.
How can you, a Christian man. support or coun-
ltenance that business, considered to be- the
strongest weapon of the devil in this world!
Men may deceive themselves, but they cannot
+3eeeiyA- Gea,-whnse-- decree -is--'-nn- drunkard
shall enter the kingdom of heaven" Since we
will be he'd responsible for ''the deeds done in
the body" then what will be the fate of the
ldrunkard maker and those who aid and coun-
ltenance the liquor saloon and the drinking of
Intoxicating liquors? Don't you how dis
lhonoring of the Lord when YOU place Him at
head and lead of the making and giving an
Intoxicating drink to the people? He that
lhIstifieth the wicked and he that condemneth
the lust even both are an abomination to the
Lord" Prov II: 10
/ In conclusion, let us look in the direction OF
the State fair. Is it not true that two-thirds
lof the counties of the State dry counties
have no liquor saloons? And is the State fair
mot organized for the purpose of aiding the
AGRICULTURAL people of the State? And is ii not
true that two of the largest denominations of
<Christians in the State the Baptists and Method
lists in their State conventions this year adopted
resolutions requesting the managers not to
Incense saloons In the fair grounds, to which