The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1914-08-28
'N|ND[E's SPEECH.
CONTINUED from Page g.

eating it is necessary 20 learn what
kind of wine the guests wanted. In
less He perpetrated a fraud Jesus
supplied the kind they wanted. and
not some substitute.
In the ninth verse we read:
When the ruler of the feast tasted
the water that made wine, and knew
not whence it was (but the servants
that drew the water knew, the gov.
ernor of the feast called the bride.
groom
From this we learn that the ruler
OF the feast was not aware that a
miracle had been performed. He
thought the supply had been secured
from a regular dealer around the cor
ner. His testimony was, therefore,
| free from prejudice or bias. Now.
why did he call the bridegroom?
Something out of the ordinary had
happened.
In verse 10 we are told that he said
to the bridegroom:
Every man at the beginning doth
set forth good wine; and when men
have well drunk, then that which is
worse; but thou hast kept the good
wine until now"
Now we know what kind of wine
the guests had at the beginning. 1t
was good wine. This good wine gave
out, and, of course, they wanted more
of the same kind The good wine
was the old intoxicating wine.
This is shown in the next sentence
uttered by the ruler of the feast.
After stating that it was customary
to set forth good wine at the begin
ming of the feast he said:
When men have we'll drunk, then
that which is worse, but thou hast
kept the good wine until now"
From this we learn that the good
wine always set forth at the begin
ming of feasts would make men
drunk. Otherwise it would not be
necessary, in order to prevent de-
bauch, to switch to the wine (which
is worse" or weak Besides the
expression 'have we'll drunk" in the
original reads becomes thoroughly
intoxicated" In the German Bible it
is translated drunk through and
through If the good wine set before
guests at the beginning of feasts
would intoXicate when drank to ex-
cess, so would the wine Jesus made,
for the ruler of the feast said: Thou
has kept the good wine until now"
challenge any man living to show
that the good wine was not old wine
the intoxicating kind. defy him
to prove that the guests wanted
grape juice.
\ This is the plain, simple meaning
of the text. | have made no effort
to twist, diStOrt or wrest any term
from its manifest import. AS Jesus
used wine and made it for others to
drink, prohibition can never be Chris
tian in character.
l do not say that He debauched the
wedding feast. / do not claim that
the guests got drunk on the good
wine. The ruler of the feast suggest
ed the possibility, but does not aver
that such happened on this occasion.
| | give you the record as it is.
| | deny that Jesus supplied de-
mand for intoxicating liquor to make
men drunk | deny that when we
vote to supply the demand for in
toxicating liquors that we vote to
make men drunkards. There is a
vast difference between drinking and
getting drunk-tha same difference
as there is between eating and be-
coming a glutton; between buying a
gun and committing murder.
Having settled forever by the ex.
ample of Christ the true Christian
attitude on the liquor question, defy
any man on earth to show how it can
ever become Christian to prohibit
anything that Jesus practiced.
In Deuteronomy, 14th chapter, Goth
verse, God says:
And thou shalt bestow that money
for whatsoever thy sould lusteth af
ter, for oxen, or for sheep, Or fol-
wine, or for strong drink"
1t will be seen in this instance
that God became specific He knew
the controversy that would arise, the
strife this issue would engender
Hence in taking His position in favor
of personal liberty on the drink ques
ton God made His meaning perfectly
clear If God permits us to spend ou1
money for strong drink, who has the
right to forbid?
If God would permit His people to
spend their money for strong drink
and then damn them for doing it, He
would be monster.
| deny that Cod is a monster and
in His defense brand prohibition as a
political, legal, religious and moral
mOnstrosity
Prohibitionists have assumed a pc
sition on the drink question that in
diets God as monster and Christ as
criminal. / stand ready to defend
Christ and God against their indict
ment and for this they denounce me
as blasphemer. / would rather dis
credit the opinion of every prohibi
zionist on this earth than to brand
God as monster and Christ as &
criminal-the one for permitting His
people to spend their money fol
storing drink, the other for perfom
ing miracle to supply the demand
for intoxicating liquor.
4 You cannot find within the lids O.
the Bible single passage rightly in
torDeted that SuDnOrtS tho nrin cinl.