THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8288, 21 June 1890, Page 3

THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —la tliig second letter, I shall deal with your mistake about King Solomon, not for the purpose of a mero quibble, but to take a bona fide objection to loose reasoning which, in a paper of deservedly high standing like the Herald, does harm. Your busy life is an excuse, and the wonder is that our daily papers are so accurate as they are, considering the large amount of information they furnish us with, gathered from all parts of the world. But lest your style of reasoning about the liquor question should become fashionable, 1 will point out its fallaciousness. In your article, you said "Wo hear of it (i.e., wine) from the time when Noah partook too freely, to Solomon, who tells us that 'wine maketh glad the heart of man,' and enjoins us to ' give wine to those that are of heavy heart; let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." Now in the first place Solomon never said that " wine maketh glad the heart of man ; " you meant David, the sweet psalmist of Israel (see Psalm civ., 15), and Solomon does not "enjoin us to give wine to those that are of heavy heart," etc. etc. At the risk of an action for false and malicious libel, I must say, sir, that you are not an infallible expounder of the Scripture. In the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs we read, " The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him." Like a good mother she had warned him against strong drink—by which so many noble, manly lives and characters have been destroyed. She said : "It is not for kings, 0 Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine ; nor for princes strong drink. Lest they drink and forget the law, and prevent the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." (Prov. xxxi., 1-6). Now, sir, because this obscure woman, 3000 years ago, told her son to give stupefying drinks to certain persons, you erroneously alleged that we are enjoined to do so too; but you might as logically argue that because we read in the Bible that Job's wife urged Job to "curse God and die "we are enjoined to do so. On such princibles of logic anything could be proved from Scripture; and it is sometimes by such clumsy methods that certain persons try to prove that " The teetotal society rests on an absolutely un-Scriptural ground." The precept which you said we are enjoined to obey has always been looked upon with suspicion. According to com.nientators, "The Jews say, that upon this was grounded the practice of giving a stupifying drink to condemned prisoners when they were going to execution, as they did to our Saviour," who refused to drink it. On this question Dr. Lee and Rev. Dawson Burns, D.D., joint authors of the Temperance Bible Commentary, say : "The whole passage may be viewed as a declarative medal, on whose side is inscribed, ' Intoxicating liquors are not fit for those who have to think and act for others ;' on the reverse, ' Intoxicating liquors are only tit for those who wish to lose the power of thinking and acting for themselves.' Can any stronger condemnation be passed upon inebriating compounds of every name? To whom has the Creator given permission to drown affliction in the wine cup? With a voice of infinite pity, the Son of God, addressing the afflicted and perishing, exclaims, ' Come unto Me, all ye that labour and arc heavy laden, and I will 'jive you rest ?''' They cite a verse by Sir \V. a'Beekett, ex-Chief Justice of Victoria, which I will conclude this letter with — "Grief banished in wine will come again, Ami come with a deeper shade, Le.iving, perchance, on the soul a stain Which sorrow had never made. Then till not the tempting glass forme : If mournful, 1 will not bemad ; Hotter sad, because we are sinful, be, Than sinful because we are sad." F. G. Ewi.ngtox. [Mr. Ewington has descended to very poor quibbling. Surely, the phrase that "wine maketh glad the heart of man,'' comes with peculiar strength from "the man after God's own heart." The plural is used when speaking'of wine as a direct good gift from God, and in the same verse sis " bread which strengthenoch man's heart." As to the last chapters of the Book of Proverbs, Mr. Ewington thinks it only worthy of contempt, because it is said to be "the words of King Lemuel,'the prophecy that his mother taught him." But it is as much a part of the Sacred Scriptures as the first chapter, and was probably written by the same writer. It is one of the best chapters in the book. Mr. Ewingi,on says the injunction there is to be put in the same category with the saying of Job's wife, " Curse God and die." In the one case a general direction is given in a " prophecy," in the other case we are told in a narrative that a woman makes a statement, for which she is at once rebuked. Besides, "Curse God and die" is plainly inconsistent with the whole teaching of Scripture and of natural piety. The teaching that wine cheers and exhilarates and may be used in moderation, is consistent with the whole tenor of Scripture.—Ed.]