IS PROHINITION SCRIPTURAL?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6514, 17 June 1899, Page 7

IS PROHINITION SCRIPTURAL?

No single passage, in either the Old or the New Testament, can legitimately be used to justify the position of those- of the clergy who have adopted the attitude bf extremists and coercionists on' this question. Immoderate drinking and drunkenness are condemned, as- they. have .-. been by , the greatest teachers of .all ages, but the use of wine, and of strong drink, is not merely permitted, but enjoined. The. Bible Cyclopaedia says : — " Scripture condemns the abuse, not -the use, of/wine," and, referring to the 'Nazarites' vow, it adds, "it justifies voluntary total abstinence, but does not enjoin ifc." It is, perhaps, 'better, however, that the Scriptures should speak for themselves. In Deuteronomy, chap. 14, verse 26, we read as follow..: — "And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink." Numbers, Chapter 28, enumerates ths offerings to be made to the Lord, and in verse 7 occurs the following : — -, "In the Holy place shalt thou pour out a drink offering of strong drink unto the Lord." Proverbs, Chapter 31, verses 6, 7: — "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forgst 'his poverty and remember his misery no more." Ecclesiastes, Chapter 9, verse 7: — "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart." : 7 Amos, Chapter 9, verse 14:-^" I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall- build the waste cities , and inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof." In Psalm 104, verse 15, the Pi*3almi«:t sings of "wine that maketh glad the heart of man." Turning to the New Testament, Matthew tells us. in Chapter 11, verse 19, that "John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a. gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." John, Chapter .2, verse 9, .10, assures us that the best; wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee was provided by Jesus himself. And it was in reference to this occurrence that Archbishop Trench, in rebuking those who urged that, the providing, of so large and ••.eriious a quantity of wine put temptation in men's way, scornfully exclaimed, "As though tlie secret of temperance lay in the scanty supply and -.not-, inrstrong sglf-re- ■. straint." vTbus it* appears that prohibition is not ohlyunscriptural, but its advocates, :ip the very methods they* employ,, are proving themselves the foes of trtie'temper-

anee by undermining that self-restraint which is - at pnce its source ': and its strength. '■/ ; -. ':■'': 'J 7 1899 ,