NON-INTOXICATING WINE AT COMMUNION.

White Ribbon, Volume 19, Issue 222, 18 December 1913, Page 10

NON-INTOXICATING WINE AT COMMUNION.

A MOVEMENT IN THE ENGLISH CHCRCH AT HOME. Last April a gic*at stc*p forward was lake’ll, when the Archbishop of Noik received a deputation, whose object it was to plead for the* right to u*c unfermented grape juice in the Com munion Service, and foi the* following reason*: 1. The many men and women who lapsed after partaking o| alcoholic wine at the I .cud * table. 2. That in Scripture, wine i* not mentioned, but “fruit the* vine in connection with the Lord * Supper. 3. That Christians should help weak brothers by example*. 4. Ten* of thousand* of children were being brought up a* total abstainer*, and should not be compelled to take fermented wine at the table of our Lord. 5. (irape jum e* aiiswei* to de*crip turn of Bible, was well known, and often used in our Lord’* time*; while leaven wa* excluded at Passover, many Jew* using grape juice* at Passover to thi* day. (). I nfermented grape juic e answers the conditions laid down in Prayer Book and Canons. These* points vvete well supported by medical opinion, and Dr. Bicker ton, a distinguished *urgeon and medic ill author, stated: “The fruit of the vine (the grape) contains no intoxicating property. Alcoholic wine i* not fruit, nor product of the vine, but of the* action of leaven on the* fruit of the* vine. The one method of preparation upon which we are de pendent for alcohol i* the fermentation of sugar.” I he* Arc libishop asked many quo* tion* of the* deputation, especially *ec*king information on the* physiological effec t of alcohol, and the custom of the* various Christian denomina tion*. After a full hearing, his (trace admitted the weight of the plea* expressed, and the need of special treatment. “At present the* Anglican Communion was governed by the* Lambeth dec isieui of 1888. Later knowledge and evidence were* in existence today.’ lb* would confer with the Archbishop of Canterbury with a view to a fuller consideration of the whole question.