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Show H THE SALOON ADVOCATE AND j THE SCRIPTURES. M Upon my return from Idaho this H morning, ray attention was called to H about six columns of reading matter H j in the "Morning Examiner," by which, H l learn that the unknown writor "pro- H -ceeds to enlighten mo with not one, Hj jjut five hundred instances, that the H LffiiWo encourages the use and manu- H ffacture of alcoholic bevorages, with M ' particular reference to the importance H I of the industry from a commercial H standpoint." Now, really, T appreciate H j this kind thouehtfulness on the part H j of my friend, the saloon advocate. His H i desire to help me understand properly H the scriptures and to apply them cor- H rectly, is truly magnanimous I tako H I this means of thanking him, because, H knot knowing who my would-be en- fl f llghtenor is, I cannot tnank him per- H ( Bonally. M By the way, I notice ho object? to H j being called a "saloon ndvo- H ( cate." Why, my friend, this con- m j tontion centers around the question of M '.(whether there Bhall be saloons or no M saloons in Ogden City. And is not the B man who advicatos the licensing of a H 6aloon a saloon advocate? You may B ( call a stink weed, a rose, but you must H .xiot bo surprised when you pin It on M I the lapel of your friend's coat, If he H , calls it a "stink weed" and refuses to M j have it so near his nose. M I But why are you ashamed of the H 1 title? If the saloon Is so helpful to H ' business, such an asset to the city H 'treasury, an institution bo divine as to Hi , bo sanctioned by 500 passages In the M Holy "Writ, and one meriting "A posl- M ' jjvo" promise of blessing made by God M for obedience to his laws?" why do you M cringe when we call you an advocate of it? It Is only a subterfuge to cry "blind tiger" and "unlawful soiling" as an excuse for the licensed saloon. To say that the majority of citizens ot Hl , ' this town cannot elect officers who Hl will enforce a prohibition law against M t the selling of alcoholic beverages as M i well as against opium and morphine or M any other injurious drug is to cast a M reflection upon, our system of govern- M menL M Yes, Mr. Writer, I consider you a M ealoon advocate, and I should have a M great deal more respect for vou If you M would openly display your saloon M armor instead of trying to hide it un- H der the cloak of temperance. You say H you "have not, or will not at any timo H justify abuse In the use of alcoholic M beverages " What do you mean by M abuse? Your Mr. Rose considered that M a Milwaukee man might drink several H gallons of beer a day without abusing H the use of alcoholic beverages. There's H the rub. How to have drinking wlth- H ' out intemperance; moderation without M excess; use without abuse; a little for H I the stomach's sake without a great M j deal for the appetite's sake; that M ' which Is intoxicating (nolsonous) with- M out being intoxicated (poisoned) ;' M . " causo without effect, and effect wlth- M out coneequpnee: that is the problem M at which men have worked for at M least six thousand years uninterrupted- M ly, and unsuccessfully. H "Voluntary total abstinence by the M individual, legal prohibition for the M ' Rtntc and nation will solve this prob- M i lem M Wlien a man deliberately chooses H sixteen passages of scripture that H mention the fact that wine was used in M i sacred offerings to the Lord, to prove M that general Indulgence in alcoholic M i drinks is a virtue, his Held of argu- M ) ment Is nretty bare M i Tho following passatres you quote re- H l fer to religious observance: Ex. I H 29:40; Lev. 23:13; Numb. 15:5; Numb. H I 15:7: Numb. 15:10: Numb. 18:12, H - Numb. 28:7; Numb. 2S:14; Deut j 1C:13; Deut. 32.33: I Sam. 1:24; I j Chron. k9:20: Nehemlah 10:37; Nehe- H mlah 1039' Nehemiah 13:5; Neho- H . miah 13:12. Nobodv objects to your receiving M wine from the hand of your priest M when -administered for sacramental H purposes. In this connection, how- H ever, I call yur attention to the fact H that about 4.000 of the voters in this H city have accepted as true the word of H God,Yhich prohibits the use of wine H oven Jn the administration of tho sac- H rament. H Several other passaccs you quoto M prove your claim Is untrue that the Hl use of wine as a beveragp is a virtuel H i When a man will quote the following H pasBago to nrove that the drinking of H j alcoholic beverages was approved by H i God, he becomes really an object ol m H ."Onlhe seventh day, when the heart H of the king was merry with wine, he M commanded Mehnman, Biztha, Har- H I bona, Blgtha. and Abagetha, Zethar M and Carcas, the seven chamberlains. H that served in the presence of Ahasue H niB, the king, to bring Vashti, the H queen, before the king with the crown 1 royal to show the people and the H 1 princes her hoauty,' for she was fair to M look on." Esther 1:10. H i H And that is another of the passages H from scripture that he cites as claira- H ing tho virtue of wine as a -beverage! H An Intoxicated hiiBband requiring a j beautiful wife to roaka an. Indecent ox- 1 i posuro ot herself before a company of 1 drunken revellers! And you quote H others that "show even more rraphlc- H ally than this to what degradation the j use of wine leads men. H ' Gentlemon: Up to this stage of our 1 fight I havoVgiven you credit for carry- 1 ing on a fair or dignified campaign; but you throw yourselves open to condemnation con-demnation when you attempt to teach the people that alcoholic beverages, whon taken In moderation, are beneficial. bene-ficial. You know when you do It that you teach that which Is not true. And when you attempt to drlvo that falsehood false-hood and clinch It with scripture you go beyond the bounds of endurance. Now, with all tho enlightenment (?) you havo given, I still repeat that when a man attempts to prove that tho Bible supports the saloon, and even the general use of intoxicating beverages, bever-ages, he either wilfully or ignorantlj misconstrues the scriptures. If you aro my fellow townsman, Mr. Saloon Advocate, I am glad you have not committed such folly, but Mr. George G. Brown, from whose scriptural compilation com-pilation you have quoted, has. It is true that Palestlno abounded in vineyards, and that wine was as common com-mon as corn that Is, the several kinds of cereals A good vineyard consisted of a thousand vines and produced a rent, according to Isaiah 7.23, of a thousand sheckels of sliver In those vineyards men labored propping the vines, gathering the grapes, and making mak-ing wine. Tho task of wine-making, though, even in that primitive day, was often considered a base one. (See I Kings 25-12, Cant 1:10, Isa. 01:5 ) It is also true that strong wines, particularly those ot Canaan, were generally mixed with water for common com-mon use. They also made wine of promegranates, and this Is the wine some of your passages refer to. It Is also true that many of Siose passages you, quote refer to a kind of vinegar that "was used for their common com-mon drink in the harvest field fRnth 2:14), and It was probable this of which Solomon was to furnish twenty thousand baths to Hiram for "his servants, ser-vants, the hewers that cut timber " And it Is also true that, following your line of argument, excessive revelling revel-ling and drunkonness may be Justified The first Bibllcai reference we have of wine "as a commercial commodity," so called, Is recorded in Gen. 9 '20-25, ono you omitted, but given by Mr. Brown: "And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard; and he drank of the wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent " In this text thero is mentioned the planting of the vineyard, the making of wine, and tho drinking of It to excess, ex-cess, even to drunkenness, and that, too, by ono of the most eminently pious men in the Old Testament. Here Is another you omitted- "And they went out at noon. But Ben-tradad was drinking himself drunk In the pavilions, ho and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him." Hpre is one more: "For they that sleep, slecn in tho night; and they that be drunken, arc drunken in the night,'" I Thess. 5:7: T might quote you more referring to drunkenness, but as yon are a student of the scriptures and need no enlightenment, enlight-enment, I need not waste the space. Now, Mr. Unknown Writer, why do you object to drunkenness when the Blblo supports C) it? Certainlv these passages sanction drunkenness more explicitly than some of those you quote to justify the moderate use of wine Indeed there is another that comes to 'me now, that is even more explicit the priest Ell's remark to the devout Hannah, even in the tomple of the Lord "How long wilt thou be drunken7 Put away thy wine from thee." One might conclude very reasonably from i this that it was customary for women to get intoxicated, even In the temple' Come, my consistent scrlptorian, why don't you advocate the "excessive use of alcoholic beverages" when the Bible so sanctions It? Because, you will Bay, the Lord did not approve of drunkenness, and he did approve of the moderate use of wine In tho same sense, he approved of slavery, for that, too, was practiced and sanctioned by ancient Israel. Just read those few passages among the many that might be given: "Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, bond-maids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall yo buy bondmen and bondmaids'" Lev. 25:44. "If thou buv an Hebrew servant, six years shall ho serve; and In -the seventh he shall go out freo for nothing. noth-ing. "If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if ho were married, then his wife shall go out with him. "If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall bo her master's, and he shall go out bv himself. "And If the servant shall plainly say, T love my marir, my wife and my children; chil-dren; I will not co free: then his master mas-ter shall bring him unto the judges; he Bhall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post: and his master shall bore his car through with an awl: and ho shall serve him forever." Ex. 21:2-6. Could not tho southern slaveholder havo Justified himself In his holding of slaves with as much propriety as you. can the use of Intoxicating beverages?. And more, because God has not condemned con-demned slavery as ho has the use of fltrongdrink and drunkenness as the following passages show: "But thev also have erred through wine, and throu-rh strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the pronhet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of winct thev arc out of the; way through strong drink,' they err in vision, they stumblo in Judgment" Isa. 2S7. "Woo unto them that rlso up oariv" in tho morning, that they may Jollow strong drink; tnat" continue until night, till wine, InflaW them.:' Isa. B:ll-12 ' f "-' i It was customary to begin their ban-' quote of revelry In tho morning (Ec 10: 1 G) This passage from Isaiah, is , one of nix distinct woes against crimes .Drinking wine Ib ono or the six-crimes. six-crimes. , i i "Woe unto, them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strongth to mingle strong drink. "Which justify the wicked for reward, re-ward, and (nko away tho righteousness of the righteous from him." Isa. 5'22-23. 5'22-23. (Note, my friend, "which justify the wicked for reward,") . j "Ye have not eaten bread, nelthor havo ve drunk wine or strong dtink, that yo might know that I am tho Lord your God." Deut. 29.6. "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, congre-gation, lest ye die; it shall be a statute stat-ute forever throughout your generations." genera-tions." Ixjv. 10.3. "Ho shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegnr of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of the grapes not eat moist grapes or dried." Num. 6.3. This, tho law of the Lord to the Nnzarites. WHEN THE LORD WOULD HAVE A IAN PURE, HE PROHIBITED THE USE OF WINE. "For he shall be groat In the sight of the Lord, nnd shall drink neither wine nor strong drink: and ho shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." Luke 1:15. "Lest they drink, and forget -the law. and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted." Prov 316. "But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us saying, Yo shall drink no wine, noither ye, nor your sons forever" Jer. 35:6. "Thus we have obeyed tho voice of Jonadab. the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he hath charged to us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters daugh-ters "Jer 36 :S. "The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed, for unto this day thev drink none, hut obey their father's commandment; notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me." Jer. 35.11. "Whoredom and wine and new wino tako away the heart " Hos. 4:11 "At the last it blteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." Prov. 23:42 "Woe unto him that glveth his neighbor neigh-bor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, nnd makest him drunken, also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!" naked-ness!" Hab. 2:15-1C. "Now therefore bewaro, T pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing." Judges IG:4. "And he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt concoive. and bear a son: and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing; for the child shall bo a Nazarltc to God from the womb to the day of his death." Judges 13:7. "Look not upon the wine when It is red, when it giveth his color In the cup, when It moveth itself aright." Prov. 23.31. God's condemnation, and, in a few instances, His prohibition of the use of Intoxicants Is in harmony with the teachings of Christ's gospel, and he who would at 5 nipt to teach otherwise other-wise either wilfully or Ignbrantly misconstrues mis-construes the scriptures. DAVID O. M'KAY. |
