The Wine of the Bible, of Bible Lands, and of the Lord's Supper [pp. 564-595]

9The Wine of the Bible,
ences of Jewish authorities to the reason for introducing it at
the paschal feast, to cheer and exhilarate the company in re membrance of their possession of the promised land; which
exhilaration, we presume, could not be got out of water in
which raisins had been steeped, though in later times it has
been the Jewish practice to provide unfermented wine. The
later practice has arisen from the excessive scrupulosity of the
Jews about the presence of leaven in the wine of the passover.
So customary was it for the Jews to'mingle their cup' when
they'furnished their table,' that we should expect to find the
custom observed at the passover. The rabbinical authorities
confirm such expectations, as they give very particular direc tions about the due proportions of the mingled water and
wine. That this was the practice of the early Christians in
celebrating the Eucharist, is evident from many citations of the
fathers. Thus in the account of Justin we read:'Bread and
a cup of wine and water are brought to the president.' Ire neus speaks of the diluted cup (temperamentum calicms) and
of the mingled cup (mistus calix). Reference is made to the
mingled drink (the xpa,ta of the Greeks and mistum of the
Latins) by Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria, Basil, Gregory of
Nyssa, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Augustine, Theodoret, and many
other Greek and Latin writers. In the Romish Church the
mingling of wine and water is not only retained, but elevated
into a great mystery and symbol of the blood and water which
flowed from the wounded side of Jesus. An ancient sect
mentioned by Epiphanius used only water, and another milk
instead of wine."
Rev. Dr. Laurie, in the article in the Bibliotheca Sacra already quoted, after showing that the lexicographers agree in
defining wine as " the name of the liquor obtained by the fermentation of the juice of grapes, and, in less strict usage, beverages prepared in like manner from the juices of many other
fruits," proceeds to ask: "Now why prejudice a good cause
by denying the fixed meaning of a well-known article, and arraying against that cause the settled use of language? There
is no greater hindrance to a favorable reception of the arguments for temperance among those who have not yet become
the slaves of a debasing appetite, than the suspicion that how
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