Church Action on Temperance [pp. 595-632]

1871.] of Bible Lands, and of the Lord's Suyper. 595
ever plausible they appear, yet they contain a lurking fallacy,
which needs only to be brought out to spoil them all. Now,
why confirm such prejudices by doing violence to the acknowledged meaning of words? What is an intelligent man to think
of the unfermented wine which some insist shall be used at the
sacrament when he reads such definitions?"
Writers generally agree that our Saviour used the ordinary
wine provided for the Passover. Thus L. Coleman, D.D.,* says:
"The common wine of Palestine is of a red color. Such was
the wine which our Saviour used at the Sacrament, as it would
seem both from the nature of the case and the declaration:
'This is my blood.'"
Why then imperil the cause of temperance, as promoted by
the pratice of total abstinence, by undermining faith in the obvious meaning of the word of God as understood by the
Church in all ages; by putting it on grounds against which the
convictions of its most devoted, pious, and intelligent friends,
and of the great majority of Christian scholars and divines, are
arrayed; which inlovate upon the Holy Sacrament; which must
tend to narrow its influence to the small minority who can be
gained over to such views; and which, so far, enlist in their defence more of misrepresentation and vituperation than of truth
and argument, candor and charity?
[The ethical, Scriptural, and ecclesiastical relations of total abstinence will
be discussed in our next article.]
ART. VI.-Testimonies of the General Assemblies of the Pres byterian Church in the United States against Intemperance.
Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication.
Tis is the pamphlet ordered to be printed by our last Assembly, containing the collective deliverances of past Assemblies on Temperance. It was also ordered to be sent to all
ministers, and read to all churches in our body. Before directly
discussing the questions it presents, we propose to give a brief
* Ancient C&hristianity Exempglified, p. 437.
VOL. XLIII.-NO. IV. 48