AND WINE MAKING. 255 



ate. When I mention wine the reference is to "the cup 

 that cheers but not inebriates," such as our Savior Him- 

 self created by His first miracle, at Cana in Galilee, con- 

 secrated at His holy supper and ordained to be used in 

 the sacrament in loving remembrance of Him. Our 

 total-abstinence friends seem to forget this when they 

 claim to be His followers, and yet denounce the cup 

 which He consecrated and appointed to perpetuate His 

 memory on earth. St. Paul exhorted Timothy : "Use 

 a little wine for the stomach's sake and thine often in- 

 firmities. " And in many other places the Holy Scriptures 

 show how fallacious is the idea that they forbid its use. 

 Martin Luther, the great reformer and the very highest 

 type of clear-headed independent manhood, wrote : 



" Who loves not woman, wine and song, 

 Will be a fool his whole life long." 



Surely he did not go down to a drunkard's grave, nor 

 was he ever charged with drunkenness. 



Human nature is so constituted that it craves some 

 kind of a stimulant. Why not furnish it the most in- 

 vigorating, health-giving, pure light wine, instead of 

 enervating tea and coffee. All eminent physicians agree 

 that it assists digestion when taken with the food, and 

 it can now be had as cheaply as tea and coffee. If pro- 

 hibitory laws have failed to prohibit, it is because their 

 authors do not recognize the inherent wants of human 

 nature, nor the truth of the maxim that "forbidden 

 fruit is the sweetest." If, instead of- futile prohibitory 

 legislation, we had laws (and they were enforced) making 

 drunkenness a crime which brings upon the transgressor 

 infamy and punishment, I would heartily rejoice. But 

 I cannot see the justice of laws which prescribe equal 

 punishment for the innocent and the guilty, and forbid 

 everyone to use wine in moderation and with bene- 

 ficial effects, because another abuses it, or makes a beast 

 of himself by drinking bad whisky. 



