Religious and educational aspects of temperance / by various authors.

Date:
[1874?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Religious and educational aspects of temperance / by various authors. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    64/172 page 60
    SANCTION OF THE USE OF WINE BY OUR LORD. in Great Britain. Our Lord defended His disciples against the charge of breaking the Sabbath when, to satisfy their hunger, they plucked the ears of corn as they passed through the fields. The lawfulness of the custom which thus per- mitted the hungry to supply their need was not questioned, and was .certainly justified by its defence, even on the Sabbath-day; but if, when trade was bad in some of our manufacturing districts, the hungry people went forth into the corn-fields around them and did the same thing, would the farmer, or the magistrate to whom he might appeal, admit that our Saviour’s sanction of such a custom justified its adoption now, under circumstances so different, and so much more liable to abuse 1 Social customs, or dietetic habits, must ever be held as entirely subordinate to the operation of that great principle of universal benevolence, which is the fruit of Christian faith, and which was designed for adaptation to all times, and all circumstances, by Him “ who pleased not Himself,” but “ went about doing good ” to the bodies as well as the souls of men. We will now endeavour to meet a very plausible objection that is frequently brought against the principle of Total Abstinence, viz. :—That by removing temptation instead of fortifying the mind by religious principle to resist it, we are introducing a rule of conduct which is incapable of general application, and is calculated to lower the standard of Christian morality. We readily admit that the rule we propose to apply to the use, or rather to the disuse, of in- toxicating drinks, is not one that can be universally applied; but we contend that there are occasions when Christian expediency and Christian charity may demand it; and that the present condition of our country in regard to intem- perance presents one of these occasions. Indeed, looking at
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