THE efforts of evil to bolster up a bad case are proverbial. With the aim to deceive, evil sometimes even goes so far as to don the habiliments of good. In search of argument it does not hesitate to invade the sacred precincts of the Holy Scriptures, and the supporters of evil's contentions glibly quote Biblical passages. The attempt of the drink trade to make its cause respectable by citing passages from the Bible in its support is an illustration of this tendency; and not only is this done in violation of good usage, because of the impropriety of wresting passages from their context, whereby the meaning is quite perverted; but a still greater offense, in utter violation of the spirit of the Scriptures, is the implication that the spiritual progress of mankind is to be promoted by so great an evil as indulgence of the drink habit.
The proponents of the unrestricted or legalized sale of liquor, failing to see a deep spiritual significance in the instance so frequently quoted, when Christ Jesus at the wedding of Cana turned the water into wine, cite the incident as indicating the Master's approval of the use of intoxicants. But such as these will perhaps find great difficulty in explaining why Jesus refused the cup of wine before the crucifixion, once having tasted it. None can deny, however, that Christ Jesus, greatest exponent of true idealism, taught and practiced abstinence from whatever tends to create false appetites, even abstinence from indulgence of those desires which are commonly termed natural, but which often are abnormal. Surely the gaining of knowledge of God, the understanding of man's relation to God, and of His government of His perfect universe, is in no degree promoted by pandering to the fleshly appetites.
Christian Scientists are in no doubt about their course in this crusade to lessen men's belief in the necessities of materiality. Mrs. Eddy's words, beginning on page 288 of "Miscellaneous Writings," are definite and conclusive in making clear that the cause of temperance is supported by Christian Science. She says, "Temperance and truth are allies, and their cause prospers in proportion to the spirit of Love that nerves the struggle." And after making plain that people may differ as to the best means of promoting temperance in the use of intoxicants, she significantly adds: "Whatever intoxicates a man, stultifies and causes him to degenerate physically and morally. Strong drink is unquestionably an evil, and evil cannot be used temperately: its slightest use is abuse; hence the only temperance is total abstinence." In view of these words of our Leader there can be no doubt as to the position of every Christian Scientist upon this momentous question. There is no middle road. Her words are neither equivocal nor involved. "The only temperance is total abstinence." No statement could be stronger.
