Manufacture of Wine and Cider
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abstain from all appearance of evil and engage largely in the business
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of hop raising, knowing to what use the hops are put. Those who help
to produce these beverages that encourage and educate the appetite for
stronger stimulants will be rewarded as their works have been. They
are transgressors of the law of God, and they will be punished for
the sins which they commit and for those which they have influenced
others to commit through the temptations which they have placed in
their way.
Let all who profess to believe the truth for this time, and to be
reformers, act in accordance with their faith. If one whose name is
on the church book manufactures wine or cider for the market, he
should be faithfully labored with, and, if he continues the practice, he
should be placed under censure of the church. Those who will not be
dissuaded from doing this work are unworthy of a place and a name
among the people of God. We are to be followers of Christ, to set our
hearts and our influence against every evil practice. How should we
feel in the day when God’s judgments are poured out, to meet men
who have become drunkards through our influence? We are living
in the antitypical day of atonement, and our cases must soon come
in review before God. How shall we stand in the courts of heaven if
our course of action has encouraged the use of stimulants that pervert
reason and are destructive of virtue, purity, and the love of God?
The lawyer asked Christ: “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And He said unto him, Thou hast
answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.” Eternal life is the prize
at stake, and Christ tells us how we may gain it. He directs us to the
written word: “How readest thou?” The way is there pointed out; we
are to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves. But if we
love our neighbor as ourselves we shall not throw upon the market
anything that will be a snare to him.
To love God and man is the Christian’s whole duty. The law of
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love is written upon the tablets of the soul, the Spirit of God dwells
in him, and his character appears in good works. Jesus became poor
that through His poverty we might be made rich. What sacrifices are
we willing to make for His sake? Have we His love enshrined in our