p. 711 | Temperance

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 27, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 45.

Temperance.

Luther on Intemperance.

THE early German nations were noted for their use of strong liquors, drunkenness, and general debauchery. These characteristics remained to some extent even after the gospel had been long introduced. In the days of Luther drunkenness prevailed to an alarming degree. And Luther himself has been brought forward as an apologist for intemperance, and his own example in drinking wine has been pleaded as an excuse for indulgence in drink. But in all this, gross injustice has been done to Luther. It is true he was not a teetotaler; no one was at that time. But he had no sympathy with drunkenness, and condemned it most unsparingly, speaking of it as a disgrace to Germany, and likely to bring down the displeasure of God. In a sermon on 1 Pet. 4:7, “Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer,” lately translated by Rev. E. Huber, D. D., he says:—

“Since God in his great mercy has in recent times given us the light of the gospel in rich measure, it is but just that we Germans should, out of gratitude and to the praise of the same, change our conduct in this particular, lest through other sins, especially through this vice, we bring upon ourselves the displeasure and chastisement of God; for a life so dissolute will certainly be followed by false security and forgetfulness of God, so that the people living like swine, in continual excess, will have no fear of God before their eyes, nor be in a condition to have any concern respecting spiritual things. And if nothing else would induce us to change for the better in this respect, the disgrace that has come upon us in other countries ought to do it; for other nations, particularly England, look upon us with arrogance and scorn on account of it, and call us drunken Germans. For this virtue is still amongst them, that they are not such intemperate and drunken people as we are. Even the Turks are very monks and saints, in comparison with us, and so far removed from this vice that wine and all intoxicating drinks are forbidden by their Mahomet, and disregard of this law is punished with great severity.

“But what use is there in multiplying words on this subject, as the evil has spread till it has become the universal custom of the country—and is no longer confined to the rude, uneducated masses in country towns among the peasantry and in public taverns, but has now made its way into all the cities and almost into every house, and prevails especially amongst the nobility and at the courts of princes. If there are yet any pious parents or God-fearing Christian rulers among us, they ought to strive to diminish this evil, at least to some extent, by opposing it with great earnestness in the case of their children and servants. Pastors and preachers are under obligations to warn the people frequently and faithfully, exhibiting to their view the disfavor and wrath of God, and the injury to soul, body, and substance, that are consequent upon this sin, in the hope that it may do good to some, and influence them to repent. And such as willfully and publicly persist in this vice and refuse to reform, are not to be admitted to the Lord’s Supper, but are to be publicly regarded as non-Christians, and dealt with the same as with adulterers, extortioners, and idolaters.”

After reading such words, certainly no one can claim Luther as one who looked upon the excessive use of liquors with indifference. If he lived in our own day he would be one of the most progressive temperance reformers. In this connection we may remark that it is positively denied that he is an author of the German couplet:—

“Who loves not women, wine, and song, / Is a fool as long as his life is long,”

Though it is often attributed to him and sometimes used as a sign or motto with his name appended to it in drinking saloons.—Presbyterian Banner.