Communion Wine by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 5, 1882

Communion Wine.

By Editor

"A scoundrelly wine merchant of Besancon, France, has found it expedient to run away from the town because of the detection of one of his tricks—the manufacture and sale to the church, for use at the altar, of an article which pretended to be pure wine, but in which, as discovered by a chemist, there was not a single drop of grape juice. He may consider himself lucky that he did not live a hundred years ago when sacrilege was a hanging matter."

Two interesting points are made in this item: 1. That wine is made which passes for "pure wine," without a particle of grape juice in it. 2. That they who so strongly advocate the use of pure fermented wine, cannot have any assurance that they are using the "fruit of the vine" at all.

It is a well-known fact that there is more fraud practiced in the manufacture and sale of liquors than in all other traffics combined; and it appears that wine is no more pure than other liquors. It may be claimed that California wines are an exception. But if so, why is it that certain members of the Association of wine growers have made such efforts, and in some cases vain efforts, to have all its members come to an agreement to make wine of grapes, to the exclusion of other materials? "Wine is a mocker." He is deceived who trusts it.