Part 27 (1/2)
”I presume you grant, sir, that it is not superst.i.tion but _certainty_ that there _were_ two kinds of wine in those days,” said Theodore.
”Oh yes. I'll accept that as fact.”
”Well, then, as I am not a Greek nor Hebrew scholar, and I understand that you are, I will simply remind you of the very satisfactory and generally accepted statements of learned men concerning the two words used in those languages to express two distinct kinds of liquid, which words were not, I am told, used interchangeably. Then I should like to pa.s.s at once to simpler, and, for unlearned people like myself, more practical arguments. Do you lawyers allow your authors to interpret themselves, sir?”
”Certainly.”
”Which is precisely what we do with the Bible. In a sense, the same Jesus who made wine of water at the marriage feast, is the author of the Bible, and if he is divine there must be no discrepancy in its pages.
Now I find that this same Bible says, 'Wine is a mocker,' 'Look not upon the wine when it is red,' 'Woe to him that giveth his neighbor drink,' and a long array of similar and more emphatic expressions. Now how am I to avoid thinking either that Jesus of Nazareth was a mere man, and a very inconsistent one at that, or else that the wine at the marriage supper was _not_ the wine with which we are acquainted, and which we will not use at all until 'it giveth its color in the cup and moveth itself aright?'”
Mr. Ryan laughed still good-humoredly, and said:
”Have you committed to memory the entire Bible as well as Habakkuk, Mallery? But I can quote Scripture, too. Doesn't your Bible read, 'Give wine to those that be of heavy hearts?'”
”Yes, sir; and, according to our translation, the same article is used as a symbol of G.o.d's wrath: 'For thus saith the Lord G.o.d of Israel, Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand.' Does that look probable or reasonable? It talks, moreover, about 'wine that maketh glad the heart of man,' and I leave it to your judgment whether we know anything about any such wine as that?”
”But, Mallery,” interposed Mr. Stephens, ”I want to question you now myself. I am a genuine temperance man I have always supposed. I accord with everything that you have said on the subject, and still I don't believe I see the connection between wine drinking and using the article as a condiment, or in my cakes and jellies.”
”Well, sir,” said Theodore, turning toward him brightly, ”the same Bible reads: 'If meat maketh my brother to offend, I will eat no more meat while the world stands;' and if we are to interpret the Bible according to its spirit, why doesn't it read with equal plainness; 'If wine maketh my brother to offend--'”
”But you surely do not think that an appet.i.te for wine drinking can be cultivated from an innocent jelly?”
Theodore looked in grave surprise at his questioner as he said:
”That remark proves, sir, that you were not brought up in the atmosphere which surrounded my younger days, and also that you were never one of the waiters at the Euclid House; but that it takes much less than that to cultivate, or worse, to arouse an already cultivated appet.i.te, I believe all trustworthy statements that have ever been made on the subject will bear me witness. Mr. Ryan, if you were a reformed drunkard, seated at this table, would you dare to eat that wine jelly?”
Mr. Ryan spoke dryly, laconically, but distinctly:
”No.”
Theodore turned to Mr. Stephens again.
”'And the second is like unto it,'” he said, speaking low and gently.
”'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'”
”But my neighbor isn't here,” answered Mr. Stephens, playfully. ”At least not the reformed drunkard of whom you speak; if he were I would be careful.”
”But if you meet him on the street to-night,” answered Theodore, in the same manner, ”don't, I beg of you, say anything to him about his evil habits, because he may ask you if you neither touch, taste nor handle the accursed stuff; and while you are trying to stammer out some excuse for your condiments, he might suggest to you that you use the poison in your way and he uses it in his, and there is many a brain that can not see the difference between the two; in which case it seems to me to become the old story, 'If meat maketh my brother to offend.'”
Mr. Stephens laughed.
”He ought to have been a lawyer instead of a merchant. Don't you think so, Ryan?” he asked, glancing admiringly at the flushed young face.
”I told him so several years ago,” said Mr. Ryan.
Theodore was roused and excited; he could not let the subject drop.
”I can conceive of another reason why a good man should not harbor such serpents in disguise,” he said, in the pleasant, half-playful tone which the conversation had latterly a.s.sumed.
”Let us have it by all means,” answered Mr. Stephens. ”I am court-martialed, I perceive and may as well have all the shots at once.”