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versions of the Bible are those of Wickliffe, A.D. 1360; Tyndale, 1532: Coverdale, 1535; Matthews, 1537; Taverner, 1539; Cranmer, 1540; the Genevan, 1560; the Bishops', 1568; and that of James I., 1611. Of these nine versions, the first, that of Wickliffe, was made about 172 years prior to any other; and it remained unprinted in several manuscript copies until published late in the present century. Wickliffe generally renders "tirosh" by wyne; but in Neh. x. 37 and Isa. xxiv. 7, he uses "vindage," and in Isa. lxv. 8 "grapes." For "gleukos," Acts ii. 13, he has “must." In 1 Cor. xi. 21, he has drunken," which some of his copyists explain by "confounden" and "schamen," from v. 22. The next five were associated in translation, more or less directly. Tyndale has "new wyne in Acts ii. 13; Coverdale has "swete wyne" Jud. ix. 13 and Acts ii. 13, and in Isa. lxv. 8, "holy grapes." Matthews has "holy grapes," i. e. whole or unpressed, Isa. lxv. 8; and “new wyne," Acts ii. 13, as have also Taverner and Cranmer. The Genevan, prepared under the guidance of Swiss scholarship, for the first time follows the Hebrew in Hosea iv. II, rendering "tirosh "new wine, whereas, former versions from Wickliffe to Cranmer follow the Greek and Latin version rendering it "drunkennesse." The Bishops' Bible, prepared in England, but with new influence

Old and New Testament Wines. 239

The

from continental scholarship, has "new wine" in Isa. lxv. 8, Hosea iv. II, and Acts ii. 13. version of King James renders " tirosh" by "new wine,” Neh. x. 39; xiii. 5, 12; Prov. iii. 10; Isa. xxiv. 7; lxv. 8; Hosea iv. 11; ix. 2; Joel i. 10; Hag. i. 10; Zech. ix. 17; and by "sweet wine," Micah vi. 15; while "gleukos," Acts ii. 13, is rendered "sweet wine." These renderings recognized the permanent conviction that the Hebrew "tirosh" and the Greek "gleukos" were wines, and yet unfermented grape-juice.

It should be added here that Walton's Polyglott, published at London, 1657, in the interlinear translation of the Hebrew, has the Latin "mustum" for "tirosh." The master-work of Poole, in his "Synopsis Criticorum," published in 1673, is in accord; "tirosh" being rendered "mustum" even in Hosea iv. II.

That the same questions now discussed, as to the nature of the wines referred to in the Old and New Testaments, and as to the effects of wines, were made a thorough study by the leading Reformers is indicated frequently in other records than their Old and New Testament translations. The comments of Cocceius (on John ii. 10), already quoted, are but specimens of critical notes on Old and New Testament wines. Those comments show that not only the "tirosh" of the Old Testament, but also the wine

made by Christ at the wedding, and the wine of the Passover and of the Lord's Supper were, by the scholarship of the Reformers, declared to be the Latin "mustum," the German "most," the English "new" or unfermented wine.

WINE FOR THE SUPPER IN REMOTE MISSION

FIELDS.

The extension of Christianity to remote regions, in some of which the vine is not known, and where, moreover, wine is not furnished by importation, has revived in our day the same practical question which arose at different ages in both the Eastern and Western Churches; a question that in all ages has been met by the practical good sense which Christian men of clear intelligence will always exhibit. Reason finds that three facts have conspired to relieve the difficulty some have conceived might arise from the impossibility of always obtaining the "fruit of the vine" for use at the Lord's Supper.

First. The difficulty is the less when it is understood that it was the simple "fruit of the vine," not a carefully prepared artificial wine, requiring length of days and skillful arrest of fermentation at a certain stage, which was to serve as the element employed by Christ. The dried grape can be carried to any region, and from it, as now by all American Israelites at their Pass

Communion Wine in Mission Fields. 241

over, the "fruit of the vine," substantially that used by Christ at both the Passover and the Supper, can be supplied. This, as we have seen, has often been sanctioned in former ages of the Church.

Second." The fruit of the vine" was specially employed by Christ without question, because the grape was the common fruit of the land of His abode. Hence, in the Roman and Greek Churches, it has been decided by men of the highest wisdom and piety-men who had reached that eminence because of superior intellectual and moral worth-that in the case of emergency, where the product of the vine could not be obtained, the juice of any other fruit, as that of the apple, is within the direct scope of the Divine requirement. Indeed, by order of Roman pontiffs, it has been allowed that where the fruit of the vine can not be obtained, even milk which, indirectly, is the product of vegetable juices, may be employed. Distinction has, at the same time, been always made between the occasional "necessity" which "knows no law" and the extreme view of ascetics, that at any location, and under any circumstances, any other liquor than wine meets the requirements of Christ's appointed ordinance. A long succession of cases in point could be cited to illustrate this familiar occurrence in Christian history.

Any one disposed to trace this entire history, may find the materials in the citations of Bingham (Orig. Eccles.), of Bolandus (Act. Sanct.), and in the references found in the Notes of Giesler (Eccles. Hist.) to original documents. The very prohibitions found in the reported canons of such Councils as those of Braga, and of Auxerre, show that the use of milk, of syrup and water, etc., had, in necessity, been temporarily allowed; and that the decisions of Councils only required a return to the use of " the fruit of the vine" when it could be obtained. The cases often occurring in the work of modern American and English missionaries in Asia and Africa, are in the line of this succession.

Third. The spread of modern missions, in which all the appliances of translating, printing and distributing the inspired scriptures have been employed, has always followed, rather than preceded the openings made by commercial intercourse. Hence the necessity for resort to the use of anything else than the fruit of the vine, easily and almost everywhere provided by the importation of the dried fruit, has been obviated. More than this. Few countries have been found, so numerous are the varieties of the grape, and so hardy are many of those varieties, where the grape-vine has not been