Personal Experience of a Physician

by John Ellis

As a result of my inquiries I wrote a work of 52 pages, calling attention to the spiritual and natural causes of such decline of the native stock, and especially to the bad habits and false ideas of men and women which have produced it. This pamphlet I entitled, "Deterioration of the Puritan Stock, and its Causes," and printed 140,000 copies, which I sent to all the clergymen and physicians in our country whose names I could get, regarding them as the teachers and leaders of the people, and largely responsible for the existence of at least some of the prevailing evils of life.

Within the last few years pamphlets have been written by prominent clergymen of some of the prevailing denominations advocating the use of fermented wine, especially for sacramental purposes, in strong language, and claiming that it is a good and useful fluid. This seemed to aid and comfort distillers, brewers, and saloonists very much. At last one appeared entitled "Communion Wine," in which the advocates for the use of the "Fruit of the Vine," or pure unfermented wine, were assailed in no very gentle language. Several thousand of this pamphlet were sent by a Rev. Doctor of Divinity to clergymen, with a special request from him, to at least some of them, that they should read them and give him their opinion as to its merits. About 285 clergymen responded, most of them in favor of the views contained in the pamphlet, but 22 most decidedly opposed. The arguments in favor of fermented wine were based upon assumptions which were entirely groundless, and which have again and again been exposed. I could but feel that the time had come when a concise statement of the truth upon the wine question should be written and placed in the hands of every clergyman in our country; and as, in the controversy extending over several years, I had had occasion to examine the wine question in all of its various aspects, and to read whatever I could find written on both sides of the question, and had had suggestions from, and the cooperation of, some of the most distinguished scholars upon this question in this country and England, I felt that it was my duty to write a reply, which I did, of 38 pages, which was printed in connection with a short article on "The Holy Supper is Representative," by Mr. J. R. Hoffer, editor of the Mount Joy Herald, Mount Joy, Pa. Of this pamphlet over 80,000 were sent by Mr. Hoffer to clergymen in the United States. And of my reply alone, in a tract form, which is based upon the letter of the Sacred Scriptures—the testimony of ancient writers and science—about 50,000 copies have been printed and distributed by Mr. J. N. Stearns, 58 Reade Street, New York, who keeps a supply on hand to fill all orders.

The last pamphlet before this one which I have written is one recently published by "The Swedenborg Publishing Association," of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa., entitled "The Essential Points of the Wine Question Carefully Examined," which, with an Addendum of 6 pages by W. J. Parsons, son of the late Professor Theophilus Parsons, contained 70 pages. This pamphlet was written for Newchurchmen and based upon the Sacred Scriptures as unfolded by the Science of Correspondences revealed through Swedenborg. This pamphlet was sent only to 10,000 Newchurchmen.

THE RESULTS OF EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF TEMPERANCE.

The reader may reasonably inquire what results have followed all the efforts which I have made to call the attention of the clergy and laity of the New Church, and the clergy of other churches, to the importance of using as a communion wine, the genuine "Fruit of the Vine" as the Lord has organized, ripened, and sweetened it in the grape, instead of a leavened or fermented wine, which, when used as a beverage, causes disease, drunkenness, insanity, and death, in innumerable instances, among the clergy and laity of our churches, and enslaves their children often before their rational faculties are fully developed. I am happy to say that to-day there are quite a number of New-Church clergymen, in this country and England, and a large number of laymen, who, after a careful examination of the subject, are satisfied that the good wine of the Word and the Writings, and the only wine suitable for use as a Communion wine, is always the fruit of the vine, and never fermented wine. Many of these clergymen and church members have not always thought thus, and did not when I commenced writing upon the subject.

At the Annual Meetings of the General Convention of the New Church, when unfermented as well as fermented wine has been permitted to be used, and full notice has been given, nearly or quite one-third of the members present have deliberately partaken of unfermented wine.

I am satisfied, from what I have seen and heard, that one of the most useful works which the Lord has enabled me to do was the writing and sending the reply to "Communion Wine" to over 80,000 clergymen. The clergy of the prevailing organizations are not so difficult to reach upon this subject as are a majority of those of the New Church, for they have not confirmed themselves in favor of fermented wine from the writings for the New Dispensation. It is one thing to see new truths when they are revealed, but it is another step to be willing to see that those truths condemn falses in which we have strongly confirmed ourselves, or evil habits in which we delight, and to avoid confirming ourselves in falses, and to avoid striving to justify evils. To do the latter means to endure and resist temptations, and to engage in a warfare until the old man with his deeds is put off.

The New Church is descending from God out of heaven, and as it progresses, fermented wine is disappearing from the Communion tables of Christian Churches.

"The new wine," says Swedenborg, "is the Divine Truth of the New Testament, and thus of the New Church." (A. R. 316.)

The new wine for the New Christian Church is unfermented wine, pure as it comes from the hands of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in the fruit of the vine, and not a leavened wine. And when men return to its exclusive use, multitudes now enslaved, diseased, and insane from leavened wine will be set free, cured and restored to their right mind by the Great Physician—by the inflowing life from Him through this physical representative of His blood.