The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1899, Page 30

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

A Wine-Press in Palestine.

tance, put them in deep wicker baskets and
load them on asses. The grapes are poured

Vine and wine, vineyard and wine-press are| into the press, and as soon as it is filled the
words familiar to the reader of Scripture. The| treading begins. The men who engage in this
Holy Land is not the original home of the} work, wash their feet in water kept at hand
grape-vine— Armenia is, — but this plant has| for the purpose, and then vigorously perform
made itself completely at home there, and be-| the task of trampling. There is always great
longs to it as inseparably as the fig-tree and | shouting and singing at the press. The juice,

the olive.

flown into the lower basin, is transferred to

We read in Genesis 9 that Noah, the second | jars and skin-bottles with a dipper.

father of mankind, planted a vine-yard, and

The first juice which is drawn off from the

the same sacred book speaks of the juice of| grapes by their own weight as they lie in the
the grape when it tells the story of Joseph.| press is considered the best, and is usually
Of the wine of the Promised Land we hear| mixed with fine flour, boiled down to a thick
already when we listen to the story of Abra-| paste, then cut into cakes, flavored with rose-
ham’s meeting with the priest-king of Salem. | water, and dried in thesun. The other grape-
The grapes and the wine of Canaan were more} juice is boiled down to a very palatable syrup

famous than those of
Egypt and Assyria, and
all the hillsides from
Lebanon down to Beer-
sheba were covered with
well-tilled vineyards.
The sweetest grapes
grew on the vines in the
Valley of Grapes (Esh-
kol), near Hebron.

The vineyards of He-
bron, which exist nearly
4000 years, still produce
several excellent kinds
of grapes. The vines are
planted in rows eight
feet apart in each direc-
tion. The stock is suf-
fered to grow up large
to a height of seven feet,
and is there fastened in
a sloping position to a
strong stake, and the
shoots suffered to grow
and extend from one
plant to another, form-
ing a line of festoons.
Sometimes two rows are
made to slant toward each other, and thus
form by their shoots a sort of arch.

The sacred writers allude to wine-presses
hewn out of the rock. We must bear in mind
that the ancients hewed houses, temples and
sepulchres out of the solid rock. Taking ad-
vantage of the favorable form of the limestone
Tock, they hewed an oblong or square excava-
tion in the form of a shallow tank, with a hole
in one side near the bottom, through which

the juice ran into a smaller basin. The wine-}

presses in use at present are built of masonry
orof wood. ‘The one on the picture is such

8 one.
The vintage is always a season both of
activity and rejoicing (Is. 16, 10). When
the grapes are fully ripe, men, women and
children being hired for the purpose by the
" wealthy —while the poor help one another —
turn into the vineyards and gather the grapes
in bask ts, which they carry on their heads
2 press, if near by; but, if at some dis-

the

Wine-Press in Palestine.

by the Mohammedans, who are forbidden the
use of wine by the Koran. This is not only
eaten with bread, but enters into the confec-
tion of a variety of dishes, taking the place
of sugar.

Hundreds of tons of grapes from the vine-
yards of Palestine are picked apart and dried
in the sun to become raisins. They are used
at home and sent abroad. Unfortunately, the
Mohammedans distil a yery strong liquor from
grapes and use it all too freely.

Wine from the Holy Land, which tastes
much like California Catawba, is shipped to
Europe in considerable quantities. The Jews
in Palestine will not be without their cup of
wine on the table spread for the Sabbath
meal, else they could not bless the Lord’s

holy name for the creation of the vine and
the fruit thereof.

Exchange.
—— so

(For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.)

Memorial Services in honor of Prof. H. C.
Wyneken at Springfield, Ill.

Memorial services were held here, on the
2d of July, in Holy Trinity Colored Lutheran
Church in honor of Prof. H. C. Wyneken,
who departed this life on the 21st of June.
Rev. J. W. F. Kossmann, of New Orleans, La.,
preached a very instructive and pathetic ser-
mon on 1 Cor. 1, 4. 5. After the sermon the
following resolutions were adopted by the con-
gregation:

Whereas, It pleased Almighty God in His
wise counsel on the 21st of June to call to rest
our honored and beloved pastor and organizer
of this mission, Prof. H. C. Wyneken; and

Whereas, Prof. Wyne-
ken, by his ardent zeal,
his earnest diligence, and
hard work has been the
instrument in the hand
of God to lead many to
the light of the gospel
and a true and blessed
knowledge of Jesus
Christ, our Saviour ; and

Whereas, Prof. Wyne-
ken by a Christian life
and character has showed
us how to lead a life
worthy of our profes-
sion; be it

Resolved, That we here-
with extend our sincere
sympathy to the be-
reaved and _ sorrowing
relatives of our departed
pastor, and - unite in
praying that God may
comfort them with His
Word and Holy Spirit;
and. be it

Resolved, That we here-
with bear glad tribute
to the zeal and faithfulness of our beloved
pastor, and while deeply sensible of the loss
sustained by his family, our church, and our
beloved Synod, we hope for a blessed reunion
hereafter. Be it furthermore

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions
be sent to the bereaved family, and published
in the local papers, and the PIONEER.

+ +o

Our Father.

The best name by which we’can think of
God is Father. It is a loving, deep, sweet,
heart-touching name, for the name of father
isin its nature full of inborn sweetness and
comfort. ‘Therefore, also, we must confess
ourselves children of God, for by this name
Wwe deeply touch our God, since there is not a
sweeter sound to the Father than the voice of
the child. — Martin Luther.