Dr. H. O. Dwight was telling us of a voyage that he took in the
Levant with a Turkish official; and as they sat down in the
cabin at the dinner table the Turkish official, inviting Dr.
Dwight to drink with him, said: “You may think it strange that
I, a Mohammedan, should ask you, a Christian, to drink with
me, when wine-drinking is forbidden by our religion. I will
tell you how I dare to do this thing.” He filled his glass, and
held it up, looking at the beautiful color of it, and said:
“Now, if I say that it is right to drink this wine, I deny
God’s commandments to men, and He would punish me in hell for
the blasphemy. But I take up this glass, admitting that God
has commanded me not to drink it, and that I sin in drinking
it. Then I drink it off, so casting myself on the mercy of
God. For our religion lets me know that God is too merciful to
punish me for doing anything which I wish to do, when I humbly
admit that to do it breaks His commandments.” His religion
furnished this pasha with no moral restraints or power for
true character.--ROBERT E. SPEER, “Student Volunteer
Movement,” 1906.
(1569)
=Inattention Overcome=--See RANK, OBSEQUIOUSNESS TO.
=Inborn, The=--See INNATE, THE.
=Incantation=--See BIRTH CEREMONIES; EXORCISM.
=Incense=--See OFFERINGS, EXTRAVAGANT.
=Incentive=--See HEAVEN.