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is the meaning of such passages as these: "Abstain from all appearance of evil;" "Let not your good be evil spoken of;" "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient;" "See then, that ye walk circumspectly;" "Let your moderation be known unto all men;" "Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer?" What is their meaning, we say, if it be not this-that a Christian should beware of going to the very verge of his liberty? Yet is there not reason to fear, that there are many who are nightly striving to solve this problem, How much intoxicating liquor can I consume without being drunk? What a problem for a man who professes to be in Christ, and who intends, ere he retires to rest, to kneel at his bedside, and pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!" Remember the fate of the "Orion,' and of many other ships, during recent years. The officers tried how near they could run the vessels to the shore, by deviating from the track, which the rules of navigation had prescribed, and it might not be easy to tell when their course ceased to be safe and began to be dangerous; but it is easy enough to tell how ruinous were the consequences. Take care that these nightly experiments, so irrational, and so unchristian, how much you can stand, do not issue in adding your name to the long list of adventurous mariners in the sea of life, who have foundered and gone down on the sunken rock of intemperance. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be brought under the power of any.

III. The third principle is, that a Christian should be on his guard against prevailing sins. While we should guard against all sins, at all times, and in all circumstances, we ought to take most effectual precautions against the sins into which, because they are common in our own age and country, we are more liable to be seduced. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us." "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; but rather reprove them." "For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.' Drunkenness may well be called in Scotland, at least, a national sin, for by means of drinking usages, temptations to it are so studiously multiplied throughout the whole framework of society, that it requires considerable care, and firmness, and resolution, on the part of most of us, not to become drunkards. Is the infant admitted by baptism within the pale of the Church? There must be drink. Are parties united by the interesting bands of matrimony? There must be drink. Does man go to his longhome? There must be drink. Are there meetings for friendship, for pleasure, for business, for ecclesiastical, and even for religious engagements? There must be drink. In seasons of prosperity, there must be drink to promote the flow of joy; in seasons of ad

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versity, there must be drink to drown the load of sorrow. the work is spoken of, there must be drink; when it is begun, there must be drink; when it is carried on, there must be drink; when it is finished, there must be drink. Drink kindles the flames of love, and drink extinguishes the fires of passion. The heat of summer is too hot, till it be refrigerated by drink; the cold of winter is too cold, till it be thawed by drink. Had there been a deliberate intention to perpetuate the succession of drunkards, it would not have been easy to invent a system better adapted to such a purpose. Which of us is entitled to dismiss all fears for our personal safety? Which of us is entitled to say that he may dispense with all precautions against a vice into which there is so widely ramified a conspiracy to entrap him? Have we not all read or heard of many, who were far superior to ourselves in constitutional energy of character, in native vigour of talent, in learning, in religious knowledge, and, as far as that could be judged by appearances, in religious attainments, who have become the victims of intemperance? Have we not known many, of whose Christian sincerity we had less doubt than of our own, who have long been sleeping in a drunkard's grave? Have we none dear to us, as our own souls, who have fallen beneath the attacks of this monster vice -a parent, shall we say, or a partner, or a brother, or a cousin, or an acquaintance? Let each of us realize it to himself, as a thing not impossible, that he may die a drunkard. That thought yields a powerful argument for earnest self-examination, for habitual watchfulness, and for importunate prayer. Does it not also furnish a powerful argument for abstinence? Since it is beyond all contradiction, that, as long as we abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors, we are secure against the inroads of this crying sin.

IV. The fourth principle is, that a Christian is bound to forego even lawful indulgences for the good of others. "Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. This principle is the palladium of the cause of Abstinence, and the friends of the movement may defy all the world to impugn it with success. It may need explanation, however, as it is sometimes grossly misinterpreted by the less enlightened advocates of temperance. We have ourselves heard it propounded in the following form - Because intoxicating liquors are abused, therefore a Christian is bound to abstain from their use. How could any man, who is capable of drawing an inference, be expected to acquiesce in such a conclusion? Must we not eat because there are gluttons? Must we not write because there are forgers? Must we not acquire the art of reading, because many read infidel and immoral publications? No, that is not the principle which is laid down in these oft-quoted texts of the apostle; the principle is, that since our use of intoxi

cating liquors, however lawful, leads by the force of example to abuse on the part of others, we are bound to abstain. That is the principle on which we take our stand, and we would earnestly exhort our Christian brethren to consider, whether it is possible for them to evade its force. The utmost you can plead is, that the Bible allows you to use intoxicating liquors; you cannot pretend that it commands you to use them; you cannot pretend even that it forbids you to abstain from their use. We are ready to admit that you are among the strong brethren, strong in intelligence, in faith, in principle, in devotion. We have no suspicion that you are at this moment addicted or inclined to intemperance. We must be greatly deceived in our opinion of your character, if it be not highly improbable that you ever will become drunkards. But you know how many drunkards there are around you, and you believe that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Your example helps to increase their number, and (although you may not have considered this) your example is all the more disastrous, the higher is the opinion of your Christian character. There are some Christians so inconsistent, that their example, in this respect, does little additional harm; drunkards in their song, add it almost without a name to the bundle of their inconsistencies. But, when Christians, who are known and acknowledged to be consistent and conscientious in their general deportment, continue to take the glass, it tends powerfully, we believe, to lessen the horror with which the vice of drunkenness would otherwise be contemplated in society. Father takes it, says the child, and why may not we? The teacher takes it, says the Sabbath scholar, and why may not we? The master takes it, says the workman, and why may not we? The ministers and elders take it, say the members of the church, and why may not we? These good men take it, say all, and why may not we? Thus, all the weight of your character goes to uphold the cause and to swell the ranks of intemperance. Ye men of intelligence! ye men of principle! ye men of zeal! ye men of prayer! ye are the real strength of any party and of any cause. Your names are a tower of strength. We despair of accomplishing the total and universal suppression of intemperance without your aid. We dread you now as our most formidable adversaries; we will hail you on your accession, as our most potent auxiliaries.

- V. The fifth principle is, that a Christian should wage a war of extermination against all the forms of evil.

The object that is contemplated in the organization of the Church is, the conversion of the whole world to Christ, and the universal triumph of the Gospel. But the field is pre-occupied with a forest of errors and evils, which must be overthrown before this end can be realized. False systems of religion and philosophy, civil and spiritual despotism, the spirit of military conquest and of military glory, domestic slavery, social usages and amusements of a demo

ralizing tendency, are all adverse to the progress of Christianity, and must all be crushed beneath the advancing wheels of its chariot. It might be difficult to specify the precise place that should be assigned to intemperance in this list of colossal evils, but we are sure that no Christian will deny that it is an evil of the very first magnitude. Do we speak of the individual who becomes its slave? It undermines his constitution, it impairs the force and elasticity of his intellect, it destroys his peace of mind, it squanders his money, it ruins his business, it blasts his reputation, it eats out the core of his religion. Do we speak of the family which it infests? The home is squalid and ruinous in its appearance, the wife is downcast and broken-hearted, the children are ill-fed, ill-clad, illtaught and ill-disciplined; harmony gives place to uproar, and the voice of psalms to the voice of riot. Do we speak of the town or country in which it prevails? There is an increase of criminals, there is an increase of paupers, there is an increase of beggars, there is an increase of malcontents, there is a rapid accumulation of all the filth and rubbish, which show to the practised eye, that the foundations are out of course. Do we speak of the congregation which it is permitted to invade with impunity? Vital godliness languishes in all its interests, and the things that remain are ready to die. What a waste of the precious fruits of the earth! what an extravagant expenditure of money! what a destruction of human health and of human life! what a wreck of genius and talent! what a withering of young and strong affection! what a blighting of domestic happiness! what a multiplication of social miseries and disorders! what an encouragement to infidelity! what an impediment to secret prayer, to family worship, and to attendance on public ordinances! what a loss of immortal souls does this one vice occasion! Are not all Christians bound to combine against it as a common foe, the foe of their religion, of their species, of their Redeemer! There may be, there is, room for honest difference of opinion about what should be done; we cannot allow that there is room for honest difference of opinion about the necessity of doing something. Several schemes for the suppression of intemperance are already before the world. Temperance, Abstinence, and the adoption of practical measures without the use of a pledge, have all been recommended. For our own part, we are convinced that personal abstinence is indispensable to the success of any scheme, and we are showing the honesty of our conviction by acting on it. But we are by no means disposed to brand any one either as a drunkard, or as a friend of drunkenness, merely because he does not follow the same course. What we say is, you are all bound to do something. Do it in your own way, but do something. If you have a better plan than ours, publish it and we will join you; if you have not, you should come and join us. Either religion must crush intemperance, or intemperance will cripple religion.

These are some of the scriptural principles which in our opinion,

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should be applied to the suppression of intemperance. Let us express our hope that you will candidly examine, whether they are scriptural, and whether they render it imperative on you to take immediate action with regard to this vice. Consider whether they do not show it to be your duty to abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors, and whether you join any particular society or not, to assist them who, by example and by effort, are attempting to stem the torrent of intemperance which is rushing across our beloved land. We have no hope whatever that the temperance movement shall succeed otherwise than by the application of scriptural principles. There may be abstainers who insinuate that the Gospel has failed to put down intemperance, and that Total Abstinence Societies are a new organization, which shall achieve the feat it has left undone. We disclaim all sympathy with such, for we believe that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. man be brought to the personal reception in faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will not only receive pardon of all his sins, but grace to go and sin no more. Bring the most abandoned drunkard to the Saviour, and he will cease to be a drunkard, for "the dear hour which brings him to His foot, will cut up all his errors by the root." Our prospects of the amelioration of society would be faint indeed if we could think that it was necessary to organize an additional institution for every additional sin we sought to overthrow. If we may judge from the slow rate at which the temperance movement has advanced, it will require a large part of a century to banish this one form of evil from the world; and since there are so many others on the roll, we are afraid that the distance which still separates us from the millennium, must be as long as any of the periods by which geologists delight to reckon. There is a more excellent way. By coming to the Saviour the sinner is transformed into a saint, and his heart being changed, there ensues a change of all his habits. Even Total Abstinence, when separated from evangelical faith and repentance, is not an evidence of salvation. The only abstainers in whose stability we have confidence, are those who, being reconciled and regenerated men, consider abstinence accordant with scriptural principles. We have no confidence in abstainers, who are abstainers only because they have subscribed a pledge. An unbelieving abstainer is not less really a child of hell than an unbelieving drunkard. All the difference is, that as it was said of Caesar that he came sober to the ruin of his country, so it may be said of them, that they came sober to the ruin of their souls.

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