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IMaps. piataa. charts, ate., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one expoeure ara filmed beginning in the upper left hend comer, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames aa required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Lee cartae. planches, tableeux. etc.. peuvent itre filmte i dee taux do rMuction diffArents. Lorsque le document eet trop grend pour Atre reproduit en un soul ciichA. 11 eet film* i partir da i'angki sup4rieur gauche, da gauche i droite. et do haut en baa. en prenant le nombre d'imeges nAceeselre. Lee diegrammee suivants iilustrent la mAthada. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 V^ ^ THE FOELOEN HOPE; AM Uii/^ APPEAL TO THE CHURCH, ON THE IMPROPRIETY OF USING FERMENTED THINGS IN THE SACRAMENT. BY JAMES MILLER, GUELPH, Author of " Protest aq mnst Sons of Temperance." Psalm cxix. 18 — " Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law " / -: TORONTO: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY J. CLELAND, 1853. ■i'fl ■^A I THE FORLORN HOPE; AN APPEAL TO THE CHURCH, oir THE fflPROPRIETY OF USING FERMENTED THINGS IN THE SACRAMENT. BY JAMES MILLER, GUELPH, Author of " Protest against Sons of Temperance." Psalm cxix. 18—" Open thou mine eyes. that t mav behold wondrous things out of thy law," TORONTO: PRINTED FOR THE AUTfiOR, BY J. CLELAND, 1853. '■{'■I ,] i ', ♦ \ * I Hi ♦ i < I t I ;; I . : ( APPEAL. When the Total Abstinence Society commenced its glorious work, its most strenuous opponents were the ministers and professors of Christi- anity : not because they did not see that the object of the movers was good, and would, if carried out to the extent contemplated, be the means of producing a great reformation in Society, but because of their own ignorance of the soirit of the Bible, and the design of its Author ; and because they confounded wine that was evil and wine that was good, making no difference between them. They set up a hue and cry be- cause they thought the religion they professed was in danger in case this new light prevailed ; and those who follow in their wake, without any principle or regard for truth, and adopt their opinions and inter- pretations, continued the uproar ; although the new course was the only road which would lead to sobriety, which they could not gainsay or contTsdiot. These lights of the world being under an eclipse, could throw no light on us till the obscuring object was removed by the efforts of Tem- perance men ; and unitedly have they toiled, and hoped almost against hope, until now they have no controversies on any of their doctrines. The Bible has been successfully cleared of the charge of encouraging the use of intoxicating beverages. But at the commencement il was not so. The ministers of religion taught ' ^t the wine and strong drinks recommended in Scripture were intoxi>;atmg. If they were, then they give the lie direct to the inscription on every page, or rather, the subject of the text is a direct contradiction of the inscribed design. Without the aid of revelation men saw it proved to them daily, that in- toxicating liquors did not increase the happiness of man, but his misery. That heathen who God called by name, one hundred years before he was born, saw that it made those great men, to whom he was cup-bearer, like madmen, and refused to drink of it, although the custom was that he should drink of it before giving it to them ; that their suspicions of poison might be hushed, he saw, without the aid of revelation, that it was injurious, while we, with it as a people, did not take the trouble to enquire into the nature, quality, and effects of the wines and strong drinks recommended in the Word of Life, but take it for granted that they must be intoxicating. Now it h in this way that the Bible is to the Jews a stumblingblock, and to the Qreeks foolishness ; for if the Bible is of God, and that it is, every page declares, the history of natiorj declare, in their rise and progress, their decline and fall, the comin'^ of the Mtssiiih, tho rise of Antichrist, and his fall, (which God, of his infi- nite mercy grant, may soon take place, to rise no more.) These, and many other things, prove, that its prophec'es are true, and what better evidence can we hnve ? lie who penned the whole of it says of himself, " I am the Lord, God, merciful and gracious, long-sufTering, and ahun. dai t in goodness and truth ;" and one of his inspired servants says of him, " the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." Now, with ail the evidence we have of the benevolence of the Au hor of the Bible, how can we come to the conclusion that He re- commends a drink thai, without the aid of revelation, we could and would n^ject if our natural judgments were exercised ? Is it not saying that, in our fallen state, we can find a better way than God has pointed out? The opposers of Total Abstinence f[om intoxicating liquors have asserted such things as the following : Intoxicating liquor is a good creature of God. ft rejoices the heart of God and man. It was made by our blessed Redeemer for making the marriage party of Cana in Galilee, merry. It was prescribed by the Apostle Paul to Timothy. It was roconimended to those in distress, ready to perish, and of a heavy heart. It is made u^e nf as a figure to convey a knowledge of the Gospel of salvation. It is the emblem of the Redeemer's blood, shed for many for the remission of sins. And other things were said of it that have been proved false. [ propo«e to say but little on the first five of these assertions, and to dwell a little longer on the two last, as they seem to me of the greatest consequence ; for if fermented wine is a proper emblem of our redemption, then salvation means thraldom worse than Egyptian, and Christ's blood must polute us more and more. I take up the first of these assertions, namely, that '* intoxicating li- quor is a good creature of God," and will endeavor to shew that it is not. Those things that God created fur the use of man he made perfect ', for he pronounced everything that he had made very good ; and after man's corruption by sin, those things that he had given for his bodily nourishment were made use of as emblems to confirm the doctrine they were to observe and keep in their minds: he used them to teach them the means he had decreed he would employ for their restoration to his favor — the shedding of the blood of those beasts that he gave them for food, was confirming what he taught literally, that without a substitute to sufier the penalty of death, in their stead, they would have to un- dergo the sufferings of def th to all eternity. In the ordinances given by Moses, the lamb had to be perfect, showing that the substitute of man must be so also. It was also commanded, that nothing fermented should be eaten or be in their houses during the seven days of the Passover week. I therefore conclude, that the fermenting or the being in a diseased state of those things that were for the food of man being prohibited in God's ordinances, should make us deny on all occasions, because of this evidence from the Bible, that fermented things are good creatures of God ; seeing we have as good ground for the con- elusion a§ we have when we deny that God is the author of sin. The perfect similarity in the grape before its being pressed out to man be- fbre he sinned, Dr. Lee, in hii ** Sacred Writings rescued from Impious Perversions," says, speaking of the grape: "These beautiful little bot- tles are divided into compartments or cells, the yeast or glutin being separated from the saccharine matter, in order to prevent fermentation, as the fruit hangs on the tree. It is because of this simple provision that grapes can be preserved either in their ripe, fresh condition, by carefully preventing them being bruised, and keeping them in cool, dry cellars, or in the form of raisins, by allowing the sun to evaporate the water." Some such condition were man's faculties in before he sinned, and as delicate were the partitions that separated one faculty, feeling or de> aire from another, that a fall was sufRcient to cause them all to run into another, and prevents us now often distinguishing between our duty and inclination. The fact of the wine in the cluster being termed a blessing in the Bible, and the fermented article being forbidden in God's house, goes clearly to prove, that neither sinful man nor fer- mented things, are good creatures of God, according to his own word. We will see this more fully before our task is done. The second in order of the assertions I would take up and value ac- cording to its merits, is, " that fermented wine rejoices the heart of God and man." If gladness and madness mean the same thing, then I might let it go as proved indisputably ; but this I must deny, because 1 know from observation that they are very different. Laying aside my own convictions in the matter, and taking the Bible for my guide, it tells me that wine is a mocker — strong drink is raging ; it gives examples of abominable sin committed under its influence. It cruelly mocked Noah — took away his consciousness ; his son saw his nakedness, and told his brothers without, thinking they would join with the Devil's best agent and him in mocking their father. But blessings were showered on their heads and on the heads of their posterity for their tenderness and aflfection, and curses on Ham for his conduct, which are endured by his descendants to the present time. Lot co>iimitted abominable sin under its influence. Who will tell us that his heart was gladdened, or that God rejoiced in beholding the scene ? Nadub and Abihu were slain before the sanctuary for oflfering strange Are be- fore the Lord, which he commanded them not. Such an instance of will-worship and its*consequences may very well lead us to enquire,— Why did they do it ? Surely something prevented them '* putting differ- ence between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean ;" some- thing banished from their minds the severity of God's punishments on any transgression of any of his laws. They knew the command given to Moses : «' And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount." They had seen the mount of God ; they had heard the thunders of Sinai ; they had seen the people plagued for worshipping the calves. They were honored above all the elders of Israel ; their names are recorded in onnexion with Moses and Aaron, in the invitation to come up unto the Lord, after them the seventy elders, " and worship ye afar off Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nabad and Abihu, and they saw the God of Israel ; and upon the no- bics of the children of Israel he laid not his hand ; also they saw God, and did eat and drink." Were they not honored more than tho elders? But mark their sin, and read tho law given by Moses just after tho nar> rative : « Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thv sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, and that yo may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclran and clean. And that yo may teach the children of Israe' "^1 the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of -"ses." God rejoiced in them, and did them good, until they sinned, and in accord- ance with his just and righteous dispensations he punished them. Our Saviour says : *< To whom much is given, of ihem much shall bo re- quired." Ho says, also, «' Woe unto thee, Chorasin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida ; for if the mighty works which were done ii. you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, thoy would have repented long ago in sack- cloth and ashes." There is no sign of rejoicing in (he cast) of Nadab and Abihu, although it is evident from their conduct, and the context, what it was that led them astray. The opinion of Jews and Christians is the same ; that is, they were intoxicated when they offered strange Rre. I will say no more now on this part of my task, but will go on to the next assertion, that " tho wine" (meaning intoxicating wine) " was mad« by our blessed Redeemer for the purpose of making the marriage f tarty in Cana of Galilee, merry." If we conclude that it was such a iquor, a pure and delicious and nourishing beverage, such as would be newly pressed out of the grape in its ripe state, which the word of God pronounces a blessing, then it could not be intoxicating: It was not similar to fermented wine, because there is nothing so hateful to God as corrupt matter; and we cannot think that Christ made a. liquor for his friends which he had repeatedly forbidden. He shut heaven against drunkards ; and can we think that he would make a large quan- tity of the liquor that intoxicates, and give it to his friends after they had well drunk? If it was intoxicating that had been provided for the feast, then the providing a large additional quantity of belter wine, which, according to the taste of the present day, would mean stronger of alcohol, then, I say, the act would be worthy of a demon. But the learned amongst the teetotallers have proved that the term " well drunk" means filled with drink, but it does not necessarily imply — in- toxicated. The prophet Haggai, in reproving the Jews for not rebuilding the house of God, reminds them of the scarcity of provisions amongst the people, and in doing so, assures them that it was God that withheld a plentiful supply of his bounties ; and in stating the punishment they were enduring, he says: " Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink." Now, it would be a strange thing indeed if the fulness of drink in this passage meant drunk, in the sense we use the passage now-a-days. When the Ruler of the feast tasted the water that was made wine, he called the bridegroom, and saith unto him : " Every man at the be- ginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse j but thou hast kept the good wine until now." Would to God that we oould get some of such wino, that our tastes might be elevated from the abominable liquors now used and called good ! From what he made at the '^ef^timing, and whnt he has made since, and is continuing to make, in acuurilaiioo with the laws of his own framing, and by the rule of all his acts, glory to his Father and good to man, we may judge whether the water after it, by the word of his power, was made wine, was intoxicating or not. Again, it was prescribed by the Apostle Paul to Timothy. Who can doubt that it was the pure unfermented juice of the grape that he meant, that that is pronounced, when in the cluster, a blessing? Unless there were medicinal and nourishing qualities in it, the Holy Ghost would not have called it a blessing. Who can think for an in- stant that it could be fermented wine, when it is well known now that all the nourishing and beneficial qualities are destroyed by that pro. cess? In the Proverbs it is said, " Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts : let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." Some learned men, who were influenced by veneration for the word of God, and love for the best interests of mankind, have come to our liclp, and proved beyond a doubt that wine, when spoken of in commendation, always means unfermented and unintoxicating ; and what is meant in the Bible by strong drink, would be much better understood by us if trans- lated sweet drink — the liquor was boiled to a syrup, and the sugar was strong in it. I take it to mean such a wine as he made who went about doing good ; for otherwise the poor distressed son of adliction and poverty would not forget his condition, and his misery would be in- creased while breath remained in him. It must mean wine and strong drink that will restore him to hope when he is almost perishing with hunger. AAer the system is reduced by famine, newly pressed out wine or sweet drink are the most proper for gradually restoring ihs stomach to healthy action. Strong food would be very improper, until some strength was acquired ; after that, strong food may be safely taken. Let him drink and forget his poverty ; let him comfort himself with the thought that he will be restored to his wonted health and strength, by the kindness of his king : for remember this is part of the instruc- tion given to Lemuel by his mother ; every sentence shews that she desires the happiness of her son's subjects, and the restoration of the famishing ot;es, and because she desires it, she gives the necessary in- structions. But if we think that it was such stuffs as are by us called wine and strong drink, then it would be plain that the poor man's death was contrived, and that speedily. I think all will clear the mother of the king of the imputation of compassing the death of any of her son's subjects, from the character of the instructions she gave him, which are all on the side of virtue, mercy, and good, good govern- ment. Again, it was made use of an a figure to convey a knowledge of the gospel, the glad tidings of salvation. Isaiah 25 ch. 6 v. <* And in this 8 mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." Under this metaphor the ancient peo- ple of Israel were given a description of the salvation by a Redeemer and the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost, which were to be made known over the face of the whole earth, and felt by every fallen son and daughter of Adam ; and unless they knew what hunger and thirst were, and the enjoyment of a good substantial meal, and a cool- ing, subduing and allaying beverage, they could have no idea con- veyed to them of the eflects of the gospel on him who had once longed for the salvation of his soul, but now enjoyed all the consolations that man can in this state of trial English grammar supports me in this conclusion. It says, a meta- phor is founded on the resemblance whioh one object bears to another ; it is a comparison expressed in an abridged form. Care should be taken that the metaphor be clear, that the resemblance be not difficult to discover. This allegory is understood then to convey to those it wai preached to a full knowledge of what the world was to enjoy under the preaching of the gospel, more particularly the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit — a change of heart. The same thing is prophesied by Isaiah in other places, by difi^rent figures, and in the literal sense, Jeremiah prophesies the same thing — Ezekiel again and again. " God will put a new heart and a new spirit into his people, and take away the stoney heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh ;" and what is more than all, from which we cannot but conclude that it was preached by all the prophets, from the beginning down to Christ him- self, when he is speaking to Nicodemus, expresses astonishment at his ignorance of the prophesies ; it is severe reproof: " Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things ? Christ came to abolish death, and has brought life and immortality to light in the gospel." We are told in the New i'cstament, that the fruits of the spirit, or the effects of the gospel, are love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance : these are the cfllects of the gospel on the soul that receives it. Now, I ask, could the wine in the allegory be a proper flgure of the gospel, if it was fermented, and con- sequently intoxicating? It could not It must be a sobering wine to represent a sobering gospel. The workings of sin in the heart of man, and the working of a fermenting liquor, are a perfect likeness of one another. Man, in eating the forbidden fruit, is as the grape when burst in the skin ; he felt that he was naked ; he was stripped of the covering that would prevent him returning to the dust whence he was taken. The bursting of the covering is the first thing that takes place in the grape ; decomposition then goes rapidly on, unless it is arrested by some process or other. How like the human race ? We, by our in- clinations, our lusts unchecked, would not stop short of eternal death. The fermented article is a perfect resemblance of fermented man. Yes ! we have fallen divines ; ministers of religion tell us so ; the Bi- ble tells us so ; our own selves know it ; and if the grace of God arrests us not in our career, our doom is sealed. If we are not refined as the of wine in that verse was refined, we will be lost forever I go to a little book, « The Wine Question settled," and find that the refining was a filtering process, by which the glutin was taken away, and by that means tk3 wine was rendered more liquid, lighter, sweeter, and more pleasant to drink. How like th» effects of the gospel on the truly con- verted man ! The love of sin is conquered in him ; he has no longer pleasure in it — he feels the weight and the sin that more easily besets him, and flies to the cross of Christ, and lays his burden of glutin, yeast, or ferment (sin) there, which is continually striving for the mastery, and asks grace to help in every time of need. See the striv. ing in a vessel containing a fermenting liquor ; why iron hoops are made to give way, often ; and the Christian, with all his striving, bursts out in passion and sin. But the process of refining is a progressive work, and so is sanctification ; the wine will not be lost; neither will the sanctified man. If we are not yet convinced that the wine was a sobering cordial that the Prophet considered a fit emblem of the Gospel, let us consider the matter a little further : let us suppose that all kinds of wine were ban- ished from the earth, and all the effects of all the various kinds forgot- ten by mankind, and that we had all the graces of the Holy Spirit, and that all the consolations of the glad tidings of salvation were ours by the assurance of faith, at the same time that our bodies were subject to fatigue and depression from toil and exhaustion, and that we were informed by a divine messenger that after a certain period of time the Lord would cause to grow a tree, the fruit of which would contain a drink that would have a similar effect on our bodies that rel^'frion had had on our souls ; it would refresh us at labour, quench our thirst, still the beating of our hearts, nourish our whole bodies, and induce a calm sleep that would restore the system to vigour, and enable us to renew our exertions with comfort, and make us happy in the thought of such a blessing in prospect. Would we not then count up all the items, name them over, and from each endeavour to anticipate similar com- fort to our bodies, making the gospel the thing representing and ^he wine the thing represented 1 We would say, religion has calmed our fears of death and hell. - Wine will calm our agitated bodies and pre- vent fevers and death. Religion has subdued our passions that were driving us to ruin. Wine will cool our heated blood and sober our excited nerver. Religion tells us to throw the burden of our sins on Christ by faith. Wine will be a substitute for all other beverages, and excel them in every particular. Religion tells us of another righteousness than our own, which when made over to us, gave much joy and cause for gratitude. Wine will be a gift of God, earnestly to be desired, eagerly to be sought after, never refused. I ask, are the same effects produced on the drinkers pf fermented wine or any other intoxicating liquor, for it is for the alcohol that is in them that they are drunk ? We are told by ministers of the gospel, that fermented wine is meant ; if it is, then a command to drink abundantly is given that they who are strangers to the gospel may be made to learn the knowledge of it. We may search in vain for as great wickedness in any of the « V9 I i infamous characters mentioned in the Bible. We have a horror in our minds at the wickedness of Jezebel, when Ahab told her that Naboth would neither sell his field to him nor exchange it for another. She asked him haughtily, " dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel. Arise and eat bread and let thine heart be merry, I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrelite." She did so, and the end of Naboth was accomplished — men were soon found ready to sell themselves to the wicked woman ; but mark the difference — Jezebel is not the one who gives the information necessary to take his life — she hires children of Belial, those furious and obstinate in wickedness, to swear that Na- both blasphemed God and the King. But this expounder perverts God's holy word, and makes it encourage abominable sin ; he goes to the dis- tiller, brewer, and trafficker in the unholy poison, and tells him that the word of God tianctions and encourages the manufacture and sale of fermented things ; that the Gospel of the Son of God is likened to a feast, and one of the ingredients in it is fermented wine. And because the part of the earth our lot is cast in does not grow grapes, we are obliged to cause those things to ferment that will ferment, and so produce those liquors that have the strongest resemblance to fermented wine. He gives them leave, nay, commands them ; and lest they should be doubt- ful in their minds, he assists them. And if the gospel is to be received for food and drink to our souls, for consolation and gladness, a very proper conclusion is, we must receive the wine, or the thing our country produces instead ; for if we do not know the gospel, nor its effects on our souls, nor wine nor its effects on our bodies, then the making use of the wine in the allegory conveys to us nothing. Jezebel was a heathen, a worshipper of Baal, and better could not be expected of her, tor might was right in her eyes, but now with us, might does not constitute right, but God's law is to be obeyed, and we are to shun the very appearance of evil, and this is what is preached to us by this teacher. With what darkness is he shrouded : he calls evil good, and good evil, and does not know it, and yet he seems to know it, for he says he does not drink of alcoholic liquors himself, and condemns it whenever he sees it drunk. If he occupied any other position in society he would be less dangerous, he would not be tolerated by the public, he would &oon be silenced. But as he is, people are afraid to shew him the right way. An instance in one particular, similar to this course of conduct and preaching, is when our Saviour cast a devil out of one that was blind end dumb, the Pharisees ascribed the power to Beelzebub the prince of the devils, making out that Christ was in league with the wicked one. And when it vas to serve a purpose, the arch-fiend could dispose uf his imps to serve that purpose. A wider difierence does not exist between the power by which the devil was cast out and the opinions of the Pharisees, than there is between the effects of the Gospel on the Chris- tian and the effects of the liquor on the drinkers; 'tis because he comes to us with " thus saith the Lord," that men are afraid to attack his opinions, but it is our duty to examine the spirits whether they are of God or not, and reject them if the evidence is contrary. There is this difference : the Pharisees were open enemiesi but this man is a profes- sed friend. Lt Low^ they the 01 ducel of the true allpd wined ^ II ♦ Let • juppose that otie goes to the Roman Catholics of Ireland, or Lower Canada, and tells them that he has another gospel than the one they have; which he wishes to preach to them-^-it will mstruct them in the only way of salvation — will purify their hearts and minds, and pro- duce such a change that they will rejoice evermore. And the 6th verse of the 25th chapter of Isaiah contains a prophecy of the new gospel, the true word of life, in the figure of a feast which the Lord would make to all people on the holy mountain, the fat things full of marrow, and the wines on the lees tvell refined, are to shew from their strengthening and reviving effects on the body, the excellent character of the Gospel on the soul, the graces imparted and the joy produced. If they were told that the wines on the lees well' refined, were well fermented, they would soon tell the missionaries of the new Gospel, " we will not Lave your gospel, for it is but a short time since we were much addicted to fer> mented and distilled liquors, and found them very injurious, so much I 80 that many of our nearest and dearest relations lost their properties, ruined their families, their characters and lives were sacrificed through this beverage. And if your gospel resembles that, as you say it does, why Fathers Matthew and Chinique have put us on our guard against your gospel, and have shewn us a far better one, that wherever they go is received with gladness and beloved, and very aonvincing it is too, for our homes are happier, and we are leading much pleasanter lives ; therefore, " we seek no change, least of all the change you would bring." Experienced Christians, I ask you, wherein do Christ's graces and fer- mented wines resemble one another ? I go on to my principal object of enquiry, the propriety of using fer- mented things as emblems of Christ's body and blood, broken and shed for many for the remission of sins, in the sacrament. The institution of the first supper should be our guide in this matter, which took place on the same night in which the Saviour of the world was betrayed. The Paschal supper being ended, Christ took bread, of such bread as was on the table, " gave thanks and brake it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body." We are told by Christ himself to " search the scriptures." The first thing necessary to find out is, what kind of bread was it that was on the table ? The answer is, that kind that was used at the Passover, then we must go farther into the remote ages of the world. Do not tell us that every thing is dark and unc&i*- tain, th'^re we will not believe you. Say not the unmeaning rites and ceremonies of Moses' institutions should not take up our attention in this fifty-ninth century from the creation. There is nothing from the bej»inning of Genesis to the end of Revelation commanded more posi- tively than the observance of the Passover, nor is any thing connected with it \eii in doubt^ every thmg is minutely described. Exodus 12, 15 : " Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread, even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses, for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut ofi" from Israel." In the fifth verse of this chapter the lamb is described, " Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year, ye shall take it out from the sheep or the goats." Verse 8 : " And they shall eat the flesh that night roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs shall they eat it." Verse 10 : " And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth until the morning ye shall burn with fire." If we would take the trouble to enquire into the character rf the sacrifices and offerings commanded in the laws of Moses and meaning of them to the Israelites at the time, as well as the sense we should take out of them now, a rich treasury of truth would be opened to our inspection. We may not be able to dis- cover a resemblance in every one of the rites of the law to some parti- cular truth in the Christian system, but the more wo search the more will we find. The sacrifices were all to be ofiTered df perfect animals, there was to be no sickness, lameness, nor any spot or blemish about them. The Paschal lamb, bulls, rams, goats, kids, all were to be per- fect, and any of them that were to be eaten by the priests or people, should not remain over night lest they should begin to ferment, and so loss their excellence, they were all types of the Saviour, who was without blemish or spot of sin. He did not ferment, he had no lust to strive against in himself, he saw no corruption. We should not let any passage of holy writ pass unexplained that we can 'have explained by other passages of the Bible, especially those commands that the breaking brought the sentence of death on the trans- gressors. The Paschal lamb, in its full meaning, is explained to us from every pulpit, but our preachers give us no reason for the prohibi- tion of leaven, although the same punishment was to be inflicted on any that even had it in their houses. There must be very weighty reasons for the banishing leavened things during the seven solemn days of the Passover. Leaven must be unholy, evil, bad in some particular — one thing is certain, it did not come from God's hand in that state — it is not procured from any vegetable or animal till death has taken place and is decaying fast. We saw before that the destroyiu'/ of any good thing is disowned of God, and as we go on with our enquiries we will see that he lays it at the devil's door. In the forbidding fallen vegetable or animal matter in his sanctuary, in his ordinances he impressed on the mind of his people the decree that man, fallen, sinful man, in his present state, had no access into the presence of his Creator. Emblems are used to impress, by different means, the one thing, that our thoughts may be kept continually in exercise, that at every turn we may be reminded of the things we are never to let slip out of our minds. Emblems of Christ and of ourselves are presented to us on almost every paj^e of the Bible. There is nothing too hateful or disgusting to be used by the inspired writers as emblems of ourselves ; this is to teach us what we are in God's estimation, vileness, corruption, vomit, as smoke to the eyes, filth, dung. 1 need say no more, for they are in every person's Inouth, and repeated daily. If leaven was looked on by the Almighty as an emblem of sin under the old law, we can see no reason why it should not continue to be the emblem of sin under the Gospel dispensation. All. the truths they were taught by emblems, were preached to them in the natural, literal mean, ing ; all the difference in their case and ours is, that they lived before our Savi back it w Itdi( Pass and coul 18 id, and with I let nothing th until the e trouble to nmanded in the tin)e, as treasury of able to dis> some parti' h the more }ct animals, smish about e to be per- I or people, ent, and so ', who was d no lust to led that we ially those n the trans< Eiined to us he prohibi. (ted on any ity reasons lays of the jular — one • ; — it is not place and good thing ill see that getable or sed on the lis present blems are ughts may reminded nblems of age of the ed by the s what we >ke to the jr person's sin under ) to be the they were ral mean, ed before our Saviour's, we live after his appearance on earth. He wts their Saviour, they looked forward to the fulfilment of his work, we look back. There wa^ equal efficacy in his merits for them as for us, but it was intimated to them that the sacrifice and oblation would cease. It did cease when Shilon came, and the Lord's Supper is to us what the Passover was to them, a commemoration of the redemption. The bread and produce of the vine used at the last celebration of the Passover, could only be such as was lawful at the first Passover, and what was used at the last Passover was what was used at the first Lord's Supper. After our blessed Redeemer's sending those who enquired of him the way to eternal life, to Moses and the Prophets, giving his high sanction to all that they had commanded, we cannot think that he deviated from the law in the observance of the Passover. He says to the Jews " ye tithe mint, anise and cummin, but neglect the weightier matters of the law, these ought ye to have done and not leave the others undone." We will see that it is not only in the Old Testament but in the New also that leaven is used as the emblem of sin. Christ bids his disciples beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, that feeling that pufil'd them up and deceived them, that pride that said '' stand by thyself, come not near to me for I am holier than thou." The Apostle Paul in speaking of the incestous person to the Corinthians, says, '< and ye are puffed up, your glorying is not good, know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump," which means giving his own words, that " Evil communications corrupt good manners. Purge out there> fore the old leaven." In using as a fig'ire the custom am:)ng the Jews at the time of the Passover, of cleansing their houses of all corrupt and corrupting matter, the Apostle gives additional force to the injunction to purge from their society the person who had brought this scandal on the Church of God. He shews us that they understood well that leaven and sin are synonymous terms with Grqtl when he is teaching his people. " That ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened," that is that your society may be free from any one that may bring reproach on the pro. fession ot Christ. *' As ye are unleavened, as ye are sanctified, as ye are chosen of Grod out of the world, therefore you are not to keep com- pany with any that is called a brother, if he bears any of the characters that are mentioned in the 11th verse of the 5th chapter of this 1st Cor. inthians, " with such an one no not to eat." Therefore let us keep the feast (that is Christ's new institution or continuation of the old) not with the old leaven. The kind proper for observing the old feast is the kind he here enjoins them to keep the new one with, and he adda the spirit with which their minds are to be inspired — literally no malice or wick> edness was to have place in their hearts, but sincerity and truth. I contend that he is giving instructions to the Christians in all future times to observe the ordinance in the spirit and letter too of the law. The apostle is here following up the humbling command given by our Saviour, in his sermon on the mount, when he taught the multitude, saying, " Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remem- ber that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and thea u 14 '.ii i ) 1;. ! come aAd offer thy giil." Christ is addressing the one who has done the scandalous thing — Paul is speaking to those who are on their guard against the tempter. Christ is addressing the individual — Paul theChuroh, leaving no room for either to say this is not directed to me. At the time that Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, it would seem that the early Christians observed the feast of unleavened bread, from the expression he uses on two difierent occasions. Acts 12th chap. Srd v. " Then were the days of unleavened bread," and chap. 20th 6th v., *< And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread," plainly intimating that they were to them the days of unleav- ened bread, the slaying of the lamb being done away with, and the feast no longer called the Passover as it was named by the Evangelists in their histories of Christ, while he was on the earth. Jeremiah 6th c. 16th v., " Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." < Ignorance of the word of God often leads us to make wrong comments on passages, which if properly understood, would be of great benefit to us if explained in accordance with the spirit of the Bible. The 11th chapter of 1st Corinthians is taken by the opponents of the advocates of our unfermented wine in the Sacrament to build their opinions on, whereas if they would lay aside their prejudices and examine the pas- sages, they would see that the Apostle is reproving them for another impropriety they were guilty of. They had met in the Church and displayed their wealth to the offence of their poorer brethren — they eat and drank abundantly, for which he reproves them sharply in these words :— '• What ! have ye not houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the Church of God and shame them that have not ? What shall I say to you — shall I praise you in this, I praise you not ? He knew well that when his Lord and master instituted the Supper, that it was after he had along with his disciples eaten the Passover, and therefore a full meal was not proper. He says, " If any 'man hunger, let him eat at home, that ye come not together unto condemnation," which shows that it was in kind, not in such a large quantity as would satisfy a hungry person, that the proper observance of the Lord's Supper consisted. In allusion to this erroneous practice he says, 20th verse, « This is not to eat the Lord's Supper." And referring to this practice and the prac- tice of the other Apostles in the 16th verse of the 10th chapter, he says, " the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, and the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? He had before told them in the 5th chapter, that leaven should not be used on this sacred occasion, and here he refers to the articles he and the other apostles used, by laying a particular emphasis on the Cup of Blessing which we bless, and the bread which we break. With overwhelming force he might tell us in referring to the bread and wine we use, *' This is not to eat the Lord's Supper." There are but two verses in the Bible in which Heaven is made use of as a figure to convey the knowledge of anything desirable ; they are Matthew 13, 33, and Luke 13, 20 : *< The kingdom of heaven is like meal powJ own! woul of t( AstI Net and I woi but ove< 15 has done leir guard leChuroh, >uld seem sad, from ap. 3rd y. th 6th v., ileavened unleav- and the angelists ah 6th c. and ask ye shall omments lenefit to fhe 11th dvocates lions on, the pas> another roh and •they eat in these shall I lew well as after re a full n eat at >ws that hungry ed. In s not to te prac> le says, I of the munion er, that refers 'ticular which ring to er." de use ey are ven is I I like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in two measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Now, it was for its penetrating power on the mass in which it was mixed, converting the whole into its own likeness, that it w]^s made use of as a figure to show how the gospel would spread in the world : it was not to illustrate any of the doctrines of the Bible, but merely the conversion of mankind to another system. A stone cut out of the mountain without hands, overthrew the image, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, was to show the king that his government, and others that would come after his, must give place to another that would continue forever. It taught no doctrine— no article of faith- hut merely that another power would reign supreme and universally over the earth. Every view we can get of the temperance movement leads us irre> sistibly to the oonolusion, that the hand of God is at work in it. Drunk, enness had overspread Christendom : the liquor was in every house, till some lovers of humanity commenced a movement to suppress the vice. God, by his providence, was saying to them, then, " Come, and let us reason together." The Temperance Society — the moderation pledge.— the allowing of wine, beer, and such like drinks— were the order of the day, but the stronger liquors were prohibited. This state of things Continued but a short time, when it was found necessary to adopt total abstinence. But here the Bible was brought in to oppose its progress, and infidelity was charged on the instruments of this hea. ven-born work. If anything deserves well of Christians in the present day, it is this movement : " Let us never despise the day of small things ; let us examine all things, and hold fast that which is good." After the Bible was opened to us by those who had courage to examine the doc- trines, whethr* they were of God or not, being convinced that they were, they were then endowed with courage to attack the practice of using fermented wine in the sacrament ; and though those churches that have adopted the use of unfermented wine in the sacrament, may have done it without knowing all the reasons that the all- wise God had for forbidding ferment in the eating of the passover, yet, when they be- lieved that intoxicating wine was not a fit emblem of the blood of Christ, and discontinued it, who knows but that He who will come to judge the quick and the dead at the last day,.will accord to them the blessing Thomas missed : " Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed." The same thing may have been said : we know that it is acted on to this day, by the Churches of the reformation of this movement, and the promoters of it, what Gamaliel said to the council : " Refrain from these men, and let them alone ; for if this council, or this work be of men, it will come to naught. / And now, when we see it increasing in importance till it has become one of the most influential societies in our country, in spite of all the opposition that was and is raised against it, may we not conclude that it is of God ? Afler it has convinced all that it is benevolent in its ef. fects— that it raises man far above the reach of that misery he was sur- rounded with, and had within him when he indulged in the wine cup— > can we say it is of man, fallen man ; the imagination of man's heart is ! i;l only evil, and that continually ? or can we say it is of the Devilt He never devised any good thing. « Then it came from him who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way." The ministers of religion have some of them been true prophets, but the greater number wore false prophets, and the people have followed the councils of the majority. Just as the Jews dia in the days of Jere- miah, have the people done in our day. The few have preached peace and safety in abstaming from the wine cup and falling into the ranks of total abstinence ; that society, not professing to have directly in view the fflory of God, the salvation o^ souls, nor the purging from the Lord's table the improper elements used : but the result has far ex. ceeded their expectations ; peace exists where rioting abounded. The God of love can alone give peace ; and where peace exists, the glory of God is advanced. Many of the reclaimed have sat at the feet of Jesus : His word is their delight ; and they have liberty, which is only enjoyed under the yoke of our blessed Redeemer. Exactly similar were the views of the Babylonians : they knew nothing of the true God. It was only the glory of their own empire they sought, and the forming into one all the nations of the earth, that science and art might be improved, and that under one head, and having one common interest, there might be universal peace, uniformity of laws, and other advan- tages that could not exist under a different state of things. Little did they think that the subjeciing of the Jews to their yoke would be the means of preventing that people's ever degenerating into idolatry again? As little did the teetotallers contemplate the banishing fermented things from the Lord's table : indeed, they knew not that Christians were in error at all. The true prophets preached peace and safety to the peo. pie, if they would submit to the Babylonish yoke. The few ministers now preach safety and comfort in abstinence from intoxicating liquors. The false prophets told the people not to serve the king of Babylon : the many of our teachers tell us that total abstinence is not according to godliness. The king of Babylon confessed of a truth : it is, that ** Your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings." The total abstinence principle now confesses that the Bible guides to sobriety, and teaches abstinence from all that is evil. The king of Babylon set up a golden image in the plain of Dura, and commanded all people, nations, and languages, to fall down and worship it. There was no argument used with equal success to the purse persuasions of the advocates of total ab< stinence. Money — gold — gold ! consider the pocket : the saving of a penny a day will amount in a year to a pound, a half pound, a groat, and a penny. Thus it was a golden image ; or one of the images held up for our worship was gold. The king of Babylon ruled over an em- pire consisting of all people, nations, and languages. The total absti- nence society consists of members of all the various denominations known amongst us, and is as mixed a mass as that ruled over by Ne- buchadnezzar — all the ans, ants, ics, ists, ers, arians and alians that can be named amongst us. Lutherans, Moravians, Protestants, Catho- lies, Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, Unitarians, Presbyterians and Epis- i eviH He ho is the I man are phets, but ) followed s of Jere- led peace » ranks of f in view from the IS far ex* ed. The the glory le feet of ;h is only ^ similar the true t, and the art might 1 interest, er advan- Little did lid be the ry again ! ed things were in the peo- ministers \ liquors. 3abyIon : ccording t is, that bstinence 1 teaches a golden ions, and lent used total ab. ing of a a groat, iges held r an em< tal absti* ninations by Ne- ans that 3, Catho- nd Epis> 17 copalians, names unknown to that proud king, but known to us as hii conquered nations, were known to him. The three children were cast into the burning fiery furnace, and came out unhurt. Every article in the teetotal creed was tried, so to speak, in a furnace of fire, heated by the malice of the wicked one seven times more than it was wont to be heated, and the smell of fire passed not on it ; for in the midst of the fire men saw plainly that the word of God and his providence were about the work. We may yet, in the providence of God, have to lie in the Lion's den. But those who put us in will have to take U9 out again, and confess, as Darius did, and *' make a decree, thut men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel ; for he is the living God, and stedfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the 'ions." The Babylonian power only existed as long as it was necpssary for the punishing of the Jews and for the convincing of them that the God of Israel was the true God. The total abstinence society will only exist as long as it is necessary to banish from the table of the Lord the emblems of corruption. The living (Jod would never have suffered the land of Shinar to exalt itself over the land pf Canaan, which is the glory of all lands, had not the land of Canaar been sunk lowpr in crime than all other lands, their privileges consid- ered. The Christian Church would not have been sunk into a lower state of drunkenness than others, had not the ordinance been changed. The temperance society would not ha/e arisen amongst us, but for this degeneracy. The ministers of religion, after the society had acquire- ment. God appointed sacrifices for sins of ignorance in the old law, and our Mediator thought it necessary to plead for hiscrucifiers, though they were ignorant of their sin and thought they were doing God ser- vice. Those who were then saved, and those who are now saved, are saved in spite of themselves and their sins. The leavened bread in the .sacrament is in spiritual food fed out to the churches of Luther, Calvin and Knox. We see it in the Arminianiism and other errors that have filled all the existing denominations that have branched out from them. Leaven adds no nourishing quality to the flour, neither do man's, fallen man's efforts, add to the efficacy of Christ's finished work. Where the doctrines of free grace have been most efficiently preach- ed, there has drunkenness rioted. In Scotland, that has laid the flat- tering unction to her soul, that she has^ continued to enjoy the purest system of religious instruction, there the greatest quanti'y of ardent spirits is drunk. By a statement made in the papers, the average in England drunk by each individual was four pints, in Ireland six, and in Scotland twenty pints. God gave them, at the Reformation, the stronger doctrines of the Bible, and as ff there was some mysterictij connexion between the alcohol and the doctrines, they have dwelt to- gether in their strength. May we not say that some such council was held in the unseen world as was held in the dayaofAIwb? "Who will persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead ?" Some spirit has persuaded the Christian Church that intoxicating 11- le oformalion. he greatest mperanoe f runkenness iah 42. 2&. ger and the It. Yet he Most fully •« And it The self. ve have en. hat snniteth to err, and is his anger lis is God's )\vn doings, unished by iinishcd by !s into the befjro the walls of > is public ; were made looking the n body and •om punish', he old law, lers, though g God ser- saved, are tread in the her, Calvin s that have from them, lan's, fallen itly preach- aid the flat- ' the purest y of ardent average in id six, and mation, the mystericni i^e dwelt to- sou noil was 1>? "Who li Gilead ?" )xicating li. 10 f{Uors are a blessing, a gift from a bountiful providence ; that i«, a cer. tain universal medicine, and a beverage that could not be dispensed with, and because of this false impression of its goodness, never ques> tioned the propriety of using it as an emblem of Christ's blood. Oh, how unlike it in every particular ! If we can now Aoe our sin in the } punishment, which may God grant, and make confession of our sin ^ and turn from it, and bring back the proper elements lo the holy ordi< nance, who can tell but God will be merciful to us and bless the labour of our hand;* ? In the days of Malachi, the Jews were visited with famine because they robbed Gi>d of the tithes and offerings. "Will a man rob God ? yet ye have robbed me. But yo say wherein have wo robbed thee 1 In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have rob- bed me, even this whole nation." Then he says, and let us listen to our gracious God pleading with us as he did with them — ♦• Bring ye ^ all the tithes into the store house, that there may be meat in my house, and prove mo now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts. If I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakos, and he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground, nei- ther shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts." '• ^-'r /'>iii Is there, on the face of the whole earth, such a contradiction as there is in this? The purest system of morals, the most exquisite sensibil- ity, the nicest distinctions between good evil, the most exalted hope, and the best rules for our guidance in all our conduct to ono another, at the same time the greatest v'.egradaiion in drunkenness of all other peo- pie. The sin of Jodah is written with a pen of iron ; and ,wi)h the point of a diamond it is graven upon the table of their hearts, and upon the horns of your altars. In the most prominent of the services of our holy religion, in the sanctuary of God, there are the emblems of sin used as ernblem>.,, but little has been effected. Look at India, where the inhabitants are water drinkers, and ask ourselves what success we can have there when the inhabi. lants know that intoxicating liquors are used by us on common and £;^c!«d occasions ; when they see our missionaries, our merchants, our QTiu'^B, »r:I the British Government there use it, traffic in it, and de* rive ''^ 'Uiia frori it, and what is worst of all, use it as the emblem of OhiJhitS blood, •• .ihed for many for the remission of sins ?'* Now, we must tjanfess that they are superior to us in this, but we will get up to' thiamin this^ and then we will hare more influence to turn tbem fron* us 31 their idoU. At tbe pre»<»f)t timo there it a very wealthy heathen in Calcutta, eetlini^ hifn peranue mnveiuent at tint ii< e that u missionury of thn Gospel, under the intiuenoe oi ituoxiuating .irinlt, i-^ beating the nati\ with a pair of strong shoes, for not rpsponding to tin service ; and thi -missionaries to Persia and India, Archiltiacon JetTroys ai m^ thnm, sa} rfermont< ed wines, " these are iho wines tUn* ruin (Christian convert " If the missionaries to the Roman Catholic "' th t thoy follow to sumo ex. tent the praotice of Total xVbstinence, were t^ toll the people that the ir priests had kept from them tlie wine ^n Mio sacrament, contrary to tho express ODrnmand of Christ, at the fi:'st i istiiiition of the Supper, " Drinlv ye all of it" — if our missionaries wore asked, what kind of wi do you uso ? the answer is, fermented wine — woul'i hoy not drivo \em from thom with such language as this, yom 'hri«i must be a vory f^vil one, whon at his Supper, provided for the n> uristimMU of the bodii^ of his followorsi, he gives thorn intoxicating win^, that robs them of their senses and hastens their death, being poison. ^ ni say that he mii loall things — that he is G(xJ equal with the Father >iat ho is all goorJnoHS and love — if he is, theie is a great contradict a in your statements. All love and goodness, and yet givoi his fullowei < poison at supper, an article that God never made in the fermented itate^ ' ; for it is the " spirii of the power of the air, the spirit that workoih in he children of diso- bedience." Now we know that it is the Devil hat worketh in the children of disobedience, therefore we conclude tli. ' it is an evil spirit that is in the air that causes God's good creatures to t rment. VVc know that fermented things are evil in their nature and eliocts; they are rot- ten, and the alcohol that is first thrown off is pre8( -ved for the use of man, so that it seems to be your Christ's opinion that God did not make a good enough beverage for his table, it had to pass t rough the devil's hands. And if your Sacrament is signiiioant of anyttiing, it is of dam- nation, not of salvation. Therefore, we reject your Gospel, your Christ, your Saviour. Our judgments, our consciences, all our fac- ulties tell us that fermented things are evil, and thou:.'h we continued long in the use of them, 'twas because wo were blinded by veneration for our fathers' ways, that we would not take a lesson from the brute?, and reject the poison with horror. Is it not a base reflection on God's wisdom, his creating power and goodness, to banish from our own table, for its elFecis, fertm^nted liquors of every kind, and yet use it when we meet to celebrate Christ's love in dying for fallen man ? We *' strain at a gnat and swallow a cam»l." What blindness to retain it in the holy place, while we reject it in our dwellings, and at our private feasts. What, are your tables more pure and holy than mine ? May not our Hedeetiicr ask, are the influences that drop at your feasts of greater efioct or moment than those that flow out of mine ? Should we not hide ourselves in the dust for shame, because we have not seen how basely we rpfl«>ul on him and his salvation ? There cannot be a more damning alFront oflero I to the Saviour, than providing that to comme- morating hJN dying love to man with, and say, this leavened bread and 33 I' til ;il I'l fermented wine is my body and blood, or the emblem of my body and blood ; for I cannot think that any person who has read the twelfth chap- ter of Exodus, and a great many other passages of Moses' writings, for- bidding l6aven to be taken into the sanctuary or temple, or to bo kept in the people's houses during the Passover, on pain of death — and know- ing that Moses spoke by divine command — I say that no person that believes the Bible to be the Word of God, can believe that those were leavened things at the table when Christ instituted his Supper ; for if lepven wos prohibited because it was the emblem of sin and the sinner, ci ' ae first Passover, it continues to be so yet. Let us not take to our- selves such a refuge of lies as this, that it is a thing indifferent, that God does not regard tho kind of bread or wine in the Sacrament, if we but look through the elements up to the Saviour, who is the bread of life to a perishing world, if we feed on him by faith. Now, I say, that it is not fit, it is not solid, it is puff'ed up. What has puffed it up? Leaven. What is leaven? It is an extract from dead vegetable mat- ter put in to corrupt and fiil with a deadly gas the bread of life, that without it would be tlie fit and proper emblem of the grace of God, that is as powerful and as efficacious as it professes to be. And this cor- rupted bread is only a fit emblem of the councillings of the wicked one to Eve. " Ye shall not surely die," was the deceitful assertion of the devil, when tempting Eve. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." They were deceived by the wicked one, and the council resembled the well raised leaf that is puffed up with a gas that we cannot inhale the second time, for the first breath kills us. Adam and Eve desired to be as God, knowing good and evil, and that which promised them this felicity was the very thing that sunk them lower in the scale of beins; and rendered them liable to death, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. They wanted to know good and evil, as the speculators that the author of " The Wine Question Settled" tells us of, who wanted to get all the alcohol that escaped out of the bread while baking. They constructed an apparatus that they thought would bake the bread and save the gin, but the scheme, after upwards of twenty thousand [)ounds had been spent upon it, fiailed, and left the speculators minus their money. Bread would not be puffed up unless leaven was in it. Alcohol would not be produced unless leaven was in the article it is produced from. As leaven was forbidden in the sanctuary because it was an extract from dead vegetable matter, so our works are not to be plead in the presence of God be- cause they are the works of a corrupt. Leaven was forbidden because the flour Christ's merits require no help or aid. merit we can be saved, but with them we our nourishment flows from dead, corrupting matter ; from ourselves nothing comes that will be of any use in gaining us heaven. Leav- ened things were forbidden to teach the people of God that no human being has the privilege of going to the throne of grace in his own and tleacl-to-2ooa nature. — was perfect witiiout it — so Without our own works of cannot. Nothing good for ■# 23 1 i name. By sacrifices they were taught that a substitute must be found that has not undet^one the evil change that they have. Then ever blessed be his name who is our substitute, in whom inlinite per- fections exist, wiio is the unleavened bread to our souls, of which, if we eat, we shall never die. But, O, this unleavened bread is not pal- atable, it is not good to our taste, we do not think it wholesome, and we see no reason why we shiuld afflict ourselves by eating what we dislike. Just so, the Bible says that of it — calls it the " bread of af- fliction." Deul. xvi. 3. " Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction." Isaiah xxx. 20. "And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction." Does not this teach us a trnth, a truth to be deplored by us all. God's way is very loathsome to us ; we do not desire the imparted riG;hteous- ness of Christ, we fly to the covenant of works and persuade our.selves that by it we may live. We are all Pharisees of our own works; wo boast, " God I thank thee I am not as other men are." How loatli we are to follow the example of tlie Publican — to receive our justificaiion of free grace — to be clothed with a robe of righteousness which is not our own— to eat of the substantial feast God has provided for us — to drink of the f)untain of living water, without money and without price. The whole host of heaven is astonished at our insanity, for " hewing out to ourselves cisterns, that can hold no water." The mission to the Jews cannot prosper, for the sufficient reason that fermented things are U:=ed to uommemorate the dying love of the Savi- our of the world — their knowing that leaven was forbidden by GoJ himself, to commemorate their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage, and that tlie sentence of death was threatened for even keeping it in their houses during the seven solemn days of the Passover. Mr. Ilcr- schal, a converted Jew, now preaching in London, writes the author of the" Wine Question Settled," in his (Mr. flerschars) " Brief sketch of the present state of the Jews," says, "the word liomits (or chomUs) has a wider signification than is generally attached to leaven, by which it is rendered in the English IHble. Ilomits signifies the fermenta- tion of corn in any shape, and applies to beer and to all spirituous liquors distilled from corn. While, therefore, there are four days of Passover week, on which business may be done, being, as it were, only half holidays, a distiller, of brewer, must suspend his business dunng the whole lime. And 1 must do my brethren the justice to say, that they do not attempt to evade the strictness of the command, ' to put away all leaven,' by an ingenuous shift, but fulfil it to the very letter. I know an instance of a person in trade, who had several casks of spirits sent him, which arrived during the time of the Passover ; had they come a few days sooner they would have been lodged in some place apart from the house until the feast was over; but during its continuation he did not think it right to meddle with them, and after hesitating a little what to do, he at length poured the whole out into the street." " For the Passover the Jews make a wine from raisins, by pouring water en them about six days previous to the feast." We Protestants flatter ourselves and say, that our system is perfect, and are 24 surprised that heathens and Jews are so blind as not to see that all about our Zion is the perfection of beauty ; but if we would take heed to our ways, and when we see that we prevail nothing at all, set about enquiring why we are discomfited before the enemy. Can we doubt that God will shew us plainly why he avenges the breaking of his laws, even in such small things as emblems, as he did Joshua when the Israelites were smitten at Ai ? Whoso keepeth the whole law and yet ofTendeth in one point, is guilty of all. In addition to the reasons already stated, why these corrupt things should not be used in the immediate presence of God, I wr>uld urge the fact of seven days being appointed for eating unleavened bread, ana see what it taught the observers of this feast. As the Israelites used leavened bread almost all the rest of the year, they would find a great difference in the bulk required during this week, and would be aston- ished that they had such strength from such a small quantity of bread. So their dependence on the grace of God for strength to resist tempta- tion to sin, would raise in their minds a feeling of wonder and grati- tude. Paul prayed to have the thorn in the flesh removed, but was content when he was assured that God's grace would be sufficient for him. Such is the experience of every convert to Christ, after living on the leavened things of this sinful world for many days, end counting the religion of the Saviour foolishness, and regarding those who follow the narrow path that leadeili unto life, mad, and the keeping of God's commandments as stiiving after vanity, and seeing no beauty in him who is altogether lovely. But having his eyes anointed with the eye salve of the Gospel, he sees, and seeing believes, that the religion of Jesus is heavenly wisdom, and walking in the narrow path will prove him to be truly sober, and in the keeping of God's commandments there is exceeding great reward. Such a man can see the impropriety of using leavened things to represent the substantial wisdom of God, which enables him to glory in this, that he understandetli and knoweth God, that he is the Lord who exercises loving-kindness and righteous- ness in the earth. We cannot but regard these ministers and members of Christian Churches as consistent in their practice, who neither ab- stain from intoxicating liquors themselves, nor join in tlie effort to ban- ish them from society, because they yet use them as types of Christ. So far they are consistent. They use them as beverages and as em- blems, but they do not examine into the fitness of the emblems, and when they use them in the Sacrament, they cannot see a reason for abstaining from them on ordinary occasions. If one, wlio had long been used to the intoxicating bowl, had been so much reduced in body and mind, lost all self-respect and regard to the interests of soul and body through this poison — if such a man, on coming to himself, refrained from his old practice, because reformed, a bober man, regained what he had been robbed of by this deceiver, and become a member of a Christian Church, as soon as he had tasted the wine in the Sacrament the old appetite would be revived with renewed strength, and he would, in all probability, go back to the drink again — he would again discuss the question in his own mind, and could not fail to see, that in abstain- 25 itig from that cup on ordinary occasions, he would be reflecting on the usages of the Church, or on the redemption itself. " Dust rhou art, and unio dust thou sWalt return," was the sentence pronounced on our race, and there is no possibility of escaping it. The same sentence is executed on grain of all kinds. As soon as the pro. ducts of the earth are ripe, and if they are kept in accordance with the laws for their preservation, we cannot tell the ages ihcy will exist in that form. So was it with man before he fell. 3ut if they are in an improper state, get wet or damp, they will grow, and as soon as growth commences, they should be buried under the ground, that as the parts separate they may be taken up by the roots of plants that are throwing, or the seed yet to be sown, and so become nourishment for new gene- rations of those things which shall be food for man and beast. Now when these tilings are ripened they show forth the power, wisdom, and goodness of God ; but when they arc stript of the protection they once had — when they got into the destroyer's hand, then the sentence is put into execution, " unto dust thou shalt return." We cannot, from our own experience, tell whn? the happiness of man was before he sinned, but we may well coiiclude that it was perfect. The condition of his fa- culties, which, from the just estimate he had of all that was brought within the range of his vision, we may infer were far superior to all the genius united of all that have descended from him. If there was as great a difference between unfallen Adam and fallen, as there is between a sober man and a drunken, and so doubly fallen man, and if there is as great a diffurence between good, ripe, perfect wheat, and the grains after the distiller is done with them, then we can see a good reason why he drove man nut of Paradise, and why he forbade corrupt things to be brought into his presence in the sanctuary. The ordi- nances of his law were earnests of the restoration of man through Jesus Christ. Our righteousness, who, as man, fulfilled the law in our stead, and as G)d, had infinite merit that his rigliteousness might be made over to us, and we have enough and to spare. There was infinity of holiness in him who died and lay under the power of death for a lime, that we, who had fermented — we who had lost some of the component parts of our integral state— wo .who had become a frac- tion instead of a whole number, might, when buried with him, be quick- ened by him who lias infinity fur a numerator, and so could spare without its beii)g diminished to add to our numerator till it equalled our denominator, that so, being m\de perfect in holiness, we might imme- diately pass into glory, The man who has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, is as the grain partially fermented, but has sufficient virtue left to reproduce — wiih theaddiiion of the nourishment that it can get out of the earth — its own kind. And the grain *';at has lost too much of the perfection of its nature, so that itcanno, absorb those juices that are necessary to enable it to reproduce its own kind, is as the man who has sinned away his day of grace. I know nothing so profitable, so edifying, so well calculated to elevate the mind, to purify the heart, and to comfort and console us, as the figures made use of in the word of God, to explain those things that relate to our eternal peace. iij* i { 20 It has loner been our boast that we have the best moral law that can be devised, written bv infinite wisdom, and approved of by all ; th«t there never was any code of morals, nor can there be any, so univer- sally perfect in its adaptation to the wants, circumstances, and cimrac- ter of mankind. Doubtless this is all true of it, but, if we were right in giving the meaning we did to those passagoj in which wine is ap- proved of and recommended, then we make it worse than the codes of many other nations whi h^ve denied it to their people. Yes, many many nations, not christian, have forbidden their people to drink fer- mented wine — I believe all those in whose territory the grape grows to the greatest perfection. Mow vain was our boast of our Bible's perfec tion, when others had laws superior in every particular. We prove against it ourselves ; w^* have toiled night and day to persuade sceptics to believe the word of God, but to no purpose, as long as we, as well as themselves boli(>vcd it encouraged the drinking of fermented or distill- ed liquors. W(^ piof'ssing christians fiave endeavored to jump over the stumbling-block, but they must have it removed out of the way be- fore they advance. Wc cio wors'! ; we com]);iss sea and land to make one proselyte, and after he is made, he is twofold more the child of hell than ourselves ; because we liken the Gos ' for its efT'cts on our bet- ter part, to fermented wine on our inferior part ; anti though we over- look the emblem, and look for no teacliing from it, yet the new convert cannot but go to tiie emblem every time he is at a loss for instruction. Archdeacon Jeffreys says, "these arc the wines that ruin christian converts ;" and in the Sacrament we use it as the emblem of Christ's blood. When we do that a convert could draw no other inference than that it was tho greatest of temporal blessings, and therefore should be used on all occasions. As we are to look to the throne of mercy at all times for gracoj so we should drink abutuhuitly of ihe emblem, that we may have a better acquaintance with the thin'i: represented. The Church will say, after it has banished fermpnicd things from the Lord's table, and made total abstinence a term of communion, as the Psalmist said of old, after the children of Israel's journeyings in the de- sert, when they were set down in the land of promise — "Thou hast led us forth by the right vvay, that we might goto a city of habitation." It would have been a vain ;ittempt to endeavour to persuade the children of Israel to leave the land of Egypt, if the" were told they must wander about the waste, howling wilderness, for foity years, an'l the bones of all their adults, from twenty years old and upwards, except two, should bo strewn about the dry, parched land ; yet a wise God knew it was necessary, f jr Me works by means to prepare them for living a free people in their own land. It would have been a cause of anarchy, con- fusi in, and strife, such as never existed in the Church, to commence at the Lord's table to attack the use of intoxicating wine. The Church had to unlearn all that it had been tau^'ht for at least three hundred years. It had the ignorance, the prejudice, the taste acquired, the love of the thing to combat. It had to learn from men of the world so many truths that are now established, before they would think of the question, that it would be scouted as an invention of the Devil, as blasphemy i 1i f that can all ; that 10 univer. d cliarac- pre right ine is ap- codes of es, many rink fer- crrows to 's per fee ^Ve prove 9 sceptics s well as or distill- ump over way be- I to make Id of hell I our bet- we over. V convert st ruction, christian ^ Christ's (?nce than ihould be rcy at all , timt we from the 1, ns the n the de- I hast led lion." It children t wander bones of 0, should w it was 1,;; a free shy, con- nonce at ! Church hundred the love so many |uestion, isphemy ^ 27 against God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost ; and the gallows or stake would have been considered as too good a death for the wretch who would have the audacity to whisper the thing to the midnight zephyr. But, O, our God ! thou hast brought us by a right way to a knowledge of the truth. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodnt^ss and for his wonderful works unto the children of men. think how this Achan in the camp has robbed Christ of his wedge of gold, and goodly Babylonish garments, the spoils of the Gentiles. — Think of the repulse that is given to all who approach God in the name of Christ; or, rather, wi^ should say, think what a harrier Christ is in the way of our approach to God, if we have the proper emblems of him. Think, why should not the land be filled with houses for the distribution of that for a price, wliich is the emblem of that salvation which is free, without money and wiihoul price, to all who will receive it ? Tell us, why should not the deacon's, elders, and other olficers in the Churches, be distillers, brewer,';, and retailers of the li(|uid fire, when they are the persons who deal it out to the communicants on the high and holy day. Think, why, after the greaiest revivals in the Cluireh, is it that imme- diately there follows another division, another parting ot Christ's body ? Why is it that there are so many divisions, so many different denomi- nations of christians, whtn we know that the truth is one ? There must be something wrong in some of our doctrines, or else there would not be schism instead of a closer union with Christ and one another. A pulFof gas separates tlie solid, substantial dough, and a spirit is gener- ated that produces woe, sorrow, contentions, babbliii;fs, wounds without cause, redness of eyes, and other things of a similar character. 'Tis the same gas that swells u|) a dead carcass, that raises our bread and bursts our beer bottles; and tlio same spirit is produced in the dead carcass tliat is proluced in the bread while raising, and thrown off whi'e baking, that tho attempt to save cost the speculators the twenty thousand pounds stfHing which I mentioned before. Soon after the Reformation commenced, the old Arian schism re- vived, in the preaching of Socmus, and he was burned at the stake for his doctrines, flov/ cruel it was in those who did it, when it was their own teaching he follourd. Me preached that Christ was a mere man. 1 know they denied that in words, but they taught him as effectually in the emblems they used of Christ, that he was a mere man ; for leav- ened things resemble fallen man in so many of their features, that when we try to look through, we find a glass indeed; yes, a large glass — but that glass is a mirror which reflects our whole length more than it reflects our mind and soul ; and if we look closer into it, wc will find it reflects our destiny for time and for eternity. We do not need examples, if time would permit, in which teaching of the emblems were followed rather than the literal preaching. I will only mention one, although he gave up the teaching of the emblems, and took to the doctrines as taught literally. Dr. Chalmers, for the first eight years of his ministry, was an unbeliever in the divinity of Christ. Who will attempt to give us a list of those who have fallen through drunkenness — tho brightest geniuses, the warmest hearts, and the best. J* ! , qualified naturally to take the lead in every ^ood work. Tell us how many Chalmers' were lost for want of the proper emblems, and how many were saved to Christianity through the laxity of discipline in the Church of Scotland. Error in doctiine, and drunkenness in life, are both taught in the emblems we use ; for when we use a figure, a com- parison, u type, an emblem, or a parable, we take the most efTsotual way of conveying our meaning. This was the plan adopted by our Saviour — " for without a parable he spake not to the multiiude;" and we have not ceased to admire the excellent choice he made for confirm- ing his preaching. The elements in use at the Lord's supper, amongst us, are not proper, for another reason. We are said to bo united to Christ, by being made partakers of his body and blood. When we eat food it is converted into chyle. The juices that our system provides for the dissolving our food, does its work ; and by vessels admirably constructed for the purpose, this chyle is carried to the lungs, and there having the power to extract the oxygen from the air we breathe, it be- comes a bright red color — we then name it blood. Now, if we eat and drink those things that the juices act on and dissolve, and the vessels carry away, according to their proper functions, we are nourished and strengthened and revived. The more highly concentrated the food is, the more strength we acquire from it ; and the better the liquid is for quenching thirst and carrying on any other purposes for which they are adapted to our system, the more comfort wo enjoy. It is from the blood that the framework of our system is built up and renewed and sustained. Then, how can we say that fermented wine is a proper thing to drink, when we know that the alcohol that is a part of it is thrown off by the lungs — an unnatural passage for carrying off any thing that is received into the stomach ? Filthy as we consider the lower passages of our bodies to be, they do not think themselves filthy enough to carry off alcohol. We know it well that alcohol is thrown off by the lungs ; for we find the strong smell of it on every person's breath that comes near us, who has been drinking alcohol, unless the person's stomach and blood are so cold and diseased, that it cannot be taken up by the vessels. Much less can we say that fermented wine is a proper em. blem of Christ's person, work, or the grace he imparts to those who hunger and thirst after his righteousness, after his salvation, after union and V Mnmunion with him, seeing that alcohol does not unite with the blc I and body, and knowing that Christ does unite with believers. Even thoje tilings that are proper emblems of Chiist, in all his perfec- tions, come far short of conveying to us the full value of his merits, the glory of his nature, and the happiness of the heavenly Canaan. Isaiah Ixiv. 4, — " For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God; beside thee what he hath nrepared for him that waiteth for him." We can- not conceive these thinj;s, therefore the figures and emblems fall short of the x'eality, but they are chosen, because of all earthly things they have the nearest resemblance to heavenly things. More than that, there was a man in Christ, whether in the body or out of the body, he could ill us how , and how line in the 1 life, are re, a com- : cflfdctual ed by our de;" and r confirm- ', amongst united to en we eat n provides admirably and there the, it be- VG eat and he vessels ished and he food is, quid is for 'hich they s from the ewed and thing to thrown off thing that passages 1 to carry le lungs ; lat comes stomach up by the oper em- hose who ter union lite with believers, lis perfec- lerits, the Isaiah not heard 1; besido We can- ,11 short of they have lat, there he could not tell, how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeaka* ble words, which it was no: lawful, (or as it is in the margin) possible for a man to utter. See 2 Cor. xii. 4. If we are not yet satisfied that we have the wron^ elements in use at the Lord's table, let us do as the ancient people of God did in every perplexity, and as the Apostles did, when they wanted one fo fill up the gap made by the loss of Judas — let us, by a solemn appeal to God by lot, enquire of him what evil is in us, and in his mercy he will answer us, " the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing of it is the Lord's." If it is found, after the answer comes, that we are contend- ing against an evil tliai is as great and as ruinous to the body and soul, as sin in its greatest enormity, and that we are right in endeav- ouring 10 banish it from the face of the earth, then we will have the happiness to know that we came up to the help of the Lord against the mighty ; and after this great work is completed, those who stand aloof from us now, will then " hold their manhood cheap, because they fought not with us on this glorious day ;" and after the Church has taken on itself its whole work, it will be as fond of the lessons tauprht them on our platforms as it is now of the lessons learned by the Jews of Ne- buchadnezzar and Darius. And this is my apology for what I have said — shew me Nebuchadnezzar's or Darius's apology, or shew me that any Jew or Christian has said to them — Ye take too much on your- selves, ye sons of Ham ; and I will n ake humble confession that I have said what I should not have said. The time is at hand when the inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying, "let us go speedily," or as the margin has it, "con- tinually, to pray before the Lord, and to seek 'he Lord of Hosts.'- — We, perhaps, sec the beginning of that time in the Evangelical Alii, ance formed, in whose meetings delegates from almost every denomi- nation of christians assemble. We have the Bible S' ciety for the purpose of distributing the Bible without note or comment, and our own temperancd society, on whose p'atforms so many victories have been gained for suffering humanity and for God, seeing that the Bible was made to recommend intoxicating liquors. But take courage ye old teetotallers; ye are foremost in the march of improvement, take it as a token for good, that you were first in the field with your world's convention in 1845 or 1846. Your example is followed by a Prince, and he takes the idea from you for gathering the specimens of the industry of all nations, under the roof of a crystal palace ; he does more honour to you than that yet, for your principles are done homage to, for no in- toxicating liquor is to come under the canopy of this house. It is said that the process of distilling was discovered by the Arabi- ans, and by them made known to others. The knowledge of this pro- cess is now possessed by all the civilized world. Now, it was prophe- sied of Ishmael that his hand would be against every man. In no par- ticular can it be said of him to the same extent, as in regard of the matter of diotilling, for wherever the distilled article has been taken, where it was not known before, it has cut off the inhabitants rapidly. We oan hardly tell the number of tribes of North American Indians ^x"- 30 1 ■ Umi have been annihilated by the fire water. It ii really astonhhin^ that the devil has succeeded so well to blind the world tn the true na- ture and character of alcoholic liquors. If they liaJ thought of the prophesy respepting Ishmael and his descendants, recorded in the Bible, they might, ai least, have received the instruction from his de- scendants, the Arabians, with fear and doubtino;, seeing his hand woold be against every man. The world thought, perhnps, that they would have equal success against him, but, 1 think, we have not parried this weapon of i)is, but have rather bared our breast to it. I know not what deadly destroyer wo were the means of sending to Arabia, but if wo have sent any as deadly amongst them as they have amongst us, the prophecy is true to the letter. " Every man's hand shall be against him." If I havegiven the true interpretation of tlio matter, then, I know, however weak and ignorant I may be, it will prevail. Wo have God's promise that his strength shall be perftcted in our weakness, that is, when wo are depending en him by faith, and raising his .standard, his strong hand and his holy arm will gain him the victory. " The s vord of the Lord and of Gideon," was the cry of Gideon and Jiis three hundred, but we know that Gideon had no sword, neither had his followers; they had trumpets in their right hands, and lamps in their left hands, hidden by earthen pitchers ; they broke the pitch- crs, the lamps shonp, they cried "the sword of the Lord and of Gid- eon" — stood still, and saw ihe salvation of their God. If we have the lamps and lights of God's truth, though surrounded by earthen pitch- (!rs, it is our duty to break the pitchers — that i.>, wc ought fearlessly to speak out, and if truth is in us, if God is in the still small voice, then it will prevail, it will go on and bo glorified. The same voice is speaking to us tliat addressed the captivity of Judah. God grant it may be to as good purpose. The people among us are saying, as the people said then, " 'I'he time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built." They are saying amongst us, "it is too soon to spenk out on the question of the wine in the Sacrament — agitate it amongst the people gently at the first, or we will be taken all aback; let them all bpconio teetotallers and then there will be no danger of our breaking down," Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, " Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?" — " Must your houses be purged before mine is of this abomination that maketh desolate ? Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord, consider your ways, yo have sown much and bring in little, ye eat, but ye have not enough ; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink ; ye clothe you, but there is none warm ; and he that earneth wages, earneih wages to put it into a bag with holes." This is our condition too, we are as if our hands were tied, we are making no inroads on drinking. There is more drunk now amongst us than when the tem< perance society commenced its work ; there are more distilleries and breweries, and there are larger quantities of the liquora made and drunk now by the community, than there was then, except i-n I i I an bet 31 astonfshin^ tlie true na- ught offhe clcd in tho from his de- Imnd wooM they would parried this I know not abla, but if imongat us, id mIihII be en, I know. Wo have weakness, raising his he victory. uiidcon and ird, neither and lamps the pitcli- and of Gid- 'p have the •then pitch - . fearlessly mall voice, aptivity of pie among come, the re saying fthe wine t the firfet. allers and hen came it time for waste ?" — nation that sider your It ye have ye clothe , earneih diiion too, nroads on the tem« distilleries lors made except >!» s some few places, and what is the reason tltero art^ no two opinions as to tho merits of the question ? All Bay ^\ would be much better without it ; it is not a necessary article. We have now no more controversies; every argument ior their use has long ago been upset, then why do wc not prevail ? Why is it necessary to per- suado men to join us, when they and wc know that they arc al- ready persuadod of the propriety of joining us, and acting with us ? The evangrlical elm relies arc in the same condition. 'I'hey are striving, with all their energies, to convert tho world, but they nre doing it very slowly. Some of their ministers have uni/ed with us in the temperance niovoiiicnt, and they have had more souls for their hire, partly through the influence of the temperance principle, than those preachers who stand aloof; nevertheless, their hands are tied too, and they have not prospered as they had hoped. Many that belong to their congregations, of whom better might have been ex. pectcd, arc the groatost drawbacks to their usefulness, because they drink — perhaps moderately — of the cup that intoxicates. " Thus saitii the Lord, consider ymir ways, go up to the mountains and bring wood, and build .the house, and 1 will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord." Go up to the mountain, go to where strenp;lli is for a supply of strength. Go to God for grace, to his law for direction, " to the law and the testimony, for if we speak that that is not according to this M'ord, it is because thee is no light in us." Wo will find that the law forbids all kinds of ferment in the Sanctuary, and God will not permit a sinner to come into his pres- ence. Bring wood, bring strong posts and beams, bring plates and rafters, frame them with braces and parlours, gather the people to the raising — call it not A Dec, but tho whole hive of working bees — let there be no drones omongst us, and God will take pleasure in it and glorify the house of liis honour. " We looked for much, and )o ! it came little, and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it. Why, siilli the Lord cf hosts," little success has attended the efforts of both the Church and temperance society ^ Why ? " Because of mine ho;ise which is waste, and ye run every nvan to his own Inuse." We had no care of the house of God, if we could but get our o«vn houses cleansed and built up, and made teetotal houses. See how all the evils of the drinking custom would have been frowned on, and con- demned by all true Christians, if they had adopted and followed up the Mosaic directions, with regard to fermented things in the Sacra- ment, and the Scriptures teaching that fermented things are a perfect resemblance of sin in all its stages. " Vice is a mons'er of so fright- ful mien, that to be hated needs but to be seen." Drunkenness needs only to be seen to be hated. If we drink of the ensnaring cup the first time, we dislike it ; repeating it, we become reconciled to the taste and effects, we by degrees get fonder and fonder of it until it ruins us. So is it with sin in general, and with every particular sin. So is it with a decaying article of food or an animal ;. the gases that escape from it get more and more offensive, until there is nothing of it left to be seen ; but unseen it is working ti the air we breathe, evils which we cannot estimate, so thai we can hardly carry the comparison too far. But if we had the Bible's teaching, and obscivcd our own cxpe* rience, we would be secure against the vice. If we were taught from the pulpits that in its origin, its nursing childhood, youth, manhoodi old age, and death, and if could we see farther, we might say ils damna- tion too — it resembled the Devil, the fallen angels, the lost sinner, and nny other creature that will suffer the wrath of God to all eternity— " For our God is a consuming fire." There is a fearful disease brought on by the drunkard, which I con. ceive our Saviour had in view when he gives us the description of how the torments of the lost will alTect them. *' There shall be weeping and gna&hing of teeth." " There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." I have never yet seen a case of delirium tremens, but those who have are at no loss to discover a part of its effecs described by the words " weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth." The sufferer under the disease, yielding up his spirit at the timo that ho has the feel- ing that the bed is on fire in which he is lying, corif>rms what he has said as to the natur ^ of the suffering of the lost. The many examples related in the papers, of the drunkards taking fire and burning up, should open our eyes to see another particular in which the use of the liquor to or on the body resembles sin in its efTe^cts on the soul. Alcohol preserves fruits, it is said, and dead bodies are kept in it that they may be shipped from one country to another, that the dust mny lie till the resurrection morn in the tomb of its fathers. This power to arrest for a time decomposition, is the counterpart on earth of tho-re who are reserved unto t'^e "second death." Vinegar has the same power lo preserve, and, tor all I know, other results of fermentation possess it too. The temptations to sin, or the fondness for it, resembles the appetite for the liquor in this particular too, thai no matter how revolting, the drunkard will have it. A man tapped the coffin in which was the dead body of an Admiral, and emptied it of the spirits on the passage home. The appetite for sin is as strong as that. The word of God says that the dead shall lie in their graves till the resurrection morn. A friend informed me of a circumstance that took place during the Reign of Terror in France. Many of the scientific had been decapitated by the guillotine. The murderers were remon- strated with. " You will need them yet ;'' and they did need them, when materials failed with which to make gunpowder. The chemists who were left were applied to, and they were sent to the graves of for- mer generations, and there they procured new supplies of this explo- sive. Death, still — concentrated death— is obtained from completely decomposed vegetable or animal matter. Its being employed to destroy life in the most sudden manner, and most extensive plan, is worthy of our most solemn thoughts. Tt seems to have been done by the French to complete their defiance of the Almighty. They took the dust or ashes of their fathers out of their graves, and exploded it in the air, not only to kill their fellows, but, as it were, to give him a more difficult ta.sk in raising them up in that Jay. ' ' ^ i Haggai said — " Who is lef^ among you that saw this house id its I 3 fii'sl fflory, and how do yo sco It now, 13 it not in your eyes in compftrv son of it as nnthlnjj?'' Who among us has seen, in the page oi Ji/story, tho accounts given of the early christian's lives and convers*. tions ? The heathen remarked of them, " See how these Christians love one onoihnr. Do wo son anything like love amongst us ? Thoro per« haps is a little show of it in vory small circles, but tho earnest, heart- felt, devniod Iovp, exhibited by tho primitives so universally, is never seen. Why is this? They were united by faith to Christ, ond they had the emblems of union, for they had unleavened bread "ind the juice of the grape unfermented, both of which would unite with tho blood and nourislj and sustain tho body, and so be the means of conveying what the spiritual union meant. lUit tho fermented bread we use is filled with a gas, a very injurious gas, that will not unite with tho system, but must bo thrown off by somo unnatural passage. So with the alcohol ; they must both be thrown otF by the lungs, and do not nourish or sustain the system, but instead of good, do much injury, even in going off, for they excite the animal passions, and we get "wounds without cause." Tho divisions among Christians is plainly shewn forth in gassy bread, and the strife and contention in the spirit. We may think it a small matter using leavened bread in the Sacra- ment; but let us remember that the Jews, too, thought it a small matter. Malachi said to them, in pleading for God, — "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar, and ye say, wherein have we polluted thee ? In that ye say the table of tho Lord is contemptible." Let us, then, go to the work with boldness and strength from on high, and take encour- agement from what Haggai said to the escaped of the captitity, "And now, I pray you, consider now from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord, consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it, is the seed yet in the barn. Yea, as yet, the vine and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth. From this day will I bless you." Remember also, and take encouragement from this prophecy, "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts, and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." I don't wont to make digressions, but this one excuse. " In this place will I give peace." In the Lord's house, at his table, he has promised to give peace, not in human unions, such as the Peace Society,* compos- ed of a ridiculous mixture of professing Christians, Infidels, Atheists, and every other ingredient of which society is composed, which is about as likely to succeed as the Babylonian tower was, in case another deluge came upon the earth. No argument can be brought against the using of the same articles in the Sacrament that were used at the Passover ; for if the change from any of the commands' given by Moses, was calculated to lead to )n it9 • They have had one failure since this was written. C J • 'U i;i 34 any eiror In doctrino or liffl, then we should abide by the letter, and keep before our minds all the meaning of the ordinance or whatever else is connected with it. M .^, if modern christians had observed the Sacrament, by using unfermonied things, the drinkers of intoxicating liquor would not have the countenance of ihe Church's ordinance to encournge them in the use of them. As it is, the Temperance Society have the very stronghold of alcohol to demolish, and then its work will be done. True, it did not set out with this in view ; but perhaps it is better for the Church that it did not, for it is very likely that they would have thought the task such a forlorn h^ pe, that they would r.ot have begun. If this work was once over, the Church and all other moral influences, would be exerted with greater effect. It would be possible, even with the unperfect race of beings wo are, to banish drunkenness altogether, infinitely easier than it would be to clean our hands of murder, adultery, theft, false witness, or coveting: for if the intoxicating liquor was not made by man, it could not bo drunk, for God never did make it, nor will he begin. Would to God we could clean our hands and our hearts of sin, as easy as we can of the em- blems of it. Allowing, for the present, that human beings are justified in making laws, for the sake of the argument — although I deprecate their inter- ference, and contend that in no case are they, by the Divine permission, authorised to make laws — He has given us a complete set of laws, and perfect ; and when we make laws, it is saying that his are not com- plefe, or else that man's authority is greater than his ; and this is to confirm and establish what the inferior enacted. If it was prohibited by our legislatures and our laws, by the Church and its discipline, by our rulers and the ruled, we could have none of it. You may tell us it would be too high-handed a measure for any power in the state, but does any danger threaten it ? The Habeas Corpus Act is suspended, martial law is proclaimed, and the power of the state is upheld. Is that said to be too high-handed a measure, or does any grumble ? No : for of two evils, we say, choose the least. Take away the liberty from the people to manufacture, impoit or export — take it from the medicine chest and from the sacrament, and nothing but good will follow. When Zimri and Cozbi were slain by Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, and the plague was stayed from the children of Israel — *' The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the ison of Kleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the chil- dren of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore, say, behold I give unto him my covenant of peace, and he shall have it and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, be- cause he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel." Now, this act of his has been termed a rash, inexcusable deed, and no one should take it tor an example in any case; but, how different was God's judgment in the matter ? If the Church, or even if one minister of the Church put forth his hand, and banished from the Lord's table the emblems now used, that are so dishonoring to Christ, an agi an pi a, 35 and ruis««vl his voioo against it, *• no dog would move his loijrrue" •gainst him. No: for even Christ's greatest encmirs discover in him an excellence — a perfection not to bo found in any other, and can see plainly that those uinblems cannot bo emblems of a pure heing. O ye protrstant ministers that have thus been numbering olF for iho .slaughtor •0 many of the human race, in thus giving them the wrong cmbloms, this stall of reed — if God could hear you moaning your grievous error in this, as Ephraim did of old — " Thou hast chastised mo, and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me, and I shall bo Curned, for thou art the Lord my God." Or seeing that it is through your error that the people are devoted to drunkenness — if God could but hear you as he heard David, when ho saw the destroying angel, say, «« I have sinned — I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they dojjie ? Lot thine hand be against me r.nd against my Father's house." God is as gracious now as ho was then, and will stay tho plague at this threshing floor of Araunah. It is writton that Satan transformed himself into an angel of light. I would ask, what will you answer when brouirht to judgment, if you are shewn that you have done worse than the devil did, for you, tho ministors of Christ, have given us the devil's picture, and told us to believe thai it is the im.igo of the Redeemer? Wo have taken tho picture, and, as like be- gets like, we have become mad and furious, and have gone about seek- ing those whom we should love and prote«'f, that we might destroy them. Zcchariah xiii. 6 — '* And one shall say unto him, what are thesi? wounds in thine hands ? Then he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." You may tell us that it is impossible to banish drunkenness from society. I say it is possible — • even with man it is possible — for God does not mako the liquor ; and if man would not make it, neither cat nor dog, neither ape, monkey, nor fox, cute as they are, could do it. But the time is passing as fast over our heads now as ever it did with our fathers, and we are nearer than they were to the period when " there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain." Then alcohol will not be there, for it both hurts and destroys. Our blessed Redeemer announced to the woman of Samaria that God's mountain extended to the eminence where they stood, and where any human being stood from the time that he was speaking to her to the end of time. There is no part of the earth without the humm race, and wherever there is a living man there is an eminence — there is the place to worship the Father. Every man stands on an eminence, for where he is, the top of the earth is, and all others stand at an angle from the infinitismal fraction of a degree to the three hundred and sixtieth degree in one direction. But that makes only one degree of longitude. We must take every degree, and every fraction of a degree of longitude to find out the top of the earth, the eminence now known as God's mountain. We must, then, take the commission, the letters patent granted by king Immanuel to the Apostles, '* Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." We have, then, the place to preach on, the top of the mount. Wo have the authority com- 36 til! !*' manding, " God with us," and the high commission as our passport. — We have also the promise of Him who is true to his promise, " He who honoureth me I will honour," as our encouragement in the way of duty — what more do we want? We want preachers stored with Bible illustrations of the fall of man — the utter hopelessness of his con- dition without a refiner — without a snbstitute. We want them to be bold and fearless — to preach the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. For we know that the least stumble, the least slip, will cause us to go back — that God cannot consistently with his own recti- tude encourage any who are in error. As the general tenor of our way must be in accordance with Us laws, so every particular act and opinion of ours must coincide with the perfect line of his holiness, or we will be repulsed at every onset on the enemy's camp, and thrown into the very ditch that corresponds with the nature and character of our error. Send us, O God, men after thine own heart, sons of thuu- der, and messengers of peace and love, sons of consolati:)n. There is a most important lesson to be learned by the world from leavened bread. We mix up a quantity of flour with leaven or yeast, but we do not know how much of the flour is converted into alcohol, and that destructive gas, and thrown ofT; consequently we do not know how much we lose or destroy, and how much of its strength we give to the four winds of heaven, for the purpose of making it lighter — we do make it lighter to our own cost. The lighter it is in proportion to the bulk, the more we like it. So we do not know how unjust we are to the bakers when we seize, perhaps all they have baked, because it does not stand weight, and confiscate it when they, by their so-called good baking, make it lighter to please us. I am making no apology for the bakers, but would suggest the idea for their benefit, as well as our own. Take a pound of flour, bake it without leaven, take another pound of flour and bake it with leaven, as they bake the round loaves, take a third pound and bake it as they do the pan loaves, bake the three fully, and give them the treatment best adapted to its own kind, then by \he best way possible to find out the quantity of nourishment in each loaf, ascertain how much each has lost, you will find out that what they have gained in size they have lost in nourishment — that the size each loaf has become is the inverse proportion of the quantity of flour destroyed — that though a quantity of alcoliol has evaporated, and a great bulk of gas been produced, the leavened loaves are much larger than the one that was not leavened, and though they are larger than it, yet it has most nourishment.* Then take a wider range — ascertain the quantities, if you can, of these obnoxious poisons produced, sent afloat in the atmosphere, and kept there (for there is no other place for them but pits when they can get into them) where they are inhaled by the luni^rsofman and animals, causing disease and suffering — find out, I say, if you can, the quantity sent ofT from the bakers' ovens, the *It wag shewn in one of the public papers, a few weeks ago, that 16 per cent of the nourishment was lost in the raising oi bread — this may be tf>e averoge. •assport.— nise, "He 1 the way ■ored with 3 fill's con- hem to be iJ nothing slip, will :>wa recti- or of our i* act and liness, or d thrown racter of of thuii. rid from or yeast, alcohol, lot know We give ter— we )rtion to we are 3auso it o-called apology well as another loaves, tke the 1 kind, nent in ul that lat the tity of d, and larger lan it, ertain afloat thenrj y the out, I the ent of 37 breweries, distilleries, and other places where they are made, and esti- mate the influence of the aggregate of these poisons on the lives of men and animals. Before you start on the enquiry, take one of the lower animals, and try if he can exist after once breathing the air of a brew- er's vat. If it dies, you will be cautioned against imder-estimating the influence of this same gas after it has escaped and adulterated the air ol heaven. We know now that in the immediate vicinity of dislille- rics and breweries, and in thickly inhabited towns and cities, where there are the greatest number of these poison factories, there plague and pestilence take up their abode, and slay their thousands and tens of thousands, themselves being all the time covered with Jack the Gi- ant-killer's invisible coat. We are at a loss to ascertain the means God employed for the shortening of man's days after the deluge, but I would think it explained very satisfactorily by the fact, that the pollut- ing carcases of the human beings who were living at the time of the deluge, the races of those immense animals now unknown, together with the innumerable multitudes , of smaller animals that then peopled the earth — after their drowning, a few days was sufficient to generate carbonic acid gas, which swelled them up so thai they floated on the waters, and soon after, the skin bursting, let the gas escape ; it then lay on the surface of the water prepared to do its work of death, when living creatures were again placed on the earth. We know that con- sumption, a disease of the lungs that has hitherto defied the art of man, is more prevalent in those parts of the earth least elevated above the sea. VVe know that that gas sits in low places, for the water vomit it up, and the atmosphere tramples it under foot. In addition to the amount of these poisons of life, generated from the corrupting carcases of man and animals, at the time of the deluge, we must add the quantities of the same poisons that were produced from dead, corrupting vegetation, from the largest tree to the smallest flower and blade of grass — but the task is too great for human calculators. Let us take the proportion- ate length of .-nan's life in the two periods, the anti and pnstdeluvian. The length of Ids days, when he only had fermented, take at one thou- sand years, the length after all the world had fermented, take at one hundred and twenty, as it was the allotted period by the Ruler of all, when he announced to Noah his intention of destroying the earth by water; we may say, safely, that the atmosphere is as twelve to one hundred less pure and wholesome than it was luge. Although Noah lived three hundred and fifty deluge, yet few of his descendant?: exceeded the term of one hundred and tweniy years. The strength of Noah's lungs aided him to resist the evil gases that were in the atmosphere ; but new born infants could not resist, from their weakness, the deadly efFects ; and so the race? of man was no longer so lonfj lived. It seems that Noah himself was not fully aware of the evil that was in the atmosphere, for he planted a vine yard and drank the wine, unsuspectingly, in as lari^e a quantity as he had been m the habit of drinking before the deli:ge — he had let it ferment, and it made him drunk. His son Ham finding him in a state he had never seen him before, wished his brothers to jiun in as before the de- ycars after the si i'li ■ the sport, to come and see this new thing under the sun — their father drunk. We have the evidence of our own experience, that the atmosphere is contaminated by the gases emitted by decaying vegetable matter ; for, in the vicinity of swamps, canals, mill-dams, and such like, where the water has overflowed the roots of trees, and the other things that were growing, and killed them, there fever and ague and other complaints abound, because of the quantity of corruption that is in the air; and as the swamps are drained, the country opened, and a free circulation of air- coming from the higher and drier districts, these parts become more wholesome, and there is less sickness. The diseases and pestilences that have in former periods cut off the inhabitants of the earth., may be in a great measure accounted for by supposing that the gases producing them were generated in those dark zv.d fearlul swamps that are to be found in hot and eastern countries, where the inhabitants are pagans and idolaters — worshippers of the crocodile and other hideous monsters. Their considering these reptiles sacred, spare their abodes from the trespassings of the axe, and the fires of the brush, and log heaps, and so perpetuate the desolations of the cholera and other epidemics. After generating in these swamps other causes operating to carry them round the world, the rest of man- kind would be made acquainted with the products of the abodes of their deities. If there was no other reason for extending the blessings of civilisation to the ends of the earth, this one reason, the cleaning up their swamps, should be sufficient to urge every seJJish man to put his shoulder to the work. One great discovery made lately — a cure for the cholera — goes a great way to confirm what I have said on this matter. Give the sufller- er a larger proportion of oxygen gas to inhale than there is in the sur- rounding atmosphere, and the cure is effected. Yes ; give them the living principle — give them that which God breathed into Adam's nos- trils — the breath of life — and all is right. But there is a cure promised for the earth, which we can see applied occasionally on a small scale, A great fire in the woods, or in a city, immediately purifies the air; and until it is again mixed with the air from other parts, all is about right — health and comfort are enjoyed. So the Great Purifier will burn up the earth and all things that are thereon, and a new world will arise out of its remains, purified and made meet fjr the Master's use. He has promised to dwell in it, and be the light and life of it ; and there will be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, for " God the Lord from every eye shall wipe off every tear." When the city of London was visited by the fire about two centuries ago, did it not leave the place more healthy and pure ? How much more will the atmosphere be cleansed from every thing tliat defileth, when the whole world is sub- jected to the power of this element. If we ask ourselves what will burn up the earth, let us just think for a moment (and fear and trem- ble) of the discovery that man hat. made of the means of producing the most intense heat from the article we use to quench fire. If these death-producing gases arc generated in the baker's oven, in father bhere is |r; for, lere the at were pplaints J and as ftion of more the breweries and distilleries, of what suicidal madness are our kings and law-makers* our priests, and our people not guilty, when all join with a zeal worthy of a better cause in encouraging their manufacture. They must be made for our priests, that they may get the emblems they need. The people cannot do without them any more than they can do without the thing signified ; and the king and lawmakers, kind souls, only tax them that a fund may be raised ibr paying the collect- ing of it. There is no product of fermentation but is poisonous to human life, whether it be in form of a solid, a liquid, or a gas. The grains from the distilleries have long ago been proved to be injurious to animals for either fattening or dairy purposes. The vinegar has also been proved to be injurious to either inside or outside of the human being. \yhen taken internally it carries off the flesh and destroys the health, vigour, and complexion of those who use it. I knew an instance of a mother bathing herself with it, and it dried up her breasts, so that she had no nourishment for her next child. I am convinced that fermented things are evil in every form, and in every application of them to the outside and inside of mankind or animals. We can hardly stop in our comparison of the emblem with the thing it represents. Every remove we make from the path of rectitude is an additional obstacle to our re- turn ; so is it with the fermenting article. Leanness to our souls is a certain consequence of continuing in sin, so leanness of body results from our drinking vinegar, which is a fermented article. If you will drink acids, drink those that God makes, for he does make acids, and those which he makes are good. But he does not make vinegar, that comes from destruction and causes destruction ; but the acids God makes are made by the building up of the materials laid in the ground, which would otherwise be injurious to living creatures ; and by his own process and sole prerogative, which cannot be usurped by angels or men, he brings good out of evil. Let us take that good and use it when we require it. Methinks, when I hear people say they take a little alcohol for medi- cine, that they are in doubt about God's skill in providing for their cure, and would say to them, as Elijah the Tishbite said, as he was directed by God himself, to the messengers of Ahaziah, king of Israel, " Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Beel- zebub, the God of Ekron ?" Is it not because there is not a medicine in all the things that God has provided for your use, that you make experiments with that which you know to be void of all virtue ? A physician ordered a teetotal patient wine, and told him that he could not get better without it — anxious to recover, he obeyed orders, he got it, and had it placed carefully in his cupboard. The M. D. called again — the man was recovering slowly ; he ordered him more wine — it was procured and placed beside the other. The doctor called again, and saw a marked improvement in the man's health — told him to persevere * A claaa not found in tl»e time of the propheta, but thought to be needed now. 40 another bottle of the same. He did so until EscuTapius pronounced him perfectly cured ; and exulting in the success of his treatment and prescriptions, confidentlytold the man, '* if it had not been for that wine, you w ere a dead man." " Well," says the other, " if it has done me any p:ood, (at the same time opening a door,) 'twas by keeping it in the corner of this cupboard." Not a cork was drawn. Comment would weaken the force of this example. Seeing that the process of decomposition is the figure used by the inspired writers in the Bible to describe sin, may we not urge the ne- cessity of the learned taking up the subject, and explaining to us fully all the various changes undergone by vegetables and fruits, and the perfect resemblance they bear to the " sinfulness of that estate into which man fell," and the Constant tendency of both the type and anti- type to go on in the way of death, and compleie blotting out of their name and place from the face of the earth. The priests of old were the appointed instructors of the people, in every thing that concerned their welfare ; and if the ministers of religion now had the knowledge necessary, and were our only guides, there would be, I doubt not, a different state of things. The priests of old were the healers of the bodily diseases of the people ; they were teachers of civil law, the law of inheritance, marriage, uncleanness ; their treatment of strangers or aliens, weights and measures, of garments, manslaughter, and every thing pertaining to their well being for time and eternity ; theft, acci- dent, trespass, of whatever kind ; vows, whether lawful or unlawful, or, as they are named in the Bible, singular vovvsj such as that vowed by Jepthah, for such is the perfection of the laws they had to admin- .'ster, that even his case was provided for; the very meat that was clean to them, and that that was unclean. Looking at the encourage- ment given to the use of intoxicating liquors at the present time, may we not hope to see, after the Church takes again the proper elements, crime rapidly growing less and less every day, until all the crimes caused by alcohol, wliich at present amounts to nine-tenths, disappear altogether, and only one-tenth remain. And the question of the mis- ery endured by those who sigh in secret, of which no account is kept by man, we may picture to ourselves their reduction too, and may hope to see health and happiness almost universal. We say, take away the cause and the effect will cease. If we are convinced that th'3 is true, and that the wine used at the Sacrament gives the strong- est recommendation that can be given to the drinking usages — then the using the unfermented juice of the grape at that ordinance would im- mediately change the recommendation from the one to the other, and be the means of at once reducing, as far as the Church is concerned, the crimes committed to the one tenth of their present number and enor- mity — the rule is as sure in morals as it is in mechanics, or any de- partment of the various processes of nature. O for a nation of Na- zarites, whose vows and conduct correspot;d, and tend lo raise their minds and bodies lo the higliesl perfection ihey are capable of. I do not like to leave the question of leaven while there is a lesson to be got from it. Unleavened biead is always mentioned as provided for augels mc th^ th( of V\\ th cit gf 41 by the Patriarchs, when they visited them. Abraham entertainod three angels with cakes, made of fine flour quickly on the hearth. Lot made a feast for the two angels, and did bake unleavened bread and they did eat. Gideon said to the angel — " Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, or meat ofTering, and set it before thee ;" and when he did bring it, it was a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah- of flour. It appears to me that it is not explicitly termed unleavened bread for no reason. Re- ciprocity was stricily observed in this matter, for we find that the an- gel had a cake baken on the coals ready for Elijah, when he awoke from his sleep ; and the angel of the covenant, after his resurrection and before his ascension, had a fire of coals and fiah laid thereon, and bread ready for the disciples, when they came to land, '■ and Jesus saith unto ihem. Come and dine." We can all remember reading of the manna with which the Israel- ites were fed in the wilderness, and know that that which fell on the ground on the five first days of the week, would only keep cine day, and then it would corrupt; and that which fell on the sixth day would keep two days, and that portion of it that was kept for the pur- pose of lotting their descendants see "the bread wherewith the Lord had fed them for forty years in the wilderness," would keep to all generations. In commanding the people to let none of it ferment, the Lord, besides keeping in view the appointed ordinance, is teaching them that they should not, in future ages, destroy the good things he would give them for food, before eating them. The advocates of ab- stinence from alcoholic liquors have made good use of the fact that water was the only drink of God's people for that forty years, and with the addition of the fact of the unleavened manna to our stock of information, we may bo led to the discovery of the cause of the dis- eased stomachs, so prevalent amongst us, and so arrive at the know- ledge of those things that will serve our bodies and promote longevity. We say that newly baked bread is very unwho some, no doubt be- cause it is fermented, and contains carbonic acid gas ; but if it remains exposed to tlie uir a day or two to ripen, then it is no longer so ; we say, but with unleavened bread it is different : it is as good when newly baked, and cooled enough so that its heat would not injure us, as if it stood longer, and periiaps better ; thus we see that our own experience confirms every thing we have seen in the Bible. Every circumstance in the case goes to shew that God made every thing that he ordained for our use, perfect ; and there is criminality and consequent punish- ment in causing any of these things to ferment, and be destroytd, no matter to how email an extent, before we use them. The second chapter of Leviticus contains directions concerning tlie mcat-ofTering unto the Lord, and gives certain directions to those who oiler it ill the ways they may bake it, and of the modes allowable, bak- ing in the oven or in the pan ; there is a positive command that they shall be unleavened cakes, or unleavened wafers of fine flour unleav- ened, mingled with oil, or anointed with oil ; and in the eleventh verse, the prohibition of leaven is in these words — "No meat-ofTering which 42 w:s i m ye shall bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven : for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire." Thus we see that it was not oijly in the case of the passover, but in other sacrifices too, that leaven was forbidden ; and in no case but that in the thanK-offering and two waive loaves of the first fruits, I find that it was lawful to bring leaven into the house of God. Leviticus vii. 12 — '* If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes, mingled with oil, and un- leavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil of fine flour, fried." 13 — *' Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace-offering." Thus we see, that even in the case of the sacrifice of thanksgiving, where leaven was lawful, that a full allowance, as full as in the case of the meat-offering made by fire, or any other case, a full allowance of unleavened cakes and unleavened wafers was to be nrcsented to the priest, enforcing by this ordinance the doctrine which, I have no doubt, was taught to them literally, that God will not accept of their thanks, if they present them without being accompanied with another's merits. We can see that, in the writings of the later prophets, they ijnder- stood fully the meaning of those rites, and that notwithstanding our ideas of the ignorance of the ancients, as to the whole scheme of re- demption or acceptance with God, they understood well both the figure and the ideas it represents, both the type and antitype : for Amos says, speaking of this ordinance, " Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgressions; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years; and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free-offerings, for this liketh you, O ye chidren of Israel, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel says of the peo- ple, " and they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them . for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their coveteousness ; and thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that haih a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words and do them not." These and other passages from the prophets, go to shew us that the literal meaning of the types was preaciaed to the people, and that they neglected the substance tor the shadow, which should not have been ; and, by and bye, we will find out to our sad exporience, that if we had kept the shadow, we would have had the substance nearer to us — if we had retained the letter of the law in the ordinance of the supper, we would have extolled an article at once a drink and a medicine, but in changing the elements, we have been guilty of a tremendous error : for we have tried to see what is impossible, an emblem of grace in what is the emblem of wrath. The two waive loaves of the first fruits leavened, goes to prove nothing in favor of leavened bread ; for it was not bu»*nt, for in no case was any leaven to be burnt in any offering made by fire — it merely, figur- atively, shewed to the people, that God was gracious in accept- ing their services, if they presented them with the sacrifice, and pleaded the merits of Christ ; for he says by his prophets, when they are rebu we s ye shall made by over, but case but s, I find ticus vii. with the and un- of fine offering Fering." sgiving, ihe case 'ance of to the doubt, anks, if orits. nder- ing our le of re- J figure )s says, Gilgal ig, and ig with th you, he peo- before them. b after ong of ument, ssages types ce for e will w, we letter ed an lents, see rath. thing 5 any igur- cept- and ' are 43 rebuking the people, because their hearts are not purified from sin, and we sing a paraphrase on it — " Your rites, your fasfs, your prayers, I scorn, And pomp of solemu days." If the permission of leaven in these two cases proves anything, it proves thai God has not utterly cast oflT corrupted man, but that he is inviting him, in these two cases, to come to him and acknowledge his mercies. He is shewing him the duty of gratitude to himself for his bounties ; and the man is very ignorant of the Bible that does not know that this feeling is inculcated in the literal terms as well as in the em- blematical rites. Solomon says — " Honour the Lord with thy sub- stance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase ; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses burst out with new wine." And Moses says — «* Thou shall not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors. The first born of thy sons shall thou give unto me. Likewise shall thou do with thine oxen and with thy sheep." Gratitude is commended by our Saviour in the case of the Samaritan leper who returned and with a loud voice glorified God, and for falling down on his face, at his feet, and giving him thanks ; and ingratitude is reproved, for there were ten cleansed, but Christ asks " Where are the nine ?" The Psalmist of Israel has written many passages ex- pressive of the feeling. Habakkuk, in the spirit of true devotion, even if the blessings of temporal things are withheld, declares, " Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." God in mercy accepting of the services of fallen man through the mediator, and utterly casting ofT the fallen angels, should be reason sufficient to cause us to search into the ordinances of the old law, because they were rites that, if understood, would give force to truths preached now, and the litos we do not understand should be searched into, for they are all fuli of important lessons that would confirm those doc- trines, that for want of emblems we are yet disputing with one another about. 'Ihe true worshipper of God, in the old law, had to present un- leavened cakes, and after them the leaven baked, which process is emblematical of the turning to God by repentance — unbaked leaven and unre()enting man are equally forbidden. So now the christian presents himself, after pleading the merits and atonement of Christ, as a child in a fault, pushing in another 'to plead for him, but cling- ing to his coat and keeping behind as much as possible — wanting to be seen and yet afraid to shew himself boldly — knowing that his fa- ther had forbidden him, under pains and penalties, to come into his presence. So our Father, and our God, after driving us out of Par- adise, declared, " that no man shall see my face and live." In the atoning sacrifices there was no leaven — showing that fiillen man could not atone for his sins ;^ but in thanksgivings leaven was used, showing that fallen man can and ought to be grateful for mercies. Chemists tell us that the juice of the grape, or any other of the fruits of the earth, when exposed to the action of the atmosphere, ab* 44 sorbs tho o\yi;en that is in it, and the article goes on to forment. j would ask, is it nnt possible that it mifrht be tho carbonic acid gas in the air that unites with tiie juices exposed to its action, and causes the pro- cess to go on ; f()r from the nature of one article that was already a product of decoy, to cause a substance that had not commenced to decay to change its condition, wo may, in all deference to the learn- ed, conclude, that is the most likely theory ? We know that flour, it mixed with yeast, will ferment much quicker than if it is not, and the brewers adopt this practice to gain time. We know that one rot- ten apple will cause a sound one to spoil much sooner if set close to it than if at a distance. Knowing this power that is in one cor- rupting thing to cause another to ferment that comes in contact with it, I tliink, from this fact, that the pure, unadulterated atmosphere, is not the active agent in causing fermentation. It may be difTorenf, but whon I see another way than what is laid down in men's theo- ries, which theories necessarily involve the Creator in contradiction, I will take the way that is consistent, especially when facts support me. Consisiency is especially peculiar io the Creator, which every new discovery, in the fullest manner, brings out, as well in the sys- tem of the universe, as in morals and theology. Naturalists tell us that this carbonic acid gas is absorbed by the leaves of trees and plants, p.nd is tiien converted into the substance of the tree ; then if that is the case, this gas is the food of trees, and the leaves are the mouths. But on the other hand they toll us, that the roots are the mouths, and it is from»the earth that they derive their substancs. — Thoy also tell us that the leaves are the lungs, but they cannot be the lungs and the mouths too. I would be very willing to grant, that the leaves are the lungs, and the roots the mouths, which convoy the sub- stance to the tree ; for there would be no confusion in the theory — there would not be anything like making the one member perform two (lifT rent actions — there would not bo the making of one member, as the notion took it, to either eat or breathe, fur thou they might be both eating or both breathing at the same time. So I would say, give each a dilFerent work to do, and the one will not say to the other, *' I have no need of thee." But they will do their eating and breathing whether we know how it is done or not. Tlie learned tell us, that the trees inhale carbonic acid in the day time, and throw it off at night. If they throw it off at night, then I cannot see that it becomes a part of the substance of the tree. Being thrown off, I think it must be with trees as with us? Whatever quantity we inhale of it, t'lat is in the atmosphere, we throw it off too, but we do not throw ofT oxygen ; and I think the same life principle must be the life of trees as well. We throw off the nitro- gen, and they tell us that the trees throw it off too. I would not have thought of touching the theories of men in this matter, if I did not think that there is in the atmcsphere a mixture of deaih-produc- ing agents, from the train of thought I got into in this matter, and from the expression of the Apostle — "The spirit of the power of the air, the spirit that worketh in the cliildren of disobedience ; for I 45 inont. J jas in the s the pro- ilrnady a lonced to lie Icarn- flour, it not, and t one rot- set close one cor- tact with phere, is cliiTorenf, sn's theo- •adiction, ? support ;h fvery the sys- '■ toll us GPS and then if are the are the tanc3. — )t be the that the the sub- hcory — perflirm nomber, night be xy, give her, '< I eathing the day then I Being fiatcver w it off ne lift) ) nitro- iM not f I did roduc- ^r, and of the for I cannot tliinlc that the Apostle was such a bad grammarian as to use a fi;,fure or make a comparison where there was no resemblance in the two things. If I have proved, <-•• if I have laid down circumsfances that will lead to all the facts ^i ihe case necessary to prove, thai this fermen- tation or decomposition, is a perfect emblem of sin — that it is as ruinous, evil, and detrimental to physical existences in the outer world, as sin, in its effect on intelligences suporior to n)an and on man him- self, in the inner recesses of ihe heart, and in the clfit-cts on the life, then I shall have accomplished the task I guve myself, wiiich was, that they were co-extensivo in their operations, and e(|ually universal in their prevalence, in their respective spheres; and we will be able to take up the gauntlet thrown down by the atheist — " Shew us any- thing in nature resembling the fall of man, or anything bearing any analogy to sin." If any one can bring any system of laws at all approaching iu their excellence to the laws of Moses, for preserving us from the evils of the corruption to which our moial and physical natures are liable, let them do so. But the many inventions of sinful man, and the suggestions of the devil, have all been exhausted, weighed in the balances, and found wanting, as a well raised loaf is. In noth- ing did ho succeed so well in, as when he tried to get fermented wine put in the place of newly pr'ssed out, unfermented juice of the grape, in the oidinance of the Lord's Supper. Was the chang- ing of the viands there the occasion of the woman fleeing into the wilderness, prophesied in the twelfth chapter of Revelation ? If it was, then, as we believe, the times, times and a half, are nearly ful- filled, that is to shew her forth to the world clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown ot twelve stars. A very fitting herald, and of her own sex too, one of the graces. Tempcance is sent down from heaven to be the herald of her approach, and reign on the earth with Ilim who is the Church's husband. When we look at the movements in the churches of the Protestants, the temperance reformation, and the adoption of the " Water Cure," in the treatment of diseases, we involuntarily exclaim, where will these things end ? The first was a reformation in the faith, the se- cond was a reformation of the life. The last is a very strange spe- cies of fanaticism to my mind, but will perhaps accomplish one tiling, making cleanliness better observed. The first will a'Jd to its other excellencies the second, and we will have then a reformation of faith and life in one faith proved by works. The latter, the " Water Cure," will cool down into the water washing, and to some extent, and to the same purpose, bring in the purifications and washings ordered by Mo- ses. Then we will be gradually brought to adopt the cure of the good Samaritan, and pour in oil and wine into the wounds and bruises to which we are liable. Not ihe fermented wine, which would only inflame our wounds, but the new wine, pure and good, that rejoices the heart of God and man — for God sees iu it the emblem of his Son's 46 yi. blood, and man r^oea in it the emblem of his own salvation, therefore, in it, both rejoice. The first, (tlie Protestant Reformation) in the first place, and the re- vival of cvanfjelical doctrines in our day, brought the doctrine, faith IN CHRIST. Tiie second shews the emblem of Christ's blood, unfer- MENTED w;wE. The other shews what the washing by the Spirit means, in *he literal daily ablutions, answering to daily forgiveness of sins, extended to those who live by faith. 1 feel inclined to paint our likeness again, in another particular, to ancient Israel. The spies brought an evil report of the land, in spite of the cluster of grapes brought over the brook by the two who bore it on a staff be- tween them. In our day, in spite of the two witnesses, temperance and science, their strong evidence of the fruitfulness of the land is not received, but the gigantic figures of the enemy are feared, though we know they quake and their hearts melt within them. I think we would have no trouble to shew that there were ten to two witnesses who cried down our going in to possess the land, some because they feared the obstacles, and others because the customs of their fathers opposed us, others because they said the Bible condemned us, but not one of them will go in, they will all lie down and die before the land is possessed, and only the two noble and good, bold and true, faithful and believing, the Calebs and Joshuas — Toial Abstinence and Science — will be let go in and recei/e their possessions. Yes, and those the lands of their own selecting— more favour and higher privile- ges than all others. Their strength will continue as Caleb's did, V hose strength was as great the day he was fourscore and five years old, as it was when ho was sent at forty years old to spy out the land. We were shewn, at the commencement of the movement, all the ex- cellence of that thing which undestroyed was a good creature of God, but otijer influences were set to work and prevented the truth prevail- ing ; and now when near the land of promise, and the two spies are sent to view " the land even Jericho," they are hidden by the harlot expediency, for it seems to be the highest rule, even with those minis- ters who have joined the temperance movement. If, as I have shewn, though feebly, the recommendation that the using of fermented wine in the Sacrament gives to it, then the Jordan has yet to be passed, and we will have the waters standing on a heap at our side while we pass over. This expediency is only a low rule to adopt, and is well named a harlot, for how is it possible that such a rule can excel the law of God, which is perfect ? or, how can the ministers of religion urge on us to pledge ourselves against that which they give us as the embbm of the greatest, the best, and in fact, the only blessing wort i having, which, when we have it, we have every other ? Yet, low as this rule is, it will do some good — it will let us down as by a cord out of tlie Jericho of debauchery, and then we can escape to the ark of the covenant, wherein there is safety. Yet this expediency is a clog that drags heavily after us, it prevents us going directly up to the mark, and seeing that as God forbids sin, by using leaven as its figure, so he forbids us to use leaven, because it is as evil in its na- 47 ture as that of which it is the emblem. The ministers say that it \h tio sin to drink the liquor — even those of thorn who are pledged men say 80. Let us give a place to every thing, and put every thing that in good in its place ; and as one after another of the institutions of Moses are found necessary to the well-being of man, we will remove those things that wo have given too high a place to, to that place which they were designed for. We will pull down the washings of the Pharisees to its proper place — wo will set total abstinence in its own shelf, and the new wine cure, which amongst us has no place yet, will be put where Paul put it, within Timothy's reach. I could point out many of Moses' commands, which must be adopted as we go on to perfection ; and as they are adopted by us we will be led to the conviction that nothing less than infinite wisdom could have devised what Moses has written. Although Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and had from them all that they knew, yet ho had from God himself the fact, " that theie is but one only, the living and true God" ; then, as one after another of the laws that were given by God to him, are found necessary to our well, being and adopted — which revelation is very different from the dis- coveries daily made in our time — no one man has all the honour of all the various diiocoveries in art and science, but it is divided between hundreds and thousands. How different then. But it would have been then as it is now — the honor would be divided, of making laws, if it had been left to man to discover, by his own observation, what was right and impartial justice. We know tliat the Israelites were in a heathenish state of ignorance at the time that the law was given, and that even Aaron made the calves for the people to worship. If Bacchus is dethroned by this movement — and he must be dethroned before any other abomina- tion is put down — for he causes nine-tenths of all the evils in the Church and in society — and we should begin at the greatest evil, for '•Judgment must begin at the house of God," — then, but not till then, will Mammon be cast out, and the thousands and tens of thousands of gold now devoured by his servants, be placed at the disposal of the bride — the Lamb's wife — then will there be good housekeeping — then "will the time be, when Kings will be nursing fathers and Queens nurs- ing mothers to the Church of God, and the people give freely, not grudgingly. We Protestants repudiate tradition. In so doing, we do well ; but if we ask ourselves whence arose the practice of using fermented things in the Sacrament, we cannot tell. We have not found it in the Bible — then it is from tradition ; from whom, then, did we derive it ? — Not from Luther and Calvin ; for it was understood by them to be pro- per to use fermented things. They gave themselves no concern to en- quire into the matter. May it not have arisen in those days immedi- ately after th /ipostles, and may it not have been the deceiving spirit that caused all the errors that have crept into the Church of Rome. — In the Gentile christians there was anxiety, as well from their own former customs as from the abrogation of circumcision and Levitical sacrifices, to lay aside all that Moses had commanded that was cere- 4S mnnial ; and, (horofoiv, thinkiiii» that furinotitcd or urifotrnMilcd waa inimiitcriiil, ilio ono yiviiijLj a Icviticiil cluiractor, and tlm oilior not, to tlio SacrainLiit, tlioy would clioso ilio fcrmoiitcd ; besides, that they tni^ht have noihin;^ that the judaisiiig teucliers coiihl take hdd of unJ say, this you do in coininou with us. Now, I think it no hard n«;Uter to account for all the erroi'a of the Church of Home, by this one thing. For these Gentile christians, perhaps, had been worshippers of Hac« cliUH, and taking Bacchus* wine as the emblem of the Saviour's blood, they would, obeying the invitation of Christ, which was continu- ally 10 bo observed, given in the Song of Songs — " Eut, O friends, drink, yea nditionof things that we are now rapidly progressing to. The drunken >ta.te of mankind in the wilderness is luUy descriptive of the state of the 'Wirines and morals that prevailed in former ages, and oven now m iiardly broken into. The intoxicating wine being once introduced into Church, and taking the place of the unfermented, gave encouragement to the intoxication that followed and yet continues. The Roman Emperors, and more recently the British Kings, became as a staff ta this drunken Chuvch, and instead of being a support, only served the devil's purpose of getting between the legs and tripping it, and causing it to sink deeper into the ruts and mud holes that are na- tural to this wildernpss. We have all seen drunken men wading and shulTling u' )ng a miry road, with a staff in the hand, sometimes flourish- ing it over iheir heads, at other limes sticking it in the mud. losing hold of it, and reaching and striving for it, and with the help of stepping. p3, 13 I fol. 49 •tones recovering it again ; sometimes flying in a passion at it becaus* it tripped them, or because they saw tlioir drunlcen oompanions tripped by it. Rut the Church wc have not seen it a^ a sober man walldng with the staff in liis hand, yet pioltin^ hii ntpps, and u^^ing tlie stufT to lean on occasionally, to enable him to overleap a part whero there ia ^ not room enough for his foot but there is lor his staff, on which lie may lean and leap over tho difHculty. The Church has been left, while in its drunken state, at times, without tlin staff; at other times, as in the French revolution, the people seeinfr the slutrjiering stut« of the Church turned on it, and rolled it in the mud, and pitched tho staff uway, so that there was nothinjr left. The scrambling for who will be •' King of iho Castle" is yet going on, though this drunken Church did get hold of the staff for a time through the kindness of its neighbours, who are only a trifle less intoxicated than themselves. I am confirmed in my bolief that this intoxicating wine being used in the sacrament, caused the corruption of tho Christian Church from the announcement of the Angel in the 14ih chap, of llevelation. I will endeavour to show what Angels represent in, at least, that chapter. Th"* first of these Angels is represented as "flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice," &c. We have to read on until we come to the riih verse, and find the words, •• hero are they that keep the com- mandments of God and the faith of Jesus ;" this explains whnt is meant by these Angels v/iih mpssages — they are combinations of men for a porposb; as evidence of that I refer to the message of the first Angel who has gone on his errand, and is performing his work of translating the word of God into every language known in tho world, and has in many cases wmteu the language for people who had no knowledge of the art. a d has taught them to read. A part of the work of the first Angf.I is to command the world to " wor-^hip him who made heaven and earth unv. ihe sea and tho fountains if waior-i," a plain allusion to the sjjb/^i'^cts discussed at the beginning of this century, and possibly not yet conclud d. As far as the learned have yt investigated the con- htruction of the earth, the Mo'saic account of the creation is confirmed ; these triumphs for the word of God have been achieved by combinations OF MEN for the different purposes for wh c\i they were associated. When we spe a part of a pr< >hecy fulfilled, we cannot doubt ihat the whole wiM l)e completed. Thf^se Airri'ls revfal also trutiis that were not known before, as in the instance;- where the most sincore Christians disputed the conclu-ions of the Geolr^ists at the first, and afterwards prosecuted' the search after truth .Jong with them, enlarging their minds. Here T may suggest that part of the work of the third Angel is to discover to the world what the beast is. His message begins with a denunciation of any who will worship the beast; the meaning literally is, that a great movement will take place m the world, and the cause of all the injustice committed by man on his fellow will be pointed out and condemned, and that the followers of this Angel will be worthy of the commendation given to them in the 12ih vers© :— " Here are they that D 50 ^tpti'p fhie ci^vrnianfffTienls oFGod and the faith of Jei«ns." If, then, the fiiHt and third Angels rRprosent ct)MBi.VATiovs f»F riEX, the srcoud Angel rrprc'sents ii Cf>ini)iiia'ion of men, an I lie alio reveals to the World an imporiant truth or literally (\viih.>ut lookin;; at tho means Ctnp'oyd,) the hnm'in raur> will find nut the cause of the d.-genefHting of thu' Chriat many of the hea hen nations were teetotallers. The Romans put iheir wornon to death for being drutdt, or for drinking intoxicating liqtiors, I know not which ; they made their slaves drink so that the sight (jf them mig'it disiru-^t their youtb, and make them hato the prac- tice. The worship of Bacclius was not iho work of the virtuous among the heathen butofihs vicious. Ancient Roman soldiers did not drink intoxicating liquors hsf their bravery and strength miglit be lessened. Let tlie li-anied fill up the ch-nge brought by this Angel again^st the Cliurch, *' she made all nations," «Sic. 1 have only suggested the sub- jf'ct f -r the er(|uiry of'th st uho are not convinced as I am. At some future lime I purpose to enquire more into the meaning of this chapter of this wonderful book. At the Refitrmaiion it may be that the beast with seven heads and ten T:«rns was wounded to death in one of his heads, or one of the seven ■Sicraments; and this error handed d iwn from the ancients, being taken ■up by the reformers, looks very like the healii^g of that deadly wound, fir with the Roman Catholics the changin;; the nature of the bread and wine into the real body and blood was the positive belief. I'rotcstants held, on ll e contrary, that they were emblems of the body and blood ; there was the wound, but the healing is plainly shewn in using the emblems of sinful min for the emblems of Ch-ist ; the consequences of this was shewn in the errors that spread among the Protestants at the time, and which contiriufc ao virulent. Yet, we are striving with the Papists ta Luther did with their predecessors, and it is a remarkable fact that we have n> t settled the questinn of admitting members into the Christian agement it gave to the vice, and the Priests wishing to arrest it in some degree withheld the wine seemingly for that purpose; but I will not say it was. They are told, that when they get the body, they of ncces- sity get the blood, so thai the wine, in fact, owes the recommendation it gets to the Protestants. Whatever is used as the emblem of Christ's blood, is recommended as an efScacious medicine, for Christ is tho Physician of souls — a quencher of thirst — for he who drinketh of the abf 53 water that Christ gives will never ihirsf. To give an idea of all the qualities of the bread and wine, we must sum up all the graces of Christ. The most powerful oppeals ngainst drunkenness are more ihan com. plelely nnnullpd by usinfj the liquor as tlie ernblem of the blood of Christ. It has an infinite power and exceeds in force all the arjjuments of the other, as much as infitiite exceeds finite. Ou • mini^-ters ask, " who hath believed our rt'[;oit ?" as if none, or at most vory (ew, had believed it ; but when we look at the slate of society, we can see that their re. port of Christ in the emblems (the very opposite of their teaching by word,) is as universally believed as the most sanjinine of the imps of the pit could wish. Fuiure fjenerations will say of us, that we have " walked in the way of Jeroboiun, the son of Nabat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin." ' ' ■■'-• It seems to me thftt the translators of the Bible had not sufficient warrant for heading the parayrafh, in which is related the first sin of man — " man's shameful fall ;" lor this reason 1 do consider the figure imperfect; there are a thousand, or perhaps ten or more thousand falls after which the individuals rise agdin by tlieir cwn exertions unaided by others, for one after wiiich they do not rise again ; but in a man's disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit, he became as the corruption •f vogetable or animal matter, for which there is no cure in the world, f the translators, or whoever did it, had headed the part with wion'* corrvplioti ov man^sfer7nevta Hon, if they cou\d not do without a figure in the case, then they would have given no countenance to the notion, that we can by our own exertions please God. Again, if they had translated those passages properly, wliich they have rendered wine, we would not have been led into drunkenness. ' ' ' •> We have now many advantagps over the heathen that were con. verted by the Apostles; they were turned from the worship of that that was not God by the preacliing, and from many cf their vile practices, but it was hard for them to give up all their old customs ; and things they thought innocent were taken with them, which things wrought all the evil. Hut we were taught to love and have loved our Bibles, and will continue to bless and praise the God who gave them to us j that Being to whom we when children, and our children now, look up to for grace, mercy, and peace. These are the advantages we now have over the heathen ; we know that the Bible is perfect, as far as we are acquainted with it, and from what we have already attained to, we may conclude, that no evil is in it. If Christ's blood is the only thing that will wash us and make us white, then that which he chose as the emblem of it, must be the safest, surest, most powerful and eifictual medicine to our bodies that can be found on the whole earth, and shodld set a going a movement for the introduction and naturalization of grapes in our country, not for the purpose of making fermented wine, but to have it as a meaicine ; for myself, I have not the shadow of a doubt but that it would supersede all the drugs and medicines now in use. If the Ministers of religion who at first condemned and opposed total abstinence from intoxicating liquors, but now have joined the movement, M have done to that they might control it, and render it tuboervient to their pre-conceived opinions, if thoy havo joined us now that they miuht be the better ahle to check its profjiess towards univorsnl adoption, then are they traitors to the long established tracbings of thpir prpdoces^ors, Hnd are spies to search out the secret of our sticngih, that they might betray this cause and upriot ibis tree, the fruit of which is pfii.ce and joy an. ove. Some one bas sai'i, •' pure is the joy without all>iy. whose greate.k rapture is contentment." [fe must liuve meant total aiisti- nence, for the j"»y produced by it is free from gntss excitement. Some of the Ministers liave adopted it, because tbfy bone&tlv bel-.pved the truth of the matter, but ihey did so in opposition to the interpretations of their early instructors. Therefore, when all are enlightened by its bright effulgence, and when instead of the Jesuiiical intentions being carried out, they are led to confess ih( ir oriijinal duplici'y in joining us,jhey will, along with ; r assembled multitudes, unite cordially in a grand jubilee, and erect the temple of the Christian virtu« s, which they have long tritd ineftictuiilly to do, because tliey have not had this chief corner stone which they so lon of the ini;lel libnralis n that prevails amonjist us«, of let- lin;5 pvcry one spt up o gi I of his own lo worsljin, of setting up a sys- tern of doctrine for himself to bplifvo, or a form ofi-hu cl» government to suit his n )iion^. Thii Clnirch of Christ is one as the Apostle He. serines it — " Thf»re is onn holy a'lil oie spirit, onn Lord, one faith, one baptisn, one (tdI and Falhir of all" — a descripiim of organization noi like ih'^ Churches now in existence, nor even in any one of them, f )r it is said,. that, no two insmbers of any Cliurcli agree on all points of doctrine, and liberty is even granted by the one to the other to be- lieve as he likes. We have nothing in the prophesies intimating that the Church of Christ in its puritv shall hive a name or a place, or an organiznion in the world, until the seven-headed beast is .slain, after that it will be seen and f'lt, extend and become universal, and after a time of success never bcf )re pqnalled or approuched by any, the time will hs c )me which is spoken of by th*! Prophet, when one shall not say to the other — 'Know thou the Lord, for all shiU know him from the least to the greatest ;" then will every house he a Rector's, and the world a Clergy lleserve. C )me then to our platform, hear the truths discovered by the se:irches of the teetotallers — hear what this daughter of heavon siys of Christ, and ask yourselves arp we not living in the time immdiately preceding the last outpouring ofthe spirit on all flesh ; and if we live to see this union only pirtially acomplished. and this discovery the ground and road to th.tt union, our happiness will be great and lasting, hiving the reco lection that we were the pioneers who opened the way, threw bridges across swamps and rivers and gulfs of Sfr-parati n, and built a wall of our own pledge, on which the silver palace of ths virtues would be safe. Looking at the temperance m')vftm?nt as the work of the Alm'ghty Director of events, let us ask ourselves, was it only to accomplish the one thing— the making mankind a sober race — ir had he s^me higher object in view when he put it into the mind of those he employed at the outs it of the m )vpment ? Wis his obj -ct totally uncinnected with the things of eternity? I imst firmly believe it was intended, and is the herald of the latter-day glory of the Ctiurch — thit it is as the voice of one crying in th3 wiMerness, *' lic-pare ye tho way of the Lord, end make his paths straight." It has proved itssif that in individual cases, Knd what it his done in single instances, it will accomplish for the Whole. John the Baptist catnj nei her eating nor drinkin:;, so has this iem;)er.ince movumeni oni^ ieacliirinr us not to eat, but especially, not to drink as th3 world drank. An I Jesus Ch:ist cam? both eating and drinking, so the last outp .uring ofthe spirit and increase of knowledge will tnacli us hjw and what to both eat an I drink. There is only as the appearanci^ of a mirt's hin I in the woik as yet, but it will over- 8pr<'ad the sky and prove itself th? hand that stretched out the hetiven* at th^ first. The Jews of old s»'\id, that John the Biptist had a devil, 80 hath the world i,»id of this movem nt. The same people said of the Saviour ofthe world, " Behold a man gluttonous and a wine bibber, ft friend of publicans and sinners." So will It be with us. O may 56 We live to see the day when the vine will be planted in our land, and the pure blooiJ of the grape l)e pressed out for the quenchinj^ of the thirs' of the woary sqinurner. John came to make ready a people pre- pared for the Lord. Tempr-rance has already prppirod about twenty millions for roccivinij the Gospel, preached successfully by the emblems of our holy Sacrami^nt. The Pharisees asked of John, " Whv bnptizest thou tlion, if thou be not that, «■ ist, nor Elias, tieither that I'rophet? John answered them, hayiniT, dp'ize whh water " Wo havH been as severely questioned as to our uuihority for adminisforinij tho pledge as John could be for baptizin'j. We have been asked, why take the work out of the Church's hands of teaching the people? Is not the Church the only appointed institution for regenerating the world ? That has been granted, but you are not sufficient, we have said, and proved too, to the Church's satisfaction ; for they now find i: necessary t ) form Church Temper- ance Societies, which are organized, as it weru, to divide their work into two distinct parts, or raihpr tor the purpose of, by degrees getting this part incorporated with the parts they had belore, that the world might think that this is an addition to the Bible way of regenerating man — equivalent to saying, the Bible was not a perfect rule of life. Total abstinence professes to have noihing in view but the evil cus- toms of the day, and in endeavouring lo abolish them, is saying with John, " I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance, (repentance has only one letter that is not in temperance,) but he that com- eth after me is mightier than 1, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall bafitize you with the Holy Ghost and wiih fire." And that system of truth that is to supersede this movement, and render it un- necessary as a distinct organization, will do as the Saviour of the world did, "Come to" Ihis "Jordan, to" this ''John, to be '. aptized of him." " But John forbade him^ saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou tome." So will this be, when the Church of Christ revives and puts on its strength. It will come to be baptized with the baptism of this pledge, and adopt it as a rule of life. And when pxpc • dating with one another, the representative of Christ will say, and submit too, " Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us lo fulfil all righteousness." Some, if any tuerc were, who exalted this movement into a certain means of grace, and put it in the place of the Gosp d, will come, as the disciples of John did, and say to him — " Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan," (O what a delightful thought) — beyond Jordan — beyond the time when this flood ol pure water — this cleanser, cooler, and refresher — this supplanter of alco- hol — thiit liquid fire that parched and burned, and made more thirsty than before the drinkers — that would burn itself, and render combus- tible that which was not so before, being saturated with it. *' He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness," and mighty is the les'imony which temperance principles have given of the benevolence of Bible precepts, " behold the same bapiizeth and all men ome to him." The answer will be the same that John gave — " Ye, yourselves, bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ 57 but am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom" — that is, he who out of a world lying in wickedness choses a people to himself has all the prais?. " But the friend of the bridegroom, which standeib and heareth him, rejoiceth ereatly because of the bride- groom's voice, this my joy, therefore, is mlfiUed. He n ust increase, but I must decrease. John called to those he was surrounded with, " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." Day after day he re. peated this testimony. John i. 87 : " And the two disciples heard him •peak, and they followed Jesus." As in the case of John's disciples, •o with those of us who have longest followed total abstinence, it is not necessary to say, when the emblems of the Lamb of God are shewn in the progress of investigation, that we leave total abstinence to fol- low Christianitv, just as it was not necessary to say, in the other, case, that John s disciples left him. The one disciple told the other " We have found the Messiah." So will we do now. We will publish to the world the fact, that we have discovered this mine of gold that has laid hidden, covered, and healped up with the rubbish of man'si inventions, these ages past. To total at)8tinence men, under God, is due the praise of removing the rubbish entirely, which partly got a shaking up and loosening at the Reformation. One beautiful vein, " bright and shining," was i opened, and a little of the gold ex- tracted, but it got a coat ot corruption laid over it in the emblems, which total abstinence has cleared away, in shewing to the world the real character of the emblems. Yes, our Andrews will tell our Si- 3, and our Simons will be called Peters ; and the old truth made mons, new, will draw the Philips. The Philips will find the Nathaniels, and we will have " Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile." It may be, and I believe it will be, as it was with John. Some He- rod, in a rash vow, may, for the gratification of some adulterous party, sacrifice the temperance principle, and my eyesight is very dim if I do not see the power now that will do it — it exists. But I say as John s Xd — "It is not lawful for thee to have her." It is no union, it is no marriage. The curse of God rests on the adulterer, who, by lies and false pretences, have tried to seduce t9 their vile purpose this daughter of heaven. The head may go for it, but re- member Herod; and remember that there can be "no communion of light with darkness — that there is no concord with Christ and Be- lial" — " that we cannot serve God and Mammon." Though this may come to pass, yet he who was with John beyond Jordan, still lives, and Herod will yet hear of the fame of Jesus, and say to his ser- vants—" This '9 John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him." I have done. " With heavenly weapons I have fought This battle of the I>ord'B."