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THE ADVANTAGES OF TEMPERANCE, &c.

indeed,-homes of comfort, in which happy wives and mothers might bring up children who would be an honor to them, and a blessing to the land of their birth, are ruined in thousands by these customs.

Our laborers, too, although their earnings are but small, are cursed by the common enemy of our country. With a story illustrating this truth, which I heard within a day or two, and which has many a parallel, I shall conclude this communication.

A friend of mine, who resides in one of our inland counties, and who gives employment to many hands, has one man whom he particularly esteems for many good qualities, for his carefulness of all things entrusted to his charge, in his corn stores, and for his good oversight of the men while at their work. This man breaks out about twice a year with uncontrolable drunkenness; he destroys every article of furniture in his cottage; he abuses his wife and children shamefully, and is sent to jail, out of which he comes a penitent, and is restored to favor, to become again an outcast in a few months, because the temptation to drink is on every hand, and the appetite for the drink becomes too craving for his powers of resistance. The wife of my friend, knowing the misery of the wife of this wretched man, told her lately she ought to separate from him. But the reply of this poor woman should arouse all who hear it to renewed action against this terrible enemy of our race. "Ma'am," said she," he has so much nature in him when he is sober, I cannot help loving him still." Oh! the endurance of woman is wonderful; and her folly is often even more wonderful. The lady who told me this anecdote is an opponent of teetotalism, although in her own family connexion several have been ruined by the moderation in drinking which she yet maintains is the proper course to pursue. this delusion possesses our people, the labors of benevolence and philanthropy will indeed be up-hill work; but let us remember-"Duty is ours-consequences are with God ?"-I am, Mr. Editor, respectfully yours,

While

JAMES HAUGHTON.

35, Eccles Street, Dublin, July, 1864.

ABSTAIN!

THE day shall dawn bright when the sons of our land,
Perceive that it is by their own heart and hand,
Themselves and their country shall, virtu'us and free,
Arise from their ashes the pride of the sea.

Long have we been Europe's derision and scorn!
Too long has disunion our native land torn!
To corrupt agitators we've long been a prey,
While selfish intriguers wrought Erin's decay.
Then, Irishmen, up! Let the cause of your land
Depend on no Placemen, but take it in hand
Yourselves; for officials, both cleric and lay,
Are hirelings who work not for country, but pay.

But, hold! Ere ye seek for repeal of old laws;
Reforms constitutional; any good cause:
Commence to repeal these bad habits we have;
Reform your own lives, else no effort will save.
One custom we heartily wish were given o'er,
The use of strong drink from our land evermore ;
The bright hope of genius it lays in the grave,
The arm it unnerves of the vig'rous and brave.

So long as the bowl of strong liquor goes round,
False friendship, disunion, and vice shall abound;
The Patriot's efforts for country are vain,

Then commence from this custom at once to abstain.

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ALL who know anything of the Total Abstinence Movement in England, must know that Mr. Taylor is an indefatigable worker in that good cause. "Facts for the Thoughtful," would do more to open the eyes of the many who now willfully close them, than the most thrilling platform oratory.

In the pamphlet before us, the Author's reply to Professor Beesly's letter, in opposition to Mr. Somes's bill, is a clear, dispassionate statement, which must have shown the learned Professor that, in provoking such an antagonist, he met a "foeman worthy of his steel." We quote one paragraph from this excellent pamphlet :—

"Your excellent article presents two evils for consideration-drunkenness and gluttony; but can it be pretended that there is as much evil in abstaining from alcoholic liquors, as a remedy for intemperance, as there would be in abstaining from food as a remedy for gluttony? You assume two propositions, neither of which can be granted; first, that alcohol is food; and secondly, that food causes gluttony as alcohol causes drunkenness. On the contrary, it is the property of food to satisfy appetite, and of alcohol to excite intemperance. I am not desirous of sqeezing Bordeaux out of the sloe, or to press champagne from an apple, but proceed at once to porter, which was not known in England, until Harwood introduced it in 1730, and of which you state that I am so desirous to deprive the "inmates of workhouses," without stating a word of the more than equivalents proposed. But, as I have before stated, the pamphlet must speak for itself. Now, it will be admitted that the noxious compounds in porter, and the bitters necessary for its preservation, injure by long use the nerves of the stomach, and add to the stupefactive quality; from this very cause brewer's draymen, and other malt liquor drinkers, are known to be short lived, and subject to apoplexy and palsy. It is but too often erroneously asserted, that Providence vouchsafes porter and other fermented liquors for our use and not abuse. What can be said to converting barley into, and the annual consumption of, 43,000,000 of bushels of malt? Can this be any other than abusing God's best gifts? He graciously bestows the grain, and man destroys his blessing! In the last century the crops of grain were so deficient over this island, that the distillation of spirits from malt was prohibited: and thus scarcity, bordering on famine, became a blessing to the human race. But no sooner had fruitful seasons, and the bounty of Providence covered the earth with plenty, than the first gift of heaven, abundance of corn, was again, for the sake of taxation, converted into poisonous spirits, by opening the distilleries. Dr. Franklin maintained, what is now corroborated by the most eminent living medical and scientific testimony, that the bodily strength furnished by beer is only in proportion to the solid part of the barley dissolved in the water of which the beer is composed; that there is a larger

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By the Rev. Wm. Henderson, Armagh. SEVERAL years ago I was present at our Court of Quarter Sessions, presided over by the assistant barrister and the usual bench of county magistrates. I had gone there with some friends interested in the Temperance Reformation, for the purpose of presenting a petition against the licensing of additional public-houses. While we waited, a man was placed in the dock for trial, whose case demonstrated the character of the evil against which we were contending, and the need of all our efforts to promote temperance.

The offence with which the prisoner was charged was an aggravated assault upon his own wife. Of middle age, and attired in respectable dress, his wife appeared to give evidence, and with much reluctance and considerable distress she stated the circumstances of the case, showing the danger to which she had been exposed from his violence, but that it was all owing to drink, for when he was sober, she declared that there could not be a kinder husband and father. I looked at the accused. He seemed a mild, kindly man; but, with the vacant wandering look, and the trembling hand, that too truly evidenced the victim of intemperance. A friend who stood by recognised him, and told me that he had been a graduate of Trinity College-that he had been preparing for the ministry of the Church of England -that he had given promise of ability and success,-but the fatal passion for drink had stopped his useful and honourable career. He added that the habit was hereditary, for his father had been a drunkard likewise.

The distressed wife pleaded on behalf of her husband, that he might be forgiven the offence, in the hope that he would not act in the same way again. The barrister reasoned with the man upon the wickedness of his conduct, and urged him to abandon the use of all stimulants. He replied that he was willing to do so, but that he suffered from some malady, for which the doctors had directed him to use a little strong drink, and he would only take what they would recommend. Surely, said the barrister, they may prescribe you something else, for intoxicating drink is worse than poison to you. Pledging himself to sobriety in the future, the prisoner was discharged, after giving bail for his future good conduct.

This is a sad story, but a common one. There are thousands like it, and every reader can supply one or more cases of a similar character, and perhaps with many features still darker and more distressing. What a noble work to take away the stumbling block from these erring brethren, and to rescue them and their families from the ruin in which intemperance has involved them! Is it not a Christlike enterprise? Does not the example of our Lord call us to deny ourselves for our brother's good! My Christian reader, have you yet felt it to be your duty to abstain for the sake of those brethren who are in danger of perishing? Confirmed drunkards need all

the help that the sober part of the community can give them, in order to resist the temptation to indulge, and your moderate use may act fatally in hindering their efforts to reform. After all, it is but a small sacrifice to forego the use of these beverages, as every one finds who has tried it for a time. And what a happy feeling it gives us when we think that in making this sacrifice we are helping to deliver the drunkard from the pit into which he has fallen. Let the whole Christian community be only agreed upon this point, and it would not be long till drunkenness would cease from amongst us.

From the fact of this case, every reader may learn how strong and over-mastering is the love for strong drink. Education is no barrier to resist its progress. A religious profession, with its necessary moralities and decencies, is unable to keep it in subjection. Worldly reputation and the prospect of a useful and honorable life cannot withstand the assaults of in. temperance. Here was a man who, we might suppose, was elevated above the influence of this demon lust, but he falls a prey as readily and as completely as those who are not fenced round by the guards that seemed to secure him. Let no man, therefore, conclude that he is safe from this insidious foe because he is wiser than others, or better edu. cated, or because he has a character for morality and sobriety. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest also he fall. In the present state of society you are safer to abstain. Moderation has been a path of safety to multitudes; but to not a few it has proved a path of deadly danger. Many byways from it lead to the dismal swamp of intemperance. Abstinence is the safest course; walk you in it. It is not cowardice that makes us flee from sin and its temptations; it is faithfulness to our own souls and to Him who has warned us to watch and pray that we enter not into temptation. This man's father had been a drunkard. think of this. Your example will influence your children. They watch your conduct, and insensibly acquire your ways of thinking and acting. Besides, I believe that this taste for strong drink is transmitted from parent to child, and too often the habit grows and increases in the transmission. I beseech parents to consider the welfare of their children and to put away the temptation and the snare from them. Let them not merely recommend their children to abstain, but let them show the good example, and it will have more effect than a hundred lectures. Begin this work early, and, if they are trained in the way of self-denial and abstinence when they are young, I am satisfied, by God's blessing, they will not depart from it when they are old.

Parents,

I venture here to address a word to the medical faculty. In this case I have mentioned, a doctor's advice was alleged as an excuse for drinking. I know the same apology is often made. Surely, something may be discovered in the British Pharmacopoeia equally suitable and not so dangerous as alcohol. I implore them to make it their last remedy.

In closing this paper, there is one thing I wish to add. Total abstinence might, and would have saved this man from drunkenness, but it could not have changed his heart nor saved his soul from the condemnation of sin. It is the Spirit of Jesus alone renews the heart, and the grace of Jesus saves the soul. Now, dear reader, I wish you to remember that you may be saved from intemperance and not saved from sin. I have told you that the way to sobriety is total abstinence. But remember the way to salvation and to Heaven is faith in Christ. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

MR. BUXTON'S "TRUE WORDS," &c.

Mr. Buxton's True Words.

WE wish to call the attention of our readers very particularly to the republication of a very remarkable article, which was contributed by Mr. Charles Buxton to the North British Review nearly ten years since under this title. We cannot desire anything more effective than his exposure in these pages of this monster vice. A few short extracts will exhibit the truthfulness and power with which he lays bare and condemns the fearful habits of our working classes. Speaking of our national drunkenness, he says:

"Add together all the miseries generated in our times by war, famine, and pestilence, the three great scourges of mankind, and they do not exceed those that spring from this one great calamity"-(page 7).

"It would not be too much to say that there are at this moment half a million homes in the United Kingdom where home happiness is never felt, owing to this cause alone"-(page 8).

"Drink is the great parent of crime"-(page 9). "It is the mightiest of all the forces that clog the progress of good"-(page 10).

"The struggle of the school, and the library, and the church, all united, against the beer-house and the gin palace, is but one development of the war between heaven and hell"-(page 10).

"Intoxication fills our jails. It is intoxication that fills our lunatic asylums. It is intoxication that fills our workhouses with poor"-(page 11).

"By these habits of drinking, the health of the poor is seriously damaged, and the lives of tens of thousands cut short"-(page 11).

"Even moderate doses of the poison regularly taken tend to produce the same result, and to elicit all kinds of diseases that might have lain dormant, and slowly to sap the faculties of body and mind"(page 12).

We can desire nothing more forcible. We perceive the effect upon an honest and discerning mind of the careful study of the Commons' Report on this great question in 1854. We can only desire to have such statements brought out by Mr. Buxton in his place in Parliament. He may think it needless, because the facts are patent to all men. It is not needless. Men of education and of refinement turn aside from the consideration of so unpleasing a subject. must be forced upon their attention by those whose position and whose known character willl ensure them a hearing. From the Record.

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WHY IS THIS F- "When many good men and many estimable and hard working men thus adopt a cause, it is but reasonable to suppose that the cause they have espoused, will more and more command itself to others. Now month by month new names are being added to our numbers; and adherents are joining our ranks; and new strength is being imparted to our cause. It is not at all singular now for a clergyman to be an abstainer from strong drink. Indeed it is rather becoming a question with the many-Why the parochial clergyman does not become an abstainer ? One has joined here, and another has joined there, and yet there is a blank between ; and men naturally ask-Why is this? The clergyman of this parish is leading his flock, or rather the lost and straying members of his flock, from the path of safety in this respect, and God is blessing such labors for his name's sake; but the clergyman of the next parish is not creating a like circle of influence,

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which might one day touch his neighbor's circle, and unite in double strength for the glorious work; and the question naturally suggests itself—Why is this? -From "The Church of England Temperance Magazine."

Three Scenes in the Life of a London Curate.

IN a fashionable quarter of London, in a fashionably furnished room, sat the Rev. Augustus Chillington. In the parlour, which was connected with the drawing-room by folding doors, servants were busy laying the table, decanting wine, and in all those offices which a dinner party entails. Mr. Chillington seemed wearied; a large London parish requires much mental and bodily exertion. No wonder, then, that he leans his head on his hand and nurses his legs on a small ottoman which lay before the fire. A loud knock, followed by a ringing of the bell, roused him from his meditations, and, taking the poker with gilded handle, stirred up the fire, which now threw a cheerful blaze into every corner, and cast something of a smile on those sombre faces in the old pictures which hung about the room. The servants opened the door, and Mr. Chillington expressed his pleasure at seeing his school-fellow and college chum, now Captain Henry Jones.

"I thought Buxtone and Farleigh would have been here before me; I saw them drive through the parade ground an hour before I left. Does your father-inlaw honor us this evening, Chillington? 'Pon my honor, I don't joke. I heard from several that all preliminaries were arranged, and that before summer the matrimonial noose would be about your neck. By jove, you are a lucky fellow. A handsome girl, money down, and the promise of a good parish. You white chokers are lucky dogs. I'm sorry I didn't go into the church myself."

"The church has had a loss, no doubt; but then her gracious majesty has gained."

"I hope the affair will come off before we go to Canada."

"Rumour has not settled the day, then; else Capt. Frank Jones would have surely heard it." Mr. Chillington said this in rather a peevish tone; he was evidently in no humor for the bantering conversation of the lively Captain Jones.

Major Buxtone and Lieutenant Farleigh next arrived. The former a fat jolly unmilitary looking man, but who had received the Victoria Cross for a daring deed of valor.

"By jove, Chillington, I see a mitre looming in the distance. Your talents (bowing low), and the interest which you will soon command through your father-in-law's family, will place you, one day or another, among the spiritual peers."

Why, Major, are you, too, giving me brevet-rank already."

"It only remains for me to say," added Lieutenant Farleigh, "All hail Macbeth, that shall be Thane of Cawdor."

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At this moment the servant announced dinner, and Mr. Chillington, turning to his guests, could not refrain from quoting his favorite author, especially as Mr. Farleigh had already done it, "Sweet remembrancer! Now good digestion wait on appetite, and health on both!"

The court was crowded to suffocation. Ladies thronged the gallery, and many clergymen sat in the grand jurors' box. An unusual interest was created. A clergyman was to be tried for forgery. He sat in

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A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM ABSTAINING CLERGYMEN.

the dock as neatly, and as particularly dressed, as when he addressed from the pulpit the fashionable audience in the Church of The case had been tried yesterday, he was called up for sentence to-day. The counsel urged all that could be urged in his be half, left no extenuating circumstance untouched, and even in his appeal to the pity of the judge, brought tears to many an eye in that court. Why need I tell the touching words of the prisoner, or describe the anguish with which he uttered them. To pay a pressing demand he forged the name of the gentleman who, in one month's time, would have been his fatherin-law; forged it to pay a wine bill. Many, of course, blamed the father for prosecuting, and called him a stern, hard man, to blast for ever the happiness of two young persons for one false step. The prisoner was sentenced to ten years' transportation.

A wedding party. I saw many a happier looking bride, but seldom onelso gorgeously appareled. Cousins

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in abundance were there, the bride's father was laid Series of Letters from Abstaining

up with a fit of gout, and five years ago her mother died. The bridegroom was a younger son of Lord

famous among his peers. The clergyman was a stranger, a locum tenens for the incumbent, who was absent on a continental trip. Many a one called him an awkward fellow, for he let the ring drop from his fingers as he received it from the bridegroom. Some thought it a bad omen, and to avert it gave a double blessing to the bride. The clergyman returned with the bridal party to the dejeuner. Healths were drunk in the rarest, costliest, and most sparkling wines, The clergyman raised his glass to his lips, but never tasted the wine. Once, when raising the wine glass, his hand trembled and the wine was spilled on the worked muslin sleeve of one of the bridesmaids. "What an awkward fellow" came to the lips of more than one; his nervously stammered apology did not remove the impression. The bride fainted; there was great consternation, they carried her from the room. The happy bride! "The thrice happy bride!" as one of the gentlemen said in his short sweet speech.

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"A word with you," said Sir William ping the rev. gentleman on the shoulder, "in the next room," he added, stepping towards a study which was off the dining-room. He locked the door after them, and turning round, "your name is Chillington; seven years ago you were transported for forgery." And that eye before which many a prisoner quailed was fixed upon him. If he expected any outburst of anger he was greatly disappointed.

"Sit down, Sir William, and hear me for a few minutes, and then, if it so please you, you can call the nearest policeman and hand me over to justice." These words were said in the calm, measured tones of a man who has set his life upon a chance, and now stands the hazard of the die. "Sir William, you know the whole story-how, in the temptation of the moment, I forged her father's name to pay a wine merchant's bill, who had failed in business and could not wait. You are an old man, Sir William, and many say a stern man; yet I think you can pity me when I say that, to see her once again, I dug, with these hands, a passage under ground, and, in avoiding pursuit, remained several days without food. It was not to gain my liberty-what was liberty to mejust to see her once. This morning I married her to another. I blessed them. Ha! ha! a felon's blessing. My heart is turned to stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand. You may give me up to justice now, Sir William."

Sir William stood before him as he stepped towards the door. "Stop a moment; did she recognize you this morning ?"

Clergymen.

DEAR MR. EDITOR,-As you have asked me to lead off a series of papers in the Temperance League Journal, by Irish Clergymen, stating their reasons for becoming Total Abstainers, I must try and help you in your arduous but most useful undertaking. In endeavoring to recal the exact time and reasons for my becoming a Total Abstainer, I am forcibly reminded of the Roman Catholic mode of defending some of their errors, viz., "show when the false doctrine crept in ?" But, Sir, I need not tell you that even if we could not exactly fix the year of the error's first appearance, this would be no proof of its non-existence-facts being stubborn things-the fact is quite sufficient, and so in reference to my adoption of Total Abstinence, though from not having then kept a journal or diary, I cannot exactly say how or when I became an abstainer, still the fact is, I am a total abstainer of some years standing, and with the Lord's help, I am more and more resolved every day, to continue to the end of my history, un. less I am convinced, by Scriptural arguments (such as I have never yet seen), of the impropriety of my resolution, or unless recommended by physicians whose advice I could rely upon as being that of men of ta lent and unbiassed against teetotalism. But, Sir, I could readily conceive being obliged to take some alcoholic drinks as medicine, and yet consistently con tinuing my sympathy with total abstinence for ordinary people, i.e., people in their health. Perhaps I should state at the offset, that at first it was not so much for my own sake, as from seeing the need of it for others, that I took up Total Abstinence, feeling that if moderate drinkers did not take up the movement certainly drunkards would not, for their doing so alone would be like openly proclaiming themselves drunkards, which is not to be expected. They need the screen of moderate drinkers banding together with them against this demon 'Strong Drink,' so that they when teetotallers will not be thereby branded as hav ing been once drunkards. Still, as I have advanced in the Christian life, I have not formed such a favorable opinion of the fleshy nature I carry about with me in common with all Christians, as to think it incapable of giving way to any gross sin such as drunkenness, "for in me-that is, in my flesh-dwelleth no good thing." I remember, too, St. Peter writing to the elect-people of God, and feeling it necessary to give the caution," But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer," and so, Sir, while I at first was a total abstainer more for the sake of others, becoming thus "all things to all men that I

A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM ABSTAINING CLERGYMEN.

might save some," I have since felt it the safest for my own poor human nature, resolving with the Apostle "all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient-all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any," "I keep under my body lest, &c." "Let us lay aside every weight, and run with patience the race set before us, &c." Oh! that moderate drinkers, whether clergy. men or laity, would remember "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," and if this does not move them to join us, let them think of these texts, "Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak." I well remember, as do, no doubt, you and most of my readers, some ministers of high rank in our various Christian churches, giving way to this sad vice. O what a descent from the pulpit to drunkenness. Before leaving Trinity College, Dublin, in 1855, I had great sympathy with the Total Abstinence Movement, seeing as I did the immense harm caused by this unnecessary luxury. I heard various arguments pro and con before I finally became one of the band, about 1856 (the year of my ordination), since which time I have had, too, sad experience of the evils and misery caused to both poor and rich, by strong drink. I must say the British Messenger's articles influenced me very much in joining the movement, which then more than even now pressed the point, and as the truth must out, I shall not omit the pleasing and weighty influence of a relation, who has much to do in mould. ing the character of most of us for weal or woe, who wielded her magic wand over her future husbaud. I had heard also the advocacy of that celebrated Temperance Champion, J. B. Gough, which, to my mind, was unanswerable. It was not till 1860 that I took the pledge; when, to the credit of our young men in Dundalk be it spoken, "The Dundalk Total Abstinence Society" was formed, when I could not but set the example to my people, by becoming a pledged abstainer. As they result of this, our society now numbers above 700 bona fide abstainers, including young people, adults (male and female), from amongst the working classes, and some few of our gentry. I am thankful to be able to add, some thorough drunkards have been reclaimed, "sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in their right mind." Many too there are who, though they have not actually taken the pledge, have thrown in their sympathy, and some have become unpledged total abstainers; which I admit may do very well for the higher and more Christian classes of mind, but it will not do so well for the working classes, who have often little religion, whose principles are not so refined, who are exposed to much more and greater temptations than the upper ranks, who would not mind a man's mere mental resolution, whereas they would understand a tangible thing like a pledge card. The pledge not being for life, but only so long as we please to be connected with the society leaves sufficient hope for liberty, and is thus, I believe, far more likely to be kept than if taken for life. However, I think it a great cause of thankfulness when those, who though conscientiously objecting to a pledge, still are unpledged abstainersthey will be a great help to our cause.

Allow me to mention two or three things I am jealous for with a godly jealousy, in the maintenance of our principles, 1st. That Total Abstinence be kept in its proper place, subordinate to the Gospel, its "servant for Jesus' sake." We profess, not as total abstainers, directly to deal with drunkenness as a sin, leaving that to God and his gospel, we deal with it more as a trespass against society; we would humbly try to take away the stone from the sepulchre, asking the Lord of Life to raise the dead soul; we would remove stumbling-blocks out of the way to the Saviour.

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The blood of Jesus Christ alone can save the soul; but total abstinence may check the physical and social evils of drunkenness by cure, or still better, by prevention; and ultimately, God vouchsafing His blessing, may lead teetotallers to hear and read God's blessed Word of life and salvation.

A second point I am jealous for is, to throw our members upon God's strength in taking the pledge, and therefore, while wording the pledge, "I resolve, through divine grace, to abstain from intoxicating drinks, &c., I also generally accompany it with prayer. I believe many of those who have broken their pledge have been allowed to do so just to learn their need of divine grace to keep it. Some have told me so.

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A third point I am jealous for is, not to unchristianise those who see not with our eyes in the matter. While God's Word has not absolutely laid down total abstinence as a rule binding on Christians, we must not say it is a sin to drink a glass of wine or spirits ; it may lead to sin, and is a temptation, but not actually sinful; "lawful" but not "expedient." In other words to drink a little wine is "lawful" but not expedient' "in the present state of the world, and especially of the British Empire, to which drunkenness is almost peculiar. For is it not a sad reflection and paradox "Britain the most Christian and the most drunken nation under heaven!" It is sufficient for our cause that the Bible is not opposed to the principles-nay, it affords some probable arguments in favor of it. But the right of private judgment on such non-essential matters -which belongs to all readers of the Bible-forbids our making it absolutely binding; I say the Bible affords probable arguments, for is not the principle of self-denial for the good of others of "not pleasing ourselves even as Christ pleased not Himself" a scriptural one? Is not the Pauline resolution in a similar case most applicable to total abstinence from intoxicating drinks, and even more so? for here there is no mere imaginary and ceremonial offence in the case of the weak brother, but real moral harm and ruin, "It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended, or is made weak."

I may add that, though not naturally very robust, I have yet been able to work in a large parish without having recourse to the imaginary strength supplied by alcholic drinks, and so afford another of the many proofs against "the great popular and physical superstition of the day." I believe, Mr. Editor, that in America a drinking clergyman is the exception (most being pledged or unpledged teetotallers.) Oh! that the clergy of our churches in Ireland would resolve to give up their one glass in moderation! which however illogical the excuse, is a salvo to the drunkard's conscience when he takes his own glass, which leads him to two or three or more. For if all the clergymen banded together as teetotallers, upon these Christian principles, they would frown down those "drinking habits" of even respectable society, which must affect the lower strata likewise, and with God's blessing they would stem the torrent of drunkenness, which is sweeping into present and eternal ruin thousands of our dear fellow countrymen, and alas! to have to say it, our fair fellow countrywomen too. With these already, I fear, too lengthened remarks, I beg to conclude, and as you wish us boldly to avow our names, Yours faithfully,

JOSEPH G. RAINSFORD, Curate of Dundalk, Ex-Scholar T.C.D., &c., &c.

"A man's success in life depends less on his talents than on the force of his character."

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