MY DEAR SIR,

LETTER XIV.

We have only one other injunction to consider under this head. It relates to Kings. The words are these: "It is not for kings to drink wine, O Lemuel, nor for princes strong drink" (Prov. xxxi, 4.) That this prohibition may be applied to all Christians, seems evident, upon similar grounds to those already dwelt upon, in relation to priests; for all Christians are both kings and priests unto God, "and as such, the highest style of man ;" and are bound to preserve their minds, at all times, capable of exercising the noble functions with which God has endowed them, in the best manner possible, (which the dietetic use of alcoholic wine, places beyond their power,) according to His infinitely wise and holy law.

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III. The alarming and opprobrious epithets given to wine. and strong drink, in the Bible.

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There are many alarming and opprobrious epithets given to wine and strong drink in the Bible; and, we are disposed to think, that they have the force of literal precepts against the use of these liquors, by man in his normal state of health. man, to whom is justly attached the name of liar, or thief,— and who is commonly known under that nickname,-needs no detailed history of his departures from truth, or honesty, to warn people against him, or to make them shun his society. Hence the point of the vulgar proverb, "Give a dog a bad name, and hang him" It is enough to deter persons, who have an ordinary regard for self preservation, from venturing beyond the bounds. of an enclosure, if they see inscribed on a board, in large letters, the words: "Spring Guns," or "Man Traps," set here. The practice of labelling substances as "poisons,"

*By dietetic use of alcoholic wine, we mean all ingestion of wine, by man, which is not medicinal.

which are deleterious to man in health,--although in sickness they may be beneficial,—is universal, where the safety of human beings is duly cared for by the State, or by individuals, where sales of these things are made. In these and many other cases, which might be mentioned, infamous, opprobrious, menacing, or alarming epithets, are deemed sufficient to prevent the evils which would otherwise be likely to occur,—and save a multitude of words. How admirably has this method been had recourse to, in the Bible, in the case of intoxicating wine, for holding out to mankind, a salutary warning of the danger they incur, by at all intermeddling with a thing so destructive of human happiness, except when sickness converts the poison into a remedy; or, to speak more correctly, the condition of the organism, and of the vital powers, so modifies its action, as to produce beneficial, instead of hurtful effects, upon the constitution.

Take the following, as specimens of these terrific epithets, and judge if they have not, or if they ought not to have, all the force of prohibitory injunctions; and to deter all persons, of sound mind, from taking liberties with that arch-poison, alcohol? "Their wine (that of the heathen,) is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps :" (Deut. xxxii, 33 :) contrasted with the wine of God's ancient people, mentioned in the 14th verse of the same chapter, under the inviting appellation of the "pure blood of the grape." Here alcoholic wine is properly named "the cruel venom of asps;" for while it is so subtle and fatal as to cause death of the body in three hours,—and this kind of serpent cannot be charmed by musical sounds, as, it is said, others can: (Psalm lviii, 4, 5 :)-alcohol is an evil spirit, which mounts, with wonderful rapidity, to the brain,→→ the seat of man's intellect,-intrenches itself there, dethrones reason and conscience, seizes the reins of government, and throws the whole microscosm into a state of disruption and misrule. Having thus usurped the government, it hurries on its

wretched victim to self-destruction, or to the commission of some horrid crime, to be atoned for at the gallows; or, it causes him to rot upon the face of the earth, a lump of physical, moral, and social carrion,-loathsome, corrupting, and debasing to all around him.

We have already offered some remarks (No. 8,) upon the other. phrase, in this connexion, "the poison of dragons," illustrative of the end to be served, by the association of alcoholic wine with its mighty patron, "the great dragon,—that old serpent, the devil!" The next epithet to be noticed, is 66 the cup of devils," or of demons,-the wine which is sacrificed to them, and which they delight in, as their life's blood,—that, by means of which Satan and his hosts revel in human gore, luxuriate in the profanation of God's holy name, His holy day, and other sacred institutions; whereby they stir up and prepare their emissaries for the perpetration of crimes of the greatest enormity; sapping the foundations of self-respect, blasting reputation, curdling "the milk of human kindness," converting it into poison; rendering the husband's heart cold, callous, and insensible to the piteous cries, the convulsive sobs, and passionate appeals of the wife of his bosom, and the children she has borne to him; depriving the mother of the tenderness and gentleness natural to her, and substituting, for these dove-like qualities, the ferocity of a tigress robbed of her whelps. towards her helpless offspring! "Fire Water" is the name given by the North American Indians to ardent spirits; and Robert Hall is understood to have called them, (properly plural, as signifying legion,) "double distilled d- -n;" but, to us, it seems that these names, appropriately terrific though they be, and savoring of the bottomless pit," are far less expressive of their intrinsic vileness and destructiveness, than the soul-harrowing epithets applied to them in Holy Writ, referred to above; and we are of this opinion, because these Scriptural epithets represent the Devil himself, and bring him, with his confede

rate spirits, palpably before the imagination, as the very concentration and essence of all evil; while those of man are abstract terms, denoting the qualities of a substance—terms comparatively powerless, in exciting trepidation and abhorrence! Besides, they are not binding upon conscience, as the others are, and therefore they may be disregarded with impunity, while the Divine statutes are universally obligatory.

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby, is not wise :" (Prov. xx, 1.)

"To mock," according to Johnson, is "to deride, to laugh at, to ridicule." "Mocker," according to the same eminent lexicographer: 1st. "One who mocks, a scorner, a scoffer:" 2d. "A deceiver, an illusory impostor." Wine, in this portion of the revealed Word of God, is personified, and described as a mocker, or as one (an evil spirit,) who laughs at, or ridicules certain persons or things; or scorns, or scoffs at them, as may best suit his purpose. And does not alcoholic wine answer, most accurately, to this description? Where will you find a creature so thoroughly conversant in all the arts of fraud and imposture as this creature? (the perversion of the fruit of the vine, as the Devil and other apostate spirits are of the angelic nature,) and yet, alas! grave divines, and sage moralists, are not wanting, who, afraid of a transcendental morality, above that of the Gospel, call it "a good creature of God." Why do they not form themselves, then, upon the model of this good creature? Why do they not adopt his system of trickery? Why do they not, as he does, scoff at things sacred and divine? Why do they not, as he does, bar the door of God's sanctuary, and shut their families and servants out of it upon the Lord's day? Why do they not constitute themselves the patrons and encouragers of every form of vice, crime, profligacy, and sensuality? Why do they not act consistently, and turn a deaf ear

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Surely distilleries, breweries, taverns, saloons, &c., the Devil's and alcohol's work-shops do this to a monstrous extent.

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to the cries of haggard, naked, squalid, beggared children, their favorite alcohol's victims? In naming it "a good creature of God," they prove that they have been "deceived by it," and therefore are not wise;" for there is not a single unambiguous passage, which they can quote, in the whole Bible, which warrants its receiving this commendation, while it abounds with expressions of opposition and hatred to it, as an evil thing.*

The next epithet to be noticed, is, "raging," as applied to strong drink. "Strong drink is raging." By "strong drink," here, is to be understood, all other kinds of intoxicating drinks, except wine, as far as they were known to the Jews; and alcohol, being the chief poisonous principle in them all, the term is applicable now, to every species of alcoholic beverage. In Johnson's Dictionary, "to rage," is "to be in a fury, to be heated with excessive anger." Of course, it is not meant that strong drink is heated with excessive anger, (under the present phase of the subject,)-a child would know this; but that the person, using it, is on the verge of that state of mind, or has actually fallen into the vortex, where the reason is unseated, and the bestial and malignant appetites and passions dominate, like a devouring conflagration, sweeping everything before them in one tremendous mass of ruin. What must the state of that man be, who exposes himself to the impulses of unbridled passion, with all its dreadful consequences, by the use of strong drink, when this solemn warning of the Lord, is so expressly against it: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, that whosoever shall say

*Another view may be taken of this passage: Instead of wine being personified as "a mocker," its victims may be considered as mockers-wine standing for wine-drinker. This is the view taken by Scott, and other commentators, and this is the light in which we shall offer a few remarks upon the following context.