but their sinfulness is greater than their, use.

Again, "O

true believers, surely wine, and lots, and images, and divining arrows, are an abomination of the work of Satan; therefore, avoid them, that ye may prosper. Satan seeketh to sow dissension and hatred among you, by means of wine and lots, and to divert you from remembering God and your prayers. Will you not, therefore, abstain from them ?"t

Who, after this information and acquaintance with the scriptures, which have been quoted in previous letters, (if at all unprejudiced,) would not return his verdict for the Bible, against the Koran, as the more formidable antagonist of alcohol, even upon the groundless supposition, that the one, as well as the other, was of Divine authority? But who, knowing the one to be a tissue of falsehoods, with a thread, here and there, of truth, spun into it, and the other, a fabric of Divine truth, without the least interweaving of error, will hesitate to declare his conviction, after prayerful and careful examination of the evidence which has been adduced in these letters, from the Bible, in favor of the Christian and universal duty of total abstinence from alcoholic liquors in man's normal state of health, except the man who is prepared to prove that the followers of Mahomet are, and have been, intellectually incapable of knowing what is a prohibition, and, therefore, have been deceived, when they imagined that their prophet prohibited their use of wine; or, that the testimonies of Scripture are not so strong against it, as those of the Koran; or, that much stronger arguments must be used, than those of the Bible, superadded to those of the Koran, to substantiate the doctrine of total abstinence. For our own part, we apprehend that the radical remedy applied by Solomon,-"not to look upon the wine when it is red," when the process of fermentation is going on in it, and alcohol is being formed; or, as we have endeavored

* Al Koran, (Tegg., London, 1830,) p. 29. † Id. pp. 93, 94.

to explain the passage, (according to the spiritual character of God's law,) not to desire it, or do anything tending to excite, or increase the desire of it ;-is beyond the discovery of man's reason, unenlightened by revelation, because of the peculiarly deceitful and enticing qualities of the contained poison. Upon what other supposition can the repeated interdicts of alcoholie wine, and other alcoholic liquors, in Scripture, be accounted for, when, as far as we know, alcohol is the only material poison which is interdicted, (except by implication,) in the revealed Word of God? If the necessity for total abstinence from it, and its consequences, could have been discovered, and the duty enforced by reason, observation, experiment, or human law; would God have deviated so far from His wonted course, as to have issued so many special interdicts against it,-when He has left man to his own instincts, perceptive reasoning, and moral powers, aided by the light of Scripture shed upon this arch-poison, to discover, and when discovered, to avoid other poisonous substances? But, it is not only the duty to abstain from this seductive, poisonous thing, which, we apprehend, could not have been discovered by man's natural efforts; even if that duty could have been discovered and performed, the farther spiritual duty, not to have a desire after anything, with the remotest tendency to the violation of that law, (an exemplification of the perfect system of Christian morality,) could not have been discovered, or if discovered, could not have been complied with, apart from the Divine authority, the evangelical motives, and awful, eternal sanctions of vital Christianity. How fitting, then, that Solomon, in his regal capacity, so eminent a type of the Prince of Peace, should have been the honored instrument in God's hands, first to communicate this wondrous precept in all its fulness, so fraught with blessings, to mankind! It must ever be viewed as a splendid monument to the wisdom of this most illustrious man, proving, beyond a doubt, that his penetration into the most hidden recesses of the human heart,

was of the highest order, and rendering it probable that, of all who preceded the Redeemer, he was the one who approached nearest to the perfect standard of his master's unerring skill, in making known to the human race, the extent and spirituality of God's law, although, alas! in the practice of pure morality, he fell so infinitely short of his Divine antitype.

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Let us look once more, "not upon the wine," which, at the last biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder," but upon the statute, proclaimed by Solomon for its destruction, and see if it is not the very summit of spiritual jurisprudence! How could he have gone farther this way, than to interdict looking upon, or lusting after the wine when it assumes its red color, (indicative of the presence of alcohol dissolving the coloring matter of the grape,) and develops its air globules, in the process of fermentation? seeing that, previous to this process, it is lawful and right, not only to look upon it, but to drink it, as a good creature of God, not to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer :" (I Tim. iv, 4, 5.)

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I am, my dear brother,

Yours most affectionately,

JOHN MAIR.

Prof. Chandler's opinion on the formation of Alcohol during

EDWARD C. DELAVAN:

fermentation.

Dear sir: Perhaps you recollect that, just previous to your departure for Europe last Autumn, I reported my opinion on the formation of alcohol during fermentation. At that time I made some experiments with a view to decide the period during the fermentation, at which alcohol makes its appearance. A mixture of strawberry juice, sugar and water, was allowed to ferment, and as soon as it showed signs of fermentation was tested periodically for alcohol. I found that, as soon as fermentation was fairly set in, alcohol could be detected, the proportion of which increased daily, as long as fermentation continued.

I have arranged the results of the experiment in the form of a curved line. They sustain the opinion which I first gave, i. e., that alcohol is the d rect result of the decomposition of the grape sugar. The cane sugar is first converted into grape sugar, by combining with water, and the grape is then dissolved, by contact with the decomposing ferment of the juice, into alcohol and carbonic acid.

6th day 0.15 per cent alcohol by vol.

5th day 0.03 per cent alcohol by vol. Fermentation fairly commenced.

The slight deviation from a constant regular increase in the percent1st day. age of alcohol is probably due to the variation of the atmospheric temperature-heat facilitating and cold retarding fermentation. You will observe the curve varies but slightly from the dotted line drawn from 5th day to the 21st day. These results are in direct opposition to the extract from Rees' Cyclopedia "Fermentation:" "If a liquid be distilled while yet in high state of fermentation, it will not yield a drop of alcohol.””

Respectfully yours,

C. F. CHANDLER.

The Lord's supper is an ordinance which has given rise to keen and envenomed controversy. It has too often been made the Shibboleth of ecclesiastical or political party spirit, or the test of qualification for office, under most Christian Governments. These and other gross errors, which might be mentioned in connexion with this ordinance, have arisen from a palpable misconception of the design of its Author, or a perverse and irrational interpretation of the perspicuous language in which He expressed Himself, at its institution.

But, it is not our intention to say anything more respecting these manifest departures from the truth of the Gospel, in these letters. We purpose to direct attention to a deviation from the rule of Scripture, in another matter, relative to the Lord's supper, which we deem of the highest importance, but which has been entirely ignored by ministers of the Gospel, and Christians generally. We allude to the use of alcoholic, or adulterated wine, instead of "the (unfermented) fruit of the vine," to represent the pure, sin-cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, at His supper. We hope to be able to prove, by and by, that the only substance which is authorized in the Bible to be used, as the proper emblem of the Redeemer's blood at the Lord's supper," is "the (unfermented) fruit of the vine." But, previous to entering upon this investigation, it may not be amiss to say a few words in regard to the vile compounds dispensed at that sacred ordinance, and their compounders. And here we cannot do better than quote from your "Series of Letters to Professing Christians," published in 1841; and, your "Letter to the Bishops of the Episcopal Church, on the Adulteration of Liquors, &c.," 1859.

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