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enforcement of the moral law against the use of intoxicating wine in every instance, in man's normal state of health? When this great truth shall be universally received, as no doubt it will, we believe that the recognition of this Divine appointment of "the unfermented fruit of the vine" to be the symbol of our Redeemer's blood, will be followed by the blessed consequences to be traced to such a ratification. And, as every good and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," we can see no just reason why these blessed consequences should not be traced up to Jesus as their source, and therefore why the honor should not be given to Him, of purposing that these effects should follow, in the manner mentioned above.

If our opponent could show, by irrefragable arguments and indubitable facts, (such as we have used concerning alcoholic wine,) that non-alcoholic, non-intoxicating wine is specially forbidden, in different parts of Scripture, as an article not fit for man's use, in any quantity, in his normal state of health, (in addition to proving that alcoholic wine is commanded to be used by the Lord, as the symbol of His blood, at. His supper,) we should certainly allow him the benefit of these truths to the fullest extent, in establishing and endorsing all that had been written upon the subjects of fermented and unfermented wine in the Bible, previous to the solemn hour when Jesus appointed (by assumption,) the fermented wine to be the perpetual symbol of His blood,-because of that being the last great public testifying act of the Redeemer, prior to the crucifixion,-intended to commemorate it forever! We only claim the same privilege. The Devil has not been slow to avail himself of the advantages to be derived from this argument. Although utterly false, that our Great High Priest made use of intoxicating wine as the symbol of His pure blood, or that in any of His laws, unfermented wine is prohibited; yet Satan has seduced Christians without number, into the belief of these

things, as if they were truths established by the revealed word of God; and he has filled their mouths with arguments, based upon the false foundation, that alcoholic, intoxicating wine. was appointed by their Lord to be the symbol of His blood, in favor of the use of the same kind of wine for the dietetic use of man. We do not find fault with their reasonings, but with the falsity of their premises, and therefore we do not see how they should censure our reasonings, or deny the justice of our conclusions, if they cannot annul our facts. This we give them an opportunity of doing, if they can. When the belief, that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted His sacred supper with alcoholic wine, has taken firm hold upon the mind as an established religious principle, (to gainsay which, a few years ago, would have subjected one to the charge of infidelity,) impressed upon the tender hearts of children by their parents and teachers, associated with the most important and sublime of all events, the death of the Son of God-sacramental occasions of high, spiritual enjoyment, and inspiring records of martyr heroism; we need not wonder that it should be found difficult to dislodge such a welcome guest. But, although much may be said in extenuation of the guilt of some who were inveigled in this sin in times of ignorance, yet no such palliation can be pleaded in behalf of others, who, in these days of wide-spread, accurate, scientific, and statistical knowledge, and increased Scriptural information upon this subject, will not come to the light "lest their deeds should be reproved."

Indeed, this vice (the use of intoxicating wine as the symbol. of the Saviour's blood,) under the mask of virtue, although it may seem, or rather because it does seem venerable from hoary age, and honorable and sacred from intimate alliance with the atoning sacrifice of Christ, is all the more to be repented of and deprecated, seeing it has usurped a pre-eminence and power in the hearts, homes, and sanctuaries of Christians, the consequences of which are daily becoming more and more

appalling, disastrous, and heaven-daring! Thus, truth is vilified, and error exalted. Thus evil is called good, and good evil; darkness put for light, and light for darkness.

According to this view, we can explain such gross perversions of texts of Scripture as the following: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:" (Prov. xx, i:) turned into, "Excess of wine is a mocker,-Excess of wine is raging." "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, lest they drink and forget the law:" (Prov. xxxi, 4, 5:) thus paraphrased by that excellent, but in this instance, mistaken divine, Matthew Henry: "It is not for Christians to drink to excess, and to allow themselves in those riotings and revellings which even the sober heathen condemned and abhorred." What is this but to add to, and take away from the Scriptures of Divine truth, and will not St. John's awful denunciation (Rev. xxii, 19,) apply to such an act performed in the present day?

So much for the sin of adopting a glaring falsehood as an article of religious belief; and yet these instances are only atoms in the mass of evils which, if we had time, we could trace up to this origin. Thus, it has been attempted to be shown, that the rejecters of the true doctrine respecting "the unfermented fruit of the vine," and the believers in the false doctrine, that Jesus instituted His supper with alcoholic, intoxicating wine, espouse the cause of Satan's error against God's truth, and what is far more terrible and lamentable, put lying words (ignorantly, we hope-innocently, we dare not say,) into the sinless lips of Him who came to destroy the works of the Devil! Are they not (in this respect,) "the children of the night, and of darkness:" (I Thess. v, 5.) 'They grope in the dark, without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man:" (Job xii, 25.) Do they not

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*A Lecture on the Harmony of Teetotalism. (Abridged.) By Dr. Lees: p. 10, &c.

The Communicant's Companion. By Rev. Matthew Henry: p. 293.

substitute, for the steady, serene light of heaven,-capable of leading them into all truth,-the flickering glimmer produced by sparks of their own kindling, which only serve to draw them farther into the whirlpool of error.

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How different the case of those who believe that Jesus instistuted His sacred supper with "the unfermented fruit of the vine," as has (we trust,) been proved above, by ample Scripture testimony. They "stand up for Jesus" and His truth, in regard to temperance, against the Devil and his lies. Their eye (at least in this respect,) is single, and their whole body full of light. They are the children of light, and the children of the day:" (I Thess. v, 5.) Their firm belief of this one precious guiding truth, like a pole-star, leads them safely into a wide, luminous region of kindred truths, before undiscovered by them, and indiscoverable by those who have no such steady, propitious light, to point their way to unexplored treasures. They are the children of wisdom, and protest against the devilish calumny, that the Lord Jesus Christ was, in the remotest sense, a wine bibber;" meaning a drinker, or encourager of those who drink alcoholic wine, while they witness to the truth that He was the uncompromising enemy thereof, as a beverage for man, having at His last supper, by His choice of "the pure blood of the grape," to be the symbol of His sin-atoning blood, given His Almighty "Fiat" to every interdict of “wine and strong drink," contained in the sacred volume.

O that the churches of Christ may soon be aroused from their lethargy, and lay hold of the truth as it is in Jesus, respecting temperance !

I am, my dear brother,

Yours affectionately,

JOHN MAIR.

MY DEAR SIR,

LETTER XIX.

Our Creator would have us, we apprehend, to use every good creature of His, which He has provided for nourishment or refreshment, not beyond the point where the natural desire ceases, (although at liberty to desist sooner.) This rule applies to the drinking of "the unfermented fruit of the vine," at the Lord's supper. Even the wholesome, nutritious juice of the grape, which has not undergone the process of the vinous fermentation, is not to be indulged in to excessTM at that ordinance. But while this is true, it is no less true, that no rigid, ascetic rule is laid down in Scripture, preventing the communicant at the Lord's table from doing more than slightly tasting or sipping of "the cup of blessing," as if it were possible that our generous Benefactor, who loved us, and gave Himself for us, could have laid any undue restraint upon us, in the use of that which He has set apart to be not only the symbol of His own precious blood, but also the lively emblem of the enjoyments of heaven.

There is a vast difference between drinking to excess of a liquid good for man, and drinking without fear, of the same liquid. The devout communicant, at the Lord's supper, ought to be able to drink of the good wine, provided by the Master of the feast, without apprehension, that by taking a mouthful, more or less, he may do himself serious injury. But who can do this, who sits down at the communion table of almost any of the churches of the present day? The first time the writer of these letters made up his mind that he could no longer drink of the noxious liquor dispensed at the Lord's supper, he felt an acrid, burning sensation in his throat, while the so-called wine was descending into his stomach, a similar feeling to which, he doubts not, has been experienced by others under similar cir