The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1841-12-24
From The .1lbany.1rg,ts.
LITERARY NOTICE.


The publication which bears the above title is in
quaro form, containing 4S pages and consists of a
series OF letters to protesting Christians, by EDWARD
c. DELA,AN, on the kind of wine proper to be used
at the Lords Supper, and copious appendix. 1t
was published in this city the st inst and appears
by notice ON the first page to be issued quarterly
The object of this article is not to take part i'll the
important question: which it discusses, but to refer to
some of the principal communications which it CON
tains, and the positions taken by the writers.
The trst IL pages are occupied by Mr. Delavan 5
letters the object of wh is to show that the wines
in ordinary use in this country are highly drugged
and adulieraed, and are not suitable for the
mon service that they not, in fact, the fruit of
the vine, which the Divine insttutor Of the Sacra-
ment ordained and that large portion of those wines
are manufactured from whskey, and contain not a
single drop OF the JUICE of the grape. The distinction
made by Mr. Delavan, and those who sustain his po-
sitions, is that the wine used by the Savior
fermented and without the alcoholic properties gene.
rated by The process of eImentafion; and he asserts
that this distinction Is Indispensable to reconcile pas
sages OF scripture, condemnlng wine the one hand
and commencing it on the other, and which can only
be rendered harmonious Ivy the supposlon that two
kinds Divine the fermcnted and the uniermented W
in use in the time OF Savior. On the testimony
adduced in support of this p son is not the design
to this article TO comment. II must speak for itself
If is presented with great candor and indeed all the
letters of Mr. Delavan are written in spirit which is
entirely unobjectionable and which is calculated TO
dsarm all hostility, even on the paIt ofthose who
dissent from his positions.
Among the articles contained in the appendix, will
be found lecture by DR.. Mott, the President of
Union College, written in his clear and orcble stylc
and which it appears is one of series delivered at
Schenectady three years ago. DR.. Mott takes de-
cded ground in favor of hc,tse of the unfermentcd
wine upon the general reasonings referred to by Mr.
Dclavan, and throws flood Of light upon the whole
subject. Chancellor Walworth, in a letter which is
given in the appendix concurs in the general view of
the subject taken by those who in favor of sub
stituiing the unfermcnted wine in the communion
service for the ermented. There also letters to
the same purport from number of distinguished
clergymen in the U. $. The Enquirer processes to
aim at free discussion of the subcct-and the sim
cerity of the profession is manifest in the fact that
contains letters the other side of the question, by
gentlemen who dissent, to greater or less extent,
from Mr.. Delavan's opinions
One of the most interesting portions of the paper
is an Essay the Pathology of Drunkenness, by DR..
Thos. Scwall professor Of pathology and the prac-
tice of medicine in the Columbian College, District
of Columbia. This essay is illustrated by several
drawings of the stomach Of the drunkard, exhibiting
in healthy state and in the various stages of dis
produced by the use of alcoholic stimuants. II
is certainly very interesting well remarkable
paper and it put forth with the guaranty of the al
thors name and professional character in favor of the
truth of its statements.
a few fact appear by. he testimony produced which
IN Justice to those concerned ought to be stated in
this article.
l. The discussion was originally forced upon them
by the opponents OF the total abstinence principle
who asserted that the Savior miraculousIv made
and drank intoxicating wine, it was a reproach To
him to recommend entire abstinence from IT, This
led To the inquiry whether there were not two kinds
of wine in use, one intoxicating and the other not
So and whether the kind consecrated by him to re-
igious uses was not unfermented and free from the
intoxicating principle
q That the course of Mr.. Delavan and his asso-
ciaes has been uniform; that they have never advo.