Smyrna times., 1854-10-25

their example yes, both physically and NOR
ally safe. Those men fully tested the matter
and proved to Melzar that wine was not only
not necessary to health, but absolutely PERM
cious; for after only ten days trial, their faces
were found to be fairer and fatter in flesh than
all the children who drank of the Kings wine.
and it is evident that God approved of their
course, from the peculiar favors which he so
largely bestowed upon them.
! take the case nf the Rechabites, whose his
tory is recorded in the 35th chapter of Jere-
miah. The Rechabites were descendants of
Jethro, the Midianite, the father-in-law of
Moses. They settled in the land of Canaan,
but were afterwards carried away captives by
the Assyrians and Chaldeans. They were a
very temperate people, and God made use of
them to reprove drunken Israel. He command
ed jeremiah to ago to the house of the Recha-
bites and bring them to the house of Jehovah,
into one of the chambers, and give them wine
to drink" So jeremiah went and "took ia
zaniah and his brethren, and all his sons and
the whole house of the Rechabites, and brought
them into the house of Jehovah, into the cham
bers of the son of Hanan, man of God and
set before the sons of the house of the Recha-
bites, pots full of wine, and cups, and said tC
them drink wine But they said, 'we viii
drink no wine,' for Jonadab, the son of Rechab
our father, commanded us, saying, 'ye shall
drink no wine, neither we nor your sons forever.
And We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab, tn,
son of Rcchab our father, in all that he hail
charged us to drink no wine all our fays, we
our wives, our sons, nor our daughters" Herr
VIC have a total abstinence society, and firm
adherence 10 the pledge. This is evident, no
only from their own testimony, but also from
the test to which they were brought. Jehoval
himself, likewise testifics that they mad faith
fully kept their pledge; that they drank n
wine, as will be seen in the 18th verse. More
over, he highly commends their steadfast cours
and, on account thereof, promises them peculia
mercies.-Verse II, 10. Here, then, we hav
another example OF total abstinence receivin
the appreciation of Jehovah.
The next case that shall notice is the exam
pie of Timothy, who was SO much addicted
SO entirely addicted-to the use of cold watC
as a beverage, that when he became sick an
needed wine as a medicine, the apostle had
recommend it to him, end actually to enjoin
upon him to take it. Timothy then was a co
= water drinker, and carried total abstinence eve
: further than our total abstinence even furth
than our total abstinence societies do at Il
u present day. In the sequel shall take noti
: of the wine here recommended by Paul as
medicine, and show that there is no eviden
c that it was intrx eating; but, on the contrar
the strong probability is, that it was unfermer
u ed. This Shows how fully these holy m
obeyed the prccepts of the Bible. They Il
. only totally abstainei from using it, but a
j. stained FROM its very appearance, yea, tn
avoided every possible temptation to its
IL witching influence. They were total abs
~ nence men in the fullest sense, the sense
III the Bible, and therefore fully substantiate
~ proposition. On the other hand, cases
. brought of ancient christians using intoxit
II ting liquors, which are thought to favor tn
ie use as a beverage. Lei US, therefore, exam
'h these cases.
nd
- Dover, Sept. 81, 1854.