Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-10-04

God sent the Prophet to the house OF the Re-
chabites and told him to bring them into the
house Of the Lord, and set vine before them to
drink And when Be had done as he was
commanded. they told him that we will drink
no wine for our father commanded us not to
drink, saying, ye shaIs drink no wine, neither
ye nor your sons forever. And they said we
have done as our father commanded us, we
have drunk no wine allouf days, we, our wives,
our sons, nor our dauchters., These people
had observed their fatiaer,s commandment for
300 years, and at the eend of the time, after
having tried them, Ged tells the Prophet, to
Cell the people of Judah and the Inhabitants
Of Jerusalem, that he Would bring upen them
all the judgements ll had pronounced against
them. Why? Bec5s Icy had not hear
kened INTO All fl:at sss,;5kens unto them.
While .'on the other a1isd lie praised the
Rechabites, because they had obeyed the
commandments Of their earthly father so long.
In conclusion he says, Jonadab, the son OF
Rechab, shall not want man to stand be-
fore me forever If it was praiseworthy in
the Rechabites to abstain from wine, &C., be-
cause their earthly father commanded them
to do so, it therefore cannot be unchristian
for US to abstain from all liquors that will
intoxicate neither can it be unchristian for
us to form ourselves into societies, Gndepen-
intoxicating drinks as beverage. 1t makes
no difference by what name temperance So
ciety is called, so they carry out the princi-
Piles of temperance. The name is nothing,
it is all in the individuals that compose it
That unprincipled men will creep into the
Order, cannot be denied; it is so with the
church. If one bad character creeps into
the church, you must not charge all the
church with his crimes; neither must you,
because one son gets drunk, say that all are
equally guilty. You might as well say the
scythe must be thrown away, because some
careless blockhead cuts his finger with it
The Order Of Sons, if taken in the proper
sense, is the most beautiful handmade the
church ever had. Who will ever expect any
person to be converted, and become q good
pious christian, who, when, after hearing
the words of divine truth, goes straight home
and browns all he has heard in the bottle
as many do? or perhaps go to church we'll
primed with the critter The Order makes
temperance a social, the church christian
virtue. We think, that by getting the poor
inebriate, who has spent all that he had and
. nearly dethroned reason, to join US, we can
= persuade him to lead sober life, by throw
ing the mild influence of the society around
him; and cause him, by the aid of the grace
OF God, to become good pious member of
the church. Let no man say that the Sons
, are doing no good-or that their pledge is
unscriptural, wher there are thousands who
have been rescued from a drunkard's grave
q by their influence, and there is so much
4 scripture proof for their principles. That
total abstinence is scriptural may be proven
u by many passages, but few will suffice. In
9 Proverbs, xxc., w.. 1t is said, wine is a
y y moeker strong drink raging and whosoev-
Z xiii CHI, beginning .5ne zgtn verse, ,--s6io-
e mon gives the greaPst temperance lecture
that ever has been gi5an. He goes SO far in
telling the danger of using Alcoholic drinks,
/ as to say not even to look upon the wine,
u showing that there is danger of being led in
Is to temptation by the mere act of looking al
'r it. SOlomonWellk knew the danger, and there
e fore he gave the above injunction. In Isa
IL iah vc., 1lv., the Prophet pronounces VIC
,e upon them that rise up early in the morn
m ing that they may follow strong drink tha
I'd continue until night, till strong drink infamt
IN them 7 Now, kind reader, if there was
1t woe pronounced against those who used stron}
I'd drink in ancient days, why not there be on
III pronounced against US for bowling down t
re King Alcohol in modern times? It is sail
he that dram will do no HARM but dram
We drinking is the very origin of drunkenness
he fills drunkard's grave, but what begun b.
to dram drinking. And thousands who hav
IS died drunkards thought they never would
it When a man begins dram drinking, an
I'M more particularly what is called taking sc
cial glass, ten chances to one he will die
)e- drunkard. When man is in the habit
TX taking glass with what he calls his friends
ey (but they are dangerous friends) he is apt
to get drunk and by this means many pc
re- son becomes drunkard, who never woul
lid have been one. It is this very habit of dral
ng drinking that the sonsare trying to put down
the and the surest way to live and die SOBER
nk- to touch not taste not, handle not Alcoho.
nst drinks at all. Some who use it NAV live
ure good old age, but they are few. Intoxic
yer ting drinks, as beverage, should not be S
are before any person, by any of us-for all ha'
lth. not the moral courage to resist temptatic
9TH alike. We should all do like the Apost
her Paul. We read in lst Cor. ch. viii, that
nto commanded his Corinthian brethren not
six lay stumbling-block in each others wa
me. whereby your brother is caused to sin. No
lere gentle reader, every time you set intoxic
led, ting drinks before your brother, you lay
,me stumbling block in his way, for you do +
DIN, know but he may get drunk and go home a
join abuse his family, or kill his dearest frier
ers When man gets drunk he is no better th
rted a maniac or madman. Drunkenness tur
en- loose all those eva dispositions which t
un- devil has the power to instil into man a
who when a man has lost his reason what is
orm that he will not do? Now, kind reader
pom you know this to be SO, should Christia
/, to men who profess to be the followers of
per- meek and lowly Jesus, make use of such '
man and internal stuff, that will infiame the wo
:, to passions that the Prince of Darkness co,
by invent?
Mt is To be continl,ed