Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-09-25
For the Yorkville Enquirer.

and not to scriptural regeneration. The question
will then stand thus: "Are the principles and
power of Religion necessary to success, 1.-THE sup
preston of intemperance) or can the great end
Total abstinence from intoxicating drink lie at
tained without these?" We do not consider the
question MS referring to regeneration or the new
birth, because neither the organic and fundamen-
tai law Of the Society, nor any other printed and
recognized document issued by it has made any
such pretcnsion, as that the Society assumes the
province and prcrogative of Christs' Visible
Church. "Citizen" is too intelligent, too expert
enced, and too cool ir judgment and temper to
judge concerning any society otherwise than from
its highest standards. He would, no doubt, in
sist that his own denomination should be jud ged
only by her published and acknowledged STAN
dards, such A., her Confession of Faith, Book of
Church Government, SC. No denomination of the
Church is held responsible, by good sense, for
the errors which may be preached even from its
own pulpits by its uninformed, or mistaken, or
imprudcnt members. "Whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do you even so to them" is
rule designed for all men, and is as universally
applicable as any other general rule.
We have heretofore said, that to answer the
above interrogatory by simple affirmative or
negative, would involve the orthodox christian in
untenable positions. This seems very plain to
our understanding. Were the answer, Yes, given,
what is thence the necessary conclusion ? From
our standpoint the conclusion is inevitable that,
to make christian-to Undue soul with the
"Power Of Religion"--or with that Divine Grace
which saves, you have only to make the man
total abstinence man, or true Son of Temperance.
Is this orthodox Christianity? The Sons enter
tain no such heterodo1v. Such doctrine frittcrs
away the Bible to very diminutive compass, and
renders needless the words and works of the New
Testament. We are therefore not yet prepared to
give M affirmative to the question.
But suppose that negative answer be rendered,
signifying that "the principles Of religion are not
necessary to attain the great end" to wit: total
abstinence from intoxicating drink, what then is
| the result? We maintain that denial is given
to the truth uttered by the Apostle james "Ev-
cry good gift and every perfect gift is from above
and cometh down from the Father of lights."-
The denial stultfcs the Apostle Paul when he
says to the Romans: "For when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, do By nature the things
contained in the law, these, having not the law,
are law unto themselves Which shew the work
of the law rriHen an their hearts their conscience
also bearing witness. and their thoughts the mean
while accusing, or else e1cusing one another
Such negative answer denies, what the christian
world maintains, that man has moral nature
denies, 'There is in the nature of man, or in the
circumstances in which he is conditioned, something
which leads him to recognize and worship a su-
perior being. What that something is, is not i'm
portant in our inquiry: whether it be constitu-
tional instinct inwrought by the Maker-whether
it be deduction Of universal reason inferring
first cause from the things that are made-wheth-
er it be the effect of tradition, descending from
the first worshippers, through oil the tribes of the
human family-whether any or all of these be
the cause, the fact is the same, Man is religious
Jsing-he piH ,rorship:" as says PHILOSOPHY of
the Plan of Salvation" Such answer denies the
affirmation of ''Christinn Theism," that, sThere
is faculty in man, distinct from all others, which
assumes the right of governing the rest, and of
commanding him in his conIuct-that there is
some authority which utters the moral Imperative
within the soul and commandsit do this or that"
Such answer denies the assertion of Alexander's
Evidences of Christianity, which asserts: 'This
universally of religion evinces, in the clearest
manner, that tie principle is natmral that it is an
essential thing in the constitution of man just
as the fact that men are always found in society,
proves that the social principle exists and is natu-
raj to man." The answer denies the positions ta-
ken by Rev. Dr.. Blair in sermon, on the power
of conscience, from Genesis, 42-21, 90. "There
belongs to human nature a sense Of moral good
and evil, or q faculty which distinguishes right
from wrong in action and conduct. "They said
one to another, We are verify guilty" In an age,
when the law was not yet given, when no exter-
nal revelation of the divine will subsisted, except
what had been handed down among the patriarchs,
from one generation to another, the brethren Of
Joseph reasoned concerning their conduct, upon
the same moral principles, and were affected by
the same feelings of which we are conscious at
this day. Such sentiments are coeval with human
nature for they are the remains of q law which
was originally written in our hearts" The an
swer farther denies what Rev. DIR. Alexander as
serts of the influence Of religious truth: "Men,
born and educated under the light of revelation,
however they may come to reject the Bible and
all the positive institutions of Christianity, cannot
divest themselves of all those important moral
principles which directly or indirectly they have
derived from this source. The light Of divine
revelation is widely difusedin Christian countries,
and has given complexion to all our laws, institu-
tions, and systems of education so that man
can no more escape entirely from its influence than
from the effect of the light of the SUM-" The an
swer also denies the authority of the Limestreet
Lectures: ''The light and law of nature have
their use, OF which Cornelius is the top instance
that we meet with in Scripture and yet to Cor
nelius this message is sent "Send men to Joppa
&C." One would have thought, that Cornelius
whose prayer was heard, and whose aims were
had in remembrance in the sight of God, had
been in pardoned, justified, reconciled state;
especially upon that saying of Peters, "Of atruth,
I perceive &c. And yet the message the Apostle
potor ,vos sont IN hin, ahout was to tell him words