The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-04-24


logically divided. He begins by thinking
that " the Bible does advocate teetolism -
whether your type-setter, Mr. Editor, or
your correspondent is responsible for this
unheard- of word, you must determine
But the next in this strange tumble of
texts is drawn from St. Matthew XVI, "a:
eff any man will be my disciple, let him
deny himself and take up his cross and
follow Me-" This can only be made to
favor the total abstinence theory in one way,
and that is by interpolating clause which
may possibly have existed in an ancient
Greek MS. copy of st. Matthew's Gospel
in the possession of some possible ancient
Temperance Society,"" The passage then
would read thus: eff any man will be
My disciple, let him deny himself aoine
and strong drink and matt liquors, and take
up his cross and follow Me-" The conclu
sions which are sought to oe drawn from
the passage thus wrongly quoted are based
upon the clear assumption that sobriety
and temperance are to be brought abou,
10y the force of erample and temperance
pledge" combined, without Divine aid
through the appointed means of Grace.
But Holy Scripture teaches us that temper
ance is one Of the fruits Of the Spirit Of God!
(See Galatians V, 90 90, and Peter. i. 2
to 6 The next quotation is from Cor
nthians; VI, 8. 10. Unhappily it only be
trays the prominent weakness of all your
correspondence arguments-it proves too
much. 1t has escaped him that "theves,"
"covetors," 'revilers" and "extortion-
ers" are put into the same category with
drunkards,' and are equally excluded
from inheriting the kingdom of Cod
Your correspondent then declares as his
opinion that every professed Christian
ought to be "Teetotaler, and reundly
asserts that thus only can the on coming
wave of intemperance be rolled back from
the land: that children will then abe
brought up to avoid all alcoholic drinks,
neither cider or home made wines; they
will shun it as they would dose of arsenic"
my own italcs.l Do you bear the respon
sibility, Mr.. Editor, of this fearful disre
gard of grammatical rules? "Then," he
triumphantly concludes, eve may hope
for a good moral influence in our commu-
mites" l will only say here, that have
who were "trained up in the way" and
who, as soon as they grew up, took the bit
between their teeth and plunged headlong
into dissipation! And on the contrary, of
taste of wine from infancy, and yet remain
ed temperate all their lives!
The last quotation from Scripture is from
Thessalonians V, 81: Abstain from all
appearance of evil;'' and as it has not by
the utmost ingenuity of Interpretation,
even shadow of remotest reference to the
question, it most fifty winds mp letter
deficient in logical sequence from begin
ming to end. Your correspondent, in fine,
seems to be one Of those who, as a learned
and wise man wittily remarked, "only fear
the serpent which they see him in the cup!'
Query-are not all "Teetotalers - mono
mahiacS: his quotations 1urhlSD me a
strong negatirs argument in favor of TEN
perance versus Teetotalism." If you will
bear with me, l propose to give in another
communication. stronger positire one from
the same Divine Source. l am very re.
specially, Mr.. Editor, your obedient ser.
want, II. A. SKINNER
The Parsonage Queen Anne Parish, ]
Monday, April 18th. 1872.