The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-04-24
A Scriptural View of Total Abstinence.
SECOND LETTER OF REV. II. A. SKINNER
IN REPLY TO GA TEEToTALER."
From tic Prince Georgian.

IN REPLY TO GA TEETOTALER."
From: tic Prince Georgian.
Mr.. EDIToR:-After an unavoidable de-
/ lay, | crave space in your columns to con-
tinue my reply to the letter of your Charles
! County correspondent on the subject of
/ Temperance. To those who agree with my
views it may seem useless resumption of
a stale subject; but rejecting how many
may be misled by loose handling of that
Holy Word to which he has appealed,
feel bound to impose myself upon the
! patience of yourself and your readers.
| The next passage in order quoted by
! your correspondent was from l Timothy,
VI II: "But thou, 0 man of God, flee
these things and follow after righteous
ness, &C." AS St. Paul is here warnin G
the first Bishop Of Ephesus against couct-
BUSINESS and its consequences, of course he
can have here no reference to total abxti-
nence. l presume that this text was quot
ed by the letter writer as a sort of rhet-
orical finish to the preceding series of ran
dom quotations equally irrelevant to the
subject. 1t may also have been meant as
pious personal appeal to myself, as being
man of God at least by the Divine
office with which l am invested. "Many
more " passages, too numerous to mention.
are darkly limited at; but very wisely omit
ted if they make no more strongly in favor
| of total abstinence than those he has adduc-
ed! Then follows what may be termed the
| second diDtsion of the writer's argument
from Scripture, if argument it can be call
ed, in which he makes only'a reference to
the case of the Recha6ites and that of
Daniel and his friends These passages,
| indeed, are too long for rerbatim quota
ton in a letter; but even simple analysis
of them would have been suicidal. Most
wisely, then, has he contented himself with
very vague reference to them. Since
| however, considerable stress is laid on them
by the advocates of the "teetotal " princi-
| pie, let us examine them with some atten
ton If those who read this letter will
take the additional trouble at this point OF
opening their Bibles, Hebrew, Vulgate.
Douia, Or King James Translation at the
35th chapter of the book of the Prophet
jeremiah, and will read it with ordinary
| intelligence, they can see for themselves
that it gives not shadow of support to the
principle in question. For the benefit,
however, of those who will not take that
trouble, let me briefly state the facts.
By the Divine command, the Prophet
| invited "the house of the Rechabtes,"
within the precincts of the Temple to "give
declined it in these words: "We will
drink no wine: for jeremiah our father
commanded us, saying, We shall drink no
wine, neither We, nor your sons forever:
neither shall ye build house, nor so,c seed.
nor plant sineyard, nor haze any: but all
your days We shall dwell in tents: that We
may live many days in the land where We be
strangers. THUS have we obeyed the voice
of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father
in all that he hath charged u.s. THE
italics are my OWN. Then appears the
purpose of God in thus offering the tempt.
ing cup to the abstemious Rechabite.
He babe His Prophet go now and tell
rebellious Israel that here was bright ex.
ample for them; and that whereas they
had repeatedly and deliberately disobeyed
the commandments of their God, these
Rechabites, who were strangers in their
land and not part of the chosen people,
had obeyed their ,fathers injunctions to the
letter. Then God ordered the Prophet to
say to the Rechabites, that on account of
their obedience, "Jonadab the son of Rec
hab shall not want man to stand before
me forever"
Now, either this beautiful historic epis
ode, affords a strong argument for total
abstinence, or it does not. If it does, it
proves too much. For the Rechabites were
hidden to abstain totally from building,
from sowing, or from cultivating grapes,
just as much as from wine. Per contra, if
it does not teach total abstinence then we
simply discover in it a signal instance of
,flial obedience, which called forth the spe-
cial benedction of God himself; and only
the ingenuity of the devotees of the total
abstinence rule has ever made aught else of
it than this.
Your correspondent next alludes to the
case of Daniel and his companions, as re
lated in the 1st chapter of the book of that
Prophet. As my space will not admit of
liberal quotation of the chapter, it will
suffice to give the facts, as before; only
those who WILL are again requested to read
the Sacr ed narrative for themselves.
1t was the time Of the "captvity" Of
Israel in the land of Shinar, or Babylon.
The Babylonian King commanded an off
cal of his palace to set apart certain men
of gentle birth, distinguished for learning
and personal attraction, who could serve
in civil offices; or, as it is said, "such as
had ability in them to stand in the kings
palace" The monarch also "appointed
them daily provision of the kings meat,
and of the wine which he drank" (the
italics are mine), and after being "three
years. fed upon these royal dainties, they
were to be considered fit to appear before
the great prince. Among those chosen
were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Aza-
rial, the last three better known to us as
Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego, who were
cast by the same king into fiery furnace
for refusing to worship his idols.
Now Daniel, as also his companions,
were of the tribe of Judah, and devout
servants of the one God He therefore re-
solved secretly "that he would not defile
himself" with meat or drink from the royal
table, and pettioned for himself and his
friends that they should be allowed sim
pie vegetarian and cold water diet-promis
ing that they would be as fresh and fair at
the end of three years as were the rest. 1t
is needless to add a comment to this sum-
mary of the narrative-t carries on it's
face refutation of the idea that Daniel
was total dbstinent For, like the story
of the Rechabites, it proues too much, since
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