The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1908-05-21
ELD.HASSELL'SVEWS
Prohibition Principles We're Set
Forth by God in the Decalogue.
A DRUNKARD is NOT FIT TO LIVE OR Die
A Convincing Argument In Favor Of
Prohibition in NGrth Carolina.
elder Hassell. in Gospel Messenger.)

hibition Of his eating the fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, it was a good law. and, if Adam
and Eve had obeyed it, the fearful
curse of sin and death would not, it
seems, have befallen the human race.
Eight of the ten commandments
given by God to Israel at Mount
Sinai were prohibitions (all of them
except the fourth ard fifth, to keep
the Sabbath and to honor parents). i.
God says that these commandments
were for the good of Israel (Deut
1913: and, although our sinful ma
ture rebels against the law Of God,
Paul declared that the law is "holy,
just and good" (Rom. 7:7-1D.
At present the word prohibition"
is generally used to denote the for
bidding of the manufacture or sale
of spirituous liquors. Without fear
or favor, l shall present the certain
facts on both sides Of this subject,
gathered from the latest and high
est authorities, for the information
and guidance of the readers of The
Gospel Messenger.
The word rendered wine" in the
:, Scriptures means liquor, either
fermented or unfermented, made
from the juice of grape; and the
word rendered strong drink means
a liquor made from any other fruit
except the grape. or made from
honey, especially old and powerful
wine. Distillation is a product of
modern "civilization," and was un-
known to the ancients and to saw
ages. The excessive use of wine or
strong drink is positively and re-
peatedly forbidden throughout both
the Old and New Testaments Scrip
lures, but their moderate use, both
as beverage and a medicine, is al
lowed except to priests when about
to serve in the tabernacle. uevit.
10:9D, and to those men or women
who had taken the VOW of a Nazar-
ite, a Separatist. (Num. GLIB; and
it was entirely forbidden by Jonadab,
the son of Rechab, to all his descend
ants, who were to be nomads or wan
derers, living in tents, and not build
ing houses, sowing seed, or planting
vineyards (Jer 35:6:10). The Re-
chabites were the descendants of
Abraham and Keturah, and inter-
married with the Lev;tes, and God
blessed them to "stand before Him"
or be His servants. They honored
their ancestor Jonadab by obeying
him, and they preferred their simple,
free, sober, moral, healthful desert
life to the unwholesome luxuries
and ruinous vices of corrupt" civil
ization, "and they were the steadfast
opponents of oppression, idolatry,
and sensualty. 1t is an essential
qualification Of a gospel minister not
to be"given to wine" Il Tim. 3-3; Tt
tus 10. Wine and strong drink
weaken and corrupt people physical
ly, mentally and morally, and unfit
them for. the service of God lisa.
27:O. 1t has been said that greater
calamities have been inflicted on
mankind by drunkenness than by
wars, pestilence, and famine; that
12O, 900 persons in England and 1OO,-
900 in the United States are killed
every year by the drinking of spirit
uous liquors; that the use of alcoho-
lie stimulants causes one-half OF the
pauperisn and disease, one-third OF
the insanity and idiocy, and three
fourths of the crime in civilized
countries. Alcohol has been well
called the "'very genius of degrade
tion;" taken in large quantities, it
clots the blood, overworks the heart,
dilates the capillaries, retards diges-
ton, ulcerates the stomach, substi-
tutes an unhealthy fat for healthy
tissues, chills the body, soon after
being taken, two degrees below the
normal temperature, so that its use
has had to be discontinued in Artic
expeditions, paralyzes the nerves,
crazes the brain, debases the consci-
ence, opens the system to the attacks
of disease, and propagates its evils
to the third generation. 1t is pois.
on. and more than twenty of the
rankest poisons are used to adulter'
ate and color and expand it. The
Baptists of the seventeenth century
(who adopted the old London Con
fession of FAITH, excluded from
! their churches persons who sold splr
ituous liquors, and those who drank
J to excesc. Elder William Gadsby
of England (born 1913 died 184D
author of the Everlasting Task fol
Arminians, ''and of"The Perfect Law