Year: 1863

The language without an Interpreter?


Further, such an explanation is arbitrary.
1t does not appear on the face OF the scrip
lures. If man were left to judge without
bias, simply from the language Of the scrip
lures, he would Lot so explain it, 1t is in
fact purely gratuitous Invention, not insisted
on because it SO sai iis'adtoriiy explains scrip
tnre language; but ratl.er because il gives
license to the depraved appetites of depravcd
men. The supposed explanation is, in trc1h.
every way unreasonable. When wine is con-
demned as a base article and TO be avoided,
are we bound, contrary to reason 10 history,
and experience, to do violence both to the let
Ter aud spirit of inspiration, in supposing the
meaning 10 be, mol that we should avoid bad
article, but merely that we should be ca1s' ious
about the use OF good one. Is it because
there is 10 such thiag as bad wine, that the
condemnation must always be Supposed to be
upon the abuse of goo9 wine !? Nay, verify
Or is good wine Of all the good creatures Of
God alone liable to abuse, That it should be
singled out and spoken against as vile and
dangerous thing? Are not other things
corn. and oil, aud milk, and honey-abu~ed +?
Yet they are not on this account condemned


Corn Is not called mocker, nor any such OPP
probious epithet. Oil is not said to occasion
woe and sorrow. Milk is not USED as a SYM
Dol OF wrath. Honey is not said TO bite like
serpent or sting like an adder. "If" says
DIR. Mott, because good wine can be abused,
such VINE deserves TO be called mocker, and
can fifty be employed in The same state and in
alusion to the same attribute, as a symbol of
wrath as well as a symbol of mercy why may
not sunlight and sabbat, and even the vista
lion OF the Holy Spirit for these as well as
wine are liable to abuse ?"% In short this ex-
PLANTATION is not the true one The fact that
good wine may be abused, will not account for
the use Of such emphatic terms OF reproba-
tion as are used in the Bible. Against the
application OF this principle, unfortunately so
popular, to The Interpretation Of the scrip
lures, desire to enter my Solemn protest. Ii
is the fruitful source Of nearly all the nNtshy
errors entertained concerning this whole sub
ject With such principle as guide in the


Interpretation Of scripture it is no wonder the
truth does not appear. 1t viliates every con-
cluslon as effecIually as does a false step a
mathematical demonstration. With such a
theory, is it not strange that the temperance
advocate avoids Bible argument, aud that the
topper is constant ard loud in hisapptais TO The
scriptures? Away forever from the crptures
with theory that makes them commend the
moderate drinker, who has given his heart to
strong drink, aud is squandering his strength,
aud means, and undermining his health, in fact
destroying himself by q slow poison; yet who
Edoes not stagger, nor lie in the gutter, who on
account of The peculiar character of his phys
ical constitution and the dcadeniug effect of
habit, can stand il while at the same time it
makes them coudemh the man who drinks far
less in quantity, but falls down from it-eOn-
dennis hun not because be drank poison or did
an unlawful thing-but simply because he
could not stand il. Away away with a
theory that gives countenance to such stan
dart Of morality. [ro BE CONTINUED


see Dir. N"tts Temperance Lectures. To this ad-
mrabe work indebted for nearly all the material
for the preparation Of tins Sermon II any moi
satified with the argum l here advance let hIn
this work. where the whole question discuss
ed at length, and in the most mIsterly style-