in Great Britain and America, are firmly persuaded that such Total Abstinence, on the part of christians, is not only lawful in itself, but is loudly called for by the existing state of the world; as the most effectual means of removing from it the Curse of Intemperance, and of promoting the health, the comfort, and spiritual improvement of all classes of society. This fact ought to be sufficient, to prevent the subject from being treated either with cold indifference, or contemptuous flippancy. The writer himself has been a total abstainer, from all such liquors, for about a year and a half; and although his labours are far more abundant than those of many of his brethren, so great has been the improvement he has experienced in the health of his body, and in the general state of his mind, that he would have to condemn himself, as one of the most ungrateful of beings, did he not feel thankful for having been induced to act on the principle of total abstinence himself, and were he not in earnest in recommending, at least, the trial of it to others. It was not, however, with a view to the promotion of his health, that he became a member of a total abstinence society, but because he would imitate, though at a humble distance, that holy and devoted man, who while believing that things which were lawful were not always expedient, declared, "if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." There is a great reluctance among Englishmen, in general, and especially among the serious and educated classes, to adopt extreme opinions of any kind; and for this reason he fully expects to be charged, by many, with extravagance. This constitutional peculiarity is sometimes highly advantageous. It is, however, possible for it so to operate as to cause an entire suspension of the judgment; or a sort of wavering between truth and error, vice and virtue. Such states of being may, indeed, be free from any considerable danger, but they are productive of no real satisfaction; nor do they allow either mind or body to be energetically exercised in any great and urgent undertakings. But there is reason to fear that the peculiarity in question is sometimes a positive evil, causing those in whom it exists, to glide carelessly, and self-complacently along in a course of error; which is the more delusive and dangerous, from its being apparently a middle course. If a thing be wrong, however nearly it may seem to approximate to what is right, the wisest way is to renounce it at once, and altogether, lest while we are commending our prudence and moderation, we should find ourselves subjected to a worse condemnation than that pronounced upon the lukewarmness of the Laodicean Church. The writer is intensely anxious to commend himself to the young; for he believes that the period of the world's conversion to truth and righteousness, will be much more hastened by the formation of their characters, on a correct model, than by attempting to change the opinions and practices of the more advanced in life. Let the youthful members, only, of the Church of Christ, be deeply and solemnly impressed with the evils of intemperance, and let them, unitedly, exert themselves to free their country from the thraldom of the various drinking customs by which it has been so long enslaved, and he will not despair of living to see the day, when, through the blessing of the Most High, upon their exertions, it shall no longer be said that Intemperance is the Curse of Britain. |