cal facts recorded in Scripture, and that they fully demonstrate that the God of Heaven approves of total abstinence.

I have referred to these examples of Holy writ again, for the purpose of putting them in as strong a light as possible; and further, that we may be able to show that these abstinent habits were in exact accordance with those of other ancient countries.

We have seen that the king of Egypt drank the juice squeezed out of the grape into his cup; and that the Israelites, who lived in Egypt for so long a time, when recounting the luxuries they enjoyed in the land of Goshen, never mentioned wine, but were perfectly satisfied with water, as their constant and daily beverage. And if Herodotus mentions that an earthen vessel of wine was brought from Greece and Phoenicia, twice a year into Egypt in the days of Cambyses; the phraseology shows, that the quantity imported was very small, and was carried thither only "twice a year." In the same narrative, he also states, that these earthen vessels were filled with water, and sent to arid places for the people to drink, so "that you would not see there one vessel filled with wine, εν κεραμιον οινηδον αριθμῳ κειμενονουκ εστι ideolar," Book iii. 6. The barley wine, of which the same historian speaks, was a very poor insipid liquor, and yet, as the wine vessels were filled with water for the people to drink, even that article was not a common beverage. It is therefore certain, that as late as the time of Cambyses, wine was not in general use; at that period the people generally drank water..

In the same chapter of Herodotus that we have just quoted, we have an account of the Ethiopians, termed “Macrobians," because of their longevity. These people, he tells us, were remarkable "for their beauty, and the large proportion of their body, in each of which they surpassed other men." In the age of Cambyses" they lived to a hundred and twenty years old, and some to a longer period; yet they feasted upon roasted flesh and used milk for their drink." These people were the neighbors of the Egyptians, and must have been well acquainted with their mode of living, and probably would have been influenced by them if they had been drinkers of wine. This testimony of the father of history is valuable, because it shows that these Ethiopians, who abstained from alcoholic, or intoxicating drinks, were tall,

strong, handsome, and so noted for their longevity as to be called "Macrobians."

From a passage already quoted from Homer, we learn that Hector, who was contemporary with Samson, considered wine as "enervating," and therefore refused to drink any, although pressed to do so by his mother; and if Hector did not drink wine, we may rest assured that the hero did not administer it to his troops.

Pliny assures us that the ancient Romans had not wine to drink, but that water or milk was their beverage; and we know that both poets and historians dwell on those olden times of total abstinence as the golden age of Italy. We find Virgil describing the ancient inhabitants of that country by the river whose waters supplied them with drink. Homer uses the same phraseology respecting some of the Greeks.

We have shown that the Chaldeans were originally waterdrinkers, for we find Abraham, who was a native of Ur, of the Chaldees, using no other beverage; and when he sent Hagar and Ishmael away, gave them, not a bottle of wine, but a "bottle of water." This he certainly would not have done if wine had been the liquor in common use."

The history of Cyrus shows that the ancient monarchs of Persia did not use wine; and if the kings practised total abstinence, we may be sure that the people did not use a more costly drink than their sovereigns. Cambyses became fond of wine, but still we learn from Herodotus, that the army of that monarch had nothing but water for their common drink.

The ancient Britons were noted for their "fine athletic form, for the great strength of their bodies, and for being swift of foot. They excelled in running, swimming, wrestling, climbing, and all kinds of bodily exercise; they were patient of pain, toil and sufferings of various kinds were accustomed to fatigues, to bear hunger, cold, and all manner of hardships. They could run into morasses up to their neck, and live there for days without eating." Such is the testimony of Dr. Henry in his history of England; yet he tells us that they fed on milk, flesh, roots, and leaves; and we have already seen from the speech of Queen Boadicea, that their "drink was water." Could one of these fine athletic

men rise from the dead, and look at the present sickly, nervous, deformed, dwarfish, pale-faced, or bloated, sluggish inhabitants of our island, surely he would not conclude that wine, gin, or strong beer, had improved us in stature, comeliness, or vigor. England, for want of cultivation, draining, &c., must then have been a hundred times more unhealthy than it is now, and yet, since that time, diseases have multiplied a hundred fold, and in a great measure from our luxurious living, but mainly and chiefly from intoxicating drinks. Were we to continue to increase the use of these poisons for another century at the rate that we have done the last hundred years, the chief shops among us would be gin-shops and apothecaries; and the chief employments those of the doctor, the undertaker, and the sexton; and poor-houses, hospitals, lunatic asylums, prisons, hulks, and grave-yards, would be multiplied and enlarged beyond any present calculation. Thanks be to God, total abstinence has already checked the destroying fiend, and is about to step between the living and the dead, that the plague may be stayed.

The Vedas, or sacred books of the Indians, forbid the use of wine, and yet these Indians surpass Europeans in strength and capacity to endure fatigue. Mr. Buckingham says, "that the wrestlers and quoit players of Upper Hindoostan are among the most muscular and powerful men he had ever seen, before whom the strongest European would quail; yet these persons drink nothing stronger than water." In Turkey, Persia, and Samarcand, he observed the same practice of drinking nothing stronger than water to prevail, and yet the athlete of Persia equal those of Hindoostan. The seapoys of India drink nothing stronger than water, and yet can travel twenty or thirty miles a day under a burning sun, with heavy burdens on their shoulders, and feel little fatigue. Mr. Buckingham says that in Mesopotamia he himself had ridden 800 miles in ten successive days, with the thermometer at 125 degrees in some parts of the journey, and below freezing point in others, and yet he drank nothing but water. Dr. Jackson says that he traveled in Jamaica, on foot, 118 miles in four days, and carried baggage equal to the knapsack of a common soldier, and drank only tea-water or lemonade. He attributed his escape from disease to his entire abstinence.

The Koran enjoins on the followers of Mahomet total abstinence from wine: and a very large number of his disciples rigidly adhere to this injunction, especially in Arabia; and yet these men and women are among the strongest and finest people upon earth. The conquests of the Saracens were in a great measure owing to their abstinence, for no sooner did they begin to relax in their obedience to this command of the prophet than they began to degenerate and succumb to their enemies. The Turks, before their conversion to Mohammedanism, drank water or milk, yet Seljuk, the father of the Seljukian dynasty, lived to be a hundred and seventy years old; and scarcely was there a throne in Asia, Europe, or Africa, but tottered before the power of his abstinent sons. The Seljukians, the hordes of Zengis Khan, of the Ottomans, and of Tamerlane, were originally tetotalers, and in becoming Mohammedans avowed the principle of total abstinence; yet these four angels of the Apocalypse subdued and conquered by far the greater part of the world. It is worthy of remark, that luxury and intemperance was the main cause of the degeneracy of the descendants of these he

roes.

The Circassians are allowed by all to be the most beautiful and the handsomest people upon earth. The men are tall, athletic, and very strong; and the beauty of Circassian women has been celebrated for ages; yet these fine people are distinguished for their strict observance of the principle of total abstinence.

The Rechabites mentioned by Jeremiah, abstained entirely from wine and strong drink, and to this day observe the total abstinence principle which they received from their father; and, while other nations have passed away and are now no more, the Rechabites still exist as a monument of God's blessing and protection.

Daniel and his fellows drank nothing but water, and yet surpassed their companions, who drank wine, in their fine healthy appearance.

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It is said of the Nazarites, who never drank wine, that they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire." What fine models of the good effects of total abstinence these men must have been to the whole Jewish people!

Their fine ruddy countenance, and beautiful complexion, polished by health rather than oil, demonstrated that tetotalism supplied the choicest kalydor, while their strict and exemplary piety showed that the principle was highly conducive to the development of the highest moral endowments. Had they drank intoxicating drinks, they would have been either thin, bilious, sallow, nervous, or else bloated, pimple-faced beings-unable, from natural debility, to fulfill the great moral obligations of their

VOW.

Those South Sea Islanders, who drink nothing stronger than water, would, we are assured by eye-witnesses, be fine models for a statuary. It is also said that those among them who drink inebriating liquors, become mere skeletons. Captain Ross, Captain Parry, and the Rev. Mr. Scoresby, have shown that in the frozen regions, the health of the men was preserved by their abstaining from all intoxicating drinks. The same fact is attested by other witnesses who have visited the cold climates of the north. Dr. Farre, in his evidence before the House of Commons, mentions the case of a gentleman who was taken as a prisoner to Algiers, and doomed to work, chained to another prisoner, from four in the morning until four in the afternoon, under the burning sun of Africa, and allowed nothing to eat but black bread-bread made of black wheat and the vegetable locust, and nothing to drink but water! This person declared to Dr. Farre, that "during the whole time, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, and the hardness of his labor, he enjoyed perfect health, and had not a day's illness; when this same individual returned to British fare, he had to consult a physician."

It has long been known that thieves and others who have come to our prisons in a state of disease, have soon begun to enjoy excellent health, arising from their being prohibited the use of strong drinks, and confined to water as a beverage. Mr. Mempriss, author of Scriptural Charts, &c., states, that "when he was purser on board a convict ship, they took out to Botany Bay nearly 300 females in one vessel. These convicts were allowed no other beverage than water, whilst the crew had their regular allowance of grog. On landing at Sydney, all the convicts were in perfect health, and no case of serious illness, nor