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THE WASHINGTONIAN:
AUGUSTA, JANUARY 7, 1843.
Washington Total Mslintnce Pledge .
IK, lefcose names are hereunto annexed, desirous
of forming a Society for our mutual benefit,
and to guard against a pernicious practice,
which is injurious to our health, standing and
families, do pledge ourselves as Gentlemen,
not to drink any
Splritous or Malt Liquors, Wine or Cider.
\ o* The communication in to-day’s paper,
signed “ D. L. R.” was written a few weeks ago
for insertion in the Washingtonian, at which
time, as the writer observes, yoa could not took
upon the wo-begone and blighted visage of In
temperance—all were happy then. But a few
short weeks, and how changed the scene! Men
pledged upon the honor of gentlemen , have vio
lated their faith, and even now regardless of
tuch a pledge, continue to indulge in that which
they have pronounced "injurious to their health,
standing and families.’’ We arc indeed sorry to
see that there arc some who think so light of the
pledge; and are glad when we hear the confes
sion, that if fallen, they have done wrong, and
will try it again, and renew their pledge. In
looking over tho list of names at the Secretary’s,
we perceive some poor fellows who have really
tried hard to stick to it, but could not, it appears
—the Christmas holidays the old customs, were
too tempting and they fell; many of them have
had their names erased as often as the third time,
and have come back to try again! We like to
see this reclaiming spirit encouraged towards our
fallen Washingtonians. Impress upon their
mind* a strict adherence to the Pledge, what
ever may be their objection to the society —bid
them bear in mind our Anniversary celebration,
and that broad banner under which they marched
on the 4th July last—that long procession, and
tho badges worn on that occasion. Touch them
on these points, and there is such a thing as
conscience, which will tell them they must
support that pledge.
15" Will each of our readers (and more par
ticularly thoae in this city.) peruse carefully the
article signed “ W.,” in to-day’s paper. Every
Washingtonian should tako this matter in hand
earnestly, and endeavor to remedy this state of
things, for the credit of the Society to which he
belongs.
£jr Read the Circular of the “ Sons of Tem
perance,” on the first page of to-days paper.
“ Union is strength,” recollect; and some of our
Washingtonians wanted strength very much
during Christmas times. We think something
on the order of the Sons of Temperance is need
ed, and would prove a great accession to stability,
with many members.
IjT Mr. Taylor is lecturing in Savannah, and
41 going ahead,” along the sea-board.
For the Washingtonian.
A few Words concerning Temperance.
Citizens of Augusta—To you especially do I
address this article. The subject of temperance
is one in which every friend of mankind, at all
acquainted with its character, must feel a lively
interest; but especially do we expect those situa
ted as you are, to feel interested in this subject.
Ever since vour first recollection you have been
accustomed to see your fellow man reeling in your
streets and rolling in the mud, the sport of every
passer by, the burlesque of his race. You have
had, dwelling in your midst, his sorrow-stricken
wife and pale-faced little ones imploring you for
bread, for clothing, for a shelter from the burn
ing beams of summer, or the bleak, piercing
winds of winter. Is there a reader ofthe Wash
ingtonian, a dweller in this city, whose heart has
not bled a thousand times atthe exhibitions of
human wretchedness and degradation that he has
witnessed 1 Surely not. Several months ago
you gave evidence of an ardent desire to put
away from your midst the fell destroyer. Mr.
Taylor’s arrival was hailed with joy, a highly
commendable zeal was soon at wcrrk, and the
temperance pledge was embraced by eager hun
dreds who were desirous to free themselves from
the drunkard’s bondage and to preserve unstain
ed the character of future generations. Augusta
immediately presented a state of things enough to
have made angels rejoice; yea, I doubt not but
those happy spirits who rejoice over “ one sinner
that repenteth,” beheld the mighty change and
shouted in their realms oflight, “ Glory to God
in the highest?” Why, not only had the lad of
fifteen, who was just beginning to feel an appetite
for alcohol been redeemed, but the man of grey
hairs, over whom a fond wife and children had
poured out floods of bitter tears—whose doom
was well nigh fixed in drep damnation —he too
was released from his loathsome chains, hope was
again revived in his ce.llous heart, and he restor
ed, a new man, to the fond embrace of those he
once htid loved. Grog-shops were closed, and
those who had frequented brothels forsook them
for places where the mind could be improved.
The sot who had become the pity and the scorn
ofallaTound, now walked with lorm erect and
showed once more a bold and honest face. Glad
ness surrounded firesides that long had mourned
its loss. The sweet innocent female, who had
spent long years in hopeless grief for the beastly
degradation of the man she loved—who with
trembling fear clasppd her darling infant to her
bosom at the sound of his homebound footsteps—
now felt a joy only less than paradisiacal when
she saw him once again, a sober, hopeful man.
The contemplation of these scenes, these bless
ed specimens ofdrunkard reformation, creates a
joy in my heart too big for words to express. But
I feel it my duty to call your attention to other
reflections than these, and they arc of a painful
character; I mean the late sad falling ofT of many
who signed the temperance pledge. Who could
have thought three months ago, while contem
plating the happy state of things to which I have
alluded, that at the beginning of 1843 our ears
would be stunned and our hearts sickened by the
renewal of those blasphemies and bacchanalian
revelries, that once had made this beautiful city
mourn ? But alas! it is so. Many have gone
back to their cups and disgrace, and now are go
ing with fearful speed in the way to eternal ruin.
O ! is it possible, that those sweet little children
who, for a few months only have known a fath
er’s kindness and love, and whose cheeks were
beginning to wear once more the roseate tint of
health—is it possible that they shall be cursed
again with all tho dread horrors that a drunken
father inflicts? “Forbid it my countrymen—
forbid it Almighty God !” Citizens of Augusta,
malo and female, the news of your philanthropy,
and zeal in every good work has gone abroad, and
will you not now strive to maintain that good
name by exerting all your powers to strengthen
in sobriety the men who yet stick to their pledge 1
Will you not strive to bring back to the path of
duty the poor man who has been led astray?
There is no time to lose—the enemy is still
among us—he was only wounded, but now he is
recovering new strength. Rouse! rouse to ac
tion or all is lost!!
But a word to those who have taken tho tem
perance pledge. Think you that it is a trivial
matter that you have signed that pledge 1 Nay,
be assured your honor is involved in this matter,
you have given your word—aye, more, you have
solemnly declared in writing that you would ab
stain from all intoxicating drinks, and you are
just as much bound to the performance of that
pledge as you would be to the fulfilment of any
contract. You cannot go back without disgrace
and ruin, temporal and spiritual. No honorable
man will violate his word much more his temper
ance pledge. The eyes of all men are upon you,
your fellow citizens now regard you as gentlemen,
they received you with open arms when they saw
you returning from the degradation of drunken
ness, but if you go back you will fix on your
character stains ot deeper blackness than those
with which you were formerly polluted. I exhort
you by all your earthly hopes—by the love ofyour
wives and families and friends—by your love of
character and peace of mind—by the horrors of a
drunkard’s death-bed, and by the gnawings of
the worm that shall never die—TO STAND
FIRM.
If any poor, unfortunate violator of his pledge,
shall chance to read this piece, to him I say—
Come back and try it again. Bad though you
have done, yet it will be infinitely better for you
to come back than to stay where you are—to wal
low again in the filth of drunkenness. Con
science stings you in your moments of soberness
and roli'ude when you reflect on what you have
done, but nevertheless, I say—Come back and j
sign again, and call upon the Almighty to help ;
you stand. So shall you yet be honorable men,
and peace and happiness again fill your hearts
and bloom like the flowers ofEden in the homes
of those you love. W.
Augusta. Jan. 2d 1843. — S s
afir. Richard P. Taylor’s Travels, con
taining a lull account of (he progress of
Temperance, wherever he has lectured.
From Covington, I went to Jasper County, and
lectured at Monticello and Hillsborougl —at
each of these places, we have a society, about
100 accessions to the pledge, and some of them
the hardest kind of cases: We had considerable
opposition to the cause in that place, in conse
quence of an attempt to legislate some few years
since. “The Flournoy Petition” excited strong
prejudice against the cause throughout the whole
county. We met also with considerable opposi
tion from an anti-temperance Clergyman, who
figured largely in the streets' It seemed strange
to me, to see a preacher of the Gospel publicly op
posing total abstinence; but wljen I discovered
him to be half drunk, the mystery to my mind
was solved. Yet it seems strange to me, at the
present day, with all the light and knowledge we
have on the subject, to sec professed Christians,
and more especially, Ministers , indulging in this
cursed vice. For ray part, I cannot reconcile the
spirit of alcohol with the spirit of Christ—if a
true follower of Christ can be dissipated in his
character, I must then take it for granted that
Jesus Christ was also dissipated; because I un
derstand, by a follower of Christ, one who follows
hiscxample! And if such bp the character of
the founder of the Christian Religion, I would as
soon fall down to a Pagan god, and there offer up
my petition, as to prostrate myself at the foot of
the Cross!—yes, I would as soon be a follower of;
Mahomed, as a follower of Christ, if I could be- |
lievc that the Lord Jesus Christ, by his precept!
and example, sanctioned this damning vice—a
vice that has sunk hundreds of thousands into a
drunkard’s grave! caused widows and orphans to
weep and pine away in starving solitude—de
stroyed the brightest prospects and beggared a
countless multitude of the human race, —in slwrt,
a vice that has spread waste in almost every por
tion of the globe—changing the physical and
moral order of things, scattering confusion and
chaos in the moral and physical creation—ls I
could but understand that Jesus Christ was of
such a character*—that he gave to this hellish vice
his sanction and approval, by his precept and ex
ample—l would be bound in justice to my own
feelings, to regard him as an imposter! 1 would
rather be a Deist, Atheist, or any thing, than a
follower of such a vile deceiver!
But hold! says this bible objector; you arc
gudty of blasphemy! you are an infidel! for none
but an Atheist or Deist would speak as you do!
I ask your pardon, sir; I am neither Atheist or
Deist! lam a believer in Christ and his holy re
ligion ; and am willing to the utmost of my hum
ble ability, to vindicate his pure, unsullied char
acter.
But how can you reconcile year ultra total
abstinence principles with the bible, and more
especially the new testament, for that sanctions
temperance, or the temperate use of articles you
reprobate 1 Did not Christ turn water into wine
at the marriage feast 7 Did not Paul recommend
Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach’s
sake 1 And are we not commanded to use wine
at the Lord’s table 1 Are we not to regard these
things as the good creatures of God, and |to use
them in moderation, temperately'! Has not the
Creator made all these for man, pronounced them
good, and commanded us to use the world as not
abusing it! And does he not say, that any one
who takes away from, or annuls any portion of
this book, God shall take away his part out of
the Book of Life, and out of the Holy City, and
from the things which are written in this book !
Dare you, sir, with all these declarations recorded
in that holy book, persist in your ultra principles
and attempt to sap the foundations of God’s go
vernment! If you will admit my mode of argu
mentation to be correct, answer these questions,
and then perhaps I may think more favorably of
your plan,
I will admit,sir, the language of the bible in
the quota® ns you have made ; but cannot admit
your mode of reasoning; it is not in my opinion
genuine; there is too much sophistry thrown
around it; you do not give the whys and where
fores, and mere declamation will not answer my
purpose. I will now, sir, try to answer your
questions: You ask, Did not Christ turn water
into wine ! I answer, he did; but that was not
alcoholic wine: it was pronounced good by the
governor of the feast, from the fact that it did not
make the guests sick, or in other words, drunk ;
if was the unfermented juice of the grape. But
it was not so much the object of turning the wa
ter into wine to supply the guests, that Jesus
Christ had in view, as you may suppose, sir. I
consider his principle object to be this: To test
his power by performing a miracle, to satisfy them
that he was from God; for no man could do the
things that he did except God be with him. I
contend that Christ never sanctioned the use of
intoxicating wine, for if he did, he must have
sanctioned drunkenness to a certain, and I may
say, an unlimited extent; for it is from among
the fashionable wine drinkers that the ranks of
the drunkard are filled up. There arc two kinds
of wine spoken of in the bible, one is condemned
in the strongest language possible, we are com
manded not to look upon it while it is red, this is
the fermented juice of the grape, and will make a
man drunk, the same as brandy, gin or whiskey;
this is the kind of wine that men get drunk on in
wine-producing countries; they instead of ceasing
its use after it commences fermentation, check it
in the midst of its course while containing the
greatest amount of alcohol, and then call it good
because it makes drunk come, with a perfect rush.
Now sir, you will perceive that man interferes
with a natural law—if he would let the wine
alone, it would soon pass through that state of
fermentation and become sour, and then it could
not make a man drunk. The other kind of wine
mentioned, is the unfermented juice of the grape
—it is used in wine countries by the wine dresser
the same as we use milk, for nourishment, with
our food, and cannot in that state produce intox
ication, but is abandoned av soon* as fermentation
commences, because it is no longer considered
palatable. It is this kind of wine which in bible
language is pronounced good. It was this kind
of wine, in ray opinion, that Jesus Christ made
from water, at tho marriage feas ! —it was this
kind of wine, in my opinion, that was used at
the Lord’s table—it was this kind of wine that
Paul prescribed to Timothy for his stomach’s
sake. Such wine, if wc could get it, and only
use it in its unfermented state, would be perfectly
harmless; because it docs not in that state possess
any intoxicating properties. This, then, is the
wine which in scripture language is pronounced
good; and called bad as soon as fermentation
has taken place; then weave warned against it,
not even to look on it, and above all, not drink it,
tor if we do, it will make us drunk. So far then
from Christ giving his sanction to the use of in
toxicating drinks in' any of its forms, he only
approbuivu a lue use of the unferincnted juice of
the vine, wholly destitute of every thing that
could intoxicate; and as such, was perfectly
harmless and inoffensive. So much then for the
first question.
You ask, Did not Paul recommend' Timothy
to take a little wine for his stomache sake 1 I an
swer, he did, and that too of the kind of wine to
which I have referred; that which is pronounced
good (unfermented,) and Paul also prescribed as
a medicine—fbr Timothy, you know sir, was
sick--that was not using it as a beverage, tem
perately, when a man is in good health. Wc
have no objectien to its use as a medicine, for a
sick man, when it is recommended by a sober
physician. And another reason why I think
Paul did not prescribe alcoholic wine fbr Timo
thy’s stomach, is because I do not think it would
have been for his stomach’s sake—l judge first
from my own experience, (for I am a reformed
drunkard, and have frequently been drunk on
wine, and the way I felt afterwards, I should not
conclude it was for my stomach’s sake.) The
second reason is, I, have in my possession dia
grams representing the stomach in the different
stages of disease, from drinking intoxicating
drinks; and if you could see them, sir, I think
you would come to the conclusion that it would "
not do Timothy’s, or any other person’s stomach,
any good, to drink fermented wines. So, in my
opinion, Paul must have been out of his senses or
no better than a quack doctor, to have prescribed
that kind of stuff for a sick man’s stomach, when
he was in a country where he could get the un
fermented juice of the grape. In my mind then,
it amounts to strong presumptive evidence, that
it was not that kind of wine that will lay a poor
fellow under the table, that Paul recommended
to Timothy. As for the Lord’s Table, that is a
religious ordinance, and of course we have no ob
jections to its use in that way; but I think it
would be safer for the reformed drunkard who
has been brought in the Church, if the unfer
mented juice of the grape were administered to
him at the sacramental board—for alcoholic wine
a tendency to revive his appetite for