The bases of the temperance reform: an exposition and appeal./ With replies to numerous objections. By Rev. Dawson Burns.

.I7oral? Stfeay iii A bstiiieizc.
criticism and common usage at defiance. "Look not
upon" may not mean " Do not cast your eye upon," but
it unquestionably means, "Do not gaze at so as to desire
the object looked upon "-an injunction which cuts away
by the root the opinion that intoxicating drink is good,
and therefore is to be desired and consumed. Again, the
admonition addressed to Lemuel, "It is not for kings, O
Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes
strong drink,"* remains a standing rule for all kings and
princes; and when the reason is assigned, "Lest they
drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of
any of the affiicted,"t- it is manifest that such a reason
renders the rule applicable, not to princes and monarchs
only, but likewise to all who are engaged in any business
which concerns the happiness and interests of their fellow-creatures. The import of the injunction is, "Do not
imperil your capacity of benefiting those who depend
upon your sobriety of judgment and feeling; and, to ensure that sobriety, hold aloof from the liquors by which it
might be subverted or impaired." The following verses
(Prov. xxxi. 6, 7), "Give strong drink unto him that is
ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy
hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more," must be taken in subordination to the preceding injunction. To read them as a
warrant to "drive dull care away" by the help of alcohol
would be to put Anacreon into the Bible, and to turn the
Proverbs into a primer of inebriation. What is intended
is not to recommend wine and strong drink as antidotes
to grief and pain-a proposal at which poverty revolts,
and which the Redeemer rejected on the Cress;-but to
point out that the only use to which such things could
be put (were such use lawful) is to dull the mind, and to
* Prov. xxxi. 4. t Prov. xxxi. 5.
+ latt. xxvii. 34, compared with Mark xv. 23.
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