A lecture on the harmony of teetotalism, with the divine word : as expressed in the authorized version of the Bible (with answers to several objectors) / abridged from the works of Dr. Lees, and printed for general circulation.

  • Frederic Richard Lees
Date:
[between 1850 and 1859]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the harmony of teetotalism, with the divine word : as expressed in the authorized version of the Bible (with answers to several objectors) / abridged from the works of Dr. Lees, and printed for general circulation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/36 (page 22)
    Nazarites. Recliabites. Teetotalism sanctioned physiologically Lam. iv. 22 published 130 years ago, an impartial and brief account of both the Nazarites and Rechabites may be cited :— “ One part of the special sanctity of a nazarite consisted in a total absti¬ nence from wine, or anything intoxicating, that he might the better attend to the study of the law, and other exercises of religion; which justifies in part what Maimonides [no favorer of their vow] says, that Nazarites were ad¬ vanced to the dignity of Priests, who were not allowed to drink wine ... in the time of their ministration. * “The rechabites were a sort of votaries among the Hebrews, descended from Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, and his son Hobab, from wdiom came Rechab, who was called The Just. It is uncertain when they first formed themselves into a Society; but they always had orders and regulations peculiar to themselves. They were remarkable for their strict piety and integrity of life, and were originally called Kenites. They likewise had the name of Scribes, because they studied the law, and were very ready in the expounding of it. f Jonadab seems to ^ave refined their old discipline; and they always appealed to his injunctions as the founder of the fraternity ... They were bound to drink no wine, nor to build houses, but to dwell in tents [a sanitary and politic law, not at all unpleasant in the soft climate of Palestine] ; nor to sow seed, nor to plant vineyards, nor to have any; but to give themselves up to a contemplative life, and avoid all occasions of luxury and avarice. This Religious Society was highly approved of by God.” r Dr. Chalmers, in his Scripture Notes, rightly regards the Rechabites as a Temperance Society—united, I add, by a family pledge, to which they adhered with intelligent fidelity, and for doing which they were set forth as an ensample by God. IY.—THE DIVINE TEACHING IN THE BIBLE IMPLIES THAT TEETO¬ TALISM IS A PHYSIOLOGICAL LAW OB TRUTH. This is virtually established by cases and circumstances already advanced; but I will adduce others, and regard some of the old facts from a somewhat different point of view. The Nazarites were specially set apart, to do ‘honor to the Eternal’; and amongst them were reared some of the brightest orna¬ ments of the Jewish Church. Daniel and his brethren had probably been trained in that school of self-denial, and thus had a double-reason for declining to drink the wine of Babylon or eat the luxurious meat of the King’s table. Be that as it may, God’s prophets were so asso¬ ciated with God’s Nazarites, that he regarded the offering of wine to the one as an offence parallel with the saying to the other, c Prophesy not.’ Now Jeremiah, in his Lamentations, contrasts the sinful children of Israel, c black ’ and ‘ withered ’ in their captivity, with a people of a high moral and religious character. “ Her Nazarites. were purer than snow; “ They were whiter than milk: “In body more ruddy than rubies, “ Their countenance was as sapphire.” * The garment worn by a Nazarite (as by tfic Baptist) was made of hair, and called addareth. Such was the mantle of Elijah; whence Grotius con¬ cludes, either that he was a Nazarite, or that the habit of a Prophet and a Nazarite was the same. t In this respect they resembled bishop Timothy. If the Bible is opposed to Teetotalism, it is singular these expounders of it should never onoe discover the fact during a study of the jaw, and an intercourse with living prophets, extending over a thousand years! • • ( >