CHRIST our Lord, to whom every knee must bow, and every tongue confess, either in mercy or in judgment, came down from his father's glory, took up­on him our nature and suffered death for us, to restore to us that first life of meekness, purity and love, that being dead to sin, we should live unto righteousness. Leaving us an example, saith the Apostle, that we should follow his steps. He positively enjoins us, to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us; to do good to those that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us. A new command­ment, saith our blessed Saviour, I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you. The meek, the merciful and the pure in heart are by him pronounced to be the particular objects of divine re­gard. These are the watch words of Christianity to all the true followers of Christ.

On the other hand, War requires of its votaries that they kill, destroy, lay waste, and to the utmost of their power distress and annoy, and in every way and manner deprive those they esteem their enemies of support and comfort. Now reader, consider the dif­ference; look at the suffering and distress which has, and continues to desolate this once highly favoured land; numbers of human beings, equally with our selves the objects of redeeming grace, are daily hurried into eternity, many, its to be feared, in an unprepared state; and if upon comparing the one with the other we feel compunction, if we are moved with compassion toward our fellow-men, let us cherish this sensation; it is a call from the God of Love, the beneficent father of mankind, whom the Apostle de­nominates, under the appellation of love. God is Love—and he that dwelleth in God dwelleth in love and God in him.

THOUGHTS ON THE NATURE of WAR, &c.

WAR, considered in itself, is the pre­meditated and determined destructi­on of human beings, of creatures originally formed after the image of God, and whose pre­servation, for that reason, is secured by hea­ven itself within the sence of this righteous law, that at the hand of every man's brother, the life of man shall be required. And though this created image of our holy God must be owned to have been so wretchedly defaced, as to retain but a very faint resemblance of its divine original; yet as the highest enforce­ment of that heavenly law, which was pub­lished for the security of life, it is most gra­ciously renewed by the incarnation of the son of God, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.

The apostle James, chap. 4th, hath answer­ed the question with respect to the cause of war, in so precise and determinate a manner as to preclude all difficulty and doubt about it; from whence comes wars and fighting amongst you, says he, come they not hence, even of your [Page 4] lusts, that war in your members: Ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain: Ye fight and war, yet have not, because ye ask amiss, because ye have no respect to the will of the Lord that reigneth, but forsaking the Supreme Good in whom alone your happiness consists, ye fol­low an earthly and deceitful good and think only of procuring it by your power. James iv, 3. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, from a supposed respect to the Lord that reigneth, but, too generally, for animal and sensual enjoyment, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. In this very explicit and true ac­count, war, like all other evils, is described as centering in itself; and the end of it is declared to be gratification of those very ap­petites and passions, from which it derives its birth; for in this unhappy circle, which is indeed the great circle of the history of man, the fatal mischief proceeds. War is the inse­parable union between the sensual and malignant passions; war protracted to a certain period, ne­cessarily compels peace; peace revives and extends trade and commerce; trade and commerce give new life, vigour, and scope to the sensual and ma­lignant passions, and these naturally tend to gene­rate another war.

The disorders of nature and of life are wholly the effects of sin, of a voluntary aver­sion and alienation from the life, light and love of God; in perfect union, with which perfect peace and happiness are only to be found; hence that discordance of the out­ward [Page 5] elements, which brings forth pestilence, famine, earthquakes, storms,,and tempests; hence, in the corporal part of the human frame, pain, sickness, and death; in the mental, sensuality, pride, and malignity, in­cluding all the selfish and wrathful passions, that between individuals, engender envy, ha­tred, injury, resentment, and revenge; and between nations, a peculiar kind of enmity and wrong, that issues in war. Surrounded with evil as men are, and full of evil them­selves, what would become of the whole wretched race, at any given instant of time, at this very moment for example, if the ef­fect of that evil were not continually suspend­ed, and directed by infinite power; so as to become continually subservient to the pur­poses of infinite wisdom, righteousness, and love.

It would be needless to mention the nature of that universal redemption which is pro­posed by the gospel; if in this age of levity we were not so apt to forget it. It is, in general, a full restoration of the life of God in the soul; the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which was once the life and perfection of fallen man, which the Son of God, the bruiser of the serpent, has by his suffering, been restoring, to human nature from the time in which Adam fell.

When the Son of God became incarnate, what was implied in this restoration as the effect of its influence upon man, was fully [Page 6] evident from our blessed Saviour's doctrine and his life; namely, the conquest and re­nunciation of the world, the death of the will, and of all the appetites and passions of fallen animal nature, through faith in his name—not an historical and speculative faith, a mere rational assent to the truth of a well attested history of facts and doctrines; but a full, ardent, continual desire of the life of Christ, as begotten and formed in the soul, by the continual operation of the Holy Ghost. Thus what was at first the personal duties of single christians, when they were scattered over the face of the earth, and were only parts of different nations, became afterwards national duties, when whole nati­ons became christians. If, therefore, to love our enemy, to forgive him, to do him good, and pray for him; it to overcome the world, whose power consists in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are christian personal duties, if to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength, and our fellow-creatures as ourselves, is the purity and perfection of the christian personal life, the same must also be true of a christian national duty; for a christian nation differs no other­wise from a christian person, than as the whole differs from one of the parts of which it essentially consists.

It would be needless to propose this sub­ject to the consideration of experimental [Page 7] christians, who know with certainty, that human nature left to itself, has no power but that of producing mere evil, and that every thing within it and without it, that is either great or good, is the free gift of grace, the unmerited bounty of redeeming love. But the true christian spirit being much de­parted from the earth, true christian know­ledge, as its inseparable companion, is de­parted with it, and men seem to be gone back again to their old animal life; and tho' in speculation and idea they prosess an assent to the truths of revelation, yet in heart and practice they are apt to consider the course of all things as connected only with temporal good and evil, and themselves as the center and circumference, the first cause, and the la [...] end of all, ascribing to human understanding, designs which only infinite Wis­dom can form, and to human power, events which Omnipotence only can produce. If the christian, however, recollects himself, he will find war to be a sad consequence of the apostacy, and fall of man, when he was abandoned, to the fury of his own lusts and passions ^*, as the natural and penal effects of breaking loose from the divine government the fundamen­tal law of which is LOVE; Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength, and thy fellow-creatures as thyself.

[Page 8]The consequences of war, when imparti­ally examined, will be found big, not only with outward and temporal distress, but also with an evil that extends itself (where in the darkness and tumult of human passions, it is, by many, neither expected nor conceived to reach) even into the regions of eternity. That property is confounded, scattered, and destroyed; that laws are trampled under foot, government despised, and the ties of all civil and domestic order broken into pieces; that fruitful countries are made desarts, and stately cities a heap of ruins, that matrons and virgins are violated; and neither the in­nocence of unoffending infancy, nor the im­potence of decrepit age, afford protection from the rage and thirst for blood; this is but the mortal progeny of this seeming womb­of mischief; the worst, even the dreadful effect it has upon the immortal soul, is still behind; and tho' remote from those senses and passions that are exercised only by pre­sent good and evil, must yet, upon the least recollection, impress with horror every mind that believes there is a righteous God, and a state of retribution, that is to last forever. Under these considerations, what must the real christian feel; he who is fully convinced that the fall of man, is a fall from meekness, purity, and love, into sensuality, pride, and wrath; that the Son of God became incar­nate, and suffered and died to restore that first life of meekness, purity, and love; and [Page 9] that for these in whom the restoration of that life is not begun, in the present state the Son of God incarnate, it is to be feared, suffered and died in vain. What must he feel for those immortal spirits, who in the earliest dawn of their day of purification, are by hundreds and thousands driven into eternity, in the bitterness of enmity and wrath—some inflamed with drunkenness, some fired with lust; and all stained with blood? In those direful conflicts, which are maintained with so much rage, that when the vanquished, at last, retreats with the loss of twenty thousand human beings, the victor finds he has purchased some little advantage, at the expence of more than half that num­ber ^*. Heaven and earth! what a possibility is here of a sacrifice made to the prince of darkness, the first and chief apostate, who re­joices in beholding men, through the abuse [Page 10] of those benefits which undeserved mercy has conferred upon them, transformed into enmity and hatred of God and their brethren; forsaken by God, and destroying one ano­ther, and thus hastening once more into his horrid society; that having been accomplices in his rebellion, they may become partakers of his misery and torment.

Now if the man of valour, whom consent­ing nations have dignified with the title of hero, and the man devoted to the world, are asked, From whence this immortal mischief, that may thus extend its influence into the regions of eternity, can proceed, what must they answer? indeed what can they answer, but that it is engendered by the love of human glory—as vain a phantom as ever played before a mad man's eye; by the lust of dominion, the avarice of wealth, or some other pursuit that centers in this present life. May all those who are called to be the followers of Christ be preserved from these earthly, these sensual and malignant motives, so repugnant to the generous, compassionate and forgiving temper, which, through the influence of redeeming mercy, is concomi­tant with the pure beams of heavenly light, that light which is intended to remove all the darkness of human corruption, and transform selfish, sensual, proud spirits, into angels of patience, humility, meekness, pu­rity and love; the children, and heirs of God; the brethren, and joint heirs of Christ.

[Page 11]All external blessings, whether national or personal, are curses, when they become the fuel of the sensual and malignant fire in cor­rupt nature, when they not only alienate the mind from the Lord that reigneth, but mad­den it to impious rebellion and defiance against him. If ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will even send a curse upon your blessings. Malachi ii, 2. From the foregoing, it is evident, that Christians can have no interest in war, they cannot derive blessings from its success, nor triumph and exult, when to the short sighted view of the human mind, the appearance of success presents itself; these know, that the means are infinitely dispro­portionate to the end, and our Redeemer himself, in the revelation of his future judgments, upon a fallen and obstinate evil world, has declared, that, he that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity, and he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Rev. xiii, I0. Here is the trial of the faith, and patience of the saints, who being called to a state of suffering, and treading in the footsteps of their great exampler, when they are reviled, revile not again. When they suffer, threaten not, but commit themselves to the Lord that reigneth to him that judgeth righte­ously. Peter ii, 23. And to this solemn de­claration of righteous judgment; the pen­man of that awful book, calls upon all man­kind to attend, and says, If any man have an [Page 12] ear, an ear that is not totally deafened by the tumultuous passions of nature, separated from God, and turned wholly to itself, let him now hear; let him now repent, and for­saking his own sensual and malignant will, seek after the God of peace and love, and live.

EXSRACT from LAW's ADDRESS to the CLERGY.

THE temporal miseries and wrong which are the sad effects of war, are neither to be numbered or expressed.—What theivery bears any proportion to that which with the boldness of drum and trumpet, plunders the innocent of all they have? and if themselves are left alive, with all their limbs, or their daughters unravished, they have many times only the ashes of their consumed houses to lye down upon.— What honour has war gotten, from its thousands and tens of hun­dreds of thousands of men slaughtered on heaps, with as little regret or concern as at loads of rubbish thrown into a pit.—Who but the fiery dragon, would put a wreath of laurel on such heroes head? Who but he, could say unto them, Well done, good and faithful servants. But there is still an evil of war much greater, though less regarded, ap­parent to those who reflect, how many hun­dreds of thousands of men, born into this world, for no other end, but that they may, by being born again of Christ, from sons of [Page 13] Adam's misery, become sons of God, and fellow­heirs with Christ, in everlasting glory, who reflects, I say, what nameless numbers of these are robbed of God's precious gift of life to them, before they have known the one sole benefit of living, who are not suf­fered to stay in this world, till age and ex­perience have helped them to know the in­ward voice and operation of God's spirit, have helped them to find and feel that evil, curse, and sting of sin and death, which must be taken from within them, before they can die the death of the righteous; who instead of this, have been either violently forced or tempted in the fire of youth, and full strength of sin­ful lusts, to forget God, eternity, and their own souls, and rush into a kill or be killed, with as much furious haste and goodness of spirit, as tyger kills tyger for the sake of his prey. Amongst unfallen creatures in hea­ven, God's name and nature is love, light, and glory—to the fallen sons of Adam, that which was love, light, and glory in heaven, becomes infinite pity and compassion on earth; in a God, cloathed with the na­ture of his fallen creature, bearing all its in­firmities, entering into all its troubles, and in the meek innocence of a lamb of God; living a life and dying a death of all suffer­ings due to sin. Sing! O ye heavens! and shout all ye lower parts of the earth, for this is our God, that varies not, whose first creat­ing love knows no change, but into a re­deeming [Page 14] pity towards all his fallen creatures. Look now at warning Christendom, what smallest drop of pity towards sinners is to be found in it? or how could a spirit, all hellish, more fully contrive and hasten their destruc­tion; it stirs up and kindles every passion of fallen nature, that is contrary to the all­humble, all-meek, all loving, all-forgiving, all-saving spirit of Christ—it unites, it drives, and compels nameless numbers of un­converted sinners to fall murdering and mur­dered, amongst flashes of fire, with the wrath and swiftness of lightning, into a fire infi­nitely worse than that in which they died— O sad subject for thanks giving days, whether in popish or protestant churches; for if there is a joy of all the angels in heaven for one sinner that repenteth, what a joy must there be in hell, over such multitudes of sinners, not suffered to repent? And it they who have converted many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars in the firmament forever, what Chorazin woe may they not justly sear, whose proud wrath, and vain glory, have robbed such numberless troops of poor wretches, of all time and place of knowing what righteous­ness they wanted, for the salvation of their immortal souls ^*. Here my pen trembles in my hand—But when, O! when will one single [Page 15] christian church, people, or language, trem­ble at the share they have in this death of sinners—Again, would you further see the fall of the universal church, from being led by the Spirit of Christ, to be guided by the inspiration of the great fiery dragon, look at all European Christendom sailing round the globe, with fire and sword, and every murdering art of war, to seize the possessions and steal or kill the inhabitants of Africa and the Indies.—What natural right of man, what supernatural virtue, which Christ bro't down from heaven, is not here trodden un­der foot?—all that you ever read or hear­ed of heathen barbarity, was here outdone by christian conquerors. What wars of christians against christians, blended with scalping heathens, have stained the earth and the seas with human blood, for a miserable share in the spoils of a plundered heathen world; a world which should have heard, or seen, or felt nothing from the followers of Christ, but a divine love, that had forced [Page 16] them from distant lands, and through the perils of long seas, to visit strangers, with those glad tidings of peace and salvation, to all the world, which angels from heaven, and shepherds on earth, proclaimed at the birth of Christ ^*.

But to know when her christianity admits of war, christianity is to be considered as in its right state; now the true state of the world, turned christian, is thus described by the great Gospel-prophet, shewed what a change it was to make in the fallen state [Page 17] of the world; It shall come to pass, in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow into it, and many people shall say, Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord's house, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, Isa. ii, 2. Now what follows from this going up of the nations to the mountain of the Lord's house, the holy prophet expresly tells you in the following words: They shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning­hooks; nation shall not lift up its sword against nation, ☞ neither shall they learn war any more. Isa. ii, 4. Mic. iv, 3. This is the prophet's true Christendom, with one and the same essential divine mark set upon it; as when the Lamb of God said, By this shall all men know, that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another, as I have loved you, John xiii, 34. Chrits's kingdom is no where come, but where the works of the devil are destroyed, and men are turned from the power of satan unto God—God is only another name for the highest and only good, and the highest and only good means nothing else but love, with all its works. Would you farther see when and where the kingdoms of this fallen world are become a kingdom of God, the Gospel­prophet tells you, that it is then and there where all enmity ceaseth. The wolf, faith he, shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lye down with the kid; the cast and the young [Page 18] lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed, and their young ones shall lye down together; and the lion shall like the the ox. The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice­den—for they shall not hurt and destroy in all my holy mountain, Isa. xi, 6. See here a kingdom of God on the earth; it is nothing else but a kingdom of meer love, where all hurt and destroying is done away, and every work of enmity changed into one united power of heavenly love—but observe again and again, whence this comes to pass, that God's kingdom on earth is, and can be no­thing else, but the power of reigning love; the prophet tells tells us, it is because in the days of his kingdom the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Hence we are enjoined, by our blessed Saviour, to pray for, and continually to watch over every suggestion of our corrupt minds, which may impede the accomplish­ment of these gracious promises; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is done in heaven. The frequent accounts we meet with in the Old Testament, of wars being carried on in the time of the law, gives no sanction to the same practice under the gospel; as this last dispensation is a wonderous display of di­vine benignity and love, pronouncing those only blessed, who are found in the actual [Page 19] possession of that poverty of spirit, that meek­ness and purity of heart, which was pointed out in types and ceremonies, under the law; hence the gospel dispensation is declared to be the bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw nigh unto God, Heb. vii, I9.

We are christians, not Jews, and are there­fore required to attend to the instruction and practice of our great and good exampler, Jesus Christ, who was declared from heaven to be the beloved Son of God; and whole ap­pearance on earth was ushered in by the an­gels and heavenly host, with a publication of peace on earth, and good will towards men. The prophecies which preceded our Saviour's coming, clearly pointed to the greater ex­cellency of the dispensation, which was to take place when He, the peaceable Shiloh, the desire of nations should come, unto whom the gathering of the people was to be, Hag. ii, 7.

The primitive christians bore a testimony to the inconsistency of war with the gospel. Robert Barclay, in his Apology, says, ‘That this was the judgment of most (if not all) the ancient fathers, (so called) the first three hundred years after Christ. They affirm­ed the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah, re­specting the peaceable reign of the Messiah, to be fulfilled in the christians of thier time.’ ^* Many of the Reformers favoured [Page 20] the same sentiment, particularly John Wick­liff; the first eminent instrument raised in opposition to the errors and corruption then prevalent in the world; of whom we are told in the account of his life, ^* ‘That he thought the whole trade of war was sinful.’

We find by the accounts we meet with in John Fox's Acts and Monuments of the Church, that the same testimony against war was maintained amongst the followers of Wick­liff. This appears more particularly, from a representation, called Conclusions and Reforma­tions, laid before the parliament, by those first Reformers, the I7th of Richard the IId, in the year I395, as mentioned vol. I. p. 579. It farther appears from what John Fox calls, "The godly Declaration of Walter Brute;" of whose susserings for the truth, he gives us a large account, at page 555. An extract of the said Walter's expressions, on that head, are as follows, viz.

‘I marvel why wise men, leaving the plain and manifest doctrine of Christ, whereby he teacheth patience, do seek cor­ners of their own imagining, to the intent they may approve fightings and wars, [Page 21] why mark they not after what manner Christ spake to Peter, striking the high bishop's servant, saying, Put up the sword into the sheath; for every one that shall take the sword, shall perish with the sword.’

Again; ‘the apostle writing to the Corin­thians, as touching judgment and conten­tion, which are matter of less weight than are fightings; he writeth, Now verily there is great fault in you, that ye be at law amongst yourselves; why rather take ye not wrong? why rather suffer ye not de­ceit. And that apostle generally in all his epistles, teacheth, that patience should be kept, and not corporal resistance by fight­ings, because charity is patient, it is cour­teous, it suffereth all things. I marvel how they justify, and make good the wars by christians, saving only the wars against the devil and sin. For seeing that it is plain, that those things which were in the Old Testament, were figures of things to be done in the New Testament; therefore we must needs say, that corporal wars being then done, were figures of the christian wars against sin and the devil, for the heavenly country, which is our inheri­tance.’

[Page 22]In the times which preceded our Saviour's appearance on earth, ‘every battle of the warrior was with confused noise, and gar­ments rolled in blood;’ but the warfare which was to be introduced by HIM, the Prince of Peace, of the increase of whose government there is to be no end, was to be "with burning and fuel of fire," ^*. Isaiah ix, 5. to the destruction of the man of sin, the corrupt propensity of nature, and esta­blishment of that purity of heart and uni­versal love, which the gospel proposes.

The apostle tells the believers, Eph. vi, I2. "That they warred not after the flesh." [Page 23] 2 Cor. x, 4. ‘That the weapons of their war­fare were not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down the strong holds, casting down every imagination, and high thing which exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into cap­tivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’ It was by meekness and patient suffering, that our Saviour overcame and gave a deadly blow to sin; leaving us an ex­ample that we should follow his footsteps. "Learn of me," says this blessed Redeemer, ‘for I am meek and low, and ye shall find rest to your souls. Blessed are the meek, the merciful, and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,’ (with this bles­sed promise) ‘for they shall be filled. Bles­sed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called THE CHILDREN OF GOD,’ Mat. v. And to his disciples, when he sent them to preach the Gospel, he says, ‘Behold I send you as lambs amongst wolves.’ The evan­gelick prophet had a clear prospect of the abasement and sufferings of our Saviour, when he says, ‘He was oppressed and af­flicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth,’ Isa. liii, 7.

The efficacy of this suffering spirit of Christ was contrary to the natural will, and a mys­tery to the reasoning part in man; ‘it was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the [Page 24] Greeks, foolishness;’ and still remains a mystery to the "wisdom of the world," I Cor. i, 22.

Our Saviour himself, in the course of his precepts, clearly distinguished the greater purity of the doctrine he was about to esta­blish, from the imperfectness of that prac­tised in the former dispensations; Mat. v. ‘Ye have heard that it hath been said to them of old times —an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil.’ Again: ‘Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shall love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies, ^*. bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.’ ^†

Hence we have reason to believe, that the injunction and allowance granted to the Jews, of making war upon their enemies, and one upon another; was in consequence of that hardness of heart, which prevailed amongst them; and that this permission was granted [Page 25] from the same motive, as that mentioned by our Lord, when the Jews were pleading the licence given them by Moses, to put away their wives, and marry other women: Mark x, 5. ‘For the hardness of your hearts, Moses wrote you this precept; but from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female—what therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.’ This, as well as war, slavery, an other practices of the like nature, were a violence upon that union, purity, and bro­therly love, which subsisted in the beginning, in the original constitution of things, whilst man retained his primitive innocency. And that the spilling of human blood was not ac­ceptable in the eyes of perfect Purity, who the apostle denominates under the appella­tion of love, God is Love, appears from the prohibition laid upon king David, not to build an house unto God, on account of his having been concerned in the destruction of so many of his fellow creatures, as himself declared, I Chron. xxii, 8. ‘The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars; thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.’

That pious, learned man, bishop Taylor, chaplain to king Charles the Ist, in his de­dication to his Discourse on the liberty of Pro­phesying, printed in London, I702; appears [Page 26] to have had a clear prospect of what must be the genuine effect of the doctrine and power, which our blessed Saviour came to communicate to mankind, even that inex­pressible love, which breathing peace and goodwill to every individual, knows of no enemy; but, in Jesus Christ, embraces with brotherly affection, the whole creation. He expresses himself as follows at page 3, &c. ‘As contrary as cruelty is to mercy, tyran­ny to charity; so is war and bloodshed, to the meekness and gentleness of the chri­stian religion. I had thought, says he, of the prophecy, That under the gospel, our swords should be turned into plowshares, and our spears into pruning-hooks: I knew that no tittle spoken by God's Spi­rit, should return unperformed and inef­fectual; and I was certain, that such was the excellency of Christ's doctrine, that if men would obey it, christians should never war one aganst another.’

OBSERVATIONS ON SLAVERY.

THE Slavery which now so largely sub­sists in the American Colonies, is ano­ther mighty evil, which proceeds from the same corrupt root as War; for, however, it may be granted that some, otherwise, well disposed people in different places, particu­larly in these provinces, at first fell into the practice of buying and keeping Slaves, thro' inadvertency, or by the example of others; yet in the generality it sprang from an un­warrantable desire of gain, a lust for amas­sing wealth, and in the pride of their heart, holding an uncontroulable power over their fellow-men. The observation which the Apostle makes on War, may well be applied to those who compelled their fellow-men to become their slaves, they lusted, for wealth and power and desired to have, that they might consume it upon their lusts.

[Page 28]It is a very afflictive consideration, that notwithstanding the rights and liberties of mankind have been so much the object of publick notice, yet the same corrupt prin­ciples still maintain their power in the minds of most Slave Holders. Indeed nothing can more clearly and possitively militate against the slavery of the Negroes, than the several declarations lately published, with so great an appearance of solemnity, thro' all the co­lonies, viz. ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their crea­tor with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur­suit of happiness.’ And ‘That all men are oy nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which when they enter into a state of society they cannot by any compact, deprive or divert their property, namely the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.’ That after these, and other declarations of the same kind, have been so publickly made to the world, Slavery should continue in its full force in the Colonies; and even in some ca­ses, its bands should, by Law, be farther estab­lished, ^*. is a great aggravation of that guilt [Page 29] which has so long lain upon America; and which together with the blood of the Native Indians, so daringly spilt, ^†. is likely to be one of the prinpcial causes of those heavy judgments, which are now so sensibly dis­played over the Colonies. Perhaps nothing will so sensibly teach us to feel for the afflic­tion of the oppressed Africans, as that our­selves partake of the same cup of distress, we have so long been instrumental in causing them to drink. If we look back to early times, and bring to our remembrance what we have heard from our fathers, relating to the first introduction of Negroes amongst us, we shall have reason to conclude, that there were but few of those concerned in those purchases, who were not in some measure acquainted with the dreadful cala­mities introduced in Guinea, in order to procure Slaves for the American Market. They had doubtless heard something of these accounts; they saw their afflicted fel­low-men, after being by the ravages of war deprived of all property, and cruelly rent [Page 30] from every tender connection in their native land, brought to America, and there sold like beasts for burden or slaughter; yet we have too much reason to conclude that but little sympathy was extended to them, few, very few, even amongst professors, endea­voured, on their behalf, ‘ To seek judgment, to relieve the oppressed; to plead for the father­less, and to judge for the widow; few mourned with those that mourned;’ people saw their affliction and heared the doleful story of their particular cases with little or no fellow feeling, indifferency prevailed; there was too much of a joining in spirit with those who ‘ had slain with the sword, and had carried into captivity,’ arising from a secret satisfac­tion, at the prospect of having an opportuni­ty, thro' the Slaves labour, of encreasing their substance, and amassing much wealth, In the acquirement and possession of which, a proper regard not being had, ‘ to the will of the Lord that reigneth,’ there has been sent a curse upon what they esteemed a bles­sing; their riches have proved as wings to raise their children above truth and real hap­piness: The offspring of many of these are still living in idleness and pride; whilst others are rioting in dissipation and luxury. If the good and just father of mankind is now arisen to plead the cause of the oppressed Africans, and to bring the matter home to ourselves; who can say, what doest thou. Will not the Americans, amongst whom the [Page 31] establishment of religious as well as civil liberty is the present and great object of con­sideration and debate, be a witness against themselves, so long as they continue to keep their Fellow-Inhabitants in such griev­ous circumstances, whereby they are not only deprived of their liberty, but of all property and indeed of every right what­soever?

From the experience of others, we may deduce a proper application to ourselves: We read Jerm. xxxiv, 8. that the Jewish people, a little before the Babylonian Capti­vity, acknowledged the duty which lay upon them, of proclaiming liberty to those of their brethren who had been forceably kept in servitude, beyond the term limited by the Mosaic Law; for the performance of which they had made a covenant before the Lord; but upon the danger appearing to be over, by the retreat of the king of Babylon, they caused the servants and hand-maids whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them again into subjection. Where-upon the prophet pronounces the judgment, threatned by the Lord, against those who had thus falsified their covenant, Chap. xxxiv, II. ‘Ye have made a covenant before me, but ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his hand-maid—to return and brought them into subjection.’ There­fore, thus faith the Lord, ‘Ye have not [Page 32] hearkned unto me, in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour; behold I proclaim a li­berty for you, faith the Lord, to the sword the pestilence and the famine.’

Here it may not be necessary to repeat what has been so fully declared in several modern publications, of the inconsistence of slavery with every right of mankind, with every feeling of humanity, and every pre­cept of Christianity; nor to point out its in­consistency with the welfare, peace and pro­sperity of every country, in proportion as it prevails; what grievous sufferings it brings on the poor Negroes; but more especially what a train of fatal vices it produces in their lordly oppressors and their unhappy offspring. Nevertheless for the sake of some who have not met with, or fully considered those former publications, and in ho [...]es that some who are still active in support of slave­ry, may be induced to consider their ways, and become more wise, the following sub­stance of an address or expostulation made by a sensible Author, to the several ranks of persons most immediately concerned in the trade, is now republished.

And, first, to the Captains employed in this trade. Most of you know the country of Guinea, perhaps now by your means, part of it is become a dreary uncultivated wilder­ness; the inhabitants being murdered or car­ried away, so that there are few left to till [Page 33] the ground; but you know, or have heared, how populous, how fruitful, how pleasant it was a few years ago. You know the peo­ple were not stupid, not wanting in sense, considering the few means of improvement they enjoyed. Neither did you find them savage, treacherous, or unkind to strangers. On the contrary they were in most parts a sensible and ingenious people; kind and friendly, and generally just in their dealings. Such are the men whom you hire their own countrymen, to tear away from this lovely country; part by stealth, part by force, part made captives in those wars which you raise or soment on purpose. You have seen them torn away, children from their parents, pa­rents from their children: Husbands from their wives, wives from their beloved hus­bands; brethren and sisters from each other. You have dragged them who had never done you any wrong, perhaps in chains, from their native shore. You have forced them into your ships, like an herd of swine, ^* [Page 34] them who had souls immortal as your own. You have stowed them together as close as ever they could lie, without any regard either to decency or conveniency—And when many of them had been poisoned by soul air, or had sunk under various hard­ships, you have seen their remains delivered to the deep, till the sea should give up his dead.You have carried the survivors into the vi­lest slavery, never to end but with life: Such slavery as is not found among the Turks at Algiers, no, nor among the heathens in America.

[Page 35]May I speak plainly to you? I must. Love constrains me: Love to you, as well, as those you are concerned with. Is there a God? You know there is. Is he a just God? Then there must be a state of retribution: A state where­in the just God will re ward every man accord­ing to his work. Then what reward will he render to you. O think betimes! before you drop in eternity: Think how, ‘He shall have judgment without mercy, that shew­ed no mercy.’ Are you a man? Then. [Page 36] you should have a human heart. But have you indeed? What is your heart made of? Is there no such principle as compassion there? Do you never feel another's pain? Have you no sympathy? No sense of human woe? No pity for the miserable? When you saw the flowing eyes, the heaving breast, or the bleeding sides and tortured limbs of your fellow-creatures. Was you a stone or a brute? Did you look upon them with the eyes of a tiger? When you squeezed the agonizing creatures down in the ship, or when you threw their poor mangled re­mains into the sea, had you no relenting? Did not one tear drop from your eye, one sigh escape from your breast? Do you feel no relenting now? If you do not, you must go on, till the measure of your iniquities is full. Then will the great God deal with you, as you have dealt with them, and re­quire all their blood at your hands. And at that day it shall be more tolerable for So­dom and Gomorrah than for you: But if your heart does relent; though in a small degree, know it is a call from the God of love. And to-day, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart— To day resolve, God being your helper to escape for your life—Regard not money: All that a man hath will he give for his life. Whatever you lose, lose not your Soul; nothing can countervail that loss. Immediately quit the horrid trade: At all events be an honest man.

[Page 37]This equally concerns every merchant who is engaged in the Slave-trade. It is you that induce the African villain to sell his countrymen; and in order thereto, to steal, rob, murder men, women and children without number: By enabling the English villain to pay him for so doing; whom you over pay for his execrable labour. It is your money, that is the spring of all, that impow­ers him to go on, so that whatever he or the African does in this matter, is all your act and deed. And is your conscience quite re­conciled to this? Does it never reproach you at all? Has gold entirely blinded your eyes and stupified your heart? Can you see, can you feel no harm therein? Is it doing as you would be done to? Make the case your own. ‘Matter! (said a Slave at Liverpool to the merchant that owned him) what if some of my countrymen were to come here, and take away my mistress, and master Tommy and master Billy, and carry them into our country and make them slaves, how would you like it?’ His answer was worthy of a man: ‘I will never buy a slave more while I live.’ O let his resolution be yours! Have no more any part in this detestable business. Instantly leave it to those unfeeling wretches, ‘Who laugh at humanity and compassion.’

And this equally concerns every Person who has an estate in our American plantati­ons: Yea all Slave-holders of whatever rank [Page 38] and degree; seeing menbuyers are exactly on a level with menstealers. Indeed you say, ‘I pay honestly for my goods; and I am not concerned to know how they are come by.’ Nay, but you are: You are deeply concerned, to know that they are not stolen: Otherwise you are partaker with a thief, and are not a jot honester than him. But you know they are not honestly come by: You know they are procured by means nothing near so innocent as picking of poc­kets, house breaking, or robbery upon the highway. You know they are procured by a deliberate series of more complicated villainy, (of fraud, robbery and murder,) than was ever practised either by Maho­metans or Pagans; in particular by mur­ders of all kinds; by the blood of the inno­cent poured upon the ground like water. Now it is your money that pays the mer­chant, and thro' him the captain and African butchers. You therefore are guilty: Yea, prin­cipally guilty, of all these frauds, robberies, and murders. You are the spring that puts all the rest in motion; they would not stir a step without you.—Therefore the blood of all these wretches, who die before their time, whether in their country or else where, lies upon your head. The blood of thy brother, (for whether thou wilt believe it or no, such he is in the sight of him that made him) crieth against thee from the earth, from the ship and from the waters. [Page 39] O! what ever it cost, put a stop to its cry, be­fore it be too late. Instantly, at any price, were it the half of thy goods, deliver thyself from blood guiltiness! Thy hands, thy bed, thy furniture, thy house, thy land, are at present stained with blood. Surely it is enough; accumulate no more guilt: Spill no more the blood of the innocent! Do not hire another to shed blood! Do not pay him for doing it! Whether thou art a christian or no, shew thy self a man; be not more savage than a lion or a bear.

Perhaps thou wilt say., ‘I do not buy any negroes: I only use those left me by my father.’ But is it enough to satisfy your own consceience! Had your father, have you, has any man living, a right to use another as a slave? It cannot be, even setting revela­tion aside. It cannot be, that either war, or contract, can give any man, such a pro­perty in another as he has in his sheep and oxen: Much less is it possible, that any child of man, should ever be born a slave. Liberty is the right of every human crea­ture, as soon as he breathes the vital air. And no human law can deprive him of that right, which he derives from the law of nature. If therefore you have any regard to justice, (to say nothing of mercy, nor of the revealed law of God,) render unto all their due. Give liberty to whom liberty is due, that is to every child of man, to every partaker of human nature. Let none serve [Page 40] you but by his own act and deed, by his own voluntary choice. Away with ships, chains and all compulsion. Be gentle towards all men. And see that you invariably do unto every one, as you would he should do unto you.

Remarks on the Nature and bad Effects of SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

THE common use of Spirituous liquors distilled from molasses, grain, fruit, &c. is a matter that calls for the particular attention of every lover of mankind.

Several physicians of note, ^* have given it as their sentiments, that those distilled spirits when taken in­wardly, even tho' mixed with water, destroy the hu­man frame; being burning spirits, the use of which bring on many fatal diseases, such as fevers, jaundice, dropsies, consumptions and whereby multitudes are daily destroyed. That they parch up and contract the stomach to half its natural size, like burnt leather, and rot the entrails as is evident not only by open­ing the bodies of those pesrons who are killed by drinking them; but also by what Doctor Hoffman says, was observed of the effects which the cau [...]t [...] fiery remaining wash of the distillers, has on the gots of those hogs which in some places are sed by it: which are thereby so tendered, that puddings cannot be made in them: Wherefore all people who have any regard to their health and lives ought to tremble at the cravings for such poisonous liquors, which [Page 41] shorten and destroy the lives of such multitudes of people. It is farther observable, that the free use of those Spirits. deprave the morals of those who ad­dict themselves thereto; the feelings of their minds are gradually benumbed; an insensibility to the healing influences of grace prevails, and many become pro­fane and regardless of their duty to God and Man.

Doctor Cheyne, in his Essay of health and long life, says. "All people, who have any regard to their health and lives, ought to tremble at the first cravings for such poisonous liquors. The maladies begot by them bring forth necessity upon necessity of drams and gi [...]s; till at last, a kind dropsy, nervous convulsion, f [...]x▪ if not a fever, or phrensy. sets the poor soul free. It has often raised in me, says the Doctor, the most melancholly reflections, to see the virtuous and sensi­ble, bound in such chains and fetters, as nothing less than omnipotent grace or the unrelenting grave could release them from.

It is pretended. that drams comfort, warm, and de­fend from the severity of weather, to which men are sometimes exposed; without which they say, they should perish with cold; which is probably, in a great measure, true of those who are habituated to drink them; the blood of such being thereby so much im­poverished, that it is well known many of the drinkers of drams are cold and lifeless in the midst of summer, without frequent repetitions; this is what some of them have owned. But on the other hand, how much more able are sober persons to endure cold and hardships; their vital heat not being extinguished by intemperance, does by its kindly genial warmth, more effectually secure them from the inclemency of the weather, than the false flash of a dram. Besides, it is well known, that men did not perish in the coldest countries for want of drams formerly, when they were not to be had, of the undoubted truth of this, Cap­tain Ellis gives a full proof in the account of his voyage to Hudson's bay, page I99: Where he ob­serves, "That the natives of the very cold coast of [Page 42] that Bay, to whom the French are kinder than to sell distilled spirituous liquors, are tall, hardy, robust and active; whereas those of them that are supplied with drams from the English, are a meagre, dwarfish. indo­lent people, hardly equal to the severity of the coun­try and subject to many disorders. And as to the per­nicious effects of spirituous liquors in very hot cli­mates, (as on the coast of Guinea,) it is observed, that the French and Portuguese, who do not indulge in distilled spirits, are healthy compared with the English; who, drinking freely of spirits &c. die fast.

The unhappy dram-drinkers are so absolutely bound in slavery to these infernal spirits, that they seem to have lost the power of delivering themselves from this worst of bondage. How much then is it the bounden duty of those, who have it in their power to withhold this destructive man bane, either as parents, masters, or rulers to the people committed to their trust This is a case so calamitous to mankind, that to have a thorough sense of it, and yet not to remonstrate, nor earnestly caution against it, is certainly as criminal as it is unfriendly not to warn a blind person of a dan­gerous precipice or pit. Yet, alas how unconcerned are the greatest part of mankind at this enormous ruin of multitudes! In trials for life, what diligence is used to find the occasion of the loss of one subject. What care will not a faithful Physician bestow for the pre­servation of one life. How did the wise Romans ho­nour him, who saved the life of one Roman citizen. But in the present case it is not one, nor one hundred, nor one thousand, but probably no less than a million that perish yearly.

The mistaken use and grievous abuse of rum and either distilled spirits, in no case appears more palpably than at the time of harvest, a business which the peo­ple under the Mosaic dispensation were enjoined to, [...]arry on with humiliation and thanksgiving; but which amongst us through the free use of spirituous liquors is made an occasion of a greater abuse of the [...]pan [...] of the Creator; this arises in [Page 43] many, from a mistaken persuasion that hard labour, particularly that of the harvest field, cannot be carried on without using a quantity of rum or other distilled spirits. In support of this opinion, we are frequently told of the many people who have died at those times through the extream heat and fatigue, and it is sup­posed that many more would die, if a plentiful use of spirituous liquors was not allowed, but this is a mis­taken notion. it being much more likely that the free use of rum occasioned the death of those people, the quantity they had swallowed down, sending a great flow of spirits into the head in proportion to the strength of their body caused them to strain their strength beyond what nature could bear; and in gene­ral the repeated large quantities of spirit commonly drank during the whole time of harvest, keeps up the blood in so continual a ferment and fever, that people cannot have a proper re [...]torative sleep; their constitu­tions are thereby enervated their lives shortned and an unfitness for religious impressions generally prevails.

These weighty considerations have induced some well minded people to endeavour to induce, by their exam­ples, their friends and neighbours into a contrary prac­tice; and under these attempts experience has made it manifest that very little or no strong liquor is necessary at those times; indeed they have been convinced that the harvest, and other labourious work, can be very well managed without making use of any spirituous liquors at all. If such labour was carried on with steadiness and proper moderation, there would cer­tainly be no need of a recruit of strength being fought for by that means; more frequent intervals of rest with a little food oftener allowed the reapers, and small drinks, such as molasses and water, either alone or made more agreable with a little cyder, small beer, or even milk and water would fully enable them to perform their work to their employer's satisfaction and their own advantage, and the overplus wages they would receive to the value of the spirits usually given them, might be sufficient to purchase bread for their families. [Page 44] Several persons who from a persuasion that the com­mon method of giving spirituous liquors to labourers was exeeding hurtful, have made it a condition with those they have employed, not to use any spirituous liquors in their field; these have had their work per­formed to good satisfaction and without any damage ensuing to their labourers. Nay. where they have remained any considerable time with such employers, they have generally acknowledged themselves sensi­ble of the benefit arising from having thus totally re­frained the use of those liquors.

Should this practice take place, it would prove a great blessing particularly to the labouring people▪ one half of whom (a physician of this country hath given as his sentiment) die sooner than they otherwise would do, solely by the use of spirituous liquors. Besides▪ that it would discourage the distillation of rye and other grain; a practice which is not only a great hurt to the poor in raising the price of bread▪ but must also be very offensive to God▪ the great and good fa­ther of the family of mankind, that people should▪ in their earthly and corrupt wisdom, pervert their Maker's benevolent intention, in converting the grain he hath given to us as the staff of life, unto a fiery spirit, so destructive of the human frame and attended with the other dreadful consquences already mentioned. Here it may be noted, that any quantity of good mo­lasses will by distillation, yield more than the same quantity of proof spirit. And that a considerable quantity of molasses if taken with bread at one time, as the Indians will sometimes do, will not intoxicate, the spirituous parts in the molasses being properly united by our good and wise creator with the earthy and balsamick parts, so as to make it quite friendly to our nature; but when by distilation the spirituous parts are separated from the other parts, that measure of spirits proceeding from the same quantity of mo­lasses, becomes a fiery liquid. destructive of the human frame. Doctor Buchan in his Domestic Medicine, or Family Physician, a book which has gained so much [Page 45] esteem as to be twice published in this city, at page 7I of the English Edition says, ‘many imagine that hard labour could not be supported without drinking strong liquors. This, tho' a common is a very erronous notion, men who never tasted strong liquors are not only able to endure more fatigue, but also live much longer than those who use them daily. ^* But suppose strong liquors did enable a man to do more work, they must nevertheless waste the powers of life, and of course occasion premature old age. They keep up a constant fever, which wastes the spirits, heats and inflames the blood and predisposes the body to numberless diseases. At page the same author tells us, that all intoxicat­ing liquors may be considered as poisons. How­ever disguised, that is their real character, and sooner or later they will have their effect.’

Amongst the several prejudices in favour of the mis­taken use of spirituous liquors. there is none gives it a greater sanction or support, than the prevailing opini­on, even with persons of reputation, that what they term a moderate quantity of rum mixed with water, is the best and safest liquor that can be drank; hence confirming the opinion, that spirit in one form or other is necessary. To such who have not been ac­customed, and think they cannot habituate themselves to drink water, there may appear to be some kind of plea in this argument, especially to travellers, who often meet with beer, cyder, or other fermented li­quors that are dead, hard, sour, or not properly fer­mented, which tend to generate air in the bowels, produ [...]ing colicks, &c. But if those persons suffered the weight of the subject, and the encouragement they thereby give to the use of these destructive spirits, to take proper place with them, it might suggest the pro­priety, if not necessity of introducing a more salutary practice.

[Page 46]That pure fluid (water) which the benevolent father of the family of mankind, points out for general use, is so analegous to the human frame, that people might with safety gradually use themselves to it. Dr. Cheyne observes, that without all doubt, water is the primitive original beverage, as it is the only simple fluid sitted for diluting, moistening and cooling; the ends of drink, appointed by nature, and he adds happy had it been for the race of mankind, if other mixed and artificial liquors had never been invented. Water alone is susficient and effectual for all the purposes of human want in drink: Strong liquors were never de­signed for common use. Speaking of the effect of wine, which he says to have been so much in use at the time he wrote, that the better fort of people scarcely diluted their food with any other liquor, he remarks, ‘That as natural causes will always produce their proper effects, their blood was inflamed into gout, stone, and rheumatism, raging fevers, pleurifies, &c. Water is the only disolvent or menstrum and the most certain diluter of all bodies proper for food.’

Doctor Short, in his discoorse of the inward use of water, speaks much in its commendation. He says, we can draw a very convincing argument of the excellency of water, from the longevity and healthfulness of those who at first had no better liquor, and the health and strength of body and serenty of mind, of these who at this day have no other common liquor to drink, of this the common people amongst the High­lands of Scotland, are a sufficient instance, amongst whom it is no rarity to find persons of eighty, ninety, yea an hundred years of age, as healthy strong and nimble, as wine or ale bibbers are at thirty six or forty. The Doctor says, There is a ridiculous maxim used by drinkers, that water makes but thin blood, not sit for business. I say, says he, it is water only that can enduce its drinkers with the strongest bodies and most robust constitutions, where exercise or labour is joined with it, since it bell assits the stomach and lungs to reduce the aliments into the smallest particles, that [Page 47] they may better pass the strainers of the body, which separates the nutritious parts of the blood to be ap­plyed to the sides of the vessels, and exercise invigo­rates the fibres and musles; whereas the rapid motion of the blood excited by drinking spirituous liquors, can not fail of being prejudicial to the body, it will cause the watery parts to dissipate, and the remaining to grow thick and tough, and the event be obstructions, inflammations, imposthumations &c.—and tho' strong liquors afford a greater flow of spirits for a short time, yet this is always followed with as much lowness of spirit; so that to gain a necessary stock of spirits, the person is obliged to repeat the same force, till he learns a custom of drinking drams. In this we are confirmed, if we consider the great strength and hardiness of poor rusticks in many parts of the world, whole provisions is mostly vegetable food, and their drink water. The doctor adds, that it often happens that persons of tender, weakly, crazy constitutions, by ref­raining from strong liquors and accustoming themselves to drink water, make a shift to spin out many years.

After describing the many distempers produced by drinking malt or other sermented liquors he adds, that seeing constitutions differ, it is not to be expected that spirituous liquors should produce all the same symp­toms in one and the same person, yet that all drinkers have several of them; and if they come not to that height, its because they afterwards use great exercise or hard labour, with sometimes thin diluting liquors, which prevent their immediate hurting.

And with respect to such well disposed people, who still retain a favourable opinion of the use of spirits mixed with water, ought they not, even from a love to man­kind, to endeavour to refrain from it, on account of the effect their example may have in incouraging others in the use of spirituous, liquors, agreable to the example left us by the apostle Paul, I Cor. VIII, I3. If meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world stands, left I make my brother to offend. How much more ought they to refrain from that which [Page 48] tends to establish mankind, in a practice so gene­rally destructive, more especially when they consider the danger themselves are in of encreasing the quan­tity of spirit with their water, as it has been observed, that the use of this mixture is particularly apt, almost imperceptible to gain upon those that use it, so that many otherwise good and judicious people have un­warily to themselves and others, fallen, with the com­mon herd, a sacrifice to this might devourer.

A very eminent physician has given the following di­rection, for the benefit of those who have not wisdom enough left at once to abandon the odious and pernici­ous practice of drinking distilled spirituous liquors, viz. By degrees to mix water with the spirit, to lessen the quantity every day, and keep to the same quantity of water, till in about the course of a week, nothing of the dram kind be used along with water. By this means the person will suffer no inconveniency, but reap great benefit upon leaving off drams or spirits as has been tried by many. If any gnawing be left in the stomach upon quite leaving it off, a little warm broth, weak tea, or any thing of that kind, will be a service. The ap­petite always increases in a few days after leaving off drams, unless by the too long continuance of them, the tone of the stomach is destroyed. And when the stomach is thus affected a cup of carduus, camomile tea, wormwood or centaury every morning fasting and every evening will be found a good remedy.