Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: INTRODUCTION. The following Lectures produced a very marked effect at the time they were delivered, and few works, it may fairly be believed, have done more to place the cause of temperance on elevated, rational and Scriptural grounds. The entire absence of what some are pleased to call fanaticism, or of anything that could by any possibility be brought under that odious and much abused name, the transparent candor, the cogency as well as clearness of argument, the patience of examination, the deference to the Scriptures, and at the same time that spirit of fairness which would oppose their being wrested even to serve what might be deemed the best interests of humanity,—add to these the learning, without pedantry, the science, without pretence, the calm, sound reasoning, without the imposing show of argumentation, and we have the leading characteristics that must be conceded to the work by every intelligent and fair minded reader, whatever may be his opinion on the final merits of the questions that have called it forth. If we allude to the noble style of the writer,—that easy and vigorous command of language which marked his earliest widely spread productions, rendered still more attrac- Vlll INTRODUCTION. tive here by the mild and mellowed dignity of age, — it is simply done with the truthful purpose of commending the book as a most agreeable and instruct- tive classic to all who have a taste for elevated composition, who can appreciate true eloquence as well as distinguish good wine, or who have a relish for the beauties of thought and diction, whether they relish temperance or not. A similar remark may be addressed to those who might doubt the entire correctness or cogency of the Scriptural argument as here presented. Be that, however, as it may, the work has certa...