Temperance > Autobiography and personal recollections of John B. Gough

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN B. GOUGH.
years, and set faces westward, for the dear home in our
beloved republic. The two years of work, though hard,
had been exceedingly pleasant. I met with no personal
opposition;—there were strong objections expressed to
my temperance principles, and many of the arguments
against total abstinence were new to me. I hardly ex¬
pected to find the Saviour’s command, “Drink ye all of
it,” quoted in support of drinking; but a highly respect¬
able paper, in a well-written article opposing total abstin¬
ence, said: “The principle of total abstinence is funda-
mentsdly wrong. It is disclaimed by Scripture. The first
miracle of our Saviour was to convert water into wine.
His solemn farewell to the men who were to go and teach
all nations, was signalized by his drinking of the fruit of
the vine, and his injunction, ‘Drink ye all of it.’” Occa-
I sionally, after I had delivered lectures, a sermon would
be preached to expose the errors of total abstinence, and
» its tendency to infidelity. I was constantly met with
Scripture arguments, and, not being learned, found that I
became confused about “tirosh,” and “yayin,” and other
terms I knew not the meaning of, and left such arguments
for those who could learnedly meet them, and advocating
the principle, as far as I understood it to be, according to
the dictates of common sense and sound judgment,—
I never claiming that the Bible enjoined total abstinence as
^ a positive Christian duty, in direct terms. Bemember, I
do not know but it does to those who can read the Bible
in the original tongue; but taking ground as far as I un¬
derstand it, and can hold against all the learning in the
universe, that the Bible permitted total abstinence,—that
by the Bible it was lawful to abstain,—then declared, that
as a Christian man, with my view of the claims of Chris¬
tianity upon me, I was bound by my allegiance to God,
by my faith in Christ, and by the vows I had taken in