and milk, without money and without price, and draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation. He is the Spirit of faith, the Author of that spiritual sight by which the invisible, eternal world is made to pass before us in its transcendent beauty and value, before which earthly glories fade, and earthly joys are insipid, and sin appears exceeding sinful. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Instead of boasting of the wisdom of our schemes and the omnipotence of our resolves, let us look to the Spirit of wisdom and of power, and of a sound mind, that we may be instructed aright, and lean upon his almighty arm, and yield ourselves to his transforming influence, and feel upon us the hand of his omnipotence, and recognize his presence as the seal and earnest of perfect holiness, and perfect, eternal joy in his presence, where is fullness of joy, and at his right hand, where are pleasures for evermore.

With the Bible for our guide, and the Spirit for our strength, let us wait upon God, in the name of Jesus, the surety and advocate of all that come unto God by him, in the use of all his ordinances of grace, that we may, by beholding in this mirror his glory, be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, accounting all his commandments concerning all things to be right, and hating every false way. "For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should

live soberly, and righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us unto himself, a peculiar people, zealous of good works." But ye beloved, building up yourselves in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." And of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever." Amen.

II.

"The fruit of the Spirit is. . . temperance."-GAL. v., 22, 23.

AVING on the last Sabbath evening considered

HAVING

the duty of temperance, and the means of its promotion, I proceed to direct your attention to the claim of the novel doctrine of total abstinence to be regarded as the duty of temperance enjoined in the Holy Scriptures. In the outset of this discussion, I would remind you of the solemn charge, under which, as a minister of the gospel, I am called to act. "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me."Ezek. iii., 17. "If the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand."-Ezek. xxxiii., 6.

When heresies which threaten the very foundations of the Christian religion invade the church, it is the duty of the ministry to sound the alarm. Such I apprehend to be the case in relation to the question of total abstinence, and hence the part which I have acted from the first time that it showed

its face among us. After various ineffectual attempts, it has rallied its forces, and succored by some extraordinary auxiliaries, it has evinced a deep determination to take this citadel of truth by storm. "But when the enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him."

Who then is this uncircumcised Philistine, that defies the armies of the living God? He assumes the name of temperance, and under the sanction of that venerable name, demands the implicit subjection of every soul, on peril of ceaseless denunciation and the bitter and envenomed persecution of evil tongues and evil pens; and nothing but his impotence prevents him from wielding, to the extermination of all opposers, the censures of the church, and the power of the civil magistrate. In default of these, he has established a government of his own, appointed his officers, marshaled his forces, and entered upon the work of subjecting the world to his sway. He is described, by his last grand council, called the "Third National Temperance Convention," which met at Saratoga Springs on the 28th, 29th, and 30th days of July, 1841, as to his nature and his claims, in the section on "Moral Obligation.'

"Resolved, That the tendency of all intoxicating drinks to derange the bodily functions, to lead to drunkenness, to harden the heart, sear the conscience, destroy domestic peace, excite to the commission of crime, waste human life, and destroy

souls, and the rebukes and warnings of God in his word in relation to them, in connection with every law of self-preservation and of love, impose upon all men a solemn moral obligation to cease forever from their manufacture, sale, and use, as a beverage, and do unitedly call upon us, as men and as Christians, not to pause in our work until such manufacture, sale, and use shall be universally abandoned."

Here, then, by the highest authority known to the cause, it is declared to be the solemn moral obligation of all men to cease, forever, from the manufacture, sale, and use of all intoxicating drinks as a beverage. It is well that the question is thus placed in a form so clear and tangible.

This is substantially the ground of all those who urge entire abstinence as a duty, in order to the cure of intemperance. And those who take the ground of expediency arrive at the same result after taking one step farther round. If the thing be a duty, on the ground of expediency, it is a sin not to perform that duty, and consequently all who do not practice this abstinence, including the Saviour himself, are sinners.

The Executive Committee of the Newburgh Total Abstinence Society, in an official document presented to the public, have said:

"Total abstinence from all that can intoxicate, is the stand taken by the association, and which is believed, as past experience has amply proven, to be the only safe ground and effectual, under God,