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Church is God's living law; His visible truth, His living, walking, attractive example; His spiritual host; the vital power and life-giving spirit, which sets in motion every effective attempt to bring back this world to God. It may be corrupt, as it often has been; and when it is not, it may fail to do its duty. We speak of it as God has established it. It is, then, the great centre of moral influence. And, believing in God, trusting in God, and breathing out the spirit of Him who came to reform and save it—the church can overturn mountains of difficulty; subdue kingdoms of wickedness, and speedily bring on the reign of the Prince of Peace. No evil is so great, be it war, or slavery, or drunkenness, that it cannot entirely eradicate it, when its full and united action is enlisted against it. And as no enterprise of philanthropy or work of reform, can well succeed without the co-operation of the Christian church, so none can well succeed against the church. Let the church set herself against any scheme of benevolence, withold the sanction of her authority, and oppose it as at variance with the word and Spirit of God: let her by doctrinal teaching and ecclesiastical action, uphold war, or slavery, or intemperance, and hard, if not impossible, will it be, to strike down and root out these enormous evils.

3. We learn again, where, and where alone, lies our hope of the permanency and success of any great moral reformation. It lies in the religious element. If it has not this element, it will die. It is atheistic, and God will blow upon it. It is without sanction, and does not bind the conscience. It seeks no blessing from on high, and therefore, none will be imparted ;—it will pine away and perish.

It was in the action of the church, in other words, with religious men, acting on religious principle, having the religious and moral interests of men in view rather than their temporal thrift and prosperity, that the temperance reformation was commenced and carried forward. Our Beechers, Chapins, Hewitts, Edwardses, with their compeers, leaders of the sacramental host of God's elect, were the men who laid its foundations. Philanthropy and patriotism soon came to their help, and pressed it gloriously onward, each finding in its results, a rich compensation; but in the religious element, lay its strength. It was the child of prayer, the offspring of love. In its defense, the pulpit spoke out its thunders; in converting men to its principles, it used its kind, inviting voice; and, to impart strength and perseverance, with few exceptions, every ecclesiastical body in the land, gave it commendation and bade it God speed. This is matter of history; none the less true, because unknown to some, forgotten by others, and denied by many. The record is on high, and will be owned of Him who suffers not a cup of cold water, given in the name of a disciple 1,10

lose its reward. And here, is all our hope of its continuance and

success.

We can, indeed, conceive of such a work, once commenced, being carried forward for a season, by the mere force of philanthropy and patriotism. Many a heart destitute of all religion, has deeply felt the evils of Intemperance, as it has the evils of cholera, or the ravages of war; and when looking at the miserable inebriate, poor, degraded, the prey of tormenting thirst, and dying on his bed of straw of delirium tremens, or when wandering through almshouses and prisons, it has there seen the miserable victims of the cup, reduced to beggary or excited to crime, torn away from all the joys of home, drinking deep of sorrow and inflicting upon the community unendurable evils, it has exclaimed, O blessed reformation! roll onward thy wheels of mercy and speedily accomplish thy work.

The Washingtonian movement, was an outbreak of philanthropy, of pity for the miserable, compassion for the fallen, kindness for the destitute and abandoned, such, perhaps, as the world never saw. Nor, was it unmingled with true religion. Men, there were, most laborious in it from the highest principles of love to God and love to men, and, whose memory will be fragrant, while earth shall endure; but others there were, who officiously mounted as charioteers, separating it from the church and all religion, elevating it as even more efficacious for good to man, and giving it a character and position which forced out the co-operation of the Christian church, leaving it where it soon dwindled and perished. Socialism has now come to the support of the cause; secret organizations, sustained by that most popular of all operations, mutual assistance in the day of want. But if the religious element is wanting, even this well compacted system, through the depraved principles ever active in the human breast, will burst asunder, or be perverted to something which will take far stronger hold of its enrolled thousands, than the simple and self-denying work of moral reformation. God's Spirit alone, can give long life and health to any scheme of philanthropy, and God's power alone, can secure a full triumph over the depravity of earth. Hence,

we say,

4. That on the church as wielding the religious element; the church, God's great reforming power in the earth, the temperance reformation has an undeniable claim for its life and success. Should it be abandoned by the church and the ministry (and in some places it has been), and find no refuge but under the banner of socialism and philanthropy, and be sustained only by human sanctions and man's devisings, it would soon expire. The church might complain that it had fallen into other hands, but on none could she cast the bame, but herself. She had no right to yield it to other hands.

God had called her in his providence to nourish, and protect, and carry it forward until it had done all its blessed work in the earth. She might plead that she did nothing. That would be her condemnation, bound as she is, to do everything in her power. She might think lightly of her act, but blood would be in her skirts. All the blood that would flow from the thousands and tens of thousands rushing to the drunkard's grave; yea, her own blood. In leaving the temperance cause to perish, the church would be guilty of a suicidal act. Doing nothing to stay the ravages of the demon, is, in truth, inviting it to feed on our own vitals. Amid the most active and well-devised aggressive movements, the church can never expect an entire escape. Some minister may fall at the altar; some communicant bring disgrace upon his profession; some child, dedicated in faith and prayer, be seduced away to fill a drunkard's grave. Let intemperance prevail, and what will become of the Sabbath? what of the house and worship of God? what hope will there be of the conversion of sinners? what, of pure and effective revivals? what, of the conversion of the Heathen, and subjection of the world to the dominion of Christ? To each and all, intemperance is most directly antagonistical. On the subject of missions, hear Archdeacon Jeffreys, of Bombay, "I am persuaded," says this venerable man, "from many years of past experience, that God will not bless the cause of missions on this side of India, with any extensive success, till the missionaries of the Cross take up the thorough temperance principle. On receiving the converted Hindoo into the Christian church, if the Missionary does not exhort them to continue in the same pure (abstinence) principles, in which they have been educated from their youth, and set the same example in his own person; if he once loosens the cord or puts the stumbling-block before their weak conscience, by even the sight of intoxicating liquor upon his own table, a flood of Intemperance, with all its crimes, will come in upon the infant church and spread over India, and all our missionary efforts will end in the whole, a curse and not a blessing to the country." To herself, therefore, as well as to this cause of philanthropy, to the world, and to God, is the church answerable for the course she takes. She must sustain it in the way in which she alone can do it, by infusing into it the religious element, and making it, in her own body at least, a religious as well as moral and philanthropic work. We do not say, that she must require the temperance community to conduct all their concerns religiously, and thus make them forbidding to men of the world. We do not aver, that every thing shall be done according to the strict letter of the word of God, or the strictest rules of sect. It is not for her to require, but to give ; -give at all times and under all circumstances, her full and cordial co-operation. Private and public sympathy, individual, family christian, and ministerial influence, should all be in favor of te

perance. Opposition, prompt and decided, should be shown to every thing that favors Intemperance. We would have every church in Christendom, known as a temperance organization; every minister of Christ lift up his voice with the same boldness on temperance, that he does on righteousness and judgment to come; every missionary of the Cross, lay it among the foundation stones of each church, planted in Heathen lands; everywhere and at all times, should the whole Christian world stand forth, bold and decided; antagonistical to this foul work of satan, which for thousands of years, has been doing its work of death. Church temperance organizations would secure universal organization, for, where is the place in Christendom, that is without a church?-perpetuity to the cause, for while all other associations are transient, the church remains ;-a good foundation, for, amalgamated with the church, its basis. would be the Bible;-the blessing of God, for He loves His church and will take care of it to the end.

Come up, then, churches of the living God; come up, O Ministers of Christ to the help of this mighty enterprise. If there ever was a day for ministerial boldness, it is the day in which we live; if there ever was a cause in which it was demanded of every Christian, to stand forth, firm and uncompromising, it is the cause which will banish drunkenness with all its curses, from earth, and leave man free in his intellect, free in his body, and free in all the appetites and passions of his nature to serve the living God.

LASTLY, We say to the friends of temperance, throughout the nation and the world, as did the Prophet to his beloved country, "O JERUSALEM, be THOU INSTRUCTED."

The work you have undertaken and in part accomplished, is great and momentous beyond human conception. But "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." Greater folly can be imputed to no man, than to think of checking, curbing, and suppressing the outbreaks of inward, ever restless and desperate depravity, by mere human philosophy, socialism, organization, sympathy, brotherhood, moral suasion, or legal action. Useful each may be in its place, but Leviathan is not so tamed. He will laugh at the shaking of your spear. God, and God alone, the Almighty, He who overturneth the mountains and controls all the elements of nature, and binds the spirit, can root out and exterminate for ever that horrid evil against which you are arrayed. O look to him, weeping hearts! weeping, bleeding, agonized hearts, "groaning and travailing in pain," longing for earth's redemption from this curse. Look to Him from whom cometh help. Do this, and you and yours shall live. Do this, and your country shall be emancipated and saved. You shall see Satan cast as lightning from heaven; the fires of the pit extinguished, and the world's redemption at the door.

A SHORT SERMON.

THE CHURCH THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

"Ye are the light of the World."-Matthew, 15: 14.

THE church of Christ has a very important and responsible part to sustain, and duty to discharge, as the grand depository of the light and blessings of salvation. She is set as a "city on a hill," to give the light of life to all who dwell in the vales of this sinclouded world; she is planted as a "lighthouse" on the shores of time, to give men warning of the dangers to which they are exposed; and if she prove false to her awful trust, and hide her light, or let it go out, woe to them that sit in darkness, and woe to them that are out upon the great deep of human error and corruption. Where shall men look for the knowledge of the way of life, when her light is hid? Who shall warn men of the evils of sin and the perils of eternal damnation, when her signal is no longer visible?

The light of the church, then, ought to be elevated. It ought to shine from a high point, so as to command the whole scene of danger, and to challenge the observation of the world. It ought to tower high above the lights of human discovery and human agency, so that men cannot mistake it, or fail to see it. The doctrines of the gospel, as they stand forth on the inspired page, are amazingly elevated in character, and superior to the teachings of human wisdom; they borrow nothing from man, they are all of God. And coming from such a source, they occupy a peculiar vantage ground, and shine in a light wholly their own, and with a power that convicts and renews. Now Christians should, in all their teaching and living, come up to the high standard of gospel truth.

Their mental and moral being must be made to correspond with the divine nature, and lofty claims, and authoritative teachings of the religion of the Son of God. They must take high ground on every question which relates to the glory of God, and the duty of man, and the well-being of the world, and maintain their position in a spirit that never yields or compromises. They are to stand by the law of God, in all its dread sanctions, and fearful annunciations of wrath, without any abatement of its severity. They are to hold to the great fact of human apostacy and entire corruption; the atonement of Christ as the only basis of reconciliation; faith as the alone means of justification; the necessity of regeneration, and the Scriptures as the only and as a sufficient rule of faith; they are to hold and teach these, as first and fundamental truths, however much opposed by a vain philosophy, or an earth-born re

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