perance must be told by this and that officer that he must wait for some complaint to be made! Is it not simply the pretence of those who are determined not to execute the laws they have solemnly sworn to enforce? And is not every official who fails to use every effort to have them enforced a daily perjurer before the community? Many honorable law-makers, true friends of the temperance cause, find of course they are dealing with an evil far greater than they can fairly estimate, and confess themselves baffled before it; and one of the greatest difficulties is that the laws try to deal only with the open and visible results, while the secret causes are often nourished by the customs and fashions of those very persons who are so ready to demand the execution of the laws.

There can be no question of the value and efficacy of welldirected laws; but it is necessary that they must not go very far beyond the general sentiment, or their very neglect reacts in favor of the evil they were intended to correct. And laws which cannot be enforced, which are not meant to be strictly enforced, laws which are really ridiculed, only serve to bring all legislation into contempt. It is for this reason we rejoice to see so many of the churches joining in this movement which asks "only that the laws be executed." It will help prove to the community the actual strength of the temperance sentiment, and it may show the necessity of an entire revision of the temperance legislation.

The first question to settle is, shall the laws take license or prohibition for their aim? Shall they attempt to regulate or to banish the use of intoxicating drinks? Whatever the desire and determination of the philanthropist may be, we have to acknowledge the almost universal use of them throughout society; and we know the custom of ages is not to be done away with at once. So that, if the end is entire prohibition, or if fashion and physicians, if indifference toward or a real love for the use of intoxicating drinks, may forever retain them, the first practical step must be the restraint of the evil, gradually confining it within limits least injurious to society. We have long held that the best thing is for the State to follow the direction which nature points out, in bringing judgment severely home to the actual offenders. We are too ready in everything to lay the blame upon somebody else, upon the manufacturer, upon the dealer, upon the customs of society; and we too constantly overlook the fact that the fault is our own, and the penalty must be ours. Let there be

restrictions and punishments of the most weighty character possible upon those who make and those who sell; but still we insist that the crime against the individual and society of drinking is so great that the person who actually becomes intoxicated, who so far forgets his manhood as to lose it in drink, should be punished most severely; and, for his own sake and for the safety of others, should be made to feel it is so serious a thing that he will not be likely to repeat it. Let the fine and the imprisonment be something not easily paid or forgotten. Instead of this, we regard drunkenness as so trivial a matter that we laugh at it. We fine a man a few dollars, or sentence him for a few days or weeks, and soon it is all repeated. Something might be excused to the very young, but nothing to those who have sinned a second time. No matter how much friends or family or personal interests or reputation may suffer, the offence is serious; and seriously let it be answered for. We should be glad if every person of means were compelled to pay an enormous fine for being intoxicated, or compelled to work it out in hard, penitentiary toil. Nor should we be sorry to have every laboring man made to pay the heaviest costs, a sum which might deprive him and his family of many needed comforts; for we believe it would be kindness in the end, it would soon call him back to a sense of his wrong. The evil of intoxication is so common, partly because we have looked upon it as a thing so trifling. We have laughed at it and at its repetition, until the habit was all powerful, and utter ruin followed its strengthening hold.

The laws should have more careful provisions for their enforcement. In the light of these ages of intemperance, we know it is not possible for members of a family, even where they suffer greatly, to take the steps which lead to the prosecution of the offenders, by whom their loved ones have been led into ruin. They are rather tempted to shield them, even to their own destruction; and it must remain with those who know how destructive the habit is to see that public officers, personally disinterested, but put there for the peace and welfare of society, watch keenly the infringement of the laws, and bring the guilty to punishment.

There is, however, a more serious matter still which prevents the execution of the laws. It is the power of fashionable life. It is easy enough to talk about the evils of intemperance among the poor and the low, and to talk about enforcing the laws so far

as they are the guilty ones; but, with the exception of some mere material interests of the grossest character, the poor are not the sufferers, are not demoralized by drinking habits as much as those in the higher ranks of society. They are not nearly as responsible, and they ought not to be as severely judged and punished. Are those who talk about enforcing the laws ready to enforce that higher and more powerful law of fashion which the poor are ever imitating? Are you going to punish the poorer classes, while you have your wines and liquors at your parties and your family table, just as you will? The way to "help the poor" against intemperance is by no fine talk about sympathy or relief, or the enforcement of the laws; but are you ready to give up your social habits, the fashion of using wine at your own table? If not, all other pleas or laws will prove unavailing. Let the laws be executed by all means, and to the uttermost. Let wiser and more efficacious ones be passed and enforced, but let us remember that our own example will be the only final cure ; and, especially, the example of having what is called fashionable, cultivated life on the side of temperance.

ARNOLD AND EMERSON.

The independence of Mr. Arnold's criticism of Emerson is worthy of all praise, whether we agree with it entirely or not. It is his view of Emerson's literary work, and given without reservation in the midst of his admirers. This is always a bold thing to do, simply because most of us do not stop for a keen literary analysis of writings we have come to live by; and we can ill bear a word which seems to disparage them. It must be said, however, that a critic who, notwithstanding his sharp thrusts, still puts his author among such men as Aurelius, cannot be charged with a light estimate of that author's character or genius. Indeed, we regard Mr. Arnold's independence as of far more merit than that praise of Emerson which appears merely to fall in with the tributes without any careful or wise literary judgment now everywhere being paid to one of the greatest writers and sweetest characters this young nation has produced. It is not very long since these very persons who cannot tolerate Mr. Arnold's criticisms were themselves unable to find any merit whatever in Emerson. He was a heretic, openly denounced on every hand, an even by those who from their liberal views would naturally

have been expected to give him and his writings a hospitable reception. No one thought then of judging them by their real merits they merely joined the popular prejudice against him. His style was ridiculed, and the substance even more abundantly denounced. No sense was to be found beneath his ill-arranged words. And this from the very persons who, when Emerson had won his way to a world-wide respect, found his language the most beautiful, and every sentence laden with condensed truth. Even at the university where we ought to look for an estimate of literary work upon its own merits without regard to present praise or censure, there was no word but of opposition or condemnation for Emerson, only an attempt to keep him from being heard in the halls which afterwards opened to him such a welcome. This only shows how difficult it is for persons to be independent in their judgment, to be above the popular clamor of approval or disapproval, to catch the truth and spirit of a man who is somewhat in advance of his time. In reality, the scholars and clergy of that day who saw no good in Emerson only followed the judgment of the crowd; and the same may be truly said of those who now cannot let Mr. Arnold have a word of his own impartial criticism in a purely literary vein, without calling him to account. We thank Mr. Arnold for his independence. Time may not justify all his criticisms, but here is a man who has made literature his careful study. In the light of that study, he comes among us, and says just what he thinks of one of our greatest writers; and that, too, when after years of bitter censure and ridicule he had grown almost to be an idol with us, and when death had but recently revealed to us more fully our loss and his worth. And for that one ought to be thanked and honored, and his method and independence followed.

THINGS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

BOOKS.

Mr. Schermerhorn's Sacred Scriptures of the World.-This handsome volume, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, from a pressure of other work has lain too long unnoticed on the editors' book-table. Its very size and comprehensiveness have allowed smaller books to come earlier into notice.

It is evidently a labor of love on the part of the compiler, and certainly honorable to his industry and enthusiasm. His task is somewhat of an ungracious one, because we are all attached to our old Bible. A good part of the Christian world think it is profanity to touch it in any way of improvement as a collection; and this new book is, moreover, too large for popular use. It is not, however, too bulky for public uses, as the dignity of the pulpit requires a good-sized volume and large type. Here is where Mr. Schermerhorn hopes that his compilation will be convenient, and we see no reason why it should not be useful to a minister. We hope that the old Bible, as a venerable and precious book, will never be displaced in our churches. It is always easy to leave aside its imperfections and choose its beauties; but, for those ministers who wish to give variety in their service, we think this book will be found convenient.

Mr. Schermerhorn appears to estimate the Hebrew and Christian sacred writings above all the others, for he gives the larger part of the volume to these selections. We shall not attempt any criticisms upon the rendering of the passages in the translations given, partly because we are not competent, and partly because the textual accuracy, however interesting to the scholar, has little to do with the value of devotional services. As far as our own taste is concerned, we should say that these selections are made with good judgment and appreciative feeling. We shall forbear to enter upon any discussion of the theories which the writer puts forth in notes touching the resurrection, ascension, etc., because these notes take up little room, and do not necessarily interfere much with the selections, or obtrude themselves upon the reader. The compiler's aim is evidently not so much to provoke controversy as to collect mainly from these religious and historical books what chiefly recommends itself,