IV. It is thought that, desirable as prohibitory law may be when supported by a political organization, the effort for this object is and must be futile. It will be unto us according to our faith. The good man must always belong with those who believe that nothing which is desirable is impossible; that with God—that is, in the kingdom of God—all things are possible. What we have now to fear, far more to fear than labor and delay, is too ready success, too little effort. What we are about is social regeneration, and much toil and time may well be put into it. God forbid that we should be in haste to get through with His work. Having a most holy and comprehensive end in view, having means under consideration whose discussion is pregnant with social, moral and religious truth, we can well afford to spend time in enlarging, deepening and disseminating convictions of this commanding order. If we do this work, and do it well, the next undertaking will be comparatively light. Who are those who will venture to say that the stars in their courses are not fighting for us; that our war is not the warfare of God?

V. It is urged against us, you are preparing the way for that great evil, unenforced law. We beg pardon; that is the evil we are leaving behind us, and that is the evil we are guarding against. We are leaving it behind us. Every town and city and State, aside from Prohibition, are full of unenforced laws pertaining to this very traffic. We are now occupying that most fatal of positions, just laws systematically and contemptuously set aside. We are guarding against future neglect of law. We ask for no law, we wish for no law, till we can prescribe the methods of enforcement, and can elect the officers to whom enforcement is to be intrusted. We are not wading into, but out of, this slough of illegality.

VI. Ah! but this enforcement when it shall come will call for a stringency of method that will override all our liberties. The answer is double. A community that fears to put forth the effort to enforce a just and wise law will soon have no law well enforced. How happens it that more men are being lynched with us for murder than are executed by a legal process? * Because the community is so timid in asserting rights, that this timidity leads to a trampling of law under foot in this twofold form, in the crime itself and in its punishment. The fear that does not dare to do the thing that ought to be done, provokes an increase of every evil and every form of depredation.

A second consideration is, that this stringency will no longer be necessary when Prohibition covers a large territory and has all the machinery of law at its easy disposal. This state of things will overawe the lawless temper, and make resistance unsuccessful and unin

*In 1882, there were 1,266 murders in the United States. Ninety-three persons were executed and one hundred and eighteen lynched. In 1883, there were 1,573 murders, and in 1884 they were reported as 3,377.

viting. Not only will each success prepare the way for a larger one, it will make all its conditions lighter. Prohibition is the easiest, as well as the most effective, regulation to which the traffic can be subjected.

VII. We notice but one more objection, for they swarm innumerable, like mosquitoes from stagnant waters-it is this: you are about to impose many and uncomfortable limitations on those either not at all at fault, or slightly so, in this matter of intemperance.

We acknowledge this objection in part, but regard their losses as quite contemptible when held up in clear sunlight, and contrasted with the immense gains of Prohibition. We have no social nor civic war with those strictly temperate in the use of intoxicants. We would much rather regard their wishes if experience showed it to be possible in connection with the general well-being. This it is not; and they, with all the rest of us, must accept the burdens imposed by the common life. We do not propose to hinder them in their easy purchase of intoxicants as long as they are the majority. Nay, we expect to pay a large share of the expense and the penalty incident to their indulgence. But when we shall be the majority, these temperate men will not only be a minority, but a very small minority; and then it will be a most surprising claim that we, the majority, shall sacrifice our own interest and the safety of the State in behalf of an appetitive pleasure on the part of the few.

If we add women and children to the majority of male voters; if we remember that all criminals and inebriates, and that the makers and sellers of intoxicants, are with the minority, we shall see that those whose legitimate enjoyments are to be unfortunately shortened by Prohibition are few indeed. Well may they gracefully yield to the public safety; but, if they will not so yield, let the public safety be sought nevertheless.

Is there any real difficulty in understanding that the progress of society, its just and wise development, does bring some limitations to individuals even in things otherwise harmless? None of us can take the preposterous position that all good things are saved by true progress at all times, in all places, for all persons! What mean labor and self-denial but this very thing, that much is left behind, and, for the time-being, lost by growth; that to wisely waive the lower in winning the higher is the very secret of Christ? Certainly, if one stood on no terms of responsibility and fellowship with those about him, the law of just action on this subject, and many another, would be profoundly altered. We should not be called on to make Paul's assumption: If meat maketh my brother to stumble-nor to follow him in his conclusion-I will eat no flesh for evermore. With the conditions of charity, the method of charity is constantly changing; and I would interpret the words and acts of Christ reverently under the

law of his own time, resting on him; and not irreverently under the law of a later time, not resting on him. In the fact that we would not do this, in the understanding of Scripture, lay one of the difficulties that we found, or rather made, in settling the slavery question.

That deep gulf which lies between a conservative and radical temper evidently divides in thought the disciples of regulation and of Prohibition respectively. Thus, Dr. Chambers, in the article immediately preceding our own in this series, renews arguments which appeal for their force to a mind heavily weighted by existing sentiment. He starts by infringing the patent of the Democratic Party on the phrase, "sumptuary law "-a convenient form of words for those who seek to waive the entire discussion. He then enforces the point, that the use of intoxicating drinks is not "a malum in se." Here we readily assent. This is followed by the familiar assertion that Prohibition does not prohibit. We, with our radical temper, read this chapter of history in this wise: The faults of method being duly considered, Prohibition has been as successful as we had any right to expect it to be. With improved methods, it promises increased efficiency. He then urges, as a fourth point, that the efficacy of a law must depend on the moral support of the people. Third Party Prohibition recognizes this fact fully, and is the only temperance action that does completely understand it.

The fifth reason offered is that of "unwholesome alliances." Here, again, the Third Party Prohibitionists have learned the lesson enforced on them, and stand at the very head of the class.

This is followed by the assertion, that the true spirit of reform must De moral. This affirmation is every way just. But social relations involve the carrying forward of moral convictions into civic action, and any movement loses its moral basis when this action is refused it. Deny the corollary, and you deny the proposition on which it rests.

Gentlemen, you have either not studied our position, or you fail to show the skill we have expected from you. In striking at us you strike for us, and that, too, with our own familiar weapons.

Dr. Chambers thinks that the method of regulation has the foreground as compared with that of Prohibition, and may first claim full trial. So history has decided, and we look in vain through many dismal years and many dark places for any success, or promise of success, in regulation. The radical eyes with which we read the events of the past century and the past dozen years disclose one clear, unmistakable fact, the utter failure of all half-way measures.

Dr. Chambers concludes by commenting on the extravagance into which the advocates of Prohibition have fallen, and the excessive emphasis they have laid on one sin. Doubtless our zeal sometimes eats us up, yet, in the multiplicity of human infirmities, this is among the more pardonable offences.

The Prohibitionist takes his stand on the prayer, "Thy kingdom come," ,"believing it to be a kingdom both of inward conviction and outward force. He may not perfectly understand this kingdom, but he vividly conceives it, and is earnestly pushing for it; and this effort is the divine school of greater patience and more knowledge.

III.—A PHYSIOLOGICAL VIEW OF FAITH CURES.

BY PROF. ARCHIBALD CUTHBERTSON, NEW YORK.

ONE great end of Divine Revelation appears to be largely for reducing the amount of suffering, which is the inevitable consequence, either in this life or the next, of sin. Since the gospel of Christ has been so powerful in purifying the moral or spiritual condition of people, and since also associated with it marvelous things have been done for the cure of bodily diseases, some think the continuation of the bodily power possible. One sect of those who believe thus, say its existence depends on the sincerity and perfection of the Christian character, and is the great boon to all who attain to the proper standard of spiritual life. Others say, all who believe in salvation through Christ ought, as an indispensable factor in their profession, to believe that God will cure bodily as well as spiritual diseases.

There cannot be any doubt that those who are true Christians are, by that very fact, improved in both soul and body; but, while the spiritual benefit is direct, the bodily is indirect. When a man believes that a certain injurious action is wrong, he is, by that belief, immediately improved in soul, but the body is not affected till the mental principle has been put into practice, and this, we believe, gives the key to the whole difficulty about Faith Cures.

It may, to some, appear almost superfluous to say anything about this mode of healing, since, in theological, scientific, and literary periodicals, there has lately been so much discussion. We think, however, that the main point at issue has not been made as prominent as it ought to have been. There is not any need of giving either a history of this movement or even an outline of instances and examples, as both of these have been well done by others who have taken part in this discussion, one of the best accounts being given by J. M. Buckley, D.D., in the June Century Magazine.

It does not appear, however, that satisfactory evidence either for or against Faith Cures can be got by merely enumerating instances. A different investigation requires to be made, and that is, what is a bodily cure, and how can such be accomplished? This leads back to the prior question, namely, what is bodily disease, what is sickness or weakness? These may be divided into two prominent classes: first, mere weakness arising from lack of strength; second, injured tissue. Hence, to restore the body to strength when it has been weak, or to

purify diseased tissue, is a cure. How, then, can either of these be brought about? If we can find conditions which will answer these two questions, we may get some light as to the probability of Faith. Cures.

nerves.

It is necessary for us first of all to consider how any bodily function is performed. Every movement is caused by impulse from the motor This power may be sent by the will, or by a call from a sensory nerve. The life of each item of the body as well as the general health of the whole organism depends on the amount of strength supplied to the various parts. When a living body is being brought into existence, during the process of growth, its progressive life depends on the fact of both sensory and strength-giving nerves, as pioneers, ramifying every speck of matter belonging to the organism. And these life-giving and life-guiding threads are the last to quit the field when death takes final possession. When, then, a piece of tissue is diseased, its cure depends entirely on the power supplied to it, by means of which it may be able to dispose of the impurity or injurious elements. If a whole organism is weak, its future health depends on regaining its proper amount of stimulus.

BODILY STRENGTH.

Bodily power is something which appeared to scientists as a great factor in explaining both physical and mental phenomena, and having begun this study they followed it in some such mode as the following: They noticed that while a mollusk moved slowly through the water, a little fish much smaller could move quite rapidly. The mollusk had much more muscular tissue than the little fish, why, then, did it not move the quicker of the two? One marked difference was noticed to be that the little fish had a fully developed nervous system, including the incepalic ganglion, or brain, the spinal cord, and various other ganglia throughout the body, while the mollusk had only one ganglion, from which a few branches radiated to the different parts of the body.

Following this line of investigation up through the whole animal kingdom, it was found that rapidity of motion and durability to continue at work were conditioned, other requirements being normal, on the amount of nerve matter in proportion to the muscular tissue. A horse with only about two pounds of nerve matter, including brain and spinal cord, ordinarily lives to be about twenty years of age, while man, who has about four pounds, including brain and spinal cord, lives to be fully three times the age of the horse. Amongst human beings it has been noticed that small people and larger people who have big heads—i. e., a large proportion of nerve matter-are bodily more durable than those who have less brain matter. For further information on this wonderful subject, our readers are referred to any lately published standard work on the structure and function-bodily onlyof the nervous system. All are cautioned against such descriptions as