1 spirit: being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. (Phil. i. 11.) In a word, whatever tends to the true honour of religion, to the promoting and establishment of virtue and goodness among men ; Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, these are the things which promote the glory of God. God is himself a being of infinite holiness and goodness; a perfectly just and righteous, as well as supreme governor of the universe: and the glory of such a governor, is the establishment of his moral kingdom, the universal establishment of the dominion and power of virtue, in the wills of all reasonable and intelligent creatures. His natural kingdom is by necessity; for the material world cannot but obey him : but his moral kingdom which is his greatest glory, is the dominion of righteousness and virtue. Hence the apostles, in their exhortations to the practice of any virtue whatsoever, frequently urge this argument that it will be to the glory of God, (Rom. xv. 5.) God grant you to be like-minded one towards another, that ye may with one mind glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in the words of the text, whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Do every thing, even the most common actions of life, in such a manner as may become the professors of the Gospel of Christ, and may promote the honour and interest of religion. The words are of the same import, with those in Col. iii. 17. Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus; do every thing so as be comes the disciples of Christ, giving thanks to God, even the Father by Him; that God in all things may be glorified, through Jesus Christ, 1 Pet.iv.11; or, as 'tis expressed, Tit. ii. 10; that ye may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. To adorn the doctrine of God is, by your practice to cause it to appear lovely and beneficial to mankind; to show how glorious 'tis in its effects, and how worthy to be embraced, and practised by all men. This is what the Scripture elsewhere calls, glorifying the word of the Lord, Acts xiii. 48; glorifying it, and causing it to have its free course; so St. Paul explains it, 2 Th. iii. 1. "Tis promoting the interest of religion and virtue, and the general salvation of men; 'tis spreading the knowledge of God, and bringing men over to the obedience of his commands, in order to their becoming capable of being partakers of his happiness. Vol. II. pp. 10-18. In connexion with these specitioned by Bishop Hoadley seems mens of his preaching, 'one fact menvery curious. "His preaching at first was without notes; and so continued till he was rector of St. James's: a method in which he was peculiarly happy; not by trusting to his memory entirely, and fore, in which some have excelled ; speaking a sermon composed benot by heating himself gradually into any sort of passion, to which others have owed all their fluency of language; but by a certain strength and coolness of head, which could not easily be surprised or deceived; and a certain faculty of expression, which was hardly ever at a loss for plain and proper words." REVIEWS. Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, &c. of Intemperance. By LYMAN BEECHER, D. D. Discourses on Intemperance; By JOHN G. PALFREY, A. M. Address before the Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance; By CHARLES SPRAGUE. (Continued from page 604.) To portray the miseries of intemperance to the drunkard and his family, to collect its statistics, and show its alarming prevalence, and its fearful bearing on the welfare of the community, is a comparatively easy task. But to point out the remedy is a more difficult matter. The great question is, What can be done to remove the evil? At what point of resistance can we rally the friends of reform generally, and rear an effectual barrier against the common enemy? This is a problem which has tasked the wisdom of the wise and good, and called forth their efforts heretofore with out success. Our authors have all felt it incumbent on them not to leave the subject without attempting to solve this inquiry. They all trace the evil to the same source, and take a common ground as to the point where reform must be commenced. They find the secret of its prevalence in the customs of society. It is the common and unreproved use of spirits among the temperate that furnishes recruits for the great army of drunkards. It is through this space of twilight that all that miserable company have passed into darkness. A man is neither born a drunkard nor becomes one suddenly. He begins with moderation or he would never end in excess. every instance of confirmed intemperance, the subject of it did but make such a use of liquor as was In sanctioned and even almost enforced by the usages of society. It was the usages of society that led his feet to ruin. "Is it not so?" says Mr. Palfrey: Those who are from time to time breaking from the ranks, and going over into the class of intemperate persons, are we not sure that it was in each of them the less indulgence which challenged no blame, that led to the greater, which is infamous and destructive? Going further back, can we entertain the smallest doubt, that it was that brought them first within the the unchallenged customs of society, sphere of that influence, which is about to be thus consummated? p. 57, 58. Why did the boon companion make merry with his friends with liquor; why not with exhilarating gas, which would its effects, and left them happier when have made them happier while under its effects subsided? Why did he who felt the smart of a wounded spirit, and he who was harrassed by vacuity of mind, not have recourse to the poppy's juices? They are a better sedative, are more conveniently administered, and lap the sick soul in a more glorious elysium of the fancy. This is a Turk's medicine for a mind diseased.' Why is it not a Christian's? There is but one answer. It is because the gas was out of the way, a thing almost unknown, hidden in the chemist's laboratory, and the opium was out of the way, among the apothecary's secret stores; neither of them substances familiar to the habits of sotiety, and included in the economy of daily life. The ardent spirit was in the way, and not to be sought beyond where friends meet, and families dwell, and individuals for their various purposes resort, and the crowds of business and pleasure most do congregate.' All comes to the same point; it is, that ardent spirits are so often used to excess, because they are in general use among us, meeting us at every turn, and because with or without what in the individual case we call cause, it is to excess in frequent instances, that when generally used at all, they tend with a powerful urgency. Every where men meet with them, and, meeting with them, men are constitutionally liable to become their prey. This is not necessary, and many in fact escape. Numbers who use them, it is needless to say, are men without a blot. But what do we thence infer? We might master a lion who should waylay us; but a country infested with lions, would not therefore cease to be dangerous to live in. pp. 59, 60. "It is hard," says the author just quoted, "to account for the origin of the different habits of different nations." It is the custom of the Turks to regale themselves with opium: ours is the equally needless and more pernicious one, to drink inebriating liquors. It is astonishing to reflect how extensively this custom has inwoven itself into the whole texture of society, in our own nation and in that from which we are descended-making itself essential to all our social and our hos pitable intercourse, to our labor and our rest, our sorrow and our mirth, our sickness and our health. On all occasions, and among all classes, drinking is the prevalent custom. There is something fundamentally wrong in this habit of our nation, and there is a dreadful state of deception, or of apathy, in the public mind respecting it. The habit must be changed, or our ruin is inevitable and immeasurable. The custom must be done away-and every sober citizen, who really wish es for a reform, must lend his own efforts and example to the accomplishment of such an end. "Let me then press you," says Mr. Sprague, to the enforcement of the only remedy for this destroying sin." 66 If we would really bauish intemper ance, we must close the hundred secret avenues through which it winds its i way. We must turn our eyes from the pleasant shapes it assumes in its infan i cy, if we would not look upon it in all its full-grown bloatedness. We must, in a word, give up drinking as a necessary fashion, if we would get rid of drunkenness as a necessary vice. This, too, unlike some good deeds, must be done before men-in the sight of our families, our friends, and the world.Our children, who seldom think that can be wrong which their parents indulge in, must no longer behold the strange fire an every day household sacrifice. Our neighbours, who are anxious to interchange with us the courtesies of hospitality, must from us learn moral boldness enough to thrust the insinuating foe from their tables and firesides. Wherever our influence can be felt, it must be judiciously exerted. It must reach the young-who enter upon life with a blind deference for their seniors, and imbibe their habits long before they are able to weigh the tendency of them. It must descend to the poor-who are ever ready to copy the manners and practices of those above them. It must spread round to the crowds of imitators, whose most anxious care is, to live like other people -and who deem it a very important study to find out what is customary, without ever troubling themselves to ask whether it be right. In this way, in this way alone, can the good work commence-and if then there be any thing left for the law, let those who sit in the seats of authority look to it. They will not fear to follow where we dare to lead. Sprague, pp. 26, 27. things as partial remedies, from Mr. Palfrey suggests several the work of reformation. Among which he anticipates some aid to these he mentions substitutes for ardent spirits, such as wines, coffee, and other substances, which may refresh without inebriating. Something, he supposes, may be accomplished by means of savings banks, who has little money at a time, is justly remarking that "a person tempted to part with it for an idle indulgence, because he knows of no way to dispose of a small sum to advantage; and to inform him of such a way is to save much more than his money to him.” "Again," says Mr. P., "there is a great want of innocent public amusements among us. We are told of a certain king, that he of fered a prize for a new diversion. We should do well to follow his example, stipulating for one which should be harmless and accessible to the whole people." A dangerous remedy, we should think, unless the evil it were designed to cure, should first be taken out of the way,-for all the popular holidays we already have are among the chief promoters of intemperance. The example of other nations, adduced by Mr. P., are nothing in the present case, since, as drinking is not the vice of those nations, a popular festivity is unattended with those temptations which are sure to come with every similar eccasion in our country. But Mr. P. seems to have but little confidence in these remedies, as promising a radical cure of the evil. We have less. He speaks more to our mind in the following passage. To secure ardent spirits, in fine, from intemperate use, the method seems to me no other than to drive them absolutely from common use; and, therefore, without undertaking to say what is every one's duty, I am sure that every one will be in the way of doing great good, who will resolve not to keep, never to offer, and never to accept them, except when professionally prescribed, thus causing his 'moderation to be known unto all men,' and by his conduct calling their attention to the subject. pp. 104, 105. With Dr. Beecher, "retrenchments and substitutes are idle," and the "prudent use" of spirits is the deceptive road to ruin. I know that much is said about the prudent use of ardent spirits; but we might as well speak of the prudent use of the plague-of fire handed prudently around among powder-of poison taken prudently every day-of vipers and serpents introduced prudently into our dwellings, to glide about as a matter of courtesy to visitors, and of amusement to our children. First or last, in spite of your prudence, the contagion will take-the fatal spark will fall upon the train-the deleterious poison will tell upon the system-and the fangs of the serpent will inflict death. There is no prudent use of ardent spirits, but when it is used as a medicine. All who receive it into the system are not destroyed by it. But if any vegetable were poisonous to as many, as the use of ardent spirits proves destructive, it would be banished from the table; it would not be prudent to use it at all. If in at tempting to cross a river upon an elastic beam-as many should fall in and be drowned, as attempt to use ardent spirits prudently and fail, the attempt to cross in that way would be abandoned-there would be no prudent use of that mode of crossing. The effect of attempting to use ardent spirits prudently, is destructive to such multitudes, as precludes the possibility of prudence in the use of it. When we consider the deceitful nature of this sin, and its irresistible power when it has obtained an ascendency-no man can use it prudently-or without mocking God can pray while he uses it, lead us not into temptation." There is no necessity for using it at all, and it is presumptuous to do so.-Beecher. pp. 38, 39. 66 It is not enough therefore to erect the flag ahead, to mark the spot where the drunkard dies. It must be planted at the entrance of his course, proclaiming in waving capitals-THIS IS THE WAY TO DEATH!! Over the whole territory of "prudent use," it must wave and warn. For if we cannot stop men in the beginning, we cannot separate between that and the end. He who lets ardent spirits alone, before it is meddled with, is safe, and he only. It should be in every family a contraband article, or if it is admitted, it should be allowed for medical purposes only. It should be labelled as we label laudanum--and TOUCH NOT, TASTE NOT, HANDLE NOT, should meet the eye on every vessel which contains it. Ib. pp. 39, 40. In respect to the remedy of intemperance, Dr. B.'s main position is the following. "It is the banishment of ardent spirits from the list of lawful articles of commerce, by a correct and efficient public sentiment; such as has turned slavery out of half our land, and will yet expel it from the world." This is the point to which he endeavors to bring the public mind, and which he fortifies by an argument that cannot fail to come with weight to the conscience of both vender and consumer. We would gladly quote the argument at length, but must limit ourselves to some detached passages. We shall, however, quote the more freely, because nothing we could say would be more forcible than the language of these extracts, and because we are anxious to induce, if possible, every one of our readers to possess the volume. It is a book which every good man should own, and, having read it in his own family, should lend it to his neighbors. Indeed, if we shall be instrumental in promoting the extensive circulation of these excellent sermons, we shall deem it one of the principal ends we could have proposed to ourselves, in our attention to this subject. "That the traffic in ardent spirits is wrong, and should be abandoned as a great national evil," is evident to Dr. B. from various considerations. Whether these considerations will be equally conclusive to other minds, his readers must judge. "It employs a multitude of men, and a vast amount of capital, to no useful purpose." Where is the good produced by the traffic in ardent spirits, to balance the enormous evils inseparable from the trade? What drop of good does it pour into the ocean of misery which it creates? And is all this expense of capital, and time, and effort, to be sustained for nothing? Look at the mighty system of useless operationsthe fleet of vessels running to and frothe sooty buildings throughout the land, darkening the heavens with their steam and smoke-the innumerable company of boats, and wagons, and horses, and men-a more numerous cavalry than ever shook the blood stained plains of Europe-a larger convoy than ever bore on the waves the baggage of an army-and more men than were ever devoted at once to the work of desolation and blood. All these begin, continue, and end their days in the production, and distribution of a fiquid, the entire consumption of which is useless. Should all the capital thus employed, and all the gains acquired be melted into one mass and thrown it into the sea, nothing would be subtracted from national wealth or enjoyment. Had all the men and animals slept the whole time, no vacancy of good had been occasioned.-Beecher, pp. 67, 68. "The amount of suffering and mortality inseparable from the commerce in ardent spirits," is another consideration which, in the view of our author, "renders it an unlawful article of trade.” The wickedness is proverbial of those who in ancient days caused their children to pass through the fire unto Moloch. But how many thousands of children are there in our land who endure daily privations and suf ferings, which render life a burden, and would have made the momentary pang of infant sacrifice a blessing? Theirs is a lingering, living death. There never was a Moloch to whom were immolated yearly as many children as are immolated, or kept in a state of constant suffering in this land of nominal Christianity. We have no drums and gongs to drown their cries, neither do we make convocations, and bring them all out for one mighty burning. The fires which consume them, are slow fires, and they blaze balefully in every part of our land; throughout which the cries of injured children, and orphans go up to heaven. Could all these woes, the product of intemperance, be brought out into one place, and the monster who inflicts the sufferings be seen personified, the nation would be furious with indignation. Humanity, conscience, religion, all would conspire, to stop a work of such malignity. We are appalled, and shocked, at |