kind of fermented liquors, as from distilled spirits, equally diluted with water."-Report for 1838 of the American Temperance Union. THE BEST NOT GOOD.-Dr. Copland, author of the "Medical Dictionary," says,-"The constant use of even the best port and sherry occasions vascular plethora and its consequent ills, unless very active exercises be taken. Malt liquors occasion disease when constantly used." 4. Fathers and Children should be guarded from the ruinous effects of the Bottle. CONSEQUENCES OF THE FIRST DROP.-Many awful consequences have resulted from partaking of the first drop pressed upon the lips of a child by an affectionate mother. I can state on this subject an appalling fact which came within my own knowledge. I was intimately acquainted with a young man, of open, ingenious, honest, upright character. A deep and sincere affection subsisted between us. He corresponded with me under the name of Jonathan, and I with him under the name of David; from this you may judge that our attachment was of the strongest kind. He went out into life; but, unhappily, he thought that a little drop might be taken after dinner with safety, and that he might take a little drop more at night. Thus he began by taking little drops. And his wife encouraged him to do So, under the impression that it would do him good. But a fatal habit was formed. The love of drink increased. His business, which was one of high respectability and profit, began to be neglected; his clerks and domestics, for want of proper superintendance, became negligent. His affairs went to ruin. He became a bankrupt. Some time ago, saw him in the vestry of Spa-fields Chapel. I had been preaching from those words, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." One of the servants came and told me that a person was waiting to see me who had sent in his name. I was surprised, as I had not heard of him for years. But O what a change did I discover in him! His face was bloated and diseased; he was in rags: he had every appearance of poverty and misery. I asked him what had become of his wife: "O," said he, "she is ruined!" Of his children: "O they are all ruined! ruined by my drunkenness!" I did not see him again for three months, and then I found him in Coldbath-fields prison. The tale which he told the governor was enough to melt a heart of stone. His wife had died, eaten up by a disease brought on by his habits of intoxication. His children were, most of them, vagabonds upon the face of the earth, in consequence of their father's habits of intoxication. His tale contains some particulars too affecting for recital; and I make the statement, not to rouse your passions, but to deter you from taking the first step as to the use of intoxicating liquors ; and to convince you that the safest plan is, "touch not, taste not, handle not!"-Rev. James Sherman, London. 5. Bands of Hope and Temperance Societies are favourable to the cultivation of Religious Life. THEY ARE NURSERIES FOR THE CHURCH.-The Sunday School Teachers' Hand-book, published by the American Sunday School Union, states ::- "By reference to the class-books of one of the teachers, in which he entered not only the names, but the circumstances of his classes, it has been found that eighty of the females and twenty-six of the males attending these classes have made a profession of religion, either during their attendance upon them, or soon after having left them. Of the young men thus instructed, eight were preparing for the ministry, and two had entered upon that duty. Ninety-three are known to have become Sunday school teachers.-In a school within our knowledge, which was established in 1829, fourteen teachers have laboured, only three of whom were professors of religion at the commencement. Of these, all but one are now professors. Of two hundred children connected with the the same school during the same time, one hundred and thirty-three (or all but sixty-seven) profess to have been converted to the faith of the gospel.-Of one hundred and thirty-six persons admitted to a church in Connecticut in one year, one hundred and eleven were connected with the Sunday school-A teacher lately informed us, that, upon looking over his class-books for seventeen years, he ascertained that three-fourths of his pupils had become professors of religion, and several of them gospel ministers at home and abroad. Such is the success which attends Sabbath school operations when allied with total abstinence from intoxicating drinks. How sadly different the history of Sabbath schools in this country." 6. The Temperance Pledge is not contrary to Holy Scripture and Common Sense. DO WE DISPARAGE THE GRACE OF GOD?-It will not do to assert that religious principle will protect us. Did it protect Noah? Did it protect Lot? Did it protect the thousands who have fallen since? The fact is, that alcohol is a physical agent, and produces upon the mind and body its natural effects, apart altogether from religious opinion and principle. Grace deals with a man's reason and affections; but grace does not deal with a diseased stomach or a fevered brain. Grace fortifies neither against the attacks which alcohol makes upon them. The teaching of grace is, 'enter not into temptation; and if, in spite of its warnings, we pass within the charmed circle, the deed and its fruits are our own. Can piety, in a world of so many allurements, have too many safeguards? If, then, total abstinence will place us beyond one class of temptations, more fatal to piety than any other, are we not bound to adopt it?-Christ or Bacchus, by the Rev. Wm. Reid. A NOBLE EXAMPLE.-In former times nothing was more common among pious and excellent men, than signing a pledge, or as it was called, entering into a covenant with the Almighty. It is a beautiful and impressive incident in the life of John Howard, the distinguished philanthropist, that he signed a written pledge, to devote himself and all that he possessed to the service of God." Then why should you refuse to sign a pledge to discountenance all the causes and practices of intemperance, a vice which hurries fifty thousand immortal beings every year to the drunkard's unblest and dishonoured grave? A PHILOSOPHER'S OPINION.-Paley says, "I own myself a friend to the laying down of strict rules, and rigidly abiding by them. Indefinite resolutions of abstemiousness are apt to yield to extraordinary occasions, and extraordinary occasions to occur perpetually. Whereas, the stricter the rule is, the more tenacious we grow of it; and many a man will abstain rather than break his rule, who would not easily be brought to exercise the same mortification from higher motives. Not to mention that, when our rule is once known, we are provided with an answer to every importunity.”—Moral Philosophy. 7. An Objection answered. WHY NOT FORM A SOCIETY FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF OTHER SINS?" Why not organize an association against pride, and another against covetousness?" forgetting that if we did, we could not touch either. Pride and covetousness are the produce of a depraved heart, and nothing more; but drunkenness is the result of natural causes. A human being may be left naked among the beasts of the field: that could never banish pride from his heart. A miser may be confined within the barren walls of a desolate and dreary prison without lessening his avarice. Finery and gold are not essential to pride and covetousness. Let common sense decide if intoxicating beverages are not essential to drunkenness; without them it can have no subsistence. Pride and covetousness are the results of moral depravity; drunkenness is the result of an unnatural habit created by physical agents. Let men be induced to abstain from such agents, and the habit they have acquired will depart from them, and their moral nature will speedily obtain the mastery over the animal appetite. But if the drinking system be continued, drunkenness will not be restrained. No mathematical proof can be more certain. Given in any age, a drinking world, and the product will invariably be a drunken world. Remove the foundation, then, and the superstructure will become a mass of ruins. 8. An Appeal to Sunday School Teachers. WHAT PROFIT IS THERE IN IT?—Among the many peculiar customs of the Chinese, there is one peculiarly peculiar. Among the many false gods which they worship, if, perchance, there be one to whom for years they have offered the most costly sacrifices, and poured out the richest oblations, to whom they have knelt and prayed, and for all these have received nothing in return, they charge it with being a false god. "For all our offerings we have received nothing; this is no true god. There is no profit in his worship." they say. The accusation is entered, and they have a trial. The mandarins sit in judgment. Proclamation is made that any shall show cause, if he can, why the god shall be dethroned. The evidence is received, and then, if the god be condemned, sentence is passed, its altars are cast down, and its worship made infamous. Isn't there a false god in this country? Have not we been worshipping a false god, presenting costly incense, and offering up our most precious possessions? And have we not been doing this for years? What profit has there been in the worship of Bacchus ? Let him answer who can, and let him take care to answer as in the sight of God. OUR DRAWING ROOM MEETING. An interesting meeting of ladies and gentlemen was held on Wednesday evening, November 16th, at Langley House, Grove Lane, Camberwell, the residence of Richard Barrett, Esq., who had kindly invited them to meet a deputation, consisting of the Rev. W. A. Essery, of Marlborough Chapel, Old Kent Road, and the Rev. G. W. M'Cree, Hon. Sec. of the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union. Tea and coffee were served to the guests, after which the company adjourned to the drawing-room, where appropriate devotional services were conducted by the Revs. I. Doxsey and J. Pillans. The Revs. Messrs. Rowe and Marshall also attended, and the company consisted of ladies and gentlemen identified with the educational, philanthropic, and religious movements of the neighbourhood. In giving a cordial welcome to all present, and in introducing the deputation, Mr. BARRETT said that the object of the meeting was to enable them to lay before his guests the principles and aims of the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union, with which he had entire sympathy. During 1863, Five Agents had been constantly employed by that organization; 1,660 meetings of children, parents, Sunday school teachers, and others had been addressed; 116 provincial towns had been visited; 25,000 children had met at meetings held, last winter, in the Lambeth Baths; 80 Bands of Hope, in London, had been assisted; 170 exhibitions of Dissolving Views had been given; and 66,000 publications circulated. Such a good work deserved support, and he hoped that the present meeting would gain for the society many friends. The Rev. G. W. M'CREE, in the course of his introductory statement, said that the Union was formed in 1851, for the purpose of promoting the instruction of the young in the principles and practice of total abstinence. There were five millions of children in the country under fifteen years of age; what was to become of them? To train them to abstain from wine and strong drink was of the utmost importance, because this would greatly promote their health, prosperity, and virtue. We need not feel afraid to induce our children to abstain. He had abstained from intoxicating beverages for twenty-five years, and was well satisfied with the result, and they could see for themselves, in Mr. Barrett's children, that it did not diminish physical health. He knew, he said, two poor lads who lived in the parish of St. Giles; one joined the Band of Hope, and is now in a college preparing for the Christian ministry; the other, alas, became a drunkard, and when eighteen years of age, murdered his sister. Mr. M'Cree went on to say, that to him it was quite plain Holy Scripture sanctioned this movement, because whatever promoted purity of life, domestic happiness, and love to God, could not be contrary to the Divine Book. John Newton spoke of two heaps before him,-the heap of human misery, and the heap of human happiness. This movement would make the former heap less, and the latter heap greater, and therefore he hoped they would support it. In conclusion, he expressed his hope that this meeting would hasten the time "When the humblest homes in England, Shall in proper time give birth To dwell upon a better earth." The Rev. W. A. ESSERY remarked, that the love of novelty was inherent in human nature, and that although total abstinence was no longer a novelty, yet it posessed sufficient interest to attract benevolent persons. The Band of Hope, he said, sought to provide a rational and recreative mode of spending an evening, taught children how to resist a common temptation, and greatly aided the parent and the Sunday-school teacher, in training the young to live well and do good. Children needed discipline, early and strong, and we must do what we can to inculcate habits of self-mastery. Such habits would be greatly promoted if they joined Bands of Hope. The Rev. JOHN PILLANS, in the course of his address, argued with great force in favour of lessening the temptations which surround our young people, and avowed his conviction that Bands of Hope, on this ground alone, were deserving of support. In reply to the objection, "Is it not wrong to teach children to promise to abstain ?" he said, "We teach children to pray, and to do many other solemn things, before they properly understand the meaning of them, and I do not myself see any force in the objection." By training children to abstain, we throw a shield |