Litchfield enquirer., 1874-04-02

mp constantly in this as in every other phase of human life, which call for spec
 lai application of the principle of expedi- ency, of which each man himself must necessarily be the sole judge, as before God. We hold, moreover, that for all this heart sanctifed by the Holy Spirit. a life hid with Christ in God is the first
 essential; that all plans are futile without
 that dependence upon wisdom and 8
 power higher than our own. We hold
 that prayer IS the direct use of this divine
 power, having the promise of perfect eff c1ency. We hold that no moral reform
 can be effected ezeept in this way; that
 mere human and humanitarian schemes
 are sure to fail and react, and that Chris tians should be all alive for the interests of Chrlst's kingdom, and promote all re- forms through the converting of the truth
 as it is in Jesus.
 E wish, ln conclusion, to utter my pro- test against what are called the drinking Eusages of society,"" For lady to cover
 her table with wine on New Years day is to promote drunkenness in very direct
 manner The young man who takes a little at each house he visits goes home a #drunkard, and the ladies who gave him
 the drink are responsible. Not because drinking wine Is wrong-not at all; that's
 the wild conclusion our illogical total ab- stinence friends jump to; but because the New Years machinery necessarily manu- sfactures drunkenness. All wine-sipp1ng lor wine-tippiing, sitting or standing, to admire wines and jockey" on them as
 they do on horses; all this is simply per-
 nicious, because it is incorporate. The
 habit of treating" as 1t is called, be- longs 10 this category. It is an utter abuse in itself, and almost always con-
 neeted with distilled liquors, which are never safe. Any young man who puts himself in such position is in danger. Why? Because he drinks Not at all.
 But because he is drinking improper arti- zcles, or in improper circumstances. Any
 mans own conscience tell him that to go
 with others to drink wine together at a
 bout is a very different thing from drink
 ing it as occasion may justify in the ordi- nary course of life. The greatest danger
 to young men is bad company anywhere.
 The wine-cup is often blamed as the
 cause of ruin of young men, when it was not the wine-cup at all, but the wicked
 company which led the youth into drunk ienness and many other vices. My appeal
 to young men to abstain from distilled liquors, and to avoid treating and tippling of any kind, is not on the ground of total abstinence being scriptural duty-they know better than that-but on the ground that drunkenness is crime against God and man, and they are bound, whatever way their conscientious judgement die .tates, to guard themselves against it. Act 0c oe IT., We shall stand before Him in judgment
 We are responsible for our use or abuse of Gods gifts; we are moreover our broth CTS keeper. God has given us his Holy
 Word as our one guide, by which we can rightly discharge these responsibilities. Let us, in distrust of our own schemes, cling to that Word, and live faithfully &C., cording to its teachings. Let us, above all, find our refuge in Him, who is in that Word made known to us as the only en- during shelter from sin. Fully, faithful iy, forever in Christ, we shall be taught by His spirit in all the relative duties of our earthly life, and whether we eat or drink or whatever we dQ, we shall do all to the glory of Him. who is our salvation.
 To Bishop Purcell circular Dr. Holland replies in the following letter. published in the Tribune of March 21:
 VERY REVEREND SIR: The friends of temperance all over the Union, have re- ceived and read your recent circular with profound regret. Your high character, your influential position in the great church which you represent, and your confident and ingenious appeal to divine authority as the basis of, and warrant for, your views and opinions, give your mani- festo great significance, and rear a for obstacle before the feet of those who labor to win the nation to sobriety, and destroy traffic in which vice, immor- aity, disease. misery, and death find their most redundant fountain. do not ques- tion for moment your sincerity, or the purity of your motives, but believe you have made great mistake-a mistake surcharged with danger to your own peo- pie, to the country, and the world. beg you not to deem distant stranger imper- tinent if he regards you as representa- tive of large class of the clergy, not on- ly of your own but of other denomlna- tions, and undertakes to show wherein that mistake lies.
 Of the women's temperance movement in the West, I know nothing but what I find reported in the daily Eastern press. I notice that 1t has been instrumental in closing dram-shops, in pledging3 multi tudes to life of total abstinence, in largely diminishing the sale of intoxicat- ing liquors at the manufacturing centers, and that these results are accompanied by a decided revival of religious feeling, and the exhibition of 8 great deal of Chris tian heroism. I notice, too, even here at the East, where we only catch the echoes of the great commotion, that a strong moral influence is felt, and that the public conscience has been quickened nightly with regard to the evils of intemperance. So much seems plain, and so much, I am sure, ought to be cause of rejoicing to you and to all who love men and their Master.
 Besides, would it not be we'll fer us to that the women who engage in this crusade are working in the only way that Providence has left open to them. Who are they? They are mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of men whom they have seen, year after year, dropping into the graves of drunkards. They have suf- fered worse than death that the rum-seller might live. They have seen their loved ones become sots, idiots, madmen.' They have see their fortunes sqhandered, they have found themselves disgraced, they have been cursed, beaten, bruised; they have seen their peaceful and happy homes turned into places of fear and torment. Boys that were nursed on the bosoms of some of them have been transformed by drink into fends. Men whose kiss of love and loyalty honored them with wifehood, have degenerated into beasts. For these, through weary, suffering years they have paayed, Nay, they have knelt with them, and held up their weak and imbecile hands while they prayed for themselves. Day after day they have done this, as men have gone to their business through temptations that beset their path at every corner, and have received them at night, only to cover them from sight with shame, and sink back into their old despair. The sorrows through which these women have walked have been simply immeasurable. No words of mine can describe them; no words oI any man can exaggerate them,
 They have looked to the leaders of the Church for help; have they had it? They have looked to the politicians for help; have they received it? They have asked