Year: 1865

mas not lalu asluc nlS temperance aTDOr


In letter from his home in Illinois, ad


dressed to the Synod of Albany, will


whom he was accustomed to meet. He


speaks . follows in regard TO the meas


ures to be adopted to promote the tenn
perance cause


DEAR BRETHREN -


Distance from your place of meeting


renders it impossible for me to attend on


your session at Schaghticoke, and would
as an orderly member of your body, con-


fer with you by letter. You will indulge


me, therefore, in few remarks, though
absent in body, but present in spirit, in
stead of a speech sin propria persona, u
which might attempt to make il were


with you on the floor as a member.


After congratulat;ng you on your high
privilege of assembling in a judicatory Of
the tabernacle, in this pleasant village,
and among this hospital and beloved peo-
pie, whom / shall never forget while
memory lives; l shall request to be
heard when the subject of TEMPERANCE
shall come up for discussion, for | take
it for granted that this great interest will
claim your attention during your life
time for meeting Of a Synod with.
out Christian action on this subject would
be like the "Play of Hamlet with the
character or part of Hamlet omitted"
and such an anomaly is not TO be looked
for among Presbyterians.


While it may be said, that in such a
country as ours and among such race
as we are, temperance should possess a
kind of omnipresence, there are special
reasons for its grave and solemn consid-
GRAFTON at the present time. Such as the
following will commend themselves TO
the mind of every brother present.


The prevalence of temperance is vi
tally connected with the success Of the
Gospel. shall not spend time TO argue
this point. Preaching is a dead letter
without the strictest regard TO its laws.
The use of Intoxicating drinks, even in
moderation is one of the grand devices of
Satan to shut God out of the heart and
the soul out OF heaven. This has been
deeply felt a n d powerfully urged by
most Of our ministers for some years past
and the community has felt the lessons.


Another reason. I he Temperance
'ause has been for several years on
be decline. Apathy has entered the
,hurch, and comparative silence h
eized the ministry. Languid efforts, il
my, are put forth to extermiDate this
eigniug curse from society. We need
IN old fashioned revival, in which every
burch member is supposed to be pledg-
d member, and every minister cham
lion with his armor always on, and ready |
o do battle against the common foe
But we have fallen upon faint and sick
y age. Slumbers and death are upon
s, while the old drinking usages are
oming again into use in many places,
nd especially among the young. There
J much less preaching on this subject
nan there was in the days of Justin
EDWARDS and sometimes, when this sub.
.ct is introduced into the pulpit we hear
hurch members say that they want TO
ear the Gospel and not temperance
Depend upon it 'tbere is something rot
IN in Denmark" Look well to such
rofessors of religion.


The pledge of "total abstinence from
j that can intoxicate," is not generally
rculated and signed now as it was twen-
years ago; so that it is not an unusu-


thing TO hear it represented as an over
'ecise thing, and scoffed at, and some-
mes by professors of religion, and it is
't very long since heard a bard thrust {
ade by a Presbyterian minister at this {
me pledge. This is now the tendency /


things in American society. t


The increase of domestic manufactures


intoxicating beverages, under various Q
etexts, such as cider, wine and light C
.ers and their increasing use in fami- d
IS, call for attention, and demand a 5
eek, or we shall float back TO the old
sition, where we lay engulphed when C
Ish, and Porter, and Beecher, and 9Th a
; first blew the tocsin of alarm, and b
ened the war Of determination against o
is old enemy of man and God. We it
ed loud blast from many such trump n
in the name Of God. p
Another fact is quite noticeable on this il
bject: Much less is done now, than a
IS done several years ago, by the church |
see that the members of the Sunday y
iools are thoroughly trained to proper m
inciples and habits in relation to the q