the work of years would have been utterly undone. The Rev. Dr. King of Glasgow, in his late work on Jamaica, informs us that he heard Mr. Blyth, formerly of Hampden, when addressing his congregation, which consisted of about a thousand members, declare that he did not believe that one of them was chargeable with the vice of drunkenness. The reason of which is, that Mr. Blyth has been for many years one of the most devoted promoters of the temperance cause. The Rev. James Scott, missionary from Demerara, once stated in the hearing of the author, that such was the result of his adoption of the abstinence principle and its advocacy in his congregation, that during nine years he had, out of a congregation of a thousand members, only two cases of discipline, and that during that period they had been favoured with a delightful revival of religion.

Have the people of God nothing to do with facts like these? What is the other evil agency from which the interests of religion suffer so much? What else rears such formidable barriers to the progress of the truth? What else so effectually opens to the powers of darkness the avenues of the heart? What else so blunts the moral sensibilities of the soul? What else so weakens the restraints of religion? What else so blights our piety, defames our faith, destroys our influence, and exposes religion to utter contempt? And have the people of God nothing to do but bewail their helplessness? Only one thing is needed to terminate the evil, and that is at our command. We have but to discountenance all the causes and practices of intemperance, and the stumbling-block is removed. And what is the argument that will vindicate a continuance of drinking customs when such are their results? Shall the paltry gratification of the wine-glass? Shall love to a fictitious courtesy stand in the way of a work so essential to the progress of all that is holy? Give us but the universal practice of abstinence among the followers of the Redeemer, and, with the blessing of God, we predict a speedy revival of religion in the church, and a rapid extension of it over the world. Give us the energies which moderate drinking paralyse, and the money which moderate drinking wasts, and the moral influence which moderate drinking destroys; and with a replenished

treasury, and an invigorated piety, we may then, but not till then, set ourselves hopefully to the work of the world's conversion.

CHAPTER VIII.

Mistaken Notions of the Properties of Liquor.

To the cure of an evil, a knowledge of its cause is essential. No one can adequately estimate our national vice, or duly feel the necessity of radical measures for its suppression, who has not a distinct apprehension of the causes in which it originates, and the practices which give it strength and stability. Every one knows that the immediate agent in producing intemperance is strong drink. But the question is, How has the article acquired such general favour? A variety of causes undoubtedly account for the fact. And it is to the chief of these I now propose directing attention. Mistaken notions of the properties of liquor may be regarded as one of the chief causes of the extensive prevalence of the vice.

Alcohol, or the intoxicating agent, has since the time of its discovery been regarded as possessed of the most various and most extraordinary properties. It has the power of making quarrels beyond any other power on earth, and if the poet's words be true, it has the power of healing divisions beyond any other power on earth

"When neighbours angry at a plea,

And just as wud as wud can be,
How easy can the barley bree
Cement the quarrel!

It's aye the cheapest lawyer's fee
To taste the barrel."

According to an old writer, "it sloweth age, it strengtheneth youth, it helpeth digestion, it cutteth phlegm, it abateth melancholy, it relisheth the heart, it lighteneth the mind, it

quickeneth the spirits, it cureth dropsy, it pounceth the stone, it expelleth gravel, it keepeth and preserveth the head from whirling, the eye from dizzling, the tongue from lisping, the mouth from snaffling, the teeth from chattering, and the throat from rattling; it keepeth the weason from stifling, the stomach from wambling, and the heart from swelling; it keepeth the hand from shivering, the sinews from shrinking, the veins from crumbling, the bones from aching, and the marrow from soaking." Extravagant as is such language, it does not exceed the praise bestowed by drinkers on their darling liquor. There is scarcely an ailment in the cure of which it has not been applied. From toothache in the jaws to corns in the toes, it has been used as a certain, safe, and speedy remedy for every ill that flesh is heir to. The limbs are bribed to move, and the mouth is bribed to speak, and the stomach is bribed to digest, and the eyes are bribed to sleep. In a word, it is nothing but a system of bribery and corruption. The injudicious prescription of alcohol, in one or other of its manifold forms, has led to much evil. Only lately, a gentleman stated at a public meeting that he had for some time partaken of wine in the hope of his health being benefited by it. One day he observed to his medical adviser, "That wine you prescribed for me has done me no good." "Done you no good!" was the reply; "I did not expect that it would do you good." "Why then did you prescribe it?" asked the patient. "Why, I prescribed it as that least likely to do you evil." Medical men have thus invested the intoxicating agent with an imaginary value, which has contributed much to the intemperance of the country. An article so generally sanctioned by those who undertake the promotion of our health, has thus come to be regarded as about as favourable to our health as frequent exercise or pure air. Unlike other medicines, it soon becomes extremely agreeable to the palate; and as the partaking of it originates most pleasing sensations, the double inducement of health and pleasure render it at all times acceptable. The love of excitement is natural to us. Alcohol produces the desired exhilaration, and hence the favour with which it is regarded. The discovery of the fact is sufficient to induce those of low

*Holinshed's Chronicle, 16th century.

tastes and strong animal propensities to abandon themselves to unrestrained indulgence. Were it. not for this property, liquor would be relished by none; were it nauseous instead of pleasurable, it would be swallowed with as much aversion as the bitterest drug. The power of alcohol to render us oblivious to vexations and cares, invests it with additional power of evil.

"Food fills the wame, an' keeps us livin':
Tho' life's a gift no worth receivin',
When heavy dragg'd wi' pine an' grievin';
But oil'd by thee,

The wheels o' life gae down-hill scrievin',
Wi' rattlin' glee.

"Thou clears the head o' doited lear;
Thou cheers the heart o' drooping care;
Thou strings the nerves o' labour sair,
At 's weary toil;

Thou even brightens dark despair

Wi' gloomy smile."

In consequence, too, of the general error of mistaking stimulation for strength, many indulge the more freely in the use of intoxicating liquors. The workman sets out with his morning dram, and if his credit admits of a second and a third, they are swallowed in the course of the day. The most erroneous opinions prevail in the non-medical part of society concerning the nature of animal stimulation, and the operation of stimulating substances. The general notion is, that those substances act upon the animal frame in some way that imparts strength and vigour; and therefore they are employed, either in preparation for exertion, to lay in a stock of power before hand, or after exertion, to repair and supply the power which has been expended. Not only persons whose daily expenditure of strength lies in mere bodily labour, but authors, artists, and public speakers, very extensively have recourse to wine or spirits to support them, as they unhappily think, under their labours. But the whole assumption springs from a radical error. Stimulating, as the word itself imports, is analogous to goading an ox at the plough, or spurring and whipping a horse on the journey. Stimulation gives no strength; it only urges and forces to a more vehement, and consequently to a more rapid outlay of the strength, or capacity for exertion, which already exists;

and by an invariable law of all organisation, that outlay is succeeded by a depression and diminution of the capacity, proportioned to the exciting force which has been applied. It is according to this law that all liquids containing alcohol act upon the human frame.

While under the influence of the stimulant, a man may think himself greatly invigorated-he may even challenge half the parish.

"But bring a Scotsman frae his hill,
Clap in his cheek a highland gill,
Say, Such is Royal George's will,
An' there's the foe,

He has nae thought but how to kill

Twa at a blow."

Shakspeare not unfrequently makes his characters speak the prevailing notions of the times. When Boniface is told "that his ale is confounded strong," he replies, "True; or how else should we be strong that drink it."

But is he really invigorated? When under the influence of fever, a man may require four to hold him down in bed; but has the fever strengthened him? A mother, seeing a vehicle about to run down her child, may seize the wheel and drag it back with a giant's energy; but has she been strengthened? She did what in ordinary circumstances she would have failed in doing, but her pale face and trembling limbs tell that she is weaker and not stronger in consequence of the effort. Let any one recall his feelings on the day succeeding free indulgence. Was he mightily invigorated? If a carpenter, where was he?-not at his bench, but if in the workshop at all, asleep among the shavings. If he was an hostler, very likely in the stable, but sharing a stall with one of his horses. Or if a weaver, perhaps on his loom, but keeping time to the tune, "We're a' noddin', nid, nid, noddin'," or most likely of all by his own fireside, or stretched upon his bed, thinking, if not singing, with any power of reflection left him

"There's nae luck aboot the house,
There's nae luck ava."

Domestic servants, too, are in many houses rewarded for the extra fatigue of "the washing" with a liberal supply of ales and spirits. Trained to the belief that alcoholic liquors