Earlier text: BIBLE REVISION, WITH SPECIMENSTHE NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE THE SECOND TIME.
By John Nevins Andrews
TWICE, during the administration of Moses, were the people of Israel numbered. The first time was when they had been in the desert only about one year. Num. 1. The law of God, in awful grandeur, had been proclaimed from the summit of the flaming mount. The tabernacle had been erected, and the ark containing God's law had been carried into its most holy place, and there deposited. The cloud of God's glory had taken possession of this sacred building. The hand of God had given them bread from Heaven every morning. He had smitten the rock and given them water. The Lord of hosts had shown his presence in their midst, and the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, departed not from their camp. When, at the close of their first year in the wilderness, things stood thus, and the work to be done on the way seemed almost accomplished, God directed that they should be numbered. Moses performed the commandment of God; and of men able to go forth to war, there was numbered six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. This numbering did not include the tribe of Levi at all, nor did it include any females, nor any that were under twenty years of age. What a vast host of men of war! Over six hundred thousand! Every one of these persons expected to have an inheritance in the land of promise. Every one of them might have had it. They had had such tokens of God's loving-kindness as no other people ever witnessed. Now the Lord took down all their names, and proceeded to marshal their host in the completest order, preparatory to their marching into the land of promise. Everything indicated their speedy entrance into Canaan. The book of Numbers is very fitly named. It opens with this numbering of the host of Israel. In its twenty-sixth chapter, the host is numbered again. Not one man, save Caleb and Joshua, of all that were numbered the first time, was alive to witness the second numbering. Every other person had fallen in the wilderness. The second numbering of Israel was an103event calculated to impress the people with the fact that God will fulfill his threatened judgments. And why was there so terrible a failure? Simply because the people were wicked. Sin was in their midst. It broke out at last in such open, wanton rebellion against the God of Heaven, that he, by a solemn oath, excluded them from the land, and doomed them to die in the wilderness. The second numbering of Israel made manifest the fact that not one man of all that had rebelled against God, remained alive. How full of instruction is this subject to the people upon whom the ends of the world are come. Our hopes of entering the kingdom of God cannot be stronger than were those of Israel when by God's direction they were numbered the first time. We cannot have greater tokens of his favor, of his presence, or of his willingness to save, than they had. But with all this, they came short of the land of promise. The second numbering was eminently in place, to show beyond all dispute that God's threatened judgments had been accomplished. The history of Israel teaches us one great lesson. We cannot carry sin in our hearts. It will inevitably bring us to ruin. They made the trial, and miserably perished. Let us be warned by their example. IS THE WORLD GROWING BETTER?
By Uriah Smith
ONE of the most popular because most pleasing doctrines of the present age is that the world is growing better, that through the labors of the church the strongholds of Satan are giving away, and that this work will continue until the whole world shall be converted, and the glories of the temporal millennium be ushered in. But let us see if the facts will warrant such a conclusion. How shall we judge of the advancement the church is making except by the testimony of leading men in the church? Of late the subject has been considerably agitated in the leading papers of the various denominations, and in almost every case reports have been returned of an alarming state of indifference and coldness among professors. Hear what Rev. T. De Witt Talmage in his New York pulpit says of the religious condition of the country which he visited on his recent western trip: "I asked one question in every city, and received about the same answer. 'What is the religious condition of Pittsburg?' I asked. They answered, 'Dead.' 'What is the religious condition of the cities of Virginia?' They answered, 'Dead.' 'Of Cincinnati?' 'Dead.' 'Of Lexington?' 'Dead.' Here and there a soul straggling into the kingdom of God, but the vast multitude going right on their way. An eminent clergyman of Kentucky told me during the last week, 'If some sweeping revival does not come over this country the church of God will go under.' I found beautiful churches wherever I went, rapturous music, eloquent ministers, but the old work of saving souls seems to be going out of fashion." Again, hear what a prominent writer in the New England Methodist says of the old time and present time spirit of Methodism, which applies equally well to other than Methodist people. He says:— "It is generally admitted that we as a people, are not advancing, at least in this latitude, at the rate our fathers advanced in the salvation of men and the increase of the kingdom of God. There seems to be an interregnum of that spiritual power which was manifested by the men of to-day as by those of yesterday. "I think the solution, in part, of this inquiry, lies in the apparent, if not actual fact, that the church itself, as an organization, has taken the place of Christ as a person. The machine has come to be more admired and its several parts more attended to and cared for than the objects for which it exists. Let us indicate this by a reference to the work of the minister. Is he sought after on account of his success in winning souls to Christ? Is he chosen because of the saintly character he bears? Technically, yes; practically, no! It is his administration or oratorical ability that gives him position in the church. And why is it thus? Simply because the church has changed her position from an agent to a principal. It is her interests that must be secured as an ecclesiastical body, and not simply as an evangelizing agency." Thus we might quote to almost any extent. The Examiner and Chronicle notes the fact that 408 of the Baptist churches in New York State received no accessions by baptism during 1880, and the Christian Work in commenting on the statement says: "This shows that the churches are all in the same condition—Baptist and Pedobaptist, Congregational and Presbyterian." While it may seem to some who have been looking for the world's conversion that these statements are overdrawn, we find that they are in perfect harmony with what our Lord said of this time, in Luke 17:26, 27: "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." Paul, in speaking of this very time to which the Saviour alludes says: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3:1-5. Again the same apostle declares in a following verse that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." There have been those in all ages who have dared to defend this doctrine of the Bible, notwithstanding its unpopularity. Luther says, "Some say before the latter days the whole world shall become Christians. This is a falsehood forged by Satan that he might darken sound doctrine; beware, therefore, of the delusion." Melancthon says: "The true church will always suffer persecution to the time of end, and in the church itself the good and evil continue blended together." John Knox says: "It was never or yet shall be, until the righteous King and Judge appear for the restoration of all things." The celebrated John Milton in Paradise Lost says:— "Truth shall retire,
Be struck with slanderous darts, and works of faith
Barely be found. So shall the world go on,
To good malignant, to bad men benign,
Under her own weight groaning, till the day
Appear of reparation to the just,
And vengeance to the wicked, at return
Of Him thy Saviour and thy Lord." Matthew Henry says: "As long as the world stands there will be in it such a mixture as we now see. We long to see all wheat and no tares in God's field; but it will not be till the time of ingathering—till the winnowing day come—both must grow together till the harvest." Cotton Mather says: "Without doubt the kingdoms of this world will not become the kingdom of God and of his Christ before the pre-ordained time of the dead, in which the reward shall be given to the servants of God. They who expect the rest promised for the church of God to be found anywhere but in the new earth, or any happy times for the church in a world that hath sin in it—these do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor kingdom of God." ARE THE PROPHECIES PRACTICAL?
By Joseph Clarke
WHEN we consider that quite a large portion of the Bible is composed of prophecies, it is a question of some consequence, Are the prophecies practical? If they are of a practical nature, then it certainly is a matter of vital importance to understand them.104When the disciples were on their way to Emmaus, discouraged and sad at the disappointment they had experienced in the loss of their beloved Lord, they were joined unexpectedly in their journey by one whom they did not recognize at once as their risen Saviour, but to whom they listened with wonder and delight, until the night drew on, and they arrived at their home. Then with simple and unaffected regard they pressed the stranger to tarry with them. In this memorable interview, we note the pointed expression with which he introduced his instructive conversation: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Here our Lord upbraids his disciples in no flattering terms, with their obtuseness and unbelief, in applying the prophecies. Here was a practical application of prophecy to be made, in order to receive the risen Saviour as the world's redeemer. Had the ancient people of God studied the prophecies of Isaiah with prayerful attention, they would not have failed to see that he who was looked upon by the authorities of that nation with disfavor and hatred, was the one whom the prophet described as a root out of dry ground, having no form or comeliness. In their eyes he was indeed despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. When the disciples and the more candid of the people and priests, after the crucifixion, came to search the Scriptures, they were surprised to find that they had wholly overlooked the prophetic account of the Messiah. He was to appear in his first coming to earth as an offering for sin; and now he had been led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. How terror-stricken were those who had cried out against the Lord, when they found that they had indeed themselves assisted in the crime of crucifying the only one in whom they trusted for salvation; and this fatal mistake was made in consequence of neglecting to study the prophecies of Isaiah. When our Lord appeared to them after his resurrection, he cited them in each case to the Old Testament prophecies, to prove that he was the antitypical Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It might be profitable for us to search the Scriptures on this point, to see if all the prophecies have not at some time had a practical application. Those of Noah, by which he and his family were saved from a watery grave, and the world from complete desolation; those of that interpreter of dreams, by which the greater part of the world were saved from the terrors of seven years of famine; and the prophecies of Israel's captivity and return,—all of these were eminently of a practical nature, and those who heeded them were favored of God, while those who neglected them, perished. The overthrow of Babylon and Nineveh, and of Edom and Moab, were all well-known beforehand by the people of God, and such as believed and obeyed, fled from those cities before they were destroyed. The followers of the Lord were warned to flee from the fated city of Jerusalem before its fall, when it should be compassed about with armies. See Matt. 24. We might swell this list of fulfilled prophecies—all of which were practical—to almost any length, but these instances will suffice to prove that prophecies are not given, except for a purpose; and that we should seek to understand them, that we may know our duty in the age in which we live. Christ compares prophecy in Matt. 24:32, to a tree which puts forth its buds and blossoms. This beautiful symbol is truly applicable; for as the fig-tree puts forth its buds before it bears fruit, so the predicted signs foreshadow the event. When Jerusalem fell into the hand of its enemies, the tree of prophecy bore its ripe fruit for that people. So now we see that signs have betokened the near approach of the final overthrow of all earthly kingdoms, in which all who are not looking for this event, will meet a fearful doom. Does not the fig-tree bud and blossom, the tree which never yet cast its fruit before its time, the tree which never failed to bear fruit in its appointed time? The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, and that speedily. ONE MORE DODGE.
By Uriah Smith
WE met a man on the New York camp-ground whose inventive faculties favored him with a novel device to save the testimony of Acts 20:7, to the side of Sunday-keeping. With a great flourish of trumpets he had claimed that the book of Acts set forth the first day of the week as the only Sabbath for this dispensation, and appealed to this passage to prove it. But when confronted with the fact that there is no other record in all the New Testament of a religious meeting on the first day of the week, and that this meeting was not held in the daytime, but in the evening, because there were many lights in the upper chamber, he was exceedingly loth to give up the idea that this was a day meeting. So to get over the little matter of the "many lights in the upper chamber," he undertook to account for them on the ground that the disciples, for fear of the Jews, had to assemble privately, and bar their doors and darken their windows with heavy drapery, so that lights would be necessary even in the daytime! Thus he would have us understand that the service was held at about the usual hour of Sunday worship, 10:30 A. M. But how it was that Paul continued his speech from that hour till midnight, he did not tell us, and we are unable to imagine, unless it was that his hearers themselves became so bewildered in that darkened room, as to suppose that noon was midnight, and that the writer of the book of Acts was himself misled in regard to it. Nor can we imagine how Eutychus should fall into such a "deep sleep" right there in midday. Nor did our friend tell us which side of this heavy curtain Eutychus sat; whether he was on the outside of the curtain, having that between himself and Paul while he was preaching, and so fell out of the window, or whether he was on the inside of the curtain, and when he fell out, fell through the curtain, perhaps taking curtain and all with him. At any rate, this novel supposition needs to be arranged in some way so that it will not come into direct conflict with truth, to have several mountains of inconsistencies under which it lies buried, removed from it, and to be given at least one leg to stand upon, before it can present any respectable claim to consideration. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." The law here referred to by the apostle, is that by which is the knowledge of sin. Verse 20. The inspired definition of sin is, "The transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. Some quibble here, and say, This does not tell us what law it is that it is sin to transgress. We would refer all such to what is said about it by the apostle James, chap. 2:8-12. We are informed there that sin is the transgression of that law which says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and "Thou shalt not kill." It is, therefore, the law of God—the ten commandments, which Paul so emphatically declares is not made void by faith in Christ. Faith in the Saviour does not abolish the moral law. But, on the other hand, Paul declares that by faith in Christ "we establish the law." How can this be? Simply as follows: God created the man Adam, and placed him in the garden of Eden with a right to everything that was for his own comfort and enjoyment. He had also a right to the tree of life; but there was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which, was, by the command of the Lord, reserved. This tree was to prove man's fidelity to his Maker. By obedience he would ever retain his right to the tree of life, and live continually. To disobey would be to incur the displeasure of his God, and fall under the sentence of death. He did disobey, and immediately was deprived of his right to the tree of life. He was driven from the garden of Eden under the sentence of death. He must return to dust from whence he was taken, and there is no way of escape. He had violated his Maker's law. Now in order to save man and restore him again to a right to the tree of life, the Lord must do away with his law and let man live, or he must provide a means to bring him up again from death. He could not be a just God and do away his law; therefore this would be impossible. Another way to save man must be provided. The Son of God offers to become man's Saviour by being made a sacrifice for sin. The sacrifice is accepted, the plan of salvation is laid, and the promise is given. Hope revives in the heart of man as he views, by faith, his Saviour suffering for the sins of the whole world. By faith in Jesus, man can secure the pardon of all his violations of the law of God. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12. It is not by the doing away of the law of God, therefore, that man obtains a right to the tree of life, but by faith in Jesus his Saviour, and by obedience to the law. Jesus has said, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:12. It is thus, dear reader, that faith in Christ establishes the law of God. By obedience to it, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, all may obtain eternal life. WHAT ARE WE DOING?
By Barbara C. Stickney
LET us ask ourselves this question, for the time in which we live and the great work to be wrought call for action; not only from a few or a majority, but from all who expect to hear "well done" from their heavenly Master. Our first work is to get right ourselves; then seek to bring others to a knowlege of the truth, and have them realize the peace and blessedness to be found in the favor of God. But if through selfishness or indifference we fail to consider the interests of those around us, the blood of souls may be required at our hands, and we be cast forth as withered branches. The words of Christ to his disciples, "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to the harvest," were uttered as he beheld the approaching multitude, but they are applicable to this time as well. The final harvest is the end of the world which is near at hand, and there are many precious souls whom God designs shall be warned through his servants. The slothful and unprofitable servants will be cast into outer darkness; but to the faithful he will say, "enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Probably among the refuse that shall be rejected by the angels will be much wheat upon which has fallen rust or mildew, and thus has become blighted and worthless. Our spirituality and favor with God depend upon our activity in his service, and when engaged in this there will be no lack of opportunities as long as probation lasts. Our vigilant missionary work has opened a field where all may labor; and it is encouraging to know that the cause is advancing through these workers. A brother in Nevada writes that he has been sending the SIGNS to a friend in one of the Southern States about two months, and he has received the following: "I have completed the articles in your papers in relation to the Sabbath; and must say that I agree with you heartily. I had not considered the matter before, and all the information I have gleaned has tended to strengthen your argument. I have placed the matter before several divines and members of the Y. M. C. Association, of which I am vice-president, and they were at a loss to answer." Again he writes: "I feel grateful to you for your letters. Being a public school teacher and having nothing to do on Saturday, the Sabbath day, it is easy for me to keep it, but if that were not the case I believe, with the help of God, I would keep it anyhow. Like a soul when first converted, I like to have all men believe as I do. My whole heart is in the work, and I have openly declared my belief to many friends. "Scatter the seed far and wide that it may bring forth an hundred fold to the honor and glory of God, and may his divine help attend you in all your efforts." A lady writing from Scotland, after expressing her surprise at receiving the papers, says: "However, I shall do my best toward helping you in your good work, and will be only too pleased if you will continue to send the papers. I have enjoyed the reading of them very much, and will not fail to give them to all my friends in succession. If any of them would like the paper for themselves I will send their address. I would like very much to be engaged in any good work, but never have given it serious thought; but I must do so now since some one else has taken the matter in hand for me." Thus the good work goes on. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." But we do know that "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Waiting for Answers to Prayer
WHEN we write a letter to a friend, we expect an answer—we wait for it. We are disappointed if it does not come. When we ask a favor from an intimate friend, we expect to receive it. If we are hungry, and go to the house of a friend and ask for food, we wait with the expectation of seeing it set before us. We do not ask for it and then leave the house with the air of one who expected no favorable reply to his request. How is it with respect to our prayers? Do we wait for them? Are we disappointed when they do not come?—Earnest Christian. "In due season ye shall reap if ye faint not." I SEEK not the harvest here,
From the seeds of truth I sow;
I willingly wait to bind the sheaves
In the world to which we go. Too busy am I in the field
To track them as they fly;
But I know there's a germ of life in each,
And they cannot, cannot die. The breath of the Lord will waft
Each one wherever he will;
And there it shall spring, and bear its fruit,
His purpose to fulfill. "Tis a joy to bear the seed,
To go with the store of grain,
To scatter it here and scatter it there,
And sow and sow again. In the morning's dewy hour,
'Mid noontide's sultry heat,
At evening time when the shadows fall,
To drop the gospel wheat. I know not which will thrive,
But the promise of God I take;
His eye will follow the smallest grain
I sow for his dear sake. "Blessed are ye that sow!"
Yes, Lord, the work is sweet;
The hardest toil is the dearest joy,
The soul's most dainty meat. Thank God for the sowing time!
But who can the bliss foresee
When the work is done and the workers throng
To the harvest jubilee? GLEANINGS FROM THE EASTERN FIELD.
By Editor
MICHIGAN, Newark.—Bro. L. A. Kellogg reports, Jan. 31, that he has held forty meetings here, with good interest and good congregations. Six have taken a firm stand for the truth, and others are interested. Has spoken four times on the subject of temperance and the result has been good. "None of those who have embraced the truth use tobacco, and most of them have given up tea and pork. The importance of the temperance work cannot be overestimated." Grand Junction.—Sixteen are now keeping the Sabbath in this place, as the result of the labor of Bro. R. C. Horton. Twelve of these have signed the covenant, and six have subscribed for the Review for four months. IOWA, Greenwood.—Eld. J. S. Hart, who has been holding meetings about two miles from this place, reports that "five have decided to keep all the commandments of God, and two who were using tobacco and coffee have signed the teetotal pledge." He has also sold about $5.00 worth of reading matter, and obtained five subscribers for the SIGNS, and twelve for Good Health. WISCONSIN, Plover.—Three families have embraced the truth at Doudville, a way-station four miles north of Grand Rapids, Wood, Co., through the labors of Eld. J. J. Smith. The community being mostly Catholic, the average attendance at the meetings was not large. NEBRASKA, Columbus.—Feb. 2, Eld. A. J. Cudney thus reports his labors in this place: "The last eight days have been spent in discussing the Sabbath question with a United Presbyterian minister. The Lord has vindicated his truth. The brethren are strengthened. A Sabbath-school is organized, and Sabbath meetings established." KANSAS, Newton.—Although experiencing bitter opposition, Bro. G. H. Rogers has completed a short course of lectures in this place; and as the result eleven are keeping the Sabbath of the Lord. Sabbath meetings will be continued under the leadership of Bro. Mallernec, who has been six years in the truth. MINNESOTA.—Bro. L. Johnson, who has been laboring in this State during the past year makes the following summary of labor: "Families visited, 319; sermons preached, 347; persons baptized, 19; members taken into the church, 21; members taken into the tract society, 36; signers obtained for the teetotal pledge, 52. One church and eight Sabbath-schools have been organized." A clergyman on his way to a missionary meeting overtook a boy, and asked him about the road, and where he was going. "Oh!" he said, "I'm going to the meeting to hear about the missionaries." "Missionaries!" said the minister. "What do you know about missionaries?" "Why," said the boy, "I'm part of the concern. I've got a missionary box, and I always go to the missionary meeting. I belong." Every child should feel that he is "part of the concern," and that his work is just as important as that of any one else. Linch-pins are little things; but if they drop out, the wagon is very likely to come to a stand-still. Every pin and screw should be in working order, and every child should be able to say, "I always go to the missionary meeting. Why, I'm part of the concern!" Temperance.
By Theodore L. Cuyler
JOSEPH COOK’S PULPIT, AND TEMPERANCE.
Although the so-called temperance lecture of the eminent Dr. Crosby has already been noticed at some length in this department, we feel sure that all will be interested in what Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D., says about it in the Independent, as follows:— Joseph Cook has built a Monday morning pulpit in Boston, which is visible over the whole continent and across the sea. In that pulpit he has struck some sturdy and unanswerable blows in favor of prohibitory legislation against tippling-houses and in favor of the principles and practice of total abstinence from all intoxicants. During his absence in Europe, his lecture committee have admitted to his pulpit my genial and eloquent friend, Chancellor Crosby, who has opened his broadsides against nearly every position which Mr. Cook has taken upon the subject of temperance. If that pulpit is to become, like certain clubs in Boston, the theatre of “free discussion,” then I submit that they might as well invite Professor Huxley to assail Mr. Cook’s position on evolution, or Colonel Ingersoll to assail his views on the inspiration of the word and the doctrine of atonement. One of the most remarkable things about Dr. Crosby’s discourse is its title. He calls it a “Calm View of the Temperance Question,” and then dashes into a heated tirade against the “wild radicalism of teetotalers,” whom he denounces as fanatics, as unmanly, as twisters of Scripture, as radical agitators, and as infatuated defenders of a system that is utterly impracticable and is “increasing the drunkenness in the land!” If my friend utters all this when he is calm, what might we expect from him if he were excited? When I reached the following sentence in his discourse, I was inclined to name it a “comical view of temperance,” for I could not refrain from the Christian liberty of a hearty laugh. He asserts that the total abstinence system is contrary to revealed religion, and harmful to the interests of the country, and exclaims:— “I charge upon this system the growth of drunkenness in our land and the general demoralization among religious communities; and I call upon all sound-minded, thinking men to stop the enormities of this false system.” * The Chancellor’s foremost argument against our total abstinence movement is that it has proved impracticable and is a failure. If he will allow me to use his own frankness, I will say that he is the very last man who ought to utter that taunt. The whole nation knows that for several years he has intrepidly led a movement in the city of New York to enforce a weak excise law, which is hopelessly vitiated by a clause that permits endless dram-selling under the name of hotel-keeping. So strong was Dr. Crosby’s faith in this rickety law that he once rashly affirmed that under it he would clear New York of grog-shops in six months! We older workers in the reform, while we honored his zeal and courage, felt assured of his inevitable failure; not from his fault, but the fault of his “system.” During the very time that his Society were doing their utmost, I looked into the doorway of a full-rigged dram-shop which was driving its accursed traffic within a stone’s throw of Dr. Crosby’s residence. That death-dealing establishment (the nursery of “moderate drinkers”) and its six or seven thousand partners were no more affected by Dr. Crosby’s well-meant efforts than the abutments of the East River Bridge would be by the stroke of a mallet. We teetotalers do know, from solid statistics, that hundreds of thousands have been reached, and benefited, and protected, and blessed by the total abstinence pledge. I can testify to the immense service which it rendered to me and to others, when I was a student in college. He pronounces the total abstinence pledge a “straight jacket” and a pernicious instrument for debauching the conscience; but in another part of his discourse he distinctly says: “I do not oppose the principle of total abstinence for the individual. It is every man’s duty to abstain if his own conscience commands it.” Now, if my conscience commands me to let intoxicants alone, then, in the name of common sense, where is the harm of my recording my conscientious purpose on a pledge? And, if we teetotalers, by our “propaganda,” can so enlighten the consciences of young men that they shall agree to let alcoholics alone, where is the harm of their banding together into a temperance society, with its wholesome pledge? Does Dr. Crosby consider a pledge in wedlock to “love each other” or a pledge of fidelity to Christ in church-membership a “straight jacket?” Yet in both these cases conscience as well as judgment, leads to the employment of a binding instrument. The fact is that Dr. Crosby yields about all that the most thoughtful and wise abstainers claim in this last quoted passage. He admits that total abstinence is a good thing for the individual, and so well do I know him that I am sure he would rejoice to see everybody avoiding intoxicants. Now, all that we members of the temperance “propaganda” are aiming at is to persuade everybody to do just this very good thing. Probably we shall have harder work to persuade some people to adopt this wise course after they have read some of the extraordinary declarations in Dr. Crosby’s Boston discourse. One of these declarations is that it is “atrocious dogma to assume that moderate drinking leads to drunkenness.” I do not know of a more dangerous bait that could be nailed up over the bar of a fashionable saloon than this most ill-considered sentence. No sane man ever asserted that every moderate drinker becomes a drunkard; but just as long as “wine is a mocker” and just as long as moderate drinking is the door of entrance to all the drunkenness that has peopled hell, just so long will we teetotalers stand outside of that door, and, in the name of brotherly love, will warn every man, woman, and child against entering it. The space accorded to a brief article forbids even a reference to many of the remarkable declarations in this frank, bold discourse. Some of them are remarkably pithy and sensible, and we “fanatics” may profit by them. Some of them will afford quite too ready and convenient pleas for tampering with the bottle and for jeering at that reform which God has so signally blessed. I leave Brother Crosby to the owner of that lofty Boston pulpit. The eccentric John Randolph was accustomed to ride on horse-back to the Capitol; and, on reaching his desk in the House, he often swept his rawhide riding-whip across the desk, and sent all the bills which the page had laid there flying over the floor. When Joseph Cook returns from Europe, he may find some singular documents lying on his pulpit, and, if he uses the rawhide of his logic on this “View of the Temperance Question,” perhaps it will not continue to feel so “calm.” SPEAKING of the fashionable women of New York "who are financially able to gratify their longings," the Cincinnati Enquirer says:— Shopping is their diversion and delight. They spend the livelong day going from store to store, whether they intend to buy anything or not. They do not stop to go home for a midday meal, but they buy a lunch wherever they chance to be when eating time comes. In one of the largest fancy goods establishments in the city a restaurant fifty feet square does a rushing business, and a soda-water fountain fizzes continuously. But the latest project for the refreshment of fashionable women is a bar. Now barrooms in which disreputable women drink are no novelty, but this is no such concern. It is as respectable as it is unique. It is in Broadway, close to Stewart's great mart and Wallack's theater, in the midst of handsome retail establishments. The front is resplendent with plate glass, and the store itself is wide, deep, and elegantly fitted up. The walls and ceiling are frescoed, and the floor is marble. One side is devoted to the sale of confectionery. That shows the proprietor's shrewdness, for women probably would not go in if there was nothing but a bar in the place. The bar runs along the opposite side, and is about the same in style as those of the best cafes, though the marble counter is a little lower. An immense mirror faces the drinkers, and the back-bar is adorned with cut glasses and decanters. Instead of a beer pump, however, there is a soda fountain. Piles of lemons, an ornamental lemon-squeezer, groups of ginger-ale bottles, and pyramids of silver Tom-and-Jerry cups, make a display as gorgeous as can be found on any bar in the city. Two bar-tenders, of the regulation pattern, with their hair and mustaches carefully brushed, diamonds glistening on their polished shirt-fronts, and the sleeves of their white coats turned up at the elbows, are constantly on duty. The women walk up just like little men, and order their drinks with the careless air of veterans. The enterprise has been under way only a few weeks, and is already an established success. The beverages are about what might be expected. "Hard liquors" are not sold, except in mixed drinks, as in Tom-and-Jerries, on which the run during the present cold weather is brisk. They are made hot and sweet, and the women dote on them. The next most popular drink just now is hot punch, composed of rum, lemon-juice, water, and a dash of brandy. Sometimes seltzer is ordered in place of the water. Hot coffee, chocolate, and lemonade are also sold in large quantities. On days of moderate temperature the call is for cold lemonade, claret punch, ginger ale and soda water. While I was there yesterday the pop of the ale-bottle was momentary, and the lever of the lemon-squeezer was in almost constant motion. Women stand three feet deep in front of the bar. Two companions drank together, and each paid for her own dissipation; but, as a rule the gentle tipplers gracefully imitated polite bar-room manners, though they were given to sipping their beverages slowly, instead of tossing them into their mouths like so much medicine. "What are you going to drink?" said a mild-faced sapling of a girl in a cloak of satin matelasse and a blue capote. "It's my treat this time," replied a cherry-lipped dumpling of a belle in maroon velvet. "No, no; you bought yesterday. Come, what'll you take?" "Make me a Tom-and-Jerry, sweet." So the confusion of orders and the eager drinking went on. I asked one of the bar-tenders why he didn't keep lager beer on tap, since New York women drink it at home and in the concert gardens so generally. He said, "Oh, we want to go slow at first—don't want to startle our customers too much; but we'll give 'em beer as soon as warm weather comes."