ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth; which thing I also did in Jerusalem; and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority. from the chief priests; and, when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and, being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. Whereupon, as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at mid-day, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me, and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." And I said, "Who art thou, Lord?” And he said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision; but showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to sinall and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?-BEECHER.

WHAT can be done? ten thousand voices reply, "Nothing; oh, nothing; men always have drunk to excess, and they always will; there is so much capital embarked in the business of importation and distillation, and so much supposed gain in vending ardent spirits, and such an insatiable demand for them, and such ability to pay for them by high-minded, wilful, independent freemen, that nothing can be done."

Then farewell, a long farewell, to all our greatness! The present abuse of ardent spirits has grown out of what was the prudent use of it less than one hundred years ago; then there was very little intemperance in the land; most men who drank at all, drank temperately. But if the prudent use of ardent spirits one hundred years ago, has produced such results as now exist, what will the present intemperate use accomplish in a century to come? Let no man turn off his eye from this subject, or refuse to reason, and infer; there is a moral certainty of a wide-extended ruin, without reformation. The seasons are not more sure to roll, the sun to shine, or the rivers to flow, than the present enormous consumption of ardent spirits is sure to produce the most deadly consequences to the nation. And shall it come unresisted by prayer, and without a finger lifted to stay the desolation?

Why can nothing be done? Because the intemperate will not stop drinking, shall the temperate keep on and become drunkards? Because the intemperate cannot be reasoned with, shall the temperate become madmen? And because force will not avail with men of independence and property, does it follow that reason, and conscience, and the fear of the Lord, will have no influence?

And because the public mind is now unenlightened, and unawakened, and unconcentrated, does it follow that it cannot be enlightened, and aroused, and concentrated in one simultaneous and successful effort? Reformations as much resisted by popular feeling, and impeded by ignorance, interest, and depraved obstinacy, have been accomplished, through the medium of a

rectified public opinion; and no nation ever possessed the opportunities and the means that we possess, of correctly forming the public opinion; nor was a nation ever called upon to attempt it by motives of such imperious necessity. Our all is at stakewe shall perish if we do not effect it. There is nothing that

ought to be done, which a free people cannot do.

The science of self-government is the science of perfect government, which we have yet to learn and teach, or this nation and the world must be governed by force. But we have all the means, and none of the impediments, which hinder the experiment amid the dynasties and feudal despotisms of Europe. And what has been done justifies the expectation that all which yet remains to be done will be accomplished. The abolition of the slave-trade, an event now almost accomplished, was once regarded as a chimera of benevolent dreaming. But the band of Christian heroes, who consecrated their lives to the work, may some of them survive to behold it achieved. This greatest of evils upon earth, this stigma of human nature, wide-spread, deep-rooted, and intrenched by interest and state policy, is passing away before the unbending requisitions of enlightened public opinion.

No great melioration of the human condition was ever achieved without the concurrent effort of numbers, and no extended, well-directed application of moral influence was ever made in vain. Let the temperate part of the nation awake, and reform, and concentrate their influence in a course of systematic action, and success is not merely probable, but absolutely certain. And cannot this be accomplished? Cannot the public attention be aroused, and set in array against the traffic in ardent spirits, and against their use? With just as much certainty can the public sentiment be formed and put in motion, as the waves can be moved by the breath of heaven-or the massy rock, balanced on the precipice, can be pushed from its centre of motion;-and when the public sentiment once begins to move, its march will be as resistless as the same rock thundering down the precipice. Let no man, then, look upon our condition as hopeless, or feel, or think, or say, that nothing can be done. The language of Heaven to our happy nation is, "Be it unto thee even as thou

wilt;" and there is no despondency more fatal, or more wicked, than that which refuses to hope, and to act, from the apprehension that nothing can be done.

INTEMPERANCE AND ABSTINENCE.-SOUTH.

NOTHING is so great a friend to the mind of man as abstinence. It strengthens the memory, clears the apprehension, and sharpens the judgment, and, in a word, gives reason its full scope of acting; and when reason has that, it is always a diligent and faithful handmaid to conscience. And therefore, when men look no further than mere nature, which many do not, let no man expect to keep his gluttony and his powers, his drunkenness and his wit, his revellings and his judgment, much less his conscience, together. For neither nature nor grace will have it so; it is an utter contradiction to the methods of both! "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contention? who hath babblings? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?" says Solomon :—which question he himself presently answers. They who tarry long at the wine; they who seek after mixed wine." So say I. Who has a stupid intellect, a broken memory, and a blasted wit, and, which is worse than all, a blind and benighted conscience, but the intemperate and luxurious, the epicure and the smell-feast? So impossible is it for a man to turn sot, without making himself a blockhead too. I know this is not always the present effect of these courses, but in the long run it will infallibly be so. Time and luxury together will as certainly change the inside, as it does the outside, of the best heads soever, and much more, of such heads as are strong for nothing but to bear drink; concerning which, it ever was, and is, and will be, a sure observation, that such as are ablest at the barrel are weakest at the book.

SLAVERY OF INTEMPERANCE.-KIMBALL.

OF all the vices that acquire a fearful dominion over the human heart, intemperance is the one whose conquests are most varied, and whose slaves are most lowly. There is no rank in society that has not offered up victims to its wrath and paid tribute to its sovereignty. The refinement of education and the splendor of genius have fallen before its power.

Truly, there is no enemy more dangerous than drunkenness, and no slavery more terrible than that of the drunkard. At one time, it encounters man under the form of custom, habit, friendship! at another, under the deceitful garb of pleasure! But when it has once completely fastened on its victim, to what a pitiable state of moral degradation is he reduced! Were our fair country to become a prey to the fierce followers of Mahomet—were we to be spurned beneath the slipper of the haughty Turk-w —were our sacred temples to be polluted by the banner of the crescent were our people to be sold into slavery—in fine, were all the horrors that superstition and savage atrocity could prompt, wreaked upon the land, our condition would offer no comparison to the utter abasement, to the almost hopeless misery of the unfortunate drunkard! It is true, an enemy may enslave the body, but as yet, tyranny has forged no chains that can fetter the freedom of man's mind! The dull clay may bow beneath the iron hand of oppression, but the soul can never be enslaved; it is immortal, it is free.

If danger threatened the safety of those we love, under any form of violence, how should we use every possible exertion to dispel its power! If the invader's fleet hovered around our coasts, or if the foeman's steel glittered on our fruitful fields, how soon would the blast of liberty's clarion awaken all the valor of our souls. The peasant would leave his plough, the pale student his dusty tome, the mechanic the implements of his craft; and all would arm in defence of their country. They would go forth, strong in the determination to preserve her liberties, or die in the attempt. Man will, on great occasions, sacrifice every feeling for his country's good; but equally ready