The bases of the temperance reform: an exposition and appeal./ With replies to numerous objections. By Rev. Dawson Burns.

126 Scriptuire and Ile Tc'Jperance Qucsiion.
up to imitation calls for the exercise of the greatest selfrestraint in leading to separation from articles whose influence for evil, on the bodies and minds of men, has been
universally lamented. The "moderation" alluded to in
Phil. iv. 5 is not moderation in wine-drinking or any
kind of drinking, but moderation of mind in the midst
of injustice and sufferings from without.
5. Thte Scr~13tures lay down general 5rzncipiles of action,
which, without any strainizng, cover the wvhole r-ound of total
abstinence firactlice.
To "love his neighbor"; to care for the stranger; to
build his house with a battlemented roof; to hold the
owner of an ox known to push with his horns answerable for any harm the ox might do; to guard against
coming or contingent evil; to break down occasions of
sinful transgression; to take stumbling-stones out of the
way-all these are principles of action prominently
adduced and illustrated in the Old Testament: and in the
New there is not less earnestly impressed upon all the
duty of sacrificing sensuous pleasure (even if a real good,
as an eye or right hand) rather than incur spiritual loss;
the duty of so acting that others shall not be led into
temptation or into conduct by which their own consciences may be defiled; the duty of sacrificing our own
pleasure for others' good; the duty of subordinating our
present and physical interests to the development of the
inner and higher life; the duty of doing all things to the
glory of God; the duty of not neglecting any known
means of good-all these lines of duty are written with
heavenly brilliance in the New Testament scriptures, and
ought to be imprinted with equal brightness on the
Christian's heart and life.
But how can this be done without a cordial exemplification of the practice of total abstinence?
How are the intemperate to be cured if they do not cast
away that which ensnares them?
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