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

Chia7iac/cr of" The Pledgce."
from intoxicating drinks. Considered as a bond of union,
all objection to the pledge must be given up, or take a
sweeping range; for every benevolent and Christian
association involves a pledge, expressed or understood,
on the part of those who conduct and support it. Men
cannot act together without an agreement, and in the
temperance pledge the friends of total abstinence find the
form of agreement suited to their principles and object.
If the necessity for such distinct pledges is lamented, on
the ground that all Christian men should feel committed
as such to every good work, the complaint may be accepted as a reflection on Christian inconsistency, and not
upon the nature of the pledge. Those Christians who
haxve for the longest period acted upon the pledge of total
abstinence are the least able to understand what is
meant by the "yoke of bondage" with which some who
stand outside are pleased to connect it. Not those who
zealously embrace a good work and continue faithful to
it are held under any yoke or burden, but rather those
who are the victims of delusion on questions of greatest
moral and social value, or who are wanting in the selfdevotion and courage which would impel them to "do
good and to communicate," remembering that " with such
sacrifices God is well pleased."
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