bly (late Old School) of the Presbyterian Church adopted the following in response to that resolution :

Resolved, 1. That this Assembly reiterates its previous deliverances in favor of total abstinence, especially that passed at Pittsburgh in 1865. "Resolved, 2. That our ministers be enjoined to preach on the duty of total abstinence the third Sabbath in December next, or at any previous date that their convenience may suggest."

In various parts of the land a new impetus was thus given to the work of organizing temperance societies connected directly with churches, and in many instances they were remarkably successful. A considerable number of evangelical churches had for a long time refused to admit to the communion-table any man engaged in the liquortraffic; some had gone further, and excluded from churchmembership all who were habitually addicted to the use of intoxicating drinks. The awakened sentiment in the churches became a cause of congratulation and thanksgiving, and it was hoped that this was but the commencement of a universal movement embracing all the churches of our country, when societies shall be formed in every locality, and the pulpit shall give no uncertain sound in relation to the sin, misery, and destruction attendant upon the continuation of the drinking usages of society.

In Ohio, at Delaware, on the 22d of February, and in Minnesota, at St. Paul, on the 13th October, 1871, State Conventions were held, at which tickets were made out and nominations made for State officers, all in the interest of prohibition.

In Massachusetts the people were called to vote on the question whether malt liquors should be sold, with the following results: Out of 339 towns and cities, 176 polled a vote on the question, 159 voted no, and 17 yes. In this State a new State organization was effected at a meeting held in Tremont Temple, Boston, on the 22d of February. It is called the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society, and its aim is to act on exclusively moral and religious principles, without, however, opposing legal and other measures. Wm. B. Spooner was elected president.

In Oregon an important State Convention was held at

Salem in the month of February. Among other resolutions adopted was one declaring it to be the best policy for the friends of temperance in the State to demand of the Legislature the passage of a law based on the principles of local option and containing the provisions of the Ohio damage law.

In New Jersey, "local prohibition" was the rallying point, different temperance organizations and churches uniting in labors and petitions for its adoption. The largest temperance convention ever held in the State declared unanimously in its favor; while it received the endorsement of three of the largest religious denominations—the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist, together with the State Sunday School Teachers' Association, and nearly 20,000 legal voters who petitioned the Legislature in favor of this law. The bill was defeated in the Legislature by a vote of 33 to 17.

Not at all disheartened, the friends in many parts of the State determined on securing the right to decide for their own localities as to whether liquor should be sold or not, made a thorough canvass of the inhabitants. Especially was this notable of the township of Chatham, where 500 voters had in 1869 petitioned the Legislature for a localoption law, but were denied. In 1870, 519, out of a total number of 723 voters, signed the petition, and the bill became a law April 6, 1871, and on the second Tuesday in June the people were to determine by ballot license or no license. The contest was a warm one, and at the polls the vote stood 201 for license, 368 against; majority against license, 167.

In Pennsylvania the "Local Option" Bill was pressed before the Legislature by the friends of the cause, nearly 100,000 names being appended to petitions for its passage. It passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 51 to 35, but failed in the Senate, lacking one vote of a majority.

In the Twenty-second Ward of Philadelphia, with a population of over 20,000, the vote was taken on the 10th of October, license or no license, a "local option" bill for that ward having been passed by the Legislature. The vote

stood 2,475 against license to 1,152 for, giving a majority against license of 1,323.

In Minnesota the Legislature passed a law prohibiting the sale of spirituous and other liquors near the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad during the construction thereof. What a pity they did not extend it over the entire State, and make it perpetual!

In North Carolina a State Convention was held at Raleigh in November, when a State temperance society was organized and a committee appointed to form auxiliaries all over the State.

In Massachusetts a new State Society was formed at a State Convention of the Catholic temperance societies, held in Boston in the month of June. The officers chosen are earnest temperance workers, and the society has accomplished good results among the Catholic population of Massachusetts.

During 1871 the churches of all denominations entered into the temperance work as never before. In nearly all parts of the land temperance sermons were delivered, temperance prayer-meetings held, church societies organized, a hearty co-operation with outside societies, and a greatly-increased attention to the circulation of a carefully-selected temperance literature in the community by the churches and Sunday-schools. In consequence of this healthy growth and progress, we find, during 1871, more temperance in religious societies and more religion in temperance societies.

In Sunday-schools, especially, the deepening interest of religious people in the cause was manifested in the formation of Bands of Hope, the introduction of temperance books into the libraries, and the circulation of the Youth's Temperance Banner among the children.

The question whether the Bible sanctions the use of intoxicating drinks or not, received renewed attention during the year. Must there not have been two kinds of wine -the one the emblem of punishment and eternal wrath, and the other the emblem of spiritual mercies and eternal happiness? Dr. William Patton, D.D., of New Haven,

Conn., who has given this subject a careful and thorough investigation for the last fifty years, brings all his distinguished ability and great learning to bear upon it in a new work, entitled "Laws of Fermentation, and Wines of the Ancients," published by the National Society. He appeals to the original texts, and refers to every passage in the New Testament where wine is mentioned, and presents a mass of unimpeachable testimony in favor of his position. In sustaining this view, Rev. Wm. M. Thayer has rendered invaluable service with his pen in able treatises.

During 1871 the loss to the cause by the removal of eminent advocates was very great. Edward C. Delavan, Esq., who died on the 15th of January, was one of the earliest, ablest, and most influential advocates of the principles of total abstinence. Mr. Delavan's great specialty, if he had any, was the wine question. To the investigation of this subject and the dissemination of light he gave himself with a zeal unequalled. For his devotion to this study never was man more maligned and vilified than Mr. Delavan, because he took the ground that the "fruit of the vine," unfermented wine, should be used at the communion table, and not the fermented, adulterated wines of commerce. He was charged by the clergy and the press with the daring attempt to banish from the communion table the element the Son of God consecrated. This, he has often told the writer, was the severest trial of his life. But the world moves, and there are to-day over a thousand churches in this country where the fruit of the vine only is used at the Lord's Supper.

Rev. Dr. N. S. S. Beman, another early and fearless champion of temperance and moral reform, who in his religious and social life was an eminent example of consistent teetotalism, died in the 86th year of his age at Carbondale, Ill., on the 8th of August.

Five days later, at the East, another faithful advocate of the cause passed away in his 53d year-Hon. Woodbury Davis, of Portland, Me. He was a stanch pillar of prohibition in Maine.

Wm. H. Burleigh died in Brooklyn, March 18, aged 59.