perance societies in Great Britain and Ireland; and the cause is said to be progressing in Sweden, Russia, Madras in India, New Holland, and South Africa.

Amidst the clamors of opposition which have been raised against Methodism, no one charge preferred against the members and friends of the Methodist church, as yet, is more illiberal or unfounded than that of their being opposed to the temperance cause-the cause of benevolence and humanity. It is known to all, who are at all acquainted with our history, that the temperance reformation in our church, commenced in the youthful days of Mr. Wesley. If those who bring this charge against us, will take the pains to examine the writings of Mr. Wesley, or the discipline of our church, they will find that we are no more opposed to temperance than we are to Methodism, or to the word of God. The Methodist Episcopal church has always been a temperance society, and has, indeed, made it a term of church communion not to use ardent spirits "except in cases of necessity." The resolutions of our last General Conference will show, clearly, the light in which we view the subject of temperance. And it is intended at our next General Conference, to be held in Cincinnati, in May, 1836, to make entire abstinence a condition of membership in our church. Let any one of my readers, turn to the first volume of the Christian Advocate and Journal, edited by Dr. Bangs, and published for the Methodist church in the United States, and he will find a series of essays on this subject, in which the practice of total abstinence was strenuously maintained. From that time onward until the present, both from the pulpit and the press, the Methodist. clergy have been the steady advocates of the temperance cause, and it is hoped will so continue while the shameful and disgraceful vice of intemperance shall find a solitary advocate. And as long as the American Temperance Society. is defended and supported by voluntary associations, the Methodist church will rejoice in its prosperity. But when ever money must be collected, through agents, for the purpose of furnishing employment to men who would otherwise be unemployed as preachers of the Gospel, and not for the sake of the object of the society, separately considered, then we will go against the society. And I predict, that the time is net far distant, when the Presbyterians will take charge of the society, and appoint special agents for this very purpose. The Presbyterians, indeed, several years since, took upon themselves to say that Methodist preachers generally, were opposed to the temperance cause, merely for the reason that

they did not themselves join nor advise their members and friends to join the national society. I allow, indeed, that as a body, they never did themselves unite with, nor advise their friends to join the American Temperance Society, not because they ever felt the least particle of opposition to the efforts of that society to put down the use of ardent spirits, far and near, and among all classes of people, but simply because they thought they could more effectually serve the cause in their own way, and they think they have not been disappointed. Besides, I hope never to see a Methodist manifest the intemperate zeal of a crazy enthusiast, or like the Presbyterians do, to transcend the bounds of liberality and mode-. ration in the advocacy of this, or of any other cause.

On the

As Methodists, let our motto be MODERATION! subject of temperance, the Presbyterians may be regarded as a race of wild enthusiasts, or as a set of infatuated fanatics, who suffer themselues to be transported by their mad zeal beyond the bounds of every thing like moderation, into the hide-bound regions of Calvinistic intolerance. This is not the way to produce unanimity of sentiment, or harmony of feeling. Where ever I have heard a Presbyterian on the subject of temperance, I have heard denunciations thundered against all those who have refused to join this society; and I have heard wrath without any mixture of mercy, poured out upon all who either make or sell liquor, in any way! And all who do not join with them, in their reproachful denunciations, and help them to sweep down into the lowest depths of ignominy and ruin, many well-meaning, honest, and worthy citizens, who are unfortunately engaged in distilling and selling spirits, are themselves, doomedto an eternal hell, as being rather too degraded to associate with the ordinary spirits of perdition! These people, on the subject of temperance, are exact to a degree of scrupulosity, and still, in various other matters, they neglect the most important points of the law of

I have no doubt, myself, but what many well-meaning persons are engaged in making and selling ardent spirits, under the belief that their calling is lawful, inasmuch as it is not prohibited, but only regulated, by the law of the land. I confess, however, that I have very little charity for a man, who, after he has been convinced of the great evil of distilling or selling spirits, will continue the practice. And a drunkard, in my estimation, is the most contemptible being in God's universe. In the mean time, if we would succeed in the temperance reformation, we must strike at the root of all vice, the heart of the sinner and the nominal professor, and

never cease until it be made clean. Let those elders, and other members of the Presbyterian church, who are accustomed to get so drunk that they can't even navigate a common wagon-road, keep cool on the subject of temperance! And if the Presbyterians, as a body, wish to promote the cause of temperance, let them, in future, be more consistent;-let them show their faith by their works. For,' notwithstanding they are the first to fulminate anathemas against all dramdrinkers and whiskey-makers; yet, in an election, they will conspire against a Methodist candidate of the first talents and moral worth in the country, and vote for an habitual drunkard, a liar, a defrauder, and a whore-monger! Wonderful infatuation! strange delusion! But what better can we expect of persons born and raised in the Dismal Swamp of Calvinian decrees? O hypocrisy! thou brat of hell, how I hate thee! You mingle in all society-but you are particularly fond of temperance societies! You deck your visage in smiles and dimples, and affect friendship for the purpose of your hate! But your smile is the smile of deception; the poison of asps is under your tongue, cursing and bitterness follow in your train, and your feet are swift to do works of mischief. There is treachery in the affected meekness of your eyes; your honied words are but as drops of liquid fire, and your whispers of kindness and moderation, as the grotesque howling of the fierce hyena, that thirsts for blood! I must close, though in pursuing this subject, "hills on hills, and Alps on Alps arise."

As it respects the Baptists, they are, in the general, avowed enemies to the temperance reformation. Poor creatures! they are, at best, about a century behind the march of mind, and their dynasty is unpopular. Besides, custom seems to have given both preachers and members of this denomination, a license to diversify, and give zest to a perpetual round of drunkenness. Hence, they will church Priest or Levite, for the sin of joining the temperance society!

In conclusion, those of every name, who sneer at the formation of temperance societies, by contemptuously calling them "cold water combinations," betray a lightness of spirit incompatible with the sober earnestness with which the friends of humanity have attempted to check the progress of an evil of such magnitude as is the hydra of intemperance. Let all come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty; and let the reformation be thoroughly pursued until intemperate living of all sorts and sizes, in doctrines and practice, in eating, sleeping, dressing, and the employment of time, find no

apologist, nor refuge in the sanctuary of God, either among ministers or people.

And reader, while you and I live, may the consideration of having lived temperate afford us abiding joy; and when we close our eyes upon the world, to sleep the sleep of death, may the same consideration compose us; and when the morning of eternal day breaks in upon the universe, may our hopes be realized, in full and blissful fruition, for the Redeemer's sake. Amen.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY-ITS RISE AND PROGRESS THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY CONSIDERED.

THIS Society was instituted in the city of Washington, in 1816. The colony at Liberia, extends along the western coast of Africa, a distance of about 280 miles in length, and from about 20 to 30 miles inland. It contains now about 3,000 colonists. They have Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian missionaries there, all of whom have houses of worship, and organized churches. Five years of preliminary operations were requisite for surveying the coast-propitiating the natives and selecting the most eligible site. Numerous agents were subsequently employed-ships chartered-the coast cleared-schools, factories, hospitals, churches, government buildings and dwellings erected-and the many expenses requisite were defrayed, &c. &c. As early as the year 1777, Mr. Jefferson formed a plan for colonizing the free colored population of the United States. The particulars of his plan I have not been able to obtain. In the year 1787, Dr. Thornton, of Washington, formed a plan for the same purpose. In the year 1800, Mr. Monroe, then governor of the state of Virginia, endeavored through the President of the United States, to obtain from the powers of Europe possessed of colonies on the coast of Africa, an asylum to which our emancipated negroes might be sent. In December, 1816, at which time this society was formed, a considerable number of citizens, very nearly all slave holders, convened at Washington, to take the subject into consideration. Long debates ensued. Henry Clay, John Randolph, of Roanoke, and various other powerful orators, addressed the meeting in support of the plan. More recently, there have been legislative

proceedings in favor of the society, by Connecticut, New Jersey, Kentucky, Delaware, Massachusetts, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Indiana.-By the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church-And by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church.

The colony has arrested the progress of the nefarious and accursed slave trade in its neighborhood; destroyed some slave factories, and liberated a number of slaves who were on the point of being transported across the Atlantic, subject to all the horrors of the passage, and, if they escaped with life, to the horrors of perpetual slavery; and there cannot be a doubt that at no distant period the trade will be annihilated on the whole of the western coast of Africa.

This colony, besides other benefits it hopes to confer on Africa, is expected to exert a powerful influence against the slave trade. The colony has already done much, and will do vastly more, for the suppression of this atrocious trade." Notwithstanding the efforts of the chief maratime powers of Europe, and those of the United States, to suppress this traffic, there were, from two towns, Muney and Pangas, 352 cargoes of slaves taken, during the year 1881.

The slave trade was commenced by the Portuguese, as 'early as the year 1454; and the whole number of slaves exported from Africa since that period, is estimated at 20,000,000!! And the eruelties attending this trade are probably greater now than at any former period. Such is the merciless treatment of the slaves, that no fancy can picture the horrors of the voyage. Crowded together so as not to have the power to move--linked one to the other by the leg-never unfettered while life remains, or till the iron shall have fretted the flesh almost to the bone-forced under a low deck-breathing an atmosphere the most putrid and pestilential-with little food and less water-at the same time, subject to the most severe punishment, at the caprice of the brute or demon who may command the vessel. The blood broils in my veins while I write; I dare not pursue the subject any further.

Soil and climate of Liberia.-The soil is not exceeded for fertility, or productiveness, when properly cultivated, by any soil in the world. The hills and plains are covered with perpetual verdure. The productions of the soil go on throughout the year. The natives of Liberia, know nothing about" winter. The natives raise more produce than they can consume, and frequently more than they can sell.

The true character of the African climate, is not understood in other countries. Its inhabitants are as robust, to say the