rive out intemperance from the land.

This, to be great, _must be universal_. The whole country is enslaved;
and the whole country must rise up at once, like an armed man, and
determine to be free. Of what lasting avail would it be for one section
of territory, here and there, to clear itself, while the surrounding
regions should remain under the curse? The temperance reformation has no
quarantine to fence out the infected. Geographical boundaries are no
barriers against contagion. Rivers and mountains are easily crossed by
corrupting example. Ardent spirits, like all other fluids, perpetually
seek their level. In vain does the farmer eradicate from his fields the
last vestige of the noisome thistle, while the neighboring grounds are
given up to its dominion, and every wind scatters the seed where it
listeth. The effort against intemperance, to be effective, _must be
universal_.

Here, then, are three important points which we may safely assume as
entirely unquestionable: that _our country is horribly scourged by
intemperance_; that _the time has come when a great effort is demanded
for the expulsion of this evil_; and that _no effort can be effectual
without being universal_. Hence is deduced, undeniably, the conclusion
that it is the duty, and the solemn duty of the people, in every part of
this country, to rise up at once, and act vigorously and unitedly in the
furtherance of whatever measures are best calculated to promote
reformation.

* * * * *

Here the question occurs, _What can be done? How can this woe be
arrested?_ The answer is plain. Nothing can be done, but in one of the
three following ways. You must either suffer people to drink
_immoderately_; or you must endeavor to promote _moderation_ in
drinking; or you must try to persuade them to drink _none at all_. One
of these plans must be adopted. Which shall we choose? The first is
condemned already.

What say we to the second, the _moderate use_ of intoxicating drinks? It
has unquestionably the sanction of high and ancient ancestry. It is
precisely the plan on which intemperance has been wrestled with ever
since it was first discovered that "wine is a mocker," and that "strong
drink is raging." But hence comes its condemnation. Its long use is its
death-witness. Were it new, we might hope something from its adoption.
But it is old enough to have been tried to the uttermost. The wisdom,
the energy, the benevolence of cent