of his professed Christian
brethren who was engaged in this traffic, and told him not only that he
was ruining for both worlds many of his fellow-men, but that his
Christian brethren viewed his business as inconsistent with his
profession, and tending to counteract all efforts for the salvation of
men; and the man, after frankly acknowledging that it was wrong, said
that this was the first time that any of them had conversed with him on
the subject. This may be the case with other churches; and while it is,
the whole church is conniving at the evil, and the whole church is
guilty. Every brother, in such a case, is bound, on his own account, to
converse with him who is thus aiding the powers of darkness, and
opposing the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and try to persuade him to cease
from this destructive business.

The whole church is bound to make efforts, and use all proper means to
accomplish this result. And before half the individual members have done
their duty on this subject, they may expect, if the offending brother
has, and manifests the spirit of Christ, that he will cease to be an
offence to his brethren, and a stumbling-block to the world, over which
such multitudes fall to the pit of woe. And till the church, the whole
church, do their duty on this subject, they cannot be freed from the
guilt of conniving at the evil. And no wonder if the Lord leaves them to
be as the mountains of Gilboa, on which there was neither rain or dew.
And should the church receive from the world those who make it a
business to carry on this notoriously immoral traffic, they will greatly
increase their guilt, and ripen for the awful displeasure of God. And
unless members of the church shall cease to teach, by their business,
the fatal error that it is right for men to buy and use ardent spirit as
a drink, the evil will never be eradicated, intemperance will never
cease, and the day of millennial glory never come.

Each individual who names the name of Christ is called upon, by the
providence of God, to act on this subject openly and decidedly for him,
and in such a manner as is adapted to banish intemperance and all its
abominations from the earth, and to cause temperance and all its
attendant benefits universally to prevail. And if ministers of the
Gospel and members of Christian churches do not connive at the sin of
furnishing this poison as a drink for their fellow-men; and men who, in
opposition to truth and duty, continue to be en