Temperance Union," and the "Reform Clubs," this new temperance movement,
which has attained in the last few years such large dimensions, has in
it many of the features of a religious revival. On this account, and to
distinguish it from all preceding efforts to break down the liquor
traffic and save the drunkard, it has been called a Gospel temperance
movement. Its chief reliance with many has been on prayer and faith, as
agencies by which the mighty power of God could be so determined as not
only to save the drunkard from the curse of his debasing appetite, but
to so move and act upon the liquor-seller as to lead him to abandon his
accursed traffic.


THE VALUE OF PRAYER AND FAITH ALONE.

At the commencement of this movement, which took the form of what is
known as the "Woman's Crusade," the power of prayer seemed for awhile to
be an almost irresistible force. Thousands and tens of thousands of men
were, as they felt assured in their hearts, freed in an instant of time
from an appetite which had been growing and strengthening for years,
until it held complete mastery over them; and this in answer to the
prayer of faith. And hundreds of saloon and tavern-keepers abandoned
their evil work, because, as was believed, God, in answer to the prayers
of pious men and women, had turned upon them the influences of His Holy
Spirit, and constrained them to this abandonment.

For awhile this power of prayer was regarded as the force that was to
break down the liquor traffic, and rescue the people from the curse of
appetite. If prayer were persistent enough, and faith strong enough, God
would come to the rescue, overthrow the enemy, and redeem and save the
wretched victims he was holding in such cruel bondage. But, as time