the monthly distribution.  There had been, for some time, a small temperance society in the town; but its movements were slow and inefficient.  She undertook to impart to it new life and vigor.  The plans and efforts which she, in conjunction with her friends, put in operation, produced a sensation which was felt in every part of the town, and in a few months the number of members was increased, from about fifty, to three hundred.

The amazing influence of one Christian, who lives out the spirit of Christ, is illustrated, in a still more striking manner, in the life of a lady, who died not long since, in one of the principal cities of the United States.  I am not permitted to give her name, nor all the particulars of her life.  But what I relate may be relied upon, not only as facts, but as far below the whole truth.  She had been, for a long time, afflicted with a drunken husband.  At length the sheriff came and swept off all their property, not excepting her household furniture, to discharge his grog bills.  At this distressing crisis, she retired to an upper room, laid her babe upon the bare floor, kneeled down over it, and offered up the following petition:  “O Lord, if thou wilt in any way remove from me this affliction, I will serve thee upon bread and water all the days of my life.”  The Lord took her at her word.  Her besotted husband immediately disappeared, and was never heard of again till after her death.  The church would now have maintained her, but she would not consent to become a charge to others.  Although in feeble health, and afflicted with the sick headache, she opened a small school, from which she obtained a bare subsistence; though it was often no more than what was contained in the condition of her prayer—­literally bread and water.  She had also another motive for pursuing some regular employment.  She wished to avoid the reproach which would have arisen to the cause of Christ from her being maintained upon the bounty of the church, while engaged in the system of Christian activity which she adopted.  She remembered the duty of being diligent in business, as well as fervent in spirit.  She was a lady of pleasing address, and of a mild and gentle disposition.  “In her lips was the law of kindness.”  Yet she possessed an energy of character, and a spirit of perseverance, which the power of faith alone can impart.  When she undertook any Christian enterprise, she was discouraged by no obstacles, and appalled by no difficulties.  She resided in the most wicked and abandoned part of the city, which afforded a great field of labor.  Her benevolent heart was pained at seeing the grog-shops opened upon the holy Sabbath.  She undertook the difficult and almost hopeless task of closing these sinks of moral pollution upon the Lord’s day, and succeeded.  This was accomplished by the mild influence of persuasion, flowing from the lips of kindness, and clothed with that power which always accompanies the true spirit