As Christian women, we have come down from the mount of consecration, where we have talked with Jesus, and at its base, have been met by the demon of Intemperance in every form. Friends have brought their loved ones to us, beseeching us to cast out the evil spirit, or, it may be, the monster has come into our homes, and household treasures here and there lie prostrate and helpless in the dust before God. With sad, shrinking hearts we look for a moment, then, with a twofold incentive, we take up our work. For the sake of our dear Saviour who did so much for us, whose face, sometimes, in our holiest hours, by faith we see, and whose voice we still hear, "Lo! I am with you always," and for the sake of the loved and the lost, or, more happily, the loved and reclaimed, we come to our work. This work is intensely practical, and brings into requisition all the forces which go to make up Christian character. It means patient, persevering, persistent, self-denying labor; it means an intelligent consecration of time, money and ability which God may have given us, to be used in the carrying out of the good at which we aim; it means entering into fellowship with Christ, (in a very feeble sense, it is true,) in His broad sympathy with humanity, in His sacrificing love; it means, many times, to have our names cast out as evil, to brave the sneer and ridicule of fashionable society, to be willing to be misunderstood by those nearest and dearest to us; to some it means all this and more; still, with a firm conviction of duty, of being called of God, we come to this work. It _may_ extend no further than our own homes, our own circle of friends; but if each build over against his own house, how strong the walls would be, how quickly they would rise! We look out into the night and see here and there a star glimmering in the darkness, and we say, "How dark the night is; how few stars are to be seen!" We wait and watch, and soon the clouds are rolled away; we see the stars one by one coming out from the blackness, until the blue vault above us is covered with heavenly diamond dust, and we rejoice in its brilliancy.