to a great
national reform; he lends his whole weight against this reformation; he
is the occasion of offence, grief, and discord among brethren; he
grieves the Holy Spirit; he robs the Lord's treasury; he makes
Christianity infamous in the eyes of the heathen; he disregards the
plain spirit of the Bible; and, in fine, he perverts even the common
bounties of Providence. Such are his fruits. And the man, surely, who
can do all this in meridian light, while God is looking on, and widows
and orphans are remonstrating, _does not give satisfactory evidence of
piety_. He shows neither respect for God nor love to man.

Let conscience now solemnly review this whole argument by the infinitely
holy law. Is it indeed right and scriptural to impair body and mind, to
defile the flesh, cloud the soul, stupefy conscience, and cherish the
worst passions? Is it right to bring occasions of stumbling into the
church? Is it right to encourage drunkards; right to treat with contempt
a great national reform? Is it right to offend such as Christ calls
"brethren;" right to grieve the Holy Spirit, and hinder his blessed
influence? Is it right to "consume on lust" what would fill the Lord's
treasury; and right to make religion odious to the heathen? Is it right
to leave the land exposed to new floods of intemperance; to disregard
the manifest lessons of God's word and providence; and to convert food
to poison? Is it indeed scriptural and right to sanction habits fraught
only with wounds, death, and perdition? Can _real Christians_, by
example, propagate such heresy?

Let it not be suggested that our argument bears chiefly against the
_excessive_ use of these liquors; for common observation and candor will
testify that the _moderate_ use of the poison is the real occasion of
all its woes and abominations. Who was ever induced to taste, by the
disgusting sight of a drunkard? Or wise ever became a drunkard, except
by moderate indulgence in the beginning? Indeed, this habit of moderate
drinking is, perhaps, tenfold _worse_ in its general influence on
society than occasional instances of drunkenness; for these excite
abhorrence and alarm, while moderate indulgence sanctions the general
use, and betrays millions to destruction. O never, since the first
temptation, did Satan gain such a victory, as when he induced Christians
to sanction everywhere the use of intoxicating liquor. And never, since
the triumph of Calvary, has he experienced such a defea