grace of
the sacraments fortify the soul, so do food and drink nourish the
animal; and if the latter is cared for to the detriment of the soul, it
waxes strong and formidable and becomes a menace.

The only resource for the soul is then to cut off the supply that
benefits the flesh, and strengthen herself thereby. She acts like a
wise engineer who keeps the explosive and dangerous force of his
locomotive within the limit by reducing the quantity of food he throws
into its stomach. Thus the passions being weakened become docile, and
are easily held under sway by the power that is destined to govern, and
sin is thus rendered morally impossible.

It is gluttony that furnishes the passion of the flesh with fuel by
feeding the animal too well; and herein lies the great danger and
malice of this vice. The evil of a slight excess may not be great
in itself; but that evil is great in its consequences. Little
over-indulgences imperceptibly, but none the less surely, strengthen
the flesh against the spirit, and when the temptation comes the spirit
will be overcome. The ruse of the saints was to starve the enemy.

CHAPTER XIV.
DRINK.

INTEMPERANCE is the immoderate use of anything, good or bad; here the
word is used to imply an excessive use of alcoholic beverages, which
excess, when it reaches the dignity of a habit or vice, makes a man a
drunkard. A drunkard who indulges in "highballs" and other beverages of
fancy price and name, is euphemistically styled a "tippler;" his
brother, a poor devil who swallows vile concoctions or red "pizen" is
called a plain, ordinary "soak." Whatever name we give to such
gluttons, the evil in both is the same; 'tis the evil of gluttony.

This vice differs from gluttony proper in that its object is strong
drink, while the latter is an abuse of food and nourishment necessary,
in regulated quantity, for the sustenance of the body. But alcohol is
not necessary to sustain life as an habitual beverage; it may
stimulate, but it does not sustain at all. It has its legitimate uses,
like strychnine and other poison and drugs; but being a poison, it must
be detrimental to living tissues, when taken frequently, and cannot
have been intended by the Creator as a life-giving nourishment. Its
habitual use is therefore not a necessity. Its abuse has therefore a
more far-fetched malice.

But its use is not sinful, any more than the use of any drug, for
alcohol, or liquor, is a creature of God and is ma