wo-thirds of all the criminal prosecutions in the land. In one of
our large cities, in which there were one thousand prosecutions for
crimes, more than eight hundred of them were found to have sprung from
the use of ardent spirits.

4. There would be a saving of a vast portion of sickness; and of the
lives probably of thirty thousand persons every year.

Let these four considerations be added together, and traced in their
various bearings and consequences upon the temporal and eternal welfare
of men; and then let each individual say, whether, in view of all the
evils connected with the practice of taking ardent spirits, he can, in
the sight of God, be justified in continuing the practice. That it is
_not necessary_, has been fully proved. No one thinks it to be
necessary, except those who use it. And _they_ would not think so, if
they were not in the habit of using it. Let any man _leave off entirely_
the use of ardent spirits for only one year, and he will find by his own
experience that it is not necessary or useful. The fathers of New
England did not use it, nor did their children. They were never, as a
body, in the practice of taking it. And yet they enjoyed better health,
attained to a larger stature, and, with fewer comforts of life,
performed more labor, endured more fatigue, and lived, upon an average,
to a greater age than any generation of their descendants who have been
in the practice of taking spirits. As it was not necessary for the
fathers of New England, it is certain that it is not necessary for their
descendants, or for any portion of our inhabitants. Hundreds of healthy,
active, respectable, and useful men, who _now_ do not use it, can
testify that it is not necessary. And this will be the testimony of
every one who will only relinquish entirely the use of it.

It is by the temperate and habitual use of ardent spirits, that
_intemperate appetites_ are formed. And the temperate use of it cannot
be continued, without, in many cases, forming intemperate appetites; and
after they are formed, multitudes will be destroyed by their
gratification.

_Natural appetites_, such as are implanted in our constitution by the
Author of nature, _do not by their gratification increase in their
demands_. What satisfied them years ago, will satisfy them now. But
_artificial appetites_, which are formed by the wicked practices of
men, are _constantly increasing in their demands_. What satisfied them
once, will _not_ sa