not aggravate it still further, should he charge the blame on the sacred
word? O, what a blot on the Bible, should one sentence be added,
_encouraging the common use of intoxicating liquor_! "If any man thus
add, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book."

To encourage the manufacture of such liquors _is to abuse the bounties
of Providence_. When God had formed man, he kindly said, "Behold, I have
given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the
earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed; _to you it shall be for meat_." God, then, it seems, intended men
should use the fruits of the earth for _food_. But "they have sought out
many inventions." And one of these is, to convert these "gifts of God"
into a poison, most insidious in its nature, and destructive both to
soul and body. The distiller, the vender, and the consumer, encourage
one another in this perversion of God's gifts. And is this "receiving
his gifts with thanksgiving?" Better, infinitely better, to cast them at
once into the fire, and say unto the Almighty, "We have no need of
these." But the ingratitude does not stop here. When men, in abuse of
the divine bounty, have made this poison, to give it currency, they call
it one of the "_creatures of God_." With as much propriety might they
call gambling establishments and murderous weapons his "creatures." But
how awful the _impiety_ of thus ascribing the worst of man's inventions
to the benevolent God!

For a man to _persevere in making, selling, or using intoxicating
liquor, as an article of luxury or living_, WHILE FULLY KNOWING ITS
EFFECTS, _and possessing_ THE LIGHT PROVIDENCE HAS POURED ON THIS
SUBJECT, _is utterly inconsistent with any satisfactory evidence of
piety_. "By their fruits ye shall know them." And what are _his_ fruits.
Why, as we have seen, he wilfully cuts short his own life, or the life
of his neighbor; he wilfully impairs memory, judgment, imagination, all
the immortal faculties, merely for sensual indulgence or paltry gain; he
stupefies conscience, and cherishes all the evil passions; he prefers
sordid appetite to pure spiritual enjoyment; he is the occasion of
stumbling to those for whom Christ died, and of dark reproach on the
church; he neglects the only means Providence has pointed out for
saving millions from drunkenness and perdition; he wilfully encourages
their downward course; he refuses the aid he might give