alty of the
civil law, to an untimely grave.

10. It is the selling of that which tends to lessen the health, the
reason, and the usefulness, to diminish the comfort, and shorten the
lives of all who habitually use it.

11. It is the selling of that which darkens the understanding, sears the
conscience, pollutes the affections, and debases all the powers of man.

12. It is the selling of that which weakens the power of motives to do
right, and increases the power of motives to do wrong, and is thus shown
to be in its effects hostile to the moral government of God, as well as
to the temporal and eternal interests of men; which excites men to rebel
against him, and to injure and destroy one another. And no man can sell
it without exerting an influence which tends to hinder the reign of the
Lord Jesus Christ over the minds and hearts of men, and to lead them to
persevere in iniquity, till, notwithstanding all the kindness of
Jehovah, their case shall become hopeless.

* * * * *

Suppose a man, when about to commence the traffic in ardent spirit,
should write in great capitals on his sign-board, to be seen and read of
all men, what he will do, viz., that so many of the inhabitants of this
town or city, he will, for the sake of getting their money, make
paupers, and send them to the almshouse, and thus oblige the whole
community to support them and their families; that so many others he
will excite to the commission of crimes, and thus increase the expenses,
and endanger the peace and welfare of the community; that so many he
will send to the jail, and so many more to the state prison, and so many
to the gallows; that so many he will visit with sore and distressing
diseases; and in so many cases diseases which would have been
comparatively harmless, he will by his poison render fatal; that in so
many cases he will deprive persons of reason, and in so many cases will
cause sudden death; that so many wives he will make widows, and so many
children he will make orphans, and that in so many cases he will cause
the children to grow up in ignorance, vice, and crime, and after being
nuisances on earth, will bring them to a premature grave; that in so
many cases he will prevent the efficacy of the Gospel, grieve away the
Holy Ghost, and ruin for eternity the souls of men. And suppose he
could, and should give some faint conception of what it is to lose the
soul, and of the overwhelming guilt and c