Effects of Stimulants
25
What can be done to press back the inflowing tide of evil? Let
laws be enacted and rigidly enforced prohibiting the sale and use of
ardent spirits as a beverage. Let every effort be made to encourage the
inebriate’s return to temperance and virtue. But even more than this is
needed to banish the curse of inebriety from our land. Let the appetite
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for intoxicating liquors be removed, and the demand for them is at an
end.
Only men of strict temperance and integrity should be admitted
to our legislative halls, or chosen to preside in our courts of justice.
Property, reputation, and even life itself, are insecure when left to
the judgment of men who are intemperate and immoral. How many
innocent persons have been condemned to death, how many more
have been robbed of all their earthly possessions, by the injustice of
drinking jurors, lawyers, witnesses, and even judges!
There is need now of men like Daniel to do and dare. A pure
heart and a strong, fearless hand are wanted in the world today. God
designed that man should be constantly improving,—daily reaching a
higher point in the scale of excellence. He will help us, if we seek to
help ourselves. It is the duty of every Christian to see that his example
and influence are on the side of reform. Let ministers of the gospel lift
up their voice like a trumpet, and show the people their transgression,
and the house of Israel their sins. The youth need to be instructed. Our
hope of happiness in two worlds depends upon our improvement of
one. We should be guarded at every point against the first approach to
intemperance. If we would preserve our children from evil, we must
give them a right example, and then teach them to make God their fear,
their wisdom, and their strength.
The use of intoxicating liquor dethrones reason, and hardens the
heart against every pure and holy influence. The inanimate rocks will
sooner listen to the appeals of truth and justice than will that man
whose sensibilities are paralyzed by intemperance. Those who venture
to enter the forbidden path are gradually and unconsciously led on,
until they become demoralized, corrupted, and maddened. And while
Christians are asleep, this evil is gaining more strength and making
fresh victims. If the moral sensibilities of Christians were aroused
upon the subject of temperance in all things, and they realized that
the final destiny of every one depends upon the habits he forms, they
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