Basic HTML Version
Chapter 2—Psychological Effects of Mild
Intoxicants
Inherited Tendencies Aroused by Wine and Cider
—For per-
sons who have inherited an appetite for stimulants, it is by no means
safe to have wine or cider in the house; for Satan is continually
soliciting them to indulge. If they yield to his temptations, they
do not know where to stop; appetite clamors for indulgence, and
is gratified to their ruin. The brain is clouded; reason no longer
holds the reins, but lays them on the neck of lust. Licentiousness
abounds, and vices of almost every type are practiced as the result
of indulging the appetite for wine and cider.—
Christian Temperance
[93]
and Bible Hygiene, 32, 33
.
Cannot Grow in Grace
—It is impossible for one who loves
these stimulants, and accustoms himself to their use, to grow in
grace. He becomes gross and sensual; the animal passions control the
higher powers of the mind, and virtue is not cherished.—
Christian
Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 33
.
Perversion of Mind Through Mild Intoxicants
—So gradually
does Satan lead away from the strongholds of temperance, so insid-
iously do wine and cider exert their influence upon the taste, that
the highway to drunkenness is entered upon all unsuspectingly. The
taste for stimulants is cultivated; the nervous system is disordered;
Satan keeps the mind in a fever of unrest; and the poor victim, imag-
ining himself perfectly secure, goes on and on, until every barrier is
broken down, every principle sacrificed. The strongest resolutions
are undermined, and eternal interests are too weak to keep the de-
based appetite under the control of reason. Some are never really
drunk, but are always under the influence of mild intoxicants. They
are feverish, unstable in mind, not really delirious, but as truly unbal-
anced; for the nobler powers of the mind are perverted.—
Christian
Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 33
.
93