Chap. III.]

INTEMPERANCE IN DRINKING.

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there is no nutriment in spirituous liquors. All the effect ofthem, is, to concentrate the strength of the system for the time,beyond its capacity for regular exertion. It is borrowing strengthfor the present occasion, which will be needed for the future,without any provision for payment, and with the certainty ofultimate bankruptcy.

II. The signs of intemperance. In the early stages of in-temperance, reformation is practicable. The misfortune is,intemperance is a sin so deceitful and ensnaring, that most mengo on to irretrievable ruin, qmidst many warnings, indeed, butthese are to little or no purpose, because they do not understandtheir voice. It is of vast importance, therefore, that the symptomsof intemperance should be universally and familiarly known.The effects of the habit upon the body and upon the mind shouldbe so described in all its stages, from the beginning to the end,that every one may see, and feel, and recognise these harbingersof ruin, as soon as they begin to show themselves upon him.

1. One of the early indications of intemperance may be foundin the associations of time, place, and person. In the com-mencement of this evil habit, there are many who drink to excessonly on particular days, such as days of military display, theanniversary of our Independence, the birth-day of Washington,new year’s day, and others of the like nature. When any ofthese holidays arrive, they bring with them, to many, the insatia-ble desire of drinking, as well as, it would seem, a sort of dispen-sation in their opinion, from the sin. There are others, who feelthe desire of drinking stirred up within them by the associationsof place. They could go from end to end of a day’s journeywithout ardent spirits were there no taverns on the road. Butthe very sight of these “ refuges of pilgrims,” awakens the desire“just to step in and take something.” And so powerful doesthis association become, that many will no more pass the tavern,than they would pass a fortified town, with all the engines ofdeath pointed against them. There are in every city, town, andvillage, places of public resort, which, in like manner, as soon asthe eye falls upon them, create a thirst for drinking ; and many,who, coming on business, pass near them, pay toll at them asregularly as at the gates ; and this, too, in returning as well as in52