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SPECIAL PUBLIC EVILS.

[Part VI.

unaccountable things are explained. These exposures, too, willbecome more frequent, the unhappy man still dreaming, that,though he erred a little, he took such good care to conceal hiserror, that no one knew it but himself. He will even talk whenhis tongue is palsied, to ward off suspicion, and thrust himselfinto company, to show that he is not drunk.

6. Those persons who find themselves, for some cause, alwaysirritated when efforts are made to suppress intemperance, andmoved by some instinctive impulse to make opposition, ought toexamine instantly, whether the love of ardent spirits is not thecause of it. An acute observer of human nature once remarked,“ I never knew an attempt made to suppress intemperance, whichwas not opposed by some persons, from whom I should not haveexpected opposition ; and I never failed to find, first or last, thatthose persons were themselves implicated in the sin. Temperatemen seldom, if ever, oppose the reformation of intemperance.”

7. We now come to some more miscellaneous, but at thesame time, still more decisive symptoms of intemperance, whichabused nature, first or last, never fails to give. “ Who hath red-ness of eyes,” asks the sacred writer ; he answers, “ They thattarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.” #Every man who is accustomed to drink ardent spirits freely,whose eye begins to redden and to weep, ought to know whatthe matter is, and to take warning ; it is one of the signals whichdistressed nature holds out and waves in token of distress.Another indication of intemperance is found in the fulness andredness of the countenance. Such a countenance is easily dis-tinguished from the fulness and freshness of health, and no freedrinker carries such a face without a guilty and specific cause.It is another signal of distress which abused nature raises, whileshe cries for help. Impaired muscular strength and tremor ofthe hand are still further indications of intemperance. Now thedestroyer, in his mining process, approaches the citadel of life,and is advancing fast to make the keepers of the house tremble,and the strong men bow themselves. This relaxation of thejoints and trembling of the nerves will be experienced especially

* Proverbs xxiii. 29, 30.