Although wine was
invented, and its use allowed "to make glad the heart of man," and
although a moderate and prudent indulgence in it can never excite
reprobation, or cause mischief, still the sin of drunkenness is an
extensive and a filthy evil. Not only does it demoralize, debase, and
finally destroy its unhappy victim, but it renders him incapable of
performing the ordinary duties of his station; constituting him an object
of disgust to others, and of pitiable misery to himself. It is well to
talk of the Bacchanalian orgies of talented men, and to call them
hilarity and glee. The flashes of wit "that were wont to set the table in
a roar;" the brilliancy of genius, that casts a charm even over folly and
vice; the rank and fame of the individual, no doubt, increased the
fascination of his failings; but however bright and wonderful may be the
coruscations of his talent, while under the influence of wine, his frame
is debilitated, tottering, and imbecile, when the stimulus of the
potation has subsided.
But I do not proscribe indiscriminately all stimulus.
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