accessory to it, are both guilty, and deserving of punishment. Men have
been brought to the gallows on this principle. It applies to the law of
God. And as the drunkard cannot go to heaven, can drunkard-makers? Are
they not, when tried by the principles of the Bible, in view of the
developments of Providence, manifestly immoral men? men who, for the
sake of money, will knowingly be instrumental in corrupting the
character, increasing the diseases, and destroying the lives of their
fellow-men?
"But," says one, "I never sell to drunkards; I sell only to sober men."
And is that any better? Is it a less evil to the community to make
drunkards of sober men than it is to kill drunkards? Ask that widowed
mother who did her the greatest evil: the man who only killed her
drunken husband, or the man who made a drunkard of her only son? Ask
those orphan children who did them the greatest injury: the man who made
their once sober, kind, and affectionate father a drunkard, and thus
blasted all their hopes, and turned their home, sweet home, into the
emblem of hell; or the man who, after they had suffered for years the
anguish, the indescribable anguish of the drunkard's children, and seen
their heart-broken mother in danger of an untimely grave, only killed
their drunken father, and thus caused in their habitation a great calm?
Which of these two men brought upon them the greatest evil? Can you
doubt? You, then, do nothing but make drunkards of sober men, or expose
them to become such. Suppose that all the evils which you may be
instrumental in bringing upon other children, were to come upon your
own, and that _you_ were to bear all the anguish which you may occasion;
would you have any doubt that the man who would knowingly continue to be
accessory to the bringing of these evils upon you, must be a notoriously
wicked man?
5. Ardent spirit destroys the _soul_.
Facts in great numbers are now before the public, which show
conclusively that the use of ardent spirit tends strongly to hinder the
moral and spiritual illumination and purification of men; and thus to
prevent their salvation, and bring upon them the horrors of the second
death.
A disease more dreadful than the cholera, or any other that kills the
body merely, is raging, and is universal, threatening the endless death
of the soul. A remedy is provided all-sufficient, and infinitely
efficacious; but the use of ardent spirit aggravates the disease, and
with millions and millions prevents the application of the remedy and
its effect.
It appears from the fifth report of the American Temperance Society,
that more than four times as many, in proportion to the number, over
wide regions of country, during the preceding year, have apparently
embraced the gospel, and experienced its saving power, from among those
who had renounced the use of ardent spirit, as from those who continued
to use it.
The committee of the New York State Temperance Society, in view of the
peculiar and unprecedented attention to religion which followed the
adoption of the plan of abstinence from the use of strong drink, remark,
that when this course is taken, the greatest enemy to the work of the
Holy Spirit on the minds and hearts of men, appears to be more than half
conquered.
In three hundred towns, six-tenths of those who two years ago belonged
to Temperance societies, but were not hopefully pious, have since become
so; and eight-tenths of those who have within that time become hopefully
pious, who did not belong to Temperance societies, have since joined
them. In numerous places, where only a minority of the people abstained
from the use of ardent spirit, nine-tenths of those who have of late
professed the religion of Christ, have been from that minority. This is
occasioned in various ways. The use of ardent spirit keeps many away
from the house of God, and thus prevents them from coming under the
sound of the gospel. And many who do come, it causes to continue stupid,
worldly-minded, and unholy. A single glass a day is enough to keep
multitudes of men, under the full blaze of the gospel, from ever
experiencing its illuminating and purifying power. Even if they come to
the light, and it shines upon them, it shines upon darkness, and the
darkness does not comprehend it; while multitudes who thus do evil will
not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. There is a
total contrariety between the effect produced by the Holy Spirit, and
the effect of spirituous liquor upon the minds and hearts of men. The
latter tends directly and powerfully to counteract the former. It tends
to make men feel in a manner which Jesus Christ hates, rich spiritually,
increased in goods, and in need of nothing; while it tends for ever to
prevent them from feeling, as sinners must feel, to buy of him gold
tried in the fire, that they may be rich. Those who use it, therefore,
are taking the direct course to destroy their own souls; and those who
furnish it, are taking the course to destroy the souls of their
fellow-men.
In one town, more than twenty times as many, in proportion to the
number, professed the religion of Christ during the past year, of those
who did not use ardent spirit, as of those who did; and in another town
more than thirty times as many. In other towns, in which from one-third
to two-thirds of the people did not use it, and from twenty to forty
made a profession of religion, they were all from the same class. What,
then, are those men doing who furnish it, but taking the course which is
adapted to keep men stupid in sin till they sink into the agonies of the
second death? And is not this an immorality of a high and aggravated
description? and one which ought to mark every man who understands its
nature and effects, and yet continues to live in it, as a notoriously
immoral man? What though he does not live in other immoralities--is not
this enough? Suppose he should manufacture poisonous miasma, and cause
the cholera in our dwellings; sell, knowingly, the cause of disease, and
increase more than one-fifth over wide regions of country the number of
adult deaths, would he not be a murderer? "I know," says the learned
Judge Crunch, "that the cup" which contains ardent spirit "is poisoned;
I know that it may cause death, that it may cause more than death, that
it may lead to crime, to sin, to the tortures of everlasting remorse. Am
I not, then, a murderer? worse than a murderer? as much worse as the
soul is better than the body? If ardent spirits were nothing worse than
a deadly poison--if they did not excite and inflame all the evil
passions--if they did not dim that heavenly light which the Almighty has
implanted in our bosoms to guide us through the obscure passages of our
pilgrimage--if they did not quench the Holy Spirit in our hearts, they
would be comparatively harmless. It is their moral effect--it is the
ruin of the _soul_ which they produce, that renders them so dreadful.
The difference between death by simple poison, and death by habitual
intoxication, may extend to the whole difference between everlasting
happiness and eternal death."
And, say the New York State Society, at the head of which is the
Chancellor of the State, "Disguise that business as they will, it is
still, in its true character, the business of destroying the bodies and
souls of men. The vender and the maker of spirits, in the whole range of
them, from the pettiest grocer to the most extensive distiller, are
fairly chargeable, not only with _supplying_ the appetite for spirits,
but with _creating_ that unnatural appetite; not only with supplying the
drunkard with the fuel of his vices, but with _making_ the drunkard.
"In reference to the taxes with which the making and vending of spirits
loads the community, how unfair towards others is the occupation of the
maker and vender of them! A town, for instance, contains one hundred
drunkards. The profit of making these drunkards is enjoyed by some half
a dozen persons; but the burden of these drunkards rests upon the whole
town. We do not suggest that there should be such a law, but we ask
whether there would be one law in the whole statute-book more
_righteous_ than that which should require those who have the profit of
making our drunkards to be burdened with the support of them."
Multitudes who once cherished the fond anticipation of happiness in this
life and that to come, there is reason to believe, are now wailing
beyond the reach of hope, through the influence of ardent spirit; and
multitudes more, if men continue to furnish it as a drink, especially
sober men, will go down to weep and wail with them to endless ages.
* * * * *
"But," says one, "the traffic in ardent spirit is a lawful business; it
is approbated by law, and is therefore right." But the keeping of
gambling houses is, in some cases, approbated by human law. Is that
therefore right? The keeping of brothels is, in some cases, approbated
by law. Is that therefore right? Is it human law that is the standard of
morality and religion? May not a man be a notoriously wicked man, and
yet not violate human law? The question is, Is it right? Does it accord
with the divine law? Does it tend in its effects to bring glory to God
in the highest, and to promote the best good of mankind? If not, the
word of God forbids it; and if a man who has the means of understanding
its nature and effects continues to follow it, he does it at the peril
of his soul.
"But," says another, "if I should not sell it, I could not sell so many
other things." If you could not, then you are forbidden by the word of
God to sell so many other things. And if you continue to make money by
that which tends to destroy your fellow-men, you incur the displeasure
of Jehovah. "But if I should not sell it, I must change my business."
Then you are required by the Lord to change your business. A voice from
the throne of his excellent glory cries, "Turn ye, turn ye from this
evil way; for why will ye die?"
"If I should turn from it, I could not support my family." This is not
true; at least, no one has a right to say that it is true till he has
tried it, and done his whole duty by ceasing to do evil and learning to
do well, trusting in God, and has found that his family is not
supported. Jehovah declares, that such as seek the Lord, and are
governed by his will, shall not want any good thing. And till men have
made the experiment of obeying him in all things, and found that they
cannot support their families, they have no right to say that it is
necessary for them to sell ardent spirit. And if they do say this, it is
a libel on the divine character and government. There is no truth in it.
He who feeds the sparrow and clothes the lily, will, if they do right,
provide for them and their families; and there is no shadow of
necessity, in order to obtain support, for them to carry on a business
which destroys their fellow-men.
"But others will do it, if I do not." Others will send out their
vessels, steal the black man, and sell him and his children into
perpetual bondage, if you do not. Others will steal, rob, and commit
murder, if you do not; and why may not you do it, and have a portion of
the profit, as well as they? Because, if you do, you will be a thief, a
robber, and a murderer, like them. You will here be partaker of their
guilt, and hereafter of their plagues. Every friend, therefore, to you,
to your Maker, or the eternal interests of men, will, if acquainted with
this subject, say to you, As you value the favor of God, and would
escape his righteous and eternal indignation, renounce this work of
death; for he that soweth death, shall also reap death.
"But our fathers imported, manufactured, and sold ardent spirit, and
were they not good men? Have not they gone to heaven?" Men who professed
to be good once had a multiplicity of wives, and have not some of them
too gone to heaven? Men who professed to be good once were engaged in
the slave-trade, and have not some of them gone to heaven? But can men
who understand the will of God with regard to these subjects, continue
to do such things now, and yet go to heaven? The principle which applies
in this case, and which makes the difference between those who did such
things once, and those who continue to do them now, is that to which
Jesus Christ referred when he said, "If I had not come and spoken to
them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin."
The days of that darkness and ignorance which God may have winked at
have gone by, and he now commandeth all men to whom his will is made
known to repent. Your fathers, when they were engaged in selling ardent
spirit, did not know that all men, under all circumstances, would be
better without it. They did not know that it caused three-quarters of
the pauperism and crime in the land--that it deprived many of
reason--greatly increased the number and severity of diseases, and
brought down such multitudes to an untimely grave. The facts had not
then been collected and published. They did not know that it tended so
fatally to obstruct the progress of the Gospel, and ruin, for eternity,
the souls of men. You do know it, or have the means of knowing it. You
cannot sin with as little guilt as did your fathers. The facts, which
are the voice of God in his providence, and manifest his will, are now
before the world. By them he has come and spoken to you. And if you
continue, under these circumstances, to violate his will, you will have
no cloak, no covering, no excuse for your sin. And though sentence
against this evil work is not executed at once, judgment, if you
continue, will not linger, nor will damnation slumber.
The accessory and the principal, in the commission of crime, are both
guilty. Both by human laws are condemned. The principle applies to the
law of God; and not only drunkards, but drunkard-makers--not only
murderers, but those who excite others to commit murder, and furnish
them with the known cause of their evil deeds, will, if they understand
what they do, and continue thus to rebel against God, be shut out of
heaven.
Among the Jews, if a man had a beast that went out and killed a man, the
beast, said Jehovah, shall be slain, and his flesh shall not be eaten.
The owner must lose the whole of him as a testimony to the sacredness of
human life, and a warning to all not to do any thing, or connive at any
thing that tended to destroy it. But the owner, if he did not know that
the beast was dangerous, and liable to kill, was not otherwise to be
punished. But if he did know, if it had been testified to the owner that
the beast was dangerous, and liable to kill, and he did not keep him in,
but let him go out, and he killed a man, then, by the direction of
Jehovah, the beast and the owner were both to be put to death. The
owner, under these circumstances, was held responsible, and justly too,
for the injury which his beast might do. Though men are not required or
permitted now to execute this law, as they were when God was the
Magistrate, yet the reason of the law remains. It is founded in
justice, and is eternal. To the pauperism, crime, sickness, insanity,
and death temporal and eternal, which ardent spirit occasions, those who
knowingly furnish the materials, those who manufacture, and those who
sell it, are all accessory, and as such will be held responsible at the
divine tribunal. There was a time when the owners did not know the
dangerous and destructive qualities of this article--when the facts had
not been developed and published, nor the minds of men turned to the
subject; when they did not know that it caused such a vast portion of
the vice and wretchedness of the community, and such wide-spreading
desolation to the temporal and eternal interests of men; and although it
then destroyed thousands, for both worlds, the guilt of the men who sold
it was comparatively small. But now they sin against light, pouring down
upon them with unutterable brightness; and if they know what they do,
and in full view of its consequences continue that work of death--not
only let the poison go out, but furnish it, and send it out to all who
are disposed to purchase--it had been better for them, and better for
many others, if they had never been born. For, briefly to sum up what we
have said,
1. It is the selling of that, without the use of which nearly all the
business of this world was conducted, till within less than three
hundred years, and which of course is not _needful_.
2. It is the selling of that which was not generally used by the people
of this country for more than a hundred years after the country was
settled, and which by hundreds of thousands, and some in all kinds of
lawful business, is not used now. Once they did use it, and thought it
needful or useful. But by experiment, the best evidence in the world,
they have found that they were mistaken, and that they are in all
respects better without it. And the cases are so numerous as to make it
_certain_, that should the experiment be fairly made, this would be the
case with all. Of course it is not _useful_.
3. It is the selling of that which is a real, a subtile and very
destructive _poison_--a poison which, by men in health, cannot be taken
without deranging healthy action, and inducing more or less disease,
both of body and mind; which is, when taken in any quantity, positively
_hurtful_; and which is of course forbidden by the word of God.
4. It is the selling of that which tends to form an unnatural, and a
very dangerous and destructive appetite; which, by gratification, like
the desire of sinning in the man who sins, tends continually to
increase, and which thus exposes all who form it to come to a _premature
grave_.
5. It is the selling of that which causes a great portion of all the
pauperism in our land; and thus, for the benefit of a few--those who
sell--brings an enormous tax on the whole community. Is this fair? Is it
just? Is it not exposing our children and youth to become drunkards? And
is it not inflicting great evils on society?
6. It is the selling of that which excites to a great portion of all the
crimes that are committed, and which is thus shown to be in its effects
hostile to the moral government of God, and to the social, civil, and
religious interests of men; at war with their highest good, both for
this life and the life to come.
7. It is the selling of that, the sale and use of which, if continued,
will form intemperate appetites, which, if formed, will be gratified,
and thus will perpetuate intemperance and all its abominations to the
end of the world.
8. It is the selling of that which makes wives widows, and children
orphans; which leads husbands often to murder their wives, and wives to
murder their husbands; parents to murder their children, and children to
murder their parents; and which prepares multitudes for the prison, for
the gallows, and for hell.
9. It is the selling of that which greatly increases the amount and
severity of sickness; which in many cases destroys reason; which causes
a great portion of all the sudden deaths, and brings down multitudes who
were never intoxicated, and never condemned to suffer the penalty of the
civil law, to an untimely grave.
10. It is the selling of that which tends to lessen the health, the
reason, and the usefulness, to diminish the comfort, and shorten the
lives of all who habitually use it.
11. It is the selling of that which darkens the understanding, sears the
conscience, pollutes the affections, and debases all the powers of man.
12. It is the selling of that which weakens the power of motives to do
right, and increases the power of motives to do wrong, and is thus shown
to be in its effects hostile to the moral government of God, as well as
to the temporal and eternal interests of men; which excites men to rebel
against him, and to injure and destroy one another. And no man can sell
it without exerting an influence which tends to hinder the reign of the
Lord Jesus Christ over the minds and hearts of men, and to lead them to
persevere in iniquity, till, notwithstanding all the kindness of
Jehovah, their case shall become hopeless.
* * * * *
Suppose a man, when about to commence the traffic in ardent spirit,
should write in great capitals on his sign-board, to be seen and read of
all men, what he will do, viz., that so many of the inhabitants of this
town or city, he will, for the sake of getting their money, make
paupers, and send them to the almshouse, and thus oblige the whole
community to support them and their families; that so many others he
will excite to the commission of crimes, and thus increase the expenses,
and endanger the peace and welfare of the community; that so many he
will send to the jail, and so many more to the state prison, and so many
to the gallows; that so many he will visit with sore and distressing
diseases; and in so many cases diseases which would have been
comparatively harmless, he will by his poison render fatal; that in so
many cases he will deprive persons of reason, and in so many cases will
cause sudden death; that so many wives he will make widows, and so many
children he will make orphans, and that in so many cases he will cause
the children to grow up in ignorance, vice, and crime, and after being
nuisances on earth, will bring them to a premature grave; that in so
many cases he will prevent the efficacy of the Gospel, grieve away the
Holy Ghost, and ruin for eternity the souls of men. And suppose he
could, and should give some faint conception of what it is to lose the
soul, and of the overwhelming guilt and coming wretchedness of him who
is knowingly instrumental in producing this ruin; and suppose he should
put at the bottom of the sign this question, viz., What, you may ask,
can be my object in acting so much like a devil incarnate, and bringing
such accumulated wretchedness upon a comparatively happy people? and
under it should put the true answer, MONEY; and go on to say, I have a
family to support; I want money, and must have it; this is my business,
I was brought up to it; and if I should not follow it I must change my
business, or I could not support my family. And as all faces begin to
gather blackness at the approaching ruin, and all hearts to boil with
indignation at its author, suppose he should add for their consolation,
"If I do not bring this destruction upon you, somebody else will." What
would they think of him? what would all the world think of him? what
_ought_ they to think of him? And is it any worse for a man to tell the
people beforehand honestly what he will do, if they buy and use his
poison, than it is to go on and do it? And what if they are not aware of
the mischief which he is doing them, and he can accomplish it through
their own perverted and voluntary agency? Is it not equally abominable,
if _he knows_ it, and does not cease from producing it?
And if there are churches whose members are doing such things, and those
churches are not blessed with the presence and favor of the Holy Ghost,
they need not be at any loss for the reason. And if they should _never_
again, while they continue in this state, be blessed with the reviving
influence of God's Spirit, they need not be at any loss for the reason.
Their own members are exerting a strong and fatal influence against it;
and that too after Divine Providence has shown them what they are doing.
And in many such cases there is awful guilt with regard to this thing
resting upon the whole church. Though they have known for years what
these men were doing; have seen the misery, heard the oaths, witnessed
the crimes, and known the wretchedness and deaths which they have
occasioned, and perhaps have spoken of it, and deplored it among one
another; many of them have never spoken on this subject to the persons
themselves. They have seen them scattering firebrands, arrows, and death
temporal and eternal, and yet have never so much as warned them on the
subject, and never besought them to give up their work of death.
An individual lately conversed with one of his professed Christian
brethren who was engaged in this traffic, and told him not only that he
was ruining for both worlds many of his fellow-men, but that his
Christian brethren viewed his business as inconsistent with his
profession, and tending to counteract all efforts for the salvation of
men; and the man, after frankly acknowledging that it was wrong, said
that this was the first time that any of them had conversed with him on
the subject. This may be the case with other churches; and while it is,
the whole church is conniving at the evil, and the whole church is
guilty. Every brother, in such a case, is bound, on his own account, to
converse with him who is thus aiding the powers of darkness, and
opposing the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and try to persuade him to cease
from this destructive business.