Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-03-02
From the Nashville Banner.

IemfeTdnce-aSainSt such fhe1P IS TO l07v
 Gal. V. g. Temperance, in the Chris tian Scriptures, is deemed cardinal virtue, and is an important fruit of the spirit With out it indeed, there is no possibility of being aChristian. An habtually incorporate Chris tian is solecism and and gross contradic- ton. By temherance l understand strict adherance, sentimentally, practically, and unremittingly, to the law of moderation in all things; and this law of moderation of course, extends only to the manner of using what, with a due regard to this law, is used, and may be lawfully used, and not to the entire disuse of what may be lawfully used at all.- Sin is not to be allowed in any degree, but excess in the use of any thing may be sin.- Temperance may be compared to leading artery through which health and vigor flow. It is the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley, altogether lovely. But let us not be mislead by the false representations of tenn perance, which have been lately dressed up for the deception of the public. While the worthy gentleman of Newark was sermons- ing on this topic, he should not have pinched up temperance, so as to confne it to opposi- tion to the distillers, as if they alone were dangerous to it. Let the door of investiga- tion be thrown more widely open. Let it not be said, that if man will abstain from the use of ardent spirits, altogether, even in a moderate degree, if he will bind him. self not to vote for any man who touches it, for any public office,, he may do any thing else with safety, and yet be consider cd saint-that he may sell the goods of the poor, the widow and the orphan, and op- press the unfortunate without censure or re- proach-that, if he will but join a tempe rance society, empty all his spirits into the street, and set his face against distillers and their agents, he may be regarded as a refor- mer and elevated to the rank of martyrdom, without any other recommendation to ent- tie him to such distinction. Men can scarce ly be praised for their temperance, who are sober merely for the want of something to make him drunk, and who are not therefore restrained by principle. You might as well cease to raise horses, in order to prevent horse racing, and thus stop the excesses n- dulged in on the race track. Gluttony is crime as well as drunkenness. Shall we, therefore, abandon the plough, and cease to raise food? Shall we, brother farmers, drive our shepherds and herdsmen from employ ment, and make war upon the butchers, and drovers because they raise and prepare the meat which men so often eat to excess?- Must no man think because some men think amiss? Must all men cease to eat because some men eat immoderately? This mode of arguing, so absurdly adopted in regard to the product of distillation, ard the employment of the distller, would instantly be rejected if appliedto any thing else. It is, indeed, di- rectly opposed to reason and good sense.
 Real temperance, which consists in the observance of the law of moderation, requires not the sacrifice of any honest and industri- ous class of men, nor the abandonment of any reasonable and moderate indulgence. If pro- fits are to be surrendered and business desert ed to moralise the community, must the loss be sustained and the inconvenience borne ex- clusively by the farmer and dstller? Will the physician reduce his charges, the lawyer dock his fees, and the merchant reduce the price of his goods, in order, in some degree, to remunerate the raiser of grain and manu- facturer of spirit, for the total loss he is call cd on to submit to, in order to make men tenn perate, not from principle, but necessity?- You say it is wrong to extract spirits from grain. Why? Because spirits intoxcate men. Not unless they drink too much, and in that case, spirits extracted from peaches and ap- pies will intoxicate likewise, Our vineyards and orchards therefore, must be left to grow up in hedges and briars, and all means of provision and accumulation be discarded as dangerous to good morals.
 Distilling it is said, is of no benefit, because spirit is not essential to the ordinary susten- ance of life. Is money means directly to sustain life? Can we eat, or drink, or wear it. Is it not indeed the source of dissipation and the root of all evil? Shall we then go the whole, and preach crusade against the coin ing and the use of money? The truth is, there is no sin in the moderate use either of money or of spirits The sin is in the inordinate love of money, and in the incorporate con sumption of spirit. It is the want of self-go- vernment that is the horrid bane of society,"