Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-08-27
ALARM TO DISTILLERs.
BY REV. BAXTER DICKINSON, D. ]


BY REV. BAXTER DICKINSON, D. D.
HE art Of turning the products Of the
earth into a fiery spirit was discovered by
an Arab, about nine hundred years ago.
The effects of this abuse of natures gifts
were soon viewed with alarm Efforts were
made, even by a heathen people, to arrest
the evil and its shows the mighty agency
and cunning Of satan, that Christian nations
should ever have been induced to adopt and
encourage this deadliest Of mans inventions.
In the guilt of encouraging the destructive
art, our own free county has largely par
ticipated. In the year 1915, as appears
from well-authenticated statistics, our num-
Der of distilleries had risen to nearly forty
thousand; and, until within few years
past, the progress of intemperance threat
ened all that was fair and glorious in our
prospects. The reformation recently com
menced is one of the grandest movements
Of our world and to secure its speedy tri-
umph, the concurrence of distillers is obvi-
ously Indispensable. They must cease to
provide the destroying element This they
are urged to do by the following consider
ations:
l. The business Of distilling confers no
benefits on your .telzoa0-naen. Ardent spir-
it is not needed as an article Of living. In
the first ages Of the world, when human
life was protracted to hundreds Of years, it
was unknown. By the first settlers of this
country it was not used 1t was scarcely
used for whole century And those tenn
perate generations were remarkably robust,
cheerful, and enterprising To this we
aCd, that several hundred thousand persons,
accustomed to use it, have given it up en-
tirely within a few years past; and their
united testimony is, that they have made
no sacrifice either of health, or strength, dr
any real comfort. Indeed few, ifany,yex--
cept such as have the incorporate appetite,
will now seriously contend that distilled
liquor is necessary or useful. The little
that may perhaps be desirable as medicine,
might be made by the apothecary, or the
physician.
The talents God has given you might be
applied to advance the welfare of your fel-
low-men. 1t is your duty-your highest
honor-thus to apply them. And on the
bed of death, in near prospect of the judg-
ment, it will surely be melancholy refec-
ton that as regards the happiness Of man
kind, your life has been an utter blank.
2. The business of distilling is not only
useless, but is the occasion Of many great
: evizs. Recent examination has developed
, number Of appalling facts, which few, if
, any, pretend TO question. 1t is admitted
that the use of ardent spirit has been tax
on the population of our country, of from
IfJty to q hundred millions of dollars an
nually. It is admitted that three-fourths
Of all the crimes of the land result from the
use Of intoxicating liquor. 1t is admitted
, that at least three-fourths of all the suffer
ings of po0erty arise from the same source
| 1t is admitted that upwards of THIRTY thou
sand of our citizens have annually descen
ded to the drunkard' S Craze. It is admit
3 ted, by those who believe the Bible, that
drunkards shall not inherit eternal Hfe
but must haze their part an the lake thai
, burneth arith fire and birthstone. In 6
. word, it is admitted that health, fortune
; social happiness, intellect, conscience, heav
en-, are all swept away by the tide Of intem
perance.
: And now, what you are specially bounc
a to ponder is, that this burning tide, will
r all it's desolations, flows from those yer,
r fountains yoae have opened-the boiling
b food can be perpetuated only by those fire
0 which your hands kindle, and which it i
your daily task to tend.
= The position you occupy, then, is one o
l ! most fearful responsibility. You are di
II , rectly and peculiarly accessory to degre
/ of guilt and misery which none but the il
IS finite mind can comprehend. I hear fo
It YOU loud remonstrance from every coul
s, of Justice, from every prison of collecte
L crime, from every chamber of debasement
t. and from every graveyard, as we'll as fror
e the dark world of despair. [ hear the or
es of unnumbered mothers, and widow
~ and orphans, all with one voice implorin
- - YOU to extinguish those fires, to dry up thos
i9 fountains. and to abandon an occupatio
III pregnant with infamy, and death, and perd
- ton.
+ 2. The business of distilling destroy
LIE to n oreot ertent, the bounties of ProU
to dence. Many of the substances converte
e into ardent spirit are indispensable to IL
he comfort of man-some OF them the vel
nd staff Of life. But the work of distillatc
cd not only destroys them as articles of foo
y but actually converts them to poison. A
- incalculable amount of grain, and tens
= thousands of bogshead of sugar and mola
n, ses, besides enormous quantities of 9th
ny useful articles, are every year thus wicke
ng ly perverted in this Christian land. W
RI does not know the odious fact that, in n
ny places, the disti1ery has regulated /
as nrice of bread Who does not know tt
If this engine of iniquity has at times SO &C
e." sumed the products of industry as to ma
,ed it difficult for the poorer classes to ge
m supply? "The poor we have always "
;no us;h and cries Of the suffering are of
;S ;;o9 heard FROM other lands. Such facts,