St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-02-02
0enlHsrarrs.
To Drink or--Not to Drink.
BY F. A. NOBLE D. D., NEW HAVEN

BY F. A. NOBLE D. D., NEW HAVEN.
do not propose in this brief article
to enter upon any discussion of the
general question of temperance reform.
What ought to be done by the churches
what by temperance societies of one
sort or another; whether moral suasion
or law be the better method or whether
it shall be moral suasion and law il
law, whether it shall be license or pro-
hibition, are matters by themselves,
not now to be touched. Two facts are
patent, and must be admitted by all.
l. Intemperance is vast evil. 1t
wastes property ; it undermines morals
it consumes energy; it blights hope it
adds to the burdens of the state by an
immense increase of disease, and crime,
and pauperism.
2. Large numbers every year are
passing over out of sobriety into drunk
enness. Nor is it the weak simply, and
the ignorant, and the destitute, and the
disappointed, who are falling; but men
of good organizations, and bright minds,
and pleasant surroundings, and pros
poets the fairest, are swelling the num-
hers of those who perish miserably
VI Niuc anu Tile
rage of strong drink.
What, now, shall be the attitude OF
the individual towards liquor? There
are three positions which may be
taken.
l. A man may say he will drink
when he wishes, and as much as he
wishes, let what will come of it.
Whether they have ever said it or not,
that is the platform on which a great
many men do actually stand.
2. A man may say he will drink
MISUNDERSTANDING his cup of wine, il
he feels like it, with his dinner, and
joining with friends in the social glass
at select parties, and on festive Occa-
siOns but he will not allow his appe-
tite to become clamOrous, nor to run
away with him into excess and ruin.
Multitudes start out, at any rate, with
that determination, whether they are
able to adhere to it or not.
B. A man may say he will not touch
| it-he will not touch it at his own ia
BILE, nor at the table of others he will
not touch it in private, nor at parties
he will abstain totally. l do not
imagine that even the most incredulous
| d
some such as these-men who let in
toxicating liquors entirely alone.
These are the three general positions
which may be taken, and, so far as APP
pears, the only Ones-an unrestrained
use, moderate drinking, and total alb
stinence. Of these three, which As
to the first, that would be ruled out by
common consent. No man who did not
stand on the outer verge of despair and
desperation, or who was not lost to all
sense of self-respect and of moral ac-
countability, would think of assuming
to himself the monstrous prerogatives
of drinking all he pleased.
The choice, then, must lie between
the other two. The moderate use and
the no use. So the question still is,
which Without any hesitancy, and
without the shadow of a shade of mis-
giving touching the wisdom of the rec
OmmendatiOn, my answer is, let liquor
alone. There are many grounds for
this conclusion the all-sufficient one
is that it is the more prudent. Not to
drink at all, is the assuredly safe policy !;
and it is the only policy which is as
suredly safe. For, granted that there
are instances-many instances, if you
please-where, after the current modes
of speech, liquors may be used without
being abused, nevertheless the perils
from use are so many, and the counter
balancing advantages, even at best, are
so few, and it is always so uncertain
whether one who begins in moderate
way will continue to be moderate, that
the discreet course is to abstain out and
out. Be the issue with others what il
may, let them survive the trying ordeal
of habitual indulgence, or go down in
the encounter, the man who never
drinks will never be drunkard Would
that every man, especially every young
man, who is making up his mind what
path to pursue, might see the matter in
this light, and resolutely determine to
take the position which is without risk
1t is the wise procedure.
Each man fancies he has judgment
enough, and will enough, and self-re-
spect enough, to stop, when he dis