Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-10-30

there are six questions-six being
the number of men who are opposed
to seven as the perfect number).
Woe, sorrow, strife, foolish talk,
unnecessary injuries, dimness Of the
eyes-what a picture! Would any
one deliberately choose that instead
of its opposite-joy, gladness, peace,
intelligent speech, bodily health, that
keen sparkle of the eye that mani
tests alertness of the mind?
Yet that dark picture is always the
one that follows in the wake of those
who tarry long at wine, that go 10
seek mixed wine. OF course, no one
would set out to acquire this state;
they look at the wine when 1t is red,
when it sparkles in the cup; they see
only its attractive side, forgetting
that at the last it biteth like a
serpelt and stingeth like an adder.
They forget that wine stimulates all
the baser qualities IN man. stlrs
all the animal passions. Men and
women who would ae pure, under
the influence of wine, have their nor
NAL inhibitions depressed and thus
their animal passions gain control,
and purity and honor are lost.
Things at which the heart would re-
volt under normal conditions find
expression when under the influence
of wine; a normal sense Of prepriety
and danger disappears; men are like
a mariner who, utterly oblivious to
~ Il - hi a nd Of n nF4A
lies down in the mid-ocean and let's
his ship drift, or like a sailor who
would be so insensible to his own
danger as to lie down on the top of
the mast. And then such an one
has so far lost all his self-control
that when he awakens from his
cups, he has no other thought than
to seek it yet again.
Just here is the secret of the
whole story. Alcohol is never a
stimulant; it is always a depressant.
Apparently it does stimulate, but
the real physiological action is a
depression of the inhibitory powers.
For example, a man takes a glass
of wine, and his speech becomes
fluent; he thinks that the wine has
stimulated his thought activity. Not
at all; it has depressed his inhibi-
tons so that his fear of not being
able to say what he wanted to say
las been remoVed-tkere is apparent
stimulation, but really depression.
Alcohol depresses the inhibitions, so
that the reIns are cut and the horses
OF a mans or a woman's lower pas
siOnS are let loose and run away
with them Alcohol depresses a
mans will power, so that however
sorry he may be that he acted like
a fool, said things that he would not
have said to his wife for the world,
did things he would give his hand
to undo, he has not the power to
resist the next temptation to take
just one drink and quit" And the
first drink Of alcohol causes that
depression just as much as the one
hundredth, except that the one hun
,lredth has ninety-nine others added
to it in the past to make the mans
resistance that much less.
|. What, then, is the remedy? Where
Fare we to determine the line between
use and abuse? The Bible indicates
that there is no such line. for the
wise man, speaking as Gods mouth
Dl6CS, SdluB 11OOh lOt ltlO0 hPOA SiAS
wine when it is red when it giveth
his color in the cup, when it moVeth
itself Alright" 1t Is attractive; yes,
it is easy to get; yet, it seems to
move Alright. But the look leads to
the act, and the act has an end. 1t
is the end to which you must look;
and no man who looks at the end
first will look at the cup while IL,
sparkles.
There is just one safe course,
therefore, and that is total absti-
hence for yourself. And what is
good for you is good for million
others; it is good for every one of
the 100000, 900 people in the world.
What we would like to see is not
worldwide prohibition, but world
wide abstinence; the first is forced,
the second is voluntary.
Now this does not lose sight of
the fact, which is a fact, that alec
hol has it's uses, but its use is not
as a beverage. 1t is a drug and a
useful drug; but a drug to be used
as carefully and as intelligently as
morphine, or caffeine, or mercury,
or arsenic, or strychnine.
But what of the man or waman
LIl0 DOy OE tuS gil NulIOl
there are too many of those in these
days. whose inhibitory powers have
already been depressed by alcohol;
is there any way out? Is there any
way of deliverance from its subtle
power? Oh, yes. yes! If your own
willpower has not been depressed
beyond the danger point, assert
Yourself; say, I will not look upon it
again; and then turn away persist
emily whenever your eyes or
thoughts would be brought in con-
tact with it. Some men nave
enough willpower left to deliver
themselves; let such exercise it,
There are others, however, who
have no willpower left; the drug has
destroyed it; they are hopeless ad-
diets. No, not hopeless, for there is
One who is stronger than any drug,
who has always shown Himself
stronger than the devil, who has
never lost battle, who longs to
come into your heart and live there.
The angel Gabriel told Joseph, Thou
shall call His name Jesus. for it is
He that shall save His people from
their sins" Notice the plural) He