NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INTEMPERANCE.
"To set the mind above the appetites is the end of abstinence, which one of the fathers observes to be not a virtue, but the groundwork of virtue."DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.
"Nothing is so great a friend to the mind of man as abstinence; it strengthens the memory, clears the apprehension, and sharpens the judgement, and in a word, gives reason its full scope of acting; and when reason has that, it is always a diligent and faithful handmaid to conscience."
THE term INTEMPERANCE, according to its general signification, is indefinite and unsatisfactory. In the present day, however, it is almost exclusively and universally employed in reference to excess in the use of intoxicating liquors.
The limits of lawful indulgence have, in all ages of the world, been variously defined. In a primeval state, man had few wants. His occupations were simple in their character and influence. The produce of the field, and the fruit of the trees yielded him suitable nourishment; water supplied him with a refreshing and innoxiously inspiriting beverage. In this state of virtuous simplicity, man had few temptations to lead him astray. In progress of time, however, new and unlawful sources of enjoyment were discovered, luxurious habits began to prevail, intoxicating liquors were produced, diseases were generated, and vicious habits followed in their train.
Luxury, in its early approaches, has, in general, been characterized by its slow and insinuating progress. Virtuous habits gradually yield to the forms and practices of sensual gratification. A deterioration of the moral sense,