some other cases is so much the effect of mental or physical disorder, or both; (for drunkenness is sometimes the effect, as well as the cause both of mental and physical disorder)-as to strip it of the odium of being a vice in itself, however vicious may be its consequences in the conduct produced by it on the part of the frail and unfortunate delinquent. It is a vice in itself only when it is wantonly, wilfully and wickedly commenced and persisted in, against the voice of conscience and the word and will of God. It is in such cases especially, that it deserves the censure of the press or the pulpit, or the penalty of the law. In general, mild admonition, serious advice, delicate and friendly remonstrance, and not coercive or severe treatment, are the proper and no doubt the most effectual weapons:-For if delicacy be due to the sober man, it is still more the right of the frail and unfortunate being whose Intemperance is the fruit of his mental or physical weakness, or both, and not of his vicious and wilful inclinations. This principle is brought home with twofold force to our bosoms, whenever we behold the drunkard in his cups, and witness the ideotism, the imbecility, and the wretchedness of his condition: the hysteric laugh, the maudlin cry, the tottering gait, and the prostrate fall, perhaps into a ditch, or a bed of mire, or both, are all calculated to call forth our pity in the highest degree, to cause the tear to flow, as well as the bosom to throb, on the part of every spectator

who possesses a spark of humanity. Who ought we to deem the best christian, the man who, like the Priest and the Levite in the gospel, passes by the prostrate and miserable drunkard with a cold-hearted, sneering expression of contempt, or he, who like the good Samaritan, stops to help him out of the mire? In this audience, and throughout this country, I hope and trust, that he who would act the part of the Samaritan would bear off the palm. Be ours the task, then, to advise, to persuade, to lure by gentle entreaties and delicate admonitions, the unhappy drunkard from the paths that lead to the grogshop and the bar-room, and thence, if wilfully persisted in, down to the gates of hell: And in all our efforts, let us never forget, for a moment, that injunction of our Redeemer, which of all others perhaps, demands our most serious and constant attention. "Let him,” said the blessed Saviour, "who is without sin, throw the first stone." How delicate and refined, how touching and beautiful-as well as caustic and keen-is this reproof and how lamentable that we cannot, all of us, and at all times, remember and cherish it in our minds and our hearts.

I have another reason for these preliminary remarks, which is, that although Intemperance in drinking is one of the sins that most easily beset us, and is indeed both a body and a souldestroying practice, still it forms but a tithe of the sins which now pervade to an awful extent almost every nook and corner of our country;

and which are calculated to bring down the judgments of God upon us: Of those crying sins, the growing spirit of monopoly and injustice, the increase of luxury and extravagance, the luke-warmness in religion, the neglect to keep holy the sabbath, the foul corruption and subserviency of too many presses, the idolizing of men instead of God; for in such cases as those in which we raise monuments and shout hosannas to men, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob built altars, and shouted songs of gratitude and praise to Jehovah; and then again, the gross violation of nearly all the laws of God by some, at least, of the men whom we thus idolize, and the rancorous spirit of faction which grows out of this man-worship-a spirit far more bitter, persecuting and relentless than that of our ancient, or rather old federal and republican parties : these are not perhaps among the least wicked and heaven-daring of our iniquities as a people. Lamentable as the sin of Intemperance, or drunkenness, undoubtedly is, it shrinks into insignificance when compared with these growing enormities.

As to intemperance in drinking, there are at least four distinct and important views of the subject. These I shall now touch upon.

The first and most important view of it, as relates to individuals, is connected with their spiritual welfare, their eternal happiness or misery.

The second is the medical view, as it affects the health, both in body and mind, of the delinquent.

The third is the moral view, as it affects individuals and society in their manners and habits. The fourth is the political view, as it affects the safety of the republic or people.

These are the principal or most important views of the subject before us. There is a pe

cuniary view of it which is sometimes taken; but as I shall sufficiently hint at that in my general remarks, I do not make a specific head of it. I am not, however, over-fond of appealing to the pecuniary interests or mercenary feelings of mankind, to engage them in the cause either of public or private virtue. There always has been, and there always will be, too much love of money in the world; and I would rather allay than excite it. It is indeed what the ancients called the auri sacra fames—the accursed thirst of gold-that has deluged our country with ardent spirits—let us then suggest nobler motives for not consuming them. The cause that turns upon a mercenary principle alone, belongs to the mart of the money changer, and not to the sanctuary of virtue, the temple of the immaculate God! And little indeed will the drunkard, who cares not for the health of his body, the ties of consanguinity, morality and patriotism, and above all, the salvation of his immortal soul; little indeed will he think of, and much less stop to estimate, the last sixpence that stands between him and his darling dram bottle, the sole object of his affections, or his thoughts, and the only idol of his adoration.

The first view, above mentioned, that is, the spiritual view of the subject, I have taken so thoroughly in a former lecture, that I will confine myself here to the remark, that the bible, the book of all others which contains the best philosophy on all subjects connected with the lasting happiness of mankind, is full of appalling facts, awful warnings, and terrible denunciations of Intemperance and the intemperate, from the day or age in which Noah forgot himself and his God in a fit of intoxication, to that in which Paul declared to the Corinthians and the Galatians, that those who are guilty of drunkenness shall not inherit the kingdom of God!

In relation to the medical view of our subject, it may perhaps surprise the illiterate and ignorant votary of dissipation to learn that there are no less than thirty-two distinct or different diseases or disorders, that flow from drinking to excess. I assert this on the authority of Dr. Trotter, an eminent physician. Dr. Trotter divides them into those which appear during the drunken paroxysm, and those which are induced by the continued habit of drinking ardent spirits.

In his first division we find apoplexy, epilepsey, hysterics, convulsions, and oneirodynia.

A rational mind might well conceive that this array alone of death's messengers, would be sufficiently terrific to frighten any hard drinker into a serious review of his folly or wicked

ness:

But if not, let him turn to the doctor's