Britain's Social State (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. THE DRINK SYSTEM SUBVERSIVE OF MORALITY AXD SOCIAL ORDER. God has implanted in the human mind a desire for happiness and comfort; and, in the infinitude of his wisdom, has established a law which renders it impossible for man to live in the enjoyment of those blessings while pursuing a course of conduct destructive to his moral and physical constitution. Of all the agents which betray man into the neglect of those duties which his moral and physical constitution demands, strong drink stands notoriously preeminent. In all ages of the world it has carried on an incessant war against morality and virtue, and still Continues to wield an influence subversive of the highest interests of the human race; dethroning the reasoning faculties of man, and exalting to supremacy the lower propensities of his nature; thus forming one of the most certain causes of moral turpitude, and entailing upon its victims all the horrors of a debased and brutalized state of mind. One of the more immediate effects of strong drink is the destructive influence it exerts upon the moral susceptibilities of those who indulge in it. However clear may have been their moral perception of right and wrong, and their readiness to discover the first false step in any given direction, they are frequently deceived by its secluctive influence, and almost invariably remain without a suspicion of having entered upon a course in the slightest degree dangerous or destructive, long after others have been able to discover that their moral feelings were materially affected and impaired, We have seen men whose susceptibilities were so acute, that they could scarcely remain in the company of those who manifested a looseness of morality, in their manners or conversation, without exhibiting strong indications of d...