Intoxication with strong liquor. It is either actual or habitual; just as it is one thing to be drunk, and another to be a drunkard. The evil of drunkenness appears in the following bad effects:
1. It betrays most constitutions either to extravagance of anger, or sins of lewdness.
2. It disqualifies men for the duties of their station, both by the temporary disorder of their faculties, and at length by a constant incapacity and stupefaction.
3. It is attended with expense, which can often be ill spared.
4. It is sure to occasion uneasiness to the family of the drunkard.
5. It shortens life.
6. It is a most pernicious awful example to others.
7. It is hardly ever cured.
8. It is a violation of God's word, Proverbs 20:1 . Ephesians 5:18 . Is. 5: 11. Romans 13:13 . "The appetite for intoxicating liquor appears to me, " says Paley, "to be almost always acquired. One proof of which is, that it is apt to return only at particular times and places; as after dinner, in the evening, on the market-day, in such a company, at such a tavern." How careful, then, should we be, lest we form habits of this kind, or choose company who are addicted to it; how cautious and circumspect should we act, that we be not found guilty of a sin which degrades human nature, banishes reason, insults God, and exposes us to the greatest evils! Paley's Mor. Phil. vol. 2: ch. 2. Flavel's Works, vol. 2: p. 349; Buck's anecdotes, vol. 1: p. 82, 4rth edition; Lamont's Ser., vol. 1: ser. 15, 16.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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