BIB Id 273176
THERE is a powerful strong man, that has long made war against all the nations of
and cut off almost all our young men and warriors; and many of our old men have been
slain by him. This strong man, our enemy, is named RUM! and he is your son, and begat
by the white people; and we believe you have power to control him; we therefore, hope
you will chain him down, and confine him among yourselves, and never let him again loose
among us poor
AN ADDRESS TO DRUNKARDS, CONCERNING THE GREAT
SIN OF DRUNKENNESS.
DRUNKENNESS is of that pernicious, destruc-
tive, and infatuating nature, that it debases reason,
benumbs the senses, confounds the judgment, besots the
understanding, overwhelms the mind, steals away the
heart, defiles the conscience, and begets a spiritual le-
thargy. It impairs the health, disorders the body, in-
flames the blood, infects the breath, intoxicates the
brain, deforms the visage, and engenders an unnatural
thirst. It is a work of darkness, an aunoyance to
modesty, a disclosure of secrets, a betrayer of trust, a
waster of time, a foe to industry, and a forerunner of
want and misery. It wounds men's credit, ruins their
reputation, consumes their wealth, violates the rules of
temperance, and perverts the order of nature. It is the
parent of vice, the author of mischief, and a promoter
of rioting, madness and fury. It stirs up vain mirth,
foolish jesting, wantonness, gaming and debauchery.
It canseth stammering, staggering, vomiting, filthiness,
woes, sorrows, wounds, headaches, surfeits, diseases,
and untimely deaths. It occasions swearing, curs-
ing, lying, ranting, quarrelling, fighting, blood-
shed and murder. It produces cheating, pilfering,
robbing, stealing, and too often brings to the gallows.
It makes people stupid, idle, sottish, and unfit for bu-
siness, and renders them contemptible, in the sight of
the conviction of conscience, and plucks up religion by
the roots. It causeth forgetfulness of
him to anger, drawns down his judgments, and in the
end destroys the soul.
A drunkard is a thief to himself, a slave to his lust,
a laughing-stock to the profane, a dishonor to
an enemy to his own peace, and a disgrace to mankind.
He is indisposed to virtue, is worse than the beasts; a
traveller to destruction, an abuser of
transgressor of his laws, and at last excluded his king-
dom.
A drunkard takes himself from under the protection
of heaven, exposes his soul to the merciless tyranny of
the world, the flesh and the
pents, and turns at the reproofs of
smites him in secret for so doing, he must drink of the
cup of
least respite or intermission, or so much as a drop of
water to allay the heat of his scorching tongue.
Drinking to drive away cares, troubles and anxieties
of mind is flying to the devil to get rid of, or to be eas-
ed of them, who,
adds to their weight, and greatly triumphs over such
wretches.
Wherefore, as there is no flying from
no evading
Divine witness in our own bosoms; let every drunkard
in particular, and the whole bulk of mankind in gen-
eral, seriously consider in whose presence they now are,
and before whom we must appear in the great and aw-
ful day of account, when all our words and deeds,
with every secret thing, must come under the notice
and inspection of our great and all discerning
Reader, art thou guilty of the sin of drunkenness?
-If so, let the above reflections sink deep into thine
heart, and let the things of
be duly reverenced and regarded, that so, the
may be gracious to thee, and pour forth of his blessings
on thy soul, lest that awfully solemn day of death and
judgment overtake thee unprepared.
And as nothing but the Divine law, or grace of
in the heart, can truly reform or enable us effectually
to amend our ways; which Divine law and grace of
seek after.