Appeal to Christians on the national vice of intemperance : address delivered at the inaugural meeting of the Congregational Total Abstinence Association ... October 1874 / by Edward Baines.

  • Baines, Edward.
Date:
[1874?]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Appeal to Christians on the national vice of intemperance : address delivered at the inaugural meeting of the Congregational Total Abstinence Association ... October 1874 / by Edward Baines. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a 2nd. The second way of evading the argument for Total Absti¬ nence is by pleading that intoxicating liquors, however dangerous, are necessary for health. It is well known that medical men have been brought up with a general prejudice in favour of stimulants as a means of curing various diseases and infirmities ; and I do not presume to say that alcohol, in some of its forms, may not be a powerful and even necessary medicine. In this respect, it resembles several of the strongest poisons known in the materia medica. Used with great care and temporarily, I will not dispute its value ; though many medical men, aware of the extreme danger of giving their patients a taste for stimulants, or ministering to that wrhich they already possess, now substitute other drugs for alcohol vrhere it is possible, prescribe it in stinted doses like medicine, and recommend the discontinuance of stimulants at a much earlier period than formerly. Sanitary science, in its improved state, lays the greatest stress on the agents which Nature supplies so cheaply and so bountifully,— pure air and plenty of it, pure water, a good amount of exercise, plain, nutritious food, and adequate restand sleep. And science, as vrell as religion, inculcates moderation in all things lawful, and absti¬ nence from things dangerous. Feeling, as I do, a strong sympathy with men whose lives are sedentary and whose labours are anxious, I would earnestly press upon them, as a conscientious duty, to observe these simple rules of health, and never to violate them. I wrell understand the temptation of one who is “ fervent in spirit” to continue long and late at the desk, till the midnight oil has drawn largely though stealthily on the oil of life ; forgetting that he will have to pay for it to-morrow, if not to-day,-—or next year, if not this,—or in age, if not in youth. Oh ! prudence is an admirable thing, though so often despised ; and its most admirable character is that it not merely averts danger, but is the outwork of our de¬ fences against sin. The changed opinion of the medical faculty on the subject of stimulants has been exhibited in several public declarations of the highest importance. Many years since two thousand medical men, including those of the first rank for science and practice in these Islands, signed the following Certificate :— “ We, the undersigned, are of opinion— “ i. That a very large proportion of human misery, including poverty, disease, and crime, is induced by the use of alcoholic or fermented liquors as beverages. “ 2. That the most perfect health is compatible with total absti¬ nence from all intoxicating beverages, w'hether in the form of ardent spirits, or as wine, beer, ale, porter, cider, &c. “ 3. That persons accustomed to such drinks may with perfect safety discontinue them entirely, either at once, or gradually after a short time.