Christian Mission and Poverty

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Christian Mission and Poverty

unto you to have eaten up the poor pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures?]”

6. Section Six People much spent with labor often take strong drink to revive them. Were there more men usefully employed and fewer who eat bread as a reward for doing that which is not useful, then food or raiment would, on a reasonable estimate, be more in proportion to labor than it is at present. In proceeding agreeable to sound wisdom, a small portion of daily labor might suffice to keep a proper stream gently circulating through all the channels of society; and this portion of labor might be so divided and taken in the most advantageous parts of the day that people would not have that plea for the use of strong liquors which they have at present . . . When people are spent with action and take these liquors not only as a refreshment from past labors but to support them to go on without nature having sufficient time to recruit by resting, it gradually turns them from that calmness of thought which attends those who steadily apply their hearts to true wisdom. The spirits scattered by too much bodily motion in the heat and again revived by strong drink—that this makes a person unfit for serious thinking and divine meditation I expect will not be denied; and as multitudes of people are in this practice who do not take so much as to hinder them from managing their outward affairs, this custom requires our serious thoughts . . . By too much labor the spirits are exhausted and people crave help from strong drink; and the frequent use of