The physical consequences of prolonged use of intoxicating beverages are not only sad and terrible, but the accompanying mental, moral, and spiritual disasters are even more devastating. If you disturb the healthy condition of the brain, which is the physical organ through which the mind acts, you disturb the mind. It will lose its clarity of perception and rational control over impulses and passions.
Heavenly order in the body.
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A clear understanding of a subject requires the recognition and acceptance of certain general laws or principles. We assume, as a general truth, that health in the human body is a normal heavenly order on the physical plane of life, and that any disturbance of this order exposes man to destructive influences, which are evil and infernal in their nature. The mental and spiritual plane, or degree of life, sits above the natural and physical plane and rests upon it while man lives in this world. This degree is in heavenly order when the reason is clear and the appetites and passions are under its wise control. However, if any cause disturbs or loses this fine equilibrium, it opens the door for more subtle evil influences to infiltrate the body, as they have the ability to influence both reason and passions, obscuring one and inflaming the others.
We are aware that a loss of bodily health inevitably leads to mental disturbance. If the disease originates far from the brain, the disturbance is typically mild. However, as the disease approaches the brain, it intensifies and manifests in various ways, influenced by a person's character, temperament, or inherited disposition. Almost always, these manifestations lead to a predominance of evil rather than good. When the brain remains undisturbed by disease, reason rules with patience and loving kindness. If the disease that has attacked the brain continues to worsen, it will also exacerbate the mental disease that arises from organic disturbance or deterioration, potentially leading to the establishment of insanity in one or more of its many sorrowful and varied manifestations.
Insanity.
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It is, therefore, a very serious thing for a man to take into his body any substance which, on reaching that wonderfully delicate organ the brain, sets up therein a diseased action; for diseased mental action is sure to follow. A fever is a fever, whether it be light or intensely burning, and so any disturbance of the mind's rational equipoise is insanity, whether it be in the simplest form of temporary obscurity or in the midnight of a totally darkened intellect.
We are not writing to promote a theory or partisanship, but to reveal the truth. You should not accept anything just because we say it, but rather because you believe it to be true. Now, as to this matter of insanity, let him think calmly. The word is one that gives us a shock, and, as we hear it, we almost involuntarily thank God for the beneficial gift of a well-balanced mind. What happens if any cause disturbs this beautiful balance, causing the mind to lose its ability to think clearly or control the lower passions? Should we overstate the truth by claiming that the man experiencing this is insane only to the extent of losing his rational self-control, and that his sanity returns once he regains it?
In this view, the question as to the hurtfulness of alcoholic drinks assumes a new and graver aspect. Do alcoholic drinks disturb the brain when they come into contact with its substance, and do they deteriorate it if the contact is prolonged? Fact, observation, experience, and scientific investigation all unequivocally affirm this, and we know that if the brain is disordered, the mind will also be affected, and a disordered mind is an insane mind. Clearly, when a man temporarily or continuously impairs or harms his brain, his mind becomes unbalanced, indicating that he is not truly rational and sane.
We are holding your thoughts here so you have time to reflect and consider the question in the context of reason and common sense. As he does this, will he be able to feel the force of the evidence we will present in the following section and understand its true meaning?
Other substances besides alcohol act injuriously on the brain, but there is none that compares with this in the extent, variety, and diabolical aspect of the mental aberrations that follow its use. We are not speaking thoughtlessly or wildly, but simply uttering a truth well-known to every man of observation and which every man, and especially those who take this substance in any form, should, lay deeply to heart. Why it is that such awful and destructive forms of insanity should follow, as they do, the use of alcohol—it is not for us to say. We know that they do follow it, and we hold this fact as a solemn warning.
Another consideration, which should have weight with everyone, is this: no man can tell what the character of the legacy he has received from his ancestors may be. He might inherit latent evil forces that have been passed down through many generations, waiting for a favorable opportunity to manifest and take action. If he maintains rational self-control and the healthy order of his life remains intact, the latent evil forces may remain quiescent. However, if his brain loses its equilibrium or suffers harm or impairment, it could trigger a diseased psychical condition, thereby bringing the latent evil forces to life.
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