George Barrell Cheever: Deacon Giles' distillery (1844)

The drunkard shall not inherit the kingdom of God. There is the declaration, after all, on which depends the great guilt of the manufacturer, the sale, and the use of ardent spirit. There is nothing in the Bible more explicit. There is no way to avoid it, no possibility of misinterpreting it. It stops every mouth, and makes the whole world of distillers, dramsellers, and drunkards, guilty before God. The manufacture, the sale, and the use of ardent spirit, in every stage of the business, is neither more nor less than the incessant preparation of human souls for hell. The Attorney General knows well that I do not need the authority of the Vatican, for the declaration of this awful truth. It rests on a higher than any earthly authority, The Word Of God.

I have made these statements as a complete justification of the article for which I am arraigned at this bar, recalling to your mind the dreadful nature and alarming prevalence of the evil against which it was directed. If that article had been written thirty years ago, an indictment by the Grand Jury would not have appeared quite so groundless. There was a time when the evils of ardent spirit were not known, and then the business of distilling, though just as destructive as it is now to the bodies and souls of men, was a reputable business. Men might pursue it, and yet be untroubled by conscience, or by public opinion. The amazing blaze of light that now pours upon this business, had not been diffused. Men might live as distillers and dramsellers, and not know that they were living only to spread misery and death. In those times of ignorance a prosecution for libel, because a dream had been uttered unveiling the mysteries of Deacon Giles' distillery, might not have seemed so incongruous an occurrence. The business was deemed reputable, even for a deacon. But now it is not. Its character is known. It is known to be the business of murder, and every man, of every profession, is bound to attack it.

I have said it was once reputable. Yet, more than fifty years ago, a strong voice was raised against the traffic in ardent spirit. "It is amazing," says John Wesley, " that the preparation and selling of this poison should be permitted, I will not say in any Christian country, but in any civilized state." He denounces the gain of the traffic as the price of blood, and he says, "Let not any lover of virtue and truth say one word in favor of this monster. Let no lover of mankind open his mouth to extenuate the guilt of it. Oppose it as you would the devil, whose offspring and likeness it is. None can gain in this way, by swallowing up his neighbor's substance, without gaining the damnation of hell."