he found at this stage of partial intoxication that he was elevated above himself. It was a temporary pleasure. He continued to indulge, and gradually became stupefied and debased in the eyes of his own intelligence. Still he could not refrain from this infatuation. He gorged himself again with food, and he again debased himself with drink which never was intended for mankind. Man acted in such an insane way that it became doubtful whether it was an advantage to him to be possessed of reasoning power and intelligence. The animal creation that had neither the one nor the other were possessed of an instinct which so controlled their appetites, that no power could move or cause them to overstep the rules of nature. This state of abuse went on from generation to generation, growing worse and worse until, in your day, no man, even of the meanest habits, could sit down to a meal, if the component parts had not come from all the quarters of the earth. You must well remember that no great meetings, even of the learned
