"'Wine,' says the Scripture, 'maketh glad the heart of man,' but only of the man who has a heart. The thing called high spirits is possible only to the spiritual."
-- G.K. Chesterton, Heretics
No one who drinks in order to discover gladness will find it. No one becomes high-spirited by low behavior. But the one with the joy of the Lord in his heart will find wine a friend, not a foe. Wine will complement his joyous effort, not corrode it. Wine cannot produce joy, but it can catapult it. But if joy is not present, wine will only bite the hands that drinks it. Drowning despair in drink only adds to the dilemma. So if you don't have the heart for it, don't drink of it. Wine is a sacrament, not a solution.
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