Thus the indomitable courage and energy which have transformed the face of the Western World are virtues directly traceable to flesh food, which also fosters love of ease and invention of labor-saving devices; while alcohol stimulates enterprise in execution of schemes thus hatched to procure the maximum of comfort with a minimum of labor. But the spirit of alcohol is obtained by a process of fermentation. It is a _spirit of decay_, altogether different from the _spirit of life_ in man. This counterfeit spirit lures man on and on, always holding before his vision dreams of _future_ grandeur, and goading him to strenuous efforts of body and mind in order to attain and obtain. Then when he has achieved and attained, he awakens to the utter worthlessness of his prize. Possession soon shatters illusion as to the worth of whatever he may have acquired; _nothing the world has to give can finally satisfy_. Then again the lethal draught drowns disappointment, and the mind conjures up a new illusion. This he pursues with fresh zeal and high hopes to meet disappointment again and again, for lives and lives, until at last he learns that “wine is a mocker,” and that “all is vanity but to serve God and to do His will.” Chapter XII A LIVING SACRIFICE Volumes, or rather libraries, have been written to explain the nature of God, but it is probably a universal experience that the more we read of other people’s explanations, the less we understand. There is one description, given by the inspired apostle John when he wrote “_God is Light_,” which is as illuminating as the others are befogging to the mind. Anyone who takes this passage for meditation occasionally will find a rich reward waiting, for no matter how many times we take up this subject, our own development in the passing years assures us each time a fuller and better understanding. Each time we sink ourselves in these three words we lave in a spiritual fountain of inexhaustible depth, and each succeeding time we sound more thoroughly the divine depths and draw more closely to our Father in heaven. To get in touch with our subject, let us go back in time to get our bearing and the direction of our future line of progress.