Moral perception depends on the maintenance of a Nazarite separation from all and everything that might cloud our souls. Take the sons of Aaron, for example. They were commanded not to drink wine or strong drink when they went into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they should die, and that they might put a difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean (Lev. 10). This is an abiding principle. When a believer forgets his heavenly calling and yields to the indulgence of earthly joys and is “drunk with wine” instead of being “filled with the Spirit,” it is impossible for him to discern between things that differ or to perceive what is morally suitable to God. We cannot expect a right judgment upon moral questions if we are worldly Christians. We may be perfectly sincere and upright, and we may at the same time desire to see the truth, but we have lost our spiritual discernment.
Christian Friend, Vol. 12