considering how small hope there is of their amendment if any at all § 57. IT may be you have not noted it No dispossessing of a drunken Devill purpose the drunkard never so oft but it is a very difficult and hard thing to name one habituated infatuated incorrigible cauterised Drunkard that ever was reclamed with age What said an experienced Gentleman being informed that his Sonne was given to gaming whores prodigality c There is yet hope age experience and want of meanes will cure all these but when in the last place it was added that he was poysoned with drunkennesse then hee absolutely gave him for lost and dead his case for desperately forlorne and so disinherited him because this sinne hee knew increased with age and would not part till death A Gamester will hold out so long as his purse lasts an Adulterer so long as his loynes last but a drunkard so long as his lungs and life lasts What is noted by Philosophers of every motion namely that it is swiftest toward the Center may fitly bee applyed to every drunkard and covetous wretch for as good men grow better and better so these grow worse and worse Ier. 9.3 2 Tim. 3.13 they grow in sinne as worldlings grow in riches and honours O that we could grow so fast in grace Yea suppose the drunkard hath every day purposes to forsake his sinne as I have knowne some purpose and strive against this sinne yea so detest and bewaile it in himselfe and whomsoever that it hath been an Hazael in his eyes and thereupon indent with himselfe and his friends for the relinquishing of it and yet if he meete with a companion that holds but up his finger he followes him as a foole to the flockes and as an Oxe to the slaughter-house having no power to withstand the temptation but in hee goes with him to the tipling house and there hee continues as one bewitched or conjured with a spell out of which he returnes not till he hath emptied his purse of money his head of reason and his heart of al his former seeming grace so that in purposing he doth but imitate S. George who is alwayes on horseback but never rides or the Ostrich that hath winges but cannot fly he may make a shew of turning as the doore upon the hinges but never moves a foot from the post of his old custom and evill society unto which hee is fast revited and so mends as sower Ale doth in Summer or like a dead hedge which the longer it stands is the rottener O this is a difficult divel to be cast out for when a man is once possest with this evill spirit a drunken divell it is a miracle if ever hee become his owne man after This sinne is like a desperate plague that knows no cure it may be called the Kings evill of the soule as Chrysostome calls the envie of wicked men against the godly for it cannot bee cured with the Balme of Gilead nor by any Phisitian there untill God himselfe sayes to the heart awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead for by a long and desperate custome they turne delight and infirmity into necessity and bring upon themselves such an insatiable thirst that they will as willingly leave to live as leave their excessive drinking As it fares with some sicke Patients touching their bodies who think as good be buried as so much debarred of their appetites so fares it with these touching their soules for use what meanes you will to reclame them they will reject it What saith S. Basil shall we speake to drunkards wee had as good round a dead man in the eare yea certainly saith another he is drunk himselfe that prophanes reason so as to urge it to a drunken man in regard whereof S. Augustine compares drunkennesse to the pit of hell into which when a man is once fallen there is no redemption Whoring is a deep ditch yet some few shall a man see returne to lay hold on the wayes of life one of a thousand but scarce one drunkard often thousand Indeed S. Ambrose mentions one and another by a moderne Divine of ours is confest and but one a peece of all that ever they knew or heard of I speake of drunkards not of one drunken such who rarely and casually have Noah like beene surprised and overtaken at unawares but if once a custome ever a necessity Drunkennesse beastiates the heart and spoiles the braine overthrowes the faculties and organs of repentance and resolution It is a sinne of that nature that it hardens and makes up the heart against all repentings Yea the Holy Ghost by the Prophet Hosea tells us that it takes away the heart Hosea 4.11 And we find it too true for commonly it is accompanied wâ—th finall impenitence which is the greatest evill that is incident to man in this life in that it is a certaine forerunner of eternall condemnation yea it is much to bee feared Commoly such as a mans delights and cores are in health such are both his thoughts and speeches on his death-bed that the Lord hath done by them as by Ieremiah hee threatneth the Babylonians even given them over to a perpetuall drunkennesse Ier. 51.39 And is it not most just with God that hee who will put out his naturall light should have his spirituall extinguished he that will deprive himselfe of reason should loose also the guide and pylot of reason Gods Spirit and Grace he that will wittingly and willingly make himselfe an habitation of uncleane spirits should not dispossesse them at his owne pleasure that their deaths should bee answerable to their lives as commonly such as a mans delights and cares are in health such are both his thoughts and speeches on his death-bed Some that have beene used to swearing have dyed with oathes and curses in their mouthes Some persecutors have dyed raging blaspheming and despiting the Spirit of grace Some Usurers have died while in their conceit they were telling their money and casting it up after ten in the hundred Yea one being used to play at Tables all his life with great delight cried out upon his death-bed size-ace cater-trey c. I deny not but God may raise a Lazarus of this kind though he bee dead in excesse dead in sense yea though he be buried and stinkes againe thorow long custome in filthines and breath into his nosthrils againe the breath of life whereby he may become a living soule but rarely is it seene that he doth so § 58. NEither speak I of what God can do Were there any possibility of their leaving it they would abstaine in the heate of the plague for with him all things are possible but with men with drunkards it is in a manner impossible for surely if there were the least possibility of their leaving it if they were not altogether hardened past feeling and past grace then would they now abstaine whilst the plague is hot amongst us
man have a lot in Canaan let him bee a sure to bee a true Israelite And so we see there must of necessity bea a manifest change that fruitfulnesse is the best argument he hath begotten us anew that the signes of salvation are to be sought in our selves as the cause in Iesus Christ that wee must become new creatures as S. Paul hath it 2 Cor. 5.17 talk with new tongues Mar. 16.17 and walk in new wyaes Matth. 2.12 hating what we once loved and loving what we formerly hated then shall we have new names Rev. 2.17 put on new garments and have a portion in the new Ierusalem Revel 21. otherwise not Take notice of this all ye carnall worldlings who are the same that yee were alwayes even from the beginning and think the same a speciall commendations too though you have small reason for it for that wee need no more to condemne us then what we brought into the world with us Besides doe you live willingly in your sinnes let mee tell you ye are dead in your sinnes this life is a death and wee need no better proofe that you are dead then because you feele not your deadnesse § 150. SEcondly What to repeâ—â— and belâ—eve how we may know whether we have or not that thou hast not repented nor doest yet believe is plaine for as faith is a gift of God whereby the elect soule is firmly perswaded not only that the whole word of God is true but that Christ and all his benefits doe belong unto her so it is an honourable and an operative grace alwayes accompanied with other graces ever bearing fruit and repentance being a fruit of faith is a whole change of the mind and a very sore displeasure against a mans selfe for sinne as it is sin and a breach of God's holy Lawes and for offending so good a God so mercifull a Father with a setled purpose of hateing and forsakeing all sinne and yeilding universall obedience for the time to come wherefore hast thou a true lively and a justifying faith it will manifest it selfe by a holy life For as fire may bee decerned by heat and life by motion so a mans faith may bee decerned by his workes for though faith alone justifieth yet justifying faith is never alone but ever accompanied with good workes and other saving graces as the Queene though in her state and office shee be alone yet shee goeth not without her Maids of honour Titus 3.8 spirituall graces the beauties of the soule and good workes the beauty of graces and our justification is to bee proved by the fruits of our sanctification faith and workes are as inseparable as the root and the sap the Sun and its light and wheresoever they are not both present they are both absent Iam. 2.17.24 faith purifies the heart Act. 15.9 worketh by love Galath 5.6 and sanctifieth the whole man throughout 1 Thes 5.23 Act. 26.18 for as if our repentance bee sound it will make us grieve for sins of all sorts secret as well as known originall as well as actuall of omission as of commission lesser viz. thoughts as well as greater yea as well for the evill which cleaves to our best workes as for the evill workes Rom. 7.21 and as heartily and unfainedly desire that we may never commit it as that God should never impute it 2. Tim. 2.19 Againe it will worke tendernesse of conscience and such a true filiall feare of God that we shall feare to displease him not so much because hee is just to punish us as for his mercy and goodnesse sake and more feare the breach of the Law then the curse which we may know by asking our owne hearts these questions Whether we would refuse a booty if we had as fit an opportunity to take it and no man perceive the same as Achan had Whether wee would refuse a bribe like Elisha though wee should meet with one which were as willing and able to give it as Naaman Whether we would not deceive though we were in such an office as the false Steward whose Master referred all unto him and knew not when he kept any thing backe Whether wee would not yeeld in case it should be said unto us as the Divell said to Christ all this will I give thee if thou wilt commit such a sinne Whether we have a Spirit without guile Psa 32.2 and be the same in Closet and Market as being no lesse seene in the one then in the other Whether we more love to be then seeme or be thought good as Plato spake of his friend Phocion and seeke more the power of godlinesse then the shew of it Iob 1.1 For Christians should be like Aples of gold with Pictures of silver whose inside is better then their outside but both good and hee serveth God best who serveth him most out of sight that wheresoever hee is keepes a narrower watch over his vevy thoughts then any other can doe of his actions and no mans censure troubles him more then his owne Againe whether wee are as carefull to avoide the occasions of sinne as sinne it selfe and not now and then but continually Whether we feare our own corruptions as well as Sathans temptations Whether we esteem the Word as if God immediately spake to us in particular c. So likewise if our faith be true our obedience is constant like the fire of the Temple which never went out Rev. 21.7 and universall making conscience of all Gods Commandements one as well as another the first table as well as the second and the second as well as the first Matth. 5.19 for a regenerate minde cannot consist with a determination to continue in any one sin as when Christ cast out one divell we read that he cast out all even the whole Legion Marke 5.12 God loves those best that stick closest to his Word in every tittle and as Parents most affect those children that most resemble them so doth God It is true saith Saint Augustine God gives us Commandements impossible to nature that wee may the rather seeke unto him for grace and corruption will mix with our purest devotions imperfection swayes in all the weake dispatches of our palsied soules In all we do we somthing doe amiss And our perfection imperfection is Neither is it to any man given Corruption wil mix with our purest devotion to be absolute in any thing yea the very best of us have not done one action Legally justifiable all our dayes so that we are as farre from perfection as the center of the earth is from the circumference which semediameter or space is judged by the most expert to bee three thousand five hundred miles What then because we cannot obey in all shall we obey in nothing if we cannot performe our duty as we ought let us do our good will and endeavour what wee can for it is better to hault in the right way then runne in the wrong especially when God expects
Word Judgements Mercies c. doe but obdure their hearts instead of melting them as we see in the example of Pharach We know the same Sunne which procuretha sweet savour from flowers makes carrion to stink And as the same water which washes other things cleane makes clay more dirty so this which hath been collected out of the Word instead of diminishing their sinne will as may bee feared increase it like as Physick if it worketh not upon choller turneth into choller their nature being serpentine in lapping this sweet milk they turn it forthwith into poyson Let one charme never so sweetly these Adders will not onely stop their owne eares but stop the charmers mouth too if they can At least if we play upon David's harp to drive away the evill spirit from these Sâ—ul's they will let flie the darts of reproach and the arrowes of slander at us yea whereas I offer them Wine as Christ did to the Iewes they will returne me Vineger as the Iewes did to Christ or they have lost their old wont What should I say if thou beest a drunkard and a scorner thou art dead in sinne only thy sinne is alive and not only dead as Iairu's daughter was Matthew 9.25 nor onely dead laid out and coffind as the Widowes Sonne of Naum was Luke 7.14 but dead coffind and buried as Lazarus was Iohn 11.39 even tell thou stinkest in the nosthrils of God and all good men And what rubing can fetch heat in such a dead body So that to admonish thee were as if a man should knock at a deaf mans doore yea it were almost as ridiculous as that Ceremony which the Mahometans use of flinging stones to stone the divell with If you would have a president to make good what hath beene spoken see Matth. 27. where when Iesus cried with a lowd voice and yeelded up the Ghost the vaile of the Temple rent in twaine from the top to the bottome the earth did quake the graves did open themselves and the dead Saints came forth and went into the holy City the Sunne was forsaken of his light c. as if all were sensible of their Maker's suffering when as the generality of the people yea those great Clarkes the Scribes and Pharisees were altogether insensible and worse then all the rest of the creatures the very stones of the Temple were soft in comparison of their stony hearts and they which were dead in their graves were alive to those which were dead in their sinnes So that I have no other message to deliver unto thee then that which the vigilant captaine delivered together with a deaths wound to his sleeping watchman dead I found thee and dead I leave thee Onely thou O Father to whom nothing is hard if it be thy good pleasure as why not seeing it will make much for the glory of thy great Name to save such a mighty sinner who Manasset-like hath multiplied offences above the number of the sand of the Sea and is bound downe with many Iron bands say unto his soule live It 's true thy angry threatning towards sinners is importable but thy mercifull promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable thou therefore that art able to quicken the dead and make even of stones children to Abraham mollifie these stony hearts with the blood of the Lambe and make of these children of the Devill members of thy Sonne Iesus Christ § 169. ANd so much of the Drunkards Character Much of him hath beene spoken but nothing neere all though I might expatiate for he is a creature made up of many ingredients to which every vice contributes something as the gods did to Vulcan toward the making of his Pandora for as many vices challeng part in him as Cities did of Homer the true tosse-pot is deficient in no evill under the Sunne though few or scarce any sufficiently discerne and deplore the same by reason of custome and the commonnesse of this sinne Much of him hath beene said O how much more might be said I could carry you a great way farther and yet leave more of him before then behinde for he is like some putrid Grave the deeper you digge the fuller you shall find him both of smitch and horror Yea as in Hercule's Monster there was still fresh headsarising one after the cutting off of another and as in Ezekiel's Vision after the sight of some abominations still more so as the Lord said to his Prophet I should yet shew you more abominations in him then these but that it would crave a longer time then I am willing to afford him or my Reader me with patience If any marvell at this which hath been discovered he would marvell much more if all should be told and say it was a true report that we heard of his sin of our danger of the Churches losse but the one halfe was not told us Yea if halfe so much were knowne to man as God knowes of him how would all drunkards hang downe their heads for shame or if we had but a window into his breast which Momus would have had in Vulcan's man or that he had written on his forehead what he thinkes as Tully so much wisht or that himselfe might discerne unpartially in an instant as Mercury made Charon in Lucian by touching of his eyes what strange monsters would there appeare to be what ugly odious hiddious feinds would represent themselves O what swarmes what litters what legions of noysome lusts are couched in the stinking stye of a drunkards heart which I may rather wish then hope to unbowell or anatomize for man saith St. Augustin is a great deepe one may better tell the haires of his head then the thoughts of his heart and God only hath reserved it as a prerogative Royall to himselfe exactly to search it to the bottome Iem 17.9.10 Then what am I that I should attempt to empty the same when the Well is not more deepe then my pitcher is narrow little brittle my plummet light my line too short and weake to sound it For if I cannot see it how should I describe it if I cannot know it how should I make you know it Yet as well as I can I have deliniated this monster given you as in a small Map the Drunkard set forth in his colours together with his skill will and power in seducing and by this you may guesse at the residue for as huge as the Sea is we may tast the saltnesse of it in a drop If these be their words and actions what thinke you are the secrets of their hearts certainely if all their thoughts did but breake forth into action they would not come farre short of the Devills them selves § 170. IF any shall thinke I have beene too bitter The foulenes of this sin constrained me to be so bitter let them pardon this holy impatience and blame the foulnesse of this sinne not my just vehemency considering that the medicine is but fitted to the disease the
but hee onely findes helpe in adversity that sought it in prosperity and ther can be no great hope of repentance at the houre of death where there was no regard of honesty in the time of life God useth not to give his heavenly and spirituall graces at the houre of death to those who have contemned them all their life yea it is sensles to think that God should accept of our dry bones when Sathan hath suckt out all the marrow that he should accept of the lees when we have given to his enemy all the good Wine But heare what himselfe saith by the Prophet Malachy c. 1.8 and S. Ierome upon the place it is a most base and unworthy thing to present God with that which man would disdaine and think scorne to accept of Wherefore Admonition not to deferre repentance as you tender your owne soule even to day heare his voyce set upon the work presently he that begins to day hath the lesse work for to morrow And proroge not your good purposes least ye saying unto God in this life with those wicked ones in Iob depart thou from mee for a time God say unto you in the life to come depart from me ye cursed and that for ever Hee hath spared thee long and given thee already a large time of repentance but he will not alwayes wait for denyals his patience at length wil turn into wrath Time was when hee stayed for the old world an hundred and twenty yeares he stayed for a rebellious Nation forty yeares he stayed for a dissolute City forty dayes but when that would not serve his patience was turned into fury and so many as repented not were cast into hell If in any reasonable time wee pray hee heares us if we repent he pardons us if we amend our lives he faves us but after the houre prefixt in his secret purpose there is no time for petition no place for Conversion no meanes for pacification The Lord hath made a promise to repentance not of repentance if thou convertest to morrow thou art sure of grace but thou art not sure of to morrowes conversion so that a fit and timely consideration is the onely thing in every thing for for want of this Dives prayed but was not heard Esau wept but was not pitied the foolish Virgins knockt but were denied and how many at the houre of death have offered their prayers supplications and services unto God as Iudas offered his money to the Priests and could not have acceptance but they died as they lived and went from despaire unto destruction § 154. BUt thou wilt say unto me Objection that must men are of a contrary judgement and practice if this be so that all the promises are conditionall that mercy is entayled onely to such as love God and keepe his Commandements that none are reall Christians but such as imitate Christ and square their lives according to the rule of Gods word that of necessity we must leave sinne before sinne leaves us and that God will not heare us another day when we call to him for mercy if we will not heare him now when he calls to us for repentance how is it that so few are reformed that most men minde nothing but their profits and pleasures yea count them fooles that doe otherwise I answer VVhereof a double reason there be two maine reasons of it though one be the cause of the other 1 Ignorance 2 Vnbeleife First First few men beleeve the whole written word few men beleive what is written of God in the Scripture especially touching his justice and severity in punishing sinne with eternall destruction of body and soule for did they really and indeed beleeve God when he saith that his curse shall never depart from the house of the swearer Zack 5. they durst not sweare as they doe Did they beleive that neither Fornicâ—tors nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Theeves nor Murtherers nor Drunkards nor Swearers nor Raylers nor Lyers nor Covetous persons nor Extortioners nor Vnbeleivers nor no Vnrighteous men shall inherit the Kingdome of Heaven but shall have their part in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death 1 Cor. 6.9.10 Rev. 21.8 they durst not continue in the practise of these sinnes without feare or remorse or care of amendment Did they beleive that except their righteousnesse doe exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees they shall in no case enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Matth. 5.20 and that without holinesse no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 with many the like it were impossible they should live as they doe Yea if they did in good earnest believe that there is either God or Devill Heaven or Hell or that they have immortall soules which shall everlastingly live in blisse or woe and receive according to that they have done in their bodies whether it be good or evill 2 Cor. 5.10 they could not but live thereafter and make it their principall care how to be saved But alas they are so farre from beleiving what God threateneth in his Word against their sinnes that they blesse themselves in their heart saying we shall have peace we shall speede as well as the best although we walke according to the stubbornnesse of our owne wills so adding drunkennesse to thirst Deut. 29.19 yea they preferre their condition before other mens who are so abstemious and make conscience of their wayes even thinking that their God deceiveth them with needlesse feares and scruples as once Rabshekah would have perswaded the Iewes touching their trust and confidence 2 King 18.22.25.30.32.33.35 They beleive what they see and feele and know they beleeve the lawes of the Land that there be places and kinds of punishment here below and that they have bodies to suffer temporall smart if they transgresse and this makes them abstaine from Murther Fellony and the like but they beleeve not things invisible and to come for if they did they would as well yea much more feare him that hath power to cast both body and soule into Hell as they doe the temporall Magistrate that hath onely power to kill the body they would thinke it a very hard bargaine to winne the whole world and lose their owne soules Luk. 9.25 but enough of this having proved the Drunkard an Atheist Sect. the 146. § 155. SEcondly 2 Ignorance is the cause of all sinne another maine reason is ignorance yea ignorance if we rightly consider it is the cause of all sinne sinne indeed at first was the cause of ignorance but now ignorance is the cause of sinne Swearing and lying and killing and stealeing and whoring I may well adde drunkennesse abound saith the Prophet because there is no knowledge of God in the Land Hosea 4.1.2 It is a people that doe erre in their hearts saith God why because they have not knowne my wayes Psal 95.10 yee are deceived saith our Saviour because ye know not the
out in thy good purposes 5 Shame not to confesse thy dislike of it in thy selfe and others and meanest to bring thy thoughts to the birth thou must not be ashamed to confesse with that honest theife upon the crosse even before thy companions and fellow drunkards that thou art not now the same man thou wast both thy mind and judgement is changed and so shall thy practise God assisting thee nay thou wilt not only forsake thy sin but their company too except they will forsake their old customes of drinking and scoffing and jeering at sobriety and goodnesse And so doing thou mayst perchance winne thy Brother even as that penitent wanton in St. Ambrosse did his old love who when she courted him according to her accustomed manner and wondred at his overmuch strangnesse saying why doe you not know who I am answered yes I know you are still the same woman but I am become another man I am not I now neither would You be You any longer if yee knew so much as I doe 4 But if yet they persist 6 Fly evill company and seeme incorrigible flye their company for feare of infection least it happen with thee as once it did with a chast person among Penelopes suters who went so often with his friend till in the end he was caught himselfe for if thou keepest them company there is no possibility of thy holding out to the end though thou shouldest for a time as a man may make some progresse in a good way and yet returne before he is halfe at his journeys end as Saul kept himselfe well for two yeares Iudas for three yeares and as it is storied Nero for five yeares yet all fell into damnable wickednesse scarce three worse in the world But of this more in it's proper place Besides how hard a thing is it for thee a coward to shew thy dislike of this sin in some companies where thou shalt be scoff't at thy selfe if thou dislike their drinking and scoffing at others Fiftly 7 Take heede of delayes another thing which I had need to advise thee of is to take heede of delayes for to leave sinne when sin leaves us will never passe for true repentance besides if the evill spirit can but perswade thee to deferre it untill hereafter he knowes it is all one as if thou hadst never purposed to leave thy sinne at all as you have it largely proved Sections 151.152.153 Sixtly 8 Omit not to pray for divine assistance omit not to pray for the assistance of God's spirit to strengthen thee in thy resolution of leaving this sinne St. Ambrosse calls prayer the key of Heaven yet prayer without answerable endeavour is but as if a wounded man did desire helpe yet refuseth to have the sword puld out of his wound Sevently be diligent in hearing God's Word which is the sword of the Spirit 9 Be diligent in hearing that killeth our corruptions and that unresistable cannon-shot which battereth and beateth downe the strong holds of sinne Eighthly 10 frequent in the use of the Lords-Supper be frequent in the use of the Lord's Supper wherein we dayly renew our covenant with God that we will forsake the Devill and all his workes of darkenesse Ninthly 11 Meditaâ—e what God hoth done for thee ponder and med tate on Gods inestimable love towards us who hath not spared to give his Sonne to death for us and the innumerable benefits which together with him he hath plentifully bestowed upon us both in temporall and spirituall things say unto the Lord what shall I render unto thee for all thy benefits but love my Creator and become a new creature Tenthly meditate on that union 12 Meditate on that union we have with Christ c which is betweene Christ and us whereby wee become members of his glorious body and so shall we stand upon our spirituall reputation and be ashamed to dishonour our Head by drawing him as much as in us lyeth into the communication of this swinish sinne consider that our bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost the which we shall exceedingly dishonour if by drinking and swilling we make them to become like wine vessells Eleventhly 13 Consider that the Lord beholdeth thee whersoever thou art consider that the Lord beholdeth thee in all places and in every thing thou doest as the eyes of a well drawne picture are fastned on thee which way soever thou turnest much more while in a brutish manner thou liest wallowing in this sinne and consider him as a just judge who will not let such grosse vices goe unpunished Twelftly be ever or at least often thinking of the last and terrible day of Iudgment when we shall all be called to a reckoning 14 Often thinke of the day of judgment not only for this sinne but for all other our sinnes which this shall occasion to our very words and thoughts And lastly if thou receivest any power against this great evill forget not to be thankfull and when God hath the fruite of his mercies he will not spare to sow much where he reapes much § 176. MOre especially 15 Morcespecially consider the heinousnesse of thiâ— sin and the evills which accompany it that thou maist master and subdue this abominable sin doe but set before thee in a generall view the heinousnesse thereof and the manifold evills and mischiefes which doe accompany it of which I have already spoken as that it is a vice condemned by God and men Christians and infidells that thereby we grievoussy offend God by making our bellies our god by unfiting and disabling our selves for his service by abusing his good creatures which with a plentifull hand he hath bestowed upon us the necessary use whereof many better then we want that thereby we sinne in a high degree against our neighbours generally and particularly against the whole Church and common wealth strangers and familiar acquaintance and most of all against our owne family that hereby we most grievously sinne against our selves by making us unfit for our callings and for the performance of all good duties by disgracing our profession and bringing our selves into contempt by making our selves the voluntary slaves of this vice by impoverishing our estate and bringing upon us want and beggery by infatuating our understandings and corrupting our wills and affections by deforming disabling weakning and destroying our bodies and bringing our selves to untimely death by excluding our selves out of the number of Christs members by quenching the gifts of the Spirit and strengthening the flesh and lusts thereof by causing our soules to be possessed with finall impenitency which is inseparably accompanied with eternall damnation Also remember that as in it selfe it is most sinfull so it is also the cause of almost all other sinnes as of the manifold and horrible abuses of the tongue of many wicked and outragious actions and particularly of those fearefull sinnes of murther and adultery Also call to