9. Should Earth and Ashes be proud Consult your last end and that will tell you you are no better than Earth and Ashes Dust you are and to Dust you must return Consider therefore I say seriously as well what you have been as what you are and shall be and you will confess as to the first that your original is from the Ground from a Lump of Clay or Dirt of which the Almighty Creator fram'd and made our first Parents that you are for the present a mass of suitable sordid Flesh living indeed but every hour and every moment subject to death and to all the accidents diseases and corruptions by which death usually is usher'd in and for the future you shall be as to your Body nothing else but Putrefaction and Filth In the Grave you shall be nothing else but a stinking Carcass and meat for Worms for so in the Prophet it is said when a Man dies he shall inherit Serpents or creeping things Beasts and Worms Tell me now have you any reason to be Proud and so high minded Have you any reason to carry your selves so high that are of an extraction so low God could have Created your Bodies of nothing as he did your Souls but in his Wisdom he would not but made them of the Earth that is not only of a substance Corporal Gross Visible Palpable to be seen with our Eyes and touched with our Hands but of the vilest sort of Earth of the Clay the Dirt and Slime of the Earth Do you ask me why To teach us Humility and to repress the Swellings of Pride in us that Man seeing daily with his Corporal Eyes the Dirt upon which he treads might continually be put in mind and remember his first Creation his first Original and Beginning and how that he was made and formed of the same and this for two reasons The first as I said before that hereby he might give to man a just occasion of humbling himself with the most profound submission and abnegation that mans heart can possibly bend it self unto even so far as to confess and acknowledge that of himself he deserveth nothing but to be concullated trodden and trampled upon under the feet of all men as the Dirt of the Earth as Mire and Clay and that for this reason he hath nothing of himself to be proud and high-minded for since his original foundation and extraction is but Dirt and the Slime of the earth The second reason why God made Man of the Dirt of the Earth is That by reflecting upon that his first Creation he might be mov'd so much the more to love his Gracious Maker and more faithfully to serve his Mighty Creator who of his infinite Goodness and Mercy from such a vile and mean beginning as Earth and Dirt was pleased to raise him to that height of Excellency as to consummate his Creation and finally to make him according to his own image and likeness So that whensoever you feel the motions of Pride and High-mindedness infecting your Hearts or troubling your Spirits imagine you hear King Solomon reprehending you and reprepressing your Vanity in these words Of what are you Proud Dust and Ashes why are you puffed up Vessels of Clay Humble your selves and be warned by forgetful Adam who not minding that he was made Dirt fell into the presumption of affecting to be like unto God his Creator by occasion whereof transgressing his Creators Commandment he was for his sin expelleds and for ever driven out of the Terrestrial Paradice Therefore be warned by his fall Humble your selves that you may be exalted humble your selves upon Earth that you may be exalted for ever in Heaven SECTION III. Contempt of others a general Disease of Christianity SECT 1. Many troubled with this Disease 2. Contempt between Man and Wife 3. Contempts between Children and Parents 4. Contempts between Servants and Masters 5. Contempts between Poor and Rich. 6. Contempts of Persons for their Infirmities only and of many for the â—aults of some few justly blameable 7. Contempts between Nations and Nations Sect. 1. Many trouhled with this Disease IN the whole multitude and variety of those Maladies and Diseases of Mind under which and by reason whereof the Life and Vigour of Christianity doth so much languish at this day there is scarce any more frequent and Epidemical than that of over-valuing our selves and contemning others Hard it is especially for Persons that seem conscious to themselves of any merit to have I say not mean but modest thoughts of themselves and not to be tickled ever and anon with extravagant imaginations of their proper Excellency and where the humor is indulg'd and yielded unto the other to wit the contemning and under-valving of our Neighbour follows naturally He that tempts us to think too well of our selves will easily find a way to make us think too meanly of others and to prefer our selves before them This therefore is a general Malady amongst all sorts of Men Jews and Pagans Turks Infidels and Christians all are obnoxious to it and for the most part perish by it for not applying the Unguent of Humility and Sobriety of Spirit in due time But you are to know there are two sorts of Contempt the one tending to Good the other tending to Evil. By the first we condemn the World and all the Evil that belongs to it or is found therein by this we contemn Sin and disdain to submit or yield to the occasions and temptations unto Sin that are laid in our way or that lead Men into Sin With this kind of Contempt as Saint Hierome well observes the Faithful Servant of God may lawfully and with much right despise whatsoever is hurtful to his Soul by whomsoever suggested and those will not fail to do so who have their Novissima their last things to wit Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell in due manner before their Eyes By the second we contemn our Neighbour that is other Persons whom by the Commandment of God we are bound to Honour and by the Spirit of Charity and Humily if it were in us we would Honour and Love according to their several and respective States Conditions Dignities Merit c. By this we are apt to have in scorn and to flight whatsoeveris doneby others or not done by our selves as mean and illaudable although perhaps never so well done and very profitable for Soul or Body This is a wicked sort of Contempt and absolutely forbidden This proceedeth from Evil and tends to Evil and is wholly Evil. This is that Epidemical Vice under which the World hath ever laboured and doth labour at this day all sorts of Persons from the highest to the lowest from the poorest to the richest more or less being seized therewith This all Nations finds to be true but to our shame it must be spoken none hath more felt no Nation hath greater reason to confess and acknowledge this Truth than this of England where none can be
so as to make them see the truest effects of the Love of God which are absolutely contrary to the effects of Self-love For why the effects of Divine Love are all of them good yea they are all the good that can or ever will be desired but contrariwise the effects of Self-love are all of them evil and are all the evils that men can possible think imagine or fear Since then there be two sorts of Love namely the Love of God and thâ— Love of our selves and that all trâ—â— good and happiness is to be attributed to the Love of God as on the contrary all wickedness and all evils to Self-love we are now to maâ—â— our choice we must go either to thâ— right hand or to the left we muâ—â— practice either what is Divine oâ— else Self-love Consider the mattâ—â— therefore well and proceed as yoâ— see cause by what hath been hitherto said you cannot but have observ'â— and know that all the actions of those that exercise Self-love tend wholly to their own praise and commendation and to exalt themselves and if at any time they applaud Vertue it is only to praise themselves the more upon a precarious and false supposition that they are such For though they applaud it they never practice it Their practice is only what the Poet Ovid describes Laudamus veteres sed nostris utimur annis â—n conclusion where Self-love reigns â—l Vertue all Justice all acts of â—harity all good Discipline are sent â—â—to exile are banished and on the â—ontrary Cruelties Commotions â—ars Lusts Adulteries Murthers â—esolations and Tumults Furies and â—yranny Persecutions and Robbeâ—es Pride and Ambition yea all â—ices without exception which can â—e named are in such vogue that â—othing can withstand them and in â—uch credit and practice that it is in â—ain to speak against them By Self-love every one is prejudiâ—ed By means of Self-love poor Orphans lose their right and poor Wiâ—ows sustain wrong none consideâ—ing their cause none regarding or giving ear to their just complaint Through Self-love the poor perish or live miserably few or none takeing pitty or having any compassioâ— of their hard condition In fine aâ— sorts of men suffer more or less â—â— some respects or other through thâ— prevalency of this passion Froâ— hence from this cursed root Treasons are contriv'd and spring Felonies are committed Perfidiousneâ—â— and Deceits practiced Churches aâ— robbed Matrons and Virgins defiled Religion and all Fear of God laid aside and forgotten insomuch that hereby the Proverb comes to be verified Mala etiam non quaerentibus obtiâ—gunt bona vix accedunt etiam quâ—rentibus Evils though not sought after will be found and take place but God though never so much sought after will scarce be found This was the answer of that famous Diogenes the Philosopher when one asked him what his Opinion was touching Mens Estate and Condition in this World And truly in my judgement the answer was to purpose for so much as generally speaking Vice is much more rife in the World than â—ertue and consequently men are â—ore apt and are better furnish't to â—rocure Evil than to procure Good â—oth to themselves and their neighâ—ours Sect. 3. By Self-love we seek all sorts of vanities therefore it is prejudical to our selves Having so largely declared in the â—wo precedent Paragraphs how Self-â—ove is most prejudical to God and our Neighbour tending to Gods dishonour and our Neighbours harm it hence of necessity follows that the same Self-love is also most prejudicial to our selves for if God be offended by our Self-love as we have plainly demonstrated that he is the very same transgression committed against him by Self-love doth wound our own poor Souls to a spiritual death and if withal our Neighbour be prejudiced or harm'd by it as 't is certain he is it doth also include that we our selves are prejudiced and receive hurt thereby no less than ouâ— Neighbour seeing we cannot unjustly harm our Neighbour but we offend God and by offending God we hurt our selves so that there needâ— not much to be spoken to prove this verity to wit that Self-love is prejudicial to our selves as well as to others nevertheless to keep a deceâ—um in our proceedings since I have not been sparing or restrain'd my self in shewing the evils and mischievous effects of Self-love in relation to God and our Neighbour it seems but requisite that something should more particularly be proposed to shew the like effects which it has upon our selves and how much we our selves are prejudic'd by indulging to the passion of Self-love First you are not ignorant that Self-love according to the Ancient Fathers doth blind the eyes of Mankind dulling the Spirits and weakning their Understanding insoâ—uch that being to make choice of â—y thing for the most part they â—use for the worse and more espeâ—â—ally when the matter concerns â—â—eir spiritual estate or good As for â—xample there is nothing in this â—orld that a man loveth better than â—is Life his Soul his Ease his proâ—er Will his Pleasures his Sensualiâ—â—es his Vanities and the like and â—et 't is certain and well donsidering â—e would easily see it that all these â—ven the best of them Life and Soul â— inordinately loved are extreamly â—ontrary and prejudicial to his true â—ood For in this sense according to â—he Evangelist Joan. 12. 25. Qâ—i â—mat animam suam perdet eam c. He that loveth his life shall lose it â—nd he that hates his life in this World that is loves it not nor makes any reckoning of it in compaâ—ison of his love and duty to God shall keep it to life everlasting The â—ame is to be said of the soul according to Saint Matth. ch 10. 39. As for the rest ease proper will pleasures c. they are meer Vanities not worth the wishing for aâ— witnesseth the wise Solomon in those words Eccles 1. v. 14. Vidi cuncta quae fiunt sub sole ecce Vniversâ— Vanitas I have seen saith he and considered all things that are done under the Sun and behold they are all vanity and affliction of Spirit which is to say they are things wherein no full satisfactinn of raind no perfect content is to be found and that therefore men do vainly and to their own prejudice to set their minds their love and affections so much upon them Yet will not men be perswaded their minds are still set upon the things under the Sun and not on those above it they still mind the world and worldly things worldly riches worldly honours worldly pleasures worldly power c. and with such an eagerness of appetite do they hunt after these things as if â—â—ey were the chiefest good and â—â—at all happiness consisted in them â—eglecting the care of their Souls for â—e love of them quite contrary to â—e advice and exhortation of the â—lessed Evangelist Saint John who â—howing the harm that comes to men â—y setting their minds and affections â— much upon worldly
be innumerable and too many to rehearse therefore omitting them I will only take notice of this That whensoever he thought good to appear in his Royal State and Dignity he had for that purpose always ready to attend him Forty thousand Horses in the Stables and Cbariots and Horsemen Twelve thousand But alas to what end comes all this Worldly Pomp Splendor and Magnificence if they escape the judgment which this Great and Wise King doth himself threaten to the Proud and High-minded Prov. 16. 18. Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty mind before a fall yet they shall never avoid what the Prophet Isa 14. 11. shews to be the end of all Worldly Glory Subter te sternetur tinea operimentum tuum erant vermes The Moth is spred under thee and Worms are become thy covering That is if they fall not by some special and sudden judgment of God that puts an end to their Pride before they be aware of it yet most certain and unavoidably they must at length yield to that which is the end of all Flesh to wit Corruption The Pomp and Splendor of this World will not always endure Moses Numb 15. v. 30. seems to fore-warn this to the People of Israel telling them peremptorily that the Soul which offends through Pride shall in no sort scape unpunished He that sinnes through ignorance errour or weakness the Priest shall make an Atonement for him Anima vero quae per Superbiam aliquid commiserit c. He that sins out of Pride or with an high hand he must bear his iniquity whoever he be native or stranger he must be cut off from his People Behold therefore here and consider the unhappy end of Pride it is for the most part but the fore-runner of Destruction which the Scripture further confirms by the example of that Proud Man Haman who was hang'd upon the same Gibbet which he in the pride and inselency of his haughty mind had prepared for the humble Mordocheus Esther 7. 10. The like end happened to the proud Holofernes who having conquered so many Provinces and subdued so much People only to satisfie his own and his Masters Pride was at last with the help of his own Sword beheaded by a Woman Jud. 13. 8. I might observe as much of the great Philisthin Golias who though himself invincible and out of that Pride defied the whole Host of the Living God a Shepherds Sling and a Stone out of the Brook taught him to be more humble in laying him Dead on the Ground Finally Nabuchadonosor that great King who in the pride of his heart said thus to himself Nonne est haec Babylon magna quam aedificavi c. Is not this great Babylon that I have bulit for the House of the Kingdom by the might of my Power and for the honour of my Majesty Dan. 4. v. 30 c. the word was scarce out of his mouth but according to the Decree of God he was suddenly driven from his Kingdom and the company of Men becoming a meer Beast wandering in the Wilderness and eaâ—ing Grass as Oxen for the space of seven years till repentance and the mercy of God brought him both to himself and his Kingdom again Sect. 3. Self-pride of great Ladies Great Women are no less subject to this Vice than great Men great Ladies think themselves priviledg'd herein by the presidents which their great Lords give them 'T is true Saint Augustin honour'd Woman-kind so much perhaps for his Mothers sake Saint Monica and in admiration of her Piety as to call them the Devout Sex neither do I doubt but there are amongst them many I might say innumerable most pious most pure and most perfect Souls but alas 't is too evident that many of them are not so the multitude falls short of that Elogium being apparently no less than Men addicted to all manner of Vice that their Sex permits them to be capable of To pass by other of their infirmities I shall at present instance only in this which we have in hand the Sin of Pride and inordinate Love esteem valuing and admiring of themselves Can any thing be more rife than this Vice amongst the great ones of that Sex Do we not see the Ladies of this time how they make use of all the Arts Skill and cunning Practices possible to adorn and set out themselves to the height of Pride Do we not see what new and costly fashions are daily devised to foment and help forward their vain inordinate affections in this kind Do we not see what emulations there are what pleasure they take and how much they strive the one to exceed the other in vanities and gallanteries as they are accounted sparing neither pains nor labours cost nor time to satisfie their Pride and to fulfil the ambitious appetites and desires of their mind To please their proud fancy to the full what charges are regarded what means not used and yet in other respects what thing is there whereof they are more presently sensible than matter of charges and cost as is quickly seen whensoever Piety towards God or Charity towards their poor Neighbour requires charges of them Every little cost in such cases makes them shrink and either with Nabal to make a churlish refusal or which is worse to frame a feigned and false excuse saying they cannot or they have not Truly it is a most sad thing to consider how much it redounds to the shame and confusion of Christianity and to the prejudice of true Piety the general spreading of this evil over all parts of Christendom and more especially in Princes Courts and great Cities most Ladies seeming to thing they were born for nothing else but to take their ease appear in bravery and be courted Oh how high do the desires of exorbitant nature mount especially when great fortune supports them No sooner are they out of their Bed but instead of offering the first fruits of â—he day to God in humble Prayers â—nd thankful Address to him for his Mercies and Benefits as well past as to come their mind and their thoughts are wholly taken up how they shall spend the day enquiring not where they may hear Mass or a good Sermon but what Play is to be Acted what Gallants are expected what Company is to come and what Sports are to be seen and according to the answer that is given them they cause themselves to be attired and cloathed like an Idol upon some great day by two or three Servants who attend upon them and spend the greatest part of their time in being serviceable to Vanity and Pride the Waiting Women finding it labour enough and no time to spare to dress themselves first and then to wait upon their Ladies and do them the like service wsth the greatest exactness and diligence that may be and all to preserve and give lustre to a fading Jewel which they pretend to have and are infatuated for namely Beauty Oh this Beauty this
can they produce so much as one Catholique Person in England that had his hand in any of those Bloudy Actions but many may be produced who suffered all that men could suffer in this World to prevent and hinder them to the Praise of God and their Conscience Protestants therefore may see that We Catholiques have greater reason to have their Persons in Contempt and Hatred upon the account of Treason than they ours if that were justifiable but we think it is not and therefore proceed Sect. 7. Contempts between Nations and Nations In the same manner are to be apprehended all those that take pleasure and make it their sport to speak contemptuously and slightingly of whole Nations Countries Kingdoms Peoples An evil Disease this is under the Sun and the symptome of a very bad Humor arguing a great want both of Charity and Prudence What can be worse than to be continually censuring and undervaluing the Common and Publique behaviour or Manners of People the Customs of Places in which perhaps they never were to be Ey-witness of any thing It may be that some Countries Nations Provinces Kingdoms are addicted to some particular Things which are displeasant unto us yea perhaps not so agreeable to Reason or Vertue What if they be are we altogether free of the like Are there no evil Conditions no evil Customs no ill Manners to be observ'd amongst us that may be as justly displeasing to them If we censure them for some particular things perhaps we our selves are more guilty in others We take notice of the Vice of Nations and People but we over see their Vertues which for ought is certain to the contrary they may excel us For this we know that as to Persons so to Nations God distributeth his particular Gifts according to his good pleasure which Gifts we are not to contemn but should endeavour to obtain our business should not be to spy and to take notice of other Mens Faults and Imperfections but to amend our own studying to be more perfect and vertuous our selves It is well known that the Greeks are generally speaking more Eloquent than others Brasilians more Chaste Spaniards more Ingenious Italians more fix'd and constant in their Judgments Germans more Sincere the French more Nimble and Active Polonians are more Hospitable to Strangers and Pilgrims the English more Civil one towards another the Scotch more Frugal and those of the Low Countries more Industrious and willing to Labour All which Vertues and particular Endowments we should rather acknowledge and commend in them as the Gifts of God than take upon us impertinently to censure them or have the whole Nation in Contempt because we forsooth do not fancy their manners a thing conttary to all Reason Justice Charity and the Law of God which commands us to love and esteem our Neighbours as we love and esteem our Selves SECTION IV. Of Gods Indignation towards Contemners SECT 1. Malediction upon Contemners either of God or their Neighbour 2. Malediction upon Contemners of Parents and Relations 3. Malediction upon those that contemn their Kings and Princes 4. Malediction upon those that contemn their Neighbours 5. Remedy against the contemning of others 6. A Reflection upon the whole Matter fore-going Sect. 1. Malediction upon Contemners either of God or their Neighbours THe wise Solomon in his Proverbs by the Spirit of God speaks thus Chap. 1. v. 24. Quia vocavi renuistis c. For as much as I have called and ye refused to come I have stretched out my hand and there was none that would regard But you have despised all my counsel and would none of my reproof Therefore shall a sudden Calamity fall upon you and Destruction as a tempest shall seize you c. Against whom is this threatned but such as despise God neglect and fear not to transgress his holy Commandements contemn and slight his Word his Counsels his Exhortations Admonitions threatnings that are unthankful for Mercies and Favours received and being gently scourged and corrected by him do not amend their Lives Against these and the like Divine Wisdom by the Pen and by the Mouth of this Wise King denounceth this Woe and not in vain for that such Vengeance hath followed Obstinate and Impudent Sinners Holy Scriptures do abundantly declare Witness in the first place Pharaoh King of Egypt who for his contemning of God and hardening his heart against the People of Israel contrary to the Commandment of God after innumerable Plagues sent upon Him and His People was finally himself and His mighty Army drowned in the Sea which while they pursued the People of Israel returned upon them and overwhelmed them all without exception so that they sunk â—ike Stones into the bottom thereof Exod. 14. v. 27 28. Esau Jacob's Brother is another like Example who for contemning Gods Benefits â—amely his Birth-right which was not only a Perogative and Priviledge of Humane Right but also an assured Token and Pledge of Divine Benediction to all that liv'd well and were worthy of it was justly deprived of both that is of his Birth-right and of the Blessing which his Father Isaac out of his private Affection intended him How he undervalued his Birth-right we read Gen. 25. 32 33 34. where being hungry he sold it to his Brother Jacob for a Mess of Pottage En morior Behold I die saith he and what will this Birth-right avail me And that he lost Gods Blessing thereby that is by so slighting and making light of that which was a Sacred Thing appears by the Apostle Heb. 12. 16 17. who calls him a Profane Person for so doing and says that he found no place of Repentance that is so as to recover his Birth-right and that Blessing belonging to it though he sought it with tears Sect. 2. Malediction upon the Contemners of Parents and Relations As concerning those that have their Parents in Contempt nothing can be less doubted but they are all of them under Divine Malediction The Commandment it self concerning the Duty of Children to their Parents implying so much for in being commanded to honour our Parents that our days may be long upon earth which is a principal Blessing we are at the same time admonished that if we do not honour them as we ought our days shall be few and short upon Earth which is to want and fall short of the Blessing But Deut. 27. 16. it is more expresly denounced in these words Maledictus qui non honorat c. Cursed be he that seteth light by his Father or Mother and Prov. 30. 17. it is said The Eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the Young Eagles shall eat it Rebellious Absalon was such a despiser and therefore a like Judgment met him and took him away He so far despised his Father King David that he endeavour'd to deprive him of his Kingdom and make himself King pretending to have more knowledge
Masters Care nor Pilots Skill nor the Help of all the People in the Ship can save such â—â— Ship from sinking unless they unlade her Such is the case of all theâ— that are surcharg'd with Drink nothing can do them any good so lonâ— as they are Drunk no good thoughts take place in them no inspirations no good counsel no instruction can be given them to any effect neither the fear of God nor the fear of what will come on them at last works ought or prevails with them to cease their Drinking all means used to this proving vain and ineffectual as woful and almost daily experience shews If you would hear more of this Subject viz. what agitations and tossings of mind no less than of Body Drunkards do suffer in the stormy tempests of their Drunken Fits Saint Ambrose will tell you that those who are in Drink are like Men in a Tempest tossed this way and that way and with great unquietness agitated in several respects First they are disquieted with vain and contrary Cogitations their Thoughts and the inclinations of their Mind reel and stagger sometimes to the right Hand sometimes to the left not being able either to discern Truth from Falshood or to resolve what is fit or unfit to be done Their Sight oft-times fails they are unstable in their Goings they Trip and Over-reach and Stumble almost at every Step sometimes Falling and always in danger to Fall in their distemper'd Phantasies imagining that they saw Mountains and Valleys and heard various Sounds and Noises All their Bodies become at length Quagmires of Evil and Corrupt Humors in which their Spirits are so bemir'd and clamm'd up that they find not such free passage as the Health and Constitution of their Bodies require All their Members are as it were disjoynted and out of place so that none of them perform their Office well Their Heads Wag their Tongues Faulter and Stammer their Hands Shake and Tremble as if they were Paralytique or had the Palsie their Knees and Hamstrings Fail their Feet Trip and Strike so long one against the other that at length down they fall Headlong and there the Beast lies till Company come to help him up To this purpose speaketh the Holy Father and by this True Description you may see how dangerous a Distemper Drunkenness is and how prejudicial both to Soul and Body Sect. 3. Drunkenness raiseth a furious Tempest in the Tongue After so great a storm and disturbance to the whole Body the Tempest of the Tongue follows which is a particular but yet an unruly Member as the Apostle saith Jac. 38. and the excess of Drink makes it much more unruly Drunkenness excites and moves the Tongue to all manner of mischief and ill-speaking Hence come filthy lewd and lascivious Expressions hence come lying and false boasting hence come insolent contumelious and provoking Words hence come Envious Malevolent and Detracting Discourse Censorious Language The Tongue of a Drunkard is the most prompt Instrument the Devil has to tempt unto all Evil and to with-draw from all Good The Drunkards Tongue is apt to Swear to Curse and Blaspheme The Drunkard makes no scruple to take Gods Name in vain to boast falsly and vain gloriously of himself and to be extravagant in Speech relating as well to God as his Neighbour whom he spares not uncharitably and causelesly to traduce whether absent or present whether alive or dead And from Evil Words they proceed to Evil Actions for Drunkards are commonly Quarrelsome and given to Contentions especially in their Drink As great Friends as they will seem to be yet none more apt to fall out none more apt to have wranglings brawlings and animosities one with another Whosoever will not say as they say and do as they do they take it for an affront and resent it when they see opportunity So true it is what the Scripture saith Ecclus 31. v. 39. Ebrietatis animositas imprudentis offensio c. The Animosity that comes by Drunkenness makes the Fool to offend or do something which he should not do it abates Valour and procures him Wounds The Discourse of Drunken Men what is it for the most part but Vaunting or Ribauldry lewd or detracting Speech rash Judgments hard Censures Sin all The Wise Man saith In multiloquio non deest peccatum In much talk there wants not Sin And who more talkative than Men in Drink insomuch as 't is taken for a Prodigy almost or at least for a Disease to observe any of them to be deep in Drink and deep in Silence at the same time if they be awake Saint Ambrose toucheth some of these People to the Quick Saying When Drunkards are got together and set to their Drinking in Taverns and Ale-houses though some of them have scarce a Shirt to their Back or Meat to Eat the next day yet at this time they will have their Verdicts and with equal Folly and Impudence pass their Censures even upon Kings Princes and all others that are above them in Authority or Honour and more especially when Things go contrary to their Will and Mind This vain and contemptible sort of People seem to themselves to Reign and Rule and Command great Armies They seem in their own Conceits io be Rich and Powerful who are in truth Beggers when they are sober While they are in Drink they have all Things in Plenty they give Gold they scatter Silver build Castles in the Air and what not when as perhaps really they have scarce Money enough to pay their reckoning These people are not capable of advice as contemning all good counsel that can be given them being of those whom the Scripture Deut. 21. 20. stiles Contumaces protervos Froward and stubborn Children comessationibus vacantes Giving themselves to Riot and Drunkenness to Feasting and Tipling who when they are once high-flown with Liquor think none so good or so wise as themselves pretending to know allt things when indeed they know nothing as they ought and themselves least of all taking upon them to dispute of all Matters and to determine in all Cases to interpret all Laws Divine and Humane yea to Correct and Controul if the Humour be strong in them for with too many of them it is a Custom not only to drink beyond measure but in the midst of their Drunken Cups to fall into dispute about Matters of Religion and to discuss in that contentious and profane manner things most Sacred So that full well is the Saying of St. Paul 1 Tim. 6. v. 4. verified of them Superbi sant ni hil scientes c. They are Proud knowing nothing but languishing about Questions and strifes of Words whereof cometh Envy Strife Railings Evil Surmizings perverse Disputings of Men corrupt in their Minds and destitute of the True Faith from whom we are to with-draw and with whom we should have nothing to do For without doubt where such indiscreet and blind Zeal is there is none of that Wisdom which