drunkenness and company-keeping If you have any regard to the honour of God if you have any love to Jesus Christ if you have any respect to the Blessed Spirit of God if you have any respect to your own welfare either in this or the World to come if you have any love to your Families or to the Nation in which you live break off this beastly this sottish this bewitching this abominable this damnable sin of drunkenness To press on this Exhortation the more effectually consider 1. If you will turn from this loathsome sin of drunkenness there will be exceeding great joy both in Heaven and Earth at your Conversion Your Parents and Godly Relations that have prayed for you and wept for your disorderly courses they will rejoyce at your Conversion Prov. 10.1 A wise Son maketh a glad Father The Ministers of God will rejoyce exceedingly at your Conversion for they have no greater joy in this World than to see the fruit of their labours in the Conversion Holy Conversation and Salvation of those to whom they preach Joh. 3d. Epist 3.4 I rejoyced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee even as thou walkest in the truth I haveno greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth The Apostle Paul had such joy in the Conversion of the Thessalonians that he was not able to express his joy and his thankfulness to God for their Conversion 1 Thes 3.9 What thanks can we render to God again for you for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God And the Saints and Servants of God will joy to hear of your Conversion Act. 15.3 Declaring the Conversion of the Gentiles they caused great joy unto all the brethren Yea more if you repent of your sins and turn from drunkenness you will cause joy among all the Angels of Heaven Luk. 15.7 10. 2. If you neglect or refuse to break off this sin of drunkenness you will be grief to God and Men and bring grief and sorrow to your own Soul You will grieve God that made you and maintains you that God in whom you live and move and have your being Gen. 6.5 6. God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the Earth And it grieved him at his heart And by your hardness of heart and persisting still in your sins you will grieve Jesus Christ who shed his blood to save lost man Mark 3.5 Being grieved for the hardness of their hearts Your going on in this sin in a rebellious manner will grieve the Holy Spirit of God Isa 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit You will be a grief to your Parents Prov. 19.13 A foolish son is the calamity of his Father Prov. 17.25 A foolish son is a grief to his Father and bitterness to her that bare him You will be a great grief to God's Ministers and to all Godly People Psal 119.136 158. Rivers of tears run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law I bebeld the Transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy Word And you will bring great sorrows to your own Soul Prov. 23.29 30. Who hath sorrow They that tarry long at the wine See also Prov. 5.11 12 13 14. And will you grieve God and grieve your Parents and grieve God's Ministers and all God's Servants and pierce your own Soul through with many sorrows rather than leave off this grievous sin of drunkenness What shall I say more to perswade you to leave off this vile sin of drunkenness If teares would prevail with you I would say with the Prophet Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a Fountain of tears that I might weep day and night before you till I had prevailed with you to leave this abominable this Soul destroying sin of drunkenness If the mercies of God would make any impression upon your hearts I would beseech you by all the mercies of God that ever you received or hope to receive either in this World or in the World to come to break off this beastly sin If God's promises would do any thing to lead you to Repentance I might tell you what great things God hath promised to do for you if you will leave of this and your other sins He will give you a free full and eternal pardon of all your Transgressions he will give you his Heavenly Kingdom where you shall have unspeakable glory fullness of joy and Rivers of pleasure for evermore he will withhold no good thing from you If you have any fear of God's judgments I might tell you of the VVorm that dyeth not of the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone of blackness of darkness of being sent from Christ's Judgment Seat with a curse into Everlasting Fire to have your abode with the Devil and his Angels all which things and more than the tongue of man can express will be your portion if you break not off this damnable sin of drunkenness If any words or arguments will prevail with you I could wish I had the tongue of Men and Angels to speak to you in the most perswasive manner to leave off this Soul destroying sin § The convinced sinner's case considered that is almost perswaded to leave off this sin It may be some will say my heart begins to relent methinks I am almost perswaded to leave off my drunkenness and to become a new man I am of the mind to bind my self with a vow and to make a solemn promise never to be drunk any more what counsel would you give to one in my condition A. 1. Do not only almost but altogether resolve to leave off this sin else you will be but almost saved If you be double minded sometimes of the mind to leave your sins and sometimes of the mind to keep them still you will be unstable in all your wayes Jam. 1.8 2. Do not only resolve and promise and vow to forsake this sin but perform your vows and promises As that man's Son dealt with his Father whom his Father bid go and work in his Vineyard he said I go Sir but he went not Matth. 21.30 So many men deal with God they make promises to God to leave their sins but they perform them not Now it is better not to make any vows or promises of Reformation than after we have made them not to perform them Eccl. 5.5 Better it is that thou shouldst not vow than that thou shouldst vow and not pay 3. Take heed of leaving this sin for a time and then returning to it again as the dog doth to his vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire for the latter end of such persons is worse than the beginning 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. 4. Turn from all your other sins as well as drunkenness if you would find favour with God and obtain the remission of your sins It is not sufficient to cast away some of our sins but if
which spake by Solomon who is the Spirit of truth be worthy to be believed we must assent to it as a certain truth that whosoever is deceived by wine or strong drink is not a wise man They may be wise for managing worldly matters but they have not that wisdom which cometh from above which maketh wise to Salvation for that wisdom teacheth men to be pure and holy Jam. 3.17 The wisdom that is from above is first pure And therefore impure and filthy drunkards have none of this wisdom They are so far from being wise men that in truth and reality they are very fools for they part with the glory and pleasures of Heaven for ever for a pot of drink or a cup of wine and for the enjoyment of the pleasures of sin which are but for a season they plunge themselves into the torments of Hell for ever 4. They are not the best sort of Gentlemen that are given to drinking and other vices Debauched Gentlemen are the reproach of the Gentry The best sort of Gentlemen are pious and virtuous Gentlemen who hate and abhor vicious courses such as walk in the fear of God and themselves and families are patterns of piety and virtue such as love and seek the welfare of their Country and are rich in good works 5. This will not excuse any man at the day of Judgment to say many Gentlemen and men of great parts were addicted to drunkenness For 1. Those Gentlemen will be in as miserable a condition as the poorest beggars at the Judgment seat of Christ Who have been vicious persons their Riches will avail them nothing at all at that day Job 36.19 Will he esteem thy Riches No not gold nor all the forces of strength Those Rich men that fared deliciously every day and drunk their fill of wine and strong drink while on earth shall not get one drop of water to cool their tongues when they are in Hell Luk. 16.19 23. 2. Vicious Gentlemen will be in a worse condition in the other world than the poorest and meanest begger on the face of the earth for they shall be tormented for mispending their Estates with which God intrusted them to do good with all Potentes potenter torquebuntur What is said of Babylon Rev. 18.7 How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her The same measure shall be meeted out to vicious Gentlemen the greater pomp they have lived in on earth and the more deliciously they have fared the more sorrow and torment they shall have hereafter 3. Pious persons that have been so poor that they have begged their bread shall reign with Christ in Heaven while vicious gentlemen shallcry and roar in Hell and beg for a drop of water to cool their tongues and be glad of it though brought by the hand of a beggar that hath begged Alms at their doors Luk. 16.20.21 22 23 24 26. Lazarus was a poor begger full of noysom running sores which the dogs licked when he lay at the rich mans gate he would have been glad of any crumbs that fell from the rich mans Table but when he dyed Angels carryed his Soul into Abraham's Bosom and when the rich man dyed he went to Hell and there being in great torment he begged that Lazarus might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue but he could not obtain that favour to have so much as a drop of water to cool his tongue though he was a great man and lived gallantly while he was on earth § The example of such Ministers as are given to this sin No excuse for drunkards The wofull condition of a drunken Minister Plea 2. There are many Ministers will drink as hard as any other men and we hope we may do as our Ministers do we have honourable thoughts of our Ministers and besides our Ministers are learned men and if drunkenness were such an horrible sin as you would make us believe surely they that are such learned men would not be addicted to such a foul sin A. 1. To be a Minister of Christ is an high and honourable employment and it is a good thing that people should have honourable thoughts of the Ministers of Christ and esteem them very highly for their work and office sake 1 Cor. 4.1 Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God 1 Thes 5.12 13. We beseech you brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you And to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake 2. We must not follow the example of any Minister though he should be the best Minister in the World farther than he followeth Jesus Christ Who was a better Minister than the Apostle Paul yet he desired no man to follow his example farther than he himself followed Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ 3. Did you know what a wofull condition drunken Ministers are in you would not be in their case for the whole World The Prophet Jeremiah trembled Body and Soul and was amazed when he considered the wofull condition of drunken Ministers Jer. 23.9 11. Mine heart within me is broken because of the Prophets all my bones do shake For both Prophet and Priest are prophane Prophane Ministers are in Gods account as bad as Sodomites Jer. 23.14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing they commit adultery and walk in lyes they strengthen also the hands of evil doers that none doth return from his wickedness they are all unto me as Sodom And we know that the men of Sodom were such an abomination to the Lord that he consumed them with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven Prophane Ministers are the worst sort of men and therefore in Scripture they are compared to the tail Isa 9.14 15. The prophet that telleth lyes he is the tail There is a most bitter cup as bitter as wormwood and gall prepared for drunken and prophane Ministers Jer. 23.15 When Ministers are ignorant or negligent in their work or prophane in their lives their flock lyeth open for a prey to all that have a mind to devour them Isa 56 9 10 11. And the blood of all those souls that perish either by their negligence or evil example will be required at their hands 4. It is no marvel to see some Ministers that have great parts and much learning given to drunkenness and other scandalous sins For 1. Knowledge without Grace will not make a man an Holy man The devils have great knowledge yet they are wicked Spirits and do very wicked things 2. It was so under the law there were many wicked Priests that lived in scandalous sins Jer. 10.21 The pastors are become brutish Jer. 23.11 Both prophet and priest are prophane And it is foretold it would be so under the Gospel that there would
dearest friends or nearest Relations we have in all the World should entice us to that which is evil we must by no means consent unto them Deut. 13.6 8. If thy brother the son of thy mother or thy son or thy daughter or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul entice thee secretly saying let us go and serve other Gods Thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him 3. It will not excuse us in the sight of God to say we were enticed to this or that sin for it is an heinous offence to be drunk or commit idolatry or any other such like sin though we were enticed to these sins Job 31.26.27 28. If I beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moon walking in brightness and my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth hath kissed my hand This also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge for I should have denyed the God that is above § The plea of being urged and importuned to drink more than is meet is no excuse for drunkenness Plea 7. If I drink too much it is at such times as I am urged and importuned thereto by the company among whom I am and I can't tell how to withstand the importunity of my friends when they are very urgent with me to drink beyond measure I hope the urgency and importunity of friends will be my excuse if I now and then drink too much A. 1. The great God is more urgent and importunate with you to abstain from excessive drinking and all other sins then any men can be He calls to you he chargeth you to take heed that you be not at any time overcharged with drunkenness Luk. 21.34 Take heed to your selves least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfitting and drunkenness He commands you to abstain from drunkenness Eph. 5.18 Be not drunk with wine He beseecheth you to abstain from fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 Dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the Soul And drunkenness is a lust and work of the flesh as you may see Gal. 5.19 20 21. He pleads with you to turn from those evil courses that will be your ruine Ezek. 33.11 Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel And shall not the importunity of the great God prevail with you above the importunity of all the men in the World Though they be great men though near friends though such as will be angry with you if you yield not to them yet their importunity should not prevail with you to break the command of the great God 2. Brute beasts cannot be drawn by any urging and importunity to drink more than satisfieth their natures unless there be force used with them and the drink be powred down their throats they will not take more than quencheth their thirst And therefore it is below a man to say I could not avoid drinking to excess for I was importuned and urged thereunto Yea they are sunk a degree below beasts that will be prevailed with by importunity to drink more than is for their good 3. If a man should urge you to cast your selves into a fiery furnace would you consent thereto or if a man should importune you to part with a fair Estate for a trifle would you consent to it Should importunity prevail with you to do these things When by importunity of any man you yield to drink unto drunkenness you yield to that which is more prejudicial to you than casting your selves into a fiery Furnace or parting with a great estate for a trifle For by drunkenness you provoke God to shut you out of the Kingdom of Heaven and to cast you body and soul into that Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone there to remain for ever And that is infinitely worse than to be cast into any fiery Furnace on earth 4. They are none of your friends that urge and importune you to drink more than is for your good They may be pretended friends but are real enemies For they urge you to that which will be your ruine to that which will undo you Body and Soul for ever And is he a friend or an enemy that urgeth you to that which will be your ruine § The plea of such as say they are drawn to this sin by their Relations and Friends on whom they have their dependance Plea 8. My Friends and Relations on whom I have my dependence are addicted to this sin of drunkenness and if I should not do as they do they would cast me off they would disinherit me they would leave me out of their Wills and give me nothing at their death and therefore I am forced to comply with their way and humour and drink more than is meet to please my Relations from whom I hope to be much advantaged at their death A. 1. You have a greater dependance on God than on any man upon the face of the Earth You depend upon God for your beings your life your motion yea for all things Act. 17.28 In him we live and move and have our beings And therefore you had need be more carefull to please and more fearfull to offend God than to please or offend any man on the face of the earth 2. Suppose your Parents or Relations should cast you off for retaining your integrity and because you will not defile your self with their evil ways the Lord will be a friend to you and will take the care of you Psal 27.10 When my Father and Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up But if we sin against God to please our Relations and forsake his wayes the Lord will cast us off 1 Chron. 28.9 If thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever And if the Lord cast us off it is not all the men in the World can do us good 3. What is the loss of an earthly inheritance to the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven Suppose you should lose a great inheritance on earth for want of complying with your Parents or Relations in sinfull courses yet that is nothing in comparison of the loss of Heaven which you will bring upon your selves by excessive drinking although it be to please your Relations for drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.10 If you sustain loss for Righteousness sake all such losses shall be made up with an hundred sold advantage both here and hereafter Math. 19.29 But if you lose the Kingdom of Heaven you are a lost undone man for ever Nothing is able to make up that loss 4. If you resolve to please God rather than to please your Friends it may be the Lord will turn the hearts of your Friends towards you For the hearts of all men are in his hands And it is said Prov. 16.7 When a mans wayes please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be
their sinfull courses and say in their hearts they shall have peace though they go on to add sin to sin 1. The Lord will not spare him No excuses no pleas no entreaties no tears shall prevail with God to spare such a man The Lord will not spare him that is the Lord will shew him no mercy he will not spare him from destruction here Jer. 13.14 I will not spare but destroy them Nor spare him from eternal torments in the other world Not sparing implyes a casting down to Hell 2 Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell 2. The anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man If the Lord's anger be kindled but a little they are happy that are secured from it Psal 2.12 And therefore that man is in a wofull condition against whom God's anger and his jealousie waxeth hot and sinoaketh The jealousies of a man is dreadsull Prov. 6.34 35. But the jealousie of God is far more dreadfull that burns like fire Psal 79.5 Shall thy jealousie burn like fire 3. All the curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him The curses written in this book that is the curses of God denounced in the Scripture and they are more dreadfull than the curses of any men they shall not only come and fall but they shall lye upon that man that adds drunkenness to thirst and that not only some but all of them To have any one of the curses of God come upon a man is dreadfull but to have them all not only to fall but to lye upon a man is unspeakable misery 4. And the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven That is the Lord shall give him no part no portion in the Kingdom of Heaven and the Lord shall root out his posterity and leave him no name of Son or Daughter and shall cause his name the memory and remembrance of him to perish 5. The Lord shall separate unto evil out of all the Tribes of Israel according to all the curses that are written in the book of this Law As much as to say God will separate such a man from the rest of mankind to make him an object of his wrath and a monument of his displeasure to pour out all his wrath upon him and to bring upon him all the plagues and all the curses threatned in his word against impenitent sinners Let such drunkards and other impenitent sinners as go on still in their sins and yet hope for Salvation when they dye consider and lay to heart what dreadfull judgments are here denounced against such as add drunkenness to thirst and yet bless themselves in their hearts and say they shall have peace § The plea of such as have a secret hope God will spare them either because of some excellency or because Christ dyed for sinners or because they confess their sin Plea 21. I do verily believe that some yea many drunkards shall be shut out of Heaven but I have a secret hope that God will spare me because of those excellencies he hath put upon me and because Christ dyed to save sinners and when ever I am drunk as soon as I am come to my self I confess my sin and make vows and promises to leave my sin A. 1. It is folly and self-flattery makes thee think God should spare thee for that sin for which God will condemn others For God is no respecter of persons but will execute vengeance upon every impenitent sinner of what Nation rank or condition soever they be upon the rich as well as the poor the honourable as well as the base the great as well as the mean man Act 10.34 Of a truth I perceive God is no respecter of persons Rom. 2.6 9 Who will render to every man according to his deeds Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Centile 2. Let such as fancy that God will spare them and not cast them to hell for their drunkenness and their other sins because of some excellency they have above others as because they are great men or Learned men honourable men or the like consider that God did not spare the Angels when they sinned but cast them into Hell 2. Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell Yet the Angels are wiser than the greatest Scholars and most Learned Men in the World and more glorious Creatures than the greatest Gentlemen Knights Noblemen yea more glorious than Kings and Princes And if God did not spare the Angels when they sinned against him but cast them down to Hell why shouldest thou think that he will spare thee and not cast thee to Hell for thy drunkenness because thou art a Learned or an Honourable man seeing all thine Excellencies whatever are inferiour to the Excellency of Angels Obj. But Christ died to save Sinners but he did not dye to save Angels and therefore I hope God will save me though I go on still in my Sins A 1. Jesus Christ who came into the World to save sinners came also to call sinners to Repentance Luk. 5.32 I came not to call the Righteous but sinners to Repentance He came not to save Sinners in their sins I mean to let Sinners live as they list and yet to save their Souls but he came to save sinners from their sins Matth. 1.21 Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins 2. Jesus Christ who came to save Sinners tells us expresly that he will not save one sinner without Rrepentance but that all who do not repent shall perish and that he will shut out of Heaven at the day of Judgment all workers of Iniquity Luk. 13.3.5 I tell you nay but except you repent ye shall all likewise perish I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish He speaks the same words twice that they may sink the deeper into our hearts See also Luk. 13.27 Depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity Obj. I do believe may some say such as do not repent of their sins shall not be saved by the death of Christ but I repent of my Drunkenness when I have been overcome with Wine or strong Drink one day the next day when I am sober I am grieved for my sin and I confess my sin to God and make vows that I will not be drunk any more and therefore I hope God will spare and pardon me though he condemn other Drunkards A. 1. If you so repent of are grieved for and confess your sin as to forsake your Drunkenness you shall find mercy with God and he will pardon your sin though you have been a very vile and wicked person and have committed abundance of sin Isa 55.7 Let thē wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will
have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon 2. If you only confess your sin but soon commit it again and make vows and promises of Reformation but break them as oft as you make them this is not true Repentance this is but dissembling with God and a kind of mocking God when you confess your sin and yet are not resolved to leave your sin and to make vows and Promises when you do not mean to perform them The promise of pardon is to such as confess and forsake their sins not to such as confess and commit them again Prov. 28.13 Whoso confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy VVhen men make Vows and Promises to God to reform their lives and their Hearts are not real neither are they stedfast to what they promise God accounts all our vows and promises but flattery and telling him so many lies Ps 78.34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God And they remembred that God was the 〈◊〉 rock and the high God their Redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed unto him with their tongue For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his covenant § Noah and Lot's Drunkenness will not excuse Drunkards Plea 22. Noah and Lot were good men and there is no doubt but they are gone to Heaven yet they were both drunk with VVine and that in as fearful and shameful manner as ever we were Noah was so drunk that he lay uncovered within his Tent and one of his Sons saw his Nakedness Lot was so overcome with some that he knew not what he did but committed Incest with both his Daughters and why may not we be good men and go to Heaven as well as Lot and Noah though we be now and then overcome with Drink A. 1. Though Noah was once overtaken with Drunkenness and Lot was surprized twice yet they were no Drunkards A Drunkard is one that is addicted and given to the sin of drunkenness one that is frequently overcome with VVine and strong drink A good man may be overtaken with a fault and may fall into sin but they are wicked men that lie and continue in their sins A Sheep may fall into the Mire but they are Swine that love to wallow in the mire 2. Noah and Lot repented of their drunkenness and so obtained Mercy but impenitent Sinners such as instead of repenting go on still in their trespasses instead of Mercy shall receive vengeance from God Psal 68.21 But God shall wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses 3. The falls of the Saints the sins of Lot and Noah and other Servants of God are recorded into Scripture not to justifie or encourage any man in his sins but as warnings to all that think they stand to take heed lest they fall 1 Cor. 10.12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall The Apostle had spoke in the foregoing verses of the murmurings and several other sins of the Israelites and of God's judgments against them for their sins and tells us that these things are recorded that such as think they stand should take heed lest they fall And therefore they that make this use of the fall of the Saints to encourage themselves in their sinful practices wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction 4. Lot's sin was punished in his posterity for the Children which he begat of his Daughters in his drunkenness namely Moab and Ammon brought forth a cursed Generation of Men that proved great Enemies to the Church of God For Moab who was Lot's eldest Daughters Son was the Father of the Moabites And Ben-ammi that was the Son of the younger Daughter was the Father of the Ammonites Gen. 9.37 38. And the Lord had such an indignation against the Moabites and Ammonites that he made a special Law against them above other Nations to exclude them from coming into the Congregation of the Lord. Deut. 23.3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord even to their tenth Generation they shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord for ever § The Plea of such as say Drunkenness is their infirmitie Plea 23. There is no man perfect in this VVorld but all men have their infirmities and failings one in one kind and another in another kind and this is my infirmitie that I love a Cup of good drink too well and when I am amongst my Companions I can't for my heart forbear drinking over much and I hope that seeing this is mine infirmity God will be gracious unto me and not shut me out of Heaven for a sin of infirmity A. 1. It is true all men have their infirmities and failings whilst they are in this World Eccl. 7.20 For there is not a just man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not The holiest men in the world have acknowledged themselves to be imperfect There was not a holier man on Earth than Job if perfection be taken for integrity and uprightness in that sence he was a perfect man Job 1.10 Yet Job was conscious to himself of his infirmities and durst not stand upon his own justification in the sight of God and say that he was perfect Job 9.20 If I justifie my self my own Mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse The Apostle Paul acknowledgeth himself imperfect Phil. 3.12 Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect But although the Servants of God have their infirmities they do not live in such beastly sins as Drunkenness What Moses saith of the degenerate Jews Deut. 32.5 may be applyed to Drunkards They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his Children they are a perverse and a crooked generation They flatter and delude themselves who live in such vicious courses as drunkenness and call their sins their infirmities 2. Such as are frequently overcome with wine and strong drink their drunkenness is not a sin of infirmity but a wilful and presumptuous sin as will appear in these respects 1. A man that sins through infirmitie is willing and desirous to be freed from his sins Matth. 26.40 41. What could ye not watch with me one hour The Spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak The sleepiness of the Disciples was their infirmity their Spirits were willing to have watched but their flesh was weak And such a man as sinneth through infirmity useth means to be freed of his sins Psal 77.10 And I said This iâ—â—â—y infirmitie but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high The Psalmist having through infirmity called in question the love and mercy of God calleth to mind his former experiences of God's gracious dealings with his soul he used means to get out of that sin
drop of water to cool thy tongue All the pains that were ever felt by any men in this world are but flea-bites compared with the Torments of Hell Canst thou hold thine hand one hour in the fire If not how wilt thou be able to lie Body and Soul in Hell-fire for ever The fire of Hell is seven times hotter than any fire on Earth 3. How troubled was Jesus Christ when our sins were only imputed to him He was so full of sorrow that he was ready to die with grief Matth. 26.38 He was in such an Agony that his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground Luk. 22.44 And if our Lord Jesus Christ found it so difficult to bear the punishment of our sins when they were only imputed to him how wilt thou be able to undergo the punishment of thy own sins in the other world for ever 4. It will be no mitigation but an addition to thy torments in Hell that thou shalt have many of thy Neighbours and Companions with thee Their hideous cries and their roarings will add to thy sorrows especially such as thou hast been instrumental to draw to sin The rich man when he was in Hell torments was very solicitous to have means used that his five Brethreen might not come into the same place of torment Luk. 16.28 Which he did not out of love to his Brethren's Souls for there is no true love among the damned in Hell but for fear of encreasing his own Torments It would terrifie a Drunkard and almost put him out of his wits whilst he is on Earth if the Ghost of one of his sottish Companions that died in his sins and is damned for his sins should appear to him and where ever he goeth haunt him But it will be a far greater trouble to be with them and haunted with them in Hell and to have them cry out against them had it not been for you had not you enticed me encouraged me by your example I had repented and had not come into this place of torment § The Atheistical Drunkard's Plea who doth not believe there is a God or Life to come answered Plea 26. As for those that believe there is a God to whom an account must be given for what is done whilst we live in this world and a Heaven for the righteous and a Hell for the wicked and yet live in drunkenness and such like sins they are vile wretches that will act so contrary to their Consciences and their profession but for my part I believe none of these things but do look upon them as Stories and Fables I do not think that there is a God a Heaven or an Hell or a future life but am of opinion that when a man dyeth there is an end of him even as there is of a Beast and therefore I will take all the pleasure I can while I live and do approve of that saying Let us eat and drink for to morrow we must die A. 1. Drunken sottish Atheists that do not believe there is a God are the greatest Fooâ—s in the whole world For there is nothing more evident and plain than that there is a God What we see with our Eyes and hear with our Ears and feel with our Hands is not more â—ure than this truth that there is a God For 1. All Creatures in Heaven and Earth proclaim the being of God with a loud voice Thregular Motions of the Heavens and the fir mament which is beset with an innumerable company of Stars and the constant succession of day and night declare that there is a God and that this God is a glorious God for no Creature was able to frame such a glorious work as the Heavens which are adorned with Sun Moon and Stars these are the work of none but a God neither can any but a God guide and order their motions Ps 19.1 2. The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Day unto day uttereth Speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge Yea if thou goest to the Birds or Beasts of the Earth or Fishes of the Earth and they will convince thee of thy folly and tell thee that he is a very ignorant and blind Creature that doth not see the Workmanship of a God in all these things For none of these Creatures made themselves neither could any man make them none but a God was able to make maintain and govern all these Creatures Job 12.7 8 9. But ask now the Beasts and they shall teach thee and the Fowls of the air and they shall tell thee or speak to the Earth and it shall teach thee and the Fishes of the Sea shall declare unto thee Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought all this All Creatures in the Air on the Earth and in the Sea do proclaim with a loud voice that there is a God and own the Workmanship of God in every Creature 3. They are more foolish than the Ox and the Ass that will not believe there is a God For the Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib Isa 1.3 And seeing all men live and are maintained by the Providence of God Act. 17.28 For in him we live and move and have our being It is greater folly than is found in the Ox or the Ass for a man to deny his Master yea his God that made him and maintains him and to say there is no God 4. The Being of God is so evident that all people in all places and all ages of the World do own that there is a God none but very Fools ever said or thought otherwise Mich. 5.5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and for ever We see here that all people do own a God though many of them are ignorant of the true God and Worship Idols instead of God And therefore they deserve to be chronicled for the veryest Fools that ever lived who think or say in their hearts there is no God Ps 14.1 The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God 2. Thou that thinkest there is no God wert once of another mind before thou hadst debauched thy Conscience by thy sottish courses thou didst believe the being of God as well as other men See therefore into what a woful condition thou hast brought thy self by thy drunken and sottish courses thou art fallen into a worse condition than a Devil and art more blind and hardned than a Devil For the Devils believe there is a God and tremble at the apprehensions of the Torments that he will inflict on them Jam. 2.19 Thou believest that there is one God thou doest well The Devils believe also and tremble And therefore such as neither tremble at Gods judgments nor believe that there is a God are greater Infidels and more hardned than the Devils 3.
hearing the word of God preached is a powerfull means to reclaim men from their sins and bringing them to Salvation 1 Cor. 1.21 It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe Rom 10.17 So then Faith cometh by hearing Meditation also on what we read and hear out of God's Word is a special means to encline our hearts to shun those wayes that are forbidden and walk in those wayes that are commanded in God's Word Psal 119.15 I will meditate in thy Precepts and have respect unto thy wayes § The belief of the truth of those things which the Scriptures speak concerning this sin is an help to our forsaking it 4. Lay to heart and believe the truth of those things which the Scriptures speak concerning drunkards and drunkenness As namely that drunkenness is a manifest work of the flesh concerning which the Lord tells again and again that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 20.21 It will as certainly exclude a man out of Heaven as Murder and Adultery or any other sin We are told plainly in God's word that drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Drunkards shall inherit the Kingdom of God And that Hell is prepared for drunkards and doth as it were open its mouth to receive them and that such as follow after strong drink and enflame themselves with wine though there be multitudes of them and some of them very jolly men and live in great pomp and splendor their pomp and their multitude and their glory shall descend into Hell Isa 5.11 14. The Scriptures tell us plainly that such as drink till they are drunken the Lord will cut them asunder and give them their portion with unbelievers Luk. 12.45 46. And where shall unbelievers have their portion In Hell fire Rev. 21.8 The unbelieving shall have their part in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone So that it is evident from the Scriptures that drunkards shall most certainly be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven and be cast into Hell fire For nothing is more certainly true than what God hath revealed in the Scriptures And therefore let me reason a little with all those drunkards into whose hands this discourse shall come about the certainty of their damnation if they persist in their drunken and sottish courses Suppose all the Ministers that are this day upon the face of the earth and all the knowing and wise men in the World should come to thee and tell thee if thou dost not leave off thy drunkenness thou wilt certainly be shut out of Heaven and be cast into Hell would this startle thee That which the Lord tells us in his Holy Word is more certainly true than what is told us by all the men of the world For all men are fallible and subject to mistakes and may be overtaken with a lye but God is infallible and is a God that cannot lye Rom. 3.4 Let God be true and every man a lyar Suppose one of thy drunken companions that dyed in his sins and is now in Hell should be permitted to come from the dead and should tell thee Hell fire is an intolerable torment for I have been in it and I am sent by God to thee to tell thee except thou dost repent of thy sins and leave of thy drunkenness thou shalt as certainly go to Hell as I or any other sinner would this make thee leave thy sin Or suppose one of thy Godly Friends or Acquaintance that is now in Heaven should come to thee from Heaven and say I am sent from God to tell thee that except thou dost repent and leave off thy drunkenness thou shalt surely be cast into Hell would this startle thee wouldst thou believe this Message would this make thee repent God's word is more to be credited and a more forcible means to perswade men to repent than a message brought by a Saint or Sinner risen from the dead Luk. 16.30 31. If one went from the dead they will repent And he said unto him if they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Suppose an Angel should call to thee out of Heaven when thou art at a Tavern or an Alehouse and say O thou drunkard except thou dost repent thou shalt surely go to Hell Or suppose an Angel should bring thee a List of the names of those that shall be condemned at the day of judgment would this startle thee to see thy name in that List When the Scripture tells thee that no drunkard shall inherit the Kingdom of God but they shall all without Repentance be cast into Hell-fire that is more certain than if thou heardest a voice from Heaven telling thee thou art a damned creature or then if thou sawest thy name in the List of those that are to be damned for there is as great or a greater certainty in what we read in the Scriptures than in what we hear spoken by a voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1.18.19 And this voice which came from Heaven we heard We have also a more sure word of Prophesy Suppose the Lord himself should come and speak to thee in a dream as he did to Abimelech Gen. 20.3 God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said unto him behold thou art but a dead man for the woman which thou hast taken for she is a mans wife Suppose I say the Lord himself should say to thee in a dream or a vision Behold thou art a damned creature for the evil courses that thou takest if thou dost not break off thy drunkenness I will cast thee into Hell-fire would not this make thee leave off thy drunkenness The Lord tells thee in his Word that drunkards shall not inherit his Kingdom but shall be cast into that Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone And what God saith to thee in the Scriptures is as much to be regarded is as true and certain as what he saith to us in a dream or vision or by an audible voice from Heaven What the Scripture saith God saith for the Scriptures are God's Word and therefore what the Scripiure saith shall be is as certain to come to pass as if it were already done What the Scripture saith is more sure and certain than what we see with our eyes or hear with our eares or feel with our hands for our senses are fallible When Isaac's eyes were dim he mistook Jacob for Esau though he heard him speak and felt him with his hands but what the Scripture saith is infallible For all Scripture was given by inspiration of God and God is an infallible God And therefore know O drunkard whosoever thou art that readest these lines that if thou dost not leave off thy drunkenness thy damnation is more certain than any thing that thou seest with thy eyes or hearest with thy eares or feelest