their lives for Christ that cannot deny their sensual Appetite Was it ever known that a Debaucht Drunkard ever suffered for him As Drink increaseth their Thirst and the more they drink the more they may so Drunkenness increaseth Hell-fire like Oyl which will never be quenched The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life Rom. 6. 23. Nay God tells us as plain as he can speak that a Drunkard shall not go to Heaven 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 10. 19 20 21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulation Wrath Strife Sedition Heresie Envying Murther Drunkenness Revilings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And I fear that most Drunkards are guilty of many of these What now can you say for your selves why this is not your portion Do you think God is not just will he speak one thing and do another or is he not able to do as he saith and that you shall go to Heaven notwithstanding See what God saith to such Deut. 29. 19 c. He that heareth the words of this Curse and blesseth himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the stubborness of my heart adding Drunkenness to Thirst the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lite upon him and God shall blot out his name from under heaven However great Offenders in this life may escape temporal judgments yet spiritual judgments which are far more dangerous seize upon them blindness of mind hardness of heart searedness of conscience a reprobate sense strong delusions c. and eternal judgments dog them at the heels the Devil that now sets them on work takes notice of their work that he may not be behind with them with their wages but what this wages is the tongue of men nor angels cannot fully describe for though the torments themselves are exquisite yet the duration is an aggravation though the pain of loss be inexpressible and the pain of sense be insupportable yet Eternity is unimaginable and though the pain of sense be ten thousand times beyond our conceiving yet the perpetuity of it will be the greatest torment and the word Never will be a Hell in the midst of Hell If the Drunkard were to suffer but a thousand years in Hell for every Cup of Drink he hath drunk above measure and this would be dear-bought pleasure yet were there hopes an end would come Ah! but what is this to Eternity Oh Eternity Eternity how shall we conceive of thee how shall we number thee If this be the Drunkards portion we may well say as the Holy Ghost doth Woe to them Job 10. 50. If I be wicked woe to me If the aking of the head saith one came before the Drinking of the Wine which usually follows it there would be few Drunkards But I think we may well say If but one hour the pains of Hell were felt by them it would make them sober all their life If now you would not lose the use of Reason and be transformed into a Beast if you would not bring upon your Body Deformities without and Infirmities within if you would not bring reproaches upon your self and bury your good name in obloquy if you would not debauch your soul and incline it to all manner of wickedness if you would be preserved from that filthy sin of Adultery to which this inclines you if you would not waste your Estate ruin your Family undo your Wife and Children and bring them to beggery if you would not unfit your self for any calling and Employment or any Duty to God or Man if you would not by intemperance hasten your own death and set a period to your life if you would not bring the horrible judgments of God upon you and force him to cut you off in the midst of your days and if you would not lose your Soul and suffer the vengeance of Eternal Fire take heed of this filthy beastly sin of Drunkenness which carries all those evils and many more in the belly of it Thus you see what Charge I have drawn up against this sin of Drunkenness and much more may be said for 't is a fearful Mother and most sins are bred in the Womb of it or fed or fostered by it for in sin almost nothing can be named but Drunkenness doth patronize it and excites men to the practice of it I do not hereby intend or mean that all that are addicted to it are guilty of all other villany some perhaps never blasphemed or murthered yet this in others is the cause of blasphemy and murther neither do I mean that all that ever were overtaken with Drink that they are thus to be tearmed A Godly Man may have his slips though this is rare but there is a difference between a Sheep and a Swine as I said the one falls into the Mire unwillingly the other wallows in it so here some are surprized unawares as 't is conceived Noah was These by repentance wash away their spot and others seek occasions and are not well till they find them And now though I have done with Drunkenness in the general yet have I not done with you in particular for I conceive your sin admits of many aggravations which some other mens sins do not and that is worse in you then in them some of those I shall draw up against you that if possible I may shame you out of it for though this sin by some is compared to Hell few fall into it that recover and by some to the Gout incurable yet I having known some have recovered I am not out of hope The aggravations are these Aggra 1. Consider your Education which was Civil nay not only Civil but Religious you are extracted from those that were Ancicient professors trained up in Family Duties Prayer and Praise the Word of God was read in the Family and many a prayer put up with you and for you you were dedicated to God in your Baptismal Vow which since you owned and were listed into his company and shall all this be lost upon you it had been better then for you that you had had Turks or Pagans for your Parents Many an Exhortation and loving Admonition you have had the danger of sinful courses you have been told you have had examples and presidents of a Holy Life before you and some of the contrary and you have seen the
you saw each others faces and those that now give such big words against God and Godliness will then call upon the Mountains to fall upon them and the Hills to cover them Well such a day will come and we know not whether you have a day to live or what may be in the womb of the next morning Our Saviour Christ adviseth to prepare for it Luke 21. 34 35. And take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares for as a snare shall it come on all them than dwell on the face of the whole earth How dare you spend a day in an Ale-house that do not know if you have another to live But as the Poet saith Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem rides cum non sit forsitan una dies Many a man would weep and mourn if he knew he had but a month to live that now laughs and rejoyceth and hath but a day to live This time which now you so lavishly spend neither in your general nor particular calling must be accounted for and what the price will be God only knows and at death whether do you think the time spent in Humilation Prayer Hearing Reading Meditating Christian Conference Exhorting the Careless instructing the Ignorant comforting the Dejected visiting the Sick relieving the Poor and generally in Acts of Piety and Charity will bring most comfort or the time spent in Drinking and Drabbing in Hawking Hunting Carding Diceing Cocking Playing or such like Vanities I know not what your thoughts be now but I know what they will be hereafter God hath allowed us no time to spend idly but all should be spent either in our general or particular Calling or that which may enable us thereunto but there are many that can spare no time from their Recreations either for the one or the other but time will be better valued Aggra 8. By your accustoming your self to this filthy sin you are grown more bold and impudent in it it hath almost if not altogether taken away the conscience of sin you are almost come to that pass as those that God complained of Jer. 6. 15. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination Nay they were not ashamed neither could they blush therefore they shall fall amongst them that fall c. Is not this your condition Nay do you not rather boast of it And indeed this sin is grown very brazen faced in our dayes the time was when They that slept slept in the night and those that were drunk were drunk in the night This sin was a work of darkness and like the Owl was ashamed to be seen by day but now it fears no colours men are not ashamed to be seen reeling in the streets or vomiting in the Market-place or dead-drunk at noon-day or swearing in the Magistrates presence such a height of Impiety men are arrived at but there was some hopes when sin was driven into corners but there is little when it dares Authority and beards the Magistrate himself By often sinning men come to be past feeling like a Workman's hand by much labor is hardened Conscience when 't is often check'd and snub'd at last leaves checking and the Devil sears it with his hot iron that it becomes unsensible but at last it will speak and will not hold its peace the Devil at last makes a path-way over the heart and so all the seed is lost that falls upon this High-way ground and men become Sermon proof and Ordinance proof they can sit still and have Hell-fire flasht in their faces and not regard it What God speaks of the Leviathan Job 4. 24 is true of them in another sense Their heart is as firm as a stone yea as hard as a piece of the neather millstone The Acts of sin increase the habit and at last it becomes as natural to them to sin as to live and they draw in iniquity as they draw in their breath they commit sin as easily as water runs down the Channel Custom breeds a second nature of such doth God speak Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good which are accustomed to do evil Some vainly promise themselves repentance hereafter but their deceitful heart puts a cheat upon them there is not one of many that send repentance thus before them that ever overtake it Those that have long accustomed themselves to sin and those that have long enjoyed the means of grace and are grown Sermon proof and those that have made Profession of Religion and faln back 't is a rare thing to see them prove true Converts How much of this concerns you let your own Conscience judge I do not say God will not receive such when they do come but I have not observed many such willing to come Aggra 9. By this sinful course of yours you also disable your self for doing that good in the place which God requires at your hands and otherwise you might do either to the souls or bodies of others for the soul you have a great deal of knowledge and might have been very instrumental of doing good in your place either by admonition exhortation reproof counsel comfort or such like but you have made your self incapable almost of doing any good this way by your bad example Who will think you are in earnest when your actions give your tongue the lie Who will not think you do not believe your own words Do not you throw down with the one hand what you build with the other Who can think that you believe there is indeed such a deformity in sin and such a beauty in holiness that observes your life and conversation How can you say to your Brother Let me pluck out the mote out of thy eye when you have a beam in your own Will not he quickly say Physician heal thy self Qui alterum incusat probri ipsum se intueri oportet He is an unfit reprover that is guilty of the objected crime And for the Body you likewise disable your self for doing that good that God requires and which otherwise you might do God hath given you a competent estate whereby you may be helpful to those that want he gave it to this end to feed the hungry and cloath the naked to be ready to do good willing to distribute and to be rich in good works Think not that you are the chief Proprietor you are but a Steward and must give an account you may not do as you will with what you call your own but if you dispose of your Estate according to the mind of God he will give you sufficient wages But by this your extravagant courses and excessive spending you waste not onely your own part but Gods part also which he hath reserved for the poor All men are his servants and what they have are but
fills the Body with loathsom diseases 'T is Fabled the Giant Briareus had an hundred Hands and fifty Bellies but some men have one Belly would devour as much as an hundred Hands can get and commonly the greatest Bouzers are the greatest Buzzards and are fit for nothing but to Drink These not only shame but undo their Families Friends Children and Relations and are a shame to the place they are bred to the Church and Nation where they live they are as one saith the Devils eldest Sons and therefore when they come to their Inheritance in Hell they will be sure of a double Portion they bring much Grist to his Mill and have done their Father much Service and may expect good Wages some of them have been well educated received many Talents have Learning Parts Gifts and Endowments which they have not only lost but obliterated Reason it self and God hath deprived them of those Talents and bestowed them on others and will condemn them to utter darkness Mat. 25. 28 c. And whenever they die they shall leave a stink behind them for did you ever find a sweet savour proceed from a putrified member If therefore you would preserve a good name and merit a good report among the wisest soberest most serious persons take heed of this odious sin which certainly will brand you with Infamy and load you with obloquy and disgrace Consid 4. As this Sin doth deform the Body and blemish the Name so it also debauches the Soul and inclines it to all manner of wickedness for what Sin is so odious that a Drunkard in his cups will refuse to do when the Drink is in the Wit is out and when he is heated in his Drink he is Pot-valiant and will prove the Devils Champion and undertake any enterprize we have known or heard it at at least when in Drink some have killed their Fathers and Mothers ravished their Sisters murdered their best Friends and nearest Relations and do we not daily see though not Perhaps every individual Drunkard they are commonly great Swearers Blasphemers flying out in their Cups at the very Face of God are they not usually great Liars ribald filthy obscene speakers quarrellers fighters reproachers and what not what service soever the Devil hath for them to do they are prest to do it though he sets them about the most dangerous unreasonable work in the World and the basest drudgery the Taverns and Alehouses are the Devils Schools where his Language of Hell is taught and his Shop where men are trained up in his work and commonly out of Hell you shall scarce hear any speak his Language more naturally then there for here commonly are some old artists provided to instruct the rest in this Devilish art of Hellish Rhetorick and to discourse here of Religion Holiness and the Power of Godliness seems as unsutable and unsafe as to discourse of the Protestant Principles before the Spanish Inquisitors or the Conclave of Cardinals yea some are ready to quarrel that man that names God except in an Oath or vain speech as one that comes to torment them before the time and comes on purpose to spoil their sport Now what pleasure can a man take in such Company Solomon adviseth Prov. 22. 24 25. Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy Soul And the like reason holds here among debauched sinners where never good can be learned many temes evil he that toucheth Pitch shall be defiled and he that meddles with a wicked man gets himself a blot he that danceth among the Devils Lime-twigs is commonly snared in them The Drunkards are Leperous persons no clean person should associate himself with them they have a Plague-Sore upon them and we may well fear the Infection Man is an imitable Creature and like the Camelion apt to change with the Company and like Drink apt to smell of the Cask and this Sin is as Infectious as the Plague it self and more dangerous that only kils the the Body this Soul and Body their acts usually increase the habits and at last bring it to a Custom and Custom is a second Nature and after a while that Sin which at first men stumble at at last 't is as easy as Water to run down the Chanel 't is a sure signe of an ungracious Heart to delight in wicked Company Noscitur ex comite qui non dignoscitur ex se What Solomon speaks by way of caution concerning the Whorish Woman may be applied here Prov. 5. 8. Remove thy way far from her come not nigh to the door of her House this would be safe in this case he that would not be burnt must dread the Fire he that would not hear the Bell must not meddle with the Roap to venture upon the Temptation and then to Pray lead us not into Temptation is like him that puts his Fnger into the fire and Prayes that it may not be burnt or leaps into the Sea wilfully and prays against drowning custom in Sin boldens a man hardens his Heart and sears his Conscience at first a man deals by Sin as the Fox in the Fable with the Lion at first he is terrified the next time a little bolder afterward approaches nearer and discourses him the application is easy He that walks in the council of the Vngodly will e're long stand in the way of Sinners yea and sit in the seat of the Scornful Psal 1. 1. In those societies you can hardly choose but hear some mock or scorn blurted against the Power of Godliness which methinks should savour ill-with a Gracious Heart yea with an ingracious man and spoil all his mirth strict Holiness must needs be censured at least for needless scrupulosity or how can persons satisfy themselves in their debauched practices at first it may be such discourse may trouble them having drunk in other Principles but in time this will wear off and down well enough and at last become natural and the throat of your Conscience wide enough to swallow these Gudgeons without straining and in process of time a Camel will not choak you I have read of some and heard of one in our times that by little and little inured themselves to eat poison and at last Spiders Toads and such like would serve them for food some men at first feared an Oath but by little and little learnt to swear little Oaths or something like Oaths at first and afterwards the greatest would down without chewing till they come to this they scarce knew when they swore it was so usual as in some distempers the Excrements pass from them without their knowledg Joseph in Pharaoh's Court learnt to Swear By the life of Pharaoh probably he would have scrupled it when under his Fathers tuition And is it any wonder if men learn worse words in a worse School many men amongst us have taken such a cursed habit of Swearing
and Cursing that if the Law were duly executed all their Estates would not pay their Mulcts they deal with Christ as a Kennel of Hounds do with an Hare pluck him to pieces wound and tear him what in them lies limb meal neither his Blood nor his Wounds nor his Head nor his Heart nor any other part shall escape and they even dare Vengeance it self to punish them like Mad-Dogs they bite and snatch at all and would make all as mad as themselves and is this company to be desired by a civil man and in their quarrelling also and contentions which is not unusual upon the Ale-bench they are like Fire-brands ready to kindle one another not only Swearing and Railing but also fighting Quarreling and Murder it self is the effect of Drunkenness but perhaps you will say you are not guilty of Swearing Cursing Quarrelling and such like but 't is almost impossible you should be otherwise how can you discourse them but in their own Language and I fear I have some grounds for my fear that you have lost some degrees of Innocency and cannot wash your hands from these transgressions but suppose you are not actually guilty are you not accessary to the Oaths and Curses which you do not reprove and that you do not reprove them is evident by their delight in your Company Can you hear the name of God Blaspemed his Children abused strict Holiness which is Gods Image derided and hold your Peace and testify not your dislike doubtless you make their Sins your own by connivance were there true Love to God to his Word his ways his Image his People you would have something to say in their behalf or break off society with Gods deadly Enemies their Sin will be laid at your door Can you hear your Pot-valiant Companions Blaspheme God and have nothing to say in his Cause Can an ingenious Child here his Father abused and hold his Peace many in their Cups are like the Thracians when it Thunders and Lightens they shoot up their Arrows towards Heaven that by this means they may bring God to a more reasonable Composition many when they cannot speak sense can speak Bsasphemy and when they cannot speak Reason can speak Treason and can you wipe your Mouth and say you have not offended and all this is nothing to you when it is daily done in your company and are not you guilty of the many Acts of Drunkenness if not of your self of others when you Drink and Pledg their Healths which is the Devils Shooinghorn to draw on Drunkards yea perhaps force others to take a greater proportion of Drink than they can bear do you really think God gave his Creatures to be thus abused Read Hab. 2. 14 c. Wo to him that giveth his Neighbour Drink and putteth the Bottle to him and maketh him Drunk that he may look upon his nakedness c. If you do the Work you are like to have the Wages many an Health drunk on Earth that will be pledged in Hell if you would not debauch your Soul and be guilty of these and other Sins which are the usual Fruits of this filthy Vice beware of it betimes Consid 5. This Sin of Drunkenness among other flagitious crimes is a great promoter of that filthy Sin of Adultery which lays a man open to the righteous Judgments of the great God Whoremongers ond Adulterers God will judg Heb. 13. 3. It was the judgment of some of the Ancient Fathers and that not without reason that a Drunkard could not be Chast for he that breaks the hedg of Gods Law what can hold him If a Divine Precept cannot restrain him but for the love of a Cup of Drink he will be a transgressor who can think but if the Devil mend his Wages he will mend his Work or when a Man or Woman hath no more reason than a Beast why should they not act as Beasts Without distinctions of persons here commonly are neither temptations provocations opportunities nor importunities wanting and if the fear of God be absent and how can that he present where the wilful breach of his Laws are daily acted what can restrain them Venter non habet Aures He that will break one Command knowingly what should restrain him from the breach of another which Nature doth every way as much incline men to That Man or Woman that is not Abstinent I cannot see any great grounds to believe they are Continent Lot in Sodom though he doubtless had many provocations and temptations to Lust and many examples of this nature yet could withstand them And his righteous Soul was vexed with the unclean conversations of the wicked Sodomites 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. but too much Wine lost the reins of Reason and he became a brute and committed Incest with both his own Daughters had not David believed that Wine was a provoker of Lust he never had tempted Vriah with it to provoke him to go home to his Wife to cover his Adultery Rioting and Drunkenness precedes Chambering and Wantonness Rom. 13. 13. The first evil saith Ambrose of Drunkenness is the hazzard of Chastity and truly those that will be perswaded to be Drunk I think 't is no great business to perswade them to Adultery also for as a filthy Lake is full of Froggs though no Fish can live in it so the Drunkards Heart is full of Lust though no Grace can thrive there Bacchus is the Pander to Venus and Wine is the Fuel to heat the Oven when the Belly is full of Wine the Heart is full of Lust They are saith the Prophet hot as an Oven Hos 7. 7. Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus When the Fuel is withdrawn the Fire ceaseth 'T is Solomon's Council Prov. 23. 31 c. Look not upon the Wine when it is red when it giveth its colour in the Cup when it moveth it self aright and why so At the last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adder why what is the event Thine eyes shall behold strange women and thy lips shall utter perverse things This is the Danger this is the Sting Venter aestuans saith Jerome spumat in libidinem Drunkenness is the Gallery that leads to Letchery Vina parant animos Venere saith another When men are heated with Strong Drink they are like to hot Iron the Devil which is the Smith with his Hammer of Temptation may forge them into any shape they are then like Wax softened they will take any impression they are then like Paper you may write what you will upon it or make what blot you please and the Devil is apt to write his own name upon them and to draw a Conveyance to pass over their Souls to him Jer. 5. 7 8 9. When I had fed them to the full they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by heaps into Harlots houses They were as fed horses in the morning every one neighing after his neighbours Wife Shall not I visit for these things
saith the Lord and shall not my Soul be avenged on such a nation as this That heat which is got in the Tavern is oft cool'd in the Brothel-house the Blood heated by Bacchus is cool'd by Venus Chastity seldom sleeps in a Drunkards bed neither doth Virtue lodg with so foul a Swine Venus as 't is Fabled was ingendred of the Froth of the Sea and Venery is produced by the fumes of Strong drink The Devils office is not to quench Fire but kindle it he kindles the Fire of Lust by the Fire of Drunkenness and the Fire of Hell with both experience proves this point for since Drunkenness came so much in fashion Adultery is not ashamed to shew its head when the one was driven into corners the other was ashamed to be seen but now men hang out rotten fruit in the sight of the Sun and declare their Sin as Sodom and hide it not men are not ashamed to be seen reeling in the Street vomiting in the Market-place or place of Judicature and with Zimri to bring their Whores to the Tent door before the People or with Absolom spread a Tent on the top of the House that all may take notice of it But what will they do in the end thereof Now they assemble themselves by troops in the Harlots houses but it will be bitter in the latter end Wicked men and seducers wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Those that heretofore were ashamed to be seen in an Alehouse much more in a Whore-house now make it their Glory They glory in their shame and are ashamed of their Glory that River of wickedness which at at first was fordable now overfloweth the banks and knows no bottom Jer. 6. 15. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush therefore they shall fall among them that fall c. When sin creeps into corners there is some hopes it will not be charged upon the Nation but when it becomes brazen-faced and braves Authority it self and sends chalenges to Heaven 't is ripe for judgment a beautiful Harlot is one of the Devils Lime-twigs to catch Fools which he layes with great success which brings much Grist to his Mill and much advantage to his Trade she like the Cackatrice kills with her looks but those that are deluded by her shall one day wish they had been blind before they had seen her I cannot accuse all Drunkards of Whoredom but of all Men and Women I should the most suspect them for those that have thrown off the reins of Reason I know not what should rule them those that break the Cords of Gods Law I know not with what they should be tied those that are false to God I know not what should make them true to a yoakfellow those that fear not to Blaspheme his Name abuse his Creatures undo their Families their Wives and Children venture upon the wrath of God the loss of the Soul the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell and all for a little Swinish Pleasure in Drink what should hinder them from Adultery if they imagin it will bring them as much or more Pleasure than it what should keep them in awe not the Law of God not Conscience of Sin not fear of Hell or hopes of Heaven for all these could not hold them before Solomon tells us Wine is a mocker strong Drink is raging and he that is overtaken with it is not wise Prov. 20. 1. Whordom Wine and new Wine take away the heart Hos 4. 11. For a Whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit She also lieth in wait as for a prey and increaseth the transgressors among men Prov. 23. 27 28. But there are some that affect the name of Roaring Boys which without Gods mercy will retain the name for ever If God hath preserved you from this filthy Vice this Soul-damning Sin of Adultery bless God For it leads to the Chambers of Death Prov. 7. 27. The Harlots house is the way to Hell going down to the Chambers of Death 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. and if you would be preserved from this Sin which will lead you as an Ox to the slaughter and as a Fool to the correction of the Stocks Prov 7. 22 take heed of this Sin of Drunkenness which is the readiest road to it fly from it as from the face of a Serpent Consid 6. This filthy nasty Sin of Drunkenness destroys the Estate ruins the Family beggars the Posterity and exposes them to want and poverty and should you invent a way to ruin your self and family you can scarcely pitch upon any surer and more certain way than this is Scripture Reason and daily experience prove this so evidently and fully that it cannot be denied He that loveth pleasure shail be a poor man and he that loveth Wine and Oyl shall not be rich Prov. 23. 20 21. Be not amongst Wine-bibbers amongst riotous eaters of flesh for the Drunkard and the Glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags and the experience of all ages of all Nations of all Cities Towns Countries and Villages are undeniable arguments to prove this and save me a labour to speak much of it few but can evidence this truth by experience How many ancient Families in our times and in our Neighbourhood have by Drunkenness been everted and overthrown nay where do you see one that is much addicted to this vice but there is a sensible decay in his Estate perhaps there may be some that have large Revenues coming in left them by their Predecessors whose Estates are not quickly perceived to moulder away but doubtless there is a Worm eating at the root of this Goard that in time will make it wither God will blow upon it and a secret curse of God will dry up this their Euphrates many have turned Houses Livings Lordships down their throats and many of the great ones that have Thousands per annum cannot keep both ends together and no wonder when Gods Laws are violated that nothing they do prospers there are many men as one saith drink God out of their Hearts Health out of their Bodies Wit out of their Heads and Money out of their Purses the Ale out of the Barrels Wives and Children out of doors the Land out of quiet and Plenty out of the Nation and when all is done they have nothing to shew for it but some Buttery door Buttons a red firey measled pimpled Nose and Face a diseased dropsical gouty deformed Body and a Leprous Soul and do procure such an insatiable thirst that can never be satisfied the more they drink the more they may as Solomon saith He that loves Silver shall not be satisfied with Silver so he that loves Strong Drink will never think he hath enough they drink not only the poors part for which they shall be called e're long to a strict account they being Gods
stewards to give them their meat in due season Mat. 24. 45 c. but these gormundizing wretches devour also their Childrens Portion even that which was left them by their Predecessors expose them to want and beggery how many poor Children had been better if they had never seen such Parents How many Wives and Children lie weeping and wailing and wringing their hands at home not having Bread to eat or Cloathing to put on when their Prodigal Husbands or Fathers are merry enough amidst their Cups and Queans devouring that which should sustain them but these will prove bitterness in the latter end and God will make them vomit up those sweet morsels they so greedily swallowed see the Doom of such Offenders Matth. 24. 49 c. Many a poor Labourer that hath but from hand to mouth and with his work can scarcely maintain his Children with Bread yet is so addicted to this bewitching Vice or so won upon by cursed company that oft-times he spends in a day what should maintain his Family a week and so expose them either to Begging Stealing or Starving and many spend that in youth should maintain them when they are old sell their Estates ruin themselves and if the Parish make not provision either Beg or Steal and oft end their dayes in Prison or on the Gallows There are many that fear poverty more than Hell and think that the greatest argument against Drunkenness which yet is to be feared are like to have the one in earnest of the other for neither Poverty nor Hell can make them leave this Beastly Sin God will give such something in hand and the Devil will pay them the rest of their wages and those that keep such men company get a blot to their own Souls Prov. 21. 17. Noah got nothing amongst the luxurious old World nor Lot in intemperat Sodom The Prodigal spent his Substance with riotous living Luk. 15. 13. and there are many Prodigals in our age there are many that like Livius are their own Executors and may boast as they did that left their Heirs nothing Praeter Coelum Coenum the Air to breath in and the Ground to tread upon Some drink the Cloth off their Backs the Money out of their Purses the Beds whereon they lie and the Houses wherein they live Oh the bottomless Gulf of a devouring Throat which like the Horseleech cries give give and can never be satisfied or like Hell that never saith it is enough these men fall oft-times from Luxury to Beggery from Beggery to Thievery and from thence to the Halter from the Tavern to Tyburn from the Alehouse to the Gallows I need not give you examples of this kind every place is full yea too full you cannot open your eyes but you must see them and in them foresee what is like to be your condition if you follow such courses like Sins will bring like Judgments Now therefore if you would avoid this certain mischief which unavoidably will follow this wicked Vice the ruin of your estate the undoing of your Wife and little Children exposing them to those Miseries that Want and Beggery are attended with if you would not undo your self and your Posterity and bury your Family in the ashes of ignominy If you would keep your your self out of Debt and Danger out of Prisons and Fetters if you would not procure the Wrath of God and force him to cut you off by some untimely death or the Curses of a ruined Family if you would not procure the grief of your Friends and the scorn of your Enemies leave off these courses betime and break off your sinful society which are the Cords of Vanity with which the Devil draws you on in his service and by Custom they will be Cart-ropes to ty you faster to him and lead you after him to Hell it self Consid 7. Drunkenness unfits a man for any Calling Place or Office in Church or Commonwealth for any imployment vocation or business whatsoever for any duty either to God or man either to our general or particular calling and consequently it renders a man an useless unserviceable unprofitable burthen of the Earth and like Salt that hath lost its savour thenceforth good for nothing but to be trodden under foot or to be cast off or like a rotten member to be cut off and not cherished lest it infect the other also The ancient Romans commanded such should be banished lest by their ill example they should infect those that were sound such as these have a Plague-sore running upon them and are not fit for human society they are Leperous persons and ought not to come into the Camp amongst the clean Whatever Calling whatever Place whatever Office they are in they are still bringing dishonour to God and grist to the Devils Mill when they are put into the Magistracy they do abundance of mischief Prov. 29. 2. When the righteous are in authority the People rejoyce but when the wicked bear rule the People mourn these men make sad the hearts of those whom the Lord would not have made sad and strengthen the hands of the wicked for how can they execute Judgment and Justice when they themselves are void of Reason or how can they punish Offenders when they themselves are chief in the transgression or how can they take Gods part when they themselves are his sworn Enemies or hinder the Devils work which they design to promote Prov. 31. 4. It is not for Kings O Lemuel to drink Wine nor Princes Strong Drink lest they drink and forget the Law and pervert the Judgment of the Afflicted Many crack their Brains with drinking as Swine do their Bellies and are thenceforth good for nothing But men are but so much the worse by how much the better they should be It was said of Bonosus the Emperour that he was born non ut Vivat sed ut Bibat Not to Live but to Drink and when he was overcome in Drinking by Probus he hanged himself and it was said of him There hangs a Tankard not a man Eph. 5. 18 Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be ye filled with the Spirit intimating all excessive Drinking is downright Drunkenness those that rule according to Law should live according to Law otherwise they throw down with the one hand what they build with the other and do more hurt by their Example than they do good by their Office Did you ever see a Swearer Drunkard or Debaucht Fellow Stockt Whipt or punished by a Drunken Magistrate If the Devil can get such into Office he need not fear but his Work will be done and as he is unfit for the Magistracy so for the Ministry and much more unfit If he be not a fit guide for the Body much less for the Soul they stray themselves and therefore are unfit to be others guides Isa 28. 7. They have erred through Wine and through Strong Drink are gone out of the way the Priests and the Prophets
their Swords in each others Bowels as we read Alexander in his Drink killed his dear friend Clit us only for disallowing his profuse Healths and had he been suffered would afterwards have killed himself and it was not long before he and thirty five more of his consorts killed themselves by immoderate Drinking at one time and forty of his Companions at another But we need not look far for Examples our own Age our own Nation our own Neighbourhood yields us too many how many of our Gallants and youthful Gentlemen within a few years and a few miles have caught their death by their excessive Drinking and died of Surfeits almost every Parish Town and Hamlet may afford examples of some that have come to an untimely end this way either in their Drink killing one another and so come to the Gallows or breaking their necks drowning burning scalding and some such accident or by Surfets Feavors Gouts Dropsies or some dangerous uncurable Disease gotten this way which puts a period to their Lives and Drinking or that by this means run into Misery Danger Debt Poverty and dye on a Dunghil in a Barn c. for want of sustenance or end their days in Prison these and such like are the fruits and effects of this filthy Sin this Sin is as one calls it A flattering Devil a sweet Poison the bane of virtue the Mother of vice voluntary madness the Author of quarrels contentions strife and debate The Drunkard's heart is a fit receptacle for all Vice for as Frogs live and thrive in a filthy lake a stinking ditch where no Fish can abide so Vices are nourished here but no Virtue can live but is poisoned When the old World could not overcome Noah this filthy Sin did this sets it self against the Law of God of Grace of Nature and of Nations 't is the grief of Friends the scorn of Enemies the ruin of Families it opens Hell and shuts Heaven Gates against us The Soul where this filthy Pestiferous weed grows is like that which was sowed with Salt it became baren to every thing that was good The Graces of the Spirit of God cannot abide to dwell in such a nasty House or to lodg with such a filthy Bedfellow for as Smoke drives away Bees so Drunkenness drives away the Spirit of God all holy desires and good resolutions and quencheth all holy motions and is as water to the Fire extinguishing all hopeful beginnings 't is like the Mare mortuum wherein no good Fish can live and therefore if you would not be accessary to your own death both of Body and Soul if you will not run the hazard of a sudden or violent or untimely death or fil your bodies with Surfets Feavors Gouts Dropsies c. by intemperance take heed in time of this filthy Sin for these are the natural Products of it and God doth usually witness against it by such judgments as these Consid 9. Consider the horrible Judgments which God the righteous Judg hath brought upon offenders in this kind In the time of the Law as we may see Deut. 21. 18 19 20. God commanded If a Father had a Son that was a Glutton or a Drunkard and upon reproof and correction would not amend the Father of that Son should bring him out to the Elders of the City and they should stone him Now if Magistrates are negligent of their Duty and will not punish this Sin according to its demerits and if the Ecclesiastical Courts take little notice of it then God is forced to take the Sword in his own hand and cut off the putrified member and though he be slow yet many times he strikes home nay he doth not spare his own people yet he lets them blood as a Physician not as an Executioner As for the other though he reserves many till the general Assizes to have their doom yet some he hangs up in Chains that others may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly Noah though a good man and escaping the pollutions of the old World was after tainted with this Sin God suffered him to uncover his nakedness and to be a laughingstock to his own Son who by this means entailed the curse to him and his Posterity and the generation then to come had cause to bewail the act Righteous Lot whose righteous Soul was vexed with the unclean conversation of the wicked Sodomites fell through this Sin to that of Incest for this seldom goes alone and became the Father of the Moabites and Ammonites two cursed generations haters of God and his People which had he lived to see would have been a further trouble to him My intention is not in reciting these examples to rank them amongst Drunkards or confer that odious name upon them for 't is not our bare simple act deserves or can fasten such an imputation upon them A godly man by the subtilty of Satan's temptations and the prevalency of corruptions or inadvertency not knowing the nature of Wine as it may be imagined of Noah if not of the other may fall in the Sin but there is difference between a Sheep falling in a foul way which riseth again shakes himself and takes better heed and a Swine that wittingly willingly and delightfully wallows in the mire A Godly man through imprudence or want of heed may have a fall and lose some degrees of innocency which is great cause of shame and Sorrow but those that make it their Trade and daily practice best deserve the name But Gods dealing with others is more severe Elah the King of Israel drinking himself Drunk in his Steward's House was killed by Zimri his own Servant a sad death especially at such a time when he was most unfit to dye the like had befallen Nabal in his Drunkenness had not wise Abigail prevented it and when he heard the danger he was in his heart became as a stone within him and he died 1 Sam. 25. 36 c. Amnon one of holy Davids ungracious Sons who before had ravished his Sister Tamar and when his heart was merry with Wine was slain by the Command of his Brother Absalon 2 Sam. 13. 28. Benhadad and the thirty two Kings that were with him being all Drunk a sad example to their Servants had his mighty Army defeated by a handful of Ahabs men and hardly escaped with his life Belshazzer carousing Wine with his Wives and Concubines in the Vessels of the Temple had the Hand-writing sent by God upon the Wall which foretold his ruin and destruction which suddenly fell out accordingly Holofernes in his Drink was killed by Judeth and should we examine the Records of all ages you may find God's terrible hand stretched out against men of this profession some have grown so audacious as to drink Healths to the Devil himself such a beast or rather Monster was Pope John the twelfth or as some reckon the thirteenth A Lincolnshire man drinking a Health to the Devil fell down dead in the place
three more in Germany for the like offence were all found dead the next morning In Almain in the year 1580 one drinking a Health to God stretching his hand towards Heaven with a cup of Wine was dead in that posture neither by strength could be removed the other by the people was hanged on Gibbets before the door I have heard also of some struck suddenly dead in the very act some drowned some scalded to death some choaked with the Drink some broke their necks some lying in the way were slain by Carts some in their Drink murthered their Parents many that have caught surfets and died upon them he that would read more examples of this nature may find them in Beard 's Theatre of Gods Judgments and in Mr. Clearks Treatise upon the same subject but the experience of our own times may spare us that labour for who is so great a stranger in the neighbourhood he lives in but may add examples of this nature how oft do we hear and see men struck dead in the very act or suddenly after with Surfeits or otherwise were it but convenient the time the place the persons names might be produced and no man of discretion that takes any notice of Gods dealings in the world but may add some experience which shews Gods hatred of this detestable Vice for I think he hath not more eminently appeared against any Sin except it be against Atheism Blasphemy Adultery or Persecution of the power of Godliness than against this If therefore you would not be guilty of your own death and become the object of Gods infinite hatred and dreadful Judgments If you would not run violently upon your own destruction and force God to cut you off as an unprofitable unuseful member beware of this Sin for doubtless 't is the ready way to temporal and eternal death and if death arrest you by such a Sergeant as this your case is lamentable Consid 10. But the greatest danger is yet behind and that is the loss of the Soul which is ten thousand times greater than the loss of life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life yet the Soul is in more danger than it and where this Sin is predominant 't is a sad sign of an ungracious heart and that the wrath of God hangs over their heads God pronounceth wo to such and who then can speak peace Wo to the Crown of Pride the Drunkards of Ephraim Wo to those that rise early to drink strong drink and continue till night till Wine enflame them Wo to those that are mighty to drink Wine and men of strength to mingle strong Drink Wo to him that giveth his neighbour drink and putteth the Bottle to him and maketh him drunk Doth God speak in earnest or in jest or can he or will he make good his threatnings If so what a woful condition are Drunkards in 't is for this Sin that Hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure Isa 5. 14. These are the men Whose end is destruction whose God is their Belly whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things Phil. 3. 19. They Sacrifice to nothing else but the Creature Thus saith the Lord to such drink and be drunken and spew and fall and never rise again this is spoken to those that make it their business to drink and make others drunk also Jer. 25. 27. These are plying the Devils work and he is preparing them their wages which he will pay them at the day Those that now so profusely spend and wast Gods good Creatures given by him for an higher end the time is coming and will not be long if Repentance prevent not they will not be able to purchase one drop of water to cool their tongues Remember this all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces when there is none to deliver Without Repentance Hell will be your portion and the place of your habitation and endless easeless and remediless Torments are the wages which the Devil pays to his miserable Servants for their most faithful service see the doom of your elder Brother Matth. 24. 49. c. that neglecting the duty God required at his hands to give his fellow-servants meat in due season and doing the work the Devil enjoyned him in beating them and eating and drinking with the Drunkards He was cut in sunder and his portion appointed him with Hypocrites and that unfaithful unprofitable Servant that hid his Talent in the earth was cast out into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matth. 25. 30. and if only those shall have the sentence of absolution at the last day that have fed the hungry clothed the naked relieved the stranger c. Mat. 25. 34 c. What will become of you that spend the poor's part yea and pluck the very meat from the mouths of your Wives and Children and make many others want meat by your extravagancies you know not but some may this day be in Hell tormented in those flames for those very Sins which you occasioned them to commit and no doubt many more will be which may be a sad reflexion upon your own heart If God should give you repentance this may be a Corasive to you you help to destroy men but cannot give repentance but if you repent not the blood of their souls will be required at your hand and did you know the price of this blood you would beware The time is coming a separation will be made between the precious and the vile and though the Wheat and the Tares grow together ere long they shall be separated the wheat shall be gathered into barns but the tares shall be bundled up Swearers with Swearers and Drunkards with Drunkards and burnt with unquenchable fire Drunkenness is compared by some to Chain-shot it sends men to Hell by clusters some other sins to single Bullets that kills but one at once There are many that have knowledge enough in other things and yet know not the way to Heaven they can search Natures Garden from end to end but cannot search their own hearts they are well skill'd abroad strangers at home They are like the Lamiae a sort of Witches that were blind at home quick-sighted abroad They are skilled in all Courts but the Court of Conscience but let them have never so much knowledge they are really fools to sell their souls to Satan for so low a value as a belly-full of Ale They are worse than Esau that sold his birth-right for a Mess of Pottage or a King I have read of that lost his Kingdom for a Draught of Water Can we imagine those are Christians that cannot deny themselves in a Cup of Drink when they have enough before The first Lesson in Christs School is Self-denial and if we deny not forsake not Father Mother Wife and Children yea hate all and our own lives we cannot be his Disciple Can those men lay down
difference The Family you live in hath been a House of Prayer and will you now make it a Cage of unclean Birds You have been warn'd of the Devils Temptations and the Worlds Allurements you have seen the difference between those that have resisted them and those that yielded to them Consider in whether of their cases you would rather be when death calls you and whether a day spen in Prayer or a day spent in an Ale-house wil then bring most comfort you have lived under the powerful means of Grace all your days and heard thousands of Sermons besides other Ordinances and are all those lost Remember what Christ saith of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum It shall be more tollerable for Tire and Sidon or Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than for them A fruitless Tree in the Vineyard is more in danger than if it grew in the Desert Others may say I never knew the danger of such a course my Parents rather incouraged me then otherwise but what can you say or what excuse can you make Aggra 2. The many Convictions which you had upon your Spirit will witness against you that yours is not a sin of ignorance but against knowledge and conscience and those sins as they make the greatest gashes in the Soul so they will make the greatest noise in the Conscience those that sin ignorantly are to be pittied but those that sin wilfully deserve to be punished He that know not his Masters will and doth things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes but he that knows his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many Some ignorant Souls may perswade themselves that Drinking and Swilling is the chiefest happiness but I dare appeal to your Consciences in cool blood whether you do not know to the contrary you have been better instructed and and doubtless have felt a better rellish in something else God hath sent you into his Vineyard to work and will you leave your work before the evening when the time of receiving your wages comes you have been planted in the Vineyard hedg'd about with Gods providence watered with the Dew of Heaven and he hath expected fruit year by year and will you still be barren or worse than barren will you bring forth wild Grapes Grapes of Sodom whose clusters are bitter what could he have done for his Vineyard that he hath not done for us Well ere long he will pluck up his hedg and take away his fence he will lay by his Basket and take up his Axe he will bid cut him down why cumbreth he the ground Lucifers punishment shall be greater because he was an Angel and Julians because he was a Christian and Judas because he was a Disciple and Capernaum Corazin and Bethsaida because they enjoyed the means which others wanted If you have knowledge in the head and not grace in the heart you will carry your own Mittimus to prison with you or like Vriah Letters to cut your own Throat you sin with a Candle in your hand when others ignorance may excuse them a tanto though not a toto your knowledge will encrease your guilt and heighten your torments Aggra 3. Nay you your self have made a profession of Religion and owned your Baptismal Vow you have held out a Lamp in your hand but 't is to be feared have no Oyl in your Vessel the want of which now makes your Lamp shine so dim and you to walk in darkness you performed many duties and put up many prayers and made many promises to God and Man of your Reformation Oh let it not be to tell the World how far a Hipocrite may go and fall short of Heaven and let them know whatever you said you meant nothing less With what face can you ever call God Father or ever beg for mercy at his hands thus to use him or beg power against sin when you mind nothing less than a Reformation Are you inded willing to lose all the pains that ere you have taken in Heavens way now you have born the burthen and heat of the day and for ought you know the time of your receiving reward is at hand Many a day and many an hour you have spent in Prayer Humiliation Hearing Reading Christian Conference Meditation and such like Duties and will you now out-run and lose them all Shall all your Petitions be lost as foolish Boys lose their Arrows shoot them and then mind them no more If a Righteous Man turn from his Righteousness he shall die in his sin Ezek. 3. 20. all his Righteousness shall not be remembred Is the way of Holiness too severe or will heaven be had upon easier terms or were the Godly from the beginning of the world all deceived which took Holiness to be the only way to Happiness and is there a nearer way found out than they dreamed of and was Christ himself deceived that told us the way was narrow and the gate strait that led to Life and few there be that find it or was the Holy Ghost mistaken when he said Drunkards Whoremasters Swearers c. should never enter Heaven Or can you imagine you may dance with the Devil all day and sup with Christ at night or do the Devils work and receive Christs wages or are you willing to take up with the Hypocrites a portion or do you love your company so well that you will go to Hell for company you carry your own condemnation with you If Religion be not good why did you profess it if it be why do you not practice it Or doth Religion teach you such courses I know some will be apt to charge Religion with it from your practice and say see what your professors are they will be drunk as well as others but the Apostle tells us Titus 2. 12. That the grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Have you found out a better master better work and better wages 't is well but praise in the parting The world hates you because of your profession and will you make God hate you for your Hypocrisie Would you reconcile God and the World it will never be or would you have your good things both here and hereafter You will find the mistake you must renounce the one or the other Heaven will not be had in a Vicious Course of Life Aggra 4. This course of life in you that have been a professor of Religion is exceeding injurious both to God and man if you never had pretended better none would have expected better at your hands but to be wounded in the house of our friend to have one with whom we took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in company he lift up the heel against us this would trouble a David himself The former hopes you gave us the noise you made in the world of
more than ordinary sanctity is an aggravation to your crime the higher men clime the greater will be their fall How doth this make sad the hearts of those that the Lord would not make sad and strengthen the hands of the wicked If Israel play the harlot saith God yet let not Judah offend you did run well who hindred you you began well and you end ill you began in the spirit and will you end in the flesh What a blow will this be to Religion when the chief prop in such a family shall not only break but like an Egyptian Reed run into our hands What a discouragement is it to an Army when a chief champion not only turns his back but revolts to the enemy What a dishonour is this to God to leave his service and serve his greatest enemy How will the enemy in sult Lo saith they you see what a master they serve for all their brags they are soon weary of his service Davids sin caused Gods enemies to blaspheme and for that cause God told him The Sword should never depart from his house How doth this sadden the hearts of the godly and fill their faces with shame How is Religion loaded with aspersions as if there were no real difference between the godly and the wicked These say they are your professors they 'll take their cups as well as others Poor doubting Christians are discouraged and think they shall never hold out when such Cedars are shaken and such Champions foiled Others are incouraged in their sin and are apt to say let them have their fling they will come bank again to us ere long What account will you give of this to God at last what iniquity have you found in him that you are departed from him Is there any thing in religion that causeth you to forsake it or hath God ever given you any cause Testifie against him hath he been a barren wilderness to you Is there more real worth in your pot companions which have wrought your ruine if God prevent not both of Body and Soul than is in the communion of Saints and had you rather be hearing swearing cursing and blaspheming than prayers or praises unto God Consider the Blood of your own Soul and the Soul of your Children and Servants that are like to be undone by your example and of many others that are either hardned in their sins or discouraged in their duties will be laid at your door Consider the price of this Blood before you are too lavish of it one Soul is worth a world and do not sell it for pots of Ale Aggra 5. The many Covenants Promises Vows and Ingagements which you have made to God for better Obedience and the many Promises and Ingagements which you have made to Ministers and other Christians and which you have so often broke are no small Aggravation to your sin so that you cannot commit this sin at so cheap a rate as some others may 'T is better not to vow then to vow and not preform In your Baptismal Vow which you have since owned and ratified you were dedicated up to God and devoted to his service and 't is sacriledge to divert things dedicated up to God to profane uses You then received Press-money and listed your self into Christs Company and promised to fight under his Banner and that his Enemies should be your Enemies and you would maintain War while you lived against sin the World and the Devil and he promised you so doing you should have what ever was necessary here and Heaven it self for a reward and to this Covenant you have often set your other Seal in the Sacrament and will you after all these Vows and Covenants to God and Promises to Men treacherously and perfidiously revolt change sides and joyn with the Devil Gods sworn enemy and that to fight against him his cause and people and the power of godliness which you did profess What cause hath God given you to do thus Testifie against him was he ever worse than his word to you nay he was before-ahand with his promise he gave you a better portition in the world than thousands of your brethren you may eat the fat and drink the sweet when others must moil and toil and cark and care and all little enough to prevent poverty All that you have is from him he gave you limbs when others are lame sight when others are blind health when others are sick liberty when others are imprisoned you have the use of reason when others run raging in the streets yea you have your life and breath and all from him and how dare you then provoke him you have not only mercies for this life but for the life to come offered also the means of Grace the tenders of Mercy Christ and Heaven and Glory and for which of all these good things do you hate God and leave his service Can the Devil or your Pot-companions better reward you Can they defend you from the dreadful judgments of a sin revenging God can they secure you under the shadow of their wings If not how dare you provoke this God Are you stronger than he if not why do you take up weapons of defence against him Was there ever any hardened himself against God and prospered God will avenge the quarrel of his Covenant and where are you then Do you know what it is to be an enemy unto God or to have God to be an enemy unto you if you did it might send you trembling to your Grave if you are his enemy and his enemy you are while you serve the Devil for his servants you are to whom you obey you may expect he should deal with you as with an enemy and then what evr judgments you have heard or read of either threatned against or executed upon any graceless wretch you are not sure but nay you may expect that it may be your portion and how ever he may suffer you here to fill up the measure of your iniquity yet he will pay you home full measure and running over 'T is better for you to have all the Men on Earth and all the Devils in Hell against you than God you are but a worm and if he tread upon you he leaves you dead behind him if he with-hold your breath you return to the dust and all your thoughts perish there is no strugling out of his hand Wo to him that striveth with his master let the potsheard strive with the potsheard of the earth Isaiah 45. 9. You can get nothing by this contention Aggra 6. This Carriage and Demeaning of yours how ever it may for a time seem pleasing to your self is yet offensive to God Father Son and Holy Ghost and 't is the grief of all good men that know it to your friends and relations and all that fear God that God takes it to heart you may find by his often complaint of and expostalations with the Children of Israel in their revolts
talents lent to some five to some two and to others one and where much is given much will be required The great Housholder provides meat for all his Family but he keeps Stewards under him to see they shall not want and to give them their meat in due season and you are one of these If now you beat your fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunken your Lord will come when you are not aware and give you your portion with hypocrites Mat. 24. 49 c. The poor have a right to what you enjoy and can spare and though they cannot challenge it and take it yet God will vindicate their cause if it be denied or with-held How much might you promote Religion and Gods interest in your neighbourhood were your life and conversation exemplary But now you do more harm than good by your example and it had been better the Countrey had not known you and that you had never known your Estate if you thus proceed Aggrav 10. The Excessive wasting of your Estate is no doubt a great sin in you at any time but at this time of scarcity especially is a very great Aggravation When there is complaining in our streets and the Children cry for bread when there is none to break it and many poor Families are ready to perish for want and a supply can hardly be found When Corn hath been at such an excessive rate 8 and 9 Shillings the measure Eye the many poor Housholders that before made a handsome shift to live are now forced to beg with their Wives and Families and some 't is believed have perished for want of Bread Now at this time when the hand of God is so evidently stretcht out against us that you and such as you if you were unconcerned should thus waste and devour the good creatures wilfully which should keep poor Christians and one of you swallow down more in one day than would keep a considerable Family with Bread a week Will not the Lord visit for these things and will not his soul be avenged on such a people as this The great Housholder hath provided bread enough for all his Family but that some of them by Gluttony and Drunkenness devour what the others should eat Will he not call them to an account at last See how he likes of it Isa 22. 12 13. In that day did the Lord call for weeping and for mourning and to baldness and girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing sheep c. and it was revealed in my ear by the Lord of hosts surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die God also threatens those That they shall go captives with the first that go that drink wine in Bowles and annoint themselves with chief ointment and forget the afflictions of Joseph Amos 6. 6 7. And the blood of those which have perished for want of those creatures which you have wilfully wasted God will lay at your door In a word consider your pious Education your former holy Conversation the Convictions upon your spirit knowing and acknowledging your courses bad The profession of Religion you have made the incouragements which you gave the sading of the hearts of the Godly the strengthening the hands of the wicked the vows and covenants you have made to God and promises to men the grief you bring your friends and relations the hardning of your heart by custom the disabling your self to do good to soul or body and the wilful wasteing of the creatures in this time of need will all rise up in judgment against you Obj. 1. But it may be you will object and say You do not drink to Drunkenness you can carry it away well enough you stagger not over it neither do you vomit as others do And though I fear this excuse cannot always be pleaded yet if it were taken for granted 't is but a Fig-leaf to cover your nakedness and will prove too thin and short A Man may drink to excess that can carry it away as you say We read of Benhadad whom God himself tells us was drinking himself drunk with the thirty two Kings that were with him and yet could give directions to his Souldiers yea escaped away on Horse-back with his Army The trial of Drunkenness which we have amongst many is not the same with Gods many think that Man is not drunk that can crawl out of the Carts way or rise himself out of the Fire or hit Fingers with another but they are not competent Judges in that case that are themselves so nearly concerned 'T is not only Drunkenness that trips up a Mans heels that he cannot go nor stand but when a Man over-affects Drink or spends too much time or too much money or wastes the good creatures needlesly that drinks too much for his purse or too much for his health or too much for his reason For a Man hath no more reason to drown his time to drown his estate or his credit than he hath to drown his wit for all these are Talents for which he must be accountable But suppose you are stronger than others and can drink more is this therefore a Warrant so to do see whether God seals it or no Isaiah 5. 22. Wo unto them that are mighty to drink Wine and Men of strength to mingle Strong Drink Must God be dishonoured the Creature abused because thou hast a stronger brain 't is pity mercies should be so abused but besides this guilt are you not in the mean time guilty of the Drunkenness of others have you not forced them to it that you may laugh at their folly See then what the Lord saith to you Hab. 2. 15 16. Wo unto him that giveth his neighbour Drink that puttest thy Bottle to him and makest him drunken also that thou mayst look on their nakedness Thou art filled with shame for glory drink thou also and let thy fore-skin be uncovered the cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory Now if you glory in your strength to drink and this too common consider this Text and see what will be the issue The Cup of Gods Indignation will be such as you cannot bear thy own sins are great enough you need not other mens Obj. 2. Perhaps you will say We have the Examples of many yea many great Men and many learned Men and of some good Men also for our imitations Yea this Disease is Epidemical and grown common both in Court and Country and when a fashion is become National 't is no discredit to wear it and 't is true the more is the pitty Examples of great ones are very prevalent and if bad infectious these are Stars of the first Magnitude and like the primum mobile carry all before them and they have oft times a hand in the transgression and leave an infectious air that few can escape that comes near them What a