preserve his Majesty from the danger of all Popish and Sham-Plots and this way is better to shew their true Love to the King than in a Sinful Custom of Healths which provokes the King of Kings to send Judgments on the Kingdom Read Dr. Stillingfleets Text of his Fast-Sermon before the House of Commons Novem. 13. 1 Sam. 12. 24 25. Some Audacious Abominable Health-drinkers were so Wicked as to drink a Health to the great Prince of Darkness their Father the Devil and it is credibly Reported he came boldly amongst them and carryed away some of them as bold as he was One being told that unless he left off his Drunkenness and Whoring he would loose his sight He answered thus Tum valeat Lumen amicum Then Farewell Sweet Light One was put to his choice which of these sins he would choose to commit either to be drunk or to kill his Father or to lie with his Mother he refused the two last and was drunk and then committed the other two At one great Feast in the City since his Majesties happy Restoration I heard they were so mad in their Frolick Cups of Wine and Healths as to drink down small live Fishes and make Fish-ponds in there Bellyes it 's a wonderful Mercy it proved not their last drinking So to abuse themselves and Gods Creatures by Drunkenness and Gluttony it is the way to provoke God to send a Famine on the Land for such wanton excessive doings Remember the Plague time There died in that one Year of the Plague Anno 1665. 68596. in London and Liberties And let us not forget the Lamentable Fire time the 2 d Septem 1666. As it was computed there was consumed to Ashes thirteen Thousand and two Hundred Houses with a vast deal of Goods and Rich commodities to the undoing of many Thousands besides the Ghastly walls of eighty nine Parish Churches and stately Houses and Halls with the Royal Exchange which cost almost an Hundred thousand pounds the new building it again You can expect but a brief touch of things in this Paper but it may serve for a Memento and a Caveat to take heed of sin that is the Plague or cause of all Plagues and Judgments in the World and it caused God to drown the old World and to Rain down Fire and Brimstone on Sodom five Cities together and he is able to do the like again to any Nation that provoke him We may fear this immoderate Rain and flood in the Countrey and beyond the Seas a while since how many have been drowned persons and Estates by it it speaks aloud to England God threatens to punish a people four seven times more Lev. 26. 18 21 24 28. v. except they repent And we ought to Fear that great God that is able easily to Kill both Body and Soul and cast them into Hell-Fire Drunkards are named amongst the greatest sinners that shall be shut out of Heaven Ten several Arguments to prove that Drunkenness is a great a Dangerous and a Woful Sin Arg. 1. That Drunkenness is expresly against the command of God 1. Drunkenness is plainly and expresly forbidden in Gods Word Eph. 5. 18. Be not drunk with wine Luke 21. 34. Take heed to your selves lest at any Time your Hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and Drunkenness Rom. 13. 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and Drunkenness The Drunkard cannot plead Ignorance that he did not know Drunkenness to be a sin he cannot plead for himself as Peter did for the Jews that put Christ to Death Act. 3. 17. I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers 1 Cor. 2. 8. For had they known it they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory Drunkards sin against light both against the light of Nature for Nature teacheth us that it is a shameful thing for a man to be drunk and against the light of Gods Word and that is a great aggravation of sin to sin against the light of Gods Word sins of ignorance are as it were no Sins compared with sins against Knowledge Joh. 15. 22. If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had Sin but now they have no cloak for their Sin Drunkards cast Gods Word behind their backs and trample his Commandments under their feet God saith Be not drunk with Wine take heed left your Hearts be overcharged with Drunkenness But they say in effect though not in words We will not regard these Commandments of God let God say and do what he will we will take our fill of Wine and strong drink Drunkards and other sinners that know Gods will and will not do it contemn and dispise God Psal. 10. 13. Wherefore doth the Wicked contemn God Drunkards are guilty of Rebellion against God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords for sinning against the Light of Gods Word is accounted Rebellion Job 24. 13. They are of those that rebell against the Light and that is a hainous Sin to be Stubborn and Rebellious against the God of Heaven 1 Sam. 15. 23. Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft and Stubbornness is as iniquity and Idolatry Arg. 2. It is a Beastly Sin Drunkennss is a beastly Sin in depriving a man of his Reason and makes him carry himself like a Beast it is a vile thing for a man to degrade and make himself like a Beast Job 18. 3. Wherefore are we counted as Beasts and reputed as vile in your Sight Bildà d thought himself and his Friends wonderfully disparaged when he thought they were counted as Beasts but how do they vilifie and disparage themselves who do in reality make themselves no better than bruit Beasts by their drunkenness Yea this sin makes a man worse than a Beast the Ass is a Silly Beast yet the Ass will not drink to excess they drink no more than will quench their thirst Psal. 104. 11. The Wild Asses quench their thirst And therefore as Solomon sends the Sluggard to the Ant Prov 6. 6. Go to the Ant thou sluggard consider her wayes and be wise so may I send the Drunkard to the wild Asses Go to the wild Asses thou Drunkard and consider their wayes and be wise who having no guide overseer or ruler never drink any more than will quench their thirst though they meet with the best and pleasantest Springs and purest Fountains under Heaven and wilt thou who hast had many Instructors that have taught thee the odiousness of this sin of Drunkenness be inticed by the pureness of the Wine or the pleasantness of this drink to drink to excess Toads and Serpents which are hateful Creatures will not drink more than is suitable and convenient to their natures And shall Man who was made after the Image of God make himself worse than a Toad or a Serdent by drinking to excess Arg. 3. It is a mischievous Sin both to Body Soul and Estate Drunkenness is a most Mischievous Sin and brings a world of mischief along with it both to Soul and Body Estate and good Name 1. It doth great mischief to the Soul For 1 It besots and Stupifies the Soul and estranges a mans Heart from
but turn again to their Vomit and trample the Pearls of all Admonition under feet yea turn again and rend their Reprovers with scoffs and scorns making Jests and Songs on their Ale-bench Yet may some young ones be deterred and some Novices reclaimed some Parents and Magistrates awakened to prevent and suppress the spreading of this Gangrene And God have his work in such as belong to his Grace And what is impossible to the work of his Grace Go to then now ye Drunkards listen not what I or any ordinary Hedge-Priest as you style us but that most wise and experienced Royal Preacher hath to say unto you And because you are a dull and thick eared Generation he first deals with you by way of Question a figure of force and impression To whom is woe c You use to say Woe be to Hypocrites It 's true wo be to such and all other witting and willing Sinners but there are no kind of Offenders on whom Woe doth so palpably inevitably attend as to you Drunkards You promise your selves Mirth Pleasure and Jollity in your Cups but for one drop of your mad Mirth be sure of Gallons and Tons of Woe Gall Wormwood and bitterness here and hereafter Other Sinners shall taste of the Cup but you shall drink off the dregs of God's Wrath and Displeasure To whom is Strife You talk of good fellowship and friendship but Wine is a rager and tumultuous a mocker a make-bate and sets you a quarrelling and medling When wit 's out of the Head and strength out of the Body it thrusts even Cowards and Dastards unfenced and unarmed into needless Frayes and Combats And then to whom are Wounds broken Heads blew Eyes maimed Limbs You have a drunken by-word Drunkards take no harm but how many are the mishaps and untimely misfortunes that betide such which though they feel not in drink they carry as marks and brands unto their Grave You pretend you drink Healths and for Health but to whom are all kind of Diseases Infirmities Deformities pearled Faces Palsies Dropsies Head-aches if not to Drunkards All Interpreters agree that he means some most virulent Serpent whose Poyson is pleasant and deadly All the woes he hath mentioned before were but as the sting of some Emmet Wasp or Nettle in comparison of this Cockatrice which is even unto death death speedy death painful and woful death and that as naturally and inevitably as Opium procureth Sleep as Hellebore Purgeth or any Poyson killeth Three forked is the Sting and threefold is the Death it procureth to all that are stung therewith The first is the Death of Grace the second is of the Body the third is of Soul and Body eternal All sin is the Poyson wherewithall the old Serpent and red Dragon envenomes the Soul of Man but no sin except it be that which is unto Death so mortal as this which though not ever unpardonably yet for the most part is also irrecoverably and inevitably unto death Seest thou one bitten with any other Snake there is hope and help as the Father said of his Son when he had information of his Gaming of his Prodigality yea of his Whoring but when he heard that he was Poysoned with Drunkenness he gave him for dead his case for desperate and forlorn The Adulterer and Usurer desire to enjoy their Sin alone but the chiefest pastime of a Drunkard is to heat and overcome others with Wine that he may discover their nakedness and glory in their Foyl and folly In a word excess of Wine and the spirit of Grace are opposites the former expells the latter out of the Heart as Smoak doth Bees out of the Hive and makes the man a meer Slave and Prey to Satan and his snares when by this Poyson he hath put out his Eyes and spoyled him of his strength he useth him as the Philistines did Sampson leads him in a string whither he pleaseth like a very drudge scorn and make-sport to himself and his Imps makes him grind in the Mill of all kind of Sins and Vices And that I take to be the reason why Drunkenness is not specially prohibited in any one of the Ten Commandments because it is not the single breach of any one but in effect the violation of all and every one It is no one sin but all sins because it is the In let and Sluce to all other Sins The Devil having moistened and steeped him in his Liquor shapes him like soft Clay into what mould he pleaseth having shaken off his Rudder and Pilot dashes his Soul upon what Rocks Sands and Syrts he listeth and that with as much ease as a man may push down his Body with the least thrust of his Hand or Finger He that in his right Wits and sober mood seems Religious modest chast courteous secret in his drunken fits swears blasphemes rages strikes talks filthily blabs all secrets commits folly knows no difference of Persons or Sexes becomes wholly at Satans command as a dead Organ to be enacted at his will and pleasure Oh that God would be pleased to open the Eyes of some Drunkard to see what a Dunghill and Carrion his Soul is become and how loathsome effects follow upon thy spiritual death and sting of this Cockatrice which is the Fountain of the other two following temporal and eternal death How terrible a Theater of God's Judgments against Drunkards such as might make their Hearts to bleed and relent if not their Ears to tingle to hear of a taste of some few such noted and remarkable Examples of God's Justice as have come within the compass of mine own notice and certain knowledge I think I should offend to conceal them from the World whom they may happily keep from being the like to others themselves Here followeth above one Hundred and twenty various sad and fearful Examples of Gods Judgments on notorious Drunkards and Health-Drinkers in England and Foreign Countreys with the places they Lived in twelve of the chief are Graved on Copper Plates to deterr all others from the like Provoking Sins least the like Judgments do befall them 1. AN Alewife in Kesgrave near to Ipswich who would needs force three Serving-men that had been drinking in her House and were taking their leaves to stay and drink the three Ou ts first that is Wit out of the Head Money out of the Purse Ale out of the Pot as she was coming towards them with the Pot in her Hand was suddenly taken speechless and sick her Tongue swoln in her Mouth never recovered Speech the third day after died This Sir Antheny Felton the next Gentleman and Justice with divers other Eye-witnesses of her Sickness related to me whereupon I went to the House with two or three Witnesses and inquired the truth of it 2. Two Servants of a Brewer in Ipswich drinking for a Rump of a Turkey strugling in their drink for it fell into a scalding Cauldron backwards whereof the one died presently the other lingringly
concerning him O that that was the wicked Wretch that drew me away if it had not been for him I had not been in so lamentable a case upon my Death-bed 8. Bonosus a Britain and bred up in Spain usurped the Empire of Rome in the Reign of Probus of whom it is written That he would drink so much Wine as ten great drinkers could not drink so much and therewithall he had two wonderful properties The one was that how much soever he drank he was never drunk The other was that when it pleased him he could piss it out as fast as he poured it in without retaining any jot within his body Being overcome by Probus he hang'd himself The Emperour Aurelian was wont to say of him That Bonosus was not born to live but to drink Imperial Hist. page 211. 9. Tiberus Nero made Novellus Tricongius Pro-consul for that he could drink three Pottles of Wine together with one breath 10. He also preferred Lucius Piso to the Government of the City of Rome because he could sit drinking with him continually for two whole dayes and nights together Suetonius 11. To prevent drunkenness and the evil consequents of it the Carthaginians forbad their Magistrates all use of Wine 12. Solon punished Drunkenness in a Ruler with Death 13. Anno Christi 1578. February 10. in the Countrey of Sâ—aben about Eight persons that were Citizens and Citizens Sons whose names my Author setteth down met together at a Tavern whereof the Masters name was Anthony Huge on a Sabbath morning where they drank themselves drunk and then began to blaspheme God and to scoff at the Host who advised them to leave drinking and to go to Church to hear the Word preached at which they not only continued to mock but went on in their drinking when suddenly the Devil came in among them in the habit of a Cavalier who drinking to them set their mouths in such a fire that these Drunkards not only became amazed thereat but also after a miserable manner were all strangled to death Stephen Batemen Professor of Divinity 14. Anno Christi 1556. in the Town of St. Gallus in Switzerland there was one Peter Besler who was born at Rotmund but was now a Servant to a Citizen whose habitation was near unto St. Gallus This dissolute young man was much given to the beastly Sin of Drunkenness and upon Trinity-Sunday which was May the 21 st he together with some of his Companions went to the Town of Sangal there to be merry And when they had drunk freely this young man began to rail at and to quarrel with his Companions and using many Blasphemies against God he added this Execration also If I serve my Master any longer I give my Body and Soul to the Devil When he had staid there all night in the morning awaking he began to think what words he had uttered the night before yet having no other means of subsistence he resolved to return to his Masters Service but going out of the City when he was now not far from his Masters House a man met him clad in black and fearful to behold who said unto him Go to Good fellow I am now ready to take that which is my right and which thou gavest me yesterday Which when he had said taking the fellow by the hand who was amazed with horror and altogether astonished he threw him to the ground and so vanished Not long after this this miserable young man being found by some of the Neighbours had his hands and feet drawn together and being brought to a Lodging he had the use of all his Limbs taken from him and so continued till he dyed miserably Ibid. Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum It 's good to be warned by other mens harms Healths Drank one Drinks off a pottle pot of Sack and dyes within two hours after One Drownd in a Shallow brook of water being Drunk his horse standing by 5. or 6. Drank Healths in a Strange manner and dyed one after another in few weeks An exceeding Drunkard in Pembrock shire being Drunk broke himself all to pieces from an high Rock More Examples worthy of serious Consideration THere is a very remarkable Story published by Mr. Robert Abbot Minister some years since of Cranebrook in Kent concerning one William Rogers an Apothecary there that was exceeding much given to Drinking and Sabbath breaking He was in his general course as he relates of him a Young man of a sweet and pleasing temper It was reported that the Devil never abused a better Nature and he was observed never to Swear or Curse in all his Life except once but was often admonished and perswaded by Mr. Abbot to come to the Church on the Sabbath-dayes at last he was prevailed with to come though he had often promised and failed The Lords day before in the morning when as he said he was ready to come to Church he was taken sick and betook himself to his Bed it was but as a fit of an Ague which being over he was the next morning in his old course again but about the middle of the week after the messenger of Death came and Mr. Abbot forthwith addressed himself to him in his Chamber saying Oh how often have you deceived God your own Soul and me and what is now to be done I fear you will dye and then what will become of you His sickness so prevailed that it emptied him of any hopes of Life and filled him with thoughts of his present Guilt and future Judgment before the great God who is a consuming fire He apprehending his own misery made it known to him and others there was too great a fire within to be Smothered it burned in his own Soul and it Lightened from his Heart and Lips into the Ears and Hearts of those Friends that were about him One while he cryes out of his sins saying I have been a fearful Drunkard pouring in one draught after another till one draught could not keep down another I now would be glad if I could take the least of Gods Creatures which I have abused I have neglected my Patients which have put their Lives in my hands and how many Souls have I thus murthered I have wilfully neglected Gods House Service and Worship and though I purposed to go God strikes me thus before the day of my promise comes because I am unworthy to come among Gods people again Another while he falls to wishing Oh that I might burn a long time in that fire pointing to the fire before him so I might not burn in Hell Oh that God would grant me but one Year or a Month that the world might see with what an Heart I have promised to God my amendment Oh that God would try me a little but I am unworthy Another while he speaks to his Companions praying all to be warned by him to forsake their wicked wayes lest they go to Hell as he must do He forgot not
little sensible of what he had done Are you said he the person that committed the murther upon the maid at Ratcliff He said Yes O what think you of your condition What do you think will become of your precious Soul you have by this Sin not only brought your body to the Grave but your Soul to Hell without Gods Infinite mercy Were you not troubled for the Fact when you did it Not for the present Sir said he but soon after I was when I began to think with my self what I had done The next time he asked him whether he were sorry for the Fact He said wringing his hands and striking his breast with tears in his Eyes Yes Sir for it cuts me to the Heart to think that I should take away the Life of a poor innocent Creature and that is not all but for any thing I know I have sent her Soul to Hell O how can I think to appear before Gods Bar when she shall stand before me and say Lord this wretch took away my Life and gave me not the least space that I might turn to thee he gave me no warning at all Lord O then what will become of me Soon after the imprisonment of this Thomas Savage in Newgate upon the desire of one of his Friends Mr. R. F. and T. V. went to him in the Prison and had liberty with much readiness from the Keepers to discourse with him They asked him if he were the person that had murthered the Maid He answered that he was they did then open to him the hainous nature of that sin endeavouring to set it home upon his Conscience telling him of the express Law of God Thou shalt not Kill and the express threatnings That whosoever sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed They spake to him of the Law of the Land and the punishment of Death which would certainly be inflicted upon him that he had but a few Weeks more to live and then he would be Tryed and Condemned and Executed but they told him that the punishment of the temporal Death was but small in comparison with the punishment of Eternal Death in Hell which he had deserved and was exposed unto They told him that so soon as Death should make a separation between his Soul and body that his Soul must immediately appear before the dreadful Tribunal of the Sin-revenging God and there receive its final doom and be irreversibly sentenced to depart from the presence of the Lord into everlasting fire if he were found under the guilt of this or any other sin They asked him if he knew what Hell was telling him what a fearful thing it would be for him to fall into the hands of the living God how intolerable the immediate expressions of Gods Wrath would be upon his Soul what horrour and anguish he would there be filled withal and how he would be bound up in Chains of darkness until the Judgment of the great day and then told him of the glorious appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to Judgment that Soul and Body should be then joyned together and condemned together and punished together with such exquisite torments as never entred into the Heart of man to conceive declaring the Extremity and the Eternity of the Torments of Hell which were the just demerit of his sins Then they asked him whether he had any hopes of escaping this dreadful punishment of Hell He answered that he had they enquired the grounds of his hopes He told them that he repented of his fault and hoped God would have mercy on his Soul They asked him whether he thought his Repentance could procure for him a Pardon He knew no other way They told him that God was just and his Justice must be satisfied and there was no way for him to do it but by undergoing the Eternal torments of Hell and did he know no way of satisfying God's Justice besides and pacifying his anger that was kindled against him No he knew not any And yet did he hope to be saved He answered Yes They enquired whether ever he had experience of a gracious change wrought in him Herein he could give no account and yet hoped to be saved They told him his hopes were unsound having no good foundation and he would find himself disappointed that it was not his Repentance his Tears and Prayers though he ought to use them as means that would save him if he fixed the Anchor of his hope upon them That if he hoped to be saved in the condition which for the present he was in he would certainly be damned that he must cast away all those groundless hopes he had conceived and endeavour to despair in himself that being pricked and pained at heart through the apprehensions of the wrath of God ready to fall upon him and seeing no possibility of flying and escaping if he looked only to himself he might cry out What shall I do to be saved and enquire after a Saviour And then they spake to him of the Lord Jesus Christ and the way of Salvation by him which before he was sottishly ignorant of as if he had been brought up in a Countrey of Infidels and not of Christians The words spoken to him by these two Ministers seemed to take little impression upon him whilest they were present yet after they were gone the Lord did begin to work and he did acknowledge to Mr. B. that two had been with him he knew not their names whose words were like arrows shot into his heart and he did wish he had those words in writing especially one expression of T. V. That he would not be in his condition for ten thousand Worlds did affect and so affright him that he said it made his hair stand on end Mr. Vincent Mr. Francklin Mr. Doolittle Mr. Janeway discoursed with him and he suffered very penitently and chearfully at Ratcliff near his Masters House We do not read of any more of all the drunkards and debauched persons that were Converted but those two Nathaniel Butler and Thomas Savage whom God gave true Repentance unto A Common Drunkard is the fittest man to make a debauched Health-drinker of they are so near akin to one another that there is little difference you can hardly know one from another and it is seldom seen that a Health is begun for his Majesty or his Highness the Duke of York till the Feasters are well entred in there Glasses of Wine first This I can Witness That one Evening this Winter two or three Drunken Companions met another drunken man in the street and did ask him if he would drink the Dukes Health He answered presently Yea I 'le drink any mans Health Is not the King and Duke much beholden to such for their Love that can shew it in no better way We are commanded and it s our duty to Fear God and to Honour the King and he that truly doth so will pray heartily to God to bless and
yet insensate with Wine void of Wit and Fear I know not what further to mind thee of but of that third and worst Sting of all the rest which will ever be gnawing and never dying which if thou wilt not fear here sure thou art to feel there when the Red Dragon hath gotten thee into his Den and shall fill thy Soul with the gall of Scorpions where thou shalt yell and howl for a drop of water to cool thy Tongue withall and shalt be denied so small a refreshing and have no other liquor to allay thy thirst but that which the lake of Brimstone shall afford thee And that worthily for that thou wouldest incurr the wrath of the Lamb for so base and sordid a sin as Drunkenness of which thou mayest think as venially and slightly as thou wilt But Paul that knew the danger of it gives thee fair warning and bids thee not deceive thy self expresly and by name mentioning it among the mortal sins excluding from the Kingdom of Heaven And the Prophet Esay tells thee That for it Hell hath enlarged it self opened its mouth wide and without measure and therefore shall the multitude and their pomp and the jollyest among them descend into it Consider this you that are strong to pour in drink that love to drink sorrow and care away And be you well assured that there you shall drink enough for all having for every drop of your former Bousings Vials yea whole Seas of God's Wrath never to be exhaust Now then I appeal from your selves in drink to your selves in your sober fits Reason a little the case and tell me calmly would you for your own or any mans pleasure to gratifie Friend or Companion if you knew there had been a Toad in the Wine-pot as twice I have known happened to the death of Drinkers or did you think that some Caesar Borgia or Brasutus had tempered the Cup or did you see but a Spider in the Glass would you or durst you carouse it off And are you so simple to fear the Poyson that can kill the Body and not that which killeth the Soul and Body ever yea for ever and ever and if it were possible for more than for ever for evermore Oh thou vain Fellow what tellest thou me of Friendship or good Fellowship wilt thou account him thy Friend or good Fellow that draws thee into his company that he may poyson thee and never thinks he hath given thee right entertainment or shewed thee kindness enough till he hath killed thy Soul with his kindness and with Beer made thy Body a Carkass fit for the Biere a laughing and Loathing-stock not to Boys and Girls alone but to Men and Angels Why rather sayest thou not to such What have I to do with you ye Sons of Belial ye poysonful Generation of Vipers that hunt for the precious life of a man Oh but there are few good Wits or great Spirits now a days but will Pot it a little for company What hear I Oh base and low-spirited times if that were true If we were fallen into such Lees of Time foretold of by Seneca in which all were so drowned in the dregs of Vices that it should be Vertue and Honour to bear most drink But thanks be to God who hath reserved many thousands of men and without all comparison more witty and valorous than such Pot-wits and Spirits of the Buttery who never bared their knees to drink health nor ever needed to whet their Wits with Wine or arm their Courage with Pot-harness And if it were so yet if no such Wits or Spirits shall ever enter into Heaven without Repentance let my Spirit never come and enter into their Paradise ever abhor to partake of their bruitish pleasures lest I partake of their endless woes If young Cyrus could refuse to drink Wine and tell Astyages He thought it to be Poyson for he saw it metamorphose men into Beasts and Carkases what would he have said if he had known that which we may know that the Wine of Drunkards is the Wine of Sodom and Gomorrah their Grapes the Grapes of gall their clusters the clusters of Bitterness the Juyce of Dragons and the venome of Asps. Scripture Examples of Drunkenness THe Sin of Drunkenness is a bewitching sin Hos. 4. 11. It steals away the heart from God and all goodness It is an old sin it began presently after the Flood It is a malignant sin it drowns the Brain wastes the Time consumes the Estate And fills the Body with as many diseases as hath an Horse It is an Epidemical sin that hath almost drowned the whole world with another deluge In these modern times it began in Germany whence grew that proverb Germani possunt cunctos tolerare Labores O Utinam possint tam bene ferre sitim The Germans can all Labours undergo Would they as well could bear their thirst also But since it hath infected all Europe It is grown into Fashion to Quaff Soul-sick healths till they make themselves like Swine and worse than beasts whence one gives us this excellent rule Una Salus sanis nullam potare Salutem Non est in pota vera Salute Salus Drinking no healths you drink your health they say And drinking healths you drink your health away Scriptural Examples The odiousness and danger of this sin may further appear to us by these following Scriptures and Examples Drunkenness dangerous Prov. 23. 29. c. Who hath wo who hath Sorrow who hath contentions who hath babling who hath wounds without cause who hath redness of eyes 31. 4. It is not for Kings O Lemuel it is not for Kings to drink Wine nor for Princes strong drink Deut. 21. 20. And they shall say unto the elders of his city This our Son is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our voice he is a glutton and a drunkard Prov. 20. 1. Wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not Wise. Hos. 4. 11. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the Heart Nah. 1. 10. For while they be folden together as thorns and while they are drunken as drunkards they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry 1 Cor. 11. 21. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken Threatened Isai. 5. 11 22. Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue untill night till Wine inflame them 22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink Wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink Amos 6. 6. That drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments but they are not grieved for affliction of Joseph Prov. 23. 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall cloath a man with rags Isa. 28. 1. 3 Wo to the Crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious beauty is as a fading flower
his Servant that was young calls him to him and tells him That he had been a wicked Master to him But be warned by me said he you have a Friend that hath an Iron Furnace which burns hot a long time but if you give your self to my sins you shall be burned in the Furnace of Hell an hotter Furnace millions of millions of Ages Therefore look to your self and be warned by my Example who must be burned in Hell for ever I must to the Furnace of Hell millions of millions of Ages The Minister offered to him the Comforts of the Gospel Promises of the largest size shewed him that God was delighted to save Souls and not to destroy them But he cryed It was too late I must be burned in Hell He pressed him with tears not to cast away that Soul for which Christ died and told him Christ rejected none that did not reject him He answered He had cast off Christ and therefore he must go to Hell He often complained that former Counsels and Prayers might have done him good but now it was too late he was no Swearer Whoremonger Thief no scoffer at Religion no Perjured wretch nor wilful Lier yet when Conscience was awakened and sate as Judge on him he confessed his being given to drunkenness and neglect of mens bodies and neglect of Prayer and other dutyes hearing the Word and keeping the Sabbath-day which caused him to pass this heavy doom on himself and at last in Idleness of thoughts and talk he ended his miserable Life And whatsoever God hath done with his Soul we are bound to hope the best this sad example is a warning-piece from Heaven to warn all young men to leave off their evil courses lest a worse thing befall them He desired others might be warned by his Example The Relation of him the said William Rogers was published by Mr. Abbot called The Young mans Warning piece I shall here give you a short Relation how Nathaniel Butler who murthered his Friend John Knight in Milk-street London August 6. Ann. 1657. behaved himself NAthaniel Butler declared that before this Murther committed he was addicted to divers sins as Drunkenness c. which he himself freely confessed For instance 1. He was a great Company-keeper and given to Gameing very much whereby he gain'd Money and several Watches of Young men one whereof he restor'd to the Owner after his Conscience was awakened in prison 2. He enticed some Servants to purloin from their Masters and sell the Goods then would he and they go together and spend the money among themselves 3. He lived in Fornication frequenting the company and the Houses of Harlots insomuch that as he himself under his own hand informed me he judged this very sin of Whoredom did draw him on to that of shedding blood Concerning which fact I shall now speak as also concerning his carriage in Prison and at his Execution being an eye and ear witness thereof 4. This Nathaniel Butler came from Alten in Hampshire where he was born and at the time of his apprehension was an Apprentice with one Mr. Goodday a Drawer of Cloth in Carter-lane London during which time he became acquainted with one John Knight and Apprentice also in the same City These two were much together but especially when Mr. Worth John Knight's Master was gone to Bristol-Fair then did these two young men lye together several nights at Mr. Worth's house at the Rose in Milk-street where in the Shop on Wednesday morning being the sixth of August 1657. Nathaniel Butler seeing some Bags of Money he was thereupon tempted to take away the Life of his Friend and Bed-fellow that he might securely convey away the money which he had now seen in the Till of the Shop After they had been abroad that day at night they lay again together the bloody design running still in the mind of Bulter he intending about the dead of the night for so he expressed himself to me to destroy the Young man by cutting his Throat Accordingly he took his Knife in his hand but his Heart would not suffer him to do it then he laid down the Knife again yea he took up and laid down his Knife several times so he told me before he acted his cruelty But in the morning very early he did indeed fall very violently and inhumanely on the Youth who lay harmlesly asleep upon the bed The first wound not being mortal awakened him whereupon he struggled and made a noise not considerable enough which was heard into another room of the same house Then Butler chopt his fist into the mouth of the Young man and so they two lay striving and tumbling very near half an hour before the fatal blow was given but at length he did most barbarously murder the Young-man giving him a very ghastly deadly wound cross the Throat And then he went down taking away out of the shop a summ of money in two bags being about One hundred and ten pounds And so with his double guilt of Robbery and Murder leaving his bloody Shirt behind him and a lock of his own hair in the hand of the dead Young-man which Hair was pulled off in their striving together one to commit the other to prevent the fact after he had so done he went to his Masters house in Carter-lane where he privately laid the Money in a new Trunk that he bought with part of the Money This Murderer abode for certain dayes that is from Thursday to Saturday at his Masters house unsuspected following his business at home as formerly 5. Many thoughts and jealousies were working in men who should be the Murderer And in a few dayes one in Milk-street the street where the Murder was done knowing that Butler used sometimes to be with the Young man who was now murder'd went to Butlers Masters house in Carter-lane and spake with him by whose words and carriage he supposed he might be guilty and so caused him to be apprehended But yet for some small time the said Butler denied the Fact but at length confessed That he and he only did it After his apprehension he was brought before the Lord Mayor of London to whom he declared the murder and the circumstances of it crying out for a little Time for his Soul and much lamenting his Sin That night he was committed to Newgate and there lay exceedingly startled about the state of his Soul saying often What will become of my poor Soul What shall I do to be saved beginning now to see the sinfulness of sin Whom I may compare to Manasses in three respects 1. As to matter of Fact for Manasses shed much innocent blood 2 Kings 21. 16. so did he shed too much innocent blood 2. He something resembled Manasses in his Imprisonment mentioned 2 Chr. 33. 11. As Manasses was taken and bound with Fetters so was he clapt in the hole or Dungeon of Newgate with heavy Irons about his legs 3. Manasses and he were one and the same
God who is his chiefest good Hos. 4. 11. Whoredom and Wine and new Wine take away the Heart We may take Heart here for the Understanding as Rom. 2. 21. Their foolish Heart was darkened And so it is true that Wine takes away the Heart that is it stupisieth the mind it blinds and darkens the understanding and maketh men sottish as Jeremiah complains of the Jews who were much addicted to drunkenness Jer. 4. 22. My People is Foolish they have not known me they are sottish Children and have no understanding they are wise to do evil but to do good they have no Knowledge Or we may take Heart for the Affections and so it is true that Wine takes away the Heart for Drunkenness takes off the Heart from God and all things that are good Drunkards have no Love to God no delight in God no desire of enjoying God no Fear of God no Heart to that which is good Drunkenness is a fleshly lust and fleshly lusts war against and tend to the ruine of our precious Souls 1 Pet 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly Lusts which War against the Soul 2. It brings great mischief to the Body by the painful Diseases that it breeds in the Body and by the Wounds and Bruises men get by falls when they have drunk so much they are not able to go or to guide the Horses they ride on and also by the wounds they get in quarrels and contentions with their Companions when they are in their Cups Prov. 23. 29 30. Who hath Woe who hath Sorrow who hath Contentions who hath Bablings who hath wounds without cause who hath redness of Eyes They that tarry long at the Wine Not only the Eyes are made red but the whole Body is inflamed and greatly distempered by excessive drinking Isa. 5. 11. Woe to them that follow strong drink that continue till night till Wine enflame them Our Bodies should be the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. What know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you And it is dangerous defiling the Temple of God with excess of Wine or strong Drink 1 Cor. 3. 17. If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy 3. It brings ruine on a mans Estate Prov. 23. 21. The Drunkard and the Glutton shall come to poverty Many persons by their drunken and sottish courses waste fair Estates that were left them by their Parents Others that have been brought up to Callings spend all they gain by their Callings in excessive drinking whereby it comes to pass that they make no provision for their Families but their Wives and Children are brought into great wants and straits such as these are as bad yea worse than Infidels 1 Tim. 5. 8. But if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own House he hath denyed the Faith and is worse than an Infidel 4. It blasts a mans Reputation it is a shame for a man to have the brand of a Drunkard set upon him Even Children will hout and deride a drunken ma◠when they see him reel and stagger as he goeth in the Street Arg. 4. Drunkenness is the Cause of many other Sins The greatness of the Sin of Drunkenness will appear from hence that it disposeth a man to many other great and crying sins as for Instance 1. Drunkenness disposeth men to commit Uncleanness Prov. 23. 31 33. Look not upon the Wine when it is red Thine Eyes shall behold strange Women When men are overcome with Wine they are easily drawn to commit the worst of uncleanness Lot though a Righteous man being overtaken with Drunkenness commited Incest twice Eph. 5. 18. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess As Beza observes Omnis profusio eaque summâ cum turpitudine conjuncta All excess of riot even that which is joyned with the greatest filthiness No filthiness comes amiss to a drunken man who is shameless whilest he is overcome with strong drink The Jews who were much addicted to Drunkenness were greatly addicted to Whoredom also Hos. 4. 11 18. Whoredom and Wine take away the Heart Their drink is sowre they have committed Whoredom continually Their drink is sowre some interpret of the sowre belches drunkards have after their Cups And another effect of immoderate drinking Wine besides the sowring of it in the Stomach is that it provokes men to Whoredom Hierom hath a smart passage to this effect Nunquam ego ebrium castum putabo I shall never think a Drunkard can be a chaste man 2. Drunkards are easily perswaded to be Idolaters for they making their Belly their God Phil. 3. 19. will easily be perswaded to bow down their Bodies to an Idol and comply with any Religion which will suit best with their Interest Hos. 3. 1. The Children of Israel who look to other Gods and Love Flagons of Wine Dan. 5. 4. They drank Wine and praised the Gods of Gold and of Silver and of Brass of Iron of Wood and of Stone 3. Drunkenness is accompanied with abundance of Vain Bablings and Foolish and Idle talk which men have together when they are in their Cups Prov. 23. 29 30. Who hath Bablings They that tarry long at the Wine And if any think there is no great hurt in those Bablings and Foolish talking that Drunkards have when they sit together at Inns or Alehouses let such consider 1. That Vain Bablings hardens the Heart and dispose a man to ungodly practices 2 Tim. 2. 16. But shun profane and vain Bablings for they will increase to more Ungodliness 2. Though Foolish Talking and Jesting is made Light of and accounted by many a matter of Mirth yet it is a sin brings down Gods wrath Eph. 5. 4 6. Neither filthiness nor Foolish talking nor Jesting which are not convenient Let no man deceive you with Vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience 3. Men must give an Account for every Idle Word at the day of Judgment and without Repentance they shall be condemned for their Idle Words as well as their other sins Mat. 12. 36 37. But I say unto you that every Idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of Judgment For by thy Words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned 4. There are few Drunkards but they will mock and scost and rail at the Ministers and Servants of Christ and sing Songs of them especially when they are in their Cups Prov. 20. 1. Wine is a mocker that is it makes men Mockers Mercer's note upon that Text is Vini potor derisor Dei hominumque esse solet A Drunkard is wont