because they found him liberall of his loue in so much as when they came in the middest of a great water leading into Hungerford towne this Marchants eyes dazeled and hee asked his friends why they did not alight vp that great Hill they answered it was water but that could not perswade him but in the middest of the water he alighted swearing he would not ride vp so great a Hill and so waded through the rest of the water being halfe a furlong of length of a great depth yet by their rule hee was not drunke Nor hee that cralled vnder all the signes from Holborne Bridge to Saint Giles because in a Moone-shine night his eyes being glazed with the mist of Mallego Sacke and seeing the shaddow of the Signes vpon the ground swore they were arrant knaues for setting the Signes so low that a man could not goe vpright vnder them But letting carowsers alone with their owne definition because a Drunkard cannot be expressed without some diuision wee will before wee enter therevnto set downe a learned mans description who saith A Drunkard is the annoyance of modestie The diâ—cription of a drunkard the trouble of ciuilitie the spoile of wealth the destruction of Reason he is one ly the Brewars agent the Alehouse benefactor the Beggars companion the Constables trouble hee is his wiues woe his Childrens sorrow his Neighbours scoffe his owne shame in some hee is a tub of swill a spirit of sleepe The nyne sorts of drunkards a picture of a Beast a Monster of a man But now concerning the diuision there are of Drunkards nine sorts The first is Lyon drunke which breakes glasse windowes cals his Hostesse Whoore strikes fights or quarrels with either Brother Friend or Father The second is Ape-drunke who dances capers and leapes about the house sings and reioyces and is wholly rauisht into iests mirth and melodie The third is sheepe drunke who is very kinde and liberall and sayes by God captaine I loue you Goe thy wayes thou thinkest not so often of mee as I doe of thee and in this sheepish humour giues away his Horse his Sword the clothes off his backe The fourth is Sow drunke vvho vomits spewes and wallowes in the mire like a Swine and seeing the Moone shine sayes put out the Candle le ts goe to bed lay a little more on the feete and all is well The fist is Foxe drunke who being of a dull spirit vvill make no bargaine till hee hath sharpened his wit with the essence of good liquor and is then so craftie and politique Aebritas prodit quodamat cer siue quod odir that hee deceiues any man that shall deale with him of this nature are many of the Dutch-men that when they drinke most they bargaine best The sixt is Maudlin drunke who weepes cryes and whines to see the goose goe barefoote The seuenth is Goate drunke who is in his drinke so lecherous that hee makes no difference of either time or place age or youth but cryes out a Whoore a Whoore ten pound for a Whoore. The eight is Martin drunke which will bee drunke betimes in the morning or alwayes the first in the company yet will he neuer cease drinking till he hath made himselfe fresh againe The ninth and last is Bat drunke which are a sort of Drunkards that will not openly be seen in such actions but as the reremowse or Bat delights in secret places and flies by night so they will drinke priuately and chiefely in the night of this sort may be some of your damask coated Citizen that sit in their shops both forenoone afternoone looke more sowerly on their poore neighbours then if they had drunke a quart of Vinegar at a draught yet at night sneake out of their doores and slip into a Tauerne where either alone or with some other that battles their money together they so plye themselues with peny pots which like small shot goe of powring into their fat paunches that at length they haue not an eye to see with all nor a good legge to stand on and on this sort are many hypocriticall professors which abuse sacred Religion carrying in the day times Bibles vnder their armes but in the night they slip into Alehouse or Tauernes And therefore to draw toward a conclusion I account that party to bee within the predicament of Drunkennesse that in any sort through drinking doth at all enter into any of these precedent passions beyond his naturall inclination and for the more surer remedy of this dangerous and detestable sinne the best course is to auoide that which was the first and is the chiefest occasion thereof viz. pledging and drinking one to another which thing first arose in this Kingdome vpon a good reason because men were so brutish that at Feasts and meetings when one was drinking his enemie would take an occasion to stab him Wherevpon generall meetings were auoided vnlesse they had in their company some sure Friend to bee his pledge while he was drinking that none should hurt him Which thing God be thanked needeth not to be feared by vs in regard we haue the lawes of God to guide the vertuous and the lawes of the Land to rule the wicked and this thing of vrging one another was most carefully preuented by Ashueroshe at his great Feast made to an hundred and seuen Hest 1.8 and twentie Prouinces wishing that none should force other but that they should drinke in order May not we that are Christians be ashamed to thinke that Heathens should haue more care to preuent this great and capitall sin then our selues considering there is no sinne so vnnaturall to our bodies so pestiferous to our soules more wasting to our estates Wherefore gentle Reader God grant thee grace to auoide it by my slender instruction and mee power to giue example by my life and and conuersation and then hast thou sufficient recompence for thy reading and my selfe full satisfaction for my writing FINIS Errata IN the Epistle Dedicat. reade for craue the patronage your patronage Ibid. for the Wine and Beere your Wine and Beere Ibid. for it better had it beene better for enioy it haue enioyed it In the Epist to the Reader for which thing grant God grant pag. B. 2. l. 22. for the body read your body Ibid. for potes putes ib for parat parant lb. for foemina vina r. foemina vina virum ib. for cassum castum for Sodama Sodoma B. 3. l. 32. for now aymes presently aymes C. 1. l. 20. for requireth requiteth ib. l. 4. and examples of examples ibid. l. 17. Opoplexes Apoplexes 26. l. for Master King the King c. 4 l. 9. for it loued he loued ib l. 17. for meluendus metuendus D. lin 28. ad sacram r. Ebrietas c. for slabbering slauering E. 4 l. 3. for Steuenton Stenenton
For Plato saith Drunkennesse is a monster with many heads As first filthy talke Secondly Fornication Thirdly Wrath Fourthly Murther Fiftly Swearing Sixtly Cursing If these be the chiefe heads that procede from the polluted body of this vgly Monster Filthy talke the first bead of Drunkennes let vs trie them by the touchstone of the holy Scripture and see how they are allowed of thereby And first concerning filthy talke is is said to the Counthians that filthy speakers and raylers shall not inherite the Kingdome of God and the fourth to the Ephesians Saint Paul forbids vs to haue any corrupt communication to proceed forth of our mouthes Eph. 4.29.30 but that which is good to the vse of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers And also we must put away all bitternesse and euill speaking And further the fift to the Ephesians S. Paul wisheth that no filthinesse nor foolish talking Eph. 5.4 no not so much as iesting should either bee vsed or named among Christians But from the mouthes of Drunkards what idle talke filthy speech blasphemous oathes and prophane words are vsed no Christian eares can with patience endure but with griefe of minde vexation of spirit yea with both horrour and terrour to the soule of man The greatest curse that euer fell on mankinde since the floud came by Drunkennesse as appeareth in Genesis by Noah the godliest man then liuing auoiding all other sinnes Gen 9.25 yet was vnawares taken with this vice of Ebrietie and cursed his own sonne with the bitter and perpetuall curse of seruitude Saying Cursed be Canaan a seruant of seruants shall he be to all his brethren Which thing of seruitude was neuer either heard or spoken off although the world had then beene the space of 1656. yeres to the which curse God saying Amen added also nakednes to the posterity of Cham as appeareth this day by the Virginians and Indians being by the best Authors of Antiquitie noted to come from that Cham Nakednes and seruitude are hereditary curse to all drunkardes their posterity and surely by the slauerie and beggerie that happeneth generally to all that vseth this vice I can thinke no other of it but that it is a curse hereditarie to all Drunkards themselues or at least to their posteritie Now concerning the Description of the second head of this Monster Drunkennesse Fornication second head which is Fornieation The Apostle in the sixt chapter to the Corinthians saith Be not deceiued neither Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Wantons nor Buggerers 1 Cor. 6.9.15 18.19.20 shall inherite the Kingdome of heauen And in the 15. verse he saith Know yee not that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot Flye fornication euery sinne that a man doth is without the body but hee that committeth Fornication sinneth against his owne body Know yee not that the body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you whom ye haue of God And yee are not your owne for ye are bought for a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit for they are Gods Which being thus what glory can that partie shew vnto God in his spirit that hath neither vse of body nor sence for as Socrates saith Reason departeth when drinke possesseth the braine Thrise worthy is this saying of the Philosopher and fit to be noted with golden letters Cum tibi siue Deus siue mater rerum omnium Natura dederit animum quo nihil est prestantius sic teipsum O homo ab abiicies at que prosternes vt nihil inter te quadrupedem aliquem potes interesse Wheu as God hath giuen thee a liuing soule which excelleth all things O man wilt thou so much abase and disgrace thy selfe that thou wilt make no difference betwixt thy selfe and a bruit beast for Drunkennesse doth not onely disgrace but euen slayeth the soule of man according to Zeno his saying It is not Death that destroyeth the soule but a bad life But to returne to the vice of Fornication S. Paul to the Thessalonians saith 1 Thes 4.3 For this is the will led a man he should be slaine for it and further to set out the greatnesse of this sinne and fearing they might bee tempted through briberie to spare the murtherer he saith moreouer yee shall take no recompence for the life of the murderer Num. 25.16.19.20.31.32 which is worthy to die but he shall be put to death The land where the murther is done is so much pollnted that there is no way to cleanse it but by the bloud of him that shed it And surely it is seldome or neuer knowne that a Murtherer went in peace to his graue as may appeare by Abimelech who after hee had killed his seuenty brethren although God suffered him for a time to liue and to rule all Israel yet at length hee died miserably and was slaine by the hands of a woman Zimri murdered Elah but afterward by Gods iust iudgement was forced to burne himselfe 1 Kin. 19 18 But this vnnaturall sinne this monstrous deede this abhorred fact of Murther is by no accident or occasion so often committed as through Drunkennesse not onely by Drunkards vpon others but also many times through Gods heauy wrath vpon Drunkards themselues as by too many examples I am able to make proofe as well of the one as of the other And first to begin with that high and mighty Monarch of the world Alexander the Great Murders in Drunkenes who in the beginning of his Raigne was so temperate that he refused the Cookes and Pasterers of the Queene of Caria saying he had better then they were viz. for his dinner early rising and for his supper a moderate dinner notwithstanding through the vitious manners and lewd customes of the Persians he was so much giuen at last vnto the excesse of drinking that he propounded sixe hundred crownes for a reward to him that drunke most called a cup of siluer being of a great bignesse after his owne name which cup when he offered vnto Calisthenes one of his fauorites he refused saying that he which dranke with Alexander had neede of Asculapius at which words the King feeling himselfe touched and being in his drinke was so incensed against him that hee caused him immediately to be put in a cage with dogges where hee poysoned himselfe afterwards being perswaded by a common Strumpet named Thais he burnt Percipolis the chiefe Citie in Persia and which was worst in his intemperancie killed his deere friend Clytus for which bloudy deede after he came to himselfe he wept and fasted three dayes and would had he been permitted haue slaine himselfe In this deede of Alexander Seneca Epist 59 the saying of Seneca is verified Ebrietas vnius horae hilaram Insaniam longi temporis tedio pensat Drunkennesse requireth one houres merry madnes with a
long tedious time of sorrow and repentance The son of Cyril being drunk wickedly slew that holy man his father and mother also great with childe hee hurt his two sisters and defloured one of them which fearefull example is sufficient to make the haire of our head stand vpright as often as any occasion is offered vnto vs whereby we might fall into any inconuenience through the allurement of drinking But I may leaue off Forraine examples and recite too many of like nature in our owne Nation William Purcas in Essex Anno 1615. in his Drunkennesse being rebuked by his mother for his vice most cruelly and vnnaturally killed her Anderson in his drunkennesse killed a boy and was hanged for the same in May 1616. But as I haue recited these few so could I make mention of multitudes and examples of the same nature For I fully perswade my selfe that there is not a citie nor market towne in England but it would appeare if the records of assises were searched that there hath not beene some one or more slaine in it through Drunkennes which is according to the old saying Plus crapula quam gladio more men haue died thorugh intemperancie then with the sword for such is the nature of excessiue drinking that it intoxicateth and boyleth the braines benummeth the sences infeebleth the ioynts and synewes and bringeth a man into a lethergie Drunkards murthered King 16 9. the whole body into Dropsies Gowtes Palsies Opoplexes and such like But now to returne and speake of them that haue been slaine in their drinke Elah King of Israel being drunke in Tirzah was murthered by Zimri his seruant Amon one of Dauids vngracious sonnes was slaine by his Brother Absolons commandement 2 Sam. 13.18 29. when hee was full of Wine Fliolmus King of the Gothes was so addicted to drinking that he would sit a great part of the night quaffing and carowsing with his seruants and as on a time hee sate after his accustomed and beastly manner carowsing with them his seruants being as drunke as their Master threw their master King in sport into a great vessell full of drinke that was set in the middest of the Hall where he most ridiculously and miserably ended his dayes Augustine Lachimer reporteth that in Germany in the yere 1549. there were three companions in such a iollity after they had taken in their cups according to their brutish manner of that countrey that with a cole they painted the Diuell in the wall and dranke freely vnto him and talked to him as though he had beene personally present the next morning they were found all strangled and dead as the flye playeth so long with the Candle vntill at length she burneth her selfe so these men delighted in sinne and dallied with the Diuell so long vntill they brought themselues to vtter ruine and destruction Which horrible and fearefull example is sufficient to strike terrour and amazement to the greatest carowsers of our age to feare least Gods heauy wrath should bee incensed against them and so deliuer them ouer to Sathan and suffer them to die in their drunkennesse and as the tree falleth so he lyeth Luk. 21.34.35.36 But I will conclude with our Sauiours words the 21. of S. Luke Cauete autem vobis Take heede to your selues lest at any time your hearts bee oppressed with surfetting and Drunkennesse lest the last day come on you vnawares Now to proceede to the fift Head which is swearing forbidden by Gods commandement both in Exodus and Deuteronomie Swearing Exod 20.1 Deut. 5. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine for the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine Which is so frequently vsed among Drunkards that scarce six words are vsed amongst them without an oath and that vpon most vaine and idle occasions viz. that you haue not pledged me or your cup was not full or you left a snuffe in the bottome and vpon such like swaggering occasions the Name of God is taken in vaine and with such horrible detestable and blaspheamous oathes as me thinketh I am affraid to mention being by all the parts of Christ as by his Life Death Passion Flesh Heart Wounds Bloud Bones Armes Sides Guts Nayles Foote as if they went to crucifie Christ a new who while hee was vpon the earth forbid it vtterly in these words I say vnto you Mat. 4.34.35.36 37. sweare not at all neither by heauen for it is the Throne of God nor yet by the earth for it is his so testcole nor yet by Ierusalem for it is the Citie of the great King Ne ther shalt thou sweare by the head because thou canst not make one hayre white or blacke But your communication shall be yea Leuit. 19. Nay nay In Leuitious it is said Ye shall not sweare by my name falsly neither shalt thou defile the name of thy God I am the Lord. I feare me we shall haue iust cause to complaine with Ieremie Ier. 23.10 that because of oathes the land mourneth In Zechariah we may finde that swearers are noted in a book and that euery one that sweareth Zach 5.3.4 shall be cut off as well on this side as on that side viz wheresoeuer he be in the world and that the curse of God will enter into the house of him that falsly sweareth and it shall remaine in the middest of his house and shall consum it both with the tymber and the stones thereof The wise King perceiuing the great danger that commeth by swearing Ecclesiast 23.9.11 warneth vs not to accustome our selues to swearing for in it are many fals neither take vp for a custome the meaning of the Holy One for thou shalt not be vnpunisht for such things for as a seruant which is oftpunisht cannot be without some scarrè so hee that sweareth and nameth God continually shall not be faultlesse man that vseth much swearing shall bee filled with wickednes and the plague shall neuer goe from his house when he shall offend his faults shal be vpon him and if he acknowledge not his sinne he maketh a double offence and if he sweare in vaine he shall not be innocent but his house shal be full of plagues Iam 5 12 Saint Iames wisheth vs before all things to auoide swearing either by heauen or by the earth or by any other oath Let all swearers take heede although God suffers them for a time lest they bee suddenly stricken with death as many haue beene and then vengeance waiting at the doore at the houre of death and when their bodies shall be without life their soules shall bee euerlastingly without God How did God punish the oath broken by the Gibeonites 2 Sam 21 1.9 not onely with famine three yeeres together but with the death of Sauls seuen sonnes who were hanged vp openly in the mountaines See what the Lord saith in Ezekiel of Zedechiah that hee shall not prosper for
or of the head the quelling of the sences the tempest of the tongue the storme of the body the shipwracke of chastitie losse of time voluntarie madnesse an ignominious languor the filthinesse of manners the disgrace of life the corruption of the soule Were there no more to be spoken against Drunkennes then the words of this Holy Father if they were duely considered my thinkes it should bee enough to deterre any Christian man from that vice Cyrus being but a childe and a Heathen when he was asked by his Grandfather Astyages why he dranke no Wine at a great Feast answered he tooke it to be poyson because said he those at the last Feast that dranke it were depriued of their vnderstanding and sences The Lacedemonians would often shew their children such as were drunke to the end they should learne to hate that vice These being but children and Heathens by seeing ill examples loathed the vice and grew the better Wee being men and Christians on the contrarie by seeing ill examples loue the vice and grow the worse For before we were acquainted with the lingring wars of the Low-Countries Drunkennes was held in the highest degree of hatred that might be amongst vs For if by chance any one had been ouertaken with his cups and gone reeling in the streets or lyen sleeping vnder a Table we would haue spit at him as a Toade and cald him drunken Swine and warnd all our friends out of his company but now it is grown for a custome and the fashion of our age euen in Cities Townes Villages I euen amongst the very Woods and Forrests as shall be spoken of hereafter nay it is mounted so high that men must in a manner blush and be ashamed as much to speake of sobrietie or to be temperate in a thousand companies As in that happy time of our ancients they were ashamed of Ebrietie in others or to be drunke themselues Why He is reputed a Pesant a slaue and a Bore that will not take his liquor profoundly He is a man of no fashion that cannot drinke super naculum Carouse the Hunters Hoope quaffe Vpsey-freese crosse Bowse in Permoysaunt in Pimlico in Crambo with Healthes Gloues Numpes Frolicks and a thousand such dominering inuentitions as by the Bell by the Cards by the Dye A lottery vpon the card newly inuented for drinking by the Dozen by the Yard and so by measure wee drinke out of measure Thus wee spend so great a time in carowsing as though we did not drinke to liue but liued to drinke and for the further maintenance and vpholding of this most execrable vice there are in London drinking schooles so that drunkennesse is professed with vs as a liberall Arte and Science all Christians haue iust cause to complaine and to crie out that we haue receiued by the Low Countries the most irreparable damadge that euer fell on the Kingdome of England Drunkards now a dayes make meetings and matches of drinking Isa 56.18 and incourage one an other thereunto according to the saying of Esay Come I will bring Wine and we will fill our selues with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more aboundant But you that reioyce thus in your wickednesse and in your abominable Drunkennesse heare and tremble at the reward prouided for you and mentioned by S. Iohn Reu. 23.8.25.27 Your part is in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death The gates of heauen shall he shut against you For there shall no vncleane thing nor none that worketh abomination Saint Paul to the Corinthians saith that Drunkards shall neuer inherite the Kingdome of Heauen And likewise to the Galathians he saith that Drunkards shall not inherite the Kingdome of God 1 Cor. 6.10 Gal. 5.21 These sayings of the Apostles Euangelists are enough to strike terrour to the soules of any Christian man and so farre to barre them from Drunkennesse that rather then they would be in danger to fall into it they would drink water as Daniel his fellows did Dan. 12. when they refused the Wine of the Kings Table But your common Drunkards are no Christians For a true Christian is the childe of light and walketh in the light 1 Thes 5.6.7.8 and is sober but the Drunkard is the child of darknesse and the workes which he doth are the workes of darknesse And Saint Peter saith It is sufficient for vs that we haue spent the time past of our life after the lust of the Gentiles 2 Pet. 4.3 walking in Wantonnesse Lusts Fit 2.12 Drunkennesse Gluttonie Drinkings c. Saint Paul to Titus saith that the grace of God that bringeth saluation to all men hath appeared and teacheth vs that we should deny vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and that we should liue soberly and righteously and godly in this World Tit. 3.8 And in the third Chapter It is a true saying that they which beleeue in God must be carefull to shew forth good workes Which makes plaine that Drunkards are no Christians and therefore not of God for the Drunkard maketh his belly his God Phil. 3.19 because he more diligently serues it more better loues it and more carefully pleaseth it then God himselfe And to speake truely of him A Drunkard sit for nothing a Drunkard is vnprofitable for any honest seruice and can make neither good Magistrate nor good Subiect seeing he can not rule others that cannot rule himselfe Therefore rightly said Saint Augustine Ehriosus cum obseruet obsorbetur à vino abominatur à Deo despicitur ab Angellis decidetur ab hominibus destituetur à virtutibus confunditur à Daemonib conculcatur ab hominibus When the Drunkard deuoureth Wine hee is deuoured of Wine hee is abominable to God despised of the Angels scorned of men abandoned of vertue confounded by the Diuels and trampled vnder mens feete If the inconuenience that followeth drunkennesse be so great let vs search out the benefits and pleasures that commeth thereby The pleasures that proceed of drinke and see whether they will counteruaile the precedent mischiefes And first I will begin with the words of him that shewed the great force of drinke to Darius 1 Esdras 3.20 It turneth euery thought into ioy and gladnes so that one remembreth no manner of sorrow nor debt This is a most speciall matter that many men doe pretend to bee the cause of their drinking because they would comfort themselues in their sorrowes either for that they are in debt or their wiues parents or friends crosse them I must confesse drinke makes a man merry for the time and quite forget his debt For being drunke he thinketh himselfe as rich as Croesus and as good as Alexander But this ioy is deceiueable false and fleeting it is like a dream ashadow for let him drink what he can if it were a Hogs head it payes not of his debt a halfe-penny and when he comes to