sold in Taverns but in the Apothecaries Shop Besides it is well known that the Ancient Sages Ethniques did for the most part measure their Drink and would upon no account exceed their stinted Custom saying with Anacharsis the Philosopher That the First Draught which Men drink ought to be for to quench their Thirst the second for nourishment but the third was for Pleasure and the fourth for Madness Pythagoras was somewhat more preâ—ise in this matter living only of Herbs Fruits and drinking Water He would usually say That Grapes afâ—orded three sorts of Wine one whereof quenched Thirst the seâ—ond Troubled the third overthrew â—nd inflamed the Spirits and his practice confirm'd his Opinion for himself was so abstemious that they â—ay of him That he never drank Wine in all his days no more did the Great Orator Demosthenes if reports be true nor many other famous Men of whom the Histories make mention I find that I have dilated my self somewhat largely in making report of the Sobriety and Abstinence of so many particular Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Ancient Fathers and other renowned Men both Christians and those others morally Wise and Vertuous Men among the Gentils Kings Captains Philosophers and others The reason and chief Motive hereof hath been to shew the beastly intemperance of the Men of this present age to whom it seems an unpossible vain and contemptible thing to live in such Sobriety and Austerity of Life saying That there were none but simple Philosophers and melancholike Hermits that lived after this manner To let them see the contrary I have taken this pains They may here behold how much they are mistaken and how in all States Qualities and Conditions of Men even from the greatest to the meanest Sobriety Temperance and Abstinence have been both honour'd observ'd and practised So that in conclusion I may truly say of all the Egyptian Priests of all the Sages of India and Persia yea generally of all Priests that served at the Alters of Jupiter and those other Pagans Deities that they did seldom eat Flesh-meat but never drank Wine which truly may serve for a Subject of very serious reflection to some that hold chief places in the Church of the True and Living God who ought to be as Lamps shining in the midst of the Temple and by their Example as well as Doctrine to guide their Spiritual Subjects in the ways of True Piety and Vertue Not that they have these Gentils only to look upon and follow as Presidents seeing the Holy Catholique Church doth her self by the Grace of God plentifully afford innumerable such in all Christian Provinces that is Men of Holy and Exemplary Lives who had the True Love and Fear of God in them in such eminent manner that their Conversation hath singularly edified the People under their charge and excited them to all Godliness and Honesty So that blessed be God it is not so much for want of good Presidents amongst Christians that we mention Heathens and Gentiles in this Affair but more effectually to convince some sort of People of their shameful Practices who will not be mov'd by nor regard the example of good Christians so well as they ought to do To conclude therefore I wish every one to take notice of a Saying of Socrates that Wise and Worthy Gentile who was wont to say That the Soul which had gotten the habit and custom of Sobriety and was contented with her Estate did pass away her days in this World with as much ease as he that takes a short journey in the Spring through a most pleasant and fruitful Country with great satisfaction to the mind and little labour SECTION III. Drunkenness or the Excess of Meat and Drink a most Pestilent Disease SECT 1. It causeth several Infirmities 2. It causeth the Corruption of the Soul 3. It causeth the Corruption of the Body 4. Sad Examples of Drunkards Sect. 1. Drunkenness or Excess in Meat and Drink causeth several Infirmities IT stands with great reason that if we believe the Vertue of Abstinence to be a preservative of Health as the Holy Scripture makes mention and assure us that it is witness that of Ecclus. 37. v. 34. Qui abstinens est adjiciet Vitam He that is abstinent shall prolong his life it must likewise be acknowledged that the Excess of Drink must be cause of many Infirmities and by them destroy the Body which is also averred in the fore-going part of the Text above cited Propter crapulam multi obierunt By means of Drunkenness many have come to untimely ends The Physician knowing that his Patient hath got a Surfeit whether by Eating or Drinking presently prescribes him Abstinence and 't is a Rule in Physick That Contraria contrariis curantur Contraries are for the most part cur'd by contraries If the root or cause of the Sickness be too much Heat it is cur'd by Cold or rebating the Heat if too much Moisture it is cur'd by Purging dissipating and evacuating the peccant Humour which Saint Hierome also confirms saying We read of many particular Diseases and Infirmities that proceed from the Excess of Drink as Gouts Dropsies Feavers and the like which are cur'd and the Patients recover health again meerly by being reduced to Abstinence and slender Diet avoiding the Superfluities and Excesses which at first caused the Distemper the Drunkards Wine and Strong Drink if I may so speak being in this respect like to the little Book mentioned in the Apocalypse Chap. 10. v. 11 which was commanded to be eaten it is in the Mouth and going down sweet as Honey but in their Stomach and Belly it is bitter and hard of digestion So then if you desire to preserve your selves in Health I speak here only of Bodily Health you must follow the Counsel of Socrates and be careful never to eat but when you are Hungry nor ever to drink but when you are Dry and Thirsty because to do otherwise and to observe no order time and temperance in your Eating and Drinking is the cause of many Infirmities Distempers and Languishing of the Body Pain in the Head Pain in the Stomach Distillations Dropsies and overflowing of gross Humors all over the Body such an irregular Diet tending rather to overcharge than to sustain nature For the natural Heat of the Body not being able to concoct or digest such abundance of superfluous Humors as follow Intemperance or the Excess of Eating and Drinking when it is habitual constant and customary the said Humours must unavoidably remain crude rawish and of a temperament contrary or not agreeable to the temperament of the Body and consequently must be a seminary for Fevers and other Distempers and in fine of an untimely Death where the Art of the Physician or some good Providence of God doth not hinder to the Body With truth therefore we say and in charity admonish all Offenders in this kind that all those who take such pleasure and delight in Eating and Drinking as to
through the Grace of God so wrought with him that he was forthwith converted both to the Catholique Faith and to a most holy continent and chaste life Oh that we could follow his good example and retire our selves out of the Life of this World to a Life Holy and Spiritual that we could give our selves up wholly to Gods service renouncing all vanities and vain divertisements fopperies and all the sensualities of the world and of the flesh and avoiding all the deceitful works of the Devil as things that are most prejudicial to our Bodies and Souls Oh that we could resolve from this present time to say with the Prophet Osee Ducam animam meam in solitudinem Oseae 2. v. 13. I will lead or with-draw my Soul into solitude I will make a divorce a perpetual seperation from all sorts of Vanities Concupiscences Pleasures and Sensualities I will henceforth with St. Paul 2 Cor. 4. v. 10. say Semper mortificationem Jesu in corpore nostro circumferam I will always bear about in my Body the Mortification of Jesus Christ that by means thereof through his Divine help and aid I I may avoid and qe free from Self-love SECTION V. How to conquer and overcome Self-love Sect. 1. Man cannot attain that Grace without the help of God 2. The first means to overcome Self-love is by the knowledge of our selves of our own Nothing Unprofitableness Vileness Miseries and Afflictions 3. The second means to overcome Self-love is by the knowledge of the Excellencies and Perfections of God 4. The third means to overcome Self-love is by the knowledge of the Benefits we have received and are to receive Sect. 1. Man cannot attain that Grace without the help of God The duty of our present state is and the chief employment of our whole life ought to be constantly and fervently to co-operate with Divine Grace and to grow in Vertues endeavouring always and in every thing to get the victory over our selves that is over inordinate Self-love and Self-interests that would debauch us from our duty and carry us into wrong ways The reason hereof is because God being a Nature or Essence superlatively excellent and infinitely above our and all other created natures requires as a tribute most worthy of him and of justice belonging to him that we totally abstract our love from all objects whatsoever and place it in him not loving any thing but God and what he commands and allows us to love for his sake This I confess is impossible for us to do by any meer natural ability or strength according as the most Reverend Father Nicolaus a Sancta Cruce a person who has been twice Provincial in the Order of Saint Francis and is famous as well for his Learning and Piety as his connual labour and pains-taking in the Mission of England confirms in his Cynosura Chap. the first page 5th upon the Miserere Psalm in these words When man looks into himself he finds a check seeing he cannot so much as dispose himself for his happiness without a supernatural aid For though it be true that humane nature by its own strength knows that God is worthy of all love yet our knowledge in Morality is much more apt for comprehension that is for understanding than for practice It is not enough to have wings to flie if they be so hamper'd as they cannot be display'd So this natural faculty in man of loving God above all things by means of Original Sin and a million of other obstacles is so weakened that we find the inclination of doing it far less vigorous and effectual than the Dictamens of our Reason to have it done And no wonder since St. Thomas affirms That our Will by Original Sin is much more damnified and impaired than our Understanding Whence Self-love grows powerful in use so that if it hath not a counter-prize of supernatural succours we yield and suffer our selves to be violently hurried on to the pursuit of fading and sensual objects for which cause the miseries of our humane nature are very much to be pittied and deplored being so wounded and made impotent unto good as that of her self alone she is not able to pay the least part of what she owes to the most lawful object of all hearts whose just homages are not only sighs groans or throws of spirit good wishes good desires c. but effective that is actual and real service done actual performance of what he commands exact observance of all his holy Precepts Laws c. together with a careful wary diligent aversion from whatsoever we know to be offensive to him and apt to put a seperation between God and our Souls Such are the excess of sensual pleasures and the immoderate affectation of worldly greatness honours riches and the like Our love and duty to God likewise requires that we resist temptations and in many encounters to suffer afflictions miseries and all manner of calamities incident to mans life yea sometimes to lose and lay down our lives rather then to fall into any transgression or sin opposite to Divine Love Now all these are difficulties hard things to be done and do far exceed humane strength which deserves indeed to be called rather weakness than strength so that it behoves us to have recourse to Divine Aid and to implore the Majesty of God for the gift of his special Grace which may enable us to perform what is required of us knowing this that should we be freed from all sins and imperfections yet could we not attain to such a degree of divine love and perfect holiness as to love him as much as he deserves to be loved how much more is this impossible for us to do in this our present condition in which beside our natural and original weakness we are through evil custom and long practice of actual sin become most averse and disinclined to it being on the contrary wholly possess'd fill'd and taken up with Self-love and the fruits thereof to wit pursuing our private interests concerns proprieties ambitious and worldly designs However some means I shall not omit to produce in this place for the helping us with more ease to vanquish this Vice of Self-love and to get a perfect victory over the same which we are not to despair of being prompted with divine help and assistance but to say confidently with S. Paul Phil. 4. 13. Omnia possum in eo c. I shall be able to do all things requisite to my Salvation through Christ who strengthens me These motives or means must be fundamentally grounded in a true and right knowledge of God and our selves and first of all in the perfect knowledge of our own selves of our nothing of our own unprofitableness vileness afflictions miseries In the second place it must be grounded in true knowledge of the Universal Sufficiency Being Power Wisdom and other the infinite perfections beauties and goodness of God who by reason of them is to be the only object of
that which should save their Souls as well as their Bodies but if they die perish in their Sin and shame with the eternal loss of their poor Souls which the Wise Solomon desiring to prevent forewarneth us of the danger in those words of his Prov. 23. 31 32. which we shall do well often and very often to have in minn Ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit cum splenduerit in vitro color ejus c. Look not upon the Wine when it is well colour'd when the colour thereof shall shine in the Glass for though it goes down pleasantly yet at the later end it will bite like a Serpent and as the Basilisk diffuse and spead its Venome to the Corruption of your Soul Sect. 3. Drunkenness or the Excess of Meat and Drink the Corruption of the Body Thus it appears in some part that Drunkenness is the Corruption of the Soul and how the Soul is said to be Câ—â—rupted I am now to shew that it is likewise the Corruption of the Body and that in a more absolute sense because the Body is absolutely and intirely Corruptible which the Soul is not The very Substance Nature and Essence of the Body may be Corrupted and is Corrupted by Drunkenness but the Substance Nature and Essence of the Soul cannot be Corrupted as we have shewn above Well then we are next to shew that the Vice we speak of Excessive Drinking is the Corruption of the Body And what can be more evident and manifest than this even from daily experience Doth not Experience tell us that it is the original cause of innumerable Distempers and Diseases to Mans Body and by which the greater part of Manknd first or last do perish or find the end of their days in this World Doth not the Wise Man give us a necessary caution concerning this in those words of his Ecclus 37. 32. Noli â—vidus esse in omni epulatione c. In all Feasting be not you greedy nor let loose your appetite to every thing that is set before you For through many Meats come many infirmities and overmuch Feeding encreases Choler By means of Surfeiting by Meat or Drink many have come to their ends People addicted to good Fellowship as they call it when after some excessive Drinking they find themselves not well how many shifts do they use to hide their over-sight and hinder the effect from being charg'd upon the True Cause Their Distemper must not be imputed to the quantity that is to say their Drinking overmuch but to the quality their Drink was not good it was not well brewed it was raw and windy or the Mault was not well made and many such vain pretences do they use adding a lie to their former sin of Drunkenness and all that it may not be thought to be their Drinking so much should cause their Malady Certain it is a moderate quantity of Drink and also of Meat hurteth not but is necessary to satisfie and sustain Nature neither is it the use but the abuse of Meat and Drink to wit when we observe no measure which causeth Diseases when the Golden Mean is observed all goes well but when it is neglected great inconveniencies follow according as Apuleius seems not unhandsomely to express it The first Cup saith he is drunk to the Health of Nature the second causes Cheerfulness Mirth and harmless Pleasure the third relishes somewhat of Sensuality and invites to Disorder and Voluptuousness but the fourth breeds Infirmities and Indisposition of Body and especially if you add the fifth Madness Excess herein makes Man Created to the Image and Likeness of God and Reasonable above all other Creatures of this World to become wholly difform and unlike to God losing his Reason and Understanding The Traveller that wants Wisdom being Thirsty in the heat of Summer as soon as he meets with a Ditch full of Water in his Journey he presently runs to it for to Drink minding only to quench his Thirst and not at all considering whether the Water be good pure clear and wholesom or whether it be not corrupted impure and muddy nor whether it be cold as Water to Drink should be or whether it be not heated with the Sun-beams and made unfit to Drink The unwise Traveller considers none of these things nor what inconveniences may follow but sets himself to Drink as much as he can and so Drinks oft-times his own Death or manifold Diseases and Infirmities But the Wise Pilgrim though he feels as much Thirst as the other yet he moderates his Appetite and will not Drink till he comes at a clear Fountain of Running Water and of this he will Drink with moderation not to overcharge Nature but to extinguish his Thirst In the same manner it is with many that dwell at home and seldom travels farther than the Tavern or Ale-House that they haunt They rush into these Common Drinking Places far more corrupt and dangerous to the Soul by reason of the many Transgressions committed in them than any standing Pool or muddy Water can be to the Body and there fall to Tipple and Drink with as much Discretion and Consideration of what they do as the Beast useth that goes from the Stall to Watering Thus do many run daily to Drink and by their enticements carry others along with them and provoke them to Drink not so much many times as well considering whether the Drink be good or bad Whereas those that are Vertuous and Wise will rather have in scorn such Places and would never with their good will be seen in them Drinking always moderately either at home in their own or abroad at some Friends Houses only to content Nature preserve Health and comply with the devoirs of honest Friendship Sect. 4. Sad Examples upon great Drinkers Gabriel Prateolus in his second Tome of Chronicles at the year 1580 the 24th of July mentions a very sad accident which happened to two great Health-drinkers at a Town called Mackerhoven in Germany These two unfortunate Men came into a Tavern and called for Wine which seeming to them to be weak and little pleasing to their Pallats they insisted for better So having tasted of all sorts they pitch'd at length upon that they found to be strongest and fell smartly to it drinking to the Health of every one they could think of or call to mind upon that occasion Beginning to be elevated the one said to the other To whom shall we now Drink The other replied Drink to the Health of God and you shall see how it shall be answered but he being unwilling and making difficulty at it the wretch that made the motion suddenly snatches the Glass out of his Companions hand and in these words provoketh Divine Wrath upon himself saying O God hear me I will Drink to thee in a full Glass and if you do not pledge me you do me injury His Companion had first ask'd him of which Wine he would drink Fill me of the New replied the wicked
being so that he is most applauded that can speak the greatest evil of himself it makes this mad Crew ambitious to be thought superlatively wicked and to fear nothing more than to be counted Sneaks and poor-spirited Fellows not worthy of the name of Hectors by this Brotherhood of Hell Neither is it any new thing Thus it hath been of old The good Father S. Augustin in his Books of Confessions doth no less than report and confess this fault to have been his own before his Conversion He humbly acknowledges of himself that hearing his Companions boast of their wicked exploits and seeing that they rendred themselves more glorious in the opinion of their Fellows by how much they could speak beastly and dishonestly of themselves and being perpetually amongst them he could not forbear doing as the rest did not for any appetite which he had to the thing whereof he boasted but meerly for the complacency which he took in being applauded for the same by his Companions who gave credit to what he feignedly and falsly spake of himself I was fain saith he to counterfeit the evil which I had not and to seem as if I had done it I durst not be thought innocent for fear of being disesteemed and rejected for a worthless Fellow I was loath to be thought sober chast or continent least chastity and sobriety should make me condemned by them and the world Thus doth this good Father make publick and penitent confession of himself in this and some other kinds of sin which his Youth and ill Company through intemperance had made him for some time while he was young subject unto Oh that his good example could be followed Oh that we could be perswaded to break off this devillish custom of boasting and glorying in sin and that there might be no such people found among us as S. Jude speaks of feeding themselves without fear no such sports in our feasts no such raging waves foaming out their own shame That we would dread the Judgment that is threatned to such quibus procella tenebrarum servata est in aeternum Woe unto them walkers in the way of perdition walkers after their own lusts to whom the blackness of darkness and the Hell of misery is reserved for ever Jude 11 12 13 16. Sect. 4. The excess of Meat and Drink causeth filthiness and uncleanness There is a double or twofold kind of filthiness here to be taken notice of The one which is only sordid and offensive to the eye of the Body The other is sinful and offensive to the eye of the Soul when she judges right and which is more to the Eyes of God They both attend drunkenness or the excess of meat and drink when it is immoderate The Drunkard shews himself a filthy Beast in respect of this first kind of uncleanness viz. that of the Body witness their frequent vomitings spewings and castings out of that which they had intemperately taken in For when their Stomachs those devouring Sepulchres those Bellies of Harpies which raven all by gluttony and excessive drinking have been in the day-time overcharg'd with all sorts of luscious meat and strong liquors it seldom happens but in the night they discharge themselves by shameful vomiting and spewing Thus it was with the people of the Jews The Prophet Isaias complains of it in these terms Isa 28. 7. Omnes prae Vino erraverunt c. All have erred through Wine saith he and through strong drink all are out of the way All Tables are so filled of vomit and filthiness that there is no place clean Is it not a deplorable thing to see Christians at this day behave themselves worse than the bruit beasts they know when they have enough the bruit beasts neither eat nor drink till they vomit all up again they eat and drink till Nature is satisfied and when they have arrived to that point all the art and all the means you can use shall not make them go further till hunger and thirst prompts them Only Man only unhappy and unwise man eats and drinks to such excess as he is forced to his shame were he not past all shame to cast up his so unduly and indiscreetly receiv'd sustenance Of all the Creatures that God hath made Man only will drink to vomit and vomit O strange O devillish distemper to drink again as to my knowledge is true Secondly there is the filthiness and uncleanness of sin going along with drunkenness filthy and unchast thoughts filthy and unclean desires filthy and unclean phantasies and imaginations of things filthy and unclean designs projects purposes filthy and unclean speech discourse songs filthy and unclean actions fornication adultery incest pollution All these filthinesses and uncleannesses attend the Drunkard and are the constant relicks and remains as it were of his Feasts So that S. Chrysostom doth here again rightly pronounce Ebrietas scortationis mater Drunkenness saith he is the Mother of Whoredom all filthy and lewd concupiscence proceeds from it And again Nothing saith he is more pernicious than gluttony nothing more ignominious than to exceed in drink nothing more detestable than both as dulling the spirit and blinding the understanding not permitting those who are addicted to them to foresee and beware any thing that is hurtful to their soul or body but subjecting them to a slothful idleness both spiritual and corporal For which cause in the Gospel of S. Luke Christ our Saviour admonisheth us in these words Luc. 21. v. 34. Attendite vobis ne forte graventur corda vestra in crapula ebrietate c. Take heed and look well to your selves least perhaps your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness c. and so that day meaning the day of Judgment come upon you unawares He that is so overcharg'd can think of nothing that is good either for himself or others he has lost the use of his understanding together with that of his limbs his head hands and feet failing him he falls and without help there lies in his filthiness to his deserved shame and confusion SECTION VI. Excess in Meat and Drink the cause of several other inconveniencies and miseries SECT 1. It causeth a voluntary madness 2. It causeth Men to be worse than Beasts 3. It causeth want of necessary provisions 4. A sad ezample upon that account 5. Remedies against Gluttony and Drunkenness 6. Reflexion upon the foregoing matter Sect. 1. Drunkenness causeth a voluntary madness IT stands with all reason that if we call them Wise Men who in their infirmities whether of Body or Soul help themselves and procure the best and speediest remedies they can for their disease to that end taking the advice of the ablest Physicians and Doctors for their corporal Maladies and following the good counsel of their spiritual Directors for the health of their Souls So on the contrary we may justly call and account them fools or mad people who being in health and good disposition of body will
sorrowful Outcries of their unfortunate Wives and Children will manifestly convince the contrary and shew that their poverty proceds only from their excessive Drinking Idleness and ill expence of their Money upon such occasions For of such People is verified that of the Prophet Aggeus Chap. 1. 6. Mercedes congregant mittunt eas in sacculum pertusum They gather wages but put their Money into a broken Bag. These Mechanique Drunkards if you will observe oft-times for the whole Week or on Working-days are industrious and ply their Business but when Sunday or an Holy-day comes all or most of what they have is seen to be put into a broken Bag They spend it idlely their unsatiable Appetite of Drinking devours so much of it that their poor Families Wife and Children live in perpetual need wanting necessaries and are forced very often by extream necessity to sell or pawn the Cloaths off their Backs to supply their urgent occasions and not seldom such is their unhappy condition to take unlawful courses Sect. 4. A sad Example upon that Account Father John Benedict a very Learned Divine of the Seraphical Order of Saint Francis verifieth what we have said above by a lamentable Example that happened in his days A certain Person saith he given to Drunkenness had consumed and wasted all that he had with excessive Drinking and being through Poverty forced to live by his Labour and Industry he would take morâ— pâ—ins and care to get Money to Drink than to provide Maintenance for his Wife and Children so that they starv'd at home for want of Victuals whilst he lay drinking at the Ale-house Vrgent necessity at length overcomes the patience of the desolate Wife who having used all the means possible at home and in private to perswade her Husband to better courses and to with-draw from his idle and extravagant Expences and not being able to prevail with him she went one day to the Ale-house where she knew he was Drinking and there openly declar'd the woful necessitous Condition that she and her poor Children were in being in likely-hood to perish for Hunger with all entreating her Husband by all Love with Tears and by all means possible perswadeing him to take compassion of his poor Children and Family ready to starve for want of Bread But this wicked wretch instead of giving ear to her Complaints and Perswasions and instead of following her Counsel falls into Rage and Passion thereupon and most inhumanely beats her insomuch that for a while she was left for dead But at length the poor Woman with much ado gets up and going homewards two of her Children came to meet her crying for Victuals and pulling her on either side by the Clothes Saying to her Da panem Mater fame perimus Mother give us some Bread we are ready to die for Hunger it is two days past since we eat any think To which lamentable cry of her Children the poor Mother replies Ha my poor Babes what remedy from whence should I procure you Bread your Father spends faster than we can get what shall we do 'T is better to die once than to languish a long time and to perish at last for Hunger as we do We had better by one short Death redeem a thousand lingring Deaths Having uttered this doleful Speech and become half out of her Wits in a desperate manner she takes a Knife and cuts the Throat of her Children which done and intending to prosecute the same Bloody Resolution towards her Husband she expects his coming home which according to his custom was about Midnight The Man deep in Drink takes notice of nothing but goes to Bed little dreaming what was to follow The unfortunate Woman waited not long before she found him fast asleep whereupon taking the Knife with which she had kill'd her two Children she cuts his Throat with the same saying Die thou wretch thy wicked Life hath procured thy ruin and mine and the ruin of thy Children The Murther was no sooner done but discovered and the Woman being apprehended and brought before the Justice she openly declared the Fact and was condemned to die for it which she did not much refuse but contrariwise went couragiously and most willingly to the place of Execution where having given warning to all bad Husbands how they spend their Money which should be for the just Maintenance of their Wife and Children in base Ale-houses with the loss of their Souls she was Executed and suffered Death Sect. 5. Remedies against Gluttony and Drunkenness Seeing that for the most part both the Soul and Bodies of Christians are through intemperance and immoderate Eating and Drinking so ulcerated and corrupted that many of them do not only languish and pine away under manifold Diseases but utterly Perish through want of the true and proper Balsam which might heal their putrified Sores I shall here willingly bestow my slender Skill to declare unto them the Vertue and Property of several Ointments which in order to this effect viz. of Curing Souls I observe to be approv'd and recommended generally speaking by all Learned Divines so that if Patients will be pleas'd but to make tryal and use them and be careful to apply them to their Languishing Infirmities in such manner as they shall be prescribed I dare promise them a pefect Cure of all their Maladies The First Antidote against Gluttony and Drunkenness is that which both Scripture and Ancient Fathers mention to wit Sobriety and Abstinence As for Scripture the Wise Solomon saith Ecclus 31. 32. Aqua Vita hominibus Vinum in sobrietate c. Sobriety in Drink makes a Mans Life happy or to pass on in an even and equal State unmolested either with Grief or Anxiety whereas on the contrary according to the same Wise Man when 't is Drunk to Excess it is Amaritudo animae Bitter or Bitterness to the Soul It provokes Wrath and Anger and causes many Inconveniences and Harms both to Soul and Body As for the Fathers Saint Prosper not without cause gives a high Commendation of Sobriety Saying It is of such force as to change the Mind and Spirit of Man from Evil to Good and to make him Temperate and Abstemious who was before Intemperate and would observe no mean and to love a spare Diet who before was a Glutton and Slave to his Belly It makes him Honest Chaste Serious Bashful and Modest who before was given to all Dishonesty and Lewdness Unchaste Foolish and Shameless both in his Words and Actions and that when Sobriety and Abstinence do together take possession of a Soul and reside in her they bridle all Excess of Eating and Drinking they repress Sensuality and Carnal Lust they put and keep in good Order all the motions and dispositions of the Mind multiplying Good and Holy Thoughts Desires Affections and extinguishing the contrary Sobriety Chastizes and Corrects all Vices or Ill-habits of the Mind helps all Imperfections rectifies all Disorder and Confusion that happens in Mans
Lewdness of Discourse and Speech Unchaste Looks Lascivious Gesture and from every thing in this kind by which the holy Temple of God our Body may come to be polluted in â—ny sort by carnal impurity Be it therefore known to all you Offenders in this kind that whoâ—ver defiles Gods Temple his Body â—y any actions of Fleshly Lust he â—oes in effect destroy himself as renâ—ring himself thereby obnoxious to â—he wrath of God which if not apâ—eas'd and averted by timely repentance will in the end be his destruction if you fear not by Sin to defile and destroy the houses of God which are your selves and your own Bodies expect in time to see Gods judgment upon the houses you dwell in at least you have cause to fear and dread what he threatens that you may amend your lives and cease from that Sin by which in the judgment of Saint Augustin You do foulely corrupt your selves dishonour and do injury to God and totally deface the Image of Christ that is in you SECTION III. By what means Carnal Concupiscence that is in the Heart and Inward Intentions cometh forth to Action SECT 1. By toleration of Seusual Complacency 2. By Wilful Delectation in the Lustful Objects 3. By Wilful Consent of performing the same Sect. 1 By toleration of Sensual Complacency DIvines observe That the Sins of Carnal Concupiscence have their proceeding occasionally from all the exteriour senses Sunt in quolibet sensu aliquae delectationes ad luxuriam spectantes In every particular sense of the Body there are delectations which pertain and tend to the Sin of Luxury applying to this purpose that which is spoken by the Prophet Hieremy chap. 9. 21. Ascendrt Mors per fenestras c. Death comes in at our Windows Understanding here by Windows our Five Senses viz. Seeing Hearing Touching Tasting and Smelling and by Death Sin which is the cause of Death and the meaning of the Text to be that by our Senses through inordinate Pleasure taken in them Sin enters into the Soul and Death by Sin from which the Opinion of Saint Antoninns and the Divines that follow him dissenteth not Who teach That in the proceeding or going forward of Carnal Concupiscence to its full and comple at act there are to he observ'd seven degrees or steps of which the three first are inclos'd in the heart and there exercised by inward imagination or fancy but the other four are out of the heart and exercised by the members and actions of the Body As to the first Step of Carnal Concupiscence it is the toleration of sensual complacency or a delightsome voluntary resting in lascivious Thoughts coming to mind either by natural occasion or by the temptation and suggestion of Satan an infirmity to which depraved Nature is too much subject and insinuated by the Apostle Saint James in that passage of his Jac. 1. 31. where he saith Nemo cum tentatur dicat c. Let no man when he is tempted say that he is tempted of God for God is not a tempter of evils and tempteth no man But every one is tempted of his own Concupiscence being therewith carried away and inticed Which Concupiscence when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and sin when it is consummated genders death Concupiscence does then begin to carry us away from God when we suffer our mind to wander about such matters though without any intention to sin which the Prophet seems to express a little more plainly Isa 1. 16. where he saith Wash you and be clean Auferte malum cogitationum vestrarum c. Take away the evil of your thoughts from before mine eyes to wit those evil Thoughts with which you suffer your minds to be so taken up that you can find no time to think upon what I command you Cast such Thoughts out of your mind as soon as you can perceive them take no delight nor pleasure in them for though perhaps they are not alwaies sinful yet they are alwayes dangerous and will quickly lead you to sin if you rest in them I accknowledg it to be most true that though the Evil Spirit plies us and pursues us never so much with his suggestions and putting lascivious thoughts into our mind they can do us no harm so long as we resist them or give no consent to them but are rather matter of merit to us for so often as we do so we do foil Satan in his assault we repulse our Ghostly Enemy and get a Victory over him for which we may expect a Crown one day if we persever to the end But if we let his Suggestions evil Thoughts to rest in us and our mind to be taken up with them after relexion especially if it be with any sport or pleasure taken we do not fight with our Ghostly Enemy but play with him and that 's dangerous Temptation verily is no sin yet it serveth as the seed of sin to which Delectation giving nourishment sin at length comes forth by willing consent and then we are utterly lost till repentance restores us But having the grace to be free from complacency or delight-taking in evil thoughts and the care conscientious and diligent care to cast them out of your mind so soon as you percieve them or reflect upon what you are thinking fear not you are pure you are innocent you are clean how impure foul and nocent soever your thoughts be Consent not to them and the badder they are the better it shall be for you for the greater the Temptation is that you overcome the greater shall be your Victory and Crown Sudden and voluntary motions to whatsoever they incline are no sin according to that of Saint Paul Rom. 7. 17. Nunc autem jam non ego operor illud c. It is not I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me By which expressions as the Annotations observe the Apostle means That though the Flesh and the inferiour parts do stir up disorderly passions motions and perturbations in the mind on the sudden and invade the same before we are well aware of it or that reason can gather up it self to put them by by reason whereof man is for a while entangled with them against his will yet so long as upon reflexion he does perceive them and perceiving them does make what resistance he can against them condemning and casting them out of his mind and deverting himself to better Thoughts there is no fear nor scruple to be had of sin many just and holy persons suffering the like perturbations in the inferiour or sensitive part of their mind otherwise called the Phantasie and also in their exteriour members to which their Understanding and Will never consents which so long as we do not it is most true what Saint Augustin says viz. That we need not say God forgive us our sins for any contingencies of this nature and it ought to be a most certain and assured sign to us that we if do not consent to