prognosticate a bad event here is nothing appears salutary but from head to foot the Disease is prevalent in every part which being collated the syndrom is lethal and Judgment to be given so Surely then Drunkenness is a very great Disease for the time but because it is not usually mortal nor lasts long therefore it is slighted and look't upon as a trivial matter that will cure it self But now the question may be asked Why is not Drunkenness usually mortal since the same signs in other Diseases are accounted mortal and the event proves it so To which I answer All the hopes we have that a man drunk should live is First From common experience that it is not deadly Secondly From the nature of the Primitive or procuring Cause strong Drink or Wine which although it rage and strangely discompose the man for a time yet it lasts not long nor is mortal The inebriating spirits of the liquor flowing in so fast and joyning with the spirits of mans body make so high a tide that overflows all the banks and bounds of order For the spirits of mans body those agents in each faculty act smoothly regularly and constantly with a moderate supply but being overcharged and forced out of their natural course and exercise of their duty by the large addition of furious spirits spurs the functions into strange disorders as if nature were conflicting with death and dissolution but yet it proves not mortal And this first because these adventitious spirits are amicable and friendly to our bodies in their own nature and therefore not so deadly injurious as that which is not so familiar or noxious Secondly Because they are very volatile light and active Nature therefore does much sooner recover her self transpires and sends forth the overplus received than if the Morbisick matter were more ponderous and fixed the gravamen from thence would be much worse and longer in removing as an over-charge of Meat Bread Fruit or such like substances not spirituous but dull and heavy comparative is of more difficult digestion and layes a greater and more dangerous load upon the faculties having not such volatile brisk spirits to assist Nature nor of so liquid a fine substance of quicker and easier digestion So that the symptoms from thence are much more dangerous than those peracute distempers arising from Liquors So likewise those bad symptoms in other Diseases are more to be feared and accounted mortal than the like arising from drunkenness because those perhaps depend upon malignant causes or such as by time are radicated in the body or from the defection of some principal part but the storm and discomposure arising from drunkenness as it is suddenly raised so commonly it soon falls depending upon benign causes and a spirituous matter that layes not so great an oppression but inebriates the spirits that they act very disorderly and unwontedly or by the soporiferous vertue stupifies them for a time until they recover their agility again But all this while I do not see that to be drunk once a month should prove good Physick all I think that can be said in this behalf is that by overcharging the Stomach vomiting is procured and so carries off something that was lodged there which might breed Diseases This is a bad excuse for good Fellows and a poor plea for drunkenness for the gaining of one supposed benefit which might be obtained otherwise you introduce twenty inconveniences by it I do not like the preventing of one Disease that may be by procuring of one at the present certainly and many hereafter most probably and if the Disease feared or may be could be prevented no otherwise but by this drunken means then that might tolerate and allow it but there are other wayes better and safer to cleanse the body either upwards or downwards than by overcharging with strong drink and making the man to unman himself the evil consequents of which are many the benefit hoped for but pretended or if any but very small and inconsiderable And although as I said before the drunken fit is not mortal and the danger perhaps not great for the present yet those drunken bouts being repeated the relicts do accumulate debilitate Nature and lay the foundation of many chronick Diseases Nor can it be expected otherwise but you may justly conclude from the manifest irregular actions which appear to us externally that the functions within also and their motions are strangely disordered for the outward madness and unwonted actions proceed from the internal impulses and disordered motions of the faculties which general disturbance and discomposure being frequent must needs subvert the oeconomy and government of humane Nature and consequently ruine the Fabrick of mans body The ill effects and more eminent products of Ebriety are first A changing of the natural tone of the Stomach and alienating the digestive faculty That instead of a good transmutation of food a degenerate Chyle is produced Common experience tells that after a drunken debauch the stomach loseth its appetite and acuteness of digestion as belching thirst disrelish nauseating do certainly testifie yet to support nature and continue the custom of eating some food is received but we cannot expect from such a Stomach that a good digestion should follow and it is some dayes before the Stomach recover its eucrasy and perform its office well and if these miscarriages happen but seldom the injury is the less and sooner recompenced but by the frequent repetition of these ruinous practices the Stomach is overthrown and alienated from its integrity Secondly An unwholsom corpulency and cachectick plenitude of body does follow or a degenerate macilency and a decayed consumptive constitution Great Drinkers that continue it long few of them escape but fall into one of these conditions and habit of body for if the Stomach discharge not its office a right the subsequent digestions will also be defective So great a consent and dependance is there upon the Stomach that other parts cannot perform their duty if this leading principal Part be perverted and debauched nor can it be expected otherwise for from this Laboratory and prime office of digestion all the parts must receive their supply which being not suitable but depraved are drawn into debanchery also and a degenerate state the whole Body fed with vitious alimentary succus Now that different products or habits of body should arise from the same kind of debauchery happens upon this score As there are different properties and conditions of bodies so the result from the same procuring causes shall be much different and various one puffs up fills and grows hydropical another pines away and falls Consumptive from excess in drinking and this proceeds from the different disposition of parts for in some persons although the stomach be vitiated yet the strength of the subsequent digestions is so great from the integrity and vigor of those parts destinated to such offices that they act strenuously though their object matter be transmitted to them imperfect and degenerate und therefore do keep the body plump and full although the juyces be foul and of a depraved nature Others è contra whose parts are not so firm and vigorous that will not act upon any score but with their proper object does not endeavour a transmutation of such aliene matter but receiving it with a nice reluctance transmits it to be evacuated and sent forth by the next convenient ducture or emunctory and from hence the body is frustrated of nuâ—â—ition and falls away So that the pouring in of much liquor although it be good in sua natura does not beget much aliment but washeth through the body and is not assimilated But here some may object and think That washing of the body through with good Liquor should cleanse the body and make it fit for nourishment and be like good Physick for a foul body But the effect proves the contrary and it is but reason it should be so for suppose the Liquor whether Wine or other be pure and good yet when the spirit is drawn off from it the remainder is but dead flat thick and a muddy flegm As we find in the distillation of Wine or other Liquors so it is in mans body the spirit is drawn off first and all the parts of mans body are ready Receivers and do imbibe that limpid congenerous enlivener freely and readily but the remainder of greatest proportion that heavy dull phlegmy part and of a narcotick quality lies long fluctuating upon the digestions and passeth but slowly turns sowre and vitiates the Crases of the parts So that this great inundation and supposed washing of the body does but drown the Faculties stupifie or choak the Spirits and defile all the Parts not purifie and cleanse And although the more subtile and thinner portion passeth away in some persons pretty freely by Urine yet the grosser and worse part stayes behind and clogs in the percolation A third injury and common manifest prejudice from intemperate drinking is An imbecillity of the Nerves which is procured from the disorderly motions of the Animal Spirits being impulsed and agitated preternaturally by the inebriating spirits of strong Liquors which vibration being frequent begets a habit and causeth a trepidation of Members Transcribed verbatim out of Dr. Maynwaring's Treatise Of long Life FINIS Are to be Sold near the Exchange and in Popes-head-Alley Primum crater ad sitim pertinere secundum ad hilaritatem tertium ad voluptatem quartum ad insaniam dixit Apulius Omne nimium naturae est inimicum A Cacotrophy or Atrophy
A Warning-piece TO ALL DRUNKARDS AND Health-Drinkers Faithfully Collected From the Works of English and Foreign Learned Authors of good Esteem Mr. Samuel Ward and Mr. Samuel Clark and others WITH Above one Hundred and twenty sad and dreadful Examples of Gods severe Judgements upon notorious Drunkards Twelve of the Chiefest are Graved in Copper-Plates to Deterr others from the like provoking sins and Healths with a Huzza TO WHICH IS ADDED His Majesties Proclamation against Vicious Debauched Prophane Persons and Drinkers of his Health ALSO Some Cautions of a Learned Doctor of Physick declaring how Intemperate Drinking destroyes our bodily Health and Strength Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum London Printed for the Author and are to be sold by Langley Curtis at the Sign of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey near Fleet-bridge 1682. THE PREFACE IT was once the distressed Case of those Mariners in Jonah that by no means could save themselves from Shipwrack they rowed and they prayed and they did what men could doe and yet the Sea wrought and the angry waves beat upon them till that sleepy Jonah for whose sake it was this Evil came upon them was thrown over-board into the Sea It were worth the while to sit down and think in this perilous season of delusion and division whereby men are all in a Tempest the great God influencing the storms in his just Indignation and though there are those that rowe hard and pray hard no abatement of the danger but the Heavens are darker and darker over our heads I say it were worth the while to enquire into the Provocation what the Cause is of these swellings of Jordan and Innundations of such Seas that we never saw worse nor more dangerous to destroy us all like that Tempest upon the Adriatick Sea of which the Apostle gave his Opinion That this Voyage would be with hurt and much damage not only of the Lading and Ship but also of their Lives Act. 27. It is readily confest of all hands amongst those that pretend to the least degree of Wisdom That sin in general is the Cause of all this They must assemble themselves amongst those that sit in the Seat of Scorners and declare themselves to have taken the highest degree in Atheism and defiance of a God that will not yield us this point They must arest the Reins of Providential Government out of Gods hands and put them into the hands of blind Chance and Fortune and then the World is like to be well governed and those of this Belief may chance to get to Heaven if blind Fortune do but know the way But now the question will rise For whose sins and for what sins For the first of these it must necessarily be granted that the sins of great men have more of the spirit of Provocation in them than the sins of men of low degree and the sins of the Priests are more full of bloody Circumstances than the sins of the Laity and the Epidemicalness of sin cryes for Extirpation with a louder voice than the sins of some few diseased persons that through Incogitancy have made themselves out of frame And further the more Mercies and Deliverances men sin against and the greater Gospel-light and the more sacred Vows and Resolutions they sin against the more is their sin like to bring down such kind of Judgments as shall not be prayed away And these Reflections will justifie God in the Equality of his proceedings if we all perish from off this good Land But if you ask me for what particular sin or way of sinning it is that the Lord is angry with us I would as soon lay the blame upon the Drunkenness of the Nation as upon any one branch of that Prophaneness that is gone abroad And the reasons are these 1. The bewitching besotting nature of Drunkenness It doth not turn men into Beasts as some think for a Beast scorns it I do n't know that ever I saw a Beast drunk unless it were a Swine in my life But it turns them into Fools and Sots dehominates them turns them out of their own Essences for the time and so disfigures them that God saith Non est haec Imago mea This is not my Image and so cares not what Judgments he le ts fall upon their heads And this Insatuation is more eminently seen in the Poorer sort that earn their Money hardest and pay most for their Drink For when others pay their Money these pay their Time also which is more than their Money besides the loss of Trade and other possible advantages That others drink Sack cheaper than they pay for their Beer and Ale all things considered and their poor Wives and Children by this Means are in want of Bread for their Mouths And will not God be avenged upon such a sin as This Their Money burns in their Pockets but it will burn worse in their Conscieces if ever God shew them Mercy 2. Drunkenness is the general Rendezvouze of all sin the common Parent of the greatest Provocations Even the worst of men when they are drunk do that which if they were sober they would blush to be found guilty of Men naturally quiet good humor'd moderate in sinning as one may say when they are themselves are by Drunkenness metamorphos'd into such Extravagancies you would not think them to be the same men Thus having their natural tempers well soaked in strong Liquors they are framable into any shape Satan calls for Would he have a Swearer give him a Provocation and there he is An Adulterer bring him a Temptation and there he is A Persecutor he swears by all that 's Sacred he will root all the Professors out of the Countrey Satan can mould him into any shape and raise a Devil out of a Samuel by this Artifice And how can the Sea but boyl when all the foul Spirits are blowing up a flame underneath Nations must needs reel when the Inhabitants can't stand upon their feet and God must needs strike when he hath an advantage given him to cut off all sorts of sins at one blow 3. And as to Health-drinking it is an Engine invented by the Devil to carry on the Sin of Drunkenness with the greater ease and Infallibility by which men must either be suspected of their Loyalty to their Sovereign or Respect to their Friends neither of which any sober man can be defective in if they refuse it though upon conscientious Principles and so it becomes a great snare to those that would be temperte Every man at all times hath not consideration enough to give him a convincing Evidence that Loyalty and Respect to others is not proper to be shewn in so absurd a Method and so this poysoned Health goeth down right or wrong the Throats of those that do n't think what they do Here the sin lies chiefly though not only upon the Imposer as our Saviour said Wo to the World because of Offences but wo be to him by whom the Offence
he could not prevail to satisfie his lust upon the Daughter of Philodemus he barbarously slew her Flying for shelter into her Fathers Arms. Plut. 50. What a Beast was Darius King of Persia who commanded this Inscription to be set on his Tomb I was able to hunt lustily to drink Wine soundly and to bear it bravely Strabo 51. Saint Augustine in his Confessions tells us a story of his Mother who by sipping a little Wine at first when she filled the Cup came by degrees to be a Tippling Gossip and at last to drink off her whole Cups Sin that is modest at first afterwards growes shameless 52. In Lacedemon Crete and Carthage the name of a drunkard was so hateful and contemptible that such as were found guilty of this sin were disabled to bear any publick Office and thrust out of the Senate if they were Magistrates with shame and ignominy Alex. ab Alex. 53. Levinus Lemnius writes of the Dutchmen the High-Germans especially and that part of the low Countries that borders upon them that they never account that man worth whistling for that will not strenuum se potatorem praebere upon all occasions prove himself strong to drink strong drink 54. Suetonius relates that Novellius Torquatus was highly honoured amongst the Romans for that he could drink three Gallons of Wine at a draught without taking his breath for that he fairly drank off his Liquor and left no snuff behind and after he had drunk so much he neither stammered in his speech nor unburthened his stomach by vomiting for which he was preferred to be Proconsul of Syria Pliny 55. Also Firmus who assumed the title of Emperour in the absence of Aurelian when he had drunk off two Buckets of Wine went forthwith to a Banquet and seemed as sober as if he had drunk none at all Vopiscus in vita Firm. 56. Flaccus and Piso had Dignities bestowed upon them the one being made a Proconsul the other Governour of the City of Rome for that they were strong to pour in strong drink Suet. 57. One Hulderick a Bohemian told Frederick the Emperour That he trained up his Sons to drink great quantities of Wine without disturbance Thou art wise said the Emperour the same thing did Mithidrates but if it happen that I have a Son if that Son shall not hate excess of Wine I shall hate him Aeneas Sil. 58. Anno Christi 764. London and York Donwick and Doncaster with many other places in this Land were consumed with Fire saith the Historian If any one ask the cause we can render none more probable than this That it was a Judgement of God upon them for their Gluttony and Drunkenness Antiq. Brit. p. 291. 59. Anno Christi 1567. Tir-Owen the Irish Rebel was such a Drunkard that when his Body was immoderately inflamed with drinking strong drink and Usque-bagh he used many times to be set in the Earth up to the Chin to cool himself Camb. Eliz. 60. Luxury is ordinarily the Companion of Idolatry as Ex. 32. 6. 1 Cor. 10. 7. Rev. 18. 13 14. O Monachi vestri stomachi c. At Paris and Lovane the best Wine is called Vinum Theologicum the Divinity Wine It 's also called Vinum Cos Coloris Odoris Saporis Optimi 61. Drunkenness is a detestable Vice in any but especially in men of Place and Power Prov. 31. 4. Woe be to those drunken Vice-gods as in the worst sence they may be best called Wo to the very Crown of their pride in drinking down many Isa. 28. 1. As Marcus Antonius wrote or rather spued out a Book concerning his own abilities to bear strong drink Darius also boasted of the same faculty in his very Epitaph as we saw before 62. Drunkenness in a King is a capital sin and makes the Land reel Witness Belshazzar carousing in the Bowls of the Sanctuary to the honour of Shar his drunken god 63. Alexander the Great drunk himself to death and killed forty one more by excessive drinking to get the Crown of one hundred Eighty pounds weight which he had provided for him that drank most Plut. 64. Tiberius the Emperour for his tipling was called Biberius 65. Erasmus for the same cause called Eccius Jeccius for as he lived a shameful Drunkard so being nonplust at Ratisbon by Melancton he drank more than was fit that night at the Bishop of Mundina's Lodgings who had store of the best Italian Wines and so fell into a Feaver whereof he dyed Jo. Man L. Com. 66. Drunkenness is a flattering evil a sweet poyson a cunning Circe that besots the Soul destroyes the Body Dolores gignit in Capite in Stomacho in toto corpore acerrimos Breeds grievous diseases in the head in the stomach and in the whole man At last it bites like a Serpent and stings like an Adder Prov. 23. 32. The Drunkard saith as the Vine in Jothams parable Non possum relinquere Vinum meum Take away my Liquor you take away my Life but at last it proves like the Wine mentioned by Moses Deut. 32. 33. The Poyson of Dragons and the cruel Venom of Asps. Trap. 67. Austin Brings in the Drunkard saying Malle se vitam quam Vinum eripi And Ambrose tells us of one Theotinus who being told by his Physicians that much quaffing would make him blind Vale lumen Amicum said he Farewell sweet Eyes if ye will bear no Wine ye are not Eyes for me He had rather lose his sight than his sin his Soul than his lust 2 Pet. 2. 14. Psal. 11. 6. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue untill night till wine enflame them Isa. 5. 11. More Forreign Examples of Drunkenness and Drunkards 1. John Manlius in his Common-places p. 244. Tells us of three abominable Drunkards who drank so long till one of them fell down stark dead and yet the other two nothing terrified with such a dreadful Example of divine Vengeance went on to drink and poured the dead mans part into him as he lay by them 2. Darius boasted of the same faculty in his very Epitaph 3. The Greeks when they met at Feasts or Banquets drink small draughts at first which by degrees they increased till they came to the heighth of Intemperancy Hence Graecari and as merry as a Greek 4. Minos King of Crete ordered that his Subjects should not drink one to another unto drunkenness 5. Seneca calls drunkenness a voluntary madness another calls it a Noon-day-Devil 6. Cato that was a most severe censurer of other mens manners had this objected against him Quod nocturnis potationibus indulgeret That by night he would drink soundly 7. I was once with a Drunkard saith mine Author a Godly Minister that lay a dying and after I had prayed with him in came one of his old Companions in Sin and asked him How he did at which he was ready to gnash his teeth and made to me this dreadful Reflection
other I shall rather chuse the middle way with limitation and distinction than impose it upon all as a rule to be observed under the penalty of forfeiting their health the observations of the one or the other There are three sorts of persons one cannot drink cold Beer the other cannot drink warm the third either You that cannot drink cold Beer to you it is hurtful cools the Stomach and checks it much therefore keep to warm drink as a wholsome custom you that cannot drink warm Beer that is find no refreshment nor thirst satisfied by it you may drink it cold nor is it injurious to you you that are indifferent and can drink either drink yours cold or warmed as the company does since your Stomach makes no choice That warm drink is no bad custom but agreeable to Nature in the generality First Because it comes the nearest to the natural temper of the Body and similia similibus conservantur every thing is preserved by its like and destroyed by its contrary Secondly Though I do not hold it the principal Agent in digestion yet it does excite is auxiliary and a necessary concomitant of a good digestion ut signum causa Thirdly Omne frigus per se pro viribus destruit Cold in its own nature and according to the graduation of its power extinguisheth natural heat and is destructive but per accidens and as it is in gradu remisso it may contemperate allay and refresh where heat abounds and is exalted Therefore as there is variety of Palates and Stomachs liking and agreeing best with such kind of Meats and Drinks which to others are utterly disgustful disagreeing and injurious though good in themselves so is it in Drink warmed or cold what one finds a benefit in the other receives a prejudice at least does not find that satisfaction and refreshment under such a qualification because of the various natures particular appetitions and idiosyncratical properties of several bodies one thing will not agree with all Therefore he that cannot drink warm let him take it cold and it is well to him but he that drinks it warm does better And this is to be understood in Winter when the extremity of cold hath congelated and fixed the Spirits of the Liquor in a torpid inactivity which by a gentle warmth are unfettered volatile and brisk whereby the drink is more agreeable and grateful to the Stomachs fermenting heat being so prepared than to be made so by it There are three sorts of Drinkers one drinks to satisfie Nature and to support his body without which he cannot well subsist and requires it as necessary to his Being Another drinks a degree beyond this man and takes a larger dose with this intention to exhilerate and chear his mind to banish cares and trouble and help him to sleep the better and these two are lawful Drinkers A third drinks neither for the good of the body or the mind but to stupifie and drown both by exceeding the former bounds and running into excess frustrating those ends for which drink was appointed by Nature converting this support of Life and Health making it a procurer of sickness and untimely death Many such there are who drink not to satisfie Nature but force it down many times contrary to natural inclination and when there is a reluctancy against it as Drunkards that pour in Liquor not for love of the drink or that Nature requires it by thirst but onely to maintain the mad frolick and keep the Company from breaking up Some to excuse this intemperance hold it as good Physick to be drunk once a month and plead for that liberty as a wholesom custom and quote the authority of a famous Physician for it Whether this Opinion be allowable and to be admitted in the due Regiment for preservation of Health is fit to be examined It is a Canon established upon good reason That every thing exceeding its just bounds and golden mediocrity is hurtful to Nature The best of things are not excepted in this general rule but are restrained and limited here to a due proportion The supports of Life may prove the procurers of Death if not qualified and made wholsom by this corrective Meat and drink is no longer sustenance but a load and overcharge if they exceed the quantum due to each particular person and then they are not what they are properly in themselves and by the appointment of Nature the preservatives of Life and Health but the causes of sickness and consequently of Death Drink was not appointed man to discompose and disorder him in all his faculties but to supply nourish and strengthen them Drink exceeding its measure is no longer a refreshment to irrigate and water the thirsty body but makes an inundation to drown and suffocate the vital powers It puts a man out of the state of Health and represents him in such a degenerate condition both in respect of body and mind that we may look upon the man as going out of the World because he is already gone out of himself and strangely metamorphosed from what he was I never knew sickness or a Disease to be good preventing Physick and to be drunk is no other than an unsound state and the whole body out of frame by this great change What difference is there between sickness and drunkenness Truly I cannot distinguish them otherwise than as genus and species Drunkenness being a raging Disease denominated and distinguished from other sicknesses by its procatarctick or procuring cause Drink That Drunkenness is a Disease or Sickness will appear in that it hath all the requisites to constitute a Disease and is far distant from a state of Health for as Health is the free and regular discharge of all the functions of the Body and Mind and sickness when the functions are not performed or weakly and depravedly then Ebriety may properly be said to be a Disease or sickness because it hath the symptoms and diagnostick signs of an acute and great Disease for during the time of drunkenness and some time after few of the faculties perform rightly but very depravedly and preternaturally if we examine the intellectual faculties we shall find the reason gone the memory lost or much abated and the will strangely perverted if we look into the sensitive faculties they are disordered and their functions impedited or performed very deficiently the eyes do not see well nor the ears hear well nor the palate rellish c. The speech faulters and is imperfect the stomach perhaps vomits or nauseates his legs fail Indeed if we look through the whole man we shall see all the faculties depraved and their functions either not executed or very disorderly and with much deficiency Now according to these symptoms in other sicknesses we judge a man not likely to live long and that it is very hard he should recover the danger is so great from the many threatning symptoms that attend this sickness and