but turn again to their Vomit and trample the Pearls of all Admonition under feet yea turn again and rend their Reprovers with scoffs and scorns making Jests and Songs on their Ale-bench Yet may some young ones be deterred and some Novices reclaimed some Parents and Magistrates awakened to prevent and suppress the spreading of this Gangrene And God have his work in such as belong to his Grace And what is impossible to the work of his Grace Go to then now ye Drunkards listen not what I or any ordinary Hedge-Priest as you style us but that most wise and experienced Royal Preacher hath to say unto you And because you are a dull and thick eared Generation he first deals with you by way of Question a figure of force and impression To whom is woe c You use to say Woe be to Hypocrites It 's true wo be to such and all other witting and willing Sinners but there are no kind of Offenders on whom Woe doth so palpably inevitably attend as to you Drunkards You promise your selves Mirth Pleasure and Jollity in your Cups but for one drop of your mad Mirth be sure of Gallons and Tons of Woe Gall Wormwood and bitterness here and hereafter Other Sinners shall taste of the Cup but you shall drink off the dregs of God's Wrath and Displeasure To whom is Strife You talk of good fellowship and friendship but Wine is a rager and tumultuous a mocker a make-bate and sets you a quarrelling and medling When wit 's out of the Head and strength out of the Body it thrusts even Cowards and Dastards unfenced and unarmed into needless Frayes and Combats And then to whom are Wounds broken Heads blew Eyes maimed Limbs You have a drunken by-word Drunkards take no harm but how many are the mishaps and untimely misfortunes that betide such which though they feel not in drink they carry as marks and brands unto their Grave You pretend you drink Healths and for Health but to whom are all kind of Diseases Infirmities Deformities pearled Faces Palsies Dropsies Head-aches if not to Drunkards All Interpreters agree that he means some most virulent Serpent whose Poyson is pleasant and deadly All the woes he hath mentioned before were but as the sting of some Emmet Wasp or Nettle in comparison of this Cockatrice which is even unto death death speedy death painful and woful death and that as naturally and inevitably as Opium procureth Sleep as Hellebore Purgeth or any Poyson killeth Three forked is the Sting and threefold is the Death it procureth to all that are stung therewith The first is the Death of Grace the second is of the Body the third is of Soul and Body eternal All sin is the Poyson wherewithall the old Serpent and red Dragon envenomes the Soul of Man but no sin except it be that which is unto Death so mortal as this which though not ever unpardonably yet for the most part is also irrecoverably and inevitably unto death Seest thou one bitten with any other Snake there is hope and help as the Father said of his Son when he had information of his Gaming of his Prodigality yea of his Whoring but when he heard that he was Poysoned with Drunkenness he gave him for dead his case for desperate and forlorn The Adulterer and Usurer desire to enjoy their Sin alone but the chiefest pastime of a Drunkard is to heat and overcome others with Wine that he may discover their nakedness and glory in their Foyl and folly In a word excess of Wine and the spirit of Grace are opposites the former expells the latter out of the Heart as Smoak doth Bees out of the Hive and makes the man a meer Slave and Prey to Satan and his snares when by this Poyson he hath put out his Eyes and spoyled him of his strength he useth him as the Philistines did Sampson leads him in a string whither he pleaseth like a very drudge scorn and make-sport to himself and his Imps makes him grind in the Mill of all kind of Sins and Vices And that I take to be the reason why Drunkenness is not specially prohibited in any one of the Ten Commandments because it is not the single breach of any one but in effect the violation of all and every one It is no one sin but all sins because it is the In let and Sluce to all other Sins The Devil having moistened and steeped him in his Liquor shapes him like soft Clay into what mould he pleaseth having shaken off his Rudder and Pilot dashes his Soul upon what Rocks Sands and Syrts he listeth and that with as much ease as a man may push down his Body with the least thrust of his Hand or Finger He that in his right Wits and sober mood seems Religious modest chast courteous secret in his drunken fits swears blasphemes rages strikes talks filthily blabs all secrets commits folly knows no difference of Persons or Sexes becomes wholly at Satans command as a dead Organ to be enacted at his will and pleasure Oh that God would be pleased to open the Eyes of some Drunkard to see what a Dunghill and Carrion his Soul is become and how loathsome effects follow upon thy spiritual death and sting of this Cockatrice which is the Fountain of the other two following temporal and eternal death How terrible a Theater of God's Judgments against Drunkards such as might make their Hearts to bleed and relent if not their Ears to tingle to hear of a taste of some few such noted and remarkable Examples of God's Justice as have come within the compass of mine own notice and certain knowledge I think I should offend to conceal them from the World whom they may happily keep from being the like to others themselves Here followeth above one Hundred and twenty various sad and fearful Examples of Gods Judgments on notorious Drunkards and Health-Drinkers in England and Foreign Countreys with the places they Lived in twelve of the chief are Graved on Copper Plates to deterr all others from the like Provoking Sins least the like Judgments do befall them 1. AN Alewife in Kesgrave near to Ipswich who would needs force three Serving-men that had been drinking in her House and were taking their leaves to stay and drink the three Ou ts first that is Wit out of the Head Money out of the Purse Ale out of the Pot as she was coming towards them with the Pot in her Hand was suddenly taken speechless and sick her Tongue swoln in her Mouth never recovered Speech the third day after died This Sir Antheny Felton the next Gentleman and Justice with divers other Eye-witnesses of her Sickness related to me whereupon I went to the House with two or three Witnesses and inquired the truth of it 2. Two Servants of a Brewer in Ipswich drinking for a Rump of a Turkey strugling in their drink for it fell into a scalding Cauldron backwards whereof the one died presently the other lingringly
and painfully since my coming to Ipswich 3. Anno 1619. A Miller in Bromeswell coming home drunk from Woodbridge as he often did would needs go and Swim in the Mill-pond his Wife and Servants knowing he could not Swim disswaded him once by intreaty got him out of the Water but in he would needs go again and there was Drowned I was at the House to inquire of this and found it to be true 4. In Barnwell near to Cambridge one at the Sign of the Plough a lusty young man with two of his Neighbours and one Woman in their company agreed to drink a Barrel of strong Beer they drank up the Vessel three of them died within twenty four hours the fourth hardly escaped after great Sickness This I have under a Justice of Peace his Hand near dwelling besides the common fame 5. A Butcher in Hastingfield hearing the Minister inveigh against Drunkenness being at his Cups in the Ale-house fell a jesting and scoffing at the Minister and his Sermons and as he was drinking the Drink or something in the Cup quackled him stuck so in his Throat that he could get it neither up nor down but strangled him presently 6. At Tillingham in Dengy Hundred in Essex three young men meeting to drink Strong-waters fell by degrees to half pints One fell dead in the Room and the other prevented by Company coming in escaped not without much sickness 7. At Bungey in Norfolk three coming out of an Ale-house in a very dark Evening swore they thought it was not darker in Hell it self One of them fell off the Bridge into the water and was drowned the second fell off his Horse the third sleeping on the Ground by the Rivers-side was frozen to death This have I often heard but have no certain ground for the Truth of it 8. A Bayliff of Hadly upon the Lords-day being drunk at Melford would needs get upon his Mare to ride through the Street affirming as the Report goes That his Mare would carry him to the Devil His Mare casts him off and broke his Neck instantly Reported by sundry sufficient Witnesses 9. Company drinking in an Ale-house at Harwich in the Night over against one Master Russels and by him out of his Window once or twice willed to depart at length he came down and took one of them and made as if he would carry him to Prison who drawing his Knife fled from him and was three dayes after taken out of the Sea with the Knife in his hand Related to me by Master Russel himself Maior of the Town 10. At Tenby in Pembrokeshire a Drunkard being exceeding drunk broke himself all to pieces off an high and steep Rock in a most fearful manner and yet the occasion and circumstances of his fall were so ridiculous as I think not fit to relate lest in so serious a Judgment I should move Laughter to the Reader 11. A Glasier in Chancery-Lane in London noted formerly for Profession fell to a common course of drinking whereof being oft by his Wife and many Christian friends admonished yet presuming much of Gods mercy to himself continued therein till upon a time having surcharged his Stomach with drink he fell a vomiting broke a Vein lay two dayes in extream pain of Body and distress of Mind till in the end recovering a little comfort he died Both these Examples related to me by a Gentleman of worth upon his own knowledge 12. Four sundry Instances of Drunkards wallowing and tumbling in their drink slain by Carts I forbear to mention because such examples are so common and ordinary 13. A Yeoman's Son in Northampton-shire who being drunk at Wellingborough on a Market-day would needs ride his Horse in a bravery over the plowed-lands fell from his Horse and brake his Neck Reported to me by a Kinsman of his own 14. A Knight notoriously given to Drunkenness carrying sometime Payls of drink into the open Field to make people drunk withall being upon a time drinking with Company a Woman comes in delivering him a Ring with this Posie Drink and die saying to him This is for you which he took and wore and within a week after came to his end by drinking Reported by sundry and justified by a Minister dwelling within a Mile of the place 15. Two Examples have I known of Children that murthered their own Mothers in drink and one notorious Drunkard that attempted to kill his Father of which being hindred he fired his Barn and was afterward executed one of these formerly in Print One Drunk Vomiting broke a Vein after 2 days great pain Dyed 4. being Drunk were Slain by Carts One Drunk Rideing over plowed lands fell and broke his neck a Child that murthered his Mother he being Drunk 17. In Dengy Hundred near Mauldon about the beginning of his Majesties Reign there fell out an extraordinary Judgment upon five or six that plotted a solemn drinking at one of their Houses laid in Beer for the once drunk Healths in a strange manner and died thereof within a few weeks some sooner and some later witnessed to me by one that was with one of them on his death-bed to demand a Debt and often spoken of by Mr. Heydon late Preacher of Mauldon in the hearing of many The particular circumstances were exceeding remarkable but having not sufficient proof for the particulars I will not report them 18. One of Aylesham in Norfolk a notorious Drunkard was drowned in a shallow Brook of Water with his Horse by him 19. Whilest this was at the Press a man eighty five years old or thereabout in Suffolk overtaken with Wine though never in all his Life before as he himself said a little before his fall seeming to bewail his present condition and others that knew him so say of him yet going down a pair of stairs against the perswasion of a woman sitting by him in his Chamber fell and was so dangerously hurt as he died soon after not being able to speak from the time of his fall to his death The Names of the Parties thus punished I forbear for the Kindreds sake yet living If conscionable Ministers of all places of the Land would give notice of such Judgments as come within the compass of their certain knowledge it might be a great means to suppress this Sin which reigns every where to the scandal of our Nation and high displeasure of Almighty God These may suffice for a taste of Gods Judgments Easie were it to abound in sundry particular Casualties and fearful Examples of this nature Drunkard that which hath befallen any one of these may befall thee if thou wilt dally with this Cockatrice whatever leagues thou makest with Death and dispensations thou givest thy self from the like Some of these were Young some were rich some thought themselves as wise as thou none of them ever looked for such ignominious ends more than thou whoever thou art if thou hatest such ends God give thee Grace to decline such courses If thou beest
preserve his Majesty from the danger of all Popish and Sham-Plots and this way is better to shew their true Love to the King than in a Sinful Custom of Healths which provokes the King of Kings to send Judgments on the Kingdom Read Dr. Stillingfleets Text of his Fast-Sermon before the House of Commons Novem. 13. 1 Sam. 12. 24 25. Some Audacious Abominable Health-drinkers were so Wicked as to drink a Health to the great Prince of Darkness their Father the Devil and it is credibly Reported he came boldly amongst them and carryed away some of them as bold as he was One being told that unless he left off his Drunkenness and Whoring he would loose his sight He answered thus Tum valeat Lumen amicum Then Farewell Sweet Light One was put to his choice which of these sins he would choose to commit either to be drunk or to kill his Father or to lie with his Mother he refused the two last and was drunk and then committed the other two At one great Feast in the City since his Majesties happy Restoration I heard they were so mad in their Frolick Cups of Wine and Healths as to drink down small live Fishes and make Fish-ponds in there Bellyes it 's a wonderful Mercy it proved not their last drinking So to abuse themselves and Gods Creatures by Drunkenness and Gluttony it is the way to provoke God to send a Famine on the Land for such wanton excessive doings Remember the Plague time There died in that one Year of the Plague Anno 1665. 68596. in London and Liberties And let us not forget the Lamentable Fire time the 2 d Septem 1666. As it was computed there was consumed to Ashes thirteen Thousand and two Hundred Houses with a vast deal of Goods and Rich commodities to the undoing of many Thousands besides the Ghastly walls of eighty nine Parish Churches and stately Houses and Halls with the Royal Exchange which cost almost an Hundred thousand pounds the new building it again You can expect but a brief touch of things in this Paper but it may serve for a Memento and a Caveat to take heed of sin that is the Plague or cause of all Plagues and Judgments in the World and it caused God to drown the old World and to Rain down Fire and Brimstone on Sodom five Cities together and he is able to do the like again to any Nation that provoke him We may fear this immoderate Rain and flood in the Countrey and beyond the Seas a while since how many have been drowned persons and Estates by it it speaks aloud to England God threatens to punish a people four seven times more Lev. 26. 18 21 24 28. v. except they repent And we ought to Fear that great God that is able easily to Kill both Body and Soul and cast them into Hell-Fire Drunkards are named amongst the greatest sinners that shall be shut out of Heaven Ten several Arguments to prove that Drunkenness is a great a Dangerous and a Woful Sin Arg. 1. That Drunkenness is expresly against the command of God 1. Drunkenness is plainly and expresly forbidden in Gods Word Eph. 5. 18. Be not drunk with wine Luke 21. 34. Take heed to your selves lest at any Time your Hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and Drunkenness Rom. 13. 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and Drunkenness The Drunkard cannot plead Ignorance that he did not know Drunkenness to be a sin he cannot plead for himself as Peter did for the Jews that put Christ to Death Act. 3. 17. I wot that through ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers 1 Cor. 2. 8. For had they known it they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory Drunkards sin against light both against the light of Nature for Nature teacheth us that it is a shameful thing for a man to be drunk and against the light of Gods Word and that is a great aggravation of sin to sin against the light of Gods Word sins of ignorance are as it were no Sins compared with sins against Knowledge Joh. 15. 22. If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had Sin but now they have no cloak for their Sin Drunkards cast Gods Word behind their backs and trample his Commandments under their feet God saith Be not drunk with Wine take heed left your Hearts be overcharged with Drunkenness But they say in effect though not in words We will not regard these Commandments of God let God say and do what he will we will take our fill of Wine and strong drink Drunkards and other sinners that know Gods will and will not do it contemn and dispise God Psal. 10. 13. Wherefore doth the Wicked contemn God Drunkards are guilty of Rebellion against God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords for sinning against the Light of Gods Word is accounted Rebellion Job 24. 13. They are of those that rebell against the Light and that is a hainous Sin to be Stubborn and Rebellious against the God of Heaven 1 Sam. 15. 23. Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft and Stubbornness is as iniquity and Idolatry Arg. 2. It is a Beastly Sin Drunkennss is a beastly Sin in depriving a man of his Reason and makes him carry himself like a Beast it is a vile thing for a man to degrade and make himself like a Beast Job 18. 3. Wherefore are we counted as Beasts and reputed as vile in your Sight Bildà d thought himself and his Friends wonderfully disparaged when he thought they were counted as Beasts but how do they vilifie and disparage themselves who do in reality make themselves no better than bruit Beasts by their drunkenness Yea this sin makes a man worse than a Beast the Ass is a Silly Beast yet the Ass will not drink to excess they drink no more than will quench their thirst Psal. 104. 11. The Wild Asses quench their thirst And therefore as Solomon sends the Sluggard to the Ant Prov 6. 6. Go to the Ant thou sluggard consider her wayes and be wise so may I send the Drunkard to the wild Asses Go to the wild Asses thou Drunkard and consider their wayes and be wise who having no guide overseer or ruler never drink any more than will quench their thirst though they meet with the best and pleasantest Springs and purest Fountains under Heaven and wilt thou who hast had many Instructors that have taught thee the odiousness of this sin of Drunkenness be inticed by the pureness of the Wine or the pleasantness of this drink to drink to excess Toads and Serpents which are hateful Creatures will not drink more than is suitable and convenient to their natures And shall Man who was made after the Image of God make himself worse than a Toad or a Serdent by drinking to excess Arg. 3. It is a mischievous Sin both to Body Soul and Estate Drunkenness is a most Mischievous Sin and brings a world of
to be a Derider of God and Men. It hath been usual with Drunkards in former as well as these dayes to sing Songs of the People of God Psal. 69. 12. I am the Song of Drunkards Now this mocking the Ministers and People of God is a grievous Sin it brings down wrath without Remedy 2 Chron. 36. 16. They mocked the Messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of the Lord arose against his People till there was no Remedy Mockers bring upon themselves mighty and unavoidable Judgments Isa. 28. 24. Now therefore be ye not Mockers lest your bands be made stronger Forty two little Children were torn in pieces by two she-Bears for mocking a Prophet and calling him Bald-head 2 Kin. 2. 23 24. And if God was so offended with little Children for this sin of Mocking a Prophet that he sent two Bears which tore in pieces forty two Children how offensive is it to the Lord to hear those that are come to mans Estate knowing and understanding men mock and scoff at his Servants Though no Judgment come upon them in this World for their Sin yet without Repentance a worse thing will come unto them they shall be rent and torn that is they shall be tormented in the other World for ever by the Devil who is a roaring Lyon a far more dreadful Enemy than the Bears that tore the little Children in pieces 5. Drunkards are usually Swearers and some of them will Swear dreadful Oaths such as would make a man tremble to hear them And Swearing profane Swearing is an abominable Sin and brings a man in danger of Hell Fire Jam. 5. 1â— But above all things my Brethren Swear not neither by Heaven neither by the Earth neither by any other Oath but let your Yea be Yea and your Nay be Nay lest you fall into Condemnation 6. Drunkards are oftentimes Persecutors and Smiters of their Fellow Servants Mat. 24. 48 49. If that Evil Servant shall say in his Heart My Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his Fellow-Servants and to eat and drink with the drunken They are such which eat and drink with the drunken that smite their Fellow-servants and smiting and persecuting the Servants of Christ is a hainous Sin he takes it as ill when his Servants are persecuted as if he himself was persecuted Act. 9. 4. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Saul did not persecute Christ in his own person for he was in Heaven sitting at his Fathers right hand but he persecuted Christs Servants and Christ was as much offended at the persecuting of his Members as if he himself had been persecuted 7. Drunkenness casts men into a deep Sleep and maketh them dreadfully secure under those Judgments that hang over their Heads Prov. 23. 34. Yea thou shalt be as one that lyeth down in the midst of the Sea or as he that lyeth on the top of the Mast. Solomon speaking of such that tarry long at the Wine sets out their danger by one that lyeth on the Top of the Mast in the midst of the Sea who is in danger every moment of falling into the Sea and to be drowned yet fears nothing whilest he is asleep Such is the case of Drunkards they are in danger of falling into Hell every day and yet they fear nothing till God awakens their Consciences and shews them their Sin and Misery When the Prophet calls Awake ye Drunkards Joel 2. 5. it implies they are in a deep Sleep and that it is no easie matter to awake them 8. Sometimes Drunkards commit Murder in their Drunkenness and quarrel with and kill their best Friends It is reported of Alexander that when he was drunk he killed his beloved Friend Clytus yea there is no Sin so horrid but a Drunken man may fall into it if he hath an occasion and Temptation to commit it Arg. 5. Drunkenness is such an abominable Sin that it brings down National Judgments whole Nations are punished for this Sin of Drunkenness the Earth is weary of bearing Drunkards and often spueth out its inhabitants we read of the Canaanites that their Land spued them out for their defiling it and the Israelites are warned not to defile their Land lest they also be spued out Lev. 18. 28. That the Land spue not you out also when ye defile it as it spued out the Nations that were before you And when the Israelites did defile their Land by Drunkenness and others Sins they were a burthen to the Land it was weary with bearing them it spued them out and they were carryed captive into a strange Land Isa. 5. 11 13. Woe to them that rise up early to follow strong drink and continue until night till Wine enslame them Therefore my People are gone into captivity The Lord threatned to send mighty Adversaries against Ephraim for their Pride and Drunkenness which should come upon them as furiously as a tempest of Hail and a destroying Storm and as a mighty flood of Water that should overflow all places and bear down all before it Isa. 28. 1 2. Woe to the Crown of Pride the Drunkards of Ephraim So that Drunkards are the Plague of a Nation that bring down Gods Judgements on themselves and the place where they live And when an overflowing Scourge comes on a Nation usually Drunkards have the speediest and deepest share in the Judgments of God Amos 6. 1 3 6 7. Wo to them that are at ease in Zion That put far away the evil day That drink in Bowls Therefore now shall they go Captive with the first that go Captive When the King of Assyria invaded the Land of Israel the Drunkards were trod under feet like mire in the streets Isa. 28. 2 3. Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one The Crown of Pride the Drunkards of Ephraim shall be trod under feet Arg. 6. Drunkards oft-times dye in the Act of Sin Drunkenness appears to be a great Sin because oft-times it is punished with sudden Death and sometimes Drunkards are cut off in the very Act of Sin they are very frequently cut off suddenly and unexpectedly Nah. 1. 10. While they are Drunken as Drunkards they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry Stubble that is fully dry is devoured in a moment Luk. 12. 45 46. If that Servant shall begin to eat and to drink and to be drunken the Lord of that Servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with unbelievers We see here the Woful Condition of Drunkards both in their Death and after their Death their Death is oftentimes sudden and unexpected they have not a day not an hours warning Rev. 21. 8. Elah a King in Israel was cut off in the very Act of Sin while he was drinking himself drunk in his Stewards house 1 Kings 16. 9 10. As Christ said to deterr us from looking
back Remember Lots Wife so may I say to deterre you from Drunkenness Remember Elah who was kill'd whil'st he was drinking himself drunk And if God did not spare a King in Israel take heed lest he do not spare you Besides Elah's Example Amnon one of Davids Sons was killed whil'st his Heart was merry with Wine 2 Sam. 13. 28. When Belshazzar had been drinking Wine with a thousand of his Lords in the day time he was slain in the Night Dan. 5. 1 30. Besides these Examples we have known and heard of several others that have dyed dead drunk and never came to Life again others that have fallen off their Horses in their Drunkenness and broke their Necks others that have faln into the Water and been drowned and others cut off by other means Arg. 7. It unfits a man for the Service of God Drunkenness makes a man unfit for any good work unfit for the service of God and men unfit for Death and Judgment it makes a man unfit for Prayer and all other Religious duties 1 Pet. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer No men are fit for Prayer but sober men It is probable Nadab and Abihu had distempered themselves with Wine or strong drink when they presumed to offer up strange Fire and Fire went out from the Lord and devoured them for immediately after the Relation of their Sin and Punishment there is a strict charge given to Aaron and his Sons that they should not drink Wine or strong drink when they went into the Tabernacle of the Congregation on pain of Death Lev. 10. 8 9 10 11. It also unfits a man for the service of his Generation especially for a place of publick Trust many Armies have been ruined Towns and Kingdoms lost by the Drunkenness of Commanders A small Army of the Israelites not exceeding seven thousand setting upon the Syrians when Benhadad their King was drinking himself drunk with his Confederates put the Syrians to flight and slew them with a great Slaughter although besides his own great Army he had thirty two Kings that came to his assistance 1 Kings 16. 17 20. And as this sin renders us unfit for the service of God and men so also it makes us unfit for the day of Death and Judgment Luk. 21. 34. And take heed to your selves lest at any time your Hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and Drunkenness Arg. 8. It will Exclude a man out of Heaven Drunkenness is such an odious Sin that the Lord hath told us expresly that he will not admit any Drunkards into the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not enter into the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Drunkards shall inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Now the Works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornications Uncleanness and Lasciviousness Revellings and such like of which I tell you before as I have told you in times past that they which do such things shall not Inherit the Kingdom of God It was a Foolish Act in Esau and argued him to be a profane man to sell his Birth-right for a Morsel of Meat Heb. 12. 16. Lest there be any Fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one Morsel of Meat sold his Birth-right Drunkards are guilty of worse profaneness than Esau for they part with a better Blessing than a Birth-right namely the Kingdom of Heaven for a pot of Drink or cup of Wine which do them no good but much hurt Arg. 9. It is a damnable Sin Drunkenness is a damnable Sin a Sin for which men shall be condemned to the Torments of Hell for ever The Drunkard shall be cut asunder and have his portion with unbelievers Luk. 12. 45 46. There is scarce any Sin fills Hell like Drunkenness following Wine and strong drink send great multitudes to Hell the drunken Gentleman and drunken Prince notwithstanding all their bravery shall descend into Hell as well as the drunken Begger They that inflame themselves with Wine and strong drink shall be tormented in flames of fire for ever and then they that drunk Wine in boles and filled themselves with strong drink shall not with all their entreaties get so much as one drop of Water to cool their Tongues Arg. 10. It is a Bewitching Sin very hardly left by those that are addicted to it Drunkenness is an enticing bewitching Sin which is very hardly left by those that are addicted to it Neither the Word nor Rod of God prevaileth with men to leave this Sin but they go on sinning against Light sinning against the Counsels Reproofs and Tears of Friends against the checks of their own Consciences though the Lord afflict them in their Bodies Estates Good Names yet still they persevere in this sin though when upon sick beds they are under terrors of Conscience and feel as it were some flashes of Hell-fire and make great Vows and solemn Protestations that if God will spare their Lives and raise them up again they will leave off their Drunkenness yet when they are restored to Health they return to their old course again Prov. 23. 35. They have stricken me shalt thou say and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not when shall I awake I will seek it yet again Solomon speaks here of Drunkards who are not disheartened by all the difficulties and troubles and blowes that they meet with in following after strong drink but resolve to seek it yet again and to persist in their dissolute courses Drunkards are wont to encourage themselves and one another to persist in their drunken courses under all discouragements Isa. 56. 12. Come ye say they I will fetch Wine and we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant Instead of desisting they grow more resolved in their way and the reason why this sin is so hardly left and so few recovered from it may be partly from the strength this sinful habit gets in the Soul by the many repeated Acts of this Sin and also from the Pleasingnesse of this Sin to corrupt Nature for the more pleasing any sin is the more hardly it is left And chiefly from the Just and Righteous Judgment of God who giveth up men who go on sinning against Light unto their own Hearts Lusts saying to them He that is filthy let him be filthy still Drunkenness is called by some Vitium maximae adhaerentiae a Sin that sticks closer and faster to a man than any other Sin These ten Arguments against Drunkennss were taken out of the Sermons of Mr. Owen Stockton of Colchester lately deceased an able and worthy Divine in a Larger discourse again that Sin well I worth the Reading sold by Mr. Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside Preached upon the occasion of a sad and dreadful
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
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