their Swords in each others Bowels as we read Alexander in his Drink killed his dear friend Clit us only for disallowing his profuse Healths and had he been suffered would afterwards have killed himself and it was not long before he and thirty five more of his consorts killed themselves by immoderate Drinking at one time and forty of his Companions at another But we need not look far for Examples our own Age our own Nation our own Neighbourhood yields us too many how many of our Gallants and youthful Gentlemen within a few years and a few miles have caught their death by their excessive Drinking and died of Surfeits almost every Parish Town and Hamlet may afford examples of some that have come to an untimely end this way either in their Drink killing one another and so come to the Gallows or breaking their necks drowning burning scalding and some such accident or by Surfets Feavors Gouts Dropsies or some dangerous uncurable Disease gotten this way which puts a period to their Lives and Drinking or that by this means run into Misery Danger Debt Poverty and dye on a Dunghil in a Barn c. for want of sustenance or end their days in Prison these and such like are the fruits and effects of this filthy Sin this Sin is as one calls it A flattering Devil a sweet Poison the bane of virtue the Mother of vice voluntary madness the Author of quarrels contentions strife and debate The Drunkard's heart is a fit receptacle for all Vice for as Frogs live and thrive in a filthy lake a stinking ditch where no Fish can abide so Vices are nourished here but no Virtue can live but is poisoned When the old World could not overcome Noah this filthy Sin did this sets it self against the Law of God of Grace of Nature and of Nations 't is the grief of Friends the scorn of Enemies the ruin of Families it opens Hell and shuts Heaven Gates against us The Soul where this filthy Pestiferous weed grows is like that which was sowed with Salt it became baren to every thing that was good The Graces of the Spirit of God cannot abide to dwell in such a nasty House or to lodg with such a filthy Bedfellow for as Smoke drives away Bees so Drunkenness drives away the Spirit of God all holy desires and good resolutions and quencheth all holy motions and is as water to the Fire extinguishing all hopeful beginnings 't is like the Mare mortuum wherein no good Fish can live and therefore if you would not be accessary to your own death both of Body and Soul if you will not run the hazard of a sudden or violent or untimely death or fil your bodies with Surfets Feavors Gouts Dropsies c. by intemperance take heed in time of this filthy Sin for these are the natural Products of it and God doth usually witness against it by such judgments as these Consid 9. Consider the horrible Judgments which God the righteous Judg hath brought upon offenders in this kind In the time of the Law as we may see Deut. 21. 18 19 20. God commanded If a Father had a Son that was a Glutton or a Drunkard and upon reproof and correction would not amend the Father of that Son should bring him out to the Elders of the City and they should stone him Now if Magistrates are negligent of their Duty and will not punish this Sin according to its demerits and if the Ecclesiastical Courts take little notice of it then God is forced to take the Sword in his own hand and cut off the putrified member and though he be slow yet many times he strikes home nay he doth not spare his own people yet he lets them blood as a Physician not as an Executioner As for the other though he reserves many till the general Assizes to have their doom yet some he hangs up in Chains that others may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly Noah though a good man and escaping the pollutions of the old World was after tainted with this Sin God suffered him to uncover his nakedness and to be a laughingstock to his own Son who by this means entailed the curse to him and his Posterity and the generation then to come had cause to bewail the act Righteous Lot whose righteous Soul was vexed with the unclean conversation of the wicked Sodomites fell through this Sin to that of Incest for this seldom goes alone and became the Father of the Moabites and Ammonites two cursed generations haters of God and his People which had he lived to see would have been a further trouble to him My intention is not in reciting these examples to rank them amongst Drunkards or confer that odious name upon them for 't is not our bare simple act deserves or can fasten such an imputation upon them A godly man by the subtilty of Satan's temptations and the prevalency of corruptions or inadvertency not knowing the nature of Wine as it may be imagined of Noah if not of the other may fall in the Sin but there is difference between a Sheep falling in a foul way which riseth again shakes himself and takes better heed and a Swine that wittingly willingly and delightfully wallows in the mire A Godly man through imprudence or want of heed may have a fall and lose some degrees of innocency which is great cause of shame and Sorrow but those that make it their Trade and daily practice best deserve the name But Gods dealing with others is more severe Elah the King of Israel drinking himself Drunk in his Steward's House was killed by Zimri his own Servant a sad death especially at such a time when he was most unfit to dye the like had befallen Nabal in his Drunkenness had not wise Abigail prevented it and when he heard the danger he was in his heart became as a stone within him and he died 1 Sam. 25. 36 c. Amnon one of holy Davids ungracious Sons who before had ravished his Sister Tamar and when his heart was merry with Wine was slain by the Command of his Brother Absalon 2 Sam. 13. 28. Benhadad and the thirty two Kings that were with him being all Drunk a sad example to their Servants had his mighty Army defeated by a handful of Ahabs men and hardly escaped with his life Belshazzer carousing Wine with his Wives and Concubines in the Vessels of the Temple had the Hand-writing sent by God upon the Wall which foretold his ruin and destruction which suddenly fell out accordingly Holofernes in his Drink was killed by Judeth and should we examine the Records of all ages you may find God's terrible hand stretched out against men of this profession some have grown so audacious as to drink Healths to the Devil himself such a beast or rather Monster was Pope John the twelfth or as some reckon the thirteenth A Lincolnshire man drinking a Health to the Devil fell down dead in the place
saith the Lord and shall not my Soul be avenged on such a nation as this That heat which is got in the Tavern is oft cool'd in the Brothel-house the Blood heated by Bacchus is cool'd by Venus Chastity seldom sleeps in a Drunkards bed neither doth Virtue lodg with so foul a Swine Venus as 't is Fabled was ingendred of the Froth of the Sea and Venery is produced by the fumes of Strong drink The Devils office is not to quench Fire but kindle it he kindles the Fire of Lust by the Fire of Drunkenness and the Fire of Hell with both experience proves this point for since Drunkenness came so much in fashion Adultery is not ashamed to shew its head when the one was driven into corners the other was ashamed to be seen but now men hang out rotten fruit in the sight of the Sun and declare their Sin as Sodom and hide it not men are not ashamed to be seen reeling in the Street vomiting in the Market-place or place of Judicature and with Zimri to bring their Whores to the Tent door before the People or with Absolom spread a Tent on the top of the House that all may take notice of it But what will they do in the end thereof Now they assemble themselves by troops in the Harlots houses but it will be bitter in the latter end Wicked men and seducers wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Those that heretofore were ashamed to be seen in an Alehouse much more in a Whore-house now make it their Glory They glory in their shame and are ashamed of their Glory that River of wickedness which at at first was fordable now overfloweth the banks and knows no bottom Jer. 6. 15. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush therefore they shall fall among them that fall c. When sin creeps into corners there is some hopes it will not be charged upon the Nation but when it becomes brazen-faced and braves Authority it self and sends chalenges to Heaven 't is ripe for judgment a beautiful Harlot is one of the Devils Lime-twigs to catch Fools which he layes with great success which brings much Grist to his Mill and much advantage to his Trade she like the Cackatrice kills with her looks but those that are deluded by her shall one day wish they had been blind before they had seen her I cannot accuse all Drunkards of Whoredom but of all Men and Women I should the most suspect them for those that have thrown off the reins of Reason I know not what should rule them those that break the Cords of Gods Law I know not with what they should be tied those that are false to God I know not what should make them true to a yoakfellow those that fear not to Blaspheme his Name abuse his Creatures undo their Families their Wives and Children venture upon the wrath of God the loss of the Soul the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell and all for a little Swinish Pleasure in Drink what should hinder them from Adultery if they imagin it will bring them as much or more Pleasure than it what should keep them in awe not the Law of God not Conscience of Sin not fear of Hell or hopes of Heaven for all these could not hold them before Solomon tells us Wine is a mocker strong Drink is raging and he that is overtaken with it is not wise Prov. 20. 1. Whordom Wine and new Wine take away the heart Hos 4. 11. For a Whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit She also lieth in wait as for a prey and increaseth the transgressors among men Prov. 23. 27 28. But there are some that affect the name of Roaring Boys which without Gods mercy will retain the name for ever If God hath preserved you from this filthy Vice this Soul-damning Sin of Adultery bless God For it leads to the Chambers of Death Prov. 7. 27. The Harlots house is the way to Hell going down to the Chambers of Death 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. and if you would be preserved from this Sin which will lead you as an Ox to the slaughter and as a Fool to the correction of the Stocks Prov 7. 22 take heed of this Sin of Drunkenness which is the readiest road to it fly from it as from the face of a Serpent Consid 6. This filthy nasty Sin of Drunkenness destroys the Estate ruins the Family beggars the Posterity and exposes them to want and poverty and should you invent a way to ruin your self and family you can scarcely pitch upon any surer and more certain way than this is Scripture Reason and daily experience prove this so evidently and fully that it cannot be denied He that loveth pleasure shail be a poor man and he that loveth Wine and Oyl shall not be rich Prov. 23. 20 21. Be not amongst Wine-bibbers amongst riotous eaters of flesh for the Drunkard and the Glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags and the experience of all ages of all Nations of all Cities Towns Countries and Villages are undeniable arguments to prove this and save me a labour to speak much of it few but can evidence this truth by experience How many ancient Families in our times and in our Neighbourhood have by Drunkenness been everted and overthrown nay where do you see one that is much addicted to this vice but there is a sensible decay in his Estate perhaps there may be some that have large Revenues coming in left them by their Predecessors whose Estates are not quickly perceived to moulder away but doubtless there is a Worm eating at the root of this Goard that in time will make it wither God will blow upon it and a secret curse of God will dry up this their Euphrates many have turned Houses Livings Lordships down their throats and many of the great ones that have Thousands per annum cannot keep both ends together and no wonder when Gods Laws are violated that nothing they do prospers there are many men as one saith drink God out of their Hearts Health out of their Bodies Wit out of their Heads and Money out of their Purses the Ale out of the Barrels Wives and Children out of doors the Land out of quiet and Plenty out of the Nation and when all is done they have nothing to shew for it but some Buttery door Buttons a red firey measled pimpled Nose and Face a diseased dropsical gouty deformed Body and a Leprous Soul and do procure such an insatiable thirst that can never be satisfied the more they drink the more they may as Solomon saith He that loves Silver shall not be satisfied with Silver so he that loves Strong Drink will never think he hath enough they drink not only the poors part for which they shall be called e're long to a strict account they being Gods
three more in Germany for the like offence were all found dead the next morning In Almain in the year 1580 one drinking a Health to God stretching his hand towards Heaven with a cup of Wine was dead in that posture neither by strength could be removed the other by the people was hanged on Gibbets before the door I have heard also of some struck suddenly dead in the very act some drowned some scalded to death some choaked with the Drink some broke their necks some lying in the way were slain by Carts some in their Drink murthered their Parents many that have caught surfets and died upon them he that would read more examples of this nature may find them in Beard 's Theatre of Gods Judgments and in Mr. Clearks Treatise upon the same subject but the experience of our own times may spare us that labour for who is so great a stranger in the neighbourhood he lives in but may add examples of this nature how oft do we hear and see men struck dead in the very act or suddenly after with Surfeits or otherwise were it but convenient the time the place the persons names might be produced and no man of discretion that takes any notice of Gods dealings in the world but may add some experience which shews Gods hatred of this detestable Vice for I think he hath not more eminently appeared against any Sin except it be against Atheism Blasphemy Adultery or Persecution of the power of Godliness than against this If therefore you would not be guilty of your own death and become the object of Gods infinite hatred and dreadful Judgments If you would not run violently upon your own destruction and force God to cut you off as an unprofitable unuseful member beware of this Sin for doubtless 't is the ready way to temporal and eternal death and if death arrest you by such a Sergeant as this your case is lamentable Consid 10. But the greatest danger is yet behind and that is the loss of the Soul which is ten thousand times greater than the loss of life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life yet the Soul is in more danger than it and where this Sin is predominant 't is a sad sign of an ungracious heart and that the wrath of God hangs over their heads God pronounceth wo to such and who then can speak peace Wo to the Crown of Pride the Drunkards of Ephraim Wo to those that rise early to drink strong drink and continue till night till Wine enflame them Wo to those that are mighty to drink Wine and men of strength to mingle strong Drink Wo to him that giveth his neighbour drink and putteth the Bottle to him and maketh him drunk Doth God speak in earnest or in jest or can he or will he make good his threatnings If so what a woful condition are Drunkards in 't is for this Sin that Hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure Isa 5. 14. These are the men Whose end is destruction whose God is their Belly whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things Phil. 3. 19. They Sacrifice to nothing else but the Creature Thus saith the Lord to such drink and be drunken and spew and fall and never rise again this is spoken to those that make it their business to drink and make others drunk also Jer. 25. 27. These are plying the Devils work and he is preparing them their wages which he will pay them at the day Those that now so profusely spend and wast Gods good Creatures given by him for an higher end the time is coming and will not be long if Repentance prevent not they will not be able to purchase one drop of water to cool their tongues Remember this all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces when there is none to deliver Without Repentance Hell will be your portion and the place of your habitation and endless easeless and remediless Torments are the wages which the Devil pays to his miserable Servants for their most faithful service see the doom of your elder Brother Matth. 24. 49. c. that neglecting the duty God required at his hands to give his fellow-servants meat in due season and doing the work the Devil enjoyned him in beating them and eating and drinking with the Drunkards He was cut in sunder and his portion appointed him with Hypocrites and that unfaithful unprofitable Servant that hid his Talent in the earth was cast out into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matth. 25. 30. and if only those shall have the sentence of absolution at the last day that have fed the hungry clothed the naked relieved the stranger c. Mat. 25. 34 c. What will become of you that spend the poor's part yea and pluck the very meat from the mouths of your Wives and Children and make many others want meat by your extravagancies you know not but some may this day be in Hell tormented in those flames for those very Sins which you occasioned them to commit and no doubt many more will be which may be a sad reflexion upon your own heart If God should give you repentance this may be a Corasive to you you help to destroy men but cannot give repentance but if you repent not the blood of their souls will be required at your hand and did you know the price of this blood you would beware The time is coming a separation will be made between the precious and the vile and though the Wheat and the Tares grow together ere long they shall be separated the wheat shall be gathered into barns but the tares shall be bundled up Swearers with Swearers and Drunkards with Drunkards and burnt with unquenchable fire Drunkenness is compared by some to Chain-shot it sends men to Hell by clusters some other sins to single Bullets that kills but one at once There are many that have knowledge enough in other things and yet know not the way to Heaven they can search Natures Garden from end to end but cannot search their own hearts they are well skill'd abroad strangers at home They are like the Lamiae a sort of Witches that were blind at home quick-sighted abroad They are skilled in all Courts but the Court of Conscience but let them have never so much knowledge they are really fools to sell their souls to Satan for so low a value as a belly-full of Ale They are worse than Esau that sold his birth-right for a Mess of Pottage or a King I have read of that lost his Kingdom for a Draught of Water Can we imagine those are Christians that cannot deny themselves in a Cup of Drink when they have enough before The first Lesson in Christs School is Self-denial and if we deny not forsake not Father Mother Wife and Children yea hate all and our own lives we cannot be his Disciple Can those men lay down
you may find in three parables in Luke 15. of the lost Sheep the lost groat and the prodigal Son It was he that lost the Sheep and seeks till he finds it and then receiveth he is the Father of the prodigal Son and his prodigality was his trouble as may easily appear by his rejoycing at his return yea Christ tells us there is joy in the presence of the Angels when a sinner returneth and if there could be sorrow in Heaven sure it would be at their revolting back the resisting the motions of Gods Spirit is called a grieving of or a quenching of it and if each Saint have his Guardian Angel as some imagine and it may seem probable for they are guarded by the Angels we may imagine they rejoyce when we do well and as far as they are capable are troubled at our falls and slips and what sorrow and sadness also must this be to your relations put your self into their condition how sad would it be to you to have a Child the only hope of the Family to ruin himself and his posterity to have a young fellow take such extravagant courses to have a Brother or a Sister thus debaucht what grief is it to a Godly Minister that travelled in Birth till he thought Christ had been formed in you and then suddenly see all his hopes dasht all his exhortations admonitions reproofs prayers c. lost upon you how may it trouble and shame him that ever you were of his society your Christian Friends and those of your society how may it trouble them that you are gone from them and with Demas have chosen the World before Christ to think what will become of you and of your Family and of your poor Soul when death shall seperate it from your Body and where you will stop that are running down the hill so fast and whether of a professor you may not as others have done turn persecutor for those that forsake God no wonder if they forsake their Friends also and those that hate God will hate his Image also I wish this be no more than my own surmise and fears In a word There are none that carry the face of honest men but will be troubled at this your Apostacy and there are none but the Devil and his Instruments your Pot-Companions and Brethren in Iniquity that will rejoyce that you are brought back again into the Devils slavery These are the Dalilah's that hugg you in their bosome while they betray you these are the Syrens that by their Song intend to wrack and ruin you and if you think this is your only way to happiness ere long you will find your mistake and your judgment will alter Aggra 7. In this course of life you lead the loss of your precious time which is given you for an higher end is no small aggravation to your fall for though you meet with other considerable losses by this extravagant course of yours yet no temporal loss is comparable to this this cannot be redeemed with Silver nor Gold Jems nor Jewels nay if the World were sold to its worth it could not call back one day that is past and yet alass how prodigal are many of their time as if they knew not how to waste it fast enough they drink and play and rail it away nay go purposely to drive away time that did they but know the value of it would prize it at a higher rate but the time is coming you will know the worth of it by the want of it God hath placed you in his Vineyard given you work to do and sufficient time to do it in if you idle away this time and your work be undone what wages do you expect Amongst other Talents he hath given you this Talent of time if either you not use it or abuse it what can you expect but the doom of the unprofitable servant that hid his Talent in the Earth You have a little time in the World to spend and 't is but a little and one of these days they will say of you He is dead also for you see younger and stronger are gone before you and your turn may be next how as you spend this time so it will fare with you to eternity This is the Harvest of the Soul if you lay not in provision for the Winter with the Bee you are like to want with the Grasshopper this is the market day to lay in provision for the following week and to buy Oyl if this season be let slip the door will be shut against you and we know not how soon this day may be over which will never dawn again you have a great deal of work to do and work of great concernment if it be not finished in the time you are undone you are in a race and your Soul is the prize you run for and will you either stand still or run back you are in the field fighting with cruel blood-thirsty enemies who will make no truce with you but upon more unreasonable terms than Nahash the Ammonite offered to the men of Jabesh Gilead Which was to thrust out all their right eyes and lay it as a reproach on all Israel 1 Sam. 11. 2. But the Devil will make no truce but the everlasting destruction of Soul and Body And will you cast by your Armour and yield to his mercy and revolt from him that will warrant you the Victory if you will but keep the field you are in a journey on life and death and will you now turn back or run after Butterflies when the Sun grows low and you have far to go when you must be sure to tread these weary steps back again or lose your life Much of your time is already spent and your work undone and what you have done you are again plucking down and making your work every day more and harder Consider you will repent or not repent If you do not repent you are undone for no unrepenting sinner shall come to Heaven if you do repent it will cost you more pains dolour trouble and grief than ever the pleasure of your sin was worth you must vomit up all those sweet morsels which you have swallowed with so much delight Eternity lies before you and one of these days Death will open the door and let you in What apprehensions then will you have of these courses when you see an infinite Ocean of eternity before you and all your friends and pleasures departing from you and forsaking you Now what good will your merry company do you what comfort can they bring where are now your merry meetings and your drunken revels Will the thoughts of them chear up your hearts those that were your Councellors and Consorts in your Vanity now will be your Companions in your Misery Those for whose sakes you lost your Soul your God your Glory what will they what can they do for you if you miscarry together you will curse the time that ever