it if he hath an occasion and temptation to commit it § Drunkenness brings national judgments V. 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 inhabitants of the Land of Canaan that their Land spued them out for their defiling it and the Israelites are warned not to defile their Land least 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 other sins they were a burden 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 Wo to them that rise up early to follow strong drink and continue untill night till wine enflame them Therefore my people are gone into captivity The Lord threatned to send a mighty adversary against Ephraim for their pride and drunkenness which came upon them as furiously as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm and as a mighty flood of waters that should overflow all places and bear down all before it Isa 28.1 2. Wo to the crown of pride the drunkards of Ephraim Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one which as a tempest of hail and a destroying sterm as a flood of mighty waters over-flowing shall cast down to the earth with the hand So that drunkards are the plague of a Nation that bring down Gods judgments on themselves and the places where they live And when an over-flowing 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 wine 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 c. The crown of pride the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trod under foot § Drunkards oft times dye in the act of sin VI. 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 consumed in a moment so are many drunkards cut off suddenly when they have no thoughts no expectations of death Luk. 12.45 46. If that servant shall begin to eat and 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 the unbelievers We see here the wofull condition of drunkards both in their death and after their death Their death is oft times sudden and unexpected they have not a day not an hours warning Their Lord comes in a day that they did not look for him and in an hour that they were not aware of and shall cut them in sunder that is seperate their souls from their bodies by death and after death give them their portion with unbelievers that is in the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 Drunkards are ost times cut off in the very act of sin which is a dreadfull token of Gods displeasure when he will not vouchsafe a sinner space for Repentance but cuts him off in the very act of sin Elah a King a King in israel was cut off in the very act of sin while he was drinking himself drunk in his Stewards house 1 King 16.9 10. His servant Zimri conspired against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza Steward of his house in Tirzah And Zimri went in and smote him and killed him This is recorded to the terrors of all drunkards in all Ages to the end of the World As Christ said to deterr us from looking back remember Lots wife So may I say to deter you from drunkenness Remember Elah who was killed whilst he was drinking himself drunk And if God did not spare a King in Israel take heed least he do not spare you Besides Elah's example Amnon one of David's Sons was killed whilst 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. Belshazzar the King made a great feast to a Thousand of his Lords and drank wine before the Thousand In that night was Belshazzar the King of the Caldeans slain Besides these examples we have known or heard of several others some 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 fallen into the water and been drowned and others cut off by other means § It unfits a man for the service of God and his Generation and for Death and Judgment VII 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 upon pain of death that they might be fit for their employment 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 the Commanders A small Army of the Israelites not exceeding 7000 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 and Two Kings that came to his assistance 1 King 20.16 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 least at any time your
he see how vain this excuse is in other sins If a Murderer should say I do not make it my common practice to kill men I do it but now and then when I meet with men to whom I have born a grudge a long time Or an adulterer should say I do not commit adultery every day it is but now and than when I have convenient opportunity Or a Thief should say I am no high-way man that maketh a trade of robbing I do steal only at some times when I can do it and no body take notice of it would not these excuses be vain in the case of murder adultery theft and such like sins and if so why not in the case of drunkenness also 3. Christians should be so carefull of scandalous sins as not to commit them so much as once Eph. 5.3 Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once named among you as becometh Saints And particularly concerning drunkenness our Lord Jesus chargeth us to beware not only of being drunken often but least at any time our hearts are overcharged with drunkenness Luk. 21.34 And take heed least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkenness 4. Once being drunk is enough to shut a man out of the Kingdom of Heaven for ever without Repentance Gal. 5.21 Drunkenness revellings they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God It is not said they that do such things often but they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Adam did eat but once of the forbidden fruit and for that one offence he was cast out of Paradise and by that one offence judgment came upon himself and upon all men to condemnation Rom. 5.18 The Bethshemites looked but once into the Ark and for that one offence there dyed Fifty Thousand Threescore and Ten men 1 Sam. 6.19 David numbered the people but once yet for that one offence there came a Pestilence which killed Seventy Thousand men 2 Sam. 24.10 to the 16. 5. Though you are but beginning to be a company keeper and are overcome but seldom yet who knows that if at any time your heart be over-charged with drunkenness but that may be the time when God may call you out of the World Luk. 21.34 Take heed least at any time your hearts be overcharged with drunkenness and so that day come upon you unawares God cuts off some men when they do but begin to be company keepers and gives them their portion in eternal misery Mat. 24.48 49 50 51. If that evil Servant shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth .. 6. Though at present you are drunk but seldom yet unless you repent and break off this evil course of drinking you will by degrees fall into it more and more and may in a little time prove as common as notorious as sottish a drunkard as any other man For it is ordinary for impenitent sinners to grow more vile every day than other 2 Tim. 3.13 Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse § Privacy in the commission of this sin is no excuse for it Plea 5. If I were an open drunkard I should think my self to be in a sad condition but though I cannot deny but that I am sometime overtaken with the sin of drunkenness yet it is very privately and therefore I hope God will be mercifull to me A. 1. The more open and impudent men are in the commission of their sins the greater their punishment shall be Isa 3.9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them and they declare their sin as Sodom they hide it not wo unto their Soul Those impudent sinners as are not ashamed to sin openly and seek not to hide their sins are in a most wofull condition 2. Drunkenness is such a shamefull sin that in old times men sought for private times and private places for the commission of this sin They were ashamed to be drunk in the day time and took the opportunity of the dark night to keep their drunken meetings 1 Thes 5.7 They that be drunken be drunken in the night When some persons that heard the Apostles speaking with tongues supposed them to be drunk the Apostle refutes that supposition not from the piety of the men that abhorred that vice not from the rationality of their discourse but from the time of the day Act. 2.15 These are not drunken as ye suppose seeing it is but the third hour of the day It was such an unusual thing in those times to see a man drunk in the day that the Apostle thought it sufficient proof that they were not drunken because it was but the third hour of the day But alas it is otherwise in these times wherein we see men frequently reeling and staggering at high noon day 3. Although open drunkards are in a worse condition than such as are secretly given to drunkenness yet such as are secret drunkards shall not be excused by their secresie in their sins For 1. All our secret sins are committed in the sight of God Psal 90.8 Thou hast set our sins before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance David plotted Vriah's death and defiled Bathsheba with great secresie 2 Sam. 12.12 Thou didst it secretly Yet he confesseth these sins were committed in the sight of God Psal 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight 2. What sins we commit in secret without Repentance shall be punished openly Eccl. 12.14 God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or bad As it is with secret duties they shall have an open reward Math. 6.4 Thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly So it is also with secret sins § The plea of such as say they are good natured and never go to ale-houses but when enticed answered Plea 6. I never go to Ale-houses but when I am enticed and I am so good natured that if any of my friends or acquaintance ask me to go with them to the Ale-house I can't deny them and when I am there I am overtaken before I am aware A. 1. What you call good nature is an evil nature to be so flexible and easie to yield to a temptation to sin God commands us when sinners entice us not to give our consent unto them Prov. 1.10 My son if sinners entice thee consent thou not A good nature will teach us to obey God and to refuse our consent to the enticings of sinners That is an evil nature that prompts us to disobey God to please and gratifie a friend or neighbour 2. If the
at peace with him And if God can encline the hearts of our enemies towards us then much more the hearts of our friends when we do those things that are pleasing in his sight However run the hazard rather adventure the displeasing your friends by obeying God than displease God by complying with the sinfull humours and ways of your friends 5. It is great folly to comply with friends or Relations in their evil ways in hope to get an Estate from them after their Death For 1. Who can tell but you may dye before your friends And what will your sinfull complyance do you good if you dye before your friends Or who can tell but they may take a disgust at you though you strive to humour mour them in that which is sinfull And what a sad case is that to lose the favour of God and your friends also 2. If you should obtain that estate you hope for your sinfull complyance will do your souls more hurt than ever your Estate will be able to do you good 3. Such an state as is gotten by a sinfull complyance hath not God's Blessing going with it And it is better being without an Estate than to have it without the Blessing of God For an estate without a blessing doth a man much hurt of such an estate it may be said as Solomon doth Eccl. 5.13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sun namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt § The excellency of wine or strong drink is no excuse for drunkenness Plea 9. I am not won't to be disguised with drinking except it be at such times as I light of excellent wine and very pleasant liquors and when I meet with pure and pleasant wine or other choice drink I can't refrain my self but I must drink to excess and I hope in such a case I may be excused A. 1. This is a vain frivolous foolish excuse If a thief should say I never rob a man but when I meet with a rich and tempting prize Or an adulterer should say I never commit adultery but when I meet with a fair and beautifull woman Would such pleas excuse the thief and adulterer No more will it excuse a drunkard to say I am never overcome with wine but when I meet with pure rich and generous wine 2. There is no purer clearer pleasanter water than Spring water yet the pleasantness and purity of the Spring water doth not tempt the wild asses or other beasts to drink more than will quench their thirst Psal 104.10 11. He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills they give drink to every beast of the field the wild asses quench their thirst And shall man who was made after the Image of God and who hath a more excellent Spirit than any of the beasts drink to excess because he meets with pure wine and excellent drink 3. The purest and most excellent wine when drunk to excess will prove the most deadly poyson for it destroyes Body and Soul whereas other poyson destroys the Body only That passage of Moses may be applyed Deut. 32.33 Their wine is the poyson of dragons and the cruel venom of asps And what wise man would drink the poyson of dragons and the cruel venom of asps though it should be made pleasant to the tast Or would drink the sweetest and richest wine under Heaven if he knew there were the poyson of dragons or the cruel venom of asps infused into it The guilt of drunkenness is more destructive to a man than the poyson of dragons or the cruel venom of asps for the one kills the Body only the other will destroy Body and Soul for ever 4. Whereas drunkards say they can't for their hearts refrain from drinking to excess when they meet with choice and excellent wine which is both pleasant to the eye and and tast they should consider with themselves that the briskest purest most pleasant wine if drunk to excess will bite like a serpent and sting like an adder Prov. 23.31 32. Look not thou upon the wine whâ—… 〈◊〉 is red when it giveth his colour in the cup when it moveth it self aright at the last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an adder There is scarce any drunkard so sottish that after he hath drunk a glass of wine should espy a serpent at the bottom of his second or third glass that would certainly bite him if he proceeded to drink any more and should discern an adder under the table that would surely sting him if he did not flee the room but would refrain drinking though he had a bottle of the best and pleasantest wine that ever was drunk standing before him What the Lord tells us in his holy word is as certainly true as what we see with our bodily eyes and therefore seeing the Lord tells us that such as are enticed by the pleasantness of the look or tast of the wine that is before them to drink to excess shall find their excess in drinking will bite them like a serpent and sting like an adder this should make us refrain immoderate drinking although we should meet with pure and pleasant wine If any say I have been often drunk but never found the wine that I drunk biting me like a serpent and stinging me like an adder if I had I would have broken off this course of drinking long ago A. Though you have not felt any biting or stinging from the sin of drunkenness for the present yet you may find it hereafter and shall assuredly find it without Repentance At the last it bitcth like a Serpent Though for a while this Serpent seems to be asleep yet at the last it will bite more dreadfully than any serpent and it will sting worse than any adder 1. It bites in this life many men with horrors of Conscience and sharp and painfull diseases in their bodies 2. It will sting terribly at the hour of death 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of death is sin When a drunkard comes to dye then his frequent drunkenness and all mad pranks that he committed when he was drunk will come to his mind and sting his Conscience when he lyes upon his death-bed And the sting that sin puts into death is worse than the sting of an adder or the biting of a serpent 3. At the day of judgment then drunkenness will bite and sting worse then at the day of death then drunkards will be stung with their sin that they will be desirous that the Rocks and Mountains should fall on them and cover them from the wrath of the Lord. Rev. 6.15 16 17. 4. In Hell torments when drunkards shall be cast to the old Serpent the devil then this sin of drunkenness will torment you worse than the biting of any serpent or the stinging of any adder § The plea of common tiplers and of such as are strong to drink wine answered Plea 10. I acknowledge that I go