The Priests the Levites that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me they shall come near to me to minister unto me c. saith the Lord Ezek. 44. 10-13 14 15 16. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments saith the Lord Jesus And they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy Rev. 3. 4 the consideration of all which might ingage us To come out from among men in evil days and be separate and touch no unclean thing And the Lord Almighty will receive us whoever reject us and will be a Father to us and we shall be to him for sons and daughters Having therefore these promises and encouragements let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit c. 2 Cor. 6. 14-17 18. and 7. 1. Again 2. As evil signifies evil of Affliction and Judgment so we may receive this further instruction That when the days are evil when God's Judgments are poured forth amongst us and felt by us and greater feared then especially we need to have and receive this Admonition that we be not drunk with Wine but that we watch against all intemperance and insobriety When thy judgments are in the earth saith the Prophet the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness Isa 26. 9. And therefore then it behoves the Believers especially to be temperate in all things So it was with Daniel and his three companions when they were in captivity and under great affliction they would not defile themselves with the portion of the King's meat nor with the Wine which he drank Dan. 1. 5-8-16 And indeed as it is always sinful so it is most unseasonable to eat and drink to excess when God is casting us down in his Providences and ordering occasions of mourning and lamentation to us when men are minished and brought low thorow oppression affliction and sorrow Psal 107. 39. When we see a sword a sword is sharpened and also furbished it is sharpened to make a sore slaughter it is furbished that it should glitter should we then make mirth Ezek. 21. 9 10. should we unfit our selves for a wise consideration of the Lord's doings when he is making desolations amongst us surely this will be an high aggravation of our iniquity as is once and again signified to us Wo unto them saith the Lord that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue until night till Wine inflame them And the harp and the viol the tabret and pipe and wine are in their feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord nor the operation of his hands Isa 5. 11 12. In that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning and to baldness and to girding with sack-cloath And behold joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing sheep eating flesh and drinking wine c. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye dye saith the Lord God of hosts Isa 22. 1-12-14 Wo to them that put far away the evil day that lye upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches or abound with superfluity and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall That chaunt or quaver to the sound of the viol That drink Wine in bowles and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed Amos 6. 1-3-6-8 Truly as our Saviour gives us to understand now the Bridegroom is taken away from us it is a continued time of fasting and outward occasions of mourning are presented to his disciples till God shall send us him again who now is preached to us Mat. 9. 14 15. Luk. 5. 34 35. And to all this time that may be long which our Saviour speaks to his Disciples when he is taking his leave of them Verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoyce and ye shall be sorrowful c. Joh. 16. 20. And yet at some times more abundantly they have oâ—â—…ard cause of mourning administred to them And they then are instructed to be afflicted and mourn and weep To let their laughter be turned into mourning and their joy into heaviness Jam. 4. 9 10. And such have been and are the times in which we live wherein God hath been sharpening his sword and hath made great slaughters amongst us in former times And as yet it is not put up into it's Scabbard As also he hath been sweeping away multitudes multitudes by the Pestilence and other grievous diseases which he hath been inflicting amongst us And hath also been contending by devouring Fire whereby the crowning City hath been almost destroyed yea and hath been pleading with us by Water and unusual floods whereby he hath washt away the things that grow out of the earth and destroyed the hope of man as Job 14. 19. And hath thorow decay of Trade and otherwise brought our formerly rich and flourishing Nation very low and into great poverty and straits And hath removed and taken away many merciful and righteous ones from amongst us even in the midst of their days so as we may say Wo is us for we are as when they have gathered the summer fruits as the grape gleanings of the vintage there is no cluster to eat The good man is perished out of the earth and men of kindnesS and godliness are taken away Mic. 7. 1 2. Isa 57. 1 2. Psal 12. 1 c. And this is an heavy Judgment in it self and the fore-runner and way-maker for greater and more dreadful to come if we prepare not to meet the Lord in the way of his Judgments Yea what cause of mourning is also presented to us now there is such an abounding of spiritual iniquity and of divers and strange Doctrines and such a multitude of poor Souls deluded and in the high-way to be destroyed thereby And how long and often hath God been threatning to give up our Nation to that strong delusion which hath been brought into and preserved in the World by him whose coming was after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders because the inhabitants thereof have not received the love of the truth to be saved thereby 2 Thes 2. 8-11 yea how many have departed from the faith already giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils or Doemons 1 Tim. 4. 1. yea and how hath God cast upon us the fierceness of his anger wrath and indignation and trouble by sending evil angels amongst us as Psal 78. 49 yea his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still and what he is further threatning to do unto us
Isa 24. 7-16 Oh blessed are the poople that know the joyful sound come what times will come they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance In thy name shall they rejoyce all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted to honour and safety For thou art the glory of their strength Psal 89. 15-17 In Christ to whom the holy Spirit is directing us we may rejoyce always even in the time of greatest affliction and sadness also Phil. 3. 1. and 4. 4. His blood is drink indeed this will cheer revive and refresh the very heart and spirit of the drinker And his love therein commended is better infinitely better than Wine and more to be desired and rather to be chosen than strong Drink And who so eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath everlasting life and he will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6. 54-57 Cant. 1. 2-4 and 2. 3-5 Oh therefore in evil dayes and times when sorrow and sadness is administred to you and how many Temptations and Provocations from others soever you meet withal yet be not drunk with Wine But be ye filled with the spirit c. Eph. 5. 16-18 19 Forsake not the Lord the fountain of living waters to hew to your selves cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water But if any man thirst let him come unto Christ and drink And whosoever drinketh of this water of life that he will give him that cometh unto him shall never thirst but the water that he will give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life Jer. 2. 13. Joh. 7. 37 38. and 4. 10-14 And when shame shall be the promotion of fools when the crown of pride the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a Diadem of beauty to the residue of his people who in the light and strength of his grace denying ungodliness and worldly lusts have lived soberly c. And come unto Christ as the rest for their weary Spirits and unto him as the refreshing Isa 28. 1-3-5-12 Oh then that we may not spend our money and time for that which is not bread nor labour for that which satisfieth not let us hearken diligently unto Christ in his Gospel and eat that which is good and let our Souls delight themselves in fatness Let us go into the house of the Lord and eat of Wisdom's bread and drink of the Wine which she hath mingled let us forsake the foolish the drunken Drunkards and live and go in the way of understanding Instead of lavishing our money out of the bag for strong Drink let us buy the truth and not sell it Isa 55. 1-3 Prov. 9. 1-6 and 23. 20-23 Is it because there is no comfort peace satsfaction joy and contentment in Christ that we walk in rioting and drunkenness What iniquity is there or have we found in him that we should turn our backs upon and forsake him and make our bellies our God Hath he been or is he a barren Wilderness or a dry Tree that we scatter our ways unto strangers and prefer the Service of our vile and brutish affections before him in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily and in whom is all compleatness prepared for us surely no Oh then Return from all your wandrings unto him who is the rest in whom God hath dealt bountifully and plentifully prepared for us And from the admirable excellency of his loving-kindness to the children of men Let us put our trust under the shadow of his wings that we may be abundantly satisfied with the fatnefs of his house and drink and drink abundantly of the river of his pleasures Psal 36. 7 8 9. 3. In the Gospel is shewed unto us the great meanness of our Lord Jesus in the dayes of his personal Ministration and how contented he was with and how he condescended to mean things such was the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who being rich for our sakes became poor He did not fare deliciously every day he sought not after the best and costliest meat and drink But when he was thirsty he desired a little cold Water to quench his thirst Joh. 4. 6 7. And had for himself and his disciples and the multitude barly-loaves and fishes Joh. 6. 9-13 His knees were weak through fasting and his flesh failed of fatness Psal 109. 24. And though the men of that generation did falsely accuse him and laid to his charge that he was a gluttonous person and a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners yet Wisdom this heavenly wisdom was justified of all her children they knew that the Scribes and Pharisees laid to his charge things which he knew not nor was guilty of Luk. 7. 30-35 But on the contrary he wept and afflicted his Soul with fasting and that was to his reproach He made sack-cloath also his garment and he became a Proverb unto them And he was the song of the drinkers of strong drink Psal 69. 10-12 much hardness he indured and did not please himself but was content in every condition and with all Provision And therefore did the World hate him because he testifieth of them both in word and works that their deeds were evil Joh. 7. 7. And he instructed his Disciples to eat and drink such things as they gave them into whose houses they came and admonishing them of intemperance and insobriety at all times Luk. 10. 7. and 21. 34-36 surely then it also behoves his followers to indure hardness as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ and to flee from all intemperance whatsoever And not to delight in and be Companions of them who made Songs of the Captain of our Salvation Psal 69. 12. 2 Tim. 2. 3. Oh! shall we who profess our selves to be his Disciples and Servants seek after and surfeit in the abuse of the best and most excellent meat and drink that we can come by will this be by him accounted an imitating him and following his steps and that example which he hath left us or shall we not rather provoke him if we walk on in surfeiting and drunkenness severely to testifie displeasure against us even to cut Us in sunder and appoint us our portion with the unbelievers even with such as never professed themselves to be his Disciples Luk. 21. 34 36. Oh then set the Lord before you and be imitaters of him as dear children for he that saith He knoweth and abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked 1 Joh. 2. 4-6 If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness in rioting and drunkenness we lye and do not the truth 1 Joh. 1. 6. with Rom. 13. 11-13 Do ye then especially who profess your selves to be Christ's disciples Abstain from these fleshly lusts that war against the soul that ye may not make others believe or give them occasion to think
service in bearing the vessels of the Lord committed to them and they therefore should be clean which they cannot be unless they deny these worldly lusts Isa 52. 11 with ch 28. 8. This was a Complaint taken up and uttered forth against the leaders of the people in former times The Priest amd the Prophet have erred through Strong Drink they are swallowed up of Wine they are out of the way through Strong Drink c. Isa 28. 7. They are in their service brought higher unto the God of Israel than their Brethren And therefore he will most especially be sanctified in them And it greatly concerns them at all times to be temperate especially when they approach unto him lest through their insobriety they offer up strange fire instead of that of the Altar It may seem this evil of Intemperance was found with Nadab and Abihu and that it was the cause of their miscarriage Therefore for the future God gives a strict charge that those that come near to him should abstain from this occasion of evil For upon that occasion the Lord spake to Aaron and said Do not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy Sons with thee when ye go into the Tabernacle of the Congregation lest ye dye It shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean in which Nadab and Abihu sailed See Levit. 10. 1-3-8-10 Ezek. 44. 21-23 This may and will cause men to follow their own Spirit and to speak things to God which they ought not They are to be Gods mouth to the people in some sort and are to speak his words and make known and open his Doctrine to them And therefore it behoves them greatly to take heed and beware that they be not overcome of Wine that they may teach his Israel the Statutes of the Lord Levit. 10. 8-11 For by the excess of wine they will err in vision and stumble in judgment Isa 28. 7. They are to watch for the Souls of those which are committed to their charge their work is to be watch-men But alas how greatly will this Intemperance unfit them for it and dispose them to slothfulness and sleepiness This will unfil them for the service they are appointed to and faithfulness expected from them 1 Thes 5. 6-8 It will make them blind ignorant foolish-ones and render them altogether unmeet for the work of watch-men hence it is said His watch-men are blind they are all ignorant they are all dumb dogs they cannot bark sleeping lying down loving to slumber 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 Isa 56. 9-12 They should be reprovers of others and should admonish and warn them of every path of the Destroyer 2 Tim. 4. 2. Ezek. 3. 17-26 But if they themselves be guilty of Drunkenness how should they warn others of Intemperance or reprove them for it Thou that sayest another should not be Drunk or commit Fornication art thou thy self Intemperate and unclean Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Ram. 2. 19-24 They should give themselves to reading the Scriptures of truth to Exhortation and Doctrine and to that end redeem the time that their profiting may appear to all 1 Tim. 4. 13-16 2 Tim. 4. 2. But alas How will this Swinish Iniquity unfit men for this and hinder them from exercising themselves to what is good and profitable to themselves and their Brethren And do not such sometimes complain they are so straitned by reason of their callings and imployments that they cannot be so oft with their Brethren as they would be when yet the same persons can too frequently find time to distemper themselves and abuse the good Creatures of God And thereby cause others to abhor the Ordinances and Appointments of the Lord Yea therefore as we have said God makes them base and contemptible before all the people And they are justly taken up in the lips of talkers Oh how provoking an Iniquity is this in such as these are And unto such the Lord also may speak and say What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee Psal 50. 16-20-22 And indeed the provokingness of this Iniquity in them is signified in Gods severity against them If that servant say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men-servants and the maidens and to eat and drink with the drmnken or to be 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 in sunder and appoint him his portion with the Hypocrites and unbelievers there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And that Servant which knew his Lords will and prepared not neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required And to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more Matth. 24. 48-51 and Luke 12. 45-48 Oh consider this ye that forget God and his Law Prov. 31. 5. lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Lest now spending your time in mirth and jollity and in the abuse of the good Creatures of God you hereafter howl for a drop of water to cool your tongues being tormented in that flame when you come to drink of the Wrath of the Almighty Job 21. 12-20 Luke 16. 19-24 You should especially have your conversation in Heaven and be minding the things above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God And if you should mind these earthly things and so dwell in your hearts and affections upon the earth how can you escape the snare which will come upon all the inhabitants of the earth Therefore take heed to your selves saith our Saviour to his Disciples and Apostles lest at any time your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life whereto Intemperance will necessarily lead you and so that day come upon you unawares for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth as riotous persons and Drunkards do Watch ye therefore and pray alwayes c. Luke 21. 34 35 36. III. Considering the time when this dehortation and admonition was given to these Believers we may learn somewhat from thence which may be instructive to us from this circumstance And so as we may see it was given unto them When the dayes were evil Eph. 5. 16. Now they may be said to be evil in a double consideration whereto we shall here briefly speak and so note something for our learning As to say 1. The dayes or time may be said to be evil
when they are sinful times when Iniquity doth abound and that both Spiritual and Carnal The dayes are evil sinfully evil and perilous times when men have a form of Godliness over all their Impiety and wickedness 2 Tim. 3. 1-5 Matth. 24. 12. As well as also they are said to be evil when more gross impiety and carnal wickedness abound As when the words of many amongst the professed people of God are so stout as they say It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before him as Mal. 3. 14 15 or when they run to all excess of Riot and commit Iniquity with greediness So it was said to be an evil time when the Lord saith I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins Amos 5. 12 13. And so it appears the times or dayes in this place were said to be evil because of the abounding of gross wickedness many amongst them did commit uncleanness with greediness and were acting unfruitful works of darkness such as it was a shame to speak of Ephes 4. 16-19 and chap. 5. 11 12. 2. The dayes may be said to be evil when they are full of affliction and when God is executing his judgments upon the earth So as All the dayes of the afflicted are evil Prov. 16. 15. So the Prophet imprecates Bring upon them the day of evil Jer. 17. 17 18. And so the dayes or times are frequently and most frequently said to be evil Psal 49. 5. Prov. 16. 4. Eccles 9. 12. and 12. 1. Amos 6. 3. Micah 2. 3. Matth. 6. 34. And from this double understanding we may take notice of these two instructions from this circumstance of the time viz. 1. That when the dayes are sinfully evil then especially the Believers need to be admonished to slee from Intemperance and excess of Wine And it behoves them then more abundantly to receive the admonition Not to be drunk with Wine And this will appear if we consider 1. In such dayes and times they have more temptations and provocations by the general evil example of others Therefore they the more need this admonition to be given to and received by them when Iniquity is so generally and frequently practised by those amongst whom we live and is so openly acted and committed by them Hence the Lord giveth this admonition to his people in former times Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil Exod. 23. 2. In which he signifies that in such a day we shall have more strong provocations to have fellowship with them in those unfruitful works of darkness than when Iniquity stops her mouth and hides her head and a greater inclination thereto And this also appeareth by what Gods professed people plead for the service of their sins Namely the general and open example of their Fathers and great-ones We will do say they what soever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem Jer. 44. 15-17 When men generally declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not Oh then we need especially and it greatly concerns us to receive and obey this admonition given to us Then we shall have many to entice and urge us by their word and example to consent to them and comply with them in their crooked paths and to run with them to the same excess of Riot whereto they run And then more especially also it behoves us to receive the admonition when not only the people generally among whom we live are given to Intemperance but when The leaders of the people also err through wine and through strong drink are out of the way as Isa 28. 7 Then the leaders of the people cause them to err and go astray also and they that are led of them are destroyed Isa 3. 12. and 9. 16. I have seen folly in the Prophets of Samaria saith the Lord They caused my people Israel to err I have seen also in the Prophets of Jerusalem of the chief City an horrible thing They strengthen the hands of evil-doers that none doth return from his wickedness Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts concerning the Prophets Behold I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink of the water of gall For from the Prophets of Jerusalem is profaneneness gone forth into all the land Jer. 23. 13-15 When such as these forsake the right way and count it pleasure to Riot in the day-time then it is an evil time Then many times they allure through the lusts of the flesh those that were clean escaped from them that live in error 2 Pet. 2. 13-18 2. Then also the Believers need to be admonished of Intemperance when the dayes are sinfully evil Because when Rioting and Drunkenness are commonly practised these evils may be committed without fear of shame and punishment then there is none to put them to shame in any thing as Judg. 18. 7. But they that tempt God are even delivered from that shame and penalty which of right belongs to their transgression Mal. 3. 14 15. The wicked walk on every side openly and securely and do not hide themselves when Vileness Rioting and Drunkenness are exalted amongst the Sons of men And then it is high time for the righteous to cry Save Lord deliver us from our own and others transgressions Incline not our hearts to any evil thing to practice wicked works with men that work Iniquity and let us not eat of their dainties Psalm 12. 1-8 and 141. 1-4 The rod and reproof give wisdom But when persons are left to themselves usually they act and commit shameful things Prov. 29. 15. This was that which provoked the Lord to anger against Eli who judged Israel and might be some cause of his Sons great Impiety and Iniquity and that they were such children of Belial that when they made themselves vile he restrained them not 1 Sam. 3. 13. When Justice and Judgment are executed and sinners are shamed and punished according to the quality of their Offence this puts an awe upon others and causes them to take heed of Iniquity lest they also partake of the Punishment And such righteous Judges and Magistrates do put away evil from among the people And all the people shall hear and fear and do so no more wickedly or presumptuously Deut. 17. 12 13. and 13. 8-11 and 19. 18-21 And so it is said particularly When gluttonus persons and drunkards are punished fortheir intemperance by this means the Judges put away evil from amongst them And all Israel shall hear and fear Deut. 21. 20 21. But when we are all so naturally inclined to evil and also every man is left to himself to do what is right in his own eyes without check shame or punishment when every man is a Law to himself as it were and the
Reins are laid upon their Necks that they may go whither they please And when the Sons of the Mighty will not do Justice when they know not nor will understand but walk on in darkness as Psal 82. 1-5 then it is high time to receive the admonition which the Holy Ghost is giving unto us and to accept it thankfully from those who are over us in the Lord that they will admonish us of and dehort us from this great and root-Iniquity of Intemperance For then especially we shall be ready to pollute our selves herewith when we may do so and not be restrained from it or shamed or punished for it Nay further the Believers need to have and receive this admonition when their Watch-men are poluted with Intemperance or some of them because they that are so cannot faithfully or successfully reprove another of an Iniquity of which they themselves are also guilty How canthey pluck out the Mote out of their Brothers eye when he hold there is a Beam in their own How can they fault or with what face can they reprove their Brethren for Insobriety when they also are given unto and too often defiled with excess of Wine Matth. 7. 3-5 Nay indeed how can they reprove others of any evil whatsoever while themselves walk not with a right foot in the Gospel but eat and drink with the Drunken Hence when the Apostle solemnly charges Timothy Before God and the Lord Jesus Christ c. To preach the Word and be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort c. He then instructs him But watch thou or be thou sober in all things as the same word is read in some of our Margins and so translated elsewhere as 1 Pet. 5. 8. As if he should say That thou mayest Preach the word faithfully and Reprove and Rebuke Offenders be thou thy self Sober and Temperate in all things be not a partaker of other mens sins but keep thy self pure otherwise thou canst not be a Reprover or Faithful-reprover of others 2 Tim. 4. 1-5 and 1 Tim. 5. 22. Alas how do such teachers strengthen others in their evil wayes their Brethren will say surely Drunkenness and Intemperance are no great evils for our leaders are Good-fellows also and will joyn and keep Company with us And however we need not fear to be reproved by them They dare not Prophesy unto us to cause us to take shame as Micah 2. 6 because they themselves too often exceed in their Intemperance Oh! needful therefore it is for us to be dehorted from and admonished of this Iniquity when men may sin without fear of shame or punishment from the Civil Magistrate and when also there are like People like Priest And now it 's high time for us to suffer this word of admonition and exhortation Be not drunk with Wine 3. Nay when the dayes are so sinfully evil as hath been said we need then to have and receive this admonition here given to us not only because then we have more strong temptations to Intemperance than at other times nor only because we may be guilty of it without shame punishment or reproof But also in such dayes we shall be reproached frowned upon and evilly dealt with if we have not fellowship with them in their unfruitful works of darkness others will think it strange if we run not with them to the same excess of Riot Blaspheming and speaking evil of us 1 Pet. 4. 3 4. So it was in evil dayes in Israel Judgment was turned backward and Justice stood afar off for truth was fallen in the streets and equity could not enter Yea truth failed and he that departed from evil made himself a prey or was counted a Mad-man a Fanatick c. Isa 45. 14 15. So now too many hate the good and love the evil Mic. 3. 1-3 And hereby think to affright men and scare them into their evil wayes and manners by their reproaches frowns scoffs derisions c. Then it is an evil time indeed a sinful and perilous time when the just are afflicted because they will not put forth their hand to Iniquity with others but refrain their feet from their evil wayes and crooked paths Amos 5. 10-13 And then especially they need to be admonished to flee Insobriety when they will be reproached vilified and persecuted by others for so doing lest by the evil use they meet with they be corrupted from the right way and turn aside after Satan Nay when the dayes are sinfully evil then the way to meet with praise from others preferment and safety is to do as the most of men do and to walk in the broad way with them then the vilest of the Sons of men are exalted even such as walk in riotous wayes and practises Psal 12. 8. Then the proud are counted happy and they that work wickedness are set up and they that tempt God are even delivered Mal. 3. 13-15 And therefore in such dayes especially we need to be admonished to abstain from every kind of evil whatsoever and particularly from this of Intemperance for we love naturally to be well spoken of by others and to be advanced or lifted up amongst men or however to enjoy our liberty and be secured from all reproach and molestation from others and therefore when all outward incouragement promotion and protection are assured unto and injoyed by such as will eat drink and be drunken How ready are we by occasion hereof to wander out of the way of understanding and to have fellowship with them in their unfruitful works of darkness The world will love its own Joh. 15. 19. They that forsake the Law praise the wicked Prov. 28. 4. The world cannot hate them that are of it and who do fulfil its lusts but delights in them and think these are the only persons that are meet to be confided in and that will be trusty and faithful in any trust that is committed to them Joh. 7. 7. And therefore these are the persons that shall be countenanced promoted protected incouraged and be the men the darlings and dillings of the times These are they that shall be accounted honest men and good-fellows such as will be true to their friends these are the men that shall be reputed and reported to be bountiful and liberal persons though in truth they are Churls and vile ones in the esteem and account of him that judgeth righteously Isa 32. 5-8 And who so meet for society countenance security and advance ment as these Oh therefore what great need have we when the dayes are evil to be admonished and warned to flee from this path of the destroyer even from Intemperance and to receive and obey the admonition given unto us and to that end to go forth unto Christ without the Camp bearing his reproach who was spoken against by them that sate in the Gate even by the Judges and Magistrates and was the song of the Drunkards or of the Drinkers of Strong Drimk Heb.
is evident and apparent And is this a time for us then to work the will of the gentiles and to walk in excess of Wine revellings banquettings c Surely no cause we have rather abundant cause to sigh with the breaking of our loins and with bitterness for the judgments and occasions of heaviness already come and for the tidings of what is a coming because it cometh And every heart shall melt and all hands shall be feeble and every spirit shall faint and all knees shall be weak as water c. Ezek. 21. 6 7. Surely the present days are such as might cause all the merry-hearted to sigh and not to drink Wine with a song yea to cause strong drink to be bitter to them that drink it For all joy is darkened the mirth of the land is gone Isa 24. 7-11 And what wrath is yet laid up in store and what the end will be or how soon he may so order Judgment as when he begins he will also make an end and affliction shall not rise up the second time But while they be drunken drunkards they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry he only perfectly knoweth before whose eyes all things are naked and opened Nehem. 1. 8-10 But such times seem to be coming as will cause mens hearts to fail for fear yea certainly they shall come Luk. 21. 25 26. And oh how doth it then behove those who know and believe in some measure the testimony of God concerning Christ to be sober and watch unto prayer in such evil days 1 Pet. 4. 7. And to take heed to themselves lest at any time their hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness c. Luk. 21. 25 26-34-36 And now to redeem and not mispend the opportunity because the days are evil God is loudly awakening us to his righteousness in his providences and in the lifting up of his hand amongst us and shall we still follow our insobriety and be companions of riotous persons and thereby make our selves so sottish and insensible as to be live him that lieth down in the midst of the sea or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast who though stricken yet is not sick though beaten feels it not but saith when shall I awake I will seek Wine and strong drink again Prov. 23. 31-35 Oh! though Israel thus play the Harlot let not Judah Gods pleasant plant thus offend and that in such a day of adversity and affliction also let them not now make their belly their God and debase themselves to Hell for the satisfying of their fleshly lusts and desires And so for a morsel of meat like Esau sell their birthright And most especially let not such transgress through Wine in such evil times who are as the Hee-goats before the flock yea let all the believers now both those who are taught and those who teach look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble them and thereby many be defiled lest there be amongst them a root that beareth Wormwood and Gall any person or persons that say in his or their heart We shall have peace though we walk after the imagination of our hearts adding drunkenness to thirst For the Lord will not spare such an one But then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and all the curses that are written in the book of God shall lye upon him Heb. 12. 14 15. with Deut. 29. 18-20 Let us all then now especially receive and obey the Dehortation and Admonition given to the believers when the days are evil both sinfully evil and evil also by reason of the manifold Afflictions and Judgments which have been and are already amongst us and further also which are threatned And now be we not drunk with wine And to move us hereto consider we another Instruction contained in this Dehortation of the Apostles viz. IV. In that he saith Be not drunk with wine so he signifieth to us that we may thorow the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ keep our selves pure from this iniquity here warned of and obey this Admonition which is here given to us He doth not exhort us from that which we may not possibly abstain from or which God is not in and by his Gospel inabling and strengthening us against and making possible to us to flee from But in those Exhortations and Dehortations given unto us by our Lord Jesus there is the power and influence of his spirit to inable us to abstain from what he is warning us of and to will and do what he is exhorting and counselling us unto as the Apostle saith when he is giving Exhortations to the believers It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of good pleasure Do all things without murmuring and disputing that ye may be blameless and harmless Phil. 2. 12-15 And when he writes to the Thessalonians and re-minds them of what Commandments he and his fellow-labourers gave them by the Lord Jesus namely to abstain from uncleanness intemperance c. he saith He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God who also hath given unto us his holy spirit As signifying God in and by his spirit was present with those Commandments given by Christ to inable men to what was commanded them 1 Thes 4. 1 2-7 8. And indeed this incouragement our Lord assures unto and promises his Servants that in their preaching the Gospel to every creature of all the Nations and therewith teaching men to observe whatsoever he had commanded them he would be with them always even unto the end of the world Mat. 28. 18-20 Rev. 3. 8. And faithful is he that promised who also will do it Mark 16. 15-20 So that though we are all naturally inclined to all that is evil and have many temptations and provocations thereto from without especially in evil days yet we may in the strength afforded be saved and preserved from the lusts of the flesh which war against the Soul because his Spirit is not straitned towards us but his words do good to them that walk uprightly Micah 2. 1-7 Now there are many arguments contained in the Gospel propounded to and set before us which are mighty through God to help and enable us to flee from all Drunkenness and Intemperance As to say 1. In the Gospel is shewn unto us that we have a comfortable injoyment of our lives and of all our Meat and Drink vouchsafed to us through the mediation of Jesus Christ we were all dead sensually dead condemned to dye as the Apostle signifieth to us when he saith If one died for all in the room and stead of all then were all dead And upon the account of and by vertue of ones dying for all and rising again dead men now live in their several ages and generations to the end they might not live to themselves or the lusts of men but to him which died for
whatsoever As to say 1. It is the cause of unnatural uncleanness of going after strange flesh and committing those vile affections in the service and satisfying whereof Women change the natural use into that which is against nature Likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burn in their lust one toward another men with men working that which is unseemly and even a shame to speak of Rom. 1. 26 27. Eph. 5. 11 12. And which Iniquity is so abominable in the sight of God as that by the Law those that were guilty of it shall surely be put to death their blood shall be upon them Levit. 18. 22 and 20. 13. And by the Law of Christ those that are guilty of it and not washed from it shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. I say Intemperance leads many persons to this abomination which is against nature both Men and Women This was the Iniquity of Sodom which was so highly guilty of this unnatural abomination as that upon the account thereof God destroyed them with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven and from whence this uncleanness is called Sodomy and those guilty of it Sodomites Gen. 19. 5-7 24. 1 King 14. 24 c. I say this was their Iniquity Pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness they surfeited upon the abundance of those things which that fruitful Countrey afforded and so apted themselves for this Iniquity Ezek. 16. 49 with Gen. 13. 10. Luk. 17. 28 29. And so the Apostle saith of those that turned the Grace of our God into lasciviousness and whom he compares to Sodom and Gomorrha for going after strange flesh and so defiling the flesh That they fed themselves without fear Jude 4. 7 8-12 And Lasciviousness Lusts Excess of Wine Revellings Banquetings c. are all joyned together by the Apostle 1 Pet. 4. 3 4. And before he speaks of Israels great Iniquity viz. They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the dayes of Gibeah at which time the inhabitants thereof were desiring and would have defiled themselves with strange flesh Judg. 19. 15 16-22 23. I say before the Prophet taxes them with this evil he first reproves them for their great Intemperance and Drunkenness Hos 2. 5-8 and 3. 1. and 4. 11. and 7. 3-5 and 9. 9. 2. And also in Drunkenness is excess and Incontinence as to all natural uncleanness whatsoever When men are fed to the full they then too usually commit adultery and assemble themselves by troops in the Harlots houses They are as fed horses every one neighing after his neighbours wife Jer. 5. 7 8. This the Daughters of Lot knew and therefore they made their Father Drink Wine that thereby he might be provoked to that Incestuous evil Gen. 19. 31-38 And when the Holy Ghost warns the Sons of Wisdom to beware of Drunkenness he sets before them this as a motive to engage them to receive the admonition viz. That it will lead to uncleanness Therefore he saith Look not thou upon the Wine when it is red when it giveth its colour in the Cup when it moveth it self aright Thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things Prov. 23. 29-31-33 So the Apostle puts Rioting and Drunkenness before Chambering and Wantonness to signify that the former Lusts lead men and women unto and apts them for the latter Rom. 13. 13. And so Drunkenness and Revellings or excess of Wine and Revellings are joyned together In which Revellings they gave up themselves to and acted all uncleanness and filthiness and whereto they prepared the way and fitted themselves by their Drinking Wine or Strong Drink excessively Gal. 5. 21. 1 Pet. 4. 3. And surely so it too oft comes to pass that those persons who are unsober in their use of the good creatures of God do hereby so pamper the flesh as that such persons give up themselves to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness and many times such are so swallowed up of Strong Drink as that they are bereaved thereby of the understanding of a man and how then should they be in any capacity to avoid or abstain from any manner of filthiness though it be never so abominable to God loathsom to sober men and destructive to themselves and that not unto their Souls only but to their outward man also To the end therefore that we may flee Fornication and abstain from all filthiness of the flesh whether unnatural or natural which is so highly displeasing and provoking to God be we temperate in all things feed we our selves with fear and let us not surfeit on these perishing meats or drinks Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them Now the body is not for fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the body 1 Cor. 6. 13. And when we are at any time in such places as in which there are rich and sumptuous feasts and great abundance of Wine and Strong Drink and may partake thereof freely Oh! then especially let us put a Knife to our Throats if we be persons given to appetite Take we heed that we be not desirous of those dainties for they are deceitful meat But let us keep under our Bodies and Appetites and bring them into subjection and let us not in this sense suffer our mouths to cause our flesh to sin lest we thereby provoke God to be angry with us 1 Cor. 9. 25-27 Eccles 5. 6. And so much also to the motive and argument laid down by the Apostle to seal home his Dehortation Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess excessive spending our substance excess in wasting and mispending our precious time and all and all manner of incontinence and uncleanness 3. We come in the last place to consider and speak unto the Exhortation and Instruction which the Apostle gives to these Believers by way of opposition unto what he had dehorted them from and warned and admonished them of But be yo filled with the Spirit In speaking whereto we shall endeavour to consider and shew these following things Namely I. What is meant and intended by the Spirit here spoken of and with which they should be filled II. How or in what respects the Spirit answers unto though yet it infinitely exceedeth Wine III. What it is to be filled with the Spirit IV. Note some Instructions from this Exhortation of the Apostle I. What is meant and intended by the spirit here spoken of and with which they should be filled To that we say that by the spirit is not meant the Spirit of the World or any evil Spirit 1 Cor. 2. 12. Ephes 2. 2. which leads us to love the World and the things of this World of which we are admonished 1 Joh. 2. 15 16. Col. 3. 1 2. for the Spirit here is opposed to Wine which may in general signifie all the things here below in which men are in vain seeking comfort chearing
A CAVEAT Against Drunkenness Especially in EVIL TIMES BEING A Consideration of Eph. 5. 18. By C. P. The Crown of Pride the Drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower and as the hasty fruit before the Summer which when he that looketh upon it seeth it while it is yet in his hand he eats it up In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of Glory and for a Diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people Isa 28. 3-5 They that be drunken are drunken in the night But let us who are of the day be sober 1 Thes 5. 7 8. LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1676. To my Brethren and Companions in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory Grace and Peace be multiplied Beloved THe Grace of God that bringeth Salvation to all men hath appeared Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that we may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things Tit. 2 10-13 How this Doctrine according to Godliness is blasphemed and evil-spoken of by many persons we cannot be ignorant As if it were a Doctrine of Loosness and Licentiousness a Doctrine of Libertinism and Profaness as if it opened a Gap to all wickedness and impiety whatsoever And though men herein be-ly it yet certainly we shall give occasion to them that are of no judgment concerning the Faith thus to speak reproachfully of it if while we seek to be justified by Christ we our selves are found sinners and walk not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel Gal. 2. 14-18 And Wo to the world because of offences But wo especially to that man by whom the offence cometh Wherefore saith our Saviour If thy hand or thy foot offend thee or cause thee to offend cut them off and cast them from thee it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire Matth. 18. 7 8. You know in your hearts and in your souls that he that died for all therefore died for them that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves or the luses of men but unto the will of God even to him that died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. with 1 Pet. 4. 1-3 You know that the good creatures men abuse in their intemperance are the Lord's And that by Grace we are made partakers of them and have a comfortable enjoyment of them through the Sufferings Sacrifice and Mediation of Christ And that these things are not given us to consume upon our Lusts or prepare for Baal Shall ye then continue in sin because grace hath abounded or that it may abound God forbid He that knows his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes Luk. 12. 47 48. You know there is an eternal judgment in which we shall all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ That every one of us may receive according to the things done in his body whether good or bad For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Oh therefore knowing the terrour of the Lord abstain and flee from all intemperance whatsoever While Paul in declaring the faith in Christ reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgment to come Foelix trembled perceiving it would go hardly with intemperate and incontinent ones hereafter Act. 24. 24 25. And can we hear and think thereof and not tremble so as to depart from iniquity Surely then Felix hereafter shall rise up in the judgment with us and condemn us when Drunkards shall be excluded and shut out of the Kingdom of Christ and of God Nay by your own personal sinning you not only expose your selves to the Wrath of God both present and eternal But you cause many to stumble at the Law and Doctrine of Christ and teach and strengthen the wicked ones in their evil wayes and are guilty of the Blood of the Souls of others And what will you do in the end thereof How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation If you were entertainers of such ungodly Doctrines as are too generally received amongst zealous ones now in our dayes That the greatest part of men were reprobated before they were born and must necessarily perish for ever hereafter then your evil would not be so great concerning them for you would but help to destroy them that God would not have saved But for you to be instruments of evil and perdition to others who profess to believe that Christ died for all and rose again and that God would have all men to be saved How unsutably and contrary to your principles do you act while you lay stumbling-blocks in their way to cause them to fall and perish for whom you know Christ died Oh! As your hearts are purified in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto the unfeigned love of the Brethren and of all men see to it that ye love them with such a love as you are taught and principled unto of God Object 1. If any one should say we have such a trade employment or way of livelyhood to walk in and follow as that thereby we are necessitated sometimes to keep company and to drink more than otherwise we would do or else we had as good wholly leave off all and then we shall presently fail into poverty To such an one I would say 1. There is nothing said or however intended in any expression made use of to take men off from any lawful or laudable employment or way of living or from having fellowship with the men of the world in and about the affairs of this life in a lawful way For then as the Apostle saith ye must needs go out of the world 1 Cor. 5. 9 10. 2. But though we must have company with evil persons while we are here in this world at some times and may trade with evil workers yet by no means should we have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Eph. 5. 11. And if we cannot trade or converse with them unless we put forth our hand to iniquity it 's better to lose their custom than to grieve the good Spirit of God dishonour the Gospel and get a snare and wound to our Souls And be we confident that in first seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness all other things shall be added to us Oh Were we so filled with the Spirit as to live the life we live in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God who
he will come and bless them Exod. 20. 24. But shall the workers of Iniquity have fellowship with him no surely Psal 49. 20. and Psal 5. 4 5. 5. The way to testify love to thy Friend or brother is to withdraw from him in any thing that is evil and shew thy dislike thereof both in word and action and if thou so dost not thou art an hater and murderer of thy Brother however thou pretendest thy self to be a Friend and to shew friendship to him Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Or that thou bear not sin for him Levit. 19. 17. with 1 Joh. 3. 15. And therefore as the Lord said in former times concerning open Idolatry so we may in part of this Idolatry If thy Brother the Son of thy Mother or thy Son or thy Daughter or the Wife of thy bosom or thy Friend which is as thine own Soul entice thee secretly saying Let us go and serve other gods let us make our belly our god and serve it thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him Deut. 13. 6-8 with Philip. 3. 19. and Rom. 16. 18. Oh! Withdraw your selves from every Brother that walks disorderly and not after the Apostles tradition that they may be ashamed 2 Thes 3. 6 14. And rebuke such an one And though at present he takes it grievously yet he that rebuketh a man afterward shall find more favour than he that flatters with the tongue Prov. 28. 23. with Job 17. 5. Obj. 3. Another may say I may be born with a little for my Intemperance for I entertain such as declare the Gospel and lay out my self and spend my estate in receiving the Brethren and adventure all for the Gospel sake Answ 1. If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted and rewarded Who is there even among you that shut the doors for nought neither do ye kindle a fire on Gods altar for nought faith the Lord of hosts Mal. 1. 10. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence unto the end Heb. 6. 10 11. Answ 2. But this should be no plea in your hearts or mouths for your Intemperance and Prodigality But rather ye should be clean who in this sense bear the vessels of the Lord Isa 52. 11 or else by means of you the name of God will be blasphemed amongst the Gentiles And still your sin is the greater if you walk disorderly because by receiving the Brethren you have greater and more frequent advantage by their company conference and conversation to abstain and flee from all that is evil Oh! therefore defile not the house of God for If any man defile the temple of God him will God destroy 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. Answ 3. It is to be feared that you who are so forward to proclaim your own goodness in laying out your selves for the Gospel are more large in laying out and consuming upon your lusts what God is betrusting you with for the honouring of him his name and Gospel If you would but at the years end faithfully cast up what you have laid out for the gratifying your own or others lusts on the one hand and what you have expended towards the service of Christ and entertaining his messengers on the other and lay both in the balance the former may so greatly over-weigh the latter as that this is nothing in comparison of that And it may possibly too truly be said to you in this case as he said in another Is not the gleaning of the grapes of your prodigality and intemperance more and better than the Vintage of your liberality towards Christ and his Gospel and people Judg. 8. 2. 4. The more kind you have been toward his people the more kind should they be to you And in love to your Souls beg and be seech you that you would take heed lest at any time your heart be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness or the cares of this life Oh! refrain your feet from every crooked path and from bibbing and bibbers particularly that you lose not all your reward in conclusion And the Lord in mercy guide us all by his counsel and help us to be guided thereby that hereafter he may receive us to Glory So he desireth to pray who is Your most unworthy Friend and Brother Charles Phelpes Errata PAge 17 line 15 for them read men p. 21 l. 13 r. Drunkards p. 22 l. 14 r. excluded p. 23 l. 16 dele and put it in l. 17 after daily p. 25 l. 4 for is r. in p. 36 l. 7 r. Mal. 2. p. 48. l. 30 for Isa 45. r. Isa 59. p. 51 l. 14 r you may p. 52 l. 2 r. sottish children l. 16 r. joyning p. 58 l. 27 r. belong p. 61 l. 20 del first Comma l. 23 r. Nahum p. 63 l. 24 r. dehort p. 65. l. 14 for sensually r. sententially p. 70 l. 4 r Rom. 8 3. p. 79 l. 6 r. testified l. ll del first and. p. 93 l. 32 r. fulfilled his p. 94 l. 3 r. tasted p. 96 l. 29 for at r. as p. 106 l. 11 for own r. one As also in p. 121 l. 11. p. 140 l. 23 r. Sun l. 24 for Matth. r. Mal. p. 142 l. 18 r. might p. 144 l. 5 r. deprivations p. 148 l. 7 r. right l. 19 r. Drink p. 155 l. 20 dele it p. 156 for the first there r. they p. 158 l. 26 r. as are There are some other literal escapes and mispointings which the Reader is desired to correct as he finds them A CAVEAT Against DRUNKENNESS Ephes V. 18. And be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be filled with the spirit THese words are a further Admonition and Instruction which the Apostle gives to these Believers to whom he writes unto whom after his salutation of them chap. 1. v. 1 2 he had been magnifying the Apostles Office in chap. 1. v. 3-12 and blessing God for his great mercy to them in causing the Gospel to be preached to them and helping them to receive it so as it wrought effectually in them chap. 1. v. 13-15 Who sometimes were dead in sins and trespasses in a sad and miserable condition chap. 2. v. 1 2-5 11 12 and yet then Christ made peace for them and preached it to them and they were saved by Grace out of that sad condition and made fellow-Citizens with the Saints the Apostles Gospel being received by them not as the word of Men but as it is in truth the Word of God chap. 2. v. 13-22 minding them how that now the Mystery is opened and revealed as it was not in former times In which is contained That the Gentiles should have the unsearchable riches of Christ preached among
them and fellow-heirs in believing this Gospel which these Believers also were chap. 3. v. 1-13 And praying for them chap. 1. v. 16-23 and 3. 14-21 From these premises he beseecheth them to walk worthy of the Calling wherewith they were called chap. 4. v. 1 both in putting off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts not fashioning themselves according to the former lusts in their Ignorance not walking as other Gentiles in the vanity of their mind chap. 4 like to that 1 Pet. 1. 1-13 14 c. 1 Thes 4. 1-6 But putting on the New-man as Col. 3. 1-16 being followers of God and Christ chap. 4. v. 31 32 and 5. 1 2. Avoiding and Abstaining from those fleshly lusts that war against the Soul And having their Conversation honest amongst the Gentiles which know not God ch 5. v. 3-11 c. In which we may take notice of the order of the Apostle in writing to the believers namely how he minds them of the Gospel first of all as it is now preached according to the Revelation of the Mystery And so gives to them Commandments by the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1. and 2 and 3 and 4. 1 2. And amongst others he gives unto them this Commandment we have read and propounded to speak unto and as that which was needful to be received and obeyed to the end they might avoid other evils for surely this is the root of many other evils which here he admonisheth of and that exhortation here given is needful to our so walking more generally as to please God In which words we have to consider 1. A Dehortation or Admonition of the Apostle unto these Believers Be not drunk with Wine 2 An Argument or Motive to ingage them to receive it Wherein is excess 3. An Exhortation or Instruction But be ye filled with the Spirit 1. A Dehortation or Admonition of the Apostle to these Believers Be not drunk with Wine He saith not use no Wine for that we may do lawfully Every creature of God being good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving c. 1 Tim. 4. 1-5 and 5. 23 but abuse it not Be not Drunk with Wine In speaking to which words we shall first speak thereto briefly by way of Explication and then note some Instructions 1. By way of Explication let us inquire and consider 1. Of what Wine he here speaketh and what is intended hereby 2. What it is to be Drunk herewith and when a man may be said so to be 1. Of what Wine he here speaketh and what is intended hereby To this we may say the Wine here spoken of in general is such as is opposed to the Spirit in the latter part of the verse and so it is not here to be understood as it may and must be in some places to wit for Spiritual and Heavenly-drink So Wine is used at some times Cant. 2. 4. Isa 25. 6 and 55. 1 2 c. And this still further appears in what is added to this admonition viz. he speaks of such Wine as in which is excess which there cannot be in our receiving and drinking in Christ and the Spiritual things of and in him But now here by Wine is meant that which is Earthly And indeed it being opposed to the Spirit and said to be such as in which is excess it may be taken more generally for all things on the Earth in which we are seeking delight chearing and comfort But yet we shall look upon it in a more strict consideration and so speak of it to wit either as it signifies 1. Most strictly The fruit of Earthly Vines Gen. 9. 20 21. Mat. 26. 29. The blood of the Grape Gen. 49 11. 2. Or also as more largely it signifies Strong Drink of whatsoever or howsoever it be made As it seems there was Wine made of other Fruit beside Grapes in former times though also there are several sorts of Grapes and several sorts of Wine made thereof Nehem. 5. 18 as of Pomgranates Cant. 8. 2 and so there might be of Apples and Pears c. As strong liquors are made with us of these Fruits as Sider Perry c. and the Drink made hereof might be called Wine or however included in this word when it is mentioned alone unless the context necessarily confine it to Wine most properly so taken So when the Preacher sought in his heart to give himself to Wine c. to that end he planted him Vineyards and made him Gardens and Orchards and planted Trees in them of all kind of fruit whereof also Wine might be made Eccles 2. 3-5 And indeed all Strong Drink is included many times in this expression when mentioned alone So whereas the Nazarites in the Law were forbidden to drink Wine or Strong Drink or the Vinegar of Wine or of Strong Drink c. Num. 6. 3 4 all these are or may be included in this one word Wine in Amos 2. 12. Thus again when Eli mistakingly said to Hannah Put away thy Wine from thee She in her Answer supposes that under the word Wine Strong Drink generally might also be meant and comprehended for She answered and said No my Lord I have drunk neither Wine nor Strong drink 1 Sam. 1. 14 15. So when it is said of John the Baptist he came neither eating Bread nor drinking Wine without doubt under the word Wine is comprehended also all Strong Drink For it was Prophetically said of him He shall drink neither Wine nor strong Drink compare Luke 7. 33 with chap. 1. 15. And so it seems Wine and Strong Drink are indifferently used one for the other See Prov. 20. 1 and 31. 4 5 6. Isa 5. 11 22 and 56. 12 c. And so we shall here look upon it in this place and accordingly speak to it as including all Strong Drink whatsoever 3. Under this word Wine may also be included and comprehended Meat of desire or such food as wherewith men may be and are intemperate and excessive And so as Bread many times doth include all Food Mat. 6. 11 Joh. 6. 35. And so men may eat for Drunkenness Eccles 10. 17 so also Wine may comprehend all pleasant meat and drink in the use whereof men are intemperate Because Wine is said to make glad the heart and is usually the principal thing in intemperate ones desire So when the Lord speaks of his peoples abuse of his Corn and Wine and Oyl in Hos 2. 5 8 9 he thus describeth this Branch of their iniquity in chap. 3. v. 1 They love Flagons of Wine Comprehending all their former abuse of Gods mercies under their inordinate affection to Wine or Strong Drink Thus also when the Apostle Paul writing unto and directing Titus in the ordination of Elders and Bishops faith If any be balmeless not accused of riot he adds as the reason For a Bishop must be blameless not given to Wine c. Tit. 1. 6 7 where surely he gives
us to understand that the being given to Wine in verse 7 is as large as being guilty of Riot as that signifies intemperance in v. 6 whereas Riot signifies intemperance in Meat as well as in Drink as appears 1 Pet. 4. 3 4. And so being Drunken signifies being intemperate both in eating and Drinking and therefore it is opposed to Hungry 1 Cor. 11. 21. And this more large sense we may also speak to in what follows Though I principally intend to speak of Wine in the two first considerations mentioned or in the second in and under which the first is comprised And so much to the first Enquiry 2. What it is to be Drunk with Wine and when a man may be said so to be To this we say That to be Drunk with Wine of which we are here admonished and from which dehorted doth signify 1. More then Drinking Wine sparingly Though a man cannot be Drunk without drinking yet he may drink and not be Drunk we are not forbidden to use Wine as is before said but may drink a little lawfully if we have wherewith to buy it or it be given to us and that for our delight also Deut. 14. 25 26 Psal 104. 15 Luke 7. 34. And in some cases and for some persons it may be needful as in case of Infirmities and for the Stomacks sake as the Apostle saith to Timothy Drink no longer Water but use a little Wine for thy Stomacks sake and for thy oft infirmities 1 Tim. 5. 23. So again Give Strong Drink to him that is ready to perish and Wine to those that be bitter of Soul or heavy of heart Prov. 31. 6 7 2 Sam. 16. 2. But that of which we are admonished of is of the abuse of it 2. Nor are men by this dehortation forbidden a more liberal use of Wine at some times and upon some special and extraordinary occasions when they may have it lawfully without abusing themselves or others or the good Creatures of God Thus it is recorded of Joseph and his Brethren that they drank and they drank largely together Gen. 43. 34. And at a Marriage where Christ was and his Disciples when they had well drank he by a Miracle turned Water into Wine of which best Wine they also drank Joh. 2. 1-10 But both were extraordinary occasions the former in expression of Josephs joy for the company of his Brethren and especially of his Brother Benjamin and to testify love to them and to shew them his honour and greatness God had advanced him to The latter that Christ the truth of Joseph might shew forth his Glory by this Miracle and his Disciples be confirmed in their Faith in him and others also might be drawn in to believe on him seeing this great and miraculous work of his Joh. 2. 11 23-25 and so not to be ordinarily practised by men 3. But the Drunkenness here admonished of and dehorted from is when persons are filled with Wine as appears by the expression in the latter part of the verse and drink to excess Isa 56. 12. And so they may be said to be Drunk who are overcome with Wine as the Prophet saith I am like a drunken man and like a man whom Wine hath overcome because of the Lord and because of the words of his holiness Jer. 23. 9. So the Prophet speaking of the Drunkards of Ephraim saith They are such as are overcome with Wine Isa 28. 1. And Of whom or of what a man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage 2 Pet. 2. 19 Or when men are deceived therewith Prov. 20. 1 or turned aside out of the right way thereby as it is said of the Drunkards of Ehpraim They have erred through Wine and through Strong Drink are out of the way the Priest and the Prophet have erred through Strong Drink they are out of the way through String Drink c. Isa 28. 7. And so particularly we may say there are degrees in this Drunkenness and of all we are admonished As 1. Some persons are said to be very drunken as it said of Nabal 1 Sam. 25. 36 and so drunken as that they fall not being able to go through much Drink and together herewith usually or often-times they spue and vomit Jer. 25. 27 thus it is said of the Drunkards of Ephraim All Tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there is no place clean Isa 28. 7 8 and 19. 14 Jer. 48. 26. Or make themselves naked and discover their nakedness even that of their Fore-skin also to their shame Gen. 9. 21-23 Lam. 4. 21 Habbak 2. 15 16 and so are wholly bereft of their understanding Gen. 9. 24 and 19. 31-35 When men are so overcome they are as or worse than bruit beasts And all will acknowledg such are guilty of this bruitish and heathenish Iniquity 2. Or men may be said to be Drunk when they are not so far overcome with Wine or Strong Drink as the former and yet are distempered therewith and behave themselves after an unusual manner by reason thereof As when persons though they can go and have not drunk so much or Drink hath not prevailed so far upon them as to fall and wallow in their filth as the Dog in his vomit or Swine in the mire yet they cannot go steddily but reel to and fro and staggar through Strong Drink which are evidences of Drunkenness also as the Scripture declareth to us so it is said They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man Psal 107. 27 Isa 24. 20 Job 12. 25. As a drunken man staggerth Isa 19. 14 and 29. 9. Or when men shout or make an unusual noise by reason of Wine Psal 78. 65 Zechar. 9. 15 or by reason of Strong Drink are ready to quarrel with and offer wrong to others that are about them 1 Tim. 3. 3 or otherwise by the strength of Wine or Strong Drink do behave themselves strangely or alter an unaccustomed manner as by excessive Mirth Laughter Talking being heavy to Sleep c. 1 Sam. 1. 13 14 Isa 56. 10-12 3. Yea they are guilty of this iniquity also who drink till Wine inflame them though outwardly they may behave themselves well enough and may not be discerned by others to be overcome with Wine and who consume upon their Lusts and devour what is given to them to another end even to live in the use and enjoyment thereof to the will of God for some men may devour and bear much more Strong Drink than others and not be taken notice of So men are said to do that for Drunkenness which is not done for strength Eccles 10. 17. And a Wo is pronounced upon them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow Strong Drink that continue until night till Wine inflame or pursue them And Wo to them that are mighty to drink Wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink Isa 5. 11 12 22 and so men may be guilty of this iniquity
awake out of Sleep for now all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light Rom. 13. 11-14 with Eph. 5. 13-18 They that sleep sleep in the night and they that are drunken are drunken in the night But let us who are of the day be sober For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him 1 Thes 5. 4-8-10 The grace of God which bringeth Salvation to all men hath appeared Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly c. Tit. 2. 10-12 The true light now shineth love not the world neither the things that are in the world not the lust of the flesh c. 1 Joh. 2. 8 15 16. At the times of mens ignorance God winketh at them Act. 17. 30. But now mens sins will be greatly aggravated if they count it a pleasure to riot in the day time 2 Pet. 2. 13. Surely it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrha than for such as now walk on in preferring darkness before light 2. In the Gospel of Christ the holy Spirit is discovering to us infinitely better things prepared for us in Christ than any of those things in the abuse whereof we are vainly seeking comfort and contentment to our Souls Therein is discovered to us that by means of the precious blood of Christ all things are now actually prepared and made ready for us The holy Spirit is lifting up Christ as an object in whom there are all spiritual blessings in heavenly things provided for mankind A feast of fat things for all people of Wines on the Lees c. That we might look unto him and be saved from our sins and from the vanity of our conversations Luk. 14. 17. Gen. 22. 18. Eph. 1. 3. Isa 25. 6. and 45. 22. 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. And that we might labour for and seek after not that meat which perisheth but this which indureth unto everlasting life which the son of man will give unto us Joh. 6. 27-35 And in hearkening diligently unto and coming to him we may eat that which is good and our souls may delight themselves in fatness Isa 55 1-3 we may rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory in the worst of days and times 1 Pet. 1. 6-8 Alas men do propose a great deal of satisfaction and contentment to themselves in the abuse of God's mercies they think that is the way for them to lead merry and comfortable lives and to spend their days in gladness and jollity that this is the way to be delivered from all melancholly and evil and afflictive sadness And especially in evil times in days of affliction and mourning they suppose the only way then to drive away sorrow from their hearts is to pour in Wine and strong Drink till Wine inflame them when as in such a time the Lord is then calling to weeping and to mourning And therefore sorrow is better then laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth Eccles 7. 1-5-14 And besides men do but deceive themselves in promising to themselves any solid or durable joy and comfort from their excessive partaking of Wine and strong Drink or eating any dainty and delicious food to excess for this is but deceitful meat Prov. 23. 1-3 Many times hereby men make themselves sick and so increase and heap up sadness to themselves and add grief to their former sorrow Hos 7. 5 they distemper and bring diseases upon their bodies waste their substance lose their good names amongst sober people wound their consciences such shall not find quietness in their belly or spirit for there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Job 20. 20. Isa 57. 21. And therefore such persons do but deceive themselves and are deceived by Wine for Wine is a mocker strong Drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Prov. 20. 1. The holy Ghost saith not who hath a merry heart and cheerful spirit who hath solid and substantial joy and gladness But who hath wo who hath sorrow who hath contentions who hath wounds without a cause c They that tarry long at the Wine they that go to seek mixt Wine And though while they are drinking and in their Cups they may outwardly laugh and be merry yet such laughter is but the laughter of fools which is like the crackling of thorns under a Pot which though they make a great blaze and noise for the present yet they are out in a moment And the end of such mirth is sorrow yea an heap of grief For at last this Wine wherewith they so abuse and distemper themselves will bite like a Serpent and sting like an Adder this they shall receive from God's hand they shall lye down in sorrow Prov. 23. 29-32 Isa 50. 10 11. For God giveth to the Sinner to him that wanders out of the way of understanding travel and grief Eccles 2. 26. But now in Jesus Christ God hath prepared for us and in the Gospel the holy Spirit is discovering to us that which is proper to comfort and rejoyce the hearts of all that mourn here is a Cup of consolation which being Drunk in by us will comfort us in all our tribulations and sadnesses and make the heart truly and lastingly yea everlastingly merry And though all the days of the afflicted are evil yet he that hath a merry heart hath a continual feast Prov. 15. 14 15 such an one is filled with joy and peace in believing and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy Rom. 15. 13. Prov. 14. 10. And though in evil days outward occasions of sorrow are presented and administred to him and his belly trembles his lips quiver and rottenness enters into his bones And all seen comforts and delight are removed and taken away Although the figtree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines and so the Drunkards weep and Drinkers of Wine and strong Drink howl Joel 1. 5. yet they may and shall rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God of their salvation Habbak 3. 16-18 Cant. 1. 2-4 When God's judgments are so in the earth as that the new Wine mourneth the vine languisheth all the merry-hearted do sigh the mirth of tabrets ceaseth the noise of them that rejoyce endeth the joy of the harp ceaseth they shall not drink Wine with a song strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people even then the righteous who are seeking the Lord and seeking his face and his strength such as have their dwelling in Heaven they shall lift up their voice they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord c.
heart merry though heaviness be occasioned to the outward man by the temptations and trials man here meet with Joh. 14. 16. 26. and 16. 7. And he is the Comforter in bearing witness of Christ of his sufferings and the glory which therethrough he hath received Joh. 15. 26. And indeed this Comforter doth glad at the heart those that drink in of his Cup of Consolation in shewing unto them the great abasement of Christ who by the grace of God tasted death for every man and is raised again for their justification and hath offered up himself a spotless Sacrifice unto God through this Eternal Spirit and so hath made peace for us by the Blood of his Cross purged away the guilt of our first sin and sinsuluess so as that it is no longer retained in Heaven against us abolished our first death and destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil taken out of the way all contrary to us c. And the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus doth make them free from the Law of Sin and Death that walk after it Rom. 8. 1-3 As well as also it shews unto us that our loss is recovered and all fulness treasured up in Christ that we might be brought back to God That by his own Sacrifice once offered he hath obtained plenteous Redemption even the forgiveness of sins for ever whereof the Holy Ghost is a witness to us and that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son Heb. 10. 10-15-18 1 Joh. 5. 6-11 That in him all things are ready and prepared for us even all things pertaining to life and Godliness That in him there is a feast of fat things prepared for all people of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily and in him is all compleatness for us And the Spirit and the Bride say come Isa 25. 6. Col. 2. 9 10. Rev. 22. 16 17. Oh! what joy hath this found of the Spirit caused to those amongst whom it hath been sounded Act. 8. 5-8 and how hath their hearts been comforted and helped to rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory who have received and been made to drink into this one Spirit And Blessed are the people that know this joyful sound In thy name they shall rejoyce all the day-long Psal 89. 15 16. Indeed the natural Wine exceedingly falls short of this herein though that be proper to comfort and chear the natural Spirit of a man yet the Soul in a Spiritual consideration may be overwhelmed with sorrow and sadness mean time But this Spirit will fill the heart with solid and durable joy and the heart of such as drink it in shall rejoyce and their joy no man taketh from them Joh. 16. 22. with chap. 14. 16-18 And though the believing Thessalonians received Christs Gospel in much affliction yet also they received it with joy of the Holy Spirit 1 Thes 1. 6. And though now the dayes were evil in which the Apostle writes to these Ephesians sinful dayes and dayes of affliction both which cause sorrow yet now he gives this exhortation and instruction to them Be ye filled with the Spirit and signifies in what follows that this would apt and dispose them to Sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord Eph. 5. 18 19. Oh! this is Wine indeed that will make the heart truly solidly and everlastingly merry and chearful and comfort it with everlasting consolations and good hope through Grace well therefore may it be likened to Wine 5. Wine is that which is proper to deliver the natural Spirit of a man from his fears and timerousness and to make one bold courageous against ones enemies and notwithstanding any cause or occasion of fear Hence we have such expressions used Like a mighty man that shouts by reason of Wine And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts he put them to a perpetual reproach Psal 78. 65 66. They shall devour and subdue with sling-stones and they shall drink and make a noise as through wine Zech. 9. 15. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man and their hearts shall rejoyce as through Wine chap. 10. 5-7 And so it is an usual thing now in our dayes that men may be delivered from fears to drink Wine or Strong Drink And indeed the Spirit is Wine in an eminent consideration in this respect namely it is that which doth strengthen against and deliver from fears those that drink it in For God hath not given us the Spirit of fear or cowardize but of power of love and of a sound mind Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God 2 Tim. 1. 7 8. Rom. 8. 15. And whose hearkeneth unto Christ the Wisdom of God receives and entertains his Gospel and turns at his reproofs To such an one he will pour out his Spirit and make known his words And he shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear of evil Prov. 1. 20 21-23 33. Hence as the Lord saith to his people in former times My Spirit remaineth among you fear ye not Hag. 2. 5. So when he sent his Apostles to preach the Gospel in all the world he first tells them they should be indued with power after the Holy Spirit was come upon them and then should be his witnesses being thus strenghened and imboldened as well as fitted and furnished Act. 1. 8. Truly we may say This Holy Spirit in glorifying Christ and shewing unto us that he is indeed the Saviour of the world In bearing witness of that plenteousness of redemption and everlasting righteousness that is in him and the love of God manifested in Christ and that he is Love and Charity it self hereby casteth out all fear all fear that hath torment out of the hearty Believer hereof as with respect to God and saves them from his wrath and from the fears thereof And such receive not the Spirit of bondage to fear but the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of child-like boldness and confidence to approach through Christ by this Spirit unto the Father and so unto the Throne of Grace and to cry Abba Father 1 Joh. 4. 14-18 19. Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 4-6 Eph. 2. 18. Psal 49. 5. And by this Holy Spirit we may be delivered from the fears of death and though we walk in the midst of the valley of it yet to fear none evil because in the Light and by the Testimony of the Spirit we may see that Christ hath abolished it and destroyed him that had the power of it that is the Devil And will in due time destroy it utterly even this first death Heb. 2. 14 15. Psal 23. 4. 2 Tim. 1. 7-10 And in drinking in and walking after this Spirit we shall
have boldness in every day of judgment and both be delivered from the fear of our enemies and be made courageous against them and wax valiant in fight Hence the Apostle faith concerning himself and such as in whom this Spirit dwelleth and abideth Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or Sword Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us 1 Joh. 4. 14-17 18 19. Rom. 8. 1-37 Herethrough they were strengthned with strength in their Souls strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man and the word of God abiding in them they were strong and helped to do valiantly even to overcome the wicked one and not to fear what Men or Devils could do unto them Eph. 3. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 14. and 5. 4 5. Those that drink in of this good Spirit are of God and shall overcome all their opposers because greater is he that is in them than he that is in the world And they shall be valiant and victorious Not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts Zech. 4. 6. And as in former times it was said The Spirit of the Lord came upon such and such a man And he went out and prevailed against his enemies Judg. 3. 10. and 6. 34. and II. 29-33 and 14 19 Even so still by this Spirit of the Lord we may be delivered from all our fears of amazement and be made bold and courageous like Lions to resist and put to slight all our Spiritual enemies Hence when the Apostle tells the believers That they wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places or things he directs them to take unto themselves the whole armour of God and particularly the sword of the spirit which is the word of God whereby we may overcome the wicked one and all his instruments and temptations Eph. 6. 10-12-17 Rev. 12. 11. And so this spiritual wine is proper and powerful to deliver us from the fear of man which brings a snare and causes men to comply and have fellowship with them in their Drunkenness and intemperance and in other unfruitful works of darkness lest they should incur their displeasure or lose their favour and friendship And to strengthen us to resist unto blood striving against sin And in walking in this Spirit we shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh either for fear of the loss of mens favour or for fear of their evil will or punishment but shall be strengthened to resist and overcome the world there-through 6. Wine is good to be used for those who are infirm and for their stomack sake to strengthen them and help them to digest And it begets and preserves in them an appetite to their food that they may thereby be fitted for any work or business As the Apostle signifies when he saith to Timothy Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomacks sake and thine oft infirmities 1 Tim. 5. 23. So it is as with respect to this heavenly and spiritual Wine in drinking in thereof and being filled therewith this will still beget in us an earnest desire and appetite unto wisdom's provision It will indeed as before we have said take off our hearts and desires from thristing after the Devils cup For we cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils 1 Cor. 10. 21. But yet if we have tasted the graciousness of the Lord by this Spirit it will cause us still to come unto him and drink And to desire as new-born babes the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby that we may grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 2-4 And 2 Pet. 3. 18 And even as the hart pants after the water brooks so with our Souls to pant after and thirst for God the living God even Jesus Christ and God in him which is the true God and eternal life Psal 42. 1-3 and 63. 1-8 To hunger and thirst after righteousness after Jesus Christ who is Jehovah our Righteousness that we may win him and be found in him not having our own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ even the righteousness which is of God by faith And that we might be changed into his Image and be framed to a likeness of mind and demeanour after the example of our Lord Jesus Matth. 5. 6. Phil. 3. 7 8-10 Thus it was with Christs Spouse while she sate down under the shadow of that blessed Apple-tree and his fruit was sweet to her taste and he brought her into the banquetting-house into the house of Wine caused her to drink in of his Spirit or ever she was aware she was so filled with spiritual desire after and earnest appetite unto this heavenly food that she cryes out Stay me with flaggons vessels of small quantity or small draughts would not now suffice or content her But in drinking in of this Spirit before she had such a good stomach that she now cries out and calls for flaggons for a more abundant participation of this Spirit And comfort me with apples for saith she I am sick of love She was even restless and unsatisfied in her desires that she might more eat of this living bread even the flesh of Christ that was given for the life of the World and drink in of his blood as knowlng this was most sweet and desirable and would nourish her Soul and preserve it in life even to the enjoyment of everlasting life Cant. 2. 3-5 and 5. 8-16 and 6. 1. They that know and have tasted of this gift of God will still and more abundantiy ask and desire after it that their Souls may delight themselves in that excellent feast which is prepared for men in Christ and be satisfied therewith as with marrow and fatness Joh. 4. 10. Psal 63. 1-5-8 And this Spirit being drunk in by them will cause their Souls to digest the food the Spiritual food which they eat so as their Souls may prosper and be like unto watered Gardens and like Springs of water whose waters fail not that they may flourish in the Courts of our God and bring forth fruit in old age and be fat and green To shew that the Lord is upright And there is no unrighteousness in him Psal 92. 12-14 That they may spring up as among the grass as willows by the water courses And may be trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord Filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God that he in all things may be glorified by them through Jesus Christ our Lord Isa 44. 3 4. and chap 61. 1-3 Phil. I. II. 7. Wine being drunk in
only 1 Joh. 4. 13 14 15. Act. 5. 29-32 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgment The Law of his God even the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is in his heart Psal 37. 30 31. with Rom. 8. 2. This Holy Spirit doth open Wisdoms words to those that turn at her reproofs so as they may speak with understanding to others and is like Wine within them that receive and drink it in to constrain them to speak what they have seen and heard Prov. 1. 23. Act. 4. 19 20. And they who are filled with it are full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of might to declare unto others their transgressions and sins as they have instruction opportunity and capacity Micah 3. 7 8. In such like respects this Holy Spirit doth answer unto and yet infinitely exceed all Wine whatsoever and is therefore compared thereunto But we shall add no more to this second thing but now we come to speak unto the third Namely III. What it is to be filled with the Spirit And surely that is more and a further business than to receive this blessed Spirit which these had done and all Believers do in receiving the hearing or report of faith Gal. 3. 2. For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his viz. in a peculiar consideration Rom. 8. 9 which surely these Believers were as doth plentifully appear in the former part of the Epistle Yea and after they Believed they were Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of the Apostles inheritance They had this holy Spirit in a first fruits and as a a first fruits of the harvest and as a pledg and assurance that in abiding in Christ they should in due time gloriously injoy that inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and which fadeth not away reserved in the heavens for them who are kept by the power of God through faith unto the salvation ready to be revealed in these last dayes Eph. 1. 13 14. with 1 Pet. 1. 3-5 By this Spirit they were Sealed and marked out unto the day of redemption Eph. 4. 30. with Exod. 12. 23. They were built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone In whom they were builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit and so they were brought and Baptized into the unity of the Spirit Eph. 2. 17-22 and 4. 2 3 4. And yet still as a further business or as to a further degree he exhorts them Be ye filled for a man may be and so might they be somewhat filled or in some measure filled therewith as Rom. 15. 24 and yet the Apostle might exhort them to be filled therewith in a greater measure or to an higher degree to be exceedingly filled as Psal 123. 3 4. But before we speak more particularly hereto we may say this Phrase of being filled with the Spirit or Holy Ghost is used in a double sense in the Scripture That is to say 1. Sometimes it means a being filled therewith after an extraordinary manner so as to be enabled thereby or furnished therewith unto extraordinary things as in former times he so filled Bezaleel and Aholiab c. for making the Priests garments the Tabernacle c. Exod. 28. 3 4. and 31. 3. and 35. 31-35 So others were filled with the Holy Spirit to enable them to Prophesy and foretel things to come Luk. 1. 41 67. And after the Ascension of Christ some were filled with the Holy Ghost and spake with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance And wrought many signs and wonders amongst the people c. Act. 2. 4. and 4. 30 31. and 6. 5 8. But now in this sense the Apostle here intends it not For he doth suppose that all these Believers might be filled in some sense with the Spirit and that shews he intends it not after an extraordinary manner as well as also so much is signified by the manner of expression in that he gives us to understand somewhat was required of them hereto and therefore exhorts them Be ye filled 2. But we are here to understand it as all hearty and unfeigned Believers may be filled with it as Sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ Gal. 4. 6. And so indeed the being filled herewith is somewhat which though opposed to yet doth answer unto being Drunken in the former part of the verse as being full of or filled with Wine and Drunken are used indifferently the one for the other as before we have said and as may be seen Act. 2. 13-15 Now as Wine may be in a man and yet a man may not be Drunken so the Spirit may be in a Believer and yet he not filled therewith as here exhorted to But as a man is said to be Drunken or filled with Wine when he is in Wine or Strong Drink so a man may be said to be filled with the Spirit when he is in the Spirit I mean not extraordinarily Rev. 1. 10. and 4. 1 2. but as all Believers may be As the Apostle saith Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you Rom. 8. 9 10. And indeed then a man may be said to be filled with it when the word of Christ and Spirit therein dwell richly plenteously and abundantly in him in the full of the Testimony of Jesus Christ as is expressed in another place which is like unto this Col. 3. 16. And so we may say a little particularly As a man when he is Drunken is said to be overcome with Wine Isa 28. 1. Jer. 23. 9 10. So a man is then said to be filled with the Spirit when he is overcome therewith and led and ordered thereby in all things as the Apostle saith As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God not only so as to their state but as to their excercise and demeanour also and not only is the Spirit in such an one but also he is in the Spirit Rom. 8. 14. with vers 9. as it is said of Christ He being full of the Holy Spirit was led by the Spirit c. Luk. 4. 1. Now the work of this Holy Spirit is to lead us out of our selves out of our own wisdom wills designs affections and enterprizes into Jesus Christ for all Unto him for all wisdom that we may be made wise unto salvation For in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg 1 Cor. 1. 23 24. and 22. Col. 2. 3. Unto him for all righteousness for all forgiveness of our sins and acceptation in this beloved one putting him on by faith a a robe of righteousness to appear before God in in whom is everlasting righteousness Isa 45. 24 and who is Jehovah our righteousness Jer. 23. 6 unto him as our holiness that we may be washed and
sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. Joh. 13. 8 Unto him as our redemption to free us and set us at liberty in our minds from all bondage and thraldom whatsoever whether to sin death Satan an evil conscience Law world or whatever we are naturally inslaved withal Joh. 8. 31 32 36. Rom. 8. 1 2 3. Gal. 5. 1 13. 1 Cor. 1. 29-31 The work of this Holy Spirit is to lift up and glorify Jesus Christ that we may run unto him continually as to that good and only foundation of faith and hope Isa 28. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 4-7 As to the fountain of light and teaching who is the light of the world the Son of righteousness Joh. 8. 12. Matth. 4. 2. To him as the matter of our feeding who is the living bread and the bread that he giveth is his flesh which he hath given for the life of the world Joh. 6. 35. 51-58 So as to have our life in him and he to be our life the life of our Souls and Spirits to be our self as it were Gal. 2. 20. Colos 3. 3 4. And they are in some measure filled with this Spirit who are not led by themselves as men but led and guided by this heavenly Wine so as they suffer the loss of all things and go on to count them as dung that they may gain Christ and be found in him that Christ may be all unto them as the life of their Spirits Philip. 3. 7-9 When they are overcome of this Spirit and subdued and conquered by it to be under its regiment and government and being brought out of themselves are translated and removed into Jesus Christ who is the beginning of the creation of God And so live in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25 and are new Creatures 2 Cor. 5 14 17. Eph. 2. 10. and helped to reckon themselves in and after Jesus Christ Rom. 6. 3-11 Col. 2. 12. And then men may be said to be Filled with the Spirit when they grow up into the knowledg of Christ in all things so as that He in the full of the Testimony is formed in them Gal. 4. 19. And they are filled with the knowledg of Gods will in all wisdom and Spiritual understanding Col. 1. 10. And have through the knowledg of Christ in the Gospel a right judgment concerning all things effected in them He that is Spiritual judgeth discerneth all things yet he himself is judged discerned of no man 1 Cor. 2. 13-15 16. and chap. 3. 1 2. For this the Apostle prayes for these Ephesian Believers that the God of our Lord Jesus the Father of Glory would give unto them the spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of Christ the eyes of their understandings being enlightned that they might know what is the hope of his calling c. This he prayed for them who were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise after they believed Eph. 1. 13-17 18-23 and 4. 30. And when as the consequent of the former the Believers are established in the faith and rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ standing fastly and firmly in him For this the Apostle also prays for these Believers That God would grant them according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ migh dwell in their hearts by faith That they being rooted and grounded in love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg That so they might be filled whth all the fulness of God Eph. 3. 16 17-19 And unto this the Apostle exhorts the believing Colossions that they would walk in Christ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as they had been taught c. Colos 2. 6 7. And when also with the former they are filled with joy and spiritual mirth and have a merry heart effected in them rejoycing in Christ Jesus rejoycing with joy unspeakable and full of glory and having no confidence in the flesh rejoycing in Christ in his Cross and what he hath thereby done for us and obtained into himself and is become and is and in what he is now doing both from Heaven in the name of the Father and in the anointing of the Holy Spirit to us and in Heaven with the father for us and what he will do hereafter As a man when he is in Wine his heart is made merry and chearful therewith he remembers not his former or present poverty affliction and misery but he sings and rejoyces So also it is here in a spiritual consideration This Heavenly Wine being largely drunk in by us will cause our hearts to rejoyce as through Wine even to rejoyce in the Lord Zech. 10. 7. So here the Apostle exhorts these Believers Be ye filled with the spirit singing and making melody in your hearts c. Eph. 5. 18 19 Giving thanks alwayes for all things not only at some times and for such things as our natural spirit is desiring and pleased withall but for those things which seem to be grievous unto us also unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ vers 20. In being filled with this Spirit they are filled with joy and peace with joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. and 15. 13. And whatever occasions of sorrow and sadness they have as with respect to the temptations trials and troubles which they here meet with and depravations which are ordered to them Though their belly trembles and lips quiver and rottentess enters into their bones c. Yet they rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God of their salvation and even glorify him in the fires Habbak 3. 16-19 Isa 24. 7-14 15 1 Pet. 1. 6-8 Psal 89. 15. 16. Prov. 15. 15. And then they may be said to be Filled with the Spirit when they walk in Christ Jesus as they have received him and through this blessed Spirit crucify continually the lusts and affections of the Flesh Mortify their members which are upon the earth then are they led by this holy Spirit as the Apostle signifies when he saith If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live For as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the Sons of God intimating to us that such as these are in and led by the Spirit Rom. 8. 7-9 13 14. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Gal. 5. 16 17. If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit let us not be desirous of vain-glory provoking one another envying one another vers 24 25 26. To this the Apostle exhorts these Believers That they put off as concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts To put away lying To be angry
seen and said before The Gospel of Christ and Spirit therein may be received by men and the Spirit in the Testimony may be in them though yet they are not in it not so overcome led enlightned established and framed thereby to the mind of Christ as might be desired and ought to be endeavoured And Christ will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax or dimly-burning week but nourish and cherish every little spark Be we more like-minded after the example of our Lord Jesus Christ that we may not despise the day of small things nor discourage but support the weak Zech. 4. 10. 1 Thes 5. 14. 4. It may exhort and provoke us all to come unto Christ and drink and drink in abandantly of the Wine which is in him for us That we may grow thereby and increase with the increase of God Joh. 7. 37-39 He that cometh unto him continually shall never thirst but his Soul shall be abundantly satisfied and his faith shall grow exceedingly and his charity towards all men and especially towards the Brotherhood shall abound But to this we shall have occasion to speak afterwards II. A second Instruction we may note from these words is That the Believers cannot fill themselves with the Spirit they have no sufficiency hereto of themselves as of themselves Therefore he saith not fill your selves but Be ye filled with the Spirit They have not the fountain of Spirit in themselves The Spirit is not put upon them for themselves but it is given unto and resteth upon Jesus Christ Isa 11. 1-3 and is put upon him that he might dispence thereof unto us This was he saith the Baptist of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me And of his fulness have all we Prophets and holy ones received and grace for grace Joh. 1. 15 16. In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily And in him ye are compleat Col. 1. 19. and 2. 3 9 10. God hath not given the Spirit by measure unto him but hath immeasurably filled him therewith And to that end he hath so done that he might pour forth thereof to us according to our needs and capacities Joh. 3. 34 35. Isa 42. 1. Upon this stone this precious corner-stone and sure foundation this Stone which the builders disallowed and which is now become the head of the corner are the seven eyes even the seven spirits of God which are sent forth into all the earth Zech. 3. 8 9. and 4. 10. with Rev. 5. 6. Indeed in us that is in our flesh in us as of us we have no good thing dwelling we have all sinned and are come short of the Glory of God But our Lord Jesus hath restored that which he lost not and recovered by his Blood and is possessed of all fulness for us being glorified with the Father 's own self with the glory which he had with him besore the world was Joh. 17. 4 5. He hath the seven spirits of God Rev. 3. 1. And from him the Apostles received the Holy Spirit And unto every one of us it is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ Eph. 4. 7-10 And this Instruction might be of usefulness unto us all 1. To hide Pride from us and preserve or deliver us from boasting of or glorying in our selves for wherein are we to be accounted of Isa 2. 22. Who maketh thee to differ And what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it 1 Cor. 4. 7. The blessing of Abraham is in Christ for us Gentiles that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith Gal. 3. 13 14. To him are we beholding for all and none can fill themselves with this Holy Spirit out of their own store For we are poor empty creatures destitute of all spiritual good Job 11. 12. We cannot furnish or fill our selves with this blessed Wine but need continually to be supplied therewith from Jesus Christ Philip. 1. 19. Where is boasting then it is excluded We neither have this good Spirit of our selves nor can we purchase it by any price of ours that we can give to God But it is the gift the free gift of our Lord Jesus Christ and of God in and through him Act. 5. 32. and 8. 20. 1 Joh. 3. 24. 2. This may also warn and admonish us to take heed heed that we sin not against Christ Oh! let us all beware of him and not provoke him but obey his voice lest he withhold or withdraw his good Spirit from us for his it is primarily properly and fully So he saith to the Angel of the Church in Sardis These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God Remember how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come upon thee as a thief c. I will take away mine Holy Spirit from thee which I have given unto thee and which thou hast so much and so often grieved and sadned Rev. 3. 1-3 Psal 51. 11. And if he take it away from us no man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit Eccles 8. 8 nor can we fill our selves therewith by any wisdom strength or works of righteousness of ours It is not received nor can we fill our selves therewith by any works of the Law Gal. 3. 2. Oh then let us take heed and beware that we sin not against Jesus Christ But let us Kiss the Son and be ruled and ordered by him lest he be angry and we perish from the way Psal 2. 12. III. We may also note from this Exhortation in that he saith Be ye filled with the Spirit That God is so giving his Holy Spirit to them that obey him that they might be filled therewith Act. 5. 32. He is not like unto them that say Be ye warmed and filled and yet give them not needful things Jam. 2. 16. He saith not Be ye filled with the Spirit and yet withholds it from them or gives it not unto them so as they might obey his exhortation But He gives liberally to all men and upbraids not Jam. 1. 5. He who loveth a chearful giver is himself a chearful and liberal giver and dispenser of his Holy Spirit to them that believe in him Joh. 7. 37-39 He will pour out his Spirit unto such as hearken to him and receive his Gospel and make known his words unto them as he hath promised both to the Jews and Gentiles Prov. 1. 20-23 Act. 2. 38 39 his readiness to dispence his Spirit is manifested and evidenced to us in that he hath at so dear a rate prepared it for us and caused it to rest upon his Son to that end that it might be made communicable and be poured forth unto us he hath killed his killing He hath not spared his own Son but delivered him up for
lasciviousness an evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness All these evil things come from within and defile the man saith our Saviour to his Disciples Mark 7. 17-20 21-23 Therefore because of their great carnality and natural inclination and propensity to all evil they need to be admonished of and dehorted from all evil and particularly from Drunkenness 2. They have also enemies without them who are tempting them to what is evil and particularly to this iniquity here warned of even to this of intemperance Namely Satan the god of this world who is eminently and emphatically called The Tempter Matth. 4. 1-3 1 Thes 3. 5. And he is endeavouring by all means to tempt and entice them to all that is evil especially the Believers that he might turn them aside to crooked paths 1 Thes 3. 1-5 1 Joh. 3. 8. He is their great enemy and only adversary who are seeking after and serving the Lord and is therefore using all wayes and methods to entice them to evil and tempt them to do his Lusts Joh. 8. 44. And as at first he deceived and destroyed our first Parents by causing them to eat the forbidden Fruit Gen. 3 so still he endeavours to corrupt and destroy men by causing them to transgress in Eating and Drinking contrary to Gods Command Matth. 4. 4 5 He tempts men to Insobriety and Intemperance Hence the Apostle Peter saith Be Sober be vigilant Because the Devil your adversary as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the faith 1 Pet. 5. 8 9. And the men of the World who lye in wickedness and under the power of the Wicked-one 1 Joh. 5. 19 they are promoting and carrying an-end Satans design in the World and endeavouring to turn the Believers out of the right way Hence the Wisdom of God counselleth My Son if Sinners entice thee consent thou not Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Prov. 1. 10-15 They will both by their evil counsel in words and by their practice also entice the Believers to have fellowship with them in their unfruitful works of darkness Eph. 5. 11 and think it strange if they will not run with them to the same excess of Riot speaking evil of them And therefore also they need to be admonished of Intemperance and exhorted to be sober and watch unto Prayer 1 Pet. 4. 3 4-7 Yea and some and too many there are of the Leaders of the people who endeavour to cause others to err even to err through Wine such there are who walking in the Spirit the evil one and Falshood do lye Prophesying unto them of Wine and Strong Drink Micah 2. 11 Come ye say they I will fetch Wine they can debase themselves to Hell in the service of their Lusts and we will fill our selves with Strong Drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant Isa 56. 10-12 Therefore they need also to be admonished to take heed and beware of this Iniquity of Drunkenness because they have not only such a secret and homebred enemy within them but so many powerful vigilant enemies without them also who will deceive if possible even the very Elect. 3. They need also to be admonished hereof Because it is a very brutish and heinous Iniquity a very sinful and provoking Iniquity in the sight of God yea and of men also generally until they are given up to hardness and become past feeling It is a great and heinous Iniquity against God such as in which men more openly and manifestly do rebel against the light than in many other evils of which they are admonished And therefore in the service hereof they render themselves openly to be Children of Bilial Children of the Devil Lawless persons such as will do whatsoever is right in their own eyes in despight of and in direct and open opposition unto the Light in the Testimony and to that wisdom and understanding God indues men with whereby he teacheth them more than the Beasts of the Earth and makes them wiser than the Fowls of Heaven Job 35. 10 11. Hence when Hannah was wrongfully suspected to be guilty of this Iniquity she thus speaketh to clear her self My Lord I have drunk neither Wine nor Srong drink Count not thine Hand-maid for a Daughter of Belial Think me not to be reckon me not as a Drunkard for such are Children of Belial especially if of the Female Sex In which is intimated to us the abominableness of this Iniquity 1 Sam. 1. 14-16 And in committing this Iniquity men even work the will of the Heathen as the Apostle Peter signifieth in saying The time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Heathen or Gentiles which know not God when we walked in lasciviousness excess of wine revellings banquetings c. 1 Pet. 4. 3 with 1 Thes 4. 4 5. And the Holy Ghost to set forth the abominableness of this Iniquity and that of the Lust of Uncleanness the consequent and concomitant of it as we shall shew makes use of the names of these sins to represent and describe abominable Idolatry by Read Rev. 17. 2 and 18. 3. See Jer. 51. 7. And it is a shameful Iniquity amongst men generally and therefore they do or however did in former times commit it in the night 1 Thes 5. 7. and such an one as they will abominate and lothe in others and testify their dislike of until they are become past feeling and displeasure against Thus under the Law the way to render ones Son vile to others was to say He was guilty of intemperance as it is written The Parents shall say unto the Elders of the City This our Son is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our voice he is a glutton and a drunkard And all the men of the City shall stone him with Stones c. Deut. 21. 18-21 Yea it is such an Iniquity as in which men sin against their own bodies also and oft-times bring diseases and death directly upon themselves by their Intemperance Hos 7. 5. 4. It is such an Iniquity as God doth and will judg for ever if they be not washed from it And therefore how oft doth he denounce Woes against them that are guilty hereof Wo to the Drunkards of Ephraim The drunkard of Ephraim shall be trodden under seet Isa 28. 1-3 Wo to them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue until night till wine enflame them Therefore my people are gone into Captivity because they have no knowledg Therefore Hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure to receive those Drunkards where the multitude of them shall be dried up with thirst Wo unto them that though they can carry Drink well-enough and others may not perceive them to be Drunk yet are mighty to drink Wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink Therefore as the fire devoureth the
stubble and the flame consumes the Chaff so their root shall be rottenness c. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people and he hath stretched forth his hand against them and hath smitten them c. And threatens to bring upon them Forreiners to wast and destroy them Isa 5. 11-14 22-25-30 Yea indeed he is many times so provoked to anger with men on this account as that especially if they continue in this iniquity he cuts them off even in their sin of Drunkenness as may be intimated unto us in what is said by the Prophet The Lord will make an utter end Affliction shall not rise up the second time For while they be drunken as Drunkards they shall be devoured c. Nahum 1. 9 10. And however persisting in this Iniquity they will hereafter be excluced and shut out of the Kingdom of God Nor drunkards nor revilers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 10. The works of the flesh are manifest which are adultery drunkenness revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God faith the Apostle Gal. 5. 19-21 All which considerations do shew unto us that the Believers need to be admonished and warned of this Iniquity that they be not Drunk with Wine c. And this Instruction as thus spoken unto may be of usefulness to us 1. To shew unto us That the believers themselves are not while in mortal bodies perfect as to attainment Phil. 3. 12. But they have still the Old-man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts thereof which though Crucified with Christ yet is not whosly destroyed Rom. 6. 6. Therefore are they instructed and incouraged through the Spirit to mortify continually the deeds of the Body that they may live Rom. 8. 13. There is a Generation indeed that are pure and sinless in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness There is a generation O how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up Prov. 30. 12 13. But it is not so with them that walk in the light as God is in the light they see by the light of Gods testimony and prove by experience that they have sin within them and many fleshly lusts that war against the Soul to abstain from daily ungodliness and worldly lusts to deny and renounce And the consideration hereof causeth them to cry out O wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death Rom. 7. 14-24 1 Pet. 2. 11. Tit. 2. 11 12. And this leads them to pity others Gal. 6. 1. 2. It shews unto us the mercy of God in giving gifts unto men and fitting them to go before others in the Word of the Lord and to warn them of every path of the Destroyer and such should not be despised but esteemed by us who are faithful in admonishing us of that which is evil and displeasing unto him who is of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity Thus when the Apostle had been warning the Thessalonians of Intemperance and instructing them to Sobriety he gives this exhortation to them And we beseech you Brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you to wit among other things of Drunkenness and Insobriety as appears by the scope of the place And to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake 1 Thes 5. 6 7 8-12 13 for whosoever despiseth them in their faithful admonitions and dehortations despiseth not Man but God who also hath given unto them his Holy Spirit to accompany and assist them 1 Thes 4. 2-4-8 3. Seeing such need to be dehorted from this Iniquity of Drunkenness we may learn from hence That they are no friends to them nor is this love in any whatever pretensions and professions they have and make thereof who entice them to this great and provoking Iniquity They need not be provoked to Insobriety for we are all too forward thereto naturally but dehorted therefrom And therefore it is not loving-kindness but hating-kindness to urge any to eat or drink intemperately and such an Iniquity as wherewith God is provoked Wo unto him that giveth his neighbour drink that puttest thy bottle to him and makest him drunken also that thou mayest look on their nakedness Thou art filled more with shame than with glory c. Habbak 2. 15 16. Though men may pretend this to be liberality and to tend to their glory yet it will appear in conclusion that such glory is their shame and that they call evil good and good evil put darkness for light and light for darkness Isa 5. 20-22 And time will come when the vile person shall no more be called liberoel Isa 32. 5. Whatever appearance of love such may have to us yet indeed it is and is to be esteemed hatred by us for Love worketh no ill to his neighbour Let us then cast off these works of darkness and walk honestly not in rioting and drunkenness Rom. 13. 8-10-13 and rather esteem them to be our friends and reckon them to be lovers of us and kind to us whose work it is to endeavour to preserve us from this and all other crooked-paths whatsoever Prov. 27. 5 6. 4. The consideration hereof might hide Pride from them and help them Not to be high minded but fear Rom. 11. 20. Happy is the man that feareth alwayes but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief Prov. 28. 14. Truly even the Believers have great cause to stand in awe and not to sin for they have sin in them and many enemies that seek the hurt of them and too readily and frequently they offend in many things and therefore it behoves them to fear the Commandment Prov. 13. 13 And suffer the word of Exhortation and not to think themselves to be so strong or wise as that they need no such admonitions But rather to be alwayes jealous of themselves and to seed themselves to eat and drink with fear Jude v. 12 The wise man feareth and departeth from evil but the fool rageth and is confident Prov. 14. 16. Yea indeed it especially behoves them to flee from Intemperance and avoid all occasions thereof Therefore is this Instruction and Counsel given by Wisdom to her Children Hear thou my Son and be wise and guide thine heart in the way be not amongst Wine-bibbers Prov. 23. 19 20. And this leads us to a second Instruction from these words viz. II. In that he saith Be not ye drunk with Wine so he signifieth to us That it doth especially behove them who have heard and believed the word of Truth the Gospel of our Salvation to flee from Drunkenness and if they do not so their Iniquity will be greater more provoking and inexcusable than others and their judgment more terrible and intolerable Hence to such and