fills the Body with loathsom diseases 'T is Fabled the Giant Briareus had an hundred Hands and fifty Bellies but some men have one Belly would devour as much as an hundred Hands can get and commonly the greatest Bouzers are the greatest Buzzards and are fit for nothing but to Drink These not only shame but undo their Families Friends Children and Relations and are a shame to the place they are bred to the Church and Nation where they live they are as one saith the Devils eldest Sons and therefore when they come to their Inheritance in Hell they will be sure of a double Portion they bring much Grist to his Mill and have done their Father much Service and may expect good Wages some of them have been well educated received many Talents have Learning Parts Gifts and Endowments which they have not only lost but obliterated Reason it self and God hath deprived them of those Talents and bestowed them on others and will condemn them to utter darkness Mat. 25. 28 c. And whenever they die they shall leave a stink behind them for did you ever find a sweet savour proceed from a putrified member If therefore you would preserve a good name and merit a good report among the wisest soberest most serious persons take heed of this odious sin which certainly will brand you with Infamy and load you with obloquy and disgrace Consid 4. As this Sin doth deform the Body and blemish the Name so it also debauches the Soul and inclines it to all manner of wickedness for what Sin is so odious that a Drunkard in his cups will refuse to do when the Drink is in the Wit is out and when he is heated in his Drink he is Pot-valiant and will prove the Devils Champion and undertake any enterprize we have known or heard it at at least when in Drink some have killed their Fathers and Mothers ravished their Sisters murdered their best Friends and nearest Relations and do we not daily see though not Perhaps every individual Drunkard they are commonly great Swearers Blasphemers flying out in their Cups at the very Face of God are they not usually great Liars ribald filthy obscene speakers quarrellers fighters reproachers and what not what service soever the Devil hath for them to do they are prest to do it though he sets them about the most dangerous unreasonable work in the World and the basest drudgery the Taverns and Alehouses are the Devils Schools where his Language of Hell is taught and his Shop where men are trained up in his work and commonly out of Hell you shall scarce hear any speak his Language more naturally then there for here commonly are some old artists provided to instruct the rest in this Devilish art of Hellish Rhetorick and to discourse here of Religion Holiness and the Power of Godliness seems as unsutable and unsafe as to discourse of the Protestant Principles before the Spanish Inquisitors or the Conclave of Cardinals yea some are ready to quarrel that man that names God except in an Oath or vain speech as one that comes to torment them before the time and comes on purpose to spoil their sport Now what pleasure can a man take in such Company Solomon adviseth Prov. 22. 24 25. Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy Soul And the like reason holds here among debauched sinners where never good can be learned many temes evil he that toucheth Pitch shall be defiled and he that meddles with a wicked man gets himself a blot he that danceth among the Devils Lime-twigs is commonly snared in them The Drunkards are Leperous persons no clean person should associate himself with them they have a Plague-Sore upon them and we may well fear the Infection Man is an imitable Creature and like the Camelion apt to change with the Company and like Drink apt to smell of the Cask and this Sin is as Infectious as the Plague it self and more dangerous that only kils the the Body this Soul and Body their acts usually increase the habits and at last bring it to a Custom and Custom is a second Nature and after a while that Sin which at first men stumble at at last 't is as easy as Water to run down the Chanel 't is a sure signe of an ungracious Heart to delight in wicked Company Noscitur ex comite qui non dignoscitur ex se What Solomon speaks by way of caution concerning the Whorish Woman may be applied here Prov. 5. 8. Remove thy way far from her come not nigh to the door of her House this would be safe in this case he that would not be burnt must dread the Fire he that would not hear the Bell must not meddle with the Roap to venture upon the Temptation and then to Pray lead us not into Temptation is like him that puts his Fnger into the fire and Prayes that it may not be burnt or leaps into the Sea wilfully and prays against drowning custom in Sin boldens a man hardens his Heart and sears his Conscience at first a man deals by Sin as the Fox in the Fable with the Lion at first he is terrified the next time a little bolder afterward approaches nearer and discourses him the application is easy He that walks in the council of the Vngodly will e're long stand in the way of Sinners yea and sit in the seat of the Scornful Psal 1. 1. In those societies you can hardly choose but hear some mock or scorn blurted against the Power of Godliness which methinks should savour ill-with a Gracious Heart yea with an ingracious man and spoil all his mirth strict Holiness must needs be censured at least for needless scrupulosity or how can persons satisfy themselves in their debauched practices at first it may be such discourse may trouble them having drunk in other Principles but in time this will wear off and down well enough and at last become natural and the throat of your Conscience wide enough to swallow these Gudgeons without straining and in process of time a Camel will not choak you I have read of some and heard of one in our times that by little and little inured themselves to eat poison and at last Spiders Toads and such like would serve them for food some men at first feared an Oath but by little and little learnt to swear little Oaths or something like Oaths at first and afterwards the greatest would down without chewing till they come to this they scarce knew when they swore it was so usual as in some distempers the Excrements pass from them without their knowledg Joseph in Pharaoh's Court learnt to Swear By the life of Pharaoh probably he would have scrupled it when under his Fathers tuition And is it any wonder if men learn worse words in a worse School many men amongst us have taken such a cursed habit of Swearing
their Swords in each others Bowels as we read Alexander in his Drink killed his dear friend Clit us only for disallowing his profuse Healths and had he been suffered would afterwards have killed himself and it was not long before he and thirty five more of his consorts killed themselves by immoderate Drinking at one time and forty of his Companions at another But we need not look far for Examples our own Age our own Nation our own Neighbourhood yields us too many how many of our Gallants and youthful Gentlemen within a few years and a few miles have caught their death by their excessive Drinking and died of Surfeits almost every Parish Town and Hamlet may afford examples of some that have come to an untimely end this way either in their Drink killing one another and so come to the Gallows or breaking their necks drowning burning scalding and some such accident or by Surfets Feavors Gouts Dropsies or some dangerous uncurable Disease gotten this way which puts a period to their Lives and Drinking or that by this means run into Misery Danger Debt Poverty and dye on a Dunghil in a Barn c. for want of sustenance or end their days in Prison these and such like are the fruits and effects of this filthy Sin this Sin is as one calls it A flattering Devil a sweet Poison the bane of virtue the Mother of vice voluntary madness the Author of quarrels contentions strife and debate The Drunkard's heart is a fit receptacle for all Vice for as Frogs live and thrive in a filthy lake a stinking ditch where no Fish can abide so Vices are nourished here but no Virtue can live but is poisoned When the old World could not overcome Noah this filthy Sin did this sets it self against the Law of God of Grace of Nature and of Nations 't is the grief of Friends the scorn of Enemies the ruin of Families it opens Hell and shuts Heaven Gates against us The Soul where this filthy Pestiferous weed grows is like that which was sowed with Salt it became baren to every thing that was good The Graces of the Spirit of God cannot abide to dwell in such a nasty House or to lodg with such a filthy Bedfellow for as Smoke drives away Bees so Drunkenness drives away the Spirit of God all holy desires and good resolutions and quencheth all holy motions and is as water to the Fire extinguishing all hopeful beginnings 't is like the Mare mortuum wherein no good Fish can live and therefore if you would not be accessary to your own death both of Body and Soul if you will not run the hazard of a sudden or violent or untimely death or fil your bodies with Surfets Feavors Gouts Dropsies c. by intemperance take heed in time of this filthy Sin for these are the natural Products of it and God doth usually witness against it by such judgments as these Consid 9. Consider the horrible Judgments which God the righteous Judg hath brought upon offenders in this kind In the time of the Law as we may see Deut. 21. 18 19 20. God commanded If a Father had a Son that was a Glutton or a Drunkard and upon reproof and correction would not amend the Father of that Son should bring him out to the Elders of the City and they should stone him Now if Magistrates are negligent of their Duty and will not punish this Sin according to its demerits and if the Ecclesiastical Courts take little notice of it then God is forced to take the Sword in his own hand and cut off the putrified member and though he be slow yet many times he strikes home nay he doth not spare his own people yet he lets them blood as a Physician not as an Executioner As for the other though he reserves many till the general Assizes to have their doom yet some he hangs up in Chains that others may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly Noah though a good man and escaping the pollutions of the old World was after tainted with this Sin God suffered him to uncover his nakedness and to be a laughingstock to his own Son who by this means entailed the curse to him and his Posterity and the generation then to come had cause to bewail the act Righteous Lot whose righteous Soul was vexed with the unclean conversation of the wicked Sodomites fell through this Sin to that of Incest for this seldom goes alone and became the Father of the Moabites and Ammonites two cursed generations haters of God and his People which had he lived to see would have been a further trouble to him My intention is not in reciting these examples to rank them amongst Drunkards or confer that odious name upon them for 't is not our bare simple act deserves or can fasten such an imputation upon them A godly man by the subtilty of Satan's temptations and the prevalency of corruptions or inadvertency not knowing the nature of Wine as it may be imagined of Noah if not of the other may fall in the Sin but there is difference between a Sheep falling in a foul way which riseth again shakes himself and takes better heed and a Swine that wittingly willingly and delightfully wallows in the mire A Godly man through imprudence or want of heed may have a fall and lose some degrees of innocency which is great cause of shame and Sorrow but those that make it their Trade and daily practice best deserve the name But Gods dealing with others is more severe Elah the King of Israel drinking himself Drunk in his Steward's House was killed by Zimri his own Servant a sad death especially at such a time when he was most unfit to dye the like had befallen Nabal in his Drunkenness had not wise Abigail prevented it and when he heard the danger he was in his heart became as a stone within him and he died 1 Sam. 25. 36 c. Amnon one of holy Davids ungracious Sons who before had ravished his Sister Tamar and when his heart was merry with Wine was slain by the Command of his Brother Absalon 2 Sam. 13. 28. Benhadad and the thirty two Kings that were with him being all Drunk a sad example to their Servants had his mighty Army defeated by a handful of Ahabs men and hardly escaped with his life Belshazzer carousing Wine with his Wives and Concubines in the Vessels of the Temple had the Hand-writing sent by God upon the Wall which foretold his ruin and destruction which suddenly fell out accordingly Holofernes in his Drink was killed by Judeth and should we examine the Records of all ages you may find God's terrible hand stretched out against men of this profession some have grown so audacious as to drink Healths to the Devil himself such a beast or rather Monster was Pope John the twelfth or as some reckon the thirteenth A Lincolnshire man drinking a Health to the Devil fell down dead in the place
ENGLAND'S BANE OR The Deadly Danger OF Drunkennels Described in a Letter to a FRIEND WHEREIN Are many convincing Arguments against it and many aggravations of it in Professors of Religion and many other things tending to a Reformation of that Beastly Sin BY EDWARD BVRY late Minister of Great-Bolas in Shropshire Isa XXVIII 1. Wo to the Crown of pride to the Drunkards of Ephraaim c. Hab. II. 15. Wo to him that gives his neighbour Drink that puttest thy Bottle to him and makest him Drunk also c. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Growns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1677. Licenced and Entred according to Order TO THE READER Courteous Reader THough these following lines were at first designed for a private Person and so adapted to his condition yet seeing there are many Oh too many sick of the same disease and Drunkenness is become a publick distemper in poor and rich I thought it not amiss to make my Receipt publick also This disease is become epidemical and all the Physicians in England know not how to set a stop to it 't is like a mighty torrent that bears down all before it so that Drunkenness and Adultery seem to strive for the Preheminence Now though I cannot imagine that my little Dam can set a stop to this fierce Flood which doubtless will soon mount over it and bear it down yet being made in some small Stream it may possibly do some good or however when I have done my duty and witnessed for my God against this debauchery My reward will be with my God and though Israel be not gathered my labour will not be in vain Isa 49. 4 c. and I shall stand up at last in my lot to witness against those that now shut their eyes against the light If these Lines meet with any that are not guilty let them bless God that hath made them to differ and let them be preventing Physick against future temptations and let him that standeth take heed least he fall But Reader If thou art guilty consider well the strength of Reason and the sorce of Scripture arguments here brought for thy Conviction and shut not thine eyes against either for the time will come God will open them and if thou canst not speak as much Reason and Scripture for Drunkenness as bere thou findest against it take heed of resisting God and the Message he hath sent thee for I am sure thou canst not resist his judgments which he hath threatned against such wilful offenders and 't is hard to kick against the pricks I know this discourse runs cross to the humours of the Time and the sinful inclination of corrupt nature yet though the Physick seem sharp 't is safe old Diseases are not usually cured with Cordial Syrups nor old feastered Sores with lenitive Plasters a gentle reproof will not work upon an incorrigible Person or gray Headed Sinner some happly may quarrel the Language as well as the matter because the Pills are not Sugared but when there is Fire in the Town men stand not to make an eloquent Oration but cry Fire Fire I write to those that many times can neither speak Sence nor understand Reason to those who had rather be accounted Good-fellows than either good livers or good Christians and my design is to make them better Livers rather than better Rhetoricians and seeing they sin in English why should they be reproved in Latine they had need have one speak loud enough lest they are asleep or amidst the crowd of their Drunken Companions for then 't is hard to make them hear or regard All the Plagues of Egypt could not awaken Pharaoh till the red Sea convinced him neither could all the Miracles of Christ convince the Jews till Titus Vespatian swept them away the Sodomites when struck with Blindness yet were not cured of their madness till Fire and Brimstone convinc'd them of their folly and 't is to be feared that nothing but Fire and Brimstone will awake many of our drowsy Drunkards this will make them see God spake in earnest what they took in jeast If any pretend they make no profession of Religion and therefore are not concerned with part of the Book it being adapted only to such this will prove but a bad excuse they never pretended to serve God and therefore may the more freely break his Laws but I conceive all those that own that there is a God make some profession to serve him but let their profession be what it will without Holiness they shall never enjoy Happiness and truly till a man break off from wicked Company there is little hopes of a Resormation When Peter was in Caiphas's Hall he soon learnt to deny his Master when Joseph was in Egypt he learnt to swear by the life of Pharaoh If Solomon will have Pharaoh's Daughter to Wife he shall have her Idols also The Fuller in the Fable would not dwell with the Collier for fear of a Smut and whoever would avoid Drunkenness must avoid Drunken companions he that would avoid Infection must beware of Infected Persons and Infected Places a man that would be Chast must not live in a Brothel-house and he that would be sober must not haunt Alehouses and Taverns I shall add no more at present but wish that what I have written may be beneficial to that end for which it is written I now rest Thy unfeigned Welwisher Edward Bury Eaton Jan. 1. 1676. A DISSWASIVE FROM Drunkenness Dear Friend THE Love I bear to you and your Relations puts me on this unpleasing and perhaps ungrateful work of Reprehension your Extravagancies of late years are too manifest to be concealed and the course you take in spending your Time wasting your Estate imparing your Credit and indangering your Soul in frequenting Alchouses and Taverns is so bad that it calls for a speedy Remedy or you are like to be undone and after so many Admonitions so many Reproofs so many Promises and Protestations and Resolutions of Reformation yet nothing is done this hath been no small grief to me In this distemper therefore give me leave also among other Physicians to prescribe you some Pills which though they may seem untoothsom may prove wholsom and may be the better swallowed being Sugared with Love a feastered Sore is seldom cured with gentle Lenitives a desperat Disease must have a desperate Cure what the event of it may be as to you I know not or what effect it will work upon you however my reward will be with God and my judgment with the Most High you may read my Commission Lev. 16. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke him and not suffer sin to lie upon him He is no friend to your Soul that is a friend to your Sin 't is true Solomon adviseth not to reprove a Scorner lest he hate thee but rebuke a Wise man and he will love thee Prov. 9. 8. and
and Cursing that if the Law were duly executed all their Estates would not pay their Mulcts they deal with Christ as a Kennel of Hounds do with an Hare pluck him to pieces wound and tear him what in them lies limb meal neither his Blood nor his Wounds nor his Head nor his Heart nor any other part shall escape and they even dare Vengeance it self to punish them like Mad-Dogs they bite and snatch at all and would make all as mad as themselves and is this company to be desired by a civil man and in their quarrelling also and contentions which is not unusual upon the Ale-bench they are like Fire-brands ready to kindle one another not only Swearing and Railing but also fighting Quarreling and Murder it self is the effect of Drunkenness but perhaps you will say you are not guilty of Swearing Cursing Quarrelling and such like but 't is almost impossible you should be otherwise how can you discourse them but in their own Language and I fear I have some grounds for my fear that you have lost some degrees of Innocency and cannot wash your hands from these transgressions but suppose you are not actually guilty are you not accessary to the Oaths and Curses which you do not reprove and that you do not reprove them is evident by their delight in your Company Can you hear the name of God Blaspemed his Children abused strict Holiness which is Gods Image derided and hold your Peace and testify not your dislike doubtless you make their Sins your own by connivance were there true Love to God to his Word his ways his Image his People you would have something to say in their behalf or break off society with Gods deadly Enemies their Sin will be laid at your door Can you hear your Pot-valiant Companions Blaspheme God and have nothing to say in his Cause Can an ingenious Child here his Father abused and hold his Peace many in their Cups are like the Thracians when it Thunders and Lightens they shoot up their Arrows towards Heaven that by this means they may bring God to a more reasonable Composition many when they cannot speak sense can speak Bsasphemy and when they cannot speak Reason can speak Treason and can you wipe your Mouth and say you have not offended and all this is nothing to you when it is daily done in your company and are not you guilty of the many Acts of Drunkenness if not of your self of others when you Drink and Pledg their Healths which is the Devils Shooinghorn to draw on Drunkards yea perhaps force others to take a greater proportion of Drink than they can bear do you really think God gave his Creatures to be thus abused Read Hab. 2. 14 c. Wo to him that giveth his Neighbour Drink and putteth the Bottle to him and maketh him Drunk that he may look upon his nakedness c. If you do the Work you are like to have the Wages many an Health drunk on Earth that will be pledged in Hell if you would not debauch your Soul and be guilty of these and other Sins which are the usual Fruits of this filthy Vice beware of it betimes Consid 5. This Sin of Drunkenness among other flagitious crimes is a great promoter of that filthy Sin of Adultery which lays a man open to the righteous Judgments of the great God Whoremongers ond Adulterers God will judg Heb. 13. 3. It was the judgment of some of the Ancient Fathers and that not without reason that a Drunkard could not be Chast for he that breaks the hedg of Gods Law what can hold him If a Divine Precept cannot restrain him but for the love of a Cup of Drink he will be a transgressor who can think but if the Devil mend his Wages he will mend his Work or when a Man or Woman hath no more reason than a Beast why should they not act as Beasts Without distinctions of persons here commonly are neither temptations provocations opportunities nor importunities wanting and if the fear of God be absent and how can that he present where the wilful breach of his Laws are daily acted what can restrain them Venter non habet Aures He that will break one Command knowingly what should restrain him from the breach of another which Nature doth every way as much incline men to That Man or Woman that is not Abstinent I cannot see any great grounds to believe they are Continent Lot in Sodom though he doubtless had many provocations and temptations to Lust and many examples of this nature yet could withstand them And his righteous Soul was vexed with the unclean conversations of the wicked Sodomites 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. but too much Wine lost the reins of Reason and he became a brute and committed Incest with both his own Daughters had not David believed that Wine was a provoker of Lust he never had tempted Vriah with it to provoke him to go home to his Wife to cover his Adultery Rioting and Drunkenness precedes Chambering and Wantonness Rom. 13. 13. The first evil saith Ambrose of Drunkenness is the hazzard of Chastity and truly those that will be perswaded to be Drunk I think 't is no great business to perswade them to Adultery also for as a filthy Lake is full of Froggs though no Fish can live in it so the Drunkards Heart is full of Lust though no Grace can thrive there Bacchus is the Pander to Venus and Wine is the Fuel to heat the Oven when the Belly is full of Wine the Heart is full of Lust They are saith the Prophet hot as an Oven Hos 7. 7. Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus When the Fuel is withdrawn the Fire ceaseth 'T is Solomon's Council Prov. 23. 31 c. Look not upon the Wine when it is red when it giveth its colour in the Cup when it moveth it self aright and why so At the last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adder why what is the event Thine eyes shall behold strange women and thy lips shall utter perverse things This is the Danger this is the Sting Venter aestuans saith Jerome spumat in libidinem Drunkenness is the Gallery that leads to Letchery Vina parant animos Venere saith another When men are heated with Strong Drink they are like to hot Iron the Devil which is the Smith with his Hammer of Temptation may forge them into any shape they are then like Wax softened they will take any impression they are then like Paper you may write what you will upon it or make what blot you please and the Devil is apt to write his own name upon them and to draw a Conveyance to pass over their Souls to him Jer. 5. 7 8 9. When I had fed them to the full they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by heaps into Harlots houses They were as fed horses in the morning every one neighing after his neighbours Wife Shall not I visit for these things
three more in Germany for the like offence were all found dead the next morning In Almain in the year 1580 one drinking a Health to God stretching his hand towards Heaven with a cup of Wine was dead in that posture neither by strength could be removed the other by the people was hanged on Gibbets before the door I have heard also of some struck suddenly dead in the very act some drowned some scalded to death some choaked with the Drink some broke their necks some lying in the way were slain by Carts some in their Drink murthered their Parents many that have caught surfets and died upon them he that would read more examples of this nature may find them in Beard 's Theatre of Gods Judgments and in Mr. Clearks Treatise upon the same subject but the experience of our own times may spare us that labour for who is so great a stranger in the neighbourhood he lives in but may add examples of this nature how oft do we hear and see men struck dead in the very act or suddenly after with Surfeits or otherwise were it but convenient the time the place the persons names might be produced and no man of discretion that takes any notice of Gods dealings in the world but may add some experience which shews Gods hatred of this detestable Vice for I think he hath not more eminently appeared against any Sin except it be against Atheism Blasphemy Adultery or Persecution of the power of Godliness than against this If therefore you would not be guilty of your own death and become the object of Gods infinite hatred and dreadful Judgments If you would not run violently upon your own destruction and force God to cut you off as an unprofitable unuseful member beware of this Sin for doubtless 't is the ready way to temporal and eternal death and if death arrest you by such a Sergeant as this your case is lamentable Consid 10. But the greatest danger is yet behind and that is the loss of the Soul which is ten thousand times greater than the loss of life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life yet the Soul is in more danger than it and where this Sin is predominant 't is a sad sign of an ungracious heart and that the wrath of God hangs over their heads God pronounceth wo to such and who then can speak peace Wo to the Crown of Pride the Drunkards of Ephraim Wo to those that rise early to drink strong drink and continue till night till Wine enflame them Wo to those that are mighty to drink Wine and men of strength to mingle strong Drink Wo to him that giveth his neighbour drink and putteth the Bottle to him and maketh him drunk Doth God speak in earnest or in jest or can he or will he make good his threatnings If so what a woful condition are Drunkards in 't is for this Sin that Hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure Isa 5. 14. These are the men Whose end is destruction whose God is their Belly whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things Phil. 3. 19. They Sacrifice to nothing else but the Creature Thus saith the Lord to such drink and be drunken and spew and fall and never rise again this is spoken to those that make it their business to drink and make others drunk also Jer. 25. 27. These are plying the Devils work and he is preparing them their wages which he will pay them at the day Those that now so profusely spend and wast Gods good Creatures given by him for an higher end the time is coming and will not be long if Repentance prevent not they will not be able to purchase one drop of water to cool their tongues Remember this all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces when there is none to deliver Without Repentance Hell will be your portion and the place of your habitation and endless easeless and remediless Torments are the wages which the Devil pays to his miserable Servants for their most faithful service see the doom of your elder Brother Matth. 24. 49. c. that neglecting the duty God required at his hands to give his fellow-servants meat in due season and doing the work the Devil enjoyned him in beating them and eating and drinking with the Drunkards He was cut in sunder and his portion appointed him with Hypocrites and that unfaithful unprofitable Servant that hid his Talent in the earth was cast out into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matth. 25. 30. and if only those shall have the sentence of absolution at the last day that have fed the hungry clothed the naked relieved the stranger c. Mat. 25. 34 c. What will become of you that spend the poor's part yea and pluck the very meat from the mouths of your Wives and Children and make many others want meat by your extravagancies you know not but some may this day be in Hell tormented in those flames for those very Sins which you occasioned them to commit and no doubt many more will be which may be a sad reflexion upon your own heart If God should give you repentance this may be a Corasive to you you help to destroy men but cannot give repentance but if you repent not the blood of their souls will be required at your hand and did you know the price of this blood you would beware The time is coming a separation will be made between the precious and the vile and though the Wheat and the Tares grow together ere long they shall be separated the wheat shall be gathered into barns but the tares shall be bundled up Swearers with Swearers and Drunkards with Drunkards and burnt with unquenchable fire Drunkenness is compared by some to Chain-shot it sends men to Hell by clusters some other sins to single Bullets that kills but one at once There are many that have knowledge enough in other things and yet know not the way to Heaven they can search Natures Garden from end to end but cannot search their own hearts they are well skill'd abroad strangers at home They are like the Lamiae a sort of Witches that were blind at home quick-sighted abroad They are skilled in all Courts but the Court of Conscience but let them have never so much knowledge they are really fools to sell their souls to Satan for so low a value as a belly-full of Ale They are worse than Esau that sold his birth-right for a Mess of Pottage or a King I have read of that lost his Kingdom for a Draught of Water Can we imagine those are Christians that cannot deny themselves in a Cup of Drink when they have enough before The first Lesson in Christs School is Self-denial and if we deny not forsake not Father Mother Wife and Children yea hate all and our own lives we cannot be his Disciple Can those men lay down
their lives for Christ that cannot deny their sensual Appetite Was it ever known that a Debaucht Drunkard ever suffered for him As Drink increaseth their Thirst and the more they drink the more they may so Drunkenness increaseth Hell-fire like Oyl which will never be quenched The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life Rom. 6. 23. Nay God tells us as plain as he can speak that a Drunkard shall not go to Heaven 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 10. 19 20 21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulation Wrath Strife Sedition Heresie Envying Murther Drunkenness Revilings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And I fear that most Drunkards are guilty of many of these What now can you say for your selves why this is not your portion Do you think God is not just will he speak one thing and do another or is he not able to do as he saith and that you shall go to Heaven notwithstanding See what God saith to such Deut. 29. 19 c. He that heareth the words of this Curse and blesseth himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the stubborness of my heart adding Drunkenness to Thirst the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lite upon him and God shall blot out his name from under heaven However great Offenders in this life may escape temporal judgments yet spiritual judgments which are far more dangerous seize upon them blindness of mind hardness of heart searedness of conscience a reprobate sense strong delusions c. and eternal judgments dog them at the heels the Devil that now sets them on work takes notice of their work that he may not be behind with them with their wages but what this wages is the tongue of men nor angels cannot fully describe for though the torments themselves are exquisite yet the duration is an aggravation though the pain of loss be inexpressible and the pain of sense be insupportable yet Eternity is unimaginable and though the pain of sense be ten thousand times beyond our conceiving yet the perpetuity of it will be the greatest torment and the word Never will be a Hell in the midst of Hell If the Drunkard were to suffer but a thousand years in Hell for every Cup of Drink he hath drunk above measure and this would be dear-bought pleasure yet were there hopes an end would come Ah! but what is this to Eternity Oh Eternity Eternity how shall we conceive of thee how shall we number thee If this be the Drunkards portion we may well say as the Holy Ghost doth Woe to them Job 10. 50. If I be wicked woe to me If the aking of the head saith one came before the Drinking of the Wine which usually follows it there would be few Drunkards But I think we may well say If but one hour the pains of Hell were felt by them it would make them sober all their life If now you would not lose the use of Reason and be transformed into a Beast if you would not bring upon your Body Deformities without and Infirmities within if you would not bring reproaches upon your self and bury your good name in obloquy if you would not debauch your soul and incline it to all manner of wickedness if you would be preserved from that filthy sin of Adultery to which this inclines you if you would not waste your Estate ruin your Family undo your Wife and Children and bring them to beggery if you would not unfit your self for any calling and Employment or any Duty to God or Man if you would not by intemperance hasten your own death and set a period to your life if you would not bring the horrible judgments of God upon you and force him to cut you off in the midst of your days and if you would not lose your Soul and suffer the vengeance of Eternal Fire take heed of this filthy beastly sin of Drunkenness which carries all those evils and many more in the belly of it Thus you see what Charge I have drawn up against this sin of Drunkenness and much more may be said for 't is a fearful Mother and most sins are bred in the Womb of it or fed or fostered by it for in sin almost nothing can be named but Drunkenness doth patronize it and excites men to the practice of it I do not hereby intend or mean that all that are addicted to it are guilty of all other villany some perhaps never blasphemed or murthered yet this in others is the cause of blasphemy and murther neither do I mean that all that ever were overtaken with Drink that they are thus to be tearmed A Godly Man may have his slips though this is rare but there is a difference between a Sheep and a Swine as I said the one falls into the Mire unwillingly the other wallows in it so here some are surprized unawares as 't is conceived Noah was These by repentance wash away their spot and others seek occasions and are not well till they find them And now though I have done with Drunkenness in the general yet have I not done with you in particular for I conceive your sin admits of many aggravations which some other mens sins do not and that is worse in you then in them some of those I shall draw up against you that if possible I may shame you out of it for though this sin by some is compared to Hell few fall into it that recover and by some to the Gout incurable yet I having known some have recovered I am not out of hope The aggravations are these Aggra 1. Consider your Education which was Civil nay not only Civil but Religious you are extracted from those that were Ancicient professors trained up in Family Duties Prayer and Praise the Word of God was read in the Family and many a prayer put up with you and for you you were dedicated to God in your Baptismal Vow which since you owned and were listed into his company and shall all this be lost upon you it had been better then for you that you had had Turks or Pagans for your Parents Many an Exhortation and loving Admonition you have had the danger of sinful courses you have been told you have had examples and presidents of a Holy Life before you and some of the contrary and you have seen the
difference The Family you live in hath been a House of Prayer and will you now make it a Cage of unclean Birds You have been warn'd of the Devils Temptations and the Worlds Allurements you have seen the difference between those that have resisted them and those that yielded to them Consider in whether of their cases you would rather be when death calls you and whether a day spen in Prayer or a day spent in an Ale-house wil then bring most comfort you have lived under the powerful means of Grace all your days and heard thousands of Sermons besides other Ordinances and are all those lost Remember what Christ saith of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum It shall be more tollerable for Tire and Sidon or Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than for them A fruitless Tree in the Vineyard is more in danger than if it grew in the Desert Others may say I never knew the danger of such a course my Parents rather incouraged me then otherwise but what can you say or what excuse can you make Aggra 2. The many Convictions which you had upon your Spirit will witness against you that yours is not a sin of ignorance but against knowledge and conscience and those sins as they make the greatest gashes in the Soul so they will make the greatest noise in the Conscience those that sin ignorantly are to be pittied but those that sin wilfully deserve to be punished He that know not his Masters will and doth things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes but he that knows his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many Some ignorant Souls may perswade themselves that Drinking and Swilling is the chiefest happiness but I dare appeal to your Consciences in cool blood whether you do not know to the contrary you have been better instructed and and doubtless have felt a better rellish in something else God hath sent you into his Vineyard to work and will you leave your work before the evening when the time of receiving your wages comes you have been planted in the Vineyard hedg'd about with Gods providence watered with the Dew of Heaven and he hath expected fruit year by year and will you still be barren or worse than barren will you bring forth wild Grapes Grapes of Sodom whose clusters are bitter what could he have done for his Vineyard that he hath not done for us Well ere long he will pluck up his hedg and take away his fence he will lay by his Basket and take up his Axe he will bid cut him down why cumbreth he the ground Lucifers punishment shall be greater because he was an Angel and Julians because he was a Christian and Judas because he was a Disciple and Capernaum Corazin and Bethsaida because they enjoyed the means which others wanted If you have knowledge in the head and not grace in the heart you will carry your own Mittimus to prison with you or like Vriah Letters to cut your own Throat you sin with a Candle in your hand when others ignorance may excuse them a tanto though not a toto your knowledge will encrease your guilt and heighten your torments Aggra 3. Nay you your self have made a profession of Religion and owned your Baptismal Vow you have held out a Lamp in your hand but 't is to be feared have no Oyl in your Vessel the want of which now makes your Lamp shine so dim and you to walk in darkness you performed many duties and put up many prayers and made many promises to God and Man of your Reformation Oh let it not be to tell the World how far a Hipocrite may go and fall short of Heaven and let them know whatever you said you meant nothing less With what face can you ever call God Father or ever beg for mercy at his hands thus to use him or beg power against sin when you mind nothing less than a Reformation Are you inded willing to lose all the pains that ere you have taken in Heavens way now you have born the burthen and heat of the day and for ought you know the time of your receiving reward is at hand Many a day and many an hour you have spent in Prayer Humiliation Hearing Reading Christian Conference Meditation and such like Duties and will you now out-run and lose them all Shall all your Petitions be lost as foolish Boys lose their Arrows shoot them and then mind them no more If a Righteous Man turn from his Righteousness he shall die in his sin Ezek. 3. 20. all his Righteousness shall not be remembred Is the way of Holiness too severe or will heaven be had upon easier terms or were the Godly from the beginning of the world all deceived which took Holiness to be the only way to Happiness and is there a nearer way found out than they dreamed of and was Christ himself deceived that told us the way was narrow and the gate strait that led to Life and few there be that find it or was the Holy Ghost mistaken when he said Drunkards Whoremasters Swearers c. should never enter Heaven Or can you imagine you may dance with the Devil all day and sup with Christ at night or do the Devils work and receive Christs wages or are you willing to take up with the Hypocrites a portion or do you love your company so well that you will go to Hell for company you carry your own condemnation with you If Religion be not good why did you profess it if it be why do you not practice it Or doth Religion teach you such courses I know some will be apt to charge Religion with it from your practice and say see what your professors are they will be drunk as well as others but the Apostle tells us Titus 2. 12. That the grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Have you found out a better master better work and better wages 't is well but praise in the parting The world hates you because of your profession and will you make God hate you for your Hypocrisie Would you reconcile God and the World it will never be or would you have your good things both here and hereafter You will find the mistake you must renounce the one or the other Heaven will not be had in a Vicious Course of Life Aggra 4. This course of life in you that have been a professor of Religion is exceeding injurious both to God and man if you never had pretended better none would have expected better at your hands but to be wounded in the house of our friend to have one with whom we took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in company he lift up the heel against us this would trouble a David himself The former hopes you gave us the noise you made in the world of
more than ordinary sanctity is an aggravation to your crime the higher men clime the greater will be their fall How doth this make sad the hearts of those that the Lord would not make sad and strengthen the hands of the wicked If Israel play the harlot saith God yet let not Judah offend you did run well who hindred you you began well and you end ill you began in the spirit and will you end in the flesh What a blow will this be to Religion when the chief prop in such a family shall not only break but like an Egyptian Reed run into our hands What a discouragement is it to an Army when a chief champion not only turns his back but revolts to the enemy What a dishonour is this to God to leave his service and serve his greatest enemy How will the enemy in sult Lo saith they you see what a master they serve for all their brags they are soon weary of his service Davids sin caused Gods enemies to blaspheme and for that cause God told him The Sword should never depart from his house How doth this sadden the hearts of the godly and fill their faces with shame How is Religion loaded with aspersions as if there were no real difference between the godly and the wicked These say they are your professors they 'll take their cups as well as others Poor doubting Christians are discouraged and think they shall never hold out when such Cedars are shaken and such Champions foiled Others are incouraged in their sin and are apt to say let them have their fling they will come bank again to us ere long What account will you give of this to God at last what iniquity have you found in him that you are departed from him Is there any thing in religion that causeth you to forsake it or hath God ever given you any cause Testifie against him hath he been a barren wilderness to you Is there more real worth in your pot companions which have wrought your ruine if God prevent not both of Body and Soul than is in the communion of Saints and had you rather be hearing swearing cursing and blaspheming than prayers or praises unto God Consider the Blood of your own Soul and the Soul of your Children and Servants that are like to be undone by your example and of many others that are either hardned in their sins or discouraged in their duties will be laid at your door Consider the price of this Blood before you are too lavish of it one Soul is worth a world and do not sell it for pots of Ale Aggra 5. The many Covenants Promises Vows and Ingagements which you have made to God for better Obedience and the many Promises and Ingagements which you have made to Ministers and other Christians and which you have so often broke are no small Aggravation to your sin so that you cannot commit this sin at so cheap a rate as some others may 'T is better not to vow then to vow and not preform In your Baptismal Vow which you have since owned and ratified you were dedicated up to God and devoted to his service and 't is sacriledge to divert things dedicated up to God to profane uses You then received Press-money and listed your self into Christs Company and promised to fight under his Banner and that his Enemies should be your Enemies and you would maintain War while you lived against sin the World and the Devil and he promised you so doing you should have what ever was necessary here and Heaven it self for a reward and to this Covenant you have often set your other Seal in the Sacrament and will you after all these Vows and Covenants to God and Promises to Men treacherously and perfidiously revolt change sides and joyn with the Devil Gods sworn enemy and that to fight against him his cause and people and the power of godliness which you did profess What cause hath God given you to do thus Testifie against him was he ever worse than his word to you nay he was before-ahand with his promise he gave you a better portition in the world than thousands of your brethren you may eat the fat and drink the sweet when others must moil and toil and cark and care and all little enough to prevent poverty All that you have is from him he gave you limbs when others are lame sight when others are blind health when others are sick liberty when others are imprisoned you have the use of reason when others run raging in the streets yea you have your life and breath and all from him and how dare you then provoke him you have not only mercies for this life but for the life to come offered also the means of Grace the tenders of Mercy Christ and Heaven and Glory and for which of all these good things do you hate God and leave his service Can the Devil or your Pot-companions better reward you Can they defend you from the dreadful judgments of a sin revenging God can they secure you under the shadow of their wings If not how dare you provoke this God Are you stronger than he if not why do you take up weapons of defence against him Was there ever any hardened himself against God and prospered God will avenge the quarrel of his Covenant and where are you then Do you know what it is to be an enemy unto God or to have God to be an enemy unto you if you did it might send you trembling to your Grave if you are his enemy and his enemy you are while you serve the Devil for his servants you are to whom you obey you may expect he should deal with you as with an enemy and then what evr judgments you have heard or read of either threatned against or executed upon any graceless wretch you are not sure but nay you may expect that it may be your portion and how ever he may suffer you here to fill up the measure of your iniquity yet he will pay you home full measure and running over 'T is better for you to have all the Men on Earth and all the Devils in Hell against you than God you are but a worm and if he tread upon you he leaves you dead behind him if he with-hold your breath you return to the dust and all your thoughts perish there is no strugling out of his hand Wo to him that striveth with his master let the potsheard strive with the potsheard of the earth Isaiah 45. 9. You can get nothing by this contention Aggra 6. This Carriage and Demeaning of yours how ever it may for a time seem pleasing to your self is yet offensive to God Father Son and Holy Ghost and 't is the grief of all good men that know it to your friends and relations and all that fear God that God takes it to heart you may find by his often complaint of and expostalations with the Children of Israel in their revolts