and therefore think themselves less faulty, while they sit at it, and
make others drunk, and are strong themselves to bear away more than
others can bear. They have the drunkard's appetite, and measure, and
pleasure, though they have not his giddiness and loss of wit.
(3.) And of those that are truly drunken also, there are many degrees
and kinds. As some will be drunk with less and some with more; so some
are only possessed with a little diseased levity, and talkativeness,
more than they had before: some also have distempered eyes, and
stammering tongues: some also proceed to unsteady, reeling heads, and
stumbling feet, and unfitness for their callings: some go further, to
sick and vomiting stomachs, or else to sleepy heads: and some proceed
to stark madness, quarrelling, railing, bawling, hooting, ranting,
roaring, or talking nonsense, or doing mischief: the furious sort
being like mad dogs that must be tied; and the sottish, prating, and
spewing sort being commonly the derision of the boys in the streets.
II. Having told you what tippling and drunkenness is, I shall briefly
tell you their causes; but briefly, because you may gather most of
them from what is said of the causes of gluttony. 1. The first and
grand causes are these three concurrent: a beastly, raging appetite or
gulosity; a weakness of reason and resolution to rule it; and a want
of faith to strengthen reason, and of holiness to strengthen
resolution. These are the very cause of all.
2. Another cause is, their not knowing that their excess and tippling is
really a hurt or danger to their health. And they are ignorant of this
from many causes. One is, because they have been bred up among ignorant
people, and never taught to know what is good or bad for their own
bodies, but only by the common talk of the mistaken vulgar. Another is,
because their appetite so mastereth their very reason, that they can
choose to believe that which they would not have to be true. Another
reason is, because they are of healthful bodies, and therefore feel no
hurt at present, and presume that they shall feel none hereafter, and
see some abstemious persons weaker than they (who began not to be
abstemious till some chronical disease had first invaded them). And thus
they do by their bodies just as wicked men do by their souls: they judge
all by present feeling, and have not wisdom enough to take things
foreseen into their deliberation and accounts: that which will be a
great while hence they take for nothing, or an uncertain something next
to nothing. As heaven and hell move not ungodly men, because they seem a
great way off; so, while they feel themselves in health, they are not
moved with the threatening of sickness: the cup is in their hands, and
therefore they will not set it by, for fear of they know not what, that
will befall them you know not when. As the thief that was told he should
answer it at the day of judgment, said, he would take the other cow too,
if he should stay unpunished till then; so these belly-gods think, they
will take the other cup, if they shall but stay till so long hence. And
thus because this temporal punishment of their gulosity is not speedily
exercised, the hearts of men are fully set in them to please their
appetites.
3. Another cause of tippling and drunkenness is, a wicked heart, that
loveth the company of wicked men, and the foolish talk, and cards, and
dice, by which they are entertained. One sin enticeth down
another:[434] it is a delight to prate over a pot, or rant and game,
and drive away all thoughts that savour of sound reason, or the fear
of God, or the care of their salvation. Many of them will say, it is
not for love of the drink, but of the company, that they use the
alehouse; an excuse that maketh their sin much worse, and showeth them
to be exceeding wicked. To love the company of wicked men, and love to
hear their lewd and idle, foolish talk, and to game and sport out your
time with them, besides your tippling, this showeth a wicked, fleshly
heart, much worse than if you loved the drink alone. Such company as
you love best, such are your own dispositions: if you were no tipplers
or drunkards, it is a certain sign of an ungodly person, to love
ungodly company better than the company of wise and godly men, that
may edify you in the fear of God.
4. Another cause of tippling is idleness, when they have not the
constant employments of their callings to take them up. Some of them
make it their chief excuse that they do it to pass away the time.
Blind wretches! that are so near eternity, and can find no better uses
for their time. To these I spoke before, chap. v. part i.
5. Another cause is the wicked neglect of their duties to their own
families; making no conscience of loving their own relations, and
teaching them the fear of God; nor following their business: and so they
take no pleasure to be at home; the company of wife, and children, and
servants is no delight to them, but they must go to an alehouse or
tavern for more suitable company. Thus one sin bringeth on another.
6. Another cause is the ill management of matters at home with their
own consciences; when they have brought themselves into so terrible
and sad a case, that they dare not be much alone, nor soberly think of
their own condition, nor seriously look towards another world; but fly
from themselves, and seek a place to hide them from their consciences,
forgetting that sin will find them out. They run to an alehouse, as
Saul to his music, to drink away melancholy, and drown the noise of a
guilty, self-accusing mind; and to drive away all thoughts of God, and
heaven, and sin, and hell, and death, and judgment, till it be too
late. As if they were resolved to be damned, and therefore resolved
not to think of their misery nor the remedy. But though they dare
venture upon hell itself, the sots dare not venture upon the serious
thoughts of it! Either there is a hell, or there is none: if there be
none, why shouldst thou be afraid to think of it? If there be a hell,
(as thou wilt find it if thou hold on but a little longer,) will not
the feeling be more intolerable than the thoughts of it? And is not
the fore-thinking on it a necessary and cheap prevention of the
feeling? Oh how much wiser a course were it to retire yourselves in
secret, and there look before you to eternity, and hear what
conscience hath first to say to you concerning your life past, your
sin and misery, and then what God hath to say to you of the remedy.
You will one day find, that this is a more necessary work, than any
that you had at the alehouse, and that you had greater business with
God and conscience, than with your idle companions.
7. Another cause is the custom of pledging those that drink to you, and
of drinking healths, by which the laws of the devil and the alehouse do
impose upon them the measures of excess, and make it their duty to
disregard their duty to God: so lamentable a thing it is, to be the
tractable slaves of men, and intractable rebels against God! Plutarch
mentions one that being invited to a feast, made a stop when he heard
that they compelled men to drink after meat, and asked whether they
compelled them to eat too? apprehending that he went in danger of his
belly. And it seems to be but custom that maketh it appear less
ridiculous or odious to constrain men to drinking than to eating.
8. Another great cause of excess is, the devil's way of drawing them
on by degrees: he doth not tempt them directly to be drunk, but to
drink one cup more, and then another and another, so that the worst
that he seemeth to desire of them is, but to "drink a little more."
And thus, as Solomon saith of the fornicator, they yield to the
flatterer, and go on as the "ox to the slaughter, and as the fool to
the correction of the stocks, till a dart strike through his liver; as
a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life,"
Prov. vii. 21-23.
III. The greatness of this sin appeareth in what is said before of
gluttony. More specially, 1. Think how base a master thou dost serve,
being thus a slave to thy throat. What a beastly thing it is, and
worse than beastly! for few beasts but a swine will be forced to drink
more than doth them good. How low and poor is that man's reason that
is not able to command his throat!
2. Think how thou consumest the creatures of God, that are given for
service, and not for gulosity and luxury. The earth shall be a witness
against thee, that it bore that fruit for better uses, which thou
mispendest on thy sin. Thy servants and cattle that labour for it
shall be witnesses against thee. Thou offerest the creatures of God as
a sacrifice to the devil, for drunkenness and tippling is his service.
It were less folly to do as Diogenes did, who, when they gave him a
large cup of wine, threw it under the table that it might do him no
harm. Thou makest thyself like caterpillars, and foxes, and wolves,
and other destroying creatures, that live to do mischief, and consume
that which should nourish man; and therefore are pursued as unfit to
live. Thou art to the commonwealth as mice in the granary, or weeds in
the corn. It is a great part of the work of faithful magistrates to
weed out such as thou.
3. Thou robbest the poor, consuming that on thy throat which should
maintain them. If thou have any thing to spare, it will comfort thee
more at last, to have given it to the needy, than that a greedy throat
devoured it. The covetous is much better in this than the drunkard and
luxurious; for he is a gatherer, and the other is a scatterer.[435]
The commonwealth maintaineth a double or treble charge in such as thou
art. As the same pasture will keep many sheep which will keep but one
horse; so the same country may keep many temperate persons, which will
keep but a few gluttons and drunkards. The worldling makes provision
cheaper by getting and sparing; but the drunkard and glutton make it
dearer by wasting. The covetous man, that scrapeth together for
himself, doth ofttimes gather for one that will pity the poor when he
is dead, Prov. xxviii. 8; but the drunkard and riotous devour it while
they are alive. One is like a hog that is good for something at last,
though his feeding yield no profit while he liveth; the other is like
devouring vermin, that leave nothing to pay for what they did consume.
The one is like a pike among the fishes, who payeth when he is dead
for that which he devoured alive; but the other is like the sink or
channel, that repayeth you nothing but stink and dirt, for all that
you cast into it.
4. Thou drawest poverty and ruin upon thyself. Besides the value which
thou wastest, God usually joineth with the prodigal by his judgments,
and scattereth as fast as he. Prov. xxi. 17, "He that loveth pleasure
shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich."
"There is that scattereth and yet increaseth," Prov. xi. 24. But this
is not the issue of thy scattering. Prov. xxiii. 19-21, "Hear thou, my
son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way. Be not amongst
wine-bibbers, amongst riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and
the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man
with rags."[436]
5. Thou art an enemy to thy family. Thou grievest thy friends. Thou
impoverishest thy children, and robbest those whom thou art bound to
make provision for. Thou fillest thy house with discontents and
brawlings, and banishest all quietness and fear of God. A discontented
or a brawling wife, and ragged, dissolute, untaught children, are often
signs that a drunkard or riotous person is the master of the family.
6. Thou art a heinous consumer of thy precious time. This is far worse
than the wasting of thy estate. Oh that thou didst but know, as thou
shalt know at last, what those hours are worth, which thou wastest over
thy pots! and how much greater work thou hadst to lay it out upon! How
many thousands in hell are wishing now in vain, that they had those
hours again to spend in prayer and repentance which they spent in the
alehouse, and senselessly cast away with their companions in sin! Is the
glass turned upon thee, and death posting towards thee, to put an end to
all thy time, and lay thee where thou must dwell for ever; and yet canst
thou sit tippling and prating away thy time, as if this were all that
thou hadst to do with it? Oh what a wonder of sottishness and stupidity
is a hardened sinner, that can live so much below his reason! The
senses' neglect of thy soul's concernment, and greater matters, is the
great part of thy sin, more than the drunkenness itself.
7. How base a price dost thou set upon thy Saviour and salvation, that
wilt not forbear so much as a cup of drink for them! The smallness of
the thing showeth the smallness of thy love to God, and the smallness
of thy regard to his word and to thy soul. Is that loving God as God,
when thou lovest a cup of drink better? Art thou not ashamed of thy
hypocrisy, when thou sayest thou lovest God above all, when thou
lovest him not so well as thy wine and ale? Surely he that loveth him
not above ale, loveth him not above all! Thy choice showeth what thou
lovest best, more certainly than thy tongue doth. It is the dish that
a man greedily eateth of that he loveth, and not that which he
commendeth but will not meddle with. God trieth men's love to him, by
their keeping his commandments.[437] It was the aggravation of the
first sin, that they would not deny so small a thing as the forbidden
fruit, in obedience to God! And so it is of thine, that wilt not leave
a forbidden cup for him! O miserable wretch! dost thou not know that
thou canst not be Christ's disciple, if thou forsake not all for him,
and hate not even thy life in comparison of him, and wouldst not
rather die than forsake him? Luke xiv. 26, 33. And art thou like to
lay down thy life for him that wilt not leave a cup of drink for him?
Canst thou burn at a stake for him, that canst not leave an alehouse,
or vain company, or excess for him? What a sentence of condemnation
dost thou pass upon thyself! Wilt thou sell thy God and thy soul for
so small a matter as a cup of drink? Never delude thyself to say, I
hope I do not so, when thou knowest that God hath told thee in his
word, that "drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor.
vi. 10. Nay, God hath commanded those that will come to heaven, to
have no familiarity with thee upon earth; "no, not so much as to eat"
with thee! 1 Cor. v. 11. Read what Christ himself saith, Matt. xxiv.
48-51, "But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord
delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and
to eat and to drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion
with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Read Deut. xxix. 19, 20: If when thou "hearest the words of God's
curse, thou bless thyself in thy heart, saying, I shall have peace,
though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to
thirst; the Lord will not spare that man, but then the anger of the
Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against him, and all the curses that
are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot
out his name from under heaven, and the Lord shall separate him to
evil." Thou seest here how God will spice thy cups.
8. Thou art the shame of human nature:[438] thou representest man in
the likeness of a beast, and worse; as if he were made but instead of
a barrel or a sink: look on a drunkard filthing and spewing, and
reeling and bawling, and see if he be not uglier than a brute! Thou
art a shame to thy own reason, when thou showest the world, that it
cannot so much as shut thy mouth, nor prevail with thee in so small a
thing. Wrong not reason so much as to call thyself rational; and wrong
not mankind so much as to call thyself a man: _Non homo sed amphora_,
said one of Bonosus the drunken emperor when he was hanged: It is a
barrel and not a man.
9. Thou destroyest that reason which is the glory of thy nature, and
the natural part of the image of God upon thy mind. If thou shouldst
deface the king's arms or image in any public place, and set in the
stead of it the image of a dog, would it not be a traitorous contempt?
how much worse is it to do thus by God! If thou didst mangle and
deform thy body, it were less in this respect; for it is not thy body,
but thy soul, that is made after the image of God: hath God given thee
reason for such high and excellent ends and uses, and wilt thou dull
it and drown it in obedience to thy throat? Thy reason is of higher
value than thy house, or land, or money, and yet thou wilt not cast
them away so easily! Had God made thee an idiot, or mad and lunatic,
thy case had been to be pitied: but to make thyself mad, and despise
thy manhood, deserveth punishment. It is the saying of Basil;
Involuntary madness deserveth compassion, but voluntary madness, the
sharpest whips. Prov. xix. 29, "Judgments are prepared for scorners,
and stripes for the fool's back;" especially for the voluntary fool:
he that will make himself a beast or a mad-man, should be used by
others like a beast or a mad-man, whether he will or not.
10. Thou makest thyself unfit for any thing that is good. Oh how unfit
art thou to read, or hear, or meditate on the word of God! how unfit
to pray! how unfit to receive the holy sacrament! what a dreadful
thing is it to think of a drunken man speaking to God in prayer![439]
Thy best posture till thou art sober is to be asleep: for then thou
dost least hurt, and thou art made uncapable of doing good; yea, and
of receiving any good from others; thou art not so much as capable of
reproof or counsel: he that should cast pearls before such a swine,
and offer to speak to thee for the good of thy soul, would but
dishonour the name and word of God. As it is said of a drunkard, that
when one rebuked him, saying, Art thou not ashamed to be thus drunken,
replied, Art thou not ashamed to talk to a man that is drunken? it is
a shame to the man that would cure thee by reason, when thou hast
thrown away thy reason. And if thou have but a merry cup, and thinkest
thyself the fitter for thy duty, yea, if thou do it well, as to the
outward appearance, as the principle is false and base, so thou
deservest blame for casting thy work upon so great a hazard. As
Sophocles said of an orator that wrote well when he was half drunken,
Though he did it well, he did it ignorantly and in uncertainty; for
thy levity weakeneth thy judgment, and thou dost the good thou dost
but at a venture; as a passionate man may speak well, but it is
unlikely and uncertain; and therefore no thanks to him that it fell
not out to be worse.
Thou disposest thyself to almost every sin.[440] Drunkenness breaketh
every one of the commandments, by disposing men to break them all. It
disableth them to the duties of the first commandment above all, viz.
to know God, and believe, and trust, and love him: it utterly
unfitteth men for the holy worship required in the second commandment,
as I have showed: he that hateth the guilt of former sin, in his
worshippers, hateth present wickedness much more. Prov. xxi. 27, "The
sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more when he bringeth
it with a wicked mind." Idolatry, and wantonness, and excess in eating
and drinking, usually dispose to one another. See 1 Cor. x. 7.
Sacrifices of mirth and joviality, and gluttony and drunkenness, are
fit for idols and devils, but unfit for God! And therefore commonly we
find that it is the drunkards and riotous people in every town, that
are the great enemies to the preaching of the gospel, and to all holy
exercises, and to all that fear God, and will not be as mad as they:
when there is a sacrifice to be offered to Bacchus, and any merry
meeting where potting and feasting, and dancing and roaring, is to be
the game, there it is that the ministers and servants of Christ are
slandered, and scorned, and railed at.[441] There it is that hellish
reproach of godliness, like the devil's cannons, are let fly without
control (though through God's mercy they have more powder than bullet,
and do little execution). There it is that the devil sitteth as
president in his council, plotting what to do against the people and
ways of Christ. And though it be drunken, sottish counsel, it is the
fitter for his business; for it is a brutish thunderbolt that he hath
to cast; a senseless, furious work that he hath to do; and no other
instruments will serve his turn. He hath a plot to blow up the
reputation and honour of serious godliness; but he that setteth fire
to his train must withal blow up himself: and none is so fit for this
work as a drunkard or a sensual sot: few others will venture to cast
their own souls into the fire of hell, that they may procure a little
stinking breath to be blown into the faces of the godly; few others
would set their own houses on fire, that they may trouble God's
servants by the smoke. Their very work is to do as those in Dan. iii.
to cast the servants of Christ into those flames, which must devour
those that cast them in, and must scarce touch a thread of the
garments, or a hair of the head, of those for whom it was
prepared:[442] and who would do this, that knew what he did, and were
well in his wits? must he not be first made drunk that doth it? Also
drunkenness disposeth you to swearing, and blaspheming, and perjury,
and speaking contemptuously and unreverently of God, and to speak
profanely and jestingly of the Scripture: and thus "fools make a mock
of sin," Prov. xiv. 9. You are good for none of the holy exercises of
the Lord's day: that is the day that you must defile with your filthy
sin; the day in which God sendeth abroad his gracious invitations, and
the devil his wicked incitations; in which God giveth most of his
grace, and the devil infecteth most with sin; in which God is best
served by his sincere ones, and the devil is most served by his
impious ones.[443] And you dispose yourselves to sin against your
governors: you have no hold of tongue or action when you are drunken.
How many in their drunkenness have reproached and abused father and
mother; and spoken treason against their king, or reviled magistrates
and superiors; and perhaps attempted and done mischief as well as
spoken it! If you are superiors, how unfit are you to judge or govern!
Is it not lawful for any to appeal from you, as the woman did from
Philip drunk to Philip sober? You will be apter to abuse your
inferiors than well to govern them. Also drunkenness destroyeth
civility, justice, and charity. It inflameth the mind with anger and
rage; it teacheth the tongue to curse, and rail, and slander; it makes
you unfaithful, and uncapable of keeping any secret, and ready to
betray your chiefest friend, as being master neither of your mind, or
tongue, or actions. Drunkenness hath made men commit many thousand
murders; it hath caused many to murder themselves, and their nearest
relations; many have been drowned by falling into the water, or broke
their necks with falling from their horses, or died suddenly by the
suffocation of nature. It draweth men to idleness, and taketh them off
their lawful calling: it maketh a multitude of thieves, by breeding
necessity, and imboldening to villany. It is a principal cause of lust
and filthiness, and the great maintainer of whoredoms; and taketh away
all shame, and fear, and wit, which should restrain men from this or
any sin: what sin is it that a drunken man may not commit? no thanks
to him that he forbeareth the greatest wickedness! Cities and kingdoms
have been betrayed by drunkenness; many a drunken garrison hath let in
the enemy. There is no confidence to be put in a drunken man; nor any
mischief that he is secure from.
12. Lastly, Thou sinnest not alone, but temptest others with thee to
perdition. It is the great crime of Jeroboam that he made Israel to
sin. The judgment of God determineth those men to death, that not only
do wickedness, "but have pleasure in them that do it," Rom. i. 32. And
is not this thy case? Art thou not Satan's instrument to tempt others
with thee to waste their time, and neglect their souls, and abuse God
and his creatures? Yea, some of you glory in your shame, that you have
drunk down your companions, and carried it away (the honour of a
sponge or a tub, which can drink up or hold liquor as well as you).
And what is that man worthy of, that would thus transform himself and
others into such monsters of iniquity?
IV. Next let us hear the drunkard's excuses (for even drunkenness will
pretend to reason, and men will not make themselves mad without an
argument to justify it). I. Saith the tippler, I take no more than
doth me good: you allow a man to eat as much as doth him good, and why
not to drink as much? No man is fitter to judge this than I, for I am
sure I feel it do me good.
_Answ._ What good dost thou mean, man? Doth it fit thee for holy
thoughts, or words, or deeds? Doth it help thee to live well, or fit
thee to die well? Art thou sure that it tendeth to the health of thy
body? Thou canst not so say without the imputation of folly or
self-conceitedness, when all the wise physicians in the world do hold
the contrary. No, it doth as gluttony doth; it pleaseth thee in the
drinking, but it filleth thy body with crudities and phlegm, and
prepareth for many mortal sicknesses: it maketh thy body like grounds
after a flood, that are covered with stinking slime; or like fenny
lands that are drowned in water, and bear no fruit; or like grounds
that have too much rain, that are dissolved to dirt, but are unfit for
use. It maketh thee like a leaking ship, that must be pumped and
emptied, or it will sink; if thou have not vomits or purges to empty
thee, thou wilt quickly drown or suffocate thy life. As Basil saith, a
drunkard is like a ship in a tempest, when all the goods are cast
overboard to disburden it lest it sink. Physicians must pump thee, or
disburden thee, or thou wilt be drowned; and all will not serve if
thou hold on to fill it up again; for intemperance maketh most
diseases uncurable. An historian speaketh of two physicians that
differed in their prognostics about a patient; one forsook him as
uncurable; the other undertook him as certainly curable; but when he
came to his remedies, he prescribed him so strict abstinence as he
would not undergo: and so they agreed in the issue; when one judged
him uncurable because intemperate, and the other curable if he would
be temperate. Thou that feelest the drink do thee good, dost little
think how the devil hath a design in it, not only to have thy soul,
but to have it quickly; that the mud-walls of thy body being washed
down may not hold it long. And I must tell thee that thou hast cause
to value a good physician for greater reasons than thy life, and art
more beholden to him than many others; even that he may help to keep
thy soul out of hell a little longer, to see "if God will give thee
repentance," that thou "mayst escape out of the snare of the devil,
who taketh thee captive at his will," 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26. As Ælian
writeth of king Antigonus, that having great respect for Zeno the
philosopher, he once met him when he was in drink, and embracing him,
urged him to ask of him what he would, and bound himself with many
oaths to give it him. Zeno thanked him, and the request he made to him
was, that he would go home and vomit. To tell him that he more needed
to be disburdened of his drink, than he himself did need his gifts.
The truth is, the good that thou feelest the drink do thee is but the
present pleasing of thy appetite, and tickling thy fantasy by the
exhilarating vapours: and so the glutton, and the whoremonger, and
every sensual wretch will say, that he feeleth it do him good; but God
bless all sober men from such a good. So the gamester feeleth the
sport do him good; but perhaps he is quickly made a beggar by it. It
is reason and faith, and not thy appetite or present feeling, that
must tell thee what and how much doth thee good.
_Object._ II. But I have heard some physicians say, that it is
wholesome to be drunk sometimes.
_Answ._ None but some sot, that had first drank away his own
understanding. I have known physicians that have been drunkards
themselves, and they have been apt to plead for their own vice; but they
quickly killed themselves, and all their skill could not save their
lives from the effects of their own bestiality; even as the knowledge
and doctrine of a wicked preacher will not save his soul, if he live
contrary to his profession. And what if the vomiting of a drunkard did
him some good with all the harm? Are there not easier, safer, lawfuller
means enough to do the same good without the harm? He is a brute
himself, and not a physician, that knoweth no better remedy than this.
But thy conscience telleth thee, this is but a false excuse.
_Object._ III. But I wrong nobody in my drink; the hurt is my own.
_Answ._ No thanks to thee if thou wrong nobody: but read over the former
aggravations, and then justify thyself in this if thou canst. It seems
thou makest nothing of wronging God by disobedience. But suppose it be
no one's hurt but thy own: dost thou hate thyself? is thy own hurt
nothing to thee? what! dost make nothing of the damning of thy own soul?
whom wilt thou love if thou hate thyself? It is the aggravation of this
sin, as well as fornication, 1 Cor. vi. 18, that it is against your own
bodies, and much more as against your own souls.
_Object._ IV. But I was but merry, I was not drunken.
_Answ._ It were well for you if God would stand to your names and
definitions, and take none for a sinner that taketh not himself for one.
There are several degrees of drunkenness short of the highest degree.
And if your reason was not disturbed, yet the excess of drink only, and
tippling, and gulosity, will prove a greater sin than you suppose.
_Object._ V. But I drink but a little; but my head is weak and a
little overturneth it.
_Answ._ If you know that beforehand, you are the more unexcusable,
that will not avoid that measure which you know you cannot bear. If
you knew that less poison will kill you than another, you would be
the more fearful of it, and not the less.
_Object._ VI. But I have a thirst upon me, and I take no more than
will quench it.
_Answ._ So the whoremonger saith, he hath a lust upon him, and he
taketh no more than will quench it. And the malicious man that beateth
you or undoes you, may say, that he hath a passion upon him, and he
taketh no more revenge on you than satisfieth it. But if you add
drunkenness to thirst, read your doom again, Deut. xxix. 19. If it be
a natural, moderate thirst, moderation will satisfy it; if it be a
diseased thirst, as in a fever or dropsy, the physician must direct
you in the cure; and small drink is fitter for a thirst than strong:
but if it be the thirst of a drunkard's raging appetite, that hath
been used to be pleased, and therefore is loth to be denied, you had
best quench it upon better and cheaper terms, than the displeasing God
and damning your souls; lest you find it more troublesome in the
flames of hell, to want a drop of water for your tongues, than it
would have been to have bridled a beastly appetite.[444] And lest you
then cry out as Lysimachus, when thirst forced him to yield to the
Scythians for a little drink, _Quam brevis voluptatis gratia, quantum
felicitatis amisi_! For how short a pleasure did I lose so great
felicity! Take heed of reasoning your souls into impenitence.
_Quest._ I. Is it not lawful to drink when we are thirsty, and know of
no harm that it is like to do us, seeing thirst telleth us what the
stomach needeth?
_Answ._ A beast may do so, that hath no higher faculty to guide him.
And a man may take in the consideration of his thirst to guide his
reason in judging of the due quantity and time; but not otherwise. A
man must never drink to please his appetite, either against reason, or
without it. And no man must so captivate his reason to sense, as to
think that his appetite is his principal rule or guide herein; nor be
so brutish as to know no otherwise what doth him good or hurt, but by
his present feeling; sometimes true reason may tell a man, that thirst
is a sign that drink is needful to his health, and then he may take
it. Sometimes (and commonly with blockish people) pleasing a thirst
may hurt their health, and they are so foolish that they do not know
it; either because they are ignorant of such things, or because their
appetite maketh them unwilling to believe it, till they feel it; and
because they judge only by the present effects: so a man may kill
himself with drinking cold drink in a heat, in some fevers, in a
dropsy, a cough, cachexy, &c. And excess doth insensibly vitiate the
blood, and heap up matter of many diseases which are incurable, before
the sot will believe that drinking when he was thirsty did him any
harm. If really it will do no harm, you may drink when you are thirsty
(because it will do good). But if it will quench natural heat and
hinder concoction, and breed diseases through unseasonableness, or ill
quality, or excess, it is neither your thirst, nor your sottish
ignorance of the hurt, that will excuse you from the sin, or prevent
the coughs, stone, gout, cholic, swellings, palsies, agues, fevers, or
death, which it will bring.
_Quest._ II. Is it not lawful to drink a health sometimes when it would
be ill-taken to refuse it, or to be uncovered while others drink it?
_Answ._ Distinguish between, 1. Drinking measurably as you need it,
and unmeasurably when you need it not. 2. Between the foreseen
effects; and doing it ordinarily, or when it will do hurt, or
extraordinarily, when it will more prevent hurt. And so I conclude,
1. It is unlawful to drink more than is good for your health, by the
provocation of other men.
2. It is unlawful to do that which tempteth and encourageth others to
drink too much. And so doth the custom of pledging healths, especially
when it is taken for a crime to deny it.
3. Therefore the ordinary pledging or drinking of such healths is
unlawful, because it is the scandalous hardening of others in their
sin unto their ruin.
4. But if we fall in among such furious beasts as would stab a man if
he did not drink a health, it is lawful to do it to save one's life,
as it is to give a thief my purse; because it is a sin not simply evil
of itself to drink that cup, but by accident, which a greater accident
may preponderate.
5. Therefore any other accident beside the saving of your life, which
will really preponderate the hurtful accident, may make it lawful; as
possibly in some cases and companies the offence given by denying it
may be such as will do more hurt far, than yielding would do. (As if a
malignant company would lay one's loyalty to the king upon it, &c.)
6. Christian prudence therefore (without carnal compliance) must be
always the present decider of the case, by comparing the good and evil
effects.
7. To be bare when others lay the honour of the king or superiors upon
it, is a ceremony that on the aforesaid reason may be complied with.
8. When to avoid a greater evil we are extraordinarily put on any such
ceremony, it is meet that we join such words (where we have liberty)
as may prevent the scandal, or hardening any present in sin.
9. And it is a duty to avoid the company which will put us upon such
inconveniences, as far as our calling will allow us.
V. But because it is the drunkard's heart or will that needs
persuasion, more than his understanding needs direction, I shall
before the directions yet endeavour his fuller conviction, if he will
but read, and consider soberly, (if ever he be sober,) these following
questions, and not leave them till he answer them to the satisfaction
of his own conscience.
_Quest._ I. Dost thou know that thou art a man? and what a man is?
Dost thou know that reason differenceth him from a beast that is ruled
by appetite and hath no reason? If thou do, let thy reason do its
office, and do not drown it, or set the beast above it.
_Quest._ II. Dost thou believe that there is a God that is the
Governor of the world, or not? If not, tell me how thou camest to be a
man? And how came thy tongue and palate to taste thy drink or meat,
any more than thy finger? Look on thy finger and on thy tongue, and
thou canst see no reason why one should taste and not the other? If
thou live in the midst of such a world, which he hath made and daily
governeth, and yet believest not that there is a God, thou art so much
worse already than drunk or mad, that it is no wonder if thou be a
drunkard. But if thou do believe indeed that there is a God, hear
further, thou stupid beast, and tremble! Is he the Governor of heaven
and earth, and is he not worthy to be the Governor of thee? Is all the
world at his disposal, and is he not worthy to dispose of thy throat
and appetite? Are crowns, and kingdoms, heaven, and hell, at his
disposal and will, and is he not worthy to be master of thy cup and
company? wilt thou say to him by thy practice, go rule sun and moon,
and rule all the world, except my appetite and my cup?
_Quest._ III. Dost thou verily believe that God is present with thee,
and seeth and heareth all that is done and said among you? If not,
thou believest not that he is God! For he that is absent, and
ignorant, and is not infinite, omnipresent, and omniscient, is not
God; and if God be not there, thou art not there thyself; for what can
uphold thee, and continue thy life, and breath, and being? But if thou
believe that God is present, darest thou drink on, and darest thou
before him waste thy time, in prating over a pot with thy companions?
_Quest._ IV. Tell me, dost thou believe that the holy Scripture is
true? If thou do not, no wonder if thou be a drunkard.[445] But if
thou do, remember that then it is true, that "drunkards shall not
inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor. vi. 10. And then mark what the
Scripture saith, Isa. xxi. 1, "Woe to the crown of pride, to the
drunkards of Ephraim." Hab. ii. 15, "Woe to him that giveth his
neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him and makest him drunk
also." Isa. v. 11, "Woe to them that rise up early in the morning that
they may follow strong drink, that continue till night till wine
inflame them: and the harp, and the viol, and the tabret, and the
pipe, and wine, are in their feasts, but they regard not the work of
the Lord, nor consider the operation of his hands." Ver. 22, "Woe unto
them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle
strong drink." Prov. xxxi. 4-6, "It is not for kings to drink wine,
nor for princes strong drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and
pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted: give strong drink to him
that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts."
See Amos vi. 6. Luke xxi. 34, "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any
time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and
cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." Rom.
xiii. 13, 14, "Not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to satisfy the lusts
thereof." Prov. xx. 1, "Wine is a mocker; strong drink is raging; and
whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Prov. xxiii. 29-32, "Who
hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling?
who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that
tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou
upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup,
when it moveth itself aright: at the last it biteth like a serpent,
and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and
thine heart shall utter perverse things: yea, thou shalt be as he that
lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top
of a mast." Hos. iv. 11, "Whoredom, and wine, and new wine take away
the heart." Joel i. 5, "Awake, ye drunkards, and weep and howl, all ye
drinkers of wine," &c. If thou do indeed believe the word of God, why
do not such passages make thee tremble?
_Quest._ V. Dost thou consider into how dangerous a case thou puttest
thyself when thou art drunk, or joinest thyself with drunkards? What
abundance of other sins thou art liable to? And in what peril thou art
of some present judgment of God? Even those examples in Scripture
which encourage thee should make thee tremble. To think that even a
Noah that was drunken but once, is recorded to his shame for a
warning unto others. How horrid a crime even Lot fell into by the
temptations of drunkenness! How Uriah was made drunk by a David to
have hid his sin! 2 Sam. xi. 13. How David's son Amnon, in God's just
revenge, was murdered by his brother Absalom's command, when "his
heart was merry with wine," 2 Sam. xiii. 28. How Nabal was stricken
dead by God after his drunkenness, 1 Sam. xxv. 36-38. How king Elah
was murdered as he was drinking himself drunk, 1 Sam. xvi. 9. And how
the terrible hand appeared writing upon the wall to king Belshazzar in
his carousing, to signify the loss of his kingdoms, and that very
night he was also slain, Dan. v. 1, 30. Thou seest God spareth not
kings themselves, that one would think might be allowed more pleasure:
and will he spare thee? Prov. xxxi. 4, 5, "It is not for kings to
drink wine, nor for princes strong drink;" and is it then for thee?
Mark the dreadful fruits of it even to the greatest. Hos. vii. 3-5,
"They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with
their lies: they are all adulterers as an oven heated--In the day of
our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine: he
stretched out his hand with scorners." Thou seest that be they great
or small, both soul and body are cast by tippling and drunkenness into
greater danger, than thou art in at sea in a raging tempest. Thou
puttest thyself in the way of the vengeance of God, and art not like
to escape it long.
_Quest._ VI. Didst thou ever measure thy sin by that strange kind of
punishment commanded by God against incorrigible gluttons and
drunkards? Deut. xxi. 18-21, "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious
son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his
mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken to
them: then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring
him out unto the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place; and
they shall say unto the elders of his 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,
that he die: so shalt thou put away evil from among you; and all
Israel shall hear, and fear." Surely gluttony and drunkenness are
heinous crimes, when a man's own father and mother were bound to bring
him to the magistrate to be put to death, if he will not be reformed
by their own correction. And you see here that youth is no excuse for
it, though now it is thought excusable in them.
_Quest._ VII. Dost thou think thy drink is too good to leave at God's
command? Or dost thou think that God doth grudge thee the sweetness of
it? or rather that he forbids it thee for thy good, that thou mayst
escape the hurt. And tell me, Dost thou love God better than thy drink
and pleasure, or dost thou not? If not, thy own conscience must needs
tell thee, (if thou have a conscience not quite seared,) that there is
no hope of thy salvation in that state: but if thou say, thou dost,
will God, or any wise man, believe thee, that thou lovest him better,
and wilt not be so far ruled by him, nor leave so small a matter for
his sake? 1 John v. 3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments, and his commandments are not grievous." So 2 John 6.
_Quest._ VIII. Dost thou remember that thy carcass must lie rotting in
the grave, and how loathsome a thing it must shortly be? And canst
thou make so great a matter of the present satisfying of so vile a
body, and dung the earth at so dear a rate?
_Quest._ IX. Wouldst thou have all thy friends and children do as
thou dost? If so, what would become of thy estate? It would be a mad
world if all were drunkards. Wouldst thou have thy wife a drunkard? If
she were, thou wouldst scarce be confident of her chastity. Wouldst
thou have thy servants drunkards? If they were, they might set thy
house on fire: and they would do thee little work, or do it so as it
were better be undone. Thy house would be a bedlam if all were
drunkards; and much worse than bedlam; for there are some wise men to
govern and correct the mad ones. But if thou like it not in wife, and
children, and servants, why dost thou continue it thyself? Art thou
not nearest to thyself? Dost thou love any others better than thyself?
Hadst thou rather thy own soul were damned than theirs? or canst thou
more easily endure it? I have wondered sometimes to observe some
drunkards very severe against the same sin in their children, and very
desirous to have them sober! But the reason is, because the sobriety
of their children is no trouble to them, nor puts them to deny the
pleasure of their appetites, as their own sobriety must do.
_Quest._ X. Wouldst thou have thy physician drunk when he should cure
thee of thy sickness? or thy lawyer drunk when he should plead thy
cause? or the judge when he should judge it? If not, why wilt thou be
drunken when thou shouldst serve thy God and mind the business of thy
soul? If thou wouldst not have thy servant be potting in an ale-house
when he should be about thy work, wilt thou sit potting and prating
there, when thou hast a thousand fold greater work to do for thy
everlasting happiness?
_Quest._ XI. If one do but lame or spoil thy beast, and make him unfit
for thy service, wouldst thou be pleased with it? And wilt thou unfit
thyself for the service of God, as if thy work were of less
concernment than thy beast's?
_Quest._ XII. Would it please you if your servants poured all that
drink in the channel? If not, I have before proved to thee that it
should displease thee more to pour it into thy belly: for thou wilt
find at last that it will hurt thee more.
_Quest._ XIII. What relish hath thy pleasant liquor the next day? Will
it then be any sweeter than wholesome abstinence? All the delight is
suddenly gone: there is nothing left but the slime in thy guts, and
the ulcer in thy conscience, which cannot be cured by all thy
treasure, nor palliated long by all thy pleasure. And canst thou value
much so short delights? As all thy sweet and merry cups are now no
sweeter than if they had been wormwood; so all the rest will quickly
come to the same end and relish. As Plato said of his slender supper,
compared to a rich man's feast, Yours seemeth better to-night, but
mine will be better to-morrow; so thy conscience telleth thee that
temperance and holy obedience will be better to-morrow, and better to
eternity, though gluttony and drunkenness seem better now.
_Quest._ XIV. Dost thou consider how dear thou payest for hell? and
buyest damnation at a harder rate than salvation might be attained at?
What shame doth it cost thee! What sickness is it like to cost thee!
What painful vomitings or worse dost thou undergo! How much dost thou
suffer in thy estate! And is hell worth all this ado?
_Quest._ XV. Dost thou not think in thy heart, that sober, temperate,
godly men do live a more quiet and comfortable life than thou, as well
as an honester and safer life? If thou do think so, why wilt thou not
imitate them? It is as free for thee to choose as them. If thou think
they do not, consider, that as they have none of thy forbidden cups,
so they have none of thy thirst or desire after them. Abstinence is
sweeter much to them.[446] They have none of thy sour belchings, or
vomitings, nor shame, nor danger, nor thy reckoning to pay. They have
none of thy gripes of conscience, and terrors under the guilt of such
a sin. They live in the love of God and the forethoughts of heaven,
while thou art in the alehouse. And dost thou not think in thy
conscience, that to a heart that is suited and sanctified thereto, it
is not a sweeter thing to live in the love of God, than in the love of
thy sensuality? Darest thou say (whatever thou thinkest) that God, and
heaven, and holiness are not so lovely and fit to be delighted in, as
a cup of wine or ale? Sure thou darest not say so! If it were for no
more than the different aspects of death and eternity to them and to
thee, I account thy life in the midst of thy pleasures incomparably
more sad than theirs. They look at death as at the time of hope, and
the day of their deliverance, as the assizes are to the innocent or
pardoned man: but thou lookest on death with terror, as the end of all
thy mirth, as the guilty malefactor thinketh on the assizes; or else
with senselessness or presumption, which is worse. They look unto
eternity as their endless, unspeakable felicity; and thou darest
scarce seriously think of it, without the delusory ease of unbelief or
of false hopes: thou darest not seriously look beyond death, unless
through the devil's cheating spectacles. I tell thee, a sober, godly
man would not have thy merry life (as thou accountest it) one day, for
all thy wealth, or for any worldly gain: he had rather lie in jail, or
sit in the stocks that while, than drink and swagger with thee. Keep
thy merriment to thyself, for no wise man or good man will be thy
partner. If thou wert their enemy, they would not wish thee so much
misery as thou choosest. As the story goeth of a confessor, that
hearing many confess the sin of drunkenness, would needs try himself
what pleasure was in it: and having vomited and slept it out, the next
drunkard that came to him in confession, he appointed him for penance
to be drunk again, and told him, he need no sharper penance.
_Quest._ XVI. How cometh it to pass that thy very pride doth not cure
thy drunkenness?[447] Pride is so natural and deep-rooted a sin, that
I dare say thou hast not overcome it, if thou have not overcome thy
sensuality. And is thy credit no more worth with thee? wilt thou for a
cup of drink be made the talk of the country, the scorn of the town,
the sport and laughing-game of boys, and the pity of sober persons? If
thou be a great man among them, and they dare not speak it to thy
face, and thou hearest not what they say of thee, yet in private they
make bold with thy name, to talk of thee as of a filthy beast. Canst
thou think that sober men do honour thee? What honour may accidentally
be due to thee from thy place, is another matter; but thou takest a
course to keep them from honouring thee for thy worth, and dost thy
worst to bring thy rank and place into contempt. It is said that in
Spain a drunkard is not allowed for a witness against any man: and
sure he is not a credible person. Regard thy reputation if thou carest
not for thy soul.
_Quest._ XVII. Dost thou not love the flesh itself which thou so much
pamperest? If thou do, why wilt thou drown it, and choke it up with
phlegm and filth? Ask physicians whether drunkenness be wholesome.
Mark how many drunkards live to be old: _Ennius podagricus_, is a
proverb. The sickness is longer than the sweetness of thy cup. If
thou fearest not hell, fear the consumption, gout, or dropsy.
_Quest._ XVIII. Why shouldst thou not take more pleasure in the
company of thy family, and in the company of people fearing God, that
worship him in truth of heart, and will do their best to help to save
thee? Canst thou give any reason for it, why such company should not
be more pleasant to thee than thy pot companions? and why it should
not be pleasanter to talk of the way to heaven, and the pardon of sin,
and the love of Christ, and of eternal happiness, than to prate a deal
of idle nonsense in an alehouse? There is no reason for it but thy
filthy mind, that is suitable to vanity and sin, and unsuitable to all
that is wise and holy.
_Quest._ XIX. What if thou shouldst die in a drunken fit? Wouldst thou
not thyself take thy case to be desperate or dangerous? Why, it may be
so for aught thou knowest; it hath been the case of many a one. But if
it be not so, yet to die a drunkard is as certain damnation, as to die
in drunkenness. If the guilt of the sin be on thee, it is all one when
it was committed, whether lately or long ago; for unpardoned sin is
most sure damnation; and it is certainly unpardoned, till it be truly
repented of; and it is not repented of if it be not forsaken: and then
bethink thee how thou wilt review these days, and what thoughts thou
wilt then have of thy cups and company!
_Quest._ XX. Art thou willing to part with thy sin, or art thou not?
Speak, man; art thou willing? If thou be not willing, bear witness
against thyself that thou dost not repent of it, and that thou art not
forgiven it; and therefore that thou art at present a slave of the
devil, and if thou die so, as sure to be damned as thou art alive.
Bear witness that thou wast not kept from grace, and consequently from
heaven, against thy will, but by thy wilful refusal of it; and that it
was not because thou couldst not be saved, that thou goest to hell,
but because thou wouldst not. Sure even now thou canst not have the
face to deny any of this, if thou confess that thou art not willing to
amend. Take thy will in sin, if God's will must be violated, which
tendered thee mercy, and commanded thee to accept it; but be sure that
God will have his will in punishing thee.
But I suppose thou wilt say, that thou art willing to amend and leave
thy sin, but thou canst not do it because flesh is frail, and company
is tempting, and God giveth thee not grace; willing thou art, but yet
unable. But stay a little! God will not so let thee carry it, and
smooth over thy wickedness with a lie. Thy meaning, if thou speak out,
is not that thou art willing, presently and heartily willing, to
forsake thy sin, but only that thou wouldst be willing, if the drink
and the devil did not tempt thee. And so thou wilt be willing to love
God and be saved, when nothing shall tempt thee to the contrary! And
wouldst thou thank thy wife for such a willingness to forsake
adultery, when nobody will tempt her to it? or thy servant to do thy
work, when he hath nothing to tempt him to idleness or neglect? Judge
by this what thanks thou deservest of God for such a willingness. But
dally not with God, and mock not thy conscience, but speak to the
question, Art thou willing to give over thy company and tippling, from
this day forward, or art thou not? Take heed what thou sayest. If thou
say, No, God may say, Nay, to all thy cries for mercy in the day of
thy misery and distress; but if still thou say that thou art willing,
but not able, I will convince thee of thy falsehood.
_Quest._ I. Tell me then, what force is used to make thee sin against
thy will? Wast thou carried to the alehouse, or didst thou go thyself?
Wast thou gagged and drenched? Was it poured down thy throat by
violence; or didst thou take the cup and pour it down thyself? Who was
the man that held open thy mouth and poured it in? Nay, if it had been
thus, it had not been thy sin; for no will, no sin. Or did they set a
sword or pistol to thy breast, and so force thee to it? If they had,
that had not proved thee unwilling, but only that they forced thee to
be willing; and their force is no excuse: for God threatened hell, and
thou shouldst have feared that most.
_Quest._ II. Didst thou love the drink, or loathe it when thou wast
drinking it? Didst thou love it against thy will, when love and
willingness are all one?
_Quest._ III. Wilt thou forbear the next time till thou art carried to
it, and till it is forcibly poured down with a horn? If not, confess
it is thy will.
_Quest._ IV. Couldst thou not forbear, if the judge or the king stood
by? And canst thou not forbear when God stands by? If thou wilt thou
canst.
_Quest._ V. Couldst thou not forbear, if thou wert sure to be put to
death for it? if the law hanged all drunkards, and the hangman were at
thy back? Surely thou couldst. And canst thou not then forbear if thou
wilt, when God hath made it worse than hanging, and when death is
coming to fetch thee to execution?
_Quest._ VI. Couldst thou not forbear it in sickness, if thy physician
required it, and told thee, if thou drink, it will be thy death? I
doubt not but thou couldst: if not, thou art very unworthy to live,
that canst not deny thyself a cup of drink for the saving of thy life.
And thou art as unworthy to be saved, if thou wilt not do that to save
thy soul, which thou wouldst do to save thy present life.
_Quest._ VII. Yea, couldst thou not forbear if it were to save the
life of thy wife, or child, or friend, or neighbour? If thou knewest
that forbearing thy forbidden cup would save the life of any one of
them, couldst thou not, nay, wouldst thou not do it? If not, thou
tellest the world what a husband, what a father, what a friend, and
what a neighbour thou art, that wouldst not forbear a cup of drink to
save a friend or neighbour's life. I should think thee an unworthy
friend, if thou wouldst not do that much at thy friend's request,
though there were no such necessity lay upon it. If this be so, I will
never take a drunkard for my friend; for he would not forbear a cup of
drink for my sake, no, not if it were to save my life. If thou say,
God forbid, I would do more than that, why then didst thou say, Thou
canst not forbear? Mark how thy tongue reproves thy falsehood. And
canst thou not do that for thy own soul, which thou couldst do for the
life, or at the request of a friend or neighbour?
_Quest._ VIII. Couldst thou not forbear if it were to get a lordship
or a kingdom? yea, to save thy own estate, if it were all in danger,
and this would save it? I doubt not but thou couldst. Why then dost
thou say thou canst not do it?
_Quest._ IX. If thou wert certain that thou wast to die to-morrow,
wouldst thou be drunk to-night? Or if thou wert sure to die within
this week or month, wouldst thou be drunk ere then? I do not believe
thou wouldst: fear would so long shut thy mouth. Thou seest then that
thou canst forbear if thou wert but willing, and wert but awaked out
of thy stupidity and folly.
_Quest._ X. What if thou wert sure that there were an ounce of arsenic
or other such poison in the cup? couldst thou not then forbear it?
Yes, no doubt of it: it is plain therefore that thou speakest falsely,
when thou sayst that thou canst not. And is not God's wrath and curse
in thy cup much worse than poison?
_Quest._ XI. What if thou sawest the devil standing by thee and offering
thee the cup, and persuading thee to drink it, couldst thou not then
forbear? Yes, no doubt of it: and is he not as certainly there tempting
thee, as if thou sawest him? Well, the matter is proved against thee to
thy own conscience, that if thou wilt forbear, thou canst.
_Quest._ XII. But yet if thou canst not, bethink thee whether thou
canst better bear the pains of hell? For God is not in jest with thee
in his threatenings. If thy thirst be harder to bear than hell, then
choose that which is easiest to thee: but remember hereafter that thou
hadst thy choice.
Yet, art thou willing to let go thy sin? (for I am sure thou art able
so far as thou art willing). I will take thy case to be as it is; that
is, that thou hast some half, uneffectual willingness, or lazy wish
which will not conquer a temptation; and that thou art sometimes in a
little better mood than at other times, and that thou lovest thy sin,
and therefore wouldst not leave it if thou couldst choose, but thou
lovest not hell, and therefore hast some thoughts of parting with thy
cups against thy will, for fear of punishment. These wishes and
purposes will never save thee: it must be a renewed nature, loving
God, and hating the sin, that must make thee capable of salvation. But
yet in the mean time it is necessary that thou forbear thy sin, though
it be but through fear; for thou canst not expect else that the Holy
Ghost should renew thy nature. Therefore I will give thee directions
how to forbear thy sin most surely and easily, if thou be but willing,
and withal to promote thy willingness itself with the performance.
_Practical Directions against Tippling and Drunkenness._
_Direct._ I. Write over thy bed and thy chamber door, where thou mayst
read it every morning before thou goest forth, some text of holy
Scripture that is fit to be thy memorandum: as 1 Cor. vi. 10,
"Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God;" and Rom. viii. 13,
"If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if by the Spirit you
mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live:" and read it before
thou goest out of thy doors.
_Direct._ II. Also fall down on thy knees to God, and earnestly beg of
him to keep thee that day from temptations, and ill company, and from
all thy fleshly desires and excess; and especially that he would renew
thy nature, and give thee a hatred of the sin.
_Direct._ III. Keep thyself in the constant employments of thy
calling, and spend not one quarter of an hour in idleness, and allow
not leisure to thy thoughts, so much as to think of thy drink and
pleasures; much less to thy body to follow it. God hath commanded
thee, whoever thou art, to labour six days, and in the sweat of thy
brows to eat thy bread, and hath forbidden idleness and negligence in
thy calling: avoid this, and it will help thee much.
_Direct._ IV. Reckon not upon long life, but think how quickly death
will come, and that for aught thou knowest thou mayst die that day;
and how dreadful a case it would prove to thee, to be found among
tipplers, or to die before thou art truly converted. Think of this
before thou goest out of thy doors; and think of it as thou art going
to the alehouse: look on the cup and the grave together: the dust of
those bones will be wholesome spice to thee. Remember when thou seest
the wine, or ale, how unlike it is to that black and loathsome liquor
which thy blood and humours will be turned into when thou art dead.
Remember that the hand that taketh the cup, must shortly be scattered
bones and dust; and the mouth that drinketh it down, must shortly be
an ugly hole; and the palate, and stomach, and brain that are
delighted by it, must shortly be stinking puddle: and that the graves
of drunkards are the field or garden of the devil, where corpses are
sowed to rise at the resurrection to be fuel for hell.
_Direct._ V. When thou art tempted to the alehouse, call up thy
reason, and remember that there is a God that seeth thee, and will
judge thee, and that thou hast an endless life of joy or torment
shortly to possess, and that thou hast sinned thus too long already,
and that without sound repentance thy case is desperate, and that thou
art far from true repentance while thou goest on in sin. Ask thyself,
Have I not sinned long enough already? Have I not long enough abused
mercy? Shall I make my case remediless, and cast away all hope? Doth
not God stand by, and see and hear all? Am I not stepping by death
into an endless world? Think of these things, and use thy reason, if
thou be a man, and hast reason to use.
_Direct._ VI. Exercise thyself daily in repenting for what is past;
and that will preserve thee for the time to come. Confess thy former
sin to God with sorrow, and beg forgiveness of it with tears and
groans. If thou make light of all that is past, thou art prepared to
commit more. Think as thou goest about thy work, how grievously thou
hast sinned against thy knowledge and conscience; in the sight of God;
against all his mercies; and how obstinately thou hast gone on, and
how unthankfully thou hast rejected mercy, and neglected Christ, and
refused grace. Think what had become of thee, if thou hadst died in
this case; and how exceedingly thou art beholden to the patience of
God, that he cut thee not off, and cast thee not into hell, and that
he hath provided and offered thee a Saviour, and is yet willing to
pardon and accept thee through his Son, if thou wilt but resolvedly
return, and live in faith and holiness. These penitent thoughts and
exercises will kill thy sin and cure thee. Fast and humble thyself for
what thou hast done already: as the holy apostle saith, 1 Pet. iv.
1-5, "Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm
yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest
of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will
of the gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of
wine, revellings, banquetings, abominable idolatries, wherein they
think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of
riot, speaking evil of you: who shall give account to him that is
ready to judge the quick and the dead."
_Direct._ VII. Keep from the place and company: Eph. v. 7, 11, "Be not
partakers with them. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them." Thou canst not deny but thou art
able to do this if thou wilt. Canst thou not stay at home and come not
near them? If thou be willing to escape, run not into the snare.
_Direct._ VIII. Stop at the first cup: be not drawn on by little and
little: as the sluggard saith, Yet a little more sleep; so the
drunkard saith, Yet a little more drink; I will take but one cup more.
Understand thy due measure, that thou mayst know what is excess: to an
ordinary healthful body, that doth not very much labour and sweat, a
quart in a day is enough; to cold and phlegmatic persons it is too
much: the old rule was, _Prima ad sitim, secunda ad hilaritatem,
tertia ad voluptatem, quarta ad insaniam_: The first cup is for
thirst, the second for mirth, the third for sensual pleasure, the
fourth for madness. Especially you that have drunk too much so long,
should rather drink less than other men: your souls require it for
penitence and for prevention; your bodies require it, to cure the
crudities already heaped up.
_Direct._ IX. Avoid the tempting ceremonies of drunkards, such as
drinking healths, or urging others to pledge them, or drink more.
Plutarch saith, that when Agesilaus was made the master of a feast,
and was to prescribe the laws for drinking, his law was, If there be
wine enough, give every one what he asketh for; if not enough, divide
it equally; by which means none were tempted or urged to drink, and
the intemperate were ashamed to ask for more than others. As among
witches, so among drunkards, the devil hath his laws and ceremonies,
and it is dangerous to practise them.
_Direct._ X. Go to thy sinful companions to their houses, and tell
them plainly and seriously that thou repentest of what thou hast done
already, and that thou art ashamed to remember it; and that now thou
perceivest that there is a righteous God, and a day of judgment, and
an endless punishment to be thought on, and that thou art resolved
thou wilt be voluntarily mad no more; and that thou wilt not sell thy
soul and Saviour for a merry cup; and beseech them for the sake of
Christ, and of their souls, to join with thee in repentance and
reformation; but let them know, that if they will not, thou comest to
take thy leave of them, and art resolved thou wilt no more be their
companion in sin, lest thou be their companion in hell. If thou art
willing indeed to repent and be saved, do this presently and plainly;
and stick not at their displeasure or reproach: if thou wilt not, say
thou wilt not, and say no more thou canst not; but say, I will keep my
sin and be damned: for that is the English of it.
_Direct._ XI. Suppose when the cup of excess is offered thee, that
thou sawest these words, sin and hell, written upon the cup, and
sawest the devil offering it thee, and urging thee to drink, and
sawest Christ bleeding on the cross, and calling to thee, O drink not
that which costeth so dear a price as my blood! Strongly imprint this
supposition on thy mind: and it is not unreasonable; for certainly sin
is in thy cup, and hell is next to sin; and it is the devil that puts
thee on, and it is Christ unseen that would dissuade thee.
_Direct._ XII. Suppose that there were mortal poison in the cup that
is offered thee: ask thyself, Would I drink it if there were poison in
it? If not, why should I drink it when sin is in it, and hell is near
it? and the supposition is not vain. It is written of Cyrus, that when
Astyages observed that at a feast he drank no wine, and asked him the
reason, he answered, because he thought there was poison in the cup,
for he had observed some that drunk out of it, lost their speech or
understanding, and some of them vomited, and therefore he feared it
would poison him: however, it is poison to the soul.
_Direct._ XIII. Look soberly upon a drunken man, and think whether that
be a desirable plight for a wise man to put himself into. See how
ill-favouredly he looks, with heavy eyes, and a slabbering mouth,
stinking with drink or vomit, staggering, falling, spewing, bawling,
talking like a mad-man, pitied by wise men, hooted at by boys, and madly
reeling on towards hell. And withal look upon some wise and sober man,
and see how composed and comely is his countenance and gesture; how wise
his words, how regular his actions, how calm his mind; envied by the
wicked, but reverenced by all that are impartial. And then bethink thee
which of these it is better to be like. Saith Basil, Drunkenness makes
men sleep like the dead, and wake like the sleeping. It turneth a man
into a useless, noisome, filthy, hurtful, and devouring beast.
_Direct._ XIV. If all this will not serve turn, if thou be but
willing, I can teach thee a cheap restraint, and tell thee of a
medicine that is good against drunkenness and excess. Resolve that
after every cup of excess thou wilt drink a cup of the juice of
wormwood, or of carduus, or centaury, or germander; at least, as soon
as thou comest home and growest wiser, that this shall be thy penance;
and hold on this course but a little while, and thy appetite will
rather choose to be without the drink, than to bear the penance. Do
not stick at it; if thy reason be not strong enough for a manly cure,
drench thyself like a beast, and use such a cure as thou art capable
of; and in time it may bring thee to be capable of a better. And I can
assure thee, a bitter draught is a very cheap remedy to prevent a sin.
_Direct._ XV. If all this will not serve, I have yet another remedy if
thou be but willing: confess thyself unfit to govern thyself, and give
up thyself to the government of some other; thy wife, thy parents, or
thy friend. And here these things are to be done: 1. Engage thy wife,
or friend, to watch over thee, and not to suffer thee to go to the
alehouse, nor to drink more than is profitable to thy health. 2.
Deliver thy purse to them, and keep no money thyself. 3. Drink no more
at home but what they give thee, and leave it to them to judge what
measure is best for thee. 4. When thou art tempted to go to the
alehouse, tell thy wife or friend, that they may watch thee. Even as
thou wouldst call for help if thieves were robbing thee. 5. Give leave
to thy wife or friend to charge the ale-sellers to give thee no drink;
and go thyself when thou art in thy right mind, and charge them
thyself to give thee none; and tell them that thou art not thyself, or
in thy right wits, when thou desirest it. If these means seem now too
hard to thee, and thou wilt sin on, and venture upon the wrath and
curse of God and upon hell, rather than thou wilt use them, remember
hereafter that thou wast damned because thou wouldst be damned, and
that thou chosest the way to hell to escape these troubles, and take
that thou gettest by it; but do not say, thou couldst not help it, for
I am sure thou canst do this if thou wilt. Thou wilt lock thy door
against thieves; lock thy mouth also against a more dangerous thief,
that would rob thee of thy reason and salvation. Saith Basil, If his
master do but box or beat his servant, he will run away from the
strokes; and wilt thou not run away from the drink that would break
thy brains and understanding?
_Direct._ XVI. But the saving remedy is this, study the love of God in
Christ, and the riches of grace, and the eternal glory promised to
holy souls, till thou be in love with God, and heaven, and holiness,
and hast found sweeter pleasure than thy excess, and then thou wilt
need no more directions. Read Eph. v. 18.