The heinous Sin of Drunkenness.
EPHESIANS v. 18.
_Be not drunk with Wine, wherein is Excess; but be filed with
the Spirit._
THE persons to whom these words were written, were the inhabitants of
_Ephesus_, as we are told in the _Acts_, had been ♦worshippers of the
great goddess _Diana_, and, in all probability, worshipped the God
_Bacchus_ also; at the celebration of whose festivals, it was always
customary, nay, part of their religion, to get drunk; as though there
was no other way to please their God, but by turning themselves into
brutes.
♦ “worshipppers” replaced with “worshippers”
The apostle therefore in this chapter, amongst many other precepts more
especially applicable to them, lays down this in the text; and exhorts
them, as they had now, by the free grace of GOD, been turned from
heathenish darkness to the light of the gospel, to walk as children of
light, and no longer make it part of their religion or practice to be
“drunk with wine, wherein is excess;” but, on the contrary, strive to
“be filled with the Spirit” of that Saviour, after whose name they were
called, and whose religion taught them to abstain from a filthy sin,
and to live soberly as they ought to live.
The world being now christian, and the doctrines of the gospel every
where received, one would imagine, there should be no reason for
repeating the precept now before us. But alas, christians! I mean
christians falsely so called, are led captive by all sin in general,
and by this of drunkenness in particular; that was St. _Paul_ to rise
again from the dead, he might be tempted to think most of us were
turned back to the worship of dumb idols; had set up temples in honour
of _Bacchus_; and made it part of our religion, as the _Ephesians_ did
of theirs, “to be drunk with wine, wherein is excess.”
Some of our civil magistrates have not been wanting to use the power
given them from above, for the punishment and restraint of such evil
doings; and I wish it could be said this plague of drinking, by what
they have done, had been stayed amongst us. But alas! though their
labour, we trust, has not been altogether in vain in the LORD, yet
thousands, and I could almost say ten thousands, fall daily at our
right-hand, by this sin of drunkenness, in our streets; nay, men seem
to have made a covenant with hell, and though the power of the civil
magistrate is exerted against them, nay, though they cannot but daily
see the companions of their riot hourly, by this sin, brought to the
grave, yet “they will rise up early to follow strong drink, and cry,
To-morrow shall be as to-day, and so much the more abundantly; when we
awake, we will seek it yet again.”
It is high time therefore, for thy ministers, O GOD, to lift up their
voices like a trumpet; and since human threats cannot prevail, to set
before them the terrors of the LORD, and try if these will not persuade
them to cease from the evil of their doings.
But alas! how shall I address myself to them? I fear excess of
drinking has made them such mere _Nabals_, that there is no speaking
to them. And many of GOD’s servants have toiled all their life-time in
dissuading them from this sin of drunkenness, yet they will not forbear.
However, at thy command, I will speak also, though they be a rebellious
house. Magnify thy strength, O LORD, in my weakness, and grant that
I may speak with such demonstration of the Spirit, and power, that
from henceforward they may cease to act so unwisely, and this sin of
drunkenness may not be their ruin.
Believe me, ye unhappy men of _Belial_, (for such, alas! this sin has
made you) it is not without the strongest reasons, as well as utmost
concern for your precious and immortal souls, that I now conjure you,
in the Apostle’s words, “Not to be drunk with wine, or any other liquor,
wherein is excess.” For,
_First_, Drunkenness is a sin which must be highly displeasing
to GOD; because it is an abuse of his good creatures.
When GOD first made man, and had breathed into him the breath of
life, he gave him dominion over the works of his hands; and every herb
bearing seed, and every tree, in which was the fruit of a tree yielding
seed, to him was given for meat: but when _Adam_ had tasted the
forbidden fruit, which was the only restraint laid upon him, he
forfeited this privilege, and had no right, after he had disobeyed
his Creator, to the use of any one of the creatures.
But, blessed be GOD, this charter, as well as all other privileges, is
restored to us by the death of the second _Adam_, our LORD and Master
JESUS CHRIST. Of every beast of the field, every fish of the sea, and
whatsoever flieth in the air, or moveth on the face of the earth, that
is fit for food, “we may freely eat,” without scruple take and eat;
but then, with this limitation, that we use them moderately. For GOD,
by the death of JESUS, has given no man license to be intemperate; but,
on the contrary, has laid us under the strongest obligations to live
soberly, as well as godly, in this present world.
But the drunkard, despising the goodness and bounty of GOD, in
restoring to us what we had so justly forfeited, turns his grace into
wantonness; and as though the creature was not of itself enough subject
to vanity, by being cursed for our sake, he abuses it still more,
by making it administer to his lusts; and turns that wine which was
intended to make glad his heart, into a deadly poison.
But thinkest thou, O drunkard, whosoever thou art, thou shalt escape
the righteous judgment of GOD? No, the time will shortly come that thou
must be no longer steward, and then the Sovereign LORD of all the earth
will reckon with thee for thus wasting his goods. Alas! wilt thou then
wrest scripture any longer to thy own damnation? And because JESUS
CHRIST turned water into wine at the marriage-feast, to supply the
wants of his indigent host, say, that it is therefore meet to make
merry, and be drunken. No, thou shalt be silent before him; and know,
that though thou hast encouraged thyself in drunkenness by such-like
arguments, yet for all these things GOD will bring thee into judgment.
But,
_Secondly_, What makes drunkenness more exceedingly sinful, is,
that a man, by falling into it, sinneth against his own body.
When the apostle would dissuade the _Corinthians_ from fornication,
he urges this as an argument, “Flee fornication, brethren; for he that
committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body.” And may not I as
justly cry out, Flee drunkenness, my brethren, since he that committeth
that crime, sinneth against his own body? For, from whence come so many
diseases and distempers in your bodies? Come they not from hence, even
from your intemperance in drinking? Who hath pains in the head? Who
hath rottenness in the bones? Who hath redness of eyes? He that tarries
long at the wine, he that rises early to seek new wine. How many
walking skeletons have you seen, whose bodies were once exceeding fair
to look upon, fat and well-favoured; but, by this sin of drinking, how
has their beauty departed from them, and how have they been permitted
to walk to and fro upon the earth, as though GOD intended to set them
up, as he did _Lot_’s wife, for monuments of his justice, that others
might learn not to get drunk? Nay, I appeal to yourselves: are not many,
for this cause, even now sickly among you? And have not many of your
companions, whom you once saw so flourishing, like green bay trees,
been brought by it with sorrow to their graves?
We might, perhaps, think ourselves hardly dealt with by GOD, was he
to send us, as he did the royal Psalmist, to choose one plague out of
three, whereby we should be destroyed. But had the Almighty decreed
to cut off man from the face of the earth, and to shorten his days,
he could not well send a more effectual plague, than to permit men, as
they pleased, to over-charge themselves with drunkenness; for though it
be a slow, yet it is a certain poison. And if the sword has slain its
thousands, drunkenness has slain its ten thousands.
And will not this alarm you, O ye transgressors? Will not this persuade
you to spare yourselves, and to do your bodies no harm? What, have
you lost the first principles of human nature, the fundamental law of
self-preservation? You seem to have a great fondness for your bodies;
why, otherwise, to gratify the inordinate appetites, do you drink to
excess? But surely, if you truly loved them, you would not thus destroy
them; and was there no other argument to be urged against drunkenness,
the consideration that it will destroy those lives you are so fond of,
one would imagine, should be sufficient.
I know, indeed, that it is a common answer, which drunkards make to
those, who, out of love, would pull them as firebrands out of the
fire, we are no body’s enemy but our own. But this, instead of being
an excuse for, is an aggravation of their guilt: for (not to mention
that the drunkenness of one man has cloathed many a family with rags,
and that it is scarce possible for a person to be drunk, without
tempting his neighbour also) not to mention these, and many other ill
consequences, which would prove such an excuse to be entirely false:
yet what is dearer to a man than himself? And if he himself be lost,
what would all the whole world avail him? But how wilt thou stand, O
man, before the judgment-seat of CHRIST, and make such an excuse, when
thou shalt be arraigned before him as a self-murderer? Will it then be
sufficient, thinkest thou, to say, I was no man’s enemy but my own? No;
GOD will then tell thee, that thou oughtest to have glorified him with
thy spirit, and with thy body, which were his; and since thou hast,
by intemperance, destroyed thy body, he will destroy both thy body and
soul in hell. But,
_Thirdly_, What renders drunkenness more inexcusable, is, that
it robs a man of his reason.
Reason is the glory of a man; the chief thing whereby GOD has made
us to differ from the brute creation. And our modern unbelievers have
exalted it to such a high degree, as even to set it in opposition to
revelation, and so deny the LORD that bought them. But though, in doing
this, they greatly err, and whilst they profess themselves wise, become
real fools; yet we must acknowledge, that reason is the candle of the
LORD, and whosoever puts it out, shall bear his punishment, whosoever
he be.
But yet, this the drunkard does. _Nebuchadnezzar_’s curse he makes his
choice, his reason departeth from him; and then what is he better than
a brute?
The very heathen kings were so sensible of this, that, in order to
deter their young princes from drinking, they used to make their slaves
get drunk, and be exposed before them. And didst thou but see thine
own picture, O drunkard, when, after having drowned thy reason, thou
staggerest to and fro, like one of the fools in _Israel_, and seest thy
very companions making songs upon thee, surely thou wouldst not return
to thy vomit again, but abhor thyself in dust and ashes!
When _David_, in a holy ecstacy, was dancing before the ark, _Michal_,
_Saul_’s daughter, despised him in her heart; and when he came home,
she said, “How glorious was the king of _Israel_ to-day, who uncovered
himself to-day in the eyes of the hand-maids of his servants, as one
of the vain fellows shamelesly uncovereth himself.” But may not every
one that meets a drunkard, more justly say, How glorious does he, that
was made a little lower than the angels, look to-day, when, unmindful
of his dignity, he has by drinking robbed himself of his reason, and
reduced himself to a level with the beasts that perish.
But what if GOD, in the midst of one of these drunken fits, should
arrest thee by death, and say unto thee, “Thou fool, this moment shall
thy soul be required of thee.” O! how wouldst thou appear in those
filthy garments before that GOD, in whose sight the heavens are not
clean. And how knowest thou, O man, but this may be thy lot? Hast thou
not known many summoned at such an unguarded hour? and what assurance
hast thou, that thou shalt not be the next? Because GOD has forborn
thee so long, thinkest thou he will forbear always? No, this is rather
a sign that he will come at an hour thou lookest not for him; and since
his goodness and long-suffering has not led thee to repentance, he will
cut thee down, and not permit thee to cumber the ground any longer.
Consider this then, all ye that count it a pleasure to turn yourselves
into brutes, lest GOD pluck you away by a sudden death, and there be
none to deliver you.
_Fourthly_, There is a farther aggravation of this crime, that
it is an inlet to, and forerunner of many other sins; for it
seldom comes alone.
We may say of drunkenness, as _Solomon_ does of strife, that it is like
the letting out of water; for we know not what will be the end thereof.
Its name is _Legion_; behold a troop of sins cometh after it. And,
for my own part, when I see a drunkard, with the holy Prophet, when he
looked in _Hazael_’s face, I can hardly forbear weeping, to consider
how many vices he may fall into, ere he comes to himself again.
What horrid incest did righteous _Lot_ commit with his own daughters,
when they had made him drunk? And, I doubt not, but there are many
amongst you, who have committed such crimes when you have deprived
yourselves of your reason by drinking, that were you to hear of them,
your heart, like _Nabal_’s, after he was told how he had abused _David_
when he was drunk, would die within you. And, had any one told you,
when you were sober, that you would have been guilty of such crimes,
you would have cried out, with _Hazael_ before-mentioned, “Are thy
servants so many dogs, that they should do thus?”
But no marvel that drunkards commit such crimes; for drunkenness drives
the Holy Spirit from them; they become mere machines for the devil to
work up to what he pleases; he enters into them, as he entered into the
herd of swine; and no wonder if they then commit all uncleanness, and
any other crime, with greediness. But this leads me to a
_Fifth_ consideration, which highly aggravates the sin of
drunkenness, it separates the Holy Spirit from us.
It is to be hoped, that no one here present need be informed, that
before we can be assured we are christians indeed, we must receive
the Holy Ghost, must be born again from above, and have the Spirit of
GOD witnessing with our spirits, that we are the sons of GOD. This,
this alone is true christianity; and without the cohabitation of this
blessed Spirit in our hearts, our righteousness does not exceed the
righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and we shall in no wise
enter into the kingdom of GOD.
But now, drunkards do in effect bid this blessed Spirit to depart from
them: for what has he to do with such filthy swine? They have no lot or
share in the Spirit of the Son of _David_. They have chased him out of
their hearts, by defiling his temple; I mean their bodies. And he can
no more hold communion with them, than light can have communion with
darkness, or CHRIST have concord with _Belial_.
The apostle, therefore, in the words of the text, exhorts the
_Ephesians_, “not to be drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but to be
filled with the Spirit;” thereby implying, that drunkenness and the
Spirit of GOD could never dwell in the same heart. And in another
epistle, he bids them to avoid unprofitable conversation, as a thing
which grieved the Holy Spirit: whereby alone they could be sealed to
the day of redemption. And if unprofitable conversation grieves the
Holy Spirit, at what an infinite distance must drunkenness drive him
from the hearts of men?
O that you were wise! that you would consider what a dreadful thing it
is to have the Spirit of the living GOD depart from you! for, assure
yourselves, if you live without him, you will live without GOD in the
world. You are in the same miserable forlorn condition as _Saul_ was,
when an evil spirit of the LORD came upon him; and you are only so many
vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. But this brings me to a
_Sixth_ reason against the sin of drunkenness; it absolutely
unfits a man for the enjoyment of GOD in heaven, and exposes
him to his eternal wrath.
To see and enjoy GOD, and to be like the blessed angels; always
beholding the face of our heavenly Father, in the glories of his
kingdom, is such an unspeakable happiness, that even wicked men, though
they will not live the life of the righteous, cannot but wish their
future state to be like his.
But think you, O ye drunkards, that you shall ever be partakers of this
inheritance with the saints in light? Do you flatter yourselves, that
you, who have made them often the subject of your drunken songs, shall
now be exalted to sing with them the heavenly songs of _Sion_? No, as
by drunkenness you have made your hearts cages of unclean birds, with
impure and unclean spirits must you dwell.
A burning _Tophet_, kindled by GOD’s wrath, is prepared for your
reception, where you must suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, and in
vain cry out for a drop of water to cool your tongues. Indeed you shall
drink, but it shall be a cup of GOD’s fury: for in the hand of the
LORD there will be a cup of fury, it will be full mixed; and as for the
dregs thereof, all the drunkards of the land shall suck them out.
But perhaps you may not believe this report. These words may be looked
upon by you as idle tales, and I may seem to you as _Lot_ did to his
sons-in-law, when he came to warn them to get up out of _Sodom_, “as
one that mocketh.” But if you believe not me, believe eternal truth
itself, which has positively declared, that no drunkard shall ever
enter into his kingdom.
And I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that as
surely as the LORD rained fire and brimstone, as soon as _Lot_ went
out of _Sodom_, so surely will GOD cast you into a lake of fire and
brimstone, when he shall come to take vengeance on them that know not
GOD, and have not obeyed the gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Behold then I have told you before; remember, that you this day were
informed what the end of drunkenness would be. And I summon you, in
the name of that GOD whom I serve, to meet me at the judgment-seat of
CHRIST, that you may acquit both my Master and me; and confess, with
your own mouths, that your damnation was of yourselves, and that we are
free from the blood of you all.
But, LORD, has no one believed our report? Wilt thou suffer so many
words to be spoken in vain, if it be yet in vain? No, methinks I see
some pricked to the heart, and ready to cry out, in the language of
_David_ to _Abigail_, “Blessed be the LORD GOD of _Israel_, which sent
thee this day to speak unto us.” For surely, unless he had sent thee,
this sin of drunkenness had been our ruin: but now, since we find
whither it will lead us, we are resolved to drink no liquor to excess
while the world stands, lest we should be tormented in the flames of
hell.
But alas! how shall we be delivered from the power of this sin? Can the
_Ethiopian_ change his skin, or the leopard his spots? So hard, almost,
will it be for you who have been accustomed to be intemperate, to learn
to live sober.
But do not despair; for what is impossible with man, is possible with
GOD. Of whom then should you seek for succour, but of him your LORD?
Who, though for this sin of drunkenness, he might justly turn away his
face from you; yet observe,
_First_, If you pour out your hearts before him in _daily prayer_,
and ask assistance from above, it may be GOD will endue you with power
from on high, and make you more than conquerors through JESUS CHRIST.
Had you kept up communion with him in prayer, you would not so long,
by drunkenness, have had communion with devils. But, like the Prodigal,
you have desired to be your own masters; you have lived without prayer,
depended on your own strength; and now see, alas! on what a broken reed
you have leaned. How soon have you made yourselves like the beasts that
have no understanding? But turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways. Come
to him with the repenting Prodigal, saying, “Father we have sinned;” we
beseech thee, let not this sin of drunkenness have any longer dominion
over us. Lay hold on CHRIST by faith, and lo! it shall happen to you
even as you will. A
_Second_ means I would recommend to you, in order to get the better
of drunkenness, is to _avoid evil company_: For it is the evil
communication of wicked men, that has drawn many thousands into this
sin, and so corrupted their good manners.
But you may say, If I leave my companions, I must expect contempt: for
they will certainly despise me for being singular. And thinkest thou, O
man, ever to enter in at the strait gate by a true conversion, without
being had in derision of them that are round about thee? No; though
thou mayst be despised, and not go to heaven, yet thou canst not go
to heaven without being despised: “For the friendship of the world
is enmity with GOD.” And they that are born after the flesh, will
persecute those that are born after the Spirit. Let not, therefore,
a servile fear of being despised by a man that shall die, hinder thy
turning unto the living GOD. For what is a little contempt? It is but
a vapour which vanisheth away, and cometh not again. Better be derided
by a few companions here, than be made ashamed before men and angels
hereafter. Better be the song of a few drunkards on earth, than dwell
with them, where they will be eternally reproaching and cursing each
other in hell. Yet a little while, and they themselves shall praise thy
doings; and shall say, We, fools, counted his leaving us to be folly,
and his end to be without honour: but now is he numbered among the sons
♦of GOD, and his lot among the saints!
♦ duplicate word “of” removed