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SUNDAY XV. PART II.

IV. Thus far intemperance in drinking has been confidered Of drinking in general, without any distinction of various liSpirituous quors by which it is occafioned: But that of spiLiquors. rituous liquors deferves our peculiar confideration. Nothing can be more clear in reafon than the quick tendency of thofe liquors to fhorten and deftroy life; not only by depraving the appetite, and drawing on a difrelifh of wholefome nourishment, as experience fhews; but also, as phyficians affure us, by hardening the provifions that are far deftruc fent into the ftomach, and thereby hindering the operations of thofe helps, which God has provided, for a regular digeftion, and for a kindly conveyance of nourishment to every part: befides, the other fatal effects which are charged upon them by physicians; as palfies and apoplexies, from their operation upon the brain and nerves; and of jaundices and dropfies, from their operation upon the bowels. Again, The feeming relief that our spirits receive from the liquors, which we are now speaking of, is not only of fhort continuance, but frequently runs into phrenfy and madness; inflaming instead of comforting; intoxicating inftead of enlivening. And as, through such a violent and precipitate confumption, the fpirits they give are foon spent; fo do they leave the body vapid and lifeless, and under an eager longing after a speedy recruit from those artificial aids, which are only so many steps to the grave, and do, in truth, deserve no better name, than a flower kind of poifon. And, laftly, It cannot be but that they must by the fame degrees impair the ftrength, and enfeeble the conftitution, and make the whole man weak and listless; lefs willing to fet about his business, and lefs able to go through the labour and fatigue of it. Thus it must be in nature; and thus it is daily feen to be in experience and obfervation. And tho' perfons in the married ftate may not be enough concerned about the mischiefs they do to themselves, they are to be put in mind, that in them it is not only irreligious, but unnatural and cruel, to have no fenfe or feeling of the weakness

and

and infirmities, which they are intailing upon their innocent offspring; efpecially, when the temptations lie fo much in every one's way; and when the appetite is gratified, and the brain intoxicated, at so easy an expence; and when by a little indulgence the cure becomes fo very difficult. Such confiderations, one would hope, should of themselves, and without any other inforcements, be effectual warnings to all parents and mafters, to ufe the utmoft watchfulness over those who are under their care, that none of them be enfnared by these temptations, into the beginning of a diftemper which, when begun, is fo hard to be cured. Confequently,

Having anfwered all the common excufes made for this fin of drunkenness, it will be neceffary in the next Degrees of place to fhew what are the degrees of it. And here this fin. they deceive themfelves, who think that a man is only to be accounted a drunkard, when he is fo drunk as not to be able to go, ftand, or speak; for every lower degree of drinking, that makes aman very dull, ridiculous, or unfit for employment, or full of rage and fury, or makes any change in the man, and which exceeds the natural end of drinking and moderate refreshment, is the fin of drunkenness: which ought to be well confidered by thofe, who spend great part of their time in alehoufes or taverns, at a friend's, or in their own houses, in drinking: for though their conftitution be fo ftrong, as to preferve their wits longer than another; yet their crime is not the lefs, if they drink as eagerly, and employ the fame time in the work, as hath made another drunk. Do not reckon that your enjoyments are therefore innocent, because you are able to go away with a tolerable fhare of reafon and understanding, which in many cafes is owing only to custom or an uncommon ftrength of nature; but reft affured, that all indulgences of this kind, more than what nature fairly requires, and more than what are a real refreshment to body and mind, without prejudice to health or business, are very finful in the eyes of God, and lay men under the fame condemnation in kind, though not in degree, as drunkenness itself does. Therefore whatever we find hurtful to our health, or that is found commonly to make our bodies heavy, is to be avoided.

From

Of the great guilt of cur

Arong

drinkers.

From thefe foregoing confiderations we may eafily collect the great guilt of those who, instead of refreshing and relieving nature, abuse and mif-fpend what God in his providence has given us for good ends; and as we must one day account for fuch abuses, fo he that drinks longest has the most of that guilt. To this we may add the mif-fpent time and the drunkennefs of thofe in our company; efpecially if we ftrive to make them drunk, and triumph over their infirmity, and value ourselves upon it, we are guilty of a moft horrible wickedness. They therefore, who take a pleasure to fuddle others, would do well to confider the woe which God has denounced against so vile a practice: Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink; that puttest thy bottle to him, and makeft him drunken also! which is a dear price for so short and foolish a paftime.

Thus you have been informed of the finfulness, the moThe great tives to, and the degrees of the fin of drunkenness; mischiefs of a most shameful abuse of God's bleffings, and of this fin. human nature. And I have been the more particular in the describing of this vice, as it is a fin of which scarce any condition, age, or fex among us is free; tho' it is certain that there is no fin, which is more deftructive to the understanding, health, reputation, and eftate of thofe that fall into it: and, according to the different constitutions of men, it ufually produces, in fome, a fpirit of rage, and paffion, and cruelty; in others, fullennefs, obftinacy, and ill-nature; and, in most, great folly and indecency in words and actions. It is with regard to the heinoufnefs of this fin that the prophet Ifaiah fo folemnly denounceth woes and judgments against it: Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow ftrong drink, that continue unto night, till wine inflame them! and again, Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of ftrength to mingle ftrong drink! And in the New Teftament, the chriftians guilty of this vice are ranked amongst the most abominable finners, and adjudged to the heaviest punishments; even to the exclufion from the kingdom of God.

Let as many, therefore, as have already indulged themfelves into a habit, stand still, and confider, that they are in

a ftate

.

a state of the worst kind of slavery; a slavery of reason to appetite, a flavery of the human to the brutal part. The neceffity And let them refolve, once for all, to affert the to forfake it. freedom and dignity of their nature, and that, though they have lived like beafts, they will die like men. Let them, in a religious way, look back and see how they have abused the bleffings of God to luxury and excess, and with how much goodness he has borne with their provocations and waited for their amendment; and let a fenfe of his mercy and their own vileness breed in their hearts that godly shame and forrow, which worketh repentance to falvation: Or, if neither the force of reafon nor religion will do, let the terrors of the Lord persuade them not to trifle away their fouls, by continuing in a courfe, which they know muft end fo fhortly in eternal deftruction.

If they fay it is a difficult work, the proper answer is, that it is a neceffary work; and if men will but think, The difficulit can bear no long confideration, whether they ty of doing fhall be uneafy now, or miserable for ever. Where fo confiderthat is the choice, the true inference from the dif- ed. ficulty of the work is, to rouse themselves to equal degrees of refolution to go through it; and the more fenfible they are of their own weakness, the more earneft ought they to be in their prayers to God to strengthen and affift them. Therefore take heed of giving way to intemperance when it firft appears; for it infenfibly fteals on to higher degrees, and grows upon those who give it admiffion. I could recount fad inftances of perfons, in appearance, of the stricteft fobriety and regularity, who from fmall beginnings, not reftrained at first, have funk into fottishness, and been intirely loft to the world and themselves, and confequently to God. It is a vice that eats like a canker, and too often increases with age; which should make young people cautious of the leaft degree Acaution to thereof. And its proper antidote is, not to be be- young people. trayed into it, but to keep the reins over the appetite from the beginning; and to accuftom it to frequent restraints, that it may know it is always under government, and fo be tame and tractable: or, in the language of St. Paul in this very cafe, to keep under the body, and bring it into fubjec2

tion:

[Sund. 15. tion; to keep up in our fouls the life and power of religion, that our time and thoughts be well employed, that we may not be under the temptation of having recourse to sensual indulgences to pafs away our leifure hours. And

Want of

The perfua

men.

To the foregoing we may add another difficulty in the forfaking the crime of drunkenness, which is an employment. indolent idle life. For many, who, as they term it, can live on their fubftance, or upon credit, abhor the thoughts of work and give themselves up to drinking, which at last becomes their trade and bufinefs. Let them therefore feek for a fuitable employ in their way of life, and be diligent in their proper stations, and neither those that must live by their labour nor others in easier circumstances, will ever spend their time in drinking. It may be, that a good refolufions and re- tion of forfaking the wretched cuftom of drinking proaches of may be attacked by the perfuafions and even reproaches of old pot-companions; but they who refolve to become temperate must forefee and expect, and therefore prepare against such temptations; and they will be the better able to resist, by confidering how much the everlasting kindness of God is to be preferred to the friendship of men, and whether the reproach of wicked men be fo terrible, as that of a guilty conscience, and the eternal confusion of an unrepenting finner at the laft day. In fuch cafes as these, refolve, and fay with the royal Pfalmift, Depart from me, ye wicked: I will keep the commandments of my God. Therefore give not the least way to any of these temptations; for if a penitent once gives ground, he certemptations tainly lofes the victory. For by returning to the at the very company of drunken companions, he throws himbeginning felf into the way of finners, and they feldom fail by force or intreaty to drown his fober refolutions with a flood The fecurity of excefs. Confequently, the greatest fecurity of doing fo. lies in this (as I have feid before) to reject the first occafions of this fin; and openly to declare our purposes of living a fober life for the future, that men may be discouraged from attempting any future conqueft. For if men fuffer themfelves to come into the way of excefs, or go too near the brinks of it, they will frequently loose the reins, and be

Reject thefe

plunged

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