ted for fuch low, fenfitive, and dreggy pleasures. Thou haft fome thing of the angel, and fomething of the beaft in thee; thy foul partakes of the nature of angels, thy body of the nature of beafts, Oh! how many pamper the beaft while they ftarve the angel? God, in the first chapter, put all the creatures in fubjection to thee; by this luft thou putteft thyself in fubjection to the creature, and art brought under its power, 1 Cor. vi. 12. If God had given thee the head or feet of a beaft, oh! what a mifery wouldst thou have efteemed it? and is it nothing to have the heart of a beaft? Oh! confider it fadly.

Arg. 3. It is a fin by which thou greatly wrongeft and abuseft thine own body. The body is the foul's inftrument; it is as the tools are to a skilful artificer; this luft both dulls and spoils it, fo that it is utterly unfit for any service of him that made it. Thy body is a curious piece, not made by a word of command, as other creatures, but by a word of counfel; "I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and

curiously wrought," faith the Pfalmift, Pfal. cxxxix. 14. or as the vulgar, Acupictus fum, Painted as with needle-work of divers colours, like a garment richly embroidered. Look how many members, fo many wonders! There are miracles enough, faith one, betwixt head and foot to fill a volume. There is, faith another, fuch curious work. manfhip in the eye, that upon the firft fight of it, fome Atheists have been forced to acknowledge a God; efpecially that fifth muscle in the eye is wonderful, whereby, (as a learned author obferves) man differeth from all other creatures, who have but four; one to turn the eye downward, a fecond to hold it forward, a third to move it to the right-hand, a fourth to the left; but none to turn it upward as a man hath. Now, judge in thyfelf; Did God frame fuch a curious piece, and enliven it with a foul, which is a fpark, a ray of his own light, whose motions are fo quick, various, and indefatigable, whofe flights of reafon are so tranfcendent; did God, thinkest thou, send down this curious peace, the top and glory of the creation, the index and epitome of the whole world, Eccl. xii. 2. did God, I fay, fend down this picture of his own perfection, to be but as a ftrainer for meats and drinks, a fpunge to fuck in wine and beer? Or canft thou answer for the abufe and deftruction of it? By this excefs thou filleft it with innumerable diseases, under which it languifheth; and at last thy life, like a lamp, is extinguished, being drowned with too much oil. †'Infinite difeafes are begotten by it, (faith Zanchius); hence come apoplexies, gouts, palfies, fudden death, trembling of the hands and legs;' herein they bring Cain's curfe upon themselves, faith Ambrofe: Drunkenness flays more than the fword. Oh! what a terrible thing will it be to confider upon a death-bed, that these pangs

Columb. de re Anat.

Infinite morborum genera inde nafcuntur apoplexa, paralyses, artbrides, &c. Ille optimus medicus fibi, qui modicus cibi, Aug,

and aches are the fruits of thy intemperance and excefs! "Who hath "woe? Who hath forrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath. babbling? Who hath wounds without caufe? Who hath redness "of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to feek "mixed wine," Prov. xxiii. 29, 30. By this enumeration and manner of interrogation, he seems to make it a difficult thing to recount the miferies that drunkennefs loads the outward man with; for look as vermin abound where there is store of corn, fo do diseases in the bodies of drunkards, where crudities do fo abound. Now, methinks, if thou haft no regard to thy pour foul, or the glory of God, yet fuch a fenfible argument as this, from thy body, fhould move thee.

Arg. 4. Drunkenness waftes and scatters thine eftate, poverty attends excefs; the drunkard fhall be clothed with rags, and brought to a morfel of bread. Solomon hath read thy fortune, Prov. xxi. 17. "He that loveth wine and oil fhall not be rich;" luxury and beggary are feldom far asunder. When Diogenes heard a drunkard's houfe cried to be fold; I thought (quoth he) it would not be long e'er he vomited up his house alfo.' The Hebrew word wand the Greek word aowa, which fignify luxury; the former is compounded of two words, which fignify, Thou shalt be poor; and the latter fignifies the lofing of the poffeffion of that good which is in our hand. "The drunkard and the glutton fhall furely come to "poverty," Prov. xxiii. 21. In the Hebrew it is, he fhall be difinherited or difpoffeffed. It doth not only difpoffefs a man of his reafon, which is a rich and fair inheritance given to him by God, but it alfo difpoffeffes him of his eftate: It waftes all that either the provident care of thy progenitors, or the bleffing of God upon thine own induftry, hath obtained for thee And how will this fting like an adder, when thou fhalt confider it? Apicus the Roman, hearing that there were seven hundred crowns only remaining of a fair estate that his father had left him, fell into a deep melancholy, and, fearing want, hanged himself, faith Seneca. And not to mention the miferies and forrows they bring hereby upon their families, drinking the tears, yea, the blood of their wives and children: Oh! what an account will they give to God, when the reckoning day comes! Believe it, firs, there is not a fhilling of your eftates, but God will reckon with you for the expence thereof. If you have spent it upon your lufts, whilft the neceffity of your families, or the poor, called upon you for it; I should be loth to have your account to make, for a thousand times more than ever you poffeffed. O woful expence, that is followed with fuch dreadful reckonings!

Arg. 5. Confider what vile and ignominious characters the Spirit of God hath put upon the fubjects of this fin. The fcripture every where notes them for infamous, and most abominable perfons. When Eli fuppofed Hannah to be drunken, "Count not thine hand"maid a daughter of Belial," said fhe, 1 Sam. i, 16. Now, a fon or daughter of Belial is, in fcripture-language, the vileft of men

or women. So Pfal, Ixix. 12. "They that fit in the gate, fpeak "against me, and I am the fong of drunkards," i. e. of the bafeft and vileft of men, às the oppofition plainly fhews; for they are opposed to them that fit in the gate, that is, honourable perfons. The Lord would have his people thun the fociety of such as á pest, not to eat with them, I Cor. v. 11. Yea, the fcripture brands them with atheism; they are fuch as have loft the fenfe and expectation of the day of judgment; mind not another world, nor do they look for the coming of the Lord, Mat. xxiv. 27, 28. He faith the Lord delayeth his coming, and then falls a drinking with the drunkard. The thoughts of that day will make them leave their cups, or their cups will drown the thoughts of fuch a day. And will not all the contempt, fhame and infamy which the Spirit of God hath poured on the head of this fin caufe thee to abhor it? Do not all godly, yea, moral perfons, abhor the drunkard? Oh! methinks the fhame that attends it, fhould be as a fence to keep thee from it.

Arg. 6. Sadly confider, there can be nothing of the fanctifying Spirit in a foul that is under the dominion of this luft; for upon the first discovery of the grace of God, the foul renounces the government of fenfuality: "The grace of God that bringeth falvation, "teacheth men to live loberly," Tit. ii. 11, 12. That is one of its firft effects. Drunkennefs indeed may be found among heathens, that are loft in the darkness of ignorance; but it may not be once named among the children of the day. "They that be drunken, "are drunken in the night; but let us that are of the day, be fober," I Theff. v. 7, 8. And the apoftles often oppofe wine and the Spi rit as things incompatible, Eph. v. 18. "Be not drunk with wine, "wherein is excefs; but be filled with the Spirit." So Jude 19. "Senfual, not having the Spirit," Now what a dreadful confideration is this?"If any man have not the Spirit of Chrift, he is none " of his," Rom, viii. 9. Senfual perfons have not the Spirit of Chrift, and fo can be none of his. It is true, Noah, a godly man, once fell into this fin; but, as Theodoret faith, and that truly, it proceeded ab inexperientia, non ab intemperantia, from want of experience of the force and power of the grape, not from intemper ance; and, befides, we find not that ever he was again overtaken with that fin; but thou knoweft it, and yet perfistest, O wretched creature! the Spirit of Christ cannot dwell in thee. The Lord help thee to lay it to heart fadly!

Arg. 7. It is a fin over which many direful woes and threats hang in the word, like fo many low'ring clouds, ready to pour down vengeance upon the heads of fuch finners. Look, as the condition of the faints is compaffed round with promises, fo is yours with threatenings, Ifa. v. 11. "Woe to them that rife up early in the morning, "that they may follow ftrong drink, and continue until night, un"til wine inflame them." So Ifa. xxviii. I, 2. "Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim," &c. with many others,

too long to be enumerated here. Now, confider what a fearful thing it is to be under thefe woes of God! Sinner, I beseech thee, do not make light of them, for they will fall heavy; affure thyfelf not one of them fhall fall to the ground; they will all take place upon thee, except thou repent.

There are woes of men, and woes of God: God's woes are true woes, and make their condition woful, to purpose, on whom they fall. Other woes, as one faith, do but touch the fkin, but thefe ftrike the foul; other woes are but temporal, these are eternal; others do only part betwixt us and our outward comforts, thefe betwixt God and us for ever.

Arg. 8. Drunkenness is a leading fin, which has a great retinue and attendance of other fins waiting on it; it is like a fudden landflood, which brings a great deal of dirt with it. So that look as faith excels among the graces, because it enlivens, actuates, and gives ftrength to them, fo is this among fins. It is not so much a special fin against a single precept of God, as a general violation of the whole law, faith accurate Amefius. It doth not only call off the guard, but warms and quickens all other lufts, and fo expofes the foul to be prostituted by them. (1.) It gives occafion, yea, is the real cause of many contentions, and fatal quarrels, Prov. xxiii. 29. "Who hath "woe? Who hath forrow? Who hath [contentions], babbling, "wounds without caufe? They that tarry long at the wine," &c. Contentions and wounds are the ordinary effects of drunken meetings: When reason is depofed, and luft heated, what will not men attempt? (2.) Scoffs and reproaches of the ways and people of God, Pfal. Ixix. 12. "David was the fong of the drunkards." (3.) It is the great incendiary of luft: You fall find rioting and drunkenness joined with chambering and wantonnefs, Rom. xiii. 13. Nunquam ego ebrium caftum putabo, faith Hierom; I will never think a drunkard to be chafte. Solomon plainly tells us what the iffue will be, Prov, xxiii. 33. "Thine eyes thall behold a ftrange woman, and thy heart "fhall utter perverte things," fpeaking of the drunkard. It may be called Gad, for a troop followeth it. Hence one aptly calls it, The devil's bridle, by which he turneth the finner which way he pleases; he that is overcome by it, can overcome no other fin.

Arg. 9. But if none of the former confiderations can prevail, I hope these two laft may, unless all fenfe and tendernefs be loft. Confider, therefore, in the 9th place, that drunkards are in fcripture marked out for hell; the characters of death are upon them. You fhall find them pinioned with other fons of death, i Cor. vi. 9, 10, "Know ye not that the unrighteous fhall not inherit the kingdom "of God? Be not deceived; Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor "adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, "nor thieves, nor covetous, nor [drunkards], nor revilers, nor ex"tortioners, fhall inherit the kingdom of God." Oh dreadful thunder-bolt! He is not afleep but dead, that is not startled at it.

Lord, how are guilty finners able to face fuch a text as this is! Oh foul! dareft thou for a fuperfluous cup, adventure to drink a cup of pure unmixed wrath? O think when the wine fparkles in the glass, and gives its colour, think, I fay, what a cup of trembling is in the hand of the Lord for thee. Thou wilt not now believe this. Oh ! but the day is coming, when thou shalt know the price of these brutish pleasures. Oh! it will then fting like an adder. Ah! this fhortlived beaftly pleasure is the price for which thou felleft heaven, and rivers of pleasure that are at God's right hand.

Obj. But I hope I shall repent, and then this text can be no bar to my falvation.

Sol. True; if God fhall give thee repentance, it could not. But, in the laft place, to awaken thee thoroughly, and startle thy fecure confcience, which fenfuality hath brawned and cauterized, let me tell thee,

Arg. 10. That it is a fin out of whofe power few, or none are ever rescued and reclaimed. On this account it was that St Auguftine called it the pit of hell. He that is addicted to this fin becomes incurable, faith a reverend divine; for feldom or never have I known a drunkard reclaimed. And its power to hold the foul in fubjection to it, lies in two things especially: (1.) As it becomes habitual; andhabits are not eafily broken. Be pleafed to view an example in the cafe, Prov. xxiii. 35. "They have ftricken me, fhalt thou fay, and I was "not fick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not. When fhall I "awake? I will feek it yet again." (2.) As it "takes away the

heart," Hof. iv. II. that is, the understanding, reafon, and ingenuity of a man, and fo makes him incapable of being reclaimed by counfel. Upon this account it was that Abigail would not speak lefs or more to Nabal, until the wine was gone out of him, 1 Sam. xxv. 36, 37. Plainly intimating, that no wholefome counfel can get in until the wine be gone out. When one afked Cleoftratus, whether he were not afhamed to be drunken, he tartly replied, And are not • you ashamed to admonish a drunkard? Intimating that no wife man would caft away an admonition upon fuch an one. And it not only renders them incapable of counsel for the time, but by degrees it befots and infatuates them; which is a very grievous stroke from God upon them, making way to their eternal ruin. So then you fee upon the whole what a dangerous gulph the fin of drunkenness is. I beg you, for the Lord's fake, and by all the regard you have to your fouls, bodies, and eftates, beware of it. O confider these ten arguments I have here produced against it. I fhould have proceeded to anfwer the feveral pleas and excufes you have for it; but I mind brevity, and shall shut up this first caution with a very pertinent and ingenious poem of Mr George Herbert, in his TEMPLE.

• Amef. de Confc. p. 139.