VII.

one Sense of Tafting, that it must run all Hạ- Sunday zards only to please that. But it is yet much more fo, that the diviner Part, the Soul, fhould also be thus enflaved; and yet thus it is in an intemperate Perfon, his very Soul must be facrificed to his brutish Appetite for the Sin of Intemperance, though it be acted by the Body, yet the Soul must share in the eternal Punishment of it. Secondly Confider how extreme fhort and vanishing this Pleasure is; it is gone in a Moment, but the Pains that attend the Excefs of it, are much more durable, and then surely it agrees not with that common Reason, wherewith, as Men, we are indued, to fet our Hearts upon it. But then, in the Third Place, it agrees yet worfe with the Temper of a Chriftian, who fhould have his Heart fo purified and refined with the Expectation of thofe higher and Spiritual Joys he looks for in another World, that he fhould very much despise these grofs and brutish Pleasures, which Beafts are as capable of as we; and to them we may well be contented to leave them, it being the higheft their Natures can reach to; but for us, who have fo much more excellent Hopes, it is an intolerable Shame that we should account them as any part of our Happiness. Laftly, The Sin of Gluttony is fo great and dangerous, that Chrift thought fit to give an efpecial Warning against it. Take heed to yourfelves that your Hearts be not overcharged with N3 Jur

Sunday furfeiting, &c. Luke xxi. 34. And you know VIII. what was the End of the rich Glutton, Luke xvi. He that had fared fo deliciously every Day, at laft wants a Drop of Water to cool his Tongue, So much for the first fort of Temperance, that of Eating.

Tempe-
Tance in
Drinking.

SUNDAY VIII.

Of Temperance in Drinking; Falfe Ends of Drinking; viz. Good-fellowship; Putting away Cares, &c.

Sect. I.

T

H E fecond is Temperance in Drinking; and the Ends of Eating and Drinking being much the fame, I can give no other direct Rules in this, than what were given in the former; to wit, That we drink neither of fuch forts of Liquor, nor in fuch Quantities, as may not agree with the right Ends of Drinking, the preferving our Lives and Healths Only in this there will be need of putting in one Caution; for our Underftandings being in more Danger to be hurt by Drinking than Meat, we must rather take care to keep that fafe, and rather not.drink what we might fafely in refpect of our Health, if it be in Danger to diftemper our Reafon. This I fay, becaufe it is poffible fome Mens Brains may be fo weak, that their Heads cannot bear that

that ordinary Quantity of Drink which Sunday would do their Bodies no harm. And who. VIII. ever is of this Temper, muft ftrictly abstain from that Degree of Drink, or that fort of it, which he finds hath that Effect; yea, though it do in other refpects appear not only fafe, but ufeful to his Health. For though we are to preferve our Healths, yet we are not to do it by a Sin, as Drunkenness moft certainly is.

ing.

But, alas! Of those Multitudes of Drun Falfe Ends kards we have in the World, this is the Cafe of Drinkbut of a very few, moft of them going far beyond what their Health requires, yea, or can bear, even to the utter Deftruction there of. And therefore it is plain, Men have fet up to themselves fome other Ends of Drinking, than those allowable ones afore-mentioned; it may not be amifs a little to explain what they are, and withal to fhew the Unreafonableness of them."

3: The firft, and moft owned, is that Good-Felwhich they call Good-Fellowship: one Manwhip. drinks to keep another Company at it. But I would ask fuch a one, Whether if that Man were drinking rank Poyfon, he would pledge him for Company? If he fay, he would not; I must tell him, that by the very fame, nay, far greater Reason, he is not to do this. For immoderate Drinking is that very Poyfon; perhaps it doth not always work Death immediate (yet there want not many Inftances of its having done even that; very many have

N4

died

Sunday died in their Drunken Fit) but that the CuVIII. ftom of it does ufually bring Men to their

Ends, is paft doubt; and therefore, though the Poyfon work flowly, yet it is ftill Poyfon. But, however, it doth at the present work that which a Wife Man would more abhor than Death; it works Madness and Frenzy, turns the Man into a Beaft, by drowning that Reafon which fhould difference him from one. Certainly, the Effects of Drink are fuch, that had being drunk been firft enjoyned as a Punishment, we should have thought him a more than ordinary Tyrant that had invented it.

Preferving 4. A Second End of Drinking, is faid to be, of Kind The maintaining of Friendship and Kindness nefs. amongft Men. But this is ftrangely unreafonable, that Men fhould do that towards the maintaining of Friendship, which is really the greatest Mischief that can be done to any Man. Did ever any think to befriend a Man, by helping to destroy his Eftate, his Credit, his Life? Yet he that thus drinks with a Man does this, and much more; he ruins his Reafon, yea, his Soul, and yet this must be call'd, The way of preferving Friendship. This is fo ridiculous, that one would think, none could own it, but when he were actually drunk. But befides, alas! Experience fhews us, that this is fitter to beget Quarrels, than preferve Kindness; as the many Drunken Brawls we every Day fee, with the Wounds, and

fome

fometimes Murders, that accompany them, Sunday do witness.

VIII.

5. A Third End is faid to be, The chearing Chearing of their Spirits, making them merry and jolly. the Spirits. But, fure, if the Mirth be fuch, that Reafon must be turned out of Doors, before it begin, it will be very little Worth: one may fay with Solomon, Ecclef. ii, 2. The Laughter of fuch Fools is Madneß. And, fure, they that will be drunk to put themselves in this Temper, muft, by the fame Reafon, be glad of a Frenzy, if they could but be fure it would be of the merry fort. But little do these merry Folks think what Sadness they are all this while heaping up to themselves, often in this World when by fome mad Pranks they play in their Jollity, they bring Mischief upon themselves but, however, certainly in another, where this Mirth will be fadly reckon❜d for.

;

;

Cares.

6. A Fourth End is faid to be, The putting Putting away of Cares; but I fhall ask, What thofe away Cares are? Be they fuch as fhould be put away? Perhaps, they are fome Checks and Remorfes of Confcience, which must be thus charmed. And, I doubt, this hath proved too effectual with many, to the laying them afleep. But this is the wickedeft Folly in the World; for if thou thinkeft not thefe Checks to have fomething confiderable in them, why do they trouble thee? But if thou do, it is impoffible thou canft hope this can long fecure thee from them. Thou mayeft thus ftop their

Mouths