CAUTION TO DRUNKARDS;

OR, THE

SIN OF INTEMPERANCE CENSURED.

EPH. V. 18.

Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.

INTRODUCTION.

SUCH a discourse as is professedly upon the sin of drunkenness, needs no other apology for its appearance in the world, than an appeal to the times in which we live; times when the conduct of many professors is notoriously loose; the affections of many others but lukewarm; the glow of apostolic zeal, and the strict holiness of primitive Christians, almost eradicated. Strange it might seem to those unacquainted with it; yet true it is, that we have in our days professors, who can indulge to liberties unknown to our ancestors in the faith. Some are on one hand patriots fully engaged in the popular quarrel; others are statesmen and courtiers, using every sophistical art, uniformly to vindicate all the proceedings of our governors; whilst true and undefiled religion is left to the pursuit of others, less engaged in the transitory concerns of worldly states. Others there are, who profess not to be either patriots or statesmen, who are evidently in as hot pursuit after the good things of this world, as if they had never heard of objects more valuable, or of a world to come, where neither the riches nor honours of this world are admissible. It is strange to observe, that some, who profess to have heaven and an eternity of glory as the ultimate objects of their attention, should be as deeply immersed in the cares of life, as those who never heard of the adorable Jesus, and salvation by his atoning blood! Yet so it is, they will rise up early, sit up late, eat the bread of carefulness, and upon no account whatever miss an opportunity of getting, and still profess to have no continuing city here, but to be pilgrims and sojourners on earth, as our fathers were, seeking a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is the Lord.

Others still profess the firmest attachment to divine truth, the most full persuasion of their personal interests in the blessings of new covenant grace, who, notwithstanding, can very cordially join in the company of mockers, and men of this world, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame. Such you will find seated where only the scorner should sit, and standing where sinners assemble, without bringing the least degree of uneasiness on their own consciences, or once suspecting that they do wrong. Having utterly forgot, Jam. iv. 4. that friendship 'with the world is enmity against God; that we cannot take 'fire' (Prov. vi. 27.) into our bosom without being burnt, or 'touch pitch without defilement. These are spots' (Jude 12,) 'in ' our solemn feasts (as Jude saith), clouds without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, (yea) without 'fruit.' These are not only useless members, but really injurious, more to be guarded against than those that are without; seeing an enemy in our own camp, who holds correspondence with our enemies, is by far more dangerous to our interest than numbers of avowed enemies. And churches ought to guard especially against such persons, if they would stand firm, rather than against notorious opposers. Our vines are sooner spoiled by little foxes than by great Leviathans; and the cause of Jesus suffers more from things, by some deemed trivial, than by all the notorious sins and oppositions of the day.

Some, indeed, are daring enough, upon being found fault with for their frequenting of taverns and public-houses, at once to exculpate themselves, by laying the blame upon Divine Providence; alledging, that such is the nature of their business, that they are under a necessity of company-keeping in those interdicted places; and further, that they can spend an hour or two there, with as little guilt as in their own houses, which, by the way, they would find very difficult to prove. But they ought to

consider in the

1st Place, that the business which cannot be carried on without a direct breach of Christ's laws, is either in itself unlawful, or it is unlawfully managed. If in itself unlawful, it is not of God's ordaining, therefore ought to be laid aside; if in itself it is a lawful business, and unlawfully managed, care should be taken to rectify what is amiss in our management of it, seeing that all our worldly business ought to be governed to the Redeemer's glory. Nothing is more common in the mouths of drunkards than this excuse, yet nothing is, in truth, more impious, and hath a more direct tendency to dishonour God, and give mankind an unfavourable idea of his moral government of the world. But we may, with young Elihu, be in God's stead, against those impeachers of his righteous ways, and will ask them, "Do you alledge, that the infinitely holy and just God hath forbidden the drunkards admission into the kingdom of

heaven, and at the same time hath, in Providence, fixed the station and occupation of a man, such as lay him under an unavoidable necessity of being a drunkard?" Yes, you alledge this, when you father your intemperance upon the business in which Providence has fixed you, unless you utterly deny his superintendency over human affairs. This excuse, therefore, is so far from extenuating your guilt, that it actually makes it double what it would have been, without such an impeachment of Divine Providence; by adding impiety (not to say blasphemy) to your intemperance. But be not deceived, drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God,' 1 Cor. vi. 10. If, therefore, a man that is addicted to intemperance charges his ungodly conduct upon his business, he is, in the strictest sense, a disorderly walker, not to be permitted within a gospel church; but must be withdrawn from, lest his conduct, as an infection, diffuse its baleful influence abroad, and, as a root of bitterness, should defile many. In order for the conviction of offenders of this kind, and the better dealing with them, by the several churches burdened and grieved by their ungodly conduct, I shall consider this subject under the following heads, each of which shall occupy a distinct part or chapter of this Tract.

1. The sin of drunkenness defined.

2. The real malignancy of drunkenness exposed.

3. The danger to which a man is liable when drunk.

4. The censure of drunkards from God's word.

5. The means of reclaiming professors who have fallen into that sin, and the conduct of a church in case of obstinacy.

CHAPTER I.

In which the Sin of Drunkenness is defined

DRUNKENNESS, although a prevailing evil in this our day, in which idleness and dissipation so greatly obtain, is capable of misinterpretation; and one person may be stigmatized as a drunkard, on account of some over-act, perhaps of ancient date, who is in truth no such person; whilst another passeth for a very sober man, notwithstanding he drinketh every day more than nature craves, and religion says is enough. A variety of circumstances may concur, to ensnare a man into an act of vice, to which he is by no means addicted; whereas a robust and hale constitution will support a man above the vulgar imputation of that very vice, to which he is constitutionally and habitually addicted. What I aim at is, to shew that one man may be actually Intoxicated with liquor, without deserving the ignominious

character of a drunkard; whilst another who is never apparently drunk or intoxicated, is, in fact, a drunkard. Particular acts do not enter into, or fix general characters; but a series of the same actions constitute habit, and so fix the character, virtuous or vi cious, according to the nature of the actions themselves. There is, perhaps, not such a miser alive, as never performed a generous benevolent action; but one generous benevolent action does not exempt the sordid wretch from the character of miser. So, perhaps, there is no man so truly benevolent, who never in his lifetime was guilty of one oppressive or unjust deed; but one oppressive or unjust act, ought not to prevent the man from being esteemed truly benevolent, if the general tenor of his conduct is such as merit that reputation. In the fixing of characters, the general disposition of the mind, and tenor of life, rather than particular or single actions, however overt, are to be regarded; otherwise, some saints of the highest eminence in sacred history must lose their reputation, so justly given them by the Holy Ghost, and be branded with infamy injurious and unjust. I shall begin with Noah, and a little trace the story.

That righteous man, having preached to his contemporaries for an hundred and twenty years, being saved in the ark from the universal deluge, planted a vineyard, and drank of the juice of the grapes to intoxication; yet could not Noah be denomioated a drunkard, as the holy penman recites no repetition of the same evil. Now on the one hand it would be harsh, and beyond the design of the sacred historian, to call Noah a drunkard, because he was once guilty of the sin of drunkenness; so on the other hand, it is absurd and irrational in those, who live in that more than beastly evil, to plead this instance of that good man's weakness, to quiet their own consciences, and to justify their conduct; seeing, though Noah was overtaken with it as a fault, for which he was censurable, he did not live in it as habitual. Neither will a bare repetition of it fix the character, unless we would account Lot, whose righteous soul was grieved for the wickedness of the Sodomites, to pass for a drunkard, which can never be admitted, notwithstanding he was twice so exceedingly intoxicated, that he lay with his own daughters, and knew not what he did. Abraham twice dissembled, yet he was not a dissembler, but the faithful parent of the chosen seed. David was once in his life guilty of notorious adultery, and Jacob of speaking downright falsehood; yet was not the one a liar, nor the other an adulterer. So then, as the recorded failings of the saints are no precedent for our imitation, they are not designed as a subterfuge for ungodly walkers. Yet of the greatest use they may be, to a poor broken-hearted sincere believer, who by the force of corruption, hath yielded to temptation; and from his conscious lapse, writes the most bitter things against himself To see that some, even of the greatest of saints, have been like

to himself ensnared, may be a means of keeping him from utter despair, into which he must unavoidably fall, were he left to conclude, that no such spots as his were ever found upon the character of any of God's dear children. But what has the habitual sinner to do with this? He is under no such concern, and those melancholy instances can be of no such use to him. By the way, a man may be a daily impenitent offender, where his sin never becomes so notorious, as those failings of God's children above referred to.

There is Potitio, a gentleman of a facetious turn of mind, whose company is courted by people of superior rank. He seldom spends an evening at home in his own family, nor indulgeth his amiable spouse with his company till eleven or twelve at night; so that the sweetest endearments of the conjugal state, and family economy, are but little known under his roof. Yet does he never come home drunk. Blessed with a sound habit of body, he can tarry long at the wine without being intoxicated, and is so mighty to drink strong drink, that he will drink as much as would make three ordinary men to reel, without depriving himself of the use of his faculties, his eyes or his limbs. And because he can walk soberly home, after he has sent his companions staggering away, he blesseth himself in his virtue, and can boast that he never was drunk in his life. That this should be the case with Potitio, is not very strange, seeing he makes little profession of regard to objects superior to sensual gratifications: but that people who profess to have a God to adore, a Saviour to follow, and an eternity in view, should indulge to the same degree of intemperance, and justify their conduct in so doing, is not so safely accounted for. Nor is it easy to say, how they can persuade themselves that they can spend an evening in a tavern or alehouse, once or twice a week, as innocently as in their own houses amongst their families. But if possible to convince men, that they may be in the eye of God's righteous law strictly and properly drunkards, without being so much as once intoxicated with liquor, I would have it observed,

1. That all things which have not some tendency, either directly or more remotely to glorify God, must undeniably be deemed sinful. Whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we are called to do it to the glory of God; which shews, that there is a drinking to the dishonour of God. Every thing that tends to the glory of God, we are capable of imploring the divine blesing upon, which I think we cannot do upon things that either directly or consequentially tend to his dishonour. Conscience, so far as enlightened, is a faithful monitor, and will give a direct answer to our interrogatories. Let those therefore, who plead for the innocence of spending time at those places, lay their hands upon their hearts and kneel down, if they can, and ask the divine blessing upon what they are going about; or let