them cease to justify that upon which they cannot in conscience implore the divine blessing. Perhaps this is the nearest way of distinguishing to ourselves, between things lawful and unlawful; and a way which if attended to, would discover many things to be unlawful which are pleaded for as indifferent.

Much waste of precious time may be made over the cup, when there is not the least appearance of intoxication; time, which ought to be improved in the compting-house, or shop, in the closet, or in the family. And can that be sinless, which is such a murderer of time, so precious in the eye of a death-bed? In short, all drinking which unfits the mind for the closest examination of its frame and actings, that hinders meditation, indisposeth for the most spiritual duty in the church, in the family, or in the closet; unfits for or puts family worship any way out of course is sinful drinking, and to be ranked under the head of drunkenness.

2. A man may, by drinking without being intoxicated, be of very great injury to the cause and interest of religion. People of the world naturally form their opinion of religion itself, from the conduct of its professors. Therefore all drinking that tends to grieve the godly, and to bring the church of Jesus into trouble, is sinful drinking, or drunkenness. A man may be persuaded that such a thing is lawful, in itself, to him; but if his being found in that thing, whatever it be, tends to grieve but one, and that of the weakest members of the church, it becomes unlawful to him; as the Holy Ghost hath left us no toleration to grieve even a weak brother; no, not even in things the most indifferent. It was lawful for Paul to eat flesh, as often as he had occasion; but rather than offend one brother, he would eat no flesh whilst the world stood. How much more ought one professor to abstain from alehouses and taverns, when others are thereby offended? Besides, to advert to what was said before, people of the world form their opinion of religion itself, from the conduct of its professors. It must be awfully sinful, when any part of our conduct gives unto a poor sinner a false notion of the strictness of religion, as if it could bear with the practice of drinking, and frequenting of public houses, or in anywise connive at the abuse of the mercies of God, all of which are to be used with thankfulness and prayer. Who that loves Jesus will attempt to justify that conduct, which tends to harden a poor sinner, and make him tenfold more a child of the Devil than he was before? Yet such a tendency has the conduct of those professors, who frequent taverns and alehouses, and therefore notoriously scandalous and sinful.

The professor of Christianity cannot conform to the maxims of the world, without proportionably to the said conformity confirming worldlings in their sinful courses, by the countenance which he gives them. But how much more honourable is it, to

seek after the welfare of our poor fellow sinners, by doing what we can to be instrumental of saving them from that perdition to which the world is destined!

To confirm my leading position, namely, that a man be a drunkard without ever being intoxicated, I would have it observed, that in 1 Kings xx. 16, we read, that, Benhadad was • drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the thirty and "two kings that helped him.' Which words, in the plainest manner, exhibit a charge of drunkenness against Benhadad; yet that he retained the use of both his reason and limbs, and was not what some of our refiners consider as a being drunk, is clear from ver. 20, and Benhadad, king of Syria, escaped on an 'horse with the horsemen.' He had the use of his reason, being sensible of his danger, and choosing the most rational and likely means of safety. He was capable of fleeing on horseback, and consequently of walking on foot, as upright as those who, after their tarrying long at the wine, boast of the steadiness of their walk; yet the Holy Ghost says he was drinking himself drunk. It will avail but little what a man says in his own vindication, if the word of God sets him down as a drunkard. Tarrying long at the wine, and being mighty to drink strong drink, fall as immediately under censure and admonition, as to be intoxicated. And certainly if drinking, in the manner above described, is sinful and censurable, he that indulges to intoxication, has no right to lenity and forbearance. Neither can he be tolerated within a Christian church, seeing drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

CHAPTER II.

In which is shewn the exceeding Sinfulness of the Sin of
Drunkenness.

HAVING shewn in the preceding chapter, what we are to understand by drunkenness, I go on to shew in this the heinous aggravation attending it, and the impossibility of a person being addicted to it, without injuring both himself and others.

1. The drunkard of every stage greatly injures himself, if we may give credit to Solomon's testimony, Prov. xxiii. 29, &c. "Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? 'Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who 'nath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they 'that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it 'moveth itself aright; at the last it biteth like a serpent, and

'stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold a strange woman, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.' Here is a train of evils which necessarily proceed from drunkenness, or tarrying long at the wine, which terms are synonimous in the sense of scripture, both of them productive of future remorse, unless hardened to all sense of sin, shame, and folly. Redness of eyes, proceeding from the inflammation of the blood, through the fermentation of abused liquors, designed for a blessing and not for a curse to mankind; as a restorative to oppressed spirits, and not as fuel to inflame the blood.

What evils proceed from excessive drinking, let the gouty, the hectic or hypochondriachal, the consumptive, the paralytic and apoplectic say, for they have experienced it. Though I deny not that these diseases may invade even a temperate person; it may, perhaps, be found; that some people, who deem themselves very temperate, may be chargeable with ruining their own constitution, and bring those diseases upon themselves. Some people are so regular, that at no time do they in the least disguise themselves with any liquor; yet they drink, in their regular way of living, what is sufficient to maintain a febrile motion constantly in the blood; a motion, than which nothing preys more upon the constitution, relaxes the nerves, and unhinges the whole frame of nature. A febrile state, which, according to our best physicians, if not duly attended to, threatens the most fatal and destructive disorders. This same little fever upon the spirits, when its cure is attempted, strictly prohibits the use of all fermented liquors, and indicates balsamic and nutritive broths, which evidently shews that the origin of the disease is the too plentiful use of them, although the physician is prudent enough not to shock the delicacy of his patient, by such a mortifying discovery.

But as this discourse is professedly moral, and not physical, I return to my plan of discovering, how injurious the sin of drunkenness is to the party himself. And whatever bad effects it may produce upon the body, those effects are at least equalled by the situation of the mind. What mind, possessed of the least degree of sentiment, can bear, without a great degree of painful mortification, to take a retrospective view of his impertinent babble in his over-night's cups. How thoughtful are his mornings and how disagreeable his reflections, unless he is become absolutely sottish, and has drank away his senses? The disorder which the use of strong drink brings upon the body, naturally tends to fetter and stupify the soul, which can act only according to the position in which the bodily organs are for the time being, which is the true reason why people will do those things, when inflamed with wine or strong drink, which they would be ashamed of at another time.-----Therefore Solomon says, that thine eye shall behold strange woman, and thine

heart shall utter perverse things.' And is it not a pity, by sensual gratification, to deprive the only conscious part of man of the power of acting? Is it not sinful to fetter the most illustrious part of the human creation which the most high God ennobled with his own immaculate image?

But it is also an abuse of the mercies of a gracious God; one glutton or drunkard will devour more in wasteful abuse, than would serve to make many comfortable. What pity is it that men and women should indulge to intemperance, when many of their fellow-creatures cannot get a sufficiency of bread to eat, or raiment? To see one of God's creatures wallowing in luxury, whilst another is perishing for want, gives us but a very unfavourable idea of human benevolence. Awful will that audit be, to which our men of affluence will soon be summoned; and tremendous their reckoning with inflexible justice. But they must abide by it and undergo the irrevocable sentence. To have mercies poured in upon one, and those very mercies by a vicious appetite abused, and turned into so many curses, yields something horrid on the reflection. Yet this is the case of the drunkard, whether more notorious or open, or more secret and sly. Divine Providence hath put into his hands the means of living comfortably, and by the perversion of those very means he is unhappy himself, and makes all around him equally unhappy. In this sense therefore, he fights against God, and does what he can to render abortive the gracious designs of holy Providence. But,

2. Admitting that a professor of religion is addicted to that vice of drunkenness, he is injurious in a very high degree; and this age is rife of such scandalous professors, to the great grief of the few who keep their garments clean in the streets of our Sardis. Such a one is injurious to his family, to his creditors, to the church to which he belongs; justly meriteth to be cast out into the world, and held as an heathen man and a publican. Instead of being the parent, protector, and provider for his family, he acts in every sense as their enemy. What a dreadful example does he set his children, instead of going out and in before them in the fear of the Lord! Instead of being a blessing to them, stirring them up to the love of virtue by the amiableness of his own conversation, he is a snare to them by his filthy and beastly example. It is better to be descended from an Hottentot than from such a professor, whose conduct must, if grace prevent not, inspire his offspring with the most disagreeable idea of religion and virtue. How different is the conduct of such an one, from the tenor of that command, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' Young ones are very attentive to the conduct of their parents, and even in the earliest dawn of reason, form from it the most striking conclusions. If we wish well to the fruit of our bodies, we have need to be careful of our conduct; and especially under Оо

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a profession of religion. But besides the injury done to their morals, he injures them in their property, and is less capable of providing for them, therefore he himself proportionally vergeth towards the character of an infidel. How awful is the conduct of that parent, who, by mere sensual indulgence of his own filthy appetite, neglects the proper education of his children, and guzzles down that which seemed to be designed in Providence to make them happy and comfortable in life! Let the drunkard reflect for a moment, on a wife sitting at home solitary and mournful, deprived of social intercourse with the husband of her choice; children untaught, ungoverned, and perhaps unprovided for, and there read the disagreeable effects of his intemperance. His business neglected, in proportion to his intemperance, and his creditors or family defrauded, in an equal proportion to his neglect of business, and unnecessary expence, plainly shew, that the drunkard is, in the strictest sense, a dishonest man, and no suitable member of a Christian community. Let it be further observed, that both the church and the world expect that the conduct of professors should be, in some goodly measure, different from that of those who make no profession of religion at all; and that, although the families of heathens call not on the name of the Lord, it is expected to be otherwise with such as profess to be followers of the Lamb; more especially with those who are members of gospel churches. But how is it that the duties of family religion can be attended to, by those who delight to tarry long at the wine? The hour is commonly unseasonable, and fatigue depresseth the spirits in such a manner, that little relish for, or pleasure in the duty can be experienced; the family half asleep, rather yawn out their prayers, than worship God in spirit and in truth. What an unsavoury and unseasonable spirit for the worship of God must that person be under, who is just come from the impertinent babble of alehouse and tavern politicians. Yet this is the case with loose professors; either the worship of God in the family is altogether neglected, or thus slightly and carnally performed, in such a manner, as is very unlikely to yield edification to any.

And if the family thus suffer, the community to which he belongs is not less a sufferer. Here is no tasting of the spirituality of his gifts, no exerting of himself for Zion's prosperity. He puts it out of his power to contribute towards the support of the gospel, or the relief of the poor, both of which are the duty of every member of a gospel church. Instead of being an useful member, he becomes as a dead weight upon the community. If all were thus to act, what would become of the Lord's poor, and of a preached gospel? The poor might starve, and the cause of religion sink into nothing. But I said, that such an one beconies a dead weight upon the church to which he belongs, so long as he is suffered to continue in it; which is very apparent, as he