Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 23
§ 23.
6 SIxtly, Drunkenneſſe defames a man.as the drunkard conſumes his eſtate; ſo hee looſeth his credit and good name, for drunkernes defames a man, and takes away his reputation. What ſaith the world of him? ſuch a man is a drunkard, a ſwillboule, a toſpot, a ſot, a ſwaggering companion, a ſpend good, an unthrift, an Epicure, a belly-god, a filthy beaſt, &c. Yea what ſinne is ſo diſgracefull? what can diſcredit a man more, then to be counted a common drunkard? yea, this ſinne bringeth ſuch an ill name upon a man, that it will never bee done away; at leaſt ſo long as he lives in this ſin without repentance.
Wherein could Noah (that was but once drunke) have ſo much ſhamed and dishonoured himſelfe? how could hee have made himſelfe ſo contemptible, even to his owne children, as he did by being drunk? ſo, what greater ſhame to any man, then to make himſelfe a beaſt, yea, worſe then a beaſt, in his geſture, behaviour, nonſenſe, and abominable ſpewing? beſides his communication, his cogitations, his luſts, and affections, are all moſt beaſtly and ſhamefull: ſo that nothing diſguiſeth or diſgraceth a man more.
Neither need others defame him: for he either ſpues himſelfe out, or gives occaſion to be ſpurned out of all civill company.
In briefe, all that are ſober minded account drunkards but the very ſcumme of the Nation, and good for nought but to ſtand in the middeſt of a breach, when the Ordnance play, and bullets flie thick about their eares. And certainly there is nothing in the world more pitifull, an Ape-carrier is honourable, compared with a drunkard; and heare but their wives ſpeak, you will grant that his, of the two, is farre more happy in her choyſe.
Yea, it is ſuch a ſinne, for which a man ſhall bee diſgraced even of his drunken companions themſelves; who murther him behind his backe, by taking away his good name; howſoever they ſeeme to applaud him before his face.
And no man thinkes him fit or worthy to beare the meaneſt office either in Church or common-wealth; nay, he is not able to ſubject himſelf to, or be ruled by, either civill or eccleſiaſticall Governours, (indeed he often diſturbes the officers of both) nay, hee is ſo farre from all reſpect, that he either is, or ſhould be, ſeparated from all Chriſtian ſociety, and thrown out of the Church by excommunication, 1 Cor. 5.11.
Indeed, he thinks to get credit and popular applauſe by his drinking, to have others commend him, forſooth, for a good fellow, and joviall, and ſo purchaſe a name: but indeed hee gets the name of a common drunkard, which will ſticke by him to his dying day, and perhaps afterward; yea, let him be commended by one for a notable good fellow, (which is the height of his ambition) another that is wiſer, will reply, the better the worſe.
Again, who will truſt a drunkard with either money or commodity? A frugall man that is worth but little, ſhall be truſted with more, then a drunkard which hath tenne times his eſtate: and good reaſon, for the one his diligent hand maketh him rich, while the drunkards belly makes him go in rags.
Indeed, to borrow of every man hee is very importunate; but to pay he never uſeth, except it be his Hoſteſſe for ſuperfluous liquor, that when money failes, hee may drinke upon credit; as hee is alwayes indebted to my Hoſteſſe, and his belly to him; but he never to that, ſo long as his purſe, credit, or ſhame, can make even with it.
Yea, in many caſes they will acknowledge themſelves unworthy to be truſted; for they have an order amongſt themſelves (which you may ſee ſet up in Gurmionds hall) that all promiſes, Oaths, Bils, Bonds, Indentures, or any other conveyances whatſoever, made or cauſed to bee made in the afternoone, bee utterly void, and of none effect.
And in caſe they commit a villany; there needs no better plea, (for their excuſe) then this; alas! what would you have? I was not my ſelfe, or, I was in drinke, it was the wine, and not I.
Yea Marcus Antonius, ſaith Plutarch, ſet forth a book of his drunkennes; wherein he proved thoſe pranks which he played (when he was overcome with wine) to be good and lawfull: though in all reaſon he that doth evill in his drinke, ſhould bee twice puniſhed; firſt, for being drunke, then, for the fact he committed in drinke, as Pittac…s in his ſtatute-law enacted.
And as hee diſgraceth and ſhameth himſelfe; ſo he ſhameth his parents, Pro. 28.7. kinsfolks, friends, and all his acquaintance; and maketh them ſo aſhamed of him, that they are afraid and aſhamed to owne him.
Yea, drunkenneſſe diſgraceth and diſcrediteth the Goſpell, unto which it is cleane contrary; for whereas the Apoſtle would have our converſation ſuch as becommeth the Goſpel of JESUS CHRIST Phil. 1.27. both the Goſpel and the name of God is blaſphemed among the Gentiles, through ſuch ill livers, Rom. 2.24.
Yea, it bringeth a ſcandall upon all that profeſſe the ſame Religion with him, Revel. 2.9.
Yea, the Apoſtle tells us that their workes of darkneſſe which are done of of them in ſecret, are ſo ſhamefull, that it is a ſhame even to ſpeak of them, or once name them, Epheſ. 5.11, 12. Wherefore the drunkard ſhall bee filled with ſhame, and ſhamefull ſpewing ſhall be all his glory, Hab. 2.15, 16. untill he be trodden under feet, as the Lord threatens, Iſa. 28.3.
Thus drunkards by their drinking receive much hurt; ſome, in their bodies; ſome, in their braines; ſome, in their eſtates, whilſt they are called from their callings; ſome, in their names, whiles bucking with drinke, they are laid out to bee ſunned and ſcorn'd; ſome, in their chaſtity, whilſt they are uſed as Lots daughters did their father, &c. which may ſerve to have beene ſpoken of his outward parts. Now of his inward, and more odious qualities; for although the drunkards ſorrow, ſtrife, ſhame, poverty, and diſeaſes, together with his untimely death, as one would thinke, were enough to make this ſin odious: yet looke we further into him, as namely, into his more inward parts, his ſecret abominations, which follow and are occaſioned through drunkennes; that will make it hidious, and fearefull, at leaſt if I had the skill to cut him up, and paint him to the life.