Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 13 – Section 15
§ 13.
BUt you have not heard all; Drunkenneſſe diſables and indispoſeth men to all good, yea, to all the meanes thereof.for as others obſerve, it is a queller of all good notions, motions, actions; a ſinne which decayes all a mans good parts, and morall vertues; which diſables men from all good imployments, either in Church or Common-wealth, making them unprofitable, which otherwiſe might be ſerviceable, and indiſpoſeth them to grace and godlineſſe, yea, to all the meanes thereof. For as by too much raine (ſaith St. Austin) the earth is reſolved into dirt, and made unfit for tillage: ſo Drunkards by exceſſive ſwilling are altogether ſo unfitted for the ſpirituall tyllage, that they can bring forth no good fruits of holineſſe and righteouſneſſe, but rather like bogs and mariſhes, are fit to breed nothing but vermine, frogs, and ſerpents, that is, all manner of abominable ſinnes, and lothſome wickedneſſe.
More particularly, it keepes them from repenting, Eſa. 22.12.13. and all ſaving knowledge, Eſa. 28.7. debarreth them from regeneration, Chriſts righteouſneſſe, and that heavenly inheritance, Rom. 13.13.14. Gal. 5.21. 1 Cor. 6.10. by it the ſpirit is quenched, Eph. 5.18. and the body of ſinne, with all it's luſts, ſtrengthened, 1 Pet. 2.11. yea the ſoule by it is made like a City broken downe and without walls, Pro. 25.28. beſides, it keepes them in finall impenitencie, Eſay. 5.11.12. Pro. 23.35.
Neither can that ſoyle which brings forth this vice (like ground ſown with ſalt) bring forth any other thing which is good, I meane, ſo long as a man is ſuch; The roote of all evill, the rot of all good.as ſnow can never be made hot, ſo long as it is ſnow; yea, where drunkenneſſe reignes or carries the raynes, there cannot dwell the leaſt good, that heart is empty of all grace: and indeed how ſhould ſuch a worthy princeſſe as grace is, endure ſuch rogues for her bed-fellowes (ſo many filthy luſts as are in the Drunkards heart) to lodge with her, yea, as ſmoake drives Bees from their hive: ſo drunkenneſſe drives all the graces from ſuch an heart. And how ſhould the Holy-Ghoſt (which delights to dwell in the heart of an holy man) but ſcorne to be an inmate, where drunkenneſſe is an inhabitant; noyſome luſts, and evill cogitations drive him away; if the Divell comes in, the Holy-Ghoſt will goe out. And therefore the Scripture tells us, that the ſpirit went from Saul when he ſinned, 1 Sam. 16.14. and ſo on the contrary, when the Holy Spirit enters into the heart of a man, all ſinnes (in ſome meaſure) are abandoned; as, when the King comes into the Tower all the priſoners goe out.
The Drunkards heart is like Mare mortuum, The Drunkards heart a Mare Mortuum.for as no fiſh will live there, ſo no grace will thrive here: it is the roote of all evill, the rot of all good. Much traveling makes bad way, if one goe but now and then over a Meadow, the graſſe will nevertheleſſe grow, but when it is made a common through-fare, and beaten roade for all paſſengers, this maketh the path bare: ſo the frequent cuſtome of ſinne in any heart, when there is a perpetuall concourſe of all filthineſſe, hinders, yea, kills every good motion as faſt as it ſprings up; and this is a ſinne which turnes a man wholly into ſinne. The Drunkard reſembles Vejovis that Heathen god, who could doe no good, but hurt at will: and is like Ahab, who ſold himſelfe to worke wickedneſſe; yea worſe, if worſe can be, for the Drunkard wholely dedicates, reſignes, ſurrenders, and gives himſelfe up to ſerve ſinne and Sathan; his whole imployment is onelyonly to drinke, drab, quarrell, ſweare, ſcoffe, ſlaunder, and ſeduce; as if to ſinne were his trade, and he could doe nothing elſe; like the Devill, who was a ſinner from the beginning, a ſinner to the end. To ſay that ſinne were in him, would be improper, for hee is nothing elſe but ſinne in the abſtract, as St. Auſtin ſpeakes, even a very Chaos of ſinne bunged up, for as when a man is overcome with anger, we ſay hee is in heate; and when wee ſay ſuch a man is in drinke, wee imply more then that drinke is in him; yea, when we call a man a Drunkard, we imply more then that he is drunke, or hath beene drunke, for it argues frequency; and laſtly, as when Simon Peter told Simon Magus thou art in the gall of bitterneſſe, and in the bond of iniquity, hee implyed, that not onelyonly theſe were in him, but hee in them: ſo both more is implyed, and it is more proper to ſay of a ſotted and fordid Drunkard, hee is ſinne, then a ſinner; yea, that man of ſinne is not fuller of ſin, then ſuch an one: ſo that as Solomon ſaith, ſpeaking of the vertuous woman, many daughters have done vertuouſly, but thou ſurpaſſeſt them all; ſo may I ſay of a Drunkard, many ſinners have done wickedly, but thou ſurpaſſeſt them all.
§ 14.
BUt to roave no longer in generalls, The Drunkard cut up and anatomized.having given you a ſuperficiall view of this Monſter, and the ſumme of that which he makes his onelyonly Summum bonum in a lumpe, or as it were wrapt up: I come now to ſtrip him naked, and turne his inſide outward; by acquainting you with ſuch ſpeciall and particular obſervations, as beſt deſerve our diſcovery and the worlds notice. In handling whereof, it is not to be expected that I ſhould obſerve a diſtinct propriety in referring all particulars to their generall heads, for as much as many of them are coincident one with another.
Neither will I undertake to obſerve an exact order in his deſcription, ſeeing hee keepes none at all in his life: my principall care being to paint him really and hiſtorically (not poetically) every way as he is; his words, as he ſpeakes them; his deeds, as he acts them, even to the very life, and preſent him upon the Stage ſuch, as the Spectators may verily thinke they either ſee him, or the Devill in his likeneſſe; as Sr. Tho. More concluded touching Eraſmus, when he but heard him ſpeake, having never before ſeene the man.
§ 15.
The firſt thing I'le fall upon ſhall be His body, touching which I will lay open.
1 his outward deformities.
2 His inward infirmities.
1 HIs outward bodily deformities are many, and thoſe odious; His outward deformities.as if you obſerve it.
The Drunkard commonly hath (Vertumnus like) a braſill Noſe; a ſwolne and inflamed Face, beſet with goodly Chowles and Rubies, as if it were both roſt and ſod; ſwimming, running, glaring, gogle Eyes, bleared, rowling, and red; a Mouth naſty with offenſive fumes, alwayes foaming, or driveling; a fevoriſh Body; a ſicke and giddy Braine; a Mind diſpearſt; a boyling stomacke; rotten Teeth; a ſtinking Breath; a drumming Eare; a palſied Hand; gouty, ſtaggering Legs, that faine would goe, but cannot; a drawling, ſtammering, temulentive Tongue, clambd to the roofe and gumms; in fine (not to ſpeake of his odious geſtures, lothſome naſtineſſe, or beaſtly behaviour, his belching, hickups, vomittings, his ridiculous poſtures, and how eaſily he is knockt downe, whoſe hamſtrings Bacchus hath already cut in two; nor of the unmeaſurable groſeneſſe of ſuch, whoſe onelyonly element is Ale, eſpecially your Ale-wives, who, like the Germane Froas, are all cheekes to the belly, and all belly to the knees, whoſe dugs and chins meete without any forceing of either, becauſe you may dayly ſee ſuch fuſtilugs walking in the ſtreets, like ſo many Tunnes, each moving upon two pottle pots) his eſſentiall parts are ſo obſcured, his Senſe ſo dulled, his Eyes ſo dazeled, his Face ſo diſtorted, his Countenance ſo deformed, his Ioynts ſo infeebled, and his whole body and minde ſo transformed, that hee is become the child of folly, and deriſion of the world, a laughing ſtock to fooles, a lothing ſtock to the Godly, ridiculous to all.
Yea, queſtionleſſe had they a glaſſe preſented them, they could hardly be brought againe to love their owne faces; much more, ſhould they reade a true character of their conditions, would they runne beſides their wits, if they had any to loſe, or goe and diſpatch themſelves; as Bupalus did, at the ſight of Hipponax his letter; or as Hocſtratus did, upon view of a booke which Reuchlin writ againſt him; oras Brotheus did, who being mocked for his deformity, threw himſelfe into the fire, and there died: for, Therſites like, many are their bodily deformities, but far more and worſe are thoſe of their ſoules. Whence it was that the Lacedaemonians uſed to ſhew their ſlaves in the time of their drunkenneſſe unto their children, thinking that their ugly deformity, both in body and minde, would be an effectuall argument to make them loath this vice, which even at the firſt view ſeemed ſo horrid.
And indeed, how ſhould the Drunkard be other then ugly and deformed; when experience ſhewes, that intemperance is a great decayer of beauty, and that wine burnes up the radicall moyſture, and haſtens old age exceedingly.