Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 22
§ 22.
5 FIfthly, Drunkennes brings poverty.as hee deformes his body, impaires his health, ſhortens his life, beaſtiates his ſoule, &c. ſo he conſumes his eſtate, and brings himſelfe to poverty, and want, as, to whom is poverty, as Salomon ſpeakes, but to Drunkards? who thinke no coſt too much that is beſtowed on their bellies, who conſume their wealth at the wine, even while they have ſwallowed downe their whole eſtates. As let the Drunkard have but a groate, it burnes in his purſe till it be drowned in drinke; if hee have gold, he will change it; if plate, hee will pawne it; and rather then not ſatisfie his gut, away goes all to the coate on his backe; yea, rather then hee will ſcant (as they ſay) his belly, had hee a jewell as rich as tenne Lordſhips, or as Cleopatra's was, that womanlike ſwaggerer, his throate ſhall have it. O that either wealth, or any other bleſſing ſhould be caſt away thus baſely! Or, ſuppoſe he bee a labouring man, and muſt earne it before he have it, he will drinke as much in a day (ſaith St. Ambroſe) as hee can get in a weeke, ſpend twelve pence ſooner, then earne two pence. And hence it commeth to paſſe, that the company keeper goes commonly in a ragged coate, as it is ſeldome ſeene that they offend the Statute againſt exceſſe in apparell, for rather then ſo, they will goe naked, and count that too a voluntarie penance.
Thus the Drunkard having ſpent all in ſuperfluities, in the end hee wants neceſſaries, and becauſe in youth hee will drinke nothing but wine, in his old age he is conſtrained to drinke water: yea, hee throwes his houſe ſo long out at windowes, that at laſt his houſe throwes him out at doores. And when all is gone, glad would he be to be a Swineheard, like the Prodigall ſon, but knowing himſelfe unworthy of any mans entertainment; hee growes weary of his life, and is ready to make himſelfe away, like Peter the Cardinall, baſe ſon to Sixtus the fourth that monſtrous Epicure, the ſhame of the latter times; or like Apicius, the ſhame of the ancient age wherein he lived.
All which the Scriptures make good, where it is ſaid, that the drunkard and the glutton ſhall come to poverty, and the ſleeper ſhall be cloathed with raggs. Pro. 23.21. And againe peremptorily, he that loveth wine and oyle ſhall not bee rich, Prov. 21.17.
Now that this is ſo, every officer of a Pariſh knowes to his great trouble, and the inhabitants coſt: yea, were I enjoyned to take up a ragged regiment, I ſhould thinke it no hard taske to muſter up a thouſand men, (admit but drunkards to be men) out of the very ſuburbs, that in ſheere drinke ſpend all the cloaths on their beds and backs; yea, that drinke the very bloods of their wives and children, for hee brings not this miſery upon himſelfe alone; but his whole family, wife children, ſervants, all are impoveriſht, yea, neere famiſhed, to ſatisfie his throat: in which regard he is worſe than an infidell, 1 T…m. 5.8.
The Drunkard ſpends all in the Alehouſe; and cares not, ſo hee fares well abroad, though his family ſtarve at home: he ſucks ſo much of the juyce of barley into his owne throat, that his family is either parcht with famine, or burnt with thirſt.
But marke how they are met with all; for, as if God would pay them in their own coyne, how oft have I ſeene vermin ſucking the drunkards blood, as faſt as he doth that of the Grape and Malt? Neither ſtayes hee here, for the tiplers progreſſe is commonly from luxurie, to beggery; from beggery, to thievery; from the Taverne, to Tyburne; from the Alehouſe, to the Gallowes.
I might go on, and ſhew you how this vice hinders men from performing the works of charity and mercy, and how the Drunkard defrauds the poore of that which he might, and ought to impart unto them, if hee lived moderately: but I haſten to ſhew you his inwards; only this let me tell him, that he ſhall once give an account for every idle penny hee ſpends, much more for every idle ſhilling, pound, &c.