Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 41
§ 41.
AS touching memory, 2. That drunkard: have ſhallow memories.they have hardly any at all; for the abundance of wine hath drowned and mudded that noble recorder. The drunkard firſt ſpeakes he knowes not what, nor after can he remember what that was he ſpake; it is the funerall of all a mans good parts. A drunkards mind and ſtomack are alike, neither can retaine what they receive; deep drinkers have ſhallow memories. Have you not heard of one drunkard, that ſought all the Innes in the Towne for his Horſe, when indeed he came thether on foote? of another, that was halfe perſwaded by the Chamberlain, that he came thether without his breeches, having laid them over night under his mat, for the more ſafety of his purſe? and I can witnes that one of no meane parts, being invited to a buriall, puld out his key in the Church (being halfe a ſleepe, halfe awake) and knockt on the pew crying, Drawer, what is to pay?
By all which it appeares, that drunkenneſse deprives men both of wit and memory, and yet madly wee perſue this vice as the kindler of them: but no wonder, when the forbidden Tree which promiſed our firſt parents knowledge, took their knowledge from them, the ſame divell having a hand in both.
I might proceed to his knowledge in the beſt things, and ſhew you, As drunkards are purblind to worldly wiſdome, ſo they are stark blind to heavenly.that whereas ſome are like the Moone at full, have all their light towards earth, none towards heaven; other, like the Moone at wane, or change, have all their light to heaven-wards, none to the earth; drunkards are like the Moon in Eclips, having no light in it ſelfe, nether towards earth, nor towards heaven.
Though they are apt to thinke themſelves Giants for wit, and Eagles for light and judgement, even in Divinity alſo, which makes them ſo put themſelves forward, as how often have I ſeene a caſe of leather ſtuft with wind, as he in Marcellus Donatus thought himſelf a very beefe-brain'd fellow, that hath had onelyonly impudence enough to ſhew himſelfe a foole, thruſt into diſcourſes of religion, thinking to get eſteeme; when all that he hath purchaſed thereby, hath beene onelyonly the hiſſe of the wiſe, and a juſt deriſion from the abler judgements: not unlike that Germane Clown, who undertooke to be very ready in the ten Commandements, but being ask'd by the Miniſter, which was the firſt? he anſwered, thou ſhalt not eat.
If you doubt of it, doe but aske the drunkard a reaſon of his faith; and you ſhall ſee hee can no more tell you, then the winde can tell, which laſt blew off my hat. Or onelyonly heare him relate what the Miniſter ſpake, for ſeldome but hee ſtumbles at, and miſtakes his words; for as when S. Auguſtine juſtified free will againſt the Manichees, the ignorant would take him for a Pelagian; and when he denied free-will to the Pelagians, they would take him for a Manichee, when he was neither, but diſputed againſt both the extreames, the one utterly denying it, the other too highly extolling it: ſo when the Miniſter teacheth, that it is impoſſible for a man to bee juſtified by his workes, bee they never ſo glorious and exact performā ces, theſe brutiſh drunkards wil cry out, he condemneth good works; if he ſhew them the neceſſity of living well, they'll thinke hee excludeth faith from juſtifying; let him prove it a dead faith which is without good workes, and thoſe good workes but ſhining ſins which are without faith, and ſhew that both faith and workes are equally neceſſary to ſalvation, and they will underſtand hee meanes them both as meritorious cauſes, whereas he acknowledgeth neither; but faith as an inſtrument, good workes as a neceſſary concomitant, God alone the efficient, and Chriſt alone the meritorious cauſe of ſalvation: for know this, that good workes cannot juſtifie us before the ſevere Tribunall of Almighty God, our workes deſerve nothing, it is onelyonly in Chriſt, that they are accepted; and onelyonly for Chriſt, that they are rewarded: Neither is it faith which properly ſaves us, but the righteouſneſſe of Chriſt, whereon it is grounded; by grace yee are ſaved through faith, Epheſians 2.8. It is the God of truth that ſpeakes it, and woe unto him that ſhall make God a lyer; by grace effectually, through faith inſtrumentally; we are not juſtified for the onelyonly act and quality of believing, it is the juſtice of Jeſus that juſtifies us, which faith apprehends: it was the brazen Serpent that healed, not the eye that looked on it; yet without a looking eye, there was no helpe to the wounded party by the promiſed vertue. It is true, our Adverſaries oppoſe this doctrine both with Pens and Tongues, violently in the Schooles, invectively in the Pulpets; but come they once to their death-beds, to argue it betweene God and their owne ſoules; then grace, and grace alone; mercy, and onelyonly mercy; Ieſus, and none but Ieſus; this their great Belweather is driven to confeſſe yea, ſaith another, give us this faith, and then let our enemies doe their worſt, the Devill tempt, the world afflict, ſinne menace, death afright, yet faith will vanquiſh all, through the righteouſneſſe of Ieſus Chriſt.
Againe let a Miniſter ſpeak againſt affectation of learning in Sermons, they will ſay, he condemnes learning; let him tell ſuch as live and allow themſelves in drunkenneſſe, adultery, ſwearing, deceiving, &c. that they are in a damnable condition, and in a reprobate ſenſe, they will ſay, he calls them reprobates, and judgeth them damned: in all which they reſemble the Sadd…ces, who tooke occaſion to deny the Reſurrection, from that wholſome doctrine taught, that we ſhould neither ſerve God for reward, nor feare of puniſhment, but meerely out of obedience and love: or the Iewes, who when Chriſt ſpeake of the Temple of his body, underſtood him to meane the materiall Temple, and thereupon tooke great exceptions.
Yea, we have a world of ſuch amongſt us, who ſeeme (Malchus like) to have their right eares cut off, they heare ſo ſiniſterly. And rather then not carpe, if the Miniſter but uſe a ſimilitude, for ornament and illuſtration ſake, borrowed from nature or hiſtory, they will ſay, he affirmes the matter thereof poſſitively to be true: like as that ſimple fellow thought Pontius Pilate muſt needs be a Saint, becauſe his name was put in the Creede. And ſo much to prove that the Drunkard hath neither wit nor memory.