The Great Evil of Health Drinking, Title page – Errata
THE GREAT EVIL OF Health-Drinking: OR A Diſcourſe, wherein the Original, Evil, and Miſchief of drinking of Healths, are diſcovered and detected; and the Practice oppoſed.
With ſeveral Remedies and Antidotes againſt it, in order to prevent the ſad Conſequences thereof.
Prov. 20.1. Wine is a Mocker, ſtrong Drink is raging: and whoſoever is deceived thereby, is not wiſe.
LONDON, Printed for Jonathan Robinſon, at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard, MDCLXXXIV.
A ſerious Addreſs TO Governours and Governed.
I Shall more certainly come near the Mark I aim at, by flying low in a Supplication, than high in a Dedication; of which I know more than one moſt Worthy, if the Building were not too little for a ſtately Front, and too mean to bear an Inſcription in Great Letters, and whoſe Worth might cover my Preſumption in appearing in the World. I am perfectly of the mind of a late worthy Perſon, who cared not whether it were known there was ſuch a perſon in the World, if he might but do good while he was in it. I ſtudy neither for temporal Rewards, nor Praiſe, but for the Good of thoſe I cannot ſpeak, nor write to. And that I may the eaſier obtain, what I earneſtly deſire of you, I will firſt humbly ſupplicate, what no Man can with any reaſon deny, and then what they ſhould grant.
1. I beſeech you labour to maintain and promote the Purity of Society, which every Man is bound to do, next to the Purtiy of his own Soul and Body. Here we make choice of them, with whom we are to live for ever. The Comfort and Bleſſedneſs of Society in this Life, as in the way to Bleſſedneſs in Heaven, doth conſiſt in inoffenſive, uſeful, and as much as poſſibly we can attain to, untainted, innocent, and holy Converſation. Is not Society much broken and ſtain'd by theſe Cups which are a Vehicle of Exceſs and Corruption?
2. I beſeech you conſider, that Mankind hath nothing ſince the Fall, but what cometh through the Hands of Chriſt. And God made Adam and Eve Coats of Skins, and cloathed them, but it was after the Promiſe of Chriſt was made, Gen. 3.21. And what comes to us by his means, that was not purchaſed by his Blood? and what was purchaſed by his Blood, was not intended to be abuſed and thrown away by the Receivers, or taken to their hurt.
3. Can it be thought that our bleſſed Lord did faſt, and ſuffer Hunger, endure Temptation, ſweat drops of Blood, complain, I thirſt? Did Water and Blood run out of his Sides, to obtain for us a wanton Liberty, to deceive our ſelves, and enſnare others? to tempt, overthrow, infatuate? to make ſport with the Gifts of his Bounty, ordained for his Glory, and our cheerful ſerving of ſo good a Maſter?
4. Did he who made a Plenty out of great Compaſſion to a fainting Multitude, command that nothing be loſt, but that the very Crumbs and Fragments ſhould be gathered, yet allow ſuch a Waſte as is made by Healthing? Or can we think, that he who taught us to pray for daily Bread, can approve of ſuch an Inſtitution as this is, an Invention to make the abuſe of Plenty the more ſpecious? Is not Healthing a very Vanity, and the Superfluity of Vanity? what is there in it to commend it to Obſervation? It is now coming up apace to be placed among Duties, and it is exacted from them that have no Inclination to it, they are call'd upon to do it, as with an Hoc age. But the nearer it approacheth towards the Altar of Duties, the more Care ſhould be to thruſt it down, or turn it out of doors, to its Profane and Pagan Company. Is it not to be admired, that ſo empty a Ceremony ſhould be coming up to be a ſtated and ſolemn Service?
5. Conſider, I pray you, if we know the uſe of Time, which is our All to prepare for an approaching Eternity, and the uſe of Plenty, the Benefit and Comfort of Society, what the right Enjoyment of Friends is, and what our very Bodies are ordained for; we would not throw away not a piece of a Day upon ſuch an Exerciſe as drinking Healths; no, not a moment in ſuch a Service. I can no better compare theſe Cups, than to Watering-Pots that water the Garden of Vices, which come up ſo faſt and thick.
6. Suppoſe we had a Soveraignty over our Servants the Creatures, and might do what we pleaſed with them, we might uſe them, or throw them away; yet certainly we muſt give an account of our ſelves to God before his Judgment-Seat, and of our Actions, whether good or evil. Can any Man reduce Healthing, drinking under that Notion and Formality, to the order of good Actions, by which God is glorified, our ſelves and others bettered? I am ſure, we muſt in our eating and drinking, as by a Divine Law, in a poſitive way glorify God.
7. I beſeech you, conſider, are not the Threatnings of God ſo full and big, that they are ready to break down upon us in ſore Judgments and Viſitations? And our Sins are as legible in the late Threatning Providence, as was the Sin of the old World, or the Sin of Sodom. Whoſe Fleſh hath not ſmarted with that greateſt, ſtrongeſt freezing, that any Man can remember? True, by the Goodneſs of God, there is plenty of Corn in the Land; but what became of our Drink, was it not quite out in many, near out in moſt good Houſes? what became of our Bread? Have we not ſeen a hoar Froſt, and Rime upon the outſide of it, and an Ice within? What became of our Wind and Water Mills? thoſe Grinders ceaſed in many places. I am not ignorant what may be ſaid to all this. But can any Man tell what our Corn in the Ground may come to? what our Flocks and Herds may come to? or what may become of theſe Bodies of ours? of the Health we yet enjoy? And that this ſhould befal us at that time, wherein our bleſſed Saviour is more forgotten than remembred, and diſhonoured by inexcuſable Riot and Exceſs, is not to be neglected. Surely drinking is grown to a height and great Exceſs, and Healthing helps it on, and is an Invention that has the force of an Engine to carry it up, as a Provocation, nearer Heaven. Surely God calls to a Repentance, to a ceaſing from this Sin; and I am as ſure, that if Drinking fall, Healthing will fall with it, and as long as Healthing is maintained, Drinking will keep its courſe. Ʋpon theſe Conſiderations, I do moſt humbly and earneſtly addreſs my Supplications:
1. To the Men of Honour and Power, to them that put on Scarlet by their Office, and fare deliciouſly every day; and to them that for the Grandure of their Office, have the Government of great Corporations upon their Shoulders; that they would refrain from, or reſtrain the luxuriant Growth of Immorality, which is fed by the waſte of Drink. If you would drain the Chanel, ſtop this Humour of Healthing, which is one of the livelieſt Springs of it. Some of old have well ſaid, that Majeſty was begotten in Wedlock between Reverence and Honour. It is not good for Honour to be alone, when you ſit in the State of your Office. Let not Reverence be forced to quit the Room, while Healths are drunk to your Honour. Reverence takes it ill to be affronted by that Boldneſs. Some Countries forbad drinking Wine to Magiſtrates. But Nehemiah, who lived in great Honour, and kept a noble Houſe, had plentiful Supplies of all ſorts of Wine. Neh. 5. It is lawful for you to keep great Houſes, open Tables, and to drink Wines; but if you would have God to think upon you for Good, make that great Man your Example; and in this alſo a greater than he, Ahaſuerus, at whoſe Feaſts none did compel. Eſth. 1.8. And this being written before time in the Holy Scripture, is written for our Learning: And whether drinking Healths be not a moral Compulſion, tho not violent, is humbly ſubmitted, and alſo atteſted, by Gaſper Sanctius upon that place: Cum Principium aut Amicorum ſalus interponitur, nemo poterit non obtemperare. — [A Lapide to the ſame ſenſe. Aug. Serm. de Temp. hereafter quoted.] I do not by this tax or accuſe, for I am a Stranger to the great and ſun ptuous Tables that are kept; but I do humbly beſeech them, that think it a neceſſary part of the Grandure of our Metropolis, to conſider how many Companies, and Meetings of Veſtry-men and others, they become Examples and Authorities to, and how impoſſible it is to reſtrain this Extravagance (this is a very diminutive Word) in the City Youth, which are ſo commonly poiſoned by theſe Draughts, as long as they have the Warrant of ſuch Examples. Theſe have been the parting Cups to many from all Modeſty and Vertue, and 'tis notoriouſly known, to the great Sorrow of many Friends, where Young Men began their Journey to a far Country, where they are yet loſt, and not found. Luke 15.
2. I deſire Parents, [and who will hear me, if they will not, in what I deſire of them, for the ſake of God and all that is dear to them, and their Poſterity?] that they both by early Inſtruction, ſtrict Injunction, and exemplary Practice, reſtrain their Children from the Entrance into this kind of Learning. It was a wiſe Apothegm of Reverend Mr. Dod, (whom Learned Capel called John the Divine, and the worthy Dr. Harris ſaid, ſpake better Apothegms than Plutarch, &c.) If Fathers would but ſtudy to be as good themſelves, as they would have their Children be, the World would be better. I know ſome that are very obſerving and wiſe, that do much complain of the danger of ſending their Sons abroad for Education, and into Callings. Drinking prepares for Debauchery; and they, like young Swimmers, dabble firſt about the Banks, but grow modiſh, and then confident, by Healths, and keep ſo long to that Element, till they grow ſtark giddy, are drown'd, or take Surfeits, and are hardly, if ever recovered. Healthing is to be abhorred for this Effect of it, that it makes young Men confident; and their ſeeing it the current Practice, Genteel, Modiſh, their being abroad a while to ſee Faſhions more than to follow Studies, gives Reputation and Encouragement to their Confidence: And then turn or ſtop them if you can! If you would have your Sons keep from Debauchery, and running into Ruine before your Eyes, keep them from dabling.
St. Auguſtin, the he preach'd twice before the ſame day, caus'd to be aſſembled not only Old Men, but Women and Children to his Church in Hippo, that they might fear as long as they lived, becauſe of what had happened that day. Cyril, an eminent Citizen of Hippo, had an only Son, eum ſuperfiuè diligebat, & ſupra Deum; he loved him ſuperfluouſly, and more than God, and they both are fallen into the Ditch. The Father being drunk with ſuperfluous Love, forbore to correct him, and indulged him to do what he pleaſed. How came they both to fall into the Ditch? but becauſe the Father was blind, and fond, and naught, and neglected his own, and Children's Salvation. And now, behold your Cyril had a Son, as you know, whom he neglected to correct, and he did luxuriouſly conſume part of his Father's Goods, and now he was overcome with Drunkenneſs, (oppreſſit nequiter) he wickedly abuſed his own Mother, forward with Child; he would have violated his Siſter; he hath kill'd his Father, and wounded his two Siſters to death.— O doloroſa Ebrietas! &c. O moſt grievous Drunkenneſs! the Mother of all Evils, the Siſter of all Luxury, the Father of all Pride. O Drunk…nneſs, thou doſt blind the Mind, haſt loſt all Judgment, haſt no Wiſdom or Counſel; thou art a flattering Devil, ſweet Poiſon. O Drunkenneſs! let Men learn to know thee, to avoid thee; And again, to avoid thee, to run from thee, as from Death: for he that covets thee, ſhall not obtain the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not enough for all the Faithful to abſtain from it themſelves, but they that abſtain, to teach others to abſtain from it, &c. Ad Fratr, &c. ſ. 33. com. 10.
May you not as well teach them the Modes of Swearing, as the Arts of Drinking? may you not as ſafely put them to nurſe to Volupia, as initiate them in the Rites of Bachus? As you would keep them chaſt, be ſure you keep them ſober; or elſe if they do not kill you, they will break your Hearts, and kill Joy and Hopes at your very Hearts.
3. I earneſtly entreat Governours, Tutors and Maſters in every Faculty: If Youths had no rational So uls, they would have no need of your Skill, and they would be of no uſe to you; you have therefore the Care of Souls; your Charge is great, and your Work difficult. Some muſt be broken from ill Cuſtoms learn'd before they came to you; and ſome muſt be preſerved from Infection, that come untainted to you. Rules of Art are not more neceſſary than Regulation of Life…, you know the Power of Example. If there be any ſpark of Light, if any Divine Authority in what is preſented to you; Let none that are under your Care have cauſe to ſay, they had your Example for this playing upon the ſlippery Brink of the Whirlepool of that drowning Sin of Drunkenneſs. I ſay again, Healthing gives young Men confidence to drink; and how can you take them down, if you ſet up the mode? I have more than once, with ſome ſadneſs, read the Oration of the Learned Sixtinus Arnama, when Rector of the Ʋniverſity of Frankere, See the laſt Edit. of his Antibai barous Bible.where he gives a lamentable account of the German Ʋniverſities, and particularly of that; and among other things, ſaid this, Multos generoſae indolis & magnae ſpei Adoleſcentes, quos Parentes & Praeceptores integros vitae à ſe dimiſerant, & indulgens haec mater acceperat, intra paucos dies, per initiales iſtas Potationes, quibus in ipſo introitu Bacho, id eſt, Diabolo initiabantur, corruptos vidimus, & poſteà miſerè periiſſe audivimus. I do not ſay, he means Healths by thoſe Initiales Potationes, thoſe entring Drinkings, by which they were baptized to Bachus, that is, the Devil. But is not the Form of Healthing now in uſe, the Form of Admiſſion into ſuch Fraternities? Allow but Liberty in this, as in a harmleſs thing, and if ever you can reſtrain them from turning round and giddy in the courſe of Sin, or cure them of that Epidemical Vice, you may be more famous than the famous Stroker, and be even a Thaumaturgus.
4. I humbly beſeech the Reverend and Exemplary Clergy, who are the Standards of this Age, to continue, as I hope they will, in a wiſe and religious Abſtinence, and, if I may uſe the Word without Offence, Nonconformity to the exorbitant Humour of Healthing, as famous Mr. Bolton call'd it, when it was nothing ſo much in faſhion as now it is. By this you preſerve the Dignity of your Calling, as much as by any thing in your common Converſation, even in the Opinion of thoſe great Men, that ſeem pleaſed for the time, with them that miniſter in theſe Offices. By this, as by other Decencies of your Calling, you maintain an Authority of being heard, when you adviſe, admoniſh; rectify without a ſilencing Repulſe of, Phyſician, heal thy ſelf; or, Pull out the Beam out of thine own Eye. It was counted no better than a Scandal in former times, and there is no reaſon why it ſhould be accounted profitable in this Age, much leſs commendable. The Reverend Writer of the Life of the moſt Fatherly Biſhop Lake, ſets out his noble and charitable Hoſpitality, when Biſhop of Bath and Wells, that his conſtant Family commonly conſiſted of at leaſt fifty Perſons: Now in this Rankneſs of Houſe-keeping, I know it is a Diſeaſe that commonly falls upon great Families, that they grow diſorderly and riotous—which fault leſt any Man ſhould ſuſpect to be in his Houſe, I cannot but remember another Virtue of his, 1 Tim. 3.4. For notwithſtanding his large Allowance of all things fit for the Entertainment of Strangers, you ſhould ſee no Footſteps of Riot or Exceſs in his Houſe: No tippling or carouſing of Healths, &c. Vertues and Vices do not change Places and Natures, with Times and Humours. How unſuitable is it, for the ſame Hands that adminiſter the Cup of Bleſſing, with a ſolemn Prayer for the Soul and Body of the Receiver, to hand about theſe Sacramenia, as St. Ambroſe calls them, with Head uncovered, Bows and Reverence, and implied Prayers, which avail not, but oftentimes do actually Harm to both Soul and Body.
5. I apply my ſelf with an importunate Requeſt to them that are in the Flower of their Age, that are the Nurſery of the Church and Common-wealth, the young Gentleman, and Youth of all Profeſſions, that they would ſeriouſly look into this little Manual, as into a Glaſs, that is intended to inform, and not to decoive. You are coming into the World to act your Part; you carry with you the Hoarts and Hopes of Parents; the World will be good or bad as you prove, when your Fathers are gone before, either haſtned to their Grave with Sorrow by you, or comforting themſelves in ſeeing you tread in the right Path before they dye. Juventas was of old a Goddeſs; ſhe is now known to be what ſhe is, but ſtill the wicked One doth court her, and would fain be great with her, and if he can get her Heart, what ſhall ſhe not have? even half his Kingdom. But be not deceived, leſt you be deſtroyed, firſt depraved, and then lost. He will cheat you till your Fyes are out, and then abuſe you, yea, make you grind in his Mill. You walk upon a Sea of Glaſs, and dazling Vanities and Shews, Pageants and Pleaſures, and falſe Images of things hang out to deceive and divert you from the ſcope of your Life, and main Buſineſs. You have need of a ſtrong Guard, a well-reſolved Heart ſeaſoned with Grace, and a ſteady Head. Satan conveys his Poiſon in Wines and pleaſing Liquors, and they are handed to you by your Friends, that are unhappily drawn in; and their Virtue is to intoxicate, and to deprive you of the excellent Faculty of diſcerning between Good and Evil, of the Capacity of doing good, (for that is loſt while the Fit is upon you) and all your Power united for doing Evil. You may ſee in a little time that there is nothing ſo childiſh and unmanly, nothing ſo bold and daring, whether they be in Oaths and Blaſphemies againſt God, or hazarding of Life; nothing ſo obſcene and filthy, nothing ſo baſe and falſe; in a word, nothing ſo ſinful and abominable, but is done and practiſed by the giddy and debauch'd Perſon, who is inſpired with Wine, elevated into a Madneſs, and unman'd in a Puppet, acted as the infernal Spirit hangs him upon his Wyres, and blows him with the Wind of his Temptations. He plays foul upon you, and makes the World believe it is Health you drink for, but do not you ſee what it proves? It is Health by an Antiphraſis. You may deſire to ſee Countries and Faſhions, but of all Lands take heed of Crapulia, and of all Company avoid the Carnaliſts, and of all the Faſhions, the Faſhions of them that wear the Garments ſpotted with the Fleſh. If once you like to be a Carnaliſt, you may quickly become Atheiſt, Papiſt, Heathen, any thing. I do heartily pray for you, and ſhall do while I live, that you may be holy and harmleſs, the Children of a Heavenly Father.
To Conclude, I beſeech every one that reads this little Book, would receive every Beam of Light that ſhines upon it, as from the Father of Lights, and kindly and gently breath upon every Spark of Divinity and Reaſon, to keep it in, and make it burn, to dry the unwholeſom Moiſture of evil Habits and Manners, and to warm and foment the fainting languid Spirits of Grace and Goodneſs.
ERRATA.
PAge 16. line 24. r. to the Sin forbidden. P. 41. l. 22 r. Amos 6.6 P. 44. l. 2. r. provocandi. P. 49. l. 21. r. Romanorum. P. 52. l. 1. r. Plautus f. Paulus. & l. 26. r. a, & l. 27. r. and. P. 55. l. 8. r. Annam, & l. 26. r. Perenna. P. 68. § 2. r. Drink, or Ordeal f. Order, which in the Saxon ſignifies Judgment, of which Sir Hen. Spelman's. Gloſs at large. P. 92. l. 10. r. as oft as any of them will drink to him again. P. 96. l. 16. r. even f. ever.