The Great Evil of Health Drinking, Discourse · Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Remedies and Antidotes againſt Healthing.
§. 1. ALL that hath been hitherto ſaid, might be made up in Antidotes againſt this Cup of moral Poiſon; to which I will more briefly add theſe following, which are preſcribed to none but them that will take them.
1. As it was ſaid of old in another caſe, Go to Jordan; ſo ſay I, Go to the Font, to the Laver of Regeneration, and remember that you put on Chriſt, and were admitted into that Society, whereof he that was cruciſied, complained in his Extremity, I thirſt, and is now exalted high above every Name, is Head, Maſter, Governour; and the Society are all Saints by Vow and Profeſſion.
2. Value the Price and Purchaſe of Souls and Bodies; remember that both are not your own, being redeemed by, and dedicated to the Lord, you are bound to glorify him with both; you are not Debtors to the Fleſh, to live after the Fleſh; but if you would live, muſt mortify the Fleſh, and honour God in your Perſons, which you cannot do if you diſhonour even your Bodies, which are not for Drink any more than for Fornication, or Pride, or any other filthy Service.
3. Conſider the Price of your common Mercies, of infinitely greater Worth than all the precious Jewels, the profuſe and prodigious Cajus diſſolved in Vinegar to drink them off. The Tenure by which you hold is the nobleſt by Gift, by the Covenant of Grace, for your uſe, but for his Glory; 1 Cor. 10.31. If you do not like them upon theſe Conditions, why do not you throw them up, and hold them ſo no longer? and then ſee the Conſequence!
4. By the Goſpel we are indulged a great Liberty in the Enjoyment of Creatures, we are under no Prohibition and Reſtraint that was upon the Jews: But we are no where ſo enjoyned Temperance and Sobriety, as by the Goſpel; none made ſuch Laws for the Appetite as Chriſt, who call'd them Bleſſed that are poor, and pronounced a Wo to them that are full. He preferred Lazarus in his Sores, with Dogs, before the rich Man. Carnifices ſalutis, ventrem & gulam, coercebat exemplis. Novatianus Epiſt. de Cibis Judaicis.
5. Do not affect to be civil, modiſh, and genteel in thoſe things by which Sobriety, Modeſty, Seriouſneſs, and Holineſs are defaced. Grace, and pure Chriſtianity, are the moſt noble qualities, except we think the Divine Nature the meaneſt. And what's Gentility, but the World's old Livery newly trimm'd? an upſtart Foreigner, that claims equal Privileges with Grace, if it doth not take the upper hand of it at moſt of our Tables. If Men did affect to be regenerate, and Chriſtians indeed, in all Converſation, and to be accompliſhed with gracious Habits, ſupernatural Qualities and Graces, above all Qualities, no Book would be more ſtudied than the Bible, and what Chriſt teacheth would never be forgotten, &c. But Men ſoon learn, becauſe they affect the Modes of Speech, and Actions, and Converſations, (and this of Healthing is taken up as ſoon as any,) and carry it, as if it were a mean thing to be religious, and ſillineſs to be ſerious, and an odd thing to be ſtrict, and an indecent thing to be ſingular, where we ſhould not be ſingular indeed, that is, becauſe we ſhould all follow the Rules and Examples of our Maſter in Heaven, the Teacher that came from God, to teach us the way to him.
6. Be not ſo much taken with the Modiſhneſs of this Complemental Snare, as not to be out of love, and in the utmoſt deteſtation of its ordinary Attendants. To this end frame and draw true Images of things, and take off the Vizors from the face of Healths; when it is enjoined as a Sign of Loyalty, (which I hope it will never be, that hath been forbidden by Royal Proclamation) then it will be ſoon enough. It was an Apothegm of a moſt learned Stateſman, I will pray for the King's Health, and drink for my own. Sir Francis Bacon. When it can be proved to you, that it is a real Sign of Honour and Reſpect, or an Act of Civility, or Generoſity, Nobleneſs or Hoſpitality; and when it ends as well as it began, then take it up. But do not you find, that then Perſons drink together more like Friends, and leſs like Strangers, when there are no Healths drunk, than when there be? And do not you find it true, what St. Ambroſe obſerved, Rogas ad jucunditatem, cogis ad mortem; invitas ad prandium, efferre vis ad ſepulchrum, &c. You invite to a Dinner, but they are carried to their Grave, &c. Vocatis ut amicos, emittitis ut inimicos: You invite them as Friends, but ſend them out like Enemies.
You may, if you will, ſee in Healthing, 1. Irreverence of God, taking his Name in vain. 2. No Kindneſs to your Friends, but their Health in pretence. 3. An ungrateful Abuſe of excellent Mercies, Wine and Strong-Beer, that loſe their comforting Virtue by exceſs, and their Uſe by wantonneſs. 4. Sin and Levity fac'd and painted with a deceiving Complement. Some drink in meer Bravery and Pride, or in Flattery, or out of Fear, or miſtaken Love, but moſt commonly from Self-love, and Senſepleaſing.
Secondly, draw right and lively Idea's and Images of that great Sin of Drunkenneſs, for deteſtation ſake. Laeſa eſt pietas, ubi irridetur ebrietas. Ambr. You may find enough to turn your Heart from it, if you will but ſearch for it. And is not this the daily Attendant upon Healthing? 'Tis the greateſt Diſgrace a Man can put upon himſelf or others. Why ſhall it not be reputed to be as great a diſhonour to be laid by the heels by this Sin, as to be put in the Stocks, or a Priſon? Suppoſe a Company of rude and impudent Servants ſhould combine to abuſe their Maſter, a Perſon of noble Birth, and great Honour; to that end they ſhould wheedle and gull him into a pleaſant Humor, make him very merry; and when they have levell'd him down to a Familiarity, they take his place, and play the Maſter; they then put out one Candle, and anon another, and then come the Grooms and Footmen, and paw upon him, and at laſt lay him under the Table, or in a meaner place. Thus the Divine Reaſon is abuſed by the Senſes, and the Inferiors being little better, or rather in that worſe than Brutes, make ſport with their Maſter. Again, imagine a noble Perſon to have many graceful and uſeful Servants under him, and if they be not true and officious to him, it is his Fault, and not theirs; and this noble Perſon being out of humor, he turns one out of his place, and then another, until he have left him none to help him: Would it not be a very ignoble Action? Would he not, when come to himſelf, repent, and do ſo no more? Is it not like this, when the noble Reaſon and Affections are depraved by Luſt, do ſerve his Senſes, and the Members of his Body, even thoſe that were born with him, bred with him from the very Cradle, went to School with him, lay in the ſame Bed with him, and are as dear to him when he is himſelf, as his very Eyes, Hands, and Feet; but he doth caſt them off by the inſinuation of Wine; the Eyes fail, the Hands ſhake, the Legs wave like Reeds: Ne que pes, ne que mens ſatis officium faciunt. And tho they are next day taken home again, yet for ought he knew, they were quite gone, never to be ſeen till the Reſurrection. — It is a high Offence to our glorious Creator; it perverts the end of our Redemption; it unmans the Man, and is a contempt of Death, the Grave, and Hell it ſelf. If Men had any reverence for their God, Creator, Saviour, Sanctifier; if any honour to their own Nature; if any ſenſe of Mortality, and of the reference this mortal Life hath to eternal Life, they would never live it thus, throw away their Time thus. How curious are Men of their own Pictures, of their Childrens Faces and Shapes, of the Monuments of their Anceſtors! how enraged at the violation of their Daughters! And will you with your own hands, by the ungrateful abuſe of Plenty, deprave, deſile, ſwill, and proſtitute your ſelves! What if you were ſtript by your own Servants, of your own Clothes, and they ſhould put on you their Liveries or Frocks? would you brook it? Yet a Gentleman is a Gentleman in the meaneſt Garb; but you are not Men, when you undreſs, or put off Sobriety. In a word, it is a great Sin, and what if the Lord find you ſo doing?
7. If you would not drink to exceſs, nor health about, be ſure you do not begin. And know, there is an honour due to Temperance, as much as Chaſtity. If you would not diſhonour the Chaſtity of the deareſt Friend, if you would take it for a diſhonour to have your Chaſtity attempted, never tempt, or ſuffer Temperance to be tempted; for Temperance and Chaſtity are of the ſame great Family, tho but low in the World.
8. Prize and improve Retirement; ſtudy to bear it, and to be happy in it. And be no oftner, nor longer abroad, than good occaſion will require. And in your own Houſe, under God, be Maſter; ſuffer no Servants to be drunk, nor any of them to play the Gentleman with Healths. And no Man of breeding or worth, will put you out of your own way.
9. Preſerve the purity of your Souls, as well as your Hands; the purity of your Bodies from Exceſs, as from all Uncleanneſs. And as you would not be a Companion of Thieves, neither in their Thievery, nor in their Priſons, nor in the place of Execution, be not a Companion of Drunkards; for Thieves and they ſhall be condemned together. 1 Cor. 6.9. And as ſleight of hand, and cunning conveyances of ſmall Things, are preparatory Exerciſes to the Art of Cheating; ſo is Healthing the initiating Ceremony in the Profeſſion and Society of Good-Fellows. Next to the purity of your own Perſons, preſerve the purity of your own Families, and then of Societies, which are corrupted commonly by nothing more, than by this wanton playing with plenty of the beſt of Creatures. Poor People, that labour hard, and drink Water or ſmall Beer, do not uſe it; nor you neither, but when you have the beſt, and wantonly waſte it.
10. If you have not experience of your own, you may ſoon be informed of the many Evils which befall others, and that this is the entrance into the Schools of Vanity and Iniquity, and the Chambers of Death. It is good for you to be eſtabliſhed with Grace, and not with Meats, ſaith the Apoſtle, and not with Drink, ſay I; and be reſolved neither to offend nor entice any, nor to impoſe upon any, nor to be impoſed upon, that you may not communicate your ſins to others, nor be partakers of other Mens ſins. Be ſober, and watch; and if Men will not contain themſelves, be as reſolute to refuſe, as others are to offer. Purity will do you more good, and bring you a greater Glory, than all theſe ſhews of Civility and Breeding, as this is thought to be, by them who firſt grow modiſh, then apiſh, and then bold, and then obdurate. And whether Healthing be a ſin, or ſinful, or how far it partakes or contracts, I humbly leave it to them that will peruſe this Diſcourſe; but this I think is too manifeſt, that it is an Inlet of a Flood of Sin in all parts of the Land, and doth more harm than Floods in Harveſt.
I have but one thing more to do, to commend the Reader to the Grace of God, and Holineſs and Sobriety to his ſtudy, and conclude with thoſe grave Words of the great St. Auguſtin. Ergo Fratres chariſſimi, dum haec ſuggero, me abſolvo apud Deum. Quicun que me audire contempſerit, & ad bibendum pronus fuerit, vel in convivio ſuo alios adjurare vel cogere voluerit, & pro ſe, & pro illis in die Judicii reus erit. Et quia, quod pejus eſt, aliqui etiam Clerici, qui hoc deberent prohibere, ipſi cogunt bibere aliquos plus quàm expedit, amodo incipiant & ſeipſos corrigere, & alios caſtigare, ut cùm ante Tribunal Chriſti venerint, nec de ſuâ, nec de aliorum ebrietate incurrant ſupplicium. Serm. de Temp. 232. & in ead. Domin. Serm. 2.
If All that has been ſaid by me, will not prevail on our common Healthers to leave off this ill Cuſtom, I will deſire them to read and ponder his Majeſty's Proclamation (here adjoined) againſt vicious, debauch'd, and prophane Perſons, and againſt drinking his Health, publiſhed a little after his Happy Reſtauration, in the Twelfth Year of his Reign.
CHARLES R.
SInce it hath pleaſed the Divine Providence, in ſo wonderful a manner, and by ways and means no leſs miraculous, than thoſe by which he did heretofore preſerve and reſtore his own choſen People, to reſtore VsUs, and Our good Subjects to each other, and to ſhew VsUs a very hopeful Proſpect, if not to put VsUs already into poſſeſſion of that Peace, Happineſs and Security, with which this our Kingdom hath been heretofore bleſſed: It will become VsUs all, in our ſeveral Stations, to acknowledg this tranſcendent goodneſs of Almighty God in ſo ſeaſonable a conjuncture, with ſuch a Circumſpection, Integrity, and Reformation in Our Lives, that we may not drive away that Mercy which ſo near approacheth VsUs, by making Our ſelves (wholly) unworthy of it. And in Order hereunto, We think it high time to ſhew Our Diſlike of thoſe (againſt whom We have been ever enough offended, tho We could not in this manner declare it) who under pretence of Affection to VsUs and our Service, aſſume to themſelves the liberty of Reviling, Threatning and Reproaching others; and as much as in them lies, endeavour to ſtifle and divert their good Inclinations to Our Service, and ſo to prevent that Reconciliation and Vnion of Hearts and Affections, which can only, with God's Bleſſing, make VsUs rejoyce in each other, and keep Our Enemies from rejoycing.
There are likewiſe another ſort of Men, of whom we have heard much, & are ſufficiently aſhamed, who ſpend their time in Taverns, Tipling-houſes, and Debauches, giving no other Evidence of their Affection to us, but in Drinking Our Health, and inveighing againſt all others, who are not of their own diſſolute temper: and who, in truth, have more diſcredited Our Cauſe, by the Licence of their Manners and Lives, than they could ever advance it by their Affection or Courage. We hope, that this extraordinary way of delivering VsUs all from all We feared, and almoſt bringing VsUs to all We can reaſonably hope for, hath and will work upon the Hearts even of theſe Men, to that degree, that they will cordially renounce all that Licentiouſneſs, Prophaneneſs, and Impiety, with which they have been corrupted, and endeavoured to corrupt others, and that they will hereafter become examples of Sobriety and Vertue, and make it appear, that what is paſt was rather the Vice of the Time, than of the Perſons, and the fitter to be forgotten together.
And, becauſe the fear of Puniſhment, or apprehenſion of Our Diſpleaſure, may have influence upon many, who will not be reſtrained by the Conſcience of their Duty, We do declare, That We will not exerciſe juſt Severity againſt any Malefactors, ſooner than againſt Men of diſſolute, debauch'd, and profane Lives, with what parts ſoever they may be otherwiſe qualified and endowed; and We hope that all Perſons of Honour, or in Place and Authority, will ſo far aſſiſt VsUs in diſcountenancing ſuch Men, that their Diſcretion and Shame will perſuade them to reform what their Conſcience would not, and that the diſpleaſure of good Men towards them, may ſupply what the Laws have not, and, it may be, cannot well provide againſt, there being by the Licenſe and Coruption of the Times, and the depraved Nature of Men, many Enormities, Scandals, and Impieties, in Practice and Manners, which Laws cannot well deſcribe, and conſequently not enough provide againſt, which may by the example and ſeverity of vertuous Men, be eaſily diſcountenanced, and by degrees ſuppreſſed.
However, for the more effectual reforming theſe Men, who are a diſcredit to the Nation, and unto any Cauſe they pretend to favour, and to wiſh well to: We require all Mayors, Sheriffs, and Iuſtices of Peace, to be very vigilant and ſtrict in the diſcovery and proſecution of all Diſſolute and prophane Perſons, and ſuch as blaſpheme the Name of God by prophane Swearing and Curſing, or revile or diſturb Miniſters, and deſpiſe the Publick Worſhip of God; that being firſt bound to the good Behaviour, they may be further proceeded againſt, and expoſed to ſhame, in ſuch a manner, as the Laws of the Land, and the juſt and neceſſary Rules of Government ſhall direct or permit.
God ſave the King.
I intended to produce ſome ſad Examples (of which there are too many) of the lamentable Effects of Healthing, but I ſhall only relate one, viz.
At a Tavern near Cheapſide in London, certain Gentlemen drinking Healths to their Lords, on whom they had dependance, one deſperate Wretch ſteps to the Tables end, lays hold on a Pottle-pot full of Canary, ſwears a deep Oath, What will none here drink a Health to my noble Lord and Maſter? And ſo ſetting the Pottle-pot to his Mouth, drinks it off to the bottom, was not able to riſe up or to ſpeak when he had done, but fell into a deep ſnoring Sleep; and being removed, laid aſide, and covered by one of the Servants of the Houſe, attending the time of the drinking, was within the ſpace of two hours irrecoverably dead.
FINIS.
End of the text · Charles Morton, The Great Evil of Health Drinking (1684)