Iba%f. x vr.] TEMPERANCE,. &C. ¢3T The sense of this word ayvx in the greek, is extended so far by some critics, as to include temperance in eat- ing and drinking, as well as chastity and modesty in all our words and behaviour; and thus it signifies almost the same with sobriety, and implies a restraint upon all the excessive and irregular appetites that human nature is subject to. Under these two heads I shall treat of purity briefly, and shew under each of them bow the light of nature, and how the gospel of Christ requires the practice of it. I. Temperance in eating and drinking maybe in- cluded in this command of purity, for we can hardly suppose the apostle omitted so necessary a virtue, and it is not mentioned at all, if it be not implied here. It is not beneath the doctrine of christianity to condescend to give rules about the most common affairs ofhuman life, even food and raiment. It is a piece of impurity to imi- tate the swine, and to gorge ourselves beyond measure; to give up ourselves to fulfil every luscious appetite, and every luxurious inclination of the taste. An indulgence of this sort of vice, what infinite dis- orders cloth it bring upon' mankind ? If a man would read the character of a drunkard painted in very bright and proper colours, and receive the foulest ideas of it in the fairest oratory, he cannot find a better description than Prov. xxiii. 29-32. Who bath woe? Who bath sorrow? Who bath contentions? Who bath babbling ? Who bath wounds without cause? Who hatla redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not therefore upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cap, when it moveth itself aright. Some men in our age well un- derstand what Solomon here means. But at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. The pleasure will be attended with intolerable pain and mor- tal injury, when the excess of liquor shall work like so much venom poured into the veins, and cast thee into diseases as incurable as the bitingof any serpent; it will do thee more mischief than an adder with all his poison. There are many that have felt the words of Solomon true, when their voluptuous sins have been dreadfully recom- pensed with ruin to their Jul and body. But the inspired writer dwells upon the loz`lhfome 2F3
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