SERM.
XXVI,,
TEMPERANCE,
&C.
439
are
mighty to
drink
wine, have
a severe
censure cast
upon them,
and
a
curse
in the
book
of God
;
Is.
v.
1
L
not
only woe
to them,
that.rise up early
in
the morning,
that
they
may find
strong
drink, and continue
till night,
tiff
wine inflame
them;
but
woe
to them
that are
mighty
to
drink
wine,
even
though
they are
not
utterly over-
come
by
it,
to the
disorder
and disgrace
of
their under-
standings, verse
2.2.
The
reason
is,
because
nature
will
not
bear
such
a
quantity of
wine
or strong
liquors
at
first;
and
it
is
presumed
men have
forced
nature
beyond
its
original
capacity, and thus have grown up,
by
degrees
of
sin,,
to such a
strength
.in
drinking.
These are
they
that
call evil good,
and
good
evil,
and that
glory
in-their
shame.
Hearken
to thy
father's
advice, O
youth, and despise
not
thy mother's
counsel; hear thou,
my
son,
and be
wise,
and guide thine
heart
in the
way
of
temperance.
Be
not
amongst
wine
-
bibbers, amongst
riotous eaters
of
flesh,
Prow.
xxiii.
19,
20.
Youth
is
greedy
of
pleasure,
and
in
danger
of
being
corrupted
by
it
;
therefore
avoid the
so-
ciety
of
drunkards and
gluttons.
You
see
they are
join-
ed
together
in
the
prohibition and threatening of
the
word
of God,
"for
the glutton and the
drunkard
shall
both
come to
poverty." A wanton indulgence
of
the
taste
will
tempt
men to
revelling and riot, thence
follows
.
a neglect
of
all business
;
and many
a
prodigal,
who
had
a fair estate,
is
by
this
means become a beggar
or
a
pri-
soner..
Let
us
be
watchful therefore
when
we
sit
down
at
a
plentiful table,
and put
a knife, as
it
were, to
our
throat,
if
we
feel
the
danger
of
a
sharp
an,'
wanton
ap-
petite
:
let
the guard
of our,virtue
be as
sharp and active
as
our
thirst
or hunger.
Let
us
not
be desirous
of
feast-
ing
ourselves with dainties, for they too often prove
de-
ceitful
meat:
And though they
are
never
so
tempting tò
the
palate, yet they may disturb the health
of
the
body,
or indispose the mind
for
the
service
of
virtue. But this
leads
me
to
the
next general
head, and
that
is,
To consider
how
the light
of nature
condemns
this
vice,
this
sort
of
impurity.
If
it
were my
business
to
make a
flourish.
with
learned
citations,
it
were
an
easy
matter
to
bring the
Greeks and
Romans
hither
to pass
sentence upon the glutton and the
drunkard, and
all
the luxury
of
the
taste;
for
it
is
too
F
4