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.

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 pre∣scribed 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 Regene∣ration, and remember that you put on Christ, and were admitted into that Society, whereof he that was crucisied, complained in his Extremi∣ty, 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 re∣deemed 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 com∣mon 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 Con∣ditions, 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 Pro∣hibition and Restraint that was upon the Jews: But we are no where so en∣joyned 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 pro∣nounced 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, mo∣dish, and genteel in those things by which Sobriety, Modesty, Seriousness, and Holiness are defaced. Grace, and pure Christianity, are the most no∣ble qualities, except we think the Di∣vine Nature the meanest. And what's Gentility, but the World's old Live∣ry newly trimm'd? an upstart Fo∣reigner, that claims equal Privileges with Grace, if it doth not take the upper hand of it at most of our Ta∣bles. If Men did affect to be rege∣nerate, and Christians indeed, in all Conversation, and to be accom∣plished with gracious Habits, super∣natural Qualities and Graces, above all Qualities, no Book would be more studied than the Bible, and what Christ teacheth would never be for∣gotten, &c. But Men soon learn, because they affect the Modes of

Speech, and Actions, and Conversa∣tions, (and this of Healthing is ta∣ken up as soon as any,) and carry it, as if it were a mean thing to be re∣ligious, and silliness to be serious, and an odd thing to be strict, and an in∣decent thing to be singular, where we should not be singular indeed, that is, because we should all follow the Rules and Examples of our Ma∣ster 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 ordi∣nary 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 forbid∣den by Royal Proclamation) then it will be soon enough. It was an Apo∣thegm 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 Re∣spect,

or an Act of Civility, or Ge∣nerosity, 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 Stran∣gers, when there are no Healths drunk, than when there be? And do not you find it true, what St. Am∣brose observed, Rogas ad jucunditatem, cogis ad mortem; invitas ad prandium, efferre vis ad sepulchrum, &c. You invite to a Dinner, but they are car∣ried to their Grave, &c. Vocatis ut amicos, emittitis ut inimicos: You in∣vite them as Friends, but send them out like Enemies.

You may, if you will, see in Heal∣thing, 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 Vir∣tue by excess, and their Use by wan∣tonness. 4. Sin and Levity fac'd and painted with a deceiving Comple∣ment. Some drink in meer Bravery and Pride, or in Flattery, or out of Fear, or mistaken Love, but most

commonly from Self-love, and Sense∣pleasing.

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 Per∣son 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 Ma∣ster; 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 be∣ing little better, or rather in that worse than Brutes, make sport with their Master. Again, imagine a no∣ble 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 Af∣fections 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 Resur∣rection. — 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 refe∣rence 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 Gentle∣man 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 ex∣cess, 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 dis∣honour the Chastity of the dearest Friend, if you would take it for a dishonour to have your Chastity at∣tempted, never tempt, or suffer Tem∣perance to be tempted; for Tempe∣rance 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 a∣broad, than good occasion will re∣quire. And in your own House, un∣der God, be Master; suffer no Ser∣vants 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 Execu∣tion, be not a Companion of Drun∣kards; 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 initia∣ting Ceremony in the Profession and Society of Good-Fellows. Next to the purity of your own Persons, pre∣serve the purity of your own Fami∣lies, 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. Pu∣rity 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 pe∣ruse 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 sug∣gero, 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 ca∣stigare, ut cùm ante Tribunal Christi venerint, nec de suâ, nec de aliorum ebri∣etate 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 de∣sire them to read and ponder his Ma∣jesty's Proclamation (here adjoined) against vicious, debauch'd, and pro∣phane 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 Di∣vine Providence, in so wonderful a manner, and by ways and means no less mira∣culous, than those by which he did heretofore preserve and restore his

own chosen People, to restore Vs, and Our good Subjects to each other, and to shew Vs a very hopeful Prospect, if not to put Vs already into possession of that Peace, Happiness and Security, with which this our Kingdom hath been heretofore blessed: It will be∣come Vs all, in our several Sta∣tions, to acknowledg this tran∣scendent goodness of Almighty God in so seasonable a conjuncture, with such a Circumspection, Inte∣grity, and Reformation in Our Lives, that we may not drive a∣way that Mercy which so near ap∣proacheth Vs, 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 de∣clare it) who under pretence of Affection to Vs and our Service, assume to themselves the liberty

of Reviling, Threatning and Re∣proaching others; and as much as in them lies, endeavour to stifle and divert their good Inclinati∣ons to Our Service, and so to prevent that Reconciliation and Vnion of Hearts and Affections, which can only, with God's Bles∣sing, make Vs 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 a∣gainst all others, who are not of their own dissolute temper: and who, in truth, have more discredi∣ted 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 Vs all from all We feared, and almost bringing Vs 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, Prophane∣ness, and Impiety, with which they have been corrupted, and en∣deavoured 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 Punish∣ment, or apprehension of Our Dis∣pleasure, 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 a∣gainst Men of dissolute, debauch'd,

and profane Lives, with what parts soever they may be otherwise qua∣lified and endowed; and We hope that all Persons of Honour, or in Place and Authority, will so far assist Vs in discountenancing such Men, that their Discretion and Shame will persuade them to re∣form 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 Man∣ners, which Laws cannot well de∣scribe, and consequently not e∣nough provide against, which may by the example and severity of vertuous Men, be easily discounte∣nanced, 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 Iusti∣ces of Peace, to be very vigilant and strict in the discovery and pro∣secution of all Dissolute and pro∣phane Persons, and such as blas∣pheme the Name of God by pro∣phane 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 man∣ner, 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 Lon∣don, 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.