Fourthly, I do not charge these sins indifferently upon all sea- men. No, I know there are some choice and good men amongst your men, tlmt fear an oath, and hate even the garments spotted with the Hesh, who are (I question not) the credit and glory of cur English na- tion, in the eyes of strangers that converse with them. Nor yet do I think that all that are wicked amongst them are equally guilty of all these evils ; for though all that are graceless be equally under the dominion of original corruption, yet it follows not from thence, that therefore actual sins must reign alike in them : there is a great differ- ence, even among ungodly men themselves in this respect ; which difference ariseth from their various customs, constitutions, abilities, educations, and the different administrations of the Spirit, in enlight- ening, convincing, and putting checks upon conscience : for though God be not the author, yet he is the orderer of sin. And this makes a great disparity, even among wicked men themselves. Some are per- sons of good morals, though not gracious principles, which produce a civil and sober, though not a holy and religious life. And others, thouo-h they live in some one of these lusts, yet are not guilty of some others of them. For it is with original corruption, just as it is with the sap of the earth, which though it be the matter of all kind of fruits, yet in some ground it sorts better with one grain than with ano- ther : and so in plants, in one tree it becomes an apple, in another a cherry ; even so it is with this original corruption, in one man it runs most into swearing, in another into uncleanness, in a third into drun- kenness. Lust is nothing else but the corrupt appetite of the creature
OF THE SIN OF UIIUXKENNESS. 297
to some sinful object ; and therefore look as it is with the appetite with respect to food, so it is with the vitiated appetites of souls to sin. One man loves this food best, and another that ; there is end- less variety in that, and so in this.
Having spoken thus much to remove offence, I shall now beg you to peruse the following discourse. Consider what evidence these things carry with them. Search the alleged scriptures, see if they be truly recited and applied to the case in hand : And if so, O tremble at the truth you read ! bring forth your lusts, that they may die the death. Will you not part with these abominable practices till death and hell make the separation ? Ah ! how much better is it for you that grace should do it ? And because many of you see not the danger, and therefore prize not the remedy, I do here re- quest all those that have the bowels of pity in them, for their poor relations, who are sinking, drowning, perishing, to spread these fol- lowing cautions before the Lord for a blessing, and then put them into their hands. And O that all pious masters would persuade all those that are under their charge to buy this ensuing treatise, and diligently peruse it. And the first caution I shall give them is this :
AKE heed, and beware of the detestable sin of drunkenness, which is a beastly sin, a voluntary madness, a sin that unmans thee, and makes thee like the beasts that perish ; yea, sets thee below the beasts, which will not drink to excess ; or, if they do, yet it is not their sin. * One of the ancients calls it, ' A distemper of the ' head, a subversion of the senses, a tempest in the tongue, a storm * of the body, the shipwreck of virtue, the loss of time, a wilful ' madness, a pleasant devil, a sugared poison, a sweet sin, which he ' that has, has not himself, and he that commits it, doth not only ' commit sin, but he himself is altogether sin.' It is a sin at which the most sober heathens blushed. The Spartansbrought their children to loath it, by shewing them a drunkard, whom they gazed at as a monster : Even Epicurus himself, who esteemed happiness to consist in pleasure, yet was temperate, as Cicero observes. Among the heathens he was accounted the best man, that spent more oil in the lamp, than wine in the bottle. Christianity could once glory in its professors : Tertullian saith of the primitive Christians, they sat not down before they prayed ; they eat no more than might suffice hunger, they drank no more than was sufficient for temperate men ; they did so eat and drink, as those that remembered they must pray afterward. But now we may blush to behold such beastly sensualists adorning themselves with its name, and sheltering themselves under its wings.
* Tiirbatio capitis, subversio sensus, tcmpestas lingiuz, procella corporis, naiifragium vir- tutist amissio temporis, insania voluntaria, hlandus dcevion, dvlce venenum, sum>e peccatum, qiiam qui habet, seipsum non habet ; qicam quijecit, peccatum nonj'ecit, sed ipse totus est peccatum. Aug. ad. lacr. Virginis.
298 A SOBER CONSIDERATION
And amongst those that profess Christianity, how ordinarily is this sin committed by seamen ? This insatiable dropsy is a disease that reigns, especially among the inferior and ruder sort of them. Some of them have gone aboard drunk, and laid the foundation of their voyage in sin. O what a preparation is this ! They know not whether ever they shall see the land of their nativity any more: the next storm may send them into eternity : Yet this is the farewell they take, this is their preparation to meet the Lord. And so in their returns, not- withstanding the terrible and astonishing works of the Lord, which they have beheld with their eyes, and their marvellous preservation in so great and terrible extremities; yet thus do they requite the Lord, as soon as their dangers are over, as if they had been delivered to commit all these abominations. But a few hours or days since, they were reeling to and fro upon a stormy ocean, and staggering like di*unken men, as it is said, Psal. cvii. 27. and now you may see them reeling and staggering in the streets, drowning the sense of all those precious mercies and deliverances in their drunken cups.