last FIX 3'cars so ^j^rcat within and without tliy walls, O London ! that it is no wonder if the Lord ibr that alone has laid thy glory in the dust; yea, and that shameful spewing is upon all thy glory, Hab, ii. 16, considering what shameful spewing have been in thy streets, taverns, halls, alehouses, and other great men's houses, where temper- ance, righteousness, justice, and holiness should have dwelt in glory and trium])h ! Aii London ! how many within and without thy walls have been drinking wine in bowls, when they should have been mourn- ing over their sins, and grieving for the afflictions of Joseph, and sighing over those distressed Christians whose drink was nothing hut sorrow and blood and tears ! These are the men tliat have kindled a burning ujion all thy gloiy.
Q sirs ! that you would for ever remember that intemperance, luxury, is a sin, an enemy that,
[1.] First, llohs God of his glory. It denies liim all service and obedience. Intemperate persons are neither lit for praying to God, nor praising of God, nor receiving from God. Intemperance turns the temple of the Holy Ghost into a sepulchre, a kitchen, a hog-stye ; and what glory then can God have from an intemperate person ? 1 Cor. vi. 19. But,
[2.] Secondly, It robs both God and man of much j^'i'ecious time. Time is a precious jewel, more worth than all the woi'ld.^ One called his friends thieves, because they stole time from him ; and certainly there are no worse thieves than intemperance ; for that robs men of their hearing-times, and their praying-times, and their reading-times. There is so nuich precious time spent in the tavern and in the tippling- house, that the intemperate person cannot be at leisure to spend any time in his family or in his closet, &c., to save his own or others' Bouls. But there wdll come a time, either in this or the other world, wherein all intemperate persons will wish that they had spent that precious time in serving of God, and in saving their own and others' souls, which they have spent in luxury and excess, carousing and drinking; but all too late, all too late. Time is not only the fruit of God's indulgence, but also the fruit of Christ's purchase. That doom passed upon Adam, ' In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death,' or dying, thou shalt die, had been put in execution imme- diately, had not Christ interposed immediately between man's sin and God's wrath. What can there be of more weight and moment than eternity ? It is the heaven of heaven, and the very hell of hell, with- out which neither would heaven be so desirable, nor hell so for- midable. Now this dei)ends upon time. Time is the prologue to eternity ; the great weight of eternity hangs upon the small wire of time : our time, whether it be longer or shorter, is given us by God to provide for our everlasting condition, 2 Cor. vi. 2 ; Isa. xlix. 8. We have souls to save, a hell to escai)e, a heaven to make sure, our pardon to sue out, our interest in Christ to make good ; and all this must be quickly done, or we undone, and that for ever. Man's eternal weal or woe depends u]ion his well or ill improvement of that inch of time that is allotted to him. Now what a dreadful
' When Ignatius beard a clock strike, he would say, 1 have one hour n.ore to answer for : so precious a jewel was time in his eye.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25 ] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 67
account will such give up at last, who have wasted away their pre- cious time in luxury and excess. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Luxury, intemperance, it robs men of their names. Bonosus, a beastly drunken emperor, was called a tankard,! and Tiberius was surnamed Biberius for his tippling, and Erasmus called Eccius Jeccius for the same cause, and Diotimus of Athens was called a tun-dish, and young Cicero a hogs-head. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Luxury, intemperance, it robs men of their health; for how many are there, that by drinking other men's healths have destroyed their own ! Many more perish by intemperance than by violence. Intemperance is the source and nurse of all diseases. More perish by surfeiting than by suffering. Every intemperate person digs his own grave with his own mouth and teeth, and is certainly a Siglf- tormentor, a self-destroyer, a self-murderer. I have read of a monk at Prague, 2 who having heard at shrift the confessions of many drunkards, wondered at it, and for an experiment he would needs try his brain with this sin, so accordingly he stole himself drunk. Now after the vexation of three days' sickness, to all that confessed that sin he en- joined no other penance but this. Go and be drunk again ; intimating thereby that there was no punishment, no torment that could be inflicted upon a drunkard so great as that, Go and be drunk again. Besides all other plagues that attend this sin, drunkenness is a woe to itself. Temperance is the best and noblest physic, and they that use it commonly are most long-lived. But,
[5.] Fifthly, Intemperance robs men of their estates. It robs the wife many times of her dowry, and the children of their portion, and the husband of his inheritance, his trade, his all. The very word ciacoTLa, luxury, properly signifies the not preventing or keeping of the good which at the present we enjoy. Solomon hit the mark when he said, ' The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty,' Prov. xxiii. 21. The full cup makes an empty purse, and a fat dish makes a lean bag. He that draws thee wine out of the pipe, puts thy money into his own pocket ; and this Diogenes the philosopher well under- stood when he asked of the frugal citizen but a penny, but begged of the prodigal a talent ; and being asked the reason of his practice, he answered, Because of the one he thought he might beg often, but of the other who spent so fast, he was like to receive but once. Mr Livius, (?) when he had spent a great estate in luxurious living, jest- ing at his own folly, he said that he had left nothing for his heir more than air and mire. Philip king of Macedon, making war upon the Persians, understood that they were a luxurious people ; he presently withdrew his army, saying it was needless to make war upon them, who by their luxury would shortly overthrow them- selves. But,
[6.] Sixthly, Intemperance robs men of everlasting happiness and blessedness, Gal. v, 19-21. It shuts them out from all the glory of that upper world, and tumbles them down to the lowest hell, as you
^ Not an emperor, but servant of one — viz., of Aurelian. He was famous or infamous for the faculty which he possessed of being able to drink to excess without being intoxi- cated or losing his self-command. — Vopiscus : Vit. Bonos. — G.
* ivadulph. Fornerius, select., lib. iii.
C8 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.