Part 581

10. Thou makest thyself unfit for any thing that is good. Oh how unfit art thou to read, or hear, or meditate on the word of God! how unfit to pray! how unfit to receive the holy sacrament! what a dreadful thing is it to think of a drunken man speaking to God in prayer![439] Thy best posture till thou art sober is to be asleep: for then thou dost least hurt, and thou art made uncapable of doing good; yea, and of receiving any good from others; thou art not so much as capable of reproof or counsel: he that should cast pearls before such a swine, and offer to speak to thee for the good of thy soul, would but dishonour the name and word of God. As it is said of a drunkard, that when one rebuked him, saying, Art thou not ashamed to be thus drunken, replied, Art thou not ashamed to talk to a man that is drunken? it is a shame to the man that would cure thee by reason, when thou hast thrown away thy reason. And if thou have but a merry cup, and thinkest thyself the fitter for thy duty, yea, if thou do it well, as to the outward appearance, as the principle is false and base, so thou deservest blame for casting thy work upon so great a hazard. As Sophocles said of an orator that wrote well when he was half drunken, Though he did it well, he did it ignorantly and in uncertainty; for thy levity weakeneth thy judgment, and thou dost the good thou dost but at a venture; as a passionate man may speak well, but it is unlikely and uncertain; and therefore no thanks to him that it fell not out to be worse.