THE

The Second Part of

SERMON IV.

HE next virtue mentioned in my text is purity: "Whatsoever things are pure, think on these things."

The sense of this word atna, in the Greek, is extended so far by some critics, as to include temperance in eating and drinking, as well as chastity and modesty in all our words and behaviour; and thus it signifies almost the same with sobriety, and implies a restraint upon all the excessive and irregular appetites that human nature is subject to.

Under these two heads I shall treat of purity briefly, and shew under each of them how the light of nature, and how the gospel of Christ requires the practice of it.

1. Temperance in eating and drinking may be included in this command of purity, for we can hardly suppose the apostle omitted so necessary a virtue, and it is not directly mentioned at all, if it be not implied here. It is not beneath the doctrine of Christianity to condescend to give rules about the most common affairs of human life, even food and raiment. It is a piece of impurity to imitate the swine, and to gorge ourselves beyond measure; to give up ourselves to fulfil every luscious appetite, and every luxurious inclination of the taste.

An indulgence of this sort of vice, what infinite disorders doth it bring upon mankind! If a man would read the character of a drunkard painted in very bright and proper colours, and receive the foulest ideas of it in the fairest oratory, he cannot find a better description than Prov. xxiii. 29, &c.

Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixt wine. Look not therefore upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. Some men in our age well understand what Solomon here means. But at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. The pleasure will be attended with intolerable pain and mortal injury, when the excess of liquor shall work like so much venom poured into the veins, and cast thee into diseases as incurable as the biting of any serpent; it will do thee more mischief than an adder with all his poison. There are many that have felt the words of Solomon true, when their voluptuous sins have been dreadfully recompensed with ruin to their soul and body.

But the inspired writer dwells upon the loathsome subject, and bids us mark the particular effects of it; thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things; "That is, (says *a learned paraphrast upon the text,) thy thoughts will not only grow confused, and all things appear to thee otherwise than they are; but lustful and adulterous desires will be stirred up, which thou canst not rule; and thy mouth being without a bridle, will break forth into unseemly, nay, filthy, scurrilous, or, perhaps, blasphemous language, without respect to God or man." Yea, thou shalt be; saith the wise man, as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast; i. e. "Thou wilt sottishly run thyself into the extremest hazards, without any apprehensions of danger, being no more able to direct thy course, than a pilot who snores when a ship is tossed in the

Bishop PATRICK.

midst of the sea; no more able to take notice of the peril thou art in, than he that falls asleep on the top of a mast, where he was set to keep the watch." They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not. When I shall awake, I will seek it yet again. It is as if the wise man had said; "That to complete thy misery, thou shalt not only be mocked, and abused, and beaten, but thou shalt be as senseless as if no harm had befallen thee; and no sooner wilt thou open thine eyes, but thou wilt stupidly seek an occasion to be drunk, and be beaten again."

My friends, have ye never seen a drunkard make that odious figure, in which Solomon represents him? You find human nature is constant to itself; it appears now in Britain, just as it is described in the days of old at Jerusalem in all its vicious excesses. There is a great degree of likeness between our forefathers in intemperance, and their children of late posterity. One would think one such a spectacle as this, or the mere report of it, with an assurance of the truth, should be enough to forbid our lips the excess of liquor, and to set a guard upon ourselves in the hour of temptation.

Not only those who overwhelm themselves with strong drink, and forget reason and themselves, but those that are mighty to drink wine, have a severe censure cast upon them, and a curse in the book of God. Isa. v. 22. not only woe to them, ver. 17. that rise up early in the morning, that they may find strong drink, and continue till night, till wine inflame them; but woe to them that are mighty to drink wine, even though they are not utterly overcome by it, to the disorder and disgrace of their understandings. 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. There 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, ver. 19. Youth is greedy of pleasure, and in danger of being corrupted by it; therefore avoid the society of drunkards and gluttons. You see they are joined 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 prisoner. 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 and wanton appetite; let the guard of our virtue be as sharp and active as our thirst or hunger. Let us not be desirous of feasting ourselves with dainties, for they too often prove deceitful meat; and though they are never so tempting to 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 aste; for it is too mean an indulgence either for a man or a Christian. It does not become human nature to endanger the welfare of all its powers, and enslave them all to the single sense of tasting. "I

am greater, says Seneca, and born to greater things, than to be a slave to this body, or to live merely to become a strainer of meats and drinks." The wisest of men, and the best writers of all ages, even in the heathen nations, have passed their heavy censures on these impure and brutal follies, whereby we are reduced to the rank of beasts that perish, or perhaps sunk below them by the practices of intemperance; for therc are but few of that lower rank of creatures, who swill themselves beyond the demands of nature; or, at least, beyond what nature is able to bear.

Let us argue a little upon this head from the principles of reason, and consider that the chief designs of food are these two, the support of our nature, and the refreshment of our spirits. Therefore give food to him that is hungry, that life may be maintained; give drink to him that is thirsty, to assist the support of life, and to refresh it. Give strong drink to him that is ready to faint, that his spirits may be recruited, and wine to him that is heavy of heart, that he may forget his sorrows. It is evident that every thing, which goes beyond the mere necessity of nature for its support, does not presently become sinful; because the refreshment of nature is also one end and design of our food. Remember that the supports of nature are designed by the God of nature to make us fit for all the services and duties of life, and the refreshments of it are ordained by the same Author of nature to render us cheerful in the discharge of those duties. The one is necessary to give us a capacity to perform, and the other proper to render the performance cheerful and delightful to us, and to intermingle our labour with such innocent delights as may awaken our thankfulness to the bounty of our Creator.

Thence it will follow, that the rich are allowed to furnish their tables with a variety of pleasing and