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cause our most intimate Friends are many times the Tempters to thefe Exceffes by their over-kind Solicitations, and because our abufed Plenty has made these Vices become National, and too generally prevailing among us. For tho' we may now feem to feed more fparingly than our Forefathers, who made four Meals in a Day besides their frequent and fumptuous Feaft ings, yet there is still too much of intemperate Eating mixed with the Hospitality of many great Men's Houfes; and tho' Drunkenness be now perhaps fomewhat lefs practifed than in former Times, yet there is still fo much of it (as a very knowing Author obferves)

that fome Perfons, and thofe of Quality, may not "fafely be vifited in an Afternoon, without running "the Hazard of excessive Drinking, and in fome Pla"ces it is esteemed a piece of Wit to make a Man " Drunk.

This intemperate Quaffing and Caroufing has been, and ftill is, too frequently occafion'd by that more fafhionable than commendable Ceremony of Drinking the Healths of all the Gentlemen that are prefent, befides a great many that are abfent, with Provocations to others to do the fame, tho? their Constitution of Body be very unfit to bear it. 'Tis often feen that Perfons of no mean Rank are fuch Lovers of good Fellowship, as 'tis call'd, that when they meet together they muft needs with wonderful Civility drink one another's Healths, and the Healths of their Miftreffes, and then the Queen's Health muft not be forgotten, tho' they have drunk never so many before, as if they acted the part of the most loyal Subjects by prefixing Her MajeIty's Name to a Debauch; next the Healths of the great Ministers of State, and the Generals and Colonels in the Army; then the Healths of the Lord-Lieutenant of the County and his Deputy-Lieutenants must be added to all the former; then this Knight, that Efquire, must be remembred, and fo the Glaffes go round without Number, till they begin to be mellow, and the

Heat

Heat of the Wine makes them warmly contest one with another.

What fort of Converfation they now have together, what ridiculous or impertinent, what profane, or obfcene, or fcurrilous Difcourfe, what Difputes and Debates, what Strife and Contention they enter into, what Noife and Clamour is raised about fettling the Natión, reforming the State, fecuring the Church, and purging the Clergy; or defcending from National to fome of their Perfonal Concerns, what boasting is made of their Hawks, Hounds, and Horfes, what bragging of the Quarrels they have had with Men, and the Favours with Women, and hereupon what abufive Language is given by fome, what fulfom Flattery comes from others, what Confufion of Tongues is heard, what a ftrange Medly of Humours appears, according to the various Operation the Drink has upon their different Tempers, I fall not here relate. At length, after 4 or 5, or perhaps 8 or 10 Hours fweet Refreshment in this extraordinary Society, if none of the Company be fo far inflamed as to end their Controverfies in Rage and Fury, Wounds and Blood, they rife up as well as they can, and lovingly parting every one staggers his feveral Way, and by the help of Servants, or perhaps by the Watch, is conducted to his Lodgings, where, being put to Bed, how they eafe their overcharg'd Stomachs I will neither foul my Paper nor offend my Reader with the Description.

It is indeed acknowledg'd that the drinking of Healths is not univerfally liable to a just Cenfure, it being a Custom, in its own nature innocent, to fome Compliance with which Civility may fometimes oblige us; but yet where it is like to produce little or no Good, but probably much Evil, 'tis, without Difpute, moft fafe to decline it; and we ought certainly to be far more willing that fome account us morofe or uncivil, than by running with them into the fame fwinish Inebriation to expofe our felves to all the Infamy and Mischief

Mifchief with which fo beaftly a Vice is commonly attended in this World, befides the Hazard of our Eternal Ruin in the other. God has made Temperance and Sobriety the indifpenfable Duties of the Rich and Noble as well as of the pooreft Peafants, only you that enjoy fo much Plenty, and often meet with many Invitations and Allurements to join with others in their Excefs, have a greater Opportunity to fignalize your Virtues, by governing your Appetites, and denying your felves in the midst of fo great Temptations.

I bave known fome Young Gentlemen that had fo ftrong an Averfion to intemperate Drinking, that they would never willingly chufe it, tho' they could easily furnish themselves with the most delicious Wines, and foon have good Fellows enough to fit and tipple with them, and yet the Fear of difobliging fome of their Friends and Companions has often led them into what >they naturally abhorr'd. This bafe and cowardly Fear. of displeasing Men is fometimes vifible even in those who have the Reputation of being the most brave and valiant; but how abfurd and unreasonable is it, that he who can undauntedly mount a Breach, and advance to the Mouth of a Cannon, fhould not have Courage enough to fhut his own Mouth against an overfull and frequent Glafs, and either break off Society with the Intemperate, or keep himself fober while he is with them? The more common and fashionable fuch vicious Compliance in Drinking is, the more you ought to be upon your Guard against it; to commit any Sin to fhew our felves complaifant and obfequious to Men, is a moft infolent and daring Affront to Almighty God, and no Human Power can fecure us from or fupport us under his Displeasure; 'tis defperate Madness, rather than courteous Civility, to carry our Compliment fo far as to endeavour the pleafing of others at the Expence of our own Salvation.

6. To make you hate and deteft lafcivious Incontinence, and all thofe unchaft Inclinations to which the

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fore-mentioned Luxury and Excefs are the greatest Incentives, you may confider, that although too many Young Gentlemen carry on their libidinous Intrigues, and purfue the gratifying their impure Defires under the fofter Names of Gallantry and Amours, yet (as was briefly fhewn in my Youth's grand Concern) thefe Vices are not only extreamly debafing, and beneath the Dignity of Human Nature, but most odious to the infinitely holy God, directly opposite to the Purity of the Chriftian Religion, and feverely punished both here and hereafter. Health, Fortune, Reputation, and Life it felf, are the ordinary Sacrifices that are brought to the Altars of this unclean Devil, when Men have neither the Power to govern and restrain their natural Appetites, nor the Wisdom to feek the innocent and lawful Satisfaction of them in the honourable Eftate of Marriage. You may fometimes obferve the macerated Skeletons of Luft worn out in this deteftable Warfare, bearing the opprobri ous Marks of their Mafter's Service in their very Faces, to fuch a degree of Infamy, that one would admire what ftupifying Enchantment could ever entice rational Creatures into fuch Actions as not only expose them to Guilt and Shame, but also to the Danger of being made fo extreamly miferable.

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How deplorable is the State of the habitual Fornicator, who is always hunting after Fuel for his Lechery, and fo paffes away his Time in riotous Feafts and Banquets, immodeft Dalliances and Courtships, and the lewd Divertisements of the Play-houfe, the Tavern, and the Stews, till at length he finds himself arrested by the Gout, or the Dropfy, or perhaps a worse Diftemper? And then the Doctors and Chirurgions must attend him with Purges, Vomits, Lancings, Scarifications, Caufticks, Salivations, and the like naufeous or painful Remedies, all which when he has endur'd, 'tis a great Question whether the wretched Man will ever fo repent and reform as to escape what is infinitely worse,

worfe, the unquenchable Flames prepar'd for him in the other World. Such many times are the mischievous and fatal Effects of unchaft Defires and impure Embraces, and furely no Temptation to them can ever be ftrong enough to prevail with you, if thofe deterring evil Confequents be kept in Mind, and plac'd with it in equal View; for how is it poffible for any Gentleman. that truly values either his Eftate, or his Honour, or his Health, or his Ease, or his Life, or his Soul, to be allured with Poverty and Beggary, Shame and Ignominy, Rottennefs and Corruption, Pain and Torment, Hell and Damnation! Alas, alas, that ever any should purchase all these Miferies, both Temporal and Eternal, at fo high a rate, as to adventure the incurring them for the dying fenfual Pleafures of a few Mo

ments.

You may likewife remember that thefe fhameful and pernicious Sins are the more inexcufable, because God has most wifely and mercifully provided a Remedy against them, by the Inftitution of Marriage, in which Men may not only gratify their natural Appetites, in an innocent, modeft, and regular way, but also glorify God, by the Procreation of Children, to be brought up in the Fear and Nurture of the Lord, and to the Praife of his holy Name. Fleshly Lufts are of an atrocious Nature, not only because they are Sins against our own Bodies, and fuch as war against our Souls, but also because there is fo good an Expedient to prevent them, the use of which is allowed to all, but becomes a direct Duty to those who cannot be fafe without it. Plutarch calls Marriage the Haven of Youth, in which they may find the moft convenient Shelter, when they are tofs'd by the Winds of their impetuous Affections, and like to be swallowed up by the boisterous Waves of violent Temptations.

There are indeed fome Young Gentlemen, as well as others, to whom Celibacy, for fome particular Reafons, may feem moft eligible, but yet if Prayers, and Tears, and Fafting, and guarding the Senfes, will not

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