A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian Ethics

by Richard Baxter

9. And it is a duty to avoid the company which will put us upon such inconveniences, as far as our calling will allow us.

V. But because it is the drunkard's heart or will that needs persuasion, more than his understanding needs direction, I shall before the directions yet endeavour his fuller conviction, if he will but read, and consider soberly, (if ever he be sober,) these following questions, and not leave them till he answer them to the satisfaction of his own conscience.

Quest. I. Dost thou know that thou art a man? and what a man is? Dost thou know that reason differenceth him from a beast that is ruled by appetite and hath no reason? If thou do, let thy reason do its office, and do not drown it, or set the beast above it.

Quest. II. Dost thou believe that there is a God that is the Governor of the world, or not? If not, tell me how thou camest to be a man? And how came thy tongue and palate to taste thy drink or meat, any more than thy finger? Look on thy finger and on thy tongue, and thou canst see no reason why one should taste and not the other? If thou live in the midst of such a world, which he hath made and daily governeth, and yet believest not that there is a God, thou art so much worse already than drunk or mad, that it is no wonder if thou be a drunkard. But if thou do believe indeed that there is a God, hear further, thou stupid beast, and tremble! Is he the Governor of heaven and earth, and is he not worthy to be the Governor of thee? Is all the world at his disposal, and is he not worthy to dispose of thy throat and appetite? Are crowns, and kingdoms, heaven, and hell, at his disposal and will, and is he not worthy to be master of thy cup and company? wilt thou say to him by thy practice, go rule sun and moon, and rule all the world, except my appetite and my cup?

Quest. III. Dost thou verily believe that God is present with thee, and seeth and heareth all that is done and said among you? If not, thou believest not that he is God! For he that is absent, and ignorant, and is not infinite, omnipresent, and omniscient, is not God; and if God be not there, thou art not there thyself; for what can uphold thee, and continue thy life, and breath, and being? But if thou believe that God is present, darest thou drink on, and darest thou before him waste thy time, in prating over a pot with thy companions?

Quest. IV. Tell me, dost thou believe that the holy Scripture is true? If thou do not, no wonder if thou be a drunkard.[445] But if thou do, remember that then it is true, that "drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor. vi. 10. And then mark what the Scripture saith, Isa. xxi. 1, "Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim." Hab. ii. 15, "Woe to him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him and makest him drunk also." Isa. v. 11, "Woe to them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink, that continue till night till wine inflame them: and the harp, and the viol, and the tabret, and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts, but they regard not the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation of his hands." Ver. 22, "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink." Prov. xxxi. 4-6, "It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted: give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts." See Amos vi. 6. Luke xxi. 34, "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." Rom. xiii. 13, 14, "Not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to satisfy the lusts thereof." Prov. xx. 1, "Wine is a mocker; strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Prov. xxiii. 29-32, "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 mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright: at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things: yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast." Hos. iv. 11, "Whoredom, and wine, and new wine take away the heart." Joel i. 5, "Awake, ye drunkards, and weep and howl, all ye drinkers of wine," &c. If thou do indeed believe the word of God, why do not such passages make thee tremble?

Quest. V. Dost thou consider into how dangerous a case thou puttest thyself when thou art drunk, or joinest thyself with drunkards? What abundance of other sins thou art liable to? And in what peril thou art of some present judgment of God? Even those examples in Scripture which encourage thee should make thee tremble. To think that even a Noah that was drunken but once, is recorded to his shame for a warning unto others. How horrid a crime even Lot fell into by the temptations of drunkenness! How Uriah was made drunk by a David to have hid his sin! 2 Sam. xi. 13. How David's son Amnon, in God's just revenge, was murdered by his brother Absalom's command, when "his heart was merry with wine," 2 Sam. xiii. 28. How Nabal was stricken dead by God after his drunkenness, 1 Sam. xxv. 36-38. How king Elah was murdered as he was drinking himself drunk, 1 Sam. xvi. 9. And how the terrible hand appeared writing upon the wall to king Belshazzar in his carousing, to signify the loss of his kingdoms, and that very night he was also slain, Dan. v. 1, 30. Thou seest God spareth not kings themselves, that one would think might be allowed more pleasure: and will he spare thee? Prov. xxxi. 4, 5, "It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink;" and is it then for thee? Mark the dreadful fruits of it even to the greatest. Hos. vii. 3-5, "They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies: they are all adulterers as an oven heated—In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine: he stretched out his hand with scorners." Thou seest that be they great or small, both soul and body are cast by tippling and drunkenness into greater danger, than thou art in at sea in a raging tempest. Thou puttest thyself in the way of the vengeance of God, and art not like to escape it long.

Quest. VI. Didst thou ever measure thy sin by that strange kind of punishment commanded by God against incorrigible gluttons and drunkards? Deut. xxi. 18-21, "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken to them: then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of the city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put away evil from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear." Surely gluttony and drunkenness are heinous crimes, when a man's own father and mother were bound to bring him to the magistrate to be put to death, if he will not be reformed by their own correction. And you see here that youth is no excuse for it, though now it is thought excusable in them.

Quest. VII. Dost thou think thy drink is too good to leave at God's command? Or dost thou think that God doth grudge thee the sweetness of it? or rather that he forbids it thee for thy good, that thou mayst escape the hurt. And tell me, Dost thou love God better than thy drink and pleasure, or dost thou not? If not, thy own conscience must needs tell thee, (if thou have a conscience not quite seared,) that there is no hope of thy salvation in that state: but if thou say, thou dost, will God, or any wise man, believe thee, that thou lovest him better, and wilt not be so far ruled by him, nor leave so small a matter for his sake? 1 John v. 3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous." So 2 John 6.

Quest. VIII. Dost thou remember that thy carcass must lie rotting in the grave, and how loathsome a thing it must shortly be? And canst thou make so great a matter of the present satisfying of so vile a body, and dung the earth at so dear a rate?