A commentary or, exposition upon the divine second epistle general, writtenA commentary or, exposition vpon the diuine second epistle generall, written

The monstrous sin of this Land, Drunkenness, (and we may so call it, for it turns men into monsters) is answered by as strange a punishment. What living man ever saw such a Summer?¹ All eyes behold, all tongues confess, that it hath […] ⟨p. 565⟩strange weather for the season. But their hearts consider not, how strange the sin is that procured it, Act. 11.28. There was an universal dearth, ²and it came to pass in the days of Claudius Cesar. The worlds Emperor bred the worlds estate. The vices of Princes infect the people, that Qualis Rex, talis grex. This Claudius was an insatiate drinker: his own mother called him a monster, a work of nature begun, not finished. No marvel if dearth comes in the days of Claudius: if God deny fruits to a drunken generation. We may justly fear a famine, and expect (not as CHRIST said, The harvest is great, and the labourers are few; but) that the harvest should be small, and the labourers many. If the Lord thus forbear to smite us, it is not propter paenitentiae nostrae meritum, but misericordiae suae beneplacitum. Howsoever, let us abhor the sin, whereupon follow so many mischiefs. As murder and outrage; Violentia in vinolentia. Poverty; the children come to weep for bread, because their prodigal fathers have drunk it. Scandals; the honours of the noble are traduced, while the drunkard sits like a Cesar, taxing all the world. Blasphemies; for such are the graces that come by the inspiration of the pot. Impudent demeanours; for sumptuous potations inflame presumptuous actions. Uncleanness; Ebrietas castitatis naufragium: Bacchus is but a Pander to Venus. Discovery of secrets: Noah being drunken revealed those secrets that lay hid 600 years. Wicked fellowships: for such a trick or quality of insatiate drinking, the devil himself was once called Robin Good-fellow. There was a street in Rome called Vicus sobrius, the sober street; because there was never a drinking house in it: find such a street in London, and Chronicle it. I have no thought of invective against the creature: drink wine ad mensam, sed ad mensuram. Only let me tell you of better wine out of Gods own Cellar, Cant. 2.5