which would be much more innocent; and their strength doth but deceive them, and decays to all noble purposes, when it seems exalted in that base and servile work. Besides, it may be the guilt of his weak companion, who falls sooner under his hand, is inferior, how penal soever, to his who triumphs in his brutish unwounded conquest, and believes he is less drunk, because he is not so much dead. They who apply their power and quality to the propagation of this unmanly aud unruly licence, and draw men from obeying or considering Heaven, to please them, are fit to be degraded from that qualification they so dishonourably prostitute, and to be condemned to that conversation they so much affect; and they, who out of modesty and good manners, out of gratitude and obedience, are disposed to submit to those commands, ought well to consider, that they do at the same time renounce their Christian liberty, and enter into a servitude which hath no bounds or limits: for with what security or reason can he refuse to perform the lowest and the basest office that man shall require him, upon whose command he hath been content to be drunk? That he is not a pander, that he is not an assassinator, that he is not a rebel, is not to be imputed to any restraint in or from his own conscience, but to the temper and constitution of his patron, which doth not invite him to those debaucheries; for to say that honour and the law make those much more penal than the other, so that his commands can more easily be disputed and contradicted in those cases, is no excuse; for where the conscience lies waste, and all regard to God's law is rejected, obedience to the law of man is no otherwise retained than in order to prevent discovery; and where the

penalty may be declined or eluded, the impiety makes no impression: so that he who hath barefaced, and upon deliberation, violated any one of God's express commandments, hath given earnest to the devil that he will break any of the rest, when the like opportunity and convenience shall be offered.

It is yet much more wonderful that there should be any Christian government, in which there are no laws established to punish this damnable sin; and that there should be such a compassion for it, that the same crime, even homicide itself, that is committed by a sober man is punishable with death, should not be penal to a man that is in drink: as if the guilt of one sin should be absolved by the being guilty of another; and that, when under the law, drunkenness was punished with death, under the gospel it should excuse a murderer from death, who by the law and the gospel ought not to be suffered to live; that a circumstance of high aggravation should be applied to the mitigation of a censure, that ought to be the more severe; nay, even to constitute such an innocence as is not worthy of a censure. The philosopher can assure us, "Non facit ebrietas vitia, sed protrahit," drunkenness doth but produce and manifest the malice that lay concealed, creates it not: "Vis vini quicquid mali latebat emergit," wine infuses no ill desires, it only makes those appear which lay hid; it publishes what the heart hath entertained, and makes vice more impudent that was as mischievous before: the licentious person doth then that in the streets which be doth at other times in his chamber; and because he upbraids justice aloud and provokes it, he must

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be unchastised, and only admonished that he be more wary in his excesses. What is this but to cherish and foment an abomination, against which no less judgment than that of hell-fire is denounced? There is not in the whole body of the civil law one text that declares drunkenness to be a crime, or that provides a punishment for it; on the contrary, "Ebriis quandoque venia dari solet derelinquentibus, tanquam sepultis, et nescientibus," pardon is rather given to such offenders, as to persons buried, and not knowing what they do: and Calvin says expressly, "Jure nostro pœna minuitur, quod in ebrio dolus abesse putetur;" it is the privilege of a drunkard to be less punished than other men, because he is supposed to mean no harm. And that we may not impute this monstrous indulgence to the easiness and corruption of the judges, the Digests have an express text, (Li. 49. Titu. 16.)

per vinum et lasciviam lapsis capitalis pœna remittenda est," a capital punishment must not be inflicted upon those who are criminal through wine or lust which must be an excellent law to govern nations by. And yet the latter may seem to be more excusable than the former, since it may proceed from the impulsion of nature; whereas the other is affectedly and industriously entered upon with the nauseating and aversion of nature, and is purely the effect of a malicious appetite and wantonness. What shall we say then to that which is most horrible, that in any Christian country it should not be looked upon as a sin, as an offence that needs God's forgiveness? In Germany, they are not obliged to confess being drunk, as if sobriety were a Christian virtue inconsistent with the health

and temper of the nation, and the contrary necessary to be dispensed with for the public good and benefit. We may surely say, that Christianity hath not done its perfect work in that country, how catholic soever it is; that wherever that sin is permitted, Christ is not sufficiently preached; and where it is cherished and countenanced, neither his apostles or himself are credited or believed; that no integrity of opinion can absolve the guilt of that practice; and we may as reasonably presume of salvation upon the faith of the Alcoran, as with the exercise of this brutish sin, against which damnation is so positively denounced.`

VI. OF ENVY.

Montpellier, 1670.

IF envy, like anger, did not burn itself in its own fire, and consume and destroy those persons it possesses, before it can destroy those it wishes worst to, it would set the whole world on fire, and leave the most excellent persons the most miserable. Of all the affections and passions which lodge themselves within the breast of man, envy is the most troublesome, the most restless, hath the most of malignity, the most of poison in it. The object she hath an immortal hatred to is virtue; and the war she makes is always against the best and virtuous men, at least against those who have some signal perfection. No other passion vents itself with that circumspection and deliberation, and is in all its rage and extent in awe of some control. The most choleric and angry man may offend an honest and a worthy person, but he chooses it not;

he had rather provoke a worse man, and at worst he recollects himself upon the sight of the magistrate. Lust, that is blind and frantic, gets into the worst company it can, and never assaults chastity. But envy, a more pernicious affection than either of the other, is inquisitive, observes whose merit most draws the eyes of men upon it, is most crowned by the general suffrage; and against that person he shoots all his venom, and without any noise enters into all unlawful combinations against him to destroy him though the high condition Solomon was in kept him from feeling the effects of it, (for kings can only be envied by kings), he well discovered the uncontrollable power of it; "Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who can stand before envy?" (Prov. xxvii. 6.) Let wrath be as cruel as it will, a stronger wrath can disarm it, or application and address can pacify it; fair words have power over it, and let anger be never so outrageous, it can be resisted, and will extinguish itself: they both give fair warning, are discovered afar off, and we have time to fight or fly; but envy hath no fixed open residence, no man knows where it dwells, nor can discern when it marches; it is a squadroni volante, that declares no war, but breaks into our quarters when we do not suspect it to be near us, wounds our reputation, stifles the brightness of our merit, and works even upon our friends to suspend their good opinion, and to doubt whether they are not deceived, and whether we are as good as we appear to be. If our credit be so well built, so firm, that it is not easy to be shaken by calumny and insinuation, it then over commends us, and extols us beyond reason to those upon whom we depend, till