never intoxicated; but this I look on as the highest
kind of the sin of intemperance.
"But this is not, nor, I hope, ever will be your case. Two glasses cannot possibly hurt you, provided they contain no more than those commonly used; nor would I have you concerned though you find yourself warmed and cheerful after drinking them; for it is a necessary effect of such liquors to refresh and increase the spirits, and certainly the Divine Being will never be displeased at the innocent satisfaction of our regular appetites.
"But then have a care ; stay at the third glass. Consider you have an obligation to strict temperance which all have not I mean your designation to holy orders. Remember, under the Jewish economy it was ordained by God Himself that the snuffers of the Temple should be perfect gold; from which we may infer that those who are admitted to serve at the altar, a great part of whose office it is to reprove others, ought themselves to be most pure, and free from all scandalous actions ; and if others are temperate, they ought to be abstemious.
"Here happened last Thursday a very sad accident. You may remember one Robert Darwin, of this town. This man was at Bawtry fair, where he got drunk; and riding homeward down a hill, his horse came down with him, and he, having no sense to guide himself, fell with his face to the ground and put his neck out of joint. Those with him immediately pulled it in again, and he lived till next day; but he never spake more. His face was torn all to pieces, one of his eyes beat out, and his under- lip cut off, his nose broken down, and in short he was one of the most dreadful examples of the severe justice of God that I
