In tender love then I ask, are there none among us (I speak to you, my brethren, who are priests and prophets of the Lord, set apart to _minister in holy things_, and to _declare the word of the Lord_) Are there none among us who commit _lewdness_, as did those by whom _Israel was defiled_? Hath not the Lord seen an horrible thing, in some of the prophets of this land also, even, that _they commit adultery, and_ (to conceal it) _walk in lies_? God forbid that I should affirm this. I only propose (not maintain) the question. If there be such a wretch, I pray God to strike him to the heart, and to say, _Thou art the man_! Are there none of you, like them, _mighty to drink wine, men of strength to mingle strong drink_? Yea, are there none, that _err through strong drink, that are swallowed up of wine_? Are there not found those who say, _I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink: and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant_? * Alas, my brother! Is this the voice of a _minister of_ Christ? _A steward of the mysteries of_ God? Suppose you find at any time trouble and heaviness, _is there no help for you in your_ God? Is not the God whom you serve able to deliver you from any plague or trouble? Is the being _drunk with wine_ a better relief, than the being _filled with his Spirit_? Do you not understand this? Do you _not know the_ Lord? Take heed you do not destroy both your own soul and them that hear you! O beware! If you know not his love, fear his power! Make haste to flee from the wrath to come, lest he smite you with a curse great as your sin, and sweep you away from the face of the earth. 32. Can such as you be said, to _honour_ or _fear_ God, any more than those spoken of by _Malachi_? May not God complain, _These priests have violated my law and prophaned my holy things_? Yea, whensoever you presume with those unhallowed hands, to touch the mysteries of God: whensoever you utter his name or his word with those unhallowed lips! But is it on this account only that God may say, _Both prophet and priest are prophane_? May he not add, _they have put no difference between the holy and prophane; therefore I am prophaned among them_. For is it not so? Do _you_ put a difference between the holy and prophane, him that feareth God, and him that feareth him not? Do you put an effectual difference between them, even in the most solemn office of our religion? At the table of the Lord, do you take care to _separate the precious from the vile_? To receive all those who (as you may reasonably believe) _draw near with penitent hearts and lively faith_, and utterly to reject those who testify against themselves, that they are without hope and without God in the world?