ast from the Censure, tell us, he
knew not the Strength or the Nature of Wine, but that gathering the
heavy Clusters of the Grapes, and their own weight crushing out their
balmy Juices into his Hand, he tasted the tempting Liquor, and that the
_Devil_ assisting he was charm'd with the delicious Fragrance, and
tasted again and again, pressing it out into a Bowl or Dish, that he
might take a larger Quantity; till at length the heady Froth ascended
and seizing his Brain, he became intoxicate and drunk, not in the least
imagining there was any such Strength in the Juice of that excellent
Fruit.

But to make out this Story, which is indeed very favourable for _Noah_,
but in it self extremely ridiculous, you must necessarily fall into some
Absurdities, and beg the Question most egregiously in some particular
Cases, which way of arguing will by no means suppose what is suggested;
at first you must support there was no such Thing as Wine made before
the Deluge, and that no Body had been ever made drunk with the Juice of
the Grape before _Noah_, which, I say, is begging the Question in the
grossest Manner.

If the Contrary is true, as I see no Reason to question, if, _I say_, it
was true that there was Wine drank, and that Men were or had been drunk
with it before, they cannot then but suppose that _Noah_, who was a
wise, a great and a good Man, and _a Preacher of Righteousness_, both
knew of it, and without doubt had in his preaching against their Crimes,
preach'd against this among the rest, upbraided them with it, reprov'd
them for it, and exhorted them against it.

_Again_, 'tis highly probable they had Grapes growing, and consequently
Wines made from them, in the Antediluvian World, how else did _Noah_
come by the Vines which he planted? For we are to suppose, he could
plant no Trees or Shrubs, but such as he found the Roots of in the
Earth, and which no doubt had been there before in their highest
Perfection, and had consequently grown up and brought forth the same
luscious Fruit before.

Besides, as he found the Roots of the Vines, so he understood what they
were, and what Fruit they bore, or else it may be supposed also he would
not have planted them; for he planted them for their Fruit, as he did it
in the Provision he was making for his Subsistence, and the Subsistence
of his Family: and if he did not know what they were, he would not have
set them, for he was not planting for Diversion but for Profit.

Upon the