Often considered a modern phenomenon, binge drinking is in fact an age-old problem. John Flavel, a puritan minister in the naval port of Dartmouth, England, pulls no punches as he confronts the sin of drunkenness head on. Flavel’s treatment is a highly relevant exposé of the soul-destroying evils of this ‘detestable sin’.

Author

John Flavel was born at Bromsgrove in Wordesterchire. He was the elder son of Richard Flavel. After receiving his early education, partly at home and partly at the grammar-schools of Bromsgrove and Haslar, he entered University College, Oxford. Soon after taking orders in 1650 he obtained a curacy at Diptford, Devon, and on the death of the vicar he was appointed to succeed him. From Diptford he removed in 1656 to Dartmouth. He was ejected from his living by the passing of the Act of Uniformity in 1662, but continued to preach and administer the sacraments privately till the Five Mile Act of 1665, when he retired to Slapton, 5 miles away. He then lived for a time in London, but returned to Dartmouth, where he labored till his death in 1691. He was married four times. He was a vigorous and voluminous writer, and not without a play of fine fancy.