all on Earth and set their Affections only on earthly things earthly Enjoyments earthly bruitish carnal Pleasures whereby we are incited stirred up and provoked to filthy actings these are to be mortified Col. 3.5 to be subdued and brought under and not suffered to reign in our mortal bodies so as that we should obey them in the lusts thereof and in obedience thereto yield our members servants to uncleauness Rom. 6.12 19. But as being Strangers and Pilgrims in this World we must abstain from fleshly Lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 yea as being Christs that is Christians Members of Christ we must crucisie the flesh with its affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 In this not so much as thought is free nor desire lawful but every unclean affection is sinful which therefore is to be abhorred detested and avoided by us And this is the second way wherein we are to flee Fornication viz. as in Action so in Affection And this is all I shall say concerning the second part of our Undertaking How we are to fly this Sin III. We now proceed to the third where we are to present you with some Considerations pressing you on by way of Motive to fly this Sin of Fornication And the first is The sinfulness of it That any thing is a Sin is Motive enough to disswade from the acting of it how delightful or how gainful soever otherwise it might be The least of Sins is not to be committed for the obtaining of the greatest Goods for even of those who say Let us do evil that good may come thereof the Apostles tells us that their damnatoin is just And the more Aggravations that any Sin is capable of still more reason there is to abstain from the commission of it The greater Sin brings upon the Sinner the greater guilt that is an obligation unto the greater Punishment So that whereas some Offenders shall be beaten but with few stripes others shall be beaten with many Now Fornication taken in the simplest Sense of it is a Sin and that a great one A Sin it is for it is the Transgression of Gods Law as being specially forbidden not only by our Apostle in this Text but also by a whole Council of the Apostles assembled and acting by Divine Authority at Jerusalem Act. 15.29 And so 1 Thess 4.3 This is the will of God even your sanctificiation that ye should abstain from Fornication Yea and the Law of Man too it is a Sin lor thereby it is strictly forbidden to be committed and thereby Punishment is ordained for and inflicted upon the Committers of it so that it is a Sin and a great Sin it is too as being chargeable with many Aggravations As first it is an acting against right Reason so Aquinas Fornicatio dicitur esse peccatum in quantum est contra rationem rectam Then Reason is right when it acts according to the Will of God which is the first Law and highest Rule Inasmuch therefore as the Will of God is our Sanctification and our abstaining from Fornication therefore this Sin is a Sin against right Reason which in conformity to the Will of God dictates the quite contrary hereunto so that it seems no man commits this Sin who hath nor first debauched his Reason and so far turned himself into a beast or worse Secondly It is an acting against Charity inasmuch as that due care which ought to be taken for the Issue of the begotten is not attended unto the satisfaction of a present Lust not the Propagation of a future holy Race being the thing intended therein Whence so many base-got Children are either murder'd as soon as born or neglected or starved not long after their Birth and commonly smally cared for all their life as to either Education or Maintenance prefent Instruction or future Salvation Whence the Schools determine Fornication to be no less than a mortal Sin Fornication simplex cum contra bonum educendae prolis sit illicita est ut etiam sit lethale crimen so Aquin. 25 q. 154. conclus 3. And our Church praying in her Litany to be delivered from Fornication and all other deadly Sin intimates Fornication in her account to be also a deadly Sin And by the Canon-Law the like Penance was imposed upon the Committers of this Sin as was upon those that were guilty of Perjury Adultery Murder and other like deadly Sins ib. And as against human Charity so also it is a Sin against Christian Purity as being contrary to that Purity that was exemplified in the Life of Christ and contrary to that Purity that is in the Law of Christ contrary tog that Purity that in obedience to the Law and in consormity to the Life of Christ should be practised by all that are Christians Christ himself lived a life of exact Purity never guilty of the least Inchastity in Act in Gesture in Word in Thought And his Will is our Sanclification that we should abstain from Fornication and possess our vessel that it our Body in sanctification and honour nhot in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God 1 Thess 4.3 4 5. And that we may know his Will his grace that bringeth Salvation to all men hath appeared teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Tit. 2.11 12. So that by the Gospel we are called to be * Rom. 1.7 Saints that is holy Persons And we are initiated into our Christianity by a purifying Sacrament the holy Sacrament of Baptism where by the outward cleansing of our bodies from their Filth by Water at their Birth or entrance into Christianity is signified what Purity there ought to be in all our lives whereof there is a beginning also wrought inwardly in us by the sanctifying Grace of Gods Spirit accompanying the outward Ordinance for the taking away of the filth of our Nature and the enduing us with inherent Holiness Whence that Sacrament is called not only the washing of regeneration but also the renewing of the Holy Ghost and the sanctification of the Spirit Tit. 3.5 1 Pet. 1.2 Whereupon as he which hath called us is holy so it is our duty to be boly in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 To cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 to hate every garment spotted by the flesh Jude 23. and not having escaped the corruption and pollution that is in the world through lust to be again intangled therein and overcome 2 Pet. 1.4 and 2.20 The divine power hath given unto us all things that appertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue whereby are given unto us exceeding precious promises that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature,2 Pet. 1.3 4. Now what can be more contrary to this Purity than this beastly †2 Pet. 4. 2.19 20. rom 6.19 2 Cor. 7.1 Jud.
A TREATISE OF Fornication Shewing What the Sin is How to flee it Motives and Directions to shun it Upon 1 COR. VI. XVIII Also A Penitentiary SERMON Upon JOHN viii 11. By W. B. M. A. Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13.4 LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey 1690. TO THE READER Courteous Reader THese Sermons being Occasional and evident by Matter of Fact that some were guilty in the Matter whereof this Book treats I thought good to Discourse of this Sin of Fornication opening the Nature of the Sin and displaying the greatness of its Guilt to the intent that those who are guilty of it may be brought to Repent and those that are not guilty may take Warning and avoid it In doing which I had no other Design but that of the greatest Charity to their Souls and the Discharge of my own Duty and Conscience as not willing to have the Blood of any upon my Head nor their Souls required at my Hand for I dread that Threatning of God Ezek. 33.8 When I say unto the wicked O wicked Man thou shalt surely dye if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked Man from his way that wicked Man shall dye in his iniquity but his Blood will I require at thine Hands And this Sin being so common and general throughout this Kingdom I thought these Discourses might be necessary to be published for the benefit of the poorer sort and vulgar Capacities especially because I knew of none that had published any thing of this Nature since his Sacred Majesties Letter to the Bishop of London where this Sin of Fornication amongst other particular Vices are ordered to be Preached against by the Clergy And I heartily pray to God this Discourse may be effectual for the turning of many Souls unto Holiness of Life that have been guilty of this Sin of Fornication and that they may keep themselves clean and undefiled Members of Christs Body is the hearty Prayer of Thy Servant in Christ THE CONTENTS SPiritual Fornication its unlawfulness and sinfulness discoursed from p. 2. to 10. Corporal Fornication what p. 10 11. We are to avoid it in Action and Affection p. 12 13. Motives for the flying this sin are 1. The sinfulness of it as being charged with many aggravations p. 14. 1 It is a sin against the Dictates of right Reason Humane Charity Christian Purity p. 15. 2 Against a mans own Body as anothers p. 18 3 Against all the Persons of the Sacred Trinity p. 17 4 And is punished with the Judgment of God Excommunication out of the Church Militant and Triumphant and Condemnation to Hell Torments p. 19 20. 2. The shamefulness of this sin in every Circumstance of it p. 20 21 22 3. The Slavery of it p. 23 24 4. The Chargeableness of it in many respects p. 25 26 5. The Vnprofitableness of it p. 26 27 6. It is Mischievous unto the Fornicator and others also ibid. First Vnto the Fornicator himself It cuts him off from the favour of God p. 27. Ou ts him of the Protection of Angels p. 28. Dispossesses him of the Spirit and Grace of God p. 29 30. Wounds his Conscience p. 31. Distracts him in Religious Duties bereaving him of Judgment and Spirit and Freedom p. 32 33. Deprives him of his Peace and Quiet p. 35. Blasts his Credit Ruines his Estate Destroys his Body p. 36 37 38. Turns him out of the Church Militant and Triumphant and damns to Hell p. 39 40 41. Secondly It is mischievous to the Woman with whom the sin is committed involving her into the same Guilt Shame and Punishment p. 42 43 Thirdly To the Child unlawfully begot being murthered or starved and incapable of Inheritance p. 44.45 Fourthly Vnto Christian Religion the Church of Christ Vniversal throughout the World and this particular Church and Kingdom p. 46 47 48 49 Directions for the flying this sin p. 50 First Is to marry p. 53. Secondly Quench the first Motions of Lust p. 54. Thirdly Avoid temptation p. 55. Fourthly All occasions to this sin p. 57. Fifthly All Vices that incite to Lust as Pride Anger c. from p. 59 to 65. Sixthly Exercise Mortifications of the Body as Fastings c. p. 65. Seventhly Meditate on such things as may withhold you from the Commission of this Sin as the Falls of some and Constancy of others p. 67. Consider what the thing is you lust after p. 68. Think that the Eye of God the Presence of Satan the Angels of God see you p. 70 71 72 73. and your own Conscience will condemn you ibid. Meditate on what is behind Death Judgment Heaven and Hell p. 74 75 76. Meditate on the Purity Passion and Love of Christ p. 77 78. Lastly Prayer p. 79 A TREATISE OF FORNICATION UPON 1 Cor. VI. xviii Flee Fornication THESE Words are the Apostle Saint Paul's Exhortation to the Christians of Corinth to avoid unlawful carnal Copulation and have in them two things I. A Sin to be avoided and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fornication II. A Precept for the avoiding of that Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flee it From whence we observe this point of Doctrine That it is the Duty of all Men but especially of all Christians to flee Fornication Upon which I purpose with Gods Assistance to do these things 1. To shew what the Sin is which we are to fly 2. How it is that we are to fly that Sin 3. To present you with some Considerations by way of Motive to press on the flying of this Sin 4. To prescribe you some Directions for the flying of it 1. I begin with the first What the Sin is which the Apostle here exhorts to fly and that is Fornication And here before we define the Thing to be avoided it may not be amiss to distinguish of the Name of the Sin which we are to avoid There is a twofold Fornication a Spiritual and a Corporal Fornication The first Spiritual Fornication St. Bernard defines thus Spirituè fornicatio est desecto Deo adhaerere Diabolo Spiritual Fornication is a forsaking of God and an adhering to the Devil As they do that worship not the true God but Stocks and Stones Images of Wood and Stone yea or of Gold and Silver or whatever other Materials and in short it is the same with that and all one with the Sin of Idolatry Hence it is said of Jerusalem that is the People and Inhabitants of it in Jerem. 3.9 that through the lightness of her whoredom she defiled the land and committed adultery with stocks and stones that is had worshipped Images and Idols in which sense also we are to understand her playing of the harlot spoken of v. 6 8. So in Ezek. 16. Thou hast also taken the fair Jewels of my gold and of my silver which I had given thee and madest to thy self images of men and didst commit whoredom with them that is thou didst fall down and worship them
v. 3. we are to understand universal holiness so by Fornication in the former Verse we are to understand universal uncleanness The Question now is in what Sense the Word is to be taken in the Text whether in the stricter or larger acceptation of it as it means simple Fornication or any Uncleanness in general And to that I answer That according to my apprehension the Apostle doth direct his Discourse against simple or properly so called Fornication and that in that Sense we are to understand it Not as if the Apostle were not against all Acts of uncleanness and had not as much mind to forbid them as this but because whereas other acts of Uncleanness as Adultery Increst Sodomy and even Rapes were accounted Sins by the Heathens themselves and unlawful yet this simple Fornication or the carnal Copulation of two single persons was not looked upon by them as unlawful or any Sin and even the Christians of those times were by the Gnostick Hereticks then rife in the Church attempted to be abused into the like apprehension of it And this was the reason as Aquinas gives it why Fornication was particularly forbidden the Gentiles in that Canon framed by the Council of the Apostles assembled at Jerusalem Act. 15.29 because the Gentiles did not think that to be any Sin Fornicatio autem prohibetur specialiter quia Gentes non reputabant eam esse peceatum as q. 103. a. 4. ad 3. So that the Apostle is to be understood here as if he had said Such Cleanness and Holiness ought to be in your Conversation that ye ought to abstain not only from those higher and most gross acts of Uncleanness which ye do condemn as Incest Adultery Buggery c. but even from that lower and most simple act of it which is known by the name of Fornication and which ye do allow of It is not enough that ye be not incestuous Persons Sodomists buggerers or Adulterers but ye must not so much as be Fornicators ye must flee this too as well as them Now hence will follow that if Fornication the lowest sort of Uncleanness that wherein there was thought to be no Sin if that must be avoided if not so much as that may be allowed to men or indulged to Christians then much less may any of the other Sins of a deeper guilt and of a more heinous nature be dared to be committed but must be utterly declined and abstained from So that the Apostle in requiring to flee Fornication tho' in the strict Sense of the Word hath spoken as fully and effectually as if he had either particularly required to flee every other Act of uncleanness or had in general commanded to flee and abstain from them all And thus we have shown what the Sin is which we are here by the Apostle required to flee which was the first part of our Undertaking II. Proceed we now to the second which is to show how it is that we are to flee this Sin And to this I answer That we are to flee it two ways in Action and in Affection First We are to flee it in Action that is we are neither to act it nor any thing of it in our Bodies but we are to preserve our whole Bodies and every Member of them pure and chast free from all desilement by any uncleanness whatsoever not thinking it enough that we do not commit uncleanness with our Bodies in the Act it self of carnal Copulation unless we do also abstain from all filthy acting with any part of our Bodies as our Eyes Tongues Ears or Hands We must flee Fornication with our Eyes We must have chast Eyes not sill our Eyes with Adultery like those in 2 Pet. 2.14 nor so much as look upon a Woman to lust after her Mat. 5.28 rather plucking out our right Eyes than being so far scandalized by them as be brought by them to offend in this way No rolling looks no wanton glances must be cast out to entice unto Lust We must flee Fornication with our Tongues abstaining from all tempting of others of sin by any stattering blandishments from speaking any obscene filthy bawdy words So the Apostle charges the Ephesians chap. 5. v. 3 4. Fornication and all other uncleanness or covetousness that is of acting inordinate Lusts let it not once be named among you as becometh Saints Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting Obscene speech bawdy talk which some use by way of jest to move Laughter with these by the Apostles Rule are things that do not become Saints and so are a kind of Fornication one degree of it which Christians are to fly We must flee Fornication with our Ears also We must not hearken and give ear to others that would tempt us to uncleanness not so much as hear them any such thing but turn away our Ears from and be deaf unto any such motion We must not take any delight to hear the obscene filthy bawdy wanton Words and Songs of others by which the Coals of Lust are kindled in the Mind and all the Body as it were blown up into a flame of unchast desires In this as well as in other Cases we ought to have regard to that Premonition of our Saviours in Mark 4.24 Take heed what you hear And as we are fly it with our Ears so with our Hands We must act nothing of Unchastity with them but must abstain from all filthy application of them to the Member of any other and from making any filthy signs by them of any unclean Desires in our selves or unclean Deeds we would have acted by others As our Hands must not be defiled with Blood so neither our Fingers with Iniquity If. 59.3 But if our right hand shall scandalize us in this way we are rather to cut it off and cast it from us than be brought so to offend by it Mat. 5.20 In a word in every Member and in every Gestury whereby we may act or allure or intice or any way stir up and inflame Concupiscence we are to observe Chastity and to act such Mortification in all our Members that our whole Body as well as our Soul and Spirit and be perserved blameless kept pure and spotless from all uncleanness And this is the first way wherein we are to flee Fornication viz. in Action Secondly We are to flee it in Affection As we are not to act it so we are not so much as to affect it They that are after the Spirit must not mind the things of the Flesh Rom. 8.5 6. They that have rightly learned Christ must not give themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness Eph. 4.19 20. Those Members of ours which are upon the earth uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness or greedy desire after unnatural or unlawful Enjoyments that is those earthly Affections of ours unto these things such as are in earthly-minded men who mind nothing of Heaven but like bruit Beasts have their minds
8.18 23. 1 Thess 4.7 Sin which is so far from Purity that it is the direct contrary thereto and called by the name of corruption uncleanness pollution filthiness the lust of uncleanness ungodly lust a spotting and defiling thing And what indeed is in the whole story and business of it but nastiness and beastliness filthiness and uncleanness not to be seen by Christian Eye not to be spoken by Christian Mouths not to be heard by Christian Ears Whence the Apostle would not have it once named among Saints and saith it is a shame even to speak of those things Eph. 5.3 12. And thirdly It is a Sin against all the Persons in the sacred Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost 1. Against the Father in that it is a dishonouring of his Creature abusing that to vileness and baseness and bruitishness which he made for himself and for his own Honour and Glory Whence the Apostle cells us above v. 13 that the Body is not for Fornication but for the Lord and helow v. 20. bids that we should glorifie God in our Body as being that which is his upon a double right first of Creation and after of Redemption and therefore is only to be used according to his Will in all Purity and not to be abused according to our Lust in any Uncleanness 2. Against the Son for it is a Dishonouring and a defiling of a Member of him even so far as to make it a Member of a Harlot Know ye not says our Apostle v. 15. that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of an harlot God forbid As by Marriage the two Parties become one in Body so by Religion which imports a holy tye of a Christian unto Christ Christ and the Christian become one in Spirit there is a spiritual Union betwixt them as a civil Union betwixt married couples But then Fornication is the breaking of this Union for by a mans joyning himself to another to a Harlot he becomes one body with a Whore which is a high disloyalty against Christ and a breaking off from Union with Christ a forsaking of him to follow after and be joyned with a Whore which is a strong Argument against this Sin Memento quia Christo sacrata sunt menbra tua nou misceantur membris meretricis Chrysost O remember that your Members are consecrated unto Christ and that is reason enough why you should not commit Fornication inasmuch as that 't is the making of your Members to become the Members of an Harlot or Whore 3. Against the Holy Ghost For it is a dishonouring and a defiling of his Temple and a turning it into a Stve or rather a Den of Uncleanness What says the Apostle here v. 19. know you not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you So that this defiling of the Body is the defiling of the Temple of the Hold ghost and to a doing of despite unto that Spirit of Grace a forcing him with our nastiness to forsake his Habitation which is also a sure way to bring on our Destruction For says our Apostle 1 Cor. 3.16 17. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple are ye Now this Consideration raises up this Sin to so exceeding an height of sinfulness as that it seems not needful to add any thing more to shew the sinfulness of it And yet more may be said to shew it For it is a Sin against a mans own Body and abusing of a mans self a doing a Dishonour and Despite to their own bodies Rom. 1.24 And our Apostle argues by way of Motive to disswade from this Sin in the following members of the Text Flee Fornication Every Sin that a man doth is without the Body but he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own body The meaning is That whereas most other Sins are against others God or our Neighbour this is a Sin against a man's own self whereby he defiles that part of himself into filthy abuse which was sanctified by God to an use of holiness even to be the Temple of his most holy Spirit It is a robbing of a man's self of so great an Honour and so great an Happiness as to have his Body to be the Temple of Gods Spirit than which what worse Discourtesy what greater Mischief can a man do unto himself And not only against himself but it is a Sin also against the body of Another the Body of her with whom Fornication is committed as well as his own Body It is a doing to her as much mischief as to himself bringing as great a Sin upon her and involving her into as great a share of Punishment as himself For this is a Sin that cannot be committed by one there must ever be two at it A man may commit Murder or Thiest alone he may forswear and lye alone he may gluttonize and be drunken himself alone but he cannot play the fornicator alone by himself he must have a Partner with him in his Sin whereby he doubles his Sin as being guilty not only of his own act but others also whom he tempted to the consenting to him in the acting of that filthiness which is a great aggravation to the sinsulness of it And yet neither is this all For In the next place it is a Sin committed against clear light and knowledge and so cannot but be against Conscience For the Scripture hath clear and plain Prohibitions and Dehortations from it and Denunciations or Threatnings against the Committers of it which none can be ignorant of that knows any thing of the Scriptures of God Prohibitions and Dehortations we have mentioned before and such is this in my text Flee Fornication Such is that in Act 15.29 where abstaining from Fornication is made a necessary Injunction upon all that would be Christians Such again that in 1 Thess 4.3 where it is declared to be the will of God that we should abstain from Fornication And for Denunciations or Threatnings they are plain nad clear and full Such is that of the Apostle Hib. 13.4 Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Such that of his again in Eph. 5.5 No Whoremonger nor unclean Person hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God So v. 6 For these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience And to name no more such is that Rev. 21.8 where Whoremongers are of that number that shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death Are not these clear and plain Prohibitions and Denunciations And do these lie fair and clear in our Books to read And are they not frequently read in our Churches and published in our Congregations Who then can plead ignorance of
Jealousie when the Soul of Man the Daughter of God and the Spouse of Christ becomes guilty of this Harlotry and gives her self to his Uncleanness as that of corporal Fornication is in the most literal Sense of that Word No marvel if God will judge Whoremongers and Adulterers no marvel if he have provided a Lake of Fire and Brimstone to wash or rather burn away the filthiness of Fornicators 2. As it renders him odious to God so it outs him of the Protection of Angels God sends forth his Angels to be ministring spirits to them who shall be heirs of Salvation Heb. 1.14 And gives them charge over them to keep them in all their ways Ps 91.11 But now the Fornicator by acting that which disinherits him of Salvation for as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor effeminate Persons shall inherit the Kingdom of God he acts that by which he is disinterested in the Angelical Protection And besides how can the Fornicator but be odious to the Angel that was deputed to the Guardianship over him when he immerses and soaks himself into nastiness and filthiness so utterly contrary to the Angelical Nature and Purity Angels are Beings of a pure and spiritual Nature and the Fornicator swills himself in bodily filthiness and uncleanness so odious to the Angelical Fineness and Purity that an Angel in Representation and to shew their detestableness of this Sin unto their Nature is in the Lives of the Fathers reported to have stopt his Nose at the sight of a Fornicator as not able to endure the noisom Savour and Stench of so polluted and unclean Person And when once the good Angels of God have withdrawn from any man their Protection who can we think but the evil Angels of Satan do take him into Possession Now this cannot but be thought a great mischief to a man to be forsaken of his Defence and invested by his Enemies to be outed of the Protection of Angels and put into Subjection to Devils 3. It dspossesses him of the Spirit of God The Holy Spirit of God will not dwell but in a holy Temple thereupon the Body of a Fornicator can be no Temple for him to inhabit 't is too nasty and filthy polluted and defiled a place for him to abide in 't is a Sink of Uncleanness and therefore can be no suitable Mansion for the Spirit of holiness For the Temple of God that is that Temple which God by his Spirit will dwell in is holy 1 Cor. 3.17 That Body which is defiled with Pollution of Lust and Uncleanness is no Temple of his none that he will dwell in Uncleanness chaseth him out of his Habitation outs him of his Temple dispossesses him of his Dwelling which he will no longer abide in than it continues to be holy And therefore St. Chrysostom saith Non polluas Templum sacratum Domino ne fias à Spiritu ejus alienum take heed ye defile not that Temple of your Body which is consecrated unto the Lord lest thereby ye become a Stranger to his Spirit i.e. lest his Spirit be withdrawn from you and forsake you Our Church in her Morning Service suitably hereunto as to me it seems first prays that God would make clean our Hearts within us and then not to take his Holy Spirit from us intimating that unless our Herarts be clean within us God will not suffer his Holy Spirit to abide with us What a Mischief is this that the Fornicator doth himself He deprives himself of the Presence of the Assistance of the Comfort of the Counsel of Gods Spirit and hath no fellowship with the Holy Ghost He tears off his Seal of Adoption and throws away the Farnest of eternal Salvation and so hath now neither Right to Heaven nor Evidence for it Yea when the good Spirit is once departed out of its Habitation the evil Spirit will he ready to enter into and take it up for his own Possession and then the end of that Man is worse than his beginning Devils dwell in him now for a time and he must dwell hereafter with Devils to all eternity in the World to come And which is consequent to his it disfurnisheth him of the Grace of God For that which deprives a man of the Grace of the Spirit must divest him of the Spirit of Grace When the Spring is withdrawn no wonder if the Streams dry up and fail But besides Grace is a work of the Sprit and Fornication as all other Sins of Uncleanness are is a Work of the Flesh Now the Flesh and the Spirit as the Apostle saith Gal. 5.17 are contrary the one to the other And therefere as the Principles of these Works the Flesh and the Spirit are contrary each to other so these Works which flow from these Principles are contrary the one to the other This and so any Sin of Uncleanness is not privatively only but positively also even contrariantly opposite unto Grace there is in it not only a want of Holiness but something of positive filthiness Now as Logicians say Contraria se mutuó destruunt alterumque alterius contractione remittitur Contraries do destroy each other and the presence of the one is abated by the access of the other So that this Sin when it is admitted diminishes and destroys Grace the Act of it is a Diminution and the Habit of it a Destruction to it Now surely the Destruction of Grace in a man is a great Mischief to him it is the defacing of his Evidence for and a destroying of his Title to Heaven For as the pure in heart shall see God so without holiness shall no man see the Lord mat 5.8 Heb. 12.14 It is the depriving him of every thing of Divine nature in him and the stripping him of all so much as likeness unto God It is the rereturning of him into a state of corrupted nature to a state of Damnation a Condition far worse than that of Beasts which perish which whatever they suffer yet they do not sin and find at once an end of their lives and of their miseries whereas the end of an ungracious mans life is but the beginning of an endless Death yea further it is the makingway for the Image and Nature of the Devil to enter upon and overspread the man for as the Divine Nature and Image stands in Purity and Holiness so the Diabolical Image and Nature consists in Impurity and Uncleanness So that in effect it is the making of a man who was before the Child of God to become the Child of the Devil Whereupon St. Ambrose says our Apostle did well to warn Christians to flee Fornication per quam filii Dei fiunt silii Diaboli inasmuch as by that the Children of God did become the Children of the Davil A greater Mischief is hard to say 4. It wounds and wasts and destroys his Conscience This is a Sin that is done with Knowledge most an end for it is tare that a
man should be so far gone from himself through Drink or any other Course as that like Lot he should not know hedoth commit the sin when he doth commit it It is a Sin that requires much study in most Cases how to contrive and compass the commission of it and therefore especially in such Cases is a Sin of knowledge a Sin committed with deliberation and therefore is a wilful Sin and such Sins are wounding Sins to the Soul wasting Sins to the Conscience the first Act wounds the second wasts and the Habit of it when it grows to that quite destroys the Conscience the custom of sinning takes away all both Sense and Conscience of Sin like those Gentiles spoken of by St. Paul Eph. 4.17 18 19. who walked in the vanity of their mind having their understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them because of the blindness or rather hardness of their heart who being past feeling gave themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness Which blindness and hardness senselesness and stupidity of Mind and Heart when men once have through continued custom of sinning in this way brought upon themselves then it is but just that God should give them up in a Judicial way unto Uncleanness and unto vile Affections and even give them over unto a reprobate mind a mind void of Judgment as he did those Romas St. Paul speaks of Rom. 1.24 26 28. And this to be given over to a reprobate sense to have the Conscience cauterized to be under a benummedness of mind and a brawniness of heart to be without Sense and Conscience of sin is to be under a most dismal Judgment the high Road to and the very Gate into and month of Hell For when once a man is past seeling or sin he is the past sorrowing for sin and past repenting of it without an extraordinary and miraculous Work of Conviction wrought upon him and without Repentance there can be no Salvation And therefore that sin which brings a man into this desperate Condition is a sin that is mischievous with a Witness it blinds the mind perverts the judgment benumbs the heart sears the Conscience leaving the mind under stupefaction and senselesness hardness and impenitency 5. It distracts him in those Duties to God whereby he should obtain the Grace of God and preserve and encrease it when it is obtained This fleshly Lust will not suffer him rightly to attend to any spiritual Duty it will not suffer him to have any Communion with God either by hearing God speak to him in his Word or speaking to God himself in Prayer it so takes up all his Thoughts that he can mind nothing of the Worship and Service of of God as he ought When he should be thinking of God he is thinking of his Whore and instead of praying for Grace to abstain from his sin and to mortifie his Lust he is plotting how to fulfil his Lust and commit his sin So true is that of St. Ambrose Nullus peccandi modus inexplexibilis scelerum sitis nisi morte amantis extingui non potest This sin is unmeasurable unsatiable the burning Thirst whereof never quenched by any thing but Death Now surely it is a very great mischief to be so distracted in ones Duty to God that is a plaguy Lust that will not let a man be quiet till he hath said his Prayers but be as ill or worse a Tempter to a man than the Devil himself And yet such a mischievous sin Lust is that whereby the Fornicator is swayed and governed in his Course of Uncleanness And no marvel for it besots and fools him so that he neither minds nor regards what he is about unless it be when he is getting satisfaction to his Lust It dispirits and unmans the man and turns him all into Beast well nigh saving what he is in shew and shape Who could think any other that should find Hercules the only Worthy and Wonder in his time for strength and Valour stooping to the meanness of being a Servant to Omphale and in the quality of a Wench working at the Rock and Spindle And what other can we think was meant by the ancient Poets when they tell us of the strange Transformations of Jupiter and other Gods into a Bull a Swan and the like bruitish Creatures for the love of and to satisfie his lust with this or that admired Beauty but that lust this lust of Fornication transforms and turns men even the greatest of them into very Beasts makes them do brutish things as if they had no more of the Heart of a man in them than Nebuchadnezzar had when he was turned to Grass than the Beasts of the Field have And this probably was meant by the Prophet Hosea when in his fourth Chapter and cleventh Verse he makes Fornication to be one of those things that take away the Heart Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the Heart do turn a man into a very beast and suitably the Prophet Jeremy compares these unclean sinners to Horses lustful Creatures Jer. 5.8 They were as fed horses saith he every one neighed after his Neighbours Wife And so the Apostle St. Peter speaking of those that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness compares them to natural bruit beasts made to be taken and destroyed and even to Dogs and Swine two most unclean Creatures and more irrational than any other Creatures in their lusts 2 Pet. 2.10 12 22. which is a great mischief to a man as being the turning of him out of himself and the degrading of him into a Beast rendring him unfit for any manly acting and dissolving him all into softness and folly And having bereft him of Judgment and Spirit the less marvel is it if it do also bereave him of his Freedom and make a very Slave of him It is an imperious lust this it makes them in whom it reigns very Servants and Slaves to it Hence these kind of people are by the Apostle St. Peter called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servants of corruption adding this for the reason of his so calling them because that of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage 2 Pet. 2.19 And so the Apostle St. Paul Rom. 6.16 Know ye not to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness And after v. 19. speaks of their having yielded their members servanos to uncleanness So that this sin of Uncleanness is a tyrannous lust it bereaves its Subjects of their Liberty and Freedom and brings them under bondage and slavery A fornicator and a Free-man are two terms that cannot be said of the same Man He that is a worker of Uncleanness is in a state of very servitude and a base a wretched servitude is it that he serves He is made a Servant to
espy one Fornicator They were with Companions like themselves Dogs Sorcerers Murderers and Idolaters in another place without that City Rev. 22.15 that being a place into which there was not in any wise to enter any thing that defileth Rev. 21.27 And Fornication is one of the things that our Saviour declareth to be defiling things Mat. 15.19 20. and so there is no coming for such Persons to nor continuing of such Persons in that Place Now cortainly to be cut off from Communion with the Church of Christ is a mischief great in it self whatever thought of by profane Worldlings For they upon whom the Churches Censure falls in that kind and measure are excluded from the Benefit of the Churches Ordinances the Word and Sacraments the Food of their Souls they are excluded from communicating with the Churches Prayers and having any share in the Blessings sought and obtained by those Prayers they are excluded from inward Union and Fellowship with Christ outed of all relation as Members unto him and so are deprived of the influence of his Spirit into them In a word they are delivered up unto Satan and their Sins so bound on Earth that they are bound also in Heaven not to be loosed either here or there without Repentance and a Desire at least and Endeavour to have Absolution Which Mischief was so dreaded by Offenders in the primitive Times that rather than not to be re-admitted into the Communion again they would continue in the state of Pennance and do the Pennance of Offenders a long time many years standing at the Church-door and lying prostrate on the ground with Prayers and Tears beseeching and begging the Prayers of those that went into the Church And besides all this I might add that even upon Persons that continue obstinate Despisers of this Ecclesiastical Censure and will not be reduced to obedience and brought to Reformation by this Chastisement the Civil Law hath used to fall very heavily in Fines and Imprisonments or both But without and besides this the Church's Censure or Excommunication even allow it and of it self is enough to make any afraid of doing any thing whereby to deserve and incurr it to abstain from and flee Fornication But this is not all for it not only ejects out of the Church of Christ but also excludes out of the Kingdom of God What earthly Possessions soever the Fornicator hath on Earth he is never like to have any Inheritance in Heaven For this ye know saith St. Paul to the Ephesians 5.5 no Whoremonger hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God * D. Ambros in loc Qui talis fuerit partem in regnum coelorum non habebit quod est Patris Filii Hath not doth he say no nor shall have And he saith expresly in his first Epistle to the Corinthians c. 6. v. 9 10. Neither Fornicators nor Adulterers shall inherit the Kingdom of God And so again to the Galatians They who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God and Fornication is one of these things Gal. 5 19 20. Now if the Punishment of Loss be greater than the Punishment of Sense as Casuists conclude then inasmuch as the loss of Heaven is the loss of the greatest Good that which brings upon a man that loss does him the greatest mischief that possibly can be done O who is able to imagine what mischief it is to be shut out of Heaven It imports to be shut out from the Enjoyment of the greatest Good that can be desired or imagined from Society with God and Christ and Angels and Saints from all those Joys and Pleasures Delights and Felicities wherewith the Souls of emparadised Persons are bathed and blissed and filled and ravished even into Extasies of most delightful Admiration Now this may be a weighty Consideration to induce the Fornicator if he hath any regard in the least to his own Souls eternal Good to abstain from that Wickedness by the commission whereof he shall forfeit and lose so great a Happiness But this is not the height of this sins mischief for it not only debarrs from Heaven but it damns to Hell plunges the Fornicator into that Lake of Fire and Brimstone which burneth to Eternity So our Apostle in Rev. 21.8 Whoremongers Sorcerers Idolaters Lyars shall have their part in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death So deep it seems is the silth of this sin that nothing else but Floods of Fire and Brimstone can wash it out and nothing less than Eternity can be time enough even for that to wash it out in Now when to the mischief of Heavens loss is added the mischief of Hells Pain there is nothing that I know that can be added to make it more mischievous And yet such is this sin of Fornication to the Fornicator it debars him from Heaven it damns him to Hell it sends him to those Regions where is Darkness without light Torment without ease Sorrow without end where his Bed he must lie down on shall be a fiery Pile of unconsumable Fuel and the Sheets wherewith he must be inwrapped shall be scorching Flames of that inextinguishable Fire The Consideration of this tremendous Catastrophe of the Fornicator's play this dreadful Punishment which he is like to be condemned to should as any reasonable man would think be enough if any thing can be enough to work with him and perswade him to abstain from the commission of so mischievous a sin and to flee Fornication And yet is not this neither all the Mischief that it doth for hitherto we have spoken only of the Mischief that it doth to the Fornicator himself Secondly There is still a Mischief that it doth to Others besides himself And First It is mischievous to the Woman with whom the sin is committed For first it involves her in the same Guilt of sin with the Fornicator It is not his Temptation that will acquit her from the Guilt of so sinful a Commission To be tempted is no sin but to yield to Temptation to consent to the Tempter to act the thing tempted to that is sinful And indeed the Law of Fornication lay not against the Man only but against the Woman also for it is expresly said Deut. 23.17 There shall be no Whore of the Daughters of the Children of Israel The Fornicator therefore cannot commit this sin alone but he must draw sin by that Act upon another too as well as upon himself and so aggravate still his own more as not having only sinned himself but made another sin too by consenting to and acting that filthiness with him inasmuch as there ought to be no consenting unto the Enticement of Sinners unto Wickedness Prov. 1.10 no partaking with Adulterers Ps 50.18 no having fellowship with the unfruitful Works of darkness Eph. 5.11 And the Woman that hath to do with such Persons in such Actions is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sinner a Person eminently
to make an end of thee it will but seize on thee like a Serjeant and imprison thee until the general Goal-delivery at the end of the World and then it will bring thee forth to Tryal and so and in such a case as it found thee it will bring thee forth to the great Tribunal and present thee to be judged by the great God and righteous Judge of quick and dead in the sight of Men and Angels Who would not tremble and be amazed to think of it that he should be brought forth and made appear in such an Assembly as will be at that great Assize at the end of the World in that Condition that he is in when he is in the act of his lewdness and in all the Circumstances of his filthiness O think of it that in such condition you may be brought into that Assembly and cannot possibly be assured but that in that Condition you shall be brought into it And such a Thought if well ruminated upon may be highly conducible to the prevailing with men to flee Fornication Yet thirdly there 's Heaven behind And Oh what have I said when I said Heaven Why I said a Place and a State of Pleasure Joy Glory and Happiness beyond all that the World hath or ever had or was so much as said or thought fancied or imagined by any man in it As it is written in 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The Poets Elysian Fields the Garden of Aloadine the Paradise of Mahomet are yea the Eden of God in this World was nothing to it The summ of it is full enjoyment of highest Blessedness without interruption or abatement to all Eternity But who is this for Why for the Godly and amongst them for those that possess their Vessel unto Sanctification and in Honour that defile not themselves with Women For neither Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Idolaters nor effeminate Persons nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. And therefore think of this when at any time you are tempted to Uncleanness and say Shall I for the love of a Whore lose my Heaven lose my Happiness Can the pleasure of all the Beauties in the World had I the Enjoyment of them all countervail the loss of Heaven Is not one days fruition of Heavens Joys beyond a Year yea a life spent it bruitish Pleasures If ye would but remember and shew your selves men and act according to right reason you would conclude Heaven too good to be forfeited upon so silly a Consideration as the Pleasure which Bruits have one with another and so would by that Consideration be mightily fortified against the Temptations which you may be assaulted with to uncleanness and much enabled to abstain from all the sins of the flesh and to flee Fornication Lastly There is Hell behind O what is that Why a Place and State of perfect Misery where is an utter deprivation of all Comfort and an exquisite infliction of bitterest Torment where is weeping and wailing and gnashing to Teeth where the Worm dieth not and the Fire is not quenched where the damned are implunged into a Lake of Fire and Brimstone that burneth to Eternity for ever living in the Extremities of the most dolorous and tormenting Pains And who are to be turned into this Why the Wicked and amongst the rest Fornicators Adulterers and such like Defilers of the Image of God and Members of Christ and Temple of the Holy Ghost There in that Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone is their part set out to be Rev. 21.7 And this shall they have at Gods hand for their Wickedness that they shall lie down in Sorrow and burn in the Sparks of their own kindling for evermore Now certainly if this were well thought of and considered by any man that were under Temptation to uncleanness he would never be so far overcome with the Lust so as to commit the sin What shall I go to Hell for a Whore Have I a mind to be damned for a Doxie Shall I plunge my self into Fire and Brimstone there to lie and burn and roar to all Eternity for the little short nasty Pleasure which is had in the Embraces of a Strumpet Thus thus at any time when you come under the Temptations of Lust call to mind and meditate a while upon this and all the other three last things Death and Judgment and Heaven and you will by Gods Grace be so wrought on in that Meditation and Consideration that you will both fly the Acts and detest the Thought of any such thing and abstain from all appearance of that evil Sixthly Consider and meditate upon the Purity Passion and Love of Christ There is Argument in all to perswade to Continency and Chastity It was a life of Purity that Christ led there was not the least Unchastity either acted syllabled or imagined done said or thought by him And his Life is that great Exemplar which we are to copy out in our Conversation He that saith he ahideth in him ought himself to walk as he walked When therefore you are at any time under Temptation to this sin thus say with and to your selves And is this to be Partaker of Christ's Holiness Is this to be conformable to Christ's Purity Did he ever any thing of or like to this kind of acting Was he either a Deflowerer of Maids or a Corrupter of Wives an Actor of or a Tempter to Uncleanness Where read ye any thing of his gallanting it to Ladies or so much as amorous courting or be-complementing of Women To think then how unsuitable such acting is unto the Conversation of Christ and how disagreeing with his Purity all manner of filthiness is may be one good Consideration to restrain us from all Impurity and to perswade to retain our Chastity Again Bitter was the Passion that Christ suffered Scoffs and Scorns Staves and Whips Nails and Thorns in one word the Cross the ignominious cruel and accursed Death on that he endured But what was all this for Why to redeem us from the guilt of sin that we might not be damned after our Repentance for what had passed before our repenting and not that only but to redeem us also from the filth of sin that being made whole by his Stripes we should sin no more So the Apostle expresly He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purisie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 3.14 And now did Christ suffer for all and so for this sin of ours and shall we again do that that he suffered for Shall we bring upon our selves that Guilt and Filth which he shed his precious Blood to cleanse us from How shall we not only render his Passion fruitless and in vain as to any good to our selves by it but