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
ever do that which they so abhorred as that they would die any the cruellest Death in the World over and over rather than once do O far be it from us ever to do any such thing I may add here the Punishments that spiritual Fornicators are liable unto for it excludes them from Communion with the Church Militant and Triumphant and exposes them to temporal Destruction and eternal Condemnation 1. It shuts out from Communion with the Church Militant here on Earth If a Christian became guilty of it if he were an Idolater in the Apostles days Christians were to have no Communion with him not to keep company with him not so much as to eat with him but to avoid all Commerce and Converse not only sacred but civil with him 1 Cor. 5.11 Neither were Christians to joyn with Idolaters in their Worship but to come out from among them and to be separate the Temple of God having no agreement with the Temple of Idols 2 Cor. 16.17 Nor were Idolaters to joyn with Christians in their Worship whilst they continued Idolaters but were to be without not suffered to be in the holy City the new Jerusalem the Church to Christ on Earth as Members of it or Communicants in it So the state of that City or Church is described Rev. 22.15 For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and idolaters and whoever loveth and maketh a lie This spiritual Fornication keeps from coming into the Church and turns out of it also such as are in are guilty of it and therefore there is great reason for our avoiding it But further it excludes from Communion with the Church Triumphant in Heaven Idolaters are of those sorts of Sinners that shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 Gal. 5.20 Eph. 5.5 No Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God for spiritual Fornicators for Worshippers of Images and Idols And who would make himself a Slave to a piece of painted or graven Earth to lose thereby a solid Inheritance in Heaven 2. It exposes to temporal Destruction and eternal Condemnation First to temporal Destruction in this present World Thus Ahaz and all Israel was ruined by this sin 2 Chron. 28.2 They the false Gods the Idols of Damascus which that idolatrous King did serve and sacrifice unto they were the ruine of him and all Israel that is he and all Israel were ruined brought to destruction by and for that Idolatry of his and theirs Long before that whilst Israel was in the Wilderness three or four and twenty thousand lost their lives in one day about it 1 Cor. 10.7 Numb 25.9 and no marvel for before that at the very time of the giving of the Law there is a direct menace of utter Destruction to any one that should be guilty of this kind of Fornication He that sacrificeth unto any God save unto the Lord only he shall utterly be destroyed Exod. 22.20 But further it renders liable to Eternal Condemnation in the World to come It damns even to the Pit of Hell To prove this it were enough to say it shuts out of Heaven and if so then it must needs thrust down into Hell For after this Life duo sunt loca non est tertius ullis there are but two Receptacles for them Heaven and Hell and there is no third place for any at least in St. Augustine's Judgment And as in Mat. 25.31 c. the whole race of Mankind at the day of Judgment are cast but into two sorts Sheep and Goats that is Elect and Reprobates so no disposing of any but into two Sorts and Conditions Everlasting Life or Everlasting Death the one whereof is the state of those in Heaven the other of those in Hell So that what shuts out of Heaven shuts into Hell But in Rev. 22.8 it is expresly said that Idolaters with other like wicked Creatures shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the ssecond death Which what other can it mean but that they shall be cast into Hell into those regions of Darkness and Horrour where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth where their Worm dieth not and the Fire is not quenched In consideration therefore of these things let us abstain from all idolatrous Actions and flee from all Acts of this spiritual Fornication And as God is jealous of having any of his Honour given to any but himself so we must abstain from all appearance of every thing that may provoke him to jealousy Have we a care of hearkning to any that may seduce us or of obeying any that may go about to enforce us to Idolatry to be of that Religion which alloweth of it at least if it do not command and enjoyn the worshipping of Images Time may shew more need of such an Exhortation than at present some think there seems to be in the mean time if ever such occasion be remember I have warned you And this is all which by occasion of the Text I shall think good to speak of this first Notion in which Fornication is sometimes taken and spoken of namely Spiritual Fornication or Idolatry and the Worshipping of Idols and Images I now come to speak of Fornication in the second Notion of it and as it denotes that Sin which is also called Corporal Fornication Now in this Sense also it is taken sometimes more strictly and sometimes more largely In the strict Notion of it as it is called simple Fornication so it is defined to be concubitus soluti cum solutâ the lying together or the carnal Copulation of two single Persons out of the state of Matrimony In the large Notion of it so it is defined more generally to be humanus illicitus concubitus the unlawful Copulation of a man in any kind or respect Hence Adultery which is a distinct Sin from Fornication and so see Gal. 5.19 where the Apostle reckoning up the Works of the Flesh begins with Adultery Fornication c. yet is sometimes understood by the word Fornication Whence our Saviour saith Matth. 5.32 Whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery where by Fornication in probability is to be understood Adultery and so in Matth. 19.9 Hence the word Fornication is sometimes put to signifie the Sin of Incest as in 1 Cor. 5.1 It is reported commonly that there is Fornication among you and such Fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles What is that why the incestuous Marriage of a Son with the Wife of his Father that one should have his Fathers Wife And so when the Apostle tells us 1 Thes 4.3 that it is the will of God that we should abstain from Fornication it is evident by the opposing Sanctification that thereby is meant all Uncleanness in general Suitably whereunto it is said v. 7. that God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness So that as by Sanctification in
them unless it be to excuse one Sin with another which nothing mitigates the faust but rather greatens the guilt So that this must needs be acknowledged a very great Sin which is committed against so many so clear so known Declarations of the Will of God against it and Denunciations of the Wrath of God against the Commuters of it And yet neither is this all For Lastly The Considerations of the Punishments threatned and assuredly inflicted unless prevented by a timely repenting do as it were with a beam of the Sun point out unto declare and display the greatness of the Crime the blackness of the Sin Great Punishments are ordained for great Sins so that in the greatness of the Punishment denounced we may read the greatness of the Sin committed Now what is the Punishment denounced against this Sin Why first in general the Judgment of God That God will judge the Committers of it Heb. 13.4 Which how far that may extend God knows being that remporal and eternal Judgments all Curses and Plagues both in this lise and in the lise or rather death that is to come may lie infolded within the arms of its Comprehension Secondly Excommunication out of the Church Militant With a Foruicator Christians are not to eat not so much as the ordinary Food of the Body much less the Sacramental Food of our Souls no not so much as keep compamy with him 1 Cor. 5.10 I know not what some may think of this but sure in the Primitive Times it was accounted a heavy Punishment insomuch that they upon whom it fell were reckoned of as Persons delivered up unto Satan 1 Cor. 5.5 As indeed he must uceds be put under the Dominion of Satan who is expelled the Kingdom of Christ Thirdly Exclusion out of the Church Triumphant Neither Fornicators nor Adnlterers nor effeminate Persons nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind are admitted to an Inheritance in Heaven such 't is expersly said shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 5.9 10. And so again Epb. 5.5 No Whoremonger nor unclean ' Person nor covetous Man which Expression relates to matters of Uncleanness hath any inheritance in the Kigdom of God Fourthly Condemnation unto the Torments of Hell Whoremongers among the rest of these wicked ones are threatned to have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 All which laid together do shew the Punishment denounced against Fornicators to be a very grievous Punishment and that is Proof abundantly enough that the Sin that it threatned with that Punishment is a very grievous Sin a heinous Offence a Sin that is exceeding sinful And tho' we may flatter our selves with a hope of escaping for leffer Sins and so out of that hope venture the more boldly upon the commission of them yet for such grand Offences mortal Sins deadly Crimes as this we cannot but be hugely afraid of suffering the deserved Punishment And therefore this may be one weighty Consideration to press on by way of Motive to abstain from this Sin and to flee Fornication A second may be the shamefulness of it Things that are honest pure and lovely and of good report vertuous and praise-worthy those are thing for Christians to think of to have their Minds and Hearts upon Phil. 4.8 But things of dishonesty things that are shameful and of evil report these Christians should with the greatest care that can be avoid And indeed if we consider this Sin of Fornication in every Circumstance of it it is a very shameful Sin 1. The Actors of it are ashamed to be seen in it and therefore chuse darkness and secrecy to act it in In the twilight in the evening in the black and dark night as the Wise Man observed Prov. 7.9 Whence this and the like Sins are called the Works of darkness Eph. 5.11 done in secret in private and close Chambers whence Chambering and wantonness go well together Rom. 13.13 or other places of conveniency for privacy and secrecy as furthest removed from Observation and Discovery which why need it be if it were a thing of honesty if it were not a shameful thing 2. The Parts and Members of the Body wherewith the Sin is acted are things which were a Shame to see or name Whence the Greeks call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latins pudenda shameful things things which People that have any thing of Modesty in them are ashamed to look upon Shem and Japhet when the Father so lay that his nakedness appeared took a Garment and laid it upon both their Shoulders and went backward and covered it without seeing of it and for that Modesty of theirs got their Father's Blessing whenas Cham for his Immodesty looking upon it had his Father's Curse Gen. 9.22 c. The Fall of our first Parents into Sin was not so great as to take away from them all Shame But as soon as they perceived themselves naked they had so much remains of Modesty left them as to make themselves A prons tho' but of Fig-leaves to cover themselves withal Gen. 3.7 which God himself did after change into a better covering of Coats made of Skins v. 21. God would not have an Altar with steps made up to it lest that ascent should be an occasion of discovering of the nakedness of such as should sacrifice thereon Gen. 20.26 and gave special order that for prevention of the like discovery in the Priests they should have linnen Breeches made them reaching down from the loins to the thighs Exod. 28.42 Hence by was of allusion Raiment is counselled to be bought by the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans that the Sbame of his nakedness might not appear Rev. 3.18 and he is pronounced blessed that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his Shame Rev. 16.15 Throughout the whole Scripture those Parts are never found mentioned by name but by some other modest way of Expression Neither amongst the Heathens would the People of Modesty have any of those words in their Mouthe The more shame for those Christians whose delight it is upon every occasion to mouth them in most immodest sort Of these People may it be truly said what St. Paul spoke of some in his times That they glory in their shame Phil. 3.19 or as St. Jude expresseth it they foam out their own Shame v. 13. 3. Thé Act if self wherein this Sin is committed is so shameful as that it cannot be mentioned in greatest privacy without Shame and therefore the Apostle speaks of it as a thing not to be named among Saints Eph. 5.3 and saith it is a sham to speak of those things v. 12. And well he might as being a thing fitter for Bruits as Dogs and Bitches to delight in rather than for Men. Whence * Epist 50. ad Ocean St. Hierome calls the acts of Fornication Caninas Nuptias the nuptical Weddings or Marriages of Dogs And being a thing much delighted
in by the Devil himself so far as not only to make it a part of his Service in the performances whereof stood much of the Mysteries of his Worship but also to practise himself together with Men and Women in assumed human Shapes and Bodies as is ordinary among Witches And if the Act it self cannot be named without Shame how shameful must we needs think the commission of it How can not only their Faces outwardly but their Hearts inwardly burn and glow within them whilst they are acting so shameful a thing a thing that can neither be seen nor spoken nor heard by others who are no way guilty of it without blushing at it 4. The tempooral Punishment consequent to this Act is a shameful Punishment Among the Grecians in many places of Greece as Camerarius observes the Punishment for Fornicators was That the Fornicator should have his Beard chopt off with a keen Ax and so to be sent away which to him was a Mark of Infamy Amongst us the Punishment is for Offenders in that kind to stand in the places of most publick notice the Church during Divine Service or some Market-Town in the time of throngest concourse of People with a white Sheet upon them to be a publickSpectacle for all People to behold and gaze upon and so be the Town or Countrys talk that I say not their Scoffs and Scorns a thing greatly shameful to those that have any remains in them either of Grace or good Nature Now all these things laid together the shamefulness of this Sin appears to be very great and the consideration of that may be one other weighty Motive to abstain from the Commission of it and to flee Fornication A third may be the Toilesomness of it Christians are called to Liberty and Freedom and the greatest Liberty in the World consists in Vertue and Piety For the more vertuous and pious the more free from Sin and Wickedness to be Servant to which is the greatest Slavery in the World no Tyranny like to that where Sin reigns But as all Sin in general is tyrannous and so the serving of it Slavery so all Lust in particular is very tyrannical and the serving of it very drudgery The Slave to that Tyrant is never at rest no not so much as in the Night when other Slaves tired with the Toil of the forepassed day take their ease And therefore when the Apostle saith Flee Fornication * Lib. 1. de Cain Abel cap 5. St. Ambrose tells us he said it ut veloci fugâ tanquam furiosae dominae declinare saevitiam tetro exitio exire possemus that we might be moved thereby to do our endeavour by a swift flight to avoid the Cruelty of a raging Tyranness as it were and get out of a most base Service Sad is the Toil heavy is the Drudgery of a Slave to this Lust Savus criminum stimulus libido est quae nunquam quietum patitur affectum Lust the Lust of uncleanness is a cruel stinger on unto Wickedness it never lets the Affection be in quiet Nocte fervet die anhelat à negotio abducit as he goes on it burns in the Night and pants in the Day it awakes from sleep and takes off from business gives no rest to its Slave but ever inflames with enjoyment and becomes more raging by use How doth it busie the Head with thousands of thoughts about the obtaining of its desire What Plots what Contrivances what Arts what Stratagems what Tricks what Policies what Ways what Means doth it devise and frame for the compassing of its end Eating drinking resting waking sleeping still the mind is kept in action with musing and meditating pondering and studying how to be made Master of its so longed-for Wish How doth it fill the Heart with Crouds of Cares to put its Projects into practice and with throngs of Fears of Disappointments in its Designs and multitudes of Jealousies of being defeated by any other counter plotting Competitor What Watchings must there be of the Inamorates for opportunity to open their minds and discover their Passions What solliciting courting Complements with the Paramour to woo and win her to a Compliance with them in their Desires What promising what vowing what swearing of love to the attempted Mistress when there is no more of Love in them to her but a bruitish unruly longing Desire to satisfie their Lust only What a waiting must there be What attendance must many times be given before their Suit can have its accomplishment if they have to do with a Person that is proud and coy or covetous and conning who for pleasing of her humour or for the advancing of her gain will exercise them with a thousand delays and keep them in hand with variety of Shifts and Put-offs as tedious and wearisom as those meet withall that go to Law this Evening or that Morning this Afternoon or that Midnight must be waited for and attended on and over and over and all to no purpose through some accidental or contrived disappointment O who is able to endure such Drudgery as this One seeing a Harlot going in her Gaiety to the Theatre wept to think what pains the Wicked took to go to Hell whereas himself took no near that pains to get to Heaven Were those Thoughts and Cares to be-spent in making our peace with God which these People spend in gaining a Whore to their minds were there to be that watching and waiting for the saving of our Souls which these Persons undergo for the satisfaction of their Lusts we should think the price of Salvation intollerably too dear Weight but how wearisome a thing it is to most men but to say a few short Prayers Morning and Evening or to read a Chapter or two once in a day or to attend once or twice on Gods Day in Gods House at the Service of God how long the Prayers are thought how tedious the Sermon how tiresome the whole Duty Some have not patience to sit it out and therefore either come not at all to it or else come short of much of it or sleep and drowze away most of their time whilst they are at it Oh what would they think what would they say if they were to wait hour after hour day after day night after night upon Gods Service Oh how toilsome then must be the Service of Lust how tiresome the Sin of Fornication which exacts these Drudgeries from its Servants that they must spend Nights and Days about it busy their Wits and break their Sleeps with it take little or no rest Day or Night for it This with considering persons cannot but be very weighty to stop them from going into or turn them back from going on in so troublesome a way so toilsome a travail so wearisome a drudgery in the Service of so base a Lust A fourth is the Expensiveness of this Sin A man cannot be a Whoremaster at a small Charge He that drives that Trade had need
to have a good Stock to set up withal for he shall find it a costly Sin a Sin that will waste him to the Bones if he follow it any thing hard whereof we have infinite Examples in our Times and Countries to assure us What a deal of Expence goes in the Price of Whoredoms especially where the Whore drives a Trade with their Bodies Flora the Harlot got by that Trade such an Estate as the City of Rome disdained not to become Heir unto Lais the Harlot of Corinth had such a rate for a Nights lodging with her as men of great Estates were afraid to give Ten thousand Drachms a great Sum if it were but so many of our Groats did she demand of * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosthenes for the pleasure of her Company for one Night though he had the wit not to buy Repentance as he said at so dear a rate And no doubt but the Fornicators of our days pay dear enough in this way for their vain Pleasure and lewd Enjoyment What a great deal of Expence must go in Treatments and Entertainments of the Whore What in Plays and Revels Feasts and Banquets Wine and Presents to allure and oblige her What in Gifts and Bounties to those about her What in Pay to or Expences on Pimps to procure her What in Bribes to Privadoes for Opportunities of access to her and for secrecy of Converse with her The Hand is never out of the Purse almost for fetching out one Expence or other in these things of this Nature What a great deal again goes in high Diet provokative Drinkes Confectionary Philters and all manner of Incentives and Incendiaries unto Lust What again in Charges for Cure of the French Diseases gotten by those ways of filthiness And that to name no more must go in Fees by way of Commutation to buy off that shameful Punishment which by the Law is to pass on those who are guilty in this kind where the Fault is known and the Offender prosecuted against How many fair Estates do we see daily melted and mouldred away to nothing by these means Men of good Abilities Heirs of fiue Lands are in a small time brought to Penury and Beggery by this way He that is now rich may in a little space whore away all he hath and be brought like the Prodigal in the Gospel to be glad to eat Husks with the Swine for Hunger if he knew how to get them So vastly so vainly expensive a Sin this is Now this Consideration to persons that have any thing of Wit or Understanding may be a very pressing Motive to restrain them from following so base ways as these When they shall consider how expensive those ways are and at what rate they must buy Repentance they cannot but think these are no ways for them to go on in unless they design to ruin and undo themselves for ever A fifth Consideration to hinder or withdraw so vicious a Course may be that it is an unprofitable Lust a fruitless Sin Ambition gets Honour Covetousness gets Wealth Gluttony good Chear Drunkenness good Liquor but what gets the Fornicator nothing that I know that is good It is a Sin that brings in o Profit unless it be to the Whores that make a Trade of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Apostle asks to Question of the Romans having spoken but newly before of their yielding their members Servants to uncleanness What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed What can the Fornicator say he hath gotten after all his Thought and Care and Time and Trouble and Money spent in obtaining satisfaction to his Lust What can he say he hath gotten unless it be somewhat that he is afraid to own or ashamed to speak of For as for that Pleasure that is fancied rather than found to be in carnal Enjoyments it is in that case so very little or rather none as that it can in no sort come in comparison with all that Trouble and Charge that is undergone and spent for the obtaining of it But then when with al it is considered what inward Fears and Cares sollicit the mind whilst the Fornicator is indulging those outward Pleasures to the Body what is the Amazement of Discovery and what is the Terror that the Apprehension of it brings the Fornicator's forbidden Fruit whereof he is so greedy that he eats and surfeits to the destroying of Body and Soul is but like the Apples of Sodom how well-coloured and lovely soever without nothing but Cinders and Ashes within utterly void of all real Pleasure and Contentment Such a fruitless Sin is this Sin of Fornication so nothing at all of good comes on it which also may be another pressing Consideration to disswade from the committing of it And if that were all that nothing of Good came of it it were the less matter but yet that is not all neither for besides that there comes no Good of it there also comes a great deal of Mischief and Evil of it And which is Our sixth Consideration it is a mischievous Sin There comes a great deal of Mischief from and by it as we shall shew in sundry respects First It is mischievous unto the Fornicator himself Secondly It is mischievous unto Others First It is mischievous unto the Fornicator himself and that many ways 1. It cuts him out of the Favour of God and brings him under his Displeasure God is angry as the Psalmist tells us Ps 7.11 with the wicked every day and if so then he is no day well-pleased with the Fornicator who every day in the disposition of his Heart if not by the action of his Body is offending God in a most contumelious way For he prefers that Delight which is taken in giving Satisfaction to the Lusts of his filthy and shameful Members before that Pleasure which is had in Communion with the holy and pure God When the basest Member about him requires the contrary to that which God commands he chuses rather to rebel against God than not to give obedience to the Lust of it so in effect chuses that rather than God to be his Lord Whereas he should glorifie God in his Body first created after the Image of God according to the capacity of it and then redeemed with the Blood of God by preferring so precious a Vessel in Holiness and Honour he dshonours God in abusing his Body to be the Instrument of base Actions and the Subject of base Enjoyments submitting it to bruitish lowness and vileness and defiling it with nasty Pollution and thereby provoking God to bring Destruction on him for if any man defile the Temple of God that is his Body him shall God destroy 1 Cor. 3.17 Noble Men think it a high Contumely and Reproach to them when any of their Daughters prove guilty of this lewdness or any of their Spouses commit this filthiness Oh how can God then but be inflamed with Anger and burn with
the most servile part of himself his corrupt flesh and to the basest part of his flesh the vilest member of his Body And that is base that is inglorious Nil vilius quam a carne vinci to be conquered by and enslaved to the flesh is so vile and base as nothing can be more And yet what is much less vile and inglorious he is a servant to a Woman and must be subject to her pleasures and displeasures frowned on and talked to yea to be boxed and knocked about the Ears with her Slipper as of old they used to do taking their Example from Omphales so using Hercules Touching which notable is that saying of the Roman Orator Illum ego non liberum dico cui mulier imperat leges imponit I cannot call him a free man whom a Woman bears rule over and gives Laws unto so that if she call he must come if she bid be gone he must away if she demand he must give if she threaten he must stand in awe Hunc ergo non tâ—â—â—tummodo servum sed nequissimum servum ego judico as he goes on such a Man as this I account not only a servant but a very sorry servant a vile base abject Slave Now in as much as Freedom is a thing of high value not only in the mind of any generous Grecian or Roman Heathen but in the mind of every true Christian who are redeemed from Slavery to Liberty by the Son of God himself and that with the price of his own Blood who became himself a Servant that they might be made Freemen in so much is the bereaving a Man of his Freedom a pernicious mischief and the rather in that the loss of his Freedom doth commence into a base and sordid cruel and intollerable easeless and endless slavery and drudgery as that of this Lust of Uncleanness is which with the most merciless fury rages in and tyrannizeth over the Fornicator making a very Ass and Drudge and Beast and Slave of him He would think so and say so that upon any other account were obliged to submit to those meannesses and act those basenesses which at the command of this Lust he humbles himself to the doing and enduring of Enough this to affright any one from ever giving himself over to it But because there are divers Tempers of men and some are perswaded by one means and some by another I will proceed to some other Considerations which will shew it still more and more mischievous Sixthly therefore It deprives a Man very much of his Quiet I have shewed before how it keepeth him continually busied filling Head and Heart with thoughts and fears and making him watch and pray as I may say and promise and vow attend and wait for the satisfaction of his Lust But that 's not all it engages him in various jangles and brawls and quarrels and strifes and fightings about the Whore with other Men. Either they would both have her and quarrel and fight about that or else one preferrs his Whore above the others and then they quarrel and fight about that or else some of her Relations are not able to endure such abuse to one of their Family and then they quarrel and light about that This St. Chrysostom well observed and thereupon concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That if any Man love pleasure and would live his Life in quietness of mind he must fly the converse of Whores for they fill the souls of their Lovers with infinite Wars and Troubles and are continually putting them upon Fights and Contentions in all their words in all their deeds Who is able to reckon up not the little brawls and brangles quarrels and cuffings but the most desperate Weapon-fights in extemporary or premeditated Duels that have been upon these occasions The World hath several times been made but as it were one great Cock-pit wherein Blood and Wounds and Deaths have been dealt upon the occasion of Lust The quarrel between Greece and Troy of old which ended in the Destruction of that fair and famous City began in that The War betwixt the Spaniards and the Saracens which ended in the destruction of Spain and the overrunning of much of Christendom with those Mahometan Enemies thereof began also in that So high sometimes flies the Contention betwixt Persons engaged in quarrel upon the score of this Lust of Fornication and Uncleanness And therefore by this it appears how mischievous a sin it is in this respect He that devotes himself a Servant to that Mistress must expect as many real turmoils and Disquiets Brawls and Contentions Duels and Fights about her as our Romantick Writers fancy their Knights Errant at every turn to be engaged in for their airy Amours and the imaginary Ladies of their Affections But this is not all the Mischief yet For Seventhly It blasts his Credit ruines his Estate and destroys his Body It blasts his Credit stains his Reputation and takes away his good Name How shameful a sin this is in all the Circumstances of it is already shown Now what but Shame and Disgrace can be the Fruit of so shameful a Root Whereupon no doubt it is that Solomon counsels his Son to remove his way from her and come not nigh the door lest he should give his honour unto others that is run himself into Shame and Disgrace Prov. 5.8 9. The Names by which Persons addicted to this Vice are spoken of and mentioned carry the Disgrace of the Person along with them in the Front thereof Such in these our days of looseness and lasciviousness is the name of Gallant not to name the more grosly shameful Names of Whoremaster and Wheremongers and the like Persons of modesty know not well how to mention them but with some brand of Infamy affixed to their Names How are their Crimes made the talk of the Country And that which they think they act in secret not whispered but openly spoken of in the House-top How are their Miscarriages Discoveries Quarrels made the Subject of common Discourse And if upon Conviction they be brought to undergo that Shame which the Law inflicts upon such shameless Offenders there needs no more be added to so publick a Disgrace And sure the taking away of a man's good Name the spoiling of his Credit the soiling of his Reputation is a great Mischief else there would not be so many Suits and Quarrels as there happens every day about Reputation and point of Honour It hath been used to be said Actum est de homine si actum est de nomine A man had as good be half hanged as in an ill Name And no doubt but it is a great hinderance to many a one 's rise to Preferment that he is in an ill Name for this Vice For what Person of Quality or Honour will come within the Embraces of those Arms that are used to hug a Whore Or what credit can she give to the Promises and Vows Protestations and Oaths of that Tongue
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
and highly sinful Luke 7.37 And how can she but be a great Sinner who is an Actor in that which in the Scripture is called a great Wickedness Gen. 39.9 And after this sin committed it brings upon her Shame if a Maid it robs her of her Glory which was her Virginity if a Widow it robs her of her Honour which was her Integrity In Levit. 19.29 it is said Do not prostitute thy Daughter to cause her to be a Whore What in the Text is read prostitute in the Margent is profane So Lev. 21.17 the Priest was not to take a Wife that was a Whore or profane so also v. 9. so that to be a Whore is to be a profane Woman her Whoredom is a Profanation to her When Tamar had a mind to deceive her Father-in-law she covered her self with a vail and wrapped her self and sate in an open place And when Judah saw her he thought her to be an Harlot because she had covered her face Gen. 38.14 15. The thing as it would seem by this was in those days so shameful that she that acted it was ashamed to show her face when she did it both before and after the doing of it In our Laws the shame of the Fact lights on the Woman as well as the Man who is to be a publick Spectacle to all Beholders whether in Church or Market as well as the Man The very Name of a Whore which she gets unto her self thereby hath so much of Shamefulness and Reproach Dishonour and Disgrace in it as nothing can have more No greater filth can be thrown upon any than what is comprehended in that Name worse cannot well be said of a Woman than that she is a Whore 't is all Shame in one Word And therefore mischief abundance he doth to a Woman that brings her under that Shame And which is consequent to her Shame it brings upon her Punishment or if you will other Punishment besides the Shame If the Daughter of any Priest profaned her self by playing the whore she was to be burned with Fire Lev. 21.9 If the Daughter of any other person did it she was to be stoned to death Thus runs the Law in that Case Deut. 22.21 They shall bring out the Damosel to the door of her Fathers house and the men of the City shall stone her with Stones that she die because she hath wrought folly in Israel to play the whore in her Fathers house The Adulteress as well as the Adulterer was surely to be put to death Lev. 20.10 If a Bond-maid were found guilty in this Case tho she was not to be put to death because she was not free yet she was to be scourged Lev. 19.20 So sharp Punishment was the female Offender in this kind to undergo by the Law and there is no exemption from Punishment for them in the Gospel but Fornicators of what Sex soever are to be thrown out of the Church to be shut out of Heaven and to be turned into Hell as we have already shown in the former part of this Discourse This sin is as mischievous to the Woman with whom it is committed as well as to the Man that commits it with her Secondly It is mischievous to the Child that is if any be got by such sinful Copulation The Schoolmen make this sin of Fornication simple Fornication to be a deadly sin and that in such measure that * Tom. 2. sol 11. c. 7. Peraldus a Papist concludes That if one who had never before sinned in Thought Word or Deed but had done all the good that could be imagined should once and but once commit this sin ex necessitate damnabitur he must of necessity be damned if he die without Repentance Insomuch that if all the Masses that ever shall be said by the Church to the Worlds end should be said for him non liberarent eum à morte eternâ they could not deliver him from eternal Death which they may do well by the way to take notice of that make so light a matter of this deadly sin as is commonly made of it Now if we enquire into the ground of the deadliness of this sin we shall find it placed by them in the mischievousness of it to the Children of Fornication ‖ 22 dae q. 159. a. 3. Fornicatio simplex cum contra bonum educendae prolis sit its illicit a est ut etiam sit â—â—thale crimen This is the Conclusion of Aquinas in the Case Simple Fornication inasmuch as it is against the good of the Off-spring to be brought forth is so unlawful as that it is a deadly sin There is not that care ordinarily in Fornicators for the preserving and providing for their Children begotten in and born of Fornication that Nature obliges all Parents to take and have of their Off-spring and then doth this sin become unto the Committers of it a deadly sin And to look a little nearlier into this business How many Children so begotten are by one means or other stifled in their Mother's Womb and murdered before they are born or expelled thence before the time to bring forth and so killed in their very Birth Again How many of them to hide the Infamy and Shame of their Birth are by the Hands of the very Mothers of them strangled or drowned or otherwise destroyed as soon as they are born We need not go so far for instance as to the Popes Ponds out of which six thousand murdered Infants Skulls were taken How seldom is there an Assize with us wherein there are not some or other arraigned for such Facts as these the Murthers of Bastards Again how many of them are if not at first violently strangled to death yet afterwards leisurely starved to death and quite lost for want of looking after Tho some do yet not very many of them live to be Men and Women The Mother is ashamed of it and tho she hath not a Heart out-right to kill it or hath no mind to be hanged for killing of it yet wishes it dead and is wanting in affording it means of Health and Life And the Father as not being certain that it is his for she that is false with one may be so with another and so none that hath to do with her can be assured that it is his more than anothers he hath no affection for it takes little or no care for the Maintenance and Education of it and so it seldom thrives and comes to good The sight of it is the remembrance of its Parents sin and a renewal of the shame and therefore they ordinarily have neither that love to it nor care of it that Parents have or ought to have to and for the Fruit of their Bodies so that wanting the Effects of that Love and Care it commonly dwindles away until it die Yet again if it live it becomes incapable of Inheritance until it be legitimated by Act of Parliament and so is disinherited before it be
whereof infinite Instances besides that of Antonius the Institutor of that kind of life might be given if it would not swell this part too much And if yet the stubborn Rebel Lust lift up his head and make opposition then use some sharpness to him handle him with severity put him to pain cause him to feel smart either by long lyings on the ground or by praying in painful Postures as on hard stones with bare Knees and extended Arms or else by wearing Sackcloth or Hair-shirts upon their Flesh or by inflicting of heavy stripes on the Body with the Rod or Whip or the like This is a Course which St. Paul is said to take with himself and indeed so saith he himself in 1 Cor. 9.27 I keep under my body and bring it into subjection the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I strike my Body and get it under me strike it and that with severity like as a Cuffer strikes his Adversary till I make it black and blew again yea till I wound it so that the Wounds do rot again as our Criticks descant on the Text a S. Benedictus One for this end tumbled himself among Thorns b S. Martiniamus Another burned his Face and Hands c S. Johannes cognomento Bonus A third ran sharp prickles up his Fingers between the flesh and he nails And it wee a thousand times better that we did by any tho' never so afflicting a Course subdue our Flesh conquer our Lust and preserve our Chastity than that we did pamper our Bodies yield to our Lust and commit Fornication and for such commission to be condemned to lie under Satan's lash for ever in Hell to be torn and tormented with his fiery Whips and flaming Scourges to all Eternity Better forbear any thing do any thing suffer any thing to avoid this sin than for not avoiding it now go to Hell hereafter and lie and live or rather die in Torments for it for evermore And thus much for my sixth Direction Seventhly Meditate upon such things as may by the Consideration of them be apt to withhold you from the Commission of that sin Want of due Consideration is in many the Cause of this and many other sinful Commissions To preserve you therefore from committing this sin meditate and consider You may ask What and I shall answer that there be many things to be thought of in order to this end and some of the chiefest I will offer to your Consideration First Call to mind and consider of the Falls of others that have miscarried in this way as of Sampson and David and Solomon men famous in their Generation for Strength Valour Wisdom and see to what weakness of Body and poorness of Spirit and foolishness of Mind they were brought to by this sin and be afraid of that which was too hard for them avoid that which was the overthrow of them Optimum est alienâ frui insaniâ It is a sine thing to get good by others hurt to learn wisdom from other mens folly to grow careful for our own standings by the consideration of other mens fallings let us make this use of their Examples and get this good by their harms to fly that thro which they fell Let us look upon their falls as so many Beacons set up upon Rocks in the Sea as so many Marks of Cautions for us to avoid that sin which was their overthrow And let us not add to the Triumphs of sin nor to the Trophies of Lust and be made such Spectacles for others to look on and loath as others have made themselves to be to us Secondly Consider and meditate upon the Constancy of others that have held out unconquered by this Lust notwithstanding their Temptations to it The most notable one that we can mention is that of Joseph recorded in Gen. 39.7 to 13. He was tempted to it by his Mistress who had some Power to command him and many ways to oblige him yet he consented not He was tempted to it not by Looks and Glances Hints and Intimations any of which were enough with too many in these our days to draw them to it but with downright words she plainly and boldly said to him Lie with me and yet he consented not He was tempted to it by her not once or twice only for tryal of him as might be thought but many times to shew she was in earnest she was often at it with him tempting him she spake to Joseph day by day and yet he confented not He was tempted to it by her not at unseasonable times only while Company was at home whereby they might be discovered and descryed but at a time of greatest seasonableness and opportunity when he might act the thing with greatest secrecy and security when he had business to do within the House and there was none of the men of the house there within and yet he consented not He was tempted to it by her not only by winning Speech but by enforcing Action she not only used Speech to him but laid hand on him she caught him by his Garment saying Lie with me and yet he consented not Here 's a noble Example of Constancy and Chastity as well worthy of our Imitation as deserving our Admiration Let this be ever in our Memories and Minds whenever our Chastity is assaulted and indangered by any such Temptation Not much unlike was that which St. Hierome reports of a Son of a King of Nicomedia who being tempted upon Flowers and a perfumed Bed whereon he was tied by an impure Curtesan with all the Arts and Circumstances of Luxury lest the ease of his posture should abuse him to a yielding to her Temptations bit off his Tongue and spit it in her Face If such noble Examples as these be made familiar to your mind by freqeunt Meditation on them they will come in as Auxiliaries upon occasion to help you toward the Victory over every Temptation that may be offered to you to commit Fornication Thirdly Consider of and meditate What that thing is whose Enjoyment is so lusted after and how lovely soever it appear to the Eye there is enough in it if well considered of to make it loathsom to the mind I will give you this Consideration in the Sense of St. Chrysosom's Words Saith he When thou seest a fair Woman that hath a twinkling Eye and a smiling Face a Look pleasant attractive and amiable such as putteth thy Heart into a heat and sets thy Desires all on fire think with thy self that that thing which so ravisheth thee is nothing else but Earth and that the fire wherewith thou art burned is nothing else but Dung and then the heat of thy fury will be asswaged Unmask her of the skin of her Face and look under or within that and thou shalt see all the vileness of that goodly shew Gaze not with the Eye of thy Body upon the out-side of her but pierce with the Eye of thy Mind upon
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
also shew our selves most unworthy and ingrateful towards him in crucifying him afresh and putting him over again unto an open Shame and trampling his Blood even under our Feet as an insignificant thing When therefore we are under any Temptation to this sin to think a while calmly and cooly with our selves if we can get but so much time to think thus This that I am a going to act is that which brought Jesus to his Death that which God was so much angred with that he was no way to be appeased for it but by the Death of his Son This is that that Jesus died to redeem me from that I might not act it but preserving my Vessel in Sanctification and Honour and shall I be so wicked and so unworthy as notwithstanding all this to act it Thus to meditate on his Passion might b e a means so to crucifie our Lust mortifie our Flesh and subdue our Passions that we should remain in our Integrity and persevere in our Chastity abhor and flee from Fornication Lastly Infinite was the Love of Christ that brought him being so pure in Life to undergo such a Passion at his Death and to undergo it not for any Offence of his own but all for love of us to save us from our sins to redeem us from our Iniquities to deliver us from the Guilt of them in our Justification and to deliver us from the filth of them in our Sanctification and so to make us Members of himself to joyn us to his own Body that being Partakers of his Holiness here we might be Partakers of his Happiness hereafter Has he had has he shewed such Love to us and shall we then act that which is so hateful to him Cannot all the Love that he hath shewn us engage us to abstain from that which he so much abhors Shall we violate the Temple of his Spirit Shall we take the members of Christ as the Apostle speaks and make them the members of an Harlot Shall we prefer the enjoyment of a Lust before Communion with Christ and love a Whore better than Jesus better than Jesus that so loved us as not to love himself even to the Death for us but give his Life for us God forbid If we thus would meditate on the Love of Christ when we are under Temptation to uncleanness the Love of Christ would damp and dead all other Love subdue and cruecifie and kill all carnal Lust We should never be able to love any thing in competition with him much less lust after any thing in Contradiction to him and so abstain from all uncleanness detest and flee Fornication And thus much for my seventh Direction There is but one thing more that I know of requisite to give you for a Direction and that is Prayer Prayer O what will not that do It hath a kind of Omnipotency in it it can do any thing even with God himself he cannot because he will not resist it Fervent and effectual Prayer O it Availeth much as St. James tells us c. 5. v. 16. To this means therefore betake your selves for Preservation of your Chastity and for Protection against Temptation to Incontinency 'T is our Saviou'rs own Direction Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation Mat. 26.11 Nothing so forcible for the overcoming of this Temptation as Prayer Surely never was any man foiled with it that used this Weapon against it and did not first forsake his Weapon and give over his Defence Whatever therefore else ye do be sure to betake your self to Prayer Prayer will interest and concern God himself in your Preservation and engage his Omnipotency in your Quarrel It will obtain Grace to subdue Lust strength to withstand Satan Constancy to continue chaste and in one word conquest in and over every Temptation To this weapon therefore betake your selves and doubt not of Success in every Encounter He was never finally overcome by Lust who continued praying sincerely And now I have given you my Directions to preserve you from falling into the Sin of Fornication I must now leave the Readers to the Tryal of them and my Prayer is That God would so bring these Directions into your Minds and so incline your Hearts to the using of them and so bless your Endeavours in their Use that they prove as so many powerful Antidotes against Lust strong Remedies against Uncleanness and effectual Preservatives against Fornication So shall God have Glory so shall you have Profit and I shall have the and I propounded to my self in this Discourse And all this and much more the Lord be pleased to do for you and me and all for the Son of his Love's sake our ever blessed Lord and only Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Glory and Power ascribed now and for evermore Amen The END of the Treatise of Fornication