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.
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
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
that is used to make the like Courtship to a common Strumpet But it does not only stab and wound a man's Honour and Reputation but also ruines his Estate Solomon tells in Prov. 29 3. He that keepeth company with Harlots spendeth his substance And in Prov. 6.26 That by means of a whorish Woman a man is brought to a piece of bread And in consideration of that in Prov. 5.10 he exhorts to avoid keeping Company with a strange Woman that is an Whose or Harlot lest strangers be filled with thy Wealth and thy labours be in the house of the Stranger that is lest thou ruine thy Estate and bring thy self to Poverty thereby whilst others in the mean time run away with thy Estate A Proof whereof we have in the Prodigal Son Luke 15. who having gathered all his Substance together took his journey into a far Country and there wasted his Substance with riotous living v. 13. that is he spent all upon Whores Whence it is that in v. 30. his elder Brother tells his Father that his Son had devoured his living 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Harlots or Whores And if we had not this Instance we have deplorable Example enough in our Times and Countries every day almost before our Eyes But of this we made mention before in our Discourse upon the Expensiveness of this sin and therefore shall not here much enlarge thereon only we shall note that besides all those ways of Expence whereon we touched before as the Hire of Whores and the Treatments of them Gifts and Presents to them and Bribes to those about them Expence in Diet and Drink Physick or Fees even that carelesness of ones own Estate and Affairs which the following of this sin causes and occasions is enough and enough again to ruin and undo one When the Master attends not to his own Concerns but leaves all at sixes and sevens and is abroad day by day and night by night perhaps Week by Week following his pleasure of Whore-hunting besides that few will regard to preserve his Estate there will be enow ready to counsel and forward to help on that which will tend to his undoing Now to be ruined and undone to be brought from Wealth to Want from Plenty to Poverty is a misery so great in it self and yet so much greater in that the Wickedness by which it is procured renders a man no Object of Pity whilst he is in misery that the sin that brings all this upon a man may well be said to be a mischievous sin it is so ruinous and so undoing But which is more it destroys his Body too it weakens his Strength impairs his Health shortens his Life and hastens his Death How many are suddenly cut off in the midst of their days and in the strength of their years being killed in Dueis or other Quarrels about Whores or in Suppritals with them as Pope John the Thirteenth was by the Husband of a Woman with whom he was found by him in the Act of Adultery and as Zimri was being taken by Phineas in the Act of Fornication with Cozbi Numb 25.8 or by close Stratagems by them or others as Pope John the Eleventh was stiffed with a Pillow by his Strumpet Marozia that her Son might obtain the Popedom In reference to which that of Solomon may be interpreted to be spoken when he tells us of a young Man void of Understanding whom a Harlot with much fair speeches caused to yield to her and forced with the flattering of her Lips and of whom he saith he goeth after her straightway as an Ox to the slaughter or as a Fool to the correction of the Stocks Till a dart strike through his Liver as a Bird he hasteth to the Snare and knoweth not that it is for his life Prov. 7.6 to 24. And of those that escape such sudden Death yet how many are brought by their filthy doings to filthy Diseases shameful to name loathsom to behold tormenting to endure deadly if not cured in time and both troublesom and chargeable to be cured if a Cure be got so they rot alive and stink above-ground and if they die not upon Dung-hills as some have done yet whilst they live they are but as Dung upon the Earth For besides the Infection which they are apt to take from the diseased pocky Bodies of Whores even their own Lasciviousness and immoderate use of Venery is apt to wast their Spirits and dry up their radical moisture and extinguish natural heat whereby they are brought to Consumptive Diseases which wear them away to untimely Deaths And the fear of something of this nature * See Dr. Patrick ' Paraph. upon the place Solomon thought fit to interpose as an Argument to disswade from this sin when he counsels to avoid the Company of an Harlot lest thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed Prov. 5.12 And by which destroying it as well as defiling it the Fornicator sins against his own Body as our Apostle may well be thought to mean in the latter end of the Text the Argument by which he strengtheneth his Exhortation in the beginning of it to flee Fornication Now certainly that which brings upon a man so much evil as in the burning of Diseases or sudden Deaths of Fornication who if not killed by others which is ill yet are generally killed by themselves which is worse that must needs be judged by every rational person to be a very mischievous thing No man sure will ever follow it that hath not a mind to ruine and destroy his own Body to shorten the time of his own Life and procure and hasten on his own Death But this is not all the Mischief it doth For Eighthly It turns him out of the Church Militant and Triumphant First It turns the Fornicator out of the Communion of the Church of Christ on Earth A Fornicator is such as Christ will not have to be a Member of so much as his outward visible Church he will not have such a Person to have any external Communion with him or Relation to him he allows not those that are his Members so much as to have Civil Converse with them if after their having given up their Names to Christ they shall addict themselves to this hearthenish Sin And therefore St. Paul 1 Cor. 5.9 11. wrote unto the Corinthians not to keep company with Fornicators and if any man that is called a Brother should be a Fornicator with such a one no not to eat that is to have no either sacred or so much as civil Converse withal * D. Ambros in loc Cum fratre in quo hoc vitia reperiuntur non sacramenta edenda sed ne communem escam docet ut erubescat cum vitiatur se corrigat And in all the new Jerusalem in that Vision which St. John had of the Church of Christ under that notion Rev. 21 22. or Representation the Evangelist could not
holy Job did Job 31.1 and make a Covenant with your Eyes that 's the way neither to look or think on Maid or Wife so as to lust after her and so one proper Expedient for the flying of Fornication 6. Flee Drunkenness This is an Apostolical Advice Be not drunk with Wine so our Apostle Eph. 5.18 for therein is excess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had said Thence springs all manner of lewdness and filthiness it debauches to all manner of lasciviousness and lewdness ‖ Ibid. Oculis excitatur libido sed ebrietate succenditur The Eye stirs up Lust but Drunkenness sets it on fire * Valer. Maximus Proximus à Libero patre ad inconcessam Venerem gradus est There is but one step from excessive Wine to unlawful Lust Drunkards and Whoremasters go together and 't is rare who is one is not the other Vino accenditur libido ebrietate inflammatur said Eric Putecinus Wine kindles Lust Drunkenness inflames it Immoderate Wine puts the Body into excessive heat and the excess sof that heat inrages it with untamed Lust And therefore wittily to note thus much unto us did the ancient Poets match Vulcan and Venus i. e. Heat and Lust together Lot's Daughters made their Father drunk with Wine and the next news you hear of him is That in his Drunkenness he lay with and committed Incest with his own Daughter Gen. 19.33 c. Et quem Sodoma non vicerat vina vicerunt D. Hier. ad Ocean Solomon disswading from the love of Wine by reason of the mischiefs of Drunkenness amongst other mischiefs named to disswade therefrom mentions this as one that it would incline to Fornication Thine Eyes saith he Prov. 23.33 shall behold strange Women as if he had said 'T will set thee a working and lusting after strange Women And every days experience doth so confirm this that I spare further labour to prove it only mentioning to you one Example which I chiefly choose to speak of because it is so notorious It is recorded by St. Augustine in his 33 Serm. ad Fr. in Er. of the Son of one Cyril a noble Citizen of Hippo who had a Son whom he loved even above his Maker not contradicting him in any Desire nor correcting him for any Fault This riotous youngster not content to roar it abroad and spend his Father's Estate comes home drunk and now mark and remember all especially fondly indulgent Parents he villanously ravished his own Mother big with Child one of his Sisters he endeavoured to deflower two of them he wounded that they died and for his Father him he killed outright A terrible Example to all Drunkards and enough sure to wound any Heart that is not cauterized to a serious abomination of so exceedingly sinful a sin as Drunkenness is Avoid Drunkenness therefore if you would not be guilty of Whoredom and follow not that as ye would flee Fornication Lastly Flee Gluttony Gluttony and Drunkenness were ancient Companions and grow too much to be again so in these days And well might they go so inasmuch as the one as well as the other is an incentive to lasciviousness Jesurun waxed fat and kicked that is waxed wanton upon his high feeding Deut. 35.15 it is a Metaphor taken from fat wanton Horses So Jer. 5.8 They were as fed Horses in the morning every one neighed after his Neighbours Wife High feeding is a great Incendiary unto hot lusting it fills the Body with superfluous Nutriment Spirits and Moisture which are the suel of Lust Whence St. Hieron saith Difficile inter Epulas ervatur pudicitia And St. Bernard Periclitatur castitas in deliciis It is a hard thing to feed high and keep chastity which is in great danger by the delicatest fare For as Ericius Putecinus saith Pascitur libido convitiis nutritur deliciis Lnst is fed with Feasts and nourished with Dainties In Gen. 32.6 it is said of the Israelites that they sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play i. e. to play the Wantons to play the Whoremasters to commit Fornication and to act unnatural Uncleannesses as were usual for Idol-worshippers to commit and act at and after their Idol-feasts They did so then and they do not much otherwise now they eat and drink and rise up to play and too much of their Play is of this kind even playing the Whores and Woremasters and committing filthiness one with another And therefore if you would not be given to Lust be not given to Gluttony avoid not only the use of all salacious Food and lustful Meat but all inordinate excessive intemperate feeding on any Meat Nunquam vidi continentem quem non vidi abstinentem He is never continent that hath not been abstinent And therefore follow not Gluttony if ye would flee Fornication And thus much for my fifth Direction Sixthly Exercise Mortifications upon your Body in order to the subduing of your Flesh This is an old and approved Remedy the success whereof upon trial hath worthily been recommended to Posterity Use frequent Fastings not from some kind of Food only but from all either Meat or Drink and those of some strength and continuance and that not when we are unable to eat but are desirous of Meat like the Fasts we read of kept by the Saints in the Scripture which were continued for some days in which they did neither eat nor drink that is not until Night and that which they took then was very little and of mean quality a bit of Bread course Bread and a draught of Water tho' some I suppose did even forbear from that too neither eating Bread nor drinking Water This is a way that will bring the Body low enough in time and humble the Flesh and quench Lust Sine Cerere Libero friget Venus so the Comaedian observed Take away Diet and Drink the Fuel of Lust and the Heat of it will abate and the Fire of it goeth out But because the Body cannot be maintained either in Health or Life without some Food and so there is a necessity of eating let your ordinary and constant feeding be for the quantity of it very sparing and for the quality of it mean and course no matter how unpleasant so it be not unhealthful Sumenda sunt alimenta tanquam medicamenta We must in this case take Meat like Medicines as St. Augustine said no more than needs must to keep us alive and preserve us in health * S. Bernard Sufficit ut comestabilia sint non concupiscibilia 'T is enough that what we eat be wholsom tho' it be not toothsom Thus by often forbearances to eat at all and a constant thin Diet little and mean when we eat we shall starve Lust and subdue our Flesh and bring that Enemy of ours like a Town pined out with a long Siege to our own terms And that none may think this Prescription unpreacticable this was the way of Eremitical Living in former Ages
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