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A92238 Reasons for the passing of the bill for the more effectual suppressing vice & immorality humbly offer'd to both Houses of Parliament. 1699 (1699) Wing R517; ESTC R229919 6,258 17

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REASONS FOR THE Passing of the BILL FOR THE More Effectual Suppressing Vice Immorality Humbly Offer'd to Both Houses of Parliament The Second Edition with Additions LONDON Printed by W. Downing for William Hawes at the Rose in Ludgate-Street 1699. REASONS FOR THE Passing of the BILL FOR THE More Effectual Suppressing Vice and Immorality c. ONE would think it should be a needless Undertaking in a Christian State to give Reasons for the Passing of a Bill which it is scarcely possible for any Man that would be accounted a Christian to offer the least Reason against But the common Degeneracy in this Age and Nation being such as is hardly to be parallell'd in any History whatever some may think makes it too necessary Therefore I humbly crave leave to lay before the Members of both Houses such Considerations as with Submission I conceive will incline them to believe it not a thing indifferent whether this Bill shall pass or no. And first if we consider the Character which the Sins of Uncleanness do bear in Holy Writ it is plain that those who will own this to be a Revelation from God must think them to be of the most criminal Nature and such as will subject those who live in the Practice of such Sins to eternal Damnation from which nothing can save them but Repentance and Amendment of Life I will select but one or two of those Texts out of the many that might be produc'd to this purpose The Apostle tells us Heb. 13.4 That Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge And lest any should be deluded into false Hopes or slight Thoughts of this Matter by the Sophistry of prophane Wits he warns us all Eph. 5.6 1 Cor. 6.9 Let no Man deceive you with vain Words assuring it for a certain Truth that neither Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate Persons nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind shall Inherit the Kingdom of God And therefore does seriously exhort those he writes to to Mortifie their Members which are upon the Earth Fornication Uncleanness evil Concupiscence for which Sins he tells us Col. 3.5 the Wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience And indeed one may easily conclude there is a greater Contrariety to the Will of God in those Sins than most others from this that the very Approaches to Uncleanness are more nicely guarded than to any other kind of Vices It is only by the Eye the Hand or the Ear that this Devil can enter into the Soul and if either of these Sentinels the very Right-Eye or Right-Hand should offer to betray us our great Law-giver strictly commands the one to be pluckt out and the other to be cut off and backs it with this Reason that it is a piece of Violence most highly profitable that these Members should rather perish than that the whole Body should be cast into Hell Matt. 5.29 30. And then as for the Evil Communication from the Tongue which above all does corrupt good Manners the Apostle strictly commands That Fornication and all Uncleanness should not be so much as once Named amongst us as becometh Saints Ephes 5.3 And adds vers 4. Neither Filthiness nor foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not convenient An Admonition which I cannot but wish all Christians would seriously consider and then Obscenity would not pass as it does with too many for a Jest and filthy Talk would be Banisht out of all Conversation And why a heavier Damnation and a stricter Caution should be given against these Sins than any other will not seem strange to any one that reflects upon the fatal Consequences of these Crimes as well with respect to our condition in this World as in the World which is to come As to the World to come the Texts already cited do sufficiently shew that Exclusion from the Presence of God and the Kingdom of Heaven together with a fearful Doom to the dreadful Miseries of another Place will be the certain Sentence of such Sinners and the Reason is plain to any one that has right apprehensions of the Holiness of God and of the Purity of Heaven A Soul debased with inordinate Lust is thereby so unqualified for Communion with God that the Heathens could not but see it who therefore requir'd that all who would be admitted to their Mysteries should first be Purg'd with such Rites as they Instituted for that purpose They were sensible it was not for the Honour of their Gods that Men who were not throughly distinguish'd from Beasts should come to keep them company How much more strictly then will it be requir'd by the Author of our Salvation who has design'd us for the Blessed Estate in which we are to be like him and with him that whosoever has any hope of this should purifie himself as he is pure And indeed as there is an utter Antipathy between a Sensual and a Divine Mind and therefore as Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God so on the contrary consider Heaven and you will find from the Nature of the thing as well as from the Testimony of Scripture that into that place no Unclean thing can enter Light and Darkness Heaven and Hell are not at a wider distance than Purity and Uncleanness so that there is a natural Impossibility that a Soul should be Saved so utterly indisposed and unqualified for it Nor are the Consequences of the Sins of Uncleanness less fatal to Mankind with respect to this Life and this under what Capacity soever we consider them whether in their private Capacity or with respect to their Families or to the Publick Society And 1st as to their private Concerns Let the Experience of all Men in all Ages speak out and they would see not only in Seripture how the wisest and strongest of Men have been overcome and ruin'd with extravagant Lust but they wou'd find much of the same in other Books Or if they are not given to reading if they wou'd but look about them in the World especially in such an Age as this is they cannot but see a multitude of sad Examples of those that have been ruin'd in like manner Alas how often do we our selves see that Observation of the Wise-Man verify'd to a tittle Prov. 6.26 that by means of a whorish Woman a Man is brought to a piece of Bread And that the Adulteress hunts for the precious Life The whole seventh Chapter also contains most admirable Observations to this purpose amongst which the 22 23 26 and 27. Verses are exceeding emphatical There it is said of a strange Woman so the Scripture calls the Woman that is not a Man 's own Wife but there it is especially spoken of a Street-walker such a one meeting with a Young-man void of Understanding he goes after her straitway as an Oxe goeth to the Slaughter or as a Fool to the Correction of the Stocks till a Dart strike through his Liver as a Bird hasteth to the Snare and knoweth not that it