Motives to holy living, or, Heads for meditation divided into consideratins, counsels, duties : together with some forms of devotion in litanies, collects, doxologies, &c.

§. 40.

n. 1.

2. Chastity; where I remit you to what hath been said before of the Gift of Continency, §. 17. n. 4.

Digr. 1. Of its Contraries, Adultery, Fornication, Self∣pollution and Ʋncleanness, unlawful and unnatural Lusts.

§. 40. n. 2.

Of which it may be observed; That with no other Passion men are so strongly assaulted as with lusts and sen∣sual loves; Therefore, Hos. 4.11. It is said to take away the heart: No Passion, that so much increaseth the desire of it the more we descend to a particular cogitation, and discussion of it: So that it is not to be conquered by wrestling with it, but by running away from it: None that in its acts so captivates and incarnates the Soul, and re∣strains its liberty of reasoning or thinking of any thing else. Therefore God in pitty to man hath provided him a law∣ful remedy thereof by Marriage: But yet still left him un∣der

under great restraints, confining him to one single person; and most severely prohibiting the satiating thereof in any other way, either with any other person, or by himself. And such sins (great varieties of which are left in man's power) we find above most other faults exceedingly ag∣gravated, both for the great offence they give to God's own Holiness and Purity; and for the great dishonour and defilement they bring to the bodies of such persons, whom he first created after his own Image, and since hath made Members of the Body of Christ, and Temples of the Holy Ghost; and from the beginning hath cast a natural shame and modesty upon him, as to the committing of these more than of any other, Crimes. And such carnal sins we also find, beyond almost any other, pursued with most severe judgments. For all which I must recommend these Texts and Passages of Holy Scripture to your serious meditation.

§. 40. n. 3.

1. That amongst the works of the Flesh these sins of Ʋncleanness are usually set in the Front. See Gal. 5.19. The works of the flesh are manifest which are these; Adultery, Fornication, Ʋncleanness, Lasciviousness, &c. Again, Col. 3.5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; that is, Fornication, Ʋncleanness, inordinate Af∣fection, evil Concupiscence, &c. After which in the se∣cond place, Vers. 8. follow, Anger, wrath, malice, evil speaking or blaspemy. Again, 1. Cor. 6.9. Be not deceived: neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers, nor effemi∣nate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind &c, shall inherit the kingdome of God. Rom. 1.29. Being filled with all un∣righteousness; Fornication, &c; See the like 1. Cor. 5.10, 11. —1. Pet. 4.3. —2. Pet. 2.10. Still you see these sins as the greatest darlings of the flesh lead the whole band. And these sins of Lust are they, with which the Gentiles every where stand principally charged before the Light of

the Gospel shone amongst them. See Rom. 1.25, 26, 27. 1. Thess. 4, 5. Eph. 4.19; and which are ordinarily linked together with that of Idolatry. See 1. Cor. 5.10, 11. —6, 9. Rev. 22.15. (being a usual companion of their Idol-feasts) or with 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; whether this be taken for the coveting of persons as some understand it, or of riches, which is said to be Idolatry too, Eph. 5.3.5. Col. 3.5. These two, Harlots and Money, being the two great Idols in this lower world; the one or the other of which steal away mens hearts.

§. 40. n. 4.

2. That in these Scriptures (See 1. Thess. 4.3.7, 8. And 1. Cor. 6. from the 13. verse to the end) These Vices of Carnal Lusts are aggravated as peculiarly opposite to a certain Holiness which ought to be in the Body as well as in the Soul of all those who profess themselves Mem∣bers of Christ, or Members of that chast Virgin (as the A∣postle calls her 2. Cor. 11.2.) his Spouse the Church; whom he bought and purchased to himself with his own blood and life; and whom he cherisheth as the same flesh and bone (Eph. 5.29, 30. &c.) and as the same Spirit (1. Cor. 6.17.) with himself; and for whom now is our Body as well as the Soul; and the Lord for it (1. Cor. 6.13.) Therefore is this Holiness of the Body, both conjugal and virginal, as well as of the Spirit, often mentioned by the Apostle 1. Thess. 4.4. This is the Will of God (saith he) your Sancti∣sication, that ye should abstain from Fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel [i. e. his Body, See 1. Sam. 21.5.] in sanctification and honour; not in Lusts of Concupiscence. For (ver. 8.) God hath called us not to Ʋncleanness, but unto Holiness. And 1. Cor. 6.20. compared with Eph. 5.29. &c. to the end. Ye are bought with a price [to be the Spouse of our Lord] therefore glorify God in your Body, and in your Spirit, which are God's. [his Members now, not yours; according to 1. Cor. 7.4. The

wife hath not power of her own Body [No more then hath Christ's Wife or Spouse] but the husband. Ibid. vers. 34. The Virgin (saith he) careth for the things of the Lord [how she may please him] that she may be holy both in Body and Spirit [which is a transcendent Holiness of the Body beyond the Conjugal]. And 2. Cor. 7.1. (after the A∣postle had spoken of their being God's Temples in the 6th Chapter), Wherefore (saith he) let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit, [so] perfect∣ing Holiness. And more expresly: Flee Fornication (saith he) 1. Cor. 6.18. [Why?] For every [other] sin that a man doth is without the Body [i. e. without any proper infamy to the Body, or giving the power and honour thereof to another besides our Lord Christ] but he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own Body [i. e. in degrading it to so base an alliance as to become the same with that vile creature with which it sinneth]. There∣fore, Eph. 5.3, 4. the Apostle also peculiarly concerning this sin or any filthy discourse tending to it, giveth charge that it should not be once named among such as will go for Saints. But Fornication (saith he) and all Ʋncleanness or Coveteousness let it not be once named among you as be∣cometh Saints; Nor filthiness or foolish talking which are not convenient [or which greatly mis-become such as you; see the same phrase, Rom. 1.28]. And as God cast a special shame upon man in the committing of this Sin; so, in receiving him again after his fall into a new covenant of his Grace, made with Abraham the Father of the faithful, he caused the Seal thereof to be set particu∣larly on those parts, in a circumcision of them, which were the instruments of Lust. In Rom. 1.26. &c. We find God to abandon those, who had otherwise much dis∣pleased him in their following Idols &c, whenas God hath left such manifest testimonies in all his creatures of him∣self,

were to the greatest disgrace and dishonour of humane nature that could be; called there 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. And in Apocal. 22.15. The Practisers of one Species thereof (as if it did utterly depose us from our man-hood) are called by the name of Dogs (which see also in Deut. 23.18. and Phil. 3.2. for the Gnosticks stood guilty of such impurities). And, Job. 36.14. This is pronounced as a Curse upon a Hypocrite; that Vita eorum is inter effeminatos.

§. 40. n. 5.

3. The wrath also of God towards those Sins above others appears every where in these holy Writings most evident; by whose revenge we may most rightly mea∣sure the greatness of these faults, by many made so natu∣ral and excusable. In 1. Thess. 4.6. the Apostle warns the Thessalonians to abstain from the Fornication of the Gentiles, Because the Lord (saith he) is the avenger of all such: And, Heb. 13.4. Marriage is honourable and the Bed undefiled: But Whore-mongers and Adulterers God will judge. And in detestation of such unlawful Lusts, the Lord ap∣pointed Deut. 23.2. That a Bastard should not enter into the Congregation of the Lord until his tenth Generation.

And for these sins it was, that God in the sacred Story inflicted those fearful Judgments to which none other can be compared. For these, that he drowned the world, and washed away its pollution with the Flood, Gen. 6.1, 2. For these, that he rained flaming Brimstone on Sodome and Gomorrah, and purified their Land with Fire. For these, that all those mighty Nations were destroyed out of Canaan, and their Land given to the Children of Israel, See Levit. Chap. 18. Where, after great variety of these sins rehearsed, it follows, Vers. 27. For all these abominations (for this name God gives to these Sins for their loathsomness) have the men of the Land done that were before you, and the Land is defiled; and therefore, in the Verse following, this defiled Land is said to have spued

out the inhabitants thereof. For such Sin, that Twenty three Thousand of the Children of Israel also fell in one day at Baal-peor before they entred Canaan. See 1. Cor. 10.8. For such Sin, that all the Tribe of Benjamin was cut off, except only Six hundred men, Judg. 20. I need not mention the Wars and Slaughter that followed upon David's Adultery; and the ten Tribes rent from Solomon as a Judgment upon his being seduced to the Toleration of Idolatry by his Lusts and unlawful Marriages. This is enough to shew that these Sins, tho seeming most excusable and natural to Man, are most abominable and loathsome to God; especially since the new Contract that is made between Us and our Lord; and since our Bodies are be∣come the Temples of the Holy Ghost; Which Temples (1. Cor. 3.17. saith the Apostle) Whoso defileth, him will God destroy.