A sermon against adultery Preached upon Sonday the 7th. of May, in the year 1671; in the parish church of St. Michaels in the City of York. By J. S. Master of Arts.

A SERMON AGAINST ADULTERY.

MATH. V. 28.

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her, hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart.

WE find by many Passages in this and the following Chapters, that our Saviour had much to do to free the Law of God from those perverse glosses and interpretati∣ons, which the Ignorance or Ma∣lice of men, assisted by the rust and corruption of Time and Age, had fastned to us; it being proper to the Nature of man rather handsomly to deceive it self, then willingly to go against a Visible light;

to frame the Law to its own desires when it finds it hard to conform them to the Law, and secretly and by little and little to change the Sense, though openly it retain the Letter.

In this state of things our Saviour now found the Jewish Church, wherein partly the Subtilty of their Doctours and Rabbies, partly the Tradition of the Lawyers, and practice and custome of their Courts had perverted the Law of God, understand∣ing that loosely which was strictly delivered, and judging of that carnally which was spiritually in∣tended: Our Saviour therefore, that he might fully comply with his Prophetical office, takes upon him to reform these Abuses, and to rectifie these Inter∣pretations, which having done in the former Verses concerning Murder, he begins in the 27 verse to clear those Mistakes which had broken in upon this precept of Adultery; Ye have heard (saies he) that it was said to those of Old, thou shalt not commit Adultery; But I say unto you, whosoever looketh upon a Woman to lust after her, hath already committed Adul∣tery with her in his heart. Where by the way we must note, that though the looking of a Man upon a Woman be onely specified, yet the looking of a

Woman upon a Man is equally intended; and though Adultery be here only named, yet all the Species of it are understood; onely our Saviour having once insisted upon that particular, conti¦nues his discourse to it, that so the Comparison and Proportion between the outward actions of the Bo∣dy, and the inward actions of the Heart (which he principally aimed at) might more evidently, and more immediately appear.

In the Words themselves we may consider these Parts, The Crime and the Fact; the Fact in these words, He that looketh upon a Woman to lust after her: The Crime in these, Hath committed Adultery in his heart. Where

• First, We shall consider the Nature of Adultery in general.
• Secondly, Adultery as it is restrained to the heart onely. Then;
• Thirdly, In the matter of Fact we shall consider;
  • First, The Lusting after a Woman.
  • Then The Looking upon her to lust.

After which (having thus explained the Terms and put the Case) we shall endeavour to resolve, How, and in what sense this saying of our Saviour is to be understood.

All which, when we have done Doctrinally, we shall go over the several parts again in the same Order, and propose such Motives to your affections as God hath been pleased to put into our mind.

We begin with the consideration of Adultery in general. Adultery as it is the breach of that Faith which is solemnly given in Marriage, whether it be by the Man or by the Woman, a great Sin sure; whe∣ther in respect of God, or in respect of Men; in re∣spect of God, who was solemnly invocated to be a witness of that Covenant which we wilfully violate, in the presence of whom and his blessed Angels, and the Church of Christ, the marryed persons mu∣tually promised their fidelity to each other, so that (as the Apostle saies) they have now no longer power over their own bodies, in which they have parted with their right and property, and indeed they are now no longer their own but one anothers; and so true and real is this Change, and so neer and individual is this Ʋnion, that the expression of the Apostle seems to be very high and hyperbolical, and relish∣ing somewhat of the Poet and the Lover, when he tells us that it is Magnum Sacramentum, a high and a holy Mistery: when he thinks it to be a fit type

and resemblance of that, which the most straining heights, the most gallant comparisons, and the most boasting expressions of our Love and Poetry together come infinitely short of; and that is the Love and Ʋnion between Christ and his Church; an Ʋnion so neer, that it is indeed flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, for the same Spirit that conceived him con∣ceivs that, dwells in that, quickens and enlivens and moves that; so that it is not only figuratively and mistically, but truely and indeed his very Body, as the nourishment which I receive and digest, and be∣comes informed with my Soul, is a part of my Body, so neer and so wonderful is this Ʋnion. And as for the Love of Christ to his Church, it is a flame as far transcending ours as the heavenly does the elementary; this is that that brought him down from Heaven, from the Throne, nay from the bosome of his Fa∣ther, that cloathed him with our corruption, our mise∣rable flesh, debased him to the form of a Servant, and subjected him to those mean, but withal to those affectionate services, which all our vain and mortal love is so far from approaching, that it must vanish and hide it self before that sacred Charity both with shame and wonder; and all this to teach us, how holy

and unvyolable the tye and Ʋnion, how pure, how chast, how fervent, how unchangeable, how honourable the Love of Marriage ought to be.

A transgression therefore against this tye and this Love must needs be an heinous sin, heinous in respect of God who is made a Witness to that Cove∣nant; and in this respect it was reasonably done of him who excepted against the testimony of an A∣dulterer as against a Man perjured already; heinous in respect of the person who is made a party to that Covenant, with whom we so carelesly break our faith and loyalty, and lastly very heinous in respect of our Neighbour, whose hedge we break down, and whose enclosure we lay waste; whilst we do not only pur∣loyn and defile and dishonour that which is his most proper possession, that which is asmuch his own, as his own body is his Wife: Not only dishonour her, and her whole Family together, but we invade and incroach upon his Inheritance also by making our Bastard his Heir; suborning and stealing into the possession of his Estate the Son of that person, whom of all men living he has reason to detest for having been his most causeless but most injurious enemy. You see therefore the nature of the Crime here mentioned,

how great a sin it is in respect of the Impiety towards God, and how great it is also in respect of the Injury towards Men.

It comes next to be considered, that this Crime (as foul as it is) may be committed in the heart only: He that looketh on a Woman to lust after her, hath al∣ready committed Adultery in his heart.

In his heart; that is, Though he hath not com∣mitted it in the outward act, but only in his will and intention, for indeed it is the Will only that gives the stamp and the value to the outward actions; the same Act in respect of several intentions may either be a bloudy murther, or an hasty Manslaughter, or an unfortunate accident, or an innocent defence. That which defiles a man (saith our Saviour) enters not into a man but cometh forth from within him, from the heart; there's the Fountain that defiles the Streams, 'tis not the streams that corrupt the fountain.

That the Jews at this time, had, by their licentious and indulged Traditions and Glosses, very much defaced and darkned this Truth, and had begot an Opinion very common to the Nation. That a for∣bearance of the Outward act onely was all that the Law of God required from them, may appear both

by the often and earnest endeavours of our Saviour to assert the Divine Law to its primitive, and ge∣nuine and spiritual Sense, and to restore it to its universal latitude and obligation upon the spirit of Man; as also by a passage in the 12^th Book of Jo∣sephus's Antiquities, who being himself a Learned, and a Wise and Well-born person among the peo∣ple, yet takes occasion to wonder at the Errour of Polybius the Grecian Historian (as he accounts it) That the Intention only of Sacriledge in Antiochus was the Cause why he was pursued with Divine Ven∣geance, ending a wicked life with a dispairing and tor∣turing death; as if sayes he, God used to punish Inten∣tions only? So much more you see the light of Na∣ture only in a Wise and un-interessed Heathen was able to discover, than the understanding of a Jew bred up to the knowledge of the Law, and otherwayes Wise and Learned; only because it was betrayed and blinded by prejudice, and tradition of his Teachers.

Josephus indeed were in the right, if we consider Man only as a Citizen, as a member and part of a Community, so his thoughts and desires can come into no accompt; no Tribunal here upon earth that can take cognizance or exercise Jurisdiction over

that which passes within a man if it proceed not to outward act, as to humane Law he is reputed Inno∣cent, and even in respect of God also; the outward act being added much aggravates the fault, draws more guilt and punishment upon the offender; both because when we proceed so far, we give a greater declaration of our Will fully and perfectly consent∣ing unto sin; and because we then only offer In∣jury, and occasion much more Sin and scandal unto others: yet notwithstanding, though the outward act add to the guilt, yet it does not cause it. Our Savi∣ours Doctrine stands good still, That which defiles a man proceeds from within, there the spiritual poyson first spreads it self; the Sinfulness proceeds from the obliquity of the actions, from the unlawfulness, from the disagreement it hath with the Divine Law, which ought to be the rule and measure of all our Actions: It is the transgression of that that makes a sin, and the transgression of that, in this particular, that makes this particular sin. The consent of the Will to an unlawful desire after a Woman, though no outward act follow after, is that inward Adultery which our Saviour here speaketh of, and fully com∣prehends the nature of the Crime which I promised to shew you.

We come next to the matter of the Fact which is here double, Lusting and Looking; but first of Lusting.

What this Lust here is, though many are guilty of it, yet perhaps there are many also that are ig∣norant what the exact meaning of it is, that do not sufficiently conceive the full latitude and extent of it; and they may indeed be more excusable because it is a point that even S. Paul was once ignorant of: I had not known lust, saies he, unless the law had said thou shalt not lust, in the 7^th. to the Romans. What, did did not S. Paul think we knew the Commandment? or was he ignorant of that which even Polybius an Heathen could discover, That the inward consent, the intention and resolution to sin, was sin? this certainly cannot be the meaning of this place, there must be some higher sense of it then so. S. James will help us to the best Exposition of it in his first Chapter and 14 verse, Every man, saies he, is tempted, when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lusts; they move blindly and suddenly to whatsoever is accep∣table to the Flesh and delightful to the Sense, without any advice of reason at all, without any subjection to the spirit of our Mind, without any conforming themselves to that which ought to be the rule of

humane actions, the Law of God. Now certainly that which tempts to evil must needs be Evil it self, that which is perfectly good cannot tempt us; and therefore sayes S. James, God cannot do it because he is so. Whatsover does tempt us therefore must needs be Evil, for temptation to sin being an evil fruit must needs proceed from an evil tree, a Tree that hath its root as deep as the first sin of the first Man, and our Original corruption is the cause that there is any such thing as unlawful lust in us; un∣lawful I say which is therefore Evil, because un∣agreeable and unconformable to the Law of God; therefore Evil, because rebelling against the law of our Mind, and so violating that order and harmony which God at first placed in our Soul.

But that we may more distinctly conceive the Lust that is here spoken of, and the true nature of it, it is fit that we learn it of S. James in his first Chap∣ter and 14 and 15 verses, where he discovers the progress of it, and describes to us the several steps and rises and periods of this Evil. Every one is tempted, &c.

Out of which Words the Schools have observed three several steps and gradations of Sin, the Sug∣gestion, the Delight, the Content. First the Suggestion

which is not certainly (as some conceive) onely when either our memory or our sense do propose to us an Object in it self delightful to the senses, the in∣joying whereof is contrary to the Law of God; but when it is proposed to us under the consideration of being enjoyed, when by the help and assistance of our nature and rebellious corruption, this very un∣lawful enjoying is presented and suggested to our de∣sires, towards which the first motions, the starts and beckenings and twitches of our desires, are the first degree of sin; then we are as the Apostle sayes, Drawn away by our lusts.

The next is the Delight and contentment that we take in the contemplation of that unlawful enjoy∣ing; then Sin conceives saith S. James, for it conceives with delight.

The last is that express and formal consent of the Will to exercise and put in practice what has been thus suggested, and so delightful unto us; then it becomes, as S. Paul sayes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, com∣pleat and perfect sin. And indeed these three degrees are not unfitly compared to the three persons that acted their several parts in the first sin of Adam: Namely, to the Serpent, the Woman, and the Man.

The Serpent, there's the insinuating suggestion; the Delight, there's the deceived Woman; and the Consent, there's all lust; the Man, and then all is compleat. Now to draw our Discourse to a head, after we have thus opened the Case. The Question now to be stated and resolved is, Whether all or some only of these degrees are here meant by our Saviour, when he tels us, That he that looketh upon a Woman to lust after her, hath already committed Adultery in his heart.

Concerning the last, the express and formal con∣sent of the Will to perform this sin, I have already shewed you, that it is directly and properly that which our Saviour here calls the Adultery of the heart; concerning the second there may seem to be some difficulty; I am not apt to make sins that God hath not; and I should be very shie of determining the particular, but that I find those who agree very little amongst themselves; namely, Dominicans, Jesuits, Lutherans, Calvenists; yet to agree upon this point, that that which they call Delectatio Morosa, namely that the Delight about enjoying an unlawful Object (if at the least it have any stay and continuance in us) is also to be put in the same rank with Consent it self; because the Will, though it do not formally

consent, yet implicitly it does, because it does not curb and restrain, as by duty it is bound to do; It offends as a Governour, though not as an Actor; in suffering, though not in doing; and that therefore even such a del••ght in this particular sin, though we do not fully and resolutely intend and purpose to commit it, is also comprehended under this, Adul∣tery of the heart here spoken of by our Saviour. Last∣ly, concerning the first degree, those sudden starts and first motions towards unlawful acts, though they are evil in themselves, yet out of Gods mercy, they are not so imputed to those that are in Christ: Not that the nature of them is changed, that of evil they should become good; but that the effect of them is changed, as to us-wards they are not evil to con∣demnation; that is, if we be afflicted and troubled, not pleased and delighted with them, they are left as the Canaanites were amongst the Israelites, to keep us humble towards God, and solicitous in our selves to exercise us, not to ruine us. Not that we should yield, but that we should conquer for our virtue and tryal; not for our destruction and condemnation.

You see now what this lusting is our Saviour speaks of; we come next to the Looking, He that

looketh, &c. Of which very briefly.

There may be several senses of these words, he that looketh to lust, for this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 here denotes either the event of looking, or the end of looking; the event of looking, that is, he that looketh and afterwards doth lust, or the end of looking, that is, he that looketh purposely that he may lust; Concerning the latter of these, he that looketh purposely that he may lust, he that imploys his senses as Factors for his lusts, to provide fuel for that fire, and to search out objects for those unlaw∣ful desires, he that as the Apostle sayes, has Eyes full of Adultery, and therefore looketh that he may lust, of such a Person as this we shall make no scruple to determine, that he directly falls under our Sa∣viours censure here, and is one of those that has already committed Adultery in his heart.

Concerning the other; he that looketh onely and afterwards lusteth, though in that look of his he had no such intention, yet if his curiosity or his negli∣gence be so great, that he has no care at all of his senses, that suffers his eyes to run at randome, and makes no manner of covenant with them, and sets no watch upon those Windows at which death may

enter in, if he so l ok that he do lust, if this event do ensue upon him by his own default, if his soul be so like a City without Gates and Bars that all Ob∣jects are suffered to enter in without controul, if he have no care at all of the first degree of sin, which is the suggestion, but entertains a Parley with this Serpent, and either negligently or curiously lead•• him∣self into temptation, if upon that suggestion the••e follow delight, and with that delight sin conce••ves (much more if it proceed so far as to consent and so sin become perfect and consummate) though I pity his case much more then the former, yet I dare not absolve him from the guilt, but must render him up to the censure of our Saviour here, and not out of my severity, but out of my affection and care of his soul and his eternal good, I must tell him plainly and friendly, that I do more then fear, that such a look with such an event ensuing, will at the Judgment seat of Christ be reckoned Adultery in the heart.

I have at the length discovered to you the nature both of the Crime and of the Fact, and have stated the case and given you such reasons as to me seem concluding, why and in what sense this fact of look∣ing

after a Woman to lust after her ought to be repu∣ted the Committ••ng Adultery in ones heart. I come next to propose such motives to your affections, to avoyd this crime and take heed of this Fact, as have offered themselves to my consideration; and first concerning Adultery.

But what shall I say of Adultery in an Assembly of Christians, especially of such Christians as I hope and am perswaded are here present to hear me? a c••ime so impious towards God, so un••ust towards Men, so unelean against our selves: this is a crime sayes J••b, to be punished by the Judges, the purity of the Law of Christ needs not trouble it self about so foul a sin as this is, civil Laws ought to take notice and punish this; humane society cannot subsist with this sin: A crime that breaks through all Co∣venants, confounds all Races and Families, disturbs and unsettles all Inheritances, and fills the whole W••••ld with Tumult and Madness and Confusion. O my beloved Brethren, We need seek no further cause of the confusion of this State, then to have this crime frequent amongst us; of this sayes our Saviour, Dictum est antiquis, long ago this sin has been forbidden, it has been reputed abominable

ever since Mankind has been upon the earth, in the darkest times; no Nat••on so barbarous as not to acknowledg it, and in the wickedest of times (won∣der not at my expressions) no Nation so extream••y civil as yet to forget it, even those prodegies of lust and blood the Roman Tyrants themselves enacted Laws and Penalties against it, and therefore for my own part, methinks I find my self in the same con∣dition as that Law-giver was, who refused to make a Law against Paricide, because he presumed no body would commit it; and therefore he was loth to hatch it by forbidding of it, for it is of a much lesser sin then this, though of it self great enough God knows, that St. Paul sayes, Let it not once be named amongst Christians; and therefore of this sin, I hope we shall be so far from the Impudence of naming it, that we shall not so much as have the sinfulness of thinking of it. For let us consider I beseech you onely two Motives upon which St. Paul perswades us to avoyd Fornication, much more A∣dultery, you shall find them in the first Epistle to the Corinthians (a People whose City was very no∣torious for that Vice) and the sixth Chapter of that Epistle, the Motives are briefly these, That they

should therefore forbear that sin, because their mem∣bers were members of Christ, and because also they were Temples of the Holy Ghost. Beloved, We of the Clergie, say somthing somtimes concerning Sacriledge, and when we do so we are counted Fools for our la∣bour, but whether that which we call Sacriledge be so or no, God will one day Judge, and I am hor∣ribly afraid least he be Judging it already; but I say, be that as it will, I am sure, that which St. Paul speaks of here is Sacriledge to the purpose, to pro∣phane the Temple of the Holy Ghost, a Temple which God has made, and not Man, a Temple in which God inhabits, wherein the Holy Ghost does truely and literally dwell and reside, to prophane this, not onely to worldly business, but to sinful business, to lust, to uncleanness, to Fornication, to take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot, as ••he Apostle sayes, certainly my Brethren, it is the most rhetorical, the most emphatical expression in the whole Bible, the Members of Christ, so pure, so holy, so chaste, so honourable, and to make these the members of an Harlot: an Harlot, What's that? Why what is it but the Common Sewer, that receives all the filth of the Town, I humbly crave your par∣don

for my expression; it is indeed too short, it is not home enough: Alas! this receives but the natural filthiness, but the other receives all the mo∣ral filthiness. We would account it an horrid thing for one to take the B••dy of Christ, and tread it in the dirt under his feet, and tumble it up and down in the Kennel; why, it is much worse to take his members and make them the members of an Harl••t; a creature that is made up of Lust and Impudence, and the absence of all Vertue, more diseased in her soul then she is in her body, not onely most abomi∣nable to vertuous minds, but even to those persons themselves that make use of her, nay I am perswa∣ded at that very time when they are carryed head∣long with the violent rage of their impetuous lust, and yet to take the members of an Harlot, why 'tis not possible the Apostle should give a higher ex∣pression then this.

Beloved, we are apt to think that our members are our own, that we may do what we list with them, but St. Paul will tell us, we are much deceived, You are bought with a Price, sayes he in the last Verse, you are none of your own: A price, what price is that? Not those Corruptible things of Silver and

Gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God; and after all this cost bestowed upon upon us shall we so unworthily imploy that which has been so ••early purchased, shall we any longer sin against our own bodies with this foulness of Fornication? Shall we so profane the Temples of the H••ly Spirit, ••nd so horribly pollute and defile the ••e••bers of the body of the Son of G••d. O conside•• this you that ••••••get God, least he pluck you away, and there be ••one to deliver you! O consider, I bese••ch you, ••hat if you be once pluckt away f••om being mem∣••ers of him who is the Saviour of the W rld, th••re can no manner of deliverance be left either for your Body or your Soul!

I have done with this part, I pray God we have done with the same also; I come next to speak of the second part, which is the Adultery of the heart.

And of this certainly many must plead Guilty, that are Innocent as to the other, and indeed the guilt of this is so much less, as the damnation of one alone is less th••n the damnation of two together, for the Adultery of the body cannot be committed by a single person, two together must be involved in that guilt, that's an aggravation that I did not

tell you of before, and certainly it is a Consideration that will one day fall heavy, and lye like a talent of Lead upon the souls of the Adulterers and For∣nicators, that when one of them is reclaimed from the errors of their way, and with bitter tears and loud cryes, with a sad contrition of soul has begged a pardon from God and made a peace with Hea∣ven, yet the other runs still at ryot in their former sins, drenched in those habits of those Lusts which they have cherished and contracted together, easie to be corrupted, but not so easie to be reclaimed, the one going to life with pardon and repentance, the other with impenitency to death and damnation. O think, think beforehand what sad thoughts con∣cerning this particular must one day possess you! how close, how heavy it will fit to your souls to have been the Authors of anothers unrepented sins, and the instruments of anothers misery for ever, how foul, how black, how foolish this Wickedness will then appear to you, that the horrour will then be so great to you, that you will esteem them to be in a degree of blessedness that have no sins to account for, but onely their own, and in respect of this Adultery of the Body, will repute it some approach∣ing

towards Innocence, to have committed onely the Adultery of the heart.

How great therefore must the other crime be, in respect of which this here so condemned by our Saviour looks like Innocence, and indeed well does it deserve to be so condemned, for alas! what thanks is it to us if we have had the consent to sin, though not the opportunity? If we have forborne onely because we have wanted the confidence of sol∣liciting, or the probability of consenting, or the con∣veniency of attaining? If we have therefore onely been less guilty because God in his mercy has not permitted it in our power to be more!

The Will is reckoned for the Deed in the sight of God, miserable were we if it were nor so in our good Works, and therefore it is but Just it should be so in our ill Works too; before his Eyes All things are naked, sayes the Prophet, but he tryeth the heart and reins, searcheth into the inward parts and corners of our souls. Mans Judgment must content it self with the appearance onely; all the Hypotheses, the Suppositions that we can make here below must be according to the Phaenomena onely, when we have salved them, and many times before

that also our business is done, but God he sees the course and order of our thoughts, Ʋnderstands them long before, sayes the Psalmist; Judges them by their causes, discerns the spring from whence they flow, the end to which they run, the rule by which they are measured.

O if we would take the Omniscience, and this Omni∣presence of God a little more to heart, what manner of persons would we be in all holiness of Conversa∣tion? What foul sins would we forbear out of the awfulness to the presence of that infinite Majesty? Whereas for want of this, what a goodly spectacle think you in the sight of God are some meditating hearts?

We should account it an horrid thing, if any should be so voyd of shame as to commit Adultery in publick, much more if he should do it in a Church, much more then that if he should do it before the whole Congregation, and that also at the time when either our Prayers were offered to God, or his Message delivered to us, such an Act sure we should repute a Sacrilegious Impudence, and there would not be some Phinees awanting, that would be ready to strike through such a Zimri

with his Javelin; yet in the sight of that God that made the World, in the presence of him who is the Judge of Spirits, how often do we commit this Adultery of the heart, in private, in publick, in the great Assembly? I will not say in the Church, at the time of Prayers, of Sermon, eve•• of this Sermon, whilest I am speaking against it, and that some come hither onely for that very purpose, yet some there are that stick not to say so, I would not pray for any sin, yet I pray God this be ra∣ther malice then Truth, but if any have been so miserably Guilty as to come hither with so foul an Intention, I hope God has this day met him in his Way, as the Angel did the madness of the Pro∣phet, and that from henceforth he will proceed no further; take heed, Sin so no more least a worse thing happen unto thee.

But I am weary of this Dunghil, I have dwelt too long in the stench of it, I pass therefore to my third part, from the Crime to the matter of Fact, He that looketh on a Woman to lust after her; he that lusteth.

And here first of all (that we may refr••sh our selves with a better prospect then we have hitherto

had) let us first consider the extream and won∣derful purity of the Law of Christ, that troubles not it self about outward actions, contents not it self with the consent of the Will, but forbids the delight of the Appetite, and takes care even of the prime affections and first motions of the heart to sin, for as I told you in the beginning, though these first motions shall not condemn us, yet it is not because they are not evil in themselves, but because they are not so imputed to us; God layes not aside his Justice, but he takes to him his mercy, he sees those first motions, and he sees them as sins, but he sees the Mediatour too; Nay he both sees and hates these first motions, but it is as a Physician sees the Disease of his beloved Son, w••om he does not therefore hate, because he has that Dis∣ease, he hates the Disease but he loves his Son, and would therefore destroy the Disease, that he may save the Child.

How much therefore ought we to humble our selves before this gracious God? Humble our selves before his Justice, when we consider our own deserts, and humble our selves before his mercy when we consider his readiness to pardon,

and his willingness to amend us? How ought we to put on such affections to our selves as he has towards us, to love our persons, and to hate our corrupt••ons? If we be pleased, if we be deligh••ed with them, there's no hope of cure; nay th••re's no hope of pardon, we every minute grow sicker and sicker, till we are sick unto death; if we will recover our lo••t health, we must grieve, we must be angry with these Lusts, charme them away with our Prayers, wear them away with Fasting, vex them away with Labour, let a charitable Indust••y employ those affections that would break out into Lust; let it come forth in Fruit, th••t would run out in Weeds; the heart of Man will still be put∣ting out somewhat, if Grace wo••k not, Corrupt on will; if our heart be suffered to be l••ke a standing Pool, we must expect the surface of it to be co∣vered with Froth and Scumme, where there is ful∣ness of Bread, and Idleness to boot, we must ex∣spect even the sins of Sodom to follow after; God h••s put it into our power to avoyd or overcome these Temptations, by Devotion, by Austerity, by Business; much more not to lead our selves into Temptation. Not to look upon a Woman, that

we may lust after her, which is my last part, He that looketh.

And here I must not pass by a good Observa∣tion of Saint Chrysostome upon this Text of our Sa∣viour, He that looketh upon a Woman, &c. that though at the first blush it may appear to be Du∣rus Sermo, a hard saying, and we are ready to cry out with the Disciples, Who can bear it, yet if we consider it well, sayes he, it will appear to have more of Gentleness and Lenity then of Hard∣ness and Severity: Had our Saviour indeed in∣joyned us to looke, and withall forbidden us to lust, it had been perhaps to many men as if he had bidden them to stand by the fire and yet forbid∣den them to be warm, but when he forewarnes us of our danger and shews how to avoyd it, when he tells us if we be apt to Lust, we should take care not to Looke, this sure is Mercy and Lenity, for 'tis as if a Friend should thus advise us, has Drunkenness at any time put you in danger of your life, and are you apt to be overcome with Wine when you drink it? If you have not the gift of Temperance, forbear it altogether, better

to drink no Wine at all, then to be in Danger of Death by it; So our Saviour here, Can you not make a Covenant with your Heart not to Lust? Why then make a Covenant with your Eyes not to Looke; I am sure that is in your power, if you would not sin, do not run into temptation.

But you will say, Why, to what end was Beauty made then, if it were not made to be seen and looked upon? Here's a Doctrine that turnes all things into the first Chaos, that brings darkness upon the World again, or at the least makes light wholly unuseful, for what use is there of Light, if Ʋgliness and Beauty must be equally forborne? So wise we are for our own hurt, and so wittily as we think we Argue for our own destruction, the Light we know is a beautiful Creature, and a plea∣sant thing it is to behold the Sun, sayes Solomon, yet we think it very reasonable for the Physician to say to us, Are your Eyes sore? Then forbeare to looke upon that beautiful Light, and in the mean time we do not think it reasonable for the Physi∣cian of our Soules to say to us, Are your Eyes Lustful? Then forbear to looke upon that Beauti∣ful

Woman; Yes, perhaps we begin to think it somewhat reasonable, but we struggle against it with grudging and discontent, just as the sick man does against his Physician, that out of his care to him has strictly forbidden such or such a meat, he thinks fit to obey at last, but with such a repine∣ing, such a languishing, an unwilling obedience, as if he had now no pleasure left in life, as if it were all one to him to refraine this and to dye, what care now has the Physician for so perverse, so wrangling an Appetite, but to deal plainly with him, that he may eate if he please, but if he do he will certainly dye? So here, What, take away all pleasure of life, no looking upon that beautifull Sex? as good then pull out our Eyes also; Right sayes our Saviour (resolutely shaking off this wrangling Sophistry) not onely as good, but you had better do so then Lust, If thine Eye offend, sayes he in the next Verse, yea though it be thy right Eye, most dear, most usefull to thee, yet pluck it out, though it be with paine, and cast it ••rom thee, though it be with regret, for thine Eyes we••e given thee for thy benefit, to direct thee in thy way; not to be unto thee an occasion of fal∣ling,

better one of thy Members should perish then thy whole body be cast into Hell; if thine Eye be more worth then thy whole body, if to look with the danger of lusting be a greater pleasure then the suffering of Hell fire be a pain, then look on and spare not; but if, as the Prophet sayes, No Man can dwell with perpetual burnings, then sure it is better to forbear a short pleasure then to hazzard eternal torment.

Well perhaps at last we are resolved to obey this precept, yet our Nature is ready to cry out Durus Sermo, 'tis a hard task though, and to sinful men it is so indeed; My brethren (I beseech God every day to make it easyer to every one of us) but remember withal, that Hell's an ill place, and Heaven is a very good one; that Christ hath performed a much harder task for our sakes; that the business we are now upon, is matter either of eternal death or eternal life; that Strait is the Gate, and Narrow is the Way that leadeth to that life, and few there be that find it, that Heaven is entred by Violence, and the Violent take it by force, not

getting thither unless we offer force and violence to our corruptions and lusts, and put a curb and re∣straint upon our natural inclinations, a watch and a guard upon our outward senses: I confess it is a hard task, but that I may make it more easy to you I shall now say somwhat to the other Sex, and I shall at last turn my discourse from those that look to those that are looked upon.

For you are they that must assist in this Cure, and contribute your part to the observation of this precept of our Saviour; for as God has committed to men the protection of your safety, so also he hath intrusted to you the conservation of their chastity. To look upon you (as things are carried by the custome of this Country) for the most part lyes wholly in their power, but to look so that they may not lust, that commonly lyes very much in yours; For let the fruit be never so pleasant to the eye, if there be no hope that it will be fit for food, the Serpent will have but small incou∣ragement for his temptation; It may indeed fall out, that if Angels themselevs should descend from heaven, and appear cloathed in humane Beauty,

there may not want such sons of Belial that may even break through a door to attempt their chastity, but these are the children of Sodome. Our Cityes have few such inhabitans, few men are come to that excellency of wickedness as to be like Satan himself, who delights to tempt the virtuous most; No, no, that wretchedly miscalled Love, that has seduced so many souls to their ruine: that which our Saviour calls by its true name, how gently so∣ever we may think fit to deal with it, that which is indeed our Idleness is made our business, has not yet arrived to such Poetical tasks as to have impossibi∣lity for its object; they are Fools only which sit down to veiw a strength which themselves esteem Impregnable.

A Woman certainly may if she please carry her self with that gallantness of Chastity, and be so for∣tified by a publick reputation; that even in the mid∣dest of a crooked generation, when weaker places are daily taken in about her, yet she may stand a∣lone, not only unconquered and unattempted, but even unhoped for and undesired: She may be so con∣secrated by her known Virtue, that nothing that is

vile, nothing that has but suspition of evil shall dare to approach her; that we shall not have the confidence to dart any Look to her face that we would not send up towards Heaven; nor present a∣ny Suit to that Ear, that we would not bring to the Temple and the Altar: And as when we see a comely and magnificent structure dedicated to the Divine Service, it adds an advantage even to pi∣ous thoughts, and strikes religious reverence into all sober men, whilst the very beholding these things to be consecrated to God (which were they applyed even to ill uses, would yet retain in them∣selves an inherent exell••ncy) does even by our senses lead us on to Devotion, and causes a secret and hap∣py consent and harmony between the Spiritual and Sensible part of Man in holy duties; so also those persons whom God hath built in an extraordinary manner, and indued with Beauty above others, if these I say, in an age and complexion and consti∣tution ripe for delight, and seasoned for pleasure, shall yet consecrate themselves to God and his service, by works of Piety, and Charity, and not only by an unblemished life, but by pure and unspot∣ted thoughts preserve themselves either in a single

or conjugal Chastity: O what good is there that these persons may not do! How many men may they conduct to Heaven, that might perhaps have been so unfortunate, as to have followed, had they led on, to Hell? What a testimony will it be to Religion, to see the best and choicest things thus consecrated to it? How will they be like the Fat of the Sacrafice to increase Mens Devotion; and how exceedingly to the honour of their Cre¦atour, will they be able to imploy that natural Dominion that Beauty enjoyes over the hearts of the Spectatours.

For, Beloved, I hope we are not so vain or so wicked, as to think that Beauty is none of God's Gifts, sure if it be it may be imployed to his Glory, Men may behold it to their Benefit as well as look upon it to Lust. God has not sent it into the World as a trap and a snare only to do mis∣chief, and given it so great a power over the Soul of Man only to destroy it; No, no, We read in the Ecclesiastical Story, how great an influence towards the Conversion of the first Christian King of France, proceeded from the Beauty and agree∣ableness

of his Christian Wife. And even in our English Story we find thus much, that God stirred up the heart of Gregory the Pope, to send Preachers to our Saxon Ancestours, only by beholding the Comeliness of some of the Inhabitants then Pri∣soners at Rome; and in the wonderful Providence of God, it was so disposed, that the first occasion of the Conversion of this Nation, was the Beauty of the People.

Thus you see God has plac'd it in your power, to be the Instruments either of much Good or much Evil; and puts it to your choice, whether you will lead after you a train and retinue of Hearts, towards Him, or towards his Ene∣my.

I hope none here will be Authors of a Defect••on from God; None that will be like the Idolaters Temple, fair and goodly without, but within con∣tain nothing but an Ape, or a Goat, or some more deformed Monster: None that so adorns, so sets out her self, that she may be looked on, that she may be lusted after; that even desires to be an

Object of the Sins of Men, and accounts it her Glory that she has been to many an occasion of falling; if there be, I must tell her very plainly, That the fire of Lust cannot be kindled without the fire of Hell too. If she can endure this heareafter, let her please her self in kindling that here. But I hope there are none present whom this Admoni∣tion may concern.

Only to those who have Learned Christ, I have a few more Words to say, and it is, That they will but seriously consider one expression of St. Paul, it is an expression which before they have heard of in this place, and it is only these Words, As it becomes Women Professing Godliness, that they would but throughly weigh the Emphasis of these words Professing Godliness: Can it stand with the Pro∣fession of Godliness to be ashamed of Christ before Men? When you have been conversing with him in a good Book, or a good Discourse, or a good Prayer, or a good Meditation; and lewd Com∣pany break in upon you; can it become you to be ashamed of any good Words as long as they are there? Not to afford one word in the behalf of

Christ in that ill Company; but bluntly to say to him, Lord I desire thee to leave me now, and to come again at night to me by my Beds side, or to morrow Morning in my Closet; I must now comply with this Company; We must discourse who loves and is beloved, Call that Love which thou call'st Adultery, give it a gentler Name, put a bait upon the hook that it may be sure to be swallowed; Or if not bear our parts of the Discourse, yet give aime at least: Let the Sin receive some counte∣nance from us, and our reputation of Godliness be so far from giving a Reproof, that we shew not the least dislike, rather be rude to thee then them. Can this think you become Women that Profess God∣liness.

Much less can it become you to suffer Men to make such Addresses to you, as your selves know to be wholly repugnant to the Law of Christ, and extreamly contrary to the modest retyredness of your Vertuous Ancestors; to call that Friendship which neither tends to Honour here, nor Salvation hereafter: If indeed it be Friendship, sure we shall with comfort remember it at our Prayers,

I would we could gladly think of that and God together; however so it becometh Women pro∣fessing Godliness to do. I am sure it doth not ••ecome them, when they might be as an Apple of the tree of life, to lead men to Blessedness, to suffer themselves to be made an Apple of Good and Evil, to lead men into temptat••on; to be once patient to be looked upon, that they may be lusted after, rather with Moses to cast a vail over their faces, if at any time, especi∣ally at prayer time, there be such a glory in it, that it cannot be beheld without offence. Sure it will be a trouble to us one day, even a∣gainst our will to have been an occasion of other mens sins, and how light soever we may esteem of these wounds we thus make, yet all our skill will not make them up againe; No Phisitian can cure them but the holy Spirit and no Medicine can heal them but the Blood of the Son of God. O consider therefore the words I have handled, how great the Crime, how dangerous the Fact! If you will not con∣sider them, consider at least, who it is that sayes here, I say unto you. I who love your

Souls more then all the World does your Bo∣dyes; I who certainly understand your Sins, for I have borne them all, and exactly weighed the least of them; Lastly, I who must Judge those sins and give sentences upon them, according as my self and not any of you have named them: Consider I say what it is that is Spoken, and who it is that Speaks it, and I doubt not but your Practice will be thereafter.

FINIS.