Paul, let every Man have his own Wife, and every Woman her own Husband. 1 Cor. vii. 2. Those are condemned as giving Heed to feducing Spirits, and Speaking Lyes in Hypocrify, who forbid to marry. 1 Tim. iv. 3.. And it is, declared that Marriage is honourable in all, and the Bed undefiled. Heb. xiii. 4. But, though the Law of God allows the orderly Gratification of this Appetite, yet it ftrongly forbids and condemns all irregular Indulgences of it. Not only is Adultery prohibited, which is a Breach of the Marriage-Covenant, and hath been generally condemned by the Laws of civilifed Nations, but Fornication too. We are

told, that, Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge. Heb. xiii. 4. Fornication, as well as Adultery, is reckoned among those Works of the Flesh, which, if impenitently perfifted in, will exclude Perfons from the Kingdom of God. Gal. v. 21. This is the Will of God faith St. Paul, even your Sanctification, that ye should abstain from Fornication: that every one of you should know how to poffefs bis Vessel in Sanctification and Honour; not in the Luft of Concupifcence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: For God hath not called us unto Uncleanness, but unto Holiness. I Theff. iv. 3, 4, 5, 6. Our bleffed Saviour, the great Interpreter of the

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Divine Law, hath extended it fo far as to forbid the Indulging impure Inclinations in the Heart: Ye have heard, faith he, That it was faid by them of old Time, Thou fhalt not commit Adultery: But I fay unto you, That whofoever looketh on a Woman to luft after her, hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart. Matt. v. 27, 28. And the wife Man, fpeaking of the strange Woman, faith, Luft not after her Beauty in thine Heart. Prov. vi. 25. And indeed the Watching over and Suppreffing lafcivious Inclinations, before they gather too great Strength, is the moft effectual Way to prevent their Breaking forth into outward Acts of Uncleannefs. We should avoid every Thing in our Conversation and Deportment, which bordereth on Impurity : Fornication and all Uncleanness let it not be once named among you, as becometh Saints; neither Filthiness, nor foolish Talking, nor Jefting, which are not convenient. Eph. v. 3, 4. The more effectually to engage us to Chastity and Purity of Behaviour, Chri fianity teacheth us to regard even our Bodies as the Members of Chrift, and the Temples of the Holy Ghost: Know ye not, that your Bodies are the Members of Chrift? Shall I then take the Members of Chrift and make them the Members of an Harlot? God forbid.

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-Flee Fornication: Every Sin, i. e. every other Sin that a Man doeth, is without the Body; but he that committeth Fornication finneth against his own Body. What, know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have God, and ye arenot your own? For ye are bought with a Price. Cor. vi. 15, 18, 19., This Part of the Divine Law is what many are ready to exclaim against, as unreasonably harsh and severe : But fuch Complaints and Objections proceed not from cool impartial Reason, but from licentious Appetite. The Law of God hath provided for the Gratification of our natural Inclinations within juft Bounds, and, if it gave an unreftrained Indulgence to them, it might justly be found Fault with, as it would open a wide Door to all Manner of Disorders. The Mischiefs which fuch unclean Lufts bring upon those that indulge them are reprefented in a very striking Manner by Solomon in the Book of Proverbs: Speaking of the strange Woman, fo he calls the Harlot and the Adulterefs, he faith, Her End is bitter as Wormwood, fharp as a two-edged Sword. Her Feet down to Death; her Steps take Hold of Hell. Remove thy Way from her, come not nigh the Door of her Houje: Left thou give thine Honour unto others, and thy Years unto the VOL. III. Cruel:

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Cruel: Left Strangers be filled with thy Wealth, and thy Labours be in the Houfe of a Stranger, and thou mourn at last, when thy Flesh and thy Body are confamed. Prov. v. 4, 5, 8, 9, 10. See alfo Chap. vi. 6-35. vii. 22-27. St. Peter likens, those who walk after the Flesh in the Lufts of Uncleannefs to natural brute Beafts made to be taken and deftroyed. 2 Pet. ii. 10, 12. And St. Paul obferves concerning the diffolute Gentiles, that, being paft Feeling, they bad given themselves over unto Lafcivioufness. Eph. iv. 18. In Proportion as these Lufts prevail, they tend to extinguish the moral Feelings: They defile the Soul, and caft it down from it's Excellency: They render it incapable of relishing the pure and fublime Delights of Religion and Virtue, and confequently difqualify it for thofe Enjoyments in which the Happiness of the rational Nature doth principally confift. When Perfons are once brought under the Dominion of impure Lufts, they gradually lofe that Senfe of Shame and Modesty which is implanted in our Natures as a Prefervative to our Innocence and Virtue; they are ready to break over all the Bounds of Honour and Confcience, and stick at no Means by which they can gratify the headstrong Appetite. And not only do thefe Lufts, when indulged,

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produce great Mischiefs to particular Perfons and Families, but to large Communities. The Experience and Obfervation of all Ages fhew that, when fuch Vices become general among a People, they open a Way to all Manner of Diffolutenefs and Corruption, and destroy all national Virtue and Probity, and true public Spirit. It is therefore an Inftance of great Goodness, as well as Wifdom, in the fupreme Lawgiver to lay Reftraints by his Laws upon thofe disorderly Lufts which war against the Soul, as St. Peter fpeaks, 1 Pet. ii. 11. And though the Restraining and Governing them may be very difficult and coft no fmall Pains and Uneafinefs; yet, through the Power of the Confiderations and Motives which the Gofpel fetteth before us, and the Affistance of Divine Grace, which will never be wanting to our fincere and earnest Endeavours, it is far from being impracticable; and the noble and Divine Satisfaction, which will arise from having fubdued those irregular and vicious Inclinations, will vaftly outweigh all the Pleasures which could be propofed in gratifying them.

Thus I have confidered that Part of our Duty towards ourselves, which relateth to the Keeping the Body in a due Subjection to the Mind, and to the Governing the fleshly

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