SERMON V.

CHRISTIAN MORALITY, VIZ. CHASTITY, &c.

PHILIPPIANS iv. 8.

Whatsoccer things are pure,-think of these things.

PURITY of heart and life, in the perfect beauty

of it, belongs to no man since our original apostasy. That foul and shameful departure from God, has rendered us all unholy and unclean. But we are recalled to seek our antient glory, by the messengers of heaven, and the ministry of the gospel. The apostle exhorts us to it in the text. If the word pure be taken in its largest extent, it may include in it temperance in meats and drinks, as well as chastity in behaviour. You have heard already a discourse of temperance, with so hateful an account of the crimes of gluttony and drunkenness, that I hope my hearers have conceived a sacred aversion to such sensualities.

Let us now proceed to the second sense implied in the word, and that is modesty and chastity of speech and behaviour. This is a most eminent, and most undeniable part of that purity, which St,

Paul here requires; and this, in many of his epistles, he insists upon as necessary, in order to make up the character of a Christian, and render it honourable; and St. Peter recommends it to the pious women in his day, as a means of the conversion of their husbands, who were gentiles; that they who obeyed not the word of the gospel, might be won to a good esteem of Christianity, while they behold the chaste conversation of their wives; 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2.

This virtue stands in opposition to those several vices, which are distinguished by different names in scripture, such as adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, 1. Adultery, when one of the persons who are guilty of impure embraces, is under the sacred bonds of marriage. By the commission of this sin, there is injury done to another family, and thus it is not only an offence against the laws of purity, but a violation of the laws of justice. 2. Fornication, when both the guilty persons are free and unmarried. It has been sufficiently proved by many writers, that this is utterly unlawful, howsoever some have attempted to varnish the guilt, and excuse the crime. 3. Lasciviousness, which consists in giving a loose to those impure thoughts, words and actions, which have an apparent tendency toward the sins before mentioned. Besides these, there are other names and instances of unclean abominations, which I wish could be utterly rooted out from human nature, by burying them in everlasting silence.

If I were to fetch arguments from reason and the light of nature, I might make it appear that these things are criminal, and contrary to those rules of morality, which were written in the heart of man. And perhaps they would have appeared in the same guilty colours to all men, if the light of nature were not obscured by corrupt passions and licentious appetite. The practice of these impure vices is

inconsistent with the great ends for which God has formed our natures, has raised us above the beasts that perish, and has inclined mankind to form themselves into societies for mutual benefit. The brutes, who have no nature superior to the animal, are not governed by the same laws; but the God of nature, who has made us compound beings, and (shall I say?) hath joined an animal and an angel together to make up a man, expects that the angel should govern the animal in all its natural propensities, and confine it within the rules of religion and the social life.

These vices are also contrary to the solemn ordinances of marriage, which the blessed God instituted in paradise in a state of innocency, and designed to continue through all generations. If these impurities of conversation were publicly permitted, all the tender and most engaging names of relation and kindred, such as father, sister, and brother would be confounded, and almost abolished among mankind; and what dismal consequences would hence ensue? In what helpless circumstances would children be then brought into this world? And many of the ends of human society would become frustrate and vain.

I confess indeed, that several of these vices were practised in the heathen world without any inward remorse of the mind, without private reproof or public shame. Some of these impurities were allowed by the laws of their country; some were indulged at festivals, and sometimes they were mingled with their religious ceremonies, and made part of the worship of their gods; idol gods! Abominable religions Base and shameful worshippers! For it is a shame, saith the apostle, even to speak of those things that are done in secret, those unfruitful works of darkness; Eph. v. 11, 12. Yet there have been several of the grave, the sober,

the sixth and seventh chapters, which he spends entirely upon this theme, and in the second, the sixth, and the ninth chapters, where he applies near half of them to the same design; wherein, after he has shewn the insinuating flatteries of the wanton woman, he never fails to give notice of some of the terrible attendants of those that follow her. For her house inclines to death, and her paths unto the dead; none that go to her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. There is scarce any iniquity that does so effectually harden the heart, and prevent all repentance. Let not thine heart therefore decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths; for she has cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been slain by her; her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. This leads me to the next particular.

3. If we consider the dismal effects of these impure practices, as they are recorded in sacred history, they should keep our souls awake, and keep us always to the watch lest we be insnared. Behold Samson the strongest of men, who was a holy Nazarite, and devoted to God; how was he brought down shamefully from the height of his glory to prison and slavery, to blindness and death by the love of strange women! Behold the Jewish hero lying like a thoughtless fool upon the lap of his Delilah, while the seven sacred locks of his head were shaven, and his divine strength went from him, for the Lord departed! Behold the wretched captive with his eyes bored out by the Philistines, bound with fetters of brass, and grinding in the prisonhouse! Behold the man who was once their terror now become their sport, their mockery, and their laughing-stock in the house of Dagon their God! See him there crushed to pieces, and expiring under the weight of his own revenge upon his Philistine.