and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts which war in your members and Rom. 7. 23. I see a law sin likened to a Law as claiming Obedience to be due to it all Mankind being fallen under the Dominion of sin in my members this Law this Imperium acting and stirring in my Members and warring against the Law of my mind or the Law of God in my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of sin which is in my Members Sin doth as it were reside and dwell in our Members according to the import of these words sin which is in my members as inhabiting there as well in the Body as in the Soul And though the Body doth not always sin actually yet it is ne 〈…〉 pure from sin but hath an habit of sin in wicked men the corruption of the Soul having overspread the whole Man but the principal sense that I insist on is that wherein the Members serve for the acting of sin and so they are called weapons of Vnrighteousness or as the common Translation hath it Instruments fit Tools for to work and do the deed when once sin is inwardly conceived in the Soul and hath made its motion for the consent of the Will and gained the point Voluntas domina Membrorum the Will is the Commandress of the Members which are as Servants ready to do their Mistresses pleasure in the execution of sin you know Lust works in the eye gazing upon Beauty in the ear hearkning to lascivious Discourse in the hand by a wanton Dalliance and in the Palate delighted in the tasting of dainty Meats and Drinks so that in a secondary sense it may be understood of these to be mortified keeping the Body under by Fasting and Abstinence 3. Our Lusts are called Members because they are as dear unto a carnally-minded man and as well bâ—loved aâ— his Members and therefore in Scripture our Lusts are called a right-hand and a right-eye that is they sâ—ick as close to the Heart and Affections and it is as hard to deny these to part with a beloved Lust as to part with â—â—e of our dearest Members I have read oâ— one who having sore Eyes it might have been better for Temperance if he had had a sore throat and being told he must leave off his Drunkenness else he must loose hiâ— eye-sight said Farewell then sweet Eyes so dear was that Lust to him that he would keep it with the loss not of one but ever of both his Eyes And I have heard of â— greater Person who having had a fit of thâ— Apoplexy and being much addicted tâ— Women was told if he did not leave of that ill-course it would shorten his Life yet his Peccatum in deliciis his sweet Morsel or as the Psalmist calls it Psal 18. 23 his own iniquity would not be denied anâ— proved eventually true of his untimely end Though Life is sweet yet you see a Lusâ— is sweeter so that Life and Honour anâ— Conscience and Heaven even all must gâ— for a beloved Lust They are not only called Members buâ— Members which are upon Earth First Because they are exercised upon earthly things as Riches and Treasures which are as â— were fetched out of the Earth as our Golden Silver Mines c. afford us our Money and other choice Jewels must not bâ— referred to Air Fire Water but Earth as the Element to which they belong anâ— into which they will be dissolved into a more pure and refined Dust or the delicious Fruits of the Earth which serve for Meat and Drink and are abused to Gluttony and Drunkenness even the Bodies of Men and Beasts are Earth in their Original and in the Funeral Service we say elegantly Earth to Earth Dust to Dust so that the pleasure which the Glutton hath from his Meat and the Unclean Person from his Lusts are but earthly pleasures Secondly Our Lusts and evil Affections are called Members upon Earth because they continue with us during our natural abode upon Earth We here are in a corruptible State and so we gather soil and defilement by conversing with an evil World and the flesh will be lusting in us and enâ—icing us to sin until we come to Heaven and that blessed State there more spiritual and refined from the Dreggs of Earth and the impurities of the Flesh Having handled in general the Doctrine of Mortification of Lusts I now come to particulars Fornication comes in the first place to be considered sometimes it is used more largeâ—y for actual Uncleanness as 1 Cor. 5. 1. The Incestuous Corinthians act in marrying his Fathers Wife called Fornication and this sense seemeth to be the more commoâ— sense of the Word in Scriptures as in Maâ— 15. 19. 1 Cor. 10. 8. yet in 1 Cor. 6. 9 Neither fornicators nor adulterers nor effâ—minate nor abusers of themselves with mankind where the other sorts of Uncleanness natural or unnatural are reckoned up aâ— but Bestiality which makes for the otheâ— sense of the word Fornication that of Whoredom which is committed between two single unmarried Persons and in that it differâ— from Adultery because it is not against anâ— Marriage-Covenant and so hath no Perjurâ— of that kind and because the Married havâ— the Remedy against Uncleanness and consequently the better may and ought to be satisfied therewith yet the place before mentioned 1 Cor. 6. 9. assures us no Fornicatoâ— shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven not excluding Repentance here as in otheâ— sins there remaining some place for Repentance and because we do not find in thâ— Law of God the Punishment of Whoredom to be absolutely Death as in case oâ— Adultery This Fornication must be Mortified iâ— those that have done thus wickedly thaâ— they do so no more and sin not for thâ— time to come as heretofore but work ouâ— of their Hearts the love of the sin and ceaâ—â— the practice of it until they have got the victory to relapse no more into it and loath themselves for their former Abominations bewailing that ever they were so foully spotted with the Flesh But the best way is to mortifie or subdue the temptations to it so as never to sin the sin None that carry Flesh and Blood about them should think it strange to be tempted to it that of the Apostle being true herein that no temptation hath happened to them â—ut what is common to men incident to â—umane nature to good as well as bad â—en the best have found themselves tempâ—ed and probable enough very strongâ—y tempted by their youthful Lusts â—hey are a sore temptation if not the â—reatest in our whole Lives and there is â—s much difficulty in conquering these unâ—ly Lusts as in breaking young headâ—rong Horses and taming of wild Beasts â—r the like and a great part of peoples â—eligion must be placed in it and they â—ust be very careful however they fall by â—sser guilt and the corruption of their â—earts to keep off from this greater
The Nicolaitans also mentioned Rev 2. 6. of the Church of Ephesus that she hated the Deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate saith the Lord. Acts 6. and 5 vers Nicolas one of the Deacons chosen by the Apostles as Clemens Alexandrinus writes Strom. 3. had a Beautiful Wife and was accused of overmuch jealousie To purge himself he brought forth his Wife into the midst of his Brethren and said he was content any Man should Marry her Of which words many took occasion to live promiscuously like Beasts no Man having his own proper Wife but making them all common as our Family of Love did in Queen Elizabeths days The Gnosticks also in the beginning of the second Century they were justly called Borbo iâ—ae or coenosi because they were filthily polluted in the mire of Uncleanness By their unhonest and filthy Conversation it came to pass that the true Professors of the Gospel were vilely Slandered by persecuting Pagans objecting to Christians the Banquets of Thyestes and the Chambering of Oedipus The Encratitae condemned Marriage in this Century In the third Century we read of the Adamiani who had their Assemblies in subterraneal places called Hypocausta because that under the place of their meetings a furnace of Fire was kindled to warm the same where they uncloathed themselves when they entred into it and stood naked both Men and Women according to the Similitude of Adam and Eve before their fall Apostolici also who among other things rejected Marriage giving out a Sentence against themselves that they were unclean because they were procreated by Marriage and consequently they were for promiscuous Lust Origeniani and Turpes as they were called were vile and filthy Beasts not abhorring from Whoredom but from procreation of Children to the end that they might seem chaste not unlike to Onan the Son of Judah whom the Lord destroyed These are mentioned by Epiphanius as also the Hieracitae who condemned Marriage and Manichees as Epiphanius contra Haereses and Hist Magdeb. In the 4th Century we read of the Priscillianists in Spain that renewed the Heresie of the Grosticks who disallowed Marriage and commended Fornication Some Bishops of Spain were entangled with this Heresie such as Justantius Salvianus and Helpidius whom Adygimus Bishop of Corduba Condemned in a Councel but when Appeals would not relieve them with Bribes they solicited the Emperours Cubiculars and were sent back again to enjoy their own places In the 5th Century we read of the first Councel of Toledo in Spain assembled under the Reigns of Arcadius and Honorius where we find Canons concerning the prohibition of Marriage to some persons and the admitting of a Man to the Communion who wanteth a Wife and contenteth himself with one Concubine only In the 6th Century the Councel of Tours in France ordained that a Bishop should count his Wife as his Sister and that he should no manner of way company with her and the first Councel of Maetiscon that neither Bishop nor Presbyter should intangle themselves with carnal Lusts And not to company with their Wives was honest and chast behaviour Satan bringing in Fornication and all Uncleanness into the Church by this means until at length Marriage of Priests was called the Heresie of the Nicolaitans by Gregory the 7th In Century the 14th in Alberts time the Emperour in Lombardy a sect of Hereticks which under colour of Religion and Charity made all things common and they moved one another to Carnal Conjunction alledging it to be a deed of Charity I come now to consider of the Temptations or the prevailing Motives or Inducements of this Sin which are either First the strong and strange delight and pleasure of the Sin our natures by Sin and the fall being as it were sunk into Flesh and brutish Sensuality those things that carry with them the greatest Gratifications of the Sense are the most acceptable to our corrupt depraved natures as this Sin is upon the very same account being a flesh-pleasing sensual Sin What do those that commit this Sin promise themselves but pleasure To be sure the pleasure of the Sin is always tiâ—ing them so that of all the Temptations to this Sin this bids the fairest with the Sinner to gain the point The Remedy against this Temptation First Consider that Man as to the Soul the more extellent part that animates and acts the Body in its Life and Motion is a spiritual being and must have a spiritual good and happiness called an Inheritance incorruptible undâ—filed or pure and uncorrupt refined from Sense when the pleasures of the flesh cannot answer that noble End for which man is designed nor suit with such a being as Man is being merâ—ly accommodated to the Animal and not the Intellectual Angelical Life Secondly Though some have said that the pleasures of Lust might vye with the pleasures of Paradise have you not heard too of a Paradise of Fools For indeed this is such a Paradise as only Fools and the worst of Men would take for their Portion and Happiness Good and Chast Vertuous and wise Men value it but at a a low rate being convinced of the poorness and meanness of a sensible good the emptiness and insufficiency of such good After long enjoyment such pleasures grow flat and dry perhaps ad nauseam usque and Mens appetite to them ceaseth as Amnons to Thamar or leaveth such a longing and hankering after them that they are still uneasie and in pain in the long intervals Thirdly Look and aim at higer pleasures the pleasures that are to be found in the ways of God for all his Ways are ways of pleasantness and his paths are peace You read of those that call the Sabbath a delight and delighting thy self in the Lord taking delight in approaching unto God and those fearing the Lord and delighting greatly in his Commandments Next the pleasures that follow and flow from a conscientious discharge of our Duty to God and Man such as the loving kindnesses of the Lord in whose favour is Life or vita verè vitalis the peace of Conscience the comforts of the Spirit and the Hope of Glory and those better pleasures which are at Gods right Hand for evermore pleasures in perfection ever fatisfactory never cloyed therewith Fourthly Consider though this pleasure be sweet in the Mouth and the tast yet it is bitter in the end and the present pleasure bought with future pain this Moment with Eternity Ah! Nocet empta dolore voluptas such pleasure costs too dear if there be no pain and remorse in the conscience when the Sinner reflects on his way and his doings If the Body escape too that Painful and Tormenting Disease yet Soul and Body must both rue it in the other World and that not according to the time they enjoyed these pleasures which would then be short indeed if their Misery could end so soon as their short-lived pleasure but momentum quod delectat c. the act of Sin is transient the guilt
all humility seek it of God and in Faith expect it and depend upon God for it Next Ordinance to be improved is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper where we may get some help also against this sin against the guilt of this sin in that Christs Blood was shed for the Remission of sin and so he is said to bear our sin on his own Body on the Tree and Christ dyed for our sins the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world St. John 1. 29. and putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself Christs Death being considered in that Ordinance as an Atonement for Sin Against the Power of Sin you know the Sacrament is a strengthning Ordinance according to that My Flesh is Meat iâ—deed and my Blood is Drink indeed that iâ— Christs Body and Blood being receiveâ— spiritually the taking Christ in his Offices of Prophet Priest and King is â— real nourishment for our Souls spiritâ—al Beings requiring spiritual Food â— Meat and Drink is for our Bodies Eating and drinking is for strengthning thâ— Body and so this spiritual food is hearty food of good nourishment of greaâ— strength I can do â—ll things through Chrisâ— strengthning me saith St. Paul Philip. 4. 13 And in this Ordinance Christ strengtheneth here especially If our Lusts bâ— strong and powerful so be it they havâ— not the Dominion over us for then wâ— are not fit for this Ordinance if we comâ— with unmortified reigning lusts lo herâ— is one that is stronger and is able to binâ— these lusts to overmaster them and keeâ— them under in subjection And thus maâ— a Soul plead with God at this Ordinance or as the Leper Mat. 8. 2. Lord if thoâ— wilt thou canst make me clean and he said I wilâ— be thou clean Lord speak to my Soul thaâ— powerful word and I shall be clean Thoâ— that commandest the tempestuous Winds and they cease the troubled Sea and Water that cast up mire and dirt and they rest command my unruly lusts and they shall be still and not send forth their filthy and polluted imaginations thoughts words or actions to defile my Soul and Body And as we receive Christs Body pure from Sin by an immaculate Conversion that so our sinful Souls and Bodies may be washed and made clean by his Body as â—t was given for our sins and through his most precious Blood and our Bodies continue pure and undefiled Members of Christ and not be made the Members of an Harlot One thing too should not be forgotten that if you have formerly come to this Holy Sacrament with your Lusts and so polluted this Ordinance and defiled the Body and Blood of Christ and made them vile by taking them into your â—ile Bodies unclean loathsome and abominable be sure your Soul be humbled for that and perhaps you will find your Lusts stir before the Sacrament to put you in mind of it and call you to this Humiliation for polluting former Sacraments that nothing may remain to corrupt or hinder the efficacy of the present Sacrament One thing more also in Ministers especially may provoke God to leave them to sins or temptations of this kind when they allow a mix'd Communion of the clean and the unclean not only in the Church but in this Ordinanceâ— A corruption and depravation in the scandalous neglect of Discipline at present which the Holy God disalloweth of anâ— complaineth that his Priests had profancâ— the holy things putting no difference between the holy and the profane the cleaâ— and the unclean Ezek. 22. 26. 1 Cor. 5. 1 â— and the Rubrick before the Communion condemning this practice c. Another Ordinance to be improved iâ— the Word You know the Word is powerful and as in the 119th Psalm v. 9 Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse hiâ— way by taking heed thereto according to thâ— Word Youthful Lusts they are called aâ— if that Age above and beyond all otherâ— were most in danger by these lusts and therefore a Young Man hath great need to cleanse his way to walk in clean paths And how must this be done it is said by taking heed by a due care to walk according to the Word of God Psal 19 8 9. The Commandment of the Lord is pure and the fear of the Lord is clean clean iâ— its effects cleansing the Soul from sin John 15. 3. Now are ye clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you When you hear the Word of God preached for Mortification of Lust Purity of Heart â—r the like take diligent heed to that word especially for that is a proper Word a suitable word for your Soul And â—f your own Parish Minister do not preach â—pon such subjects or very little and â—ery seldom preach against this reigning â—n if you hear upon enquiry of Texts of â—ny other Minister that preacheth near â—ou on this point go hear him for one Lords day or two for God works most with the Word preached and that Word which is preached is most proper powâ—rful too when it touches your conditiâ—n most and comes home to your beloâ—ed Lust Besides this there is another way of â—mproving the Word of God to very â—reat Advantage and that by treasuring â—p such places of Scripture as suit most â—ith the case of your Soul as in this partiâ—lar such places of Scripture Psal 119. â— Wherewithal shall a young man or maid â—eanse his way c. and 2 Tim. 2. 22. Flee so youthful lusts but follow righteousness â—ith charity with them that call on the Lord â—t of a pure heart Coloss 3. 5 6. Mortifie â—erefore your Members which are upon Earth â—ornication Vncleanness inordinate affectiâ— evil concupisence c. For which things sake the Wrath of God cometh on the Chiâ—dren of Disobedience But Mat. 5. 8. Bleâ—sed are the pure in Heart for they shall sâ— God And 1 Ep. of St. John 3. 3. Eveâ— one that hath this hope in him purifieth himseâ— even as he is pure Create in me a clean Heaâ— O God c. Ps 51. 10. Lord if thou wiâ— thou canst make me clean with Ezek. 37. 3â— Then shall ye remember your own evil wâ— and your doings which were not good and shâ— loath your selves in your own sight for yoâ— Iniquities and for your Abominations â— bring you to Repentance These and the like places of Scripturâ— being often Repeated in your Mind eveâ— day or in the time of Temptation wâ— be of great use to charm your Lusts aâ— lay them asleep to cleanse the young Mâ— way If the Devil at the rehearsal â— some words serviceable to the black Aâ— Charms people how much rather do yâ— think that the Holy Spirit will work wâ— the Word inspired by him And wâ— should it not be as powerfully and effecâ—ally as the Devil doth in his Charâ— Works if you be as much devoted God and as skilful in the word of Riâ—teousness as they are in the Devils Aâ— and devoted unto him But if we
and if thou canst â—t withstand the pretended Charms of Beauty then thy passion will continue â— Amnons to Thamar 2 Sam. 13. 2. Aâ— Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick for â— Sister Tamar and grew lean from day to daâ— through the fury and violence of his paâ— on raging inwardly and then to whaâ— sad Condition wilt thou be brought pâ—haps like to Haman through the contâ—ry passion of hatred and revenge whoâ— Esth 5. 11 12 13. notwithstanding tâ— Glory of his Riches and the multitude of â— Children and all his Honour yet all â— availed him nothing said he so long as â— could not be satisfied in his revenge upâ— Mordecai one passion unsatisfied wâ— put the whole man out of order Fourthly Thou mayest expect mâ— comfort in thine own Wife than in aâ— other Eccles 9. 9. God hath commâ—ded thee to live joyfully with the Wife whâ— thou lovest or shouldest love all â— days of thy life God gave her to thee â— a Comfort and there is nothing to hâ—der but that her love may be sweet aâ— comfortable unto thee and answer â— end of Marriage for the mutual heâ— society and comfort that each ought â— have of other in Prosperity and Adveâ—ty But an Adulterous love is so â— from having Godâ— blessing to these enâ— that it hath such evils attending it as do embitter the sweet of it with an accusing Conscience and the sense of Sin in so doing and that the end of it will be sad and dismal with the fear of discovery and the secrecy that is sought out and opportunity to Sin which is hard to be found without suspition the long absence and Banishment from each others company â—inning only by stealth with the shame â—hat follows such Lewdness when it is â—ound out And what though she be more beautiful was not your own Wife â—ovely in your eyes when you Married And should she not still be precious in thy â—ight and her love content thee Further Beauty is either in a fair Complexion â—andsome Features and shape of the body â—hese are only pleasing to the eye and are â—ot at all concerned in the Act of Whoreâ—om or Adultery which doth not eye â—he beauty of the person nor can enjoy â—hat nor hath its pleasures increased â—ore or less according to the proportiâ—n of Beauty in the person and conseâ—uently if the beauty of a person be an â—gument to look yet not to Lust or â—ulterate with the person where beauty â—oth not reach nor contribute to the â—easure of any of those Acts which may be greater in those that are void of beauty and are not so common to the Lusts of men as your corrupted beauties are of all the most sought unto and consequently the most common Besides that it cannot be so safe for any man to company with them as with his own Wife if she be honest and true to him which cannot be expected of the other sort of Creatures but that they should serve for others as well as himself if not for all comers with whom they make any gain and advantage by their Sin by which means of their commonness they as commonly come to be infected I shalâ— leave a better example of three famouâ— Beauties for others to admire in theiâ— care to preserve their Chastity Domninâ— the Mother Bernice and Prosdoce thâ— Daughters in whose commendation Stâ— Chrysostom made an Oration on purposâ— Hom. 5. 1. de S. S. Domn Bern. Prosâ— Tom. 1. p. 557. They eminent for theâ— beauty and features of their bodies werâ— sought for as a prey to Lust under thâ— Dioclesian Persecution and fled for it bâ— being found out by the Soldiers sent tâ— search for them begged leave to step â— little out of the Road for some privaâ— occasions and then drowned themselveâ— parishing in the Waters Another prevailing Temptation and Inducement to the Commission of this Sin is the hope of Secrecy The eye of the Adulterer waiteth for the twilight saying no eye shall see me and disguiseth his face And therefore this Sin like the Works of darkness flees the Light and seeks for the most secreâ— Chambers and places of retirement to hide it self and is very shy of all such places or persons as may discover it To which I Answer First That this Sin often leaves such marks in the Countenance as discover it the hollowness of the eyes more than ordinary and more pale look than at other times a great shyness of coming into presence and some fear and timorousness after the Commissiâ—n of this Sin lest it should be discoveâ—ed or sometimes by the gifts or presents made upon such account as Judahs Sin with Tamar Gen. 38. 18 35. By his signet â—racelets and his Staff Next persons canâ—ot long practise this Wickedness but the Neighbours Children or Servants of one â—r both the persons will shrewdly suspect â—hem and their over familiar converse and â—elight in one anothers Company and the â—ove which they bear to each other will â—iscover it self in Company and their â—aunts many times are found out and their resort to this or that place of secrecy Thirdly Those who are addicted to this Vice in their variety are like to meet with those of both sorts Sound and unsound and to get a spice of an ill Distemper and that will discover the Wife to her Husband or Husband to the Wife and sometimes to all the Neighbours and they become contemptible upon that account to all that know them Fourthly Though Married Women have got as the Proverb saith a Cloak for their sin yet you know the Fruits of this Sin discover themselves in those Women that are corrupted before Marriage and their shame comes to light The Tokens of Virginity were to be sought in the New-Marriâ—d Woman as Deut. 22. 17. Fifthly The Providence of God worketh for the discovery of this wickedness very often remarkably He so disquiets the Conscience of some of the persons that they can have no peace untill they discover it if ever they come to any sense of and Repentance for the Sin they must confess their offence and ask forgiveness especially if it can be done prudentially without an open publishing of their shame How often doth the man in Drink blaâ— out and discover his shame though noâ— without the hand of God in it Or how often doth the Child prove the very Picture of the Lover and discover it so that people read Adultery in the Face of it and can discern the true Father of it Or when people come to dye then 〈◊〉 least the Conscience finds the weight of Adultery lye heavy upon it and those that are under suspition of it the Minister according to our duty may put it to them that if they find their Consciences troubled with any weighty matter as it is in the Visitation of the Sick to make special confession of their Sin and not to go out of the World with such a guilt upon their Souls unrepented of Sixthly If they
Pleasures of the World so far â— they cannot be gotten or kept withoâ— sinning against God all his sins are so fâ— forgiven that he is in a pardoned jâ—stfied state before God yet the temporâ— chastisement and punishment is not forgâ—ven as is plain in the case of Davids pâ—nishment for his Mâ—rther and Adâ—ltery and Micah 7. 9. I will bear the Indignatiâ— of the Lord because I have sinned againâ— him until he plead my cause c. And whâ— I visit I will visit their sin upon them Nâ— the Spiritual Punishment so wholly soâ— given but that those evil courses whicâ— a Christian was most addicted unto in hâ— days of sin while he was unconverteâ— may stick by him afterwards and that â— closely that they may fetch tears from â—is eyes and signs from his heart and â—e the grief and hitterness of his Spirit â—nd make him cry out Oh wretched man â—at I am who shall deliver me c. Yea he â—ay be ready to faint under the Violence â—f his temptation and be full of doubts â—nd fears as if God had forgotten to be graâ—ious and shut up his loving kindness in disâ—leasure c. Psal 77. 9. Yea others who â—ave seemed righteous and as if they â—ere returning unto God when their past â—s have returned upon them and the â—â—ght of Gods Wrath for those sins lain envy upon their Spirits have been beatâ—n off from the ways of God and though â—hey had as it were one foot in Heaven â—ave drawn that back yea somâ— have â—een so far overcome of the Evil One â—s to have been swallowed up in despair â—nd concealing their guilt the Distemper â—ath raged the more inwardly until at â—ast they have made away themselves I â—peak this as one that passed through this â—ery trial through the Lords goodness â—hen one and the other perished in it â—nd thuâ— it will be and it must be that â—here the Sinner sinneth most and is â—ostdeep in guilt that there his Humiliation must be the greater And for tâ— very end it is that God suffers the temâ—tation to return upon him though a â—nitent and holds him long under â— temptation until he be sufficiently aâ— effectually humbled and smart for sins and find that it is an evil and bitâ— thing that he hath sinned so much â— must be punished either in this World the other World but for true Penitenâ— the future Punishment cannot reach theâ— There is no condemnation for them that are Christ Jesus therefore their sins are grief and vexation to them their pâ— and misery and punishment to them hâ— being chastened of the Lord both corporâ—ly and spiritually by the terrours of Lord let in upon their Souls for sin â— so they should not be condemned with the woâ— 1 Cor. 11. 32. Else in the second Place it is for so present sin that we are tempted by â— Lusts either for our neglect of Prayâ— and so we grow weak and want that sâ—ritual strength against these sins whâ— we used to have and our Lusts grâ— strong and get ground upon us or â— our lewd Company or high gluttonâ— feeding or spiritual Pride and Consideâ— on our own strength or for disregaâ— â—f Gods Word when that is vile in our â—yes and slighted God may then give us â—p to some vile lust or for indulging our â—ase and idleness or for Incontinency and â—sciviousness in Marriage or defiling â—olluting the Holy Sacrament or the â—ther Ordinances of God by entertainâ—ng the fancies of Lust and contemplaâ—ing them in the very time of Gods Worship Or Thirdly It must be for prevention of â—ome sin to come and thus our good God discovers to Christians the corrupâ—ion and â—ickedness of their Natures as the Founâ—ain-head of all their Lusts for a greater Mortification of this Heart-wickedness and deeper humiliation for it And this will be the best means to prevent sins for the future even when the inner rooms of the Soul are swept und cleansed from â—in for from within out of the hearts of men proceed evil Thoughts Fornications Adulteries The more the Heart is purgâ—ed the less will the life be corrupted That was partly preventive of evil when St. Saul 2 Cor. 2. 7. was tempted as he calls it by a thorn in the flesh least he should be exalted above measure God will make the best know how vile their Nature is that they are Flesh and Blood as well as other men least their exaltation in Graâ— should make them forget themselves aâ— their depravation by Nature And poâ—bly when we begin to grow more secâ— and careless more slack or negligeâ— then some Lust is let loose to awaken us Another means for the Mortification our Lusts or a good Preventive or Pâ—servative from sins of this sort is a dâ— care to flee all appearance of evil not oâ— such things as may corrupt Peoples Miâ— and Manners but whatever carries wâ— it bâ—t a suspition of lightness and imâ—desty not only to shun such speeches aâ— actions signs and geâ—tures of the Boâ— and manner of Apparel as is transparâ— and next to nakedness with sâ—ch thiâ— as have an apparent wantonness and laâ—viousness in them but avoiding thâ— things which are commonly reputed sâ— Places and Persons of ill Name and those things that may bring an ill repâ— upon you though possibly you may innocent and in that respect it be unâ—servedly A Man would not only hâ— his Wife be honest but not to go in â— Dress like to this or that Strumpet tâ— she may not so much as appear to be iâ— modest And thus our Church is not â—ly a pure Church having the Gospel a Translation uncorrupt and the Ordinances of God Prayer and Preaching and the Sacraments in their Doctrinal Purity though ut naevus in pulchro corpore some blemish in her neglect of Discipline but hath and must have a care not to come too near that shameless Strumpet of Rome if it be in appearance only The Doctrine of our Church against Transubstantiation and Declaration in the Rubrick after the Communion sufficiently clear us from symbolyzing with Idolaters in kneeling at the Sacrament and wearing the Surplice without consecraring it from Superstitition and an Opinion of Holiness of the Garment And as to the sign of the Cross some have wished it were left at liberty or the use of it forborn if there be any appearance of evil in it unto the People it appearing lawful to the Minister he should have his liberty allowed him by them to administer the Ordinance of Baptism belonging to him and not to the People and so it hath not the nature of scandal and offence as other things if not endangering the People or â—rawing them to do the like to whom it â—ppeareth evil But to return from this â—â—gression even as those that go to the utâ—ost of what is lawful may justly be carried a step farther and fall into somewhat that is sinful even so God may justly leave those to fall into real