to any other man, and the man alfo, fo joined with her, to commit adultery.

In what cafe then are thefe adulterers, which for the love of an whore put away their true and lawful wife, against all law, right reafon, and confcience? O how damnable is the state wherein they ftand! Swift destruction fhall fall on them, if they repent not, and amend not: for God will not fuffer holy wedlock thus to be dishonoured, hated, and defpifed. He will once punish this fiefhly and licentious manner of living, and caule that this holy ordinance fhall be had in reverence and honour. For furely Heb. iii. wedlock, as the Apoftle faith, is bonourable among all men, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and fornicators God will judge, that is to fay, punifh and condemn. But to what purpose is this labour taken to describe and fet forth the greatnefs of the fin of whoredom, and the difcommodities that iffue and flow out of it, feeing that breath and tongue fhall fooner fail any man, than he fhall or may be able to fet it out according to the abomination and heinousness thereof? Notwithstanding this is fpoken to the intént that all men fhould flee whoredom, and live in the fear of God. God grant that it may not be spoken in

vain.

The Third Part of the Sermon against Adultery.

IN

N the Second Part of this Sermon against Adultery that was laft read, you have learned how earnestly the Scripture warneth us to avoid the fin of adultery, and to embrace cleannefs of life; and that through adultery we fall into all kinds of fin, and are made bond-slaves to the Devil; through cleannefs of life we are made members of Chrift; and finally, how far adultery bringeth a man from all goodness, and driveth him headlong into all vices, mifchief, and mifery. Now will I declare unto you in order, with what grievous punifhments God in times paft plagued adultery, and how certain worldly princes alfo did punifh it, that ye may perceive that whoredom and fornication be fins no lefs deteftable in the fight of God and all good men, than I have hitherto uttered. In the first Book of Mofes we read, that when mankind began to be multiplied upon the carth, the men and women gave their minds fo greatly to fleshly delight and filthy pleafure, that they lived without all fear of God. God, feeing this their.

beaftly

beafly and abominable living, and perceiving that they amended not, but rather increafed daily more and more in their finful and unclean manners, repented that he had ever made man: and, to fhew how greatly he abhorreth adultery, whoredom, fornication, and all uncleannefs, he made all the fountains of the deep earth to burft.out, and the fluices of heaven to be opened, fo that the rain came down upon the earth by the space of forty days and forty nights, and by this meaus deftroyed the whole world, and all mankind, eight perfons only excepted; that is to fay, Noah, the preacher of righteoujnejs, as St. Peter calleth him, and his wife, his three fons and their wives. O what a grievous plague did God caft here upon all living creatures for the fin of whoredom! For the which God took vengeance, not only of man, but of all beafts, fowls, and all living creatures. Manflaughter was committed before; Gen. iv. yet was not the world deftroyed for that: but for whoredom all the world (few only excepted) was overflowed with waters, and fo perifhed. An example worthy to be remembered, that ye may learn to fear God.

We read again, that for the filthy fin of uncleannefs, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities nigh unto them, were deftroyed by fire and brimflone from heaven, fo Gen. xix. that there was neither man, woman, child, nor beast, nor yet any thing that grew upon the earth there, left undetroyed. Whofe heart trembleth not at the hearing of this hiftory? Who is fo drowned in whoredom and uncleannefs, that will not now for ever after leave this abominable living, feeing that God fo grievously punifheth uncleannefs, to rain fire and brimftone from heaven, to deftroy whole cities, to kill man, woman, and child, and all other living creatures there abiding, to confume with fire all that ever grew? What can be more manifest tokens of God's wrath and vengeance againft uncleanness and impurity of life? Mark this hiftory, good people, and fear the vengeance of God. Do you not read alfo, that God did fmite Pharaoh and bis houfe with great plagues, Gen. xii. because that he ungodlily defired Sarah, the wife of Abraham? Likewife we read of Abimelech, king of Gerar, al- Gen. xx. though he touched her not by carnal knowledge. These plagues and punishments did God caft upon filthy and unclean perfons, before the Law was given, (the law of nature only reigning in the hearts of men) to declare how great love he had to matrimony and wedlock; and again, how nuch he abhorreth adultery, fornication, and all uncleannefs. And when the Law that forbad whoredom was Lev. xxii.

given by Mofes to the Jews, did not God command that the breakers thereof should be put to death? The words of the Law be thefe; Whofo committeth adultery with any man's wife, fhall die the death, both the man and the woman, because he bath broken wedlock with his neighbour's wife. In the Law alfo it was commanded, that a damofel and a man taken together in whoredom, should be both floned to death. Num. xxv. In another place we alío read, that God commanded Mofes to take all the head rulers and princes of the people, and to hang them upon gibbets openly, that every man might fee them, because they either committed, or did not punish whoredom. Again, did not God fend fuch a plague among the people for fornication and uncleannefs, that there died in one day three and twenty thousand? I pafs over, for lack of time, many other hiftories of the Holy Bible, which declare the grievous vengeance and heavy difpleasure of God against whoremongers and adulterers. Certes, this extreme punishment appointed of God fheweth evidently how greatly God hateth whoredom. And let us not doubt, but that God at this prefent abhorreth all manner of uncleannefs, no lefs than he did in the old Law, and will undoubtedly punish it, both in this world and in the world to come. For he is a God, that can abide no wickedness; therefore ought it to be efchewed of all that tender the glory of God, and the falvation of their own fouls. St. Paul faith, All these things are written for our example, and to teach us the fear of God, and the obedience to his holy Law. For if God fpared not the natural branches, neither will be fpare us that be but grafts, if we commit the like offence. If God deftroyed many thousands of people, many cities, yea, the whole world, for whoredom; let us not flatter ourfelves, and think we fhall escape free and without punishment. For he hath promised in his holy Law, to fend moft grievous plagues upon them that tranfgrefs or break his holy commandments. Thus have we heard how God punifheth the fin of adultery: let us now hear certain laws, which the civil magiftrates devised in their countries for the punishment thereof, that we may learn how uncleannefs hath ever been detefted in all wellordered cities and commonwealths, and among all honeft Laws de perfons. The law among the Lepreians was this, that vifed for the when any were taken in adultery, they were bound and Punent carried three days through the city, and afterwards, as long dom. as they lived, they were defpifed, and with fhame and con

Pfal. v.

1 Cor. x.

of whore

fufion counted as perfons void of all honefty. Among the Locrenfians, the adulterers had both their eyes thruft out.

The

The Romans in times paft punished whoredom, fometime by fire, fometime by fword. If any man among the Egyptians had been taken in adultery, the law was, that he thould openly, in the prefence of all the people, be fcourged naked with whips, unto the number of a thoufand ftripes: the woman that was taken with him had her nofe cut off, whereby fhe was known ever after to be a whore, and therefore to be abhorred of all men. Among the Arabians, they that were taken in adultery had their heads ftricken from their bodies. The Athenians punifhed whoredom with death in like manner. So likewife did the barbarous Tartarians. Among the Turks even at this day, they that be taken in adultery, both man and woman, are ftoned ftraightway to death, without mercy. Thus we fee what godly acts were devifed, in times paft, of the high powers, for the putting away of whoredom, and for the maintaining of holy matrimony or wedlock, and pure converfation; and the authors of thefe acts were no Chriftians, but the Heathen: yet were they fo inflamed with the love of honefty and purenefs of life, that for the maintenance and confervation or keeping up of that, they made godly ftatutes, fuffering neither fornication or adultery to reign in their realins unpunished. Chrift faid to the people, The Ninevites fhall rife at the judgment with Matt. xii. this nation, (meaning the unfaithful Jews) and ball condemn them: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas: but bebold, faith he, a greater than Jonas is bere, (meaning himfelf) and yet they repent not. Shall not, think you, likewife the Locrenfians, Arabians, Athenians, with fuch other, rife up in the judgment and condemn us, forafmuch as they ceafed from their whoredom at the commandment of man; and we have the law and manifest precepts and commandments of God, and yet forfake we not our filthy converfation? Truly, truly, it fhall be eafier at the day of judgment to thefe Heathens than to us, except we repent and amend. For though death of body feemeth to us a grievous punishment in this world for whoredom; yet is that pain nothing in comparison of the grievous torments which adulterers, fornicators, and all unclean perfons fhall fuffer after this life: for all fuch fhall be excluded and fhut out of the kingdom of heaven, as St. Paul faith, Be not deceived; for neither whoremongers, nor 1 Col. vi. worfbippers of images, nor adulterers, nor effeminate perfons, nor fodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous perfons, nor drunkards, nor curfed fpeakers, nor revilers, fhall inherit the kingdom of God. And St. John in his Revelation faith, That whore- Apoc. xx.

mongers

Gal. v.

Eph. v.

Mark ix.

mongers shall have their part with murderers, forcerers, enchanters, liars, idolaters, and fuch other, in the lake which burneth with fire and brimflone, which is the fecond death. The punishment of the body, although it be death, hath an end; but the punishment of the foul, which St. John calleth the fecond death, is everlafting; there fhall be fire Matt. xiii. and brimstone, there fhall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; the worm, that there shall gnaw the confcience of the damned, fhall never die. O whofe heart diftilleth not even drops of blood, to hear and confider thefe things? If we tremble and thake at the hearing and naming of these pains, O what fhall they do that fall feel them, that fhall fuffer them, yea, and ever fhall fuffer, worlds without end! God have mercy upon us. Who is now fo drowned in fin, and paft all godlinefs, that he will fet more by filthy and ftinking pleature, which foon paffeth away, than by the lofs of everlafting glory? Again, who will fo give himself to the lufts of the flesh, that he feareth nothing at all the pain of hell-fire? But let us hear how we may efchew the fin of whoredom and adultery, that we may walk in the fear of

cation and

God, and be free from thofe moft grievous and intolerable Remedies torments, which abide all unclean perfons. Now to avoid whereby to fornication, adultery, and all uncleannefs, let us provide avoid forni- that above all things we may keep our hearts pure and adultery. clean from all evil thoughts and carnal lufts: for if that be once infected and corrupt, we fall headlong into all kind of ungodlinefs. This fall we cafily do, if, when we feel inwardly, that Satan our old enemy tempteth us unto whoredom, we by no means confent to his crafty fuggef tions, but valiantly refift and withstand him by ftrong faith in the word of God: alleging againft him always in our heart this commandment of God; Scriptum eft, Non machaberis it is written, Thou shalt not commit whoredom. It fhall be good alfo for us ever to live in the fear of God, and to fet before our eyes the grievous threatenings of God against all ungodly finners; and to confider in our mind how filthy, beaftly, and fhort that pleasure is, whereunto Satan continually stirreth and moveth us: and again, how the pain appointed for that fin is intolerable and everlafting. Moreover, to use a temperance and fobriety in eating and drinking, to efchew unclean communication, to avoid all filthy company, to flee idlenefs, to delight in reading the holy Scriptures, to watch in godly prayers and virtuous meditation, and at all times to exercife fome godly travels, fhall help greatly to the efchewing of whoredom.

And