434 Chap, 2. The end, andobjeEEof this Precept. Com.7. The ends of this Commandment are four. Abac. I. 13 1. Inrefpeéi of God, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil : therefore we Matti). 5.8 mull not only be pure in heart, if we will fee him, or have him to fee us ; but me I Tiler. 4.4 muff poflefs our bodies alfa (our veffels) inholinefr andfanaification, not in the lefts of uncleannefs, as the Heathens that know not God. Mal.z. 15 2. In refpeft of theChurch, and thegood of it. God by the Prophet faith,that he took order that one roan (hould be joyned to one woman, why ? that he might James t. 27 havea holy feed. That the Church might be kept pure,undefiled, and unfpotted; I Cor.6.15, 19 for as the Apoftle faith, our bodies' are the members of (Thrift, and not our own. And therefore he offendsagainh Chrift the head, and the Church his body,whe ta(r S. I I the members of Chrift,-andmakes them the members of a harlot. 3. For the good of the Common-wealth ; wedlock being politi,e parens,the Pa- rent of the Common-wealth, the preferver ofcities and kingdoms. And inthat re- Prov. 2. 16 fpeti it is, that the wife man in diverfe places counfelleth us to refrain from fleange 5.2 women. Abimilechcharged his people upon painof death not to touch Abraham's Gen. z6ñ wife. And ]udáh's fentence upon his daughter in Lawwas no leg, when he heard 3g 24 that the had played the harlot. So in the Law it was no lets than death tooffend in Deut. 22.22 this kind. And God charged Mofis to admonilh the Ilr elites to refrain from thisfin, Levis. 18, 27 becaufe it defiled theland,andwouldbe a caufe that theyfhouldbepledout of it. Lati- 8. ly St Jude tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah,and the cities about them, for giving Jude v, 7 themfelves over to fornication, and going after firange flefb, merefetforthfor an ex- ample, fufering the vengeanceof eternalfire. 4. For the particular good of private perfons, and that two ways, a. That every one may enjoy that,whereof he is Proprictarv,and chief Lord,and Prov.6.34t35 thatwholly to himfelf. And this is occulta lex natura,the fecret law ofnature.There- fore if another partake or (hare withhim, or bebut fufpeéied fo todo, it drives him into jealoulie, which the Wife mancalls therage ofa man, and he accounts it froch an injury, as cannot befatisfied with any ranfom. 2. That his name maybeperpetuated by legitimate children ofhis own. We fee Deut. 23. z that God wouldhave no baltard enter into his congregation. And by this alto aman preferves the chaftityof his wife. And theft four are the ends. Now for the affeCion it felf and groundof theCommandment, as it was 3G143-, heat, in the other Commandment ; fo here it isigleviaia, concupifeence,thatthis dea- Col. 3: 5 leth withal ; not that every concupifcence is evil,for the Apoftle tellsus of éarlavidar 1ceyds an evil concupifcence, to intimate, that there is forne concupifcence or delire, Rom. 13. to which is not evil. And in another place he willeth us,not tohave providence and care of the flefh, tofulfil the lulls ofit: implying that there is a lawful care ofthe ftelh to behad, fo that the lulls of it be not fulfilled. More plainly ; there is in man, as in all other creatures, adelire firfl to preferve himfelf in individuo, and fecondly, infpecie. And therefore in refpel that theft are molt neceffary, it pleafed God to ordain a bait for both, that menmight be allured to them ; for as there is a pleafure in eating and drinking forthe one, fo is there for the other in the ad ofgeneration. And there is a rule, in invcinte neceflariis, maxima voluptas maxime allicit; in things moil neceffary thegreateli plcafure allurethmoll. And another, quod maxime albeit maxime corrumpit, that which allureth molt, cor- rupts molt. And the reafon is, quia appetitus tendit ultra modem, the appetite ex- ceeds thedue meafure. For we perfwade our felves, that if the doing ofit once be good,the doing ofit oftenwill be better,and fo we come as lift to do it toomuch,be- caufe theappetite knows not what is enough,and fo it falelth into corrupt cuftorre. For the courfe ofour nature is,when it avoids any evil,it avoided) itfo vehemently, that fometime iftherebe any good with it, it putteth out thegood top : and if it de- fire any good,it defireth the evil too that flicketh to it. Therefore moderationand temperance is tobe ufed ; forvertue Rands inmedio,between two extreams : yet tem- perance is magic in defellu, more in-the want than in theexcefs,as fortitude is magis in excefu,more in the excels than in the want. This Concupifcence of the flefh, as it is in us,fo it is in beafts,and therefore it bath the loweft place: and is,as Plato faith,alligata ventri,tyed to the belly,as a turnmould tye a harfe or an afs to the manger. Now being thus in the lowefl place, yet being of neceffary ufe, the rule is, In maxime necefariis ordo eft m o amo necéfaeaot , in things moll
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