453 / 514
SERM.
CHRISTIAN' 4SOR.ALITY,
VIE.
CHASTITY,
&C.
$45
This virtue stands
in
opposition to
those several
vices,
which
are distinguished by different
names
in
scripture,
such as
adultery, fornication,
lasciviousness.
1.
Adul-
tery,
when one
of
the persons
who
are
guilty
of
impure
embraces,
is
under
the sac
-red
bonds
of
marriage.
By
the
commission
of
this
sin
there
is
injury done
to
another
fa-
mily,
and thus it
is
not
only an
offence
against
the
laws
of
purity,
but a
violation
of
the
laws
of
justice.
2.
Par
-
nication, when
both
the
guilty persons
are
free
and
isn-
married.
It
has
been
sufficiently proved by
many wri-
ters,
that
this
is
utterly
unlawful, howsoever some have
attempted
to varnish the
guilt,
and
excuse
the
crime.
S.
Lasciviousness, which consists
in
giving a
loose to
those
impure thoughts,
words,
and actions,
which have
an
apparent
tendency toward
the
sins
beforementioned.
Besides
these,
there are other
names
and
instances
ofun-
clean 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
alt
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 bas inclined
mankind
to
form
themselves
into societies for mutual benefit.
The
brutes,
who have
no
nature
superior
to
the
animal
are not go-
verned
by
the same
laws
:
But
the God of nature,
who
as
made
us
compound
beings and,
shall
I
say?
,hash
joined
an
animal and
an angel
together
to make
up
a
earl,
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
para-
dise
in
a
state
of
innocency,
and designed to
continue
through
all
generations,
If
these
impurities
of
conver-
sation
were
publicly
permitted,
all
the
tender
and most
engaging names
of
relation
and kindred,
such
as
father,
0