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CHRISTIAN MORALITY,
VIZ.
CHASTITY,
&C.
[SEAM.
XXYIr;
saith the
same holy writer,
"
let neither fornication,
nor
any ,unclean practices
be
so
much as once named amongst
you as becometh saints
:"
that
is,
let
them
never' be
named without abhorrence.
"
For
this ye know,
that no
whoremonger,
nor
any unclean person,
nor
covetous man
who
is
an idolater,
hath
any
inheritance
in
the
kingt}orn
of
Christ
and
of
God.
Let
no
man deceive you
with
vain
words
;
for
because
of
these things cometh the wrath
of
God
upon the children of
disobedience.
Eph.
v.
3-6.
The
visions
of
St.
John
in
the
book
of
the
Revelation,
pronounce
the doom
of
whoremongers
with
the
rest
ef
notorious
sinners, and
give
them
their
part
in
the
lake
which
burneth
with fire
and
brimstone,
which
is the se-
cond death. Rev.
xxi.
8.
How impiously
bold
are
those
sinners,,
who
dare venture
through
all these
terrors to
gratify a sensual appetite,! Who can
rush upon the point
of
the avenging sword
of
God, and plunge
themselves
into
everlasting burnings, to taste the deceitful baits
of impure
and forbidden pleasure
!
Before
I
conclude
this head,
I
would
just
hint
a
few
directions
to those who would
preserve their
modesty
and
virtue, and prevail against
all
temptations
to
impurity,
1.
Set
a
severe watch
upon your
eyes
and your heart.
-Keep all the powers
of
nature under
a
proper
discipline,
and guard
all
the avenues
of
the soul. Secure
your
senses
without,
and your
fancy within,
as
much
as possi-
ble,
from all
allurements
of
this kind.
Let
us
remem-
ber,
that
sin
often begins
in the
imagination, and
therefore
we
must estahlish,a strict guard upon our roving thoughts,
and
reduce them
when they
first begin to
go
astray.
We
must lay
a
strong chain of
restraint
upon these
endless
wanderers
;
for
our Saviour himself
tell
us,
"
Out of
the
heart
proceed
adulteries
and fornications,
which defile
the
man."
Mat.
xv. 19.
We must make
a
self
denying covenant
with
our
eyes,
teat
we
may
not
look upon temptation, lest
we be
led
astray
from the
paths
of
purity.
Our
blessed Lord
him-
Self
gives
us
a sufficient
caution,
when he explains the
seventh commandment
:
.Mat.
v.
28.
I
say
unto
you,
that
whosoever
looketh
on
a
woman
to
lust.after
her,
hath committed adultery
with her already
in his
heart.
When our
Saviour forbids a wanton
look, he
requires
that
we
put
a
vail
upon our
eyes,
"lest
like
wandering