8778 CItRISTLAIS MORAï/TN', sinners, and givethem " their part inthe lakewhichburneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second 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 them- selves into everlasting burnings, to taste the deceitful baits of im- pure and forbidden pleasure ! Before I conclude thishead, I wouldjust hinta fewdirections to those who would preserve their modesty and virtue, and pre- vail against all temptations to impurity. I. Set a severe watch upon your eyes and your heart. Keep allthe 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 possible, from all allurements of this kind. Let us remember that sin often begins in the imagina- tion, and therefore we must establish 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 those endless wanderers; for our Saviour himself tells us, Out of the heart proceed adulteries andfornications,whichdefile the man; Mat. xv. 19. We must make a self-denying covenant with our eyes, that we may not lookupon temptation, lest we be led astray from the paths of purity. Our blessed Lord himself gives us a sufficient caution, when he explains the seventh commandment; Mat. v. 28. Tsay unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, ?lath committed adultery withher already in his heart. When our Saviour forbids a wanton look, he requires that we 'put aveil upon our eyes, lest like wandering stars or foolish fires they betray us into foul and miry pits of pollution, or lead us to deep and dangerous pollutions. Avoid all impure representations, pictures, and images: Turn your eyes from immodest sights, and your ears from polluted language, whether it be indiscourse, or writing, a lewd jest, or a wanton song. Let them not entertain you, though they may be attended and adorned with never so many colours of wit, and charms of music. Romances and novels, and in- vented stories of forbidden love, have painted over these impu- rities with shining eloquence, and awakened the same foolish passions in the reader. O how unhappily has the art of verse, which was first consecrated to the service of the temple, been prostituted to the vilest purposes, to give gay colours to tempta- tion, and gild over the foulest images of iniquity ! . And what a multitude of souls may date the commencement of their guilt-and ruin from the time when they began to frequent the poisonous entertainments of the stage! Their ears which were shocked at
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