sonable request, to take but as much care f()r the saving of your souls, as the devil doth for the destroying of them ?
Quest. How shall we do to get our souli saved ?
Ans. By having them sanctified. Only the " pure in heart shall see God." (iet your souls inlaid and enamelled with ho- liness, 1 Pet. i. 16. It is not enough that ' we cease to do evil,' (which is all tl»e evi- dence some have to shew) this is to lose heaven by short shooting ; but we must be inwardly sanctified ; not only the ' unclean spirit' must go out, but we must be filled with the ' Holy Ghost,' Eph. v. 18. This holiness must needs be, if you consider God is to dwell with you here, and you are to dwell with him hereafter.
First. God is to dwell with you here God takes up the soul for his own lodging, Eph. iii. 17., " That Christ may dwell in your heart." Therefore the soul must be consecrated. A king's palace must be kept clean, especially his presence-chamber. " The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. vi. 19. then the soul is the sanctum sanctorum : how holy ought that to be ?
Secondly. You are to dwell with God. Heaven is an holy place, 1 Pet. i. 4., " An inheritajice undefiled." And how can you dwell with God till you are sanctified? We do not put wine into a musty vessel : God will not put the new wine of glory into a sinful heart. O then, as you love your souls, and would have them saved e- ternally, endeavour after holiness ! By this means you will have an idiMitity and fitness f«>r the kingdom of heaven, and your souls will be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
OF THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT.
ExoD. XX. 14. Thou shall not commit adultery.
GOD is a pure, holy spirit, and hath an infinite antipathy against all uncleanness. In this commandment he hath entered his caution against it, nan mcEchaberis, — " Thou Bhalt not commit adultery." The sum of this commandment is, the preservation of i
corporal purity. We must take heed of running on the rock of uncleanness, and so making shij)wreck of our chastity. In this commandment there is something tacitly implied, and something expressly forbidden. I. Something tacitly implied, viz. That
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OF THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT.
the ordinance of marriage should be observ- ed.
II. Something expressly forbidden, viz. The infecting ourselves with bodily pollu- tions, *' Thou shalt not commit adultery."
I. Something implied, — that the ordi- nance of marriage should be observed, 1 Cor. vii. 2., " Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own hus- band." " Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled," Heb. xiii. 4. God did institute marriage in paradise ; he brought the woman to the man, Gen. ii. 22. He did it as it were give them in mar- riage. And Jesus Christ did honour mar- riage with his presence, John ii. 2. The first miracle he wrought was at a marriage, when he turned the water into wine. Mar- riage is a type and resemblance of the mys- tical union between Christ and his church, Eph. V. 32. Concerning marriage,
1st. There are general duties. — 1. The general duty of the husband is to rule, Eph. V, 23., " The husband is the head of the wife," The head is the seat of rule and government; but he must rule with discre- tion. He is head, therefore must not rule without reason. — 2. The general duty on the wife's part is submission. Eph. v. 22., " Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." It is observa- ble the Holy Ghost passed by Sarah's fail- ings, he doth not mention her unbelief, but he takes notice of that which was good in her, her reverence and obedience to her husband, 1 Pet. iii. 6., " Sarah obeyed A- braham, calling him lord."
2d. Special duties belonging to marriage are love and fidelity. — 1. Love, Eph. v. 25., Love is the marriage of the affections. There is as it were but one heart in two bodies ; love lines the yoke and makes it easy ; love perfumes the marriage relation, without which it is not conjvgium but conjurgium ; it is like two poisons in one stomach, one is ever sick of the other. — 2. Fidelity. In marriage there is mutual promise of living together faithfully according to God's holy ordinance. Among tho Romans, on the day of marriage, the woman presented to her husband fire and water : fire refines metal, water cleanseth, — hereby signifiying, that she would live with her husband in
chastity and sincerity. This is the first thing in the commandment iui]>lied, that the ordinance of marriage should be purely ob- served.