Arg. 3. It is a sin that defiles and destroys the body ; 1 Cor. vi. 18. " He that committeth adultery, sinneth against his own body." In most other sins the body is the instrument, here it is the object a- gainst which the sin is committed : that body of thine, which should he the temple of the Holy Ghost, is turned into a sty of filthiness ; yea, it not only defiles, but destroys it. Job calls it a " fire that burn- " eth to destruction,"' Job xxxi. 12. or as the Septuagint reads it, a fire that burneth in all the members. It is a sin that God hath plagued with strange and terrible diseases ; that Morbus Gallicus, and Sudor Anglicus, and that Plica Polonica, whereof you may read in Bolton's four last things, page 30. and Sclater on Rom. i. 30. These were judgments sent immediately by God's own hand, to cor- rect the new sins and enormities of the world ; for they seem to put the best physicians besides their books. O how terrible is it to lie groaning under the sad effects of this sin ! As Solomon tells us, Prov. V. 11. " And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed." To this sense some expound that terrible text, Heb. xiii. 4 " Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled ; but *• whoremongers and adulterers God will judge ;" i. e. with some re- markable judgment inflicted on them in this world : if it escape the punishment of men, it shall not escape the vengeance of God. Ah I with what comfort may a man lie down upon a sick-bed, when the sickness can be looked upon as a fatherly visitation coming in mercy ? But thou that shortenest thy life, and bringeth sickness on thyself by such a sin, art the devil's martyr ; and to whom canst thou turn in such a day for comfort ?
Arg. 4 Consider what an indelible blot it is to thy nature, which can never be wiped away ; though thou escape with thy life, yet, as one says, thou shalt be burnt in the hand, yea, branded in the fore- head. What a foul scare is that upon the face of David himself, which abides to this day ? " He was upright in all things, save in the " matter of Uriah." And how was he slighted by his own children and servants after he had committed this sin ! compare 1 Sam. ii. 80. with 2 Sam. xi. 10, 11. »« A wound and dishonour shall he get ; " and his reproach shall not be wiped away. This is to give thine " honour to another," Prov. d. 9. The shame and reproach at-
518 THE HAIILOT''s face in the SCRIPTirRE'CLASS.
tending it should be a preservative from it. Indeed the devil temptis to it by hopes of secresy and concealment ; but though many other sins lie hid, and possibly shall never come to light until that day of manifestation of all hidden things, yet this is a sin that is most usual- ly discovered. Under the law, God appointed an extraordinary way for the discovery of it. Numb. v. 13. And to this day the pro- vidence of God doth often very strangely bring it to light, though it be a deed of darkness : the Lord hath many times brought such per- sons, either by terror of conscience, phrensy, or some other means, to be the publishers and proclaimers of their own shame. Yea, ob- serve this, said the reverend Mr. Hildersham on the fourth of John, even those that are most cunning to conceal and hide it from the eyes of the world, yet through the just judgment of God, every one sus- pects and condemns them for it : this clashes in pieces, at onestroke, that vessel in which the precious ointment of a good name is carried. A fool in Israel shall be thy title ; and even children shall point at thee.
A?'g. 5. It scatters thy substance, and roots up the foundation of thy estate ; Job xxxi. 12. " It roots up all thy increase, " Strangers *' shall be filled with thy wealth, and thy labours shall be in the *' house of a stranger," Prov. v. 10. " For by means of a whorish " woman, a man is brought to a morsel of bread," Prov. vi. 26. It gives rags for its livery (saith one) and though it hefurtheredhy the fulness, yet it \^ followed with a morsel of bread. This is one of those temporal judgments with which God punishes the unclean per- son in this life. The word Delilah, which is the name of a harlot, is conceived to come from a root that signifies to exhaust, drain, or draw dry. This sin will quickly exhaust the fullest estate ; and, oh ! what a dreadful thing w^ill this be, when God shall require an account of thy stewardship in the great day ! how righteous is it, that that man should be fuel to the wTath of God, whose health and wealth have been so much fuel to maintain the flame of lust ! O how lavish of their estates are sinners to satisfy their lusts ! if the members of Christ be sick or in prison, they may there perish and starve before they will relieve them ; but to obtain their lusts, O how expensive ! " Ask me never so much, and I will give it," saith Shechem, Gen. xxxiv. 12. " Ask what thou wilt, and it shall be given thee," said Herod to the daughter of Herodias. Well, you are liberal in spend- ing treasures upon your lusts ; and believe it, God will spend trea- sures of wrath to punish you for your lusts. It had been a thousand times better for thee thou hadst never had an estate, that thou hadst begged thy bread from door to door, than to have such a sad reckon- ing as thou shalt shortly have for it.
Arg. 6. O stand off from this sin, because it is a pit, out of which very few have been recovered that have fallen therein. Few are the footsteps of returners from this den. The longer a man lives in it, the less power he hath to leave it. It is not only a damning.^ but an
THE harlot's TACE IN THE SCRIPTURE-GLASS. 319