infatuating sin. The danger of falling this way must needs be great, and the fall very desperate ; because few that fall into it do ever rise a^ain. I shall lay two very terrible scriptures before you to this pur- pose, either of them enough to drive thee speedily to Christ, or to drive thee out of thy wits ; the one is that, Eccl. vii. 26. " And I *« find more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is snares and " nets, and her hands as bands : Whoso pleaseth God shall escape " from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her." The argument which the Spirit of God uses here to dissuade from this sin, is taken from the subject ; they that fall into it, for the most part, are persons in whom God has no delight, and so in judgment are dehvered up to it, and never recovered by grace from it. The other is that in Prov. xxii. 14. " The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; he that is " abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein." O terrible word ! able to daunt the heart of the securest sinner. Your whores embrace you, yea, but God abhors you ! You have their hve, Oh but you are under God's hatred I What say you to these two scriptures ? If you are not atheists, methinks such a word from the mouth of God, should strike like a dart through thy soul. And upon this account it is, that they never are recovered, because God has no delight in them. If this be not enough, view one scripture more, Prov. ii. 18, 19. " For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto " the dead : None that go to her, return again, neither take they " hold of the paths of life." Reader, if thou be a person addicted to this sin, go thy way, and think seriously what a case thou art in. None return again, i. e. a very few of many : The examples of such as have been recovered are very rare. Pliny tells us, the mermaids are commonly seen in green meadows, and have inchanting voices ; but there are always found heaps of dead men's bones lying by them. This may be but a fabulous story : But I am sure, it is true of tlie har- lot, whose syren songs have allured thousands to their inevitable de- struction. It is a captivating sin that leads away the sinner in tri- umph ; they cannot deliver their souls ; Prov. vii. 22. " He goeth " after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a [fool] *• to the correction of the stocks." Mark, a fool ; it denientates and befools men, takes away their understanding ; the Septuagint renders it, wc-rsg xvuv st/ hsfLug, as a dog to the collar ; or, like as we use to say, a dog in a string. I have read of one, that having by this sin wasted his body, was told by physicians, that except he left it, he would quickly lose his eyes : He answered, if it be so, then vale lumen amicum, farewell sweet light. And I remember, Luther \NTites of a certain nobleman in his country, who was so be- sotted with the sin of whoredom, that he v/as not ashamed to say, that if he might live here for ever, and be carried from one stew to another, he would never desire any other heaven. The greatest con- querors, that have subdued kingdoms, and scorned to be command- ed by any, have been miserably enslaved and captivated by this lust..
S20 THE HAilLOT''s FACE IN THE SCRIPTUKE-GLASS.
0 think sadly upon this argument ! God often gives them up to im- pertinency, and will not spend a rod upon them to reclaim them. See Hos. iv. 14. Rev. xxii. 11.
Arg". 7. And then in the 7th place, those few that have been re- covered by repentance out of it, O hon- bitter hath God made it to their souls ! " I find it (saith Solomon) more bitter than death,'' Eccl. vii. 26. Death is a very bitter thing ; O what a struggling and reluctance is there in nature against it ; but this is more bitter. Poor David found it so, when he roared under those bloody lashes of conscience for it, in Psal. li. Ah ! when the Lord shall open the poor sinner''s eyes, to see the horror and guilt he hath hereby con- tracted upon his own poor soul, it will haunt him as a ghost, day" and night, and terrify his soul with dreadful forms and representa- tions ! O dear bought pleasure, if this were all it should cost ! What is now become of the pleasure of sin ? O what gall and worm- wood wilt thou taste, when once the Lord shall bring thee to a sight of it ! The Hebrew word for repentance (Nacham.) and the Greek word ( Aletamelia^) the one signifies, an irking of the soul, and the other signifies, after-grief: Yea, it is called, a renting of the heart, as if it were torn in pieces in a man's breast. Ask such a poor soul, what it thinks of such courses now ? Oh f now it loaths, abhors it- self for them. Ask him, if he dare sin in that kind again ? You may as well ask me (will he answer) whether I will thrust my hand into the fire. Oh ! it breeds an indignation in him against himself That word, ayaiaxr/^cr/v, 2 Cor. vii. 11. signifies the rising of the stomach with very rage, and being sick with anger. Religious wrath is the fiercest wrath. O what a furnace is the breast of a poor penitent I what fumes, what heats do abound in it, whilst the sin is even before him, and the sense of the guilt upon him ? One night of carnal pleasure will keep thee many days and nights upon the rack of horror, if ever God give thee repentance unto life.
Arg. 8. And if thou never repent, as indeed but ^qw do that fall into this sin, then consider how God will follow thee with eternal vengeance : Thou shalt have flaming fire for burning lust. This is a sin that hath the scent of fire and brimstone with it, wherever you meet with it in sciipture. The harlot's guests are lodged in the depths ofhelly Prov. ix. 18. No more perfumed beds; they must now lie do^^^l in flames. Whoremongers shall have their part in the lake that burnetii with fire and brimstone ; which is the second death. Rev. xxi. 8. Such shall not inherit the kingdom of God and Christ,
1 Cor. vi. 9. No dog shall come into the New Jerusalem ; there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth, or that worketh abomination. You have spent your strength upon sin, and now God sets himself a work to shew the glory of his power in punishing, Rom. ix. 22. The wrath of God is transacted upon them in hell by his own immediate hand, Heb. x. 30. Because no creature is strong enough to convey all his wrath, and it must all be poured out upon
THE harlot's face IX THE SCHIPTUKE-GLASS. S21