^ ' N on ego sum ambitiosus, sed nemo aliter Romse vivere potest,' &c.
VeR. 7.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 223
may be too hard for men. Well, then, learn to live by rule and not by example, and propose the sins of others to your grief, not imitation : * Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them rather,' Eph. v. ; their practice will never afford you excuse nor exemption. Your duty is to be good in a wicked age, fresh, like fish in the salt water, ' Follow not a multitude to do evil,' wickedness is never the less odious because it is more common ; it is not safe always to keep the road ; the bad way is known by the breadth of it, and the much company in it. Mat. vii. 13. To walk with God is praiseworthy, though none do it besides thyself ; and to walk with men in the way of sin is dangerous, though millions do it besides thee.
Obs. 4. Again, from that, and the cities about them in like manner. The lesser cities imitated the greater ; Admah and Zeboim followed the example of Sodom and Gomorrah. An error in the first concoc- tion is seldom mended in the second ; if sin pass the heads and chiefs of the people, it is taken up by others under their command. When the first sheet is done oft", others are printed by the same stamps. Magistrates are public fountains of good or evil to the people over whom they are set. If they be cold and careless in the worship of God, given to contempt of the ministry, enemies to reformation, it will be generally taken up as a fashion by others. When ' the head is sick, the whole heart is faint,' Isa. i. 5. Diodorus Siculus telleth us of a people in Ethiopia, that if their kings halted, they would maim them- selves that they might halt likewise ; if they wanted an eye, in a fool- ish imitation they would make themselves blind, that they might com- ply even with the defects and diseases of their princes. The vices of them in place and power are authorised by their example and pass for virtues ; if they be slight in the use of ordinances, it will be taken up as a piece of religion by inferiors to be so too.
Obs. 5. From the first crime here specified, giving themselves over io fornication, that adulterous uncleanness doth much displease God. When they were given over to fornication they were given over to judgment. (1.) This is a sin that doth not only defile the soul but the body : 1 Cor. vi. 18, * Every sin that a man doth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.' Most other sins imply an injury done to others, to God or our neighbour. This more directly an injury to ourselves, to our own bodies. It is a wrong to the body, considered either as our ' vessel,' 1 Thes. iv. 4, or as ' the temple of the Holy Ghost,' 1 Cor. vi. 19. If you consider it as our vessel or instrument for natural uses, you wrong it by uncleanness — namel3^ as it destroyeth the health of the body, quencheth the vigour of it, and blasteth the beauty, and so it is self-murder. If you consider it as the temple of the Holy Ghost, it is a dishonour to the body to make it a channel for lust to pass through. Shall we make a sty of a temple ? abuse that to so vile a purpose which the Holy Ghost hath chosen to dwell in, to plant it into Christ as a part of his mystical body, to use it as an instru- ment in God's service, and finally to raise it out of the grave, and con- form it to Christ's glorious body? The dignity of the body well con- sidered is a great preservative against lust. (2.) It brawneth the soul ; the softness of all sensual pleasures hardeneth the heart, but this sin,
224 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 7.
being the consummate act of sensuality, much more: Hosea iv. 11, ' Whoredom and wine take away the heart.' These two are mentioned because usually they go together, and both take away the heart, besot the conscience, take away the tenderness of the affections. So that men are not ashamed of sin, insensible of danger, and unfit for duty, and so grow sapless, careless, senseless. (3.) Next to the body and soul there is the name, now it blotteth the name: Prov. vi. 33, 'A wound and a dishonour shall he get, and a reproach that shall not be wiped off.' Sensual wickedness is most disgraceful, as having turpitude in it, and being sooner discerned than spiritual. (4.) It blasteth the estate : Heb. xiii. 4, 'Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge;' he will judge others, but surely these, and that remarkably in this life. (5.) This doth exceedingly pervert the order of human societies ; Solomon maketh it worse than theft, Prov. vi. 29-32. A thief stealeth out of necessity, but here is no cogent necessity ; the loss here is not reparable, as that which is made by theft. It bringeth in great confusion, in families, &c., therefore adultery under the law was punished by death, which theft was not. (6.) It is a sin usually accompanied with im- penitency — namely, as it weareth out remorse, and every spark of good conscience. Kead those cutting places : Prov. xxii. 14, ' The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit, and he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein ; ' so Prov. ii, 19, ' None that go unto her return again ; nor do they take hold of the ways of life.^ So see Eccles. vii. 26-28. It is a sin into which God useth to give over reprobates. Solomon saith he knew but one returning. Well, then, be not drunk with the wine of Sodom, and do not squeeze out the clusters of Gomorrah. Whore- dom is a deep ditch or gulf, wherein those that are abhorred of the Lord are suffered to fall. Beware of all tendings that way ; do not soak and steep the soul in pleasures ; take heed of effeminacy, /ndXaKoc : ' The soft or effeminate shall not enter into the kingdom of God,' 1 Cor. vi. 9. Beware of lustful glances, Mat. v. 28, of rolling the fancy upon undone ^ objects ; heart defilement maketh way for corporal ; lust beginneth in wanton eyes many times, and it is fed by a delicacy and unworthy softness. Guard the senses, cut off the provisions of the flesh, avoid occasions, be employed. Again, if you have stumbled into this deep ditch, repent the more speedily, the more seriously ; the case is sad, but not altogether desperate. We read of a possibility for publicans and harlots entering into the kingdom of God. Bewail your estate as David doth, Ps. li. His adultery left a stain upon him : ' Except in the matter of Uriah,' &c. Job saith, ' It is a fire that con- sumeth to destruction, and will root out all your increase,' Job xxxi. 12 ; therefore quench it the sooner, &c.