2. Besides Scripture, God hath planted in nature a special pudor and modesty to restrain this sin; and they that commit it do violate the law of nature, and sin against a witness and condemner that is within them. And scarce any one of them ever committeth it boldly, quietly, and fearlessly, till first they have hardened their hearts, and seared their consciences, and overcome the light of nature, by frequent, wilful sinning.[449] Nature hideth the obscene parts, and teacheth man to blush at the mention of any thing that is beyond the bounds of modesty. Say not that it is mere custom, for the vitiated nature of man is not so over-precise, nor the villany of the world so rare and modest, but before this day it had quite banished all restraints of this sin, above most others, if they could have done it, and if God had not written the law which condemneth it very deep in nature, with almost indelible characters. So that in despite of the horrid wickedness of the earth, though mankind be almost universally inclined to lust, yet there be universally laws and customs restraining it; so that except a very few savages and cannibals like beasts, there is no nation on the earth where filthiness is not a shame, and modesty layeth not some rebukes upon uncleanness. Ask no further then for a law, when thy nature itself is a law against it. And the better any man is, the more doth he abhor the lusts of uncleanness. So that "among saints," saith the apostle, it is "not to be named," (that is, not without need and detestation,) Eph. v. 3; and ver. 12, "For it is a shame even to speak of those things that are done of them in secret." And when drunkenness had uncovered the shame of Noah, his son Ham is cursed for beholding it, and the other sons blest for their modesty and reverent covering him.
3. And that God hath not put this law into man's nature without very great cause, albeit the implicit belief and submission due to him should satisfy us, though we knew not the causes particularly, yet much of them is notorious to common observation: as that if God had not restrained lust by laws, it would have made the female sex most contemptible and miserable, and used worse by men than dogs are. For, first, rapes and violence would deflower them, because they are too weak to make resistance: and if that had been restrained, yet the lust of men would have been unsatisfied, and most would have grown weary of the same woman whom they had abused, and take another; at least when she grew old, they would choose a younger, and so the aged women would be the most calamitous creatures upon earth. Besides that lust is addicted to variety, and groweth weary of the same; the fallings out between men and women, and the sicknesses that make their persons less pleasing, and age, and other accidents, would expose them almost all to utter misery. And men would be law-makers, and therefore would make no laws for their relief, but what consisted with their lusts and ends. So that half the world would have been ruined, had it not been for the laws of matrimony, and such other as restrain the lusts of men.
4. Also there would be a confused mixture in procreation, and no men would well know what children are their own: which is worse than not to know their lands or houses.
5. Hereby all natural affection would be diminished or extinguished: as the love of husband and wife, so the love between fathers and children would be diminished.
6. And consequently the due education of children would be hindered, or utterly overthrown. The mothers that should first take care of them, would be disabled and turned away, that fresh harlots might be received, who would hate the offspring of the former. So that by this means the world and all societies, and civility, would be ruined, and men would be made worse than brutes, whom nature hath either better taught, or else made for them some other supply. Learning, religion, and civility would be all in a manner extinct, as we see they are among those few savage cannibals that are under no restraint. For how much all these depend upon education, experience telleth us. In a word, this confusion in procreation, would introduce such confusion in men's hearts, and families, and all societies, by corrupting and destroying necessary affection and education, that it would be the greatest plague imaginable to mankind, and make the world so base and beastly, that to destroy mankind from off the earth would seem much more desirable. Judge then whether God should have left men's lusts unrestrained.
_Object._ But (you will say) there might have been some moderate restraint to a certain number, as it is with the Mahometans, without so much strictness as Christ doth use.