(2.) Keeping ill company. This has been the ruin of many therefore Solomon advises, Prov. v. 8. "Remove thy way far from her," a strange woman, or whore; " and come not nigh the door of her house." It was Joseph's commendation, that he fled from his miftrefs. Whatever the company be, people fhould beware that they caft not

themselves into fnares.

(3.) Idleness, the nursery of all filthiness, Ezek. xvi. 49. This expofeth to many temptations; for Satan will be ready to find idle people work. Gadding and vaguing abroad can hardly miss to have an unfavoury end.

(4.) Intemperance, gluttony, and drunkenness. These have a tendency to murder, which is forbidden in the fixth command, and to uncleannefs, forbidden in the one under confideration, Prov. xxiii. 30, 31. 33. Notable to this purpofe is that fcripture, Jer. v. 8. "They were as fed horfes in the morning every one neighed after his neighbour's wife."

(5.) Promifcuous dancing, or dancing of men and women together. This entertainment, however reckoned innocent among many, is evidently an incentive to luft, If. xxiii. 15. 16, 17. It is fuppofed, that it was to a dancing match among the the daughters of the land that Dinah went forth, when she was dealt with as an harlot. This practice seems to be ftruck at by these fcriptures, Rom. xiii. 13. "Let us walk-not in chambering and wantonnefs;" 1 Pet. iv. 3. where mention is made of "walking in revelling." It is offenfive to the grave and pious, is condemned by our church, yea, and has been condemned by fome fober

heathens.

(6.) Undue delay of marriage, 1 Cor. vii. 7, 8, 9.; for they that refuse the remedy, ftrengthen the disease.

(7.) Unjuft divorce, Matth. v. 33.; wilful desertion, 1 Cor. vii. 12, 13.; want of conjugal affection, and all harshnefs and unkindness betwixt married perfons. These are to be avoided, as incitements to uncleannefs.

(8.) Lastly, The popifh doctrine and practice of forbidding lawful marriages, 1 Tim. iv. 3.; difpenfing with unlawful marriages, Mark vi. 18.; tolerating of stews or bawdyhouses, Deut. xxiii. 17.; and entangling vows of fingle life, Matth. xix. 10, 11.

I fhall next make fome improvement of this fubject. 1. Let thofe that have fallen into the fin of uncleannefs, repent, and walk humbly all the days of their life under the sense of it. There are, alas! not a few amongst us to whom this exhortation belongs. And perhaps, if their eyes were opened, they would fee fomething in their lot that God has fent to go along with them, as a mark of his displeasure against that their fin; wherein they might with no great difficulty read their old fin in a continued punishment. That fin may be forgotten with us, that is not fo with the Lord.

2. Let those that stand take heed left they fall. Labour to get your hearts poffeffed with a dread of this fin, and watch against it, especially ye that are young people, seeing it is a fin most incident to youth, when the paffions are most vigorous; which yet may stick faft with the blue marks of God's displeasure upon you when you come to age. For motives, confider,

(1.) It is not only a fin, but ordinarily, if not always, a plague and punishment for other fins. It is a mark of God's anger against the perfon that is permitted to fall into it, Prov. xx. 14. "The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord, fhall fall therein." This is a heavy mark of God's indignation, which is worse than to fall into a fever, or fome lingering diftemper; for a person may recover of these in a fhort time, but it is not fo eafy to recover of the other.

(2.) It is a fin that very few ever get grace to repent of. It stupifies the confcience, and waftes all fenfe of fin from it, Hof. iv. 11. I have seen, alas! too many that have made public fatisfaction for that fin; but allow me to say, I have seen very few by whose repentance I was much edified. Hear what the Spirit of God fays of these unhappy people, Prov. ii. 19. "None that go unto her, return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." None, that is, very few ; but fome indeed do, as among the Corinthians, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 11. And be not offended, but cautioned, if I fay, that few women particularly ever get grace to repent of it. Solomon faid it before me, Eccl. vii. 28. "A woman among all those have I not found." And observe what is faid, Acts xxiv. 25. that Felix trembled when Paul preached, though he repented not; but there is not a word of Drufilla's being moved.

3. It dishonours and debafes the body, 1 Cor. vi. 18. Our bodies are the members of Chrift or fhould be ; but how are they debased, being made members of a harlot? And how low and contemptible a thing is fuch a wretched creature, even in the eyes of thofe that join with them?

(4.) It leaves an indelible stain upon their reputation; their honour is funk, and there is no recovering of it, Prov. vi. 33. Though the fin may be pardoned before God, yet the blot lies on their name, while they have a name on the earth. Yea, and when they are dead and gone, their bastard posterity still lie under the ftain, whereof they could be no cause.

(5.) Poverty and want oft-times follow it. It natively tends to poverty, Prov. v. 10.; and there is a fecret curfe of that nature that often accompanies it, Prov. vi. 26. "By means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread." How many have been made miferable by it, who have had occafion as long as they lived to remember they had ruined themselves?

(6.) Laftly, It is ruining to the foul, Prov. vi. 32. "He that doth it," commit adultery with a woman, " deftroyeth his own foul." It ruins it here, in fo far as it defiles the confcience, fetters the affections, blinds the mind, utterly unfits for communion with God, till the guilt be washed off by the application of Chrift's blood, after a frightful awakening of the conscience. And if they do not repent of this fin, it will deftroy the foul for ever. Let these fcriptures imprint a horror of it in the minds of all, Heb. xiii. 4. 1 Cor. vi. 9. Gal. v. 19. 21. Rev. xxi. 8.

I close with a few directions, in fo many words.

1. Give yourselves away foul and body to Jefus Christ, and learn to live by faith, fenfible of your own weakness, and relying on his promised strength; for without him ye can refift no fin, nor temptation to fin.

2. Beware of a carnal frame, of floth and lazinefs. Labour to be fpiritual and heavenly in the frame of your heart, Gal. v. 16. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye fhall not fulfil the luft of the flesh."

"Make a cove

3. Watch over your heart and fenfes. nant with your eyes, as Job did, that ye may avoid unlawful looks; and never venture on the devil's ground, otherwise will fall into the snare.

ye

4. Study mortification of all your unruly lufts and paffions, and beware of all occafions and incentives to this wicked nefs.

5. Keep at a distance from immodeft company, and be not too frolicfome and foolish, light and airy in your difcourfe.

6. Lastly, Pray fervently and importunately, that the Lord may fave you from this foul fin, and all temptations to it; faying with David, Pfal. cxix. 37. «Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity."

OF THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.

EXOD. XX. 15.-Thou shalt not fieal.

THIS com world; and the fcope of it is to procure and HIS command refpects men's goods and outward estate further the fame by all good means. And the law of God refpecting this plainly fays, that religion is highly concerned in our civil actions, working, buying, and felling, and all the ways of advancing of the outward eftate. In these we are hedged about by this command, as well as in natural things by the fixth and seventh. God's law follows us wherever we go, to the house or field, bed or board, church or market. This command also plainly establishes diftin&t properties, and that there is no univerfal community of goods, but every one has his own portion.

This being a command of the second table, it refpects ourfelvés as well as our neighbour. And fo the meaning is, Thou shalt not steal from thyself nor any other; thou shalt not wrong thyself nor others. And as in every negative is implied an affirmative, fo while ftealth or theft is here for bidden, the contrary is required, namely, the procuring and furthering of our own and others welfare in these things, but by means only that are lawful.

In difcourfing further from this fubject, I fhall fhew, I. What is required in this command, viz. "the lawful

procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others."

II. What is forbidden, viz. "Whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbour's wealth or outward estate."

III. Make application.

I. I am to fhew, what is required in this command. And, FIRST, God requires us in this command, by lawful means, to procure and further our own wealth and outward eftate. We may take up this in these seven things.

1. We should look unto God for things neceffary and convenient for us. Here we fhould begin our care about temporal things; " for he it is that giveth thee power to get wealth," Deut. viii. 18.; and without his appointment our endeavours will not fucceed, Pfal. cxxvii. All the creatures depend on God's provifion, as caged birds on those to whose care they are committed, Prov. xxx. 8. And fo our Lord teaches us to pray every day, "Give us this day our daily bread," Matth. vi. 11. feeing God has comprehended this in the promise.

2. A provident care and study to get things neceffary and fuitable to our condition, 1 Tim. v. 8. To pray, and caft off means, is presumption; to use means, but neglect praying, and looking to the Lord, is atheism. We fhould keep the middle way betwixt carelessness and anxiety, and hold in the way of moderate care in these things; for we are not to expect to be like the lilies that toil not, neither fpin, and yet are clothed.

3. For this caufe every body must have a lawful calling and employment, and duly use it, that fo he may be useful to himself, and worth his room in the world, and not like mice and rats, good for nothing but to devour what others labour for. Adam in innocence had a calling, that of dreffing and keeping the garden of Eden, Gen. ii. 15.; and fo had his fons afterwards, though born to greater eftate than any now can pretend to, the one being a keeper of fheep, and the other a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. But we must be fure it be a lawful calling, Eph. iv. 28. But what avails it if it be not duly used? Therefore God requires of men that they labour to be fkilful in it, and not bunglers at what they take in hand, Prov. xiv. 8. ; and he allows men to look to himself for that end, If. xxviii. 26.; and likewise that they