The Seventh Commandment

Do not commit adultery.

In opening the former commandment, we have seen what care God takes for the security and indemnity of every man's person. This command which I have now read to you extends further, and provides for his security, as he is considered mystically in marriage-union, which of two makes one flesh: the one defends him from the violence of bloody rage and revenge; the other from the violations of impure lusts.

I judge it not convenient to be too circumstantial in showing you what is prohibited under this precept. I know that some, especially the Popish casuists in their treatises of moral divinity, such as Sanches, Diana, etc. have spoken of these things so minutely, and with such a filthy accurateness, that they stuprate the very eyes and fancies of their readers; rather teach vice, than condemn it; and instruct the ignorant to sin skillfully, rather than convince the guilty to bring them to repentance. Some wickednesses there are, which it is far better not to reprove, than to name; it is more expedient to leave those who are guilty of them to be lashed by their natural light and conscience, than by agitating such crimes, teach others, not so much to abhor, as to practice them. And let this be my apology, if I pass over this subject with more than my accustomed brevity.

First, that which is here literally and expressly forbidden, is that detestable and loathsome sin of adultery; which properly taken, is a sin committed between persons, the one, or both of them married to another. However even in the highest circumstances, it is a most heinous sin; but on the married person's side most inexcusable, and intolerable (Genesis 39:9). It is called a great wickedness against God, even on the unmarried man's part. And (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22) the temporal punishment assigned to it, is no less than death: the same punishment that belonged to murder, and greater than was inflicted for theft. And if human laws were as severe in the punishment of the sin, as divine, the fear of it might possibly be of greater influence, to deter men from such filthiness, than either shame or the denunciation of eternal punishments. Indeed, we read in history that our progenitors, the English Saxons, even while they remained pagans and idolaters, so hated this sin, that they made it, indeed, and simple fornication also, punishable with death, and severely inflicted it upon those that were found guilty; which custom continued among them after they were converted to Christianity, until the year of Christ, 750, when the Antichristian See of Rome, the mother of whoredoms, abrogated this law, as too rigorous for Christians. And Job calls it a heinous crime; indeed, an iniquity to be punished by the judges. A fire that consumes to destruction (Job 31:11-12).

But although they may escape the judgment of men, either through the secrecy of their wickedness, or the too gentle censures of the law; yet they shall not escape the righteous judgment of God, nor those everlasting punishments that he has prepared for them in hell (Hebrews 13:4). Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

Now there are two things in this sin of adultery that make it so exceeding heinous.

First, the luxury and incontinency of it, in letting loose the reins to a brutish concupiscence, and yielding up the body to pollution, and the soul to damnation.

Secondly, the injustice of it; being a deceit of the highest, and most injurious nature that can be: for,

First, it is the violation of a most solemn vow and covenant; and so adds perjury to unfaithfulness, alienating that person to another, who, by the most sacred and strictest obligations, is bound only to that partner and yoke-fellow, to whom God, and their own consent, and the legal rites of the church and state, have addicted them.

Secondly, it is the source and cause of a spurious and [reconstructed: supposititious] birth, bringing in a strange blood into the inheritance of lawful children, whereby this unfaithfulness becomes theft, as well as perjury.

But although this sin of adultery be alone mentioned in the command; yet according to the rules laid down in the beginning of this work, all other kinds of uncleanness are forbidden under the name of this one gross crime. For the law of God is perfect; and as all manner of chastity, both in our thoughts, speeches and actions, is there enjoined us; so likewise whatever is in the least contrary, and prejudicial to a spotless chastity, and an inviolate modesty, is hereby forbidden. And therefore,

Secondly, this commandment forbids the uncleanness of fornication, which properly is the sin committed between two single persons. And though it has not some aggravations that belong to the other; yet it is an abominable sin in the sight of God. I know how it is extenuated by the impure Romanists, as a small stain, that may easily be washed off by the sprinkling of a little holy water. But it is no wonder, if they who have drunk deep of the cup of the fornications of the great whore, and are guilty of spiritual fornication, if they should speak lightly of corporal fornication also. But let us hear how God, who is infinite purity, has sentenced this sin, when he threatens that he himself will judge whoremongers; and tells us (1 Corinthians 6:9) that neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers shall ever inherit the kingdom of God. No, the New Jerusalem which is above, is a holy city, and no unclean thing shall ever enter into it. Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters (Revelation 22:15). And it were well with them, if all their punishment were only to be left without: but there is a lake of fire prepared for them, into which they shall be cast and plunged, the fire of hell to punish the flames of lust (Revelation 21:8). The fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers (you see how in both places they are strung up with the vilest and most infamous sinners,) shall have their portion in the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The Apostle reckons up this as one of the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19). The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, etc. And he exhorts us to a careful mortification of it (Colossians 3:5). Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, etc.

Thirdly, here likewise are forbidden all incestuous mixtures, or uncleanness between those who are related to each other within the degrees of kindred specified (Leviticus 18, from the sixth to the eighteenth verse); whether the kindred be by affinity, or consanguinity, that is, whether by former marriage, or by blood and descent. And the nearer any persons are so related to us, the greater is the abomination if we approach to them; whether it be with pretense of marriage, which in this case, is null and void; or without any such pretense.

Fourthly, here is likewise forbidden polygamy, or a taking a wife to her sister, that is, to another (Leviticus 18:18). God indeed seemed to connive at this in the holy men of old; yet it never was otherwise than a sin from the foundation of the world. And therefore the Prophet Malachi refers us to the primitive institution of marriage, to show the obliquity of this practice (Malachi 2:15). Did not he make one? That is, did not he create one woman for one man? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit; that is, the same Spirit and power whereby he created all things in the world, resided still in God, and therefore he could as easily have formed more women as well as one, had he not purposed to oblige them one to the other solely, and to teach them by their being paired at first, not to seek multiplication of wives afterwards.

Therefore polygamy was unlawful in the beginning, even then when the necessity of increasing the world might seem to plead for it; and how much more unlawful now, when that necessity is ceased. Besides this the Apostle has commanded (1 Corinthians 7:2), Let every man have his own wife, and every woman her own husband.

Fifthly, here also are forbidden all those monsters of unnatural lust, and those prodigies of villainy and filthiness, which are not fit to be named among men, but thought fit to be punished upon beasts themselves; as you may read (Leviticus 20:15-16) and (Leviticus 18:22-23).

Sixthly, all those things that may be incentives to lust, and add fuel to this fire, are likewise forbidden in this command; all impurities of the eyes, of contact, of loud and obscene speech, all immodest spectacles, wanton actions, uncivil and garish attire, or whatever else may kindle either in ourselves, or others, any unchaste affections; for all these things do but lay in provision for the flesh, to fulfill it in the lusts thereof.

Seventhly, because this law is spiritual, therefore it not only forbids the gross outward acts of filthiness, but the inward uncleanness of the heart; all lustful contemplations, and ideas, and evil concupiscences: for it is not enough to refrain unchaste desires from breaking forth into act; but we must also refrain our hearts from entertaining any such desires. These flames pent up in the heart, will [reconstructed: soon] consume it; and though its ruin be more invisible, yet it will be sad and fatal: as there is a heart-murder, so there is a heart-adultery; and he that commits speculative uncleanness, and prostitutes his thoughts and imaginations to the impure embraces of filthy lust, is, according to our Saviour's interpretation, guilty of the transgression of this command (Matthew 5:27-28). You have heard that it was said to them of old time, You shall not commit Adultery; but I say to you, that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery already with her in his heart.

And thus you see what is prohibited.

All that now remains, is,

First, to set forth the exceeding heinousness of this sin; and to show you why it is so justly odious to God, and ought to be so to us: and,

Secondly, to give you some rules and directions which may secure you from it.

The greatness and heinous nature of this sin appears,

First, in that it is a sin which murders two souls at once; and therefore the most uncharitable sin in the world. Other sinners can perish singly. The swearer damns none by his oaths but himself; and although he curse others to the pit of hell, yet shall descend there alone for them. The drunkard, with his intemperance drowns but his own soul in perdition: the bloody murderer may say with Lamech (Genesis 4:23), I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my own hurt. And indeed all other sinners, though their wickedness prompt them to draw in associates and partakers with them; yet the nature of their sin does not require a partnership in their guilt; but they may be solitarily wicked, and perish alone: only this sin of adultery necessarily requires partnership, and involves another in the same condemnation? And is it nothing to you, that another's damnation shall be set upon your score, and the blood of their souls charged upon yours for ever? Think with yourselves what horrid greetings these unclean wretches will give each other in hell, when they who have here wallowed together in beastly sensuality, shall there wallow together in unquenchable flames, and with ineffable anguish exclaim against, and curse both themselves, and one another; the one, for enticing, the other for consenting, and both for fulfilling their impure desires: or suppose that God should vouchsafe you repentance to life; yet are you sure that his justice and severity will not harden the other in this sin to which you have been the author and persuader? How do you know but they may persist, and perish in their wickedness, divine vengeance may snatch them away, without affording them space, or grace to repent. And is it nothing to you that you have damned a soul, as well as defiled a body; and for the satisfying of your brutish lust, have brought upon them everlasting woes and torments. If God has granted you mercy, how anxiously solicitous ought you to be to deliver those out of the snares of the devil, whom you have entangled therein, and by all holy counsels and remonstrances reduce them to God by repentance! Or if a speedy execution of divine justice should cut them off before, what a sad consideration will it be to you that you have eternally ruined a poor soul! This, if you have any sense of sin, or of the wrath of the great God due to it, will make you go mourning all your days, and bring down your gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Secondly, this is the most degrading sin of all others; it debases a man from the excellency of his nature, and resembles him to the condition of brute beasts. The perfection of a man is to govern himself according to law and reason, to bound and circumscribe his actions by the rules of what is fit and honest; whereas beasts show the inferiority of their natures by the scope and range of their unguided appetites, per vagas & effusas libidines. Hence the Prophet compares adulterers to fed horses, every one neighing after his neighbor's wife (Jeremiah 5:8). And God joins such impure persons with the vilest and most detestable of brute beasts (Deuteronomy 23:18): You shall not bring the hire of a whore, nor the price of a dog into the house of the Lord your God for any vow; for even both these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

Thirdly, this is a sin that does most of all others obscure, and extinguish the light of a man's natural reason and understanding. Nothing does so much darken the understanding, as the fumes of lust (Hosea 4:11). Whoredom, and wine, and new wine take away the heart. And to this the Apostle gives testimony (Ephesians 4:18-19). Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to work all uncleanness with greediness. So far does this beastly sin besot the mind, and befool men, that according to the chaste and modest phrase of Scripture-language itself, it is frequently called committing of folly; as if there were no folly like to this, and it alone deserved to carry away the name and title from all other sins. And indeed it is a most notorious and egregious folly, for a short pang and epilepsy of sensual delight, to betray the soul to a gloomy dullness, bitter remembrance, guilt, and eternal shame and death.

Fourthly, this is a sin justly the most infamous and scandalous among men; a sin that brands them with the greatest shame and reproach; a reproach which can never be wiped away; and certainly if such a one does ever seriously consider his own filth, he cannot but be ashamed of himself. For although there be a shame consequent upon the act of every sin; yet the credit and reputation of a man is never so deeply blemished, nor so foully stained by any sin as that of adultery. Proverbs 6:32-33: Whoever commits adultery with a woman, lacks understanding: he that does it, destroys his own soul; a wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. Indeed, the dishonor of adulterous parents is so foul, that like a black blot, it diffuses and spreads itself even upon their children. Deuteronomy 23:2: A bastard was not to enter into the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation.

Fifthly, consider that this sin of uncleanness is a kind of sacrilege; a converting of that which is sacred, and dedicated, to a profane use. What says the Apostle (1 Corinthians 6:19): Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? And if it were a sacrilegious impiety to turn the temple of God, which consisted only of vile materials, wood and stone, to vile and inferior uses; if our Savior's zeal burned within him when he saw the sanctuary turned into a market, and the house of God made a den of thieves, how much more heinous wickedness is it to convert the living temples of the everliving God, even our bodies, which were redeemed and consecrated to God by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, to impure and unclean uses, and to turn his sanctuary into a stew? The body is not for fornication; but for the Lord: and your bodies are the members of Christ: will you then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. And the Apostle thinks this sacrilegiousness of uncleanness so high an aggravation of the sinfulness of it, that he insists on it again (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). Do you not know that you are the temples of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy; which temple are you.

Sixthly, consider, if all these things will not prevail, the dreadful punishment that God threatens to inflict upon all who are guilty of this sin. Indeed, he speaks of it as a sin that he can hardly be persuaded to pardon; a sin that puzzles infinite mercy to forgive. Jeremiah 5:7-9: How shall I pardon you for this? When I had fed your children to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning, every one neighing after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not visit for these things, says the Lord; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? And indeed God does often in this life visit this sin; sometimes by filling their loins with strange and loathsome diseases (Proverbs 6:26), sometimes by reducing them to extreme beggary; for this sin, as Job speaks, is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all his increase. Indeed, this very sin is so great a punishment for itself, that the wise man tells us (Proverbs 22:14), that those whom God hates shall fall into it. And to express this exceeding sinfulness of this sin of uncleanness, the Apostle tells us, that God made it the punishment of several other sins, as black and horrid as can be well conceived (Romans 1:23). When he had spoken of the gross idolatry of the heathens in worshipping images, and falling down before stocks and stones, he subjoins in verse 24, that for this cause God also gave them up to uncleanness; as if uncleanness were bad enough to punish idolatry, and those were sufficiently plagued for their spiritual uncleanness, who were abandoned over to corporal pollutions. But however, although this sin may sometimes escape infamy, through concealment; and other temporal judgments of God, through patience and forbearance; yet it will certainly find them out at the last; and then those who have burned together in lust, shall burn together in unquenchable flames. They shall have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.

These are the demonstrations of the heinousness of this sin.

Let me now give you some cautionary rules and directions; by observing of which, you may be preserved from it.

First, be sure that you keep a narrow watch over your senses: for those are the sluices, which, instead of letting in pleasant streams to refresh, do commonly let in nothing but mud to pollute the soul. There is no actual filthiness in the heart of any, but came in by these inlets: through these the Devil casts in abundance of filth; he stirs up indwelling lust, and by the sinful object which the senses convey to the soul, he dungs that ground, which of itself was too fruitful before. Thus the Devil makes use of an adulterous eye to range abroad, and fetch in provision for uncleanness; and by it, as by a burning glass, he sets the heart on fire, and then blows up the flames through the ears, by hearing lascivious discourses; and therefore make a covenant with your eyes, and carefully divert them from all loose glances, and all alluring and enticing objects. Stop your ears against all rotten and filthy communication; and if any begin such obscene talk, as is the common raillery of our days, and almost of every company, blush not to reprove them; but by your reproofs, make them blush at their own shame and wickedness.

Secondly, addict yourself to sobriety and temperance; and by these beat down your body, and keep it in subjection to your reason and religion: for certainly they who indulge themselves in gluttony or drunkenness, their excess will froth, and [reconstructed: run] over into lust. And therefore it is said in that aforementioned place (Jeremiah 5:7), that when the Israelites were fed to the full, then they committed adultery.

Thirdly, continually exercise yourself in some honest and lawful employment. Lust grows active when we grow idle: and therefore as fullness of bread, so likewise idleness is reckoned as one of the sins of impure Sodom (Ezekiel 16:49). David, when he walked idly upon the roof of his house, lies open to the snares, and is inveigled by the beauty of Bathsheba. Had he then been at his harp, and his psalms, he might have driven the evil spirit from himself, as formerly he did from his master Saul. Running streams preserve themselves clear and pure; whereas standing pools soon corrupt, and breed noisome and venomous creatures. While our mind is employed, there will be no time left for lust to dally with our fancy, nor to dandle an unclean affection in our thoughts; and therefore it may be remarkable as a considerable circumstance in Joseph's rejecting the enticements of his lewd mistress, that the text says, He went into the house to dispatch his business (Genesis 39:11). Noting to us, that the honest care of our affairs is an excellent preservative to keep us from this sin of wantonness and uncleanness. But above all,

Fourthly, be earnest and frequent in prayer; and if you sometimes join fasting with your prayers, they will be shot up to Heaven with a cleaner strength: for this sin of uncleanness is one of those devils that goes not out but by fasting and prayer. God is a God of purity; instantly beg of him, that he would send down his pure and chaste Spirit into your heart, to cleanse your thoughts, and your affections from all unclean desires. Beg that the Holy Ghost would but once touch your heart with the dear sense of his eternal love; that he would diffuse such a celestial flame through your soul, as may ravish it with a heavenly zeal and ardor, and make it scorn to stoop to the ignoble love of poor inferior objects: represent to him that your body is his temple, and your heart his altar in it; and desire of him, that no strange unhallowed fire may flame on his altar.

While you diligently and conscientiously make use of these means, you may comfortably expect to be kept pure and immaculate, innocent in your soul, and clean in your body; and as you have kept yourself undefiled here; so hereafter you shall be found worthy to walk with the Lamb in white.