The Apoftle would not be under the Power even of lawful Things.

SECT. XI.

Whereas fome among the newly converted Corinthians, might not be fufficiently fenfible of the Enormity of the Sin of Fornication, the Apostle, after some useful Reflections on Things, really indifferent, expreffes himself strongly on that Head, and pleads thofe Views peculiar to Christianity, which efpecially illuftrate the Heinoufnefs of it. I Cor. VI. 12, to

the End.

271

I CORINTHIANS VI. 12.

ALL

I CORINTHIANS VI. 12.

LL Things are lawful unto me, but all Things are not expedient: All Things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the Power of

12.

KNOW, fome of you at Corinth, allow yourselves to philofophize with great Liberty, and find many Excufes for doing Things, which 1.Cor. VII. others confcientioufly fcruple: But as Matters at present stand, I think it neceffary to give you fome Cautions upon this Head. Suppofe the Things in Queftion to be as indifferent in their own Nature, as many of you would fain perfuade yourselves and others, they are: I will, for Argument Sake, grant, that all thefe Things are lawful for me; but at the fame Time you muft acknowledge, if you reflect ever fo little, that all fuch Things are not convenient: Circumftances may make it improper for me to do that, which is not abfolutely and univerfally criminal. And though it be allowed, that all Things in Question are lawful for me, nevertheless I will not be brought under the Power of any fuch Thing. But am folicitous to maintain fuch a Superiority to Appetite and Paffion, as becomes a Man, and a Christian, in thefe Cafes. This Maxim may particularly 13 be applied to the fuppofed Difference between one Kind of Food, and another. All Meats, capable of miniftering to our Nourishment, [are] indifferently made for the Ufe of the Belly, and the Belly is made for receiving and digefting Meats. It is true; but then it ought to be remembered,

272

Sect. II.

13.

Much lefs would be allow Fornication:

that the Time will quickly come, when GOD will deftroy both it and them; Meats, and the I Cor. VI. Organs, by which they have been received, and this animal Frame, which has been nourished by them, fhall be mixed together in the Grave, and moulder into Duft. Since therefore they refer only to this mortal Body, fo foon to be reduced to its first mean Principles, it is certainly beneath the Dignity of the Chriftian Character to be a Slave to this or that Kind of Meats; or in any Inftances, to indulge this perishing Flefh, fo as to injure the Souls of others, or hazard our own.

it and them. Now the Body is not for Fornication, but for the Body.

for the Lord; and the Lord

But if any Man extend the Maxim, I have
mentioned above, to patronize any Kind of Lewd-
ness, it would be a groundless and most unjusti-
fiable Inference: For it is moft certain, that the
Body is not made for fo infamous a Purpose as
Fornication, nor can the Commiffion of it be
ever neceffary, or expedient; but it was on the
contrary, formed for the Service of the Lord,
that, while we continue in it, we might devote
all our animal, as well as rational Powers, to our
great Creator and Redeemer; and the Lord is in
an important Senfe for the Body, he is the great
Saviour of the Body as well as of the Soul, and
will make it at laft appear, that he hath not for-
gotten the meaner Part of our Nature, in the
gracious Scheme he hath formed for our Felicity.
14 And this Scheme fhall furely be effectual; for
GOD the Father bath both raifed up the Lord Je-
fus Chrift, from the Dead to an immortal Life, Power.
and will alfo raife us up, in like Manner, by his
Divine and Almighty Power, and transform these
Bodies of ours into a Refemblance of the glori-
fied Body of our Lord; which fhould certainly
raife us above all impure Affections and Defires,
and engage us to live in the Body, in fome Con-
formity to fo divine and glorious a Hope.

15

Enter, I beseech you, into the Thought; and let me expoftulate freely with thofe, who are ready to forget it. Know ye not indeed, that, as your Bodies make an effential Part of yourselves,

they

14 And GOD hath both raifed up the Lord, and will alfo raife up us by his own

15 Know ye not, that

your

For our Bodies are the Members of Christ ;

18 Flee Fornication. Every Sin that a Man doeth, is without the Body: But

he that committeth Fornication, finneth against his own Body.

15.

273

they are to be confidered as Members of Chriß, Sect. 11.
belonging, as it were, to his Body, and in that
View under his Care, as to their final and everlast- 1 Cor. VI.
ing Happiness with him. Shall I then take these,
which I am taught to look upon, as in an im-
portant Sense the Members of Christ, and prosti-
tute them to fo infamous a Purpose, as to make
them the Members of an Harlot by unlawful Em-
braces? GOD forbid! It is a Thing not to be
thought of, without the utmost Abhorrence and
Indignation. What, know ye not, that he, who 16
is thus joined to an Harlot, is one Body with her?
For fay [the Divine Oracles ;] fpeaking of that
Conjunction, which Whoredom prostitutes to the
Dishonour of Matrimony, fo wifely and graci-
oufly ordained by GoD; (Gen. ii. 24.) they two,
that is, the Man and his Wife, fhall be one Flesh.
But on the other Hand, be that is joined to the 17
Lord by a true Faith, is one Spirit with him.

*

And as the Head and Members of the natural
Body are one, as they are acted upon by the
fame Spirit, fo the fame divine and holy Spirit,
which lives in Chrift as the Head, is communi-
cated to us from him; just as the vital Spirits are
communicated from the Head to the Limbs.
Now what Thought can be more monftrons,
than that any one fhould think of being, at the
fame Time, one Spirit with the Lord, and one
Flesh with an Harlot? Let this therefore be 18
inftead of ten thousand Arguments, to engage
you to flee Whoredom: Concerning which one may
farther plead, that every [other] Sin, which a Man
practifes, is without the Body; its Effects fall not
fo directly upon the Body, but often more imme-
diately upon the Mind (a). But he that commit-
teth Whoredom, or any Kind of Lewdness, fin-
neth particularly against his own Body (b), not
only

(a) Every [other] Sin, &c.] It would be unreasonable to infift on the most rigorous Interpretation of thefe Words; but the general Senfe is plain and true, and I fuppofe, that on the whole, there is no other Sin, by which the Body receives equal Detriment, confidering not only its Nature, but how much it has prevailed.

(b) He that committeth Whoredom, finneth against his own Body.] This is well illuftrated VOL. IV.

Mm

by

274
And the Temples of the Holy Ghoft.
Sect. II. only polluting and debafing it, by making it one
with fo infamous a Creature, but perhaps infecting
I Cor. VI. and infeebling, wafting and confuming it, which

18.

these Vices, when grown habitual and frequent,
have an apparent Tendency to effect. (Compare
Prov. v. 11. Job xxxvi. 14.) There is alfo
another View, in which the Bafenefs of this
Crime must appear to you, Chriftians, in Con-
fequence of your Relation to that bleffed Agent,
19 the Spirit of God. Have you not all been bap-
tized in his Name, and inftructed in your Rela-
tion to him? What, know ye not, that your Body
is the Temple of the Holy Ghoft, which is in you,
dedicated to him, and inhabited by him:
that Spirit, which you receive of GOD, as his
moft valuable Gift? And on the whole, in what-
ever View
confider yourselves, it will appear,
you
that ye are not by any Means your own Property,
nor can be justly at your own Difpofal, to feek
your prefent Gratification without Controul, or
Regard to the Will of a Superior.

20

even

For the contrary is moft apparent; ye are bought with a Price, and that infinitely beyond what you can pretend to be worth. Therefore, far from doing any Thing to bring a Difhonour on Religion, you ought in every Action, Word, and Sentiment, to own yourselves his Property, and exert yourselves to the utmoft, in a Courfe of vigorous and conftant Obedience, to glorify GOD, both with your Body, and with your Spirit, which are, by the jufteft Title, GOD's; as he hath not only created, preferved, and maintained you, but by the invaluable Blood of his Son purchafed and redeemed you to himself, and by his holy Spirit taken Poffeffion of you, and marked you for his own.

19 What, know ye not that your Body is the Temof the Holy Ghost which is in in you, which ye have of GOD, and ye are not your

ple

own.

20 For ye are bought with a Price: Therefore glorify GOD in your Body,

and in your Spirit, which are GoD's.

-It is evi

by a fine Paffage of Xenophon, produced by Raphelius here, in which Socrates is reprefented
as faying, "That intemperate Men hurt themfelves far more than others; whereas other
"Sinners fecure fome Profit to themfelves, tho' they are injurious to others.".
dent, that ropa, muft here fignify any unlawful Commerce between Perfons of different Sexes,
fince Wboredom with married Women is as directly contrary both to the Honour and Health
of the Body, as with fingle.

IMPROVE

Reflections on our Obligations to Purity, &c.

How

IMPROVEMENT.

OW péculiar is the Excellence of the Chriftian Religion! With what incomparable Advantages doth it enforce all the Leffons of moral Virtue, which it teaches! With what holy Difdain should we look

on the Baits of Senfe, and the Pollutions which are in the World through

275

Sect. 11.

Luft! if we feriously and often reflected on these two Things.-That Ver. 15. our Bodies are the Members of Chrift, and that they are the Temples of the Holy Ver. 19. Ghoft! Let it be our Care, that they may not only be nominally, but really fo. That we may by a living Faith be united to the Lord, so as

to become one Spirit with him, animated by that Spirit, which refides in Ver. 17. him, and dwells in all who are truly his.

Let us, as often as we are tempted to alienate ourselves from the Service of GOD, reflect upon the Price, with which we are bought. How Ver. 20. great, how important a Price, which we should never think of but with fecret Shame, as well as Admiration and Love! Oh Lord! haft thou paid fuch a Ranfom for me, and fhall I act as if I thought even this not enough? as if thou hadft acquired only a partial and imperfect Right to me, and I might divide myself between thee and Strangers, between thee and thine Enemies? Oh may we be entirely thine! and make it the Business of the latest Day and Hour of our Lives, to glorify GOD with our Bodies, and with our Spirits, which are his.

Under the Influence of this Thought, may we effectually enter into the wife and pious Suggestions of the Apoftle; and guard, not only against Things abfolutely and univerfally unlawful, but likewise against Ver. 12. those, which, in prefent Circumstances, may be inconvenient. May we be ever ready to exert a holy Freedom of Soul, and a Superiority to whatever may enfnare and enflave us : which we fhall more eafily obtain; if we reflect on the tranfitory Duration of the Objects of Appetite and Senfe: How foon the Things we enjoy, and those Bodies by which Ver. 13. we enjoy them, fhall be reduced to the Duft, out of which they were taken. GOD deftroys all that is prefent and vifible, that we may look more intenfely for a Kingdom that cannot be moved. He reduces our Bodies to Putrefaction, that we may learn to cultivate with greater Care the Interest of a never-dying Soul: Which if we faithfully and diligently pursue, GOD who hath raised up his Son as our Surety and Saviour, will Ver. 14. alfo raife us up by his own Power, to Enjoyments, fublime, incorruptible and eternal. Ob Lord! we would wait for thy Salvation, and in the mean while, would do thy Commandments, and animated by fo exalted a Hope, would purify ourselves, even as thou art pure.

M m 2

SECT.