mh_parser/vol_split/20 - Proverbs/Chapter 5.xml

<div2 id="Prov.vi" n="vi" next="Prov.vii" prev="Prov.v" progress="74.58%" title="Chapter V">
<h2 id="Prov.vi-p0.1">P R O V E R B S</h2>
<h3 id="Prov.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Prov.vi-p1">The scope of this chapter is much the same with
that of <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.2.1-Prov.2.22" parsed="|Prov|2|1|2|22" passage="Pr 2:1-22"><i>ch.</i> ii</scripRef>. To
write the same things, in other words, ought not to be grievous,
for it is safe, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.1" parsed="|Phil|3|1|0|0" passage="Php 3:1">Phil. iii.
1</scripRef>. Here is, I. An exhortation to get acquaintance with
and submit to the laws of wisdom in general, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.2" parsed="|Prov|5|2|0|0" passage="Pr 5:2">ver. 2</scripRef>. II. A particular caution against the
sin of whoredom, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.3-Prov.5.14" parsed="|Prov|5|3|5|14" passage="Pr 5:3-14">ver.
3-14</scripRef>. III. Remedies prescribed against that sin. 1.
Conjugal love, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.15-Prov.5.20" parsed="|Prov|5|15|5|20" passage="Pr 5:15-20">ver.
15-20</scripRef>. 2. A regard to God's omniscience, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.21" parsed="|Prov|5|21|0|0" passage="Pr 5:21">ver. 21</scripRef>. 3. A dread of the miserable
end of wicked people, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.22-Prov.5.23" parsed="|Prov|5|22|5|23" passage="Pr 5:22,23">ver. 22,
23</scripRef>. And all little enough to arm young people against
those fleshly lusts which war against the soul.</p>
<scripCom id="Prov.vi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5" parsed="|Prov|5|0|0|0" passage="Pr 5" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Prov.vi-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.1-Prov.5.14" parsed="|Prov|5|1|5|14" passage="Pr 5:1-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Prov.5.1-Prov.5.14">
<h4 id="Prov.vi-p1.10">Parental Instructions; Cautions against
Sensuality.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Prov.vi-p2">1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, <i>and</i> bow
thine ear to my understanding:   2 That thou mayest regard
discretion, and <i>that</i> thy lips may keep knowledge.   3
For the lips of a strange woman drop <i>as</i> an honeycomb, and
her mouth <i>is</i> smoother than oil:   4 But her end is
bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.   5 Her feet go
down to death; her steps take hold on hell.   6 Lest thou
shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable,
<i>that</i> thou canst not know <i>them.</i>   7 Hear me now
therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my
mouth.   8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the
door of her house:   9 Lest thou give thine honour unto
others, and thy years unto the cruel:   10 Lest strangers be
filled with thy wealth; and thy labours <i>be</i> in the house of a
stranger;   11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and
thy body are consumed,   12 And say, How have I hated
instruction, and my heart despised reproof;   13 And have not
obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that
instructed me!   14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of
the congregation and assembly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p3">Here we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p4">I. A solemn preface, to introduce the
caution which follows, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.1-Prov.5.2" parsed="|Prov|5|1|5|2" passage="Pr 5:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1,
2</scripRef>. Solomon here addresses himself to his son, that is,
to all young men, as unto his children, whom he has an affection
for and some influence upon. In God's name, he demands attention;
for he writes by divine inspiration, and is a prophet, though he
begins not with, <i>Thus saith the Lord. "Attend, and bow thy
ear;</i> not only hear what is said, and read what is written, but
apply thy mind to it and consider it diligently." To gain attention
he urges, 1. The excellency of his discourse: "It is <i>my wisdom,
my understanding;</i> if I undertake to teach thee wisdom I cannot
prescribe any thing to be more properly called so; moral philosophy
is my philosophy, and that which is to be learned in my school." 2.
The usefulness of it: "Attend to what I say," (1.) "That thou
mayest act wisely—<i>that thou mayest regard discretion.</i>"
Solomon's lectures are not designed to fill our heads with notions,
with matters of nice speculation, or doubtful disputation, but to
guide us in the government of ourselves, that we may act prudently,
so as becomes us and so as will be for our true interest. (2.)
"That thou mayest speak wisely—<i>that thy lips may keep
knowledge,</i> and thou mayest have it ready at thy tongue's end"
(as we say), "for the benefit of those with whom thou dost
converse." The priest's lips are said to <i>keep knowledge</i>
(<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.7" parsed="|Mal|2|7|0|0" passage="Mal 2:7">Mal. ii. 7</scripRef>); but those that
are ready and mighty in the scriptures may not only in their
devotions, but in their discourses, be spiritual priests.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p5">II. The caution itself, and that is to
abstain from fleshly lusts, from adultery, fornication, and all
uncleanness. Some apply this figuratively, and by the adulterous
woman here understand idolatry, or false doctrine, which tends to
debauch men's minds and manners, or the sensual appetite, to which
it may as fitly as any thing be applied; but the primary scope of
it is plainly to warn us against seventh-commandment sins, which
youth is so prone to, the temptations to which are so violent, the
examples of which are so many, and which, where admitted, are so
destructive to all the seeds of virtue in the soul that it is not
strange that Solomon's cautions against it are so very pressing and
so often repeated. Solomon here, as a faithful watchman, gives fair
warning to all, as they regard their lives and comforts, to dread
this sin, for it will certainly be their ruin. Two things we are
here warned to take heed of:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p6">1. That we do not listen to the charms of
this sin. It is true <i>the lips of a strange woman drop as a
honey-comb</i> (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.3" parsed="|Prov|5|3|0|0" passage="Pr 5:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>);
the pleasures of fleshly lust are very tempting (like the wine that
<i>gives its colour in the cup</i> and <i>moves itself aright</i>);
its mouth, the kisses of its mouth, the words of its mouth, are
<i>smoother than oil,</i> that the poisonous pill may go down
glibly and there may be no suspicion of harm in it. But consider,
(1.) How fatal the consequences will be. What fruit will the sinner
have of his honey and oil when the end will be, [1.] The terrors of
conscience: It <i>is bitter as wormwood,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.4" parsed="|Prov|5|4|0|0" passage="Pr 5:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. What was luscious in the mouth
rises in the stomach and turns sour there; it cuts, in the
reflection, like <i>a two-edged sword;</i> take it which way you
will, it wounds. Solomon could speak by experience, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.26" parsed="|Eccl|7|26|0|0" passage="Ec 7:26">Eccl. vii. 26</scripRef>. [2.] The torments of
hell. If some that have been guilty of this sin have repented and
been saved, yet the direct tendency of the sin is to destruction of
body and soul; the <i>feet</i> of it <i>go down to death,</i> nay,
they <i>take hold on hell,</i> to pull it to the sinner, as if the
damnations slumbered too long, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.4" parsed="|Prov|5|4|0|0" passage="Pr 5:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. Those that are entangled in this sin should be
reminded that there is but a step between them and hell, and that
they are ready to drop into it. (2.) Consider how false the charms
are. The adulteress flatters and speaks fair, her words are honey
and oil, but she will deceive those that hearken to her: <i>Her
ways are movable, that thou canst not know them;</i> she often
changes her disguise, and puts on a great variety of false colours,
because, if she be rightly known, she is certainly hated.
Proteus-like, she puts on many shapes, that she may keep in with
those whom she has a design upon. And what does she aim at with all
this art and management? Nothing but to keep them from <i>pondering
the path of life,</i> for she knows that, if they once come to do
that, she shall certainly lose them. Those are <i>ignorant of
Satan's devices</i> who do not understand that the great thing he
drives at in all his temptations is, [1.] To keep them from
choosing the path of life, to prevent them from being religious and
from going to heaven, that, being himself shut out from happiness,
he may keep them out from it. [2.] In order hereunto, to keep them
from pondering the path of life, from considering how reasonable it
is that they should walk in that path, and how much it will be for
their advantage. Be it observed, to the honour of religion, that it
certainly gains its point with all those that will but allow
themselves the liberty of a serious thought and will weigh things
impartially in an even balance, and that the devil has no way of
securing men in his interests but by diverting them with continual
amusements of one kind or another from the calm and sober
consideration of the <i>things that belong to their peace.</i> And
uncleanness is a sin that does as much as any thing blind the
understanding, sear the conscience, and keep people from pondering
the path of life. Whoredom <i>takes away the heart,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.11" parsed="|Hos|4|11|0|0" passage="Ho 4:11">Hos. iv. 11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p7">2. That we do not approach the borders of
this sin, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.7-Prov.5.8" parsed="|Prov|5|7|5|8" passage="Pr 5:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7,
8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p8">(1.) This caution is introduced with a
solemn preface: "<i>Hear me now therefore, O you children!</i>
whoever you are that read or hear these lines, take notice of what
I say, and mix faith with it, treasure it up, and <i>depart not
from the words of my mouth,</i> as those will do that hearken to
the words of the strange woman. Do not only receive what I say, for
the present merely, but cleave to it, and let it be ready to thee,
and of force with thee, when thou art most violently assaulted by
the temptation."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p9">(2.) The caution itself is very pressing:
"<i>Remove thy way far from her;</i> if thy way should happen to
lie near her, and thou shouldst have a fair pretence of being led
by business within the reach of her charms, yet change thy way, and
alter the course of it, rather than expose thyself to danger;
<i>come not nigh the door of her house;</i> go on the other side of
the street, nay, go through some other street, though it be about."
This intimates, [1.] That we ought to have a very great dread and
detestation of the sin. We must fear it as we would a place
infected with the plague; we must loathe it as the odour of
carrion, that we will not come near. <i>Then</i> we are likely to
preserve our purity when we conceive a rooted antipathy to all
fleshly lusts. [2.] That we ought industriously to avoid every
thing that may be an occasion of this sin or a step towards it.
Those that would be kept from harm must keep out of harm's way.
Such tinder there is in the corrupt nature that it is madness, upon
any pretence whatsoever, to come near the sparks. If we thrust
ourselves into temptation, we mocked God when we prayed, <i>Lead us
not into temptation.</i> [3.] That we ought to be jealous over
ourselves with a godly jealousy, and not to be so confident of the
strength of our own resolutions as to venture upon the brink of
sin, with a promise to ourselves that <i>hitherto we will come and
no further.</i> [4.] That whatever has become a snare to us and an
occasion of sin, though it be as a <i>right eye</i> and a <i>right
hand,</i> we must <i>pluck it out, cut it off, and cast it from
us,</i> must part with that which is dearest to us rather than
hazard our own souls; this is our Saviour's command, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.28-Matt.5.30" parsed="|Matt|5|28|5|30" passage="Mt 5:28-30">Matt. v. 28-30</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p10">(3.) The arguments which Solomon here uses
to enforce this caution are taken from the same topic with those
before, the many mischiefs which attend this sin. [1.] It blasts
the reputation. "Thou wilt <i>give thy honour unto others</i>
(<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.9" parsed="|Prov|5|9|0|0" passage="Pr 5:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); thou wilt lose
it thyself; thou wilt put into the hand of each of thy neighbours a
stone to throw at thee, for they will all, with good reason, cry
shame on thee, will despise thee, and trample on thee, as a foolish
men." Whoredom is a sin that makes men contemptible and base, and
no man of sense or virtue will care to keep company with one that
keeps company with harlots. [2.] It wastes the time, gives <i>the
years,</i> the years of youth, the flower of men's time, <i>unto
the cruel,</i> "that base lust of thine, which with the utmost
cruelty <i>wars against the soul,</i> that base harlot which
pretends an affection for thee, but really hunts for the precious
life." Those years that should be given to the honour of a gracious
God are spent in the service of a cruel sin. [3.] It ruins the
estate (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.10" parsed="|Prov|5|10|0|0" passage="Pr 5:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>):
"<i>Strangers</i> will be <i>filled with thy wealth,</i> which thou
art but entrusted with as a steward for thy family; and the fruit
of <i>thy labours,</i> which should be provision for thy own house,
will be in <i>the house of a stranger,</i> that neither has right
to it nor will ever thank thee for it." [4.] It is destructive to
the health, and shortens men's days: <i>Thy flesh and thy body</i>
will be <i>consumed</i> by it, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.11" parsed="|Prov|5|11|0|0" passage="Pr 5:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. The lusts of uncleanness not
only <i>war against the soul,</i> which the sinner neglects and is
in no care about, but they war against the body too, which he is so
indulgent of and is in such care to please and pamper, such
deceitful, such foolish, such hurtful lusts are they. Those that
give themselves to work uncleanness with greediness waste their
strength, throw themselves into weakness, and often have their
bodies filled with loathsome distempers, by which the number of
their months is cut off in the midst and they fall unpitied
sacrifices to a cruel lust. [5.] It will fill the mind with horror,
if ever conscience be awakened. "Though thou art merry now,
<i>sporting thyself in thy own deceivings,</i> yet thou wilt
certainly <i>mourn at the last,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.11" parsed="|Prov|5|11|0|0" passage="Pr 5:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Thou art all this while making
work for repentance, and laying up matter for vexation and torment
in the reflection, when the sin is set before thee in its own
colours." Sooner or later it will bring sorrow, either when the
soul is humbled and brought to repentance or when the <i>flesh and
body are consumed,</i> either by sickness, when conscience flies in
the sinner's face, or by the grave; when the body is rotting there,
the soul is racking in the torments of hell, where the worm dies
not, and "<i>Son, remember,</i>" is the constant peal. Solomon here
brings in the convinced sinner reproaching himself, and aggravating
his own folly. He will then most bitterly lament it. <i>First,</i>
That because he hated to be reformed he therefore hated to be
informed, and could not endure either to be taught his duty (<i>How
have I hated</i> not only the discipline of being instructed, but
the <i>instruction</i> itself, though all true and good!) or to be
told of his faults—<i>My heart despised reproof,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.12" parsed="|Prov|5|12|0|0" passage="Pr 5:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. He cannot but own that
those who had the charge of him, parents, ministers, had done their
part; they had been his teachers; they had instructed him, had
given him good counsel and fair warning (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.13" parsed="|Prov|5|13|0|0" passage="Pr 5:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); but to his own shame and
confusion does he speak it, and therein justifies God in all the
miseries that were brought upon him, he had not <i>obeyed their
voice,</i> for indeed he <i>never inclined his ear to those that
instructed him,</i> never minded what they said nor admitted the
impressions of it. Note, Those who have had a good education and do
not live up to it will have a great deal to answer for another day;
and those who will not now remember what they were taught, to
conform themselves to it, will be made to remember it as an
aggravation of their sin, and consequently of their ruin.
<i>Secondly,</i> That by the frequent acts of sin the habits of it
were so rooted and confirmed that his heart was fully set in him to
commit it (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.7" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.14" parsed="|Prov|5|14|0|0" passage="Pr 5:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>):
<i>I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and
assembly.</i> When he came into the synagogue, or into the courts
of the temple, to worship God with other Israelites, his unclean
heart was full of wanton thoughts and desires and his eyes of
adultery. Reverence of the place and company, and of the work that
was doing, could not restrain him, but he was almost as wicked and
vile there as any where. No sin will appear more frightful to an
awakened conscience than the profanation of holy things; nor will
any aggravation of sin render it more exceedingly sinful than the
place we are honoured with in the congregation and assembly, and
the advantages we enjoy thereby. Zimri and Cozbi avowed their
villany <i>in the sight of Moses and all the congregation</i>
(<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.8" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.6" parsed="|Num|25|6|0|0" passage="Nu 25:6">Num. xxv. 6</scripRef>), and
heart-adultery is as open to God, and must needs be most offensive
to him, when we draw nigh to him in religious exercises. <i>I was
in all evil</i> in defiance of the magistrates and judges, and
their assemblies; so some understand it. Others refer it to the
evil of punishment, not to the evil of sin: "I was made an example,
a spectacle to the world. I was under almost all God's sore
judgments <i>in the midst of the congregation of Israel,</i> set up
for a mark. <i>I stood up and cried in the congregation,</i>"
<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p10.9" osisRef="Bible:Job.30.28" parsed="|Job|30|28|0|0" passage="Job 30:28">Job xxx. 28</scripRef>. Let that be
avoided which will be thus rued at last.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Prov.vi-p10.10" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.15-Prov.5.23" parsed="|Prov|5|15|5|23" passage="Pr 5:15-23" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Prov.5.15-Prov.5.23">
<h4 id="Prov.vi-p10.11">Conjugal Fidelity Enjoined.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Prov.vi-p11">15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and
running waters out of thine own well.   16 Let thy fountains
be dispersed abroad, <i>and</i> rivers of waters in the streets.
  17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
  18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of
thy youth.   19 <i>Let her be as</i> the loving hind and
pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be
thou ravished always with her love.   20 And why wilt thou, my
son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a
stranger?   21 For the ways of man <i>are</i> before the eyes
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Prov.vi-p11.1">Lord</span>, and he pondereth all
his goings.   22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked
himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.  
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his
folly he shall go astray.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p12">Solomon, having shown the great evil that
there is in adultery and fornication, and all such lewd and filthy
courses, here prescribes remedies against them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p13">I. Enjoy with satisfaction the comforts of
lawful marriage, which was ordained for the prevention of
uncleanness, and therefore ought to be made use of in time, lest it
should not prove effectual for the cure of that which it might have
prevented. Let none complain that God has dealt unkindly with them
in forbidding them those pleasures which they have a natural desire
of, for he has graciously provided for the regular gratification of
them. "Thou mayest not indeed eat of every tree of the garden, but
choose thee out one, which thou pleasest, and of that thou mayest
freely eat; nature will be content with that, but lust with
nothing." God, in thus confining men to one, has been so far from
putting any hardship upon them that he has really consulted their
true interest; for, as Mr. Herbert observes, "<i>If God had laid
all common, certainly man would have been the
encloser.</i>"—Church-porch. Solomon here enlarges much upon this,
not only prescribing it as an antidote, but urging it as an
argument against fornication, that the allowed pleasures of
marriage (however wicked wits may ridicule them, who are factors
for the unclean spirit) far transcend all the false forbidden
pleasures of whoredom.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p14">1. Let young men marry, marry and not burn.
Have <i>a cistern,</i> a <i>well of thy own</i> (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.15" parsed="|Prov|5|15|0|0" passage="Pr 5:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), even the wife <i>of thy
youth,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.18" parsed="|Prov|5|18|0|0" passage="Pr 5:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
<i>Wholly abstain, or wed.</i>—Herbert. "The world is wide, and
there are varieties of accomplishments, among which thou mayest
please thyself."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p15">2. Let him that is married take delight in
his wife, and let him be very fond of her, not only because she is
the wife that he himself has chosen and he ought to be pleased with
his own choice, but because she is the wife that God in his
providence appointed for him and he ought much more to be pleased
with the divine appointment, pleased with her because she is his
own. <i>Let thy fountain be blessed</i> (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.18" parsed="|Prov|5|18|0|0" passage="Pr 5:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); think thyself very happy in
her, look upon her as a blessed wife, let her have thy blessing,
pray daily for her, and then <i>rejoice with her.</i> Those
comforts we are likely to have joy of that are sanctified to us by
prayer and the blessing of God. It is not only allowed us, but
commanded us, to be pleasant with our relations; and it
particularly becomes yoke-fellows to rejoice together and in each
other. Mutual delight is the bond of mutual fidelity. It is not
only taken for granted that the <i>bridegroom rejoices over his
bride</i> (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.62.5" parsed="|Isa|62|5|0|0" passage="Isa 62:5">Isa. lxii. 5</scripRef>),
but given for law. <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.9" parsed="|Eccl|9|9|0|0" passage="Ec 9:9">Eccl. ix.
9</scripRef>, <i>Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all
the days of thy life.</i> Those take not their comforts where God
has appointed who are jovial and merry with their companions
abroad, but sour and morose with their families at home.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p16">3. Let him be fond of his wife and love her
dearly (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.19" parsed="|Prov|5|19|0|0" passage="Pr 5:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>):
<i>Let her be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe,</i> such as
great men sometimes kept tame in their houses and played with.
Desire no better diversion from severe study and business than the
innocent and pleasant conversation of thy own wife; let her lie in
thy bosom, as the poor man's ewe-lamb did in his (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.12.3" parsed="|2Sam|12|3|0|0" passage="2Sa 12:3">2 Sam. xii. 3</scripRef>), and do thou repose
thy head in hers, and let that <i>satisfy thee at all times;</i>
and seek not for pleasure in any other. "<i>Err thou always in her
love.</i> If thou wilt suffer thy love to run into an excess, and
wilt be dotingly fond of any body, let it be only of thy own wife,
where there is least danger of exceeding." This is <i>drinking
waters,</i> to quench the thirst of thy appetite, <i>out of thy own
cistern,</i> and <i>running waters,</i> which are clear, and sweet,
and wholesome, <i>out of thy own well,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.15 Bible:1Cor.7.2-1Cor.7.3" parsed="|Prov|5|15|0|0;|1Cor|7|2|7|3" passage="Pr 5:15,1Co 7:2,3"><i>v.</i> 15. 1 Cor. vii. 2, 3</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p17">4. Let him take delight in his children and
look upon them with pleasure (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.16-Prov.5.17" parsed="|Prov|5|16|5|17" passage="Pr 5:16,17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>): "Look upon them as
streams from thy own pure fountains" (the Jews are said to <i>come
forth out of the waters of Judah,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.48.1" parsed="|Isa|48|1|0|0" passage="Isa 48:1">Isa. xlviii. 1</scripRef>), "so that they are parts of
thyself, as the streams are of the fountain. Keep to thy own wife,
and thou shalt have," (1.) "A numerous offspring, like <i>rivers of
water,</i> which run in abundance, and they shall be dispersed
abroad, matched into other families, whereas those that <i>commit
whoredom</i> shall <i>not increase,</i>" <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.10" parsed="|Hos|4|10|0|0" passage="Ho 4:10">Hos. iv. 10</scripRef>. (2.) "A peculiar offspring, which
shall be <i>only thy own,</i> whereas the children of whoredom,
that are fathered upon thee, are, probably, not so, but, for aught
thou knowest, are the offspring of strangers, and yet thou must
keep them." (3.) "A creditable offspring, which are an honour to
thee, and which thou mayest send abroad, and appear with, in the
streets, whereas a spurious brood is thy disgrace, and that which
thou art ashamed to own." In this matter, virtue has all the
pleasure and honour in it; justly therefore it is called
<i>wisdom.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p18">5. Let him then scorn the offer of
forbidden pleasures when he is <i>always ravished with the love</i>
of a faithful virtuous wife; let him consider what an absurdity it
will be for him to be <i>ravished with a strange woman</i>
(<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.20" parsed="|Prov|5|20|0|0" passage="Pr 5:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), to be in
love with a filthy harlot, and <i>embrace the bosom of a
stranger,</i> which, if he had any sense of honour or virtue, he
would loathe the thoughts of. "Why wilt thou be so sottish, such an
enemy to thyself, as to prefer puddle-water, and that poisoned too
and stolen, before pure living waters out of thy own well?" Note,
If the dictates of reason may be heard, the laws of virtue will be
obeyed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p19">II. "See the eye of God always upon thee
and let his fear rule in thy heart," <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.21" parsed="|Prov|5|21|0|0" passage="Pr 5:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Those that live in this sin
promise themselves secresy (<i>the eye of the adulterer waits for
the twilight,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.15" parsed="|Job|24|15|0|0" passage="Job 24:15">Job xxiv.
15</scripRef>); but to what purpose, when it cannot be hidden from
God? For, 1. He sees it. <i>The ways of man,</i> all his motions,
all his actions, are <i>before the eyes of the Lord,</i> all the
workings of the heart and all the outgoings of the life, that which
is done ever so secretly and disguised ever so artfully. God sees
it in a true light, and knows it with all its causes,
circumstances, and consequences. He does not cast an eye upon men's
ways now and then, but they are always actually in his view and
under his inspection; and darest thou sin against God in his sight,
and do that wickedness under his eye which thou durst not do in the
presence of a man like thyself? 2. He will call the sinner to an
account for it; for he not only sees, but <i>ponders all his
goings,</i> judges concerning them, as one that will shortly judge
the sinner for them. Every action is <i>weighed,</i> and shall be
<i>brought into judgment</i> (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.14" parsed="|Eccl|12|14|0|0" passage="Ec 12:14">Eccl.
xii. 14</scripRef>), which is a good reason why we should <i>ponder
the path of our feet</i> (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.4.26" parsed="|Prov|4|26|0|0" passage="Pr 4:26"><i>ch.</i>
iv. 26</scripRef>), and so <i>judge ourselves</i> that we <i>may
not be judged.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Prov.vi-p20">III. "Foresee the certain ruin of those
that go on still in their trespasses." Those that live in this sin
promise themselves impunity, but they deceive themselves; their sin
will find them out, <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.22-Prov.5.23" parsed="|Prov|5|22|5|23" passage="Pr 5:22,23"><i>v.</i> 22,
23</scripRef>. The apostle gives the sense of these verses in a few
words. <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.4" parsed="|Heb|13|4|0|0" passage="Heb 13:4">Heb. xiii. 4</scripRef>,
<i>Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.</i> 1. It is a sin
which men with great difficulty shake off the power of. When the
sinner is old and weak his lusts are strong and active, in
<i>calling to remembrance the days of his youth,</i> <scripRef id="Prov.vi-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.23.19" parsed="|Ezek|23|19|0|0" passage="Eze 23:19">Ezek. xxiii. 19</scripRef>. Thus <i>his own
iniquities</i> having <i>seized the wicked himself</i> by his own
consent, and he having voluntarily surrendered himself a captive to
them, he is <i>held in the cords of his own sins,</i> and such full
possession they have gained of him that he cannot extricate
himself, but in the <i>greatness of his folly</i> (and what greater
folly could there be than to yield himself a servant to such cruel
task-masters?) he shall <i>go astray,</i> and wander endlessly.
Uncleanness is a sin from which, when once men have plunged
themselves into it, they very hardly and very rarely recover
themselves. 2. It is a sin which, if it be not forsaken, men cannot
possibly escape the punishment of; it will unavoidably be their
ruin. As their own iniquities do arrest them in the reproaches of
conscience and present rebukes (<scripRef id="Prov.vi-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.19" parsed="|Jer|7|19|0|0" passage="Jer 7:19">Jer.
vii. 19</scripRef>), so their own iniquities shall arrest them and
bind them over to the judgments of God. There needs no prison, no
chains; they shall be <i>holden in the cords of their own sins,</i>
as the fallen angels, being incurably wicked, are thereby
<i>reserved in chains of darkness.</i> The sinner, who, having been
<i>often reproved, hardens his neck,</i> shall <i>die at length
without instruction.</i> Having had general warnings sufficient
given him already, he shall have no particular warnings, but he
shall die without seeing his danger beforehand, shall die because
he would not receive instruction, but <i>in the greatness of his
folly</i> would <i>go astray;</i> and so shall his doom be, he
shall never find the way home again. Those that are so foolish as
to choose the way of sin are justly left of God to themselves to go
in it till they come to that destruction which it leads to, which
is a good reason why we should guard with watchfulness and
resolution against the allurements of the sensual appetite.</p>
</div></div2>