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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P R O V E R B S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. V.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The scope of this chapter is much the same with that of
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+2:1-22"><I>ch.</I> ii</A>.
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To write the same things, in other words, ought not to be grievous, for
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it is safe,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:1">Phil. iii. 1</A>.
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Here is,
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I. An exhortation to get acquaintance with and submit to the laws of
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wisdom in general,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:2">ver. 2</A>.
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II. A particular caution against the sin of whoredom,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:3-14">ver. 3-14</A>.
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III. Remedies prescribed against that sin.
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1. Conjugal love,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:15-20">ver. 15-20</A>.
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2. A regard to God's omniscience,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:21">ver. 21</A>.
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3. A dread of the miserable end of wicked people,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:22,23">ver. 22, 23</A>.
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And all little enough to arm young people against those fleshly lusts
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which war against the soul.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Pr5_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Pr5_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Parental Instructions; Cautions against Sensuality.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, <I>and</I> bow thine ear to my
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understanding:
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2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and <I>that</I> thy lips may
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keep knowledge.
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3 For the lips of a strange woman drop <I>as</I> an honeycomb, and
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her mouth <I>is</I> smoother than oil:
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4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
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5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
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6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are
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moveable, <I>that</I> thou canst not know <I>them.</I>
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7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the
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words of my mouth.
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8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of
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her house:
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9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto
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the cruel:
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10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours
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<I>be</I> in the house of a stranger;
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11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are
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consumed,
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12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised
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reproof;
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13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined
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mine ear to them that instructed me!
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14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation
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and assembly.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here we have,</P>
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<P>
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I. A solemn preface, to introduce the caution which follows,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>.
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Solomon here addresses himself to his son, that is, to all young men,
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as unto his children, whom he has an affection for and some influence
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upon. In God's name, he demands attention; for he writes by divine
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inspiration, and is a prophet, though he begins not with, <I>Thus saith
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the Lord. "Attend, and bow thy ear;</I> not only hear what is said, and
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read what is written, but apply thy mind to it and consider it
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diligently." To gain attention he urges,
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1. The excellency of his discourse: "It is <I>my wisdom, my
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understanding;</I> if I undertake to teach thee wisdom I cannot
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prescribe any thing to be more properly called so; moral philosophy is
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my philosophy, and that which is to be learned in my school."
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2. The usefulness of it: "Attend to what I say,"
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(1.) "That thou mayest act wisely--<I>that thou mayest regard
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discretion.</I>" Solomon's lectures are not designed to fill our heads
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with notions, with matters of nice speculation, or doubtful
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disputation, but to guide us in the government of ourselves, that we
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may act prudently, so as becomes us and so as will be for our true
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interest.
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(2.) "That thou mayest speak wisely--<I>that thy lips may keep
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knowledge,</I> and thou mayest have it ready at thy tongue's end" (as
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we say), "for the benefit of those with whom thou dost converse." The
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priest's lips are said to <I>keep knowledge</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:7">Mal. ii. 7</A>);
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but those that are ready and mighty in the scriptures may not only in
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their devotions, but in their discourses, be spiritual priests.</P>
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<P>
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II. The caution itself, and that is to abstain from fleshly lusts, from
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adultery, fornication, and all uncleanness. Some apply this
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figuratively, and by the adulterous woman here understand idolatry, or
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false doctrine, which tends to debauch men's minds and manners, or the
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sensual appetite, to which it may as fitly as any thing be applied; but
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the primary scope of it is plainly to warn us against
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seventh-commandment sins, which youth is so prone to, the temptations
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to which are so violent, the examples of which are so many, and which,
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where admitted, are so destructive to all the seeds of virtue in the
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soul that it is not strange that Solomon's cautions against it are so
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very pressing and so often repeated. Solomon here, as a faithful
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watchman, gives fair warning to all, as they regard their lives and
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comforts, to dread this sin, for it will certainly be their ruin. Two
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things we are here warned to take heed of:--</P>
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<P>
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1. That we do not listen to the charms of this sin. It is true <I>the
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lips of a strange woman drop as a honey-comb</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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the pleasures of fleshly lust are very tempting (like the wine that
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<I>gives its colour in the cup</I> and <I>moves itself aright</I>); its
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mouth, the kisses of its mouth, the words of its mouth, are <I>smoother
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than oil,</I> that the poisonous pill may go down glibly and there may
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be no suspicion of harm in it. But consider,
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(1.) How fatal the consequences will be. What fruit will the sinner
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have of his honey and oil when the end will be,
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[1.] The terrors of conscience: It <I>is bitter as wormwood,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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What was luscious in the mouth rises in the stomach and turns sour
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there; it cuts, in the reflection, like <I>a two-edged sword;</I> take
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it which way you will, it wounds. Solomon could speak by experience,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+7:26">Eccl. vii. 26</A>.
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[2.] The torments of hell. If some that have been guilty of this sin
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have repented and been saved, yet the direct tendency of the sin is to
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destruction of body and soul; the <I>feet</I> of it <I>go down to
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death,</I> nay, they <I>take hold on hell,</I> to pull it to the
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sinner, as if the damnations slumbered too long,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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Those that are entangled in this sin should be reminded that there is
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but a step between them and hell, and that they are ready to drop into
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it.
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(2.) Consider how false the charms are. The adulteress flatters and
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speaks fair, her words are honey and oil, but she will deceive those
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that hearken to her: <I>Her ways are movable, that thou canst not know
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them;</I> she often changes her disguise, and puts on a great variety
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of false colours, because, if she be rightly known, she is certainly
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hated. Proteus-like, she puts on many shapes, that she may keep in with
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those whom she has a design upon. And what does she aim at with all
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this art and management? Nothing but to keep them from <I>pondering the
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path of life,</I> for she knows that, if they once come to do that, she
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shall certainly lose them. Those are <I>ignorant of Satan's devices</I>
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who do not understand that the great thing he drives at in all his
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temptations is,
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[1.] To keep them from choosing the path of life, to prevent them from
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being religious and from going to heaven, that, being himself shut out
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from happiness, he may keep them out from it.
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[2.] In order hereunto, to keep them from pondering the path of life,
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from considering how reasonable it is that they should walk in that
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path, and how much it will be for their advantage. Be it observed, to
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the honour of religion, that it certainly gains its point with all
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those that will but allow themselves the liberty of a serious thought
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and will weigh things impartially in an even balance, and that the
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devil has no way of securing men in his interests but by diverting them
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with continual amusements of one kind or another from the calm and
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sober consideration of the <I>things that belong to their peace.</I>
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And uncleanness is a sin that does as much as any thing blind the
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understanding, sear the conscience, and keep people from pondering the
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path of life. Whoredom <I>takes away the heart,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+4:11">Hos. iv. 11</A>.</P>
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<P>
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2. That we do not approach the borders of this sin,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) This caution is introduced with a solemn preface: "<I>Hear me now
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therefore, O you children!</I> whoever you are that read or hear these
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lines, take notice of what I say, and mix faith with it, treasure it
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up, and <I>depart not from the words of my mouth,</I> as those will do
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that hearken to the words of the strange woman. Do not only receive
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what I say, for the present merely, but cleave to it, and let it be
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ready to thee, and of force with thee, when thou art most violently
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assaulted by the temptation."</P>
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<P>
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(2.) The caution itself is very pressing: "<I>Remove thy way far from
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her;</I> if thy way should happen to lie near her, and thou shouldst
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have a fair pretence of being led by business within the reach of her
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charms, yet change thy way, and alter the course of it, rather than
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expose thyself to danger; <I>come not nigh the door of her house;</I>
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go on the other side of the street, nay, go through some other street,
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though it be about." This intimates,
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[1.] That we ought to have a very great dread and detestation of the
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sin. We must fear it as we would a place infected with the plague; we
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must loathe it as the odour of carrion, that we will not come near.
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<I>Then</I> we are likely to preserve our purity when we conceive a
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rooted antipathy to all fleshly lusts.
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[2.] That we ought industriously to avoid every thing that may be an
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occasion of this sin or a step towards it. Those that would be kept
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from harm must keep out of harm's way. Such tinder there is in the
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corrupt nature that it is madness, upon any pretence whatsoever, to
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come near the sparks. If we thrust ourselves into temptation, we mocked
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God when we prayed, <I>Lead us not into temptation.</I>
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[3.] That we ought to be jealous over ourselves with a godly jealousy,
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and not to be so confident of the strength of our own resolutions as to
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venture upon the brink of sin, with a promise to ourselves that
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<I>hitherto we will come and no further.</I>
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[4.] That whatever has become a snare to us and an occasion of sin,
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though it be as a <I>right eye</I> and a <I>right hand,</I> we must
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<I>pluck it out, cut it off, and cast it from us,</I> must part with
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that which is dearest to us rather than hazard our own souls; this is
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our Saviour's command,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:28-30">Matt. v. 28-30</A>.</P>
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<P>
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(3.) The arguments which Solomon here uses to enforce this caution are
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taken from the same topic with those before, the many mischiefs which
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attend this sin.
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[1.] It blasts the reputation. "Thou wilt <I>give thy honour unto
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others</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>);
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thou wilt lose it thyself; thou wilt put into the hand of each of thy
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neighbours a stone to throw at thee, for they will all, with good
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reason, cry shame on thee, will despise thee, and trample on thee, as a
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foolish men." Whoredom is a sin that makes men contemptible and base,
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and no man of sense or virtue will care to keep company with one that
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keeps company with harlots.
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[2.] It wastes the time, gives <I>the years,</I> the years of youth,
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the flower of men's time, <I>unto the cruel,</I> "that base lust of
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thine, which with the utmost cruelty <I>wars against the soul,</I> that
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base harlot which pretends an affection for thee, but really hunts for
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the precious life." Those years that should be given to the honour of a
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gracious God are spent in the service of a cruel sin.
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[3.] It ruins the estate
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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"<I>Strangers</I> will be <I>filled with thy wealth,</I> which thou art
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but entrusted with as a steward for thy family; and the fruit of <I>thy
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labours,</I> which should be provision for thy own house, will be in
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<I>the house of a stranger,</I> that neither has right to it nor will
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ever thank thee for it."
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[4.] It is destructive to the health, and shortens men's days: <I>Thy
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flesh and thy body</I> will be <I>consumed</I> by it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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The lusts of uncleanness not only <I>war against the soul,</I> which
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the sinner neglects and is in no care about, but they war against the
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body too, which he is so indulgent of and is in such care to please and
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pamper, such deceitful, such foolish, such hurtful lusts are they.
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Those that give themselves to work uncleanness with greediness waste
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their strength, throw themselves into weakness, and often have their
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bodies filled with loathsome distempers, by which the number of their
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months is cut off in the midst and they fall unpitied sacrifices to a
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cruel lust.
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[5.] It will fill the mind with horror, if ever conscience be awakened.
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"Though thou art merry now, <I>sporting thyself in thy own
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deceivings,</I> yet thou wilt certainly <I>mourn at the last,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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Thou art all this while making work for repentance, and laying up
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matter for vexation and torment in the reflection, when the sin is set
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before thee in its own colours." Sooner or later it will bring sorrow,
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either when the soul is humbled and brought to repentance or when the
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<I>flesh and body are consumed,</I> either by sickness, when conscience
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flies in the sinner's face, or by the grave; when the body is rotting
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there, the soul is racking in the torments of hell, where the worm dies
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not, and "<I>Son, remember,</I>" is the constant peal. Solomon here
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brings in the convinced sinner reproaching himself, and aggravating his
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own folly. He will then most bitterly lament it. <I>First,</I> That
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because he hated to be reformed he therefore hated to be informed, and
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could not endure either to be taught his duty (<I>How have I hated</I>
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not only the discipline of being instructed, but the <I>instruction</I>
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itself, though all true and good!) or to be told of his faults--<I>My
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heart despised reproof,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
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He cannot but own that those who had the charge of him, parents,
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ministers, had done their part; they had been his teachers; they had
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instructed him, had given him good counsel and fair warning
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
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but to his own shame and confusion does he speak it, and therein
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justifies God in all the miseries that were brought upon him, he had
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not <I>obeyed their voice,</I> for indeed he <I>never inclined his ear
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to those that instructed him,</I> never minded what they said nor
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admitted the impressions of it. Note, Those who have had a good
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education and do not live up to it will have a great deal to answer for
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|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+25:6">Num. xxv. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+30:28">Job xxx. 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let that be avoided which will be thus rued at last.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Pr5_23"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Conjugal Fidelity Enjoined.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, 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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
1. Let young men marry, marry and not burn. Have <I>a cistern,</I> a
|
|
<I>well of thy own</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
even the wife <I>of thy youth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+62:5">Isa. lxii. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
but given for law.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+9:9">Eccl. ix. 9</A>,
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
3. Let him be fond of his wife and love her dearly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+12:3">2 Sam. xii. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:15,1Co+7:2,3"><I>v.</I> 15.
|
|
1 Cor. vii. 2, 3</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. Let him take delight in his children and look upon them with
|
|
pleasure
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
"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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+48:1">Isa. xlviii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
"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>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+4:10">Hos. iv. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
II. "See the eye of God always upon thee and let his fear rule in thy
|
|
heart,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that live in this sin promise themselves secresy (<I>the eye of
|
|
the adulterer waits for the twilight,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+24:15">Job xxiv. 15</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+12:14">Eccl. xii. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
which is a good reason why we should <I>ponder the path of our feet</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+4:26"><I>ch.</I> iv. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
and so <I>judge ourselves</I> that we <I>may not be judged.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:22,23"><I>v.</I> 22, 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
The apostle gives the sense of these verses in a few words.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+13:4">Heb. xiii. 4</A>,
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+23:19">Ezek. xxiii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:19">Jer. vii. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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