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"foever things are honeft, oa ceava, whatfoeverS ERM. things are grave or venerable, ora ayva, whatfoever things are pure or chafte, think on thefe things;" that is, have great regard to them in your converfation and behaviour, there being no fort of virtue which the christian religion does not ftrictly enjoin and exact from us; and confequently whatfoever is light and frothy, and much more whatever is lewd and filthy, ought to be banished from the converfation of Christians, as utterly inconfiftent with the gravity and purity of that holy profeffion.

And the fame apoftle tells us, that all the promises of the gospel are fo many arguments and obligations to purity and holinefs. 2 Cor. vii. 1. "Having there"fore these promises (dearly beloved) let us cleanfe "ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,.

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perfecting," or practising, "holinefs in the fear of "GOD." And on the contrary St. John tells us, that all impurity will be an effectual bar to our entrance into heaven. Rev. xxi. 27. fpeaking of the new Jerufalem, fays he, "there fhall in no wife en❝ter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatfo"ever worketh abomination." So that if either the promises or threatnings of the gofpel have any influence upon us, they will effectually reftrain this vicious practice.

VII. and lastly, all impure and filty communica tion "grieves the holy fpirit," and drives him away from us. And therefore after he had forbidden this vice here in the text, that "no corrupt communica"tion proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers," he immediately adds, "and grieve not the holy Spirit of GoD, whereby ye are fealed to the day of redemption;" hereby

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intimating,

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SERM. intimating, that all corrupt and filthy communication grieves the holy Spirit of GoD," that blessed Spirit which is "the feal and earnest of our redemption,"t hat is, as the apostle himself explains it, of "the redemption "of our bodies from the bondage of corruption," by the refurrection of them to eternal life. For it is the Spirit of God dwelling in us, which fhall raise our bodies at the last day, and make them partakers of a bleffed immortality. So the apostle fays exprefly, Rom. viii.

II.

"But if the Spirit of him that raised up JESUS "from the dead dwell in you; he that raised up "CHRIST, from the dead, fhall alfo quicken your "mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." If we defile our bodies, or any members of them by uncleannefs, we grieve the Spirit of GOD which dwells in us, and force him out of his habitation; that bleffed Spirit, which 'fhould quicken our mortal bodies, and is both the earnest and the cause of their refurrection to eternal life. For our bodies as well as our fouls are "the temples of the holy Ghoft," and the Spirit of GOD dwells in them;" and we banish him out of his temple, whenever we profane it by lewd and filthy fpeech.

And the apostle ufeth this argument more than once to deter Christians more especially from the fins of uncleannefs. 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. "Know ye not that ye "are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of GoD dwelleth in you ? If If any man defile the temple of "GOD, him fhall GoD deftroy. For the temple of "GOD is holy, which temple ye are." The holy Spirit of GOD fanctifieth the place where he more eipecially refides, and makes it his temple; and so are our bodies as well as our fouls; as the fame apostle exprefly tells us, chap. vi. ver. 18, 19, 20. where he argues againft the fins of uncleannefs, which are com

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mitted in the body, and by the members and inftru-SER M. ments of it, from this confideration, that "our bodies "are the temples of the holy Ghoft. Flee fornica"tion," fays he. "Every fin a man doth, is with"out the body: but he that committeth forni"cation, finneth against his own body;" that is, the body is not the immediate inftrument of other fins, as it is of those of uncleannefs; and then it follows, "what, know ye not that your body is the temple "of the holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of "GOD, and ye are not your own? for ye are bought "with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, "and in your spirit, which are GOD's." Under the name of fornication the apoftle comprehends all the fins of uncleanness, of which any member of the body is an inftrument; fo that the lafcivioufnefs of the eye, or ear, or tongue, is a polluting or profaning this temple of God, and drives the holy Spirit of GOD out of his poffeffion.

And whenever the Spirit of GoD departs from us. we cease to be the children of GoD, and forfeit the earnest of our eternal inheritance. "Now if any man "have not the Spirit of CHRIST," fays the fame apostle, Rom. viii. 9. " he is none of his ;" that is, he does not belong to him; in plain english, he is no Christian. So that as we would not forfeit the title of Chriftians, and the bleffed hope of a glorious refurrection, we must be very careful that "no corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth," left hereby "we grieve the holy fpirit of GOD, by "which we are fealed unto the day of redemption."

I have now done with this argument, and what I have faid concerning immodeft and unchafte words, is of equal force against lafcivious books, and pictures, and plays; all which do alike intrench upon natural

modefty,

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SER M. modefty, and for that reafon are equally forbidden and condemned by the christian religion; and therefore it may fuffice to have named them. I fhall only fpeak a few words concerning plays, which as they are now ordered among us, are a mighty reproach to the age and nation.

To speak against them in general, may be thought too fevere, and that which the prefent age cannot fo well brook, and would not perhaps be fo juft and reasonable; because it is very poffible, they might be fo framed and governed by fuch rules, as not only to be innocently diverting, but inftructing and useful, to put fome vices and follies out of countenance, which cannot perhaps be fo decently reproved, nor fo effectually expofed and corrected any other way. But as the stage now is, they are intolerable, and not fit to be permitted in a civilized, much lefs in a chriftian nation. They do most notoriously minifter both to infidelity and vice. By the profaneness of them, they are apt to inftil bad principles into the minds of men, and to leffen the awe and reverence which all men ought to have for GOD and religion; and by their lewdness they teach vice, and are apt to infect the minds of men, and difpofe them to lewd and diffolute practices.

And therefore I do not fee how any perfon pretending to fobriety and virtue, and efpecially to the pure and holy religion of our bleffed SAVIOUR, can without great guilt, and open contradiction to his holy profeffion, be prefent at fuch lewd and immodest plays, much less frequent them, as too many do, who yet would take it very ill to be fhut out of the communion of Chriftians, as they would most certainly have been in the firft and pureft ages of chriftianity.

To conclude this whole difcourfe, let us always re

member,

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member, that gravity and modefty in all our beha-SER M. viour and converfation, in all our words and actions, are duties indifpenfably required by the 'chriftian religion, and the great fences of piety and virtue; and therefore ought with great confcience and care to be preferved and kept inviolable: and when these fences ars once broken down, there is a wide gap made for almost any fin and vice to enter in. Immodeft words do naturally tend to corrupt good manners, both in ourselves and others.

There is none of us, but would reckon it very great infelicity to be deprived of that noble and ufeful faculty of fpeech, which is fo peculiar to man, and which, next to our reafon and understanding, doth most remarkably distinguish us from the brute beasts : but it is a much greater unhappiness to have this faculty, and to abufe it to vile and lewd purposes. The firft may be only our misfortune: but this can never be without great fault, and grofs neglect of ourselves, and much better had it been for us to have been born dumb, than thus to turn our glory into shame and guilt, by perverting this excellent gift of God, to the corrupting ourselves and others.

This I hope may be fufficient to restrain men from this vice, which I have all this while been fpeaking against; at least to preferve those which are not yet infected, from the contagion of it; and I hope to reclaim many from fo bad a practice. And if any be fo hardened in their lewd course, that no counsel of this kind can make impreffion on them, what remains, but to conclude in the words of the angel to St. John, Revel. xxii. 11." he that is filthy let him "be filthy ftill: and he that is holy, let him be holy ftill."

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