Dearly beloved, I befeech you as Strangers and Pilgrims, abstain from fleshly Lufts, which war against the Soul.

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HE Exhortations of Scripture to abstain from fleshly Lufts, or Lufts of the Flefh, are fo many, the Expreffion itself is fo familiar to Chriftians, and fo well understood, that there is no need, I think, of many Words to explain the Subject Matter of the Advice now before us. Some Sins are privileged by their Impurity from being exposed as they deferve: A modeft Tongue cannot relate, nor a modest Ear receive

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ceive an Account, without great Pain, of the various Kinds of Lewdness practised in the World: For as the Apostle to the Ephehans remarks, It is a Shame even to speak of thofe Things which are done of them in fecret. Had he lived in our Times, he might perhaps have varied his Phrase, and faid, which are done of them in publick. These Impurities are, in one Senfe of the Word, no longer Works of Darkness, they appear at Noon-Day. Since therefore they no longer affect to be difguifed, they will speak for themselves what they are: I have no Mind to speak for them.

The Apostle in the Text has pointed out to us the common Source from whence Vices of this kind proceed; they arise from fleshly Lufts: Words which carry a Reason in them, to all who value their Reason, not to give themselves up to the Dominion of Appetites, made not to govern, but to ferve the Man. But Reason, when it becomes a Slave to Vice, must do the Drudgery of Vice, and fupport its Cause: And therefore, upon this Topic, Vice has borrowed fome Affiftance from Reafon, and made a Shew of arguing in its own Defence. Thefe fleshly Lufts, as the Scripture calls them, others are willing

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to call natural Defires: And then the Queftion is afked, How it becomes fo heinous an Offence to comply with the Defires which God, for wife Reafons, has made to be Part of the Nature which he has given us? Were this Question afked in Behalf of the Brute Creatures, we would readily answer, We accufe them not: But when Man afks it in his own Behalf, he forgets that he has another Question to anfwer before he can be entitled to ask this, For what Purpose was Reafon and Understanding given to Man? Brutes have no higher Rule to act by than these Instincts and natural Impreffions; and therefore, in acting according to these, they act up to the Dignity of the Nature bestowed on them, and are blameless. But can you fay the fame of Man? Does he act up to the Dignity of his Nature, when he makes that his Rule which is common to him and the Beasts; when he purfues the fame Inclinations, and with as little Regard to Virtue and Morality? Why is Man diftinguished from the Brute Creatures by fo fuperior a Degree of Reason and Understanding, by a Knowledge of moral Good and Evil, by a Notion of God his Creator and Governor, by a certain Expectation of Judgment, arising from a Senfe of his being accountable, if after

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after all there is but one Rule of acting for him and for the Beasts that perish? Let these Defires be natural; yet tell me, Does the Addition of Reason make no Difference? Is a Creature endowed with Knowledge at Liberty to indulge his Defires with the fame Freedom, as a Creature that has no Reafon to reftrain it? If this be abfurd, it is to little Purpose to plead that the Defires are natural, fince we have Reason given us to direct them, and are not at Liberty to do whatever Appetite prompts us to do, but must in all Things confider what is reasonable and fit for us to do: For furely there is no Cafe in which a reasonable Creature may renounce the Direction of Reason.

It will be further urged, To what Purpose were these Defires given, which are apparently the Cause of much Mischief and Iniquity in the World, and oftentimes a great Difturbance to the best in a Life of Religion? In reply to this, it will be neceffary to confider how far these Defires are natural.

If we look into Mankind, we shall find that the Defires which are common, and therefore may be called natural, are fuch as are neceffary to the Prefervation of Individuals, and fuch as are neceffary for the Prefervation of the Species. At the fame time that we

find thefe natural Defires, we difcover the Ends which Nature has to ferve by them; and Reason from thence difcerns the true Rule for the Government and Direction of them. Our Bodies are so made, that they cannot be supported without conftant Nourifhment: Hunger and Thirst therefore are natural Appetites given us to be constant Calls to us to adminifter to the Body the neceffary Supports of the Animal Life. Afk any Man of common Senfe now, how far thefe Appetites ought to be indulged; he cannot help seeing that Nature calls for no more than is proper for the Health and Prefervation of the Body, and that Reason prefcribes the fame Bounds; and that when these Appetites are made Occafions of Intemperance, an Offence is committed against as well the Order of Nature, as the Rule of Reason. The Excess therefore of thefe Appetites is not natural but vicious: The intemperate Man is not called upon by his natural Appetites, but he does, in Truth, call upon them to affift his Senfuality, and often loads them fo hard that they recoil, and naufeate what is obtruded upon them. An habitual Drunkard may have, and has, I fuppose, an uncommon Craving upon him; but the Excess of his Craving is not natural: VOL. II. N

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