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246 Reflections on Divine grace, which saves the vilest sinners.

SECT. While brother goes to law with brother! What are these little inX. terests of mortal life, that the heirs of salvation, by whom angels are to be judged, should wrangle about them, and for the sake of 6 them do wrong, and that even to their brethren!

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Men had need, where such a temper prevails, to examine 9 themselves, and take heed that they be not deceived; for though good men may fall into some degrees of this evil, through negli gence or mistake, yet certainly it looks too much like the char 9, 10 acter of such of whom the apostle testifies, that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Let us observe, that in this catalogue are contained, not only the most infamous and enormous offenders, but some, who perhaps may be tempted, because of their freedom from flagitious crimes, to think much better of themselves than they ought. We find here the effeminate, and covetous, and revilers, and extortioners, ranked with adulterers, and fornicators, with thieves and drunkards, with idolaters and Sodomites. We can never be secure from danger of falling into the greatest sins, till we learn to guard against the least; or rather, till we think no evil small; viewing every sin in its con tradiction to the nature of God, and in the sad aspect it bears with regard to an eternal state.

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But how astonishing is it to reflect, that when the apostle is speaking of persons of such infamous characters, he should be able to add, in his address to his Christian brethren at Corinth, And such were some of you! Who must not adore the riches and sovereignty of Divine grace? were such as these the best of the heathen world? were such as these prepared by their distin guished virtues to receive farther assistance? let us rather pay our homage to that grace, which went, as it were, into the suburbs of hell, to gather from thence citizens of heaven. And let the worst of men learn, not to despair of salvation, when made sincerely desirous of being washed and sanctified, as well as justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. It is that name, it is that Spirit alone, which accomplishes works like these. And, blessed be God, all the wonders of this kind were not exhausted in those early ages, but some have been reserved for us, on whom the end of the world is come: the gospel hath exerted its triumphs in our own days, and they shall be renewed in those of our children. Only let none from hence presume to turn the grace of God into wantonness; lest, instead of being among the few, who are made the trophies of the Divine mercy, they should perish with the multitude of the ungodly world, who die in their pollutions, and go down to final and irreversible condemnation.

The apostle would not be under the power even of lawful things. 24

SECT. XI.

Whereas some among the newly converted Corinthians, might not be sufficiently sensible of the enormity of the sin of fornication, the apostle, after some useful reflections on things really indif ferent, expresses himself strongly on that head, and pleads those views peculiar to Christianity, which especially illustrate the heinousness of it. 1 Cor. VI. 12, to the end.

1 COR. VI. 12.

ALL things are I

1 CORINTHIANS VI. 12.

1 Cor.

KNOW, some of you at Corinth, allow sECT. lawful unto yourselves to philosophize with great lib. xi. me, but all things are not expedient: erty, and find many excuses for doing things all things are lawful which others conscientiously scruple: but as vi, 12 for me, but I will not matters at present stand, I think it necessary to be brought under the power of any. give you some cautions upon this head. Suppose the things in question to be as indifferent in their own nature, as many of you would fain persuade yourselves and others, they are: I will, for argument sake, grant, that all these things are lawful for me; but at the same time you must acknowledge, if you reflect ever so little, that all such things are not convenient: circumstances may make it improper for me to do that which is not absolutely and universally criminal. And though it be allowed, that all things in question are lawful for me, nevertheless, I will not be brought under the power of any such thing. But am solicitous to maintain such a superiority to appetite and passion, as becomes a man and a Christian in these cases. 13 Meats for the This maxim may be particularly applied to the 18 belly, and the belly supposed difference between one kind of food for meats: but God shall destroy both it and another. All meats, capable of ministerand them. Now the ing to our nourishments [are] indifferently body is not for forni- made for the use of the belly, and the belly is cation, but for the made for receiving and digesting meats. It is true; but then it ought to be remembered, that the time will quickly come, when God will destroy both it and them; meats, and the organs by which they have been received, and this animal frame, which has been nourished by them, shall be mixed together in the grave, and moulder into dust. Since therefore they refer only to this mortal body, so soon to be reduced to its first mean principles, it is certainly be

Lord;
and the Lord

for the body.

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Much less would he allow fornication.

SECT. neath the dignity of the Christian character, to xi. be a slave to this or that kind of meats; or in any instances, to indulge this perishing flesh, vi. 13 so as to injure the souls of others, or hazard

1 Cor.

our own.

But if any man extend the maxim I have mentioned above, to patronize any kind of lewdness, it would be a groundless and most unjustifiable inference: for it is most certain, that the body is not made for so infamous a purpose as fornication, nor can the commission of it be ever necessary or expedient; but it was, on the contrary, formed for the service of the Lord, that, while we continue in it, we might devote all our animal, as well as rational powers, to our great Creator and Redeemer; and the Lord is in an important sense for the body, he is the great Saviour of the body, as well as of the soul, and will make it at last appear, that he hath not forgotten the meaner part of our nature, in the gracious scheme he hath 14 formed for our felicity: And this scheme shall

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raise

up us by his

14 And God hath surely be effectual; for God the Father hath both both raised up the raised up the Lord Jesus Christ, from the dead Lord, and will also to an immortal life, and will also raise us up, in own power. like manner, by his Divine and almighty pow er, and transform these bodies of ours, into a resemblance of the glorified body of our Lord; which should certainly raise us above all impure affections and desires, and engage us to live in the body, in some conformity to so divine and glorious a hope.

of an harlot God

Enter, I beseech you, into the thought; and 15 Know ye not, let me expostulate freely with those who are that your bodies ready to forget it. Know ye not indeed, that, Christ? shall I then are the members of as your bodies make an essential part of your- take the members of selves, they are to be considered as members of Christ, and make Christ, belonging, as it were, to his body, and them the membera in that view under his care, as to their final forbid. and everlasting happiness with him. Shall I then take these which I am taught to look upon as in an important sense the members of Christ, and prostitute them to so infamous a purpose, as to make them the members of an harlot by unlawful embraces? God forbid! It is a thing. not to be thought of, without the utmost abhor- 16 What, know 16 rence and indignation. What, know ye not, is joined to an har that he who is thus joined to an harlot, is one lot, is one body? for

ye not, that he which

be one flesh.

For our bodies are the members of Christ.

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1 Cor.

two, (saith he,) shall body with her? For say [the Divine oracles,] SECT. speaking of that conjunction which whoredom xi. prostitutes to the dishonour of matrimony, so wisely and graciously ordained by God, (Gen. vi. 16 ii. 24,) they two, that is, the man and his wife, 17 But he that is shall be one flesh. But on the other hand, he 17 joined unto the Lord, that is joined to the Lord by a true faith, is one is one spirit. spirit, with him. And as the head and members of the natural body are one, as they are acted upon by the same spirit, so the same Divine and holy Spirit, which lives in Christ as the Head, is communicated to us from him; just as the vital spirits are communicated from the head to the limbs. Now what thought can be more monstrous than that any one should think of being, at the same time, one spirit with the 18 Flee fornica- Lord, and one flesh with an harlot? Let this 18 tion. Every sin that therefore be instead of ten thousand arguments, a man doeth, is without the body: to engage you to flee whoredom: concerning but he that commit which, one may farther plead, that every [other] teth fornication, sin- sin, which a man practises, is without the body; neth against his own its effects fall not so directly upon the body, but

body.

often more immediately upon the mind. But he that committeth whoredom, or any kind of lewdness, sinneth particularly against his own body, not only polluting and debasing it, by making it one with so infamous a creature, but perhaps infecting and enfeebling, wasting and consuming it, which these vices, when grown habitual and frequent, have an apparent tendency to effect. (Compare Prov. v. 11; Job. xxxvi. 14.) There is also another view, in which the baseness of this crime must appear to you, Christians, in consequence of your relation to 19 What, know ye that blessed agent, the Spirit of God. Have 19 you not all been baptized in his name, and

• Every [other] sin, &c.] It would be unreasonable to insist on the most rigorous interpretation of these words; but the general sense is plain and true, and I suppose, that on the whole, there is no other sin by which the body receives equal detriment, considering not only its nature, but how much it has prevailed.

He that committeth whoredom, sinneth against his own body.] This is well illustrated by a fine passage of Xenophon, pro

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duced by Raphelius here, in which Socrates is represented as saying, "that intemperate men hurt themselves far more than others; whereas other sinners secure some profit to themselves, though they are injurious to others." It is evident, that opvux, must here signify any unlawful commerce between persons of different sexes, since whoredom with married women is as directly contrary both to the honour and health of the body, as with single.

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xi.

1 Cor.

vi. 19

Reflections on our obligations to purity, &c.

SECT. instructed in your relation to him? What, know not that your body is you not, that your body is the temple of the Holy the temple of the Ghost, which is in you, dedicated to him, and Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have inhabited by him; even that spirit which you of God, and ye are receive of God as his most valuable gift? And, not your own. on the whole, in whatever view you consider yourselves, it will appear, that ye are not by any means your own property, nor can be justly at your own disposal, to seek your present gratification without controul, or regard to the will of a superior.

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For the contrary is most apparent; ye are 20 For ye are bought with a price, and that infinitely beyond bought with a price; therefore glorify what you can pretend to be worth. Therefore, God in your body, far from doing any thing to bring a dishonour and in your spirit, on religion, you ought in every action, word, which are God's. and sentiment, to own yourselves his property, and exert yourselves to the utmost, in a course of vigorous and constant obedience, to glorify God, both with your body and with your spirit, which are, by the justest title, God's; as he hath not only created, preserved, and maintained you, but by the invaluable blood of his Son purchased and redeemed you to himself, and by his holy Spirit taken possession of you, and marked you for his own.

IMPROVEMENT.

How peculiar is the excellence of the Christian religion! With what incomparable advantages doth it enforce all the lessons of moral virtue, which it teaches! With what holy disdain should we look on the baits of sense, and the pollutions which are in the verse world through lust, if we seriously and often reflected on these two things; That our bodies are the members of Christ, and that 19 they are the temples of the Holy Ghost! Let it be our care, they may not only be nominally, but really so. That we may 17 by a living faith be united to the Lord, so as to become one spirit with him, animated by that Spirit which resides in him and dwells in all who are truly his.

that

Let us, as often as we are tempted to alienate ourselves from the service of God, reflect upon the price with which we are 20 bought. How great, how important a price, which we should never think of but with secret shame, as well as admiration and love! O Lord! hast thou paid such a ransom for me, and shall I act as if I thought even this not enough? as if thou hadst ac quired only a partial and imperfect right to me, and I might di vide myself between thee and strangers, between thee and thine

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