HOMILY AGAINST WHOREDOM AND ADULTERY

Short-Title Catalogue 13675. Renaissance Electronic Texts 1.1.
copyright 1994 Ian Lancashire (ed.) University of Toronto

  Edited to 2003 American English by Curtis I. Caldwell on 24 March 2003
Revised 28 November 2003.
Revised 18 July 2004.

A SERMON AGAINST
WHOREDOM AND UNCLEANNESS

Although there is no lack of (good Christian people) great swarms of vices worthy to be rebuked (unto such decay is true Godliness and virtuous living now come), yet above other vices the outrageous seas of adultery (or breaking of wedlock), whoredom¹, fornication and uncleanness, have not only burst in, but also overflowed almost the whole world, unto the great dishonor of God, the exceeding infamy of the name of Christ, the notable decay of true religion, and the utter destruction of the public wealth, and that so abundantly, that through the customary use thereof, this vice is grown into such a height, that in a manner among many it is counted no sin at all, but rather a pastime, a dalliance, and but a touch of youth, not rebuked, but winked at, not punished, but laughed at.

Wherefore it is necessary at this present time to entreat of the sin of whoredom and fornication, declaring to you the greatness of this sin, and how odious, hateful, and abominable it is, and has always been reputed before God and all good men, and how grievously it has been punished both by the law of God, and the laws of diverse rulers.

Again, to show you certain remedies, whereby you may (through the grace of God) shun this most detestable sin of whoredom and fornication, and lead your lives in all honesty and cleanness, and that you may perceive that fornication and whoredom are (in the sight of God) most abominable sins, you shall call to remembrance this commandment of God, "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14), by which word, "adultery", although it is properly understood as the unlawful uniting or joining together of a married man with any woman other than his wife, or of a wife with any man other than her husband, yet thereby is signified also all unlawful use of those parts which are ordained for reproduction. And this one commandment (forbidding adultery) sufficiently paints and sets out before our eyes the greatness of this sin of whoredom, and manifestly declares how greatly it ought to be abhorred by all honest and faithful persons. And that none of us all shall think himself excused from this commandment, whether we are old or young, married, or unmarried, man or woman. Hear what God the Father says by his most excellent prophet Moses: "There shall be no whore among the daughters of Israel, nor no whoremonger among the sons of Israel" (Deuteronomy 23:17).

Here is whoredom, fornication, and all other uncleanness forbidden to all kinds of people, all degrees, and all ages without exception. And that we shall not doubt, but that this precept or commandment pertains to us indeed, hear what Christ (the perfect teacher of all truth) says in the New Testament, "You have heard" (says Christ) "that it was said to them of old time, 'You shall not commit adultery', but I say unto you, 'Whosoever sees a woman, to have his lust of her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart'" (Matthew 5:27-28). Here our Savior Christ not only confirms and establishes the law against adultery, given in the Old Testament by God the Father through his servant Moses, and makes it of full strength, continually to remain among the professors of his name in the new law, but he also (condemning the gross interpretation of the Scribes and Pharisees, which taught that the foresaid commandment only required abstaining from outward adultery, and not from the filthy desires and impure lusts), teaches us an exact and full perfection of purity and cleanness of life, both to keep our bodies undefiled, and our hearts pure and free from all evil thoughts, carnal desires, and fleshly consents. How can we then be free from this commandment, where so great charge is laid upon us?

May a servant do what he will in anything, having commandment of his master to the contrary? Is not Christ our master? Are not we his servants? How then may we neglect our master's will and pleasure, and follow our own will and fantasy? "You are my friends" (says Christ) "if you keep those things that I command you" (John 15:14).

Now has Christ, our master, commanded us that we should forsake all uncleanness and filthiness both in body and spirit. This therefore must we do, if we look to please God. In the Gospel of Saint Matthew we read, "that the Scribes and Pharisees were grievously offended with Christ because his disciples did not keep the traditions of the forefathers, for they washed not their hands when they went to dinner or supper" (Matthew 15:1-2). And among other things, Christ answered and said, "Hear and understand: not that thing which enters into the mouth defiles the man, but that which comes out of the mouth defiles the man" (Matthew 15:10-11). "For those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, breaking of wedlock, whoredom, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man" (Matthew 15:19-20, Mark 7:21). Here may we see that not only murder, theft, false witness, and blasphemy defile men, but also evil thoughts, breaking of wedlock, fornication, and whoredom. Who is now of so little wit, that he will esteem whoredom and fornication to be things of small importance, and of no weight before God? Christ (who is the truth, and can not lie) said that evil thoughts, breaking of wedlock, whoredom, and fornication defile a man, that is to say, corrupt both the body and soul of man, and make them, of the temples of the Holy Ghost, the filthy dunghill, or dungeon of all unclean spirits, of the house of God, the dwelling place of Satan (Titus 1:15).

Again in the Gospel of Saint John, when the woman taken in adultery was brought to Christ, said not he unto her, "Go your way, and sin no more" (John 8:11)? Did not he here call whoredom sin? And what is the reward of sin, but everlasting death (Romans 6:23)? If whoredom is a sin, then it is not lawful for us to commit it. For Saint John says, "He that commits sin is of the devil" (1 John 3:8). And our Savior said, "Every one that commits sin is the servant of sin" (John 8:34). If whoredom had not been sin, surely Saint John the Baptist would never have rebuked King Herod for taking his brother's wife, but he told him plainly that it was not lawful for him to take his brother's wife. He winked not at the whoredom of Herod, although he were a king of power, but boldly reproved him for his wicked and abominable living (Mark 6:18), although for this bold act of admonishment he lost his head. But he would rather suffer death (than see God so dishonored, by the breaking of his holy precept and commandment) than to suffer whoredom to be unrebuked, even in a king. If whoredom had been but a pastime, a dalliance, and not to be passed off (as many count it now a days), truly John had been more than twice mad if he would have had the displeasure of a king, if he would have been cast in prison, and lost his head for a trifle. But John knew right well how filthy, and stinking, and abominable the sin of whoredom is in the sight of God. Therefore would not he leave it unrebuked, no not in a king. If whoredom is not lawful in a king, neither is it lawful in a subject. If whoredom is not lawful in a public or common officer, neither is it lawful in a private person. If it is not lawful neither in king, nor subject, neither in common officer, nor private person, truly then it is lawful in no man nor woman of whatever social status or age they are.

Furthermore, in the Acts of the Apostles, we read that when the apostles and elders, with the whole congregation, were gathered together to pacify the hearts of the faithful dwelling at Antioch (which were disquieted through the false doctrine of certain Jewish preachers), they sent word to the brethren that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to them, to charge them with no more than with necessary things: among others, they directed them to abstain from idolatry and fornication, from which (said they) if you keep yourselves, you shall do well (Acts 15:28-29). Note, here, how these holy and blessed fathers of Christ's church would charge the congregation with no more things than were necessary. Mark also how among those things, from which they commanded the brethren of Antioch to abstain, fornication and whoredom is numbered. It is therefore necessary, by the determination and consent of the Holy Ghost, and the apostles and elders, with the whole congregation that, as from idolatry and superstition, so likewise we must abstain from fornication and whoredom. It is necessary for salvation to abstain from idolatry. So is it to abstain from whoredom. Is there any more direct way to lead to damnation than to be an idolater? No. Even so, neither is there any nearer way to damnation than to be a fornicator and a whoremonger. Now where are those people, who so lightly esteem breaking of wedlock, whoredom, fornication and adultery. It is necessary, said the Holy Ghost, the blessed apostles, the elders, with the whole congregation of Christ, it is necessary to salvation (say they) to abstain from whoredom. If it is necessary for salvation, then woe be to them who, neglecting their salvation, give their minds to such filthy and stinking sin, to such wicked vice, and to such detestable abomination.

You have been taught in the first part of this sermon against adultery, how that vice at this day reigns most above all other vices, and what is meant by this word (adultery) and how Holy Scripture dissuades from or counsels against doing that filthy sin, and finally what corruption comes to man's soul through the sin of adultery. Now to proceed further, let us hear what the blessed apostle Saint Paul says to this matter, writing to the Romans he has these words. "Let us cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as it were in the day time, not in eating and drinking, neither in lewdness² and wantonness, neither in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it" (Romans 13:12-14). Here the holy apostle exhorts us to cast away the works of darkness, which (among others) he calls gluttonous eating, drinking, lewdness, and wantonness, which are all ministers to that vice, and preparations to induce and bring in the filthy sin of the flesh.

He calls them the deeds and works of darkness, not only because they are usually done in darkness, or in the night time (for every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes he to the light lest his works should be reproved, John 3:20), but that they lead the right way to that utter darkness, where weeping and gnashing of teeth shall be (Matthew 25:30). And he said in another place of the same epistle, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God. We are debtors, not to the flesh, that we should live after the flesh, for if you live after the flesh, you shall die." (Romans 8:8, 12-13) Again he said, "Flee from whoredom, for every sin that a man commits, is external of his body, but whosoever commits whoredom sins against his own body. Do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, whom also you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are dearly bought. Glorify God in your bodies", etc. And a little before he said, "Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a whore? God forbid. Do you not know, that he who cleaves to a whore is made one body with her? There shall be two in one flesh" (said he) "but he that cleaves to the Lord, is one spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:15-17). What godly words does the blessed apostle Saint Paul bring forth here, to dissuade us from, and counsel against, whoredom and all uncleanness? Your members (said he) are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which whoever defiles, God will destroy him, as said Saint Paul. If we are the temple of the Holy Ghost, how unfitting then is it to drive that Holy Spirit from us through whoredom, and in his place to set the wicked spirits of uncleanness and fornication, and to be joined, and do service to them?

You are dearly bought (said he). Therefore glorify God in your bodies. Christ, that innocent Lamb of God, has bought us from the servitude of the devil, not with corruptible gold and silver, but with his most precious and dear heart blood (1 Peter 1:18-19). To what intent? That we should fall again into our old uncleanness and abominable living? No, truly, but that we should serve him all the days of our life (Isaiah 38:20, Luke 1:74-75) in holiness and righteousness, that we should glorify him in our bodies by purity and cleanness of life. He declares also that our bodies are the members of Christ. How unseemly a thing is it then to cease to be incorporated or embodied and made one with Christ, and through whoredom to be enjoined and made all one with a whore? What greater dishonor or injury can we do to Christ than to take away from him the members of his body and to join them to whores, devils, and wicked spirits? And what more dishonor can we do to ourselves than through uncleanness to lose such excellent a dignity and freedom, and to become bondslaves, and miserable captives to the spirits of darkness? Let us therefore consider first the glory of Christ, then our estate, our dignity, and freedom, wherein God has set us by giving us his Holy Spirit, and let us valiantly defend the same against Satan, and all his crafty assaults, that Christ may be honored, and that we lose not our liberty or freedom, but still remain in one Spirit with him.

Moreover, in his epistle to the Ephesians, the blessed apostle directs us to be so pure and free from adultery, fornication, and all uncleanness, that we not once name them among us (as it becomes Saints), nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting which are not decent, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know (says he), that no whoremonger, neither unclean person, or covetous person (which is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5:3-5, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). And that we should remember to be holy, pure, and free from all uncleanness, the holy apostle calls us saints because we are sanctified and made holy by the blood of Christ, through the Holy Ghost.

Now if we are saints, what have we to do with the manners of the heathen? Saint Peter says, "As he who called you is holy, even so be you holy also in your conversation, because it is written, 'You be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Peter 1:15-16, Leviticus 19:4, 19:2). Hitherto have we heard how grievous a sin fornication and whoredom is, and how greatly God abhors it throughout the whole Scripture. How can it be anything other than a sin of most abomination, seeing it may not once be named among the Christians, much less it may in any point be committed. And surely if we would weigh the greatness of this sin, and consider it in the right kind, we should find the sin of whoredom to be that most filthy lake, soul puddle, and stinking sink, whereunto all kinds of sins and evils flow, where also they have their resting place and abiding.

For has not the adulterer a pride in his whoredom? As the wise man says, "They are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in things that are entirely vile." Is not the adulterer also idle, and delights in no godly exercise, but only in that his most filthy and beastly pleasure? Is not his mind plucked, and utterly drawn away from all virtuous studies and fruitful labors, and only given to carnal and fleshly imagination? Does not the whoremonger give his mind to gluttony, that he may be more inclined to serve his lusts and carnal pleasures? Does not the adulterer give his mind to covetousness, and to robbing others, that he may be more able to maintain his harlots and whores, and to continue in his filthy and unlawful love? Swells he not also with envy against others, fearing that his pray should be allured and taken away from him? Again, is he not ireful, and replenished with wrath and displeasure, even against his best beloved, if at any time his beastly and devilish request is rejected? What sin, or kind of sin, is it that is not joined with fornication and whoredom? It is a monster of many heads. It receives all kinds of vices and refuses all kinds of virtues. If one particular sin brings damnation, what is to be thought of that sin which is accompanied with all evils, and has waiting on it whatever is hateful to God, damnable to man, and pleasant to Satan?

Great is the damnation that hangs over the heads of fornicators and adulterers. What shall I speak of other troubles which issue and flow out of this stinking puddle of whoredom? Is not that treasure, which before all others is most regarded by honest persons, the good fame and name of man and woman, lost through whoredom? What patrimony or livelode³, what substance, what goods, what riches does whoredom shortly consume and bring to nothing? What valiantness and strength is many times made weak and destroyed with whoredom? What wit is so fine that is not muddled with infatuation and defaced through whoredom? What beauty (although it were never so excellent), is not disfigured through whoredom? Is not whoredom an enemy to the pleasant flower of youth, and brings it not gray hairs and old age before the time? What gift of nature (although it were never so precious) is not corrupted with whoredom? Come not many foul and most loathsome diseases of whoredom? From whence come so many bastards and misbegotten children, to the high displeasure of God, and dishonor of holy wedlock, but by whoredom? How many consume all their substance and goods, and at the last fall into such extreme poverty, that afterward they steal and are executed, through whoredom? What contention and manslaughter comes from whoredom? How many maidens are deflowered, how many wives corrupted, how many widows defiled through whoredom? How much is the public and commonwealth impoverished and troubled through whoredom? How much is God's word despised and depraved through whoredom and whoremongers? From this vice comes a great part of the divorces which (in these times) are so commonly accustomed and used by men's private authority, to the great displeasure of God, and the breach of the most holy knot and bond of matrimony. For when this most detestable sin is once crept into the breast of the adulterer, so that he is entangled with unlawful and unchaste love, immediately his true and lawful wife is despised, her presence is abhorred, her company stinks, and is loathsome. Whatever she does is disparaged. There is no quietness in the house so long as she is in sight. Therefore, to bring it to an end she must leave, for her husband can tolerate her no longer. Thus through whoredom is the honest and harmless wife divorced, and a harlot received in place of her, and in a similar manner, it happens many times in the wife towards her husband. Oh abomination! Christ our Savior, very God and man, coming to restore the law of his Heavenly Father, to the right sense, understanding, and meaning (among other things), reformed the abuse of this law of God. For whereas the Jews used long sufferance by custom to divorce their wives at their pleasure for every cause, Christ, correcting that evil custom, taught that if any man divorce his wife and marry another for any cause, except only for adultery (which then was death by the law), he was an adulterer (Matthew 19:9), and forced also his wife, so divorced, to commit adultery if she were joined to any other man, and the man also so joined with her to commit adultery.

In what case, then, are these adulterers, which for the love of a whore put away their true and lawful wife, against all law, right reason, and conscience? O how damnable is the estate wherein they stand! Swift destruction shall fall on them if they repent not, and amend not. For God will not permit holy wedlock thus to be dishonored, hated, and despised. He will once punish this fleshly and licentious manner of living, and cause that this holy ordinance shall be had in reverence and honor. For surely, wedlock (as the apostle says) is honorable among all men, and the bed undefiled. But God will judge whoremongers and fornicators, that is to say, punish and condemn (Hebrews 13:4). But to what purpose is this labor taken, to describe and set forth the greatness of the sin of whoredom, and the problems that issue and flow out of it, seeing that breath and tongue shall sooner fail any man, than he shall or may be able to set it out according to the abomination and heinousness thereof? Notwithstanding, this is spoken to the intent that all men should flee whoredom, and live in the fear of God. God grant that it may not be spoken in vain.

In the second part of this sermon against adultery that was last read, you have learned (1) How earnestly the Scripture warns us to avoid the sin of adultery, and to embrace cleanness of life, and that through adultery we fall into all kinds of sin, and are made bond-slaves to the devil. (2) Through cleanness of life, we are made members of Christ. (3) And finally, how far adultery brings a man from all goodness, and drives him headlong into all vices, mischief, and misery. Now will I declare to you in order, with what grievous punishments God in times past plagued adultery, and how certain worldly princes also punished it, that you may perceive that whoredom and fornication are sins no less detestable in the sight of God, to all good men, than I have hitherto uttered. In the first book of Moses, we read that when mankind began to be multiplied upon the earth, the men and women gave their minds so greatly to fleshly delight and filthy pleasure that they lived without all fear of God. God seeing this, their beastly and abominable living, and perceiving that they amended not, but rather increased daily more and more in their sinful and unclean manners, repented that ever he had made man. And to show how greatly he abhors adultery, whoredom, fornication, and all uncleanness, he made all the fountains of the deep earth to burst out, and the floodgates of heaven to be opened, so that the rain came down upon the earth in the space of forty days and forty nights, and by this means destroyed the whole world, and all mankind, eight persons only excepted, that is to say, Noah the preacher of righteousness, (as St. Peter calls him) and his wife, his three sons, and their wives. Oh what a grievous plague did God cast here upon all living creatures for the sin of whoredom! For which God took vengeance not only of man, but of all beasts, fouls, and all living creatures. Manslaughter was committed before (Genesis 4:8), yet was not the world destroyed for that, but for whoredom all the world (few only excepted) was overflowed with waters, and so perished. An example worthy to be remembered, that you may learn to fear God.

We read again, that for the filthy sin of uncleanness, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities near them, were destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven (Genesis 19:24), so that there was neither man, woman, child, nor beast, nor yet any thing that grew upon the earth there left undestroyed. Whose heart trembles not at the hearing of this history? Who is so drowned in whoredom and uncleanness, that will not now forever after leave this abominable living, seeing that God so grievously punishes uncleanness, to rain fire and brimstone from heaven, to destroy whole cities, to kill man, woman, and child, and all other living creatures there abiding, to consume with fire all that ever grew? What can be more manifest tokens of God's wrath and vengeance against uncleanness and impurity of life? Mark this history (good people) and fear the vengeance of God. Do you not read also that God did smite Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because he had ungodly desired Sarah the wife of Abraham (Genesis 12:17)? Likewise we read of Abimelech king of Gerar, although he touched her not by carnal knowledge (Genesis 20:4). These plagues and punishments did God cast on upon filthy and unclean persons before the law was given (the law of nature only reigning in the hearts of men), to declare how great love he had to matrimony and wedlock. And again, how much he abhorred adultery, fornication, and all uncleanness. And when the law that forbade whoredom was given by Moses to the Jews, did not God command that the breakers thereof should be put to death? The words of the law are these: "Who so commits adultery with any man's wife shall die the death, both the man and the woman, because he has broken wedlock with his neighbor's wife" (Leviticus 20:10). In the law also it was commanded, that a damsel and a man taken together in whoredom should be both stoned to death. In another place, we also read that God commanded Moses to take all the head rulers, and governing officials of the people, and to hang them upon gallows openly, that every man might see them, because they either committed, or did not punish whoredom (Numbers 25:4). Again, did not God send such a plague among the people for fornication and uncleanness that they died in one day three and twenty thousand (I Corinthians10:8)?  I pass over, for lack of time, many other histories of the Holy Bible which declare the grievous vengeance and heavy displeasure of God against whoremongers and adulterers. Certainly this extreme punishment appointed by God shows evidently how greatly God hates whoredom. And let us not doubt, but that God in this present era abhors all manner of uncleanness no less then he did under the old law, and will undoubtedly punish it, both in this world, and in the world to come. For he is a God that can tolerate no wickedness. Therefore ought it to be shunned as wrong by all that accept the compassionate glory of God and the salvation of their own souls (Psalms 5:4).

Saint Paul said, "All these things are written for our example, and to teach us the fear of God, and the obedience to his holy law" (1 Corinthians 10:11). For if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare us that are but grafts if we commit similar offence. If God destroyed many thousands of people, many cities, yes, the whole world, for whoredom, let us not flatter ourselves and think we shall escape free and without punishment. For he has promised in his holy law to send most grievous plagues upon those that transgress or break his holy commandments. Thus have we heard how God punishes the sin of adultery. Let us now hear certain laws which the civil magistrates devised in their countries, for the punishment thereof, that we may learn how uncleanness has ever been detested in all well ordered cities and commonwealths, and among all honest persons.

Laws devised for the punishment of whoredom. The law among the Lepreians⁴ was this, that when any were taken in adultery, they were bound and carried three days through the city, and afterward as long as they lived were they despised, and with shame and confusion counted as persons void of all honesty. Among the Locrensians⁵, the adulterers have both their eyes thrust out. The Romans in times past, punished whoredom sometimes by fire, sometimes by sword. If any man among the Egyptians had been taken in adultery, the law was that he should openly, in the presence of all the people, be scourged naked with whips, unto the number of a thousand stripes. The woman was then taken with him, had her nose cut off, whereby she was known ever after to be a whore, and therefore to be abhorred of all men. Among the Arabians, they that were taken in adultery had their heads stricken from their bodies. The Athenians punished whoredom by death in like manner. So likewise did the barbarous Tartars. Among the Turks even at this day [1562], those that are taken in adultery, both man and woman, are stoned immediately to death, without mercy. Thus we see what godly acts were devised in times past by the high powers, for the putting away of whoredom, and for the maintaining of holy matrimony, or wedlock, and pure intimacy. And the authors of these acts were not Christians, but the heathen. Yet were they so inflamed with the love of honesty and pureness of life, that for the maintenance and conservation or keeping up of that, they made godly statutes, suffering neither fornication or adultery to reign in their realms unpunished. Christ said to the people, "The Ninevites shall rise at the judgment with this nation" (meaning the unfaithful Jews) "and shall condemn them, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, but behold" (said he) "a greater than Jonah is here," (meaning himself) "and yet they repent not" (Matthew 12:41). Shall not (think you) likewise the Locrensians, Arabians, Athenians, with such others, rise up in the judgment, and condemn us, for as much as they ceased from the whoredom at the commandment of man, and we have the law, and manifest precepts and commandments of God, and yet forsake we not our filthy sexual intercourse? Truly, truly, it shall be easier at the day of judgment, to these heathen than to us, except we repent and amend. For though death of body seems to us a grievous punishment in this world for whoredom, yet is that pain nothing in comparison of the grievous torments which adulterers, fornicators, and all unclean persons shall suffer after this life. For all such shall be excluded and shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven. As St. Paul said, "Be not deceived, for neither whoremongers, nor worshippers of images, nor adulterers, nor effeminate persons, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous persons, nor drunkards, nor cursed speakers, nor pillars, shall inherit the Kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:5). And St. John, in his Revelation said, "That whoremongers shall have their part with murderers, sorcerers, enchanters, liars, idolaters, and such other, in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelations 21:8). The punishment of the body, although it is death, has an end, but the punishment of the soul, which St. John calls the second death, is everlasting. There shall be fire and brimstone, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The worm that there shall gnaw the conscience of the damned shall never die (Matthew 13:42, Mark 9:44). Oh, whose heart distills not even drops of blood, to hear and consider these things? If we tremble and shake at the hearing and naming of these pains, oh, what shall they do that shall feel them, that shall suffer them, yes, and ever shall suffer, world without end. God have mercy upon us. Who is now so drowned in sin, and past all godliness, that he will set more by filthy and stinking pleasure (which soon passes away), than by the loss of everlasting glory? Again, who will so give himself to the lusts of the flesh that he fears nothing at all the pain of hell fire? But let us hear how we may abstain from the sin of whoredom, and adultery, that we may walk in the fear of God, and be free from those most grievous and intolerable torments, which abide all unclean persons.

Remedies whereby to avoid fornication and adultery. Now to avoid fornication, adultery, and all uncleanness, let us provide that, above all things, we may keep our hearts pure and clean from all evil thoughts and carnal lusts. For if that is once infected and corrupt, we fall headlong into all kind of ungodliness. This shall we easily do, if when we feel inwardly that Satan, our old enemy, tempts us unto whoredom, we by no means consent to his crafty suggestions, but valiantly resist and withstand him by strong faith in the Word of God, alleging against him always in our heart, this commandment of God: Scriptum est, non m�chaberis. "It is written, You shall not commit whoredom." It shall be good also for us, ever to live in the fear of God, and to set before our eyes the grievous threats of God against all ungodly sinners, and to consider in our mind how filthy, beastly, and short that pleasure is, whereunto Satan continually stirs and moves us. And again, how the pain appointed for that sin is intolerable and everlasting. Moreover, to use a temperance and sobriety in eating and drinking, to avoid unclean communication, to avoid all filthy company, to flee idleness, to delight in reading the Holy Scriptures, to watch in godly prayers and virtuous meditation, and at all times, to exercise some godly travails, shall help greatly unto the avoidance of whoredom.

And here, people of every social status are to be admonished, whether they are married or unmarried, to love chastity and cleanness of life. For the married are bound by the law of God so purely to love one another that neither of them seek any strange love. The man must only cling to his wife, and the wife again only to her husband. They must so delight one in another's company that none of them covet any other. And as they are bound thus to live together in all godliness and honesty, so likewise it is their duty virtuously to bring up their children, and provide that they fall not into Satan's snare, nor into any uncleanness, but that they come pure and honest unto holy wedlock when time requires. So likewise ought all masters and rulers to provide that no whoredom, nor any point of uncleanness, be used among their servants. And again, they that are single, and feel in themselves that they cannot live without the company of a woman, let them get wives of their own, and so live godly together. "For it is better to marry than to burn" (1 Corinthians 7:9).

And to avoid fornication, said the apostle, let every man have his own wife, and every woman her own husband. Finally, all such as feel in themselves a sufficiency and ability (through the working of God's Spirit) to lead a sole and continent life, let them praise God for his gift, and seek all means possible to maintain the same, as by reading of Holy Scriptures, by godly meditations, by continual prayers, and such other virtuous exercises. If we all in this manner will endeavor ourselves to avoid fornication, adultery, and all uncleanness, and lead our lives in all godliness and honesty, serving God with a pure and clean heart, and glorifying him in our bodies by the leading an innocent and harmless life, we may be sure to be in the number of those of whom our Savior Christ speaks in the Gospel on this manner, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8), to whom alone be all glory, honor, rule, and power, world without end. Amen.

*Editing goals: Clear the text from obsolete words and phrases and from references local to England, its constitution, and laws.

*1. whoredom: The practice of playing the whore, or of intercourse with whores; illicit sexual indulgence in general; fornication, harlotry. 
      Acts of sexual immorality.  Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, on CD-ROM, Oxford University Press (2002).

*2. chamberer: a chambermaid, a concubine, mistress.
      chambering: lewdness, wantonness

*3. Livelode. I have not found a suitable translation in the Mahew and Skeat, "A Concise Dictionary to Middle English from 1150 to 1580", Oxford English Dictionary, Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, Unabridged, Britannica 2003 Deluxe CD, or Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

*4. Lepreians. I have not found a convincing translation. Possibly, this refers to lepers. "lepre" is translated "leprosy" in Mahew and Skeat, "A Concise Dictionary to Middle English from 1150 to 1580", Oxford University Press (1888).

*5. Locrian Code: Law given by Zaleucus to Locri in Magna Graecia and adopted by Sybaris (1). Earliest written system of Greek legislation. City of Locri founded by Greeks in Italy (2).
    (1) Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Vol. 10 (1965), pg. 859c.
    (2) Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, Unabridged (1953), pg. 1451

*6. The original word at this location was "conversation", which has changed meaning since 1562. 
      Conversation: (n.) Commerce, intercourse, society, intimacy; sexual intercourse or intimacy.
     Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, on CD-ROM, Oxford University Press (2002).