Because by her means an irreparable and irrecoverable damage will accrue
to his immortal Soul. And in this St. _Paul_ shall be my President, who
[14]bids us not be deceived, assuring us, _That neither fornicators, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate persons, shall enter into the Kingdome of God_.
[15]It was not permitted to a Dog to enter into the _Acropolis_, because of
his excessive heat in Venery; and so neither will it be permitted to those
that (like the Dog) indulge themselves in the excessive heat of Venery, to
enter into _Heaven_, which may for its heighth be called an _Acropolis_,
which (being interpreted) is, a City built upon a Hill. Let us consider how
impossible it is that our Prayers and Oblations should be acceptable to
God, when they are offered with impure hands, reeking in lust: How can we
expect to look God in the face (whose eyes are purer then to behold
iniquity) with our impure {14} eyes? How can we hope to be Eagle-ey'd
enough to look up to God, whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter then
the Sun, when we have so weakned our eyes by the _Works of Darkness_, that
(like Night-birds) we dread to behold the Light? How should _Chamberings_
and _Wantonness_ hope to get room in Heaven, whence all kind of Marriage is
excluded? When the two opposite Poles of the World meet together, and two
Contradictions at the same time prove true, then, and not till then, will I
believe that the Fornicator and Heaven can kiss each other. How can we call
God _Father_, who utterly renounces those spurious off-springs of our
sinful lusts, which have not their Original, nor derive their Pedegree from
God, but the World and our depraved Natures? Which S. _John_[16] intimates
to us; who making an Inventory of the _Goods_, or rather of the _Evils_ of
this World, besides _the Lust of the Eye_, and _the Pride of Life_, he
tells us, that the _Lust of the Flesh is not of God_, but of the _World_.

It remains now that I should prescribe you some few _Recipe's_ and
Antidotes; {15} which if you'l make use of, I'le warrant to cure you of the
Fever of Lust, into which the _Strange Woman_ will endeavour to cast you:
And my first is this.

First then, Let every one make a Covenant with his eyes, never to look upon
any object with a lustfull and impure inclination. _Job_ 31. 1. _I have
made a Covenant with my eyes, why then should I look upon a maid?_ Shut
your Eyes, those _Windows_ of your Soul, through which you receive the
_Species_ from