Words of advice to young men delivered in two sermons at two conventions of…

1. Young men, take heed of uncleanness. The wicked one will be busy to tempt you, and your hearts in these years will be most ready to incline you; youthful lusts are now apt to stir within you, especially in such a City as this, where there are so many objects to entice your eye and heart; but for your Life, take heed that you be not drawn to this sin. Flee fornication and adultery; other sins are without the body, but he that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body, 1 Cor. 6. 18. Not to speak any thing of mens weakening and consuming their bodies by their frequency in this sin: he ⟨p. 93⟩that committeth fornication defileth his body, it is a filthy nasty sin• hereby the body is more defiled in the eyes of God, than if the body were drenched in a Jakes: it is just with God that such as venture upon this sin should, as many do, get the soul disease hereby, and that their members should •ot and putrefy whilst they are alive. He that committeth fornication or adultery, sinneth against his own soul, he defileth his soul, he woundeth his soul, and he destroyeth his soul; his heart, which should be God Temple, is hereby defiled, and he loathes such an habitation; his Conscience which whilst whole, is a continual Feast, is hereby wounded; his spirit, which whilst chaste and clean is safe, is hereby exposed unto inevitable ruin and destruction: Therefore it is a foolish sottish thing to commit this sins see Prov. 6. 32, 33. Whoso committeth adultery with a woman, lacketh understanding, he that doth it destroyeth his own soul; a wound and dishonour shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. Such as commit this sin blot their Name, as well as defile their Spirit; wound their Reputation, as well as wound their Conscience; but chiefly, they lack understanding, because hereby they destroy their own Soul. Young men; look into two or three Scriptures, which methinks should be sufficient to debtor you from this sin, where you may perceive, whatever sweetness and pleasure this sin may promise and yield, that bitterness and destruction is at the end, and in the conclusion. See Prov. 5. 3, 4, 5