Virginity is first lost in the eye. The ancient philosophers before Aristotle, that held the sight to be by sending out of beams, imagined the eye to be of a fiery nature; wherein they were the rather confirmed, for that they found, that if the eye take a blow, fire seems to sparkle out of it. But, certainly, how waterish soever better experience hath found the substance of the eye, it is spiritually fiery; fiery, both actively and passively: passively, so as that it is inflamed by every wanton beam; actively, so as that it sets the whole heart on fire, with the inordinate flames of concupiscence. What should a Christian do with a burning-glass in his head, that unites pernicious beams for the firing of the heart? I mean, a beastly and fornicating eye; Ezek. vi. 9. Out with it, if it thus offend thee, as thou lookest to escape the fire of hell. For this flame, like that unnatural one of Sodom, shall burn downward; and never leave, till it come to the bottom of that infernal Tophet. Make covenants with your eyes, O ye Christians, as Job did; and, when ye have done, hold them close to your covenants once made: and, if they will needs wilfully break, take the forfeit to the utmost. How much better were it for a man to be blind, than to see his own damnation! Thus fashion not your Eye to the Uncleanness of the World.

(2.) The Covetous follows. Even this is a lust of the eye too; 1 John ii. 16: Libido æris, as Ambrose calls it. As the eye in its own nature is covetous, in that it is not satisfied with seeing; Eccl. i. 8: so the eye of the covetous hath a more particular insatiableness. Non satiatur oculus divitiis, The eye is not satisfied with riches; Eccl. iv. 8. And yet these riches can go no further than his eye: the owner hath nothing but their sight; v. 11. Hence wise Solomon parallels hell and destruction with the eye: neither are satisfiable; Prov. xxvii. 20. He, that is a true glutton of the world, may fill his belly; his eye, never. For, it is in these desires as in drunkenness, his drought increaseth with his draughts; and, the more he hath, the less he thinks he hath, and the more he would have. This disease is popular; and, as the Prophet tells us, à minimo ad maximum; Jer. vi. 13. The world could not be so wicked, if it had not this cast of the eye: for this hagyupía, love of money, is the root of all evil; 1 Tim. vi. 10. From hence come simonies in the spiritualty, sacrilege in the laity, immoderate fees in lawyers, unreasonable prices in merchants, exactions in officers, oppressions in landlords, encroachments in neighbourhood, falsehood in servants, and, lastly, cozenages in all sorts. But, Woe to him, that increaseth that which is not his; and to him, that ladeth himself with thick clay, saith Habakkuk, ii. 6. Was there ever a more perfect conviction of a vice? This desired metal is not his, first: and then, if it were his, it is but densissimum lutum, thick clay; it may load him, it cannot ease him. Away therefore with those two greedy daughters of the horseleech, that cry still, Give, give; Prov. XXX. 15. Give is for Christians; but Give, give, is for Worldings: as it was the doubling of the stroke upon the rock, that offended." If we be Christians, we are richer than the world can make us.

Having therefore food and raiment, let us be therewith content; 1 Tim. vi. 8. But, if thou wilt needs enlarge thy boundless desires, take this with thee, there is somewhat as unsatiable as thine eye: The grave and hell never say, It is enough; Prov. xxx. 16. Thus, fashion not your Eye to the Covetousness of the World.

(3.) The next is the Proud looks. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eye-lids are lifted up; Prov. xxx. 13. There is? nay, where is there any other? The world is all such: admiring itself; scorning all others. And, if ever, now is that of the Prophet verified, The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable; Isaiah iii. 5. One prides himself in his bags, another in his gay coat; one in his titles, another in his fame; one in agility, another in skill; one in strength, another in beauty: every one hath something to look big upon. O Fools, either ignorant or forgetful of what ye are, of what ye shall be! Go on to wonder at your poor miserable glory and greatness: ye are but lift up for a fall: your height is not so sure as your ruin; ruin to the dust, yea to hell. Him, that hath a proud heart, will I not suffer, saith God; Psalm ci. 5. Fashion not your Eye therefore to the Pride of the World.

(4.) The last is the Envious eye; by an eminence called Oculus nequam, an evil eye. Is thine eye evil, because I am good? saith the householder; Matth. xx. 15: as if envy had engrossed all malignity into her own hands. This cast of the eye the World learned of the Devil; who, when himself was fallen, could not abide that man should stand. Far be it from us, to learn it of the world. As happy is, this vice is executioner enough to itself: Putredo ossium invidentia, Envy is the rotting of the bones; Prov. xiv. 30. And, where other earthly torments die with men, this follows them into hell, and shall there torture them eternally. The wicked shall see it, and shall be grieved, (et frendens contabescet,) and shall gnash and pine; Psalm cxii. 10. Fashion not your Eye therefore to the Envy of the World.

3. We have done with the Eye in the uncleanness, covetousness, pride, envy of it. We might have taken the FOREHEAD in our way: that is the seat of impudency: it is frons area, a brow of brass; Isaiah xlviii. 4: yea, meretricia, an whore's forehead, that refuses to be ashamed; Jer. iii. 3: yea, yyavтadys, giant-like, confronting heaven, which Ecclesiasticus prays to be delivered from; Ecclus. xxiii. 5: that can boldly bear out a sin committed, either out-facing the fact, as Gehazi; or the fault, as Saul. This is the fashion of the world, by lies, imprecations, perjuries to outbrave the most just reproof; A wicked man hardeneth his face; Prov. xxi. 29. This fashion is not for us Christians. If we cannot be guiltless, we cannot be shameless. At least, we can blush at our sins. The dye of our repentance strives with the crimson of our offence; and we can, out of the true remorse of our souls, say with the Prophet, We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God; Jer. iii. 25. Thus, fashion not your Forehead to the Impudence of the World.

4. We pass to the EAR; wherein there is a double fashion to be avoided.

(1.) There is a Deaf ear, shut up against all instruction: like the adder's against the charm; Psalm lviii. 5. How shut up? A film or foreskin is grown over it, which hinders the way of the voice; Jer. vi. 10. Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Hence it is, that we preach in vain, we labour in vain: to what purpose do we tear our throats, and spend our lungs, and force our sides, in suing to a deaf world? Who hath believed our report, or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? If ever we will hear the voice of the Son of God and live, we must therefore have our ears opened: this our foreskin must be pierced. Aurem perforasti mihi, Thou hast digged my ear, as the word originally sounds; Psalm xl. 6. The finger of our Omnipotent Saviour must do it, and his Ephphatha; Mar. vii. 34. Let the deaf World perish in their infidelity and disobedience: but, for us, let us say with Samuel, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.

(2.) There is an Itching ear; 2 Tim. iv. 3: that, out of a wanton curiosity, affects change of doctrine. How commonly do we see a kind of epicurism in the ear! which, when it hath fed well of many good dishes, longs to surfeit of a strange composition. Yea, there is an appetitus caninus, that, passing by wholesome viands, falls upon unmeet and foul-feeding morsels. "We have heard Sermons enough; Oh now for a Mass: we have heard our own Divines; Oh for a Jesuit at a Vespers." O foolish Israelites! who hath bewitched you, that, loathing the manna of angels, your mouth should hang towards the Egyptian garlick? God hath a medicine in store for this itch, if we prevent him not: Tinnient aures, saith he; Jer. xix. 3. If our ears itch after strange doctrine, other's ears shall tingle at our strange judgments. The God of Mercy prevent it! and, since we accurse ourselves if we speak any other words than our Master's, say you to Christ speaking by us, Master, whither shall we go from thee? thou hast the words of eternal life. Thus fashion not your Ear to the Deafness, to the Inconstancy of the World.

5. The ill fashions of the TONGUE call me to them; whereof the variety is no less infinite, than of words forbidden and offensive. The Eye and the Ear are receivers, but the Tongue is a spender; and it lays out according to the store of the heart: for, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, saith our Saviour. No words can express the choice of ill words. I will limit my speech to three ill fashions of the Tongue, Falsehood, Maliciousness, Obscenity.

(1.) The World hath a False tongue in his head: false every way; in broaching of errors, in sophistry of their maintenance, in deceits and cozenages of contracts, in lies, (whether assertory, which breed misreports, or promissory, which cause disappointments) in perjuries, in equivocations, in flatteries, and humouring of men or times. What a world of untruth offers itself here to us! Lord, whom can a man speak with, that he dares believe? whom

dares he believe, that deceives him not? How is that of the Psalm verified, Diminute sunt veritates, Truth is minished from the children of men! yea, let it be from the children of men; it is a shame it should be thus with Christians: let us speak truth every man to his neighbour. Far, far be it from any of you, to have a mercenary tongue; either sold or let out to speak for injury, for oppression. Where the justice of the cause seems to hang in an even poise, there exercise the power of your wit and eloquence in pleadings: but where the case is foul, abhor the patrocination: discourage an unjust, though wealthy, client; and, say rather, "Thy gold and thy silver perish with thee;" resolving, that the richest fee is a good conscience; and, therefore, with the Apostle, that ye can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Thus fashion not your Tongue

to the Falsehood of the World.

(2.) The World hath a tongue as Malicious as false: he carries poisons, arrows, swords, razors in his mouth; whether in reviling the present, or backbiting the absent. What have our tongues to walk in, but this round of detraction? Bar this practice, there would be silence at our boards, silence at our fire-side, silence in the tavern, silence in the way, silence in the barber's shop, in the mill, in the market, every where; yea, very gossips would have nothing to whisper. Lord, what a wild licentiousness are we grown to in this kind! Every man's mouth is open to the censures, to the curses of their betters: neither is it cared how true the word be, but how sharp. Every fiddler sings libels openly and each man is ready to challenge the freedom of David's ruffians, Our tongues are our own, who shall control us? This is not a fashion for Christians, whose tongues must be ranged within the compass, as of truth, so of charity and silent obedience. We know our charge; Diis non detrahes, Thou shalt not revile the Gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people; Exod. xxii. 28: no, not in thy bed-chamber; no, not in thy thoughts; Eccl. x. 20. And, for our equals, God hath said it, Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off; Psalm ci. 5. The spiteful tongue, as it is a fire, and is kindled by the fire of hell; James iii. 6: so shall it be sure once to torment the soul, that moves it, with flames unquenchable. Thus, fashion not your Tongue to the Maliciousness of the Wo ld.

(3.) As the World hath a spiteful tongue in his anger, so a Beastly tongue in his mirth. No word sounds well, that is not unsavoury. The only minstrel to the world, is ribaldry. Modesty, and sober merriment, is dullness. There is no life, but in those cantiones cinædice, which are too bad even for the worst of red lattices: yea, even those mouths, which would hate to be palpably foul, stick not to affect the witty jests of ambiguous obscenity. Fie upon these impure brothelries. Oh, that ever those tongues, which dare call God Father, should suffer themselves thus to be possessed by that unclean spirit! that ever those mouths, which have received the Sacred Body and Blood of the Lord of Life, should endure these dainty morsels of the Devil! For us, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth, but that which is

edifying and gracious; Eph. iv. 29: and such as may become those tongues, which shall once sing Hallelujahs in the heavens. Fashion not your Tongues to the Obscenity of the World.

6. From the Tongue we pass to the PALATE; which, (together with the gulph, whereto it serves, the throat and the paunch) is taken up with the beastly fashion of gluttony and excess, whether wet or dry, of meats or liquor; surfeits in the one, drunkenness in the other: insomuch as that the vice hath taken the name of the part, Gula; as if this piece were for no other service. The Psalmist describes some wicked ones in his time by Sepulcrum patens guttur corum, Their throat is an open Sepulchre; Psalm v. 9. How many have buried all their grace in this tomb! how many their reputation! how many their wit! how many their humanity! how many their houses, lands, livings, wives, children, posterity, health, life, body, and soul! St. Paul tells his Philippians, that their false teachers made their belly their God. O God, what a deity is here! what a nasty idol! and yet how adored every where! The kitchens and taverns are his temples; the tables his altars. What fat sacrifices are here, of all the beasts, fowls, fishes, of all three elements! what pouring out, yea what pouring in of drink-offerings ! what incense of Indian smoke! what curiously-perfumed cates, wherewith the nose is first feasted; then, the maw! More than one of the ancients, as they have made Nebuzaradan principem coquorum, Jer. lii. 12. the chief cook of Nebuchadnezzar; so they have found a mystical allusion in the story: That the chief cook should burn the temple and palace, both God's house and the King's, and should destroy the walls of Jerusalem. Surely gluttonous excess destroys that, which should be the Temple of the Holy Ghost; and is enough to bring a fearful vastation, both upon Church and State. I could even sink down with shame, to see Christianity every where so discountenanced with beastly Epicurism. What street shall a man walk in, and not meet with a drunkard ? what road shall he pass, and not meet some or other hanging upon the stirrup, waving over the pummel? St. Peter's argument from the third hour of the day, and St. Paul's from the night, would be now a non sequitur. Day is night; night is day: no hour is privileged. I cannot speak a more fearful word than that of St. Paul, Whose belly is their God, whose end is damnation. O woeful, woeful condition of that damned glutton in the Gospel! O the flames of that delicious tongue, which begged for a drop, but should in vain have been quenched with rivers, with oceans! As ye desire to be freed from those everlasting burnings, awake ye drunkards, and howl ye drinkers of wine; Joel i. 5. Return your superfluous liquors into tears of repentance, which only can quench that fire; and, for the sequel, put your knife to your throats: Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overtaken with surfeiting and drunkenness; Luke xxi. 34. Thus fashion not yourselves to the Excess of the World.

7. From the pampered Belly we pass to the proud BACK of the World: whereon he is blind that sees not a world of fashions; in all