[ 50 ]
any Person, but it is to be ruled as the other Actions of Man's Life are ruled, viz.
"1. By the Proportion to the End.
"2. By the Dignity of the Person as a Christian.
"3. By the other Particulars, of which he speaks afterwards.
"Chastity (says he) is the Grace which forbids and restrains all these, keeping both the Body and the Soul pure, in the state God has placed it, whether of a single or married Life, 1 Thess. iv. 3, 4, 5.
And now having quoted so eminent an Author as Dr. Taylor, whose Works are so well known, let me put all my good Friends, who watch for my halting, in mind, that the Doctor having this very Article upon his Hands, and being resolved to speak critically, and yet fully, to it, he takes all due caution in the doing it, just as I have done. First, He cautions the Reader against unjust Censure and Reproach. (2.) He then fortifies himself against the Fears of it: And, Lastly, speaks boldly and plainly where Duty calls upon him to do so. Just in this manner you may expect me to act, in that critical Article of Liberty which is before me.
The Doctor, it appears, knew how the World was vitiated, and the Minds of Men corrupted, even in his Day, and that it was a most dangerous thing to speak of such things as these in the Ears of a lewd Set of People, which the World was then full of; That they would corrupt the most sanctified Advice, and insult the Adviser, and therefore as I have done here, so
