HEAR my advice, Adulterer obscene!
And often in thy mind these precepts roll,
E'er thou dost haste with appetite unclean,
And headlong passion to destroy thy soul.

Think what a shameful bargain thou hast made,
Ere thou thy precious soul away dost throw :
Sum up the gains and losses of thy trade,
And ponder well, where thou at last must go.

Thou goest to a stew or brothel vile,
To please the body and the soul deceive,
To anger God, his temple to defile,
To part with Christ, and to the Devil cleave.

Thou goest, like a Fool, to sell thy soul,
(Thy soul, for which thy Saviour deign'd to die!)
The grace of God, and all the joys above,
Only that thou may'st with a Strumpet lie.

O, do not deal so hardly with thy soul,
Give it not to be torn by fiends in hell,
Only that thou in those base joys may'st roll,
On which all carnal minds with transport dwell!

O, do not sell th' ecstatic joys above,
Th' angelic converse, and the realms of light,
The Godhead's favour, and thy Saviour's love,
For the loose pleasures of a guilty night.

Consider, pause, thy roving hands restrain;
That contract is a contract full of woe;
Don't for a transient pleasure, dash'd with pain,
The realms above and all their bliss forego.

Bite off thy tongue, pluck out thy wanton eyes,
Avert thy face, and offer nothing rude,
Take heed, lest Satan conquer thee by lies -
And dare not do an act so vile and lewd.

Observe, how Satan leads thee by a thread
Into the stews, where sin-stain'd harlots dwell,
(As to the slaughter-house an ox is led)
And plunges by that crime thy soul to hell.

Hear thou th' Apostles, and the Prophets hear,
Hear what in scripture's ev'ry-where enjoin'd,
'Of this detestable offence beware,
'Lest thou to hell's abyss shou'dst be consign'd.'

Wilt thou be tortur'd in th' infernal flame?
Wilt thou in ever-burning sulphur fry?
Only that thou may'st clothe thyself with shame,
And in th' embraces of a harlot lie?

Wilt thou remain in the drear gloom of hell?
Wilt thou be imprison'd in that dark abyss?
Wilt thou with Satan's sinful children well,
Only that thou some common punk may'st kiss?

Wilt thou thy Saviour and th' angelic train
Give up, with all the rapt'rous bliss above,
And nothing by the silly bargain gain,
But a vile Strumpet's prostituted love?

For shame return, the low pursuit give o'er,
And home, with penitence, thyself betake;
Part not with heaven to obtain a whore:
Esau wou'd not so bad a bargain make!

Be therefore well-advis'd, the Godhead fear,
Regard thy soul, as long as thou dost live,
Of such attachments cautiously beware,
Nor to a punk thy Saviour's members give.

But consecrate thy body unto God;
For a pure body is the Godhead's fane,
Christ's member, and the Trinity's abode:
Presume not thou that temple to prophane.

There's not a fouler fiend can haunt thy breast
Than vile adultery, and loose desire:
'Twas that, which did destroy both man and beast,
By water once, and will again by fire.

Adultery, that crime so base and vile,
Provokes our God, to please the fiend and flesh,
The Spirit grieves, his temple does defile,
And crucifies the Lord of Life afresh:

It damns the soul, whilst it the body rots,
It soils the nuptial robe, and credit blasts,
Posterity with endless shame it blots,
The largest fortunes and estates it wastes!

With base-born brats it does the land o'erwhelm,
(The wise have, oft before, observ'd the same)
With wrongful heirs it does o'er-run the realm,
And crowds the church with women void of shame.

The pleasures, the debauch'd and lewd enjoy,
To beggary and want directly lead,
And, like an overwhelming flame, destroy
The wealth of those, that stain the marriage-bed.

Whatever sin, besides, th' offender does,
It slays but one transgressor at a time:
But fornication two at once undoes,
Whenever any do commit the crime.

Although no other sin can break the band
Of those, that are by matrimony join'd;
Yet foul adult'ry lets no marriage stand,
But by pollution does its ties unbind.

Worse than a thief, worse than a murd'rer still,
Worse is th' adulterer, than all the rest,
Who, by one act, two precious souls does kill,
Even his mistress's, whom he caress'd.

The hungry robber often steals thro' need,
Only a wretched being to support :
But each adult'rer does a needless deed,
And studies to destroy his soul in sport.

The Pharisees, who gave not their assent,
That they shou'd suffer for th' unseemly fault,
Who did revile their elders, did consent
To slay the woman in adult'ry caught.

The law of God enjoin'd, in words express,
To stone the man and woman both, outright,
Who shou'd this positive command transgress:
So hateful is adult'ry in his sight!

It is so hateful to the Pow'r divine
And all his angels, that he won't permit
The brethren with adulterers to dine,
And those who such impurities commit.

It is a crime so foul, so full of shame!
That holy writ will by no means allow
The Saints, so much as this vile sin to name,
Much less that act of wickedness to do.

Our Saviour in the Gospel bids us try
To curb the eye from so unchaste a sin:
For often, through the window of the eye,
The soul-corrupting mischief enters in.

Ere thou shou'dst lust for some enchanting dame,
Pluck from its socket thy lascivious eye:
For he, that can't restrain his lustful flame,
Shall in hell-fire to endless ages fry.

This vice, tho' yet 'tis but conceiv'd in thought,
Is in the sight of God so very foul,
That though it shou'd not be to Practice brought,
The Theory indulg'd will damn the soul.