Argument 3: It is a sin that destroys the body, “he that commits adultery, sins against his own body”  (1Corinthians 6:18). In most other sins the body  is the instrument, here it is the object against which the sin is committed, that body of yours, which should be the temple of the Holy Spirit, is turned into a sty of filthiness, yes, it not only defiles, but it destroys it. Job calls it “a fire that burns to destruction” (Job 31:12), or as another version has it, “a fire that burns in all the members”. It is a sin that God has plagued with strange and terrible diseases. There are some of the ancient authors who have written of accounts of judgements sent immediately by God’s own hand, to correct the new sins and enormities of the world, for they seem put the best physicians besides their books. O how terrible is it to lie groaning under the sad effects of this sin! As Solomon tells us, “and you shall mourn at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed” (Proverbs 5:11). To this sense some expound that terrible text, “marriage is honourable in all, but the whoremonger and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4), i.e., with some remarkable judgment inflicted on them in this world, if it escape the punishment of men, it shall not escape the vengeance of God. Ah! With what comfort may a man lie down upon a sick bed, when the sickness can be looked upon as a fatherly visitation coming in mercy? But you that shortens your life, and brings sickness on yourself by such a sin, are the devil’s martyr, and to whom can you turn in such a day for comfort?