Question 77

1. Is adultery a very great sin? Yes.

   “It is called an abomination” Ezekiel 22:11

2. Doth it waste the body? Yes.

   “And thou mourn at last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed” Proverbs 5:11

3. And wrong the soul? Yes.

   “Abstain from fleshly lusts, that war against the soul” 1 Peter 2:11

4. And bring a blot upon the character? Yes.

   “A wound and dishonour shall they get” Proverbs 6:33

5. Is it a besotting sin? Yes.

   “It takes away the heart” Hosea 4:11

6. And an impoverishing sin? Yes.

   “By means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread” Proverbs 6:26

7. Is it a kind of sacrilege? Yes.

   “Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot” 1 Corinthians 6:15

8. Doth it unfit for the fellowship of the saints? Yes.

   “I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator” 1 Corinthians 5:11

9. And will it be severely punished both in this world and in that which is to come? Yes.

   “For whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” Hebrews 13:4

10. 5 Is fornication as well as adultery a sin? Yes.

    “Mortify your members which are upon earth, fornication” Colossians 3:5

11. And incest? Yes.

    “None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him” Leviticus 18:6

12. And polygamy? Yes.

    “Did not he make one? yet he had the residue of the spirit” Malachi 2:15

13. And all manner of uncleanness? Yes.

    “But fornication and uncleanness, let it not be once named amongst you” Ephesians 5:3

1. Are unclean desires sinful? Yes.

   “We must mortify inordinate affection and evil concupiscence” Colossians 3:5

2. And unclean reflections? Yes.

   “She multiplied her whoredoms by calling to remembrance the days of her youth” Ezekiel 23:19

3. And unchaste looks? Yes.

   “Having eyes full of adultery” 2 Peter 2:14

4. And immodest apparel? Yes.

   “There met him a woman with the attire of a harlot” Proverbs 7:10

5. And obscene words? Yes.

   “Neither filthiness nor foolish talking” Ephesians 5:4

6. And lascivious actions? Yes.

   “Such as chambering and wantonness” Romans 13:13

7. And that intemperance and idleness which lead hereto’? Yes.

   “This was the iniquity of Sodom, pride, idleness, and fulness of bread, and she committed abomination before me” Ezekiel 16:49–50

Benjamin Beddome (1717–1795), pastor at Bourton-on-the-Water. Verses from the King James Version.