Party within us, that watch all Advantages to betray us. And if thou wilt needs be gadding Abroad, to obferve the Manners and Fashions of the World, beware thou beeft not caught and ravish'd, and fent Home with a Wound and Difhonour. And,

7

2dly. It is the Glory and impious Pride of wicked Men, to rub their Vices upon as many as they can: They would fain make all like themfelves: And it is much to be doubted if thou ventureft among them, that as thou art more prone to be infected, than they are to be cured (for Sin is natural both to them and us, but fo is not Grace); fo alfo they will fhew more Zeal and Forward nefs to debauch and corrupt thee, than thou wilt to reform and reclaim them. Nay, indeed it cannot otherwise be: For they will look upon thy Sobriety and Seriousness, as a fevere Upbraiding them for their Diffoluteness and Profaneness; and so to ease themselves of fuch a troublesome Reflection, would fain banish that Virtue which reproacheth them: And therefore will be earnestly perfwading thee to do as they do, and be as they are. And, I believe, the best Christians will find it a very very hard Task when they are engaged in fuch Company, to keep themselves pure and

unfpotted,

The

unspotted, when they have so many Dif
advantages against them, as an evil Na-
ture within to prompt them, and evil
Examples and Inticements without, to al-
lure them. In this Respect certainly, there
is not fo much Danger in converfing with
wicked Heathens and Infidels, as there is
with wicked Chriftians: For as Phyficians
obferve, that Diseases fooner infect those
that are of a Blood, than those that are
Strangers one to another: So is it likewife
in the moral Diseases of the Soul.
Vices of a Brother, of one that is called a
Christian, are more dangerous and conta-
gious, than of a Stranger and Alien; in-
afmuch as the Sameness of Profeffion is
apt to make us lefs fufpicious, and wary
of his Actions. And when we both own
and embrace the fame Religion, we are
apt, first to favour, and then to imitate his
Deeds: And therefore the Apostle.com-
mands us, especially to withdraw from every
Brother that walketh diforderly. And that, if
not out of Charity to him, yet at least we
fhould do it out of Care to our own Souls;
for we are in Danger to be led afide by
their evil Examples. And how many have
returned from fuch Converfe with bloodi-
ed Confciences! Their poor Souls have
long lain languishing under thofe Wounds
which they have received in the House

of

of their Friends, as the Prophet speaks, Zech. 13.3. That's the Second Reason.

3dly. Confider, our Society with lewd and wicked Perfons, may not only involve us in their Guilt, but also in their Punishment. And indeed, it is but Reafon and Equity that we fhould be Partners with them in the One, as well as in the Other. And therefore we have that Threatning, Prov. 13. 20. A Companion of Fools fhall be destroyed. Nay, though we could keep our felves from their Crimes, yet our Society with them may justly expofe us to their Plagues; and that, because our very Converfe with them is Sin enough to provoke Divine Justice against us; which finding us in the fame Herd, may well drive us to the fame Slaughter. And therefore we see how earnestly Mofes cautions the Ifraelites, to feparate from the rebellious Company of Corah, and his Affociates, Numb. 16. 26. Depart, I pray you, from the Tents of these wicked Men, and touch nothing of theirs, left ye be confumed in all their Sins. And fo again, Revel. 18. 4. where the Destruction of the mystical Babylon is foretold, God warns his People to come out of her; Come out of her, my People, that ye be not Partakers of her Sins, and that ye receive not of her Plagues. And therefore you ought, for your own Inte

reft

reft and Security's fake, to abandon the Company of wicked Men, unless perhaps you intend to perish with them for Company.

4thly. Confider, that if no other Punishment overtake you, yet the very Society of fuch muft needs be a continual Burden and Vexation to all those who are truly conscientious, and tender-hearted Christians: So that, if not for your Security, yet at leaft for your own Content and Satisfaction, you should think your felf obliged to defert the Company of fuch who must needs be a perpetual Grief and Torment to you. Thou who haft any Reverence for the holy Name of God; any Veneration for the Mysteries of the Gofpel, and the Truths which thou pro feffeft; any Love and Efteem for Piety and Godliness; any Refpect for Tempe rance and Sobriety; with what Pleasure canft thou converfe with those who impiously tear and rend the holy Name of the great God with their hellish Oaths and Curfes? Who deride Piety, and all that profefs, or practise it: Who make it their Bufinefs to overthrow the Faith, and expofe the facred Oracles of God, and Myfteries of Religion, upon which all thy Hopes for the future are built, to publick Scorn and Contempt; who are

only

only witty when they are profane, and learned when they are atheistical; whofe Mouths are froth'd with Lascivioufness, and whose most familiar Dialect is Ribaldry; who are continually abufing themfelves, and God's better Creatures, by their Excess and Intemperance; and boast of it as an heroick Atchievement, how many they have fell'd by the downright Valour of their Riots! Are thefe Companions fit for thee who calleft thy felf a Chriftian, and makest Profeffion of that Religion which requires Purity and exact Holiness from all its Votaries? Canft thou find any Pleasure in fuch Society? If thou canft, thou thy felf art not only one of them, but worfe; for fo the Apostle accounts those who have Pleasure in fuch wicked Perfons, Rom. 1. 32. But if thou haft but one Spark of Grace under all that Flame of Devotion thou makest fhew of, thou wilt be fo far from taking Delight in fuch Company, that it will be the greatest Burden and Vexation of thy Life: And when thou hast heard thy God difhonoured, thy Religion abused, thy holy Gospel denied or derided; and seen all the Abominations that Wrath, Luft, and Luxury prompts those to, who are Slaves to thefe filthy Paffions, wilt return Home with a fad and heavy Heart, and find abundant

Caufe