It is not only a great sin, but an ill sign, to be carried away with the streams of the times. A sin, because directly opposite to the command, Rom. xii. 2. " Be not conformed to this world,'' rw aiwi raroj, to this age ; the meaning is. Do not get into the garb of the times. And an ill sign, because the scripture makes it the character of a wicked man, Eph. ii. 2. " They walk according to " the course of this world.*' In the original /-a? a/wca, according to the age, as the manner of the times went. It is as dangerous living in ill company, as breathing in an infectious air; for as * one observes well, " No pest doth sooner infect the air than sin " infects and defiles the mind :" It is as hard a matter to preserve yourselves from guilt among wicked men, as it is to keep yourselves clean, where many dirty dogs are leaping and fawning upon you : The diseases of the soul are very catching -|-. How great a com- mendation was it to Noah, that he was upright, and walked with God, when all flesh had corrupted their ways ! And how beauti- ful a sight is it to see Christians shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation ! Phil. ii. 15. to continue a lily among thorns. The world is a sea, and every particular person in it a drop : Now to see a drop of water in the sea carried in a coun- ter-motion to the tide, is marvellous. Christians are a distinct company of themselves. Acts iv. 23. '* You are of another world,'^ J(5hn xvii. 14. and your converses should be in heaA'en, Col. iii. 1, 2. and with heavenly spirits, Psalm xvi. 3. O how hard is it to es- cape partnership with them in sin, if we converse unnecessarily among them ! If fine bread be in the same oven with coarse, the
hortation, we may banish from our minds all coldness and lukewarmness in our love to God, and may be clothed with zeal towards him. Cartwright on the place.
• Peccatum adeo facile alios invadit, ut nulla pestis tuntoperey terem injkere potest. Chem. Har.
f No body was so much master of himself as to hinder his own folly from infecting lus intimates. Seneca,
544? AXTIPHARMACUM SALUBERRIMUM'
finer partakers of that which is coarse, but the coarse seldom pai'- takes of the fine : If you lay bright and clear armour among that which is rusty, the rusty armour communicates its rust to the clean, but the bright communicates not its brightness to the rusty. There are more ways than one by which thou mayest be involved into guilt by them. Sup|X)se thou consentest not with them, much less instigates! them to sin, yet mayest thou be defiled by their sin, if it be but by silence when thou owghtest to reprove them, Lev. v. 1. or by not being so grieved, and tenderly affected with their sins as thou oughtest, 1 Cor. v. 1, 2. Thus did David, Psalm cxix. 136. and Lot, 2 Pet. ii. 7, 8. that they might free their own souls. From this I might dissuade you by many arguments : As,
^rg' 1. The express command of God laid upon you ; he hath forbidden you to follow a * multitude to do evil, Exod. xxiii. 2. it may be understood either of multitude or magnitude, many men, or great men, (for the will of God is not revealed to men with respect either to their numbers or greatness, but his secret is with them that fear him ;) to go in the way of evil men, Prov. iv. 14. to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, Eph. V. 11. to save yourselves from this untoward generation, Acts ii. 40. with many of like importance. And this is reason enough to make you cautelous, seeing God hath given such express pro- hibitions in this case.
Jrg\ 9., The special eye of favour with God hath always been cast upon such as have been upright in their generation, and kept themselves pure from the corruptions of the times they lived in. Noah walked with God when the earth was over-spread with an inundation of wickedness, Gen. vi. 9. And Noah is saved by the Lord, when the earth is overwhelmed with an in- undation of water. Gen. v. 8. Lot's righteous soul is vexed with the filthy conversation of the Sodomites, and he is gra- ciously exempted from the desolation that came upon them. Gen. xix. 16. he would not join hands with sinners, and God will take him by the hand, as a friend, to rescue him out of the danger. Elijah will walk with and appear for God, when he could see none to stand by him, when idolatry had over-spread the face of the whole country ; and what miraculous and wonderful providences did he experience in his protections and sustentations ! Either the Lord will hide him in the grave, from the troubles that shall be among the living, Isa. \\\i. 1. (so Augustine was taken away a little before the sacking of Hippo ; Para^us a little before the taking of Heidelburg; Luther before the wars brake forth in Ger- many; Methuselah just before the flood) or else he sets some spe-
* Cl*! It may signify either quantitatem continuam, or discretam ; either magni^ tudinem, or muUitudinem.
ANTIPHARMACUM SALUBKRRIMUM. Si5
cial mark upon them, tliat they may be distinguished in the gene- ral calamity, Ezek. ix. 4, 5. " Go through the midst of Jeru- " salem, and set a mark upon the fore-heads of them that sigh, and " that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst " thereof' And to the otlier he said, " Go after him, and smite, " let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity." So Rev. vii. before the vials come to be poured out upon the earth, the servants of God are sealed ; even such as had kept themselves pure from an- tichristian pollutions.
Jrg: 3. The danger we run ourselves into thereby, dangers I say, not only of destruction) for " a companion of fools shall be " destroyed,'' Prov. xiii. 20.) but of defdement also ; the devil hath his agents and factors in every corner to entice you to sin, and you have corrupt hearts as apt to receive impressions from the examples and persuasions of sinners, as tinder is to receive fire ; and it is no wisdom, you know, for him that carries gun-powder about him, to come too near the fire where the sparks fly.
Now, to prevent this danger of being infected with the sins and evils of the times, I shall lay down a few directions.
1. If you would prevent infection in these evil days, begin every day with God : season your hearts every morning by communion with the Lord. This was David's practice, Psalm cxxxix. 18. " When I awake, I am still with thee." It was blessed counsel which a worthy person * gives in this case ; ' Before earthly things ' (saith he) break in upon us, and we receive impressions from ' abroad, it is good to season the heart with thoughts of God,
* and to consecrate the early and virgin operations of the mind, ' before they are prostituted to baser objects. When the world