It was good counsel that Livia gave her husband Augustus : ' It behoveth thee not only not to do wrong, but not to seem to do so,' &c. : so Jude 23, ' And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.' It is a phrase taken from legal uncleanness, which was contracted by touching the houses, the vessels, the garments, of unclean persons.1 Under the law, men might not touch a menstruous cloth, nor God would not accept of a spotted peace-offering. So we must not only hate and avoid gross sins, but everything that may carry a savour or suspicion of sin ; we must abhor the very signs and tokens of sin. So in Prov. v. 8, 'Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house.' He that would not be burnt, must dread the fire ; he that would not hear the bell, must not meddle with the rope.2 To ven- ture upon the occasion of sin, and then to pray, * Lead us not into temptation,' is all one as to thrust thy finger into the fire, and then to pray that it might not be burnt So, in Prov. iv. 14, 15, you have another command : ' Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men : avoid it, and pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.' This triple gradation of Solomon sheweth with a great emphasis, how necessary it is for men to flee from all appear- ance of sin, as the seaman shuns sands and shelves, and as men shun those that have the plague-sores running upon them. As weeds do endanger the corn, as bad humours do endanger the blood, or as an infected house doth endanger the neighbourhood ; so doth the company of the bad endanger those that are good. Entireness3 with wicked cousorts is one of the strongest chains of hell, and binds us to a par- ticipation of both sin and punishment.
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That ordinarily there is no conquest over sin, without the soul tvrns from the occasion of sin. It is impossible for that man to get the conquest of sin, that plays and sports with the occasions of sin. God will not remove the temptation, except you turn from the occasion. It is a just and righteous thing with God, that he should fall into the pit, that will adventure to dance upon the brink of the pit, and that he should be a slave to sin, that will not flee from the occasions of sin. As long as there is fuel in our hearts for a temptation, we cannot be secure. He that hath gunpowder about him had need keep far enough off from sparkles. To rush upon the occasions of sin, is both to tempt ourselves, and to tempt Satan to tempt our souls. It is very rare that any soul plays with the occasions of sin, but that soul is ensnared by sin.4 It is seldom that God keeps that soul from the acts of sin, that will not keep off from the occasions of sin. He that adventures upon the occasions of sin is as he that would quench the fire with oil, which is a fuel to maintain it, and
1 Socrates speaks of two young men that flung away their belts, when, being in an idol's temple, the lustrating water fell upon them, detesting, saith the historian, the garment spotted by the flesh. [The ecclesiastical historian, not the philosopher. — G.]
2 One said, As oft as I have been among vain men, I returned home less a man than I was before. 3 Friendship. — G.
4 The fable saith, that the butterfly asked the owl how she should deal with the fire which had singed her wings, who counsels her not to behold so much as its smoke.
40 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
increase it. Ah, souls, often remember Low frequently you have been overcome by sin, when you have boldly gone upon the occasions of sin ; look back, souls, to the day of your vanity, wherein you have been as easily conquered as tempted, vanquished as assaulted, when you have played with the occasions of sin. As you would lor the future bo kept from the acting of sin, and be made victorious over sin, oh ! flee from the occasions of sin.
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That other 'precious saints, that were once glorious on earth, and arc now triumphing in heaven, have turned from the occasion of sin, as hell itself; as you may see in Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 10, 'And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.'1 Joseph was famous for all the four cardinal virtues, if ever any wore. In this one temptation you may see his fortitude, justice, temperance, and prudence, in that he shuns the occasion: for he would not so much as be with her. And that a man is indeed, that he is in a temptation, which is but a tap to give vent to corruption. The Nazarite might not only not drink wine, but not taste a grape, or the husk of a grape. The leper was to shave his hair, and pare his nails. The devil counts a fit occasion half a conquest, for he knows that corrupt nature hath a seed-plot for all sin, which being drawn forth and watered by some sinful occasion, is soon set a- work to the producing of death and destruction. God will not remove the tempta- tion, till we remove the occasion. A bird whiles aloft is safe, but she comes not near the snare without danger. The shunning the occasions of sin renders a man most like the best of men. A soul eminently gracious, dares not come near the train, though he be far off the blow. So Job xxxi. 1, ' I have made a covenant with mine eyes ; Avhy then should I think upon a maid ? '2 I set a watch at the entrance of my senses, that my soul might not by them be infected or en- dangered. The eye is the window of the soul, and if that should be always open, the soul might smart for it. A man may not look intently upon that, that lie may not love entirely. The disciples were set a-gog, by beholding the beauty of the temple. It is best and safest to have the eye always fixed upon the highest and noblest objects : as the mariner's eye is fixed upon the star, when their hand is on the stern. So David, when he was himself, he shuns the occasion of sin : Ps. xxvi. 4, 5, ' I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers ; I have hated the congregation of evil doers, and will not sit with the wicked.'
Stories speak of some that could not sleep when they thought of the trophies of other worthies, that went before them. The highest and choicest examples are to some, and should be to all, very quicken- ing and provoking; and oh that the examples of those worthy saints, David, Joseph, and Job, might prevail with all your souls to shun and
1 There are stories of heathens that would not look upon beauties, leal they should be ensnared. Democritus plucked out his own eyes to avoid the danger of uncleanness.
2 T\~\2 JVQ. I cut a covenant. In making covenants, it was a custom among the Jews to cut some beast or other in pieces, and so walk between the pieces, to signify thai thej desired God to destroy them that should break the covenant.