into his bosom for succour ? &c. And shall not we have that compas- sion on poor sinners' precious and immortal souls, as to abstain from the appearance of sin, which may more ways than one prove so exceed- ing prejudicial to them ? &c.
Wicked men are wonderful prone to watch for the saints' baitings, Jer. XX. 10. Christians are lights upon a high hill ; yea, they are stars in the firmament of the church, and therefore every man's eye is upon them, and if wicked men can but discern the least indecency, the least appearance of any eccentric or irregular motion, oh how readily will they let fly against God and the gospel, against religion, and against all that have a profe.ssion of religion upon them ! Now the honour of God, and the credit of the gospel, should be so dear and precious in the eyes of every Christian, that he should rather choose to die than to venture upon the least apparition of sin, whereby the honour of God may be clouded, or the credit of the gospel impeached or eclipsed, or the soul of a poor sinner endangered or worsted. Both the least sin, and the least appear- ance of sin, must be avoided and prevented ; the cockatrice must be crushed in the egg, else it will soon become a serpent ; the very thought of sin, if not thought on, will break out into action, action into custom, custom into habit, and then both body and soul are in the ready way of being irrecoveraUy lost. Camerarius teDs us a sad story of two brothers, who, walking out in the evening and seeing the element full of bright spangling stars, one of them being a grazier, wished that he had as many oxen as there were stars in the firmament ; then said the other brother, If I had a pasture as big as all the world, where would you keep the oxen ? He answered. In your pasture. What, said the other, whether I would or no ? Yes, said his brother. The matter was very hght ;. it was but a little evil, or an appearing evil, but it fell out very heavily ; for presently they fell to words, and then drew one upon another, and in the close killed one another. 0 friends I as you love the lives of sinners, and as you love the souls of sinners, keep off from all appearance of evil. But,
[7.] Seventhly, Other precious saints have ahstained from all ap- pearances of evil ; witness Joseph, Paul, Daniel, &c., but lately cited. And to these let me add that great instance of Augustine, who retracted even ironies because they had the appearance of evil. And so the pri- mitive Christians would not set up lights and bays at their doors, though for this they were persecuted as enemies to the emperor, because the temjile and the doors of idolaters were wont to be thus garnished.' And so David refused to take the threshing-flxjor, and threshing instru- ments, and oxen, &c., of Araunah as a gift, but would needs buy them at a price, and this he did, partly out of a divine nobleness, and partly to avoid the very show of covetousness, 2 Sam. xxiv. 21-24*. Now why has God left all these famous precedents upon record, but on purpose to encourage his saints in all ages to abstain from all appearing evils, as well as from all apparent evils. Certainly God looks that we should so eye the best, the highest, the worthiest, and the exactest examples, as that we should make it our great business and work to come up to them, and to imitate them to the life. O friends ! the examples last cited should be very awakening, very persuading, very convincing, and
' TertuUian, Apolog.— G.
830 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. II.
very encouraging; because in them you may see that though abstinence from the appearance of evil be a difficult thing, yet it is a possible thing. Shall we love to look upon the pictures of our friends, and shall we not much more love to look upon the holy examples of those eminent saints that had the lively picture of grace, and the lovely image of Christ fairly stamped upon their hearts and lives ? It is both our mercy and our duty to eye the examples, and to follow the footsteps of those Christians that have been most eminent in grace, as you may plainly see by comparing of these scriptures together, Prov. ii. 20; Heb. vi 12; 1 Thes. i. 6 ; Philip, iv. 9 ; 2 Tim. iii. 10-12 ; Heb. xii. 1 ; Philip, iii. 17 ; 1 Cor. xi. 1 ; Titus ii. 7. He that would fain write a fair hand, had need have hi> eye often upon his copy ; and he that would fain abstain from all ap- pearance of evil, he had need often to eye the gracious examples of such who have made conscience of abstaining from appearing evils, as well as from apparent evils. But,