But yet we should avoid them so —
1. That we should not be familiar with them. Eschew all unne- cessary voluntary fellowship and familiarity : Ps. xxvi. 4, ' I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.' We are not to choose them for our companions, lest we be corrupted and deadened by their example.
2. We are not to enter into a durable relation with them, such as will put us upon continual converse. When we are at liberty, 2 Cor. vi. 15, ' Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.' Parents, upon any conveniences of estate or outward emoluments, are not to dispose of their children there where they may necessarily converse with wicked persons : Exod. xxxiv. 15, ' Thou shalt not take of their daughters to thy sons, lest they go a-whoring after their gods.' Instances there are many of the great mischief that hath come by entering into these durable relations with wicked men: Gen. vi. 2, ' The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair ; and they took them wives of all which they chose.' Men in the visible church are called the sons of God, they that were of the line of Seth ; and they that were of the line of Cain are called the daughters of men : to go in to them, because they are fair, or they are noble, or because they are of our rank, this was the provoking sin that helped to bring the flood upon them. So Ps. cvi. 35, ' They were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.' Solomon gave ar& instance that he was corrupted by his wives. So it is said of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings viii. 18, ' That he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab ; for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.' In ecclesiastical stories we read of Valence the emperor, who married with an Arian lady, and so was ensnared thereby, and became a cruel persecutor of the catholics; as the best metals, mixed with baser- metals, are embased thereby.
3. If necessitated to keep company with them, because of our dwell- ings, relations, and business, let us not comply with them in their sins: Eph. v. 11, 'Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.' We may freely converse with such as we are bound to by the laws of necessity, but we must con-
182 SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. [SeR. CXXVI.
verse with them with a great deal of caution, that we may not be ensnared. David liad no great liking to his companions, yet he was forced to abide with them in tlie deserts : Ps. cxx. 5, 6, ' Woe is me that I sojom-n in Mcsech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar ; my soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.' The apostle would have the wife to abide with the husband, 1 Cor. vii. 12, and servants to abide with their masters, 1 Peter ii. 18, and children with their parents, Eph. vi. 1 ; but no tie of that kind doth bind us to partake with them in their sins. And being thus necessitated to their con- verse, we ought to have the more fear and caution. And thus Joseph lived in Egypt untainted, and Nehemiah in Ahasuerus's court, and Lot in Sodom, and Daniel in the court of Persia ; necessity forced them thither, but all their care was to keep themselves unspotted from the world in the places where they lived.
Secondly, Why they that would keep the commandments of God are to do so.
1. Because it is hard to keep familiarity with them, and avoid and escape the contagion of their example. Example in general hath a great force, especially evil example ; the force of example is great. Why ? Seneca gives the reason. Homines plus oculis credunt, quam aurihus, because an example strikes more upon the heart than a bare word. Man, being a sociable creature, is mightily encouraged to do as others do, especially in an evil example ; for we are more susceptible of evil than we are of good. Sickness is sooner communicated than health ; we easily catch a disease one of another, but those that are sound do not communicate health to the diseased. Or rather, to take God's own expression, that sets it forth thus, by touching the unclean the man became unclean under the law, but by touching the clean the man was not purified. The conversation of the wicked hath more power to corrupt the good, than the conversation of the virtuous and holy to correct the lewd. The prophet tells us, Isa. vi. 5, ' I am a man of unclean lips, and T dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.' We soon increase our pollution by living among them. Jose- phus relates that Agrippa at first was a lover of virtue and of his country, that he stood for the liberty of the people of the Jews; but by conversing with Caligula the Roman emperor, being intimate and familiar with him, learned his manners ; and as he affected divine honours, so Agrippa too, and God smites him with lice. Acts xii. In infected })laces we get a disease, though we feel it not presently ; so secretly our hearts are tainted by example. As a man that walks in the sun, unawares before he thinks of it his countenance is tanned, so our hearts are defiled : Prov. xxii. 24, ' Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man. thou shalt not go.' The fin-ies of passion are so uncomely and so displeasing, that a man Avould think that he should not take infection there, that the sight should rather deter than invite him ; but insensibly we learn their ways when we make friendship with furious and angry men ; for saitli Solomon, in the next verse, ' Lest you learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.' Melancthon saith, By converse familiarly with the wicked, insensibly we grow wicked. He that toucheth ]ntch is defiled, and a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, 1 Cor. v. 6.