7. The great judgments that follow evil company ; therefore we must not voluntarily cry up a confederacy with them : Rev. xviii. 4,
* Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.' In conversing with the wicked there is a double danger — infection of sin, and inlliction of punish- ment : Prov. xiii. 20, ' A companion of fools shall be destroyed ; not only fools, but their companions.' Lot, living among the wicked Sodomites, he suffered with them. You knov/, when Sodom was as- saulted, Lot was taken prisoner, and his goods plundered as theirs were, Gen. xiv. 12. Jehoshaphat being associated with Ahab. was in danger of death, 1 Kings xxii. 37. The heathens were sensible that wicked men were marked out for vengeance. The Athenians Avould not wash in the same bath with the persecutors of Socrates ; so Polycarp would not go into the same bath with Cerinthus, but said, The enemy of truth is here ; let us depart hence, lest the bath fall down upon us.^
Use 1. Reproof of their foolhardiness that rush upon evil company, and fear nothing. What ! are your hearts so good that you think scorn that any comjiany should hurt you ? Consider, is sin grown less dangerous than it was ? or are we come to such a height of perfec- tion as to be above temptation to sin ? Or have we so good a conuuand of ourselves that we need not take such care of our company ? that we shall do well enough though we play about the cockatrice's hole, and run into all companies and societies without fear ? Good David here in the text is fain to proclaim, * Depart from me, ye workers of ini- quity,' and to banish them out of his company : and David exceeded us in holiness, and surely we live in more wicked days than he did. See how it succeeded with Peter : he would venture into the high priest's hall, and sit with the company there, and how did it succeed with him ? It brought him to a denial of Christ. Eve was bold with
^ Irenrcus relates this of the apostle Johu, giving Polycarp a.s his authority: Adv. Ear. iii. 3. — Eu.
VeR. 115.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 185
the serpent, and the Virgin Mary sliamefaced witli an angel, Lnke i. 29, 30 ; and you know how it fell out both with the one and the other : one was a means to ruin all mankind, and the other to repair it. What is the matter ? ' Is not sin the same as it was ? and is not human nature as bad as ever ? What spells and charms have Ave about ourselves that the people of God had not heretofore ? Or are we more fortified, and so are less watchful ? Shall we be running still upon the pit's brink, and show how far we can go and not fall in ? Are all those cautions out of date that bid us shun the occasions of sin ? and is not evil company one of the chiefest of them ? Yet some men can frolic it in all companies, revel and dance, run to plays, and no harm they think of all this. Solomon says, Pro v. iv. 14, 1.5, 'Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men ; avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.' See how he heaps up words. Did he trifle and speak needlessly when with such earnestness he pressed this, that we would be careful of as- sociating with wicked men ? Surely no ; and yet men are for all companies, as if there were no danger to their souls.
Use 2. Let us be persuaded to shake off the society of the wicked. Dei)art from them that depart from God, and would draw you along with them. But chiefly should we shun them, because bad company is the pest and bane of godliness. Under the law, a man that had a running issue, whoever touched him was unclean, Lev. xiv. 4. And so it is here ; you are defiled by your conversing with them. Men of diff*erent humours, spirits, interests, how can they agree? Either you must abate somewhat of your zeal, or you can never suit if you enter into friendship with them. You cannot deal so j^lainly against their sins, or gainsay tlieni in their evil practices, but will wax cold by little and little. If you be in defiance with them, that will make way for calumny and all manner of injuries ; therefore it is better never to begin acquaintance with them. Consider, again, if none of this fall out, yet their company will be a loss to you ; as it spendeth time and hindereth you of many opportunities of religious privacy and service of God ; so, if no other way you had a loss by them, they would not better you ; for they are not company you expect to gain b}-. As he said, Nimquam ad te accedo, quin doctior recedam, quin sanctioi^ — I never came to such an one but I went away more learned and holy. Certainly a Christian should choose such for his company that he might say, I go away more lioly, otherwise his company would be a loss to us.