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life_n bad_a converse_v mud_n 18 3 15.9740 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A29369 Bridge's remains, being VIII sermons ... by that learned and judicious divine, Mr. William Bridge ... Bridge, William, 1600?-1670. 1673 (1673) Wing B4459; ESTC R18600 124,015 222

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me which is worst sin or sorrow Possibly it may be your affliction and sorrow to walk alone but to keep bad company is your sin and guilt Quest Why but are they all alike guilty that do keep bad company Answ No. For there are three sorts of men that do or may possibly keep bad company Some are wicked themselves some are Professors and some Members of Churches It ill for a wicked man to keep bad company it is worse for a Professor of the Gospel but it s worst of all for a Member of a Church 1. It s ill for any man to keep evil company it is ill for a wicked man himself to do it for the more companions that a man hath in his wickedness the more he is inclosed therein and the harder it is for him to break away from his wickedness Is it not an hard thing for a Bird to flie away that is taken in the Lime twiggs Why evill company is the Devils lime-twiggs and what is the reason that many a man doth continue in his sin who is convinced of the evil of it but because he is held fast in the bands of his wicked company O saith one I confess it is my duty to live otherwise but I cannot get away from my company so that though a man be a wicked man himself it is an evil thing for him to keep bad company But Secondly As it is an evil thing for a wicked man to keep bad company so it is worser for a Professor of the Gospel to do it Peccatum majus The more repugnancy there is between the sin and the sinner the worser and the greater is the sin Now a Professor of the Gospel is such an one as hath Dedicated himself unto God and separated himself from the world and therefore for him to keep ill company is directly contrary unto his profession the more that any man sins against his knowledge and Conscience the greater is his sin such a sin is called Rebellion 1 Sam. 15. And Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft Now what Professor is there of the Gospel but doth know that he ought to avoid evil company Possibly a poor ignorant prophane man may not know his duty in this case but a Professor knows his duty and therefore as it is evil in any man to keep bad company so it is worser for a Professor of the Gospel to do it But Thirdly In the third place it is worst of all in a Member of a Church for he sins against his present Remedy Sins against Remedy are the worst sort of sins It is a grievous sin for any Young unmarried man to commit Fornication but if a man be married and doth commit Adultery he sins worse why because he sins against remedy and because he hath a remedy by him So here it is ill for any man to keep ill company but worst for a Member of a Church Why Because he sins against a Remedy he hath Communion with the Saints he hath good company by him a remedy by him and therefore for him to keep bad company is the worst of all the more any man despises the ways and ordinances of God by his sin the greater is his sin Now if you look into Scripture ye shall find that when a man hath two things before him doth chuse the one and refuse the other look what that is that he leaveth that he is said to hate and despise Now a Member of a Church hath two sorts of companies before him and therefore if he shall chuse to walk with those that are evil he is said in Scripture language to hate and despise the company of the Saints and is it a small thing in your eyes to hate or despise the Company and Communion of the Saints Object Why but though I do keep company sometimes with those that are wicked yet I do not despise or hate the company of the Saints for I keep company with them too Ans That 's strange Strange in regard of your self Strange in regard of others Strange in regard of your self for if you find any savour in good company is it not strange that you should not refrain bad company surely good company will either eat out the heart of your bad company or bad company will eat out the savour of your good company Strange therefore it is if you should keep both companies strange in regard of your self and strange also it is in regard of others When the Deer is shot the rest of that Herd will push him out from amongst them and if you be shot with the Arrow of bad company 't is strange that the rest ●f your Herd should not push you out of their society and avoid you because you will not avoid others But Secondly You say that you keep company with the good too but I pray tell me is it not the Mud of the good company that you converse withal As in a River or Pond there is Water and Mudd so in all good company there is the Water of Life and there is the Mud of their Infirmities and Vanities if it be the Mud of good company that you converse with then do you keep bad company even whilest you converse with those that are good But Again Thirdly You say you keep company with both good and bad bad and good But who art thou that dost so I read in the old Testament that those creatures which live both in the land and in the water were counted unclean I read also in Scripture of a sincere Christian and a Luke-warm Professor and what is lukewarm water but that water which hath both heat and cold in some equal degrees and what is the lukewarm Professor but one that can run with both and comply with both companies I read in Hos 7. That God compared the declining people of Israel unto a Cake dough-baked baked on the one side and not on the other Why But because they were for God and Idolls too They could walk and converse with both So now when men are for both companies they can stand with the Saint and they can stand with Sinners they can sit with the Scornful and they can sit with the Faithful they can go in and out with Gods people and they can go in and out with the wicked What doth this argue but that they are dough-baked and lukewarm Professors Yet fourthly if there be any such amongst us which God forbid give me leave to speak three or four words unto them You say you can walk with both good and bad but what comfort can you have in walking at all with those that are bad Mr. Dod said once there are two questions which if a man can rightly answer he may have comfort in every condition The first question is What am I The second question is Where am I If said he in answer to the first What am I I can truly say I am Godly I am in Christ I am one of