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 â—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
those that fear the Lord in truth And if in answer to the second Where am I I can say I am in my calling I am on Gods ground I am where God would have me be then I may have comfort in every condition But if you that are Professors of the Gospel be in company with the wicked can you say I am where God would have me be I am on Gods ground surely no. What comfort therefore can you have in walking with such company at all But secondly do you not know that wicked company lye in wait for your halting and desire your falling Mark what David saith Psal 41.6 And if he come to see me he speaketh vanity his heart gathereth iniquity to it self and when he goeth abroad he telleth it And mark what his Son Solomon saith Prov. 4.14 15 16. Enter not into the Path of the Wicked Avoid it Pass not by it Why For they sleep not unless they have done mischiefe and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall It may be you think they love your person but do they not hate your way more then they love your person and will you walk with them that hate your way because you think they love your person Be not deceived Do you not know thirdly That in time of danger they will thrust you into danger that they may save themselves out of danger There was a correspondency between good Jehosaphat and wicked Ahab and when they went into the Field what did Ahab say to Jehosaphat Read what he said and did 2 Chron. 18.29 I will disguise my self and will go to the Battel but put thou on thy Robes but see the issue of it verse 3. Plainly shewing thus much that if a good man hold correspondency with a wicked man in case there be any danger the wicked will thrust the good man into danger to keep himself out But in the fourth place if you have not considered this Scripture before yet have you not thought on that Scripture As for those that turn aside by crooked paths the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity Now is not this a crooked path to walk with both companies with the godly in the light and with â—he wicked in the dark Well Wo be to him that doth so God will in due time discover him and lead him forth with the workers of iniquity Oh what an evil thing therefore is it to halt between two to walk and keep company with both good and bad bad and good Object Why But I praise God will some say I do not keep company with the Wicked at all so as to walk and converse with them ordinarily in a way of friendship Ans That is well But what if God will count vain company in the number of bad company For ye have it Psal 26.4 Secondly what if God will account those for your companions whom you would be with if you were not restrained by the fear and shame of your friends We find in Scripture that a man is said to do all that which he would do if he were not restrained Abraham is said to sacrifice his Son because he would have done it if God had not restrained him so look what that company is that I would be with if I were not restrained that company according to Scripture I am said to keep Thirdly whâ—t if God will account all those for your companions whom you justifie like or consent unto in the way of your sin and vanity So ye read Psal 50.20 Or what if God will account your companions according to your servants of choice as David said that he would not know a wicked person Mark how he proves it Psal 101.4 he saith A froward heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked person but says he verse 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful in the Land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house and he that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight verse 7 it is ordinarily said Servi sunt humiles amici Your servants are your lowest friends and though a mans servants are not properly his companions yet his companions may be known by his servants of choise Possibly a man cannot get a godly servant but if a man have godly and ungodly before him and shall chuse such as are vain or wicked this argues what his company would be if he had his choice and his mind Now God can turn up all our leaves and see what grows under them And if all these things be true how few are there that will stand free from wicked and ungodly company But my Beloved either there is comfort enough to be sound in good company or there is not if there be not enough in good company why should you converse with them at all and if there be comfort enough in those that are good why should you not walk with them altogether Quest But what shall we then do that we may avoid evil company that we may chose good company and improve them Ans Here are three questions I shall speak something unto them distinctly As for the first Do you ask what you shall do that you may avoid evil company First you must be sure to mortifie your affection inclination and disposition to the vanity thereof 't is not the perswasions of evil company that doth lead you to them but it is your own disposition and unmortified affections you think it may be that it is their Spark that doth set you a fire but it is your Tinder that doth close with their spark if there were but Water thrown on your own Tinder you could not be so fired with your evil company The Woman that thou gavest me said Adam did give me to eat and so I was drawn into this sin but it was his own disposition that did lead him to it 't is in this sin as in all other outward sins 't is not the drink or wine that is in fault but a mans own drunken disposition that doth lead him to drunkenness 't is not the beautiful object thas is in fault but a mans own wanton disposition that doth lead him into uncleanness so here it is not your company but your own disposition that doth lead you into it Would you therefore avoid and abstain from your wanton company then labour to mortifie your own wanton affections would you abstain from and avoid your vain company then must you first labour to mortifie the vanity of your own heart and spirit otherwise though you abstain from your company for a time yet you will return again First therefore mortifie your own lusts and earthly affections 2. And in the second place Be sure that you avoid all those occasions which though lawful in themselves yet through your weakness may any way open a door unto evil company when the Nazarites were
forbidden wine they were forbidden grapes also whereof wine was made Numb 6.3 And if ye look again into the fourth of the Proverbs you shall find that when the Holy Ghost by Solomon doth forbid you to enter into the Path of the wicked and going in the way of evil men he doth in the name of God command you to avoid it not to pass by it to turn from it and to pass away verse 15. as if says Mr. Greenham A Physitian should give directions to a man to avoid the Plague the great Receipt saith he that the Physitian gives against the Plague is made of three Ingredients Citò Longè Tardè Fly quickly Remove far from the place and Return slowly so here saith he as if there were a Plague in evil company The Holy Ghost bids us to depart quickly and not to come near and what is the reason that many are so overtaken with evil company but because they do not avoid all those lawful occasions which through your own weakness doth lead them into it be sure therefore that you avoid them 3 And in the third place if you would avoid evil company then you must part abruptly with them you think thus it may be though I part with my evil company yet I will part civilly with them I will go but once more and again I will go but once more to them and will part fairly with them Whereas our Saviour Christ saith if thy right eye offend thee pull it out if thy right hand offend thee cut it off Look what that is that is near and dear to you That must you part with in a way of violence if you will part fairly with your company then go to them and say Well I have sinned and sinned greatly in keeping your company Now God through Grace hath convinced me of it I will never come in your company in any such way again and he that will part with wicked company must be abrupt in his parting with them That 's â—he third thing 4. And in the Fourth place If you would avoid and part with your evil company then you must humble your self before the Lord for all the vanity and folly of your Company-keeping some men being convinced of their sin in Company-keeping do resolve never to come in such company again And it may be they do refrain for three or four weeks but in a short time they are where they were And what 's the reason that though men be convinced of their sin yet they return again but because they go forth in the strength of their own resolutions and were never throughly humbled for their sin Would you therefore so refrain from evil company that you may return no more then go and humble your self before the Lord for the evil of it 5 And in the fifth place Be sure that you do not follow the Saints to that is good for their multitude for he that follows the multitude to good because they are many will also follow the multitude unto what is evil Non faeciendum c saith Austin Non faciendum quia multi faciunt sed quia bonum ut bonum faciunt aut bene satis mihi sunt pauci satis unus satis nullus August Si potentiores faciunt non faciam quia faciunt sed gaudeo quia faciunt we must not do a good thing because many do it but because it is good if others do that which is good saith he I will rejoyce because they do it but I will not do it because they do it that I may do good for to do well few shall suffice yea one yea none The way to follow the multitude to evil is to follow the multitude to good because of this multitude take heed therefore of that Sixthly And if you would avoid evil company Then be sure that you keep good company and improve them Intus existens prohibet alienum If the Vessel be full of Wine it keeps out Air and Water good thoughts keep out bad thought good words keep out bad words and good company keeps out bad company And what is the reason that many poor souls are led away with naughty and debauched company but because they are not hedged in with good company for as bad company keeps men from good company so good company will keep men from bad company Look what day or time that is wherein you depart from good then are you exposed unto them that are evil yet it is not enough to have good company but you must improve also and gain by them for if you be in good company and do get nothing by them you will say What need I make such a stir about my company I see no difference As one company talks of the world so doth the other also and as I get nothing by the one so I get nothing by the other also therefore I 'le return unto my old company again Would ye therefore avoid evil c mpany then be sure that you keep good company and improve them Quest 2 Why but I do not know how to chuse good company I confess good company is a great mercy and bad company is a great misery but how shall be able to chuse my company Answ 1. You must go to God and beseech him for to chuse â—our company for you Mark what David said and did in this Scripture he saith I am a companion of all those that do fear the Lord yet ver 79. he goes to God and prayeth saying Let those that fear thee O Lord turn unto me and those that have known thy testimonies As if he should say Of a truth Lord I am a companion of all that do fear thee but it is not in my power to bend their hearts unto me the hearts of all men are in thy hands now therefore let those that fear thee turn unto me So do you go to God and say likewise Lord do thou chuse my company for me let those that fear thee turn in unto me O do thou bowe and incline their hearts to be my companions 2ly If you would act herein under God and make a right choice of your company then must you get your nature changed The Raven keeps company with the Ravens and not with the Pigeons but if the nature of the Raven were changed into the nature of a Pigeon it would flock together with the Pigeons Every thing follows its nature Labour therefore to get your nature changed and then though you have flown with the Ravens you will flock together with Gods Doves 3ly And in the third place if you would make a right choice of your company then you must get a discerning spirit that you may be able to put a difference between those that fear the Lord and those that fear him not between those that are civil moral men and those that that are gracious The spiritual man judgeth all things And what is the reason that people keep no better company but because