The Governance of Virtue, Part 2 · Section 15
Against keping of euil companye.
When the Deuil, the Fleshe or the worlde moue thee to resorte vntounto any euill company, defende the selfe from it with remembring these scriptures.
Sentences out of the olde Testament.
HE shall dwel in the Lords tabernaclePsalm. 15. and rest vponupon his …oly hil whiche setteth not by the vngodly, but maketh much of them that feare the Lord.
With the holy shalt thou be holye, andPsalm. 19. with the innocent thou shalt be innocent. With the cleane thou shalt be cleane, and with the frowarde, thou shalt be froward.
A froward hart, shall depart from me, I wil not know a wicked person.
Who so hath a proud loke and an high stoPsal. 101 make, I may not awaye with him. Mine eyes shall looke for suche as be faithful in the lande, that they maye dwell with me, and who so leadeth a godly life, shalbe my seruaunt. There shall no deceitful person dwel in my house.
He that telleth lyes shall not tarye inPsal. 119 my sight,
I hate the vngodlye, but thy lawe O Lord do I louelove.
My Sonne, if sinners entice thee vntountoPro. 1. wickednes, leane not vntounto them.
If they say, come go with vsus, let vsus lay awaite for bloude, and conuey our selues priuely to trap the innocent. Let vsus swalow them vp quickly like hel, and deuour the perfect like a whirle pit. For thus shal we finde great ritches, and garnishe oure houses with oyle. Cast in thy foote among vsus, and let vsus make a common purse.
My sonne, walk not with them, but refraine thy feete from their wayes, for their feet run vntounto mischiefe. In vaine are nets spread abrode for birdes before their eyes. For euen these men lay awaite amonge them selues one to shed anothers bloud.
Neither are their owne liues in sauegard amōg thē selues. These are y• pathes of couetous men amonge whome one spareth not the life of another.
Come not in the path of the vngodlyPro. 4 and walk not in the waye of the wicked. Eschue it, and go not therin, depart aside, and passe ouer by it. For they cannot slepe except they hauehave first done some mischiefe. For they eat the bread of wickednesse and drink the wine of robbery. The path of the righteous shineth as the light, and is euer brighter and brighter vntounto the perfect day. But the way of the vngodly is as y• darknes wherin men fall or they be aware.
Who so accompanieth the wise, shallPro. 13 hauehave wisedome, but he that is a companion of foles, shall proue like them.
Trauail not by the way with him thatEccle. 6 is brainles, least he doo thee euill.
For he foloweth his owne wilfulnes and so shalt thou pearish thorow his foly.
Striue not with him that is angrye and cruel, go not with hī into the wildernes, for bloud is nothing in his sight, and where there is no helpe, hee shall murther thee.
Loke not vponupon a woman that is desirous of many men, least thou fall into herEccle. 9 snares.
Use not the company of a woman that is a player and a daunser, and heare her not least, thou perish through her entising
Beholde not a maiden, that thou be not hurt in her beauty.Eccle. 1…
Bring not eueryevery mā into thine house for the disceitfull layeth wait diuersly.Eccle. 1…
Who will hauehave pitie on the charmer that is stinged of the serpent, or of all such as come nie the beastes? Euen so is it with him that kepeth companye with a wicked man, and lappeth him self in his sinnes.Eccle. 13
He that toucheth pitche shalbe defiled of it, and he that kepeth companye with a proud person, shall also become proud and stately.
Examples out of the olde Testament.
Ge. 11. 12ABraham because he woulde not be partaker of their Idolatry, fled from the▪ people of Chaldea, beinge his natiue country.Ge. 19
Lot at the commaundement of the An gels, departed out of Sodome, least he tari yng with y• Sodomites, shoulde hauehave ben consumed with them.Ge. 12
Sara would not suffer Ismael which was geuen to mocking, to kepe company with her Sonne Isaac, least he also should become a mocker.Ge. 33
Iacob would not kepe cōpany with his Brother Esau, althoughe greatly entreated least some wickednes shoulde thereof hauehave happened.
Moyses at Gods appointment commaundedNum. 16. the people to departe from the dwellinge places of Chore, Dathan, and Abiron, least they also be wrapped in their sinnes and so pearishe among them.
Iosaphat king of Iuda, was almost slain3. Reg. 22. in the bartail, because he kept company & wēt vntounto the wars we wicked king Achab.
After his returne also he was greatlye…. Par. 19 rebuked of Iehu, for so doing.
When all the people went to worshipTob. 1. the Golden calues whiche Ieroboam had made: Tobias onelyonly fled awaye from the company of them all and went to Ierusalem vntounto the Lordes temple, and there worshipped the Lord God of Israel.
So long as Iudas Machabeus did putMac. 89 his trust in the Lord, all thinges prospered wel with him: but when he begā to ioyne frendship and to kepe cōpany with the hea thē & the Romaines, shortly after he was ouercome and slaine in battel.
The like thing chaunced to Ionathas.Mac. 12.
☞ Sentences out of the new Testament.
GO not into the wayes that lead vntounto…ath. 10 the hethen, and into the Cities of the Samaritans, enter ye not.
I beseeche you brethern, marke themRom. 16 whiche cause deuision and geue occasions of euil, contrary to the doctrine whiche ye hauehave learned, and auoide them.
Do ye not know that a litle leuē sow…. Cor. 5 reth the whole lump of dow. Purge therfore the olde leauen, that ye may be newe dow …s ye are swete bread.
I wrote vntounto you that ye should not kepe company with whoremongers
If any that is called a brother that is to say (a Christen man) bee a whoremonger, or a couetouse person, or a worshipper of images, eyther a rayler, or a dronkarde, or an extorcioner: with him that is suche se ye neither eat, nor yet kepe company.
Put away from among you that euill person.
We require you brethern in the name2. Thes. 3 of our Lorde Iesus Christe, that ye withdraw your selues from eueryevery brother that walketh inordinatlye, and not after the institution which ye receiued of vsus.
If any teach otherwise, and is not content1. Tim. 6 with the wholsome words of our lord Iesu Christ, & with y• doctrine of godlines, he is puft vp, and knoweth nothing, but wasteth his braines about questions and strife of words, wher of spring enuy, strife railings, euil surmisinges, and vayne disputations of men with corrupt myndes, and destitute of the truth, which thinke that lucre is Godlynesse: From such seperate thy selfe.
A man that is geuen to heresy, after theTitus. 3 fyrst and seconde admonicion auoyde. Remembring that he that is such, is peruerted and sinneth, euen dampned by hys owne iudgement.
If there come any vntounto you, and bring…. Iohn. 1 not this learning, hī receaue notto house, neyther byd him GOD speede. For he that byddeth hym god speede is, partaker of his ill dedes.
Examples out of the newe Testament.
Luke. 22Peter so long as he kept company with Christ and Christs disciples, he concinued in the truth, preached the truth, confessed openly Christ to be the sonne of the liuing god: and promised that he would not onelyonly goe into prison, but also vntounto the verye death with Christ, but when he once came into the courte into the Byshoppes house, he straight wayes was striken with suche feare, that a poore mayde and a symple Simme Shakebuckler, made hym both to denye and also to forsweare Iesus Christ his Lord and maister: whome before he had boldly so oft confessed before the worlde. Saint Peter preaching to the beleuing & repentaunt Iewes among other his godly exhortations, commaunded them, to saue themselues from the vntowarde generation of the vnfaithfull, and to flee the companye of suche as denye Iesus to bee Christ and the sonne of the liuing God.Act. 7. 8. …
Saule keping compani with the vnfaith full Iewes as with the byshops, the priests the pharises, &c. became a greuous persecutour of the christen congregation, but being deliuered from their felowship he be came a worthy Apostle, and a feruent prea cher of gods truth.