Sin Stigmatized, Part 2 · Section 198
§ 198.
IT is true, Object. Many objections anſwered.they will perſwade us; that inſtead of being infected, we may gaine by their company; and tell us, that true Cryſtall may touch the Toade, vvithout being poyſoned; that the Diamond vvill lye in the fire, vvithout being conſumed; that fiſh may live in ſalt vvaters, and yet retaine a freſh taſt; that though ruſt will fret into the hardeſt ſteele, yet it doth not eate into the Emerald; that though the Load-ſtone draweth Iron after it, yet it cannot-ſtirre Gold; nor the Jet ſteele, though it doth ſtraw; that though the Sunne hardens clay, yet it ſoftens wax; that if a Ship hath a ſure Anchor, it may ly ſafe any where; neither is it abſolutely unlawfull for us to keepe them company, ſeeing Chriſt kept company with Publicans and ſinners of all ſorts.
Anſw. Here are good words, but no ſecurity; which therefore an experienced man gives the hearing of, but ſtands (the while) upon his owne guard. No charity binds us to a truſt of thoſe whom we have found faithleſſe. Credulity upon weake grounds, after palpable diſappointments, is the daughter of folly. He that hath once broken his faith, will not eaſily be truſted. I know Phyſitians may converſe with Leprous perſons, uninfected; but then they muſt have ſtronger Antidotes, then their natures give them, or elſe themſelves ſhall ſtand in the ſame need, and of Phyſitians become Patients, and need Phyſicke: ſo that may be lawfull, in a ſage and ſtayed perſon, which is unfit for an ungoverned eye once to looke upon. We read, Gen. 19.17. that Lot and his wife, were forbidden to looke back at the deſtruction of Sodom; when to Abraham it was left at large, and without reſtraint, he being a man of better ruled affections. Againe, I know the Devill cannot hurt me, ſo long as God is with me: as the beſt Load-ſtone cannot draw Iron unto it, if the Diamond be by: yea, the very feare of God, and thought that he looketh on, as one ſpake of grave Cato, will keepe a man from yeilding to their temptations, as it did Ioſeph, touching his Miſtriſſes allurements: and that faith, as it is no coward, ſo it is ever victorious: what then? though faith be confident, yet it is not impudent; it knowes a guard of Angells will keepe us in all our wayes, but not in our wandrings: though it may be lawfull to come among them, yet wiſdome forbeares ſome lawfull things, becauſe they may be occaſions of things unlawfull. He that abſtaines from nothing that is lawfull, will ſoone be brought to doe that which is unlawfull. The note which comes too neere in the Margent, will skip into the Text, at the next impreſſion. He that will goe as neere the ditch as he can, will at ſome time or other fall in. He that will doe all that he may, will ſometimes doe what he ought not. It is hard for the beſt man to ſay how farre he will be tempted. If a man will put him ſelfe among Philiſtins, he cannot promiſe to come forth innocent; or if he doe, that ſoule which lives among thornes, ſhall hardly thrive in Grace. How many have fallen into a faſhion of ſwearing, ſcoffing, drinking, out of the uſuall practiſe of others: as thoſe that live in an ill ayre, are infected with diſeaſes? A man may paſſe through Ethiopia unchanged, but he cannot dwell there, and not be diſcoloured. When once a man gives himſelfe over to be the companion of vice, in the end he becomes the very ſlave of vice. The Oxe being tyed to the Figg-tree, looſeth his ſtrength. Many ſtrokes overthrow the ſtrongeſt Oke. Many drops of raine, though never ſo ſoft, pierce the hardeſt Marble, yea, even the flint ſtone. And let graces be never ſo well fixt in a mans heart, yet he may ſoone have them conſumed and waſted this way, if he take not heede: as Snow and Ice cannot be ſo hard congealed, but they will melt, if they come to the fire. And little doe our peremptory reſolvers in this caſe know, or conſider, either the inſinuative power of evill, or the treachery of their owne hearts, in receiving it, or the importunity of wicked deceivers, in obtruding it: they are the worſe for their ſociety, and perceive it not.
An Egg covered with ſalt (as Philoſophers teach) hath the meate of it conſumed, whilſt the ſhell is whole. And we reade of many Townes, which have in time beene undermined, even with the moſt impotent and weake Creatures, as one in Spaine with Coneyes; in Theſſalia with Moles; in France with Frogs; in Africa with Flies.
Many an one receives poyſon, and knowes not when he tooke it. Many breath in this world, like men ſleeping in a boate, are caried downe the ſtreame, even to their graveſend, without waking, to thinke where they are.
No man proves extreamly evill on the ſudden: through many inſenſible declinations doe we fall from vertue. Sathan's agents are ſtill ſcattering his firy darts, among the Army of Iſrael; and when they light upon wood, they kindle; when upon flax, they flame; when upon gunpowder, they blow up all. They therefore that love ſuch intricate and perplexed walkes, had need of Iron ſhoes.
True it is, that Christ converſed and kept company with Publicans and ſinners, (as the Phyſitian with the ſicke) to heale their ſoules: neither did they make him worſe, but he made them better: but as true it is, that he was without the levell of temptation; and ſo is no generall warrant. I will therefore not only ſhun evill, but the meanes to come to it; and to avoid hurt, I will keepe my ſelfe out of ſhot: neither will I preſume, being but a man, to follow my maſter in that which he did as God. Indeed, many are ſo preſumptuous of their ſtrength, that they thinke they can come in any company, and yet come off cleare: but he which comes to ſave one drowning, muſt be ſtronger then the other, or elſe he will be drowned himſelfe.
Pliny reports, that a Family neare Rome would goe upon live coles without being burnt: had it hereupon beene neceſſary for others to put the ſame in practiſe? no: neither is it neceſſary for us to doe that herein which our Saviour did. Our minds have not that ballaſt in them, which his had, and ſo are ſooner endangered, by the floods of wickedneſſe.
Secondly, whereas they object: that we may gaine by their company: I confeſſe it poſſble, for even the moſt venimous and ravenous things that are, have their commodities, as well as their annoyances: And the Cocke by ſcraping in a dunghill, did once finde a Iewell: Virgil from Enniu's dunge did Gold extract: and Apothecaries of Vipers fleſh can make an Antidote againſt poyſon: an Harlots face may ſuggeſt chaſtneſſe: and a ſinfull ſurfet may prove an Antidote for ſinne: yea, as externall cold kindles the heate of the ſtomacke: ſo we finde it recorded in holy Writ, that ſome, by a ſpirituall Antiperiſtaſis, have growne hotter in their zeale, by being encompaſſed with the outward cold of wicked and irreligious company: like Roſes and Lillies, which flouriſh the more for being beſet with Thornes: and Violets, which are the ſweeter and more odoriferous, for being beſet with Garlike and Onions; for as much as they ſuck and draw all the ill favours of the ground unto them. Thus it fared with Lot, who ſerved God better among the beaſtly Sodomites, then when he was ſeparated from them. And ſome others there are no doubt, who, as they owe not this grace to themſelves, ſo they are more for wonder, then imitation. For if Daniel found a guard in the Lyons Den, ſhall another thruſt himſelfe thereinto for ſhelter? and if Peter walkt upon the pavement of the water, did the reſt of the Diſciples ſtep forth and follow him? No.
Ob. But ſay ſome. By keeping them company we may winne them, and happily convert their ſoules.
Anſw. I anſwer. Hope not ſo much to convert them; as feare that they will pervert thee: for vertue is not ſo alluring as vice: the one ſpreads it ſelfe, like poyſon in a veſſell; the other is not halfe ſo diſperſive. Sinne, and Hagar, are more fruitfull then vertue and Sarah: falſehood, more ſucceſſefull then truth. The ſore eye infecteth the ſound: the ſound will not mend the ſore. Vinegar will mar wine; wine will not mend vinegar, Infection is ſpreading and catching: health is not ſo. An hundred ſound perſons ſhall ſooner catch the plague, from one infected perſon; then he receive his health from them.
Salomon that wonder of wiſdome, might thinke by joyning in affinity with his neighbour Princes, and marrying their Daughters, to winne thoſe Heathens to the Kingdome of God: but he was deceived, for he could doe no good upon them; they wrought him too much evill. And doth not experience teach us, that the good are ſooner perverted by the bad, then the bad converted by the good? even as a tainted ayre doth more eaſily infect a ſound body, then an wholeſome can cleare the ſicke.
We reade of certaine Magneticall, or Adamantine Rockes, in the Iles of Moniole, which draw all ſhips unto them, that have any Iron pinnes, holding them ſo faſt, that they are not able to ſtirre: evill ſociety, are ſuch Rockes; holy men, the ſhips; naturall and inbred corruption, the Iron pinnes: he that will be ſafe, let him keepe farre enough from ſuch Rocks.
A good man, joyned in league with one that is wicked; is like a living man, bound to a dead corps, which will ſooner ſuffocate him, then he revive that: or, like an Iſickle, can endure the rough northerne wind of perſecution well enough, but melteth with the heate of the Sunne, ſweete allurements of the world, and the fleſh. The children of God are, as it were, dead to their luſts; but if they ſhould tempt God, by a too familiar ſociety with the vicious; who knowes, but as live coles will kindle dead ones; ſo their evill ſpeeches and actions may kindle and enflame them with the love and liking of lewdneſſe? Indeed, as one ſaid to his ſuppliant, make me a Diviner, and I will make thee rich: ſo may a good man ſay to a vicious; make me Angelicall, that is, incapable of being ſeduced, and I'le doe my beſt to make thee a Convert.