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boo
,Ephlefians,
Chap.
5.
V
t
R.8.
with them. He that
will
throw
a ftone
forcibly mutt ftandfoam good
diffance from
the
thing he would fmite.
4.
It
is
offenfive
to
weake ones.
objet.
But you.willfay,May we
at no
hand
dealewith
them
c_4n(w.
We
may enter leagues thus farre with them not
to
doe
Rom.is.ts:
them hurt,
as Laban
and
Jacob,
I
faac
and .,.dbimelech:Have peace with
all
men, fo much
as in
you licth.
2.
We
may commerce with them.
David
and
Solomon,
with Hi-
ramand his
men.
3.
We
may bee fometimes
in
familiar meetings
with themto
feeke
them
and gaine
them to God, for the
fick
have need
of
the
Phyfitian
amongft them, and thus
Chrift
did
companywith Publicans
and
fin
-
nets on this
ground,that mercy
was
better then
facrifice.
ref:.
This
being
thus, that
we
fhould
not
be
great and
familiar
with
car
-
nall
men,
it doth
rebuke many
of
us
who
can walke nand in hand
in
meetings, in recreations, and be
all one
with thofe who
are no
better
then Atheifts
in converfation.
Yea
fome
think through
weakneffe
(either
fearing to be fmitten
with their tongues,
or
accounting it credit
to
have their
good words, or
admiring too much the externall things
wherewith they
are
endowed) they
think
it
their advantage,
that
they
may be graced fofarre
as
to
be their familiars. Againe
, how
many
having no regard
of
Religion
in
their
choice
of
friends and fervants
doe bring a
neceffity upon
themfelves
of
dwelling
as
it were
in
the
tents
of
Kedar
e
How
many
like Lot, and
thofe that
would have
kept
Hill in Babylon,
care
not what theneighbourhoodbe,
if
fo
be they
may
dwell
in
force
faire
and fruitfull
fcituatione
And
it
doth
teach
us
that
wee muff
follow
this
advice,
avoid the
wicked,
great
is
the
force
of
example, the
counfell againft
the
plague
is
here
the beft,
fly
quickly farreenough, rectum late
enough,
efpeci-
allyefchew thefegood
natures
(as
we call them) when they
are per-
verted; for
as
in drinkes,
the
fweeter
they
arc , when
they turne, they
make
fo
much the fowrer
telifh
:
So
thofe
good
natures corrupting,
prove the
moth
peflilent lures
of
the
devill
:
And
efpecially the
young
mull take
heed;
for
as
corne
Browne up
is
not hurt,
when that which
is in
the hearbe
will
eafily
be fmothered.
And
wee
muff all
pray for
good refolution, for they
are
enveigling,their externall parts amiable
:
the
fad of
declining ever falfely charged
as
pride, fingularity,&c.
but
no childifhfeares
muff keepe us
from doing the
will
ofGod,
nor no
prakra.3:
Syren
-like fongs muff
bewitch
us
from
yeilding obedience
;
I
know
Pfal.uy.o;'
no
man
afierthe
flefh.
Let
us
be
farre from delighting
in
any, or
the
prefence
of
any
but the Saints, All
my
delight
is
in
the
Saints;
and,t
am
4 companion
to
all
that faare
thee.
VERSE E.
VERSE
8. For
ye were
fometimes
darkne/e,
bat
now
ye are
light in
the
Lord,
walke
as children
of
the
light.
Now
followeth the
reafon
which
firth
doth lay downe
their
elate,
amplified
from their former
condition. 2.
It
hath
an exhortation
annexed.
Fiat,
to
confider their conditions;
then how
the
reafon
flan-
dech,