A choice Bed of apes® are Stars in the Firmament of the Church,and therefore eve . ry mans eye is upon them, and if wicked men can but difcern the Ieafl indecency, the leaft appearance of any excen:rick, or irregular motion, 0 how readily will they let fly againfl God, and the Gofpel ; againfi Religion,' and against all that have a Profeffion oftReligion upon them. Now the honour of God,and the credit of the Gofpel, should be fo dear and precious in the eyes of every Chriflian, that he should ra- ther eh* to dye, than to venture upon the leaft apparition of fin, whereby the honour of God may be clouded, or the credit of the Gofpel impeached or eclipfed ; or the Soul of a poor firmer endangeraor worfned ; both the leaft fin,and the leaf+ appearance of fin mink be avoided and prevented, the Cockatrice mull be crufbul in the Egg, elfe it will foon become aSevpent ; the very thought of fin, if not thought on, will break out into gtion, a6tion into cuflome, cuflome into habit, and then both body and Soul are in the ready way of being irrecoverably loll. Ciamerarims tells us a fad Flory of two Brothers, who walking out in the evening, and feeing the Element full of bright fpangl Mg Stars, one of them be- ing a Grafier, wished that he had as many Oxen as there were Stars in the Firmament ; then laid the other Brother, If I had t P-aflure as big as all the World, where would you keep the Oxen ? he anfwered, In your Pafture : What laid the other, whether I would or ne ? Yes faid his Brother. The matter was very light, 'twas but a little evil, or an appearing evil, but it fell out very heavily, for' prefebtl y they fell to words, and then drew one upon another, and in the clofe kil- led one another. 0 friends, as you love the lives of finners, and as you love the Souls of finners, keep off from all appea- rance of evil. But, Seventhly, Other precious Saints have aqtained from all appearances o. witnefs jofeph, Paul, Diwie1,c. but lately cited. And to thefe let me add that great inflance of Avitine, who retrafted even ironies becaufe they had the appearance of evil. And fo the Primitive .Chriftians would not let up Lights and Bayes at their doors, though 'for this R 2 the
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