7g On the Excellency of the Soul. fwelling hearts, in fuch an outragious way, (wearing, and fighting, and blafpheming, and fcorning, and con- temning at all waies of godlinefs; now thefe have been a- broad, and have gotten poifon, and fo they Shall, and are ready to burft with it. Now there are other kinds of poifon that will not work till a quarter or half a year after : A man may go into company , and get his bain , and yet not work till a quarter of a year after : As Lremember a Philo- fopher feeing two women that were wicked, talk together, Oh ! faith hee, now the Viper is taking of poifon from the Afp , and indeed it feemed to bee a Proverb in Ter- tullians time, for I meet with fuch a proverbial fpeech in him , as that the Viper borrows poifon from the Afp fo when wicked company are infufing wicked principles, here is the poifon gotten from the Alp ; wicked company perhaps they come with their fweet cups , and perhaps thou drinkea down the Wine merrily, but together with the Wine, wicked things are infufed into thy fpirit that are poifonful: When thou art in wicked company and heareR the waies of God fpoken againfl, and heare(I the Saints of God railed on, and the good Word of God fpo- 'ken againft , and this thou draweft into thy heart, oh there is poifon goes down in this cup ; it is like to poifon thy foul, and to be thy undoing for ever. And then there is another kind of venome, and that is wicked errours and heretics, when men drink off the Cup of Fornication as when they are taken with the great er- rours of Popery , this poifons the foul ; that place in the Theffalonians is a mof} dreadful place, even for that very errour, 2 Theffalonians z. i I. Speaking of Antichrifl , that hee (hold come with all deceiveable,efs of unrighteoufnefs in them that peri fh , becaufe they received not the love of the truth , that they might bee faved ; and for this carp God fhall fend them flrong delufions, that they fhould beleeve a lye that they all might bee damned who beleeve not the truth , but had pleafure in unrighteoufneffe. This is a moll dread-
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