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Converfation; and thou fhalt foon fee that the Good will love thee, but the Wicked will forfake thee; they will fhun thee, as Ghosts are said to do the Light and Day; or as Hypocrites and Profligates did the Society of the first Christians; and of the reft durst no man join himself unto them, Acts 5. 13. Thou dost too much accommodate thy felf to the Modes and Humours of the World, and this draws upon thee the Company of the Impertinent and Vicious; 'tis an earthly vanishing Splendor, about which thefe Moths and Night-flies flutter: 'Tis Jet, not Gold and Diamond, that is said to attract Straws.

(3.) But laftly, This Rule obliges us only as far as we can (the nearnefs of Relation or neceffary Bufinefs, does fometimes make it our Duty to Converfe with those which we otherwife would decline. And in this Cafe all that can be expected is) not to have any Fellowship or Communion with them in their Vices, but to dif countenance or reprove them: And, as the World goes now, I think this Rule

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Rule is to be extended no farther than to Intimacies and Familiarities, to voluntary and chofen Acquaintance, not to Accidental Meetings or Occasional Correfpondencies. But we must take care not to be too favourable and compliant in this Matter; the more Sin abounds, the lefs Difcipline is or can be exercised; the more zealous fhould we be in particular to do honour to Religion, and to fix a Mark of Shame and Infamy upon Vice. Never would this Rule be more fcandaloufly tranfgrefs'd, than if Priefts and Prelates fhould court the Company and Favour of Atheists and Adulterers: Or Matrons and Virgins that of a wretched Woman, whofe State and Port is not more notorious than the Shame and Lewdnefs that maintains it. How can our Wives or Daughters think that there is any Shame or Turpitude in the Sin, when we pay fo much refpect to the Sinner?

2. We must confider what ought to be the true End and Defign of Society and Converfation among Chriftians. Certainly that Man has a very C 2

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mean and low Notion of Friendship, who propofes no other End than to Eat and to Drink together, or to laugh and fool away our precious Moments. The Scripture points out to us much nobler Purposes and Designs of Converfation, when it tells us, That our Speech fhould be fuch as may adminifter Grace; that we fhould build up one another in our holy Faith; that we hould comfort one another, exhort one another continually, and fo much the more, because the day approaches, &c. and furely we are strangely mistaken, if we think that our Communication will lofe all guft by being directed to one of these ends. On the contrary, it would doubtlefs be as much more delightful as beneficial, if when we meet we were accustomed, instead of Cenfures and Reflections, News and Impertinence,or Frothinefs and Lightnefs, to difcourfe of fome worthy and noble Subject, becoming the Genius and Hope of a Chriftian. The Example of David confirms this Notion; he try'd and found that Friendfhip was both useful and pleasant, whilft it was maintain'd on the stock

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of Religion; My Companion, my Guide, my familiar Friend; we took Sweet Coun fel together, and walked into the House of God in company, Pfal. 55. 14, 15.

To this it will be again objected, It will be very difficult at all times to find Matter and Occafion for good Difcourfe. I answer, Firft, I do not utterly and totally exclude the common Accidents of Life,the Business and Affairs of it, nay, even Things of a pleasant and divertive Nature, if mo deft and inoffenfive, from being fometimes the Subject of Converfation; but, I fay, Religion ought to be the main and great End of it. Secondly, "Tis hard for me to conceive how a good Christian should often want either Matter or Opportunity for pious Difcourfe. As for Matter, he must fuffer the Providences of God to pass without any obfervation or remark, he must be a Stranger to the Works› of Nature; he must be utterly unread in the Hiftory of Human Affairs; he must be unacquainted with the Book of God; and he must have little experi-ence of the Power and Operation of God's Word and Spirit upon his own G 3 Soul:

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Soul; he must have reflected very little on the Wilds of Satan the Temptations of the World, and the Defects and Weakneffes of Human Nature, who can, want Matter for good Difcourfe. The Man of Letters, the Man of Bufinefs, the Man of Pleasure, never wants Matter; Books furnish the one, Bufinefs the other, and their Vices and Diverfions the third. 'Tis ftrange that the Christian alone fhould be barren. The Chriftian, who is a Child of the Light, and of the Day, and fhould abound in Wisdom and Understanding! The Chriftian, who has every hour Matters of the highest Importance on his Hands and who, finally, is entertain'd with more and richer Pleafures than the most fortunate Epicurean can pretend to. As to Occafion or Opportunity of good Discourse, did the Heart run that way, every thing would afford it us. But alas!

we rather shun than feek Occasions: and I know not by what strange Er-, ror we have banifh'd all Matters of, Religion out of Company; as if no

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