The works of George Swinnock, M.A

Thy watchfulness (friend) must be great, if thou wouldst keep thy self unspotted from the World, Jam. 1. ult. Rust will fret into the hardest steel, but not into the Emerald; Sin will fi•d speedy acceptance with a profane sinner, but not with a precious Saint. Joseph kept his Chastity, though often in the company of his wanton Mistress; Lot did not lose his sanctity, though he dwelt amongst ungodly Sodomites; The Arch-Angel disputed with the Arch-Devil, yet was not infected by his poisonous breath; Satan did set upon the blessed Saviour, but could not fasten the least sin upon him. Naturalists tell us, that the Diamond if true, will lie in the •ire and not consume; the Herb Narcissus, or Yellow Crowbellies, flowereth in February, and keepeth its Flower under the Snow. The Olive ⟨p. 162⟩Tree, in the midst of the Flood, kept its branches green. The Christian ought so to converse with the wicked, that his grace may neither waste, nor his conscience be wounded. Thy Duty is, as Clothes well dyed, to keep thy colour in all Weathers; and as a good constitution, to retain thy spiritual health, in the most unwholesome Aires. The Apostle writes to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 5. 11. Not to company with any that are called brethren, and are fornicators, or covetous, or idolaters, or railers, or drunkards, or extortioners. ¹The word in the Original is [Greek or Hebrew], both in the 9, and 11. verse, which signifieth, not to mingle with them. They may be amongst them, but they may not mingle with them; that which mingleth with any filthy thing, receiveth of its filth, and though it were pure before, is polluted thereby; The people of God ought not in this sense to mingle with the world, but to keep themselves, though not untouched, yet untainted. Its storied that the Rivers of Peru, ²run into the main Sea, twenty or thirty miles, and yet are not mingled with the Sea, but continue fresh water; So the River Rodanus, is said to run purely through the Lake Lemanus without mixture of waters;