above our knowledge ; a mystery which it is our duty to adore,
without endeavouring to examine the nature of it. Almighty God
permits the ungodly to subsist ; and this we learn from experience :
he permits them to subsist among the good and the predestinate ;
and this is too evident to be called in question. To know the
reasons why he will have it so, is not within the narrow compass
of our sphere ; but to know the manner in which we should behave
to the ungodly and libertines, is what greatly imports us, and re-
quires our utmost regard and attention. Now of whom shall we
learn this ? Of God himself, who would in all things, but in this
particularly, be the example and pattern of our conduct. God,
beloved Christians, who is holiness itself, abides with sinners ; but
upon this I would observe two things, which ought to be two
very important lessons for us. The first is, that he doth not abide
with sinners, but by the necessity of his existence ; the second,
that by abiding with them, he at once provides for his own glory
and for their salvation. Whereupon I lay down two great obliga-
tions, which nearly concern us, and which I intend shall make the
division of this discourse.

First : God is with sinners only by the necessity of his exist-
ence ; and we are bound to be -with them only by the necessity of
our state.

Secondly : God provides for his own glory and the salvation



19S ON THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN

of sinners, and by this means we ought to make our intercourse
with them equally profitable to them and to ourselves.

In the first part, I shall show you the general obligation we are
under of shunning all commerce with the unrighteous ; and in the
second, I shall lay before you the profit we must draw from it,
whenever necessarily engaged therein. In two words, a commerce
between the righteous and the unrighteous is generally dangerous
for the righteous ; but it may sometimes be to the advantage of
the one and the other. The righteous, so far as it is profitable to
themselves and the unrighteous in the way of salvation, they should
turn it to advantage. This is the subject of the present discourse,
and to which I entreat your attention.

Part I. To hear what the scripture says on this topic, beloved
Christians, it would seem as if God was and was not at the same
time with the ungodly ; as if he deprived them and deprived them
not of his divine presence. For thus it is that he expresses himself
differently, according to the difference of the characters he assumes,
and he wills to support in their regard. It is I (says he in one
place) who fill heaven and earth ; and let the sinner do what he
will, he cannot escape me, or withdraw himself from before my
eyes. Thus God is always present to the sinner, to observe and
watch him, and enlighten his mind. But he says in another place :
I repent my having created man, and for evermore I cast him off,
because he is carnal in every respect. Here you see that God is
separated from the sinner to take vengeance of him, and make him
undergo condign punishment. Whither shall I go, O Lord, (says
David,) and whither shall I fly from before thy face ? If I go
down into the darksome regions of hell, 1 there discover you exer-
cising in person the rigour of your justice. Almighty God, there-
fore, (concludes St. Jerom,) dwells even with the reprobate. But,
on the other hand, I hear Saul calling to Samuel, and declaring
his grief to him, or rather desperation, for that the Almighty had
forsaken him : "I am sorely distressed ; for, the Philistines make
war against me, and God is departed from me." 1 Kings xxviii.
It follows, therefore, that it is not among the reprobate that God
is to be looked for. How shall we reconcile all this ? By re-
flecting (replies the angelical doctor, St. Thomas) that God, who
is the holy of holies, is with the ungodly by the necessity of his
existence, not by affection or inclination.

My meaning is this : he is with sinners by the necessity of his



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. 199

existence, in that all his divine perfections engage him to be so :
his wisdom, by which he governs and maintains in due order all
his creatures, not excepting the most rebellious and outrageous
sinners ; his goodness, of which he imparts the effects to all his
creatures, even to sinners ; his omnipotence, which influences all
creatures, and consequently sinners. All these attributes of the
Creator, which bear relation merely to creatures, are such as all
mankind share a part alike, the bad equally with the good ; and it
is by reason of these attributes that God is inseparable from the
wicked. But, as I have said, they are attributes of necessity,
which God himself supposing the benefit of creation, cannot dis-
pense w T ith, or set aside. For, beloved Christians, do but examine
the inclinations of his heart, and you will find the case to be quite
otherwise. Scarce is a man fallen into sin, but God breaks off all
alliance with him, and by a necessary, though woful, consequence,
all the communications of which his grace had been the bond. So
that he is no longer with the sinner in any of those ways by which
the bent and characteristics of his love are always perceived : that
is, he is no longer with the sinner, either by a special protection,
as he was with his own people in the wilderness ; or by a communi-
cation of his divine gifts, as he is with all the righteous ; or by an
inward and mysterious union of his adorable sacrament, as he is in
a singular manner with the Christian soul that receives it. All
this, with respect to the sinner, is at an end : which made the
divine Spirit say, that God no longer abides with sinners ; and
makes divines add, that if God (to suppose that possible which is
impossible) could divest himself of his immensity, he would still
remain present to a great number of persons to whom his grace
attaches him, but that he would cease to be with sinners, because
he no longer would have that necessity of ubiquitary existence and
ubiquitary agency. Whence St. Chrysostom concludes, (and Ins
thought is worthy of observation,) that the immensity of God,
which is one of his noblest attributes, is, in one sense, burdensome
to him, because it necessitates him to be. unable totally to rid him-
self from the object of his aversion and indignation.

An admirable idea this, Christians, of the manner in which we
ought to behave to the libertines of the age. For, what doth God
require of us ? That we behave to them as he himself behaves to
them. How is it possible that we should propose to ourselves a
better or more holy model ? In the first place, therefore, he would



•JOO ON THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN

have us bear with them after his own example. And St. Augustin
tells us, that this requisition is founded in reason, in that others
were forced to bear with ourselves, when we went astray, and fol-
lowed the vices and follies of the times. For which reason, (con-
tinues the same holy doctor,) we should always be careful to retain
the remembrance of what we have been, in order to preserve a ten-
der and charitable compassion for others in their evil state. It
ou^ht, however, to be remembered, that he doth not mean to say
this commerce with the wicked should be pleasing to us, but only
should exercise our patience. That is, we ought to bear it, but
not love it, because we conform, by that means, to our rule, which
is God.

There are, I allow, connexions and engagements with the un-
righteous, which the divine law doth not only not command us,
but positively forbids us to break, because they are so many indis-
pensable duties ; and this is what I call the necessity of our state,
which bears analogy to the necessity of God's existence. Other-
wise (according to St. Paul) " we'must needs go out of the world."
1 Cor. v. For instance, must a father separate from his children,
because he sees the irregularity of their behaviour ; a wife from
her husband, because he leads a libertine life ; an inferior from a
superior, because he is a witness to his scandalous conduct ? No,
to be sure ; the law of duty, dependence, and subjection, positively
forbids it : and in that case we may say, that the mixture of the
righteous and the wicked is authorized by God, forasmuch as he
is the author of the conditions wliich are the groundwork of such
a communication. All this is true ; but, except what is restrained
by necessity and justice, when the matter is left to our own free
option, to seek the ungodly, and keep up a voluntary intercourse
with them — worldly and profane friendships, familiarity for which
there is no pretext but pleasure alone, and which no reason can
authorize or justify, I say, is to act in direct opposition to the orders
of God ; and what I say is perfectly agreeable to what the apostle
said to the Christians of Thessalonica, " We command you to
withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly."
1 Thess. iii. Upon this account it was, that the royal prophet
made a conscience of it, and a religious point. " I have not sitten
(says he) with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers ;
I have hated the congregation of evil-doers." Ps. xxv. My con-
stant maxim hath been to avoid all communication with the abet-



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. 201

tors of vice and folly, and never to mix or associate with those who
prize themselves for committing iniquity ; to love their persons,
because charity commands me to do so, but to hate their meetings,
to shun their intrigues, to abhor their converse, because the supe-
rior charity I owe to God and myself, forbids me to have any part
therein.

This, I say, beloved hearers, is that which Christian prudence
dictates, and that to which it indispensably obligeth us ; to avoid,
so far as our station will permit it, the company of the wicked.
And, indeed, God hath inspired us with a secret horror of it. You
are my people, (say he, to the children of Israel, leading them to
the land of Canaan,) you are my people, and I have chosen you,
among all the people who inhabit the earth, that you may be espe-
cially devoted to me ; but upon that very account, you shall not
hold correspondence with that infidel people, you shall not enter
into any alliance with them, nor shall any marriage be lawfully
contracted between you and them. St. Augustin asks, what can
be the reason of all this ? Might not an intercourse with foreigners
have been of singular advantage to the Israelites, in order to their
settling in the promised land ? Worldly policy, very likely, would
have closed with this opinion ; but God, whose holy and adorable
views are raised infinitely above those of men, was pleased, in his
wisdom, to make policy give way to the interests of religion :
" Take heed, lest thou enter into covenant with the inhabitants of
that land." Exod. xxxiv. These are the express w^ords of the law ;
and you shall see, beloved Christians, whether this prohibition was
useless and ill-founded. For, hearken to what St. Paul says. I
have admonished you, (says he, writing to the Corinthians,) and
specified to you in one of my letters, that you must not have any
kind of engagement, either with the unchaste or voluptuous, or
with defamers and calumniators, or with any person whatsoever,
who may corrupt you, or be an occasion of scandal to you. Al-
though he were your brother by every tie of inclination and friend-
ship, you are forbidden to hold any communication with him : "I
have written to you, that if any man who is called a brother, be a
fornicator, or a railer, or a drunkard, with such a one not to take
meat." 1 Cor. v.

God, by separating us from the wicked, would have us do now,
what he himself will one day do, and thereby antedate the general
resurrection and general judgment. When the Son of God shall

o



•202 ON THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN

come to judge the world, the reprobate and the righteous will arise
at the same time ; but the reprobate will not be risen together
with the righteous, because, at the moment of resurrection, the
righteous will be separated from the reprobate, by that terrible
discrimination of which David speaks, and of which the angels will
be the executioners : " Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." Ps. i.
What, then, shall we infer from this ? That the good shall live on
the earth, with respect to the wicked, in the order in which they
shall rise from the dead and receive judgment ; that is, they sever
themselves (if I may so express it) from simiers, and begin, even
in this life, to take their rank.

Accordingly, in this consists the perfection and glory of the
righteous upon earth ; and such is the idea which the scripture gives
us of it. For when Almighty God commands Joshua to put
Acham to death, (a scandalous man in the midst of the people,)
he expresseth himself in these words only : "Arise, and sanctify
the people." Joshua vii. And what, O Lord, shall I do for that
end ? replies Joshua. Thou shalt exterminate that sacrilegious
wretch, Acham ; for so long as he remains among the tribes, I
cannot ;myself remain among them : but, cut off for ever from
among the living that vicious soul, and the whole people shall be
sanctified. One would imagine, beloved Christians, that the sepa-
ration of the wicked was, in some measure, a sacrament of expia-
tion for the righteous. In truth, this alone were enough to sanctify
whole families, whole communities, whole religious orders. Turn
out of the house a good-for-nothing servant that infects it, and you
will make it a house of piety. Remove from a religious commu-
nity a certain person of a turbulent spirit, that destroys the har-
mony which ought to reign in it, and you will make it a congregation
of saints. Banish from the prince's court some deists who may
have sway and power in it, and you will make it a Christian court.
There is in Paris, a certain man, who hath ruined more souls than
the devil, with all his wiles, will ever be able to do ; and you your-
selves know certain women, whose artful ways have made more
libertines, than the most contagious lessons of those who, in times
past, delivered lectures on debauchery. Take away, therefore, a
small number of these men and women, and you will re-establish,
almost universally, the worship of God. Now this retrenchment
would not be impossible, was the interest of God as much respected



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. 203

as that of men. Have you never noticed, beloved Christians, a
particular thing, which the evangelist St. John remarks, speaking
of the last supper which our blessed Saviour ate with his disciples,
before his death ? At the very time that the traitor, Judas, went
forth to put his dark design into execution, our blessed Lord fell
into a kind of extasy, saying, " Now the Son of man is glorified."
John xiii. Whence accrued this glory to him ? St. Augustin
asks. Not from the beatific vision of God : that he had from the
first instant he became man. Neither was it from the raising of
his body from the dead : the time for that was not yet come. It
accrued to him from the withdrawing of that traitor, who had till
then been in his presence with the other disciples. And this reason
is given for it by the text : " Therefore, when he went forth, Jesus
said, now the Son of man is glorified." As long as Judas remained
in his company, it was in some sort, a dishonour to him ; but per-
ceiving he was separated from him, though such separation was to
be followed by all the ignominy of the cross, he thought himself,
notwithstanding, glorified by it. Now if the glory of our Redeemer
was not complete, while a reprobated man was in his company,
judge, beloved hearers, whether you be holy, righteous, and plea-
sing in the presence of God, while you herd with sinners, and
voluntarily pass your days in the midst of them.

And St. Thomas tells us, that this is the reason why the church
cuts off certain persons from her communion. By issuing out ex-
communication, she separates the good grain from the bad, with a
view to retain to herself the one, and reject the other ; whereby
she instructs us in our duty, and lets us know what it is incumbent
on us to do. You would not keep away from the ungodly : she
keeps them, therefore, away from you. For you must not imagine
that her sole meaning is to punish them, by taking from them the
common advantages of society. Excommunication imports two
things ; a punishment for the culpable, and a law for the innocent.
The punishment is, that the church forbids the sinner to have any
more communication with the faithful ; and the law is, that at the
same time she commands the faithful to hold no more communica-
tion with the sinner. But can we thence infer, that the company
of no sinners is forbidden us, save those who are struck with the
anathematical thunder of the church ? No, Christians : though a
thing be not forbidden in formal terms by the church, it were illo-
gical reasoning to infer from thence, that it is allowed. There are

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204 ON THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN

laws of a higher order, and more general, to which we are bound
to pay obedience. In virtue of her censures, the church doth no
more than prohibit an intercourse with scandalous persons who
rebel against her ; but without rebelling, it is enough that they are
scandalous, to make us conclude, independently of the prohibitions
of the church, that we are under a strict obligation of shunning
them. It would be a pitiful way of reasoning, that because the
church hath revoked the penalties pronounced against those who
associate with excommunicated persons, she, therefore, approves
of such connexions, and of the keeping such company.

My meaning is this, and pray take notice : it is very requisite
you should thoroughly comprehend what I am going to say. In
former times, according to the rigour of the canon law, none of the
faithful could ever have any dealing with a man cut off from the
communion of the church, without incurring the same censure.
This law is universal. For important reasons, however, made out
in oecumenical councils, the church hath relaxed in this rigour,
and forbids us only to have communication with those whom she
hath publicly, and by name excommunicated. Can it, therefore,
be inferred, that we may converse indifferently with all sorts of
persons, though corrupt and dangerous, under colour that they are
not stigmatized by the church ? It is a great mistake, beloved
Christians. The church may repeal her own laws ; she may chaDge
her customs ; but all this must be without prejudice to the law of
God, which is irreversible and invariable. Now the law of God is,
that except in the necessary engagements of my state, I refrain and
keep away from all company, in which the innocence of my soul
might run the hazard of being shipwrecked. If I seek it volun-
tarily, and by free choice, it is very true the thunders of the church
will not fall on me upon that account, because the church is willing
to treat me with that indulgence. But all her indulgence cannot
hinder me, from being, by that means, a scandal to my bretliren,
and from being, by that means, an enemy to myself, by working
my own destruction and wo.

1st. I say, beloved Christians, that to herd with libertines and
impious men, knowing them to be such, is to despise God. And,
in reality, what do you mean by a contempt of God, if not to join
and unite with his enemies ? And who are the enemies of God
but sinners, especially certain declared sinners ? What would you
think of a son who should cordially and affectionately side with the



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. 205

persecution of his father, with those who made base attempts on
the rights and honour of his father, with those who made open
war against his father ? Would you not hold him in the utmost
abhorrence, and look upon him as a monster of nature ? Now this
is what you do by associating and living with wicked men. So
long as they lead a sinful life, there must subsist an irreconcilable
hatred between God and them. Examine the scriptures, and read
the reproach which was made to Josaphat, king of Juda, in other
respects a religious prince. An alliance was settled between him
and Achab, king of Israel. There were reasons of state which
induced him to enter into this alliance, and it passed the council-
board without one dissenting voice. Nevertheless, the council was
in this condemned by Almighty God. Thou art, O king, (says
Jehu, taking all the liberty of a prophet,) a prevaricator: " Should st
thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord ? There-
fore didst thou deserve wrath." Paral. xix. The good works of
Josaphat, and the sincerity of his heart, pleaded his excuse. But,
beloved Christians, what can you allege ? To say nothing of the
injury you offer to God, how can you excuse the scandal you give
to the servants of God, in the church of God ? Tell me, is it not
scandalous, to see you every day in the most suspected places in
town, in company where all notions of shame are laid aside, where
an indeeent vein of humour is admired, where the most pernicious
maxims are adopted, and where the sacred rules of modesty are too
often disregarded ; to see you with men of no religion, and with
women of lost reputations, in places where licentiousness reigns
without bounds, and the most deadly contagion is spread ? What
can we think of it ? What can we say of it ? Nay, what hath
not already been thought and said of it ?

2ndly. And tell me not, that you know how to look to your
own preservation, and that notwithstanding whatever the world
may think and say of it, the testimony of your own conscience
pleads in your behalf, and that is enough. Give ear, dear bretliren,
to what St. Jerom hath written thereupon to a Roman lady. You
must be but superficially conversant (says he) in the duties of a
Christian life, to express your thoughts in that manner. And do
not you know, that in point of conduct you must give an account
to Almighty God not only of what you do, but of what they say
of you ? that it is not sufficient to set your own conscience at ease,
but that, moreover, you are under an obligation of satisfying the



206 ON THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN

consciences of other people ? that St. Paul, who knew more of the
matter than you do, in regulating his conversation, considered men
as well as God, not imagining it could be innocent, so long as men
could take offence at it, and acknowledging full w r ell he became
guilty in God's presence, by not taking pains to be irreproachable
in the sight of men ? Thus spoke St. Jerom ; and he concluded
by setting the example of the apostle, who would not eat of certain
meats, lest by so doing he should scandalize the faithful ! Alas !
(says the same holy doctor again,) the company of men is as neces-
sary as food ; and how can we be too careful to shun those scanda-
lous connexions, which hurt the purity of our conscience, afford
room for numberless suspicions, and are made the usual topic of
detraction, whereas St. Paul abstained from flesh, and even had a
horror of it, so long as it might give occasion of scandal to the
humblest Christian ?

3rdly. But, loved Christians, to pass over the scandal, and insist
only on wiiat more nearly concerns ourselves. How is it possible
to hold familiar communication with lewd and libertine livers, and
retain a pure and chaste heart ? Can you reasonably hope to
breathe an air entirely infected, and not feel the effects of its infec-
tion ? And would it not be the highest presumption to think
yourselves free from a danger which God hath forbidden as much
as the evil itself? If that were the case, the prophets and apostles
would not have been more strongly confirmed in grace than you
are ; and this advantage you woidd have over them, that they at
all times disliked the company of the ungodly, because they sup- {
posed it dangerous for them, as St. Jerom witnessed of Ezechial,
who in that view, withdrew from all the rest of the people, and
passed his days in holy retirement, whereas you, voluntarily and
fearless, remain among them, as though you possessed an infallible
antidote against sin. But if you do not, how rash must you be,
to run a greater hazard than those saints of the highest order durst
ever run ! To expose yourselves on many occasions for which
they thought their strength sufficient ! To live in security, though
they were always in fear and trembling ! Why did God so strictly
forbid the Jews to mix and traffic with foreigners ? Because he
foresaw that in such alliances and negotiations, their fall and ruin