cannot stay, I am in haste; pray, talk not to me now; neither can I
stay for you; I am running for a wager: if I win, I am made; if I
lose, I am undone; and therefore hinder me not.' Thus wise are men,
when they run for corruptible things; and thus shouldst thou do. And
thou hast more cause to do so than they, forasmuch as they run but for
things that last not, but thou for an incorruptible glory. I give thee
notice of this betimes, knowing that thou shalt have enough call after
thee, even the devil, sin, this world, vain company, pleasures,
profits, esteem among men, ease, pomp, pride, together with an
innumerable company of such companions; one crying, 'Stay for me;' the
other saying, 'Do not leave me behind;' a third saying, 'And take me
along with you.' 'What! will you go,' saith the devil, 'without your
sins, pleasures and profits? Are you so hasty? Can you not stay and
take these along with you? Will you leave your friends and companions
behind you? Can you not do as your neighbors do--carry the world, sin,
lust, pleasure, profit, esteem among men, along with you?'--Have a
care thou do not let thine ear now be open to the tempting, enticing,
alluring, and soul-entangling flatteries of such sink-souls as these
are. "My son," saith Solomon, "if sinners entice thee, consent thou
not."

You know what it cost the young man whom Solomon speaks of, (in the
7th of Proverbs,) that was enticed by a harlot. With her much fair
speech she won him, and caused him to yield; with the flattering of
her lips she forced him, till he went after her, as an ox to the
slaughter, as a fool to the correction of the stocks; even so far till
the dart struck through his liver, and he knew not that it was for his
life. "Hearken unto me, now, therefore," saith he, "O ye children, and
attend to the words of my mouth: let not thine heart decline to her
ways, go not astray in her paths; for she hath cast down many wounded;