I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.
Ver. 5. I have hated the congregation of evildoers] The Church malignant, whose lives are a mystery of iniquity, as Josephus saith of Antipater; qui omnia turbant et miscent, tantum ut ipsi crescere possint, as Aristophanes saith of Cleon; care not whom they ruin, so they may raise themselves, nor what mischief they work to others, so they may drive on their own sinful designs. Luther said of the monks in Germany, that they were so bad, tam desperatae malitiae, ut nihil cogitent quod non idem patrare ausint, that they would stick at no villany whatsoever. David held it a hell to be in company with such incarnate devils. It was once the prayer of a good gentlewoman when she was to die, being in much trouble of conscience, O Lord, let me not go to hell where the wicked are, for, Lord, thou knowest I never loved their company here.
And will not sit with the wicked] But hate the very garment spotted by the flesh, Judges 1:2,3; that is, avoid evil company, saith Mr Perkins, as Leviticus 15:4; so Deuteronomy 22:12. It is not safe coming near stinking carrion, except one have the wind of it. Sin is as catching as the plague.