Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-06-09
NOUS COMPANIONS.
)RT WITH BURGLARS AND
U WILL BE A BURGLAR"

WILL be ~ bUk0lAH,"
T'dmage Makes Some New Remarks
a. an Old subject-How spendthrifts
I'D D~ebauchees Are Made-Evn Wrought
y the skeptic.
BROOKLYN, June 2.-The Rev. 7.
De Witt Talmage, ID. d., preached at
the Tabernacle today. After expound-
ing the Scriptures he gave out that
popular hymn by A. NJ. Toplady, be-
ginning;
Your harps, We trembling saints,
Down from the willows take.
He took for his text Proverbs xiii, 20:
"a companion OF fools shall 30 de-
stroyed." Following is verbatim re-
port Of the sermon:
May it please the court" said a
convicted criminal, when asked if he
had anything TO say before sentence
Of death was passed upon him, may
il please the court, bad company has
been my ruin. | received the blessings
Of good parents, and, in return, prom
ised TO avoid all evil associations.
Had | kept my promise | should have
been saved this shame, and been free
from the load Of guilt hat hangs
round me like a vulture, threatening
10 drag me TO justice for crimes yet
unrevealed. /, who once moved in the
first 4: les of society, and have been
the guest of distinguished public men,
am lost, and all through bad COM
pany.'
This is but one Of the thousand
proofs that the companion Of fools
shall be destroyed. II is the invariable
rule. There is q well man in the
wards of a hospital, where there are
a hundred people sick with ship fever,
and he will not be so apt TO take the
disease as a good man would be apt TO
be smitten with moral distemper, if
shut up with iniquitous companions.
In olden times prisoners were herded
together in the same cell, but each one
learned the vices of all The culprits, so
that instead of being reformed by in
generation, the day Of liberation
turned them out upon society beasts,
not men.
DO NoTssEEK BAL COMPANIONS.
We may, in our PAGES of business,
be compelled 10 talk 10 and mingle
with bad men; but he who deliberate.
ly chooses 10 associate himself with
vicious people is engaged in carrying
on a courtship with n Delilah, whose
shears will clip of all the locks of his
strength. and he will be tripped into
perdition. Sin is catching, is infec-
tious, is epidemic. will let you look
over the millions of people now in
habiting the earth, and | challenge
you TO show me a good man who, after
n year, has made choice and con-
sorted with the wicked. \ thousand
dollars reward for one such instance.
/ care not how strong your character
may ne. Associate with gamblers, you
will become q gambler. Clan with
burglars, and you will become a burg
lar. Go among the u~nclean, and you
will become unclean. Not ~appreciat-
ing the truth of my text, many O
young man has been destroyed. He
wakes up some morning in the great
city, and knows no one except the per-
sons into whose employ he has en-
tered.
As he goes into the store all the
clerks mark him, measure him and
d uss him. The upright young men
Of the store wish him well, but per-
haps wait for q formal introduction,
and even then have some delicacy
about inviting him into their associa-
tons. But the bad young men of the
store at the first opportunity approach
and offer their services. They patron
ize him. They profess TO know all
about the town. They will take him
anywhere that he wishes 10 go-if he
will pay the expenses. For if a good
young man and a bad young man 90
10 some place where they ought not,
the good young man has invariably to
pay the charges. At the moment the
ticket is TO be paid for, or the cham
payne settled for, the bad young
man feels around in his pockets
and says: Il have forgotten my
pocket book" In forty-eight hours
after the young man has en-.
Seftd tho store the bad fellows OF
the establishment slap him on the
shoulder familiarly, and. al his stupid
ity in taking certain illusions, say
my young friend, you will have TO
be broken in;' and they Immediately
proceed TO break him in. Young man,
in the name Of God | warn you 10 be-
ware how you let a bad man talk fam
iliarly with you. Ii such an u slap
you on the shoulder Familiarity, turn
round and give him a whitening look,
until the wretch crouches in your
presence, There is no monstrosity Of
wickedness that can stand unabashed
under the glance Of purity and honor.
God keeps tue ~lightnings Of heaven in
his W scabbard, and no human arm
can WELD them; but God gives 10
every young nan n lightning that lie
may use, aud that is the lightning Of
an honest eye. Those who have been
close observers will not wonder why /
give warning TO young men, and say,
beware of bad company
First. | warn you 10 shun the skep
tic-the young man who puts his hu
gers in his vest and laughs at your old
fashioned religion, and turns over 10
some mystery Of the Bible and says;
Explain that, my pious friend ex-
plain that" And whosays. Nobody
shall scare me; | am not afraid Of the
future; | used 10 believe in such
things, and so did my father and
mother, but | have got over it," Yes,