The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-06-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse Of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Sublect in the Morning: ..1suin.
Gus Company" subject
in the Evening"; 'I.cs-
SONS OF the PENN
syivunin EiOOd.''

LET "A companion Of fools shall DO de
srosed"-Proverbs xiii, 20
MAY II please the COURT said convicted
criminal, when asked IL no had anything TO
nim, may 1t please the court bad COM
pany has been my ruin, I received
the blessings of good parents, and, in re-
turn, promised to avoid all evil associa-
lions. Had kept my promise should have
peeh saved this shame, and been free
from from the load Of guilt that hangs round me
IKE IKE 9 vulture, threatening to drag me to JUS
uce Tor crimes yet unrevealed. l, who once
moved In the first circles of society, and have
peen the guest Of distinguished public men,
am lost, and all through bad company
This Is but one Of the thousand proofs that
the companion of fools shall DO destroyed.
u Is the invariable rule. There is well man
In the wards of a hospital, where there arc
hundred people sick with ship fever, and
good man would be apt to be smittcn with
moral distemper, IL shut up with iniquitous
companions.
In olden times prisoners were herded to-
gether In the same cell, but each one learned
the vices of oil the culprits, SO that, instead of
being reformed by incarceration, tho day of
liberation turned them out upon society
We may, In our places of business, be COM
PEELED to talk to and mingle with bad men;
put he who deliberately chooses to associate
himself with vicious people is engaged in
carrying on courtshfp with Delilah, whose
shears will clip of the locks of his
strength, and he will DO tripped into
perdition. Sin is catching, is infec-
tious Is epidemic. will let you look over
the millions of people now inhabiting the
earth, and challenge you to show me a good
man who, after ono year, has made choice and
consorted with the wicked. A thousand dol
lars reward for one such instance. care not
how strong your character may DO. Associate
with gamblers, you will become gambler.
Clan with burglars, and you will become a
burglar. Go among the unclean, and you
will become unclean. Not approaching tho
truth of my text, many a young man has
been destroyed. He wakes up some morning
IN tho great city, and knows no one except
the persons into whose employ he has entered.
As he goes into the store all tho clerks
mark him, measure him and discuss him.
The upright young men Of the store wish him
well, utperhaps wait for formal introduc-
ton, and even then have some deli
cacy about inviting him into their associa-
lions. But the bad young men of tho
store at the first opportunity approach
and oifer their services They patron
ize him. They profess to know all about the
town. They will take him anywhere that he
wishes to go-if he will pay the expenses.
For II good young man and bad young
man go to 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 champagne settled for,
the bad young man feels around IN his
pockets and says: 81 have forgotten
my pocket bookn In forty-eight hours
after the young man has entered the store tho
bad fellows of the establishment slap him on
the shoulder familiarly, and at his stupidity
in taking certain illusions, say: my young
friend, you will have to be broken imp and
they Immediately proceed to break him in.
Young man, in the name of God warn you to
beware how you let a bad man talk FAM
iiiarly with you. If such an one slap you on
the shoulder Familiarity, turn round and give
him whitening look, until the wretch
erouches in your presence. There is no mon
strosity of wickedness that can stand una
Dashed under the glance of purity and honor.
First, warn you to shun the skeptic-the
4 young man who puts his fingers in his vest
and laughs at your old fashioned religion,
and turns over to some mystery of the Bible
and says: Explain that, my pious friend;
explain that" And who says: "Nobody
shall scare me; I am not afraid of the
future; used to believe in such
things, and SO do my father and
mother, but | have got over it." Yes, he
has got over it; and if you sit in his com
Rany little longer, you will get over it too
without presenting ono argument against
the Christian religion, such men will, by theiI
jeers and SCOTS, and caricatures, destroy
your respect for that religion which wa.
the. strength of your father in hi
declining years, and the pillow o.
your old mother when she lay
a-dying. Alas! time will come when tina
clustering young infidel will have to die, ant
then his diamond ring will fash no splendo
in the eyes of Death, as he stands over til,
couch waiting for his SOUL
Again, urge you to shun the companion
ship of oilers. There are men hanging aroun,
every store and Office, and shop, who hav
nothing to do, or act as il they had not. The,
are apt to come in when the firm are away
and wish to engage you in conversation
while you are engaged in you
to such persons that you have no time to Civ
them during business hours Nothing woul
please them SO well as to have you re
nounce your occupation and associate wit
them. Much Of the time they lounge aroun
the club rooms or tho doors Of engin
houses OF after the dining hour stand upo
the steps of fashionable hotel or a
elegant restaurant, wishing to give YOU tn
luen Jua1 gnaU Is enc place wnere they dine
But they do not dine there. They are sink
ing down lower and lower day by day
Neither by day nor by night have anything
to do with the idlers. Before you admi
a man into your acquaintance ask hin
politely: "What do you do for liv
ingT If he says; Nothing; 1 am gentle
man." look out for him. Hemay have YER
soft hand and very faultless apparel, AM
have high sounding family name, but hi
touch is death. Before you know it you vii
in his presence be ashamed of your wor
dress. Business will become to you dr1ldgery
and after awhile you will lose your place
and afterward your respectability, AM
last of all your soul. Idleness is next door +
villainy. Thieves, gamblers, burglars, sho
filters and assassins are made from the elias
who have nothing to do When the police 20 +
hunt up and arrest culprit they seldom G
to look In among busy clerks or in the bus
carriage factory, but they 60 among til
groups of idlers The play is going on at th
theatre, when suddenly there is scuffis 1
the top gallery. What is it? policema
has come in, and, leaning over, has tapped O.
want you, sir" He has not worked durin
the day, but somehow has raked together
shilling or two to get into the top gallery. II
is an idler. The man on his right hand is q
idler and the man on his left hand is an idler
Shrink back from idleness in yourself al,
In others if you would maintain right pos
ton Good old Ashbel Green, at more tina
eighty years of age, was found busy writing
and some young man said to him: "Why
you keep busya 1t is time for you to rest.
He answered: II keep busy to keep out o
mischief" No man is strong enough to b
idle.
years of age and said to him; "How hav
| yo,, made out to live SO lonp and I,e so well'