The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-05-30
TAIMAGE'S SERMON.
Discourse Upon the Folly OF Keep
ing Bad Company.

skeptics In RsIigson, Idisrs, Persistsn'
Pleasurs-seekers and Those Who
| Posssss the Spirit Of GAM
bling In the cstsgory.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage chose "Bad
] Company for the subject of recent
sermon to his Warrington congregs'
ton taking for his text:
walk not thou In tho way with them
verbs 1. u
Hardly any young man goes 10 q
place of dissipation alone. Each one
Is accompanied No man goes to ruin
alone. He always takes some ono else
with him MAY II please the court, "
said convicted criminal, when asked
II he had anything to say before sem
tence of death was passed upon him
may It please the court, bad company
has been my ruin. I received tho
blessing of good parents, and, In re-
turn, promised to avoid all evil asso-
Citations Had I kept my promise, ]
should have been saved this shame,
and been free from the load Of guilt
that hangs around me like . vulture,
threatening 30 drag me TO Justice for
crimes yet unrovealed. !, who once
moved In the first circles Of society,
have been the guest Of distinguished
public men, am lost, and all through
bad company.
This Is but one Of the thousand
proofs that evil associations blast and
destroy. II Is the invariable rule.
There Is q we'll man In the wards OF q
hospital, where there are 100 people
sick with ship feven and he will not be
30 apt to take the disease as good
man would be apt to be smitten with
moral distemper II shut up with in
iquitous companions. In olden times
prisoners were herded together In the
Same cell, but each learned the vices
of all the culprits, so that, instead OF
being reformed by Incarceration, the
day of liberation turned them out
upon society, beasts, not men.
We may, in our places of business,
be compelled to talk to and mingle
with bad men; but he who deliberately
chooses to associate himself with
vicious people is engaged in carrying
on a courtship with a Delilah whose
shears will clip off all the locks Of his
strength, and he will be trippei into
perdition. Sin is catching, is infec-
tious, Is epidemic. will let you look
over the millions Of people now hhab-
ting the earth, and challenge you to
show me a good man who, after one
year, has made choice and consorted
with the wicked. A thousand dollars
reward for one such instance. care
not how strong your character may be.
Go with the corrupt and you will be-
come corrupt Clan with burglars,
and you will become burglar. Go
among the unclean, and you will be-
come unclean. Many young man
has been destroyed by not appreciat-
ing this. He wakes up some morning
in the great city, and knows no one
except the persons into whose employ
he has entered As he goes into the
store all the clerks mark him, measure
him and discuss him. The upright
young mon of the store wish him we'll,
but perhaps wait for formal intro
duction, and even then have some deli
cacy about inviting him into their
associations. But the bad young men
of the store at the first oppor-
tunity approach and offer their serv-
ices. They patronize him. They pro-
fess to know all about the town.
They will take him anywhere he
wishes to go-if he will pay the ex-
penses. For II good young man
and a bad young man 90 to
some place where they ought not, the
good young man has invariably to pay
the charge. At the moment the ticket
is paid for, or the champagne settled
for, the bad young man feels around
in his pockets and says: II have for
gotten my pocketbook. In ~ hours
after the young man has entered the
store the bad fellows of the establish
ment slap him on the shoulder famili-
arly and, at his stupidity 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 to beware
how you let bad man talk famil-
iarly with you. If such an one slap
you on the shoulder Familiarity, turn
around and give him whitening look,
until the wretch crouch in your pres
ence. There is no monstrocity Of
wickedness that can stand abashed
under the glance of purity and honor.
God keeps the lightnings Of Heaven in
His own scat bard, and no human arm
can WELD them; but God gives to
every young man a lightning that he
may use, and that II the lightning Of
an honest eye. Those who have been
close observers of city life will not
wonder why l give warning to young
men, and say: Beware of evil COM
panions."
warn you to shun the skeptic-the
young man who puts his fingers In his
vest and laughs at your old-fashioned
religion, and turns over to some mys-
terry of the Bible and says: Explain
that, my pious friend; explain that"
And who says: Nobody shall scare
me: am not afraid of tho frture. 7