The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-05-27
SIN IS INFECTIOUS.
REV. DR.. TALMAGEsAOWS THE6ViIS
OF BAD COMPANY.

OF BAD COMPANY.
Association With the Wicked breeos
corruption-He Who consorts With the
T-,c1ean VIII Be Polluted, Says the Great
Div:as-
WASHINGTON, May 17.-Ioung and
old, but more especially the young
men and women of our time, have
vital interest in the theme upon which
Rev. DR.. Talmage discourses today.
He chose for his subject, Bad Com
pany," the text selected being Pro
verbs i, Is, "Walk not thou IN the
way with them"
Hardly any young man goes to a
place of dissipation alone. Each one
IS accompanied. No man goes to ruin
alone. He always takes some one
else with him. May it please the
court" said convicted criminal when
asked if he had anything to say before
sentence of death was passed upon him
-''may it please the court, bad com
pany has been my ruin. | received
the blessing of good parents: and, IL
return, promised to avoid all evil as,
socistions. Had I kept my promise L
should have been saved this shame
and been free from the load OF guilt
that hangs around me ike vuiture,
threatening to drag me to justice for
crimes vet unrevealed. I, who once
moved in the first circles OF society
and have been the guest OF dlstln,
guished public men, am lost, and ali
through bad company.
This is but one Of the thousand
proofs that evil associations blast and
destroy. It is the invariable rule.
There is we'll man in the wards of
hospital, where there are hundred
people sick with ship fever, and he
will not be so apt to take the disease
as good man would be apt to be
smitten with moral distemper II smut
up with iniquitous companions. In
oiden times prisoners were herded to
gether in the same cell, but each one
learned the vices of all the culprlts. so
that instead of being reformed by IN
generation 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 mlngie
with bad men, but he who deliberately
chooses to associate himself with VI.
cious people is engaged in carrying en-
q courtship with a Delilah whose
shears will clip off all the locks OF his
strength and he will be tripped into
perdlTion. Sin is catching, is infec-
tious, is epidemic. will let you look
over the millions OF people now lnhao-
iting the earth, and challenge you to
show me good man who, after one
wear. 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 become corrupt; clan with bur
glars, and you will become burglar;
20 among the unclean, and you Will
become 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 men of the store wish him well,
but perhaps wait for formal introdnc
ton, 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 patronlze
him; they profess to know all about
the town; they will take him any
where he wishes to go-if he will pay
the expenses-for ifa good young man
and bad young man 60 to some
place where they ought not the good
Young man has invariably to pay the
charges. At the moment the ticket is
paid for, or the champagne settled for,
the bad young man feels around in his
pockets and says. Il have forgotten
my pocketbook."
1n4S hours after the young man has
entered the store the bad fellows of the
establishment slap him on the shout
der famiiarly and at his stupidity IN
taking certain illusions say, my
young friend, you will have to be
broken. inland they Immediately pro-
ceed to break him in. Young man.
in the name of God I warn you to be-
ware how you let bad man talk IA
miliarly with you. If such one slap
you on the shoulder famillarly, turn
round and give him a whitening look
until the wretch crouchesin your pres.
ence. There is no monstroslty OF
wickedness that can stand unabashed
under the glance of purity ano honor.
God keeps the lightnings Of heaven IN
his own scabbard, and no human arm
can WELD them, but God gives to ev-
erv young man a lightning that ne
may use, and that is the Lightning OF
an honest eye. Those who have been
close observers of city life will not
wonder why I give warning to young
men and say, Beware OF evil COM
panions.
Iwarn you to shun the skeptic-the
young man who puts his fingers IN
his vests and laughs at your old fash
ioned religion and turns over to some
mystery Of 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 did my father and mother, but |
have got over it" Yes, he has got
over It, and if you sit in his company
little longer you will get over it too,
Without presenting one argument
aeainst the Christian religion sucn
men will, by their jeers and SCOTS and
caricatures, destroy your respect for
that religion, which was the strength
of your father in his declining years
and the pillow of your old mother
when she lay a-dying.
Alas! a time will come when this
clustering young in6del will have to
die, and then his diamond ring will
Hoeb No e,1ordor in the ewes of Death |