Connecticut western news., 1900-03-08
EVIL COMPANIONS.
nR. TALMA6E GiVE5 KINDLY ADVICE # TO YOUNG MEN.

lo NOON1 MEN.
 Charges Them to Avoid Bad Com- .pany, Particularly the skeptic and
 the Idler shun Those Who Seek
 OnIy Plea.ure.
 Copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l
 WAsHINaToN, March An this dls- course Dr. Talmage speaks on theme which all men, young and old. will be glad to see discussed, and the kindly warning will no doubt In many cases be taken; text. Proverbs xiii, 20. "A companion of fools shall be destroyed"
 May 1t please the court" said n con victed criminal when asked by the judge what he had to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced up on him, may 1t please the court, bad company has been my destruction. l received the blessing of good parents and ip return therefor promised to avoid all evil associates. Had I kept my promise should have avoided this shame and the burden of guilt which. like a vulture, threatens to drag me to {. justice for my many crimes. Although l once moved in high circles and was entertained by distinguished men, am lost. Bad company did the work for me" Only one out of thousand H. lustrations was that of the fact that "a companion of fools shall be destroy cd" It is an invariable rule.
 Here Is hospital with a hundred men down with the ship fever. Here Is a healthy man who goes into 1t. He does not so certainly catch the disease as a good man will catch moral dis temper, if he consents to be shut up with the vicious and the abandoned. In the prisons of the olden time it was the custom to put the prisoners in cell together. and am sorry to say 1t is the custom still in some of our prisons; so that when the day of liberation comes the men, instead of being reformed, are turned out brutes, not men, each one having learned the vices of all the rest.
 We may in our worldly occupation be obliged to talk to and commingle with bad people. bus he who voluntarily chooses that kind of association Is car ryipg on courtship with a Delilah which will shear the locks of his strength, and he will be tripped into perditlon. Look over all the millions of the race. and you cannot show me single instance where a man voluntari ly associated with the bad for one year and maintained his integrity, Sin is catching; 1t Is infectious; 1t Is cpl demic.
 Evil Companions.
 A young man wakes up in one of our great cities knowing only the gentle men of the firm into whose service he has entered. In the morning he enters the store, and all the clerks mark him, measure him. discuss him. The bad clerks of that establishment, the good clerks of that establishment, stand In some relation to him. The good clerks will wish him well. but they, will wait for formal introduction, and even after they have had the introduction they are very cautious as to whether they shall call him Into their associa- tion before they know him very well.
 But the bad young men in that es- tablishment all gather around him. They patronize him. they offer to show him everything that there is in the city on one condition-that he will pay the expenses, for 1t always happens so when good young man and bad young man go together to place of evil entertainment-the good young man always has to pay the charges. Just at the time the ticket is to be paid for or the champagne bill is to be set tied the bad young man will affect em- harrassment and feel around in his pockets and say, Well, well, really have forgotten my pocketbook."
 In 4S hours after this innocent young man has entered the store the bad young men will gather around him, slap him on the shoulder with ia miliarity, and, if he is stupid in not being able to take certain allusions, will say, "Ah, my young friend, you will have to be broken in." And forth with they go to work to "break him in'
 Oh, young man, let no> fallen young man slap you on the shoulder familiar ly! Turn around and give a whitening glance that will make the wretch cow CT in your presence. There Is no mon- strosity of wickedness that can stand before the glance of purity and honor. God keeps the lightnings of heaven in his own scabbard, and no human may reach them, but God gives to every young man lightning which he may use, and that Is the lightning of an honest eye. Anybody that understands the temptations of our great cities knows the use of one sermon like this, In which I try to enforce the thought that "a companion of fools shall be destroyed"
 And, first, I charge you, avoid the skeptic-that is, the young man who puts his thumb In his vest and swag- gers about, scoffing at your old fash toned religion, then taking out the Bi- ble and turning over to some mysteri- ous passage and saying: Explain that, my friend, explain that. I used to think just as you do. My father and mother used to think just as you do. But you can't scare me about the fu- ture. I used to believe in those things, but I've got over it." Yes, he has got over 1t, and you will get over it if you stay in his companionship much longer. For awhile he may not bring one argu- ment against our holy Christianity. He will by scoffs and jeers and carica- lures destroy your faith in that re- ligion which was the comfort of your father in his declining years and the pillow on which your old mother lay a-dying.
 Beware of the Skeptfc.
 That brilliant young skeptic will aft CT awhile have to die, and his diamond will flash no splendor into the eye of death, His hair will lie uncombed on the pillow. Death will come up, and this skeptic will say to him: T cannot die. I cannot die" Death will say: You must die. You have but ten sec onds more to live. Your soul-give 1t to