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CHOICE OF COMPANIONS.

higher things to mind than the bustle of transitory states in a dying world. Leave the dwellers in the vale of this world to grovel in its mists, and fogs, and mire, and tempests; but do you press onward to that brighter world, on which eternal sunshine rests, and where all the air is love. And if disposed to be agitated and perplexed by the political questions of the day, think, What will these things be to me a hundred years hence? and what will they be in those infinite ages that await me, and that lie beyond the period when Britain and the world itself shall be no more?

CHAPTER XI.

ON THE CHOICE OF COMPANIONS AND ON MARRIAGE.

§ 1. To pass through time as a traveller to eternity, to live as you would wish to die, is, if a Christian, your duty and happiness. Thus may you pass the gulf of death, "by gales of blessing driven." Thus may finish the journey of life, and enter the dwellings of the blest, with everlasting joy upon your head. Yet, till that important journey shall be finished, many are the snares that would entangle your feet, many the foes that would rob you of your crown.

Of all the snares to which the Christian is exposed, perhaps the most fatal, the most ruinous, are those which spring from improper companions. These are often Satan's grand and most successful instruments for entangling and finally destroying some who once bid fair for heaven.

To have no intercourse with those who are strangers to religion, is in the present state of things impracticable: "For then must you needs go out of the world."a

So to seclude ourselves from the world, as to neglect opportunities for doing good to the bodies or the souls of those

(a) 1 Cor. iv. 10.

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who may be perishing in sin around us, would be conduct opposed to both the precepts and the example of the holy Jesus.

To represent religion as dividing the bands of natural affection, as teaching the pious child not to love an ungodly parent, as separating the affections of brother and sister, wife and husband, would be a dreadful perversion of the Christian doctrine on the important subject of this chapter. Religion rather teaches its friends to embrace and seek opportunities of doing good, even to the most lost and debased of their species; and inculcates upon them the strictest attention to the duties and charities of domestic life: yet, with equal plainness and solemn authority, the God of the Bible forbids his children selecting their bosom friends and intimate companions, from among those who are strangers to his grace.

§ 2. The word of God expressly forbids associating with evil companions. "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." "If sinners entice thee, consent thou not. My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path." "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness ?"c

e

As the Most High thus forbids intimate friendship between his children and the followers of the world, so his word abounds with weighty motives for obedience to these commands. It describes those as blessed who avoid irreligious associates. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."d To avoid the society of the vain and worldly is represented as characteristic of real piety. Separation from the evil is also described as necessary if we wish to walk in the paths of piety. The Psalmist said, “Depart from me, ye wicked men; for I will keep the commandments of my God." As if he had said, I cannot keep those commandments and associate with you; but I will keep them, therefore we must part. On the other hand, to cherish intimate acquaintance with those who are strangers to religion, is

(b) Prov. iv. 14, 15; i. 10, 15. (d) Ps. i. 1. (e) Ps. xxvi. 2, 4, 5.

(c) 2 Cor. vi. 14, 17.
(f) Ps. cxix. 165.

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represented as the way to destruction. "A companion of fools shall be destroyed." And such conduct is described as meeting the divine displeasure. Thus, when the pious Jehoshaphat had contracted an unholy friendship, a prophet said to him, "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them who hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord."h The history of Lot affords one of the most affecting examples possible, of the effect of evil society. When Abraham departed from his country at God's command, Lot accompanied him, and probably then was influenced by a similar spirit of devoted piety; but when, attracted by the fertility and beauty of the plain of Jordan, he went to dwell in the cities of that plain, how dire was the result! Part of his family perished at the burning of Sodom, his only surviving daughters, infected with all the depravity of that guilty city, debased their father, by rendering him drunk, and committing with him the most atrocious incest. They became the parents of a guilty and idolatrous race, and he stands upon record, a monument of the bitter fruits of plunging into the society of the evil, for the sake of transitory worldly advantage.

§ 3. But you may inquire, What company is evil? Not that only of the profligate and profane, of the dissolute and abandoned; but that of all those who are strangers to vital piety. The vain, giddy, thoughtless multitude, who disregard the interests of eternity, and live without God in the world, however moral in their conduct, or amiable in their manners, are associates that would be ruinous to your best interests.

There is no snare by which young professors of religion are more likely to be undone than by this. To urge you there. fore to shun this snare, consider its numerous evils. Consider that evil company is the root of all evil.

Should you make any that are strangers to religion your bosom friends, you will most probably soon become like them. If they are lewd and debauched, they will lead you to the same guilty excesses. Though at first your soul may tremble at their abominations, you will soon join in their revelry, and partake of their crimes. If they are scoffers and infidels, though you may think your faith too firm to be shaken, you will soon find your confidence weaken, your (h) 2 Chron. xix. 1, 2.

(g) Prov. xiii. 20.

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hopes decline, your value for the gospel and religion lessen, and will go on step by step, till, Jesus and salvation forsaken, you sit in the seat of the scorner. But if your companions are of a less openly wicked kind, yet their influence and example will be immensely and eternally mischievous to you. Religion will languish and decline. When you see your favourite friends neglecting that one thing needful, and perhaps representing devout attention to eternal things as silly enthusiasm, you will most probably imbibe their spirit. At first perhaps be silent, then laugh with them at what they deem preciseness, then venture on the sinful follies they call harmless pleasures. Your soul will grow cold and dead to the Saviour and his love. With such companions you will learn to profane your sabbaths. Devotion will become burthensome, and then perhaps be altogether neglected. Your mind will be alienated from its sacred exercises, and have no longer any relish for its pleasures. Can you imagine that when you have spent perhaps your evenings with those whose chief concern seems levity, laughter, and silly mirth, you can retire to read, to meditate, and pray? Ah, no: the duties of devotion will become a burthensome task; its most important exercises dull and tedious; your heart will be estranged from God, and fixed upon your beloved but vain and destructive companions. With them too you will incur the heavy guilt of wasting many precious hours-hours given you by God to secure a happy eternity-hours which, when this scene of vanity is ending, you would give worlds to purchase-those precious hours you will squander away in idle conversation and silly mirth.

§ 4. But if you associate with worldly companions, you will not stop here. When you have lost the power of religion, you will most probably go on from sin to sin. Perhaps, as thousands have been, may be drawn into crimes, which may ruin your reputation, blast your prospects, destroy your comforts, or even shorten your days. If this should not be the case when drawn aside from religion, there will be little hope of your ever enjoying its blessings again. Few backsliders are restored. You may live forsaken by God, with a heart hardened in impenitence; by your example you may train up your children; and at last, without hope meet death, and under the frown of your Judge enter eternity.

Then those thoughtless creatures that were your beloved

214 companions upon earth, will be your companions in hell. As you chose their company on earth, you would have it there; but there no longer beloved. In those seats of horror, darkness, and despair, the giddy and the profligate must

MISCHIEFS OF EVIL COMPANY,

meet

"For know, the law that bids the drunkard die,
"Is far too just to pass the trifler by."

But their hours of sinful pleasure will then be past; their delights will have reached an eternal close; their laughter at religion, and their cheerful songs, will be terminated, and all that rendered their intercourse delightful will have come to an eternal end. Then will be fulfilled the dreadful declaration, "The companion of fools shall be destroyed."

§ 5. Were you sure that you should not be drawn altoge ther from religion by worldly companions, yet there would be many reasons to forbid such unhallowed intimacies. Surely it is no inconsiderable evil, to have religion languish, and the soul rendered dull and drooping in its spiritual pilgrimage, yet this must be expected. "Throw," says Mr. Bolton, "a blazing firebrand into the snow or rain, and its brightness and heat will be quickly quenched;" and thus will it be with the Christian, who takes pleasure in mingling with the followers of the world. The fervour of his zeal will be cooled, the fire of his love will be quenched, and a universal decay of grace will insensibly steal upon him.

All that are strangers to converting grace, have the carnal mind, which is enmity against God; and "shouldst thou love them that hate the Lord ?" Should you take your chief pleasure in those, in whom God takes no pleasure? Should you find your chief delight in them, who have no delight in your Saviour? and in whom he has no satisfaction? Is it right that they should have your heart, while the world and the wicked one have theirs? What though their friendship should not be ruinous to your best interests, yet what pleasure should you find in them, who are hastening to eternal death? Shortly there must be an eternal separation between the children of this world and the children of light. They must soon part, and part for ever. As thus after a moment of time they inust separate, and never, never meet again, it is best for the Christian to begin this separation now, and not to set his heart and affections upon those, who soon must be torn from

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