XXII. SERM present integrity, they are unwilling to think that any argument, any invitation, any example can induce them to part with it; proud of their good character, and conscious perhaps, at this time, of deserving it, they will not allow that it rests on so unstable a foundation, that so trivial a circumstance as their conversing with this or that set of acquaintance, should have power to injure it; and as they are stedfastly determined, that the accidental excesses, to which they may occasionally give way, shall never interfere with their application to study, or to business, they do not see how their fortune, or their quiet, should suffer from it. As to their morals, they will not do themselves so much injustice as to apprehend, for a moment, that any thing external can influence them! But, notwithstanding this presumption, effects will follow their causes; and he who is not careful in the choice of his companions, what XXII. whatever precautions he may form against SERM. them, will be sure to suffer, sooner or later, in one, or all, of these particulars, which I have mentioned. In the first place, I have asserted that bad company is dangerous to our characters. To have the same attachments and dislikes, the same pursuits and aversions, has always been esteemed the foundation of friendship; similarity of disposition, of sentiments, of manners, is the usual bond which unites companions together; to the truth of this, every language, by its proverbial maxims, bears testimony; and undoubtedly, generally speaking, it is true; for what communion has light with darkness? what fellowship the votaries of religion and virtue, with the children of profaneness and debauchery? I will not however deny but that a virtuous man may for a time (long he cannot) take up his abode in the tents of ungodliness, and pre SERM, serve his honour and his conscience unXXII. tainted; but still I assert that his character will suffer:-the world forms its judgments by general rules, and knowing how much, for the most part, companions resemble each other, it has neither sufficient candour, nor sufficient leisure, to examine for exceptions; when it sees a man a frequent spectator of the excesses of the vicious, it takes for granted that he is a partaker also, and an approver of them; nor is it in all cases, nor in any immediately, that by forsaking his profligate intimates, he can recover the good name which he has lost. But if bad company be thus hurtful to our characters, it is probable that it will have a proportionable pernicious influence on our fortunes. Reputation has been always looked on as the surest step to wealth and preferment. Whoever wishes to advance himself, esteems a good character as useful, if not essential, to that end, and is as XXIL as anxious to preserve it, as the miser to SERM. preserve his gold. If he is accused of vices or follies, of which he knows himself to be innocent, he complains of the injury to his reputation, as an injury to his fortune: but what ground would there be for such anxiety, or such complaint, if it were not observed, in general, that to be well spoken of, facilitated and forwarded our advancement, while the contrary, in an equal degree, prevented or retarded it ? But I have already proved that our characters are hurt by bad company, and therefore it follows of course that the injury is extended to our fortunes also. Let the ambitious, the covetous, those who aspire after dignity or wealth, think of this, and if they have no better motive for declining the society of the vicious, let them decline it as they have regard to the gratification of their favourite passion; let them be restrained by their interest, if they have XXII. SER M. lost their virtue. Bad company may likewise hurt our advancement in life another way, as it usually involves us in idleness and extravagance, and leads us to dissipate, or, at least, to neglect to improve, the provision bequeathed us by our ancestors; but this is so self-evident, that I shall not dwell on it. I go on then to prove what I asserted, in the next place, that bad company is dangerous to our quiet. Let us suppose a man of religion and virtue to cherish an intimacy with one, whom he knows to be deficient in both these respects; let us suppose that he is induced to it, either by the hopes of reforming him, by some latent sparks of goodness which he may imagine that he has seen in him, or merely on account of the pleasure which he may take in that ease and elegance of manners, which the vicious sometimes possess; qualifications which, it is well known, are not in compatible |