compatible with the most abandoned profli- SER M.

XXII.

gacy! Let us suppose that the first men

tioned person is so established in his inte

grity and reputation, that neither suffer from the connexion, still I assert that his quiet is in danger, for that he cannot reasonably expect, but opportunity and passion inviting, his companion will take the same liberties at his expence, which he well knows he has often done at the expence of others. As he who takes a viper frequently to his bosom, though he may awhile escape with impunity, will one time or other certainly repent of his rashness; so let that man beware, who has made choice of a confirmed vicious character for his intimate, for however strong in appearance his attachment be, if appetite or interest invite, he will certainly sting him to the heart.

Vice is of a very base and ungenerous nature; it is governed solely by self, and is there

XXII.

SERM. therefore totally incapaple of true friendship; it may frequently put on its semblance, but sooner or later, if occasion arise, it will afford evidence too convincing, how far remote it is from possessing the reality. Can any reliance be placed on him, who lives in a continued state of disobedience and ingratitude to his Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer, that he will not, when any imaginary pleasure or profit may accrue to him by it, betray or even ruin his fellow-creatures. But if, added to this state of rebellion towards God, he has been known in his general commerce with his brethren to be false and treacherous, is it not the height of folly in any individual to expose his family and affairs to his machinations, under the vain hope that he should belie his general conduct to be true to him alone? Yet, in spite of all the examples of broken faith, of the honour of relations violated, and important trusts betrayed,

XXII.

with such pleasing outward talents is the SERM. libertine frequently endowed, that there are multitudes of unsuspecting persons, who are constantly making the experiment, though the event almost as constantly turns out in the interruption or ruin of their quiet.

But the injury to our character, to our fortune, and to our quiet, which arises from bad company, is of trivial importance, in comparison of that which remains to be considered. Bad company is prejudicial to our morals, and of consequence dangerous to our eternal salvation. Man is, by nature, prone to imitation; this is observed by every wise parent, and turned as much as possible to their children's advantage, by every good one. Those teachers and those companions are always selected who, it is believed, will set the fairest and most virtuous examples. Much depends on the observance of this caution; our manners, both in childhood

and

XXII.

Though the

SERM. and in youth, are commonly copied from those amongst whom we live; and the subsequent periods of life usually take colour from the habits which we have acquired during those early seasons. genius and the understanding may be derived from nature, it is education, for the most part, which forms and fashioneth the heart; by education, I not only mean that portion of it, more properly so called, the instructions, the counsels, which we receive from parents and masters, but those lessons, likewise, which we imbibe, in some measure, from all who are suffered to approach us-lessons which are derived from a much more efficacious source than formal precept from familiar conversation and example. What we are taught, however wise, virtuous, and prudent, will have little effect on us, if it be contradicted by what we see; in vain does a father instil into his son the purest principles of morality-in

If a

vain does he exhibit, in his own conduct, a SERM. XXII. pattern of the most perfect obedience to them, if his house and table be open to vicious inmates, and his children permitted to be spectators of their excesses. young person perceives that vice is no exclusion from the countenance and familiarity of those whom he has been accustomed to honour, it cannot but greatly diminish the abhorrence in which he has been taught to hold it. But though it is in the earliest periods of life, when the principles are unfixed and the mind open to every impression, that bad company is chiefly dangerous; there is no time in which it can be frequented with security. Many have begun the world with the greatest applause, have afforded to their anxious friends the fairest prospects of them-have even arrived at a mature period of manhood, without a material deviation from the path of virtue, and have

then