Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1896 — TALMAGE’S SERMON. [ARTICLE]

TALMAGE’S SERMON.

WASHINGTON PREACHER SHOWS EVILS OF fiADCOMPANY. Association with the Wicked Breeds Corruption, and. He Who Consorts with the Unclean Will Be, Polluted, Says the Great Divine. * • . ». Sin Is Infectious. Young and old, but more especially the young -men and women of our tide, have a vital interest in the theme upon which Rev. Dr. Talmage discoursed last Sunday. He .chose for his subject, “Bad Company,” the text selected being Proverbs i., 13, “Walk not thou Jn the way with them.” ' Hardly any young man gol-s to a place of dissipation alone. Each one is accompanied. , No man goes to ruin alone. He always takes some dire else with him. “May it please the court,” said a convicted criminal when asked if he had anything to say before sentence of death was passed upon him—“may it please the court, bad company has keen Ay ruin. I deceived the blessing of good parents, and, in return, promised to avoid all fevil associations. Had I kept my promise I should have, been saved this shame and been free from tlic lond of guilt that hangs around me like a vulture, threatening to drag me to justice for crimes yet un revealed. I, who once moved in the first circles of -Society and have beivi tiui guest of distinguished public men, ara lost, and all through bad company.” This is but one of the thousand proofs that evil associations blast anddestroy. It is the invariable rule/' There is a well man in the wards of a hospital, where there are a hundred people sick with ship fever; and he will pot be so apt to take the disease as a good man would be apt,to ,be smitten with moral distemper if shut up with iniquitous companions. In olden times prisoners were herded together in the same cell, but each one learned the vices of all the culprits, so that instead of being reformed by incarceration the day of liberation turned them out upon soeiety beasts, not men.

Beware of the Vicious, We may, in our places of business, be compelled to talk to and mingle with bad men, but he who deliberately chooses to associate himself with vicious people is engaged in carrying on a courtship with a Delilah whose shears will clip off all the locks of his strength, and he will be tripped into perdition. Sin is catching, is infectious, is epidemic. I will let you look over the millions of people now inhabiting the earth, and' I challenge you to show me a good man who, after one year, has made choice and consorted with the wicked. A thousand dollars rewafd for one such instance. I care not how strong' your character may be. Go with the corrupt, and you will become corrupt; clan with burglars, and you will become a burglar; go among the unclean, and you will become unclean. Young man, in the name of God, 1 warn you to beware how you let a bad man talk familiarly with you. If such a one slap you on the shoulder familiarly, turn round and give him a withering look until the wretch crouches in your presence. I give warning to young men and say, “Beware of evil companions.” I warn you to shun the skeptic—the young man who puts his fingers in his vest and laughs at your old fashioned returns over Mb some mystery of the Bible and says. “Explain that, mjt pious friend; explain that.” And who says: “Nobody will scare me. lam not afraid of the future. I used to believe in such things, and so did my father and mother, but I have got over it.” Yes, he has got over it, and if you sit in his company a little longer you will get over it, too. Without presenting one argument against the Christian religion such men will, by their'jeers and scoffs 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 blustering y.oung infidel will have to die, and then his diamond ring will flash no splen 4 dor in* the eyes of Death, as he stands over the couch, waiting for his soul. Those beautiful locks will be uncombed upon the pillow, and the dying man will say, “I cannot die—l eannot die.” Idleness Begets Sin. Again I urge you to shun the companionship of idlers. There are men hanging around every store and office and shopwho have nothing to do, or act as if they had not. They are apt to come in when the firm are away and wish to engage you in conversation while you are engaged in your' regular employment. Politely suggest to such persons that you have no time to give them during business hours. Nothing would please them so well as to have you renounce your occupation and associate with them. Much of the time they lounge around the doors of engine houses, or after the dining hour stand upon the steps of a fashionable hotel or an elegant restaurant, wishing to give you the idea that that is the place where they dine. But they do hot .dine there. They are sinking down lower and lower day by day. Neither by day nor by night have anything to do with idlers.

Before you admit a man into your acquaintance ask him politely, “What do you do for a living?” If he says, “Nothing; I am a gentleman,” look out for hint. He may have a very, soft hand and very faultless apparel and have a high sounding family name, but his touch is death. Before you know it, you will in his presence be ashamed of your work dress. Business will become to you drudgery, and after awhile you will lose your place, and afterward your respectability, and. lnpt of all, your soul. Idleness is next door to villainy. Thieves, gamblers, burglars, shoplifters and assassins are made from the class who have nothing to dot When the police go to hunt up and arrest a culprit, they seldom go to look in at the busy carriage factory or behind the counter where diligent clerks are employed, but they go among the groups of idlers. The play is going on at the theater, when suddenly there is a scuffle in the top gallery. What is it? A policeman has come in, and, leaning over, has tapped on the shoulder of a young man, saying, “I want you, sir.” He has not work.ed during the day, but somehow has raked together a shilling or two to get Into the top gallery. He is an Idler. The man on his right hand » an—ldler, and the man on his left hand is an idler. During the past few years there has been n great deal of dullness jo business. Ypung men have complained that they have little to do. If they have nothing else to do, they can read and improve their minds and hearts.' These times are not always to continue. Business is waking up, and the superior knowledge that in this interregnum of work you may obtain will be worth $50,000 of capital. The large fortunes of, the next twenty years are having their foundations laid now by the young men who are giving themselves to self-improvement. I went into a store in New York a’nd saw five men, all Christians, sitting round, saying that they had nothing to do. It is an outrage for a Christian man to have nothing to do. Let him go out and visit the poor, or distribute tracts, or go and read the , Bible to the sick, or take oqt nty New Testament and be making bis eternal fortune. Lot him go into the back office and pray.

Shrink back from idleness in yourself amDin"'others if you would maintain a right position. /''• ’ The Harvest of Eternity. A young man came to a man of 90 years of nge and said to him,.‘‘How have you made out to live so long and be so well?" The old man took the youngster to ah orcfiard, and, pointing to-some large trees full of apples, said,„“l planted these trees when I was. a boy, and do you wonder that now I am permitted to gather, the fruit of them?” We gather in old age what we plant in our youth'. Sow to the Wind, and 'we , reap the whirlwind. Plant in early life the right kind of a Christian character, -and you. will eat luscibps fruit in old age and gather these harvest apples in eternity." I urge you to avoid the perpetual pleasure seeker.*' ‘ I believe in recreation and amusement. God would not have made us with the capacity to laugh if he had not intended ,U| sometimes to indulge it. God hath hung in.sky and set in wave and printed on grass many, a roundelay, but he who chooses pleasure seeking for his life work does not understand f<w what God made him. Our amusements are intended to. help us in some earnest mission. The thundercloud hath an edge exquisitely purpled,, but with voice that jars the earth it declares, “I go tq water the green fields.” The wild flowers under the feqce are gay, but they say, “We stand here to make room for the wheatfield and to refresh the husbandmen in their nooning.” The stream sparkles and foams and frolics and says: “1 go to baptize the moss. I lave the spots on the trout. I slake the thirst of the bird- - I turn the wheel of the mill. I rock in my crystal* cradle muckshaw and water lily.” And so, while the world plays, it works. Look out for the mafi who always plays and neve? works. T You will do weH to _avoid those whose regular business it is to play ball, skate or go a-boating; —All these sports are grand in their places. I never derived so much advantage from any ministerial association as from a ministerial club that went but to play ball every Saturday afternoon in the outskirts of Philadelphia. These recreations are grand to give us muscle and spirits for our regular toil. I believe in muscular Christianity. A man Is often not so near God with a weak stomach as when he' has a strong digestion. But shun those who make it their life (Occupation to sport. There are young men whose industry and usefulness have fallen overboard from the yacht. There are men whose business fell through the ice of the skating pondyand has never since been heard of. There is a beauty in the gliding of a boat, in the song of the skates, in the soaring of n well-struck ball, and' I never see one fly but I involuntarily throw up my hands to catch it, and, so far from" laying an injunction upon ball playing or any other innocent _sport, I claim them all as belonging of right to those of us who toil in the grand indus-tries^fTchmrh^arafl-stfrter-. But the life business of pleasure seeking always makes in the end a criminal or a sot. George Brummel -Was smiled upon by all England, and, his life was given to pleasure. He danced with the peeresses apd swung a round of mirth and wealth and applauso, until, exhausted of purse and worn out of body and bankrupt of reputation and ruined of soul, lie begged a biscuit from a grocer and declared that he thought a dog’s life was better than a man's. Such men will come into your office, or crowd around your anvil, or seek to decoy you off. They will want yon to break out in the midst of your busy day to tiiko a ride with- them. They will tell you of some people you must see, of feme excursion that you must take, of some Sabbath day that you ought to dishonor. They, will tell you of exquisite wines that you must taste, of costly operas that youmiust hear, of wonderful dancers that you must see, but before you accept their convoy or their companionship remember that while at the end of a useful life you may be able to look back to kindnesses done, to honorable work accomplished, to poverty helped, to ' a good name earned, to Christia*n influence exerted, to a Savior’s cause advanced, these pleasure seekers on their deathbeds have nothing better to review than a torn playbill, a ticket for the races, an empty tankard and the cast out rinds of a carousal, and as in the delirium of their awful death they dutch -the goblet and press it to their lips the dregs of the cup falling upon their tongue will begin to hiss and uncoil with the adders of an eternal poison. „ Again, avoid as you would avoid the death of your body, mind and soul any one who has in him the gambling spirit. Men who want to gamble will find places just suited to their capacity, not only in the underground oyster cellar, or at the table back of the curtain, covered with greasy cards, or in the steamboat smoking cabin, where the bloated wretch with rings in his ears deals out his pack and winks at the unsuspecting traveler—providing free drinks all around —hut in gilded parlors and amid gorgeous surroundings. Avoid Unhealthy Stimulants. This sin works ruin first by unhealthful stimulants. Excitement is pleasurable. Crider every sky ffrv? vu every age men have sought it. The Chinaman gets it by smoking his opium, the Persian by chewing hasheesh, the trapper in a buffalo hunt, the sailor in a squall, the inebriate in the bottle and the avaricious at the gaming table. We must at times have excitement A thousand voices in our nature demand it. It is right. It is healthful. It is inspiring. It is a desire God given. But anything that first gratifies this appetite and hurls it back In a terrific reaction is deplorable and wicked. Look out for the agitation that, like a rough musician, in bringing out the tune plays so hard he breaks down the Instrument. God never made man strong enough to endure the wear and tear of gambling excitement. 'No wonder if, after having failed in the game, men have begun to sweep off imaginary gold from the side of the table. The man was sharp enough when he started at the game, but a maniac at the close. At every gaming table sits on one side, ecstasy, enthusiasm, romance —the frenzy of joy; on the other side, fierceness, rage, tumult. The professional gamester schools himself into apparent quietness. The keepers of gambling rooms are generally fat, rollicking and obese, but thorough and professional gamblers, in nine cases out of ten, are pale, thin, wheezy, tremulous and exhausted. > A young man having suddenly inherited a large property sits at the hazard tables and takes up in a dice box the estate won by a father’s lifetime sweat and shakes it and tosses it away. Intemperance soon stigmatizes its victim—kicking him out, a slavering fool, into the ditch, or sending him, with the drunkard’s hiccough, stag* gering up the street where his family lives. But gambling does not in that way expose its victims. The gambler may be eaten up by the gambler’s passion, yet you only discover it by the greed in his eyes, the hardness of his features, the, nervous restlessness, the threadbare coat and his embarrassed business. Yet he is on the road to hell, and no preacher’s voice, or startling warning, or wife’s entreaty, canmake him stay for a moment his headlong career. The infernal spell is on him; n giant is aroused Within, and though you may bind him with cables they - would pact like thread, and though yon fasten him seven times round with chains they would snap like rusted wipe, and though yon piled up in his path heaven high Bibles, tracts and sermon* and on the top

should set the cross of the Son of God, over them all the gambler WotiM leap like •a roe over the rocks on his way to perdition,. The Gambler Gains Perdition. A man used to reaping scores or fyjindjeds Of dollars from the gaming tabic will not be content with slow work. He Will say, “What is the Use of ray trying to make these*soo in my store when I can get five times that in half an hour down at Billy’s?” You never knew a confirmed gamble&who was industrious. The met given to this vice spend their time, not actively engaged in the game, in- idleness or intoxication or sleep dr in corrupting .new victims. This sin has dulled the carpenter's saw and cut the band of the factory wheel, sunk the cargo, broken the te.eth of the farmer’s hafrow and sent a stfange'lightning to shatter the battery of the philosopher. The very first idea iii gaming is at war with all the industries of society. Any trade or occupation, that is of use is ennobling. The street sweeper advances the interests of society by the.cleanliness effected. The cat-pays for the fragments it eats by cleaning the House of vermin. The fly that taMes the sweetness from the dregs of the cup compensates by purifying the air and keeping back the pestilence; But the gambler gives hot anything for that which he takes. I recall that sentence. He does make a return, but it is disgrace to the man-he fleeces, despair to his heart, ruin to his business, anguish to his wife, shame To his children and eternal wasting awaydo his soul. He pays in tears and blood and agony and darkness and woe. What dull work is plowing teffche farmer when in the village saloon in one night be makes and 1 * loses the value of a summer harvest! will want to sell tape and measure nankeen and cut garments and weigh sugars when in a night's game he makes and loses and makes again and loses again the profits of a season. ? •If men fail in lawful business, God pities and society commiserates, but where, in the Bible or society, is there any consolation for the gambler? Furthermore, this sin is the source of uncounted dishonesty. The game itself is often a cheat. How many tricks and deceptions in the dealing of the cards! The opponent's hand is ofttimes found out by fraud. Cards are marked so that they may be designated from the back. Expert gamesters have their accomplices, arid one wink may decide a game. The (lice have been found loaded with glatina, so that doublets come UP every time. These dice are introduced by the gamblers unobserved by the honest men who come into the play, and this accounts for the fact that 99 out of 100 who gamble, however wealthy when they begin, at the end are found to be poor, miserable, haggard wretches that would not now be allowed to sit on the.doorstep of the house that they once owned.

Promises of God, In a gaming house -in San F Fan cisco a young man, having just come from the mines, deposited a large sum upon the ace arid wori $22,000. But the tide turns. Intense anxiety comes upon the countenances of all. Slowly the cards went forth. Every eye is fixed. Not a sound is heard, until the ace is revealed favorable to the bank. There are shouts of “Foul, foul!” but the keepers of the table produce their pistols, and the uproar is silenced and the bank has won $95,000. Do yon call this a game of chance? There is no chanee about it. But these dishonesties in the carrying on of the game are nothing-when compared with the frauds that are committed in order to get money to go on with the nefarious work. Gambling, with its needy hand, has snatched away the widow’s mite and the portion of the orphans, has sold the daughter’s virtue to get the means to continue the game,, has written the counterfeit’s signature, emptied the banker’s money vnult and wielded the assassin's dagger. There is no depth of meanness to which it will not stoop. There is no cruelty at which it is appalled. . There is no: warning of God thatrit will not dare. Merciless, unappeasable, fiercer and wilder it blinds, it hardens, it rends, it blasts, it crushes, it damns. Have nothing to do with gamblers, whether they gamble on large scaje or small scale. Cast out these men from your company. Do not be intimate with them. Always be polite There is no.jiemand_that.ymi ever sacrifice politeness. A young man accosted a Christian Quaker with, “Old chap, how did you make all your money?” The Quaker replied, “By dealing in an article that you mayest deal in if thou wilt —civility.” Always be courteous, but at the same time firm. Say “No” as if you meant it. Have it understood in store and Shop and street that you witi not stand in the companionship of the skeptic, the idler, the pleasure seeker, the gambler. Rather than enter the companionship of sneh accept the invitation to a better feast. The promises of God are the fruits. The harps of heaven are the music. Clusters from the vineyard of God have been pressed into the tankards. The sons and daughters of’the Lord Almighty are the guests, while standing at the banquet to fill the cups and divide the clusters amLppmrimqd the harps.nnT.welcome the guests is a daughter of God, on whose brow are the blossoms of paradise and in whose cheek is the flush of celestial summer. Her name is religion. Her ways are ways of pleasantness And her paths are peace.