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3. How little advantage you can receive from such society, to counter-balance the damage you sustain, and the happiness you forfeit for it.

I am sure it ought to be something very grand and important, for which you grieve your friends, and provoke God; for which you cut yourselves off from the most valuable enjoyments in this world, and a better, and at length plunge yourselves into everlasting destruction. And now shew us, I intreat you, the worthy prize; tell us what those friends are, whose company you purchase at so dear a rate; and what important offices they can do for you, to make you amends for all you must lose, and for all you must suffer on their account? Poor wretches! The most they can do, is to administer something which may gratify your appetite, or amuse your imagination, for a few transient moments. A relishing meal, a cheerful cup, a thoughtless, noisy burst of laughter, are some of the best things they can procure for you. And are these so great? Surely, if it were reasonable in any case, it is peculiarly so in this, to Say of laughter, it is mad; and of mirth and luxury, what doth it? It is but a poor entertainment while it lasts, which Solomon elegantly compares to the useless momentary blaze of a few Crackling thorns under a pot: And there is a mixture of uneasiness often attending it from a view of the consequences, which will often force itself on the mind; so that Even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful. But if the satisfaction it gave were ever so transporting, or ever so complete, yet still it would be very contemptible, because its duration is so short. Death is continually advancing towards you, which will very shortly separate you from your chosen companions; and if the most beloved of them were waiting round your bed, they could by no means deliver you from the grave, or moderate the agonies which were bringing you thither. Even before your trembling souls are dislodged from your bodies, your relish for their converse will be entirely spoiled; so that you would think yourselves barbarously insulted by them, if, in the midst of your anguish and distress, they should offer you those entertainments which you once so fondly pursued together, and which were the cement of your precarious and short-lived friendship. Judge then, whether those things are so highly valuable, which, in the near views of eternity, you would behold with horror, rather than with pleasure; and whether your most rational fecility in both worlds is to be sacrificed to such vanities as these.

* Eccles. ii, 2.

+ Eccles. vii. 6.

+ Prov. xiv. 13.

I firmly believe, that, upon such reflections as these, you must be compelled, even to your own condemnation, to confess, that, as Solomon declares, He that followeth vain persons, is void of understanding*. And if you are convinced of it, then let me intreat you, my dear unhappy friends, who are entangled in this fatal snare, that, in the strength of divine grace, you would immediately attempt an escape. It will indeed require resolution; but, remember, it will amply reward it: And therefore determine upon it this day, that you will go no more to their assemblies of vanity, and of sin; and When they would entice you, consent not to them; but rather tell them plainly and seriously, that you know and consider, that your souls are at stake; and tell them, you avoid their company now, because you dread it in hell. And who knows, but such a serious and lively admonition from those who were once their brethren in iniquity, may do more to awaken them, than many addresses from the pulpit? Who knows, but it may effectually reclaim them, and be a means of forming them to such characters, as may make their friendship as safe and as honourable, as ever it was dangerous and infamous? At least, you will have delivered your own soul, and may comfortably hope, that your life will be given you for a prey. With this solemn charge, as in the name and presence of God, I dismiss you from this head, and proceed,

III. To those reflections and inferences, with which I shall conclude the discourse.

1. If so many evils and dangers attend the pursuit of wicked company, how careful should parents and governors be, to keep young people out of the way of it!

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You see from all I have been saying, how necessary this care is, if you desire they should be happy in this world, or the It is a dreadful charge that is brought against Eli, and a dreadful doom is pronounced upon him for it; that His sons made themselves vile, and that he restrained them not. And therefore, as you love your own souls, and those of yours, endeavour, with all possible resolution, to avoid being culpable yourselves on this account.

And here I would observe, that your care must begin very early, and that it must take a great compass. You should endeavour betimes to lay in an antidote against the future poison,

*Prov. xii. 11. VOL. II.

+ Prov. i. 10.

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1 Sam. iii. 13.

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by labouring to the utmost to possess their infant minds with a sense of the divine presence, a desire of pleasing God, and a dread of offending him. You should endeavour to inspire them with an abhorrence of sin, and a love to the ways and people of God. Endeavour to find out suitable company for them, and to make your own company as delightful to them as you can. dulge them in such diversions, as duty and prudence will admit; for too rigorous a restraint from these things makes them eager to pursue them, wherever they are to be found. And if you see they begin to form an acquaintance with such as you think likely to insnare and corrupt them, first gently warn them of it, and endeavour by the easiest methods to draw them off: If those will not do, reason with them more largely on the head; Jay before them the various dangers they will be exposed to, and shew them the instances of those who have been injured and ruined by such company: Instances, which, it is to be feared, you will always have near at hand: And if all this be not enough, interpose with the authority God has given you; absolutely forbid them the place and company, and let them see, by your after-conduct, that you are in good earnest in the prohibition. At the same time, endeavour to recommend religion to them in the most amiable light, that they may be convinced it carries its entertainment along with it, so that there is no need of seeking pleasure in The paths of the destroyer. I know this is a matter of difficulty, and requires a great deal of prudence and steadiness to conduct it aright; but I am persuaded, if parents and masters were careful in this respect, few would be ruined till they came to be at their own disposal, and the destruction of multitudes would be entirely prevented. May God graciously give you wisdom to know your duty, and faithfulness to perform it!

2. If wicked company be so pernicious, as we have heard; then how cautious should we be in the choice of a companion for life, if you are in such circumstances, as to have that choice before you.

It is evident, that, as all bad company is dangerous, so the nearer it is to us, and the more frequent the opportunities of conversing with it, the greater mischief will it probably do us. Those who are in the conjugal relation, should make it their great business and care, to assist and animate each other in the ways of God; and such is the prevalency of our sinful nature, and so many the snares and temptations of life, that, with all possible advantages our progress will be too slow, and too

frequently interrupted. What then could you expect, if you had those, not only in your houses, but in your arms too, from whom you would hardly ever hear a serious word; and who would perhaps be unwilling to give you the hearing, if you should attempt any such discourse: Nay, might possibly revile or banter you for it, and, by their impious language and wicked example, might greatly deaden religious sentiments in your own heart, and either prevent or frustrate your endeavours for communicating them to those under your care? When christians, of one sex or other, chuse such a companion for life, they seem to lie under great difficulties, and will be in imminent danger, either on the one hand, of failing in a due affection and regard, or on the other, of being perverted and ensnared by that very affection, which both the duties of the relation, and the comfort of life so evidently require. If any of you have taken this hazardous step, I have nothing to do but to advise you, to be daily looking up to God for that extraordinary prudence which your circumstances require. But this is such a situation, that I cannot forbear praying, that, as for those of you who are yet single, no considerations of beauty, wit, temper, or fortune, may ever prevail upon you to bow your necks to so unequal a yoke.

3. How much reason have you to be thankful, if God has delivered you from the snares of wicked company, and given you a relish for such as is good.

Think how easily you might have been entangled and undone. Think how many, in other respects at least your equals in wisdom and capacity, are in this instance making a foolish choice; and Bless the Lord, who has given you counsel*. It is his mercy, that gives you serious and useful friends, and gives you a heart to value them. By their converse you may gain many advantages directly opposite to the evils I have been describing. Be humbled, that you have improved these advantages no better; and pray for the aids of divine grace, that for the future they may be more diligently regarded: And if Providence ever lead you into the company of carnal sinners, which the most pious and resolute cannot wholly avoid, labour that they may be something the better for you, and you not the worse for them; and consider all the irregularities you observe in them, as farther motives of thankfulness to God, for making

*Psal. xvi. 7.

a difference betwixt them and you, and giving you company so much more amiable than theirs. Once more,

4. Let young persons of a regular character take great heed, that they do not by insensible degrees, become dangerous companions to each other.

That social turn of mind which is natural to men, and especially to young persons, may perhaps lead you to form yourselves into little societies, particularly at this season of the year, to spend your evenings together. But let me intreat you to be cautious how you spend them. If your games and your cups take up your hours till you intrench on the night, and, perhaps, the morning too, you will, to be sure, quickly corrupt each other, and soon degenerate into a club of rakes and debauchees. Farewel then to prayer, and every other religious exercise in secret. Farewel to all my pleasing hopes of you, and to those hopes which your pious parents have entertained. You will then become examples and instances of all the evils I have so largely been describing. Plead not, that these things are lawful in themselves; so are most of those in a certain degree, which by their abuse prove the destruction of men's souls and bodies. If you meet, let it be for rational and christian conversation; and let prayer and other devotions have their frequent place amongst you. And if you say, or think, that a mixture of these will spoil the company, it is high time for you to stop your career, and call yourselves to an account; for it seems, by such a thought, that you are Lovers of pleasure, much more than lovers of God*. Some of these things may appear to have a tincture of severity; but consider, whether, in present circumstances, I could have proved myself faithful to you, and to him in whose name I speak, if I had omitted the caution I have now been giving you. I shall only add, that, bad I loved you less tenderly, I had perhaps warned you more coldly of this dangerous and deadly snare. May God render the admonition as successful as I am sure it is seasonable and necessary!

* 2 Tim. ii. 4.

+N. B. The substance of this Sermon was first preached at Harborough, Dec. 25, 1725; and afterwards at Northampton, on that day eight years.

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