your sympathies in bitter complaints against the severity of virtuous censure.

Was it not wise in Solomon to counsel the young as he has done? To admonish you not to go in the way of evil men, and even to avoid those positions by which you would be liable to be drawn into their company? The same wise counsellor has declared in another place, that "the companion of fools shall be destroyed." He certainly cannot have intended to say, that no person ever can be recovered from the ensnaring and dangerous influence of sinful associates. But he could have intended nothing less than to declare that those who continue to associate with sinful companions shall be destroyed; and, also, that those who become thus associated, are in the extremest danger of continuing under that fatal influence.

If you will carefully survey the ground over which we have passed, you will be confirmed in the apprehension naturally excited by such a warning. You cannot but perIceive that sinful associates lead to an injurious familiarity with corrupt principles; that they address your imitativeness with

great power; that they deceive you, by blending attractive qualities with corrupt principles; that they diffuse an infectious influence all around you, and act on you like the ceaseless droppings that wear the rock. You are aware also of the fact, that you are naturally inclined to estimate too feebly the influence exercised over you by others. Your danger is great if you associate with sinful companions. "The companion of fools shall be destroyed."

This shows the reason, also, why it is made indispensable to a Christian life that you should distinctly and formally separate yourselves from the world. In the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, we find the following solemn exhortation: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God: as God hath said,

I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord; and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Here separation from sinful associates is declared to be indispensable to a consistent Christian life. For the same reason, our Saviour maintains that no man can be a true Christian without manifesting an open preference for him over the world. In the Gospel according to Mark, the eighth chapter and the thirtyeighth verse, our Saviour says: "Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels." In this passage, the world is represented as in a state of alienation from God. If men allow themselves to be borne on by the current, if they do not feel such a clear preference to Christ as to compel them to

come out with a distinct avowal of attachment for their Saviour, he will disown them in the great day of assize. If they stand visibly associated with the wicked, that alone is accounted as proof that they are the enemies of Christ. All the power of the teachings of Jesus, all the terrors of the law, all the attractions of the cross and the influences of Divine grace, are unavailing for the sanctification of men, unless the cord be snapped that binds them to sinful associates.

The same general principle is inculcated in another form in the word of God. The influence of holy associates is represented as being as powerful to save as the influence of sinful associates is to destroy. If you bind yourselves to the pious, in a sincere and heartfelt union, your character is continually assimilated to theirs. A familiar acquaintance with virtuous principles, when you do not occupy towards them a hostile attitude, continually enhances your admiration of them. Your imitativeness is powerfully appealed to by a good example. The attractions of good qualities lend an additional

charm to the holy principles with which they are blended. These principles are diffused also through the whole circle of your pious associates, and surround you with a moral influence, analogous to an atmosphere that is at once salubrious and fragrant. Besides all this, you are connected with a chain of sympathies that extends from the church to her incarnate Head, and thence to God. Thus our Saviour says: "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." In connexion with this subject, there is another thought which presses itself upon a contemplative mind with great interest and solemnity. The time for selecting associates that shall act on your character is rapidly passing away. Now the righteous and the wicked are mingled together. Each of these classes is struggling to gain a predominating influence over you. Almost every influence of a moral and spiritual kind is blended with living social qualities. On the one side, there is a vast multitude sweeping along the broad road that leads to death. The current of bad social influence is mighty. God raises