Influence of Associates
541
A good name is more precious than gold. There is an inclination
with the youth to associate with those who are inferior in mind and
morals. What real happiness can a young person expect from a vol-
untary connection with persons who have a low standard of thoughts,
feelings, and deportment? Some are debased in taste and depraved in
habits, and all who choose such companions will follow their exam-
ple. We are living in times of peril that should cause the hearts of all
to fear. We see the minds of many wandering through the mazes of
skepticism. The causes of this are ignorance, pride, and a defective
character. Humility is a hard lesson for fallen man to learn. There is
something in the human heart which rises in opposition to revealed
truth on subjects connected with God and sinners, the transgression of
the divine law, and pardon through Christ.
My brethren and sisters, old and young, when you have an hour
of leisure, open the Bible and store the mind with its precious truths.
When engaged in labor, guard the mind, keep it stayed upon God, talk
less, and meditate more. Remember: “Every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Let
your words be select; this will close a door against the adversary of
souls. Let your day be entered upon with prayer; work as in God’s
sight. His angels are ever by your side, making a record of your words,
your deportment, and the manner in which your work is done. If
you turn from good counsel and choose to associate with those who
you have reason to suspect are not religiously inclined, although they
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profess to be Christians, you will soon become like them. You place
yourself in the way of temptation, on Satan’s battleground, and will,
unless constantly guarded, be overcome by his devices. There are
persons who have for some time made a profession of religion, who
are, to all intents and purposes, without God and without a sensitive
conscience. They are vain and trifling; their conversation is of a low
order. Courtship and marriage occupy the mind to the exclusion of
higher and nobler thoughts.
The associations chosen by the workers are determining their
destiny for this world and the next. Some who were once conscientious
and faithful have sadly changed, they have disconnected from God,
and Satan has allured them to his side. They are now irreligious and
irreverent, and they have an influence upon others who are easily
molded. Evil associations are deteriorating character; principle is