is never
safe to go in the same boat with the wicked. But there are various
applications of that idea. We too often forget it, and are not as wise as
Jehoshaphat was when he refused to allow his men to be in companionship in
the same boat with the wicked men of Ahaziah.

The principle I stated is appropriate to the formation, in the first place,
of all domestic alliances. I have often known women who married men for the
purpose of reforming them from dissipated habits. I never knew one
successful in the undertaking. Instead of the woman lifting the man up, the
man drags her down. This is inevitably the case. The greatest risk that one
ever undertakes is attempting the voyage of life in a boat in which the
wicked sail; this remark being most appropriate to the young persons who
are in my presence. It is never safe to sail with the sons of Ahaziah. The
aged men around me will bear out the statement that I have made. There is
no exception to it.

The principle is just as true in regard to all business alliances. I know
it is often the case that men have not the choice of their worldly
associations, but there are instances where they may make their choice, and
in that case I wish them to understand that it is never safe to go in the
same boat with the vicious. No man can afford to stand in associations
where Christ is maligned and scoffed at, or the things of eternity
caricatured. Instead of your Christianizing them, they will heathenize you.
While you propose to lift them up, they will drag you down. It is a sad
thing when a man is obliged to stand in a business circle where men are
deriding the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, rather than
to be associated in business circles with Frothinghamite infidelity, give
me a first-class Mohammedan, or an unconverted Chinese, or an unmixed
Hottentot. There is no danger that they will draw me down to their
religion.

If, therefore, you have a choice when you go out in the world as to whether
you will be associated in business circles with men who love God, or those
who are hostile to the Christian religion, you might better sacrifice some
of your financial interests and go among the people of God than risk the
interests of your immortal soul.

Jehoshaphat knew it was unsafe for his men to go in one boat with the men
of Ahaziah, and you cannot afford to have business associations with those
who despise God, and heed not His commandments. I admit the fact that a
gr