The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-18

much less melau cboly to u ete the zeal with which
lnCorrig bic preachers attack and try to sir up
men as dead in iLeir habits rs habits can |
be. What amount OF digging aud duuglng will
bring truit 10 barren treeI IL was a just ap-
ptecation OF the iuyiucibe might with which
habI's and tempers take root and thrive 10 men,
that led theologians 10 insist upon supernatu-
raj effort OF divine grace as the essential condi-
u, n OF the new life. The world at large il given
to laugh at the dvInes who cry out about 'our
miserable human nature aud about the feeble
ress and iatuousness of mortals Gropng after
llgnt by their own unaded effort. And this
teaching has very likely had depressing eject;
1t has very likely done something to weaken the
needtul spirit OF selt-Ieiiance, aud voluntary,
earnestly directed energy. To teaCn man that
he needs miracle to bring him right is of
course 10 DO much TO discourage him from
oomg his best 10 bring himself right. But
this is no reason why those who are not
teachers but only observers, and all men
~ so far as they are observers, should
blink the plain truth that we are all
oi Us apt to draft into mental states out OF
which nothing short OF downright miracle could
deliver us. And may we at this point, without
ntrudng too far into domain which Is not
ours, suggest that another doctrine which some
theolOgiaus hold, whatever i5 to be sad for or
against lis theological truth, has at any rate a
side which is true IN morals? Those wno bold
that u spiritual regeneration Is wrought in bap-
tism may at least borrow from the humber
atmory of the experimental morall,st this prOpo
sition, that men often seem to inherit some
qualities from their slres which nothing short
OF pretefnatural Intervention Is at all likely TO
root out, The theory OF the fdbutd rdSd Is no
longer tenabe in the face OF established facts of
physical transmission, and we are bound to
admit that at no earliest moment of his exist
enCe es any man start exactly lar.
Whether he does or not, however, it Is very
transparent that every hour OF his lie a man is
building up habits and cutting OFF retreats for
himself. Yet there ere lot many persons who
have either thought so much about Conduct In
general, or have kept so alert an eye upon their
own conduct in particular as TO know when the
time mas come, or is just at hand, that retreat
Will have ceased to be open to them-when they
are in this respect or tnat, or in all respects,
inCurable al hopeless. In the greater matters
OF conduct, haI ply, nature and circumstances
combine TO keep, people in the straight track OF
what Is honorable, vl-tuous, and wholesome.
But smaller matters often make all the difference,
and it is in foihes, weak nesses, httleness, TIL
men are apt to iall away and to let i'll ingram
itself in them, without their being at all aware
of the total impossbility OF ever undoing tnat
which is at the moment quietly and tenacously
doing itself. o My those who have taken the
pans to watch The process OF the formation
others know how comparatively few
repetiiops OF an act are quite enough to sink
1t Ireparably into their nature. 1t is not every
habit that is so unpleasant at its first inception
as opium.sm OklDg is SAID to be. We are not
warned od nor tempted not t. give way. On
tie contrary, as all preachers since the Flood
have lamented, it is the nrst step which is so
bright and so easy, from getting luto debt
down or up to the welghtlest aud most crash
ing sins. The Malay, it may be SAID, has no
excuse, for the hrst Wbihs are nasty enough to
bid him thiuk, while there is some excuse for
the poor mortal who falls astray in the direc-
ton of idlrness, or seeking his Rn ease hrSt,
aud other things after wards, or not az ALL OF
profuson OF money, OF running after too gay
comrades, OF indulging in biting speech, of
yielding to immoderauon in thought and IAN
guage and attitude; fol- is there not a sroug
smack of what gratifes the old Adam
in all these thiugs2 And it is THIS
pleasant smack which seduces men until
II has grown too attractive to be
resisted They go on all the time with an H.
genuous idea that they can pull up if they will,
and when they will, A palsled mau might as
well tatter himself that, If he only wished 1t
strongly enough, he could forth with plaut down
As hTm loot as his stoutest neighboI. 1t is
true that the facility of habit WORKS for good as
we'll as Tor harm, because "A virtuous habit once
formed may prove as durable as a viciousi one.
Certainly, If man were obliged to take deiibe
rate thought before every vlrtuous act OF his
lie, the world would become pandemonium; so
it is to this extent happy dl-pen>atiOu that to
form haoits comes tOlerably easy to us. But
then We must set against the other side, that an
evil habit is fully as likely to last any other,
| because ii is just as certain to Surround itself
| with agreeable associations. The only reason
| why it is worth while 10 point out that there
| are moral ncUrables, and that we are most of
us incuIaole in one respect or another, large or
| small is that it serves 10 enforce in way that
is rather neglected the very old moral about
! bewaring OF first steps.
|