Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-06-06
Breathing Times.

Haul them up every three or four miles
and let them walk and get their breath, and
YOU will get there all the quicker" | had
lost the train and had funeral to attend
twenty miles distant and this is what the
keeper of the livery said to me as he put the
reins into my impatient hands, when | had
taken my seat behind pair of his best
horses. There was bit of philosophy in
this advice that is not altogether out of place
in spiritual matters. In the midst of the
cares and the hurry of everyday lie there
is need of breathing times not the vacation
of a month or week, but of moment, pc
riod Just long enough to catch breath. Any
number of Christians IN the household, and
in business, are hurried to DEATH" that is,
to the death of their spirituality. One of
the great difficulties of the religious life is
the tendency of temporal things to crowd
out spiritual In the rush of everyday cares
duties labors and pleasures, men and women
need to be hauled up now and then in order
to get breath. And there are some things
admirably adapted to this end. There are
private devotons When one rises with all
the clamors of care or pleasure in the ears,
the tendency is to rush off in hot haste. Bnt
il ten or fifteen minutes are sacredly set
apart for devotional exercises, and are oh
served as regularly as breakfast is taken, the
soul catches breath, the man has thought
and is better prepared to resist temptation.
and is more likely to stand by duty and the
right during the day. There is grace at
meals If, when the table is hurried too, a.
it too often Is and the mind is too full OF
duties to be performed or of pleasures to be
enjoyed after the meal, all is hushed for
moment while Gods blessing is asked and
his bounty gratefully acknowledged, the
soul catches breath in the interval, and
thoughts of better aud higher things come,
or are more likely to come, and so spiritual
life be maintained. There are prayer-meet-
ings. 1t is not necessary that the prayer
meeting should be lively and spirited to ben
eft those who attend. They who, when
certain evening of the week comes, say,
This " is prayer-meeting night" and permit
nothing to interfere with its claims, but 60
and sit through the dullest and most stupid
of meetings-nothing can be duller than
some meetings are-get great good. They
have stopped for an hour, and thought, and
the soul is in breath again. 1t would have
been better if the spiritual air of the meet
ing had been more invigorating, but better,
poor as it was than no meeting. There
are Sundays. One of the great benefits of
these is to furnish breathing times. When
all ordinary cares are laid aside, and at time
for service a place is found at church, no
matter how dull the sermon, or spiritless or
discordant the singing, these cannot destroy
the entire benefit of the day of service, al
belt they may sadly mar it. They have
halt, and the man is better off
spiritually than he would have been if he
had rushed on all day after his business or
his pleasure. Better would it have been if
the sermon had been instructive and sufii.
ciently entertaining to keep the hearer
awake; better, if the organ had been in
tune, and the music inspiring but poor
preaching and poor singing cannot prevent
the day and services being profitable. Min
listers burdened with a consciousness of stu
pid sermons-as who of us is not 2-will
find small crumb of comfort here. Aside
from all other benefits to be secured, private
devotions, grace at meals, prayer-meetings,
Sundays, and church services, should be
sacredly observed as breathing times for the
soul. They are needed to keep properly in
thought spiritual relations aud duties, and
much of the religious dependency, and more
of the religious indifference, come from their
neglect The man who would keep
healthy spiritual t'ne, enjoy religion, and
have an interest in it, must observe these
breathing times. Haul up every now and
then, and get breath. h."-Advance.