Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-02-23

l assimulstes that quantity and qualit,
 fitted to promote.its growth, exercise ir
 Lreases It's power to sssimilste, indolenct ! and vicious living decrease it.. In like manner 1t IS said that the will of mar 1 in resisting temptation and the allure.
 ments of evil, and in overcoming prompt 1 ings to sin assimllates something tbat
 makes 1t stronger for the next trial. On the contrary; each time the in- dividual yields to temptation there is 8
 loss of power and while the inclinations
 to evil become stronger. the power of | resistance Is diminished in the same
 proportion. Now my friend disregard
 the first encroachments of evil, the pow CT of the will IS broken; continue to dis
 regard. soon the power to resist is gone,
 the will IS dethroned, the voice of req
 son hushed, consclence stifled, passions sway the soul, lust consumes the Vii
 tality of the soul, and we are complete
 y sold under bondage to sin.
 Sow an act you reap character habit, Sow habit you reap a character
 Sow character you reap destiny
 The desting is but the unrolding of the
 act"
 Oh my friends, let us be on our guard against the dawnings of evil. When the soul is once fully caught in the fatal whlrl of the maelstorm 1t will be to late. All our efforts then, though they be sl- most superhuman, will be but a sad commentary on our sad fate. Let those who are set as watchmen on the walls carsfully guard our civil institutions, pe skiiful to detect the bearings of the times, raise note of alarm at the first signs of spreading evIls.
 Let us guard our church and the purity of our faith, not in the spirit of narrowness and bigotry, but in broad charity and the kindliness of love.
 Let US guard our homes against the very breath of evils, which if permitted to enter will work irretrievable disas- ters.
 Let us guard the citadels of our own souls, often directing a scrutlnizing glance within that We may detect the first presence of the destroyer.
 Above all things guard the young. Theirs is the period of life when they may be most earnestly influenced for good. One half of those who connect themselves with our churches do SO be- fore their twentieth year. Theirs is also tbe period of life when they are most in danger. It IS easier to train the boy or the girl than to reclaim the man or the 
 III.-"In the small beginning is the promise of the fultillment of our hopes, the realization of our wishes"
 Do you imagine that the power of evil is already so fully developed that to contend with it is hopeless, that sln is | 30 fortlIied in every city and on every height throughout the earth, SO per- meates all things that the planting and | growth of the good is made impossible. |
 Such imsglnatiops are vain. Good | lnstitutlons,-goodi in the life of the in- | dIvidual, have their growth without l which there can be the realization of DO | good in it's fulnees. It can and does | take root and grow over against,-in the presence,-in the midst of evil. Do not despise it's littleness. In it IS the | promise of the future.
 The germ of our church was once the | person of Abraham, faithful in the | Lord" against world wholly given to | Idolatry and wickedness.
 When again the kingdom of God was almost solely represented in the person, son of the Goldman, when he stood in ! he council chamber, when his boldest | disciple denied with an oath that he l had any knowledge of him when he | hung on the cross, bis enemies seeming y completely triumphant, his few | friends scattered everywhere not daring to show their faces, it might we'll have l been said that the last hope of humani- | ty had gone down in the darkness. Not | 80. John preached the coming of the | kingdom and it had come. The king | might now be dead and his subjects par alyzed with fear. Nevertheless there | was the germ. Has that kingdom sur passed all power of belief in it's develop ment under such unfavorsble circum- stances? To be sure it has.
 But as with the Kingdom of God in it's integrity so with any particular branch of it. Sow the good seed in un- cultivated places; aud be not discourag- sd or hopeless. Nay though the out look should be so unfavorsble that you go fcrth with weeping,-go. In Gods
 
 rejoicing bringing not a handful of seed, but sheaves. Plant, water. God will give the increase.
 My friends-It is the closing years of the 18th century and the men and who are now living; and not the 10th century and the men and women who may then live, who are to determine | the character of church and of state for | the coming tune. By our social behav- for, by our moral conduct, by judicial | decision and legislative enactment, ID | the spirit of our education and the life | of our beloved church, ID all these ways | we are laying up precedents that will | control the coming generations. Mark | my words, friends, it will be theirs only to edorn, or disfgure the building whose foundations and walls we are now lay ing. The thoughtful, the wise, the ben evolent, the upright. hold that future lh their hands. We cannot if we would escape the responsibility.
 What IS our present attitude toward the home and our social conditions. and our municipal affairs. and our schools and our legislation and the enforcement of law? What IS the character of the men whose counsels prevail in the af- fairs that concern every one who has our good at heart. Whether We are idly or contemptiously indif- ferent to these things, we are rnaking grievous mistake.
 God IS on the side of right and the happiness of tho race. If under his guid- ance and in the spirit of loyal servants, We exercise ourselves according to the measure of his requirement., we may see in true vision that glorious era for which we labor.
 WOMAN'S SOPRANO VOICE.