Kansas City daily journal., 1897-02-07
Foyr,, -. s,a,,ttS. .s.s

\ =
G. H. Hcuworth, in New York Herald.
And if thy eye offend thee, pluck 1t |
out."-AIatthew. veg. |
Perhaps you have driven over country |
road in the melting springtime and found |
il we'll nigh impossible 10 keep out OF the
deep ruts made by the passage OF many
heavy teams. These ruts spoil the road
The only good road is level and hard. one
which allows Il certain freedom of action
for your carriage and horse, but rut en-
dangers your comfort and your VENICE. II
you are determined to get out OF IL you
must come to a standstill and lit the car
rage bodily to the smoother surface on
| either side. for if you turn your horse sud
| denly your wheels will be broken.
Bad habits are to the soul what the mex
| orable ruts are TO the road. They are
| easily formed and very hard TO get rid or
! Continued indulgence in selfish pleasures
| does for the mind just what the team does
| for the soft road-it makes mental rut-
and thereafter you lose part OF your
freedom, for however much you may wish
| your thoughts TO 20 elsewhere they are
| constantly inclined TO fall back into the
! old and accustomed ways.
| A bad habit is u remorseless despot. You
| think you are its master, but in truth you
| are its slave. You boast that you can
| break il at any moment. but when you are
alone with your soul you are compelled TO
! confess that your boast is nothing more
| than Il falsehood.
There are men in this world who are ap-
parently-I am glad to modify the state
ment by that worldwide are apparently as
| helpiessly bound by some habit, which
they despise themselves for indulging, as
! the Roman criminal was to the galley. \
habit will even assert itself in spite OF
every conviction of the mind, and a man
viii sometimes do what he not only knows
to be morally wrong, but what he also
knows is positive injury to his body as
well as his soul.
| | suppose you could have changed the
course of the Amazon by building a pile
of stones across the slender stream close
TO its fountain head. but If you try 10
| change the course of the Amazon 1000
miles from that fountain head you will
find it difficult matter. a habit just form
ing and habit hardened by long indulg
ence are very different things.
Still firmly believe in the supremacy of
a mans soul when it is properly aroused.
l cannot convince myself that any habits
need be our masters, or that they will be
when the soul finds ii sufficient incentive to
fight them 10 the DEATH In other words
| l have more faith in the man than l have
in the habits. l like to look back to that
heroic utterance of the Christ, If thy
right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and
cast it from thee" That is tribute to
the manliness of man, and it throws con-
tempt on that shallow folly which finds
excuse for indulgence by attributing it to
the weakness of human nature, when the
man would. if he told the truth, accuse
himself of cowardice.
A man who is bedridden with pain will
at the cry of Fire" and a glimpse of APP
preaching flames rush down many flights
of stairs to save his wretched body, when
perhaps his very malady was the result
of habits which he falsely persuaded him.
self he could not control. In the case OF
the fire he has an incentive-a supreme
| an Irresistible, an enthroned incentive. In
| an instant he is master of the situation
and the malady, which has whipped and
; buf:eted and scourged him as no overseeI
ever whipped slave, sinks away before
> the imperial command of the momentarily
restored manhood of the man.
All that is needed to make men heroes Is
incentive, motive. There are powers lying
dormant within us of which we have never
dreamed. We have never appreciated our
spiritual dignity. our royal origin and
, royal destiny. Brighten a drunken man
AMI you sober him instantly. He gave the
drink the right of way and 1t overcamC
him. The fright wakes up the real man
| tne man lISluo Ol the man, anu lHdI III
side man, taking in the situation at
. glance, drives the effects of drink away
n Just as Christ with His whip of cords drove
q the money changers out of the temple.
The law of which I have spoken. the Law
= OF ruts, works in two ways. If you indulgt
: in evil it is hard to get out of that rut; /
C you accustom yourself to high thinking
G AMI noble doing, then high thinking ant
noble doing will become habit, and moth
Il ing else will satisfy. Persistent thinkin:
n toward good destroys the desire to thinl
s on a low level. Break away from you
II captivity with a mighty effort. and vol
o will soon find that the hosts of heaven ar
e around you, and you will like your new
# friends better than the old ones. Tha
which is hardest becomes less hard by per
severance, and the chain that binds yo,
will drop link every day until at las
YOU stand, not merely a free man, but
= man with such changed motives, with sue
n transformed ambitions, that you would n
i; mere go back to the old life than yo
~ would willingly wash your hands In filth
: 1t needs but the full appreciation o
h Gods presence. of the Christ's presence
;s and of the presence of the angels. to max
n YOU feel that life is not merely quite wort
"a living, but, above all, that it Is worth liv
~ ing grandly and nobly. You are not
- pigmy and should not be satisfied wit
a pigmy's work. You are a giant, wit
n giants task before you. and you shoul
do it with a giants strength.