The evening times., 1899-12-06

runs may read. The other as stoutly de-
ciared Chat such inscriptions made no inn
preston on the public mind, and rising.
he pulled down the window curtain, and
offered to wager small sum that his COM
panion could not tell what was painted
on the side of large brick building just
across the street. And his friend lost.
Though he had occupied that office for
more than one year. and passed that sign
every day in his life. he could not tell
what it was. He had probably known. the
first time he saw 1t, what the advertise
ment was, but with the repetition OF the i'm
preston it had had less and less effect
on his mind, till it had become of no more
moment than the particular shape OF a
wayside tree The moral of this is that
familiarity breeds indifference and obliv-
ion.
There used to be an idea in some peoples
m!nds-and ii has rot yet entirely vanished
from the wovld-that religion was best
taught by what might be called the hammer
method; that the way to make a child
obey the Ten Commandments was to talk
to him about them day and night, and make
him go to all the religious services which
he could be forced to attend, and read moth
ing but religious books on Sundays. TWO
things were overlooked by the worthy peo-
pie who promulgated these ideas; one was
the power Of reaction inherent in the hu-
man constitution. and the other was the
indifference bred by continual repetition OF
distractions. This regime bred up child
with no sense Of proportion; small pecca-
dilloes were magnified into deadly sins, and
when the boy went out into the world. like
a young bear, with all his troubles before
him, he had no standards except such as
he could evolve out of his own unassisted
intellect Then the reaction came, and
happened to have strong passions and not
much self-control. There was danger
in such training for other temperaments
also. Most of us have seen the type OIL
person who talks very glibly on religious
subjects, and uses Scriptural and theologi-
cal phrases continually. Such person is
quite destitute of any sense of the fitness
of things. He will sometimes talk about
taking up the cross"-the duty referred to
being attendance upon a religious meeting
when he would rather stay at home and toast
his feet and eat apples. He will talk about
resisting temptation" and denying him
self pleasure when discussing the ques-
tion whether or not he shall eat piece of
mince pie. On the other hand, he some
times fails to see that an irresistible storm
of temptation is sweeping some soul into
perilous depths, before his very eyes. and
what is really the result Of deep conviction
in another person he will ascribe to mere
caprice. or course, part of this general
misconception OF the duties and privileges
of human life is temperamental. and cannot
be helped. No human power will make
a congenitai fool into a wise man. But
there are some very sensible people who
might be more useful and less ridiculous
to their neighbors than they are at present
but for the effect of wrong training, 1t
should be understood by all intelligent peo-
pie. in or out of the Church, that the era
Of parrot Christianity is waning, and that
the sooner it goes the better it will be for
all concerned.