The St. Johns herald., 1901-03-02
GUARD YOUR THOUGHTS.
They Are What Mold Character and Determine Destiny - A Word
 Generating Environment.

C0maQRnAnE Env1r0n ment,
 What thinkest thou. simon? - Matthew. II: z5.
 If thoughts are forces, then we must select them with great care.
 Our thoughts are to our lives about what steam is 10 the engine. If the steam is under intelligent control. the hum of the manufactory will be like agreeable music and the machinery will accomplish definite and desirable purpose. On the contrary, if the steam is not properly harnessed there is sure to he disaster sooner or later.
 The way a man thinks decides the way he lives. It is as impossible for nure thoughts to produce an impure life as for vinegar to resemble honey to the taste. A thief can't enjoy reli- pion any more than an honest man can enjoy burglary.
 Tn the long run man will live as he thinks. Give me the thoughts which vou cherish most kindly, and it is like piving me the minor and major pre- misses of a proposition-the conclusion is logically inevitable. Those thoughts are as certain to make or unmake you before your sun goes down as an effect Is certain to follow cause.
 Give me the power to SOW what thoughts I please in your mind, and you put into my hands your destiny here and hereafter. Examine yourself critically and you will discover that your moral altitude exactly accords with the kind of thoughts you enter tain. This is an appalling fact of.psy- chological science, and the acton or the law is as memorable as the law or gravitation. No man can think hlgh and live low, or think low and hVe high.
 A strong emotion-sudden fear, for example-will send the blood through the body like the water in millrace' It controls the body as perfectly as giant handles child. Even the phys ical features take on new expression, and the fact of inward terror is made visible in the face. The body is mere puppet which the inner man governs at will, and it is more obedient than a slave.
 If a man cherishes the vice of av- arice, or dissipation, or unhealthy stim- ulus, or selfishness, to such extent that the habit becomes chronic, a chemical change takes place in his molecules, and the expression of his countenance advertises what is going on within. In the galleries of Florence are two busts of Nero. The first is of sweet child, and the face is beautiful. It bears the stamp of innocency. It is pleasure to look at it. The second is that of a youth who has abandoned himself to his passions, and the lines which indi- cate it are as plain to the observer as the furrows in plowed field. The face is repulsive, and you turn from it with something like disgust.
 You can be happy and useful under any circumstances if you fill them with Heavenly purposes. Greed, and envy, and selfshness are the bane of our hu- man life. We long for what we have not, and are thus unftted to do the best with what we have. We live.in a dream of what we hope to acquire, and are always restless, uncomfortable and discontented. If we could persuade ourselves that we can be happy with what surrounds us, that our mission is to get as much out of life as is possi- ble, instead of worrying because oth- CTS have more than we, and so finding fault with Providence and our i'll luck and reaping the misery which such thoughts always bring, we should change the color of our environment and the quality of cur character. You may be pretty sure that if you cannot be happy where you are you cannot be happy anywhere. Neither wealth nor fame can give you what you want, for you must find it in your soul or not find it at all.
 This is Christianity rightly under stood-to do all you can in whatever position you occupy and to make your little life great with great thoughts. God is the guest of poverty as we'll as wealth, and poverty with God is bet ter than wealth without Him. The spirit of Christ is the spirit of love and contentment, and though you have hardships and bereavements they melt away in the presence of the Divine Lord. You bear them with patience, and patience is another word for strength. Perfect peace will come at last to him who endures, and peace un- locks the doors of Heaven.-George H. s~