The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-07-07

L ..r PeNeSAtlAly 40 $500
mere fancies and desires land lusts,
unsuspiciously entertained, contribute
silently and surely to the result. The
heart is changed into an impregnable
fortress of sin. The roof of its inlq-
uity is sustained by marble pillars,
and all the weight of reason and con-
science and the Divine threatenings
are powerless to lay it low in the
dust of humility and contrition.
Such is the power of those light
fancies and imaginations and desires
which enter the soul unobserved, and
are sighted for their insigniflcance
They attract no notice. They utter
no note of alarm. We might suppose
that if left to themselves they would
be absorbed in oblivion, and leave no
trace behind. But they form the pill
lars of character. They sustain the
soul against the pressure of. all those
solemn appeals of right and truth to
which it ought to yield.
How impressive, then, the admoni-
ton: Keep thy heart with all dill
gence!" prov. ii:2). Things which
seem powerless and harmless may
prove noxious beyond expression.
The power of inveterate sin is from
the silent flow of thought. Our habit
ual desires or fancies are shaping our
eternal destiny.
Check them at the first appearance.
If they bear upon them a palpable
mark of sin, bestow not upon them
the honor of an examination. If the
leprosy appear in their foreheads,
thrust them, as did Uzzias, out of the
temple; or, as David answered his
wicked solicitors, depart from me,
We evil doors: for | will keep the
commandments of my God" Though
we cannot hinder them from haunt
ing us, yet we may from lodging in
us. The very sparkling of an abomin-
able emotion in our. hearts is as lit
tie to be looked upon as is the color
of wine in glass by a man inclined
to drunkenness. Quench these emo
lions instantly, as you would do a
spark of fire in heap Of straw. We
| must not treat with them. st. Paul's
resolve is a good pattern, not to par
ley with flesh and blood (Gal. 1870.
We do not debate whether we should
shake a viper off our hands.
think that we may assert that in
a hundred men there are more than
ninety who are what they are-good
or bad, useful or pernicious to so
| ciety-from the instruction they have
received. 1t is on education that de-
pend the great1 differences observable
among them. The least and most i'm
perceptible impressions received in
our infancy have consequences very
important, and of a long duration 1t
| is with these first impressions as with
a river, whose waters we can easily
turn, by different canals, in quite OPP
| posite courses; so that from the in
sensible direction the stream receives
at its source,s it takes a different
destination and at last arrives at a
place far distant from that it might
otherwise have reached And with
| the same facility we may turn the
minds OF children to what direction
we please.
Youth is that period in which, if
you would educate men, they must be
educated. If they are not educated
then, they will not be educated, and
no regret or repentance can change
the fact. When the plates are pre-
pared for steel engravings, the steel
is first cast soft; and then the en-
graVer easily works out the picture.
After that the plates are put into a
furnace and brought to great hard,
ness, so that impressions can be
| taken off by the hundreds without
wearing it. Now, the time to engrave
men is youth, when the plate is soft
and ductile. Manhood is hard, and
cannot be cut easily, any more than
tempered steel
W II. Sloan. in the missionary