WITHOUT careful observation, we are not apt to realize the great power that habit has over us. I was driving a horse the other day that would jump and cringe every time I harnessed her. Probably she had been frightened some time in being harnessed. She will never forget it. Let a horse run away once, and he will always have to be watched after that. So it is with persons young and old. Using tobacco, liquor, &c., become such strong habits that their victims can hardly break from them. So persons become accustomed to swearing, and other vices, and do them simply from the force of habit.
How important, then, that parents guard well the circumstances that surround their children, the impressions that are made upon their minds, and the habits that they form. The way the twig is bent the tree is inclined. A wrong habit formed in youth is very apt to stick to a man all through life, and influence his whole conduct.
In Christian experience and Christian life very much depends upon getting a right start. If when he first starts, a Christian bears the cross to-day, and neglects it to-morrow, discharges his duty this time, but fails to the next, lives carefully a short time, and then walks carelessly a spell, he will be quite apt to go all through life in the same way, a weak, halting, stumbling babe in Christ, of no use in the cause of God. But on the other hand, if he starts out and firmly establishes habits of devotion, cross-bearing, and faithfulness, the chances are that he will become a strong man of God, a laborer. Let us look to the habits we are forming.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
Are You Ready?
By R. F. Cottrell
THE crisis of this world’s history is at hand. The angry nations are preparing to act their part in the concluding scene. The world seems ripe in wickedness. The spirits of devils are controlling men’s minds, leading them to depart from the faith, and go over to infidelity; and the cup of iniquity is filling to overflowing. On the other hand, the last warning from God is being heard in the third angel’s message, proclaiming the day of unmingled wrath at hand; proving that the time in which men can find pardon through Christ is very brief. And who is prepared for the close of probation? Who are agonizing and laboring that they may be approved of God, and save some of their fellow-men?
Awake, O sleeper! The day is at hand. The effect of every vision will soon be seen. Very soon shall each receive according as his works shall be. Am I ready? Are you ready? Are we striving to be ready? Are we victors over sin? Are we perfected in patience? Are our passions subdued, so that we are truly meek? Have we done, and are we doing, our duty to our fellow-men? to our families, and friends, and neighbors? Do they see nothing in us but good works? Do we reflect to others the image of Christ?
Thank God, we have a little time left in which we may work! Oh! let us improve it! Our case is urgent. It is court week. A little while longer pardon may be found. Mercy waits but a little longer. O sinner, come to Jesus before it shall be said, “Jesus of Nazareth has passed by?” before it is said, “The harvest is passed, and the summer is ended!” Get ready! get ready, while it is called to-day.
R. F. COTTRELL.
Nobody's Children.
A YEAR or two ago, as I sat in front of a farmhouse, one warm summer afternoon, my attention was attracted by numerous feathery objects that kept floating in and out at the open door. At first I thought they were insects; but on examination I found them to be seeds.
“Of what?” I asked the farmer's wife, as she passed through the entry.
“Thistles,” she replied. “There's a bed of them just below here, and the breeze carries them hither and thither, as you see.”
Presently, I took my hat and walked down the lane, until I came to the thistle bed. There it was—a large patch of ground covered with the unsightly things; and as the wind swept over them, thousands of the light, feathery seeds were borne away, and scattered all over the surrounding country. Next year, thought I, they will spring up in the hay fields, and in the corn fields, and among the grain, and the crops will be injured by them; they will spring up in the flower gardens, and the farmer's little daughter going out to gather flowers, will have her tender fingers wounded by them; they will do no good, but only harm, wherever they find space to grow. So I went back to the house.
“Pray, tell me why those thistles are not rooted up?” I asked the farmer's wife.
“Oh,” she said, “they are not on anybody's ground, and so they are left to themselves.”
“Not on anybody's ground, and so they are left to themselves.”
There is a text for a sermon; but I am not the person to do the preaching.
I sat down and began to think. I thought of swarming city streets; of the barefooted boys and girls, whose rags scarcely covered their limbs; of vulgar and profane language uttered by almost infant lips; and of crimes committed by little children, no older or larger than the farmer's little daughter.
Who are all these? Oh, they are nobody's children—nobody cares for them—they are left to shift for themselves. So they grow up and become the pests of society. They are the gamblers, the burglars, the incendiaries, the robbers, the murderers. They fill our alms-houses, our jails, our prisons; they travel on the road to destruction, and they lead thousands and thousands along with them. Why? Oh, they are nobody's charge—nobody is responsible for them; they take care of themselves. Oh, will this excuse stand in the day of Judgment? Dare we look in the face of almighty God, as we stand before the “great white throne,” and say: “They were nothing to us—we could not help them—we had not power or strength to raise them from their degradation”? No—No! We dare not.
Christian! there is work for you and me in this great vineyard of the Lord. Let us go into these streets and lanes—into these highways and hedges, and carry the news of salvation. Let us seek out these little neglected ones, and bring them into our mission schools and our churches; let us visit these wretched homes, and tell their parents of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to seek and to save the lost. Thank God, there are many workers already laboring in the Lord's harvest fields; but there is room for more—there is room for every Christian to share in the toil and the burden, and also in the rest and the reward.—Methodist.
Influence of Example.
Said a lively little boy to his mother, I wish you would hire Sally again, I don’t like to work so much. And why not, my son? Work is good for us; work makes us happy. It does not make me happy, and it does not make you happy, was the prompt reply. That mother saw her error. Tender and devoted as she was, she had often been grieved by the indifference which her children manifested when required to share with her those labors which her circumstances made it needful for her to perform. But the secret was now told; she had come herself with a disquieted mind to the performance of her task; and although she had not suffered her lips to utter the truth that labor was painful, the lineaments of her face, and the tones of her voice, had conveyed to their young minds this impression more deeply than any words she could have uttered. That children are good physiognomists, is a common remark; but few realize how well they read the mother in her eyes. Her looks make a deeper impression than her words—her spirit than her precepts; and when her instructions are neglected, her example is never forgotten. When all these are at variance, the quick eye of childhood detects the inconsistency; and true to the impulse of feeling, he at once decides that truth is falsehood, or that his mother is not sincere; and thus he early learns, either to despise the truth, or to reject that authority which he cannot respect. I believe many of our sons learn their first lessons in infidelity on their mother’s lap; and far better had it been for those sons, had they learned those lessons in the school of Hume or Voltaire. Better put into our children’s hands the writings of Paine, than fill their minds with objections to the truth derived from the inconsistency of parental example.
When mothers learn to bear the necessary toils and trials of life, not only with meekness and patience, but with cheerfulness and composure, they will meet in the bright eye and happy faces of those for whom they labor, the reward of whatever of self-denial or self-control it may have cost them. The man whose hands are red with the blood of his fellow-man, is called a hero; many speak his praise; but the word of wisdom tells us that he that ruleth his own spirit, is greater than he that taketh a city—and those who have achieved this triumph, find in their own experience, that curse from which they may not escape, converted into choicest blessings. —Advocate & Guardian.
Hints for Young Christians.
NEVER neglect daily prayer; and when you pray, remember that God is present, and that he hears your prayers. 1 John 5 : 14.
Never neglect daily private Bible reading; and when you read, remember that God is speaking to you, and that you are to believe and act upon what he says. All backsliding begins with the neglect of these two rules. John 5 : 39.
Never let a day pass without doing something for Jesus. Every morning, reflect on what Jesus has done for you, and then ask yourself, “What am I doing for him?” Matt. 5:3-16.
If you are ever in doubt as to a thing’s being right or wrong, go to your room and consider whether you can do it in the name of Jesus, and ask God’s blessing upon it. Col. 3 : 17. If you cannot do this, it is wrong. Rom. 14 : 23.
Never take your Christianity from Christians, or argue, because such and such people do so and so, that therefore you may. 2. Cor. 10 : 12. You are to ask yourself, “How would the Lord have me act?” Follow him. John 10 : 27.
Never trust your feelings, or the opinions of men, if they contradict God’s word. If authorities are pleaded, still, “let God be true, but every man a liar.” Rom. 3 : 4.—Sel.
Good Counsel.
Sydney Smith cut the following from a newspaper, and preserved it for himself: “When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow-creature; it is easily done. A left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving—trifles in themselves light as air—will do it, at least for twenty-four hours. But if you are young, depend upon it, it will tell when you are old; and if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of time into eternity. By the most simple, artificial sum, look at the result. If you send one person, only one, happily through the day, that is three hundred and sixty-five in the course of one year. And supposing you only live forty years after you commence that course of medicine, you have made fourteen thousand six hundred beings happy, at all events, for a time.”
An Exhortation to the Point.
WHEN you come together, to exhort each other, and comfort one another, don’t abuse other people; don’t talk about other folks; don’t mention other churches.
If you have “the faith,” show it, explain it, teach it, enforce it, be “rooted and grounded” in it.
If you have got a good hope in Christ, give your reasons for it; let others see it, feel it, partake of and rejoice in it.
If you have any charity, exercise it, make it manifest; let it flow out, that others may feel it and be perfected in and by it.
If you have a “two-edged sword,” use that, and let carnal weapons alone. If you have not learned the—commandment, do try and commit it to memory as soon as possible, and then obey it; and if you have learned, don’t forget to practice it.
If you have ever been made a partaker of that wisdom which is from above, pure, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy, do let it be shown by the way in which you employ your tongue, and thus prove that “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
A Poor Man’s Wish.
I asked a student what three things he most wished. He said, “Give me books, health, and quiet, and I care for nothing more.”
I asked a pauper, and he faintly said, “Bread, bread, bread!”
I asked a drunkard, and he loudly called for strong drink.
I asked the multitude around me, and they lifted up a confused cry, in which I heard the words, “Wealth, fame, and pleasure.”
I asked a poor man who had long borne the character of an experienced Christian. He replied that all his wishes might be met in Christ. He spoke seriously, and I asked him to explain. He said, “I greatly desire three things: first, that I may be found in Christ; secondly, that I may be like Christ; thirdly, that I may be with Christ.”
I have thought much of his answer, and the more I think of it the wiser it seems.
Obituary Notices.
By M. A. Andrews
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
Died, in Jefferson, near Waukon, Iowa, Nov. 6, 1870, of typhoid fever, Charlotte Ella, only daughter of Bro. John and Sr. Angeline Cole, aged 10 years and 7 months. The parents feel greatly afflicted, but mourn not as those without hope; for their lost one gave evidence that she loved the Lord and was striving to keep his commandments.
M. A. Andrews.
Words Condensed Burn Deeper: On Pride and Self-Ignorance
It is with words as with sunbeams—the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.
PRIDE is founded on error and self-ignorance.
News and Miscellany.
“Can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
VERSAILLES, Feb. 3.—Crowds of French peasantry attend daily on the bridge at Neuilly, in the hope of being able to pass the Prussian outposts, but without success. The Parisians are under the impression that the Prussian troops will not enter Paris. They are still ignorant of the full terms of the capitulation.
It is believed that the guns in the forts will not be taken away by the enemy.
The price of provisions has not been lowered. Of 100,000 horses originally in Paris, 66,000 have been killed for food, but 3,000 horses, requisitioned by the government, have been given back to the omnibus company, but cabs have entirely disappeared.
PARIS, Feb. 3.—Flour will be exhausted by Saturday, and on Sunday Paris will be without bread.
BERNE, Feb. 4, via LONDON, Feb. 5.—There are now 66,000 French soldiers in Switzerland, very badly clad, and the Swiss government has asked the French authorities to send clothing. The Germans continued hostilities on the 2d and 3d insts., and there are 200 wounded French soldiers in the hospital at Nuremburg, Baden.
LONDON, Feb. 5.—A complete rupture has taken place between the Paris government and Gambetta, and a restoration of the empire is most probable. It is reported that the Pope has undertaken to assist the restoration. In the clubs it is reported that Bismarck is laboring under severe mental excitement, his mind being so unbalanced as to render him virtually insane.
LONDON, Feb. 6.—The Scheme for the restoration of the empire develops great strength in unexpected high quarters.
LONDON, Feb. 6.—Twenty-four government ovens at Deptford are engaged night and day in baking biscuits for Paris, and immense quantities of provisions are being sent. Four government store-ships are loading to-day, and 16 others are ready to load.
The government has been informed of danger of the Queen being insulted in going from Buckingham Palace to open Parliament, and are making extraordinary arrangements to keep the populace back from the line of the procession. The Queen’s unpopularity has never reached such an alarming point as at present.
LONDON, Feb. 7.—A long conference took place to-day at the Prussian Embassy, between Eugenie and Count Bernstorff. The resignation of Gambetta, it is believed, indicates the abandonment of all hopes of the republic, and makes the restoration of the Empire certain.
LONDON, Feb. 7.—The war office has ordered inquiries to be made in the Island of Jersey as to what accommodations there are for quartering additional troops. It is proposed to send a reinforcement of 700 men there at an early day, and it is contemplated to strengthen the fortifications.
LONDON, Feb. 7.—The Morning Post publishes a special despatch from Calais of the 6th, which says that the Prussians show a determination to retard the revictualing of Paris. Nine trains loaded with provisions for that city have been detained by them at Amiens, though the line is entirely clear. The Post says that the British War Office and Admiralty are actively assisting in the efforts to revictual Paris.
VERSAILLES, Feb. 8.—Yesterday 80 field guns and 140,000 rifles were delivered at Ivry.
M. Favre is in great favor at headquarters. He has won the esteem and confidence of all there.
Paris may be entered before the 19th. Preparations are making for a heavy bombardment should possible complications occur. The attitude of the city is apathetic, and a reaction is expected. Arrangements for supplying food are working tolerably. The mines at the gates have been destroyed.
Bismarck is again quite ill, and his condition causes grave uneasiness.
PARIS, Feb. 9.—Many respectable people are making an effort to leave before a renewal of the war, which will bring on worse horrors than ever. The actual condition is little changed. The Champs Elysees is little damaged. The Bois de Boulogne is destroyed. The shops are slowly commencing to re-open. There is no gas in the city, yet the order is good. The popular sentiment is intensely excited at the idea of the entry of the Prussians, but the feeling is growing gradually more lenient toward the enemy. There is a report that a Prussian army corps was sent south on Tuesday, resolved to carry Belfort by storm.
FLORENCE, Feb. 10.—The newspapers announce that a Catholic league is formed in Belgium to prepare an armed expedition against Italy, with branches established in Austria and Spain, and in some provinces of France, and the meeting place is to be on some island in the Mediterranean Sea. The Italian government has received information of the formation of a conspiracy.
LE HAVRE, Feb. 11.—The Prussians have imposed a contribution of 4,000,000 francs on Rouen, which must be made to-day, and another of 20,000,000 francs, payable to-morrow. They have also exacted 640,000 francs from the people of Fecamps.
There is a prevailing wish in the capital for submission to the fate of war, and Paris is willing to make any sacrifice in preference to a resumption of hostilities. Accounts from the north indicate the same feeling. The conditions of peace are likely to be relaxed in severity if the Assembly shows a spirit of resignation, dignity of temper, and conciliation.
The elections were quiet, and not the slightest interference was made by the Germans. There is no motion or excitement.
The Norden Wochenschrift confidently predicts a Turkish war in the spring, and another between England and the United States next autumn.
The Prussians have captured a letter from the King of Sweden, expressing the warmest sympathy for France.
A COUNCIL of war is to be held by the chief generals of France.
THE Germans have drawn closely to Paris.
Appointments.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
At Happy Valley, N. Y., Feb. 25 and 26.
Monthly meeting for Jefferson Co., at Mannsville, N. Y., first Sabbath and first-day in March. Brethren, come to the meeting to do and get good. C. O. Taylor.
Monthly meeting in Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., at Randolph, Sabbath and Sunday, March 4 and 5, 1871. R. M. Warren.