Che Influence of Bubit. THE astonishing power which habit exercises over us, is scarcely credible to those who are unaccustomed to analyse the deep workings of the human mind, and who have never been called upon to change the every day routine of their proceedings. But a little observation will convince us that the chains in which habit binds every faculty of the soul, are most powerful engines of good or evil. And while we take heed not to confound cause and effect; while we remember, that habit is not itself the holy principle of Grace within us, which, when really formed in the soul, seems as a well, springing up to eternal life: we shall yet find that habit becomes a singularly useful hedge about the spiritual vineyards; strengthening the feeble aspirations of the soul after good things, encouraging the growth of divine grace in the heart, and retaining in the service of piety all the nobler faculties of the intellectual part of our natures. When the soul has learned to seek and receive grace from her Redeemer; when she has learned to meditate much upon the abounding mercy, the unfathomable love, the spotless purity, the majestic grandeur of his character, as exhibited to us in the Holy Scriptures, she will have formed habits of contemplation which will bring into action gratitude, love, and a pure exalted taste, capable of appreciating conceptions the most perfect and sublime. To a soul thus trained we shall perceive that cause and effect will act and react on each other; the sentiments of grateful love will lead to actions of obedience and devotion on the one hand; the habit of performing these actions, will, on the other, deepen the love by which they were originally prompted. Many of us know how the habit of rendering thanks, which spring from love to our Heavenly Father, for His never failing mercies, strengthens that love. 346 THE INFLUENCE OF HABIT. towards Him; how the habit of tracing the foosteps of Providence, amid the intricate paths of life, strengthens our faith and hope from which the habit arose; how the habit of referring all events to His choice and direction, strengthens the resignation, -which gave birth to the habit. And thus we might proceed through the whole catalogue of Christian graces. Such being the use and the power of habit, how greatly does the cultivation of good ones, prompted and assisted as it doubtless is by the Holy Spirit, prepare us for the enjoyments and happiness of glorified spirits-for the society of Heaven. Religion is not merely a sentiment, it is not a set of abstract theories, apart from our every day occupations. Like an atmosphere, it must surround, pervade and mingle with every motive and every action. Some appear to believe that Religion consists in worshipping the supreme Being; and, by consequence deem all time misspent which is devoted to secular objects; even the Creator's beautiful handiworks, the earth, which is full of His riches, and teeming with beauty, life and joyousness, are all quite beneath the contemplation of such as imbibe this narrow view of man's duty and his destiny. I would rather define that mind as a religious one, which has acquired the habit of conducting every thing with reference to its Creator and eternity. While such a soul forgets not to worship publicly as well as in the closet; and, in the secret of the heart, to commune with its God, under an abiding sense of His omnipresence, it will also take a far wider range than the one to which I have alluded. While he traces the guiding finger of the Deity in all the minor events of life, he remembers that we are placed in this world to be trained for Heaven-that we must practice the tempers and the graces of Heaven in our every day employments-that the man of business, who, from motives which arise in a conscience enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit of Christ, preserves an unsullied integrity amidst the contamination of the world's traffic, does exhibit the THE INFLUENCE OF HABIT. 347 beauty of a religious character, as truly as another who sits in his closet and writes a devotional treatise. They are parts of a whole; and it is dangerous to separate the idea of them. "Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." We weave snares for our consciences, when we allow ourselves to believe that the lawful pursuits, the intellectual or the simple pleasures of life, necessarily carry us out of the atmosphere of Religion. They may be the very best means of bracing our minds for the highest department of religious devotional exercises, either on behalf of ourselves or others, "whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me." I believe we do offer no unacceptable praise to the Father of mercies, when with hearts peacefully reposing on His love, we enjoy the beautiful world in which He has placed us; and when we expand with glowing benevolence towards all around us, or receive with adoring thankfulness, the sweet love with which, as in silver chains, some of us are bound to each other. Love to God and to our neighbour, we are told by the sacred lips of Truth, is the sum and substance of the Divine law; and it appears impossible to enumerate a grace which is not employed in carrying out these two principles. Are we then watching, as at the feet of Jesus, for the precious opportunities which are presented by the swiftly changing events of each day, to do His work? For, whether it be in public or in private life, each day brings with it the Christian's proper business, both towards his God and his neighbour; and by patiently persevering in its performance, we call into exercise almost every Christain grace, which we shall need in Heaven and we shall, ere long, be surprised to find how firmly these graces are engrafted on our natures, and bound about our souls with the bands of habit. The commencement of great works is generally small and insignificant: the seed is minute, although the tree be of great magnitude; but the seed must be planted in the earth, or the tree will not spring up. So must we take heed that we form good habits; which though 348 THE BIBLE AGAINST SLAVERY. they at first may be feeble, and of slow growth, will surely strengthen and expand by degrees. As the tender plant is nourished by the oft descending rain and the constant dew of Heaven, so is the vital principle of divine grace within us cherished by the persevering, rather than the great, efforts of daily practice; and these efforts constitute our habits. PHILLIPS. Che Bible against Slavery. THE spirit of slavery never seeks refuge in the Bible of its own accord. The "horns of the altar" are its last resortseized only in desperation, as it rushes from the terror of the avenger's arm. Like other unclean spirits, it "hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest its deeds should be reproved." Goaded to phrenzy in its conflicts with conscience and common sense, denied all quarter, and hunted from every covert, it vaults over the sacred inclosure, and courses up and down the Bible," seeking rest, and finding none." The law of love, glowing on every page, flashes around it an omnipresent anguish and despair. It shrinks from the hated light, and howls under the consuming touch, as demons quailed before the Son of God, and shrieked, "Torment us not." At last, it slinks away under the types of the Mosaic system, and seeks to burrow out of sight among the shadows. Vain hope! Its asylum is its sepulchre; its city of refuge, the city of destruction. It flies from light into the sun; from heat into devouring fire; and from the voice of God into the thickest of his thunders. T. D. WELD. What has the Year left Undone? Ir is not what my hands have done, It is not any heinous guilt, Or vice by men abhorred; And men would wonder if they knew, Alas! they only see a part, When thus they judge the whole ; Its root may there conceal, And spread its poison through the frame, They judge by actions which they see But conscience brings reproach to me For opportunities of good, In folly thrown away, For hours misspent in solitude, Forgetfulness to pray; And thousand more omitted things, Whose memory fills my breast with stings. |