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Volume Vl.]
HOW TO CONQUER.
«T is an evil appetite, and you must conquer it, or
it will ruin you soul and body,” said the aged
minister as he held up a warning hand to the
man, whom he had known from boyhood.
T “ know it as well as you do,” said Mr. Everett
as he leaned his head upon his hand in an attitude of
the deepest dejection; “yet what can I do?”
“Do! You must repent of this
sin. You must renounce it. You I
must break away from these hab- . t
its altogether.”
“That is easier said than done,V
replied the young man. “ Once
I took my social glass merely be
cause the customs of good society
seemed to demand if, now I take
it because I have learned to love
it. There is a craving for it at
t\ae> trhich I cannot resist. I
know this increases upon me too.
“ I should think your own
son would tell, you that you must
either master this habit or it will
master you,” replied the minister.
“Reason!” said Everett, bit
terly. “My reason tells me plain
ly enough that the end of it all
will be a drunkard’s grave and a
drunkard’s doom; yet I seem to
have no strength to resist in the
hour of temptation. Oh, Mr. Da
venport, it is a fearful thing to be
the slave of an appetite which is
sure to work one’s ruin.”
“ One thing can save you,” said
Mr. Davenport. “Go to Jesus
Christ. Confess your sin; seek
pardon and strength from him;
then will you learn to say, with
Paul, ‘ I can do all things through
Christ, which strengthened! me.’ ”
“If I could only'be sure of
that, I would try it,” said the )
young man. “ 1 have made so
many good resolves in my own
strength, and it all amounts to so
little.”
“You may be sure,” said Mr. Davenport. “Commit
yourself to God with a sincere repentance and an earn
est faith, and you cannot fail, because-the whole power
of God is pledged to keep you. His assurance to every
soul that thus rests on him is, ‘ God is merciful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.’ If
God be not true, there is nb truth in all the universe.
His word can never fail.”
“ I will try it,” said Mr. Everett, while a ray of hope
lighted up his fine face. “ I have long wished to be
come a Christian. I will put it off no longer. I will be
gin to’-day; and God helping me, I will lead a new life.”
“ God has helped you to come to this decision, my
dear young friend,” said the minister as he grasped the
PUBLISHED BY THE HOME MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.
young man’s hand in both his own. “ Whosoever will.
may come: but it is God that worketh in us both to will
and to do. Never forget that; and in all your struggles
with sin look to God for help, in all your conquests over
sin give God the glory.”
“ But suppose I do not overcome ?” said young Eve
rett, timidly. “ Suppose I begin the Christian life and
do not hold out ?”
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“ Wait upon God, hold fast to the promises, trust in
Christ, watch and pray, and you will be safe,” replied
the minister. “ There is no sin so great that God can
not pardon it; there is none so strong that God cannot
conquer it. If this religion of Jesus Christ is anything
at all, it can do all things. It can take us just as we
are and lay its hold on the whole man, changing the
heart and the life, till at the last we are presented fault
: less before the throne of God in heaven.”
A good man has said, my impossibilities I take to the
Lord, and he has a warrant for so doing in the words of
' Christ: “ with men it is impossible, but not with God;”
: for with God all things are possible.
MACON, GEORGIA, JULY 15, 1877.
A BAD FIRE.
“Jones, have you heard of the fire that burned up that
man’s house and lot ?” *
“ No, Smith, where was it ?”
“ Here in the city.”
“ Whaj: a misfortune. Was it a house ?”
“ Yes, a fine house and lot—a good home for anybody.”
“ What a pity! How did the fire ta'ke ?”
“ The man played with fire and
thoughtlessly set it himself.”
“ How silly! Did you say the
lot was burned, too ?”
Yes, lot and all. All gone,
slick and clean.”
“ That’s singular. It must have
been a terrible hot fire—and then
I don’t well see how it could
burn the lot.”
/‘No, it was not a large fire,
n <X a very hot fire. Indeed it
was Sft that it attracted but
little atte^p n »
fne burn up a-^ ouse an d lot?
You haven’t told i. e »
“ It burned a long Hme—more
than twenty years—and hough it
seemed to consume very
yet it wore away about one hun
dred and fifty dollars’ worth every
year, until it was all gone.”
“ I can’t quite understand you
yet. Tell me all about it.”
“ Well, it was kindled in the
end of a cigar. The cigar cost
him, he himself told me, twelve
and a half dollars a month, or
one hundred and fifty dollars a
year; and that in twenty-one
years would amount to $3,140,
besides all the interest. Now the
whole sum wouldn’t be far from
SIO,OOO. That would buy a fine
house and lot. It would pay for
a large farm in the country.”
“ Whew! I guess you mean
me, for I have smoked more than
twenty years; but I didn’t know
it cost as much as that. And I
haven’t any house of my own. Have always rented—
thought I was too poor to own a house. And all be
cause I have been burning it up! Whew, what a fool
I have been.”
Boys had better never set a fire which cost so much,
and which, though it might be so easily put out, is yet so
likely, if once kindled, to keep burning all their lives.
Frank and Prince. —Frank is a real boy and no
mistake! Look at him and you will say so; but then,
judging by his looks, he is a noble little boy. And
Prince, his Newfoundland dog, is a noble one. They
love each other, no doubt. I reckon Prince would fight
for Frank, or would pull him out of the water if he fell in.
[Number, 39.