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' 1- •/^\__.—.' _ •■••. ' -.■ ~ C 7 ' iArr> 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 ?” agjgjgl' MMgM SSlwHfevi?lii-Ki> A ■ b'fiH I! -ISI I 4 UMwIrMW 11 T SHHk ®* f ! I ,' • K dtf ': ~ MMWI® ■■ vK 1 “ 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.