Show I HABIT I The Second of a Series of JLcctures to Young Me ii Rev Mr Thrall of the Congregational Church has entered upon a course of lectures lec-tures to young men The course is designed I de-signed to reach a class of young men very numerous in our community viz those who are very careless regarding their moral standing and character Tile second of the series was delivered in the Independence Hall building last Sunday evening Notwithstanding the varied attractions other parts of the city in i the way of lectures and addresses a fair I sized audience turned out to hear the rcveieud gentleman discourse on the subject sub-ject of H Habit The following is a synopsis of the lecture When the habits we form cease to be the masters we obey and the Fates that control our destiny it will be time to give I this subject a subordinate place but not till then A good test would be a remark I of Paleys Mankind act more from habit than reflection man is a bundle of habits Forming habits is building a man Each new habit becomes a part of our very being Breaking up habits is simply untying the bundle of life taking t the man to pieces A man is not himself while he is trying to reform he is un borned so to speak a mere wreck of himself Cowpers language on this subject sub-ject is not an exaggeration Habits are soon assumed Hut when we strive To strip them tis being llnycd alive A man and his habits are one and the j same thing But in another sense habit is somcthing jl1lle apart num tile man himself something which he possesses pos-sesses and uses for his pleasure or service ser-vice like a toy or a tool or something which possesses and controls him like a tyrant The very word 1 comes from the Latin haberr hid means to have At first habit is that which we have At t last habit is that which has us AVc inherit in-herit the habits of our ancestors and these are our nature We form habits of our own and these become our second nature AVe call them ours as if we possessed pos-sessed them but when we try to get rid of them we find that they really possess usLooked at in another light habit is the working law of the man lIe thinks and feels and acts along the line of his habits hab-its No man acts except according to some law It may be a bad law a lawless I law-less law traversing the laws of nature and God but it is inexorable as the Decalogue Deca-logue and the man obeys it like a serf Even our emotions which seem to be mere things of impulse are creatures of law AVe laugh and weep by habit Even willpower which is the most independent in-dependent faculty man possesses follows the lines of habit as naturally as the locomotive loco-motive works along the rails And the stronger and more fixed the habit the more powerfully and swiftly the power of will manifests itself When will power leaves its accustomed grove of habit it is evident that there is trouble somewhere Such unusual and unnatural acts of volition vo-lition are as violent and noisy as a locomotive loco-motive bumping over the tics There is no quality that is permanent and worth having no vice that can destroy the man but is the result of habit Again flaunts are more reliable than impulses or individual acts of volition A fixed habit can be depended on under all circumstances The regular soldier is courageous by 1 habit which is better than to be courageous by impulse A man who cant help being good is more trustworthy trust-worthy than the man who can help it A mans word is not entirely trustworthy until like George Washington he can say I cant tell a lie A man who is I habitually generous and performs his alms unconsciously is better than the man who is only given to freakish generosity gener-osity In habit we find morals and manners man-ners at home in their proper abode Judge of a man by his habits not by his impulses or even by 1 what he calls his principles What a man calls his principles princi-ples are often nothing but his notions his prejudices and his bad habity Some mens principles are the worst thing about them A good habit is more valuable than a good 1 principle It is principle grown ripe Mr Thrall proposes to deliver several more similar lectures on subjects of general gen-eral interest It is a much needed work and it is to be hoped will go on a |