If these
are not made a part of the forming life, things opposite will be
received, and determine spiritual capabilities. Influx of life into
the soul must be through prior things; as the twig is bent, the tree
is inclined; as the child's memory and consciousness is stored, so
will the man develop and progress. Take heart, then, doubting
parent; if you have in all faithfulness, woven precious truths, and
tender, pious, unselfish states into the texture of your child's
mind--though the fruit is not yet seen, depend on it, that the
treasured remains of good and true things are there, and will not be
lost.
VIII.
GIVING THAT DOTH NOT IMPOVERISH.
_OF_ all the fallacies accepted by men as truths, there is none more
widely prevalent, nor more fatal to happiness, than that which
assumes the measure of possession to be the measure of enjoyment.
All over the world, the strife for accumulation goes on; every one
seeking to increase his flocks and herds--his lands and houses--or
his gold and merchandise--and ever in the weary, restless,
unsatisfied present, tightening with one hand the grasp on worldly
goods, and reaching out for new accessions with the other.
In dispensation, not in possession, lies the secret of enjoyment; a
fact which nature illustrates in a thousand ways, and to which every
man's experience gives affirmation. "Very good doctrine for the idle
and thriftless," said Mr.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66