Says Jeremiah, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his
spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to evil.” The last
chapter in the biography of habits is its enthronement, its tyranny
over the will. The tragedy of every habit is that instead of being an
aid to the will, it becomes its master. Donald Sage Mackay, in “The
Religion of the Threshold,” says:
Henry Drummond once told of a man who had gone to a London
physician to consult about his eyes. The physician looked into
the man’s eyes with a delicate ophthalmoscope, and then said
quietly to the man. “My friend, you are practising a certain
sin, and unless you give it up, in six months you will be
blind.” For a moment the man stood trembling in the agony of
discovery, and then, turning to the sunlit window, he looked out
and exclaimed, “Farewell, sweet light, farewell!”
(1329)
* * * * *
A man named Patch, having been charged with murder, his
solicitor carefully examined the premises and situation, and
came to the conclusion that the murderer must have been a
left-handed man. The solicitor informed Sergeant Best, in
consultation, that he had noticed Patch, when taking his dinner,
using his knife with the left hand. In a conference before the
trial, the sergeant prest the prisoner to say whether he was
not left-handed, but he protested he was not. When the prisoner
was arraigned at the bar on the day of trial, and was called
on to plead, he answered, “Not guilty,” and at once, of course
unconsciously, held up his left hand.--CROAKE JAMES,
“Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”
(1330)
Slowly and insidiously do the evil habits grow until they become
as gnarled crooked trees which none may straighten; little by
little the gossamer thread becomes a cart-rope which none may
break; imperceptibly does the film of ice spread over the river,
holding the waters before long in a grasp which Niagara could
not burst. The character is stereotyped; the life moves in
deep downward grooves. Says the modern determinist, “By habit
the mind is reduced into servitude.” Says the apostle, “We are
sold under sin.”--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured
Sackcloth.”
(1331)
See ROUTINE.