p. 149 | DO IT AGAIN

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 10, 1890

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 16, No. 10.

DO IT AGAIN.

VERY little is accomplished in the way of character building by a single act. It is the repeated good deed, the reiterated confession of Christ, the frequent kindly service, that makes the man, through God's grace, strong and true and tender. The temple of character is built of very small stones, each stone an act performed from a true motive. It is on this account that we urge the necessity of what has been so well called “the disciplinary effect of routine deliveries.” On this account we believe most heartily in the method of systematic benevolence. A character-stone, or at least a pebble of character, is laid in enduring mortar, whenever the Christian puts aside, in his weekly benevolence envelope, something from his weekly earnings for the world's needs. The very act of separating this offering from the rest of the income, placing it in the envelope, and giving it into the Lord's treasury, will help fix the habit of beneficence. So with the habit of confession. To confess love for Christ once is better than nothing; but it is only one better than nothing. An outspoken religious habit of mind is not thus developed. Do it again and again and again, and then do it once more, and after a while we begin to see the walls arise of a frank, outspoken, manly character.—Golden Rule.