Conformity to Environment 



exercise of our highest powers. The moral and 

 reHgious life must form a larger part of our 

 thought and interest as well as of our life. They 

 must be made a business. For as a man think- 

 eth in his heart, and on the plane of what most 

 occupies his thought, so he is. 



The attainment of a higher plane through the 

 exercise of higher powers demands a change of 

 habits of thought as well as action. Such changes 

 of habit are never easy, they are more difficult 

 every year of life, as old lines of thought and 

 action become more fixed and easy; in time 

 change becomes practically impossible. More- 

 over, the arguments and inducements to remain 

 on the lower plane are many and plausible. In- 

 ertia and present habit are sufficient to fetter 

 many. The present holds them by custom and 

 by hereditary tenure. Present advantages are 

 numerous and clear. They are close to us in 

 our surroundings, and crowd naturally and easily 

 into the first place in our environment. Pro- 

 vision for present material needs and against 

 similar future dangers and emergencies is a 

 daily duty. It easily becomes the chief end and 

 effort of life, and absorbs all our thought and 

 energy. 



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