Habits Form a Lasting Cloak

HABITS FORM A LASTING CLOAK.

Habits, once formed, last you through life, and fit you like a cloak; hence, a wise adviser has well said: "Form those habits which are correct, and such as will every day and hour add to your happiness and usefulness. If a man were to be told that he must use the ax, which he now selects, through life, would he not be careful in selecting one of the right proportions and temper? If told that he must wear the same clothing through life, would he not be anxious as to quality and kind? But these, in the cases supposed, would be of no more importance than is the selection of habits according to which the soul shall act." There is a whole sermon in the following lines from George Herbert:

Slight those who say, amidst their sickly healths, Thou liv'st by rule. What doth not so but man? Houses are built by rule, and commonwealths. Entice the trusty sun, if that you can, From his ecliptic line; beckon the sky. Who lives by rule, then keeps good company.

Who keeps no guard upon himself is slack, And rots to nothing at the next great thaw. Man is a shop of rules, a well-trussed pack, Whose every parcel underwrites a law. Lose not thyself, nor give thy humors way: God gave them to thee under lock and key.