Civilian & Telegraph

Miscellaneans.

The Habit of Giving

There are few sentences in the writings of Edward Burke which deserves better to be pondered upon than his advice to his son, 'Not to lose the habit of giving.'

The number of persons who do not at times part with some portion of their property for the relief or benefit of others, is comparatively small. But this occasional and wholly unreliable giving is widely different from the settled habit of responding to the calls of benevolence.

The formation of such a habit is ordinarily the work of time, even on the part of many who mean to be governed by Christian principle. Like all habits, it is the result of frequent repetition, and its establishment, therefore, if proceeding from right motives, is evidence of a long series of benevolent acts.

The habit of giving, like every other virtue, is more easily lost than won. What it has been the work of years to establish, few months, often, are sufficient to destroy. By refusing, for only a short time, to contribute to our wonted objects of benevolence, we become spiritually poorer with a startling rapidity.

Circumstances, it is true, may put it out of power to contribute to the same extent as we are accustomed to do, but the cases are very rare in which a Christian cannot give something, even though it be but a trifle, to the various forms in which Christ's kingdom asks his aid. If he withholds this from pride, the fear of poverty, or any other reason, he inflicts an irreparable injury upon himself. He takes an attitude of passive resistance to the objects which should engage his warmest interest. He inevitably becomes estranged from them, and, to a certain degree, from his brethren who are actively carrying forward these plans of Christian love. This coldness to the various forms of benevolent labor is itself a state of inward poverty, which is far more to be feared than any outward want.

The loss of the habit of giving is, therefore, a very great loss, and one against which no pains are too great to guard. Just now the danger is imminent. Some, there is reason to fear, are withholding more than is meet, yielding perhaps, to idle fears, or the suggestions of a weak and timorous faith. Let all such remember how precious is the habit of meeting the appeals of Christian benevolence with cheerfulness; with how much time and pains it is acquired; how easily it is lost, and how lamentable the loss is, and resolve once for all, that whatever else they may lose, they will not lose the habit of giving.—Christian Herald.