In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter xiv., will be found the cure for all forms of habit: "And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea."
Let us reason together, and see in what way this verse will dissolve the slavery and loose the chains of oppression, which, with a seeming Pharaoh-power, have held us in bondage, until we find ourselves in the midst of a sea of error, tossed by the angry waves of appetite, until we long for a Moses to emancipate us from our sinking condition, and honestly desire to separate from the husky vanities of this world. When we have, like the Prodigal Son, "come to ourselves," and can say, "I will arise and go to my Father," then we have come to the first step in our lesson. It is the fourth watch, the morning watch, the dawning of the Truth, the breaking-through of the Light, after the long, dark night of error.
It is here that the full meaning of the verse dawns upon us, and we see with a clearer vision the lesson our Master taught us by walking on the sea. What a lesson is here! so grand, so simple, so true, so full of hope to the wanderer, when he has seen the Star in the East, and has departed from King Herod, and will let it lead him on (as it did the Wise Men), higher, higher up in the ascending firmament of Truth, multiplying his pure thoughts, as Life and Love give birth to nobler aims, until Truth has lifted him up above, and he has forever put under foot whatever would drag him down and engulf him in its angry vortex of sin and bondage. This is the lesson our Master teaches us by walking on the sea, and how vividly he shows us that dominion is man's birthright, and not subjection.
