We may accustom ourselves to exaggerate small evils, and
to underestimate great blessings. We may even become the victim
of petty miseries by giving way to them. Thus, we may educate
ourselves in a happy disposition, as well as in a morbid one.
Indeed, the habit of viewing things cheerfully, and of thinking
about life hopefully, may be made to grow up in us like any other
habit. (2) It was not an exaggerated estimate of Dr. Johnson to
say, that the habit of looking at the best side of any event is
worth far more than a thousand pounds a year.
Th religious man's life is pervaded by rigid self-discipline and
self-restraint. He is to be sober and vigilant, to eschew evil
and do good, to walk in the spirit, to be obedient unto death, to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand; to
wrestle against spiritual wickedness, and against the rulers of
the darkness of this world; to be rooted and built up in faith,
and not to be weary of well-doing; for in due season he shall
reap, if he faint not.
The man of business also must needs be subject to strict rule and
system. Business, like life, is managed by moral leverage;
success in both depending in no small degree upon that regulation
of temper and careful self-discipline, which give a wise man not
only a command over himself, but over others. Forbearance and
self-control smooth the road of life, and open many ways which
would otherwise remain closed.
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