He
was no coward, nor had he a licentious past behind him, who confessed
that late on in life he had to beat his body and bring it into
subjection lest having preached to others he should be a castaway. He
knew; and was honest and wise enough to keep up precautions to the end.
There is simply no way through this part of life for the man with slack
habits and a self-indulgent attitude of spirit. The man who will not
stand up and brace himself, who is not game for a fight, and will not
endure hardness is never going to make anything fine out of the
splendid but difficult enterprise we call human life. And all the time
he will need to have his sentinels out. All the time he will need to
make sure that he is master in his own house of life, and allows no
interloping thoughts or imaginations to run riot there.
But what about religion! The conventional way in which to end a plain
talk about any sort of temptation is to say that God can and will help
a man in those straits where his own will is too weak, and that through
prayer there is a way of escape for us all.
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