Article November 16, 1899 Issue

From the Religious Press

Everybody agrees as to the fact, but in practice most of us sometimes come very far short of our ideal.

Of course self-respect is involved in self-control. When we realize that we are off our balance, that we are being swayed by forces which we ought to be able to control, we cannot help being ashamed. The momentary gratification which some people find in yielding to anger soon passes away, and at its best is no compensation for the feeling of weakness and self-contempt which accompanies the consciousness of having failed to retain one's poise of mind and conduct. To keep the tone natural and the language calm, to conquer the impulse to return the blow or the insult, to preserve a clear, cool, resolute mastery of conditions when the attempt is made to baltle and mislead one—this, in the lower and the higher grades of effort alike, reveals the master of self and therefore of others, for influence and usefulness are involved.

It is a maxim in the working world that no man can control others who cannot control himself; that the soldier, the sailor, the operative can be handled much more surely and rendered much more effective by him of the low tone and the quiet yet decided manner, than by cursing and threatening. He who can restrain and control himself wins inevitable respect and admiration. We admire him who succeeds thus, and he whose self-control evidently is based on Christian principle, he who seeks to restrain himself and in this way honor his God and Master, wins a double influence. And it is credited where credit is due. His Christian character is acknowledged. To some people the duty of self-control is far harder than to others. In such cases the victory when won, is the more creditable, but it is a lesson which almost every one of us, and especially those who are young in Christian experience, should take to heart, that, in the language of the good Book, "he that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city."—The Congregationalist.

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