it fully in a later volume, to be called Problems of Religion.] Various accessoriesand safeguards.  The dogged and hearty practice of auto-suggestion, whether in the secular form above outlined, or in the warmer and more satisfying form of prayer, is sufficient to keep a man master of himself and above the reach of whatever temptations he recognizes and chooses to resist.  But there are various other furtherances to self-control that may be briefly suggested.

(1) The method of “turning over a new leaf” is of the utmost value to minds of a certain type.  To declare a definite break with the old life, a fresh beginning, unstained and full of hope, often gives just the extra impetus that was needed.  We are weighted by the memory of our failures, we live in the shadow of the past, and easily slide into a hopelessness and sense of impotence which a mere dogged persistence cannot overcome.  New Year’s Day, a birthday, any change in place or manner of life, may well be made the occasion for a bout of “moral house-cleaning,” which will give a new enthusiasm and vitality to our better natures.  The essential thing in such cases is to look out for the first tests, and not allow a single exception to the new resolutions.  A slight lapse, that seems inconsequential, may serve to check the new momentum; as La Rochefoucauld says, “It is far easier to extinguish a first desire than to satisfy all those that follow in its train.”

There is, however, a real danger in this method, of a discouragement and demoralization resulting from the collapse of enthusiastic hopes.  And there is the further danger that a man will excuse indulgence in such hours of discouragement, on the ground that he is going to turn over another new leaf to-morrow and might as well have a good fling to- day.  It is well to remember the truth that Martineau expressed by his apt phrase, “the tides of the spirit.”  “But, alas,” Stevenson puts it, “by planting a stake at the top of the flood, you can neither prevent nor delay the inevitable ebb.”  After all, in most of our moral warfare, “it’s dogged as does it.”  “He that stumbles and picks himself up is as if he had never fallen.”

“We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides; The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides.  But tasks in hours of insight will’d Can be through hours of gloom fulfill’d.”

If we do try the abrupt break, it is of the utmost importance to utilize every opportunity for the carrying out of the new program, to hunt up occasions while the will is strong and the courage high.  One actual fulfillment of a resolution is worth many mental rehearsals.  And when the enemy is repulsed by this charge with the bayonet, vigilance must not be relaxed, lest he return to take us unawares. [Footnote:  I cannot forbear including, in this connection, the admirable remarks of William James (Psychology, vol.  I, pp. 123-24):  “The first [maxim] is that in the acquisition of a new habit, or the leaving off