constantly tempted to excess and to error, in spite of the most firm
habits of self-denial which can be formed. If we resist temptation, our
characters are improved. And it is by self-denial and self-government in
these smaller matters, that we are to hope for nearly all the progress
we can ever make in the great work of self-education. Great trials of
character come but seldom; and when they come, we are often armed
against them; but these little trials and temptations, coming upon us
every hour--these it is, after all, that give shape to our characters,
and make us constantly growing either better or worse, both in the sight
of God and man. But, as I have repeatedly said, the object of this work
is to diminish rather than to increase the frequency of these trials,
useful though they may be, if duly improved, in the formation of
virtuous, and even of holy character.

There is a sense in which every infant may be said to be born healthy,
so that we may not only adopt the language of the poet, Bowring, and
say

--"a child is born;
Take it, and make it a bud of _moral_ beauty,"

but we may also add--Take it and make it beautiful _physically_. For
though a hereditary predisposition undoubtedly renders some individuals
more susceptible than others to particular diseases, yet when the bodily
organization of an infant is complete, and the degree of vitality which
nature gives it is sufficient to propel the machinery of the frame, it
can scarcely be regarded as in any other state than that of health.

Now if it be the intention of divine Providence (and who will doubt that
it is?) that the animal body should be capable of resisting with