you will not follow, as the beasts do, just what seems pleasant to
your flesh; no, you will be able to obey Christ's godly motions, that
is, to do, as well as to love, the good desires which He puts into
your hearts. You will do not merely what is pleasant, but what is
right; you will not be your own slaves, you will be your own masters,
and God's loyal and obedient sons; you will not be, as too many are,
mere animals going about in the shape of men, but truly men at heart,
who are not afraid of pain, poverty, shame, trouble, or death itself,
when they are in the right path, about the work to which God has
called them.

But if you ask Christ to make true men and women of you, you must
believe that He will give you what you ask; if you ask Him to help
you, you must believe that He will and does help you--you must
believe that it is He Himself who has put into your hearts the very
desire of being holy and strong at all; and therefore you must
believe that you can help yourselves. Help yourselves, and He will
help you. If you ask for His help, He will give it. But what is the
use of His giving it, if you do not use it? To him who has shall be
given, and he shall have more; but from him who has not shall be
taken away even what he seems to have. Therefore do not merely pray,
but struggle and try YOURSELVES. Train yourselves as St. Paul did;
train yourselves to keep your temper; train yourselves to bear
unpleasant things for the sake of your duty; train yourselves to keep
out of temptation; train yourselves to be forgiving, gentle, thrifty,
industrious, sober, temperate, cleanly, as modest as little children
in your words, and thoughts, and conduct. And God, when He sees you
trying to be all this, will help you to be so. It may be hard to
educate yourselves. Life is a hard business at best--you will find
it a thousand times harder, though, if you are slaves to your own