“He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city” (Prov.
xvi. 32).
Temperance is true self-government. It involves the grace of self-denial
and the spirit of a sound mind. It is that poise of spirit that holds us
quiet, self-possessed, recollected, deliberate, and subject ever to the
voice of God and the conviction of duty in every step we take. Many
persons have not that poise and recollected spirit. They are drifting at
the impulse of their own impressions, moods, the influence of others, or
the circumstances around them. No desire should ever control us. No
purpose, however right, should have such mastery over us that we are not
perfectly free. The pure affection may be an inordinate affection. Our
work itself may be a selfish passion. That thing that we began to do
because it was God’s will, we may cling to and persist in ultimately,
because it is our own will. Lord, give us the spirit ever controlled by
Thy Spirit and will, and the eye that looks to Thee every moment as the
eyes of a servant to the hands of her mistress. So shall Thy service be
our perfect freedom, and our subjection divinest liberty.