rse.' That I should in one way or another have solved this
mystery of mysteries seemed, to my friend a matter of course. 'I have
not even a theory of magnetism' was my reply. We ought to learn to
wait. We ought assuredly to pause before closing with the advances of
those expounders of the ways of God to men, who offer us intellectual
peace at the modest cost of intellectual life.

The teachers of the world ought to be its best men, and for the
present at all events such men must learn self-trust. By the fullness
and freshness of their own Jives and utterances they must awaken life
in others. The hopes and terrors which influenced our fathers are
passing away, and our trust henceforth must rest on the innate
strength of man's moral nature. And here, I think, the poet will have
a great part to play in the future culture of the world. To him, when
he rightly understands his mission, and does not flinch from the tonic
discipline which it assuredly demands, we have a right to look for
that heightening and brightening of life which so many of us need. To
him it is given for a long time to come to fill those shores which the
recession of the theologic tide has left exposed. Void of offence to
science, he may freely deal with conceptions which science shuns, and
become the illustrator and interpreter of that Power which as

'Jehovah, Jove, or Lord,'

has hitherto filled and strengthened the human heart.

Let me utter one practical word in conclusion--take care of your
health. There have been men who by wise attention to this point might
have risen to any eminence--might have made great discoveries, written
great poems, commanded armies, or ruled states, but who by unwise
neglect of this point have come to nothing. Imagine Hercules as
oarsman in a rotten boat; what can he do there but by the very force
of his stroke expedite the ruin of his craft? Take care then of the
timbers of your boat, and avoid all practices likely to introduce
either wet or dry rot amongst them. And this is not to be
accomplished by desultory or intermittent efforts of the will, but by
the formation of _habits_. The will no doubt has sometimes to put forth
its strength in order to crush the special temptation. But the
formation of right habits is essential to your permanent security.
They diminish your chance of falling when assailed, and they augment
your chance of recovery when overthrown.

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