ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. AMEN.
Besides the greater virtues into which Temperance enters as a component, we may consider some smaller ones, which conduce to the perfection of a man s character, and which restrain him from irregularities which do not amount to serious sin. Modesty is one of these. It is a virtue which controls the external demeanour. This is a small matter in comparison with the graver precepts of the law. It is quite possible for considerable defects of this kind to co-exist with great and solid virtues. Yet the interior dispositions and the outward comportment are closely allied. As Holy Writ says: "A man is known by his look, and a wise man when thou meetest him is known by his countenance. The attire of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and the gait of a man show what he is" (Eccli. xix. 26, 27). Modesty is not "a mystery of the body devised to conceal the defects of the character." When it is superficial and not the product of an inward principle, and when it is limited to keeping up appearances, it is not the virtue of modesty, but fraud and hypocrisy. Modesty is genuine and sincere, the product of habits of self-restraint and humility; it does not aim at effect, but yet produces it unmistakably. Do not cultivate merely the externals of modesty, but discipline your mind to humility and tranquillity, and this will correct all external traits that are offensive, ridiculous, or of bad taste.
