And where social relations are concerned, self-denial should take the form, not of showy acts of would-be humility, but of control of the tongue and the moods—in refraining from saying anything uncharitable or merely frivolous (which means, in practice, refraining from about fifty per cent of ordinary conversation), and in behaving calmly and with quiet cheerfulness when external circumstances or the state of our bodies pre-disposes us to anxiety, gloom or an excessive elation. When a man practises charity in order to be reborn in heaven, or for fame, or reward, or from fear, such charity can
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