of having any thing to do with them, they are of such waspish, quarrelsome, and churlish natures.'1 Boast what accomplishments we will, Good temper is their lustre still.-HOLLAND. 1 Dr. Calamy. PART II. TEMPER AS IT SHOULD BE. Since trifles make the sum of human things, To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth, With power to grace them, or to crown with health, To all the gift of ministering to ease. The gentle offices of patient love, Beyond all flattery, and all price above, The mild forbearance of another's fault; The taunting word suppress'd as soon as thought: A solitary blessing few can find ; Our joys with those we love are intertwin'd: And he, whose wakeful tenderness removes Th' obstructing thorn which wounds the friend he loves, Smoothes not another's rugged path alone, But scatters roses to adorn his own. Small slights, contempt, neglect, unmix'd with hate, M HANNAH MORE. CHAPTER I. ON THE REASONABLENESS AND IMPORTANCE OF A PROPER TEMPER. 2. IF you admit the foregoing part as a correct statement of the case, so far as it goes, you cannot, I should think, require another argument for the improvement of temper. However excellent may be your own temper, or fortunate your situation, you cannot shut from view those surrounding scenes of misery which, for the most part, result from evil tempers, either natural to the constitution or excited by intemperance. The unhappiness which they bring into the domestic circle, the paralysis they give to its arrangements and to business, and the extreme disgrace and ruin which they often bring upon families and individuals, added to all other ordinary and extraordinary consequences of unsubdued tempers in all conditions of society, constitute a sufficient argument for some extensive and immediate improvement of temper. 3. I lay it down as an axiom, that the free indulgence of unkind tempers towards others is a direct act of injustice, and a manifest breach of the second table of the law. It certainly is not doing to others as we would they should do unto us. It is a positive robbery of another's peace, which is more valuable than property itself. It is a causeless infliction of pain: and what right has any one to do this? He who can deliberately domineer over others, gives undeniable proof of a hard heart. If he would keep his temper to himself, it would be less objectionable; but to fleer, and strike, and abuse others without cause, shows him to be worse than the brute, to have no regard for his own character, and no respect for the feelings of his fellow-creatures. Dr. Johnson has well said, To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.' 4. As I gave you a list of the bad tempers,' so I will here present you with a necessarily shorter, one of an opposite character, as the Conciliating E Excellent 1 See Part I. chap. ii. Forgiving Gentle Good Kind Lenient 5. This is a string of far brighter jewels than any with which you can adorn the outward man. Preserve them as above all price, and aim to exemplify them at all times, and leave it to the ignorant and the vulgar to disfigure themselves with the deformities of rude tempers. We are bound by numberless considerations both from scripture and reason to cultivate the graces of temper, and by this injunction among the rest, and that for its own sake, "Even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Solomon too speaks of the same grace as an ornament to the neck. A man may have little wealth or learning, but if he have an agreeable temper he will be far more respected than a churl, however rich or learned he may be. A bad temper is both a defect and a disgrace to its possessor. 6. Peace of mind should serve as an inducement to cultivate good temper: for what peace or pleasure can he enjoy whose heart is as a nest of wasps? He stings and annoys both himself and other people: he is seldom at ease in his own bosom, and contributes no solace to others. Yet even such a character as this may pretend to seek |