gnawed by the envenomed tooth of envy; they are agitated by the wild sallies of ambition; or feel the malignant ulcer of jealousy, rankling in their breasts. In some, avarice, like a ravening harpy, gripes. In some, revenge, like an implacable fury, rages. While others are goaded by lordly and imperious lusts, through the loathsome sewers of impure delight; and left at last in those hated and execrable dens, where remorse rears her snaky crest, and infamy sharpens her hissing tongue.' 1 46. In our baptism we vowed-To renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh.' But how utterly is this engagement disregarded by those who are pushing, at all risks, after worldly distinctions, wealth, honor, and pleasures. It is recorded of Socrates, that he looked upon it as a divine perfection, to be in want of nothing, and believe, that the less we are contented with, the nearer we approach to the divinity. Seeing the pomp and show displayed by luxury in certain ceremonies, and the infinite quantity of gold and silver in them, he exclaimed, 'How many things do I not want!' Quantis non ageo.3 47. Making all due allowances for men in business and professions, we must yet deplore that excessive anxiety which so absolutely captivates the heart and makes them an easy prey to the enemy of the soul. Any single business, conducted by well-planned regulations, may gene 1 Rev. Mr. Hervey. Dialogue xix. t rally be carried on in an even peaceful tenor; but the undertaking of numerous and discordant projects is sure to distract the head and the mind. Some, in their greediness of gain, drive on with a spirit impatient of contradiction, and if crosses or losses occur, they rave like a wild bull in a net. To those who profess godliness, I may adduce a text or two. "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." 1 They that be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."2 that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." 3 66 "He 48. Another fruitful cause of unhappiness and bad tempers is drunkenness, a practice which extensively and alarmingly prevails in this Christian country, even so as to call aloud for legislative interference. I am glad to know that the Temperance Society has in very many instances controlled this evil. Violent passions, sickness and wretchedness, madness and death, are sure and certain attendants in the multitudinous and unsightly train of this dominant practice, especially spirit-drinking. Although a person, who is not a member of such 1 Luke xxi. 34. 21 Tim. vi. 9-12. 3 Prov. xxviii. 20. a society, may easily exercise temperance, commonly so called, yet he finds the due control of his native temper a more difficult task. But I see so many morose, churlish, bitter, and impatient spirits among those who pass for sober, that I am inclined to think the difference between these and open tipplers is less in the heart than in the habit. The truth is, the evil principle impregnates both, and drink only brings to light what a sober sense of decency, in some measure, restrains. 49. I am borne out in these remarks by an author whose works evince more talent than virtue, for which reason I withhold his name. 'Nothing is more erroneous than the common observation, that men, who are ill-natured and quarrelsome when they are drunk, are very worthy persons when they are sober: for drink, in reality, doth not reverse nature, or create passions in men which did not exist in them before. It takes away the guard of reason, and consequently incites us to produce those symptoms which many, when sober, have art enough to conceal. It heightens and inflames our passions, generally that which is uppermost in our mind, so that the angry temper, the amorous, the generous, the good-humoured, the avaricious, and all other dispositions of men are, in their cups, heightened and exposed.' 50. Having shown that there are such human defects as wrong tempers, traced them to their original source, followed the stream from infancy to manhood in different classes, asserted their universality, and adverted to a few of their subordinate causes, I reserve a fuller amplification for the subsequent pages. 23 CHAPTER II. VARIETIES IN THE HUMAN TEMPER. 1. TEMPER, in a moral sense, is the disposition of mind, whether natural or acquired. The word is seldom used without an epithet, as a good temper, or a bad temper, a happy or unfortunate temper.' It would be an endless task to treat distinctly of every genius of temper, and every shade of difference, with its amplification from real life. In this part of the work I am to exhibit and delineate those multifarious tempers, which so greatly prevail and so sadly disfigure the human character. 2. The following list may serve as a task, to be read, sung, or said by any person when out of temper. It is true, many of the words are synonymous, but they are, for the most part, such as are in common use, as the |