the married,-wish them much happiness,—and assure them-Temper is every thing: go to the single, the old bachelors, and the old spinsters, the young masters and the rising misses, and say,-Temper is every thing: go to all families, all fraternities, and all communities in thronged cities and retired villas; go to all places of business, all resorts of men, in church or theatre, mart or inn, parliament or club, feast or funeral, birthday or marriage-day, election-day or polling-day, and catechise them on-Temper is every thing. Go forth, I charge thee, and if thou hast nothing good to say of thy master, say nothing ill. And, oh little book—child of my strength, and companion of my afflictions, may a good report of thee soon greet the ears of thy aged parent, and cheer his declining days with trophies of thy victories! Heaven speed thee!

PREFACE.

THE first paragraph of Mason's Preface to his Treatise on Self-knowledge is equally adapted to my purpose: -The subject of the ensuing treatise is of great importance; and yet I do not remember to have seen it treated with that precision, perspicuity, and force, with which many other moral and theological themes have been managed. And indeed it is but rarely that we find it professedly and fully recommended to us in a set and regular discourse, either from the pulpit or the press. This consideration, together with a full persuasion of its great and extensive usefulness, hath excited the present attempt, to render it more familiar to the minds of men.'

Dr. Evans, it is true, published a large volume of Sermons on the CHRISTIAN Temper, many of which are excellent and to the point: but Sermons do not constitute the most attractive mode of exhibiting a subject of this nature, nor do they consist with that

freedom, which is, in a measure, indispensable. The author has deemed it advisable to enter more excursively, minutely, and practically, into the subject, for the moral and religious benefit of all classes and all characters in society.

The following treatise was originally composed in the winter months of 1831-2, during which time the author was almost incapable of any public duty. He wrote it while reclining on the couch, and not without some spirited remonstrances from his friends, lest he should further impair his health, and perhaps his temper too. He is happy, however, to say, it had no injurious effects; for at the conclusion the former was all the better, and the latter, he trusts, was none the worse. Since that time he has bestowed some pains in revising the manuscript; suppressing, on maturer reflection, many samples of bad temper, and supplying others less objectionable in print. As a subject of this nature would be very unpalatable to the irreligious part of the community, if executed in a dull, didactic, and monotonous style,-so, for the sake of such and other characters, the more serious Christian must be content to tolerate occasional strains of humour.

Should any undertake to criticise, after an attentive reading of the whole, the author trusts he shall have sufficient good temper left to enable him to meet it with all due respect and gratitude. Let them only do

it with a proper temper, and he will then believe they are, at least, no worse for reading the work. From all charge of personality, in the offensive sense, he distinctly claims exemption.

While he has elevated the standard of moral conduct, he has, with equal earnestness, contended for the essential doctrines of divine truth, as will be fre quently observed. And while he has struck at the root of the evil, and confirmed his points with facts from real life, and the opinions of various authors, he has referred to the only efficient remedy for its remcval. He lays it down as an axiom that truly gospel principles are the only solid basis of genuine morality, which is confirmed by our Articles X. to XIV. Surely the world, yea the Christian world-would be far happier, if due regard were paid to temper. May this feeble effort, through the divine blessing, contribute to this desirable end.

October 20, 1837.