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LESSON XXV.

Blessings of a Contented Temper.-BLAIR.

A CONTENTED temper is one of the greatest blessings that can be enjoyed by man, and one of the most material requisites to the proper discharge of the duties of every station. For a fretful and discontented temper renders one incapable of performing aright any part in life. It is unthankful and impious towards God; and towards men provoking and unjust. It is a gangrene which preys on the vitals, and infects the whole constitution with disease and putrefaction. Subdue pride and vanity, and you will take the most effectual method of eradicating this distemper.

You will no longer behold the objects around you

with jaundiced eyes. You will take in good part the

blessings which Providence is pleased to bestow, and the degree of favour which your fellow-creatures are disposed to grant you. Viewing yourselves, with all your imperfections and failings, in a just light, you will rather be surprised at your enjoying so many good things, than discontented because there are any which you want. From an humble and contented temper, will spring a cheerful one. This, if not in itself a virtue, is at least the garb in which virtue should be always arrayed.

Piety and goodness ought never to be marked with that dejection which sometimes takes rise from superstition, but which is the proper portion only of guilt. At the same time, the cheerfulness belonging to virtue, is to be carefully distinguished from that light and giddy temper which characterizes folly, and is so often found among the dissipated and vicious part of mankind. Their gaiety is owing to a total want of reflection; and brings with it the usual consequences of an unthinking habit, shame, remorse, and heaviness of heart, in the end.

The cheerfulness of a well-regulated mind, springs from a good conscience and the favour of Heaven, and is bounded by temperance and reason. It makes a man

happy in himself, and promotes the happiness of all around him. It is the clear and calm sunshine of a mind illuminnated by piety and virtue. It crowns all other good dis

positions, and comprehends the general effect which they ought to produce on the heart.

LESSON XXVI.

Means of producing Contentedness.-J. TAYLOR.

WHEN any thing happens to our displeasure, let us endeavour to take off its trouble by turning it into spiritual or artificial advantage, and handle it on that side_in which it may be useful to the designs of reason. For there is nothing but hath a double handle, or at least, we have two hands to apprehend it. When an enemy reproaches us, let us look on him as an impartial relater of our faults, for he will tell thee truer than thy fond friend will; and thou mayst call them precious balm though they break thy head, and forgive his anger while thou makest use of the plainness of his declamation.

The ox, when he is weary, treads surest; and if there be nothing else in the disgrace, but that it makes us to walk warily, and tread sure for fear of our enemies, that is better than to be flattered into pride and carelessness. This is the charity of christian philosophy, which expounds the sense of the divine providence fairly, and reconciles us to it by a charitable construction; and we may as well refuse all physic, if we consider it only as unpleasant to the taste; and we may find fault with the rich vallies of Tharsus, because they are circled by sharp mountains; but so also we may be in charity with every unpleasant accident, because, though it taste bitter, it is intended for health and medicine.

If therefore thou fallest from thy employment in public, take sanctuary in an honest retirement, being indifferent to thy gain abroad, or thy safety at home. If thou art out of favour with thy prince, secure the favour of the King of kings, and then there is no harm come to thee. when Zeno lost all his goods in a storm, he retired to the studies of philosophy, to his short cloak and severe life, and gave thanks to fortune for his prosperous mischance.

And

When the north wind blows hard, and it rains sadly,

none but fools sit down in it and cry; wise people defend themselves against it with a warm garment, or a good fire, and a dry roof; when a storm of a sad mischance beats upon our spirits, turn it into some advantage, by observing where it can serve another end, either of religion or prudence, or more safety or less envy; it will turn into something that is good, if we list to make it so; at least, it may make us weary of the world's vanity, and take off our confidence from uncertain riches, and make our spirits to dwell in those regions where content dwells essentially.

If it does any good to our souls, it hath made more than sufficient recompense for all the temporal affliction. He that threw a stone at a dog and hit his cruel step-mother, said, that although he intended it otherwise, yet the stone was not quite lost; and if we fail in the first design, if we bring it home to another equally to content us, or more to profit us, then we have put our conditions past the power of chance; and this was called in the old Greek comedy, a being revenged on fortune by becoming philosophers, and turning the chance into reason or religion; for so a wise man shall overrule his stars, and have a greater influence upon his own content than all the constellations and planets of the firmament.

Never compare thy condition with those above thee; but to secure thy content, look upon those thousands with whom thou wouldst not for any interest, change thy fortune and condition. A soldier must not think himself unprosperous, if he be not successful as the son of Philip, or cannot grasp a fortune as big as the Roman empire. Be content that thou art not lessened as was Pyrrhus; or if thou beest, that thou art not routed like Crassus; and when that comes to thee, it is a great prosperity that thou art not caged and mad, a spectacle like Bajazet, or thy eyes were not pulled out like Zedekiah's, or that thou wert not flayed alive like Valentinian.

If thou admirest the greatness of Xerxes, look also on those who digged the mountain Atho, or whose ears and noses were cut off, because the Hellespont carried away the bridge. It is a fine thing, thou thinkest, to be carried on men's shoulders; but give God thanks that thou art not forced to carry a rich fool upon thy shoulders, as those poor men do whom thou beholdest. There are

but a few kings in mankind, but many thousands who are very miserable if compared to thee; however, it is a huge folly rather to grieve for the good of others, than to rejoice for that good which God hath given us of our

own.

And yet there is no wise or good man that would change persons or conditions entirely with any man in the world. It may be he would have one man's wealth added to himself, or the power of a second, or the learning of a third; but still he would receive these into his own person, because he loves that best, and therefore esteems it best, and therefore overvalues all that which he is, before all that which any other man in the world can be.

Would any be Dives to have his wealth, or Judas for his office, or Saul for his kingdom, or Absalom for his beauty, or Ahithophel for his policy? It is likely he would wish all these, and yet he would be the same person still. For every man hath desires of his own, and objects first fitted to them, without which he cannot be, unless he were not himself.

And let every man that loves himself so well as to love himself before all the world, consider if he have not something for which in the whole he values himself far more than he can value any one else. There is therefore no reason to take the finest feathers from all the winged nation to deck that bird that thinks already she is more valuable than any one of the inhabitants of the air. Either change all or none. Cease to love yourself best, or be content with that portion of being and blessing, for which you love yourself so well.

'Father,' said little Molly, 'I wish I was big enough to say grace; I am sure I should say it very heartily to-day, for I was thinking, what must poor people do, who have no salt to their potatoes; and do but look, our dish is quite full.'

"That is the true way of thinking, Molly," said the father; "in whatever concerns bodily wants, and bodily comforts, it is our duty to compare our own lot with the lot of those who are worse off, and this will keep us thankful. On the other hand, whenever we are tempted to set up our own wisdom or goodness, we must compare

ourselves with those who are wiser and better, and that will keep us humble.”

you

LESSON XXVII.

Formation of Manners.-LETTERS to a Daughter.

IT is of great importance to your success in life, that should pay considerable attention to your manners. These are usually considered a fair index of the mind: it is from them that we receive, for the most part, our first impressions of the character; and in many cases, where the acquaintance is transient, we have no other criterion. by which our opinion can be regulated. It is an old and just adage that a man is known by his manners.'

As the manners are professedly the expression of the feelings, the living image of the heart, you will at once perceive, that their character will be closely connected with the complexion of your natural dispositions and moral qualities. It is easy to see that ill-natured and haughty feelings will be embodied in an overbearing and forbidding manner; and on the other hand, that, an amiable and affectionate disposition will discover itself in a gentle and winning deportment. The grand requisite for possessing good manners, therefore, is to possess good feelings. If you cultivate an amiable temper, it will require but little additional attention to render your manners agreeable and engaging.

Next to the cultivation of benevolent feelings, it is important that you should have so much self-command, that you can act out your feelings without embarrassment. With a

your

view to this, endeavour to form a proper estimate of character and condition in life, and of the deference due to those with whom you associate. This will be likely to save you from the two extremes of undue forwardness, and awkward diffidence; and to render your manners the simple, natural expression of the feelings of your heart.

There is nothing more disgusting than affectation because it is an attempt to be something which we really

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