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any man will confefs himself capable of. Again, for a private perfon to take upon him to avenge an injury, (in any way befides having recourfe to lawful authority which is founded in the Divine) what is it lefs than affuming the authority of God himself, whofe privilege it is to decide finally, either immediately, or by thofe whom he has authorifcd for that purpofe?

Farther, let the effects of this unruly paffion, carried to its utmoft length, and indulged univerfally, be confidered, that we may judge whether it be moft for the good of the whole, that we conquer, or give way to it. Experience fhews, that every paffion and appetite indulged, would proceed to greater and greater lengths without end. Suppofe then every man to lay the reins upon the neck of his fury, and give himself up to be driven by it without controul into all manner of madnefs and extravagance: The obvious confequence muft be the deftruction of the weaker by the ftronger, till the world became a defert.

Whatever is right for one man to practife, is equally right for all, unlefs circumftances make a difference. If it be proper that one man indulge anger without a cause, no circumstances can make it improper that all do fo. If it be proper that one man fuffer his paffion to hurry him on to abufe, or deftroy an innocent perfon, it is proper that all do fo, and that the world be made one vaft fcene of blood and defolation.

People ought to be very careful in the younger part of life, not to give way to paffion: for all habits frengthen with years. And he, who in youth indulges an angry and fretful temper, by the time he comes into years, is likely to be unfufferable by his peevifhnefs; which, though not fo fatal and terrible as a furious temper, is more frequently troublefome, and renders the perfon who gives way to it more thoroughly contemptible. The exceffive ftrength of all our paffions is owing to our neglect to curb them in time, before they become unconquerable.

When therefore you feel paffion rifing, instead of giving it vent in outrageous expreflions, which will infame both your own, and that of the perfon you are

angry

angry with, accuftom yourself to call reflection to your affittance. Say to yourself, What is there in this affair of fufficient confequence to provoke me to expose myfelf? Had I not better drop the quarrel, if the offence were much more atrocious, than be guilty of folly? If I have loft money, or honour, by this injurious perfon, muft I lofe by him my wits too? How would a Socrates, or a Phocian, have behaved on fuch an occafion? How did a greater than either behave on an occafion of incomparably greater provocation, while he had it in his power to have ftruck his enemies dead with a word? True greatness appears in reftraining, not giving a loofe to paffion.

Make a refolution for one day not to be put out of temper upon any account. If you can keep it one day, you may two; and fo on. To keep you in mind of your refolution, you may wear a ring upon a particular finger, or ufe any other fuch contrivance. You may accustom yourself never to fay any thing peevish, without thinking it over as long as you could count fix deliberately. After you have habituated yourfelf for fome time to this practice, you will find it as unnatural to blunder out rafh fpeeches, as you do now to deliberate before you fpeak.

Envy and malice are rather corruptions of natural paffions, than the natural growth of the human heart. For the very leaft degree of them is wicked and unnatural as well as the greateft. Emulation, out of which! arifes envy, is one of the nobleft exertions of a rational mind. To afpire to equal whatever is truly great in a fellow-creature, what can fhew more confpicuoufly true greatnefs of mind? What worthy mind was ever without this difpofition? But to look with an evil eye upon, or to hate that excellence in another, which we cannot, or will not emulate, is the very difpofition of an evil fpirit: for it is hating a perfon for the very thing which ought to excite love and admiration.

Some of the other exceffes we are apt to run into in indulging our paflions have to plead for themfelves, that the exertion of thofe paffions is attended with a fenfible pleasure. But anger, hatred, malice, envy, re

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venge

venge, and all the irafcible paffions, the more strongly they operate, the greater torment they produce. And it must be an extraordinary degree of virulence in a mind, that makes it choose to torture itself for the fake of exerting its spite against another. Which fpite also, through the goodnefs of an over-ruling Providence, inftead of hurting the perfon attacked, moft commonly recoils in vengeance upon him who has indulged in himfelf fo devilish a temper.

The natural inclination we have to fympathife with our fellow-creatures, to make their cafe our own, and to fuffer a fenfible pain when we think of their misery or misfortune, was placed in us to draw us more effec tually, than reafon alone would, to endeavour to relieve them. It is therefore evident, that this motion of 'the mind ought to be encouraged and ftrengthened in us, because we cannot be too much attached to our fellow-creatures, at the fame time that we ought to act chiefly upon rational motives in endeavouring to relieve the diftreffes of our brethren of mankind.

Fear is a natural paffion of the mind, and ought no more to be eradicated than any of the others. A reafonable caution against, and defire of avoiding whatever would prove in any degree hurtful, is the prudent motion,of every rational created mind. The conduct of this paffion confifts in directing our fear, or caution, to proper objects. To fear poverty, or pain, or death, more than guilt; to dread the mifery of an hour, or of a life, more than future punishment for ages, is fearing a leffer evil more than a greater, choofing an extreme degree of mifery for the fake of avoiding an inconfiderable one.

Though a daftardly fpirit is, generally speaking, a proof of bafeness of mind, it does not therefore follow, that to dare to attempt any thing, however unreasonable or unjust, is true fortitude. A bully, a drunkard, or a lunatic, will attack what a wife man will avoid encountering with. For the natural or adventitious vivacity of temper in such persons, which is owing to bodily constitution, or intoxication by liquor, or to a preternatural flow of fpirits hurrying them on, and reafon

being in them very weak, or altogether infufficient for reftraining their impetuofity, it is no wonder if they run into the most extravagant and dangerous adventures, nor if they fometimes carry all before them. For the very notion that a perfon, or body of men, are refolute to a defperate degree, renders them much more formidable to people who have not, or perhaps cannot, work themselves up to the fame pitch. True courage is cool and deliberate, founded in a ftrong attachment to jutice, truth, love of one's country, and of true glory; and is regulated and reftrained by wisdom and goodnefs. True fortitude appears infinitely more glorious. in the faithful martyr, who, unfubdued by want and imprisonment, goes on without fear, but without pride, friendlefs and alone, and in the midft of the infulting crowd gives up his body to the devouring flames in honour of God and his truth, than in the bluftering commander at the head of his thousands, who marches to battle, and, in confidence of the might of his army, already affures himself of victory; and yet the latter is immortalized by the venal strain of flattery, while the former is paffed over in filence.

The lofs of fome good which we have either enjoyed or had reasonable hopes of attaining, or the arrival of fome pofitive evil, is a reasonable subject of reasonable grief; and the concern of mind ought to be proportioned to the greatness of the lofs, or the severity of the calamity which is come upon us. As for the afflictions

of this prefent life, fuch as the lofs of riches, of health, of the favour of the great, of the good opinion of our fellow-creatures, of friends or relations, by removal to distant places, or by death; these, and the like, being all temporary, we fhew our wisdom moll by bearing them with patience, or even most of them with indifference, in confideration of the profpect we have, if we be virtuous, of having all fuch loffes made up to us hereafter; of being hereafter poffeffed of the true and unfading riches; of having the integrity of our characters cleared before men and angels; of being restored to our valuable friends and relations, and united to them in a better and happier ftate, where they and

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we shall be fitter for true and exalted friendship, and where we shall no more fear a cruel feparation.

There is but one juft fubject of great or lafting grief that I know of; it is the confideration of our guilt before God. That we ourselves, or others, fhould ever have offended the kindeft and beft of beings, whom we were, by all the ties of Nature and Reafon, obliged to love, to obey, and to adore; this is a grief that will lie heavy upon every confiderate mind: And till that happy day comes, when all tears are to be wiped away, and all griefs buried in oblivion, the thought of our own guilt, and that of our unhappy unthinking fellowcreatures, ought not for any long time to be out of our view. Nor is there any degree of concern (inferior to what might difqualify us for the performance of the duties of life) too great for the occafion. Nor can any thing be imagined more abfurd, than for a reasoning being to exprefs more uneafinefs about a trifling loss or affliction, which, like all temporal diftreffes, will, after a few years be to us, as if they had never been; at the fame time that the confideration of those offences against the Majesty of Heaven, which may have fatal effects upon their final state, raifes no uneafinefs in their minds. That a thinking creature (or rather a creature capable of thought) fhould fret for the lofs of a mortal friend or relation, whom he always knew to be be mortal, and be under no concern for his having alienated from himself, by his wickedness, the favour of the most powerful, the moft faithful, and the kindeft Friend. That a rational creature fhould bitterly lament the loft patronage of a prince, or peer, whofe favour he knew to be uncertain and precarious, and give himfelf no trouble about his having forfeited the protection of Him, upon whom he depends for every moment's exiftence, and every degree of happiness he can enjoy in the prefent life, and thro' all eternity! Surely fuch grief is indulged with great impropriety?

While we live in the body, it is plainly neceffary, that we beftow a reafonable attention upon the body, for providing whatever may be useful for its health and fupport. To think of eradicating, or deftroying the

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